Sorry again, guys, apparently schedules are super hard to maintain when there's no structure! Friday I was fixing computers around the house all day and Saturday I was meeting with friends I hadn't seen, so here we are! Anyway, hope you enjoy!
The five days passed at a rather average pace. Not too long, not too short, but definitely a lot of complaining from the younger Bots. Namely Bee, Sideswipe, and Jazz. Kay was honestly surprised Ratchet hadn't strangled each of them, though first, she knew that wouldn't do anything to Cybertronians and second, he was probably stuck in his alt with how little he decided to move.
"I'd rather only deal with the pain of stiff transformation once," he muttered every time Kay asked. Now Kay was staring with slight shock as she realized the three young Bots that had been flanking her in their alt forms were gone, off the aircraft carrier and racing down the tarmac before transforming so fast Sideswipe almost face planted. Instead, he crashed into Bee's back and sent both tumbling straight into Jazz.
"I'm not fixing any of that," Ratchet grumbled beside her, before slowly transforming. His body seemed to groan with every shift but the aged Cybertronian simply scooped Kay up and began forward at a very normal pace.
"The rest of the humans are gonna be jealous they don't get a ride," Kay stated, though she was definitely okay with the special treatment. Ratchet let out a snort.
"You're the only one I'd carry." Kay couldn't help her smile, wrapping her arms around Ratchet's thumb in a small hug.
"Love you, too, Ratchet!" The mech let out a small grumble with no malice whatsoever in the tone, depositing Kay on Bee's shoulder as the young Bot finally untangled himself from Sideswipe and Jazz. He let out a happy buzz, carefully nuzzling his face against Kay who responded with a kiss to his faceplates.
She was still getting used to the Cybertronian terms and definitions fully flooding her mind, inserting themselves within her train of thought as if she had known them since she was an infant.
Everyone and everything else from the carrier was nearing the group, the Witwicky's and Leo staring around with wide eyes. Lennox and Epps were just behind them, talking to themselves while still keeping an eye on the trio. Sam and Mikaela were walking hand in hand, and Simmons was beside Alpha, both begrudgingly dealing with the situation. Injured and deceased soldiers were being carried on stretchers and in coffins towards the hangar holding the massive med bay. Kay's eyes caught Lennox's even from the large distance, gaining a simple 'come here' motion from the Major. Kay gave Bee two pats before jumping and landing with a roll, her ribs only giving a slight groan. Her body was getting used to this growing bones back thing.
"What's up?" Kay asked as she fell in step beside the Major. The Witwicky's and Leo were still slowly heading forward, eyes still bulging out of their heads as they took everything in.
"Plane's'll be here in three days for everyone who needs to head back stateside," the Major explained. "If you don't mind, I'd like you to be in charge of coordinating this mess of civilians, including yourself."
"Oh, wow," Kay couldn't help. "Yeah, of course! You trust me that much?" Epps laughed then, Lennox smiling back and pulling Kay close in a tight, one armed hug.
"I trust you way more than all these civilians, and definitely more than a good chunk of the staff on base. They're not good at logistics." Kay was beaming from the revelation. Lennox gave her one more squeeze and let her go, Kay happily bouncing off back towards Bee.
"You're happy," Bee stated, catching Kay mid-small jump. He turned towards the hangar that was home to her temporary room, reading her mind.
"Lennox just told me he trusts me," she said with a small shrug. Her ribs definitely did not like that movement, but she simply ignored it. She was also getting good at the ignoring pain thing. "It's pretty cool to hear that from a Major in the US military."
"What is he trusting you with?"
"Setting up the civilian transport back to the states." She paused for a moment. "Probably figure out what Bots are going with them, as well," she added, thinking over Bee and Sideswipe right away. There was also the situation of protecting Simmons and Leo as well, and although there were more Bots than what they had started with two years ago, there was definitely not enough to spread them that far. Bee stopped just outside Kay's room, setting her on the ground carefully.
"I have a long shower ahead of me, just a heads up." Bee's doorwings flickered downwards slightly.
"Yeah, Prime is calling us to the hangar," Bee pieced together, glancing the way he had to go. Kay gave Bee a bright smile and quick hug to his leg, waving as he walked off. She turned around and opened her door, letting out a happy gasp.
"KiKi!" The black cat let out a loud, annoyed meow but still stood to her feet, stretched, then reached her head out with a loud purr as Kay happily gave her some firm scratches and a flurry of kisses. After about the seventh kiss KiKi had had enough, snaking out of Kay's grasp and walking over to her licked clean food bowl, staring at Kay with an impatient flick of her tail.
"Hey, you're looking fine," Kay shot back even as she popped open the container containing the cat food. "I'm sure you feasted on most of the island's mouse and rat population for the past week." The look on KiKi's face and the innocent lick of her paw was answer enough. Kay dumped the cup full scoop of food into the dish and grabbed the water bowl, humming to herself as she walked to the bathroom down the hall from her room.
With a flick of the wrist, she turned the faucet on, her eyes drifting from the reflective-stainless-steel bowl to her reflection in the mirror. Even with the five days on an American aircraft carrier with most modern amenities, there was a ration on the use of water. The ship was stuffed to the seams and already near the end of its shift at sea so Kay had decided to simply take a five-minute shower on the second day. Now, she was witnessing the results.
Her black hair was sloppily pulled back in a ponytail, the strands easily reaching her mid-back as she hadn't cut her hair in years. It was greasy and stuck together in strands, a few defiantly pulling themselves free of the hair tie. Her face still had some dirt stuck in the creases, as her five-minute shower was focused on getting the surface grime off rather than anything else. Her clothes were the same that she had worn that day of her first major teleport a week ago, a couple of impressive tears within the shirt and pants. She did have a light NEST jacket over her shoulders, courtesy of Lennox. She had to babysit for that man soon as a thank you.
"Man, I look like crap," Kay murmured. Her excitement towards the soon to come shower was growing with every second she looked at her dirt-and-grease-encrusted face.
Of course, out of all of this, her Ratchet-enhanced glasses were flawless, not a scratch on the lenses, not even a smear of dust or dirt or mud. The subspace bracelet was also shining brightly, clean, thin, and, now that she focused on it, humming lightly. A slight mental push against it showed the glow of the Matrix energy.
Kay shut the water off and walked back to her room, depositing the water beside KiKi's food bowl and scratching the cat behind the ears. She gave a happy purr but refused to take her face out of the food, munching away contently.
"You're such a cat," Kay said with a half-hearted scoff. She still smiled, turning and grabbing a set of comfortable, clean clothes and her shower basket, all but running back towards the shower. Just as she shut the door she heard a group of footsteps. The rest of the civilians were being shown to their temporary quarters.
Kay enjoyed the shower as long as she physically could. She had scrubbed herself raw after ten minutes, the water finally returning to clear after being a disgustingly muddy brown. Her bandages from around her ribs and her clothes probably needed a biohazard bag, and she used about half her bottle of shampoo before she felt satisfied that all of the oils were gone. After the necessities were done, she simply stood in the scorching heat of the shower, letting every muscle in her body relax. Maybe too much, if the three times her knees almost buckled under her were any indicator. She ignored the knocks on the door and Sam's summons, ignored Mikaela and Leo, even ignored Ron when he tried, and in all honestly failed, a harsh tone against her. Kay only moved when Judy unabashedly burst into the shower, the door flinging open and refusing to close.
"Kay, we're all trying to ask you questions here, my God!" Kay couldn't help her shout of surprise, snapping her arms over herself instinctively. Judy casually grabbed her towel with a wave of her arm. "Oh, hush. It's just me." She wrapped the towel around Kay's shoulders and pulled her out, shutting the faucet off behind her.
"What do you guys need to ask me?" Kay questioned, very confused but also very aware of Leo's eyes on the skin she was showing. A sharp glare from Kay and the arrival of KiKi announced by a warning hiss quickly rectified that, however.
"What's going to happen to us?" Sam replied. Kay absently dried herself without showing anything, squinting every time she had to focus on someone.
"Did no one tell you guys?"
"They just said you would answer," Mikaela responded.
"Ron and I still have two weeks left in our vacation," Judy whined, hanging off of her husband's side. "When can we go back?"
"Well, planes heading stateside are arriving in three days and I'm in charge of getting us all situated and heading to the right places," Kay explained.
"Why you?" Leo asked. Kay shrugged back.
"Lennox put me in charge. He's the Major over this operation," she added upon seeing Leo's confusion.
"So what do we get to do for the next three days?" Simmons asked, finally piping up from the back. While everyone was gathered around the door comfortably, Kay was still acutely aware of herself dripping in rapidly cooling water.
"I'd assume just hang around," Kay said. "They were okay with me doing it. You just need to not get in anyone's way." Sam nodded.
"Yeah, sounds pretty normal for them." He turned and began off then, Mikaela close behind with her hand locked in his. The others followed, Kay quickly shutting the door behind them. KiKi, having stepped into the bathroom, meowed annoyedly and pawed at the door.
"You can wait," Kay cooed, quickly shuffling over to her clothes. She dropped the towel and changed into the comfortable baggy jeans and T-shirt with a gusto. She grabbed her hairbrush and ripped through her hair, ignoring the incredibly graphic, disgusting, and painful sounding scratches of the plastic bristles shredding through knots as best it could. Even KiKi paused in her mewing, cocking her head lightly with shock in her golden eyes.
"Trust me, it's as painful as it sounds," Kay stated. Five solid minutes and about three of the plastic beads on the end of the bristles flying off and hitting the mirror later, the brush traveled smoothly through Kay's hair as if it were silk. Kay happily put her hair into a stiff ponytail, gathered up her shower supplies, and finally opened the door, KiKi letting out an exasperated meow but keeping close to Kay's feet as they entered her room together.
Kay dropped her stuff on her bed and picked up her notebook from her Cybertronian freakout, reading over the symbols she had written. It was short history on the Primes, information Jetfire had covered in his summary of the Matrix. Kay flipped to the next clean page just in front of it, grabbing her pencil from her bed and beginning a short list of names, locations, and Bots. Then she was off.
The rest of her day was spent talking with every person in the list, figuring out rides, drop off locations, and possible guardians. She spoke with Lennox over the actual need of guardians and with the Bots she had in mind.
Now she found herself just outside of Optimus' office, the sun low in the sky and streaming in behind her. She knocked on the massive door and waited patiently, looking over her list once more before the massive Prime carefully opened his door and looked down.
"Can I help you, Kaytlen?" he rumbled kindly, lowering a servo to the ground. Kay climbed on.
"Actually, yes, but first, how are you feeling?" The Prime smiled as he walked towards his desk.
"Good, considering the circumstances," he replied, setting Kay on his desk and taking a seat. "May I ask, do you still have the power of the Matrix in you?" Kay could see the genuine, intense curiosity in his optics. In response Kay reached out for her power, feeling the rush of energy. The sensation of Optimus right in front of her almost bowled her over, even more so as she focused on the different, far more electric feeling of the Matrix energy.
"Yeah, I do," she replied, letting go of the power. The sensation of Optimus in front of her faded, though her mind was still reeling with waves of buzzing power.
"It is truly remarkable that you absorbed the power," Optimus said, smiling when Kay's cheeks reddened in a blush.
"Oh, uh, well, it's nothing, really," she stuttered out. Optimus rose an eye ridge.
"Really? Nothing?" He sat forward now, looking Kay straight in the eyes. "Kaytlen, you brought me back to life with your power. That is not 'nothing,' that's miraculous." Kay felt like her cheeks were on fire, but that was her second concern. Right now she felt an old survival instinct rearing its ugly head, screeching in terror and wanting nothing more than to lash out at the Prime with a snarky comment and vicious glare. Kay had spent five years of her life berated for her powers and had been conditioned to expect a severe emotional attack after every compliment towards her powers, and right now Optimus was laying it on her hard.
With a shake of her head and a firm pushing away of her feelings, Kay cleared her throat in an embarrassed manner and laid her notebook out.
"So, uh, yeah. Lennox asked me to coordinate the people moving back stateside and that includes some Bots for guard duty for about two weeks," she explained, casually watching Optimus' faceplates. The Prime had noticed her discomfort and the redirect.
"Kaytlen, what is wrong?"
"Nothing!" Man, she sucked at lying to the Bots.
"Kay." Great, now Optimus had used her nickname. Kay felt her mouth open and close with each time her mind whiplashed between decisions, over and over. She wanted to tell Optimus, she trusted the Bot with her life and had already told him so much more, and yet every time she thought of speaking a word some instinct filled her with so much fear she could've sworn she was jerking physically.
That was the deciding factor, however. Kay did not appreciate her body taking control, she was far more logical than emotional, and right now her emotions were running rampant.
"It's just, because of my years with Sec Seven, I'm used to insults and slander against me more than compliments. And every time I was complimented, I got it worse a few hours later, so hearing compliments related to my power causes an old survival instinct to kick in. It was nothing against you, I swear," she managed to get out in one breath, talking fast enough that she barely understood herself. Optimus blinked then slowly sat back, Kay receiving the slackening of his body as a one-second warning before his holoform was sitting beside her, wrapping her in a firm, caring hug while skillfully avoiding aggravating her ribs. Kay's jaw dropped in her shock, but quick enough she smiled and hugged Optimus back.
"All of us are here for you, Kay," he rumbled. "I'm here for you." Kay's heart almost exploded from her happiness at hearing those words. She may not have liked emotions ruling her, but good emotions were generally okay.
Kay carefully pulled apart from Optimus after a small stretch of comfortable, happy silence, picking up her notebook and glancing over her hastily scribbled list of names.
"So, about this guardian situation…"