I lied. I went straight to the next episode on this one lol.
JokersBatman: Aw, thank you! I do try to give them a little more character than what was shown on-screen. I think it also helps that I made Miko Paige's best friend lol. I'm trying to focus more on character interactions with Paige and growing deeper relationships with her, or perhaps not depending on the character~ Paige is the type to focus on the matter at hand and will otherwise shove her feelings aside to protect others, but it usually comes back to bite her in different forms of stress effects, as you will see in the next chapter and throughout the story!
Disclaimer: Hasbro owns Transformers and its characters. I only own Paige and Swiftblade.
A couple of honks startled Paige awake, making her bolt upright. She glanced around her room and noticed the sun peaking through her blinds. She groaned and rubbed her face to get the sleepy fog to fully retract from her mind.
She remembered everything that had happened the day before. She had learned about the Autobot's ground bridge and space bridge technology, and something about the loss of a teammate all in one day. That wound was recent and fresh and it was ever present in Arcee's attitude, which explained a lot about how standoffish she had been acting. Not to mention the teens were each assigned an Autobot guardian for the foreseeable future.
Paige's guardian just happened to be the second Corvette sitting in her garage, currently purring its engine. She sighed and got out of bed, making her way through the house and down the stairs to peer into the garage with a frown. "What's going on?" She asked, wondering if something was urgent.
"It is time for you to get up. There is much to do today," Swiftblade answered, revving his engine once more in a show of impatience.
A yawn escaped her and she leaned against the wall as she rubbed her eye with the palm of her hand. "Alright, alright… I'll go get ready. I'll be down in 15 minutes." The only answer to her words was the sudden silence as Swiftblade switched off his engine. Blinking, she turned and headed back up the stairs to fully get ready.
It took her ten minutes to shower and another five to be fully dressed and packed for the day. She made sure her pistols were strapped to her waist and four extra clips were packed into her shoulder pack. After learning about the war between the Autobots and Decepticons and seeing a fight between them firsthand, she wasn't going to take any chances regarding her and her friends' safety. She quickly toasted a poptart, grabbed a water bottle and some crackers for later, and headed downstairs after making sure she had all her essentials.
The resemblance between Swiftblade's altmode and her Corvette were nearly identical. The only difference between the two was that the Autobot had more silver detailing in his paint job than neon green highlights. The driver door of the Corvette swung open and she briefly paused to raise an inquisitive eyebrow. She would have ridden shotgun out of respect, but it seems like he wanted her to sit behind the wheel.
"I heard you like to race."
Her other eyebrow rose with the other in surprise. "Occasionally," she admitted as she slowly slid into the seat. The door closed and the seat belt slid across her body on its own to secure her in place. She stiffened in surprise before slowly relaxing. She kept her hands folded in her lap out of respect as he turned on his engine, backed out of the garage, and began driving out of town. She shoved the poptart into her mouth in a few quick bites.
"I thought you might like to go for a spin."
She eyed the steering wheel, watching the cyan lights on it and the Autobot symbol flash in time as he spoke. She hummed and couldn't stop the smile from pulling at her lips. "Do you like to race?"
"Racing is forbidden due to keeping a low profile," he explained, turning onto an empty road leading out of town. "But I enjoy a good 'joy ride' once in a while."
Her smile grew wider at his words. "I love joy rides. Let's do it."
"I figured you might." His tone suggested he might've been smirking if he was in his bipedal form. He then slowed to a stop and shifted his gear into park. "Grab the wheel."
She did a double take, staring at the Autobot insignia on the wheel in surprise. "What?"
"Come on." There was a hint of a grin in his tone. "Show me what you can do, and then I'll show you what I can do."
She hesitated for only a moment before slowly reaching for both the wheel and the gear shifter. A grin slowly spread on her face as her fingers closed around both, feeling the fine leather underneath her skin. The seat belt tightened around her ever so slightly and she fought a shudder as she reached the pedals with her foot. "Alright," she said slowly, cautiously. The engine revved almost encouragingly and it had her tightening her grip slightly. "I'm used to how my Corvette handles, so I'll try not to be rough with you. This is… a rather odd experience."
"A learning experience for the both of us," he agreed calmly.
She shifted in the seat nervously and glanced at the radio. "Is it okay if we play some music?"
She saw the radio turn on. "What would you like?"
She smirked, "My theme song." She told him the name of the song and it began to play. She reached over to turn the volume up as high as she dared and asked if it was an okay level for him - he told her it was fine. She took a deep breath and waited for the beat to drop like usual. Her gaze scanned the road in front of them and noted the curves. Just before the beat drop, she threw her ride into gear and peeled off down the road.
She was grinning as they raced along the road, reaching 80mph in seconds. She drifted through the smaller curves and shifted gears to drift farther along a much sharper curve before throwing it back into gear. She was feeling the familiar adrenaline rush as she giggled, enjoying herself.
"Not bad," Swiftblade commented over the music. "Now let me show you what I can do."
Paige had only a second to let go of the steering wheel before they suddenly took a sharp turn onto another road. She let out a squeak of surprise as she reached for the handle near the top of her door and gripped the center console with her other hand to keep herself steady. The engine roared as their speed increased and her eyebrows shot up in surprise as she glimpsed the speedometer. Whoa! He's passing 120mph! A laugh bubbled out of her throat as they drifted around another curve and she whooped, feeling her heart pound in her chest with the familiar thrill of driving at high speeds.
It wasn't long before they were passing the base and Swiftblade slowed down, turning off the music to laugh along with her. He slowed to a stop at the stop sign and Paige hugged her stomach as she fought to regain her composure.
"How was that for a joy ride?" He asked, an obvious grin in his tone.
She giggled and relaxed against the seat, feeling it mold around her body to make her more comfortable. "That… was awesome!" She couldn't fight the grin on her face. "We should do that again some time."
"Yes, we should." He chuckled again and then hummed softly. "Looks like the others are arriving as well."
Paige turned her head to look out the window. Sure enough, three vehicles were speeding down the road towards the base. She glanced at the steering wheel with a gleam of mischief in her eyes. "Let's beat them there!"
"You got it." The gear shifted and the tires squealed as he drifted his back end around, peeling off towards base just as the others drew near. They caught up to them but Swiftblade stayed ahead of the others as they were forced to enter the tunnel in a single file fashion.
They each slowed to a stop in the main area and each teen exited their guardian with laughs of their own. The Autobots transformed, smiling down at their charges.
Bulkhead stiffened and then pulled something out of his chest compartment with a groan. When Paige looked, she saw that it was Miko's electric guitar that he was handing to her as she apologized.
"Autobots," Optimus called, gaining everyone's attention. "Prepare to-" He paused, taking note of the teens.
"Roll out?" Arcee finished in the silence that followed.
"Remain here. Ratchet, you'll come with me." Optimus then turned back to Arcee. "Arcee, we will be out of communications range for some time, so I'm putting you in charge."
Paige idly watched Ratchet move about the room behind Optimus, only to smile and shake her head at Miko's logic about who should be in charge. That's not how it works. She then walked over and climbed up the stairs to the catwalk as Arcee argued with Optimus in the background. Reaching the top, she bit her lip to hide her amusement at Ratchet's comment.
"My pistons may be rusty but my hearing is sharp as ever!"
"Well, regardless of how rusty your pistons may be," she said softly, gaining his attention only as he blinked at her. She leaned against the railing and gave him a small smile. "Be careful out there. Both of you." She met his gaze and he seemed to hesitate, not knowing how to respond.
He searched her eyes for something for a few moments and seemed to find what he was looking for as he gave a small 'hmph' in response. He then activated the ground bridge and followed Optimus into it without another word. It closed almost as soon as they disappeared into the vortex.
"Okay, chief. So, uh… What's on the activities list?" Jack asked, trying to lighten the mood.
Arcee rolled her eyes and sharply turned on her heel. "I'm going on patrol."
Paige frowned and slid down the railing to ground level as she and Bulkhead argued. She patted Jack on the shoulder sympathetically. "Having a tough time, I see?"
Jack sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "It's… a work-in-progress."
She watched Arcee speed out of base with Bumblebee in tow. That's some 'work-in-progress' alright. She caught her guardian's gaze and he simply shrugged in response.
"So, uh… What's on the activities list?" Bulkhead asked, unintentionally quoting Jack from a minute ago.
Feedback from a nearby speaker had all bots and teens cringing at the loud noise before it died down, allowing them to turn and see Miko having hooked her guitar up to an amplifier. "How about band practice?"
Paige smirked and crossed her arms, cocking her hip to one side. "Careful, Miko. We have a bunch of beginners here."
"Oh, relax." Miko waved her hand dismissively. "They'll be fine." Her friend simply rolled her eyes half-heartedly in response.
"But we're not a band," Raf piped up, still hovering his hands over his sensitive ears.
"Why so antisocial? Come on, Raf! You play anything?"
"Um…" He looked around for something before scooping up his laptop and holding it hesitantly. "Keyboard?"
"Laptops and samples, good." Miko nodded her approval before turning towards the other male. "Jack?"
"I sometimes mess around on the harmonica," he admitted while rubbing his neck sheepishly.
"Do I look like I do country? Just cover yourself in fake blood and jump around screaming." Miko started to walk away from him.
"Uh…"
Paige walked over and lightly nudged his elbow with her own. "Just go with it for now. Sometimes you find it's easier to just go along with it to please her." She rolled her eyes and then smiled at him. "But harmonica, huh? Play it for me sometime? I'd love to listen."
"Oh, uh… sure." He rubbed his neck sheepishly, returning her smile.
"Paige!" They turned to see Miko pointing at the brunette, a knowing smirk on her face. "You'll be our vocalist."
"Naturally~" She made a show of flipping her hair before placing her hand on her hip, returning the smirk.
"Naturally?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow at her in confusion and curiosity.
She shrugged nonchalantly. "She thinks I'm a decent singer."
"Uh, you mean good," Miko corrected her like it was obvious, making Paige roll her eyes. She then whipped around and pointed her finger up at Bulkhead and Swiftblade, startling them both. "You two! Percussion. We'll go for a big industrial sound. DIY, we're a band! You just…gotta learn the songs." She leaned towards Paige with a mischievous grin. "This one's a ballad. 'My Fist, Your Face'!"
"Oh, here we go. Prepare your ears~" Paige crossed her arms with a smile as she watched her friend start strumming on the guitar. The volume was louder than it probably should have been, and she could already hear Ratchet complaining about the noise level if he were there. She inwardly cringed but managed to be the only one not covering her ears.
It wasn't that Miko was a bad guitarist. Quite the contrary, she was rather good at it. It was simply the fact that she had set it to such a loud volume setting that was the issue.
Due to being able to withstand the noise somewhat, Paige was the first one to notice the flashing green light signaling the alarm going off. She couldn't hear it over the noise, but she ran over and shook Miko's shoulder to get her to stop. She did and opened her mouth to protest.
"The alarm," she called loudly, gaining everyone's attention as the teens looked to the bots for answers.
Swiftblade was quick to identify it. "Proximity sensor!"
"Quick, hide!" Bulkhead ordered.
The sound of the elevator descending had the teens scrambling for a hiding place. Paige dove behind Swiftblade's foot and leaned her back against him while the other three hid behind Bulkhead's foot. The elevator chimed and Agent Fowler was already demanding attention. "Prime!"
"Agent Fowler," Swiftblade greeted him calmly, making sure to stand still as he could feel his charge leaning against the back of his foot. "Optimus isn't here at the moment."
"N-nobody's here," Bulkheaded added with a nervous chuckle. "Except us, of course."
Way to play it smooth, big guy. Paige mused as she focused on breathing as quietly as possible.
"Well, where did he go? Wait- Don't tell me. He's out pancaking a mini-mall!"
The rest of his rant was lost on Paige's ears as the familiar sound of feedback from the speaker caught her attention. She whipped her head around to see Miko fighting to keep a hold of her guitar while Raf and Jack tried to hold her back by her waist and wrist. She cringed as she realized the cord was still plugged into the guitar and it had reached its max length. The feedback sound was due to Bulkhead shuffling his foot to try and keep the teens hidden while Fowler walked around on the catwalk.
There's no way he's not going to notice. We're so dead.
Sure enough, Fowler cut his rant short as a particularly loud squeal of feedback caught his attention. "Since when are you bots electric?"
Paige sighed and rubbed her face in exasperation. She then stepped out of hiding as the others did. She leaned against the side of Swiftblade's foot with crossed arms, watching Fowler cautiously as he fought to keep his temper from boiling over.
"Contact with civilians! Team Prime has really gone off-book this time. Wait- don't tell me. You're running a daycare center!"
"Uh…" Bulkhead and Swiftblade exchanged a nervous glance. Neither were sure how to explain the situation or come up with a good excuse that would convince the man.
"We're…interns!" Jack offered, trying to help salvage the situation. Paige frowned, already seeing the situation crash and burn further.
"Student interns," Raf corrected.
"E-Earning extra credit in autoshop-"
"-robotics!"
Paige actually dropped her head into her hand with a defeated sigh as Miko and Jack spoke two different subjects at the same time, totally counteracting their argument and digging themselves a deeper hole. Nice try, guys…
"Okay… Let's move." Fowler obviously didn't buy it and began descending the stairs to ground level, heading over to them. "I'm taking all four of you into federal custody. It's for your own protection!"
Bulkhead slammed his foot down between the man and the teens, startling the humans with his boldness. "We're protecting them."
"Is that so?" Fowler scowled and started walking over to a landline phone against the stairs. "Well, maybe you can explain that to my superiors at the Pentagon!"
Paige blanched and found herself running after the agent before she or the others could stop her. "Agent Fowler, sir!" She stopped several feet from him and straightened into the standard military salute, body straight and stiff with her right hand pointed at her forehead, eyes locked onto the man before her.
Everyone was shocked silent at her actions as Fowler faltered and turned to look at her in blatant dumbfounded confusion. He looked her up and down with a raised eyebrow, trying to figure her out. "...At ease, soldier."
Paige dropped her hand and relaxed her body from the stiff stance. "Sir, please reconsider and try to understand that this situation wasn't intentional on anyone's part," she pleaded, holding his gaze even as his frown deepened and he crossed his arms. "The Autobots saved us from a Decepticon attack outside of Jasper and they felt it was necessary to take up guard posts at our homes to make sure the Decepticons don't try to sniff us out."
His hard expression softened for a moment before deepening into a scowl again. "Well, I don't care what they felt because my superiors still have to know what's going on! If civilians are involved, we need to know."
Paige fought to keep from scowling back at him, instead allowing a grimace to pull at her face muscles. "But, sir-"
"That is final, young lady!" She didn't flinch when he jabbed a finger near her face before he turned and reached for the phone again. She scowled openly at his back, frustrated with his stubborn attitude. "Now I am going to call them and-" He didn't even get to finish his sentence once he pulled the phone from its hook.
"Don't use that phone!" Bulkhead jabbed his finger into it. "It's…out of order."
Agent Fowler sneered angrily and threw the phone down in a fit. "This isn't over, Bigfoot! Not by a long shot!" He stomped up the stairs to the elevator and then disappeared from view once the doors closed.
Bulkhead, Swiftblade, and Paige groaned loudly at the aftermath, the latter allowing her shoulders to sag in exasperation. She turned to shrug helplessly at the others. "Well… We tried."
"Whoa, dude!" Miko ran over to her, still having a firm hold on her guitar. "What was that?" Jack and Raf walked over to join them.
"Remember how I said my dad's a military man?" Paige asked Jack, receiving a nod of confirmation from him. "Well, he trained me in a lot of stuff. Including but not limited to military linguo and different weapon skills." She shrugged nonchalantly.
"So that's how you knew the proper salute?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I thought it would've helped at least a little bit, but I guess he just wasn't in a reasonable mood. I'd hate to be under his actual line of leadership with his attitude…" She rolled her eyes in annoyance at the thought.
"That was smart thinking," Swiftblade complimented, giving her a nod. She smiled sheepishly back at him.
Suddenly, a new alarm began ringing in a higher pitch. The sound caused Raf to cover his ears with a whimper and the two bots walked over to investigate the terminal.
"It's an S.O.S. from Fowler," Swiftblade announced in surprise, beginning to type in a command. Before he could finish, the alarm shut off. He scowled at it in frustration.
"Did you trace it?" Raf asked, noting his clenched fists.
Swiftblade sighed and shook his head, stepping back from the computers. "No. The location scan was incomplete."
"Oh well."
All eyes turned on the green bot who had shrugged uncaringly. Paige's jaw dropped, looking somewhere between appalled and flabbergasted at the blatant disregard for a distress signal.
"Bulkhead!" Swiftblade scolded, squaring his shoulders at the audacity of his teammate.
"Oh well? Seriously?" Jack asked, shocked.
"Fowler's a jerk!" Bulkhead defended, shrugging.
"Whoa! Whether you like the guy or not the Decepticons may have him!"
"And Agent Fowler knows your location," Raf added. He suddenly gulped nervously. "...our location!"
"And did we not just witness how fast Fowler backs down from a bot? The Cons will totally make him squeal!" Miko pointed out.
Paige stepped forward, giving the green bot a hard stare as she frowned. "Regardless of how everyone feels about the guy, I recall Optimus having a strictly 'no human casualties' rule. I'm pretty sure an S.O.S. alert is just as important to your culture as it is to ours. Agent Fowler wouldn't have triggered it unless he was seriously in danger!"
Bulkhead deflated at her words, looking reasonably guilty for his actions. "B-but we lost the transmission. Fowler could be anywhere!"
"Maybe I can narrow it down," Raf said as he dug his laptop out of his backpack and sat criss-cross with it. "About five years ago the government started microchipping their agents. You know, like owners do with pets." When silence followed his words, he looked up. "What? I saw it on TV!"
Jack and Miko turned their questioning gazes on Paige. It took her a moment to realize what they were silently asking and she rolled her eyes. "He said agents, not soldiers."
"Anyway," Raf turned their focus back to him as he continued typing. "If I can hack into the fed's mainframe, maybe I can pinpoint Fowler's coordinates."
"You know how to hack? But you're - like - two years old!" That earned Miko an elbow jab in the ribs from Paige for the rude comment. They exchanged half-hearted glares with Miko sticking her tongue out childishly.
"Twelve, and a quarter." Raf told them with a smug smile, obviously proud.
Paige slung her arm around Miko's neck in a loose chokehold, making the girl squirm in her grasp. "Well, work your magic, bud! We've got ourselves a government official to save."
"We will be saving Agent Fowler," Swiftblade corrected in a serious tone, folding his arms across his chest as he stared down at his charge. "You four will be staying here."
Paige immediately raised her arms in the universal sign of 'surrender', coincidentally releasing her friend from her hold - who quickly hid behind Jack. "I never said us humans would be going," she defended herself. "I meant 'we' as a team effort. We help find the coordinates for you while you bring their walls down."
Swiftblade narrowed his eyes at her and she simply stared right back, not backing down.
"I got it!" Raf announced, drawing their attention. "Latitude 39.5, longitude 116.9."
Swiftblade turned and typed the coordinates into the terminal while Bulkhead opened the ground bridge. "Okay, wait here," Bulkhead told them as he and Swiftblade made their way towards the vortex. The black bot eyed the humans as he passed them, not fully trusting them to stay behind - with good reason.
"Aw, don't break up the band!" Miko whined. Paige shot her a look.
"Uh," Bulkhead paused to point over his shoulder. "Jack, you're in charge!"
Paige wasn't listening anymore. Movement caught her eye and she knew exactly what it was. Her feet were moving before she could even think about what she was doing. She was making a beeline for the bouncing pigtails several paces in front of her as the bots disappeared into the ground bridge ahead of them. As Miko disappeared right after them, the brunette dove straight at the spot the girl had stepped through, arms outstretched to snag her friend.
I'm going to wring her neck if the Decepticons don't get to her first!
And I leave you off with a cliffhanger! Don't worry, you'll get all the action in the next chapter ;)
Random thought... Am I the only one bothered that in other stories, people refer to the bots as Transformers instead of what they actually are - Cybertronians? The franchise is called Transformers, so in their universe they wouldn't refer to themselves as such. They're literal aliens from a planet called Cybertron. So, Cybertronians. Not Transformers. Idk it just bothers me every time I see it lol. I just don't think I'd see myself going "Look, it's a Transformer!" every time I saw one. I'd call them appropriately, but that's just me *shrugs* Besides, 'Cybertronian' sounds more sophisticated, proper, respectful, whatever other term that would go along those lines.
Also I think I'll make the update schedule every Tuesday, since it's my day off. Let's see if I actually stick to that schedule.
Thank you for reading and let me know your thoughts in a review!~