"Thank you for trusting me," the human Prime said.
"You made a wise choice, Sam. I would be a fool not to trust it. Mai is a survivor like all of us and it is her free choice how to live her life. She now knows she isn't along."
Like the other two Sector Seven experiments.
"She didn't feel broken either," Sam told the tall mech. "She's a sane mind and she's been active long enough to be called stable."
"Blaster is watching her, Sam. She won't be alone. Are you sure the humans with her don't know what she is?"
"As far as I could tell, no. I mean, Baracus talks to his car, but humans tend to do that sometimes. And Murdock's a bit on the unstable and insane side most of the time. If he talks to her, it's not because he knows. He talks to an invisible dog called Billie."
Optimus nodded. "We will keep them under surveillance. As long as Mai isn't in danger and the humans with her don't prove to be one for us, there is no reason to intervene. Tom agrees with me. He has already taken the first steps to keep this human called Decker in line." A brief smile crossed his features. "We might one day need this team's skills."
Sam chuckled, then grew serious. "The more allies who know about you guys and the mechs created by Sector Seven, the better. And they really are an impressive team."
"I have asked Jazz to keep track of them with Blaster's help. They won't be alone out there should something unforeseen happen."
Sam's face darkened. "Like a Con?"
"Possibly."
"We should talk to them. They have to know, Optimus. If they discover Mai's true identity, that they are driving a mech, not a van, things might spiral out of control."
"I respect Mai's wishes, Sam."
"But that respect can only go so far," he argued.
It got Sam a chuckle. From what he picked up, Optimus was impressed and amused by his fierceness.
"For now we watch. I agree that we have to make contact in some way one day, but not today."
He crossed his arms in front of his chest, shaking his head. "This isn't like Firebolt. His team knew. They protected him, not the other way around. Mai is undercover and she knows we have discovered her. What if they run into real trouble, like a Decepticon sneaking around Earth? We might not be able to get there in time to keep a lid on things."
"It's something we have to risk. They operate under the radar, just like we do, Sam. Give this a little to settle. Jazz knows what's at stake. He won't endanger either the humans or the mech."
Sam knew he had to accept the decision. He also knew it was a logical one. He just didn't like it. He had been in contact with Mai and he knew she was protective of the A-Team. She would react fiercely should someone threaten them.
In the end he nodded and left the office, deep in thought. He contacted Blaster via the comm. room and asked the communicator to keep him updated on what the A-Team was doing. It gave him a little peace.
x x x x x x x
Bumblebee was back on Earth a week later and Sam was rather happy to see him. Barricade had been his shadow in that time, a dark, foreboding presence that told everyone to back off if the technopath needed space. Sam was as always amused, without letting it show too much, and to keep the peace – his own and at the base – he chose to work out of his home on base grounds. The discovery of Mai and the A-Team had him dig deeper into their lives and histories, as well as Mai's origins. She had been vague about when she had been born. Not because she wanted to hide something but because she really didn't know.
By the time Bumblebee was back and had taken over as Sam's primary anchor – which gave Barricade some much needed rest as well and had him leave with Jazz to some unspecified location – Sam had traced Mai's birth somewhere into the eighties. She was rather old and settled for such a violently created mech life form.
Sam found something beautiful in that. Not all experiments had turned out to be raving lunatics with a penchant to kill and maim. With so many still not accounted for, he hoped that some had actually thrived and become something just as wonderful as the three they had found.
Bumblebee ran a gentle caress over his back and he leaned into the contact, finding even more beauty in that touch. It was different with his partner than with Barricade. Both were his anchors, but only one touched him that deeply. Barricade was a no-nonsense, cool but surprisingly gentle and compassionate anchor who wouldn't let Sam get lost in the abyss of his own mind. Bumblebee was soft and warm and perfectly attuned to not only his mind but everything else that was Sam.
Something rippled along the bond and Sam opened his eyes, smiling as he discovered Bumblebee's hardlight form. It was new and they both found more satisfaction in the technopathic link, but his partner was happily experimenting with the limitations the holoform presented. He was also rather cunning at developing resources within those limits.
Sam liked being a part of those experimentations since it meant touching. He and Lennox had never talked about that particular aspect of being bonded to a mechanical life form, but he knew how far Ironhide had gone in trying to make up for the lack of human touches. Technopathy helped in that regard; it gave Sam an advantage. But feeling the caress of hands under his shirt and on his skin was something no amount of mind-linking could make up for. Adding the physical to the technopathical… well, right now it was over in a short amount of time and left Sam breathing hard.
The whirring of air vents from his partner told its own story.
Sam grinned – despite the fact that he now needed to change.
The holoform smirked and Bumblebee leaned forward.
"How often do you think I can make you overload?"
Sam pulled him close. "I'm up for finding that one out… after I get out of these clothes."
Bumblebee leaned even closer and brushed their lips together. For Sam the contact was almost electric and he shuddered. His mind wrapped itself even closer around the presence of his bonded and he knew he wouldn't get out of any clothes any time soon if this continued.
Strangely, he didn't care.
Bumblebee in an experimental mood was way more interesting than the topic of pesky clothes. Especially since the mech liked taking them off him. The pulse of the powerful spark meshed with the rising need in his mind and Sam surrendered to the gentle pressure to let go.
x x x x x x x
Several miles out in the desert Barricade did the same as his spark merged with Jazz's, buoyed forward by the pulses he felt from the still existing life-line Sam had forgotten to take down. A life-line he had purposefully not disconnected. Twenty years into this he had found that the echoes from the human technopath had strangely interesting effects on his and Jazz's connection as well.
::Perv:: Jazz murmured fondly and found a particular connection that had the shock-trooper dig sharp claws into armor crevices.
::It's your fault, Autobot::
::Mine?:: Blue optics lit up.
::You suggested it::
Now Jazz laughed. ::I never knew you were such an experimental mech, Cade. Me like::
Barricade silenced his bonded by opening up his side of the connection fully, and Jazz's optics flickered, then went dark as they sank into a complete bond, Sharing.
He didn't have to explain himself. He didn't want to think about the implications of what he was doing. He had no responsibilities other than keeping his bonded and the technopath alive and well.
::I love you, too:: Jazz murmured drowsily.
And he really had to keep his partner from watching so many human romance movie.
::As if::
::Shut up, Autobot::
::Make me::
Oh, he would. Jazz looked downright cheeky as he picked up Barricade's intentions and the former Decepticon growled.
Challenge accepted.
x x x x x x xx x x x x x xx x x x x x xx x x x x x xx x x x x x xx x x x x x xx x x x x x xx x x x x x xx x x x x x xx x x x x x xx x x x x x xx x x x x x xx x x x x x x
It had been six months since the last time and today, for the first time, he finally knew where it all came from. Looking at the van, he let the thunderstorm run its course and he could see it. He could see the difference in the van compared to the other cars.
Face almost smiled.
A silver sports car and a black Mustang had had the same 'buzz', the same thunderstorm in his head, and he had noticed them on several occasions throughout their last job. It had been an easy one and it had given the team the satisfaction of helping a farming community survive against a ruthless landowner who had wanted more. He had gone as far as poisoning the water.
Now he was out of business, out of funds, and the community would survive.
"They're like you, right?" he murmured, leaning against the van, enjoying the cooler air compared to the heat of the past weeks.
B.A. had already dropped off Murdock. The next few days was down-time and the team could do what they wanted. B.A. had planned to spend some time with a youth center he knew close by. Hannibal had simply raised an eyebrow at Face and the younger man had shrugged. He didn't really want to go anywhere. He wanted to have some peace and quiet, which was an unusual feeling. Normally he jumped head-first at the opportunity to con his way into a horrendously expensive spa resort, enjoy the luxury, and the company of the ladies.
The thunderstorm and the knowledge just what was lurking among them had him reconsider.
He had never talked to a car. He wasn't Murdock, who talked to invisible animals. He wasn't B.A., who loved his black van. The past six months he had tried to ignore the knowledge, though it had been hard. He had tried to ignore the thunderstorm, which had been harder.
Waiting for B.A. and Hannibal, he put on his sunglasses and gazed at the sky.
"I can see the difference," Face said softly, to no one in particular. "I never knew that the buzz was me seeing you. Anyone of you. Do you know I can recognize you?"
It almost felt like the van shifted a little.
He smiled.
"I saw you in the motel parking lot. I thought it was a dream. More like a nightmare. Now I know it isn't. I know you're not what you seem to be." A brief chuckle escaped him. "Welcome to a team where this is the norm."
He patted the van's side as he pushed away.
"Maybe talk to you later." He hadn't really expected an answer.
And he walked away.
"Wait," a soft, female voice said and Face froze in his tracks.
Female?
It almost made him laugh out loud. Female! Who would have thought? And it was a rather pleasant voice as well.
"Have you told the others?" the female voice asked and she sounded apprehensive.
"No. No, I haven't. I didn't know that the sensation, the thunderstorm, was you. Or the others."
She was silent, then his cell buzzed and he looked at the display. It read 'Mai'.
"Please pick up?"
"You're Mai?"
"Yes."
He answered the phone.
"I want to trust you with the truth," she said.
He felt something inside of him freeze. Trust. Trust him. Not many had done that in the past and of those who had, three made up the rest of the A-Team.
Finally, former Army lieutenant Templeton 'Face' Peck made a choice.
"Will you trust us?" he asked.
"I want to," Mai answered.
And then she started to talk. She told Face everything she knew and he suddenly understood. He understood what had happened twenty years ago; at least more than before. He understood that for the past two decades aliens had been among them. He understood that he could somehow sense them, that the explosion that had failed to kill him had changed his brain. Murdock wasn't the only crazy person now.
And he understood that Mai wasn't the only one of her kind. There were others and the Cybertronian aliens supported and protected them.
"They are watching us?"
"Yes."
"I can't talk for the rest of the team, but I want to talk to them."
Because he could tell them apart from the normal cars and other vehicles. Because this concerned him.
Mai hesitated.
"I know the silver sports car is one of them. I'll find it if you can't get me in contact with them." Face watched as Hannibal came closer. His team leader looked quizzical, seeing his second-in-command on the phone.
In that moment he made a decision.
He snapped the phone shut and waited for his commanding officer to reach him.
"We need to talk, Hannibal. Alone."
Mai seemed to shiver, but he ignored her. The thunderstorm in his head increased and he noticed a black Mustang park across the road. The silver one was nowhere to be seen.
Hannibal studied him, eyes sharp, face neutral. He finally nodded and gestured at him to walk with him.
It was time to come clean, Face decided. Now that he understood what had happened to him a bit better.