chapter eight
"So how many of you are showing up this time?" a clearly disgruntled Ember snipped, her arms crossed over her chest as she stared at Optimus. The Autobot leader was completely unfazed by the woman's obvious annoyance, a fact that amused Sing to no end. He was currently perched on Prime's shoulder, enjoying being high enough that the commanding officer couldn't do much more than glare at him and his grin. "You do realize that sooner or later, we're going to run out of space?"
Sing could not stop himself. "With all due respect, ma'am, when? In the next century or two?" He thought he heard Optimus chuckle at that one. The massive Autobot had warmed up to Sing rather nicely in the few weeks they'd been on base together. This made Sing inordinately pleased. It was nice to have someone that wasn't either trigger-happy, immature, or completely uncultured to speak with. Optimus returned the sentiment.
Ember's glare increased. "Soldier, I do not believe you are at liberty to tell me what resources we do or do not have." she snipped. Suddenly, probably sensing Optimus's shift in moods, she changed tactics. "Look – all I'm doing is telling you what my commanding officer told me. Despite what you may think, I do have to answer to someone higher-up than me." She spread her hands imploringly.
Optimus sighed. "I do understand that." he assured her. "Only four will be arriving this time. In a few months, however, more will be coming with the Ark. Which means we will be able to take shelter off of your planet when we need to."
The CO's eyes narrowed slightly. Sing shifted, leaning in closer to Prime's 'ears'. "I wouldn't say any more about the Ark than you absolutely have to." he advised quietly. "There's no telling what they'll want to do with it if they learn too much about it." Optimus nodded slightly.
A bright yellow Camaro pulled up beside Optimus and unfolded into Bumblebee. He looked from Prime, who was kneeling so Ember didn't have to strain so much looking up, and followed his example. Optimus shifted his attention to Bumblebee. What did you learn?
Wheeljack sent his report – Hound, Bluestreak, and Cliffjumper are coming with him. the spy informed him. Optimus nodded, satisfied now. Hound and Bluestreak would be no problem with the humans, and neither would Wheeljack – so long as his experiments stayed off-planet – but Cliffjumper might prove a problem. Before he could form a question, though, Bumblebee continued. He also said that Jetfire was bringing the Ark with him.
Ah. Jetfire. That explained a lot. Dismissing Bumblebee, Prime watched as the yellow mech made his way over to where Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Jones, and O'Connell were resting before returning his focus to Ember. The woman looked annoyed, but not unduly so. Apparently interruptions were as much a part of the human military as they were the Autobots.
"Your people seem to be oddly attached to our soldiers." she said quietly.
Optimus simply stared at her. "Perhaps. Did you expect us to keep to ourselves?"
"To be honest, we hoped for it." Ember sighed. "Ah, well, I need to report back. Thank you for your information." She snapped a salute, turned on her heel, and walked away. Sing watched her go, snapping his own salute out of habit.
"I don't think she likes us." he said quietly.
"I doubt it myself." Optimus agreed. "Still, she is only doing her job."
"Maybe. Her job doesn't mean harassing you about bringing in more soldiers. That's exactly what Starscream's been doing anyway." Sing muttered. Optimus stood up, unconsciously raising a hand so Sing didn't lose his balance. He had grown used to having the human perched on his shoulder like this. It was getting to the point where Anna's team was rarely ever seen outside the company of their chosen Autobots. Optimus wasn't sure if that was a good thing, but he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it. They sought out the Autobots, and on the rare occasions when something kept them occupied, the Autobots would go looking for them.
He supposed it was simply in their nature to protect others.
"Optimus!"
Sing and Optimus turned at the same time to see the black Topkick come barreling across the base to skid to a halt a decent distance away from Prime's feet. Anna quickly got out, and Ironhide resumed his mech form. He wasted no time with formalities. "Decepticons are on the move! Soundwave, Devastator, and Barricade are heading our way."
"They've found the base." Sing murmured.
Optimus didn't hesitate. "Autobots, gather!" He waited the brief minutes it took for his soldiers to gather around him. Unsurprisingly, the humans came as well. While most of the soldiers continued to go about their daily business, O'Connell and Jones stayed with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, Stringer with Ratchet, and Epps with Jazz. Anna stuck by Ironhide, tilting her head back to see what was going on. She grinned up at Sing.
"Enjoying the view?" she teased.
"For once, I'm taller than you!" Sing shot back with an easy grin.
"No fair using the giant robot as a ladder."Anna retorted. Sing just laughed at her.
Optimus interrupted. "The Decepticons are converging on the base. No doubt these three are merely the scouting party. We need a more secluded area to fight them." He scanned his group. To his surprise, Bumblebee, Sam, and Mikaela had also joined the odd gathering. They, out of all of them, knew exactly what was at stake. "Bumblebee, what do you know about the surrounding area?"
"No clear sites available for at least sixty miles in any direction." Bumblebee reported. His voice was slightly staticky, but at least he was speaking now without soundbytes. Mikaela tilted her head, thinking.
"That's not quite true." she said slowly. "The Palatka landfill is about thirty miles west of here. It's been abandoned for a while – Trent used to hold parties out there when he wanted to impress everyone." She rolled her eyes. "It's about ten square miles of nothing but trash."
"Perfect place for Decepticons." Sunstreaker said. Sideswipe nodded assent.
Ratchet frowned. "How do you know about this place and Bumblebee doesn't?"
Sam grinned. "No one put it on the books to keep people away from it. So computer searching would get you nowhere fast." Ratchet nodded, clearly not amused with that situation. Bumblebee simply flashed him a grin. Optimus reached up and gently lowered Sing to the ground.
"Time to roll out." he declaired.
A look passed around the humans, and a decision was reached. Anna stepped forward. "We're going with you." she said.
Ironhide glanced down at her. "It's dangerous." he warned.
Epps laughed. "We're Marines, man. Dangerous is what we do."
Optimus hesitated. "I don't want anyone hurt."
Anna sighed. "Look. We're small, mean, and downright ugly when we have to be. On the plus side, now that we're properly armed and informed, we can provide distractions, extra help for Ratchet – heck, we can even take on that bug and keep him off your backs. The point is, we're useful, and we plan on being useful. So we're coming with you."
Ironhide chuckled. "I don't think she's giving us an option, Prime."
"No, I would say not." Optimus almost smiled at them. "Then we must inform your commanding officers before leaving."
"You got it." With that Ironhide transformed, Anna got in, and the two headed back to the buildings. Optimus sighed again.
Useful, definitely. Expendable, never.
/-----/
An: Okay, having just started watching Gen-1, I'm not really familiar with some of the characters just yet. So if anyone knows the alt modes of Wheeljack, Bluestreak, Cliffjumper, and Hound, I'd greatly appreciate it. Review, please!