Reunions - Part Three

Author's Note, added later on 8/23/07: Section breaks hopefully added correctly this time. I thought I had marked each one correctly, but it looks like I fail at FFNet formatting. I hope I get it right in the rest of the chapters. Sorry for the rough read, it should look better now. prays

Lennox stretched as he yawned, padding over to the window to try to gauge the temperature outside by the breeze, or lack thereof. He ended up snapping his jaw shut upon seeing the two unfamiliar vehicles in his driveway. Then the sleep-hazy memory of the previous night came back to him, and he sighed loudly.

"What is it, Will?" Sarah called sleepily.

"Visitors," he mumbled. "I wish they would just set up camp here."

Her response was a bewildered, "What..?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Two of Arcstrom's friends arrived last night. I need to debrief them on what went down the other day."

"I'm starting to think they bring trouble with them. What do they want?"

"I'll find out after breakfast." Will rubbed his eyes and staggered toward the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Windcharger was snoring. Gears tried to ignore it, but finally gave up and bumped the back of the sedan. "You have gall scolding me about noise! Did Ratchet not fix the problem with your intakes?"

"Hmm-what?" came the bleary reply.

"Oh, go back to recharge mode," Gears sighed. "I will let you know when Captain Lennox comes out."

" 'Captain' isn't my first name," Will said, having caught the last whispered comment as he stepped off the path. He finished off the last piece of a bagel and waited, expecting another Q&A session with aliens naive to human customs.

"Yes, yes, I am aware. I was showing respect. Shall we proceed with the details of the incident involving Ratbat? Windcharger, wake up!" Gears honked his horn.

Lennox tapped the green vehicle's hood. "Could you keep it down, please? I have a sleeping baby in the house and we prefer to let her sleep for as long as the heaven's allow."

"No timed recharge?" Windcharger asked curiously.

"Unfortunately, no. She's a growing girl but hasn't gotten out of the fussy stage yet. By the way, can I sit down for this?"

There was a moment's debate between the two vehicles, then Gears opened his passenger side door. "I am not used to having a passenger, so..."

"Don't worry. I've hitched a ride enough lately to know not to be a hindrance." Lennox slid into the seat and glanced at the radio. "You listening in, Windcharger?"

"I read you loud and clear."

"All right. Here's what happened." Lennox recounted his experience of seeing a protoform land and subsequent kidnapping by a Decepticon. He described his rescue and Ratbat's assault on Ironhide, and the intervention by Chromia. He also admitted his unease over Ratbat's escape. He would have preferred to have seen the mechanical rodent in pieces. The two Autobots agreed.

After a few questions were answered, Windcharger and Gears shared thoughts with each other, then enlightened Lennox. "The concern over Ratbat appearing," Windcharger said, "Is that he is known to work with a certain group, and where there is one of them, there are others."

"How many others?" Lennox asked, clasping his chin as he began a mental list of who to call in.

"We do not have a current roster. We know of eight, including Ratbat, with at least two confirmed terminated."

"So, I only need to worry about five of them?" Will glanced around as if expecting said Decepticons to have surrounded them while they had been talking.

"No," Gears huffed, "There is a high percentage chance their master built more in the past two millennia."

Lennox sighed and shook his head, clasping the handle to open the door. "I have to put in a call. I can't sit and wait to see what might show up. I don't doubt your skills as warriors, but with the numbers you're suggesting, I won't take a chance waiting to see for myself."

"You are allowed to do as you like," Windcharger said, puzzled by the human's defensive tone. "From what I was told of the actions of your military team, I would like for them to be informed. They are very brave warriors."

Lennox nodded as he stepped clear of Gears. "I'll see if I can pull some strings to get the boys together. Don't want to set off a panic, but we seriously need to be prepared. Ratbat was more than enough proof for me, and if Ironhide or Chromia can send visual evidence to your guy in DC, we'll be able to convince the Secretary of Defense and the President that it's time to act again."

From somewhere nearby the cry of a mountain lion echoed off the side of the house. Lennox spun around, but there was nothing to be seen. The wildlife was getting more bold each day.

Ratchet peered around at the Autobots gathered in the repair bay. Perceptor and Huffer were engaged in a discussion involving a lot of pointing by the latter. Rattlelatch was poking at the pile of parts on the table in front of him while Moonracer was chatting with Broadcast. The communications officer was there so Ratchet could continue work on his remote connections with Rhythm and Blues. The others had assignments to carry out.

"May I have your attention, please?" The medic called out. They didn't quiet down immediately, so he slammed a fist down on his work table and repeated calmly, "Your attention. Thank you." He looked around at them one more time before continuing. "I have sent you the schematics for what I need each team to build today. I trust there will be no arguing." He glanced pointedly at Huffer. "It is important that we stay focused. I know everyone has been venting their frustration over the war, but your energies would be best spent doing something constructive."

Huffer and Rattlelatch both lowered their heads in silent acknowledgment of the reprimand.

"I am giving you something constructive to do." Ratchet gestured to the tables in front of the group, folding his arms as the only signal they should have needed to begin. He watched Huffer in particular, but the shorter bot was already into the job, projecting a three-dimensional light version of the assembly assigned to himself and Perceptor. Rattlelatch began pointing out the first series of parts to Moonracer, who slapped a wrench against one palm as she nodded along.

Ratchet gave a pleased smile and looked toward his own pile of components. Broadcast was on his way over, although he had yet to call Rhythm and Blues down from their shelf. "Hey, doc," the small mech said thoughtfully -- and quietly -- as he climbed onto the table. "You think this's gonna work?"

"What is?"

"This base. This crew. I mean, I'm pickin' up squabblin' all over the lines. It's like so much time apart amped up ev'rybody's most annoyin' qualities."

"I think," Ratchet said slowly, still mulling things over as he spoke, "Everyone needs time to adjust. We have all become accustomed to traveling in small groups. I assume you have not heard disention when one member of a team is with another of that same team?" Broadcast nodded. "I believe everyone will settle down over time. We all wanted this in our sparks, after all. To rebuild our community and be free to function as we choose."

Broadcast nodded again. "Rock on, m'man."

Ratchet blinked and stared at him, then muttered, "I am going to perform a diagnostic on your vocal processor..."

"Hey now, what were we just talkin' about? Gotta accept ev'ryone as they are t'make this reunion party work. Just 'cause I'm talkin' like this don't mean I got a glitch." His antennae array perked up. "Hey, that rhymed."

Ratchet snorted. "Please do not make it a habit."

"Just havin' fun, Ratch. C'mon, let's get down to business." His antennae settled back into position. Rhythm and Blues emerged from one of the bottoms shelves, performing flips and somersaults on their way to the work table.

Ironhide and Chromia caught up to Optimus as he was relieving Arcee from watch. The two females exchanged greetings while Ironhide gestured for his leader to step aside with him. "Did you receive the reports, Optimus?"

"Yes, and acted on them." Optimus put a hand on the warrior's shoulder, knowing what reaction would meet his next words. "I sent Windcharger and Gears to guard William and his family. They will report immediately if any trace of a Decepticon appears."

Ironhide's optics flared. "I could have easily turned around and remained there!"

"You were damaged." Optimus raised a hand to stop the upcoming protest. "It was better that you and Chromia returned here."

"How are we to get to the scene in time if there is trouble again?!"

"We have Tracks now. Also, do not forget that Windcharger and Gears are warriors proven in their own right."

"I'm going back." Ironhide scowled and turned -- and bumped right into Chromia. He grabbed for her arm to steady her.

"Oh!" She blinked at him, then looked from him to Optimus and back. "What was that about?"

"Optimus sent others to guard Will, thinking he could still be in danger. I -- I should have thought of such a chance and remained there!" Ironhide clenched his fists.

Chromia patted his arm. "We were both sufficiently distracted and overlooked the possibility of another attack."

Ironhide pushed her hand away. "But I should have realized it!" He turned to stomp down the hall. "I will have Ratchet run a diagnostic. If my systems are all green, I am going back out there."

Chromia watched him leave, then traded glances with Optimus. "He is being perceptive of his age. On our return journey he told me he regretted endangering the life of William Lennox, since he was the one who suspected it was a Decepticon they would be facing."

Optimus nodded. "I feared he would view it that way. He is very fond of William as his friend, although he knows William is trained as a professional soldier. Do you wish to accompany him?"

"If it will not short staff the base, yes."

"It will not." Optimus paused, then added, "Please keep watch on him."

"Of course I will." Chromia saluted out of habit then hurried after Ironhide. She slapped a hand down on his right shoulder and yanked him around to face her. "Are you questioning the abilities of your fellow Autobots?! There are potential assignments elsewhere that require your skills! If there is a threat of more Decepticons, you should be here, helping to plan an offense." He tried to pull away but she held on stubbornly and continued, "There could be people other than William who are in danger -- he is not our only human ally."

Ironhide started to growl something but she met his optics, initiating a glaring contest. Neither backed down. Chromia tightened her grip, then shoved her face up close to his, demanding, "Present your answer, soldier!"

"I acknowledge!" Ironhide finally spoke, his voice still a growl. "I am accountable for the harm that could come to designation: Captain Lennox!"

The formal response made Chromia release him, but she held her glare. "You were released from that responsibility. He is in capable hands. You know your duty. If your commanding officer orders you to provide back up, then you go. But you were not given that order!" She stepped back, folding her arms across her chest.

Ironhide tried to stare her down, but it could only end in a stalemate. He said calmly, "No one dares to challenge me like that."

"Get used to it," she warned, although her voice was softer now. "The more Autobots that arrive, the more we will all have to adjust to a larger group. I can tell you are accustomed to planning for the four members of your team. The others are accustomed to the same smaller numbers. We must learn to trust each other again, since all we have known for the past several centuries are those few numbers." She paused, once more meeting his optics. "And I may not be the only one accustomed to being alone. However, I remember where my place was, and even though Optimus said I need not worry about rank at this time, I will still abide by it."

"I would expect nothing less from a former colonel."

Chromia nodded once. "I will understand if Prime restructures the entire command chain based on who returns. Until then, we must try to act rationally."

Ironhide still looked annoyed, but took an at-ease stance. "I would feel better knowing the status of Will and his family."

"Than ask what you can do to help instead of charging off."

He looked her up and down. "This, from the femme who took off after Ratbat without being certain her backup was following."

"As I recall, I had to save you because you did not keep up."

"I provided a distraction in order for you to damage him further."

"I am quite certain that was your strategy all along."

While the two traded jabs, Optimus came up behind them. "Ah, good. Thank you for detaining him, Chromia. Ironhide, I have an assignment for you." He smiled to himself, glad to see the two back together. They acted as the voice of reason to each other. If one of them went off half-cocked, the other would attempt to ground them. Worked every time.

Rattlelatch glanced from the helf-assembled device in front of him to where Ratchet stood tinkering with Blues. The shorter green mech deactivated the micro laser that formed out of his right arm, then slowly approached the medic's table, hoping Ratchet would notice him so he wouldn't have to interrupt.

Ratchet did notice, and set down his tools to raise a hand to his face and scratch one of the tusk-like projections beside his mouth, eying Rattlelatch in a way that warned him the interruption had better be important.

"I, uh, devised several alternate modifications for the device Moonracer and I are building. I understand the intention you had when you designed it. However, if I could offer suggestions?" If Arcee had been there she would have seen that Rattlelatch was still meek around higher-ranking bots.

Ratchet gave a small smile. "I was hoping someone would. Go ahead."

A little startled at being given a chance so easily, Rattlelatch gathered his thoughts again before speaking. "Based on the original schematics, three modifications could add to the flight maneuverability and greatly increase the speed to almost sonic levels."

Ratchet nodded as the shorter bot went into the technical details, impressed by how much more engineering knowledge Rattlelatch was applying as opposed to quick fixes. The latter knowledge was still useful at times, but Rattlelatch needed to choose an actual professional approach. He nodded one final time. "I concur. Make the adjustments and perhaps we can field test it by this evening."

A smile lit Rattlelatch's face. "We will start immediately." He turned away but stopped and looked back at the medic. "Thank you."

"You are welcome. Now, hurry." Ratchet made a shooing motion, then returned to his work.

Meanwhile, Broadcast had been sitting at the far end of the table, looking bored as he put Rhythm through some paces. The boombox had his head propped on one fist, elbow balanced on his thigh while he directed the miniature mech with his other hand. "Say, Ratch? Are we done for the day?"

"What are you now in a hurry for?" Ratchet jerked his hand back from a sudden burst of sparks in Blues' secondary processor. The medic muttered about crossed wires and proceeded to fix the issue.

"Just because I can coordinate the lines from here don't mean I want to stay here all day. Got things to do, y'know."

"Such as..?"

"Studyin' some more human culture. It'd be nice t' finish gettin' a grasp on things before I get on the air with the government."

"I am sure they will appreciate the culture shock," Ratchet said with a dry chuckle.

"But that's my point about studyin'--"

"Rock music and street slang are generally not part of human politics."

Broadcast scowled. "Buncha squares."

Ratchet laughed louder this time, drawing glances from the others. He looked pointedly at Broadcast so they knew why. There were nods and everyone returned to their work. After a few minutes Perceptor approached to give his idea for modifications. Inside Ratchet was grinning like a maniac. He would have a formidable science and engineering team in no time.

Chromia watched Ironhide and Tracks face off with more than a little irritation. Ironhide had been correct to use the term 'vainglorious'. She had plenty of descriptions she could add to that. She sensed that Tracks had a reason for his bravado, but the blue mech needed to learn to suppress that -- and quickly. Not just because they were scheduled to roll out in the next hour, but because it would not do to continue clashing with his senior officer.

Which was, unfortunately, the root of the problem.

Tracks jabbed a thumb toward himself. "I am more suited to lead this mission! As I understand it, your approaches are still antiquated. It will take someone much younger to coordinate a proper--"

"BLOW IT OUT YOUR EXHAUST PIPE!" came Ironhide's interruption. Chromia couldn't help but laugh at the flattened look on Tracks' face. It appeared he hadn't expected the seasoned warrior to switch to high volume so soon. Ironhide snorted and loomed closer to the younger mech. "Go ask Prime yourself if you want to second-guess his decision. I lead, you follow, and you are to be ready at a nanosecond to take off for the hot zone! If you have difficulty with that, I will find another way even if I have to ask Prime to order someone to reformat. You chose to keep your flight mode, so accept that you will be under someone who will order you to put it to use!"

Tracks thrust his chest forward and lifted his head to indicate he would not be intimidated by the taller mech. "Well then, at that point I would relinquish command to you. I have recent experience with interspecies liaisons and battle, while you have been resting on your struts for the past six months!"

Ironhide's cannons formed up and his optics flared. Chromia tensed to intervene. "Then what would you call the incident from three days ago?"

"Careless," Tracks proclaimed with a dismissing wave of his hand. Ironhide whipped both cannons up but they were knocked aside even more quickly by two swipes of Tracks' right arm. In the same instant the blue mech brought up his left arm and had a laser gun muzzle pointed at Ironhide's ruined right-side face plating. "You see? My reaction time is far superior."

Ironhide seethed. Chromia could feel it and knew Tracks was in for a world of hurt when there was time for Ironhide to put him in his place. She watched them for a second longer then formed up her arm cannon and fired a low-strength but still bright pulse blast between them, barely missing armor on both of them. "I lead, you will both be silent."

Tracks still looked resentful, but he nodded, glaring at Ironhide once more before turning to stalk off toward the garage exit.

Ironhide glared after him with narrowed optics, growling unintelligibly. Chromia patted his shoulder. "He will learn. Do not let it hinder our assignment."

"Hmph. I have to look at him the entire time, do I not?"

"Consider it in this manner: If you are looking at him, it means he has not been sent to deal with an emergency elsewhere." She peered at him keenly, waiting for the line of logic to sink in.

He grumbled an agreement.

She smacked the back of his shoulder. "You must calm down. You and Tracks have the same problem: you are looking for a battle. I have no doubt that we will find one. Then you can expend your energies."

"Tell him that." Ironhide gestured after Tracks.

"I will, later. Right now I know you will listen." She smiled, then headed for the entrance as well. Ironhide scowled but followed.

When they reached the garage, the communication unit on the wall buzzed, then Broadcast's voice issued forth. "Hey, before you two go, could you send me any visual data you got on the Ratbat fight? I got a suggestion from Windcharger t' pass the word around."

They both gave an affirmative, accessing their links to the communications hub and sending the requested files over. "Got 'em. Thanks much. Good luck on your mission. Tracks, behave, man."

The blue mech elbowed Ironhide aside so he could get closer to the speaker. "I have already been reprimanded, Broadcast, thank you."

"Man, that is exactly what I meant. Take a chill pill, bro. Your public awaits, after all."

Tracks made an agreeing noise, not wanting to snap at Broadcast but equally not wanting to drop his anger in front of Ironhide.

"If you find anythin' at all interestin', send it to me stat. We gotta get confirmation on this situation an' bottle it up asap."

Ironhide tapped his fingers beside the comm unit. "As if we didn't know that. Rolling out, now."

Broadcast noted that there was more than one bot who needed to chill.

Secretary of Defense John Keller felt the corners of his mouth pull down as the black Buick LaCrosse identical to his own car, except for a stylized hood ornament, slipped into the parking spot beside his own. Without hesitation he opened the passenger side door of the newly arrived car and sat down, closing the door after himself. "What news have you got, Trailbreaker?"

A panel opened on the dashboard and a small monitor and keyboard slid out. Text scrolled across the screen to denote a date, time, and location. "I regret to inform you, John, that we have discovered Decepticon activity. According to reports by Ironhide and a recently arrived Autobot, Chromia, the spy designated Ratbat attempted to kidnap William Lennox. Ironhide and Chromia prevented this, but Ratbat escaped. We have already sent two other Autobots to watch Lennox, but we are concerned that other humans involved in the Allspark incident may also be at risk. We have begun to spread what resources we have to prevent further attacks."

"So you'll be staying in the carport tonight."

"Yes, sir. I apologize for any inconvenience."

Keller chuckled. "There is no inconvenience with you taking the place of my car. Please give me any other details you know."

"Ironhide, Chromia, and Tracks are en route to check on the others, starting with Robert Epps. We will try to contact several others by phone once our communications officer has adapted more of his internal connections. The only person we do not have contact information for is Simmons."

"He's a difficult man to pin down. My boys can get the information for you."

"Thank you." There was silence for a moment, then a new image filled the screen. It was streaming live, and showed a gray and maroon robot wrestling with what appeared to be a cougar...except it was a cougar with huge metal claws and a pair of missiles extended from either side of its haunches. The scrolling text on the bottom indicated time, location, and identified the cameraman as 'Gears'.

As they watched, the bot on screen kicked the cat off himself, launching it several dozen feet into a country road. The missiles on the cat fired. The air around the mech's forearm suddenly warped strangely, and when the missiles closed in, the bot made a spinning motion with his arms then pointed back to the cat. The missiles curved around through the air and headed back toward the cougar, who leaped out of the way. But another gesture sent the missiles following after their new target. They caught up and exploded into the cat, flinging it into a nearby hillside.

Then the cameramech rushed toward it and pounced, pummeling the cat with his bare hands.

Trailbreaker explained grimly, "Windcharger and Gears have engaged Ravage near the dwelling of William Lennox."

To Be Continued