Chapter Ten
"So, Bumblebee tells me you have a teenager with you?" the human army captain William Lennox smiled up at the massive mechs that he had become friends with on their first trip here when scouting out the planet. Slung across one shoulder was a rifle, always handy when hanging around hunted robot aliens. In the other hand was a paper bag from MacDonald's. Optimus Prime nodded to the man.
"You should see her in a bit." he said quietly. "I believe she has just come out of recharge."
"Woken up." Lennox corrected him. "If you're planning on living here, it might be wise to learn the slang."
Ironhide simply rolled his optics and glanced behind him. Rae was coming from his room now, rubbing at her eyes in an attempt to clear the sleep from them. He was curious to see how she would react to Lennox. If he was right, she hadn't had any human contact in quite a long time. She may not know how to act around another human. She may not even care.
Rae made it a few feet past Ironhide before it registered to her that there was another person in the room. Her eyes did a quick sweep, taking note of Jazz and the twins in one corner of the room, Prowl, Ratchet, and Prime across the room from her, and Ironhide right behind her. She took a step back as her eyes finally landed on Lennox, who was still dressed in his fatigues.
"You must be their new visitor." Lennox said with a smile. "I brought you some food, in case you're hungry."
For a long moment, no one spoke. It suddenly registered to Ironhide that Rae was trembling. Jazz looked over from his place, and alarm crossed his face. "Primus, little one, what's wrong? You'd think you'd seen a ghost."
Lennox took a step forward, concern on his face. He couldn't get much further before Rae completely lost it.
"GET THE PIT AWAY FROM ME!"
Ironhide quickly picked the panicking girl up off the ground and set her on his shoulder. "Rae, calm down." he said quietly. "This is Lennox, he's an ally of ours. He won't hurt you, I promise."
"He's a pit-spawned glitching hunk of scrap metal!" she hissed, her voice seething in anger and fear. "He's military! That's worse than the cops!" She maneuvered herself so she was hanging down his back, holding on to his shoulder plating to keep herself from falling off. Her eyes were narrowed on Lennox, unwilling to let him out of her sight. The initial anger spent, her fear was starting to take over. "I'm scared, Ironhide. They all scare me."
"Then you just stay right there until he leaves." Ironhide said soothingly. "You don't have to go anywhere near him." Rae nodded and pressed her face against his shoulder, her body still trembling violently. Prime shot him a look.
"What on Cybertron was that?" he demanded, changing back to his native language. Ironhide shook his head.
"I don't know." he admitted, responding in the same language. "Apparently military humans scare her. I don't think she'd bee too willing to explain why right now."
"Keep her calm until Lennox leaves." Prime instructed. "I want to talk to him about finding her a place to live."
Ironhide nodded shortly. "Don't need to tell me to do my job." he muttered. "Taking care of younglings is what I do best."
Prime went back to talking with Lennox. "Forgive her reaction, Captain." he said, this time in English. "Rae has been through a traumatic experience. I'm afraid it's made her a bit jumpy." Lennox nodded.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Could you find her a place to stay until we can locate her parents?" Prime asked. "It might be best for her to remove herself from the creatures that hurt her."
Now Rae was pulling herself up a bit higher onto Ironhide's shoulder, her narrowed gaze shifting from Lennox to Prime. "Prime, you put me back with humans, and I'll find my way back here." she said calmly. "I have not lived with them for eight years. There's no way I can go back now."
Jazz took a step forward. "So who have you been living with?" he asked. "Not that I couldn't tell you anyway – you act like a youngling."
"I am a youngling, Jazz." Rae said tiredly. "It all ties back to my story – how I wound up with the Decepticons and why I know Starscream well enough to call him my friend."
Prime turned to her, placing his full attention on the small human-youngling. "Then it's time you told us." he said softly. "All of it."
"You won't like all of it." she said bluntly. "I know things about you that you'd probably rather stay hidden."
"I'll take that risk."
A sigh. "All right. But I did warn you."
/---/
It had been two days since Rae had been taken to the Autobot base. Veris had to admit, he was worried. Prime was a very persuasive character, but the one thing the mech never had in great abundance was patience. He wasn't too worried about Prime persuading the girl to stay with them – Rae was fiercely loyal to her family. He was more worried about what would happen when the girl defied Prime once too often.
Harbinger walked up and sat down beside Veris, still holding on to Devastator's left arm. "I wouldn't worry so much if I was you." he said simply. "Prime isn't the kind to harm a youngling."
"You've enver seen Prime lose his temper before." Veris shot back. "He's a lot of things, but patient is not one of them." Harbinger shrugged, tossing his prize up in the air and catching it on the way down.
"Still, Rae's smart. She'll find a way to let us know she's all right – and when we can come and get her."
Veris shot him a look. "The pit do you still have that thing?" he demanded.
Harbinger turned to him, his optics darkened in pain. "Long-overdue payback." he said simply. "If I could, I would have taken his head."
"Devastator was responsible for Frenzy's death, wasn't he?"
"Yes."
Veris sighed. "I know what you're going to do. Just know that I won't hold it against you. None of us will."
Harbinger nodded. "Come on inside and get some recharge. Tomorrow we start spying."
