Minor Infractions

"Be quiet I can't hear Charlie Gibson talking!" The girls were sitting in their room, hanging out after a day of explaining why Bluestreak should never click yes if asked if he was over 18 on a website.

"Fine I was just asking where that magazine was."

"I said I can't hear Charlie Gibson talking. Oh he's so awesome."

"You know who else is a hot news reporter?"

"Anderson Cooper." Both girls sighed at the same time.

"—a large passenger airplane crashed over the Rocky Mountains yesterday afternoon, so far only half of the passengers have been accounted for. Search teams have started scouting the area….." The TV showed an image of the smoking plane.

"Charlie pause it!"

"Wait what?"

"Pause it then rewind and put it in slow mo." Charlie did as she was told and Alex leaned in closer to examine the screen.

"Did you see that?"

"The plane crashing? Kinda hard to miss."

"No, no rewind it again, look." Alex pointed to the screen. "The explosion came from outside first something hit it! It looks like laser fire."

"Are you sure?"

"I think I've been shot at enough to recognize what is laser fire and what isn't."

"Do you think we should tell the autobots?" Meanwhile in the control room, Ironhide was investigating a new report on the same incident.

"Slag!" He pushed a button and the report paused. He zoomed in on the smoking hull of the plane and growled. "That's decepticon work, I'd recognize it anywhere, I've got to get Prime!" He hurried out of the room and both girls looked at each other.

"I thought they said the decepticons wouldn't publicly go after people." Alex shrugged and pulled her fuzzy socks up.

"Maybe it was an accident." But Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Okay yeah, I hope Optimus can do something." Charlie nodded and sat down next to her. She was wearing jeans and a fuzzy white sweater and her hair flipped over her ears. Alex yawned and pulled her purple sweater down over her black yoga pants. She flipped her braid over her shoulder and they both watched the report, Alex got up and Charlie followed her.

"I think we should tell the autobots."

"Yeah good idea." They walked to the control room and stared up at the huge screen, which was paused on an image of the smoking plane.

"I think they already know." They looked up at the control panel.

"We need to get ladders." Alex nodded in agreement. The door to the control room opened and Optimus, Ratchet, Jazz, and Ironhide entered the room. The autobots nodded to the girls and Ironhide replayed the news cast and the autobots examined the scene.

"You're right Ironhide this is the work of the decepticons."

"But Prime why would the decepticons start attacking humans, especially a human passenger aircraft? It doesn't make any sense."

"I don't know Jazz, but whatever the reason is it doesn't bode well for us." Optimus regarded the screen again. "We must protect the humans, increase surveillance and report any form of suspicious activity, something like this must not happen again." Optimus nodded to the girls, and they knew that was their cue to leave, Optimus was going to discuss strategies, and they were needed here. Charlie and Alex left and walked down the massive corridor.

"Do you think it was Nelly?" Alex shook her head.

"No, he didn't seem to want to hurt us, and he could've hurt a lot of humans in the years he was here, but he didn't, so I don't think so."

"He said he'd grown accustomed to us." Alex shrugged and started walking back to their room, Charlie followed, suddenly the twins came out of nowhere and grabbed them.

"Okay you two need to stop doing that."

"But, Charlie how else will you keep up with us?"

"Electric moped."

"Huh?"

"How was patrol?" She asked, changing the subject.

"Boring, but do you know what we heard the moment we got back?" Sideswipe looked down at Alex. "How's the baby?" The girls started laughing followed by Sideswipe and then Sunny.

"Good, I was going to show Ratch the ultra sounds." Charlie coughed and the twins grinned at her.

"I wasn't under the impression you liked to joke around." Alex shrugged and Charlie spoke for her.

"Actually, she usually does stuff like this all the time back home, she's just been off her game." But Alex objected.

"Nuh uh."

"Yes you do! You and your whole family! I never know what to expect!" The twins were very pleased with this and strolled down the corridor with the girls, who were still arguing. The twins took them into the rec room and set them down on a table.

"You guys need a pool table and air hockey, then this really would be a rec room."

"What are those things?"

"Games humans play, pool is a game with sixteen balls and you use a stick and hit the cue ball with the pool cue and try to knock the other balls into the holes on the side of the table, and air hockey is hockey with air instead of ice, and—" Charlie looked up and saw the confused looks on the twins faces.

"Do you think they have any high grade?"

"I don't know let's check." Alex looked at Charlie.

"Why do they keep on doing that to me?...What's high grade?"

"Don't know. Hey guys what's high grade?" They came back with cubes full of an odd looking pinkish liquid and clinked them together, before taking a swig.

"Energon."

"Oh." They sat and watched the twins knock back a couple cubes back before Wheeljack entered the room, looking very pleased. The twins turned to look at him warily and he held his arms out.

"Good news! Optimus has decided the two of you need holoforms so that you can follow the girls when they are in town! Now if you will just come with me, I can fix you right up." The twins looked at each other warily, then got up and followed Wheeljack out of the room. The girls blinked at each other and sighed. They were left on a table again.

"Yeah we definitely need ladders, I bet this kind of stuff doesn't happen to Sam." Charlie sighed, maybe she could start carrying around a rope ladder. "Okay I've got a plan!" Alex looked at her skeptically, Charlie's plans rarely ended well.

"I don't wanna know."

"You lower me down half way, I jump the rest of the way, get a trampoline, move it under the table then you can jump down, and we can be on our merry way. It's fool-proof!"

"You have a broken leg how the hell are you going to jump off the table?"

"That's why you lower me half way!"

"No."

"Okay I lower you and you jump."

"No."

"Why not? It's a good plan."

"No it's not."

"I don't know I think Charlie might be right it could work." The girls looked behind them.

"Hound!"

"Hi."

"Hound we're stuck on the table go get us a trampoline." He scratched his head.

"What's a trampoline?"

"Nevermind, what have you been doing?"

"I've been taking double shifts." He sat down and sighed. "Feels good to have some down time. How've you been holding up?" The girls frowned when they realized he wasn't talking to them, but at that moment, Mirage appeared in the corner. They stared in surprise as he sat next to Hound.

"I have been unable to turn up anything of value." Hound nodded.

"Yeah I know. Since Blackfire's base has been scrapped, there hasn't been anything else to scout. They got out of there pretty quick, but they didn't leave a trail. Optimus thinks Blitzwing flew them out of there." Mirage nodded and the girls perked at the news.

"They've moved?"

"Blitzwing can fly?" They spoke at the same time and turned and stared at each other. Hound looked down at them kindly.

"Yes, they have moved, Optimus thinks they have relocated to an area you refer to as the 'Badlands'." Mirage nodded.

"Yes. And Blitzwing is a triple changer. He can transform into a tank and a large aircraft able to transport other decepticons." Alex looked pensive and Charlie awed.

"Wow, I didn't know they could do that."

"There are few triple changers, and all of them are decepticons."

"Shucks." Charlie snapped her fingers, and then looked confused at Hound's grin. "What?" He started full out laughing. He gestured to Alex helplessly.

"I heard what you did to Ratchet, he's still twitching." The girls started laughing and even Mirage smiled slightly. News had traveled fast after the initial panic that it had been a joke and the autobots that knew Alex calmed down, Mirage being one of them.

"The twins were right, he is fun to tease." She put on a mock serious face.

"I'm just lucky Optimus has offered to take care of my child, now all I need is for someone to take care of my heart." Alex sighed and fell backwards. Mirage caught her and Alex looked up at him. "How you doing?" She winked at him and batted her eyelashes. He looked bewildered and Charlie started crying she was laughing so hard. He blinked in understanding, and looked vaguely embarrassed. He set her back down on the table and hummed.

"Right, well, back to duty then." He vanished and they watched as the door opened itself.

"I think you embarrassed him."

"Oh he's just busy thinking over my proposition; you know whether or not to become my baby's new daddy."

"I don't know he would always disappear on you when it was his turn for diaper duty." Both the girls started laughing and Hound just looked at them confused.

"It was a joke though right?"

"No I'm dead serious, Ratchet knocked me up and now Mirage is going to marry me, but I'll be so pregnant by the time we get married that it'll will make it hard for the honeymoon. I hope we go somewhere tropical."

"Oh you should make Optimus a god parent, all the autobots can be god parents." Alex nodded.

"Yes you're right. Hound, you can preside over the ceremony." He mouthed wordlessly and Charlie fell off the table. Hound caught her and looked back over at Alex.

"It was a joke?" He squeaked and Alex winked at him. At that moment the twins burst back into the room and went straight for their high grade.

"Well, we're fixed up. We now have holoforms so that we can follow you into that mall thing next time."

"Have you ever shopped with a girl before?"

"No." Sideswipe answered uncertainly.

"Oh this is going to be fun."

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind, you'll find out." They pushed their empty cubes aside and Alex stood up.

"Well, let's see them."

"What?"

"Your holoforms, I want to know what you guys will look like as human." Sunstreaker shook his head.

"No way, those are just when we absolutely have to to follow you in those buildings. I'm not going to look like that if I don't have too." He turned up his nose and Alex quirked an eyebrow.

"Like what?" He gestured to the girls.

"You know…."

"Like humans?"

"Yeah, like humans." She narrowed her eyes.

"So are you saying there's something wrong with how I look?" He looked at Sideswipe, who was busy trying to juggle the empty energon cubes, and looked back at the tiny human femme on the table, glaring at him with her hands on her hips.

"Well, humans are just so small and soft."

"Is there something wrong with that? You're too tall and hard. Besides I bet the real reason you don't want to show me your holoform is that you're not a very pretty human, that's it huh? You're ugly and you're embarrassed about it."

"That's not it at all! I have the greatest most attractive holoform anyone has ever had!"

"I don't know Ratchet's was pretty hot."

"I'll show you!" Sunstreaker's optics dimmed and suddenly standing in front of Alex was a tall man looking the same age as her with tan skin, golden hair, and blue eyes. He ran a hand through his hair, messing it up. He smirked and walked over to her.

"See I told you, I'm the prettiest thing ever." Alex walked around him, he was good looking she'd give him that, tall and well built, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

"I've seen better."

"No you haven't!" Alex ignored him.

"Hey Sides show me your holoform."

"Sure." Sideswipe's optics dimmed and standing next to Sunstreaker was a man the same age and height with messy black hair and the same blue eyes all the autobots had, he had on a red coat and black pants.

"Whoa Sideswipe you're hot."

"Hell yeah you are." The girls stood and stared at Sideswipe, checking him out, Sunstreaker was angry.

"What do you mean he's hot? I'm much better looking than he is! Why aren't you fawning over me?" They hung on Sideswipe and felt his clothes curiously. They felt real.

"You know, for twins you don't look anything alike."

"Well, they didn't in their mech forms either."

"Yeah that's true, I guess you guys would be fraternal twins." Sunstreaker huffed and grabbed the back of Alex's shirt. She turned and he looked down at her.

"You come over here with me." She blinked her green eyes and looked curiously at his yellow jacket.

"Yeah, why's that?" He turned red and she grinned. Wheeljack was good. "Heh, you're cute when you're mad." She patted his cheek and he grabbed her hand.

"You've got quite the grip there."

"Alex you do know you're flirting with him right?"

"What? NOOOO!!!"

"Yeah, you are."

"HA! I'm so beautiful even you have fallen for my charms."

"Shut up, Come on Charlie we're leaving." The girls left the rec room and Charlie was trying to stifle her laughter.

"Shut up! It's not funny." Charlie started laughing in full now.

"Yes it is."

"I was trying to make him mad not come on to him."

"Maybe if you come on to him, you'll make him mad." Charlie couldn't stop grinning.

"Be quiet, or I'll put a wig on you and tell Ironhide you're an intruder."

"Fine you weren't flirting with Sunstreaker, happy now?"

"Yes." They went back to their quarters and Alex sat down at her computer. Charlie looked at her nails.

"Huh, I'm gonna paint em blue!" Alex was sucking on the end of a pen and looked up.

"Do you even have any nail polish?" Charlie nodded and ran into the bathroom. She came back out with a bottle of sparkly blue nail polish. "I see, so what brought this on?" She shrugged and opened the bottle.

"I don't know, I felt like doing something normal." Alex paused typing and Charlie looked over at her curiously.

"What are you doing?"

"E-mailing my brother." Charlie swiveled her head in surprise, almost knocking over her nail polish.

"You are? What are you telling him?" Alex brushed her bangs out of her face and rolled up the sleeves of her sweater.

"That I'm in Denver with you."

"Doing what?"

"Going to college there, since I'm a loose cannon, he bought it and told my parents."

"Huh, I should've thought of that. I didn't tell my parents a thing." She looked down and her hair fell in her face, obscuring her blue eyes. "And you know what; they only tried calling a few times." Alex looked over at her sympathetically but she was painting her nails again. "Oh well, whatever."

"Even if they did call you what would you tell them?"

"Nelly ran away, I'm living with alien robots and my car is planning on taking over the universe." Charlie shrugged. "They would just pat me on the head and say that was nice."

"What happens if they come visit?"

"They won't, they don't." Charlie was quiet for a minute. "I don't mind it you know?" Alex looked at her. "Living here with them, there's always someone to talk to and with so many people around it's…it's nice, you know, to never be lonely. Oh darn, I smudged my nail polish." Charlie got up and went to fix her nails. Alex looked down at her computer, she had a point. Her parents had been scolding her for years for fantasizing and living with her head in the clouds. What would they say if they saw her now?

"Yeah. It's like a big, uh, robot family." They both laughed, and Alex started typing again.

"I wish we weren't so trapped here. I wish we didn't have to worry about the decepticons." Charlie nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, and what happens when they beat them, will they just leave?" Alex froze and looked over at her. She had tried to fit in here, make a home here. What if they left afterward, what would she do?

"They can't leave us, not after everything that's happened…" She got a slightly panicked expression on her face and stared down at her computer. Alex didn't like change, she liked knowing her surroundings and what was in them. It had taken her a long time to get used to living with the autobots, they couldn't just leave and uproot her again!

"Optimus once said that they had decided to make earth their new home, I don't think they would leave the earth, they can't go back to Cybertron, but they might go back to Tranquility…maybe we could go with them? I mean, your parents already think you've moved, and mine wouldn't even notice, so why not, you know go to some place that doesn't have a winter, besides if we lived with them we won't have to pay rent or anything." Charlie and Alex sat in silence, each wondering what would happen once the decepticons were stopped.

"Soundwave, what are you doing here?" Blackfire stood before Soundwave, the triple changers, Wildrider, and Drag strip were standing behind him. He had gained a few new recruits lately, and they didn't know the area well enough yet to patrol.

"Blackfire, too troublesome, termination: imminent." Soundwave fired at Blackfire, he dodged and shot his canons at Soundwave, chaos ensued. Wildrider started firing in every direction, not caring who he hit and Drag strip launched himself at Barricade, who was standing behind Soundwave. Blackfire and Soundwave were very evenly matched, and the other decepticons battled around them, decimating the land.

"You have no creativity Soundwave, this is pathetic." The casseticons ejected and Ravage ran at Blackfire, who fired at him. He dodged and was engaged by Astrotrain, who was trying to shoot down Laserbeak. Blitzwing was grappling with Mixmaster, and Rumble was trying to hack into the base. Buzzsaw launched himself at Blackfire when he threw Soundwave and Blackfire caught him in the air. He was far larger than the casseticon, and he yelled and squirmed. Blackfire looked straight at Soundwave, who straightened himself and regarded him cautiously.

"This ends now Soundwave." And with a twisted look, he took both ends of Buzzsaw and tore him in half. Rumble yelled and all the other casseticons turned to look in horror. Blackfire kept his gaze locked on Soundwave and threw the pieces of the black and yellow decepticon to the side. Soundwave stopped and stared for a moment and glared at Blackfire, his optics burned and he lunged, throwing him off balance and causing him to crash into a tree.

"AARRGG!!" Blackfire started grappling with Soundwave, and the casseticons went on the offensive, each mourning the loss of their brother. Rumble and Ravage started attacking Wildrider, who tried ripping them off, when that didn't work he started firing at them trying to knock them off his shoulder. He succeeded and was about to blast Ravage when Soundwave noticed, he ordered a retreat and they flew away, leaving Blackfire and his troops.

"They just left, what cowards, we showed them!" Blackfire looked at Drag Strip.

"He didn't want to lose another casseticon."

Rumble flew up next to Soundwave.

"Did you plant it on him?"

"Affirmative."

"Good I can't wait till it goes off, that'll teach him for killing Buzzsaw." Soundwave didn't say anything he just flew off back to his base. They flew out of sight just as a large explosion erupted behind them.