A/N: Thank you Kage oni shinobi, PwnKage and especially precious92 (who sent us the nicest review we've ever received) for reviewing. You made our day! And thank you to everyone who has been altering and favoriting our fic. Feel free to review when you do. It's good for you!
Turbulence
"You must stay where I can see you. Don't go past that outcropping, and don't go near those trees." Alex sighed.
"I know. I'll stay close, I just wanted to feel the sun for awhile." Mirage smiled at her.
"Understandable." She walked a few yards away near a group of large rocks and crawled up on them. She laid back and put her arms behind her head, letting the sun shine on her, and sighed. She needed to get away from the base, the tension there was pliable. She used her hands to shield her from the sun, she wasn't allowed to wander too far from the base in fear of the decepticons. Mirage was on guard today and hadn't let her out of his sight. Hound was on guard yesterday and wasn't near as protective. She sighed. Since their temporary alignment with the decepticons, everyone was tense and on edge. They stayed in a valley just below autobot headquarters. They were forced to stay nearby in order for the autobots signature to mask their own. Otherwise Soundwave would come calling before they were ready.
Soundwave, he as the reason the decepticons were hiding with the autobots at all, the reason everything was moving forward at such a rapid rate. If Soundwave had not tried to kill Blackfire, then her and Charlie never would have brought him back to the base and Blackfire would have never made that deal with Optimus Prime. The autobots and Blackfire's decepticons would work together in order to stop Soundwave and Starscream. A fight was staged in order to fool anyone watching into thinking that Blackfire's team was now off the playing field, they would wait until Soundwave made his move and then surprise him with their new alliance.
Alex sat up for a moment, she liked the idea, she really did. She still didn't understand why the autobots and the decepticons hated each other, Nelly had been a silent protector of Charlie and herself for years, she now understood how Charlie had survived this long with her bad luck. Blackfire had kept them from harm, and now the autobots were trying to keep every human on the planet from harm. That's why she liked the idea of them working together, because even a temporary alliance could transform into a permanent one. Then their pointless war could be put to rest.
The wind picked up and Alex slid off her rock to the ground and looked up, shielding her eyes. Two very large jets were landing a hundred yards away. She looked back at Mirage to see that he winked out of view.
"Get out of sight!" She jumped when she heard his voice and ducked out of sight. The roaring become louder and she covered her eyes from the wind as Astrotrain and Blitzwing landed. She ducked and watched as they transformed and turned to head down to their makeshift base. Astrotrain nudged Blitzwing and nodded.
"Hey look, no one guarding the auto-scum's front door. Wanna have some fun?" They both laughed and stepped closer to Alex's hiding spot. Astrotrain stepped on a boulder near her and it shattered. She gave a little shriek as pieces hit her face. They both stopped.
"Hey look, a human. Hah, a human could even get into the autobot base. We should put a bomb on it and send it in. I could just see the looks on their faces when it—" Blitzwing cut him off when he kneeled and bent toward her. Alex looked at him warily.
"Hey, it's you, I thought I lost you! How did you get over here? Did you follow me?" Alex looked at him like he was an idiot.
"No, I live here!"
"Behind a rock?" Alex face palmed.
"No I live in the autobot base."
"But you're my human. I know! You infiltrated the autobots in order to gain information to use against them, good job, that's why you're my strategist."
"Uh, yeah sure whatever you say." Alex mentally shrugged, if it kept her from getting stepped on. Suddenly Blitzwing picked her up by the collar of her shirt and plopped her in his hand.
"Hey!"
"What?"
"Don't do that!" Astrotrain grinned and grabbed her from Blitzwing's hand in the same manner.
"What, this?" Blitzwing snatched her back.
"This is my human get your own."
"Maybe I wanna play with her too." He reached for her again but froze. A second later Mirage became visible behind him, his gun to his head.
"I think you should leave." Astrotrain paused for a moment, before a smirk appeared on his face.
"Maybe I will, at least I have a souvenir. Hey, Blitzwing catch." Astrotrain tossed Alex over to Blitzwing, who caught her with both hands and brought her to his chest. Mirage turned to Blitzwing, keeping his rifle aimed at Astrotrain.
"Put her down now." Astrotrain just smirked, taunting Mirage.
"I don't think so, we found her, so we get to keep her." Blitzwing looked down at Alex, who was staring at the conflict with wide eyes. Bruises were forming where he caught her. He frowned. She wouldn't last long around Astrotrain. That wouldn't be good, no good at all he needed her, and Astrotrain wasn't going to lay his hands on his strategist.
"Here you go." Mirage and Astrotrain stared at Blitzwing with huge optics as he set Alex on the ground.
"Huh? What'd ya do that for?" As he argued with Blitzwing, Mirage hurriedly scooped up Alex and disappeared. He carried her to the entrance of the base and put her down.
"Get inside, tell whoever you see first to comm. me." She frowned, but complied when Astrotrain saw her and started toward the base. Mirage intercepted him and she ran inside. She ran into Bluestreak's shin and fell to the ground.
"Bluestreak!" She regained her footing. Bluestreak stared down at her confused.
"Alex?"
"Astrotrain and Blitzwing are at the entrance with Mirage, he said I was supposed to tell the first person I found to comm. him." Bluestreak picked her up and she watched as his optics flickered.
"Alright." He walked down the hallway and she turned around in his hand.
"Where are we going? Shouldn't you go help Mirage?" She didn't feel right leaving him out there, though hopefully Blitzwing would contain Astrotrain. Or maybe he wouldn't. She got a cold feeling inside.
"No, Bluestreak, we have to go back! They're way bigger than him!" He gave her a comforting smile but didn't stop.
"Its okay, Ironhide and Hound were close to base, they've been informed, they'll be to him in no time. He instructed me to take you to Optimus to discuss additional security measures for you." Alex gaped.
"What? No, he's overreacting, I don't need additional security!" She sighed as they entered the control room, where Optimus and Wheeljack were observing the screens.
"Bluestreak, Alex. It's under control, I informed Blackfire." Alex brightened.
"So they stood down?" He nodded.
"Yes, they have returned to their base, Mirage is alright." She sighed in relief and Bluestreak passed her to Optimus. She sat in his hand and looked up into his bright optics.
"Unfortunately, you will no longer be allowed outside of the base unless necessary." She slumped, though it was no less than she expected.
"Yeah, I figured. But, it was Astrotrain really. Me and Blitzwing are cool." They peered at her in confusion.
"Regardless, something like this cannot happen again, they could have seriously injured you." She just nodded and Optimus smiled.
"Don't worry, this won't last much longer." Alex perked up, and Optimus set her down, she just waved and left the control room. When the doors shut her shoulders visibly slumped, Optimus was right this wouldn't last much longer, the only problem was she didn't know how it was going to end. She didn't know if the autobots would be alright, she didn't know if they would win, and if they did win, and they left she didn't know if she would be alright. She walked into her room and saw Charlie sprawled upside down on the couch writing in a notebook.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm writing Nelly a letter to remind him of all the good times we've shared, and how there will always be a place in my garage for him. I'm hoping it will be so touching that he'll come home and we can be one big happy family again."
"With just the two of you?"
"No, Skittles would be there too, duh."
"Charlie, your cat and your alien car don't count as a family."
"Of course they do. Family is supposed to be the people you come home to everyday, those two are the people I come home to." Alex let it drop. Charlie's family really didn't know how to be a family, so if Charlie thought her cat and Nelly were her family, then why not?
Charlie flipped down on the couch and righted herself. Alex sat next to her and put her hair back, before turning on the T.V.
"Charlie?"
"Alex?"
"I hate this."
"Me too."
"What do we do?" Alex turned to face her, her eyes troubled. She was twisting her crystal necklace unconsciously. It had been cold today, and she shifted so she could pull down the sleeves of her purple sweater. Charlie had stayed inside, and was clad in a black t-shirt and jeans. She shrugged.
"What can we do? We're the weak humans here that they have to protect. If we get in the way we get hurt." Alex sighed and crossed her arms there had to be something she could do. Maybe Wheeljack could teach her how he always gets things to explode and she could go into sabotage. Alex stood up.
"I'm going to the target range. I'll see you later."
"Kay." Charlie sealed up her letter and then stopped what was Blackfire's mailing address 'Care to temporary base outside of hidden autobots base'?
"Well, damn." She sighed and tossed the letter on the table. It probably wasn't a good idea to deliver it by hand. Maybe she was wrong; maybe they could do something to help.
Two Hours Later…
"So what are you guys going to do, just going to draw a line down the middle of the hill or something?"
"No of course not." Charlie and Alex were in their room with the twins, who were in their holoforms, trying to teach them to play poker.
"Then how are you guys and the d-cons going to play nice?"
"The area is going to be sectioned off."
"You told us that."
"Yes, but there won't be a line or anything, they're just not allowed to go near a five hundred yard radius of the base unless given permission, or it's Blackfire, he's got clearance." He said the last part with a subtle bitterness Charlie did not want to comment on. Instead she changed the subject.
"Full house." Sunstreaker looked angry as Charlie took her winnings and dealt a new hand.
"I still can't believe Prime made a deal with those scum." Charlie mentally sighed so much for trying to get off the subject. She didn't like the way they talked about Blackfire.
"But isn't this a 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' kind of thing'?"
"But those tin cans are still my enemy." They took the cards and Sunstreaker leaned over Alex to see her cards. She sighed.
"You're going to lose anyway. If this was strip poker, you'd already be naked."
"You want me to be naked?" Sunstreaker smiled and flipped his hair before winking at Alex. She leaned in.
"Why yes, yes I do." He blinked and she leaned back, triumphant.
"Three of a kind." Sideswipe and Sunstreaker sighed. They lost every game. Charlie leaned back into her chair and looked at the twins contemplatively.
"You two need different names when we're in public, what will we call you?"
"Sunny!"
` "No!" Sideswipe was grinning at Sunstreaker, who shook his fist, his blonde hair falling in his face.
"I like Sunny." He leaned back and stared at Alex.
"Really?" She shrugged and inched away and he tried to sit with her on her chair. These two had no notion of personal space.
"Yeah, umm, can you get off of me?" He was halfway sitting on her, and grabbed her hair.
"Yours is softer than mine, not fair!" She rolled her eyes and pushed him off her, onto the floor.
"Yeah, girl's hair is usually softer than a guy's because we use conditioner." He perked up.
"Conditioner? Where can I get some?"
"Why, you can't use it." He pouted and crawled over and drug himself over to the couch, which was facing away from them. He peeked over the edge to see Alex still sitting there and ducked down again.
"What about Sid and Sul?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"No."
"Fine, fine come up with your own names, do you want to play Sunny or are you gonna keep sulking?"
"No I don't want to play anymore." Sunstreaker turned around and started flipping through the channels. Alex sat down next to him and snatched the remote out of his hand.
"Hey!" They started fighting and Charlie started teaching Sideswipe to play speed.
"Are we going to be stuck in our room for however long it takes for Soundwave to attack? Are we not allowed to leave at all?"
"We have to be with you if you leave your room, and we'll be with you in your room until your doors are fixed. How did you guys blow up your doors anyway?"
"Trade secret. How long is it going to take to fix them?" They shrugged.
"However long it takes for Wheeljack to make a new one. He's got a long list of things to take care of. Although if its for Charlie he'll make it a priority." Charlie stared at him confused.
"Why?"
"You don't know?"
"Know what?" Sideswipe patted her on the head.
"I'll explain it when your older."
They were quiet until Sunstreaker and Alex finally settled on HBO, which was playing Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. They went and sat with them, the girls were on the edge of their seats excitedly watching the movie.
"Oooooooo."
"Who's that green guy?"
"Yoda he is."
"Strong with the force he is."
"Train Skywalker he will."
"Why are you two talking like that?"
"Fun it is."
"Lightsaber I want."
"Badass we would be."
"Stop talking like that!"
"Shut up Sunstreaker should." He pulled at his hair and Alex opened her mouth, but he slapped his hand over her mouth and she pulled at his shirt. Sideswipe and Charlie ignored them and kept watching the movie. Just then there was a knock and Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's holoforms disappeared. Alex fell on the floor looking stunned and Charlie helped her up and went to see who it was.
"Hello girls."
"Heya Wheeljack what's up? Are you here to fix our door?"
"Yes I am." Wheeljack lifted a new door to measure and the girls skittered around them. Charlie heard Sideswipe mutter 'I told you so.' She still didn't understand what he was talking about.
"I don't wanna get stuck in there; we'll come back when you're done." The twins picked them up and walked down the corridor, where they ran into Ironhide.
"What are you doing here? You two are supposed to be in your room."
"Don't worry Ironhide we'll take care of them."
"I don't like this." Ironhide grumbled.
"Don't worry Hide we'll be fine, and don't worry about anything, you guys can take care of it." Ironhide continued to grumble but let the twins go on their way with the girls.
"He's going to be in a bad mood for awhile isn't he?"
"Probably, nobody really likes that scum hanging around the base."
"But Nel-Blackfire's group doesn't seem as bad as the other ones." Charlie received a glare from the twins. "Well they don't at least Blackfire doesn't seem all that bad." She mumbled, they really didn't like her defending Nelly.
"They're all pit spawned slaggers." Alex and Charlie looked at each other knowing what the other was thinking. They're would never be peace between the Autobots and the Decepticons.