Small Problems
Day Two: Destined to Meet
From his temporary underground base beneath New York City, Megatron was getting impatient. His fuse had been short ever since the previous afternoon when his beloved death ray malfunctioned. Instead of draining the life from his adversaries, it had shrunk them. The results were so baffling, at first the Decepticons were too dumbstruck to react.
By the time any of them gathered their wits about them, the Autobots had already scattered. The problem was they were now too small for the regular sized Decepticons to give chase. They were smaller than even those disgusting human creatures. Megatron instantly ordered Soundwave to eject all his cassettes; they were a more appropriate size to give chase.
It was now nearly dawn the next morning. None of the cassettes, not a single Decepticon, found anything. Megatron's patience was waning. He started pacing in agitation. Skywarp and Thundercracker watched him in guarded silence. One wrong move and one just may find himself at the receiving end of their leader's wrath.
There was a commotion further down the tunnels as Frenzy and Rumble approached. They were in a argument, both were talking so fast at the same time that neither were understandable. But both fell silent as Megatron's looming form came into view.
"Rumble! Frenzy! Report!"
They stayed quiet for a while, fearing repercussions. But then, they also knew staying silent wouldn't keep them from getting slagged either.
"We can't find them!" Rumble blurted. "Those slaggin' mini bots have taken off and hidden somewhere like the cowards they are! They're scared of me 'n Frenzy! They won't come out and fight!"
Storm clouds seemed to materialize in front of Megatron's face as he clenched his fists. "This does not make me happy. I should have had Optimus Prime's lifeless body at my feet by sundown yesterday. My ultimate weapon was not meant to do this. This is not acceptable."
"But Megatron," Fenzy put in, "we still beat the Autobots. They're tiny now; harmless. You still have a shrink ray. If you managed to shrink all the Autobots-"
"FOOLS!"
On instinct, Skywarp and Thundercracker ducked seconds before there was a gaping, smoking hole in the wall behind them, courtesy of Megatron's arm cannon.
"I don't want a weapon that shrinks Autobots! I want a weapon that KILLS Autobots!" He kicked at a pile of scrap for emphasis of his malcontent. "I don't care the size, I want Optimus Prime's head for my wall! No matter what! SOUNDWAVE!"
"Yes, Megatron." Soundwave's dark blue form seemed to materialize out of the shadows as he was summoned.
"Soundwave, you built that faulty device, fix it!"
"As you command, Megatron." Soundwave turned smartly and marched off to fulfill the task given him.
"The rest of you," Megatron announced, "continue searching the area. I mean everyone! The Autobots will NOT leave this city, no matter their size! Is that understood?"
His team was dubious, but all nodded.
She could remember her mother's smile and how she used to laugh. How she always looked bravely ahead with eagerness at any new challenge that came her way.
"Crys," she would always say, "don't fight the change, rise to meet it. There are greater powers at work here. Every place we go, everything that happens, is all for a reason. We all have a greater purpose. To find it, we must go where destiny takes us and keep our eyes open."
"Hey, hey. Wake up. Open your eyes!"
Crystal groaned as the insistent voice prodded her out of sleep. She groggily opened her eyes to see a white number in front of her face.
"Four?"
She looked higher to see a grinning mouth and a bright blue band of light.
"Hi!" Jazz greeted her. The little Autobot was sitting on her mid section, looking quite pleased with the job he had done.
"What?" Crystal mumbled. "What is it?"
"It's time to wake up," Jazz informed her. "Come on."
She did not reflect his good mood as she dragged herself out of bed and followed Jazz into the living room. Slowly, the previous night all came back to her.
Mom, Not everything happens for a reason. I don't believe I was meant to have three robots in my apartment. Scratch that. Four robots, if that radio on the counter ever decided to do anything.
Crystal looked at the clock on the wall and her jaw dropped.
"It's freaking 6 am!" she squawked.
"Prowl said humans can run on five to six hours of sleep," Jazz defended.
Crystal shot a crusty look toward the black and white Autobot sitting on her couch with a book in his lap. "I wanted more," she grouched.
Prowl gave a look that insinuated he hadn't considered that possibility.
Crystal's eyes then fell upon a pile of white cotton on the other side of the couch. It took a moment for the full horror to seep in.
"MISTER FLOPSY!" She threw herself on the couch, handling all the pieces of the torn plush bunny. Glaring around for the culprit, she shot daggers at Grimlock who still had some cotton hanging from his mouth.
"Oh, were we not supposed to let him do that?" Jazz asked innocently.
"Bad dino! Very bad!" Crystal shook her finger at him as if he were a dog.
Grimlock spit out the cotton. "Me Grimlock no bad dino! Me king of all Dinobots!"
Crystal's face twisted back into a pout as she gathered what remained of the rabbit in her arms. "It's too early for this..." She whimpered and curled back up on the couch amidst the rabbit's fluffy remains.
"Hey, don't go back to sleep," Jazz urged as he climbed onto the couch and then onto Crystal's back. "You have to help us. We're flying blind right now."
"Jazz," Prowl hissed. "Stop crawling all over her."
"Aw, she doesn't mind," Jazz insisted. He swatted at the girl's cheek. "Hey! Look alive! We need answers!"
Crystal reached up an arm and snatched Jazz, pulling him down to lay next to her. She snuggled closer as if he were a teddy bear.
"Another hour.." she mumbled.
"Ack! Prowl! Pst! Prowl! Help me out here!" He floundered his free arm, trying to get Prowl's attention.
In turn, Prowl just shook his head.
"You're warm," Crystal mumbled, pulling Jazz closer and resting her head on his shoulder.
Grimlock wandered over. He transformed into robot mode so he could climb onto the couch, then back into dinosaur mode where he also crawled over the now sleeping human and squeezed himself between her and the couch, resting his head on her neck. Jazz had already resolved himself to his fate and the three of them remained silent. Prowl went back to reading his book.
Roughly an hour later, Prowl reached out and grabbed Crystal's foot, shaking it a little.
"It's seven o'clock now. You wanted to get up at this time."
Only a tired moan responded from Crystal's side of the couch.
"Hey!" Grimlock demanded from where he was tangled in her long, red hair. "Prowl say time to get up!" He tapped at her skull with one of his dinosaur fore claws. "Me Grimlock say is not good idea to no listen. Him know stuff!"
Crystal thrust an elbow at him to shut him up and grabbed a pillow to cover her face-also part of Jazz's who was still in her arms.
A bit irritated, Grimlock kicked into stage two. He ripped the pillow from her with his jaws and then grabbed the skin of her cheek, pulling on it.
"Me Grimlock say get up or me Grimlock set your face on fire. It never happen to me Grimlock, but me guessing it no feel good."
With a groan, Crystal heaved herself from the couch, taking Jazz with her. He hung there limply like a doll, giving Prowl a "Why me?" look as he was carried off down the hall.
The girl shuffled into the bathroom and set Jazz on the counter. She gazed in the mirror and made a face at the pathetic looking person blinking back at her. She groaned again at her reflection and set about trying to brush her wild mane of hair. The fact that Grimlock had previously made a nest of it didn't help at all.
"So?" Jazz prodded as he watched them both in the mirror. "How about an address, Sleeping Beauty? Where are we?"
Crystal pulled up her hair and sighed.
"Give me a few more minutes, kay?" she ground out of a hoarse throat. Jazz watched in fascination as she slipped in a pair of contact lenses and shuffled off into her bedroom, shutting the door.
Ten minutes later, Crystal emerged again, dressed smartly in a pressed, black skirt and looking fresher.
Prowl followed her expectantly into the kitchen where she poured herself a bowl of cold cereal and sat on the couch to eat.
"We need to start looking for the other Autobots," Prowl informed her. "You have to tell me where in the city we are and where we need to go."
"I told you, I can't help you this morning, Shorty," Crystal replied, mouth still half full. She quickly swallowed before continuing. "I have to go to work. We can do all of that when I get back."
Prowl's doors sagged. "How long will that be?"
"About eight hours. I work full time."
"That's too long. We need to get out there now."
"And do what? You going to fight those guys again? You were running just as scared as the rest of us last night. I guarantee you those Decepticons are still hunting for you. If your friends are out there, they're probably laying low. They'll be impossible to find. Not to mention you'll get them and yourself killed if you call them out in the open at the wrong time. I say you wait a while longer until I can help you guys out. Then we'll come up with a plan."
Promises of plans were Prowl's weakness and Jazz knew it. He took his turn to jump in.
"It's probably a good idea. We definitely can't go in there with our servos crossed just hoping to find them. We need to wait until we know what we're doing. Preferably also when the Cons aren't on high alert. There's got to be something else we can do in the meantime to prepare."
"Little Four has a point," Crystal agreed as she finished her cereal. "You're more than welcome to at least get familiar with this neck of the woods. I can leave you a spare key and you can have a look around."
Jazz and Crystal looked at Prowl hopefully. The police car took a moment to think.
"It might be a good idea to be familiar with the local surroundings, should anything happen."
Crystal didn't like the insinuation that the Decepticons may be led to her place. But it was too late to back out now. "Right. I'll make sure I get you the key before I leave."
She stood to deposit her bowl in the sink and then disappeared down the hall again.
Jazz grinned over at Prowl's grim expression.
"I don't like this," Prowl said. "We shouldn't be waiting around here all day just for her to get home. And we definitely shouldn't be involving humans at all. This is dangerous and it's not her fight. It's irresponsible to stay here."
"In an ideal world, yeah, but we've got no choice, Prowlie-Boy. We need a safe place to operate. And we need her because she knows this city better than we do. For now, we're going to have to stay here and be patient."
"Me Grimlock like it here," Grimlock said without invitation. He was lounging around in the soft remains of Mr. Flopsy. "It quiet. No Dinobots touching me Grimlock's stuff. No Optimus Prime bug me Grimlock to save him and Autobots. No Wheeljack make me Grimlock run stupid tests. No Sideswipe use me Grimlock like spring board. Me Grimlock could get used to this."
Jazz gave Prowl another grin. "Two against one, man."
Prowl turned and trudged off, surrendering to his fate.
As promised, Crystal left an apartment key for the trio of tiny robots with a "Don't let him chew on anything else" before she left. Prowl made them get to work right away. He found himself a notebook and writing supplies. The first thing he did was map out the apartment. Next went notations of all possible exists: the bedroom window, main door, and the glass door leading out to the balcony.
Next, Prowl had the three of them all split up and take a look outside the apartment complex. He gave specific instructions not to be seen by any other humans. All day they lurked around under cars and in the shadows as they spread out and took note of the area. Prowl wanted everything. How many buildings in the complex, where their building was located on the property, what street they were on, and everything that was around them.
The whole exercise filled up most of their day. Though it had to be cut short mid-afternoon when Grimlock ran into someone's Pekinese and they all fled for cover back to the apartment. However, they had managed to gather enough information to make some fairly accurate maps and Prowl was quite satisfied with them.
The last few hours were spent with Jazz watching day time court TV on the couch while Grimlock nosed around under it. Prowl noticed Grimlock hardly transformed out of his dinosaur mode the entire time they had been in this place. Maybe, Prowl theorized, it made Grimlock feel safer to stay in dinosaur mode. Even he had to admit, being this size with enemies so large, in a city so unfamiliar and with a guardian so frail, it was all a bit intimidating. Prowl hoped it would all be over soon.
"Hey guys!" Crystal sang as she waltzed through the door, plastic bags hanging from her arms. "Everything is still in one piece, excellent! How did it all go?"
"I'm getting so bored!" Jazz exclaimed as he ran over to her and tugged on her skirt hem. "Judge Judy is over. Let's go do something before my joints rust over from disuse."
"Calm down, Four, we will. Hold on, I brought you guys some stuff." She reached into her bag. "First, for Sir Chomps-A-Lot..." Crystal pulled out a grotesquely cartoonish blue rabbit made of plastic and tossed it in Grimlock's direction. It bumped into the Dinobot's rear flank and he snapped at it. The thing squeaked as it was bitten and Grimlock instantly let it go, jumping to his feet and circling it curiously.
"And I kept thinking about your radio friend, and how he can't talk," Crystal continued as she pulled out a blank cassette tape. "I have a crazy idea, but it just might work."
Jazz and Prowl gathered around her as she sat with Blaster on the floor. She slid in a blank cassette and pushed record. She then encouraged Jazz and Prowl to talk to him to see if Blaster was able to record some kind of response.
After a minute or so, Crystal stopped the tape and rewound it. The three of listened anxiously as the tape was played back. They were disappointed to find all they got was an odd static sound.
"Man, poor Blaster. He's really busted," Jazz lamented.
"And I'm out of ideas," Crystal said. "I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to try and take him anywhere to get fixed. Who knows how other people would react when they find out he's not a normal radio." She placed Blaster back on the counter. "He's just going to have to wait until I can get you back home."
"Are you able to show us the city now?" Prowl asked, trying not to sound too insistent.
"Sure can. Let me just get out of this skirt and these heels first."
A few minutes later, she was in a pair of torn jeans, pulling a big map from her bag and laying it out on the floor. Prowl's optics lit up and he was instantly at her side, taking note of everything.
"I have to work tomorrow, too, so we can only be out for a few hours I'm afraid. But maybe if I show you where you're going, you could find the way there yourselves if you wanted. Now let see.." She reached into her bag and pulled out a red marker.
"This is the best map of Central New York I could find. We're located here." She circled her neighborhood. "This is the route we took on the bus..." She drew a line along on the roads they took. Then she leaned in closer to get a better look at the different blocks. "I think I found Grimlock about here and Jazz and Prowl... maybe around here." She lifted her head and looked at Prowl. "That's about the extent of what I know from last night."
Prowl took over, lightly kneeling on the vast map to get a better look. He wished he dared tap into the GPS satellite. But even that could possibly tip the Decepticon off to where he was. He would have to rely on his memory banks and hope it was good enough.
"We need to locate the site of the battle and search it. Maybe we'll find some clues as to where the others have gone."
"Dude, Prowl, that's a bad idea," Jazz countered. "Decepticons are going to be swarming that place. Not to mention Prime and the others would be out of their processor to leave any trace someone could follow."
"We need some place to start," Prowl insisted. "Maybe we'll find something the bigger Decepticons missed. We can't just wander randomly around the city, we need to stay organized. Started at ground zero is the best way to go about it."
"And I'm telling you, Prowl, Decepticons are going to be watching out for us there. It isn't smart to go."
"The Decepticons are not going to be there," Prowl continued to argue. "They would have already searched the whole area. By now they are spreading out to further locations. Or they may have left altogether."
"Then what's the point of going there, Prowl?"
"Maybe they missed something, Jazz. AND we need to know where we've been before we can map out where we're going."
The two broke out in a simultaneous argument, each talking at the same time and hardly making a lick of sense to the other. They both finished at the same time and then glared at each other.
Crystal busted up laughing.
"Aww... you two are best friends, aren't you?" she grinned.
Prowl and Jazz looked at each other guiltily.
"I still say there's no point in searching the site." Jazz insisted.
"Well I think-"
"Okay then!" Crystal announced cheerfully as she picked up each of the surprised robots. "Let's go have a look-see." She carried Jazz and Prowl over and, with a bit of maneuvering, managed to get the door open. "Bring the map, Grim! We're heading out!"
"Me Grimlock bring map!" Grimlock announced as if it were his own idea. Transforming to robot mode, he grabbed the map and ran out the door after them.
The group of three robots and one human sat quietly on the bus as it jostled through an older part of town. By now, Prowl had commandeered his map and set about plotting courses. Jazz, who never could stay on one conviction for too long, even if it was his own, let him. As long as he didn't get slagged, he let Prowl have his way. And Prowl was quite good at not letting his fellow Autobots get slagged, so Jazz didn't worry about it.
Crystal sat between them, iPod on and keeping an eye on Grimlock. She insisted the Dinobot leader pick a form and stay in it the entire ride. Right now, he was in his robot mode, legs swinging off the seat. But he was looking restless and Crystal didn't want more attention on them than she already had.
"Hey," Jazz tugged on her arm. "What are you listening to?"
Crystal popped out one of her ear buds and gave it to him. Jazz curiously held it up to his audio, listened a moment, and then frowned.
"This music is... kind of old."
"You're old!" Crystal shot back. She made a move to retrieve her ear bud, but Jazz held out his hand, signaling he wanted to continue listening anyway. Crystal let him.
The bus dropped them off a few blocks away where Prowl guessed the altercation of the day before took place.
"There's a lot of construction going on over here," Crystal said as she pointed up the street. "That's probably where it happened."
"Then we need to be extremely careful in this area," Prowl said. "Just because it's day time and there are people around doesn't mean the Decepticons are laying low. They don't always care if there is anyone to see them."
"In that case, they probably wouldn't look twice any humans wandering around the place," Crystal pointed out. "Mini Autobots, however..."
"Point taken," Prowl said, consulting his map. "At any rate, we would definitely do better to split up and stay out of sight as much as possible."
"Okay, you guys just want to meet back here around 8 o'clock? Does that sound like a plan?"
"That will be fine." Prowl nodded. "Jazz, I want you to stick with Crystal. Grimlock will come with me. We are going to cover this direction." He pointed to the area opposite of the construction site where he and Jazz had fled. "Since Crystal can probably get closer without being noticed, you two will explore the site directly."
Jazz frowned, knowing Prowl had just ignored every argument he gave back at the apartment. He knew Prowl knew it, too.
"I know," the police car said as if a silent conversation passed between them. "Even though you're right, we still have to look. We can't afford to miss anything, not with this."
Jazz vented out some air; the noise came out with a tiny hiss, like a sigh. "Yeah."
"I know you can do this, Jazz. You are adept at getting around without being noticed. Just be careful and stay alert."
Jazz saluted with a half-grin. "Can do, Cap'n."
"Me Grimlock looking for other Autobots?" Grimlock asked, not sounding too happy at the chore. "Last time me Grimlock need find Autobots, me Grimlock send her. She find them first." He pointed to Crystal.
Prowl simply nodded. "Yes, but this time we are helping."
"Guesso..." Grimlock relented.
The group split according to Prowl's orders. He and Grimlock disappeared into the back alleys of the city as to not attract any attention. Jazz and Crystal started up the sidewalk to the construction area. They continued slowly with Crystal scanning ahead and Jazz carefully following in her shadow. There were several different blocks under construction; all with the same materials piled up and machines parked every which way. They passed site after unfamiliar site without finding anything of interest. But then, Jazz saw it.
It hard to forget. That site with the brick wall and the boxed-in building foundation. The skeletal structure jutting out of the ground. It was the perfect place for an ambush. And they had stupidly rushed right into it. Now he was less than three feet high, stranded in an overcrowded city with no idea how to contact his missing team mates, his base, or how he was going to get back to his normal size.
Jazz continued to frown as Crystal wandered into the site. Scorch marks peppered the brick wall; tell-tale signs there had been a battle. It sent a chill up her spine despite the warm, summer air. Maliciousness had gone on in this area; the intent to kill. It still hung heavy here. She felt the negative energy prickle her skin and it swallowed her.
"Doesn't look like any bot's here now," Jazz spoke.
Crystal didn't seem to hear him. He approached and reached up to grab her hand. Only on contact did the human woman look down at him, blinking in surprise as if she forgot he existed.
"Come on," Jazz coaxed, "Let's keep looking."
He tugged her hand and Crystal allowed herself to be led away from the battle scene. She gazed with wide eyes at a section of brick building that had been smashed through by a giant robot body. Jazz kept pulling her forward and away from the scene.
They wandered to further sites and searched soundlessly, each not sure how what the should be looking for. There was still a strange wind in the air; a feeling of danger. Neither one of them dared to even call out a name. And with radio communications out of the question, Jazz was a bit frustrated.
"We're not going to find them," he grumbled, mostly to himself. "This is stupid. Even if they were close by, but there's no way we dare let them know-"
A heavy shove to his back cut off his sentence and Jazz was flung into a pile of debris in a shadowed alley way. He was about to demand what was going on, but then he saw something that made his vocal processor freeze.
Crystal saw it first and her reaction was to not save herself, but to shove the little robot out of view. Robot. Her inner thoughts laughed at her, not for the first time. She was risking her life for robots. Pieces of machinery. What was wrong with her?
All the same, she had reacted. And now she stood out in the open, a giant red, white, and blue Decepticon looming over her. She had no idea how something that size had gotten so close without her noticing. That mistake just may have cost her life. Again, her life for the sake of a robot. Why was she doing this?
So far, it didn't seem that the towering seeker had noticed her. Crystal backed away slowly, praying she didn't catch its attention. With her wide eyes glued on the frightening sight, she wasn't watching where she was going and tripped on a pipe. There was a small clang as she gasped soundlessly and stumbled backward. She landed on her backside, catching herself painfully with her palms; breath held in her throat. She hadn't made that much noise. Maybe it still hadn't noticed her.
She glanced up and froze. Two sharp, blood red optics were trained right on her. The darkened face plate was pulled into an emotionless frown. For a moment neither Crystal nor the metal monstrosity moved. Then, the Decepticon raised its arm and Crystal saw a weapon of some sort attached to it, aimed right at her. Her body jerked with fear.
It's going to shoot me. Oh God, it's going to KILL me!
Far more frightening than even the weapon was the look of complete indifference on the robot's face. To this behemoth, Crystal was no more than a bug, nothing worth even a first thought, let alone a second one.
She heard the whine of the weapon powering up. Then the Decepticon's face suddenly snapped in another direction, as if someone were talking in its ear.
"I'm still out looking," Starscream grated out in a high, irritated voice. "Stop bothering me! I'll report in when I find something."
He ended the radio connection before Megatron could yell at him for being impertinent and turned his attention back to the insect he was about to exterminate. But the human was gone. Starscream glanced down the alley way. It was bordered half way through by a fence. There was a small hole and, out the light on the other side, he saw the flicker of the human's retreat as it took off around the corner.
As much as a fly that had buzzed off to some place else, Starscream gave the human little mind. He had other things to worry about and he moved off.
Crystal's heart wouldn't stop pounding. Her small window of redemption came like a godsend and she took it. Grabbing Jazz, she raced down the alley, forced her way through the fence and out the other side. Now she was running as fast as her feet could take her, wishing she could flee even faster. At one point, she stumbled and dropped Jazz, but she didn't stop for him. Her panic wouldn't let her. The rumbling sound next to her told her he was keeping up fine on his own in vehicle mode.
Through crowds and deserted places Crystal ran. All she could do was run. She ran until her body had nothing else left to propel her and she nearly collapsed on hands and knees outside a small park, panting heavily and wanting to throw up. Her limbs were on fire and trembling, her vision was swimming. She was far away now, but still terrified. She had never felt so afraid; never been so close to death.
As she panted and shivered, a hand lightly touch her shoulder.
"Hey, you gonna to be okay?" Jazz asked softly.
Crystal was still breathing too hard to reply. Her mouth was dry and sore from sucking in air. She sat back, leaning against the wall as she tried to swallow, weakly nodding.
"That robot... was huge," she managed to pant.
"Tell me about it," Jazz said with a lopsided grin. "I never thought I'd find old Starscream that menacing. You saved my aft back there by shoving me out of the way. He would have cooked me for sure."
"Cooked us both," Crystal corrected, resting her elbows on her upturned knees. She let out a heavy breath as her respiratory system slowed back to normal. She leaned her head against the wall and let out another breath as she watched the clouds pass by above her. It was good to be alive. She looked over at Jazz.
"If you get back to normal size, will you be that big?"
Jazz chuckled. "I'm not as tall as Starscream, but I could still take him out."
"I suppose that's all I could ask." She held out her hands in front of her face, clenching and unclenching her fingers. They were still trembling.
Jazz's reached out and sandwiched one of her hands in his. "You're shaking," he said.
She gave a weak attempt at a smile. "Adrenaline rush. I'll be fine. Just give me a few minutes."
Jazz nodded and crouched next to her, her hand still in his.
His obvious concern caught her attention. Despite how easily she interacted with them, Crystal still had a hard time looking at them as more than machines. As pets at the very least, not people. Certainly not human- not with humanity. Not with feelings such as she had. And yet, despite his single optic band, it did little to hide the obvious emotion this small robot showed on a continuous basis. How did something made of metal and wires feel so alive?
Crystal smiled down at the little Autobot. "You're very sweet, you know that?"
"I know," Jazz grinned back. He stood up and leaned on his knees to look her closely in the face. "What say we go back an' wait for Prowl? I think we've seen enough for today."
"Yes, please," Crystal said gratefully.
She slowly got to her feet. Her legs were still shaky from all that running, but she tried to hide it and started walking. The two meandered around as Crystal tried to get her bearings on exactly where she was in the city and how to get back to their rendezvous point. Preferably a route that didn't involve running into any more giant Decepticons.
This time, Crystal stuck with heavily trafficked areas. Jazz could hardly blame her, but it made it quite difficult for a bot his size to keep up. The New York populace not only didn't seem to care they had a robot in their midst, they also didn't notice. More than once, Jazz nearly lost his human companion in the crowd. Luckily, she was fairly tall with a distinct hair color and he would quickly worm his way through to catch up with her again.
However, as Jazz feared, a large group of people surged from the opposite direction and he lost her completely. All around him were towering humans; not a single one familiar. There were so many of them, he couldn't even see where to go or what was around him. Nothing but a shuffling sea of bodies bombarded him every direction he turned. For a moment, panic filled his processor. If he got lost, what was he supposed to do? How would he ever find his way back again?
"There you are," Crystal announced as she appeared from the crowd.
The look on Jazz's face must have been of complete relief. Crystal reached out and grabbed his hand. "Don't worry, I'm not going to leave you behind, Jazz. We're in this together."
She said that last line in an odd way. But Jazz was too relieved at being found to take note. Usually a talker, Jazz uncharacteristically stayed quiet as they made their way to the meeting point. He was out of his element in this giant city with towering building and seas of humans. It was uncomfortable and he looked forward to getting back to the sanctity of the smaller, enclosed apartment and to see his own kind again.
Crystal led them back to the bus stop and the pair waited for Prowl and Grimlock to return. Hopefully, with better results of their search.
There was a small pond near by. Crystal leaned her elbows against the rail and watched the ducks float about. Jazz didn't enjoy the scenery as much, hardly able to see above the tall weeds. And he didn't care. His biggest concern was making sure he was next to Crystal at all times. After that horrible feeling of being completely lost, he was dead set on going home with her. Primus himself couldn't make him stay alone in this city overnight. It was all he could do to not simply grab onto her shin until she carried him to the bus. Instead, he had to settle for leaning against the rail and watch her hair blow in the wind.
Hair was an odd thing for Jazz. Being a robot, it was very foreign to him. He never had a close look at it before. This Earth woman had extremely long hair that fell past her waist. It was an odd pale rusty color, thin and light. It waved almost hypnotically in the breeze. Jazz didn't even realize he was reaching out to grab it until she said something to him.
"Hey, Four, do you ever have dreams?"
Jazz immediately pulled his hand back, hoping she didn't notice.
"Nope. I don't sleep, remember?"
"Do you know what they are?"
Jazz shrugged. "Kind of. You see things with your eyes closed, like replaying data in your head or something. It kinda freaks me out."
Crystal laughed. "It's not something freaky, I promise." She returned her gaze back to the pond.
"Why'd you ask?" Jazz then said.
"Oh," Crystal responded as she was reminded of it. "I just had a dream last night. It was about my mom. It reminded me of something she used to tell me whenever sudden changes came up."
Crystal gazed down at the robot. As an afterthought, she reached down to pick him, setting him on the rail so they were almost eye to eye. Jazz finally got his view of the pond while Crystal settled back into her memories.
"We used to move around a lot when I was a kid. I hated it. But my mother was almost so optimistic. She had this weird faith in fate. She always told me things happened for a reason. That nothing in this world is coincidental.
"When I was little, I believed her without question. But now..." She sighed a little. "It seems like such an exhausting way to live, to constantly have faith in powers you can't control. Knowing that everything that's coming will happen whether you want them to or not. And there's nothing you can do about it. It seems a bit frightening unless you believe it's all meant to turn out for the best in the end. And that..." She shook her head. "I'm not sure I believe in either.
"But to believe that there is no greater purpose out there is even less disconcerting. To think we are all coincidentally here and that nothing is in store for us seems like a big joke. So I'm left with my first option that fate has something planned for us all. But if that's true then..." She looked over at Jazz. "It means that millions of years ago, you were shot out of space and you were meant to land here, sleep here. And you were meant to wake up in this time some twenty years ago. And yesterday, your Decepticon leader was meant to have a gun that shrinks Autobots and I was destined to find you. What do you think of that?"
Jazz just gave her a blank look and shrugged. Philosophical thinking like that made a throbbing in his logic circuits.
"Couldn't really tell you," he admitted. "In all honesty, we don't really think about that much. Fate is a human idea. Your lives are so short and ours can go on forever. For those of us who have lived millions of years already, fate seems very... irrelevant."
Crystal looked thoughtfully at the pond. "I suppose that could be true in your case. But I'm going to do a little experiment. If I can find your missing friends before I get my car back, I will accept that fate is trying to tell me something. And if not, well... maybe not everything in the world is directed by fate. Maybe there are some coincidences out there as well."
Jazz looked at her oddly for a moment, not really understanding it all. Crystal turned her attention from him as she pulled her cell phone from her pocket to check the time.
"It's getting late. They should have been here by now. I wish there was some way to call them or something. I hope they didn't get lost."
"Nah, Prowl's got his map. He never gets lost," Jazz assured her. "Let me see that." He held out his hand for the cell phone. Jazz inspected the small appliance then grew still as if deep in thought. Crystal was about to ask what he was doing, but then Jazz came to life again and handed back the phone.
"Here you go," he said as if he had just given her a brand new gift.
Crystal opened her mouth to ask why he did that when her phone rang, singing a part of "Take On Me" before she flipped it open.
"Hello?"
"How's that sound?" Jazz said as his voice echoed over the cell phone.
"Wicked!" Crystal exclaimed in approval. "So you can call me on my phone now?"
"Yup," Jazz beamed. "It only works one way, but if we get separated I can always get in contact with you."
"That's fantastic!" She grinned over at him. "You're amazing."
Once more, Jazz beamed. "I know."
Something lightly tugged on Crystal's hand and she looked down to find a white Autobot next to her leg.
"Prowl, Grim! Oh, you guys are okay!" She was happy to see them, then her face fell at Prowl's dour expression. "No luck, huh?"
"No sign," Prowl replied. Even his usual stoic voice seemed to betray an undertone of disappointment. "If the others have completely fled this area, I don't know where we would search for them."
"Well," Crystal responded, trying to sound positive. "We'll just look somewhere else tomorrow and hope we find them. Maybe we can-"
She was cut off as Prowl got a stern look on his face and grabbed her hand, pulling her down to his level. When the two were almost eye to eye, Prowl went to her arm and frowned at the scratches he found. Crystal hadn't even noticed them. She must have gotten them when she scrambled through the fence to escape from Starscream. They weren't bad, but still deep enough to have dried blood gathered where the skin was broken.
Prowl gave a disapproving glare to Jazz who slumped guiltily.
Crystal patted Prowl's head. "Don't worry about it, it's fine. I just want to go home."
Jazz jumped off the rail and followed as Crystal walked toward the bus stop.
"We'll have a talk later," Prowl informed his fellow second quietly.
Grimlock ran in front of Crystal and then transformed into his dinosaur mode. "Me Grimlock sick of walking. Carry me."
Crystal scooped him up without a thought even before Jazz or Prowl could get after him for treating her that way. The timing was perfect and the bus pulled up right then. Crystal tromped inside and sat down with Grimlock in her lap. Jazz and Prowl climbed onto the seat next to her and they were off again.
"Ugh, I am so hungry. I can't wait to get back home," Crystal complained. She glanced at the two Autobot officers. "Are you sure I can't fix you guys something to eat?"
Jazz grinned crookedly at her. "You could, but we wouldn't be able to do anything with it."
Crystal sighed as she rested her chin on the top of Grimlock's head. "Another dinner for one then."
Late that night, Crystal stumbled out of the bathroom, heading back to bed. She noticed the faint light and slight noise coming from the living room. Jazz was, no doubt, spending another night systematically taking out her movie collection one by one.
As she reached her bedroom door, Crystal noticed two glowing blue eyes about knee height in the door way. Prowl's pale silhouette could be seen as she approached, clutching a book to his chest. He looked up at her in a way that reminded her of a cat she had as a child who would sit there when you opened the door and look at you expectantly as you tried to figure out what it wanted.
"How about it, Shorty?" she said to him. "You want in or out?"
Prowl glanced at the dark bedroom and then decided to go in. Crystal followed, closing the door behind her and flopping tiredly back in bed. She didn't even want to know what time it was.
As she settled in, she felt Prowl's lighter form crawling up on the bed and sitting on her pillow, back against the wall. Crystal rolled over to rest her forehead against his leg.
"What are you reading?" she asked as she pulled the covers closer around her.
"Alice in Wonderland," came the calm response.
"Really?" Crystal asked, opening one eye to look to see if he was joking. It hardly seemed like the preferred selection for a serious robot.
"I've read everything else," Prowl informed her.
"I see."
"This is the second time I'm reading this," Prowl continued. "I don't understand it."
"Really," Crystal wondered. "Though I suppose you could relate to it a bit. You are kind of down a rabbit hole right now, aren't you?"
Prowl quietly thought about it.
Crystal snuggled up closer. "Read it to me."
Prowl looked at the top of her head dubiously and then opened the book, starting from the beginning.
"'Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it. "And what is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversations?'"
Crystal settled into a quiet breathing rhythm as the calm, lulling voice made her drift off. Idly, her last thoughts were of the robots in her home. She was having a harder time thinking of them as robots as she got to know them. Though made of metal, they acted human and their skin was warm, almost alive to the touch. She wanted to protect them. She wasn't sure why, but she had an undeniable urge to get them back to their home. Maybe they were destined to meet after all.
Prowl stopped reading out loud when his sensors told him the human body had slipped into her sleep mode. In the darkness, he watched her shoulders slowly rise and fall. He had always respected the human species, but never let himself get involved with them like some of his fellow Autobots had. He liked living by boundaries. Right now, it felt like he had crossed them and there was nothing he could do about it.
Unfortunately, Jazz had been right, and in their current predicament, they needed this human's help. But Prowl was determined to keep her out of their fight as much as possible. When it was all over, he would sever the ties. This girl didn't need such danger in her life and Prowl wasn't willing to risk it just for him.
It was the middle of the night, but Ratchet hardly noticed. It had been almost two days since he had heard from Optimus Prime or any of the Autobots that had gone with him to New York City.
It worried Ratchet.
According to Teletraan-1, the Decepticon activity was still high in New York. What was going on? Why hadn't he heard from anyone? What had happened to them? If they had lost the battle, then why wasn't Megatron on the move toward the unprotected Ark?
Ratchet wasn't sure what was worse, not knowing what was going on or being completely helpless to do anything about it. He should have gone. Prowl was a better candidate to run and defend the base. He wouldn't have gotten this antsy being left alone. Ratchet would have been better out on the field helping them with whatever had happened to them.
But it couldn't be helped now. Ratchet had to deal with the card given to him. All available Autobots were ordered back to base so a rescue party could be sent out. That in itself was a chore.
Autobots were scattered all about the globe due to world-wide Decepticon activity. The Decepticons, most of which were high powered jets, could travel about the planet faster than the land based Autobots. All they had at the moment was Skyfire who had been shot down and was still waiting for rescue himself. Cosmos was in space. The entire team of Arielbots had been transferred to Cybertron.
Once again, there was nothing Ratchet could do about that now. The only thing he could do was wait for all the radioed parties to slowly drive back to base.
At that thought, Ratchet was pleasantly surprised to hear the doors to the control room hiss open and heavy metallic feet stomp in.
Flooded with relief at the early arrival, Ratchet turned around with elation. His face dropped just as quickly when he saw who was standing there.
"Oh," he said flatly. "It's just you."