Chapter 5: Apologies and Old Memories

Barricade POV

I sat there feeling stunned. What the Pit just happened? I regained my wits and sat up and looked around.

I was all the way on the opposite side of the field. On the other side, the Autobots were looking at me, with stunned faceplates. Ironhide still had his cannon trained on the spot where I had been.

I looked beside me. Nicole was laying facedown in the snow. When she didn't move, I almost reached forward and picked her up.

But her head whipped up, and she had a tired and annoyed look on her face. She groaned and stood up.

Brushing her self off, she looked at me. "You owe me big time. And some answers, too."

I just stared at her, not sure what to say. When she started walking towards the Autobots, I finally overcame my shock. "How did you get us over here?"

Nicole kept walking. "Why should I tell you anything?" Then she sighed. "I teleported us over here. I don't know if you noticed, but Ironhide was about to blast your head off." Then she stopped walking. "I have no idea how I know that his name is Ironhide."

I stood up and walked to her side. "Do you know who I am?"

Nicole looked up at me. She had a hurt and betrayed look on her face. "Yes, I do, Barricade."

Frag. I had wanted to tell her myself.

Now Nicole looked outright mad. No, furious is a better term.

She pointed at me. "I also know how you lied to me all these years. I know how you acted like you cared about me. I know how you acted like someone else this whole time. Your just some alien robot. And…..I fell for it all." She turned and started walking again.

"But you can bet that it wont happen again." I barely heard her as she disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the field with the Autobots.

…...

Nicole POV

I reappeared on the other side with the other robots.

Somehow I just knew their name. I asked Jazz about it but he didn't say anything.

The robots were just staring at me like they expected me to disappear like I had before. The thought was very tempting.

The neon yellow with red stripes was Ratchet. The golden twin was Sunstreaker and the silver twin was Sideswipe. The black robot was Ironhide. The small purple robot was Arcee. And last, but not least, the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime. Funny thing was….they all seemed familiar.

Ratchet was the first to speak. "Well, don't just stand there. Come here. You didn't let me finish scanning you. I may not have seen you in years, but I still remember when you were just a youngling all the times you did something to hurt yourself."

I blinked. "Wait…..Ratch?"

I remember now… When I my parents were still alive, they took me to only one doctor, and that doctor had been Ratchet. The voice, attitude, and over all 'Do as I say and no one gets hurt' manner was very familiar. (It was actually hard to forget).

I started walking towards Ratchet, still amazed that an alien robot had been my doctor.

As I was in reaching distance of him Ratchet, he leaned down and scooped me up gently.

I swayed a bit, but sat down and found that the metal was warm. Taking advantage of this, I leaned down farther into his servo. Wait, servo?

I felt a small tingling go through me and it tickled, so a small giggle escaped my lips. Ratchet looked at me worriedly. "Does something hurt?"

I laughed at his expression. It felt good. "No, it just tickled." Seeing his faceplates-again, huh?-I explained. "You know, uh, humans have sensitive spots on their body, and, like, if you poke them, they make you laugh."

Ratchet had a faraway look on his faceplates. "Yes, I remember. Sam would do that to Mikaela often to cheer her up."

My good mood was gone in a flash. After an uncomfortable silence, I finally found the right words. "So, you really there when I was smaller, huh?"

Ratchet nodded. "Yes. See for yourself, youngling." His optics-why am I not surprised-dimmed, and in a second, standing right beside me was a man who I recognized right off the bat.

He had silver hair, a bit of a gray beard, and bright blue eyes. He was wearing a doctor's coat, so it fit the personality perfectly.

Ratchet onlined his optics and looked behind me. I stood up and turned around.

Apparently the other Autobots had crowded around us while we were talking. I looked at all of their optics, which were dim, and then to the ground.

On the ground, were their holoforms. And I knew everyone of them.

Arcee had a dark brown haired holoform, who I remembered meeting at least five times.

The Corvette twins, as I saw them more closely(well they had been chasing me), I realized had been some of my favorite people to hang around. They had played prank after prank, taught me the ways of trouble making(and running and hiding in fear of a very ticked off victim), and blackmail. You can bet on it that none of those skills have faded.

Then there was Ironhide. Every defensive move I knew today, he had taught me. And if you think teaching a 7 year old moves to take down a man is flat out stupid, then you'd think it's idiotic how much those skills come in to play.

Then….there was Optimus. Or better known as 'Orion Pax'. I had only met him once. And it was to tell me what had happened to my parents the night of the fire.

Not exactly comforting memory to remember him by.

I allowed myself a small smile. Here was what most of my family had consisted of before my parents died. And we were all back together.

That's when I heard a small cough.

I turned to see Barricade standing a few yards away, like he didn't know what to do.

And my happy moment was gone. Yet again.

I teleported-I really need to think up a better name than teleporting-to the ground, not really caring if the scan was finished.

Walking up to Optimus, I said "Optimus, don't you have a land base?"

He looked surprised as he knelt down to my level. "Yes, but…how would you know of that?"

I looked to the ground. "I…..just know." And I did. I could've told you the exact location and coordinates. It was out in a remote part of Nevada, and was quite large. I was sort of surprised that it wasn't called Area 52.

I looked back at Optimus. "I just cant explain it right now, ok? But when we get to the base, ill explain then. For now…I need to talk to Barricade about trust issues. We'll follow you there."

I started walking towards Barricade, but stopped. "Oh, and Optimus, I need to make a stop at my apartment to pick up someone, 'kay?"

I almost smiled at the expression on his faceplates.

A/N:(im only going to do certain peoples POVs. Basically where its needed. This is not one of those occasions)

Optimus watched Nicole walk over to Barricade, feeling very unsure about her.

She knew things she shouldn't, and he had a hunch of how she knew it, but he prayed to Primus that he was wrong.

"Optimus." He turned around to see Ratchet and Ironhide standing behind him.

"Yes, Ironhide?"

Ironhide looked happy, no more than happy, over-joyed compared to his usual demeanor. "I was going to send another message to Bumblebee, but he'd already responded to our last one. He's coming back."Optimus was surprised for a moment, then smiled. Finally, after all these years, he was coming back. "Tell him to go to the land base. He will probably arrive before we do."

Ironhide optics dimmed for a moment. Then his optics onlined and he nodded. Then he looked grim again. "But what are we going to do about-"

Ratchet cut him off. "Nicole?" He sighed. "There are things…..that I cannot explain about that girl. She is far too healthy for her to have almost drowned, almost have hypothermia, and not be overcame with shock. And if you have not noticed, she doesn't have a single cut on her."

Optimus agreed all too much with what Ratchet said. He turned around just in time to see Barricade transform back into his alt mode and open his door to Nicole.

At first she hesitated, but then she wrapped her arms around her self and got in the driver's seat.

Barricade did not drive off as Optimus had expected, but instead just sat there revving his engine every few seconds. Maybe he was actually waiting for them…

Optimus turned back to Ironhide and Ratchet. "We will get the story from Barricade as to why he was with Nicole in the first place." Seeing Ironhide flexing his servos and grinning evilly, he added, "Peacefully, Ironhide."

Optimus looked past them to tell the Corvette twins and Arcee to get ready to roll out, but stopped at the sight that he saw.

The twins were both covered in the snow, and they each had servos full of snow. Arcee looked amused as they threw the snow at each other, yelling insults every so often.

Ratchet, who noticed him staring at something, turned around to see the twins. He growled loudly, but when they didn't stop he pulled something from his subspace.

Ratchet flung one at each twin, and Optimus had a hunch that the objects were wrenches fixed especially just for this purpose.

Arcee wasn't trying to hold in her laughter anymore as the twins looked up. Sideswipe pointed at Ratchet. "I told you he kept more in his subspace!" he yelled at Sunny.

Sunny just glared at Ratchet.

Ratchet glanced back to Optimus. "You now have their undivided attention."

"Wasn't that a bit unorthodox?"

"Unorthodox, but effective."

Optimus looked a bit unsure, but called back to the twins and Arcee anyway. "Autobots, roll out!"

As they transformed back to their alt modes, they failed to notice Nicole smiling out Barricade's window.

Nicole POV

I saw the expression on Barricade's faceplates and almost stopped in surprise.

He looked nervous. I had no idea that robots could display emotion so well.

I focused on the task at hand. Talk to Barricade and sort him out. Decide whether or not he loved me.

Soon I was standing before him, craning my neck to see him better.

When he didn't say anything, I decided to come up straight and ask him point blank.

"Why, Barricade?"

He looked confused. "Why-"

I cut him off glaring at him. "Why? Why did you pretend to be someone else? Why did you lie to me? Why did you lie to me about everything?"

"I didn't lie about everything." He said quietly.

I was shocked. What did he not lie about? His phone number? I mean, come on.

He knelt down to me. "I didn't lie to you about everything. I love you. I did not lie about that."

I just stared at for him a moment. Then I shivered. I had this strange feeling in my gut that he wasn't lying.

He must have seen me shiver, because he said "If you want, I can transform and turn the heaters up."

I thought for a moment, then turned back to look at Optimus and the others. After a few seconds, I looked back at Barricade and nodded.

He may have smiled, but it was so quick I may have imagined it.

He transformed back to the black and silver striped Mustang GT that I had once thought was just a machine. I hesitated when he opened the door, but I steeled my nerves, wrapped my arms around myself, and got in.

At first I focused on getting situated and warm. When I was being blasted by warm air, I began to feel sleepy. I fought the urge, because I didn't want to fall asleep just yet. It seemed that I had been sleeping a lot lately.

I glanced out the window, and almost laughed at what I saw. The twins were throwing snow at each other, or, they were until Ratchet threw something at them. Sides pointed at Ratchet and yelled something.

I actually smiled. This was what they had done all those years ago, and they still were. I had missed them.

Then Optimus said something, and they all transformed and started towards the gate.

While the others went ahead, Ironhide went slowly. I started to tell Barricade to start driving or Ironhide would shoot at him, but he sped forward before I could say anything.

We drove ahead of Ironhide, and pulled out back onto the small dirt road. The Autobots were ahead of us, obviously waiting for us, and when we appeared behind them they sped up.

I sighed, not real sure what to say. So, I just stared at the moving white countryside. I wasn't so cold now, so I peeled off my damp hoodie and laid it on the passenger seat.

We passed a small house, and a man leaning against a snow shovel had his phone out, pointed at the twins. I guessed that he was taking a picture and saying, "Holy shit! Two freaking awesome Corvettes!"

Let's just say this. Im not questioning their choice of car. But I still like Mustangs.

Wow. I cant believe I just said that.

Sighing for what felt like the thousandth time that day, I looked at the steering wheel. It was steering it self. It was gonna take some time to get used to that.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Barricade spoke first saying two words that shocked me.

"Im sorry."

I didn't say anything at first. But then I did say something that sounded incredibly stupid.

"Huh?"

"Im sorry." He said again. "Im…..sorry that I lied to you. Im sorry I hurt you. Im sorry about everything."

He paused. "Nicole, I've lied about a lot of things my whole life. And I regret a lot of things, too. But loving you was not one of them. Just….please forgive me. Ill do anything. Just forgive me."

I just stared at the dashboard. That was….what sounded like an honest apology. It was everything I had wanted, and more. Much more.

So I said the first thing that came to mind.

"Decepticons don't apologize."

Barricade sounded offended. "1) Im not a Decepticon anymore. 2) This is a one time only thing. So, don't expect it later."

I smiled. This was the Barricade I knew. "Well, I forgive you." I hugged the steering wheel, which blared out. I laughed as I felt a vibrating start up. Then I leaned back.

"Besides, I couldn't stay mad at my tall, dark, and metal boyfriend." I heard a sound that could be described as laughing.

I yawned. "I know we just had our forgive and forget moment, but I seriously need a nap."

Without saying anything, he just lowered the seat in a laying position. I smiled and said thanks.

Laying down, I closed my eyes. I wanted to talk with Jazz. He had some questions to answer.

As I felt darkness closing in(it seemed that I could control when I could go to sleep), I muttered one last sentence to Barricade.

"I love you, 'Cade."

"I love you, too." I heard him as I fell into the land of sometimes not so sweet dreams.

I opened my eyes to see Jazz's smiling face.

I smiled and held my hand out to him. He reached down and pulled me up.

We were in the same room as before. I was tempted to call it the Library, since all the symbols around the room were basically books that you needed to touch to read.

Turning back to Jazz, I said "So, you ready to play a game of Question and Answer?"

"Do I get ta ask a question?"

"Nope."

"Huh. Why am I not surprised? Well, ask away."

I walked over to the wall and started to touch a symbol that looked like a square with a line through it, but I stopped. "I don't suppose you could tell me why every time I touch a freaky symbol I see visions, could you?"

He had a confused look on his face. "What do you mean?"

I sighed and grabbed his hand. "Watch this."

I moved his hand to the symbol, but as I got near it, it fluttered away. In fact, all the symbols around the spot where his hand spread out, like they thought he had a disease or something. It left a clear spot on the wall.

I dropped his hand and tilted my head, like I always did when trying to figure out a problem.

When his hand moved away, they all swarmed back across the spot again.

I gave the wall a hard glare, and stuck my hand up to it. Immediately all the symbols swarmed towards my hand. I pulled my hand back, afraid they might jump on me and eat me or something.

I looked at Jazz, and he had this look on his face that suggested that he was slightly freaked out.

I sighed and glared at the wall again. "Well, that is one thing you cant answer. But every time I touch a symbol, it like gives me a vision." I shook my head and leaned against the wall.

"Ok, new question. Can you explain all of this to me?"

Jazz glanced at me, then back to the wall, with a suspicious look on his face.

I glared at him. "Come on, you big pansy, answer the question and stop looking at the wall like its going to kill you."

He glared back at me. "I am not a pansy. Now, when ya mess with Sunstreaker's paint job…"

I gave an exaggerated sigh, and was about to complain about him not answering me, when a thought struck me. "How do you know about Sunny?"

Jazz looked sad for a moment. "Well, when I was alive-"

"Wait, alive? So your not my imagination?"

" 'Ave you not been payin' attention to what's been goin' on these past few hours? I don't think tha' me bein' here, a ghost ta explain everythin' to ya, is that strange."

I stared at him for a moment, then poked him in the chest. "Was this what you looked like when you were alive?"

"No. My alt mode was a Pontiac Solstice. My bi-pedal mode is hard to explain." He looked at the wall for a moment. Frowning, he walked over to the next wall. Then he smiled, and motioned for me to come over.

I did, wondering what I was supposed to see. He pointed to a symbol that looked like almost like the trademark logo for a Monster energy drink. "Touch that."

Shrugging mentally, I touched it.

A shock went through me, and I blinked.

When I opened my eyes, I saw a Pontiac Solstice. It was silver, and slick. Fitting Jazz's personality perfectly.

It was driving on a road that looked like it was in the desert. And I gasped at what I saw. It was following a semi-truck that looked like Optimus. Driving behind them, was a black Topkick and a neon yellow search and rescue truck. Obviously Ironhide and Ratchet.

Then, all of a sudden, a familiar yellow and black striped Camaro sped past. I was wondering why it was so familiar when Optimus did a U-turn without slowing down. What I assumed was Jazz, followed suit, as did Ironhide and Ratchet.

They all sped past me, without slowing down. But as the yellow and black striped Camaro drove past, I caught a glimpse of the driver.

Before I could react, the seen changed.

And it looked as though I was in a war zone.

I was in a city of some sort. In fact it almost looked familiar. I looked around.

People were everywhere. Most of them were fleeing(and screaming) civilians, but there was one group that wore camouflage and hand guns. Big guns.

Then four people stood out to me like a sore thumb.

The first two were just weird. Weird as in them being there. "Lennox and Epps?"

The two military officers who I also grew up knowing. Huh. Small world.

But the next two people were just…..I couldn't tell you how strange it was for them to be here.

Mom and Dad.

A younger version. Like when they were in high school. Both of them looked battered and bruised, and my dad was holding something that I'd never seen before, but oh did I know what it was.

The AllSpark. Aka, Cube.

I had to look away. I couldn't stand looking at them. The more I did the more I wanted to run up and hug them, but I knew that if I did I would pass through them.

So instead I looked around, anywhere but at my parents. And then I spotted Jazz.

Or, the transformed version of him. It was a silver robot with a blue visor, and he was shorter than the rest. 'The rest' being Ratchet, Ironhide, and a yellow and black-striped robot. Wait. Yellow and black-striped robot?

The Camaro.

My little discovery moment was interrupted by Ironhide. "It's Starscream!"

I looked up at the screaming sound of a jet. It looked almost identical to the jet from the field, without all the black tattoos.

Ironhide motioned for the others to get back. "Back up! Bumblebee, come here!"

The yellow robot ran over to him. They started to pick up the back of a delivery truck as the jet named Starscream turned around. Just as Bumblebee and Ironhide were bracing themselves, Starscream fired three missiles at them.

I watched as the missiles flew towards the truck, but as they struck the barrier, everything went black again.

When everything lightened up, I saw Jazz staring at me worriedly. "Are ya all right?"

I clutched my head, which was hurting badly. Then I glared at him. "Who is Bumblebee? And why the hell are my parents in a war zone with a transforming jet shooting at them?"

Hey yall. Sorry about the wait, but my dang computer stopped working for like 2 months. AGAIN, SOORRRYYYY!