Author's note. So this chapter is continued form the last one. Billy and Fred will not feature that much, they're not my favourite characters.
Heh, a small reference to my Breaking Free story in this chapter, see if anyone can guess what it is.
Enjoy and please review.
"Hey Billy, hey Fred," Alexis greeted as she, Rad and Carlos ran up to the tow boys waiting for them. Fred as usual had a packet of crisps.
"Hey Alexis," he said digging his hand into the packet.
"Hey, guys," said Fred before asking eagerly. "Did anything happen this weekend?"
"Dude, did it ever," said Carlos. "It was totally big, man."
Before Billy or Fred could say anything, the school bell rang.
"We'll tell you later, at lunch," said Alexis and the five of them headed off for their classes.
The morning past and eventually it was lunch time. They all went outside to enjoy their lunch in the sun, where it was also more private. As they settled down to eat, Fred asked.
"So what happened?"
They explained how they'd been with Hotshot, searching for the Minicon but after searching for over an hour, the kids came up with the idea of splitting up.
"You know dude, how if one teams finds it, the other team knows like, almost straight away," explained Carlos. "So we thought, if Hotshot could distract the Decepticons, we could get the Minicon."
"So that's what we did, Hotshot let himself be chased while we got the Minicon out of this gorge. But then," said Rad, his expression turning into a grimace.
"Megatron found us," Alexis said quietly.
"What?" both Billy and Fred yelped, Fred actually falling off his seat.
"Oh my God, did he get you, did he hurt?" Fred said whimpering on the ground. Billy snorted.
"Fred, you dumbass, he obviously didn't if they're here."
"Well he almost did," Rad admitted. "See he had us cornered and was going to take the Minicon from us"
"Was he going to take you back to his base?" Fred asked eagerly as Billy picked himself up.
"No," said Carlos rolling his eyes. "He thought it'd be funnier to leave us to get punished by Optimus, that guy really has a thing for punishment."
"So he took the Minicon from you" asked Billy sitting himself down on the bench again.
"Nah, he was too busy gloating to notice me and Rad take out our flares and give them to Alexis, she was the one holding the Minicon," said Carlos. "And that's when things really got serious."
Billy and Fred were on the edge of their seats, hanging on to Rad, Carlos and Alexis's every word.
"Alexis was the one holding the Minicon, so Megatron was demanding she hand it over," said Rad, smiling at his friends' expression of excitement.
"What happened?" they whispered. Alexis gave a shy smile.
"I threw the flares straight in his face"
"Wow," they gasped, in awe at her boldness, they didn't think they could do that to the very large scary mech.
"I ran for it, while Rad and Carlos tried to free Perceptor from Leader-One but they Megatron lashed out and hit Rad," She said looking sorrowfully at Rad.
"He got you?" gasped Fred and he nearly fell off his seat again, he was only prevented from doing so by Billy.
"He just whacked me and I hit a big rock, but I've just got a few bruises," said Rad shrugging, he didn't think much about it, after all compared to the injuries the Autobots received, his was nothing.
"Oh man," said Billy rubbing his head. Carlos grinned, saying.
"It was cool dudes, I just took Rad and ran off while our Minicons gave Thrust a beat down. We almost had it when Wheeljack found us but then Hoshot and Sideswipe came and saved the day."
Alexis smiled at Carlos's casual words, even though she had not been there, Carlos had revealed how scared he had been last night before they went to sleep. She picked up the tale.
"I tried to out run Megatron but he eventually cornered me," she gave a small shiver remembering. "He was going to torture me then take the Minicon."
Billy and Fred had looks of horror on their faces, while Carlos and Rad looked grim.
"But then Optimus showed up and saved me, he and Megatron started fighting."
Billy and Fred gave a cheer.
"Good old Optimus"
Alexis went on to explain how Jetfire had rescued her and the ensuring fight with Starscream, which resulted in Jetfire getting injured. But it had all turned out alright, Hoist had tossed Optimus the SkyBoom Shield, thus protecting Jetfire and they had all warped back to base. Billy and Fred were totally in awe by this point.
"Wow, that was awesome," said Billy, while Fred nodded fervently. The rest of lunch past smoothly, and so did the rest of the school day. As they left the school building with their disguised Minicons, Billy said.
"You guys want to head into town, there's a new sundae flavour at the ice-cream parlour?"
"Can't, sorry dudes," Carlos sighed. "We're grounded, man."
"What?" cried Fred horrified. "But you'll miss the new sundae."
"We'll be able to try it another time," said Alexis. "Considering how much danger we were in, we got off pretty lightly."
Carlos shuddered and Rad winched, remembering what Hotshot had said about Megatron and his views on punishment. They said goodbye to Billy and Fred and walked over to where Blurr was waiting, the Autobots took turns driving the kids. As they got in and strapped themselves in, Carlos asked.
"Dude is this really necessary?"
"Yes it is Carlos or hadn't you noticed whose over on the other side of the road," came Blurr in a firm voice.
The kids spun to stare out the window in time to see a totally black car with tinted windows drive slowly passed them. Even though it was a car, it still gave off a menacing aura.
"Wheeljack," Rad whispered, while Carlos groaned.
"Aw man, Megatron has his goons watching us, we're never going to be able to do anything ever again," he grumbled.
Alexis watched as the black car disappeared, it was funny but Megatron was only focused on them and not on Billy and Fred at all. She frowned, sure they didn't have as much do to with the Autobots as they did but it seemed like a snub. On the other hand, it meant Billy and Fred weren't in any danger which was a very good thing.
"Is Jetfire better?" asked Rad.
Blurr gave a snort.
"He's as annoying and as enthusiastic as ever so yes, he's fine."
The kids laughed. They nothing more of Wheeljack, or indeed of any other Decepticon as Blurr drove them back to base. Once they were safe within the walls, they all got out of Blurr allowing him to transform. With a nod to the kids and their Minicons, he marched away.
The kids set off for their rooms, the rules of their guardians were that they did their homework straight away, then some chores and then had the rest of the evening free to spend with their guardians. Once they reached their room they set their stuff down and got to work.
While they were doing their homework, Highwire, Grindor and Sureshock went off to do their own thing as they had done their job of protecting the kids. As Rad and Carlos busily got on with their work, Alexis sat twirling a pen thoughtfully. Usually she got started right away and was normally finished first. But today she was distracted.
"Hey you okay Alexis?" Carlos asked looking up from his work. Alexis sighed.
"I was just thinking, I know Optimus said he forgave us, but he was really upset. I was just wondering, is there anything we can do to make it up."
The boys paused to ponder the question. Alexis had raised a good point, they needed to do something to please Optimus and the others. But what could they do?
"We can all work harder at our chores and do everything the Autobots ask us," suggested Rad. Carlos chuckled.
"Would that include referring to Jetfire as 'Commander SuperCool?"
Alexis and Rad burst out laughing, remembering one of Jetfire's ridiculous suggestions.
"Well maybe we won't go that far," Rad chortled. "But seriously, we should make a bigger effort."
"Hey I know," Carlos said excitedly. "Why don't we research possible Minicon locations? Remember the one we found in the Sahara? There had been legends about it and that's how the Autobots found it."
"Carlos that's a brilliant idea," cried Alexis. "It can be a lovely surprise for Optimus and the others once we find something."
Having settled on their plan, the kids set back to work with great enthusiasm, meaning in no time at all had finished. Quickly tidying up their room, they raced from the room to do their other chores.
"Well kids I'm pleased to see you taking your duties seriously," said Scavenger with a smile as he watched them enthusiastically clean the Minicons. "Unlike some I could mention" he said sternly as he glared at Hotshot and Sideswipe who were longing around.
"Wha?t" exclaimed Hotshot seeing Scavenger's glare. "We've been working all day."
"So have the kids," Scavenger said pointedly.
"They've been at schoo,l" groused Sideswipe, hating feeling guilty.
"Which is very important," came a voice from the door.
"Optimus," chorused the kids in greeting. Optimus smiled down at them.
"I'm glad to see you kids working so hard, are you doing well in school?"
"Yes Optimus," replied Carlos as he scrubbed the new Minicon Loosewire who was blue and green. Scavenger and Optimus gave approving nods and then Optimus said.
"I was thinking kids, we had a pretty stressful day yesterday so why don't we all watch a movie while we eat our meal later. What do you say?"
Optimus laughed as they all gave cries of delight, he loved seeing them happy. Since they were now a family, Optimus liked them all to have their evening meals together, in order to bond more.
After the kids had finished, they along with the Autobots and Minicons settled to watch a film while they ate their meal, the Autobots and Minicons of course consumed Energon. When the kids had finished eating they settled on different Autobot laps and relaxed. Rad was on Hotshot's, Carlos on Jetfire who was completely better and Alexis was on Optimus's.
Optimus smiled down at his adopted daughter and also caught the optic of RedAlert who gave him a knowing look as he surveyed Optimus's adopted sons. Optimus smiled even more, none of them could have even imagined how much they would gain by coming here. Seeing the kids like this, he knew his views regarding discipline were correct, there was no need to reduce the Younglings to sobbing beaten wrecks. This is what Megatron would do if he ever got his hands on them.
Optimus scowled slightly, Megatron had once captured a young solider called Bumblebee and had taken him over his knee and had hit him till he couldn't sit down for several solar cycles. Optimus still burned about that incident. But now wasn't the time to dwell on the past, Bumblebee had recovered and the kids were safe. Optimus relaxed, gently stroking Alexis as everyone enjoyed themselves.
Meanwhile in another part of the solar system.
Sideways smiled as he flew through space, in his dematerialised form. He was heading for a little known planet that actually wasn't too far from here. It had no intelligent life on it but it did contain some...interesting things on it. It would take him a few solar cycles to get there and back, but it didn't matter. The Autobots would keep.
And once he returned to Earth, it was a simple matter of waiting for the next fight over a Minicon. Sideways chuckled, Optimus Prime and the other Autobots wouldn't know what hit them. Things were about to become very interesting.
Author's note. The kids discover a Minicon location but this sets in motion a series of incredible events. Till next time.