Temerity

Part 30-Lost

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. They belong to Hasbro and Takara. I am merely taking them for a short spin.

"Sometimes solutions aren't so simple,

Sometimes good bye's the only way."

--Shadow of the Day, Linkin Park

Temerity-Unreasonable contempt of danger; extreme venturesomeness; rashness.

Mikaela lay on her stomach on her bed, aimlessly flipping channels. She couldn't sleep. Her mother was at work, for which she was grateful. Meant less chance to argue, but it also meant she was alone. The weekend meant time with Sam and Bumblebee, but not until morning. The girl sighed, sat up, turned off the television. Maybe if she read she could get some sleep. . .but she tossed that thought away when she heard noise outside--the revving of an engine. A familiar engine. She stood, grabbed a hoodie off the floor, shrugged into it, didn't bother putting on shoes or her flip flops, which were by the bedroom door. She went straight outside, was surprised to see Hot Rod parked in the driveway.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I couldn't think of anyplace to go where the others wouldn't find me," Hot Rod said.

"What's wrong?" Mikaela said.

"Everything," Hot Rod said.

--

Sam shoved the phone off the night stand, satisfied by the sound it made as it hit the floor. Then the cell phone rang. He answered it.

"Sideswipe, for the thousandth time, I have not heard from Hot Rod, and neither has Bumblebee and so help me God if you call one more time, I will shove a banana up your tailpipe the next time I see you. . ." Sam said. "'Sides? Not 'Sides. . .uh hi Prowl. . .no, I CANNOT think of a reason why he'd come into town and well, honestly, now that I think about it, from the way you guys keep calling, I can see why he'd want to get the hell away. . .yes, I know at my age swearing is inappropriate. . .no. . .Prowl, shut up. It's like 3:30 in the morning and I'm gonna wake my parents and then. . .how about you go to your berth, go to sleep, and I call you say, in an hour when you're having a nice dream about Jazz and Blue. . .what? haven't figured that one out yet? sheesh. . .for somebody that's so smart. . .focus? you want me to focus? well focus on this sparky. . ."

Sam hit the 'end' button, shoved the phone under his pillow and laid back down.

It rang again.

". . .so help me I will have the twins, both sets hold him down and paint him and tie him up and give him to Bluestreak for target practice. . ." Sam muttered as he answered the phone again. "Prowl, I am so gonna hurt you the next time we meet. . .'Kaela? What? Prowl, SHUT UP AND LET ME TALK. . .she's in her house, at home, in her room, asleep. And if you call and wake her up and I hear about it, me and Bumblebee are gonna take a little trip out to the base like five minutes after and kick your. . .do I look like I care you're the second in command? That means squat when I'm trying to sleep. Mouthy? Yeah, that's me. Why don't you call Capt. Lennox and wake him up too? Oh yeah? Is that a threat? I'm sure Optimus'll be glad to hear you're threatening humans now. . .Prowl, shut up. Whatever's happened. . .I know it's bad, obviously, because you're not yourself. . .stow it already. . .Prowl, bite me. . .Look, even I know Hot Rod's got some issues he needs to work out and if you'd lay off. . .OK, fine. . .yeah, whatever. Bye."

Sam hit the 'end' button again, this time turned off the phone and shoved it back under his pillow. No way in hell was he going to call back if he knew about Hot Rod's whereabouts. Sometimes a guy just had to be alone, human or otherwise. He hadn't spent much time around Hot Rod, but Bumblebee did like to talk, now that he could, somewhat. And so he talked about all of the Autobots on base, then some. Hot Rod came up a few times, mainly because of his antics with Springer, which were funny. But he also understood that for all his bravado and arrogance, Hot Rod did have some serious issues to deal with, and even a human could understand that.

Now unable to sleep, Sam decided to go talk with Bumblebee. He knew his friend would want to, now that they knew what had happened out in the desert. An Autobot arrival had died.

-----

Mikaela didn't say much, just drove around town aimlessly. Hot Rod let her drive, and Mikaela knew something was up because he was hiding, although not trying very hard. It was like all the fight had gone out of him. He also hadn't said much, so she'd turned on the radio, content to drive in silence. She knew from the others, and what she'd witnessed herself that Hot Rod's usual MO when it came to running off was driving as far and fast as he could go. But not tonight.

"Anyplace you'd like to go?" she finally asked.

"Not back to base," he said.

"OK," she said.

"You're not going to ask why?" Hot Rod said.

"Let's just say I know how to respect others' space," Mikaela said. "You don't wanna be pushed, that's fine with me. If you want to talk, that's fine also. It's just whatever you want."

"You're a strange human," Hot Rod said.

"How so?" she asked, turning into downtown.

"Well, you're more. . .willing to let things be," Hot Rod said.

"I know what it's like to have others push you when you don't want to be," Mikaela said. "Like when my dad. . .when my dad got arrested, I didn't talk, and I got in trouble for it, but you know, it was the right thing to do? You know? The police tried to get me to talk, my mom even pushed me, but I wouldn't do it. And besides, I figure when someone wants to talk, they will when they're ready."

"I wish others could be more like you," Hot Rod said.

"Oh yeah? Like who?" Mikaela said.

"Well, for one, Optimus. . ." he said.

"Having problems with him?"

"That's an understatement," Hot Rod said. "He can't understand that I won't be pushed. . .that I won't. . .can't talk about some things."

"Have you tried to tell him this?" Mikaela said.

"Several times," Hot Rod said.

"I mean like calmly and rationally," she said. "Not arguing."

"Not exactly. . ."

"Then maybe you should try that, and he'll respect your boundaries," she said.

"I hope so," Hot Rod said.

-----

"Preliminary scans indicate residual amounts of the same radiation detected in Hot Rod after he arrived," Ratchet said. "Although it's path is reversed in Cosmos--it's from the outside in, not the other way around."

"What?"

"You heard me correctly," Ratchet said.

"This stays between us," Prime said.

"Understood," Ratchet said. "And at this point, I can tell you the damage was caused by heavy weapons fire. Cosmos is lucky to survived as long as he did."

"Luck had nothing to do with it," Prime said.

Ratchet didn't answer. "I'll have Perceptor and Wheeljack help me complete the. . .examination, and we'll contact you when we're done," he said.

"I've already contacted Keller. He knows a disposal team is needed," Prime said.

Ratchet nodded, watching Prime go.

-----

9:30 a.m. Sam didn't want to be awake, but he was, staring into the limid pools that were Mojo's brown eyes. The Chihuahua was laying on the human's chest, head resting on outstretched paws.

"We should get up, buddy," Sam said, trying to convince himself to move.

Mojo didn't respond, so Sam grabbed the dog, sat up, and set the tiny canine on the floor.

And then the phone rang. Sam frowned. He hadn't bothered to pick up the phone, but there it was, back where it belonged, on the night stand. His mom must've. . .great.

"Hello?" Sam said, picking up the cordless device.

"Dude, I just saw your evil jock concubine driving a new orange Dodge through the drive thru at Starbucks. . ."

Miles. Perfect.

"What?" Sam said.

"Yeah. Don't deny it. It was her," Miles said. "And when are you going to tell me what the hell's going on, like you promised?"

"Uh, Miles, gotta go. My mom's calling me. . ."

Sam shot out of bed, threw off his pajamas and found some reasonably clean clothes on the floor. He jammed his feet into his shoes, forgot his jacket, remembered his cell phone and went straight for Bumblebee.

--

Mikaela answered her cell phone. It was Sam.

"Hey Sam. . .no, everything's fine. . .yeah, I know they're looking for him, and yes, I'm fine. . .Sam, shut up. . .he's right here. . .I know what happened, he told me. . .I know it's bad. Sam, please, can we finish this conversation later? OK, you want to know the truth? He's not fine. He's scared and upset and depressed and not trying very hard to hide. . .WHAT?"

The last came out as a shriek, and even Hot Rod perked up at that.

"NO, YOU JACKASS. . ." deep breath Mikaela, she thought. Sometimes Sam was just plain crazy. . ."He. Is. Right. Here. As in I'm sitting on his hood. And he can hear everything. Sorry? You better be. . .you can apologize when you get here. Yeah, at the lake. By Miles' tree. See you."

--

Mikaela stayed where she was, perched on Hot Rod's hood when Bumblebee pulled up. Sam got out, frowning.

"C'mon you guys, let's go," Sam said.

Neither human girl or Autobot budged.

"Where?" Mikaela asked.

"To the base. Hot Rod, you know by now they're looking for you," Sam said.

"I know," Hot Rod said.

"Then get your aft in gear. We'll go with you," Sam said.

"It's OK, Hot Rod, like he said, we'll be with you," Mikaela said.

"All right," he said.

Minutes later, Mikaela was once again in the driver's seat.

"I don't want to have to face Optimus. . ." Hot Rod said. "He thinks. . ."

"You'll have to set him straight," Mikaela said. "And you won't have to face him alone. I'll go with you."

"You'd do that?"

"Yes," she said.