Sorry for the long wait! I love my patient readers! :D
The following scenes are just fill-in space. Meaning that I'm trying to back on track again and thinking of more ideas for upcoming chapters.
I haven't considered a beta or even a co-writer yet, though I doubt the latter will happen ;)
I should probably mention some of the characters will be OOC, especially Megatron and Soundwave :)
The Neutral took a luxurious sip from her energon ration. Then she typed a code into the computer. The process repeated for several minutes: sip, type, sip, type, sip…
Arcee only rolled her eyes when Nightdrift asked Ratchet what frequency the energon detectors were set at.
Part of the in-house projects was that Nightdrift would be occupied with devices or chores – under the medic's supervision, of course – to help benefit the Autobots in any way possible. It pretty much helped when the femme offered that she created some gadgets to assist Prowl and the others in the past. She even beefed up the security system, which Miko unfortunately discovered. Where the wet spot on the cement kitchen floor in response to the laser rifle pinpointed at the Japanese teen's skull came from, no one knew. Nightdrift only explained that if the base were to be discovered, the unwanted intruder would be trapped or decimated. Or both.
For weeks, Ratchet tried to fix the groundbridge controls and expand the efficiency of the energon alarms to increase the chance of getting more of the lifeblood than their enemies. Team Prime and the children still curse the Scraplets to this day…
"How many times do you have to fraggin' stare, Sides?" Sunstreaker snapped his digits in his twin's face. Sideswipe wasn't even trying to hide the fact that he was staring at her. Well, more like gawking. He was brought out of his stupor and gave a heated glare at his yellow counterpart.
"I'm just watching the Doc educate Night a little bit," Sideswipe frowned.
"More like Night teaching you more about her exhaust pipe," Sunstreaker smirked.
Sideswipe almost squawked in indignation. "I was not—!"
"Yes you were, Sides. You always look when she isn't." The yellow warrior seemed to be taller with his twin's slump of embarrassment. Just when Sideswipe was going to protest again, he realized that they were being watched. By everyone. Even Nightdrift.
Bulkhead only snickered. "Does someone have a crush on someone else?" he said in sing-song voice.
"You spend too much time with the kids, Bulk," Wheeljack snorted but didn't deny the same amusement he felt, as well.
Both twins looked at a smirking medic and femme. Things went down a weird road.
Nightdrift took another small sip. "What have I talked to you both about in the past?"
Sideswipe looked upwards, contemplating the question. His features cracked into a smile and said with utmost confidence, "Never pick your nose in public!"
Ah, look who found the internet.
The humans laughed as Nightdrift shook her head in amusement. "No, I meant when addressing me! I told you before not to call me 'Night'."
Sunstreaker huffed, "Would you rather we say 'Hey, you with the face!'?"
"Now that I think about it, 'Night' is less of a mouthful and has a good ring to it," she considered as she took another sip.
Sideswipe rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Eh, Nightdrift, sorry about staring. It's rude and I should know better," he avoided looking at the femme again.
"It's not the first time I caught you looking at my aft," she stated matter-of-factly.
Sideswipe's faceplate matched his paintjob at this point.
"You taught the twins how to apologize?" Ratchet said with surprised interest. Nightdrift looked at him and shrugged. "Tell me your secrets."
"We've been wondering how that happened, as well," Prowl said with a small grin.
"So, Nightdrift, where'd you come from?" Miko piped in. She placed herself in-between the rails of the balcony and swung her legs back and forth as if waiting for a bedtime story.
The black sports car faced the humans. "Well, when two bots love each other very much…"
Miko waved her hands to stop the Neutral from speaking. "You know that's not what I meant," she said with a playful glare. Nightdrift only chuckled when Jazz wanted to explain.
"Well, we rescued Nightdrift from her home city when it was in ruins. She asked for help and we simply gave it to her."
"What was your home city?" Arcee asked with genuine interest.
"Alexia Minor." Nightdrift answered simply. That piece of information seemed to be important as most of Team Prime's optics widened in shock.
"I always wanted to go there," Arcee said in awe. "What was it like?"
Alexia Minor was a large part of a two-part city. It was pretty much an upper-class version of Kaon. The city flowed with rich bots with high expectations and tastes. There were strict rules on many things and consequences were brutal. The second part was Alexia Major, same territory grounds as Minor but smaller, ironically. They both had that Disney World/Disney Land scenario. Major and Minor were both tourist attractions in early Cybertron years but mostly Iacon and Kaon stole that spotlight. Alexia Minor and Alexia Major were formed for elegance and pride that added up to a prestigious ego. Lovely cities but they had their moments.
"Oh, could've been better," Nightdrift quipped. She smirked behind her energon glass at the younger bots' faces of disappointment.
"I take it you didn't like the place?" Jack queried.
Nightdrift contemplated the question. "It's not that I didn't like it, it's just…I wasn't well-respected there."
Raf's eyes bugged, "Why?"
The femme's visor dimmed as she stated, "That is a story for another time, young one." She turned to the Autobot medic and the Prime. "If it's all right, I'd like to request a trip to the wash racks. I have to say it has been a few stellar cycles since I had a good scrub."
Ignoring the quiet groans of disgust from the ex-Wreckers, Ratchet turned to his long time friend. "She has been working rather hard with the chores. I don't see anything wrong with another privilege. Especially since it would benefit her hygiene," he pushed down the urge to grimace.
Optimus' voice surged, "I agree, old friend. Nightdrift, you are welcome to use the showers. Arcee will escort you."
The two femmes locked gazes for a few seconds before the two-wheeler remarked, "Yay me."
Nightdrift looked back at the semi. "Thank you, Orion. I owe you one."
Optimus gave a small, lop-sided smile. "I will hold you to that, Nightdrift."
Nightdrift chuckled and walked to follow Arcee further into the base.
"You know her, Optimus?" Jack asked.
"Yes."
"I don't mean when she just arrived here on earth just less than a week ago. I mean did you, like know her before the war?"
Optimus smiled sheepishly. "Yes. I knew Nightdrift before the war. We shared…a mutual friend."
Jazz chuckled, "How much you wanna bet it was—oof!" He was immediately jabbed harshly at his side by Prowl. A small warning not to grudge up a certain past.
"Megatron?" Raf asked uncertainly. Optimus nodded in confirmation.
"But remember, Rafael, that he was known as 'Megatronus' during the Golden Age."
"So you know Optimus, huh?" Arcee asked when they reached their destination.
"Well, obviously," Nightdrift responded.
"Watch it, Neutral," the blue femme warned.
"What, I merely answered a question." she feigned innocence but Arcee just pointed to the open doorway, instructing her temporary charge to do whatever the heck she needs to do. Nightdrift simply followed the unspoken order and walked to one of the stalls, admiring the molding and the charm of the room. She quickly studied the three knobs wondering how to work them and figured the out the process in less than a minute. The left one was the cold temperature; the right has the warm temperature and both could be adjusted to the proper setting for the job. The third one was between the others and slightly above them to make some sort of right triangle. Halfway through the wash, the Neutral figure out that the third one worked the spray pattern. Had to be based off the human designs for their showers, she supposed.
"Do you need any help?" Arcee's voice rang throughout the small, thin steam cloud.
"No, thank you, Arcee." Nightdrift politely answered. She was confused on the offer of assistance because the smaller femme has been itching to use her blaster against the black femme ever since she woke up from stasis. Must be the 'girls always got to stick together' thing.
Finished in less than 30 minutes, Nightdrift turned off the water asked Arcee for a towel, in which she didn't hesitate to oblige. After a thorough scrub and a pat down, Nightdrift walked out to be greeted by Arcee leaning against the opposite wall with piercing optics. She smirked and used her shoulder to push her off the wall.
"Good thing you finished when you did. Another couple minutes and the water would have turned to ice."
"Excuse me?" Nightdrift asked with an amused smile.
"It's part of the water system we have," Arcee explained. "See, the human government pays the bills that helps operate the electricity for the lights and human devices, the water bill, and other utilities. Because hot water can be expensive, the system is on a timer that you could only use for a certain amount of time. 30 minutes then the water goes cold. It's part of something that's called 'Go Green!', I guess."
"Why would anyone want to go green?" Nightdrift asked, confused.
"It pretty much means help save the environment," Arcee elaborated. Nightdrift nodded in understanding.
"Speaking of green, Bulkhead used the shower once and since he is somewhat larger than the rest of us, it takes him longer to wash himself, even with help."
"I'm sure," the winged femme stated with an arched optic ridge.
Arcee chuckled and continued. "He didn't know about the timer system and used the shower for more than thirty minutes."
"And how did he react to that?" the other femme returned the chuckle.
"Well, we had a Scraplet invasion on earth once…"
"Ah, I see." And she started walking toward the others, with Arcee following suit.
"Thank you for bringing my assistant back in one piece, Arcee. Much appreciated."
"Actually it wasn't a problem, Ratchet. Nightdrift has a good sense of humor." Arcee cocked her hips.
Jack smiled, "Not only did you bring her back in one piece, 'Cee, you two are laughing together."
"Not so subtle at worming your way into a woman's conversation, are you, Mr. Darby?" Nightdrift chuckled.
"Oh, no. Mr. Darby is my father. Please, call me Jack," the raven-haired teen held a hand in a formal gesture.
Nightdrift just laughed and pointed at the clever boy. "I like him."
"Yeah, we do, too, otherwise he wouldn't be here," Raf chuckled.
"Meany." Jack grumbled.
"So you know Optimus?"
Nightdrift looked at Miko, remembering the question asked earlier by Arcee.
"Not really." she answered. Arcee looked confused.
"How? I mean, you called him 'Orion', so I was just wondering."
"Everyone knows Orion. I only saw him a few times on the street and near his workplace, but that's about it."
Everyone looked at Optimus as if he was cursed but he only looked away from the multiple looks seeing how maybe he said something he shouldn't have.
But that was soon forgotten when the alarm went off.
"Oh yeah!" Miko yelled somewhat excitedly. "Time to kick some Decepticon tailpipe!"
"For once," Ratchet sighed, "I agree with Miko," he said as Jazz and the twins whooped.
This took waaaaay too long. I plan to have to have another chapter up soon. Key word is 'plan'.
Love you all (whoever might be reading this) ;)