Part 4: Recruitment and it's Downfalls-
The following morning, Megan,Amber and Bumblebee joined Wes, just before the crack of dawn, on the route to N.E.S.T.'s local headquarters. The building resembled a large hanger that had been modified to suit the needs of the Autobots and their human counterparts. On either end of it were large doors that opened when rolled on large wheels. Along the walls of the facility were stretches of walkways that jutted out into the middle of the building,lined with computers,other important equipment and railings,just for safety.
Megan looked around,trying to take in the immensity of it all.
"Wow," she beamed in amazement."This place is amazing!"
Bumblebee nodded approvingly,staring up at the large,all to familiar Autobot symbol on the far wall. Several candy colored motorcycles and sports cars sat along one side of the wall.
Autobots, just like Bumblebee.
Megan studied each one, wondering who they were specifically.
"Right," Wes said,clapping his hands together."This is it, N.E.S.T. HQ, let's get you-"
"Sullivan!" a sharp voice barked.
Wes whirled around to face a sour looking man with jet black hair that was curled tight against his head. He stormed towards the blonde man with large strides that appeared almost pompous to...well,anyone!
"You know the rules," he spoke with the accent of a New Yorker."No visitors!"
There was something about the man that set all three of the new arrivals on edge. Megan frowned at him, not enjoying the way he was speaking to her father. Amber raised an eyebrow at him, and Bumblebee's body tensed,fists clenched into two tight balls.
"Hang on Simmons,you've got it all wrong," Wes said with defensive hands. He waved a hand in the trio's direction."These three are new recruits, My daughter,Megan Sullivan,Amber Riley, and their friend..."
He paused. How could he have forgotten? Bumblebee had never bothered to come up with a good alias for himself,so the man would have to think on his feet.
"...This...this is...Brent...Dawson..." he said hesitantly. Bumblebee looked at him in surprised,he hadn't been the most supportive when it had come to his idea of "hiding in plain sight". All the same, he was rather thankful, Simmons was the last person he wanted to find out about his true identity.
Simmons was suspicious and stared intently at Bumblebee who glared back at the man with the same amount of intensity. The agent tucked his hands behind his back,one clasped in the other as he studied each one of them in turn. He murmured something under his breath about Megan and how she probably couldn't tell the difference between a hair dryer and a hand gun. Her mouth dropped open at the sound of this comment and her head jerked in the man's direction. He stood in front of Amber with his hand resting on his chin. He grumbled something rather harsh under his breath that caused Amber to lash out. Face both red and full of rage,the only thing stopping her was Bumblebee, who grabbed her wrist forcefully.
"Well,well,well," Simmons chuckled with a sneer."What have we here? Maybe one of you have some potential after all!"
Bumblebee shot him a glare, a snarl coming onto his face. He opened his mouth,ready to voice an opinion he had never been able to voice before.
"Now you wait just a god damn second," he snapped,taking a strong step towards Simmons."You have no right to go around judging anyone like that!" his voice grew louder all of a sudden.
A look of shock darted into Simmons's eyes,but only for a moment. He folded his arms and continued to stare at Bumblebee.
"Go on," he said coolly.
Bumblebee opened his mouth to speak,then closed it.
"I didn't think so," Simmons looked at Wes."I rest my case," he began to walk away
Bumblebee's eyes followed Simmons and proceeded to clear his throat. The man turned on his heels to face him once again. Bumblebee let out a sigh.
"I've only known you for five minutes,and I've already decided that I don't like you," he said sharply. Simmons raised an eyebrow but kept his lips pursed together."You've insulted my friends, and proved you're both a racist and a sexist bastard!"
The redness had not yet faded from Amber's face as she looked in Bumblebee's direction,as did Megan. There was silence.
"Those are some strong words," Simmons said,striding back over to where the trio stood. He looked the trio over once more."I'll see what you've got," he pointed a stern finger at Megan."You, girl-"
"It's Megan," she growled.
"...Megan,you're first,"
Megan swallowed and her eyes darted between her father and Simmons. Simmons waved her and the others a long and Wes let out a heavy sigh as they passed.
To Simmons's surprise, each one of the supposed "recruits" turned out to prove themselves very versed in one or more field of military knowledge. Megan,as it turned out, had a rather vast understanding of the history of weaponry and how to properly load,fire and clean a few sorts of guns.
"Blame my dad," she grinned."He taught me when I was younger,"
Amber,having taken many a year of Tae Kwon Do lessons,proved formidable when it came to hand to hand combat, even managing to flip Simmons onto his back which set the on looking Bumblebee and Megan into a fit of laughter that ceased with a glare from Simmons.
When it came to shooting,no one proved more impressive than Bumblebee who not only managed to catch Simmons's attention, but that of the woman in charge of the firing range as well.
Her name was "Elle", a young woman with straight brown hair that hung in a high ponytail while bangs hung across her forehead,pinned back by a dark blue clip that matched her eyes. Those same eyes lit up with a look of wonder and pride when she saw how good a shot Bumblebee was.
"Impressive!" Elle commented with a broad smile in the direction of the target that had been punctured multiple times by Bumblebee's skillful hand.
"Thanks," he said,reloading a hand gun with a grin on his face. He was exceptionally happy now that Simmons had left,he had given up on trying to find a way to make any of them break, even though they had all come close at one point or another,only to be calmed by the other two members of the group.
Elle's eyes darted to the door,then back at Bumblebee.
"You wanna see something?" she whispered to him.
"...Sure?"
She walked a few feet away, picked up a picture from some where and hung it up on the target before grabbing a pair of head phones,goggles and took a position at the firing line. Each shot hit it's mark perfectly and it was near impossible to see her reload,it was all one swift motion. When she had finished,she walked over,took down the photograph and handed it to Bumblebee who almost immediately burst into laughter. The photograph was of Simmons and Elle had managed to shoot a rather comical mustache onto his face with a series of well placed bullet holes. Megan,having heard the laughter,looked over curiously to see them both chatting and laughing away. For some reason,this exchange made caused her to feel a pang of discontent. She may have only known him for two short days, but there was something about Bumblebee that made her heart almost skip a beat every time he looked her way. She had decided to ignore it,figuring it would go away with time. Or, at least she hoped it would.
"...Can you believe that Simmons guy?" Amber hissed under her breath.
"Huh?" Megan said,coming back to reality.
"The nerve of that guy! Acting like he did," she muttered a foreign curse under her breath as she shook her head.
"Some people can be really ignorant," Megan said,turning the gun over in her hand as she leaned against a counter.
"Big time!" Amber agreed,rolling her eyes.
The sound of the door opening caused everyone to look in that direction to see a young man in a suit and tie peer into the room.
"Uh..." he sputtered as he blinked in confusion,not recognizing a majority of the people in the room.
Bumblebee remembered who he was instantly,it was Sam Witwicky, the first person he had befriended here on Earth,and was still friends with to this day. Only,Sam didn't recognize him,he thought he was still missing.
I'm right here you idiot, right in front of you... The Autobot thought. Even so, he held his tongue.
Sam's eyes feel on Elle,the only person he knew and asked hastily,
"Have you seen Simmons?"
"You just missed him," she replied,pulling the eye gear off."Stormed out of here a few minutes ago,"
"Great,thanks," he said,ready to pull out of the room.
"That was rude," Amber voiced a loud. Sam paused,hand on the door.
"Sorry?"
"You just looked around a room and saw three people that you don't know and don't even bother asking who they are," she sneered."That's personable of you,"
"Amber,the man's busy,leave him alone!" Megan cut in.
"What? I'm just saying! You'd introduce yourself, right?"
Megan didn't respond to this. Amber looked at Sam and raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well?"
He let out a sigh.
"Fine. I'm Sam Witwicky," he said halfheartedly."Who are you?"
"Amber Riley. This is Megan Sullivan and that's Brent Dawson," Amber said with a look of satisfaction.
Bumblebee shook Sam's hand with a confident smile."Pleasure to meet you," he said.
"Yeah,same to you," Sam said hesitantly."Nice to meet ALL of you now,good bye!" he had almost made his way entirely out the door when he over heard Bumblebee pipe up and say,
"So,Megan,your father was telling us about some...missing Autobot, any idea where we can find out more about that?"
Megan glared at him,"It's like you want him to find out!" she whispered under her breath. Bumblebee grinned. Sam came back into the room once more.
"How did you know about that?" he inquired.
"Like I said, Megan's father was telling us," Megan was starting to realize that he was baiting Sam, trying to get him to figure out what had become of his missing companion. Sam looked Megan over.
"It came up in conversation,that's all," Megan told him.
"Well it's none of your business, if anyone's going to find him,it's going to be me,"
Megan couldn't suppress a laugh to which Sam took slight offense.
"...Sorry,that was rude of me,but you can't expect to find him on your own,do you? I mean,really?" she asked.
Sam hung his head.
"I thought we would have heard something by now..." he muttered.
Bumblebee frowned and felt a knot form in his throat.
"He'll turn up eventually,Sam," Elle chimed in."I can't imagine he's gotten far."
I'll say... Bumblebee thought to himself.
"How about this,we'll help you look for him,how does that sound?" Megan offered.
The puzzled look on Sam's face suggested that he was wary of accepting this proposal.
"...Well,I don't know about those two, but I sure will,"
"Oh,we'll help!" Amber said with a broad nod. Bumblebee gave a sharp one as well,trying his best to keep silent.
"Really? Why would you do that?" Sam asked.
"I know what it's like," Bumblebee spoke up."Loosing a close friend? The only difference here is,you can get yours back and I can't,"
Sam stared at him in slight disbelief.
"I'm sorry..."
Bumblebee held up a hand.
"Save your sentiments," he said firmly.
He shut up and turned to Megan.
"Thank you," he said,"that's be a big help,"
"Certainly! What's your friend look like?"
Sam proceeded to give an accurate description of what the Autobot looked like(or used to look like,rather) all the while, no one seemed to notice how Elle's eyes kept darting towards Bumblebee as he continued.
"We'll be sure to keep an eye out for him," Megan said with a finally nod.
Sam nodded as well and left. Once he was gone,there was a momentary silence.
"We should probably get going as well..." Bumblebee said as he walk towards the door and held it open for the ladies.
"Oh,one more thing before you go," Elle said.
Bumblebee looked over his shoulder to see a rather stern expression on the woman's face.
"I don't know how long you plan on keeping this little masquerade up, but,don't you think it's a little unfair? It's quite the disguise after all,"
He stared at her in shock for a moment.
"I...I don't know what you're talking about," he managed to say before slamming the door behind him. Elle let out a sigh and shook her head.