My enforced day off went by with no trouble, I stayed home and hung with Bee in the garage, working on some writing. Obvious Transformers fanfic was off the table, but that just meant I could to focus on my original stories, like the cyberpunk mafia. Or the kidnapped squad of superheroes. Bee let me bounce ideas off him, though he admitted he was never one for writing. Too bad Megatron wasn't good at this point, I'd love to get his input. That's if this one wrote at all. I'd have to ask OP, or maybe figure out how to scour the AllSpark for memories.
When I went back to school, there were a few teasings, and someone did write "dyke" on my locker. I showed a teacher and he promised to have the camera's checked to see who could have done it. Then Mikaela came up to me and, right in front of everyone, kissed my cheek. It surprised me, since we hadn't said how public we'd be with our relationship, and I was floating on air for basically the rest of the day. And it was obvious to basically everyone, cause everyone who wasn't being mean smiled at me or made a joking comment. I think the best part though was Mikaela asking Hosney and the girl who sat next to me if she could switch seats, half to be by me and half to be away from Trent. Trent glared at us, but he didn't try anything. At least in class, he might have been planning something for out of it. But, the weekend came early this week, and we'd all packed the night before, so Miles, Mikaela and I just jumped into Bee and we were off to the new base. And we did not follow the speed limit at all.
From the outside, it looked like any abandoned army base, long, tall chain link fence with barbed wire at the top. Inside, there were several buildings, mostly hangers. A low building I figured was the barracks was close to the largest of the hangers, which was also the closest to the entrance gate. A bunch of trucks were hanging around, the backs open to reveal building supplies. There were also a few boxcars and shipping containers. Surprisingly, or not, there were no people.
From the gate, we couldn't see anyone, but as we pulled in, Coppertone came out of the front hanger. "Bee! Hey!" she called and waved us over. We jumped out with our bags and Bumblebee transformed, getting a rough hug from the femme. "How's Tranquility been treating ya?"
"Pretty tranquil, Cop," Bumblebee said. "Course sitting in the student parking lot all day gets pretty boring."
"You're not going soft on me, are ya Bee?" She leaned back in a fight pose and bounced on her pedes. "Am I gonna have to kick your aft in the ring to get ya back into shape?"
"Cop!" Bee dropped into his own pose. "You know I can take you down."
"You wish it, Bee!" She sprang forward and grabbed him in a headlock, giving him a noogie. "Who's better? Say it! Who?"
"Coppertone." We looked to the hanger door to see Optimus standing there. "Behave around the supplies. We need all of those."
Copper released Bee. "Yes, sir. Sorry, OP."
Optimus came over to us. "Hello, Alison, Mikaela. And you must be Miles." He looked to the only boy of our group.
Miles nodded. "Nice to meet you, Optimus Prime, sir."
"Just Optimus is fine. Come inside and we can show you our work so far." He turned around and led them into the hanger.
It was obviously still under construction, but you could see where the different parts of the hanger were coming together. Catwalks hung down to be about even with Ratchet and Ironhide's shoulders, and a set of stairs by the door revealed how we'd get up there. To our left, there were a lot of shelving units, a few of which already held stuff. On the right, a few boxcars were set in an off circle, with two shoved together in the center. I guessed that was their couches for now. Further in, there was still things being built, and there we spotted Ironhide, Ratchet and Jazz, as well as Will and Epps up on the catwalk.
Jazz noticed us first. "Hey, kids! What's cracking?."
"Not much," I said, and I looked up. I thought I saw a little gate on the catwalk, and looked to Optimus. "Can you lift us up there? It'll be easier to talk to everyone."
"Of course," Optimus said, kneeling and holding his hand out to me, Bee and Copper doing the same to Miles and Mikaela respectively. Will opened the catwalk and we were set gently down inside.
"Hi, guys," I said as we sat out bags down, then I pulled Miles up next to me. "This is Miles. Miles, this is Captain Will Lennox, and Sergeant Robert Epps. They lead the team in Mission City."
Miles nodded and shook Will's hand when it was stretched out to him. "It's nice to meet you, sirs."
"Just Will is fine, Miles," Will said, giving him a firm shake
"And the only people who call me Robert are my brothers and mother. Epps is fine." Epps shook his hand.
Miles nodded and shook his hand out a little. "I'll remember that."
"So, what do you think?" Jazz asked, gesturing around them. "Still a work in progress, but not bad, if I don't say so myself."
"It's looking good," Mikaela said. "What all's gonna be in here?"
"Our plans are to make this the communications hub, as well as my office and briefing room," Optimus said. "For now, it will also hold the medbay, until a hanger can be cleared for it."
"And that is the next building we're working on," Ratchet said. "Everything else can wait, but I'll feel better with a functioning medbay."
I nodded. "Medbays are very important. Especially for the training of apprentices."
"What apprentices?" Ratchet asked. I just pointed to Mikaela, and he looked to her. "You want to learn our medicine?"
Mikaela nodded. "It's similar to Earth mechanics, but also different. I wanna be able to help you guys out the best I can. Not everyone can be the Bearer of the AllSpark after all." She nudged my shoulder, and I nudged back.
Ratchet pondered it. "Some help would be appreciated, just in case." He nodded. "Alright, I'll consider it. But you won't be able to slack off if I do take you on."
Mikaela nodded again. "Of course, Ratchet."
"How long do you think till you get done?" Miles asked.
"With luck, we can complete this hanger in a couple weeks," Optimus said. "Then the medbay will take a few more. After that, Will and Epps can move in with their families."
I smiled and looked to the soldiers. "How'd your wives react when they found out about the Bots?"
Will smiled. "Rather well actually. She actually sat and had a conversation with Ironhide when he dropped us off."
Epps shrugged. "Monique has always been able to roll with whatever out there stuff comes up. And the kids are excited as hell, especially Fred."
"You have kids?" Mikaela asked.
"Five. Four girls, and Fred, my little boy."
"And I got my baby girl, Annabelle," Will said.
"So you guys are bringing your families to live on base?" Miles asked. "Where'll they stay?"
"The barracks. We got a family section set aside, opposite where you three will be staying."
"We helped with the fixing up," Copper spoke up. "Wanna see?"
"Why don't you take them on the whole tour, Copper?" Jazz suggested. "Let them see everything for themselves."
We needed to put our bags away anyway, so we agreed, and we walked down the catwalk to meet Copper and Bee at the doors and walked outside. Copper and Bee transformed and activated their holoavatar. Copper's avatar was an orangey redhead with blue eyes and stood five feet and a rose petal, as was said of the cop partner of a certain wizard. She wore a yellow t-shirt with an orange vest, charcoal and gray colored cargo pants and brown boots. She had the Autobot symbol as a tattoo on the back of her right wrist, and I couldn't help but notice a gold ring on her left hand. Of course, I said nothing, and just hoped no one else would notice and bring it up.
The barracks were nice, with the walls painted white with primer so the kids could pick the colors they wanted. The main double doors opened to a living/dining room, with tables on one side and couches and a TV on the other. Two halls led off the room, both with bedrooms. One side was for the civilian members of the Human-Bot Alliance - I need to come up with a name - like us kids, Maggie, Glen and Will and Epps families. The other was for the military/government members, like Simmons and the soldiers.
Behind the main room, there was a kitchen directly across from the doors, with one of those buffet windows like in schools or mess halls. To one side, they had the bathrooms and showers set up. Besides the standard style, if slightly better quality, showers, there were also two full on baths, with jacuzzi tubs. "For the womenfolk," Epps had said, at which will said that Epps would be in there more than his wife. We had a good laugh from that.
On the other side of the kitchen were two doors, one going to an old office, now to be the base human library, the other opened to a hallway to a rec room. Both were currently bare, but would fill up once people came and decided what they wanted to read and play. Another thing on my to do list, read all the books I've missed out on cause I chose fanfic instead.
We all moved to enter the rec room and consider what to put in it, but Copper grabbed my arm before I could follow. "Can I talk to you for a second?" she asked.
"Sure," I said, and we went into an empty room, sitting on the bed. "What's up?"
Copper took a deep breath and asked, "Did the AllSpark tell you about my family?"
I knew she'd figure out if I lied outright to her, so I said the closest to the truth I could. "Yes, I know about your family. I know N-Sync and Bandit and Riser, and what you did to protect the two."
"You're not going to tell anyone, are you?" she asked quickly. "If anyone found out, I'd probably be shot as a traitor, at the very least exiled, and N-Sync and the hatchlings would be killed. I mean, I have no idea where she is right now, but-"
I held up a hand to stop her, then rested it on her shoulder. "Copper, I swear to you, I will not reveal your family to anyone until you wish to. Hopefully, we'll come to a time when you won't have to hide her or them."
Copper laughed. "That will be the day. But then again, no one ever thought you could possibly exist. Who's to say other impossibilities won't happen."
"Who knows. Speaking of which," I paused, though I figured I had her attention. "What do you say to the idea of trucing with Decepticons and being friendly with them, up to the point of inviting one to base?"
She gave me an odd look, then seemed to think. "If it was my N and hatchlings, I'd say it's good. But others…" She frowned. "I mean, we've been fighting for so long…" after a few moments, she nodded. "I think I can work with that. Provided they don't suddenly announce they killed my creators, I wouldn't cause trouble with them."
I smiled. One more bot in my corner. I might have to introduce her to Barricade at one point, but not now. "Thank you, Copper. It's good to know your feelings."
Copper smiled and stood. "Let's get back to the rest before they wonder where we're at."
I followed her out to the others and joined in the debate over a pool table or air hockey. I put my vote in for air hockey, 'cause I like that a bit more, and, after us kids put our bags in our rooms, the tour went on. I was ecstatic to learn that not only was there a small gym in the next building over, but also a pool. A heated pool, to be precise. I could tell Mikaela like the idea of it too, and it was a small pity that fall was coming so soon. It was kind of a scary thought. Halloween was only a week or so away - that was fun explaining to Bee and Cade - and then it'd be November. My birthday. Oh shit, I'm gonna be seventeen. Damn, that was fast.
Anyway, after that, we went back to the main hangar, and the bots kept working on getting everything set up. Us humans watched from above, and lent a hand when we could, but mostly everyone talked. It was good getting to know everyone a bit better. We got to see Ratchet's wrench in action; he threw it at Ironhide and left a dent in his head. We were having so much fun, we didn't think of food until Mile's stomach rumbled, at which the bots sent us away to eat. The kitchen had already been partially stocked, mostly MREs, but the good ones. I couldn't help but go and flip the garbage disposal on briefly, but the runway didn't split open, so if there was a secret base, it was not that way, or at least that wasn't the switch. After eating, we went back, hung with the bots for a bit, and when it got late, came back to the barracks to sleep.
One thing that did surprise me was I came back from brushing my teeth, and Mikaela was in my room, sitting on my bed.
"Hey, Mikaela," I said.
"Hey, Alison," she said.
"What brings you here?" I sat next to her.
"Well, partially, I wanted to ask you what Copper wanted to talk to you about." Her hand reached out to take mine, and I lightly squeezed it. "She seemed pretty serious when she dragged you off."
"Oh, that." I lowered my voice a little, so it didn't carry. "She's married to a Decepticon, and she was worried I knew and would tell someone."
"What!? She married a Decepticon!?"
"They didn't realize what side the other was on at the time they fell for each other," I explained, Copper's love story playing behind my eyes. "By the time they did, they were so in love they didn't care. They had a small ceremony with only one witness, and then had to part ways. Then N-Sync, her wife, learned she was pregnant and they had to hide the hatchlings in plain sight. Hopefully, now that things are settling down, then they can reunite soon."
"How do you know that? She could be on the other side of the galaxy right now," Mikaela said.
"I think she's closer to home than that. Probably with the Decepticons Megatron and Starscream are hanging out with."
Mikaela sighed. "It's been almost two months since Mission City, and the only con we've seen is Barricade. What do you think is taking them so long?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. My only guess is that they're still trying to decide what to do, and possibly waiting for reinforcements. But hey, if it takes them two years to show up, I'd be happy."
"Me too." Mikaela said. She didn't let go of my hand, or make any moves to leave.
"Was, um, that all you wanted?" I asked a little nervously.
"Well, I was thinking," she blushed a little. "Since we're dating, i wouldn't be a bad thing if we… slept together."
My mind blanked for a moment, trying to process her question. "You mean, like, cuddling till we fall asleep?" I asked. I think I knew what she meant, but I wanted to be sure.
She nodded. "Are you cool with that?"
"Totally!" I said, smiling. I stood, still holding her hand. "Which side do you want."
Mikaela smiled and slipped under the covers, scooting so she was by the wall. I turned off the light and I climbed in after her, and we shuffled so she was in my arms, our noses next to each other, looking into each other's eyes. I couldn't help but lean forward and kiss her nose. "Goodnight kiss," I said at her slight confusion. "Something my old family would do."
She nodded and smiled, giving me a kiss back. "Goodnight, Alison." She put her head down and fell asleep. I watched her for a few more minutes in the light from the window, then fell asleep myself. I need to stop comparing the days that go by. I keep finding new "best days ever".
Surprise! Yeah, I missed the Monday update. Just ignore any mentions of doing a scheduled update, I'm just gonna update when I get the chapters back from my beta. Enjoy these three chapters, and how I'm caught up with AO3 now.
