Chapter 13

Cape Town, South Africa; a few days later…

Nobody saw Alex standing behind the tree. He watched as the other Alex got into a car with his brother and sister. Probably off to see a movie together. Alex felt a small lump form in his throat. His family looked happy, his family that wasn't actually his.

Optimus had only agreed to allow this trip after much pleading from Alex. Over the past few days while Bulkhead had been recovering Optimus had begun cybertronian lessons with Alex. The going had been tough; especially with all the different tenses (Optimus intended to be very thorough with his teachings), but Alex had managed to struggle up to a point where he could understand basic commands in the eon-old language. It was after all just a matter of understanding certain patterns and line sequences. He had had also a bit of assistance from Raf, with whom at the moment Alex was trying be friends with, despite the looks he got from both Jack, Arcee and sometimes Bumblebee. Truth be told, Alex had been unsure of whether he actually wanted to do something like this, but his brain insisted that he had to make sure of this world's version of him. And there he was, living a normal life with his family, the only evident difference being their senses of fashion.

As they drove away, Alex took a deep breath. Looking up he was greeted by the view of the university and of looming Devil's Peak. He had hoped to go study at UCT after he finished high school. Maybe he still would.

He took out his phone and dialed base. He wasn't worried about using it openly anymore, not after Raf had accidently discovered it and drooled over its apparent 'awesomeness.' Alex was then forced to come up with a quick lie about how it was a military prototype and how he was testing it for them. He was just happy that the young boy hadn't stumbled across the hidden files. After a moment Ratchet answered.

"Yes?"

"Could I have a bridge back to base please, Ratchet?" Alex asked.

"One moment. And by the way," Ratchet continued. "While you were out, we discovered a cybertronian escape pod that had crash landed on Earth"

Alex acted surprised. "Really? Anyone inside it?"

"An autobot." Ratchet replied. "He's in the base right now."

"Looking forward to meeting him." Alex said before ending the call. A minute later a green portal sparked into existence behind Alex.

"A new arrival." Thought Alex. "Aka new recruit."

Autobot base…

The groundbridge immediately powered down as Alex walked clear of its mouth. Back inside the base, he looked round to see that all of the Autobots and the kids had gathered round the newcomer. Smokescreen.

He was as tall as Bumblebee. Painted silver with blue streaks, Alex could still not to this day think of what had convinced the mech to change to a blue and yellow color scheme in Season 3, when he looked great already. He had not noticed Alex's appearance yet, as his back was turned towards him. Optimus, however did notice. He turned to Alex. "Alex, this is Smokescreen. He crash landed here on Earth last night."

The new arrival turned round and looked down at the teenager. "Hey kid. Nice to meet ya."

"Likewise." Replied Alex as he headed towards the stairs, not paying much attention to the autobot.

Smokescreen looked back at Optimus confused. "Is he always like this?"

"Alex usually keeps to himself." Optimus explained. "He is an intern working under Agent Fowler. He prefers not to get involved in our 'situations.'"

Smokescreen and glanced at Alex. He had made himself comfy on the couch and was quietly going through a notebook with his cybertronian 'homework.'

Smokescreen wanted to ask Alex a question but his attention was then grabbed by Optimus.

"As I was saying, Smokescreen." The Prime continued. "I would suggest that you take time to get acclimated with your surroundings. A tour of the base would be an excellent start."

Miko jumped at the chance. "Sure thing." She said excitedly. However she noticed the sight of Bulkhead sighing and leaning against the wall of the base.

"I mean," she corrected. "Jack here offers a very informative tour."

Smokescreen turned to the sixteen year old. All he got back was an expression that defined awkwardness. Jack didn't like the idea very much, so he decided that he would pass it on.

"Actually," he said. "I believe Alex might be better in terms of being informed to lead on. Hey, Alex?"

Alex didn't look up from his notebook. Instead he simply said. "I only just got here, so don't expect me to know much about the place. Back to you, Jack"

Optimus looked at Jack. "Jack," he said. "Would you mind showing Smokescreen around the base?"

Jack gritted his teeth and turned to the leader. "Sure thing, Optimus." he replied.

"lead on, then." Smokescreen commented as he followed Jack down the hallway.

"…Dat was a close one." Thought Alex.

Now hopefully he would be allowed to remain on that couch for the rest of the day…

…..

Later….

He was. By submersing himself in study time, he had completely avoided 'New recruit.' However he couldn't feel a bit saddened by Bulkheads depressive state. He watched as the wrecker limped slowly down the corridor leaving a disappointed Miko standing in the middle of the floor.

He turned back to his book. He failed to notice Smokescreen approaching.

"Don't say much, do you." He commented.

Alex looked up at the mech. "Not much to say, I guess." He replied. He turned back to his book.

"So, what do you guys do around here for fun?" Smokescreen asked, trying to cheer up the mood.

"Video games, rock concerts and basically getting into trouble." Alex replied.

Suddenly Alex threw the book down on the table with a sigh of frustration. "This is ridiculous." He said through gritted teeth. There was only so much time that one could stare at squiggly lines and try to understand their meaning. He thought for a moment before standing up and heading for the stairs.

"Optimus, I'm going to the target range for a while if that's okay." He called out to Optimus.

The prime looked at Alex and merely nodded. Alex headed towards the main corridor.

Smokescreen watched as Alex vanished from site. For some reason he couldn't understand, he found himself fascinated by the kid.

And what was that about a target range?

…

At the end of one of the corridors there was a small atrium. What had previously served as empty space now served as a practice room for Alex's unique ability. With the help of a few cans of paint, several targets had been painted at various intervals and different heights on all the walls. However some of the targets now had black charred gashes all over them.

One of the targets was receiving such gashes right now, as Alex fired round after round of energy shots. Most of the shots were mostly on the right side of the target, showing that his arms were pulling to the right. It was like trying to play baseball and swinging the bat right to hit the ball.

Alex stopped for a moment. The holes on the wall continued to smoke. He had discovered a way to fire continuous shots by building up energy in boths hands simultaneously. His record right now was 8 shots after each other. However because they didn't have much time to build up they were not extremely powerful shots.

Alex turned to a new target on the opposite wall. Feet planted firmly on the ground and putting his hands together slightly apart, he allowed the energy to build up without stopping. The single orb crackled ferociously as bolts of energy struck his chest and the floor underneath. Despite the torturous burning sensations coming from his body, Alex held on until the orb was the size of a beach ball. In an instant he threw the orb towards the target. It looked as if he had hit the center perfectly but it didn't matter. The energy hit the wall with an explosion that rocked the atrium. Alex was thrown off his feet but miraculously managed to avoid landing on his bad leg.

When the smoke cleared enough Alex sat up. On the wall where the target had been once painted was a gaping black hole. Upon looking at it, Alex reckoned that it must have been at least 3 meters in diameter and 2 meters deep. He stood up, dusted himself off and reached for the pain tablets in his pocket.

"Whoa." Said a voice behind him. Alex turned to see Smokescreen standing at the edge of the corridor.

"How did you do that?" He asked with wide optics.

Alex took out the medication while shrugging his shoulders. "One of a kind human." He said before swallowing two tablets.

"Maybe I was wrong about you lifeforms." Said Smokescreen as he took a step forward.

"Never judge by appearances." Alex replied. He walked over to aside ledge and took a bottle of water that he had put there. "What about you? You sure about that color scheme?" he asked before taking a swig of water.

Smokescreen checked his wings out. "Yeah, I was hoping for something a bit more blue-ish."

To that, Alex shook his head lightly. "You should keep it like that." He pointed out. "Suits you."

There was hope.

Alex checked the time on his phone. It was getting late, and he wasn't sure how he would be able to avoid interfering in 'the human factor' tomorrow. Perhaps it would be better to just stay at the base and 'monitor' the situation from there.

"I'm going to bed." He said as he walked out of the atrium. "Goodnight, Smokescreen."

"Sleep tight…Alex." Smokescreen replied as he watched the human go. He was completely puzzled by Alex. Not only that, but he was confused as to why he hadn't been more interested in the arrival of a new autobot. Maybe he was just shy.

Guess that the kid didn't get out much.

To be continued…