Strange neighbours
Chapter Sixteen: Found
Two days after returning home from Nevada, Samantha woke up early and started the day with cleaning up her room. She even went as far as cleaning her windows and dusting away the cobwebs that had accumulated in her walk-in wardrobe. Once she'd finished cleaning Samantha made herself a sandwich then walked out to the garage while eating it.
She hadn't been into the garage since she had helped Dave stack up boxes in there when they'd first moved in. Once inside she looked over the garage, there were fewer boxes in there than she remembered. Dad must have begun unpacking them already, she thought as she stuffed the last of the sandwich into her mouth.
Samantha started moving some boxes around trying to find one that belonged to her. She shoved and heaved boxes of all sizes around until one large box uncovered something she had forgotten about weeks ago. Her big project. Samantha started moving more boxes out of the way, slowly uncovering the car engine she had been working on. Once most of the old Honda had been uncovered she stared at it expressionless thinking of all the work she still needed to put into it before it was finished. As she was mentally listing things the Autobots suddenly popped up in her head. Memories of Bumblebee attacking her began surfacing and Samantha closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she could still hear the thunderous footsteps as she got chased, she could still feel the pain of being swatted by the big metal hand and the heat of the cannon on her skin.
She opened her eyes and looked the car over again, almost paranoid that it was about to transform into some kind of terrifying robot and attack her. For some reason Samantha couldn't shake off the feeling as she stared at the car, she felt uncomfortable standing near it and all thoughts of finishing her big project were forgotten.
Samantha took a large sheet off a shelf and dragged it over the car until it was completely covered then she began stacking the boxes back in front of the car, hiding it from sight.
Once the boxes were back in place and Samantha had packed all her tools away she closed the garage door and walked back inside trying to distract herself. Despite her efforts Samantha kept thinking about that night. She knew she wouldn't be going back into the garage for a while.
…
Sam wiped away sweat that was beading off his brow with his sleeve as he jogged along the foot path. He looked down as his phone screen to check his progress and it read that he'd gone 0.7 miles so he pushed on. He was using the bet he had with Miles to distract himself for the next few days rather than sit around and stress over what could be happening to Bumblebee. Sam quickly shook off the thought Bumblebee and turned onto someone's property. He slowed to walk and rang the doorbell and waited for the door to be answered.
A few moments later Miles, dressed in running clothes, opened the door and gave Sam a brotherly hug.
"Hey man, glad to see you showed up. How far have you run?" Miles asked as they walked towards the footpath.
"zero point seven miles. Oh that's funny, I thought you'd be happy I didn't show up so then you wouldn't have any competition." The two started a slow jog to let Miles warm up.
"Dude you aren't even competition anyway. Four miles today?" Sam laughed at Miles's comment.
"Oh really? We could raise the stakes of our bet if you're feeling that confident. Yeah four miles sounds good."
"You wanna raise the stakes? I'm game. How much do you wanna raise it? How about you get me a date with that new neighbour of yours you told me about?" Miles laughed at his own sentence and Sam felt a stab of something he'd never felt before.
"No way man." He tried to make it sound casual but Miles heard the underlining note in his voice.
"Hey dude I'm only joking" he said apologetically.
"Yeah… I know." Sam said looking straight ahead, he didn't mean to sound so blunt but it just happened. Miles said nothing and they picked up speed and jogged silently for a while until Miles finally did say something.
"You like her don't you?"
Sam didn't know what to say to him and before he could reply Miles chuckled.
"I knew it. That's cool man, why haven't you asked her out yet? Still trying to get her attention with your lame pickup lines?" Miles was talking about when they were younger and used to try very cliché pickup lines on girls at parties.
"Shut up" he answered jokingly,
"I'm not sure yet, I think I do like her but I'm not entirely sure if she feels the same way and I don't want to risk asking her out too early."
Miles's reply was not what Sam expected.
"Dude I totally know what you mean but make sure you don't miss your window cause once that window has passed you might never get it again and you'll never know if she ever felt the same way you do. Trust me, take the risk and ask her. You'll regret it every day once you miss that window. I go through that regret every day because I missed my window." Sam was a little shocked at the sudden wisdom coming from his usually relaxed and comical friend.
"Who was she?"
"Do you remember Lilly from our English class in year 11? It was her." Miles said wiping his face with his sleeve.
"Lilly Jackson? Yeah I remember her. I thought she started dating that Brad guy in the football team."
Sam remembered the girl Miles was talking about. She had short dark brown hair, always had a book tucked under her arm and hung out with a few of the quieter cheerleaders. He'd seen them talk to each other at school and in class but he never knew they'd been close.
"Yeah she did. I missed my window and never even told her how I felt about her. It is honestly the most painful thing to see the one person you care about most in the arms of someone else. Especially when you know it could have been your arms they're in." Miles looked ahead as he spoke and Sam was completely at a loss for words.
He thought about Samantha in the arms of another guy and felt a stab of jealousy. He thought about her in his arms and the jealousy vanished and something else began forming. Something he couldn't quite name. And just like that Sam knew Samantha was the one he wanted. She was the one he was going to fight for to get by his side.
He started jogging with a new determination in his stride and hoped like he'd never hoped before that he hadn't missed his window.
…
Optimus Prime pulled over near the last known location of Bumblebee. The rest of the NEST team followed suit as he transformed and looked in the direction they had to go. Off road and into thick scrubland.
:According to the analysts Bumblebee's signature cut out six miles south-east of this road:
He sent the coordinates to Ratchet and Ironhide as men were climbing out of their vehicle modes. Once clear of humans Ratchet transformed and walked away from the group and begun assessing tire marks and deep scratches on the road.
:He definitely transformed at speed here and proceeded into the scrubland in bipedal form just over there:
Ratchet replied indicating to a flattened patch of shrubbery before walking back to the group. A group of men were still unloading Ironhide's tray and the mech gave an impatient rev of his engine making the men hurriedly drag the rest of the chains out of the tray. As the last of the chain hit the ground Ironhide transformed and flexed his joints.
Lennox walked over to Optimus to discuss mission tactics.
"So the plan is that our air support will leave base now and land here in approximately six hours. I know that may present some problem if Bumblebee is still active and still attacking analysed threats but according to the analysts there is no other close by locations for our air support to land. So once Bumblebee is found and restrained if necessary we're, well you're going to have to carry him back here. We also have to do it before nightfall so the aircraft can take off. Dividing our men into three teams would spread our search perimeter and increase our chances of finding him before we lose daylight." Lennox said looking up at him.
Optimus began calculating possible men for each team and the success rate of each option. He quickly reached a final result with the highest success rating and begun discussing with Lennox his results.
As Optimus and Lennox sorted out the details of the mission Ironhide and Ratchet picked up a length of chain each and begun wrapping it over their shoulder and across their chest until the lengths of chain were completely wrapped up and draping across the torso of each mech. Some of the men watched them do this and a few of them were quietly commenting to each other on how 'cowboy' they looked, Ironhide looked over at Ratchet questioningly before Optimus, who could hear what the men were saying, sent a video of a stereotypical country western cowboy over the open commlink.
Ratchet watched the video and burst out in a fit of laughter making some of the men jump and Ironhide chuckled at the men. The cowboy video didn't make sense to Ironhide, he didn't prove his skill by shooting at rusty cans on a fence, he shot at Decepticons and proved his skill by blowing them to pieces.
"Alright men suit up!" Lennox's voice cut through all the laughter and all the men quickly began suiting up and gathering together where Lennox was standing. Once the men were all standing ready Lennox began breaking them up into three different teams and debriefing each team on what direction they would be searching once closer to the location of Bumblebee.
Soon three teams stood in front of Lennox. Team one consisting of Ratchet and three men including Epps, Team two was Optimus Prime and three men, and team three included Ironhide, three men and himself. They set off on foot following the trail of snapped tree branches and flattened bushes that Ratchet had found earlier. The three mechs treaded carefully through the scrublands constantly sweeping the area for even a glint of bright yellow plating.
The time went by and as they walked the scrubland and thinned out considerably. Eventually the NEST team got to the location where Bumblebee was last known to be. The teams split up and they began searching, Optimus remained calm as he walked with his team. He scanned the area over and over ignoring anxiety building up within him.
His team proceeded out of the scrubland and into an open area of land. Optimus could see Ratchet and his team emerging from the other side of the open area dense with trees.
:Any sign of him Ratchet?:
:Nothing Prime:
Optimus nodded at Ratchet and vented deeply. He was beginning to become very worried, he would be letting down so many if he could not save Bumblebee. Himself included but none more than Sam.
:Ironhide report:
:No signs of him anywhere Prime:
:Argh! Keep searching!:
As the men kept searching Optimus stopped and looked up to the sky trying to calm his anxiety. He spotted a bird soaring through the air and watched it fly down towards the ground. It spiralled in large loops heading for the top of a tree which was growing in a valley that he was standing at the top of. A small thought hit Optimus and he slowly began to walk towards the valley, as he did the thought threaded into a feeling of hope.
Optimus reached the top of the hill, looked down and spotted a trail of dug up grass, broken saplings and gauges in some tree trunks. As his optics followed the slide of wreckage down the hill he sensed Ratchet and Ironhide walk over to him to investigate what he was looking at.
His spark pulsed violently when he spotted at the end of the slide of wreckage some yellow plating under a pile of fallen branches and bark at the base of an old tree.
"There! I see him!" Optimus shouted pointing down the valley. He resisted every urge to run down to Bumblebee and see if he was okay. Ratchet followed his gaze and spotted Bumblebee then begun scanning the form as the men armed themselves ready for the worst to happen.
"My scans are indicating he is in a stasis lock but there is only one way to be sure." Ratchet said then searched the ground until he found a 'small' rock which was about the size of a basketball. With extreme precision Ratchet flung the rock towards the unconscious Autobot and the whole team heard it clang off Bumblebee's metal plating.
There was a shared feeling of relief amongst the group when Bumblebee didn't come tearing up the hill cannon loaded and locked on them.
"Did you learn that procedure in medical school Ratch?" Epps joked. The medic looked down at him with a slightly crazed smile,
"No, over time I learnt use that procedure works on my patients who misbehave and try my patients."
"Except he throws wrenches and they leave dents" Ironhide added. Epps laughed and looked at Ironhide then back at Ratchet expecting for what he'd heard to be a joke but when he got nothing but a raised optic ridge from Ratchet he stopped smiling and moved over to the other side of Optimus. Ratchet sniggered at Epps then looked back down the valley,
"It is safe to proceed, just be on guard." The three teams began walking down the hill completely on guard until finally they were circling the unconscious scout and Ironhide was lifting the branches away.
Once uncovered Optimus could see Bumblebee was in very bad shape. He walked forward then knelt down and cradled Bumblebee's helm for a moment but Ratchet was already working on repairing Bumblebee and shooed Optimus's large hands away so he could get to the scout's helm. Optimus stood quickly,
"Lennox! Is it possible to have our air support land here? Bumblebee needs immediate repair work!" Lennox turned to Epps,
"Epps! Call air support, find out if they can land here. We have wounded that need urgent repair work." Lennox said to Epps not at all shocked at the sudden urgency of Optimus. Lennox hadn't seen any of the Autobots in such bad shape before. A few minutes later Epps pulled his phone away from his ear,
"Optimus! Air support will be able to land, but it'll be a tight fit. He needs to be moved out of the valley." Optimus nodded at Epps,
:Ratchet are we able to move him?:
:Yes Optimus, But he needs urgent repair work, his systems are completely drained. All of them:
"He will be moved, how long before air support get here?" Optimus asked
"They've already left, ETA ten minutes." Epps said putting his phone back in his pocket.
"He is ready to be moved Prime" Ratchet said standing up and moving away from Bumblebee. Optimus turned and bent down carefully picking Bumblebee off the ground in one movement. He started walking back up the hill with both Ratchet and Ironhide instinctively on either side of him.
Once out of the valley Optimus gently lay Bumblebee down and let Ratchet continue working on the scout again. He settled himself of the ground and watched Ratchet work. Despite the way he was sitting Optimus was still able to leap and attack if something happened.
:It's not your fault this happened Optimus:
Optimus simply nodded at Ironhide's words. He didn't have the energy to say anything to his weapons specialist because he knew that this was completely his fault. If he had not left the base to get Perceptor and stayed to help with the procedure then Bumblebee's attack on the base, the Autobots almost breaking the treaty with the human government and causing Sam so much pain and anguish would have been avoided. He hoped not only for Sam's sake but for the sake of his species that Ratchet would be able to repair Bumblebee. He was one of the last youngest Autobots in existence.
The air support aircraft landed and Bumblebee was quickly loaded and strapped down using the chains that Ironhide and Ratchet had been carrying. The men walked in and the Autobots transformed and drove on board the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. The group did not get back to base until the late evening. Ratchet had Bumblebee taken straight to the medical ward so he could begin proper repairs immediately, Lennox went to debrief the other officers on the mission and Optimus found an empty hangar where he could recharge and forget how anxious he was feeling.
…
Sam put the phone up to his ear and bit his lip as he listened to the dial tone. He almost lost his nerve and hung up the phone before he heard an answer.
{Hello?}
"Samantha hey it's Sam." He heard Samantha laugh into the phone,
{Yeah I know, I have your number. So what's up?}
"Ah I was wondering if you wanted to hangout sometime this afternoon? Like we could go get a milkshake or hot chips… or something?" Sam stopped rambling and waited for her response.
{Um… I like milkshakes. Do you know any good places?}
Sam exhaled relieved
"yeah I know a great place for milkshakes, so I'll come get you in say half an hour?"
{Yeah sure. See you then}
she replied happily. Sam heard the line cut off and he exhaled and put his phone back in his pocket. Time to get ready he thought as he reached for a clean shirt and deodorant can.
…
Samantha was lying on the grass in the sun watching a ladybug make its way along a long green blade. The sudden vibrations of her phone made her jump and she rolled over, reached into her bra and pulled her phone out. She stared at the caller ID for a moment before answering.
"Hello?"
{Samantha hey it's Sam.}
Samantha couldn't help but laugh a hearing Sam introduce himself.
"Yeah I know, I have your number. So what's up?"
{Ah I was wondering if you wanted to hangout sometime this afternoon? Like we could go get a milkshake or hot chips… or something?}
Sam stopped talking and Samantha wasn't sure if he was going to keep talking so she waited a moment before replying.
"um…I like milkshakes. Do you know any good places?" she said with a smile and heard Sam exhale.
{yeah I know a great place for milkshakes, so I'll come get you in say half an hour?}
"Yeah sure. See you then" she replied happily then hung up the phone. Samantha sat up then realized she needed to get changed because yoga pants and belly shirt weren't exactly acceptable clothes to wear in public. She jumped up and couldn't help but skip happily into the house.
Once she was in her room Samantha put on a pair of high waisted denim shorts and tucked a green and black top into it. She put her hair into a loose side pony tail with curls hanging around her face then put on a very small amount of gold eye shadow and mascara. Once she was ready she waited outside on the front porch with her purse and phone.
Soon enough Sam pulled up in the driveway and Samantha got up, gave Sam a hug then slid neatly into the passenger seat.
"Hey Perceptor, how are you?" she asked patting the dash board.
"I am very well Samantha, thankyou for asking. I hope you are well." Perceptor replied as Sam got into the driver's seat.
"Yeah, not too bad." She said casually as Sam started the car.
Sam drove into town to an area that Samantha had been to a few times with her family, it was an area full of families doing their weekly grocery shopping, old couples out for a daily walk and where kids rode through on their bikes and skateboards to get to the skate park. Samantha missed her roller blades.
They parked the car and Sam lead Samantha down the busy street for a few minutes then turned off and headed down a narrow side street,
"Where are we going?" Samantha asked speeding up to keep up with Sam's fast pace.
"To the place that serves the best milkshakes I've ever had in my life." Sam said as he slowed and let an elderly couple walk by then continued on to the corner of the side street where a small café stood. Samantha was surprised she didn't notice it before, there was a grapevine growing up the poles and canopy that covered the outside seats of the building.
They walked in and Sam pointed to a chalk board on the wall that had all the milkshake flavours, Samantha looked at each flavour then picked one and went to order. She opened her purse to pay but Sam handed over enough money to pay for both their drinks before she could pay herself.
Is…Is this a date? She thought surprised as Sam pulled a seat out for her to sit on.
…
Ratchet had worked non-stop all through the night on refuelling Bumblebee's systems and repairing physical damage the scout's battle computer had caused. Bumblebee was still in a stasis lock but Ratchet was sure to restrain Bumblebee as much as possible while working on him. He didn't look up as Optimus walked into the hangar. The leader stopped near the berth and watched Ratchet work.
"Yes Prime?"
"How is he going?" Ratchet finished what he was working on then stood straight and walked around the berth to work on a different part of Bumblebee's frame.
"It's going to take a few days of refuelling his systems and repairing physical damage before I can even online Bumblebee and fix his battle computer." Ratchet heard Optimus vent and settle himself before responding,
"how long is a few days?" Ratchet stopped his work and turned to face Optimus
"I'd say five days before I'll try to online him. However I am not confident about fixing his battle processor alone, I may need Perceptor's help during the procedure."
"When do you need him on base?"
"Not yet, I'll report to you when I am ready to begin repairs on his battle computer."
"Okay, I'll leave you to continue repairing him." Optimus said looking at Bumblebee. Ratchet placed a hand on Optimus's shoulder,
"go rest Prime, he will be okay." Ratchet gently pushed Optimus towards the door of the hangar and didn't turn back to his work until Optimus had left.
A/N: Don't forget to review!