Hey Everyone, Li0ness95 here
First off I am SO SO sorry for taking so long to publish a chapter. It's been a rather hectic and eventful year, this is my final year at university and I've been focusing on getting my dissertation done so I can get a good grade. Hopefully this over 10,000 word long chapter should make up for it as well as being the last published chapter of 2016 - Omg I can't believe its almost 2017.
And to 'LoveAngel5952', Heyyy I'm still alive and haven't given up on the story not in a million years, i wont give up until I'm done with the entire story.
Ch 14: Road Trip part 1
Normal POV:
"…Okay…this is just plain weird" Lightning commented as she observed her surroundings. It was a very large and vacant desert stretched out in every direction, the multiple small mounds of sand being the only thing she could see. "It's almost like the place that Sam met the other primes in, yet I don't remember the sand being blue though" she voiced aloud. It seems that the desert sand itself was a soft sky blue colour while the sky was a sandy gold colour. "This really doesn't make any sense; I swear I was last with Optimus"
"Well you're not wrong"
Light startled at the somewhat mechanical voice turned around quickly only to see a rather tall femme standing about 20 meters or so away from her. The femme was around 25 feet in height, her colours being a mix of midnight blue and pale yellow strips going horizontally across her frame.
"what do you mean I'm not wrong?" Light asked,
The femme laughed "out of all the things you could have asked that's what you want to know?"
Light shrugged in response "honestly it's the first thing that came to mind"
"fair enough, well I guess if I answer your question it will also explain where you are. You were right when you said you were last with Optimus, currently you're asleep in his passenger seat on your way to Washington. This place is the dreamscape of the all spark, only spark keepers can access it, the easiest way is when we're asleep. I had to wait until your energy levels were replenished enough for me to bring you in here" the femme explained.
Light nodded in understanding "Okay…. So, I'm actually asleep and this is all happening deep within my mind?"
The femme nodded her head "Yep. So, next question"
"Who are you?" Light asked
"Hmm, well who do you think I am?" the femme asked in response, a small smirk making its way across her face
Light plonked herself on the ground, sitting cross legged as she began to think "Well, I don't recognize you from any of the other transformers universe so that rules out any femme's I already know, and you've got to be a spark keeper otherwise you wouldn't be here." She pointed out first "but your definitely not the All Spark"
The femme in question raised an eyebrow "oh and why is that?"
"Your energy" Light answered in response "You radiating All Spark energy but it's almost weak in a sense and to be perfectly blunt but I would expect the All Spark to be a lot taller than you… no offense"
The femme laughed before also sitting down on the ground in front of Lightning "None taken, and I'm definitely not the All Spark I can assure you. But I am impressed by how well you've adapted to the All Spark especially with being a human and all. You've picked up the basics as quick as my daughter did, it's no wonder why Ratchet thinks you two are alike" she commented.
Light frowned in thought 'Like your daughter? But Ratchet thought I was…' her eyes widened in shock as she put the puzzle pieces together
"Shadow blades" she simply said looking up at the femme "Your Shadow Blade, Solus' mother" she asked in confirmation.
The femme – now Shadow Blade – smiled softly "Just shadow will do"
"B-but how? You're dead, how are you in a dreamscape that requires you to be asleep to enter it?" Light asked, realizing that a lot of this doesn't make any sense
Shadow frowned "My situation – if that's what you wanna call it – is rather complex, and I don't have much time here. The All Spark allowed me to come here so I could help you" she then explained.
Light tilted her head to the side "help me with what?" she asked in confusion
"In everything. Many challenges and decisions are coming your way and need all the help you can get. Now firstly don't be afraid to change the story line" Shadow began
"The story line?"
"The story you know from your world or films whatever way you want to see it. The films in your world have already happened, what you do now will not affect them. As you can tell from since you arrived that not only are you and your family not supposed to be here, Echo was not pose to exist and Jazz should be in the well of All Sparks. Now it's not like the 'films' won't happen, they will but it can be changed. There's not much else I can say about the future but trust me when I say you will be having a direct impact on the Autobots future."
"...Okay…?" Light quickly went over what Shadow was telling her, absorbing as much information as she could "What about my family, I know you say I will be impacting the Autobots future but I can't stay here, what about my parents?"
Shadow sighed "That is… complicated and not something I can explain to you right now. All I know is that if you return to your world no matter how long you spend here it would have only been a couple of minutes to them. To be honest it's all wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff that even I don't get sometimes so I'm probably not the best person to ask"
Light blinked "did – did you just quote doctor who?"
"…Maybe"
"What?! How on Earth do you know doctor who? Your dead!" Light asked confusedly
Shadow sighed again "like I said its complicated, it will all be revealed in time. I'm limited to what I can say to you right now"
Light pouted "fine" she grumbled, though even more questions popped up in her mind now
"We're gonna start running out of time soon, is there anything else you wanted to ask me" shadow asked
"My All Spark powers" Lightning began "I'm not going to get any life-threatening side effects or stuff, right?"
Shadow smiled softly and shook her head "Even though your human the All Spark has chosen you for a reason, there is so much you can do with your powers just trust your instincts. However, be warned. Your powers are elemental base, and can be effected by your emotions, so be careful okay"
Light nodded "So the stronger an emotion the stronger the power but the potential for my powers to equally go unstable" she asked
Shadow nodded in confirmation
"And this dreamscape we're in is only for spark keepers, so does that mean I can come here again?" Light asked
"Yep" Shadow said while popping the 'p' "Though next time you should bring Bumblebee with you"
"Okay my final question. Solus is…. Solus is still alive, right?" Light asked uncertainly
"Yes, she's alive, but it's not time for her to come back yet" Shadow answered with
"oh" Light simply responded with, a gasp quickly left her lips when she looked down to see her body was starting to turn translucent and fade away
"It seems like your waking up now" Shadow explained
Light looked up at the femme "thank you" she smiled happily
The femme smiled back "Oh and one more thing"
Light tilted her head "what?"
"Don't tell Optimus, not until the time is right but… Solus is on Earth"
Lightning's wide eyes were the last thing that Shadow saw before she completely faded out of the dreamscape. A deep chuckle suddenly came from behind the femme
"Was that really necessary" the voice asked
"The All Spark didn't say anything about me not telling her about Solus" Shadow teased, completely at ease with whoever was behind her. She got up off the ground and turned to face the stranger
The stranger – a mech who was about the same height as shadow but his build being a lot bulkier, a pair of door wings on his back and his colours were a mix of fiery red and orange, sighed in defeat "your hopeless" he commented
Shadow hummed in agreement before approaching the mech "true, but it's one of the reasons you love me Iggy" she said as she placed a kiss on his cheek
He groaned in annoyance "It's Ignitus"
"Oh come on, it's a great nickname" Shadow countered with
"Yeah yeah whatever" the mech – now known as Ignitus huffed
Shadow laughed before a frown took its place instead "Ignitus. Do you think she'll be ready?" she asked
"Honestly I don't know but what I do know is that she is our daughter and she won't go down without a fight" he answered with "but come on we need to go we've spent too time in the dreamscape and you wanted to get work done so we could go home early today"
Shadow groaned "but its paperwork~~" she whined
"and whose fault is it that it's not been done yet?" he teased.
Shadow grumbled to herself as the two faded out of the dreamscape.
- Back to Lightning POV-
I yawned as I slowly came too, the hum coming from Optimus' engine being the only thing I can hear. I uncurl my legs from the fetal position I had managed to achieve while being in the passenger seat, clasping my hands together I stretch my arms up.
I opened my eyes only to be greeted by the sun still setting in the distant, "What time is it?" I ask as I sit up more, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.
"About seven in the evening now, you've slept for a solid 10 hours" Optimus responded with through the radio
I blinked, since when could they do that?! "How did you do that?" I asked
"Do what?"
"That!" I exclaimed pointing at the radio "You guys don't talk through the radios during the movies" I then explained
Optimus chuckled "I believe it's something we've all been able to do, I can even contact the others this way as well"
"That's so cool"
"How are you feeling?" he then asked me, attempting to change the topic
"Honestly, I'm a lot less tired. Not entirely sure when I'm going to be okay though" I answered with before readjusting the beanie I was wearing earlier on my head
"Do you want to talk about it" he asked. I cocked my head to the side confused
"Talk about what?"
"About this morning, the flashback nightmare thing" he answered with
My eyes widened slightly "How did you know?" I asked, I don't even remember mentioning it too any of the bots.
"Lily-Ann told us after Angel and Oliver went to find you this morning" he answered with
I dragged my hand down my face "of course she did" I muttered 'Dammit, I really need to talk to Lily-Ann about who she can tell that too' I thought 'the less they know the better' "Look that's great and all, you wanting to help but its fine. I can deal with it on my own okay, I don't need you guys to worry about me" 'this was a conversation I really didn't need to have right now'
It was a couple of seconds before Optimus responded "and sometimes it's okay to talk to someone, you're not alone Lightning"
I crossed my arms and glared out of the side window hoping Prime would just drop the subject already but knowing my luck that's not gonna happen
"Lightning"
Told you so.
"Look I know it's not easy and it's probably the last thing you want to think or even talk about however I am here for you to talk to"
I shut my eyes and sighed "you wouldn't understand"
"And I'm not going to lie and say I understand how your feeling but I can see the fact that your bottling up your emotions. Your carrying the world on your back like its one big burden and it's not doing you any favors, you need to talk to someone"
"and it's my burden to carry Optimus, I don't need anyone else involved with my problems" I answered with, I heard Optimus sigh through the radio
"That's where your wrong Lightning, you have people you can talk to you have your family… you can talk to me" he responded with
My eyes snapped open at that statement, my patience was running thin, I turned to glare at the radio "Goddammit Optimus, what do you want me to say?! Yeah, you know what you're right, I could talk to my parents, or my siblings, hell I could to talk to a shrink if necessary but you know what I'm not going to!
I'm not going to tell them what I went through, I'm not going to tell them how I was chained to a wall for an entire month, how I got daily beatings that it got to the point my entire body become numb to the pain, how it turned into torture just because I didn't know where the infinite combinatoric was – hell I don't even know what the fuck that is! I'm not going to tell them that I now have my guard up constantly because I feel like I can't trust anyone anymore, how everytime I go to sleep all I see are soldiers holding a gun to Oliver's and Angel's head about to pull the trigger. I'm not going to tell them because that means they'll be involved and dear God the only way I would ever let my family be involved with that man again is when hell freezes over!" I finished, panting for air, my voice had gotten louder and louder as I had ranted.
There was a pregnant pause "You…remember what happened" his voice was quieter than before, almost hesitant to ask…
My eyes widened to the size to dinner plates when I registered what exactly I has said, I felt my breath get caught in my throat and I could just see my skin had probably paled in realization.
"Light" he asked softly when I didn't answer him
I groaned as I wrapped my arms around my legs pulling them up to my chest and placing my chin on my knees "yes" I whispered out, my eyes shutting in the process "yes I remember, they came back fully about a year and a half ago" I answered, the cab now sounding a lot more quieter than it should
But before Optimus could ask anything else there was a sudden ringing in my right ear, I shot up straight at the suddenly weird sensation "what the…?" I began only to see a small square popping up with a pic of a phone in it on the left lens of the glasses that Angel had made for me, hesitantly I placed a finger on the right side of the glasses like my sister had done so earlier "hello…?" I asked anxiously…
"Light?" I heard my sister's voice
"Angel?" I asked back just to make sure I was hearing things right
I heard her laugh, yep definitely Angel "Oh thank god you answered I was about to panic when I realised I forgot how to tell you how to answer"
I chuckled "well I just remembered what you did earlier and did the same"
"oh, good I was worried for a sec, there's an easier way by the way" she pointed out
"really? How?" I asked, genuinely curious but just praying that she's not going to over complicate it
"Okay so you know the xbox kinect?" she asked rhetorically, of course I knew what one was me and Olly have both been saving up to buy one, she continued on anyway "well I got the idea from that, the glasses are controlled through your eyes. The box that popped up earlier on the left is when someone's calling you, if you hold eye contact over it for five seconds it would have answered instead of having to press the side of the glasses instead. Your eyes are like the mouse of a computer screen in a sense, that makes sense?" she asked
It took me a minute to make sense of what she said, so my eyes are like the controller "I think so, might take some practice though" I commented, yep definitely going to need some practice as I thought about it some more "but I'm betting that isn't why you called" I then said, I know my sister to well.
She laughed again "you know me too good sis" see what did I say "I was going to remind you that you guys are going to need a place to crash for the night and I know the perfect place. You guys are currently on route 53 and about 20 minutes or so from passing the El Malpais National Monument, just a bit further along is a back road leading up to Bonita canyon which is far enough from the main roads for you guys to set up camp and allowing the Autobots to transform into their bipedal modes" she explained
I raised an eyebrow "and you know where we are because…"
"Lightning I've been tracking you guys since you left this morning and I'm pretty sure Keller and his men haven't even thought about accommodating for the bots" she answered back with I sighed in response, that was probably true.
"okay fine, I'll make sure Optimus passes it onto the others can you message the guys who aren't with a bot and let them know" I asked
It was only a matter of seconds before she replied "done and done", damn she's gotten faster, I chuckled
"okay okay, I'm gonna go now I'll call you guys later before you go to bed okay" I said
"Coolio, my number is saved already so just call that when you wanna talk" she said
"bye hun"
"bye Light"
I pressed the side of the lens again to end the call, it's gonna be a while before I can do the whole eye control thing. I glanced over to the radio realizing that Optimus had been silent throughout the conversation
"Prime?" I asked
~~~meanwhile with Optimus~~~
:: Optimus come in, is everything okay with lightning? Her heart rate has drastically increased?:: Ratchet asked suddenly through a private comlink between the two. Optimus internally sighed, of course Ratchet picked up on her distress.
::define okay? Because physically she seems to be doing better but emotionally and mentally maybe not:: he replied with before bringing the other three Autobots into the conversation as well
::I need you all to keep a close eye on Lightning. At least one Autobot is too remain with her at all times she does not leave your sight:: - Prime
::Dammit Prime what is going on?!:: - Ironhide
:: I'm going to have to agree with Ironhide on this one. What has happened for you to get so suddenly protective of the human:: - Ratchet
Optimus sighed as he began to try and explain what happened without it getting too complicated
::In short? Lightning regained her memories of her kidnapping almost a year and half ago and has been struggling to cope with the memories since then:: - Prime
It was silent for a few minutes
::There's more isn't there?:: - Ratchet
Optimus replayed the voice clip of Lightning's rant from a few moments ago, a series of Cybertronian curses could be heard from Hide when the clip finished, even Ratchet muttered something about humans being idiots
::Wat's a infinite comina-thingy?:: - Jazz
::*sigh* an infinite combinatoric. A ancient Cybertronian artifact that's more myth if anything. Even the datapads we had on this artific was sparse and it was unsure on what it could do:: - Ratchet
:: The new question to ask is why in fragging pit would they torture a human child for the location of an artifact that even most Cybertronians consider to be a myth:: - Ratchet
::This is why you want us remain close to the girl?:: - Ironhide
::I don't believe it is coincidence that Lightning and her family came through the portal as well as her ability to harness the energy of the All Spark. When they were attacked a week ago they didn't target us or the sparkling or the fragment but were after them specifically:: - Prime
::So someone's after da little lady then:: - Jazz
:: That is what I fear, whoever is after Lightning is dangerous especially if their men were prepared to attack innocent children:: - Prime
::Should we inform the humans of this development?:: - Ratchet
:: Negative. Like Lily-Ann mentioned earlier Lightning is always guarded, as soon as I had mentioned the nightmares she had gone all defensive and tried to completely avoid the topic. I was lucky enough to get what we know so far from her. She isn't ready to open up and I fear bringing this problem forward to the humans will only push her away and close off even more. Even her siblings are unaware of the fact that she has regained all her memories:: - Prime
::Kay then. We make sure da little lady sticks near us an' hopefully she'll realise that she can trust us enough to open up. She already mentioned that she would feel safer travellin' with us instead of the other humans::-Jazz
::Bumblebee? You've been rather quiet, what do you think?:: - Prime
::I think it might be worthwhile to assign someone as her guardian, like I am for Sam. I mean I still think we should all keep an eye on her but it might be good for Lightning if there was just one bot that she could fully trust and confide in, as Sam's guardian we've already grown close despite the short amount of time I've been with him. If Lightning had someone she was close to might make it easier for her to open up and talk:: - Bumblebee
::That is a good point, we can discuss more about a guardian after we get a treaty finalised with the government otherwise there is no point if we're not allowed to stay on Earth. It seems like Lightning wants to talk now, we can discuss this more later:: - Prime
And with that Prime switched off the private comlink and turned his attention to the young woman sitting in his passenger seat.
"Prime?" Light called when she realised that the Autobot leader had been awfully quiet
"Yes, Sorry about that little one the others were asking about when we were going to stop for the evening. Was that your sister who called?" he asked
Light chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck "haha yeah I guess after everything that's happened so far she just wanted to check in and make sure that the glasses and mic were working. Oh yeah, she also said to let you guys know that there is a back road coming up that leads to Bonita Canyon. If we follow up that road it will be far enough for us to camp for the night and is far enough to allow you guys to transform into your bi-pedal modes" Light said, relaying what her sister said earlier.
"That is very much appreciated thank you, I believe Jazz and Bee are starting to get restless being in their vehicle modes for so long" Optimum pointed out
Light shook her head "Now why does that not surprise me." she looked down and clenched her fists, a frown replacing the smile she had a few minutes ago "Optimus?"
"Yes little one?"
"I-I'm sorry for earlier, I mean when I exploded at you like that. You were just trying to help and I threw it right back in your face. I'm sorry"
"You have nothing to apologise for" Optimum began "I shouldn't have pressured into talking about something that brought back such horrible memories"
Light smiled softly and let out a soft sigh "I shouldn't have been so rude, I feel guilty when I involve people with my problems so I normally try to avoid getting them involved unless its absolutely necessary. I'm just not ready to talk about it yet, but I promise when I do I'll go straight to you yeah?"
"that sounds like a plan, whenever your ready"
"Though whatever happens can you please not tell my siblings, I don't think I could live with myself if something happened ever happened to them because of me"
"You have my word Lightning" he promised.
~~Arriving at Bonita Canyon ~~~
Jazz stretched as he finally switched to his bi-pedal mode "Gah, as much as I love da open road there's only so lon' tha' I can take" he said stretching his arms above his helm "it was cool for da kid to find us a place away from da road"
"agreed" commented Ratchet as he too stood up next to Jazz "it was nice of her to consider us into the equation as well, I doubt Keller and his men thought about accommodating to our needs as well. Now stand still for a minute I want to do a check up and make sure that there are no complications since that's the longest you've been in that form since the battle" he said as he approached the silver mech.
"Aw come on Ratchet really?!" Jazz whined stepping back as Ratchet stalked towards him
"yes now stop whining like a sparkling already" Ratchet grumbled back as he brought out a rather large-ish needle, Jazz panicked and did the first thing he could think of... he ran.
"NOOOOOO!" he yelled as he began to run. The medic growled and began running after the silver mech
"GODDAMIT JAZZ STAND STILL!"
"You'll never take me alive doc!" Jazz hollered over his shoulder running towards the other Autobots
-•-•-
Lennox and Epps stretched as they got out of Ironhide, allowing the mech to transform and stretch as well "god I hate car journeys" complained Epps
Lennox laughed "I know what you mean and we're not even half way yet"
Epps groaned "we should have just got a plane over, it would had been so much easier"
"Oh come on it wasn't that bad" commented Lightning as she approached the two, Optimus following a few feet behind her
"Like you can talk you slept for most of it" Epps retorted back,
Light shrugged her shoulders instead of replying. She saw Bee approaching them "Hey Bee" she greeted "where's Sam and Mikaela?" she asked, noticing the two teens weren't with him
"time alone...kissy kissy" he croaked out, making a face when he said 'kissy kissy',
Light laughed at Bee's reaction "Typical teenagers then, huh?"
Bee nodded
"You'll never take me alive doc!"
Everyone turned to see Jazz fast approaching with Ratchet hot on his heels
"Hide! You gotta help me!" yelled Jazz as he hid behind the weapon specialist and used him as a shield.
"Jazz" Ratchet growled menacingly "Stop hiding or so Primus help me or I will make you regret ever being sparked" he threatened
"But I don't want a check up" Jazz whined, still behind Ironhide
"what on Earth is going on?" Light asked curiously
Optimum chuckled "Jazz seems to have a slight fear of medics and has always been a troublesome one when it came to check ups, this isn't the first time Ratchet has had to chase him" he explained,
"I don't care if you don't want one you need it" Ratchet argued back before making a lunge for the mech, Jazz made a small unmechly squeak before dodging out of the way twisting between the bots in an attempt to avoid the mech and his wrath. Light sighed as she watched the two, Ironhide had an amused smirk on his face while he watched and Prime just looked exasperated. 'this must be rather common then' she noted 'they don't even seem surprised at all with what is happening right now'.
It was only when Jazz almost narrowly fall near where Epps and Lennox were standing that Prime decided it was time to step in however it seemed that Lightning had other plans.
"That is ENOUGH!" she bellowed, activating her All Spark powers she held out her hands in front of her as two electrical vines shot out, multiplying as they wrapped themselves around Ratchet and Jazz effectively halting all their movements. Ratchet had managed to stay standing, an arm held against his body and the other arm outstretched in front of him. Jazz on the other hand was not so lucky, with one leg in the air at the time he had not too graciously fallen to the floor and unable to getup
"Lightning what is the meaning of this?! Release me at once!" Ratchet demanded trying to wiggle his way out of the vines. The rest of the Autobots stood silent, curious as too what was about to happen
"Not until both of you stop acting like fucking children and act your bloody age! You lot" she began turning to point to all the Autobots before turning back to Ratchet "need to behave, if we ever want this treaty to go ahead then we need to show the government and everyone else that you are not a threat and running around acting like this is not going to help, you almost hurt Lennox and Epps a second ago. You are soldiers and thousand of years older than anyone else now start acting like it!" she turned to Jazz
"I get it okay, I have a phobia of needles and I don't really like going for check ups either but they are necessary and Ratchet is right. It was only a matter of weeks ago that you were ripped in half by Megatron before Ratchet repaired you and brought you back, we don't need any complications to happen either. What would happen if something went wrong when you were in the middle of a fight? You could seriously get hurt or worse die from your injuries and I doubt any of us want to lose you a second time, so just keep in mind that Ratchet is not only doing his job but he probably doesn't want to lose a comrade especially when there could of been something he could have done to have prevented it" she didn't even let him respond before turning to Ratchet
"And you, I get that your worried but sometimes the grouchy wrench-throwing medic act is not the way to go. Jazz doesn't like medics and neither do I personally but yelling, threatening and chasing him is not going to help at all its most likely going to make it worse. you want Jazz to be cooperative? Then give him a reason to be. My doctor's known me for eleven years, she knows of my fears and everytime I've gone to see her she has been nice and gentle and patient with me and now I'm able to go and visit the doc without having a mini breakdown everytime. Your the patient and your the doctor and you both need to meet each other half way, now I'm going to release you both and your going to walk away to somewhere quieter and talk this over like civilised adults and when you return I expect you to have come to some sort of agreement or I'm gonna fry both your arses into the middle of the next week" and with that Lightning snapped her fingers and the vines disintegrated.
Ratchet grumbled something inaudible before putting away the needle he had out earlier and made his way to Jazz before holding out a servo to help him up. Jazz smiled at the offer and happily took it, they both walked over past the other side of the makeshift camp the soldiers had made and over one of the hills for some privacy to talk. Light sighed exasperated as she rubbed her temple "Primus your all like fucking giant children" she muttered.
It was a matter of minutes before Ironhide began to laugh, like full blown, tear-jerking, bending over to laugh "Oh Primus, that-that was just golden" he choked out looking down at the young human femme "in all the years I've known him I've never seen someone lay into him like you just did. you've got guts kid i'll give you that, I don't think I'm ever going to let him live this down" he said wiping a tearful his eye. Even Optimus and Bumblebee were trying to hid their chuckles, Bee unfortunately was failing having to stuff a hand in his face to muffle the noise. Epps and Lennox were full on laughing as well, not at all caring about the consequences if Ratchet hears them at all. Light shrugged her shoulders
"someone needs to knock some sense into those two, sorry about that Prime I knew you would have probably stepped in at some point but those two really needed their heads bashed together" Light explained, Optimus shook his head
"No no that is quite alright, it was rather amusing. The only bot who's been able to speak like that to him is Ironhide, anyone else gets a wrench to the head, me included" he stated.
"um...excuse me" everyone turned to see a soldier nervously approach, probably no older then 18 years old. He was tall and lanky, chestnut brown hair and equally brown eyes. He was fidgeting nervously with his hands 'he probably intimidated by how tall the bots are' Lightning thought as she took note of how he avoided any eye contact with the Autobots 'that needs to change'
"How can we help soldier?" Lennox asked, now finished with his little outburst
"Um... we've cooked some hot dogs and burgers ...and some other stuff and I thought you guys might want to get some before they're all eaten" the soldier had explained, at the mention of food Lightning's stomach growled loudly,
she laughed "Yeah that might be a good idea I haven't really eaten since this morning" she explained placing one hand over her growling stomach
Epps and Lennox nodded as well "Food sounds really good right now" they both said
Light frowned as she realised something, she turned to Optimus "Would you guys be okay eating food in your human form? I would offer you guys energon to refuel with but we don't have any of that on us, I completely forget to check to see if we had enough supplies for you guys"
Hide blinked "Supplies?" he asked
"Well yeah, you guys eat and sleep like us it would make sense to have enough supplies for you guys you have needs as well, and I'm pretty sure no one else has thought about asking you either, energon isn't something naturally made on our planet which is why I forget to check. Why do you think Angel picked this location in the first place" Light answered with.
Optimus smiled, he was impressed and somewhat shocked at the fact that someone had thought about their needs. So far the humans haven't asked if the Autobots needed anything, it had been the basic necessity and space of somewhere to hide until they could work out their next move, and here was some girl and her family who had - no questions asked - took the Autobots straight into the equation and were trying to make sure they were accommodated as well.
"Thank you for taking us into consideration, and don't worry about the energon I believe Ratchet said we could eat food but only when we're in our human forms" the Autobot leader explained, he then turned to Bee "son, why don't you transform and go with Lightning to get something to eat, me and Ironhide will wait for Ratchet and Jazz and make sure they haven't killed each other before joining, if that's okay with you Lightning?" he turned to the young girl
Lightning nodded "Yeah that's fine, come on Bee I'm going to show you one of the best bits about being human" she said.
Bee nodded before switching to his human form "So what exactly is a burger?" he asked curiously, tilting his head to one side. Light grabbed his wrist and began walking towards the camp, motioning for the young soldier from earlier to walk with them as well
"I'm about to give you a crash course in human food, trust me kid after this your never going to want to have energon again" Light said. Optimus shook his head in amusement at the young humans before looking over to the hill that Jazz and Ratchet had disappeared to earlier
"So how much you want to bet that Ratchet probably knocked Jazz out instead of talking" Ironhide asked cheekily once he knew Lightning was out of hearing range, Prime shook his head again
"Come on, lets go check on them" he simply said before making his way towards the hill. He was really hoping that Ironhide was wrong, as much as he loved his medic sometimes he was a little too violent not that he'll ever say that out loud but he was secretly hoping that some of what Lightning had said earlier had hopefully sunk into the stubborn mech's mind. To be perfectly honest he was expecting Jazz to have been knocked out and sporting several new dents. But that didn't seem to be the case because as soon as Optimus had walked over the hill he found Jazz...
Absolutely fine...
Not a single new dent...
...and was Ratchet laughing?
Optimus stood frozen as he took in the scene before him. Jazz was sitting on a rather large rock formation which made him sitting up at the same height of Ratchet standing up, said mech was standing to the left side of Jazz fiddling with some wires in the upper arm just above the elbow joints and it seemed that Ratchet was laughing at something Jazz had said.
"Well I'll be damned" whistled Ironhide as he stood next to Optimus and at that both Jazz and Ratchet turned to see they were being watched
"what?" Ratchet huffed out going back to finishing up what he was doing
"nothing, nothing just expected Jazz to have been sporting some new dents and not to you two suddenly acting like besties" Ironhide teased
Ratchet huffed again, "we're not besties, we just followed Lightning's advice and came to an agreement"
Jazz laughed before dramatically throwing his right arm above his spark "Oh how ya wound me Ratch, I thought we had somethin' special happenin'"
Ratchet grumbled, "keep thinking like that and I'm going to turn back to using wrenches on you"
But before Jazz could say anything back Optimus interrupted "It is nice to see you getting along and I'm glad to see you listened to Lightning's advice, now how is Jazz' status?"
Ratchet had literally finished with the last wire before responding "It's all good, there should hopefully be no complications in the future the only small problem was some of the wiring in his arm but other than that as the humans would say he's as fit as a fiddle"
"That is good, Bumblebee has switched into human mode and gone with Lightning to get something to eat. I said we would join once we checked on you guys." Optimus explained
"and you won't believe this" Ironhide started "the Lightning chick was worried about us because she forgot to check to see if we had enough energon"
"wait what" Ratchet asked, his optics widening
"you heard me, Lightning was asking us if its okay to eat in human form because we don't have any energon. She said she knew that the other humans probably didn't think to ask for our needs like recharge and refuelling, apparently one of the reasons why Angel had chosen this place was cos it allowed us to be like this with no chance of being seen by civilians" Hide answered
Jazz whistled "Nice ta see someone cares abou' us"
"DADDDDDDDDD!"
They turned to see Bumblebee back in his Cybertronian form, he was running and went straight into hugging Optimus, Prime grew concerned when he saw his son run to them and then suddenly hug him
"Bumblebee is everything okay?" he asked worriedly, he wasn't prepared for his son to have a massive shit-eating grin on his face
"OhmygodyouhavetotryaburgertheyarethebestthingsintheworldLightningwasrightimnevergoingbacktoenergonagaincomeondadyouvegottotryone" Bumblebee began not pausing for air at all, too wrapped in his excitement he hadn't realised that the others hadn't understood a word he said, Optimus chuckled at his sons excitement
"Calm down and repeat my boy, you spoke so fast I think you could give Blurr a run for his money"
"sorry, but seriously you guys need to try a burger, they are the greatest things ever!" exclaimed Bumblebee
"Bumblebee what are you doing?! Your not suppose to be using your voice box, it was only temporarily fixed your going to damage it even further if you keep using it" exclaimed Ratchet at him angrily and slightly worried as well.
Bee just grinned "scan me"
"What?"
"Just trust me, scan me"
Ratchet sighed and scanned Bee, his optics widened as he read the results "B-but how, I mean how did you...?" Ratchet spluttered out in shock
"What is it Ratchet" Optimus asked, concerned with how his CMO reacted
"Bumblebee's voice box... its completely healed, like as in no scarring, no sign of it ever being damaged in the first place... how?" Ratchet asked again still trying to compute
"Light did it, she used the Spark fragment to heal my voice box. Its been healed in such a way that it's like Tyger Pax had never happened" Bee explained happily
"Wait, Lightning did it" Ratchet asked
"Yeah, she said the All Spark had rebuilt Frenzy's body back when he was in Hoover Dam and got the idea that maybe she could use it to help me as well"
"Ya know, I'm liking this Lightning chick more and more" Ironhide commented before swinging an arm over Bee's shoulder "Shame you're never gonna shut up now. so much for piece and quiet" he teased before bringing Bumblebee in for a noogie
"Come on Hide that's not fair" whined Bee as he attempted to get out of the hold the weapon specialist had him in. Optimus shook his head in amusement as he watched his comrades messing about, making a mental note to thank Lightning once he saw her, he hasn't seen his son this happy in quite a while.
"So what's this abou' burgers?" asked Jazz curiously
"That's why I'm here. Light knew you guys might be hungry so she managed to save a load of food for you guys but she says hurry otherwise she's giving it to the soldiers" Bee explained finally managing to get out of the hold Hide had him in.
"Well then, wha' are we waitin' for?" said Jazz as he hoped off down from the large rock.
-•-•-
-earlier back at the camp-
Lightning glanced to her right, watching the young soldier from a second ago. Lennox and Epps had gone to find their team and get some food from them.
"So what's your name kid?" she asked the brunette
"Oh... um... Jamie" he answered nervously, avoiding any eye contact with Bee. Light sighed
"your scared aren't you" she asked
Jamie grimaced "is it that obvious?"
"as obvious as it was to see you clearly avoided any eye contact with the bots" Light said as she stopped walking, still holding onto Bee's wrist. "I get your scared and slightly intimidated by how bloody tall they are but there's nothing really to be scared of, if anything they are like children, the are a lot more like us then you guys realise" she swung her arm over Bee's shoulders "Take Bee here for example, he is literally a kid and the most friendliest bot you will ever meet"
Jamie shook his head "I know I know and the geeky side of me is so curious to know more about them, their world, their culture and customs but everytime I think or try to approach them I get scared and chicken out instead"
Bee then stepped forward "maybe it might be easier if we're in this form. I would love to learn more about you guys and your cultures and everything" he held out a hand to Jamie "Nice to meet you Jamie I'm Bumblebee"
Jamie smiled still nervous but took Bee's hand "nice to meet you Bumblebee"
Lightning clapped her hands in approval "great, its could to show the humans that you guys are friendly and not a danger to them. Now Jamie show us the way to the food, Bee here has never had human food before this is gonna be his first time"
Jamie stared in disbelief "seriously?!"
Bee nodded his head "we only have energon"
Jamie shook his head "well we can't have that can we? Come on I'll show you to the camp fire my friends are at" once the air was cleared it seemed that Jamie's nervousness had instantly dissipated.
Light ands Bee followed Jamie to a small camp fire, it seemed the camp had been split up into multiple small groups each spread out sitting around a small fire instead of everyone sitting around one large fire. They followed him to the camp fire the furthest away from all the others almost isolated in a way from the others, there were four other soldiers sitting around the fire, 3 males and 1 female. The female was sitting on a log on her own and on her left two of the men were sat on another log and lastly the other soldier was sitting on a log next to the males, opposite the female.
The female had cropped light chocolate brown hair, equally brown eyes and very tanned skin almost exotic like. she had ditched her uniform jacket and was wearing a black shirt with 'guns n' roses' printed across the shirt. There were 3 men, the oldest looking to be in his mid 40's. He had dark green eyes, grey buzz cut hair. His uniform was fully on and was in impeccable state and the way he sat oozed confidence. the last two men looked eerily similar too each other, one was probably around the same age as Jamie and the other one a little bit older. They both had dirty blonde hair and dark blue almost black eyes. The only difference between the two was the fact the younger one had his hair gelled up while the older one had his hair grown out to his shoulders and tied up into a man bun.
Jamie walked up to them with a smile on his face "Hey guys make some room, we've got guests"
The four soldiers looked up when they heard Jamie and smiled "Alright, the more the merrier" said the younger blonde as he moved up on the log he was sitting on. "So who's the babe?" he asked flirtatiously
Lightning scoffed "Keep talking like that sweetie and I guarantee that when you go to sleep tonight you wont be waking up again" she threatened as she sat down next to the female. Bee sitting down next to the younger blonde, the older blonde laughed
"Haha good one, serves you right Tom" he said, the younger blonde now identified as Tom pouted
"I like to see you try" he mumbled under his breath,
"Don't tempt her" the oldest soldier began, his eyes narrowed as he had been observing Lightning since she arrived "You're the young girl from earlier this morning. The one who single-headedly took out over thirty trained soldiers at the training grounds this morning?" he asked Lightning in confirmation
Lightning laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her neck "yeah that was me, I'm guessing you saw that"
The old soldier grinned "Of course, I've trained most of the soldiers at that facility. And I must say you were amazing; your movement was fluid and graceful, with perfectly timed precision and your form was good too slightly off a couple of times but overall it was amazing, none of the men I've trained have shown such talent when fighting. tell me miss how long have you been practising?" he asked
"Um... around 10 years or so, give or take. I know Karate, Judo, Akido, jujitsu and ninjutso as well as gun training and archery" answered Light
Jamie, Tom and the older blonde whistled "Damn girl, all that in ten years?" asked Jamie
Light nodded "yeah, I'm a real fast learner and once I've learned it I don't forget it"
The female smiled "Okay that's cool and all but can we do introductions cos I dont think we've told each other yet" she pointed out, she then held a hand up "I'm Elizabeth but everyone calls me Lizzie"
Tom gave a mock salute "Well you already know, but I'm Tom" he jerked his head to the older blonde "this is my big brother Liam"
"nice to meet ya guys" greeted Liam
"and I'm Daniel" said the oldest soldier.
Light smiled "nice to meet you guys I'm Lightning and this is Bumblebee" pointing a hand towards Bee.
Tom scoffed "what kind of names are Lightning and Bumblebee?"
"Well mines just a nickname that everyone refers to me as now and well actually I'm not sure about Bee's name" Lightning explained
Bee laughed "My mum named me after I was sparked. On my planet it was literally just a name its just coincidence that you guys have insects that are yellow and black called Bumblebee's?" he explained
"Oh that reminds me" Jamie exclaimed when he noticed the confused expressions of his friends and pointed to Bee "I forgot to mention that Bumblebee here is one of the aliens. You know those giant robots that were fighting in Mission city a few weeks ago"
"Wait?! What?!" the exclaimed in shock
"um... yeah... hi" said Bee as he nervously gave a small wave, it was a minute of silence before Lizzie spoke
"Dude that is so fucking cool" she said "But I thought Jamie said you were a giant robot?" she then asked
"He is" began Lightning "But they've used nanotechnology to have the ability to turn into humans" Lightning explained
"so cool" Lizzie whispered under her breath
"which reminds me, Bee here, being a giant robot and all has never had a burger or hot dog and I wanna change that" Lightning explained excitedly
"well your just in luck, we just cooked off a whole batch" said Liam as he held up a large plate of burgers and hot dogs. He grabbed two smaller paper plates and placing a burger on each of them before handing one to Bee and one to Light. Bee looked down at the plate tilting his head confusedly before turning to Light
'So, um, Light...?" he began, Light looked up when she heard her name, he jerked his head to the plate and rubbed the back of his head nervously "So, uh how do I...?" he tried to gesture with his hands. Light caught on immediately, remembering the fact he's never had a burger let alone knows how to eat one, she chuckled
"okay kid time for a crash course in human cuisine. A burger is pretty simple all you got to do is pick it up like this" she explained picking up her burger, Bee copying her movements "and simply just take a bite, chew and swallow" she then took a bite as an example. Bee looked nervously at the burger before hesitantly taking a small bite and chewing. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as he swallowed
"so what' cha think kid?" asked Liam
Bee looked down at the burger before looking back up at Liam "is it suppose to have so many... tastes?" he asked
"Tastes?" repeated Liam
Light pondered in what Bee meant before she realised what he meantime" Oh of course I completely forgot. Cybertronian don't really have any taste receptors as the only thing they have is energon which doesn't really have a taste to it. I'm guessing your human forms are so much more lifelike than a hologram that you can actually taste stuff for the first time" she realised
"So all the taste things are normal then?" Bee asked
Light nodded "yeah, perfectly normal. all human food tastes different, depending on the herbs you use and how you cook etc. etc. But the important question to ask is what do you think?" she asked
Bee smiled "It's really good" before taking a much larger bite of his burger
Everyone smiled "glad you like it kid" said Liam "now come on everyone dig in"
The soldiers didn't need to be told twice and all helped themselves to some more helpings of food. It was a little while later and when Bee had finished his second burger that Lightning had asked the question that had been bugging her
"Bee?"
"hmm, yeah?"
"How come when your in you human form you can talk just fine but in your Cybertronian form you're still struggling" she asked warily, she knew it was a somewhat slightly sensitive topic for him
Bee shrugged his shoulders "Not really sure to be honest my voice box was only temporarily fixed after Mission city but just as quick as it came it had just as quickly left. Ratchet has theorised that the more I use my voice box the more its going to get worse, and he has no idea how to fix it, the damage is too severe. He also thinks that in a couple of years my voice box will be completely gone and I'll be stuck as a mute for the rest of my life. I'm not sure why my voice is fine in human form but I'm forever grateful for it is, I don't think I could live with being a mute forever." he explained sadly.
Light frowned, feeling pity and sympathy for the young mech, too lose your voice at such a young age. Of course she knew the history of what happened at Tyger Pax and what Megatron had done to him, she completely empathized with him having gone through her own pain as a child and she was grateful that there had been no permanent injury to herself. She wished there was something she could do to help. And it was suddenly then that she felt a small pulse of energy come from the All Spark, she quickly gripped it with her left hand. 'what's wrong' she thought, silently asking the Spark fragment 'what are you trying to show me?'
She looked back up at Bee while holding the All Spark, she felt another small burst of energy 'of course' she registered, her eyes widened when she realised what the All Spark was trying to tell her. 'if Frenzy could use the Spark to get his body back what's to stop me from using the Spark to help Bee' she thought to herself, she felt another energy burst almost as to confirm her thoughts. A spark of determination flashed through her eyes before she stood up
"Bumblebee, I need you to transform" she said, Bee tilted his head
"Huh? Why?" he asked.
"Cos. I think I have a way to repair your voice box" she explained
Bee's eyes lit up full of hope "really?!" he asked in disbelief "but Ratchet said..."
"Forget what Ratchet said okay" Lightning interrupted, moving around the fire to be in front of Bee, she crouched down so she was at the same level as him and placed her hands on his knees "As a medic yeah it might be impossible but I have the one thing he doesn't have" her eyes glowed a familiar gold colour as she accessed the All Sparks power "I have the power of the All Spark on my side. Back in Hoover Dam the All Spark had repaired Frenzy's body, what's to stop me from using it to heal your voice box"
Bee quickly scrambled up off the log and moved far enough away from the fire to transform back into Cybertronian form "what... waiting... for... come on" he croaked out, almost giddy at the idea of being able to talk normally again.
Liam and Tom whistled when they saw how tall Bee was, "Dammmm~~~~" whispered Lizzie, Daniel remaining silent the entire time. Light chuckled as she shook her head at their reactions before walking over to Bee
"Okay Beebee, lift me up would ya? I need to be able to get near your voice box for this to work" she explained. Bee lowered his servo down for her to get on, once she climbed up he brought her up level to where his voice box was. "Okay, this might tickle a bit -I think - I'm not quite sure what I'm doing I'm just going on instinct so I'm not quite sure how it'll feel okay?" she asked as she held up her hands. Bee nodded and lifted his head up so more of his neck was bare for Lightning.
"Here goes nothing" she told herself, her hands now having a soft golden glow to them as she moved them towards his voice box, she shut her eyes as she concentrated on the All Spark energy pulsing through her body. She could see in her mind all the golden tendrils that wrapped themselves around her body and it was too her left she noticed a soft blue glow, she moved her mind towards the blue glow engulfing herself in the energy, it was warm and comforting 'home' is what came to Lightning's mind when she touched the blue glow. When Lightning opened her eyes she saw her hands also glowing the same soft blue she had seen in her mind.
The now blue tendrils gently flowed out of her palms and towards Bumblebee's voice box, Bee jumped slightly when the tendrils had made contact but other than that made no attempt to move. Light removed her hands after a couple of minutes when a nudge in the back of her mind told her too, she withdrew from the All Spark energy and huffed as she none to gracefully sat down in the palm of Bee's servo, panting slightly she looked up at Bee
"How *huff* do *huff* you feel?* huff*" she asked
"It felt cold, almost ticklish" he answered "are you okay?"
Light showed a small smile "yeah Beebee, just *huff* didn't realise how much *huff* energy it would take? She answered
Bee frowned "are you sure? Should I take you to Ratchet?" he asked worriedly.
Light let out a breathless laugh as she got her breathing back under control "Nah I'm good, I see it worked though"
Bee tilted his head "worked?..." his optics widening when he remembered just exactly what they were trying to do "...my voice box, it's healed. Oh Primus this is amazing, Yes!" he exclaimed happily, giddy in the fact his voice was once again working "I'm not going to lose it again am I?"
Light shook her head "Nope, your voice box is 100% healed, not even a sign of any scarring. Its like what had happened at Tyger Pax had never happened" Light explained.
Bee could feel his optics filling up with tears of happiness "Thank you, Primus I don't know what to say" he began, trying not to let the tears fall, Light smiled softly at the young mech
"How about you guy find your dad and tell him the good news yeah" she suggested, Bee nodded and let Lightning back down on the ground "Oh and Beebee tell them we have burgers and that for them and if they Don't hurry up I'll give them to Jamie and the others instead" she jokingly threatened.
"Okay Light, I'll be back in a few" he simply said before taking off in the direction he last saw his dad and Ironhide.
Light smiled before turning back to the others, freezing when she saw numerous shocked faces
"Ah" she realised nervously "I haven't told you about my powers have I?" she asked
"Sit and start talking" said Daniel rather sternly, arms crossed over his chest.
Light sat back down next to Lizzie and began to retell her tale "Okay, so it all started about a week ago when me and my family were watching a film..."
Okay, thats all I have for now :)
I hoped you guys like it, if there is anything you wanna ask or are confused about let me know and i'll do my best to explain it.
review, fav and follow
Im already writing the next chapter so it should be up soon
li0ness95 out
xx