Five weeks had passed since Saphira had returned to her garage after LA. She had not heard a peep from Optimus at all, even with Lennox reassuring her that it was because he was in negotiations with the government. That was two weeks ago. Saphira did not really understand why it had to take so long though! Nonetheless, Saphira kept herself occupied during this time by attending more races and she had begun to modify the Nissan 240sx, starting with the engine and suspension to ensure the car drove more steadily over the road when she did drive it for the main mountain events. She painted the Nissan in a dark, red, iridescent paint with a gold lined flame vinyl across the hood to the fenders. She added a tall, long spoiler, black rims, and red neon lights, she was very pleased with her work as she loved working on cars. She also changed out the headlights so the colour of the headlights are a bright blue rather than the dull, yellow colour that it was.
Aside from working on her cars, Saphira had to get used to a much smaller space to do things such as cooking. The small room here did not have any kitchen, so Saphira had to buy a portable stove top and a small fridge and freezer just to get by. Plus, she really had little space for storing dry goods like rice, but she worked with it so she was able to at least eat. She was not complaining though. She had somewhere to sleep and that was good enough. She could consider the garage her real home, she was happier here than she was at the house. And yes, she still went to school as she was still a teenager. Thankfully, she was able to give her principal a letter from the government stating a reason for her absence, but the school had to accept as it was a proper letter.
Tonight though, it was time to take the Nissan for a test drive. She has been working on it everyday since she got back when she wasn't at school or racing, and now it was time to test the wheels. She was thoroughly excited, but also nervous at the same time. She didn't know why, but she was always nervous when she takes cares out for a test drive. It was like she was very nervous on breaking down or something bad happening. Unlike at the raceways where she was more likely to get a dint in the car by another driver. Still, it was always the same no matter what. Saphira, wearing a leather jacket and black pants with her hair pulled back into a simple, French braid, she stepped into the car and turned on the engine, it roared to life as she opened the garage door with the remote. The Nissan did not have the roar in its engine like the muscle cars did, but it was music to her ears anyway. Rolling the car out of the garage slowly, she pressed the remote button to close the door behind her and watched it while glancing each way on the road to know when to go.
She saw headlights coming from her right, but they were too far away for her to worry or recognize as she drives onto the road and made a left to drive away from the garage, unaware she had been seem by autobots who were just about to arrive at the garage to greet her. They had not expected her to drive away, but they followed her out of curiosity on where she was going at this time of the evening. Plus, the colours on the car concerned them a little bit, even though Bumblebee just assured them that it was neon lights and nothing more than decoration on the car. Saphira drove through the streets listening to some music, resting her arm against the window as she drove towards the wharf where Bee and Barricade had fought.
She saw the gates were still open as she entered the wharf and smiled to herself, driving into the place and glancing around for a good place to start. She stopped the car as she looked down a long, clear roadway and took deep breaths, clutching the steering wheel as she stared down the road. She felt her heart racing in her chest as she took deep breaths, she tensed her muscles briefly and smiled to herself, revving the engine of the car gently.
It's now or never.
Saphira pressed her foot on the throttle, hearing the tyres spinning loudly as she puts the car into gear. The car launched forward quickly and the gears hiss as she changes gears quickly, speeding along the road, passing by the metal structures beside her quickly. Her smile widened as the car roared along the road, she glanced a several mounds of rubbish before she turned the wheel suddenly, pressing on the brakes and changing gears to drift, feeling the car turn towards the mounds, drifting around the first mound. She turned the wheel the other way to drift around the next mound, as she did though she felt a slight jolt in the back suspension and made a mental note to check that later. However, the car was still driving smoothly as she turned the car straight to keep speeding past the other mounds, so she was not completely concerned. She giggled as she drifts the car around another mound, holding the wheel tightly for a complete circle around the mound, she often felt like she was dancing when drifts the cars. It was just a beautiful feeling to her. Even with the rubber burning on the concrete loudly as she drifts the car around the mound.
Giggling, she turned the car straight again and prepared to weave the car through the mounds next. She sped towards the line of mounds, touching the brake and changing gears as she turned the steering wheel, feeling the tyres turn as she drifts into the middle between the row of mounds before turning the car again, feeling it jolt a little as it drifts around the next mound and she began to drift and weave between all the mounds. She did not know how many there were, she would only stop when the line ended and she did before an old warehouse, drifting the car around to face the other way. She pumps her fist as she speeds back along the mounds, she was having so much fun. However, a Peterbilt truck brakes in front of her, turning and facing towards her.
"WAAAAAHHHH!"
Saphira slammed her foot on the brakes, hearing the tyres screech and she turned the wheel, feeling the car turn away from the truck and spinning out several feet before the car stalls. She gripped the steering wheel as she felt the car roll backwards slightly and touched the brakes before pulling up the park brake to stop the car from rolling. She glanced up through the windscreen to look at the truck as she caught her breath. She frowned as she saw a Camaro, GMC and H2 Hummer approach behind the Peterbilt and opened the car door.
"What the hell?!" Saphira barked at the Peterbilt. "You nearly caused me to hit you! What is wrong with you?" She stormed towards the vehicle with her hands on her hips. "I nearly had a heart attack too. Great way of showing up and letting me know that I am back."
She jumped and stopped as the truck began to transform in front of her. She watched him transform before he drops to one knee, looking at her with eyes full of disapproval. "You wouldn't be in this situation if you were not driving erratically."
"Erratically my ass!" She bit back, huffing and turning her body slightly away from Optimus defiantly. "I've been doing this since I was fourteen Optimus, I know exactly what I am doing behind the wheel. I was just taking that car for a test drive."
"That is what you call a test drive?" Ironhide asked through his radio. None of the other autobots had transformed as they let Optimus deal with it for the moment. "Heh, and I was always known as the reckless idiot. Optimus, looks like she has a life Bee didn't even find out about."
"Whatever the case, that was extremely dangerous Saphira. Impressive, but dangerous." Saphira raised an eyebrow at Optimus as he had complimented her while reprimanding her at the same time. "I suppose that is why you were impressed my drift. You yourself drive cars that way."
"It is also how I get money Optimus." The commander frowned at her as she mentioned money to him. "I get you might not need it, because you probably never had any kind of money...I don't know. Anyway, I have been saving the money I've won from those races ever since I started them. I bought and sold many cars, I have a rented garage where I store them, and thank god that I do because Lisa and Michael disowned me."
"Huh? Your parents disowned you?" Optimus's face changes from stern to softness as he realized her situation has changed so much in the past weeks. "Why would they...it isn't because of us is it?"
She shrugged at him and kicked a rock away casually. "Partially...but I would have stopped talking to them eventually anyway. They weren't...uhh...they shouldn't have had a kid, I will put it that way."
"Then you would not exist. We would not have had the pleasure of meeting you." Saphira doubted that would make a difference, they would have met someone else. But Optimus seemed to be taking this heavier than he should, at least that is how Saphira felt. "I apologise that we caused this."
"Don't apologise Optimus, I hardly lived in that house anyway. My garage is my new house...don't know about home just yet, but it is a hell of a lot better than living with those two people." Saphira looked at him for a second and smirked at him. "Sadly, you can't fit in my garage Optimus, it's a tad small. Um...the others can fit though...I think. Bee can, Ratchet might...Ironhide will be pushing it. Although I am looking for other places to rent with a big garage and space."
Optimus exhaled a sigh through his vents as his lips curl into a gentle smile. "I would not be bothered at all Saphira. My cab is sufficient enough for you to sit in and talk with me."
"Or, your holoforms could be another option of course." She shrugged casually and breathed out a sigh, glancing at the mist forming from her breath. "How did it go with your negotiations with the government anyway?"
The commander grimaced a little, making her think it did not go well. "It went fine...your leaders are not too thrilled about our presence. However, they are willing to become our allies and we will be working with Captain Lennox and his team to hunt down the remaining decepticons on the planet."
That sounds about right. Saphira wondered when they had to start their missions though. "So...when exactly are these missions meant to start Optimus? I assume soon, even though it has only been a short time since...LA."
"We have been given a week Saphira." A week?! "I apologize if you were hoping for more, Bumblebee has been given permission to stay with you as your guardian. There are other autobots on their way to Earth as well, and we must introduce them to your world in a peaceful way."
That got Saphira excited, more autobots and more friends. "Oh? Who is coming? I'd love to meet them." Saphira grinned at Optimus, showing her sheer excitement for the new autobots who were coming.
The commander huffed a brief laugh. "Sideswipe and the twins, Mudflap and Skids are on their way, along with some femmes..." Female autobots? That will be nice, Saphira had tried to imagine what female bots look like. "Arcee, Moonracer and Chromia are joining us, they should come sometime after Sideswipe and the twins. But the twins are a bit of a handful."
"A handful as in..." Saphira gestures her hands towards him to get an answer as to why the twins were considered a handful.
"They are great warriors, but they are even younger than Bumblebee. Expect a lot of trouble from them." That meant that the twins were technically kids, and that was amusing to Saphira. "Well, the military should expect a lot of trouble from them. You might not meet them for quite sometime."
"Oh well, at least I know they are coming." Saphira shrugged and glanced at her watch for a brief moment. "But uhhh...was there another femme who was meant to be with you?" Optimus frowned slightly, confused as to what she meant. "I overheard what Megatron said to you...about...Elita...was that someone important?"
Optimus blinked and turned his head away from her with a frown. Saphira realized then she was right, Elita was important, but she had heard what Megatron said about her. "Yeeaaahh, we don't talk about that around Optimus, sorry Saphira," Ratchet said in a cautious voice through the radio. "You heard all you need to know I am afraid."
"Right...sorry...that was stupid..." Saphira backed away from Optimus and turned to walk back to her car. "I guess I should take this home. Are you guys going to come?"
She glanced back to see Optimus side eyeing her, there was a softness in his eyes that she had not seen before. She wanted to ask why he was looking at her like that. "You look like her holoform."
"I'm sorry, what?" Saphira turned her body towards Optimus in surprise. "Did I look like her?"
"You share similarity with her Saphira. Your eyes, being one of them. That is why Optimus was surprised to see your eyes when we first arrived. Don't take it to heart." Ratchet's reassuring voice still didn't confuse Saphira.
She didn't know what Elita meant to Optimus of course, but she didn't know if she should feel good knowing she looked like someone he knew or not. She shakes her head and opened the door to her car and stepped inside. She glanced up to see Optimus already transformed into the Peterbilt. Saphira turned the key to the Nissan and grimaced as it groans coming back to life, meaning something had happened when she stopped suddenly. Sighing deeply, she drives away from the wharf to head back to the garage. She was rather tempted to head to one of the raceways at the moment, but losing the autobots might be a bit difficult to say the least. Though, she did wonder if she could lose them because that would be handy in a sense against the decepticons.
Arriving back at the garage, Saphira opened the garage with the remote and rolled the car onto the hoist carefully so she could check it later. She turned it off and stepped out, glancing up as she saw the Camaro rolling inside and watched the Hummer slowly move inside. And she was right, the GMC couldn't fit, so Ironhide and Optimus park side-by-side with each other.
"Okay, I guess holoforms are necessary at this point right?" Saphira asked curiously, glancing at the Camaro as the door opened. "But can you talk through your holoform Bee?"
Stepping out of the car was a young man in his early twenties, with clean cut, black hair, a black and white singlet and black pants, Saphira blinked a little as she saw his muscular, lean body and she felt her cheeks heating up a little because she had not envisioned the bots this way at all.
"I can speak through my holoform...kind of..." Bee's voice sounded a bit off when he spoke, but he shrugged as it seemed normal to him. "But you can understand me at least right?"
Saphira nodded to him, looking back at his glowing eyes. That was the only thing that gave away that Bumblebee wasn't human. "I can, it's a bit odd, but I guess that's just your vocal processors."
Bee nodded with a smile before he suddenly threw his arms around her. "I finally hug you properly, little sister!" His enthused excitement made Saphira giggle at him, although hugs were not something she was accustomed too. "It drove me fragging nuts that I couldn't come and see you sooner! They wouldn't let me."
She giggled again and wriggled out of the hug, stepping back from Bumblebee with a smile. "At least we can party when they are not here...you know, the adults..." She gestures towards Ratchet, Ironhide and Optimus.
"Ahh, so that is what you will be doing hmm?" Ratchet asked, she heard someone walking towards them and glanced past Bumblebee to see a man who appeared to be in his early forties with silver hair, lightly shaven beard and wore a green medic shirt and black pants with green stripes running up it. He placed his hands on his hips, his glowing eyes scrutinize both of them. "This young lady still needs to complete her...uhh, schoolwork, is it?"
Saphira shrugged at him. "Yeah, but I am not worried about that. I am very good at any of my subjects, so I am not concerned." She blinked for a second and smirked when she saw Ironhide. "You know, if I painted you green and put purple pants on you, you'd like the Hulk."
Ironhide's holoform is a bald, tan, muscular man, he was much taller than Ratchet and Bumblebee and she could easily picture him and Dwayne Johnson side-by-side. He wear a simple black, singlet and black pants. He frowned when Saphira told him what she could do to him. "You would do what to me punk?"
"Take it as a compliment Ironhide, the Hulk is a big, strong man with muscles like yours and a short temper..." She giggled a little as she watched his eyes narrow as she explained the Hulk to him. "He's also considered a hero, so it's not like that is a bad thing. It's just that the Hulk is green and wears purple shorts."
It took a few minutes for Ironhide to process what Saphira just told him before he smirked slightly and punches his chest proudly. "Hell yeah! I am a hero! I don't need to be a Hulk to be one."
She giggled softly and glanced past the autobots, expecting to see Optimus's holoform. "Are you going to stay outside Optimus?"
"Uh, yeah, he will." Ratchet placed a hand on Saphira's shoulder gently as her face changes to guilt, she felt bad for bringing up something that might be a bad memory. "You don't know about it, I know, but don't ever speak of it again Saphira. It is...a sore spot in Optimus's memory. He might come out of his shell tomorrow."
"Oh..." Saphira turned away from Ratchet and walked towards the door, unzipping the jacket and slipping it off as she was wearing a white singlet underneath. "I guess I will wait until then." She placed the jacket on a hangar by the door and walked back towards the Nissan. "I can't believe I need to fix this again..."
"Hey, you were speeding, not our fault." Bumblebee approached the car curiously, he was amazed that only a few weeks ago that it was just a dull, piece of metal and now it looked different. "You did a great job on this car though. It looks amazing."
"Thanks Bee, I take pride on every car I work on. They're all a work of art." Saphira pops the hood and lifts the bonnet, looking into the engine to try and locate the problem. "Hmm..." She leaned in curiously and she glanced at the shadows casting over her, making her smirk. "Don't tell me you guys don't know about car engines."
"We're autobots Saphira, we are not from Earth. Just because we take forms of your vehicles, does not mean we understand them." Ratchet smirked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Since you are so good, I am very curious to see how you fix this car."
"Fair enough, fair enough." Saphira looked at the engine and she could not see anything and she hummed, stepping back and gestured for the autobots to move back as well. They step back and she pressed the hydraulic button to lift the car slightly and she grabbed the creepy and laid on it with a flashlight, turning it on and rolling herself under the car. "Ahh! No wonder there was a noise!"
"You find something?" Bumblebee asked, getting on his hands and knees to peer under the car. "Can you fix it huh?"
"Of course I can, but it might be a tomorrow job." She glanced down and was surprised to see Bee crouched by the car. She rolled her eyes and pulled herself from under the car. "Least I know. Anyway, I am going to work on an assignment now. That's not as exciting as car repairs, let me tell you."
"What kind of an assignment?" Ironhide asked curiously. "Is it something the government have you doing?"
She giggled at him and shakes her head at him, walking over to a desk and pulling up the stool to the desk. "No, no, it is just a school assignment. Maths to be precise." She pulled out a large textbook and her workbook she was using for the assignment. "I am halfway done with it." She opened the book to the page she had left off from. "Sorry, we should be hanging out, but it is kind of late..."
"No problem Saphira." Ratchet approached the desk and gazed down at Saphira's work. He widened his eyes as he read through her work already and glanced at the textbook briefly. "Pfft, this is garbage..."
She glanced up at him in surprise. "Oh? Is your Maths better or something?"
Ratchet shrugged at her. "I would like to think so. We do not do this Math anymore."
"We are not transformers Ratchet." Saphira rolled her eyes as she began to writing down some equations. "Please don't distract me. I want to get something done before I go to bed."
"Alright, alright, fine. I guess we can get down for an early recharge." She looked up in surprise and Ratchet smirked at her. "It's our equivalent to sleep. We don't need to recharge as often as humans do, but we do recharge as it is necessary to rest."
Understandable. Saphira heard the autobots return to the cars, she heard the doors closing behind her and she grabbed the remote to close the garage door. She knew it wasn't really necessary with the autobots present, but robbery was unfortunately common, and Saphira did not want any of her cars stolen.
Saphira focused on her assignment for several hours until her eyes began to droop. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, looking down at the page and saw she was almost finished the assignment. She decided a nap wouldn't hurt. She moved the book aside for a moment and folds her arms on the table, resting her head on her arms and closing her eyes in an attempt to have a light nap. However, she didn't realize she fell into a deep sleep until she felt as if she was lifted and carried from the chair. She opened her eyes slightly and through her sleepy hazed she saw a tall, strong figure carrying her. His bright blue eyes glance down at her and she blinked wearily as he lowers her down on something soft. She feels a blanket being pulled over her and her feet being tucked in gently.
As the figure moved away, Saphira mumbled out a question. "What time is it?"
The figure paused, gazing down at her with his glowing eyes. "Not yet dawn. Get some sleep Saphira."
She recognized the voice, but not the person. She thought she was dreaming as she watched the figure walk away from her and she closed her eyes, falling into a deep slumber, expecting to wake up at her desk the next morning. However, the person who had moved her was glad she did not recognize him, though his actions had not gone unnoticed by the autobots in the garage. Even if it was out of kindness to ensure she was able to sleep in her own bed.
