Fall in Ohio meant falling temperatures and falling leaves. Miles didn't have the biggest yard, but he had a couple of big oak trees in his front yard that were always a chore to clean up after. He usually had to rake at least three times during the season, but he always collected the leaves into garbage bags that were designed to look like pumpkins so he could leave them as decorations for a bit. This time around was both a more enjoyable and slightly more annoying experience, because Ravage had taken to running through and leaping into the piles he collected before she disappeared to the backyard to do whatever she'd found to entertain herself back there.

Miles paused in his raking when he heard the sound of tires along the gravel of his driveway. He looked up to see that it was a police car, but it wasn't until it got closer that he realized there wasn't a driver. But he wasn't amazed by that for too long because the car started to break apart and shift, pieces moving and aligning to form something that could be described as looking human if someone was particularly generous. And if humans came in all metal and were a dozen feet taller than they actually were.

He took in the sharp claws, the red optics, and the black paint scheme. It reminded him of someone he already knew.

"Are you-"

Miles held up a hand and the thing cut itself off, though it looked incredibly offended. Four red optics narrowed.

"RAVAGE!" Miles bellowed, turning his head to look towards the house. "One of your little friends is here!"

Ravage came running from the backyard so fast that Miles couldn't track her properly. She was just suddenly there, pressed up against the front of Miles' legs and quite obviously glaring up at the new arrival. He had assumed that the two would be friends based off of appearances and the fact that this other robot had come to his house, but with how Ravage was acting he was beginning to worry if this new one wasn't a threat.

"What are you doing here?" the new robot demanded.

No response came from Ravage. Instead she just sat down directly on Miles' feet, keeping Miles from moving anywhere as she and the new robot stared each other down. Miles looked between the two of them but gave that up after he got bored, instead pulling out his phone so he could browse the internet and give them as much privacy as possible when he was literally stuck there. It took ten minutes for one of them to break, and that was Miles himself because his feet were going numb.

"My feet are tingling," Miles wiggled his toes as much as he was able to but Ravage showed no mercy. "Can I go inside? You two sound like you have a lot of catching up to do."

Two sets of red optics turned to glare at him and Miles regretted speaking up at all. Ravage stood up and moved behind him, headbutting the back of one knee so it buckled and made Miles land on his ass with a yelp. She somehow managed to move out of the way before Miles landed on her, and then she came around to his front again and pinned his legs to the ground with the weight of her upper body. She carefully turned herself so her back was to this new robot and laid her head down in Miles' lap.

"You could at least have the decency to respond to me!" the bigger robot snarled.

Ravage continued to ignore them. Miles continued to be stuck. This new robot continued to look miserable.

Miles was able to endure another five minutes before he broke again, "Look, uh… What's your name? And do you have preferred pronouns that I can use?"

"Barricade. Male are fine."

"Okay, it's nice to meet you. I'm Miles Lancaster," Miles introduced himself. Barricade didn't seem to particularly care about pleasantries, so he continued. "How do you know Ravage?"

"That's none of your business."

Miles was irritated by the curt response, but he didn't say anything. Barricade was obviously upset and if he wanted to take his frustrations out on Miles then he just wouldn't give him an easy target. Instead, Miles flopped over on his back and Ravage peeked one eye open to give him a dirty look for moving. He ignored it and just started scrolling on his phone.

"Ravage."

Barricade broke the silence first this time. Miles glanced at the time in the top left half of his phone and noted it only took him half an hour.

"Respond to my comms, you slagger!"

Or not half an hour. There was still a lot that Miles didn't know about Ravage or her kind because of how reluctant she was to talk about any of it, but from Barricade's words it sounded like they were capable of talking outside of verbal speech.

"I will beg in front of the human, I have no shame."

"Slag you to the Pit and back!"

"Please."

This was pathetic. Miles was suffering from second hand embarrassment just listening to Barricade.

"Oh, come on, Rav." Miles sat up, displacing Ravage's head from where it had been resting on his stomach. "Can't you give the poor guy a break?"

"I do not need a disgusting human to advocate for me," Barricade growled. "You are just a squishy, pathetic creature that has no idea what's going on."

Ravage stood up and turned to face Barricade. She used her tail to grab Miles' phone right out of his hand and made quick work of putting it in her mouth and connecting to it.

"You do not get to talk to him like that," Ravage told Barricade. "You are not welcome here."

"I came here to get you!" Barricade snarled, leaning forward. "I thought at first that you were being held captive, but now I see you were just enjoying some kind of vacation! We need to meet up with the other Decepticons and-"

"The war is over, you foolish brat."

Barricade gaped at Ravage and Miles winced. His phone didn't allow her to inflect at all, so it sounded as if she was merely talking about the weather instead of talking about a war that had been going on for longer than Earth had existed.

"The Allspark has been destroyed," Ravage continued. "There isn't anything to fight over, anymore."

"Nothing to fight over?!" Barricade repeated, "How dare you! Have you forgotten why we started this war in the first place?! The Decepticons have fought tirelessly to put an end to functionism, to give others a better future!"

"Oh, yes, and we did such a fine job." Ravage used her tail to gesture at the scenery around them, "Functionism has ceased to exist. None of the upper class are going to show up and try to force us to do what we were sparked for. We've won."

"The Autobots-"

"Optimus Prime would sooner rip out his own spark then let any of his mechs continue functionism," Ravage interrupted. "We were never fighting them because they wanted to continue that abhorrent practice and you know it. Don't continue to delude yourself, Barricade. You are continuing this war for nothing."

"It's not…"

Ravage ignored him, "Cybertron is a rotting husk of what it once was. Countless of our comrades and enemies are dead and rusting in various places throughout space. How many of our kind have died for us to get here? We've landed on a planet with an organic species capable of wiping out the few remaining survivors of our own if we make one wrong move. And continuing a war that was over a decade ago? That is how we all die. Can you even tell me what point there is in continuing to try and kill the Autobots?"

Barricade's mouth was open but nothing came out.

"Go ahead," Ravage pressed. "Tell me. Why keep fighting?"

Barricade stared down at her and Ravage stared back. Miles did his best not to fidget, feeling incredibly awkward and out of place. The silence stretched on for a long moment before there was a weird grinding noise and an odd burst of static; Miles blinked as Barricade just kind of slumped down into a sitting position. After another moment, Barricade braced his elbow struts on his legs and covered his face with his servos.

"You broke him," Miles accused.

"The fool broke himself," Ravage denied. "He should have realized this long ago."

"He was probably ignoring it so he could keep going," Miles argued. He stood up and went over to Barricade, patting him on the knee. "It's okay, buddy. You're welcome to stay here until you work some stuff out."

"I do not want him here," Ravage walked over and put her teeth in Miles' shirt, trying to tug him away from Barricade.

"You talked the poor guy into an existential crisis right in front of me!" Miles batted at her muzzle, "You do not get to have a say in whether he stays here or not because of that."

Ravage glared at him but Miles refused to budge. She opened her mouth and dropped his phone on the ground and then emitted a small growl, turning her back on him. He watched with amusement as she walked to the house, using her tail to open the front door and then using her one hind leg to kick it shut behind her. Any amusement disappeared when an audible click came because he knew she had just locked him out of his own house.