Arcee woke up and the first thing she felt was a pain in her back. She was sure she wouldn't be the only one, but the pain faded when she realized someone was holding her by the shoulders and her head was resting on someone's hand. She looked up to see Optimus. She vaguely remembered Wheeljack and Smokescreen pestering her, then screaming in fear, and eventually being joined by Optimus. She shook off her blush and slowly put his hand away so she could stand up and stretch her back.
She walked over to the hill and when she looked down she saw that all the Decepticons were asleep, but she was missing someone. She went downstairs and began to look at the sleeping men, walking as quietly as possible so as not to wake any of them. She saw Soundwave and he was sleeping peacefully and she already knew who was missing, the little boy Laserbeak. But before that, as if looking behind her, she looked at the men she had only seen from a distance and as she gathered her teammates.
There was a man with a red coat underneath, a red shirt with a yellow tie and red pants, with red and yellow shoes. His face was quite young, or at least her age. His hair was blonde with a slight crimson highlight at the ends and he was about as tall as Bumblebee, a bit taller. Knock Out.
She moved on to the next one, and that one was a bit scarier. He was probably the second tallest of the Decepticon group. He had black hair and a mask over his right eye. He was wearing a purple t-shirt with black pants, a black coat and black military boots covering his outfit. She knew it was Shockwave just by that eye mask and it would probably be a good idea to stay as far away from him as possible. She wasn't sure if he had forgiven her for shooting him right through the optics on the space bridge.
She walked over to the other three and except for small details on their faces they looked quite similar. They were probably the best dressed for nature. They had gray sweatpants, but also T-shirts and jackets. They all had gray to white hair, not that it was old, just a little highlights. And since they were further away from the group and together, she could guess that they were Decepticon soldiers who had survived. And they were about the same height as Knockout, maybe a little taller, who knew when they were on the ground.
She moved on to the next one and the colors immediately told her who the next man was. Black hair with one red strand. He had a gray coat and like Knockout he was wearing a shirt and tie, just a gray shirt with a red tie, suit shoes and trousers. Starscream. Arcee frowned but continued to the last one and frowned there as well.
The Lord of the Decepticons himself, sleeping peacefully on the ground. He also had black hair, a black coat underneath, a gray shirt with a purple tie and gray jeans and purple shoes. She saw a small knife on her belt that was somewhat visible, she would definitely point it out if they happened to join their journey to civilization.
Arcee left and started looking for the little boy who wasn't with his father. Or, was Soundwave Laserbeak at all, father, or. She wasn't thinking about it anymore when she heard a branch snap and then something fell on her back. That, or whoever jumped on her, was light, and a thin voice let her know who had surprised her.
I got you," Laserbeak said as he wrapped his arms around her neck and held her back. Arcee looked over her shoulder at him and smiled softly. Soundwave may not have been her favorite when he was a bird, but he was much more pleasant as a child.
"Laserbeak," Arcee said as she willed herself to look at the broken branch hanging from the tree "How did you get there?" Arcee asked and Laserbeak laughed.
"I climbed a tree and waited for someone to come looking for me until you did and then I jumped," he said excitedly and Arcee nodded. As she turned and started walking in the direction where she had left the men. When she got there, she saw that everyone was already up and together, but someone was arguing. In other words, Optimus was trying to convince Megatron of something, and the Decepticon leader disagreed and wanted to argue.
Arcee stood a little further away from the group and looked at the boy she was carrying on her back. "You can let go now," she said, lowering herself a little, but she felt the small hands on her neck tighten. She looked over her shoulder addressing "Laserbeak" but the boy smiled and nodded his head to show that he wasn't going to let her go. Arcee sighed as she walked past Bumblebee, Smokescreen and Knockout who looked at her in surprise when he saw the boy on her back. She ignored them and faced the silent man. "Sound wave," she called and the man turned to her and she knew he was giving her a sign that he was listening. She turned her back to him and showed the smiling boy.
Soundwave gave his son a small smile as he grabbed his shoulders and Laserbeak let go of Arcee. Arcee nodded gratefully and ruffled Laserbeak's hair as they confronted Ratchet.
"How long does it take?" Arcee asked and the doctor looked at her and then at the two arguing men. He didn't plan to mix with them.
"Several minutes and still getting nowhere," he replied neutrally, feeling like laughing like most of their arguments.
Arcee nodded and seeing that no one was going to stop the two men, she left. She walked up to them, "Stop arguing," she said quite calmly, but they both obviously ignored her. She tried to stay calm and tried again, but the same answer. She moved away from her shoulder and since they ignored her, they didn't even notice, as she raised her hand and they stopped in a second as they held each other's cheeks and felt the prickly sensation."Finally you're quiet!" said Arcee.
Optimus could see that she was already angry and preferred not to say anything. No one liked having a woman's anger directed at him, it was worse than Ratchet's. Well, someone ignored it and behaved as usual.
"Who do you think you are femme!" Megatron said angrily as he removed his hand from his cheek and took a step towards the shorter woman. Arcee didn't back down and gave him an angry look. Optimus knew this wasn't going to end well and wanted to comfort Arcee, but before he could put a hand on her shoulder, she raised her hand and motioned for him not to hold her or her anger would turn on him.
"I'm just a soldier who survived a war you started and destroyed everything you could!" Arcee said as she continued to scowl and everyone behind her looked surprised at how much she had allowed Megatron. "Now listen to me. We Autobots want to find civilization and return to Jasper Nevada. Now stop arguing with us and either join us in peace or stay here. We're not going to convince you, but I think it's in your best interest come with us," she said and they stared hard at each other for a few more seconds as Megatron backed away just a little and snorted.
"Why would we do it willingly? We'll go with you and their government will arrest us!" Megatron said, grinning into Arcee's face. Although she hated having them do this to her, she felt like they were laughing in her face, but it passed when she heard a soft, childish voice.
"Arcee are we seriously going to get arrested if we go with you?" Laserbeak asked looking innocently at Arcee and the other Autobots. Arcee sighed but nodded her head.
"Not if you promise not to do any mischief or anything illegal or any illegal street racing," she said, directing the last part of her sentence at Knockout. The Decepticons nodded and she shifted her gaze to the towering man. "Looks like your whole team is coming with us. Are you coming with us, with your buddy, or are you going to continue to be stubborn and be here alone?" Arcee asked and Megatron looked at his Decepticons and then at Arcee and Optimus standing right behind her.
Megatron looked into his cold blue eyes and saw in them that he subconsciously longed to go with them. He lowered his head to the ground and nodded. They all smiled and started debating where to go again and finally agreed to head north thinking they would come to some civilization.
It was a large group that included Shockwave, Starscream and Megatron. Vehicles walked in front of them and talked to each other. Bulkhead and Wheeljack were also talking and since they were a few feet away from the soldiers, they caught part of their conversation and ended up engaging in a debate with them. Bumblebee and Smokescreen got into a debate with Knockout, talking about anything but mostly their old fast forms. Soundwave walked in front of them with Laserbeak walking beside him. Next there were Ultra Magnus and Ratchet who were just walking silently next to each other. Finally Optimus and Arcee leading the group.
Noticing the Autobot leader's occasional glances at his TIC, Ratchet grinned again. He might have been Optimus, Prime, but he still didn't have the guts to confess to the femme, even after Ratchet convinced him several times that he had nothing to lose, well, the leader always had an excuse. The war. But now that the war seemed over, he had none.
"You did well with Megatron" Optimus finally spoke after a long moment of silence and Arcee looked at him before turning her gaze back to the ground to see where he was about to put his foot down.
"I learned something from your lectures and even though I don't understand where you still get your patience from," Arcee said with a small smile and Optimus shrugged. They walked on and slowly everyone started to get tired. After hours of walking, someone called.
"Hey, don't we want to stop for a second?" Smokescreen asked, his legs aching from walking and he wasn't the only one. Optimus looked at the young boy and the others who also looked like the little break wouldn't kill them and would welcome it with joy. He nodded, but when he turned around, where he had seen Arcee a moment ago, she wasn't there. Also, when he looked at the group, he missed the Decepticon TIC and his son again.
Arcee continued walking, not even noticing that the group had stopped. The only reason was that she was concentrating on the sound she heard. She went up the hill and down, and after passing through the trees and beyond, she came to a well-kept forest path. And she had the feeling that they had finally reached somewhere, as there were benches further on and there were beginning to be blackboards as well. She smiled as she turned around to find she had no idea which way she came but someone was following her and she found it when a man came out from behind the trees with a small sleeping boy on his back.
She walked up to him and smiled. "We found civilization and I hope you remember the way back since I don't," she said and Soundwave snorted a little.
"Of course I remember" he replied with a smile and walked back, after a few minutes they returned to the group and saw everyone sitting down tired.
"Where have you been?" Ratchet asked immediately as he noticed their silent arrival and eyed Arcee suspiciously. Arcee smiled at him as she sat down next to Bumblebee.
"We just went to look further and we have good news for you, do you want to hear it now or after you rest?" Arcee asked and the Autobots turned their attention to her and the Decepticons continued to talk but also listen.
"If you've figured out how to transform back into robots and get back to Jasper Nevada, I want to hear it. If it's not one of those, I think it'll wait," Ratchet muttered as he heard Wheeljack chuckle over his statement. they didn't find the relic and it looked like they would stay human.
"I'll let you down, it has nothing to do with going back to work, but there's a park a few minutes walk away, that means we're close to civilization," she announced and Ratchet sighed. Some looked pleased, but also looked like they weren't going to take another step. She didn't comment and looked at her leader to see what he was thinking and to be honest he too looked like he wasn't going to make another move.
"We'll stay here for the night and leave in the morning, it's getting dark anyway and it would be pointless wandering if it's just a park and doesn't lead to any villages or towns" he said and everyone nodded in agreement. Bumblebee and Smokescreen, in turn, managed to start a fire that comfortably warmed the people around.
They sat around the fire and started talking, and not just Autobots to Autobots and Decepticons to Decepticons, but everyone. Optimus smiled at the sight, they seriously had to turn into humans to start getting along as a species. He looked at his and the Decepticons as he noticed Arcee get up and walk away from the group. He too stood up without thinking, but Ratchet didn't miss it, but he didn't point it out and listened to the lame jokes the others were telling.
Optimus went behind Arcee and saw her standing behind the trees so she couldn't be seen, looking at the moon that was lighting up the nature around them. But he personally liked the woman standing in the moonlight more than nature. He slowly came to her and stood next to her. They stood there in a comfortable silence, listening to the sounds of nature and catching some of the conversation the Autobots and Decepticons were having, and it didn't escape their attention that some of them were starting to get a strange feeling in their stomachs. They didn't know yet that the strange feeling was actually hunger.
"How are you?" he asked after a long but pleasant moment of silence. Arcee turned her head a little to look at him and smiled a little.
"I'm fine so far. And you? How are you feeling as a human?" Arcee asked as she looked up at the sky and stars again.
"The surprising thing is that more than anything I like the fact that Megatron just had to change into the species he so despises in order to be peaceful. He doesn't attack and the way I saw him…how do I say it, I see the old in the back of him Megatron, who I recognized as Orion Pax," Optimus said and Arcee nodded. She turned to him again and looked into his eyes.
"Do you think now that we have changed. Can it be that the war between us ends and we live in peace, or are we just now traveling?" Arcee asked as she saw him approach her and place a gentle hand on her shoulder. As if she wanted his arms to trap her in an embrace and not let go.
"I hope that when we get back to Jasper Nevada it will be the way we all want it to be. So that we can finally have peace, but I can't predict and I don't know how Megatron thinks," Optimus said. he looked into her eyes. He smiled a little at the fact that even in human form, Arcee was two heads shorter than him. Arcee noticed the amused smile on his face and nodded her head. "Okay, I won't laugh," Optimus replied to her unspoken protest against his thoughts.
He studied her face before she turned back to him when he was caught by something shining on the right side of her head. He looked there and saw a small ball, he sighed as he realized what it could be. He touched the right side of his head and felt a small ball. Arcee looked at him curiously and the movement of his hand made her place her own hand on the right side of her head and her eyes widened.
She hurried back to the group and as Optimus caught up he saw and heard Arcee saying something to the others. "Gang, put your hand on the right side of your head," she said enthusiastically. The Autobots did so and their eyes widened with happiness.
"We have communicators!" SmokeScreen screamed at the top of his lungs and jumped to his feet.
The Decepticons did the same as the Autobots and touched the sides of their heads and they also had communicators, but when they activated them to see if Nemesis was available they only got a static discharge.
Optimus turned to the group and as they all turned to face him again he activated the communicator and heard a noise. He took a breath and tried his luck. "Optimus Prime, base," he said and waited before trying again. "Base, can you read me? Raf, Jack, Miko, can you read me?" He was about to give up hope when he heard the answer.
"Optimus? Optimus we read you" heard the voice of the young boy Raf and smiled happily.
"Raf, can you target my coordinates?" Optimus asked, but instead of an answer, a blue-green portal opened a few meters away from them. He didn't have to say anything as the Autobots crossed the bridge with the Decepticons, . Optimus continued to smile when he felt someone grab his arm and start pulling him. He looked and saw a single woman.
"Come on, it's time for us to go back," Arcee said as she let him go and side by side they crossed the bridge and it closed behind them.