My upload schedule is all messed up…

I started kickboxing classes and I was so tired that it messed up my routine, and so I'm very late.

And I had to rewrite part of this chapter because I hated it.

Transformers © to Hasbro!

My OCs © to me!

Chapter 14: War

"Hey kid."

Silk looked up from reading a comic on a datapad. "Good morning, Kup."

"I was wondering, would you like combat training, especially since now you're running off from base to be a hero?"

The youngling giggled, putting the datapad down. "Sure. Honestly, I wish I'd had some training earlier, but I never thought I'd be on the battlefield at all."

"Then, let's remedy that." She followed him to the training room where he turned around. "Now, most bots need to have weapons installed, but those back legs of yours are already quite sharp, and you have webbing."

Looking back at the spider legs on her back she nodded. She'd given Hotlink quite the scratch with them already. "Actually, I had an oracle. I saw myself fighting against Slipstream and holding my own. I want to be ready for that day."

"I'm not surprised." He smirked. "So, why don't you take a few swipes at me, and we'll get started."

"Ok!"

"Take a break." Kup chuckled as the femme plopped onto the ground. "You're doing great."

"Really?"

"I don't give undeserved praise. Doing so is counterproductive." He sat beside her. "I've been doing this long enough to understand that."

"How long have you been fighting if you don't mind me asking?"

His optics didn't look toward her. "I don't mind. I've been doing this before the war. I served with Dai Atlas way before the war, but I don't expect you'd know that name being a colony kid and all that. He joined the senate after we served together when the Decepticons came around. Dai Atlas tried to keep bots out of the war, creating a pacifist society as the war broke out. Don't tell him I told you, but Saber was part of that group before he joined up with Optimus(1)."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he sighed, "but that's neither here nor there." He stood back up, helping her up. "Your extra legs are perfect weapons, and you have perfect control over them. That is an advantage you have that other bots don't. Let's make sure you can use them well."

She nodded as the training began once again.

"Very good job." Kup patted her on the back as their training finally came to a close. "You're a good student. And now any Con that decides to mess with you is going to regret it."

Giggling slightly, she stretched. "I hope I never have to use it."

"Me too, kid. Young ones like you should not have to witness the horrors of war. But now that you have, you need to be ready to take care of yourself." Leaning against the wall, he sighed. "We've seen enough to know that everyone needs to be able to take care of themselves around us: you, Jan and Patty, Marissa…

"You guys seem to be really close with Marissa. You're close with all the humans, but especially her."

Nodding, he leaned back against the wall. "Marissa was the first human we ever interacted with. She was little more than a youngling at the time and lived with us."

"She did?"

"That's a story for another time." He smirked. "She tells it better anyway. But she did come and live with us. She's family. We had some good times and some bad times. It was war after all." He sighed. "I think my favorite part was watching Marissa grow up. A lot of us loved that. Actually, this whole alliance with the UN wouldn't be as good as it is without her."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah."

"Why can't I go?" 17-year-old Marissa crossed her arms. "You're literally meeting with HUMANS. Wouldn't it look better to have me with you?"

"Perhaps, but it could also reflect poorly." Optimus looked down at the girl.

Ultra Magnus nodded. "Marissa, we don't know how they're gonna react. We could be walking into a gunfight for all we know. It's just safer if you stay here."

The girl huffed but plopped down in a chair.

"Don't be that way." Chromia smiled at her. "We'll introduce you soon, but we just want to make sure you stay safe."

"And anyways, don't you have an AP test next week?" Perceptor asked.

"Ugh! Why did you have to remind me!?"

"Because we care." The scientist smirked as they walked off. "Be back soon."

The girl watched them all walk away and disappear into the ground bridge.

And she waited…

And waited…

Nearly an hour passed.

That was it!

She couldn't stand it, so she opened up a bridge of her own.

…

"Who is that!?"

Marissa blinked, finding a human rifle pointed in her direction.

"Marissa!" Ironhide called. "We told you to stay at base."

"You were gone so long, I got worried."

A group of humans, some military, some not, stood around them. The soldier next to her, lowered her gun, looking at the girl before calling over. "She's just a kid."

One of the humans in a suit looked up at Optimus. "How do you know her? What's going on?"

"Sorry, we were going to mention her after things got figured out." Jazz sighed. "That's Marissa. She's been living with us for the last year."

"Her dad was killed in a Decepticon attack." Optimus glanced back at the girl. "She had no other family, so we offered to look after her. She's been staying at our base."

"And we've been taking her to school, helping her study, and she's been teaching us about humans." Hound added. "She's a… what did you call it… straight-A-student."

"That's right." The girl glanced at the soldier before walking forward to the side of the bots. "They're family now." She turned her eyes to the humans before her. "You can trust them. They've done nothing but take care of me."

The bots all smiled down at her.

Chromia's smile shifted into a smirk. "But don't think that your speech gets you out of trouble. You're still grounded for sneaking out of base after we told you not to."

"Seriously!?" The girl groaned.

The other humans glanced between one another before a man chuckled. "Actually, we are glad for her input. Marissa was it? How old are you?"

"Seventeen, and I'm fully emancipated. I also have a job, so I can provide for myself, and I'm doing well in school."

The humans all smiled, looking from the girl to the Autobots. "Well, I'm sure that we can all have a good and fruitful alliance."

"I'm sure we can."

"When she finished school and told us she was going into the military, I thought I was going to have a spark attack. And I thought Hound was going to short circuit when she told us not to keep tabs on her or come to her rescue. Perceptor kept an eye on her anyway. Don't tell her."

"I won't."

The older mech chuckled. "When we came to this planet, the last thing we expected was to find family here. But that kid… We tried to avoid the locals, but she showed us what we were missing. And our family's only gotten bigger since then."

Silk lay back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. "I can see why you like it here. This planet is beautiful, and the people I've met are all so nice."

"But…"

"I miss my home still."

"We all do too, but Hound, Saber, and I decided to stay behind."

"Why?"

Kup's optics seemed far away as he stated. "I've been doing this for a long time. I think I've earned my retirement. Hound basically wants to be human, so he feels more at home here than Cybertron I think. And then Saber has his kids to watch over; and I'm betting he'll be staying here to watch over their kids, and their kids, and their kids. He's not going anywhere soon."

"Well," Silk nodded, "I can understand that. And I've already started to fall in love with this place. Maybe, if I can't get home soon, I'll send up just staying here too."

And maybe…

That wouldn't be so bad.

Footnotes:

(1) I know in the IDW comics, Saber killed Dai Atlas, but I am making a change to that.

VAs:

Ultra Magnus- Michael Ironside (Ultra Magnus, Darkseid, Sam Fisher, Emperor Zanmoran)

Ironhide- Keith Szarabajka (Ironhide, The Didact, Ronan the Accuser, Joshua Graham)

Chromia- Tiana Camacho (Ermes Costello, Nessa, Bea, Lily, Frenzy, Yawaragi, Glynda, Dahlia)

Perceptor- Taliesin Jaffe (Percival de Rolo III, Flash/Barry Allen, Eizen, Thomas Lysander)