Disclaimer: I don't own transformers or any of the Autobots! But Jaime and the plot are completely one hundred percent mine! :D
Jaime couldn't help but tap her foot animatedly. She heard Jazz chuckle at her excitement to her left. She was in too high of spirits to muster a fake glare in his direction. She scanned her surroundings once more. She—along with the Autobots and some NEST soldiers—were waiting near the outskirts of a small town in Argentina. Jaime glanced at the closest building—about a half mile away—which was an abandoned ice cream shop. It still had the ice cream truck parked outside. Will craned his neck to look up at the regal Prime.
"Do we know who's coming?" he asked. Optimus shook his head.
"They are not responding to our communications," the Autobot leader frowned, "and they are masking their signals. We do not know of their allegiance." Optimus peered at the excited Jaime. "Can you discern their identity?"
"Hmm?" Jaime tore her eyes from the sky to look up at the Autobot leader.
"Do you know who the fragging new arrivals are?" Ratchet grounded. The girl raised a brow.
"What crawled up your aft-pipe and died?" she muttered. Sideswipe snorted, unable to contain his amusement.
"Are they Autobots?" Ironhide asked, ignoring the silver prankster. Jaime nodded, gazing at the sky once again.
"Yes."
"You sure?" Epps asked from a few feet away. Jaime's eyes twinkled as her smile morphed into a full Cheshire grin.
"Oh, I'm very sure," she chuckled, as if enjoying some secret joke. Jazz seemed to be the only one who wasn't confused, as if he knew here Jaime was thrilled to meet.
"So…you know who the new arrivals are?" Sideswipe asked. Jaime didn't have a chance to respond because at that moment, two meteors streaked across the sky. The two large shapes descended over the group and plowed into the ground and into the old ice cream shop.
"Holy shit," Epps muttered. "Good thing no one was in there."
"Oh Primus no," Ratchet begged.
"What's wrong?" Will asked as the group began edging towards the landing site. The thrum of Ironhide's cannons filled the air.
"There's only two bots in the entire galaxy that would be that sloppy when touching down on a planet," Ironhide grumbled. A compilation of metallic whirls, clicks and clanking filled the air. Jaime blinked and glanced at Optimus. The foreign sounds had originated from him. But it wasn't the strange sounds that had her gaping. It was the fact that she understood what he said.
"Deactivate your weapons and reveal your identities."
Did…did Optimus just speak Cybertronian? Jaime wondered. Before she could ponder more about her new discovery, two forms rose from the fallen ice cream structure. Surprisingly, the truck was completely unharmed.
"Yo, dat waz so coo'!"
"Le's do dat again man!" Clank! All the humans jumped at the noise and turned to the source of the noise. Jaime tilted her head upon realizing that their CMO had just facepalmed.
"Primus help us," Ironhide muttered.
"Help us?" Will glanced at the black mech. "Are they not Autobots?"
"They shouldn't be," Ratchet groused, eyeing the newcomers as they approached.
"Yo, it's de big man 'imself!" The two new Autobots stood—somewhat at attention—in front of Optimus.
"Greetings," the Prime nodded at them. "I see you have already begun to assimilate yourself to earth's culture." Ring Ring! Will fumbled in his pockets before finally pulling out his military issued cellphone.
"Sorry, uh …just a minute," the major trotted a few feet away and answered the phone. Optimus turned to Jaime. The leader knelt down and offered her his servo. The girl easily hopped on and gripped his thumb as he carefully lifted her up.
"Jaime," Optimus spoke, "I would like to introduce you to—"
"Skids and Mudflap," she beamed. "I've heard a lot about you guys." The two bots exchanged a glance.
"Dat so?"
"Ya look kinda 'appy tho'."
"I am," Jaime nodded. She sneaked a glance at her guardian before smirking at the twins. "Jazz has told me some pretty interesting stories. I think we're going to get along just wonderfully." The twins grinned at her.
"Oooh! Do you like ta' frag off ol' 'atchet too?"
"Man, dis is gonna be awesome!"
"Don't even think about it," Ratchet growled.
"The last thing we need is for you two slaggers to corrupt her," Ironhide added with a scowl.
"How the hell are we supposed to do that?!" Will exclaimed, effectively stopping all conversation. The man sighed and rubbed his temples. "And how long will that take?" The man groaned at the answer he received before abruptly hanging up. "Great, just great."
"Trouble?" Optimus asked.
"Sorry guys, but you came earlier than expected," Will directed at the twins before facing Optimus to answer his question. "You know how NEST had to find two alt-modes under such short notice?" The Prime nodded. "Well apparently, they're no longer in stock and when NEST ordered the vehicles online, the website hadn't updated that they were out of stock."
"So…what's the base sending over for alt-modes?" Epps asked.
"They don't have anything that will meet the size requirements," Will shook his head. "Maybe you can use something temporary on base, but we have to get there first. And neither of you have an earth disguise."
"When's the soonest NEST can get the new alt-modes?" Jaime inquired.
"Ten to eighteen days."
"Are you serious?" Epps raised a brow.
"The higher ups are being really difficult right now," Will muttered.
"No shit," Epps snorted. Jaime frowned. They needed to head back to where the cargo plane was waiting. But that was miles away, and there was a strong possibility that they'd be driving past people. The procession of vehicles was already a bit strange looking to any onlooker. Add a couple of walking robots, and they'd have pandemonium everywhere. Jaime's eyes rested on the ice cream truck nearby, which was halfway hidden by the now wrecked shop. She tilted here head.
"So we need an alt-form right now," she mused aloud.
"Pretty much," Will ran a hand through his military buzzed hair.
"Well there's one right over there," she pointed to the truck. Heads and helms turned to view the ice cream truck.
"Man, dat's seriously ol' schoo'."
"We's gonna be so undercovah yo." The twins strode over to the alt-form and scanned it.
"Is it the correct size?" Optimus asked.
"Nah." The twins finished scanning it. "It's too big." Everyone seemed to let out a disappointed sigh. The twins shared a glance.
"Bu' we c'n make it work, righ' bro?"
"Yea, cuz we awesome like dat." The two newcomers suddenly activated their transformation sequences. The sounds of clanging metal on metal and hissing hydraulics assaulted the air. Jaime grinned upon seeing the twins' idea. One had transformed into the front half of the ice cream truck, and the other into the back half.
"That's brilliant you guys!" Jaime grinned.
"Aw, shucks girl."
"Ain't you jus' swee' as c'n be."
"Autobots, transform and roll out."
No one quite understood it. Perhaps it was because Jaime had called them brilliant or the fact that she didn't avoid them or constantly tell them to go away, but for some reason, the twins had really taken to the girl. The twins, Mudflap and Skids, loved hanging out with Jaime. She never banged their heads together like Ironhide, or threw things at them like Hatchet, and she seemed to actually value what they said. Some of the bots had believed that the twins viewed Jaime as a little sister to constantly impress. But they realized that was not the case one late summer day.
"TWINS!" Movement stopped in the rec room. The rec room was Autobot sized, but had a balcony wrapped around the entire room with human sized furniture too. Jaime had been sitting on a large table top—surrounded by Jazz, Sideswipe, and the twins—as she explained to them how to play the card game Blackjack. Ironhide and Optimus had just entered the room when the angry bellow rang out. Jaime turned to the twins.
"What did you guys do this time?" she asked, barely able to keep a straight face.
"We didn' do nothin'," Mudflap defended.
"Yea, we's been here de whole time," Skids added. Before they could further argue their point, a pissed Ratchet stomped into the room.
"WHERE IS IT?" he made a beeline towards the twins.
"'ey, calm down yo," Skids tried to placate the steamed medic.
"I ASKED YOU WHERE IS IT?"
"Where is what Ratchet?" Optimus asked, once he recovered from his surprise.
"My data pad is missing," he growled lowly.
"Is that all?" Jaime asked.
"Is that—I had some extremely important information on there!" he griped.
"What kind of information?" the girl tilted her head. Ratchet huffed angrily and glared at the twins.
"Where. Is. It?" The twins glanced at each other. Unable to contain himself any longer, Ratchet subspaced two wrenches with blinding speed and the twins cried out as a wrench came down on each head.
"Ow! Dat hurts man!"
"Wha' was dat fo'?!"
"Give me that data pad!"
"Ratchet!" Optimus strode forward, taking control of the situation.
"Skids and Mudflap," he addressed the twins who rubbed their aching helms. "Did you take Ratchet's data pad." The twins shared another glance.
"…Maybe…" Optimus sighed.
"Return it to him immediately, and then report to Prowl for your punishment." The twins' optics brightened and they began to talk over one another.
"Bu' we was gonna give it back—"
"We jus wanted—"
"An' we only wanted it cuz—"
"Dat's some serious research on dat thin'—"
"We was gonna show it ta'—"
"Guys," Jaime interrupted them. They silenced and looked at her. "You should give Ratchet his data pad back." Everyone blinked at her.
"Bu'—" Mudflap began.
"I love pranks and all, but I have to draw the line at stealing data pads," she continued.
"We didn' steal it, we was jus' borrowin'," Skids muttered.
"What if it had some really important medical information on it that could save someone's life?" she asked them. "What if, after you had taken it, Ratchet had really needed it to perform his job?" The twins didn't try to interrupt her this time. Instead, they slumped a little, realizing the serious consequences of their actions. "Pranks are only funny if they're harmless…okay?"
"Sorry Jaime," Skids apologized.
"Yea, we sorry," Mudflap nodded. Jaime gestured to Ratchet.
"Aww man…" Skids whined, "do we hafta?" Jaime nodded. The twins squirmed a little.
"Uh…sorry fo' borrowin' yer data pad," Skids finally spoke.
"We was gonna sneak it back, 'onest," Mudflap added. Jaime felt the sudden shock from all the bots in the room through her bonds. Ratchet looked like he was about to offline. Optimus looked like he wasn't sure if he'd just heard the apology coming from the twins. Ironhide was looking at the twins like they'd just been replaced by drones. Sideswipe had his helm cocked, and Jazz had a little smirk on his face.
Jaime cleared her throat. The twins glanced down at her again. She made a 'give it back to him' gesture. The twins sighed in unison, and Skids brought out a data pad before handing it to Ratchet. The medic wordlessly accepted the data pad with his research for his personal project saved on it. Minutes passed before Ratchet slowly stepped back and walked out of the room. At the door, he paused and looked back at the twins—with a look of bewilderment on his face—before leaving the rec room.
"What the frag just happened?" Ironhide muttered.
"Mudflap…Skids," Optimus struggled to voice aloud what he wanted to say.
"Yea, yea," Skids waved him off.
"We goin'," Mudflap grumbled. And they shuffled out of the room, the bots—mostly Ironhide and Optimus—were left to wonder what they just witnessed. Jaime watched them with a small proud smile. With the time she had spent getting to know them and forming their bond, she'd learned that they weren't complete idiots like most thought. They weren't brilliant by any means. But they were a lot smarter than they were given credit for. They often handled stress by cracking jokes or shoving each other, to reassure themselves that things would work out.
It was from that moment on that the bots realized that the twins looked up to Jaime, figuratively speaking. Though the twins were technically much older than Jaime, they viewed her as an older sister, and often sought out her approval. They still listened to Optimus, usually, but Jaime had a better handle on them because she seemed to understand them better. And when she corrected them for some behavior, it was much more effective.
Later that day, Jaime passed by a hallway and paused upon seeing the twins. They were fulfilling their punishment handed out to them by Prowl, buffing the skid marks off the floor.
"Hey guys," Jaime approached them. They merely grunted in return. The girl suppressed the urge to grin at their sulking. "I just wanted to say…I'm proud of you guys." They paused in their cleaning to look at her.
"Wha' fo'?" Skids asked.
"It takes a lot of character to take responsibility for your actions," she smiled at them.
"It's no' dat much fun," Mudflap grumbled.
"No, I guess it isn't," Jaime mused. "But you guys should still be proud of yourselves. If you guys really wanted to pull a prank so bad, you should have told me. I'm always game." Their optics brightened.
"Yea man!" Skids crowed.
"Who we gonna ge'?" Mudflap asked excitedly.
"Ah," Jaime held up finger. "No plotting until you've finished." She turned and began to walk away. "Come talk to me when you're done." The twins watched her disappear around the corner and shared a look before attacking the floors with new fervor. Cleaning the floors didn't seem so unbearable now. The twins soon began to hum a song to make the time go by faster.
Prowl's POV
The SIC strode down the hall to check on the twins, half expecting them to do one of the following: doing a poor job and finishing their punishment early, or abandon their post after becoming fed up with the chore. When he reached the juncture where he had left the twins, he froze. He blinked his optics to confirm what he was seeing. The twins were still in the hallway, scrubbing away at the skid marks. And they were actually getting rid of the tire marks. Not only that, but they were grinning as they worked. Prowl stared at them suspiciously, thinking they were plotting something. But under closer observation, he realized that their smiles were not mischievous, but purely genuine, as if they were…enjoying…the task. Was that…Prowl tilted his helm. Yes! There were actually humming as they labored. Prowl's logic processor worked overtime to understand what he was seeing. The twins were being punished. They shouldn't be enjoying their task. It was monotonous and mind-numbing. Yet…there they were scrubbing away with grins on their faceplates…and…humming!
Warning! Error!
System cannot compute.
Error in observations.
It didn't make sense. The bewildered Prowl watched on, unable to move.
Warning: Systems crash imminent! Prepare for system shut down.
These couldn't be the twins Skids and Mudflap, Prowl concluded. Or something had happened to their processors. Yes! There had to be something he was missing. He wasn't really seeing the twins. It must be some kind of…Hologram! That was it! The twins had set up a hologram so it looked like they were working diligently when they were actually off somewhere causing mayhem. Prowl felt his logic system stabilize and he let out a sigh, content that he had solved that puzzle. At that moment, the twins looked up.
"Oh, 'ey Prowl!" Skids called.
"We's almost done!" Mudflap added cheerfully.
System reboot initiated. 3…2…1…
Prowl glitched on the spot.
Authors Note: Yay! Two chapters in one day! And Skids and Mudflap finally made it to earth! I hope I got their characters right. I feel like their should be more depth to them besides cussing, their gang slang and so on. So…this is the part where you leave me a review about say…your favorite part, what you liked about this chapter, what you're looking forward to (many of you have mentioned some unsavory things happen to a certain National Security Advisor of the Present), and so on. And let me know what you thought of Arcee and the twins :) Also, if there are any grammar mistakes, feel free to let me know. I proofread it a dozen times. But I admit, I really wanted to get this out for you guys today, so I may have missed a few things. And so, without further procrastination...Review!
Jazz: Tha's righ', leave a comment about this an' the las' chapter. She likes t' hear feedback from 'er peeps. No review is too long.
Hubero: Thanks Jazz for coming in. Ratchet, Ironhide and Prowl all refused to come in. Sides is in the brig for some ungodly reason. Optimus is dealing with some stuff politicians. Jolt and the Arcee unit are on some mission. And Jaime's having father daughter time with Will.
Jazz: Why didn' ya ask the twins t' come?
Hubero: *gives the mech a look* I don't know if I trust them to do this part yet.
Jazz: *Shrugs* We done 'ere?
Hubero: Yea...Wanna go paint-balling?
Jazz: Pit yea!