As promised, chapter two.
I don't own Transformers or Back to the Future in any way.
Chapter Two: Criminals and 'Cons
Caroline sat on the porch, waiting for her ride. She had security clearance to know about the autobots. Absentmindedly she fingered with her wedding ring. Autumn told Caroline that he'd planned out the way he'd propose for two months, and that all of Fireteam Phoenix was tired of hearing him second guess his plan that they'd told him after a mission to propose when they got back to base. She smiled broadly when she thought about their wedding. Hunter's mom and her own mom both cried hard when she walked down the aisle. When Hunter was 17 and a half, when they were sitting on the tailgate of a certain black pick up, he'd told her that he was going in the military, and promised he'd marry her. Caroline hadn't thought the latter was true, until three years later, she was married to him. A blue motorcycle stopped in front of the porch, a hologram rider who could only be Chromia's took off a helmet and smiled. Caroline waved and picked up a pink (girly) helmet which she bought for times like this. She got on the back of the blue motorcycle and Chromia drove herself across Diego Garcia and back into the base.
"Hunter?!" An exclamation hit her ears. "What is wrong with you?!"
"I just- I don't know!"
"Get a brain-mouth filter man!" Epps interjected.
Then Autumn walked past, a hand on her forehead. "I can't do this right now!"
"Oh." Hunter had a facial expression that screamed 'Oops!'. Ironhide gave him a look. He looked over at Caroline. "Hey, Honey."
"Hey. What's your sister mad about?" She asked as he embraced her.
"I discovered my lack of a brain and mouth filter."
"Oh, boy." Caroline shook her head with a smile, and then handed him a snack size plastic bag with a few cookies. Hunter's face lit up. "Caroline, you're the best!"
"Me, or my cooking?"
"The whole bundle." He responded, opening the bag. "Why are there only three?"
"Mr. Greedy." She swatted his arm. "Those were the last three I had from yesterday's batch. I'm not making another batch, at least not soon."
"You sound like mom." He grinned before taking a bite.
Needless to say, the cookies were gone in less than five minutes. Hunter motioned for her to follow so she did. Eventually, the young couple found their way to Autumn's office, its corresponding occupant had her feet on the desk as she talked to Ratchet who was sitting behind her.
"Hunter, what do you want?" Autumn asked him.
"To come talk to my amazing sister." Hunter was smirking.
"Yah, right." She responded. "Hey Caroline. Are you taking Hunter?"
"I thought I'd give you guys a break." Caroline grinned.
"Hey!" Hunter objected. "Well, I guess we'll go now." He looked all sad.
"You are so rotten." Autumn sniggered as Caroline led Hunter out by the wrist, telling him they were going home.
"Hunter, Hunter, Hunter." Autumn shook her head. Ratchet chuckled.
"He hasn't changed at all."
"Nope." Autumn took her feet off her desk and yawned. "I need sleep."
Ratchet stood up and walked out, and Autumn followed him. He transformed and Autumn got in the front seat. Once she got changed in pjs and in bed, she was asleep. And that was the way she stayed until 0530 hours.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Autumn sat bolt upright and rubbed her eyes. She reached to turn off her alarm's obnoxious beeping. Sun shone through the window, and she blinked the sleep out of her eyes. She could've sworn she'd just went to bed. She checked the date on her phone to make sure she wasn't losing her mind. She got ready for the day, brushed her teeth, brushed her hair, and all of the things you do to get ready.
But not simply, of course. Nothing in Autumn's life was simple. As she brushed her teeth, she heard a buzzing in her ear. She swatted at whatever it was. A fly the size of a quarter zipped passed her face. She screamed and dropped her toothbrush.
"Oh my gosh!" She eyed the fly which landed on the facet.
It had to be the largest fly she'd ever seen. She grabbed a piece of toilet paper in an attempt to stop the fly's escapade of her bathroom. It wiggled out between her fingers and flew at her face. Autumn jumped back, screaming once again. Once it flew into the shower, she stepped inside and closed the door, trying to catch the sucker. It simply flew between the open space between glass and the ceiling. Autumn frantically followed it and chased it out of the bathroom. It landed on the window. She closed the blinds quickly, trapping the offending insect. She let out a sigh of relief and went down stairs and grabbed a water after eating a granola bar and walking out the door. Autumn noticed Arcee in the driveway.
"Morning, Arcee." She greeted her friend amiably.
"Good morning, Autumn." The pink motorcycle responded.
"No Ratchet?"
"He's still waking up from his recharge cycle." She laughed. "Not a big morning guy."
"Him and me both." Autumn yawned and stretched before getting on. "I feel like I just went to bed."
"What was that screaming about?"
"There was… a fly." Autumn admitted sheepishly. "I was chasing it around the bathroom. I ended up trapping it in the blinds."
Getting in the base, there wasn't much going on.
"Morning, Will." Autumn greeted him.
"Hey, Phoenix. I was wondering if you would be down for a bit of a different mission."
"Sure, I'll round up everyone for the debrief."
"Actually, it's for just you." Will informed her. "Wheeljack has an experiment, he wants to do, and Optimus doesn't really want him unsupervised."
"I'm babysitting him?" She said incredulously. "Aw, crap. Something's gonna get blown up I just know it."
He chuckled. Autumn gave him a side-eye before walking to the lab. She paused outside the doors miserably. Wheeljack honestly reminded Autumn of Doctor Brown from Back to the Future, but if he was a twenty feet tall alien robot with an almost childish enthusiasm and the lack of impulse control. Ratchet stopped beside her, chuckling.
"Did you get babysitting duty too?" She asked.
"Yes." He nodded.
The lab doors suddenly opened, and Wheeljack jumped out enthusiastically.
"This is gonna be great! Come on, what are you guys waiting for." He spun around back into the lab. "I'm making an energon filter so we can actually convert those crystals into something we can consume…" The overly enthusiastic mech lapsed into scientific talk that was utterly lost on Autumn.
"…The best part of it, is there's a high probability this won't go wrong."
"A high probability- not a guarantee?"
"With Wheeljack, there is a high probability it will go wrong." Ratchet commented.
"Anyway," Wheeljack fiddled with something. "This is it. We just press this button-"
He pressed it.
"And it should convert energon."
When it started smoking and vibrating, Ratchet scooped up Autumn and bolted. It suddenly blew up, and Ratchet threw himself on the floor to protect Autumn from the blast. Wheeljack screeched as he got hurled down by the explosion, and there was an odd sound of something big getting launched.
"I knew this would happen." Autumn said dryly.
"Why is everything dark?" Wheeljack asked from a few feet away. "Hey! The door's gone!"
Autumn's gaze slid over to the door, actually, where the door was. "Well, that's new."
Ratchet stood up and knelt down next to Wheeljack. He shook his head. "Your optics are shorted out."
"Really?" Wheeljack asked.
"Yes." The exasperated medic hauled the mech to hit feet and placed a hand on his shoulder to guide him to the med-bay, Autumn riding in his hand.
"Next time, I'm going to make a door that doesn't get blown away."
"Next time, we aren't helping." Autumn quipped.
Making it to the med-bay, Ratchet stopped Wheeljack from walking into the door. Autumn wished he let the mech walk into the door. It was a petty thought, sure, but dealing with Wheeljack was like dealing with a child but with crazy smarts… which weren't always utilized.
"Sit down over there," Ratchet gestured to the berth, its smooth metal surface pristine and clean.
"Over on which berth?"
"You're about to walk into it." Ratchet said flatly. He set Autumn on his workbench, rolling his optics.
"It's like dealing with a child." He said quietly.
"My little sister and Savannah's kids are easier to deal with." Autumn whispered.
Ratchet nodded. "You're right, even though they can be a bit much."
The first family gathering where the nieces and nephew (poor guy is the only boy with two sisters) could be told about the Autobots and their aunt's and uncle's secret job, poor Ratchet had gotten turned into a jungle gym. The kids, which the oldest of the group was 6, the youngest was 3, had nonstop messed with the autobot. Arcee didn't let him try to escape, Ironhide had made it perfectly clear that they were not going to touch him, and Chromia wasn't as climb-on-able as Ratchet was (According to the kids). He'd recharged well that night.
Ratchet replaced Wheeljack's optics, and then smacked him upside the helm…
"FIRETEAM PHOENIX, REPORT THE LOADING BAY IMMEDIATELY READY TO MOBILIZE. THIS IS URGENT!"
… just as a voice screamed an announcement over the PA.
"We need to go." Autumn said, climbing down the ladder to get off the worktable. She sprinted to get her gear. Once she was ready, she grabbed her helmet and her blaster. It was a, at least from what Ironhide told her, an incinerator beam or it could be an incinerator blast. The stock was more so rectangular.
She was the first one to the loading bay, but her team was soon to arrive. Sam gave them the debrief.
"There's Decepticons causing havoc in Miami," he said. "There's not a lot of info that we've got right now."
Once they got to Miami, the Fireteam was locked in a pursuit to get Barricade, Soundwave's little friends and Soundwave. The chases led them to the docks.
"Aw, slag." Ironhide spat. "We'll never find them like this."
"Aw, Slag is right." Autumn commented. "We're gonna be here awhile."
"You think we should split up?" Hunter asked.
"That's what they want us to do." Autumn said.
Walking between the stacks of shipping containers, Ratchet was using his sensitive scanners, Ironhide's cannons were ready. Chromia took the rear, and Autumn took point. Suddenly, Ironhide fell to one of his knees.
"Ironhide?! What on Earth?!"
"Comm. Hack." He hissed. "Someone wants to talk to you, Phoenix."
"Patch me in,"
"I'm… prisoner of…" Static cut through the transmission. "…crime syndicate who… I… reason to believe… is after… the transformers….called Toxin… led by Akar… and their only goal… creating havoc… and acquiring advanced tech… They… nearing your… location… More about… is in…. Miami police department database… No idea… their next move… Joshua Ironsmith out."
"Be ready for anything." Autumn warned. "Ratchet, what do you got?"
"Five 'cons nearing our position, half a klik out."
"We'll have to bait them somewhere a bit more open to stop them, then." Autumn said.
"You won't get a chance to stop them." A voice called from above. Autumn spun around and looked up to see a man standing with a blocky gun resting on his shoulder. Ironhide spun his cannons and pointed them at him when several black and green helicopters dropped down the point guns at the surprised Fireteam. Black and green pickups, machine guns mounted on the truck beds, blocked the two ways out.
"Who does this glitch think he is?" Ironhide roared angrily.
"Ironhide, if you haven't noticed, we aren't exactly in the place to be trying to fight." Autumn warned in a low tone.
"To answer Trigger Happy's question, I am Akar, leader of Toxin."
"We heard." Chromia spat.
"Oh, you did now?" Akar laughed. Autumn could hear the decepticons barging through the row of containers over.
::Ironhide, on the count of three, you're going to turn around, and you'll blow up those shipping containers so we can chase the 'cons.:: She said over the comms quietly. Ironhide nodded. ::Arcee, I'll need a distraction.::
::Got it.:: Arcee responded, and started the distraction.
::One…::
"Are those cars just there to look ugly?" Arcee taunted.
::Two.::
"Oh no, they do much more than that." Akar responded venomously.
::One… NOW!::
Hearing now, Ironhide spun around and fired rounds from both cannons, causing the shipping containers to explode. Fireteam Phoenix ducked behind the shipping containers as Toxin opened fire.
"Aw, Slag."
"What will we do about them?" Hunter asked.
"Ironhide, Chromia stay here and deal with 'em. We'll go get the decepticons."
Autumn, Ratchet, Arcee and Hunter disengaged to go chase some cons. Autumn took point, Arcee brought up the rear.
"Where are these 'cons?" Autumn muttered.
"Their signals are gone." Ratchet said.
::Toxin retreated.:: Chromia reported.
::Lets go.::
Once Fireteam Phoenix was back on Diego Garcia, they were in a long meeting with Morshower, Lennox and Sam to work out what happened. The transmission was replayed about a hundred times, though it became no less cryptic.
"The Miami police department?" Morshower questioned.
Sam looked up from the computer. "It says here that Joshua Ironsmith was a detective working on a case that was on Toxin's trail. About a year after the Fallen tried to destroy the sun, there were reports of cars driving themselves in Miami. But then, they didn't have any more leads, and the case eventually went cold. Ironsmith said he had reasons to believe many working in Toxin were military, since they knew how to cover their tracks very well. But he never got a chance to prove it, since a month and a half after he went missing. They didn't have any leads, so that case went cold as well, and they eventually assumed he was deceased."
"Where did you find this?" Morshower asked.
"The Miami police reports and their criminal database, sir. It's got everything Toxin has done within Florida. But, I think Miami is just their Base of Operations. They've probably been working in other states as well."
"Other states? Which ones?" Autumn asked.
"Alabama, Louisiana, and Georgia all have reports of crime that correlate to these guys. Of course, they've struggled to catch them. And Akar? His name translates to "to bring about trouble"."
"He's done that alright." Chromia commented dryly.
"Why hasn't he just been arrested?" Ironhide asked.
"Not significant proof, well, not until now." Sam said.
"Why hasn't he been arrested now?" the black mech questioned.
"They can't arrest him if they can't find him." Autumn pointed out. "Normally, this would be completely out of our jurisdiction, but considering the decepticons could be involved, this may have gotten a bit more complicated."
Complicated? Why would 'cons complicate anything?
Autumn's morning was inspired by my morning yesterday. I was chasing a fly that was so fat that it's one of the seven wonders of the world it can fly around my bathroom, and I trapped it in the blinds. It was disgusting, ugh! Anyway, I'm going to try to have chapter three done soon, but I have a busier next week so it might be a little slower on updates.
Also, I edited the staticky transmission and some of the information Sam finds on the police database because my plan for chapter two changed.
