Notes:
This story is now going to be updated once per month
Transformers: Heroes In Disguised Rowen6
Chapter 8: An Outsiders perspective
Nemuri had turned around and started to drive toward the warehouse. Optimus, Nezu, and Detective Naomasa were waiting there for them, due to the fact that UA was closer and they were already in the city before they turned around. Nemuri hated seeing her friend and the kids uncomfortable. Today was supposed to be a shopping trip. But when Nemuri Found out that they were on the verge of starving as well as surviving on a 14-year-old's budget. She could not in good conscience allow that to continue. She also felt a little hurt that her new friend didn't tell her or even Nezu about this. Looking back through the rearview mirror she could see how uncomfortable the three still were. Letting out a long Sigh she decided to speak up.
"Look Airachnid I could understand you did not want to ask for handouts. But you should have told us." Nemuri said causing Airachnid to let out a long Sigh.
"Look Nemuri, It's nothing to do with asking for handouts. Before the Civil War, our world lived in a caste system. One of the ways they enforced that caste system was through the strict control of Energon. My station was at the bottom of the barrel. I had to crawl through sewers, rust, and the darkest pits of Cybertron just to kill some rodents all so I could eat. They only gave us enough for us to survive and for us to do our job. I didn't want that to happen to us... Not again." Airachnid said
"And you honestly thought we would do that." Nemuri asks Shocked
"Why wouldn't you, especially since you also live in a cast-based society?" Airachnid said with steel in her tone
"What are you talking about we do not live in a cast based society?" Nemuri asks Shocked.
"Oh really, tell me aren't people defined by what their place is in society due to their quirk? Doesn't your Society label the quirkless as useless and deny them jobs based on that? Or abuse them to the point that their suicide rating is at an unbelievable 80%. Or the fact that people with so-called villainous quirks are also treated like villains before they even are ones. They are not allowed to take any jobs that would put them in government or any place of influence. In fact, it seems that your Society takes Extra Care to make sure they have the most miserable life possible. It's almost like you want to create villains. Then we have people with mutations the only jobs they were allowed to take kept them out of the public eye and ones that nobody wanted. And then you have people with flashy and heroic quirks who practically have free rain to do anything they want, but are driven towards heroics. From the research that I did on your Society Besides the slim chance of getting a job as a hero, your jobs are dictated by what quirk you have, What position in the government you have, and how Society sees you. So tell me is this not a cast-based society?" Airachnid said with steel in her tone.
Nemuri was stunned, she wanted to deny it, she wanted to say no that was just People being quirkist. But she knew Society at the moment was supporting an unofficial caste system and knew that it was a widespread thing and a real problem in the world. And she could not find herself to blame Airachnid for withholding that information. She doubted that Nezu would ever do such a thing. But that was only because she knew him personally. They know nothing of Nezu except for a handful of meetings and the word of a 14-year-old boy, who was most likely abused by said society. She had seen the red flags in the boy's body language in her Limited interactions with the boy. It was how he was always looking for exits and slightly jumping at any small noise. If he didn't seem to be more relaxed around Airachnid, she probably would have suspected some level of deceit.
"Yeah, I could see your point and the similarities. It's a real problem in our society. And even if it's against the law to do some of the things you have listed. I also cannot deny that the things you listed are not widespread. But know this, me, Nezu, and the school of UA are nothing like that." Nemuri said with a bit of passion towards the end. Airachnid simply gave her a nod to her statement before everybody went silent.
Once they had arrived at the warehouse and Once everybody was inside they started with introductions as well as an explanation of why Izuku looked like them. Optimus explained some things about the Allspark that he knew, And his belief that Primus had chosen Izuku for some reason. To say the three were stunned was an understatement. They also let out the fact that Izuku is quirkless and has a heavy history of abuse, Which only confirmed Nemuri's suspicion. They did not go into much detail saying that "it was Izuku's story to tell," Which Izuku appreciated. He was not ready to face that part of his life quite yet.
And they then brought up why they did not tell them about their Dwindling supply of Energon. Nezu could see why they were hesitant to let such information out. Especially since he could not help but agree with Airachnid's concerns. If he was in their shoes he would have done the exact same thing. It was why he decided to make the offer that he had planned. His group will move on campus and be given a place of residence there. They will be given their own supplies and resources so they can fetch the Energon themselves.
In exchange, they'll help protect the campus as well as the planet. Nezu would have a say in what plan they make when it comes to the security of both his school and the planet. He would also like to bring the rest of the staff on board because hiding such information would be only detrimental in the long run. Optimus had agreed to these conditions on the condition that they helped move out Izuku stuff from his old apartment as well as their supplies to UA. Optimus Had insisted that he would be moving the Energon storage himself. And UA would only be handling the raw materials. Bulkhead, Bee, and Ratchet would handle disassembling the Arc so as not to leave any piece of evidence or technology to be found.
Nezu had asked if he could have some people analyze some of the raw materials of their ship. In exchange, he would give them A quite sizable budget for their needs. Optimus was Hesitant about this since he knew some of the materials that the ship was made out of were not found on Earth And as such were quite rare. But the agreement was to analyze them and not to keep them so Optimus agreed.
After the meeting was over Nemuri took them back out for their shopping trip. Now that they had a budget that wasn't provided by a 14-year-old. She could get them some actual clothes that looked nice on them. The clothes shopping was quite an experience for the two female Bots And embarrassing one for Izuku. Nemuri and Airachnid practically treated him like a dress-up doll. With Airachnid takeing the same methodical approach when she painted him.
Every color, every Style, and every material that the shop had to offer was looked over And slowly picked out. Nemuri Had made him put on some clothes to show some possible styles to Airachnid, so she could get a decent understanding of what they were dealing with. But when it was all said and done Izuku had to admit he looked really nice. But what was icing on the cake was when he saw Arcee. The first word that came to Izuku's mind was 'cute' and he could feel his spark flutter at the site of her.
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Seeing the look on Izuku's face made this trip worth it in Arcee's mind. If there hadn't been problems with wearing clothes, she would probably wear clothes from now on if she was going to get a Reaction like this. She reasoned it was probably the human in him that made her more attractive with her wearing clothes. Even she had to admit that she looked nice wearing them. However, they were really not worth it since her clothes Had a habit of catching on her armor plating, As well as being uncomfortable, and transforming was going to be a pain. But that was a problem for the future, especially since right now they could not do a full body transformation yet. Izuku also Appears to be having the same problems as her with it. This is why the two decided that they would only wear clothes when they were out in public or for formal events. After all, they just needed the clothes to blend in. It was also strange for Izuku to be okay with that idea. His mentality on modesty must have changed when he was turned into a cybertronian.
After an hour they left the store with the car now full of clothes. They then made their way to UA so Airachnid could oversee the construction of their residence and for Izuku and Arcee to get a tour of the school. Airachnid was in constant contact with Ratchet as they planned out how their base of operations would come together. Seeing the school for the first time Izuku could not help but feel excited. But when his wrist beeped and he checked his fuel levels he had mumbled to himself that he was probably going to miss the feeling of being hungry. Nemuri Hearing that frowned a bit. She hadn't realized how much the boy had lost when he was turned into a cybertronian. Remembering one of the conversations that she was having with Airachnid about their dietary needs While they were getting clothes. She remembered that Arcee was new to eating human food, so she decided to start the tour with the cafeteria.
Arcee was quite curious about the local delicacies and when Lunch Rush caught wind of this he had whipped up a small Buffet for her to try. It was a weekend so it wasn't like he had anything else to do. Arcee did tell him that she needed a certain amount of fat in protein in the meals for them to be properly utilized. Lunch Rush did not mind this since he was already familiar with certain people having certain dietary needs. However the question of bringing outside fuel sources into the cafeteria kind of boggled him. Izuku had explained to him that there were alternative fuel sources that they could consume and she was asking if they were allowed to bring it in during lunch Since they had to make it themselves.
Bringing food from outside sources was normally against school policy. But this was a dietary need, So as long that they cleared it up with Nezu, he did not see why not. The two made a note to ask about it later since they were right now too busy filling their Fuel tanks. Arcee was enjoying the experience of eating high-quality meals. Izuku just watched her in fascination, It was like a kid trying something new for the very first time. And he was kind of embarrassed that the food that he did have to buy and make was nowhere close to the quality of food that lunch rush could make.
He liked cooking for Arcee since it made him feel useful. So maybe he could ask Lunch Rush for some tips later? But for now he needed to finish eating. After he finished the bowl in front of him, He opened a panel on his arm and checked his fuel levels. It seemed that it took him 17 bowls of food just to get him halfway full and took 18 for Arcee to do the same. Normally the two were at a quarter of a tank with the limited rationing of the meals that Izuku could muster with his meager funds for the two. He also noted that the bio generator was at maximum capacity meaning that they needed to process the food that they had in their Tanks, which should take a couple hours. With that thought in mind the two left with midnight to continue the tour of the school.
As they left the cafeteria though the two noticed that the tail they had ever since they entered the school was still present. They did not know who he was. At first, they thought it was a teacher, but the fact that he was quite disheveled looking and had stuck to the Shadows meant that he could be an intruder that slipped past security. But when they discreetly brought this up to Nemuri (who didn't notice this until they Told her) made her annoyed Since she knew exactly who this was. Turning around she looked at the corner where the man was hiding and spoke up.
"Shota Aizawa get your ass out of that shadow, you're scaring the kids." Nemuri said scowling at Eraserhead, who exited The Shadow that he was hiding in with his own scowl on his face.
Nemuri could tell that Izuku was already looking for exits as he got nervous. Which, was being Caused By the death glare that her colleague was giving them. During the shopping trip and when the two kids were in the changing room Nemuri asked if there were any trauma triggers that she needed to avoid when around Izuku. She did not want to accidentally send him into a panic attack because she did something wrong. Especially, since the calming techniques that She knew were meant for humans and probably won't work for him. Airachnid did tell her that she would teach her a couple Cybertronian calming techniques just in case it did happen, but also decided to inform her of what possibly could set him off. Airachnid observed that Izuku is afraid of adults that he does not know, Especially authority figures.
He was quite wary around Optimus for the first week, he was afraid that he would upset him and kick him out. It was only after several times of Assuring him from her and Optimus that they wouldn't do that, that he finally felt more comfortable around them. Airachnid did let slip that it was because of his teachers that he was like this and it had been happening since he was four. He also gets pretty antsy around explosions more than he should. Which, they found out when a science experiment went wrong in Ratchet's lab. Poor kid was nearly on the verge of a panic attack because of it.
And now an adult and authority figure was standing there and giving the boy a death glare. But It wasn't this that pissed her off, because she knew that he did not know about the trauma triggers that the kid had. No the reason why she was getting pissed off was because of the next words that came out of the man's mouth in response to her calling him out.
"Nemuri these things don't feel, their machines. They're made up of ones and zeros, so the best they can do is an approximation of feeling." Aizawa said still glaring at the two. But this seems only to piss off Nemuri as she spoke up.
"These kids are not just some laptop Aizawa. I've been with these kids all day and they sure as hell have feelings. They are living beings and I expect you to treat them as such." Nemuri said with a growl. Aizawa just scoffs at her.
"These things aren't alive Nemuri they are machines, it is Illogical to think otherwise." Aizawa said causing Nemuri to start losing her cool. But before she could Arcee spoke up.
"Shut up you rust nugget. I do not know why you get off on treating people like this. But you better stop and shut your fucking mouth Before I make you." Arcee said angrily but before a fight could break out, a voice from down the hallway caught their attention.
"I would like if you would leave our future students alone Eraserhead or you might be out of a job." Nezu said as he walked into view on the shoulder of Airachnid. Aizawa not wanting to deal with this at the moment had huffed and walked off. The second that they thought that the man was an intruder Izuku discreetly notified Airachnid. He guessed that she must have contacted Nezu and they came together.
"That bastard works here?" Arcee asks angrily. But Izuku put his hand on her shoulder which seemed to calm her down a bit.
"Yes, and I apologize for his attitude. I'll make sure to talk to him so this does not happen again." Nezu said apologetic for his employee's actions and the man was definitely going to get a thorough Tongue lashing from Nezu that's for sure.
"Good, because I rather not have to deal with him... Personally." Airachnid said coldly which sent a shiver down everybody's spine. Nezu made a personal note not to piss this woman off. Because he had a feeling that she was one to toy with her prey.
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