Watching her brother run through the grass, she shook her head affectionately. Sam was an idiot, but she loved him. It was just past 11, which is when Sam's curfew was. He was going to get chewed out for it by their dad, not to mention the way he avoided the new stone path like it was the plague, but Ron wouldn't actually end up punishing him. That was just the way it was with Ronald Witwicky and his kids. He was a big softie.
Except when it came to their safety.
When Sam had tried to climb out the second story window because he made a "parachute" and tried to jump off the roof onto the trampoline, he'd been grounded for a week. They were so young she couldn't remember what it was, but their father had thrown away his favorite toy.
When Midge had told her parents she made a friend online. She hadn't known why it was so wrong, but they found out he was an older gentleman and they took away her computer privileges for years. Her internet access was monitored until she was 16. They had been extremely protective of her after that, and she wasn't even allowed to date until she went to college.
That's why he couldn't know, neither of their parents could. They would do anything to protect their kids, but that wouldn't help the Autobots or the Earth. If this was as important as they said, there wasn't enough time to convince their parents and save the world. They'd just have to wait.
"Mikaela, please, watch them so I can put some clothes on." Midge rubbed circles into her temples, fighting the stress headache that she felt coming on. "I'll be out in a jiffy. I just need a few minutes to clean up a little."
The teen nodded, shifting her weight to her other foot. "Yeah, sure."
"Thank you," the older woman huffed, turning on her heel to approach the garage door. She pulled it up, knowing it wasn't locked. She let it fall down behind her, running a hand through her thick, auburn locks. In the right light, they could look bright ginger. Her mother's was darker, but the tones in their hair were the same. Without a hairbrush to detangle the long filaments, she elected to tie it back up into a messy bun, leaving a few hanks loose to frame her face.
There, on her favorite stool, was a bundle of fabric that happened to be exactly what she was looking for. She whipped it out flat and checked it's viability. No holes, no rips, just stains. It was cropped just below the belly button and almost every inch of it had a different paint color. At least it was clothing.
Setting her borrowed jacket aside, she let the torn bikini top fall into a wastebasket by the door. A deep-basin sink in the corner served as a bath for the grimy girl who used a discolored rag to wipe the blood from her chest. She almost couldn't believe she was running around all night in this outfit. Anyone with eyes could see her ass cheeks hanging out of her shorts and their ragged fabric didn't obscure much else either.
Sweat, dirt, and blood streamed from the rag as she wrung it out. Down the drain it went, and she laid it aside to clothe herself. In the nick of time, she slid the paint-covered top over her head, the garage door making a shuddering noise as it was rolled back up.
She turned around to find the small yellow 'bot crouched in front of the garage, waving her toward him with his metal hand. "Can't I have a few moments to-" She halted her complaint as soon as she saw what was behind him, or rather what wasn't. "Fuck!"
She emptied her lungs through her nostrils, doing her best to slow down her heartbeat. The immediate flare of anger made her blood pump faster. She looked back at the bot when an impossibly large finger tapped her on the back.
Bumblebee pointed far above her head toward the house, so she turned to look. Tiptoeing over her fence, the humongous robot was about as stealthy as a raging bull. Her dad was going to freak.
"Bee, come with me." At his curious gaze, she continued, her fingers spread wide and her hands shaking in the air. "There's no time to explain but we have to get Optimus to cool off. If my parents see any of you, they'll go nuts. Like, totally bonkers!" She needed his help with corralling the Autobots because there was no way she could stop them with her noodle arms and toothpick legs.
His nod set her just a bit at ease. She frantically whipped her head around, zeroing in on the first floor deck that leads around to the backyard. "Through here. Bumblebee, come on."
Following after the redhead, Bumblebee barely bumped the hanging lights when he crawled below them. He did hit them, as his wings stuck a bit further out than the rest of him, but the lights were unharmed. The little human had a much easier time dodging tables, chairs, and dangling lights than he did.
Their heads popped out on the other side right next to Sam. He stood by the door speaking with his father about something they called "chores." It went over his head, but sounded very important to the fleshy creatures.
"I'm gonna do the trash cans and I'm gonna scrape the grill and I'm gonna..." He looked over his shoulder, a creaking sound catching all of their attention at once. Optimus crept over another building by the fence, brushing a low-hanging branch and rustling its leaves. "I'm gonna sweep up the whole house right now."
"Tonight, right now?"
Keeping abreast of the woman, he tried signaling to his leader to stop what he was doing, but the 'bot must not have seen him. Even waving his servos wildly, the red and blue mech paid him no mind and stalked across the green grass.
Stuttering horribly, Sam looked back to Optimus, then turned to his right. "Right now. The, uh... um." Brown eyes met blue optics and Bumblebee put his finger over his mouth, spinning some unattached gears to make a small shushing sound. Midge was like a deer in headlights, frozen up and staring back. The boy stared at them momentarily, then flipped his head back around. "I love you. God, I love you, just so much right now."
Margaret covered her mouth and nose with her hand, keeping her breathing from being too loud. "You know, Mom wanted me to ground you. You're three minutes late," he heard Ron mutter.
Listening to them speak, Bumblebee almost missed the flash of red under him rushing toward Optimus. He grabbed for it, but missed. Margaret, he realized, was the thing running between his arms and she ran at Optimus. He waited long enough for Sam to push away from the door, signaling his father's absence, before extracting himself from the patio and hurrying after her.
"Hey, big guy, I need you to stay on the street. Please don't-" She cut herself off with a flinch, her eyes closing at the same time as he made impact with the manicured lawn. It would surely need a makeover after tonight.
"Midge! I told you to watch them!" Sam shouted at the smaller Witwicky, sprinting frantically to where Optimus now stood. With how small they were, Bumblebee thought they would be unable to move so quickly, but they run circles around the bigger 'bot as he paces the lawn. "What are you doing? What are you doing? No, watch the path! Watch the path! Watch the... Please, please, please."
Each word grew more desperate, his voice rising by octaves at each step. The siblings danced around his boss 'bot's stabilizing servos, doing their best to keep ahead of his steel toes.
It always boggled him what the Earthlings put value in, like the seemingly-random cement statue of multiple bowls stacked atop each other in the center of the yard. It may have been some kind of religious shrine, though, so Bumblebee held his glossa. Whatever it was, it was obviously very important to the Witwickys and Optimus had just crushed it underneath his heel strut.
Come to think of it, the cement path was also indispensable to them. Maybe it was the material they treasured?
"Oops. Sorry. My bad." In his leader's defense, he did seem honestly regretful. The three humans couldn't possibly understand the Decepticon threat like they did, so they couldn't understand why Optimus was so determined. All of the Autobots here with them had seen the end of Cybertron.
They were veterans, and they had a very important mission. More important than anything to Optimus, for he prized freedom and life. Above all else, he would fight for the freedom of all living beings, even these small creatures that call themselves humans. If there are other species on other planets, they too would be at risk.
No planet would be safe from Megatron if he got his servos on the Cube.
Sam, eyes locked onto the pile of cracked concrete in horror, put his hands on his hips, then crossed them over his chest. If he were Cybertronian, he'd be venting steam out of his chassis with how mad he looked. "Oh, I... You couldn't wait for five... You couldn't wait for five minutes? I told you to just stay! Just stay! God!"
Mikaela ran around the side of the outer fence, her mouth dropping into an 'o' when she saw the titans in his yard. Sam set upon her, having a conversation he couldn't hear. The one he wanted to find, however, was the third and oldest human. He swept his optics over the yard again, thinking he may have missed her.
There. She crept up on a little tan animal, possibly the thing called a "mouse" if he had to guess. The only issue arose from that mouse being just next to Ironhide's stabilizing servo. It lifted its leg, letting out a squirt of lubricant on the 'bot's toe.
A gasp came from Ironhide before he wiggled his metal toes, flinging the mammal a few feet away. It landed safely in the grass, but the silver robot only just missed flicking Midge as well. "Oh, wet." He shook his foot back and forth, trying to get the liquid off.
"Whoa!" she exclaimed, ducking under the armored boot that easily could have taken her head off.
"No, no, no, no, no! Easy, easy! Hold on! Hold on!" Sam cried, approaching the bot with raised hands, and snatched the furry creature off the ground. Midge was trying to find a safe way around the gunmetal mech's legs. "This is Mojo. This is Mojo. He's a pet of mine. He's a pet. Okay? That's all. If you could just put the guns away."
"You have a rodent infestation. Shall I terminate?" The two heavy barrels on Ironhide's wrists whined, powering up and aimed at Sam. That sparked a fire in Midge's eyes, making her rush in front of him and push Sam back, standing in his place.
"I don't care what my dog did, don't you dare point your cannons at my little brother again." Her stony expression was almost uncanny the way it reminded Bumblebee of Optimus'. She was pissed off and showing it, challenging the big blueish metal 'bot by staring him down.
Her stare was hard and demanding. These robots seemed nice, but that doesn't mean she'd let them walk all over her and her family. If Ironhide thought he could blast all his problems away, he'd thought wrong.
"You are sorely mistaken if you think your oversized peashooter intimidates me." Midge folded her arms, widening her stance and raising her chin. She was trying to look powerful, intimidating.
That all went out the window when Bumblebee plucked her from the ground. He'd likely never be afraid of her now, looking like a rag doll in Bumblebee's palm. His radio buzzed while he found the right words.
"They are fragile... No guns."
The giant lug of a 'bot acquiesced finally, the weapons receding to whence they came.
"Thanks, Bee," she conceded, his round optics peering down at her curiously. He had only been trying to help, she reminded herself, and he did prevent her from being shot.
There's only enough space for her to sit, the tips of her bent knees hovering over the edge of Bumblebee's yellow and chrome servo. Even as the smallest bot in the bunch, he seemed to have the biggest heart. Bumblebee was nicer than most people were to her, and he's not even a human. People she's known her whole life probably wouldn't piss on her if she was on fire.
Sam, seeing her safe, finally allowed himself to go inside and find the thing they were there for. He clutched Mojo worriedly under his arm, rushing to the back door. "Shut up and go hide! Watch them this time!"
"Just hurry," Optimus said, his stabilizing servos hissing as the hydraulics absorbed the impact. He inched closer to her house, peeping through the second story windows. "Autobots, recon."
Her red waves bend to the rush of air in her face and her loose bun lost its hair tie to the wind. The yellow 'bot did well keeping his hand level, but the force of the movement shook her. She wrapped one of her arms around his fingers to keep her balance. It also made her feel better to hang onto him as he knelt on the partially-enclosed deck once again.
He followed Optimus' lead by looking through windows, searching for anything that could help them.
"Those are my parents," she said, noticing his curious gaze pointing at them. Her mother had her legs crossed, leaning forward with her eyes glued to the T.V. Her dad rounded the coffee table with a glass of Zinfandel in his hand, chatting with his wife about something she couldn't make out. "They're good, but sometimes they make mistakes. They care a lot about me and my brother, that's why you guys can't let them see you. They'd flip out and try to stop us if they knew we were doing something this dangerous."
She looked back to her companion and awaited an answer. It came in the form of a nod, one that jostled a few hanging light fixtures in the process. He shuffled back from the house, straightening himself and turning to is left.
"Where's Mikaela?" Midge wondered, not seeing the girl anywhere on the lawn. The Autobot leader's dubious glance toward Sam's open windows was all the answer she needed. Bumblebee continued holding her out like he was showing off to Optimus. She wanted to tear her hair out, but refrained, letting out a short growl instead. "You guys have to chill out. You're doing too much and you are going to get caught!"
The 'bot said nothing, then sighed. "Autobots, transform."
"What?" She didn't have time to complain, as Bumblebee and the others followed their orders immediately. She can't fault them, exactly. Optimus was the boss and they were soldiers. They trusted him. She was, however, a little upset at being tossed into the air, landing in a car seat in the midst of moving and changing auto parts. He reformed around her, and by the time they touched the lawn, he was a Camaro again. She wasn't injured at all, but rather shocked, going by the scream she let loose.