4. Ebullient

"Hey."

Looking towards the lockers and the voice as he exited his last class of the day, Sam smiled at the sight of the long haired, green-eyed girl.

"Hey there," he greeted back, bringing one arm down smoothly to rest on her shoulders as she joined him in walking down the hall.

Mikaela laughed, Sam delaying slightly before joining in. The boy was suddenly happy that it was sometimes hard for others to differentiate between his playful flirtations and his serious attempts at romance.

"So what are the plans for today?"

"Well," started Sam in a rebound, "I thought maybe we'd catch a movie later."

"Hmm. Sounds good," consented Mikaela. An eyebrow raised and she teased, "And by later we mean after homework is done, checked, then rechecked?"

"Oh, of course," he replied with a smirk. "It's my last year to show these high school dwellers how it's done."

Mikaela smiled back with a laugh, reaching up to rumple the boy's hair.

"Ah, my little nerd."

Sam protested the gesture as he laughed. The two jauntily continued their banter as they wove their way through the random assortment of departing students and teachers, reaching the yellow Camaro sitting in wait in the parking lot.

They each spoke their greetings to the dashboard as they got in, drawing a curious glance from a boy passing by near enough to hear.

"Alright, Bee," said Sam once he had settled in position to pose as driver. "Let's take the lady home, shall we?"

"Of course," Bumblebee said once all doors were closed. "Unless, of course, the lady would rather see the newest arrival."

"What?" Sam asked, unable to keep from smiling. "Finally got a hold of him, huh? The tracking signal from a couple of days ago?"

"That'd be the one," the Autobot confirmed.

"I'm in," smiled Mikaela, looking through the window as Bumblebee maneuvered through the throng of cars and busily chattering students. "Been a while since we've seen those guys. Meeting a new guy should be fun too."

Bumblebee chirped enthusiastically at their alacrity. "Optimus feels that he should meet other humans besides just the soldiers on base," he added. "To get a better feel for our new home."

"Okay," Sam agreed. "So who is he?"

"Autobot Salvage, Samuel Witwicky."

Sam courteously took the mech's offered finger, shaking it respectfully.

"Just Sam's cool. Salvage, huh?"

"Affirmative," nodded the Autobot, standing back up to his full height to regard the human before him. "I've heard a lot about you already, Sam."

"Just good things I hope?" Sam smiled.

"Saving our leader from the former Lord High Protector is no small task." In his voice was genuine and deeply rooted reverence.

"I just tried to do what was right," Sam dismissed.

"And I thank you for it," replied Salvage. "By the Allspark, ending this war would be far more difficult without Prime."

"I hear you there." The two looked over as Epps approached them along with Lennox, both dressed in military fatigues. "I have to admit though, Sam, we might have told Salvage here about your second-rate hygiene habits."

Sam grinned back at the man. "Oh, ha, ha. Excuse me for not having my room squeaky clean when you saw it."

The boy's eyes wandered to the other soldiers around the somewhat large room as Salvage exchanged a few words with the two soldiers. None of them were in battle ready attire, but one could be certain that not one of them was without a weapon. Be it the large sabot launchers or something smaller hidden somewhere on their individual persons. Most were standing around, engaging in quiet conversation. Some of them were gathered around a game console in the corner, intermittent jeers and shouts sounding from them. Everyone seemed quite at ease despite the two mechanoid's and one misplaced chartreuse ambulance sitting in the corner.

"You guys here all the time?" Sam asked, gesturing around at the rest of the team. "Instead of going home to your families?"

"Well," started Lennox as Salvage politely excused himself, "seems we're a big part of human-to-Autobot relations now. So the higher-ups want to keep us around. Close."

Epps shrugged where he stood beside Lennox. "The Decepticons we were supposed to have caught up in Wyoming have been pretty quiet," he added. "Not really much to do 'til they tell us what. Nothin' but to stay on alert."

The group's attention turned to Mikaela and Bumblebee as they approached.

"Where are Optimus and Ironhide?" inquired the yellow mech.

"Ironhide's on the other side fixing up the long-range scanners while Ratchet recharges," Lennox informed him, nodding through the walls in the weapons specialist's general direction. "Optimus left a couple hours ago. Didn't really say what for."

Epps leaned over to his fellow.

"Bigwigs aren't going to be hap-py about that," the tech sang.

"Hmph," expressed Lennox contemptuously. "Once 'big-wigs' learn some trust and to tell the difference between 'Bots and 'Cons, then..."

He trailed off mid-thought, attention snapping back to Bumblebee when he realized something.

"You can't get them on the comm?"

Bumblebee nodded his head, his reassuring composure keeping the humans from panicking. "They both responded." He gestured a metal hand up at the reinforced ceiling above. "The signal dampeners installed in this building to avoid detection work really well. It's hard to find my fellow bots, despite the fact that three of them are here."

The two soldiers nodded, satisfied.

"We'll probably need 'bigwigs' to look into fixing that," voiced Lennox. "It could prove to be dangerous later."

He sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. His new job was proving to be tedious and exhausting. Between clean-up at and after the Mission City incident, helping organize new Autobot-to-human association headquarters, and collaborating with said higher-ups, Lennox had gotten in maybe two vacations. He pushed those thoughts aside, errant thoughts wondering of the Autobot leader's whereabouts as he stifled a yawn.

"Guess I'll go see if I can help 'Hide," voiced Epps, turning in the direction earlier indicated. "To make sure we end up with a scanner and not an overly souped-up security system."

The group waved him off with voiced agreeances, though notably only somewhat jokingly. Bumblebee even went as far as to follow the tech to offer his own assistance.

"Well. In the meantime." Lennox smiled at the teens before him. "You guys hungry? I think Epps might've missed some of the Chinese they picked up."

Ben pulled the jacket closer around her as a chilling breeze blew by, still laying on her back and gazing up at the clouds. The deadened grass pricking at her through her clothes did not bother her at all.

The boredom had clouded her mind completely.

Sure, the TV inside the modified hangar somehow got three fuzzy channels. Three channels that seemed to show nothing but sappy soap operas all the time during the day. And there were only so many times one could be in suspense over if it was Bob's or Norm's baby, and be shocked to find that Sue was really the long lost half-sister, before they completely lost interest.

Ben opted to be outside of the building rather than inside anyway. Not knowing whether or not the Busch plane that apparently used to occupy it was used for pesticides or not was a strong factor in such decision making.

She let her head fall to the side to look at the alien machine in her company.

So far, the few pieces they had recovered had been on the account of Arson's "sensors". And that was only after spending hours driving around or just sitting outside everyday. Because "The moisture in the air interferes with longer ranged scans," to put it as Arson had. Which might explain why, up until the unexpected period of rain they'd seen had stopped, the only recovered pieces had been in the woods in a less than two mile around area from their hangar.

Beneath their dirt covering, the pieces had simply looked like pieces of shrapnel to Ben. When she'd inquired of her keeper the reason as to why this "Thundercracker" couldn't simply rebuild the generator, Spark thing with a new material, she'd received a grumbled, "It only works with this material, which isn't found on this planet."

On this planet. That still somewhat blew her mind when she thought hard about it. Giant alien super advanced robots. Were they built by someone or something? Or were they living, functioning proof that silicon based organisms were a reality as well?

She still wasn't sure about that musing. He referred to her and pretty much any other living thing she knew of as "Organic." all the time, in a pretty much disdained manner. But robot or organism he may be, Arson had more than proved his sentience and therefore the probable sentience of the rest of his species in the time since the human had met him.

Which begged to question...

"So. Arson."

The human kept her tone light and friendly, but he didn't respond anyway as usual. The machine only ever uttered what it was either vital for her to hear or what seemed vital for her to hear to get her to stop bothering him. She grinned to herself before continuing.

"So, why are you of all people being forced to do the dirty work while everyone else runs around and scouts? Are you some kind of criminal being punished or something?"

Arson pointedly remained silent, continuing to focus on scans of the area. The faster done, the better. His perceptors were able to go in all directions, but they could be stretched farther if he reached them in one direction. Unfortunately, as this was to be thorough to find the generator fragments, it took more time.

The human sat up, the jacket sliding into her lap. "What kind of convict would you be?" She enunciated the words pensively. Ben looked off into the distance downhill, watching the far off trees leaning lazily in the breeze. She snorted. "Maybe your name tells all. But no, I doubt our situation would go for something so small. Maybe you're some kind of serial killer instead."

There was a short pause as she went over the options in short.

"Oh right. This war you mentioned before. You're a war criminal, aren't you? What'd you do? Runaway from Thundercracker's side in a vital moment of need? You're a lackey being re—"

Ben took a gasp of air at the unexpected impact when she hit the ground some fifteen feet from where she'd been sitting. When she opened her eyes a moment later, she found Arson kneeling over her. He pinned her down roughly with a hand before she could roll away.

Giant alien super advanced robot brandished the talons of his other hand above her, aimed at her throat.

"Despite your false sense of security that I will not, I have no encumbrance killing you, human," he rumbled in warning, truly menacingly.

The human's startled expression was replaced by a calmly smirking one.

"And I'm afraid of death, robot?" she laughed.

At this, the mechanoid bore more weight down on her with a snarl. Not a fatal amount, the organic responded by giving a wince, her gritted teeth baring slightly.

"Starscream's sentence means nothing if I must be charged with such a mordant, inferior life form that is so boldly foolish."

In a perfect display of said temerity, the human glared up at the livid entity who blatantly had the advantage over her.

"Go... ahead then..," she managed to challenge despite a shortage of air.

For another moment, everything just stood still. Time itself seemed to join the hiatus as the clawed hand came blurring toward Ben.

She was surprised by this and a sudden surge of fear gripped her. In the matter of that second, her insides twisted as she stiffened and closed her eyes, a small noise escaping her.

She heard metal talons pierce into the ground on impact.

Ben didn't immediately realize that she had felt nothing. Opening her eyes, she froze midway looking down.

A claw on the metal hand was mere centimeters above from her neck. She couldn't even see the fingertip.

Taking extreme care moving her head slightly, she looked up at the owner. The metal of his face was vaguely twisted up in a recognizable, though completely foreign to her on this particular face, gesture.

He was smirking.

Arson lifted first the hand on her, then withdrawing the other after letting the talon hover at the unmoving human's fatal point for another few apparently satisfying moments.

He made a noise that could pass for a mocking laugh. "Fortunate. I'm no longer in the mood." The angry look that descended on the organic's features lightened his mood even further. He turned away from her, traveling uphill some. "You'd do well to remember your place."

With that, he converted to vehicle mode, falling silent.

On the deserted, rural road, a diesel trundled up the hill on a not exactly distinguished path.

The sight would have been odd to anyone looking on. That would be, if any unfortunate soul were to get lost this far out from any sign of active sedentary civilization at all, and then happen to catch the vague silhouette of the big rig as it crested the hill, or caught a glint of its metal skin as it passed in the nearly nonexistent moonlight. The truck's noises were unusually quite for a vehicle of its size as well, adding to the eeriness.

The diesel paused as it came up to the door of the old, misused loading dock on the factory's side. When the large entrance was wide enough, the truck rolled through slowly.

"Finally decided to haul in, huh?"

Optimus was surprised to be greeted by a voice as the door leisurely slid shut behind him. Perceptors scanned the darkness off to his right, picking up the human stretching in front of the chair where he'd apparently been sitting on a raised platform next to the loading docks.

The diesel dissolved some of the darkness with its fog lights before unfolding itself. The mechanoid knelt down closer.

"Captain Lennox? Has something happened?"

Lennox rubbed one eye as the other regarded the larger being before him, thankful that Optimus had not decided to whip out anything stronger than fog lights.

"No, nothing we know of here at the moment at least." He stifled a yawn. "I just took over this night shift so I could wait for you to get back."

Optimus nodded his understanding. "I apologize for negating your recharge, Captain."

Lennox waved him off. "Worse things have happened, you know?" One hand went to a hip as he examined the Autobot leader. Flame adorned armor was as pristine as he'd last seen it, no sign of rough play. He hoped that meant that the mechanoid hadn't used enough energy at once for any satellite pointed in the area to pick up. All he needed was the higher-ups on his back for petty issues.

"So what's up? Just needed some time away, huh?"

Optimus turned his head to examine the darkness above Lennox's head to the left. "A leisure that is hard to come by. This world never ceases to fascinate with its wonders."

Lennox met blue optics again, the Autobot's look serious.

"Though I must confess, Captain, that I did run across a pair of Cybertronian signals for a brief moment."

The soldier gave a soft, humorless laugh, a hand touching the top of his own head.

"They seemed to have been drone in origin," Optimus continued. "And if I know the Decepticons, they will have moved by now. In either instance, I believe they pose no immediate threat."

"We should check it out," proposed Lennox.

"As I nearly did." In the dim light, Lennox thought he saw the metal face smile slightly. Though he couldn't be sure. It was hard to tell such nuances in even normal lighting. "I don't think Ratchet would have approved should I have sustained serious injury due to recklessness."

"Can't argue with you there," Lennox snorted. "But I am glad you waited. You might've needed back up."

Optimus nodded. "We will gather and go in the morning."

"Hate to break it to you, big guy," the soldier started, looking down and pressing a button on his wristwatch. The glowing display shone nearly an hour and a half after midnight. "But it technically is morning."

Optimus held out a hand, gesturing at Lennox's body.

"I doubt you will do much good in recon or possible combat in your current state, Captain," the Autobot pointed out amicably.

Lennox sighed, blinking at the floor. "Right."

A/N: And we finally get back to the action next! As is the plan right now, every chapter here on in will be actiony.

And any bots I use (aside from the OC, of course) come from the prequel comics and novel for TF2. I tentatively say that this story kind of fits into the timeline after Alliance #2 but before The Veiled Threat. Just a fun factoid.