Chapter Text
“So you still can’t take me to the concert today.” Miko asked Bulkhead as she stepped out of the car. The bell rang. She was getting late, but she didn’t even care.
“I am so sorry Miko.”
“It’s okay. I’ll figure something out.” She closed the door, albeit a bit forcefully.
“Ask someone from the base to go with you, or in the worst case one of your classmates. Do not go alone Miko. I will call.”
“Alright! Alright!” He would never stop fretting over her, wouldn’t he?
“Get to class. You’re getting late!”
“Okay, mom. Jeez. I’m leaving.” She slung the bag over her shoulders and started running towards the school. Only when did she get inside the building and closed the main door did he start the engine and left.
Six hours of driving. And it’s tonight. 7.pm sharp.
No teenagers, or at least her known fellow metal friends could drive that long, especially on short notice. And no parents will endure their child on a six hour car ride for a “nameless” band. Ugh, adults had such bland music tastes, that she could figure.
The space bridge will cut the trip short indefinitely, but she needed someone to go with.
Wheeljack would be her next best pick, he wasn’t exactly a die hard fan like her but he could at least appreciate the effort. But then he was on mission today with Arcee, so both of them were no-go.
Same with Smokescreen and Bee. And she’d rather die than ask Ratchet or arrive in a fricking ambulance. Although the people there will appreciate the undeniably metalness of Optimus’ alt mode and boy she would feel so smug, but he was always busy, since forever.
Which leaves-
That would have to do. She just had to be smart about it.
—----------------------
Magnus had never come to this “high school” before. Bulkhead always drove her to base first before Miko left with Magnus for the training. But today she was adamant that he had to come to get her directly after school. Something about being productive, she texted, or at least that's what he guessed because she never wrote with perfect grammar and always used some sort of abbreviations that borderline resembled hidden code.
The bell rang as his tires aligned perfectly with the pavement. And Miko bolted out like an unstoppable race car, jumping right inside the cabin. She fastened her seatbelt and slammed the door shut. Her fists hit her knees impatiently.
“Come on! What are you waiting for? We gotta go!”
“Hello Miko.” Greetings were always important. “You seem to be eager today?”
“We are going to lose the day time if you keep talking! Let’s go!” She started fidgeting around, and the longer he stood still the closer she came to start physically taking the wheel and driving away.
The younger folks sometimes forget that he had been commanding troops for millions of years, and had also been a younger soldier himself. He wasn’t mischievous then, but he had been fighting among them and then later training them for countless times.
And right now, Miko had a plan that heavily required his participation. He hoped it’s not going to be some pranking scheme against anyone innocent. He had had enough of that. But Ultra Magnus was not heartless, and he did possess other feelings than being “dull”, “cranky” and “stuck up”.
Right now, he was mildly curious.
“If you insist.” The wheel started spinning as he left the parking place. And Miko’s body relaxed a bit.
Miko was surprisingly obedient today, which came as an unsurprising fact for Magnus. No complaints, which was foreseeable since they both seemed to have come with some sort of understanding for one another.
But no harmless whines and most of all, no questions? That was another telling that something unusual would soon come to pass.
He did wait to see whether she was going to prank him, but after a while it was seemingly not the case. They soon moved to sparring, where Miko would wear the armor and fight against Magnus as her opponent. It was her favorite part of the training, as she would always shout in glee and so eager to step inside the legendary relic again. At the same time it proved beneficial for Magnus to extend the limit of his healing frame.
It got better, Ratchet told him. The claws unfortunately hadn’t bent to his will, but as a whole it could move almost in sync with the arm. Magnus hoped he could push even further, but just in case, he also trained fighting mainly with his other servo.
The goal today was for her to successfully keep distance and escape his hold. It was something he came up with in case she had to fight against an Insecticon or worse, Megatron, which Magnus hoped would never come to pass in a million years to come. But a good commander is one who thinks ahead, so he’d rather she learn it today than die in the next fight unprepared.
Miko never enjoyed keeping distance with the enemies. She’s like Wheeljack, never shy away from a close and personal fight. And more often than not, after a while of holding in her frustration and unchecked temper, she would return to the bad habit of jumping right back at Magnus to brawl.
But it seemed for today, either the lesson finally took hold or her desperation was so much that she managed to keep him at bay for five minutes.
“You have done well.” He said as they ended their final “match”. “You can have an early break today.”
A little encouragement never hurted. Bulkhead reminded him once. And Optimus encouraged him to open up. Casual talk. Don’t think too much. Something he felt at the moment, not something he had to solve, or fight against. Forget the enemies and the paper, just what was happening at the moment.
“I can? Yesss!” She jumped around happily. But she stopped way too soon. She was standing in that “I’m guilty but I’m not sorry” pose.
Here it comes. He mused.
“So, since I’ve done well today, again your words, not mine, I think your trainee deserves a small reward. Could you drive me to some place, sir?”
“To where exactly?” He sat down carefully.
“A concert. It’s a show where the singers come and they play live music, and they have huge fireworks and-”
“I know what it is. Do your legal guardians know of this?”
“As long as I get back before midnight.” She shrugged, “What? It’s Friday! They never ask.”
“I condone any kind of unsafe activity, especially when your guardians aren’t aware of it.”
“Well, it’s safe as long as I have an adult with me. Or an Autobot guardian.” She smiled. It reminded him of Jazz when he started considering doing something out of the loop.
“You are not letting this go, aren’t you?”
“No sir.” She sang, crossing her arms triumphantly, “Are you going to let poor little old Miko go alone?”
At least no one was harmed in this. He sighed.
“Where is the concert located?”
—----------------------
“Las Vegas?” Ratchet asked even when his digits already tapped in the coordinates. A night out would be good for Ultra Magnus, even when it was obvious that he was tricked into it.
“I’ll be back by 12 am.Promise!” Miko chirped. Like he’s going to believe that. Ratchet turned to the actual responsible one.
“Haul her back by midnight, Ultra Magnus. I don’t care how, just do it.”
“Hey!”
“Of course, doctor.” He turned to Miko and rolled the window up. “Seatbelt.”
“You two are no fun.”
The space bridge opened up with its colorful hues and the peterbilt drove in carefully. The base disappeared behind their backs and an empty road opened in front of Miko’s eyes. Ultra Magnus entered it seamlessly and after a while he blended onto the highway leading toward Las Vegas, where the city light illuminated the far horizon.
“Can Ratchet at least get us closer?” She grumbled. At least Magnus agreed to leave half an hour early.
“We can’t risk being discovered.” He reminded her.
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” She turned on the already inserted Slash Monkey CD mixes and danced along during the drive. If Magnus did turn on the volume more than he usually allowed her, no one else was there to comment on it.
The concert wasn’t located in the football stadium or any fancy hall, but in the woods on the edge of the city. It bore more resemblance to Jazz’ and Blaster’s spontaneous dance nights than Iacon’s sophisticated music performance.
Miko bought tickets but didn’t get in immediately, which was strange. Until she told him to turn into root mode and walk them towards the higher hill on the side, from which they could oversee the stage without being seen by humans.
“This is how Bulkhead and I go to concerts together.” She explained as she was standing on one of his shoulders. “Smaller concerts in the woods mean he could walk near without being seen, and doesn’t have to wait in his alt mode in some boring parking lots while I have all the fun!”
“That is very thoughtful of you.” Magnus admitted.
“Heh, what do you expect? I am Miko the Great and Terror! Anyway,” She jumped down from his shoulder without a thought. Magnus scrambled to grab her before Miko injured herself but her smaller body slipped through his claws. He panicked. Fortunately for her, and unfortunately for Magnus’ mental state, her climbing skill had improved so much from all of the rock climbing exercises (and her own prior bad experience) that she slid down the ground using his arms and leg armors with little to no difficulty. One of her servos now held a small camera.
“I’m joining the running circle down there! Be back in a sec! See ya!”
Magnus couldn’t even utter an answer, as Miko didn’t bother with a response and bolted away as fast as she could. He resigned sitting back and watched the concert alone among the tall pines.
The singers were screaming and shrieking, and the grinds of the instruments cringed in his audials. The crowd was packed, and there was a group of humans running non stop in circles like broken cars. And the light was so bright and kept jumping from one color to another and it baffled his processor to no end.
But they were laughing and talking. They were having fun. And they were living. Being alive.
And Cybertron was not. The Cybertronians who deserved to be happy were not.
Ultra Magnus was here instead.
But he could make do of it. He could help with the war effort, even when they were fighting against a huge army of Decepticons with a warship and a Predacon.
Yet he was gravely injured and his chance of getting back on the field was low. He became a liability. Deadweight.
Magnus’ intact servo covered his faceplate.
He needed a walk. A patrol will do.
—----------------------
“Oooh, Bulk is going to love this!” Miko shouted as she finished recording one of Bulk’s favorite songs. A metal concert was always a thing of miracles. A place to let it all out, the love, the frustration, the anger, in a productive way too. Ugh, she’s turning into Magnus.
The band was gearing towards their final performances. Usually this would be time for her to head out and did a sing along with Bulk. But Bulkhead was not here today, so Miko was tempted to stay in the crowd till the end. Magnus would probably not join her karaoke session anyway.
Out of habit she still gazed back onto the hill. And found it. Empty.
Miko’s mind snapped right back and she bulled doze through the sea of people like a soldier on a mission. Her shoulders collided with at least half a dozen, and there were voices of complaints but she tuned out all of them.
She flipped her phone open, looking for the numbers. The buttons were never fast enough, and by the time Miko found the contact, her ears already picked up the tell tale sound of a ten meters giant tearing the lines of small trees away with his sheer weight.
Her smaller skips were drowned out by the echoes of the giant’s steps as she tried her best to give chase.
“Magnus, really!? You were supposed to-”
The sound of the blaster transforming echoed through the woods. A giant blaster was thrusted right at her face.
Miko backed down carefully. She instinctively moved into a stance, preparing for a fight, even when she could never win.
Magnus’ mind snapped back into reality, and he hastily retreated his blaster into his arm.
“Apology.” He backed away. “I didn’t know you were there.”
“It’s okay. It happens.” She stepped forward carefully. “They are playing the last songs, do you want to come back?”
“No. I can’t.”
“Do you want to leave?” Miko asked tentatively. “I want to leave.”
“You should go and enjoy the night while it lasts. I will wait.”
“No, I want to leave.” She made a show to stretch lazily. “Besides, I’ve got what I came here for.”
Magnus did not give her a verbal answer, rather he stretched his uninjured hand out for her to climb in. And Miko jumped on his shoulder again and sat down.
They slowly made their way outside, his feet crushed the flora plants beneath them.
“Oh a deer!” Miko whispered and pointed toward a place further on their east.
“Deer?” Magnus could see it. It had some sort of coatings all over its body, and it walked on four elongated legs.
“Yes, it’s an animal. See, we humans are also animals but these ones don’t evolve as much as us! They are shy but very cute! Especially the fawns.”
Miko saw the confusion written all over his face and started explaining, “Fawns are baby deers, so like me! They’re cuter though.”
One seemed to be brave enough to walk towards him. A fawn.
“Don’t move”, Miko warned, “Or it will run away.”
The creature did a few sniffs before it deemed him uninteresting and left immediately, but its bravery was enough to encourage others in its herd to come and sniff him as well.
“They are peculiar.” He whispered, mostly to himself, but Miko heard it either way.
“They like you.”
“How can you tell?”
“They haven’t run away yet.” She pointed at an unusually brave deer, which had decided to pick Magnus’ pede as its go-to pole to pee.
Magnus started moving again before the tragedy could befall his pede and all of the deers ran off, but not before giving both of them a final glance before disappearing into the woods.
“Now they have.” His voice lighter.
“Cuz you are messing with them!?” Miko whined, ”Wait, are you!?”
He conveniently didn’t answer that.
—----------------------
“So that was why I had to clean up the dojo for every single day in a month.” Miko ended with a dramatic raise of both of her arms. The streets of Jasper were quiet in the night, save for the sound of his own engine, and Miko’s enthusiastic voice telling her childhood stories, varying from emotional to embarrassing.
She liked to talk, and well, Magnus didn’t have to when she did all of the work. But she always wanted to hear what he thought of it in the end. Even when it was the contrary of her own.
“You shouldn’t punch your fellow trainees like that.” Magnus advised.
“He was a dick.” She bristled. “He deserves it.”
“Language.”
“Oh come on! You know that too? How?”
“We’re here.”
He stopped at the usual parking spot near her house, and Miko stepped out.
“It was fun today. You’re not half bad.” She patted the door a few times. “Keep it up and you might replace Smokescreen as my third go-to.”
“Thank you.” Third place. Not bad.
“See you tomorrow, coach! You still owe me a story!”
“What do you mean you punched Shockwave in the face!?”