Chapter Text
A group of soldiers were running on the concrete path outside of the flying hangar turned Autobots’ temporal base. The count never ceased despite their tiredness in their voices.
“One, two, one, two, one-”
“Keep your knees high boys!”
“Yes sir!”
That was something Ultra Magnus could relate to the native of this place, regardless of their difference in processor and frame.
A cog in the machine, a small soldered joint among many within the circuit board.
But unlike this army, with whom they were sharing the base, the Autobots on this planet did not have enough mech power to spare. One gun down meant the advantage would once again shift heavier to the already heavily armed and fully prepared Decepticons, and after witnessing first hand the power of one single Predacon, the scale on their opponent’s side tipped as heavily as ever.
With the temporary new servo being unsynced with the rest of the arm rendering his combat skill useless, he was concluded unfit for field duty and remained inside to heal. Magnus had started doing physical therapy per Ratchet advised, but it was not fast enough to recover and as the second in command right under Optimus, he should be on his pedes as soon as possible before one of his soldiers were injured.
“Excuse me, sir!”
The loud voice broke the heavy silence and Ultra Magnus turned around, seeing Smokescreen in his alt mode and the three children already inside. Their stuff was tied on top of the car’s roof.
“Apology.” He said and moved aside, leaving the hangar door open for the young soldier to drive through.
“Have a good day, sir! See you tomorrow!” Miko said loudly as Smokescreen sped up and drove away quickly before Magnus could advise him to drive under speed limit.
With the whole group of youngsters gone, as Bumblebee has also left for patrol earlier, the hangar became unnervingly quiet, and Ultra Magnus turned his gaze toward the training soldiers again and watched them from afar.
“Do you think he knows?” Miko peeked her head out of the window to look back as Smokescreen reached definitely unadvisable speed for a racing car carrying three teenagers when there were only two seats built in, with Raf and Miko were currently sharing the passenger one and Jack on the driver seat.
“Nah. You acted natural.” Smokescreen spoke through the radio. “Besides, we’ll be quick.”
“Are you sure Ratchet said yes?” Raf asked skeptically while peering through the rear view mirror instead.
“Of course! You saw me asked him.”
(If one counted not even finishing a sentence before Ratchet mumbled intangibly “yes yes” without even turning his helm back as asking.)
Jack huffed out a laugh, “We’ve made it this far.” He looked up to check the ropes. Apex armor was still tied on top firmly and covered by their own bags and under an old blanket, “One hour, in and out.”
The car roared through the quiet roads of the outskirts of Jasper and only stopped at a vacant place surrounded by baring hills of rock and sand, near the resting place of Cliffjumper.
Jack untied the knots while Miko and Raf got out of the car. As the Apex armor was finally removed from the roof, Smokescreen transformed back to his root mode. His pedes jumped slightly on the spot to warm up.
“Alright Miko,” Jack rolled the armor so that it lay flat on the ground, “Let’s try this.”
The smaller teen nodded eagerly and stepped on the armor while Jack and Raf backed away. Each part of the armor appeared and covered her one by one, and by the end, Miko almost reached Smokescreen’s shoulders. She moved her armored arms slowly to get used to being huge once again.
Jack coughed to reset his voice and began a pseudo wrestling show announcement, Raf and him were now standing on a taller rock to observe the fight and avoided being stomped.
“Lady and gentlemen, and fellow Cybertronian! Before we begin our battle, please make sure this is a hand to hand combat only, no blasters, no phase shifter and of course, no mercy. On my left side is Miko Nakadai in the legendary Apex armor, and on my right side is Smokescreen of the Cybertronian Elite Guard. May the best one win!”
Raf turned on video to mimic the sound of a bell ring in a wrestling match, “Go!”
“ Show me what you’ve got, cadet!” Smokescreen took a stance. Miko jumped forward to grapple him, but with a swift dodge, the bot escaped with ease.
“Wooh! Too slow!”
“Ughh! Why don’t you just stay still?”
“The armor could only be as good as the wearer! You gotta think harder than that!”
They chased down each other a few rounds with Smokescreen kept taunting Miko until she finally managed to grab hold on one of Smokescreen’s ankle guards and threw him to the side, then jumped on him and started punching the mech.
Smokescreen managed to defect one of her fists and kicked her out with his pedes, as he flipped on his back to escape.
Smokescreen waved his servo toward himself, and Miko ran right back at him.
They only stopped after the armor’s head was trapped inside one of the holes on the hill that Miko punched open herself, and had to admit defeat. Smokescreen blasted the hole wider for her to get out.
“You have some crazy moves back there,” the bot said in earnest, “If we keep at this, I’m sure the commanders will let you join the fight!”
“Next time let’s invite Wheeljack! He can show me some cool Wreckers’ moves!”
She raised her fist up and Smokescreen bumped it right back.
“Let’s get back before it’s too late.” Jack reminded them as Smokescreen helped Raf and him down from the tall rock, “We’ve already on overtime.”
A loud honk from afar. Headlights at the end of the road. A truck was driving toward them, a truck with a very telling color scheme.
All four kids mumbled.
“Uh oh.”
—------------
Ultra Magnus only returned inside the hangar when the human soldiers finished their training and went inside to retire for the night. He opted to do the same but saw Ratchet was looking around, searching for something, or someone.
“Everything alright, doctor?”
“Have you seen Smokescreen?”
“He’s taken the children home.” Magnus reported exactly what he saw. “Does the patrol team require assistance?”
“No no, nothing of that much importance. He asked about borrowing something, but I haven’t been able to actually answer.”
Magnus’ mind started patching things together.
“Do you remember what he asked about?”
“No, not exactly. Something about weapons? The Apex Armor?”
Youngsters.
“Can you pinpoint his exact location?”
The blue truck stopped right in front of them and the sound of its transformation sequences was like the final bells of impending doom itching closer and closer. By the time the sequence ended and the absolutely disappointed face plate of Ultra Magnus appeared, all of the kids cringed internally.
“Busted,” Miko mumbled.
“Can anyone here provide me a valid explanation why one of the relics has been unauthorizedly taken out of the vault and used without proper supervision?” The commander looked right at Smokescreen.
“It was my idea,” Miko busted in, still wearing the Apex armor, “I’m more helpful like this! See? Invincible, impenetrable, indestructible. A true wreckin’ tank!”
“And untrained, full of impulse and reckless.” Magnus’ glared, “I respect your contribution in the last mission, but without proper training, you are not suitable to join in direct combat. Optimus has made it clear to let humans be involved in this war as little as possible.”
Miko looked down a bit but suddenly looked right back at him in mischief and a bit eager,
“How about you train me then?”
Magnus’ optics widened in surprise. Jack slapped a hand over his face.
“You said the only thing I lack is proper training, and you’re a commanding officer with free time . Then you can train me yourself to ensure that I’m ready by the Wrecker’s standard.” She ended the whole dare by putting her hands on her hip.
The only sound that existed between them was the caws of crows.
It took Ultra Magnus a while to reset his vocaliser and announced suitable punishment,
“I hereby confiscate the armor, and you four will return to the base tomorrow morning and transcribe to Ratchet what truly happened.”
“Awww!” Miko deflated like a balloon.
“Smokescreen, you will write me a report about how you, as an Autobot guardian, have bypassed standard protocols and potentially endangered humans. And I expect it by morning as well. Now you will do what you have said to do, take them home.”
“Awwww.” Smokescreen also deflated like a tire out of air. “Yessir.”
“Miko, the armor.”
The teen begrudgingly tapped on the symbol to deactivate the suit, then stepped away as it returned to its smaller size. The larger Autobot lifted the piece up and transformed back to his vehicle mode, with the armor now lying safely on the fifth wheel in the back.
Smokescreen also transformed and the kids quietly got in the car, but Magnus stopped them again.
“Smokescreen only had two seats. One of you will have to join me.” He opened the door on the side of the driver’s seat, and mentally reminded himself to check Smokescreen’s knowledge on the local’s driving rules.
“You can decide by the rock game thing.” Smokescreen chimed in.
“You mean rock, paper, scissors?” Raf asked.
“Yeah that!”
“Good idea!” Miko raised her fist out first, “Anyone who loses will have to go with Magnus! May the best one win!”
May the best one win indeed.
Miko threw her bag in and climbed on, albeit it took her a while. The truck platform was a bit tall for the growing teen.
“Are you going to keep scolding me?”
“No, Ratchet will do that tomorrow.”
She slammed the door shut loudly. “Can I at least press the honk?”
“No.”
“You’re no fun.” She sunk into the driver seat, her arms crossed
“Seatbelt.”
“Fineee, ” She grumbled, then mimicked Bulkhead’s voice as the seat belt snapped in place, “ Seat belt first! Bulk always makes me do this or else he never starts the engine.”
Magnus started the engine and moved out first. He set a steady pace while Smokescreen trailed behind, slower than before. Neither of them said anything to each other for a good while. Magnus focused on driving and Miko took out her ipod and earphones to listen to music and gazed mindlessly at the scenery outside, some of which were partially visible due to the headlights of the truck.
They passed through the hills and into Jasper’s center. The city seemed to have fallen into slumber, most of the lights from various residences were out, leaving only the street lights and occasionally shop signs to illuminate the tranquil streets. Smokescreen and Magnus separated at the intersection as the younger bot drove towards Raf’s home first.
Magnus broke the silence, “I have no previous knowledge of your place of accommodation, you have to show me from here.”
“Huh?” Miko had almost fallen asleep due to how boring the inside of this truck was, the metal music blasted into her ears did not help at all.
She rubbed her eyes and looked around, “Turn right, there.”
The truck slowly drove forward per her instructions, and turned right at the next intersection. And then a left, and finally another right. Before he could drive further, she yelled, “Wait! Stop here.”
“It will be safer if I drive you as close to your house as possible.”
“Yeah that’s the problem! I can’t let my host parents see that I’ve been hitching a hike from a semi truck with no actual driver, or tell them that I’ve been friends with a bunch of ten meters tall giant sentient mechanical beings from out of space. Either case they will call my parents and I will have a plane ticket home tomorrow.”
What’s wrong with these giant robots? She could be trusted with the secret of their existence, infiltrating the enemy’s ship (immobilized but you get the point) but not a 100 meters walk home on the pavement?
“You can park here and make sure I get inside in one piece. My house is right at the end of his road.” She assured him, just like when Bulkhead first drove her back.
Magnus seemed to agree, despite giving no verbal confirmation, he did drive into one of the vacant sides and park next to the pavement. Miko slid down as the door opened, then grabbed her bag and slung it on her shoulder.
“Bye. For real this time Mags, think about it! I’m serious about that training!”
“My name is Ultra Magnus. And see you tomorrow Miko.”