Transformers In Between

Chapter 1 - Avatars Part 1

The door on the opposite side of the two holo-avatars suddenly opened revealing an annoyed Ratchet.

"What is going on here?" he asked as he pushed his glasses up. His lab coat had been taken off since Alex had pointed out, no one walked around in it, unless they wanted to get stared at.

"I thought redhead said we weren't allowed in the garage?" Ironhide asked as he looked over at Ratchet with a raised brow.

"Yes she did." Ratchet confirmed with a tilt of his head before he noticed the human in the room. "You must be the customer she was talking about." the Medical Officer realised as the brown haired human looked over at him in surprise.

"Ah yes, I am." he nodded nervously, his grey eyes flickering between the unnamed men in the room.

"Yo Spitfire!" Jazz hollered as he strolled past Ironhide and Bumblebee towards the garage. "Mr.What'shisface is here!" he explained loudly as he poked his head in the garage.

"It's one already?!" was Alex's question from the garage. It didn't take long for Alex to walk through the door, a surprised look on her slightly dirty face. "Oh hey, Charles!" she greeted evenly with a small wave.

"Oh there's my favourite mechanic." the man greeted with relief once he saw the familiar mechanic.

"Oh do tell me more." Alex joked with a roll of her eyes before she motioned for him to come in. "I figured out what the problem was." she claimed as she entered her large and open space garage, walking toward the white car. "The engine was jammed by a few twigs and rocks that got stuck in it." she informed as she motioned over to the open car with it's hood open.

A familiar blue haired man without his jacket on stood by the car with a manual in his hands, seemingly reading it. He glanced up when he heard a bunch of footsteps come up to the car he was sitting next to, only to see Alex and his squadron walking behind her with an unfamiliar man next to the redhead. He lifted his head up in greetings at their presence.

"Turns out the engine was also a little loose. Probably from some dodgy roads or some twigs and rock got stuck in it, bouncing around and knocking into everything." Alex shrugged as she leaned into the car, digging her hand around to check out if the engine was sturdy. "How long have you had this car?" she asked, not even looking up at the brunette.

Unlike most mechanics, Alex was blunt and straightforward, giving you exactly what you needed to hear. It made her quite popular in the world of mechanics around Los Angeles. She didn't sugar coat anything and would even recommend other options for her customers.

"About three years now." Charles hummed as he tapped his chin in thought.

"Three, huh?" Alex looked up at the doc before motioning to the steering wheel. "Mind starting her up?" she requested before pulling her hand out of the engine.

"Not at all." Ratchet waved off as he leaned in through the driver's window and twisted the key, he had seen her do a few times. Alex stared down at the engine when a loud yet soothing rumble came from the machine. She nodded before pulling back and swiping her hands.

"Alright. That's good to go." Alex smirked as she closed the hood, making sure not to leave any grease stains on the white hood. "If there's any problems just pop back up, alright?" she looked over at the brunette, who wore a relieved expression at the fact his car was still working.

"Of course. Thank you Miss.Alex." Charles smiled with gratitude. Jazz snorted at his words while Alex deadpanned.

"You're making me feel old." Alex grumbled with a huff as she blew at the loose strands of her hair from her ponytail. "Anyways." the redhead turned to the five holo-avatars around and motioned towards the living room. "I'll finish up with Charles and then we'll get going ok?" Alex was already leading Charles out of the garage to close up the deal as she pulled her hair out of her ponytail. "Oh! And make sure to park your cars in here! It'll be safer that way!" she hollered out to them before stepping out of the garage, leaving the five Mechs to themselves.

"How'd you get in here?" Ironhide looked between Ratchet and Optimus. He clearly remembered the redhead human stating that no one was allowed to come into her garage when she was working.

Not unless they wanted a spanner thrown at their head.

Ratchet ignored the Weapon Specialist and started wiping at his glasses, leaving the Prime to answer the male.

"We were curious about what she was doing." the blue haired male answered as he put the engineering manual down. "It would also be beneficial if we understood what and how our disguises operate in case of an emergency failure." he elaborated with a passive expression as he crossed his arms over his chest. To him it made perfect sense. If there ever was a problem with his alt.mode he could easily point it out to Alex, he had decided that she would be the only person allowed to ever tinker with his systems, and it would be easier to get the problem fixed.

"Could have told us." Jazz grumbled with crossed arms, having felt left out at seeing how his charge worked on automobiles. Even after appointing himself as Alex's Guardian, to which Bumblebee was still salty about, he hadn't seen the girl work on an actual car. Every time he had come back from a mission with the others, she was either tidying up her tools or she was doing her homework.

"I'd rather not have Alex snark at us for allowing Mechs known for breaking things into her precious workspace." Ratchet replied grumpily as he leaned against the car's door. Ironhide raised a human brow at the green haired avatar's words.

"Says the Mech that broke a power pole on the first lunar here." Ratchet's avatar formed a scowl on his face at the reminder.

"Shut your mouth plate."

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"Alright this is the shopping district." Alex introduced with a wave of her hand at the numerous shops ahead of them. "A bunch of people come here to do a variety of things." she stated as she led the 5 holomatter avatars deeper into the district. "I don't think it's that much different from what you guys are used to but for obvious reasons don't mention anything that's not in the human vocab, got it?" Alex asked as she tilted her head over to the group behind her.

The five robots in disguise looked around them taking in the numerous appearances of humans. Different colouration, style, voices personality. It honestly didn't seem that much different from what their planet was like before the war.

"Alright off ya go." Alex waved her hand around her as she turned around or gave them. The my blinked at her in confusion before tilting their heads.

"I apologize but...what are you inferring?" Optimus asked as he looked down at the shorter human.

"For me, experience is the best teacher so you guys go explore." Alex shrugged as she motioned to the shops around them. "Just look around and take it all in." she told them before she pulled out her phone to check the time. "Alright it's one twenty five right now so how about we all meet at two thirty back here?" Alex asked as she looked over at the confused and out of place avatars. "When the small hand is pointing at the two and the big hand is pointing at six." she explained as she pointed up at the giant clock on the wall, big enough for everyone to see. "And no-..." Alex trailed off as she looked back at the four avatars.

Four...

"Where's Bee?"

"....."

"....YOU LOST MY BABY?!"