2. Charge (A TFP Fanfiction)

Chapter 6

"Scrap," Bulkhead muttered, clearing his throat.

I immediately waved my hands frantically, ushering him to stop. "Bulkhead, no!" I whisper shouted. I knew those two had a history, and there was no way we could give ourselves away to the enemy now.

"He'll recognize your voice," Ratchet agreed.

"I can make it lower," Bulkhead said, getting as low as he could. (Which, considering his voice was already low, wasn't very much.) "Higher?" He shrugged his shoulder pads as Ratchet gave him a look.

"He would recognize mine as well," the medic sighed. The three of us all cast glances at the poor scout, who gave us a mute look that said "seriously?". 

Both Bulkhead and Bumblebee's optics swung over to where I sat on my guardian. I made a face and held up my hands. "Are there any femme Vehicons?" I told them with the most sarcasm I could muster.

The two mechs blinked and looked at each other with amused glances. Ratchet looked at me, then back at the two of them, then back to me. Finally, he turned his helm sharply to the others and jabbed a digit at them, his faceplate annoyed and angry.

"Absolutely not," he growled, taking a protective step backwards. 

The green and yellow mechs looked at each other again, before both of them held up their servos in mock innocence. My face flushed in embarrassment, once again, over Ratchet's protective and sweet behavior towards me. It was obvious to the others how much he really did care for me, and that could get pretty awkward if they knew how I really felt. I tucked some stray strands of my short, silver hair behind my ear nervously as the Bots quickly came up with a solution.

"This is.. SpaceBridge control....," I heard Agent Fowler say over the commlink. "Situation normal."

I held in another breath, as I'm sure the others did as well.

"Normal?" came the Decepticon's, Breakdown, voice. "Are you sure about that?"

"We were just.. calibrating the subsystems and we had a.. surge!" Agent Fowler explained nervously. "But it's fine now! How are you?"

I clapped a hand over my mouth, to hold back a laugh or a gasp, I wasn't sure. The tense and shocked silence covered everyone like a thick blanket, from where I was and back at base as well. I let out a relieved sigh, as did my guardian, when Breakdown answered rather calmly, ending it in what seemed like a compliment.

"I cannot believe you said that," I giggled over the comm. 

"Oh, believe me, are mouths were all gaping wide open at the stupidity," Miko answered sarcastically. I heard the Agent chuckle nervously and smiled in amusement.

"That was too close," Bulkhead moaned, hunching his shoulder pads dramatically. Bee seemed to laugh, slapping his comrade on the backside and saying something cheerfully.

I giggled once more and turned my head to my guardian. He was paying close attention to the console in front of him, but I could see a hint of a grin on his derma. Funny, I seemed to notice these things a lot more now. A lot more than the others did, too. I reached up and tapped his neck cables instead of his helm. He jumped slightly at my touch, his optics widening slightly. He cleared his throat quietly as he turned his helm, and I saw a little bit of blue color on his faceplate. I quickly drew my hand away, a blush returning to my own face as I stuttered.

"U-Uh.. sorry.." I gulped back the silly nervousness in my throat. "I was just wondering.. after we get Optimus back, and we will," I added confidently, "will things.. go back to normal?"

He scoffed. "Define normal. I highly doubt the Decepticons will put a halt to their plans just because Optimus Prime returned."

I frowned, looking away. "True. That kind of thing does seem to be my normal now," I sighed.