Happy reading guys!! Hope you enjoy this chapter, I didn't have too many ideas so I did something cute. But dont worry, it's not too long and there's important stuff in here! Anyways, bye!
~
Koda had a firm grip on the metal bars beside her. Her knuckles were turning white as she held herself up. Her bare feet touched the cool metal ground. She very carefully let her weight be put upon her feet and legs. It felt unnatural for this to happen.
A tough, and worn hand gently squeezes her shoulder, "Are you sure you want to try so soon?" The deep baritone voice asked softly.
A slightly shaky breath escaped Koda. Her eyes looked down at her standing form fearfully, unsure if her legs would support her, "Yes," Her reply was stern and powerful, showing none of the fear she felt.
Optimus smiled softly, he'd forgotten how determined his Conjunx was. His left hand was ready to help catch Koda if she fell. The Prime noticed Koda's breath was wavering slightly.
A few other Autobots, consisting of Bulkhead, Smokescreen, Ratchet, Arcee and Soundwave were observing things.
It'd been a few weeks since the Spark Eater incident. Tarn had landed on earth. Up in Nevada, as Wheeljack suggested before. The Autobots had been on high alert since then. Two bot patrols were always out. Soundwave had bridged Ultra Magnus and Aries near Tarn's location. Just to get a good look at things. But the former Decepticon had been bridging the others to different places as well.
Koda had been busy trying to strengthen her muscles in her legs again. And Ratchet had cleared her to begin walking again. Or at least try. Though he knew she would have a while to go yet. But, the woman was relentless. Overworking herself? Yes. But she wanted to help the Autobots again, not just by sitting at a computer while they were out on patrols. No, she wanted to fight alongside them.
In the Jaeger that was on the Xanthium. Ratchet hadn't shown it to her yet. So it was a guessing game. A very annoying guessing game. It would have to be between two Jaegers, Striker Eureka or Gipsy Danger. They were the only Jaegers that were around anymore.
And Koda didn't even know if Gipsy was retrieved from the base all those years ago...Her guess was that the great machine was Striker. Though she knew it probably would not happen again, she would have liked to pilot Gipsy. The first drift would be tough, having to experience all of Striker's missions.
"Okay, I'm going to do it," The woman breathed out. She flashed a quick look to Optimus, who was presently in his holoform. His alt, parked not too far away. But as Koda looked at her Prime she saw his encouraging look. Which only fueled her determination to walk again.
Looking back in front of her, she forced her right leg to move. She let out a surprised gasp when it did as she wished. It was a bit tiring to keep off the ground, even if it was just a few inches, since they weren't used to being used. Even standing was tiring at the moment. But as Koda planted her right foot on the ground, a bit shakily, she then moved her left.
Just as she lifted it off the ground she stumbled forward. Quickly she put her hands and arms out in front of her to save herself from landing face first into the cool metal. But she never felt the smooth alloy.
Rather she felt herself being lifted back to her feet. Her back rested on her Prime's warm chest, "Are you okay?" There was a slight worry in Optimus' voice as he spoke.
Koda nodded, and chuckled a bit, "I'm surprised I took that first step without falling."
"How did it feel?" Arcee asked as she came up beside the two.
The woman let the question sit in her mind for a moment. She wasn't sure how it made her feel, she knew how she felt however, "It felt...strange. When my foot fell to the ground it was like everything came rushing back. And I wanted to keep going, I wanted to run! But I couldn't. Though for that single moment I felt free," She sighed softly.
"You will do everything you did again. It's just going to take time," Ratchet explained softly.
Koda shook her head, "While I agree Sire, time is what got me like this. If I hadn't been so slow back then, Shockwave wouldn't have seen me. He wouldn't have followed me. I would have been able to help you guys out. I wouldn't have become a gimp for so long..." She quickly waved it off, regretting the words she said, "It's fine though! I'm starting to walk again, that's what matters. Everything is fine."
The woman slid out of her Primes gentle hold. She shook her head again, slower this time. As though saying something to herself in her mind.
Behind her Optimus let his holoform fizzle away. He transformed and knelt down and offered his servo to Koda. She looked at it for a moment, slightly frustrated but hopped on. All she wanted to do was walk on her own, not needing the help of anything or anyone. But it would take a while for that to happen...
Before Koda knew it she was in the navigational area. Ever since Optimus was cleared for duty he would be at the main monitor for hours. It didn't bug his conjunx, and she wouldn't be questioned by others.
Though this time, her Prime noticed something different on the screen.
"Do you know why Bumblebee would be in Nevada?"
The mention of the state made Koda immediately glance at the warrior's location. Her heart raced as she looked at his location, it's beat steadied as she saw that the young mech was on the state's northern border, "I'm not sure...should we check it out?"
"For the moment he seems to be fine. I suggest we leave him alone. Perhaps he just needed some time alone," Optimus replied and sent calmness over to his mate. He felt her sudden fear over the black and yellow mech.
However on the northern border of Nevada Bumblebee was driving through a small town. It was buzzing with people, smiling and chuckling happily. No one noticed or even looked at his alt. It was a sunny warm evening.
The warrior wasn't here for a nice drive though. He drove through the busy streets of the town. After passing through the largest and biggest part, which he believed to be called Main Street, he turned left down a worn road.
Bumblebee hoped Soundwave was right. He'd asked the former Decepticon to keep this off the books. Away from the Autobots, only till the black and yellow mech was sure this was the right place. How the warrior hoped to Primus this was the right place.
As he drove through the neighborhood of houses he heard the chattering of both young and older humans. It was a pleasant sound. Something he'd missed over the years. Sure, he had his radio but it was never the same...
Then suddenly the beacon on his map blinked. It signaled to a home a few houses down. "Please be right, Soundwave," Bee thought as he drove down the road a bit more. He parked on the opposite side of the street, hoping to not be detected just yet.
The mech turned off his engine and stayed still. A few times a small family or couple would walk by. Complementing his alt. Which made Bumblebee rather happy. He was proud of his alt, it had been with him for a very long time.
Though, as the sun began to set, the lights in quite a few houses were turned on. Bumblebee looked into a certain house and watched as a female in her mid twenties walked around. She was a simple female, nice figure, brown hair, tied up in a ponytail. That was all.
But when the woman knelt down on the ground that's what caught Bee's attention. He waited and watched as the lady stood again, this time she was holding a female toddler. About three years of age.
The lady spun around in a circle before speaking, not to the child but to someone else. Then as the older female was speaking the younger one looked outside the window. She giggled and seemed to point out the window.
The older female turned and looked at what the younger sparkling was looking at. Bee was surprised to see that the woman walked toward the window and pointed out the window...at the warriors alt mode. The sparkling looked to her right and pointed out the window again. Attempting to get someone else's attention.
When a shadow was casted over the little girl she put her hand down. Bumblebee waited to see who would come to the window. The older woman gently handed the sparkling to the newcomer who had yet to walk in front of the window. The two talked and shared a quick kiss before the woman walked away. Off to the berthroom, as the black and yellow warrior guessed.
Though it was considerably early for one to be heading into recharge. But the mech didn't question anything. He waited patiently.
A few minutes passed and the sparklings gaze fell onto his alt again. Just as before she pointed out to the Autobot's alt mode. A happy smile on her face.
The newcomer walked in front of the window and looked at what the young human was. His eyes widened when he saw the black and yellow muscle car.
Bumblebee let out a happy whirl. He knew who this was. He was glad that Soundwave was correct. The long sleeve shirt, the plain jeans. The spiky brown hair, which still looked the same. And finally the glasses, they looked exactly, well nearly the same as what they were before.
The male walked out of the house, holding his youngling in his arms as he did so. Quickly he looked both ways down the street before crossing. His brown eyes scanned the steering wheel as he came around to the driver's side. The window happened to be rolled down.
The youngling let out a happy squeal as it was so close to the thing it saw in the window. She reached out to the vehicle, wanting to touch it.
But the other two were frozen.
Then Bumblebee's comlink fizzled on, "Hey kid, the boss has been looking for ya. You're not needed, he was just worrying about you...again," Ironhide's voice rang through the speakers, a bit of static coming through.
The male's eyes widened. He reached out to open the door but before he could the vehicle's engine started up and it drove off. Looking down the street he saw the Camaro stop, "Bumblebee?" He asked softly.
The young girl in the male's arms giggled, "Bumba bee! It's a bumba bee, da da!"
"Indeed it is, Luna."
With the car idling in the middle of the street and no one around, the mech and two humans stood there quietly. Then Bumblebee rolled back, his tires barely making any noise. Stopping when he was beside the male. He opened his passenger's door, "Hello~Rafael."
Raf smiled and looked at his daughter, "Give me a moment, I'll be right back. I just have to put Luna down for the night."
Bee watched his former charge walk back into his house. It took a few minutes before he emerged again. This time turning the lights off in his home.
"What's the destination captain?" The warrior asked as Raf hopped into the right side of his alt.
"Anywhere, just drive!" The male chuckled with a happy smile.
Bumblebee beeped happily and drove off swiftly. Turning off a road and making his way out of the small town.
The sun had pretty much set by now, but the moon was full. Shining a bright light down onto the earth.
After a little while, Bee came to a stop. In an area where there were no humans. He opened his passenger door, letting Raf hop out. The male stepped back and watched the Camaro transform. As parts shifted and moved, a moment later a familiar mech stood before him.
The black and yellow colored warrior knelt down, his bright blue optics observing the human before him.
"Your~tall!"
Raf chuckled, "That's what happens when two friends are separated for so long." His smile faded and his brown eyes looked into Bee's optics, "Why...are you here? Not that I don't love a hello! But is there something wrong? Is it Koda? The others? You wouldn't be here unless something was wrong. And that mech who comed you earlier didn't sound familiar."
Bee held up his index digit, quieting the man before him, "There's a Decepticon here. He goes by the name of Tarn. He's ruthless, more violent than Megatron ever was. We were attacked about a month ago, and we had no choice but to land on the nearest planet. Which happened to be earth." The warrior explained swiftly, talking in his real voice. He looked around quickly to see if there was anything around. Thankfully there wasn't. He was just nervous.
"...That's bad. Everyone, okay?" Raf asked nervously, worried about his alien friends.
"They're fine. Healed up now, Optimus had a few nasty wounds. But he's fine now. And–"
"Bug! Do I need to come and hunt you down or will you be back at base in an hour?!" Ironhide's voice rang through his com-link. He sounded irritated and angry.
Raf sighed and stepped forward, pressing a button on Bee's radio. Which was exposed while he was in his bipedal form. Though it was located on the mech's right forearm, "Listen Bee's gonna be back at base in a little bit. He's just catching up with an old friend. And don't call Bumblebee, bug! Please..."
Back on the Xanthium Ironhide looked at the com-link. His intake opened in shock. Optimus and a few other Autobots who were currently present in the navigational room all looked in the weapons specalist's direction.
"Wait, Bumblebee's gone off and made a human friend?!" Wheeljack grumbled.
Koda shook her head from atop her Prime's shoulder, "No, that doesn't seem right. Bee wouldn't go out talking to a human unless it was someone he knew..." She took a sip of some Energon that was in a small cube. She'd been drinking the blue fuel a lot more as of late.
"Have you had contact with our charges Koda?" Bulkhead asked, perking up slightly. Hoping the woman had been speaking with the three kids.
The woman shook her head sadly, "No...the last time I saw them was when you guys left earth."
Ironhide pressed the button to the com-link again, not caring about what the others were saying, "Listen here you insubordinate piece of scrap. Bumblebee will be returning to base within the hour or I will be coming after you!"
Koda let out a soft chuckle when the com-link turned on again, "Listen here mister...listen I don't know your designation yet. But Bee will be back at your 'base' shortly. He just wanted to say hello. I apologize for making you wait."
The woman tried to figure out which boy it was, but as soon as the male apologized she figured out who it was. Jack would be nice here and there but to someone unknown, he would be a bit on edge. While the youngest member of the team would just be kind.
"Hey...that kinda sounds like Raf," Arcee stated.
Ironhide turned and gave the two wheeler a confused look, "Who?"
"Aside from myself and Agent Fowler there were three other humans on the team. Arcee was guardian to Jack, Bulkhead to Miko, and Bumblebee to Raf. Jack's mother, June also came by here and there," Koda explained, gesturing to the former guardians as she said their names.
"Statement: Bumblebee came to me a little while ago. Asking for help in finding Raf. I apologize for not telling you sooner," Soundwave said from the back of the group. He would have said something but he didn't want Bumblebee to get angry at him.
"It is alright Soundwave, there is no need to apologize," Ratchet reassured the dark colored mech, "I am sure Bumblebee didn't want any of us to know about this yet. And you didn't want to hurt him by telling us."
The dark mech nodded slightly. His visor then lit up as received a message from Ultra Magnus and Aries. They wished to return. So he opened up a ground bridge a few meters from him. Away from the group.
Ironhide had cut off the com-link, deciding to let Bumblebee catch up with his 'friend' as he heard the others call the human. His attention was brought to the now open ground bridge. Aries and Magnus walked through, not hurt or damaged thankfully.
Immediately the two commanders walked through the group of Autobots. Everyone stayed quiet, so they could hear what the two had to report.
"Just as our last report we haven't seen much movement from the Decepticons," Ultra Magnus stated. A hologram image of the Cons' base showed up on the center table. Where the Autobots had gathered.
Everyonce seemed to look slightly encouraged, until Aries spoke, "In Nevada. We noticed a few Decepticons stray off and I followed. We drove for a long time. Soon coming to a snowy land, and mountainous. I noticed another ship in this land, it seemed to have been there for a long time. Sadly I wasn't able to go into this ship. But the Decepticons were carrying large containers, filled with a blue liquid. Similar to that of Energon. But it wasn't the same. It was much darker and had a slight glow to it. Some of it spilled out and fell onto the snow covered ground, and it spread like when harsh oils spread on water. But it soaked into the ground."
"While I wa–" Ultra Magnus was interrupted by Koda.
"Kaiju," She whispered, her voice barely audible, looking at Aries.
Ratchet brought up a picture of the substance. Which had been on Gipsy Danger. Aries nodded, "That's it. But what is it?"
"It's Kaiju blood," Koda replied, all optics came on her for the moment. Ultra Magnus let the woman explain, as it seemed important, "That's what you described. You weren't here when the Kaiju were around Aries, Ultra Magnus. You won't even know what they are Ironhide."
The weapons specialist grumbled, "Well what are they?"
"They were intruders here on earth, long before you or the Decepticons came to earth. Back give or take twenty seven years, in the Pacific Ocean a portal opened. From another world, we called it "The Breach"."
"How can a portal be opened from another world? That sounds ridiculous!" Ironhide rolled his optics.
Koda huffed but continued, "We aren't sure. But the first Kaiju that came through the breach was named Trespasser. It took the military six days to kill him. From then the Kaiju continued attacking. The time of months soon became weeks. Each Kaiju that came was stronger than the last. That's when the world knew, these things weren't going away. We needed a new weapon. The world came together, pooling its resources and throwing aside old rivalries for the greater good. To fight monsters, we created monsters of our own...the Jaeger Program was born."
Everyone was listening intently, the first members of Team Prime also taking in the new details of Koda's past. And the past of earth.
"There were setbacks at first, the neural load to interface with the Jaeger proved too much for a single pilot. A two pilot system was implemented, left hemisphere, right hemisphere, pilot control. They started winning, Jaegers were stopping Kaiju everywhere. But the Jaegers were only as good as their pilots. So they turned into rockstars, danger turned into propaganda, and Kaiju into toys. They got really good at it, winning, then it all changed...After we thought the Kaiju were gone, the world returned to normal. Like nothing happened, the Jaeger program was decommissioned," Koda had heard the story many times, and telling it to others felt like a weight taken off her shoulders, "Many Jaegers were broken down or left in the dust. Brawler Yukon, Coyote Tango, Romeo Blue, Horizon Brave, those are just a few of the many Jaegers made. But when The Breach sent through more Kaiju there were only four remaining Jaegers. Cherno Alpha, a Mark I piloted by Aleksis and Sasha Kaidonovsky. Crimson Typhoon, a Mark IV piloted by Cheung, Jin, and Hu Wei, they were brothers. Then...Then there was Striker Eureka, the first and last of the Mark V's. The fastest Jaeger in the world. Piloted by Hercules and Charles Hansen, moreso known as Herc and Chuck. Lastly there was a Mark III, Gipsy Danger. She was piloted by Raleigh Becket, and The Commander, his name was Stacker Pentecost. And I also piloted Gipsy," The woman trailed off for a few moments. Recalling moments from her life.
She let out a staggered breath, "Everything was going well, Crimson and Cherno were making their way down to the breach. A nuclear bomb strapped to the back of Crimson. If any Kaiju got out Striker and Gipsy were to deal with it. The plan was going great, but when the bomb went off, Cherno and Crimson didn't make it out...But more Kaiju did. With only two Jaegers remaining we fled back. To the nearest outpost, in Alaska. I had only just been brought up to be a Ranger. I should have been able to go on missions, after all I had been going with Raleigh for a while, and I was piloting on my own! But during the night, there was an alert, a Kaiju was attacking a fishing boat ten miles from our outpost. I had quite literally begged Raleigh to take me with him, but he refused. So I was left behind. I remember watching Striker and Gipsy leave the outpost. Each time they went out you never knew if they were going to return. It was a quiet time in the base. Till I went up to see Bill, he helped run Gipsy Danger. When we got a com from the two Jaegers, it wasn't good. The Kaiju that they were fighting was a category four (changed that. Cat three to cat four). Codename...Knifehead. It's name suggests how it looked......In the end, Striker was said to have been destroyed. And the side of Gipsy's left hull was torn out, Raleigh..he was torn out and killed. Stacker made it back to base. But after that, he wouldn't step into the Jaeger ever again. He changed Gipsy to have a single piloting system," Koda sighed and looked down for a moment. Hiding how she was feeling, "I was forced to pilot. Soon it didn't bother me, I was set on trying to find Silas and put him away for good. Along the way I figured out that he had been cloning Kaiju. Which is where my fear of the blood comes in. If the Decepticons have Kaiju blood then they are no doubt trying to do what Silas did. He sided with Megatron for a while, and Shockwave must have taken his information on cloning. If we could somehow get into the base, just to see if that is what they are really doing, then maybe we could stop it before more Kaiju are made."
Everyone was quite literally shocked. While some bots knew she was keeping out a few parts about things, those parts of the story didn't need to be told.
"We understand this, but without Shockwave...who could clone more of these Kaiju?!" Wheeljack rumbled. He was holding a datapad, he'd jotted down some important details that had been told.
Aries stepped forward, "There was another scientist who worked with Shockwave. He's nearly as evil as the one opticed freak was."
Smokescreen tilted his helm curiously, "Who is it? A mech, femme? Details lady!"
"His name is Brainstorm..."
~~~
Hey guys! Sorry this took so long to come out. I had planned on Friday to finish this chapter but we were building some of the walls for our new shop. So I didn't have time, and I wasn't feeling good this week.
Welp I hope you enjoyed this chapter!!
Have a great rest of your weekend. Till next time :D
YOU ARE AMAZING!!!
DON'T FORGET IT!!
love ya🩵
-brook