"It may not occur to you teens that sex is more than a fifteen-minute trip to the backseat of a car, but it's part of a much greater scientific cycle that affects nearly every species known to man."
Torryn yawned in a bored manner as she sat next to Jack in their second-period chemistry class. She and Jack were seated toward the middle of the class just behind where Sierra and Annie who was another girl on the cheer team sat.
The chemistry classroom was one of the only two chemistry classrooms in Memorial High, the room itself looking as most would guess a highschool chemistry class to appear. Tiled floors, bland walls, counters with tall stools, and many ingredients off of the periodic table located at the back of the classroom.
However, what most did not expect was for chemistry class to teach about the human reproductive system as that was more on the biology branch. That was why when Torryn Wilde walked into chemistry after a long morning of practice, she was gobsmacked at the words "Human Reproductive" written in black marker across the whiteboard. According to Jack who arrived a few seconds after she did, Memorial High was known for teaching the human reproductive unit throughout every science class in an attempt to stop teenage pregnancies and educate the younger generations of sex.
So now as half of the class sat nearly falling asleep (Torryn included), the teenage girl could not help but listen to the chemistry teacher drone on about sex with wandering thoughts on the Autobots biology. How did they reproduce? Considering they were robots, she somewhat doubted they did it in the same fashion as humans; however, with them, it seemed anything could be possible.
"...And so, despite your horny teenage brains, sex could have extreme consequences if the proper precautions are not taken beforehand. Remember boys; condoms always suit up, and girls, if you are sexually active do not be afraid to go on the pill!"
Torryn scoffed a snicker from where she was heavily leaning on her arm, her eyes following her male sex teacher as he walked around while waving a condom in his grasp. It was days like this that she wished her and Miko were in the same grade so they could share more than just art class together. She could only imagine the jokes Miko would be cracking if she was here right now.
With a smirk, an idea suddenly came to Torryn, the girl turning her head to face Jack. Jack caught her eye—raising a curious brow, but his face soon fell when he noticed Torryn looking back and forth between him and Sierra who sat one table ahead.
"Don't you dare," He muttered so no one but Torryn could hear him.
Torryn only ignored him, leaning over so she could whisper in the black-haired boys' ear. "You probably wish you could take a fifteen-minute trip to the backseat of a car with Sierra. But then again, knowing you, it would probably be more like an hour." She teased, Jack quickly swatting her and throwing her a heavy glare.
"Stop it," He growled under his breath, Torryn deciding to take it a step further.
"I bet you have wet dreams about the sounds she would be making, begging you to take her..." Torryn leaned even closer, making her voice sound breathless as she impersonated Sierra. "Oh, yeah... Jack please... harder!" She teased in a panting whisper, her perfectly manicured acrylics clenching the stool she sat upon as she converted her fact to make it look as if she was having an orgasm.
Jack jumped away from his friend, throwing a harsh glare at her in reply. Torryn only sniggered, covering her mouth to conceal her cackles.
"I am so getting back at you for this later." He sneered, Torryn's lipgloss coated lips quirking up.
"Can't wait." She giggled just as the bell rang and Jack practically flew out of the classroom to get away from his crude female friend.
Torryn watched him go, slowly packing up her bag.
"What was that about?"
Torryn looked to Sierra who also watched Jack race out of the classroom in a confused manner.
In Torryn's opinion, the fact that both Sierra and Jack were obviously crushing on each other, yet neither would say anything was just sad. It was because of this that she silently made it her duty to get her two friends together before the end of the school year.
"No clue," Torryn answered while swinging her swirling cotton-candy colored backpack over her shoulder.
✸✸✸
The previous night after Smokescreen had run away with Torryn, the two spent hours talking about Smokescreen's life on Cybertron and how he had mentally only been away for a little more than a week. Torryn listened to his multiple stories and adventures of being on the Elite Guard and all the advice he had taken from Alpha Trion who was apparently like the "Dumbledore" of Cybertron.
Smokescreen was confused when Torryn made that comment and the teenager then promised she would show him the Harry Potter series at some point.
Luckily, Smokescreen had turned off his commlink so the others were not able to get ahold of him and order him to return to the base. Although, when he dropped her off by her car at the school later that night he was complaining that he would probably be in a scrap-load of trouble when he got back.
Along with begging for her address which Torryn still did not give up (though she was able to set up her phone so that she could communicate with him along with the others on the team) that wrapped up their night together and Smokescreen reluctantly headed back to base where he knew a stern talking to and punishment was awaiting him.
Torryn was cut out of her thoughts by Miko bounding up to her the second she exited the school with an annoyed Jack by her side. He was still upset with her both for yesterdays incident as well as today.
"Guess who is giving you a ride to the base today?" Torryn furrowed her brows at Miko's words, Jack looking at the Japanese girl in bewilderment as well.
However, as soon as Torryn looked over to the bots in their alt mode she understood. Though Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Arcee were in their usual spots, Smokescreen was nowhere to be found. Looking back toward Miko, Torryn quickly followed after her while Jack and Raf went to their respective guardians.
The second she was inside Bulkhead, sitting in the back next to Miko, the green mech greeted them.
"How was school today, you two?" Bulkhead questioned in a friendly manner, pulling from the curb in a more moderate fashion than Smokescreen had done with Torryn yesterday.
"Boring," Miko groaned. "But I'm skipping detention, so that's fun." She giggled, Bulkhead sighing in response.
"Miko," He said in a warning tone.
"Bulkhead," She mocked in the same tone.
Torryn rose her brows in response to their behavior together, it was almost as if Bulkhead was the big brother Miko never had. Clearing her throat, Torryn finally spoke up.
"Um, not that I have a problem with you driving me or anything, but where is Smokescreen?" Torryn tilted her head, Miko snickering as if she already knew the answer.
Bulkhead made an awkward noise before relenting and giving Torryn an answer. "Well, he's kind of in trouble for yesterday. He got a pretty stern talking to from Optimus and Ratchet then his punishment is that he is not allowed to pick you up from school or drop you off later today." He explained as they left Jasper and began driving through the desert.
"Really?" Torryn sighed in disdain, upset that Smokescreen was already in trouble.
"Oh yeah," Bulkhead chuckled. "You should probably be expecting a good lecture from Optimus and Ratchet when we get back to base as well. Don't be surprised if Ratchet forces you to sit down and do your homework for the rest of the time you're at the base today."
Torryn's eyes widened in terror, the girl turning around to look at the ever-fading view of Jasper through the back window. Miko watched her friend's reaction and laughed while giving her a sympathetic pat.
Turning back around, Torryn gulped. "Actually, I change my mind. I don't want to go to the base today, can you take me back to my car?" She questioned in the most polite tone she could muster, Bulkhead snorting causing his Autobot insignia to light up.
"No can do, we're already almost to the base," Bulkhead said causing Torryn to groan, and sink low onto his seats while Miko only laughed.
The rest of the drive was not long enough for Torryn, the poor girl nervously anticipating the lecture she was no doubt going to get from the very big leader and grumpy robotic-doctor. Maybe if she jumped out of Bulkhead now she would be able to run to her house, it wasn't too far from Outpost Omega One after all.
But alas, Bulkhead was pulling in through the tunnel leading to the main room of the base faster than Torryn could stop him. Arcee and Bumblebee had already arrived and transformed when they came in. Torryn sighed when she saw Smokescreen standing next to Arcee and Bee with a small pout on his lip plates.
Quickly, she hopped out of Bulkhead with her backpack, Miko following in suit. Once the two girls were out of Bulkhead the large mech transformed, limping over to stand next to Bee, Arcee, and Smokescreen. Torryn scratched her head when she realized Bulkhead was limping and asked herself how she had not noticed that before. She shook her head deciding that she would question Miko on it later.
Optimus and Ratchet stood at their usual spots by their monitors looking for either energon or lost relics.
"Smokey," Torryn pouted as she approached Smokescreen who visibly shuddered upon hearing the nickname fall from what he imagined to be extremely soft lips of hers.
Taking what was a rather large step for Torryn but a small step for himself, Smokescreen held out his servo for Torryn to step on. The teenager smiled at the gesture, wasting no time climbing onto her guardian's servo, grasping his digit as she was lifted in the air toward Smokescreen's helm.
"You got me in trouble," Smokescreen complained, but it was obvious that he was not truly mad at the girl.
Scoffing, Ratchet turned away from his work, pointing an accusing digit at Smokescreen. "No, you got yourself in trouble. If you had not assisted her in running away, you would not be in this situation." The old medic grumbled while placing his servos on his hip plates.
Torryn bit her lip nervously as Optimus also turned away from his work going to Ratchet's side. She sensed a strong lecture coming on.
"Aw shit," Torryn muttered attempting to hide behind Smokescreen's digits.
"Torryn," The girl shuttered at Optimus's low and surprisingly enough; fatherly, tone. Oh great, the parental voice, this was definitely not going to go well.
"Uh, Torryn's not here right now." The redhead made a sad effort at impersonating Smokescreen by making her voice slightly lower and more masculine.
"What?" Smokescreen cried, revealing a sheepish looking Torryn who was still clutching his digits. "I do not sound like that!" He jeered while Torryn only glared at him in reply.
"Running away from your problems never solves anything, Torryn." Optimus started causing Jack, Miko, and Raf to snicker from where they were watching upstairs. Torryn nearly flipped them off but thought better of it not wanting to be lectured about that as well. "While you may not understand it now, doing your homework is an extremely important task that not only expands your knowledge but also builds your responsibility." Only Optimus Prime could give a speech on homework and make it sound inspiring.
"I have looked up 'homework' on the worldwide web and firmly believe that homework is both necessary and good for you. Homework will give you valuable practice and will make you an overall better student. Furthermore, attempting to run away from your homework or in other words; issues that you may feel is never the answer. Often asking for advice and facing the problem is the most proficient way to go about it." Torryn sighed as Optimus lectured her, resting her back against Smokescreen's thumb.
"...Smokescreen," Smokescreen jumped upon being brought into the conversation, his blue optics wide as he looked to Optimus. He already had his lecture last night! "As I told you before, enabling this behavior for Torryn will not benefit her in any way. In fact, it will be doing just the opposite. I am dissatisfied with this turn of events, especially with you only having been her guardian for two days," Optimus threw a pointed look toward Smokescreen who bowed his helm with regret. "Because of this, you will not be allowed to return Torryn to her car tonight and will be scrubbing the energon tanks for the remainder of the week. And you Torryn, after getting a checkup from Ratchet, will be doing your homework for the rest of the day."
Smokescreen sighed as he was reminded of his punishment that he had gotten from the leader last night, Torryn needing to bite her tongue in order to not release a sassy comment that would no doubt get her in more trouble. Was it mentioned that Torryn absolutely hated authority in any manner; whether it be righteous or deceitful?
Thankfully, it seemed that the Prime was finished with his lecture, giving the two one last pointed expression before turning back to his work. For a split second, Torryn wondered about pulling the same move from last night and having her and Smokescreen ride away before anyone could do anything. Though, Torryn did not want to imagine the other Autobots rage if they did that. Optimus would be PISSED.
"Smokescreen set her here." Torryn looked to Ratchet who ordered Smokescreen to set her on the human-sized medical bed sitting a few feet away from the human comfort zone.
Complying with the physicians' wishes, Smokescreen gently set Torryn down on the bed, taking a few steps back but keeping his optics firmly planted on her. In a matter of moments, Ratchet had collapsed into his alt mode, a shiny ambulance taking form in his place.
Torryn screeched as a man no older than thirty-two suddenly sizzled to life and appeared just in front of her. Her eyes were wide with alarm as she gaped at the stocky male wearing a pristine white lab coat with a braid falling across his shoulder. His hair was snowy white with eccentric orange highlights and adorning his face were many scars that would not be visible from far away but apparent close-up. Torryn took in the neatly trimmed orange eyebrows and grey turtle neck with slacks hiding under the lab coat, her mind reeling in confusion.
Unfortunately, Torryn did not take well to a random unrecognizable man appearing right before her, and when Torryn did not take things well the situation tended to escalate by a hundred. Call it paranoia, but with a father working for the government and leaving his sixteen-year-old home all the time, he was bound to teach her a thing or two about self-defense.
"HOLY FUCK!" Torryn screamed, throwing her foot out from where she sat on the bed at the speed of light.
With as much force as she could muster from her awkward position, Torryn kicked the man causing him to groan and stumble backward, her eyes widening in horror when he began flickering in and out of existence. It seemed to go from 0-100 like that, everyone shocked when Torryn swung her backpack around and pulled out... a gun!
With no hesitation, Torryn pointed the gun at the random man. "Smokescreen, Smokescreen, Smokescreen!" She repeatedly screamed in panic, her brain immediately making the conclusion that her guardian would protect her (not that she couldn't protect herself to a certain degree). "I will shoot you, stay back!" Torryn waved the gun wildly while her three friends were yelling in shock.
Torryn was only lucky that neither June nor Agent Fowler was here at this moment.
"Oh my god! Why do you have a gun?" Jack was screaming while Raf froze in shock with his mouth hanging open and Miko grinned at the chaos that was proving to be great entertainment.
Shaking himself out of it, Raf hit Miko's shoulder catching sight of her grin. Rubbing her shoulder, Miko only snickered.
"Torryn always has a gun."
Jack and Raf snapped their head to Miko in shock, the other Autobots doing this as well.
"You knew that Torryn carried a loaded gun in her backpack and didn't bother to mention anything?" Raf said in exasperation while Jack only wondered why he was even friends with Miko and Torryn at the moment.
"What? A girl has got to protect herself." Miko shrugged, nodding her head while going back to the chaotic situation at hand.
"By the Allspark, Torryn!" The man yelled with anger, his glaring blue eyes seeming to glow. "It's me, Ratchet!"
"Ratchet!?" Torryn exclaimed, still gripping the gun.
"Yes, now put that thing away before you hurt somebody!" Ratchet scolded, his holoform ceasing in its flickering as it quickly healed itself from the sharp kick Torryn laid on it.
Looking at the man now, Torryn was able to see certain features which did resemble the grumpy medic. Not to mention she would recognize Ratchet's raspy voice anywhere. Believing him, Torryn slowly lowered her gun as Ratchet came toward her once again.
"You can turn human?" Torryn asked with perplexity.
"Yes," Ratchet grunted as he snatched the gun out of Torryn's grasp. "Give me that!"
Torryn jumped trying to get her gun back. "Hey, give it back, it's mine!" She furiously yelled, attempting to get the gun that Ratchet handed to Optimus who promptly put the firearm in a place where Torryn could not even hope to reach it.
Torryn always carried around weapon whether it be a gun, knife, taser, or even pepper spray. Her father always taught her that she never knew when she would need to defend herself, and despite teaching her some hand-to-hand combat he expressed that a weapon was also in order. In this day and age, the world was evolving to much more firey violence, carrying around a weapon of some sort was not uncommon.
The Earth had always been a brutal place and humans were no doubt one of the most savage and volatile creatures to ever walk it. People could be bad as they could be good, and Scott Wilde needed his daughter to understand that. He was not the one who built the human system, nor was he the one who fucked it up. Giving his daughter not just one gun but over a dozen was his way of protecting her when he could not be there to do it himself.
"How long have you had that on you?" Torryn turned her attention to Jack, the girl shrugging.
She was definitely not about to explain to him how her father had an arsenal of weapons back at her house and that she had complete access to it.
"It doesn't matter," Torryn mumbled, but everyone heard her.
"Yes, it does matter," The girl turned her attention to Optimus who stood with a scolding look upon his metal face. "Why ever it was that you possessed that firearm, I truly do hope that in the future you will trust us enough to explain the purpose behind it. However, while you are within Team Primes' care you are not to carry around that weapon for both the safety of yourself and others around. Therefore, this weapon will stay here until I can dispose of it properly, is that understood?"
Now, here is the thing. Torryn did not take to kindly to being ordered around, especially by some robot that she just met. Call her bratty or spoilt or whatever, but Torryn listened to no one but those she truly respected and cared about. None of these Autobots despite having her trust had earned her respect quite yet. Perhaps in the future they would, but then again, earning Torryn Wilde's respect was hard.
Therefore, any other time Torryn would have put up a hell of a fight against the last Prime. But, the gun which Optimus had taken away was most definitely not Torryn's only weapon. As stated before, there was a full arsenal at home along with a pistol that hid in the glovebox of every one of Scott Wilde's cars (yes, that includes the Mercedes), and you can't forget the pocketknife, pepper spray, and oh yeah, the taser that was also sitting ideally in Torryn's backpack.
Even though Torryn was ornery, she was also extremely smart. And so, in her mind why fight the last Prime on something so small when she had many where that came from? It was not worth making a mountain out of a molehill when all Torryn had to do was take another gun from the house arsenal.
And so, Torryn sucked up her pride.
With a sigh, Torryn dramatically fell back against the medical bed. "Yes, Optimus." She stated as Ratchet came over in his apparent human form and began to do a checkup on her as he did with the other humans every few weeks or so.
Jack, Miko, and Raf were all confused that their friend did not put up a fight like she usually would. Especially with Optimus ordering her as they all knew that no one bossed Torryn Wilde around. Narrowing his eyes, Jack knew that Torryn must have been up to something for her to give in so easily. Miko and Raf realized this as well, but while Raf simply didn't care enough to do anything about it, Miko only looked forward to the havoc that would no doubt go down with her friend when whatever she was up to was revealed.
Furrowing her brows, Torryn watched him do this, puckering her lips. "So like, can you all turn human?"
Eyeing the redhead, Ratchet nodded while checking her over for any sign of physical injuries. Other than a small but healing razor cut on her knee, Ratchet had found nothing.
"Yes, all of us except for Smokescreen. I'm still designing his," Ratchet mumbled causing Torryn to look around for her guardian.
Realizing Smokescreen was nowhere to be found, Torryn gazed at Ratchet with a confused expression. "Where's Smokescreen?" It was then she realized Smokescreen had not seen any of the previous drama go down either.
"Scrubbing the energon tanks." Arcee was the one to answer her, the female human looking at the femme who was handing her a slight glare.
So far, Arcee had mixed emotions about Torryn. She thought that Torryn seemed like a nice person deep deep down, and Smokescreen along with the children were rather fond of her, but so far Torryn had not shown her friendly colors to anyone other than the children, Smokescreen, and Bulkhead. Not to mention her total lack of respect actually seemed to surpass Miko's, something which Arcee never thought possible. I mean, carrying around a gun all the time, what in the name of the Allspark?!
What the team did not need at this moment was a reckless human, and in the few days she had known them, that's exactly what Torryn presented herself as. Arcee also got the feeling that Torryn was hiding something, and not just something little, but something big.
However, Arcee decided that she would give Torryn a few more weeks before she came to a full conclusion on how she felt about the redheaded human.
It was at that moment when Smokescreen decided to make a reappearance. Jogging into the room, his large pedes causing a "thud" sound to emit around the base, the newest member of Team Prime smiled brightly.
"Done!" He cheered fist-pumping the air earning everyone's attention. "I scrubbed all the energon tanks in record time, in your face Bee!" Smokescreen gloated, Bumblebee throwing his servos in the air while making a series a chirps and buzzes with a scowl.
Torryn watched the interaction from where she lay down on the human medical table. The teenager shivered lightly when Ratchet brought his hands under her shirt, feeling around her lower abdomen. Unbeknownst to her, Ratchet was actually feeling for any sign of a potential pregnancy.
Yes, the medical officer of the Autobots had recently been informed by June of the spiking teenage pregnancies taking form in America. Of course, wanting to satisfy his natural thirst for medical knowledge, Ratchet was quick to research this topic. The Autobot was now more precautious than before when it came down to Miko (despite him knowing she wasn't sexually active) silently scanning her every few days to make sure she wasn't carrying.
Now, Miko did not realize this for if she had, she definitely would have given the 'Bot a piece of her mind.
Ratchet was more nervous for Torryn because he had only just met her and was unsure whether or not she was sexually active. He hoped to Primus she wasn't. However, that was a conversation for another day, particularly one where he's known for longer than two days.
"Oh my gosh, Bee! You can't say that!"
Ratchet's attention was taken to Bee who was cursing Smokescreen out in his chirping language.
Smokescreen and Bee being the youngest on the team naturally got along the best. In the short time they had known each other they had already become like brothers. Brothers who liked messing around, talking, and competing.
Oh yes, Smokescreen and Bee did like to make much of everything they did a competition. Such as racing, seeing who could get the most shots, and the most recent rivalry: who could cleaning the energon tanks the quickest?
Bee had recently held the record of six minutes time, but it seemed Smokescreen had just beat it with a jaw-dropping four minutes and thirty seconds. Something; in Ratchet's opinion, which should not have been possible if Smokescreen was doing a good job at the cleaning.
Rolling his optics, Bee huffed while Smokescreen did a small "victory dance" rubbing it in the yellow Autobot's face. Yeah, Bee was not happy.
Ratchet grunted in annoyance, but chose to ignore the two young mechs and continue on in examining Torryn. After happily finding that she was not pregnant, Ratchet moved onto listening to her heart.
"Nice job, Smokescreen!" Torryn complimented her guardian, Smokescreen looking back at her with a wide grin.
Before he could reply to his charge, Bee finally snapped. "Oh, hell no!" It was not Bee's normal chirping, but instead a clipping from what Torryn recognized to be the radio.
"What!?" It was Smokesceeen who shouted in surprise, the newest mech was not the only shocked one in the base.
Miko, Torryn, Jack, and Rafael were astonished as well. None of them; not even Raf, had known Bee could do that.
"You can do that!" Miko shouted, her eyes comically wide as she looked to Raf's yellow guardian in a new light.
Arcee and Bulkhead cringed when Bee used the radio speak like he used to do when they first arrived on Earth. There was a reason he was not allowed to do it anymore, but sometimes the young Autobot slipped. However, it wouldn't soften Ratchet's anger.
"He can talk!" Smokescreen shouted, but was cut off by Bee.
The yellow muscle car made a noise as the radio switched stations, clips of what Bee intended to say taking form through his vocal processors. "You think you're better than me?" It was the clip of some dramatic radio debate, changing as soon as it was over.
"YEEHAW!" An insane voice came from Bee as the mech kicked Smokescreen in the chassis.
Smokescreen cried as was he flung back a few steps, Bee not putting in enough force to actually hurt him but rather "play-fight" as the humans would put it.
"I told you, homeboy! You can't touch this!" The popular eighties song filled the large room as Bee did his own victory dance, Smokescreen still trying to get over the fact that Bee could talk to some degree.
Sure, it wasn't his actual voice, but it was still better than his normal Cybertronian binary.
The humans; especially Jack, Raf, and Miko, who had known Bee for a lot longer than Torryn were shocked too.
"Bumblebee!" Ratchet turned away from Torryn with a heavy scowl. "You know not to use the radio, do want the Decepticons to track us?"
Ah, that explained it.
So that was why the humans nor Smokescreen had ever heard Bee talk via radio before.
If you were to rewind the clock by just a few years time, Bumblebee's old habits of using the radio to speak would be present. Yes it was true, Bumblebee's way of speaking used to be through the radio, and the scout didn't much mind it as it was cool in his processor.
Bumblebee was actually the first Autobot to get to Earth back in 1987 as it was his job to scout the planet for any necessary resources.
He was successful as he found that the blue and green planet was rich off energon; especially back before the Autobots or Decepticons had arrived.
That was also the year he had met his first ever "charge" as it would be. Charlie Watson was the first human he had ever met and the girl made quite the impression. He wasn't with her for more than a few months, just until Optimus, Bulkhead, and Ratchet arrived, but she still made a huge impression on him. She was the reason Bee was and always will be so determined to protect planet Earth.
She was also the one to suggest he try using the radio to talk.
Oh, he loved using the radio. But when Soundwave inevitably found a way to track him through it since he used it so often, Bee was forced to not use the radio any other time than to listen to music when he was driving.
The tracking discovery only happened a few years ago, so the mech still had his moments where he slipped and used the radio anyway.
Bowing his helm in shame and sadness, Bee kicked his pede on the ground.
Torryn gave the yellow mech a sad look, knowing it must have been hard for him not to speak.
Ratchet sighed, his gaze softening. "Just don't do it again," The medic grumbled as he stepped away from Torryn, pleased with his checkup.
She was healthy.
Clearing his throat, Smokesceeen attempted to alleviate the atmosphere. "Sweet, want to play a video game now that you're done, Torryn?" Her guardian tried to ask, only for Ratchet to scowl.
His holoform disappeared and suddenly he was back in normal mech-mode, transforming from the shiny ambulance. "Ep, ep, ep!" He tittered, using a digit to forcefully push Torryn toward the couch of the human comfort zone; right next to her backpack. "You need to do your homework."
"But I don't want to—"
"I don't want to hear it, do your homework!"