Part Two

Tension

Chapter 7

Optimus informed Sam and me that he still had much work to get to, so we quickly thanked him, said bye, and left his office with Bee. Once in the hallway again, the three of us stood in a little circle for a moment. "So..." Sam finally said, "Now what?"

"Now, I'm off to say 'hi' to everyone and to go look for the twins, so see ya!" And with that, I took off sprinting down the hall.

"Hey, wait!" Sam called after me, but I didn't comply to his request.

I was headed towards the Rec Room; one of the guys in there had to know where Sunny and Siders were. As I passed the Med Bay, a bot was walked towards me, reading a datapad. "Look out below!" I yelled to Prowl, not wanting to get stepped on.

Prowl's optics left his datapad for only a moment, "Hello Paris." To avoid possibly being stepped on, I made sure to keep close to the wall on my right.

Just as I was passing him, I shouted, "Nice seeing you, Prowl!" I didn't get a response out of him this time, but I didn't expect to. It was surprising to me that he had even said anything.

In a few more moments, I was at the Rec Room's entrance and completely out of breath. After getting my breathing mostly under control, I went over to the table that the blue noblemech was still sitting at. He must have been very enthralled by whatever it was he was reading, because he didn't hear me walk right up next to him. "Heya Mirage."

Said bot jumped a bit and looked down at me. A small smile formed on his lips, a rare occurrence, and he put his datapad down on the table. "Hello Paris. It's good to see you again."

I smiled back, "It's good to see you too. Think you can give me a rundown of where everyone is? I talked to Optimus and Prowl, Ratchet seems busy in the Med Bay, and I know that the Jettwins are over there."

"Certainly. Let's see, Jazz is on monitor duty, Wheeljack's in the Med Bay with Ratchet, they're working on something together. Blurr and Ironhide are in the training area. And the twins..." he trailed off for a moment to think, "They should be back from their patrol by now. Since they're not in here, I assume they're in their room."

"Cool, thanks," I said while taking a few steps back, "I'll talk to you later, Mirage." He gave a little wave, which I returned. My feet took me to the couch that the Jettwins were sitting at. Stopping behind the couch, so that they couldn't see me, I took a deep breath before shouting, "JETSTORM! JETFIRE!"

Both 'Bots whipped around on the couch and looked down at me. Wide smiles were on their faces as they leapt over the back of the couch. "Paris!" they shouted in unison.

Jetstorm scooped me up and began to twirl around, much to my dismay. "Look, Brother! Our human friend is being back!"

"Now we can be kicking her butt in video games!" Jetfire put in.

To my relief, Jetstorm stop spinning. It looked like he was nodding at me... although it also looked like he had two heads. "Oh yes!" he exclaimed, "We have been practicing!"

"Well," I started, once everything had stopped spinning, "We'll just see about that. It'll have to be later, though. I'm making the rounds and looking for the other twins."

The Jettwins' faces fell, "Oh..."

"Hey, lighten up you two. Not like I'm leaving and never coming back." Footsteps could be heard coming towards the Rec Room. Craning my neck to see around Jetstorm's head, I saw 'Bee and Sam enter the room. A smile formed on my face, "Besides, I just found you guys two new friends." I nodded in their direction and the Jettwins turned around. Their faces lit up again at the sight before them.

"Are you believing what your optics is seeing?"

"I am believing that they are seeing Bumblebee!"

Bumblebee appeared to be happy to see the two 'Bots in front of him. While Jetfire ran over to him, Jetstorm carefully placed me on the ground before joining his brother and 'Bee. Laughing to myself at the excited trio, I walked over to Sam. He was also looking at the group in amusement. As I approached Sam, I spoke, "Took you awhile."

He glanced over at me. "We stopped by the Med Bay, but we heard Ratchet talking to someone, so... we'll just go later."

I nodded and looked back at the 'Bots. The Jettwins were chattering away to 'Bee as he nodded and gestured every once and awhile. It was good to see them talking so excitedly to someone. They didn't seem that close to anyone on the base, besides each other. I knew that they would hang out with Sunny and Sides sometimes, but I also knew that Sunny and Sides found the Jettwins annoying after a while. Turning back to Sam, I hitched a thumb towards the group. "Those are the Jettwins," I said, causing him to face me, "Jetstorm and Jetfire. They're the last known Autobot fliers."

"How many other new ones are here?"

"There are four others. Mirage is over in the corner and the other three are around the base. You'll probably run into them sooner or later."

"I think we already did. He was black and white?"

"That's Prowl. He's the second in command, so he can be strict. But he's pretty cool. Just don't intentionally try to piss him off."

"Ah."

We fell into a silence, so I guessed it was time for me to leave. "You should introduce yourself to them," I told Sam while nodding towards the Jettwins. "They like humans. And video games."

He chuckled a bit. "And now you're going to go find the other twins?"

"Heck to the yes. See ya later." I mock saluted Sam before leaving the Rec Room.

Making my way down the hall, I ended up back in the opening of the hanger. I contiued on through the other hallway, the one that led to the recharge rooms. The twins' rooms were almost exactly halfway down. Once at their doors, I stopped and listened. It sounded like they were in their actual recharge room. But it didn't seem like they were doing much. Going over to the human level keypad, I entered their code and the door slid open. As I had guessed, the twins weren't really doing anything. Sideswipe was lying on his berth, staring at the ceiling, and Sunstreaker was sitting on his own, drawing in his sketch book. They both looked over at the door as it opened. I smiled at the sight of them... only to have it falter when they looked away without a word. "Tough crowd," I mumbled to myself. The door slid closed after I went through it. "Gee, thanks for the welcome wagon."

"Hey Squishy," Sideswipe greeted, still looking at the ceiling. I walked to the side of Sunstreaker's berth.

Looking up at him, I asked, "What, not even a 'hey' or 'what's up?'... 'glad to see you're still alive'... nothing?"

He looked down at me. "Hey."

Huffing in annoyance, I crossed my arms and turned away from him. I leaned back against his berth, arms still crossed. "The Jettwins were more excited to see me than you guys," I said while sliding down to the ground.

"They get excited about everything," Sunstreaker pointed out.

"Ok then, Mirage was more excited to see me."

Sideswipe shook his head, "Eh, it may not seem like it, but the guy does have emotions."

I gritted my teeth together, "Fine. Prowl was. At least I didn't have to prompt him to say 'hello'."

"Ouch."

Scoffing at Sides, I turned my head away from him and towards the door. "So... what, I've been left in the dark for weeks, had zero contact with everyone here, and I come back to this? If it's about the whole you-guys-possibly-leaving thing, you're not handling it very well."

There was silence for a few moments. Then I heard Sideswipe shift on his berth. Looking back at him, he had turned to lie on his side, propping his head up with his right arm, "Alright, so we're both in a bad mood. It's not everyday that you're told you're basically not welcome somewhere because you're helping keep alive the someones that live in that somewhere." He went back to lying on his back and resumed staring at the ceiling, "It's fragged up, is what it is."

"Yeah, I know, it sucks," I stretched my legs out and crossed them while putting hands behind my head, "People are stupid. I think we've come to this conclusion before."

"This is beyond stupid," Sunstreaker said. Twisting my head around, I strained to look up and back at him without moving. "It's suicidal, really."

I hadn't really thought about it like that. What would happen if the Autobots left and we had to defend ourselves against the Decepticons? We might make it through... but it would be quite a devastating blow to the world. Wincing a bit at the thought, I shook my head, "Well, you guys aren't leaving anytime soon." I stood up and unconsiously wiped my jeans off, "Let's go to the training area. Mirage told me that Blurr and Ironhide are over there." I turned to face the twins to see their reactions. They glanced at each other briefly before they both shrugged.

"Sure, nothing better to do," Sideswipe concluded.

"Sweet, c'mon let's go."

Due to the size of it, the training area was in a different building. When we entered the building, the twins went straight to the firing range, and I told them I'd meet up with them in a bit. As Mirage had said, Ironhide and Blurr were in there. Ironhide was working with Blurr in close combat. I watched them for a while, waiting for them to take a break. When they did, I began waving my arms around. "Squishy in the area, don't kill me by accident! Or on purpose!" The two mechs looked over at me. Blurr smiled and waved, and was almost instantly in front of me.

"Hi-Paris-wow-it's-good-to-see-you-again-it's-been-a-long-time-hasn't-it-or-maybe-it-hasn't-and-it-just-seems-like-it-does-it-seem-like-it's-been-a-long-time-to-you-because-to-me-it-does."

"I'm used to being here practically everyday, of course it felt like a long time!" I leaned a bit to my right to look past Blurr, "Hey Ironhide! Good to see you again!" Ironhide grunted in response. A small smile quirked my lips and I looked back at Blurr, "Well, the twins went over to the firing range, and I don't want to keep you from your practice, so I'll get going now."

"Ok-I'll-see-you-later-I-guess-unless-you-leave-before-I'm-done-then-I'll-see-you-another-day-but-that-would-still-be-later-wouldn't-it?"

"You're rambling, Blurr!" I called back to him as I walked away.

I went back out the door that led to the training room and took a left down the hall. Another door was beside me in almost no time, and I went through it. Inside the door was a room with another door on the opposite wall. The wall on the right was lined with shelves for the Autobots to use, although they were mostly empty. On the left wall were extra targets. I walked across the room, stopping at the other door. To the right of the door were some pegs with ear muffs for any humans entering the range. After grabbing a pair and adjusting them a bit, I went through the door to the firing range. Sunny and Sides had stations next to each other. They were both using their laser weapons at the time. When they noticed my presence, they both ceased fire and turned towards me. I pulled my ear muffs off my head and left them around my neck.

"'Bout time you got here," Sideswipe remarked. I looked past the pair and to the targets they had been using. Holes littered them both, gaping and still smoking.

Quirking an eyebrow, I looked at both twins, "My, having some anger issues, are we now?"

"Just letting off some steam."

"Yeah, would you rather us put holes through the next 'bot or human that annoys us enough?"

"Easy there, Sunny," I put my hands up, "No need to get violent with others."

"Yeah Sunstreaker, we don't need more people hating us."

Sunstreaker made a disgruntled noise before turning to face his target again. "Better put your headgear on," he warned. The plating in his right arm began to shift, and a gun was formed. He took aim before letting loose a barrage of bullets. Sideswipe rolled his optics, but followed suit without objection. I turned away from the pair and walked towards the wall behind them. I leaned my back against it before sliding down to the ground. There was no more conversation between us. I had no doubts that the twins were trying to shoot out all of their emotions. They weren't very good at talking about their feelings. They liked to keep them bottled up. Which is why I decided to not be too mad at them for how they reacted to my visit. It would probably be best to just let it go.

Besides, holding a grudge against two giant robots didn't seem like the best idea.

After being lost in thought for some stretch of time, I was finally stirred from my trance by the twins. They were done for the day and were going to head to the rec room.

Once we got there, I saw that the Jettwins were introducing Bee to video games, while Sam watched. He was grinning and laughing at their attempts. When we entered the room, he turned towards us, and his face fell. It took me a moment to remember that he hadn't left on a good note with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. But, they either didn't notice his look or didn't care, as they walked over to the trio playing video games, and stood behind them.

"Tch, bunch of amateurs," Sideswipe commented. He snatched a controller from Jetfire's hands, "Let me show ya how it's done."

"Hey! I was not being done with that!"

Sunstreaker smirked. "Yeah, Sides, it's not nice to take things from kids."

"Kid?"

I rolled my eyes, knowing that another fight was eminate. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker just loved to push the other twins' buttons.

"Are they always like this?"

I glanced at Sam, who had walked over to me, and laughed half-heartedly. "Unfortunately. But they never do serious damage. Just enough to give Ratchet a headache."

"Oh, yeah, about Ratchet. He was just out here a while ago, getting some cubes for him and Wheeljack. I told him you were here, and he said that the door's open if you want to go say hi."

My eye widened, "The Hatchet invited me to visit the medbay? Geez, he must've blown a circuit or something."

"I guess he's just in a good mood... which is rare. And he probably knows that you'd start bugging them anyways."

"True."

A loud clang sounded, startling me and prompting me to turn towards it. The couch was now toppled over, and Jetfire and Sideswipe were all out brawling over the controller. Jetstorm was trying to intervene, with Sunstreaker blocking him and laughing the whole time. Bumblebee stood off to the side, looking uncertain about what to do.

"Hey!" I yelled. "I'm gonna bail for a bit. Shouldn't take long. Play nice! Don't think I won't get Prowl, or something!"

"See ya!" Sideswipe yelled back, almost gleefully. Sunstreaker nodded towards me.

I turned back to Sam, "Make sure things don't get out of hand." With that, I headed towards the medbay.

Just like Ratchet had said, the door was unlocked, and slid open as I neared it. In the back, I could see two forms leaning over a table. They looked very engrossed in whatever they were doing. Probably so much so that they didn't hear me come in. As I walked towards them, I made my presence known, "So, what's this about Ratchet practically inviting me over here?"

Said bot looked up from whatever he was doing, and scoffed at me, "I was merely trying to avoid the annoyance of being pestered by you. I knew it'd only be a matter of time if I said we were busy and couldn't be disturbed."

I frowned. "I'm not that annoying."

Wheeljack then put some things down on the table and came towards me. He leaned down and held his hand out for me. "It's good to see you again."

With a smile, I climbed on. "Good to see you too, Jack." I turned my gaze to Ratchet. "And you... well, after that comment, you, not so much."

When I was set down on the table, I saw that it was littered with blueprints, tools, circuit boards, and a plethora of other parts that I couldn't name. "Whatcha working on?"

"Oh, something we hope to integrate into the human sector of the base."

"Cool."

"Would you care to try it? We actually need someone to test it."

"Umm..." Wheeljack was giving me one of those pleading looks. Y'know, the ones that you have to give in to, because if you don't you're a terrible person. I winced. "Sure, why not." I was then handed the thing that Wheeljack and Ratchet had been working on. "Headphones?" I asked in a confused tone.

"That's the idle mode," Ratchet corrected me.

"Oh, right." Pulling the not-headphones around my neck, I stopped before putting them on my head, "Wait, these aren't gonna explode or anything right?"

Ratchet gave an exasperated sigh. "The worst thing that will happen is that it won't open."

"Hey, this is my head here, I was just making sure." I then proceeded to pull the non-headphones up onto my head. "Alright, now what?"

"On the right ear cover, there's a button along the rim," Wheeljack instructed.

My fingers ran along the rim until I found the button. I couldn't help but hold my breath when I pressed it. To my relief, it didn't explode. Instead, something slid out from both sides of the band. Once everything stopped moving, I realized that the not-headphones had turned into a helmet. The visor was tinted, but didn't obstruct my sight.

"This is so cool!" I gushed.

"That's not even the good part," Wheeljack said. "We plan to make it so that the visor becomes a display. During battle, it can be difficult for humans to tell the difference between us, especially those who have had limited contact with us. And most end up targeting the wrong place, wasting time and ammo. The display will show which bots are Decepticons, and where their weak points are. We may incorporate other things, if more is needed."

My eyes widened, "Cool."

"And," Ratchet said, "We will have them linked to an open comlink. It will be easier to communicate with each other that way."

I clicked the button on the rim again, and the helmet went back into its idle mode. "That's wicked!" I exclaimed while taking the not-headphones off. "I definitely want to see the finished product." That statement made Wheeljack look like the happiest bot in the world.

A/N Even though I really want to, I'm stopping myself from going back through this and revising the parts I wrote so long ago. I'd like to think my writing has imrpoved since then, and I apologize if changes in style and quality are evident. No promises on when the next chapter will be out. If you can believe it, things have become even more hectic for me. But, know that when I say that this will be finished, I mean it. Thank you to my old followers for your patience. And for the new readers, thank you for joining us.

Until next time.