Transformers Fan Fiction ❯ Cover Me ❯ You Have Mail ( Chapter 20 )

Cover Me

By Black Dragon Queen

Author's note: Well, my Internet connection is STILL down! Grrr! I'm not happy about it. Anyway, I'm once again not too sure about this chapter. I don't know… there was just something that didn't sit right with me even though I poured over it like a million times. Oh well, I hope I don't disappoint anyone. Please enjoy.

PAIRINGS REVEALED THUS FAR:

Wheeljack x Ratchet, Inferno x Red Alert, Sunstreaker X Sideswipe, Past Prowl x Jazz

Font Index: “Speaking”, `Thinking', “-Radio Transmissions-”, “Cybertronion” “:Link:”

~*~

Chapter Twenty: You Have Mail

“I'm bored,” Sunny muttered as he stared up at the ceiling. “Aburrido… Annoiat… Qui S'ennuie… Tsumaranai…” Sides glanced at him bemused before he went back to browsing the web. “Slag it there's nothing to do!” Sunny finally burst out in aggravation as he jumped to his feet and kicked one of the boxcars angrily. “Who does Optimus think he is anyway? Actually grounding us! Imagine!”

“Uh, our leader?” Sideswipe sighed at his brother's antics as he watched him begin pacing around the room. He agreed with Sunny whole-heartedly about the situation. This confinement was absolutely unnecessary. Sunny seemed fine now, why couldn't they go exploring? Unfortunately when they had tried to leave the confines of the rather boring building, they hadn't even managed to get the door fully open before Ratchet or Wheeljack or one of the others suddenly appeared to bustle them back into it. “Come on. There has to be something we can do around here.”

“Nah, there's nothing,” Sunny muttered as he glanced around at the barren room. “This sucks! On a brand new planet and we can't even go exploring! No… we have to be stuck in this slagging empty building! There's not even anything to monitor or anything!” Sunny turned to his brother with a frown, “and I hate monitor duty!”

They were silent for a long while before Sides suddenly gave a rather wicked smile. “No there isn't, is there?” He let loose a devious chuckle and Sunny was instantly alert as he quickly moved to his brother's side.

“Ne, what is it?” he asked excitedly. “You think of something fun to do?”

“Oh, it will be,” Sides smirked evilly. “It'll get back at Optimus and the others to boot!”

“Ooo sounds intriguing,” Sunny cackled diabolically. “What is it?”

“Well, apparently there's this person in the jungle who can get you just about anything…”

Sunny grinned.

~*~

Sam blinked in surprise the next morning as he exited the barracks just in time to see a rather large brown truck ambling up the dirt road towards the base. At first he thought he must still be asleep, because there was no possible reason for a parcel truck to be making a delivery way out here in the middle of nowhere. Then his brain finally kicked in and he realized that it was very possible that it could be another Autobot in disguise who may have landed without their knowledge.

Surprised, he darted out of the barracks and glanced around the courtyard, amazed that there wasn't a single Autobot in sight. `They must be in the main hanger,' he concluded as he quickly made his way towards the main gate to warn off the driver… or whoever it was, of the moat. Trotting over the few two-by-four planks that Optimus finally had someone lay down for them as a makeshift bridge, he quickly made his way towards the vehicle with a small wave… Only to then stagger in complete astonishment as a human actually exited the vehicle and made his way towards him.

Sam slowed as the man approached and quickly looked back over his shoulder to double check that the Autobots were still out of sight. Stopping just a few feet from Sam, the man took one look at him before he glanced back down at his papers then he looked back at Sam. “I have a rather large delivery here for a Mr. S. Streaker,” he announced as he stared down at the confused boy. “Stupid alias kid,” he muttered. “My six year old could do better.”

“Uh…” Sam stammered, completely stunned at the announcement.

“Look, kid,” the driver, who's stitching on his shirt proclaimed his name was Todd, said seriously. “I don't know how you pulled this off, but all this stuff is paid for. I can't leave it here however, without a signature and son,” Todd stared down at him, “you don't look old enough to sign a legal document.”

“Um… sign?” Sam finally managed to get out. “What do you mean sign? If they're already paid for-”

“Anything over five thousand dollars requires a signature,” the man explained. “And I can't go to my boss as tell him that I left all this expensive equipment out in the middle of the desert. I could get fired!” Sam stared at Todd still in a somewhat state of shock. “Now,” he continued. “How about we call your parents, huh? I'm sure that they'll be absolutely thrilled to learn what it is their kid has been up too-”

“Fi-five thousand?” Sam stared at the man in complete astonishment before the rest of it caught up to him. “What?” He cried out, getting a little annoyed at the man. “Who are you to be calling my parents?”

“Look kid,” Todd growled as he glared at the boy. “I know your type.”

“My type?” Sam cried out in disbelief.

“Yes, your type,” the man snarled. “You truant kids who do nothing but lounge about all day. You don't go to school, you don't get a job and you expect us hard city workers to pay your way for your entire life!”

Sam stared at the man in shock. “WHAT?”

“You kids are just a plague on our society!” Todd continued on, ignoring Sam's outraged cry. “You'll never amount to anything!”

Sam suddenly had to duck his head and nearly shoved a fist in his mouth to keep himself from laughing out loud. It actually was a little funny. Here was this man who assumed that he was a delinquent that would never have a real life and yet Sam was the only human in the world who was the official liaison for an entire alien race. It was a job created by the president, or rather Keller, which was just for him and him alone! A small snicker escaped him.

The man glared at him. “Laugh it up,” he snarled. “We'll see whose laughing when I alert the authorities on just what you delinquents are up to out here and they have this place torn down!”

Sam's laughter instantly ended as he jerked his head up in shock at this announcement. He quickly realized that he had to come up with something and quickly before this guy really did manage to call the cops. `Great, the one guy who comes here to deliver the stupid mail has to be a righteous ass…' Sam thought sourly. `What do I say?'

“You found the place!” a third voice suddenly called out and Sam nearly fell over in relief as he turned to find both Will and Epps making their way over the “gangplank”.

“Thought you might have gotten lost,” Will seamlessly continued with a smile.

Todd just stared at the two men in astonishment, his cell phone hanging limply in his hand. Both of them were surprisingly in their military uniforms and were grinning at him madly. “You, what… how?” Todd stuttered out.

Epps smirked. “Well it is a military base,” he chuckled. “Did you need to see some ID for those packages?” he asked as he held up his wallet reviling his official military card.

Todd just gapped stupidly at the small piece of plastic. “Uh, what is this place?” he finally managed as Will took the electronic clipboard out of his slack fingers and signed at the bottom.

“Oh, we're turning it into a youth center for misguided kids,” Epps explained helpfully as he clamped a hand on Sam's shoulders. “This here is one of our chief student cadets.”

“Uh…” Sam stared at them and the two adults chuckled.

“Not to bright early in the morning, but that'll soon change,” Will said as he handed back the clipboard. “How many arrived?”

“Um, twelve packages in all,” Todd murmured now a bit subdued at the appearance of the two military personnel. “All pre-paid and extra cost added for overnight shipping.”

Sam quickly followed the three men as Todd circled to the back of the truck and opened the rear panel. Epps gave a low whistle at the assortment of boxes crammed into the back. “This all ours?” he asked and Todd nodded numbly. The two rangers sighed. “Well,” Epps clapped his hand together before he climbed up into the back. “Let's get `em off of here.”

Even with four guys working to unload the truck, it still took about twenty minutes to maneuver the packages off the vehicle and situate them on the ground. Once they were set aside, Todd climbed back into his truck and quickly left without even a backwards glance as he headed down the road. Sam and the others were relieved as they watched him go but what really got their attention was the bright yellow truck with red letters on the side that he passed going the opposite direction.

“Hi,” the new driver called out cheerfully as he brought his truck to a halt. “I have a few packages here for a Mr. Sides?”

“This cannot be happening…” Epps muttered as they stared at the perky kid.

“Oh it's happening alright,” Will drawled as he now spotted a white and blue truck coming down the road. And that one was being followed by yet another truck. “Somehow, I highly doubt we won Publishing Clearing House.”

“Captain,” Epps murmured as the other trucks pulled up. “Remind me to hurt whoever did this.”

“Not if I get to him first,” Will growled.

“Well, actually…” Sam interrupted the two with a small cringe. “I think Optimus has you both beat,” he announced and he jerked a thumb over his shoulder. The two men paused as they realized that they could now clearly hear the yelling coming from the main hanger.

“Hopefully they're all smart enough to stay out of sight,” Epps muttered.

“One can only hope,” Will replied as he made his way towards the now three very confused deliverymen.

~*~

It was Christmas time at the Autobot base later that night as the three humans all delved into the different bubble wraps and Styrofoam peanuts, each time amazed as they pulled out an array of different electronic equipment, as well as an assortments of customized car parts. There was a rather large pile of just nothing but plasma screen TV's, another for stereo systems, and even more of a lot of things Sam couldn't even begin to identify.

“Of all the addle-circuited, stupid, careless stunts to pull!” Optimus was shouting at the two Lamborghinis. “We're supposed to keep away from the general public! This means that we remain out of sight from the humans save the few who have been giving clearance! So where in your frazzled, malfunctioning logic circuit did it say that it was okay to invite a whole slew of them to our own back yard?”

“We didn't leave the building!” Sunny protested adamantly.

“That's right!” Sides added enthusiastically. “We never once stepped outside this building!”

“And besides,” Sunny continued. “Since we're officially confided to the med bay we had to find something to keep us entertained.”

“Right and you can't say that we would bother you if we had things to occupy our time,” Sideswipe concluded.

Optimus just glared at them. He was so infuriated that no coherent words escaped him; only a few assortments of growls and the occasional odd, high pitched squeaking sounds. He leaned down and plucked a gamming console off the floor. “And just how were you going to entertain yourselves? This whole thing is smaller than my slagging finger! How would you work the controls?”

Sunny and Sides looked at the innocent piece of machinery that Optimus dangled in front of them. “Well, we hadn't quite figured that part out yet,” Sides admitted with a shrug.

“But if we think about it long enough, I'm sure we can come up with something,” Sunny insisted. Optimus just let out another strangled squawk of outrage.

Ratchet took pity on his boss as he stepped over the assorted equipment scattered across the hanger floor. “Consider yourselves cleared for active duty,” he announced with a rather evil grin. “Starting immediately, go find yourselves a hanger and stay there! You're both in solitary!”

“What?” Sunny cried. “You can't do that! You're just the medical officer!”

“YOU'RE BOTH IN SOLITARY!” Optimus finally managed to bellow. “Be grateful that that's all I'm going to do for your punishment!”

“Now that's not fair!” Sides protested. “You're basically banishing us from one building to another!”

“Exactly,” Optimus grinned and the two slinked out of the building under their leader's watchful gaze.

“Primus, what am I to do with them?” he muttered once the two had gone. “They haven't even been here a full day and they've already created an emergency situation!”

“Well, don't go chastising them quite yet,” Wheeljack suddenly said from the other side of the room where he was examining one of the TV's. “I think I can actually use some of this stuff. Maybe get a master computer up and running.”

“Really?” Everyone perked back up, surprised at the announcement. “How long do you think it can take you?” Optimus asked.

“Well, from what this planets inhabitants have accomplished and all the pieces that I can just acquire from the web… probably a few months, year at the most,” he estimated. “I could work on it in between designing the new base.”

The others all began chattering in excitement. “Well, now that that's taken care of…” Ratchet began.

“Primus, I can't take any more surprises…” Optimus muttered.

Ironhide smirked as he gave the big rig a thump on the back. “It could have been worse.”

“Oh yeah? How?” Optimus asked.

Ironhide chuckled. “Well, they could have ordered the store.”

Optimus just groaned as he dropped his head into his hands. “Hey `Bee?” he called out and the younger `Bot instantly stood to attention. “I hate to do this to you, but do you think you could take them with you when you return Sam to his home for school in the morning? We can have them watching him and Mikaela for a while; give you a rest as well as keep them out of my line of sight and better yet, firing range.”

`Bee and Sam tried to mask their horror at the leader's request as they glanced at one another in pure terror. Will and Epps immediately glanced at one another curious at the two's reaction, while Ironhide gave a small smirk at the obviously panicked look. Thankfully, everybody took it the wrong way, believing that the two didn't want to have to deal with the twin's antics. If only they knew…

“You sure that's a good idea?” Ratchet asked Optimus.

“Yeah,” Red agreed, coming into the conversation. “You remember how I was like when I first arrived. What if they freak out at something?”

“I doubt that there'll be vultures flying around the city limits,” `Hide quipped with a grin.

Red glared at him and Inferno glanced back and forth between his spouse and best friend puzzled. “What are vultures?”

“It's a bird,” Red muttered absently as he tried to quash his embarrassment.

“Oh…” Inferno turned to Preceptor. “What is a bird?” Preceptor shrugged.

Optimus shook his head as he turned back towards the two youngsters. “Well `Bee?”

“Um… sure Optimus,” `Bee agreed, sending Sam an apologetic look, “if it'll help.” Sam whirled around to shoot `Bee a piercing glare but `Bee sent him back a helpless shrug. What could he do? It would raise questions if he said no.

Sam pursed his lips angrily but understood his guardian's position. He only hoped that Barricade stayed in the garage this time…

~*~

Barricade practically deflated on all four of his tires in utter shock at what he was hearing over the radio turned watch. The Autobots were coming. “Oh fuck…”

~*~

The twins when told had absolutely loved the idea of getting out of the base and exploring the new planet; both of them had practically bouncing with excitement as Optimus spoke to them. Sunny had immediately insisted on taking Sam since he owed the boy his life and `Bee had looked helplessly at Optimus who sent him an apologetic look. There was really no reason to turn Sunny down and `Bee huffed as he watched Sam climb into the other car. He really wished that Optimus hadn't fobbed the two onto him, especially considering he and Sam were hiding a Decepticon in the Witwicky garage.

However, when they got ready to leave later that evening `Bee was actually a little bit grateful that Sam was with Sunstreaker because this meant that he could try and get ahead of the two Lamborghini's in an attempt to warn the `Con of their presence. Unfortunately for him, Sunny decided that he wanted to properly test his new form out and `Bee had watched in shock as the two newest cars took off down the desert road. He had had to scramble to get ahead of them, cheating a little bit by taking shortcuts he had learned with Sam, or more specifically his parents, and just barely got to the house a few blocks ahead of them.

Except when he arrived to warn Barricade to keep the garage door down and all his signals on his lowest frequency, he was shocked to discover the door wide open and no car in sight. That the `Con was missing greatly troubled the Camaro; the slagging mustang could be anywhere by now. Not that he wasn't grateful that the `Con had made himself scares before the twins arrived, but still not knowing where the slagger was caused a bit of a dilemma.

`Bee looked back as Sam practically fell out of the other yellow car and nearly kissed the ground. “Fun huh?” Sunny chirped still full of energy despite having raced all the way from the base.

Sam looked a bit green. “Er, yeah… fun…”

`Bee sighed as he watched the boy practically bolt for the door and the bathroom beyond. He knew that Sam had spotted the empty garage however as Sunny and Sides pulled over to look at the odd structures around them. “What's this?” Sunny asked and `Bee sighed as he called back.

“A mail box.”

“Ooooo,” the twins stared at the item in fascination and began discussing how they wanted their own “mail box” decorated. `Bee groaned at the implications that the conversation hinted at when he heard Mojo begin to bark in the house. The twins instantly backed down the driveway and back into the street. “What was that?” Sides demanded and `Bee quickly shouted at them before they could transform.

“It's Mojo, for crying out loud! Calm down! I'll tell you when you can go crazy so don't do it before!”

“What is a Mojo?” Sunny asked as he pulled back into the drive.

“It's their dog, now shut up and go into recharge!”

“Well!” Sunny huffed. “Cranky, aren't we?”

`Bee just growled at them as he passed a scan over the neighborhood in search of the missing Decepticon. If he could have, he would have left to search the surrounding area, but unfortunately with the twins in residence, that would be impossible. `Bee had to admit it to himself that when they had arrived and he had discovered that the garage was mysteriously empty he nearly went into overload. `Bee a sent a worried glance at the sight of the empty structure and sighed again as the sound of the screen door opening suddenly gained his attention.

“Wow!” Ron Witwicky stared at the two sleek cars currently inhabiting his drive. “Are you sure I couldn't just take one of these to work?” he called back over his shoulder.

“DAD!” Sam's voice was shocked as Ron sighed in disappointment.

“But it's the only good thing about letting these `Bots in our driveway…” he muttered before he called back to Sam. “There has to be some kind of perk to all these transforming robots!”

“Ron, leave the new cars alone! They're probably overwhelmed enough just being on a new planet and what not!” Judy's voice echoed through the house.

`Bee huffed and wondered if the Witwicky's knew that their voices carried through the yard. “What are those?” Sides asked as he pulled next to `Bee.

“Sam's parents,” he explained absently.

“What's a parent?” Sunny asked curiously as he pulled closer to the other two.

“It his caretakers,” the camaro elaborated before he set his parking brake and got ready for a nice, calm couple of hours of peace and quiet.

Both twins were now puzzled. “Why does he need two?” Sunny asked.

Bumblebee snickered. “From what I heard, you two needed a whole unit just for your Sparkling antics.” The twins gasped together in mock outrage and `Bee chuckled lightly as he finally managed to slip into recharge.

~*~

Sam ran out the next morning still struggling to pull on his coat while a piece of toast hung from his mouth. He was clearly frazzled by the late hour as he quickly darted towards Bumblebee before he got into Sunny. He leaned over to whisper what he had learned in the house as he swallowed the last of the toast. “Mom said he took off sometime late yesterday afternoon,” Sam told him in a whisper. “Said that it was also the second time he's done that, but we knew where he went the first time.”

“Does she know where he went?” `Bee asked. Sam shrugged as he made his way towards Sunny and climbed into the Gallardo. `Bee grumbled in aggravation as he followed the two Lamborghini's down the road towards Mikaela's house.

As they pulled up to the drive of Mikaela's aunt, `Bee couldn't help but mentally smile as she exited her home, a complete look of astonishment on her face at the sight of the two shiny cars in her driveway. `Bee was forced to stay in the street and he pulled alongside the curb as there was no room for him in the short drive. “Samuel Witwicky! What in the hell are those?” Mikaela demanded as she made her way towards Sunny, the closest one to her.

Sam exited the car, grinning. “Mikaela, met Sunstreaker and Sideswipe,” he introduced her with a small smirk. “Guys, this is my friend Mikaela. She helped us out in Mission City during the battle with the Decepticons.”

“Well, nice to meet you Mikaela,” Sides called out.

“Why is she shaped funny?” Sunny asked as he pulled forward slightly to run a scan over the girl. “She's awfully round on the top…”

“SUNNY!” `Bee cried out horrified and Sam had sunk down into the butter soft leather, trying desperately not to laugh at Mikaela's shocked expression. “She's a girl! Remember those sites Preceptor found? And how they explained the different sexes between humans…”

“Bizarre,” Sunny murmured as he finally pulled back slightly. Sam squawked as his feet were slightly dragged across the pavement since he was sitting sideways in his seat.

“Sunny!” `Bee barked again. “Be careful with him!”

Sam turned towards Mikaela and rolled his eyes at `Bee's statement. She giggled at the slightly childish look he sent her way. “So are these the ones who landed in the city over the weekend?” she asked as she looked over the two Lamborghini's. “I heard that caused a huge mess over at the college.”

“Yeah, these are two of them. There were three others but they're still at the base. Sunny and Sides here are just… exploring so they decided to give us a ride to school in style.”

Mikaela's gaze snapped back towards the boy and the odd tone he was using and she instantly knew that something else had happened over the weekend. She moved next to her ex. “What happened?”

“It's a long story,” Sam told her. “Sunny was injured and while recuperating, the two found the various shopping sites… There were seven trucks total that delivered stuff on-and-off all day yesterday.” Mikaela giggled again and Sam rolled his eyes. “Trust me, it wasn't funny. I think Optimus nearly blew a gasket. That's why they're really here.”

“We got banished!” Sides called out helpfully.

“The old rusters couldn't take a joke to save their afts!” Sunny added.

Sam shook his head. “So that's why they're going to take us to school today,” he finished.

Mikaela raised an eyebrow. “And this won't be a little suspicious?” she asked him. He just shrugged.

“Never cared much what people said about me before. Why should it matter now?”

Mikaela snickered some more before she managed to calm herself down and hefted her bag over her shoulder. “Let me just go say hi to `Bee for a sec,” she said as she made her way down the drive and hopped into the camaro's driver seat. “Hey `Bee! …So what'd you do with him?” she asked once the door was shut.

“He's gone! And I have no idea where he went off to!” he lamented mournfully.

Mikaela tisked as she crossed her arms and sat back in annoyance. “He better not be goofing around again,” she grumbled. “Some of his undercarriage is literally hanging on by a thread… or rather bolt.”

“One can only hope,” `Bee snarled.

Mikaela looked at him. “You think he went back to the… jet's rule?” she asked him.

“Highly doubt it,” Bumblebee muttered as his radio activated.

“-Aren't we suppose to go to this `school' soon?-” Sides asked and they could hear Sam's voice echo over the waves.

“-There's still a little time,-” Sam was saying.

“-What is the purpose of this school?-” Sunny asked. “-The only thing you learn is outdated history and read books mutilated by living people that were written by a bunch of dead ones. Where's the gun range? The weapons division?-”

“-Er… well…-” Sam trailed off and Mikaela and `Bee snickered. Mikaela sighed as she stepped out of `Bee and headed back up the drive.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” she asked as she made her way over to the red Reventón. She blinked at the hologram for a moment before she stepped around and slipped into the passenger seat. “Let's go!”

“I so don't have a good feeling about this…” Bumblebee muttered as he started his engine and followed behind the two shinny new cars. “This is going to be one very long day…”

-To Be Continued