Life Flashing - Chapter 4
The Autobots arrive at the Witwicky house... I think that's all I need to say
Usual spoiler warnings apply
The Witwicky family dwelling was suitable enough for their social class, I thought as I pulled up in front of their home with the others and waited for instructions from Optimus. A little big for three people, two of whom slept in one room, but perhaps they used the extra rooms as temporary accomodation for visiting kindred.
“Jazz, you’ve got the best audio-visual range out of all of us,” Optimus said. “I need you to stay here and keep up surveillance over the neighborhood. Alert us if you pick up anything out of the ordinary.”
“You got it, Optimus,” I replied, stopping in a patch of shadow and kicking my engine to idle.
The others turned down a lane that presumably led to the back of the dwelling. Bumblebee flashed his blinkers at me in a sort of ‘see you later’ gesture and I smiled to myself, returning the motion. He seemed happy to be with all of us again and must have missed us as much as we missed him.
I began searching and tapping into some of the audio-visual wavelengths in my immediate range after they’d left. There were several news reports about meteorites being sighted and then disappearing after impact and I couldn’t help but chuckle. I also got my first look at where the others had landed and snorted in a bit of disdain.
Those three had it easy - their Earth disguises practically came to them. They didn’t have to go traipsing through a town in their protoform to find one. Still though, what I eventually ended up with was certainly worth the effort it took to find it.
As the reports began to wrap, there came a mention about a human military installation coming under attack by an unknown assailant elsewhere in a more arid part of the planet - what they called a desert - and I couldn’t help but wonder if the Decepticons were somehow behind that, searching for the location of the Allspark as well.
A slight movement above me interrupted my thoughts and I cast my scanners around to see Optimus and the others standing up and making their way towards the Witwicky house. I almost pitied the boy. Three out of the four of them were just not built for stealth and agility, and I didn’t want to imagine the damage they would wreak just by trying to be silent and keep out of sight.
My audios picked up Sam uttering several curses at them and I laughed to myself, glad at least that I wasn’t a part of that madness. Then again, if I’d been there, I knew how to stay hidden without causing a ruckus. Scouting and sabotage kinda went hand-in-hand, so Bumblebee and I learned how to keep a low profile when we had to.
That, and there were certain advantages to being small, such as not destroying human garden ornaments and getting lubricated on by even smaller canines. I gave a mental shake of my head as I heard Ironhide complain about rust - again. Definitely a complex, that one.
Things settled down then and I turned my full attention back to scanning the neighborhood again. This time, my sensors registered a faint blip some distance away. It was a bit too far to warrant alerting Optimus, but I decided to keep an sensor on it anyway. There was something strange about that signal, and was that a slight Cybertronian undertone I detected?
I shifted on my tyres, wanting to move out and do a little recon and see what was out there, and was just about to radio Optimus with the request when a strong rumble and a high-pitched Cybertronian shriek jolted me halfway into a transformation, my audio receptors nearly shorting themselves out, as the Witwicky home went dark.
Thinking that something had happened - and damn were my audios ringing - that maybe a Decepticon had somehow infiltrated, I quickly headed to the back of the compound just as the entire neighborhood also lost power.
“Is everything alright?” I asked, stepping through some foliage and onto a path that looked suspiciously demolished by certain Cybertronian feet. Then I noticed the state of the rest of the yard and resisted slapping my hand to my head. They’d really done a number this time.
“Oh everything’s fine, Jazz,” Ratchet said as he got to his feet and moved back to the side of the dwelling.
Ironhide snorted and Optimus glared at him.
“Ratchet, point the light!” Optimus ordered, but Sam immediately came to the window and tersely told him to shut it off.
“You’re all going to get him in so much trouble,” I said.
Bumblebee shook his head in dismay.
“What happened, li’l Bee?” I asked in text.
“Long story, Jazz,” he replied. “Short version: Ratchet tripped the power lines.”
I groaned. “Sheesh. Never send a bunch of warriors t’do a spy’s job,” I said, ignoring the black look from Ironhide. “Sam’s not gonna be happy about this, especially when he has to explain it all to the-.”
“Parents!” Optimus exclaimed. “Whoa!” He quickly sprang away from a window. “Quickly, hide!” Then he added in Cybertronian. “And quietly!”
“Where?!” Startled I watched as the others took cover.
Optimus pushed himself into a corner, standing on his ‘toes’ in order to get the rest of him out of sight. If only he knew how silly he looked. Bumblebee dove under an overhang, trying not to get entangled in the dangling light fixtures. Ratchet and Ironhide pressed themselves against the side of the wall. I was left with pretty much nowhere to go. Damn cowards. An unfamiliar voice was coming to the window.
“Oh no, man!”
I looked around and spotted a small opening cut into the wall just under the window which I figured I could squeeze into - I was going to try anyway and show these amateurs how it was done, Bumblebee not counted of course, I’d taught him centuries ago.
I quicky managed to curl and fold myself into the gap with minimal sound, just in time as the senior Witwicky came to the window. The power came back on at this point and Bumblebee ducked lower. Obviously he didn’t want to share Ratchet’s experience no matter how tingly he said it was. Once the human had gone back inside, I looked over at Ratchet and Ironhide and considered using a human hand-gesture on them that Bumblebee forwarded to me.
“Learned it at the car dealership where Sam bought me,” he’d explained.
I didn’t get a chance to however, since Ironhide chose that exact moment to growl something about wanting to take out the parents. Ratchet surprisingly agreed - had to be all that electricity short-circuiting his CPU - but all they got was a sharp rebuke from Optimus.
Normally I would have commented on the rare occurance of Ratchet and Ironhide actually agreeing on something - such events tended to happen only once a century - but that signal I’d been monitoring, even through all the chaos around me, was getting closer, and there was definitely a hint of Cybertronian technology about it. Autobot or Decepticon I couldn’t still say, but it still unnerved me.
“Optimus, we gotta go,” I said. “I’m pickin’ up a strange signal and it’s headed our way. May or may not be humans, but either way it wouldn’t do us, or Sam, any good to be seen here.”
Optimus nodded. “You heard the mech. Move out!”
“And try not to make a mess doing it,” Bumblebee added as we pulled back from the Witwicky home and stepped onto the street.
“Jazz, you and Bumblebee take up a surveillance position somewhere along the street and try to keep out of sight. Stay close enough to monitor what’s going on, but not too close to draw attention. The three of us will be further away. I want to know the source of that signal.”
“You got it,” I said.
Quickly, all of us transformed and took up positions, and just in time, too, as a convoy of black Earth vehicles stopped outside the Witwicky residence and several humans, also dressed in black, disembarked and headed to the front door. I figured these weren’t regular visitors and from the slight shifts I picked up from Bumblebee, he seemed anxious about the safety of those within.
He nearly bolted to the children when the strange humans escorted them and the parents out a while later, and I suspected only vorns of experience and training made him stay where he was. We watched as the children were bundled into one the vehicles, and the convoy drove off a moment later.
“Jazz, track them,” Optimus’ curt request came through my radio. Uh oh, the big guy was not happy.
“Already on it,” I informed him.
“Good. Work with Bumblebee on this. He knows this place better than any of us. Find a route we can take that’ll cut them off. We have to rescue the children. Roll out!”
Bumblebee didn’t need to be told twice as he shot off in the lead and I pulled up into place behind him, sharing all the information I could obtain about the convoy’s position so he could take us by the fastest route to an interception point. It felt good to be working with him again, just like in the days back on Cybertron when we used to team up on missions. He’d get us in and out safely and I’d make sure the Decepticons’ plans went boom.
“Just like old times, huh, Bee?” I asked.
“Yup. Wouldn’t have asked for a better partner. Hopefully we can pull off another one,” he replied.
“Don’t worry Bee, we will.”
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Notes: If you watch that scene closely, we dont actually see Jazz in the back yard until the bit where they all hide from the parents. Also, how did they know about the arrival of Sector 7? Well, now it's explained! XD