TF (OC): Searchin’
Rating: PG
Series: G1
Summary: This is the back-story for my OC Tracer. Changes continue and adjusting to a different life can be uncomfortable. Especially when you argue with your commanding officer
Warnings: None this chapter
Disclaimer: As per usual, the good things in life are not mine to have, but belong to someone else... in this case Hasbro, Takara and IDW and anyone else I’ve forgotten… Tracer belongs to me… as do Kicker and Rollback
Feedback makes friends. Flames dealt with by the masters of paranoia and fire, Red Alert and Inferno.
Authors Notes: Do you read these anyway? I’m running out of amusing things to write here and nothing occurred while I was writing this part that made me think ‘oh, must put that in the AN’s and make people laugh…’
Searchin' Part One
Searchin' Part Two
Searchin' Part Three
Searchin' Part Four
Searchin' Part Five
Searchin' Part Six
Searchin' Part Seven
Searchin' Part Eight
Searchin' Part Nine
Searchin' Part Ten
It was, she decided, incredibly disconcerting to online and realise that all of your internal sensors were offline. The panic had barely begun to set in when she heard Ratchet’s voice, moments before he came into her optic range.
“Don’t think about moving yet. And don’t worry, nothing’s wrong. Just needed to bring you online to recalibrate your sensors properly.” Ratchet quickly explained, alleviating her fears. She was in one piece, there hadn’t been a Decepticon attack and she was safe.
“Frag.” She mumbled. Ratchet helped her to a sitting position before turning her internal sensors back online to begin the recalibration. Throughout the unpleasant procedure, all Tracer could hear was Wheeljack extolling the virtues of her sensor array. And coming up with ideas to improve it, at least until Ratchet had put a stop to that. Having your patient wince whilst trying to recalibrate sensors was not amusing in the least. Tracer did manage to smile as Ratchet threatened to weld Wheeljack to the ceiling by his aft, before sharing a glance with Wheeljack.
“He’s got a thing for welding ‘bots, ain’t he? Ow, hey!” The last was directed at Ratchet, who smirked back at her.
“Well that sensor certainly works.”
“I don’t have any sensors on the back of my helmet!” Tracer pouted, realising that it was probably not the best idea to annoy the medic while he is recalibrating your sensors and generally anywhere near your internal systems. Or anywhere near you, judging by the dent in the back of her helmet.
“Right. That’s you done.” Ratchet said stepping back and allowing Tracer to jump down off the berth, but staying near enough so that he could steady her if her gyros hadn’t stabilised yet.
Once she was standing and felt reasonably secure that she wouldn’t fall over, Tracer let go of the edge of the berth. There was a brief wobble as her systems adjusted to the extra weight she was now carrying before they stabilised.
“You’ve tweaked my sensors.” She frowned as she twisted, testing out her range of movement.
“Having had the chance to study Red Alert and Hound’s sensor networks, I added in the modifications I’ve made to theirs to yours while I was recalibrating them.”
“Thanks…”
“Okay, now transform.” Tracer obeyed, folding down with ease into her new form. She briefly rested on her tires before transforming back.
“Ow.”
“What?”
“It feels awkward.”
“What does?”
“The tires. It feels so strange…” She trailed off, not sure exactly how to vocalise the readings she had gotten.
“You’ll get used to it. Besides, it’s easier having a bit of grip on the roads here.” Wheeljack joined in the conversation. “Hover mode just doesn’t work with the terrain.”
“Trust you to know that.” Ratchet retorted. Wheeljack shrugged, the vocal indicators on his head flashing a warm pink. Tracer nodded and transformed again, settling uneasily on her tires, but staying still.
“Okay, what does your internal diagnostic say?”
“All systems functioning within normal parameters.” Tracer replied after checking.
“Perfect. Right, you can go refuel and recharge and I’ll want you back here in the morning to double-check everything.”
“Recharge... already?”
“Kid, you’ve been offline for over eight hours. And recharging now will settle your systems down and allow them to make any final adjustments they need to accommodate your new alt-mode.”
“Oh.” Tracer really didn’t have much to say to that, she hadn’t checked her internal chronometer as it had still been set on Cybertronian time. A quick check now showed that it had been set to Earth time. She transformed again, letting her gyros stabilise themselves before taking a step in the direction of the door. A quick nod from Ratchet had Wheeljack following her out of the med. bay, evidently to make sure she didn’t fall over on the way back to her quarters.
She would have to get used to the extra kibble she decided on the way back to her quarters. She could see the tires on her shoulders in the edge of her optics. The remaining two tires lay just above her knee joints didn’t impede her movement as much as she initially had thought they would. The fifth spare wheel was settled neatly on her back.
“So you looking forward to getting out and testing the new wheels?” Wheeljack’s question broke her out of her thoughts.
“I am actually…” She replied after a moment’s thought. It was true. While she felt uncomfortable with the new alt-mode at present that would change. She would need time to adjust to the changes. Already she knew her systems had compensated for the extra weight and armor. It wouldn’t hopefully take too long for her to grow accustomed to it. And the sooner she got accustomed to it, the sooner she could explore this new world.
Wheeljack left her at the door to her quarters with a friendly wave before he hurried back down the corridor. Venting a soft sigh, she entered the code for her quarters, realising how low on energy she was. The recharge berth looked more welcoming than it had the previous night and she gratefully climbed onto it. Telling herself that there was a valid reason as to why she had missed most of her first day on Earth, she cycled her systems into recharge.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Tracer’s first port of call the next morning was the med. bay, for a quick check-up on all her systems. Once she got the all clear from Ratchet, she made her way to the rec. room on his suggestion. Most of the Autobots would be there until their shifts started and she could refuel there, having not actually refuelled the previous night.
She paused at the door, the noise infiltrating her audios and nearly making her wince.
“Tracer!” Hound’s voice carried across the room which fell silent as he spoke, all optics turning towards her. Ducking her head briefly, she stepped into the room and started towards Hound. It seemed that every few paces, an Autobot would come and introduce themselves to her, welcoming her to Earth and to the team. All except Sunstreaker. She could see him across the room, lounging elegantly against the wall, a scowl on his faceplates. She could feel his optics on her as she crossed the room, stopping in front of Hound and staring up at her former mentor.
“You’re out on patrol with me and Brawn this morning.” Hound indicated a Minibot standing close by who nodded at her. She smiled back
“What’re we waiting for?”
“For you to refuel lughead.” A ripple of friendly laughter went round the small group as Brawn answered her.
“Bit too eager there Tracer.” Hound clapped her on the shoulder. “Get yourself some energon and we’ll tell you where we’re going.” As she sat down and sipped at her cube, she listened as Hound explained where they were heading. A mountainous area, north of the Ark’s location, some forty miles away. It would take about thirty minutes to reach the area if they were lucky with the roads. Prowl had reasoned that it was a good location for the Decepticons to set up a temporary base and wanted the locale scouted.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hound waited until Tracer transformed, walking around her stationary form before transforming himself.
“Nice alt-mode.”
“I’m getting used to it. The tires are strange.” Tracer replied honestly.
“We’re going to have to set up a club to rival the Datsuns.” Brawn muttered.
“4WD Anonymous?” Hound quipped.
“Get Gears and Trailbreaker involved and we’re there.” Tracer sat quietly in alt-mode, listening to the other two joke around. It wasn’t unusual to have a similar alt-mode to others. In fact, Tracer and Kicker had the same alt-mode, albeit with a large size difference, but the basic structure had been the same. Brawn wasn’t that much taller than her, an inch or so if she was lucky, so she figured if she had any problems adjusting to her alt-mode, Brawn would be the ‘bot to go to for help.
Hound pulled away from the Ark first, leading the way, followed by Tracer then Brawn. She wasn’t used to being quite so close to the ground. She could feel every rock and pebble in the road through her tires and it was irritating to say the least. Trying to use her lessons with Red Alert to ignore the sensations from her tires she managed to block out most of the readings.
“You think she’ll be okay?” Inferno asked. He was in the Security center with Red Alert; the pair just having watched Tracer leave on her first patrol.
“She should be. Between her and Hound they’ll pick up anything before it reaches them. And Brawn is more than capable of defending her.”
“Do you really think Soundwave will bother with her after all this time?”
“I don’t know. I hope to Primus he won’t.” Inferno squeezed Red Alert’s shoulder briefly.
“She beat him once, she can do it again. We taught her well.”
“Inferno… you make it sound like we were her creators.” Red Alert turned slightly in his chair, raising an optic ridge at Inferno.
“Heh. You know what I mean though Red. Besides, Firestar made us promise to look after her.”
“I know.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The mountains rose up either side of the road they were travelling on, blocking out most of the early morning sunlight. Sensors tuned to maximum, all Tracer could detect were small forms moving in the shrubs scattered around. Hound assured her they weren’t sensor glitches but were in fact local wildlife, creatures similar to turbofoxes and petrorabbits. So intent was she on following these sensor readings, she almost didn’t notice the other presences heading towards them.
“We got Seekers incoming.” She called out, sliding to a stop, actually grateful for the traction her tires had on the loose road surface. They huddled as close as their alt-forms would allow them while Hound projected a holographic illusion around them. The Seekers flew over, jet engines echoing off the mountainside.
“Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker.” Hound muttered.
“Did they see us?” Brawn asked.
“Doesn’t look like it… wait…” Hound broke off as the Seekers turned as one, swooping back over their location. Tracer instinctively hunkered down lower on her tires, sensors firmly tuned to the location of the Decepticons. With a roar of their engines, the Seekers turned again and flew off. Only when Tracer was firmly convinced they weren’t coming back, did she dare comm. Hound.
“That was close.”
“Too close. Guess Prowl was right.”
“We head straight back. Prowl needs to know about this and I don’t want to risk us staying here too much longer.” Hound told them both, disabling the holographic projection.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The journey back to the Ark was uneventful. Prowl and Red Alert were waiting for them at the entrance when they returned, taking them straight to the meeting room for their report. The decision was made to keep an optic on the area. Blaster, the Autobots communications expert, had managed to hack into the Decepticons internal comm. frequency so they were able to monitor them for any indications of their plan.
“How long will you be able to maintain the connection with the Decepticons’ frequency?”
“Hopefully the week. All depends on whether Soundwave detects the hack or not. If he does, he’s likely to lock it down so much it’ll take me ages to reconnect.” Blaster spoke with something akin to respect coloring his vocaliser. Prowl nodded and turned to Optimus Prime, discussing something with him briefly in low tones. Tracer tried not to listen in, but still heard her name mentioned. Optimus Prime inclined his head at Prowl, indicating that he should continue.
“Tracer and Brawn will take the first shift in the area, to be replaced by Hound and Cliffjumper. Contact will be maintained with the Ark at all times and any changes will be reported immediately.”
“Do you think the Decepticons will really make their base there?” Tracer couldn’t help but ask. Prowl fixed her with a stare, but answered her question.
“There is a high probability that they will locate a base there. The fact that the Seekers were observed in the area only increases the probability.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“You’ve got some nerve kid.” Brawn said as they made their way to the rec. room. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone question Prowl before.”
“Well it just doesn’t make sense.”
“Nothing the Decepticons do makes sense, that’s why Prowl has such a hard job.”
“And that leaves us just sitting and watching?”
“Pretty much.”
“It’s like being back on Cybertron.” Tracer muttered. She followed Brawn into the rec. room and sat down next to him. Minibots always tended to gravitate towards one another and the situation on the Ark was no different. Brawn had sat in ‘Minibot Corner’ as it had apparently been termed.
“You’re gonna leave me some Decepticreeps to pound, aren’t you?” A brash red Minibot, Cliffjumper, asked, leaning across the table.
“Don’t intend to be doing any pounding if I can help it.” Tracer retorted. “They’re all yours.”
“Poor femme don’t wanna be fighting?” Cliffjumper sneered, ignoring the slightly horrified looks he got off the others around the table. Tracer, to her credit, wasn’t fazed.
“I’ve done more than my fair share of fighting. But I’m a tracker, not a warrior; I have skills that require a processor to use them.” She finished her energon cube and left, waiting for Brawn outside the rec. room.
Bumblebee let out a low whistle after she left.
“Wow. She’s got an attitude.”
“I’ll say.”
“It can be worse than yours Cliffjumper.” They all looked up to see Hound standing at the edge of their table. “But she’s right. She’s a tracker and was part of a Search and Rescue team back on Cybertron before we left. She’s seen action and been caught up in it more than she should have been.”
“Huh?”
“Not my place to tell. But if you want to make a friend out of her, rather than an enemy, give her a chance to tell you. Don’t just assume.” He looked at each of them before turning and walking out of the room.
Tracer caught his arm as he turned away from where she was standing.
“What did you tell them?”
“Nothing.” Tracer vented a sigh and let go of Hound’s arm.
“Two days in and already making friends.” She muttered.
“Don’t worry about it kid. Cliffjumper needed taking down a peg or two.” Brawn clapped her on the shoulder, making her stumble forward slightly before she regained her balance. “And just because you ain’t a warrior, doesn’t mean you’re not capable. Now, we’d best head out.” Brawn nodded at Hound as he ushered a confused Tracer away.
Hound shook his head as he watched the two Minibots turn the corner at the end of the corridor. Things were certainly going to be more interesting on the Ark now.
“She okay?” Hound turned to see Inferno at the other end of the corridor, a worried expression on his faceplates. “We saw what happened in the rec. room.”
“She’s fine. Just told Cliffjumper what she thought of him.”
“Heh, that’s our Tracer.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
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Part Twelve