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"Do we really need to take this chunk of metal with us? It's cramping my space." You whine for the third time on this trip.
Accompanying your guardian wasn't the plan.
Originally, Optimus entrusted the Magnus to transport the apex armor to a temporary location on the outskirts of California. You, however, decided to tag along thanks to the others having no time to give you a ride home. Ultra Magnus wasn't very enthused with carrying both your irritating presence and an important relic of the ancients.
You lean from your passenger seat. Pressing your foot against the relic, you test if your 'superhuman strength' could move the slab of encrypted metal over. With all your might, you could not move it very much.
Hardly an inch.
Groaning, you give the relic a pouting expression before slumping against the passenger's side door once your name was called from the radio to knock it off. "Couldn't we just ground bridge this thing?"
"Tracking the location of an energy surge is easier than manual transportation. The Decepticons would discover all relics if it were by ground bridge."
"Can't we just put it in the back?"
"No."
You cross your arms over your chest and exhale in frustration. This relic was already hogging your usual leg space here, and now you have to endure several hours of a road trip of inconvenience. You sigh in defeat, pulling out your phone to check for any new messages from friends.
Miko had sent you a bunch of memes. Though you can't text back during this important mission out of risk for Soundwave to find your location, you still appreciate the funny pictures that were sent. One of the many included her art of Bulkhead and Wheeljack with a pink heart between them.
You smile at that, wondering if Miko ever looks to the wreckers as parental figures or idols.
A yawn escapes your throat when the sun begins to finally set during the drive. Really, you could have just walked home and would be eating a bowl of ice cream to your favorite show. The thought of food alone makes your stomach growl. "Could we make a pit stop? I'm getting pretty hungry." You question, looking out the windows in search for any familiar fast food chain restaurants.
After a moment to think, the Autobot commander decides to comply with your request and pull into a local gas station. It wasn't too cramped of a lot, there were only two or three while majority cars who came through just needed to refill on gas. Ultra Magnus parks off to the side, careful of other late night drivers passing by.
You take your chance to open the door and hop down from the teal colored truck. You could already taste the cheap food. Taking a few steps towards the lit up building, the horn of the semi beside you gives a quick honk.
Desperately holding yourself back from almost shitting your pants at the sudden noise, you snap your attention to your guardian.
"Seven minutes."
You rolled your eyes at the timer and nodded. "Okay, ten minutes. Got it." You're already walking away before you could finish the attitude of asentence due to the smell of gas station food.
Seven minutes.
Psh.
A man stands near the entrance, cat calling anyone he deems of interest. The closer you get, the more distinct features you find on him that you really didn't want to remember later on. His hair is slicked back with far too much hair spray and gel, his face has stubble and his clothes looked like he tried too hard to fit into a group he couldn't.
Not to mention the deeply tinted shades he wore. It covered his eyes, preventing anyone from seeing where he was looking.
Yuck!
You finally approach the sliding doors to which the man looks your way.
Please don't look at me.
Instinctively pulling out your phone, you pretend to take a call from an imaginary partner of your choice. "Hey babe!" You cheerfully say aloud. You think up a fake family and start auditioning for a role that doesn't exist. Glancing at the man, you continue to talk into your phone. "Yeah, I was just stopping here to get some snacks for the kids."
A smile ghosts across your face when noting the man shift his attention elsewhere, losing all interest in you.
Yes!
No time for Creeps!
Once inside the store, you continue the fake phone call until you reach an empty aisle of non refrigerated foods and products. Ending the nonexistant conversation, you go to put your phone away until it buzzes to life with its chosen ring tone. Furrowing your brows, you see that it's a pending call from your pal Miko.
Literally forgetting the most important rule of this mission, you give in to your habit and answer the call.
Bringing the phone to your ear, you look through the optional foods to buy. "Hey, Miko." You greet, grabbing a bag of pretzels. Flipping them over, you find the food's price to be worth your investment.
"Dude!" Miko whines. "Where are you? Bulkead said he can take us to my place to spend the night if that's cool with you. I even checked with my host parents. I just need you to tell them you're not a criminal or whatever."
"I thought you were too busy?" You question, moving into the the next isle of food. There isn't much to choose from in this small store. Internally sighing, you make your way to the back to grab a water bottle.
Yes, a bag of pretzels and a water bottle.
Not too happy with your choice given the store having little options that were in your very little price range, you listen to Miko explain herself.
"Well, I was. Then I moved around a few things and all we need is Bulkhead to pick us up. So, where are you, exactly? I can't find you in the base. Did you get stuck in the energon cube room again?"
"Don't remind me," You inwardly cringed at the memory of the door not working and leaving you in there with highly explosive fuel. "Actually, I'm with 'Magnus. We're taking the Apex Amor somewhere around San Diego to test something." You say, bringing your sad chosen foods to the front of the store for purchase.
"Isn't that place super crowded?" Miko questions.
"No, it's outside of the area. Probably closer to Palm Springs if anything." You sigh, watching the person ring up your items. "Anywyas, I gotta get back to Ultra Magnus. He gave me a time limit and I'm pretty sure I'm well beyond it." You end the call with a quick goodbye and hand the selected amount of money to the cashier at the counter. They acknowledge your offer and take it. After handing you a receipt, you thank them for the service and head out of the gas station with your bagged groceries.
You exhale in the night air, trudging over to Ultra Magnus with your stuff.
"You were a minute late." Your guardian greets you.
Once the passenger door opens, you climb into the empty vehicle and pull the door closed. After seated to your comfort level, you pull out the pretzels and open the item up. "At least it wasn't fifteen minutes." You confess, eating your store bought food.
You then endure the next fifteen minutes in the lecture of how time can easily compromise an important task from your guardian.
Agreeing to stay within the given time frame, you were able to finish your bag of pretzels. You try your best not to leave behind any crumbs. Aware of your guardian being not that fond of trash, you fold up the empty bag to the smallest compacted form it could manage before shoving it into your pocket.
Leaving the local town, the country road mainly consisted of trees, rocks, some land marks and more trees. When looking out the windows, you noticed that the sky had finally darkened into a deep blue with black. Some clouds were noticeable, other's were either too small or difficult to make out from your view.
Ignoring the notifications from your phone this time, you exhale out of boredom once the truck travels its way towards the mountains. You contemplate rolling down your window for fresh air before deciding not to do so. Wishing yourself to have at least downloaded a few songs for the road trip, you focus your attention back to the relic.
You extend an arm to poke at the cold metal, only to have your name called out with a warning as to not tamper with the goods. "It's not like it'll react to me." You scoff, retracting your arm away from the device.
"Relics will react depending on given circumstances." Ultra Magnus responds. "If in a threatening surrounding, the coding will automatically activate out of defense."
This confuses you for a second. "You mean that this will open up if I kick it enough times?"
"I'd rather you not to."
If it were to respond to a human, would it shrink down into mini armor? Would it just shift itself into Cybertronian armor and you'd have to crawl through the cracks to deactivate it? Not really wanting to test the limits of an ancient alien artifact, you decide to leave it alone for the rest of the ride past Palm Springs of California.
Shifting in your seat, you lean against the door in the attempt of taking a nap.
You don't know how long you were asleep or when you were able to drift off into slumber land.
The breaks of the semi truck lurch your body forward and you jolt yourself away by smacking your face against the dashboard with a startled sound. Flinching out of reflex, you grab your face and let out a groan. You take a moment to comprehend what just happened.
Ugh, that was going to bruise.
You just know it by the pulsating feeling.
"We've arrived at our destination." Ultra Magnus says, taking no time to ask of your little incident. It's not that he didn't care, he just doesn't understand how frail the human body can be if thrown around the damn place. He opens your door and waits for you to exit.
"Yeah, yeah." You hiss and rub your face from where you were hit. Still a bit stunned, you slowly climb out of the vehicle and move away to make sure you didn't get a lump from the earlier impact. You can hear the sounds of transformation as your guardian steps over you.
Ultra Magnus is careful where he steps when around you with the relic in hand. The gears shift and spurr within when he walks towards a mountained area well hidden past the tall trees. The commander calls for you to follow after him while you question if the power of makeup could save your forming bruise.
You huff and follow the giant robot. "Couldn't the other's do this instead?"
"This task was given to me. I am to carry it out with the best of my capabilities."
Ultra Magnus and his honor and all that jazz.
Feeling the colder air from the nearby mountains, you hug yourself. Thanks to the summer heat, it wasn't that drastic of a temperature change. You break into a light jog to keep warm and lucky for you, Ultra Magnus was not one to wait for the average human walk cycle.
The two of you wander further along the lands of Mother nature.
You can hear the faint sounds of a distant plane echo throughout the trees. Assuming it to be of the public, you ignore it and carry on.
Knowing you should have taken your health more seriously, your light jog falters into having to take three minute breaks in between. It wasn't your fault that you two needed to travel across uneven grounds! You were able to bring your water with you, thankful for it not being crushed when the autobot had transformed. It must have slipped through his armor and wiring to land on the ground during mid transformation.
Taking a swig of your drink, you aren't too pleased when seeing that you had already consumed more than half of the hydrating liquids inside.
You swatted at some bugs that flew into your face during your hike. It would be a life saver to bring bug spray with you, but alas, you did not think you'd end up here beforehand. You try not to bother your alien pal with any complaints about the outdoors and make a face of disgust when you step through a few strings of a spiderweb between two closely planted trees.
You move onwards, growing jealous of how your guardian's metalic body easily shielded him from the insects. Not to mention the fact he doesn't have to deal with venomous wildlife here.
There's that plane sound again, this time it's closer. It makes you question how stubborn the rich have to be in order to get from one place to another with such short distance. Leaking jet fuel into the musty air was not the great for wildlife, but you honestly wouldn't complain if any life-threatening bugs were to go extinc-
Ultra Magnus pauses his footing, tilting his helm towards the night sky. The way his form stills itself causes you to mimick the action as well. Your own movements come to a halt and you try to keep your breathing quiet.
Your silence was disrupted by your one dollar plastic bottle letting out a loud crinkle.
Before you could either form a question or apologize for your crappy water bottle sounds, Ultra Magnus snaps his attention to you and gives an order. "Get to cover." His voice is laced with warning. "There's a cave around the side of the nearby mountain."
You want to know more details to see if you could be any assitance. You stood for a few seconds, asking for further information. "But-"
"Now."
Without being told again, you turn on your heel and head towards the glistening mountain that was- actually a lot farther than you had hoped it to be. You silently curse the world for the inconvenience and make your way towards where you think the country road was. Your altered objective was to find a better route to the mountain if you were to trace your steps back to the country road. Maybe even call the Autobot base once far enough.
There's that damn plane sound again! It's a lot closer than ever before and you look up for only a moment to see a silver winged jet with red decal descend its way towards where your guardian was. Given how low it was to the ground, your ears started to ring in response to the rumbling engines.
Thankful for cybertronian coding on never being able to register human life forms, you duck behind a thickened tree and listen for the commencing battle.
Anxiety was already telling you that this was the end, yet you shove that feeling deep down and stand up to move onwards.
But you can't.
You can't just leave like this!
Imagine yourself having to explain to Optimus Prime why his Autobot Commander died in a one on one battle.
That would suck.
Cursing out loud, you tighten your grip on your gas station water bottle and start heading back towards the fight. It wasn't really that hard to find out where two giant robots are battling it out. Just listen to the sounds and look for the trees toppling over eachother.
You try to keep a safe distance and chase after the two.
Once you've got a clear shot, you come to realize that the opponent was none other than the Decepticon Second in Command.
Starscream.
The flyer had managed to get a few claw markings on your autobot companion within the minimum time he had been here. You weren't too proud of Ultra Magnus not fighting back with his full potential the way he should be. Giving him kudos, it was more of a priority on keeping the apex armor thing from falling into the seeker's lengthy talons.
There needs to be a plan, but what? Your mind is racing and majority of your ideas are thrown in the trash.
You gather more distance between you and the ongoing battle. Starscream had taken it upon himself to gloat about stealing the lives of deceased Autobots during the war on Cybertron and Earth. A pit of anger boils within your stomach when you watch your guardian get tackled by such a Decepticon. It's enough force to shake the ground nearby along with knocking the apex armor out of your guardian's grasp.
An idea pops into your mind.
You could activate the Apex Armor.
You frown before trying to reason with yourself. If you were to activate the chunk of metal, then it would need you to deactivate it, right? Either way, you can't imagine Starscream having to haul that thing all the way to headquarters once activated.
Despite the relic having zero meaning to you, you knew how well Ultra Magnus had treated it with such caution and care- and how much this relic meant to Team Prime.
Ugh, you hated how you secretly wanted the mech to be happy in life. Fulfilling that task was impossible. Still, you'd prefer not to be the one who brought extinction to Earth if the relic were to be in Decepticon possessi- You shake your head with mixed feelings.
This was stupid. Ultra Magnus wanted you to find safety!
You turn around and start your way on finding a nearby road.
Ultra Magnus can win this fight easily.
A sharp cry escapes your guardians vocalizer and you hear a loud thud hit the dirt, followed by a monolog given by the Decepticon second in command.
Okay.
Maybe Ultra Magnus can't win this fight on his own.
Following your instinct, you turn on your heel and make a dash towards the fight. Your first priority was to check if the Autobot was okay. Your face reddens a bit from the fact that you are willing to waste your life over a walking life form of metal. You, [Y/N], are volunteering to throw your life in danger with a guaranteed chance of death for Ultra Magnus?
Yes, yes you were.
You climb over the fallen trees, ignoring the scrapes on your legs or the cuts from decaying branches threatening to impale your skin. Up ahead was the teal colored mech wrestling Starscream from any further attacks. Due to the size difference, it was far easier for Starscream to land hits on the slower moving 'bot.
You were not going to let the bad guys win.
Not on your watch.
You don't even care to be discrete when you run right up to climb onto the tangled mechs. Ultra Magnus shouts your name and you're given an order to reach safety once more in which you ignore entirely. Using your core strength to push yourself onto the chassis of the Autobot, you try to find balance on the moving giant. You then shout out an insult in your native tongue and hurl your water bottle at the face of the Decepticon.
It surprisingly hits Starscream in the optic and he stumbles himself away with a scowl. It had even earned you enough time to have a triumphant moment on top of your wounded guardian. You, a human, just won a fight against Starscream with a drink you bought from the gas station.
"Insolent cretin, your life has served its purpose long enough!" Starscream frustratingly yells. With that, you both watch the seeker transform his arm into a cannon. It was aimed towards where you stood and you give a gulp, having second thoughts about this whole human warrior ego complex.
Okay, maybe you didn't win the fight just yet.
Ultra Magnus was the first to act. In a swift movement, he wraps a servo around you and lobs you off to the side. Using enough force to throw you further away from Starscream's range, you let out a yelp when you tumble away from the scene. You try to use your limbs to fight gravity itself, but you had only achieved rolling your ankle in the process before slumping against a fallen tree.
"Shit," You groan out, grabbing your ankle to see if it was actually broken. Luckily, it was just sprained from kicking at the ground in your flailing attempt of stopping. You decide to take a twenty second break from the action pact chapter in your life. "Okay, change of plans."
Maybe set the relic as a first priority.
Turning your attention away from the fighting enemies, you scan the area in search of the apex armor. Knowing it had been knocked out of Ultra Magnus' possession, you decide it to be your job to protect it. But..You can't really get a good view from where you sat.
You needed to relocate for a better angle.
It takes a moment to fully stand with your newly sprained ankle. You hobbled across the uneven ground and used any nearby trees for support to lean against when you grew tired. Trying to save your energy, you move your way to the other side of the battle field, careful to stay out of sight.
You covered your ears when the noise of a cannon was fired a few times. The sound of twisting metal was then heard before the vocalizer of Starscream emits a pained howl. You smiled inwardly at that, becoming more appreciative of your guardian's fighting skills.
Continuing about your objective, you finally make it to the higher ground and turn to see- the Autobot relic! It only laid a few feet away from where you painfully stood. "Ugh, why do you have to be so far?" You whine to yourself.
You ignore the warnings shooting through your nervous system and shakily walk over to the ancient metal.
So, erm.. How do you work this thing? You know that you are incapable of moving it to a safety. So, how does one even activate the Apex Armor?
You climb onto the relic and stand on it.
Huh.
Nothing happened.
Maybe sit? You crouch down to a squat, careful of your ankle, and wait.
Nope, not that either.
You hiss out a curse. What's with this thing? Why won't it work? You try a few more poses on the piece of crafted metal and become stumped at its little to no response.
"I don't get it. What's the deal with you?" You question as if this were sentient itself.
You then remember how this ancient artifact worked.
"Relics will react depending on given circumstances." Ultra Magnus' voice echoes in your memory. "If in a threatening surrounding, the coding will automatically activate out of defense."
"You mean that this will open up if I kick it enough times?"
"I'd rather you not to."
Your face lights up.
Now was your job to do exactly what your guardian told you not to. Scrambling yourself off the engraved metal, you apologize silently to your body and lift your good leg up. Reeling it back with your human charged might, you begin kicking the shit out of the Cybertronian relic.
Imagining it to be your worst enemy, you even spit on the damned thing.
Sputtering and whirring to life, the biolights come to life within the engravings and the artifact of a near extinct race activates before you. The metal then attaches itself to your leg and you fall over with a started sound. Shutting your eyes from the blinding light, your screams are cut away from your throat when your vision fades to black.
There's a tingling feeling in the back of your head.
You can feel your skin crawl with an.. odd sensation.
Your blood burns with a new yearning.
The pain in your sprained ankle had even subsided.
Groaning awake, your vision clears with a lightened blue hue.
Blue?
Why are you seeing blue?
Blinking a few times, you your surroundings are color corrected with a blue contrast over them. When you land your focus to the tree tops, it registers a dialog of text converted from Cybertronian to English. It enlists further details to you on what the top of the trees are made of.
Frowning, you sit yourself up and take a look at your armored body.
Armored body?
You stare in disbelief. The Apex Armor had merged with your flesh and encircled your tiny form with its over protective metal plating. The way the digits of the servos moved when you flexed your fingers within. Although you were not even close to the height of your guardian, it had put you around the same height as Starscream - if not taller.
Oh.
Surprised that it didn't kill you, you stand up and stumble forwards a few steps. This was cool but also fridghtening. With your tiny human frame inside of it, it was a bit disorienting at first.
You take a deep breath to calm your nerves.
You are wearing an ancient relic that actually responded to you.
You are wearing an ancient relic that is said to be indestructible.
You are wearing an ancient relic that can kick Starscream's tailpipe.
With a grin, you've come to find out that the rules of the game had just changed in your favor. You can finally stop running from Decepticons. This time, you were going to tag yourself into the wrestling ring. Checking to make sure your ankle isn't damaged for good, you turn and head on back into the still ongoing battle between your guardian and the seeker.
"Raaagh!" You hollar a battle cry, running at full speed into the Decepticon.
Starscreams lets out a squeal when you lunge your frame at him. To see such armor on a fleshing like you had caught him off guard entirely. Unable to carry both of your weight, your enemy crumples to the earthed floor.
"No, not like this! A human couldn't possibly- Agh!" Starscream stammers out after you elbow him in the neck. "I'll- I'll spare your life! I'll let you live!"
You don't hold back at his pleas of release and dig your digits into his sides. "Give me your soul!" You rasp out in a frenzy. Grabbing at one of his wings, you pull the tip downwards as fast as you can and rip off a good chunk of his fly ability. The sound of his wails pleases your inner demons and you might even pull out his guts at this point.
Using your weight to pin the Decepticon onto his side, you attempt to destroy the plating covering Starscream's chassis out of fury. "This is for all the 'bots you've killed!" You shout, attempting to tear away the metal that rested atop his spark chamber. Thanks to Ratchet's teachings, you knew where the heart was of any 'bot and 'con.
You're finally making progress when seeing the shining light of Starscream's spark glisten through the cracks of his newly destroyed chassis. Raising your fist to deliver the final blow, a much larger force rips you away from your victim.
Starscream gasps aloud and rolls onto his front before throwing up a puddle of energon. He wipes the corners of his mouth, looking lazily at his blood before realizing where he was. Letting out a whimper, he musters up all his energy and you watch your target scamper off and out of sight.
Kicking wildly, you shout out a curse and try to escape. "Let me go, I'll kill the little shit!"
"[Y/N]!" Ultra Magnus catches your attention. "Cease your retaliation at once, Starscream is no longer a threat."
Slowing your attempts of escape, you've come to realize that a smaller 'bot like you couldn't really flee from the Autobot Commander. You stop thrashing and wait for yourself to be lowered to the ground. Once Ultra Magnus released his grip on you, you contemplate chasing after the now land locked seeker. A trail of energon would lead you right to the culprit if you even dared.
Knowing better, you turn your attention to your guardian. "At least he won't mess with us anymore, right?" You even strike a triumphant pose.
Ultra Magnus gives you a stricken look before activating his comm link.
While he speaks with his leader, you decide to look at yourself more. You grab at your chest to feel the cool armor beneath. Intriguing how it allows you have selective sensory when in and out of battle.
You examine your metallic hands and of course, you give yourself the middle finger to make sure this wasn't a dream of any sorts. Snorting at that, you lower yourself to take a seat on the ground. Reaching to your previously damaged ankle once more, you poke and prod your digits at the plating around it. There wasn't much of a threatening pain level like beforehand.
Once your guardian has finished his conversation with Optimus, the teal colored mech ends the communications link and turns his attention to you in wonder.
You scramble to stand as Ulra Magnus approaches you. You give a quick wave and a smile, hoping that your earlier blood thirst hadn't jeprodized your bond. "So what now?" You question, giving a shrug.
"You went against my order." He says coldly.
"I'm sorry?" You question in an offended tone. "Did you not stop me from snuffing 'Screamer?"
This earns you a concerning look from the Autobot commander.
It was almost like he was looking right through you with that stare. Weird that you can tell what he was feeling out of thin air. It was as if the thin particles around him were his.. emotion? You can see on your head of display screen the aura around the mech. Within written English, it registers to you as some kind of an energy field.
This didn't feel great, the field around Ultra Magnus weighed heavily with..worry? What was this? Is this how these robots worked? Does this explain how 'bots aren't as physically expressive with their emotions as humans are? Scrunching your face, you suddenly get the feeling of crying a sea of darkness.
"Um," You clear your throat to prevent any voice cracks. "Why do I feel so.. sad?"
Ultra Magnus averts his gaze and moves away from you. "Fields of expression between one another can overlap eachother." He says softly.
That dreaded feeling had drifted away the more distance that was put between you two.
"I don't get it." You say aloud, confused how previous events lead up to this. "I used the armor thingy and saved you from a Decepticon. How come you feel like that after all I did?"
"[Y/N]." Ultra Magnus slowly says, choosing his next words carefully. While he wanted to express more gratitude towards your achievements, it conflicted him deeply with how he could have lost someone he had begun to appreciate during his time on Earth. "You do not realize how easily you could have slipped away from me."
Right, humans are fragile.
You blink dumbfoundedly at that. "Oh." You say, knowing that you really did put your whole life in danger just to help the larger mech carry out a stupid task. You stare at the ground for a moment before flashing a smile in your guardian's direction. "So what? People always say to live each day like it was your last." You try not to make the next sentence sound too cheesy. "If it were my last, then at least I spent it with my favorite 'bot."
That sounded so corny you could almost taste it.
It was true, though.
While Ultra Magnus seemed more stuck on his past mistakes, you were usually there to remind him to focus more on what's ahead of him rather than what's behind. If only you were paid to give motivational speeches to alien robots, you'd probably be making more money and own something expensive. To even comprehend yourself being a potential motivator for the larger mech makes your stomach queasy in an odd sense.
Knowing Ultra Magnus doesn't do well in expressing himself, you decide to use the Apex Armor for one last action.
You move yourself closer to the commander and grab his servo with yours. Surprisingly, Ultra Magnus doesn't stop you from continuing. Lacing your digits with his, you give a reassuring squeeze from your end and look up at him with a smile. "Don't be sad."
Assuming you'd be kicked into an endless void for being too affectionate, you watch your commander express a sigh of irritation but his energy field had dropped its weight from earlier in almost a relief like feeling. Unsure how this energy aura stuff works, you let go of him - only to punch the air infront of you. "If any 'con wants to rumble, I can fight them in and out of this armor!" You throw another punch, showing off your moves to your guardian.
"Perhaps when the Apex Armor is in hand. Otherwise, I'd advise you to avoid the troubles of the field." Ultra Magnus says, taking note how you really need some serious training if you were to actually fight on the battlefield. It was a miracle that you survived in one piece with that armor.
You give a nod, agreeing to his set conditions.
Before you can ask any further about how Cybertronians use their energy shields with one another, a colorful spiral of green and blue sequences warp out of thin air. It comes to life as a ground bridge only a few feet away from you two. You both turn to see Bulkhead and Ratchet rush themselves through.
"Everyone okay?" Bulkhead is the first to speak. He runs over to you and notices that you aren't really your puny human self at the moment. "[Y/N]! Love the new look!" The wrecker's optics lit up with joy as he gestures to your temporary figure.
Ratchet shakes his helm and interrupts any further conversation between you two. "Yes, yes - but is anyone hurt?" He was more so referring to Ultra Magnus who gave a quick answer about his own scratches and scars he obtained from earlier events. The concerned medic gives your guardian a quick scan before sharing the diagnosis.
Luckily, the scratches and scrapes on the teal mech were an easy fix. Nothing too damaging came up.
"Wait, how'd you guys find us? Our signals are off." You question the obvious.
"Duh," Bulkhead snorts. "Your call with Miko gave us your location and we knew where you were heading when you didn't answer her about an incoming Decepticon."
You immediately avert your eyes from Ultra Magnus when he overhears this and gives you a look. Not only did you break rule number one and revealed your location to all, you also ignored the warning texts from your friend. Your mouth becomes dry at the fact you started this whole shit show from the gas station.
Maybe next time you'll warn Miko or tell your Guardian when you aren't sure when it's a good time to make a call during an important mission.
You now remember that you had thrown your water bottle at Starscream earlier and inwardly question if you should go find it or let the park rangers clean it later. You decide to leave it for the ranger and cleaners to handle, not in the mood to revisit the site of your almost grave. Refocusing your attention to Bulkhead, you ask him to repeat his earlier question.
"Do you know how to get out of that?" The wrecker repeats. He taps at your armored shoulder in question.
You give a shrug, trying to remember if you saw anyone removing this from themselves. "Not really." You respond in honesty. That would suck if this were impossible to remove. Imagine being stuck in an ancient relic.
"Just press at the center a few times and it should deactivate." Bulkhead points to his own chassis as if to show a demonstration.
Mimicking his actions, you push at the center piece of your armored chest. With a sputtering noise, the metal retracts itself from you and Bulkhead catches the now inactive relic to prevent it from hitting you. You thank him for the assitance and begin to walk away - only to trip over your own foot and faceplant into the earth itself.
Asking of your physical state, the wrecker lowers himself down to help you stand with his servo. "I sprained my ankle earlier." You groan out, trying to explain how a giant robot with your upmost trust had hurled you into a tree. You try to shift most of your weight on your good leg.
"I could carry you through the bridge if you'd like?" Bulkhead offers, not wanting to move too much in his position so he could avoid causing you any further pain. He could tell that you wouldn't make it that far on your own when ever your face contorted into a pained expression every time you bumped your damaged ankle.
While you were stubborn and wanted to proudly walk yourself through the ground bridge, you take the green 'bot on his offer.
You're scooped up into the wrecker's servo. Bulkhead lifts you enough to climb onto the plating around his neck. It was a common place for Miko and sometimes Raf to hang out on. You adjust your legs enough to feel minimum pain while your escort walks his way over to both Ratchrt and your guardian.
"Everyone ready to go?" Bulkhead asks.
"All set. Let's go." Ratchet motions everyone to the groundbridge.
The ambulance is the first to leave through it, followed closely by you and your escort while the Autobot commander is the last to pass through. You take this time to glance over to your guarding, contemplating if you should either apologize for your little chaotic phone call you had with Miko or make it up to him in a different way.
Once making it back to base, Ultra Magnus catches the attention of your wrecker escort and motions him to the side along with you. You could tell that he had something to say. Assuming it to be private between just the two of them, Bulkhead goes to grab you for removal but is stopped by the larger mech.
"I'd like to have a moment alone with [Y/N]." Ultra Magnus says. He leans himself and extends an arm to reach for you. Without much hesitation, you carefully climb from Bulkhead to the commander. While your ankle wasn't in the best shape, you prefer to suffer through it if it'll avoid you from falling to your death at this height.
Your guardian flattens the palm of his servo enough for your to sit yourself comfortably to your best capability as Bulkhead takes his leave with a verbal departure.
With your adrenaline rush now over, you could really go for some pain killers to at least help numb the shooting pain when ever there is too much pressure added to your ankle. If it continued to worsen tomorrow, then you would go ask Jack's mom for any advice. Tearing your attention away to literally anything else, you start the conversation first with an apology.
"Sorry for ruining the mission." You say, briefly mentioning the phone call you had at the local gas station. "With the whole phone call and all."
"While I understand your 'spirit' of eagerly handling Autobot tasks on your own, I'd prefer you to steer clear of those options entirely." Ultra Magnus says, silently accepting your apology. "You were to follow my given orders, not disregard them entirely."
"I couldn't just leave you there." You reply.
"You were fully capable of doing so."
"No. I won't leave my guardian behind like that." You interrupt him from explaining further logic.
Ultra Magnus falls silent.
"I get that it's your job to protect humans, but it's nice once in a while to switch it up." You confess. It wasn't fair having to live with a Decepticon target on your back 24/7. Having the roles changed made you understand why Miko behaves the way she does at any given chance with the the ground bridge unsupervised.
There's a difference between doing the right thing and wasting your chances. You were well aware of that. It doesn't mean your actions weren't justified. You absolutely believe you had gone the best route.
Still, you try to look at it from the commander's point of view. A human he developed a closeness for had spat in the face of death and could have never seen him again. The thought of him not wanting you to leave his side made you smile.
Wait. Does this mean you're his emotional support animal now?
"Just try to stay out of danger, [Y/N]." Your guardian slowly says, hoping to have made his point if he were to dumb it down. "I wouldn't be very enthused if devestating events were to take place."
You sigh, agreeing with him on that. "Got it." There had been broken limbs and permanent scars when the others of Team Prime had walked off the battle field. It wasnt anything new, but you got the message loud and clear. If anything were to happen to either of you, you were pretty certain that the other would go sicko mode and try to erase the entire existence of the enemy.
Just like you did earlier with Starscream.