No More DayDreaming [DISCONTINUED]

Uncle Sam Part 3 -Final-

"Friendly!!" Arcee called.
"Hello!!" BulkHead blinked, lifting his gun away from her as she did the same. Arcee motioned at Jack and Raf behind her, then to Aubrey and Miko. "What are they doing here?" Arcee growled. "It's not his fault, Miko followed him without him knowing and we followed her to tell him." Aubrey stepped up, but Arcee ignored her.
"Whatever- we have to find somewhere safe to hide them while we get Fowler." She walked in front of BulkHead to take point. Bumblee shrugged at the wrecker and followed. Rafael looked up at Aubrey with a worried frown. She tried to give him a reassuring smile, gently ruffling his spikey hair. The kids followed close behind BulkHead's feet as they walked through the giant, ominous hallways. Aubrey walked beside Rafael, with Jack on the other side of her.
"... I'm glad you guys are ok." He finally mumbled. Aubrey looked his way with a small smile. "Thanks." She nodded, lightly elbowing his arm. Jack opened his mouth to reply, but shut it again as a noise echoed through the hall. The kids all turned their head in unison to see a small group of guards staring directly at Arcee, Bee, and BulkHead. "Get down!" Arcee called to them, and Aubrey scooped up Raf and ran towards the wall. "Come on!" She called over the fighting to Miko and Jack. She skid to a halt, dropping Raf on his feet as a decepticon's foot slammed down in front of them. Aubrey swallowed hard, putting her hand on Raf's back and running around it. "Almost there--" She gasped, sprinting for the wall with Raf just behind her. She turned around, sliding backward a few feet and slamming into the wall. "Gah!" She grunted, catching Raf just before he did the same. The two looked around frantically for Miko and Jack, only to see them up against the other wall.
"Look out!" Raf shouted, and Aubrey looked up to see a 'con about to crash down on them. Aubrey pushed Raf out of the way and somersaulted out of the way. She had made it just short, and the 'con fell on top of her. She closed her eyes and tensed, waiting for the pain. When it didn't come, she blinked to see a force field around her. She sighed a shallow breath and crawled frantically out of the way. When the shield faded away, Aubrey turned to Raf. She would have to explain herself... But when she saw him feeling the ground for his glasses, a weight slid off her shoulders. No way he had seen her. She ran to him and slid on the floor. She spotted his glasses and placed them in his hand. "Sorry for shoving you back there." She frowned, helping him stand up. "I think I should be thanking you for it, actually..." He mumbled shakily. The two jumped as another bot landed across the hallway.
"That's the last of them..." Arcee nodded to BulkHead, who opened a large, alien looking doorway. "In here everyone one." Aubrey and Raf met up with Jack and Miko, and they all filed into the large room. Arcee looked around, then looked down at the kids. "This area is safe. Stay. Here. We'll come back here once we have Fowler." Her optics were narrowed slightly, and Aubrey knew there was no use arguing with her. "We can't just leave them!" Bee whirred. "They're slowing us down and they're easy targets. They're safe as long as they stay put." Arcee explained dryly. "Arcee- you can't be serious!!" Jack cried with exasperation, grabbing the sides of his head. "I wanna come with you! I barely saw any of the action!" Miko whined, her bottom lip popping out. Aubrey led Raf away as the bots tried to quiet the other teenagers.
"How're you holdin' up?" She smiled down at him. "Fine..." He smiled shyly back. Jack and Miko walked towards them, having lost their argument with Arcee. Though it wasn't as if they had a chance in the first place. "I can't believe this!" Jack motioned at the room around them, monitors lining the walls and mysterious technology that none of them could even begin to guess their purpose. "I know, right?! It's so awesome!" Miko bounced up an down, eyes darting around the room with a wide grin. "Wh- awesome?! Miko- you almost got us killed!" Jack turned to face her. Aubrey took a small step back, too surprised by Jack's aggression to see Raf's eyes growing wide in worry. "Well- Bulk and I were fine until you guys came!! If anything you put all of us in danger." She huffed, crossing her arms. "Are you being serious right now?!" Jack cried, utterly shocked by Miko's logic. Aubrey opened her mouth to break the two apart, but before she could say anything, Raf beat her to it.
"Stop fighting, both of you!!" He squealed, running across the room to a sit on a ledge in the floor. Aubrey flashed the two a harsh look, and they exchanged regretful glances. The three ran over to Raf, ready to comfort him. "It- it's ok Raf..." Jack mumbled, kneeling beside him. "Yeah, the autobots are gonna get us out a-ok." Miko assured, sitting next to Raf and patting his shoulder. Aubrey stayed standing, staring at a monitor across the room. The symbols and strange writing started to assemble in h head, and she shook the feeling away. Now was not the time for another episode. "Guys... Does... Does that look important to you..?" Aubrey pointed to the screen, focusing to not try and read the symbols. Jack and Miko shrugged, perplexed. But Raf's eyes lit up slightly in recognition.
"It's... It's math." He said blankly, hopping off the ledge to walk closer. The other three followed like ducklings, and Aubrey could almost see the gears turning in Raf's head. It made her smile a little. "How- how can you tell..?" Jack asked skeptically. "I'm on them athletes team- and I know math when I see it. And that-" he pointed to the largest sign on the screen, "Is a serious equation." He marveled. Aubrey was enjoying how excited he was getting. The excitement snapped to fear as she heard the door behind them open. Something wasn't right. The other looked turned towards the sound, eyes filled with hope of seeing Arcee or Bulkhead. Aubrey followed their gaze, and she tensed when a Vehicon stood in the doorway. Its head turned slowly, and they were spotted.
"We gotta go-!" Aubrey blurted out. "Miko- take a picture!" Jack called. "Good idea!" Aubrey and Miko said in unison. But instead of pointing her phone towards the screen, she looked straight up at the decepticon. "Miko!! Not him-- that!!" Jack cried out in exasperation. "Oh- right." She giggled airily. A quick flash and the kids were ready to book it. "Wait- my backpack!" Raf gasped. "No- Raf, leave it!!" Aubrey cried, already running with Miko. Raf ignored her, running towards his bag and the 'con. As Raf reached his backpack and slipped it over his shoulders, the decepticon aimed its gun. Aubrey froze. If Raf couldn't dodge the blast she would have no choice but to envelope him in a force field. Even if it worked (and she didn't fail miserably), the others would know about her secret. She tensed, readying herself. Before she even attempted a force field, Jack came out of nowhere, tackling Raf out of the way. Luckily, the blast from the cannon only hit the floor, leaving a char mark. "This way!!" Aubrey cried, leading the others to a door on the opposite end of the room. Miko and Raf ran past her, and she joined Jack in running out of the room. As the kids scrambled to get away, she heard the whir of the vehicon's blaster. She tensed, ready to protect her friends. But yet again, she was able to keep her secret a little longer as BulkHead came speeding towards them. He transformed back into a bot to jump over their heads. He tackled the 'con, and Arcee pulled up along with Bee. Raf and Miko filed into Bee's front seat, and Aubrey hopped on Arcee behind Jack.
"I told you to stay put!" She yelled over BulkHead's melee. No one dared to argue.

Back at base, about 45 minutes later...
Aubrey sat in the edge of the platform, resting her arms on the railing and laying her chin on them. She frowned at Ratchet's new Cybertronian version of a cast. His arm was beat up pretty bad, along with the rest of him. She hadn't known that his and Optimus' mission would end like this...
The other kids were cheerful, happy to be back and alive at base. Bumble stood by BulkHead as they waited for a lecture from Optimus, and Arcee sat on a large crate close to the berth where CliffJumper was recovering. How long are you gonna keep us waiting, Cliff..? She thought sadly. Fowler was resting in a hospital bed behind her. Whatever StarScream had done, it had really messed up his head. Luckily Ratchet couldn't see any permanent affects.
Aubrey was broken from her thoughts as Optimus' firm voice boomed in her chest. "BulkHead, you exercised extremely poor judgement in allowing the children to accompany you." He frowned, optics narrowed slightly. BulkHead deflated a little, looking down. "... I'm sorry, Optimus... It won't happen again, I promise." He nodded. Miko and Aubrey looked up, ready to come to his defense. "But it wasn't Bulk's fault..!" Miko spoke up. "We all went after him without him knowing, if anything he did a great job protecting us." Aubrey looked at Optimus with a pleading look. "Girls please..!" Bulk whispered harshly, willing to take the blame. "If anyone should get the blame, it should be Miko and I. Miko left with BulkHead without telling anyone, and I let Jack and Raf come with me to go after her instead of finding a way to call him." Aubrey ignored BulkHead, the blame was hers to take, not his. "Besides, we helped! Check it out- recon!" Miko smirked, flipping out her phone and showing Optimus a picture of the schematics from before. Optimus leaned down to get a better look, optics squinting as he tried to process what he saw.
"Hmm.." He rumbled, his engines seeming to vocalize as well. "Ratchet, take a look. It may be of importance." He nodded his head at the phone. Ratchet turned away his monitor. As he leaned down look, he held his arm. Aubrey frowned, the wounds had to hurt more than he led on... Ratchet looked over the picture with a confused look, looking back and forth between Miko and Optimus. "I... I don't understand." He blinked. Miko tilted her head, turning he screen to look at the picture. She chuckled, "Whoops, that's the 'con who almost flattened Raf." She smirked, motioning towards the 12 year old. Aubrey and Raf exchanged glances, and to her surprise he was smiling. Jack, on the other hand, was steaming.
"Miko- Raf almost died. This isn't a joke!" He growled. Miko's expression switched like a light from excitement to disbelief. "Uh- we all almost died, Jack. Even them!" She snapped back, motioning to the autobots. Aubrey puased, wondering to get involved or not. She decided to sit back and wait. "Well--" Jack started, pausing as if he was considering his next words. "Well if this is an average day with the autobots-- I don't want to be apart of it..!" He huffed. Aubrey's heart skipped a beat. He was joking, right? "Jack." Optimus' voice caught her off guard, and everyone turned to look at him. "It is no longer the safety of you four, but the safety of all humanity that is at risk. If you wish to leave, we will respect your decision..." He nodded, though Aubrey sensed a small hint of sadness in his tone and behind his optics. Again, the entire base was caught off guard. But this time it was the sound of a ground bridge opening that startled them.
"No need for long goodbyes, there's the door." Ratchet said curtly. Aubrey blinked. Jack was serious. She stood up in a flash, moving in his way. "Jack- you're- you're really going to leave all this..? You've gotten to see things no one will ever experience and you want to leave it?" She blinked in disbelief. Jack gave her a sour look. "Maybe I never wanted to experience it in the first place, Aubrey." He said lowly. He turned to Rafael, motioning him to follow. Raf paused, looking BumbleBee's way, who seemed deflated at the thought of Raf leaving. He turned back to Jack, smiling shyly, "I'm good, Jack. I'll see you at school."
"... Ok... Bye." Jack nodded to the other three. He gave one last look to Aubrey, but stopped. He knew there was no way she was going to leave either. Everyone watched silently as he climbed down the latter and walked towards the ground bridge. Arcee cut him off. They stared at each other for a moment, and Jack nodded. "I know, I know. You don't exist." He smirked slightly. "Don't make me hunt you down." Arcee said half-heartedly, watching as Jack walked away. Aubrey saw the sadness in her optics, and it made Aubrey's heart drop. She felt bad for her, but deep down she was jealous that Jack had been able to get Arceee to care about him in a matter of days. Aubrey had been at the base for weeks and Arcee still didn't like her, or at least it seemed that way...
She shook the thought away as the groundbridge closed. Everyone stood in an awkward silence. For a second, Aubrey saw Ratchet's shoulders fall in a small, depressed sigh. The bots were speechless, and the kids were shocked. Things stayed quiet like this for a few moments that felt like forever until Miko decided to break the silence.
"Well that happened."

------

OOOkkk. Well, welcome back. This series was on hold for a LONG time I guess... I just lost interest and inspiration. But, now that school is over, I've decided I'll continue the story. :) I'm SUPER sorry for the long wait guys! Hope you enjoy reading!! :D