Sparked Love

Chapter 7

There was a slam of a door from the green SUV and out popped a girl with pink dyed ponytails. "Hey, guys!" She yelled to no one in particular. Arcee had also left after Bulkhead to retrieve her charge, those two humans left their respective guardians.

"Miko," Jack said after he took his helmet off, "you don't have to yell every time we get here."

Miko rolled her eyes and proceeded to stretch her arms in front of her, also popping her knuckles in the process. "It's not like anyone can hear me from outside. Why are you always such a party pooper?"

Arcee looked at Bulkhead with a shrug while their charges bickered amongst themselves. They knew that this was normal. These two children did tend to rub each other wrong but oddly enough remained friends. Usually, if a mech rubbed another the wrong way, they'd be fought or booted from their present place of being.

Jack shrugged off her remarks and walked up the balcony, choosing to sit on the side of the sofa. Miko, although after a moment, decided that she'd do the same. But once she was up on the balcony with him, she took up the rest of the available seating. Jack had already taken the remote but was jostled when she flopped down, making him scowl for a moment before turning the TV on.

It was a random show that was showing sports cars over the last 50 years. Jack sat back, leaning over the edge and falling onto the soft cushions on the couch. Both just sat and listened to what the dude on the TV was saying about the cars' characteristics. "Oh just look at it..." The dude squealed as the 1967 Impala SS drove passed extremely slow, showing off how fabulous it is. It was, of course, a classic.

Minutes passed, Bumblebee and Rafael came in with a slow and eased fashion. The yellow sporty drove until he was almost to the balconies stairs. A short brown haired boy with red glasses slide out with a practiced ease. The sound of the door closing behind him was cause for Jack to pivot his head. "Hey, Raf."

"Hey!" The little boy perhaps only 13 greeted while he trotted up the stairs. Miko moved her boots so he could have a spot on the couch with them, and for a moment, there was only the sound of the TV within a suspiciously silent base.

The three guardians had left the main area to do goodness knows what so it was obvious when Smokescreen had finally left his quarters. A kind of tired, irritated walk that echoed with a thump. Bored optics scanned the room.

Jack was the one to greet him, in his usual calm way. The mech didn't respond in kind but rather shrugged him off. It was of no real surprise that he transformed and drove out of base with a hiss to his engines, but what was odd was that he did not say a word. Like a church mouse, although, the mouse would not have left the feeling of slight unease. He was usually so... energetic...

Mecha that the children knew had come to the once empty silo, filling the near silent void with the subtle sound of Optimus tapping away at the console while the others conversed. Arcee and Bumblebee did their own thing, quietly talking. Bulkhead came over to join the children who now watched a monster truck rally because Miko stole the remote.

"Commander Macho Tire Lord Is the best—the best thing to happen to professional monster truck rallies since Chandler had Bigfoot." Miko didn't look at anyone, only the smashed chassis of other cars that were nothing more than for show.

"Miko," Jack said quietly, opening his eyes and lifting his head from the back of the couch. "I know you like monster trucking and... all that, but what you say makes almost no sense."

"Duh, it doesn't make sense. You're not in the club like me and Bulkie." She jabbed her thumb back towards the rest of the silo. Jack follow it and only saw an irritated speedster tread along out from the hallway.

"Hey," Jack said, the white mecha looked over, only giving a dismissive wave, falling down into his alt. mode, Smokescreen screeched his tires across the concrete. A small plum of smoke swirled up, making the not-so-friendly encounter all the more dramatic.

"What's up with him?" Miko asked no one in particular. They three shrugged. Jack began to wonder what crawled under his skin to make him act so—un-Smokescreen like.

They were not left alone long after the encounter. The rest of the mecha on base filtered out from their places of hiding. Optimus was not among them. It wasn't so odd as it was something that the children had come to find as normal. Well, about as normal as giant alien robots in the small town of Jasper could be. It was early enough still, he may very well be out for a drive.

Arcee walked over with a servo on her hip and opticed her charge. "How come you three are so quiet?"

Bumblebee popped over and whistled and bleeped about the show since obviously he and Bulkhead and the children tended to watch it on Saturdays when they were off from school. At least it was today. Then whirling sadly when mentioning that they didn't tell him they were watching it.

"I thought you went out on patrol with Smokescreen," Rafael defended. Miko and Jack looked back and forth between the two, still surprised at times that their youngest friend on base is fluent in whatever Bumblebee spoke. At least the scout was able to talk with him and not have to stop and translate everything.

"Smokescreen?" Arcee inquired, "He doesn't have patrol today. It's Optimus and Nightblade."

Miko nearly tipped the whole couch with the energy she suddenly showed. Her eyes sparkled. "Who's that? Who are they?"

She did not even turn around, quirking an optic ridge at the partial pink haired child. Arcee calmly pointed with the free servo to the opposite end of the silo. "That's Nightblade." It took a moment for the children to move enough to be able to see the lumbering frame.

She stopped immediately at the mention of her name. "What did I do?" Nightblade only proceeded only Arcee turned her helm toward her.

"Kids wanted to know about you."

"That makes two... oh no, four. Four of us," Nightblade half-heartedly chuckled. "Yeah, well, this is me. Nothing special." Silence for a moment, because she's awkward. "Hello."

Miko, with the same sparkle in her eyes, leapt over the couch's back, introducing Jack and Raphael and of course, herself in a rapid furry. All that Nightblade knew was that staying amongst these children and the rest of the mecha on base, it was going to be an interesting challenge.