Chapitre 77: The Reunion Part 4.1
"Good thing to hear, now let's get out of here. This has been a rough day for all of us. And we could use some time to relax." Jack said as he stretched his arms up.
"Round of video games?" Raf asked excitedly.
"You're on." Jack said with a smile.
"Mind if the girls join in?" Miko asked as she gestured to herself and Emily.
"Sure." Raf nodded.
"Just as long as you don't mind losing." Jack said with a teasing look as Emily smirked and raised an eyebrow.
"You should know better than to challenge us." She said with a smirk.
"Oh yeah, challenging is one painful experience. But you know what they say. You win some, you lose some. And today I'm feeling kind of lucky." Jack said with his hands behind his head. He was sure that he'll win the game this time.
"How about you start bragging when you actually win." Emily remarked playfully while leaning against Optimus' side near his tire with her arms crossed.
"Whatever." Jack said with a playful roll of his eyes.
"Before we watch what's new on the internet, I'm sure by now there are some new videos." Miko suggested.
"What do you say, Jack?" Ref asked the raven haired teen curiously.
"Well a videogame champ needs to relax a bit before a big game. So I'm up for it." Jack said but Arcee had to stop them.
"Not so fast, Jack, you'll watch your videos and play your games after you finish the rest of your homework and after dealing with your chores. That goes for all of you kids." Arcee reminded them like a mother.
The trio all started to whine or complain except Emily who knew it was coming since Arcee was always the one that reminds the kids about doing their homework and their chores around the base.
"Come on, Arcee, we had a really hard day and we could use some time to relax a bit." Jack complained.
"Don't argue with me, young man, you know the rules." Arcee reminded him sternly with a tone a parent uses.
"Yeah I know, responsibilities before pleasures." Jack said with a sigh.
"Exactly." Arcee said.
"It's okay, I get it." Jack said as he pouted a little.
"Hmph, there she goes acting all mama bot again." Miko whispered in annoyance but stiffened when Arcee turned to her.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Arcee asked curiously.
"Nothing, it was nothing." Emily said as she jumped in defense of Miko.
"I'm pretty sure I heard something." Arcee said as she narrowed her optics even in vehicle mode.
"Must've been a fly. Or maybe a mosquito." Raf said with a nervous smile.
All of the sudden there was a huge silence and no one said anything. Arcee didn't really believe that what she heard was a fly or a mosquito. She really believed that Miko had said something disrespectful towards her. So to try and cut down the tension, Bulkhead started to ask the kids how school was today.
"So how was class today? Big pop quiz right?" Bulkhead said as Miko became nervous. Oh crud.
"Yeah." Miko said while avoiding eye contact.
"I'm sure that since you studied hard, you'll pass for sure." Bulkhead said as Miko became even more nervous.
"Yeah, sure… study hard." Miko said meekly.
"That didn't seem pretty convincing." Arcee deadpan.
"Hey, get off her back. The girl is just a bit tired because of all that study she did last night after I brought her home." Bulkhead defended his charge.
"Yeah…" Miko said as Jack, Raf and Emily gave her the look.
Something in Miko's voice seemed to be off and Bulkhead noticed it. He was wondering why she talked as if she was hiding something unless she was hiding something.
"Is everything okay, Miko?" Bulkhead asked in concern.
"Yeah, yeah. I was just thinking back about how fun last night was. Studying is tons of fun." Miko said as she wanted to change the subject.
"That's funny, you always said that studying was boring. And now you say it's fun?" Bulkhead said suspiciously.
"Well…" Miko started as she rubbed the back of her head.
"Miko. You did study last night right?" Bulkhead question as he uses that tone parents use.
"Yes. Maybe. A little? Okay, I didn't." Miko gave in after denying it for a few minutes.
"Aww, Miko, we talked about this. You must work hard if you want to-" Bulkhead started as Miko puffed her cheek while crossing her arms.
"To succeed. Yeah, I know that." Miko said with a pout.
"Well, well, mister. What do you have to say to that? It looks like you really don't have a way with kids, especially Miko." Arcee said as Bulkhead rolled his optics.
"Oh, I'm sorry if my way of educating kids doesn't live up to your mama bot standard. And unlike you, I'm not always breathing down people's neck." Bulkhead countered back as Arcee was taken back by that.
"I don't do that." Arcee denied but Bulkhead wasn't falling for that.
"Yes, you do. Jack's the living proof of that. The kids told me about how you never let him take the girl he likes for a ride." Bulkhead argued and Arcee was surprised and turned to the kids.
"Wait what? You guys told him about this?" Arcee said in surprise.
"No. Maybe. A little." The kids say nervously.
"Are you serious? Emily?" Arcee asked in disbelief as she turned to Emily who just smiled sheepishly.
"Raf?" Arcee turned to Raf who fidgeted on his spot nervously.
"Miko?" Arcee turned to Miko.
"Well…" Miko started as Arcee groaned silently. She should have known.
"So you guys did tell Bulkhead about that huh?" She asked in a deadpan tone.
"Actually, Jack did." Miko said as she pointed to the raven hair who was surprised.
"Me? When?" Jack asked in confusion. When did he tell them?
"Uh, hello, you told Raf who told me. And that's how Bulkhead knows because I told him." Miko said as she raised an eyebrow at him as Jack just groaned in dismay while covering his face.
"Ha! Take that, missy." Bulkhead said triumphantly.
"Uh oh, this is bad." Raf said quietly as he hid by Bumblebee's door.
"Really bad." Emily agreed nervously while Bumblebee whirred in agreement.
"If I were you, I would stop talking because all those talks about studying hard to succeed didn't work well with Miko." Arcee said.
"Oh really? Well if you're so good then tell me why is Jack complaining about you ruining his life?" Bulkhead retorted and that made Arcee back up a little.
"I'm ruining his life?! You're the one who lets Miko run wild and do what she wants. You sometimes even join her in her crazy ideas." Arcee told him angrily.
"No, I don't. You have no way of proving that." Bulkhead denied it.
"Need a reminder about what happened last week?" Arcee reminded him as everyone remembered it very clearly.
The whole team remembers the time when Miko and Bulkhead went for a swim. Ratchet wanted to try and see if the ground bridge was functional or if it needed some reparations. He wanted two volunteers, one bot and one human. He had been talking about checking the ground bridge functionalities for a week. Hearing that, gave Miko an idea. A beach day with Bulkhead on a nice oasis in the Sahara. She thought that she could go with Bulkhead and spend a whole day in an oasis at the Sahara and take a sun tan. Perhaps a swim and maybe some other stuff.
Flashback starts;
"Alright, everyone, the time has come to begin the ground bridge maintenance. I'm gonna need help from everyone around. And as you already know, for that I need two volunteers. One Autobot and one human. To travel through the ground bridge that way after we finish the proper check ups, we will try to bring those two volunteers back to base safely. In case the ground bridge doesn't work properly, we will be forced to stop the transportation and find out what's wrong all over again." Ratchet explained as everyone was gathered in the main room except for Optimus.
"You mean that if bringing back the two volunteers doesn't work, we will have to do this maintenance all over again?" Smokescreen deduced in a question as Ratchet nodded.
"Yes, Smokescreen. We will work on it as many times as necessary. Do you have a problem with that?" Ratchet said before raising an optic ridge at him as Smokescreen shook his head.
"No, sir." He said.
"Good. Also I must congratulate you on your fine use of the word 'sir' considering the situation." Ratchet said with his servos on his hips.
"The situation?" Cliffjumper asked in confusion as Bumblebee whirred to ask what he meant.
"It means, Bumblebee, that during this maintenance check up, I'll be your supervisor." Ratchet said but this only got Smokescreen bursting out laughing while the others snickered except for two.
"Hahahahaha! You? Get real." Smokescreen laugh.
"Your sense of humour needs a bit of work, Ratchet." Bulkhead said with a snicker.
"I'll say." Cliffjumper said with an amused grin.
"Wow, who knew the doctor could make jokes." Miko said as Jack nodded.
"I'm kind of surprised too." Jack said in agreement.
"That was really funny." Raf agreed but Emily just raised an eyebrow at them.
"No offense, you guys, but I don't think Ratchet is joking." Emily said while crossing her arms.
"Why's that?" Miko asked in confusion before Emily gestured to Ratchet's faceplate.
"Well, the look on his face says it all." Emily pointed out.
"Very clever, Emily. And yes you do have a point. I am not joking. I spoke with Optimus Prime recently and asked him permission for you all to be under my authority as supervisor during this work." Ratchet said but the others still think he's joking.
"Okay, now you're officially kidding right?" Smokescreen asked but Optimus answered for him.
"It's not a joke, Smokescreen." Optimus said as he surprised everyone.
He came in as everyone turned towards him in surprise except Ratchet.
"Optimus?" Smokescreen asked in confusion and disbelief.
"So it's true? You agreed to Ratchet's recommendation?" Cliffjumper question in disbelief.
"Why in the name of Primus did you accept that?" Bulkhead asked in surprise as Bumblebee whirred out in complaint as well.
"Because, Bulkhead, I'd figured that the team could use some work that would allow you all to reinforce your teamwork and the relationship with your comrades. Working together in and outside the battlefield is very important." Optimus told them as he looked at each of them.
"And you waited this long to tell us?" Cliffjumper question while putting a servo to his hip.
"You've gotta be kidding." Smokescreen groaned in disbelief.
"Thanks for telling us right now, Optimus." Bulkhead said with a small groan.
"Talk about bad timing." Cliffjumper muttered as Bumblebee agreed with him.
"Now that's enough complaining, you four. You should try and learn from Arcee who hasn't complained once. Much appreciated, Arcee." Ratchet said as the femme nodded.
"Thank you, sir." Arcee said with a small smirk.
"Boy, am I glad I'm not one of them. Since the bots are gonna be doing all the hard work. I think I speak to everyone when I say, games and movies tonight." Miko said excitedly.
"Cool." Raf smiled excitedly.
"Sounds like a plan." Jack said with a glint of excitement in his eyes but Ratchet had to stop them.
"Hep yep yep yep. Not so fast, you four. Just because you won't be helping with the ground bridge, doesn't mean that you'll spend all day watching your human movies and playing your silly video games. This work may be for bigger bots but the other will require smaller hands, in this case, human hands." Ratchet told them as Emily raised an eyebrow with a knowing smile.
"So you're saying that you have some work for us?" She guessed as Ratchet nodded.
"Yes, I do." Ratchet said as this piqued Miko's attention.
"What, really? Tell us then. What will we do? Please tell me that we'll unscrew something." Miko said as Ratchet thought.
"Well, not really. You see, this work is gonna be a bit dirty and we will need you kids to make it undirty." Ratchet said and Jack knew what that meant.
"Hold on a sec. You mean we…?" Jack asked as he gestured to himself and the trio.
"Yes, Jack, you four have been assigned to cleaning duty." Ratchet nodded to what he was about to say.
"Cleaning duty huh? Sounds like fun." Emily said.
"Yeah… fun." Miko said but she seemed distracted.
"What's up with her?" Raf whispered curiously to Jack as he noticed how Miko was acting.
"My guess is that she has a plan inside her mind." Jack whispered back with a shrug. Knowing Miko, she'll have an idea on how to get away from cleaning duty.
"Alright then, now that you know what we're doing. I'm gonna give you each of your assignments, but first. Anyone here want to volunteer?" Ratchet told them before looking at everyone to see who would volunteer.
No one said anything for some reason. Suddenly a weird rattling noise of metal could be heard. As if some servos were trembling. They saw that this disturbing noise of trembling servos was coming from Bulkhead, who was trembling for a certain reason which confused them.
"Is there a reason why you're trembling? Soldier?" Ratchet question curiously.
"No, sir, no reason, sir." Bulkhead said nervously.
"Very well then. Does anyone want to volunteer? I'm still waiting." Ratchet said as he eyed everyone.
No one still says anything yet and Bulkhead was still trembling. Miko started to look at him. She began to move her head on the side as a way to tell Bulkhead to say something. He didn't want to say anything because he was too nervous. Miko motioned him to do so before Ratchet chooses someone else of his own accord.
"Well… since no one is volunteering of their own accord. I have no choice but to choose someone. Unless someone is having a sudden change of mind." Ratchet said as he was still waiting for an answer but still none came from who would volunteer.
"Very well then. The two volunteers will-" Ratchet started but was cut off by Miko.
"Wait! I wanna volunteer." Miko said quickly as everyone turned towards her.
"You do?" Emily asked curiously and in confusion.
"Well, actually we wanna volunteer. Bulkhead and I. Isn't that right, Bulkhead?" Miko said as she started to wink at Bulkhead to tell him to say something so that the others won't suspect anything suspicious.
"Oh, uh, yeah. Miko and I… talked about it. We both thought that since I'm big, strong and clumsy that it was… best for the whole team if we both went out for a… a… an exploration." Bulkhead finally said as the others eyed him and Miko curiously.
"An exploration? Really?" Arcee asked curiously while raising an optic ridge as Bulkhead nodded..
"Yes, I mean, Miko could learn something new that could help her with… Geography and History class." Bulkhead said as his faceplate heated up in embarrassment.
Arcee and the others start to laugh because they could not believe what was coming out of his mouth.
"Geography and History? Last time you took her to an exploration, you broke a fresco with your aft, remember?" Smokescreen snickered as he was referring to the Deus Ex Machina incident before they met Emily.
"That's not true." Bulkhead said as he crossed his arms.
"Totally not true. He got thrown by Breakdown and then he broke the fresco, with his aft." Miko explained as Bulkhead just groaned at that.
"What, really? Oh man, I wish I could've seen that." Cliffjumper said. He really did miss a lot.
"Hey, guys, come on, the girl could use some exploration as a learning experience." Bulkhead insisted.
"You don't really expect us to believe you. Do you, Bulkhead?" Arcee questions him but Optimus stops them from anything else.
"That is enough, team, whatever the reason Bulkhead and Miko have to volunteer, I'm sure they'll make the best of this experience." Optimus said and Bulkhead and Miko had to thank him for that.
"Thank you, Optimus." Bulkhead said with a smile as Optimus nodded.
"Alright then, enough chit chat, now that we have our volunteers it's for the assignment." Ratchet started before turning to Cliffjumper and Smokescreen.
"Cliffjumper and Smokescreen, you'll be in charge of removing the panels, carefully." He instructed.
"We got this." Cliffjumper said as he and Smokescreen fist bump.
"Yeah." Smokescreen grinned as Ratchet turned to Arcee and Bumblebee.
"Arcee and Bumblebee, you'll make sure to put the panels in a safe place. Put them in order, carefully. And make sure you clear them of any dust." Ratchet instructed them as Arcee and Bumblebee eyed each other before nodding.
"Sounds easy enough." Arcee said as Bumblebee agreed with her.
"Jack, Raf and Emily. You three-" Ratchet started but was cut off by Jack.
"We know, we must clean everything." Jack started.
"Leave it spotless." Raf continued.
"While being careful." Emily finished with a nod.
"Yes but I haven't told you what you'll be cleaning. I want you three to clean off every bit of dust that will come out of the panel removal. You'll have to broom, mop and vacuum. And while you're at it, you could clean some parts of the base. The downstairs level and the upper levels." Ratchet instructed them as they agreed. This is just like spring cleaning.
"Sure, sounds easy enough." Jack said.
"Yes but let's not get too carried away. And before I forget, Rafael. I'm gonna need your help later with the ground bridge reprogramming procedure." Ratchet said as he turned to Raf who nodded at the request.
"No problem." Raf said with a thumbs up.
"Hey, Ratchet, are you sure you're not forgetting something?" Emily asked him as Ratchet turned towards her in confusion.
"Not that I know of." Ratchet said as Emily shook her head in amusement.
"Well, I think I have a new assignment. And I have just the right person for it." Emily said as she let Bolty climb onto her hand.
"Bolty? You want Bolty to help? It is absolutely out of the question. I don't want this Scraplet to mess things up." Ratchet stated as he was still wary of Bolty for being a Scraplet even though he isn't like the normal ones.
"Come on, Ratchet. He won't do anything bad. Besides, Bolty doesn't do anything unless you give it to him." Emily told the medic as he raised an optic ridge.
"Oh really? And how could this thing help?" Ratchet questions her as Emily just smiles.
"Simple, since this job requires unbolting certain stuff. You'll probably find a rusty bolt." Emily said and she quickly got an instant reaction from two mechs.
"Rusty bolts?!" Both Cliffjumper and Smokescreen exclaimed in fear and shock with Bumblebee asking the same thing while Emily and Bolty looked at them.
"Did I say something wrong?" She asked in confusion.
"Let's say some bots here act like sparklings when they hear the R word." Arcee said as she threw the two scared mechs an amused smirk.
"What's the R word?" Miko asked curiously.
"Yeah, tell us." Jack said as he was curious as well.
"Okay, get ready. You'll laugh at this one. It's Rust." Arcee said as the kids had their jaws drop in amusement at that.
"Seriously?" Jack asked as he snickered quietly.
"Rust?" Raf questioned in amusement.
"You gotta be kidding." Miko said as she tried to hold in her laughter.
"Doesn't seem that funny." Emily said as she held in her laughter with Jack agreeing.
"Yeah." Jack nodded in agreement.
Emily said that the bots being scared of the word Rust didn't seem very funny. She and the others were trying desperately to hold back their laughter but it was so hard. In a matter of seconds, they couldn't resist it and they began to laugh as Miko was practically rolling on the ground while kicking her feet.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!" The kids burst out laughing hysterically.
"You bots are scared of rust? That's a good one!" Miko wheezed as she tried to get her breathing back to normal.
"Not funny, guys!" Smokescreen pouted while crossing his arms which added more laughter to the kids as they were practically wheezing from laughing too much.
"Thanks a lot, Arcee." Cliffjumper grumbled in both annoyance and fondness towards his femme friend
"Hey don't blame me. It's not my fault if humans are curious. Besides, their reaction is kind of accurate. You guys are big bots and you're still scared of a little rust." Arcee said with a shrug and a smirk.
"We're not." Cliffjumper said in denial.
"Sometimes, you are." Miko said.
"Whatever." Smokescreen said with a roll of his optics and grin.
"At least Bulkhead isn't scared. It figures that big and strong bot like him wouldn't be scared of rust." Miko said as Miko turned towards him.
But Bulkhead stays silent but for some reason his trembling starts up again.
"Uh, dude. you're trembling again." Miko pointed out.
"I'm just… nervous." Bulkhead said as Miko raised an eyebrow.
"Don't tell me you too are scared of rust?" Miko asked him in a teasing tone.
"Who, me? Scared of a wee bit of rust? Not a chance." Bulkhead said but it was clear he was bluffing.
"Okay." Miko said with a shrug but didn't believe him.
Miko did not believe a word of what Bulkhead just said about not being scared of rust so she had decided to put that to the test
"Oh no! Bulkhead! You stepped into some rust!" Miko yelled and had to stop herself from bursting out laughing at what happened next.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! WHERE???!!! WHERE!!!???" Bulkhead screamed like a girl.
"Right there. Under your foot. I got you! Man, you totally fell for it. Hahahaha!" Miko burst out laughing again as she hit the couch with her fist from laughing too hard
"Okay, this is gonna come as a surprise but that was really funny." Jack agreed as he chuckled.
"Oh, Miko." Bulkhead groaned in embarrassment.
"Sorry, big guy. But come on, you're huge and strong. No one can beat you. And you're scared of rust?" Miko stated.
"We're made of metal, Miko, so of course we're scared. For any Transformer, it's the worst thing." Bulkhead said and hit his chassis to prove his point as it made a clunk sound.
"Yeah and you guys have no right to laugh at us. After all, it's a well known fact that humans are scared of thunder." Smokescreen said as he kept his arms crossed.
"Okay, that's the actual fear talking." Jack said as he remembered Raf having a fear of storms.
"Enough nonsense. Emily, explain how your pet can help us." Ratchet said as he had enough distractions and needed to get to the point.
"That's easy, he can eat every rusty bolt you find. Plus it helps with his training. So far he hasn't eaten anything that he mustn't eat." Emily explained as she rubbed Bolty under his chin as he purred happily at that.
"Yes, it's true that despite his savage nature, Bolty hasn't eaten anything or anyone made of metal. I suppose he could help." Ratchet said as he thought about it before coming to a decision.
"Very well then Bolty can help. Since Miko is the one who volunteered, he will take her place." Ratchet said as Bolty jumped up and down happily. He would love to help his friends and caretakers.
"Cool and don't worry. Bolty won't cause trouble." Emily said as Bolty sat on her head.
"I hope so. Now that everyone has their assignment, I will give you all a five minute break. I need to get my tools." Ratchet said before turning to the two volunteers.
"Bulkhead and Miko, prepare for immediate departure and think of where you wanna go." Ratchet told them as they nodded.
"Will do, Ratchet. Yo, Bulk, come. I wanna tell you something." Miko said before turning to Bulkhead.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone