Things Change SE - 18 of 52

Things Change
A Transformers: Armada Story
By William Rendfeld



  Ironhide slowly ran his hand against the wall of the artificial cavern created by his team, glad for the work that they’d managed to get done in less than two days of labor. A great deal of rock had been removed, what useful ores and minerals found inside sent off to be converted for use in construction materials, but despite that, the space cleared was barely big enough for him to walk around in comfortably, and even with the lights from the support struts, there was very little illumination. Still, this was a good start.

  “An energon cube for your thoughts?” The engineer turned towards him as Scavenger continued, “You look a little distracted.”

  “Not distracted, sir, just… glad that things have gotten moving so fast.” He removed his hand from the wall. “We’ve got the main access tunnel done, and we’ve started on the central core, but this is only the beginning. I’m just glad we haven’t had any unexpected problems.”

  “Skywarp aside, you mean.” The old bulldozer’s optics swept over the cavern as he surveyed their work – despite this start, it would be a few weeks before they had dug out what was needed, and perhaps even longer to construct the base and its equipment. It would be a small miracle if they continued to go undetected. “Just don’t start patting yourself on the back until the job is done. You know better than anyone that we have a long ways to go yet.”

  The younger mech nodded in agreement, remembering that the truly daunting part of construction had only begun. “We’ve got a good start though. I’d say that’s something to be happy about.”

-

  Diana Masters sighed and stretched as she walked down the massive halls of the Ark, lost in thought. With everything she’d been doing concerning the search for Atlantis, she’d wound up distracting herself from another minor problem. It was nothing world-shattering, but definitely something she’d need to inform the Autobots of. As she continued down the corridors, she looked about somewhat nervously, still thinking over what she was going to say. Finally, she sighed, closed her eyes, and continued to walk forward. She needed to just get this over with and be done with it.

 She soon realized that she should have kept her eyes open, as she bumped up against something and stumbled back, a feminine voice sounding out. “Whoa! Sorry about that!”

  “No, no, you’re fine, that was my fault.” As she regained her bearings, the archaeologist took a good look at the bulky and unfamiliar Mini-Con she bumped into. “You’re new.”

  The blue Mini-Con chuckled. “Just got here half a cycle ago fresh from an escape pod.” She offered a hand. “I’m Spiral, Street Speed Team. You must be Doctor Masters.”

  Diana accepted the hand. “Call me Diana. So, are all the Mini-Cons in your team femmes, or just you?”

  “Just me. Oval and Backtrack…” Spiral’s optic shutters blinked in pleasant surprise as the femme registered the woman’s query. “You could tell? Most think I’m a mech, even after they hear me speak.”

  “The body language gave it away. I’ve had enough time around High Wire and Sureshock to notice the details. If you don’t mind me asking… are there many other female Transformers?”

  “Not quite as many, no. Thanks to us not needing to reproduce the same way as organics do, Cybertronians don’t have as much need for numerical equality among the genders.” The Mini-Con took on something of a saddened look. “And thanks to Megatron and his goons, the number of Mini-Con femmes is even lower than it used to be. Now there’s less than a dozen of us in existence.” She shook her head. “Sorry. I have a hard time getting that clamped down, you know?”

  “It’s fine, you don’t need to apologize.” While Diana knew that she’d never truly understand an experience like that, she also knew that there as no sense in not letting the Mini-Con talk about it. Aside from it being healthy, it was also informative, if a bit saddening. “Anyway, do you know where Optimus is? I have something that I need to tell him.”

  “He’s with Jetfire in the main conference room.” Spiral casually pointed it out with her thumb over one shoulder. “Just try not to bump into anything again, hm?”

  “I’ll keep my eyes open, thanks.” With a light chuckle and a friendly wave, she went on her way.

-

  With a small flash of light, the members of Team Two reappeared within the Ark’s transport chamber, their commander dripping wet but otherwise unharmed. “Good news is, no one spotted us and the naval base out in San Diego is a nice place to visit. Bad news, the pod was empty.” Shaking one arm, Hot Shot tried his best not to whine about needing to dry out for the next few cycles while his teammates tried to contain their amusement.

  “Empty?” Red Alert approached from behind the operations console, performing mandatory scans with Longarm in tow. “All six were gone?”

  “Positive.” Finally managing to speak despite his amusement at his partner’s plight, Jolt picked up where Hot Shot left off. “Someone got there first, and it wasn’t any of the base personnel. Odds are whoever got to the pod were the same ones that got the Speed Chasers – they just didn’t leave anyone behind this time. Problem is, we don’t know who was inside.”

  “Smashed console, same as the one Jetfire’s team found in the Sonoran Desert. Odds are it was the same bunch both times.” His scans coming up clean, Crosswise asked, “Speaking of, how did their mission go? I won’t feel so bad about this if they ended up empty as well.”

  “Well get ready to feel small and unimportant, Monster Hunter, because you’ve gone and gotten yourself bested.” A pair of Mini-Cons stepped into view, one predominantly green and the other orange but both clearly having sports cars for alternate modes. The orange one approached and held out a hand to his fellow Cybertronians. “Nice to see you two managed to keep going.”

  Finally laughing, Incinerator took the offered hand. “Like I’d let myself get outlasted by a mech like you, Oval. Welcome back.” The dragster was slightly less accommodating to his partner. “Backtrack.”

  The green Mini-Con quirked an optic ridge. “Not still sore about that mess in Maccadam’s, are we? It was a little thing.”

  “I’d hardly call ringing up my tab and never paying it back a ‘little thing’. And what about those stem bolts you borrowed, or those–”

  “I think we have other issues beyond equipment and old debts, Incinerator.” Not eager for a squabble to break out, Blurr changed the subject. “Where’s everyone else from your pod?”

  “Nightscream’s checking over the records, trying to chase down his old partner.” The medic finished his scans for the group as he added, “Unfortunately, Starscream arrived with Thrust and Demolishor, and they were forced to give up some of the Mini-Cons. Depending on how long they argue over it, you might be able to dry out before then.”

  It took everything the yellow Autobot had to not groan with the teasing. “The next underwater pod is Beachcomber’s problem, not mine. Either that or we chase down Seaspray and Breacher and get them to handle it.” Stepping off the platform and feeling some collected water moving around in his internals, despite having dumped most of it before transit, Hot Shot finally groaned, “Let me know when Optimus is ready to debrief us. I’m heading outside and standing in the sun until then. Alone.”

-

  “Two Mini-Cons.” Having just emerged from the CR Chamber as Starscream had returned with the fruits of his labor, Megatron was, while not furious, certainly less than pleased. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that you were purposely getting such dismal results, Starscream.”

  “I’m afraid that with the Autobots present, we had to take what we could and leave.” The theatrics that Jetfire’s team had pulled to encourage Thrust to keep his distance had definitely helped. “Some success is better than none, my lord. The two Mini-Cons we collected had been partnered with a Decepticon in the past, so they will most likely serve us willingly.”

  The tyrant frowned. “Given the Decepticon they served, I find that doubtful without proper persuasion.” Putting that aside, he changed the subject. “Has your investigation of our declining energon resources and missing materiel had any progress?”

  “None, Lord Megatron, but these things take time. Rest assured, however, it will be brought to light.”

  “The sooner the better, Starscream – my patience is not infinite.” On that grim note, Megatron made his way to the Nemesis’ command center, leaving the Seeker to himself.

  Starscream had little reason to think Megatron didn’t have his suspicions – the tyrant didn’t quite trust his second-in-command, and both were fully aware of Dualor’s lack of fondness for bulks in general, Megatron in particular. Still, neither could actually prove anything, and finding the Mini-Con and his teammates was problematic under the best of circumstances – even while sensors had them appear on the ship, they were nowhere to be seen. He’d contact Optimus or Bludgeon over the matter, but he feared that the signal would be traced, if not by the Mini-Con than by the more powerful Decepticon. For now, he would have to make do and tread carefully.

  He shook his head. It was going to be a very long, very unpleasant deca-cycle.

-

  “I still think this whole deal is a bad idea.” Arms crossed as he leaned against one wall of the conference room, Jetfire kept his optics on his commanding officer. “It’s not that I don’t trust Starscream – I’ve never stopped trusting him – but the way this has been set up, it’s as if we’re treating the Mini-Cons like some resource that can be divvied up. We’re supposed to be protecting them from Megatron, not letting him gather as many as he pleases. Besides, the last time I checked it was a bad idea to placate a tyrant.”

  The Autobot leader gave a sad nod, hands laced under his chin. “I’m not happy with the idea either, Jetfire, but better this than Megatron attempting a full-scale assault on Earth. Even with our assistance, humanity could only put up so much of a fight. Besides, I doubt that any of the Mini-Cons who end up with Starscream will side with Megatron instead; they have about as much reason to do so as you would with Atlas. And every Mini-Con that’s up there with him and his allies will mean he’ll have that much more of a chance against Megatron when the time comes to end this.”

  The shuttle had little reason to argue that point, but nonetheless had a counterargument. “Yeah, well, not all Mini-Cons happen to like us, remember? Last I checked, the Destruction Team didn’t care much for Autobot or Decepticon. Given some of the stuff we’ve done, you can’t really blame ‘em either. I wouldn’t be shocked if Dualor’s the one we have to thank for those empty and half-empty pods we’ve found.”

  “All the better reason for two retrieval teams then. The faster we locate the pods and retrieve the Mini-Cons inside them, the fewer troops he has to work with.” The conference room doors slid open, the two Autobots turning towards them as their archaeologist ally entered. “Diana? Is something wrong?”

  Noticing that the two looked to be in heated discussion, Diana waved a hand and prepared to leave. “I’m sorry, I can come back later.”

  “No, you’re fine. Jetfire and I were just discussing our tactics.” Optimus motioned for her to enter, the door sliding shut behind her. “Now what’s the matter? You look worried over something.”

  “Nothing’s wrong, Optimus. I’ve just been putting off letting you know about something, is all.” She approached, hoping that the words would come to her and not sound accusatory. “You remember that mess in Indianapolis earlier this month? The one that got me fired from my teaching job with the kids?”

  Jetfire tilted his head curiously. “I thought you resigned.”

  “Yeah, but they would’ve fired me anyway or forced me to quit, whichever came first. Same thing, basically. At any rate, I haven’t been able to get employment since then. Either the local school districts think I’m overqualified with the new doctorate, or they’re leery of hiring someone who’ll send their students off on expensive field trips the same day as terrorist attacks. Or both, although I’m betting the doctorate’s just the easier excuse.” She sighed and shook her head with some frustration. “Long story short, I’m unemployed and I don’t have enough funds for next month’s rent on my apartment along with the rest of my living expenses.”

  “Can’t you ask the colonel for help? I mean, your government does hire consultants and such, doesn’t it?”

  “I don’t think the Pentagon really has much use for archaeologists, Jetfire, despite what Hollywood might think. Plus, the colonel doesn’t have much pull in the State Department.” She raised a hand before either could make further suggestions. “I’ve checked for cheaper apartments with no success, and I’m leery about bunking with someone else. And no offense, but I don’t think you’d want me taking up space here, for a number of reasons.”

  “Well, you would be a cleaner houseguest than the children.” That small comment aside, Optimus saw little sense in having her stay. Between human living requirements and the fact that the Ark was a military craft, it was wildly impractical. “Where will you go?”

  “I’ll stay with my sister’s family in Seattle. She’s already offered to take me in, I get along great with her kids, and chances are better that I’ll find a decent job there than here. It’s not much, but it’ll do for a while.” Glad to have that done, she felt a little bit better. “Regardless, I’m still researching what I can concerning Atlantis – whatever I find, I can get it to you through the kids or the colonel easily enough, so that isn’t a problem.”

  Optimus rose from his chair and approached her, and knelt down as he drew close. “As much as that’s appreciated, you’ve done more for us than simply point us in the right direction, Diana. The way you’ve reacted to us has given all of us hope that humanity, not just the military or human children but your race as a whole, can accept us and respect us. If anything, that bodes well for whenever we reveal ourselves to the people of your world.”

  Diana waved off the compliment, a bit embarrassed from the praise. “I’m not a model to judge humanity off. I’m just a woman with enough sense to know a friend when I see one.”

  “Still, you’ve helped us out. Without your input, Col. Franklin might’ve been forced into attacking us, and we might never have found out about Atlantis being on Earth.” While he lacked a mouth, Jetfire was nonetheless smiling. “No way we’ll forget about something like that. We can’t exactly throw a party or anything, but…”

  “Guys, you don’t need to do anything, honest. I just figured you all needed to know.” Smiling despite herself, she admitted, “Though, I am glad to be appreciated.”

-

  “This is it?” a crimson-colored Mini-Con asked as he looked over his apparent living quarters, quick to take note of the cramped conditions and deactivated status monitors. “This is what we have?”

  “My apologies that the accommodations aren’t to your liking, Side Burn.” Wreckage could understand the new arrival’s irritation, but he had little way of changing the circumstances. “Unfortunately, this is the best that Starscream can give us for now. He’s encouraged the other Decepticons working with him to keep us close when possible, but there are advantages in staying here at times. Besides, he is nice enough to keep us up to date on what we’ve missed.” Taking note of a second sports car Mini-Con, this one a deep brown. “Aside from Skid-Z, who else was with you?”

  “Nightscream and Spiral’s team.” The red Mini-Con shook his head as his partner settled into a corner, head sunk low as if in mourning. “The Autobots got them out with no problems, though Jetfire didn’t look happy about leaving us behind.”

  “You can’t blame him. Sadly, when Megatron comes back online, he’ll want something approaching good news. Better two Mini-Cons out of a pod than none.” The Land Military Team’s leader gave the second sports car a small glance before turning back to the more vocal new arrival. “Does he know yet?”

  “No… He’s still online… They never found him… He must be…” His mutterings barely audible to the other Mini-Cons, Skid-Z continued his rambling. “I have to keep faith… Yes, keep faith… He will return.”

  His question answered, the green and grey Mini-Con turned to the crimson sports car with respectful optics. “I wish you and he hadn’t found out this way. I realize you weren’t all that close to Predacon, but Skid-Z…”

  “Something tells me he won’t be letting go anytime soon.” Side Burn said mournfully. “He’s got it in his processor that our old partner’s alive, despite his ship being lost. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t, but he’s still got faith.”

  Wreckage shook his head. “Faith is good, but it’s also blind. Sooner or later, he’ll be forced to confront the possibility that Predacon won’t be coming back.”

  “Not anytime soon, however.” A small part of Side Burn hoped that the missing Decepticon was still online – while he had joined him for less than noble reasons, the Mini-Con nonetheless respected and liked Predacon, and kept some small hope that he was out there somewhere. “Starscream wasn’t too forthcoming on the details. You think you can fill in the gaps about what happened?”

  The green Mini-Con nodded. “From what I know, he disappeared after we did. I doubt you’ll appreciate the details, however.”

  “I’ll still feel better knowing.”

-

  “Teletraan-One, search all personnel files. Give me a listing of all Autobots, active or otherwise. Highlights on techno-organics.”

  “Search will take one klik – please wait.”

  The Mini-Con balled his fists in frustration; he’d thought after Primus knew how many vorns the computers would get faster, but no, they were as slow as ever. Another thing that wasn’t much different from before he left Cybertron.

  “Trying to find something?” The purple Mini-Con turned to find Alexis standing nearby. “No offense, but wouldn’t it be easier to ask someone than going with the computer?”

  Optics narrowed with frustration. “I don’t need to ask for anyone’s help, and I sure as slag didn’t ask for yours, so why don’t you mind your own business and–?”

  “Nightscream, cool it. Alexis was just trying to be helpful.” The Mini-Con turned away as Sparkplug and Roadhandler approached, putting his attention back on his computer search. “Sorry Alexis, he’s always been somewhat temperamental.”

  “No kidding.” While her actions probably weren’t the wisest, the young preteen doubted that what she’d done merited being yelled at. “What’s gotten stuck up his exhaust pipe?”

  “He’s worried about his partner. Believe it or not, not all us Mini-Cons ended up in teams or went solo like Jolt or Incinerator. A lot of us had partners way back when who didn’t end up coming to Earth.” At the girl’s curious look, Roadhandler explained, “Mine is an Autobot named Swerve. Good mech, brilliant geologist, but really easily distracted. He’s still online, but when I found out he was with the Wreckers, my pumps skipped a–”

  “Finally!” Eyes and optics were drawn to the monitor as Nightscream scrolled through the personnel files, finally opening one. His optics grew wide as he read the contents and slammed a balled fist angrily down upon the console. “Slag it! Why am I not surprised?! I bet they haven’t even bothered to look for her, just threw her away because she was an expendable tech-org and–!”

  “Tech-org?”

  Alexis’ innocent question stopped the purple Mini-Con in mid-tirade. Before he could start up again, Sparkplug quickly started to explain before Nightscream could rip Alexis another one. “Back during the war with the Quintessons, a number of Autobots, Decepticons and Mini-Cons were captured by them and experimented upon. Most didn’t survive, going into terminal stasis lock due to the procedures performed on them. A few did, but they came out differently than they went in; still functional, but with organic components grafted into their normal mechanical systems and needing intervention from Vector Sigma. Since then, they’ve been known as techno-organics, more colloquially as tech-orgs.” The Lamborghini gestured at the monitor. “Nightscream’s partner, Airazor, was one of them.”

  Alexis studied the monitor, getting a good look at the Autobot in question. She assumed Airazor was a femme, due mostly to the feminine look of her body. The femme’s body was mostly purple, with some black, red and blue visible at points. A pair of large turbines rested on her back, wings extending from them and down bringing the image of some darkness-enshrouded angel to mind, the large bird-like talons on her arms doing little to dispel that image. “She’s beautiful. She isn’t dead, is she?”

  “May as well be.” Gesturing towards a bit of flashing text near the top of the profile, Nightscream read aloud, “Missing in action. She was part of a crew on the Acheron, a prison transport that went missing while we were all in stasis. I’d bet Atlas didn’t even bother looking for her, the oversized bucket of rusted bolts. I can see it now, him and his ‘acceptable losses’ speech. He didn’t look for her because she was nowhere to be found, he did it because she was a tech-org, plain and simple.” Giving the human girl a critical glance through the corner of his optics, he noted, “Nothing your people would know about.”

  The girl met his glance and didn’t waver. “If only we didn’t. Racism, bigotry, prejudice, that stuff’s more common than dirt here on Earth. We’ve gone at each other’s throats over everything from religion to skin tone to height to weight to politics to which side of a piece of bread we put butter on.” Scrolling down to where she’d remembered where assorted citations were logged on a given Cybertronian’s profile, and taking note of the sheer number of awards given, she countered, “The way you talk, she and other tech-orgs had it lucky by comparison. All these awards mean she was recognized for her achievements, and from how you’re acting about this, it’s like you loved her.”

  Nightscream looked like he was about to protest, but quietly backed down. Alexis was right – what little he had read up on Terran history mentioned the darker side of humanity. “She made me a better mech, is all.” Calmed somewhat, he protested, “Still, they should’ve kept looking for her. The ship vanished within a parsec of Cybertron, and even with TransWarp failure, they couldn’t have gotten too far. And no wreckage means the ship could be intact.”

  Both of the other Mini-Cons knew he had a point. After all, the Exodus had managed to stay in one piece after all this time, and they were still online and well. Of course, there was no evidence that the ship hadn’t been destroyed either – for all they knew, it had fallen into a gas giant’s gravity well or crashed into a sun, or any other sort of terrible fate that wouldn’t leave a trace behind. Still, neither was about to raise these thoughts to the frustrated and angry Mini-Con, particularly with the human girl present.

  Alexis, meanwhile, was also smart enough to not argue. “What about the rest of the crew, or the prisoners onboard?”

  Nightscream brought the requested information up, and a few more profiles were shown. In addition to Airazor’s were sixteen more, five Autobots and eleven Decepticons. “They’re all missing too. And considering the Decepticon prisoners were other tech-orgs and the Eclipse Team, Atlas probably had even less reason to find the ship.” His optic shutters clenched shut, he adamantly protested, “But there’s no way she’s offline. She can’t…”

  “She isn’t.” Despite the fact that this same Mini-Con had been yelling at her earlier, Alexis couldn’t help but find a spark of sympathy for him. “Barring accidents, you guys practically live forever. I’ll bet wherever she is, she’s still online, maybe even in stasis like you were. Between that and what I’ve heard Optimus say about what happened with Wheeljack going missing, there’s no way he’d not try to find her if he could. And when she is found, I’ll bet you’ll be the first one to see her again.”

  Nightscream looked at her with pleasant surprise, relief clear in his optics. It wasn’t much, but the reassurance was nonetheless appreciated. “Thanks kid. Here I thought you humans would be repulsed by someone like her.”

  “It’s not her fault she had all that happen to her.” Some of the things she’d read about Nazi medical experiments in WWII coming to mind, Alexis noted, “Besides, compared to what happened to people in similar circumstances here on Earth, and how devoted you are, I think she was a lucky one.”

  The Mini-Con shook his head. “Only if that luck held out, kid.”

  Footfalls interrupted the tender moment as Rad and Carlos came rushing into the Mini-Con common area , both panting heavily due to exertion. “Alexis! Hot Shot just told us… Dr. Masters is leaving… something about rent and…”

  The girl held up her arms to calm the two boys. “Whoa, Rad, slow down, take a couple breaths, and tell me what’s going on.”

-

  BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

  Sideswipe shook his head as he looked at the lack of damage to the target. He groaned with frustration – if he was ever going to get any field work, he needed to work on his shooting.

  “You’re overworking yourself.” He turned with some shock to find Blurr silently walking towards him. “Just relax. It’s much easier to aim and fire off a shot to make the target when you’re calm than it is when you’re stressed.”

  “Right, keep calm. Thanks.”

  As the blue sedan keyed in commands for the target to be rebooted, Blurr crossed his arms and looked over the public logs. “You’ve been putting in a lot of time on the practice range since you arrived, Sideswipe. Is there a reason?”

  The younger mech lowered his pistol. “I want to be out there.” He fingered his firearm, absently checking the ammo charge. “I want to do what you do, what Hot Shot and everyone else is doing. I want to be out there, be part of the fight and not just stuck behind a console relaying orders around. And when I get out there, I want to be ready.”

  Blurr tilted his head and gave the younger mech a critical look. “I wouldn’t be so eager to join the fight. You know about what happened to Hot Shot out in Iceland, don’t you?”

  “I’ve checked the records, I know what happened. Just because I want to be out there doesn’t mean I’m not afraid to be out there. We’re soldiers, aren’t we? We chose to join the military, and that comes with risks. But if I practice and train and work at it, I can minimize the risks, can’t I?”

  The sniper remained silent, before shaking his head and giving a small chuckle. “Yeah, you can do exactly that. But you want to know something else that’ll help?” The targets beeped, signaling the start of the training exercise. “Keeping your processor on the task at hand; that saves more lives than anything else. We all have a role to play in this, Sideswipe, and if we can’t do it right, we all get in trouble.”

  The younger mech took aim, his grip steady and his arms straight as he pulled the trigger. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

-

  Diana gave the box a gentle shove, pushing it into place in the back of her Ford. She took a breath, closed and locked the back hatch, and looked back towards the place she’d called home for the last few years. She could have picked a worse apartment building to stay in; the roof didn’t leak, it was warm in the winter, and the landlord kept it well-maintained. She’d been lucky to find it when she did, and whoever ended up with it next would be lucky to get it. She smiled wistfully, then stretched and moved towards the driver’s side door, key in hand.

  “Dr. Masters!”

  The archaeologist sighed and shook her head; she knew she’d forgotten something. She looked to find Rad, Carlos and Alexis riding up towards her with the Street Action Team. “I had a feeling you might show up kids. I was hoping to catch you before you left, but I figured you’d be busy with something else.”

  “How could we let you leave without a goodbye?” Alexis explained as the three came to a halt and dismounted their Mini-Con transports. “I mean, you were cool as a teacher and all, but aside from that, well… We kinda shared this secret for a while. And that means something, doesn’t it?”

  Diana smiled. “Yeah, it does.” Noticing that Rad was looking more than a little downcast, she asked, “Something wrong?”

  “Well, all this, you being forced out…” The boy shrugged. “Well, I…”

  Her hands found themselves upon his shoulders in a second. “Rad? Don’t apologize. None of this was your fault. Yes, you woke them up, but you didn’t do it purposely and you didn’t know any of this was going to happen. Besides, the way I see it, we all came out ahead.” She indicated the Street Action Team and grinned. “Or would you have preferred not to have met the little guys?”

  A laugh sounded from the familiar orange moped. “At last, someone with some sense.”

  Rad smiled nervously before chuckling. “Well, it wasn’t all bad, I guess.”

  “See? Bright side’s always there.” Looking over the kids, she wondered aloud, “So, how’d you guys get here so fast?”

  “Red gave us a lift. We’d have gotten here sooner, but he didn’t want to turn on his sirens because it wasn’t an emergency.” If Carlos looked at all put out by this, he kept that to himself. “So what are you going to do now?”

  “My sister’s family lives in Seattle. I’ll stay with them for a while, try and find another job. Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll land a teaching job at a local community college or something, I don’t know. Just don’t count on me coming back to work here in town. Even if the public school system offered me another position, I’d turn them down in a second. Not that I don’t miss you kids, but I really don’t want to give them the satisfaction of seeing me again.”

  “You will keep in touch though, right?” Alexis asked.

  “Of course I will. They have e-mail in Seattle.” Noticing some glances among the kids, she wondered aloud, “Are you three keeping something from me?”

  “Well, the big guys mentioned that you didn’t want a party or anything…” Rad reached into his bag and pulled something out, handing it to his former teacher. “But they figured you wouldn’t mind a going-away present.”

  Diana examined the object in her hands with surprise. To the untrained eye, it was a silver cellular telephone that resembled some of the more recent designs to come out of Japan. However, there was no company logo, the places where they would be instead featuring an emblem crossing those of the Cybertronian factions she’d encountered, the familiar Autobot face framed by the diamond that normally surrounded the Mini-Con’s ‘M’. The only other difference was a green button placed directly below the screen.

  “They gave us phones too,” Rad explained. “The green button near the screen’s supposed to directly call their old place, and it’ll redirect to the new place they’re building once it’s finished. This way, we can get them directly in an emergency.”

  Diana laughed with pleasure at the gift. “Nice. We could’ve used these in Indianapolis.” She pocketed the faux phone and then looked back to the kids. “Thanks kids. Look out for yourselves, okay? Don’t get stepped on or anything.”

  “We won’t,” Rad promised, Carlos and Alexis’ smiles echoing his statement. “See you, Dr. Masters!”

  The trio waved as they mounted the members of the Street Action Team and rode away, Diana waving after them. As they turned off out of sight, Diana climbed into her own vehicle, closed the door, fastened her seatbelt, and slid her keys into the ignition. She looked down towards her right, her cat Abby nestled in a pet carrier and belted in. “Ready to get started?”

  Abby mewed.

  A smile. “So am I.” She started the motor, looked to the rear window, and slowly backed out before driving off. Things had changed, just as they always did, and Diana silently hoped that they would continue to be for the better.


The End