FSE

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"Wanna watch the sunset while we eat?" Jack held out a tray.

Arcee jumped slightly and turned toward him. Her thoughts returned to the present, and she accepted the tray with a smile. "Sounds good. I could use something relaxing right now." She held the tray in her right hand and reached out with the other to take Jack's hand.

They walked across the mess hall to the door and Arcee tried not to think about the information they'd found in the Harbinger's computer. Yet she couldn't stop. It seemed silly to her to be so worried about a planet that was already dead--but on the other hand, there was still hope, no matter how faint, that a way could be found to revive Cybertron. If Unicron really did consume planets and was on course for her former homeworld, there would be nothing left to revive.

Hell, it could already have happened. If the data we found is old enough, it could already be too late.

She tried to shake herself out of it. There's nothing we can do about it, so just wait until we have more information. Try to enjoy the sunset, and your time with Jack, and your first meal ever.

Jack let go of Arcee's hand long enough to hold the door open for her, and followed her human-size body outside. They passed between a dozen picnic tables and sat at the outermost one. Arcee placed the tray in front of her and gazed over the wire fence at the wide-open sky, barely beginning to darken as the sun approached the horizon. The desert air was still aside from an occasional, gentle breeze.

"Beautiful." Some of the tension eased out of her body as she stared at the pink-tinted clouds. "This is exactly what I needed."

"Me, too." Jack smiled and slipped his arm around her waist. Without thinking, she leaned over slightly until the side of her head brushed against his. She found herself relaxing a little more. She turned to him and smiled.

He smiled back. After gazing into each other's eyes for a moment, he turned his head to the proper angle and inched closer. She met him halfway and their lips touched.

They parted after a few seconds, smiled, and joined again.

Until two sets of footsteps approached from behind.

Jack sighed and picked up his fork.

"Don't let us interrupt you," June said, a mischievous smile in her voice as she sat at the table to Arcee's right.

"Yeah," Miko added as she took the seat across from June. "Carry on. Like we're not even here."

"Right. Sure." Jack rolled his eyes.

Arcee hesitated, caught off-guard by the sensations and desires that her small, remote-controlled body had given her. Gonna be hard to wait until he's eighteen.

She pulled back a few inches and tried to focus on June.

"We weren't up to anything," she muttered. "Jack's just trying to get my mind off the things we saw on the Harbinger today."

Jack smiled. "She's been wanting to test out some of her Pretender body's functions, so we're starting with food. A nice, quiet dinner with a beautiful sunset. We weren't going to do anything that most teenagers don't already do."

"Except Arcee's an_adult_."

"Said the woman who got pregnant when she was thirteen." Jack laughed and used his fork to cut off a piece of the enormous burger that covered most of his plate. "Knocked up by a guy who was almost an adult himself."

"Okay, fair point." June chuckled. "You're right. I'm being a bit of a hypocrite."

"All I'm asking is that you trust us." Jack smiled, put his fork down, and turned back to Arcee. "And since you said not to let you interrupt us..."

He kissed Arcee again, much more passionately this time, and slid his hands over the curves of her chest plate. Arcee hesitated, not wanting to provoke his mom any further, but couldn't resist for more than a few seconds. She put her arms around him and lost herself in the moment.

Until Miko piped up. "Awesome. That'll give me an image to keep in mind the next time I masturbate."

The next sound was a sudden coughing and wheezing. Arcee turned her head to find June choking and thumping her plastic tumbler down on the table. Orange juice sloshed over the side.

"You okay, Mom?" Jack reached over to pat her on the back and flicked a scowl at Miko.

"Aggkh..." June held a napkin to her face. "Orange juice is coming out of my nose."

"Sorry, Ms. D." Miko turned back to her tray with a sheepish grin, picked up her Sonoran hotdog, and shrugged. "Dunno why the subject is such a big deal. Everybody does it."

June blushed and stared intently at her food.

"Well, maybe not Raf." Miko took a bite of her hotdog. "Yet."

"I haven't tried it." Arcee shrugged. "Maybe later tonight."

Jack's face turned red, but he grinned and took a bite of his burger. "We'll consider that dessert."

June rubbed her left hand over her face, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Finally, she muttered, "New topic, please."

"Okay, okay." Jack chuckled.

"So...how was the debriefing?" June glanced at Arcee.

In a hangar on the far side of the base, Arcee opened her optics long enough to glance over at Optimus, General Sanchez, Agent Fowler, and nearly a dozen other high-ranking military and civilian officials. She closed her optics and focused her attention on her remote-controlled body at the picnic table.

"Looks like our cover's totally blown. There's no getting around this one. Optimus, the general, and Fowler are trying to work out exactly what to do. Trying to keep us a secret now would be a mistake. Not to mention, it simply wouldn't work at all. We're all over the news and a lot of people are panicking."

"Oh, boy." June sighed.

"Well." Jack patted the back of Arcee's hand. "Maybe this means you guys won't have to hide anymore."

"Maybe. I guess it all depends on whether Optimus and the rest can smooth things over with the public. Once they start talking to the press, I don't see how they can avoid admitting that the government has been covering up an alien invasion. I doubt that's gonna go over well."

"Yeah. Well, we've survived a lot worse. We'll get through this." Jack gave her hand another pat and took another bite of his burger. "Now, eat up before your food gets cold."

Arcee chuckled, picked up her fork, and spent several seconds trying to adjust her grip on it. She'd seen plenty of humans use these things, but this was the first time she'd ever tried it.

Jack grinned again. "And after we're done here, we can move on to dessert."

Arcee laughed and wiggled her brow plates.

June groaned, slumped forward, and braced her forehead on her palm.

Before anyone could speak again, more footsteps approached from behind. Arcee glanced over her shoulder and found Sierra, her parents, and Ashanti approaching. Arcee suppressed a groan and forced her expression to remain neutral.

Great. Sierra. This ought to be...interesting.

#

"I hope we're not interrupting anything," Sierra's dad said as they sat at one of the empty tables.

Jack shrugged and tried to keep a pleasant smile on. Oh, no, not at all. Arcee and I just wanted a nice, private dinner that nobody will let us have.

"Not really," Arcee said. "We were just taking in the sunset and chatting idly. I'm sure you've got some questions." She smiled, but Jack knew her well enough to see how forced it was.

"I don't even know where to start, honestly." Sierra's father prodded at his meal with his fork.

Sierra cocked her head and stared at Arcee. "You shrank."

Arcee grinned, and this time it appeared genuine. "This is just a remote-controlled mobile platform. I'm actually in hangar on the other side of the base. I had to start using it while I was recovering from some pretty severe damage, and I've found it too handy to throw away even though I'm back on my feet."

"Ah." Sierra's eyes flicked from Arcee to Jack and back several times.

Jack smirked and put his arm around Arcee's shoulders. She smiled and reached over to stroke his cheek.

Sierra turned away quickly and stared at the sloppy joe on her tray.

"So," June said after the silence stretched out for a few more seconds. "How're you adjusting to all this?"

"It's a lot to take in." Sierra's mother glanced around at everyone. "Really, the whole alien-robots thing is pretty cool, but I've been freaking out a little ever since we found out how much danger we could be in. Those news cameras on the freeway got a clear shot of all of our faces."

"And just being seen with any of the alien robots could make you a target." June nodded. "Jack, Miko, and Raf had to go through the same thing when they got caught up in all this, and so did I, a few months later."

"That's why we had to move out of Jasper," Jack added. "The wrong people found out where we lived."

"We heard there was a shooting in your house," Sierra's dad said. "Around the time you two disappeared."

"Yeah. Two government agents were keeping an eye on the place when those 'wrong people' broke in, looking for us." June shuddered and fixed her eyes on her salad. "After that, we couldn't even go back to pick up our belongings. We had to wait for a team to move our stuff out."

"The rumors have been flying ever since that day." The girl's mom braced her arms on the table and shook her head. "After the shooting, everyone thought you were dead. Then the rumors kept getting more and more out-there as time passed."

"I can imagine." Arcee seemed to remember the food on her tray, and finally stuck her fork into her omelet. After a moment of fumbling with the utensil, she tore off a piece of it, put it into her mouth, and began chewing. Her optics opened wider and she grinned. "Hey, this is good! No wonder you eat so many of these, Jack."

"I told you they were delicious." He smiled, noticed the look on the new arrivals' faces, and grinned.

"A robot that can eat?" Sierra arched an eyebrow.

"Bodies like this one were designed to mimic organic beings." Arcee shrugged and cut off another bite of her omelet. "In my case, though, it's identical to my real body, except it's human-size."

"Eating isn't the only thing it can mimic." Jack winked at Arcee and flicked a glance at Sierra. "She can have sex, too. She's got all the right parts."

"Oh." Sierra looked away again. Her face turned red. She glanced around again and changed the subject abruptly. "Hey, where's Raf?"

"He's in our base, a considerable distance away. He's keeping another new arrival company."

"How's Tomoko holding up, anyway?" Ashanti picked up her can of cola and sipped. "She's seen a hot of horrible stuff today. Is she handling it?"

"Yeah, she's getting through it. Though I don't know if she's actually moving past it or just letting herself be distracted for a while. Raf's got her playing video games with Bee. Every now and then, Bee sends me a photo or video clip from his optics to keep me updated." Arcee smiled and chuckled. "Right now, they're playing one of the Grand Theft Auto games."

June shook her head. "I don't think either of them is old enough for that."

"Maybe, but it's good to see her having some fun. Her life had such a traumatic start, and almost everything she saw today only piled on top of it."

"Yeah, that's a good point. I'm glad she's made at least one friend."

"Has she settled on a color scheme yet?" Miko asked.

"She's still running through a series of them. A while ago she tried pink and white, and didn't like it. Can't blame her for that." Arcee laughed. "Right now she's trying on gold with a bit of hot-rod red."

"Ah, Iron Man colors." Miko finished her hotdog and gave a thumbs-up. "Good choice. Has she picked out a vehicle mode yet?"

"It probably hasn't occurred to her yet. Whenever she gets around to it, there's plenty to choose from here, at least to get her started. Once she's able to avoid detection, she can always go through one of the nearby towns to see if she finds anything she likes."

"Uh, vehicle mode?" Sierra raised her eyebrow again.

"Arcee's people can transform into vehicles," Jack said. "It's a way of disguising themselves. They didn't want to cause the kind of trouble that's happening now that the world knows they're here." He laughed softly. "Remember that day you saw me sitting on my new motorcycle? The first day you said more than two words to me?"

"Yeah, it was right outside the burger place you worked in."

Jack smirked and waved a hand at Arcee. Sierra's eye widened.

"That was her?"

"Yep. That was the day she and I met. Right then, I thought she was just a normal motorcycle." He laughed again and clasped Arcee's hand. "I had no idea what I was about to get into or where it would lead, but I'm glad it happened."

"Ah. Well." Sierra stared at her tray again. "You two certainly seem happy together."

"Oh." Her dad grinned and prodded her shoulder. "Looks like someone has a crush."

"Dad!" She narrowed her eyes at him and her face turned almost as red as her hair.

Her mom swatted his shoulder. He raised his hands.

"What? Embarrassing the kids is part of a parent's job."

Jack burst out laughing and his mom flicked him a narrow-eyed glance of her own. He blushed and shrugged.

"Come on, Mom. Like your parents never embarrassed you in front of your peers. It's all part of the cycle of life, right?"

"Okay, fair point." June sighed and waved her fork at everyone else's trays. "Come on, eat up. Your food's getting cold."

Sierra took a few bites before turning to Jack again. "Hey, uh...well, since my dad let the cat out of the bag...I was kind of interested in you. I mean, just so you understand if I act a little...awkward now."

"Ah. Well." Jack glanced at Arcee and cleared his throat. "There was a time before that when I had a crush on you."

"Really?" She stared at him and blinked several times. "Why didn't you...?"

"Make a move? I tried to start a conversation with you several times, but you barely seemed aware I existed."

"Seriously? When?"

"We had a few classes together. English, History, Chemistry, Applied Economics. Several times, when everybody divided up to work on term projects, I asked you to be my partner."

"You did?" She cocked her head. "We had all those classes together?"

"Exactly. You never really noticed me until you saw my awesome bike."

"Oh. I guess you're right. Uh..." Sierra turned to stare at her sloppy joe again. "Sorry."

"It's in the past." Jack smiled and put his arm around Arcee again. "I'm okay with the way things turned out."

"Ah. Well...good. I'm happy for you." Sierra smiled, but couldn't hold it for more than a few seconds. She sighed. "I feel like an idiot, though. I was so focused on the jocks that I didn't see what was right in front of me."

Arcee aimed an unreadable look at her for several seconds. "Try not to let it get to you. The same thing happened to me, actually. Jack and I...well, it never even occurred to me at first. I didn't realize how I felt about him, even though I felt it pretty strongly. Just couldn't identify what was going on in my own head. I wouldn't have figured it out if it hadn't been for June."

"Not intentionally." June held her hands up and chuckled. "I was just being nosy, trying to find out if there was already something going on between them."

"That conversation helped everything click into place." Arcee smiled. "And for that, I'm forever indebted to you."

"Ah, well, um...you're welcome." June chuckled.

"What amuses me," Miko said, "is the fact that Jack and Arcee were head-over-heels for each other and everyone else knew it except them. Well, them and his mom."

"Huh," Jack muttered. "It was really that obvious?"

"It was little things we all noticed. The way you looked at each other, the way your tone and body language changed whenever you were together, stuff like that." Miko grinned. "And since you were already fantasizing about her while jerking off--"

_What?_Jack's face grew almost unbearably hot and he suddenly wanted to crawl under the table and hide from everyone's shocked stares.

"Jesus Christ, Miko," Ashanti muttered.

Jack gaped at Miko for several more seconds before turning to stare at Arcee. She shook her head and held her hands up.

"I never said a word to her, I swear!"

Miko seemed to realize what she'd just said. She blushed and tugged on her shirt collar. "I...may have...overheard a conversation or two."

Jack slumped forward and buried his face in his hands. Oh, fuck me.

"Um, sorry," Miko mumbled. "I guess I need to work on that whole brain-mouth filter thing."

"Excellent idea." June grimaced and concentrated on eating her salad.

Arcee nudged Jack's shoulder. When he looked up at her, she grinned. "Don't be embarrassed. I don't mind it at all." She wiggled her brow plates.

"Eheh," he mumbled. "Well...thanks."

She chuckled, put her arm around him, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Seriously, dude, I didn't mean to...well, you know." Miko sighed. "Look, if it makes you feel any better, you're not the only one who's had naughty thoughts about a Cybertronian. Know who I think about when I masturbate? Knockout."

"What?" Jack and Arcee blurted at the same time.

Miko held her hands up. "I know, I know. He's a narcissistic asshole, not to mention one of the bad guys--but he's cute! If it were at all possible, I'd_totally_ fuck him. I'd fuck that smugness right out of him."

Everyone simply stared at her. Sierra's face slackened, as if something in her head had derailed. Her parents turned to gape at each other. Miko shrugged and took a swig from her bottle of water, as if nothing had happened.

"The reason stuff like this embarrasses you," she finally said, "is because you let it."

"Uh, sure. Whatever you say." Jack tugged on his collar and stared at his plate.

An awkward silence settled over everyone again, broken a few seconds later by multiple pairs of footsteps approaching from behind Jack. He glanced over his shoulder and found the rest of Ashanti's team and nearly a dozen Pretenders crossing the parking lot and heading directly for the unoccupied picnic tables. One of them had taken the form of one of the Vehicon defectors.

Oh, great._Jack almost rolled his eyes, but then he decided this might help steer the conversation away from its current course. _What the hell. The more the merrier, I guess.

#

"Hey, guys," Jensen said as he placed his tray on the nearest empty table. "How's it going?"

"Oh, it's been...interesting." June chuckled and hoped he wouldn't ask her to elaborate.

"I hope we're not interrupting anything," one of the female Pretenders said. She clapped a male on the shoulder as they sat. "Rob, here, needed some cheering up, so I thought we could take in the sunset and just try to de-stress after recent events."

"Why does he need cheering up? Is there anything we can do?"

"Girlfriend troubles."

Ashanti raised an eyebrow. "Still?"

Rob sighed and stared at the beer bottle in his left hand. "It's been several months, and she still won't even talk to me. Can't say I blame her, though. She hasn't trusted me since she found out what I really am. I mean, I_lied_ to her the whole time we were together."

"Well, you didn't exactly have a choice." Arcee shrugged. "You were just trying to survive, and to do that, you had to stay hidden."

"Give her a little more time." The female patted his shoulder again and picked up a corn dog from her tray. "She might come around yet."

"Easy for you to say."

"I went through the same thing with my guy, but we're finally back together. So your situation could still work out."

"Yeah, but your solution was kinda fucked-up."

_Oh, boy._June had to suppress a sigh.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Do I wanna know?"

The female laughed and shrugged. "Well, you know how it all started--when one of us outed the rest and Ashanti's team started picking us up, those of us in relationships had a lot of explaining to do. It all worked out for some of them, like Roz and Lucas. Others...well, my boyfriend didn't actually kick me out of our apartment, but he started sleeping on the couch. Actually, I think it was a while before he was able to sleep, because he was afraid of me." She took a bite of the corn dog. "I managed to talk him into taking the bed and I spent the nights on the couch, running diagnostics and going into standby mode to pass the time."

"How'd you solve the problem?"

"I caught something on his laptop screen before he could hide it. Turns out he's into Ahsoka Tano porn, among other things. So, a light bulb appeared over my head. I found a bunch of pictures to use as references, and spent a few days building a model which I then downloaded to my T-cog. Then I transformed into Ahsoka and waited for him to come home." She grinned. "He tried to resist, but couldn't."

June shook her head slowly. What. The. Hell?

"Like I said," Rob muttered. "Fucked-up."

"So..." Ashanti stared at the female. "The reason you're back together is because he had fantasies about banging a sixteen-year-old alien?"

Arcee chuckled. "Well,I'm not judging him, for obvious reasons."

"Thank you." The Pretender grinned again. "Best sex we'd had in a long time, too. Quite the ice-breaker, really."

Ashanti glanced at Rob and nodded. "Yeah, I'm with you on this one--it's pretty fucked-up."

"Come on, is it really that different from humans putting on costumes and doing kinky role-play? It's just a fantasy--and it didn't involve BDSM crap or anything like that. We've started talking again, and we're gradually smoothing things out. I went back to using my human form when we have sex." She winked. "Most of the time."

_Well, that was more information than any of us had any business knowing._June finished the last few bites of her salad and sipped her orange juice.

"So, Alice, all I have to do is find out what kind of guy Veronica fantasizes about, and turn myself into a copy of him?" Rob shook his head. "I think I'll pass on that."

"Well, what worked for me might not work for anyone else. The point is, it may not be hopeless. Just keep trying, and pay attention to her. You never know when you'll notice something that'll open the door for you."

He shrugged and continued his silent contemplation of his beer. Finally, he twisted the cap off and took a swig.

"Huh," Sierra finally mumbled. "Relationship advice from alien robots. Now my life is complete."

Arcee chuckled. "Stick around long enough and all this weird shit will seem normal."

"There's something to look forward to." Sierra managed a brief smile.

Arcee laughed before finishing her omelet. She leaned over to the Vehicon-looking Pretender. "Say, which one are you? No offense, but--"

"None taken." The voice was feminine. "We do all look alike. If I'm allowed to continue using this body, I might see if I can design a face for it. Anyway, I'm Khalilah. We're being allowed to try out some of the 'empty' Pretender bodies you have in storage, for brief periods, as long as we don't try to impersonate any humans. I got the first 'shift' in one." She glanced around at everyone. "It certainly puts things into a whole new perspective, being this small. Now that humanity knows we exist, they must be terrified."

"Some Cybertronians are terrifying." Jack glanced at Arcee and grinned. "Others are sexy."

Arcee beamed at him before turning back to Khalilah. "We're hoping Optimus and General Sanchez and the others can iron things out. If they can avoid a public panic, then eventually humans will get used to us. They're pretty resilient, actually."

"That's good to hear." Khalilah turned to watch the sunset for a moment.

"How are the other defectors adjusting?" Arcee said.

"They're still doing Q&A sessions with the local leadership, telling them everything they know about Decepticon resources, strategy, and whatnot." Khalilah shook her head slowly. "Finally figuring out that you've been on the wrong side of the war for twenty thousand years can be one hell of a motivator."

"I bet."

Sierra stared at Khalilah and then turned to Arcee. "Uh...twenty thousand years?"

"It's a long story."

"Yeah, no kidding. Because, y'know, twenty thousand years."

Arcee chuckled. "We'll fill you in on everything sometime."

"I've heard the Vehicons who surrendered to you a few months ago have recently chosen names for themselves," Khalilah said. "They picked names of streets in the city Tyra Case grew up in. The males are Drexel, Bilby, Campbell, Maverick, Broadway, Speedway, Milton, and Craycroft; the females are Valencia, Minorka, Monrovia, Elvira, Catalina, and Sahuarita."

Ashanti smiled. "That's sweet of them."

"They really grew fond of her and wanted to honor her memory. They're hoping they'll be allowed to attend the funeral." Khalilah stared at the table for a moment. "That sort of service for fallen comrades is kind of an alien concept for us. When we fall in battle, the higher-ranking Decepticons don't even care. We're just cannon fodder."

"Autobot funerals are simple and brief because there's always a battle to get back into, but we do take time to honor those who were taken from us." Arcee sighed and stared at her fork while turning it slowly in her hands. "I've participated in too damned many of them in the last few thousand years."

"Well, our defection has thinned the 'Con ranks quite a bit, and adding to that all the troops you've killed in recent battles, the odds may be tipping in your favor. Our favor." Khalilah met Arcee's gaze. "The end of the war could finally be within reach."

"I wonder what that would even be like. No more fighting, no more being damaged or nearly killed, no more watching friends die. After knowing no other kind of life, I can't even imagine what lasting peace would be like."

"Well, I hope we all get to find out. Maybe when--"

A soft bong sound came from Ashanti's pocket. At the same time, Arcee turned her head abruptly.

"Someone texted me," Ashanti muttered. She dug her phone out of her pocket and glanced at the screen.

"Message from Optimus," Arcee said. "Ratchet's ready to try reviving the two survivors we found on the Harbinger. And they've pieced together some more information from the ship's flight recorder."

Jack reached out to hold her hand. "Information about Cybertron?"

"He didn't specify." She stood. "I'm almost afraid to find out."

"Well, let's hope it's good news." Jack smiled and slipped his arm around her waist.

"Yeah. I'm trying."

June stood and picked up her tray, thankful that she'd at least been able to finish eating, this time.

"Okay, then." Arcee turned in the direction of the hangar on the far side of the base. She braced herself and put her arm around Jack's shoulders. "Let's go."