You Are My Knight - Optimus Prime x OC

- 12 -

"Another boring, eventless patrol," Kaede hums, setting down a tray of In-n-Out burgers, fries and shakes for Chrys, Wendy and them. "Honestly, though, better than being in combat," he says, grabbing his burger and unwrapping the paper, and taking a big bite out of it.

"How often do you guys run into Decepticons anyway?" Chrys asks, nabbing her fries.

"It's just been growing since the Allspark was destroyed," Kaede says. "Which shouldn't be the case since the one thing they came here for is gone," he says, grabbing a few fries.

"I'm just surprised the Decepticons haven't tracked down Optimus yet," Wendy says. Kaede looks at her with a raised brow.

"I mean, he's at your place like. Every night," she clarifies. "And he's pretty easy to identify."

"Yeah, I've talked to him about that," Kaede sighs, popping a fry into his mouth. "But he needs his sleep, stargazings helped him a lot." Wendy and Chrys then look at each other and back to Kaede. "What."

"That sounds like something a couple does," Chrys says. Kaede's face flushes this time.

"Wait, so you DO like him?" Wendy says, standing up from the table in surprise.

"Oh my god," Kaede says, covering his face with his free hand. "I had a feeling the other agents were gossiping about me," he groans.

"Ok, but do you like him," Chrys asks. Kaede doesn't answer and sips at his shake instead. His red face says it all.

"Why don't you guys ask Noah and Mirage this," Kaede then sputters. "Optimus and I aren't together!" he exclaims.

"So you CAN date them?" Chrys says.

"Well, yeah, I mean," Kaede shrugs. "Charlie and Bee are."

"Who's Charlie," Wendy asks.

"Old boss of mine, she owns a repair shop nearby."

"Can we meet her," Chrys asks.

"Because she's my boss? Or because you want to ask her questions about Bee."

"Both," both Wendy and Chrys reply. Kaede gives an exasperated sigh, crumpling up the paper and throwing it into the bag, finished with his burger.

"I'll let her know you guys wanna talk," Kaede sighs. "I gotta go back to the shop anyway and grab my things, she's been holding onto them."

"Hey, guys," Arcee says, approaching in her holoform. "Base needs us back, now. We got some Decepticon activity and Optimus is asking for everyone to be there." Kaede gets up from his spot, snatching his shake and heading to Sideswipe. Wendy and Chrys finish the rest of their food, standing up from the table.

Once Wendy gets situated on Arcee and Chrys gets herself in Sideswipe's passenger seat, they drive off back to base.

Jazz is first to greet them as soon as the patrol team gets back.

"What do we got?" Arcee asks as she transforms, Wendy having gotten off.

"Satellites have picked up another ship in Earth's orbit," Jazz says, everyone walking to the centre of the base. Optimus was looking at the screen, worried. A large ship comes into view from one of the nearby satellites. When Kaede sees it on the screen, a feeling of dread fills his body.

"That's a Star Harvester," Kaede breathes. Jazz looks at Kaede, a bit confused.

"How do you know that?" Jazz asks.

"Optimus told me about them," Kaede lies, his eyes darting towards Optimus and Ratchet who are both staring at him. "Cus y'know he loves his history," he says, waving his hand.

"What is a Star Harvester doing here?" Sideswipe asks.

"To harvest Earth's sun," Ratchet says. "And if it's here then that means it was piloted by..."

"The Fallen," Optimus says, glaring towards the screen. "If he manages to destroy Earth's sun-"

"Then all life on Earth will perish," Ratchet finishes.

"He cannot activate the Star Harvester," Optimus says. "We must destroy it."

"How? We still don't have any way to get off planet," Mirage says.

"We will find a way," Optimus replies. There's a silence that falls upon the base. Dread, worry, and doubt hangs in the air.

"We've been in contact with NASA, we'll try and find a way to get you all out into space," Haley calls out from the catwalk. "It's gonna take a bit, and a lot of money to build the rocket, we're trying to convince our generals right now to provide us the funding."

"If we are unable to get there in time through your resources, we are willing to reveal some of our technology," Optimus says.

"Optimus, you can't be serious!" Ratchet says.

"This is beyond us," Arcee says. "Do you really want to do this?"

"What else can we do?" Jazz sighs. "We're here too and being in the freezing dark isn't something I look forward to."

"Agents, you are dismissed," Clint announces from above. "We'll reconvene when we've come to an agreement." Most of the NEST agents walk off, the senior agents staying in the circle.

"Well, guess we're free for the rest of the day," Kaede sighs, stretching his arms. Chrys and Wendy walk off to go back to their apartment on base. "See you later, guys," he says, waving them off. He stops outside of the hangar, hands on his hips. "I don't have my bike with me."

"I can take you back home," Sideswipe offers. Kaede turns to face him.

"If that's alright with you, but you gotta head right back to base, don't want you getting yelled at by Optimus or Ratchet."

"What else is there to do? Besides, haven't gone on a ride with you in a while, just you and me," Sideswipe winks.

"It's been a hot minute," Kaede hums. "Been spending too much time with Optimus," he mutters aside. Sideswipe rolls his optics.

"Spending too much time with the big boss and not enough with me," Sideswipe chides. "Wonder why," he then mutters. He then transforms and opens the door for Kaede to get in, his holoform appearing in the driver's seat.

"Heard that," Kaede says, getting in.

"I'm just sayin," Sideswipe shrugs, pulling out of the hangar. The two drive down San Francisco, making it to Kaede's home up in the mountains. As promised, Sideswipe drops him off at his front porch. "See you back at base," Sideswipe says before driving off. Kaede waves Sideswipe off and huffs, opening his garage to grab his motorcycle and run some errands with the free time he has.

Sector Seven Base

Countless compromises had to be made and Optimus was almost at his wit's end. It was frustrating to hear that the generals were asking for Cybertronian weapons schematics. There were other technological advancements they could have taken. Taking a brief break from the neverending meetings and diplomatic talks, Optimus stood in the medbay, irritated beyond belief. Ratchet stands at his computer, typing as Optimus grumbles to himself.

"They're not going to budge on it," Ratchet says.

"I'm not going to save this planet only for the very people we're saving to blow themselves up from our weapons," Optimus growls, running a servo down his face.

"Getting snippy with me isn't going to help the situation at hand," Ratchet says, glaring at him.

"...Sorry," Optimus mutters.

"Could you repeat that?" Ratchet teases. Optimus gives an annoyed grumble and exits the medbay. Ratchet chuckles to himself lightly.