Found Family (TFP AU)

The Boy & The Bee

No one got the little detail but I'll still say what it was. Most of the story is from Smokescreen's POV. At the beginning of the story (first three chapters or so) Smokescreen referred to himself and the numans using Cybertronian words, such as servos and helm. The next few chapters Smokescreen referred humans with human words and himself with Cybertronian words. As the story went on Smokescreen started using human words for himself. And in the last few chapters, Smokescreen still used human words for himself but Cybertronian words for the Autobots and Decepticons. You can figure out what that means on your own. :)

~~~~~

Smokescreen is sitting down, leaning against a wall of broken cars. Ratchet sat in his alt-mode next to Smokescreen, not making a sound. Mea sat on one of the broken cars, gently petting Smokescreen's door-wings in order to help him relax. Smokescreen could hear Ratchet grumbling, probably something about the purring sound he was making, but he didn't care. Smokescreen let Mea continue to pet him, it helped him relax. Not to mention he was still quite stressed about everything that had happened, and he wouldn't be surprised if Mea was stressed as well.

The sound of a car driving towards them catches Smokescreen's ears, causing him to stop purring. He needed to hide, but he was still too sore to move too much too quickly. Without anything to relieve the pain, Ratchet fixing him hurt quite a bit. Ratchet had told him it would take some time for him to recover, usually his patients can rest and are repaired with proper tools. There's still a lot of work Smokescreen needs, and the limited fixing had left him sore all over. So he just sat there and hoped that whoever was making the sound would leave, or maybe even be an ally. A black and yellow car came around the corner.

"That looks like Bumblebee," Mea whispers in his ear.

Mea was right. A young human boy walked out of the car before Bumblebee transformed into his bipedal mode. They glanced over at Smokescreen then over at the ambulance next to him, Ratchet.

"Ratchet, hey Ratchet!" The human boy shouted, "Ratchet?"

"Go away," The grumpy doctor says.

::Come on, get up,:: Bumblebee beeped, Smokescreen was slightly surprised he could understand Bumblebee.

"You're interrupting my power down," Ratchet complained.

::We need him,:: Bumblebee tells the boy.

"Come on Ratchet, we need your help to find the others," the boy stated.

::Yeah, he's right. We need them to stop Megatron,:: Bumblebee agreed.

"We can't stop Megatron. Not anymore. The war is over, and we... lost," Ratchet says.

Smokescreen looks at Ratchet, the situation seems worse than he thought.

"You're giving up!?" the boy questioned, "We can't just give up!"

Ratchet transforms into his bipedal mode.

"Then tell me what we can do," he sounds almost desperate, "Without communications, without a ground bridge, without a base of operations, or resources of any kind."

::What about the ground bridge Starscream used?:: Bumblebee suggests.

"Bee's right," the boy states, "We know Starscream had access to a ground bridge while he was operating solo."

"Yes, yes, he clearly had been using the derelict Decepticon ship, the Harbinger. What does that have to do with anything?" Ratchet asks.

"It could be full of Cybertronian tech," the boy says, "and it's probably abandoned again now that Starscream's back with the 'cons."

Ratchet scoffs, "Well resources won't be of much use. Not without someone to... lead us."

"It's a start," the boy mentions.

"Then you'll have to start without me," Ratchet nearly shouts, "This is someone else's fight now."

"There is no one else, Ratchet. Just us. Just the team," the boy says.

Ratchet shakes his head, "Please," he transforms into his alt-mode, "just let me... rust in peace."

"Come on Bee," the boy turns around.

Bee transforms into his alt-mode and the boy steps inside. Smokescreen tries standing up and transforming to follow them, but Ratchet stops him.

"You are in no condition to follow them," Ratchet sighs.

The boy and Bumblebee drive off.

"Come on Ratchet. I may not know what's going on. but it's clear they need you," Smokescreen states.

"It's no use, not without Optimus," Ratchet says.

Smokescreen is surprised to hear Optimus' name, but he decides to ask questions later.

"They won't have a chance without their medic," Smokescreen says sincerely.

"Yeah, Smokescreen is right!" Mea shouts, "If you've given up on the war, I don't care! But you better not give up on Earth! I will not live on a Decepticon controlled planet because you had a case of the let downs!"

Ratchet sighs, "Fine, I'll go... we'll go."

Smokescreen smiles and transforms into his alt-mode, Mea hops in and they drive off to the Harbinger.

~~~~~

When they reach the ship they transform into their bipedal modes, Smokescreen picks Mea up and sits her on his shoulder. Bumblebee and the boy, who Ratchet had said on the drive to the ship was named Raf, seem to be trying, and failing, to get the ship working.

Ratchet stops Raf from continuing, "Eep, eep, eep."

::Ratchet, is that you?:: Bee questions.

"You're mis-calibrating the energon transducer," Ratchet comments.

"Ratchet," Raf says with joy.

"Now step out of my way so I can work," Ratchet once more sounds grumpy, that's probably a good thing at this point.

Smokescreen waves at Bumblebee, who smiles back. Or at least Smokescreen thinks he smiles back, it's hard to tell with the mask covering his intake. Smokescreen sits down and relaxes, slowly starting to purr as Mea pets his door-wings.

Raf, who's now standing next to Bumblebee looks very confused.

"Do all Cybertronians purr like that?" Raf asks Bee.

::It depends on the bot. Praxians are the most sensitive out of all Cybertronians,:: Bee informs Raf.

"Then I guess I'm lucky that my Kitty is from Praxis," Mea chuckles.

Smokescreen looks a bit surprised that Mea called him by his nickname in front of the others.

::Kitty?:: Bee repeats.

"It's a nickname she gave me when she was four..." Smokescreen looks away but doesn't stop his purring.

"I like it," Raf chuckles, and Bee joins in.