When they finally got out of school, they were surprised by their Autobots guardians. Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee were there as expected but what was more surprising was the fact that Optimus had come along as well.
"Optimus? What are you doing here?" Emily approached the semi truck disguised autobot leader as she stared at him as he looked at her using his sideview mirrors.
"I've come here to take you to base safe and sound." He said warmly as Emily couldn't help but smile softly.
"He didn't want you to walk to base on your own." Arcee spoke up since Emily was still fixing her motorcycle at the base.
"I almost fainted when he said that he was coming with us." Bulkhead said with a grin in his voice as Bumblebee whirred in agreement.
Miko, who wanted to tease Emily, nudged her gently with her elbow as she wanted to get back at Emily for teasing her earlier.
"Yo, Ems. Your boyfriend is here." Miko teased in a whisper and caused Emily to blush lightly at that.
"Hey." She hissed before pushing Miko towards Bulkhead.
"Whoa, whoa, easy, girls. What's going on between you two?" Bulkhead asked curiously.
"Nothing. Let's just say that Jack here won't be the only one who's having a crush on someone." Emily said with a smirk as Miko blushed lightly.
"What do you mean? Crush as in the soda?" Arcee asked in confusion as Jack laughed slightly at that.
"Not that's another kind of crush. Speaking of sodas. We totally forgot something." Jack said as he turned to Emily who facepalms. Can't have a complete movie marathon without drinks.
"Oh you're right. I forgot the drinks." She said as Jack nodded.
"Don't worry, I'll go get them. It shouldn't take too long. The grocery is just two blocks away. Arcee, do you mind making a stop?" Jack said before approaching Arcee as she seemed to nod.
"I think we can afford it. Just don't take too long." She agreed.
"I won't. We'll ask for a ground bridge in case we're late. Catch you later, guys." Jack told the others as he put his helmet on and got on Arcee.
She drives him to the grocery store so Jack can buy the others something to drink.
"Hey, Miko, just out of curiosity. What did Emily mean by 'crush'?" Bulkhead asked curiously since he never heard of that word before.
"Nothing. Nothing at all, she's just kidding. You don't need to worry about anything. Trust me." Miko said as Bulkhead seemed skeptical about it.
"When you say trust me, I get worried." He told her and caused Emily to laugh a little as Miko gave her a deadpanned look.
"Very funny." She huffed as Bumblebee seemed concerned and curious as he whirred a question to Raf.
"Long story, Bee. I'll tell you later." Raf said with a small laugh as he got in his guardian as Miko does the same to Bulkhead while Emily got inside Optimus' vehicle mode but she was having a slightly hard time calming down.
"How are you doing, Optimus?" Emily started a conversation as she buckled the seatbelt.
"I'm perfectly fine. How are you?" He replied before asking her as she stretched slightly.
"A bit tired. Nothing like some good old rest can't fix." She said as the bots all turned on their engines and drove towards the base. On the way, Optimus and Emily continue their conversation.
"How was your day at school?" He asked curiously as Emily shrugged.
"Nothing much. Same old classes. Although, there are some new faces around." She said as she looked out the window as a small silence filled the air before Emily spoke up again.
"Glad you came here, Optimus. It's not very often you get out of the base." Emily said softly as Optimus agreed with that.
"Things have been pretty quiet. The Decepticons have not made any move. Yet." He said as Emily gave a small grin at that.
"You should try to enjoy the peace while it lasts." She said with a smile.
"Your father used to say that peace never lasts long. But enjoying it makes it last longer." Optimus said as Emily agreed to that.
"Yeah and tonight, me and the others are going to enjoy the peace while we can. Tonight's movie night. Speaking of which." Emily then perked up as she turned on the comm links to speak with Raf and Miko since they haven't picked which movie to watch.
"Hey, guys, any idea of what we should watch?" Emily asked.
In Bulkhead, Miko turns on the comm-link that they were given when Emily spoke up.
"Well, I think that we could watch Kong Skull Island." Miko suggested since the movie was still cool.
In Bumblebee, Raf heard the name of the movie and had to suggest something else.
"We watched that 5 times. Besides, Bee gets scared when he looks at the SkullCrawlers." Raf said as Bumblebee whirred in agreement since the SkullCrawlers were really scary as Bulkhead decided to join in the conversation.
"I surely liked that movie. That Kong sure knows how to fight. Reminds me of myself." He said through the comm-links.
"Seriously?" Emily chuckled at that as Optimus listened to the conversation curiously.
Meanwhile at the grocery store parking, Arcee was parked while waiting for Jack to come out since he was buying the sodas. He finally came out with the drinks in his backpack as he lifted his bag.
"Got the drinks." He said before he saw the others pass by where he was standing.
He and Arcee had to catch up with them now. Jack then hops on and puts on his helmet.
"Let's go, Arcee, we have to catch up with the others." Jack told her as she ignited her engine. No need to be told twice.
"Hold on tight." She said before taking off quickly.
She and Jack quickly caught up with the others and caught them in a conversation on which movie they should watch since the comm-links are on.
"I don't wanna burst your bubble, Bulkhead, but you don't look like King Kong." Miko said to Bulkhead.
In Optimus, Emily was calming down from her slight giggling fit.
"I hate to say it but Miko is right." Emily said before they all heard a motorcycle horn and knew that it was Jack and Arcee.
"Hey, Jack. What took you so long?" She joked playfully.
On the road, Jack rolled his eyes playfully at that.
"You call 5 minutes long? Anyway, I got the stuff." Jack joked back before gesturing to his bag.
"What did you get?" Emily asked curiously.
"I got Grape Juice, Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper and last but not least, Crush cream soda. Pink as in the colour of L-" Jack listed but didn't finish his sentence when Miko suddenly spoke up.
"Don't say it." Miko snapped at him through the comm-links.
Everyone quickly became silent at that as Bumblebee whitred as if to say awkward.
"Tell me about it, Bee." Raf agreed with his guardian.
"Are you okay, Miko?" Bulkhead asked in concern since her behavior is getting him a little worried.
"I'm fine. I already told you that." Miko huffed as she crossed her arms.
"It's okay, Miko. You can tell me what's going on." Bulkhead said.
"Nothing's going on." Miko insisted since she doesn't want to worry him
"Look, Miko. I know you're young and you're at an age where you wanna have your own privacy but sometimes it's best to talk when something bothers you." Bulkhead told her as she rolled her eyes at that.
"Okay. You wanna know what's bothering me now? You are." Miko snapped and the others almost winced at that.
On the road, Jack and Arcee winced at that.
"Ouch, that hurts." Arcee said.
In Bulkhead, Miko quickly regretted what she said as she apologized.
"I'm sorry, Bulkhead. Today has been kind of weird." Miko said sadly and hoped he wouldn't get upset.
"It's alright, I get it. Private life, I completely understand." Bulkhead reassured her as she smiled softly and he couldn't help but smile back.
On the road, Jack decided to change the subject to loosen up the slight tension in the air.
"By the way. What were you guys talking about?" Jack asked curiously.
In Bumblebee, Raf explained to him what they were talking about earlier.
"Movie choices. Miko said that we should watch Kong Skull Island." Raf said as he could almost feel Bumblebee shaking his head.
On the road, Jack raised a brow at that. Again? They already watched it 5 times with some of the bots, even Optimus.
"Again? We already watched that 5 times. How about a Marvel movie marathon?" Jack suggested a new one.
In Bulkhead, Miko saw that as a good idea.
"Good idea. Maybe we could watch them not in order. How about we watch Iron man 3?" Miko asked.
In Bumblebee, Raf didn't want to watch it from the 3rd movie of Iron Man.
"Maybe we should watch the first one. It's better." He told them.
On the road, Jack disagreed with that.
"Maybe the second one." He said.
In Bulkhead, Miko disagreed with that one and it started a slight argument on which Iron Man movie series they should watch.
"The third one is better." Miko argued.
In Bumblebee, Raf disagreed.
"No, it's the second one." He said.
On the road, Jack joined the argument.
"You're both wrong. The first one is better." He said.
In Bulkhead, Miko decided to use a counter argument.
"Hey if it wasn't for the first one, Iron man 2 and 3 wouldn't exist." She said with a grin.
In Bumblebee, Raf grinned at that.
"Ah ha. So you agree that the second one is the best." He said with a triumphant smile.
In Bulkhead, Miko huffed playfully.
"No, I didn't say that. I said that thanks to Iron man 1, we got the other two. And I say that Iron Man 3 is the best of them all." Miko said with a victorious grin.
On the road, Jack disagreed.
"No way it's the first one that's better." Jack argued.
The three start arguing as their guardians have to endure their arguments. Emily was ignoring their conversation because she didn't want to get involved as she put a pod of her headset on her ear as Optimus found the argument slightly confusing before looking at Emily through his rearview mirror.
"Aren't you going to stop them?" He asked her as she glanced at him from her phone.
"No way. The best way to enjoy peace is tranquility. It's to do nothing and let things get fixed by themselves. Besides, after they stop arguing, they will agree to choose the same movie. Let's try to enjoy the peace while it lasts." Emily told him as Optimus agreed to that as they headed to the base.
Meanwhile back at the base, Ratchet was enjoying the peace and quiet to get some work done but with all the ruckus Cliffjumper and Smokescreen were causing as both mechs were playing basketball.
"Come on, Smoke. You're making this too easy." Cliffjumper said as he had the ball.
"We'll see about that." Smokescreen grinned as he charged forward.
Smokescreen tries to take the ball from Cliffjumper who's using his back to retain him. Both he and Smokescreen were making loud noises that annoyed Ratchet as he let out an annoyed sigh.
"Ah, not even humans can make loud noises." He grumbled.
"Come on. You can do better than that. Look here." Cliffjumper said before turning around and stopped dribbling the ball.
"I'll let you have a chance. Try and grab the ball from me. I won't even look." Cliffjumper said and true to his word he put his other servo above his eyes.
When Smokescreen was about to try and grab the ball, Cliffjumper then threw the ball with his hand without looking at the hoop and scored a point.
"Haha, I win." He smirked as Smokescreen looked dumbfounded
"That's not fair. You threw the ball from behind." He complained as he crossed his arms.
"I said I would give you a chance. You gotta be quicker, kid." Cliffjumper said with a small grin
"That wasn't fair and you know it. I can't even make that shot." Smokescreen said.
"Maybe you would if you practice more, rookie." Cliffjumper replied as Smokescreen seemed to pout.
"Stop calling me that." He said before getting grabbed by Cliffjumper by the neck and started to give him a noogie.
"Make me. Say Uncle." Cliffjumper said playfully as he continued to give Smokescreen a noogie to make him say it.
"Come on, say it." Cliffjumper insisted.
"I won't." Smokescreen stubbornly said and made Cliffjumper grinned more.
"Have it your way." Cliffjumper said as he didn't stop.
"Stop." Smokescreen said as he started to laugh.
Despite Smokescreen telling Cliffjumper to stop, Cliff didn't stop. Ratchet, who grew tired of their shenanigans, decided to give them a piece of his mind as he turned around.
"Hey, you two! I'm trying to work here. So can you both keep it down?" Ratchet told them grumpily as Cliffjumper stopped giving Smokescreen a noogie and let him go.
"Ah, come on, doc. We're just playing." Cliffjumper said in defense.
"Instead of playing, you both could render yourselves useful and get those empty cubes and put them in order. Now!" Ratchet said as his servo inched closer to his favorite wrench as both Smokescreen and Cliffjumper knew they better compiled or they'll get a wrench shipped dent on their helm.
"Yes, Ratchet." Smokescreen nodded as he and Cliffjumper went to where the empty cubes were.
Both Cliffjumper and Smokescreen started fixing the huge stack of empty cubes to put them in order while talking quietly so Ratchet wouldn't get disturbed.
"Why does Ratchet have to be this grumpy? We were just having fun." Smokescreen said as he put two cubes down.
"He's like that. Come on, let's put those cubes right." Cliffjumper reassured him.
Smokescreen and Cliffjumper continued to organize the empty cubes in order and ten minutes later, they were finished as Smokescreen stretched his arms.
"Finally. Man, my arms are hurting like crazy." Smokescreen said.
"You'll be fine." Cliffjumper said as he hit his shoulder and caused him to wince slightly.
"Oww, that hurts." Smokescreen winced as he massaged the sore spot.
"You gotta love the pain, kid. Makes you stronger." Cliffjumper said as Smokescreen crossed his arms over his chassis.
"Doesn't look like I'm getting stronger right now." He retorted before they were interrupted by Ratchet.
"Have you two finished stacking up the cubes?" He asked them.
"Yes, we did." He said as he pointed to the pile as Ratchet looked and nodded.
"Excellent. Take some time off. You deserved it. But no playing around." Ratchet told them as they both nodded.
"That's okay. I'm too tired anyway." He said as he leaned against the wall.
"What's wrong, rookie? Too rusty to keep up?" Cliffjumper teased him as Smokescreen rolled his optics playfully.
"You know I'm younger than you right?" He said as Cliffjumper chuckled.
"Says the bot who just lost." Cliffjumper teased him again as Smokescreen just sighed.
They all perked up when multiple sounds of engines were heard entering the base as the others had finally returned back to base. The kids then got out or off their guardians to allow them to transform into their robot forms.
"So we all agree that we should watch all three Iron man movies right?" Jack said as they finally decided to watch the Iron Man Trilogy earlier.
"Sure." Raf nodded.
"I don't mind." Miko grinned.
"Good thing it's settled." Arcee said as she crossed her arms.
"Yeah. I thought they would go on like this all the way here." Bulkhead said with amusement as Bumblebee whirred in agreement and that he would rather fight Decepticons than hear the three argue all day long.
"Gotta agree with you on that one. I'd rather get my tailpipe kicked by cons than hear them argue all day." Bulkhead said in agreement with Bumblebee.
"I'm very impressed with you, Emily." Optimus said as he smiled down at her as she blushed lightly but smiled sheepishly.
"Ah, it was nothing." She said as she shrugged.
"How did you know that all of this was going to work out by itself?" Arcee asked her curiously as she looked up.
"Have you heard of the expression fight fire with fire?" Emily questioned her as Arcee shook her head.
"Doesn't sound familiar." She said while tilting her head.
"Can't say I did." Bulkhead added as Bumblebee agreed with a whir.
"I did. And I believe that this human expression is utterly ridiculous." Ratchet said since he heard of it before as Emily nodded.
"Got that right." She said in agreement and made Arcee look at her in surprise.
"Wait a minute. Did you just... agree with what Ratchet just said?" Arcee asked in surprise as Emily nodded while putting a hand on her hips.
"I agree with the fact that this expression is stupid. Not the fact that it's human. Anyway, the expression says that to fight fire, you need fire. But the problem with fighting fire with fire is that the fire keeps burning and doesn't stop. By feeding the fire, we allow it to destroy everything in its path. Now what do you do to put out a fire?" Emily then explained before asking them. Bulkhead perked up and thought of an answer.
"Oh, oh, I know, I know. You smash the guy that's burning." Bulkhead answered only to get weird looks from the others as Optimus just blinked in confusion.
"Uh, no. Wait, did you smash someone who was burning?" Emily asked in confusion and disbelief.
"No. Maybe. It has been a while. I don't remember much." Bulkhead said as Arcee smirked.
"He did." Arcee said truthfully as Emily gawked in shock at that.
"He sure did and my back is hurting just by thinking about it." Ratchet said as Emily just shook her head.
"It figures. Anyway, the best way to put out a fire is with water. Normally you would go get the water but by time you get it, the fire has destroyed everything. So it's best to wait for rain to fall. That's what I did. Instead of taking out the fire with water, I waited for the rain. I knew that if I entered the conversation, it would get worse. So I thought it was best for them to solve it without me getting involved. And there you have. The problem was solved and I didn't have to get in." Emily explained as they were impressed.
"Not bad." Arcee said as Emily gave a smirk.
"That was pretty good." Bulkhead said in agreement.
"Not getting involved in this situation and letting it get solved by itself was pretty wise of you. If only it would've been like that before the war." Optimus said with an impressed look before his expression turned to slightly pained as the past resurfaced slightly but he blinked his optics to get rid of those negative thoughts.
"Sometimes you have to hope for the best. It's hard but you gotta try." Emily said as Cliffjumper approached Arcee.
"You're back, huh?" He said as she nodded.
"Yeah and you missed quite a show." Arcee said with a small grin.
"Funny because you missed a show here." Cliffjumper said as Arcee raised an optic ridge.
"Oh you mean your legendary empty cubes piling?" Arcee said as she looked at the stacked cubes in the corner.
"Better. I scored from behind with one hand and my optics closed." Cliffjumper said as Smokescreen seemed to pout.
"He tricked me into thinking that I could grab the ball easily." He told them.
"You'll get over it, kid." Bulkhead said and pats his shoulder playfully but Smokescreen shrugged his servo away when he winced slightly.
"Oww! Careful, Bulk. My arms still hurt like crazy. Pilling up those cubes really did a number on me." Smokescreen said as he moved his arms a little to get rid of the soreness.
"Take it as an extra workout. The more you work, the stronger you get. Like the humans say, 'No pain, no gain'." Bulkhead told him as Arcee looked confused.
"I'm not sure that's an actual expression." She said with confusion.
"It is actually." Emily said before Miko started to call her from the human area.
"Yo, Ems. You coming or what?" Miko called over as Jack finished setting up their snacks.
"Popcorn's ready." He said as Miko grinned excitedly.
"We're almost ready for the movie." She said as Emily nodded.
"Coming." She said as she climbed the stairs to where the three are.
"Remember, kids. No popcorn on the floor. Just because you're out of grounding doesn't mean you have to drop every bit of food on the floor." Ratchet told them as they nodded.
"Sure thing, Ratchet. Miko, can you pass me the... grape juice?" Jack said before asking Miko only to trail off when he noticed the daydreaming look on her face.
"Here we go again." Emily said with a small laugh.
Emily then waves her hand in front of Miko but she doesn't even react. So Emily snaps her fingers to wake her up from her daydream again which worked as she jolted awake and blinked in surprise.
"What, what?" She asked in confusion as the others looked at her.
"You spaced out again." Jack told her.
"I believe that's one of the many symptoms of being in love." Emily said with a grin and caused Miko to start blushing.
"Stop it." Miko said with a small look as the bots looked confused.
"Is everything okay?" Bulkhead asked curiously as he approached.
"Yeah, everything is good. Nothing going on here. Just getting ready to watch our movie marathon while enjoying some popcorn." Miko said as she was hoping the bots wouldn't ask.
"Emily, what did you mean with 'in love'?" Bulkhead then turned to the 18 year old with them since he was curious about what that word meant.
"Is there something we should know about?" Arcee asked curiously.
"Well..." Emily started as Miko was giving her a look that clearly said 'Don't you say it'.
"Don't you dare." She said through gritted teeth.
"Someone here is in love." Emily then said as Arcee looked confused.
"Jack?" Arcee asked as she looked at her partner who shook his head.
"No, besides me." He said as he glanced at Miko as Bulkhead turned to look at his charge in surprise.
"Miko?" He asked incredulously as Bumblebee let out a questioning whirred.
"Don't look at me." Miko grumbled as she crossed her arms.
"It is Miko. She met a nice handsome guy at school. He's new just like her." Emily said as she admitted why Miko is always spacing out.
"Stop it." Miko hit Emily's arm lightly as she laughed playfully.
"Oh, looks like someone has a serious crush." Arcee teased the Japanese girl.
"No, I don't." Miko denied it but her blush gave it away.
"Yes, you do. Come on, admit it." Smokescreen said as he was seeing Miko indeed had a crush.
"No." Miko denied again
"Come on, you know it's true." Jack said as Miko shook her head.
"No, it's not." She said while turning her face away.
"Miko, it's okay if you are." Arcee said with a smile.
"I'm not in love. And that's it." Miko said as she crossed her arms but Emily knew a way to make her admit that she is in love.
"If it's true then, why do you keep spacing out like that?" Emily said as she put her hand on her hips.
"Well..." Miko tried to come up with a comeback as Emily looked at her. She then sighed in defeat and admitted it.
"Okay fine. I'm in love. There I said it. Are you happy now?" Miko said with a pout as Emily smiled and nodded.
"You bet I am. It's about time you met someone. And who knows, things might get a little..." Emily said as grabbed a habanero flavored popcorn.
"Spicy." She said before popping it in her mouth but regretted it and started to cough.
"Oh man, too spicy." Emily coughed as she got something to drink quickly.
"Habanero Pepper. Very spicy." Jack said as he read the flavor of the popcorn she ate as she finished drinking the Crush soda.
"Thanks for the heads up." Emily rasped as she cleared her throat.
"Oh, please, guys. Miko is too young for that." Bulkhead said when he felt his sire coding turn on quickly at the prospect of Miko being in love much to everyone's surprise.
"Whoa, is it me or are you playing the father card right now?" Jack asked in surprise as Bumblebee whirred in agreement with Jack.
"Doesn't surprise me. Bulkhead has spent a lot of time with Miko. It figures that he wouldn't like for her to grow up too much." Arcee explained as Bumblebee beeps in agreement.
"It's not that, it's just..." Bulkhead said as he tried to come up with an answer.
"Just what? That I'm still little to be with someone? Get real, Bulkhead." Miko said as she grinned up to her guardian.
"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. If you wanna be with someone, you have the right to do so. Just be sure it's not one of those jerky boys." Bulkhead said as he quickly apologized as Miko nodded. She will be careful.
"I will." Miko said as she gave a thumbs up.
"Ah, it has to happen someday." Bulkhead said with a sigh. Who knew that Miko was growing up to be a young lady.
"Do not worry, Bulkhead. Miko cares about you. Just like you care about her. And that's something that will never change." Optimus said as he reassured his teammate as Bulkhead had an uncertain look.
"I don't know, Optimus. She seems so little and yet she's growing up so fast." Bulkhead said as he and Optimus watched the kids.
"Hey, don't finish the whole Grape Juice." Miko said.
"Relax. There's plenty." Jack said before Miko grabbed the bottle of grape juice.
"Give that back!" Jack exclaimed as he tried to get it back.
"Nuh-uh." She shook her head playfully as she didn't let him get it back even if he tried to grab it as Bolty watched from where he was on Emily's head.
"She might be growing fast but deep down she's still a kid." Smokescreen said as he watched in amusement.
"Guess you talk from experience." Arcee said with a smirk.
"Oh, burn. Miko taught me that." Cliffjumper said with a smirk.
Raf was finally done connecting his laptop to the tv so that they could watch the first Iron Man movie.
"I'm finally done. Now we can watch the movie." Raf said but the movie marathon seemed to have been cancelled when the comm-links started blaring like crazy. It revealed that it was a priority call from Agent Fowler
"What's going on?" Miko asked in confusion.
"It's a priority call. From Agent Fowler." Ratchet told them before answering the call and Agent Fowler appeared on the screen.