Ep 2: Indoor Downpour (Open!)

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Week 2; Day 3
12:55pm
Autobot Base

{warning there is a lot of cussing in this post – Nell isn't the happiest of campers}

Oh how the mechanic loathed checking the pipes around the old missile silo. It was torture, pure and horrible torture that she hated with every fiber of her being.

Mainly, because she had never looked at plumbing before in her life and she had to spend the night before reading a 'how to' book. Her head was already pounding too, but after spending nearly four hours going through that damn book and the layout of the silo? It'd be something short of a miracle if she didn't have a headache. Oh, and there was the fact that her clothes were already on the damp side from leaky pipes.

That dampness would only increase as she strained her neck to look at an overhead pipe that was slowly dripping in an old forgotten janitorial closet. By all means this one should be an easy fix and by all means it wasn't going to tighten anymore. A heavy sigh, a curse word under her breath, and another turn of the tool later – and it looked like it was no longer leaking. Until her day just had to be ruined by some god who wanted her day to be miserable...

That pipe, that old and rusted pipe, sprung a larger leak. One that happened to act like a sudden downpour, with her having no umbrella.

In other words? The poor mechanic was drenched with cold, rust colored water. The scream of shock left her, as well as the following words. “JESUS FUCKIN' CHRIST!” Who knew if anyone was out in the hallway, but if they were? They'd hear those three words and the string of curses that followed. They would also hear the clinking, the clanking, more cursing, and more clanking.

Followed me more cursing.

There was also a puddle of water sloooowly seeping underneath the ajar door – a puddle that Nell was frantically trying to keep from growing any further. Which, given she was soaked to the bone and she actually fell off her ladder at one point? Well...It wasn't the easiest thing to do.

What felt like a lifetime, when it was actually only five minutes, Nell got the water to stop falling on top of her head. Her boots were filled with water at this point, her hair was hanging limply across her shoulders, and her clothes were soaked through. She also sounded like the Tasmanian Devil throwing a fit in that little closet, as she thrown her wrench against the wall and kicked the door open as she walked out of there in a huff – her boots making a 'squish-squash' sound as she walked. “Fuckin' god damn pipes and fuckin' god damn robots thinking this was a good fuckin' idea.” She spat.

“Now where's a god damn mop when I need one?” She asked, though it was more to herself than to anyone else. In fact, she hoped no one was around to see or hear that lovely display of humanity at it's best – she didn't want to hear it and she didn't want this getting back to Fowler or to Ratchet. Hell she didn't want anyone to see her looking like a drowned cat either.

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Unfortunately for Nell, Smokescreen had pretty good audials. He'd heard the commotion first, the clinking and clanging and had followed it to its source. Amused, he'd stood at the mouth of the corridor and watched the slowly growing puddle escape out from under the door. Man, someone sure had it rough. And they sounded fragged off.

“Now where's a god damn mop when I need one?”

It took Smokescreen a sparkbeat to access the base map and find an answer to the human's question. She really didn't look happy. And she was really wet. Maybe this would help. "There's one in another closet two corridors down from here," he offered helpfully. "That's where they moved the equipment that was in this one, apparently. I'd go get it for you but-" he held up his hands, demonstrating how large they were. "I might have some trouble getting the door open."

Hopefully, he wouldn't startle her too badly. Really, Smokescreen shouldn't have stood there and eavesdropped but the scene had been a little strange to walk away from.

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Nell froze when Smokescreen spoke.

For a brief moment she didn't say, or do anything.

The only source of movement was drops of water dripping from her wet hair. Slowly, she turned towards him as he mentioned where there was a mop. “Yeah...?” She asked. “You said it was two corridors down from here, right?” Yep, thats what he had said and Nell shivered a bit. “Thanks, I seriously hate that Ratchet stuck me with checking the pipes. This was one of the last ones on the list..” Said list was now a soggy mess but that was besides the point.

She rung out her shirt for a moment as she kept her eyes on Smokescreen for a moment or two. “I'm Nell Collins.” She told him as she reached down to take off one of her boots to dump the water out of it. “Army Specialist, mechanic – Fowler brought me here a couple of days ago.” The brunette explained. “What's your name?” Hey, she might have been like a drown cat and she might have not been in the best of moods (especially going by the tone of her voice) but at least Smokescreen told her the location of a much needed mop. Now she just needed to get that mess cleaned up and dig out a pair of spare clothes from somewhere.

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A touch of sympathy filled Smokescreen's expression. "Ratchet's got you running chores? From what I've heard through base scuttlebutt, I don't envy you." He thought for a moment, the human he was dealing with wasn't one of the three kids that spent a lot of time and she wasn't Agent Fowler either. But still, if she was here and she knew Ratchet then she had to have been authorised on base.

“I'm Nell Collins. Army Specialist, mechanic – Fowler brought me here a couple of days ago. What's your name?”

Oh, he'd been rude, not introducing himself right of the bat. And that explained why she-Nell- was trying to conduct repairs and why he hasn't seen the mechanic around before.

"Smokescreen," he offered up affably. "Of the Elite Guard, though I'm not sure if that'll mean anything to you."

She was a lot…less excitable than Miko was, at meeting him. He'd had to deal with a bombardment of questions then, so it was a little strange to realise that he might be the one doing the talking this time round.

"I can't say much for the others but I think they'd be glad that there's someone here who can handle the stuff we can't get to." He nodded at the janitorial closest. "Even our smallest wouldn't have been able to get to that, I think."

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“Yeah, we gotta start out somewhere.” Unfortunately she wasn't starting off somewhere she knew she could show the old medic a thing or two, but it was his rules – she wasn't about to bust them and ruin her chances of impressing mr sout grapes.

As far as introductions go, Smokescreen was right about the mention of the 'Elite Guard' not meaning much to her – cause she had no idea what the heck it was. “Yeah, I'm gonna hazard a guess thats something like our Special Forces? I don't know shit about how Cybertronian forces run, not yet at least.” Nell brought up as she pulled off a wet sock so the constant squishiness didn't bug her. She was already pulling off her other boot to dump out water from it when he spoke about being glad there was someone who can handle stuff that they couldn't get to. “Who know's, either way I'm surprised Fowler has't briefed actual janitors to do this sorta thing.” Her nose wrinkled, she was seriously hating this.

“I mean, I'm a mechanic. I rip engines apart and smack them together again so they work right.” There was a soft splash of water as the second boot was dumped out. “Not a plumber, but I'm learnin' that bolts that don't want to tighten can be a real bitch and a half.” A small snort left her, and her eyes flicked down the hallway that lead towards the other janitor closet Smokescreen had mentioned.

“So theres a mop supposedly in there?” She asked as she started down the hallway. So what she was going to end up dripping water along the way, and on the way back - she just needed a mop to take care of the water in the other closet. Hopefully, Smokescreen thought right and hopefully, she could get this mess (and herself} before anyone see's her.

But something told her it just wouldn't be her lucky day as she opened the door...

{And Tag: Rumi!}

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Most of the kids had the uncanny ability to appear when casually mentioned in conversation. Miko more so than Jack or Raf. When she'd pointed this fact out to Raf, he'd denied any such claims of fate or destiny and instead said the worry of their presence was high on the minds of their guardians. Whatever, that sounded lame in comparison to fixed destiny. Miko just rejected his sound words and inserted her own ideas. They were way cooler.

Miko wasn't hiding in the closet because of mysterious causality. She was hiding in the closet because Jack had found the tarantula she'd misplaced. By sticking his hand on it while picking through his book bag for his chem notes. Totally not where she'd left the giant critter! He'd not listened to her gibbering about how harmless the Arizona native was. All he'd been able to process was the four inches of terrified, hairy, multi-legged thing that he'd wrapped his fingers around.

Which was why she was hiding in the closet. Bah. Boys were such weenies. The spider wasn't even dangerous! Miko had set it aside in a box so she could let it go later. But getting to an exit in the missile silo was ridiculously hard. Most of the times they were locked or the giant cargo doors were really, really locked. And Ratchet wouldn't let her use the ground bridge. So this one easy task had turned into a convoluted thing all just to let one spider go outside. By the time she'd figured out where she was going to take it, the box turned out to be empty. It wasn't her fault Jack had left his book bag nearby and invitingly open. Really, the spider was the victim in this situation. Not the boy.

Which, again, was why she was hiding in the closet. Because Jack did not see that from her angle. She wasn't sure what happened to the spider after his shriek. Miko hoped it found a better place to hide because, as much as she liked to help a fellow femme fatale out, she was not sticking around for Jack's ire. (It wasn't her fault he was scared of spiders!)

So when Nell opened the closet, she'd find Miko perched on a stack of boxes that probably contained something caustic when opened. The improvised weapon she wielded was suitable for the setting. The Wrecker Lite had found a mop to shove at Jack should he find her.

"Oh, uh...Jack didn't send you, did he? Dude, why are you so wet?" Miko entirely forgot about the threat of Mini-Prime Jack to stare at Nell. She was soaked! Epic water balloon battle, maybe?

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Smokescreen blinked. Special Forces. A quick glance at the internet provided some context. "Not exactly," he answered slowly, optics unfocused as he looked up some more info. "The Elite Guard's job was to protect the Primacy and the High Council. I guess you could say we were more like your Secret Service."

Or at least, the Guard had done so in its long gone glory days. It hadn't been anything like Smokescreen was expecting, by the time he'd got there. Once the best of the best…

But he'd made his way to Prime now. Who's to say he couldn’t keep the old tradition alive?

The Autobot listened to Nell gripe about her job as she stripped off her shoes and socks. He rocked back on his heels, tilting his head as he considered what to say next. He didn't really know anything about the human and wasn't sure what to say to that.

Smokescreen was saved from having to answer when Nell asked him about the mop. "Um, yes! If the base inventory is up-to-date and correct, that is." He set off after her, careful to keep pace.

The Autobot shuttered his optics dumbly when Nell opened the door to find Miko wielding said mop. Why was Miko-? How did she-? Why?

"Well, look's like you've find the mop," he said blankly. "And a Miko, too."

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Nell tilted her head up at him, and she slowly nodded that he mentioned they were more like their secret service. Interesting, who'd of thunk it that giant robots had shit like that? Then again, who'd of thunk there were giant robots in the first place?

Either way, she was just glad to know there was a mop near by and she left her socks and shoes abandoned near the wall. She just wanted to get the mess cleaned up and done with. “Good to know, gonna be needed.” Cause seriously? It really was a mess that needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later. She was walking at a decent pace, though it didn't take much for a Cybertronian to catch up with tiny human legs.

Of course when she opened up the door? Miko was the last person to expect. Hell, Nell didn't expect anyone in the closet, wielding that mop like some weapon. Her brows raised slowly as the girl asked if Jack sent her and the question of why she was wet made her sigh. “Yep.” She replied as Smokescreen mentioned that it looked like she found not only the mop, but a Miko too.

“Leaked pipe, need the mop.” Nell told her with a frown. “Why are you hiding from Jack?” She asked, and in all honesty? She hadn't really been introduced to the kids, it made her a bit tenser than normal – but it wasn't like she didn't know who they were, and it was likely they didn't hear about her before. Either way...If she found out the whole reason? Well..It was probably a good thing that spider didn't cross Nell's path – because it would have been deader than dead with the mechanic screaming profanities that made her recent outburst look...Polite.

Hey, she could handle a lot – just not insects of any kind thank you very much.

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"Wait, neither of you were sent by Jack?" Miko beamed and started to untangle herself from the junk the closet had somehow accumulated. "Then it's no big deal!" The girl nearly got her foot tangled in a bucket before she stumbled her way out into the hallway. Shaking her ankle free, she stooped over to snatch up the bucket by the handle and sheepishly grinned at the woman.

Who in the what was this?

"Didn't you say you needed a mop and a bucket? I can help." Miko nodded, yes, this was a good idea. If she was helping someone do something remotely important, Jack wouldn't be likely to maim her. At least not in front of witnesses. If she kept busy for the next few hours there was a good possibility he'd forget or have to head home before dinner.

"Hi, I'm Miko. I don't normally hide in the closet like that." She gave Smokescreen a chipper wave, remembering that one from before. He wasn't as fun as the Wreckers but he was more likely to have fun versus the rest of the Autobots.

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One of Smokescreen's optic ridges flew up as he watched Miko start to climb out of the closet. Its neighbour joined it when she almost tripped over a bucket but managed to save herself from the fall.

Then his optics widened when she asked if she could help. Like he watching a game of tennis, Smokescreen's head swivelled back to look at Nell. This had the potential to be really, really...interesting. Yeah, let's go with interesting. Smokescreen wasn't exactly sure where he fitted in with the cleaning or if he could help at all, but he was willing to give it a shot.

The young Autobot had regained himself and schooled his features back to normal when Miko threw him a wave. He grinned at her, taking any sting out of his words as he responded. "Noooo, hiding in Bulkhead's more your thing, huh?"

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“No...I never met him anyways.” Nell brought up, which wasn't much of a surprise. She hadn't met any of the kids before Miko today. Still, she at least knew who each of the three kids were and it was interesting actually talking to one of them. Which was honestly...A little up for debate as Miko was clearly a ball of energy.

Seriously, did someone deal her pixie sticks and red bull throughout the day?

Because that was certainly what it looked like, but Nell wasn't going to complain if the kid was wanting to help her get things mopped up. Well, so long as the kid didn't kill herself by tripping over things. A slow sigh left the petite woman as the girl introduced herself. “Nice to meet you, Miko.” Though who knew how nice this little 'meeting' was going to be in a few minutes, that was still up for debate. “Name's Nell, I'm a specialist for the US Army, Fowler brought me here to help out.” Her eyes flicked over to Smokescreen who looked a bit wide eyed about this whole thing.

The mention of Bulkhead made her brow's rise a bit, she remembered something being said that each of the kids had specific Autobots they were closer to. “So...Miko...if you're gonna help out with mopping up that mess – why were you hiding from Jack?” Nell slowly asked as she bent down to pick up the bucket that had just been stuck on Miko's ankle to put it away. She had to grab a different bucket instead, one that had wheels on it and also could squeeze out the excess water from the mop.

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At the mention of hiding in Bulkhead, Miko smirked but tried to look at least a little chastised. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very convincing act. It was hard to act sorry about something you didn't feel sorry about. How was she going to learn anything when everyone kept trying to coddle her?

"Wellll," Miko trailed off trying to think of a good cover as to why she was hiding from Jack. The truth was a fairly good excuse but it made her look bad in reflection. Which, given her track record, she didn't need to impress upon a new person. "He wanted me for something. Not that important!"

She wasn't outright lying. Jack did want her for something. Probably something ill for her health. And to her that wasn't that important! See? That wasn't lying at all. And besides, if he got upset over the native wildlife, than he was going to be having a very hard time in his future years. She was just helping him over come the phobia of spiders that much sooner.

"What pipe leaked? If it was a sewer one, count me out."

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Nell raised a brow at the girl, oh she was a trouble maker – that much was for certain. Her other brow raised when the girl trailed off, and then mentioned that Jack wanted her for something then went on to mention it wasn't that important.

“Mhm...” The mechanic hummed, sending a glance up at Smokescreen that read that she wasn't buying what Miko was saying. “Welp, I'm just glad I got someone to help me with that pipe – and don't worry, if it was the sewer one? I would have been runnin' to the nearest shower.” Cause like hell she was going to be standing here drenched in sewage. Ugh, no she would have been getting herself scrubbed clean.

“Still don't like bein' drenched though, now lets get movin'. 'Cause the sooner that gets done? The sooner I can get on with far more interestin' things. Like asking Smokey here some questions about our metal friends.” She flashed the mech a smile before turning her attention onto Miko. “While we work on getting' things cleaned up though, how did you and the boy's get to bein' around here?” Nell asked, really she still hadn't heard about the why just yet – just that they were here.

Granted if Miko ever did what she had done to Jack? Well, the girl would be a dead one walking because Nell did not do bugs or any other creepy crawly thing there was out there.

Of course she normally didn't 'do kids' either, but hey – Smokescreen looked like a kid friendly sorta guy, he was going to be a good buffer if need be.

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Miko gestured for Nell to lead on. She was totally down to hiding behind chores to keep Jack from retaliating against her. Although, to be honest, he had probably cooled down enough to forget or at least just grumble at her. The great thing about Jack was that his temper was kind of weak like his gym skills.

"Oh, that. Yeah, I think that was Raf's fault." Sure, she was going to go with that. Seemed as good an excuse as any. It was Raf who had sort of gotten involved first and everyone had sort of just followed into it. Ok, Miko might have gleefully jumped into the fray out of sheer boredom, but it had been the best decision of her life to date. Besides getting out of her town and traveling to another place.

"There was a fight. Raf, Jack, and I were sort of just there. It got a little messy." She nodded.

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Smokescreen might be unfamiliar with humans but there were somethings, as Wash had mentioned, that were shared across the two species. Miko's deflection over Jack was Totally Not Suspicious. He raised an optic ridge sceptically, glancing over to Nell to see that the other human shared his disbelief. He wasn't quite sure whether this was a big deal or not but Nell seemed to have moved on, so he figured there was no point in pushing.

The Autobot had decided on taking his cues from the mechanic. She was one of Fowler's people and that meant she had something of an official presence here and a military rank. Miko was...well, Miko. Smokescreen wasn't sure where the kids fell within the structure of the Omega base.

"Only as long as I get to ask questions back," he replied jauntily. "You're just as new to me as I am to you."

He did cast Miko an interested look, eager to hear just how the three kids had ended up with the Autobots. Smokescreen had heard the story around base but he was keen to get the human perspective.

"Pretty sure there was more to it than that," Smokescreen remarked dryly.