pullmeoutalive | log > how are these two so darn cute?

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log > how are these two so darn cute?

It had been an admittedly strange situation they had all been in - shopping mall, zombies, black outs - it was like a horror film gone wrong.

No one had any explanation for their sudden appearance in the mall, nor did anyone have an explanation for their sudden disappearance from the mall. Just as no one had an explanation for the blue Chevrolet Volt currently parked outside of B.A.B.E.L. headquarters.

For his own part, Jolt was doing what Autobots did best (aside from kicking Decepticon skidplate), and that was hiding in plain sight. Asphalt and sunshine, he decided, were preferable to zombie-laden carpet and the near-darkness of a mall without power. He just didn't like having to wait while Naomi was inside - no doubt trying to explain where the frag she'd been all this time. Jolt'd had a similar problem relaying his whereabouts to - of all mechs - Ratchet. (No doubt the medic thought he was glitched for insisting he'd been fighting off zombies all this time.) But, after much instance, and pleading for Optimus' permission, Jolt was allowed to stay with Naomi for the time being.

The Autobot sighed inwardly. He was still waiting, and he still hated it.

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Naomi paused, originally terrified that she wouldn't be able to reach Jolt in time, but her friend was proving that he could fend for himself quite well. Not that she hadn't known that, but she tended to worry more during battles. Who knew what could--

She'd missed the movement until Zigzag slammed into her with such force that the esper went crashing not only into the wall, but through it. Stars exploded in her vision just as pain exploded in her ribs, but the motorcycle had made a mistake in showing himself and then gloating about his apparent victory over the human that had caused Breakneck so much trouble.

The next instant, every single concrete tube plowed into him.

From the sounds of things, Naomi was giving just as good as she got- probably better, which meant that little Decepticon was in for a world of hurt.

But he had his own things to be focusing on. Breakneck was back on his (admittedly unsteady) feet, and the one arm moved in painful, short, lurching motions, when it moved at all. Jolt fully indented to use all of that to his advantage.

The blue mech moved in quickly, closing the gap before Breakneck could do so himself. One hand caught the Decepticon by the injured arm, and forced it behind his back with a violent motion that caused wiring to snap and charred metal to groan. Jolt shoved, bringing the Decepticon tumbling forward, barely catching himself on his knees and good hand.

Breakneck howled his indignation - cursing the Autobots, the humans, the planet earth - in every language known to man, and possibly a few not known to man. It degraded quickly into a choked gasp when an electric whip was wound tight around his throat. Jolt braced himself with a foot in the middle of Breakneck's back and pulled as blue light exploded around the Decepticon's head. Cries of pain morphed into static and then into nothing as his vocals were destroyed, and his optics flickered wildly before finally going dark.

Jolt backed away, retracting his whip, and with a groan of metal, Breakneck's body collapsed into the dirt.

She could hear it, faintly, the screaming and shrieking of a voice that decidedly wasn't Jolt's. Unfortunately, given that she was currently buried under a layer of broken boards and rubble, Naomi couldn't see exactly what was going on.

Zigzag had been knocked a good distance away, but had stubbornly persisted in lurching back towards her to crush her for good. In relation, the girl had sent the tubes after him again, this time not only flinging out a wave of energy to slam him down, but twisting the tubes into more confining bands to keep him pinned there. And there he stayed, screeching and cursing and squirming, but ultimately stuck.

It wasn't killing him, but he had been taken care of, Naomi told herself, still flat on her back and struggling to take shallow breaths without her ribs twinging in protest.

"Hey," Jolt barked, landing the confined Decepticon as sharp rap on the head. "Zip it, or I'll fry your vocalizer." He punctuated the threat with a pointed look at Breakneck's unmoving form, and that seemed to be enough to turn Zigzag's screeching into angry muttering.

That done, he moved quickly to where Naomi was buried and picked the rubble off of his friend. She better be okay. She had to be okay- His features softened into relief when he saw her, and quickly into concern. "You okay? Is anything broken?"

Naomi opted to remain silent and catch her breath while she tested out her limbs. Arms... almost okay. Something felt a little... off, but nothing broken. Her legs were fine. It was only when she tried to sit up that she encountered problems.

It wasn't quite a whimper that escaped her, but it was close enough, and she collapsed onto her back again.

"Few ribs," she finally managed, going for a slower attempt at raising herself up a little. "Fractured... maybe... and shoulder's dislocated... I'll need to pop that in." That was bound to be fun.

The esper blinked up at the robot leaning over her, giving him a faint smile. "Good work out there."

Jolt hesitated a moment- should he move her? Probably not but he had to get her out of here before-

No. The sounds of commotion that should be present after all that- not to mention at the giant robot kneeling in the street- are conspicuously absent.

A sigh escaped the Autobot in a whir of fans, and he visibly relaxed. NEST must have come up with some kind of cover and had the area evacuated while Jolt and Naomi had been playing cage match with a pair of 'Cons.

That meant no sirens, no curious organics, and no need to hurry.

Still. "Anything I can do? I don't- um. I've kinda been working with Ratchet, but I know exactly nothing about being a human medic."

It was sweet, she thought, caught halfway between a grin and a grimace, that he was so concerned and hovering over her like a worried mother.

The mental image that presented made her realize that the pain was starting to make her just a little odd. She couldn't do much about her ribs, not here, but she could at least correct the shoulder problem. It would have been easier with someone else to do it for her, but Jolt, as gentle as she was sure he'd be, was still much too powerful for work that delicate.

But...

"I'm... going to set my shoulder back in place." Naomi sounded breathless, but she didn't want to risk taking deep breaths when she didn't know how bad of a shape her ribs were in. "It... might help... if I lean against you for it."

It's going to hurt like hell, went unsaid.

"Right. Sure." He was nodding, perhaps a little too much. She was fine. Okay, mostly fine. Considering she'd been tackled through a wall by an alien robot, she was actually in pretty good shape, but he was worried for her regardless. (Besides, her supervisor was gonna throw a fit.)

Jolt offerred her a hand, taking care to keep still so she could do what she needed to do.

Naomi leaned against the proffered hand, bracing herself for what came next. She'd only dislocated her shoulder once before, when she was thirteen, and it had taken three supervisors to keep her still so that they could set it back.

She moved deliberately now, first rotating her arm inward, and then slowly outward. She gradually grew more paler with each movement, and had to repeat the process twice-- the second time actually drawing out a sharp cry of pain until she bit down on her lip-- but there was an audible pop as the shoulder finally slid back into the joint.

With a long exhale, the girl sagged against Jolt's hand, taking a moment to just enjoy the relief.

"I'm okay," she whispered, one hand resting on her shoulder. "It's okay now."

He curled his fingers around her on instinct, clearly concerned despite her reassurance. That whole process looked to be nothing but painful, and while watching it had to be substantially less torturous than actually doing it, he hadn't liked it much.

"Good," he said finally. "Backup will be here soon, and we'll get one of the medics to look at you and-"

And as though right on cue, the sound of helicopters could be heard in the distance.

"He's going to be yelling for days," Naomi mumbled, tilting her head up to see if she could catch a glimpse of the approaching helicopters. When the search revealed nothing, she sighed and allowed herself to curl closer against the protective circle of Jolt's hand. As big as he was, she really did feel safer like this.

"Thanks," she said softly, grazing one of his fingers with her own. "You were a big help."

"Just tell him you're doing your part to save the universe. And that I know a GMC Topkick with big guns and a bad attitude, so he better not ruin a good thing." It was evident by his tone that he was joking- at least about that last part.

"Hey," he replied, giving Naomi's hand a little nudge. "Thank you. You did good. I wish you could've seen the look on Zippy's faceplates when you came barreling out of the sky."

Ordinarily, she would have laughed, but her ribs were against the kind of movement that would have required, so the best Naomi could muster was a little sound of amusement. Just the thought of her overly-affectionate and easily-hysterical supervisor being made to deal with a gun-wielding truck brought a smile to her face, lightening her strained features.

"He's probably still... trying to convince himself that I'm... not human, so it's less embarrassing for him."

Overhearing her, the captured Decepticon launched into what sounded like a furious litany in his own language, insulting everything about the esper that he could think of. And yeah, some insults about Jolt, his preference for weak human females, and his paint job while he was at it.

"... We'll be good friends," Naomi concluded serenely, taking a shuddering breath and closing her eyes. She just had to wait a little while longer.

Jolt's head whipped around, and he shot the Decepticon a glare that would have sent him to join Breakneck in the afterlife in an instant, had Jolt that kind of ability. Electricity crackled threateningly in his free hand, and Zippy seemed to get the idea enough to tone it down.

"Friends? With a 'Con?" He chuckled. "Only you Naomi, only you."

Not much longer, because the figure of the mech and the girl were suddenly illuminated by a pair of headlights, and a black GMC Topkick with a bed full of soldiers came rolling down the street.

More time had passed since her first encounter with Decepticons and, subsequently, the humans and Autobots of NEST. Since then, NEST and B.A.B.E.L. had worked together when certain situations arose, and the espers continued to do their missions as usual.

And then the mission that had nearly cost Naomi her life. She'd survived, of course, but at the cost of losing the man she'd tried so hard to save. Every night after she'd regained consciousness, save for the first one spent with Jolt, she'd had vivid nightmares and woken up in a panic, forced to relive every minute of the mission.

Physically, she was doing better-- she was still a little weak on her feet, but she'd been freed from the bandages and her injuries were mostly healed. But coming to grips with the Normal's death hadn't been easy. She wasn't even sure if she had done that yet. All Naomi knew was that she didn't want to cry anymore. So she'd taken to flying, after every mission, after every college class. She still faithfully kept Jolt clean, and did her best to keep up a cheerful front in his presence, but today was another day that she'd gone away from B.A.B.E.L.

Reminiscent of the first day girl and car had been together here, Naomi found herself once again at the riverbank. Save for the cars driving on the bridge overhead, it was peaceful. Quiet. No fretting from her supervisor, no questions about her health or well-being, it was just a place for her to think.

And if her thoughts would just stop straying to the same thing, it would have been a lot nicer.

Jolt was no expert when it came to human emotion, but he knew Naomi, and he knew that her front was just that- a front. Minamoto had been right- she didn't want to risk upsetting anyone, and the more she tried to keep up appearances, the more it pained him. She was distant with everyone, not just him, and while he supposed he couldn't blame her, it hurt. He'd watched Sideswipe cleave unwitting Decepticons clean in two before, and he found himself wondering dimly if this was what it felt like.

Usually when she was like this, he didn't want to announce his presence (he'd followed her more often than not), but today he'd had enough. Naomi needed to get away, if only for a little bit, and he was going to see to it that she got a proper vacation.

The blue Volt nudged up behind her, engine purring softly. "Hey."

The girl jumped, body instinctively tensing in preparation-- and then slowly relaxing when she saw who it was who'd followed her. For a moment, she just gazed at him, letting the familiar sight of the Volt bring her back to the present.

"Hey," she echoed just as softly. "Is something wrong?"

He ignored the question easily enough- what was wrong was obvious, but it wasn't an answer Naomi needed to hear, and asking it of Naomi in return would only earn him that fake smile. "I've been thinking," he said instead. "It's been way too long since we went for a drive."

"Eh?" The surprise was all too visible on her face, and it only grew when Naomi realized that Jolt was right. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been out on the road with him-- either due to the demands of the missions, or her own--

But she couldn't do that to him. The longer she stayed with him, the closer her control came to slipping, and she didn't want Jolt to be the one to have to deal with her. Not when she was like that. Even she would have been annoyed with herself by now.

She turned her gaze back to the river, finding it easier to look at than the car waiting patiently for her response. "Maybe later," she murmured.

Cybertronians were a long-lived race- the oldest among them surviving for millennia. Even one as impulsive as Jolt could possess surprising amounts of patience, and for Naomi, he found he was more than willing to stand by her for as long as it took her to get through this.

Now if only he could convince her of this fact.

"Naomi," he replied. His voice was still soft, but firm. "Not later. Let's go." He wasn't going to budge on this, and while it was probably a breach of so many rules of this alliance he'd formed with B.A.B.E.L., he intended to drive right out of town and keep driving until they were as far away as possible. (Shiho, in an act that surprised no one, had picked up on this little plan he'd been forming. The Children were more than willing to pack a bag for Naomi, along with some supplies, all of which were now nestled in Jolt's trunk.)

Briefly anger-- completely unprovoked-- flared inside of her, and it was only by sheer force of will that Naomi forced it down. So he was being insistent on this. So he didn't seem to understand that she didn't want to burden him. She hadn't wanted to burden anyone, which was why--

She stood, looking more like a lost child than a powerful esper. All this time, she'd been struggling to suppress fear. Fear of-- what? Rejection? She'd stood up for herself before, and that hadn't earned her any enmity. But this time was different. No one's life had ever been lost in her hands. She hadn't been responsible for a person's death. She had...

Naomi looked at Jolt now, trembling slightly. She needed to go. She needed to stay. And, for the life of her, she couldn't figure out which one she needed the most, even if the Autobot had already done so.

For his own part, Jolt remained quiet, trying his damnedest to ignore the pain in his spark as he watched her struggle.

His passenger-side door swung open, and he waited.

To get into the car meant to walk away from B.A.B.E.L., she knew. For minutes, or hours, who knew. It meant leaving the place she'd owed a duty to ever since they'd welcomed her as one of their own. It meant being selfish, even if just for a little while, and running away-- this time more than just a brief flight away until she had to return. More than just mental distancing.

But it also meant placing her trust in Jolt, and never once had Naomi hesitated to do so. That wasn't about to change now.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly stepped forward, one foot in front of the other, until she'd not only reached the car but climbed inside.

The door swung closed behind her, as gently as it had opened, and the car pulled onto the road.

They would be back, eventually. Naomi belonged at B.A.B.E.L. and he wasn't so foolish as to take her away from that forever. No, this was a retreat. A vacation. A necessity. But they would be back. He'd promised The Children as much, just as they'd promised to cover for him as best they could.

Jolt's hologram flickered to life when they merged onto a more traffic-heavy section of road, and he cast a sideways glance at her. "Hey you," he said, a small smile playing on his lips. "I'm glad you're here."

She'd stayed quiet until the hologram appeared, gazing out the window at nothing in particular. Jolt didn't appear to have a destination in mind, other than "Somewhere Not Here", which she was finding to be more appealing by the second. Still, she couldn't help but wonder why he'd been so unyielding on it.

Naomi blinked when he addressed her, meeting the hologram's eyes. It took a moment, but then a smile of her own appeared-- small and tentative, but genuine.

"Somehow," she replied quietly, "I can't really say no to you, Jolt-san."

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log > how are these two so darn cute?

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