Out in the Night

[Override]

"It's alright," Override softly interjected, "I understand; I had to struggle to make ends meet when I was just a little spark back home, too," leveling one of her hands parallel to the ground to indicate just how 'little' she used to be.

"And besides, I don't think CCPD would listen to somebody like me regardless of whatever I had to say," she reaffirmed. Giant robots, despite any diplomatic status, weren't usually welcomed with open arms.

"To them, I'm just a talking car," she said, shrugging comically.

[Deleted]

Shane relaxed a bit at that. At least she seemed to understand, and well she had a point there. No one really would listen to a talking car, they were more liable to run away screaming from that. “Yeah well, honestly struggling is better than the alternative,” he ran his hand along his side, almost as if feeling his scars subconciously. “It was kind of my choice that I’m in the position I’m in anyway. But I just don’t like cops in general.”

He felt a small shudder run up his body at the thought of it. The small flash of a badge, the reminder of that smug grin on Bradley’s face. He wished he could get it all out of his head but in reality he knew he never would.

[Override]

Override pursed her lips at Shane's admission. She believed she had a more complete picture of just what his life was like, but she still had to hear it from him directly. She patted the patch of grass beside her, motioning for the human to sit down with her.

"It's because you're on the run, isn't it? You don't trust the police, and I know you haven't been driving me anywhere in particular all night..."

[Deleted]

Crap, did she really just read him like a book? Shane felt his face go red. He rubbed the back of his head - not always being very open about his feelings. And perhaps feeling awkward he had even said anything. "It's really nothing big," he lied, or attempted to. "I just figured I was better off on my own and did myself a favor..."

[Override]

Override lowered her shoulders at Shane's bare-bones explanation, tilting her head. "If being out here every night alone is somehow the better option, the alternative must be pretty terrible..." she replied. She had no way of knowing exactly what the boy was running away from, so she turned to deductive reasoning to hopefully worm her way closer to the truth.

[Deleted]

Shane looked away slightly. Well he guessed if he was going to say anything, at least it wasn’t to a human that couldn’t do much of anything in regards to sending him back to that life. “I mean the alternative is going back to a guy who beat me with his belt and locked me in closets,” he half-muttered. “You do the math.” He said as he kicked a rock to the side.

[Override]

She had done the math, in fact; turns out she'd gotten the right answer after all. The Velocitronian leaned slightly towards Shane, "Well, as Leader of Velocitron, and ambassador to Earth, I'd like to present you with a better alternative."

Override outstretched her hand to the boy, slowly, "I'm still pretty new to Earth and all, and I could use your help as a guide. Not to mention there's no way I'd be able to live with myself if I left a good kid like you to wander the streets every night, alone."

[Deleted]

Velocitron? Man these robots had the strangest names for their places. Though Shane figured they probably felt the same way about human names... But still. The point stood. "Wait, what kind of alternative?" He finally asked, letting those words sink in.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. That last part caught him off guard, his voice catching in his throat as he tried to gather his thoughts. It was definitely... The first offer of its kind, but he wasn't sure what to make of it. "I uh... I don't know. I don't want to be a bother like that. And it's fine, really, I can find another shelter like I used to have."

[Override]

Override flashed a smirk at Shane's attempt to pass himself off as an annoyance. Obviously he'd never grown up around Velocitronians like she had. She wasn't ready to give up on him just yet, though.

"Shane, dear... my planet is full of bots who can all talk a million miles'a minute like its nothing; patience is one of my strongest virtues."

His mention of finding a new shelter did give Override an idea, however.

"But, if none of that convinces you, I've got the perfect place for you to stay; it's quite a step up from your old shelters, I'd wager."

[Deleted]

Shane actually had to snort at that description. Growing up on her world definitely did at least sound fun. Though his head titled a little at that last part more out of curiosity than anything. “Oh? What do you mean?” He asked, his voice tight.

[Override]

The towering femme pushed herself up off the ground, then proceeded to transform back into her vehicle mode. The passenger door opened itself up to Shane, beckoning him inside, "Hop in, and I'll show you."

[Deleted]

Shane put his hands in his pockets, looking thoughtful. Normally he might be against it but honestly? This robot had been nice to him so far so what did he have to lose? And so, without much reluctance on his part, he hopped in slowly. “Alright, I mean I haven’t got much to lose here obviously.” He explained.

[Override]

The door closed behind Shane as he sat down, and Override promptly sped off back into Crown City. The late night had emptied most of the traffic from the roads, allowing the pair to speed through the streets with ease. In her eyes, there was no safer place for the human than Autobot HQ. It might take some explaining, but Override was more than confident that her allies wouldn't have an issue with it.

The Velocitronian veered off from the main road sharply, although her inertia dampeners were more than enough to keep her soft and squishy passenger from harm. They found themselves going down the floors of what appeared to be an underground parking garage, mostly vacant like the streets. As she ran out of floors to keep going down, Override gunned her engines straight towards the rear wall at full speed. An Autobot symbol appeared on a small screen on the GT40's dashboard a moment before 'impact', which revealed the wall to be a set of two well-concealed doors.

Override continued to drive on past the facade down what looked to be an old industrial service tunnel, dimly lit. A light at the end of the tunnel crawled into view after reaching a certain point, and only grew as the pair continued to speed towards it. She hit the breaks after entering the base's main chamber, a much better lit area intended for beings of Override's size, and possibly larger. Despite this, there were more than a few human comforts spread around in various corners, due to how frequently the Autobots had to accommodate human allies. The room itself was a hub of electrical equipment, holographic readouts, and communications arrays. It was mostly vacant of other Autobots at the moment, with everything that had been happening.

Override opened the door for Shane to step out of, hoping he'd take a look at everything offered.

[Deleted]

Shane's eyes bulged at the first appearance of the light, swallowing a little as he did. But it was really the base that made his jaw drop more than anything. What in the world? Where even were they? He felt his stomach tighten again, never having seen anything like this before, and quite literally floored by it. "Whoa, this place is huge... Where are we?" He asked.

[Override]

Override rolled back a few feet, jumping out of her alt mode and back to normal. She tilted back on her heels, slowly rolling forwards past Shane. "This is one of the Autobot bases on Earth. They're the ones who've been fighting to defend this planet against the Decepticons, for a lot longer than I've been here too."

The femme wheeled around the base, looking over everything at her leisure, "They also bring a few of their human allies down here every now and then, hence all the tiny furniture."