First story, up! Well…one with an actual plot line. You can expect good things to come, and remember…after this story is over and done with (it's only like…3-5 chapters with about 2-4k words each) I will start posting the real story. It's actually going to be a Trilogy, and each story will be about…maybe 50 chapters? I haven't really planned it all out that much, yet, but I do know where I want it to go and…stuff…
If you're reading this for the first time, I have a Q&A going on. Ask any character anything and it shall be answered (BUWAHAHA). It seems people want to know if I have any other OC 'Bots, which is yes, but they're not on Earth yet *hinthint*. Someone also messaged me about a mech mentioned in snippet 5 that Zackery waved to. I congratulate you for having good eyes, but sadly he is not an OC. If you can guess who the red/yellow mech is, you get a cookie. He was my first ever favorite transformer…
I'm hoping to get at least 1 review per chapter; I don't like having 3 chapters but only 2 reviews so I have to make these chapters better than the snippets. I hope I do alright, but I won't know unless you tell me….
Summary: Optimus is already up to his height in problems, and the last thing he needs is the oldest Witwicky child getting their government assigned Budget Supervisors fired or irritated enough to quit. It's time for Ratchet to step in!
Warnings: Cussing, useless banter, and Ratchet
Disclaimer: Samantha and Zackery and Vox and the plots are mine. MINE.
The Plan
It had started out like any other day; boot up from recharge, spend 20 minutes in the wash-racks and then spend about 10 hours in his office taking on his worst enemy that was getting taller with every passing day.
That oh-so ominous pile of data pads that loomed and took over half of his desk seemed to get bigger, no matter how many he could manage to get rid of. Prowl would be the type of mech to handle all of this within a day or so, but when Optimus noticed the unmistakable red shine of a data pad that was labeled as 'High Importance', he knew Prowl's logic center would not be able to handle the listed task and added a note on his schedule to get the rest of the reports done when he could. He proceeded to read over the red-stained 'abomination' he had deemed as a soon-to-be processor ache.
As Prime read over its contents, his straightened and professional posture began to sag with each passing line.
Damage Report
Submitted and Investigated by: Barricade (Heavily Edited by Ratchet)
At approximately 06:23 hours, one Zackery Witwicky entered the mess hall and intercepted one David Burnings and started an argument that escalated into an event the humans have defined as a 'food fight'.
Punishment of cleaning and sanitizing the mess hall has been assigned and fulfilled.
At 10:09 hours, Autobot Sunstreaker was confronted by David Burnings over a suspected transaction that might have been used to obtain contraband in order to manufacture weapons and Hi-Grade. The argument ended when Zackery Witwicky intervened.
At 10:52 hours, David Burnings and Zackery Witwicky began arguing in the hallway about the previous accusation. Zackery became violent and kicked out a metal panel from the wall closest to her. Vox had to manually remove her from the scene. David returned to his office in section 2F-5.
Repairs were made and Zackery was confined to her hangar on the first level.
At 12:43 hours, David Burnings sought out Neutral Contact Barricade to report the previous events. The training drones did not survive the assault and Barricade was placed in the brig for a wound David received from debris.
Hatchet was contacted to finish this report.
At 14:22 hours David Burnings started an argument with Zackery concerning her Guardian's behavior. He was later returned to Ratchet with a broken nose, dislocated shoulder and a swollen eye while Zackery was placed in the brig with Jolt to keep watch.
An investigation on those accusations will begin immediately after the assigned meeting has taken place.
End Report
The assigned meeting time listed at the bottom was…in 5 minutes. Optimus let out a heavy sigh from his systems as he sagged further down into his chair, ignoring several blinks of some scheduled notes that were timed to go off at that moment.
Today was just not a good day for him.
"You had no right to say such a thing! He's not a 'Con, anymore you pompous, arrogant son of a bi-"
A metal finger collided with the back of the irate female's head, successful in shifting the position of the bright orange bandana that covered her curly, black hair. Her dull blue eyes pierced the offending appendage with a glare and the lime green transformer it was attached to.
"You will watch your language, Zackery." Ratchet grumped, nodding towards Optimus who carried a tall brown-haired man that sported a very large bandage on his cheek and nose. "As wrong as it may have been for Mr. Burnings to seek out both Sunstreaker and Barricade, you had no right to assault him."
Optimus had offered to hold the man; not just because of his injuries, but also because he feared that the Witwicky child would try to get another few hits in.
He wouldn't put it past her…
"It's not fair! Just because the President assigned him doesn't give him any right to get into the Autobot's faces! That's Samantha's job!"
David sneered at her from his perch. "How dare you! It is my job to prevent anyone from wasting money on contraband and useless things when we could be using that money to improve your bases' facilities!"
Which was true. Even though the first and third level had been completed, the second one was always undergoing some sort of upgrade from Wheeljack to improve its defenses and scanning equipment.
It was hard enough and was taking a bit of time since the human government was always hindering their progress with the smallest of details…all because they had paid off a loan about 32 years ahead of time. Questions and accusations went around for a few years on whether or not the money was legal had been under debate for a while until they met a compromise; hence the birth of the God-Forsaken position of Budget Supervisor. Their job was to make sure the money going in and coming out was under the pre-set budget for that month and completely legal. It wasn't a fun job, but they did get full base clearance and could call in on any transaction if it was from a questionable source.
Unfortunately, the Supervisors would get a little high on their horses and begin to let that clearance go to their heads.
Zackery was just about tired of having to deal with it since the Harvesting Project always brought in a large sum of money and it would give them a reason to seek her out, first. They would continuously ask questions that were already answered before-hand or had nothing to do with her area of work.
She wanted them to just leave her alone! She didn't need anyone looking over her work constantly! Zackery had quotas to fill and having a money monkey attached to her shoulder was hindering progress.
"I want him fired!" She yelled, pointing an accusing finger while facing Ratchet. "He does nothing but bother me with these little problems that he could easily take up with Samantha and he clearly uses his base clearance to get away with some of his own transactions of questionable intent! It's my job to bring in the money, not track it. Every time he comes in and distracts me I get behind by 15% of my work and sales. Go ahead and tell me that's not significant!"
Ratchet just gave a look at Optimus, who returned it with a sigh from his systems.
"15% on one measly sale does not take away from a $200,000 charge for contraband!"
"For your information, idiot, my sales are completely separate from Sunstreaker's or anyone else's account! I may pay him, but he earns his god damn money and can do with it as he sees fit! Whether or not he spent it on contraband does not give you the right to confront him on it! You ignored protocol of taking it up with both Optimus and the Human-To-Autobot Liaison FIRST!"
The whole meeting went from good, to bad, to extremely dangerous in less than 10 minutes though despite the truths in Zackery's argument, she was on the losing end.
Downright attacking a government assigned person you were supposed to be working with is something that just isn't ignored or set aside for later. It will be the only thing that will be looked at once the investigation begins, whether or not David's actions were within protocols or not will be the lesser priority.
Something like this was the last thing Optimus needed so early in the afternoon.
If there was one thing Samantha Witwicky knew, it was that there was something seriously and mentally wrong with her older sibling. Whether it was seeing her randomly running down the hallways of the base -sometimes with Barricade chasing after her-, falling asleep over her food in the mess hall, or even running straight into her younger sibling's office only to hide in the supply closet, Samantha could never really…understand her unpredictable sister's actions.
The reasons behind them? No problem. The actions themselves? Not even Prowl could figure them out.
She knew that Zackery had some sort of handicap after Ratchet had mentioned it in hush-hush with Optimus and Prowl, but she didn't know the details and immediately assumed that the odd behavior could be the effect of said handicap.
All in all and insane or not, she really couldn't find herself surprised when Zackery came around a corner sharply, pause mid-step, and then turn right back around to walk the direction she had appeared. Samantha was surprised, however, when David Burnings came barreling down the hallway Zackery just turned away from in all his injured glory.
Ah…that's why she was so quick to turn around.
When David's eyes landed on her, she knew something at their earlier meeting with Optimus had gone terribly wrong. She still hadn't even gotten an e-mail telling her what had happened or what was supposed to happen next.
"Where is she?" He snapped, nearly making Samantha flinch at the sharp tone of voice. "I'll kill her…when I get my hands on her I'm going to strangle her with that annoying bandanna she wears-"
The youngest Witwicky child then listened as the crazed man before began listing off horrible ways to kill her sister.
It was another thing that she just couldn't be surprised about; a lot of people wanted to get their hands on her sister. Apparently listing off ways to kill her made them feel a bit better, but David was just getting a bit too creative….so she decided to cut him off when he got to the part of cutting off a few toes and fingers.
Who knew Zackery could have such an effect on people?
Rhetorical question.
"Mr. Burnings, what happened at the meeting? I never received an update."
This only earned her a few twitches of the irate man's eyelids. "I got fired! That's what happened!" He all but yelled. Samantha figured if Zackery hadn't dislocated his shoulder, he would be waving his arms around as if he were drowning.
"Fired?"
When he began telling her about the whole meeting, her calm composure shot straight up to frigid.
Apparently, David's argument against Zackery had seemed full-proof until she had brought up a few questionable transactions he had made himself along with something about confronting one of the Autobots. The argument just seemed to go around in circles so Optimus had them take a small 10 minute recess and looked into the transactions from both parties that been the whole reason for the meeting.
He obviously didn't like what he saw.
After Ratchet requested David to simply retire from his position, another argument started up over how he was going to sue for damages done to him along with having Zackery thrown in jail for assault.
The part that had really irritated the man, however, was when her sister snapped at him that it wouldn't do any good and she could just pay him damages anyways and save the man some money he would have to pay to hire a lawyer. As for prison? Self defense.
He had removed himself from the office in a furious stomp.
Samantha just didn't know what part to be more mad about; the fact that David had actually confronted an Autobot for financial questioning or the fact that her sister had the nerve to actually attack him…
"I'm sorry this happened, Mr. Burnings." She stated as sincerely as she could.
Zackery was in so much trouble when Samantha got a-hold of her.
"Eh-CHOOO!"
The welding torch in Zackery's handle clattered onto her metal slab of a work bench, getting heated solder and burn marks over a chained necklace she had been working on when an unexpected sneeze shook her whole body. She cursed, angrily tossing the now useless metal into a bin to her left.
"Argh!" She yelled out un-intelligibly while rubbing her ash covered gloves over her head, dirtying her hair and bandanna even further than they had been just 2 hours ago. She had been working on a new type of necklace made of Cybertronian metal to sell out to the public; the final product had almost been finished until her untimely sneeze made her mess it up.
"5 damn hours of hard work wasted because the dust specs are out to get me!" She wailed, slamming her head on her workbench and causing several stray pieces of metal to rattle and fall to the floor.
Zackery seriously debated on whether or not she would try to make another one until her headset suddenly burst to life from sleep-mode and blocked her vision as the light-pink visor automatically slid down to cover her eyes.
Sighing and moving to turn off her soldering iron, the screen lit up and bleeped signaling she had a new e-mail….
From Samantha….
Oh fuck…
"Open." She spoke out, the e-mail icon sliding from the center to the right of the screen- no good being able to only see half of the e-mail if she's blind on the left.
From: Samantha Witwicky (.com)
To: Zackery Witwicky(.com)
Subject: New Schedule
Because you just got Mr. Burnings fired I took it upon myself to do a few things and make a few changes I'm sure you'll find reasonable enough punishment. If not, I will have Prowl or Barricade deal with it.
Bumblebee has changed the calendar on the website; these changes are effective immediately until otherwise stated by me or Prowl.
Instead of hosting the monthly video-game tournament, you will be required to make a few press conference appearances for half a year.
Ship dates will be pushed back an extra 3 days so that they may go through clearance before heading out or coming in.
All orders must now go through me before going through to be submitted until a new Budget Supervisor is hired: this applies to everyone on base and they have already been notified.
You now have access to all 36 websites and 53 e-mails for the Autobots; your responsibility is go through them and separate fan letters from business (such as interview requests) it is your job to reply to any fan letters; all press interview requests go to me. If I find out you passed it off on someone else or haven't been doing it, I will have you on Ratchet's daily medical roster.
Have fun~ Passwords and e-mails are attached!
Zackery gave a muddled squeak of both irritation and amazement. Did Samantha not know how many e-mails the Autobots get every 5 minutes?
Oh, Samantha was about to get a piece of her mind as she pressed a button at the base of her headset and the faint glow of her motion sensitive keyboard appeared.
Ping! Mail Labeled As High Importance Incoming! Accept or Decline?
Samantha's laptop beeped loudly, catching her attention from across the office she had situated herself in. "Accept and open in font 14, please!" She spoke out, the computer beeping in affirmation as she shuffled a stack of papers together before standing and heading over to look at the screen.
She raised her eyebrow.
From: Samantha Witwicky (.com)
To: Zackery Witwicky(.com)
Subject: RE: New Schedule
ASDH!%^&$$^%^&GYU$%JWR!
Worried over the fact she had broken her sister's mind, she quickly whipped out her cell-phone and dialed. When Zackery answered, there was a noise of metal hitting metal followed by a very English-sounding string of curses.
"I see you got my e-mail?" She jumped when a 'clang' echoed over the line.
"Fuck you, fuck YOU, and fuck YOU! Oh, and Samantha? Fuck YOU too. Fuck the soldering iron, fuck the workbench, fu-"
"I'll take that as a yes…"
"Do you not see the 'Bots inboxes? Are you insane? Is this some sort of sick joke?"
"Is that seriously the only part you're complaining about?"
"I swear to whatever God you believe in, if this is a joke I'm going to strangle you with my power-drill cords!"
"You get what you deserve for assaulting Mr. Burnings and getting him fired. Ratchet is having his replacement be here in 2 days, so I suggest you get yourself in gear; those e-mails won't take care of themselves!"
"But he had no right-"
"No 'but's, Zack." Samantha cut her off stiffly. She could practically fell the ice forming over the line.
"If you have any problems with anyone you know you're supposed to come to me. If this new supervisor has any problems from you, however, I won't hesitate to bring it up to Ratchet. He picked her himself, and I won't tolerate you getting her fired or attacking her or anything else you can pull off!"
There was a silence on Zackery's end, save for some music bass lightly bumping in the background. Sam knew she hit a very delicate spot and her older sibling could hold some impressive grudges.
"That's not fair and you know it, Sammy…"
"I'm glad you understand. This conversation is over."
Samantha clicked the phone off when Zackery's hiss of 'UHG' came through the line. She really hated being so cruel to her older sibling sometimes, but it had to be done. Prowl said that doing this would help keep her in line better…
Samantha had a sinking feeling it would actually make it worse if her sister's ice-cold yet hurt sounding response was any sign.
With a heavy and fore-boding sigh, she returned to her desk and mountain of papers.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
Zackery held her phone out in front of her, staring at the screen with a blank stare. "Did you just hang up on me?
Her only response was the phone ending the signal and returning to the home screen. This time, the picture of her and a smiling mech huddled together in a half-hug at the camera gave her no comfort.
Samantha's never hung up on me before…
She just couldn't understand. Why had her sister been so upset? Granted what she did was wrong, but…
Wasn't she supposed to be happy for defending the Autobots and even saving that idiot from Sunstreaker's malevolent wrath?
Wasn't she supposed to be proud of Zackery for getting rid of such a nuisance everyone else had been too polite to even snap back at?
Her chest began to feel tight as a familiar sensation of hurt washed through her. Zackery just couldn't understand…
Why couldn't Samantha understand? Why?
Zackery suddenly felt so small and alone, despite the fact that the base level below her was full of soldiers and Autobots she cared for…
Her heart ached at the thought of everyone being oblivious to her own feelings about this whole situation…no one would -or ever- understand…
It wasn't until after familiar neon-green etched servos gently lifted her off the ground and held her firmly in place against a black chasis did her vision finally go blurry and the clenching feeling made it harder to breathe. Hushed hums of fuzzy clicks, chirps and whirrs meant to be calming seemed to be the only thing she could here over her hiccups and loud sniffles.
Zackery took back the thought of 'no one understands' and changed it to 'only Vox could ever understand'.
After all, right now he seemed to be the only one on her side.
It's all because of the Budget Supervisors.
I hope it's good enough for anyone to like! For anyone wanting to know who Vox is, you should go read 'Unspoken' chapter labeled I Am Vox. I'm tired...
If you like, please review~