Chapter 7 summary: Stephanie discusses a problem with the Aerialbot commander.
Interlude: Meeting with Silverbolt
Each Wednesday as Stephanie drove back home from the sets, a police car would pull up alongside her and she would have her weekly meeting with Prowl. At first she had been a little nervous; unlike the Stunticons, he could make her feel that way without towering over her, yelling or making threats. But she soon realized that he was genuinely concerned about the safety of her crew as well as of the Autobot part of her cast.
So she gave him a report every week. At first she had related everything she overheard the two factions say to each other, but she soon realized that Prowl was indifferent to insults – apparently those were par for the course when Autobots and Decepticons met in any capacity. As long as no one was being maimed or murdered, he was fine.
Stephanie was less than fine that Wednesday, though, and she was so preoccupied by the latest problem that she didn't even notice the Concorde until it flew low overhead, casting a shadow across her pickup. She braked as the huge white plane landed some distance away and transformed. In her peripheral vision she saw a cloud of dust as Prowl approached, but she couldn't look away from the Concorde.
For the first time she was genuinely scared. This was evidently an Aerialbot and probably their leader – had he heard about what had happened on the set? Would he pull his troops out?
Prowl stopped beside her and transformed. "This is Silverbolt," he said with a nod of his helm towards the Concorde.
"Hello." Stephanie's voice came out small and thin.
Silverbolt went to one knee, which she thought was nice of him; the Decepticons never bothered to do so. And considering how much smaller than them she was, it wasn't easy to impose authority on them. She'd finally taken to carrying a megaphone, which had helped – prior to that, Drag Strip had had an irritating habit of pretending he couldn't hear her. More importantly, though, she'd learned never to show that she was at all intimidated or upset by them.
The Aerialbots were a little better, though not very much so. Still, she couldn't afford to lose any of her cast. She looked up at Silverbolt warily.
"Silverbolt is just here to be appraised about his team's progress," Prowl said.
Maybe he didn't hear about it, Stephanie thought. "Fireflight and Skydive are a pleasure to work with," she said, feeling as though she was a teacher meeting with a parent. "They do their best to act their parts and to follow direction."
Silverbolt smiled faintly. "But Air Raid and Slingshot are another matter?"
The smile reassured her a bit; it didn't seem as though she would be telling the Aerialbot leader too much he didn't know already. "They're a little more… uh, boisterous and they tend to pull the other two off track. I could deal with that, though." She hadn't intended to open up so quickly, but there was something steadying about Prowl even when he wasn't speaking, and she couldn't help liking Silverbolt. "It's Drag Strip and Fireflight."
"What about them?" Prowl said.
Stephanie pulled herself up to the hood of her pickup, which was starting to cool down a little, and sat. "Fifteen takes today." She pushed her hair back from her face. "I told them we are not filming The Burning Bed or Sleeping with the Enemy – we're filming an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Makes no difference at all. They hate each other and the cameras would capture that faithfully even if they weren't screwing up their scenes together."
Silverbolt and Prowl exchanged a look. "Well, the Aerialbots were created to fight Decepticons," Prowl pointed out. "Specifically, the Stunticons. It's not surprising that they would feel some hostility, and would find it difficult to overcome that response even when acting a part."
"Dead End says the same thing, only the other way around." Stephanie sighed. Her cast performed fight scenes beautifully, partly because they did hate each other so much that those interactions came off as very authentic. But by the same token, the romance fell flatter than something Bonecrusher had driven over repeatedly. "Tell me, why did the Aerialbots try out for these roles? Not that I don't appreciate it – because I do – but didn't they know that I already had three Stunticons in the cast?"
"They were well aware of it," Silverbolt said dryly. "But Air Raid got bored with doing Grand Canyon runs at Mach 1 and wanted something a little more challenging."
Stephanie couldn't help smiling; that did sound like Air Raid, though her amusement didn't last long. "I just don't know what to do," she said. "Any suggestions?"
Silverbolt rubbed his chin. "Would casting someone else in Fireflight's part work? He's really proud of getting one of the lead roles, and I'd hate to take that away from him, but the film's more important than the actors."
Stephanie would have hugged him if she had been the hugging type and if she had been able to reach any higher than his shin. "We tried Air Raid as Juliet. I thought he and Drag Strip were going to kill each other." The worst part hadn't even been separating the two; it had been watching, from the corner of her eye, as the cast half-drifted and half-lined up on opposite sides, reflexively preparing to attack. The Aerialbots were just as clannish as the Stunticons, and weren't going to take anything lying down.
At that point Stephanie had really begun to regret her decision to draw on both sides for her cast, but it was too late. She needed the actors; if she lost either faction, the film would fall through. Worse, a couple of her sponsors had been brought on board by the fact that hers would be the first film ever made with both Autobots and Decepticons, so she couldn't change that now. She felt trapped, worried and exhausted, not to mention angry with her cast.
"And Fireflight makes an excellent Juliet," she said, which was true. He had a look of wide-eyed wonder and innocence that was perfect for the role, yet when his back was to the wall she saw the steel beneath the softness. "For that matter, Drag Strip makes a good Romeo. It's just that any time they're in the same scene, I'm braced for a fight. Tony says that we could film them together and call it Romeo and Juliet: Ten Years, Three Kids and a Mortgage Later."
Silverbolt didn't even smile. "And they mess up their scenes together, you said?"
"Yes, in stupid ways." Drag Strip had been the instigator. When he'd been sure the cameras couldn't catch it, he'd whispered some threat to Fireflight. So the Aerialbot had kicked him, and Drag Strip had stumbled back and fallen into part of the scenery. Stephanie was certain he had done that deliberately – Drag Strip was agile and quick on his feet otherwise – but by then she had been too busy dealing with the two of them, keeping Slingshot and Wildrider out of the situation and calming down Long Haul, who took any damage to the sets personally.
"I don't need them to have actual chemistry, only to tolerate each other," she said. "The audience won't expect a love story for the ages, they'll be interested in just seeing Autobots and Decepticons sharing the screen. But those two can't even do that much."
"I have an idea," Silverbolt said slowly.
The story continues in Chapter 9: Romeo Must Die. Thanks to Taipan Kiryu for suggesting the title!
Yuki Hikari : Does Wildrider just drive into buildings for the lolz? Yes, pretty much! After all, that's one of the first things he did upon being created; watch "The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 1". You'll love the Stunticon moments in it.
I'm guessing that Drag Strip will toss Jon right back through the bedroom window so that he can clean up without any of the adults discovering him. Of course, Geri would probably find out and be very pissed off.
Taipan Kiryu : The Stunticons are more jealous than any of the other combiner teams – the Combaticons, for instance, don't seem to have a problem about Swindle hanging out with humans. Then again, I think that's one side-effect of having a stronger gestalt bond. And of course, Drag Strip is just more insecure than the rest of them and doesn't want to share his friends with anyone.
Yes, Astrotrain was probably trying to construct another Astroforce. Someone really ought to write a story where he finally gets to have an army of those trains again, or where we see why that project is so important to him. :)
tomorrow4eva : Glad you like the parallels between them. Drag Strip does realize at the end that he and Jon have something in common, but being Drag Strip, that's a one-step-forward-two-steps-back event. He won't go the Wildrider route and end up with a human friend of any kind.
Fire From Above : This was definitely an idea that quickly turned into a disaster. Thanks for your review!
