Inferno's internal alarm sounded, ending his recharge. He raised his helm groggily, and glanced to his left only to see that the space beside him was empty. Again.
What was Firestar even doing this early in the cycle? For the past few orns since she got back he had powered up to find her already gone, and she barely talked to him. Jeez, it was like she was avoiding him or something.
No. That was ridiculous. Inferno couldn't think of a single thing he could have done on his part that would make her upset with him. Still, her absence these past mornings was odd.
He got up, stretched his joints. Red Alert was no doubt already at his post, and it occurred to him that he could use that to his advantage.
-Inferno to Red Alert.- he sent over a private comm.
-Red Alert here. Go ahead, Sir.-
Inferno walked into the small kitchenette to the side of the main room, where he had several energon rations stored. He said,
-About how many directives would you using the security cameras to locate my Sparmate break?-
There was a pause on his assistant's end, and Inferno could just imagine Red Alert adopting that knowing look he got whenever he caught Sideswipe pulling his usual slag over the camera feeds.
-17, Sir. Give me a nano-click.-
Patiently Inferno strolled back into the main room, subspacing the other half of his cube for later after drinking some. His comm buzzed back to life.
-She's in training room 2A, with Bumblebee and Moonracer.-
-Thank you, Red Alert.-
-No problem.-
Red Alert replied, sounding amused. He chuckled,
-I'll alter Prowl's schedule seeing as you're currently busy.-
Inferno grinned to himself as he left, the suite's doors locking behind him. Good old 'Red. Then his smile faded somewhat as he thought about the best route to the training rooms.
It was kind of early for a training session, wasn't it? As far as he knew Firestar's squad wasn't assigned to any upcoming mission; they had just gotten back from one, and were on a well deserved break. Which brought him back to his first thought - why train so early? She had ample time to train if she wanted to and sleep in with him. She wasn't a morning person if she could help it.
When he got to the described room Inferno flared his EM field to announce his presence, while at the same time state his intentions to enter. Moonracer's EM field touched his in response/surprised greeting as he palmed the door open.
The (non alt mode) training rooms were all a standard size. Shooting targets were set up along one wall with drones that could be programmed to move in various ways, and a large mat for combat practice was usually placed against the opposite wall; however, it could be moved (the mats were pretty heavy though).
While Moonracer had Bumblebee pinned down on the mat, Firestar sat on the sidelines with her legs folded in a really weird, almost painful looking position. All three of them froze at his entrance.
"Am I interrupting something?"
His words must have broken whatever glitch had them all frozen, because Moonracer hastily scrambled off of Bumblebee's frame as Firestar shot to her feet.
"Nope." Firestar asserted, skipping up to him. She then smiled, motioning to the two 'bots awkwardly leaving room for Jesus on the mat. "Moonracer was just showing us a couple of moves."
"This early in the cycle?" Inferno laughed, unaware of how the unintentional accusation briefly made her energon run cold. "What, couldn't sleep?"
Firestar laughed with him. "Hardly." She seemed to just remember something, because she added, "You snore. You sure your alt mode's not a freight train?"
That made Inferno laugh again as Moonracer and Bumblebee approached them. Firestar was always teasing him about that, though it never seemed to bother her before.
"You could have said as much, instead of running off every morning sweetspark." The black and red mech purred, rubbing one of her winglets affectionately and clasping his other hand in one of hers. He didn't fail to notice the way she tensed at the light touch before leaning into it.
"Good orn Inferno."
Inferno shifted his attention away from Firestar to look at Moonracer. "Hello Moonracer." He greeted. He turned to Bumblebee. "I didn't have you pegged as a morning mech."
Bumblebee shrugged. "I was already up."
"Well, if you're not too tired," Inferno began, focusing his attention back on Firestar. "I was thinking we could go for a little drive before my shift."
Firestar grinned. "Sounds good to me. We were just finishing up here, weren't we?" She said, pinning Bumblebee with the look.
"Oh - yeah, yeah we were, uh have fun." The yellow mech stuttered. Moonracer felt like face palming, except that Inferno would see it. But Inferno dismissed the mech's awkward affirmation, and lead Firestar out of the room hand in hand.
When they were gone Bumblebee turned to Moonracer disbelievingly. "That's Inferno?"
"Yeah?" Moonracer said, cocking her helm at his incredulous tone. "You knew that. What about it?"
Quickly the scout said, "Nothing," and redirected the conversation. "So...want to go another round?"
"As if." Moonracer said, poking his chest with a finger. "I'm doing this for her sake, not yours. Playtime's over."
"But...same time tomorrow then?" Bumblebee called, trailing after her. Moonracer stopped at the door and gave him smirk as she slapped the 'open' button, in complete contradiction to her earlier aggression.
"Maybe. If I get thirsty." She said, referring to the fact that they were making it a habit to get themselves a highgrade breakfast with Bumblebee's credits before hitting the mat.
"You're bleeding me dry, femme."
"Good. You could use a dry spell."
"Not you too." Bumblebee grumbled, now walking beside her. Firestar getting onto him about his "drinking" problem was enough as it was.
He muttered, "Now what…."
"Now I go about my day and you go to the medbay to visit Chromia." Moonracer cheerily informed him, reminding him of plans he'd never made.
Bumblebee got the hint, but had to ask. "What?"
Moonracer looked at him. "You haven't gone to the medbay to see Chromia once since we got back. Don't you even care that she's injured?"
"Um...no? Oww!" Bumblebee yelped, rubbing his bad arm where she had punched it. "What was that for? Save it for practice!"
"Then go see her." Moonracer repeated.
"It's not like she's dying; no."
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"But Ratchet's in there!"
"So are your creators. Who are you afraid of pissing off more?"
"Ratchet."
"Oh come on. Just go in and give her the regular "hi" and "bye", Ratchet doesn't even have to know!"
"Oh, Ratchet will know. Ratchet always knows." Bumblebee joked, though he was semi-serious. He was avoiding the medbay at the moment, just in case that Wheeljack guy had the parts for his arm ready. He didn't want to remind them with his presence.
But Moonracer was not to be easily deflected with humor and growled, "You're a coward."
"No I'm not." Bumblebee snarled uncharacteristically, stepping in front of her and stopping, blocking her path. Nobody else was in the hallway with them, but he whisper-shouted all the same, "Don't. Don't call me that. I may be lier, but that's because I have to be. We already told you we don't want to be here!"
"Then. Leave." Moonracer hissed.
"We don't know how!" Bumblebee snapped, working himself up at being called a coward. "I swear to God these past few deca-cycles have been the bravest of my life. I have to wake up every orn surrounded by strangers and pretend to be a fucking alien robot because if I don't, my boss, who happens to be the head of special ops in an army I never signed up for will fragment my processor six ways to Sunday thinking I'm a Decepticon plant, which by the way kills people. Or I might given to the science department for study, I'm sure Perceptor would just love that! I don't know what will happen to me or the real Bumblebee if I die in this body, but I'm sure as Pit not taking the risk to find out, not when there's a chance I can go home. That's a part of what you Autobots are fighting for, right? You're home? I'm fighting every orn to not get caught so I can just maybe get back to mine, so don't you ever call me a fragging coward you hypocrite!"
He realized he was all up in her face and stepped back, muttering, "S-sorry." What was the matter with him? He totally just blew it.
For a few seconds Moonracer didn't say anything, surprised at the outburst. The Bumblebee she knew - even this Bumblebee - never got that angry.
She had to admit it, if what they were saying was true - and it had to be, Firestar had allowed her to sync with her processor that one time and see some of her memories - then this situation was bad for everyone involved, not just for the real Firestar and Bumblebee. Wherever they were. Distantly Moonracer wondered if they had simply swapped bodies with the aliens and were on this "Earth" right now.
"Fine." Moonracer heard herself saying in a half-assed apology. Half was all he was getting. "I know you're stressed out right now. I mean, this has got to be the craziest thing anyone's ever heard of. If you don't want to visit Chromia, then don't. Just...be careful not to hurt her feelings too much." She said, crossing her arms.
Her thoughtful expression turned wry.
"'Cause if you do Ironhide will kick your ass when he finds out. Don't think he won't."
"I know. But, hopefully I'll be back in my own body when he does."
Moonracer laughed, the sound easing the tension as they resumed their trek. "You kidding? That's way worse. Aren't your people like super physically weak? You say you're not even made of metal."
"We're not." Bumblebee affirmed. Sort of in line with the topic, he mentioned, "Aren't you people ever distracted when you walk? Having metal peds makes you footsteps super loud." To prove his point he marched like a moron the next few steps, making the gears in his legs and the sound of his metal feet coming in contact with the ground extra pronounced.
Moonracer looked confused. "What are talking about? That's how people always sound when they walk. It's normal."
"It's not normal to hear the inner workings of your legs as you move. It's distracting. On Earth we move silently."
Moonracer opened her mouth to reply, but before she could speak a pink arm wrapped around her neck in forced hug.
"There you are!" It's owner exclaimed. "We've been looking all over for you. Where do you run off to in the mornings?" Lanerunner jabbed a thumb in the rec room's direction (only another hallway away). "Greenlight found her roklu. We're setting up a game in there. You want to play?"
"Sure." Moonracer said, liking the sound of that. Then she got an idea, and motioned to Bumblebee. "That is, if Bumblebee can join us?"
It was rude to just ditch someone; plus Moonracer felt like the yellow idiot needed something to do with himself besides drinking and hiding in his room. He needed to get out more.
Lanerunner smiled shyly at Bumblebee, suddenly recognizing him from before. "Sure. You know how to play, right?"
"Not really…". Bumblebee began, trying to get out if it. But Moonracer was quick to catch on latched onto his good arm. "Don't worry. We can show you."
"Yeah, it's easy once you get the hang of it." Lanerunner beamed, turning towards the rec room and expecting them to follow. Moonracer all but dragged Bumblebee behind her.
-What are you doing?-
Bumblebee privately messaged her.
Without looking at him Moonracer commed back,
-Having fun. What, don't tell me you already have plans, because I know you don't.-
-Yes I do. They're called 'not blowing my cover'.-
-Please.-
Moonracer marched him into the rec room. Once they were inside (and Moonracer was sure he wouldn't run off) she released her friendly looking hold on his arm and grabbed his hand, leading him to the table Lanerunner was obviously heading to.
A blindingly bright green and yellow femme, a femme with a well coordinated purple paint job, a blue and orange mech with a face mask, and a grey Praxian were already seated and watching the three of them approach. Bumblebee thought the Praxian looked familiar. Maybe because he looked like Prowl?
"Hey, it's Bumblebee!" The grey mech greeted right off the bat. Yep, very familiar. What was his name….
"Scoot over Smokescreen," Lanerunner said, dropping onto the round booth's plastic cushion beside him. The awkward shuffle ensured as everybody scooted to the right, to the right.
Moonracer had already sat down on the opposite side next to Greenlight, and at Bumblebee's minute hesitance on where to sit (that nobody else noticed) Moonracer flicked her optics downward, like 'sit down you idiot'. He took a seat beside Lanerunner.
"How's it going 'Bee? Have seen you in a while." Smokescreen said easily as he fiddled with a device that covered most of the table.
Bumblebee answered, "Good. It's, uh, going good. Can't wait to get back in the field." And he raised his damaged arm in its sling to show what he meant.
The yet to be named purple femme said, "nice. What happened?"
"Ravage," Bumblebee sighed, rolling his optics for effect. "If I had a credit for everytime that guy sneaks into base-"
"We could afford a security system that would actually catch him in the act." Smokescreen finished, grinning. He quickly changed moods though, following up with, "But seriously, that looks painful. I bet your superiors weren't too happy about it."
"Nope." Bumblebee supplied. The way Smokescreen had said that...did the mech know he was part of Special Ops? That Jazz had been about to send him on a mission before he got injured?
The purple femme beside Greenlight elbowed her face-masked friend. "Dibs on level five."
Bumblebee had no idea what she was talking about, but then the cylindrical machine on the table whirred to life under Smokscreen's hands, and a blue, multi-level hologram popped up.
Okay, that's just cool, the human marveled as everyone else quickly chimed in what level they wanted. There were eight square grids at varying heights that must have been the different "levels", and only six of them. Bumblebee was broken out if his thoughts to realize everyone was watching him when Moonracer kicked him under the table.
The hell were they looking at him for?
"Err, I don't really know how to play." He reminded them. Lanerunner took on a 'oh yeah' expression while Greenlight said,
"Ohhhh. Why didn't you say so? Give him level two, Smokescreen."
"You don't know how to play?" Smokescreen repeated, incredulous, even as he moved to input something into the device's controls. Everyone knew how to play roklu. Did Bumblebee grow up under a rock?
"I mean, I haven't played in a while - I've forgotten most of the rules." Bumblebee corrected, saving face. He subtly glanced at Moonracer across the table, who nodded in approval.
It turned out to be a lot like chess; a strategy game but with more (holographic) pieces and seemingly random rules. Scott found he actually enjoyed the game, beginning to get the hang of it as mostly Moonracer and Lanerunner explained it to him and helped him take down the others' pieces in the first few rounds. This was pretty fun. Of course, no one could even come close to beating Smokescreen, who was apparently (according to Bumblebee's memories) a budding tactician.
Totally not fair.
Fun as this was, Bumblebee failed to notice he was being watched by more than one set of hostile optics as the game progressed.
Leaning on the wall beside the energon dispensers, Cliffjumper gripped his cube tighter as he watched Bumblebee interact with the green and white femme through narrowed his optics.
On his part, a fresh-from-the-washracks Mirage took a more subtle approach, passing Bumblebee's table several times on his way to refill his cube. He was so parched you see, just back from a mission. It was good to be back among friends after seeing nothing but enemies' faces for so long. One face in particular had stood out. Mirage knew Bumblebee was hiding something.
Because on his first orn down there, he saw Ravage.
I got some funny stuff imagined for this. How to write it though...
Anyway, enjoy! And as always, I love getting reviews.
