Disclaimer: I don't own the bots, just the pet human.
Author's Note: The slag's going to hit the fan this chapter. RUN, WHEELJACK, RUN!
Ch.8: Tipping Point
Sideswipe turned on one side and Joey slid off his chest to land on her butt on the berth. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker both shot to their feet, snarling loudly.
Jazz backed up carefully with his hands up. "Easy there, the Jazz-man's cool," he said.
"Go get a welding torch," Sunstreaker snapped at his brother.
"Hey, now. There's no need for that. We're cool," Jazz insisted as he edged away eliciting angry revs from both twins. Jazz edged farther from the twins and closer to Joey. She backed up on the berth warily eyeing the three mechs. "You know the Hatchet's gonna offline you two when he finds out, right?" Jazz asked in a casual tone.
"He's not going to find out about it," Sunstreaker insisted.
Jazz smiled faintly. "Hey, I'm no rat." He turned toward Joey and smiled down at her. "I'm Jazz, what's your name, lil' lady?"
"Joey," she answered timidly at the same time Sideswipe said, "Fluffy."
Jazz glanced from Sides to Joey as she frowned up at him and he smiled thinly back. "So, why are you here in our base?" He asked.
She decided that he seemed okay and the twins had stopped snarling, though both were tense. She jerked a thumb at the twins. "I'm the pet," she said caustically, her tone dripping sarcasm.
Jazz pursed his lips and glanced between her and the twins in amusement. "Pet, huh? Well, you guys can't keep humans as pets, I'm afraid. See, Optimus has this sayin'. Says that freedom is the right of all sentient beings."
She smirked, already she liked this mech.
He grinned down at her. "Anyone else know about her?"
Sideswipe snorted and slumped backwards against his twins' berth, apparently deciding the new mech wasn't dangerous. "Wheeljack, Drift, Hot Rod, Bluestreak, Bumblebee," Sides replied with an indifferent shrug.
Jazz sighed and shook his head slowly. "Primus, Hatchet's gonna slag Jacks for this," he muttered.
"What's wrong?" Joey asked worriedly. "Why is Wheeljack in trouble?"
Jazz turned toward her. "They weren't supposed to make contact with humans. Period. None of us are. Prime's orders."
Joey stared up at Sides with slight trepidation. "Is Wheeljack going to be okay? This Hatchet guy won't really hurt him, right?"
Sideswipe glanced at Jazz and then back at her. "I've never dealt with him. The guy's supposed to be like the medic from the pit, though."
Jazz nodded solemnly. "The Hatchet is one scary mech. He can make grown mechs cry like sparklings. He's got crazy-scary aim when fritzed, too."
Jazz nodded and held up his hands. "Look, you guys can trust me. Mech's honor, but if you don't report to the med bay Ratchet will come looking for you and drag you there."
The twins seemed to deliberate and then Sideswipe nodded. He turned toward Joey and held up a finger warningly. "Stay," he said to her with mock-severity. She rolled her eyes and flipped him off to Jazz's delight.
"A femme after my own spark," he called over his shoulder with a laugh as he left.
Joey blushed and stared at the door uncertainly. "Uh, thank you?"
The thing about boredom is that it is enough to convince one that their brain is slowly dying. Joey laid flat on her back on Sideswipe's berth and stared at the dull gray metal ceiling which matched the dull gray metal walls and the dull gray metal floor. It certainly wasn't very stimulating. She rolled over onto her stomach and rested her chin on her folded arms. She wasn't sure how long Sides and Sunny had been gone, but she was starting to get worried. She was getting hungry and starting to feel the familiar "really need to go" feeling. Not a comforting thought when trapped on essentially a metal ledge that was way too high to jump from and not receive serious injury. She crawled on all fours to the edge and decided that no, it hadn't magically gotten any closer to the ground.
She glanced around and spotted a giant chair near one end of the berth. She walked to that end and peered down at the seat of the chair. It was roughly four feet shorter than the berth and about three feet away. Not too far, but way too far if she jumped and missed. Then there was the problem of getting down from there. She debated and paced and finally took a running leap and landed ungracefully in the chair. Since there was no one to mock her, she did a little victory dance. She walked to the chair's edge and peered down. She got down on her stomach so she could peer under the chair at the legs. The chair's legs were braced with a thick bar of metal about four feet thick. It was very far below her, though.
She sat down on the chair's edge and swung her legs. The need-to-go urge became stronger and she flopped on her back with a groan. "Argh…" She closed her eyes miserably.
"Argh!" Sunstreaker snarled as the medic accidentally scratched his paint. He growled at the other bot and Ratchet's optics narrowed.
"Don't you growl at me," the medic said warningly.
"Don't scratch my paint, you hack!" Sunstreaker snapped.
Ratchet's optics paled and he went still. "What did you call me?" He demanded quietly.
"A hack, you geezer-bot," Sunstreaker snarled. Maybe he wasn't thinking. Maybe he'd gotten complacent from dealing with Wheeljack, but he should have known better. Sideswipe groaned.
Ratchet's hand shot out and he seized one of the black horn-like protrusions on the side of the yellow mech's head and yanked Sunny down to his eye level. "Maybe you haven't heard or maybe you're glitched," Ratchet growled, "but you do NOT frag with me." He snatched a tool off his cart and slammed it bluntly upside Sunny's head. The yellow mech yelped angrily as his twin about fell off the medical berth he had been sitting on as he howled with laughter.
Ratchet whirled around to smack Sideswipe with the same tool. "And just what the frag do you think you're doing in my med bay? You don't look like you're about to offline! Get out," the medic roared, waving the tool threateningly as Sideswipe scrambled backwards and out of reach with wide optics.
The twins exchanged shocked looks. Over a private connection, they shared one thought that would become their future goal. Revenge. Without quite realizing it, Ratchet had doomed himself to a lifetime of pranks courtesy of the twins.
Joey dangled by her hands off the edge of the chair. After staring at it for a long time, she'd decided that it wasn't that far. Unfortunately, her fear of heights had kicked in as soon as she'd slung her legs over the edge. Thus, she found herself hanging with tears of fear streaming from her eyes and utterly paralyzed. Oh, this is wonderful, she thought miserably. I can ride around in the hands of giant aliens, but now I get scared.
Fortunately, or rather unfortunately, her fingers were beginning to go numb. As she lost her grip and fell, she screamed. Her fall was cut short and she slammed into the metal brace. She just stayed there on the brace, with her hair hanging in her face. She sobbed. I hate giant robots!
Once she calmed somewhat she peered down at the ground. Only about seven or eight feet to go, she decided. She sat up stiffly and deliberated. She could jump and probably hurt herself, or sit there and pee on herself. She cringed at the idea. I'm going to kill them for this, she thought. I just have to figure out how. Heck, they're metal, maybe I'll take a can opener to their sorry butts.
She took a deep breath, swung her legs over the edge, closed her eyes and pushed off. She landed on her feet, stumbled forward with her arms wind milling and did a face-plant. She stayed sprawled on her stomach, spread-eagled while she tried to decide whether she had broken anything or not. Cautiously, she got to her feet with a moan. She rubbed her knees and looked around. She glared up at the giant door and staggered over to it. She tipped her head back; she wasn't sure how to open it.
The door slid open noiselessly and it startled her so badly she fell on her butt. She gawked at it and then, scrambled to her feet and peeked out into the corridor. Sideswipe had told her to stay, but she was fairly sure he wouldn't want her to pee in his and Sunny's room. She bit her lip and stepped into the corridor. No sooner was she outside than the door slid shut making her jump. She glared at it and then stared at one long corridor that stretched indefinitely off and turned to see more of the same in the other direction.
Goody.
She arbitrarily picked a direction and began walking and looking for a restroom or at the very least, one of the mechs she knew who could take her to a restroom.
Red Alert sat behind his desk filling out a report. On a screen behind him, security cameras fed a continuous series of video from the entire base. Nowhere in the base could be found that he couldn't monitor. Some would call in obsessive, but he thought that if you had to do a job you might as well do it as thoroughly as possible. He had immediately rigged the entire base and set up his security network before he'd even seen his own quarters.
On one screen, a tiny shape moved slowly up a corridor. Red froze and turned his head, somehow instinctively knowing something was amiss. His optics went wide as he saw the small shape and he toppled over off his chair. He was on his feet and out the door with his gun in hand the next instant.
Prime! He shouted across the communication frequency the base was using. We have a situation!
Bluestreak had just settled into his room and he was wondering how the others were doing. He was lonely by himself and wondered if anyone else would be in the rec room.
He opened the door and blinked as he spotted Joey wandering the halls by herself. He darted over and picked her up. "What are you doing out here?"
"I have to go!" She wailed unhappily. "I need a restroom!"
Bluestreak frowned and then his optics widened. He cupped his hands around her and ran down the corridor.
Meanwhile Red Alert, Ironhide and Prime arrived in the deserted corridor. Red was hunting around on his hands and knees and Prime just looked perplexed. "But how could a human have gotten in here?" He asked.
Red growled. "They're tricky little slaggers! It probably crawled in from one of the air vents," he said and he crouched and shined a light in one of the vents.
Ironhide twirled a finger in the air by his head in a human gesture he'd learned. Optimus fought back a smile and shot him a stern look.
Optimus glanced up and down the corridor. "Well, if you find it…"
"It's here!" Red Alert insisted viciously. "I saw it! I did!"
"Of course, you did. Maybe you ought to get Ratchet to look at yer head?" Ironhide suggested.
"I'm telling you I saw it!"
Bluestreak took Joey outside and yet again she was forced to go outside behind a bush. I'd kill for toilet paper, she thought as she walked back to where Blue was waiting. She climbed tiredly into his hand and he immediately cupped his hands together to hide her as he reentered the base.
Mirage was heading out as Blue came in and the other mech looked at him curiously. "What do you have there?" Mirage asked.
Bluestreak's wing panels shot up tensely. "Nothing!" He replied quickly and he edged around the other mech and all but ran down the corridor. Drift and Hot Rod were running up the hall from the other direction and they grabbed the young sniper.
"Where are Sunny and Sides? They're not in their room and I can't find Fluffy," Drift whispered.
Bluestreak shook his head. "I don't know where they are, but I've go her," he said. He opened his hands a little so Drift and Hot Rod could see.
Drift held out his hands. "Give her here."
Hot Rod shook his head and nodded at Mirage who was still standing at the exit and watching them. The three young mechs began edging away down the corridor. Mirage watched them go and hesitated once they were out of sight. Curiosity won out. He smirked and activated his invisibility and slinked after them.
Wheeljack was in heaven. He was standing in the middle of his new lab and simply gazing at the brand new equipment in awe. He didn't get to admire it long though. He heard loud angry voices outside going up the hall and he poked his head out the door.
"I know I saw it!" Red Alert was saying to Ironhide as they walked.
"Now, Red. How could a human get in here?" Ironhide asked sounding exasperated.
Wheeljack froze. "A human?" He repeated in a tiny voice.
Red turned toward him, optics blazing with anger. "Yes! There's a human loose in the base! I saw it!"
Ironhide sighed and tugged on Red's arm. "Come on, let's go see Ratchet."
"I am not malfunctioning!" Red Alert protested as he was dragged off.
Wheeljack felt one optic twitch ever so slightly. He waited until they were out of sight and then he took off running to find the younglings.
Mirage followed the younglings like a shadow. The young sniper, Bluestreak, kept his hands cupped together and all three seemed agitated. They rounded a corner and ran into the engineer, Wheeljack.
"Bluestreak," Wheeljack hissed. "Red was saying there was a human loose in the base." Mirage edged closer to hear better.
"It's okay," whispered Drift. "We've got her." Bluestreak opened his hands a little and Mirage bit back a gasp. A little human female was sitting in the sniper's palm.
She glared up at them. "When can I go home?" She asked.
Wheeljack ignored her. "Do you know what kind of trouble I'd be in if anyone found her?" He asked with a small shake of his head.
Mirage began backing away. Prime? This is Mirage. I think we have a small problem.
Drift and the other two younglings headed for Drift's quarters to put Joey there for the time being and Wheeljack headed for his lab. His new mission was to design some sort of waste disposal unit for the human. The little femme had insisted, she'd also demanded something called toilet paper. The door slid open and he stepped inside and froze.
Optimus Prime, Red Alert, Prowl, Ironhide, and Ratchet were standing in the lab. Ratchet had his arms crossed and his optics narrowed.
"One rule," Ratchet said with a look that promised pain. "I gave you one simple rule."
"Does protocol mean anything to you?" Red Alert snarled.
"Where is the human, Wheeljack?" Optimus asked tiredly.
Wheeljack felt the energon in his system go cold. Slag.
"What the FRAG where you thinking?" Ratchet snarled and he lunged. Ironhide grabbed the medic around the middle and held him back as Wheeljack edged behind Prime. "Oh, for Primus' sake! I'm a medic, I'll fix him when I'm done!" Ratchet yelled as his fingers strained for Wheeljack's neck. "Just let me get my hands on him!"
"What human?" He demanded, desperately playing the ignorance card.
Optimus turned to look at him. "Mirage saw the younglings with it, so you might as well make this easier for everyone and tell us where she is," the Autobot commander said.
At that moment, Ratchet managed to yank free of Ironhide. Wheeljack yelped and turned to run, but Ratchet pounced on him. The other mechs winced as Wheeljack shrieked.
Drift was laying flat on his back on the berth in his room. The Hot Rod and Bluestreak had rounded up the other younglings and they were clustered uncomfortably close in the small room. Joey was sitting on Drift's chest with her fingers pressed to his armor and feeling the vibrations of his voice.
"We need to figure out some kind of system. She's my pet, er, friend," Drift corrected himself as she slapped his chest with her palm. He smiled apologetically. "If we keep her in one particular room, someone will find out about her—"
The twins squirmed. "Someone already does," Sideswipe admitted and he held up his hands as the other younglings looked at him and his twin. "Jazz walked in and saw her, but he seemed cool."
Drift growled.
"We can pull shifts. You know, each of us taking turns keeping her in our room," Bumblebee suggested.
Hot Rod nodded. "We can work out the details later, we just—"
There was a knock on the door, silencing the young bots. They all glanced at the door warily.
"It's Wheeljack," came a voice on the other side of the door. "Come out… and… bring Joey."
The younglings exchanged looks and slowly got to their feet and opened the door. Drift holding Joey in the palm of his hand. Outside their room in the corridor was a battered Wheeljack, and behind him was Optimus Prime, an irate Ratchet, Ironhide, an unhappy Jazz, Prowl, and a victorious looking Red Alert. Drift's face became horrified and he and the other younglings stared at Wheeljack in disbelief.
Optimus held out his hand. "Hand over the human, please."
Wheeljack stared fixedly at the ground and his vocal indicators blinked miserably. "Sorry," he whispered.
Author's Note: What will happen to Joey? What are the cons up to? All will be revealed the next chapter. Tune in and review. Loves to the reviewers! I probably wouldn't have made it this far if not for the positive feedback. You guys ROCK!
