Trouble With a Capital 'B'- Chapter 10

It was a little after noon when, after circling the Detroit area for several hours, scanning for any trace of him, Starscream finally gave up his search for Blitzwing. Evidently Megatron's method of energy signature masking was doing it's job, and doing it well.

"Frag this!", he shouted mid-air.

The Constructicons had had no clue where he was, so what was the point of looking for him anymore? He'd either show up unexpectedly, Blitzwing style, or he wouldn't, and if he didn't he had better have been captured by the Autobots. If he hadn't, Starscream shuddered at the thought of the punishment their leader would deal out. Not that he cared what happened to that massive malfunction Megatron called a soldier.

He turned, heading back to base. Megatron would not be pleased with this news.

We'd decided it would be best if Blitzwing stayed in the car while I went inside this time, seeing as how he'd been in this area recently, as the blackened and crumbling storefronts down the street testified.

I pulled out an old jacket I kept in the car for rainy days, "Cover up with this if you see anyone coming." I instructed, giving it to him, "I'll be back as fast as I can." I cracked all the windows , locked the doors, and trotted through the lot to the store.

I grabbed a crate of 3-in-1 and a new pack of shop towels and headed to the check-out as quickly as possible, but I still wasn't as quick as I would have liked. As I was waiting in the check-out line, folks kept pausing by my car, apparently noticing Blitzwing in the back seat, so I was constantly setting off my alarm to keep the looky-loos at bay.

Watching them scramble away as if they hadn't been doing anything was hilarious, but it did nothing to ease my dread that someone would actually figure out exactly who and what was in my car.

I got a funny look from the cashier as I laid out my purchases. "The shop ran out.", I lied. He shrugged and rang me up.

Outside, I dashed for the car, tossed my purchases in the trunk, with the exception of one oil tin, and hopped in.

I was shocked when Blitzwing crawled over the seat hurriedly and clung to me, trembling.

"DON'T JOU EVAH LEAVE ME LIKE ZAT AGAIN!", he sobbed as he shook.

I gently hugged him back and patted his helm in an attempt to comfort him. "It's okay, Blitz; I'm back now.", I whisper to him. Great. I'd traumatized him.

He calmed down and gradually stopped shaking. "Vhy did jou take zo long? Zere vere organics everyvhere! Any vone of zem could have found me und taken me avay!", he questioned as he pushed himself out of my embrace, trying valiantly to preserve what little dignity he had left.

I let go of him and let him climb back into the back seat. "I was in there for less than ten minutes, Blitzwing. I kept a look-out the entire time. Didn't you hear the car alarm going off?"

"Ah heard it."

"And did you see the people turn and leave as soon as it went off?"

"….Jes." He said quietly.

"I'm not going to let anyone take you. Don't be so quick to develop abandonment issues, I was watching over you from the second I left the car." Just then I noticed that he was no longer holding the Allspark shard. "Blitzwing? Where's the Allspark shard?" I asked.

He pointed to the floor. I let out a relieved sigh and started the car. "I know you're hungry, so here," I said as I passed him the tin. He took it eagerly and immediately stuffed it into his mouth. I smiled. "Let's get outta here. Buckle up, kid."

We drove to my apartment without incident, although Blitzwing was having a devil of a time getting the oil out of the newly redesigned oil tin. '-Why can't manufacturers leave a good thing alone?-' I thought to myself, irritated. "Hey, Blitzwing? Are you having a hard time with that?" I asked, concerned.

In response, he threw a nearly full tin into the front seat, "VAT DO JOU ZINK?!" Hothead retorted, crossing his arms. "VAT ZORT OF GLITCH-HEAD DESIGNED ZAT CONTAINAH?" he huffed.

"Hey! Rules of the house, dude; No throwing stuff, no burning or freezing stuff, and when a door is shut, you knock and wait for the okay before you open it. That, and I'm always player one, but that one's irrelevant in your case." I said with a chuckle. I picked up the tin before it could drip into my floormats and capped it.

I got out of the car, and opened his door for him. "Hop out, squirt. I don't have enough hands to carry you and your crate of oil."

He was silent as I went around to the trunk. I picked up the crate and shut the trunk; I'd leave the new pack of shop towels in my trunk; I had two rolls I already in the apartment. I came back to shut the door and he was still sitting there. "What are you doing? Come on, I've got something inside for you." I coaxed.

I nudged him with my elbow to get him moving, but the only response I got was an overly dramatic groan from his little jack-o-lantern face. "Come on, I know you can walk. Move." I nudged him again, with the same result.

"TaaaaanK! Ah'M ToO TireD TO MovE!" Random whined.

Hothead put in an appearance, "AND AHM HUNGRY!"

He made cyber-puppy optics at me and raised his tiny servos towards me, turning back to Random. "CarrY ME?"

"Oh god, not the face. Fine, I'll carry you, just stop with the eyes!" I said, defeated. I mean honestly, who can resist 'the face'?

I put the crate down, picked up the Allspark shard from it's spot on the mat and put it in my back pocket, along with the tin he'd chucked. I then unbuckled Blitzwing and lifted him to my shoulder with one arm, locked the car, and bumped the door shut with my hip.

I squatted down and picked up the crate by one side where there was a handle punched into the cardboard and hustled my way to the upstairs corner apartment I called home.

"Here we are, home sweet home." I announced, setting the crate down to dig in my pocket for my keys and unlock the door.

"Yo, Tank!"

I looked over to see my downstairs neighbor making his way up the steps. 'Aw, crud!' I popped the door open and set Blitzwing down inside before he could be seen.