"Hey, Colonel." Jack smiled as Ashanti sat at the adjacent table, and Arcee waved and put her arm back around his shoulders. "Any news on Sokolov?"

"Not yet. Your mom's doing a hell of a job shaking Silas up, though. He's been a hard nut to crack, but the things she's been doing are so fucked-up that he's starting to unravel already. Shouldn't be much longer before he either caves in or gets agitated enough to let something slip."

"Glad to hear it," Arcee said. "We still need to deal with Megatron and possibly the DJD before we head off to find Unicron. There's enough on our plate without MECH and their 'newer world order' bullshit."

"My thoughts exactly. In the meantime, we're still searching for Sokolov and staking out all of his known contacts. If we don't get a breakthrough with Silas, sooner or later Sokolov will turn up anyway. I'm just hoping Silas breaks first, because the sooner the better, right?"

Everyone nodded. Ashanti glanced around at the others and picked up one of her chili-and-cheese fries. As usual, several of Jack's friends and their new Cybertronian allies had gathered for lunch. Ashanti was surprised to find Optimus's and Elita's Pretender bodies among them, seated at the far end of Jack's table, talking quietly while sampling a variety of foods and drinks, now that they had bodies capable of ingesting. Raf and Tomoko's brand new human-size doppelganger sat between them and the others, grinning and holding hands as they talked.

He's growing up fast. Ashanti smiled. It's kinda sweet, though.

"So," she said after letting another moment pass, "how're things with all of you?"

"Well, Sierra just brightened my day," Jack said with a huge grin. "Go on, tell her what you just told us."

Sierra laughed and turned to face Ashanti. "I heard about this from a friend who works at the new casino in Jasper. Vince's parents made him get a job over the summer, and he ended up working as a valet."

"Oh, Jack's favorite school bully." Ashanti arched an eyebrow. "So how did that brighten your day? Did he get fired or something?"

"Yeah, but there's more to it." Sierra giggled. "He lasted two days before he had to deal with a rude customer. I mean, a really rude one. Total asshole."

"Even worse than Vince?"

"From what Sierra told us," Jack said, "this guy is probably what Vince will be when he's in his forties. Like, Vince cranked up to eleven."

Sierra nodded. "Just verbally walked all over him. Snapped at him, hurled insults, acted like his shit doesn't stink just because he has a lot of money. Vince can dish it out, but he can't take it. The guy threw his keys at him and walked on into the casino, so Vince parked the car and then … got a rather interesting kind of revenge."

Jack burst out laughing. "I never thought I'd say this, but I kinda have a grudging respect for Vince now."

"Why? What did he do?"

"He jerked off in the guy's car!" Sierra screamed with laughter and slumped over the table until she caught her breath.

"Seriously?" Ashanti's jaw dropped.

"Yep!" Sierra took a few more breaths. "Jizzed all over the steering wheel and the dashboard. Guess he thought the guy wouldn't figure out who did it. Whatever he was thinking -"

"Sounds like he wasn't thinking. The very first suspect would be the valet he pissed off."

"Yeah. I'd never try anything like that." Jack shook his head slowly. "I've done some stupid things, but even if it crossed my mind, my first thought would be that someone will find out what I just did."

Sierra nodded again. "It wasn't very bright, but it was funny as hell. Still, the security cameras caught the car parking and then just sitting there for several minutes before Vince got out. They put two and two together and fired Vince's ass. I imagine he's catching all kinds of hell from his parents, too, but I'm sure there's a part of him that feels like it was worth it."

"Wow." Ashanti grimaced and shook her head. "Okay, in the unlikely event of me ever needing a valet service, I'm gonna be nothing but polite to them."

"Oh, me too! I already knew why you should never piss off a restaurant staff, and now I'm applying the same thing to valets."

Ashanti nodded, picked up another fry, and laughed uneasily. "Kids, these days."

"Hi, guys," June said as she approached Jack's table. He turned around, grinned, and waved.

"Hey, Mom."

One of the Pretenders waved and then offered her a cup of coffee as she took the seat across from him. "Good to see you again, June."

"You, too, Clay." She accepted the cup and put her tray down. "Thanks."

"What's new, Mom?" Jack grinned. "Got any more ideas for torturing Silas?"

"I was thinking we might have one of the fabricators crank out an empty Pretender shell without a head so I can carry it past his cell. Maybe set it up so it spurts fake blood out of the stump to make it look fresh."

Clayton burst into laughter. "And while he's staring in horror, you can turn slowly, make eye contact, and say something like, 'He was … uncooperative.'"

"Oh, I'm totally stealing that! Thanks!"

"Wow, Mom, you're having too much fun with this."

"I have to admit I'm starting to worry about my sanity, but yeah, I'm enjoying it. Maybe it's because Silas came closer to getting you and Arcee killed than I want to think about. It's just really satisfying to fill him with terror, for a change." June shrugged and glanced over at Ashanti. "And I've been thinking … if I'm going to be more involved in the action, I should start training. Combat stuff, I mean. Weapons, hand-to-hand, and whatnot."

"You sure?"

"Well, I've already been in a few situations where I needed to defend myself and couldn't. And during this whole thing, Roz had my back by linking up with my armor and remote-controlling it, but if something interrupted the connection, I'd be left flapping in the wind."

"Okay, but you're really planning to keep getting in on the action?"

June thought it over, as she already had a few dozen times since waking up this morning, and nodded slowly. "I've seen how killers like Airachnid have gone after Jack, and now that MECH is doing the same, I understand it'll keep happening even if he wanted to stay out of the fight. Another possibility I have to consider is that they might come after me to get to him, so the more able to defend myself I am, the better off we'll both be. So, yeah, I need to learn how to fight, especially if I'm going to keep going on missions with the rest of the team. I don't want to be stuck on the sidelines, waiting for someone to be wounded before I go charging in, and I don't want to be a load. I want to be right there with everyone else, so I can help wherever it's needed."

"Just what I need," Jack said with a nervous chuckle, "someone else to worry about during a fight."

"Now you know how I feel, kiddo." June reached over and ruffled his hair.

"Okay, then." Ashanti smiled. "We can head for the shooting range after lunch and I can start getting you used to the weapons we usually take on missions while the fabricator builds the headless body. Then, once you're done with Silas, we can start on a little hand-to-hand training. If you want to keep going after that, then we can get you started learning the thrusters in your armor. You did pretty good in a pinch, but you still need to know the system's capabilities and weaknesses."

"Sounds fun." June raised her coffee as if making a toast and tried not to look as nervous as she suddenly felt. Hoo, boy, I hope I'm not getting in over my head.

"This is nice," Raf said softly, smiling as he finished his lunch and intertwined his fingers between Tomoko's. "I wouldn't mind having more afternoons like this, especially after what we just went through."

"Same here." She smiled back. "I'm so relieved that everyone got through it in one piece. Especially you. When you were missing and we didn't know if you were okay or not … well, I've never been so afraid."

"Really?" He stared at her. "Come on, there had to be things that scared you more."

"Well … just once, when Airachnid tried to kill me and use my body parts a few seconds after I was 'born.' This was just as bad."

"Oh …" What do I even say to that?

"Just try not to do that to me again." She held his hand between both of hers.

"I'll do my best." He patted the back of her hand and took a quick look around, not knowing what else to say and hoping to find a way to avoid an awkward silence. The changes he'd started noticing in his body had been making life awkward enough as it was. At least he had some idea of what to expect from things he'd heard adults say about puberty, and from his own research, but it'd probably be a bumpy ride anyway. Even if he managed to navigate his way through it, a few things were already making it hard for him to focus.

Weird, though, how he'd thought girls were "icky" not that long ago, and now he couldn't help noticing how attractive so many of the women around him were.

Especially Tomoko.

Find something else to think about before you pop a boner and someone notices it.

"What's this one?" Elita-1 said, and Raf glanced over to find her holding up a bottle and staring at the label. "Four Loko?"

"Harvey Terwilliger told me that one of his friends gave him a case of that beverage, and he has been passing them around to others. This morning he convinced Strika to try one. She found it quite unpleasant. Which may be why he is attempting to give them away rather than consume them himself."

"Hmm." Elita shrugged, twisted the cap off, and took a swig. She grimaced and put the bottle down. "Ugh, that's disgusting! Maybe I'll use the bottle for target practice later. I'd consider it a fitting punishment for such a vile substance."

Raf chuckled, remembering the time a couple of his brothers tried the same stuff and found it just as revolting.

"At least it's far less unpleasant than a lot of the things we've experienced in the past few thousand years," Elita said.

"Yes. Particularly the events of yesterday."

"And we're back to that again." She shook her head and studied the tray in front of her, pondering what to sample next.

"I am not attempting to start an argument. I am, however, concerned about your behavior in the battle. You were not so cold and ruthless the last time we saw one another."

"That was a very long time ago, Optimus. A lot has changed over the millennia. A lot of hope has been lost. Nearly all of it." Elita turned slightly and stared off into the distance. "Our homeworld is long dead. There's nothing left to fight for except each other, so it's my duty to protect those who fight alongside me as much as it is to neutralize the enemy. As small and fragile as those humans were, they demonstrated the capacity to severely damage us. If that projectile had struck any closer to Khalilah's spark chamber, it would've killed her. They were a clear and present danger, and I felt they should be dealt with accordingly."

"Being so quick to resort to lethal force is what made the Decepticons what they are."

Elita's head twitched back toward him and her optics drilled into him for a few seconds. When she spoke, her voice was quiet but intense.

"Don't. Don't ever compare me to those monsters when I was only trying to prevent more of us from being killed. There are so few of us left."

He held a hand up. "I apologize. That wasn't my intent."

"It's not that I don't understand where you're coming from." She leaned forward, braced her arms on the table, shook her head slowly, and finally raised her optics to meet his gaze. "But has it ever occurred to you that your refusal to take decisive action prolonged the war and led to more casualties than we would've had otherwise?"

"It has." He winced and turned away. "Many times."

Oh, wow. Raf glanced at Tomoko and wondered if she was as uncomfortable as he suddenly felt. That's probably a conversation they should be having in private.

"I have doubted many of my decisions at one time or another," Optimus continued. "Perhaps I am sometimes too reluctant to do what truly needs to be done, but I have too much fear of what we may become if we go down that path. If, each time we simply kill our enemies, it becomes easier to do so …"

"You do have a point. It has become very easy over the centuries."

"There is more. Wheeljack mentioned your … collection."

Collection? In the corner of Raf's eye, he caught the alarmed look crossing Tomoko's face, and figured they were both thinking the same thing. Last time we heard about a Cybertronian keeping a "collection" was when Airachnid cut off the heads of her victims and put them in display cases.

"What about it?" Elita narrowed her optics.

"I found the news rather … unsettling. Taking trophies is not something the Elita I remember would do."

"Some of them have their uses, like Dreadwing's cannon. Others …" Elita shrugged. "Maybe it's a way of keeping score. Sometimes it's a personal reminder of my victories and the avenging of fallen friends. Sometimes I carry them into battle so the enemy can see them. If I'm not mistaken, humans would call it psychological warfare."

Fair enough, I guess. Raf couldn't help thinking back to Starscream's near-panicked reaction when he saw her carrying that cannon and she implied that she'd killed Dreadwing before taking it. Whoever Dreadwing was …

Elita sighed, reached across the table, and laid a hand over Optimus's. "As I said, you have a point. Seeing how Strika, of all people, changed her mind about the war and proved herself a worthy ally, and then seeing so many former enemies fighting side by side with us here, has made me wonder how many potential allies I've gunned down without mercy. How many of them may have been willing to surrender or join us if I'd only given them the chance?"

"And I wonder how much suffering could have been avoided if I had taken Megatron out long ago. I was so certain for so long that he would finally see reason and stand down. I've been told that I gave him more chances than he deserved, and after seeing how the war turned out …"

"Someone else would've taken his place. Starscream spent so much time trying to usurp him, and Soundwave was always completely loyal to Megatron. One of them would've taken over. And then someone else would've filled the gap if we took them out."

"Perhaps."

"There's never an easy solution for these things." Elita glanced back to the table, picked out a different flavor of Four Loko, and opened it. "On another matter, we should keep an eye on Bilby. When he rescued Arcee during our battle with MECH, he could've just pushed her out of the line of fire, but instead, he put himself between her and the enemy and just stood there. It's possible he's looking for a way to die in combat. I've seen this happen before, and I've seen people take others with them when they finally go off."

"As have I. He could feel guilty for something he did during the war, or simply for surviving. I will speak with him and try to find out what is wrong and what we can do to help."

Elita nodded and took a sip. She grimaced and put the bottle down.

"That one was even worse. I'm done."

Raf chuckled and turned back to his lunch, hoping the grim stuff was over for now. He'd had his share of stress already. He glanced around at the others and found Jack arching his eyebrow at Jensen.

Uh-oh, what did I miss?

"Seriously?"

"I'm just sayin'." Jensen raised his hands. "Sure, Airachnid was a horrible person, but she was kinda hot. And she seemed to wanna get into your pants. Were you ever tempted?"

Ugh! Jack shook his head and scrunched his face up. After letting a few seconds pass, he said, "Just had to wait for my skin to stop crawling. No, I was never tempted. First of all, I'd never betray Arcee, especially with someone as evil as Airachnid. Second, I think Lavernius Tucker said it best: 'Don't ever stick your dick in crazy.'"

Arcee snickered and several others burst out laughing. Khalilah turned slowly toward Jensen and poked his shoulder.

"So … Airachnid was kinda hot?"

"Uh, I didn't - I mean, not as hot as you. Not nearly as hot. Not even close."

Jack exchanged a glance with Arcee. "And on that note, wanna go see how mom does on the firing range?"

"Oh, good," June said, laughing softly, "an audience. Just what I need."

"Call it moral support." He grinned and picked up his tray. "Enjoy your foot sandwich, Jensen."

"Yeah, I have a feeling Khalilah and I are gonna have a long conversation."

"Nah, I was just messing with you." She chuckled and put her arm around his shoulders, and he let out a relieved sigh.

"Well, then." Ashanti stood and picked up her own tray. "Any time you're ready."

"Sure, let's get started." June followed her and flicked a nervous glance at Jack. "This oughta be … interesting."