Experiences
Interlude
This is quite honestly the shortest thing I have ever written for this story. Subsequent chapters should be back to their normal lengths after this.
"WILLIAM! SAMUEL! BUMBLEBEE!"
Pausing in the center of the hallway at the amount of homicidal intent being projected in the voice echoing through the hallways, Jazz shrugged before pressing himself against the side of the hallway as a bright yellow Camaro flew past him with a rather irate Hummer not far behind. A corner of his mouth quirked upwards into a smile as he heard the hysterical laughter coming from the car's occupants while the Hummer continued to spew increasingly descriptive threats of reformatting and deactivation. "Those three all have some kinda death wish," he muttered to the empty hallway as he shook his head in amusement.
DoX
They had that look again, Mikaela realized as she sat in the quiet mess hall poking half heartedly at the sludge on her tray that had unrealistic aspirations of being recognized as meatloaf. When they bent closer to each other to begin whispering to each other with mischievous excitement all but gleaming from their eyes, Mikaela gave up all hope of being able to talk them out of whatever they were thinking of doing. She'd tried it once but she'd been rebuffed with the explanation that they did it only when everyone needed a break from the war and since the other twins had done it the last time it was their turn. Unbidden the image of Ratchet after their last attempt sprang to her mind in all of its bright pink, polka dotted glory. Clamping her lips tightly shut to prevent herself from breaking into laughter at the memory of Ratchet's enraged shriek, she quietly set her fork down and with a shrug of her shoulders smoothly interjected herself into the planning process. After all, if they were gonna get Jazz then they were going to need all of the help they could get… up to and including the involvement of the mech in question's bond mate and unfortunately for the boys, Prowl only spoke to them when they were being raked over the coals.
DoX
"What were all of you thinking!"
"Oh—."
"Well you see—."
"There was this—."
"He started it!"
"He started it?" Ratchet repeated emotionlessly, his optics flaring with anger as they darted towards the three other figures staring in absolute horror at the fourth member of their quartet. Where had the well mannered, polite youngling he claimed as his, gone? Optics turning cold, Ratchet reached behind him towards the tray of newly sterilized instruments resting on top of the operating berth he'd set them on after receiving word of his Creation's involvement in a prank involving industrial strength glue, feathers and a rather incensed Red Alert. "And what exactly could he have done that would warrant the treatment he received?"
"You know that little rat that keeps following me around? The one that Mikaela won't let me take to the animal shelter?" Sam asked with his arms crossed over his chest. "He's the one that brought it. He's the one that named it Mojo. And he's the one that managed to convince the rat that it belongs with me so now I can't get rid of it."
DoX
He was going to kill him, Bumblebee decided as he stared slack jawed at the bookmarked webpage that Jazz had suggested he take a look at. In all of its black and white glory on the screen of the terminal in his room sat an altered version of a Stephen King novel that he had the misfortune of knowing all too well. Leaning back in his chair, Bumblebee eyed the screen for a few moments before nodding his head and hastily sending a copy of the bookmark along with an explanation to the med bay terminals.
DoX
This had to be one of the stupidest things they'd ever done, Epps thought as he watched Ironhide, Will and Sam being herded through the base by a rather twitchy medic. Hell, even the human side of the base knew better than to get on the wrong side of the medic's temper. Well most everyone, there were still the newbies that had to see one of Ratchet's fits before they'd understand that maybe getting on the CMO's bad side wasn't such a great idea. But looking at the grins Will and Sam were giving each other as Ironhide began arguing with Ratchet he couldn't help but to wonder if maybe someone had forgotten to give them the memo.
DoX
He'd gotten entirely too good at this, Wheeljack decided when he met the pleading eyes of the youngling his bond mate had adopted. Eyes like that shouldn't be allowed, especially not when they were tempting him to do something stupid. Stupid things generally being in the area of distracting his bond mate so that the youngling could make a run for it. And really he probably shouldn't, especially considering that he'd been caught with Jazz for the sixth time in a single week by the human police for refusing to obey the speed limits posted for both their safety and the safety of others on the road. But the eyes… really what kind of Creator would he be if he just abandoned his youngling to the not so tender mercies of his enraged bond mate? Jazz could handle himself he was sure, but the youngling… Taking a deep inhalation of air through his vents, Wheeljack sent the youngling a pointed look before breaking something on one of his newest inventions. Something that really had no business being broken, and if he didn't get control of his thoughts he was really going to start sounding like Bluestreak—
BOOM!
"Fraggit Wheeljack! Do you have to destroy my med bay! Isn't your lab good enough for you anymore!"
Rubbing the back of his helm sheepishly with singed fingers, Wheeljack grinned nervously at the blue optics glaring at him. "Eh heh, sorry?"
DoX
So this just refused to get out of my mind and so I just had to get it out. I'm posting it as an interlude because it does tie into the timeline of Experiences and also manages to show a bit more of life before everything jumped into the that proverbial hand basket. I hope that you guys like reading this as much as I liked writing it. Since Ratchet and Sam have finally managed to reach a truce, Chapter Nine is making decent progress and I hope to have it posted sometime later this week… if I haven't jinxed myself.
