Twenty-One
Serenity
Getting Tyrone to the medical wing was a challenge in of itself. Twice he lashed out at both Riley and Alexis, assuming it was his captors hauling him off somewhere. Irritated at the constant swipes, Riley finally smacked Tyrone hard enough to shut him up but light enough not to cause possibly more permanent damage. Then he ignored Alexis's sharp reprimand at the treatment. Alexis could now only wonder what exactly Skywarp had done, and decided to interrogate him at the first moment when Thundercracker, Starscream or Ari weren't around to protect him from her.
"I assure you, Captain, that he will be fine with a lot of rest and medical treatment," the doctor said as he placed a washcloth on Tyrone's forehead. Alexis remained expressionless, a stark contrast to the myriad of emotions displayed on Riley's face. "The lieutenant here is lucky to be alive, whatever he's been doing has taken quite a toll on him so he will take a while to recover," the doctor continued, his disapproval visible for her to see. He looked up at her expectantly, as though expecting to hear something specific from her.
"I was not aware of this disappearance. When he wakes up, I… I will ensure that he is disciplined accordingly," Alexis finally said, feeling two sets of eyes on her. Whether she actually followed through with it was another question, but only Riley knew of her previous relations with Maxwell.
"Permission to speak freely Captain," Riley said somewhat bluntly, watching her face carefully.
"Permission granted. What is it lieutenant?" Alexis asked as the doctor walked over to the counter to pull out another set of medicine boxes from the cupboards.
"Lieutenant Maxwell has been missing for several days, then he randomly shows up tonight in that hangar. Would it be reasonable to assume that he's been skirting duty? And if so, how much favoritism will you be showing once he's caught?" Riley asked, and Alexis was forcibly reminded of the charade she would have to maintain once Tyrone was conscious again. Ari could not be relied on for support; her barely veiled indifference to Tyrone's fate showed Alexis that the lieutenant had failed to gain Ari's favor. Riley did not know the scope of the whole situation, so she really couldn't say to him, 'I can't punish Tyrone because he was kidnapped by a trio of alien Decepticons who can turn into F-22 jets'. No wonder Riley wanted freedom of speech with that last question; it was borderline insult to a superior officer.
"No, there will be no favoritism. Now, a question for you Mackerson; are you particularly looking forward to seeing Maxwell get into trouble, or are you honestly that concerned about the fair implementation of the American justice system?" Alexis asked, her tone slightly mirroring Riley's.
"Touché, ma'am," Riley replied, raising an eyebrow. He was a quiet for a moment before muttering, "Ari and that guy Scott have bets going on over whom you're going to choose. Just thought you should know."
"How much money do you have staked in it?" Alexis snapped, her sharp voice causing Riley to flinch.
"Believe it or not, I'm sitting this one out. With all due respect, ma'am, you're somewhat too unpredictable in that department for me to risk cash over it," Riley replied as the doctor finally inserted the IV line into the inside of Tyrone's elbow.
"Lieutenant Maxwell will have to be out of commission for a while," the doctor said, not caring about butting into the conversation. "I will write him up as wounded in action for now, just to deflect questions from that viper you have for a colonel."
"Stanton's going to take offense at that," Riley warned. "Not at the fact you're keeping this from her, but the fact that you comparing her to a snake. She likes big jungle cats as opposed to slithery reptiles."
"Which is why that's staying between the three of us," the doctor retorted coolly, a needle still in his hand and in a somewhat threatening position.
"Captain, I feel threatened," Riley said, taking a step back from the sharp needle.
"Cut it out," Alexis snapped slightly to the doctor, who waved the needle in Riley's direction as a warning before turning to face the counter again.
"That will be all, Captain, Lieutenant," the doctor finally said as he turned around again, his eyes still narrowed from their previous confrontation. They all stood there for another moment before the doctor repeated pointedly, "That will be all."
Alexis sighed and checked her watch. It was early enough to be a decent time to go to bed without raising concerns. She glanced at Riley and said, "Lieutenant, if anyone asks for me, please inform them that I will be unavailable for the rest of the night." Without another word, she turned on her heel and left the medical wing before Riley could reply.
Alexis shut the whole issue of the outside world outside of her mind, placing her hand on her forehead when she sensed the oncoming headache. The flight over had done a massive drain on her energy reserves, and it didn't help that she was trying to stay out of leaders' ways as they threatened to collide into each other. It also didn't help that Starscream was being unusually difficult when it came to cooperating with her either. She frowned to herself as she gently tugged the elastic out of her hair, the brown waves falling down to frame her face. She hadn't cut her hair in a while, silently defying military regulations, but was careful to pull it back tight enough to pass off as acceptable. She unclipped the small communicator that kept her in the link with Kina and Stanton and clicked 'Off', knowing full well how upset at least Stanton would be once the colonel figured out that she had cut the communication links.
Alexis gritted her teeth as she felt a slight twinge in her back. There was no way she was going to be flying anytime soon. Forget about getting caught while in this condition by one of the commanding officers, she didn't think she was in peak condition for flight anymore.
Once the doctor was finished with Tyrone, he could maybe help her with a physical, see what her current stamina was, and determine whether it was safe for her to fly again.
She slid her card through the ID machine before slipping into her quarters, the door silently closing behind her. Her two roommates, Ari and Marcia, were not there yet and Ari hadn't unpacked yet; the worn satchel was still visible on the top bunk above Alexis's bed.
With a whoosh Alexis let her body fall onto the bed, gratefully savoring the cushiony surface. She closed her eyes, willing her mind to forget everything she'd dealt with in the last couple of days. As she tried to move however, the stiffness of her clothing rubbing against her limbs grudgingly reminded her about the fact she was still wearing not very good lounging clothes. Somehow, she found the energy to pull her self up from the bed and poke around in her small pack, finding a worn T-shirt and sweatpants. She fumbled slightly while getting the clothes on before finally falling back onto the pillow and mattress and falling asleep.
It felt like she'd been asleep for hours, and when she abruptly woke up in the darkness of the room it felt like it was midnight. She blearily rubbed her eyes, noting that the blanket had magically found its way over her body. She held her breath, listening for either Ari or Marcia breathing. Ari's muffled snores were barely heard above her while
"Do you remember back two years ago, when your jet was destroyed because Rad White tinkered with it, thinking I was you?" Starscream's quiet voice cut into the silence, causing her to flinch in surprise. She sat up abruptly and stared in the corner where she heard his voice, and then slowly folded her elbows on top of her drawn up knees. She saw his eyes, which were twin red pinpricks to her, studying her and she mentally struggled not to look down in humility.
"I remember," she replied quietly, a flash of the remembered heat searing across her memory.
"Do you remember when word had arrived that someone had come to finish the job with Wethersfield and Kowalski?" he asked, looking away now at something in the dark that Alexis and her weak human eyes couldn't see.
"Yes, I remember," she replied, wondering where he was going with this. A quick glance to the LED clock revealed the time to be eleven forty-five.
"Do you remember when the barracks roof collapsed, burying you in the rubble and then awaking a day later in the hospital?" Starscream continued quietly, and she heard him shifting so that he could comfortably face her again. It was eerie, to see only his eyes in the dark while the rest of his outline. Considering that she felt no weight on the bed when she cautiously ventured a sock-covered foot over to where she assumed he was sitting, she guessed that he was not using the matter projector.
"Yes Starscream, I remember," she said patiently, quick to cut off the sarcastic remark that had been forming on her lips when he mentioned the hospital. No need to bring up the fact that he'd tried twice to do just that in the last five hours. Starscream, what are you playing at now?
"Do you remember the brief peace we had in the gardens before Maxwell arrived?" he asked, still watching her.
Starscream, this is getting more and more bizarre. What do you want? "Yes… I remember," she replied quietly, and if she closed her eyes she could still picture the scene in her mind. She'd thought they were repairing their relationship then. Now she wasn't so sure.
This time, when he moved, she could feel his weight through the blankets. "I know what you're thinking… the threats from earlier today," he said, his voice closer to where she was sitting now.
Well, she hadn't been thinking about it, but now that he brought it up she did remember the constant threats, one right after another. "You tricked me into getting into your physical form. Just so that I was in the right place to be targeted when we landed," Alexis murmured, wondering why she hadn't seen it before or no one called him out on it. "Since we had a few more jets than usual, you figured it wouldn't be odd for one to be missing because no one would think to count before departure. You were online enough to have a decent conversation with anyone but offline enough to let me do the actual flying."
"Bravo," Starscream said softly in the dark. "If I'm not careful, you'll soon be able to stay with me step for step. Yes, I did do that. It was nice to not be the one flying for once."
"That doesn't explain why you tried to kill me, a superior officer, but in this case you should obey my command or I will expose you," Alexis coolly reminded him. She tilted her head and stared right back in his eyes. "Oh wait, I forgot. Targeting superior officers is something that you apparently do on a regular basis… hey!"
As soon as the words had been leaving her mouth, Starscream had unexpectedly lashed out and snatched her wrist only to turn it an awkward direction, rendering her speechless. "While I happen to do that with Megatron, you may rest easy knowing that I would not try to unseat you, your position is low enough to protect you from any harm from me," he said in an unusually low and dangerous voice. "Now listen. Anything I did against you was to prevent you from becoming Megatron's next target. He wants anything to use against me."
"Funny form of protection," Alexis hissed out through gritted teeth.
Starscream shook the insult off. "Scalpel is the name of a Decepticon that is slightly smaller than Frenzy was. He takes on the form of a flight instrument or a microscope, all depending on his surroundings. He is here within these walls, but Thundercracker and Skywarp are keeping an optic on him for now."
"So? How does that have anything to do with what happened today?" Alexis countered, finding it hard to believe Starscream.
"I feel threatened. I know that Megatron is using Scalpel to watch me, to watch for any signs of weaknesses. I tried to hurt you slightly today, enough to convince the conniving little spy that I wanted you dead and enough to keep you out of what Stanton has in mind. As we both know, I failed today. So I will be trying again," he replied casually, and he looked forward again toward the opposite bunks.
"Well, now that I know, I know what to watch out for," Alexis whispered back fiercely.
"Yes, but as the humans put it, the third time is the charm," Starscream replied with a slight smugness in his tone.
"What's your bone with Maxwell?" Alexis asked, raising an eyebrow in his direction.
He didn't seem fazed at all by her change in topic by the question. "I decided to release him because he no longer posed a threat," he replied in a quieter tone; they were both quiet as a snuffling sound came from the bunk above before the blankets rustling alerted them to the fact that Ari was turning over in bed. Alexis bit back a small giggle as Ari mumbled something about conquering giant alien robots in her sleep before falling quiet again. Satisfied that Ari wasn't going to make another peep, Starscream continued, "He was the one who forced Thundercracker into a series of awkward positions. He was the one who forced Thundercracker to take his role as the major more seriously than necessary. Maxwell came too close for our comfort. But Skywarp needed to be able to defend himself without worrying about where the human was. Maxwell will be unable to threaten us for now."
Alexis raised an eyebrow before slipping out from underneath the covers. "So you never felt threatened by him because of me did you?" she asked, moving so that she too was on the edge of the bunk and staring in his direction.
"Of course not!" Starscream hissed back indignantly.
"Then why couldn't this conversation have waited until morning? Or are your lieutenants not good enough keeping Scalpel distracted then?" she shot back, her voice increasing a bit.
A low hiss came from Starscream and she interpreted that as she'd just crossed another line. Before he could say anything however, Ari cut in, saying blearily, "Alexis?"
"Yeah?"
"Is Screamer in here?"
Alexis raised an eyebrow at Starscream's hologram, who shrugged nonchalantly, before asking, "No, what makes you say that?"
"I think I had too much Coke at dinner; I had this dream where you and Screamer were chatting and I thought I had woken up only to hear you two talking about Tyrone being a threat and all and I was thinking, 'Crap, I'm still on a caffeine buzz because you're talking about Maxwell like in my dream' but if you say he isn't here, then he isn't here and I was hearing things," Ari said, moving so that she was hanging off of the bunk a bit to look at her friend. How she missed Starscream's faint hologram sitting a bit off to her left was beyond Alexis's comprehension at the moment due to the lateness of the hour. "You look like hell," she finally said.
"Yeah, well, you're going to feel like hell if you don't let me go back to sleep," Alexis replied in a slightly grumpy tone.
"Ooh, I'm scared," Ari retorted and fell quiet for a record sixty seconds. "Did Riley tell you that Skywarp and I were betting between Screamer and Maxwell?" she asked, gingerly moving her hands to brush her hair out of her face. All Alexis had to do was kick the bottom of the upper bunk, where she estimated Ari's stomach to be. Then Ari would be displaced enough to either fall or take a hint.
"Yeah, Riley told me. Dare I ask who you're supporting?" Alexis asked.
"Screamer. Warp thinks it's going to be Maxwell, especially when Riley came back saying that Maxwell resurfaced," Ari said, her voice dipping into sarcasm slightly toward the end of her sentence.
"Ari, about feeling like hell in the morning…" Alexis warned as she leaned on her back and raised her foot so that Ari could see the intended target and the complications it presented for her.
"Wake up Marcia and you're dead meat," Ari warned, but panic laced her words.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven…" Alexis began pointedly.
"Fine, good night to you too," Ari grouched as she pulled herself back up. There were a few more seconds of muttering before Ari fell quiet again.
"That's interesting, I didn't know there was a bet going on," Starscream mused aloud after Alexis straightened again.
"Yeah, well, don't let it get to your head. I hate how I'm the center of it all," Alexis grumbled but froze when she felt him unexpectedly kiss her forehead lightly.
"I shall look forward to competing. Good night, Alexis," he said quietly before disappearing altogether. Alexis knew he was gone when she felt his weight disappear completely from the bed.
She lay down and slipped under the blankets again. Only this time, she couldn't sleep, as her mind was too preoccupied with the constantly changing near future.
"How was the flight over?" Rose asked as she settled down in a chair in the mostly empty hangar. Her copper hair was pulled into a loose ponytail, and she had changed out of her old paramedic uniform into a clean, black NEST field uniform. The only insignia on it was an oval patch of a white caduceus against a red background.
At the mention of the flight, Jade smiled at the memory as Erin covered her mouth to smother a snicker. "It was actually uneventful," Jade said, folding her hands on and resting them on her knee as she leaned against Skyfire. Her hair was loose, and she had changed out of her flight uniform. "The way Colonel Stanton was acting before departure, one would have expected a fight in the air."
"There was actually a fight or two, just with words instead of weapons," Erin reminded her as she flicked a wayward strand of strawberry-blond hair out of her eyes, and Jade nodded in agreement.
"What do you mean by that?" Rose asked curiously, straightening in her seat.
"I mean that it was like listening to a soap opera during three-quarters of the flight," Erin replied as she pulled her leather flight gloves off and placing them on the crate she was sitting on in a very relaxed manner. She was in fatigues, but had kept the gloves on up until now. Skyfire's hologram appeared beside Jade, who turned slightly pink before looking back at Rose. Erin continued, "General Skye asked us that we keep a team link open in case orders came in, so we were treated to a few arguments that erupted over the link.
"The one over gambling terms was an amusing one; Williams was negotiating with Mackerson over some bet that had been made before take-off," Skyfire said in his gentle tones, his blue eyes twinkling.
"This squadron is notorious for gambling, I've seen it the last time I worked with them," Rose replied, leaning forward, by placing her elbows on her knees.
"Anything eventful happen on the drive here?" Jade asked as she raised her chin.
"Ironhide got pulled over by the police because he didn't have license plates," Rose replied, a smile cracking on her face. "We… we got a warning from one of the cops who apparently had an idea about what we're were going to do," she added, her smile fading slightly as the hangar door opened. She turned, and smiled again when she saw Ratchet's hologram walking in, Optimus, Lennox, and Epps behind him.
"Hello ladies, Skyfire. What are we chatting about?" Epps asked flirtatiously as he walked up so he could lean against the bomber.
"Ironhide getting pulled over," Rose replied as Lennox snorted.
"Yeah, I remember that for sure," he said as he pulled up another chair for himself and Optimus, to which Optimus politely declined. "We were talking about our contingency plan, in case Stanton overreaches herself this time," he said, the traces of humor fading from his face.
"You think it might happen?" Rose asked, remembering very well what had happened the last time Stanton had 'overreached'.
Lennox nodded. "We're relying on her word that she has permission from the Secretary of Defense to be doing this. I don't trust her that much," he said, glancing from Optimus to the women then back to Epps.
"Did you have a plan in mind yet?" Erin asked curiously as she straightened up to see Lennox better.
"No, I'm still working on it. All NEST personnel would have to emerge unscathed from any legal damage incurred by Stanton's plans. Something to sleep on," Lennox said grimly, scanning each face present. "If we fail, well, let's hope we don't," he finally added after a few seconds of silence.
Rose felt her body grow cold at the implied warning of failure, and swallowed nervously. She only felt marginally better when she felt Ratchet take her cold hand in his and squeeze it gently in reassurance.
A/N: Question: Does anyone know what Graham's first name is? I checked the Transformers Wiki and the IMDB, but neither website had it. I used to know it, but I forgot. :(