It had been slow going to say the least.
The past few hours, they had all be ushered away by Ratchet while he worked on, what Anna could only describe as their 'blue and white, obviously Ironhide related, mystery guest'.
Bryan had shook his head the first time he heard it, but now it kinda made sense. After all, it was only after Ironhide had gotten a good look at their newcomer did he power down his beloved cannons.
And Ironhide never powered down his cannons.
And, as far as Bryan and Kasey were concerned, that had raised some major red flags with them. But for now that did as told by the Autobot medic. The exact words, if Bryan remembered right were; "stay out of my way of else I will find a way to weld you to something", to which Mikeala had been nice enough to point out that "he's not joking".
At the medic's request they had slowly moved the offlined bot towards an old, deteriorating, train repair house; where they currently sat outside the main garage, an oversized set of steel doors hiding Ratchet and Mikeala from prying eyes while they worked to assess and repair the damage of the newest bot.
Ironhide hadn't moved from his spot since they had arrived and had been removed, with moderate force, from Ratchet's makeshift med bay.
"So is it safe to say that Ironhide and Ratchet both know this other Autobot?" Anna asked, finding herself sitting on Sideswipe's leg.
"Me and Sunny know her too. It's Chromia."
"Who?" Bryan asked, looking at the two.
"Ironhide's sparkmate." Sunstreaker answered.
"Sparkmate?" Bryan echoed, looking over at Anna who jumped down from Sideswipe's leg and out of his sight.
"Kind of like the Autobot version of marriage, right?" Kasey asked, looking up at Sunstreaker who thought for a moment before nodding.
"Okay... so Chromia is Ironhide's sparkmate and, currently, is undergoing heavy repairs by Ratchet and Mikeala. So where does this leave Ironhide?" Bryan asked, looking around him.
"Well..." Sideswipe started, pausing for a moment. "Normally, sparkmates share a bond. Similar to the one me and Sunny share. They can feel, communicate, even find each other through that bond. But... by the look of things? It's been so long since they've had contact with each other that their bond has either broken down, or is too weak to carry a signal. Otherwise, all the work that Ratchet is doing on her now, Ironhide would be feeling."
Maria cast a look at the door hiding Ratchet's makeshift medbay. "Aw, man. Poor Ironhide."
"It's not permanent, but, it will defidently take some time to fix." Sunstreaker said, nodding, before his attention turned towards some overgrown grass, his eyes narrowing.
"What?" Bryan asked, hand on his holster while he looked in the same direction.
"There's a kid spying on us from the grass." Sideswipe said, moving to stand. Bryan and Kasey were already running in the direction Sideswipe had pointed in, watching as the grass moved and the kid fled.
They took off after him, chasing the kid the short distance into the edge of the city limits. They had lost a little ground when the kid started running through a small crowd.
xxxxxx
"Let me out here!" Anna said to Sideswipe, jumping out of the Autobot a block away from where Kasey and Bryan were chasing the kid. They had gone the semi-long way around, hoping to head the kid off somewhere in between.
But now Anna had a different plan. "Keep going and pick up Bryan and Kasey, I've got a plan!" She called over her shoulder, running off into a back alley, making sure to pull her jacket close enough around her to hide her holster as she pounded the pavement to get in position.
She found an access alley to the main street where Kasey and Bryan were chasing the kid through a small crowd that walked the sidewalk. She poked her head out long enough to gauge the kid's speed before ducking back behind the wall, pressing her back flat to it.
She steadied herself, timing it just right she reached out and grabbed the back of the kid's black hooded sweatshirt, pulling him into the alleyway with her and pushing him flush to the same wall she was on just in time for Bryan and Kasey to run past them both.
She knew the twins would be smart enough to fill them in when they met up.
"Want to tell me why those two were chasing you?"
"Déjeme ir!"
"Don't start acting like you don't speak English!"
"Vete a la mierda, me dejó va!"
Anna grit her teeth, growling out of frustration. She thought for a moment before glaring at the kid still in her grasp, making sure to keep herself between him and the main street.
"Escucha mí usted poca mierda! Estoy en ningún humor para su boca! Usted no va a contestar a mi pregunta ahora y a no más de labio. Dígame porqué apenas tuve que ahorrar su asno de un par de los perros del gobierno!?" She growled out, startling the kid when he realized she had understood every little thing he had just said to her.
The kid stopped trying to pull away. He looked at her for a moment before blurting out his next words. "No sé cualquier cosa, me dejé voy! Mire, conseguí veinte dólares pagados de algún tipo en un juego para salir al campo y para mirar algún edificio y para decirle qué vi, yo no sabía cualquier cosa sobre esos individuos o las robustezas, juro!"
Anna thought for a moment. If someone in a suit had actually paid this kid to go and spy on them in the field, that meant that someone knew they were in Hartford... that meant someone knew where they were stationed in the field!
She quickly pulled out her wallet, pulling out some money. "Aquí están cincuenta dólares, cabrito. Va el estrecho a casa y no va de nuevo a ese hombre y no le dice lo que usted vio! Él le matará, usted entiende? Ahora, consiga!" She yelled at him, handing him the cash before running out into the street, flagging down Sideswipe as he rolled past her.
xxxxxx
"We need to get moving as fast as we can guys! Someone knows we're here repairing Chromia! It's only a matter of time before they come looking for us! They kid got paid to come and watch us, I told him to head home and not report back, but you know how kids are!"
She growled when she leapt out of Sideswipe, running towards Ironhide. "Tell Ratchet we need to haul some serious ass!"
xxxxxx
Mei sighed, rubbing her eyes as she looked over the last of the paperwork. "This so isn't what I signed up for. Field work is fun, paperwork sucks." She looked around her area. Optimus was a little ways away, looking over an datapad that Jazz had delivered a little while ago.
She studied the Autobot leader for a few moments before putting her pen down and stretched a little, hearing the bones in her back pop a little. "I'm exhausted of this paperwork. Hey, Optimus, what do you say we head out and find something a little more interesting to do?"
The Autobot leader didn't answer at first before he looked over at her. "What is it that you had in mind?"
Mei sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't know. Just anything that is outside of these walls."
"Well... Captain Lennox is due to be released from the hospital soon. Maybe we should be there to greet him."
Mei grinned, nodding. "Sounds like a plan to me."
xxxxxx
"We can't go to the hotel if they know we're here." Bryan stated. He had found himself sitting in Sideswipe while they left the field and split apart while trying to figure out what to do next.
"Right." Kasey replied over Sideswipe's radio. "And we still need a spot where Ratchet and Mikeala can finish repairs."
"That's it!" Anna called over the radio. "The airport had an old hanger on the outskirts of the airfield. I noticed when we landed that it looks like it hasn't been used in a while. We'll have to contact our local military advisor, but we could use that hanger."
"I saw it too." Kasey confirmed. "It would be perfect. It's far enough outside the main operations terminal that we wouldn't be in the way."
"Alright," Bryan said, nodding as he relaxed slightly in Sideswipe's seat. "Lets make it happen."
"Already calling our advisor." Maria stated, obviously still listening in slightly from Ironhide. He had currently taken on the form of a flatbed tow truck, Chromia's vehicle form strapped onto the bed of the truck form. Maria knew it was bothering Ironhide to be in the current situation he was in. His sparkmate in need of repairs before he even got a chance to really see her after so many years apart.
Silently, Maria wondered just how long it had been since Ironhide had seen Chromia. She would imagine that it would have had to have been an extremely long time if, as Sideswipe had pointed on, their bond had been broken or had been weakened to the point to where Ironhide couldn't feel her anyway.
Pulling herself from her thoughts she realized that Ironhide had pulled to a stop at a gas station, just idling in an out-of-the-way parking space. It was also then that she realized she had been gently stroking the steering wheel while lost in her thoughts. She stopped the movement, looking through the back window at grill of Chromia's vehicle form. She had silently wondered to herself just what vehicle the female Autobot had scanned that had a set of emergency lights.
It didn't look like any government or police vehicle she had ever seen before. On the other hand, she supposed, that maybe the Autobot had changed her vehicle mode to blend in slightly better, if not make it that no one would ask questions.
She gave the steering wheel another stroke before pulling out her cell phone. Calling their military advisor.
xxxxxx
Across town, Anna and Sunstreaker had pulled off to the side of the road in order to talk and figure out the current situation.
"You know, I gotta admit, Sunstreaker, you're not as bad as Ratchet makes you out to be." Anna said with a chuckle, sitting back in the seat.
"Ratchet said what?" The Autobot warrior asked, earning himself another chuckles.
"You know Ratchet, always cursing about something. I think I learned more cybertronian swears from him then I ever did Ironhide."
"That'd be the Hatchet for yah." Came the quick response as Anna stepped out, leaning on the door and taking in the cold air.
"Quite the situation we're in, huh?" She asked quietly, knowing he could still hear her.
"Ah, I wouldn't say that. Me and Sides are used to being hunted down like this. We weren't exactly Decepticon favorites in the war. They hated us more then they hated Prime."
"Yah, well this is new to me." Anna replied, pulling a stick of gum from her pocket. "I mean, yah, I've been shot at before. Comes with the job. But now we've got an organization of assassins all looking for a chuck of our head?" She shook her head. "Just seems... I don't know, just slightly scary."
"Ah, you've got nothing to worry about. With me and Sides around? They won't touch you."
Anna chuckled at that, turning around and leaning on Sunstreaker's roof. "Good to know. So, Ironhide says you guys are Autobot Assassins, hmm? Sounds like a-"
Anna was cut off by the sound of an engine revving just down the street. She looked up just in time to see the white Escalade come speeding towards her. Without a second thought she jumped and rolled onto the hood, landing hard on the pavement on the other side of Sunstreaker.
She rolled off her back and onto her stomach, sidearm in her hands as she fired off three shots, shattering the back window.
She reached for her radio while running back to the driver's side door, getting in to Sunstreaker as the Autobot went after their attack.
"Hey guys! I'm in pursuit of a white Escalade. Damn thing just tried to-"
xxxxxx
"-run me down!" Anna's voice came over the radio. Bryan didn't even flinch when Sideswipe spun his tires in the intersection, swinging around and speeding off towards his brother's signal, hearing Sunstreaker in the background of Anna's transmission saying something to the effect of 'pit spawned slagger hit my mirror!'.
At the next intersection Sideswipe drifted the turn, Barricade nearly clipping his read end as the cop car flew past him, sirens in full blast.
"Ironhide, stay where you are!" Ratchet called over the radio. "We can't risk any more damage to Chromia. She is still in need of extensive repairs. Me and Mikeala are staying back to, we're not use to them in a chase."
There was a growled confirmation over the radio. Bryan found himself grinning as they rounded the next turn, seeing Sunstreaker being followed by Barricade. Both were chasing the white SUV.
As they came to the next intersection the light had turned red just as the vehicle entered the crossroads, getting t-boned by a smaller compact car in the process.
"Holy fuck!" Bryan found himself yelling when Sideswipe threw himself into a sideways skid in order to stop being entering the intersection himself. Sunstreaker and Barricade had cleared the wreck, and were now turning around to come back and assist.
"We could use here you now, Ratchet!" Sideswipe called over the comm. system while Bryan quickly sprinted out of the driver's side door, weapon drawn as he approached the SUV.
The driver was out cold, his head having slammed against the steering wheel.
Ratchet had just arrived and was currently instructing Mikeala, via comm., how do assess and treat the injuries of the two in the compact car. Finding that neither were injured beyond bumps and bruises, Bryan made the next call.
"Everyone by scarce before the locals show up. Kasey, help me get this guy into Ratchet."
xxxxxx
Having heard from Maria, they had made their way back towards the airport and to their new base of operations. The hanger was cold, sure, but Ratchet had said he would fix the built in heater before working on Chromia since her, what Bryan kept calling 'vitals', were stable.
Pulling into the hanger, Sideswipe had started playing music over his radio, his brother, thought his ego injured, chuckled when he got the reference.
Lookin' back, on the track, for a little green bag
Got to find just a kind, or losin' my mind
Outside in the night, outside in the day
Lookin' back, on the track, gonna do it my way
Outside, in the night, outside, in the day
Lookin' back, on the track, gonna do it my way
Maria and Bryan both chuckled realizing the implications of the song blaring for Sideswipe's speakers. However, it would appear that Kasey was not amused.
"Sideswipe, shut it off, or I swear on everything holy I will start calling you Mr.-fucking-Pink for the rest of this investigation!" She yelled, jostling their prisoner a little before slamming him into a chair and handcuffing him down. She would wait for Ratchet to fix the heat and set up his privacy curtains before interrogating him.
She growled lowly under her breath. They had been compromised somehow, and she had her suspicions on to who it was who had compromised them, but without any proof it would take some time to prove it.
She grinned with their prisoner groaned in his seat, slowly starting to work the pain meds Ratchet had given him out of his system.
Maybe she'd have her fun yet.
xxxxxx
A/N: Sorry this took so long! I got back from vacation and had tons, and tons, and tons, and tons, or work to catch up with because no one else knows how to do my job right.
XD
Sorry guys. 2-11 is coming up, I promise to at least get something out if not on, the right after Super Bowl Sunday. Promise!
Oh, and if you don't get the reference to, what I thought to be, one of the greatest movies of all time, then I should really, really, really give you a tin foil hat to wear so we know who you are.
Also, I know the Spanish is probably almost completely wrong. I don't speak any Spanish at all, I used an internet translation service to translate it from the English I speak to the Spanish I don't, so if it's wrong, blame them.
Song Used:
Little Green Bag by George Baker