Chapter 3: Gainful Employment

Weapons Bay 84. Midday.

Orion Pax and Prowl walked into the bay. A golden shuttle with a large red autobot badge on the side sat waiting for them.

Jazz, Hound, and Ironhide stood, waiting anxiously.

"Wassup?" Jazz asked. "I thought we were gettin a break."

"I thought so too." Orion replied. "I'm sorry about that, guys."

"What're we up to, Pax?" Ironhide asked.

Orion and Prowl exchanged looks.

"You tell them." Prowl said. "I'm still...processing it."

"Alright." Orion agreed. "An autobot has fled this Citadel with a data package. One of vital importance. Zeta Prime says he intends to defect to the decepticon cause. He is heading for Kaon. We are to...neutralize him, before he arrives."

"Spawn of a glitch. Nothing I can't stand more'n traitors." Ironhide growled, pounding his fists together. "What's his name?"

Orion sighed.

"Mirage."

"Bullslag." Hound spat. "There's no way. Mirage is a good guy."

"Eh." Ironhide replied. "Never trusted him. Too quiet. It's always the quiet ones."

"Regardless of our personal feelings...our mission is clear." Orion stated. "We take out mirage. We destroy the data package. Any questions?"

Jazz raised his hand.

"Respect Pax, but...I joined up with the autobots because of all that stuff Zeta Prime said. Doin things the right way and all that. I didn't join up to murder people."

"It's not murder." Prowl stated, entering the conversation. "This is sanctioned."

"Assassination then." Jazz replied. "Same difference. Pax, I know you well enough now to know this don't sit well with you either."

Orion looked down at the floor, and sighed again. He looked back up at his squad.

"We follow our orders. This is what Zeta Prime asks of us. I believe in Zeta Prime. Whatever this information packet contains...it could trigger all out war. We have to take care of it."

Jazz nodded slowly.

"I'll go with you guys. Cuz it's my job, and cuz y'all are my brothers. But I ain't pulling the trigger, and I want that really clear right now, okay?"

"Fair Enough." Orion replied.

"Not a problem." Ironhide drawled. "I can pull enough triggers for all of us."

Hound was quiet, as the small group of autobots grabbed guns.

Prowl walked up to the dark green soldier, and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You good?"

Hound nodded.

"Of course sir. I'll do my job."

As Orion grabbed a rifle and strapped it to his back, he saw Bumblebee grabbing a rifle that was almost as tall as him. The mech struggled, before eventually giving up and putting it back on the rack, and instead grabbing a small pistol.

"Hey kid. You going now?" Orion asked.

"Yeah." Bumblebee replied, looking up at the mech, and appearing momentaritp surprised. "Any dangers I should know about? With the route?"

"Just keep your wits about you. Keep your optics on everything. Don't let anyone get the jump on you, and put the metal to the pedal if you feel like anything is off." Pax replied, putting a hand on the young bot's shoulder. "You'll be okay." He assured.

"Hey pipsqueak!" Ironhide called. "Tell Outback Ironhide says hello! I miss that ol son of a gun."

"Will do!" Bumblebee replied. "Thanks Orion. Seriously." He said, smiling at the larger mech, who smiled back.

He turned and transformed down into his little yellow alt mode, and rolled down the ramp.

Orion watched him go, and his smile faded.

"Load up." He commanded, walking up the ramp, and into the shuttle. "Lets do our jobs and go home."

"Hey, watch the finish, guy!" Sunstreaker exclaimed as he was dragged through the lower levels of the Citadel.

"Shut up, Sunny." Sideswipe muttered as he too was led to an interrogation room.

Ultra Magnus watched as they were brought in. Arcee stood at his side.

"I didn't even need you to call me." Ultra Magnus stated, arms folded. "I could hear them the moment you brought them in the building."

"Yeah, they're a bit...loud. And rowdy." Arcee noted. "They would've made a good tag team."

"They were. Used to fight together in the illegal gladiator rings. But once those got shut down, they turned to other petty crimes. And now we have them on transporting stolen goods for a terrorist organization. I'd say that just about closes the book on Sideswipe and Sunstreaker." Magnus said with satisfaction.

"With respect sir...I don't think these idiots had any idea what they were getting into." Arcee replied. "I think we should talk to them. See what they know."

Ultra Magnus shrugged.

"It's your collar, it's your call Arcee. Just try not to break them. Especially the yellow one, he's particularly mouthy."

The door to the interrogation room opened, and Arcee stepped inside.

"I'd like to file a complaint." Sunstreaker said angrily.

"I'm sure you would." Arcee replied nonchalantly, sitting down across from the two. She looked directly at Sideswipe, who was facing away from his brother.

"You okay, Sideswipe?" She asked.

"Hey. What am I a rotting turbofox?" Sunstreaker asked irritably.

"Anything I can get you, to make your stay more comfortable?" Arcee asked, still talking directly to Sideswipe.

"Yeah a good lawyer, for you, cuz that was totally excessive force just now!" Sunstreaker exclaimed.

"Sunny, shut up." Sideswipe muttered.

Sunstreaker glared at Arcee. He opened his mouth, then closed it and pouted.

"How did you get involved with the decepticons?" Arcee asked Sideswipe.

"Sunstreaker and I needed a job." Sideswipe replied. "So we accepted a job to move guns for Motormaster."

Arcee nodded, writing it down on a datapad.

"And whose idea was it?" She asked.

"Mine." Sideswipe stated, turning to look at Arcee for the first time.

"He's lying ma'am, it was my idea." Sunstreaker interrupted.

"Shut. Up. Sunstreaker." Sideswipe growled. "It was my idea. He's just dumb muscle, let him go."

Arcee nodded, optics looking at Sunstreaker with skepticism. "You sure?"

"Sideswipe, stop it." Sunstreaker snapped. "You're not doing this. You're not taking a bullet for me, so stop."

"Shut up! I'm trying to fix this!" Sideswipe shouted.

"Alright enough." Arcee said firmly. "Getting one of you to admit to being the brainchild behind this moronic idea seems impossible so let's just not bother. Are you two employed?"

"No." Sideswipe replied.

"Depends on what that means." Sunstreaker said.

Arcee sighed, rubbing her head as she tried to adjust to their volume.

"Do you have a job?"

"Yeah." Sideswipe said, sitting back and crossing his arms. "Driving guns across city states for shady characters obviously."

Ultra Magnus stepped into the room and Sunstreaker let out a groan.

"Just shoot us now, please." He whined.

Ultra Magnus sat down.

"I'm not gonna mince words. We have you two on enough to lock you away in Garrus-7 indefinitely." He warned.

"However..." Arcee interrupted. "I have a better idea. You two seem like honest morons, who've made a series of mistakes."

"Harsh but fair." Sideswipe agreed.

"What if we offered you a job? With the autobots?" Arcee asked.

"What?!" Sideswipe, Sunstreaker and Ultra Magnus all exclaimed simultaneously.