Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, but I did come up with Nexa, Aurora, and their Mini-cons. Well, Vanishing Point from the Energon Pub/Demiurgic City over at Seibertron helped with the design concepts, but other than that they're mine. Yeah.
Author's Note: Man, you people here at FF.N are SOOOO lucky! This chapter actually took me 6 whole months to write! O.O Yi. I'm so slow...
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"I'm so glad you're OK, Hot Shot!" Aurora said, releasing Hot Shot from her hug. "I was worried that after you'd left, you went and got yourself killed by the first Decepticon you saw!"
"I'll bet you he tried, though," Nexa said.
"Nexa!" Aurora shouted.
"Oh, come one! You know I'm right!"
"Even if you are, that's a very mean thing to say, Nexa!"
"Hey, I'm just telling it like it is. Besides, you're the one who brought it up."
"Ohh, you've got me there, I did bring it up. Anyway, who are your little friends, Hot Shot? Aren't you going to introduce us?"
"Hmm? Oh, right. Aurora this is Blurr and this is Sideswipe. Guys, meet Aurora. She's a member of my old platoon. And not anything else you may be thinking," Hot Shot said, adding the last part very sternly.
"A-HEM!"
"And that's Nexa. Don't pay any attention to her; she's just a jerk. It's her purpose in life."
"At least I've never been promoted for being an idiot!" Nexa shot back.
"Nexa! You know that's a sensitive subject!" Aurora shouted.
"So? He's going to have to get over it eventually."
"Well, you're not really helping any!"
"What makes you think that I intend to?" Nexa asked. Aurora shook her head in a why-me fashion.
"I know I've probably asked this a hundred times by now, but why can't you two just get along?"
"Well, maybe if she stopped making cruel, heartless comments all the time," Hot Shot said.
"Well, maybe if he stopped doing stupid things that merit cruel, heartless comments all the time," Nexa retorted. Sideswipe turned to Blurr.
"Y'know what? I don't think they're very good friends."
"No, really?" Blurr asked sarcastically.
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"Have you found them yet, Jetfire?" Optimus asked. Jetfire sighed as he continued cruising through the air.
"No, sir, not yet."
"Well, keep looking."
"Hey, I'll find 'em. Quit stressin' 'bout it."
"Jetfire?" Optimus asked.
"Yes, sir?"
"Do you realize what you just said?"
"Umm, yeah. I told you to calm down."
"How do you expect me to calm down? We've lost all contact with base and Hot Shot, Blurr, and Sideswipe have gone missing. It's not like those three to alleviate from a plan."
"You mean it's not like Blurr to let Hot Shot and Sideswipe talk him into alleviating from a plan. Trust me, Optimus, they've got a good reason for disappearing."
"Like getting killed?"
"Come on, Prime, don't talk like that. They can take care of themselves."
"What about Megatron?" Optimus asked. The sudden strange question knocked the second-in-command off his guard.
"What about him?"
"Well, think about it, Jetfire. Where was Megatron during this fight? The only Decepticons we saw were Starscream and Thrust. Megatron had to have been somewhere. What if they ran into him?"
"The thy'd have beaten the stuffing out of him. You've got to have a little faith, Optimus. The Decepticons that can beat Hot Shot and Blurr when they're working together are few and far between and Sideswipe's smart enough to know to stay out of a fight with Megatron. And it's very improbably that they ran into Megatron in the first place. Now, repeat after me. There's nothing to worry about."
"There's nothing to worry about."
"Everything will work out OK."
"Everything will work out OK."
"Hot Shot, Blurr, and Sideswipe are fine."
"Hot Shot, Blurr, and Sideswipe are fine."
"The communication situation with the base will be resolved."
"The communication situation with the base will be resolved."
"I will calm down."
"I will calm down."
"And quit worrying about what I have no control over."
"And quit worrying about what I have no control over."
"Now, did a word of that sink in at all?" Jetfire asked.
"Yes. Thank you, Jetfire."
"Hey, no problem, sire. I'm your second-in-command. Keeping you sane is my job."
"You're very good at it."
"Thanks, sire. Sooo, can I have a raise?"
"Jetfire!"
"What?"
"This is no time to be thinking about your paycheck! You get paid plenty, anyway!"
"Yeah, but I could always be paid more!"
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Blurr looked idly into the sky, seeking something to focus his concentration on other than the nigh-on constant bickering of Hot Shot and Nexa and the fruitless peace-making attempts of Aurora. He found something that caught his interest. The sharpshooter focused his optics on the object, attempting to identify it. "Hmm?" he said softly to himself, "What's that?" He didn't say it soft enough, however, that Sideswipe didn't hear him. The younger transformer took the welcome distraction.
"Huh? What's what?" Sideswipe asked, looking in the direction in which Blurr's gaze was focused. "That little back dot? Maybe it's a bird. It could be a plane though." Sideswipe's loud statement caught the attention of the two femmes and Hot Shot.
"No, it's definitely not a plane," Aurora said. "Its flight pattern is far too erratic to be a plane's."
"So what is it?" Nexa asked.
"I'm not sure. I'll go find out. Transform!" The jet set off to identify the unidentified flying object. After she departed, Hot Shot made his way over to Blurr and Sideswipe.
"So, what's new with you guys?" he asked in an attempt to start a conversation. Blurr, however, wasted no time in getting to the point.
"What's the deal here, Hot Shot?" he asked in his usual blunt manner.
"Yeah, you never told me you had a girlfriend, bro!" Sideswipe added in.
"Girlfriend? What? You mean Aurora?" Hot Shot asked. Blurr and Sideswipe nodded. "Oh, no way!" he said, shaking his head. "Aurora might not look it and she definitely doesn't act it, but she's old! She's at least twice my age, if not three times! She's just a friend."
"That hug she gave you seemed like more than a 'just a friend' hug to me," Sideswipe insisted.
"Well, it's been a while since I last saw here. And I left without saying good-bye. Those are the only reasons I can think of. Well, other than that's just the way she is, but you won't settle for that, will you?"
"You left without saying good-bye? Why?" Sideswipe asked.
"Wheeljack," Blurr answered for Hot Shot. Hot Shot merely nodded.
"Oh," Sideswipe said flatly. "oohhhh..." he repeated, more slowly after the facts had sunk in. Hot Shot nodded again.
"But you still haven't completely disproved the hypothesis," Blurr said.
"Oh, PLEASE!" Nexa interrupted. "Aurora's got MUCH better taste than that! And a piece of advice: if you want to have a private conversation, go where you can't be heard, or at least talk quietly." A further barrage of insults was halted by the return of Aurora.
"Hi, guys, what'd I miss?" she asked cheerfully.
"Oh, not much," Nexa replied. "They were just talking about you," the femme added, nodding her head in the general direction of the three 'bots. Aurora giggled.
"I'd be flattered if they weren't so young!"
"Told you so," Hot Shot muttered to Blurr and Sideswipe.
"Oh, shut up!" Blurr muttered back.
"So, what was that thing, Aurora?" Nexa asked.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah!" Aurora opened her hand to reveal Lazerbeak. "Isn't it cute?" she asked.
"Cute? Definitely not the word I'd pick to describe it. The word I'd pick's a lot closer to really, freakin' ugly," Nexa replied.
"Yeah, that's what I figured you'd say," Aurora said, seemingly too absorbed in her inspection of Lazerbeak to look directly and whom she was addressing. "But I didn't say it was cute because of how it looked. What makes it cute is its simplicity. Its technology is so basic, it can't really help but be cute!" While Aurora was saying this, Lazerbeak's head was moving about, inspecting the surroundings. When Hot Shot fell into its line of vision, the small, orange device unfolded its wings and flew over to him. The yellow Autobot smiled and offered a finger to the bird-like robot, which landed on it.
"You guys all OK?" Hot Shot asked. Alexis' voice answered him in the affirmative.
"Must be basic technology, if Hot Shot can operate it," Nexa whispered to Aurora, who giggled.
"No, silly, he's not operating it. Y'see, that little thing is basically a flying cross between a radio and a video camera. Whoever's operating it is far away, but thanks to that thing they can see what's going on, hear what's going on, and make comments about what's going on without being in any danger from what's going on. Understand?"
"Your ability to explain such things without ever using confusing technical terms will never cease to amaze me," Nexa said in answer to Aurora's question. Aurora merely giggled again.
"Hey, Hot Shot, who are THEY?' Rad asked.
"Yeah, dude, I've never seen them before!" Carlos added.
"You mean Aurora and Nexa? I guess you could say they're old friends of mine."
"Old? I heard that, Hot Shot!" Nexa shouted.
"Oh, I'm sure he didn't mean it THAT way, Nexa," Aurora said.
"Really? Because I think he did," the more ill-tempered of the pair replied. While the two femmes furthered their discussion, Hot Shot continued his conversation with the kids via Lazerbeak.
"Hot Shot, do you know where Optimus is?" Alexis asked.
"Ummm, no, actually, I don't," the Transformer replied, scratching his head in thought. "You mean you don't know?"
"Yes, unfortunately," Alexis answered, "It's a long story, so I'll explain it later, but basically, we lost contact for a while, and now we have no idea what's going on."
"I wish I could help, but I don't really know what's going on myself," Hot Shot said.
"We'll keep looking, then," Alexis said as Lazerbeak took off.
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"Jetfire? Jetfire. Jeeetfiiiiire... Jetfire! For Primus' sake, if you're going to leave you comm. link on, you could at least answer me when I try to talk to you!" Optimus muttered into his own comm. link. Jetfire started whistling. "Jetfire! Stop ignoring me!" Jetfire merely continued whistling. "I know you can hear me, Jetfire, so why aren't you responding?"
"I can't deal with you right now!" Jetfire said with a slight singsong tone.
"Jetfire!" Optimus shouted. Jetfire, however, merely started whistling again. "One of these days, Jetfire, one of these days..." the leader of the Autobots said, his voice trailing off.
"Oh, hey, lookit that!" Jetfire suddenly said. Optimus, startled by Jetfire's sudden communication with him, took a while to respond.
"Look at what?" he asked.
Jetfire chuckled in response, then said, "Hey, Prime, remember what I told you?"
"Told me? What? The only thing you told me was that you can't deal with me!"
"Oh, no, before that! I told you our problems would be solved, didn't I?"
"Well, I suppose so, in a way, yes. What's your point?"
"Well, I just found Lazerbeak," Jetfire said before promptly shutting off his comm. link.
"Jetfire!" Optimus shouted into his comm. link. "Jetfire! I swear, sometimes he can be such a pain in the processor..."
"Jetfire being an annoyance?" Scavenger asked. Optimus sighed.
"I'm beginning to think he enjoys driving me insane," he said. The large, green robot chuckled.
"I don't doubt it, Prime. I don't doubt it."
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"Do they ever stop arguing? Or is this just a special occasion?" Sideswipe asked.
"Well, of course they don't argue constantly, silly! It's just that it's been a while since they saw each other, so I guess you could say that they're making up for lost time!" Aurora replied cheerily.
"Must be a lot of lost time," Blurr muttered to himself.
"Hey, did you just hear something?" Aurora asked.
"Hear what?" Blurr asked back.
"I didn't hear anything," Sideswipe said.
"Well, I definitely heard something. I'm gonna go check it out. Make sure those two," Aurora paused here to point her thumb at Hot Shot and Nexa, "don't kill each other or something while I'm gone, OK?"
"Sure," Blurr replied, sounding suspiciously like if Hot Shot and Nexa did try to kill each other he wouldn't do a thing to try and stop them.
"Good enough, I suppose," Aurora said, leaving.
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"Are you sure they're here?" Jetfire asked. Lazerbeak, perched on one of Jetfire's wings, looked around.
"They should be in the general area," Alexis answered.
"The general area. Greeeaaat..." Jetfire said sarcastically.
"What's so great about the general area? Granted, the scenery IS rather pretty, but it's rather boring, too. You've seen one tree; you've seen them all, y'know? It's no Cybertron, that's for sure!" Jetfire turned around to see Aurora standing behind him. "Hi," she said with a smile and small wave. Then, as though she just realized something, she executed a smart salute and added, "uhh... sir? You ARE the second-in-command, right?"
"Ummm... Yeah," Jetfire started out, still rather startled, but he quickly regained his composure. "Err, yes! Yes, I am. But really, you don't need to call me 'sir.' My name's Jetfire. What's yours, or can I just call you 'Absolutely Gorgeous?'"
Aurora giggled in reply then said, "My name's Aurora, and, quite frankly, I'd prefer that you call me that rather than 'Absolutely Gorgeous.'"
"Well, Jetfire, I see that you're sickeningly flirtatious even when you're sober." Nexa paused for a moment here, then continued with, "You ARE sober right now, right?"
"YES!" Jetfire shouted in a very insulted tone of voice.
"That's very good to know," Nexa said, sounding only slightly surprised. While this short exchange passed, she had placed herself between Aurora and Jetfire.
"What are YOU doing here?" he asked. Nexa stared at him in shock for a second.
"Oh, for the love of... I'm on vacation!" she said sarcastically. "Why do you think I'm here, stupid?! Honestly, sometimes I wonder how a numbskull drunkard like you ever became the second-in-command of the Autobots."
"Wow, she's really digging into him, isn't she?" Sideswipe asked.
"Yep," Hot Shot said, grinning.
"But is that stuff about Jetfire true?" Blurr asked.
"Yep," Hot Shot replied, still grinning.
"He sure seems happy, doesn't he?" Sideswipe asked Blurr. Blurr nodded.
"I wouldn't be surprised. After all, Nexa's started picking on someone else, hasn't she?" he answered. Sideswipe giggled.
"That is true, I suppose," he said.
"But not the reason I'm happy," Hot Shot interjected.
"I thought you weren't paying any attention to us," Sideswipe said.
"Well, you thought wrong," Hot Shot replied, smiling.
"So, what is it that's making you so happy?" Blurr asked.
"Jetfire's getting told off for drinking too much," Hot Shot answered with a grin. "Unfortunately, I doubt that he'll actually take it to heart," he added with a sigh.
"Why do you care?"
"Well, normally, I wouldn't, but drinking, especially as much as Jetfire and Smokescreen drink, is a very, very expensive habit, and after they've blown their paychecks on it, I foot the bill."
"Why do you do that?" Sideswipe asked.
"I... have my reasons."
"Blackmail?" Blurr asked. Hot Shot sighed.
"Yeah."
"What'd you do?" Sideswipe asked.
"Sideswipe, if I was OK with people knowing about it, it wouldn't make very good blackmail material, would it?"
"No, I guess it wouldn't. But now I really want to know what it is!"
"Well, if you agree to buy all of Jetfire's and Smokescreen's drinks for the rest of their lives, then I'm sure they'd be all too happy to tell you what it is, 'cuz you're NOT finding out from me."
"But I can't afford to buy all of their drinks for the rest of their lives!" Sideswipe protested. Hot Shot sighed again.
"At the rate they drink, pretty soon I won't be able to afford it, either."
"So they drink a lot?" Blurr asked.
"Tons. Absolutely tons. Which is why I'm hoping that some of what Nexa's saying is sinking in. 'Cuz, y'know, I kinda like my paycheck, and I'd really prefer to keep it."
"Hey, Jetfire, where's Prime?" Nexa asked.
"Prime? Prime! Oh, slag, I totally forgot about him!" Jetfire exclaimed. Nexa sighed and uttered one word.
"Idiot."
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Yay for mindless filler!
Hot Shot: I can't believe you made people wait 6 months for this garbage...
AF: Bah. I intend upon having the third chapter up quicker. .
Hot Shot: Sure you will... It's been 2 months since you finished this chapter, y'know?
AF: . . Ummm... I've no idea what you're talking about... Anyway, come back for chapter 3! Smokescreen and Red Alert finally show up!
Smokescreen: Finally!
Red Alert: Hey, at least you've been mentioned, it's like I don't even exist or something!
AF: No worries, Red! The next chapter's all about you! And your temporary loss of sanity! And Aurora! Yay!
Red Alert: O.o Oh, dear...