Chapter 75 - Barry
"Did you want to use my quarters? I should probably put some coffee on."
(OPOV)
Optimus looked down at his spark mate in shock.
"What?" she asked with a small smile, "I'm right beside you, and if you want we can leave the 'new technology reveal' open so that you can talk face to face with Barry instead of using your holoform. Or whatever you like."
She looked around at the men with a small smile.
"That. Sounds like a brilliant idea. Would someone bring him in?" Will asked with a grin, looking around at the grinning techs. Mikaela laughed and began walking.
"Born deep?" Optimus prompted with a small smile.
"Born to two semi-retired spies," Mikaela laughed ruefully, "I'll let Barry tell the story, dead or not I still don't know mum's full status, it's entirely possible that her name is still being used by another agent."
Optimus opened the doors to his quarters and led the way through, settling down onto his berth while Kae wandered into her quarters with Will behind her. Optimus onlined his holoform and followed, chuckling when she immediately set up the coffee pot and pulled out a few simple baking ingredients, starting in immediately on cookies.
Will flumped down on her sofa and stretched out.
"Wake me up?" he mumbled.
"You've got it Will," Mikaela laughed softly, in minutes the Major was out cold. Optimus leaned his holoform against the counter, watching as his spark-mate put her new kitchen through it's paces. She glanced at her watch and punched the coffee machine on just as a few sheets of cookies came out of the oven, turning the timer off before it even had the chance to ring.
Will rose automatically the second the coffee pot was three quarters full.
"Coffee," he stated in a much brighter voice.
There was a knock on the door. Mikaela glanced around for a half second before calling out "Come!"
"Director Matteer," Jerry announced with a grin. "He came in through the air-vent."
"I'm glad you found the box Kae," Barry grinned at Mikaela. "But did you really have to set up communication central right on top of the entrance?"
"Don't look at me!" Mikaela laughed. "This was all set up by the time I got here."
"Eh," Barry shrugged, he turned and looked at Jerry. "Jerry was it?" he asked calmly.
"Yes sir," Jerry nodded attentively.
"Listen, this is a fairly tight-knit unit yes?"
"Yes sir..." Jerry frowned slightly.
"Excellent, would you be so kind as to very quietly inform the men on guard that the Director of the CIA gives them full permission to screw with the Liaison when he arrives in around twenty minutes? Quietly mind."
"Hells yes sir, how long you want them stalled?" Jerry grinned viciously.
"Oh, I'd like a good forty minutes with our Angel, but make it quiet," Barry smirked. Jerry threw him a grinning salute and wandered back down the corridor.
"Well? You called me down Kae, posterity introductions!" Barry grinned at the Femme.
"Oh right," Mikaela chuckled. "Major William Lennox, this is Director Bartholomew Matteer, head of the CIA. Barry, Will, Will, Barry." The two men shook hands before Mikaela turned to Optimus, lightly touching Barry's arm. "This is the Holoform Avatar of Optimus Prime, leader of the Auto-bots." she announced calmly.
"Barry," the man stated calmly, offering his left arm to Optimus.
"Optimus," he rumbled, threading his left arm into the man's and finding a cautious man. "I admit myself surprised," he stated calmly, "you offer my own greeting, but I do not recall sharing much on the methods of reading it."
Barry grinned.
"You're an honest man, but that statement alone says that Kae taught you how to read a man's handshake. Does he tailor it much?" he looked at the Femme.
"Not really, no," Mikaela smiled, "he doesn't have to. Do you have the papers before your official boys get here?"
Barry laughed and offered the femme his briefcase.
She grinned and accepted it, sitting down and rapidly leafing through the pages.
"Is it all there?" Barry asked worriedly.
"Most of it," Mikaela muttered, she dragged a pad of paper and pen toward herself and began writing.
Optimus raised his holoform's eyebrows and read over her shoulder.
"You used to whack me anytime I did that," Barry commented, settling down beside the Femme.
"That's because every time you did you'd mutter censorships in my ear. Optimus already knows most of it," Mikaela murmured, flipping a couple of pages as she read and wrote at the same time. "I'm actually surprised Will isn't reading this as well, he was my handler cleaning it up after all." she shoved the bare bones report toward the Major as he leaned forward.
Optimus settled his holoform on her other side, sitting in silence for several minutes as Mikaela wrote down and corrected the missing information in the file. Will read the report quickly, sitting back and whistling when he was done. He rose and grabbed the plate of cookies and a few mugs of coffee, Mikaela accepted hers with murmured thanks, never ceasing to write.
"So you actually did memorize it," Will commented finally. Mikaela nodded.
"I did, the chips are the hardcopy and more readily accepted, but I did memorize each report in the event that I had to destroy it," she murmured.
Barry sat back comfortably and sipped at his coffee. Mikaela flipped a final page, wrote notes on it and signed 'Angel' at the bottom with a flourish. She quickly went back and numbered each page before folding it and handing it to the Director.
"I know you've already gotten my reports from the past few months for the military, so I won't bother writing it again," she said patiently.
Barry nodded to her firmly and tucked everything into his briefcase.
"That thing doesn't have much room for it's size," Will stated with a frown.
Barry snorted and turned the briefcase over, opening it again to reveal an entirely different set of folders. He closed it again with a grin and set it down beside himself.
"Her uncle Brick made this thing for me years ago," Barry chuckled at Will's grin. "Best briefcase I've ever had. Nobody makes these like they used to. Now, Angel could have come in anytime to go over those papers, but she called me out here for a couple of things, which means you've got a beef. What's happening?"
"I'm thinking your Liaison is trying for a 'mine promotion," Mikaela stated calmly, "He gave the 'I spoke to the director' speech."
"Which is usually bullshit, yes," Barry nodded, he leaned back on the sofa and looked at Optimus and Will. "Sope, we'll start from the top. Fill me in with the assumption that I don't know anything."
Optimus couldn't help but grin, he liked the man already.
Mikaela smiled and patted Optimus' knee, rising and moving back into her kitchen as the Major made his reports. Optimus turned to look at her curiously when she didn't return.
"That girl is drawn to a kitchen like a moth to a flame," Barry stated comfortably, not even turning around. "I think she memorizes things by cooking specific foods."
"It keeps my hands active so that I can concentrate," Mikaela murmured with a smile.
"That and it puts you in the background where you can observe everyone unimpeded." Barry added with a smirk. Optimus chuckled. Barry turned to him with a smile.
"I'll give her this, though," Barry stated, "I'll let her have my back any day, especially in unfamiliar territory."
"Agreed," Optimus chuckled while Will grinned.
"Anyway," Will finished with a small grin, "We've been having a bit of difficulty with your Liaison, he's been giving us dead-end phone numbers. We need the CIA's co-operation, with technology and information sharing to mutual benefit but we keep getting negatives back, from you apparently."
"Mmnph, so you've been getting the speech after all," Barry grunted. Mikaela was giggling softly in the kitchen. Optimus turned to look at her curiously.
"The left hand truly doesn't know whether the right is dipping into it's pocket or jacking off," she said in a quiet voice.
"They're doing both," Barry snorted as Will barked a quick laugh.
There was another knock on the door.
"Ah, here's the paperwork," Barry stated blandly, Optimus glanced at the Major to find him smirking.
"Come!" Mikaela called out patiently, Optimus noted the way she lightly caressed the knife beside her on the counter. Two somewhat bedraggled men walked through the door under Chance's guard.
"Ah, Greg, Jason, excellent timing," Barry stated urbanely.
"Director," the liaison said immediately. "So sorry we were late, interesting guards you have here Major," Greg stated, frowning at Lennox.
"Excellent security here, no?" Barry said calmly. "Right, you have the paperwork pertaining to the bid for inter-agency co-operation?"
"Right here, Sir," Jason stated with a small smile, he walked forward and set his own briefcase down on the table, opening it and pulling out a multitude of files.
The Director flicked through them for a moment before handing the duplicates out. Mikaela had her eye on the liaison, who was squeaking somewhat in his spot.
Out of the corner of his optic, Optimus watched as his Kae pressed a cup of coffee into the man's hand with a warm smile. He accepted hesitantly and went to sit in an armchair.
"Now then, Greg, it would seem that a few of your memos to me have gone awry," Barry said patiently, looking through the files calmly. "I most certainly don't recall signing that, for one." he held up the paper in question.
Greg squeaked for a second before clearing his throat.
"It must have slipped in among some other documents," he stated calmly, "perhaps it was signed amid another set?"
Optimus caught Mikaela biting her lip in the kitchen out of the corner of his eye. Once the men left he was definitely going to pick her brain on the myriad of details that she no doubt saw.
"Ah Greg, do you know just how many agents have tried that excuse in the past forty years?" Barry asked sadly. "Someday one of you will come right out and say, 'yes, I figured that that was what you would want so I went ahead and forged your signature to try to save you some time.' But the truth is I read every single piece of paper that's been handed to me Greg. So now what do we do?"
"You have my apologies, Director," Greg said in a defeated tone, "I got caught up with several reports that wound up on my desk which seemed more important at the time."
"What is more important than co-operation?" Barry asked mildly.
"Sir I don't know if..."
"This is a perfectly good time," Barry stated in the same calm tone.
"Sir, I have found reason to believe that a CIA operative has gone rogue," Greg stated quickly. "A female who goes by the name 'Angel,' she wounded three and killed one of our men when they tried to bring her into custody."
Steady Optimus,∂ Mikaela murmured below the human's hearing range, ∂Don't give up the game just yet.∂
Optimus wiped any emotion from the holoform's face and assumed a stance of listening intently. Mikaela was still patiently puttering about in the kitchen.
Will glanced at Optimus and took the cue, sitting patiently and watching the drama.
"Is that so," Barry stated calmly, "what intel do you have on this Angel?"
"We believe that she is a young woman, somewhere in her mid to late twenties, dark hair, dark eyes and fair complexion. We believe that she has information which in the wrong hands could cause devastation to the status quo." Greg reported.
Behind the men, Optimus watched as Mikaela shrugged silent agreement.
Try to not watch me so obviously,∂ she coached him softly. He turned and watched the men around him, hiding his grin.
"What precisely did you have in mind, gentlemen?" Barry asked in a perfectly neutral tone.
"Give her a medal?" Jason murmured with a small grin, "she did get rid of Harrison after all..."
"She's a danger to society!" Greg almost shouted, "we need to get rid of her!"
Optimus almost laughed aloud as Mikaela touched a fist to her heart.
"Unfortunately Greg, Angel is my personal operative," Barry stated calmly. "Her intel has already reached where it's supposed to be. Was there anything else?"
"Yes, there is," Greg said in a flat tone. He pulled out a recorder and turned it on.
"What you see is what you get, once this is all finished up I have no doubt that I'm going to be needing a new employer. Have you taken Barry out yet?" Mikaela's voice asked cheerfully on the recording.
"We believe that you're her target, if not her first then high on the list," Greg stated in an interesting parody of concern. Barry turned around in his seat to look at Mikaela.
"Are you really going to kill your godfather Angel?" Barry asked in a hurt tone.
"Why the hell would I do that Barry?" Mikaela asked with wide eyes. "You did your best to keep the lot of us safe." Greg shot to his feet with a gun in his hand, pointing it at Kae. Will was on his feet the next second, drawing his own sidearm and blinking in astonishment as Greg's shoulder seemed to grow a kitchen knife. Greg dropped the gun and was immediately surrounded by angry men.
Mikaela went right back to her baking. Optimus relaxed his holoform again, perching an ankle up on his knee. Jason looked at him curiously.
"Optimus is kindly saving me an extra fifteen pages of paperwork," Lennox snorted.
"Major, could I impose on you to take this man into custody?" Barry asked in a calm tone, lightly picking up Greg's weapon in a handkerchief and tucking it into his briefcase.
"Of course, Director," Lennox replied urbanely, "I'll have Ratchet take a look at him. Would the CIA like to come pick him up in the morning?"
"Oh whenever is convenient for you," Jason piped up blandly.
"Our doors are always open to you," Lennox smiled. He walked to the door and poked his head out into the hallway. "Lieutenant!" he shouted. "Code Yellow, please."
"SIR YES SIR!" Jacobs' voice bellowed.
"The absolute epitome of efficiency," Barry stated blandly.
Optimus glanced over to see Mikaela biting her lip and blushing furiously. Optimus caught her eye worriedly. Her eyes were sparkling with suppressed mirth, she averted them quickly. The dear little Femme.
In a matter of minutes Jacobs had escorted the former Liaison from the room, Jason following along on his way back to the office.
Mikaela lasted precisely five seconds past the door closing before she burst out laughing.
"Really!?" she asked incredulously, "he tried to pass away forging your signature by turning me in? I got nothing left!"
"What a douche," Will smirked.
"Total douche," Barry agreed, grinning broadly.
"Director, it's been incredible to meet with you in person, one question," Will grinned. "Are you actually her godfather?"
"One of 'em," Barry chuckled, he turned to glare at Kae. "Of course only that brat would ask a personal favour that actually turned out well. I still owe you what, ten?"
"That's a nice, round number," Mikaela stated with a small smile.
"What's the actual number?" Barry grumbled.
"Do you want the actual favours, or the number of times that you've said 'I'll owe you one?" Kae grinned at the man.
"Both," Barry groaned.
"You owe me eleven, but you've said it like, thirty times Barry. I swear you keep getting me to do this that and the other thing just because you know that I rarely if ever call you in on them," Mikaela laughed.
"Eleven it is," Barry chuckled.
"Ten, you came," Kae grinned, "and you didn't use the 'I'll think it over and get back to you' lines either, so I don't even have to call in the other twenty nine to make you fix it."
"Well, say the magic words Angel," Barry laughed.
"Do I have to?" Mikaela asked plaintively.
"You know the rules, a favour isn't a favour without the order, say it!" Barry grinned.
"Barry your men are being assholes and giving my people grief. We need co-operation, not another bloody dick measuring contest. Fix it!" Mikaela commanded. Optimus grinned.
"That's my girl," Barry chuckled, he rose and held his arms out toward her. She walked toward him with a bright smile before pulling back with narrowed eyes. Barry laughed, took a step forward and folded her into a hug. She squeezed him back before they broke apart. "Alright, let's get the paperwork said." Barry chuckled, he stood straight and faced Optimus and Will.
"Prime, Major, our Liaison seems to be rather tied up for the next several years," Barry stated in an official tone, "So for the interim I would like to assign Agent Banes to your disposal, she's young but well versed in diplomacy."
"I'm glad to hear it, Director," Lennox replied in the same official tone, "Agent Banes and I are already well acquainted, I look forward to working with her, and you." Will offered his hand. Optimus rose and stood beside the Major.
"Thank you, Director," he said seriously, offering his hand. Barry grasped it firmly, a perfectly neutral handshake.
"It was good to meet you in person," Barry said genuinely.
"Likewise," Optimus rumbled.
"I think that should do for the officially worded report," Barry stated with a broad grin.
"And if it isn't we can just lie a little bit later," Mikaela stated with a perfectly straight face. "My report will be on your desk Monday morning," she added, nodding to Barry.
"I'll have to make sure you're still in the system," Barry said thoughtfully. "You should be."
"Alright, I'll go in Monday, if my report is on your desk I'm in the system, otherwise I'll be there Tuesday," Mikaela snorted. "Old rules?"
"Excellent," Barry grinned at her. "Prime, Major, Agent, I know my way out." he nodded to all of them and walked out the door, briefcase in hand.
"Like I said, you wouldn't believe me even if I told you," Mikaela stated calmly.
"You're in the CIA's system already?" Lennox asked with a laugh.
"He scanned me in at a month old, theoretically eyes don't change," Mikaela snorted, walking back into her kitchen, she pulled down a jar and filled it with the cookies. She set them on the counter and froze.
"Aw hell, that prat made me Liaison!" Mikaela complained. "I hate doing reports! They depend on other people. Bugger." she glared at the coffee pot.
"I vote!" Lennox yawned, "that we meet back here in the morning and go through the paperwork over fresh coffee."
"If it is alright that we seem to have commandeered your common room for a war room," Optimus added, looking at Mikaela.
"Alright," she sighed, "just so long as you don't tack maps up on the walls, I want to get my deposit back on this place."
Will stared at her for a long second before howling with laughter.
"Wrong Kae, that's just wrong," he laughed. "And if it turns out that you actually are renting this place for us I hereby put in my application to be your personal aid."
"Sorry Will, you're still a Major, take a cookie," Mikaela chuckled. She wiped the counter off and pulled a box out from under the sofa, settling down with her sewing again.
"Ah well, see you in the morning," Will yawned, walking out the door, "sweet dreams, good recharge. Stuff."
"Night Will," Mikaela smiled, already working needle and cloth with patient hands.
Optimus settled down beside her and glanced around, hacking into the room's climate control. He turned the lights down slightly and started the fireplace. She glanced up at him with a small smile.
"You realize that there would be hell to pay if either the human Auto-bot Ambassador or CIA Liaison was caught on camera having inappropriate relations with the leader of the Auto-bots," she said with laughter in her eyes.
"Which makes it rather interesting that I've deactivated the cameras in the room." Optimus rumbled, reaching over and running light fingers along her jawline, her eyes closed as she leaned into his touch. "Besides," he added, leaning in to whisper in her ear. "Among Cybertronians, it is very much encouraged that a guardian have a relationship with his reliant. A further asseveration for the trust we share."
"Oh good," she chuckled, turning her head slightly to press a gentle kiss to the sensitive skin beneath his ear.
"So as my Ambassador, will you tell me what my CIA Liaison observed of the men that were in the room?" he asked with a smile.
"Just how many more identities are you going to tack on me?" she laughed softly, "yes I will, do you just want me to tell you or are you going to holoform the conversation again so we can walk around and I can point out the different facial expressions?"
Optimus grinned and moved to sit on his Kae's other side.
Ghosts of Barry and Will flickered into being
"They're doing both," Barry snorted as Will barked a quick laugh.
There was another knock on the door.
"Ah, here's the paperwork," Barry stated blandly, Major Lennox was smirking.
"Alright, so there," Mikaela chuckled, "that's your first sign that Will and Barry are going to be the best of friends. They've got each other's measure now, Barry even gave Greg a heads up on that, he didn't catch it though."
Optimus chuckled and let the holo play through. He caught Mikaela's meaning as she pointed.
"Excellent security here, no?" Barry said calmly. "Right, you have the paperwork pertaining to the bid for inter-agency co-operation?"
"Double warning there," Kae chuckled. Optimus snorted, watching the drama play out again and listening to her random comments. So much more fun.
"Why did you give him that coffee if you don't like him?" Optimus asked suddenly, watching the ghost of his Kae press the coffee into the former liaison's hands.
"It clutters his hands up and gives me an extra couple of seconds to throw a knife as he drops it. Should it come to that." Mikaela stated calmly. "It's also a good way to check and see if he recognized me. Which he didn't."
"Now then, Greg, it would seem that a few of your memos to me have gone awry," Barry said patiently, looking through the files calmly. "I most certainly don't recall signing that, for one." he held up the paper in question.
Greg squeaked for a second before clearing his throat.
"It must have slipped in among some other documents," he stated calmly, "perhaps it was signed amid another set?"
"Horse shit," Mikaela snorted, "everyone knows Barry reads every single piece of paper that gets handed to him. He made that mistake the first year he was director, and it almost killed one of his agents."
"So he reads everything now?" Optimus asked with a smile, upping his respect for the CIA director another notch.
"Yes he does," Kae grinned, leaning back in the sofa. "He taught us how to speed read and sneak in and out of this place."
"Mmm," Optimus hummed softly, reaching over and delicately plucking the sewing from her hands. "It occurs to me that I have yet to thank you properly for fixing this."
Mikaela shot him a wry smile as he scooped her up in his holoform's arms and carried her back to himself.
"For your own safety, my beloved," he rumbled gently in her ear, "I believe we should have an understanding. I do tend to toss and turn in my recharge cycle if I am not in disguise, I do not wish to inadvertently-"
"Squish me?" Mikaela chuckled, "You're right, I'd make a bit of a mess in pulp form..."
"Mikaela!" Optimus rumbled in shock.
"What?" she looked up into the holoform's eyes with absolute innocence written all over her face.
"You could fool that liaison, but you are not fooling me," Optimus rumbled down at her with a smirk.
"What do you mean?" she asked innocently, squirming out of the holoform's arms and quickly ascending the berth to curl up in the space above his shoulder.