Humans milled around the Main Hangar. Their overwhelming odors caused a headache to arise. Why are there so many of them? I carefully flew over to where William was having a conversation with one of his soldiers.
The major acknowledged me with a silent nod and ended his talk with the other human. "Hey, Azar, it's good to see you up. How's your ribs?" I landed next to him, the catwalk rattle under my talons. Suspicion grew inside of me as I gazed down at him.
"Better. I guess you can't walk away from a building falling on you with no injuries," I attempted to make a joke of my predicament. Why not test how much he has changed from last time we talked. He laughed with a relaxed smile washing over his features and led me over to a free table. I took the invitation and sat down across from him. "I'm here on your request to discuss what happened inside of the data center. I won't go into detail, to save your breakfast, but I'll give the jest of it."
He dipped his head and snatched a tablet from unsuspecting soldier sitting at computer. "The stage is yours." I began a moment after of how I broke in by shapeshifting; sneaking through the ventilation system, which he praised me for; killing off the guards; downloading the data; then meeting the juggernaut. Just like any normal human, curiosity consumed him.
"What is a juggernaut?" I motioned for the device in his hand and scrolled through the folders until finding the one. William took it back once I offered and glanced over the information.
"These guys are nearly invincible, on the outside. Aztec learned a way to easily defeat them once you get one of them on the ground. Bullets bounce off of them, my claws did nothing, and ice barely leaves a red mark on their skin," I gave a rundown of what the folder probably held. "For the longest time, I thought fire did nothing to them until two days ago."
His eyes met mine, curiosity growing in them. "The explosion. You did that. But how did you control to only hit Jasper soldiers? None of N.E.S.T soldiers or Autobots were touched." I what? My main focus was taking down the juggernaut, nearly forgetting about the thirty or so good guys on the outside.
Well, he couldn't know that was a mistake. For reason best left secret, I decided to play where I had totally control of that situation. "Magic. When you have these powers for so long, it gets easier to handle them," I lied smoothly and rest an elbow on the table.
Even after sitting here for a few minutes, there were still so many eyes on me. Couldn't they just buzz off? Leave me alone? Is it seriously that hard? Screw humans. They suck.
"That leaves me with one more question: how did Aztec take them down? So we know if we ever face one without you there to save us." I nervously scratched the back of neck and debated telling him the gruesome way Zayden and his team kill a juggernaut. He must have noticed my hesitancy. "It can't be that bad."
Oh but it is. "You decide. I was the one that usually knocked them down to incapacitate them. Then one of Zayden's soldiers would shove a C4 into their mouth. I ice it over and run like Hell. The C4 would blow their brain to bits," I explained and leaned back in my chair, arms crossed.
One of the soldiers nearby choked on her spit. William snapped his gaze to her and glared, a warning underling his stern expression. She immediately sputtered an apology and resumed her work the moment after. The major gazed back over to me with a pale look. "Ye-yeah, I-I guess it is that bad. Sorry for asking."
I stood up from my spot and pushed in the chair. "I'm going to take my leave. But I will tell you this, if you want to stand a chance against Jasper, read everything on there."
William followed my actions and held out his hand for me to shake. I gingerly take a hold of his offered limb. "I will, thank you. But you need to take it easy and you better walk down those stairs. Ratchet is supposed to be here any minute." I rolled my eyes at his warning, not taking him serious, and took off to land on the guardrail.
My talons wrapped around the top bar, securing me for only a couple minutes. I pumped my wings and headed out of the Main Hangar, only to come to a screeching stop. Should've listened to William. "Azar! What did I tell you?" Uh oh.
After being chewed out by Ratchet in front of a bunch of humans, I stomped out of there with little dignity left. Stupid robot.
His threats didn't stop me from taking to the sky once out of sight. My wings ached from the pulled muscles and lack of flight. The wind glided gently over my scales as I soared high into the sky and enjoyed every moment of freedom. No one, and I mean no one could take this away from me.
Just like any other human on base, curiosity grabbed me tight in its claws. I knew a couple of what the human buildings were on their side and a select few on the Autobots.
For the human side, I knew the barracks, the shower racks, and the medical wing. That was all. On the other side of the base, Ratchet's Med. Bay, the Main Hangar, and the Rec. room. So why not go in an in-depth solo tour?
For some odd reason, a small part of me jumped in excitement. I immediately blamed it on the thought of flying around… but that didn't settle well in my stomach. It was ridiculous I was acting this way over the small fantasy of having a soulmate, in this case, two soulmates. Who was I kidding?! The only person in this universe that will love me is my dad. Sure enough, my mom wants me only for my powers. And well, my brother thinks I'm dead.
Why did I keep thinking this is going to work out? None of the gods of any world would give me enough pity to allow me to experience compassion. My entire mood dropped. The muscles in my chest tightened painfully and twisted. I grazed my claws over the area and felt electricity touch the tips of my fingers.
A sigh escaped me as my mind reeled back to reality. I realized my wings had nearly taken me out of the base's boundaries and turned sharply in the other direction. William hasn't given me the go-ahead to be able to leave the grounds and has firmly stated for me to stay, repeatedly. I abandoned the thought of exploring the base more, no longer in the mood to do so.
My eyes flickered over any building nearby until they landed on the big, burly, black weapon specialist. Said bot seemed to be running drills with some humans. Mirage stood next to him, his foot tapping quietly, possibly bored of the situation. I couldn't blame him one bit though, humans were boring themselves and weak.
Both bots were more focused on the soldiers and didn't notice me landing on a street lamp on the edge of the training area. My tail instinctively wrapped around the hollow bar underneath me. I furled my wings carefully and watched with rapt attention on what they taught.
Ironhide motioned for Mirage to step forward, snapping the red bot out of his thoughts. The bigger bot explained a few things, talking about the weak points between their armor. It reminded me of a knight, the places to hit were the seams, like the back of their knees. Oh, I most definitely needed to remember that for next time.
The weapon specialist gestured towards Mirage's neck, another weak point. They didn't have any armor there for the highest mobility. Ironhide continued to point out any vulnerable spots their kind has and making a huge effort for the humans to know to aim there. Yeah, as if-
"Wha'cha ya doin' all by yar self?" a sudden voice snatched my attention on them. I whirled around, nearly falling off, and stared down at the small visor bot. My heart pounded in staccato rhythm, causing my breathing to quicken. "Hey, it's al'ight. Ah didn' mean ta scare ya."
I cleared my throat in an attempt to get rid of my embarrassment. "Oh, hey, Jazz, right?" I changed the spotlight onto him, for an extra moment to calm myself over something minor.
He nodded his head with a kind, gentle smile. "Yep, tha's meh. How are ya doin' af'er yar las' run in with da Decepticreeps and those Jaspe' guys?" Jazz responded and leaned against the street pole I was on. It groaned in protest and bent slightly but didn't falter completely under his weight.
With his calming aura and ease of talking, I felt the tension in my shoulders slowly dissipate. My own smile washed away the frown I originally had. "Better." To make a point, I unfurled my wings half way, rotated them a little, and then folded them. "Ratchet has me taking it easy, of course, but you can't take the flight from of a dragon."
Jazz gave me a 'really' look, I think, it's hard to tell with the visor. "Ah wouldn' unde'estimate the medic if ah was ya. Hatchet can be scary if ya ge' on his bad side." His tone was warning me and I shouldn't take it with a grain of salt.
"Yeah, I already know that. William warned me but I didn't listen and he came out of nowhere. Let it be said, I got my butt chewed. But now I know to be more on the lookout for him. You learn from your mistakes." Jazz chuckled and smirked.
"Well don' say ah didn' warn ya. Tha's no' why ah came over here though. Ah wanna ta ge' ta know the newes' member, if ya yarself wanna ta learn something's abou' meh or da team in trade?" the bot offered. I do have my own questions about the Autobots and the Decepticons. To come and think about it, no one has actually gave me a rundown of what's really going on between the two.
I dipped my head to accept the offer. "Sure, I wouldn't mind but I have the right to refuse to answer any questions at any time if I want to. Shoot."
The things he wanted to know about me were far from what I thought he was going to ask. Instead of questioning about my life or past, he asked about my favorite music, favorite movies, and so forth. All of them I had no problem answering, none of them were an invasion of my privacy. All in all, Jazz seemed to be your laid back friend.
Friend? Friend. Could I consider him a friend? Is that too quick? We only met twice before: the discussion about Jasper and him getting me to have Optimus introduce me to everyone. I already knew the answer to that silly question: I always get attached to others quickly. For most of my life, I've been without anyone to truly care for. My sudden attachment to others is a side effect of that.
That didn't stop the anger from growing deep inside of me. Why was I this way? Of course, I knew the answer for that and blamed it all on Rue. She did this to me.
"Azar? Ya al'ight?" Jazz's voice brought me back into reality. My gaze locked onto his visor and I cleared my throat.
"Yeah, just thinking, you know. Anyway," I turned the attention on him," I get to ask some of my own questions. First off, what's the deal between you guys and the Decepticon's? All I know is you two are fighting but that's all."
He tilted his head back slightly, seeming a little surprised. "No one has told ya?" I responded with a confirmed nod. "Huh, well ta give ya uh rundown, we've been figh'in' this war for millions of human years. It's even olde' than the Terro' Twins, Blue, Smoke, and Bee. It even des'royed our plane' and tha's why we are here. The Cons are 'rying ta 'ake ove' yar plane' as their own."
Their war destroyed their home planet?! And I thought my war was bad. They've almost lost everything besides their team. To be honest, I pitied them and made it my goal to help them take down the Decepticons once and for all.
"I'm sorry to hear that. If you ever need anything, I'm here at your disposal," was all I could say.
Jazz waved his hand to brush off my sentence. "Don' be. It happened and there's nutting ta it. Wha' else do ya have rollin' around inside yar helm?" I decided to get to know him a little by asking the same questions he asked before. The answers I got from him were a bit shocking besides the music. Of course the bot likes jazz and swing. He definitely had the aura around him to like that genre of tunes. But another question came to mind.
"What's a femme? Ratchet keeps calling me that." Jazz laughed with ease and pushed off of the street pole.
"Don't ge' yar exhaus' pipe in a twist. It ain't anythin' bad. Femme is th' equivalen' of female in human terms. Like mech is th' same as male. I'm uh mech, Ratchet is uh mech, the twins are mechs, everybot on base is uh mech." Now I felt embarrassed for thinking it was a weird pet name or worse, a degrading word.
After the exchange of knowledge between us, we both went our separate ways. My wings carried me over to the other side of the training grounds for humans. It was a small pocket of ground borderlining the chain link fence surrounding the base. Who was there caught me off guard. Well not completely because of the connection.
The twins were circling each other, two blades in both of their hands. Their gaze trained of the other bot, studying and calculating their next move.
An urge over came me. The scales covering my body camouflaged in the surrounding area. I silently flew over to the top of a random hangar, the nearest one to them. The buzz grew noticeably at each foot lost between us. My heartbeat increased and caused the organ to pound against my sternum.
Nausea washed over me for just a moment. My wings faltered and nearly made me crashed into the hangar. I grabbed at my head in confusion as the feeling disappeared just as quickly as it came. What was that? I stuck that memory to the side so I could bring it up for Ratchet. Maybe he could tell me.
I quietly landed on the roof and settled down on the ridge. My gaze found the two forms of the twins. Their circling had changed from before. Sides was jabbing test-like with the one of the blades on his arms. His brother used his own blades to block the red twin and instead, took the open opportunities to attack back.
Their blades clashed as they continued the trade between offense and defense. Both were skilled by the looks of it, quick and agile on their wheeled feet. A deadly duo for sure.
Not long after my arrival, a need to be closer to them spoiled my relaxed demeanor. Couldn't I just sit here and watch them without the connection getting in the way? Of course not.
The lack of clanking metal caught my attention and brought me out of my thoughts. Eyes could be felt on my body, even though it shouldn't be possibly. My gaze snapped over to the onlookers and found the twins had stopped and were staring straight at me. Welp, I was caught. I revealed myself to the two.
Sides was the first to depart from his spot and glided over to me, an upbeat 'kick' in his stroll. "What's a femme like you doing all by yourself?" he questioned in a cheeky tone. I rolled my eyes and moved to the edge of the roof, careful to not fall.
"Boredom," I answered simply and grew aware at the electricity crackling behind my sternum. "Ratchet was growing irritated of my constant nagging to be let out." Well, that wasn't the truth. The medic deemed I was fit enough to leave the Med. Bay only if I take it easy. "No one can cage me, and that's a promise." For an odd reason, I felt at ease around him. A part of me told me to keep my guard up but I brushed that off without much thought.
His twin made an appearance and stood with little tension in his shoulders next to Sides. "Azar," he greeted with a modest nod. A shiver racked my body, him saying my name had an effect on me. It was the first time he actually called me 'Azar'. Why though? Why was it any different from his brother saying my real name? I returned the gesture and sat down on the roof to relax on this cloudy, cold day.
A smug smirk grew on his features but it washed away just as quick. Dang, he saw. Sides also had the same look, unlike his brother, he allowed for it to stay. Oh, come on, both of them noticed!? "So Azar, anything you would like to do? Go for another trip around Colville? Race each other? Hang in the Rec. room until Ratchet wants you back?" the red bot offered.
At first, I wanted nothing to do with them, knowing that I was getting attached. It was too late, I was too far down the rabbit hole to fly or climb out. "Hanging in the Rec. room sounds good to me. I don't need Ratchet finding out I was out flying or he may go through with his promises."
Both of them chuckled with a knowing look, though Sunstreaker was trying to suppress his. "Yeah, we sure know he does like throwing his wrenches. Anyway, here." Sides held out his hands, palms up. I stared at him, hesitant and confused on what he wanted me to do. "You did say you didn't want him to find out you were flying." The mech wanted me to land on his hands?!
"I-uh, I don't think that's a good idea. I can just glide down," I declined his offer.
Sides made an effort to get me to land on his hands. "Please," he begged and had the same puppy dog look that Anna uses. She did learn it from him.
"Fine, fine! Alright." I leaped off of the roof and landed expertly on the small landing pad he gave. At our contact, the electricity went haywire and nearly made me crumple to my knees. I snapped my gaze to the bot holding me, wanting nothing but to hate. Yet I couldn't bring myself to do so.
He seemed to be having the same reaction but was able to recover quicker. It subdued a couple of moments later, leaving my entire body feeling fuzzy. "What in hell was that?" I grounded out and half-heartily glared at Sides.
Said Cybertronian was at a loss for words. Sunstreaker came to his rescue and moved carefully to his right side. "Are you two okay?" he questioned and timidly reached out towards, seeming a little scared to touch me.
I pressed my hand against the center of my chest, electricity crackled inside of me. "I… uh, I think I am. What about you, Sides?" The bot in question dipped his head and hummed in thought.
"Yeah, I guess we might want to be a little more carefully when touching each other." Sides gently dumped me on his shoulder and turned to face his twin. I stood there, unsure on what I should do and stared bewildered at Sunstreaker. "Azar, it's safer if you sit down."
"Uh, you want me to sit down on your shoulder?" My claws carefully gripped the plating underneath them to ensure I didn't fall.
"Yes, it's alright, you aren't going to hurt me," he reassured, a kind tone to his voice. Sunstreaker followed his brother by giving me a reassuring look. I hesitantly sat down with my legs dangling over what would be the backend of his car form. He turned to me and smiled brightly. "See, now to get this show on the road. To the Rec. room!"
Sides took off swiftly and draped a hand over my lap to keep me there. His twin gave chase. The three of us going to hang out with each other and relax for the rest of the day.