Life is busy, very busy, that's all I can really say, other than that I hope you all enjoy!
Monaco was a beautiful city.
That was his thought when he first caught sight of the city, built into the hills framing the crashing waves of the Mediterranean.
It wasn't Iacon, not by a long shot, but something inside of him preened at the city at large, it's culturally styled architecture.
It screamed of cultural and monetary wealth.
Optimus could understand why the twins would desire to live there.
Lena stood beside his holoform, Leeroy balanced on her hip as the boy took in the sight for the first time as well, his eyes wide as he looked at the bustling port that seemed to stretch the length of the city.
The Gilded Falcon was a goliath compared to the majority of the high end yachts already fastened to the jetty's.
Ironhide stood at his other side, looking out across the city they would soon be residing in with a mix of trepidation and intrigue. "Interesting defensive position Prime, as long as we have the high ground, I'd like to see any of the Decepticons try and attack."
It took him a moment to look along the cliffs once more before nodding. "Indeed… Though I'd prefer not having the civilian populace be between us and the Decepticons were they to attack…"
That was something he hadn't had to worry much about in some time, civilian casualties.
The war had been going on for so long, finding a neutral was like discovering a treasure trove that did not, under any condition, want to be found.
And was more often than not packing some form of heat until they could escape.
Lena tapped his shoulder, once she had his attention, she pointed past the city, to where there seemed to be a large manor perched upon the crown of one of the hills to the right of the city, a looming structure that seemed to look out across the city. "That's Orichiono Manor, the twins have requested you join them, they're holding a 'housewarming' party."
He wasn't specifically certain what a 'housewarming party' was, but he was immediately concerned when she passed a memory stick to both him and Ironhide. "Download these, they're suits for your holoforms, it's a black tie event."
And with that, she slipped back inside the ship, likely to finish packing.
Ironhide looked to him in concern.
Opting to lead by example, he brought the memory stick to the port on his holoform hidden normally under the cuff of his sleeve, and in turn under a patch of skin he needed to specifically press for it to vanish, revealing the USB slot underneath.
Apparently Ira had thought it easier to program the holoform to receive updates this way.
Ironhide was less enthused by the idea, but followed his Prime's lead none the less.
Within moments he was pulling at the to tight bowtie around his neck. "Prime, it's fraggin' strangling me!"
Something about it caused a smirk to quirk his lips. "Nothing new for you I assume."
The look of shock and his weapons specialists hanging jaw was more than enough to get a chuckle out of him.
He was still getting back at the mech for all the taunting he'd done in the early cycles of him and Elita being an item.
Deciding to leave his weapons specialist to flounder, he sought out a mirror to properly examine his newly acquired suit, if he remembered correctly, there was a 'public' toilet block with a wall mirror not far past the main bar…
The dinner suit was was a perfect fit, sheer black thread inlaid with thin red thread that seemed to be woven subtly into flickering flames that danced upwards.
An interesting stylistic choice, reminding him of that paint scheme option he had for blue with red and orange flames he'd turned down for his preferred red and blue pattern.
That said, it did look nice on the suit.
His stubble was gone, his blue tinged hair slicked back, the suit showing off his build well.
Ira, it would seem, had a good eye for these things.
He'd see about talking to her next they met, he was interested in finding out just how much time and effort she'd clearly put into these holoforms.
A labour of love no doubt.
An announcement came over the speakers not long after.
Himself, Ironhide and Jazz would have to disembark the ship, then Jazz would re-board and continue on with Maggie to Rome.
Lena and Leeroy were once more riding with him in his cabin, and Ironhide had Freedom with him, the bird having kept low and quiet throughout their journey.
Lena had gotten changed since the last time he'd seen her on the deck, the dress she now wore a vibrant orange that sparkled along with the thick silver straps that wound around her waist, torso and arms in a crisscross pattern, Leeroy had been coaxed into a slightly to big dress shirt and pants.
As he finally rolled back off the ramp at the rear of the Gilded Falcon, he allowed himself a moment just to turn his wheels from side to side, trying to get some feeling back in them.
He could only imagine how stiff his mechs had felt, being stuck in their altmodes for the entire journey across the Atlantic.
Jazz gave a final rev of his engine before rolling back up the ramp, which closed back up not long after.
Lena patted his dashboard. "Best not to leave the Orichiono's waiting, I have a map and directions so we don't get lost."
Leeroy remained his quiet self during the journey, looking out the window in rapt curiosity at this city that was in all likelihood as alien as it was to himself and Ironhide, who followed close behind his own altmode.
The winding narrow streets were a challenge to get accustomed to, and the sheer amount he had to swing his wheels around to not hit the walls and crash barriers, but he soon seemed to get the hang of swinging his large frame build in the ways needed to not go careening off either the steep slopes, or into the equally steep walls that flanked both sides when houses and gardens did not.
Considering his frame size, it was unlikely he would find an altmode better suited for both his frame, and the requirements of these roads, so for now he'd have to remain as is.
Within half an hour, they reached the massive front gates of the Orichiono's estate, the guards waving both himself and Ironhide through before closing the gates again in front of the next vehicle trying to get in.
All around was a sea of roses, in the afternoon haze of the setting sun the petals glinted, the water droplets on them shining all the colours of sunset blazed across the sky.
Leeroy seemed just as taken by it as he slowly rolled up to the front of the manor, where valets were escorting away the cars and limousines that had somehow made it up to the manor with their own guests.
Soon enough it was his turn, though Lena beat him to jumping out, perching Leeroy on her hip once more before walking over to the valet that had approached, a few quick words were exchanged before they moved on to the next set of vehicles to arrive.
Lena beckoned him and Ironhide to follow. "There's a garage to the right, when you get there the doors will open, see you inside!"
Taking a moment to collect himself, he opened his own door and stepped out, allowing his frame to drive away, swiftly followed by Ironhide's own, and hoped no one noticed the sudden lack of a driver.
Stepping through the front doors along with the rest of the small crowd, he found himself taking a moment.
Evidently the manor had been designed to show off, every facet of the building seemed to of been polished to a shine, one that came from the numerous crystal chandeliers hanging around the grand hall, where the other guests seemed to be dancing and mingling to their heart's desires as a band and male singer performed in the corner by one of the windows that looked out and down across Monaco.
Ironhide grumbled something about not liking how this all felt too familiar.
In a way, he could agree with his weapon specialist, an affluent display of wealth like this was something he'd last seen during his time in Iacon before the great war, when…
No, stop, he thought, thinking back only brought up painful memories that he did not need to deal with right now.
This was familiar, but it was also different.
These weren't Senators and their wealthy friends, these were humans, guests of a 'housewarming' party.
"Mr Prime, Mr Hyde, we so glad you could come."
The familiar voice had himself and Ironhide turning to regard Aria, she stood expectantly, champagne flute balanced between to nails, her snow white and silver dress fluttering around her from the draft coming through the main doorway, the outer light skirt flaring to reveal the tighter leg split second skirt underneath.
Sat on it's haunces beside her, a pitch black dog, it's equally dark eyes trained on him with a focus that was, rather unnerving, the only breakin the canines black colouring was the thick, white with black horizontal stripped collar that hung from it's thick neck. Hanging from said collar was a tag that simply spelt 'Nuit' night in French if he was correct.
He went to reply when Wren arrived on Ironhide's side, flanked in turn by another pitch black dog, it's collar the inverse of Nuit's, with the tag spelling 'Noir' black. "Please, try and enjoy yourselves. If you need anything, just ask one of the servers."
He went to look back and reply to Aria, only to catch the end of her light skirt vanishing into the throng of bodies, turning back to Wren, he realised she'd done the same, the two canines trotting along at their sides.
That was right, they were just guests, they would receive no more attention from the hosts as anyone else, to lessen suspicion of relation he assumed.
So, he nodded to Ironhide, and decided to explore, if they'd be eventually residing in the bunker beneath the manor, he might as well learn his way around now.
That was the plan at least, until he spotted someone strangely familiar by the stairs that seemed to lead up to the second floor of the sprawling manor.
Making his way over, he finally connected the dots to who this was.
It was one of the humans from the dam.
And he'd already spotted him making his way over, and had beckoned him to follow.
So, he did just that, following his curiosity and the man into a quieter room, one that seemed to be a kitchen, only a few people were inside, though they seemed to quickly vacate once they realised who had entered.
Curious.
The man moved to what a quick search of internet revealed to be a wine rack, pulling one of the stained glass bottles out before placing it on the counter before rummaging around the cupboards for two 'wine glasses', he went to placed them down but hesitated, glancing to him before finally speaking. "Want one?"
He'd seen the Harpies holoforms drink enough to know his would be fine, so he nodded.
The man took the ascension and began to pour out a small amount into both before walking back over and passing a glass to him. "Flint Unjun, head of human resources for the Orichiono's. Optimus Prime correct? I was alerted there'd be two of you..."
Ah, he was introducing himself. "Optimus is correct."
The man nodded. "Good, good, so… what can I do for you?"
"I was wondering if you could inform me as to why you were at the Dam?"
"Hoover? Oh, Wren re-assigned me temporarily to infiltrate the Pentagon, they wanted someone to keep any eye on the military from the inside and have someone deep undercover and all that, apparently I was seen as the best bet and sent. I'm back to my normal job of managing the people working for the Orichiono's now, which is much preferable, not as much 'could be executed if discovered' stress and more 'Where the hell have those idiots gone?' stress." He chuckled at his own joke for a moment before taking a sip. "So… let me see if I've got your case file right, leader of a warring faction from a world no longer able to sustain itself?"
He nodded, somewhat alarmed at how accurate the assumption was. "How did…"
"I know? Oh it's my job to know, once Wren cracked the language in their systems, it was pretty easy for Ira to tap into the communications of the Decepticons on Earth from there, they're a really gobby bunch." He remarked.
That made sense. "Wren cracked our language?"
Flint nodded. "Iaconian standard I think… from there she was able to crack Ira and Kia's internal languages."
That was… odd. "They were all different?"
Flint shook his head. "No, the twins had one, Kia and Ira share another, there's a translation sheet upstairs in my office, Wren suggested we all have one readily available, just in case, care to join me?"
He was already walking further into the manor before he could answer.
So, he followed again, still holding the glass by its stem, careful not to squeeze it hard enough to break it.
Two flights of stairs, three corridors, and sixteen closed doors, before he was stepping through the one held open by Flint.
Sure enough, an office, crisp, well kept and a neatly stacked piles in the outbox.
"Wren doesn't like their employees making a mess."
He just hummed as Flint moved to the wall to wall bookcase that was filled with both files and hardback books.
The sudden urge to catalogue the exact position of each was something he had to quickly stamp down.
"Ah ha! Found it!" Flint cheered three folders in, pulling a collection of papers. "These are the translation sheets for the twins." A stack of the papers was pushed into his free hand, Flint took the glass from him. "And these are the translations for the ones in Kia and Ira."
It didn't even take him a second to recognise the layouts of each of the typographies. "Iaconian upper standard… and Praxian upper standard… is there any idea why the twins are different from Ira and Kia?"
Flint shrugged. "No clue, that's just what Wren managed to translate, she get it right? And if no, you're telling her, not me. I like my head where it is."
He regarded them again, surprised to find that the translations were accurate. "How did she even…"
"Wren doesn't like being idle, when her pede got mangled, the others forced her and Aria to remain in the caves, gave them lots of time to pull their internal systems apart, figure out what each function did, and then reversed the potential meanings back and… well… I'm only guessing here…"
He shrugged again, passing the glass back to him. "Now, how about I give you a proper tour?"
Back in the main hall, Ironhide grumbled to himself, more than once someone had tried to take him out onto the dancefloor, each time he opted to just ignore them till they went away.
Ratchet was humoured by the whole affair, his end of the bond bleeding reassurances that he wouldn't be mad if Ironhide cut loose and enjoyed the music, but he was too wound up, Prime had wandered off and he couldn't see the twins anywhere…
A tap on his shoulder and his temper flared. "Look I am not going to dance with yo- … Ira?"
The redhead's expression was off put, raised eyebrow, pursed brows and an aura of being less than impressed, though her attention wasn't on him, but the other guests. "C'mon, there's ah firin' range a' the otha en' ah tha esta'e."
A firing range?
Turns out the twins had good taste after all.
First the boxing ring, now a firing range.
Ratchet sent him a warning across the bond not to hurt himself, he went to rebuke but Ratchet was already reminding him over all the firing range 'mishaps' he'd had to repair, quickly cowing his own rebuke.
He conceded defeat, promising to be careful.
Ira certainly wasn't wearing attire that let her blend into a crowd, studded jacket, torn fishnet leggings, short shorts and a top with a bomb with a lit fuse on it.
Finishing off the ensemble were the geometric earings and the steel capped boots that caused the gravel to crunch on the ground lit path they were now walking along as dusk set in.
"How are you here?" He finally asked, keeping pace with her.
Ira replied. "Lon' distance holoform generators, go' ah beacon here an' in Barcelona, our frame transmits tha signal, an' the holoform appears here… i's still buggy, only go' the soun' workin' again this mornin', twins sugges'e' me an Kia s'ick aroun' fah tha par'y."
Soon enough a large structure appeared, hidden amoung the sprawling rose garden, Ira typing in a code into the pinpad lock on the door before swinging it aside. "C'mon in, sure tah fin' somethin' yah li'e tha feelin' of."
And with that, she switched the lights on.
It took a few moments before a manic smirk grew on his features. This wasn't just a firing range.
This was a fully stocked armoury that happened to have a firing range.
Ratchet sent a wave of concern over the bond that he was quick to reassure.
Ira shrugged off her studded jacket, hanging it up on the coat hooks bolted into the wall. "There's one gun yah can' touch in here." She pointed to the left, and Ironhide felt the weapons specialist in him croon at the sight in front of him.
It was a rifle, sleek, elegant, a magazine slot built into it's right side, a large silencer built onto the end a scope.
The whole thing was engraved with roses.
"Tha's Widower 2.0, Wren's gun, i' ain' tha original, nothin' can compare tah tha original Widower, bu' Wren'll s'ill run yah through if yah ma'e tha mis'a'e ah touchin' i'." She remarked, stepping over to where the massive rifle was mounted on the wall, just admiring the grey scale weapon.
He followed. "Caliber size?"
Ira huffed and chuckled. "50 cal, shou' ah seen tha face ah tha guy they commisione' when they tol' him they wan'ed a magazine for tha monsters."
He let out an appreciative whistle. "It's seen use?"
Ira nodded and smirked. "Hones'ly surprise' they don' have her with them."
That sent off an alarm bell. "What? Why?"
Ira laughed. "Oh Ironhi'e, i' ain' an Orichiono housewarmin' par'y if someone doesn' try tah kill tha twins."
And as if by some chance of fate or accidental timing, from the still open door rang a gunshot.
There was a quick scream from the manor, but the music kept playing.
Ira grabbed his shoulder. "Woul' be assasins' dea', don' worry, one ah Wren's boys too' Optimus on a tour."
Surprisingly, that was enough to reassure him, this was their norm.
Ira tapped his shoulder to get his attention again, and he found her holding a hand gun in each hand. "These ah more my style, le's have some fun."
The Gilded Falcon
There was barely anyone left.
The staff were all still there, but now, with it being just her and Jazz, it felt like she was on a ghost ship.
She clung close to Jazz's holoform, taking comfort in his presence amoung all the… oh god how did she even describe the crew?
They were almost lifeless, doing their duties, working their shifts, before disappearing into their own rooms for the night or day depending on the shift…
She'd tried to speak with a few, but something about how it almost seemed to bring them back alive temporarily… it scared her…
Jazz was getting flighty too, muttering that they reminded him of 'drones'.
At present, they were hunkering down in her room, Jazz hadn't even bothered with his since their first night together.
A French news broadcast acting as much needed background noise, they were cuddled up under the covers, just enjoying the others company.
After a few more moments Maggie let off a sigh. "I miss Glen…"
Jazz was well aware of who Glen was, and the arm around her waist pulled her closer. "Ah know sweetspark, first thing ah plan to do when we get to Rome is to start searching."
She tucked her head back under his chin. "Thank you…"
"Anything for you sweetspark." He replied, shifting just enough to kiss the top of her blonde hair.
Maggie just slumped further against his side, the fingers of her left hand entwined with his on her lap.
"Jazz?"
"Hmm?"
"I… I've never been to Europe before."
He chuckled. "Neither have I, guess we'll just have to stick close…"
"... What's Ira like? I mean.. You've seen more of her than me… And if we're going to be living with her..."
"Hmm, well, when ah first me' 'em, she lost her cool somethin' fierce and screamed bloody murder at Ironhide, got him across the face ah good coupla times too."
Maggie snorted out a lung full of air. "She did what?"
Jazz's shrug jostled her a bit. "Serves him right, he did refer to them as something quite unpleasant."
"Ahh, he had it coming then."
He chuckled and nuzzled the top of her head. "Yes, yes he did… hey.. Wait…" Jazz's attention was on the screen.
Maggie followed his gaze, it was a news report from Monaco? She got that at least.
Jazz, noticing her confusion, translated. "Apparently there was an assassination attempt, prospective victim had a license to carry… I think that's the Orichiono's place…"
She shrunk back into his hold. "Someone tried to kill them?"
"Unsuccessfully."
That didn't settle the knot in her gut. "God… what have we gotten ourselves involved with… I don't want to be a criminal…"
"And you ain' darlin'."
She grimaced. "Actually, I kinda am, I stole a copy of the signal used to hack the database in Qatar… they caught me and Glen and that's how we ended up in the dam."
Jazz didn't reply for a bit before speaking. "Oh…"
"Yeah…"
He chuckled then an nuzzled the side of her face before giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "You've been holdin' out on meh Mags... you got tha makin's of Spec Ops alread."
A chitter right in her ear jolted in her, and a moment later the little thing in her ear began to move, causing her to yelp in pain as it suddenly began to dislodge itself.
Jazz, startled by the noise, went to ask her what was wrong, freezing as blood hit the bare arm of his holoform, following it up he saw the sparkling was pulling itself loose. "Whoa Maggie, easy, little one just wants to move about…"
Maggie grit her teeth at the sensation. "Yah think?"
The sparkling chittered again and on reflex she caught it as it jumped down, rolling onto it's back in her palms to keep it's bladed legs up in the air.
This was the first time he'd actually seen the little one in full.
It's tiny singular green optic blinked up at them, chittering away as it waved it's blood stained legs up at them.
"I think it's hungry."
She laughed out a pained rasp. "And feed it what?"
"Simple… Energon… now… where's it's intake port…" He muttered, leaning to the side to better look at the little thing still squirming in her hand.
The little thing chirped and sprung up, causing her to wince as it's little blades poked her skin, it was so light it didn't break the skin, but having a bunch of scalpels in her hand wasn't exactly fun. "Ok, now, don't excite Skitter."
Jazz paused and turned his head to look at her. "Skitter?"
Maggie nodded. "Been calling him that in my head for a while now… right Skitter?"
The little thing, Skitter, chirped again and jumped.
This time the blades did cut and she winced, reflexively dropping him onto the uneven bedding between her legs, causing Skitter to whine in distress and flail around.
Jazz was quick to react, picking the little bot by it's back so it's legs dangled, and his other hand went to hers, bringing it close to look it over, just small punctures, the blood seeping out sluggish. "C'mon, there should be a medic somewhere on this ship."
Maggie nodded, shuffling to get out of the bed, thankful they'd not stripped each other for a change.
Jazz followed quickly behind, lifting up the little bot that seemed to be trying to swing it's frame in his hold towards Maggie.
Not surprising, sparklings imprinted on the first thing they saw, in this case, it was apparently Maggie.
But now it was out of her ear, did she really want to let it back?
That would be a matter for later, after they'd gotten Maggie's hand bandaged.
Orichiono Manor, Monaco
The sounds of repetitive gunfire was something Ironhide had sorely missed.
And having a shooting partner who got just as into it as himself was just an added bonus.
They'd already had to replace a number of the cut-outs, having absolutely decimated them once Ira had pulled a tripod mounted gatling gun and she'd let him just unleash all hell whilst she fed the magazine.
They were now having a marksman competition, closest to a perfect headshot won.
It was tight, but his millenia of warfare won him victory.
Ira suddenly let off a whoop of joy, despite having lost, she threw her arms up and jumped, before swinging round and pulling him into a crushing hug. "Ah ain' ha' this much fun in ages!"
The sudden exuberance on top of everything got a laugh out of him as he managed to hug her back, holding up the wild redhead to stop her from falling on her aft.
Ratchet sent a humoured yet curious pulse across the bond.
He wasn't sure why, but the question was out before he'd even fully thought it through. "Oh? And when was the last time you mad fem?"
Like a flip had been switched, Ira slumped in his hold, becoming nothing but dead weight as her holoforms head thunked against his broad shoulder.
Alarmed, he jostled her. "Fem, fem, what's the matter with you?"
Ira whimpered and shook her head against his shoulder.
Ratchet was expressing his own concern across the bond, such a massive emotional swing wasn't good on a spark, especially one as erratic as Ira's.
Thankfully he knew pretty much what to do, with Ira a dead weight on him he moved to one of spaces between the gun racks, easing the Harpy's holoform down to sit against the wall.
As quickly as misery had replaced joy, despondency replaced misery.
He clapped a hand on her shoulder, jolting her enough for her head to roll to the side. "Kid, kid, snap out of it would yah?"
Suddenly he had an idea, and com-linked Optimus. "Prime, it's Ira, she's… she's not responding, get one of the Harpies, we're in the armoury."
Optimus just sent a confirmation ping.
Attention back in front of him, he realised she was starring at him now, her gaze hollow.
"I was las' tha' happy… tha mornin' tha love ah my life... didn' come home..."
Something in his spark twisted, and Ratchet's own worried yet knowing dread only made it worse.
She was going limp again, gaze going distant.
There was sounds of running footfalls on the gravel path, and within moments Aria and Wren were there, their canines still at their heels.
Ironhide moved aside, watching as the twins easily hefted the over up, putting an arm over both of their shoulders while muttering something in a hushed whisper his holoform couldn't pick up on.
Kia and Optimus stood waiting just outside the shooting ranges doors, despite the sunglasses on the former, their expressions of concern seemed to be identical.
Kia quickly followed after the rest of the Harpies.
Ironhide moved to his Prime's side, watching as Ira's dead weight was lead away. "This has happened before…" He muttered.
Optimus nodded. "You have an idea why?"
Ironhide nodded. "Spark damage, she said her human sparkmate didn't come home… considering everything… I'm not surprised... Poor kid..."
Optimus hummed, that did line up with Ratchet's earlier assessment. "I'll alert Jazz, he'll need to keep a close optic on her, for her own good."
Something else was on Optimus mind, he hadn't fought by the mechs side this long and not be able to pick up on that. "What's wrong Optimus?"
The taller holoform pulled something from inside the suit, a bunch of papers stapled together. "Wren's head of human resources provided these… there the code languages in the Harpies."
Ironhide felt his holoforms eyebrow raise, but he looked them over nonetheless. "Iaconian and Praxian?"
"Indeed, there's a number of questions this raises, I mapped Earth against Cybertron, the locations of the Harpies bird sides don't match, nor do the assumed locations of their origins. Why the twins have Iaconian and Ira and Kia Praxian, it is… a confusing detail… one that only further complexes this puzzle we find ourselves in…"
Wren and Aria grunted, easing their friend back down onto their large bed.
Kia hung back, overseeing what was going on whilst she awaited one of the servers to return with a jug and glass of water.
Aria slipped onto the bed to join the younger red head, pulling the still catatonic holoform to her. "Shhh… shhh… it's okay… you're okay… it's all in the past…"
Ira's grip became tight, the nails of her holoform cutting through the fabric the white twin wore with ease as she finally moved, burying her head into the dip between Aria's shoulder and neck.
Wren moved to join, slowly running her hand down the others back, a soothing motion she practically had down to an art form as the tension in Ira's holoform was slowly eased away. "Facile mon ami ... facile ... nous sommes ici …" She muttered.
She knew Ira didn't know a lick of french, but she knew it had a calming effect, to just listen to the sounds and not know the words.
Wren could call her a shit faced whore and it would probably help just as much.
But she also knew that Aria would choke herself trying not to laugh, and that would of tipped Ira off.
It had happened before, so she avoided it.
The waiter finally arrived, passing the jug and glass to Kia before whispering that the guests were now departing.
Kia nodded her thanks, moving further into the room to set the jug and glass down on the bedside table. "Drink Ira, it will ground you."
Ira's hold didn't waiver, and Wren sent Kia a look asking to give the red head more time to calm herself.
Kia accepted the silent request, this wasn't her place, she was just filling extra space.
So, she moved to the guest room, and pulled up the latest report from Barricade and began reading.
No real changes, Fernando was still demanding they move immediately to Europe to come hunt her and the other Harpies down, and Starscream refused outright everytime.
She almost laughed, the mental image of her younger brother in a near constant screaming/insult match with the Second in command of the Decepticons was certainly entertaining, though the older sister in her couldn't help but worry.
A knock on the door drew her attention to Winston, who had made the quick trip across the border earlier that morning. "Mikaela called."
She raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What was the matter?"
"Nothing serious, she wished to ask if there was a store in the area that sold notebooks, apparently Bumblebee has already burned through seven, and four pens."
She huffed a laugh. "Let her know, I'll deal with it, one can't fault the scout for wanting to talk."
Winston shook his head. "Not at all my lady… And on a similar note, the medical textbooks Ratchet requested have arrived."
She nodded. "Very good, is that all Winston?"
The giant of a man nodded.
"Dismissed, go have some fun, I'm certainly one of the twins staff would be willing to keep you company."
Months ago the giant would of flustered at that, but Kia was a frank woman, and he hadn't grown accustomed. "Goodnight Mrs Estrada."
"Goodnight Winston."
Another chapter down, I've got a couple I'm gonna try and let loose within the next week or so, though I'm going back to Uni in just over a week for my final year, so I can't really make any promises, oh well, until next time!
