Here's another Chapter! Little a late, I do apologize but at least it's being delivered.
A sigh left my mouth and my fingers pinched the bridge of my nose. "Does it look like I can take any time off? Tipps is nearly beyond pissed with me randomly skipping work, taking a week off without any warning, and now going to the base for however long until the bad guys go bye-bye. Please tell you're joking." I needed to be paid enough this month so I have a house to live in.
Both of the men in front of me shook their heads. "Sorry Brey, but after you getting captured by Barricade and running into Breakdown wasn't a coincidence, we can't take any risks on your safety. But I did talk to your sergeant and you're going to get R-time for missing work," Epps answered with sympathy in his voice.
R-time? I remember being told what that was when I was in training but never had the reason to use it until now. "At least I'm going to be paid while out. Fine, let me get a few things packed and I'm taking the dogs with me. I don't trust anyone else except myself for keeping them safe," I argued, a sharp tone to my voice. I love those dogs like they were my own flesh and blood because they have given me company in my darkest times.
"Bring a lead line or leashes-actually bring both. You don't want one of them to get under one of the bots pedes," Will allowed me to bring the dogs. With our agreement done for, I went back inside of my house and packed everything needed for a week stay at the base as they don't know how long I'll be staying there.
A duffle bag and two large plastic bags of dogs' food later, I was ready to leave for my unwanted stay. I'd rather be out in the field, working side by side with the animals of Maine. That's the reason for me becoming a Game Warden in the first place but I am being forced to go somewhere for 'safety'. I'd rather have not been dragged into this mess anyway.
Will wasn't going to let me take my truck sadly and I decided to ride with Sideswipe, even with what happened about five days ago. I needed to get over what happened in the past and not let it mess with me in future. That's what my goal is anyway.
Not too surprising, the inside of Sideswipe's alt. mode had back seats which the dogs were forced back there. He allowed me to sit in the driver seat so the car had a "driver" to everyone's else's eyes.
Vivian, being the cutie and sweetheart she is, decided to hop in the empty passenger seat once the driver side door was shut. "Vivi, get back in the back." I ordered while giving her the mother look. She gave me her normal pathetic looking sad face.
"It's fine, she can be our co-pilot," he offered and it did sound like a good idea because you cannot say that to her face, it's nearly impossible with her.
I left her to her own devices. "C-can I drive for a little bit?" I asked bashfully while rubbing my hands nervously together. I really wanna to drive the beautiful red Lamborghini and feel the power under his hood.
His chuckled sounded around me from the speakers. "Of course, I was going to offer that anyway." I squealed like pig and jumped in my seat with excitement. My hands gripped the leather steering wheel tightly before running both of them along the sides of it, feeling the smoothness.
The entire inside of his alt. mode shook and the seatbelt tightened, pulling me against the leather seats. "I would stop if I were you." His voice dropped a couple octaves and literally rumbled the inside of his alt. mode. My hands flew to my lap at the moment he said that and a heavy blush covered my face.
"I'm-I'm sorry. I-I didn't kn-know," I apologized quickly and kept my gaze down at my hands. The seatbelt slightly loosened in reaction of my apology.
"Remember where you are when you're with us," Sideswipe reminded, still with his voice lower. I nodded my head swiftly then placed my hands back on the steering wheel and put the supercar into drive. This was going to be a long ride to the base.
Yep, I called it; it felt like one eternity later when we finally drove passed the guard station. Will, who was with Ironhide, lead us to the big Main hangar where I could see a couple of bots talking with each other or some of the humans.
Sideswipe took over the controls and decided to do a burnout and zoom pass Ironhide. That's what happened until Ironhide's voice came through the speakers, anger evident in his voice. "Sideswipe! Get your aft back over here or I swear to Primus I will drag you by your audi-." Sideswipe interrupted the raging weapon specialist.
"Whoa, calm down before you glitch 'Hide. I'm going to show Brey where the cool places are so she doesn't have to hang around you old bots." Not a good choice of words in my opinion; I would respect my higher-ups if I were him. I have gotten on the wrong end of a weapon specialist before, AKA Steele.
"Sideswipe, you shouldn't anger him. Being on the wrong end of a weapon specialist is not the greatest idea in the world," I warned with my voice hinting at a bit of fright.
He started to argue with me before stopping and sighing. "Fine- wait! Has Ironhide threatened you?!" he sounded a bit pissed off at the ridiculous assumption.
"No-no-no, I was talking about Steele. He was a weapon specialist when he was in the military. One time, I pissed him off so much for the fun of it… well, let's just say it wasn't pretty for me," I chuckled nervously at the brought up memory of angering Dom.
"He hurt you! Oh, that glitch. When I get done with him…" he trailed off. Why was he getting- oh no! He's going to turn into him…
"Sideswi-," he interrupted me this time.
"Sides, you can call me Sides."
"O-oh, okay. It's fine, I was joking anyway. Dom would never hurt me in his life, no matter how mad I made him." I was an okay liar if I thought up a good excuse but this was off the fly and sounded worse than a five year old lying.
"You're a terrible liar, Brey. Don't worry; he'll learn not to mess with you again." At the sound of words, my hands were shaking as memories of him showed up in my brain. Both can't control me, not now, not ever.
"No! Don't you dare hurt him, or God help me, I will bash in your head so badly, not even your brother would recognize you," I nearly growled from protectiveness over my great friend. I could feel the tension between us growing even thicker at the end of my sentence but gladly he didn't make any more comments.
Sides drops my dogs and I off at the Main hangar with Will and Ironhide before him and his brother peel away from us. I felt the tiniest bad for saying those words to him and wanted to chase after him to apologize but Will stopped me. "What's their problem?" Will questioned.
I shrug my shoulders as if I didn't know. "I don't know. So could I have a room to put my stuff, though I wouldn't mind staying out with the stars," I joked, allowing a smile to grace my lips.
"Of course you would but sure." He turns to 'Hide who was still in his alt. mode. "Could you take us to the barracks?"
"Do I look like a taxi?" he grunted, sounding the tiniest bit ticked off about being asked that. Will gave him a look and Ironhide gave in by opening his door and giving a rough 'get in'. I nearly forget about the dogs.
"Wait, Ironhide. Could I put the dogs in the bed and sit with them on the tailgate?" I inquired politely, still a little bit fearful of saying something wrong around these guys.
All he gave me as an answer was the tailgate falling down not-so-softly. "You owe me a wash for doing this for you and your mutts." I couldn't really argue with him and nodded my head.
The puppies already knew what the tailgate dropping meant and rushed to the back end of the sentient truck. Kodiak was the first and only to be able to get one the back of the tall truck bed. While Vivian placed her front paws on the edge of the tailgate, waiting for me to lift her up there and I did just that. I set down my duffle bag of clothes and other womanly supplies and the two large plastic bags of dog on it.
Jumping up on the tailgate and sitting my butt down on it, Ironhide gets his wheels rolling towards the barracks. I wave a good-bye to Mirage and Drift still in the Main hangar and happily received a wave from the two of them.
We arrived at the barracks a couple of minutes later thanks to Ironhide being our escort and he waited not-so-patiently for us to finish. Will and I walked up the stairs, him carrying the dog's food and the dogs following closely behind, until we reached a room on the second floor. He opens it and both of us enter the small room; it wouldn't matter anyway, I won't be in here that often.
He sets down the dog food on the only desk in here and I put down my duffle bag on the neatly made bed. "Let's get back down before 'Hide gets too impatiently of us 'taking our time'," Will pointed out and I agreed on that. Ironhide was has the worse patience in the world.
All four of us rush down the stairs of the three story tall building, the dogs thinking we are playing chase and tried to trip us on the way back to Ironhide. Gladly the dogs failed in their attempt of fun and we made it back to Ironhide safely.
Once again, three of us are sitting in the bed of Ironhide's alt. mode while Will gets the pleasure of sitting up in the front. This won't be fun when the weapon specialist makes me wash him and hopefully not clean his interior or that will be a little too far in my opinion.
Ironhide takes us back to the Main hangar and drops us off before heading off somewhere on the base. Will leads me up the tall staircase and onto the large platform, letting me take a seat at a semi-cover desk of papers. Now that's going to make me mad about how disorganized it all is.
"Will, do excuse my French, but what in the fuck is this mess in front of me? You know I'm a perfectionist and thought it was a good idea to sit me in front of this bullshit," I scolded and crossed my arms over my chest, a glint in my eyes.
"It's not tha-okay, yep I know what to say to that face. Go right ahead and do your thing. But! No over working yourself, I don't need you collapsing in my living room again," Will ordered. Out of nowhere, Ratchet comes from around the corner of the Main hangar, his eyes already finding mine with a hardened glare.
"You what! What's with you humans thinking you can do everything," Ratchet grumbled out loud and made his way over to us, standing in front of us about eye level with us.
I nervously scratched the back of neck and keeping my eyes away from his direction. "At least we aren't one of the ones that sit on their butt and play one their phone like children these days. But yeah, she did that once. I think it was called the Haiser case or something like that."
"She wanted to catch this guy so badly she overworked herself so much, she collapsed in my living room. Gave me and Sarah a fright when we thought she died." Great, now he has to tell everyone in the base about my past mistakes.
"Shut up. I caught the guy in the end about two days after the whole ordeal so it doesn't need to be brought up anymore," I mumbled and glared at the major of the base. He gave me a toothy smile before leaving to go and talk to someone else. Which meant, I had to deal with the pissed off CMO.
"If I ever have you in my Med. Bay for something like that, I will force you to take it easy." He did not sound happy on any level; note to self: don't get hurt while on base or you'll face the wrath of Ratchet.
Being done with the cleaning of the desk, I was beginning to get bored sitting there with the two dogs play fighting. I decided to see if anything else would entertain my attention.
And I found it not too later in the day. Ironhide was training some of the soldiers of the base, making sure to keep them on their toes about the bad bots. Still don't have a firm grasp of what's going on why they are here and between the two factions.
"If you're going to stand there and do nothing, you might as well join us," Ironhide grunted and crossed his arms over his chest.
An idea came to mind while he was talking. "Actually, I have something even better then joining. I have an offer for you: we go against each other in sparring and shooting. If I win both, you have to take me to Baskin Robins and pay for what I get and paint yourself hot pink for an entire week." This is going to be good if he agrees.
"Fine but when I win, I can ask you anytime to give me a wash and clean my interior for two weeks." High stakes on the line, hopefully this is worth it.
"Deal." We both nodded our heads at the same time.
"You boys and girls can take a break or watch the outcome of this," Ironhide offered before leading me to the area where the outdoor shooting range is. Last time we went against each other, I got my ass literally handed to me. I know there is chance for me to win against him in sparring. He may be bigger than me and have more strength then me but I have skill on my side. You don't mess with an ex-wrestler.
Remembering the dogs most likely won't like the loud bang noises from the gun, I asked for one of the soldiers to take the dogs away. She gladly agreed and took them about fifty feet away for their safety.
The rules are we only get one minute to empty a clip while hitting bull's-eyes on the sheet of paper on the other end of the shooting range. Also Ironhide will be using his holoform so it about fair size wise between the two of us. Lastly, no distracting the shooter or you will get disqualified from the match.
First up was Ironhide; as he stepped up to the 'barricade', he turned to me. "Good luck." He must have remembered last time when he nearly demolished me. With that said, he took aim and easily emptied the clip in less than thirty seconds.
From our position (including all the soldiers who wanted to watch), we could tell he made every single one as it made a big hole in the middle. At that moment, I knew I fucked up. Going against a weapon specialist in a shooting challenge is like a fighting fire with a tree branch, this won't end well for me.
One of the soldiers ran over and set up a new poster for me to shoot. He came back with Ironhide's and showed us what it looked like up close. The entire middle was missing, meaning he didn't miss a shot and had a ten out of ten score.
All of them had a worried look at the sight of the destroyed paper, knowing I'm going to literally get my ass handed to me by the brute. I didn't let that stop me though and erase any emotion of worry or dread on my face. I stepped up to the plate with the gun he used in hand. It was warm from his grip and from how many bullets flew from the barrel so quickly.
The first shot from the gun started the timer, making me hurriedly shoot the rest of the bullets, not leaving one bullet in the clip. I realized I had closed my eyes during the thing, scared to see the end result of my great shooting. I may be a great shooter on the Game Warden service but that's not going to help me going against Ironhide.
Lopez ran over to my poster and grabbed it before rushing back to us with a grim look on his face. He held it out in front of us and a sigh left my mouth.
My bullet holes all made it into the center except three of them; this meant I lost and had to wash the weapon specialist at anytime he wanted. The next thing we have on the list was sparring against each other and this is my chance where I can either get him to paint himself hot pink or take me out for Baskin Robins.
Ironhide lead us over to where the wrestling mats are which were covered by a thin layer of dust from lack of use. We didn't say anything to each other, knowing we are both matched for each other and nothing needed to be said.
We both got into position and waited for the referee to start us off. When given the signal to begin, we circled each other, sizing the other and observing for any weakness. What caught my eye was how top heavy he is. His legs were just strong enough to hold his weight but probably not enough for an extra one-hundred and eighty.
First off, I went for a drive which was when you plow your shoulder into their stomach and grab the back of their calves. Then you slightly lift up and pull their legs out from underneath them, easily taking them down to the ground. It worked for me and went down quickly.
The salt and pepper holoform used the fall to advantage and twist us around so he was on top. He held both of my wrists in his grasp, pinning them to the mat while straddling my hips. He thought he had me but after a few years of wrestling under my belt, I knew how to get out of this.
I was able to get my legs free and plant them on his chest. With all the strength in my legs, I push him back and rapidly get back on feet waiting for him to attack me this time. Since he was mostly strength and muscle, he was having a tiny bit of trouble getting off the ground. I use that to my advantage this time.
With him still getting off the ground, I grabbed one of his arms and twisted it behind his back. This causes him to scramble to get his arm released and away from the painful position it is in. That doesn't work for him and I grabbed his other arm, also putting his painfully behind his back.
He falls onto his face without his upper support. I use my legs to pull his knees out from underneath him and straddle the brute on the ground. I waited for the few seconds for me to win. When the referee sounded the whistle, I let him go and got off the ground, proud of beating him and getting Baskin Robins after this.
All the soldiers around me clapped and cheered for me winning a battle thought of me losing. Ironhide got off the ground and stuck out his hand as to shake on it. We did but he squeezed my hand tightly, nearly crushing my hand in the process.
"You had me there. How are you so good? Normally the femmes on your planet don't know how to defend themselves," Ironhide pointed out of the obvious.
A smirk grew on my lips as a few memories of me doing wrestling in middle and high school when I was younger. "I wasn't like any of the other girls in school. I actually went against school code and join wrestling for the fun of it. I won few and learned a lot from my mistakes," I explained as his real form rolled up to us and transformed. His holoform disappeared out of nowhere, making it seem like he was only a ghost.
"Also you owe me a Baskin Robbin trip once I'm allowed to leave."
"Okay, a deal is a deal but you owe a wash whenever I ask for it." Damn, almost forgot about that. With the whole thing said and for, we split ways: him training some of the soldiers of the base and I going back to my room with my dogs to rest up. I haven't done something like that in a while and my muscles were already getting a little sore from the exercise.
The day was coming to an end and I was sure thankful for that. Hopefully soon I can go back to my job and home for that matter. I do appreciate Will watching out for my safety and taking me to the secret military base but I'd rather be at home.
Kodiak and Vivian couldn't fit on the small cot and I knew they would cry and do their bitch until they could sleep with me. Instead of wanting to listen to that, I grabbed a pillow and blanket from the cot and laid down on the floor. The dogs found their normal spots on or near my body and easily fell asleep. I, on the other hand, stared off into space without the intention of falling of asleep.