chapter seven
Unlike most bases she had been stationed at, the mess hall at the Autobot base wasn't very crowded. Including Anna's team, there were twenty soldiers, two commanding officers that outranked Anna, and one liaison officer whose sole duty was to keep the human government from pissing the Autobots off. Anna's team sat together at the same table, and as usual Epps was late. Anna sat up a bit straighter, trying to find her teammate. She didn't like it when she couldn't see her team. It wasn't like they couldn't take care of themselves, things just had a knack for going wrong when they were separated. Anna liked being where she could back them up if they needed it.
Suddenly Epps slid into his seat just in front of Anna, in between Stringer and Jones, and flashed Anna a grin. "Did you miss me?"
O'Connell, sitting on Anna's left, rolled his eyes. "Like a hangnail." he shot back. "Dude, where were you? You're later than normal." Jones nodded agreement. Sing flashed Epps a grin.
"Were you and Jazz out harassing the Twins again?" he teased.
"Very funny." Epps shot back. "Actually, I took the scenic route. Amais was blocking my path, and where Amais is, Grisko ain't far behind." Anna's eyes darkened. Sing and Stringer tensed, while O'Connell and Jones exchanged looks.
"If he tries something on base, he's an idiot." Jones muttered.
O'Connell snickered. "Especially since the Twins are really good at pranks." he added with a grin. "We'll get him back good." Anna simply shook her head as the two continued to debate pranks. She doubted Grisko would do anything while on base aside from being generally unpleasant, but he was her problem. She didn't want her team or even the Twins getting involved.
"Ignore them for now." she said dismissively. "Aside from Grisko and Amais, who else is here?"
Epps shrugged. "According to Jazz, the soldiers don't exactly introduce themselves, so the last normal soldiers they knew was our fathers and their team. The two commanding officers are Derek Bale and Kate Ember." he informed them. "However, I did notice that Grisko's sadistic little sister is here as well." Stringer grinned viciously. While no one was actively violent towards each other on base, Grisko, Amais, and Grisko's sister, Kanya, always managed to clash with the team. It may have been the fact that Grisko was one of those soldiers who didn't care about collateral damage, wars, or anything except his own promotions.
Or it could have had a lot to do with a particular incident back in basic, one that showed Grisko's true nature to the team.
"Well, look who's here."
Anna twisted around in her seat to glare up at the man who was calmly glaring back. He was taller than her, older than her, with blond hair and blue eyes. Anna flashed him a grin. She hated the man, but a fight wasn't worth a night in the brig. "Hey, Grisko. What brings you to my neck of the woods?"
Grisko scowled impressively. "This is my base, Lennox. The question is, what are you doing here?"
"The Autobots invited us." Jones quipped.
"Besides, this base belongs to Optimus." Sing said flatly.
"What does Prime know?" Grisko sneered. "This is our world, not his. When the Decepticons are gone, we'll drive him out too." Sing's eyes flashed, but a look from Anna kept him in his seat. Grisko continued on, oblivious to the mounting tension. "I saw you guys the other day. You're in here, what, twelve hours and already you're acting buddy-buddy with the robots. So what's the story? Hoping Prime will recommend you for a promotion?"
"If he does," Anna said dryly, "at least I'll finally outrank you. Then I can order you to shut your mouth and go away."
She wasn't expecting it. Honestly, she should have been. How many times had she accidentally pushed Grisko's buttons and gotten beat for it? At least then the fights stayed off-base, so neither of them got into trouble for it.
Grisko hauled off and socked her across the mouth, knocking her from her chair. She didn't have the chance to get up and fight back on her own. The others did that for her. In a flash Sing and O'Connell were in between Grisko and Anna, blocking his access to her. Side arms were drawn, but no one fired. Epps was already calling for someone higher-ranked than him, and Stringer and Jones were on the ground beside Anna, checking the damage. There was a dark bruise already forming around the corner of her mouth, but the fire in her eyes was unmistakable. It was only a deep voice, clearly agitated, from outside that stopped her from shoving Sing and O'Connell aside and attacking Grisko then and there.
"What's going on?" Optimus, clearly worried. Apparently Epps put up one heck of a fuss to get someone in there. The commanding officers Ember and Bale walked into the mess hall. Ember hung back a few minutes and said something to Optimus. The Autobot leader didn't look too pleased, but apparently he had bigger problems. Anna could already hear Ironhide demanding to be told what had happened.
Bale walked up to the group, anger clear in the set of his shoulders. "Someone care to explain?" he snapped.
"She attacked me." Grisko said immediately. "I was just trying to defend myself."
O'Connell tensed. "That's not the way I saw it." he snipped. "Grisko backhanded Lennox. Stupid thing to do in front of her own team. We kept him from doing any more damage." Bale glanced over at Anna, and while he could see the damage done, Anna wasn't looking at him. Her eyes were locked onto Grisko, as if waiting for the next attack.
Bale sighed. "Will warned us we'd have problems with you two." he muttered. "All right, Grisko. You know the rules." He walked over and handcuffed the blonde man. "We'll put you in the brig until we can figure out what to do with you." Bale handed Grisko off to Ember, who quietly guided the steaming man away. Bale turned back to Anna. "Go get cleaned up."
Anna snapped a tight salute and stalked away. The others didn't bother going after her. She would be fine with Ironhide out there.
/----/
Ironhide tracked Anna to the hill where Optimus liked to relax. She wasn't facing the base though – her attention was turned to the fence, as if standing guard. Ironhide sat down beside her. "The human soldier hurt you." It was a simple statement, and yet Anna could hear the confusion in his voice. She shrugged.
"Back in basic, Grisko liked to use his rank to get people to do things for him. Breaking the rules, things you could get court-marshaled for." she explained. "He's a power-hungry little man. He tried it on me once, and I told him where to shove it. He attacked me then, too. I laid him out, but we both got thrown into the brig for it. Since we were just starting out, the commanding officer went easy on us and didn't put it in our records. We haven't gotten into a fight on base since then until now. He just hates the fact that he can't make me fear him." She sighed and sat down. "Man, he makes me tired."
Ironhide nodded. "Epps was making threats as they took Grisko away." he said calmly. "Something that I'm pretty sure is physically impossible to do to a human. In fact, it's a threat I've used against the Twins once or twice." He almost seemed to be smiling at her. It was hard to tell. "Where did he pick that up from?"
Anna smirked. "Me. And before you ask, Dad got it from you. He used it once around me, then I got the chance to use it around Epps." She seemed to be in a better mood now, which had been Ironhide's intent from the start. Now if he could just find a way to keep Grisko from ever coming back on base, he figured he might be able to keep her happy.
He had grown dangerously attached to Anna in such a short period of time. Five days together hardly seemed like a lot, but Anna was very much like her father and too much like Ironhide himself. He wasn't the only one either. Each of the Autobots seemed to be taking a liking to Anna's team, even Optimus. It wasn't smart, and it would probably cost them later on in some battle, but it was inevitable, he guessed.
Just one of the risks of living on Earth.
/----/
AN: I got to see Revenge of the Fallen! Holy crap, that was a funny movie! So for those of you who have seen it, this story is going to be taking certain elements from that movie and making them my own. Not to mention a couple of quotes if I can work them in. (grins) More characters next chapter, and plot!