Will yawned, stretching as he stepped out his room into the brightly lit hallway. Red, green and blue lights flashed across his hands, but the exhausted commander didn't notice as he strode towards the cafeteria, humming Deck the Halls under his breath.
"Morning, Will!" Epps called, grinning as the Santa Hat on his head bobbed.
Will gave a tired wave, blinking slowly as he filled his plate. It took him a moment to realize that everyone at the table was wearing Santa hats, and so was he.
"Why is-?" He trailed off.
"The Santa hats? Dunno where they came from. You seen Ellie or Leon?" Epps shoved his mouth full of hashbrowns.
"No. I'm still half asleep." Will shook his head.
"Found them." Fig pointed to the two women entering the cafeteria.
"LEON TAYLOR LENNOX! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" Will bellowed, bolting to his feet.
Leon paused, planting her hands on her hips.
"Getting breakfast. Why?"
"What are you WEARING!?" Will growled, his expression mirrored by Epps.
Leon glanced down.
"This? I bought it in Norway, when Prowl and Optimus sent me and the Twins." She shrugged.
Will's eyes narrowed, and he glared at the outfit she was wearing.
Her top was a green midriff tube-top with white fluff on both the strapless top and the bottom. The shorts she wore were tiny, and were over a pair of fishnets. The belt around her waist was covered in bells, and her shoes were ankle high, green stiletto boots with more gold bells. Her hair was curled and held away from her face by a gold ribbon.
Ellie's outfit wasn't much better.
The mocha woman was dressed in a red mini-dress with a white mesh tutu. The belt under her bosom was black, and a pair of over the knee white furry boots had appeared on her feet. Ellie's hair was pulled back in a mess of ringlets, and a striped Santa Hat sat on her head.
"Festive, aren't they?" Ellie chirped, grinning while she filled her plate with red and green pancakes.
"Men have no taste." Leon chuckled, striding towards them.
"As soon as you're finished your breakfast, both of you are changing." Will growled.
"Thank you for the offer." Leon mumbled through her toast. "But no thanks. I'm too lazy."
"And I spent half-an-hour doing her hair."
"What's with the music?" Epps suddenly frowned, tilting his head.
Sure enough, Christmas carols were playing over the loud speakers.
"And when did we get a Christmas tree? And who hung decorations and lights?!" Will did a three-sixty as he took in the changes.
"Jingle bells, jingle bells. Jingle all the way." Leon cackled, leaving her half finished breakfast on the table as she raced away.
"Why do I have the feeling it was those two?" Epps growled as Ellie chased after her friend.
"It couldn't have been."
When Optimus walked into his office that morning, he stopped dead.
He was quite sure when he left the night before, his office definably was not blue, or covered in snowflakes.
His chair, his desk, his data pads, his styluses, his garbage; all of it was wrapped in snowflake covered blue wrapping paper. Everything, including the walls, were wrapped.
The custom painted Peterbilt strode forward, watching where he placed his feet and swatting away the paper snowflakes dangling from the rafters.
Whoever had done this had gone to a lot of work doing it.
He chuckled, prodded the well wrapped chair, before settling into it. The paper crinkled and ripped a little.
Optimus made sure to take a picture and store it in his memory banks before going to work.
"Renegade, this is Sundance. Secret Mission: Wrapping Paper is successful. Over."
"Rodger. Check on the other Secret Missions. Over."
"Sure thing. Over."
He lifted his optics, a smile on his face as he shook his head. It was best to just let them play.
Leon whistled to the tune of whatever carol was playing over the speakers, watching as Ironhide warmed up his cannons. A smirk crossed her face as he took aim.
The mechanic grinned, watching as he sighted down the barrel and fired. Leon whipped out her phone and captured the look on Ironhide's face as he stared at the white confetti that was fluttering through the air.
"What the frag?!" He roared, peering into the cannon with a scowl.
"What was that? Let's see the other one!" Leon cheered, hiding her phone from his view. Ironhide nodded, and fired his other cannon, only to receive anoter large blast of "snow".
Leon pressed the comm hidden under her curls.
"Fistfight, this is Sundance. Flick the switch, over."
"Flicking! Over!"
Ironhide looked up when he heard a loud creak and he snarled as he was suddenly doused in white paint.
"Renegade, this is Sundance. Secret Mission: Snow Miser is operational. Over."
"Right. I'm activating the playback. Over."
"Gosh, 'Hide." Leon faked concern. "Are you okay?"
"I'm white."
"Yeah..."
"I'm..." Ironhide made a funny face and his cannons fired up by themselves. "Mister White Christmas. I'm Mister Snow. I'm Mister Icicle. I'm Mister Ten Below! Friends call me Snow Miser. Whatever I touch, turns to snow in my clutch. I'm too much!"
"He's Mister White Christmas." Leon chortled, jumping down from her perch on Larry the once-engineless jeep. "He's Mister Snow."
"That's right!"
"Bye-bye, Hide! Have fun!" Leon cackled as she sped out of the training room in Larry. "Renegade, Secret Mission: Snow Miser is complete."
Sidz and Mudflap peered at Ratchet, who was grumbling in his office with the door open. The green Twin hopped down from the berth they were seated on to open the door a crack. Leon appeared, and she grinned as Ratchet suddenly fell to the floor.
"So, we's get to see you's graffiti skill!?"The red Twin grinned.
"Right. Fadeaway, keep watch." Leon moved towards Ratchet.
"Yes, ma'am." Mirage's voice floated by and the door opened and closed.
-';-;'-
Ratchet woke with a groan, rubbing his helm with his hand as he sat up.
"What am I doing on the floor?" He asked, pushing himself up and then he froze.
His bright green paint was not green.
In fact, it was red. Red, with a black belt, and black pedes, and there was some big white fuzzy thing attached to his face.
The medic moved over to the mirror in his berth room, and his optics flashed angrily.
Staring back at him was a Cybertronian version of the human's Santa Claus.
"SKIDZ! MUDFLAP!" The medic roared, storming for the door.
"Renegade, this is Sundance. Seceret Mission: Hatchet Claws was successful."
"Rodger that. I've warned the Tiny Twins and they're hiding in the brig. Which I find stupid..."
"Oh well."
Will strode down the hallway, keeping an eye out for his niece. He was so concentrated, that he ran into Prowl's leg.
Prowl was just standing there, arms crossed and legs spread apart. His door wings were held at sharp angles, indicating that the SIC was serious.
"Hello, Prowl." Will craned his neck back. "Why are you standing in the middle of the hallway?"
"My apologies, Major Lennox." Prowl glanced down. "I cannot allow you to pass into this corridor."
"Why?"
"There seems to be a leak from Wheeljack's lab. It has seeped through the vents and into this area. I am awaiting the arrival of another bot, preferably Ratchet or Wheeljack. You will have to take another route until the leak has been contained."
"Right. Okay..." Will turned around and made his way to the intersection he'd seen last. He cast a confused look at Prowl, who hadn't moved, before Lennox continued down the new hallway.
Prowl lifted a hand to his helm, poking his head into the hanger behind him.
"Renegade, Sundance, this is Searchlight. Secret Mission: Ice was successfully hidden. Civilian Bootstrap was directed down another hall."
"Rodger that, Searchlight. Good job."
"This is Optimus Prime."
The humans and bots alike turned their attention to the PA system with looks of confusion.
"Please meet within the human cafeteria and Autobot rec room in a breem. Thank you."
"What's that about?" Arcee frowned, subspacing her blaster. Chromia shrugged, following her sister out the door.
"We'll find out, won't we?"
A breem later, the humans and the bots had gather in their respective places. Leon was waiting on the table in the middle of the rec room, and Ellie stood on one of the cafeteria tables. Each held data pads in their hands, and sly smirks.
"What's this meeting about?"
"Secret Santa!" Leon cheered.
"What?"
"You get a random name, and you have to get the a present for Christmas. Secretly. Like a ninja."
"What's Christmas?" Arcee asked.
"Search it on the internet. Now, I'm gonna call you forth one at a time, and you're gonna get a name off the data pad by touching the screen. It will randomly select it from the data banks, and you'd better remember who it is, cause I know I won't. Ellie is doing the same thing over on the human side."
"Where's Prime?" Ratchet growled, still painted. Leon blinked at him, and then grinned.
"Prime is busy, Hatchet Claws."
"It was you!"
"What? What did I do? I'm organizing a Secret Santa. I couldn't have done anything else. Do you know how much work that takes?!" Leon gasped, pressing a hand to her bosom.
"Leave her alone, Ratch." Sides grinned. "Your new look suits the holiday."
Ratchet growled, and had to be held back. Sideswipe stepped forward to receive his Secret Santa...victim.
Optimus Prime; Secret Mission: Wrapping Paper
Ironhide; Secret Mission: Snow Miser
Ratchet; Secret Mission: Hatchet Claws
Humans; Secret Mission: Ice
Everyone; Secret Santa