It was a task, that was for certain, finding the bedding that they all needed. However Orion ended up sleeping on the floor among thermal blankets and plush pillows, insisting that he would be just fine with that. Cyclonus took the couch due to his rather severe injuries now that Tailgate had thought about it. A soft rumbling snore emitted from Ratchet across the room, one arm splayed over his tank and the other hanging limply off of the berth. In the dim, yellow florescent street light Tailgate hopped off of his berth and proceeded to the door. He crept into the den and found the police bot stooped over in concentration, the white florescent lights above his helm barely tall enough not to hit him on the forehead. Tailgate tilted his helm to the side and walked up beside him.
"You're up rather early, don't you think?" Orion hummed as he patted the stool beside him.
"Speak for yourself, what are you doing anyways, paper work?" Tailgate asked noting all of the data pads scattered about the table top. Orion shrugged, optics focused on the data pad in his servos.
"Just reading reports, nothing special. You?" now it was Tailgates turn to shrug. It's not that he wasn't tired, because he most certainly was. He just couldn't get over the fact that Cyclonus was lying there on his couch, the soft rumbling of his engine echoing through the otherwise silent house. Tailgate turned back to Orion, the police bot let a soft smile show through his optics before turning back to his work. Tailgate rubbed his helm and felt his optical shields droop and made a move to rub them only to be blocked by his visor.
"Something the matter?" Orion asked turning to Tailgate again. Tailgate shook his helm 'no' and hopped off the seat.
"Don't stay up too late, if you have work tomorrow you'll need all the sleep you can get." Tailgate advised over his shoulder.
~xxx~
"Wow, I still can't believe you have a prisoner of war held up in your Flat…."
"He's not a prisoner, Whirl he can leave whenever he wants to." Tailgate retorted rolling his optics under his visor. His longtime friend, Whirl, was about as strange as a bot could get. He could never ask and was pretty sure Whirl would never say how, but he had pincers for servos. He had a very strange helm too, with only one optic present. Whirl had a bit of knack for finding trouble, either that or trouble found Whirl and he didn't bother ignoring it.
"Then why hasn't he left yet? I sure as pit would, your flats waaaaaayyyyyy too small for a mech my size." Whirl elaborated by straitening his back struts to their full height.
"Gee thanks, nice to know you think I'm puny." Tailgate said in flat sarcasm. Whirl had made a fair amount of jokes at Tailgates stature in the past, he couldn't say he wasn't used to it, but just because he was used to it didn't mean he liked it. Whirl let out a little manic chuckle and picked Tailgate up to meet his optic level.
"That's cute how you think you can use sarcasm. Real cute" Whirl said squeezing his tiny friend. Tailgate capped him in the optic and tried to wriggle free of the others grasp.
"Primus, you are a wriggler, aren't you?" Whirl said putting Tailgate down in a less than gentle way. Tailgate made a frustrated noise and rubbed his sore aft as the bus pulled up to their stop.
"I was only wriggling because you were pinching me!" Tailgate yelped swatting Whirl on the arm. Whirl let out sarcastic huff and pinched Tailgates aft before scampering off to the very back of the bus.
"Whirl you slagger!" Tailgate yelled back he got a maniacal chuckle in response. Tailgate plopped down into an empty seat, and leaned into the cold metal bus wall. His visor dimmed and he thought about previous events, like when Cyclonus and he started to watch a holo-vid about the Great War.
~Cyclonus made a few interesting notes about the quality and accuracy of the plot. Orion was on duty as was Ratchet, so Tailgate and Cyclonus were left to each other for company. Most of the movie was full of dreary speeches, dark yet dapper, and some very gory war scenes. One key scene, where the leader finds a spy, and executes him in front of the entire camp made Tailgate whimper and squish himself in as far as the couch would let him. Cyclonus looked at him for a short moment before turning the movie off.
"Huh? I thought you wanted to watch this." Tailgate's visor brightened with curiosity; he was more than certain that Cyclonus was enjoying himself.
"You were terrified, and besides I've seen enough war to last a life time. I don't really need to be watching this anymore than you do." Cyclonus ejected the video and set it back into its cartridge. Tailgate cocked his head, but didn't question the others intentions any further.~
As far as Tailgate could remember, his father had always reminded him that questioning another mech about his past was rude. Especially if you were to ask about war, killing people was bad enough, but people prying and prodding you for answers was even more uncomfortable.
"Man I wish I had a spine." Tailgate mumbled to himself as he stepped off of the bus.
"Well wishing for one only makes you look like more of a loser; I just wanted to point that out for the record." Whirl said looming over him, his singular optic set ablaze.
"Whirl, you're an aft." Tailgate said narrowing his visor. Whirl just shrugged and walked on into the tall glass building. So far he had been groped harassed and bullied. Tailgate had hoped Cyclonus was having a better day than he was.
"I just want to go for a walk! Is that too much to ask?" Cyclonus growled at the doctor standing in his way, blocking the door with a hard , stern expression set on his face.
"You're injured! With all of the wounds you have I would be surprised if you ended up in a body bag within two kliks of leaving here!" Ratchet, a very reasonable mech, was not in the mood for arguing. He had a reputation to keep his patients safe and in bed to heal until they were healthy again. He was not about to sully it with Cyclonus, no matter how good he felt.
"I can take care of myself, medic. If you're so worried about my health than you'll let me out of this hell; because if I stay in this stuffy, tiny box, I will lose it!" Cyclonus emphasized his point with a loud stomp. The shorter mech just rolled his optics and crossed his arms. He wasn't in the mood for a hissy fit from a mech twice his size.
"Then open a window and suck it up, because if you think you can get past me then you are sorely mistaken."
Yeah, he was probably having a lot better day than Tailgate.
"Yo, buddy!" Tailgate turned to see his friend Swerve trotting up behind him, "wait up!" tailgate couldn't help, but smile behind his visor. Swerve always knew how to cheer him up, if anyone could make his day better it was Swerve. Tailgate waved him over as he opened his locker up, visor brightening already.
"Oh-my-primus. You will not believe me when I tell you what happened to me." he exclaimed a wide grin stretched across his face "I-scrap! Hide!" as suddenly as it was said Swerve shoved both Tailgate and himself into Tailgate's locker. It was slammed shut as a group of other students walked by, one being identified as Blurr.
Well that explains a lot.
"Swerve, if you don't get us out of here in the next five seconds, I will kick you in the crotch so hard, you will be numb for years." Tailgate ground out as his visor darkened dramatically to emphasize his point.
"Oh, right okay lemme just- no that's not right, oh, how about…this!" after a moment of fidgeting with the lock on the door, it clicked open.
"Welp, that solves that. Now why don't we get to class huh?" Swerve said turning to Tailgate with his normal wide set grin. Tailgate just rolled his optics and headed to class.
Mounds of paper work piled on Orion's desk. Orion loved being a police officer, really he did, but when you get this much work to do…you begin to not only hate the job itself, but yourself as well for taking it in the first place. He sighed and scrolled through the first one he grabbed, nothing but reports and due-date there. He set that one aside and picked a new one, same as the last. Orion sighed and set it with the other; if this was how his day was going to be then he was beginning to have doubts about his week.
As he searched each pad he came across the pile beside him grew, until he came to an interesting little bit about the recent gang activities.
It was a report about the Depticon one unparticular, it seems they've been robbing store after store. They were getting more ruthless by the second too, over twenty homicides had been linked to them. What was stranger and all the more gruesome, is that they were trafficking pleasure bot's. That's one thing Orion couldn't stand. Selling bots like they were meaningless possession's irked Orion more than he would care to admit, especially when they were young and ignorant about the world. Innocent sparkling going down into that hell was unbearable.
"Sir, someone is here to see you." An officer knocked on the open door frame and alerted Orion of his presence.
"Yes, send them in." Orion ordered leaning back in his chair. He made a mental note not to let himself get so worked up.
"Orion, I brought you some lunch." Ratchet said walking into the others office and eyed the mounds of work on his desk.
"Yes, I know, I have a lot of work. Thank you for lunch by the way." Orion interjected before Ratchet could say anything.
"Right, look there was another reason I came down here. I'm worried that Tailgate is risking himself by housing Cyclonus, I don't trust him" Ratchet whispered leaning over Orion's desk.
"Well he certainly isn't the cheeriest, but just because he got into a fight doesn't make him a criminal." Orion took I sip of his drink. "And besides, if everyone looked trustworthy my job would be a hundred times harder than it already is."
Ratchet rolled his optics and slumped in his seat. Orion chuckled and sipped from his drink, Ratchet and he had been friends for years and Ratchet has still succeeded to make him laugh.
"So, where's Cyclonus? I thought you had a reputation to keep." Orion asked brow raised.
"Oh, he's fully capable of transportation but I just wanted him to be safe." Ratchet said.
"RATCHET!" Cyclonus was evidently handcuffed to a bolted chair back at the flat. Enraged by this he vowed revenge on Ratchet and his family, and believe me, that is not a position you wanna be in.
"Well knowing you I'm sure he's well taken care of." Orion complimented with a glint in his optic.
A blaring ring echoed through the room, it was Orion's phone.
"Hello, Orion Pax speaking." A few static murmurs. "Right, I'm on my way, I'll be there as soon as possible."
"What's wrong?" Ratchet asked as Orion rushed out the door.
"Ratchet bring your medical kit, there's been an explosion down at the school." Orion said serious as ever.
"Wait, at Tailgates school?!" Ratchet said panic setting it as he sped up to match his companions pace.
"Yes." Orion said bluntly.