Chapter 22 ~ "Mosa"

Energon spewed from the helm of an unfortunate mech, his body dropping to the ground with dead weight. There was a splatter of energon coating yellow armor, blue optics were staring at the dead body with horror. Hot Shot was kneeling on the floor of the platform with JetFire by his side, acting as a two-ton shield.

Optimus was standing up from the table he had been sitting at, handgun drawn as he stood a few feet from the younger Autobot Commander on the platform. His optics narrowed, looking around from where the bullet had been fired. "Damnit…" the blue and silver bot growled, "He got away…"

Scavenger jumped when hearing the shots fired, and looked back at the femme who had just come out of the ladies room. He saw that she was fiddling with her faceplate makeup in her handbag. "Damnit..." Scavenger raced towards the stage only to find Prime looked over a dead body of an entrepreneur, his glistening armored clothes were soaked with energon and oil. He growled. "Where did it come from?"

"It came for the west side," Prime said, keeping his head down as he made his way off the platform.

VolFogg was in movement a moment later, straight up. His formal cloak spread out to either side of him like wings as he vaulted over the table, the twins right behind him, heading in the direction the shot had come from. The scattering crowd barely noticed the three, except for when GunGlue, unable to find a clear spot to touch down and push off again, had to use a particularly bulky mech as a springboard. He was gone again before the startled mech could spot him.

The halls were properly lit when VolFogg and the twins headed towards the tall balcony that looked over the stage. A clear shot, perfect for any sniper... VolFogg were switching from wall to wall when suddenly reaching a series of doors.

The ninja mech landed on the balcony, narrowed optics scanning over the doors. Once the twins had touched down, balancing neatly on the railing, the purple mech rose to his feet, stalking silently across the balcony. He moved slowly past each door, recalibrating his optics to pick up recent heat trails. Spotting one, he paused, then grabbed hold of the door and wrenched it open in one swift move.

There was a startled scream as VolFogg opened the door; the femme that had been their waitress was putting on her comfortable armor when the ninja bot had walked in on her. She held onto her armor, snapping the latches on. "By Primus you startled me..." she said, relieved. "Did you hear those shots outside?" she looked worried and frightened.

The ninja scrutinized her carefully. "I did, yes. One of the entrepreneurs is dead. Shot by an assassin." Pink optics narrowed, glowing slightly. "A shot that could only have been fired from someone in this area. Did you see anyone suspicious in this vicinity?"

The femme shook her head. "I heard footsteps run by the door, but that was sometime ago..." She sighed, finally finishing with her armor. She took her synthetic hair out of the braid and let it fall, shaking her hair to let it puff out.

The purple mech eyed her for a moment, turning to scan the balcony again. He couldn't see any other heat trails, but then again, he knew how quickly they faded. GunGlue let out a low chirp, his rotors spinning rapidly. VolFogg's red scarf blew out in front of him, and his cloak shifted to reveal glints of purple and grey, with the occasional flash of red or gold. "Which direction?"

"I'm not sure, I was inside here the whole time..." She played with her hair. "Hey... you were sitting at the table I was working at were you?" She smiled, looking the mech over politely.

VolFogg nodded. "I was, yes." He looked her over. The GunMachines eased closer to him.

"You were sitting with that Ambassador from Cybertron's Defense Department right?" She fixed her hair. "Must be exciting to work with someone like that, always around the universe and all..."

"It is. One meets a great deal of interesting people and sees many interesting places in such a job." VolFogg scanned the area again. The eyes of GunDober's tiger helm glowed orange, and light glittered along the cat ears as he looked around, and GunGlue's hawk-wing helm ornaments gleamed. The purple mech turned to examine the corridors, revealing the white along the backs of his legs.

The femme went to go pack her stuff up when she suddenly looked out the window. "Hey... hey sir! There's someone outside!" She looked over the railing when she felt something grab onto her and she toppled over the edge.

VolFogg sprang forward, diving after her. He caught her neatly, sweeping his cloak out of the way and activating his thrusters. Greenish fire shot out of the vents under his police light bar, slowing their fall. He touched down lightly, placing her carefully on her feet.

The femme looked at VolFogg, shocked, "That was... amazing..." She looked him over. "How'd you do that?"

VolFogg smiled slightly. "I have built-in thrusters for flight. Not a usual ability for a police car, normally a ground-bound mech... but well within a ninja's bag of tricks." Overhead, the Gun Robot twins perched on the railing, glowering unnoticed at the femme.

The femme smiled. "Interesting..." she giggled. "A ninja's bag of tricks, think you could make me disappear?"

There was the sudden flashing of lights and voices, the femme recognize them as the guards and she took VolFogg towards the garden, where they stopped at the fountain. One of the guards followed. "Hey! Stop! This is private property!"

The femme cursed, knowing that the guard wouldn't believe their story; her attention turned to VolFogg. Without hesitation, she took his face into her hands and kissed him fully, everything seemed to slow down as her lips met his.

The purple mech's train of thought promptly crashed and burned. He went stiff with astonishment; he had been opening his mouth to speak when she had kissed him, giving her access. Under his chestplate, his primary fuel pump skipped a few beats, and his internal temperature rose several degrees. Slowly, cautiously, he returned the kiss, not certain he was doing it right. Overhead, from the twins came a pair of twin hisses, and both glared daggers at the female.

The guard had quickly turned away when seeing the two. "Oh, I'm sorry sir... mam... excuse my intrusion..." The guard left them alone.

The femme pulled away from the kiss and tucked her hair behind her audio. "Sorry... about that. Needed someway to get them away so we wont get mistaken for the crime..." She looked up at VolFogg, "I'm... Mosa, by the way..."

VolFogg's mouth opened and closed soundlessly for a moment. Then he visibly shook himself to get his thoughts straightened out. Clearly that had been a first for him. "I am VolFogg... My teammates are GunDober, the Tiger, and GunGlue, the Hawk."

Mosa smiled. "Ah those friends of yours that are staring at us from the balcony?" She pointed to the twins, and then laughed. "They seem to be missing you..." They started heading out of the garden, towards the entrance of the building. VolFogg had stated that the 'Ambassador' had already left and they needed to catch up, Mosa nodded, "I understand..." she smiled, "I'll see you around some time... Oh and I have to say, you're a good kisser."

The twins leaped off the railing, pacing them as they walked, quick shadows in the darkness. VolFogg moved away, toward the rest of the group, GunDober and GunGlue following. The tiger-helmed mech paused once, the eyes of his tiger helm blazing orange, and hissed at Mosa one last time before dropping off the building, landing at VolFogg's side.

Optimus and Scavenger reached the ship, VolFogg not far behind with the twins. They boarded and Optimus tried to put as much space between him and Scavenger as fast as he could.

Scavenger had glared at Prime. "Come close and I'll rip your interface off..." He was NOT a happy bot at the moment, they were close...they were SO CLOSE to the bounty head and a misleading femme drew them away. He growled when they entered the ship and headed straight for his quarters, shutting the door and started making new plans.

The purple mech maneuvered around Prime and headed for his own quarters without saying a word. GunGlue made a ratcheting sound, and GunDober bristled. Clearly they greatly disliked whatever had happened between their team leader and the femme. Both were clearly displaying the signs of possessive jealousy.

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That night, the blue and silver bot had entered Scavenger quarters to find him typing away at his personal monitor. He snickered, sliding his head onto the elder mech's shoulder with optics squinting at him, "WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING?" he made his voice sound like a serpent.

Scavenger grumbled, "Get off me you lugnut..." he pushed Prime off, the bot giving a low growl. Scavenger tapped through the holo-screen he was looking at, "I have a new plan for the bounty head, save your ass for later Prime..."

Prime shot up to his feet and dusted himself off, "All right you old crony...what is it?"

Scavenger tapped at the screen again, "The market in this city is basically chock-full of stock-market workers. There is reason to believe that she might target any worker that'll get the most money, take him out, and then take the ticket for the creds..." He brought his fingers to his chin, "We might wanna head out for the market tomorrow, and the ninja bots are still with us on this bounty head..."

In his room VolFogg dropped his cloak onto a chair, flopping onto the berth. He immediately had two black-and-white shapes pressed against him, almost glued to his armor. They made purring sounds, stroking across his back and shoulders, reestablishing their claim to him. He didn't seem to notice, his thoughts somewhere else entirely.

Sideswipe ran into VolFogg's room and jumped on the bed, "What happened? Where are Prime and Scavenger?"

The ninja team had jumped when Sideswipe had burst in, VolFogg's head going up suddenly while the GunMachines screeched at the intruder, hiding purple armor under black-and-white.

VolFogg had pointed to Scavenger's room and Sideswipe ran outside.

Once Sideswipe was gone, they relaxed somewhat, but didn't move from their new perch. VolFogg reached back to rub behind the cat ears of GunDober's helm, and GunGlue twisted so that VolFogg's other hand could reach the sensitive spot at the base of his rotor blades. The ninja smiled as he obeyed the silent request for a scratch.

The younger blue and yellow mech came to Scavenger's quarters to find the two older Autobots discussing the new plans. He asked the questions again and Scavenger explained what happened, followed by, "Swipes, we're gonna need your help with this one..." He saw the young bot's face become puzzled, "I know you're an ace hacker Swipes, so I'm wondering if you could tap into the security camera network at the market and tell us if you find anything when while we're there tomorrow."

Scavenger looked at Sideswipe's sternly, "If we somehow manage to lose her again, you can use the security cameras to track her."

Sideswipe blinked then grinned, "I get to track a femme?" he was practically giddy, "AND catch her????"

Scavenger chuckled and rubbed Sideswipe's head. "Hey kid, lay off the sweet stuff..." He smirked. "Yes you get to help out. You'll be able to hack into the network from the control deck of the ship, use the big holo-vid and not the pathetic small one please?"

He saw the younger bot nod excitedly and scamper out of the room. Scavenger just shook his head, "I swear that kid can be a nutcase sometimes," he smiled.