Astrosecond- 2.5 earth Seconds
Klik- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes
Orn- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours
Joor- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days
Metacycle- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks
Vorn- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months
Stellercycle-30 earth months/2.5 years
Breem- slang for a moment/minute.
Chapter 3 - Sisters
It was almost 18 o'clock when she left her room again. She wanted to make sure she got her dinner, with a deep breath she prepared herself on meeting the rest of the team.
Marie had never been good at new people, they made her nervous, and when she was nervous she tend to forget things. Meeting Onslaught had been terrifying, meeting Vortex had been awkward and meeting the drone had helped a lot on her mood.
She couldn't help but smile at the helpful drone. She had read and heard that drones didn't feel or think by themselves, but how could that one not? He was funny and responded to her, but yet he was a drone. Lifeless.
The rec room was a short trip away from her room and it wasn't long before she stood outside the door, gathering her courage.
Letting go of her nerves she entered the room.
The moment she set foot in there, she regretted it though. One pair of eyes and four visors shot in her direction. Marie stopped in her tracks and stared back at them. It was like the time was standing still, nobody moved a muscle, no one made a sound.
Until Onslaught stood up, he eyed the others warily and the human felt like a conversation was going on. The woman took another step into the room and slowly approached the table. Her dinner was already at the table and she sighed happily on seeing that it was decent food.
On the plate laid a small beef with vegetables and sauce. She had to drink water, but with the temperature on the base, she didn't mind.
"You must be Marie" the con without visor said. He smiled happily at her and she gave a smile back. "I am Swindle, and if there is anything you need come talk to me" he said, winking to her.
Marie nodded and sat down at her table, briefly looking up at the others who seemed to ignore her. Onslaught had sat down again and was zipping on some pink liquid.
She settled down and started eating; ignoring the feeling of that secret conversation she knew was going on. A pair of optics stared at her and she looked up to see Vortex looking at her and her food.
"How can you eat that" the 'copter asked, referring to her food, he was the one sitting the longest away from her, but when he spoke the others eyed her food disgusted. "I mean, you're eating another organic, that's cannibalism" he said, looking ready to purge his tanks.
"No it's not" the human spoke for the first time since she entered the room. Onslaught eyed her carefully or she thought he did, since she couldn't see it for his visor. "If it had been human it would have been cannibalism" she defended, the transformer snorted and pointed at the beef.
"It is" he insisted. Marie wanted to drop the subject, but something inside her told her to keep talking.
"And what about yourself, from what I understand; Energon is your lifeblood, so you're practically drinking blood?" she countered, changing the subject to their fuel. That, made the big tank-former look down at his cube.
"Not the same!" Vortex shouted slamming his hands into the table, making Marie jump. His rotors had picked up again and he looked angry, no, furious. "He's fucking unstable" a thought shouted in her mind, making her sit deadstill.
"Vortex!" Onslaught's voice was raw and angry. The 'copter relaxed and met the other's visor. Again a secret conversation, probably over the comm. Link. Suddenly they all stood up. "Marie you have just earned yourself a night shift on monitor duty. Report there in 3 kliks"
The human woman was beyond shocked. "What? You can't be se-"
"Do you want a double shift?" The commander asked threatening. Marie immediately shut her mouth and to her dismay, saw Vortex smirking out of the corner of her eye. The five cons walked out of the room, only the helicopter-former turned and grinned at her.
…
Marie suddenly felt very ill, the hunger from before was gone and she threw the rest of the food in the trash. "I didn't do anything" she muttered angrily and took a quick swing by her quarters before heading up to the control tower.
She sat down in the human sized chair and turned the monitors on. "What a pain…" she whined, but when a commander told you to do something, it was wise to just do it.
An hour had passed, and Marie was hitting her head against the metal table in order to stay awake. Monitor duty was the most boring thing ever. Nothing was happening, and the Combaticons was making sure to stay clear of the cameras.
So when her own comm. Link beeped she didn't hesitate to answer "Marie here" she spoke through the headphone. Unlike the cons she couldn't communicate through her mind and needed the special headset to do so. So no secret conversations for her.
::Rie! You're finally answering:: Marie couldn't help but smile at her sister's voice. "Aria this is your first time calling, isn't it?"
Living upside down someone for several years, leaves you knowing the other person very, very well. ::Well yeah…but that doesn't matter! What are you doing?:: The excitement in the other's voice made the older woman cringe, "Monitor duty" she answered looking over the screens again.
There was silence on the channel and for a moment Marie wondered if Aria had hung up on her. ::Do they hate you or something, or are you just really bad at first impressions?::
Marie litterally facepalmed at her sister.
"Thanks, you really know how to make me feel better" the sarcasm was literally dripping off of her words, making the younger female giggle. ::No but seriously, what did you do?::
Marie sighed heavily and pushed herself away from the disk. "What makes you think that it was my fault? I just asked about their Energon after they asked about my beef."
::You got beef for dinner? Lucky! All I got was a bowl of rice and a half baked potato:: Aria let out a whine and sighed. Marie couldn't help the laugh that escaped her "Lucky you say? With the food, propably. With the team? Not so much, I swear I didn't do anything!"
::Doing nothing ain't good either, idiot!::
"Oh shut it you!"
::I must admit i feel pretty lucky with the predacons. I really like Divebomb, he's so happy all the time, makes it easier to settle in::
Marie picked up the beer she had taken form her room, this was going to be a long coversation... I mean, a long monolog. "Okay I'm ready, tell me about your day." she took a quick zip from the cheep can and leaned back.
::Well, when i arrived both Razorclaw and Divebomb was there to greet me. They were very understanding with that I was a bit insecure, but they ecplaineed to me that I could go on missions then it was somewhat safe and I had to stay with one of them all the time...::
Marie couldn't help feeling jeulous of that infomation, her sister was getting to go on missions while she got paper work and monitor duty.
::...afterwards I met Rampage, though i don't think he noticed me, he didn't look away form the TV anyway. I thought that was a bit rude but Divebomb told me not to worry and that Rampage needed the TV or else he would literally go on a Rampage.
we when ran into Tantrum and I think that he is loads of fun, it aren't gonna be boring with him around that much I'm gonna tell you. He was calm and collected one moment, and the next he was throwing a fit over something completely stupid!
Then I meet Headstrong...I'm not sure waht to make of him yet but I think he's alright. After that Divebomb showed me to my quarters and I got time to unpack. GAHh can you believe it!? I have to share quarters with Stacy, that stuck-up military dudette.::
"Yeah i remember her, brunette with green eyes right?"
::Jep, that's the one:: Marie could almost hear Arie nod, and smirked.
"Ha, okay maybe I am lucky, I don't have to shared quarters with anyone" she laughed. ::You just love making my life miserable, don't you?::
"Don't know what your talking about" Marie said innocently. Her red locks curled up on her shoulders and the last sunrays shone in through the window.
::I have to go, Divebomb promised to take me flying around the base, i can't wait!:: the joy was clear over the communication link and Marie smiled sadly. "Alright go have fun!"
::I will, talk to you tomorrow!"
The closed and Marie sat her beer at the table. "Yeah...tomorrow" she couldn't help but feel that there were incredibly long time till tomorrow.
She caught sight of Blast Off in the west wing corridor. It was the first combaticon she had seen on the screens, they had made one hell of a job to try and stay clear of the camaras. With nothing better to do she followed his movements and directed the camera towards him.
The brown and purple decepticon made his way to the cargo hold. he walked in between the crates and disappered from sight. "So much for watching him" Marie said disapointed, "this would be so much more bearable if something actually happened..."
She knew that she couldn't leave her post or take a break, so she did the only thing she could do. She waited.
Seconds became minutes, and hours ate away at the minutes. The beer was gone and she was laying half over the table spinning the bottle, when Vortex decided to join her. "There you are!" the 'copter said with a joyous tone. He took a chair and rolled it over next to her.
Marie sat up in alarm, looking cautiously at the helicopter. "H-hi" she said shifting nervously in her chair. Vortex's outburst in the rec room was still clear in her memory but the 'copter seemed to be unaffected by it.
Marie however wouldn't let her guards down; this mech was clearly not entirely sane and very dangerous. Vortex smirked down at her, the fear in her eyes reflected in his visor and she suddenly felt very alone. She had no way of predicting this bot. The only thing he let show was his madness.
"Now lil' human, let's get to know each other, shall we?" the 'con asked leaning back in his chair.
Marie swallowed nervously and hoped that Onslaught would burst in any moment and yell at her. Instead she tried with a smile "Of course, I would love to get to know you Vortex" she said convincing. Unlike him it seemed, she had actually given the effort of learning their names.
The 'copter's smirk widened as he leaning closer to her, looming in over her body. "Your file says that you were abandoned when you were young, it says that your sire was an alcoholic and your carrier was nothing more than a useless whore; how does that make you feel?" he said in an educational way, almost sounding like a psychologist.
Marie sat dead still as she listened, she hadn't expected that he had read her file. Unfortunately he was right, and there was nothing she could do about it.
"Nothing really, should it make me feel anything?" she asked looking at him with a blank expression. Her past didn't help her and never would, it was easier to just face the facts and get on with it. The 'copter huffed and continued.
Marie went back to the screens and started tapping coordinations in, just to distract herself from the 'con.
"You lived on the street till you were eight, that's when you moved in on an orphanage. You usually got into fights with the older boys and at an age of ten you were adopted" he stated, watching her reactions carefully.
The redhead tapped hard on the keyboard and turned to the 'con. "You said you wanted to get to know me, but it seems you already know anything there is to know about me" she said harshly, looking him dead in the eye. Or what she assumed was his eyes.
The 'copter seemed surprised by her harsh attitude but didn't back down. "I also read that you found your sister not long after getting adopted, your parents had left her, just as they had left you" he taunted closing in on her. At this point Marie had stopped tapping and stood frozen. "What a terrible thing it would be if something were to happen to her" he whispered, but to the human it was like thunder in her ears.
"Just imagine if she were to come out for a little accident? She's the only thing you have left, is she not?"
That did it. In less than three nanoklik Marie was standing right under the Decepticon's nose, glaring daggers at him. "I swear to any god that may exist, that if you as much as touch my sister, I will make you wish you were never born you mentally deficient bastard!"
Vortex did not move away as he had predicted this sort of reaction. "That was some really long words human, do you even know what they mean?"
"Why you-" "That's enough you two!" a voice roared from the door. Marie wiped around to see Onslaught with a green tank-former by his side. Vortex simply smiled innocently and smoothly stood up.
Onslaught looked beyond angry, his cooling systems could be heard venting loudly as he tried to calm himself before he hurt the fragile human. "You, HUMAN. Are confined to your quarters, and I will not see you again in the next joor, do you understand me" his visor burned into her eyes, and she found herself shaking slightly.
"But Onslaught sir!" she tried to protest, to explain. But the commander would have none of that. "No! I will not hear you! Brawl, escort her back to her room" Marie found that it was futile to argue and simply went with the green 'con.
As the doors closed behind them she let out an angered growl, completely ignoring the tank-former behind her. He didn't seem to mind that though, and just ignored the human at his feet.
As they neared the west wing, the drone came up behind them. "You there, drone, this human is not to leave her quarters, make sure she stays there!" the green con yelled. Marie wasn't sure why he was yelling, but it rung in her ears.
The drone nodded his head and shooed Marie along, into her room.