Legend:
Breem - 8.3 minutes
Orn - 13 days
Jaime's foot lightly bounced on the metal cargo plane floor as she impatiently waited for the massive door to lower and release them from the hold. First she was going to go say hi to Maggie (and maybe Glen too if he was around). Then she was going to check in with Skids and Mudflap. The twins would have a mountain of stories to share with her of their most recent exploits. After that, she was going to see if Arcee was up for some racing around Diego Garcia with her. Maybe they'd set a new record for circling the island. Then —
"Yo'r gonna wear a 'ole in the floor," Jazz commented next to her, sounding more amused than bothered by the idea. Jaime laughed. As if. The hypocrite was several tons heavier than her.
"Please refrain from any destruction of property," said Prowl, parked further back in the cargo hold. He didn't even bother to look in their direction, no doubt working on something for Optimus. He'd been like that during the majority of the flight. The workaholic.
"I'll leave that to Wheeljack," she offered. Another planned stop on her visit. This made the SIC actually look up and turn his helm to face her, optics narrowed. She grinned when he stared at her for a handful of seconds. She could feel his growing exasperation. And he hadn't even run into the twins yet. His gaze flicked over to her now mildly concerned guardian.
"Jazz, do keep your wayward charge in one piece while she's here," he requested. "Her parental units will be most displeased if something happened to her while entrusted in our care." Jaime made a face. She wasn't a baby dammit. Which reminded her, Sarah was due any week now. Wait, don't think of that. She cut off that line of thought.
"Yea yea," the silver saboteur waved off his comrade. "Will an' Sarah already gave meh a full run down 'fore we left." Jaime vibrated in her seat. This would be her first time visiting Diego Garcia without Will present. The man had been visibly hesitant about the idea, wanting her to wait until he was no longer needed at the Nevada base to coordinate on…something (top secret she assumed since no one would tell her). But she'd hounded him and Sarah — pleaded even — on how she hadn't seen some of the Autobots like the twins and Arcee in so long, in addition to a number of human allies like Maggie. They'd finally relented when Eddie had brought up that he'd be returning to the island soon anyway and could keep an eye on the girl too. As if literally everyone on Diego Garcia didn't do that already, Jaime thought with an eye roll.
The edge of the metal ramp finally touched down with a loud clang and the girl jumped to her feet. Jazz rolled out of the cargo plane, following close behind her.
"Ugh, I forgot how hot it gets here," Jaime groaned, fanning her self at the sudden wave of heat.
"Don' tell meh ya wanna go back already," Jazz teased. Her head whipped around towards her guardian.
"No way," she immediately answered. It may only be for a few days, but she was going to milk this visit for what it was worth.
A handful of hours later found her talking to Jolt in one of the smaller hangars that didn't see as much traffic. More accurately, she was filling him in on her experience with the cybertronian prosthetic he'd assisted Ratchet in creating. He'd been gone during her operation after all and only had the CMO's notes to go off of.
"It's really intuitive," she told him as she flexed the fingers and rotated the arm. She hardly had to think about moving it before it responded.
"I'd like to examine it myself while you're here if that's okay," Jolt scrutinized the appendage. "Particularly the signal firing of the proximity sensors and their frequency, make sure there's no cascading effect."
"Okay," Jaime shrugged. "I was planning on visiting Wheeljack's lab next but I can swing by the Med Bay later?" Jolt straightened and his gaze intensified.
"Wheeljack's lab?" he repeated. Jaime's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
"Yea…" It couldn't be that bad could it? Surely? Jolt glanced at her nearby guardian, who'd mostly remained silent during the medic's inspection.
"She insists," he deadpanned with a casual shrug. Jolt hummed quietly before turning back to Jaime.
"A visit may do him good," the mech admitted. "He's been…well…not himself lately. Not since — " Jolt paused and seemed to think better of sharing whatever he'd been about to say.
"Arcee mentioned that he seemed kind of down earlier?" Jaime offered tentatively. The femme had sounded worried about the Autobot engineer during their talks in between laps around the island. Jolt nodded his helm. She chewed her bottom lip in thought. "I'll see what I can do," she promised.
Wheeljack's POV
Earth was a fascinating planet, just as dynamic and multi-layered as its native inhabitants. Humanity was equal parts confounding and practical. They were so similar to Cybertronians in many ways, and yet completely alien in a multitude of others. Preceptor would have loved it here. Wheeljack paused and had to set the soldering tool down on his workbench. His spark ached at the mech's absence. If he had been more helpful during that dreaded encounter. If he hadn't been so dependent on the wreckers to hold the line against the overwhelming numbers, then maybe —
"You are such a mother hen, Jazz, I swear." His auditory fins picked up an unfamiliar voice in the hallway. One of the humans most likely. It sounded like it came from a femme. Though why one of them would be anywhere near his laboratory was anyone's guess. It had quickly become known as a no go zone, even after it had been reinforced to Cybertronian standards. Which was perfectly fine with him. He hadn't been in a sociable mood lately since Perceptor's offlining. This area of the island was rather isolated, the closest structure to it was something he'd been informed was called a 'barn' along with the connected 'pasture'.
"Ah've got good reason t' be," the Autobot saboteur, answered lowly — like he was mostly talking to himself — right before the door to Wheeljack's lab slid open. His optics shuttered as the young femme he'd recently met in Florida strode through the door without any fear (not something all his comrades could pull off) and Jazz followed on her heels with an air of wary hesitation (a much more common way to enter his lab).
"Hi Wheeljack!" the young girl waved up at him as she approached the bot, free of any hesitation. "I'm Jaime," she introduced, like he hadn't received an entire data packet on her. Or perhaps she didn't know about that? "We didn't get a chance to talk much before, so I thought I'd stop by and say hi." He shuttered his optics again before offering a small wave in reply (what a curious gesture, humanity sure had a lot of them).
"Hello, Jaime."
"'ey Jack," Jazz greeted as he seemed to take in the newly renovated space. "Nice setup ya got 'ere."
"The humans have been quite helpful," he nodded, even if they'd become a bit skittish after the first few explosions. It was to be expected, he'd tried to explain to the bolder ones. A new environment with new materials guaranteed a brief learning period (insignificant really!) until he adjusted to such abnormal factors. But he was getting there! The lab hadn't been the source of any explosions for the past six days, a new record.
"What are you working on?" Jaime asked, eagerly approaching his workbench. Jazz quickly reached forward and interrupted her path with his servo before she could take more than a couple steps. The girl frowned up at the silver mech with clear disapproval in her eyes in a manner that strongly reminded Wheeljack of Prowl. The saboteur loudly cleared his intakes and rotated his servo so that the back was resting on the floor. Jaime rolled her eyes but stepped onto the extended appendage, grasping one of the curled claws for support. Jazz straightened, bringing his occupied servo close to his chassis, and cautiously approached the workbench Wheeljack had previously been hunched over. Jaime was still looking at the Autobot engineer expectantly. Oh, right.
"I'm trying to produce a hybrid material that can be used by our NEST allies that has a similar versatile strength as tungsten but without the added weight and rigidity produced by human manufacturing methods," Wheeljack explained. "Prime's idea after incorporating components from a Jetfire, to combine methods used on Cybertron except with Earth's materials to produce something new. Granted there are a number of physical limitations I've been running into, the largest being heavy ion fusion on a smaller more portable scale that doesn't — ." He paused to check if her eyes had glazed over like the other handful of humans who'd asked about his projects. But there was still a clear expression of interest in her gaze.
"Are you saying the laws of physics are different here on Earth than they were on Cybertron?" the girl asked. Wheeljack's fins lit up with delight.
"Oh yes," he nodded, leaning forward slightly. "It's like relearning the inner mechanisms of the material plane. Don't mind the scorch marks. Explosions in my lab really aren't that common despite what others may say. I've mostly reconstructed a working framework that should serve me well on your planet."
"What's your usual record for lab accidents?" the girl asked. Wheeljack tilted his helm at her. It was rather strange to be asked that familiar question with poorly hidden amusement instead of suspicion. Jazz vented a sigh at his charge but didn't look surprised by her odd behavior.
"Well," he hedged, not wanting to scare off the most promising human listener he'd met so far. "It depends on a number of factors." The fins on his helm flickered uncertainly, but the expectant expression on the young femme's face did not waver. "Once an orn maybe," he admitted after a beat. The femmeling let out a neutral hum and her curious gaze drifted to the workbench littered with various parts of his current project. Jazz slanted him a look (even behind the visor he could tell by the tilt of the helm the mech was judging him) and Wheeljack cleared his intake valves. "On average," he tacked on. "Like I said, it varies. But enough of that," he waved the topic away, lest the girl lose interest. "Did you need anything? Or have any other questions for me?" The human mind, from what he'd seen during his brief stints on the internet, was an incredibly imaginative thing.
"How do you decide what to work on?" Jaime asked. "Where do you get your ideas?" Wheeljack straightened, fins flashing madly.
"Oh! Well outside of requests, sometimes I — " he shared his entire thought process with the girl who listened intently, the look of delighted curiosity never leaving her face. Before he knew it, four breems had passed and it didn't look like Jaime's interest had waned in the slightest.
"Have you seen any Earth movies yet?" the girl asked when he finally halted his explanation. Wheeljack shook his helm. He'd been busy prioritizing other things during his short time here on the planet. Like getting his lab up and running.
"Jaime," Jazz spoke up, tone dubious like he knew exactly what his charge was thinking. The femmeling ignored him. She seemed to do that a lot, he noted.
"There's a lot of cool stuff you could make," she continued, eyes shining. "If you have time that is. Like grapple hooks, or flying hoverboards, or an autonomous drone that can — "
"Ah think Jack's got 'nough on his plate without ya addin' t' his backlog," Jazz interrupted, giving the girl a gentle shake. Jaime turned and stuck her tongue out at him once she'd recovered her balance on his servo.
"Actually, I would like to hear more of these ideas," said Wheeljack, helm tilted in consideration. "Which movies are you referring to?"
"I'll send you a list," Jaime offered with a wide grin. Behind her, her guardian facepalmed and muttered something under his breath. "But there's usually a weekly movie night on base. You should check it out!" He nodded slowly, auditory fins pulsing. Jolt and Arcee had been rather insistent about him leaving his lab lately. These 'movie nights' might appease them on top of providing some ideas for future inventions.
"I think I will," he said. Jaime beamed at him causing Wheeljack to shuffle in place a little. It had been a while since someone had looked at him like that, with the sincerity of a youngling. "Perhaps you could assist me with some of these human adaptations," he offered. She seemed clever enough.
"Ah don' — " Jazz began.
" — Yes!" his charge cut him off. "Absolutely!" The saboteur let out a disappointed vent, worthy of the likes of Prime.
"Jaime — "
" — I'll be fine," she waved off his concern. "If you're that worried, you can join us." Jazz twitched.
"…The things Ah do for ya," the silver guardian muttered.
Jaime could not believe what she was witnessing unfold right before her very eyes. Jazz wasn't even trying to hide his snickers anymore as he watched the impending disaster. Maggie's left eyebrow kept twitching and Arcee looked rather disappointed. Like she should have known better and only had herself to blame for finding herself in this current predicament.
Tonight was game night. The game of choice? Scrabble. A rather tame board game for any other audience. But this was a secret military base filled with robotic organisms from space. And Prowl had managed to turn the innocuous game night into a bloodbath. Well, figuratively speaking at least. Ajay, one of the newer recruits who'd been with NEST for less than a year, might be changing that soon judging by the growing annoyance on his face.
"Prowl," said Eddie with no shortage of exasperation. "I am begging you to stop — "
" — I have adhered to the correct spelling found in the International third edition of your Merriam Webster dictionary and broken no game rules," the tactician's holoform frowned at the slumped soldier. "I do not understand what the problem is." Jazz hunched over further, a muffled thump echoing throughout the room as his forehead made contact with the Rec Room table, poorly hidden sniggers shaking his holoform.
"I have never, in my entire life, been so insulted," said Maggie as she stared at the scrabble board. Arcee's holoform let out yet another long sigh.
"I don't know why I expected any different," the femme muttered.
"Honestly I'm kinda impressed," Jaime admitted. "I can't even be mad." She felt a thread of satisfaction from Prowl. The mech deserved some credit. And he probably would have received it if he hadn't…well…
"Don't encourage him," Ajay pointed a scolding finger at the girl before gesturing to the board significantly covered in tiles. "This should not be legal."
"I assure you it is," Prowl disagreed, brow furrowing.
"You know what I mean," the NEST soldier sputtered.
"Clearly I do not." The SIC Autobot looked rather put out by this fact. Jazz began to wheeze like he was dying. Maggie burrowed her face in her hands.
"One night," the Australian grumbled. "Just one relaxing night off. Is that too much to ask for?"
"Is uh," Jaime paused and decided to not even attempt pronouncing the word. "Is it supposed to be a medical term or something?"
"Oxyphenbutazone is an anti-inflammatory drug," Prowl confirmed. Ajay's face twisted in a manner that made Jaime think of how parents warned their kids not to if they didn't want their face to get stuck that way.
"That doesn't even sound like a real word," Eddie groaned.
"It has been recognized as one of your words since 1959," Prowl stood firm. Of course he double-checked, Jaime thought with fond exasperation. It was just like the tactician to be so thorough.
Jazz had been difficult to beat the first few rounds, only losing once to Maggie (Arcee would have taken the crown if she hadn't been two vowels short the femme insisted). But then Prowl had joined and the already competitive game had turned into a genocide. The slow and utter decimation that round had been quite the sight to see, much like the inevitable march of death, Jaime imagined. She'd never even heard of half the words the tactician had managed to fit in on the board. Oxyphenbutazone had just been the last straw, scoring the SIC over a thousand points and nearly causing Ajay to flip the table over at the absurdity of it all.
Fig entered the Rec Room and jogged up to the table, looking liked he'd recently stepped out of the shower.
"Sorry, my shift ran late," he said as he came to a halt near the edge of the table between Eddie and Ajay. "Who's winning?" Ajay let out a sound of wordless rage and sharply pushed himself to his feet before turning and stomping out of the Rec Room.
"What he said," Eddie waved at the soldier's now empty spot and got up to leave as well.
"I don't understand," said Fig, glancing at a tired looking Maggie for an explanation.
"Neithuh does Prowluh," Jazz guffawed, slapping the table. A bark of laugher escaped Jaime. Prowl sent them both looks of disapproval but it had little effect.
"Sideswipe is gonna love this," she giggled. The Autobot tactician tried to dispel the notion with a severe frown directed her way but it was ruined by the faint sensation of embarrassment wafting off him. Fig crossed his arms and muttered a string a Spanish under his breath.
Later that week, the Autobots were (unofficially) banned from Scrabble, an accomplishment both sets of twins found equal parts impressive and hilarious.
Author's Note: Heyyy sorry for the wait, didn't realize it had been so long. I swear I just updated this story a month ago and then BAM summer was over? Anyway, hope everyone's year is going well :) And Wheeljack makes an appearance!
NEST soldiers: Prowl is hereby banned from ever playing scrabble again.
Prowl: You can't ban me ›:(
NEST soldiers: *feeling spiteful* ALL Autobots are banned from scrabble
Sideswipe: lol nice going Prowl
Prowl: ››:(
Reviews are love! ‹3
