Post by Neo53 on Dec 14, 2007 6:36:35 GMT -5
The four of them, followed by Bumblebee, now back in his car mode, walked back up to the PFT building. Karr showed Bumblebee to a spot where he could sit out of the way of the bustle of the rest of the garage and also gave him a decent vantage point of what was going on outside.
Sitting on the shop couch, rolling Doc’s ball for him, Star paused mid-ball toss and watched them in silence. She had seen the whole thing from start to finish and didn’t feel the need to add any comments of her own. Viper motioned in her direction and addressed the yellow and black Camaro.
“The girl over there on the couch is Star. She’ll help you keep an eye out and will probably be the first to alert you if there’s anything out of the ordinary going on.”
LeeLoo from the Fifth Element answered. “Oh. Kay. Me. Protect you.”
“Sure, whatever.”
Amusement rolled off the Camaro in waves. “Sleep.”
“So he still can’t talk?” Vern rubbed at his tired eyes, having stayed late to finish up a project of his own. “Why am I taking this in stride like this?”
“Because you’re tired and need to go home?” Rusti asked, pausing at the shop door with Beast.
“OK,” Vern got up, but showed no indication of actually leaving. “’night you guys.”
“G’night,” Rusti allowed Beast to gently steer her out of the garage and down the hall to the dorms and their room.
They walked together without exchanging a word, Beast’s arm loosely wrapped around Rusti’s waist. Both of them were having difficulty processing the information they’d just been bombarded with, although they weren’t exactly having the same overwhelmed thoughts. Beast pulled the door to their room shut behind them and sat down on the bed, leaning back against the headboard. After shutting her golden retriever in her crate for the night, Rusti crawled up onto the bed with him and straddled his hips in order to lean forward and rest gently against his chest, her forehead lightly touching his chin.
The silence continued for a little while longer, her arms around his neck and his fingers trailing slowly up and down her spine. “So.” She finally murmured without lifting her head.
“So,” he answered. He couldn’t really contain his thoughts anymore. “Do I really get to work with Ironhide on weapons?”
After a beat of disbelieving silence, Rusti lifted her head and stared incredulously at her husband from a couple inches away. “There’s a giant robot that turns into an F-22 Raptor that only Optimus can take on who probably wants my squishy little head, and you’re all tied up in knots about getting to work with Really Big Guns?”
Unsure whether or not he was in trouble, Beast just returned her look rather sheepishly. “Yeah?”
She started laughing.
“What!?”
“Oh God. I love you, do you know that?”
Beast still wasn’t sure how to gauge her reaction, so his smile was a bit cock-eyed. “That’s probably a good thing.”
“Oh, you bet it is,” she gave him a light kiss. “Think you can sleep?”
“Can you?”
“Guess we’ll have to try.”
--------------------------------------
Starscream watched impassively as Frenzy’s bent and misshapen arm was repaired. Even if he had been able to scowl, he probably would not have. A few decades ago he might have considered offing a human and its pet as easy pickings, but after a terribly unsuccessful attempt at retrieving the Allspark fifty years ago, he had stopped underestimating humans to such an extent.
They still weren’t very bright, but they were like a swarm of ants. One by itself was hardly a challenge, but when they banded together they could be quite efficient. He hardly wanted them to do that so soon after his return to earth. He turned to Barricade after several minutes of silence.
“So you just let them get away?”
Barricade grumbled defensively. “It outran me the first time. I didn’t realize earth cars could compete, and it knew the city better than me. The second…I would not have come back if I had attacked in front of Prime and his happy little band of Autobots.”
Starscream turned to the owner of the hangar that the surviving Decepticons were using as a base. The human was serving its purpose, providing them with a place to hide and information. They spoke in Cybertronian around it and addressed it in English only when they required its response. It was male, middle aged and light skinned. The sort that Starscream realized, after 50 years, who saw itself above the female of its own skin color and even further above females or males of any other color. In short, what earthlings would call a ‘good ol’ boy’ who had his ‘good ol’ boy’ club and anyone or anything different was to either be exploited or looked down upon; certainly not a rarity among its kind, but also perhaps not an extremely popular one.
It called itself an “Anti” and had informed them that the organic ‘transformer’ Barricade had described was in fact a human invention and called a Livithian. It postulated that the female that had outrun Barricade at a sprint could be a hybrid of such, if she was that fast. It had expressed extreme distaste for both concepts and happily volunteered its services in ridding the face of the planet of both parties. It watched Starscream keenly now, waiting for the question.
“This black and silver sports car, you know it?” Starscream said in English.
“You said it was a Dodge Viper?” The man looked at Barricade.
It took only a split second for Barricade to double check his data before he affirmed. “Correct.”
The human looked back at Starscream. “It’s San Francisco. Project Fast Traxx is here, it sounds like the Viper DeVont. I don’t know the woman.”
Another rapid data access and an internet search and Barricade didn’t feel quite so sheepish. “Appears to be the same car,” he told Starscream.
The human had learned early on not to ask to be included in conversations unless directly addressed, so he remained silent while another brief exchange went on in Cybertronian.
Starscream turned back to it. “And this woman, how do we found out who she is?”
“Well, if she was with DeVont, she probably either works for FLAG or she’s some tramp he picked up off the street. I’d wager the former. You might be able to check FLAG’s database to find out.”
“Frenzy?”
The tiny silver Decepticon looked up resentfully, still sore about having a dog bend his arm.
“See to it that you find out who the woman is, and soon.”
---------------------------------------
In spite of their mixture of excitement and fear, Rusti and Beast had managed to get some sleep after all. It wasn’t as early as Rusti usually tended to wake, and not as late as Beast usually liked to sleep; it was just about the time that the sun started to pour in their bedroom window and across their bed. It woke Rusti first, as Beast had his face buried in his pillow, stretched out on his stomach in an attempt to shut out the sun for as long as he could.
She was already on her side with her arm thrown across his back when she woke, so she took the opportunity to turn over on her stomach so she was sprawled across him, wrapping her arms around his chest and kissing the back of his neck. He growled under his breath, making an attempt at irritability, but her comfortable weight on his back and her attentions made his grumbling nothing but a show.
“Time issit?” He lifted his head off the pillow.
“’Bout eight,” she rested her chin on his shoulder blade, blowing softly on his ear.
Growling at her again, he stretched without disturbing her position. “Couldn’t have waited ‘till nine, huh?”
“Nah,” she gently bit the base of his neck. “Half the day’s gone by then.”
“Dead set on some morning torment, are you?”
She purred in his ear, then swore like the sailor she used to be and flung a pillow at the window. He looked up just in time to see a bright, electronic blue optic set in a black and safety yellow face withdraw rapidly from the window. Still cursing, Rusti got up and stalked into the bathroom, pulling the door shut behind her.
“Goddamn Autobot voyeurs!” He heard her snarl.
He smiled a little and turned over, scrubbing his hand over his face; so much for that sweet morning torment. Rusti wasn’t a fickle creature, but he certainly knew when her mood was ruined.
“When you and your mate are through, we are waiting outside for you,” Ironhide’s voice boomed over his commlink. “Your technician gave us your comm frequency.”
Beast wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. On one hand, Ratchet (and probably Ironhide, he hadn’t looked up fast enough to know if there had been two eyes belonging to different ‘bots) had ruined a really good start to the day, but on the other hand, weapons!
“OK,” he came up with at last. “Give us an hour or so and we’ll be out.”
Sitting on the shop couch, rolling Doc’s ball for him, Star paused mid-ball toss and watched them in silence. She had seen the whole thing from start to finish and didn’t feel the need to add any comments of her own. Viper motioned in her direction and addressed the yellow and black Camaro.
“The girl over there on the couch is Star. She’ll help you keep an eye out and will probably be the first to alert you if there’s anything out of the ordinary going on.”
LeeLoo from the Fifth Element answered. “Oh. Kay. Me. Protect you.”
“Sure, whatever.”
Amusement rolled off the Camaro in waves. “Sleep.”
“So he still can’t talk?” Vern rubbed at his tired eyes, having stayed late to finish up a project of his own. “Why am I taking this in stride like this?”
“Because you’re tired and need to go home?” Rusti asked, pausing at the shop door with Beast.
“OK,” Vern got up, but showed no indication of actually leaving. “’night you guys.”
“G’night,” Rusti allowed Beast to gently steer her out of the garage and down the hall to the dorms and their room.
They walked together without exchanging a word, Beast’s arm loosely wrapped around Rusti’s waist. Both of them were having difficulty processing the information they’d just been bombarded with, although they weren’t exactly having the same overwhelmed thoughts. Beast pulled the door to their room shut behind them and sat down on the bed, leaning back against the headboard. After shutting her golden retriever in her crate for the night, Rusti crawled up onto the bed with him and straddled his hips in order to lean forward and rest gently against his chest, her forehead lightly touching his chin.
The silence continued for a little while longer, her arms around his neck and his fingers trailing slowly up and down her spine. “So.” She finally murmured without lifting her head.
“So,” he answered. He couldn’t really contain his thoughts anymore. “Do I really get to work with Ironhide on weapons?”
After a beat of disbelieving silence, Rusti lifted her head and stared incredulously at her husband from a couple inches away. “There’s a giant robot that turns into an F-22 Raptor that only Optimus can take on who probably wants my squishy little head, and you’re all tied up in knots about getting to work with Really Big Guns?”
Unsure whether or not he was in trouble, Beast just returned her look rather sheepishly. “Yeah?”
She started laughing.
“What!?”
“Oh God. I love you, do you know that?”
Beast still wasn’t sure how to gauge her reaction, so his smile was a bit cock-eyed. “That’s probably a good thing.”
“Oh, you bet it is,” she gave him a light kiss. “Think you can sleep?”
“Can you?”
“Guess we’ll have to try.”
--------------------------------------
Starscream watched impassively as Frenzy’s bent and misshapen arm was repaired. Even if he had been able to scowl, he probably would not have. A few decades ago he might have considered offing a human and its pet as easy pickings, but after a terribly unsuccessful attempt at retrieving the Allspark fifty years ago, he had stopped underestimating humans to such an extent.
They still weren’t very bright, but they were like a swarm of ants. One by itself was hardly a challenge, but when they banded together they could be quite efficient. He hardly wanted them to do that so soon after his return to earth. He turned to Barricade after several minutes of silence.
“So you just let them get away?”
Barricade grumbled defensively. “It outran me the first time. I didn’t realize earth cars could compete, and it knew the city better than me. The second…I would not have come back if I had attacked in front of Prime and his happy little band of Autobots.”
Starscream turned to the owner of the hangar that the surviving Decepticons were using as a base. The human was serving its purpose, providing them with a place to hide and information. They spoke in Cybertronian around it and addressed it in English only when they required its response. It was male, middle aged and light skinned. The sort that Starscream realized, after 50 years, who saw itself above the female of its own skin color and even further above females or males of any other color. In short, what earthlings would call a ‘good ol’ boy’ who had his ‘good ol’ boy’ club and anyone or anything different was to either be exploited or looked down upon; certainly not a rarity among its kind, but also perhaps not an extremely popular one.
It called itself an “Anti” and had informed them that the organic ‘transformer’ Barricade had described was in fact a human invention and called a Livithian. It postulated that the female that had outrun Barricade at a sprint could be a hybrid of such, if she was that fast. It had expressed extreme distaste for both concepts and happily volunteered its services in ridding the face of the planet of both parties. It watched Starscream keenly now, waiting for the question.
“This black and silver sports car, you know it?” Starscream said in English.
“You said it was a Dodge Viper?” The man looked at Barricade.
It took only a split second for Barricade to double check his data before he affirmed. “Correct.”
The human looked back at Starscream. “It’s San Francisco. Project Fast Traxx is here, it sounds like the Viper DeVont. I don’t know the woman.”
Another rapid data access and an internet search and Barricade didn’t feel quite so sheepish. “Appears to be the same car,” he told Starscream.
The human had learned early on not to ask to be included in conversations unless directly addressed, so he remained silent while another brief exchange went on in Cybertronian.
Starscream turned back to it. “And this woman, how do we found out who she is?”
“Well, if she was with DeVont, she probably either works for FLAG or she’s some tramp he picked up off the street. I’d wager the former. You might be able to check FLAG’s database to find out.”
“Frenzy?”
The tiny silver Decepticon looked up resentfully, still sore about having a dog bend his arm.
“See to it that you find out who the woman is, and soon.”
---------------------------------------
In spite of their mixture of excitement and fear, Rusti and Beast had managed to get some sleep after all. It wasn’t as early as Rusti usually tended to wake, and not as late as Beast usually liked to sleep; it was just about the time that the sun started to pour in their bedroom window and across their bed. It woke Rusti first, as Beast had his face buried in his pillow, stretched out on his stomach in an attempt to shut out the sun for as long as he could.
She was already on her side with her arm thrown across his back when she woke, so she took the opportunity to turn over on her stomach so she was sprawled across him, wrapping her arms around his chest and kissing the back of his neck. He growled under his breath, making an attempt at irritability, but her comfortable weight on his back and her attentions made his grumbling nothing but a show.
“Time issit?” He lifted his head off the pillow.
“’Bout eight,” she rested her chin on his shoulder blade, blowing softly on his ear.
Growling at her again, he stretched without disturbing her position. “Couldn’t have waited ‘till nine, huh?”
“Nah,” she gently bit the base of his neck. “Half the day’s gone by then.”
“Dead set on some morning torment, are you?”
She purred in his ear, then swore like the sailor she used to be and flung a pillow at the window. He looked up just in time to see a bright, electronic blue optic set in a black and safety yellow face withdraw rapidly from the window. Still cursing, Rusti got up and stalked into the bathroom, pulling the door shut behind her.
“Goddamn Autobot voyeurs!” He heard her snarl.
He smiled a little and turned over, scrubbing his hand over his face; so much for that sweet morning torment. Rusti wasn’t a fickle creature, but he certainly knew when her mood was ruined.
“When you and your mate are through, we are waiting outside for you,” Ironhide’s voice boomed over his commlink. “Your technician gave us your comm frequency.”
Beast wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. On one hand, Ratchet (and probably Ironhide, he hadn’t looked up fast enough to know if there had been two eyes belonging to different ‘bots) had ruined a really good start to the day, but on the other hand, weapons!
“OK,” he came up with at last. “Give us an hour or so and we’ll be out.”
