Chapter 2
"OK, five more minutes, and we're dragging him."
Everyone taking part in the day trip was assembled in the hall adjacent to the global space bridge network. The three bullet trains were talking about how their commuters were going to get to their destinations, the Autobot brothers were amusing themselves by playing a cybertronian card game, and the rest of the group were standing around waiting or finding something amusing to do.
Much to Crosswise's embarrassment.
The story about T-ai's new form had shocked everyone who had been within earshot, but nothing could have prepared the green Autobot for the teasing he received, especially as he had some small dents in his face that were surprisingly similar to the size and shape of T-ai's feet.
But even the humiliation of the elite spy changer couldn't distract the assembled group from one important fact.
The leader of the Autobots was suspiciously absent.
"Hey T-ai, you don't think Optimus is arguing with Ultra Magnus do you?"
"Naa, Prime and Magnus make too much noise for us to miss!"
Despite Sideburn's less tactful version of stating facts, T-ai was forced to admit that the young Autobot was absolutely correct. Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus fought like cats and dogs, they could sometimes get along, but when things got out of hand, stopping them was this side of threading a needle, in other words, it was almost impossible!
Deeming the possibility of her CO and his brother engaging in mortal combat as highly unlikely, she strode over to one of the consoles in this corridor, soon bringing a three-dimensional map of the base into existence and glaring in annoyance at the red blip flashing Optimus's current location.
Her Irritation almost became uncontrollable when she saw the words underneath the map.
Optimus Prime is currently located in his quarters.
"TOWLINE!"
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"Let me get this straight…your ENTIRE army, is FORCING you to take a DAY OFF????"
Optimus Prime, Leader of the Autobot's, holder of the Matrix of Leadership, and most powerful warrior of the entire Autobot population found it very difficult to hold the temptation to pout, especially when his mentor Alpha Trion insisted on grinning like a Craden Cheshire Panther.
"Yes, they ARE, but I can't get them to understand that these reports are important! I've got inventory reviews to approve, requisition reports to go over, security checks to scan and…"
While ticking off the things he had to look over on his fingers, Prime growled in a very unbecoming manner for a Leader as his long time teacher fell out of his stool and proceeded to, as Koji once put it, 'Crack up' in hysterics.
"I fail to see what's so funny Alpha!"
After what seemed like an eternity of laughing like a demented hyena, Alpha Trion finally got his mirth under control and sat back in his chair, his laughter confined to the occasional chuckle.
"You've always been…what's the human term…Ah that's it! A book worm, always reading and doing reports. You've got to understand prime all work and no play makes war a dull pastime. Just one day won't bring the whole war to an end letting the Predacons win! What is the problem prime?"
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T-ai stomped down the corridor with Tow-line on her heels, a few of the others walking a discreet distance behind to see what happened. It was clear to all that T-ai was mad, and if Crosswise' faceplate was any indication, they knew that when you mix Anger and T-ai you got a Dinobot sized explosive formula for your troubles.
No one had any idea what to expect but one thing was certain, it was defiantly gonna be fun finding out!
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"These reports won't take care of themselves Alpha, they need to be done!"
"And they aren't going anywhere Prime, one day won't hurt anything! You might just be able to relax for once as well!"
Prime sighed in resignation, realizing that no one knew how important his desk work was for the continued success of the war against the Predacons.
"Alright Alpha…I've never liked loosing battles, but I do know when to cut my losses…"
Alpha Trion Looked closely at prime and just after a flash of understanding shot through his CPU, he noticed the Door to the commander's quarters open and T-ai and Tow-line standing in the door.
"This is about Springer isn't it Optimus?"
After T-ai heard that name, she stopped moving, motioning for Tow-line to stay quiet as well, because she knew full well who Springer was and why this might have an effect on her leader.
Springer was a little older than Optimus at the time, in human terms Prime would have been around 15 and Springer 16.
Prime and Springer had the day off from their training for acceptance into the Autobot Academy, and Prime was looking over various data retrieval pads to find a nice place to chill out. After skimming over the data from almost thirty seven different pads, Optimus had gotten bored and picked up the 38th pad and grinned.
The location was perfect, plenty of open space for them to race, even an oil lake to swim in if they wanted. He didn't read all of the notes for the simple fact that he was sick and tired or reading the exact same thing over and over again that he failed to notice the small graph at the bottom signalling the area had a high battlefield percentage.
After they arrived, things seemed pretty normal but later they found that the entire area had been slated as an attack site.
During the unexpected attack, Prime and Springer were separated, and no matter how hard Prime searched, he couldn't find his friend until the next day, when he was told by his friend Ratchet that Springer was caught in the middle of the attack and destroyed.
"If I had just paid a little more attention then Springer would still be alive..."
"Optimus, look at me..."
Optimus looked up at his mentor as he was asked, and Alpha Trion's eyes held compassion and understanding in their wise depths.
"Do you know how many Autobot's have done the same as you? Hundreds, if not thousands. Almost all of them have either lost friends, family or even their own lives. This kind of thing happens all the time, despite the recommendations of instructors at the academy, but what you have to learn is that there are some things that you simply cannot change."
T-ai motioned for Towline to leave quietly as she entered further into the room, receiving an almost imperceptible nod from alpha, and slowly rose up to Optimus' shoulder where she waited patiently.
"But...what if something happens..."
'I've never seen him so confused and upset before! But why is he so mixed up?' T-ai's processor was coming close to red lining trying to figure out the question her mind had just asked, and fortunately, she didn't have to wait long for an opportunity to allay her leaders concerns.
"Prime, everyone needs to relax from time to time, and you are no exception. And if you still worry about something happening to your army, why don't you consider what would happen to them if you worried yourself into a CPU fracture?" Alpha knew that Optimus was close to loosing his last reservations and he looked pointedly at T-ai, trusting her to drive his point home, idly wondering why the young hologram looked different today.
The little hologram took the opening for what it was and gently put her hand on Prime's shoulder, smiling in understanding as her leader looked at her in slight shock.
"We all care about you too much for you to hurt yourself like this Optimus. You can't keep blaming yourself for every little thing that happens; you don't let us, why should you be exempt from that? One day won't hurt anything, and if anything dose happen we'll be right next to a space bridge entrance and I'll still be in contact with all of my planetary sensors. Please Optimus, come with us, it won't be as much fun without you."
Looking at T-ai's face intently for a moment, then turning to look at his mentor, Optimus thought about everything he had been told. Logically, T-ai had just allayed most of his worries, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that he needed to get his work done.
After a moment, the Autobot leader looked towards the little hologram and felt a bit of humour rising inside his mainframe.
"Were you kidding about getting Towline to tie me up?"
The slight mirth Optimus felt was however extinguished quite rapidly as T-ai grinned in a very sinister manner, a grin that would make Scourge very proud prime thought dismally.
"Oh I wasn't joking; he's right outside now! Hey Towline!"
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Back on Cybertron Alpha Trion stared completely dumbfounded at the antics on screen. It took him a while to process the images but once he had, he was howling with laughter.
The young hologram was indeed telling the truth, and after Optimus stood up, probably to make a break for it, Towline used his 'wrecker hook' and within seconds, Prime was completely immobile and hanging upside down, screaming for his forces to untie him.
"Let me down Towline this isn't funny anymore!"
"I don't know Prime, T-ai seems to think it's pretty amusing."
For her part, T-ai was in a similar state to Alpha Trion, however the young girl was only holding her midsection as she laughed, not rolling on the floor.
"T-ai I mean it! Tell him to put me down! You have to untie me eventually!"
"That's not true prime! I can keep this up all day long!"
"TOWLING STOP ENCOURAGING HER!!!!!!"
Alpha Trion finally managed to get his mirth under control and disconnected the transmission, making sure to save the entire session, for…Prosperity, that's it.
He left his quarters and made his way to Iacom's central control hub, feeling that things could only be god today. He also reminded himself that he had to check on the 'NOVA' project later that morning.
However, with the colossal shaking of an explosion rocking the building, and screaming alarms, Alpha realised that he had to put his plans on hold.
The day didn't seem to be going as nicely as he hoped.
End chapter 2
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Hello people! I'm BAAAACK!
It's been ages since I updated, I'm SO sorry everyone! I've been trying to get my head round so many things I can hardly remember which way is up or down!
But enough of that. As you can see, I'm back and I've got new material up coming, so hopefully, you fine people wont have to wait well over a year for the next chapter.
And trust me, IT'S GONNA BE A DOOZY!!! (The plot, not the size)
Anyway, Thanks once again everyone and I'll get back to you soon. Also, Beta Readers are welcomed, just contact me.
OMAKE:
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Back on Cybertron Alpha Trion stared completely dumbfounded at the antics on screen. It took him a while to process the images but once he had, he was howling with laughter.
The young hologram was indeed telling the truth, and after Optimus stood up, probably to make a break for it, Towline used his 'wrecker hook' but he miscalculated the angles.
A resounding 'CLANG' echoed throughout the room and Optimus fell to the floor like a proverbial brick. T-ai and Towline walked over and took stock of the incident.
"I think you killed him towline…" T-ai murmured softly, poking the large dent in Primes head with her foot. She smiled slightly when she heard Prime groan softly. "Greatest warrior my RAM drive..."
"I always throw that thing to low in robot mode! I'm sorry!"
"It's ok, lets just tie him up and get back to the others, and we'll just say that Magnus pulled a fast one. Who'll doubt us?"
After confirming their plan, Towline tied Optimus up the old fashioned way, occasionally muttering 'Left over right, then under and pull'or something similar, and carried him out of the room with T-ai following close behind, not noticing Alpha Trion still laughing dementedly while chortling 'Greatest warrior! That's Priceless!!!'.