Chapter Two: Should I Stay Or Should I go?

It was a nice three days for Jayden and by the fourth she was beaming. The twins had apparently finally given up on her and she was free. Sitting down at the lunch table she was about to bite into her sandwich when she smelled vinegar. Setting her sandwich down she lifted the top piece of bread off to find a thin plastic thing filed with the liquid. Poking it it shattered almost like a water balloon and she barely dodged the few that came at her.

Standing up she looked around and saw no one. Figuring that after failing, for the first time, to get a prank on her they retreated. With a sigh she realized that it had only been a short reprieve that they had- she froze in the doorway as a bucket of vinegar burned her eyes, nose, and the many cute upon her flesh.

Unable to move she tried to breath only to be suffocated by the overpowering odor that vinegar gave off. It was like shoving her face in a bag of salt and vinegar chips, only ten times worse. Shakily she reached up with burning hands, feathers had adorned her flesh there too, to remove the bucket. In front of her down the hall a few feet she saw two identical faces grinning and they winked at her.

This. Was. It!

Throwing the bucket against the wall and screaming (the sound of anger over shadowed the pain that leaved into her voice) she was going to do something drastic. Life be damned. Well two something but the first she needed to get on tonight the other would be tomorrows reward. For now though she needed to clean off and deal with her bleeding face for many of the scabs had cracked and were bleeding once again. She stalked passed the shocked looking twins and was heading for the showers.

They had no idea why she had begun to bleed. Perhaps the liquid they used was acidic like the rain back on Cybertron. Deciding to ask a human and not risk getting caught by Prowl, Ironhide, or Ratchet they found a soldier walking towards them. "Epps," Sideswipe called, his brother would never talk to a squishy unless he was forced to, "what would vinegar do if poured onto one of you felshies?"

The dark skinned soldier seemed to think about it before wincing. Already not a good sign. Looking slightly unsure about answering he decided to just in case, "nothing but cause a smell to hang around for a few days. But try not to get Lieutenant Corporal with that. You're feather joke tore her face up pretty bad and if she gets doused in that it would likely cause the scabs to crack and bleed. The liquid in any of her cuts would burn like hel-" the twins winced.

They did not mean to hurt her only have fun with the femme. They actually kind of liked her. She was a good sport never telling on them though they wished for her to try and retaliate for fun. "What do you mean the feather tore her face up?" Sunstreaker asked. He liked her just a bit more than his brother because all soldiers had to wash the transformers and when she had been assigned him she was nice and didn't scratch his paint unlike several others.

"The paint you two used stuck to her skin and when Ratchet worked on removing it he had to get the feathers off first. They were like super glued to her skin or something. She had top take a hazard bath to get a layer of paint of. Heard Ratchet made her take three before letting her go with orders to take this week easy. You two didn't set up a trap for her did you?" His words made them wince and grimace before deactivating their holoforms. They decided to take it easy on her and let her be for the rest of her temporary medical break. It was getting late anyway and they decided tonight they would recharge as scheduled.

After showering she still smelled but it was not as bad. Still it would be days before the smell of vinegar left. Ironhide had been working on cleaning his weapons and she thought it was the small that had alerted him to her presence because he looked at her like she had grown a second head. "I need your help. Tonight I want to..."

.~:*:~.

"Hey, Captain Lennox wants you to report to the pool immediately. Said it was important," Jayden said to the army soldier that was manning the security screens. Epps stood behind her and gave the soldier a nod before taking the now vacated seat. Jayden used a manual override to make all the computers turn and face away from the hanger where most of the bots were resting.

He looked at his watch hit a timer then she left. Ten minutes and counting. Outside of the hanger there were four busters filled and covered that she had little trouble lifting, as a marine she was pretty strong for a girl her size. Hiding behind Bumblebee who was opposite Ironhide she saw the large black bot flick his lights twice. The twins were both in a deep the buckets down she moved quickly to stick a magnet on both their doors.

The magnet was designed by N.E.S.T. For Decepticon's to keep them locked in what ever forms they were and unable to feel anything. With A jimmy that had bee hidden in her pants leg she got to work on Sunstreaker first. His lock clicked quietly and with a check of her watch she saw she had eight minutes left. Door opened manually she grabbed two buckets and put them inside of him and took off the lids then quickly and quietly closing his door after locking it again.

The same treatment was done to Sideswipe and once both were bone she removed the magnets and with the four lids dove behind Bumblebee again. Looking towards Ironhide he flashed his lights twice letting her know the duo was still asleep. He promised to call her when he woke up tomorrow morning an hour before most other bots did. She wanted to see their reaction when the woke.

Three minutes left she made a run for the door and was back in the security room with half a minute to spare. The manual override was released and the camera's fell back into position. Leaning casually against the desk she started a random conversation with Epps, "-then he was like, 'Oh hell no!' before jumping an knocking me into the pool- oh, hey. What did Lennox want?" she said as the guy on security detail returned.

"Dunno. He wasn't there when I entered so I figured he didn't need me anymore and came back." HE said and she looked at Epps before shrugging.

"Anyway as I was saying my brother knocked us both in the pool and at the time the dumbass forgot neither of us could swim." Epps laughed just because it seemed like she had been aiming for a funny story as a cover up for what they had been talking about.

Now just to wait for tomorrow morning.

.~:*:~.

By five Jayden was up and ready though she had another hour to get ready. Ironhide had called five minutes ago and she was anxious to see how her prank was received. A folder of papers was then picked up and carried to the hanger where Ironhide was seated drinking a cube of energon. "You were fast, Lieutenant Corp-"

"Just call me Jayden. After this we are too close to go by anything but first names." She sat down next to his pede, or foot, and took out a pen and began signing the many papers. It took a while but she signed the last one just as the other bots began to come out of recharge. Ironhide caught the wicked smile that flashed over her face before she got control over herself again. Looking up at him she sent him a wink, "you might wanna record this."

Chuckling before doing as she suggested; he knew he would enjoy watching this for years to come. Sideswipe transformed before realizing something was off. Sunstreaker was luckier because he realized it before moving. His holoform flicked to life and his door opened. Reaching in he took out the pails of vinegar stunk his inside up and was leaking out of Sideswipe. The sound the red twin was making was far too high pitched for any human to hear but every bot was now up and awake. They all could smell the two. Sunstreaker was the lest stinky of the two due to having remove the buckets before crushing them in a transformation.

Horror was written over Sunstreker as he flinched away from his interior. Though there was a small plastic package there with a taped on note. 'Sprinkle over carpets. By end of day smell should be gone.' His lip twitched. He liked her. Side's probably ruined his when changing. Sprinkling the white powder over his carpets she noticed an almost immediate effect as the smell of pine nearly over took the vinegar. In the front seat he found a second pack, 'in case your brother destroys his.' He really liked that girl.

Subspacing the packet for his brother, he's let the glitch suffer for a day or two. He transformed before moving away from the smell his brother gave off. Dear Primus, he may just hand the packet over to get away from that smell. "Oh!" A far too familiar female's voice called out, "Captain Lennox!" She raced away from where she had been mostly hidden by Ironhide to catch up with the Captain. "Here." She passed him the folder and confusedly he looked at him.

Shock choked him and he looked from it to her. It took him a minute before he got himself under control and sighed. "Galloway is not going to like this." He grumbled. "It'll take a few days for the paperwork to go through and then it all depends on if you will get an honorary or dishonorable discharge. You do know if it is a dishonorable one they want to give you, you will have a hell of a time getting a job anywhere-"

"Discharge? Ironhide asked moving to loom over the humans. "My search has pulled up honorable and dishonorable discharge as leaving the militia." Neither Will or Jayden said anything so he looked down at the femme, "I thought we were friends." He said harshly before tuning to go to the specially designed weapons range, made for just him.

"I- I have- Ironhide, wait!" She called after him but the large bot was gone. Jesus these bots would be the end of her. If the twins let her survive because of her pranks, and if she survived their to come, then it would be her new friend guilting her. "Captain?" She looked at will and he recognized just how young the twenty year-old was.

"I never saw this." He said passing the folder back to her. She took it before running a hand though her hair, she needed to pull that up to be in regulation. Large fingers grabbed her file and the over powering smell of vinegar left to sit open over night told her exactly who it was. Tossing it to his brother Sunstreaker aimed a blaster at it and fired, incinerating her papers instantly.

Neither said a word to her and both walked away. What the hell was going on today! Everything was going haywire! Ironhide was apparently upset with her for trying to escape from the torture this place has become and they twins weren't pissed at her for the prank. Albeit she did leave removal scents in Sunstreaker, the vain mech would have noticed something was off long before his brother did so she had trusted he would find the scents.

"Lieutenant Corporal Jayden Ashton Mitchel," the unmistakable and deep voice of Optimus Prime said as she was cast into shadow. She could see the obvious shape of him in the shadow. Turning around she looked up to him only to be met with him kneeling and a hand placed upon the ground. He was silent as he saw the contemplation flash over her face. He found it interesting how much humans expressed so freely this way alone.

Jayden figured that at this point she had nothing to lose and getting in his hand and talking with him would just make this weird day wieder. Sadly it wasn't even eight.

"Ironhide asked me last night, after your secret retaliation against the twins," he chuckled as she sputtered and turned a bright red. "Do not worry, young one, you are in no trouble for that. Many of us think that it is about time you acted. But as I was saying, last night be your guardian." He watched as that information sunk in. "He was originally wanting to be the Lennox's guardian but Sarah vetoed Will's choice. She did not think that such a large truck was the best for little Annabelle. They have Lochtuning now for her alternate mode is a minivan. While Ironhide took on guarding Will upon base and out on missions he still wishes for someone to be his friend."

"There's a lot of soldier's on this base. Why me? Why all of a sudden do I matter?" Jayden looked down at the ground far below. She sometime wondered if she could survive a fall from one of these beings, "I'm nothing special."

"He respects you. Knows how strong you are for putting up with the twins for all these months. Ironhide finds you strong and worthy of his guardianship. To find out that you are planning to quite, to leave us, has upset him. He does not generally make 'friends' with our human allies." Optimus looked towards the large doors that had slammed behind Ironhide. His sensitive hearing could make out every Cybertronian word he sputtered out.

"It's stupid to make friends," she mumbled, "it's a war. You'll only lose them." Letting out a breath she looked towards the door too. Friends were something she sorely missed.

"Yes, there is that possibility. But what do you fight for if not for your friends and family? What do you have to continue living for if not for them?"

"Everyone?" Jayden looked up at him. "I fight for everyone. The lives of those I know and do not know. Freedom. You life the lives of the soldiers. I fight not for myself but everyone."

"Then why would you wish to be discharged?" Optimus was getting close to the large doors that his Ironhide from her view.

"I- I don't know. I don't think I can mentally keep up with their jokes anymore. I feel weary and tired, like I've never been before."

"If it is taking that kind of effect upon you, then why have you not told us about them doing this to you?"

"A marine never gives his comrades up. Not even to a higher up. We are to be a team, a family, and no matter our disputes we can not give anyone up least we want to risk being unable to work together and in the field that will get a marine killed. My father would rise from the dead to beat me and drag me down with him if he ever knew I 'tattled' on someone like that." When Optimus made a confused sound she chuckled, "it's a saying, Optimus Prime, just a silly human saying."

"Perhaps you should talk to Ironhide about this guardianship request of his," and with that Optimus entered the training area, deposited her in Ironhide's shocked servos, or hands, then left.