Just A Little Bit Jaded

2. Timeless

        “Maiden, have you arrived at the coordinates?”

        “Getting close, Optimus,” she answered over the com link, cannon blazing as she crept through the forest. The war had ended, the twins had been born, and they’d been transferred back to their Cybertronian forms. They were simply more effective when it came to neutralizing the private sects of Decepticon activity.

        For the sake of the safety of the Autobots, especially the newer generations that were coming to exist, Optimus and Maiden had taken it upon themselves to start leading missions that would take out any remaining Decepticon threats.

        Most of the time, they went alone, simply because they both felt the rest of the Autobots had given enough of their time and effort, but if they knew there was more to do, they’d never rest.

        Optimus was Prime, their leader. He refused to rest if there was any sort of danger lurking. The Autobots had had enough to worry about.

        JewelBlade, well, being as damnably stubborn as she was, refused to ever let him go alone. In her optics, she still hadn’t given as much as the others. If Optimus were capable of hiding the missions from her, he would probably leave her behind at least half the time. It bothered him that the carrier of his offspring was still being put in danger. They needed her.

        Of course, the one time he’d tried to make that argument, she simply shot back with “They need you, too.”

        While they were out, Angel came over to help keep an eye on the twins. Their ‘holoforms’ were still present, but if crossfire occurred at both locations, it would be difficult to balance themselves between the two bodies. At least this way, Angel would be able to get them out if danger surfaced.

        It was highly unlikely, but no detail was overlooked when they were away from the twins.

        “I’ve got the compound in sight, Optimus. Guerrilla warfare in three . . .”

        A cannon blazed near JewelBlade’s helm, a drone watching her her behind his plain face mask.

        With a heavy vent, she paused, deactivating her cannon and standing slowly, palms facing her foe. “All right. You got me. Now what?”

        “I splatter your processor against these trees. Traitor.”

        “Okay, to be fair, the whole ‘traitor’ thing was years ago. Literal years. Just let it go, Elsa.”

        “Pardon-.”

        Blade took that split second to slip behind him, wrapping her forearm around his neck, cannon reactivating as she pointed it straight to his optic. “It’ll be a lot easier if you give in now. It’ll be painless if you switch loyalties. But if you lie to me, I can make it very painful as I rip out your wires, one by one.” Feeling the mech tense against her, she continued. “Now, what are they doing? What sort of operation are you freaks running?”

        “I hope you offline as painfully as possible,” he answered angrily.

        With a groan, Blade pushed him away roughly, sending a blast straight through the back of his helm. “That’s better than you deserve,” she muttered before creeping back towards the outpost, vehicons milling in and out of the building abandoned of humans. “Optimus, it appears they have energon in there, so explosives are out. Do you have a plan?”