Niave

Chapter 18: An End to the Lost Game

Lila had been immensely relieved when Knockout declared the end of their poking and prodding session. He'd asked if she knew were she was going, and in an effort to get as far away from him as quickly as possible, Lila had told him she did.

Which was a lie.

She didn't know if she was supposed to go to the energon storage room, or if the second shift was over, or her room, or go find Dave who could still be on shift. Even if she did know where she was supposed to be going, Lila didn't know where she already was, so she was double lost.

Lila passed by two patrolling troopers and inwardly cursed. They couldn't speak and she had no visor to communicate with like others could. With a small huff, Lila reached back and grabbed her staff, but the moment her digits wrapped around the handle, her frame popped and the Nemesis suddenly grew way larger.

No, wait. She just got smaller. Lila raised her arms and looked at her familiar dark skin. A small smile tugged at the edges of her lips. She'd never thought she'd be so relieved to be tiny and squishable again, but this skin felt like home.

With added focus, Lila gripped the staff and teleported, imagining Dave's face in her mind's eye. A moment later and she found herself in a different environment. It was tight and cramped and dark, with a dim red glow somewhere above her. Lila frowned and pressed against the tinted glass next to her. Where was she?

"Please tel–"

Lila squawked as the line behind her began to move and she looked up in horror to realize she'd teleported between Dave's face and their visor. What else could she had expected? I'd been easier with Megatron, who she could imagine the familiar curves of his shoulders, but Dave hadn't ever carried her human form.

"Oh, hold on," Lila told them, trying to see through the visor and look outside. "I can teleport back out."

"Lila?" Dave gasped. "Why are you small and in my visor? I thought you were beind abducted by Knockout? Where is–"

"Ugh!" Lila threw her sleeve over her nose. "Dave, please, stop talking! Your energon breath is noxious!"

Dave's visor knocked her sideways as they stepped back, having almost ran into a wall whilst being distracted by the organic in their visor. He let out a breath of surprise and then frustration, all to which Lila choked and turned away.

"I'm just a little surprised is all," they frowned. "Can you get out soon though, I–"

"Dave!" Lila covered her mouth in an attempt not to throw up. "Stop talking!"

Dave quickly quited. Lila collapsed against his chin and struggled to breath as the oxygen levels in that small space had been majorly depleted. Dave kept trying to look down at her, but all they succeeded in doing was knocking her around with their helm motions.

Lila fumbled with the staff, but as her lungs screamed for air, she quickly realized teleportation would be impossible. Dropping the staff, Lila crawled further down Dave's visor in a desperate attempt to find an air hole.

The scene wasn't lost to him. Dave hesitated, but as Lila's face turned purple and her mouth gaped for air, they decided the best they could do was pull off their visor. Lila rolled out immediately, rolling unceremoniously onto the crate of energon cubes.

"Are you okay?" they asked.

Lila looked uo at him and breathed deeply before offering a smile and thumbs up. Dave sighed before grabbing their visor again.

"You there!"

Dave whirled around, their visor still tightly gripping in their servos as Starscream marched forward. The SIC got up real close to Dave's unmasked face and sneered.