PRISON SHIP : ALPHA

Chapter 3: He's the fool.

After hours of wet, brown snow slosh, bumpy gravel roads, potholes, and numerous switching of pulling the trailer, they finally saw the sign.

"Look! It's the sign!" Asteria chuckled tiredly, "'welcome to Washing.. ton? Washington?"

"Well.. you were close." Tarn laughed, now finding the name they gave the state stupid and hilarious.

"Ew... now I feel dumb. Washington. Washington? How did I come up with washing?" Asteria questioned her mental stability a few times.

"It's alright, we're both tired. Maybe your pea-sized processor¹ isn't ticking right. A nice recharge once we find the old motel is well deserved." Tarn swerved slightly, avoiding a pothole.

"Leaking central processor fluid, obviously.." Asteria scoffed.

Tarn chuckled as they continued. The skies had grown darker, the beautiful orange hue leaving the sky, which was now being enveloped by a dark blue and purple. The black tinted void became splattered with quiet flashing lights, all of the dots a different size and flashed in different patterns. Others didn't blink with personality, keeping their blue, pink, and sometimes red coloring. The moon, laced in a rainbow orange like gradient, the fade going light to dark the farther it stretched into the night. The grey sphere was littered with darker spots, showing off the large craters and hills upon the mysterious orb.

"Heh.. you might wanna be careful." Tarn chuckled, noticing Asteria's tag as she drove a little faster, keeping infront of Tarn.

"Why? Something wrong with my glorious tag?" She snickered mischievously.

"Yeah. It says, 'Will Run.' Pretty sure that's illegal on Cybertron² and here on Earth." Tarn couldn't help but hold back a laugh. He'd seen a tag like hers before and had also seen the aftermath of having one. The bot had gotten arrested and put in jail for quite a while, also being handed a hefty fine.

"And? It's true. What's better than a nice, long police chase?" She revved her engine, which whinned with eagerness for speed.

"Not having one with human authorities." His playful tone faded, turning more serious.

"Aw, come on. My sub-faction is a stunticon³. I can't help it." She swerved around teasingly, in a way that was to warm her tires.

"Stop. I don't care what your sub-faction is. You can help it by using self-control." He barked.

"You can't tell me what to do. And I have self-control. Just very little." She snickered.

"Alright. Then I won't help you find your 'boyfriend'." Tarn huffed.

Asteria stopped swerving, keeping her speed steady, "he isn't my 'boyfriend.' Steeljaw is my best friend. I'll stop, but I... still need your help finding him. Then I'll leave you be."

"Right. You act like he's your boyfriend. But, if you need my help so bad.." Tarn sped up to match her pace.

"I'm not gonna argue with you. And don't you want to find a rebellion to help against the Autobots?" She asked curiously.

"Yes. Having a team to combat them would make our lives easier." He proclaimed.

"When we do find Steeljaw, he will most definitely have a team based somewhere. He does do alot of instigating to help raise his... 'Decepticon army..'" The femme spoke lowly. She was fearful of what Steeljaw had planned. She was always the one to guide him out of going too far. He did tend to loose his mind and.. make things get bloody.

"His team would be full of fools. Only dumbasses would fall for his mind games." Tarn growled.

"I-.." Asteria tried to protest, but she quickly shut herself up. She knew Tarn was right. But she wouldn't admit it.

"Just keep driving. The signal is getting stronger." He sped up, Asteria's superchargers now becoming quiet. The ride was now silent, not a word was leaked. Asteria had always been hurt by insults towards her best friend, but never had the canisters⁴ to sit up in her seat and correct the bots who threw the insult.

She only had to deal with him for a while longer. She'll let Tarn think he's in control. She finds it quite amusing. Money, is everything in a Mercenaries world.

Almost time to get paid.

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Glossary for TF newbies :] (simplified)
Processor¹: The brain of a Cybertronian / Transformer.
Cybertron²: The home planet of all Transformers. They are called Cybertronians.
Stunticon³: A sub-faction of either Autobot or Decepticons, -other factions included- which revolve around the road, racing, and speed.
Canisters⁴: My word for 'balls' in Transformers terms lol.

{ Word count: 748! }