Annabelle

Mario vs Yoshi

!@#$%

“Get your slagging hands off of me!”

I paused, warm water running down my hands. Was that…

“Dammit, Ratchet. Get. The. Frag. Off.”

It was undoubtedly Ironhide. I grabbed the roll of wrap I had bought out of my cabinet above the sink, and sloppily wrapped my wrist to stop the bleeding until later. I grabbed a jacket, and ran out the door headed for the hanger. As I got closer, I heard what was happening.

“Optimus, I am fine. Look at me.” Ironhide was saying.

“Ironhide, I am looking,” Optimus replied calmly. “That’s why I’m sending you with him.”

“Ironhide?..” I called.

The black transformer turned to look at me. He had a gaping hole through his shoulder, another one on his hip. His legs were in one piece, but you could see the multiple, multiple open wounds. He wasn’t leaking any energon, but he was hurt. Bad.

“Hey Bells,” he smiled at me. “I told you I would be fine.”

I laughed and looked at Ratchet and Optimus. Ratchet was looking over Ironhide, with a concerned and angry look on his face. Optimus Prime was emotionless, again.

“Hey, Ironhide?” I asked hesitantly. “If...If Optimus allows it, of course...If I get my games set up, you and I could play them...while, Ratchet is looking you over?” I gave him my sweetest smile I could manage.

“Awe,..” Ironhide said. “Those eyes...they’re growing on me...Prime?”

I gave Optimus the same look, which he ignored, but nodded in agreement.

I gave a quiet cheer, causing a chuckle to come from the older mech’s mouth. He plopped down on the ground next to my chair, Wheeljack handing him the robot-sized remote.

“I wired game controllers more our sized to a more our sized tv, but hooked it up with Annabelle’s game system. That way, we see things more our size, but we’re still playing the same games she is,” Wheeljack explained to Ironhide, who was only half listening. I had pulled up Mario Kart, and we were preparing to race.

We got to the character’s page and he looked at them. I quickly selected Mario, and watched as he puzzled over each one.

“What are these things?” He questioned. “Is this...like a war game?”

I laughed at him. “Sweetheart, you’re so innocent.” He glanced down at me with those blue eyes and smiled. “Mario, my character, is like Optimus Prime,” I said turning to see all the autobots (but Ratchet)  watching us. “And Bowser..” I pointed. “Is like Megatron.”

“So...which one am I?” Ironhide asked.

I puzzeled over this one. Which one was a weapons specialist?

“I guess Yoshi. He does the skilled fighting..which is as close as I can get to you..” I shrugged.

Ironhide selected the little thing and the race was on. Thing were going good. He was good at driving, got all the boosts and things working. He was in first, I was in second, when I got the red turtle shell.

“No..” he said as the warning system came up. “No! Evasive maneuvers! No!” The shell hit him, and he threw his remote. “I can’t believe this stupid game.Moving turtle shells.”

We laughed, but Wheeljack got the controller and we kept racing. Eventually Ratchet had finished working on Ironhide, but he stayed, watching us play. It was nice, but eventually, I needed to go. I was bleeding through the bandage on my arm. I said goodnight to the boys, and left.

Before I opened the door, someone cleared their throat behind me. I looked up, meeting the medical officer’s icy blue glare.

“What happened to your arm?” he asked.

“Nothing,” I held up the bandaged arm. “I just hit it on a couple branches on my run back to the base,”

Ratchet nodded, seemingly content with my answer. He turned and began to walk away. I rushed into my room real quick, shutting the door, breathing a sigh of relief.

That was too close.