Unforeseen: Questions and Revelations

Chapter 3

I yawned and stretched my arms above my head. It was late and a damp cold penetrated through my jeans. Ironhide and I had made a quick stop at home so I could change before heading out to one of our favorite spots - Susquehannock State Park. We knew all the tranquil locations. It would be extra safe tonight thanks to the threat of a dismal evening.

"How are you holding up?" Ironhide asked.

"I'm good." His helm was not exactly a prime location for a nap. "What about you?"

"Your curse is threatening to come true." There was a slight tilt to his head as he looked up.

"Maybe you shouldn't give me a reason to cuss you."

"Maybe you shouldn't be so squeamish."

"Not everyone likes being a pervert, Ironhide,"

"It's not perverted if both parties are enjoying themselves."

I snorted. "I'm not enjoying myself."

"Yet."

A smile played on my lips. "Wishful thinking, wouldn't you agree?"

"After we've been together this long?" He questioned. "You're just pretending to be coy."

"Really?" I quirked a brow. "Perhaps I should remember that next time I get asked out."

He grunted and I patted his helm. College was an interesting experience and he had heard many a tale.

"So what's with all the hazardous science as of late?" I asked. "Que's been unbelievably dangerous since I got home a few weeks ago. I can't remember him ever being this bad." Not that I had known him very long. He'd only been on Earth about eight months.

"The more his budget is cut the more accidents there will be," Ironhide explained. "He's a former student of Wheeljack's."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Que has been trained to work under any circumstance and disregard the chance of failure, no matter how high it might be."

"That sounds like a brilliant plan," I said sarcastically.

"We rarely ever had enough supplies on Cybertron," he explained, "the Decepticons had a strangle hold on the planet's recourses. Only creativity and fearlessness scientists like Wheeljack allowed us to obtain more advanced technology. It was a risk we had to take."

The concept was troubling but there was no way to argue that logic. I couldn't imagine living in a world where survival was bent on potentially lethal risks. "Has anyone tried explaining this to Director Mearing?"

"Multiple times," Ironhide replied in frustration. "She refuses to see the benefits of Que's work."

"On one hand I can understand," I admitted. "Que's accidents have a tendency to be very costly, but if a higher budget means less damage I don't understand why they refuse to give in."

Ironhide grunted. "You're talking about bureaucrats and politicians."

"Good point." It always seemed the government was screwing NEST. Of course it didn't help that Optimus was too kind of a soul. He let humans have their way unless things got out of hand. As much as I loved the Autobot leader, the government didn't deserve to dictate their war in the way they were doing. They didn't know the Decpticons. They didn't understand that their war so different from our own. Without the Autobots help, we'd be in trouble.

"Too bad we can't stake them out for the 'con," I said. "It would be nice to get rid of all the corrupted officials."

Ironhide chucked. "Tossing them into a tank full of sharkticons would be more entertaining."