1.5-Terrible Life Choices(And Other Las Vegas Attractions)-F

[Bluestreak]

That was the cue; Wash was ready to go. Really, so was he, he was starting to worry that every more he opened his mouth he was going to mess this up somehow. That she'd pick up on the fact that they were giant alien robots with fake human avatars and that would cause a whole bunch of issues. This wasn't an old man in the middle of nowhere with his radios and lack of Speed Stick. Carly was a bright woman, intelligent and quick on the uptake. An engineer. Like Wheeljack but a whole lot safer. Hopefully.

Bluestreak quickly slid his chair out and unfolded himself out of it. He gripped the back carefully and set it neatly under the table. Then he stepped to Wash's shoulder with a nod, and...

How many people had they lured in already. How many unassuming humans like Carly had been absorbed into that, and how many of them even now were building things that could kill them and not even knowing it. It was a sobering thought.

Carly smiled up at him again, and he met her gaze. The tip of her shoulders, her expression, okay, he couldn't help it. He grinned back in delight (and maybe a bit of internal facepalming...) Blue. Good job, Bluestreak. You couldn't have thought of something better? Ben. Owen. Luke. Leonardo? Donatello? Maybe it was a good thing I stuck to Blue, yeah.

The sharpshooter was utterly relieved that this had turned out so well. She was safe, she'd be okay, and hey, maybe even she could maybe help Fowler out. Whatever happened she sure wasn't working for MECH.

He reached for her extended hand, and for a second, he just stood there, fascinated with how her hand felt in the grip of his avatar. It was totally different. Bluestreak had expected somehow for a human to feel breakable. She didn't. No, she felt solid and sturdy and her grip wasn't slimy or weird. Dry as his own metal, and equally warm. She shook hands like any other mech would have; well, minus the ones with hooks and weird weapons for hands.

Then Bluestreak realized he needed to uh, let go, before she thought he was rude. Oh boy he was really failing. Time to get out of here before I really blow it.

"Was nice meeting you too," he laughed and quickly released her. Oops. "Aw, glad we were in the right place at the right time, you don't owe us anything, promise. Well, maybe an email so we know you're okay. That would be great."

"Um, hey though, Carly, I do need you to open the garage though, so I can back out. I mean, back the car out. Meet you on the street, Wash, one second."

[Deleted]

"Oh! Yes, of course," sputtered Carly. "Hang on, I'll get that for you."

She set her bottle on the table and hastened back into the hall. Wash grinned and ribbed Bluestreak with his elbow before strolling after her.

Even with the door down the sunlight that shone through the garage windows kept the space bright and airy. Carly touched a switch and the big door immediately began to rattle upwards, drawn by its chain. Warmth and dazzling radiance streamed inside.

After the white glare faded Bluestreak would be able to look behind himself and see a nondescript grey Mercedez-Benz parked on the curb outside of her house. Since there were no other cars in the area, it was a safe bet that it was probably Wash in disguise.

Wash trotted down the steps into the garage. He turned and walked backwards for a few strides.

"Once again, it was nice meeting you, Miss," he said. "I wish it w."ere under better circumstances, but all things considering we all made out safely in the end. That's what's important. Please give my regards to Agent Fowler when you see him."

Since she had kicked off her boots, Carly lingered at the side door rather than venturing into the garage. She nodded at him, her hands clasped against the frame.

"I will!" she said. "Thank you again."

She grinned at Bluestreak. "I hope you stay in touch! I mean - both of you. You know, to let me know what's up. Er. What's going on. With all of this. Everything."

[Bluestreak]

At the friendly elbow, the sharpshooter's avatar bumped a step to the side. His cowboy boots scruffled along the wood of the hallway. He raised an eyebrow at Wash and then offered up a grin in return.

Yeah, he felt pretty good himself about how things were going. They had more information on MECH than they'd had, a lot of very specific information that could be used to their advantage, but-

Carly wasn't hurt. That was the most important thing, he decided. Well, not that the information wasn't important, sure, but she didn't deserve to get chased down the road and bullied into working for MECH. He had a bad feeling that she never would have resurfaced again. Pulled into a system where you just got used as part of the greater picture, and your value was only off of what you could provide for the goal. After that, you had about as much use as a spent shell casing.

Maybe even less. You could repack one of those.

He didn't want to think about it. Instead he stepped into the garage and watched the door roll up. Sunshine streamed in. There was no one but Wash on the street outside, which was good, he'd been keeping an eye out.

As Wash started to saunter out, Bluestreak looked down at her. "Aw, I will. Stay in touch," he agreed with a smile. "I'll make sure that Wash gets you my info, for sure, I want to hear that you're doing okay. Promise. Besides, I'm going to go look up this Bigdog fellow so that I can tell you that it was as awesome as you made it sound."

He grinned back and then strode quickly to the drivers side door. Oh good, at least this time he remembered to put his hand on it before he opened it. He slid in and even before he'd fully sat his avatar down his engine rumbled. Carefully he backed out of the garage and right back into the full blast of the baking heat. Sunshine rippled and gleamed off the sweep of his silver hood and he pulled himself out to the street easily, waiting for Wash to head out so that he could follow him out of the residential area.

[Deleted]

On socked feet Carly picked her way over to the open door of the garage to watch them go. She waved at Bluestreak as the silver Datsun backed into the street. The sun made her squint, and she lifted one hand against it so that she could watch both cars leisurely drive off, until they turned a corner and disappeared from sight.

Wash had rolled down his window to wave at her. Now he let his avatar's arm hang down from it, the wind ruffling his hair.

"You know, that went pretty well in the end," he said. "Let's finish this patrol and call it a day. We're going to need to report this incident, and I can't say I know for certain how happy Optimus will be to hear about it. But between you and me, all things considering, I think... I'm pretty happy with how things turned out."

The two Autobots melded back into the flow of sleepy surburban Las Vegas traffic.





and wrap!