His first waking thought was that it was cold. It shouldn't be, even under the shade of the trees. Trees-? He couldn't quite recall where he was or what he'd been doing, only that there were lots of trees, and that he found his mind lazily drifting from useless tree fact to useless tree fact as everything slowly swam back into focus.
Lightning flashed somewhere outside of his vision, and he recalled with sudden clarity that he'd been fighting. And Naomi was there. And there were the bad guys and the one had- he didn't quite remember, it was all fuzzy still, but it must have been bad because he was lying in a fairly sizable crater.
And there was someone zipping overhead, calling out his name. "Naomi!" he cried, and was surprised by the sound of his own voice. It was... not right somehow. Only then did he look down at his hands.
There. Naomi halted in midair, directly where she'd heard her name. That had been his voice, but... something hadn't seemed... was this another trap?
With a frown, the esper dropped straight down through a clear spot in the trees and landed gracefully (considering the battered state she was in) before the crater and the human that lay within it.
... Human?
One hand glowed a faint, sparking red, as Naomi held her ground, fighting against confusion and wariness and hope. She wanted it to be him, but there was no way he would be using a hologram at this time.
"Who are you?" She said evenly, eyes narrowed in a clear warning.
He held up his hands- human hands- making it clear he intended to do no harm. "Naomi, it's me." A pause, where he clearly seemed to be struggling with the fact himself, but he said it anyway. "Jolt."
An esper would have struck by now... unless this was a very elaborate trap, but Naomi wasn't the one Black Phantom wanted. But admitting this was Jolt... meant admitting that somehow, either his hologram had activated, or he was actually...
With a small hand movement, she lifted him out of the crater, setting him back on his feet in front of her. It was probably a mistake, but she'd be ready to retaliate if this was a trap.
Jolt was a fighter, and as he valiantly fought the fever off, the rest of the night passed without incident.
But he had always been one to sleep in, and that wasn't about to change now- especially not after the long night he'd had to endure. As B.A.B.E.L. was waking up, he was still dead to the world, contentedly lying there with his arms curled around Naomi.
The inevitable breakdown that was going to walk through that door was a distant thought.
Naomi had the tendency to snuggle against whatever was close at hand, be it her pillow, the blanket she inevitably wound up tangled in... or the nearest source of warmth, which just so happened to be one Autobot in a human body.
And so she was just as peacefully curled against Jolt, just as the doors slid open and Sakaki and Tanizaki strolled in, the former perusing his clipboard and the latter doing what he did best.
Rambling.
"Naomi is a highly-valued esper and should be resting in an undisturbed environment, safe and protected from that..." He trailed off, a warning sign that had Sakaki immediately looking up to see what had silenced the supervisor so abruptly.
Just as quickly, he looked back down, but it was too late. Tanizaki had exploded in (what he felt was righteous) rage.
"FIEND!! YOU FOUL VEHICLE WHO TRIES TO BESMIRCH MY NAOMI'S CHASTITY AND HONOR, RELEASE HER AT ONCE!!!"
The Autobot, however, did. He flinched and groaned, carefully cracking open one eye. The sight of Naomi curled against him caused a smile to flash across his face, but his attention was quickly drawn to the screaming supervisor, and he made a face.
Reluctantly disentangling himself from the sleeping esper, he sat up and, in a move that was oddly automatic in this new body, ran his fingers through his disheveled hair. "What crawled up your exhaust port and died?" he remarked, shooting Tanizaki a supremely annoyed look. Clearly, he was not much of a morning person.
"What-- crawled-- exhaust port-- died?!" He parroted in a yell that bordered on a screech. "Just what do you think you're doing, taking advantage of B.A.B.E.L.'s hospitality to make a move on my subordinate?! I won't have it! Naomi is elite and far above your standards so that you could not hope to even grasp her! One day, she will sparkle in her flowing white--"
Sakaki was already groaning, and his future sparkling subordinate was automatically curling into a tighter ball, as though that would drown out the screaming trying to pull her from her slumber.
"Look, Tanizaki, he's my patient right now and an important ally, so if you could for once stop yelling about Naomi-chan--"
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Lightning flashed somewhere outside of his vision, and he recalled with sudden clarity that he'd been fighting. And Naomi was there. And there were the bad guys and the one had- he didn't quite remember, it was all fuzzy still, but it must have been bad because he was lying in a fairly sizable crater.
And there was someone zipping overhead, calling out his name. "Naomi!" he cried, and was surprised by the sound of his own voice. It was... not right somehow. Only then did he look down at his hands.
"Oh, Primus."
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With a frown, the esper dropped straight down through a clear spot in the trees and landed gracefully (considering the battered state she was in) before the crater and the human that lay within it.
... Human?
One hand glowed a faint, sparking red, as Naomi held her ground, fighting against confusion and wariness and hope. She wanted it to be him, but there was no way he would be using a hologram at this time.
"Who are you?" She said evenly, eyes narrowed in a clear warning.
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With a small hand movement, she lifted him out of the crater, setting him back on his feet in front of her. It was probably a mistake, but she'd be ready to retaliate if this was a trap.
"And how do I know you're who you say you are?"
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But he had always been one to sleep in, and that wasn't about to change now- especially not after the long night he'd had to endure. As B.A.B.E.L. was waking up, he was still dead to the world, contentedly lying there with his arms curled around Naomi.
The inevitable breakdown that was going to walk through that door was a distant thought.
Reply
And so she was just as peacefully curled against Jolt, just as the doors slid open and Sakaki and Tanizaki strolled in, the former perusing his clipboard and the latter doing what he did best.
Rambling.
"Naomi is a highly-valued esper and should be resting in an undisturbed environment, safe and protected from that..." He trailed off, a warning sign that had Sakaki immediately looking up to see what had silenced the supervisor so abruptly.
Just as quickly, he looked back down, but it was too late. Tanizaki had exploded in (what he felt was righteous) rage.
"FIEND!! YOU FOUL VEHICLE WHO TRIES TO BESMIRCH MY NAOMI'S CHASTITY AND HONOR, RELEASE HER AT ONCE!!!"
Miraculously, his charge didn't stir at all.
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Reluctantly disentangling himself from the sleeping esper, he sat up and, in a move that was oddly automatic in this new body, ran his fingers through his disheveled hair. "What crawled up your exhaust port and died?" he remarked, shooting Tanizaki a supremely annoyed look. Clearly, he was not much of a morning person.
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Sakaki was already groaning, and his future sparkling subordinate was automatically curling into a tighter ball, as though that would drown out the screaming trying to pull her from her slumber.
"Look, Tanizaki, he's my patient right now and an important ally, so if you could for once stop yelling about Naomi-chan--"
"NAOMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII--"
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