#aqulia

Aquila knew taking this job was going to be filled with hardships.

Something she was well versed with.

She didn’t become Chromia’s mentee overnight, she worked hard to earn that title, and even more to gain a good reputation to guard the Leader of Cybertron.

Chromia and Aquila in the sparring ring. Windblade and Starscream are watching. Chromia: “Faster! Strike my openings!” Aquila: “I’m trying!” Chromia: “Do you think Starscream’s enemies are going to give you a free pass? Hit me!” Aquila manages to strike Chromia’s backstruts while flipping her onto her back. Windblade: “Ooh!” The younger bot quickly pins Chromia down with her spear. Aquila: “Gotcha!” Chromia gives a smile. Chromia: “Good, but…” Chromia flips Aquila onto her back, shoving her shield in the back of the younger bots helm. Chromia: “I’m still the master here.” Aquila lets out a strained chuckle as her mentor gets off and helps her to her pedes. Aquila: “But I’m getting better!” Starscream: “You must be at your best!” Bumblebee at his side: “You can’t even do that.” Starscream: “Shut it!”

Aquila had met her fair shares of ‘nonbelievers’ and ‘traditionalist’ around the Senate floors.

Even fellow Senators had doubted her ability to protect the leader of Cybertron.

She simply stayed quiet and held her post.

The youngling was getting paid to protect Starscream, not listen to some one doubting her ability to protect.

… okay she was also getting a small raise for listening to Starscream’s rants and practice speeches.

Turns out Starscream greatly counted on the youngling’s view on certain things.

Starscream inside a changing room. Starscream: “I’m coming now.” Aquila sitting in a chair looking half bored. Aquila: “Still here.” Starscream exits the changing room with a violet cape. Starscream: “Well?” Aquila: “…Might want to go for a shade darker. It’ll bring out your frame better.” Starscream: “Knew it!”

The guard slowly learned to work with the youngling, which they had to admit, was almost as skilled as they were.

Some even made friends with the youngling during their breaks and nights off.

They were rare but worth it.

On occasion the other guards would forget about Aquila’s age and go for more ‘older’ settings.

It was all good with Aquila… as long as she didn’t get caught.

At Blurr’s… Aquila looks around a bit nervous. One of her friends bumps her shoulder a bit. Guard 1: “What’s with you? You’re acting like you’ve never been to a bar before.” Aquila: “I have. But this bar…” Another one of her friends pats her helm. Aquila swats it. Aquila: “Hey we’ve talked about that!” Guard 2: “Easy there, Eagle eyes. Your off duty, relax.” Aquila still looking around. Aquila: “Why did the group choose this bar? There are so many other places.” Guard 1: “You scared of drinking?” Guard 3: “Maybe, but don’t worry, we got you your favorite engeron variation instead of engex. Don’t need—” Aquila: “Chromia!” Guard 3: “Yeah we don’t need Chromia ruining the fun.” Aquila: “No! I mean Chromia!” The guards look over and see Chromia and Windblade marching up to the bar counter. Aquila’s optics widen when she sees Blurr at the bar. Aquila: “I thought you said Blurr wasn’t at the bar!” Guard 3: “Guess not.” Aquila spots Chromia and Windblade marching over to their direction. Aquila looking at her friends. Aquila: “If I make it out of here alive, I will beat every single one of you in training.”

Besides the occasional hiccup here and there, work life was pretty good.

…Unless you counted on one certain bot.

He was a fellow Senator and for some strange reason, despised her.

Aquila had lost count on how many times she had tried to recount ANY time she may have offended the Senator, but none came to mind.

It was as if her entire existence was like rust in his undercarriage.

She tried to be as polite and well mannered as she could whenever she addressed him, but he always made sarcastic remarks about her that were borderline offensive.

Aquila couldn’t really do much about the situation.

She was just a guard.

Not to mention that if he got even more angry, it could reflect to Starscream.

She had seen enough times the Seeker fall asleep at his desk and complain about how he was truly trying to make things better on Cyberton.

Aquila needed to make sure that any relations were good, even at the cost of some of her dignity.

She was willing to do that to see this leader make good changes to this planet.

 Starscream was not blind by this mech’s words.

At first, he thought it was just going to be like the other Senators.

They doubt, then learn to, at least, tolerate Aquila’s presence.

But the longer this went on, the more the words started intchying his plates.

Why didn’t she stand up for herself?

He knows that she is perfectly capable of giving a verbal or pgysical beatdown to this Senator.

The question is why hasn’t she?

Bumblebee: “You know she can exactly attack a Senator, right?” Starscream scoffs. Starscream: “If she wasn’t such a coward then maybe she would hit him.” Bumblebee sighing. Bumblebee: “Think of it like this. Your personal guard gets caught hitting or beating a Senator in Iacon. Word reaches out to everyone else, and you know they are going to think she started it. She would be looking at a job termination if they don’t do a trial and it would make you look bad in the process.” Starscream: “… You’ve made your point.” Bumblebee nods. Starscream: “But that doesn’t mean there are… other ways to deal with this pest.” Bumblebee: “Wow, this is a sight. Starscream actually caring for someone without personal gain?” Starscream: “N-no!” Bumblebee: “Your wings say otherwise.” Starscream: “Shut it!”

Starscream was surprised that Chromia and Windblade hadn’t heard about Aquila’s confrontations with this mech.

The more he told them about it, the more he was starting to question why he thought telling Chromia who the mech was a good idea.

As much as murder was an option, he still needed Chromia around.

To teach Aquila of course!

The next day Aquila was getting ready to head to work when she got a call from a fellow guard’s member to turn on her screen to the news.

The news talked about the Senator being accused of workplace misconduct, inappropriate behavior, and found with several com lines to highly wanted bots.

Starscream at his office groaning a bit. Bumblebee: “Doesn’t that feel nice? Helping someone out?” Starscream glaring at the ghost. Starscream: “The only things I’m feeling is a helmache—” SLAM! The Seeker jumps but calms don seeing a heavy panting Aquila. Starscream: “You know you’re not supposed to slam the door!” Aqulia doesn’t say anything and closes the door. Starscream stands up with his servos on his hips. Starscream: “What? No greeting? Where are your—” He stops when he feels a pair of servos pulling him into a tight hug. Starscream: “…manners…” Aquila just holds him. The Seeker makes no move to remove the youngling. Starscream: “I didn’t do it for you, you know. It was out of my best interest to get rid of the waste of space.” Aqulia gives him a watery smile and finally let’s go. Aquila: “Of course sir. Umm, sorry about the sudden physical contact. It won’t happen again.” Starscream: “Give me some warning next time. Now shoo! Its your day off and I don’t want to see you. Go bother Chromia or Windblade.” Aquila bows out of respect and leaves the room. Bumblebee: “… I wish I had a picture of that.” Starscream: “SHUT IT!”