[COMPLETED] Arcee and her team of five western misfits take shelter in a walled town from a vicious sandstorm. Soon after their arrival, another group of desperate cowfolk arrive, but that night, one of their members, Ultra Magnus, is murdered. "t...
I am usually the first to fight back in situations such as these, but a strange feeling in my spark told me not to. No one had continued to attack my little band of misfits, so they just ambled behind us through the quiet town. I gazed up, and the winds of the sandstorm were bobbing and rioting across the protective atmosphere dome.
"What's the EnviroDome for?" I inquired, dragging my optics up to the elated mayor.
"So we can grow and raise all sorts of flora and fauna within our walls," Overlord responded sweetly. "Living in the desert is hard enough, but now we can enjoy a small forest and easier temperatures."
I had noticed the change in the climate when we had arrived, but I still hadn't seen anything unusual to a small town out in the west. There were still rundown pubs and stores, their tin walls glinting harshly in the overbearing sunlight, and a cyberdog ran past, yelping at something. I wanted to view this supposed wilderness, and the grand enclosure seemed large enough to house one.
Overlord practically dragged me up the crooked and creaking aluminum stairway leading to a saloon, and we pushed through the hinged doors. I heard the half-doors flap blandly as my comrades slipped through as well, and I flashed a glance over my shoulder. They were all uneasy about what was occurring, but I shot them a thumbs up at my waist. Chromia smiled.
Overlord pulled a bit away from me, his rough fingers still making contact with my upper back, to tap on the shoulder of someone who was snoozing upon a table. The orange and gray drunkard was completely out, and his mirrored concave visor wasn't illuminated from ajar optics. A small pool of turbid spit was forming underneath his lax face.
"Trailcutter, you alive?" Overlord called. When he didn't elicit a response, Overlord waved his hand once, giving up on proving this Trailcutter's spark was still aglow.
We settled down at the counter at the head of the pub, and my team pulled out their own rickety stools a few seats down. I knew they were afraid, but I was honestly more fearful to perturb Overlord. He was obviously smitten with me for no apparent reason, but maybe just something about the way he carried himself told me he was dangerous. I mean, he was mayor and sheriff. He obviously had some sort of control complex.
"Two E-whiskeys." Overlord held up two fingers to the bartender, and he turned to me before he saw the slender Seeker roll his amber optics. He didn't pay beforehand, so I guessed he was a regular that never bothered to pay because of his social status. "So, what are you all doing so far out here?"
"Far out here?"
"Yes. There isn't a place to go for many kliks."
The Seeker placed the drinks down upon the filthy glass counter, and I read a few of the newsprints that are trapped underneath the glass pane, supposedly for decoration. Nothing of interest was within the texts.
"Do you want me just to add this to your ever growing bill?" the Seeker inquired, his squeaky voice satirical.
"Shut it, Starscream," Overlord hissed from the corner of his frown. "Yeah, yeah, just do whatever."
"Girls are gonna drain you dry," Starscream muttered before turning away.
Overlord lightly bashed his fist upon the tabletop in response, and his upper lip pulled up to slightly reveal one glimmering fang. I did appreciate Starscream for not just becoming a toady like most do when facing off with people like Overlord.
Overlord gently angled his head towards me once again. "Sorry about th-"
"Overlord!"
"What Swerve?!"
A stout Cybertronian bumbled into the saloon, a wide grin plastered upon his face. He did a little dance while he spoke, and his large feet clopped against the steel floorboards. "More new people are here! Come on!"
Overlord looked to the heavens, obviously praying for something like patience, before he abandoned his seat. "I'll be right back, Arcee."
When they slipped into the outdoors, my gang immediately jumped from their seats, and the chairs' feet rocked in response. They tried to pull me out a side door, but I smacked their hands away.
"We need to get the hell out of here!" Ironhide cried. "What are you doing?"
"Where else are we going to go?" I snapped. "There's still a dust storm. I can hear it!"
"Don't worry. You all are safe here." Starscream rotated towards us, and his optics were upon the glass he was wiping dry. "Overlord seems a bit pervy, but he's just going through a very rough midlife crisis right now."
Our escape ceased as we locked our attention onto the informative bartender, urging him to speak more. Starscream recognized the silence he was supposedly intended to fill, and he halted his cleaning to stare at us.
"You want me to talk?" he asked.
We all nod in unison.
"Oh. Heh, I'm not asked to talk much. This is nice." He whipped around, and after some rapid clinking, he slid a tray of shot glasses onto the counter. Yellowish, viscous fluid was settled in each, and we all clambered onto stools, taking one. "So, yeah, Overlord wants to be all young 'n' fun again. He comes in here with a girl each week, giving them drinks and complements and all that scrap. I don't know if he wants romance, but he just wants a girl to treat. Hell, that's why he got the stupid EnviroDome. Some girl said she wanted a forest to run through, and boom! She got one.
"It isn't a bad thing if Overlord has taken a liking to you. If you are his little princess, you get whatever you want. And I mean it. You can become untouchable if you want. He's a touchy feely guy, but if you tell him to cut it out, he will. If you command him not to even look at you, he will wear a blindfold all the time if he needs to. It's obsessive and creepish, yeah, but you got a lot of leverage here now. Arcee, is it?"
"Yes." I upend my glass, and the strange energon slithered down my throat. We had been energon deprived, and this felt absolutely wonderful. "Can I have another?"
"Yeah. All you guys want."
I downed another yellow shot, and I squirmed as life enters my veins again. Ironhide was helping himself to one after another, but Sunstreaker was still wary about the initial drink. He pinched the small cup between his elegant fingers, staring at the fluid as he tilted it back and forth.
"It's good, Sunny," I call.
He looked at me before finally slurping it down, and he immediately asked for another. We pivot in our seats as the commotion of newcomers echoes about outside, and Overlord steps in with the people who had also sought shelter in his small town. Little did we know that a killer was about to reveal themselves.
