The Final Hope - Transformers Prime (3)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I wrote a solid five chapters today and was going to wait to post the next one because I didn't want to spam you guys, but I'm an impatient person with no self control...

[Amanda]

  With my earbuds blasting music, I looked over some final papers in regards to the rebuilding of Jasper in the base, sprawled across the entire couch. Raf was playing a video game, sitting on the floor in front of the tv while Ratchet had a field day working on the specs of my new satellite and Finn filled out some military paperwork on the table next to Raf. Jack and Miko were at their houses, helping their parents make it home again, so the base was pretty quiet. I signed off on the last paper and sighed in relief.

   "Done," I announced, yanking out my earbuds. "Finally. I don't think I'll ever be able to sign another paper again."

   Raf threw me a grin. "That bad?"

   "Worse."

   "Well, it's over now," Finn said, a smirk playing on his lips. "Besides, it's not like you have to write pages of stuff." He indicated towards his own stack of papers.

   I shrugged. "Hey, you're getting paid for that."

   "Are we still going to Fernley today?" Raf asked, his eyes still glued to the tv.

   "I don't see why not," I said. "I need furniture and clothes. You guys still in?"

   The younger boy nodded. "My mom gave me a list of things to get, and I'm pretty sure Jack and Miko have the same."

   I looked over at Finn. "You're coming too, right?"

   "Sure thing," he said. "As long as nothing comes up-" He was cut off by his phone ringing, and immediately frowned at the screen. "Speak of the devil." He stood rigidly, almost as though he dreaded answering, and walked away to answer. I watched, frowning slightly myself. Finn never looked so... unnerved when he got work calls. He loved his job, he usually didn't mind getting work. But this time...

   I kept watching him as he had his back to us. His entire posture was rigid, and he seemed to be controlling his anger, his empty fist clenched tightly. He stayed like that for the entire phone call, making me wonder who exactly he had been speaking with. I got up and walked towards him, intent on finding out.

   "What's wrong?" I asked. Finn spun around, eyes wild for a moment before landing on me and calming. Still, his body was tense and he shoved his phone away hastily.

   "Nothing," He shook his head, clearly trying to downplay his slight panic. "I'm just swamped with work. I'll have to take a rain check on Fernley tonight."

   I frowned. "What do they want from you now?"

   "Just a load more paperwork, mostly about what just happened with the Omega Lock and what's to happen now with Team Prime."

   "More than Agent Fowler can handle?"

   He clenched his jaw, then forced himself to relax. "The more official accounts, the better. Don't worry, I'll come with you guys next time. Promise." He began to walk away before adding. "Unless the world is ending. Then duty calls."

   "If you say so," I tried to make my tone sound chipper, but my frown remained. Finn may have been the expert on reading people's facial expressions, but he wasn't the best at controlling his own. Even if he was, I could sense something was off with him. I chewed my lip, trying to decide on what to do. It was obvious that he really wasn't doing any work for the military at all, so what was he doing?