When Strongarm arrives at Jawsplitter's place she transforms and is instantly greeted by Jawsplitter's guards, "Now isn't the best time for you to visit Strongarm." One of the guards tells her. The two are regular Cybertronians but they look big and scruffy, not mechs you would want to get into a fight with. But Strongarm has managed to take them both down a couple of times so she doesn't fear them in the slightest as others do. She just ignores him and brushes past the pair to go inside. The two could tell she was in one of her moods where they didn't want to tussle with her so they let her go by.
Jawsplitter's place is like a mansion with four floors and fifty rooms. The mechs that work for him each get to have their own room and space. Strongarm was offered a room but she declined, she would rather live in her own place and support herself rather than rely on Jawsplitter. As she goes up the stairs the lights would glow a beautiful blue with golden hues which reflected off the walls. All sorts of beautiful jewels and Cybertronian artifacts decorated the hallways, almost all stolen of course. Though there are a few that Jawsplitter did buy, surprisingly.
Strongarm makes her way to Jawsplitter's office to see if he's there. She opens the door to find him sitting at his desk putting away some halopads from the day's business. After putting away the last one he looks up and sees Strongarm walking over to his desk, "Strongarm? You rarely visit this late. To what do I owe this visit?"
Strongarm stops in front of his desk, "I want to know what was going on earlier with those new mechs. How come I didn't know about the meeting and why haven't I heard about the new mechs you're doing business with?"
Jawsplitter looks at her for a second then starts to stand up out of his chair, "Strongarm, it's late and I'm tired. Not to mention the drink is already starting to get to me. Apparently, I can't handle overdose high-grade Energon drinks like I used to," Jawsplitter chuckled, "you'll find out in the morning what the meeting was all about."
Strongarm watched the mob boss as he headed for the door to go to his room, "In the morning? Why should I have to wait until the morning? Why can't you tell me now?"
"Strongarm, that's enough!" Jawsplitter shouts as he stops walking but continues facing the door, "You will find out in the morning along with the rest of the city! I am going to go recharge, I suggest you go home and do the same. I will see you in the morning."
"But-"
"Goodnight Strongarm!" Jawsplitter walks out of the office and heads to his room. He hates that he has to keep her in the dark about what's going on but he just can't tell her. He would much rather let her find out when they make the announcement to the whole city.
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As Strongarm drove home she couldn't help but think about Jawsplitter. What is it that he's not telling her? Even his guys are keeping it a secret, none of them would tell her, "Guess I'll just have to wait until the morning."
When she makes it to her building she transforms and heads inside. It's nothing big and fancy like Jawsplitter's place, it's just a little apartment that an old mech built once the war ended. The old mech runs the place and makes sure it's in tip-top shape. He greets Strongarm whenever he sees her and she enjoys talking to him, especially when he tells her stories about the war. He got the idea to make an apartment for Cybertronians when he heard about them from bots that had been to Earth and learned so much about the planet. He vowed that he would be the first to make one for Cybertron and he achieved the goal as soon as the war ended.
When Strongarm enters the building she sees him sitting at a desk as usual. He instantly perks up when he sees her and gives her his beautiful smile, "Hello Strongarm. How was work?"
Strongarm smiled back at him, no matter what might be troubling her it was always pushed away whenever she saw his smile. He actually looks pretty good for an old bot, the only proof of his old age are the rust marks on his light blue armor and the creaky joints that you can hear from time to time whenever he moves. Other than that he seems to still be in pretty good shape and he still has that twinkle of youth in his optics. He's so sweet and caring, in all honesty, she sees him as more of a father figure than she does Jawsplitter, "Hello Topper. Work was busy as usual. Though we did have some new and unusual customers."
"Oh really? Do tell."
"They were two mechs, one resembling an Earth elk and the other resembling an Earth wolf. They were there for a meeting with Jawsplitter, but I don't know why. I went to Jawsplitter's place to ask him about it but he wouldn't tell me."
"Maybe it will be revealed in the morning. I just got word not long ago that all owners of buildings are to meet in the center of the city. The mech that told me said to make sure you came along as well."
"That's what Jawsplitter said, that I would find out in the morning with the rest of the city."
"Go recharge Strongarm, I'll see you in the morning."
"Goodnight Topper." Strongarm says as she heads towards the elevator.
"Goodnight Strongarm."
When Strongarm reaches her floor she goes into her room. After she shuts the door and puts in the key code to lock it she walks over to the window. Being on the fifth floor gives her a good view of the city with all its lights. Normally she would see others driving around going from one place to another but tonight the streets were quiet because all bots are inside resting and waiting anxiously for the big news. It was eerie, as though something terrible was about to fall upon the city. Strongarm shook off the feeling of dread and went to her berth to recharge.
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In the morning all the owners arrived in the center of the city to hear the important news. Strongarm arrived with Topper and they took their seats in front of a big platform. The platform was sitting in front of a big Energon fountain that had been placed in the center with a statue of Jawsplitter in the middle.
I sometimes forget how egotistic he is. Strongarm thinks as she rolls her optics.
It didn't take long for Jawsplitter to come onto the platform with the two mechs from the previous night and a few others. Strongarm looked at the two mechs standing with their leaders, one looked like a Dinobot and had what looked like a club in his servo which had spikes on it and the other resembled an Earth ape... or gorilla? Strongarm isn't really sure, but they both look like they could do some real damage if given the chance. Certainly not the kind of mechs you would want to get into a fight with.
Strongarm noticed the wolf and the elk shaking their helms to shake away the helmache and try to focus. They look a bit disoriented, the wolf more than the elk. Wonder why. That's what overdose high-grade Energon does to you, it can mess up your processor and make you have trouble focusing. Though to Strongarm's surprise, the two were able to regain focus and posture after a simple shake and whack on the helm. They obviously drink the stuff a lot.
"Thank you all for coming..." Jawsplitter starts talking.
"It's not like we had a choice." Strongarm mumbled to herself.
"The reason for this meeting this morning is to inform you all that I will be retiring. I have come to the age where I can no longer run this city, it's becoming too much for me. I will miss this beautiful city and all of you, especially my little Strongarm." Jawsplitter motions a servo towards the said femme who is looking at him with wide optics, "I will be retiring to a smaller city where I can rust away in peace. So allow me to introduce the new owners of this city, Thunderhoof and Steeljaw."
Gasps and whispers could be heard as every bot wondered if this was for real or if it was a joke. Some were even questioning the decision to hand the city over to these mechs which are known to be ruthless. But none would dare say anything or oppose the decision.
"Quiet down!" Jawsplitter roared out. Once it was quiet again he continued, "I know of their reputation and what kind of mechs they are and I assure you that my guys will keep an optic on things to make sure they don't do too much damage."
"What good would that do any of us?" Strongarm mumbled.
"Shh, they might not be too bad." Topper whispered to her.
"Not too bad? They're mob leaders, they're gonna be just as bad or probably even worse."
Topper shrugs, "Guess we'll see."
"I shall now step back and let the new owners speak and inform you of what they have planned." Jawsplitter walked over to the left side of the platform to allow Thunderhoof and Steeljaw to come forward.
"Thank you Jawsplitter." Thunderhoof says as him and Steeljaw walk up to the front, "First off, we expect payment from each building every month. If you do not meet the payment you will lose ownership of your building and will be kicked out of the city..."
Strongarm glares at the mob leader, By kicked out of the city you mean terminated. I know how you mobsters work.
"The payment fee is fifteen hundred credits."
That did it. Strongarm shot up out of her seat, "FIFTEEN HUNDRED!? HAVE YOU SCRAMBLED YOUR PROCESSOR!?"
"What?" Thunderhoof looked at the femme confused.
"Strongarm, sit down..." Topper whispers to her as he pulls on her arm.
"THESE BOTS CANNOT AFFORD THAT!! THEY'RE BARELY GETTING BY AS IT IS!!"
Thunderhoof opens his mouth to say something back but gets interrupted by Steeljaw, "Would five hundred creds be better sweetspark?"
"No! That's still too much!"
"Strongarm, that's enough!" Jawsplitter speaks up.
"They're taking advantage of us! We can't make that kind of money like you can!"
"STRONGARM, SIT DOWN!!"
Strongarm scowled at the mob leaders as Topper continued to pull on her arm, "Please, Strongarm. Sit back down." His worry was evident in his voice. She may be like a daughter to Jawsplitter but the two new leaders could kill her if she angers them enough.
One of Jawsplitter's guards walk over to Strongarm and puts a servo on her shoulder, "Sit down, Strongarm. You and Jawsplitter can have a discussion later." Strongarm sits down but the scowl remains on her face.
Jawsplitter faces the two mechs, "As I said before, she's a feisty one. But I'm sure you can handle her."
Strongarm notices that Steeljaw is staring at her with a devilish smirk that sends chills up her back struts. She doesn't know what it is but there's something about this mech that just doesn't sit right with her. She's getting that eerie feeling again that's telling her that things are about to take a drastic turn for the worse with these two now in charge of the city.
"Five hundred creds it is then." Steeljaw says as he keeps that smirk of his in place, not taking his optics off the white and blue femme. Strongarm still doesn't like it and thinks it's unfair but she won't say anything else, she knows better than to keep protesting and anger the leaders. So she keeps quiet and just listens to the plans the two made out for the city, but she doesn't like it one bit. These two are gonna ruin the city, she can tell. She also can't shake the feeling that her life is about to change big time.