“But you’re the only one I want.”
“Leon, you…”
Leon’s absolute expression of sincere affection made Arcee, who was already feeling self-conscious and guilty, feel deeply flattered and overwhelmed.
Too embarrassed to speak further, she went quiet once again.
Right then, Tony’s voice broke in awkwardly from the side, disrupting the somewhat romantic atmosphere developing between Leon and Arcee.
“Uh, listen…”
“You two, now is really not the time for flirting.
We’re almost there.”
In the far distance, beyond the naked eye’s reach, Gulmira—occupied as territory by the terrorists—loomed faintly.
The haze of war hung over the skies of Gulmira, resembling a massive mushroom cloud with a dense bed of fungi underneath when viewed from afar.
“Tony, when’s your next date with a cover girl?” Leon asked with a “smile.”
“Why are you asking?” Tony was puzzled and instantly grew wary.
“Nothing much,” Leon chuckled, laying his cards on the table.
“I just want to kick your ass right in front of her!”
With that, Leon drove Arcee to burst into a second stage of acceleration, taking the lead and leaving Tony standing bewildered in the trailing jet flame of the Jet Glider.
“By the way, Arcee.”
“Hmm?”
“Do you know why the anti-inertia field generator failed earlier?
Normally that shouldn’t happen.
Tony wouldn’t leave behind such an amateurish design defect.”
“…”
What Leon actually wanted to ask was what kind of organ the anti-inertia field generator corresponded to in Arcee’s body now, but he was afraid of upsetting her again, so he didn’t dare ask too directly.
Even so, Arcee let out a soft sound of surprise before deftly playing dumb once more.
“Alright.”
“Forget I asked.” Leon shrugged helplessly.
In reality, Arcee’s refusal to answer wasn’t for any special reason—it was purely out of bashfulness.
Because, in a sense, the anti-inertia field represented her love for her driver.
The “love” here didn’t necessarily mean romantic love; it could be friendship, care, respect, passion, affection, maternal warmth…
anything of the sort.
But at the end of the day, this pace of emotional development was still a bit fast for Leon and Arcee, who had only been together for a short time.
Yet how could anyone expect a woman who had been lonely for who knows how many ages, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, to keep her cool?
As for which kind of “love” Arcee felt toward Leon, only she herself knew.
After all, the emotion of love is the most irrational thing in existence.
[Notice: Arcee’s Partner Mode has been unlocked.]
“Woohoo!” Leon cheered excitedly, unable to hide the smile on his face.
“Leon, what are you laughing about?” Arcee asked in confusion.
“What?”
Before Arcee could even process what was happening, her body instinctively obeyed Leon’s command and began transforming, this time shrinking and compacting her size.
Very soon, the sedan-sized Jet Glider beneath Leon vanished.
Replacing it was a cyber-succubus held in Leon’s arms—life-sized, sleek and curvaceous, clad in silver, gray, and black with purple accents on her knees, waist, chest, shoulders, and cheeks!
“Arcee, this mode of yours is actually pretty stunning,” Leon praised from the bottom of his heart.
“!!!”
Arcee didn’t seem appreciative in the slightest.
Covering her chest with both hands, she glared at Leon in indignant embarrassment and immediately transformed back into motorcycle mode.
“Leon, if you ever make me turn into Partner Mode out in public without warning again, I promise I’ll never…
not talk to you for an entire week!”
Arcee’s chest practically throbbed with anger this time.
After all, her Partner Mode was also known as the “Emperor’s New Clothes” mode, equivalent to a normal human being completely stark naked.
As for why a robot would have such a concept—well, Cybertronians were just magical like that, weren’t they?
“Ah, well…” Leon hadn’t expected her reaction to be so extreme just from asking her to transform into Partner Mode.
Looks like he’d inadvertently stepped on her minefield again.
This was an important piece of training knowledge; he had to jot it down in a little notebook.
*JARVIS, write this down for me…
Oh, there’s no JARVIS here.
Looks like Leon will have to prepare a separate paper notebook for Arcee.*
*Lest she finds out if it’s saved in an electronic notebook.*
*Cybertronian language is great; Leon wants to learn it, loves to learn it.*
After a few twists and turns, Gulmira was right in front of them.
“Woohoo~”
Standing ten thousand meters up in the air, Leon took a leap of faith right off Arcee’s waist.
Having seen Leon display his flight superpower before, Arcee wasn’t worried about him at first.
It wasn’t until Leon’s falling speed grew faster and faster, with no sign of slowing down whatsoever, that Arcee truly panicked, diving at top speed to chase after him.
But it seemed to be too late…
“Leon!!!” Arcee screamed in fear.
Yet under her astonished gaze, Leon executed a superhero landing, driving firmly half a meter into the ground like a steel pin.
Aside from kicking up a huge cloud of dust, he stood up from the pit completely fine, his handsome, mature figure standing tall upon the earth.
—Hero’s entrance!
Right on his heels, Tony in his Mark 3 armor—whom both Leon and Arcee had forgotten—also executed a cushioned superhero landing right beside Leon.
Finally, Arcee arrived late in motorcycle mode.
*Clang!
Clang!*
Two metallic impacts rang out as Arcee, fuming with rage, slapped both brothers who were striking poses, knocking them flat onto the ground.
“What the fuck!”
“Why did you hit me too?”
Seeing Arcee in battle mode, Tony was thoroughly shocked and immediately began complaining.
But when he saw Arcee fiercely grab Leon by the collar, toss him effortlessly into the air, and interrogate him, Tony instantly shut his mouth.
*This broad looks like someone you don’t mess with.
Where on earth did she come from?*
“Never again, Leon!”
Arcee was nearly driven to a short circuit by Leon’s reckless behavior.
She could swear that in just the brief time she had known Leon, her emotional swings easily rivaled the total of the past few centuries combined.
Talk about thrilling!
This scene, in the eyes of the terrorists currently dragging forced conscripts out of the homes of Gulmira’s citizens, was more surreal than a fairy tale.
*What the hell?
Have motorcycles gained spirits these days?*
After getting Leon’s repeated promises, Arcee was finally willing to set him down.
Seeing this, Tony walked over to Leon, pointed at the five-meter battle-mode Arcee whose shoulders they could barely reach even standing on top of each other, and said, “Leon, as for Miss Arcee here, I think I need an explanation too.”
“Nothing much to explain.
Didn’t JARVIS already tell you?
I picked her up.”
With that, the Tungsten-Vibranium Shield was instantly retrieved from his system space, landing in Leon’s left hand.
With his other hand, he drew the Desert Eagle with Infinite Ammo from the holster on the right thigh of his uniform, entering full battle readiness.
Seeing Leon give such a perfunctory explanation, Tony didn’t bother asking further.
The repulsors on both of his palms began charging up, aiming at the bewildered terrorists.
“Hey, big bro, let me make a suggestion.”
“What?”
“Leave these guys to me and Arcee.
You go destroy the weapons hoard they’ve accumulated.
How’s that sound?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Tony powered down his repulsors, looked up at Arcee beside them, and instructed, “I don’t know where you came from, but I’m leaving Leon in your hands, Arcee.”
“Mm.”
Her arms transforming into two plasma beam cannons, Arcee nodded solemnly.
This time, until her Spark was completely extinguished, she would never let go of her partner again.