Never Will Be
Disclaimer: I was astounded by how much love Never Was had received on deviantart, as evidenced by the artwork done by Lecidre; two pieces of work entitled Dream of a Bright Tomorrow and Farewell. I'll admit, I had a sequel planned for the longest time, but never had a chance to actually write it. But because so many asked me for it, I was persuaded to do so. LOL. Also, listen to the song, "Love the Way You Lie Part 2" by Rihanna and Eminem after reading this. You'll see how it ties well.
"The strongest have their moments of fatigue"
-Friedrich Nietzsche
"I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies."
-Pietro Aretino
By: VampireQueenAkasha
"Having one eye makes you see the world in unusual ways, Shockwave..."
-Overlord, Last Stand of the Wreckers
A New Start
Cybertron
Sentinel stood before the massive congregation.
Behind him were his cadets, awaiting their graduation. Sentinel waved at the congregation to get them to hush and the voices eventually died down. Sentinel smiled and gestured to the cadets behind him. He began to speak in a loud, proud voice.
"We had quite a rough ride, didn't we?" he told them.
The cadets all smiled with pride.
"Well, I never thought I'd see this day come, but we..." Sentinel continued.
Through the crowd stood Red Alert and Hot Shot. He scoffed and rolled his optics. "Sentinel enjoys the sound of his own voice a lot, doesn't he?" he muttered. He made a goofy gesture by twirling his finger joints in circles. "I normally just tune him out."
Red Alert laughed and shook her head. "How convenient," she said, "I usually do the same with you."
Hot Shot gave her a funny, indignant glare.
"When you hear your name, step forward," Sentinel told the cadets.
He began to read off the names of the cadets and they would step forward and receive honorary badges on their chests. He listed off several more until the only one who remained was Long Arm. When Sentinel called his name, Red Alert actually reacted and looked up, watching as the mech stepped forward to receive his badge from his superior officer. He was smiling and shaking Sentinel's hand before slowly sensing Red Alert's gaze on him.
She smiled and gave a small, acknowledging wave. He awkwardly returned the gesture with a half-smile before stepping back to join the line.
Red Alert chuckled softly before she glanced down at Hot Shot, sensing that he had his optics on her; he did and had folded his arms across his chest before giving her a skeptical frown. She shrugged her shoulders innocently at that.
"What?" she asked.
"I saw that." Hot Shot said.
She laughed cluelessly. "What are you-"
Hot Shot smirked smugly and arched a single optic ridge. "You LIKE HIM, don't you?"
Red Alert looked embarrassed and shook her head. "Wait, what?" she stammered, "I wasn't trying to. No! I was just..."
Hot Shot chuckled and shrugged his shoulders coolly. "Yeah, right, sure," he teased, making his voice into a low, goofy pitch, "And I'm a little Scraplet looking for a pile of sleeping Cybertronians." He started to push her by her shoulder as they made their way through the cheering, clapping crowd. "Come on, let's go before others start looking at you funny."
Red Alert scoffed. "When they're starting at the two of us, it's usually you."
"Nuance!" Hot Shot snapped.
O
After the ceremony, Red Alert went back to her duties. Of course, her new task proved to be less elegant that simply standing at a ceremony as she observed Jetfire and Jetstorm buzzing around the laboratory, happily chattering.
"Will the two of you calm yourselves?" she snapped, "You're making my logic circuits ache!" When she received no response to the demand, she sighed and looked at Wheeljack and Perceptor. "I would have to say that the test is successful..."
Jazz was lying on the floor beside her, rubbing his abdomen where the two twins had struck him earlier. "I'd say it was." he remarked, not even angry, but amused.
Wheeljack gave Red Alert a slight, half-eager pat on the shoulder to which she smiled at. "Without your skills in coordinating the data-merge, we'd have a much big issue on our hands than just hyper soldiers," he told her, "Excellent work, Red Alert."
Perceptor stepped forward and addressed the excited twins. "JETFIRE, JETSTORM. YOU WILL NEED TO RETURN TO YOUR POSTS." he told them, in his infamous monotone voice, "SPACE BRIDGE 662-024 WILL REQUIRE SURVEILLANCE."
Jetstorm laughed and gave him a salute before gesturing to his brother. "Brother, let's go!"
Jetfire grinned broadly. "A race then, brother?"
"A race it is!"
The twins bolted from the laboratory in inky streams of blue and orange, chatting the entire way down the corridors and narrowly missing various bots walking by them. A few of them angrily called after the two running Autobots.
Red Alert made a face and rolled her optics. "I suppose I'll be getting to my quarters for the orbital cycle." she told the two.
Wheeljack and Perceptor gave small nods of affirmation before she left.
Red Alert moved down the corridors before she paused and noticed Long Arm stepping out of the waste disposal sector. She tilted her head. "Long Arm?" she said.
The mech looked briefly in her direction and appeared to be unnerved by her presence for a brief moment before smiling. Though it appeared to be forced in some way. "Ah, hello. I was simply disposing of some useless garbage cluttering about," he told her, "Is there something that I can do for you?"
Red Alert chuckled and arched a brow at the polite offer, despite it being unnecessary. "Nothing. I was just going to welcome you to your Elite Guard post."
Long Arm seemed momentarily embarrassed by this kind gesture, but for a short nanoklick. "Oh...well, thank you," he said, "I appreciate the warm welcome."
"I ran into you many solar cycles ago and you seemed equally nervous," Red Alert laughed, "There's no one here you need to be worried about."
Just then, Hot Shot darted madly passed them, pausing once; breathless through his intake cycles. He looked absolutely terrified and glanced back with a sound of worry before looking at the two bemused Cybertronians standing there. "If anyone asks, I was never here!" he told them. He looked at Long Arm and gave him a quick nod of acknowledgment before bolting and calling over his shoulder. "No one can prove anything!"
Moments later as he disappeared, Brawn came charging down the corridor. He was covered in a suspicious brown goo and looked absolutely furious. "Hot Shot!" he bellowed in fury, "When I catch you, those pipes won't be the only things broken around here!"
Red Alert shook her head, watching Brawn disappear around the corner. Finally, she looked up at Long Arm. "I apologize for my friend's behavior," she told him, "You'll see a lot of that with Hot Shot. He's crazy, but he's got a good spark."
Long Arm smiled faintly and looked in the direction that the Autobots ran. "He reminds me of a fellow cadet in boot camp."
Red Alert chuckled before growing silent. She stood that way before she tilted her head thoughtfully up at Long Arm with an intrigued smile on her face. "You remind me of someone." she said.
Long Arm looked down at her with a mild glimmer of uncertainty that she missed, but was briefly broadcasted. He glanced at her from the sides of his optics and appeared to be smiling uneasily. "Really? And who might that be?" he asked.
Red Alert laughed somewhat, visibly in deep thought. "I don't know but...I feel like I've known you for many solar cycles."
Long Arm just smiled and shook his head. "Maybe we knew each other in another life."
"Hm." Red Alert looked thoughtful for a long time before she shrugged, brushing the feeling aside for now. "Well I have to be going," she told him, "If I'm not here early morning, Rodimus will make me run extra hours in the training grounds tomorrow."
Long Arm nodded his head. "I should go too."
They stood there rather awkwardly for a few moments more before departing with a few words of "bye".
O
Moonracer and Chromia were in her office.
Though their condition was less to be desired. They were both drinking shots of high-grade and laughing at one another. Red Alert brushed passed them and moved to her desk.
"I thought I told you two not to come in here overcharged again..." Red Alert snapped, putting her hands on her hips.
"Sorry, we had to come and find you after that BORING speech," Moonracer drawled.
Red Alert couldn't help but smile as she took a spot at her desk. "Well, Sentinel's long-running and long-winded," she remarked.
"Some bots can't help it." Chromia added, with a giggle.
Moonracer grinned and swirled her finger in her high-grade. "Hey, at least we got some cute new cadets in the party."
Red Alert gave her an admonishing look. "Moonracer!"
The two femmes giggled. "Oh, lighten up, Red Alert!" Chromia told her, "Have a drink!"
"I can't. I have work in the morning. Unlike you 'hardworking' ladies, I actually have something to do with my time."
They laughed again.
"Red Alert, you know you need a mech in your life." Chromia teased.
The medic rolled her optics. "Who needs a mech when I have two little sparklings around my office all day to keep me busy?"
Moonracer smirked slyly at her and leaned on her desk. "Oh, don't act like you haven't been checking out Long Arm lately."
Red Alert feigned nonchalance. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"There's nothing wrong with it," Chromia agreed, "He's kind of cute." Then, she paused thoughtfully. "In a weird... silent-broody-distant-kind of way. But still cute."
"I'm not listening to this. It's not proper." Red Alert said.
Moonracer laughed and patted her shoulders. "The best things in life never are!"
Red Alert gave her a skeptical glance.
"Drink?" Moonracer offered, holding out her cup of high-grade.
Red Alert sighed and took it, taking a sip. "If my processor hurts by the morning, it's your fault and I am going to put every bit of blame on you," she snapped.
Moonracer made kissing noises before taking a spot in a chair. "It's a new start for all of us, Red Alert!" she told the medic, "Don't you think it's time to celebrate?"
Red Alert actually smiled at that. "You believe so?"
"Sure!"
Red Alert took another drink and Chromia held up her cup. "I'll toast to that!" the blue femme said. "We need some new beginnings around here."
"You two are a bad influence on me..." Red Alert muttered, with amusement in her voice this time.
The two laughed.
While the three femmes were enjoying the evening together, Long Arm was actually standing in his office, staring down at the city below with an impassive look in his optics.
Then, through the shadows, his body shifted and formed into Shockwave.
"The fools..." he said, softly to himself.