Maelstrom Chapter 39
The Ties that Bind

Author's note: This story is part of a LONG series called Maelstrom. It is strictly Gen. 1 - sorry, but that was all that was out when I started writing back in the late 1980's. It began as a fan-publication so the first chapters are in the form of a comic book! If you have not read the nine original Maelstrom Comics and the preceding text stories, I strongly suggest you do. This is a complex universe. They can be found at http/ illmatar. deviantart. com (I have put double spaces between the URL here or FF . Net eats the link.) The comics and art which accompanies this series are there.

Most chapters of this series contain strong language and violence. Rated M for adult themes! Really! Transformers characters belong to Hasbro. Critiques adored! This scene contains strong language, violence, and sex. Rated M for adult themes!

Transformers characters belong to Hasbro. Story and OC characters are mine. Critiques adored!

The Ties that Bind: PART A

After all the worrying and preparations, Arcee's delivery was something like anti-climactic for Springer, even if Metroplex's Med-Lab seemed like a place he'd never been before.

"That's it?" he exclaimed.

"Sure," First Aid said. "What did you expect?" He disconnected numerous cables from Arcee's housing and watched the readouts. The screen read 100% on the schematics transfer for their new sparkling. Solstice was now a blueprint and the fabricating equipment began stirring.

"I'm fine," Arcee said, a bit reproachfully.

"Sorry 'Cee," Springer said, truly shame-faced for a change. "I was just expecting something a bit more...dramatic."

"You've been stationed on Earth too long," First Aid said.

"I for one am glad it's not a messy ordeal like the humans go through! This one has caused me enough drama for one lifetime already!" Arcee cried.

"How's your energon?" First Aid asked, although he keep his optics on Solstice's monitors.

"Low, but not as much as I was expecting," Arcee mused. They all jumped as the machines behind them whirred into action. "I can't wait to see her!"

"Neither can half the known universe," Springer said with a hint of a snarl.

"Don't be angry Springer," Arcee said.

"I can't help it. After all of our pleas and demands for privacy there were STILL reporters trying to follow us in. This is our moment and they tried to butt in and ruin it!"

"They are succeeding in ruining it because you are thinking about them and not our protoform being built before your optics!"

Springer was not a mech known for his diplomacy or tact, but he knew when his mate was right...and gearing up to hurt him. He wrapped his over-sized arms around her and they stood there together, watching. The assembly system didn't offer much of a view, but as various parts were sculpted and welded, they caught glimpses here and there that kept them entranced. First Aid watched just as closely, but from a more technical stand point. All seemed well, and he was glad for that since he wasn't at all sure he'd notice if something was amiss.

The medic watched, and memorized, and hoped if the day ever came that something ever went wrong this first "birth" would be enough to guide him.

The entire process took about 2 hours.

Finally, a short, sturdy little Autobot emerged from the assembly system. About 6 feet in height, and a light golden green, the tiny femme's optics were dark and lifeless. Tubes and wires still wrapped around the protoform. She lay on the creche, waiting for the final phase. Her first dose of energon poured directly into her, bringing her life-functions on-line to receive her consciousness.

Springer's grip on his mate became almost crushing.

Arcee grinned.

At last, after a final systems check, Solstice's pre-programmed personality down-loaded into her body. She sat up with a small gasp.

Arcee rushed over and knelt in front of the new Autobot who looked all around her in open curiosity. Her optics took in Arcee, Springer, First Aid, and her surrounding for a moment before she spoke.

Staring to Arcee's optics she said, "Hello. I'm Solstice. Do I know you?"

Arcee made a sound that was half giggle and half sob. "I'm Arcee, Solstice. I'm your mother."

Solstice cocked her head to one side as if trying to make sense of that. Then she brightened and smiled. "OH! I remember you! You're the one that helped me to hang on when that bad robot tried to kill us! Is Edana here?"

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Rodimus Prime was fighting a battle with himself and he was losing.

He had a reasonable side. Really. The reasonable side had smart things to say to him. Things like "Optimus Prime has been tampered with for years," and "Op is in med-lab and shouldn't be disturbed," and even, "arguing with an unbalanced mech is a dangerous waste of time."

Nevertheless, the reasonable side was severely out-matched by the not-so reasonable side that was hurt, insulted, and still recovering from being tampered with as well. At least, the reasonable side reasoned, the fully psychotic side wasn't coming out to play. No. That side waited, sullen and patient, waiting for a target to destroy. Any target really...any target at all.

At least Optimus wasn't on that list. Yet.

Really, perhaps it was better just to let the unreasonable side have a good venting before things got out of hand.

So, into Med-Lab like a fire-storm burst Rodimus Prime. The effect would have been better if he could have slammed the door open or kicked it down, but it opened nicely for him as it was designed to, all by itself. No satisfaction in that at all. So he was reduced to looming in the doorway, seething for a moment.

All three of the room's occupants stared at him. Ratchet, semi-translucent and in mid-scan was actually a bit cowed for an instant. He was impressed by that for another instant, having never expected any such thing from an over-grown version of Hot Rod. Then he got down to being Ratchet again.

"Hot Rod! You know better than to barge into Med-Lab without asking first!"

"Rodi? What's wrong?" Elita cried. He didn't answer or look at her, but at her mate whose head she was cradling. The two Primes met optics and pain echoed back and forth between them along the Matrix link.

Optimus didn't consciously realize he was feeling his partner's anguish. He just knew he had done something very wrong in Rodi's view. He waited...knowing whatever it was would come.

Rodimus glared in the doorway, optics as green and luminous as Optimus had ever seen them. One word came grating out of the young Prime's mouth as if it was torn from his soul.

"Basketball?" It was an accusation of the highest order.

Optimus winced, at once guilty and defensive.

"Oh...Rodi you didn't," Elita breathed. "Oh no!"

"Basketball!" Rodimus lashed again.

"Yes," Optimus confessed. He was sorry, but he was angry too.

Rodimus stomped three steps into the room and glared venomously. His hands clenched repeatedly. "You!" he accused. "Basketball!"

"Yes, basketball! Those files were encrypted Rodimus!" Optimus threw back.

Rodimus swept his arm violently across his chest in dismissal of that argument. "You kept that from me!"

Elita tried to intervene, "Rodimus please! Vector Sigma...!"

Rodimus' optic lock on Optimus didn't waver at all. "Sigma has nothing to do with this! You kept this from me since the beginning! You know I was looking for something... for ANYTHING... that would give us common ground Optimus! Anything at all! Something to help us be friends you selfish bastard! Everything I tried fell on its face and you let it! We didn't need Sigma to come between us! YOU came between us! I know you hate me Optimus, but I didn't realize your scorn went all the way back to the beginning."

"Rodimus! It's not that!"

"No? What is it then? What can it possibly be besides contempt so great you felt I wasn't even worth the effort!"

Optimus shuddered in Elita's arms. "Rodimus..." she growled in warning.

Optimus squeezed his mate's fist. "No...no Elita. He's right to be angry...and he has a right to know. Rodimus I'm sorry! I know...I know I shouldn't have held back on you. I...I just wanted a little space...something just for me. Understand? I wasn't trying to push you away! I was selfish and I wanted something that was just...mine. Is that so wrong?"

Rodimus' feelings vacillated. On the one hand, he completely understood. He knew how it felt - to feel like ever second you had - how every thought you had belonged to someone else. Someone else's needs. How they clung, and demanded, and needed, and whined, and criticized. How they insisted on perfection, and demanded forgiveness for their own flaws. It was as if their constant neediness was out to claw you apart. The price of being Chosen was nothing less than your whole life, your whole soul. He understood completely Optimus' private rebellion. One tiny diversion. One tiny percentage of absolutely everything held back just for the sake of having a small piece of unclaimed territory in his life.

Even something as trivial as an obsession with a Terran sport and everything having to do with it.

And yet... Rodimus remembered trying to cajole Optimus into joining him...just for a few hours...just once in a while. An outdoor concert...a party at Blaster's...some simple hang-out time with Magnus or Jazz on the grounds around Metroplex. Even a short drive. He'd tried to guess what Optimus might enjoy and hadn't suggested anything crazy. Nothing. Not once had Optimus accepted or made a counter-offer of his own. Rodimus wasn't an avid follower of any particular sport or league but that was probably because he enjoyed all of them on one level or another. Certainly, if Optimus had suggested catching a game, even if it was a recorded broadcast or an incognito watch on a street-corner, Rodimus would have gone gladly. Really, he would have gone anywhere gladly, even if it had been something he found dreadfully boring.

The assassin Prime stared down at his partner with his lip curled in revulsion. That Optimus' hobby was something he would have actually really enjoyed made the rejection that much more hurtful. Optimus shrank back a bit into Elita's arms and the scans of his brain patterns went wild.

"You are upsetting my patient!" Ratchet snapped, grabbing at Rodimus with the nearest limb. Rodimus didn't even glance at it, but he ripped it from it's moorings and threw it across the room. It clattered to the floor, skidded, and spun slowly to a stop. Before anyone could react Rodi strode forward and got into Op's face-plate.

"I missed Alex's first words and her first steps! She hardly knows me and I wish I was there right now! Is that so wrong? You know the answer. No and yes! No...it is not wrong for people to want space for themselves...but you and I...we don't get that. The lives of our people depend on this partnership and we don't get that!"

Elita fearlessly pushed Rodimus away. "You back off!" she ordered.

Rodimus stood and curled his lip again. "As far apart as we are? How much further do you think I can go?" He bowed sarcastically, using the Sorie flourish, and vanished as abruptly as he came in.

Optimus covered his face with his hands and made a sound suspiciously like a sob. Elita curled her body over him and cried openly.

Ratchet decided to leave them alone and went to reattach his dismembered limb. "Maybe it's a good thing I can't feel anything yet," he muttered to himself.

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A parsec away Edana looked up from her book, shook her head, and strengthened her shields against the surging emotions she felt from her father through her mother in the next room. She crinkled her brow in consternation.

"Grownups," she said aloud to herself. "They don't get along very well."

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Cyclonus followed Galvatron back to the dias. His thoughts, usually so frenetic, were stalled. He had so little foothold on what Galvatron would do next, he wasn't even able to contemplate contingencies.

Soundwave met Cyclonus' optics as the Second passed, but neither said a word as Galvatron slammed himself aggressively onto the throne. For hours he pondered there, moving little, saying less. Occasionally the fingers on the armrest would drum fitfully. Twice, glowing gnats of surging energon swarmed around his head, then died.

At some point, Viper showed up, looking peevish. Cyclonus guessed she was annoyed at being left out of the tour of the base. The 'Con second was vindictive enough to hope she would have the nerve to complain about it so he could rightfully discipline her, but she didn't. Her optics took in Galvatron's pensive mood and she simply asked Cyclonus a question with a look. Cyclonus wouldn't have been inclined to answer her, but even if he had been he had no prior experience to judge their Lord's mood. Galvatron didn't even move when Adder coiled in around his feet.

"Energon," Galvatron muttered at last.

"My Lord?" Cyclonus answered.

"Energon is our first priority," Galvatron stated, meeting Cyclonus' optics.

"As always My Lord," Cyclonus agreed cautiously.

Galvatron grinned madly, "Even so, Cyclonus. Perhaps I should be more specific. Uncontested energon is our first priority. Once we have that in abundance, we can fuel our new troops and the weapons they will need."

Behind him, Viper smiled...and for once Cyclonus completely agreed with her.

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Spike enjoyed himself, and fought to keep a smug smile off his face. Normally there were at least a few reporters or citizens competing to draw his attention as he made his way from place to place. He had more patience for the people who came to ask his help than the reporters, but since Daniel's murder that patience was mostly forced.

Today he didn't need it.

Today he had a scowling continent guarding his flank, and he suddenly felt like Moses as the sea of bodies parted in front of him. Why were there so many today? Oh...right. Rodimus and his audacious trade agreement. Even Spike couldn't deny a bit a grudging respect for the young Prime's coup in that regard. Yes, he nodded to reporters who shouted questions from a highly respectful distance. Yes, it would be good for Earth too.

Daniel would have laughed though...laughed and laughed. Not at the terms, but at the man-handling of the Sorie entourage.

For once, the thought of his son brought Spike profound sorrow, but not rage. Daniel would have celebrated his friend's outrageous behavior as if they were still close. It had apparently never once dawned on Daniel to be bitter, or even annoyed by the fact he rarely saw Rodimus anymore. He simply accepted the circumstances and defended the young Prime against anyone who complained about him.

Spike wondered if that surrender to the inevitable made his son more of a man than he was, and felt grief crawl around in his gut like scampering vermin.

The ambassador kept that off his face too.

Some of the reporters asked about Shellshock, or Lance rather. They wanted to know if he was somehow disrespecting the Autobots by having a human guard.

Spike shook his head and kept walking. The Autobots' protection was blatantly inadequate, but he wasn't about to say that on camera. Let the presence of his new body-guard speak for itself.

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"Why did you hide that from him Orion?" Elita asked at last. "Every time I think you two are making progress something comes up that sets you back!"

"Maybe we're cursed," Optimus observed unhelpfully.

Elita One sighed and glared down at him a bit.

"I don't know Elita. I have almost talked to him about this more times than I can count. I could tell you I was sort of embarrassed...which is true. I could tell you there were moments I resolved to tell him and then something or another would come up and give me time to think better of it. I don't know. I just didn't."

"Is what he said true? Did he try to coax you out?"

"Of course it's true...and he's right about me balking too. I knew what he was doing Elita, and if I had been cruel enough to suggest something he truly hated, he would have gone anyway, and smiled."

Elita looked down at her mate, thought about how much she loved him and how close she'd just been to losing him. Then she hit him - hard - on his right arm.

"Orion my love, that is just so stupid and...rude...and mean! WHY would you do that to him? On top of the fact that this partnership nearly just self destructed and nearly took our whole planet with it, he's a good kid and he loves you! He is furious with you but that's because you mean so much to him!"

Optimus sighed sadly. "I know. I'm not making excuses but this partnership isn't easy for me either! He was twenty when he took the Matrix and just a few years older when I was revived! He's chaotic, and outrageous, and has so much energon I want to bolt him to the floor! Do you think it was easy for me to adapt to having that for a partner? An equal? Sometimes the way he thinks is so alien to me I feel like we are different species. Humans talk all the time about generation gaps and not understanding their children and I want to laugh! They complain about a few decades. Rodimus and I are separated by millions of years."

"You should have still made an effort! Great Cybertron Orion! He looks up to you like they all do, but the stakes are just a bit higher there aren't they? I know he's young but it isn't like you to look down on someone for that! Why would you be so... disrespectful to him when it is plain to see the Matrix knew exactly what it was doing?"

"I don't look down on him, I just didn't..." Optimus stopped, cutting off what he had to say. She would find his motives unworthy.

Elita's optics narrowed. She stared into her mate with that unflinching, uncompromising insight. Optimus realized he should have known better than to try and hide from her. What Lancer and Rodimus had through an active link, he and Elita had through ages of experience. She might as well read his mind.

"You didn't want him to lose his respect for you," she growled. "You were afraid he'd see too much of you and be into your head...which is, of course, exactly where a real friend would be! YOU were afraid he'd see the real you!"

"I know it was a mistake!"

"No...you don't say!"

"Ariel..."

"Call him back!"

"He takes a long time to calm down."

Elita didn't answer.

"Elita...really...he won't answer me..."

Elita crossed her arms and in spite of his head still resting securely in her lap Optimus sensed that she was somehow turning her back on him. He stared up at her averted face and tried to reach Rodimus through inter-Autobot frequencies.

No response.

"I told you..." Optimus started.

Elita gazed down at him. "He DESERVES more than one lame attempt. You reach him. I don't want to hear you whine about how hard it is...you could have done it years ago when he was reaching back. Now work on it! Not for the partnership! Not for the Autobots! Just for him because he deserves it!"

Optimus tried again...nothing. His third attempt got an audio screeching, punishing blast of feedback that echoed through Med-Lab and made Elita jump.

Ratchet, who had been literally as well as figuratively trying to fade into the background yelped a few Cybertronian curses and then looked embarrassed. He muttered something about "the Prime line" and "temper" and busily got back to pretending he wasn't listening in.

Optimus looked to his mate for mercy and got none whatsoever. He felt miserable. He felt sort of ...crushed...he felt...insulted...a failure...a waste of time. He felt... Nothing of the sort. This was Rodi's turmoil rolling over him. Optimus winced.

The Matrix was throwing that at him as vindictively as Rodimus was sending him feedback.

Great. Even the Matrix was mad at him.

I'm sorry, he thought at it. Then he thought about what he was doing. Maybe he could get that message where it needed to go. His optics flared. I'm sorry! he projected through it.

A huge wave of shock echoed back at him and in the same instant his com lines flared to life.

"Do NOT push that thing at me Optimus!" Rodimus' voice was shrill.

"At least it got you to talk to me. Rodimus I'm sorry! Will you please come back and let me explain?"

There was an over-long pause from the other end.

"Oh this is ridiculous. Rodimus Prime get your over-heated tail-pipe back in here and talk to this high-milage moron!" Elita ordered. "And when that is over *I* have a plan that will force both of you armor-plated gear-heads to resolve your problems!"

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Springer's head was floating somewhere off his shoulders. He and Arcee had known, in an abstract sort of way, that there would suddenly be this whole new person to deal with and teach and take care of.

It would have been nice if she had let them get used to her a bit before throwing them into a tricky parenting situation. Like... oh... maybe five minutes would have been nice.

Solstice liked to get right down to business. Not even off the assembly line and already throwing her parents for a loop.

Arcee, no surprise, was handling things better than Springer was. Or at least she was faking calm better. She slid up onto the creche and drew the new Autobot into her lap. For a moment she just held their daughter with her optics dimmed.

Solstice allowed that a moment and then stirred restlessly. Arcee drew back a bit and looked at her.

"Solstice...do you really remember what happened?" the femme asked gently.

Solstice tilted her head a bit and looked sad. "I remember being scared. I remember your voice, telling me to hang on over and over. You got quieter and quieter but you never went away. I remember you being afraid for...Springer...too."

"I'm Springer," the burly mech answered in a husky whisper. "I'm your...I'm your father."

"Oh..." Solstice said thoughtfully. Then she smiled. "Arcee loves you very much."

Springer grinned a bit ruefully. "That's good to know." There was no way he was fitting on that little table with his girls, so he knelt in front of them. Solstice leaned forward and touched his optics gently, watching carefully as they dimmed and lit under her small hand.

"I'm glad you can see again," she smiled. Arcee winced, and Springer's mouth fell open. First Aid rescued them from having to find an answer by stepping in to give the new Autobot her first exam.

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"Who do you want to take with you?" Galvatron asked his lieutenant.

Cyclonus frowned. Was he being tested again? Did he really have a say? If so...who did he want to take?

"Soundwave...Ravage...Laser Beak...and..." Cyclonus paused, thought over his next choice carefully, and said, "Viper and Adder."

Viper's fanged mouth gaped, and Galvatron's optics narrowed to red slivers. Then he smiled.

"As you wish, Cyclonus. Make whatever preparations you see fit and go."

CONTINUED in: The Ties that Bind: PART B