Oracle held tightly to a bulkhead, as the massive Decepticon ship shivered. The storm winds outside buffeted the huge ship back and forth, sometimes dropping ten or twenty feet in an instant. Even the highly advanced inertial compensation technology had difficulty keeping pace with the heavy storm which raged outside. The air had a thick, brooding feeling to it, as if something were just waiting to happen, and the mood set her on edge. As she moved through the halls, at the edges of her vision, her captors kept appearing. Skywarp walking along, chatting with another. Soundwave walking, with purpose, as if he had some other errand to run, other than watching her. Thundercracker working at a console at a hallway junction, glanced up as she passed, and glanced right back down to his work. This brooding, wary inactivity taxed her nerves heavily, as she paced the halls, looking for somewhere with a bit of peace and quiet. Finally, as her walks usually did, she ended up in MedBay, where Knockout was relaxing, by tuning his medical equipment, doing small, routine test-scans, to ensure their accuracy. He glanced up, and gave her a warm, but polite smile, as she entered. "Quite a day, isn't it?" He began, as he glanced back down at his console. "All this rain, you'd think it'd be sunshine, on a day like this."
Her curiosity piqued, Oracle glanced over at him, "Day like what?"
"Oh. I don't suppose you've been watching a calendar much, have you? It's February fourteenth." He chuckled, softly, glancing up at her.
Mystified, she simply blinked at him. Something about the day seemed to spark memory in her, but she quashed the memory of her human life, with practiced ease. "I see."
Her noncommittal answer drew a slight frown, and a quirked brow, from Knockout, as he looked back down at his console. "Ah. Well, luckily, no injuries as yet; We ought to be out of this storm front before much longer. Megatron turned us into it, to fly through it, and out the other side. In a few minutes more, we ought to have some kind of –" The ship seemed to drop ten feet, then shunt another ten feet to the side, tilting, slightly, as a massive gust caught them, broadside. He gave a thin, amused smile, "… Peace."
Oracle gripped the wall, tightly, in her hand, and sighed, unpleasantly. "Later, Doc." She turned, and walked from the MedBay.
Knockout glanced up, as she walked away, and grinned, to himself. He tapped the 'Fabricate' key, as he looked down at the design slowly rotating on his console's display.
Oracle continued her restless pacing of the ship, like a caged animal. Her wish to go out on the deck had been precluded by the storm, the massive doors sealed against the weather. Finally, her walk, after some time, took her back to her berth. She moved to lie down, upon it, intending to rest, when she sighted a small bit of color, half-hidden by her console. She stood up, and walked toward it, kneeling down, to pick up the small package, wrapped in what looked like metallic red ribbon. Carefully, she untied the package, and, when she opened it, found a powerful scope, which seemed custom-made for her rifle. The anchor points all matched up, and even the color scheme was the same. She frowned, pondering who might have given her this gift. When she plugged into her berth, there was no mysterious message waiting for her.
Soundwave tilted his head, just slightly, as his console display indicated an incoming message. He opened it, with a touch of his finger, and viewed it behind his own eyes. He saw Oracle kneeling down, and opening some kind of package, wrapped in metallic red ribbon. Internally, he processed this, pondering possible reasons for the gift, and who might have sent it. He tasked his systems to keep a closer watch on her, and began to take a roundabout path to her berth.
Sitting back, in MedBay, Knockout glanced at his console, tapping open the message it had just received. The small device he'd placed in the ribbon had been activated, informing him that it had been opened. He grinned, to himself, calmly putting on a blank face, when one of the other Seekers had come in. In one of the sudden jolts, he had lost his balance, and tumbled, landing on one of his wings. The damage wasn't very severe, but wings were sensitive instruments, so he decided to do a full diagnostic, anyway.
Genesis stared through the glass viewports on the Nemesis' upper deck, out, over the storm. The command bridge stuck out, just over the layers of clouds, as the Nemesis finally neared the border of the storm. They passed through a cloud, briefly frosting the viewport, and, in the reflection on the glass, he saw Oracle walking toward him. "Genesis," she spoke. He nodded, in acknowledgement, "Seeker Oracle."
She stared at his features, in the window, searchingly, looking for something in his expression, as she pulled the scope from one of her small storage compartments. "I found this."
The puzzlement on his features was either skillfully faked, or sincere. He blinked, twice, and canted his head, turning around. "Found it? Oh, well, that's interesting. Where?"
"Beside my berth," she answered, curtly.
He tilted his head, a little further, and looked at her, in confusion, "Did I do something?"
Despite her willingness to believe that he would lie to her, she saw no reason for him to do so, and frowned, "No." She continued, after a moment, "I suppose not."
Oracle frowned, as she turned, and walked away from him, the scope vanishing back into the compartment on her torso.
When she finally returned to her berth, and plugged in, there was still no message waiting for her.
Soundwave approached Genesis, silently. He lifted his hand, and a hologram appeared above his palm. The scope. He canted his head, just slightly, and stared intently at Genesis.
Genesis looked at the reflection in the mirror, and frowned, deeply, as he turned around, to face Soundwave. He stood, stoic and silent, and simply stared down the smaller Decepticon.
After a long few moments, Soundwave lowered his hand, the hologram vanishing, but remained impassive before Genesis' intent stare. Finally, he turned, and walked away.
Behind him, Genesis savored this minor victory, but wondered, worriedly, about what might be so problematic about the scope.
As she walked the halls, once more, she started thinking back, trying to figure out what might have occasioned such a random gift. Who might have given the scope. Her thoughts were interrupted, as the ship jolted sharply downward, hitting a pocket of thinner air, dropping a couple dozen feet, before the straining engines managed to claw back for altitude. Abruptly, as if shocked back into her memory, she remembered Knockout. The smile on his face. His words. February fourteenth? She wracked her memory, finally allowing that little spark of her human self to shine through. She stumbled, and reached out, grabbing onto the wall, as her vision swam with the force of memory and emotion. She brought herself back to her berth, and sat down upon it, the scope resting in her hands. Despite her form having no form of tear ducts, she bowed her head, and, inside, she sobbed, thinking about all the loneliness of this new life, this new body, this new place. The constant conflict and intrigue, the separation, the mistrust.
And in her hands, she cradled the scope, the small, sincere gift, from her friend.
Knockout paused, at the end of the hallway, as he saw Oracle sitting on her berth. He smiled, warmly, and turned, silent steps carrying him back to the MedBay.