(OC POV)
: Ultra Magnus to Lightbeam, do you read? :
…
: Lightbeam, do you copy? :
…
: Lightbeam! : Someone roared into my processor through a com, causing me to wince as I booted up my processor.
: I read, I read! : I muttered back with a groan, on lining my optics and swearing.
: Do you require assistance? : Ultra Magnus said as he seemed to be relieved, a frown on my faceplates as I wondered why.
: I do not believe I- : I stopped midsentence as my recent logs popped up, a gasp leaving me as I realized what happened.
"Arcee!" I screamed as I struggled to stand, dropping to my knee plates as pain lashed through my torso. Off lining my optics I went through the logs again, grinding my denta against the pain.
(8 Hours Before)
"I am certain you would not be so tense if you interfaced every once in a while." Arcee said offhandedly as we walked along the shops, my optics rolling as I scanned the rooftops behind my new visor.
"She does not need to interface anybody, if she needs it she can go to Optimus but nobody else. I forbid it." Ratchet said as he walked alongside Arcee, sending me a wink over his shoulder as Arcee huffed.
"Do you really think Elita would allow that? I mean, she is sweet and all, but only when she wants something." Arcee muttered under her breath as she stopped in a line, making me smile when I realized they sold energon goodies. I nudged Ratchet with my elbow joint and winked, his own optics rolling as he stepped forward to wrap an arm around Arcee's shoulders.
"No gossiping Arcee, you know how much Elita hates it." Ratchet said as he rolled his optics again, moving forward to pay for Arcee's treats with a charming smile.
"I am just saying that she's an energon thirsty petro hound when it comes to fame. I swear on my spark that she only let Optimus bond with her because he became Prime. She seemed quite content to drag him around by his spark and never give him hers." She said as she grabbed the bag of goodies from the server, winking up at Ratchet as she walked away with a sway in her hips. I frowned at her words about Elita, my optics flashing with unease about the whole ordeal.
"It is upsetting that he would allow himself to be treated like that. Optimus is many things but he is not stupid, and he is not fooled twice. If Elita is truly doing that to him, why would he allow it? That is not a true spark mate's actions, and it upsets me greatly." I said as I walked behind the two 'Bots I was with, Ratchet glancing back at me with a frown.
"We both were there when he was growing up, it upsets me as well my sister. But there is nothing we can do, the damage has been done." Ratchet said as he stepped away from Arcee when we stopped, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as he kissed my forehelm.
"I never liked the femme in the first place, if I am being honest with you. She was always 'Me, me, me!' without a thought of anyone else. How she snagged that sexy bot I will never know, but I think Optimus would look better by your side Lightbeam." Arcee said as she turned to face me and subspaced her goodies, raising her hands as if to take a picture of me as I rolled my optics and smiled.
"Oh stop it, that mech is helm over heelstruts for that femme, even if she is a total slag for brains." I muttered as I shook my helm at Optimus' decisions, crossing the street when the light indicated to.
"Oh come on Lightbeam! You totally have a chance! You have been there his whole life and you are one sexy femme. I mean, look at your legs, and do not get me started on your wings. They are so unique and your color, everybody loves white but only few can rock it! With the reputation that Optimus has in the berth, I would not doubt that he could make you fall in love. And with your feisty little attitude, I would totally go for you too if I did not have Ratchet." Arcee said as she shot said medic a sultry look, his processors popping right as we hit the sidewalk again.
"Arcee!" I laughingly yelled at her as I caught my brother, laying him on the ground as I shook my helm.
"What?" she said innocently as she kneeled by Ratchet, stroking his chest plates with a gentle servo. The whistle of a missile caught my attention, my defense protocols engaged as I shoved Arcee to the ground. Behind us the store blew up, flinging us into the street as I groaned. Sitting up quickly I spotted Arcee on top of Ratchet, bringing my swords out as I made my way to them.
"Hello again Lightbeam. You are looking great, as always." Starscream said from behind me as I stopped in front of my comrades, my wings arching as my frame stiffened in surprise. I slowly turned to face the head of the command trine, my wings flaring to cover my friends behind me.
"What do you want Starscream?" I said simply as my servos tightened around my swords, my optics flashing angrily behind my dark visor.
"You know Megatron wants your brother dead, the only way to have that achieved is to cripple him. And since you are too difficult to kill, the next one on our list is Arcee. Now move out of the way…or I will force you to." Starscream said as his trine landed beside him immediately, my optics flickering between them all as my battle computer came online. Behind them I spied Optimus and Ironhide making their way towards us, a smirk painting my lip plates as I brought my cannons online.
"Never." I said as I subspaced my swords and connected to my cannons, shooting at the trine as I went to one knee plate for better stability. My wings flared out to cover my still unconscious friends, a force field on them to prevent damage to the sensitive appendages. Skywarp suddenly appeared in front of me and grabbed me, my weapons immediately off lining as he warped to the highest building in Iacon.
"As beautiful as ever, precious Lightbeam. It is a shame that I have to harm such an amazing creature, but all is fair in love and war." He said as he kissed my forehelm with a sad smile and let me go, a scream leaving me as I descended lower without my transformation sequence working.
"To the Pit with you Skywarp!" I yelled up as him as I approached the building, off lining my optics as I was hit with a gravity beam. Slamming into the roof of the building is one thing, being forced to slam through multiple floors is another. And when I finally stopped at the bottom floor of the huge building, there was a pole in my torso and I was badly damaged. Then unconsciousness wrapped around me and I blissfully powered down without another thought.
(Present)
I groaned and shook my helm as I onlined my optics, pushing down the feeling to purge from the pain.
"Primus give me the strength to move." I whispered as I stumbled to my pedes with a hiss, shuttering my optics as I realized I should have a pole in my torso. Something shifted behind me and I spun on my heelstruts, grunting in pain when I hit the ground again roughly. My optics scanned the area that was behind me, a frown coming to my faceplates when I saw two sets of red optics.
"State your faction." I demanded immediately as I struggled to stand again, going down on one knee with a painful keen instead. One of them stepped forward to assist me, his optics catching mine for permission. My own optics widened as I realized he was still young, barely in his adult frame along with his twin who stepped out.
"My twin brother and I are neutrals. Please, allow me to help you. I have been studying under First Aid my whole life, I believe I may be able to help with your wound." He said as he helped me sit somewhat comfortably against a wall, nodding at his brother as said brother moved to kneel next to me as well.
"Here, to help with the pain." The twin said as he held out some high grade to me, my servos taking it as I smiled graciously.
"May I know your names? You are my saviors after all." I said quietly as I glanced between both of them, the twins nodding at each other then looked at me.
"I am Skystreak." The one who first came up said with a small smile, his grey armor glinting in the slight light we had.
"And I am Thunderstrike." The one who gave me energon said with a polite nod, his black armor completely concealing him in the shadows.
"And you are twins, right?" I said as I tilted my head in curiosity, Skystreak smiling as he nudged his twin.
"Yes, we are twins. Seekers too, we left our creator so we could look for our third trine member." Thunderstrike said as he looked at the ground with a frown, Skystreak hugging him briefly before focusing on me again.
"That, and we did not want to be Decepticons. Being a power hungry killer is not really our thing. But we did not want to be Autobots either, we know how to fight but we would rather not give up our lives for something that does not interest us." Skystreak said as he finally focused on my torso, tweaking a few things as I watched closely.
"Thank Primus my pain receptors are off, that looks painful." I said as I watched him seal my energon lines back together, welding covers over my ruptured tanks quickly with deft servos.
"It is, though I would have turned them off for you before I started." He murmured with a quick smile up at me before focusing again, quickly sealing the breaches and nodding as he pulled away from me. "That is the best I can do for now. Moving is not really an option until you heal some more, but when you can move I bring you to my office. I got the things there that I need to fix you up much faster." I said as he rubbed his nose bridge and sighed, his brother handed me another cube as I finished my first one.
"You have done much more than I thought you would. You do not have to do all that for me, I am sure I can manage with what you have done for me. You have my gratitude, and I probably owe you my life." I said as I nodded gratefully at them, the twins glancing at each other with an identical frown.
"You were an injured femme, why would we not help you? Especially when the one who injured you was one of our kind." Thunderstrike muttered as he glared up at the ceiling, his wings tensing behind him in response to his emotions.
"Though I am curious, you look like one of us, yet your wings are much different." Skystreak said with a curious tilt of his helm, examining the feather like appendages. "You seem to have the same wings as Lazerbeak (A/N: Look at his wings in Dark of the Moon), though they are approximated to your size." He muttered again with a frown as he glanced at his twin, said twin shrugging as he looked at them as well. I smiled and flared them out for the two brothers, the seekers jumping back with wide optics at the action.
"Whoa." Thunderstrike said as he leaned towards me, looking at me for permission as he reached out.
"Go ahead, just be a little gentle please." I said as I brought my wings forward and more in reach, both twins stroking the feathers with childish wonder.
"So beautiful." Skystreak muttered as he studied them with a keen optic, moving them to the side to see how they moved in sync. As they fell back against each other they made a tinkling sound, a smile appearing on their faces as they listened to the gentle chime.
"I remember hearing those when we were sparklings." Thunderstrike murmured as he looked up into my optics, openly curious about why he had heard them at that age.
"They always kept me calm and focused." Skystreak muttered as he too looked up at me curiously, stroking my wings once again to hear the unique sound.
"I used to be a Decepticon. Well…not technically, I was undercover as a Decepticon. That is where you must have heard it my wings chiming. Who are your parents?" I asked as I tilted my own head in curiosity now, my wings folding behind my back once again.
"Thundercracker is our creator, our carrier died during sparkbirth." Thunderstrike said as he looked at the ground sadly, Skystreak resting a servo on his brother's back struts.
"Thundercracker and I were very close while I was there. That is probably why you heard my wings so much, though I never knew he had sparklings nearby." I murmured curiously as I thought back on my time there, trying to figure out where he might have hidden them.
"Megatron ordered him to keep us 'under wraps'. He did not want the rest of his army going and making the same 'mistake' our creator did. When we told our creator we did not want to join his faction he let us go happily, going so far as helping us sneak away under Megatron's olfactory sensors. I believe he did not want us to die in the war, he care for us very much but he has a duty to his trine members. That is why we want to find our third trine member. Two helms are better than one, but three helms are unstoppable." Skystreak said with a fond smile as he thought about something, a smile on my own face at the two seeker twins.
"I wish you good luck then. Any seeker who becomes your third is extremely lucky." I murmured with a smile as I shifted slightly against the wall, wincing as the pain came to the forefront once again. Though this time, it wasn't as bad as it should've been. For that, I was grateful to the twins.