A/N It's me again :D Thank you so much for the reviews and story alerts! You guys are awesome. I'm trying to make the chapters longer so hopefully this won't be as short as chapter 1 The next chapter is nearing 3000 words, so I'm going to try and make that my average.
"this means a 'bot/'con is comm. linking"
One vorn = 83 years
...
Groggily, Cloudstriker fought the sedative running through her cables, struggling to wake up. 'Wait, wake up?' She realised that someone must have taken her out of stasis lock and could've cried out with happiness; she wasn't stuck in her shell of a helm anymore! Thank Primus - and the sedative - that she still had an ounce of dignity and a whole lot of tranquiliser in her chassis, she couldn't exactly start screaming for joy just yet. Her optics slowly onlined themselves, there was static around the edges from lack of use - just how long had she been out? Unfortunately, just as the static was receding, her pain receptors decided it would be a great time to make themselves known. A dull, throbbing ache spread through her frame and she shuddered, trying to suppress the low whine that was trying to make its way out of her vocalizer.
A door slammed open and two arguing mechs traipsed in, seemingly unaware that Cloudstriker was online and squinting at them. Her pain was momentarily (If that was possible) forgotten as she looked on and tried to listen in, but the static had gotten to her audio receptors too. The dull pain came back in a rush making her hiss, which fortunately - or unfortunately as the case may be - got the two mechs' attention. They stared at her for a second and Cloudstriker did her best to stare back before one muttered in Cybertronian to the other "Go get da Hatchet." The other nodded and set off at a quicker pace than before to a door that she hadn't noticed; well she hadn't had much time to look for it either before those two noisy bots decided to disrupt her painful rebooting
"What do you want, Mudflap?" Ratchet's voice seemed exasperated as it rang out from his office, then again it was Mudflap.
"Well, yous told us to tell you when da femme woke up."
Instantly this had Ratchet's attention and he swept out of his office - well as much as a 24 foot robot can sweep - to see if any of the femme's data bank had been damaged and to check her vitals. Skids was standing uncomfortably off to side under Cloudstriker's scrutinizing stare, fidgeting. He immediately perked up when his twin came to stand by his side and nudged him... Well it was more of a punch on the arm really. Mudflap punched his brother's arm back which provoked Skids into nearly getting him in a headlock before Ratchet decided to intervene. Of course Ratchet's way of 'intervening' was actually smacking the two on the head with a wrench, like all good medics do.
"Stop fooling about you two and go sit on a berth!"
The twins trudged off mumbling and nudging one another as Ratchet scanned Cloudstriker. She'd been lying there, watching them interact with a bemused smile on her face plates. 'No mechs as goofy as those could be Decepticons, but I guess there is that little mini-bot that Soundwave created...' she thought, cringing as the tingly sensation of being scanned washed over her. She turned her helm with a little difficulty because of the pain to see the offending Cybertronian. It was a garishly yellow armoured mech with an annoyed expression 'Hopefully it's at the other two mechs'. He began asking Cloudstriker questions in Cybertronian, "Can you speak?"
Her vocalizers crackled with static put she managed a choked "Yes."
"Good. What's your designation?"
"Cloudstriker."
"Hmmm," he paused, comm. linking Optimus "Prime, can you get down here? The neutral's awake."
Optimus quickly replied "On my way."
Nodding to himself, Ratchet tuned back in to his surroundings and looked down at the femme. "I'm going to tell you some basic information about this planet, stop me if you become confused."
Cloudstriker nodded slightly, not trusting her vocalizers enough to speak, it ached a lot when she even said one word. That and this mech was slightly intimidating, not Decepticon intimidating - not by a long shot - but it was sufficient in that she felt uncomfortable and awkward.
"This planet is known as 'Earth' by the locals. I can't disclose our current location, so don't ask. I also took the liberty of downloading several of the different native languages onto your processor while you were in stasis."
Cloudstriker bristled, she didn't like the idea of a strange mech (Albeit one of the ones who saved her) randomly downloading programs onto her processor without her say-so. In fact if she could've, Cloudstriker would've told him that. However, the sedative had taken its toll and she was simply too drained, despite her being out for Primus knows how long.
"The leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, is on his way to explain the rest." When Ratchet said basic information, he meant it. He wasn't about to reveal anything more to an unfamiliar femme unless Optimus gave him the go ahead, they didn't know if she would betray them or not yet. There was a stunned silence afterwards. Well, Cloudstriker was stunned anyway. 'A Prime is here? I've never seen one before who would talk to somebot of lower caste... what do I do, what do I say?' she thought desperately to herself, her optics were getting wider by the second. However, time wasn't on her side as Optimus himself chose to stride through the med bay door right at that moment.
Cloudstriker went rigid.
Optimus looked at her and smiled slightly, "My name is Optimus Prime, what is your designation?"
"C-Cloudstriker." She managed through her static-y processor, stuttering both because of the pain and the fact she was in front of a Prime. Even though she felt like knocking her helm onto a nice, thick steel wall for it, at least she had an excuse as to why she stammered - well that's what she told herself anyway.
"Cloudstriker, you are in the care of the Autobots now. If you can, can you tell us why you landed on Earth?"
She relaxed a little at his calm tone - only a little though. She coughed a little and started trying to get through her story "I escaped Cybertron when I heard what Megatron was planning - me and my trine had a plan that went wrong-"
"A trine? Were they neutrals too?" Ratchet asked
Cloudstriker half-heartedly glared at him, coughing static again "Yes, we all were. We were the few fliers that didn't pick a side and those who did mainly chose Megatron. Anyway, the plan went wrong and we were separated. I know they're still alive- it's our bond you see? But the distance is so far I can't contact them." She paused, dejected, thinking about how they got separated. Ratchet gave a small cough, prompting her to finish what she had started. Jerking in surprise, having gone so deep in to her thoughts she took a minute to regain herself before continuing, talking was getting a little easier on her vocal processor "I was floating aimlessly through the Universe (my escape pod ran out of fuel a few hundred years ago so I ditched it) when I heard the tail end of a message telling of a place called Earth that a few Autobots had taken up refuge in but an asteroid glanced off my comm. receiver before I heard who it was from... Who was it from?" She asked curiously
"It was from me." Optimus spoke up his smile more pronounced than before, though not in a cruel way; even so Cloudstriker could feel her cheek plates heating up.
"O-Oh, right. Thank you Prime, sir." She coughed again, this time it was a mix of embarrassment and the static that blemished her speech in places "In any case, I set my coordinates for this 'Earth' and found it in this secluded area, far away from Cybertron. I'm lucky I drifted into this sector. The orbit caught me and I had to use the last of my strength to get out of it and into the atmosphere with my boosters, which I reckon is why my injuries were so bad. I don't think the extra speed helped."
"What are the names of your trine mates?" Optimus was interested in whether he could've known them before the war.
Cloudstriker paused again for longer, looking more forlorn than before. "Blindside and Freefall." She muttered lowering her optics. Optimus nodded as Ratchet sent him a warning look. Time for Prime to stop bothering the patient.
"Visiting time's over Optimus, time to go." Ratchet broke the heavy silence that had settled over them.
"Thank you Cloudstriker, for answering our questions. Good bye, Ratchet. I'll see you both soon." He nodded to both of them before striding out again; he had incredible grace for someone so tall.
Cloudstriker looked up as she heard the door close; she'd just talked to a Prime - possibly one of the last surviving Primes! And she'd managed to hold her ground and not stumble over her words too much, give or take a few, even if she had rambled on a bit. She rubbed her throat a little as she watched Ratchet finally get round to seeing what was up with the other two mechs who had alerted him to her being awake – she thought she heard one was called Mudflap. All the talking had made her throat cables seize up a bit even though while she was having the conversation it didn't bother her too much. It didn't stop her snorting in amusement though as she saw the green one squirm and promptly get hit in the helm with a wrench.
Cloudstriker looked away, sighing. Her trine mates would've gotten a kick out of that, in fact she could just imagine their reactions; Freefall would be doing her weird little cackle-laugh and Blindside would be smirking, his optics lit up with amusement. Abruptly the laughter bubbling up inside of her dyed down. She wondered what her friends were doing, had they been captured? Were they looking for her? She poked their bonds, trying for a response, but just like every other time there was no reply. It was hard to survive as a single Cybertronian when she was used to being surrounded by her trine, Seekers were known for needing physical contact. In fact, Cloudstriker was surprised she hadn't gone insane due to being alone for so many vorns.
Trying to draw her attention away from these thoughts, she looked back to Ratchet and what she supposed were twins. The orangey coloured one was attempting an escape this time while Ratchet was fixing up his brother, but just as he was sidling to the door a wrench flew at lightning speed towards the creeping mech and hit him smack bang on the back of his helm.
'...Remind me not to anger the medic.'
...
Optimus entered the security room, lit by the many monitors. Mechs and humans were strewn across the different screens; there were cameras that were distributed across the base for security, despite Megatron being killed a few months ago in Mission City. Better to be safe than sorry. His optics came to rest on the big, black mech slouched down on his security shift. You could just tell Ironhide wished that Prowl or Red Alert were here to take this job so he could be done with it and go to do something he deemed useful like cleaning his weapons or testing them out. Pit, he could even deal with Red Alert's paranoia just to get out of this cramped room.
"What do you think Prime, is she a spy or just a neutral?" Ironhide, who had been watching the whole exchange through the monitors, asked. Optimus deliberated for a few minutes.
"I think we should leave it a few days to see how she interacts with us. As of right now, I'm leaning towards neutral."
Ironhide grunted and added gruffly "If that fails we can always try intimidation, she looked skittish to me."
Optimus smiled at his old friend "Hopefully it won't come to that; we may have gained a new ally today."
...
Thoughts on chapter length, was it any better? And what do you think of Cloudstriker? I think she rambled on a little too much, but that's just me. Reviews are always appreciated :D
