Chapter VIII: Autobot or Decepticon.
Ariel rushed to catch up to Wingwraith. Somehow he had disappeared after leaving the repair bay. She was sure, by the pace of his walk, that she would catch up to him. But after walking a few corridors, she could not find him.
She knew that she wasn't that far behind him but when the doors opened she found no sign of him. It was like he vanished into thin air. As she continued her search she met up with Arcee as she walked in a corridor.
"Hey, Arcee," Ariel smiled at her friend. "Have you seen Wingwraith by any chance?"
"No," the pink robot said. "Why do you ask?"
"I think he was embarrassed when my parents tried to question him about my design," she sighed.
"I think what embarrassed him more was looking at you in a more intimate manner," Arcee teased noticing her friend blush. "My, my. Who's embarrassed now?"
"He made us human," Ariel said, trying to blame her embarrassment on Wingwraith.
"No kidding," Arcee smiled as she touched her own skin. "Our skin is made of a flexible alloy that's soft and smooth as flesh but many times stronger than our strongest alloy. Whatever that ship carried was state of the art."
"Wingwraith is a genius," Ariel sighed. "Not like Perceptor who babbles everything in scientific terms but he's humble, quiet and kind."
"And if I wouldn't stop you, you'd go on and one about the good things about him," Arcee said as she shook her head. "I think you like him."
"Of course I like him," Ariel defended.
"I mean like him like him," Arcee waited until her friend absorbed the words and when she did, she blushed almost to the color of her paint job.
"It's not like that at all!" Ariel huffed but couldn't deny the sentiment. She did like the robot, though mysterious as he would seem.
"You can't fool me," Arcee teased. "Anyway, some of the girls are getting envious and wanted to upgrade themselves. They were asking me to ask him if he would do them?"
"Do them?" Ariel heard that kind of phrase before from Spike and the other humans. And frankly, it made her uncomfortable. Arcee noticed this and smiled mischievously.
"You aren't jealous, are you?" she asked making Ariel blush some more. Inwardly, she thanked Wingwraith for whatever advancement he made since she was sure she would overheat with all the blushing.
"Why would I be jealous?" Ariel asked indifferently.
"Maybe because you don't want to share him with anyone," Ariel turned around and was surprised to see her mother there, smiling at her.
"Mom, as much as I wanted to, I can't," Ariel sighed. "In a way, he makes me feel..." with another sigh, Ariel transformed and left the two pink robots watching after her.
"Are you worried about her?" Arcee asked, turning to the Autobot Matriarch.
"I'm actually worried about the Wingwraith more," Elita One said, watching her daughter drive away.
"Why?" Arcee was curious as to why she had said so.
"I sensed a certain amount of innocence within him. Ariel's young and inexperienced in life. She may cause him harm without her knowing it," Elita smiled sadly at the passive frame the Wingwraith had. His expression was guarded and his emotions hidden. If he was a Decepticon there must be a certain amount of evil within him.
With her own eyes, she saw what made him a Decepticon. He did not have the ruthless, sardonic nature of Decepticons but a quiet and deadly core that made him efficient in what he does.
Elita shuddered in thought. She felt that he would be more of a foe than Galvatron, the leader of the Decepticons.
But then, there was something about him that whispers "Autobot". For one, he saved Ariel and Arcee without expecting payment. In fact, Elita knew that after he had sorted the remains of the Piratacons, he would leave. Reluctantly, she knew that when he would leave they must let go.
Elita felt that the Wingwraith was searching for a sense of purpose, one that he had lost a long time ago.
And maybe, there she would find an answer.
"Arcee, look into the database. Search anything about the Wingwraith."
"Where do I start?" Arcee asked. "We already checked and there's nothing there."
"Search wing and wraith separately. I know his name is not Wingwraith. Also... check old archives if there's any mention of female Autobots that worked side by side with Decepticons. He's receptive to female Autobots, maybe it's a part of his programming maybe it isn't."
"A hunch?" Arcee asked and Elita nodded. "Okay... what about the others?"
"What about the others?" Elita One asked.
"Most of the females wanted to meet him and ask him about our new bodies... most of the boys wanted to meet him and see if he's really on our side..."
"And the rest wanted to destroy him since he bore the mark of the Decepticon," Elita shook her head and sighed. "I'll let Optimus handle them."
"If you say so," Arcee said doubtfully. "But if it gets rough..."
"I know," Elita sighed and shook her head. "Where do you think he is?"
>>>>>>>>>>
The Transformer known as Wingwraith was once again in the battlefield, sorting through the debris of the fallen Piratacons. Most of the junk he had already sorted and he had found a lot of things that he could use. Most of them he would sell or trade to Wreck-Gar.
But that was just an excuse. He wanted to be alone for a while. He could feel the distrust from some of the Autobots and uncertainty from the others. It won't be long until some of them would fight him.
He didn't want to fight them. He didn't want to destroy them. For some strange reason he wanted to protect them.
He wanted to protect her.
"Why strange robot sad?" a gruff but somehow compassionate voice asked. Wingwraith turned around only to find himself face to face, or at least chest, to a robot Tyrannosaurus Rex. It was looking at him curiously as if he was an oddity.
"I never thought that it was obvious," Wingwraith said.
"Me Grimlock know," Grimlock said proudly. "Sometime Dinobots get sad too."
"I don't doubt it," Wingwraith smiled from behind his face mask. "You don't seem to not like me."
"Why Grimlock hate?" Grimlock said. "Strange Bird have Decepticon face on wing. But Me Grimlock smell Autobot underneath." Wingwraith was taken back. How could someone be so perceptive?
"I don't know what I am," Wingwraith said truthfully.
"Maybe we could discover it together," a new voice suggested. Wingwraith didn't have to turn to know who it was. Grimlock looked at his friend and smiled.
"What happened to Little Red?" he asked. "Why Little Red become more pretty?" Ariel blushed shyly at the compliment.
"I'll tell you later," Ariel said as she took Wingwraith's hand. "Come on, I'll introduce you to the others."
Bewildered, the Wingwraith didn't resist as Ariel pulled him back to Metroplex. Grimlock growled in thought.
"Hrm. Me Grimlock sense good story. Tell Grimlcok story!"
"Now you're in for it," Ariel said as she wrapped her arm around Wingwraith's arm. "They won't let you go until they hear a good story."
"Will you listen?" Wingwraith asked, hoping the hope in his voice was not obvious.
"Of course," Ariel smiled. "But make it a good one. The Dinobots are not the only ones who like a good story."
"I think I have a good one," Wingwraith said making Ariel smile.
