Say hello to the biggest chapter yet! Figured I'd make this one extra long since I'm making you guys wait longer for new chapters. So grab some snacks and dig in!
"So, what'd you find out," Prowl asked as Blueshift walked out of the cell.
"More than I bargained for," Blueshift said. "I need to speak to Optimus. Can you tell him to be expecting me?"
"Uh, yeah, sure," Prowl stammered out, stunned that she found out something that required Optimus' attention. "So, can you tell me what you found out?"
"I'll let Optimus tell you," Blueshift replied coldly.
"Oooo-kay," Prowl said as he opened a com channel with Optimus.
Optimus sat in his room, deep in meditation as he attempted to commune with the Matrix. It wasn't something he did normally, but he required guidance on what to do about Valkyrie. He had been sitting there for hours now, and was on the verge of giving up when the Matrix began to glow vibrantly from where it resided in his chest. Suddenly, Optimus felt his consciousness get pulled into the Matrix and he was presented with a vision.
He was aboard the Nemesis. Suddenly, an explosion came from around the corner as two dead Vehicons flew past him. Before he could react, Valkyrie and Blueshift rounded the corner and aimed their weapons toward Optimus. Fear gripped him briefly before they discharged their weapons and the shots passed right through him and hit something behind him.
Turning, Optimus was met with the sight of two more Vehicons dropping to the floor dead.
Suddenly, two Vehicons rounded the corner behind Blueshift and Valkyrie and took aim.
"Blue, on your six," Valkyrie shouted.
Without another word, Blueshift swiftly turned and shot three rounds from her shotgun, killing both Vehicons.
Turning back to Valkyrie, Blueshift lifted her goggles and said, "Thanks, babe."
Wait, 'babe?'
Optimus didn't have time to ponder it as the Matrix dragged him off to another vision.
This one was on Cybertron, and before him stood Valkyrie and Blueshift on a balcony that overlooked a city that Optimus quickly recognized as Iacon. Except it was Iacon more or less as it looked before the war.
Then Optimus noticed that Blueshift was holding something in her arms, but before he could get a good look at it, he was shoved back to reality by the sound of his comlink being pinged.
Rising to his feet, Optimus answered his com to be greeted by Prowl.
:Hey, Optimus? Er, Blueshift…convinced me to let her in to see Valkyrie. She just came back out and wants me to let you know she's heading your way to speak with you.:
Odd. It wasn't like Prowl to just disobey orders. Blueshift must have made a good argument. She was pretty good at that.
:Understood, Prowl. Did she happen to say what she wanted to speak about?:
:No. I asked and she said she'd let you tell me.:
Alright, something was definitely off. Unless what she'd found out was extremely important, Blueshift wouldn't be keeping at all quiet about it.
:Thank you, Prowl. I'll be ready for her when she arrives.:
:Alright.:
Optimus closed the comlink and walked over to his desk. Several minutes passed before there was a knock at his door. Pushing a button on his desk, the door opened and Blueshift walked in, head hung and a dark expression on her faceplates.
"So, Blueshift. Prowl tells me you spoke to Valkyrie and have something to tell me."
Looking up, Blueshift said in a cold voice, "Megatron's raised the stakes."
Confused, Optimus replied, "What do you mean?"
"Dark energon. Valkyrie seems mighty convinced that Megatron's infected everyone short of the Vehicons with the stuff," Blueshift said, then added quietly, "Or he could just be searching for a reason for killing his friend."
Unfortunately, Optimus heard that last part and asked, "What do you mean he killed his friend? Blueshift, what else did you find out from him?"
Hesitantly, Blueshift began telling Optimus what Valkyrie had told her about his friendship with Knock Out and what he'd been forced to do aboard the Nemesis.
Bumblebee wasn't sure why almost none of the Autobots trusted Valkyrie. Sure, he'd hurt Blueshift, but he'd made it quite clear that it was an accident. Other than that, Valkyrie hadn't done anything wrong. If anything, he'd been helpful. He distracted Megatron to make sure Bumblebee, Prowl, and Optimus could retreat, risking his life doing so. And before that, he'd tried to protect an entire human settlement by himself from Megatron.
As far as Bumblebee was concerned, Valkyrie was fine in his book.
Right now, Bumblebee was walking towards the cell block with an energon cube. He figured Valkyrie needed one after his fight with Megatron. Besides, it was the least he could do after the mech covered their retreat.
Prowl saw Bumblebee walking towards him and was about to stop him before he noticed the energon cube in the mech's hands.
"Ugh, fine. Just don't do anything stupid," Prowl said as he opened Valkyrie's cell.
"Uh…thanks," Bumblebee whirred back.
What's his deal? He thought as he walked into the cell.
"I wasn't aware I'd be having visitors," Valkyrie's voice said from the other side of the cell.
Valkyrie was standing there rubbing his wrists, his stasis cuffs laying on the floor beneath him.
Bumblebee's optics went wide and, seeing this, Valkyrie reassured him, saying, "Don't worry. I'm not planning on breaking out this time. Just needed to get those blasted things off is all. They were starting to dig into my protoform. Besides, my internal weapons are offline, and you took my sword and rifle."
This seemed to have a calming effect on Bumblebee, as the young mech visibly relaxed after that last part. Valkyrie noticed the energon cube the yellow mech was holding and asked, "Hey, um, Bumblebee, right? Is that for me?"
Quickly glancing down at the energon cube he held, Bumblebee held it out for Valkyrie, nodding his head and whirring what Valkyrie could only assume was a yes.
"Thank you," Valkyrie said, taking the cube. Suddenly, an idea popped into Valkyrie's processor. "You know, maybe we could help each other out. You could teach me how to understand you, and once I get out of this cell, I could teach you some tricks I know. How does that sound?"
Bumblebee was about to whir back in agreement before remembering that Valkyrie couldn't understand him and instead just simply nodded.
"Alright. So, where do we start," Valkyrie asked.
Bumblebee thought for a moment before reaching into his subspace and pulling out a datapad. After tapping it several times, he flipped it around to face Valkyrie and whirred out, "Can you show me how you got the cuffs off?"
As he said this, the words appeared on the datapad for Valkyrie to read.
Laughing, Valkyrie said, "So, right into the tricks, eh?"
He knelt down and picked up the cuffs, offering them to Bumblebee so that they could be put back on. Bumblebee took them and Valkyrie turned around, putting his servos behind his back. Bumblebee put the cuffs back on and Valkyrie smirked.
"Now, watch carefully, because this has to be done fast."
"This is very disturbing news, Blueshift," Optimus said, "But you still went to Valkyrie against my orders…"
"Optimus, I went to Valkyrie because I could see he wasn't all the way there," Blueshift said, "It's my duty as a medic to…"
"You care about him, don't you?"
What?! No! He wasn't seriously…oh, no. No, no, no, no, no!
"Optimus, I care about him in terms of him being a patient and a potential ally. Nothing else."
"For now, that may be. But the Matrix has shown me that the two of you have some role to play in the near future. And it is not my place to question the Matrix."
"And just because it told you we were going to work together in the future, you automatically assumed that meant we had feelings for each other?"
Optimus didn't respond and Blueshift could tell from the look in his optics that he knew more than he was letting on. But before she could call him out on it, he said, "Blueshift, I want you to return to Valkyrie and resume your conversation with him. He seems to trust you the most and the information you've gotten from him so far is incredibly useful. Dismissed."
Turning, Blueshift hung her head as her doorwings sagged and walked out into the halls, muttering a "Yes, sir" as the door closed behind her.
"Well, Blueshift, what kind of shit have you walked into this time," Blueshift said to herself as she began walking back toward the cell block.
It wasn't the prospect of talking to Valkyrie again that upset her. It was the idea that Optimus might just be using this as an excuse to extract information from him. Or worse, he could be using it as a way to push them together. Blueshift didn't need that on top of everything else.
Though, he is kind of cute.
Wait, what? Where did that thought come from? She didn't have time to think about it as she was rounding the corner to the cell block.
Prowl saw her coming and moved to open the door before saying, "Optimus said you were coming. Bumblebee came shortly after you left, and he's still in there."
"Is he alright," Blueshift asked, becoming somewhat concerned.
"I commed him several minutes ago and he said he was fine. I'd go in, but I'd rather not get myself locked in there as well."
"I'm sure he's fine," Blueshift said assuredly.
"Alright," Prowl said as he opened the door.
Entering the room, Blueshift was almost flattened as Valkyrie came charging from her right while Bumblebee came from her left.
"Woah," she shouted as she rolled out of the way, arm forming into her shotgun as she went.
Startled, Valkyrie and Bumblebee crashed into each other and hit the ground hard.
Rising to her feet, Blueshift quickly switched out the ammo for EMP rounds and aimed the shotgun at Valkyrie, who was now sitting up and holding his head.
Seeing this out of the corner of his optic, Bumblebee ran at Blueshift and pushed her shotgun arm down.
"Bee, what are you doing?! He's gonna escape again," Blueshift yelled, trying to shove Bumblebee off of her.
"He's not trying to escape! He's showing me tricks in turn for me teaching him how to understand me," Bumblebee whirred back, keeping her arm pointed at the floor.
"Bumblebee, let her go," Valkyrie said, rising to his feet, "If she wants to hurt me, she can deal with the consequences of harming an unarmed prisoner."
"'Unarmed'," Blueshift spat back in disbelief. "You were just fighting Bumblebee. That hardly seems like 'unarmed' to me."
"Didn't you hear a word he just said? I was teaching him tricks in exchange for learning to understand him. When will you Autobots get it that I'm not your enemy?"
"And how'd you get your cuffs off," Blueshift retorted, pointing to the cuffs that were laying on the floor.
Shrugging, Valkyrie calmly replied, "I know a trick to get them off. Besides, they were starting to dig into my protoform. Bumblebee can show you how to do it, if you ever want to know."
Realizing that there was no sense in arguing with him anymore, Blueshift relaxed and let her arm return to its normal form. As she did so, Bumblebee let go of her arm.
Valkyrie casually walked past the two of them and sat down on the berth in the corner of the cell.
"It's because of this, isn't it," he asked suddenly, pointing at the Decepticon insignia on his shoulder. "It's because of this fragging symbol that you Autobots don't trust me."
"It's not the entire reason. At least, not for me," Blueshift said, slightly confused about why Valkyrie was talking about this. "It definitely doesn't help, though."
"Then I'd like to have it replaced with this," Valkyrie said as he projected an image from his optics.
It was a Cybertronian symbol, though not one that either Blueshift or Bumblebee recognized. It looked like a strange amalgamation of both the Autobot and Decepticon insignias.
"What is it," Bumblebee asked.
"It's an old Cybertronian symbol that has its origins in the waning days of the Quintesson's rule over Cybertron," Valkyrie explained. "It was worn by resistance members, and symbolized Cybertronian independence."
"Why not just get an Autobot symbol," Blueshift asked.
Hanging his head, Valkyrie replied, "While I may have turned my back on the Decepticons, I don't believe I am ready to call myself an Autobot."
Silence followed as Blueshift mulled the idea around in her processor. On the one hand, it may help lower tensions amongst the Autobots over Valkyrie's trustworthiness. On the other hand, she could face ridicule for using up resources on something like this.
Screw it. If her having to face ridicule was the price she had to pay for helping Valkyrie seek some degree of redemption, then so be it.
"Alright, I'll do it," Blueshift said, "And if Ironhide has anything to say about it, he can go fuck himself."
Cocking his head, Valkyrie asked, "Erm, what does 'fuck' mean?"
Blueshift facepalmed before saying, "Bee, hand him your datapad so he can look it up. Fair warning, it's not pleasant."
Valkyrie took the datapad and typed in the word, before gagging at the results, causing both Blueshift and Bumblebee to start laughing hysterically.
"I warned you," Blueshift managed to get out amongst her laughter.
Their laughter was infectious and, as much as he tried not to, Valkyrie eventually gave in and joined them.
This went on for several minutes before they all managed to collect themselves. Blueshift walked toward the door and motioned for Bumblebee to follow before saying, "I'm going to go grab my stuff so we can change up that symbol of yours. Anything else you want me to get you?"
"If you have red paint, I'd like it to be used on the symbol," Valkyrie said casually.
"Red paint. Got it," Blueshift said as she commed Prowl to open the door.
As the door opened and Bumblebee and Blueshift walked out, Prowl said, "So, you find out anything you can tell me this time?"
"Actually, yes," Blueshift said, a smirk forming on her faceplates, "Don't bother with stasis cuffs."
And with that, she and Bumblebee walked off, leaving Prowl very confused.
Ratchet wasn't sure what he was expecting to find when he walked into the med bay. But he was sure that it wasn't Blueshift rummaging through the various storage compartments in the med bay.
As he'd walked in, Blueshift glanced over at him and said, "Oh, hey, Ratch. Do you know if we have any red paint left?"
This caused Ratchet to cock an optic ridge in confusion as he said, "Uh, yeah. Why do you need red paint?"
That's when he noticed the cart with various welding tools and such on it.
"Blueshift, what are you doing with all this stuff," Ratchet asked, concern washing over him.
Annoyed that he was prying so much, Blueshift said, "Alright, I'll tell you. Just promise me you won't tell anyone. Especially Ironhide."
"Umm, alright," Ratchet said, becoming rather confused by the whole situation.
"Valkyrie wants to replace his Decepticon insignia with this," Blueshift said, bringing up an image of the symbol Valkyrie had shown her on her datapad. "He says it's a…"
"I know quite well what it is, Blueshift," Ratchet said, cutting her off. "What I want to know is why does he want that symbol?"
"He said that, even though he's left the Decepticons, he doesn't feel ready to call himself an Autobot quite yet."
Nodding his head in understanding, Ratchet replied, "Alright, that explains all the tools. But why do you need red paint? That symbol was bronze colored."
"Valkyrie said he wants it colored red," Blueshift said plainly.
"Ok. I guess the bronze would have blended into his color scheme a bit too much. Red paint's in the top row, third compartment to your left."
"Why'd you move it all the way up there," Blueshift asked, grabbing a chair to help her reach the compartment.
"I moved all the paints up there. Got to keep them away from the twins somehow, right?"
"Yeah," Blueshift said, laughing slightly as she grabbed the red paint and climbed down, back turned to Ratchet.
Seeing an opportunity to play a trick on her, Ratchet quickly took the soldering iron off of the cart and held it behind his back before she finally got down and turned around.
Walking up to the cart, Blueshift set the paint down and started pushing the cart toward the door. She was nearly at the door when she noticed the missing soldering iron and turned back to Ratchet.
"Hey, Ratchet? You seen the…" she started to say, but was cut off as Ratchet placed a finger over her mouth and pulled the soldering iron out from behind his back.
"We never saw each other," Ratchet whispered as he winked and handed her the soldering iron.
"Thanks," Blueshift whispered back as she turned and left.
"What's all that for," Prowl asked as Blueshift came back pushing a cart.
"A little project. Can you open the door please," Blueshift said.
As much as he didn't want to, Prowl had standing orders from Optimus to let Blueshift in, and so he opened the door as he was asked.
"Thank you," Blueshift said as she pushed her cart into the cell.
Walking in, Blueshift found Valkyrie on the floor doing push-ups.
"What are you doing," she asked.
Stopping and bringing himself into a sitting position, Valkyrie replied, "What? I've got to stay in shape somehow."
"That bored, huh?"
Shoulders sagging, he replied in a mock whiny voice, "Yes."
That got them both laughing.
"You know, you're not that bad of a mech, Val," Blueshift said as the laughter began to die down.
"'Val?'"
"Little nickname. You know, like how Bumblebee gets called Bee sometimes?"
"Oh. Alright. What's yours?"
Blushing slightly, Blueshift answered, "Blue. How about we get started on that symbol, alright?"
"Alright," Valkyrie said, before adding, "You know, you look cute when you blush."
Why did I just say that? He thought, mentally slapping himself for saying that.
The comment only made Blueshift blush harder as she said, "Umm…thanks."
Grabbing some of her tools, Blueshift walked over to Valkyrie and lowered her goggles before starting her work.
After a while, Valkyrie said, "So, what's your story?"
"What do you mean," Blueshift replied, not glancing up from what she was doing.
"Well, I told you about my past. It seems only fair you tell me about yours."
"I guess you're right. Well, I grew up in Praxus. Last job I had before the war was being a DJ at a club. In fact, I was working there the night the Decepticons launched their assault on the city.
"As I was trying to escape, I ran into this femme from the Autobot Academy. I think her name was Goldstreak. Anyway, she and this silver mech helped me get to this bunker they were heading to. From there, the Autobots managed to evacuate everyone they could.
"I joined up with the Autobots after Praxus, and began my training in Iacon. I learned medicine under Ratchet, but field medicine is where I excel. For that, I have the Protectobots to thank."
"I've heard about them," Valkyrie said, "They set up shop out in the Sea of Rust several solar cycles before I left. Being a thorn in Shockwave's side seems to be their only goal in life."
"So they're still alive?"
"And kicking. At least, they were when I left."
Letting out a sigh of relief, Blueshift said, "Good. Groove still owes me on a bet we made.
"Anyway, where were we? Oh, right. After I finished my training, I got put in charge of a small team. There were three of us. Myself, Catapult, and Cameo. I acted as team leader and medic. Catapult was our sniper, though she could still hold her own in close quarters. Cameo was our infiltrator and back-up sniper.
"We ran dozens of missions together. Even infiltrated Kaon a few times. We volunteered to be one of the search-and-rescue teams for Vos and Tarn. We didn't find anyone, but we did find out that the two cities destroyed each other. Cameo found remnants of some Vos-made missiles in several of the impact craters in Tarn. On a hunch, I had us redeployed to Vos, and guess what we found?"
"Tarn-made missile remnants," Valkyrie said questioningly.
"Yep. I reported it to Optimus, and we tried to get the word out, but Megatron managed to keep most of the planet in the dark.
"Shortly after Trypticon was destroyed, I got moved to Optimus' team while Catapult and Cameo left aboard the Arclight. Haven't heard from either of them since.
"And now I'm here. There, my life's story," Blueshift concluded as she finished shaping the new symbol on Valkyrie's shoulder. "Alright, we're almost done. Just need to paint it."
Reaching over to the cart, she put down the soldering iron and grabbed a paint gun and loaded it with red paint.
"Just a heads up, we ran out of regular Cybertronian paint a little while ago, so this is human paint. Still does the job, just has a tendency to sting a little when applied."
"Got it," Valkyrie said, getting anxious.
"Alright. Here we go," Blueshift said as she began applying the paint.
To her surprise, Valkyrie didn't even flinch.
The application process took several minutes, and when it was finished, Blueshift stood and lifted her goggles before asking, "So, what do you think?"
Looking down at his shoulder, Valkyrie had to admit, he was impressed. Not only had Blueshift managed to get the proportions down perfectly, she'd also managed to paint it without getting a speck on anything but the symbol.
"I like it. You did an amazing job, Blue. Thanks."
"No problem," Blueshift said, starting to put everything back on the cart. "Hopefully, that'll make some of the others trust you a bit more."
Just then, Blueshift's com pinged. Answering it, she was met with Prowl's voice.
:Hey, Blue? Optimus wants everyone to meet on the bridge. Valkyrie included.:
:Alright, Prowl. We'll be out in a minute.:
As she closed the comlink, Valkyrie asked, "What was that about?"
"Optimus just called a meeting. He wants everyone attending. Including you."
I wonder what Optimus could want. Also, if anyone hasn't figured it out yet, the symbol is the cover image for the story.
For those of you who were observant, you may have noticed I mentioned a certain femme named Goldstreak. She, along with her silver-plated brother, Silvershot, belong to my good friend Goldstreak. Go read her story Golden Gods! It is absolutely amazing!
Catapult and Cameo are characters from the game Transformers Universe. Cameo is an upcoming character and thus, I have very little information about her. If you want to know what either of them look like, just go to the TF Wiki.
And I think that's all I have to say, so, don't forgot to review and until next time, this is Valkyrie 497, signing off.
P.S. Gold, if you're reading this on the day I uploaded it, go to bed. It's around 11:30 at night where you live when I'm writing this. XP
