Redemption is a butterfly
By Princess Thil Galel
I DO NOT OWN
Thank you
R&R
Please enjoy!
When secrets come to light
Pain, that was all Jetfire knew when he slowly awoke. He lay on a detention cell floor, his body and mind stunned, he remembered little of how he ended up there, but knew a few things for certain. His brother had been taken from him, he was in even greater pain than Jetfire but at least that meant he was still online, and as he'd been dragged away, just before someone slammed the back of his helm, he saw Sentinel holding his brother by his scruffbar.
Jetfire gasped softly as he pushed himself to his knees, his limbs trembling, he couldn't do much else, but he had to get to Jetstorm. Taking a deep cycle, he summoned all his strength to force his frame to stand, he managed one agonizing step before collapsing. He was just too tired, and too weak to move any further.
'What is I going to do?' he thought, tears slid down his cheekplates as he felt even more pain through his bond with Jetstorm, knowing his brother was being hurt and being powerless to stop it 'I have to help Brother, but I can't even stand. I is useless, Brother would have found a way to get to me if he were here and I there.'
Hot claws seemed to squeeze at his Spark, digging their way in deeper and deeper the longer he remained. He reached up to wipe the tears from his optics, his fingers brushed the side of his helm, and a static noise cracked to life. Jetfire gasped in shock of his discovery.
His comm. link was working, he had a way to call for help.
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
Monarus lay stretched out on her berth, her father had sentenced her to berth-rest until her wings were fixed and returned. She vented softly and rolled onto her front, a holopic sat on her nightstand, reaching out she picked it up with a blushing smile. It was a picture she'd taken out of a news article a year ago, and standing in the image was Shockwave. He was giving evidence at a hearing, his entire speech turned the jury in the victim's favor and sent the criminal to the Stockade, when he would have otherwise walked free.
She giggled slightly, thinking of how embarrassed she'd be if Shockwave ever found out she kept a picture of him beside her berth. No other mech had ever captured her attention-if he did, it wasn't for long-but somehow Shockwave had. Monarus didn't know what it was about him that attracted her so, maybe his good looks? Only if she were shallow. His smarts? Possibly, but she was never attracted to any of the scientists she met throughout her life. Or perhaps it was his personality, the way he was always calm under pressure. His gentleness with Sweetspark nearly melted her Spark when she'd watched the little femme cry in his arms as he offered comfort and support. You just couldn't ask for a better mech.
Gazing down at the picture with a dreamy smile on her lips and a far-off daze in her optics, Monarus lightly kissed his image and daydreamed about the possiblity of him asking her out on another date. But her fantasies were cut short, however, by a static-filled beep over her comm. link.
:Jetfire to Lady Monarus, please to be answering!:
Frowning at the urgent tone of his voice, she quickly pressed two fingers to the side of her helm : Monarus to Jetfire, do you copy?: she responded, and waited as static filled her comm. link once more.
:Lady Monarus, he has taken Brother!: he said, practically sobbing :It be hurting so much Lady Monarus-he is being out of his processor!:
:Jetfire, mechling calm down,: she coaxed gently :Who took Jetstorm? Are you hurt or is he? And where are you?:
:Sentinel Prime is hurting Brother,: he cried openly, the agony in his voice evident, he was truly suffering and it tore at her Spark along with the shock and fear of what he had said :We was coming to be seeing you, when somebot grabbed us-one took me and Sentinel dragged Brother away. I can be feeling him, Lady Monarus, Sentinel Prime is hurting him very bad. Please to be helping us!:
Tears ran down her cheekplate as she listened, every word filled with terror and suffering was like a blade to her very core :Don't be scared, mechling,: she said as soothingly as she could manage :I'm going to get help right now, we'll come find you and then you can help us find Jetstorm. Just hold on for me-you hear? I swear I WILL find you, even if I have to tear Cybertron apart to do it!:
A crackle of static was her only answer.
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
The minibot in Shockwave's lap suddenly coughed, her little frame shaking with each choking wheeze, she covered her mouth with both hands to muffle the sound as Shockwave stroked her back to soothe her. When it didn't stop, he pulled her hands down while pressing his energon to her lips, she managed a tiny sip before taking a much needed cycle, her frame heaving "Are you alright, dear one?" he asked as he continued caressing circles between her shoulder blades "Do you feel dizzy or light-headed, perhaps a little faint?"
"N-no sir," she said, her voice sounded ragged and scratchy "I'm okay, thank you." But no sooner had the words left her mouth, another coughing fit overtook her.
Shockwave offered his energon once more, this time Sweetspark drank greedily, almost like she was dying of thirst. After draining the cube, Sweetspark rested her helm on the edge of the desk, Shockwave placed a gentle hand on her back "I meant to have Ratchet take a look at you this morning, but when you seemed fine I thought perhaps I was worried over nothing, now I see otherwise." he said "I believe you may have a virus, my precious, your immune system isn't very strong and I'm afraid you might have caught something. You'll need to see Ratchet as soon as possible."
The little femme swallowed hard "Wh-who's Ratchet?" she asked timidly, almost too scared to know, "I know I've heard his name before...maybe. Is he a medic at one of the clinics?" Shockwave looked down at the minibot in puzzlement, how could she not remember Ratchet-especially after he'd been there to repair her, and when he had put her into stasis with his EMP generator? But then again, she had been scared out of her processor, half blinded by her cracked visor, and in a horrible state of disrepair. It might be that she knew the medic by form, but not name, and hopefully not by temper. Or else Shockwave would never get the skittish femme into the medbay.
"Ratchet is the older model who I assisted in your repairs, you remember, the red and white mech." he explained "He lived through the wars, and he's one of the best medics around-he even made a repair on Monarus just a few days ago." That fact seemed to reassure her somewhat, but she still didn't looked completely willing to see a medic-much less one she didn't know, and one who was a mech. Shockwave was about to say more, when his comm. link suddenly beeped, he quickly answered, and found a rather upset Monarus on the other end, sounding frantic.
:Monarus-slow down! I can't understand you.: he said, listening as she continued somewhat calmer :Y...Yes, I'll be right there. Just take a deep cycle and wait for me, I'll be there as fast as I can-don't worry.:
As the link closed, Shockwave turned to Blurr, who'd been sitting quietly on the other side of the desk "Blurr, I need a favor." he said "Monarus is in need of assistance, might I ask you to take Sweetspark back to my base and deliver her to Ratchet for a system's check? You can instruct Bumblebee to look after her until I return." Sweetspark's helm shot straight up, looking all the world like he'd just thrown her unceremoniously and mercilyless under the bus, but she bit her lower lip and didn't protest. Shockwave wrapped his hands around her tiny waist and effortlessly set her on his desk, just how little she weighed reminded him of how small and delicate the minibot really was "I want you to behave for Blurr, dear one, and don't be difficult with Ratchet." he said, running his finger down her noseplate, the sensation making her giggle cutely before he took hold of her chin carefully "I'll be back as soon as I can, stay with someone back at base at all times, and don't go wandering off."
With a caress of down her helm, Shockwave stood and hurried out of the room, the minibot's optics following after him just as her feet wished to. Instead she looked to Blurr, he smiled almost shyly at her "I guess we should get you back to your base then." he said, walking around the desk he offered her a hand "Why don't we get going?" Sweetspark blinked down at his hand, then jumped to the floor, she looked at him warily before cautiously clasping two of his fingers. He didn't pick her up as she expected him to, is wasn't that she didn't enjoy walking-she loved being free to use her own two legs whenever she pleased-but ever since Shockwave had found her, she'd been passed from one set of arms to the next and simply thought that was the way it was done.
But the blue mech simply gave her the gentlest of tugs and let her walk beside him. 'He's not like the others' she thought 'Something is different about him, its nice-whatever it is.' she smiled slightly as she matched his slow pace and waved shyly to Cliffjumper as they passed. The red mech waved back with a friendly smile that looked so out of place on his faceplate Sweetspark giggled, causing him to flash her a grin.
Blurr smirked down at the little minibot as she giggled like mad, he had alwalys heard from femmes that true minibots were said to be the most attractive to the opposite gender-that many a femme had swooned at the meer sight of a minibot mech. He hadn't seen what the big fuss was about, not understand how something that was simply small was cute. Or how one could think that something 'cute' was also attractive in a more serious term, to him an adorable cybercat wasn't the same thing as an adorable femme-why should minibots be any different?
Now he was begining to believe their crazy claims. Sweetspark was indeed pleasant to the optics, though her frame was small she didn't resemble a first-framer who would be around her height, she truly looked like any usual femme, only smaller. But looks weren't enough to make someone attractive in his opinion. He liked her personality, shy but kind, and he could sense a secret playful, clever, and passionate femme buried under the years of abuse. He believed she would have been an innocent flirt, playful but never misleading, and he could actually see it in the way she'd acted just moments ago with Cliffjumper-a sensual smile and fluttering opticlids, then rewarding a response with a feminine giggle or a blush.
The way back to the base was quiet, but not unpleasant, Sweetspark glanced about nervously from time to time and pressed against the side of Blurr's leg if they passed someone. As yet another pair of mechs stopped and stared while they entered the base Sweetspark held tight to the speedster's hand "They keep staring," she stated softly "And they look at me funny, like their starving."
'She doesn't understand,' he thought as he looked over his shoulder to the mechs, they were leaning against the wall across from the base entrance, smirking and grinning as they beckoned to the minibot like randy dogs 'But fortunately, or unfortunately-I can't make up my mind which-I do, and I'm not going to let this go on." With a scowl he turned to the mechs with a fierce glare and shifted his arm to reveal the red wings on his insignia-the mark of an Elite Guard soldier. They stared at the blue mech for a short moment, then glanced at each other questioningly 'Probably debating on whether or not they could take me on together because of my size,' he thought, ready for a fight if one came to a boil, but then one of the mechs suddenly gazed at him with wide optics and frantically whispered to the other, they both looked at him before quickly making their escape and Blurr gave a satisfying smirk 'Looks like they know me, good, then maybe they'll know to stay away from Sweetspark from now on.'
Little did he know, but the tiny femme had watched the whole silent exchange in confusion, and when she saw the smirk on the blue mech's faceplate, a slight understanding dawned on her. 'He threatened them for staring,' she thought in awe 'He protected me.' With a smile, she continued to hold onto his fingers as he lead her to the medbay 'Maybe," she thought, gazing up at the blue mech with a feeling of warmth in her Spark 'Maybe he really is different. He does seem special, and he was right, I have nothing to fear from him. I think, possibly, I've found a friend in this Blurr.'
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
Monarus tapped her foot as she waited, fidgeting as she chewed her lip. She couldn't help but be worried, her friends were in danger and they needed her help, but she couldn't do anything on her own. The sound of running footsteps made her stop and turn, Shockwave rounded the corner "I came as quickly as I could," he said "Now I need you to tell me everything you can, the more I know the better chance we have at finding them." She quickly explained her conversation with Jetfire, new tears forming in her optics as she spoke of how scared he'd sounded, how much pain he was in. Shockwave wiped them away with the back of his hand "Monarus, we'll find them, I promise." he said, his hand suddenly rested over her audio "Now then, I have a way of tracking Jetfire's transmission signal, but in order to do that I'll have to hack into your comm. link system and trace the frequence."
She paused, hacking was an invasion of one's inner workings, not something anyone wanted to happen to them. But her Twins needed her. The femme nodded "Alright, do what you have to." she said, she opened her audio, exposing the inner wires, Shockwave opened the plating on his forearm and pulled a connention cable from it's hiding place. He tilted her head slightly to the side and carefully inserted the cable into the femme's audio. The number of signals that came through swamped his processor all at once, focusing on Jetfire's unique signature he searched for Monarus's most recent comm. link transmission with that signal and locked onto the position from once it came. He slowly disconnected from her audio and eased it closed, he realized her optics had been closed the whole time and gently touched her shoulder. She peeked her multi-colored optics opened, her hand brushing over her audio "Is that it?" she asked cautiously "Did you pinpoint his location?"
The mech nodded "Yes, he's in a detention cell on the East wing of the Elite Guard HQ." he said.
Monarus brushed past him "Then let's go!"
He gently caught hold of her arm "Not so fast, my dear." he said, his arm slid around her waist and pulled her flush against him "I have a fast way to get there." He suddenly swung the femme up into his arms, she let out a startled yelp and threw her arms around his neck as he held her bridal style, he chuckled softly as she looked down at the ground in confusion "Hold on tight now." he warned.
She frowned "Hold on for wha-AHH!"
Activating his thrusters, Shockwave shot upwards as the femme clung to him " I thought you weren't afraid of heights." he stated.
"On a normal day? No." she replied, her faceplate buried in his neck "But I don't have my wings, remember? And I'm not built to crash-land. Its never the heights I'm scared of-its the falling!"
"Then you have nothing fear," he said "I shan't let you go."
"Tell that to my arms!"
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
It wasn't long before they located Jetfire's cell, Shockwave de-activated the lock and opened the door. The youngling lay curled up on the floor, tears flowing down his faceplate as he clutched at his Spark, he looked up with agony flickering in the depths of his yellow optics "Lady Monarus!" he cried.
The femme couldn't resist the urge to run to him "Jetfire," she exclaimed softly as she knelt beside him and craddled his head "Oh, Jetfire, what has he done?" Tears of her own began to flow as she hugged him tightly, the mechling holding on as if dear life depended on how strongly he could hold on to the femme. Monarus turned to Shockwave "Can you carry him?" she asked "I don't think he can walk, he's under too much stress." With a nod, Shockwave carefully gathered the mechling in his arms, Jetfire winced and groaned through clenched dentas.
The older mech lifted the orange mech's chin "Jetfire, I know it hurts youngling," he said soothingly "But I need you to lead us to Jetstorm. Look for him with your bond, and tell me if you can sense where he might be."
Jetfire nodded, he let his head fall back with his optics closed, and his frame went limp in Shockwave's hold. He let the pain surge through him, putting up no resistance as he searched for his other half, the pain was like a darkness in their bond and he was reaching for the speck of light shining through. When he grasped hold of their bond he felt nothing, no returning emotions or thoughts, just endless pain and suffering, but he knew where it was coming from. His optics opened slowly, resisting the urge to simply slip under the suffocating emptiness he felt without his brother, Monarus was leaning over him with worry in her multi-colored optics as she waited nervously for him to speak "Brother is being in West wing." he said "He is not talking to me, I is not feeling anything but the hurting."
Shockwave rested a hand on his helm "You've done well, Jetfire," he said "Let's go find your brother."
The closer they ran towards the West wing the stronger Jetfire could feel his twin, he still wasn't speaking, but the throbbing in his Spark lessened. Jetfire suddenly raised a shaking hand and pointed to a door "That one!" he exclaimed "Brother is being in there!"
Monarus quickly typed in her all access passcode, the screen suddenly flared red with a loud buzz. She slammed her fist down on the keypad "That slagger!" she cursed before swinging around to Shockwave "Sentinel's overridden the code system, we're locked out, and now only he can open the door!"
Shockwave glarde at the door, he shifted the youngling into the crook of one arm, his cannon slid out from under his plating "If that door won't open with codes..." he began, then he swung his cannon up, and fired, hot plasma shot out and blasted the lock clean off the door "Then we'll just knock a little harder."
Monarus rushed forward, ignoring the melting metal, she dug her fingers into the seam of the door and forced it open.
Her body froze at what she saw within.
The floor, the walls, and even the ceiling. They were splattered with energon. And there, hanging from a chain in the center of the room, was Jetstorm.
A sob suddenly escaped the femme without warning "Jetstorm!", she ran to the mechling with tears flowing down her faceplate. She released the cuffs on his bleeding wrists, catching his limp frame in her arms as he collapsed without a sound. Placing a hand on his chestplate Monarus felt a warmth under her fingers along with a gentle hum, he was online, just barely. His armour was shredded like paper, deep cuts and punchers all over his frame still bled heavily and quickly coated the femme's own blue armour. She could hear Jetfire sob quietly, wanting his brother, feeling as well as seeing his pain like his own.
She turned to the Shockwave "If you take him I'll run to the medbay ahead of you." she suggested. He nodded and quickly took the unconscious seeker from the femme. Monarus easily outran him to the nearest medbay, her long, slender legs sent her flying down the halls faster than her wings ever could hope to. The moment she burst into the medbay her commander's daughter side took control of her actions, she yelled orders and made demands that were met nearly instantly. No one dared argue with the angry femme, fearing her wrath more than Shockwave had seen Decepticons cower before a furious Megatron.
A medic took Jetstorm from Shockwave's hold, he almost reluctantly released the beaten youngling, and then another took Jetfire from his care as well. The orange mechling was quickly layed on a medical berth, an energon drip was attatched to his arm and the nurse plunged a needle loaded with coolant into his neck. He tensed before suddenly dropping off into recharge.
Jetstorm was taken into another room, Monarus followed after the medics, talking intensely with one. Shockwave stood waiting for several minutes, listening quietly to the beep of Jetfire's Spark monitor, then the double doors opened and Monarus slowly walked out. Her frame coated in the blue seeker's energon trembled slightly, her rainbow optics held unshed tears as she bit her lip. Knowing what was coming, Shockwave silently held his arms open. Monarus ran into his embrace, tackling him with all her sorrow-filled strength and threw her arms around his neck.
She cried against him, holding on to keep herself together even as she was falling apart while he held her, she slowly sank to the floor and he along with her. Monarus suddenly beat her fist on his chestplate in helpless frustration "Curse him, may he burn in the deepest depths of the Pit for this!" she cried angrily, her tears coming faster with each hit "They don't know if he's going to make it! I can't lose them-I just can't!"
Knowing his words wouldn't do a thing to soothe her, Shockwave stroked her helm and allowed her to take out her fury on his chassis. She was in the deepest pain, he knew she loved those mechlings like the brother she'd lost. They cared for each other, supporting one another, and he was certain that if they went offline, Monarus wouldn't survive.
"He did this," she whispered "Sentinel nearly killed him."
"Monarus-"
"He's always doing this, taking away bots I care about." she continued as if no one else was even there "He pushes the away-even going as far as threatening them. But he was going to kill the Twins, just to keep me dependent on him,...so no one would know."
"Know what?" he had no idea what she was getting at, believing the grief might be talking.
"This isn't the first time," she rambled on "He's done this before, but he went further last time."
"Last time?" he asked, Shockwave was beginning to get a sick feeling in his tank "Who did he-"
"He killed him," she snarled through the tears "I won't keep his secret any longer, I shouldn't have let him convince me to keep it to begin with."
"Monarus, what are you saying?" he asked "Who did Sentinel kill?"
Tears from her optics dripped onto his chestplate "We were playing, in the park on the swings, then the alarm started blaring and he snatched me off. We were running to a safehouse." she whispered "When we turned the corner Sentinel came out of nowhere-he was headed in the other way. He knocked me aside with his shield and..." she took a shuddered cycle "His lance...it just..."
Shockwave grasped her shoulders "I know it hurts, Monarus, But you must tell me." he said in a soft but firm voice "What happened? 'He' who?"
"He ran him through with his lance, thinking he was a Decepticon." she sobbed "It was the last time I saw him, and then Sentinel took him away!" Her head fell back with a helpless sob of grief "He stayed with me in the medbay just to beg me not to tell, I was scared-I didn't want to go offline! I thought he was the only one I could turn to, and he had been until he...then he changed."
Shockwave pulled her tightly against him "Who did he kill, Monarus?" he asked "You need to tell me-I swear he won't hurt you again, on my very Spark I promise."
"Its not me who'll need protecting, because I'm going to kill him." she cried "He'll pay for what he did!"
"What did he do?" She pulled away from him slightly, her leaking optics staring up at him as she spoke:
"He killed my brother," she whispered "Sentinel killed Protocast!"
