Chapter 8

Guardianship

Orb Weaver didn't really know what to expect when she reached the Nemesis…

Of course what she definitely wasn't expecting was the first image that waited to greet Songbird and Predaking as they returned from their mission. It was the sight of Soundwave waiting for the two Predacons on the flight deck with both Freefall and Moonrise sitting quietly on his shoulders. What was immediately surprising was the fact that Freefall didn't seem to be overly irritated like she originally had been… she seemed to be in a pretty good mood all things considered. Moonrise was also completely calm; of course she was asleep on Soundwave's shoulder and had snuggled up closely against his neck cables. Songbird inwardly chuckled, happy to see that her intuition about the silent mech being good with children had been accurate.

"Thank you Soundwave for watching my sparklings for me. I hope they weren't any trouble." Naturally Soundwave didn't respond with anything more than a quick nod; he reached up and gently plucked Freefall from his shoulder and placed her on Songbirds back. He went to do the same with Moonrise but he seemed more apprehensive to wake the sleeping child.

"She seems so comfortable I don't really want to disturb her." Songbird commented as she took notice of this. "Would you mind if she stayed where she was until she wakes up?" Again another quick nod indicated that this was perfectly fine with the communications officer, but his attention was drawn away from Songbird and her children as it refocused on Orb Weaver who was trying very hard to remain hidden by Predaking, even to the point of pathetically trying to cling to the massive mechs back. Which was earning her quite a few growls from the dragonformer who was trying to remove the squirming femme without injuring her. Eventually he managed to get a proper grip on her and he abruptly pulled her off of his back and held her out at arm's length, allowing Soundwave to get a good look at her. The Decepticon Third in Command stared at this newcomer for only a few moments before motioning for both Predacons to follow him back to the ships bridge. Which they both proceeded to do, although Songbird's attention was more focused on the still frantic techno-organic teenager… she was rather worried about the young one but before she could say anything to reassure Weaver they reached the Nemesis's bridge and Predaking nonchalantly dropped her right in front of Lord Megatron himself.

The silver warlord stared down at the small femme that had just been deposited in front of him and for one moment he thought his optics were deceiving him but he quickly realized that was not the case when Weaver managed to get to her pedes and visibly cowered under his gaze. "Who are you?" He demanded, barely restraining the urge to reduce the femme to a greasy smudge on the Nemesis's floor.

"O-Orb Weaver… Sir." She replied meekly, trying her hardest not to let her fear show although without much success.

"Orb Weaver? Can't say I've heard of you before. Although you are not the first techno-organic that I have come across, the first was a femme by the name of Airachnid." Megatron paused as he watched realization dawn behind Weaver's optics. "Does this name mean something to you?"

"Yes…" Weaver's voice suddenly went very low as an apparent wave of sorrow almost visibly washed over her small frame. "Airachnid is the name of my carrier; my… mother."

Megatron's eyes narrowed at this, although to be honest he was expecting it. Techno-organic's with direct links to the Insecticon breed such as Airachnid and Orb Weaver were very rare. So rare that meeting more than one that were not directly related was nearly impossible. Although the concept of Airachnid being the carrier to any living thing was a bit hard to swallow. "How unfortunate."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Weaver muttered as she knew that her mother had a terrible reputation that was well-deserved. She had not met a lot of other Cybertronians over the course of her life but what few she had run across had not taken well to her at all. Some had mistaken her for her mother and immediately tried to kill her just as the blue Autobot femme from earlier had done. Others would simply shun her merely for being related to Airachnid. Due to past history, Orb Weaver did not expect this little meeting to go over well. "You're going to shoot me aren't you?"

"Depends…" He rumbled, his imposing form looming over Weaver. But saying this immediately made Songbird tense up, as she suddenly took an immense disliking to where this conversation was going. "It depends whether or not you can be of any use to the Decepticons. Do you have any skills that you can offer other than controlling our resident Insecticons?"

"Um… I, uh can't even do that." Orb Weaver replied nervously as she began to rub the back of her helm. "I mean, I will be able to eventually. But that's something I can't do until I am fully mature. As for useful skills… um… would you be needing someone who specializes in genetics? Well, sort of specializes… I-I learned mostly through trial and error... erm… a lot of error." The look she received from Megatron was of growing irritation as he slowly started walking towards her and instinctively Weaver began walking backwards while frantically trying to think of something that would appease the silver titan. "Um, I have some basic medical skills? Again only when I've taught myself…" It was then that she bumped into someone and no sooner had she turned around to look…

Did she squeak and barely manage to duck out of the way of a whirring saw blade…

Knockout was behind her and had apparently been present on the bridge the entire time; he also had just tried to take Orb Weavers head off! And he clearly wasn't content with just trying once! In only a few seconds he was bearing down on the young techno-organic, grabbing her by one of her arms and pulling her close enough so that he could start tearing her apart! There was a look of pure and utter hatred burning so clearly in his optics that he might as well have been possessed by the very spirit of Unicron himself. But before the raging medic could inflict any serious injury on Weaver there was an audio-splitting roar and in an instant Songbird had him pinned underneath her sharp claws.

"Try that again and I rip you limb from limb!" She snarled warningly in his face but other than that she did not hurt him. Songbird then turned her attention back to Weaver who had fallen on her injured side and a look of pure agony was written clearly on her face. Releasing her grip on Knockout, Song walked over and helped the young femme up.

"Regrettably Orb Weaver," Megatron began to speak whilst quietly charging up his arm cannon in order to blow the useless creature to the Pit. "If that is all you have to offer it would seem that we are not in the need of your services and as such-"

"She will stay with me." Songbird interrupted giving Megatron a frigid glare. "Even though she hasn't stated anything that she believes to be of use to you, it doesn't mean that she has nothing to offer. But until that time I will watch over her." The warlord went completely silent as he locked optics with the gryphonformer who proceeded to stare right back at him, clearly she was not going to budge on the matter. Even though the thought of the gryphon Predacon keeping the spawn of Airachnid on board his warship made his tanks churn, in the long run it would only be a temporary setback… just like the Predacons themselves. So he begrudgingly decided to allow Orb Weaver to live… for now.

"Very well Songbird. She will be in your care from this moment on." He said with as much false good intent as he could muster. "Knockout see to her injur-"

"Let her treat herself!" The red medic snapped wrathfully, causing Orb Weaver to visibly flinch. While she was used to people hating her, the depth of the rage in Knockout's voice was far deeper than she had ever heard in a mech before. What was worse was that she had no idea why he was so angry; although she did have one guess… and unsurprisingly it involved her mother.

"Fine! If you won't heal her then I will!" Songbird growled angrily before reaching over in gently placing one of her massive claws on Orb Weavers injured shoulder.

What happened next no one would have believed had they not seen it…

A soft blue light suddenly bloomed over Songbirds Predacon symbol in this light slowly traveled across her shoulder, down her forelimb and then gently washed over Weaver's body. The young femme was clearly confused until she felt a bizarre sensation in her wounds. The pain began to leave as this light cascaded over them and slowly began to heal them. The same light also traveled up her back to where three of her extra legs had been blown off and it began to reconstruct them. The whole process lasted maybe fifty seconds at maximum, but when the strange light faded Orb Weaver's injuries were fully healed. And yet something remained different… Songbirds Predacon mark had changed somewhat, it now had an upside down crescent moon directly above it and two emblems on either side that somewhat resembled wings. This bizarre addition to her normal Predacon symbol only lingered for several moments after the light finished before it faded away as well.

"There." She said removing her claws from Weaver and returning her attention to the now stunned silent group of mechs that were watching her. "So I take it that in the future if your healer won't do his job then I will have to take care of things?"

"How did you do that?!" Megatron immediately demanding an explanation. Seriously, how many more fragging surprises did this blasted femme Predacon have in store for him?! He was definitely going to have a word with Shockwave about this… But Songbird just looked surprised and tilted her head to one side slightly in confusion.

"What? I healed her injuries." Song paused for a moment as something suddenly occurred to her. "I have always been able to do this and I was under the impression that there were others who had this ability. Are you saying that there aren't any?"

"No, as far as I know no one else can do this." Predaking answered and judging by the looks she was getting from all the other onlookers, none of them knew anyone else capable of such a feat either.

"Huh…" Songbird paused before muttering under her breath. "I must ask Yue about this in the future." She believed that no one had heard her and for the most part no one did… but Predaking heard her words and made a note to ask her just what it was that she meant by that at a later time.

"As interesting as this new revelation is…" Megatron interrupted deciding to worry about this new development at a later time, after he received an explanation from the scientist who created this abomination. "I nearly forgot to mention something;" and with that he turned his crimson optics back to Orb Weaver. "During your stay on board this ship, you are strictly forbidden from entering the main vault. Disobey this order and I will personally throw you into the incinerator! Am I clear?!" This command was nothing short of important in Megatron's opinion.

Seeing is how he didn't want the brat to discover that her mother was currently still locked in a stasis pod…

"As an energon crystal." Weaver muttered quickly nodding her head and staying as close as she possibly could to Songbird. Megatron then turned around and waved his hand indicating that they were dismissed and could leave. Which Songbird promptly did although she was careful to keep Weaver next to her as they walked past Knockout glared at them once they were out of sight he also left the bridge, undoubtedly returning to the med bay. This left only Megatron, Soundwave and Predaking on the bridge…

"The femme is really starting to get on my nerves." Megatron grumbled to Soundwave having momentarily forgotten about the dragonformer's presence, but he was swiftly reminded of it as Predaking suddenly looked at him in confusion.

"With all due respect to my Lord," Predaking quickly injected, understanding that Songbird had done something to irritate him. "Song makes a good point, perhaps there is some sort of skill Weaver may yet be able to offer the Decepticons. The poor child seem scared, perhaps we should try conversing with her at another point in time after she has calmed down."

"That may very well be… but deviating slightly from the subject, am I to take it that you and Songbird are now on better terms?" Megatron inquired; loathing the contented smile that began to appear on Predaking's features.

"We may have had a rough start but I believe that we are making progress." The dragon practically purred. "Please be patient with her Lord Megatron. I assure you that things are only going to improve."

"Yep, yep!" The voice of Moonrise captured everyone's attention as it was revealed that the young child had woken up at some point during the earlier conversation but due to everything that had taken place, no one had noticed.

"How long have you been awake?" Megatron growled at the child who as usual took no notice of his dark tone.

"Awhile." Moony answered simply before she looked over at Predaking. "Did my advice help?"

"It did and I thank you for it; but you should run along now little one. Go be with your mother and sister." Predaking said softly to the human girl. Moonrise just nodded before oddly emitting a rather high-pitched whistle and literally jumping off of Soundwave's shoulder…

Immediately Laserbeak detached from Soundwave without his consent and let Moonrise land on her back before floating up to look Megatron in the optic…

"Just a suggestion, but maybe you'd be less cranky it you took a nap once in a while?" The fact that she said it so innocently and was completely oblivious to the dangerous aura that he was putting off made Megatron's optic twitch. Thankfully before there was any bloodshed, Laserbeak took the opportunity to whiz off… mostly to prevent aforementioned bloodshed. Predaking also took this opportunity to leave the Nemesis's bridge… If only for the reason that he didn't want to seem to be disrespectful to Lord Megatron, since he wasn't sure how long he could hold in laughing at that little exchange… Megatron was quiet for a few minutes before he vented deeply and stormed off… This was one of those times he needed high-grade in order to clear his processor of the astoundingly bad headache he now had.

And only when everyone had left the bridge and no one was around to witness it…

Soundwave actually chuckled…


Orb Weaver quietly followed Songbird back to her room, her mind still reeling from everything that had just happened. This was a first for her and she slowly turned her attention to the massive creature that was walking beside her. "Thank you... for standing up for me back there. No one's ever done that for me."

"It was the right thing to do." Song stated simply but she turned to look at the small femme. "Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but aren't you a bit young to be traveling by yourself?"

"Not really, I've been on my own for a long time now. I was really young when… well, when I was left behind." Weaver explained calmly, although Song could tell that this topic apparently hurt like an open and septic wound.

"What do you mean by you were left behind?" Freefall questioned finally drawing attention to herself. Orb Weaver jumped having not noticed the small girl's presence on the gryphon's back, but after getting over her initial shock her optics suddenly lit up as she got closer and actually jumped up and clung to Songbird side in order to get a better look at Freefall.

"Awww! She's so cute!" Weaver squeaked happily. It kind of went without saying that Orb Weaver had a fascination with all kinds of creatures big, small, dangerous, whatever and having never actually seen a human before this was quite a treat for her. Of course Freefall frowned at her words…

"What is with people calling me cute?! I'm not cute!" She hissed although her voice lacked its usual snip. Songbird chuckled as she watched the two interact.

"I hate to break it to you sweetspark… but you are." Songbird laughed as she watched the two interact.

"Mom…" Freefall whined a little when her own mother started referring to her as cute; Weaver also laughed a little bit but quickly hopped off of Songbird and resumed walking next to her only this time she was in her more spiderlike form, undoubtedly to test her newly regenerated limbs.

"I'm sorry, I promise I won't call you cute again." Although her expression fell a little bit as she returned to answering the question Freefall had asked. "A long time ago my mother left me behind on a planet she had traveled to in order to hunt. I'm not sure if she did it deliberately, but I'm pretty sure that she did. You see, I think she was disappointed in me for not being more like her. Since in case it's not obvious I'm a little... what's the best word to describe it… um… accident prone?" She said with a small shrug.

"I don't know if I would say that…" Songbird commented. "What about your father?"

"You mean my Sire? He was out of the picture way before I came around… I think I'm the result of a one night stand gone wrong."

"What's a one night stand?" Moonrise questioned just as she and Laserbeak managed to catch up with everyone else. Since she was not eager to explain that to her daughter at this point Songbird saw the perfect opportunity to change the subject.

"Moonrise who is your new friend?" She asked quickly and thankfully it did the trick of distracting the five year old from the other subject.

"Her name is Laserbeak. She's Mr. Soundwaves… I figured that we could to play together." At these words the small aerial drone made several loud chirping sounds and Moonrise giggled. "She says that she hasn't had anyone to play with in a very long time, not since her big brothers got sick."

"Hold on one second Moony… you actually understood her?" Freefall asked utterly stunned since she could not understand one anything Laserbeak had just errr… said?

"Yeah… wait you can't?"

"I'm with your sister on this one sweetspark. I couldn't make out a word she said either." Songbird said with confusion but was quick to shake it off and returned to a more immediate subject. "Anyway… Orb Weaver, these are my daughters. You've already met Freefall and this is Moonrise."

"Hello!" Weaver chirped as she looked at both of the girls. "I'm surprised that you would take in humans. But I'm hardly one to talk, I had about twenty different pets on my ship before it crashed."

"We're not humans, we're gryphon's!" Moonrise promptly corrected. Weaver just blinked in surprise and looked at Freefall who quietly mouthed 'Just go with it…' which Weaver did.

"And here we are," Songbird said as she opened the door to her berthroom and went inside along with Freefall and Orb Weaver; Moonrise however lingered outside the doorway while still sitting on Laserbeak.

"Mama we're going to go play for a while. Is that okay? Pleeeaase?" She pleaded and judging by the high-pitched chirping sounds coming from Laserbeak she was asking the exact same thing.

"Alright, just stay out of trouble you two."

"And air vents. Be sure to stay out of air vents." Orb Weaver quickly added. "And if you can avoid explosions that would be good to. Explosions really don't go over well when you're on an airborne ship."

Everyone just stared at Weaver after she said this…

"Just speaking from experience…" The techno-organic femme added with a nervous laugh. "Hehehe, shut your big mouth Weaver." And once again she seemed completely oblivious to the fact that she spoke that last bit out loud.

"Um… yes please avoid air vents and explosions as well. Those are some rather good points." Songbird muttered suddenly feeling a little less confident about letting her daughter go play unsupervised on the Nemesis. But no sooner had the words left Songs mouth did the two go zipping off down the hallway. Shaking her head and returning her attention to her new charge, Songbird noted that Weaver was currently inspecting one of the corners of the room.

"Do you mind if I sleep here?" She asked.

"No sweetspark you don't have to sleep on the floor-" Songbird began but was interrupted when Orb Weaver extended her hands and began to produce golden spider webbing and within a few moments she had finished crafting what appeared to be a hammock. "Well… isn't that an interesting trick." Song commented, a little bit shocked the sudden display. "Is it comfortable?"

"It's like sleeping on a warm cloud… if that was physically possible." Weaver explained as she climbed into her newly made bed. "Sorry but I'm a little worn…ou… Zzzzz…" And just like that she passed out.

Awkward silence…

"Did she really just-" Freefall started to ask.

"Yep… but let's not forget that she's been through a lot today. It's only natural that she'd be exhausted." Songbird said and she went over to one of the nearby shelves and picked up a warm blanket in her beak and gently draped it over the now sleeping form before turning and climbing up onto her own berth. "In fact I'm rather tired as well. Using that healing ability always wears me out..."

"Then you should get some sleep. I'll watch for Moony and her new… weird, friend." Freefall said as she slid off of Songbird's back and sat down in front of her.

"It's nice to see her having some fun." Song said as she laid her head down on her claws. "Maybe you should try to have some yourself while we are here."

Freefall sighed and scratched at the bindings which covered the injury on her arm. "Is not that easy mom… and you know why."

"Of course I do sweetspark. You hardened your heart in order to keep the world out, with the only exceptions being your sister and myself."

"You're the only ones that deserve to be in my heart. The rest of the world did nothing but hurt us." Freefall hissed angrily. Not angry at her mother, but more angry at everything else in general.

"You're referring to the death of your real mother." Songbird guessed, but Freefall just shook her head.

"No… I put that behind me a long time ago. But what I could never forget or forgive was how my bastard stepfather abused us and how I was too weak to stop it!" She clenched her fists as the memories brought back the long buried hate. A hatred so powerful that it burned like the black flames of hell.

"You weren't weak Freefall, you were only a child." Songbird explained softly as she moved her head off her claws and gently pulled her daughter close until her head rested directly over her spark. "You were a brave child who saved her baby sister's life. And you've grown into a strong and smart young woman… but I think it's time for you to stop being so strong and let others inside your heart."

"How do I know if I can trust someone? How do you know who to let in?" Freefall asked looking up into her mother's shining blue optics.

"At first you won't, but as you get to know them you'll learn who to trust and who not to trust. It's a lesson that as it turns out we are learning together." Song laughed slightly at this. "The Vehicons, Soundwave, Megatron, even Predaking… only time will tell who is trustworthy and who isn't. Maybe they all are, maybe none of them are… reading my tarot cards can't answer these questions, we need to find the answers for ourselves."

Silence fell between the two for quite some time, the only sound in the room was the gentle snores coming from where Orb Weaver was currently passed out. Freefall was deep in thought as she considered her mother's words before she seemed to make up her mind about something and nodded. "I guess it couldn't hurt to try… But I'm not going anywhere near the Cyclops… I think Megatron said his name is Shockwave? That guy creeps me out. But Soundwave, he seemed all right... and since I probably could murderer all the Vehicons in her sleep I'm not really worried about them. As for the dragon, Predaking… meh…"

"Only meh?" Song asked jokingly, although she was starting to feel even more exhausted as the minutes ticked by, but did her very best not to show it.

"Meh, until I know him better… and until that time I don't make any promises not to put another spear through his optic." Freefall said matter-of-factly. "Just…" The girl paused clearly this was something that she had thought a lot about. "Just promise me that you won't get hurt?"

"Me? Get hurt? Freefall there isn't a creature in this universe that could hurt me." Songbird proudly declared. "But if you want to help prevent someone from getting hurt-" There was a sudden loud yelp and a thud as Orb Weaver shifted a little too far to one side in her hammock and ended up tumbling out. The sound of a brief groan of pain was heard right before the words 'I'm okay…' this was followed by her getting back in her hammock with a somewhat nervous and extremely embarrassed chuckle. After this little show Songbird looked down at Freefall who simultaneously looked up at her.

"Do I really need to say anything else?" And with this they both laughed before settling down for some much needed rest.

And neither of them heard the screams of Cybertronian profanity from Starscream, who had just returned from a long flight only to have an energon water balloon dumped on him courtesy of Moonrise and Laserbeak…

Needless to say that the events from the episode 'Thirst' have never happened in this story and I'm really sorry I didn't point that out at an earlier time. ^^; Either way that's it for now, and as always please remember to Read and Review!