Old Friends, New Problems
Chapter 9
#Laurentian Abyss base - Shockwave's Lab#%Rem's POV%
Rem couldn't believe it.
They had finally done it.
They had finally completed the synthetic energon formula!
"We'll never have to worry about running out of fuel!" she said, looking up at Shockwave. "Especially with the new sparklings on the way." The purple cyclopes just nodded and continued tinkering with the replicator. The machine still had a few kinks to work out before it could be put to work, but it wasn't anything Shockwave couldn't handle. Turning back to her work, Rem peered into her microscope when Shockwave suddenly spoke:
"What is bothering you, Rem?"
Rem froze, then sighed and leaned back in her chair. "That obvious, huh?"
"I am your creator, Rem, it is only logical that I would notice the slightest changes in your demeanor."
Rem closed her optics, then slowly removed the modified sunglasses she always wore and held them in her servos. When she finally spoke, her voice was torn, and sounded tired. "The glitch that killed Radar, I saw his kid today and I..."
"...Was reminded of that night." finished Shockwave, taking a step forward.
Rem just nodded, abandoning her glasses in her lap in order to finger the single dark green charm nearest to her winged insignia.
"It's been well over four hundred years since Radar died, but my spark still aches."
"That is a logical feeling to have when you lose someone you care about." Shockwave said.
Rem released the charm and slipped her glasses back on over her eyes, then stood up. "I'm going out for a bit, comm. me if anything new happens," she said, opening a ground bridge.
#Somewhere#%Strongarm's POV%
It was supposed to be a normal patrol. Make a few rounds on the outside of the city, then head back before evening energon. But no, those M.E.C.H. guys had to show up and ruin her whole evening! It started with a high speed chase - with her being the one chased - and ended at the docks with her nearly getting zapped. And she would've if Rem hadn't decided show up.
The techno-organic made quick work of the trucks with a well-placed EMP bomb - it sent the cars rolling sideways into a large stack of wooded crates and dried-docked boats. The residual static from the bomb made Strongarm's nerve net tingle at Rem, Strongarm's spark skipped a beat when she saw that the former Decepticon had pulled out another bomb and was about to attach it to one of the turned over vehicles.
"Stop!" she cried, launching herself forward. She couldn't let Rem kill them. Even though the human's in the cars probably wouldn't hesitate to kill her, they were still human. And she had sworn to protect all humans.
Rem turned and looked at her with an undefinable look. "Why should I?" Rem said, then pressed the bomb to the truck's door, and ran.
Strongarm's optics widened. "No!" she shouted. Running to the truck, Strongarm ripped the bomb off the door, and chucked it out over the ocean. The bomb landed with a slash and sank beneath the ocean; it wasn't a minute or two later before a large geyser of water showed up.
"You shouldn't have done that, Strongarm."
Strongarm narrowed her optics, whipped around and glared over at Rem. "Why are you so determined to kill them!?" she shouted, waving at the trucks. "They're human just like you!"
That must've been the wrong thing to say because the next thing Strongarm knows, she's sent backwards by a blow to the chassis, crashing into the side of a dry-docked boat. Looking down at her chassis, Strongarm was surprise to see a scorch mark marring it in the center.
"And that's only a small fraction of what I can do, cadet. Besides, I gave your Primus-forsaken sire worse, so you should consider yourself lucky."
Strongarm's helm shot up at the mention of her sire. Then she narrowed her optics in anger at the insult to the said mech.
"You know nothing about my sire!" she growled.
"I know more than you will ever know about Wheeljack," Rem said flatly.
Rem's face betrayed nothing, but if the visible static pulsing slightly around in her EM field was anything to go by, Strongarm would say that Rem really hated her sire. But why? What had he done to get such hate from Rem?
"Have you ever lost someone important to you, cadet? Anyone you loved?"
She looked at Rem, visibly startled at how much pain she could hear in the other's voice. Regaining her posture, Strongarm shook her helm, and said, "No, I haven't."
Rem didn't reply, just took something out from underneath her garments - the blue and white cadet quickly realized it was a necklace of some sort. Strongarm guessed it was from Rem's time as a Decepticon when she saw the winged Decepti-brand, but she couldn't understand what the little pieces of metal around it were all about. They had to be something important for Rem to be holding the way she was.
Suddenly, a rapid set of pings went off. Strongarm quickly identified them as comm. pings, and watched as Rem pressed her digits against the side of her visor.
"Yes, Shockwave?"
#Docks#%Rem's POV%
"Yes, Shockwave?"
"Ratchet has requested that you return to base."
Rem quirked a brow, and turned her back on Strongarm. "Why didn't he comm. me himself, or have Megatron do it?" she asked, pacing a head a few steps before stopping.
"Ratchet has gone into labor, and Megatr-"
"HE WHAT?!" she shouted, cutting the scientist off. "WHEN?!"
"Just a short while ago," Shockwave replied.
"Bridge me back!"
"Affirmative. Ground bridge opening."
There was a click, and the line went dead. Rem waited for the ground bridge - expecting it to appear right in front of her. What she wasn't expecting was for it to open behind her. Next thing Rem knew, a cry of surprise was being cut off, and something passed through the ground bridge. Rem whirled around, and darted through. Looking around, Rem finally found what she was looking for at the entrance to the Bridge Deck, and chuckled.
Strongarm was being held upside down by Predaking, with a look of complete terror on her face plates as she stared up at the Predacon.
"Predaking, put her down, she isn't a threat," then added. "Besides, it looks like Bloomburst is about to cry from all the growling you're doing."
That certainly got him to release Strongarm. The large, winged mech immediately dropped the rookie cop in favor of comforting his whimpering daughter. Strongarm landed face-first, but recovered quickly. She back away from the Predacon, blue optics as wide as Cybertron's biggest moon. It was rather amusing.
Shaking her head, Rem clasped her servos behind her back, and strode forward.
"Welcome, to the Nemesis II."
Sorry for not updating in a while. Been busy with school and work. I'll try to update as often as I can.
