Soooo... here are my random comments for the update:
1) How 'bout them Rangers! Tha's right! We goin' to the World Series! Woot woot!
2) The party was awesome. We went bowling, and I failed at it.
3) See how nice I am? Not leavin' all y'all hanging on that cliff for all weekend. I even updated by midnight. Well, it's almost midnight here...
4) Yeah, so I was watching the commercials while waiting for the Rangers game to come back on, and I thought rather randomly, 'OMG! I should name one of my characters Mary Sue, just to see what my readers say!' Yeah, just random. What would all y'all say if I did that (cuz I doubt I will)?
5) Because this needs to be mentioned. Prime is not infatuated with Moonstrike right now. He feels guilty, as you will find in this chapter. He's not in love with her yet. It's just like if you found out your pet dog/cat was actually a human. You wouldn't be in love with it. Right now, she's just his pet... Wow, that sounds so weird. Plus he's still getting over his sparkmate dying. He needs some time, guys. :) The emotions and the relationship will come, I swear it.
Chapter 10
Guilt and Patience
"So let me get this right," Optimus began. He had arrived only a quarter breem ago, and already, his processor felt like it had been thrown underneath a cityformer's foot. His processor had actually glitched when he laid optics on Moonstrike's frame. It was true. His cybercat was actually a femme stuck in a cybercat's frame. Then once he was back online, Ratchet had began explaining.
Now, he was fighting not to glitch again. At the moment, he was leaning against one of Ratchet's counters. His optics were offline as he pinched his noseplates between his pointer finger and his thumb in frustration.
"You transferred this femme's spark into the spark chamber of a cybercat?" Prime questioned, wondering if that was even legal.
"Yes, Prime," Ratchet replied as he puttered around the clinic's medbay. Any klik, Prowl would be coming with Freedom.
'No, Moonstrike,' Prime mentally corrected himself. He had been having troubles separating the cat from the femme. Ratchet glanced over at him before moving past him to check on the offline body.
"It was either that or let her die. As it is, she still may die," Ratchet stated. The last part was mumbled, but Prime still heard it. His head shot up, and his optics zeroed in on Ratchet.
"What do you mean?" he demanded.
"Her spark is too strong for that body," the medic stated as he checked the body's vitals. His optics dimmed slightly, and his body went rigid. "Slaggin Decepticons!" Ratchet suddenly roared. Optimus jolted in surprise and deftly moved his helm backwards when a wrench went soaring past him. He looked over at Ratchet, optics wide. He was ignored, though, as Ratchet was far too absorbed in his rant about how 'Cons will always be 'Cons and will never change. He was hit with a strange sense of déjà vu. This rant was eerily similar to the one he had heard back when Sunstreaker was attacked by a Decepticon who had claimed to change sides.
"Prime," Ratchet snapped, dragging Optimus from his musing. The Prime looked at the medic and was shocked by how worried the ex-CMO looked. "I need you to wait in the lobby. This is more serious than we originally thought." Prime's optics brightened in worry. Before he could question Ratchet, though, Jolt walked into the bay and started ushering the larger mech out. Optimus frowned as he allowed the younger mech to lead him into the lobby.
"We'll keep you updated through your comm. link," Jolt promised him as he turned back toward the bay doors. Optimus nodded slowly as he slid into one of the metal seats, feeling his spark slow a little. First Aid had told him the exact thing when he had asked about Elita during her surgery. His optics shot to the lobby door when he heard it open, and his spark skipped a note in its rhythmic thrumming. Prowl rushed into the lobby and moved straight into the medbay. Prime only got a glance at the creature in his servos, but it was enough for him to ascertain what her condition was and how much pain she was most likely in.
And it made him want to purge.
The top of her helm was completely flat where she had made contact with a flat surface. Both of her cute audio receptors were gone, as was her front left leg. Both her hind legs were missing armor, and her front right leg was attached to her body by only three obstinate cables. Her tail was obviously broken, hanging from her frame loosely by a few cables and one strand of armor. The whole left side of her body was flat from some sort of impact as well. Prime dimmed his optics in guilt and pity. She must have been in so much pain, and all because he hadn't wanted to leave his meeting to go to his housing unit.
"They're moving her spark right now," a familiar voice stated. A bot sat down beside him, and Prime smiled faintly.
"It's been a long time, Prowl," Optimus stated, looking over at the black and white Enforcer. Prowl nodded at the Cybertronian leader.
"Yes. It's a pity that we had to meet under such circumstances," Prowl replied.
"So you were the first to meet her," Prime said slowly, leaning back into his seat. Prowl nodded sharply.
"She was being attacked by ex-Decepticons then, too. When I got her here, her spark case was collapsing. We were lucky that Sideswipe had brought the dead cybercat by not moments before," Prowl explained. Prime's optics turned to the Enforcer, filled with hesitant curiosity.
"Why did Sideswipe bring Ratchet a dead cybercat?" he asked slowly.
"Don't ask questions when you don't want to know the answers," Prowl replied simply. Optimus grinned at the response, remembering the many times he had received that answer when asking questions about Sideswipe.
"Prowl, why are you orange?"
"Prowl, why are your wings fashioned like a bat, and why do you have black antennae coming from your helm?"
"Prowl, why is Sideswipe glued to your wall?"
"Sir, don't ask questions when you don't want to know the answers."
Those were the times. Back when he felt like the people of his planet were working with him, rather than against him. Even if commanding an army had felt much like working in the Youth Centers, it was still nice knowing that the 'bots would defend at any given time. Now, he had to worry about the rising anger amongst the civilians.
::Spark transfer successful. Downloading memory files into original frame's processor.:: -Jolt-
Optimus smiled when he received the comm. from the soon-to-be medic. Prowl's optics brightened marginally, showing that he had received the comm. as well and was happy that the femme was alive. Prime couldn't deny that he was looking forward to talking to the femme. He had shared his housing unit with her for three solar cycles, and he had developed a sort of attachment to her endearingly sarcastic attitude, though it had baffled him for the first few joors.
::Download failed. Reattempting.:: -Jolt-
Prime's smile dropped. He looked over at Prowl, who looked equally troubled. His gaze slowly migrated to the medbay's doors, as his processor worked. Which memories would she lose? Her memories of her family, or her memories of… him? He resisted the urge to pace, knowing it would get him nowhere and tried to delve into that deep patience that he was known for. He dealt with politicians every cycle, so surely he had the patience to wait for those doors to open.
But, Primus, it seemed to take so long. What were they doing in there? They already moved her spark. Surely, it would be okay for him to stand in the bay while they did a file transfer. He just wanted to see her, to make sure that her spark was actually thrumming, that his ignorance hadn't gotten her killed. His spark sang when he received Jolt's comm.
::Download successful.:: -Jolt-
::You may come in now.:: -Ratchet- He sounded tired. He had only been working for a breem and a half, and he sounded like he had been working for cycles. Then again, Prime could empathize. The last breems seemed like joors to him. Optimus rose to his feet and walked into the bay, Prowl following close behind him. Ratchet was leaning over the femme's helm, plugging in cables that would monitor her processor waves and inform them if she started to crash. There were six cables plugged into various ports on both of her arms, and seven or eight cables disappeared into her chassis, monitoring spark sound, spark beats, her cooling system, and other various systems. Jolt was off to the side, plugging the ends of those cables into screens and monitors. In all, it was something that Prime could easily liken to those trips to the bay back during the war.
"How is she?" Prime rumbled, his spark seizing at the sight of the defenseless femme. Ratchet sighed as he looked up at his leader.
"I'd like to say that she's fine, but I really don't know. Physically, she's perfectly stable, for now at least. When we first downloaded her memory files, her processor glitched then crashed. Her cooling systems are having trouble onlining and readjusting to the heat of her spark. Emotionally, I fear she will have quite a bit of trouble. I believe she fears this place and thinks we've been trying to harm her. She has spent the last four solar cycles in the frame of a cat, when I only planned for her to be in that frame from two lunar cycles at the most." Ratchet vented again, this time in frustration. "I am at a loss as to what I am to do."
"For now," Prime began as he set a hand on Ratchet's shoulder, "let her heal. Once she awakens, explain everything to her, then give her support. That is all we can do. I need to contact my colleagues and find out how the delegates took my abrupt exit. I doubt it will be anything good."
"Of course. I will alert you if she onlines," Ratchet promised. "I must warn you, though, her processor was heavily damaged as a cybercat when she received those injuries. She could have lost some of her processing power, and some memories could have been deleted during the file transfer."
"What do you mean by 'lost some of her processing power'? You mean, she will have a glitch?" Prowl broke in. After all, he had a glitch himself, and it wasn't something he wished on other 'bots.
"A glitch… She may have trouble forming words, she may have problems saving new memory files, or she might even lose processing power altogether." All mechs in the room froze at that. It was a worse-case scenario, but it was a terrifying thought, indeed. Prime's spark squeezed again. The femme lying on the berth before him may be forced to live her existence out as a drone with a spark. And it would be his fault.
"We won't know until she wakes up, though," Jolt interjected. "We'll just have to wait." Prime sighed.
He was beginning to hate waiting.
AlexisOptimus: Yeah, Megatron has a bit of a temper issue. He's so touchy! But with Optimus so busy, I decided to bug the little brother. Megatron has about as much time as Optimus has work. *eye roll* That's the perks of being offline. Lotsa time (:
Erin Primette: Neh. If I killed her, I wouldn't have a story. ;)
Luna Prime-Awesomeness: Okay. ;)
Gemava: Aw, thanks! Sadly, it will not be a love-at-first-sight deal with Prime and Moonstrike. Prime is still getting over Elita's death. He is literally missing half of his spark, so it'll take some time and TLC. :)
Jayna Prime: Yup. I love the drama. XD
Biocide: Thanks :) I'm glad you love it.
Vivian Hale: Yes, indeed. Thank you. =)
Jinxed just in time: Yeah. Optimus kind of slipped into his "Autobot leader" mode. He's seen so much and had to learn to act on a dime, so instead of focusing on the information, he let his battle computer take charge. Always the soldier.
Luna636: Yeah. Once again, Optimus's run of bad luck. -.- And he was so happy and chipper. When I looked over the chapter, I thought, 'I'm making Prime's day start out amazingly, and then I'm making it all go downhill. I'm so mean.' Yup. I'm hanging with Megs too much. I'm huddling under my heating blanket, so I think I'm gonna live. ;)
Noella50881: Many thanks for the compliments.
Katie Gibbs: I can't kill her. ;) Then my story ends. And thank you. (:
Anonymous person: Yeah, me and Megs have been hanging close. He's dead, I need a muse… well, you can guess the rest. I told him to lay off the torture, though. He keeps mumbling about fleshies and Autobots. *eyeroll* I'm glad you like Moonstrike. I'm trying really hard to keep her from being a Mary-Sue, and thanks for your compliments.
Animechick113: Yep. Drama is so much fun to write. XD
Bee-roxs98: Yes. My cliffie is evil. I felt kinda bad when I reread it. .
Amaim Seishin-Hime: Thanks, hun. And yeah, aim for Megs. The brute keeps reading over my shoulder. o
Hermonine: Thanks. And congrats! Happy birthday to you, too! XD
Shadowolf27: My reasoning exactly. Prime had to babysit – I mean, command – the Autobot army, so he was used to weird things happening around him.
Diamond White: Here's the update you requested ;) Yes, I am ridiculously mean to Moon and Prime. I definitely enjoyed exploring Prime's darker emotions. We'll be going back into that later, though.
MM twins and Cousin: Oh, hey! M.L.M.! Fancy seeing you up and about. ^o^ Many thanks. :)
Lone Wolf: I will probably bring them in, but I don't think they'll be main characters.