Knight in Borrowed Armor 10
Practice
A Transformers Prime Fanfiction
"So you really are royalty?" Rafael asked eagerly of the dark skinned woman sitting across the table in the Darby's dining room.
The lady Monk smiled at the eager boy, his brown eyes sparkling with fascination.
"The man I married belongs to the gentry class," she explained with a smile.
The discussion was interrupted by a metallic crash from the kitchen.
"Nobody's bleeding!" Miko's voice called out cheerfully.
Jack looked up uneasily from his homework in the direction of the kitchen. The pencil in his hand twitched slightly. Raf smiled at his friend's reaction. Miko had the ability to get a rise out almost anyone, even of the usually collected Jack. But the soothing voice of Mrs. Darby followed as the woman instructed the girl in cleaning up the mess and the older boy visibly relaxed.
"So I guess I should be getting home," Raf said as Miko carried the remains of a mug out to the garage. "Mom's sister is coming out for a visit and we're having a big dinner tonight."
"Do you need a ride home?" Mrs. Darby asked.
"No, I can walk," the boy assured her. "It's not far."
June shot Jack a meaningful look. The older boy nodded and slipped his notebook into his backpack.
"I'll come with you Raf," he called cheerfully. "I need some fresh air after being cooped up in the warehouse all day."
"Hey wait for me!" Miko called out. She had not caught Mrs. Darby's silent order but the prospect of being left alone with both of the dignified women did not appeal to her.
The three children set off towards the other end of Jasper. The setting sun seemed to stir the drifting dust clouds around them. A close observer might have noticed a trim woman on a blue motorcycle following them as they walked.
Back in the house June came out of the kitchen carrying two cups of tea. Laura smiled as she accepted one.
"Now that we are alone I imagine you have many questions," she addressed June.
"Yes for starters what exactly is this bond?" the nurse asked.
"Short answer, I don't know; no one does," she raised a hand to ward off the frustrated response she saw in the other woman's eyes. "But the long answer is that this bond that forms between Nitor's kind and their particular human has been studied for many years. As you well know it does exist. But the best scientific minds have yet to find a way to measure it in any way." Laura took a sip of her tea before continuing. "It is not telepathy, or empathy. Other than that moment when the bond first forms and the Lady officially recognizes the name of her servant there is no sign of any mind to mind connection. If the term mind can be used at all, except in rare cases like Nitor's his kind only exist as a form of light, with no solid three dimensional form at all."
"Wait, back up, servant?" June asked her brow furrowing.
"Yes; their terminology for the relationship, not ours," Laura said with a smile. "But it would probably be best if he explained that aspect of his people to you himself."
"His people," June said. "What can you tell me about them?"
"Not much scientifically I'm afraid. Apparently they don't reproduce. Their memory fades out about three thousand years ago. But it always has. No one quite knows how many of them there are and they don't care."
"For such a mysterious people you seem to know a lot about them," the nurse noted.
Laura smiled and took another sip of tea.
"You've probably noticed I don't have much of an accent?" she asked.
"I had wondered about that," June admitted.
"My parents were both British citizens but they were scientists first, and more than a little obsessed with 'extra physical beings', EPB for short, as they called them. They traveled the world over searching for information on Nitor's kind. When I came along they just took me along for the ride. My earliest memories are of fiddling with sensor equipment and trekking out to remote Siberian villages. Somewhere along the line I gained the ability to absorb nearly any English based accent after only a few moments of conversation. I've been told I have the same ability to a lesser degree in the other languages I speak."
"So, that's how you became involved with Nitor?"
"Sort of," Laura responded. "When I was sixteen we were home for a brief period researching the last known sighting of an EPB in the UK. I met a fascinating man. The Lord of Monk. We seemed to run into him randomly wherever we were. After a few weeks he admitted he'd been stalking us. His house had been charged with preserving the memory of Nitor's mission. He wanted to be sure my parents were worthy before letting them in on the secret."
The woman gave a soft smile. It seemed to transform her face, for a moment she was beautiful.
"You fell in love," June said softly.
"Oh madly," Laura replied with a laugh. "For the first time in my life here was a modern, well educated man who didn't look at my family and call the asylum. Well it turned out he was fairly smitten with me. I was all for eloping at once but he was a tradition bound old dear." The woman gave her head a quick shake. "But you don't want to hear that old story. Suffice it to say I inherited an officially dead title and the task of record keeper." She held up her bulky ring with its lined red stone. "Sardonyx, the mark of the Archeota. Do you have any more questions?"
"So, do leprechauns exist?" June asked jokingly.
"Of course," Laura replied as if it was a simple matter of fact, "but what does that have to do with anything?"
The nurse sat there blinking for a moment. She decided to let the matter drop for the moment.
"So why does this have to be kept a secret from the Autobots?" June asked. "Another species native to Earth wouldn't change anything for them."
Laura let out a tired smile. She stood and stretched leisurely. The setting sun seemed to glow off her green dress capturing June's attention. The woman moved around to stand behind Junes chair and picked up a hairbrush that had been lying nearby and began to gently run it through the nurse's hair. June found herself relaxing into the strokes.
"Dear sweet June. Nurse, mother, and friend," her voice was soft and soothing. "I have told you what you needed to know. I will answer any questions you ask. These memories are yours now and not even old age can steal them away from you."
Laura's voice deepened as she spoke and the last dying sparks of the day seemed to catch at her finger tips as she stroked the brush through June's hair.
"But we have a duty to this world. There are others here. Nitor is kindness and compassion. The others do not accept so easily. They are jealous and easily angered. We promised them that we would not allow our share of this world to be taken by those who walk across the starry void. Were the other's to discover we harbor Optimus Prime and his team. It would not go well for them, or us."
Now in complete darkness, June had completely surrendered to the rhythm of the brush. She sat perfectly relaxed.
"This is a part of our promise," the Lady Monk was almost chanting now; weaving braids into June's hair. "Their existence shall never be made know by our lips. Nitor was discovered incidentally, but the Void Walkers must learn no more from us. So I bind you to silence sister."
With a final twist the Lady Monk snapped the simple braid pattern into place with a bone hair pin. June blinked a few times and turned to smile up at the other woman.
"What were we talking about?" she asked.
"Nitor, and how important it is for him to only stay as long as is necessary with the Autobots," Laura provided.
"Yes," June said, that felt about right. "Here let me turn on the lights."
"Lift your fists up. Keep your elbows in." Bulkhead instructed the white mech as he faced Bumblebee.
Nitor nodded and shot out a quick flurry of punches. The yellow scout had some trouble dodging them. He smiled to himself as he danced back away from his student. He was learning fast. A paint job and a download from Ratchet hadn't changed the mech's appearance greatly, but it was enough so that he wasn't a walking reminder of their lost friend. Most significantly he had lost the horn. Too aggressive he had said. The scout chirped encouragingly as he circled Nitor. Suddenly the practice room doors slid open.
"Nitor, Bumblebee, Bulkhead," Optimus greeted them each in turn.
"Optimus Prime," Nitor responded, standing straight.
Bumblebee divined the Primes intentions and stepped willingly aside. The tall red and blue mech stepped lightly forward and transformed his arm into a blade. Nitor took up a closed guard position and the Autobot leader nodded in approval. The white mech clearly understood combat in a bipedal form. Optimus brought his blade down in a wide arc, which the smaller mech easily deflected. Nitor responded with an uppercut. The two sparred for several minutes until the Prime called a halt to the exercise.
"Your skill at hand-to-hand combat is clearly adequate," the Prime said. "We will now move on to energy weapons. This may be more difficult as they are powered by energon."
Nitor nodded. It indeed took several attempts for him to even summon the triple guns to hand. Once he had mastered that the white mech attempted firing a few short blasts at a set of targets Bulkhead had set up. This process too took several attempts. When he finally did manage to get a few shots the targets jumped and sprouted several new holes.
"Did you see anything?" Bulkhead asked Optimus.
"I did not see any discharge," the Prime responded, "but the results are impressive."
"Yeah," the green mech said. "You know this has got to be driving Ratchet bonkers. Not being able to put him under the scope like he wants to."
Their discussion was interrupted by the sound of the white mech crashing to the floor. Optimus was at his side instantly.
"Ratchet you are needed in the firing range," the Prime called over the comm. system.
Nitor staggered back to his peds groggily.
"What happened?" Bulkhead demanded.
Bumblebee chirped in concern from the other side of the down mech. Nitor shuttered his golden optics a few times and shook his helm.
"I am not certain," the white mech said, "but if I were to hazard a guess I'd say I am simply too weak to expend that much energy just yet."
Ratchet burst into the room and immediately began running scans. He ordered Optimus to assist Nitor to the medibay and shooed away the other two mechs.
"Your hovering will do him no good," he growled.
His scans had confirmed Nitor's suspicions. The Cybertronian frame was reacting as if it was too low on energy to sustain combat.
"You need more of whatever energy source you use, and soon," Ratchet said gruffly.
"Thank you for your diagnosis Doctor," Nitor replied. "Until I can obtain some perhaps it would be best if I simply rested."
"You do that," the medibot said curtly.
The white mech transformed and rolled over to a quiet corner of the silo. Ratchet frowned thoughtfully as he left.
"Optimus let's go for a drive," he suddenly said.
The Prime nodded in consent and the two mechs transformed and headed out into the desert night.
*You are concerned old friend,* the Prime said as they rolled around.
"Concerned? Of course I'm concerned, and mad as the Pit!* Ratchet's fury vibrated over the comm. *If these humans had the ability to purify a Cybertronian body tainted by Dark Energon then why did they hide it? That general using Cliff body as if he had any right. And why didn't the humans tell us there were other sentient species on the planet?*
*It occurs to me that we thought of Dark Energon as little more than a myth not too long ago,* the Prime began, *and yet, despite our ignorance, we found a way to handle the effect very quickly. But our ignorance is still greater than our knowledge.*
The medic gave a frustrated growl.
*Very well, I see you point. The humans may have been just reacting to something new they didn't understand,* Ratchet admitted grudgingly. *And we couldn't expect them to connect that foul substance with us. And maybe that general was only looking out for the best interest of his people.*
Optimus would have smiled slightly to himself as they drove along, the medic providing answers for all of his own questions. Sometimes the older bot just needed to vent.
*Ratchet, there is one thing I think you need to be aware of; something that may explain Nitor's reluctance to stay with us,* the Prime finally spoke up. *I have no proof, only a few observations I have had a chance to make, but I suspect that there are several different kinds of sentient species native to this planet. Nitor's people are only; the tip of the iceberg, as the humans say.*
Ratchet mulled this over.
*So should we attempt to contact these others?* he asked.
*I believe that would be highly inadvisable,* the Prime said gravely. *From the observations I was able to make the others are aware of the possibility of extraterrestrial existence but want nothing to do with us. They seem to have delegated the task of dealing with anything that comes from space to the humas.*
*Let me guess, this delegation included a bit about keeping their existence a secret?* Ratchet guessed, Fowler's behavior suddenly making more sense.
*That was the impression I received,* Optimus confirmed. *Also it seemed that if these others became aware of either us or the Decepticons there would be severe consequences for humanity.*
*So they're not allowed to tell us about them or them about us? But they have to deal with both groups simultaneously? No wonder they act so crazy sometimes.*
*This is all speculation on my part, remember,* Optimus cautioned the medic.
*Yes but it makes a twisted kind of sense,* Ratchet said.
"I'm sure he didn't mean that Arcee," Jack was saying soothingly as they rode home through the streets of Jasper. "Remember he has trouble with the English language."
"Maybe, but it doesn't sound good no matter how you slice it Jack," the motorcycle replied. "What could he have meant?"
"Maybe just that there are other ways he can help out Earth than fighting the cons," Jack suggested. "Or that one more warrior just wouldn't do that much good in the long run."
"I don't want to talk about Nitor anymore," Arcee said curtly.
They had dropped the two younger children off at their respective houses and she had been looking forward to some time alone with her partner.
"Okay," the human readily agreed. "Want to work on the bike again tomorrow?"