Area frowned as she inspected the information before her, glancing up at Tarn. "Where, exactly, did Outlier abilities come from?" She asked curiously.
The tank looked up from his own datapad, studying the possible location of the next traitor on their List. He hadn't notified Area of his impending departure, since it tended to put her in a sour mood, and he'd prefer to avoid that if he could. "Lore would say that the Outliers were previously the guard of the ancient Primes." Tarn responded.
The youngling snorted, looking displeased with this information. "So what, I got the gift of some goody bot that protected the corruption that destroyed our planet?" Area demanded, glaring at the tank like it was his fault.
Tarn waited for the brief displeasure to leave the femmeling's tone before speaking again. "You didn't let me finish." The DJD leader stated in a firm tone. "I said that they were the guard of the ancient primes. Prima, Onyx, Zeta… Their existence ended after Nova's reign." The purple mech settled back in his seat, which creaked ominously beneath his weight. "Nova was the first Prime to become corrupted. I personally believe he went in corrupted, and the power granted by the matrix only bolstered it."
Pausing to write a few glyphs on his datapad, Tarn silently tested his protege's patience, pleased that the femme neither demanded he continue nor fidgeted. She just sat and regarded him silently with those red optics of hers.
"Hmm." Tarn set his datapad aside on the desk and looked at Area again, noting the calmly schooled features. "Nova, they claimed, corrupted the Guard. Twisted them to use their gifts for evil. When Nova was defeated by Solus, so was the Guard replaced by the Lord High Protectors'." The tank's faceplates twisted into a leer behind his mask, "and thus began our descent from glory."
Area was silent for a moment, waiting to see if Tarn was going to speak again or if there was time to ask a question. "You said they 'claim' Nova corrupted the guard. What do you think?" The femmeling asked, curious.
Tarn huffed an ex-vent. "I believe the guard was the true seat of power. They were the ones that truly ruled Cybertron. The Prime was only their puppet. And this war began after the guard were banished. Thus the term Outlier." The tank's frame was stock still as silence fell for a brief moment, thinking. "We were cast aside. Outlawed to the outlying colonies… Shamed."
The femmeling listened intently, frowning angrily at the fact that one of her great ancestor's, somewhere far back in her family line, had been unjustly punished for the crimes of a Prime. "Why do only I have these gifts? Wouldn't there have been others in my line?" Area questioned, optics narrowing. "Why am I only hearing of this now?"
Sitting forwards the tank hummed in thought. "A fair question, Area." Tarn stared into the red gaze of the youngling before he spoke again. "Perhaps they never told of their gift. Maybe there was, but Airachnid never informed you. There is a possibility that your brother would have gifts as well, due to the splitting of one spark." Tarn explained to the young femme, pausing for a moment. "Perhaps there was a bastard in your line, the sire an Outlier passing through."
Area's gaze narrowed as she scowled up at the big mech. "A bastard like me?" She hissed, tone threatening as her field lashed out angrily.
Amused, Tarn shook his helm. "There is no proof of your sire, Area. He could've been conjunx of your carrier, if not bondmate." The tank was thoughtful. "But there is little chance of your sire being an Outlier. If that were possible, I would've met him. I knew all of the living Outliers, save you and your brother."
"Why bring it up now? You've known of my gifts for vorns!" Area cried, tone accusing.
Tarn snorted softly. "I had to be sure." He responded, packing up his datapad. "Regardless, I must depart." The tank stated, throwing the datapad in subspace.
The small helm jerked up. "You're leaving?!" Area demanded, indignation on her faceplates.
"Kaon has possibly located the traitor Fulcrum." Tarn responded easily, heading for the door. "I will expect you to have greater knowledge of the Outliers as well as interrogation techniques by my return."
Area stared after Tarn, her mouth in a small 'o' shape.
Tarn turned around, smirking at the expression on the youngling's faceplates. "Oh, and don't disappoint me." He added, the doors shutting and effectively cutting off the femmeling's view of him.
Scowling, Area squeezed the datapad in her servos hard enough for the screen to crack. How dare he? She inwardly raged. How dare he not tell me he's leaving?
Truthfully, Area knew the answer deep inside. To avoid the argument that would've followed such an announcement. The argument of whether or not she could go with him. The argument she always lost.
Perhaps next time, she could be ready.
+/+/+/
Araneon walked into the rec-room, shoulders hunched over himself as the door slid open, making his way across the room to the energon dispenser.
Starscream's seekerlings were all on the couch, side by side, though Thundercracker sat a little apart from them all, leering whenever one of his siblings brushed against his pristine paint. Slipstream was shouting at them all to shut up, wings high in agitation. They had only been cleared from medbay at the beginning of the megacycle, so Araneon hadn't seen much of them.
Grabbing an empty cube and placing it beneath the dispenser, Araneon shifted nervously as he waited for it to fill, acutely aware of the vehicons staring at him from another side of the room, whispering amongst themselves.
Finally, one of the Eradicons stood up from his table, pushing back and making his way towards the youngling standing before the dispenser.
Araneon was acutely aware of the grunt's approach, frame gradually tensing with the closer the eradicon came to him, the other mech only stopping once he was behind the black mech.
"Femmes aren't good enough for you?"
Purple optics widened, the digits wrapped around the warm energon cube twitching as Araneon turned, staring up at the slightly bigger mech. "P-Pardon?" He choked out, feeling a lump rising in his intake.
The eradicon leered down at him, mask left behind on the table. "You heard me!" The purple mech laughed, tilting his helm downwards in a condescending way. "We all heard about what you did. Dirty little mech."
Araneon's frame trembled as he became aware of the fact that the rec-room had fallen deadly silent, dozens of pairs of optics locked on the young mech, causing him to shrink back. He had never liked being the center of attention.
The seekers on the couch had ceased all activity, wings high on their backstruts as they stared at the young spider-mech, the way he shrank into himself and wouldn't meet the gaze of those around him.
The vehicons and eradicons were snickering amongst themselves. "Oy!" One called, holding his servo alongside his lips. "Don't look so down, young'un!" The four-opticed miner laughed. "If we'd known you were a whore, we would've asked for you a long time ago!"
Araneon's lower lip quivered as he stared down between his pedes, armour drawn in tight against his frame. "I-I didn't do anything wrong." He whispered, near tears now. He didn't notice the rec-room door slide aside to admit an unsuspecting Knockout.
Knockout looked around when he entered the rec-room, sensing the sudden tension. His spark stalled when he saw Araneon looking so small in the shadow of an eradicon, the grunt's armour plating flared aggressively, his companions laughing and making shrewd statements at the mechling's expense.
"How… How dare you?!" Knockout shouted, every mech in the room jumping in fright, having not seen the medic enter, the eradicon standing before Araneon giving him an amused grin.
Faceplates flushed in humiliation, Araneon wished that the Nemesis would open up and swallow him up into the darkened bowels beneath him. Not only had the new mechs and femme witnessed his humiliation, but now Knockout had as well.
Anger flared in Knockout's EM field as he approached the eradicon, grabbing him and pulling him away from Araneon. "Apologise." The medic ordered, denta set in anger.
"For what?" The eradicon scoffed, glancing at the shaking mechling. "For telling the world he was a dirty homo?" The grunt responded with a leer, using human slang.
That did it. Knockout growled and jumped at the eradicon, the purple miner shrieking when the medic's saw cut through armour and protoform, wiring sparked and energon poured from the wounds opened in the mech. But Knockout didn't stop there, he went after the others sitting stunned at the tables, eradicons and vehicons fleeing in terror before the red mech's wrath.
Araneon didn't look up when he heard someone approach him, nearly jerking back when clawed digits danced their way beneath his chin, tilting his faceplates upwards. The mechling's fuel pump nearly stalled as he stared up into the faceplates of Thundercracker.
"What'd he mean by that?" Thundercracker asked in a cold tone, jerking his chin towards the butchered remains of the eradicon.
Mouth opening and closing Araneon searched for a response, willing himself to look away from the taller mech's red optics. "I-I…" Araneon swallowed hard, biting back a whimper. "I like mechs." He responded, faceplates heating in shame.
Knockout was shouting at the remaining grunts to clean up their downed companions, but most were watching the exchange between Starscream's oldest son and Blackarachnia's.
Araneon waited for something to happen. For Thundercracker to laugh, his siblings to. The cruel teasing, being pushed away, he could even imagine the blue seeker's leer as he did so.
Trying his best to look everywhere but Thundercracker's faceplates, Araneon leaned as far away as he could until he couldn't. Thundercracker drew in close as Araneon shut his optics tightly, waiting. He wished the seeker would let go, so that he could run away. Avoid the humiliation to come.
Araneon's optics shot open as Thundercracker's glossa flicked out over his lower lip, then the tip of his nose. This he had not expected.
Thundercracker drew back away from him, a smirk settled over his attractive faceplates. "It's not polite to stare," the bigger mech stated in amusement, releasing Araneon's faceplates. "But I totally understand."
Bewildered, Araneon struggled to say something, anything as Dirge and Sunstorm approached him, flanking out behind their older brother. "Wh-What?" He stammered, attempting to make sense of what was going on, the red seeker, Dirge, snorted and leaned over, glossa swiping at the spider-mech's lips.
Sunstorm, however, stood a little back and faced towards the wide-opticed vehicons and Knockout, arms crossed tightly over his cockpit. "Araneon's ours now." The orange, beige accented mech proclaimed. "So ya gotta deal with us three if you're going to make funna him too."
The vehicons looked away, the majority slinking out of the rec-room and fleeing the scene, some with injured comrades in tow, others with only thoughts of their own safety.
"I-I don't understand." Araneon stammered, looking back and forth between the three mechs in front of him. "Why'd you… Why…?"
Thundercracker snorted, rolling his optics. "Forgive me. You must not be familiar with seeker customs." The blue mech stated in a half-amused, half-annoyed tone. "Once we claim you, you're ours. No one can take you without challenging us."
"Or hurt you in any way without our retribution." Dirge spoke up, his voice rougher than Thundercracker's, less sophisticated. "You're ours, and we're yours."
Araneon stared with wide optics between them all, Slipstream snorting from where she reclined on the couch. "B-But you don't even know me…?" He asked weakly, confused and disorientated by this change of events.
"No, he doesn't." Knockout spoke up now, appearing beside the bulky mechling, taking his arm. "And I'm taking care of him at the moment, so you three best skedaddle off!" He added, tone threatening.
Thundercracker's wings shot up, armour flaring outwards in aggression, a rumble rising up from his chassis.
"I don't think you want to get in my way." Knockout growled, buzzsaw still brandished. "I need to make sure Araneon's alright, and I don't need you three giving him false hopes!" He added, pushing past Sunstorm and Dirge with Araneon in tow, vacating the medbay.
As he was pulled from the room, Araneon glanced back at the seekers, Sunstorm and Dirge murmuring to each other, but Thundercracker was staring right at him. Then the doors cut him off from the seeker's sight.
+/+/+/
"I'm so sorry, Araneon." Knockout mumbled sorrowfully, crouching down in front of the youngling as he scanned him, EM field flooded with remorse, sadness and comfort. "If I'd known who you were going to… I never would have advised you to do that." The medic stated, looking up at the bulky mechling.
"S'okay." Araneon responded in a small voice, still not able to meet the other's optics.
Venting, Knockout shook his helm and took Araneon's smaller servos in his own, the youngling finally meeting his optics. "I'm so sorry." The racer stated sorrowfully, wanting to cry for the poor mechling's sake but not wanting to upset him further. "I was so foolish."
"What's going on?"
Knockout looked over his shoulder to Breakdown who was standing in the doorway, a crate of parts in his servos but golden optics locked on Araneon, full of concern.
"The vehicons decided to bully Araneon due to his… Interest in mechs." Knockout responded, glancing up at Araneon and feeling his spark nearly break in two at the tears filling the purple optics.
"Hey now." Breakdown set the crate aside and approached. "Hey now, buddy." The big mech crooned, wrapping his arms around Araneon, the mechling choosing that moment to finally break down, gripping the blue mech tightly as he sobbed. "Shhhh. Hey, it's gonna be ok." Breakdown attempted to comfort the mechling, hugging him tightly to his frame.
"I-I didn't mean for this to happen!" Araneon sobbed out, clawed digits digging into Breakdown's backstrut but the big mech ignored his own comfort as he held onto the hurting mech. "I-I've tried to m-make myself like f-femmes! I've r-really tried!"
Knockout's lips parted in surprise, red optics meeting his conjunx's gold, the two exchanging a pained look. "Hey, Araneon." The medic spoke, rubbing a servo across the shaking black shoulders. "Araneon, sweetspark, look at me."
Sniffling, Araneon forced himself to turn his faceplates away from where they were buried in the crook of Breakdown's neck, facing Knockout.
"You do not have to like femmes." Knockout spoke, voice firm but gentle. "You are not like everyone else. And neither are Breakdown and I. But that's okay, Araneon. Don't let others make you change who you are. Because guess what. If you force yourself to bond to a femme, you will be unhappy! And not just you, but the femme! She won't know that you don't really love her, and if she found out she'd be devastated!"
"Are you getting what KO's trying to say?" Breakdown spoke up, pulling a little away as he looked at the smaller mech.
Araneon, sniffling a little more as he attempted to regain his composure, nodded. "Y-Yeah." He responded, tone shaking.
Knockout vented softly. "No matter what, Araneon, you are not alone, alright?" The red mech asked gently, a servo on the spider-mech's shoulder. "We're here for you, ok?"
Looking between the two mechs, Araneon nodded.
"Hey."
Araneon looked up at Breakdown, the ex-wrecker smiling sadly at him. "We got you, alright?" He asked, the young spiderling nodding his helm once before he was enveloped in a hug. At least he had someone… At least he had Knockout and Breakdown.