Rogue walked into the back hangar of the Autobots' headquarters she still didn't know the location of. Optimus had made her stay in a storage room until her spaceship had been fully delivered. Something about not frightening the human who brought it. But what was the fun in that?
Regardless, she complied. Didn't want to upset the last Prime.
She had seen him work before. Seen him in action when fighting the Decepticons on Cybertron. He wasn't exactly ruthless, but wasn't exactly nice, either. There was no denying the skills the Prime possessed. As soon of those faceplates slid into place, it was the cycle for business. And she wasn't keen on facing him one-on-one.
Her optics surveyed what was left of her ship. At least, of what a very angry human brought to the Bot center. Of course, she didn't see this fleshling fascia to fascia, but she could hear him. Even from the very back of the base.
He yelled about the "Transformer who killed too many men, and they were all my men." Her optics rolled. That flesh creature only carried on about half the story.
For now, she focused on her craft. Which honestly dampened her Spark. She released a sigh and shifted her weight.
The spaceship suffered severe damaged. Not from the human attack but from the crash itself. Especially since it landed nose first. And she was sure some damage came from whatever initially caused her crash. Seeing how there was old energon flecked upon it, and she didn't know how it got there.
She still didn't know how or why she ended up on Earth. It wasn't her initial course. What had been her course? Where was she originally heading? Shifting her weight again, she crossed her arms. There was one bot who could help her processor remember, but she really didn't want to go through the torture of powering down.
Rogue snarled and kicked the salvage of her craft. This was going to take a long time to fix. And require more parts than what she had seen around this barren place. Even these Bots' energon reserves were low. However, she didn't feel sorry for them. They had clearly made their choices and stuck with whatever consequences.
Cybertron could be taken back. Even if the Decepticons technically had control over it at the cycle. But the Cons were nothing to be scared of. Take out Megatron, and all the others went into a frenzy trying to place themselves as leader. It was easy to kill those under chaos.
They could use her ship to return to their home planet, but she still needed unavailable parts. And she had a sneaking suspicion the Bots weren't letting her out of the base. She could send them on the parts-retrieving errands. No. Because there was a high calculation they wouldn't return with the right parts.
Especially since her craft was one hundred percent custom. Built from the ground up with whatever she could scrounge up from the leftovers of battles.
There was simply no other way to go about repairing her craft. She would have to convince them to let her leave. An easy argument would be: the sooner she could get her ship finished, the sooner she would be out of their helms.
She stalked the tall corridors of the base. Stopping right outside the main chamber, curious to hear what they were saying. She could care less whether or not they liked her. She preferred that bots not like her. Kept things simpler.
Still didn't mean she wasn't curious. She peered around the corner of the stone-like wall.
Ratchet moved from patient to patient to patient. Waving around a small data pad, his voice the loudest now. "That thing nearly killed us all. Our three best warrior are locked in their processors because of that thing."
The fleshling leaned over a railing on a level nearly as high as Optimus's chest plates. "Well, it killed all of mine!"
Optimus remained silent, observing the two speaking.
"Do you know how hard it is trying to repair three bots at once with as limited resources as we have?" The medic mech again.
"At least you have soldiers to repair. Do you know how hard it is to move people through differentiating security clearances? The process to get them trained? That thing took away years of work."
Rogue inaudibly sighed. This conversation needed some work. She entered the main area, assuming the most foreboding tone her vocal processor would allow. "You do know that thing has a name, don't you?"
Agent Fowler straightened and stepped back with wide eyes at the slate-colored robot before him.
Ratchet clamped his mouth shut and tended to his wounded. Occasionally stealing glances at the unknown femme.
The Prime's unwavering blue gaze transferred to the newcomer. Watching her with great intent, in case he needed to intervene.
Fowler somewhat overcame himself and blinked. His hands returned to the railing. "You're…you're the silver-eyed robot who killed all my men and women."
Rogue smirked, sauntering her way over and bending at the waist to get up close and personal with the fleshling. She could tell she made him nervous, and he wasn't used to feeling nervous. "Were you the one who gave the order to attack me and my ship? Perhaps I need to kill you, too."
Ratchet looked over his shoulder armor again, but Optimus hadn't moved.
The human blinked again. "I didn't give any orders to kill. Only to investigate."
"So your soldiers acted on their own free will, then?"
"I would assume so."
"Then I took care of the problem. I was attacked; I defended myself. Do you still have any problems?"
Agent Fowler's mouth went agape, and he turned to the leader of the Autobots. "Prime, you better start putting your Bots on a leash."
Optimus finally spoke. "She claims to be neither Autobot nor Decepticon."
The fleshling hung his head. "This is just perfect. A rogue Transformer has decided to grace the earth."
Rogue rose a metal brow as she straightened. "If I'm left alone, I won't kill anybody else."
Fowler pointed a finger at her. "I don't think you understand the rules of this planet, and all humans pretty much have a shoot first, ask questions later. And not many like the sight of giant robots they don't understand."
"Good. Then we're somewhat similar." She quickly extended a hand blade and whipped it to his head without touching him. Taking delight in watching him cringe. "But I suggest you get better weapons and armor."
Optimus stepped forward. "Rogue, back off."
Her silver optics flickered to him. She retracted her blade and flexed her pointed fingers when they reappeared. "Very well." She walked back to the doorway, leaning against the corner.
The human straightened himself and cracked his neck. "Don't you think she would fit in better with the Decepticons?"
The Prime shook his helm. "No. Megatron has always hated rogues and kills them on sight. She's safer here."
The femme scoffed. "At least the Cons would have accessible parts for me to fix my ship."
Ratchet dared fully turning around from the three downed warriors. "What kind of parts do you need? I'm eager to get you out of here."
"More than what you have, grandbot."
The medic huffed, but he didn't have any remarks to say out loud.
"Wait," Fowler interjected. "Are you seriously a rogue named Rogue?"
Rogue turned her helm to him. "I don't remember my real name, if I was given one at all. Besides, it's what everybot calls me, so I think it fits."
He slowly nodded.
She locked optics with the Prime. "I need to have free-roam privileges from this base if I'm to fix my ship. And I know you know that. I also know you're not going to let me out unescorted. I'm also sure you're aware that if I never get my ship fixed, I'll be staying here with you bots for a long time."
Ratchet pivoted again. "Optimus, please."
Agent Fowler looked between the three sentient robots. "Optimus, no. I can't have this," he looked Rogue up and down, "this malicious female roaming around and potentially killing my species simply because she feels like it."
The Prime kept his gaze with Rogue's. "We shall see," was his answer before he approached the data center and began typing on keys.
Rogue frowned. Well, that didn't go according to plan. She pushed herself off the wall and began to leave when the computer screens lit up with red alerts.
Ratchet rushed next to his leader's side. "The Decepticons are moving Energon." His tone grew grave. "Optimus, we desperately need that Energon."
The red and blue mech studied the screen before him for several nanocycles. "Ratchet, I need you to stay here to care for Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Arcee. Agent Fowler, tell your soldiers to steer clear of that area." He turned to the femme.
Rogue slightly perked up.
"I will allow you to accompany me on this mission. Two bots are better than one when facing a Decepticon mining operation."
Ratchet placed a hand on the Prime's arm. "You can't be serious. We have no idea if she'll betray you or not."
Optimus gave a nod. "I know." He returned his attention to the gray femme. "If you help me acquire energon for my Autobots, I will allow to take anything from the Decepticon mine."
One of her metal brows lifted again. "Anything?"
Another nod.
She strode over, glaring at the medic. "And if I wanted to betray him, I would've done it already. I don't take kindly to wasting time."
Ratchet somewhat straightened. Again, he said nothing.
Optimus opened up a ground bridge.
Rogue gave the Autobot leader a nod and followed him through the gateway.