Metal Attraction
Ghost
"No."
"Get up, now!"
"No!"
"If you don't, so help me, I will—"
"You'll what?"
"I'll—"
"Knock me out, take me there yourself? Where I'll be subject to Primus knows what? Experimentation, torture, suffering, anything that gets results, am I right? Or, no, maybe I'll participate in a battle. I'll expend the last of my energy doing something I don't want to do –no, not that- something that 'literally' causes me pain to do, you know that right? You realize that? I am in pain! I am exhausted. I cannot work. I cannot go. I do not want to. You continue this and I'll resist. I won't fragging give up. I will fight you every step of the way. So, you do what you do. Or, you could make yourself useful for once in your fragging life, and you go and tell them, I'm not complying, I'm not playing by their fragging rules, I'm done!"
"You're done?"
"Yes, scrap-face, I'm done. What? Too dumb for my words to get through that scrap filled 'skull' of yours?"
"You done?"
"I'm done."
"Good, because I am done dealing with your slag. You hear me, I am done!"
I rolled my optics at him.
"What? You think this is a game?"
"What? You think this is a competition? 'Cause I can yell pretty fragging loud."
"A game? You speak of being useful, what use are you? You're a fracking defective Con who tried to snuff her own spark 'cause she got lonely. You can't be left the frack alone. I have to put up with your slag every fragging day; I have to do it! Do you know why?"
"You're a mindless drone?"
"It's my job! It's my duty! But you, you have no sense of the word! What kind of Decepticon are you?"
"A defective one according to you. Fragging tired by my accounts. Tired of all this slag."
"You're tired of it? Tired of what? Of others taking care of you? Giving you opportunities to fight? Realizing your potential? You're a fracking One-Percenter! You're an outlier! You waste more talent than anyone else I know. You had everything. Everything! And you wasted it. You tried to take your own life. Want to know proof you're defective? You failed. Ha! You failed. Any decent Con would've succeeded, but you? You're a failure, always have been, always will be. 'Uh, I can't get up. I'm tired. I'm in pain.' I'm done with all your complaining. Shut up or put up. Do you know how many vehicons die a day? How many, long, slow, agonizing deaths we deal with? Decapitation, spark chambers ripped out from our chests, bleeding out, ripped apart by canon fire, shot-shocked dead by blasters, shredded by swords, having our limbs torn out and being beat by them. But you, you can't even stand a little fragging pain? You're a sparkling who can't even try to act mature. Lonely? Miss your creator? Yeah, suicide is the obvious answer! You're pathetic. I hope you know that."
"Me, pathetic? Go frag yourself! You're a fragging vehicon! You're worthless. Do you know why you all are called drones, why you all die so often? It's because you all 'suck'. You're horrible in battle! The Autobots aren't ruthless, the Decepticons are! They create a large weak force, and inspire them to volunteer for suicide missions daily by telling them that they are worth more than the scrap they're built from."
"You know what? I'm done with you. Go join the Allspark for all I care. You aren't worth my 'worthless' time." He left his station and walked toward the door.
"You can't just leave after lecturing me about duty! Someone's supposed to watch me." I said sarcastically, "What if I get lonely?"
"Lonely? Hah! Wouldn't that be a relief? You know what? I'll leave the radio on a Decepticon open channel. Listen to them talk nonsense for eternity."
He got to the door before he stopped.
"No. That's too good for a piece of slag like you. You insult us with all those meatbag terms you use. I'll change the radio to theirs, just for you."
The door slammed shut and locked behind him. He left a dagger, a reachable distance from the cell's bars. The radio played.
George Watsky - Send In the Sun
Send in that sunshine
Make everything right
Turn on your love light
Cause baby I'm coming on by
Send in that sunshine
Make everything right
Cause there ain't no suffering in life
That don't ease with the passage of time
If stars died of old age
They wouldn't explode, they'd burn out with a slow fade
But stars escape life with a gun shot
Which makes me think they stick a pistol in their sun spot
Bite the barrel, squeeze the trigger
Might have cared once, but the obstacles seem bigger
And they're stuck behind a giant 8 ball
The milky way is star brains that are smeared across the space wall
You know the red giant in sector two?
Yeah, Hector, true, he was a depressing dude
I think he thought nobody thought about him
And now that I think about it, I'm liable to guess it's true
Everybody wants the sun to come and cure their rough moods but suns need love too
I give out energy and don't receive. I'm tired now, I'll go to sleep
And when this is the coldest solstice, maybe folks'll notice me
Send in that sunshine
Make everything right
Turn on your love light
Cause baby I'm coming on by
Send in that sunshine
Make everything right
Cause there ain't no suffering in life
That don't ease with the passage of time
Goodbye Maggie, Goodbye Jules
I wish you'd stuck around, you wise fools
Cause friends they tend to come and go
The way the ocean ebbs and flows but there's reminders in the tide pools
But when the standing water's putrid
Who am I to say a choice you made was stupid?
There's a bunch of us who loved you
Fucking stuck here pointing fingers at ourselves for something you did
You you you you you packed your problems in a suitcase
You you you went away forever to a new place
You left behind a lot of blue faces and bouquets and loose ends like shoelaces
But my friend, it's too late
So all my lightweights and barflies, let's raise a pint each time a star dies
And toast the memory of hard lives
Filed on the interstellar hard drives and archives
...
Matrix
The road was cool on my tires. I loved my Porsche form. I f*ckin' rocked my army green. The sun shone off my silver parts, and caught the pink others couldn't stop looking at. I was a bad *ss mother f*cker.
The other cars revved next to me. The silver one with red stripes and black detail was far too much. They were all attention seekers, but this one was a special annoyance. A custom red Aston Martin drove up next to me. I opened a "COM" link.
"Elf?" I asked, "What're you doing out of the lab?"
"Caught a ground bridge down to see what all the fuss is about."
Every car revved its engines for a final time. Mine purred. This f*cker was not going to f*ck up this race for me. This was mine to win. Mine.
Dust flew into the air and we all sped down the stretch of road. The Aston went to go push a Honda off the road. Idiot. The red-striped racecar led. Curve left: Car out right. Up hill climb: Cars tumbling backwards. Dangerous route ahead: Back country. Its entrance boarded up by wooden boards. I sped up. Racecar in sight, only Elf and I remained. Speed, I am speed. I rammed the racecar through the wood. She didn't stop driving. We were on a dirt road now. Trees covered us every which way but in front and behind. I crashed into her again. Tumble. Transform.
Chk-chk-Klnk, and other loud showy noises
Elf and I against Striker: good match up. Good revenge. I got out my blasters.
"Oh," Elf said, "Now I see where we're going with this." He changed his hand into a circular saw and made the spikes spin. He ran at her.
I rapid-fired at the femme. She dodged Elf and rolled behind a tree. I fired at the large redwood base. My blaster fire penetrated the tree. One shot, two shot, red shot, death shot.
"Timber!"
The tree began to fall. Slowly, slowly, painstakingly slowly it tipped over. I continued to blast it until it crashed into the ground and caused dust to fly just about everywhere, coating my once spotless armor. A red blur emerged from the cloud.
"Matrix!"
"What?"
"You could have killed me?"
"With a tree?"
"A very large tree!"
I had forgotten that he had gone to fight her in close combat. Stupid!
"But, scissors beats paper... and you're metal, and sharp, and—"
"And scratched! Do you know how long it will take to buff this out?"
I walked past him and to the silver leg caught beneath the tree. I ducked down to get a better look at it.
"Looks like she's out." I turned back to the Prima Donna, "Hey Elf—"
"What?" He screamed at me.
"You got your saw-thing all revved?"
"You want me to saw through that?"
"Yup -the tree, not the leg- just making sure we're on the same page this time." I turned back towards the large log, "We gots to tag her somehow. Less questions this way."
"You're an idiot."
"An idiot who's going to carve a whole bunch of things on the bot's face."
...
Shadow's P.O.V.
An alarm sounded on the monitor.
Ratchet stared intensely as he called out in a serious tone, "Arcee, a vehicular form is approaching."
The two-wheeler asked, "Decepticon?"
The monitor zeroed in on a white sedan swerving toward the entrance.
Jack sighed as he face palmed, "Mom."
Arcee put her servos on her hips, "Again?"
"She worries," Jack said.
The car drove up through the tunnel and came to an abrupt stop. Ms. Darby got out and exclaimed, "Hi honey!" She ran up and hugged her son.
"Hey," Jack said back.
"Finished my shift early at the Hospital, so I thought I'd swing by," she said. She turned to Ratchet, "Good to see you again Doctor." Ratchet nodded in acknowledgement. June faced Arcee, "Arcee." Arcee nodded back. She noticed me out of the corner of her eye, "I see you're still functioning Shadow," I rolled my optics in response. The mother asked, "So, where's Optimus?"
Ratchet answered, "On a scouting mission with Bumblebee. Sorry to disappoint."
June kindly jested, "And I wore heels and everything."
Jack went wide eyed, "Mom!" He yelled.
Ratchet did not care in the least. He was absorbed in his work. He turned a knob and observed, "That's odd. This is an extremely unusual magnetic flux, for any planet." A wormhole like signature appeared on the screen.
Bulkhead drove through the base's entrance. Once he stopped, Miko and Raf jumped out while laughing.
Miko asked her friend, "Did you feel the G's on that last turn? Bulkhead's an animal!" she screamed. Miko noticed Jack's mother and stopped her playing. Miko whispered to Raf, "Remember when this used to be a secret clubhouse?"
Both kids walked up to June nonchalantly. Raf reassured, "Don't worry Ms. Darby, we were wearing seatbelts."
June lovingly assured, "I'm sure you were Rafael." She turned to the girl and excitedly asked, "Hi Miko! How's school going?"
Miko broke out in surprise, "Why? What'd you hear?"
Jack explained, "Mom was asking about you and Raf."
June asked her son, "Did I do something wrong?"
Jack turned to his mother. The two bickered.
Miko turned to Raf and whispered, "I can't believe Jack. That school should be a scrap heap. I can't believe everyone brings it up around me." Miko looked up and we exchanged glances. Miko asked, "Shadow?"
"Yes," I hastily replied.
She turned toward Bulkhead. She said, "Bulkhead claims that I need to go to school to get a good job. I know that he was in construction and Ratchet was an engineer. What was your job? Did it need schooling?"
I looked over at the Wrecker. He wasn't wrong. Bulkhead's face reeked of desperation. He only wanted the best for his human friend.
I answered, "I'm not the best bot to ask. I never had a job."
Bulkhead stared confused, "But Shadow, you're of the warrior class. How could you not have had a job?"
I explained, "I was of the scout class before the war."
Miko was dumbfounded. She cried, "What do scouts and warriors have to do with education? I don't understand how any of this war mumbo-jumbo has to do with jobs!"
For a brief moment June and Jack stopped to look at us. They soon returned to their conversation.
Ratchet could not work with all of this noise. He passed by to collect a tool.
"Humans," he said, "they never understand anything," The doctor gave an annoyed sigh and explained, "The scout and warrior classes were renamed in the Great War. The scout class is similar to your teenage stage."
"Teenage, young-adult; basically the cool kids of the bunch."
Ratchet ignored me, "Scouts like Bumblebee never got to elevate status due to the war. But, apparently Decepticons did."
I added, "Not all of the scout class worked—"
Bulkhead cut in, "But most of them did. I know my limited education forced me into construction. Shadow, explain to Miko how important education is."
Miko crossed her arms and glared at Bulkhead.
I rubbed the back of my neck with one of my servos, "Well, to Miko's credit," I said, "The laboring class got a head start in physically preparing for the war. My studies didn't do much for me in that regard."
If anything, they caused the war.
Miko smiled. Bulkhead shot me a frustrated look.
Ratchet put down his tool. He asked, "I know my engineering knowledge helped. What did you study?"
I passionately answered, "I specialized in philosophy and law. Philosophy led me to question the right and wrong, causing me to join and then rejoin the Autobots. Law, on the other hand, would only be useful outside of both factions' military rules. While I was a Decepticon, I planned to reconstruct our new society, once Megatron had finished his quest for power."
"See Miko?" Bulkhead pointed out, "Education is important."
The girl rolled her eyes.
Ratchet questioned, "Though, the question still stands how the Decepticons celebrated our grand coming of age ceremony during the war. It was highly respected among even the most senile of elders."
"What?" Miko enquired, "You're making no sense Ratch. Why does it matter if this celebration could be preformed during the war? Or even if old guys like you liked it?"
"This celebration," Ratchet spat, "was supposed to welcome the next generation into society as newly realized independent citizens. Autobots such as Bumblebee could not go through with it until the leaders of the society would swear him in at the capital city of Iacon."
I justified my rise in class, "To respond to your intent that the Decepticons disrespectfully completed the ceremony. Megatron claimed to be the true ruler as the conqueror of Kaon. Everything was done by the books: very official."
Ratchet muttered under his breath, "Newly promoted warriors prepared to die for their Lord, and femmes of age to conceive with."
I raised an eyebrow, "What did you say?"
"Nothing," Ratchet glanced at Bulkhead and sarcastically said, "Very official."
Arcee swayed some rope in her servo and demanded, "Let's do this thing Jack," as she walked toward the exit.
Jack tried to follow his friend, but was promptly stopped by his mother.
Ms. Darby exclaimed, "But! I just got here! I brought sandwiches."
Jack defended, "Mom, uh. Look, I really need to help Arcee test her upgraded tracking system," before abandoning his mom.
Ms. Darby pleaded, "Well, just be careful."
Arcee blandly stated, "There's nothing to be careful about. It's just a routine diagnostic."
June argued, "Are you sure you need Jack for that?"
Arcee stopped in annoyance. She angrily sighed.
Bulkhead shouted, "Uh, oh."
Ratchet said, "Bulkhead, I need you back in the field to investigate an odd magnetic disturbance."
Miko cried, "I'll go with!" as she ran to her guardian.
Bulkhead stopped the hyper girl and ordered, "Stay put Miko."
Miko walked back to Ms. Darby and Raf, growling in a rage.
June asked, "Why aren't you going with him?"
Miko turned to Bulkhead and yelled, "Someone thinks it's not safe!"
June questioned, "But it's safe for Jack to go with Arcee?"
Jack walked back and explained, "Mom, totally different."
June put her hands on her hips, "Oh, How?" she asked.
Arcee stated angrily, "Mother knows best Jack." She turned towards the warrior, "Wait up Bulkhead!" Ratchet initiated the ground bridge. Arcee declared, "I'm going with," as she tossed the rope she was holding on the ground. Both bots walked towards the portal as it started to show.
Miko snuck towards the bots in all of the drama.
Jack mumbled in annoyance before glaring at his mom.
Ms. Darby defended, "Uh, what did I say?"
The portal closed. I asked, "Not to interrupt but—"
Ratchet complied, "Go ahead Shadow."
"Where's Miko?" I asked.
We all looked around.
Moments later Arcee COM'd base, "We're going to need a bridge."
Ratchet readied the groundbridge.
Arcee corrected, "Strike that Ratchet. Its only recon."
Ratchet turned off the ground bridge and grumbled to himself.
We stood in silence for a while. Jack was avoiding his mother's gaze. I wished Optimus was here... or Striker. Yeah, Striker: not Optimus. I could spar with Striker. Optimus would only want to talk.
Bulkhead called base to which, Ratchet covertly answered. A surprised look appeared on the doctor's face.
Ratchet asked, "You've been magnetized? Together?"
I walked over and put the COM on speaker. I wanted to hear too. It would distract me from lesser thoughts.
Miko said, "They're inseparable."
Bulkhead added, "And the device that did this is on its way to Megatron."
Ratchet concluded, "A polarity gauntlet. A deceptively simple, but diabolical creation."
Arcee said, "Just tell me you can unhitch us Ratchet."
The doctor replied, "It may simply be a residual magnetic charge providing your current," he paused, "attraction."
Miko cried out, "They're not attracted to each other!"
I laughed a bit. Ratchet rolled his eyes, "But I'm afraid retrieving the gauntlet is our surest bet for reversing its effects." Ratchet turned away from his work, towards us, "Once Megatron gets his hands on the gauntlet—"
Jack inferred, "He'll use it for a whole lot more than attaching notes and family photos to the fridge."
June looked to her son with worry in her eyes, "Jack, I'm not following."
Ratchet turned to her and explained, "Madam, we are forged of metal alloy," he gestured to himself. He grasped his servo into a fist, "If Megatron could repel us with the flick of a switch. We might never again have another shot at him."
It's two ways, right? That means we couldn't flee either.
Rafael said, "Instant force field."
"Worse yet," Ratchet said, "He might use it to meld us all into a scrap pile!" He looked up to his monitor, "The good news is that the gauntlet hasn't travelled far. I would strongly advise pursuit."
I offered, "I could go and help."
Ratchet reminded me, "Optimus grounded you."
I sighed and crossed me arms, "I guess this gauntlet isn't that important after all."
Ratchet ignored my response.
Bulkhead stated, "We can catch up faster on wheels."
Arcee killed that idea, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. And snap me in half?"
Bulkhead thought for a moment, "... Right."
Miko exclaimed joyfully, "Sweet! I'll take point."
Arcee negated, "Not this time kid."
Miko questioned, "What! But you said—"
Arcee justified, "That was recon. This is war. I'm not risking your well being, just so you can hit your daily adrenaline quota. Ratchet, Miko needs a bridge."
"Coming right up," Ratchet said.
Miko shouted, "You think Jack's mom is bad! You sound just like her!"
June looked at Jack, "Is that such a bad thing?" She asked.
Jack had difficulty answering. He gave up and stated, "I'm going to go over here." Jack walked away, awkwardly leaving Raf alone to smile comfortingly at the confused mother.
Ratchet opened a ground bridge for Miko. The human walked through annoyed. She stood in silence.
We all stood in silence. We all avoided each other's line of sight for what seemed like hours.
Five minutes later, Arcee COM'd base. Ratchet opened up a ground bridge for the two of them to enter through.
Arcee handed the gauntlet to Ratchet.
Bulkhead handed something else to Miko, "Souvenir, But..."
Arcee added, "We don't advise indoor use."
Miko complained, "Eww. They even finish each others sentences."
Bulkhead pointed to his arm and exclaimed, "Miko! Check it out! New battle scars!"
Miko smiled and took a picture.
Jack welcomed, "Arcee! Hey."
June stopped Jack and stated, "Let the Adults talk." June walked over to the two-wheeler. "Arcee," she said, "I think I owe you an apology."
Arcee asked, "You do?"
June conceded, "I worry. Especially when I fell like I can't control things. Which, with a teenager, is all the time."
Arcee looked at June surprised, and then smiled.
June continued, "Jack and I have always been close. Especially after his dad left... and I guess it's just hard to accept that all that's changing. I mean I knew it would someday. But, you're not the type of girl I thought Jack would be ditching me for."
Arcee happily responded, "I think we'd all been a little guilty of staying attached to the way things were."
Miko shouted, "Shadow come here!"
"What is it Lord Miko?" I sarcastically asked as I walked over to her.
"Arcee and Bulkhead were practically inseparable. Tell them how lame they are!"
"Miko says you two are 'la-may'," I said to them. Then I shielded my mouth from Miko's vision with my servo. I turned to the pair, "Now is when you act all insulted- so Miko can feel satisfied and leave this alone."
Arcee exclaimed, "Oh no! Not lame?"
Bulkhead dropped to his knees and begged the human, "Miko, I beg of you to take it back. Not lame. That's awful."
Miko angrily shouted at me, "Ha-ha. I can't believe you Shadow. Next you're going to tell me you like someone- like these two lovebirds!"
I looked away and hid my blush well. I smiled, and then covered my mouth with my servo. I thought of Dreadwing and then of Wheeljack. It took me a few more seconds before Orion or Megatron reached the edges of my thoughts. I took a page out of Starscream's book and decided to act. I shook my head and elongated my response, "Noooooooo." I had definitely overacted this. Just like Screamy. I was too on point.
"You like someone?" Arcee asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I calmly said back.
"Could we guess?" Bulkhead asked.
Miko threw her arms down in anger. She yelled, "I can't believe this!"
"Would we know him?" asked Arcee.
I tipped my head to the side, "Possibly."
Bulkhead asked, "Is he here?"
"No."
Optimus?
Arcee squinted her optics, "On the Nemesis?"
"Certainly not."
Megatron?
Miko growled. I smiled at the human. It was obvious she did not like any of this.
Funny.
I pointed a finger at her and jested, "You definitely would not know them."
Miko's eyes went wide as she yelled, "Them?!"
I covered my mouth with my extended servo. I realized my error. I turned toward the hall, which led to my room. I announced, "That's my cue to leave."
Miko cried out, enjoying the drama, "It's bad enough that these guys have one in mind -excluding that their one is the other- why is it that you, have to like two!"
I started to walk away, "Never said two."
Bulkhead asked, "Is it two?"
"Game's over!" I shouted.
Miko whispered to Bulkhead, "It's totally two."
Arcee called out, "Autobot or Decepticon?"
"I'm already gone."
I walked back into my room. I was smiling like an idiot. I could not believe myself. It was bad enough that I fell for either mech. But my dumb spark had decided to choose rivals... twice. Wonderful, I thought sarcastically.
...
Matrix's P.O.V.
My servos hurt. They were covered in scratches, my entire arms were. D*mned racing, I thought to myself. Why did I have to go for another? Why couldn't I just accept out win and follow Elf back to base? I was sitting on one of Knockout's medical tables, in the Med Bay.
"Now, now Matrix. What did I say about racing alone?"
"Shut it Elf."
"Well that's extremely polite of you. I almost forgot you had a spark."
Oh right, he's a dick.
"Just fix me," I spat.
"Those humans can sure be brutal. Just look at what they did to your paint job."
I rolled my optics. He had just finished buffing his.
"Humans..." I said, "Hah. Megatron's the cruel one."
"Hmm? The leader of the Decepticons is cruel? Are you sure the humans didn't damage your processors? What could give you that idea?"
"Those fragging Shadow laws."
"Hah. You name them that?"
"I thought the name fit."
"You really think they're about her?"
"That's what Snow said."
"Ooh. Scandalous. What else did the advisor say?"
"Megatron misses the warrior more than anything else. That the anti-fun rules were put in place to ensure no one else defected. He wants to keep tabs on everyone."
"Any interesting ones?"
"Everything Megatron does is off the books."
"Soundwave's not listening. You can go into the details."
"Megatron's growing desperate: in his spare time he looks for her. I heard that he'd do almost anything to get her back."
"That's what the tagging was for?"
"Sending Ghost in wouldn't hurt. If all went well, we'd be down an Autobot paint-scratching team."
"Anything else?"
"Snow also said that every day she's gone, Bucket-head looks worse upon Starscream."
"What do you mean by that last part?"
"With every growing day, he is reminded of her absence. Megatron is growing spiteful. He cannot blame the femme for leaving. It was Starscream who had tried to kill her after all. With each passing day, he thinks worse of Starscream."
"Seems like it's only a matter of time before something happens to the commander."
...
Shadow's .
I heard a knock from outside. I sat up on my berth. Optimus opened my door.
"Good morning Optimus."
"How can a morning be good, Shadow?"
I smiled.
"It's a human expression."
"Agent Fowler uses those."
Humans in general use those.
"Yep. Is there something you wanted?"
"I just wanted to make sure you were alright."
"I'm fine. Why?"
"You've isolated yourself in your room."
"I was sleeping."
"You didn't join everyone to receive your weekly rations."
"That was today? I had completely forgotten."
"Come. Ratchet should give you yours."
"Sure." I got up and followed the Prime.
"I heard about yesterday," he said.
"From who?"
"Bulkhead seemed concerned that you had not exited your room since..."
"Since when?"
"Since you had a falling out with Arcee."
"So, that's what he decided to go with."
"Did something else happen?"
We arrived at Ratchet's medical station.
"There you are Death's Shadow."
"'Morning Ratchet. Where'd everyone go?"
"Striker's asleep. The rest have curbside duty. Step over here."
"Got it."
Ratchet grabbed a spiked tube that connected to our energon supply. Everything was very calculated. He pricked my arm. I cringed. I received my rations. He removed the tube. I stepped back.
"I am still not used to that."
"Yes, you were used to... how exactly did you waste it again?"
"We drank it. We usually enjoyed it in a meal type fashion."
Just like on Cybertron.
"Tsk-tsk. So wasteful." The doctor returned to his work.
Wasteful? It's what you do that's weird.
"Shadow."
"Yes Optimus?"
"I- I... you," the mech took a large breath.
"What is it Optimus?"
"...It's nothing. I'll tell you later."
"In the meantime, I should reconnect with Arcee and Bulkhead."
...
Optimus Prime's P.O.V.
I love you.
"What is it Optimus?"
I want you to be my sparkmate. What do you think of me? I looked into her crimson optics. She was beautiful. She stared back with questioning eyes.
"It's nothing. I'll tell you later."
"In the meantime, I should reconnect with Arcee and Bulkhead." Shadow said before she turned away and walked toward the entrance. I watched her hips sway back and forth. My optics were glued to her. I shook my head. I turned back to Ratchet.
"You really should be more careful with your spark."
"What are you talking about, old friend?"
"I see the way that you look at her. I don't think she'll stay an Autobot forever."
"Why not? You don't know her as I do."
"I am aware of the many conversations the two of you have had. More so am I aware of your heavy watch upon her. I know this grounding is all a ploy to keep her close to you."
"You do not understand old friend. She is... different. She is nice and intelligent and kind and sweet and—"
"I understand Optimus. Your sight is blinded by what the humans call love."
"I am not blind. If anything I see more clearly than before."
"Optimus, she was a Decepticon for far too long to ignore. That in itself is an irredeemable quality. It is only a matter of time before she returns."
She's not irredeemable.
"No," I told him, "She is different."
"How do you know?"
"My spark tells me so."
"Believe whatever you want. Personally, I wouldn't without proof."
"Fine. I'll ask her."
Shadow was talking to Bulkhead and Arcee. I watched her mouth open and shut as she produced audio that my receptors could not detect. Once they had finished, I hurried to her side.
"Hey Optimus," she said in a kind tone, "Is something wrong?"
"Shadow," I paused, "I must know something."
"What is it?" She stared into my optics. "You can ask me anything."
"Under any circumstance, would you return to the Decepticons?"
Silence.
"Well?"
"Only if one of your lives depended on it."
"Why?"
"It's the right thing to do. Besides, wouldn't any of you do the same for me?"
"Of course."
"You're lying Optimus."
"What? No, I'm not. What are you talking about?"
"You are a terrible liar."
"No I'm not."
I looked into her optics. She stared back into mine. Her crimson eyes were warm and captivating.
"Look me in the eyes and tell me that you are a good liar."
"I am an honest mech."
She smiled.
"You're right Optimus. You are."
Bulkhead shoved her back. Shadow lost her balance and started to fall forward. I caught her before she hit the ground. I lifted her back to her feet and let her go. She took a step backward and blushed.
"Thank you Optimus."
"It was my pleasure."
I looked back into her optics, and she looked back into mine. She was smiling. I smiled back. Her eyes were something else. They were kind, inviting, comforting... She reminded me of my fallen friend. She looked down at the ground and her smile faded.
"I'm sorry Optimus."