Author's Note: Check out the author's end note at the end of this for more commentary and the Q & A tomorrow. That's it, folks. Hope you like!
Epilogue
Reason
Three hours earlier,
Slag it all to the Inferno! Cheetor thought as he experimentally placed his weight on his good leg and slowly tried to transfer some over to his right one.
It hurt.
A lot.
Enough to make him resent the Technorganic nature of his body. When he has been purely mechanical prior to the Technorganic War, Cheetor could have just shut off receptors to the injury, but nerve endings did not work quite the same way as wiring. The humans had given him something for the pain and a shot directly to the thigh to numb the area around the injury, but again his Technorganic nature worked against him, wearing down the medication far faster than it would have taken to pass through a normal human system.
And Cheetor was not one for sitting idol. He wanted to be there with Rattrap and Depth Charge when the others returned from Boston. It was still a little surreal having the water-based Cybertronian there, not to mention the idea that Dinobot would be joining them soon. He tried not to think about the colossal mistake he had made of confusing what he now understood to be Dinobot and Depth Charge's sparks in his vision for Tigatron and Airazor. An understandable mistake given the circumstance, as Rattrap kept telling him, but it did not make him feel any less stupid. He mentally winced at the thought of facing Blackarachnia in a matter of hours.
"Christopher Stark?"
He had not heard the door to the infirmary open and stumbled a little, bracing himself against the medical bed behind him at the sound of a woman's voice. Cheetor looked up to see a woman in a dark blue uniform with blond, neatly combed hair that fell to the nape of her neck. She looked familiar and after a moment of searching his mind, Cheetor came up with a name.
"Lieutenant Myers, right?" he was proud of himself for remembering.
She gave a court nod, her posture never loosing its military professionalism. "Mr. Banachek is waiting for you in his office. He asked me to tell you it's important that you come and see him immediately. Do you require assistance?"
"No," he forced a smile. "I should be fine."
'Fine' was a relative term. It took him a full fifteen minutes to stumble down the maze of corridors he would have normally covered in three. Cheetor almost decided to turn back once or twice, but in the end he pressed on. The young commander found himself grateful that his team had not yet returned from the airport to see his sorry state.
Having finally reached Banachek's office, he twisted the knob and pushed the door openhalf-way without bothering to knock.
"You wanted to see..."
His breath caught in his throat. The human was seated at his desk, but he was not alone. Standing beside that same desk was a man he would have recognized anywhere. Cybertronians were like that; a race that changed bodies almost as easily as humans changed loathing learned to see past the exterior. The newcomer's brandy-brown eyes radiated a warmth that was unmistakable.
"Big bot..."
Cheetor was filled with a kind of joy he had not felt in ages accompanied by absolute assurance that everything would be alright from now on. He took a step forward, wanting nothing more than to run to his mentor.
The door swung all the way open, revealing the room's final occupant. At the sight of the man's half-amused half-mocking smirk, another bolt of recognition flashed through Cheetor's mind.
No...
For the second time that day, his world shattered.
Author's End Note: Dun dun dun! Optimus is back! And he brought Megatron along. What? Why? You'll see in pt. 2 of this which is coming... later. After my semester is over (ie after December 19th). I can't promise any hard scheduled for this because my school work is eating me alive, and I really need to catch up. So I'll be planning, but probably not posting. I may, however, post the prologue soon. Till next time!