HEY! I AIN'T DEAD! I am so, so sorry about how long this unintentional hiatus was, first year of Uni was really draining and I rarely had the motivation to work on anything save Birds and this other fanfiction that I've only posted the first chapter of over on Archive of your own. This chapter is pretty mismatched as a result, being written over the course of ten months. The last piece of which I wrote all of literally today and felt so good about because I'd finally completed a new chapter of this story. I really hope you'll all forgive me for how long this took and I hope equally as much that you all enjoy!
Diego Garcia
William Lennox sighed, trying to focus on the computer screen in front of him, displaying a recent mission briefing, for what felt like the hundredth time.
Alas the constantly pacing black and red weapons specialist in front of the platform he was on, disrupted any hope of thinking he had.
"Ironhide! Calm down!" He called, catching the giant mechs attention.
Almost immediately the weapons specialist rounded on him with a scowl.
"Calm down?! Calm down?! Lennox my daughter is out there! Somewhere! No matter how hard I press on the bond we share I can't find her and all of this is after we find out that my daughter was violated repeatedly in her youngling hood! How in the flaming pits of Kaon am I supposed to calm down!?" The mech raged, stomping one of his massive pedes into the concrete, causing a large crack to form.
Lennox stared at the mech before rubbing his temples with his fingers to try and ward off the headache beginning to form. Taking a moment to collect his thoughts, he spoke. "Listen Ironhide, I couldn't possibly understand what your feeling in that spark of yours right now, but what I do know, is that, if this was my baby girl who had this happen to her, there's two things I'd do."
Ironhide had his whole attention on the human now as the giant mech leaned in, crowding the man. "Go on."
Lennox nodded and continued. "One, find the son of a bitch and cut his nuts off."
That got a snort out of the mech. "A human after my own spark, what would be the second thing you would do Lennox?"
"The next thing I'd do, is show her that even after this, I still love her like none other, and that, until the moment I depart this Earth, I am never going to stop. Nova's gonna need you to be her rock Ironhide, you're her father… and sure I don't know where humans and Cybertronians are different there, but I'm pretty sure that you supporting her and helping her recover will make her feel so much safer then she probably feels right now. Probably scared and alone god knows where on this planet." He then added, lowering his gaze to the runway floor.
Ironhide gritted his denta, fists curling again until the metal of his servos were groaning against one another. "How am I supposed to do that when I do not even know where she is?!"
"Easy big guy, all the resources we can spare are looking for her, but with her speed, she could be at Mars by now for all we know."
Just then, the phone on the computer desk next to him rang, sighing and raising a finger to pause the giant black and red mech, he picked up the phone. "Yes? In bound call? Alright, put it through… This is Sergeant Lennox of the US Army, this better be important… Mikaela? Whoa, whoa, slow down kid… Nova's with you? Oh thank god… Wait… repeat that again… she remembered what about her past? … Holy shit… how the hell am I supposed to explain this to her folks? Let her? Ironhide's standing right next to me! He's hearing everything I'm saying and his holoforms trying to steal the phone! Hey! Let me finish Hide! Jeez, you'd think you weren't taught manners… Okay, ah, your father found out about Nova being an alien? And Nova's not at her best right now… okay, yeah, we kind of expected that… Jesus Hide stop! Sorry no that wasn't aimed at you Mikaela, Hide here's being persistent and… oh you want me to pass you over?"
Ironhide had had enough and snatched the primitive device clean out of the Sergeant's hand and to his own holoforms ear before Lennox could even offer it to him. "Femme, explain yourself." He growled out.
"Hello to you too. Okay erm, Nova showed up at about five this morning looking like her soul had clean left her body… after a bit of talking she explained what she remembered and told me and my papa something… concerning… it's not my place to tell you this though, it's hers. So I just figured I'd call using that number Bee gave me a while back and tell you that she's mostly okay, she's just really shaken up right now… I'd suggest sending Qwezel, but my neighbours would flip clean out and Nova's not exactly happy about the idea of leaving at the moment… despite one of my neighbours nearly crashing into her cloaked form about half an hour ago."
At hearing this he ran his holoforms hand down his face. "Was she seen?"
"Huh? Oh no, no, don't worry, he pulled off right before her into his driveway."
"Tell her to move."
"Yeah… tried that, but she's been kinda spaced out for the last… forty odd minutes? She's just staring at the wall, one sec. Nova! Hey! I got Hide on the phone! You wanna talk with your…. Err… Nova? Hey! Where you going!?... Cons?! Oh shit! Nova stop! You're in no condition to go and fight! Wait! … and she's gone… ooooh ffffuck. Ironhide… I back track on that whole thing of sending Qwezel, heh heh… cause she looked fucking pissed."
Then the called ended.
This was not good.
His holoform was deactivated before he even put down the phone, leaving Lennox to scramble for it as he focused his attention on finding his newest and largest son.
It wasn't hard to find the giant Predacon, given that neither he nor the twins had left their positions together out on the sunbaked pavement, now joined by Bumblebee, Solardancer and Chromia, who'd all come together in a kind of vigil, watching the sky in hopes that their wayward seeker would return.
Their attention shifted at his arrival, Chromia pulling away from the group and going to meet him halfway.
"Ironhide, there's been word?" She asked, reaching up to press her servos against his chassis, finding his optics with hers and giving him such a look of desperation he could do nothing but pull her into a tight hug, taking her clear off the ground.
"She's in California, she was with her charge. But she's since taken off again, I heard Mikaela mention 'Cons'." He responded, turning his attention to Qwezel. "How many of us can you carry?"
Qwezel seemed surprised by the sudden question, rearing his massive helm back a bit. Though he was still quick too answer. "It really depends on the weight combination, small to medium bots I can easily carry a number of, but you're hardly a medium sized bot Ironhide, if you were to come, others wouldn't fit." He glanced around at the surrounding group. "As large as I am, my wings can only produced so much lift…"
Before anyone could answer another voice called out, the source quickly getting closer to the group. "I am going!" Flare-up announced, stopping directly in front of Qwezel and giving him a look she then passed to the others that for once in her life, she was deadly serious. "Nova's my niece and by Primus she needs us to be there for her! Also I heard Cons are involved." She added, performing the action of cracking her 'knuckles' she had picked up from some of the female soldiers she'd often been spotted chatting with.
Qwezel looked past the flame themed femme to Ironhide and Chromia, the former placing the later back down.
After a moment the two nodded and Ironhide spoke. "I will stay here. Mia, Bee, Solar, Flare…. Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, go with Qwezel to California whilst I fill everyone in, the more of you there are, the likelier you are to find her and these Cons."
The group nodded as Qwezel lowered his massive frame down, Solardancer was first to board, quickly scrambling up to his helm and taking hold of two of his malformed horns, the fine cabling nearly completely covering her.
Next was Chormia, who then pulled Bumblebee up behind her, who in turn helped Flareup into place behind him.
Flareup went to help the twins up, but both mechs were already straddling the Qwezel's back. Huffing slightly she focused on taking hold of Qwezel's wing bases.
Qwezel turned his helm to regard Ironhide again. "We'll find her."
Ironhide nodded. "You better kid."
Qwezel huffed. "I'm technically billions of years older than you." Wanting to have the last word in the short conversation he allowed his body to coil before launching himself and his passengers into air, elating an ecstatic whoop of joy from both Solardancer and Flareup, whilst also incurring a 'no barrel rolls!' from Sunstreaker, who'd ended up right at the back behind Qwezel's wings and his twin.
Ironhide huffed, watching as his family unit, and his daughters mech friends disappear into the heavy cloud which now covered the island.
"Find her, and by Primus bring her home."
Agua Hechicera Mexico
Thunderblast was taking cover under a small rock formation when she saw Novalight rocket over helm.
The sound of incoming engines had been her sudden need for hiding, fearing that one of the cons had caught onto the signal burst she let off at a low range frequency.
It was a little known fact that only seekers could hear the call, and it had been a major gamble considering how close she still was the the Decepticons shamble of a base.
But there she was, flying over helm, her cloak down leaving her unkempt paint job to reflect the light of the sun.
Stepping out from cover, she shouted up. "NOVA! SWEE' SPAR'! DOWN HERE!" She could of shouted louder, but she didn't want to push her luck.
She watched as her niece banked a hard right, wincing as she heard the rattle of armour, those damn cons… they made her too fast for even her own plating to really handle.
Nova was landing a moment later, her transformation as smooth as oil as she landed in a crouched position.
The sound of her jets and that hydra energy drive cooling down filled the air in the silence than followed between them.
It didn't last, as she watched Nova rise to her full height, four wings held high behind her and chassis out in defiance.
And suddenly she felt small.
Novalight towered over her.
She hadn't realised it when the femme was huddled over herself screaming her vents out, but now her niece stood over her, scowl on her pale faceplates, she felt it, that looming feeling that all Cons seemed to have.
"Nova…"
"I. Want. Answers." The growled out demand made her flinch, but what made her optics widen was the dagger Novalight pulled from her sub space.
Thunderblast took a step back in panic. "Nova… swee' spar', honey… ah…"
"Real answers. You told me my sire is one of the most infamous seekers to of ever lived, who slaughtered thousands of innocent neutrals like they were cannon fodder!" The seekers engines were roaring under her amour, amplifying her display of aggression as she took a heavy step forwards, those massive claws scraping up dirt and cleaving through the packed ground like it was nothing. "And you think you can just drive away?! Oh no. Ooooooooh no. I am getting the full story out of you even if I have to gut you."
She felt her tanks drop in terror.
"It… it ain' mah story yah tell… it's yah sire's..." She was forced to take another step back at the snarl that left Novalights vocalisers.
But then Nova was smirking… a smirk that quickly became a snarl.
Before Thunderblast knew what was happening, she was pinned to the wall of rock behind her by her shoulder platting, Nova's servo clenched around the platting there, and claws threatening to puncture the armour.
"Well then… You're going to have to take me to him~"
In a rush of fear driven energy Thunderblast realised this was actually the perfect conversation starter.
"Yes! Ah will! That's why ah called yah! Ah lef' yah there to ge' tah yah sire and tell him wha' yah told meh! Bu' i' wen' pear shaped an Starscream attacke' meh!"
The sudden outburst seemed to knock Novalight's senses a bit, and the femmes grip faltered, but only slightly.
She used the moment to keep the going. "Yah sire hear' tha' commotion an' came runnin' fough' him off! We manage' tah escape!"
Novalight frowned, seeming to be taking her time taking in Thunderblast's state, her own clawed digit brushing over her cracked face plate, unknowingly almost identical in motions to her sire only an hour or so before.
And much like the last time, she couldn't contain the hiss of pain it caused. "Screamer…"
Novalight's frown remained as she finally pulled away, dagger thankfully being placed back into the subspace at her side. "If you're lying."
"Ah ain'! Please! Ya Pappa ende' up real ban'ed up an' he needs medical attention stat!" She responded frantically.
Novalight raised a sceptical brow as she responded with a nearly venom laced dose of snark. "Do I look like a medic to you?"
Thunderblast couldn't help but roll her golden optics. "No, bu' yah know medics."
Before she could react Novalight had grabbed hold of her upper arm and yanked her forwards. "Well then, how about you show me where this sire of mine is then? If he's in need of such urgent medical attention, we shouldn't be idling here."
Thunderblast wasn't sure what it was, but something about how Novalight said that put her on edge.
But she knew one thing, there was a promise, what that promise was she didn't know, and that's what scared her.
"Righ'... ah stashe' him in a nearly abandoned ol' minin' town… South ah here by abou' ah half hour drive... No time fah yah tah get there…"
Novalight nodded, her frown morphing to a smirk. "Good to know, you can show me the way."
Before she knew what was happening her niece had spun, using their tight grip on her arm to launch her into the air, much like her sire again.
When she landed, it was against the fuselage of her nieces alt mode.
Dread pooled in her tanks, when she heard the words that somehow made that dread drop even further.
"I suggest you hold on."
She had barely enough time to wrap her arms around the scuffed purple, white and gold metal before they were shooting forwards and arching upwards, rocketing towards the sky like a damn rocket.
The startled scream that left her was just as quickly left behind them as Novalight continued to accelerate, shooting higher and higher, slicing through the thin layer of clouds above.
It took mere moments for something to shift in the air with how fast they were going.
And then, she was weightless, and her screams were lost to the vacuum.
If it weren't for her vice like hold on Novalight's feuselage, she would be floating.
They were in space…
Novalight had gone from the Earth Surface to zero Gravity in less time than it took Thunderblast to register the fact that she was weightless.
And with that wholy unwelcome feeling, she promptly started banging on the armour, not too hard, even in her panicked state, she knew that Novalight could easily, with just a push, send her hurtling downwards and leave her to burn up on re-entry.
Oh Primus that was not a pleasant thought.
By all the flaming Pits of Kaon what did Shockwave and those other maniacs do to her?!
Then she felt it, the shifting of plates as Novalight transformed, she was forced to let go as her niece resumed her bipedal state, a winning smirk on her features.
Without any prompting, Novalight pointed downwards towards the planet, and at the same time, she received a com-link from the seeker.
Opening it, hoping to beg for her life, Novalight beat her to the punch.
'What half abandoned mining town?'
She felt her systems stall slightly, not aided much in the fact that she was slowly rolling backwards after letting go of Novalight.
A light tug on her pede though righted that issue as Novalight managed to coerce her frame into facing downwards, taking Thunderblast's own with the seekers grip on the former boats pede.
After a few minutes of trying to regain herself she spotted it, her optics were thankfully advanced enough to spot the mountain range that the town was built into the side of, and she was able to point there.
She glanced up, looking for Novalight's reaction.
The seeker was completely stone face, a small frown on her features.
But then it became a smirk once again.
'Then let's get down there. Hold on.'
She didn't need to be told twice, scrambling to grip onto the first part of her niece she could reach, which happened to be her left shoulder plate.
She could already tell she wasn't going to enjoy what was coming next.
Somewhere over the Pacific
The journey to California had been a silent affair, Qwezel and all his passengers lost to their own thoughts
At least until Solardancer's star-wards gaze spotted something.
"Correct me if I'm wrong… but doesn't that meteor hurtling towards the ground look a lot like Nova?" She remarked, leaning forwards in Qwezel's mass of cabling, one servo pressed into the gap between his main horn and the one to it's right so that she could point ahead to what looked like something quite large hurtling to earth in a fireball.
Chromia, after a bit of clambering, managed to join Solardancer at the front, servo hovering above her optics to shield them from the harsh sun above.
When she finally focused in on the hurtling hunk of metal, it was impossible not to spot the patchy paint job of her daughter, or her four wings.
As soon as that happened though, the hardened weapons specialist felt her tanks drop when she recognised what else was with her daughter.
She almost didn't see it, what with how shockingly similar their colour schemes where, but she doubted she'd ever doubt she would forget whom was holding onto her daughter.
"Thunderblast…" She muttered, only just audible over the howling of the wind that passed by all of them.
Clearly Solardancer heard her though, being perched so close. "Thunderblast?! The Thunderblast!? The femme that led the devastating slaughter of over half the Autobot troops stationed at the west side of the sea of rust?! That Thunderblast?!"
She heard Flare-up let off an excited squeal at the suggestion there was going to be a fight, but Chromia was much more focused on getting Qwezel's attention. "Qwez! You're faster without us right?!"
It took a moment before the deformed predacon gave a solemn nod. "Technically yes, but I don't like we're you're going with this…"
"Just get to the coast and fly low enough for us to jump! Then get to Nova!" Chromia shouted over the wind, the volume allowing even Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker to hear at the back.
To which Sunstreaker gave the helpful response of. "You want us to do what?!"
Chromia's look back at the golden twin silenced any further protests.
Flare-up in comparison looked ecstatic at the idea. "Mia! You amazing slag I've always wanted to pull scrap like this!" She'd already thrown on leg over to perch on a single side of the massive predacon, the only thing keeping her from falling straight off being her fierce grip on the predacons plating.
Even Qwezel looked back at the femme. "You truly are mad!" He shouted other the rest of the groups attempts to calm her down.
Given she'd promptly gone from stradling Qwezel's back, to hanging off the side of him by a servo.
This had led to Bumblebee nearly falling off the side of Qwezel himself, along with Sideswipe for that matter, as they tried to haul the unwilling, seemingly suicidal femme backup from where she was dangling hundreds of metres about the churning Pacific ocean.
Flare-up however, just batted them all away, a wild look in the her optics, the sense of danger and the thrill of it fueling her like a high.
Solardancer and Chromia looked back at the scene unfolding on Qwezel's back, the former with understandable concern, the later with a countenance of having seen similar acts from Flare-up many a time before. In effect, bored and somewhat put off by the femmes apparent lack of focus on the direness of the current situation unfolding around them.
The hurtling fire-ball which had been identified as Novalight and the infamous Thunderblast, had already vanished from sight over the mountain range that ran along the Mexican coast.
Thunderblast wasn't sure when it happened, but at some point when they were dangerously close to impacting the ground at a velocity that left her armour burning near white hot, she'd blacked out, her processor stalling from the excessive heat.
When her systems finally rebooted, she realised she was being held against shifting metal, her still hot armour rubbing and catching on an equally hot frame whose arms were wrapped under her legs, with her own arms draped over their shoulder platting.
There was a sway to the motion as the frame carrying them rocked, and she bounced ever so gently off the metal protruding out of the frame that held them, the frames wings, which were folded down, giving her the room to hold on in her daze.
Her pedes weren't even touching the ground, suspended in mid air as the rhythmic steps and low thrum of something with the other frame coerced her into a calm state of existence.
It was such a foreign feeling… being carried like this.
But it felt so nice… it brought back long tucked away memories of better times to lull her mind with.
Her sire used to carry her like this, before he'd laugh and drop her into the crashing waves which where the sea of rust.
Her carrier carrying her little sister.
The little thing looking out fearfully at the churning waves, tucked tight against her carriers chassis.
There was no such fear within herself as she goaded her sire to join her further out, both transforming to skip across the waves in her recently acquired alt mode.
When they later idled, and the soft rock of the waves cradled her frame, her sires raucous laughter boomed as her carrier finally joined them by stepping all of a pede into the waves, a docile, endearing smile matched by the endearment in her optics.
Her little sister flinching at every spray that touched her frail frame.
The memory faded, the calm joy being replaced with pride.
She was sitting in the front row, her sire sitting right next to her, optics bright with the same pride, recording everything for her carrier to see later.
On stage, her little sister, singing her spark out about the beauty of the stars, the galaxies, the universe in all of it's infinite possibilities.
Her little sisters optics were closed, her coping mechanism, singing like she would in her room, or on the barren shores of the rust sea away from their home.
Once it ended she stayed still, so did her sire, optics welling up with lubricant, she just smiled at her little sister who looked to them first, still as timid as ever, faceplates framed by a lighter shade of purple than her own, glowing bright blue as the rest of the audience shouted and clapped their elation.
Then her optics glanced away.
She looked over in the same direction and spotted someone, a young seeker, blue, black, and white in colouration, holding a collection of vibrant crystal flowers.
She watched her little sister walk off stage, disappearing with the young seeker mech, taking the bunch and smiling at something he said she couldn't hear.
But what he said made her happy, and that made her happy for her little sister.
Later that night, they went to visit carrier.
Even know she remembered with painful clarity how pale her carrier was, her pastel tones fading to grey slowly.
Sire showed her the recording, it was enough for her carrier to smile, before turning to her, beconning her over.
"I'm so proud of both of you… I just wish Starskipper was here for me to say that to her...Let her know I'll always be proud of both of you..."
It was too late when she realised what her carrier meant.
Her sire picked it up quickly enough, his own dark paint tones starting to fade.
He turned to her, got down on one knee joint, and hugged her.
It wasn't the usual gentle hold of a mech wary of his own strength.
It was a hug of desperation, the final goodbye… making it last as long as he could.
"Be strong Blast… And keep Skipper safe… I know you can do it…"
Then they were gone.
It was so quick she was left standing there in shock, the machines around her sounding the tones of demise.
Her carrier and sire passed together, one from an incurable disease… and the other from a broken spark.
The medics arrived soon after, prying her free from her sires limp hold.
She'd finally realised what was happening then.
She started to scream, to shout, the beg them not to take her creators away.
There was nothing she could do to stop them.
She was taken to the waiting room.
Starskipper arrived not long after, lubricant falling like a fast flowing torrent.
The seeker mech hot on her pedes, worry on his own faceplates.
She embraced her sister her own inherent strength held in check so as not to harm her sisters frail frame.
The seeker gave them space, tried to speak to the medical staff about what to do next.
The answer they gave him was cold, and left both of them with a feeling of dread to add to their already painful grief.
It was on the anniversary of their passing a vorn later, that she had the strength to tell Skipper their creators final words.
By then they were living in Vos… they couldn't stay in their old home… they'd sold it… and moved in with Starskipper's mechfriend.
Thundercracker.
The memories faded when there was a sudden shift in movement.
More accurately, the movement had stopped, the gentle rocking had ended, and the frame, now cooler, shifted to the side.
Finally she onlined her optics, and found herself staring upon the countenance of her own sister.
But it wasn't her sister.
It was her sisters daughter.
Novalight.
"You're crying."
They were two words, spoken as a near empty statement of fact with only the faintest hint of curiosity... but they jolted her enough to knock her back to full reality, where she went to wipe her optics with the back of her servos.
"Ain' gonna deny tha'."
"Why?"
"Was thinkin' 'bout yah carrier… Skipper…"
"Skipper?"
"Starskipper… named afta mah own carriers love ah tha' stars… she wan'ed so bad for us tah one day see tha' universe fah all i's beauty… in a way… ah got tah… but Skipper? Murdered after tha' emergence ah her own hope for a better future… she chose yah designation yah know? Came tah me one day… an' tol' me tha' one cycle… she' take yah tah watch ah Supernova… she never go' tha chance… tah show you the one thin' in the universe she loved tah see tha' most... that weren' yah sire of course." She ended it with a chuckle, one hollow and pained.
She looked back to Novalight, having looked away as she spoke.
She could only see one of her nieces optics from this angle, but as it slowly cycled around, she knew her words hit home.
"Ah promise yah swee' spark, am'ah take you to see a Supernova one day… ma'e Skipper's wish come true at last… If you'll let me?"
There was a long moment of silence before the faintest of smiles appeared on Novalight's lipplates, and she nodded.
"I'll hold you to that… aunty…"
Those few words filled her with such joy she was already hugging her nieces neck before she knew what she was doing.
For once in her life, she didn't hold back the strength in her hold.
"Ah promise! Once yah sires all better, am'ah sure he'll wanna make up fah lost time! 'Cause ah know ah do! ...You and Thunda are all ah got left in this universe…!" She was still crying, but now it was out of joy, sheer unadulterated joy, something she hadn't felt since she'd gotten word that Novalight had been taken in by the Autobots.
She felt as Novalight chuckled and moved into a kneel, letting Thunderblast's pedes finally touch the ground again. "Then how about you show me the way?"
Righting herself, Thunderblast nodded, going to start heading towards the mountain she knew she'd stashed Thundercracker away in.
She hadn't even made a full pede step before Novalight was embracing her.
For all of a moment the memory of her and Starskipper embracing came back, but this was different, Novalight towered over here, where Starskipper was far smaller than her.
But it felt good… the melancholy of the time they'd missed, mixed with the joy at finally being accepted by her niece… it felt really good, upon realising this, she returned the embrace.
When they finally broke apart, and Novalight returned to her full height they set off, Thunderblast leading the way through the valley Novalight had been carrying her through.
"Yah know… mah sire would' be ova tha moon tah know his grand creation came ou' almos' as tall as him."
"I always wondered why I was taller than the other femmes."
"Well Thunda's pretty big to… bu' ah like tah thin' yah take more from mah side ah the code pool."
"Ratchet will probably want to test that theory."
"Le' him, ah go' ah lon' standin' be' with Thunda ah once made when ah foun' out how big yah'd gotten. He neede' ah righ' cheerin' up, so ah pu' ten cubes ah energon on tha' line for when the wars ova…"
"Let's hope we all get to see that then."
"Yeah… let's hope."
All on board the feels train! Before anyone thinks 'hey that was a pretty quick turn around for Nova' may I point you back to literally every other chapter of this story, Nova was waiting for real proof that Thunderblast meant what she said and she got it.
Also yay! You finally get to know who Nova's carrier was! The darling little femme by the name of Starskipper!
Again I am so sorry for how long this all took. I have a 8-5 job over the summer, but that's giving me plenty of time I haven't had the rest of the year to work on ideas, so hopefully the next chapter will be alone soon enough!
Until then! Moon.
