Here we go, guys! And…I actually found another story here that's like this one. What is it with people deciding to steal ideas for my stories? Second time this year. At least the first person actually deleted the story and rewrote it so they could actually make it their own…well, sort of.
WinterSnow13: You should just go right to One shall fall and of course go through One shall rise.
Don't tell me you've forgotten about TMI and Stronger, Faster!
Awesomo3000: This story is pretty good so far, great job on it! Can't wait for the next chapter, I LOVE the episode Partners! Update whenever you can!
One thing I love about Partners is the fact it's dedicated to Peter Cullen's brother, who actually inspired the voice of Optimus.
Guest: Princess of Dreams
Hmmn, Partners eh? Well if Arcee got hurt, Lida and Optimus are bound to feel it. Well, maybe after the whole incident, arcee and Talida could have some mother daughter time. Please update!
That'll definitely be on the agenda.
Girl Supersonicboy: I think Optimus will be more openly vocal about what happened.
Ratchet I think will wait until he has Talida alone in a room and yell louder than Optimus.
Great chptr. Loved it.
Hearing Ratchet at people is always funny… "Bulkhead, I needed that!" XD
He needs to say that more.
Lady Minuialwen: Lol great chapter :D Love how it follows the episode
I try to.
Transformeranimefan: omg what's worse an angry dad or an angry boyfriend
Good question. Both parents say dad.
haloangel21: I'm sure you'll think of something. I mean, come on. You're the best writer I've seen in ages. And not counting my sister who has an account on here…
I could help. Maybe you could add Clarion like you did back in Rising Darkness. Leave Shanahan out of this, since it's Talida's story of finding out her biological parents, but you should bring Clarion back and his dislike for Optimus. :P So sorry for the long review. Just trying to help out.
That wasn't a long review. And I appreciate the idea. But since Clarion belongs to me, I can't use him again. That time in Rising Darkness was a one-off thing.
Autobot Shadowstalker: Awesome chapter! Can't wait for more. And as for Partners, I think you should have Optimus let Talida came on that mission so both her and Arcee can watch our old pal Screamer.
Hmmmm…
AlphaTrion3145: Me and Teridax probably had the same thoughts… That happens.
That used to happen with one of my former friends.
Optimus' girl: OMP! I have great news for you! Optimus is still alive after the base was blown up. I am still worried about him.
The new season starts next Friday! You would just LOVE Bumblebee's new colors! They are so cool! I don't know what you should do next. It's been a long time since I have seen season two of TF:Prime.
I'm sure that you will think of something, buddy. I'll have to agree with you about the Wi-Fi. I had to use my step-dad's laptop want down at my house.
Keep up the AWESOME work with your stories! I just LOVE reading your stories!
I know. I watch the episodes on YouTube. It's how I got into it.
Emajade32439: Enjoyed it as always. Looking forward to the next chapter.
Thanks! I look forward to it too and I'm writing it!
Alright. I appreciate the ideas you guys came up with. But…as I read your reviews, I actually remembered that there was something I hadn't done for a while.
Transformers: Prime rightfully belongs to Hasbro and The Hub.
© Talida and other OCs rightfully belong to me unless I say otherwise.
Powerless rightfully belongs to Linkin Park and their respective record label.
What can I say? I'm in a LP mood. Oh! Should I use this in Rising Storms?
ENJOY!
"Hey," Arcee greeted her daughter as she sat on the cliff edge next to her, "Aren't you a little too close to the edge?"
"I've never been too scared of heights. Even when I was a kid," Talida admitted before realizing who she was talking to, "Should you even be out of the base? You're injured, remember?"
"I'm fine, Tally," Arcee immediately reassured her.
"Are you really?" Talida retorted.
Arcee sighed. There was no arguing with her daughter. She inherited her personality despite the amount of times Arcee would argue that she was just like Optimus. Gingerly, she placed her fingers over the recently healed wound, remembering just how that wound came to be.
The Autobots had picked up the signal of a Decepticon crash landing from some time ago. By the time the Autobots had arrived, they had encountered Airachnid. Naturally, Arcee chased after her longtime enemy, eager to finish what they started. Optimus had to save her from Airachnid when the going got tough. Then…they had another surprise. Bulkhead found Starscream, wrapped in a cocoon made of Airachnid's webs and left for scrap. As if that wasn't enough surprise, he then made his intentions clear.
He wanted to become an Autobot.
They knew that Starscream had to have an angle going. But they played along. The Autobots made Starscream lead him to the other half of the Harbinger. Once there, Optimus left Arcee to guard him while he, Bulkhead and Bumblebee went after Airachnid. Eventually, Arcee learned the worst news about Cliffjumper's death and the horror of what she was doing.
She was guarding her partner's killer.
Everything went downhill from there. Arcee challenged him to a fight to the death. Even threw down the key to the cuffs for him to take, saying that had the roles been reversed, Cliffjumper would have given him a fighting chance. When he refused, she bent down to pick up the key and Starscream dealt the near fatal blow by using his claws to stab her in the side.
As Talida was at dance rehearsals, she felt the pain through the familial bond. To everyone else, it was a stitch she had required for dancing too long and too hard and was ordered to take a 15-minute break while Josh worked on the background dancers. However, she knew that one of her parents or Bumblebee were injured. She was unable to contact Ratchet due to her cell phone battery being dead and the fact that Jack wouldn't be able to pick her up until his shift had finished.
Later, she found out that it was Arcee and found out everything that happened. She was speechless, refusing to believe that her mother would stoop to his level. That was when she secretly used the GroundBridge to come out to the desert cliff.
"You have to understand why I did what I did, Tally," Arcee began.
"Well, I'm having a hard time to. If there was one thing that I learned growing up, it's the fact that revenge never solves anything. It just leaves you cold and empty. Haven't you learned that by now after everything that happened with Airachnid?" Talida snapped, "And look. I get it. Cliffjumper was your first and only partner after Tailgate's death and you guys were close. But killing Starscream wouldn't have brought him back. It wouldn't have changed anything. Cliffjumper would still be dead. And you'd have to live with that."
"It wasn't just for Cliffjumper. It was for you," Arcee muttered, earning Talida's attention, "While we were fighting, Starscream talked about your time aboard the Nemesis. About everything that happened to you. How he…"
"Don't say it," Talida pleaded, "Don't say it!"
"Is it true?!" Arcee asked in horror, "Did he…?"
"Rape me?" Talida finished Arcee's question with a tremble, "Yeah. He did."
Arcee felt as though she was going to purge what was left in her Energon tanks. She had met a lot of femmes during the war that had been raped by Decepticons. The majority of the time, it was at the hands of either Megatron or Starscream. Although, others among the Decepticon ranks – even Soundwave – did it too. Arcee knew them because she ended up saving a lot of them from their horrors. But she had been too late for her little sister, who was brutally raped by Starscream and died in her arms due to her injures by the time Arcee found her. Not even Ratchet would have been able to save her.
So to Arcee, hearing the fact that her daughter underwent what her sister did, made her feel as though she was holding her dying sister in her arms once again. She couldn't bring herself to relive that. Not again.
"How? When?!" Arcee choked, her body shaking in anger.
"It was two days before Knock Out and Breakdown helped me escape the ship. Well…at least, I think it was two days. Megatron went out to battle Dad and Knock Out and Breakdown were on patrol. Starscream was left in charge of me. He activated his holoform. And he started touching me the way Megatron did. I tried to push him off me. But…for a scrawny little bastard, he sure was strong. Every time I tried to scream or yell out to someone for help, he would hit me. Every attempt I made to fight back only made him advance on me even more. Then…," Talida stopped as tears choked her, "Knock Out and Breakdown found me bloodied and bruised in Starscream's chambers after hearing my screaming. Knock Out took care of me while Breakdown went to deal with Starscream. When I woke up after I passed out in the surgery, Starscream was strapped to a berth next to me. Breakdown had beaten him up for doing what he did to me. Honestly, he looked worse then he did when Megatron beat him up for everything that he had done while he was on life support."
"Oh God, Tally. I am so sorry. Had we found you sooner," Arcee gasped.
"It wouldn't have changed anything," Talida muttered.
"But it would have!" Arcee snapped, "You wouldn't have been raped, Tally. …Does anyone else know?"
"Just Ratchet. He found out when he was checking me over for injuries. Honestly, you took it better then he did," Talida chuckled slightly.
"What did he do?" Arcee asked.
"He broke his wrench and destroyed almost all of his equipment in a violent rage," Talida answered.
"Surprisingly, that sounds like Ratchet," Arcee laughed.
"Please. Don't tell Dad. I'm afraid of what he'd say or do," Talida pleaded.
"He wouldn't be mad at you, Tally. Although…we may end up with a dead Cybertronian," Arcee mused, "So I take it you're…"
"I'm actually going to be what we call a 'born again virgin'," Talida confessed.
"That's my girl," Arcee smirked before noticing the guitar next to her, "Did you steel your brother's guitar again?"
"I learned a new song," Talida defended herself as she grabbed the guitar from the case, "Wanna hear?"
"Always do," was Arcee's answer.
Talida then began strumming the familiar chords. It was one of her favourite songs by her favourite band. So needless to say, she enjoyed playing it. However, it didn't fail to bring tears to her eyes.
Talida: You hid your skeletons when I had shown you mine.
You woke the devil that I thought you'd left behind.
I saw the evidence.
The crimson soaking through.
Ten thousand promises.
Ten thousand ways to lose…
And you… held it all…
But you were careless…
To let it fall…
You… held it all…
And I was by your side…
Powerless…
For the two girls, the lyrics hit a little close to home in a way. Multiple times, someone they had entrusted their lives with betrayed them. And most of the time, the mistake almost cost them their lives. And when they think they had learned from their mistakes, they make them again.
Talida: I watched you fall apart and chased you to the end.
I'm left with emptiness that words cannot defend.
You'll never know what I had became because of you.
Ten thousand promises.
Ten thousand ways to lose…
And you… held it all…
But you were careless…
To let it fall…
You… held it all…
And I was by your side…
Powerless…
Hidden in the shadows, Optimus watched his spark mate and daughter bond. When Ratchet noticed their absence in the base, Optimus decided to find them. Through his bond with her, he managed to track Arcee to the cliffs in the desert. When he arrived, he saw and heard the conversation the two girls shared. Including Talida's little confession concerning her time aboard the Nemesis. Arcee was right. Optimus didn't blame her. He knew that she wasn't at fault. Everything simply happened due to Starscream's ways of overpowering victims.
He shook his head from the thoughts. Instead, he chose to listen to Talida's song. He always loved listening to her voice.
Talida: And you… held it all…
But you were careless…
To let it fall…
You… held it all…
And I was by your side…
Powerless…
Powerless…
Optimus decided to leave the girls be. He knew they would come back eventually. They always did. But he wanted to give them the time to talk and strengthen their already-strong bond. But in all honesty, he couldn't disturb them.
Powerless…
OK. That was bad. But I was trying to battle writer's block.
BYE!
