Chapter 36: Moving
Megatronus barged into his quarters, startling MoonStrider and Crimsonwing.
His optics were back to normal, but energon covered his front and scratches littered his frame from both his match and the brawl in Clench's office.
"Get up and get your things," he said in a stern voice. MoonStrider looked both curious and taken aback."Quickly!" he hissed urgently. She nodded and sat Crimsonwing into her crib before gathering things into a subspace crate.
"What happened?" she demanded as Megatronus came over to assist her in her packing.
"Clench called me to his office after the match. Said I was winning too much, and that I needed to lose a few rounds or else." he hurriedly explained, tucking away a few of MoonStrider's crystals after wrapping them up in some mesh. MoonStrider knew what "or else" meant. It was the same thing Clench threatened her with.
"And?" she pried.
"I took care of it."
MoonStrider paused in her packing. Her helm turned so she could look directly at him.
"Took care of it?" she said in a demanding tone.
"Yes," he stopped, too, and turned to her. He lightly grabbed her shoulders, smearing energon along them unthinkingly. "MoonStrider," he said softly, meant to pacify her rising anger. "We run the ring now."
MoonStrider was at a loss for words. She got the jist of what he meant, but it was hard to comprehend just what he was saying now.
"What do you mean?"
"I killed them, MoonStrider, Clench's men. They jumped me in his office when I refused to obey Clench. I killed his leading officials and Clench fled the arena." he further explained, rubbing his digits into her arms.
"Then… why must we pack?" she asked.
"You need to take Crimsonwing somewhere safe until I can find Clench and the rest of his men."
MoonStrider understood. She needed to protect the femmling from any assassin that Clench might send in revenge for Megatronus making him turn tail. And she understood that she must be the one to do it, the only other being besides Megatronus that could protect her. They didn't trust anyone else to.
She nodded and spoke, "I will take her to my Creators, and from there I will take her and hide somewhere in Iacon until it is safe again." She leaned forward and placed a kiss upon Megatronus before leaning back. "You in the meantime, will stay safe as well. I don't want to come back and find out you got yourself killed just because you took on an army with no backup." Megatronus smiled as she did and promised her he would.
OoOoOoOoOoO
"My darling!" Seajump yelled in delight, walking forward before wrapping his arms around her midsection.
"Hello, Carrier." MoonStrider said as her Carrier squeezed her midsection. Seajump pulled back and smiled up at his creation.
"So, you need a place to stay?" he asked before waving his servo towards their housing unit when she nodded. "Let's talk inside." She followed her Carrier into the housing unit, dragging the crate -which was on wheels- behind her. She left the crate in the main room and carried Crimsonwing into the living area where her Creators sat. She sat on one of the chairs, holding her sparkling in her lap as she played with one of her toys.
"Alright, what happened," Thundergouge said bluntly and MoonStrider sighed. She explained all that had happened, leaving out nothing as she did. Thundergouge's face plates pinched into a heavy scowl. Seajump looked more worried than anything else.
"So now I am here," MoonStrider finished, patting Crimsonwing on the top of her helm when she looked up at her.
"Well you can't stay here," Thundergouge stated, earning a shocked look from Seajump. Seajump was about to yell at Thundergouge when MoonStrider spoke up.
"He's right, Carrier. I cannot stay here, this is the first place Clench will look for me and Crimsonwing. I need to hid somewhere highly populated where it will be hard to pick me from the crowd, which is why I came to Iacon."
"But darling, how are you going to hide in a city filled with grounders and flyers?" Seajump asked sadly. MoonStrider softly smiled at her Carrier.
"Iacon is highly diverse, I'll be able to hide well enough. I'll be getting an apartment in the lower levels, work in some shop or something until Megatronus catches Clench."
"I'll be able to find you a place, don't worry about rent, I'll take care of that," Thundergouge waved his servo, cutting off MoonStrider's refusal before it escaped her lips. "Don't say anything, I want to do it." MoonStrider shut her mouth before slowly nodding.
"Thank you,"
Thundergouge nodded back and turned to Seajump before speaking,
"Let us collect some of MoonStrider's belongings for her new apartment."
"Some more things for Crimsonwing, too."
And with that, the three set off to prepare for MoonStrider and Crimsonwing's new home.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
MoonStrider looked around her new apartment in the third underlevel of Iacon (which meant she was three levels underground). It was where the lower caste of Iacon lived, yet not the lowest. The lowest was the industrial workers and the miners, who inhabited the fourth underlevel and down. The level she was on was the engineers: the builders.
The walk to her apartment was a… strange one, she'd say. The streets were lit with large, fluorescent lights that burned on all scales of brightness. Some places were so dark that she couldn't see anything but the next light ahead.
The buildings were high, each a different column that held up the next layer and the ones above it. Each one had either a small business on its base level or entirely made of apartments. Everything littered the streets: spare parts, junk, even some bots. Thankfully the main streets were clear for traffic.
Bots whizzed by in alt mode, uncaring for the speed limit because there was no law enforcers to back them.
Many bots stared at her as she walked down the street. Some in curiosity, some in awe, and even some in lust as she walked by, pushing her cart.
Crimsonwing was in her sparkling hold, safely nestled in her reinforced chassis.
No bot approached her, thankfully. She was larger than the most of them, and the large, sharp sword that hung on her back helped. She doubted anyone recognised her as the femme Champion of Kaon.
She had made it to her apartment and checked in. The owner of her building was an older model, a Mech named Tightscrew- whose personality was as uptight as his name-, and his mate, a kind old femme by the name of Brightbit. MoonStrider liked the both of them. Her and Brightbit hit it off right away, and Brightbit adored Crimsonwing, and Crimsonwing seemed to like her too (Brightbit gave her an energon treat).
She liked her apartment, surprisingly. It was small (bigger than her previous quarters), but with a bit of decorating, it would be more than comfortable. It was four rooms all connected. There was a small walkway when she first walked in that lead to a mid-sized main room that was furnished with a single couch and a table, a window overlooked the road. An open kitchen was to the left, just a few cabinets and a small, dinky energon refiner. A door to the far wall lead to her new room, which had a large berth in the center and another door on the left that lead to her wash racks.
It would do well for her and Crimsonwing.
MoonStrider looked around the apartment some more, noting that she should do a sweep-down of the place before she unpacked. She moved to the window, noting that she was higher up, around the thirtieth floor, which appeased her seeker coding that was currently in the fritz for being underground.
She felt a tap from the inside of her chassis. She turned and went to sit at the couch. Her chassis split down the middle and folded back to reveal her well-protected spark chamber, and another chamber that was not translucent like her spark chamber. That chamber clicked and swung open. MoonStrider held her servos up towards the chamber and Crimsonwing crawled out.
MoonStrider sat Crimsonwing on her lap and smiled to her. The sparkling reached up with tiny servos to pat her cheeks, which made her smile wider.
She let Crimsonwing play with her toys as she cleaned their new apartment, scrubbing everywhere just in case of anything. After that, she unpacked. Most things went into her room, besides a few chairs that her Sire had stuffed in her crate and a few cloth pillows that were imported from some organic planet.
A crib was set up right next to her berth, placed in the corner farthest from the door, so that in case of a break in, MoonStrider could easily defend her. She also stationed several hidden weapons throughout the apartment, each out of reach of any curious sparkling in caution.
It had been a long cycle, and both Crimsonwing and MoonStrider were exhausted. MoonStrider sprawled onto her berth, too tired and not really caring to put Crimsonwing in her crib, content with just letting her sleep with her tonight.
MoonStrider started working in an orns time, at some shop in the agricultural side of Iacon. It was a shop that sold finery to the upper castes: jewels, cloth, expensive wax and paint, etc. Her Sire had also gotten her an entertainment job at a few bars, calling in an old favor with the showman manager landed her an entertainer position. She wasn't happy about the position, she didn't want to deal with all the drunk bots, but her Sire said it was the good place that would hire a femme like her with no questions asked. MoonStrider tried to see the bright side of things, at least she'd have access to some instruments while she entertained the bars, it would be nice after dealing with Nobels all day.
She still didn't like it. She sighed, at least she should be thankful for some form of income. Her Creators offered, but credits were easy to track, and some would get suspicious if a wealthy merchant like her Sire started sending a large amount of credits went to an unknown address.
MoonStrider decided to think more in the morning and closed her optics, letting the calming breaths of her sparkling lull her to recharge.
(AN: Weeee~ another chapter! I AM SO EXCITED BECAUSE I KNOW EVERYTHING THAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE CHAPTERS TO COME AND AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!
calmmmm
Ok
So my parents found out about me and my polly group…. yeeahh, it didn't go down so well.
Bee4ever: Hehehehee~ yes it is
Katie Gibbs: He's not "Evil", not yet. I'm still gonna give him some "daddy" moments with Crimsonwing. I love Mamma MoonStrider too :3
Bio team2: Hehehehee
Guest: Thank you :3 And to answer your question, not just yet. Megatronus ain't Megatron just yet, but im hinting up to it. It will be a little while before anything changes that.
Guest: Yes, there will always be more chapters for this story
Till All Are One!~