Sorry this took so long, had two big assignments and then took all the wind out of my sails for anything but them, but today, I got back into my stride and finished off the vast majority of chapter 10 all in one go! So here's chapter 8! Enjoy!
Chapter 8 - A scattered introduction
They opted to move deeper into the woods to talk, N-0V4 having to duck and almost crawl at times to avoid scraping her helm and wings against the low hanging branches.
Both she and Bumblebee were using their lights to show the way ahead for the two humans, who, unlike them, didn't have the ability to see in the dark.
Eventually Charlie seemed to make the decision they'd walked far enough, and so, promptly turned around and put her hands on her hips, enough to signify to the other three that it was time to stop.
Bumblebee shuffled on a bit more, turning to sit with his legs out on the ground, Charlie took that as sign enough to join him, hopping up to sit on his leg over the cold floor, after a few moments of hesitation, Memo followed suit with the other leg, obviously still rather nervous about everything.
N-0V4 watched the interaction intently, wings twitching behind her as her servos intertwined and fiddled.
"So…" Charlie began. "First and foremost, before you start… going on about stuff, Bee, doesn't remember you, or any of this… he's gotten across that he didn't even know his own name when he woke up in my garage after I fixed him up best I could"
N-0V4 stood there for a few moments, before her wings drooped to hang low behind her, optics going wide and her lower lip seemed to tremble a bit.
"You… You don't… You don't know me…"
Bumblebee could tell it was a loaded statement, he had to look away as he slowly nodded.
"I… oh no… no… no… Cliffjumper is going to slag me… the moment he finds out he's gonna accuse me of doing it… ripping out your vocaliser and smashing your helm in…. I'm assuming that's what caused it… Primus I can already hear the accusations!" She clutched the sides of her helm and dropped to her knees, causing the ground to shake for a moment.
Bumblebee let out a startled whine.
Memo and Charlie both looked aghast. "What! But you only just got here?!" Memo exclaimed.
"Why the hell would this Cliffjumper guy accuse you of that?!" Charlie followed up, making a face of disgust at the very notion.
Bumblebee nodded along to both, letting out a buzz that almost sounded steadfast.
She groaned, then slumped and rubbed at the dark metal that made up her face. "Right… right… so far you only have B-1… Bumblebee for context… well… it's because I'm a Seeker…"
All three stared at her confused.
With a sigh of her vents she moved to sit too, and then pointed to her wings. "Seekers are Cybertronians, that's the name of our species, who can fly… And we as a species… have been at war for… a very… very long time… you were just a sparkling when it started… that's why your designation is B-127… your creators, caregivers, whoever was looking after you, never gave you a name before they were, I assume, snuffed out…"
"Snuffed out?" Charlie tentatively asked.
"It's a term used to refer to… the passing on of a life, when the spark, the very thing that makes up our beings, extinguishes, snuffed out like a small star that's run out of fuel…"
"Oh, so like… kicking the bucket?"
N-0V4 raised an optic ridge at that. "I'm not sure what kicking a bucket means in regards to passing on… but if it's a term your kind finds fitting, then I guess so…?"
Memo raised his arm, immediately catching her attention. "Yes?"
"Two things… one, if Bumblebee was called 'B-127' because he didn't get given a name… why are you 'N-0V4'?"
"Ah… well… Seeker society works… differently from Grounder societies, for a Seeker, one must earn their name, via a defining act of character… or a great act of which the winglord rewards one with a designation to have as their own… It's… mostly reserved for those who want to climb up close enough to kiss the thrusters of the winglord…" N-0V4 tried to explain.
Charlie pouted. "That… that doesn't feel right… don't you want a name?"
N-0V4 made a face as she contemplated it. "I… well… um… other human… slag I haven't gotten your designations yet…"
"Charlie."
"Memo."
"Like a 'Memo' as in 'Oh I need to leave a memo to myself about something'?"
"No… um… well yes, but my name doesn't mean that…" Memo tried to explain.
"Ah… anyway… you had another question Memo?"
"Well, you started this talking about how this Cliffjumper dude hates you because you're a Seeker? I'm assuming he's a 'Grounder' like Bee here?"
N-0V4 nodded. "Yes, he hates me, thinks I'm behind every time even the smallest happenstance goes wrong…"
"But why? Is there a reason?"
"Oh… there's quite a few… all of which I've gone down on my knees and pleaded for forgiveness for…" She reached up and rubbed her throat. "He's got a nasty kick… And punch…"
All three looked aghast. "He attacked you?! For apologising?!"
Her frame sagged and she pulled back into herself. "Yes… I… I don't fault him for being hateful towards me… Considering… I'm the only Seeker… on Bumblebee and Cliffjumper's side of the war… And… I used to fight against them… I've… I've got the energon of their friends… on my servos…" She was looking at them, her expression becoming one of a thousand mile stare at her clawed black plated servos.
"The odd punch and kick… the odd accusation of being a double agent… If I went back to my own kind…" A shudder went down her frame and her optics almost looked… wet to them. "If they caught me… If they took me back alive… instead of just putting a round through my helm… traitors don't get swift deaths…"
A silence followed, Charlie and Memo alike had gone pale, and Bumblebee had reactively put a servo each around both of them, trying to ground himself a bit.
She rolled her shoulders and looked away from her servos and back to the three. "I still can't believe that you forgave me… that anyone was willing to give me a chance… but you don't remember any of it…" Her wings somehow managed to slump lower. "And all you have to go on are my words…"
Charlie frowned, then, having made a decision, she got up, and walked to stand just under N-0V4. "Bring your… servos down here." She gestured to her general height.
N-0V4 looked at her confused, but complied, lowering both down to Charlies height.
Charlie took N-0V4's right one first, and began to examine it, making a show of taking a look at all all the joints, moving the digits one at a time, and only once she was done with that, she shifted and put her back to the palm of N-0V4's servo, reaching out she pulled the servos digits around her. "Pick me up."
"What?!" N-0V4 exclaimed, startled by the suggestion.
Charlie didn't waver. "Pick me up, and bring me to your face."
A distinct mechanical gulp came from the Seeker at that, but she lifted Charlie up regardless, being mindful not to squeeze as she brought her other servo up so that Charlie could rest her feet on it, and to mitigate any risk of her slipping and falling as she brought the human up to optic height. "Now what?" She asked.
Charlie's mouth quirked to the side in a thoughtful pout. "Hold still."
N-0V4 went lock stiff, the blue of her optics was more the lesser against the red, and she only realised it as Charlie glowed a soft red, mottled with blue in front of her.
The stress had burned through most of the blue dye.
Perfect, just perfect.
She jolted a bit when two little human hands landed on the sides of her faceplates, her optics crossing somewhat to try and see Charlie properly.
"You're a good person. And this Cliffjumper guy, can go sit on a cactus."
"... What's a cactus?"
"It's a… no, focus, going on our limited contact so far, you're a good person N-0V4… just a bit stressed out."
N-0V4 huffed out a strained laugh at that. "Oh… you noticed!"
Charlie chuckled back. "Pretty hard to miss… look, this Cliff guy is obviously not good for your head, so, let's focus on other things, specifically our course of action… you mentioned a 'go, no go' in your message?"
N-0V4 perked up a bit then. "You're right! … Pits I need to tell the twins I found you!"
Charlie tilted her head to the side. "Um, twins?"
N-0V4 stared at her for a moment before it seemed to click why Charlie was asking that. "Oh! Right… I didn't mention them in the messages, Sunny and Sides are my friends, they're posted on one of the moons in this solar system, next to the larger of the two gas giants…"
"Jupiter."
"Ah so it's called Jupiter! That is cool! That's a pretty designation… Jupiter, Jupiter, Jupiter… the more I say it the more I focus on the 'Jup' it's such a weird thing to say, Jup, Jup, Jup, Jup, Jup, Jup…."
Bumblebee snapped his digits together, getting N-0V4's attention, once he had it he let out a noise and held up two of his digits.
"Oh right! The twins! Yeah, I've been chatting with Sunny and Sides while I've been looking for you… oh… Side's has been pinging me for about a joor now trying to find out why I stopped responding, give me a moment, I'm gonna let them know I found you B…"
Bumblebee nodded, then looked to where she was still holding Charlie, he reached out, offering his own servos for her to pass Charlie to.
N-OV4 did so, but seemed to be elsewhere as she did whatever it was she needed to do to contact these new two individuals.
A minute or so later N-0V4 chuckled. "Sides and Sunny are real glad to hear I've found you, I've let them know you were injured and still recovering, they're gonna pass the word onto Ratchet, he's out of my com range but not theirs, hopefully Ratchet will be able to make planet fall in… um… slag I still haven't synced my chronometer with this planet! One klik, I'm going to make a reminder." She pulled out her notes data pad, and then grumbled about how many memos she'd already forgotten about before adding it, and then putting the pad back away in her subspace. "One cycle I'll remember to do that."
Memo raised his hand again, and once more N-OV4's attention was immediately on him. "Yes Memo?"
"How many… exactly are there who are coming to Earth?"
N-0V4 pouted for a moment. "Well… there's the twins… Ratchet once they let him know B's been injured… and probably Optimus… if he's still online… every bot else is waiting for B's go no go on if this planet is safe to come to or not." She made a show of glancing around and shrugged. "It's certainly an interesting planet, I think Optimus picked pretty well… just wish Shatter and Dropkick hadn't managed to follow Cliffjumper to this solar system, then both of us to this planet… I don't want to consider what they're doing right now… probably trying to track us all down and slag us… heh… he... heee… hoo..."
Charlie glanced up at Bumblebee and Memo, before looking back to N-0V4. "So… what do we do now?"
N-0V4 frowned. "Hmm… I'll have to find somewhere I can hide… my colours and alt mode would likely stand out here… so probably best I find somewhere out of the way to hide… for communication let's do it primarily through audio hook ups like we did earlier, if you see a blue and a red vehicle moving in tandem towards you, get out of there, as fast as you can, and let me know as soon as possible, I'll be able to back you up if a fight breaks out." She explained, before pausing. "Do… do you even remember how to fight B?"
Bumblebee shook his helm.
"Oh… well… that's just Prime…"
I couldn't miss the opportunity. I have no regrets. Until next time! (hopefully quicker next time.)
Moon.