Chapter 46 - Ch… ch… ch… changes
OC P.O.V
So cold.
I had felt so cold.
Darkness surrounded me until a single light penetrated the gloom, growing brighter and brighter until it engulfed me. The moment I became slightly aware I was ''awake'' I bolted upright and began to breathe heavily.
Only to find I could not get breath.
Panic slammed into me again as I clutched at my throat, I could feel my chest rising and falling but I was not ''breathing''. I went to scream but no sound came out. /WHAT THE BLOODY HELL!/, I screamed inside my mind. /WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?/. I cast wild eyes about me.
It was then that I saw a familiar face loom in front of me. I reached out for him, grabbing him as though he might disappear. I worked my mouth, trying to form sounds while still clinging to my throat, as if the actions alone would indicate my dire situation.
''OC!'' His faceplates flooded with joy and concern at the same time and he slowly raised his arms up, in a similar manner to Lennox the day I lost Chase, clearly trying to calm me down. ''It's ok. I am here. You are okay. It's okay.''
I stared at him for a moment, thoughts of breathing suddenly forgotten. Rachet had always been so big before, they all had. Now. I stared at him and he seemed. Well, ''normal size''. I felt my eyes go wide. /Am I hallucinating? Did I die? WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING TO ME?''/.
Rachet must have sensed what I was feeling as he placed both servos on my shoulders and spoke to me in a steady, calm voice. ''OC. I need you to listen. You are OKAY. You are alive but, you have been through some changes. If you understand ''nod''.
I stared at him a moment, slowly lowering the hand from about my throat as I strangely realised, I was not going to suffocate, I was alive and breathing but not ''breathing.'' I slowly nodded and continued to gaze at his face, slightly dazed and in shock as I tried to process what had happened.
He nodded in return, ex-venting heavily. I mimicked him. /Ahh… that felt better. It gave me the sensation of breathing. But what is with the noises when I did that?/ I went to look around me and I felt Rachet shake me gently bringing my attention back to him.
He had a smile on his dermas. ''OC. I need you to continue to listen to what I have to say and focus, and most of all I NEED you to not panic okay?'' He raised an optical ridge at me in silent query as to my response.
I went to talk but found I could not speak as he could. I began to feel panic rising in me but closed my eyes and ex-vented again before opening them and fixing his gaze with mine.
''Well done OC, I am proud of you! You are doing so well,'' I had never seen Rachet look so happy and so pleased with me before. I was curious and not a little concerned. ''OC, I don't know if you remember what happened or not, but you got sick. You touched a piece of the Allspark. Do you remember? Nod if you do.''
I nodded slowly. I had indeed remembered. I went to look at my hand but Rachet shook me. ''NO! Listen,'' he ordered. I froze. ''OC, after you touched that shard something happened to you. There was some energon and tiny fragments of the shard with our Transformer CNA got into your blood system. It made you very sick, you nearly died but you are okay now, you're okay,'' Rachet reaffirmed as he saw my eyes go wide. I stilled for a moment before the memory slammed into me. I could hear his words, /OC! Don't leave us! STAY. FIGHT! Don't leave ME! fear and pain in Optimus' voice broke my heart.
/Optimus, we're losing her!/. Rachet's voice sounded so far away.
/PRIME!/ I mentally screamed. I began to flail about, moving my mouth, straining to form his name, ''P…Pr… Prime! Wh.. where is he?'' I froze. ''My voice'' it was my voice, but it didn't sound entirely like me, more metallic and ''bigger.''
Rachet shook me again, ''OC! Listen to me, I will tell you about Prime in a minute, but you MUST finish listening to what I have to say PLEASE!'' The look in Rachet's optics silenced my newfound ''voice''. I nodded again. ''As I said the shard made you sick and we had to restart your heart three times,'' my eyes went wide but I remained silent. ''You had us all worried, but you pulled through, you're a fighter all right,'' a small smile formed on his dermas. ''OC, while you were unconscious, something amazing, bizarre, but truly amazing has happened to you. You, your body has changed.''
I raised an eyebrow, ''Wh…whhat? As in I lo…lost a few more pounds Rachet?'' I couldn't help myself. I was starting to get the hang of this ''speaking'' thing.
A smirk before a slightly strained, ''No, OC. Something decidedly more significant than that. Whatever happens next, it is important you stay as calm as possible and remember I am here with you and for you, you are okay.'' I tilted my head just as Prime would do in bewilderment. /NOW, I understand why he would do that!/. ''OC,'' Rachet released my shoulders and took a step back, turning around briefly to check something on the bench behind him, which by the way I don't remember the bench being so ''small'' before. ''OC, you have transformed. Your body has transformed. Have a look at yourself. Raise your arms and hands in front of your face.'' I saw him reach behind his back and grab something. /What on earth is he doing?/.
I slowly raised my arms up in front of my face. I froze. They were not the arms I remembered. For a start they were metal. I had no skin, no flesh. Instead, I had polished silver metal with brilliant splashes of red, gold and blue here and there. I began to freak out, ex-venting heavily and stuttering nonsensical sounds. Rachet took a step closer with one of his arms behind his back.
''Are you okay OC?'' he asked tentatively. '''How do you feel?''
I looked at him for a moment, a slight sneer on my lips, ''Yeah sure Ra… Rachet, NO fu…fucking worries here mate. I fe..fee…feel fine. Probably about as good as you would feel if yo…you fell asleep as a Trans…former and woke up a bl…bloody human being!'' Rachet looked away a moment, embarrassed by his stupid question at this point in time. ''How…how is this even possible, has this ever happened before? I mean… what the fuck Rachet?'' The words were coming easier now.
Rachet took another step closer. ''OC, in truth I still don't know why or how this happened. I am trying to figure it out, though I doubt I will ever truly understand why this happened and how you were able to survive such a process. It defies logic, biology, science, you name it! This has never happened before. You are truly unique.'' The sound of awe in his voice embarrassed me for a moment and I ducked my head.
/I wonder what Prime will think of this?/. A whole range of emotions flooded through me. ''Rachet, where is Prime? Has…. has he seen me? Where did he go?'' I went to try and stand up but Rachet raised the servo that wasn't behind his back to stop me.
''OC, you may be best to stay sitting for a while longer. You have already had to overcome the shock of adapting to not having ''lungs'' as such or vocal chords. I think you need to take it easy. Let's crawl before we walk hey?'' He smiled gently at me.
I ex-vented again in frustration. ''Fine,'' I conceded defeat for now. ''But where is Prime? If you don't tell me right now, I am getting up off this bed and going looking for him – with or without your consent!'' My eyes felt like they flashed dangerously, and I folded my arms across my ''chest.''
Rachet nodded. ''Fair enough OC. I am sorry to inform you that Prime is actually not here.'' He must have seen the disappointment, sadness and a little fear cross my visage as he quickly added, ''There were some developments while you were undergoing your ''transformation''. Prime had to leave you to attend to them. Trust me on this when I tell you he did not want to go, he stayed by your side for as long as he could and ordered me to stay behind and take care of you until his return.''
Squashing down the slight fear that started rising in me I asked Rachet, ''What ''developments'' are we talking about exactly Rachet? When is he due back? Have you heard from him?'' I rapidly shot out my questions.
Rachet held a servo out to try and slow down my questioning. ''Easy OC! Firstly, the developments are not pleasant at all.'' A barely contained rage burned within his optics and I ''sensed'' a change in his being, his spark rate increased, and his systems vented heavily to prevent him from overheating due to a build-up in pressure, perhaps ''anger''? I silently thought to myself how cool and amazing it was to be able to ''read'' another being like that. /Maybe this ISN'T such a bad thing after all?/.
''Can you elaborate on it or is it too difficult to talk about Rachet?'' I asked sympathetically. I was desperate to learn about Prime, but I also did not want my friend working himself up into such a state.
Rachet closed his optics momentarily. ''No OC. It's okay.'' He fixed me with a firm gaze. ''This may shock you, but you need to know. Megatron. He was brought back to life with the shard they stole from here the evening you arrived back on base.''
I couldn't help a strangled cry of shock from escaping my dermas. ''OH NO! You're shitting me!'' I yelled out and my hand, or rather ''servo'', flew to where I felt my new ''spark'' pulsed momentarily. This was decidedly NOT good news in any way. ''Rachet, have you heard from him? What about Sam? How has he fared since he touched the spark too? Has he ''transformed'' too?'' A million questions raced through my ''brain'' /processor/, I checked myself.
''Again OC, slow it down with the questions!'' Although Rachet was trying not to get cranky with me given my current situation, I could tell he was starting to get frustrated with me. ''In truth OC, I have not heard from Prime or the others for a long while. I know that Lennox and his team left not long after Prime and his team touched down in Philadelphia. Prime must have required their assistance. I am sure when Prime is ready he will comm me to inform me of the situation and, more importantly, to check on you and your progress.''
I felt myself heat slightly at the mention of Prime's attention to my health and wellbeing. ''I… I miss him Rachet.'' It was barely a whisper. I dared not look at Rachet. ''Since Chase,'' I paused a moment. The familiar sting of tears did not come. /I cannot cry?/ I was just adjusting to that development when I happened to glance down at my servo. Suddenly my spark froze. /MY RING!/ My ring was gone! ''RACHET! My ring! Where is it?'' I yelled at him.
''Calm down OC, it's okay. It was removed for safe keeping before you underwent your transformation. It is safely kept in these drawers on a chain. Look,'' he moved to open the drawer and carefully plucked it out, allowing it to dangle freely.
My spark resumed beating. ''Thank you Rachet. May I have it please?''
He nodded and walked over to me. I held out my servo and he placed it gently in there. I held it up to my optics. /So small, but still so beautiful/. ''Rachet, umm, where can I put this? It won't exactly fit my finger anymore.''
''Just put it in your subspace compartment,'' Rachet said nonchalantly.
''I'm sorry, my what?'' I had not heard of this term before.
''What, you were never told about that?'' Rachet seemed genuinely surprised.
''I guess it never came up in discussion before. So, what is it and how do I access it?'' I began to look at my arms and legs.
''Ahh.. right well. Every Transformer has a subspace pocket. As the name suggests it is an extra dimensional storage space for us to keep our weapons or other personal paraphernalia. Sometimes it is located on your chest, other times your arm, maybe your back. It's kind of hard to explain to someone who is not a Transformer or has never been one before - until recently.''
I barely managed to contain a derisive snort, ''Well that's a helpful explanation, thanks.''
Rachet made a human like gesture of scratching his helm. ''You, kind of, ah, ''feel'' where you may have an extra storage compartment in your body, summon it to open and place the item in there. Every Transformer has the ability to place objects in subspace. They are tethered to the material world by your own personal energy supply and your own frequency.'' Rachet looked at me as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
I shook my helm slowly and ex-vented. ''Right, sure. No worries. I'll just, ah, do that shall I.'' I closed my optics and tried to imagine where a ''compartment'' might be, visualising it opening. After a few moments I was about to give up when the arm guard on my right arm slid open. Rachet saw it happen.
''Great! Now just place it in there,'' he gestured pretending to drop it in the same place in his arm.
''Rachet if I place this very precious item in ''there'' and I never see it again, you do realise I will hurt you and likely never forgive you.'' I was deadly serious on this point.
''It's fine OC, do it.'' He prompted me.
I closed my optics for a moment and then let the ring and the chain fall into the ''pocket of space''. I imagined it closing and it did, immediately.
''Now,'' Rachet encouraged, ''Open it again and summon it to you. Imagine it coming to your hand.'' He had a smile on his dermas. He was enjoying this.
I ''breathed'' deeply and ordered my ''pocket'' to open, which it did, almost immediately. I pictured the ring and chain in my left hand, and it appeared. My dermas opened in shock.
''See! What did I tell you!'' Rachet gave me a gentle tap on the shoulder. ''Now put it back and let's get back to what we were talking about.
I followed his instructions. ''That is very cool I have to say, not to mention dangerous. It is like the bottomless handbag! A woman's dream! Mary Poppins eat your heart out!'' I couldn't help laughing. Again, it sounded like me but not quite.
Rachet shook his helm slowly, ''I am sure I do not understand what you mean OC, but I'll take your word for it.'' A smile spread across his dermas and he folded his arms across his chest as he levelled his gaze at me, ''Now, you were saying something about how you missed Prime…''
