Nano-kilk - half of a Cybertron second
Klik - Cybertron second
Breem - Cybertron minute
Joor - Cybertron hour
Cycle/Lunar-cycle - Day or night
Meta-cycle - Cybertron week
Orn - Cybertron month
Vorn - Cybertron year
Deca-cycle - Cybertron decade
Mega-cycle - Cybertron century
Siren talking through datapad
::Comm Link::
A/N: So, this chapter will just be small things that happen that give way to the chapters in the next few installments. Basically, it's a collage of one-shots within this chapter.
I hope I did Prowl right, if not I am sorry. I just find him a bit of a sodding prick sometimes.
And a thank you to Steelcode for permission to reveal his OC, Steelcode. He hasn't yet put forth the story for his OC as of yet, and so, I thank him for letting me give his OC his debut. (That and for the impatient push to bring this chapter out)
Jetfire: We should tell people that we're fanboys.
OptimusPrime: Hmmm…Not a bad idea.
Jetfire: No, I'm sorry! I was just kidding!
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Sky-Byte: 'Who's the baddest shark around? Who's the smartest shark in town?'
'Sky-Byte, that's me!'
'Who'll drive Scourge into the ground? And never let old Megatron down.'
'Sky-Byte, that's me!'
First Aid couldn't help but want to snicker at Siren. Nearly two meta-cycles had past and Ratchet had deemed it long enough to give the vixen another round of booster programs. She was just not happy that she may have to spend the next couple of cycles in recharge as her systems recalibrated to integrate the programs. "You'll be fine, Siren. We're just making sure you have some strong firewalls. All bots go through this at some point in their lifetime." All he got in return was a pointed glare and a huff of her vents as they push air out.
"Ahh! There you are Siren!" both paused at the friendly shouting. Looking to the direction of the shouting they found Wheeljack running over to them with his fins flashing blue. "Finally! I've been meaning to see if I couldn't borrow you from your friend for a moment." He said once he stopped a few feet from the duo.
While First Aid was glad Siren was finding other bots that have grown to know her, he still somewhat irritated at this mech. Almost every cycle he would come by to grab her for something that range from just having her there for company, while he was in the medbay, to trying to figure out beast speak. Many times, the two would forget even knowing the time while they worked on whatever it was that cycle and First Aid would come home to an empty apartment. One time, he did not see Siren until later the next lunar-cycle. Two cycles she had spent near that mech!
Putting a servo on her back he answered the white mech. "Sorry, Wheeljack, but she is scheduled for booster programs with Ratchet." He really worked to keep his voice from betraying his irritation at the mech. Only with the swivel of Siren's one final did he know she had caught the slight hint of it having the better hearing.
Wheeljack waved that off. "Then I'll have to come back for her once she's done. Shouldn't be but a cycle or so." He gave a shrug, his fins flashing blue in his mood showing he held no hard feelings for the set back. Thank Primus for the face mask as First Aid let a frown mar his lip components. "We should be going now."
Here the white mech laughed. "Yes, we don't want Siren to be on the receiving end of a wrench now do we!" Siren only narrowed her optics at her mech friend and grumbled. "I will see the two of you later!" he stated turning to leave.
It was when First Aid glanced down to find the vixen giving him another pointed look. "What?" only the flick of her final towards where Wheeljack had left gave him the answer. "What?! I can be irritated." Another pointed stare. "Okay fine!" At that the medic huffed, stomping a bit as he walked away. "Why does he always need you around?"
Siren couldn't believe her audios and the next thing she did was drop to her side and rolled back and forth as her vents let out several short huffs in the form of her laughter. First Aid watched this folding his arms at her display. "He's up to something, Siren! I just know it!" that only made her vent work harder in her laughter. "It's a feeling I get!"
Siren shook her helm at him. Oh, she knew that she's been spending much time lately with the scientist. Just like First Aid, Wheeljack has become a good friend of hers but she knew there would be times she would have to decline Wheeljack to stay home. But for now, she was learning much from the mech as he worked with his projects. Siren would make it up to the mech soon, maybe once she woke up from her recharge later.
-An Orn After the rescue-
Boltgear worked his way to each stall taking in his remaining turbofoxes. Going from a large number of brutes and vixens to just a servo full, he had to let several of his long time staff members off. It did hurt to know that he had to do so, but with only three under his ownership, he could not afford to have them. As for the ones he kept, only Jetway and Notch remained. He held no need for any handlers when he could work over his only three foxes.
Helm turned to the chittering call of his remaining vixen, Goldrush. Her finials perked knowing just what time it was for and began to prance in place once her optics landed on the cube in his servo. A small smile found it's way on his lips upon reaching her stall. "Now, just wait a klik and you'll have it."
Boltgear worked the half door of the stall to let him in to set the cube down. It was pounced on within kliks that was quickly being consumed. Just like his other two brutes, the vixen cleared all of the liquid from the cube. With keen optics, Boltgear noticed something about his vixen and quickly calculated the vixen's age. If it had been a bot that held very little knowledge about turbofoxes, they would not have seen the telltale signs of this vixen getting ready for a cycle.
To be correct about what he was seeing, he kneeled down taking a hold of Goldrush's tail. At the very base of her tail platings were veins of dull grey that would later vein off to the rest of the plating. It would have been hard for untrained optics to have picked up the discoloring to their pale blue, but Boltgear had been taught in his Sparkling vorns all about his trade. A trade he was very good at and would remain good at it even during this Primus forsaken war happening.
The only troubling thing was he would have to wait until Coreshock went through his first cycle as the brute had yet too. He would be wasting a breeding cycle this time around, unless he reached out to other owners that still held turbofoxes. It was a gamble, a huge one on his part, as there haven't been races to give prestige to selecting good breeding pairs. The only ones that would be were those that have been retired for vorns, yet, still of good stock in both linage and what was shown during their racing career.
Pedesteps sounded taking Boltgear's attention to the fading tail plating to the figure that came into view. "Notch, just the mech I need to speak with." Boltgear stood up while taking the empty cube into his servo to exit the stall.
"Well, turns out, I am in need to speak with you as well." He replied moving to the side as the slightly large mech came out. The owner raised an optic ridge at his words.
"Then let us talk and walk. It must be important if you sought me out as you have." He stated putting the empty cube in one of the cleaners for reuse.
Notch stood ridged, his faceplatings displaying a multitude of thoughts running through his processor. His helm lowered some in his thoughts as he tried to sort them. "I have been thinking since arriving in Iacon. Many lunar-cycles I have spent on countless thoughts that would run through my processor. That cycle…the cycle we lost Solarrun tore through my spark."
"I told you this before, Notch. You are a vet, not a medic." Boltgear replied feeling that this conservation would head to something ill liked. "There was not much you could have done for the mech. Your knowledge was to cyber beasts, not bots."
"You would think that frames of any type would still hold the same points of fixing, but that cycle, I found out the truth. We are severely different in frames to cyber beasts than I first thought. They are simple, easy to resolve with in need to fix. Bots, they have many more things to their frames that left me utterly unprepared for the spark I let slip through my digits."
Boltgear waited for the mech to say more but found he remained silent. "You will never let this go, will you?" he asked, but Boltgear knew the answer. He knew this mech for many vorns, nearly since the start of his cycles as the owner when his sire gave over the rights to him.
Notch nodded. "No, I can't. That is why I am here to speak with you. As I have stated before, it has been a thought for a long while. An orn has past and I believe it is time to look into other skills."
That made the turbofox owner stop short letting the vet walk past before turning back to his old time friend and boss. "What does that imply, Notch?" he may have questioned the vet, but Boltgear had a good idea to what he meant.
Notch vented, his blue optics lowering from looking to Boltgear. "I've enrolled to start medical training within the Autobot ranks."
Servo's clenched. "You know fragging well you are the only vet I completely trust with my turbofoxes. Why can't you get it through that processor of yours that Solarrun's offlining was NOT your fault! How were we to know that cycle would taking all that I have known and thrown it to the pits within a cycles time? I didn't, yet I'm not letting it hold me back. His offlining shouldn't as well."
"That's why I'm doing this Boltgear!" Notch replied raising his servos some but not is an aggressive way more so is a pleading way. "I want to be able to help both cyber beast and bots of all kinds. I am a healer, to any that need my help. I need this, Gear. I need to know everything in order to be that one bot to help all. To see a bot or cyber beast in need of help. I am not fit to kill, to snuff out other's sparks. It breaks my spark to know I could be forced into that with the way this war is com-"
Notch let his optics widen when Boltgear quickly stepped towards him to lay a servo over his mouth, stopping any other words that would have come out. Boltgear gave a sigh. "I can not force you to not go after something that you truly feel you need to. I just want to know if the vet I have had for vorns will continue to be that vet I need. That, and I don't want to lose a longtime friend to the Autobot's glitched cause. I've already lost so much."
Notch nodded making the mech's servo move with his movements. Boltgear took his servo away as the two stood there, not looked anywhere else. A smile slowly appeared on Notch's face. "No other vet would dare come to you. You're temper alone keeps you from getting another in my place. They can't handle you, like I can, during your cycle of fits." His smile grew when Boltgear let a scowl show. "I do not have a temper!" with that the mech swiftly turned and stomped away. "Go, see if I care when this slaggin war demands you away when I need you here for my turbofoxes!"
Notch continued to hold a grin as he jogged to catch up with his boss, one he would still think as his boss even when he joined with the Autobot medical ranks. How could he let vorns of working with this mech just go, as if it was just something he could forget? For all of that time, since he came to work with the volatile mech that had just gained complete ownership of the ranch? No, he would remain near Boltgear's side till Primus called his spark to the Matrix, as it felt right to say by the mech's side.
-Three Orns after the rescue-
Prowl sat at his desk looking through reports. A frown stayed on his lips as he read through them. Swiftly, he picked up another datapad to look for a report that had been filed over three orns ago, that he still remembered well enough about. It had been the repot for the rescue operation that made fixing the shuttle used a little costly, but help citizens out of Decepticon territory.
But it wasn't the citizens that held his interest the most, but of the cyber beasts under the care of those bots. Boltgear wasn't the only owner to have been raided for turbofoxes or other cyber beasts. Over time, Prowl was finding something similar within the reports regarding any cyber beast and the amount he had collected was astounding. Nearly five hundred reports were related to dealings with beasts alone.
Some of the reports Prowl was able to pass by as they didn't hold the elements that many were showing and so didn't need to be put in with the stack that held his main interest. What would bots need cyber beasts for? What is the main reasoning for such raids to gather all beasts of any type? From Cyber-cats to Hellhounds to Turbofoxes it raised questions for the mech.
It wasn't until the latest report from Hound and his giga wolf hound, Steelcode, that had been the one to break through into this mystery. It had been the one piece that gave Prowl the needed information to connect all of the reports he had collected. The report Hound had given had been brutal in the form of greyed frames of cyber beasts, the count alone was staggering at thirty-four frames. Many showed fatal wounds to the neck platings, tears and bite marks all over the frames of these beasts. Energon covered much of the floor with some flecked up halfway up the walls in an area in the front of the building.
To Prowl, it was almost like a graveyard to discard the frames of the cyber beast. That, itself gave Prowl what he was needing for these reports. Everything from the raids of racing owners to regular bot's cyber beasts being stolen, now had solid reasoning for them. It also gave more awareness to the Gladiator rings having stopped since the Decepticons have risen in numbers and have been gaining territory ever since.
Instead of bots fighting each other while other bots took bets on said fights, it was now beasts being pitted against one another. From the number of frames there that cycle, Prowl would have to guess it has been going on for several vorns now. It was still new in its operations, but they were gaining more clues about it to finally have the intelligences on this upstarting organization.
"This is there form of entertainment now. These Decepticons are all about sheading energon, no matter what it's from." Skybreak stated looking through the mech's completed assemble of information on the beast rings several cycles later. Prowl was thorough with his full report of this case that thanks to his effort has gained such attention.
"We are still looking into it for more information, but as of now, we are enlightened to this new development." Prowl replied.
Skybreak frowned a little in thought. "You probably don't feel it like I do, but it seems there's more to this than what we are seeing. The beast rings are involved with it, no doubt about it, but I'm getting a feeling this is the beginning revolving around this issue."
Prowl paused in thought, going over her words and reviewing all he knew on this large scaled case. "How do you mean, Skybreak? As of right now, there is no other evidence to support your 'feeling' of something more. What is stated within that datapad is what we have, and I find it does not point to anything but the beast rings. There has been no other evidence to what you say of it being more than what it is." Her optics narrowed a centimeter at his jab towards her. Most would not catch the slight change in his tone of vocal, but she has always been able to do so.
"Said 'feelings' have helped me keep my spark beating within my chassis during my fights in the ring. The cycle I stop listening to them is the cycle I get snuffed." She growled tossing the datapad carelessly onto his desk causing a small spiderweb of cracks to form. Prowl frowned down at the cracked datapad. "Was that necessary, Skybreak?"
Skybreak then tilted her helm some to the right with a plastered on a fake smile. "Why, yes it was, Prowl. You see, you have irritated me once again. You really seem to have a knack at doing so." With that said she turned to leave.
Prowl slammed his servos on his desk as he stood up. "We are not done discussing this case, Skybreak. I would advise you to turn back around and finish this." The mech straitened up from leaning over his desk when he watched the femme slowly turned back to him.
She glared at him. "You are the last bot I would ever ask for advice. Though, if you didn't have such a blockage up you afthole, maybe, BIG maybe, on actually getting advice from you." Then she let another grin get plastered on her lips. "Have a good fragging cycle Prowl. You should think about getting fragged soon, it would improve that glitching helm of yours." With that, the door closed, cutting the mechs view of the femme.
His servos clenched the edge of his desk as he tried to rein in his growing anger at the femme. Every fragging time he had to be within speaking distance to the femme, she always grated on his gears. It never failed to bring him into a fit that lead Prowl tossing something either at the femme, herself, or just at something. This was yet another case as his desk went sailing through the air to slammed into the wall with the door that the femme had just left from.
-Four Orns after the rescue-
First Aid blatantly ignored the two as he walked through the already open door, stepping over Siren's lounging frame that was spread out in the doorway. He even went as far as to ignore the tri-colored mech working diligently to something on the wall several feet under the keypad to the door of his home.
Wait, what?!
The medic spun around taking in the hunched form of Wheeljack as he fiddled with a newly made gaping hole in his wall. Wires were all over the place with some hanging down from inside of the wall and a portion coming up from the bottom of the hole. Then came the signs of burnt marks all around the area
"What in Primus happened?!" At his voice, the scientist jerked a little having been too focused on his work before turning around to the medic. "Oh this?" his servo turns to point a digit at the mess of wires and open space of wall. "Yes, that."
Siren glanced between the two mechs letting her plating twitch a couple times in humor. "Uh, well, I was testing something in my lab to see if it would be able to travel to certain bots. It worked as it arrived here for Siren. She was the one to inform me of when it did that I made my way over here."
First Aid hung his helm with a slow vent. "Okay, but why is there such a mess of wires and burn marks?"
Wheeljack glanced to Siren, who by now was rolling back and forth barking out in her way of laughing. "It uh, glitched?"
"Do you know so or not?" He questioned the mech as he rubbed the back of his helm, fins flashing pink in his embarrassment. Siren settle back down but let her plating shift some more.
"Well, it wasn't planned for it to glitch out and collide with your wall." Wheeljack stated with a shrug.
"Half the time your works aren't planned to glitch out like they do. At least this time you don't have a missing limb." He replied turning away from them. Siren shook her helm as she stood up to follow the mech. Taking out her pad she began. At least it was just that little bit and not the whole building.
"Well, if you look it that way, that is a relief." First Aid replied.
And before you ask, yes, the door doesn't work right now. That's why Jackie is working to try and fix it as it was his project that did this damage.
First Aid gave a nod. "Want some oil cakes?" A grin appeared on his face at the perk in her finials. Where?! Taking the box that held them form his subspace before having to raise his arms up to stop Siren from nuzzling into the box. "Now, just wait a klik." Quickly the medic opened the box to take out a couple for the vixen, who was impatiently doing a low barking talk as if telling him to hurry.
"Okay, okay, calm down, here's your addiction." He stated setting down the plate that held the oil cakes which had a vixen diving towards them. He then set about putting some on two other plates. Taking them, he went back to Wheeljack finding the mech attaching a few of the wires back together. "Want some? Might want to eat them before Siren finishes what she has."
The tri-colored mech nodded taking the plate. "Oh, yes, thank you. I know what you mean. She seems to have a knack of finding the cakes anywhere I store them."
"Ah, so you're the reason for her fifteen-pound gain in weight." First Aid sighed with a shake of his helm. "I cant have them near her with out her demanding I share some with her."
"She does seem to love the cakes." Both mech then turned to a low barking hum.
"You are welcome." The medic replied having heard it many times to know what it was meaning.
"Wait, you understood that?" Wheeljack asked interested.
First Aid gave a shrug. "Well, she's lived with me long enough that I would pick up on certain tones in her barks." Suddenly he found the mech scouting up towards him in excitement. "Teach me all you know on that." The medic drew his helm back from the too close scientist before half turning to Siren hearing her typing.
He's interested in learning to understand beast speech. You seem to know more than he does at this point. She stated amber optics glowing lighter in her happiness. We've been working on it for a little bit now, but there are some tones I give that he still doesn't catch so it throws him off at times.
First Aid nodded in understanding before scooting back from the mech nearly inches from him. "Wheeljack, would you mind backing away, your too close for comfort." The mech fin flashed blue doing as asked having forgotten the mess of wires he was still needing to fix. At that time the three worked on deciphering some words from Siren.
Wow, its been a bit since last update. Was snacking one Swedish Fish trying to get this done and out on the site.
verner2 - Its a possibility that she does. And thank you, I'm glad you enjoy it...even with some spelling errors that i know are about.
Secret - You are welcome. I hope this states that long wait for you.
wolf girl811 - Well for one, I dont think Boltgear would become a Wrecker as he only wants to focus on his remain Foxes. It is a good idea to make him one but i dont see it happening anytime soon.
Steelcode - Thank you for the quotes!
Sakura Hatsu - Knowing Jackie, he was probably too excited and it slipped out.
The Whispering Sage - Geeze i hope the sun didnt burn you too bad. And yeah, Real life sucks when it sneaks up on you. Had it do the same thing to me just early this year.
Now to thank those for Following and Favoriting! Really guys it mean the world to me knowing this holds such audience. Dr. Sparkeater (I LOVE THIS NAME!), Whowantsout, HeartLuvAnimeGirl, and verner2! Thank you!
Read & Review!