This is part three of three because the first part of this chapter (Communication) runs parallel to the Orion Pax chapters. The second part (Memories) focuses on Optimus.
After the Autobots returned from Unicron's spark without Optimus, Miko happened to find Liliy's cloak that she left on the chair.
"Hey, have you guys seen Liliy?" she asked the boys.
"Uh, the last time I saw her was before the Bots left," replied Raf. "Why do you ask?"
"She left her cloak on the chair." She held up the cloak. "She never does that."
"Just call her phone," said Jack. "She's probably somewhere in the base."
Miko pulled out her phone and called Liliy's number. It went straight to voicemail.
"Her phone must be off." Miko frowned down at her phone before she flipped it shut. She looked up at the boys. "Let's go look for her in the back."
The children searched the whole base. Liliy was nowhere to be found.
"She's not here," stated Jack.
"What if she followed the Bots when they went to stop Unicron?" asked Miko.
"That sounds more like something you would do, Miko."
"And I might've if I hadn't already seen what dark energon did to Raf."
"But where would Liliy have gone if she didn't go with the Bots?" asked Raf. "And if she did, why didn't she come back with them?"
They were all silent as different ideas popped into their heads.
"Do you think we should tell the Bots about this?" Raf sounded worried.
"No," said Jack. "Let's wait a few days and see if she contacts us."
Miko was concerned. She called Liliy every day. It always went straight to voicemail so sometimes she would leave a message say she missed her. She finally received a text from Liliy's number after a week.
[Alive] was all it said.
Miko excitedly showed the boys later at school. They still hadn't told the Bots that they thought Liliy was missing yet.
"Ask her where she is?"
Miko texted back asking where she was.
[Can't say]
"Either she doesn't know or she can't tell us."
"Ask when she is going to come back."
Miko texted her again.
[IDK]
"She doesn't know? Ask her if she is safe."
[Mostly]
"Hey, ask her if she knows where Optimus is?"
No answer.
Miko texted again saying they missed her.
[Miss U2]
"Alright, so she can't say where she is. She doesn't know when she is coming back. And she is mostly safe."
"But she didn't reply when we asked about Optimus."
"Maybe because she couldn't."
"Why not?"
Raf shrugged. "I don't know."
Over the next couple of weeks, the children would call and leave voicemails on Liliy's phone. She would text them back with a one word reply or an emoji. They still hadn't bothered to tell the Bots that she wasn't there because none of them seemed to miss her. They were too focused on finding Optimus.
It was actually Agent Fowler who brought it to Ratchet's attention when he showed up at the base looking for her.
"Ratchet, where's Liliy?" he asked when he didn't see her in the main room.
Miko answered before Ratchet could. "She's not here."
"What?!" Ratchet and Fowler demanded at the same time.
"What do you mean she isn't here?" Fowler continued. "I told her that she had to stay here unless she had an escort. And I know she doesn't have one because all the Bots are here!" He waved a hand at the four Autobots in the room.
"Not all of them," countered Jack.
"Prime doesn't count. He's MIA."
"Wait," Ratchet interrupted. "You're not saying that Liliy is with Optimus right now, are you?"
The three children shrugged.
"We just know that the last time we saw her was before the Bots left for the planet core."
"And she only replies to our voicemails with short texts."
"Yeah. When we asked where she was, she just replied with 'can't say'."
"Hm. Then we don't know if it is actually her."
"Then I will text her right now and ask her to prove it." Miko pulled out her phone. "The doc and Fowler," she said aloud as she typed, "want to know if you are really Liliy. Tell us something that only we would know." She hit send.
A message from Miko popped on Liliy's phone. She opened and read it.
Only something they would know? In one or two words? She tapped her phone on the console as she thought.
"Something wrong, Liliy?" asked Orion.
"Huh? Oh, I was trying to remember..." She paused as she met his gaze. There was her answer. Something only Ratchet would know. "And I just thought of it. Thanks."
She waved off his quizzical glance as she picked up her phone to reply.
Miko's phone buzzed. She checked it. "Oh. She texted back! Three words this time. That's a first. But I don't get it. All she said was 'Hunter of Peace'."
"Let me see." Fowler took the phone. "Hunter of Peace. That means nothing to me. Ratchet?"
The medic's expression was thoughtful. "Yes, it does." He looked up at them. "Liliy told me that, from a human perspective, Orion Pax means 'hunter of peace'. I believe that the person the children are communicating with is actually Liliy."
"But does this mean that she is with Optimus?" asked Fowler.
"Not necessarily. She could be anywhere."
"When we asked if she knew where Optimus was, she never replied," shared Jack. "She never replies to anything we send her that is directly Cybertronian related."
"Her phone goes straight to voicemail when you try to call her. But she does check them because she replies with texts. Maybe she is afraid of someone intercepting her cellphone signal," Raf suggested.
"By the way, Agent Fowler. What did you need her for?" asked Jack.
"I was going to ask for her help on a special mission, but it looks like that's out." Fowler handed the phone back to Miko.
"Sorry," said Miko.
"Base to Arcee," Fowler spoke into the comm. "We're reading five Autobot life signals down there. Is Prime with you?"
{And Jack.} Arcee replied.
"Yes! Liliy got the big guy off the Cons' ship," Miko cheered.
"But wait…" said June, looking around after the Bots and Jack returned to base with a restored Optimus. "Where's Liliy?"
"Yeah," added Raf. "When she called she said she was with Optimus on the Nemesis. What happened to her?"
"I'll try calling her again," stated Miko.
She put her phone on speaker after she dialed the number. It rang once and then played a message.
{Hey guys. I know you are looking for me but I just spent two months babysitting a confused archivist with memory problems and I am exhausted. So I went home to rest. I'll contact you later. Stay safe. Liliy out.}
They all looked up at Optimus. He looked back at them, slightly confused.
"That was an interesting yet somehow probably an accurate choice of words," Ratchet said.
After a lengthy check-up, Ratchet told Optimus he needed to rest. The taller mech agreed and retreated to his quarters. With a heavy sigh, he sat on his berth and leaned back against the wall. He closed his optics and withdrew into his memory banks in hopes of finding something from the recent time he spent on the Nemesis. Despite his efforts, the last thing he could remember before coming to next to the active space bridge was releasing the matrix into Unicron's spark. Sighing in defeat, he glanced around and noticed that the blank space from the last time he disappeared was now full of memories. Curious, he pulled them out to see what they were.
Flashback...
Optimus was in pain, on the edge of stasis. The noise of approaching peds pierced the fog in his processor and he half opened his optics. A bot stood over him and the only thing that registered was the mask they wore. Not the fact that the silhouette, the bright color scheme, or even the color of their visor were all wrong for a Vehicon. Prime tried to rise but he couldn't. He didn't have the strength. The bot turned.
"Commander! Over here!"
Another bot appeared. This one's mask had the same mouthpiece but the visor was much wider. They knelt beside him.
"An Autobot…"
"What should we do, Commander? With those wounds, he won't last another day without help."
The commander did not respond right away.
"Call Kilo."
"Yes, Commander." The bot opened a commlink. "Echo, have Kilo bridge to the commander's coordinates."
A few moments later, he heard a ground bridge open and another bot appeared. This one was far bigger than the others, bigger even than Optimus himself. And they too wore a vehicon mask.
"Be as careful as you can, Kilo," instructed the commander. To the comm, "Alfa. Redirect the bridge straight into the medbay."
The huge bot, carefully as they could, lifted Optimus into their arms. Pain flared and a weak cry escaped him.
"Hurry, Kilo." The commander turned to the first bot. "Hirry, you continue scouting. Try and find out what happened..."
The hum of the vortex drowned out the commander's last words. Optimus closed his optics against the brightness. The sounds were fading. The hum stopped and new voices spoke. Then the pain he felt when he was set down was too much and he fell into stasis.
He woke up sometime later. His pain was dull now but still there. He opened his optics and greeted by the sight of a high grey ceiling. He looked around and found he was lying in a large medical bay. He reached up to pull one of the tubes from his chassis but a three clawed servo stopped him. It was mech, painted red and yellow. A vehicon mask sat on top of his helm but his optics were blue and the insignia he wore was neither Autobot, nor Decepticon.
"You shouldn't move too much. We just finish closing your wounds," he said softly.
"Where am I?" the Prime asked, his voice still weak and full of static.
"The CRC medbay-"
"Ahh! Is he awake already?" interrupted a new voice. "I haven't finished replacing his armor."
The copter medic turned to the shorter, red and white mech who was approaching the med berth with a piece of freshly cast metal in his servos. He also had a vehicon mask atop his helm.
"Well, what took you so long, Foxtrot?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chassis and glaring at him.
"Oh, you know me, Oscar. Always the perfectionist." Foxtrot smirked.
"Tch. Between you and Romeo, it's like working with Knock Out all over again." Oscar headed for a console. "I'm going to inform Echo that he is awake since the commander left base to check with the surveillance team."
"Hey, at least I have better bedside manners and Romeo doesn't overly obsess about his finish." To Optimus, "Move your arm a little, please. I need to weld this on."
Prime obeyed. Foxtrot's servo transformed into a welder and his mask came down over his face as he positioned the new armor.
"Finished!" he exclaimed when he was done, his servo returning. He pushed his mask back up and smiled down at Optimus. "All you need now is some more rest and you'll be as good as new. Well, almost. You still need to be repainted."
"Agreed. The commander will not be returning for several more hours," said Oscar from the console, while Foxtrot moved away from the med berth. "They will answer any more questions you have, so please rest until then."
The Prime nodded and closed his optics.
Optimus didn't realize he had fallen into recharge until he woke up again some more time later. He let out a low groan as he reached up to rub his faceplates.
"Oh, good. You're awake again," said Foxtrot, coming over to him. "The commander-" He looked around the medbay. "...was just here."
"Leecher left already but I am still here," a female voice answered from the counter behind Optimus.
"Oh, there you are, Madam. I didn't see you before."
"Of course. I'm so easy to miss." The reply was sarcastic. "Go find something else to do before you talk yourself into an aft-kicking, Fox," she ordered.
"Yes, ma'am." He smirked as he walked off.
"So…" the voice was closer this time and Prime looked over in surprise. Standing on the little arm that stuck out from the side of the med berth was a femme that stood barely seven feet tall. Her colors were platinum, gray, and red. A reflective visor hid her optics and her left arm was completely gone.
His optics widened even farther as he finally recognized the symbol that he had seen on the medic.
"You are a Laserblade."
The corner of her mouth turned upward in a half-smile. "Finally someone old enough to recognize my clan. But, you were not yet a Prime when we were wiped out, according to the historical records."
"No. But I was an archivist at Iacon."
"That would explain your knowledge."
"Are the others…?" His optics glanced in the direction that Foxtrot had gone.
"No. I am the last. They are all troopers I stole from the Decepticons and gave new purpose to. Except Leecher. They helped me escape Cybertron. This symbol," she brushed her digits over the red blade embossed on her chassis, "now represents my new family. The Cybertronian Rebel Corps. CRC for short. I should also mention that the only reason I decided to save your aft was to piss off Megatron. We are not your friends." She crossed her arm over her chassis and looked away from his steady gaze.
"I… understand," he said, looking away as well.
"However..." she started causing him to look at her again. She pushed her visor up, revealing her red optics. "…my trust and respect can always be earned if a bot is deserving of it."
Optimus' optics shot open as he sat up straight on the berth. Now he understood why the CRC seemed so familiar to him. The blank in his memory had been the time he spent two weeks recovering at their base after his last big fight with Megatron before the warlord disappeared for three years. He had met 25 of the 26 former Decepticon troopers who now followed the orders of a one-armed Laserblade, known as the Madam, and her loyal second-in-command, Leecher. They had even allowed him to tour a portion of their base. The last thing he remembered about his time there was lying on a med berth and the Madam apologizing to him before there was a sharp pain at the back of his helm and everything went black. The next memory was him onlining in Ratchet's medbay with no memory of the time he was gone.
Determined to find out why his memories had been blocked, Optimus got up from his berth and returned to the main room. Ratchet was at his workbench in the medbay when Prime entered.
"Optimus," the medic said, looking up from his work, "you're supposed to be resting."
"I remembered something."
"From the Nemesis?" He followed the taller mech over to the main computer console.
"No," Optimus replied, calling up the commlink. "Something from before."
"Wha-"
"Autobot Outpost Omega One to CRC base. Do you read?"
Static was the only answer.
"Optimus Prime to Echo. Come in."
{Well, that was unexpected,} replied a smooth voice from the comm. {One moment, Optimus, and I'll patch you to the Commander.}
There was more static.
"Optimus, what is going on?" asked a concerned and confused Ratchet.
"I'll explain later, old friend."
The center monitor winked and a box appeared with live video feed of an expressionless, matte black mech.
{Optimus, nice to see you again. What can we do for you?}
Prime always found it odd that Leecher referred to their self in the plural, but he never asked about it. "Is the Madam available?"
{We're afraid not.}
"Then perhaps you can tell me why my memories were erased."
{Not erased. Just blocked. If we had truly erased them, they would still be gone.}
"But why?"
{At the time, we were not ready to reveal ourselves, but we could not leave you in the condition you were in. So we did what needed to be done to preserve our secret.}
"So why now? After all this time…?"
{We'll leave that to the Madam to explain when she becomes available… which might not be for a day or two.}
"Very well. Have her contact me when she does."
{Of course. Leecher out.} The video went away.
"Optimus…?"
Prime looked at his medic.
"Remember that time a few years ago when I went missing for two weeks and when you found me again, I could not remember where I had been?"
"Yes…" Realization dawned on him. "Wait. You were with the CRC?"
"According to my reloaded memories-and Leecher- yes."
Leech crawled over the soft, cotton fabric looking for Liliy. She liked to sleep basically buried under a mountain of multi-colored pillows and blankets. And she slept in her alt so that none of the fabric could get caught or rip on her frame. The bed itself was fairly large too. It could easily fit three or four Liliy-sized frames.
Leech finally found her curled around a blue body pillow. Even though her hair was holographic, she still had terrible bedhead and it always amused the cyberleech. They tried to smooth her hair with a tail as they whispered to her.
"Liliy. Time to wake up."
"Mmmm." She curled tighter around the body pillow.
"Come on, Liliy. You have done nothing but refuel and recharge since you got back. The boys want to see you."
She squirmed backwards until she was buried again.
Leech tried something else. "Optimus called. He remembers us and wanted know why we blocked his memories."
Her head emerged from the pile and she blinked sleepily at him. "What did you tell him?"
"That we did it to preserve our secret. He also wanted to know why we were suddenly helping them again… I told him that I'd leave it to you to explain."
"Gee thanks." She dropped her head onto the nearest pillow.
"Well, now that you're awake. Please get up."
"Fine, fine." She crawled out of the bedding and got off the bed. "But only for my boys." She transformed and headed for her washrack.
Btw, Optimus does not realize that the Madam and Liliy are the same person. Not until next chapter.
Hope you enjoyed this. See you all next time.