Hoo! Big one here! Real big one! (Am I suddenly writing so many chapters out of spite, yes) Hope you all enjoy!
The Gilded Falcon
Elita-1 looked around at all of the holoforms amassed on the top open air deck of the Gilded Falcon.
Optimus had requested they all be present and the two ships had been tethered together so as to not drift apart.
Not an hour ago the two ships had passed through the Straight of Gibraltar, they were almost at their destination.
So why had Optimus asked for the ships to be stopped?
He'd been… despondent the day before, but now that spring was back in his step, and he kept going around talking with everyone, herself included.
She'd asked him what was going on, and he had explained it away as the fact they would be meeting their hosts.
He hadn't specified further and it had irked her a bit, when she pressed further he'd just said that it was to be a surprise.
Prowl, Annie and Raf were also in the loop, and seemed to be rather excited, Raf looking around at everyone else as if whatever was to come would get a big reaction out of her unit.
It was night, the deck was lit by floor lighting and the lights of the inner rooms of the ship.
Optimus' flip phone buzzed and he checked the message and smiled. "Our hosts are about to arrive." He announced.
She had just stepped over to him to ask for clarification again when a sound managed to make itself known over the churning waves of the sea below.
Rhythmic, in a way it reminded her of the sound of a rotor blade, moving slowly in the initial startup.
Everyone looked up, and Raf giggled. "There they are!"
Elita had to do a double take, as did the rest of her unit.
She thought the hosts were human!
What landed on the empty deck of the Eastern Wind, were Cybertronians like nothing she'd ever seen before.
The largest landed first, a slight bounce to the landing as the deck swayed under them, soon followed by two others, one smaller and one in the middle scale wise.
The largest was monochrome, the other two had much more colour to them.
All three had impassive black visors.
Optimus cleared his throat. "Everyone, meet our hosts, the Harpies. Aria and Wren, Split Spark same frame twins."
The largest bowed their helm, large protrusions coming out of their helm fluttering as their helm swayed from side to side, taking them all in. "It is our great pleasure to meet you all, just as it is to see friendly faces once more, Annie, Prowl, Rafeal." The Monochrome one spoke, their voice surprisingly soft and deep at the same time, like the low toll of a bell. "I am Wren Orichiono, my sister is waiting for her turn to speak. We are here to introduce ourselves to all of you, and explain where each of you will be getting off your respective ships."
That voice was replaced by a, what she could only describe as, brighter voice, the accent on it was also different. "And I'm Aria! If there is anything you could ever need, we will see to providing it in due haste!"
They lent back then and the medium one bowed to them all, tone level and filled with a self respect that Elita caught herself nodding to. "I am Kia De La Estrada, I hope your journey here has been as smooth as possible. My convoy staff reported no transit incidents outside of one… field incident in Kansas…" Her helm tilted to look to Sunstreakers holoform, who pretended like she wasn't talking about him.
The smallest spoke then, and her words were more… garbled.
"Ira Halloran! If i' ah bi' har' tah unders'an' meh, ah apologise. English is mah fourth language."
That would explain that Elita-1 figured.
"Why not speak Cybertronian?" Arcee asked from next to her.
Ira chuckled. "Don' spea' i'."
That was odd. "But, you are Cybertronian?" Elita-1 asked.
Aria and Wren shook their shared helm, that was an unnerving concept she was trying hard not to think too much about. "We were born and raised human." Wren stated, as one of their wings stretched out, showing off the sheer span of it. "This... is a result of gods meddling in the fates of mortals. Specifically your god Primus…"
Primus?
What was Primus doing meddling in the affairs of a species so removed from Cybertron?
Let alone doing… this… to the natives?
Wheeljack stepped forwards then. "This is incredible! How much of your original bio-structure remains? Was there any dysphoria in the early stages after your transformation? What did it feel like transforming for the first ti-" Optimus clapped a hand over the other holoforms mouth before he could continue spitting questions like he only had one breath left within him to do so.
The twins however, specifically Wren, humoured his questions. "Our internal structure is, at our estimate, three fifths still based on our organic biology, in that it is a type of biomaterial which is bonded with a large colony of nanobots that are acting as the reinforcement to make sure we can take the odd hit." She started. "Secondly, we are still very much experiencing that dysphoria, we spent the majority of our lives with functioning hands for one thing…" She stretched her wing out again in testament. "But Ira figured out a way of creating a physical avatar using those same earlier mentioned nanobots." She continued. "And… when it comes to transforming… well… it's not like how you lot do it… luckily our vital organs don't get rearranged… but our heads… and limbs… very unpleasant, we endeavor to not use our alternate modes to avoid feeling like we're being ripped apart." She explains, grimacing a bit as all four Harpies tried to hold back shudders.
Ira in particular made a sound of disgust. "'Aven' chan'e' in so lon' Ratchet woul' be commin' for mah tail feathers if he knew!" She looked at the humans then with a smile. "So don' go tellin' on me, yeh?"
Raf mimed zipping his mouth shut and flicking away the key, his parents following his lead, earning a wider smile from the smallest Harpy.
Optimus spoke up then. "Would it be possible for you to join us in holoform? I believe there is something of a feast being set out in the main dining hall."
All four Harpies nodded at that, before each taking their own turn to settle down onto the deck into a pile up of limbs, the twins on the bottom, Kia in the middle, and Ira on top.
Soon enough all holoforms, Annie and Raf, were all milling into the dining hall exchanging pleasantries.
Elita-1 was just drifting her way over to sit next to Arcee when someone tapped her shoulder, and turned to find the merged holoform of Aria and Wren. "Yes?"
"Just to make sure we're working on correct information here, you are the leader of this group, correct?" Wren asked.
After a moment she nodded. "Yes, I am."
They smiled. "Wonderful, if it's not too much of an over step, could you kindly join ourselves and Optimus at the head of the table? There's some things we'd like to discuss if that's alright?"
She glanced to Optimus, who was already sitting in the chair to the right of the end, he sent her a quick thumbs up and a smile of his own.
It would probably be beneficial to talk… "Alright, I will join you all."
The twins took the chair at the very head of the table, with Elita taking the seat opposite Optimus.
Everyone else organised themselves into groups as they began to talk among themselves as they dug in.
Their three plates remained untouched for now.
Wren spoke first. "We understand you have many questions, we will do what we can to answer them."
Elita-1 nodded. "Very well… What is your motive for all of this?"
They hummed as Optimus glanced between the three of them, he wasn't sure why but he had a strange feeling that Elita-1's questions were going to be for more than just getting answers.
"We will admit, initially, we wanted nothing to do with this war… but via some espionage during our early months on this Earth, we discovered the answers to what we were, through the documents belonging to the US Government branch 'Sector Seven', they were the ones who had come into possession of the Allspark, and Megatron."
Elita-1 nodded. "And you were able to piece together that you had been spliced into something with Cybertronian as one of the primary parts."
They hummed. "Indeed, we realised where there was one, there would be many, and it would only be a matter of time before others would come for either Allspark, Megatron, or both. Given that we were thrown back in time as well as across dimensional divides, we deduced that whatever was going to come, would be between the years 2005, when we arrived here, and 2017, when we were taken from our home Earth. Turns out we only had two years to prep. And now, we are just past a year since we made contact with Optimus and his unit."
Optimus spoke up then. "Initially it was a purely transactional arrangement, Wren's leg had been badly damaged in the early months of their time as Harpies, and they traded the location of the Allspark and Megatron for the medical aid that Ratchet could provide them." He explained. "Though the wound was so bad there was little Ratchet could do past a brace with rudimentary tools."
Wren took back over then. "We likely would have parted ways after the Allspark was safely secured in Optimus' custody, but… things became complicated… when the Allspark merged with... Kia, and we discovered the reality of why we had been brought here and made into these…" She paused and looked out to their frame under Kia and Ira. "Things…"
Elita-1 blinked at them a few times. "Wait, back up, Kia and the Allspark… merged?!" She exclaimed, looking over at the other woman, who glanced over long enough to nod before going back to her conversation with Red Alert and Inferno.
"Indeed… it would seem that Primus has decided we are to become the mortal vessels of his… relics…" They couldn't help but make a face and rub at their front as ghost pains struck them.
Elita-1 noticed as Optimus sent them a concerned look as he spoke. "Is it acting up?"
They shook their head. "No, no, just ghost pains… and your assumption is correct Elita-1, we too have since taken on our relic… but ours is… unpleasant and temperamental. To put it nicely."
"Your relic is… hostile?" Elita-1 asked, a heavy dose of trepidation in her voice.
They nodded. "Ratchet has us on a strict 'absolutely no fighting' basis because one knock to our chassis and we'll be bleeding out from multiple major lines being ruptured." Wren explained.
Aria spoke up then before Elita-1 could do anything except have her eyebrows vanish into her hairline. "Which leads into why we're still in contact, and hosting the Autobots. With the Allspark merged with Kia, and Wren taking another hit to the leg from an assailant, we were in no position to get away from the government building safely, we could fly away, but the landing would probably come with the cost of Wren losing her leg… so, we went with the Autobots, while Ira and Kia flew on to meet us at the Gilded Falcon for the trek across the Atlantic. During that time, we came to the agreement that it would be better for the Autobots to effectively become our guards, in case Decepticons ever managed to figure out that Kia has the Allspark… and we have whatever this one is. No one seems to recognise it." She explained.
Elita-1 slowly nodded. "What about the other one? Ira?"
They made a face as Optimus took the moment to stab something on his plate a little too hard before speaking. "She has a spark condition… her state as a human did not translate over into a healthy spark… the relic process for the twins was, and continues to be a detriment to their health… we've all agreed that Ira is not to locate her relic...s… unlike the twins and Kia… her relics were apparently a set of four…"
Elita-1 looked confused. "Wait… how would she know that?"
"Because it was human sized versions of each relic that brought us here… in Ira's case, what she thought were her car keys… where a bunch of not her car keys, four, that's all she registered about them before… well, falling through the sky over the black forest in Germany as a giant mechanical harpy… it's honestly a wonder any of us remembered those last few moments of being normal considering the next thing any of us knew, we were plummeting through the sky screaming our lungs out." Wren explained.
"Kia's relic was pretty easy to find once we'd hacked into the US's more secure networks via a small bit of social engineering, ours we had to dig around for quite a bit more, but we eventually found it… honestly it's not just Ira's health that's making it so we can't find her relics… honestly whenever we try to find any kind of symbolism of keys, they're partnered with these big cats! The myth seems to have originated in China some time in the Han dynasty, and spread all across Europe on the Silk road. That's an old trade route. The myth is old but it's branched out across every other culture, they're like damn dragons…" Wren muttered. "And it's only ever one key, not four, the species of cat changes depending on where the story is, in Western Europe it's a house cat!"
"Basically it's making it rather hard to research when every time we try and research 'mythical key' or something like it, there's this massive collection of legends in the way. It doesn't help that we don't even know what Ira's keys are supposed to do. That would at least narrow down the magical key properties, but there's everything from resurrecting the dead to bringing down the end of time upon all who are damned for their sins, and don't get us started on the… Huh?"
Another tap on their elbow drew their attention to Raf. "Yes kiddo?" They asked, noting his wide eyed expression.
"You don't have the legend of the key guardian back on your Earth?"
They shook their head. "No… we have other myths that don't exist here. But we're not the best storytellers, Derrick however is one, ask him when we get to Monaco, okay?"
He nodded, then smiled. "You know, some people believe the legend is real. About the Key Guardian I mean."
"People believe Unicorns and Pixies are real, dear." Wren tried to explain.
Annie spoke up from further down the table. "It's too late Wren, he's going to want to talk about it."
They took a quick glance to Optimus and Elita-1 before shrugging with a soft chuckle. "Alright Raf, tell us."
He smiled, practically lighting up. "The key guardian isn't just a big cat! They also have giant horns!"
They chuckled again. "We saw the descriptions and depictions, they're more an offshoot of a Chimera if we're going on technical morphology, right?"
He nodded. "Which is why some people believe that old legends of the Chimera got warped into the Key Guardian during the Han Dynasty! The original depictions were of a giant tiger! But with the horns of a Yak! But in Tibet it's a snow leopard with Rams horns! And so many other variants!"
They nodded along. "Okay, but what about this supposed evidence of it existing?"
He jumped right in. "The one most pointed to as clear evidence is when this old cruise liner back in the 1910's got hit by something just to the right of the bow! There's photos of it in the Port in Halifax! It left a massive dent in it! No scrape marks! Just a massive dent like something smashed into it! And it had dents inside the dents! Like giant horns hit it!" He explained, his eagerness to discuss this with a somewhat fresh slate, getting him a bit worked up.
They quirked an eyebrow. "Oh, we might do some research on it, what is the name of this cruise liner?"
"The RMS Titanic!"
A spoon clattered further down the table into a bowl of partially eaten ice cream belonging to Ira.
Kia's head snapped around while the twins' expression became one of shock.
The amassed Autobots caught onto the change instantly and began looking around in confusion as the twins struggled to talk, each attempting to say something and tripping up the other.
Ira beat them to it. "Wai'... You don' mean 'Ah'm tha' kin' ah tha' world!' Titanic?" She implored, even acting out as best she could the famous scene. Nearly whacking Wheeljack in the face in the process if he hadn't ducked in time.
Raf looked at her confused, as did Annie and Prowl.
Annie spoke up. "Umm, not getting the reference. Sorry."
Wren finally managed to clear their throat and speak. "It would seem... we have discovered another thing different between our worlds… The RMS Titanic, to us, is a lesson in hubris… of tragedy, and to never believe we have conquered the seas…"
Raf looked alarmed, as did the others. "Why does that sound bad?"
Kia spoke up then. "Because it is… when she was made, it was claimed she was unsinkable… she struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage… with over two thousand on board… just over seven hundred survived. What Ira quoted there, was a famous scene from a movie about the tragedy… Like, 'broke every box office record' famous movie..."
It was quiet for a moment, before it was cut momentarily by a muttered curse from Sideswipe, earning him a kick under the table from Arcee and a hiss of 'there's a youngling!'.
Ira broke the silence more thoroughly. "So you think this Key Guardian… saved the Titanic?" She asked, looking to Raf.
He slowly nodded, fiddling with his left thumb. "Well… yeah? If your one went down… and this one only had a big hit to the hull?"
"A hit potentially hard enough to redirect the ships trajectory so they wouldn't hit an iceberg perhaps?" Wren put forward softly. "It certainly sounds like something substantial hit it… and World War One wouldn't start until two years later… there were no hostilities in the Atlantic during 1912…"
"There really could be some truth to this… we'll see if some calculations can be run when we get back to Monaco." Aria offered.
Raf beamed and gave them a quick hug. "Thank you!"
They ruffled his wild hair. "Think nothing of it dear. Now, head back to your parents okay? We still need to talk with Elita-1 here."
He nodded and scrambled back to his own chair, getting another hair ruffle from his dad as he did so.
Everyone smiled a bit at that before getting back to their own conversation, all agreeing that whatever it was this conversation led to, it wouldn't appear now.
Elita-1 was the one to speak. "So… how long until Ira is healthy enough to hunt for her relics?"
They frowned, as did Optimus. "Not for quite a while… her spark is destabilised, that's about as much of Ratchet's medical jargon we could understand, this isn't a quick fix, and we aren't going to push her…"
Elita-1 nodded. "So we're in a holding position waiting for something else to happen until then?"
Optimus chuckled. "I doubt we will have to wait long… our time on Earth has certainly not been remotely boring."
"I know we're drinking more coffee than we ever did back on our old Earth, without getting hospitalised that is." Wren remarked.
"Lucky us after we copied the code in Prowl's holoform, we can actually feel the effects again! Just without the constant danger of causing our hearts to fail! Tachycardia! The joy of having double the safe resting heart rate because you have two hearts!" Aria added, her voice pitching up a bit at the end.
"Which means I've been spending my nights carrying you both to your bed while you've been keyed up enough to win a marathon twice over." Optimus remarked with a chuckle.
"Oh hush, that's only happened twice." Wren shot back.
"Four times actually."
"Let's say three and call it even."
"I'd rather keep to the actual count, thank you."
"Boo! You're no fun!"
"I agree with Aria, just this once?"
"Wren I'm disappointed in you, here I was of the belief you'd agree with me."
"When it comes to coffee consumption, never."
Elita-1 blinked again and again, trying to understand why what she was feeling felt so… familiar…
Then it hit her.
"Oh my Solus…" She rasped out, before pointing at the twins holoforms. "You! You act like-!" She was cut off by Optimus leaning over the table to take her hand and nudge it back down to the table.
"Elita, I have already spoken to you about this, they aren't the Mutes… Megatronus moulded them into the image of them… they are not them."
The twins looked down at their plate and nudged a morsel of food around it, ignoring the staring match going on in front of them, and ignoring the confused looks of the other new Autobots as best they could, along with the sympathetic looks of those who already knew.
They bit their tongue to keep from saying anything.
Elita frowned. "That sounds like a sick joke." She remarked. "Of course Megatron decides he can't let go of them after he tried to murder Nebular!"
Optimus rebuked her quickly. "He was possessed! I have explained this to you!"
"Possession or not! He shouldn't have just decided to do this?! Make a mockery of their memory!" Elita-1 snapped. "Slap some shades of blue on them and you would be falling over these two like you did them!"
Ira and Kia exchanged a look before each glancing at the twins, who's features had become schooled into a neutral expression.
"Shiiite…" Ira muttered under her breath.
"Not good…" Kia agreed.
Optimus had floundered for a few moments from the accusation before he was rising from his seat sharply. "Elita-1! Stand down! This is not up for discussion!"
"Oh!? It's not?! Ever since we arrived! Every time they've contacted you, you've lit up like you used to! Do not debase their good memory, by settling for sham copies!"
"I am not settling for anything!" Optimus snapped back. "Am I not allowed to care for my friends?!"
Annie and Prowl took that moment to quickly get Raf out of the room, each covering an ear on the boy as they rushed for the nearest corridor.
Barring the other two Harpies, everyone was frozen in their seats.
"Friends?! We were fragging for millennia and you never reacted like that to me! They're organics in Cybertronian frames! They will never understand the complexities of a Cybertronian's existence! Let alone yours!"
Optimus went to snap something back, when a hand landed on his shoulder, and suddenly, he felt cold.
Not a physical cold, but like something had seeped deep into his spark and chilled him there.
He glanced to the source to find the twins had stood up, their gaze straight ahead at the ocean beyond the glass.
"You do not need to defend us. It is clear that she has made unfounded opinions of us."
"That will change in time. After all. She will be living under our roof."
Their head turned towards her and the rebuke she'd about to send out died in her throat, something in that gaze… it made her freeze in place.
"Are we understood?"
Elita-1 gulped and nodded.
"Good. Now then, we've lost our appetite. If anyone needs us, we will be spending the time before our departure in our personal quarters."
The silence in the dining room lasted for a few long tense moments after the doors closed behind them.
"Elita-1, excuse my adoption of a human term here, but, what. The fuck was that about?!" Optimus hissed, breaking the silence.
Elita-1 floundered for a moment before snapping back. "Oh I'm sorry?! I just want the best for you!"
"Upsetting two people I consider close friends, who have been helping me recover from my grief, is what is best for me?!"
"They aren't the Mutes! Yet you act like they are!"
"I treat them with the same dignity and respect as I treat anyone!"
Hands slammed down further down the table as Kia rose to her full height. "¡SILENCIO! NO MORE ARGUING!" She snapped, before storming to the front of the table and pinning both of them with a foul look. "This was supposed to be, a friendly introduction! Not an excuse to insult the twins!"
Elita-1 floundered some more, but Optimus had little interest in speaking up, Kia was more than capable of handling this.
He glanced to Ira, and silently asked if she wanted to come with him to go check on the twins.
She got what he meant at once and got up, nodding goodbye to the ones around her before quickly walking over to Optimus, managing not to shoot Elita-1 a withering look.
Just as they said, they were found within their own personal quarters, their holoform split back in two as they curled around each other in a tangle of limbs.
Ira peaked through the small opening between door and frame at their form, and then glanced back to silently ask him to keep quiet, after he gave a nod she gave a few light knocks to the door. "Twins? Can ah come in?"
There wasn't an answer.
Ira flinched back a bit before steeling herself and trying again. "Please? I… I wan' tah snuggle…"
Wren's head moved in a nod.
She opened the door just enough to slide in, holding up a 'wait there' gesture with her left hand. The last limb to go through the door before she stepped in fully, leaving the door ajar like they'd found it.
After another moment to take in their form, she kicked the shoes off, they were actual shoes so they didn't dissipate.
She crawled up onto the bed then, and lightly tapped Wren's shoulder so they knew where she was.
Wren moved, shifting onto her back, revealing more clearly that Aria had curled herself up into her twin, her head resting on Wren's left shoulder.
Ira let Wren's right arm wrap around her and she snuggled in tight, returning the embrace by wrapping her left arm over Aria, who let out a quiet whine.
They stayed like that for somewhere past five minutes when Aria finally spoke, from how she was lying, her hair was in the way of her face, but that didn't mean Ira couldn't tell she was close to crying. "We're not… we're not copies… you don't think we are right? ...We aren't?"
Ira took in a slow breath and shifted to press her forehead to Aria's. "Of course yah no'... Yah Aria an' Wren, yah kic' arse, yah ta'e no shi', you're stupi'ly self-sa'rificin'," She listed off. "An' yah ain' no copy of no one."
"Would you… still like us if we were?"
"Don' be daft, ah woul'n' be alive a' all if i' weren' for yah, ah don' give ah ra's ass if yah a clone or no'... you're the ones who've save' meh more times than ah care tah coun'."
Aira let out a soft little huff at that. "Thanks Ira…"
She let herself shrug for a moment. "Yah' do tha same for meh."
She pulled away enough to glance to Wren, and knew that the black themed twin would be harder to even somewhat help. "Wren?"
Wren was quiet for a bit before speaking. "Evidence points to the fact we are copies."
Ira felt her eyebrows shoot up. "Wai'... wha'?"
She turned her head towards the doorway. "There's no reason for you to stay standing out there Optimus, you can come in."
Said mech peaked his head in first, before coming in fully, only to stand there somewhat awkwardly after he'd closed the door fully behind him. "Before we continue, I'd like to properly apologise for Elita-1's behaviour just then… I fear her long held respect for the Mutes got the better of her in the heat of the moment."
Wren nodded before she shifted to sit up on the bed, coaxing Aria and Ira to do the same while they continued to lean on her. "It's alright… honestly that's not even the reason we're…"
"Upse'?" Ira offered.
Wren frowned and shook her head. "No, not upset… pensive maybe… and…" She glanced at the palms of her hands for a moment, clenching them into fists before relaxing them again. "Scared?"
Ira nodded. "Okay then, wha' ma'es yah thin' yah copies?" She asked, before glancing over at Optimus still standing awkwardly, fiddling with his hands. "Ge' on here yah dol', ta'e yah shoes off firs'."
He spooked minutely at being addressed, but did as told, the holoforms shoes, unlike Ira's, dissipated once they were no longer attached, and he carefully sat himself down on the edge.
Ira rolled her eyes in exasperation, sat up, and dragged him closer to the twins by the scruff. "Lay down with us."
He let out a surprised noise at the pull, but went with her pulls and settled onto his side, opting to just lay on his side for now and just, quietly watch, he'd been invited into this conversation… but he wasn't sure what to even say…
Ira broke the silence that followed. "So… yah reasonin'?"
Wren sighed. "Well there's Megatronus for starters… even if we aren't direct clones, the fact that he was tethered to us… and he then imprinted on us and moulded us… would we still remind everyone of them if he hadn't? Well if I'm going to be realistic, if Megatronus hadn't been linked to us… we wouldn't be here at all… at most we'd be a listless shell, that would hardly remind you of them…" She remarked dejectedly. "But then… how much of our lives were manipulated… all those times we had to fight for our very lives before we had even turned sixteen… was all of that just to make us like them? We barely know them like you and Elita do… and yet apparently all we have to do is look in a fucking mirror and… paint ourselves blue and we'd be an identical match… are we being true to ourselves if we try and change ourselves so we aren't that? But then what if the things we change just manage to make us more… fuck!" She snapped, gripping the sides of her head and pulling at her hair. "Who are we?! Who were we supposed to be?! Were we even supposed to be twins?!" She exclaimed in frustration.
Aria let out a quiet whine and buried her face in her own hands.
Optimus and Ira exchanged a horrified, concerned look.
Aria's head snapped up before either of them could even try and come up with something to comfort them with. "Were we even supposed to be born?! What about Auntie and Uncle?!"
Ira's head jerked back with a confused look. "Wait, you have an aunt and uncle?!"
Wren groaned. "Now's not the time…"
Ira looked affronted. "Excuse me but I think we are definitely having a conversation about this!"
"Yes but not now!" Wren snapped back.
Ira glanced at Optimus again, before getting firm. "Fine. But you haven't heard the end of that."
"Fine! Now can we get back to breaking down our own existence?!" Wren implored.
Optimus finally acted then, and pulled her into a tight hug. "Or we can focus on your breathing…" He suggested, as he began to take in deep breaths, coaxing her and Aria along to do the same.
Wren squirmed initially, before giving up and leaning into him as they both followed his breathing pattern.
Ira, after a few moments coaxed Aria into her own arms. "You've been bottlin' tha' up for ah while ain' yah?" She mumbled, petting the poofy hair in her reach.
Neither twin commented, just curling up further into their respective holders.
Optimus sighed and shook his head. "Even if you were supposed to be like them… there's enough of you that they aren't…" He assured them.
"Enough that we don't have to consider the possibility of you falling in love with us?" Wren mumbled into his chest, but he heard it.
He stared out in front of him as he tried to process that question.
Ira glanced over to him, and he spied Aria looking over at him as well, her expression guarded.
After a few moments he sighed and squeeze Wren a bit tighter. "I'm honestly not sure how to respond to that… are you really worried about that?"
"We… love isn't something we really… we don't see it happening…" Wren admitted.
Ira stroked Aria's hair. "Oh Twins…" She mumbled. "Love… i's a won'erful thin' when yah have i'… Ah know Fernando burn' yah ba'ly… wha' with wha' he did… an' wha' happene' with me and… tha' didn't help… but yah deserve i' too… Anyone deserves to be loved…" She tried. "Tah feel li'e yah truly belon' with someone… don' give up jus' ye'..."
He nodded along with her statement as he held Wren tight. "Love can be a painful thing… trust the both of us and your past experiences, but don't write it off entirely… You have wonderful character, the both of you, and your integrity is commendable… to say nothing of your compassion would be a gross disservice to all that you have done for those you hold close…"
They both seemed to sigh before Aria spoke. "Stop… please… you're sounding like you care about us…"
His expression softened as he stroked Wren's back. "I do care about you… both of you… you've helped me come to terms with my grief these last few months, you've allowed me to be weak upon your shoulder, you both have been willing to support me through this all… for me to not want to do the same for you when you need it… I am truly indebted to you, and I wish to repay that in anyway I can."
Wren shook her head. "No debt… never a debt… we just want you all safe and happy…"
He smiled and hugged her a bit tighter. "And we are… which is one of the reasons I want to help the both of you feel happy… you treat your own existence as if you're a monster looking in a mirror… with despair and horror at your own being… Am I wrong?"
He was answered by Wren's nails digging into him.
He pressed his forehead to the top of Wren's and rubbed. "You deserve to be happy with yourselves… please… let us help you do that…"
Ira nodded, rubbing Aria's back. "Yeah… le' us help yah… yah more than earne' i'."
Neither answered vocally, just gave small nods of their heads as they clung to them tightly.
Silence was allowed to take over then, bathing the room in a calm as the four settled into the quiet.
Decepticon Base, Germany.
Starscream looked at the mech before him like he'd seen a ghost.
Which was somewhat understandable, considering the mech for the longest time had been labelled as a K.I.A…
"S… Soundwave! You're online?!" Starscream exclaimed, looking over the impassive mech that looked back at him, Rumble, Ravage, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw either flanking the mostly blue dock mech or were perched on his shoulders.
The mech nodded.
Starscream recovered from his initial shock in record time, a broad, wicked grin on his derma. "Oh incredible! Truly incredible! To find that you are online after all of this time!"
The red visor that regarded him was as impassive as ever, but Starscream simply didn't care. "You chose the Decepticons! Oh wonderful! Truly I am shocked!" He admitted, pressing a servo to his chassis. "Why did you not hail your arrival sooner?" He enquired. "To know you were both online and still supported our glorious cause!"
Rumble spoke up then. "The ships communication hub was missing."
Starscream's optic twitched. "Ah… So… you didn't receive any incoming transmissions?"
Soundwave's helm slowly turned from left to right, then back again.
Starscream gulped. "Well! That's fine! There weren't any messages sent out! Come! Come! Having you back among our folds will be a wonderful boon to our cause! I am working on something big at the moment!" The Seeker rambled, moving to stand next to Soundwave, forcing Rumble to have to scamper out of the way to avoid being stepped on by the Seeker.
Soundwave's engine rumbled in disdain, but Starscream ignored it as he clapped a tight servo to the Dock's opposite shoulder, earning a sharp peck from Buzzsaw when he tried to swat her off her perch. "Come! Come! I must show you! It's rather fascinating!"
"Hey! Where's Megatron?!" Rumble called up from where he was having to jog alongside Ravage to keep up.
Starscream made a face like he'd just smelt something rancid. "He is irrelevant."
Soundwave's helm turned slowly to regard the other mech, a wave of animosity flowing out of his EM field, hitting Starscream square in the chassis, causing the taller Seeker to flinch for a moment before steeling himself. "Megatron is no more, I am the leader of the Decepticons now." He stated.
Rumble snorted. "Oh yeah? And I'm bright neon pink!"
Starscream scowled. "It is the truth. He abandoned the cause."
A new voice cut in before Starscream could continue.
A voice that Soundwave knew.
"And now he's a pet to those monsters! The Ori-bitches themselves!"
The mech standing before them… Soundwave could recognise that pompous stance anywhere, human or quite obviously not.
His younglings were not dumb, they picked up on his recognition instantly, all looking to him in confusion as they felt a previously unknown hatred come to a boiling froth of fury almost instantly.
Their sire knew this mech…
How he knew this mech they didn't know…
But such a reaction… and the mech looked so… weird…
Fernando grinned at Soundwave. "That's right! Your precious fucking warlord went and said the war was over! That he was done fighting and had gone and signed a peace treaty with Optimus fucking Prime himself! Ha! Fool had his balls cut off if you ask me!"
Soundwave stared at the mech. Then, for the first time since his arrival, and for the first time since the Tarn Refinary as far as Starscream was concerned, he spoke. "Fernando." He growled out, icy venom dripping from every spat out syllable, as he stepped closer.
The Eagle Harpy jerked back in surprise. "What? Who the fuck told you my name!?" He looked to Starscream, who was much too flummoxed to answer the next demand that was directed at him. "Did you tell him?!"
Rumble called after his sire as the mech stalked forwards. "Sire? How do you-?"
Rumble didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, nor did Fernado have time to react before a brutal right hook was connecting with his face, sending the mech crashing back into the opposite wall with a sharp cry of pain, the entire side of his face caved in in a rough indent of Soundwave's fist.
Soundwave wasn't content to stop at one.
He never would be content to stop at one.
Fernando's wings and legs scrambled as he tried with limited success to get back up, before Soundwave's two interlocked fists came down hard on his helm, knocking him straight down in time for a brutal kick to the mech's long abdomen, causing the metal there to buckle and crack, allowing his lilac energon to ooze out from the internal damage.
Fernando wheezed from the impacts, raising a wing to try and feebly fend the enraged mech off.
Starscream grabbed Soundwave from behind before the Dock had the chance to grab said wing and break it in two. "Soundwave! Stop! Have you gone mad?!"
Soundwave managed to shrug the Seeker off like he was nothing. "No. I couldn't be saner."
Fernado's terror at the mech was suddenly replaced by a painful clarity as he stared up at the furious mech. "You… I know you…" He paused, looking over the mech, processing the mechs attack on him before he let out a loud, raucous laugh. "I don't believe it! Oh you fucking bastard!" He laughed again, high, strained and laden with no small amount of hysteria. "SOUMA! YOU BITCH!"
Soundwave snarled. "So, you remember me?"
The Harpy laughed again, but this time energon came up with it. "Remember you? Hard to forget that Irish freak's bitch."
He snarled behind his mask at the Harpy. "I'll rip out your glossa for that."
Fernado snorted. "Oh?~ Kia wouldn't like that~"
"Kia isn't here."
Fernado snorted. "Oh~ She is~ They all are~ Living it up in luxury with the Autobots~"
"Fernado…" Starscream tried to warn.
Fernado spat out some of the energon that had pooled in his mouth. "Don't bother. That Irish whore has him wrapped around her little… Oh shit! Oh shit! You done fucked up! You done fucked up! Ha! Oh she's gonna murder your ass!" He exclaimed with raucous laughter.
Soundwave just stared at the mech, as he processed what he had just learned. "They… They're here? On this Earth?"
"Oh yeah~ Go on puppy! Run back to your master!" Fernando cheered, waving his wing about.
Soundwave snarled, stalking forwards again, and dropped his pede, hard between the prone Harpy's legs, drawing an agonized shriek from the mech as he tried uselessly to push the Dock's pede off him.
Soundwave didn't relent, instead, he applied even more pressure. "Where."
"MONACO! Their main base is in Monaco!"
He pushed down harder. "And Ira?"
Fernando cried out. "ROME! SHE'S IN ROME NOW GET OFF ME!"
Soundwave lifted his pede off, and kicked the downed mech square in the jaw, causing it to make a sound of metal buckling.
He didn't even bother to take in the damage, turning he looked to Starscream. "Consider this my resignation from the Decepticons." He snarled, stooping down long enough to pick up both Ravage and Rumble, before stalking out the way he came.
Leaving Starscream to flounder, turning to watch the mech stalk away into the night. "Since when did you break that stupid vow?!" He exclaimed, but received no answer.
Fuming, Starscream turned on the prone Harpy. "You just had to open that slagging mouth of yours! Do you even realise the asset you just cost us?!"
Fernadon looked up at him, but his lower jaw was hanging on by wires.
Starscream didn't need a verbal answer.
Instead, he stalked off. "Scalpel! The Bird needs repairs!" He barked.
None of them noticed the two eyes watching them all from beyond their makeshift compound.
Nor did any notice when the owner of those eyes slipped past their rudimentary early warning systems.
There you have it! Mystery solved lads!
Now for the complete shit show that's about to go down!
Until next time!
Moon.