Well, as a side note: Over a hundred chapters and darn near four hundred reviews... Wooooooo! Crazy long right? Anyway yes, Kae's not a bot, not yet at any rate, liiiil bit of a deek out though XD. So... yes. The light of the computer screen is killing my brain at the moment. Less talk, more post. A billion thanks to my dear sweet Bee4ever and a zillion to my wonderful reviewers. Keep the reviews coming folks, they are my fuel!
Chapter 101 - Overhaul
(OPOV)
Optimus strode into the communications central, content that his Kae still loved him. He'd woken her accidentally as he'd risen. He'd intended to use his holoform to deposit her in her hammock. That hadn't worked, of course, but the gentle kiss she'd pressed to his faceplates made it rather difficult to feel guilty about having a conscious Kae.
Standing at the catwalks, he began listening to Will go over the events and topics that needed to be discussed. The Major's facial expressions, freed from the constraint they'd had with each other two years ago made it plain what the man's opinions on the topics were.
"And last but certainly not the least irritating, I'm supposed to casually bring up weapons stuff again." the major finished, rolling his eyes.
Optimus couldn't hold back the snort of amusement as a few techs casually covered their ears.
"Does that do anything?" he asked curiously, looking at Jerry.
"Well, sorta, it makes it less loud. I don't think there's anything capable of drowning your voice out, though," the man snorted.
"Especially when you're in full bellow, except then we don't so much hear your voice as feel it reverberating through the catwalks," Danny added with a shit-eating grin.
"You should hear him shouting on the battlefield," Jolt piped up mildly. "I'm fairly certain at any moment now Prime is going to discover an even scarier tone that'll have Megatron flying off to find a nice neutron star to hide in."
"That is suicide," Optimus rumbled to the bot with a snort.
"Uh huh, and?" Jolt asked innocently. Optimus rolled his optics at the bot then turned to see General Moreshower striding into the room, carrying a cup of coffee with Mikaela beside him. Optimus smiled down at his Kae as she casually climbed up his leg and jumped into the hand he offered, settling onto his shoulder the way she always did.
"Morning!" the General called up, "At ease you lot."
"General," Optimus nodded calmly. The man nodded to him with a half smile.
"I gotta ask," Will stated mildly as the older man made his way up the ladders. "Most of the time we're discussing stuff that's just as easy over the phone."
"The coffee is better here," Moreshower snorted. "Morning Optimus, Will tell you what all I'm supposed to discuss with you today?"
"He did," Optimus nodded.
"Oh good," the General stated, taking a sip of his coffee. "Shall we crack through so I can get out of your-" Moreshower glared at him for a moment.
"'Hair' doesn't precisely work, does it?" Optimus rumbled in amusement.
"Circuits?" Mikaela piped up with a half smile. "Which on that note, Ratchet wants you to report to the med-bay for your overhaul."
"Of course he does," Optimus rumbled, rolling his optics. "Now then, General, I believe the first topic up for our mutual shouting match-"
"It's sad when we're that casual about it now," the General snorted.
"You're upset that he doesn't mind a good shouting match?" Will laughed.
"No, a good shouting match is cathartic. I'm just saying that it's rather sad that we're so casual about the topics we're shouting about."
Optimus snorted.
"First on the docket is scouting," Will stated calmly.
"That's not good for a shouting match," Moreshower snorted. "We all know that that one is an impasse, maximum coverage versus safety and speed of deployability. I'm actually with Optimus on that one, can't respond to an attack on time if everyone is stretched out between time zones."
"Agreed," Optimus snorted.
"Next is actually confirmation of your wedding plans," Will added, looking at Kae.
"What, that I'm not backing out or is Cole bugging you about guest lists again?" Kae asked with a low chuckle.
"The not backing out bit," Moreshower nodded.
"I'm keeping him," Mikaela stated with a smirk.
"Good to hear," the General snorted. "Which leads us to everyone's favourite topic-"
The doors opened behind Optimus.
"Optimus!" Ratchet bellowed.
"Ratchet, I do not have time to be offlined for a full rebuild," Optimus rumbled irritably, looking at the medical officer.
"It's either two days now or ten days later," Ratchet growled at him, glaring. "You've overtaxed your capacitors again! So unless you want them to overload, cut out in series and offline in the middle of taking down a Decepticon, you are going to report to the med bay. NOW!"
Optimus glanced down at the humans staring at the Medi-bot.
"Any chance you can just use your holoform for the next couple of days?" General Moreshower asked hopefully.
"My holoform cannot be active while Ratchet is working on my capacitors," Optimus grumbled irritably, glaring at his Medic.
Ratchet had already won, of course, but the older bot had a bizarre sense of timing; even for a medic, and that was saying something. Which of course left him with the only other option.
"Very well, I will simply have to revert," Optimus grumbled irritably, turning and walking toward the med-bay.
"Revert?" Mikaela asked curiously, sitting on his shoulder.
"The process whereby my original form will separate from my adult body," Optimus explained patiently, looking at his Kae. She nodded her understanding.
"You can't be serious," Ratchet grumbled, looking up at him.
"It has been a long time," Optimus shrugged, "However I am certain that I can still perform it."
"Despite the fact that it'll put you in a far more vulnerable position?" Ratchet grumbled.
"What?" Moreshower asked curiously. Optimus snorted and ducked into the med-bay, lightly setting his Kae down on the berth and laying back.
He offlined his optics and synced his processors as his body began to shatter. Optimus grimaced slightly, he'd forgotten the dull ache of separating spark from whole body. He thought about it for a moment and nodded to himself somewhat before rising from his own body and looking up at his Medical Officer.
"Why you're still capable of that is beyond me," Ratchet snorted, gently picking him up and depositing him on the ground.
"The fuck!?" Will asked in shock, staring at Optimus.
"Gentlemen, may I introduce Orion Pax?" Ironhide rumbled with a snort. Optimus turned to glare at his Weapons Master.
"Your hatchling form," Mikaela murmured, Optimus glanced up and noted with surprise that he'd forgotten his Kae up on the berth. Way up on the berth. She slid down the ladder and hesitantly reached for him before settling for standing in front, looking up at him.
"It's kind of sad that you were bigger as a hatchling than I am as a fully grown human," she snorted, grinning up at him.
He laughed and lightly picked her up, cradling her much as Arcee did.
"So, now what?" Will asked curiously, looking up at him. "Do we get you a car or a bike or something to disguise yourself?"
"NO!" Ironhide snorted. "Not unless Optimus decides he wants to stay that size for the rest of his vorns. Of course you've made stranger decisions..."
Optimus promptly glared at his weapons master.
Mikaela reached up and cupped his cheek gently, made purely of protoform metals, her touch tingled.
Of course then it occurred, he had only brought one processor to this form.
How the humans managed to think about so much with so little processing power was beyond him.
ΩWe rapidly switch back and forth between processes,Ω Mikaela stated blandly.
Blessedly using the language of the Primes. So much easier to understand.
And gorgeous when spoken in her voice...
"So, now what?" Will asked curiously.
"Now we continue on," Mikaela smiled, gently squirming out of his arms and standing at his right, a half pace behind. "Shall we adjourn to our quarters, it'll be far more comfortable than rearranging communications central."
"Indeed," Optimus rumbled calmly, inwardly thanking his Kae. He could fit in her quarters now, and they would indeed be far more comfortable.
Ratchet glanced at him knowingly as the medic worked on his body. His metals were still aching somewhat. Annoying, but tolerable.
"Shall we then?" Will asked with a grin, leading the way out of the med-bay and turning right. Moreshower followed with a smile.
They walked in silence for a moment, and Optimus couldn't help but feel a bit more admiration for his human compatriots. As small as they were, they still made what turned out to be an incredible distance regularly.
Of course Optimus automatically turned at his door, and snorted in irritation as it refused to open, keyed to his size.
Kae stepped forward and the doors opened. Keyed to her size as well, which in it's own way was rather amusing. Especially since she never used this door.
"What's that for?" Will asked beside him. Optimus glanced down to see the human looking up at him in amusement.
"What is what for?" Optimus rumbled curiously, looking around his quarters.
"You sound completely amused at something or other."
"I admit that I had forgotten what it is like to be so..." Optimus trailed off, looking for a word that would not insult the humans.
"Tiny?" Mikaela piped up cheerfully. "When we don't know how it feels to be so blasted tall you've become the leading expert."
Moreshower snorted and looked down at her.
"Which leaves you as our leading expert on tiny," he added quietly.
"Oh ouch," Kae snorted, wandering into her quarters and straight for her kitchen. Optimus followed and folded himself comfortably onto the floor, it was a new shock for him, to see Kae with his own optics as she struggled to reach the overhead shelves in her kitchen.
But she managed it, of course.
The scents of coffee and the baking she'd done the day before crossed his olfactory receptors, and it was all he could do to not completely focus on those scents.
Which then left him cursing himself.
He'd forgotten his conversion unit in his adult body.
Now that was embarrassing.
He caught the sound of Ratchet's voice addressing Kae on the Primary in healer's frequency over her iPod. Which he struggled to understand now.
Scrapping single processor. How Kae managed it was beyond him.
"Er... Prime?" Will asked curiously. Optimus turned his attention to him quickly.
"I apologize, Major, General, how your race manages to do so much with only one processor running is beyond me," Optimus rumbled irritably.
"It takes time, and practice," Mikaela stated calmly, setting a tray on her low table and folding herself onto the cushion beside him. She delicately set a large cup in front of him. At first glance it looked like coffee.
"I..." he started.
ΩIt's energon, beloved,Ω Mikaela stated calmly in his language. ΩRatchet found your conversion unit.Ω
Optimus hadn't even noticed her doing it.
Fascinating.
"Someday you're going to make it through an entire day without talking to the bots in Cybertronian in front of us, and I'm either going to die laughing, or be incredibly saddened." Will commented mildly.
"I apologize, Major," Optimus rumbled with a small smile. "Mikaela has simply been coaching me on how to focus with a single processor, it is far more..." he trailed off, struggling with the english language somewhat, he looked at his Kae pleadingly.
ΩI understand my own language so much more easily,Ω he admitted sadly.
"Which is why I'm here to help you with the translations, rather than in the med-bay hastening the repair on your body," Mikaela stated calmly.
"Wise beyond your years," Optimus smiled at her. "Now then, where were we before Ratchet summarily commanded me into the med-bay?"
"Ugh, the most annoying of topics, again, unfortunately," Moreshower grumbled.
"Mmn," Optimus nodded irritably.
"Would you like me to write the report?" Mikaela asked gently. Every present being promptly turned to stare at her. "Go on and talk about the weather, I've got this one," she laughed softly, rising and getting pen and paper.
"Rather than talk about the weather, let's just read over her shoulder," the general snorted.
"Good luck with that," Will chuckled. Optimus glanced at the paper and began laughing.
"Now you are simply showing off, my Kae," he rumbled with a snort.
"Why? Cybertronian is great for speed-writing," Mikaela murmured with a smile.
"Well speak it aloud then, as you're going," Moreshower commanded with a snort. Mikaela laughed as her pen stilled for a moment.
His Kae started speaking Cybertronian as she read the report, stopped, corrected herself and went to the beginning again, translating it into english. It made him laugh harder.
And every time her wording remained precise, accurate and truthful.
"I want your brain, what are my chances of hiring you as my personal aide?" Moreshower asked curiously, looking at Kae.
"Just how many identities am I supposed to tack on?" Mikaela laughed.
"Translation?" Moreshower asked, looking at Will.
"Well, she's already the Auto-bot Ambassador, CIA liaison, part time assassin, Mikaela Banes the nineteen year old-"
"My fiancee," Optimus rumbled smugly in counterpart.
"That's just for the politics though... isn't it?" Moreshower asked curiously, looking between them.
"You should have seen his proposal at Christmas," Will stated with a smirk.
"Wait, you were already engaged!?" Chris demanded with a broad grin. He sat back with a relieved sigh. "Thank god, here I was guilting that I'd gotten you engaged for the sake of politics."
"No," Mikaela smiled gently. "No even if he had simply proposed for the sake of politics, it is a bonding that I am truly content to accept."
"Which I'm glad to hear," Ratchet's holoform stated, blinking in beside him.
Optimus looked up at the medic calmly.
"Well, I have good news and bad news," Ratchet stated amicably, looking down at him. "Which do you want first."
"The good," Optimus snorted.
"Your body'll be done tomorrow."
"The bad?"
"I need to steal your fiancee to make it done by tomorrow," Ratchet snorted. Mikaela laughed and rose, pressing a gentle kiss to his jaw before nodding to the General and walking out her door.
General, Major and Prime sat in silence for a long moment.
"Well, let's try for a few more of the topics, and if worse comes to worse we'll invade the med-bay and make Kae multi-task some more." Moreshower commented mildly.
Will nodded with a grin.
"Right, next on the docket, if we can't do the weapons thing, how about shields?" the general stated cheerfully.
"How so?" Optimus asked curiously.
"Well, maybe a method of neutralizing the nuclear weapons on our planet, or an improvement on our body armour," the general shrugged.
Optimus leaned forward intently.
"The neutralization of weapons has potential, and body armour absolutely. That is a project that Ratchet would enjoy immensely." Optimus turned his processors... scrap, processor to the task of thinking about those shields. "Of course the neutralization of your..." he frowned, struggling for the word... "I need Kae." He rumbled, looking at the humans and rising to his feet.
"That was fast," Will laughed at him.
"I simply know better than to attempt another language without a second processor," Optimus snorted, walking calmly toward the doors.
They didn't open. Again.
"Scrap." he grumbled.
"What?" Will asked curiously.
"My..." Optimus began struggling for the word, "sender? Is in my body."
"Oh... kay?" the humans looked confused.
"I can't open the door." Optimus grumbled.
"But you opened the door coming in!" Will stated in shock.
"No, Kae opened the door coming in," Optimus grumbled. "It is keyed to us both, but I am not sending my normal..." Optimus sighed. "I need Kae."
"Well, she had her iPod..."
"But I do not have my sender," Optimus grumbled. "I hate not having my body. How Kae manages day to day with one processor and her minute size is beyond me."
"I'll go get Kae," Will laughed, opening the human sized door. Optimus looked at it for a long moment and crouched down, perhaps he could fit through that door, he'd seen Arcee do it from time to time.
He felt the doorframe before he realized it, focusing on his movements.
Movements that were now blocked.
"SCRAP!" he bellowed.
"OPTIMUS!?" Mikaela shouted, pelting down the hallway the next moment. Thank Primus, Kae was coming. She was standing in front of him the next moment. She stood in silence for a long moment. Just looking at him.
"Primus sake," she stated quietly, rolling her eyes. ΩAlright, right servo in two gear teeth, left servo into torso five gear teeth, Left stabilizer negative five.Ω Optimus felt himself begin to fall forward. Oh scrap.
This was going to hurt.
Except Mikaela was under him the next moment, holding him upright.
ΩRight, Right leg up three teeth, knee bent negative seven degrees,Ω his Kae grunted before pulling him into the hallway.
Embarrassed, Optimus straightened.
"The hell!?" General Moreshower demanded, looking at the dented doorframe.
"You know how you never have to think about walking?" Mikaela stated perfunctorily. "It's so ordinary to us that we don't actually think about it?"
"Yeah..." Will muttered.
"Optimus is missing most of his brain at the moment, comparatively, the bits that take care of our depth perception and autonomic reflexes."
"But..."
"Ratchet is currently preoccupied doing brain surgery," Mikaela snorted. "Optimus is running around with one thirty..." she trailed off and looked up at him.
"Forty-eighth of my full capacity." Optimus rumbled with a snort. Put that way it was far less embarrassing.
"Off by twelve," Kae murmured to herself with a snort.
"What is your normal run?" Moreshower asked curiously.
"One autonomic processor which came with my adult body to control my energon consumption, one to smooth my thought processes, and when I am not simply speaking Cybertronian with my unit an extra two for instantaneous translation and a boost in my intellect." Optimus rumbled irritably. "Except now I am down to one processor which is governing both my speech and life processes."
"Whoa..." Will muttered, wide eyed.
"So no walking and talking at the same time," Mikaela murmured with a low laugh. Optimus shot a wry grimace down at her. "Right, I take it you're on the way to med-bay with me, I'll meet you there, Ratchet's impatient for me to get my exo."
Kae spun around and sprinted away, and Optimus couldn't stop his thought process from watching the smooth, efficient way she moved.
"Right, let's get you sat down and we'll continue on," Moreshower snorted.
"I will meet you there," Optimus snorted. "This slow pace will be the death of me."
The humans nodded and he took off at about the same pace his Kae did, admittedly enjoying the rapid speed his hatchling frame was still capable of.
He slowed and strode into the med-bay in time to watch Kae walk back out again, smiling at him and on her way to their currently shared flight frame as the light pack integrated into her nervous system.
Optimus settled down on one of the lower benches and waited.
"What the fuck is that!?" Moreshower bellowed.
"Before you say 'why does she get auto-bot weaponry'," Will laughed. "You need to hear Kae and Ratchet's precise explanation of how she operates that thing."
Silence for a moment, Kae strode in and smiled at him before joining Ratchet again.
"That bad?" Moreshower asked.
"That bad," Will nodded as they walked into the Med-bay and joined him.
"Alright..." Moreshower muttered.
"The short version is that the pack strapped onto her back connects directly to her nervous system." Optimus rumbled, pointing to his Kae.
"Okay?" Moreshower asked curiously.
"Here," Will nodded, touching Moreshower's shoulder and walking to Kae. "See the wires there? Those are connected to her nerves. Through the skin."
"And her bones in a couple of places, now," Ratchet added idly.
"Oh pass," Moreshower shuddered. The soldiers walked back and sat down beside Optimus again. The general was quiet for a long moment. "How can she stand it?" he asked incredulously.
"Time, patience, meditation, practice, energon and nanites," Kae called over as she held Optimus' arm up for Ratchet.
Moreshower shuddered somewhat.
"That's how you treat your favourite human?" he demanded of Optimus.
"It is Ratchet's pack," Optimus shrugged, leaning back against the wall and shutting down several of his motor reflexes. That freed up some space for thinking.
"Right, so shields," Moreshower stated calmly, settling down beside him.
"Are something that I certainly would not mind investigating," Optimus nodded. ΩTemporal forcefields certainly.Ω Optimus grimaced the second he noted the slip.
"Ratchet? Could you translate?" Moreshower called out curiously.
"Nope," Ratchet shrugged.
"What!?" Will demanded. Ratchet looked up.
"A thousand languages," Ratchet snorted. "As a medic I know perhaps seven hundred. Optimus' primary language is the language of the Primes. The only two who know what he's saying is Optimus and Mikaela. Which let me tell you, is annoying as Pit when he's in shock."
"Kae," Will called out rather petulantly.
"Temporal forcefields certainly," Mikaela murmured, frowning at a circuit as she delicately cleaned the corrosion from it. "Optimus, you're not having any trouble hearing and understanding the english, right?"
"Correct," Optimus nodded.
"Mkay, so I'll do a direct translation of what you say in ΩSpeaktruth.Ω" She stated calmly, straightening slightly as she reached with her exo for a string of silver to replace the corroded lines with.
"That'll work. So what's a temporal-"
"Optimus!" Ironhide was shouting the next moment.
"Ironhide?" Optimus called out worriedly.
"Optimus we got a problem," Ironhide growled, striding quickly into the med-bay. "Bumblebee reports that Galloway is five blocks away and en-route."
"Scrap," Optimus growled, crossing his arms irritably. "Once again you are absolutely correct Ratchet, I should have let you just offline me."
"Optimus..." Mikaela grinned at him. There was pure mischief sparkling in her eyes again.
"Kae?" Optimus rumbled curiously.
"Does anyone present mind if I take care of Galloway?" she asked innocently.
"What are you planning daughter?" Ratchet asked with a grin.
"Well, it's impossible for anyone else to use my pack or my exo right?" Mikaela smirked at the medic.
"You're the only human capable of it, yes," Ratchet nodded. Optimus watched them curiously.
"Perfect, General, any objection?"
"Object to what?" Moreshower asked curiously.
"To me playing the favourite game of the Banes: weasel baiting," Mikaela smirked.