Chapter 191 - Surprises
(OPOV)
Optimus sat, parked on East executive avenue beside the White House and fuming. In the midst of his meeting with the President of the United States via his Holoform the Primary had set fire with Prowl's report.
Shockwave.
The President had noticed his immediate distraction, before his own attention had been drawn by the aid's frantic turning on of the television.
"What is that!?" one of the aids shouted at him.
"That, is Shockwave," Optimus snarled.
"What the hell is it doing!?" the President had bellowed before turning, Optimus brought his engines online as the holoform rose to leave.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" the head of security demanded.
"Prowl has requested immediate backup, my unit is already responding," Optimus growled, taking a step toward the doors, the man blocked him.
"We need you to stay here and guard the President!" he stated in a panicked tone. The scent of fear was thick in the air. Over the Primary, Sentinel was now reporting his ETA to the fight. Optimus gritted his holoform's teeth and turned his engine off again. It rankled that he had not responded to the call of his unit, he was their Prime, it was his duty to protect the bots that had stood by him through thick and thin!
Yet he sat, parked and fuming beside the White house as his unit fought the twisted mech without him.
"I thought you said all of the Decepticons had been accounted for!" the President stated in a horrified tone, staring at the tv screen as Driller receded into the hole it'd created. The coverage continued as Sentinel himself caught Shockwave by the throat, the Destroyer falling still.
"It stated in the report that five remained unaccounted for," Optimus corrected the man absently.
"So now what? We've pissed them off enough that they're finally coming after you now?" the President demanded. "First you come to inform me in person that you and yours are planning to leave pretty damned soon and now this happens!?"
Optimus scowled at the tv screen as reports filtered over the Primary.
"No," Optimus rumbled with a scowl. "Sentinel states that Blowpipe-"
"But you just said it was Shockwave!" the President stated accusingly.
"Evidently the scientist is up to his usual tricks," Optimus scowled, watching as the Destroyer suddenly activated and disappeared into the muck. "The helm of that mech has been changed, coupled with a signature override to make him appear to be Shockwave. He has just passed a message along to Sentinel, evidently from Shockwave, stating that the Decepticons will never leave the earth alone."
Deathly silence reigned in the study for a long moment.
"You can do that?" one of the aides asked curiously.
Optimus reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose irritably.
"Yes, we can do that," he rumbled, drawing on the patience of his mate. "Humans regularly change the shapes of their own faces with your plastic surgery. Shockwave is capable of the same."
"So Shockwave is a Doctor-" the President stated in a worried tone.
"No, Shockwave is a scientist. He is capable of mending a bot's systems, but he never swore the oath of healers, and he has no compassion for those in his power." Optimus growled softly.
"Why now!?" the President demanded incredulously.
Optimus heaved a sigh, crossing his holoform's arms as the miniaturized Sentinel on the television screen began hauling the human's conveyances out of the muck.
"If I knew that, I would have stopped it already," he rumbled quietly.
(RPOV)
Ratchet looked at the femme standing shyly amidst the wreckage and Auto-bots. Bumblebee was stuttering, and Sentinel was still out cold.
"May we take for granted that the thread is present, Bumblebee?" he stated patiently.
Bumblebee shot him a relieved look and nodded enthusiastically.
Ratchet looked at the woman that called to Sentinel's spark and chuckled softly. This was bound to be interesting.
"It may be best, Miss Kulkarni-"
"How do you know my name?" the woman asked immediately, and Ratchet couldn't help but note the woman's accent, or rather, several of them. Hiding in the proper tones of a Londoner was a Scottish burr made sweet by her voice.
No wonder Sentinel had glitched.
"I ran your bio-stats and face against the DMV," Bumblebee piped up immediately. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at this bit..."
"Very well," the woman stated patiently. She looked around at them for a long moment then at her broken car. "I think I need to sit." she stated quietly. Ratchet idly scanned the woman again and quickly onlined his holoform, gently taking her elbow as she began to pale slightly.
"Thank you," she stated weakly, allowing him to guide her toward Sentinel, or more accurately, to the shade cast by the mech. Ratchet patiently instated the woman on the Prime's leg, and watched in amusement as she scooted to rest comfortably against Sentinel's abdominal plating; as though such a motion were old hat for her.
"As I was about to say, Miss Kulkarni-" Ratchet began patiently.
"Mala," she stated quietly.
"Mala," Ratchet nodded. "It may be best that you accompany us to our primary headquarters."
"Why?"
"Because previous to today, the femmes whom manifested a spark-thread with one of our mechs had some form of contact with other Cybertronians beforehand." Ratchet stated gruffly. "So rather than attempt to stumble our way through several half-cooked explanations I would suggest you direct your questions directly to the more experienced of this situation."
"You, were a politician at one point," Mala observed patiently.
Ratchet started, then snorted, surveying the femme again as she directed sharp, all-seeing eyes at him. She was of an age, this femme, but graced with the gift a few of the humans possessed. His scans stated that she was nearing sixty, but without them he knew he would be hard pressed to say so.
"I was," he nodded in amusement.
"However, a good politician would have given me his name already," Mala reminded him in a softly amused tone. Ratchet looked down at the woman and grinned, snapping a still clip of the petite woman sitting relaxed with her ankles delicately crossed on the femoral struts of a mech well over six-hundred times her size. Both spattered in mud, and yet Mala sat with as much regality as Sentinel himself.
In an instant, Ratchet knew that he was going to like this femme, because by the bastard pet of the Unmaker: Sentinel was in for it now.
"My apologies Ma'am," he stated in his best campaigner voice, making his holoform grace her with a gallant bow. "Ratchet of Iacon, First Medical Officer of the Autobot forces at your service."
"Ah, so you are a medic of some sort, excellent. Tell me, is he quite alright?" Mala asked patiently, looking up at Sentinel.
"You will have to forgive him, his processors have taken quite the shock," Ratchet stated in amusement, reaching up and tapping on the old Prime's helm. Relatively needlessly, his optics came back online in a moment.
"Why?" Mala asked in a patient tone.
"Because you have the most extraordinary eyes I have ever laid optic upon," Sentinel rumbled quietly, onlining his holoform to catch hold of the woman's hands.
"These old eyes?" the woman stated in an amused tone, freeing one of her hands to lightly grasp Sentinel's chin, lightly turning his face from right to left for a second before turning slightly to look up toward Sentinel's faceplates. "The mud you have managed to splatter all over your armour has obviously made it's way into your circuits my love." Mala smiled and patted the holoform's cheek.
Ratchet snorted as the characteristic sound of popped processors sounded from the sitting Prime, and he reached out, steadying the mech again.
"Bumblebee, please escort Mala to headquarters," Ratchet commanded calmly, looking up at the scout. "I'll bring Sentinel along once he's capable of moving again." he added wryly.
Ratchet smirked as Bee immediately transformed, rolling carefully toward them for a moment before his holoform onlined, gallantly offering his arm to the femme and guiding her to his passenger seat.
(SyPOV)
Symphony sat patiently, listening to Longbolt pacing.
She smiled slightly, Longbolt was still young, and infected with the restless energy that always seemed to affect people anytime spring approached.
Spring.
Symphony had always loved spring. Spring brought the rains, and the rains brought the fragile, delicate scents of flowers, of dust laid rest against the sun-scorched earth, the scent of freshness, and the fleeting promise of cool respite.
The spring smelled of life, and Symphony always knew when it was arriving as life emerged from wherever it hid, eager to greet this fresh surge of growth and energy. Sim didn't even need to leave the environmentally controlled area to know spring was coming; it was even affecting the bots and humans that walked past her door, and particularly Longbolt, who insisted on staying with her day in and day out to 'make sure you don't accidentally go squish.'
But above all else Symphony was patient, she knew the probable outcomes already. Either they'd start taking her on excursions into the great outdoors, or they'd clue in that she didn't really need a babysitter.
"Do you miss Tranquility yet?" Symphony asked mildly.
"Don't be ridiculous," Longbolt snorted.
Symphony pursed her lips somewhat irritably and squirmed slightly. There was plenty of reading material here, and Symphony had spent a solid two weeks reading everything Ratchet had given her, conveniently printed in braille. That reading list had included a clinical analysis of what had truly become of the human ambassador of the Autobots, and then to Lieutenant Lena Elizabeth Davies.
A clinical analysis that lasted a single page and boiled down to: 'Kae and Lena exhibited signs of spark-growth before spontaneously combusting into an unprotected Cybertronian sparking while retaining seemingly all human memories. How is beyond me and Primus only knows why.'
She always had people to talk to, as well. Bots and humans both, personalities spanning across untold tracts of space, with only the presence of a spark hum truly indicating the difference between human and Cybertronian vocals.
The spark hum, the sound the powerlines always made right before they were going to be struck by lightning. Symphony found that hum fascinating, otherworldly.
Now it was literal, that was source for amusement indeed.
But as fascinating as Ratchet's choice in reading material was, Symphony wanted her music, her instruments. Her fingers were itching to play again.
"Are you sure?" Symphony asked wheedlingly, down the corridor, toward the med-bay the sound of vehicles rolling in again.
"Wait, you're hinting at something again," Longbolt stated flatly. "You aren't gonna trick me into saying that Tranquility isn't as bad as it is. It's boring there."
"It's boring here," Symphony stated patiently.
"Yeah but at least we can hear the Primary here," Longbolt stated.
"What's the Primary?" Symphony asked curiously.
"The Auto-bot channel, I guess Soundwave didn't... uh... Symphony? What frequency are you running?"
"Humans can't listen to the Primary, Longbolt, they don't have comms," Chromia's voice stated in an amused tone. Symphony smiled, the bot's hearing was extraordinary, better than her's, and there had been a time when she was certain that no one had better hearing than her's.
"I thought you'd be bored long before now, Ratchet doesn't exactly have the most exciting taste in literature." Flareup giggled.
"May we come in?" Arcee's voice finished patiently.
"Please do," Symphony stated patiently, listening to the light footsteps of the femmes in their bipedal frames.
"I apologize that we haven't been the best hosts," Arcee's voice began calmly.
"Don't be," Symphony rejoined patiently. "There is a war going on, after all."
"True, however that does not excuse the fact that you have been here for well over a half orn and you haven't even uttered a peep!" Flareup stated in a stunned tone. Symphony smiled, the soprano voice had an irish lilt, it made her sound as though she were made of pure mischief, the face of her holoform echoed it with a tip tilted nose and delicately pointed chin. "C'mon girl! We're in the city! Don't you want to go shopping or for coffee or tea or anything!?"
"The soldiers' pool has been nullified, they've bypassed the maximum time they figured it would take for you to ask for something other than directions from point a to b." Chromia added with a chuckle.
"Are you not yet missing anything from your previous residence?" Arcee asked patiently. Symphony smiled.
"I am missing my instruments, desperately. Is anyone going to Tranquility at some point?" Symphony inquired patiently.
"Ironhide is, right now," Chromia murmured with a grin.
"Is he actually offering?" Arcee asked in amusement.
"I'm offering him, running an errand will go toward forgiving him whatever he knows he's done wrong this time and hopes I won't find out about," Chromia stated in a voice struggling to hold it's laughter in. Symphony giggled, Ironhide was the mech that she could hear through the air vents that joined the rooms. Although frequently she could hear him through the very walls, let alone through the air vents.
Ironhide had a voice of terrifying proportions, even when he was small, walking around looking like a massive, scarred and menacing human. But when Symphony had her hands on Ironhide's face, feeling the harsh lines and scars of battle, his voice became the gentle, protective type.
Much like a lot of the soldiers Symphony figured, or at least much like several of the soldiers, who could be heard bellowing up and down the length of the corridor. Unless they stood in front of her, then they spoke normally, most of them carrying on conversations with her without any indication that they actually minded her hand resting lightly on their cheek.
They were all loud, but one thing was for certain.
Symphony was very, very safe in this massive place of pseudo strangers and friends.
(BPOV)
Bee onlined his holoform and bowed to the femme sitting patiently on Sentinel's leg, gathering her on his arm and beginning to guide her to his alt-form.
"My... my suitcase..." the woman stated quietly.
"I'll get it!" Bee immediately volunteered, settling the woman into his passenger seat and scrambling to the woman's vehicle.
Ratchet gave him an amused look as he struggled to open the squashed-in trunk with his human holoform before the medic reached over and flicked it open with a cable. Bee grinned up at the medic, then grimaced at the water-logged luggage in the trunk. With a resigned sigh Bee collected all of the woman's luggage from what had once been her rental car and stashed it in his own trunk.
It was cold and wet and drippy, he hoped Sentinel appreciated the trouble he was going through to bring the Prime's spark-mate to the safety of the Auto-bot headquarters with her sanity mostly intact.
"How are you feeling, Miss Kulkarni?" Bee asked worriedly, slipping the holoform behind his steering wheel. He'd seen any number of humans freak out when seeing bots for the first time, and the woman was pale.
"Mala. I'm little cold, love, would you mind turning the heat up?" she asked quietly.
Instantly, Bee cranked the heat up, warming the inside of his own cabin as he drove carefully around the final bits of wreckage and the humans clearing up the mess.
Then, he drove in silence.
"Did he know?"Mala asked suddenly.
"I beg your pardon?" Bee asked politely. Somehow, in the presence of this femme that felt about right.
"When I was at his lecture, Sentinel mentioned his dearest friend finding a spark-mate amongst the tiny, fragile creatures that we are," Mala explained with a wry smile. "Did he know?"
"Prime knows I can spot spark-threads, I know I only just figured out that it's you though, 'cause I only saw your spark-thread when the chaos calmed down..." Bee trailed off.
"You mentioned you have a long story for me, you are more than welcome to begin in on it at any time." Mala informed him patiently.
"Don't you want to wait for Sentinel?" Bee asked worriedly.
"He already knows what you're going to say, does he not?" Mala asked calmly.
"Well... yeah..." Bee mumbled.
"Then chin up young bot," Shyamala stated patiently, smiling at him. "You've naught to fear but the consequence of lying."
"I'm not lying!" Bumblebee immediately protested.
"Well then, start from the beginning, try not to leave anything out," Shyamala stated patiently.
"Uh.. okay..." Bee began, collecting his thoughts as he signalled his intent to take the upcoming exit. "Well, I started seeing threads reaching out and connecting bot's sparks about thirty vorn ago, when I switched my primary language to scout. It took me a little while, but I finally figured out that they were the threads connecting spark-mates, or brother-bonds, the twins have a thread, too..." Bee added musingly, thinking of the predators and the chevy twins. "Now, I didn't see a thread between Prime and my big sister Kae until they were optic to optic, but as far as I can tell, it's the vestigial thread joining two sparks between lives 'cause they never spoke a word to each other-"
"You believe in re-incarnation?" the woman asked in amusement.
"Damn straight!" Bee played the soundbyte cheerfully. "And I can prove it too! Jolt and Optimus both knew when Kae and Lena's previous lives ended, and when they were born! They didn't know that they knew but they felt it!"
Bee looked his holoform at the woman and grinned at the tiny, wry smile touching her lips.
"Your's is a happy spirit," she stated with that smile as Bee drove down the ramps into the Headquarters.
Bumblebee chirped gleefully, he couldn't help it. The woman's eyes were brown, but they danced like his sister's did. Then he grinned, quickly reversing into one of the area stalls as the roof opened up. What was the phrase again?
::. Think of the devil and she shows her face.:: Bee sent to his sister gleefully as she landed lightly on her feet in the Entrance bay.