Chapter 203 – The Long Tuesday: Predawn
(WPOV)
Will yawned and strode down the empty, early-morning corridors with an armload of files. Well. Two armloads, but the so-well-organized to the point of being as dull as paint drying files on the Auto-bot's movements, numbers, names, status, health records, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera set of files conveniently stayed in his watch.
If anything changed in it Prowl flagged it for his attention.
There were three flags now, Will couldn't wait.
"Colonel," Prowl stated gravely, nodding to him as Will wandered in and toward his side of the office.
"Enforcer," Will nodded gravely back to the bot.
Which was Prowl for 'I saw you enter, now I'm most likely not going to say another goddamn thing for four hours.'
Will meandered the final ten steps to his desk and slapped the paper files down onto the surface. Then, he kicked the bottom drawer open, pulled out a hot cup of coffee, slid the top hatch closed and propped his feet up; a quick sip of coffee and Will released a contented sigh, flipping open the first file he needed to read.
This one was from Director Matteer, as evidenced by it being two pages. Max.
Not for lack of information, really, it was just a letter from the Director himself. Barry hated long documents almost as much as Will was beginning to.
"I take it that once again-" Prowl began calmly.
"You are not telling Wheeljack that I do in fact, use the damn mini fabricator every time I sit down at my desk," Will stated with a grin, glancing at the drawer that 'miraculously' offered him hot coffee and snacks whenever he wanted them. "I don't think I could handle that bot's smugness, I'll use it on him if I ever see him getting depressed, how's that?"
"An excellent tactic," Prowl stated patiently, turning back to his data.
Huh, that broke that streak of observation; Prowl was chatty today.
Will took another sip of coffee and nodded to himself, Barry's letter was essentially a run down of the topics they would discuss later. The same went for Director Mearing. Will shrugged and picked up the third.
"Colonel," Prowl stated patiently. Will glanced up at the mech curiously. Odd, he looked almost... fidgety! Prowl was never fidgety! "May I ask why you always go through the humans' paper-datas before you attend to the reports I have forwarded to your data-link?"
"Because the paper-datas are boring," Will stated patiently, he turned and scrutinized the bot as Prowl scowled at him. "You glitched before I could explain yesterday, but it's as true today as it was yesterday," Will informed the mech gravely.
"Explain," Prowl stated neutrally.
Will raised his left hand and flicked his fingers. He couldn't help but grin as a holoscreen promptly grew out of his fingers, hovering delicately over his hand the next moment.
Getting dragged into the med-bay by Wheeljack to have it installed by Ratchet had freaked the hell out of him, there were now tiny pinpoints of silver that emerged from his fingertips to act as the projector once activated; tiny points of silver that hid under the calluses when he deactivated the screen. Freaky as all hell, but once it'd healed up and the nanites had re-routed his nerves to ignore the silver? Will innocently held his little holo-screen up for Prowl to see as three little flags promptly began blinking for his attention. All it took was a little wave of his fingers and the first opened for his perusal, and if he wanted to make a call? A simple phone call wasn't enough anymore, he could video-conference with his hand.
"Do you have any idea how smug Wheeljack, Ironhide, Chromia, Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Annabelle would be if they knew how much fun I have playing with this thing?" Will demanded with a grin. "It's not that your reports aren't sufficiently boring Prowl-"
Will laughed outright as Prowl reached up and rubbed at his faceplates for a moment, soft grumbling emerged from the bot: something about him being a hatchling if he was genuinely speaking common. Will grinned at the mech then turned and began reading the first bulletin. He froze.
Barricade had slipped out from beneath the Enforcer's servo. Prowl's wording was as bland and boring as always, and it was the first flag but...
"You don't seem particularly worried about Barricade, wasn't he the one that killed Kae's dad?" Will asked with a scowl. Typically, when something bad happened the bots verbally told him. Especially Prowl.
"I was unaware of his transgression toward the mate of our Prime. She herself did not raise the issue in the Nevada brig," Prowl stated with a frown.
Will looked up at the mech curiously.
"She didn't?"
"That is what I have previously stated," Prowl informed him patiently.
"Is he AWOL for a bender or something?" Will asked curiously, scrolling through the notice again.
"Bender?"
"Human phrase for going out, getting overcharged and destroying stuff."
"Highly doubtful, Barricade is unlikely to come across high-grade in any locale but for the med-bay. Mindless destruction is also unlikely, he has re-sworn his Enforcer's oath to the Lady High Protector," Prowl stated flatly.
Will looked closer at the mech and raised his eyebrows.
"Then why do you look so blasted embarrassed?" Will asked with a grin.
Prowl shot him a withering look, but Will had cut his teeth on real withering looks from Chromia.
Prowl had nothing on Chromia.
"Prowl," Will stated flatly.
"He... was supposed to be under house arrest..."
(CdPOV)
Chance yawned and stretched, bright light was streaming through the window behind his closed eyes. He was warm, snugly tucked into whatever he'd fallen asleep on with a blanket over him. It wasn't a bed, certainly, for one it didn't feel like a bed, and for another he'd never actually slept in a bed. Not unless you counted the times Ratch or Jacobs had caught him sleeping on a chair, in an engine housing, on a pile of boxes, or really anything that allowed for a quick lie down which he'd passed out on – and had managed to move him without waking him.
That'd occurred fourteen times now, come to think of it.
Not for lack of trying, of course, he'd lain in beds for hours, and done particularly amusing things in beds as well. But sleep? Nope. That was a big old negatory.
Chance opened his eyes and gave a bit of a start. Definitely not a bed, or even base, the wall that he could blearily see was rough hewn stone, brightly lit by some sort of energon-run light source. Had to be, nothing on earth naturally produced that particular hue of light; not without a hell of a lot of filters and prisms... Chance frowned, trying to remember the last place he'd been before he'd dropped off. A minute shift in the world beneath him and Chance looked up.
"Oh! I didn't wake you, did I?" Firelight's voice murmured worriedly.
"I don't think so," Chance stated around another yawn. "Pretty sure I was bound and determined to wake up around now anyway, what time is it?"
"It's midway through the second Lunar cycle," Firelight informed him gently. "You've only been asleep for a couple of joor-"
"I slept for a joor!?" Chance demanded in shock.
"Two of them," Firelight stated worriedly. "Did you not wish to? I didn't want to rouse you, you looked so peaceful..."
Chance laid down on the smooth panel he'd obviously been sound asleep on and laughed.
"I've never slept for more than a joor at any given time, what magic spell have you cast over me femme?" he asked with a teasing grin, sitting up properly and sliding into the hand she offered.
"I didn't mean..." the little femme began in a saddened tone, frowning shyly.
"Oh sweets now hush," Chance stated gently, lightly climbing up Firelight's arm to gently stroke the plating across her cheek. "Everybot tells me that humans need to sleep for at least one joor out of every four, but I've never managed it. Not unless Jetfire took me out and let me sleep in his cabin while he was out patrolling. You actually got me to stay asleep on the ground!"
"So... it's a good thing?" Firelight asked shyly.
"It's a very good thing," Chance informed the femme with a gentle smile. "So what's midway through the second Lunar cycle in earth time?"
"Half past nine, you're late for work Chance," Jetfire informed him with a laugh. Chance fairly levitated in the air for a second before he turned to the open area behind him.
"I'm in Nevada," Chance stated numbly, blinking and staring around at the multitude of fliers recharging in the wall-mounted berths. To be perfectly honest, the barely reclined berths looked oddly comfortable...
"Aye, ye fell asleep over the baltic ocean, an' Firelight didn'a want tae part yer company as we circled back toward the Americas so yeh spen' yer firs' night in the rookery obliviously!" Jetfire chortled. "Lena says she's ready ta send the bridge for yeh when yer awake."
Chance made a face, he couldn't help it.
"I don't like bridges either," Firelight informed him softly, Chance smiled at the femme as she rose, carrying him lightly down the corridor behind Jetfire.
"Fliers are meant to be in the skies," Chance affirmed with a smile, turning in her hands just to look at her. At any other time he would have been gawking at the sheer number of fliers around them, trying to determine what model jet they transformed into, and at the immense space that had been carved from the monolith.
But Firelight was carrying him, and he simply couldn't take his eyes off of her.
"You're beautiful," he informed the femme softly.
"No I'm not," the femme stated quietly, looking shyly away. "I'm too small-"
"Not from where I'm sitting," Chance chuckled, lightly patting the palm he was sitting in and drawing a little smile from the femme. "Firelight you are the most beautiful creature I have ever had the honour to lay optic on," he informed her earnestly.
Firelight looked down at him with gentle astonishment in her optics.
"Would you like to go flying with me once your duty is done?" she asked softly, approaching the ground bridge archway.
"I don't think there's anything in this world or the next that I'd rather do," Chance informed the femme sincerely.
"Right, get on wi' ye younglin'," Jetfire stated with a laugh as the bridge finished cycling up.
"I'll be there to pick you up in a joor," Firelight told him softly.
"I might have to work two joor to make up for being late," Chance told the femme apologetically.
"It's only a joor, even flying can wait for a joor," Firelight smiled at him.
"But I'll be impatient to see that beautiful smile again the second you're out of my sight," Chance informed the femme in a lightly teasing tone, balancing himself precariously and stretching to press a gentle kiss as close to her temple as he could reach.
A soft glow emerged from the femme's faceplates, it was the most adorable blush Chance'd ever seen. Firelight lightly set him down on the ground and rose again. Chance walked backwards, just watching the femme as she watched him back. His heels hit the minor ramp and he slowed slightly, reaching up and blowing the beauty a kiss before the vibrating energies caught and flung him across the continent.
"Oi! You comin' or goin' Chance?" Ironhide's voice called out with a laugh.
"I... uh..." Chance trailed off as the bridge collapsed in front of him. He reached up and pointed at the last of the swirling vortex for a long moment.
"Chance!" Ratchet's voice bellowed irritably.
"Ratchet did you see her!?" Chance demanded in an awestruck tone, glancing at the medic before looking into the empty bridge platform again.
"Oh for slag sake... come along lover boy," Ratchet grumbled, lightly picking him up by the suit harness. Chance's back itched and tingled, Ratchet was obviously scanning him as he tried to keep the bridge in his line of sight. Something was drawing him back there...
"Slag sake..." Ratchet grumbled.
"What?" Chance demanded, dangling from Ratchet's servo as he received the 'tardy youngling treatment' from the ornery old medic.
"Did you sleep at all?" Ratchet demanded irritably, lifting him up a little bit more as he walked, thus making sure Chance's feet didn't drag along the row of parked humvees.
"Yeah, two joor," Chance stated defensively, kicking his legs a little to keep the blood flow going to his feet.
"Hah! As if! You didn't sleep a nano-click did you?" Ratchet growled, looking him eye to optic.
"No! I slept for two joor! Ask Firelight! Ratchet have you seen her!?" Chance demanded, twisting in his harness to look at the medic finally.
Ratchet looked down at him and snorted, lightly depositing him on the workbench as the holoform came online, lightly disconnecting him from the suit harness.
"But..." Chance began worriedly, watching the nanites receding into their canister.
"I need a clear scan," Ratchet grumped at him, the holo's eyes blanking out as a pair of shorts and shirt appeared in the medic's hands. Chance sighed and stepped out of the harness, quickly dragging on the shorts and undershirt, the holo turning to deposit the harness in his own hand. Ratchet raised a brow ridge the next moment, the holo lightly tugging Chance's undershirt over his head again.
"Since when did you need a bloke starkers for a proper scan?" Chance demanded irritably, frantically wrestling his arms back out of their sleeves and catching hold of his shorts; holding them in a vice grip in the event the holoform decided that pants were off the scanner exclusion list as well.
"Hrmph," Ratchet merely ejaculated, catching his shoulders with the holoform's hands and turning him this way and that. "Did the fliers get ahold of you? Is that why you're so twitchy!?" Ratchet demanded.
"I went flying with Firelight and fell asleep in her arms!" Chance objected loudly, hazarding the release of his shorts with one hand to drag his shirt fully off of his head. Eyes free, he caught the medic's holoformatic eyes firmly. "No way she'd let something bad happen to me! Now what's gotten into your processors this time Ratch!?"
Wordlessly, Ratchet backed his holoform a few steps and switched programs, a full length mirror taking his place.
Chance looked at himself for a long moment and frowned.
"That. Is not funny Ratchet," he growled, poking at the mirror, or rather at the tattoos on his chest in the mirror.
"Agreed. Funny would be me altering your mirror image to make you entirely blue," Ratchet stated with a frown.
Chance looked down at the lines of blue-black tattoos running down his chest, looked up at the medic and fainted dead away.
(SyPOV)
"Psst."
Symphony canted her head to the side somewhat, her sunlamp had yet to cast it's gentle warmth around her. Logically, it was early morning, she wasn't entirely certain what had woke her.
"Psst."
"Hello?" she murmured curiously. Wingnut and Longbolt's spark songs were softened into the resonation of deep recharge, but someone was calling to her regardless.
"She's awake!" a gravelly voice announced in a victorious tone.
"Yo Song-femme, mind if we come in?" another voice asked with cheerful curiosity.
"By all means," Symphony stated curiously, working to pinpoint the voices. They did not have the massive resonance of the larger bots, and yet somehow they were well above her.
The next moment the sound of screws being undone, then metal being pried upon; the pop of a tightly fitting panel releasing it's grip upon it's surroundings, then being dragged tinnily into a hollow space. Then the lightest of thuds, as though rope had been dropped from a height, quickly followed by the hissing-zip sound the soldiers regularly made whilst rappelling. Jacobs had even taken her down the wall with her strapped to his chest once, before he'd gone.
"Where are you?" Symphony asked curiously.
"So it's true! You really can't see slag all!" the raspy voice stated in a shocked tone.
"If slag all means nothing whatsoever, then yes," Symphony affirmed patiently, working to locate the voices. They were on the ground now, extraordinarily low to the ground. "May I see you?" she asked curiously, reaching out with a questing hand.
"Gotta aim way lower if you wanna do that," the gravelly voice stated cheerfully. Symphony sat up and lightly swung her legs over the side of the swing-bed, the rocking bed having proven of late to be a touch on the soft side for her taste.
"Whoa! Watch out there!" the second voice stated irritably.
"I'm sorry, I really can't," Symphony stated apologetically.
"She's blind dummy! Can't very well watch out when she can't see!" the gravelly voice stated with a snort. "Humans don't got no proximity sensors!"
"Riight..." the second voice snorted. "We're down here Song-femme," he added, Symphony started somewhat as tiny hands grasped the pant leg of her sleepwear, tugging lightly to indicate their presence. Instantly Symphony leaned down somewhat, her fingertips meeting the tiny hands then tracing their way along the tiny 'bot's body. "Why're you doing that?" the little bot asked warily.
"She's lookin' at you with her hands," the gravelly voice stated cheerfully.
"What are your names?" Symphony asked curiously.
"The name's Wheelie, Song-femme," the closer voice stated proudly.
"I'm Brains," the gravelly voice informed her cheerfully. "And we got something for you from Soundwave."
"From Ace?" Symphony asked curiously, perking up slightly. "Has he returned to earth already?"
"Nah, he didn't have time to get the system set up before he left, so he asked us to do it," Brains' voice stated cheerfully. "But he did make these for you, and gave 'em to me to give you once everything was set up." he added proudly.
Symphony smiled as Wheelie moved slightly out of her reach, evidently moving out of Brains' way at the sound of soft footsteps drew closer. A little head with wispy, tickly hairs butted itself into her palm for a moment before tiny hands grasped her finger; Symphony smiled as those tiny hands gently guided her own to turn to accept this surprise gift.
Two cool, lightweight wire sculptures met her touch. Little curved triangles with what felt to be some sort of crystals set along the edge.
"You wear 'em on your ears," Wheelie informed her cheerfully. Symphony frowned somewhat in confusion, feeling the triangles. They felt nothing like earphones.
"How?" She asked curiously.
"Here, c'mon down here and I'll install 'em for you," Brains informed her with an unmistakeable grin.
"What do they do?" Symphony asked curiously, slowly sliding to the floor to allow the tiny bots time to easily move out of her way. The next second one of the little triangles was taken from her hand, and a small body began climbing up her leg, then her arm before sitting on her shoulder.
Gently, with the minute precision no doubt inherent to the bot's size, the triangle was slipped lightly over the top of her ear; a single wire curling down the back to hold it securely in place. The tiny body promptly climbed across her back.
"Yo pass the second one up," the voice stated cheerfully in her ear. Obediently Symphony lifted her hand to her shoulder, offering the triangle to the bot. "Now, they slip over your ears like this," Brains stated cheerfully, slipping the second earpiece securely over her ear, "and now you have 'em installed, they'll give you exact directions to wherever you wanna go on the base!"
"How?"
"Ask Soundwave to take you across your room," Brains told her with a grin, sliding down her arm and jumping to the ground with a light, thudding clang.
"Ace, will you take me to the door to the corridor, please?" Symphony asked curiously, then started in surprise as Soundwave's voice whispered in her ear.
::. Symphony: should first stand and turn twenty degrees to the left.::
Symphony obediently rose and turned to the left somewhat.
::. Symphony: should turn another five degrees.:: Soundwave's voice murmured. Symphony smiled and turned a little bit more. ::. Symphony: can now take twenty paces to the door.::
Symphony took nineteen paces and held her hand out to the level of her chest. Nothing. She took one more pace and felt the smooth metal of the door. A light sweep of her hand and there was the doorknob. Symphony grinned.
"It'll take me anywhere on base?" she asked curiously.
"Yup," Wheelie's voice stated cheerfully above her. "We're goin' back in the air-ducts, 's faster for us. Do us a favour and test those out a bit, we gotta make sure they're calibrated right."
"You live in the air ducts?" Symphony asked in an astonished tone.
"Sure! 's like having our own complex and highways again!" Brains informed her cheerfully. "The big ones even connected the ducts straight from the drone's quarters to central, we never even have to risk gettin' stepped on in the main areas if we don't wanna!"
"Should I wait for you?" Symphony asked politely.
"Nah, Brains climbs faster than he walks, and I'm already up," Wheelie informed her with a grin in his voice. "We'll watch and make sure the directions are right and tell you if you're gonna get into trouble."
"Thank you," Symphony stated with a smile, opening the door. "Ace, will you take me to the med-bay please?"
::. Symphony: should first take two paces through her door.:: Soundwave murmured in her ear. Symphony smiled, and did just that.
(RPOV)
"Ratchet have you seen her!?" Chance demanded, twisting to look at him finally. Ratchet looked down at the human dangling from his hand and snorted in amusement, gently depositing the man on his workbench. A secondary processor fired up, bringing his holoform online to disengage the nanite suit.
"But..." Chance began worriedly, watching the nanites receding into their canister.
"I need a clear scan," Ratchet grumbled at the human, there was an errant energon signature emanating from him. True to his nature, Chance sighed but obediently stepped out of the suit harness. Ratchet inwardly rolled his optics as he kept his visuals vague, turning the holoform to deposit the harness into the hand of his proper form and letting the man keep his modesty as he dragged on his shirt and undershorts.
Humans.
Another scan and Ratchet admittedly did a double take, directing his holoform to pull Lieutenant Chance's shirt back off again.
"Since when did you need a bloke starkers for a proper scan?" Chance demanded in an irritable tone, his motions taking on a frantic cast as he wrestled his arms out of their sleeves before assuming a death grip on his shorts. Ratchet watched the motions with narrowed optics, Chance was far more agitated than was his norm; and that was saying something.
"Hrmph," Ratchet grunted, catching hold of Chance's shoulders and turning him somewhat in the light. Unobscured by the harness the energonic signature was stronger, but more far more importantly: Chance's chest was covered with angular, blue-black tattoos not unlike the ones Kae had taken to sporting shortly before she'd been cast. "Did the fliers get ahold of you? Is that why you're so twitchy!?" he demanded, bringing another processor online to attempt to translate the script.
"I went flying with Firelight and fell asleep in her arms!" Chance objected loudly, head still obscured by his shirt and evidently unaware of the markings. One hand finally released the death-grip on his shorts to tug the shirt free from his head. "No way she'd let something bad happen to me! Now what's got into your processors this time Ratch!?"
Ratchet observed the human critically for a long moment before backing up and switching holoformatic programs; presenting the Australian Lieutenant with a reflective surface, the man looked at himself for a long moment and frowned.
"That. Is not funny Ratchet," Chance growled, poking at Ratchet's holo-mirror with irritation making his accent more pronounced.
"Agreed. Funny would be me altering your mirror image to make you entirely blue," Ratchet stated with a frown, firing up another processor and adding it's power to the one attempting to translate the unfamiliar markings. They were Cybertronian, of that he was certain. Which frequency they translated from was another matter entirely.
Chance looked down at the lines of blue-black tattoos running down his chest, locked his eyes onto Ratchet's optics for an astonished moment then fainted dead away. Ratchet gave into the urge and rolled his optics, quickly cupping his hand under the human to keep him from landing face-first on the workbench. Ratchet scanned the man again, scowling at the readings for a long moment before rolling his optics, a quick recalibration and Ratchet ran yet another scan before venting an exasperated sigh. No wonder Chance was wandering around with an unfamiliar energonic signature: his spark was manifesting itself, it was his signature.
Ratchet sat back somewhat, holding Chance cradled in the palm of his hand as a fifth processor fired up, running the probability timelines. In the space of fourteen hours Chance had transitioned from being a mostly normal human to the stage of spark-growth his spark-daughter had entertained shortly after Megatron and the Fallen had begun sending their minions after her.
"What in Primus' name have you gotten into this time?" Ratchet grumbled at the unconscious man.
"Nothing that I know of," Symphony's voice stated patiently. "I don't feel any mud on my skin, is there dirt or something on my clothes? They smelled clean..."
Ratchet started and looked up, Symphony was standing quite alone a few steps in from the door.
"How did you get in here?" Ratchet demanded with a frown.
"I'm sorry, are you busy?" Symphony asked worriedly, back-treading toward the corridor. "I could come back later..."
"NO!" Ratchet shouted, blinking his holoform online behind the femme.
"What!?" Symphony shouted back, freezing in place.
"Another three steps and you would have been in the corridor!" Ratchet stated in a horrified tone. He heaved a breath in the human's fashion and delicately tucked Symphony's hand into the crook of his holoform's elbow. "Who brought you here!?" he asked worriedly, running a quick scan over his ongoing processes and re-arranging them. Autonomic default, holoformatic interaction with surroundings and conversation with Symphony moved to processors one, two and three.
"I know that, and Ace did," Symphony stated innocently.
"Who is Ace?" Ratchet asked suspiciously, processors four and five continued trying to translate the script that had taken residence on Chance's chest. Number six continued searching for data-variables to assess the spark manifestation timeline. Ratchet brought a seventh online and added it to the task of the sixth to speed that process up then grimaced. His eighth in line was quite ready to blow, Primus forbid that he'd need more processor power than seven at five minutes to eight in the morning in the early joor of the orn...
"Soundwave," Symphony informed him calmly, patiently allowing his holo to lead her to the human sized med-berth. The second her fingertips met the berth Symphony located the optimal place for sitting and settled herself in place.
"Soundwave is on Cybertron," Ratchet frowned, diverting three and five to the task of scolding the wrecker younglings; perhaps the femme had some kind of human glitch? He scanned the femme and rolled his optics, online-no! his third processor slowly recalibrate his sensors again to avoid his eighth before re-scanning Symphony to be absolutely certain that the femme was in good working order.
"Yo Ratch!" Wheelie's voice called out from the air ducts.
"Wheelie," Ratchet stated automatically, glancing with both holo and his true form toward the open vent.
"'Fore you get upset check the femme's audios!" the drone stated cheerfully.
Ratchet frowned and switched to the holo's point of view again, wincing slightly as he caught sight of himself from another perspective. He couldn't help it. He knew what he looked like, that wasn't why he winced. No, he winced because it was nothing like observing oneself in a mirror; the humans often referred to it as an 'out-of-body' experience.
Fitting.
He quickly focused the holo's attention on the femme's audios as she delicately tucked her hair behind her ears with a little smile. Then he blinked. Beautifully wrought, neural audio-finials rode above the femme's ears, the delicately curved points lined with three flawlessly cut crystals. Ratchet looked closer and started somewhat.
"Diamond memory drives and berlinite speakers?" he frowned, scanning the earpieces. "But there are no scanners in place! They're just receivers! In order to give you accurate directions the entire base would need to be completely peppered with ping-sensors!"
"They work," Symphony shrugged with a little smile.
"Symphony's been road-testing it, we finally got all the sensors in place!" Brains called out cheerfully.
"You mean to tell me that you set up a full sensor net for Symphony's well-being?" Ratchet asked in a stunned tone.
"Damn straight we did, Soundwave asked us personally," Wheelie stated proudly.
"Gonna do whatever it takes to keep Soundwave's femme safe and sane," Brains added with a broad grin.
"All I need to do is ask Ace to take me somewhere and he counts the steps for me," Symphony stated placidly beside his holo.
"We got 'em programmed to take her along the safest routes too, including getting her out of danger if she's liable to get stepped on!" Brains stated with a grin. "Same system we used in the central hubs back on Cybertron!"
Ratchet nodded somewhat, syncing the two processors which had been contemplating the punishment of Symphony's assigned caretakers, and re-assigning them back to aiding processes four and six.
"What time is it!?" Chance bellowed in his hand, Ratchet just about jumped out of his exo. Triggered by the tone of panic, processor eight automatically snapped online in preparation for the potential battle, and promptly shorted out.
"Slaggit! Ow!" Ratchet bellowed, clapping his free hand to his helm as the processor sparked for a few seconds before his diagnostic and preservation systems cut the power.
"What!?" Chance demanded in a shocked tone.
"What happened? What's wrong?" Symphony asked in a frightened voice, her hand reaching for his holo.
"Nothing, nothing, it's alright," Ratchet immediately stated in a soothing tone, gently taking Symphony's hand.
"You just said ow!" Chance informed him worriedly.
"Eighth processor finally blew did it?" Kae asked in an amused tone. Ratchet looked up at his spark-daughter in irritation; of course she'd be right outside the door the second the processor she'd been constantly nagging him about blew.
"What time is it?" Chance asked worriedly.
"Oh eight hundred," Kae stated calmly, her optics lingering on Chance's chest.
"What!? How long have I been asleep!?" Chance demanded in a stunned tone.
"Fourteen minutes, seven seconds," Ratchet stated patiently.
"But Jetfire said it was half nine!"
"Did you ask him which timezone?" Kae asked in an amused tone.
Chance blinked.
"I'm gonna go put my uniform on," he muttered vaguely, walking toward the edge of the workbench. Ratchet frowned slightly, the human sounded distracted. Or at least, more distracted than he usually was, but after climbing down the ladder he was at least walking in the right direction…
"Good morning Symphony," Kae added calmly. Ratchet started somewhat, his focus instantly turning to the girl sitting patiently on the med-berth.
"Good morning Kae, are you here to repair Ratchet?" Symphony asked curiously.
"I am," Kae smiled sweetly at him. Ratchet scowled at his spark-daughter.
"Medic Ratchet, I require your presence at the seminars today," Sentinel informed him calmly.
"It's Arcee's turn and I'm busy," Ratchet scowled.
"Exceedingly so," Symphony commented patiently, gently patting his holoform's hand before standing. "I'll come back when you're not. Ace, will you take me to the cafeteria please?"
"Symphony: should first take one pace forward, turn ninety degrees, take three paces forward..." Soundwave's voice whispered softly from the delicate ear finials. Ratchet watched in mild astonishment as Symphony strode confidently away without so much as bumping into Sentinel's feet.
"Who is Ace?" Sentinel asked suspiciously, watching the femme make a delicate beeline around his feet.
"It's her nickname for Soundwave," Kae commented cheerfully before looking behind him. "Good morning Arcee."
"Good morning Kae, Sentinel, goodnight Ratchet," Arcee purred. Ratchet snapped around to look curiously at his mate. His naked mate, optics holding his and blatantly reminding him of what she had repeatedly done to him in their berth, and what she was definitely going to do again. Ratchet rolled his optics before all but his autonomic processor cut out.