Hey sorry for the slow update, I was busy with the holiday craziness!
Primes (In order of receiving Matrix) :
Prima
Primon
Onyx
Vector
Megatronus
Solus
Alchemist
Amalgamous
Quintus
Micronus
Nexus
Sentinel
Alpha
Time Units (Found on Tf wiki):
Astro-second: .498 seconds
Breem: 8.3 minutes
Cycle: 1.25 hours
Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks
Groon: ~1 hour
Klik: 1.2 minutes
Meta-cycle: 13 months
Orbital cycle: ~1 month
Solar cycle/lunar cycle: 1 day/1 night
Stellar cycle:~7.5 months
Deci-vorn: 8.3 years
Vorn: 83 years
Currency:
1 credit: ~60.25 shanix
1 cred card: 400 credits
Ch. 10
Chains are secured around the ankles, stasis cuffs secured on the wrists, and wings are strapped into the sleeves. What is missing? Meister circled around his passed out victim. He found Seekers interesting, well all Cybertronians were interesting to him, but Seekers hated other races and yet they will mate with them when their heat cycle starts. And then, their whole coding that forces them to live in trines to balance themselves out. Oh right, onlining him!
Meister deactivated the stasis lock and walked away to allow the mech to online on his own. He went over to his table and grabbed the laser blade to examine it. After his first couple victims, Meister had to have someone with him to teach him how to make cleaner cuts as well as to not make a statement unless told otherwise. He knew the Seeker was online by the sounds of panic and the struggling.
"Ya angered a lot of bots Airway. We still have a couple groons before Ah am due, and Ah do need dah practice." Meister crouched next to the Seeker's helm and grabbed the cloth that he had shoved in his mouth. "Are ya tryin' tah call for yer trine mates? Did ya already forget dat Ah said ya angered bots?"
The Seeker stiffened before shaking his helm with muffled pleas. Meister stood up and finally removed the gag. Airway gasped a few times before speaking, "I didn't do anything! You have the wrong mech!"
"Your trine mates gave me a holo-image of you," he held the image of him out for the stunned mech to see. "Why did you kill them Airway? Why did you destroy the eggs?"
"They… they were weak okay?! If I let them hatch, they wouldn't have make it anyways! I was doing Tidalwave a favor by doing it before he bonded to them." Airway started crying. Meister tilted his helm in confusion at the reaction. "I didn't want to do it; you have to believe me! We always wanted a clutch, but my coding told me they wouldn't have lived long. Please, you have to believe me!"
The droid released the chains holding Airway to the ceiling. He sat him upright and grabbed his face to look him in the optics. "I believe you Airway," he saw the relief in his optics, and he continued, "but I still cannot allow you to remain online."
"N-No, please no!" Airway started squirming as Meister reached for his chest plate before he suddenly stopped.
::We change our minds, we'll get him. We'll still pay, please don't kill him.:: One of the trine mates commed Meister with urgency in her voice.
::You wish for me to keep him online?:: Meister looked at the Seeker with his helm tilted with confusion. ::Are you not worried he will kill future creations?::
::We are still bonded to him; we felt and saw everything. Please, here transferred the funds with a ten extra shanix for the problem we caused.:: She had a worried tone in her words as the funds appeared into Meister's account. He looked at the Seeker that looked hopeful in his optics.
::Alright, he will be released.:: The droid disconnected as he removed the restraints from the relieved mech in front of him. Meister looked at Airway with a confused tilt of his helm. "If you went by your instincts then why would your mates want you deactivated?"
Airway rubbed his wrists in hopes of massaging feeling back into them. He sighed with a shake of his helm, "when you are in a bond, especially a trine bond, you have not just your emotions to consider. My trine mate, Radar, was in a bad relationship before we took him in. He lost a lot of creations, so she must have seen my actions as the same as what her ex did. I wouldn't have done it had I had control over my systems, you have to understand that."
Meister knelt in front of the mech and took ahold of his wrists. "I believe you. I apologize for almost offlining you. You may leave after you've gotten feeling in your systems again." The silver mech stood up and started packing up.
"Huh, wha… you…-" The Seeker collapsed after the tranquilizer that Meister had inserted into his wrist took effect. The droid went over to him and deactivated his mod once he was certain that Airway wasn't pretending. Meister took the incentive to take the shape of Vanguard just in case Airway wanted to take legal actions. He finished packing his tools and looked at the Seeker thoughtfully. The AI had a lot to think about in regards of Cybertronians.
"Alchemist was right, Cybertronians are confusing." Meister shook his helm as he left the room he had been holding Airway hostage in. The silver mech commed Wicker to let him know what had happened, and the Mask leader said that happened with estranged lovers. Wicker also made a point to tell him that he was impressed with how well Meister was doing at keeping secrets. The AI told him that keeping secrets from Alchemist felt wrong, but he didn't want the twins taken from him again.
Meister returned to the apartment with the two younglings greeting him with excitement. He had allowed them to play outside with the other younglings as long as they promised to comm Meister every time they left the apartment as well as returned safely. "Meister, look what we got today! The Cybertronian younglings call them suckers." Saber held up the purple item with an energized smile. "Want one? We have a lot!"
"It's energon, how are you consuming it?" The older droid asked after watching the two start placing the treats back into their mouths.
"We took the medicine Papa Alchemist made!" Star held up the small bottle that had been sitting on the counter. Meister shook his helm with a chuckle before kissing the tops of their helms.
The droid took the bag of suckers from them and placed them on the counter, "these will be rewards or occasional snacks. Alchemist will become curious as to why I go through a bottle of capsules at such a rapid rate." They whined in disappointment, but they weren't going to do much about it. Meister lifted them up in his arms and sat them all down on the couch with a happy rev of his engine. "What would you two like to do?"
"Movie!" They both said excitedly with their optics looking up at Meister with a glittering hope. The older droid chuckled at how excitable energies, and the AI didn't want them any other way. "Okay, what movie?"
"I wanna watch the movie with Primus and Unicron!" Star said with excitement.
"No, I want to watch Minibot ballet." Saber pouted at his brother, clearly trying to work him over to his choice. Star shook his helm and then it soon started an argument and they were both crawling over Meister's lap while shouting in each other's face.
Meister pried them apart and moved them to the opposite sides of the couch. The younglings looked shocked from the calm reaction from their caregiver. "You two will stop fighting, we are able to watch both." He saw their frames shaking slightly and that caused confusion in the AI, "what is wrong?"
"You're going to spank us now." Star's optics started watering and Saber hid behind one of the thermal blankets with whimpers.
Meister deactivated his visors to show Star that he wasn't angry. He placed his servo on his chest with a smile. "I will and can never hurt you, either of you. I will always keep you safe from anyone that want to hurt you."
The silver droid was tackled by the twin red and white mechlings that hugged him tightly. "We love you Meister."
"I love you both too." He pulled Saber to the front of him and pulled them into his arms with his helm nuzzling the younglings. "Why don't we watch both of them ?"
The younglings smiled brightly, and they all settled down before they put their servos on Meister's chest. When the siblings were alone they would use the holoscreen and watch movies or television, but when it was al three of them they would just watch from memories. In the middle of the movies Meister's comlink went off. The younglings pulled away from him as he answered the comm.
::Meister, can I speak with you?:: Alchemist sounded off which caused Meister to be concerned that he was caught.
::What's wrong Alch?:: He stood up with this tightening feeling in his chest and the droid remembered this feeling when he saw Gearshaft.
::I just got word from Backdraft that Gearshaft and his companion are coming. I need you to return home before they arrive.:: The mechanism's code holder sounded concerned.
Meister frowned and looked at the staring younglings which made the feeling even worse. ::I will fly over there right now. Wicker had called for my assistance.::
::Alright, I will see you in a bit.:: Alchemist cut the line.
The AI said their quick byes before Meister hurried back to the manor. He was landing in the back when he saw a shuttle pull up to the front door. The silver mech removed his visors and hurriedly went to find Alchemist before the door chimed. Meister took a calming vent before going for the front door and opened it with a forced smile on his face. "Hello Founder Gearshaft, do you have a scheduled meeting with Alchemist Prime?"
"No, but I actually came to have a conversation about you." Gearshaft answered the question while walking through the door past Meister. The AI turned and went to go take them to the lounge, but Gearshaft stopped him with a question. "So, I had noticed that as we were driving here there was something flying around. What was that?"
Meister turned and folded his servos in front of himself with a smile. "That was me, Alchemist Prime had requested me to use the largest form I can shift into and test how long I can keep that form before being forced to shift back."
"Ah, perfect Meister how did the tests go? Have you managed to stay in the air longer than last time?" Alchemist's voice gave the droid so much relief especially when he saw the Prime walking over to them with his flask in his servo. "Hello Gearshaft, what can we do for you?"
The founder of AL smiled and gestured at Meister, "my coding team have noticed that our AA models seem to experiencing some glitches. Have you noticed anything odd with your droid?"
Alchemist looked at Meister with a thoughtful hum, "nothing strange. Meister has been performing at pique condition."
"Well if you don't mind can you run a systems check? My team have noticed that he seems to be running on a loop." Gearshaft gave a look of concern, but Meister knew that AL was aware. Alchemist gave a sound astonishment before looking down at the droid that was staring at Artemis.
"Meister run code blue." The Prime had never used any of the codes before, so it was a learning experience for him. Meister went rigid and his chest plate opened up with his pseudo-spark exposed; they stood there for fifteen kliks before Meister's chest plate closed tightly and his amber optics flashed green.
"All systems are 100% and functional." The silver Polyhexian looked at Alchemist and then at Gearshaft with a smile. He looked at his code holder with a tilt of his helm, "Alchemist Prime, your tank levels have dropped thirty-five percent. Would you like your usual?"
Alchemist shook his helm and gestured for the lounge, "I will be fine but thank you. Why don't we take this meeting somewhere more relaxing? How are you feeling after that flight?"
"I maintained altitude for .3762 nanoseconds longer than the previous time. My reserves are at 77%." Meister answered calmly while they walked to the lounge. The Prime sat on the couch with Gearshaft sat in the sofa adjacent from him. Artemis stood beside his code holder and Meister took his place beside Alchemist.
The Prime looked at the business mech with his posture calm, "can you tell me what exactly these glitches are?"
"Lack of following commands, rusted joints, vocal box glitching. Nothing too major. If your droid starts experiencing any of this, just comm Artificial Life and we can replace it with one of our newer models." Gearshaft said with a professional attitude.
Artemis was staring at Meister, "perhaps unit Meister-Jzz4 should demonstrate his unit's flexibility."
"Oh, perfect idea Artemis! I've seen how beautiful he sings, a demonstration of you dancing would be amazing." Gearshaft clapped his servos together. Meister looked down at his code holder for instructions.
"Do you feel up to it Meister?" The Prime gave the droid beside him a questioning gaze.
Meister had a plastered smile on his face, "AI do not have feelings Alchemist Prime. If you would like me to preform, I can do a dance to put yours and Founder Gearshaft's worries to ease." Alchemist looked around for a place for him to dance, but the silver Polyhexian climbed onto the table. "Oh, good thinking Meister. Do you need any music?"
"Yes please." The AI stood straight until Alchemist played a slow ballad. Meister took his first position and started dancing after the eight count. The space he was dancing on was small, but the droid made it work with a focused smile on his face. After the song ended and Meister moved into the last position, he bowed to his little audience after they clapped after the performance. "Was that to your standards Alchemist Prime, Founder Gearshaft?"
The silver Prime was about to answer, the founder of AL spoke faster, "that was decent Meister, but you looked a little unsteady."
That's slag, I hit every step perfectly! Meister had to hide his clenched servos behind his back as he forced a smile on his face. "My apologies, I have not danced since the Artificial Life training facility located in… firewall hit." Already plan on telling the Council where you keep us like objects as soon as I get Artemis away from me.
"Gearshaft, enough about my assistant, what can your AI do?" Alchemist asked the mech while helping Meister down. "Here, sit with me."
"Artemis, why don't you demonstrate to our dear Prime what you can do?" The mech smiled smugly at them as Artemis went over to the large holoscreen and placed his servo on the screen. His right servo glowed red and streams zig zagged from his digit tips until the entire screen was red, and when the droid pull his servo away from the electronic it gave a small explosion. Meister looked at Alchemist with a slight worried expression. "When Artemis's mod activated I knew it was too dangerous to just give to anyone in the general public."
Alchemist gave an uncomfortable chuckle as he looked at his now destroyed holoscreen. "I can understand that fear. Meister, take note to get a holoscreen ordered."
"I have four options already for observation, your list has been sent to your terminal." Meister smiled at the Prime before looking behind him and quickly stood up. "Hello, did you have a meeting with Alchemist Prime?"
Standing in the doorway was Wicker and the Polyhexian was confused about the weird reaction. Meister kept his back to Artemis and Gearshaft as he gave some optic gestures which is all the Mask leader needed to play along. "No Ah didn't, but Ah thought my dear friend deserved a friendly visit. Since our lil' project seems tah have hit a bump."
"Oh, our project? Meister, why don't you take Wicker to the conservatory while I finish this meeting up?" Alchemist suggested and the mechanism bowed at the Prime and his 'creator' before guiding Wicker away from them. The droid looked over his shoulder with paranoia that Artemis was going to follow them.
"What are you doing here?" Meister asked as soon as he closed the conservatory doors. He crossed his arms as he looked at the masked mech with irritation.
"Like Ah said, Ah came tah talk tah Alchem 'bout a bump in our lil' secret project. Ah just wasn't expectin' dah mech tah be here playin' ya." Wicker started exploring the space and made a disappointed sound. "Too exposed for my taste."
The silver droid shrugged casually, "I don't mind the sunlight. Do you think I'm excited to have him here forcing Alchemist to order me around?!" He crossed his arms and took several vents before looking at his teacher. "How are they doing?"
"Got Warp watchin' 'em. Don't worry Sparkles, they are in good servos." Wicker assured the mech before the doors opened up to Alchemist walking in with a worried expression on his face. "Place secured?"
Alchemist nodded after shutting the door behind them. The Prime looked at the chip that was in his servo and hooked it up to his portable terminal with a determined look on his face. Meister tilted his helm with a frown at the serious look his friend had. "Gearshaft wanted me to put this into you, as if I trust this one bit. I'm sorry Meister, we both know how much I hate taking your freedom away. Wicker, what can we do for you?"
The Prime plugged the chip into the terminal while the masked mech answered him. "My informant just got a hold of one of dah distribution stores, dah one in Praxus, and it's nasty Alchem. It's like interface traffickin' nasty. Dah droids come in these boxes, and dah drives are droids all collared with nasty micro explosions."
"Micro explosions?" Meister whipped his attention from the terminal to the Mask leader.
"When dah shipment is signed off, their entire frames implode on spot. Meister, ya should count yerself lucky dat ya weren't one of those drivers. Informant said dat AL have inspectors visitin' all of 'em every orbital cycle." Wicker said before looking at the doors and grabbed Meister's wrist to get his attention. "They even said they found some boxes were messed with and some of 'em had dents near their pelvic platin', limbs hangin' by cables, and their chips cracked. AL ain't good at all."
Alchemist stopped what he was doing and stared at the masked mech with a horrified look in his optics. Meister was frozen in place when what Wicker finally set in his processor. The Prime looked at his friend with a concerned expression, "Meister, did they do anything to you? I need you to be honest to me."
The AI looked away with him pinning an arm to his side. "I… was not honest with you when I spoke about my tests. They had me try and shift into… Primus, I was not told why, but I when I tried to explain to them that without a physical source I could not do it. They were not happy with me and stuck me in an isolated server with heavy firewalls." He swiped his neck until the black band appeared, "we cannot take them off. I have tried, it's attached to me by fuel lines. I'm sorry Alch."
"Why would they want you to shift into Primus?" Alchemist looked at him with confusion.
"I don't know, truly I don't Alch." Meister looked at his peds with a sad expression. He looked at the terminal with a curious look, "what is on the data slug?"
The Prime looked at the terminal and started examining the coding but was soon joined by Wicker and Meister looking over his arms. Wicker made a disgusted sound before taking over and started typing rapidly. "Ah've seen dis codin' before. In pleasure bots. Prime, dis is compliance codin' forces absolute obedience in dah hacked bot."
"Compliance coding? Is that why they were here? I don't want my freedom taken from me Alch." Meister stepped away from the terminal as if being near it would somehow transfer the coding to him.
"Meister, calm down my friend, you won't be getting this at all I promise you that. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't a deadly virus. You need to be careful of Artemis, his mod is more dangerous than yours. Wicker, how did your informant get their job?" The Prime looked at the hacker while pulling the data slug out of the terminal and crushed it on the table. Seeing it being destroyed gave Meister a look of excite and hope at the level of trust Alchemist gave him.
Wicker put a servo on his hip with the other servo in the air as he shrugged. "Just said they do a background check, if ya pass then they are given a location and ya have tah report tah AL every end cycle on sales. They said they get nervous when reps have skills in hackin' and codin', so they lookin' for dumb greedy afts."
"Can we save some?" Meister looked Wicker with plead in his optics. "Can't we save even a few from abusive code holders like… like her?"
Alchemist rubbed the back of his helm, "Meister, I can't just go and purchase one after being visited by Gearshaft. If another of the Council gets one then Artificial Life could become suspicious. Wicker?"
"Could probably try and get one, but ya do know dat Polys ain't trusted by everyone. How we gonna get one in my group?" Wicker questioned, but Meister gave an idea.
"Wick, what about your informant at Torchwood apartments? He seems reliable."
The Mask leader hummed in thought before smiling at the idea. "Nice idea Sparkles! Ah'll let him know Mask will be makin' a generous donation for him. My informant will find one dat looks like they need tah get out. Ah gotta head back and let Mask know what's dah DL. Peace."
Wicker left the Prime and droid in the conservatory. Meister sat on the stool with his arms folded in his lap. Alchemist leaned his servo against the table and looked at his friend trying to read him. "Meister, what are you thinking about? I'm sorry I can't help you; you know I would if I could."
"I wasn't ready to tell you before, but I remember one of my recodings. The reason I was recoded was because I asked why we couldn't be in our shells." The AI's frame started rippling while his leg bounced nervously. "At the time I was called Aura."
"Aura? That's what Maccadam said when we took you to get fixed." The Prime saw how guilty his friend looked when the Prime made the connection. "When you were Aura, did you have the same mod?"
"No, they change when our coding and shells change. Aura could see spark resonances. I don't remember anything from the life or if I even had a code holder as Aura, but I'm not Aura anymore, I am Meister and that is who I will always be no matter who I shift into." Meister looked at his friend with a smile. "I suppose Primes and AI have something in common."
The Prime chuckled and gave his back a light pat, "I suppose this would make you an honorary Prime."
"Solus said something similar to me, she said that if I was Cybertronian that she believes that the Matrix would have chosen me. I do not believe it would have chosen me; I can feel that even if I were real it still would not have chosen me to protect it. Just like Vector says, 'Primus has a plan for everyone'. My plans are to help you stop Artificial Life from doing anything worse."
Alchemist smiled and gave his shoulder a firm shake, "perhaps AL will be crumbling to the ground before my time." The AI returned the smile with a grateful hug. The AI was so thrilled to have a friend like Alchemist. "Meister, there's an event going on in a few solar cycles at Prima's home and I would greatly appreciate the company."
"What sort of event? Will I have to be entertainment again?" The silver droid questioned his friend.
"A ball and no you don't have to worry about that." Alchemist assured the smaller mechanism.
Meister made a thoughtful hum as to what to do; he told the younglings that he was going to take them out exploring the parks in Praxus, but he also knew that Alchemist would love to have a friend to keep him on the straight and narrow with the high grade. "Can I think about it and give my answer tomorrow?"
"Of course, Meister, would you like to have some energon and oil cake with me?" The Prime suggested with a friendly tone which made the silver Polyhexian nod excitedly. The two were leaving the conservatory with their attention focused on the cake and energon, that they missed the amber optics looking down from the ceiling.
Okay readers comment down below either 1 or 2 for what the next chapter should be.
Meister's dance performance: Sophia Lucia - Pointe Solo - DancerPalooza Beat Squad Performance 2016
1: Meister spends the day with Alchemist and experiences some bad things
2: Meister takes the twins out for some fun and meets his first romantic interest.
