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
Note; Hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving!
Ch. 19
"Hello, Maccadam!?" A frantic mech rushed into Maccadam's bar. The patrons stopped their drinking and conversations to look at the party crasher. Maccadam watched the bearded mech hurry to the bar. The mech was red and blue with a long cape hanging from his shoulders. He looked around before leaning closer, "I need to speak with the d-r-o-i-d."
Maccadam raised an optical ridge while cleaning a glass. "I haven't the faintest idea on what you are talking about. Go home and get some rest."
"I need to speak with it… him… it's about a thing given to me. It's acting odd." The mech kept his voice down as he looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.
A cube slammed on the countertop next to the pair. They looked over to see the silver mechanism drinking oil. "Why do you want to find this droid? Who are you?"
"I go by Alpha Trion now, after a certain something was given to me. Something about keeping it away from the 'Corrupt One'." The moment that left his lips, the barkeeper shouted that they were closing up early.
Meister slid off the barstool slowly as he took off his visors. The surprise was visible on his face. "You… show me."
Alpha Trion looked at the entrance with uncertainty before he opened up his chest plate. The droid and bartender looked with relief at seeing the Matrix safely tucked in this mech's chest. After a moment longer, Alpha Trion closed up. "You said it was acting odd? How long have you had the Matrix? Go back to the moment you received it."
"I've had it for nearly two centuries. I was just a normal archivist before this… song… voice. It sounds ridiculous even now, but it called to me, and I followed it. I found this youngling hiding and crying for help during a bad acid storm. Something was off about it, but I had to help. Once the youngling was safe, right before my optics the youngling turned into the mech before us." Alpha Trion gestured to Meister.
"You risked your life to save a life from danger. Is your spark pure?" Meister's voice echoed as he looked at the thin mech.
"I couldn't just leave you out there to die. What is this?"
"The Matrix has chosen you. Do you accept the ideals of the old Council? To protect the innocent lives of Cybertron from the corrupt ones? To call upon the powers of the Matrix upon Cybertron's darkest hour? To not use the powers gifted to you for your own gain?" Meister opened his chest as he pulled out the Matrix.
The mech felt the pull grow even stronger when the artifact was in front of him. "I accept. Is this what I think it is? Are you-"
"I am just a protector of the Matrix. The chapter of Dia has come to an end, but your new life as a Prime starts. The memories of the Primes before you will help you on your journey." Meister held his servos out as Alpha Trion accepted the golden object.
His chest plate opened as he placed it in front of his spark casing. Dia lifted off the ground as light filled the room. His new frame started to take shape as memories of every Prime's trials, and the history of his brethren filled his mind. Once the new Prime lowered back down, he looked at his new frame before at the silver mechanism.
"The Matrix… it was killing you. What happened to the Prime before me? Sentinel?" The new Prime questioned.
Meister rubbed at his chest, "it's a sacrifice I have to take to make sure the Corrupted One doesn't get it. As for Sentinel, he gave up the power when he sensed his time was coming to an end. What's your new name?"
Dia looked at his reflection in the window of his home before finally answering him. "Alpha Trion."
"Once I gave my new name, Meister here told me that so long as I keep the Matrix safe and do not reveal it's existence to anyone then it will be safe." Alpha Trion explained.
Meister shook his helm with confusion, "I don't remember any of this. Obviously you're not lying, but… I don't even know who-" the two Primes stopped when the droid fell forward then threw himself back as his lights came from optics, and his frame started rippling. The droid saw images flash in front of his optics, only a few of the images were familiar while a great majority of them were strange to him.
"It's like my vision. Pillars of golden light." Maccadam whispered as Meister shifted into Megatronus.
"Who's there? Meister, get out of here quickly. Don't let him near you, we must keep the Prime secrets!"
Meister fell to the ground with a grunt. He panted heavily as he watched the servos of Megatronus slowly return to normal. Maccadam lowered to the ground to make sure his friend was okay. "What was that? Who was Megatronus talking about? What were you talking about?"
The silver mechanism shook his helm, "I just… it was like something opened for me. It must've been before the Council fell?"
"I wonder what could've triggered the memory?" Alpha Trion finally pipped in. The two on the ground stood up. "The Matrix hid itself from your memories, perhaps it hid yourself from your memories."
The droid's face twisted in confusion, "what do you mean? I know who I am. I'm a droid."
"Meister, Alpha Trion could be onto something. You told me that you don't remember the events from the fall of the Council to when you onlined under Ratchet's care. Maybe the Matrix had something to do with it?" Maccadam folded his arms, not liking that the Matrix was being exposed, but if Meister kept it safe in not one but two mech's protection for this long, then Alpha Trion could be trusted. "Alpha Trion, when you received the Matrix, did Meister say or do anything else?"
The Prime rubbed his chin as he tried to think carefully. He was about to say no, but something clicked at the last second. "He had said something about how I would be the one to save the future. I still don't know what he means."
"I said that? That couldn't have been me." Meister shook his helm in disbelief. "If I had the Matrix, I was just a stupid messenger. That's all I was, deliver the Matrix to its chosen one!"
Alpha Trion shook his helm in disagreement to the mechanism's statement, "you as well as the both of us that you are more than a droid. You are something more, you are important to our history, and one cycle you will understand why."
"How can you be so sure? How are all of the Primes so sure that I'm important?" the silver droid threw an arm to the side with stress on his face.
The blue and red mech rested his servos on the arms of the silver mechanism. "I have seen all the lessons that my brothers and sisters have passed onto me. You were important to all of them whether you care to admit it or not."
Meister sat on the table in front of Ratchet with his legs kicking in the air slightly. He watched the medic repair his arm after accidently stabbing himself when he had another memory reflux. "I was thinking… you've been proven to not be one of the bad guys. And Alchemist said I have to learn who to trust. And well… I was thinking… could you be my code holder?"
"Code holder? Like what, a master? Isn't that like the opposite of what the Old Council was fighting against?" Ratchet questioned the mechanism as he sat the pliers beside his assistant.
"A code holder ensures that our systems are running smoothly and that we do what we are programmed to do. I never saw Alch as my master, he was a dear friend almost like a creator to me. Then there was Casper, the love of my life, I gave it to him because I trusted him with not just my physical body, but also my secrets." Meister looked down at his servos with sadness in his posture. "It's not like I wanted this, but if I have you as a code holder, then maybe I won't let them down again."
Ratchet hummed as he thought of what he said. "So, if I accept, what does that mean for me?"
"I can help you with complicated procedures, show you things that history forgot." Meister hopped off the table with a small gesture of his servos. He rubbed them nervously before shaking his helm in disbelief to what he was saying. "Sorry, just forget it. This was a stupid idea."
As Meister was about to leave, Ratchet stopped him. "Wait, I can't let you just drop all of that on me then leave. I'll accept your offer."
The droid took his visors off to look into the medic's optic in surprise. With both Alchemist and Casper, they were extremely hesitant to accept the responsibilities of the master files. "Why do you accept so easily?"
"Because I don't want you hurting yourself. I won't abuse this trust, we will start from where the Council left off." Ratchet offered the mechanism a rare smile before offering a servo. Meister looked at the red servo in thought of what to do. Despite being proven to be trusted, Meister was nervous to give that kind of trust to the medic. "You've trusted me this far, you can trust me with this too."
When I'm not here, you will need to trust someone with your secrets. Don't barricade yourself from everyone.
The droid remembered when Casper said that to him. Meister remembered that night ending with him leaving because he didn't want to hear the one he loved say something absolutely ridiculous. But now, he couldn't be more right. The silver mech's face twisted into sadness when Ratchet remained standing there waiting for an answer. "I… I don't want… I'm tired of being alone!"
"Wha- hey calm down. Why are we crying?" Ratchet was thrown off-guard when the shorter mechanism hugged him tightly. His arms wrapped around the frame tightly as he tried to comfort the crying creature. "Calm down kid, seriously all I did was ask a question."
Meister shook his helm with a guilty chuckle as he pulled away. "I'm sorry for that. I just… remembered something someone told me a long time ago. If you are serious about this, then I'll send you a data files for the master file."
"So, these codes have color assignment? Did Alchemist ever use these?" Ratchet asked while watching the small astrofox curl up on the top of a tall cabinet. He looked up with a disappointed sigh. "You know these one-sided conversations don't get us anywhere in life."
"Once, because he was forced to." The silver astrofox answered before he shifted back into his original form. He remained laying on the cabinet, his limbs hanging over the edges. Meister looked down at the medic curiously. "Hey Doc, I have a question I've been meaning to ask you."
Ratchet made a sound while cleaning up his desk. The silver mechanism rested his helm in his servos with his peds kicked back. "Do you believe in God?"
Meister and one of Ratchet's other assistants dragged another body inside while another was hurriedly sealing the door shut. "This is the fourth one this cycle alone! I knew the protests have been bad, but it can't be that bad. Can it?"
"I don't know, but they're getting out of hand. His spark is extinguished." The femme sighed with disappointment after shocking the victim's spark several times. "Time of deactivation 01400."
The droid punched the wall behind him with a frustrated shout. Ever since the stupid protests started the clinic had become busier than ever before. Meister didn't like any of this, it was just like when the Council told the world about Artificial Life. The droid and the medic started picking up the grayed out frame before Ratchet came running from the back of the clinic, energon sliding from his arm. "Meister, we need to get you out of here now. Bliant, Aeson if anyone shows up you didn't see us."
"R-Ratchet what's going on?" The silver droid asked as the medic dragged him behind. Meister looked at the medic's arm with worry. "Ratchet, what happened? Did you get caught in the protest?"
"No, these… these things just started dragging mechs and femmes out from under the city, they had optics like yours." Ratchet threw the shocked mechanism into his office, shutting the door before pushing furniture in front of the door. "Meister, you need to get out of here now. These things that killed all of those mechs and femmes, they had Artificial Life insignias on them. They'll come and kill you."
The silver mechanism looked shocked at the news. After all this time, after they seemingly disappeared from existence. Meister rapidly shook his helm, "no, no, no I refuse to abandon anymore of my code holders! I will stay and protect you from them! I'll just change my appearance."
"No, Meister you don't understand these creatures caused something to those like you. They tried to run, or I think defend themselves, but when nothing happened they looked surprised." Ratchet went to the window, looking out for the giant mechs.
Upon hearing this, Meister stood there in shock. He grabbed his new code holder's arm with a silent plea in his optics. "If shifting is out of the question, then me being pathetic and running away is out of the picture!"
"Meister, listen to me, those mechs didn't ask the droids if they were ones. They just gave them one look then killed them. No matter what we do, they will know you're Cybertronian. I need you to trust me to protect you, please." Ratchet grabbed the silver arm with concern visible on his face.
Meister went to answer, but a loud crashing sound followed by the sound of laser fire stopped the droid. He clenched his jaw and fists in anger before giving into Ratchet's request. "Fine, but I'm keeping you in sight."
"Okay," Ratchet nodded before the droid slipped out of the room via the ceiling. The medic cleaned up the mess quickly when he heard loud steps drawing closer to the office. He backed up to the desk when the sound of the intruder got closer. "You really dug yourself a deep one Ratchet."
The barricade and door flew across the room, Ratchet ducked behind the desk to avoid being one with his napping couch. Meister tried to shift into an astrofox, but his frame didn't even ripple like it would when he shifted forms. What? Why is happening?
"Can I help you? We're closed at the moment." Ratchet looked at the large rust colored drone as it looked around the office. "Hello, it's rude to ignore the one who's business you demolished. Who are you?"
The large mech had no visible mouth and one large optic in the center of its face. "Where is droid unit Meister-Jzz4? Relinquish custody of the droid unit before you forfeit your life."
I am deeply sorry for my absence, I have been dealing with a lot of personal stuff, but I am not going to abandon this story until I hit that complete button!
