Well, not really much to say up here over that the fact that I got this one done faster than I thought I would. At least, going by the rate of which I was writing up until a few days ago, because I wrote probably more than half of this in the last four or five days. So, thanks for waiting for this chapter, even though it didn't take me as long to write it as my last ones. :)
And, as usual, thanks go out to everyone who reviewed, your feedback means a lot to me, and it helps me find inspiration to write. Thank you all, again. :)
Thanks go to Crystal Prime for beta reading.
Now, as everyone who reviewed now knows, I am now responding to reviews through PMs, I feel it is more personal and makes it more clear how much I love and appreciate hearing all of your feedback. So I will not be writing responses to reviews up here unless the person who reviewed doesn't have an account. Now, onto the chapter!
Disclaimer: Transformers belongs to Hasbro. I only take credit for this story and my OCs.
April 13, 2013 6:11 A.M
Autobot base, outside Jasper, Nevada
After leaving the Pocket Universe, I found myself surrounded by darkness again, but it wasn't as total as the place I was when the ancient... Thing spoke to me. I could faintly feel myself lying on something, likely a berth, and I could just barely hear voices speaking. I had no idea what the voices were saying, but one of them sounded feminine and excited, while the other sounded deeper and confused.
The darkness around me suddenly lessened somewhat, and my ability to feel and hear increased. And after listening for a moment, I found that the voices belonged to Arcee and Ratchet, though I still didn't know what they were saying. I must have been in the med-bay, likely having been brought there after Refit converted our platform into an escape pod and sent it back to Earth.
But, I still didn't feel like I was in my frame, I felt like I was standing up in a dark room. It felt strange, being aware, yet unable to do anything. I would call it an out-of-chassis experience, but since I couldn't see anything or make out anything that Arcee or Ratchet were saying, I think this was closer to a very odd and pointless dream. In short, it sucked.
I stood in the darkness for nearly a klick, trying to figure out how to get out of the odd state I found myself in, before a hologram of a Cybertronian mech's outline appeared in front of me.
It was large, probably my height, and it glowed green while it seemed to shimmer in front of me, as if its projector was damaged. The main focus of the hologram appeared to be the circuitry of the mech, since the circuitry was a lighter green than the rest of the hologram.
Not bothering to wonder why I was looking at a hologram of a mech's circuitry, since this cycle had already been incredibly strange, I looked the hologram up and down, searching for anything that was unusual. Well, apart from the fact the hologram itself had appeared out of nowhere.
After finishing my quick once-over of the hologram, I noticed that the holographic mech's circuitry was just barely carrying an electric current, which meant the mech was in stasis lock, if he had been real, that is.
The hologram suddenly shifted its focus away from circuitry, and focused on the spark of the holographic mech. Its pulse was slightly irregular, a sign that the mech was still injured, but stable, and all the circuitry connected to the spark was almost entirely restricted, only allowing an electrical current strong enough to power the mech's basic functions, and keep him in a state of dreams that would seem unending.
Without telling my chassis to do so, my servo reached out and touched the holographic spark, causing that section of the hologram to be pushed back, and all the restricted circuitry to fully open.
'And... Why did I do that?' I thought, not bothering to mentally add the fact my servo wasn't even under my own control when I touched the hologram.
Before I could formulate a theory as to why I had interacted with the hologram without thinking, the hologram flickered from existence, and I found myself back in my chassis, with my optics still closed, and one of my servos wrapped around something at my side.
My frame felt stiff and incredibly sore, as if I hadn't moved in eons.
"Ow..." I said quietly at the discomfort my soreness was causing me, barely noticing when the object one of my servos was wrapped around slipped out of my grasp.
"You took your sweet time onlining, Shadow'," Arcee said from off to my right, voice quiet and soft, but sounding loud to my recently-onlined audio receptors.
Being careful not to move too quickly, I slowly opened my optics and looked at where Arcee's voice came from.
The femme who had stolen my spark was sitting in a chair and looking at me with a huge, relieved smile on her faceplate, while Ratchet stared at me from where he stood at the med-bay computer with the Delphic floating next to him, looking like he might glitch from disbelief, going by the look on his faceplate.
"You know, this situation seems very familiar," I said quietly, referring to when I had onlined after contracting the cybonic plague.
"Maybe that's because you keep getting injured and ending up in the med-bay," Arcee said in a quiet, amused tone, though the look in her optics was far from amused. It was closer to... Concerned? Sad? Frightened? I couldn't tell.
I stopped trying to read the look in Arcee's optics, and gave her a small smile. "Can't help it. The Decepticons love using me as a target. Though, I admit there are times where I could have avoided injury, but where's the fun in that?"
Arcee let out a short laugh, clearly being careful not to be too loud, which I appreciated. "You are absolutely insane."
My smile became a smirk. "I am not insane... Just mentally unstable, there is a difference." I said in an indignant tone, as if offended by Arcee's words.
The blue and pink femme rolled her optics at me. "Why did I sit here and wait for you to online all this time?" She asked, the look on her faceplate betraying her amusement.
Making sure not to read into the similarities our conversation had with the banter of my creators, I chuckled lowly. "I don't know. Boredom, perhaps?" I asked half-sparkedly, having no clue why she apparently waited for me to online, so making a joke out of it. Although, the part of her statement that suggested she had been waiting for a while confused me. "But you kinda bring up something I need to find out," I continued as I pushed my humor aside for the moment. "How long have I been out this time?"
The look on Arcee's faceplate became more serious. "You've been in stasis lock for two mega-cycles, Shadow'," she answered. "Your CPU barely even showed any activity until about a breem ago."
I looked at her in surprise. I had been out for two mega-cycles, and she stayed here the whole time? That was rather... Needless. "And you stayed here the entire time? Why did you do that?"
Arcee's frame stiffened for a brief moment, before it relaxed again. Odd... "We're partners, we stick with each other, even when one of us is out of it," she said, voice unnaturally even, as if there was something else she wanted to say, and was doing everything she could not to. "And besides, it's not like you wouldn't have done the same," one of the corners of her mouth twitches upward in a smile, and I feel a tug at my spark as she does, not unlike the Pulling, except it lasts only for a micro-klick and there was no electrical shock. She's been waiting here for so long...
I stared into Arcee's azure optics, trying to figure out what she was trying to keep herself from saying, while also doing what I could to not allow the feeling in my spark to affect me. It was so unlike Arcee to not say what was on her CPU. She was always honest with me when explaining things, but she wasn't being upfront with me with this.
And that gave me an overwhelming urge to spill my guts about how I felt. To pour my spark out to her, and not give a damn about the consequences. I admit, how I felt when I thought the horde was going to offline me definitely had something to do with my urge to tell her, but there was this nagging voice in the back of my helm that was saying that maybe my feelings weren't worth keeping a secret anymore. After all, several of my male friends in high school had openly told some of my female friends that they had an interest in them, and even though my female friends hadn't returned their interest, they remained friends anyway. So if I told Arcee how I felt, right here and right now, and she didn't return my feelings, what was keeping us from remaining friends? Nothing. And that voice in the back of my helm is being awfully insistent...
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on what my CPU and spark were telling me, Ratchet finally spoke, causing Arcee and I to break away from each other's optics for the first time since I onlined. "You're online," the white and red medic said, tone far louder than the one Arcee was using, which caused me to wince slightly at the volume, and also comically incredulous, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Both grateful and disappointed at the interruption, I put a partially forced smile on my faceplate. "What could have possibly made you think that, Ratchet?" I asked dryly. "I am clearly still in stasis lock," I looked at Arcee again. "Aren't I still in stasis lock?"
Obviously seeing what I was doing, Arcee put a look of false seriousness on her faceplate. "Well, since you clearly aren't talking, joking, or moving, I would say so." She replied, tone equally as dry as mine as she joined in on my joking.
Ratchet, evidently, wasn't paying attention to our joking. "How are you online?" He asked, still sounding incredulous as he continued to stare at me in disbelief, almost ignoring Arcee's presence.
I gave Arcee a confused look before looking back at Ratchet. "Because my optics are... Open?" I asked weakly, having no idea why Ratchet was acting like he was, and not sure how to answer his questions.
"No, no, no, that isn't what I meant," Ratchet said with a shake of his helm, sounding more like he normally did when he was he was curious. "What I meant was, how are you already online? Your CPU only showed significant activity a little over a breem ago, like Arcee said. You should still be in stasis lock for at least the next three or four solar-cycles. So how are you already online?"
I returned Ratchet's curious look with one of my own. I couldn't just say that his estimate of when I would online from stasis lock was wrong. This was Ratchet, he was never wrong when it came to medical matters. If he said I wasn't supposed to be online right now, I wasn't supposed to be online. Simple as that. But, no matter what I thought of, I couldn't think of something that might explain my early onlining. Of course, I had been taken out of the Pocket Universe rather suddenly, but that had nothing to do with my sudden onlining, going by how Solus said that I was leaving the Pocket Universe earlier than the Thirteen expected. So what caused me to online... Early...
The hologram I touched before onlining.
"I am not entirely sure if this has anything to with why I am online right now, but before I onlined, I saw some kind of hologram," I said. It would make sense that the hologram had something to do with how I am online now, since the hologram seemed to be of a mech in stasis lock, and I onlined immediately after I caused the electrical current of the hologram to return to normal levels. I just had no idea how the hologram appeared, or how it was even connected with me.
"A... Hologram?" Ratchet asked, the curious look on his faceplate quickly being replaced by a confused one. "A hologram of what?"
"It looked like a medical scan of a mech's circuitry from what I could tell," I answered. "And, as if I wasn't in control of my frame, I reached out and touched the hologram. And I onlined almost immediately after I touched it. It was... Odd, to say the least."
My statement seemed to make Ratchet go deep into thought, since he went silent and tapped his digits against the keyboard of the med-bay computer, a habit of his whenever he was trying to come up with an answer to something. But Arcee, however, smirked.
"Are you saying that you pulled a Miko?" She asked in an amused tone, leaning back in her chair and crossing her pedes over each other, while also folding her servos over her chestplates.
"I pulled a what?" I asked with a chuckle as I turned my attention to Arcee.
"A Miko. You pressed a button without knowing what it did or what the consequences could possibly be," Arcee replied, her grin widening when I laughed at her joke.
I was about to continue my short conversation with Arcee, but I caught Ratchet starting to type commands into the med-bay computer out of my peripheral vision, so I turned my attention back to him.
The white and red medic's digits flew over the keyboard at an almost blinding speed for a few moments, then suddenly, his optics widened in surprise and his entire frame froze up. He didn't give any indication that he would do so, he just froze, as if he had suddenly transformed into a statue.
After Ratchet hadn't said anything for a few micro-klicks, I shared a confused look with Arcee, then looked back at Ratchet and asked, "Hey, you okay, Ratchet?"
My statement seemed to break Ratchet from his daze. "I'm fine," he replied, returning his optics to their normal size as he continued to look at the screen. "Just... Surprised by something."
"And that something would be?" I asked.
Ratchet turned his helm and stared at me, a partially curious and partially bewildered look in his optics. "According to my readings, somehow, someway, your CPU tapped into the Delphic's energy, and then used it to advance your healing processes by several solar-cycles."
I blinked at Ratchet. Once. Twice. Three times. "What?" I finally asked, knowing I had heard him correctly, but unable to formulate another question.
"You tapped into the Delphic's energy," Ratchet repeated, tone now matching the look in his faceplate. He broke optic contact with me for a moment, looked at the monitor, and then back at me. "How...? How did you tap into it?" He asked, voicing the same question Arcee was about to ask, going by how she opened her mouth to speak when Ratchet looked at the screen, but closed it when the white and red medic spoke again.
I didn't answer, just looked at the Delphic as it floated next to Ratchet. I had apparently tapped into its near-incalculable power and used an equally incalculably small portion of its energy to heal myself. Well, I hadn't really healed myself, just sped my healing process up slightly. But still, I had tapped into the fragging Delphic... With my CPU. And I had no idea how I had done it.
I finally tore my gaze away from the Delphic and refocused on my fellow Autobots. "I have no idea... Magic?" I asked, only half joking, because with all the crap that happened on the station, magic could end up actually being a viable explanation.
Arcee raised an optic ridge at my statement. "I don't think that's the likely answer," she said with a light chuckle. "Unless you are talking about the kind of magic that can be explained with..." She trailed off, optics lighting up like she just had an epiphany. "Technology..." She looked at Ratchet. "Is it possible that when Shadow' was knocked into recharge by the ship, that it altered his CPU with that other thing he mentioned so that he could interact with the Delphic? The Precursor Protocol, or whatever?" She asked, obviously having heard what happened on the station.
Ratchet looked up slightly, clearly in thought. "Well... Maybe," he said, turning his gaze back at the two of us. "But the problem with that theory is that neither Moonracer nor I have detected anything different with Shadowstreaker's CPU when he was first brought to the med-bay," he gestured to the screen next to him. "And even now his CPU readings are normal."
"Who said his CPU readings would be effected by the change?" Arcee asked, tone suggesting her question was rhetoric. "And he's also been in stasis nearly that entire time, so his CPU wasn't even in use when they arrived back at Earth," she glanced at me. "Not that it is right now," she quipped with a smile, causing me to narrow my optics playfully before she looked back at Ratchet. "I would be willing to bet that if you ran a quick scan of his helm, your readings wouldn't match up with your original ones."
Ratchet was quiet for a few moments, likely analyzing Arcee's theory in his helm, then he grumbled something under his breath and stepped around the Delphic and walked over to us. And after walking over to Arcee and I, he activated the scanner on his servo and ran it over my helm twice.
He frowned when he finished the final scan and looked at his scanner. "That's... Unusual."
Arcee smiled thinly at the white and red medic's reaction. "I'm right, aren't I?"
Ratchet looked up and gave her an annoyed look. "Yes... Yes you are." He said slowly, as if it was painful for him to admit that Arcee came up with the answer to a science-related question that he hadn't been able to.
The femme who held my spark widened her smile, which caused Ratchet to huff in irritation, but she didn't say anything in response.
"Uh, I am usually not one to interrupt, but how has my CPU been altered?" I asked in a slightly unnerved tone, not exactly comfortable with learning that my CPU had been changed without my knowledge.
Ratchet kept his annoyed gaze on Arcee for another moment before he looked at me. "It seems the EM pulses racing through your processor are now operating on a different frequency, one that is similar to the energy the Delphic is constantly giving off," he explained. "And because of this, your CPU seems to have established a permanent, partial link with the Delphic." A confused look entered his optics. "While this explains what the Precursor Protocol did to you, it does not explain how or why it gave you the ability to access the Delphic, tell us how you can access it again, or why the link is only partial and not complete, or even if it is possible to access the Delphic's core without having a mental connection to it," he added that last part with a small frown, as if he was frustrated by the concept.
With some difficulty, I managed to push aside my shock of learning I now shared a mental connection with the Delphic, and focused on the last part of Ratchet's explanation. "What is so important about being able to access the Delphic without sharing a connection with it?"
"Earlier, before you onlined, I finally discovered what the Delphic has been hiding since we found it, and it was in the core." The white and red medic answered as he stepped over to the med-bay computer and began typing commands into the keyboard.
Arcee's optic ridges rose up in surprise. "You didn't mention that when I came back from the washracks, but then again, I should have suspected that you discovered something, going by how you didn't even pause in your work until Shadow' started to online." She said.
"I do tend to do that when I encounter something interesting," Ratchet admitted as he continued to type, digits flying across the keyboard in a perfectly choreographed dance. "And the Delphic's final surprise is definitely interesting."
"And what is the Delphic's final surprise?" I asked.
Ratchet finished typing commands into the computer and looked over at me. "See for yourself," he said, then turned the computer monitor so Arcee and I could see the image that was on the screen.
It was an image of panel made out of some kind of gold alloy, with computer circuitry that was clearly far beyond anything we could create.
I blinked at the image, confused that the final secret of the Delphic was only the motherboard of a computer. "That isn't exactly awe-inspiring, seems rather ordinary." I commented. With how feverishly Ratchet had been running tests as he tried to figure out what the ancient power source was hiding, I was expecting the thing he was searching for to be something a little more... Uncommon.
"It might seem ordinary at first glance, but if that panel was being displayed in its actual size, it would take up less than a yoctometer of space." Ratchet said, tone suggesting he was more than a little taken aback by this fact.
Arcee's optics widened in surprise. "Wait, are you saying the core of a Delphic contains a subatomic level computer?" She asked in a tone that mirrored the surprised look on her faceplate.
And I was reacting in a similar manner as the femme who captured my spark.
As a Tier 2 race, femtoengineering was involved in the creation process of most of our technology. In fact, everything from how the computers back on Cybertron could process a trillion, trillion exaflops of data per micro-klick, to how we were able to communicate at FTL speeds, and that our ships could travel beyond the speed of light without using space bridges, was only possible because of femtoengineering.
And since our technology is far more advanced than any other race we have encountered, it had been only logical to assume that our technology would leap ahead if we could master subatomic engineering, a leap that would put us on the level of the Golden Age, since many technologies from that time period were theorized to have been created with subatomic engineering, although there was little to no proof of that. But, even though we had mastered femtoengineering, scientists quickly discovered that subatomic engineering was on an entirely different level. We could never make it efficient, or manipulate the quarks and electrons, or the layers of matter that they were in turn made from, in the ways that we desired. So, we had stopped trying to accomplish subatomic engineering, and stuck with femtoengineering. And from then on, it was assumed that subatomic engineering would never again be obtainable, a secret of the Ancients that was lost to time.
Ratchet shook his helm at Arcee's question. "No, I have run further scans, and I found that the entire core of the Delphic is a computer. A perfect sphere, in fact, one that is about three times the size of those marbles the children sometimes play with when they are particularly bored."
"So why make circuitry subatomic in size if the computer is going to be something that is visible without enhancing our vision?" I asked.
Ratchet gave me a look. "Why do humans create computer clusters?" He asked in turn, referring to the method of connecting hundreds or thousands of computer processors together in order to effectively make them operate as one.
Understanding dawned on me while I saw Arcee's faceplate light up in the same fashion. "You think the core is some sort of ancient supercomputer," she said, stating a fact, not asking a question.
The white and red medic nodded. "From what my scans have told me, yes. It is the only explanation for why the circuitry is so small when the computer itself is large enough to be visible."
"So that's why you want to access it," I concluded. "You want to see what the computer contains."
"Precisely," Ratchet answered. "Our computer systems on Cybertron were smaller than the core of the Delphic, and they are trillions of times more powerful than any system we have encountered. Can you imagine how powerful a computer made with this kind of technology is? Or what data it might contain?"
I shook my helm, but didn't answer his questions, since they were clearly rhetorical. And instead, I moved the conversation along. "So, what have you tried to gain access to the Delphic?"
Ratchet let out a light chuckle. "Everything except plugging it into the computer, and I do not want to do that, given the Delphic's power output."
"Yeah, that probably wouldn't go well," Arcee said with a wince, likely picturing the disaster that would result from unleashing the power of a million medium-sized stars into the systems of our base.
Silently agreeing with Arcee's statement, I looked back at Ratchet. "Were any of the other methods you tried successful? Or gave you a clue about a method that could work?"
"No, everything I've tried has been ineffective," Ratchet replied quickly, then looked over at me again. "It seems that you are the only thing that can access the Delphic, Shadowstreaker. I had hoped that you knew how you accessed it, and could in turn tell me, but that apparently is not the case." He sighed, sounding disappointed that I didn't know how to access the Delphic. "Seems I am back at square one."
"Technically, you aren't. Square one implies that you are back where you started, and know nothing new. But you now know that the Delphic's core is a computer, so you aren't at square one. You don't know how to gain access to the computer, but you are still not at square one." I pointed out. "And I wouldn't worry about that. From what you said, you only found that the core was a computer a little while back, so you have time to figure out how to access it without my mental connection. There isn't a time limit on when you figure out how to get into it, after all."
"While that might be true, there are far fewer ways to access a computer than there are to perform tests," Ratchet said. He looked like he was going to continue, but the sound of the med-bay door opening cut him off, and caused the three of us to look at the door to see who was entering.
It was Optimus.
The Prime was about to step into the med-bay, but he paused when he saw that I was online. "You have onlined from stasis lock," he stated with a slightly surprised tone, not something he often felt. "I was informed by Ratchet that you would not be online for several solar-cycles."
I shrugged. "What can I say? I am a fast healer," I joked.
Arcee turned her helm and raised an optic ridge at me. "Yes, and your connection with the Delphic had nothing to do with your sudden onlining," she said sarcastically.
"Of course it didn't," I said matter-of-factly. "Did you not hear me say I was a quick healer?"
The blue and pink femme's only response to my joke was to let out a light laugh and shake her helm.
After my short exchange with Arcee, Optimus gave the two of us a confused look, then focused his attention on Ratchet. "What do they mean? When did Shadowstreaker ever have a connection to the Delphic?" He asked.
"Do you recall the Precursor Protocol mentioned in Jetfire and Springer's debriefing of their mission of the asteroid?" Ratchet asked, then continued when the Prime nodded. "It seems that the Protocol's purpose is now known, thanks to a theory Arcee came up with. His CPU was altered, Optimus. And the alteration has caused his CPU to form a permanent, partial link with the Delphic, though I do not know exactly why the link is only partial, or why the Protocol formed the link, only that it is there. And somehow, this link allowed Shadowstreaker to accelerate his healing process by several cycles, hence why he is online now."
Optimus did not react outwardly to this piece of information, but I could tell he was surprised when he looked back at me. "And you can control this... Connection, Shadowstreaker?"
I shook my helm. "No, I can't. I apparently used it to online earlier than I would have, but I have no idea how I really did it. It kind of just happened."
Optimus hummed in thought. "If you cannot control it, then why did the Protocol form a link between you and the Delphic in the first place?" He asked, tone indicating that he was only voicing his thoughts, not actually speaking to me.
Ratchet answered as if it was an actual question. "All we know is that it is there, anything beyond that is unknown."
"If we are meant to know, the answer will eventually reveal itself to us in time," Optimus said sagely, clearly dismissing the topic for the time being. He looked at Ratchet. "Has there been any progress with the unidentified material we recovered from the craft that returned Springer, Jetfire, and Shadowstreaker to Earth?"
The white and red medic shook his helm and used a servo to gesture at three piles of dust that were next to him, opposite the Delphic, which I hadn't noticed until he gestured to them. "No, there's been no further progress," he answered flatly, as if he had said the exact same thing many times before. "Other than our initial discovery that the particles are made from an ultra-strong alloy that is primarily made up of highly purified Primax, we know nothing about the particles."
After Ratchet said what the particles were made of, and I looked at the dust piles for a moment, I recalled my conversation with the Primes, and smiled. "I know what they are... Or what they were, that is, since they are pretty much nothing at the moment," I said, causing three pairs of optics to turn to me, each carrying a different level of curiosity.
"And what were they, Shadowstreaker?" Optimus asked.
"Touch one of the dust piles, and you will find out," I replied.
The Prime looked at me for a long moment like he wanted to ask me to clarify what I meant, but he let me speak unclearly, and he looked at the piles of dust next to Ratchet and reached out at the one nearest to him.
Just as he touched the pile of dust, the pile sparked like the weapons of the Thirteen did when Megatron touched them, and each and every speck of dust floated up in the air and began to arrange themselves, immediately causing my fellow Autobots in the room to jump in surprise, with Optimus reacting the least out of the three. The dust continued to float higher up in the air as it arranged itself, the millions and millions of particles slowly merging together as they formed pieces of gold or silver metal. Finally, the dust finished arranging itself, leaving Optimus holding the newly-reassembled Forge of Solus Prime.
The silence that followed my carrier's Forge reassembling itself was deafening. If a pin dropped on the other side of the med-bay, it would have been painfully loud, that was the type of silence it was. It was like my fellow Autobots were afraid to move, for fear that what they just witnessed wasn't real. Although, it was hard to tell exactly what was going on in their helms. I knew what was going on in my helm, though, and even though I knew what would happen, I was still left surprised by actually seeing it.
After the med-bay was quiet for several micro-klicks, Optimus seemed to break himself from a trance and looked over at me. "How did you know what would happen when I touched the dust?" He asked in a moderately astonished voice, likely still shell-shocked by seeing Solus' Forge form from essentially nothing.
"While I was out, I had a visit with the Thirteen. They explained to me that their weapons have a safeguard installed that reduces them to dust in the event someone who is unworthy attempts to wield them, and the safeguard deactivates when someone who is worthy touches them." I explained.
Arcee gave me a curious look. "Why didn't you say you visited with them until now?" She asked.
I shrugged. "There wasn't an appropriate time to bring up the topic. And this visit wasn't like my other ones. They were rather secretive this time, only answering questions that weren't related to the events of the asteroid."
"Questions such as?" Ratchet prompted.
I shrugged again. "Pointless things. Whether or not they had truly found a way to create pure Primax, they didn't by the way, a little bit about how bonds are at their strongest when they first open, things like that." I said. "The only topics that were really noteworthy was learning that their weapons had a safeguard that turned them into dust when someone unworthy touched them, and that they aren't the Delphic's creators." While the fact I now shared a parental bond with my sire was noteworthy, it wasn't noteworthy in the way Ratchet likely saw things related to the Pocket Universe, so I didn't add that detail to what I said. However, I would probably tell Arcee about it later, though.
"The Thirteen did not make the Delphic?" Optimus asked, sounding more like a statement of surprise than an actual question as he looked at the ancient crystal, a perplexed look in his optics. "If they did not create it, then who did?"
I chuckled once without any humor. "They left that question unanswered, like many of the questions I asked."
"It sounds like your visit was more causal than the other ones you've told us about," Arcee observed.
I laughed genuinely at that, not like my previous chuckle, which caused Arcee to look at me in confusion. I quickly sobered myself, though I couldn't keep an amused smile off my faceplate. "Well, they were fishing the entire time I was there."
The blue and pink femme raised an optic ridge incredulously. "Wait, seriously? They were fishing?" She asked, pausing long enough for me to nod in confirmation. "And why were they doing that?"
"They were apparently bored," I replied humorously. "And to pass time, Megatronus suggested that they fish... He's an odd one."
Arcee smiled. "Reminds me of a certain mech I know, a mech who claims to be only mentally unstable, and not insane," she teased.
"Hey, even I am not as mentally unstable as he is," I said, taking her teasing in stride.
"As interesting as this conversation is," Ratchet drawled sarcastically, interrupting my exchange with Arcee. "May we get back on topic?"
I looked over at Ratchet. "What topic is there to get back on? What I already told you is literally everything you would consider noteworthy, Ratchet."
The white and red medic blinked at me. "That is honestly all the Thirteen told you in your visit?" He asked, looking surprised that my visit with the Primes didn't yield more information.
"Yes, everything that is scientifically interesting, or incredibly confusing, has already been said," I answered.
Ratchet huffed. "While I find it disappointing that your visit didn't provide the answers to the many questions we have, at least we have the tools of the Primes with us, now," he said, looking away from me and at Optimus as the Prime continued to examine it, a look of awe still in his optics. "With Solus' Forge alone, we have a major advantage over the Decepticons, since we will no longer need to rely on energon deposits to meet our energon needs."
"That we do not, Ratchet," Optimus said, continuing to look down at the Forge in his servos for another moment before seeming to become puzzled by something. He then looked up from the ancient tool and focused on me. "Shadowstreaker, if the safeguard you mentioned is only meant to activate when someone unworthy attempts to wield one of the weapons of the Primes, then who attempted to wield the relics on the station? We all are unaware of the events that transpired after the Thunderstroke missiles impacted, but from what Jetfire said, you were still online, and that you saved him from Decepticons which were about to execute him." The Prime set the Forge against the wall, being careful despite it likely being many orders of magnitude more durable than any alloy we could make, walked over to me, then looked me in the optics. "What happened on the station, Shadowstreaker?"
I went silent for a while and looked up at the ceiling, thinking about how sudden the Thunderstrokes hit, the Decepticons I offlined before they could execute Jetfire, my fight with Megatron, which was more like me standing there for a moment before the Decepticon leader effortless tossed me to the side, the horde that nearly reached me... And the single thought that had gone through my CPU as they approached, the thought about how I never got to tell Arcee how I felt before I offlined.
"The Thunderstrokes hit us without warning, just like they were designed to," I said, preventing myself from blurting out a confession to Arcee at that moment. "Springer went down before he even realized what was going on, Jetfire only lasted a bit longer. And he was right, I was online while they were in a forced recharge, though the only reason I wasn't in the same condition as they were was because of my armor."
Optimus looked at me patiently. "Go on," he said, knowing that I was only starting my debrief from a point in time common with Jetfire and Springer's.
"After the missiles hit, the gunship that fired them flew in and landed near the platform the three of us were on," I continued, clearly having the entire attention of Arcee and Ratchet along with Optimus'. "I faked being like Jetfire and Springer, since I was still a little disorientated from the missile, and wouldn't have the time to pull out my Nucleon and take it down before it turned me to ashes. Two Decepticons stepped out of the gunship once it landed. They were big bots, almost my size, but that's not really important. The first thing they did was step over to Jetfire, then kicked him in the tank and roused him from his forced recharge. They saw he was online, so they prepared to execute him. But, they thought all of us were in the same condition, and had their backplates turned to me. Last mistake they made. I shot the one who was about to offline Jetfire in the backplates with the shotgun I acquired from an armory, then caught the other one in the chestplates with another round. They both offlined in... Interesting ways."
"Yeah, Jetfire mentioned that. He said they basically dissolved to ashes with a single round," Arcee commented in her usual tone, though I could tell she wanted to get her servos on one of the shotguns I had on the station, though I am not sure if she could fire it, since it was nearly as large as my Nucleon.
"They did," I confirmed, before getting back on track. "After I offlined the Decepticons and checked on Jetfire quickly, I targeted the gunship's engines with my missile launchers. The pilot tried to fly away, but he wasn't fast enough. I unloaded every missile I had into the engines, took it down quickly, and before it had been able to get very far away. As it spiraled down to the floor of the cavern, I started walking back to Jetfire and Springer... But that was when the last passenger of the gunship flew back up to where I was."
Optimus' optics darkened slightly. "Who else was in the gunship?" He asked quietly, as if he already knew the answer, but was asking just to be sure.
I gave the Prime a serious look. "Megatron," I responded, and as I suspected, Optimus did not look surprised, only saddened, and slightly angered. "He landed a ways away from me, then taunted me a bit, which I returned in order to buy myself some time. During our short exchange, he shifted his weight, and I fired since I thought he had left himself open to attack, but he just... Flowed around my shots like they were slow-moving arrows. And before I knew it, my shotgun was melted by a Fusion Cannon shot, and Megatron was causally mocking my attempt to offline him. I tried shooting him with my Scatter-Blaster and Plasma Chaingun, but he shot those off my servos even more easily than he shot my shotgun, all the while telling me how pathetic my efforts to fight him were as he stepped toward me at a leisurely pace. When he had reached me, I tried to stab him in the optics with my swords... But he just caught them in his servos and crushed them like nothing. And before I knew it, I had been sent flying back by a kick, picked up by the neck, and... Well, had a gaping hole in my tank," I paused and looked at my tank, where I knew Megatron had shot me with his Fusion Cannon at point-blank range.
After my pause continued for a moment, Arcee slowly shook her helm. "You... Fragging... Dumbass," she said, combining human and Cybertronian curses as she gave me a disapproving look.
I looked at her in surprise. She had never used that tone with me before. Ever. "What?" Is all I can ask, still startled by the tone she was using and the look she was giving me.
The femme who captured my spark gave me a hard look, something I hadn't seen her give me very often. "You tried to fight Megatron. On the ground. One on one. Without even trying to take a defensive position," she leaned over and Gibbs slapped the back of my helm, then leaned back in her previous position and resumed giving me a hard look. "You dumbaft. You don't engage Megatron in single combat, there's a reason why he's the Decepticon leader, and it's because he outclasses everyone except Optimus. "
"Yeah, I kind of found that out the hard way," I replied evenly, not sure whether to be hurt that she was angry with me, or amused by her reaction, though I was leaning toward amused. "But, I also didn't have a choice in the matter. He would have executed me right then and there, regardless if I had surrendered, and Jetfire and Springer would have suffered the same fate. At least I had a chance of living if I tried fighting him, I admittedly had no chance of defeating him, but at least Springer, Jetfire, and I are still online."
"That is true," Arcee conceded. "And that more than makes up for almost getting yourself... Offlined..." She trailed off, as if stopping herself from continuing down that train of thought, that or making sure she didn't say something else. Curious...
"That it does, Arcee," Optimus agreed, either ignoring or not seeing her change of mood. He looked back at me after speaking to the pink and blue femme. "And that act should be commended," he said with praise, making me shift uncomfortably at the compliment before he asked, "What happened after Megatron... Injured you?"
"He tried to wield the weapons of the Thirteen," I answered. "He started with trying to wield the Star Saber, which is likely one of the other piles of dust near Ratchet. And when it crumbled at his touch, he tried to take the Omni Saber, which also is most likely one of those piles of dust. Once that became dust as well, he tried Solus' Forge. And after the Forge did the same thing as the other two weapons, he touched that a data cylinder... Only it didn't crumble like the weapons. He grabbed that and was about to shoot me when the horde arrived... He took his leave once they showed up."
Optimus seemed intrigued by that part. "We did not know Megatron obtained a data cylinder, Jetfire and Springer assumed it was lost during your return to Earth. Did your creators inform you of what the cylinder contained?"
I shook my helm. "No, they didn't even mention the data cylinder," I responded. "I'd like to think that means they believe the data isn't important to us, or dangerous in Decepticon possession."
"Nevertheless, we will watch Decepticon movements closely. It is better to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best, than expect the best and hope the worst never comes to pass," the Prime said, looking like he was in thought at the same time. "But, there is something I find unusual about Megatron's behavior."
"And what is that?" I asked.
"He is not one to run away from a fight. If he fled this... Horde, as you and Jetfire have referred to them, then there must have been a great number of them." Optimus answered.
I nodded. "Yes, yes there were many. Did Jetfire and Springer tell you about the cavern we were in at the time?" I asked, then continued at the Prime's nod. "There were too many to count, but one wall was covered as far as I could see with those Cybertronians."
Optimus blinked. "That is... Alarming."
"It certainly was at the time," I said. "The only reason I am still here is because of the AI I assume Jetfire told you about, Refit. He used some sort of drone to project a shield between Jetfire, Springer, and I, and the horde, keeping us safe from immediate danger. There were other drones there as well, and he was using one as an avatar. He said he had led the horde there, in order to drive off Megatron."
"A risky plan. If the odd Cybertronians you encountered hadn't been successful is causing Megatron to flee, then you all would have been offlined by them," Ratchet commented.
"Then let us be glad that this Refit's plan was successful," Optimus said, briefly looking over his shoulder-joint at Ratchet, then looking back at me. "What happened after that?"
I shrugged. "Not really sure, I fell into stasis after that. But according to the Thirteen, Refit used the drones I told you about to convert the platform we were on into an escape pod, then launched it back to Earth. I don't know any of the details on how he managed to do that, though."
"The details do not matter. You and the others were returned to Earth safely, that is all that matters," Optimus said, then looked at the area of the wall that he set Solus' Forge against. "And not only were you returned safely, but you were also sent back with technology of the Ancients, which will be used to great effect, both on the battlefield, and as tools to provide our energon needs." He looked back at me, his optics holding no small amount of approval. "Now that you have filled in the blanks, I can say for certain that you and the others did well on the station, Shadowstreaker."
"Then why do I still feel like slag?" I asked, mostly in jest.
The corner of the Prime's mouth twitched upward in a smile. "The fact you recently onlined from stasis lock likely have something to do with that," he said. "Now that the blanks in Jetfire and Springer's reports have been filled, I must take my leave. Your early onlining was not expected, and I am now behind on my duties. I wish you a fast recovery, Shadowstreaker," with that, he turned and started to walk toward the med-bay door.
Immediately realizing that our conversation hadn't covered one issue, I shifted on my medical berth so that I could look at Optimus' retreating backplates. "Wait, Optimus," I said, causing the Prime to come to a halt and look back at me. "I assume at least Jetfire told you about the name Refit referred to me as."
Optimus nodded. "He did. He also informed me that you said a being briefly spoke to you. Would you please clarify what you meant by that?"
I nodded. "I will, but later. You said it yourself that you are behind on your duties, I just wanted to ask if you have any idea what that name might possibly mean. So, do you?"
The Prime sighed lightly, and a thoughtful look crossed his faceplate. "Shadowstreaker, I have meticulously studied the earliest records we have that are from the Golden Age, consulted with the Matrix of Leadership, and even read into Cybertronian mythology, none of them have any information on the term 'Xel'Tor.' The only information I have discovered, is that 'Xel'Tor' is not a word from any Cybertronian language, or any known language, for that matter."
"So, not only do we not know what it means, but now there is the question of what language Xel'Tor is even from. We know less than we originally did," I summed up, sighing in exasperation at the large amount of questions that had arisen from our trip to the asteroid, with many of them centered around me.
Optimus looked at me calmly. "If we are meant to know, the answer will eventually reveal itself to us in time," he said, repeating his earlier statement as he turned back to the door and stepped forward, causing it to open automatically. "Again, I wish you a fast recovery, Shadowstreaker," he added without turning around to look at me, then was gone after the door closed behind him.
Almost immediately after Optimus left the med-bay, the med-bay door opened again, admitting Jetfire and Springer, who looked like they had just returned from patrol, judging by the occasional grain of sand I saw attached to their armor, a sign they had been on patrol, and then landed to check on something they saw.
The fact that both of them had a few scorch marks on their armor from energy-based weapons, and Jetfire was sporting a slight limp, may have also had something to do with my conclusion that they just returned from patrol.
Both Jetfire and Springer came to a sudden halt when they saw me looking at them, with Jetfire looking pleasantly surprised, and Springer either indifferent or uncomfortable, it was hard to tell.
"You're online early," Jetfire said as he limped over to stand next to my berth, while Springer stood in the doorway of the med-bay.
"Third time someone's told me that since I onlined," I said back. "And going from how the conversations went with the last two who said that, your next question will be how I am online early."
The seeker raised an optic ridge. "No, actually. I was going to ask Ratchet if he could pull out the sliver of molten rock that has managed to lodge itself into my knee-joint during a firefight with a duo of Decepticon drones. Asking how you're online earlier than Ratchet said you would was going to be my second question," he responded flatly, causing Ratchet to step away from the computer and grab a medical kit at his mentioned, yet unspoken, question, and direct Jetfire to the medical berth next to mine, which made it hard to keep looking at Jetfire.
With some effort, and pushing aside a significant amount of extra discomfort, I managed to sit up and lean against the wall, allowing me to look at Jetfire easier, and also be just over optic-level with the rest of my fellow Autobots. "Oh, well. One question off isn't that bad." I said, ignoring the hard glare Ratchet was giving me for moving so soon after I onlined from stasis lock.
Ratchet continued glaring at me for another moment before he grumbled under his breath, removed Jetfire's knee-joint and shin armor, picked up a set of bot-sized tweezers with one servo while he transformed his other into a light, and started looking closely at Jetfire's knee-joint as he began his search for the sliver of rock Jetfire mentioned.
As Ratchet began searching for the offending sliver of rock, Jetfire looked over at me. "So, how is it that you're online early, youngling?"
"The Precursor Protocol you mentioned in your debriefing altered Shadow's CPU, which caused a link to form between Shadow' and the Delphic. According to Ratchet, the link is only partial, incomplete basically. While Shadow' was still in stasis lock, he managed to use the Delphic's energy to speed up his healing process by several cycles, which made him online. And before you ask, no, he can't control the connection, and Ratchet doesn't know how he can access it again, or if any of us can access it. And no, we don't know why the Precursor Protocol formed a link between Shadow' and the Delphic when he can't control it." Arcee said quickly, the look on her faceplate suggesting she didn't want to repeat the same conversation about my new-found link with the Delphic we had gone through it twice already.
But, I still found the speed in which she explained everything to be strange, since that usually meant she was annoyed by someone, or bothered by something. Hmm.
Jetfire blinked at Arcee's long-winded, blunt explanation of what we had found out about the Precursor Protocol, complete with the answers to questions that the seeker was likely going to ask next. The seeker then looked at me. "I get the feeling you've had this exact conversation before."
"Pretty much," I said. "The first thing Optimus and Ratchet asked me when I first onlined was how I wasn't still in stasis lock, so we've essentially had the same conversation twice. Three times, if you count this one."
Jetfire made a humming sound that sounded suspiciously like, 'Huh.' He then opened his mouth to speak, but slammed it shut almost immediately, and snapped his helm to look over at the wall, where my carrier's Forge was resting. "How... How is that here?" He asked, blinking at Solus' Forge in shock. "It wasn't with us when we returned to Earth..."
I smiled at Jetfire's shock. He usually wasn't one to show his emotions as much as this. "I had a relatively short, pointless visit with the Primes while I was in stasis lock. One of the only important things they told me was that their weapons have a safeguard built into them, one that prevents an unworthy bot from wielding them."
"So, the Decepticon that left you in stasis lock tried to wield the weapons we were trying to recover," the seeker concluded, still looking at my carrier's Forge in surprise.
"Got it in one," I replied. "Once I was out of the way, he deactivated the pods the weapons were being contained in, and tried to take them. But, the safeguard activated and they crumbled to dust before Megatron could even pick them up."
That seemed to get Jetfire's attention, since he tore his gaze from my carrier's Forge and looked at me as Ratchet found the sliver of rock in the seeker's knee-joint and used the tweezers to remove it, but Jetfire didn't look at me in surprise, just... Understanding. "You got your aft handed to you, didn't you?" He asked, though it came out more as a statement.
I went silent for a moment, recalling my thoroughly one-sided battle with Megatron. "Yeah, yeah I did," I answered. "I gave him about as much of a challenge as a kitten would give a Mountain Lion..." Actually, I was more like a bug, like Megatron said, that tried to stop an Elephant from stepping forward. I really hadn't been able to do anything to him. He literally had been walking to the platform, and I still didn't even manage to put a dent in him. Saying I was humbled by that, even if I already hated compliments and acknowledging that I do anything well, would be a grave understatement. Now that I really thought about it, it was also demoralizing to me, since when it came down to dealing with the heavy hitters of the Decepticons, I was helpless to stand against them.
"So would I if I face him in combat, youngling," Jetfire said, wincing slightly as Ratchet finished removing the sliver of rock from his knee-joint, and started to apply a gel-like solution that would temporarily boost the repairing abilities of the nanites near his knee-joint, since Jetfire's injury wasn't serious enough to need Ratchet's full attention. "So would anyone except for Optimus."
"I know, but that doesn't make being beaten so badly feel any better," I say. "I mean, hell, I didn't even put a scratch on him before he left me in stasis lock."
"There is not a single one of us that hasn't gotten their aft handed to them at some point in the war," the seeker replied as Ratchet finished applying the gel to his knee-joint and returned the medical kit to its proper place as he went back to the computer.
After Ratchet left him on the medical berth, Jetfire reattached his knee-joint and shin armor and walked over to me, still sporting a slight limp. "You may have gotten your aft kicked, youngling, but you are alive, and that is better than many can say after losing a fight," he said, reaching out and clasping one of my shoulder-joints. "Don't let your loss to Megatron get to you. There will be other times when you lose in battle, perhaps even to lesser-skilled opponents. But instead of thinking about how you failed, think about how you succeeded," he looked at Solus' Forge. "And in this case, you succeeded in three things. One, we prevented the Decepticons from getting weapons of the Thirteen, and now have them ourselves, if I am correct in saying the other two dust heaps are the Star Saber and Omni Saber. Two, Megatron doesn't know we have them. And three, you managed to save my life on that station, as well as Springer's, and I cannot thank you enough for that, youngling." He smiled and nodded at me, then released my shoulder-joint and walked toward the med-bay door. "Get well soon, youngling." And with that last parting, he walked around the corner and was gone.
I stared at where Jetfire was last visible. He was right, of course. Dwelling on a loss wasn't wise. It made you see only the bad, instead of acknowledging anything good. And the three of us did well on the station, of course there were a lot of bad points, such as the horde, not being able to get onto the Infinite Reverence, and falling into stasis lock, but overall we did well. We had a way to get energon without needing to find and hold a deposit of energon, as well as two powerful swords. After I recovered, I want my first mission to be with Optimus, since it would be quite interesting to see how a battle with Decepticons would go with the Star Saber and Omni Saber on our side.
"Was there something you wanted, Springer?" Arcee suddenly asked coldly, pulling me from my thoughts and making me realize Springer was still in the med-bay, in the exact same place he came to a stop when he first saw me.
Springer shifted on his pedes nervously and looked around, clearly trying to formulate a response. After several micro-klicks, he looked at Arcee. "I... Um... I just wanted to say... I'm... Sorry, for all the things I've said to you over the centi-vorns," he said quietly, causing Arcee to rear back in shock, her optics widening. The green Triple-Changer looked at me. "And... Thanks... For saving Jetfire and I..." Without waiting for a reply, he turned on his heel and walked out the med-bay door, heading in the direction Jetfire had just gone.
I was in total shock after Springer left the med-bay. He just... Apologized to Arcee... And thanked me! I hadn't heard him apologize to anyone since he arrived. At all. And he just said he was sorry about all the things he had said to her! And then there was the fact he thanked me! He hates me with a passion, probably would laugh if I had never onlined from stasis lock, and he just thanked me. That was... Not like him... Maybe someone had been doing some growing up while I was in stasis lock.
"That was... Unexpected," Ratchet said, breaking the silence that had fallen on the three of us following Springer's departure.
Arcee nodded mutely, still staring at the med-bay door. "Yeah... It was," she said slowly. "That... That was the first time he's spoken to me in more than a jour... And it was an apology... That's the last thing I expected to hear from him..."
"Same," I said, tone similar to Arcee's. "He hates me. A lot. And yet, he not only apologizes to you for being an aft for hundreds of vorns, but he thanks me... And I haven't even heard him thank Bulkhead."
"That's because he doesn't normally vocalize it," Ratchet says, seemingly over his shock already as he turned back to the computer and looked through some data pads, likely catching up on reports or going through his notes. "The way he apologizes to, or thanks others is silently, so that makes his words even more unlike his usual behavior."
"That it does," Arcee agreed. "And he meant what he said as well, I could tell."
"Same," I said as Ratchet picked up a data pad, glared at whatever he read, picked up a tool kit, and then walked out of the med-bay, saying something about 'A tech's job never being done' under his breath.
Arcee didn't seem to notice Ratchet leaving, she just kept looking at where Springer had been standing. "Seems he decided to change while you were... You know," she said, trailing off like she had earlier when the topic of me falling into stasis lock was mentioned, and shifting in her chair uncomfortably.
I frowned at how she was suddenly avoiding the topic of how I was in stasis lock, when she was perfectly fine talking about it earlier. "What's bothering you, Arcee?"
"Nothing's bothering me," she answered, a little too quickly for it to have been true.
"I know you too well for that to be true," I say. I moved myself to a right a little and tapped the medical berth next to me. "Come on, tell me what's bothering you."
The blue and pink femme stared blankly where I had tapped the medical berth, then she stood from her chair and got on the medical berth and sat next to me, basically sitting in the exact same position as I was. For a moment, she didn't say anything, just looked ahead, seemingly in thought.
I sat patiently, knowing that she would speak when she was ready.
"I've... I've lost two partners already, Shadow', and I'm not sure how I would take losing a third..." Arcee finally said, tone quiet as she continued to look straight ahead. "Before you said who left you in stasis lock, there was a part of me that thought you had left the other bot in worse shape, that you hadn't gone down without offlining the one who put you down... But after I found out you fought Megatron, and he was the one who left you in stasis lock, the realization about how easily you could have offlined kinda hit me hard," she seemed to be getting upset as she talked, though she was hiding it well. "You know, with everything I've seen in this war, I thought I was past being scared, but apparently I'm not. That can't be healthy for me, can it?"
"It is, actually," I reply, only barely managing to keep a normal tone in my voice. This side of Arcee was just so... Unlike her. "It means you care, feel concern about loosing your friends. When we become numb to the passings of friends and those close to us, we really do become machines, just as we appear to organics," feeling a wave a confidence, I gave Arcee a serious look. "Don't you ever lose the fear of losing friends, Arcee, because that will mean you've totally lost hope that you'll ever see the future we're all fighting for."
Arcee focused her attention on me, puzzlement and something else filling her optics. "And what future are we fighting for, Shadow?" She asked, not bitterly or sadly, like that question was usually asked, but with a curious tone. She wanted to know where I was taking this.
I paused for a long moment, thinking about everything that had happened in the last jour, before deciding on a response. "We're fighting for the future where Cybertron is in a new Golden Age, where all Cybertronians enjoy true freedom, where there is peace between the Autobots and the Decepticons, where all those that have fallen victim to this war can truly be laid to rest, where we all have settled down, raised our families, and passed down the knowledge of how this war started, so that the generation that comes after us never lets it happen again."
The femme who captured my spark looked at me for a long time, then smiled in amusement. "That was one of the most cliche answers I have ever heard," she said with a chuckle, the look in her optics completely unreadable.
I put my servos up defensively. "Hey, I was put on the spot, I had to come up with something," I joked, smiling almost purely because Arcee was back to joking. "And it just so happens that I have watched way too many movies where the main character makes a speech like that, so I just went with it."
Arcee and I shared another chuckle, and then fell into a comfortable silence, simply enjoying each other's company. And for a moment, the urge to tell her how I felt rose in my spark, but it soon died, the moment for confessions feeling like it had passed.
"So," I said, breaking the short silence Arcee and I had fallen in and looking at her again. "What did I miss while I was out?"
Arcee smiled at my question. "Well... You missed a lot," she started, before we began a conversation that would go on for a long while, it felt like.
Neither of us noticed, or felt, my servo move almost of its own accord and lay on top of Arcee's smaller one, whose own servo almost instinctively turned over slightly and gripped my larger one.
What can I say? My muse demanded fluff in some form, so I ended it like that, and my muse is now satisfied. Lol.
Now, I know that some of you are getting annoyed with how Arcee and Shadowstreaker haven't gotten together yet, but have faith, fluff will come! Haha. I have a plan for them getting together, and it has already been set in motion, it is now only a matter of time, so please be patient.
One final thing, I am issuing a challenge for myself. I want to speed up the rate in which I write, so I am challenging myself to get my chapter up at least two or three days faster than I got this one up. If I don't succeed, I am sorry in advance.
This chapter's credit song is "Red - As You Go" The lyrics of this song can be interpreted in several ways, and a fluff-oriented song is one of them. It very well with how I ended the chapter, to me at least.
So, please be sure to leave a review and thanks for reading. I'll see you soon.