Hey, now, just twenty-two days since my last update, that's only one day later than what I had been shooting for when I posted my last chapter. But I don't think I am going to set deadlines for myself anymore, because I found that when I set a deadline and keep thinking about said deadline, I don't write. At all. So from now on, I think I will just focus on writing and having fun, instead of trying to write as fast as possible, since that makes me a lot more productive in my writing. :)
Thanks go to everyone who reviewed last chapter, as well as those who have Fate Calls favorited or are following it. I can't tell you all how much it means to me that you find this story worth reading, and continue to do so. :)
And also, Fate Calls is now up to sixty favorites. Why is that noteworthy, you ask? Because for some reason I find that it sounds better than fifty favorites. Lol. Again, thank you all for favoriting, reading, and reviewing. :)
Disclaimer: Transformers belongs to Hasbro. I only take credit for this story and my OCs.
May 24, 2013 2:01 P.M
Autobot base, outside Jasper, Nevada
"Oh, come on, kid, you can do better than that!" Bulkhead goaded as he easily took the right hook I gave him, slamming his two clear, gel-filled punching pads together. "Come on, put your weight into the next one!"
More than a jour had passed since I onlined from stasis lock, and during that time, a number of things had changed around the base, and most of them were due to Optimus' use of my carrier's Forge.
Unlike the energon shortage we had been in the middle of when we traveled to the station, we now had eight storage hangers filled with energon, with an entire hanger filled only with high-grade. And on that note, high-grade was fragging amazing. The description of high-grade that Ratchet had given me when I first became a Cybertronian didn't do the real thing any justice. If Gold could be a drink, that drink would be high-grade energon. It is far beyond anything I have ever tasted. The downside of that, however, is it makes low-grade and mid-grade taste awful in comparison. But, since we now had the ability to drink half a cube of high-grade every cycle, half the amount it takes to overcharge a Cybertronian, I was perfectly fine with having to drink low-grade and mid-grade most of the time.
Another change Optimus had brought about with the Forge was our base security. Instead of the helical railguns given to us by the S.T.F, there were now four automated Warden anti-air cannons. They, essentially, were Ion Displacers with eighteen barrels, but fired rounds that packed about one-hundred times the destructive power as my own Ion Displacer. Coupling the power of each round along with its insane rate of fire, a single Warden was a threat to everything up to a stealth frigate, though anything beyond that was basically invulnerable to a Warden's firepower. To complement the Wardens' lack of heavy-hitting power, there was a single Nucleon-Fusion Cannon hidden beneath our helicopter pad, which, according to Ratchet, was using the same type of Nucleon that was in the power crystals we recovered from the station, which Optimus created with the Forge. It was capable of destroying the Nemesis in a single hit if the war cruiser had its shields down, and only required two additional hits to destroy Megatron's warship if the vessel had full shielding. In short, our base now had considerable firepower to go along with its anonymity.
Our base also had a more robust cloaking field that not only kept our base invisible to Decepticon sensors, but also kept everything within a thirty kilometer radius of us to also be shielded by our cloak. Basically, the Decepticons wouldn't be able to detect any of our communications channels or life signals even if we were ten kilometers beyond the limits of Jasper. A very useful upgrade, especially if we ever needed to expand the size of our base, or had to construct something that wouldn't fit indoors.
Finally, our ground bridge had been completely overhauled into a space bridge. Due to the limited room we had to deal with, it wasn't as powerful as the ancient space bridges orbiting Cybertron, or even the ones the Decepticons had created by reverse engineering the original space bridges, but it had the range to get us anywhere within about two-hundred thousand light-years, essentially making the Large Magellanic Cloud our space bridge's limit. We had yet to travel off world, however, because we had no cause to do so. Still, it was good to have the option of doing so.
I shook my helm in response to Bulkhead's statement. "The last time I 'Put my weight into the next one,' I ended up reopening my wounds, and set my recovery back by two mega-cycles." I said, referring to an incident just under two mega-cycles ago where he had helped me with training, and I pushed myself too far and started leaking energon from my tank. Ratchet had laid into me for doing that, and hit me over the helm with a wrench multiple times while he re-repaired my wounds. And technically speaking, I still wasn't cleared to even be out of the med-bay. The only reason I was training with Bulkhead right now was because Ratchet was out on a mission with Optimus, investigating an unusual energy reading, from what I heard. And the only reason I even had the option of training with Bulkhead was because Miko had the a twenty-four breem flu, and had stayed at her host parent's home, with Bulkhead allowing one of the covert S.T.F teams assigned back in October as extra security for the kids to watch her while he trained with me.
"Den why are ya even trainin'?" Jazz asked from where he was causally lounging on the top rope of the sparring ring, somehow managing to use the single rope as a hammock. "Kinda counta productive ta train an not try ta push yourself."
I blocked two light jabs from Bulkhead before I shrugged. "I don't know. Guess I'm just fed up with being confined to the med-bay and not being able to do anything except stare at the ceiling. And besides, after the aft-kicking I was given by Megatron, it can't hurt to train and sharpen my skills a bit," I answered, then faked a left jab and threw a right uppercut at Bulkhead.
"I hear that," Bulkhead said as he blocked my uppercut and hit my side with a left cross, clearly pulling his punches since I barely felt his fist impact. "When I was injured in one of the last battles of Tagan Heights, I was out of the fight for more than a jour. I felt like my gears were rusted by the time I was cleared for duty. I had to train for a mega-cycle before I really felt like I was back to one-hundred percent."
"What happened to you that you were out for a jour?" I asked, surprised that Bulkhead had ever been out of the fight for more than a mega-cycle or two. "You're definitely not one for patience, it must have been something serious."
Strangely, Jazz laughed at my statement. "Yea, it was real serious," he said sarcastically. "He tripped on a pipe an fell into a industrial waste pit, cut himself up on a piece of metal and got infected with bad energon." The saboteur glanced over at the Wrecker. "Ya made a fool of yourself dat cycle, Bulky."
I blinked at Jazz for a moment, disbelieving that Bulkhead managed to be that clumsy on the battlefield. After I moment, I looked at the Wrecker. "How the hell did you manage to do that?"
Bulkhead shrugged sheepishly. "Yeah... It really wasn't my cycle..."
I chuckled and shook my helm, quickly going back to my causal spar with the Wrecker. "Wow, that tops Jack for stupidest moment of the orbital-cycle." I joked, then ducked under the jab Bulkhead threw at my helm for my comment.
"Hey, that doesn't count for stupidest moment of the orbital-cycle. That was way back during the beginning of the war," Bulkhead argued as he threw another jab that I dodged. A confused look suddenly crossed his face. "Wait, what did Jack do that gave him the title of stupidest moment of the orbital-cycle?"
"You know that Left 4 Dead game Miko played with you the cycle before we detected the station?" I asked in turn, ducking under another jab Bulkhead threw while he nodded at the same time. "Well, he threw a Pipe Bomb at a Tank and managed to down himself."
Bulkhead looked at for a moment, his optics sparkling with humor. "Are you serious? How'd even do that? I hadn't even played the game before Miko dragged me into it, and I never managed to kill myself with my own Pipe Bomb."
I shrugged and threw a hook at Bulkhead, which he easily blocked. "I don't know, but it was entertaining to see."
"Ah'll bet," Jazz said. "It' always funny ta see a friend fail." He looked at Bulkhead, his visor likely hiding an amused look in his optics. "Like seein' a fully grown mech trip over a pipe."
Bulkhead gave the saboteur a sour look and dropped his gloves to his side, ignoring the light jab I landed on his helm for not paying attention. "It was hidden under debris! How was I supposed to see it?" He asked in an irritated, yet amused, tone.
"Ah don' know, how 'bout lookin' down?" Jazz joked.
The Wrecker shook his helm and went back to sparring with me. "Laugh it up, Jazz."
The saboteur grinned. "Thanks, Ah am."
"Stupid all-seeing saboteurs..." Bulkhead mumbled as he threw a hook at my helm, which I dodged.
"We also have these things called 'Audio receptors.' Real useful for hearin' bots insult ya," Jazz said, still grinning as he adjusted his position on the rope.
"Oh, shut up, Jazz. I'm trying to fight here," Bulkhead said, smiling despite an angry tone in his voice.
"Tryin' bein' da key word. Ya haven' landed a punch on Shadowster' for a klick. Ah'm startin' ta think ya can' even beat a cripple in combat," the saboteur teased, causing the Wrecker to throw punches at me at a more rapid pace, albeit with no extra force behind them.
I chuckled at Jazz's continued harassing of Bulkhead as I dodged or blocked the Wrecker's punches, or occasionally took one I couldn't avoid or deflect. "To be fair to Bulkhead, Jazz, you would take it easy on the cripple as well." I said, not bothering to deny that I was a cripple because, well, I technically was by our standards, since I still wasn't cleared for actual combat.
"True. After everything Ah went through in Spec Ops trainin', Ah can' not be extra careful when Ah spar with the walkin' casualties of da Doc Bot's med-bay. Ah've been through too many spars with one of my servos in a sling." Jazz said.
I gave the saboteur a curious look, while at the same time doing the best I could to dodge Bulkhead's attacks. "Is Spec Ops training really that unforgiving? You have to spar even when your servo needs a sling?"
Jazz nodded. "Oh, yeah. Ah found out da hard way dat Spec Ops trainin' doesn' stop just 'cause ya busted your servo. If anythin', da instructors were harder on ya when ya got injured," he said. "Made it real hard ta get through trainin'. But, in da the end, it was worth all da pain. It taught me ta fight through anythin', an get da job done. It also taught me how ta break dance before Ah came ta Earth, but dat's another story."
"That sounds... Brutal," I said as I threw two quick jabs at Bulkhead. "I am guessing there weren't a lot of graduates from Spec Ops."
"No, notta lot of us completed trainin'," Jazz replied. "'Bout one in fifty recruits got a chance ta go ta Spec Ops trainin'. An out of those dat got in, only one in 'bout six graduated."
"That's a lower number of successes than the human Green Berets," I observed, having once watched some kind of special on the Discovery Channel about the Special Forces. I had no idea how accurate that special was, though, so maybe I was wrong. "Besides you, do you think any bots on Earth could get through that training?"
The saboteur went silent for a few moments, clearly pondering my question as Bulkhead and I sparred. "Ah'd say there are a few, yeah," he eventually said. "Arcee, Ironhide, and Prowler would get threw it without too many problems. Arcee 'cause she'... Well, Arcee. Ironhide 'cause he could just power through da trainin'. And Prowler 'cause he' already at the mental state of a Spec Ops soldier. But besides those three, Ah don' think there are any other bots on Earth dat could get through da trainin'."
"What? You're just gonna leave Springer and I out? I'm insulted," Bulkhead said, tone suggesting he was only teasing and not actually mad.
"Da Wreckers might have been black ops, but Spec Ops is completely different from da Wreckers, Bulky," Jazz said. "In da Wreckers, your job is ta be a walkin' tank, ta take massive amounts of fire, an dish out twice as much as ya take. In Spec Ops, you do a lot more sneakin', and a lot less shootin'. Da Wreckers are da hammer of Autobot black ops, but Spec Ops is da knife. Dat type of work is a lot more sensitive than bein' a walkin' tank, an a lot more difficult ta teach."
"I can't deny that. We Wreckers are always at the front of the battle, never at the back. It would be hard to pound that mentality out of a Wrecker," Bulkhead admitted as he landed light hook on my faceplate, which happened to be the twentieth punch he landed, making him the victor. "That's match, kid. Want a rematch?" He asked, smiling as he slammed his gloves together.
Having been down here for at least half a breem, and most of our missions lasted roughly that time, I shook my helm and took off my gloves. "No, better get back to the med-bay before Ratchet gets back and tears off my helm," I tossed my gloves to Jazz, who had been waiting to spar with Bulkhead when I came down here. "I'll talk to you two later."
"See ya around, Shadowster'," Jazz said as he put on the gloves I had just given to him. "Good luck with da Doc Bot."
"You'll need it," Bulkhead added with a chuckle as he and Jazz started circling each other.
I acknowledged their words by waving without looking at them as I stepped into the elevator. And once I was in the elevator, I pressed the button for ground level and waited for the elevator to arrive.
After a short ride, the elevator arrived at ground level, and I stepped out and walked toward the med-bay. With luck, I would get back to the med-bay before Ratchet and Optimus returned.
Unfortunately, I wasn't that lucky.
"Freeze, dumbaft!" Ratchet's voice suddenly called from behind me, causing me to come to an abrupt halt, with the wrench the white and red medic apparently threw hitting the back of my helm a moment later. "You snuck out of the med-bay and went down to the Safe again! Even after what happened to you last time!" He stomped into my field of vision, another wrench already in his servo. "I knew I should have chained you down before I left! You're just like the twins when it comes to following my instructions!"
"Only when those instructions are needless, and involve staying in the exact same spot for more than a jour," I said, sounding braver than I felt. Those wrenches really hurt. "I mean really, I've been cooped up in the med-bay since I onlined from stasis lock, and I have barely even gotten the chance to get off the damn medical berth. And besides, I feel fine, not one-hundred percent, but fine enough to stay in my own quarters, at least. I don't need to keep taking up room in there when I can walk again and take part in some light training."
"Pft, light training," Ratchet scoffed. "With you, there is no such thing as light training. You're lucky you haven't reopened your wounds by going down into the Safe... Again."
"I learned my lesson the first time I reopened my wounds, Ratchet. I'm not going to be stupid and do the same thing twice. I actually want to recover," I said. "If I promise to only train twice a mega-cycle, and only with either you or Moonracer present, will you finally release me from the med-bay? I am honestly about to be driven insane with all the time I spend in there..."
The white and red medic looked at me for a micro-klick, then sighed. "Fine. You're released."
I blinked in surprise. "Wait, are you being serious right now?" I asked, disbelieving that my plea actually worked, and expecting this to be a trick of some sort on Ratchet's part. Maybe he was going to sedate me when I turned my backplates...
Ratchet nodded, looking slightly annoyed. "Yes, Shadowstreaker, I'm serious. You're free to roam the base, but no training without Moonracer or I present, and you still aren't cleared for combat, so you're restricted to the base."
I studied the white and red medic's faceplate for a few moments, trying to determine if he was lying or not, then smiled lightly when I found no trace of deceit. "Understood, Ratchet. I'll make sure not to leave the base." With that, I turned around and walked down the hallway, relieved that I finally was free of the med-bay.
For a while, I walked without a direction, just enjoying the fact I was free to do so without having to sneak out of the med-bay, but eventually, I needed a destination. And since I couldn't train, and didn't feel like going to my quarters, the rec room was the logical choice. So, I continued walking in the same direction I already was, but this time with a destination planned.
About a klick after Ratchet officially freed me from the med-bay, I arrived at the rec room door and stepped inside when the door automatically opened for me.
As I walked into the rec room, I noticed that Flareup, Chromia, and Elita were relaxing on two of the couches in the back right corner of the room, each causally holding a cube of energon.
Chromia glanced over at me as I entered the room. "You're a little far from the med-bay," she said, not in a condescending statement like her words easily could have been used as, but in an amused one. "Did you sneak out of Ratchet and Moonracer's domain again?"
"Yes, I actually did," I replied as I stepped over to the energon dispenser on the opposite side of the room from the three femmes, grabbed an empty cube, and started filling it with low-grade. "But Ratchet also just cleared me from the med-bay, so I don't even have to sneak anymore."
Chromia raised her optic ridges. "He finally cleared you for the field?"
I shook my helm as my cube finished filling up and I took a sip. "No, I am still only allowed on base, and I can only train with Ratchet or Moonracer present." I sighed, disappointed that I was still confined to base, but also still happy that I was no longer stuck in the med-bay. "But, at least it's progress."
"A little progress is still progress, and all progress toward recovery is good," Elita said, sounding like a femme version of Optimus, which she effectively was, seeing as she was the commander of her own unit. She raised her cube of energon, which caused the other two femmes to raise their own cubes. "To your full recovery, Shadowstreaker," she then proceeded to take a sip from her cube, with Chromia and Flareup quickly following her example.
I returned the gesture and took a sip from my own cube. "So, what are you three doing in here?" I asked. "Talking? Or just relaxing?"
"Talking," Chromia answered. "The three of us were just reminiscing over the Second Battle of Tyger Pax."
I gave her a confused look. I had read a number of historical data pads about the war, and none of them mentioned there being a second battle at Tyger Pax, just entries about the first one, where Bumblebee lost his voice box. "What do you mean? There was a second battle at Tyger Pax? I thought there was only one."
"No, that's because the first battle was much more well-known, and Bumblebee's actions there were quite heroic," Flareup said, obviously completely oblivious of the fond tone in her voice when she briefly spoke of Bumblebee. "So yes, there was two battles at Tyger Pax, and the second was, in many ways, more important than the first."
"And how was it more important?" I asked, taking a sip from my cube as I looked at Flareup. The First Battle of Tyger Pax had been a critical point in the war on Cybertron. It was the first large-scale conflict where the Decepticons had taken many times the amount of casualties as the Autobots, and they had outnumbered the defending Autobot forces by a fifty to one ratio before the first shot had even been fired.
The battle started with the Decepticons arriving to annex the city for the war effort, as Tyger Pax was second only to Kaon in industrial might, and with access to far greater amounts of energon and rare metals. But they didn't intend for a peaceful annexation,as Tyger Pax was a city that firmly supported the Autobots. Megatron had bombed the city first, dropping megatons of ordinance from orbit onto the city, and any civilian bots that were foolish enough to step outside, reducing the Autobot troops stationed in Tyger Pax from the tens-of-thousands, to the hundreds. By all accounts, the battle should have been over at that, but it had only just begun. In a mixture of guerrilla-style warfare and clever use of the city's layout to lure enemies into false dead ends or ambushes, the Autobot forces fought the Decepticons, buying time for countless civilian bots to evacuate before the Decepticons finally annexed the city. Bumblebee had been a hero of the battle, even managing to keep Megatron's attention on him as many of his fellow Autobots fell back after they were nearly overrun, but the price for his distraction of Megatron was his voice box. A heavy price, but was very vocal in his defense of his actions.
... I feel bad for even thinking of that unintentional pun.
"Because the Second Battle of Tyger Pax was when we Autobots retook the city from Megatron, and secured resources that allowed us to continue the war indefinitely," Chromia said, answering my question intended for Flareup. "And we were at the center of the entire operation."
I raised both of my optic ridges. "Okay, this I need to hear," I said, stepping a bit closer to the three femmes and leaning against the wall. "Begin wherever you feel is appropriate."
All three femmes got thoughtful looks on their faceplates, but it was Elita who looked back at me first. "It was decided that Tyger Pax was too valuable to leave in Megatron's servos, as he would have possessed the two largest industrial cities on Cybertron, and we were already in desperate need of resources. The problem was Megatron knew we would counter attack, and he had his legions of engineers rebuild the majority of the city, turned most of the buildings into fortresses, and armed each of them with anti-ship Warp Cannons, which could easily be turned on any invading ground force. We had enough ships to destroy the Warp Cannons from orbit, but the Decepticons would have been able to shoot down many of them before our ships would have been in within range of their own weapons. However, without the Warp Cannons, the Decepticon troops had no way of defending against an orbital attack, or an attack in mass from the ground."
"So, Optimus and his advisers came up with a plan for how to destroy the Warp Cannons without sacrificing half our fleet," Chromia said, interrupting Elita's story without really interrupting her, a trait many siblings picked up when they were close.
"And what was the plan?" I asked.
"A small team would infiltrate Tyger Pax from below, using an old ore pipeline that had sustained damage during the first battle," Elita answered, retaking control of the story for the moment. "Optimus put me in charge of the team, and gave me data pads containing lists of potential femmes and mechs for the mission."
"She wasted nearly an entire cycle just studying those things, even had Prime get more for her," Chromia said, again interrupting without really interrupting. "Although, I personally think that she did that just to spend a bit more time with our prestigious leader." She added smugly.
Elilta glared at her sister, but didn't confirm or deny her statement as she looked back at me. "After careful consideration, I picked the team that would accompany me. Flareup, Chromia, a mech you haven't met called Mirage, Jazz, Arcee, and myself. Flareup for her... Explosive talents, which were needed for a mission such as that. Chromia for her heavy weapons, which would be good to have in case the infiltration mission became an assault. Mirage because he was an infiltrator equipped with a cloak, and had been practically built for that mission. Jazz for his sabotage techniques. And Arcee for her close quarters combat abilities, as well as her marksmanship."
Making a mental note to ask Arcee and Jazz for more details about this mission later, as well as ask Arcee why she had never told me about this before, I asked, "So, how did the mission start?"
"We traveled through the ore pipeline while the sun was up, and waited inside until darkness fell," Elita replied. "Once we had the cover of night, we left the pipeline and began moving through the streets and alleys of Tyger Pax, planting charges on energon stations as we went. It didn't take the six of us long to reach a fortress, and it took even less time for Flareup to plant the demolition charges at its base, but it also took just as much time for us to nearly blow the mission."
"I am going to take a guess and say a Decepticon patrol saw you," I said, taking another sip from my cube.
"You're right... And it was kinda my fault," Flareup said, rubbing the back of her helm sheepishly as she looked down at the floor, away from the optics of Arcee's sisters and I.
"What happened exactly?" I asked.
Elita sipped from her cube and looked back at me. "While Flareup was planting her demolition charges, the rest of us were patrolling the area around her, on the lookout for Decepticon patrols. We were all on a secure communications channel, so if one of us saw any Decepticons heading our way, we all knew immediately. So, when Mirage said a pair of Decepticon engineers were approaching, we all dropped what we were doing and found a place to hide as quickly as possible," she explained. "However, Flareup had to hide near the Warp Cannon itself, since she had been planting explosives on it, and that meant her options for hiding spaces were very limited at the best, and all of them were terribly obvious. So, without any real place to conceal her presence, Flareup hide behind her best option. The control panel for the Warp Cannon... Let's just say the Decepticons saw her."
Flareup buried her faceplate in her servos in obvious embarrassment. "Yes... Let's..." She said, cooling fans activating loudly enough for me to hear them clearly.
Elita smiled at Flareup's embarrassment, but didn't comment on her behavior. "After Flareup was discovered, the Decepticons went to activate the alarm. They almost made it, too, if it wasn't for Jazz and Mirage ambushing and offlining them. We were more careful after that, always making sure we were near places to conceal ourselves at a moment's notice."
"Did you have any more close calls like that?" I asked.
"Yeah, but considering there were over one-hundred Warp Cannons we had to disable, that was to be expected, along with a lot of stealth combat. Arcee had to create distractions for us a few times, like rigging a grenade to an ordnance pile so it looked like a faulty shell had gone off and taken out the entire depot," Chromia said. "But despite our close calls, and the amount of energon we coated our knives in, particularly Arcee's, we managed to plant charges on all the Warp Cannons before the sunrise."
"If only just," Elita said, adding onto Chromia's statement smoothly. "The night sky was more red than black when Flareup finished planting charges on the last Warp Cannon. But, after we finished planting charges, we had it pretty easy from then on. We got to a safe distance from the fortresses we rigged, and detonated the charges."
"I bet seeing all those Warp Cannons blow up was quite the sight," I said, mostly just voicing my own thoughts.
Flareup nodded slowly. "It was... It really was..." She said with a distant, sad look in her optics, as if she had been brought to tears at the sight of so much destruction. "So much fire..."
I widened my optics slightly at Flareup's words. "Okay... That wasn't scary or anything..."
The orange and red femme shook her helm, as if to bring herself out of a trance. "Huh? Sorry, I tend to get a bit excited about explosions... It's probably unhealthy," she said, rubbing the back of her helm like she did earlier. "Miko's been helping me, though. She's been showing me pictures of these things called kittens. Real nice, fluffy organics. They've been helping with keeping me distracted from thinking of explosions."
"I would suggest looking at more kittens," I said flatly, still somewhat unsure of what to think about what she said a moment ago.
"Anyway," Chromia said, thankfully getting the topic on track. "After we blew the Warp Cannons, Optimus came in with the 5th Fleet, rolled over the Decepticon ships in orbit, and had more than a quarter of a million Autobots on the ground within twenty klicks, while the six of us got a front row seat to the whole thing. And within a breem, we had overrun the Decepticon forces within Tyger Pax and replaced the Warp Cannons we had just destroyed with our own. And for the rest of the war, Tyger Pax was an Autobot territory."
"And you three, along with Arcee and Jazz, were part of the reason it was even possible," I said, raising cube like Elita had done earlier and taking another sip from it. "I can't believe I've never heard of that battle."
Elita shrugged. "It was more of a rout, the Decepticons didn't really put up much of a fight. And Optimus' massive counter-attack proved that we could face the Decepticons on even ground. But many still tend to only take note of the First Battle of Tyger Pax, probably because it showed to many bots that numbers weren't important in battle."
"True," I said. "My former race is the same way. For example, many humans know what the Battle of Thermopylae is only because of how bravely the smaller faction side fought against such overwhelming numbers. But, many of those same humans do not know that the smaller faction lost that battle, or even know about the Battle of Plataea that occurred the following orbital-cycle."
Flareup looked at me curiously. "What is the Battle of Thermopylae?" She asked, apparently voicing the same question that Elita and Chromia were thinking of, since they also looked at me curiously.
"It is one of the more famous battles in human history," I answered. "The aggressors were the Persian Empire, who sought to subjugate the small country of Greece. They had planned for the invasion for orbital-cycles, gathering what would be one of the largest armies and navies in ancient human history. The faction that stood against them were the Greeks themselves, who were hopelessly outnumbered by the Persians. But, while they were gravely outnumbered, the Greeks still had the advantage of having the greatest warriors in human history on their side."
"And who were they?" Chromia asked, sipping from her cube without looking away from me.
"The Spartans," I replied. "They were a warrior society. If a child was found to be deformed or weak, they killed them. And if they were found to be fit, then at the age of seven orbital-cycles, all male children were taken from their families and began military training until the age of twenty orbital-cycles. Though, many died in the training, due to the brutal methods in which they were trained, and the incredibly high expectations that were imposed on them. But those that survived were quite simply the greatest warriors humanity has ever seen. It is universally accepted by human historians that a single Spartan warrior was worth several men from any other nation. They made war an art."
Flareup put a disgusted look on her faceplate. "They murdered their own children if they were found unfit? That's horrible..."
"I never said they were a society to look up to, only that they were the best warriors in human history," I said, before returning to my story. "Anyway, the events leading up to the Battle of Thermopylae were pretty straight-forward, the Persian Empire invaded Greece, took over a few cities, and began a steady advance to the other side of Greece. But, early on into their invasion, the Persians hit a wall."
Elita raised an optic ridge. "A wall?" She asked. "That does not sound like much of an obstacle."
I shook my helm. "No, no, not at actual wall. That was a figure of speech," I said. "Thermopylae was a narrow passage near the Mediterranean Sea, a large body of water in that part of Earth. It was a naturally occurring choke point, less than one-hundred meters wide at its most narrow point, and the Persians needed to pass through it in order to continue their invasion. The Greek army, led by King Leonidas I, numbered only seven-thousand, and the Persian army numbered as much as two-hundred thousand. So, Leonidas came up with a plan to make the Persian number irrelevant, and that plan was to defend the pass at Thermopylae. The fighting lasted only three solar-cycles, but in that time, the Greeks killed more than twenty-thousand Persians, while losing only a tenth of that number. However, a local by the name of Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks by revealing a path to the Persians that would allow them to get behind the Greek lines and attack them from both sides. King Leonidas figured out his forces were about to be flanked, so he dismissed the majority of his army, and stayed behind with only fourteen-hundred of his men to continue holding Thermopylae. Most of them were killed, and the battle was lost, but the fact they stood against such a massive army, and kept them at bay for three solar-cycles, has ensured that it is well-known to most humans."
"I am not surprised, holding back such a large force with so few is an impressive feat," Chromia said. "But, going by how you said the Battle of Plataea is far less well-known, I am guessing it was less climatic, correct?"
"It was," I confirmed, taking another sip from my cube, which was nearly empty. "The Greeks won the Battle of Plataea decisively, killing a quarter of a million Persians and their allies, while only losing roughly ten-thousand of their own. It was more a slaughter than a battle. And, as a result, it is not as interesting to most humans as the final stand of King Leonidas and his Spartans, even though the Battle of Plataea was the point where the Persian invasion was completely and totally broken. It is similar to how the Second Battle of Tyger Pax is not as well-known as the first, despite it being more important in the long-run."
Elita nodded. "I can definitely see the similarities. Fortunately, there were more survivors of the initial Battle of Tyger Pax than there were at the Battle of Thermopylae," she said. "But there are even more similarities with the Battle of Plataea and the Second Battle of Tyger Pax, as they both were far more important in the long-run, and both were routs."
"Indeed," I agreed, frowning when I went to take a sip from my cube and found it empty. "Well, I think I'm going to go, if you don't mind. I still haven't replaced the weapons I lost to Megatron, so I think I will go search for your sparkmate so he can help me pick out some replacements," I said, directing the last part of my statement at Chromia as I put my empty cube near the energon dispenser and started walking to the door.
Chromia chuckled. "He's in our quarters. I'll let him know you're coming."
"Thanks," I said over my shoulder-joint. "It was nice talking to you three, see you around," I added as I stepped out the door, just catching farewells from the three femmes before it automatically closed behind me.
After the door closed, I started walking in the direction of the quarters Ironhide and Chromia shared, which were in one of the areas of the base that hadn't existed until the S.T.F expanded it back in November. I still was surprised Arcee had never told me about her involvement in the Second Battle of Tyger Pax. I thought I knew of every battle she had taken part in, but I evidently did not. It was also somewhat surprising she hadn't told me about it at all. After all, she had told me all about her previous battles whenever I asked or when a battle she had taken part in was brought up, so it was unusual that she had never mentioned the Second Battle of Tyger Pax when we have talked about Tyger Pax several times in the past.
'Of course, we've never talked about the Battle of Tyger Pax, just about the city itself. Doesn't really give her any reason to talk about the second battle,' I thought. And since we've never talked about the battle itself, there really wasn't a point to bringing it up in the middle of a conversation. And Arcee was a lot like me in regards of humility, never liking to be in the limelight, and not liking to share stories that painted her as an important figure. And she had been in the middle of the op that made the victory at the Second Battle of Tyger Pax possible, so I guess it made sense that she never talked about it.
I pushed my thoughts aside, since I realized I was approaching Ironhide and Chromia's quarters.
Seeing the red light on the control panel that signaled it was locked, I raised my servo and knocked on the door.
"Hold on a micro-klick, kid, I'll open it for ya." Came Ironhide's immediate answer to my knock, voice muffled by the door in front of me. A moment later, the light turned green and the door opened automatically, revealing Ironhide standing on the other side, effectively blocking the entire doorway with his massive frame.
The Wrecker officer smiled down at me when the door opened. "So, I hear ya need to replace your cannons."
"Servo weapons, actually. I still have my cannons," I said. "Although, I am never against looking at cannons."
Ironhide laughed. "Then you came to the right place. Come on in," he said, turning around and walking further into the room and allowing me a clear view of the quarters he and Chromia shared.
The room was large, even more so than my own quarters, but that wasn't surprising, given how the room was made for two occupants instead of just one. But despite the extra room, the only pieces of furniture were the berth, which was also larger than the one I had, and a single desk, the rest of the space in Ironhide and Chromia's quarters was taken up by guns... Lots of guns.
Both sides of the room were literally covered in weapons. Heavy weapons, sniper rifles, grenades, swords, axes, knives, hammers, portable shields similar to the ones Brutes carried, every square inch of the walls had something on it. It was like a mini armory.
"I am sure your sparkmate loves what you've done with your quarters," I stated sarcastically. "It really brightens the place up, makes it nice and friendly."
Ironhide scoffed and pointed his thumb digit over his shoulder-joint at the right side of the room. "That side is all her weapons, mine only take up the other half of the room."
I raised my optic ridges in surprise and looked at the right side of the room, taking note of all the heavy weapons that were well over half of Chromia's size. "She has this many weapons? I thought you'd have more, since she said you took all the Thermo Missile Cannons and Riot Cannons from the armory of the ship you arrived on."
"I stored most of those down in the armory. And besides, the weapons you helped recover from that station are helping me go through fewer cannons," the Wrecker officer replied, tapping the Hydra Cannon, the missile launcher Springer couldn't lift for his life, but Ironhide wielded like a toy, strapped across his backplates. "But even if I stored the majority of my weapons up here, she'd still have a lot more than I do. Most of her weapons are either down in the armory like mine or in the storage hanger across the hall."
I looked at Ironhide in shock. "This is only part of her collection? There's enough firepower in here to level a city or three."
Ironhide shrugged. "What can I say? My 'Mia loves her weapons," he said, then gestured to the left side of the room and focused the conversation on the reason I came here. "See anything that catches your optic?"
I turned my gaze to the wall. While there were a number of weapons that caught my optic, most of them being weapons I recovered from the station with Jetfire and Springer, most of them weren't servo weapons. They were very powerful, of course, but they weren't designed to integrate with a bot's systems.
However, there were a few that stood out among the hundreds of weapons that lined the wall, and one of them was very familiar.
"How is it that you have a copy of my Plasma Chaingun?" I asked, stepping over to the wall and picking up the weapon that looked exactly like my old Chaingun. "Optimus hasn't made any, and the only one I've seen is the one I lost on the station."
"Your Chaingun might be rare because it was only produced in the last jours of the war, but there are still quite a few out there, and here on Earth, since 'Mia has a few of them across the hall," the Wrecker officer answered. "But, that one is mine. I've fitted some modifications to it in my spare time."
"What kind of modifications?" I asked, examining the Chaingun a little more closely, but not seeing any difference between it and the one I lost.
"Minor improvements, mostly," Ironhide said. "I replaced the recoil system, fine-tuned the power converter, improved its overall efficiency, increased its armor-piercing capabilities, and fitted it with a firing option for a beam."
I looked up from the Plasma Chaingun and gave Ironhide a confused look for that last improvement he listed. "Firing option for a beam? What's that?"
"It overcharges the entire weapon, makes it fire plasma in a beam instead of bullets," Ironhide responded. "Don't misunderstand me, as much as I wish it did, it doesn't make the Chaingun into a particle weapon. The beam rapidly loses its effectiveness when you fire at targets more than about two- hundred meters from you, particle weapons would have as long a range as you can see. And using the beam for just a few micro-klicks is like firing a two klick burst in the weapon's normal mode. But, the beam does burn through pretty much anything, and quickly, too."
"So, you've pretty much turned it into a shotgun as well," I concluded, since firing the Chaingun in beam mode would make it ineffective at range, but incredibly deadly in close quarters.
"That's one way of looking at it, yeah," the Wrecker officer said, then smiled at how I was still examining the Chaingun. "Interest you?"
I nodded. "Definitely. I really liked my old Chaingun, it was easy to use, accurate, and could tear through an enemy in just one short burst. Having it be able to handle enemies in close quarters makes it even better." I looked fully up at Ironhide. "Would you miss this if I took it?"
Ironhide raised an optic ridge and glanced at the Hydra Cannon on his backplates, then back at me. "I have enough firepower on my person. Take it, kid," he said. "Ya still have three more to go."
I smiled at Ironhide's answer, and transformed my left servo into its firing mode so I could attach my replacement Chaingun to my servo. "That I do, Ironhide," I said, returning my servo to its normal state after attaching my Chaingun, and looking back at the wall. "Any suggestions for something that can take the place of a Scatter-Blaster?"
Ironhide immediately reached out and picked up a modified Path Blaster off the wall and offered it to me. "This would do nicely," he said. "Better rate of fire, accurate, has similar stopping power, and as I recall, you liked it a lot when we played E-N-E-R-G-O-N a few jours back. Never did finish that game, did we, kid?"
"No, we never did, we'll have to finish it up some time," I said with a chuckle as I took the offered Path Blaster and started examining it. "What kind of modifications did you install on this?"
"Same as the Plasma Chaingun," Ironhide replied. "Except it doesn't have a beam firing option. It still has a different firing option, but instead of firing a beam, this Path Blaster has the ability to fire a charged shot. The charged shot has the same energy consumption problem as the Chaingun's second firing mode, and you won't be able to fire the Path Blaster for a good klick after that shot, but it will pack more punch than a normal shot."
"How much more?" I asked.
The Wrecker officer smiled. "Much. One charged shot from that Path Blaster will blow a gunship in half, if you're lucky enough to hit it in a fault point. And a charged shot will blow through five feet of Xieron without a problem," he replied, referring to the most common metal on Cybertron, which when combined with a tiny amount of Primax, became our equivalent of Steel. "Of course, you can do the same with your Nucleon, and you don't have to worry about aiming with that."
"True, though that doesn't take away from the fact you've managed to modify what is classed as a heavy pistol to the point that it has the fire power to knock a gunship out of the sky," I said, turning the Path Blaster over in my servos before looking back at Ironhide. "If you don't mind, I will take this one as well."
"Ya came here to take my weapons, by all means, take it. Just don't come back looking for another if you break it," Ironhide said with a chuckle. He gestured to the various melee weapons on the wall as I transformed my right servo started attaching the Path Blaster to it. "What about replacements for your swords?"
I looked at the wall for only a moment before I finished attaching my new Path Blaster, then I walked over to a pair of broad swords that seemed to be identical to my old ones and picked them off the wall. "No sense in getting different melee weapons when I am so used to fighting with swords," I said, looking over at Ironhide. "Can I take these?"
Ironhide huffed, as if in disappointment. "Taking the exact same weapon, without any modifications... You have no sense of imagination," he said, narrowing his optics for a moment before making a dismissive gesture with one of his servos. "Take 'em, kid, be boring, see if I care."
I laughed lightly at Ironhide's behavior, and transformed my left servo and started to attach one of the broad swords to it. "I am not boring, I just happen to like swords, and found my old ones rather useful. That is, before Megatron crushed them."
"You're still boring, kid," Ironhide said, his gruff voice carrying a tone that was both dry and serious. "Here you have the perfect chance to outfit yourself with a battleaxe, warhammer, mace, or saw, and you go right back to your old swords." He shook his helm. "No imagination."
"I don't need to be imaginative when it comes to melee weapons," I said as I finished attaching the first of my replacement broad swords, returned my left servo to normal, and transformed my right servo and started to attach the second broad sword. "I only need something I am comfortable using, and I am most comfortable with swords."
"If you are most comfortable with swords, then take your sire's blade," Ironhide said. "Optimus uses the Star Saber when out on missions, and the Forge is now our most important resource, but the Omni Saber is gathering dust in the armory. I am sure Optimus wouldn't mind you taking it."
"And you and I both know I can't even touch it, you were there when I tried touching it after Optimus made its safeguard deactivate," I replied, referring to later in the cycle I onlined when I tried to hold my sire's blade, and its safeguard activated again as Optimus tried to hand it to me. I really wanted to use that thing, too... "The weapons of the Thirteen are made to be used by Primes, no one else. And I am not a Prime. As much as I want to use the Omni Saber, I simply can't."
Ironhide shrugged. "Ah, details," he joked as I finished attaching my other replacement sword and returned my servo to normal. "Ya can't let that stop ya, that sword's too nice to be gathering dust."
"Optimus has his own sword, and it's almost my height, so his servos are full," I said. "But I agree, the Omni Saber is too nice to be gather-" I cut myself off when I noticed a block of metal on the wall, a familar-looking block of metal. "Is that a Vaporizer?" I asked, using the name for the shotgun I used on the station that Bulkhead came up with after I told him how it worked on the Decepticons. I wonder if he's modified it like my new Plasma Chaingun and Path Blaster.
Faster than I thought the massive mech was capable of moving, Ironhide rushed over to where the Vaporizer was on the wall, picked it up, and pulled it close to his chestplates and moved so his frame was partially hiding it, as if he was trying to keep a newborn sparkling away from me. "You've taken two weapons I've spent breems and breems modifying, replaced your swords with two of my own, and I have not complained or refused to give you anything, but I draw the line at my Vaporizer. You can't have it. Ever."
I raised my optic ridge at how possessive Ironhide became just because I saw his Vaporizer. It probably wasn't healthy to be that attached to a single weapon. And that was coming from me, a mech who loved guns a lot more than he should. "From what Arcee's told me, we have dozens of those down in the armory, you know," I said, not arguing that he should give his shotgun to me, just dryly informing him know he doesn't have the last Vaporizer in existence.
"I am aware, but none of those are my Vaporizer. As I once heard a human say, 'There are many like it, but this one is mine," Ironhide said, quoting a small part of the Marine Rifleman's Creed as he tightened his servos around his deactivated Vaporizer. "You want your own, go get one from the armory. You're not touching mine."
I looked at Ironhide, down at the Vaporizer in his servos, which caused him to move it behind his frame protectively, then back up at Ironhide. "You know, I didn't want to take your Vaporizer, I asked what it was just it make sure it was what I thought, and to know if you modified it like the replacement weapons you generously allowed me to take."
The Wrecker officer was silent for a moment, and he slackened his grip on his Vaporizer. "Oh..." He said in a slightly quieter voice than normal, the closest the massive mech came to sounding embarrassed.
"Yeah... You really need to work on not being so protective of a weapon," I said. If he was this protective over a weapon he could easily replace, I didn't want to see what he'd do if someone threatened Chromia outside the battlefield.
"Maybe, but I'm not gonna, these are my guns," Ironhide said, more in jest than seriousness. He placed his Vaporizer back on the wall reverently, as if putting a recharging sparkling down in its crib. "And I like some more than others."
"And some a little too much," I commented, giving Ironhide a flat look for the way he placed the Vaporizer back on the wall. "You are treating your Vaporizer like it's your sparkling."
Ironhide shrugged and walked over to the desk. "'Mia and I have wanted a sparkling for a long time now, but the war has put a lot of things on hold," he said as he sat down at the desk, sounding indifferent, but the look in his optics was far from it. He wanted a family, even if he didn't want to show it.
Sensing that Ironhide probably wanted to be alone for a while, I turned and started walking to the door. "Thanks for giving me some replacement weapons, Ironhide," I said. "And I hope that you and Chromia get your sparkling sometime soon."
"Thanks, kid. I do, too," Ironhide said as the door automatically opened for me and I stepped out into the hallway. He added something that caused me to freeze, "And, kid, I can't help but notice that you have a thing going for Arcee."
I winced and turned to look at Ironhide, who was starting at me intensely. "Yeah, I do. I have for a while, actually."
Ironhide nodded, as if something he suspected was just confirmed. "Figured as much. You do look like you're floating on a cloud made of hearts and rainbows whenever she walks into the room."
"Am I being that obvious?" I asked, hoping that Ironhide was exaggerating. I thought I was doing a good job of keeping my feelings hidden. But then again, Flightstorm knew how I felt after we had spoken for only a couple breems, and Jetfire, Springer, Optimus, Jazz, Elita, Bumblebee, and now Ironhide knew how I felt. Not a great track record for keeping my feelings hidden.
"Only to a mech who's been there, and I've been there," Ironhide responded, a hard look entering his optics. "I like you, kid, so I will give you fair warning. Don't do anything to hurt her. She trusts you. A lot. Don't betray or take advantage of that trust. If you do... Well, I cannot be held accountable for anything I might do to you." His optics shot to the wall next to him, focusing mostly on his Vaporizer.
"Uh... Yeah, I got it," I said, doing what I could not to sound intimidated by Ironhide's thinly veiled threat. There was just something about a massive, highly-trained mech, who was conveniently surrounded by hundreds of weapons, threatening to hurt you, at the least, if you hurt your best friend, who also happens to be his sparkmate's sister. "But Arcee also trusts Optimus, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Jetfire, Ratchet, Prowl, and almost everyone else on base. Why single me out?"
Ironhide looked at me seriously. "Because she doesn't trust any of them like she trusts you," he said. "You didn't see her after Tailgate was offlined. She was cold, hiding behind the walls she had put in place to keep others from getting close, even Cliffjumper was treated coldly for a long time. Only 'Mia, Elita, and I were allowed full access. And she was like that for a long time..." He pointed a digit at me, his optics boring into my own. "Right up until she met you. Now she's opening up, becoming more like her old self. And it's because you're helping her mental scars heal, even if you aren't aware of it."
I was stunned into silence. I was helping Arcee heal? How does Ironhide figure that? Arcee is kind, funny, friendly, and very approachable for almost any conversation topic, and had been for as long as I had known her. But of course, Ironhide was right, I hadn't seen Arcee after Tailgate was offlined, and even now she was affected by it. And by all rights, she should be like that now, since she lost Cliffjumper right before I started to call this reality home. Was I actually helping her heal somehow?
"There's no use in denying it, kid," Ironhide said, interrupting my thoughts. "You're helping her become like she once was. And for that I thank you. But, despite that, if you hurt her in any way, I will offline you... Slowly. So treat her right if you finally confess, kid," with that, he looked down at his desk and picked up a data pad, pretty much ignoring my presence now that he had properly threatened me. Twice.
After Ironhide picked up the data pad, I turned and walked down the hallway, with no idea where I was going, simply focusing on Ironhide's words.
It was strange to think I was the one helping Arcee heal from mental scars, when she apparently hadn't let many bots inside the walls she puts up around herself when she's angry or sad. I wasn't family, her courted, or a therapist, I was just her friend and partner.
... But, sometimes, a friend is what you needed to start healing from a traumatic event. After all, I didn't really get over my human mother's death until I found good friends in high school, and let them help me, even if they weren't aware they were helping me. And a friend is what I was to Arcee, a friend and partner, someone who was there to have her backplates in a firefight, or play poker if the mood suited her.
Perhaps it wasn't so strange to think I was helping Arcee heal, even if I wanted to be more than just her friend and partner.
"Um... Hey, Shadowstreaker," Springer's voice suddenly said from off to my left, causing me to push my thoughts to the side. "Finally get out of the med-bay?"
I came to a halt and looked to my left, where I immediately saw Springer inside the doorway of the storage hanger we put most of the weapons we recovered from the station, since our armory wasn't large enough to hold them. "Yes, I did." I said neutrally, putting an equally blank look on my faceplate.
Springer had been an enigma since I onlined from stasis lock. He had visited me a few times while I was in the med-bay, and even held short, civil conversations with me during his visits. But, I was suspicious of his sudden change in behavior. This was Springer, he had hated me for jours, and now without explanation he was being civil to me, and wasn't being an aft to Arcee? I had a hard time believing he wasn't up to something.
The green Triple-Changer nodded. "Good, good. Hey, the humans have been planning to have this cycle be a movie night, Miko's even having Bulkhead pick her up so she won't miss it, and they convinced some of us to join them in watching this movie called 'Avatar,' want to join us?" He asked in a friendly manner, as if he and I had been friends for centi-vorns. A conspiring smile appeared on his faceplate. "Your femme's going to be there."
I narrowed my optics at Springer's friendly and teasing statement. It was just so unlike Springer, the complete opposite of his usual behavior. "Why?"
Springer gave me a confused look and tilted his helm slightly. "Why what?" He asked.
"Why are you trying to be nice?" I asked, optics still narrowed as I stared at him. "When we were on the station, we were at each other's throats, then all the sudden you're apologizing to Arcee for how you talked to her, thanking me for saving you and Jetfire, having civil conversations with me, and now you're asking if I want to see a movie with you and a few others, and teasing me about Arcee as if I'm one of your fellow Wreckers. Why the sudden change?"
Springer's smile fell, and he grew more serious. "Because I realized just how much of an aft I've been," he replied. "I was crude and straight up sleazy when I was near Arcee, always making some comment about her looks, and not giving a slag about how that affected her and those around me. When you called me out and my behavior, I hated you for it, even more so when I crossed the line in the sand and you put me down. And I know you hated, or still hate, me just as much. But despite that, you still saved me from the Decepticons, even if they were going after Jetfire first. You saved me, even though you hated me... And I don't think I would have been able to do that back then. I would have let you be offlined, and not cared at all," he lowered his optics, looking ashamed at that thought. "I realized that when Jetfire said you saved him and, indirectly, me as well. I found that I had been a Decepticon in an Autobot's armor this whole time, and that if I continued behaving like I had, I eventually would end up being the very bots I hate more than anything. So, I decided I needed to stop being like that, and work on fixing the many friendships I've ruined with my fellow Autobots"
I continued staring at Springer, scrutinizing him for the faintest sign of deceit. But I found none. His voice was even and unchanging throughout his explanation. He hadn't avoided referring to himself in the first person. He had spoken honestly when he said that back then he would have let me offline. And he had not fidgeted even the slightest since he started speaking to me.
He wasn't lying.
"You honestly want to change," I said after a moment, unable to not sound surprised.
The green Triple-Changer nodded. "I do. I've been an aft to almost everyone for far too long, it's time for me stop being like I was, and actually be a good bot, instead of an afthole." He looked at me and offered his servo for a shake. "And besides Arcee, you're the one I've wronged the most. Friends?"
I looked down at Springer's offered servo, then looked back up at Springer and hesitantly reached out and shook his servo. "Acquaintances, not friends," I corrected mildly, no bite behind my short statement. "You might be trying to change, but we haven't had enough civil conversations to be considered friends yet. But, I am willing to give you a chance."
Springer smiled slightly. "After how I've acted toward you, a chance is all I ask," he said, then let go of my servo and walked in the direction I just came from.
"Hey," I called out to him, causing Springer to pause and look back at me. "When is the movie night?"
Springer smiled slightly again. "Nine thirty, in the rec room," he answered, then turned around and continued walking down the hallway, soon disappearing into another storage hanger.
After Springer walked into the second storage hanger, I turned around and continued walking in the direction I had been going before I was stopped by Springer, still with no destination planned.
It was weird to think about what just happened. Springer and I buried the hatchet, and were now on lukewarm relations at the least. Perhaps even starting to become friends. And that was surprising, given how often we had butted helms since he arrived on Earth. Like whenever he insulted or made a crude comment about Arcee, when he said it was Arcee's fault that Tailgate and Cliffjumper were offlined, when we were on the station, a dozen or more other times...
Okay, maybe it was possible for he and I to actually be friends... Eventually.
So, yeah, Springer's character is changing quite a bit, isn't it? Haha. As much as I liked having him get hurt *mildly, most of the time* it wouldn't be right of me if I kept him the same throughout the story, would it? And character development is always a good thing, no matter which character is doing the developing.
I know this chapter isn't all that much, just a filler, but I had a lot of fun writing it for some reason. Maybe that reason is because I don't have to worry about any plot elements for once. Lol.
And just so everyone knows, I am likely not going to be able to get my next chapter up this month. I have to leave town for a few days this week, and I will not have access to a computer, so I will not be able to write for those few days, or respond to PMs or reviews. I will do my best to get my next chapter up as soon as possible, but it might end up being next month, which is the pattern I have had for the last year or so, which I have been trying to break since it started. I was so close! Lol.
This chapter's credit song is "Two Steps From Hell - Start Again" I have been trying to find more credit songs with actual lyrics, but I just could not find one that suited this chapter, but that is also my own fault, since the way in which I ended it is rather hard to find a song for that fit with it. But, I finally managed to find one that does fit it. It doesn't fit as well as I would have liked, but the sounds do fit with the ending, and how Springer is starting to change. The title of the song also fits, but that was, believe it or not, coincidence.
Please be sure to leave a review, as any feedback I get helps me learn how to improve my writing skills, and also helps me find motivation to write.
Thank you all for reading, and I'll see you soon.