Authors note

I have a confession to make. I struggled really hard to make this since I basically had to force myself to write after the first part on the warship. So I don't think it holds the same quality as my other chapters, I thinks it clumsily and I hope to return and rewrite the chapter sometime. I hope you can forgive me if you think it sucks.

Edit: Yes! I fixed the dialogue between Rachel, Nikolai and Ratchet.

The techno-organics

Chapter 18

After showing Freedom her quarters they made their way to the bridge. Freedom was satisfied getting to wash off all the blood, but Megatron would be a complete fool if he thought she would trust him in anyway after inflicting her so much damage. She noticed how he tried to plant seeds of trust, first offering her own quarters and then letting her walk right beside him as they quietly made their way. She had to think of a way to escape without leaving Anastasia or Valkyrie. Freedom knew that neither her comrades or the Autobots would try to attack a second time after failing so badly. But she wanted to escape, not only for the obvious reasons, but also so she could reunite the twins and beat them both up without having to risk getting a bad conscience.

They walked up to a door that opened itself in their presence. Freedom walked onto the bridge of the space ship, following the murderous alien that was her father. It was filled with small frail robots, all sharing nearly the same appearance and unmoving masks. Even without expressive faces, Freedom knew what they were feeling in her presence. Fear, confusion, curiosity, maybe were they even in awe, but fear was the bigger part. The air was filled with it as soon as she had entered. Any Vehicon that could took an extra step backwards and followed them with their gazes, Freedom in particular. Like Megatron wasn't already bad enough, now they had to watch their backs for his half human daughter. She already knew it wouldn't be easy living with these titans, but that knowledge wouldn't make her any more prepared.

"This is the warships bridge, I control the Nemesis from here and the troops handle all communications." He informed her but she was concentrated on the view. She had seen the stars many times since the escape, but this was the most awesome view yet. The stars were shining even brighter then she had been able to see before, and they gave off the illusion that one could touch them if you stretched far enough. Megatron noticed her far away gaze but found no irritation. Normally, if he noticed anyone concentrating on something else when he talked, he would call them out and become mildly violent; but this time he found it refreshing. It reminded him of himself when he saw the sun for the first time.

"Are we in space?" Freedom almost whispered.

"Yes." He answered in an unusually gentle tone. "In the earths orbit to be more precise."
"So if I tried to escape," She thought aloud in a dry voice. "I would need to reenter the atmosphere and risk incinerating on my way down." Freedom made a half smile at her own joke before turning to the warlord with a serious expression.

"Where is my sisters and when can I see them?"

"Patience, dear." He taunted, like a bad reminder of the helplessness they were in. "I won't hurt them...yet. As long as they behave my troops won't be forced to use drastic measures. You'll see them when you have earned my trust." Not good, he was planning something, she was sure of it. Freedom knew that manipulation technique, force someone into doing what they want by threat (preferably a hostage), that way she will have no choice but to obey until she finds a solution; which will be exceptionally hard. And he'll try to manipulate and brainwash her into being loyal to him and when she finally sees her friends she'll try to convince them to stay and obey him. Freedom knew, she had been learned that trick as well.

"What do you want from me?" Yes, he really liked her. He appreciated her directness, but he would not appreciate it as much if she went too far out of line. For now, he was going to be just as blunt.

"I want you to be my apprentice." Freedom felt like she choked on the air for a moment and quickly opened her mouth to say something. "That's all I'm going to say for now. So you can spare your questions until later." Megatron's attention moved over to something behind them and she turned around to see for herself. Some new robots had gathered and they looked at Freedom in a way she didn't like. Soundwave, Arachnid and Breakdown were all gathered, except for Knock Out that was still too badly injured.

"Good," Megatron said to himself before turning back to his daughter. "These are my subordinates, you'll do well to know them." Before anybody else said anything Freedom greeted with a two fingered wave with the hand that were once again covered in soft skin. Having almost been killed by an techno-organic not long ago, Arachnid was the first to voice her protest.

"Lord Megatron, please," She started and put her hand to her chest, "It can't be safe having a techno-organic walk freely on the ship, she should be restrained and kept in a cell just like the others." Freedom scowled sharply at Arachnid and made her take a step back. Freedom noticed the three claw marks on Arachnid's cheek as Anastasia's, and it made her happy knowing that her friend still had fight in her. It made a small smile spread over her face, but Arachnid mistook it for gloat and gritted her dentas.

"Do not worry, Arachnid. I have reasons to trust that Freedom won't do anything too drastic as long as we have her comrades in our mercy." He turned to Freedom and she tensed her jaw as she shot a cold glare at him. Silently telling him she couldn't promise anything.

"But what use do we have of it?"

"It?" Freedom repeated and tilted her head to the side. Did she really just call her that? Freedom took a step forward and felt her eyes burning red again. Megatron did nothing to stop her and stood by, wanting to see what would happen.

"My name is Freedom." She said in that cold menacing tone that made her so much more alike her original. "Do not call me 'it'. I don't care who any of you are, your rank or your kill count, I won't stand being called anything else but my name. Say it!" She ordered and pointed at the smaller Decepticon.

"I'm not taking orders from you, being a techno-organic made from my master won't give you any authority." Despite standing her ground and acting brave, Arachnid didn't want to fight after being attacked by Anastasia. She was made from Knock Out and still possessed powers that made her far more powerful then her original. How strong was Freedom really?

"I have already figured that out." She answered to Arachnids statement with disdain in her voice and made eye contact with Breakdown who quickly brought up the second in commands question again.

"She's right, what use do we have of her?"

"Why don't you let her show for herself?" He answered with amusement in his voice, like he already knew what awaited. Breakdown jerked back at his suggestion and a wicked smile spread across Freedom's face. This was going to be fun.

"Does this mean you want me to fight him." She said with glee in her voice and everyone stepped aside to make space. She had wanted to fight him for a while now, ever since he threatened her in the lab. Freedom had her personal rule, "Don't start fights, but if someone else starts fighting you, you better end it good". And he had started it, only she had been unable to fight back. Breakdown turned to Freedom but before he could react she had already launched a kick to his chest and made him fly into the opposite wall. He growled and took out his hammer, Freedom stepped forward but other than that did nothing but awaiting his attack. Breakdown charged forward and swung his hammer towards her head, but Freedom casually raised her hand and stopped his attack with an open hand. A minor shock wave shook the room but Freedom stood unmoved from his attack. She let her normal teeth hide behind her metallic ones and a huge smile spread across her face. Showing of her metallic fangs and her cheeks almost disappeared painfully as she smiled. Freedom grabbed his hammer and pulled him forward so their faces were centimetres apart and let out a malicious laugh, letting him know he was the helpless one now.

"Oh, scrap." Breakdown cursed himself once he realized his situation. Freedom opened her other hand and let a storm of huge flames rain down on the Decepticon. He was thrown to the ground and steams came from his glowing armor as he whimpered. Freedom opened both of her hands and let out an even bigger storm on him. Breakdown screamed in pain, but Freedom was not done yet. She stopped and put two of her fingers together and a intense blue flame came to life.

"Enough." Megatron ordered before it went too far. Breakdown raised himself from the floor, always watching Freedom. That face she had showed him, those eyes and her smile, almost made her look even more dangerous than Megatron.

"Excellent, Freedom." He complimented his daughter and stepped forward. "Don't be too rough on Breakdown, we need him until the real doctor is able to do his job again." He said and put a hand on her shoulder. Freedom was surprised that she wasn't disgusted nor frightened by his touch, in fact, the simple gesture was appreciated in an unfamiliar way.

Arachnid who had been standing to the side looked at the two together and had a horrible realization come over her. She watched them stand side by side, they were so alike yet unlike each other. His menacing posture, her arrogant way of standing, that cold look in her eyes that contrasted his horrid ones. She even had the same smile, the only difference there was that she used her teeth. Oh Primus, there was two of them now.

Alabaster was no longer in her armor and sat curled in a corner in some empty room. Crying and making her white face turn bright red. Her hair was curtaining his face, blocking the outside world and leaving her alone with her grief. How could she do that? She knew Freedom and Valkyrie was missing but she did nothing to try to get them? She even left Anastasia behind, but she was right behind Ally. And she couldn't even start imagine what the Decepticons might do to them. Alabaster cried even more and buried her face onto her knees.

"Freedom," She cried, "I'm so-sorry I l-left you." Her voice was cracking and she dried her running nose on the sleeve of her sweater.

"Alabaster?" A gentle but deep voice called to her.

"G-go aw-away." She turned away from him and cried even more. She couldn't stop, she was suffocating herself with no way to stop. "I left her, I left Freedom. I left my best friend." Optimus stood by listening to her sparkcrushing cries. He didn't know what to do, he had no experience dealing with children. He started off by sitting next to her, she didn't react to his presence. So he went a step further and gently stroked his big hand down her hair. A gesture he had wanted to do for some time. It was soft but somewhat rough, it felt like her hair was partly made of metal fibers. She reacted when he patted her, but not in a way he immediately noticed. She caught her breath, mistaking his hand for Freedom's for a moment. Then she relaxed, calming herself down enough to be able to turn around and face her original. She threw herself into his arms crying all over again. His metal was cold and hard, and offered almost none of the comfort she encountered when hugging a organic being. But still, she didn't let go. The knowledge that this was her originals embrace was enough for her to instinctively hold onto him tighter. Optimus was stiff during the unfamiliar situation, he was not used to physical contact to this extent. But for her sake he endured it and gently placed his arms around her, pressing her closer to his chest.

"I le-left them." She hiccuped. "I left my sisters. They're in danger now. And Canary got hurt, It's-It's-It's all my fault." She pressed her forehead onto his chest and dried her eyes with her sleeves.

"Please, don't say that." Optimus said and patted the top of her head. "Sometimes missions just go wrong, there's no one to blame for that." She protested against his claim and shook her head.

"No, you're wrong. I let Freedom leave and then I left Valkyrie to fight her original."
"You encountered Breakdown?"

"Yes, we thought he would be an easy match and that she then would meet up with us." She twisted her hand nervously around the stitched up area between her hand and arm. Tearing noises started to appear and Optimus put his hand over hers, making her stop.

"Don't harm yourself." Was all said with genuine concern and sincerity in his voice, and she stopped.

"There is something I need your help explaining." Alabaster raised her head, drying her face with already soaked sleeves. "On the ship, you said that Megatron was after Freedom and that he somehow could trace her. Why did you think that?"
"Freedom said so." She started and Optimus held her against himself like she was a delicate doll. "She said that the Decepticons could trace the purple substance inside her, then she ran away." She started to tear up again at the thought but Optimus quickly caught her attention.

"What substance?" He asked with a bad feeling in the back of his head, like a answer he knew was true but didn't dare accept.

"We don't know it's name. It caused Freedom a lot of pain but she later discovered that it made her able to control technology and make them take shape, turning them into monsters." An image of Freedom flashed before his eyes for a split moment and he finally realized who she was. They had let the spawn of Megatron enter the base. Optimus knew that he shouldn't act this way, but the thought of who her original was frightened him. Knowing they would possibly need to fight two of them now that she was united with her original. Should he tell Alabaster? How would she take it? Would it calm her or would it only distress her further? He decided to not say anything, not until his suspicions been confirmed. He rolled his shoulders and Alabaster mistook the action as him wanting to leave. Optimus was engulfed in Alabaster's light and forced to sit still before she let go.

"Don't leave me. Please don't leave me alone." Upset at first, Optimus then took a moment to understand her acting.

"I won't leave you." He started of softly before getting stern. "But never use your powers on me without my permission. Understood?" Alabaster nodded rapidly, not wanting to disappoint nor drive him away.

Rachel stood beside Nikolai, trying to get him to talk, trying to make him react to anything. She tried to reach for his face and when he didn't react she proceeded to gently place her hand onto his cheek. Almost instantly his eyes started to water and he melted into the touch of her small hand. The situation finally made it's way fully into his mind. No longer was he stuck in time, his body finally reacted to his injury and faint sparkles finally made it's way trough his arm. The coat that was wrapped around his stump fell off and the blood that had soaked the fabric into an even darker red, made it's way back to his wound. Ratchet worked on the monitors next to Canary as he noticed red light coming from behind him. He turned around to see Nikolai cry into Rachel's shoulder as his arm grew back. First the skeleton, then the muscles and lastly his skin. When he was fully healed he used his new arm to hold onto Rachel tighter.

"Anastasia, I'm sorry." He forced out of himself. His voice thick with sorrow and regret. "We were so stupid." He ran his hands through his red hair and pressed the palms of his hands onto his temples. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." He cursed himself and shook his head side to side. Red sparkles started to emit from him and made Rachel move away in order to not get a shock. Ratchet therefor stepped forward and attempted to place his hand on Nikolai's shoulder. The medic quickly withdrew his hand at contact and Nikolai gasped at the realization of what he was doing. He closed his eyes and the electricity inside him slowly ebbed away as he raised his head in order to see if Ratchet was injured. He saw Ratchet lightly shake his hand and doing movements but other than that there didn't seem to be any damage.

"I'm sorry..." Before he could finish Rachel moved closer and hugged him tightly. Ratchet stood by in order to make sure that Rachel didn't need him before returning his attention to Canary

"Calm down. I'm here." She whispered reassuringly and Nikolai relaxed into her touch. But she soon broke the hug and delivered a slap across Nikolai's face. He didn't say anything, knowing he deserved it.

"You're lucky Freedom isn't here or she would go even harder on you." She said with a stern and disappointed tone, raising a scolding finger. "You should have told us before you left, that way we could have stopped you from doing this madness. You two not only got captured but now the Decepticons know about us, and in our attempt to rescue you, Anastasia, Valkyrie and Freedom are now all prisoners. And Canary almost died!" She yelled at the boy without him talking and simply hanging his head in shame.

"Rachel, stop!" Ratchet sternly told his daughter and she stopped and looked up. "Blaming him and making him feel worse about the situation won't make things better." Rachel rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest but didn't apologize, thinking he shouldn't come and criticize how she handles the situation. Original or not, they have only known each other for a day and it certainly wasn't his place to start teaching her. Ratchet turned to Nikolai again and stretched out his hand in an welcoming manner.

"I'm Ratchet, the Autobot medic." Nikolai looked up and accepted his metallic hand. "You have probably already noticed the similarities between me and Rachel, I'm her original, you see." Odd, how come that statement came so easily out of him?

Jack, Miko and Raphael had brought the remaining techno-organics up to the silos roof. Roof was perhaps not the appropriate word since it actually was the top of a mountain. There was still an heavy atmosphere hanging over the hybrids heads. The humans saw it as their job to try to lighten up the mood.

"See the town over there." Jack called out to them and pointed. "That's my home town, Jasper. We could go there together." They all raised their heads and looked confused at the teenager.

"You're asking us to spend time with you." Rock asked and pulled down his hoodie, no longer hiding his half metallic face.

"Well, yes. Why not?"

"It's just that we have never been able to establish human relationships before." He answered rather awkwardly to the new situation.

"Are you saying none of you have ever had human friends?" Miko entered the conversation in a rather loud way.

"Well, not in the way you're suggesting." Widow explained. "We have encountered humans before, but it's always kids playing with Wasp on the playgrounds, casual meetings in the streets or in the store, us fighting off intruders and thugs or me and Toni protecting our employees."
"That's right." Raph gasped in excitement. "We interviewed a prostitute that mentioned that one of you girls has been offering protection for the escorts in your neighborhood. Which one of you is the pimp?" Toni smiled faintly and waved her gloved hand. In that moment the humans thoughts stopped abruptly, like the sound of a pin on a record screeching.
'He's a girl?' They all thought. Because they all had mistaken Toni for a boy.

"You're a girl!?" Miko exclaimed and Raph and Jack face palmed almost simultaneously, but looked up at the sound of hysterical laughter. They were all laughing, but not in a mean way.

"You're not the first and you'll not be the last to make that mistake." Toni laughed holding her belly and almost doubling over. She eventually took a few deep breaths to calm herself,

"Okay, okay. I have to know what you thought when you guys first saw me." She smirked, awaiting their funny answers.

"I-I-I don't know." Jack stuttered. "I honestly couldn't decide at first look because you're so androgynous looking." He drew a hand trough his black hair before continuing slightly flushed. "I mean, you are the most stylish person I have ever seen. You have to give me a few fashion tips, it honestly make me jealous a girl can dress better in mans style then me." He chuckled slightly and Toni smiled flattered, scratching the side of her chin.

"Okay, that was fun." Flash interrupted with intent to return to their former topic. "Can we really visit the town? Will you show us around?"

"Sure, but to be honest, there aren't really much to do in Jasper." Flash had already begun taking of his blue armor, revealing a seemingly normal boy in jeans and a blue sports jacket.

"That's fine, we just need something else to do while we wait for Canary to recover. No matter how much we want to rescue our comrades, we can't do it without her hacking skills and sitting down sulking won't make things better." He insisted while putting on sunglasses. "Or what do the rest of you think?" He turned to his family and they all agreed.

"We should go and ask Alabaster and..." Raphael stopped in his tracks as he tried to remember if they ever told their guests name. "What's his name again?"

"Nikolai." Flash answered as they all made their way back into the base.