Warning: tiny bits of thoughts about self-harm. It's towards the end!
Warmth spread over my scales as a light blinded me. Lazy and slow moving emotions swirled faintly from the two. A groan rumbled deep in my chest as I shifted to my stomach and stretched out all four wings. The extra wings accidently bumped into something on either side of me. It took me a moment to recognize the two beings: the Terror twins. What…?
Wait! Everything that happened yesterday slammed into my thoughts. A blush covered me from head to toe. Rarely do I ever feel so exposed but at this moment, I felt vulnerable. In reaction, my wings curled around me to cover as much as they could. Don't think about that, Azar. It's too early to worry about that.
A familiar being over the bond stirred, subconsciously sending content over to me. "G'morning, Azar," Sides mumbled from the left and moved to be in the same position as me. The sun shined beautifully on his body as he stared sleepily at me. A groggy smile graced both of our lips when we looked at each other. "How are you fairing on a chilly morning like this?"
Our definitions of 'chilly' were different. With him being the metal being in colder weather, didn't aid him one bit; and he knew my thoughts and position on the chilly weather during these winter months. "Cold? It's not cold. It feels nice though." I moved to my knees and continued to stretch out all of my muscles.
The mech chuckled and dragged a finger between my wings. Electricity traded between the two of us, almost fully awaking me. These shocks didn't hurt or jolt me, they were soft or like a tap of say 'hey, I'm right here.' Something, strangely enough, I loved and craved. It was the physical part that told me we were bonded, in a way. Er, that's what I take as. "I bet. You were awesome to sleep next to for most of the day yesterday. Your body gave off so much heat; it felt like we were in the Pits." He leaned close to gently knock his forehead against mine. The connection gave off a small shock of electricity. It didn't hurt though and drew a purr from me. "Primus, your purr sounds wonderful in the morning."
I couldn't help my eyes rolling at his comment and flicked some water at him. Sides acted betrayed and spun to flop down on his back. Small problem, he didn't take into account the limited room on the bed. He ungracefully slipped off of the bed and loudly crashed into the floor.
As a caring and amazing sparkmate, I burst out laughing and fell to my side, unable to keep myself up right. Tears were freely pouring down my face at how hard I was cackling.
The noises were making woke up Sunstreaker who bored his gaze grumpily and confused at us. It took him a moment to register what had happen and chuckle at Sides misfortune. Then a smirk etched its way on his face. Sunstreaker scooped me into his grasp and curled around me with his back to where Sides fell off.
"Hey!" Sides whined and got back onto his bed.
"You had her yesterday. It's my turn." Wait a minute. Is this a playful side of Sunstreaker I'm seeing? Not his usually grumpy bot attitude. I couldn't complain. His plating was warm and the hum of his spark was luring me back to sleep. I didn't realize until now how exhausted my body felt. The muscles in my chest were cramping a little. It only felt like I overworked them and the soreness would fade.
Sides grumbled and flopped back down on his back. "Meanie. You could at least let me watch. You got to yesterday." I'm sorry, what?! I thought that was kind of a onetime deal just so we could bond. Well, not entirely. Ratchet did say it wasn't need… It did feel nice, like really nice.
"And why should I let you?" There was a playful, teasing tone to Sunstreaker's tone. "She's in my grasp."
"Because you're nice? Please." Come on, Sideswipe, you know him better than that! A massive smile etched its way on my features. I loved their sibling bickering , it was refreshing in a sense.
"I'm not actually going to. We need to bring her Ratchet to check her over." The red mech groaned loudly, sounding a bit annoyed.
"Afthole, teasing me like that. But you're right." I did the same thing as Sides. It was too early and my body was too sore to deal with the medic this early in the morning. Don't get me wrong, I care for Ratchet but you know… he can be a pain sometimes. "I know, I know sweetspark. But it's for your heath. Yesterday was dangerous for you and what we did could have negative effects on your body." I knew he was right but didn't want to deal with Ratchet and his questions this early in the morning.
Neither twin would take a 'no' for an answer and began the trek across the base to the Med. Bay. More snow had fallen during the night and the snow plowers were on the job. The two didn't want to take the premade roads towards the larger hangars. Instead, they took their chances on the slippery snow.
After their second slip up that nearly ended Sides's career, I took it upon myself to make a path. While sitting onto of Sunstreaker's shoulder, I shifted the snow to clear us a straight path to the Med. Bay. Okay, okay, maybe having these powers isn't that bad.
Ratchet was waiting for us inside the Med. Bay. A grumpy look on his face greeted us. What did we do? We listened to him. "Oh, don't act so innocent, you three. I had a talk with William. Dealing with that human is getting on my nerves," Ratchet grumbled.
"I hate humans," Sunstreaker commented like he didn't have one on his shoulder. I smacked his head with a wing and mumbled non coherent words under my breath. "Not you, of course. You like to say you aren't even fully human." Dang it, he had a point there. I don't like associating myself with the humans. They were such an annoying species.
"Back to the matter on servo. How did things go? Are you any of you in pain or discomfort? Anything feel amiss or off in any shape or form?" Ratchet questioned and plucked me off of Sunstreaker's to place me on a bed. My muscles protested about being used. "Everything alright? I thought I told you guys no-"
"I'm fine! We didn't for your knowledge. I just woke sore, like after running a marathon and the muscles in my chest ache the worst," I interrupted and tried my best to keep any sign of red off of my scales. Do these guys just like to tease me? Though it does sound normal for them to talk about intercourse. For most of the human, race that wasn't the case. Our culture definitely different in that aspect.
The CMO gave me a criticizing look. "I would say that sounds about normal. Your body is adjusting to the higher amounts to spark essence fluxing between the three of you. All I need to make sure everything went fine is another blood sample and a scan." Oh thank the gods isn't like one of those horrid physicals I've read about. I stuck out my arm and turned to glare at the floor. Needles were one of my least favorite things in world but I'll suck it up and learn to live with it.
A shiver ran down my back when he took the sample. The spikes on my back rattling due to the movement. I couldn't help the short growl in the back of my throat and tried to keep it quiet.
Ratchet ran the scan, down to molecule level. Smoke curled from my nostrils, unpleased at the continuously strange feeling."From what I can gather just glancing over the data, everything is back to normal. Luckily. We don't need any more trouble to catch Lennox's attention. Be mindful around him. He trying to stick his nose where is doesn't belong." Sounds slightly like me. That's how I got myself in this mess.
"I'll just bit it off then. He'll definitely learn not to do that again, if he's smart enough," I nonchalantly stated and stretched out my limbs before deciding to stay in this form. Shifting back could cause more damage than good without the extra pair of wings. The thing that annoyed me the most was the spikes running down my spine. They made noise every time I moved, especially with flying or moving my wings in general.
Sunstreaker and Sides snorted at my comment. Ratchet sent a glare at them, though it wasn't heated. Ha, he agreed with me! "Not the time, Azar. Anyway, you three may go. I'll tell Optimus you two are fine and to be put back on rotation. If anything happens and I mean anything, comm. me or come here if you can. I don't need another statis episode on my servos."
I took to the air to help stretch the muscles out and soared out of the hangar. The twins quickly followed swiftly but were taken down by the snow and ice on the ground. Sides was the first to fall and grabbed Sunstreaker for support. The latter mech couldn't and slipped as well. I hovered above them while laughing and nearly falling out of the sky.
"And no injuring yourself!" Ratchet's voice echoed from the Med. Bay. Okay, that was the cherry on top of this hilarious cake.
"Help! I've fallen and I can't up," Sides faked and dramatically acted like he was dying. He partially flopped down again and used his hand to seem like he felt lightheaded. Sunstreaker scoffed at his idiotic brother and kicked some snow at him.
"Ah don' know abou' tha' Sides. Ah believe ya girl can easily fix tha'," Jazz's voice filtered into the cold air. My gaze snapped over to him and found Prowl standing next to him, standing real close. My ease of emotions timidly slowed as instinct told me to be wary. It's not them, only a reaction to their sudden appearance. I did leave my guard down enough not realize they had appeared until Jazz spoke up. That thought unnerved me, and left an uncomfortable feeling to buzz underneath my scales.
The mech in red glanced at me with hope and wanted me to play along. Oh, this poor, sweet mech is going to regret asking me for help. With a flick of my wrist, the surrounding snow piled on top of him. His brother was saved as he carefully steadied himself on the slippery ground. The yellow mech scooped up a ball of snow and chucked it into the pile. All of our playful sides coming out to show. There was nothing to worry about Jazz or Prowl. They were good people. You over reacted, Azar.
Sides sits up and pushes the particles into his lap then makes eye contact. "Now, that's just cold." Two snow balls went flying into his face, the second one not from me. Prowl threw it! We all stared at him in shock since he's a mech that doesn't seem to play around. But a smirk washed away the surprise. The quiet ones always have something to hide.
"What? He had it coming," Prowl defended with a shrug of his shoulders. Did he…? He just did a pun himself. "Nonetheless, I'm glad we spotted you, Azar. I suggest you go talk with Will. Just… be a little careful. He woke up on the wrong side of his berth."
My entire mood had dampened at the mention of that human. "Thanks, I guess we need to figure out how we're attacking Jasper's main base. It's going to be all hands on deck and more." Talking about that gave me an idea. We would definitely need everyone available.
"I heard about. We suspect the Decepticons are also hiding out there as they plan. Good luck, you'll need it." With that, Prowl and Jazz took their leave and headed towards the Autobots barracks. Their lack of presence completely eased the sense of being on guard. My instincts returned to their spot, ready to react at any moment to keep me alive.
Sides picked himself off of the ground and dusted most of the snow he could reach. "I have snow in places it shouldn't be." Sunstreaker groaned and smacked him on the back of the head. I curled my upper lip up in disgust at the imagine given. "What?! It's the truth. Maybe Azar can-" he got another snow ball to the face, this time by me. "Alright, alright! Primus, I'll be quiet it. Just stop assaulting me. Meanies." The bot sent strong high-spirited emotions over the bond, nearly wiping my own completely away. They were that powerful.
The sudden and large push of emotions nearly knocked me from sky. It took me a long few seconds to gather my bearings. I took off towards the hangar and cleared a path for the twins so they didn't fall, again. We made it in a timely manner. It was easily to find the soldier through the others as he leaned over Lily's shoulder. She looked to be explaining something to William. The sight of the mother reminded me of her child. Right, Jackie. If only I could give news about her kid but there wasn't any easy information about him.
The spines on my back rattled as I landed on a clear enough cat walk. William easily heard me land and excused himself to partially march over to me. It was evident enough in his stance and body language that he was pissed. Flames danced in his eyes and he crossed his arms, clearly seething.
When the man came up to me with a tablet in hand, he tried to hide his glare. "You gonna runaway to hang with those two troublemakers again since this doesn't seem important to you," he said, snarky.
Anger surge through me at his comment. I stomped a foot to be closer to him and stare down at him. "I can promise you something, William. Taking down Jasper is my main goal, even if it kills me. Don't ever question that. Now, are you going to show me what you have or are we going to continue to bicker like children," I snapped and used my extra two feet as an advantage. This human dared to question me when I've risked my hide and health to keep his soldiers safe. Unhonorable and disrespectful. I knew for a fact he wouldn't even think about questioning a veteran's personal mission. It took a lot not to grab the man by the neck and forcefully remind him of why I'm here. The twins are just an added bonus.
It worked. William stood down, not completely but close enough and handed me the tablet. With a roll of my eyes, I strolled over to free table, behind Lily, and sat down. The chair barely fitting my larger size. Sure enough. The satellite pictures showed at least the outline of the base; I knew the shape and general location, just not its exact location. If I did, I wouldn't be here. This was it. I didn't stop there and moved the image around to spot five small bases miles away from the main base. Just how I remembered.
Just seeing those five extra made me dizzy and feel more exhausted than normal. "What's wrong, Azar?" Sides questioned and skated to the railing closest to me. Comfort and worry surrounded him. His eyes held worry and concern as he tried to pick at my expression for any clues.
"We need help."
William stared confused at me. "What? I guess I can request some extra hel-"
"No, William. We need help from people who know what we are dealing with." He still couldn't figure out who I was talking about. "Jeez, William. Aztec! I'm talking about Aztec!"
"I thought you didn't want them help you. To protect them or something."
"Well, William. I can only do so much. I'm not some high powered being that easily knock down walls with a flick of my wrist. And it's not just their main base." I slide the tablet harshly towards him. He caught it and glanced down at it. His eyes widened when he saw the five other dots on the image. "Yeah. Five more bases near their main base. We attack one, they'll swarm like bees to that one and take us out. And I'm guessing they have Decepticon backup there as well. Which, sure, yeah, I can possibly handle but dealing with the super humans and soldiers? Not a chance." We were surely be doomed if we attacked now.
"Are you sure you want to bring Aztec into this? I can get some extra help from some friends."
"The more, the better. We are talking about a group that took down at least eight thousand soldiers in less than four hours. Do you want to take your chances?" The battle to retrieve me was long and devastating. So many lost for a pathetic reason: me. That foul thought completely dropped my entire mood, causing me to draw further into myself.
"No, you're right. Though, I'll see if I can cash in some favor's and bring some extra fire power. One last thing though, why were you in the Med. Bay?" I set a dangerously glare on my face, temporally reverting back the way I acted so long ago. "Ratchet made it seem like everything was fine. Were you dying or something?" His voice expressed a joking tone but I didn't take it that way.
You know what? Fine. "Yes, William. I was." That shut him up quickly. Worry grew on both of the twins' face but I reassured them with a look. The man stuttered an apology and looked really guilty. Good. "Now, if you'll excuse me." I took my leave to walk the few steps over to Lily.
Lily was looked hopeful, spirits high for any good news. It pained me to see the hope in her eyes fade away once she saw my grim expression. "I haven't found anything, which isn't too surprising. They have thousands of kids go through there every year but I do have hope once we hit Russia." That was the truth. If we find any of their data centers there, we can hopefully find anything about the kid. For the first time in what felt forever, I was hopeful, the same way she felt.
She slumped in her chair and nodded her head, crestfallen. "Thank you for actually doing something. That… that means a lot to me." Pink and gray filtered their way onto my scales, expressing my happiness and sorrow from her words. Pity trickled alongside my other emotion. I understand what she meant with my own personal experience.
"Of course. I'll report back soon." I nodded my head towards the twins to signal our departure. They returned the gesture and followed my flying form through the hangar. I couldn't deal with anymore incompetent people without killing anyone.
This morning calm and quiet today. Nothing disturbed my extra sense. This was a moment I could take a massive deep breath and relax in peace. Relaxing wasn't something I could take up everyday. It was something that was a rarity, something I had to work tiring to be rewarded for. This time around though, the twins were with me.
At thought of them, I glanced down at them to find their form's skating through the freshly fallen snow, creating their own paths. Both paying more attention to where they were heading towards; since stepping on a human is an issue on the base. A smile gracing my features at the sight them. Just seeing them brightened my mood, usually. There were instances, of course, of when it would have the opposite effect.
Our bond lively in my chest with their emotions. Everything felt a lot clearer compared to what we originally had. All I could feel from them were faint, distant emotions that barely tickled any part of me. This time around though, it was so much better.
I decided to take quick dive back down to ground level and land behind the two. Sides and Sunny spun around and faced me. Little amounts of snow being kicked up from their actions. "Sooo, what are we going to do?" Sides questioned. I shrugged my shoulders, unsure as well.
Off in the distance, some humans were making their way through the snow. Their voices carried out, being loud and obnoxious. I scowled at them, even though they couldn't see me from this far away.
"You look like you're going to set those meatbags on fire," Sunstreaker said, bringing me out of my thoughts. I scoffed and shook my head, ridding of the fallen snow collecting on top. "Come on, let's get out of this weather." He motioned for me to follow him. I stayed for a moment, eyes scanning the surrounding area for any humans close enough.
Once it was deemed clear, I trotted after him, Sides keeping pace with me. His eyes only found me once, an unknown expression on his features before he turned to look where he was going. My brows furrowed in confusion of why he looked at me like that.
Something twisted my heart, the worst thoughts spilling in to my brain. Our bond told me nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe I was overreacting. Yeah, that had to be the problem. All of this was too confusing for the simple creature to think about.
It was later in the day, the sun had already fallen hours ago, when I decided to get up. Both twins were asleep, the quietness over the bond fed into that thought. With the amount of times I've slept with them, that energy was building. I felt no need to sleep, I wasn't tired at all. To be honest, I felt ready to take on an entire Jasper base all by my lonesome if given the chance.
But that's not why I'm getting up. It has been a few days since I've taken a shower. As much as I hated taking them, since it requires me touching my body, it was a necessary thing to do. One plus side thing, I don't sweat like humans do; I have no pores to do so. The only time I 'sweat' is if the humidity is high and the water will cling to my scales. It's annoying but it can aid in my favor if fighting hand-to-hand with someone. The moisture makes grapping my scales next to impossible.
Neither twin stirred as I leapt from the double sized bed. My talons clicked against the cold concrete floor; the only noise besides the humming and breaths from the twins. With little sound, I stopped at the hangar door and waited, taking in the peaceful atmosphere. This feeling made me beyond gracious I didn't leave. I would be missing this, missing them.
A long lost emotion swirled in my chest: affection, as I stared at the two. But as the thing I am today, foul thoughts ruined the moment. With the mood ruined by yours truly, I stopped irritated out of the room and trekked through the snow.
None of the lights were on inside of the barracks I used. None should be at this hour, around two in the morning, possibly later. I halted outside the door and closed my eyes, ears focusing on any heartbeats or breaths in the hallway.
Quiet, not silent due to the soldiers at the other end. With a sigh of relief, I pulled open the door and snuck in. My eyes quickly adjusted to the even darker hallway. Outside has lamp posts to light up the humans paths, their horrible eye sight only weakening them even more.
I cringed at the over whelming scent of body odors from these males. If the opportunity ever arisen, I would use the females barracks but theirs was full. More people meant higher chance of being seen and caught. It was hard enough to move around the base and avoid the massive group of humans here; I didn't need to add more to my plate.
The door whispered a squeak when opened and closed. Once inside, I paused to listen once more. Not a peep. Even with the silence, my guard refused to bare itself. At any moment, one of these soldiers could wake up and hear me; and that wasn't going to end well if that did happen.
Inside the medium sized shower room, it had been recently cleaned. The smell of bleach and Clorox heavy and thick in the air. My upper lip curled in distaste, the odor nearly giving me a headache. I pushed onwards though and stepped over to the farthest shower from the door. A safety precaution incase someone came in here. It gave me an extra couple seconds to camouflage.
Warm water cascaded down from the spout and spattered before my feet. An ice slide down my spine as I knew what was to come next. No matter how many times or how long I do this, I will never get used to my body, including touching it.
My finger slid through the long brown, locks onto of my head. A few knots prevented me from fully combing through. I finally got my hair well combed then stepped under the hot stream of water. Steam rose up once in contact with my body. The cold weather cooling the temperature of my body, some but not drastically.
Disgust and hatred spiked through me when my shaky fingers glided against my face. An urge to puke came to me but I had enough strength to push it down. I clenched both my teeth and eyes and went as quickly as possible to get his done and over with.
When the last part of me was scrubbed down, I turned the water off and shook like a wet dog. Water droplets sprayed this way and that way. My hair dripped with liquid as I stood there for a moment, fighting off the urge to cause harm. How easy it would be to claw through my own scales. But what would the point be? That would make people be even more scared of the many, many scars covering me.
After I rung out all the water possible, I summoned all the liquid off of my body. As much as I didn't care for the cold, I prefer not to have frozen hair when going back to the twins. Then I left a couple minutes afterwards.
The former snowfall had stopped. Left in its wake was fresh snow that the snow plowers would have to deal with later. I slowly trekked through the ankle deep snow, for me that was about a foot deep. Steam rolled off my freshly cleaned scaled. The harsh difference between the two temperatures.
I finally made it back to the hangar and inputted the code for their room. The door creaked on its tracks when slid open. All of my muscles froze at the sound, of course it had to that when I got back. My gaze darted over to the twins, watching them for movement.
Sides shifted in his sleep, hand gliding over the surface in front of him: where I was originally sleeping. When he couldn't find what I believe was me, he sat up, eyes frantically searching the area; until they came to rest on my form in the door way. His entire body relaxed. "Wh… what are you doing, Azar?"
"Just went out for a little bit. I couldn't sleep," I answered and closed the door behind me.
"Anything I could do for you?" Sides shifted carefully as to not wake his brother and sat on the edge of the bed, legs hanging over. Comfort swelled from him as he gazed me. I couldn't help the smile gracing my features.
"Not really. I've been getting too much sleep lately and have too much energy built up."
A light bulb seemed to pop over his head. Sides hopped off of the berth and skated over to the just closed door. Confusion was written all over my face. "Then let's go and waste some of that energy. Sunny won't be able to join since he was patrol tomorrow morning but that won't stop us from having our fun." I raised an eyebrow.
You know what, why not? I've being lying around for too long since I've escaped; and I was in need of some good vibes. Those foul thoughts still haunted me form earlier. Let's go have some fun. "Alright, you first." His eyes narrowed in suspicion before he opened the door. I followed him out into the dark, cold, winter night.