The Honor in Duty
Chapter 14
Nemeses
Author's Note: Woohoooooo! Look at me, updating a month after my last update?! I'm so happyyyyyy! Hopefully you guys are too! Since real life is a thing and I'm going to be starting uni in like, literally three days, I'm not going to try and guarantee any sort of a schedule, but my hope is to get a chapter out every other month or so. But if I happen to be done with a chapter sooner, like this time, I'll definitely post it.
Review Responses: warriors fan eaten by a wolf: I already pm'd a reply to your review, but like, omg, I love you, I love this review, I'm just sooo happy :) I'm so happy that I gotta show off your review to everyone!
"You know other than the parts are people are in danger or mad at each other this story makes you want to go Aaaaaaaaaaaaa! So much there's just so many cute moments in between the characters and I'm just like, amazing!" - warriors fan eaten by a wolf
Who else agrees? I feel this way even writing it, it's all got a life of its own really and when characters decide to not get along it just shreds my heart, but most every chapter our lovely little messed up family finds a way to just make me wanna melt into a puddle of fluff.
horseg27: Sometimes you just gotta end a chapter with a group hug. And while it was a bittersweet sort of feeling of grief and support, I'm just so glad my little Terabyte has such a great support crew :)
A loud groaning sound cut through the silence, startling the small femme tucked carefully in the shadows between two consoles that hit her small stature at chest height rather than being a comfortable standing desk. The small size of her frame that so often caused her problems was, at this moment, extremely convenient.
She shuddered and tried to calm her pounding spark. Standing directly in front of her was a towering purple frame, one great mass of cool, sparkless calculations. His one optic cast a scarlet glow on the console before him, the light infringing on her precarious nook, eating at the shadows that ensured her survival.
The femme pulled her armor tighter, curling as closely into herself as she could manage, bringing up the secure line she had prepared for this mission.
/Meister…/ She cringed how pitiful the glyphs seemed, /I require assistance removing a rather unforeseen complication./
There was no reply for a klick before the mech replied, /Care to elaborate?/
Above her, Shockwave's engine rumbled with satisfaction at whatever data was on the console. After a moment, the mech tilted his helm to the side and a shiver ran down her spine as the light of his optic illuminated her nook for the briefest of moments. Luckily his attention stayed on the screen and he failed to notice her.
/Well…/ The spy failed to find words that didn't make her out to be a coward pleading for rescue. Instead, she sent her ally a snapshot of her line of sight staring up at one of the most feared mechs in the Decepticon armada. /This interruption caught me off guard./
A glyph of laughter pinged through her comms link and the femme scowled. /Look up./
Still glaring, she turned her gaze upwards to peer though the ventilation shaft conveniently located directly above her. A red visored set of optics flashed back at her, their owner's amusement etched into the sneering grin on his face.
Her frame heating with embarrassment, the little femme hissed faintly, attracting the attention of the mech she was so well hidden from.
Shockwave's frame stiffened in front of her before all of a sudden she found herself bathed in the full light of his glaring optic. The mech's engine growled as he reached down and snatched her up by her helm, his massive hand crushing the armor and stretching her finials aside.
"It would seem I have found a new rat for my latest experiment." He rumbled, observing her trembling frame with disgust. She felt a sense of dark eagerness pouring off him that chilled her spark. He squeezed her helm tighter as she squirmed, triggering a few warnings to pop up on her HUD.
/Any time now Meister./ She commed, a few glyphs of urgency slipping through before she could remove them. /Preferably prior to my demise./
/Is that an immediate order? Cause-/
/Just do it!/
She heard a groan of bending metal above her briefly before a loud crash and spike of pain washed over her consciousness as the world fell into black.
"So how weird was it to see someone who looked exactly like Optimus kicking the scrap out of you?" Trust Miko to ask the important questions in a mission brief.
Bulkhead huffed out a laugh at his charge's eager interest in the previous evening's battle. He would have to give her a more animated mission brief later. It made his spark ache knowing how much his distancing himself from her was affecting the vibrant girl's mood. She was a tough one though, finding cheer in the darkest times.
The Wrecker rubbed his neck with one servo, gesturing vaguely at the room of bruised and tired Autobots. It was a good thing that the Decepticons were still lying low after the Insecticon incident, they could all use a bit of down time. "It's a sight I won't soon forget."
"MECH's bot sure had a solid right hook though." Bumblebee moaned with an exaggerated slump of his shoulder-plating as he painted over where Ratchet had pulled a massive dent out of his abdominal plating.
Optimus' engine rumbled gently to bring them back to a more serious tone. "The question remains whether MECH will continue to function as we know it without its leader."
Bulkhead nodded his helm in acknowledgement, crossing his arms with a heavy ex-vent. The last thing they needed was more trouble from humans. The Autobots had enough to deal with watching over their shoulders for traitors.
The others may be content to let their guard down, but he'd be slagged if he was gonna leave his team wide open to betrayal. Someone had to keep their helm on straight, and if that meant the others stayed mad at him, so be it.
They'd all be thanking him when it turned out he was right.
Agent Fowler put his hands on his hips, looking down at them all from the humans' balcony. "Well here's the kicker: we sifted through the wreckage with a fine-tooth comb and couldn't find any trace of Silas."
The Wrecker's optic ridges curved into a scowl, "You blew the joint sky high, and you're saying he could still be alive?"
His scowl deepened as that femme stepped out of her corner to say her piece, "While highly improbable, Agent Fowler's concerns are not misplaced: with no body to confirm, we would be wise to stay on our guard."
The room seemed to hold a moment of solemnity for her statement before Fowler spoke up again, "I trust you boys to take care of it again if MECH throws anymore of their experiments at us. I am gonna go deal with Uncle Sam and his hounds back at headquarters."
The Prime inclined his helm, glancing over his weary team, "Understood, Agent Fowler. Recent events have made our presence here difficult to ignore. We will endeavor to help however we may from the outpost. I believe it in all of our best interests to lie low until necessity compels us to act."
Bulkhead grunted, glancing over at Miko with a grin, "You know what that means, Miko?"
Her eyes lit up and she clasped her hands together, bouncing up and down with excitement, "Monster truck rally?"
His grin widened at her eagerness. It had been far too long since he had spent quality, non-mission time out with his wild little charge. "Let's watch some guys get wrecked."
"Oh yeah!"
Next Orn
Raf pushed his glasses up on his nose and wriggled his shoulders to loosen the muscles a little before turning his attention back to his laptop. He was working on a little bit of code for the online programming college he had been accepted into a few months ago. It had been absorbing his attention for nearly a week now, keeping him busy all night long most of the time.
For whatever reason, he didn't feel the least bit tired, but he blamed that on all the coffee he'd been drinking lately. There was this new coffee shop around the corner from the school that Jack and Miko had been going to lately that made the best mochas in town. Which also happened to be where they were at that very moment.
He took a sip of his coffee and let out a content sigh. Taia tapped on his shoulder, getting a bit of white marshmallow on his sleeve to his chagrin. The younger girl swiped her wrist across her face with a grin when she saw his raised eyebrow at her messy state.
"What's this symbol mean, Raffy?"
Miko snickered at the nickname, but Raf ignored her, scooting his chair over to look at the girl's third grade math homework before he jumped into explaining.
Time went on like this for awhile until 3:27pm when Jack stood up abruptly and clapped his hands together, startling everyone at the table. Well except Miko, who kind of just glanced up blankly, pulling one earbud out so she could listen in.
"Okay guys, time to go, call your rides, let's go see how the bots are holding up."
"How come? I'm not done yet..." Taia whined, scratching her head and erasing her last answer with a sigh.
"Sorry Taia, but that's why homework is called homework. We're all leaving now."
She let out a melodramatic sigh, "Why do you get to be the boss of me?"
Jack grinned distractedly, half-occupied sending Arcee a text for a ride to the base from school, "Because I'm the adult here."
A burst of mocking laughter from Miko tore the older boy's eyes from his phone to glare at her as she snickered, "Adult. Ha! And I'm a goodie-two-shoes. You still have stuffed animals on your bed."
"There is nothing immature about respecting childhood friends." Jack responded defensively, turning to make a face at Miko and catching sight of the little teddy bear she kept strapped to her belt at all times, a mischievous grin lighting up his face. "Besides..."
He snatched the teddy off her belt – though taking care enough to unclip it properly – and dashed away, grabbing Raf's shoulders and shifting him around like a human shield from Miko's attempts to get her bear back.
"What's this? Not a teddy bear, on the waist of the oh-so-mature Miko Nakadai?"
Raf laughed, half-heartedly pushing Jack off, "I'm not a shield! She's feral!"
Taia giggled, squealing as Miko snatched her up as a hostage, dragging her out of the little café that was empty except for them anyway, yelling, "Give it back or I'll tickle her to death and you'll be held responsible!"
"Not if I tickle you to death first!"
The four of them continued this way until their guardians arrived to pick them up, breathless and rosy-cheeked from their goofing off. The whole neighborhood around them had an air of joy, the golden light of the afternoon sun making even the schoolyard look happy, warm, and inviting.
Elsewhere
Bulkhead drove along the open terrain, his engine growling as he went, scanner beeping morosely every now and then as it failed to find anything. He could have been racing with Miko right about now if it weren't for the false alarm Energon signal that he was now patrolling some random part of Texas for. Flat, bland terrain for miles with the occasional billboard mentioning something or other about steak.
Just as he was about to comm for a bridge, he noticed a faint little blip on his sensors. He shifted his trajectory towards the signal and it spiked, startling the Wrecker with its intensity.
/Bulkhead to base. Picked up a strong reading, gonna go check it out./
It didn't take long to reach the signal from where he was, which explained the strong reading. When he reached the vicinity of the blip, he flung himself up into bipedal mode with a thud, pulling out his wrecking ball and checking his surroundings. Still flat for miles, would be difficult to ambush him here.
He traced the signal a few yards forward before nearly stumbling into a giant hole drilled straight into the earth. Primus, wouldn't it be nice to have a mobile base like the Nemesis. They wasted so much time just trying to gain access to the Energon they found, not to mention actually mining and processing the stuff.
Which was why they primarily focused on commandeering Decepticon mining operations. Two birds one stone. Or however that human saying went.
"A shipment of Energon ready for pick up."
The bulky Wrecker sighed and subspaced his weapon, starting the long haul down to find out whether or not the Autobots would be able to take the shipment before Megatron came around for it. Patrols were lonely alone. He had grown accustomed to always having company on patrols, but for whatever reason even Bumblebee had been distant lately.
The angry growl that arose from that thought echoed through the drill-shaft, rumbling the already-unstable walls, making it difficult to hold his grip… that wasn't his engine. Bulkhead looked up and swore as he saw the Nemesis overhead. The ground was shaking too much for him to feel secure, but he doubled his efforts to scramble down.
His servos were not made for rock-climbing. He grabbed a protruding rock to stabilize himself as the ground rumbled again. Spark skipped a beat as the handhold crumbled in his fist and clattered to the bottom of the pit, shortly followed by his own frame.
"Scrap."
Helm collided with metal as the large Wrecker crashed atop the freshly packaged shipment of Energon, like a green bow atop a gift for Megatron himself. Moments later, the Nemesis dropped down the golden tractor beam, pulling Energon, Bulkhead, and rubble up into the core of Decepticon territory.
Proximity alert: femme approaching from 0600. Spark signature recognized: Arcee.
Classification: Autobot. Forced boot-up commencing in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
Terabyte bolted upright and sprang up to perch in a defensive crouch on her berth, optics wide, fans whirring, and blade drawn. She met optics with Arcee and sighed, sheathing her dagger and lowering her mask with a small smile in greeting.
"Good morning Arcee." The smaller femme said stiffly, her vocalizer still laced with static from her abrupt awakening. She turned her face towards the holo-image she had displayed in their room, a snapshot from her memories of the obsidian forest where she would play as a sparkling.
Arcee watched her closely, shifting her stance back to a relaxed position after having tensed when weapons were drawn. Sitting on her own berth, she vented lightly, "It's the middle of the night, Terabyte. I just got back from a patrol with Cliff. You should try to get back into recharge."
Terabyte shuttered her optics for a moment. The motorcycle was of course right. Since beginning her recharge cycle two groons ago she had only gained 4% power increase. Her recharge rate had been sluggish at best for basically the past year.
"Feel free to charge in my absence, I assure you my return will be unknown to your systems."
Perhaps isolation would ease her into a better recharge. Her frame was always on alert ever since the Nemesis. One could hardly expect her to charge in peace knowing everyone around her would love nothing more than to see her helm on a pike.
The little femme looked around herself with a vent, she hadn't really been paying attention to where she was going. It didn't particularly matter where she went really, so long as she could be guaranteed to be left in peace.
Soon enough her pedes had carried her to what had once been a missile launch pad before they repurposed it to be their bridge room and recreational area. She walked into the very center and sat down cross-legged in front of the sigil engraved in the floor.
Autobot.
This was the sigil she now allied herself to. This was the sigil she spent her whole life until two years ago trying to annihilate by any and all means.
"Would Bullwing and Tetrastar be proud of who I am becoming? Would they be proud of me if they knew all that I have done and been through to get here?"
She leaned back until her helm and back touched the floor. This cross-legged laying position probably looked strange, but she was alone and the stretch through her stiff hip joints was well welcomed. The Daiz'pq'rion dialect felt harsh on her glossa compared to the human language and Cybertronian-Standard that she had grown accustomed to using.
Her mind wandered for a few breems.
Terabyte reached up suddenly to touch the front her helm, brushing her servos softly over where Skyquake had kissed her helm that evening that they had been kept on base during the Nemesis Prime ordeal.
She had been too overwhelmed with her grief to really think about the gesture at the time, but now...
"My Spark." That was what he had called her when he was beyond anyone else's reach and she got through to him.
The memory file Arcee had shared with her previously floated to the forefront of her mind, the image of Skyquake cradling her in his arms and watching her with those soft ruby optics of his.
"Tera, I will always love you and I will always be here for you, in person or in spark…"
"I love you."
Love.
He had said it to her before, on several different occasions. Love between best friends, that's what he had always meant. She loved him too, that much was obvious, he was the only constant in her whirlwind of life. He was always there, ever since she first stepped into the Decepticon ranks. And now, twelve vorns down the road, he was still here and on the other side of the war supporting her.
As a colleague, as a fellow soldier, as a friend, her sparring partner, her trainer, her ride, her protector, her confidant. Nothing more than that.
…Right?
"Who am I kidding?" Terabyte rolled her helm against the floor to look over at the shadows behind the sofa with a suspicious glare before continuing, "Skyquake is my everything, and he's been here for me for vorns, supporting me and caring for me."
He probably meant that he loved her as a close friend, family. Like a younger sibling. She was a child compared to him. Which of course he made a point to make sure she knew that he didn't care about.
"But why would it be important that I know that he doesn't care. Friendships aren't restricted by age?"
"Are you... bonded?"
She sighed and turned her helm back up to stare at the lights above her. She imagined for a moment that each bulb was a spark, the light stretching out between them like the bonds a spark built. One flickering light in the middle of the room caught her attention and she chuckled softly. If each light was a spark then that one was hers.
Her processors wandered, randomly bringing up images of other light sources. Primus, she really needed a good 'charge and defrag.
Candles. Traditional Earth purposes for candles. Mood-lighting... romance...
I love you. I always have, and I always will. One day you'll understand what I mean by that.
Gold optics lit up with shock and the little femme bolted upright. Her spark felt like it stopped for a moment before doing backflips. The sound of her fans whirring to life filled the silent missile silo.
"Sweet Cybertron, he loves me."
Two Joors Later
"Good morning, my lady."
Her finials onlined to the sweet, gravelly sound of Skyquake's voice. Skyquake's voice.
"Oh Primus!" She bolted upright, slamming her helm into his extended hand. The femme moaned, onlining her optics. One day she'd wake up and get this order right with the optic-opening happening before the bolting upright.
Terabyte pressed a cold servo to her helm, warmth rushing into her faceplates. Her fans kicked on and she scrambled away from the massive green jet, ignoring his helping hand in favor of bouncing to her pedes on her own and clearing her vents awkwardly.
He cocked his helm at her strange behavior, "Did you have a good night's 'charge, uh, in the middle of the floor?"
Her processors and spark still rolling with the realization she'd dropped into recharge with last night, the two-wheeler chuckled nervously, her mask snapping up as her faceplates heated even more. Scrap. Literally nothing had changed, Skyquake had found her in much stranger places over the vorns. Why feel embarrassed now?
She cleared her vents, "Um, yeah-yes. Actually. The, ah, concrete is surprisingly comfortable."
When he roared with laughter at her defensive reply, Terabyte felt her armor deflate slightly, her fans kicking up a notch. Gold optics narrowed in annoyance with herself and the femme marched over to the planetary monitoring system, opening a random notification in an attempt to distract herself.
She cocked her helm at the readings showing. There was a minor rumbling at the listed coordinates, registering on their radar as seismic activity. But the records indicated that this mile radius 'earthquake' had held steady for the past groon.
"Earthquakes definitely do not act like that." The two-wheeler mumbled. Catching sight of Optimus and Ratchet approaching from the hallway, she gestured for them to come over to the monitor. "Prime, we are detecting some rather curious subterranean frequencies..."
The Prime leaned over her shoulder, followed by Skyquake doing the same on the other side, effectively trapping her. Her spark hummed happily and urged her to lean in towards the large green jet. She growled at it, earning her a raised optic ridge from Optimus.
"Of earthly origin?"
Terabyte twitched a shoulder in a tiny shrug, sending a set of coordinates over the comms, "Uncertain. I can however pinpoint the epicenter to be at approximately these coordinates."
"The coordinates at which we last encountered Megatron." Optimus noted, curiosity entering his tone.
"And Airachnid." Arcee seemed to appear out of nowhere, hand on her hip, a darkness tinging her EM field.
Ratchet glared at both of them for their clear eagerness to go investigate. "And Airachnid's insecticon. In case you both have forgotten."
Skyquake stepped forward with a wicked grin on his faceplates, cracking his knuckles in anticipation and adding to the medic's ire, "Aside from our brief encounter quickly interrupted by the Decepticons, I have not had the honor of battling an Insecticon since the Pits. I will gladly stand guard over our Prime."
Terabyte couldn't help but smile fondly at the jet's bright grin. Even if the reason for that grin was of a morally questionable nature.
"Did I hear someone say battling an Insecticon?"
Everyone turned to look at Cliffjumper, practically jogging over to where they were from the halls, having just finished his morning target-practice with Bumblebee as was their routine.
"Cause if I did, count me in!" At Ratchet's groan, the red frontliner snickered, "I mean c'mon, I've never seen an Insecticon in action before."
"A once in a lifetime experience, I'm sure." The medic grumbled, knowing nothing he said would discourage the four of them. Shaking his helm, Ratchet headed back towards his lab where Jetfire and Rafael were continuing to mull over the Synth-En equation. They were making good headway, perhaps enough to begin production within a few months. "Bumblebee, go with these idiots and make sure no one gets themselves offed."
The scout gave a happy whirl of acknowledgement. Even he seemed excited to go on a mission again, especially given he had been confined to the base ever since the altercation with MECH that had lost him his t-cog.
Optimus nodded, setting up the groundbridge and turning to Terabyte, "Remain here and keep watch, Terabyte. We may require an urgent retreat."
Bulkhead's Helm
His engine rumbled, life-En singing with the thrill of the battle. His hand and mace were caked in life-En and fluids. Armor singed so thoroughly it was difficult to tell that his paint was supposed to be green and not black. The battlefield reeked of death and residual energy from laser blasts. Hot blue flames danced over the landscape, smoke clouding over the sky with rays of the suns' light piercing through.
There was a beauty over the battlefield that he knew few mechs would share his appreciation for.
This had been a decisive victory. None of his team was badly injured, but that wasn't a surprise. They were unstoppable. They were Wreckers.
He grinned, teal optics lighting up as he caught sight of a stray mech crawling through the corpses. When the mech noticed the Wrecker looking his way, he dropped to the ground, shutting off his systems.
"Don't play dead, mech." He grunted, kicking him over so he could see the 'Con's face, "Offing you's no fun without a fight."
When he got no response, he kicked the mech again, a bit harder. "I said get up, you 'Con trashheap."
The green mech rolled his optics and picked the mech up by his chest-plates and shook his limp frame. "You got any last words?"
"Please... P-please don't kill me..." The mech coughed up a ventful of life-En, splattering it all over himself and his captor.
"Slagging-"
A massive silver hand caught his pulled-back fist before it could make its mark. The growl behind him reverberated through his singed and scuffed plating. "Bulkhead. That is enough."
He dropped the mech with a sneer as he scrabbled away with wide optics. He looked for all the world like a spooked retrorat. Teal optics turned steely as he glared at Ultra Magnus.
"We let him go now, he'll just come back." He drew his blaster and let out a warning shot in the retreating mech's direction, shifting his armor to a rebellious flare, "Y'can rest assured he won't return the favor."
Ultra Magnus loomed over him, glaring down at him in fuming silence for one long klick. "With Autobots so lacking in moral code as yourself, I do not know that we can blame them. Prejudice does not win wars."
Nemesis
Bulkhead woke with a groan, rubbing his helm, servos detecting a slight, corner-shaped indent in the back of his helm.
"Urgghhh, my helm gasket..." The large mech sat up and shoved a box of energon off his lap with a grunt, scoping out his location, "What the... the Cons' warship?"
Clambering over the boxes into the entry of the Nemesis cargo bay he was in, Bulkhead tapped his helm out of habit and opened a comm line, /Ratchet, don't ask how I got here: looong story./
Nothing.
/Ratchet? You copy?/
"Ah scrap." No comm signal, no bridge home. Guess he'd get out of here the hard way. He opened the door and stuck his helm out, looking both ways and then stepping out. The floor creaked beneath his weight and he cringed, shifting to tip-toes. "Stealthy... Stealthy..."
He frowned at himself. Whispering to himself probably wasn't earning him any stealth points. "Fr-"
Movement caught his optics and he froze, arms raised and one leg in the air, posed in his best attempt at stealth, "Starscream?!"
The scrawny Seeker squeaked in surprise, pulling up into a standing fetal position, then both mechs shook out of their shock to shift into a defensive stance, drawing weapons.
Starscream cleared his vents, flicking his wings at the indignity and drawling, "Why is it... That every time I return to my old stomping grounds..." He emphasized that point proudly. He had been second in command after all. "I find an Autobot roaming the halls?"
Bulkhead huffed, bouncing his mace to fight the itch to skip the chit chat and just scrap the pompous idiot of a seeker. "Don't tell me you came crawling back to Megatron."
"Hardly," The silver flyer scoffed, waving his hand as if to bat the thought away, "Now, out of my way."
The Wrecker sighed, transforming his mace back into a hand as gesture of goodwill, "Scream, you gotta show me a way off this boat."
"Sorry, too busy."
A growl rose from the Wrecker's engine, "Look, when you needed help-"
Starscream hissed at him, taking a step forward to thrust a sharp servo in his face-plate, "As I recall, we bartered." He sneered, giving a longsuffering sigh, "So unless you have something to offer me: step aside."
The green mech snarled, shoving Starscream forward with enough force that the Seeker fell to one knee to catch himself before springing up with another hiss as Bulkhead spat, "The exit. NOW."
His demanding tone brought a steely determination to the seeker's expression. "I may have given Arcee a free pass when she and I last met, but I won't hesitate to skewer you as I did a certain Wrecker... What was his name? Rotorstorm?"
A flash of silver crossed his vision and Bulkhead grunted as his chestplates stung. He looked down at the four claw marks torn through his armor. The Wrecker smirked slightly; it'd take more than that to skewer this Wrecker. He glared at his opponent.
"Perish Bulkhead." Starscream spat, bending down to charge again.
Bulkhead braced himself, holding his arms back as though to tackle the Seeker. As the silver mech darted towards him again, the Wrecker drew his mace, feinted to the side and slammed his mace into the flier's wing-cons, sending Starscream face-first into the wall to land on his wings with a nasty crunch.
Not waiting for the Seeker to recover himself, Bulkhead pounced, pinning the mech to the ground so he couldn't struggle and raising his mace with a snarl.
"This!" Mace collided with silver armor. "Is for Rotorstorm."
Crash.
"For Bumblebee!"
Crash.
"For everything!"
Crash.
Bulkhead raised the mace again with a growl only to pause as he saw the light fade from the crushed optics. Gnarled, shattered silver armor faded to gunmetal gray as the spark gave out. Life-En leaked from every crevice in the Seeker's upper body.
The Wrecker stood up, his spark clenching tight for a moment at the sight before he rolled his shoulders and rumbled, "You left me no choice."