"Guest authorized. Welcome, Quickshadow." A nonchalant voice echoed through the entrance of the building. The hologram of Griffin Rock's first female scientist hovered before the silvery-white femme.
Quickshadow gave the hologram a small nod, signaling to it that its assistance was no longer needed.
Without another word, Elma faded away and left Quickshadow to turn off the swirling ground bridge behind her.
Her vision blurred slightly as her digits fumbled with the ground bridge's controls, her processor drifting into a semi-numb state.
Soon the swirling green vortex was gone.
She came to her senses a few seconds later, jolting her helm up when the ground bridge locked into place as it powered off.
Suppressing a yawn, she shook her helm and made her way down the long hallway before her.
She spaced out and began to wander the training center's halls aimlessly.
To say she was tired was an understatement.
Quickshadow was utterly exhausted. But her exhaustion had little to do with the 13-hour time difference between China and Griffin Rock.
She was very capable of running on a couple of hours of recharge. The problem lay in how much she exceeded those limits.
Quickshadow was trained to function in harsh environments- this included working with little recharge, so naturally, she was rather good at maintaining focus on a task even though exhaustion seeped into her processor.
But even so, she still had limits, even if they weren't normal or healthy. She had her reasons as to why she was in this state.
As much as she denied it to herself and the two other mechs she was assigned to work with, Quickshadow had been overworking herself..again.
She hadn't had a full recharge in well over a month.
There was no one to blame for her lack of rest- not necessarily. She had always been both a 'night owl' and an 'early bird'. Everyone on the team knew that.
There were some nights when she couldn't fall asleep. No matter how much she wanted or how hard she tried- her mind nagged her about any and every unfinished assignment or task she had.
She struggled with a mild case of insomnia to top it all off.
When she did have restless nights, she would volunteer to run night patrols despite already having done day patrols.
Blades and Hightide didn't question her. Quickshadow seemed to enjoy the task, and besides- who could turn on the chance to get some extra sleep? Certainly not them.
Quickshadow now found herself in the training center's energon storage area, a cube of the glowing blueish substance in the servo.
Not bothering to wonder how she had gotten there in the first place- Quickshadow brought the cube to her intake and downed the substance in a matter of seconds.
Relief came almost immediately. Her processor left its numb state, making her feel more awake.
Setting the cube down, she went out the door and continued to stroll down the hallway.
This time she didn't space out, remembering why she was here in the first place.
She was here to see Heatwave.
All the paperwork he'd been working on was complete and neatly organized.
She had finished sometime between 2 and 3 in the morning, and because of the 13-hour time difference between China and the Mainland, it was around 3 p.m. where she was currently at.
It was still quite strange but not unexpected.
The faint sound of metal clashing with metal caught her attention.
She turned on her heel and made her way to one of the training rooms down the hall.
She quietly slipped in, unnoticed by the red mech punching furiously at a tall, thick metal cylinder.
Quickshadow observed him.
She noticed his dermas slightly moving- indicating he was murmuring something under his breath.
He seemed tense- something was bothering him.
Perhaps another pointless argument with Kade? Or he was just frustrated with Optimus' unclear responses to his various queries regarding the academy.
She studied how he hit the piece of equipment. His strikes were carefully calculated- each delivered blow slightly jostled the metal beam backward.
Despite his tense state- he was still mindful of his stance.
A small smile spread on her mouth plates.
He had taken her advice.
However, it was soon evident that his metallic target didn't do much in helping him release his pent-up frustrations.
Quickshadow walked towards him, allowing her peds to click slightly along the polished flooring, making her presence known.
"Perhaps an actual opponent would prove more useful?"
Heatwave turned around to face her, barely fazed by her sudden appearance. He had gotten used to her stealthiness.
He looked down at her, fighting the small smile that tried to stretch across his faceplates. "You proposing a rematch?"
Quickshadow detected a hint of amusement in his tone. "If you're up for it." Her shoulder pads lifted in a slight shrug.
Intrigued by her proposal, Heatwave jumped down from the elevated platform he was standing on.
Quickshadow's dermas curled in a slight smirk as she positioned herself at one end of the large blue circle that had appeared on the floor.
Heatwave threw the first punch. Quickshadow dodged it easily. She ducked when he threw the second hit, opting to only block and dodge his punches instead of hitting back. She wanted him to last longer to vent as much as possible.
Heatwave noticed but didn't say anything. He just went with it.
Quickshadow caught his ped before it made contact with her chin, a soft yawn escaping her lip components in the process.
"Are you mocking me?" Heatwave looked down at her bewildered, playful annoyance glinting in his amber optics.
"Not at all, Heatwave...I'm just a bit tired." She gave him a small reassuring smile.
Heatwave immediately drew back his fist and relaxed his posture.
Quickshadow raised an optic brow, lowering her arms when she noticed he wasn't planning to strike at her again.
"Quickshadow..when was the last time you recharged?" His optics were fixed on her tired blue ones.
"..Heatwave-" she tried to dismiss the question, but Heatwave wasn't having it.
"When was the last time you recharged?" He asked firmer.
"..Yesterday." She replied begrudgingly.
"How long?" He asked sternly
"..an hour." She mumbled, optics trailing to the ground.
"Quickshadow, when was the last time you fully recharged?" He ex-vented, a bit frustrated with her.
"..." She looked away.
"Shadow.." He pleaded.
Quickshadow bit her glossa before answering.
"..about a month ago.."
Heatwave's optics widened.
"What?.. Why?"
Quickshadow unwillingly tuned him out. Her processor began swirling at the many questions he threw at her.
"Are the others making you overwork yourself?" He knew how demanding HighTide could be at times.
"Was it the paperwork--"
The red flash of Quickshadow's HDU warning lights abruptly cut him off.
Black dots clouded her vision, and her optics began to shutter.
Everything began to spin, and her servo flew to her helm.
She barely registered the warm metal she was leaning on.
Heatwave panicked. He had never seen her this worn out before.
Not seeing another option, he picked her up and began to walk out of the training arena.
Quickshadow- noticing the absence of the floor beneath her peds, tiredly met Heatwave's concerned gaze and tried to get out of his grip.
"Heatwave-..unhand me."
Heatwave only held her tighter.
He took her to his berthroom, as it was the only furnished room in the training center.
Too tired to protest anymore- Quickshadow let him set her down on his berth.
"Rest here; I'll contact Blades and HighTide."
She couldn't make out his words as the world slowly faded from her vision.
She finally allowed herself to be engulfed in the warmth of his berth sheets.
The second her helm touched his pillow- she passed out cold.
