I only own Marianne! Everything else belongs to Hasbro!


~Bonds, Hot Spot~

~Bonds, Blades~

~Bonds, First Aid~

~Bonds, Groove~

~Bonds, Streetwise~

~Bonds, Marianne/Mariposa~

"Normal"

'Thoughts'

"Comms or phone, other side"

"Bumblebee, Tones"

"Bumblebee, Comms"

"Bumblebee, Radio"


Bumblebee

We start back toward the medical bay. "So… Star Healer…"

"I'll work with you if you need it, but I'd recommend having Hot Spot around when we do."

"Right… Healing fire."

"You—How do you know about her abilities?"

I shrug. "I've been dreaming about being a bot for four years, Aid—since before I finished my EMS training the last time. I stumbled over the abilities, and…" I sigh softly. "It's exciting, really, but I think there's something more exciting around here for me than just being a fire-bending techno."

"You mean the gestalt thing."

"Gestalt thing?"

We both look up to see Hot Spot staring at us. "She—"

"I crave the closeness other people fear." I sigh at his confused look. "I was telling Aid about something from a show I used to watch. One episode had an organic gestalt from another planet, and the girl on the team told this kid that lesser being feared intimacy, meaning closeness, because there's no secrets when your very souls combine in Defensor—" I sigh and trace a line on the ground. "I've always known I wanted to be an Autobot, but…" Why the frag is this so hard? "I wanna be a Protectobot, Spot."

He blinks at me for a moment. I think I surprised him. "I'd need to talk with Optimus and my brothers…"

Aid shrugs. "She only brought it up this morning—said she'd wanted to be like us from the time she met us."

"Correction." The two look down at me. "Since I heard of you guys. I've known about Autobots since I was nine, Aid. I wanted to be a doctor at seven. I loved being a rescuer, and I can't wait to be one again. I love helping people! Hell, my favorite cartoon right now is Rescue Bots for Primus sake! I'm almost going stir-crazy myself because they're on hiatus and my DVR with its recordings is back in Indiana!"

"What?"

"I can't watch my favorite transformers rescue show—and I don't give a frag that it's made for four-year-olds. It's on hiatus, and I don't have my DVR, where I had it recorded—every episode, waiting to be watched and enjoyed over and over again. Briar's probably deleted them by now…" I shake my head. "I'm here, with the team they're based off of. I can last a few more months, at least." The two give me a look. "E-X-P-Y's, according to TV tropes. It's a character based off another. Which means…" I sigh heavily. "Even though they don't have a medic, they're based off your team—without the combining."

"They don't—"

"Air support acts as medic because of Cybertronian EMT training. There's only four." I roll my eyes at the look. "They have a bulldozer, a fire truck, a helicopter, and a police cruiser—Boulder, Heatwave, Blades, and Chase respectively."

"Blades?"

"Blades." I smirk. "Hotshot half the time, timid the other half, and just as compassionate as Aid, all the time, with a handful of reckless moments." I smile. "He and 'Wave are my favorites in that series." I can feel the fire-bot staring down at me. "I like fire trucks, and he…" I blink back tears. Seeing Ratchet's off-line optics only made it more real. "He's a lot like Ratch, personality-wise." I take a deep breath, then let it out in a heavy sigh. "Boulder loves Earth, and everything about it. You couldn't help but love the big guy." I smile. "Chase. Is worse. Than Prowl." I shrug. "Sometimes, anyway. He doesn't crash, and he knows when rules won't help, but it's still frustrating sometimes. I know 'Wave feels that way." I look up at a very confused Hot Spot. "He's the leader, just like you, but he hates rules. Chase is obsessed with them, Blades is timid, but courageous—though he doesn't see that—and Boulder doesn't really understand some things at first. All that, together…" I shake my head. "Their team dynamics are probably somewhere closer to what you've said about the Aerialbots than to you all personally." I giggle. "But they're still a team, at the end of the day, and all them—the Burns family included—they're partnered up with the family, and the youngest acts as a liaison because he's too young to be a rescuer himself—they're one big, dysfunctional family." I sigh heavily. "I'm sorry… I tend to ramble on about my "special interests"."

"Not a problem." Aid smiles down at me. "We may just have to start watching it with you, when the next season starts."

"We'd be able to start now if we had my DVR…" I shrug. "Or if we could find it on DVD. I still haven't been able to, and it's three bucks per episode. I can't justify buying them like that."


I walk over to the newly-arrived bots, doing my best to keep my personal feelings about the samurai to myself. "Glad to meet you all in person."

"Glad to be here. Who are you?"

"Marianne, or…" I think for a moment. "You can call me Mariposa, if you want. I live with Defensor."

"You can understand me?"

"Yep!" I step over to the yellow mech and hug his leg. "We'll find a way to fix you, Bee. I won't stop until I figure it out."

"You really don't have to…"

"I want to." I turn to the others. "Crosshairs, Hound, you two can go with Bee and get settled." I look up at the samurai nervously before taking a deep breath. 'He's not Lockdown. He didn't kill Ratchet. He redeemed himself the moment he joined us. Since when do I think US with Autobots?'

I step back slightly as the samurai kneels to me. "Is something wrong?"

I try and fail to blink back tears as the memories come back again, but shake my head. It's a few minutes before I find my voice. "Why did you do it?" He gives me a confused look. "Why did you lead Lockdown?"

He sighs. "I was a different mech back then…" He looks at the ground. "He killed my best friend, and injured my sensei."

I look at the ground for a moment before looking up at Drift with a knowing look. "He killed someone I looked at as family, and hurt someone whom I've tried to live up to." I step over and lay a hand on his arm. "I'll never be able to forgive Lockdown for this, but…" I look up into the gentle optics. "But I can forgive you." I look down when I feel Hot Spot and First Aid staring at me, and address the two without turning to them. "Ever since I learned he'd led Lockdown on a con mission, I've blamed him for Ratchet's death, just as much as I did Lockdown. I couldn't find it in me to forgive. Now…" I sigh softly before turning to them. "The first step to healing, in this case, is forgiveness. It took me a long time to be able to, and…if I'm allowed to be a part of Defensor…I don't wanna take that level of emotion into that. It would throw off the delicate balance you need to have, as a gestalt."

Aid kneels beside me as Drift starts for their base. "You don't know much about gestalts yet, Mari."

"I know." I sigh softly. "But I'm serious. If that level of emotion is dangerous in a drift, then it would be five times worse to have in a gestalt."

"Drift?"

The samurai glances back to us, but I shake my head, causing him to head inside. "It's off a kaiju movie. Two minds—two humans—combining their minds through a neural drift to operate these 200+ foot robots, to take down the monsters and save humanity. Taking a large amount of negative emotions into the drift means you could latch onto a memory, and you'd fall out of sync, then you couldn't operate the machine, and you'd die. I don't wanna be that to Defensor. I want healing, not vengeance." I whimper softly. "It's just…too real now, Aid. He's gone. He's really gone. We may never get him back!" I fall into the Protectobot's arms, once again a sobbing mess.

"You'll get through this." He sighs. "We both will." He sighs heavily. "It's late. I need to lock up, and you need to eat."

I shake my head. Meltdowns take what little appetite I usually have. "I'm fine."

"Mari, you've barely eaten anything since you got here…"

I look down. "'M jus' not hungry, Aid. I don' wanna force myself to, 'cause I might get sick."

"Sounds like you've done that before."

I nod. "Dizzy spells. They haven't been bad since I got here, though, so I'm not too worried. I think I've got PTSD from what Aaron did, and possibly from Ratch, though that was mainly a movie…"

"Seeing him off-line couldn't have helped with that." I shake my head. "Well, maybe I can sneak you into the cuddle pile tonight…" He glances up suddenly before setting me down. "Try to eat something. I need to talk with the others."