Hello, all! So sorry for the sucky update time but i finally got this corrected and out, so yay! Enjoy!
Shout Outs!:
Cashagon
Haha, both are alive, so it's all good ;)
gwencarson126
Sorry, not soon. But i'll continue to write, so no fear, i will update!
NovaShifter15
Nah, yer cool. Same kind of thing happens to me. I know right? the chance was to good to pass up.
Aloris2.0 the great
Thank you!
Aliena was released with a well-placed warning from Knockout not overtax herself for the next few days. She wandered into the heart of Iacon where several returning bots were being told where their quarters what they could do to help in the rebuilding. Figuring that that wouldn't be too much strain, and give her something to distract boredom with, she walked over. A group was about to leave on a quick tour of where the necessities for living and rebuilding were located.
A mech a little taller than Bee but defiantly older smiled and introduced her to the group and she nodded politely. "Do you need any help here?"
The mech laughed and shook his helm, "No, we couldn't ask that of a Prime."
She internally sighed in relief that the whole debate over her position as a Prime was finally dwindling to an end but shook her helm, "It's not a problem-"
"But it wouldn't be proper."
"Proper?"
Several of the bots laughed and shook their helms while a few whispered to the new ones about her past while the mech answered, "Such a task is below a Prime, especially for low ranking bots."
She frowned, "But, wasn't the war to end factions?"
The mech looked slightly nervous but nodded, "Partly. But, please, shouldn't you be in the Political Hall with Optimus Prime to help set up the new counsel?"
She laughed, "Yeah, I don't think that'd go over well."
The mech nodded but said anyway, "Well, we cannot have you stoop to this level of serving."
"But I was helping to rebuild just days ago." She fought a glare, looking slightly hurt.
"That may be," He agreed, "but there are more bots who can work on that now. It's no longer your concern."
"But-"
"Thank you, but it would be best for you to find another job more suitable for a Prime."
They left and she watched them, hurt and angry, mostly at not understanding why. Intaking deeply she left to find Optimus.
Just like the mech said, he was at the Political Hall, a slightly heated discussion happening between the old counsel and Galvatron, Optimus mostly refereeing. He felt her enter and turned with a relieved smile that was partially strained, a silent plea in his optics.
Aliena couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped her at the sight, never having expected Optimus to be so desperate to get out of anything. They turned to looked at her as she approached and grabbed Optimus' arm, "I'll just be barrowing him for a minute…try not to kill each other—I got a good bet who'd win."
Galvatron smirked slightly while the others frowned as she dragged Optimus out.
Once the doors were closed Optimus vented for a good minute, thumb and foredidget pressed between his optics, "Thank you."
"No problem but you can repay me by explaining why no one, and I mean no one is letting me do anything to help anymore. They all just keep saying I should be here with you. What's wrong with me helping to rebuild?"
Optimus looked at her sadly. "I feared that this would happen. They still have the old system buried within them, even if they know that it's been demolished, they still silently follow it."
"Well it sucks." She hissed, anger rising again. "I want to do something besides sitting in there with a bunch of politicians that drive me insane. It's not my forte and I know that."
He nodded slowly, "I know." He vented deeply again, "We can only hope to change it with time. Just be patient."
"What am I supposed to do then? I'll be of no help here and they won't let me help out there." She jerked her helm towards the door.
Optimus shook his helm, "All I can do is offer Ultra Magnus' division."
"Patrol."
He nodded, "Until things change more, yes." She sighed and looked down. "Once the Aerialbots have recovered you will be invaluable for further patrol and scouting for good cities to start restoring."
She nodded and he turned to leave when she grabbed his arm, "Optimus, what are we going to do about my abilities? There's been more than one time where I've let them slip but thankfully the bots were focused on something else to notice…but it'll only be a matter of time before someone notices."
He hummed in agreement, "I would like to give it bit more time, everything and you are still so new, I'm not sure how they will take it."
She nodded, "Alright, thanks."
He grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss, making it last a bit before separating, putting his helm against hers, "We will figure this out, we just need a bit more time."
Angry shouting suddenly erupted from the Hall and Aliena laughed and sighed, "You better get in there before war starts, again."
Optimus nodded and left.
Aliena watched him go before turning and heading for the Patrol Base near the east end of the city, where Ultra Magnus would be.
*O*
Aliena flew overhead while Jazz and Bee drove below her. They were finishing their lap around Iacon, Jazz came in over the intercom, mainly talking to Bee, "*…So I was planning to go watch the races, heard Moonracer came back. Primus, haven't seen her race since the war.*"
Bee laughed, "*Yeah, I can't say I remember her, I was just a mechling.*"
"*Well then I'm defiantly dragging you with me.* Bee laughed. "*What do you say Aliena, comin' with?*"
"I—probably not."
"*Oh come on, live a little!*" Jazz cried jokingly.
"Sorry Jazz, I just don't feel up to it right now. Next time maybe."
"*Alright, but I'll keep pestering you.*"
She laughed, "Alight. See you guys later."
They drove in for the city while she peeled out for the Sea of Rust, heading for a familiar location. A fair ways from Darkmount she transformed and walked, not wanting to draw Predaking to her for no reason. As she entered the fortress she kept questioning why she was repeatedly draw to such a place, especially since it make her shiver every time she was near. Nothing good every occurred here.
As she made her way to the room where she found Predaking she was constantly on guard for unsprung traps or other such devises. Before long she was standing in the room, powers spreading and searching for anything of harm. Stepping around a few suspicious spots she made her way towards the back wall near the left, placing her servo against it—she could faintly feel a soft pull of long dissipated, remnant energy. Her brows creased, for her to feel anything whatever was behind the wall must have been activated not too terribly long ago.
She was so focused on finding a way behind the wall that she missed an approach from behind her.
"There is a switch on the floor at the corner."
She jumped and whirled around, blades activated.
Galvatron stood behind her and chuckled a little, "Your reflexes are good, but you should have heard my coming."
She frowned, "What are you doing here?"
He looked at her amused, "I should ask you the same thing."
She cautiously deactivated her blades and straightened, "I don't know. I just keep getting drawn back out here. Why were you following me?"
"I saw you fly for Kaon at the end of your patrol, curiosity got my better as most stray away from here like the plague."
"Hmm…guess I'm lacking common sense."
He raised a brow, amused, "I could have said the same thing before the war ended."
She watched him carefully as he neared, avoiding a few spots on the floor, "I will not harm you, you have won my respect."
Her brow arched, suspecting what he meant, "Yeah well, I wish I hadn't."
He paused by the wall and looked at her sadly, "I am truly sorry for I have done and I know there is nothing I can do to even begin to repay it. But I would like to try, I am trying."
She nodded, subconsciously gripping her scarred side as leaned down pressed the hidden switch. Part of the wall slid away revealing a dark room. Aliena searched around for the console and activated it, bathing the room in light.
Galvatron looked around before saying to her, "I had forgotten about this room until I found you here."
She barely looked at him with a silent question as she started tapping on the console. "So what was held in here? Must have been pretty valuable if you left weapons strong enough to kill Predacons here to guard it."
"Indeed, it is the Iacon data base."
She paused and looked at him, "But isn't-wasn't that on the Nemesis?"
He laughed as he brought up the main file, "Only half. The data base was so large that we could only take a fraction of what was there."
"Lucky you managed to grab the files relating to the Omega Keys." She muttered.
Galvatron looked at her with curiosity, "Ah, so you do know what they are."
"Yeah, A-3 didn't give me something without telling me what it was."
He laughed, "A-3. I haven't heard him called by that since Orion Pax…"
She rolled her optics as she looked around, "So what did you use to transfer it here? I doubt even a Cybertronian flash drive would be big enough for it."
He gestured to the console. "Everything is on hard storage. Even without power everything will be safe."
"So we just carry it out of here?"
He nodded, "It would be the best and easiest way."
She vented before kneeling down to unplug cables after it had been shut down. "Was there anything else that was in here?"
"No. Just the storage drives. Why?"
She finished unplugging the console, "Because there was remnant energy, like someone had been here recently."
Galvatron frowned. "I don't see how. Only my—"
"Only your who?" Aliena asked.
He growled, "Starscream."
She stood, worry in her optics, "He was the one who lead the Predacons here and tripped on a trap."
Galvatron glared at the door, "He no doubt escaped through this room."
She grunted as she lifted the console before Galvatron grabbed it, "We need to get this back and see what he took."
He nodded, carrying it out.
The clerk jumped when Galvatron set the console down, dropping it near the end, as Aliena grabbed the cable and looked for something akin to a power socket. He nervously walked over to the duo and asked, "I-is ther-re anything I could as-ssist with?"
Galvatron continued to reactivate the console while Aliena nodded, "Yeah, could you get Optimus down here? He might want to see this."
The clerk nodded quickly and hurried away, more than happy to fulfill the request and leave his presence.
The console onlined and the same file lit the screen. Aliena exited out of the file and began looking through several others, finding most of them coded. Galvatron leaned over and pointed out a specific file, "That was one has multiple codes and locks." She looked at him questioningly to which he only sent her a blank look, "You don't think I wouldn't have looked through the files?"
She shrugged, "Never thought about it I guess."
Galvatron nodded, "If I had known we would have Orion Pax in our midst for a time I would have brought this file with us. As it is, it is one of the largest and most secure."
Sometime later Optimus walked in to find Galvatron and Aliena pouring over a console, discussing a few things that lit the screen. To say that he was surprise was an understatement, but he also smiled at the sight. "What is it that you needed?"
They turned and Aliena nodded at the console, "Apparently what the Nemesis had was only half of the Iacon Data base. The rest is here."
Optimus raised a brow ridge, "Where was it?"
"Darkmount." Aliena answered, "In a hidden room behind the room where I found Predaking."
Galvatron smirked, "Your sparkmate has good intuition, I had forgotten about that room."
Optimus walked over to the console as Galvatron brought up a different file. He immediately recognized the typically Iacon coding along with several layers of extra coding, "What?"
Galvatron nodded at it, "Whatever this is Alpha Trion went to great lengths to keep it hidden. Though as to what it is, I do not have a clue."
Optimus nodded, curious as well, moving to the console and typing in a few commands. "It's heavily encrypted, it will take me some time to crack."
Galvatron grabbed a data pad and downloaded to file for him. "It will probably be best to limit time spent here, the counsel would not be happy to find you constantly in the Hall of Records again."
Aliena frowned, "Let me guess, it's below a Prime?"
Both nodded, Optimus adding, "Unfortunately."
As they left the sky was dipping into darkness. Galvatron nodded and left, leaving the Primes alone.
Optimus subspaced the pad and grabbed Aliena's servo, "Shall we head home?"
She nodded, "Yeah, it's getting late."
*O*
Aliena woke up to the sound of rain outside. She rolled over and grabbed the blanket, mind slipping back to that of a human as she tried to press into the wall while also curling around Aja for warmth. In reality, she pulled the metallic mesh off of Optimus while shoving his peeds off the berth.
He startled online, blinking at his half on—half off the berth state before lightly frowning at Aliena. The rain continued outside and he sighed, there would be no leaving shelter today, not until the acid rain stopped. A content hum escaped him as he laid back down and grabbed some of the mesh and pulled it away from Aliena who was laying on a wad of it.
She gripped it harder and he frowned, "Aliena, I would like some as well."
"Mine." She growled sleepily.
A playful smile broke onto his faceplates, "Only half of it."
"No, mine, all mine." She proceeded to curl up around it and Optimus chuckled.
Slowly, he reached down for her wings and started tracing them, instantly making her relax and allowing him to pull the mesh back towards himself. "You know, if you wanted me to trace your wings, all you had to do is say so."
A content purr escaped her, masking any reply she had planned.
He continued for several minutes before stopping, allowing Aliena to finally speak, "Aren't you supposed to be with the counsel this morning, again."
"There's acid rain."
"You don't sound too terribly broken up about it." She laughed.
He rested his helm on her neck, "Because I'm not."
She sat up, "Well, I guess that gives you plenty of time to work on decoding that file." Optimus pouted. Aliena turned to take a good look, blinking at the sight, "By the, I never thought I'd see the day where you'd stick out your bottom lip."
He smiled, "I never thought I'd see the day when humans could become Cybertronians."
Aliena frowned playfully and threw the mesh over his helm as she stood.
Optimus followed her out where she grabbed an Energon cube for both of them. He sat on a couch with the data pad and she handed him the cube, snuggling into his as he started decoding.
Hours ticked by and the rain didn't let up, if anything, it only increased
Aliena leaned on Optimus' shoulder armor as he set down the data pad, rubbing his optic, "I am now realizing just how out of practice I am while the old codes."
She smirked, "Hehe, well, break for a bit. Jayce and the others are calling in shortly."
He grinned at the welcomed distraction and activated the console in their room. Minutes later a transmission from Ratchet came through, his face filling the screen, "Ah, is the transmission clear?"
Aliena nodded, "Yup."
The kids filled the screen a moment later and Jayce beamed, holding a slightly mangy cat while Aja balance her front paws precariously on his shoulder, precarious for him as it threatened to topple him backwards. She was leaning over him, trying to sniff the cat while the cat kept trying to climb up to her. "Jemina! Hi, can I keep it? Please!"
Ratchet's voice echoed through the room, "No! Having one creature here is bad enough, that one really will go squish! It's puny!"
Jayce put on a pleading face, though she wasn't really sure if he was pleading with her or Ratchet, "Please! I promise I'll take care of her! She doesn't have anywhere else to go!"
Optimus stared at the pitiful creature in Jayce's hands.
"I said no!"
"Please Jem?! Please, please, please!"
"Well, I think Ratchet has the deciding vote since he's the one watching you."
Miko popped up, "Oh come on! He'd say no to having us here!" She grabbed the cat, "Look, Aja needs someone else, that's not me, to cuddle with!" Aja had jumped from Jayce's shoulder and sat expectantly at Miko's feet.
Raf sat on the ground next to Aja and stroked her, "What harm could one cat do? And she's really is cute."
Optimus finally spoke, "What is the harm on letting the, cat stay, Old Friend?"
"Primus no!" Ratchet suddenly appeared on screen, "Optimus, you can't seriously be thinking about-?"
"Why not? It might even keep Miko out of your wires for a while." A small smirk made its way up his face plates as Miko nodded vigorously and Ratchet considered.
After a lifetime he finally sighed, "Fine, fine, fine. Can't believe there's another…" His muttering died away as he went back to work.
Jack grabbed the cat and set her next to Aja who began cleaning her. He laughed before looking up, "How's the rebuilding coming?"
"Slow." Aliena shrugged, "But coming along."
Optimus nodded, "Most of Iacon has been rebuilt and preparations are being made for other cities as well. Galvatron and I are working with the old counsel to set up a new one. I believe we are nearing completion."
Miko smirked, "Where's Aliena in all this?"
"Certainly not with the counsel." She frowned, "Nah, I'm mostly just doing odd jobs…so mainly patrolling."
Jack frowned, "That's it?"
She sighed, "Apparently they still have a lot of old rules and customs stuck in their processors."
Raf frowned and Miko chirped, "Well I guess that means you get to kick rough 'con butt more often then, huh?!"
Aliena laughed with a sigh, "Yeah, I suppose it does."
Miko flashed thumbs up, "See, not all bad."
"Guess not. But we're all stuck inside today, got acid rain here."
"Oh, bummer."
Jack laughed, "I don't think Optimus thinks so."
All humans laughed before Optimus answered, "Not really. A peaceful, quiet moment from the rebuilding."
Jayce grabbed for the cat again while dodging Aja who tried to sit on him. "So what are you going to name, her?" Aliena asked.
"Haven't decided yet." Raf said.
"But we've been thinking about Sera Midnight Amber Twinkie!" Miko grinned.
Aliena and Optimus shared a confused looked as Jack sighed, "We are not naming her that."
"Come on." Miko whined, "We haven't agreed on a name yet, it's perfect!"
Raf frowned, "We'll confuse the poor thing."
"Twinkie?" Aliena finally asked.
"Yeah! At home I have a cat named Ding Dong so why not?"
She shook her head as they continued to debate the name before Optimus suggested, "Why not name her Abyss?"
The kids stopped and thought about it before looking at the pitch black cat and Jack nodded, "It fit."
Miko grinned, "I like it, sounds mysterious."
Raf nodded and Jayce squealed, "Abyss she is then!"
Aliena smiled and looked at Optimus, "Glad to know you aren't horrible with names."
He blinked and looked at her, "Why is that?"
"Because it means that I'll have some good help with names when we have kids."
Optimus only sat there in thought while the kids continued talking.
After a while the transmission ended and Aliena looked at him, "Are you ok? You didn't say much after they named Abyss, or after you named Abyss."
He looked up and held her servo, "I am just starting to come to terms with something I thought I'd never be able to have."
Aliena's optic's widened slightly as she understood and tucked her head into his chest plating, "Well, we'll have a family someday."
Optimus closed his optics and smiled, "I know, and I cannot wait for that day."
Well, a little more Optimus/Aliena fluff for y'all before we get into, well, something a bit more intense. Have a great rest of your week! Leave a review if you liked! I love hearing from y'all, it makes my day :)
