Chapter 17
Truth
Ratchet could barely tolerate Knockout's presence in his MedBay…
This was a fact that Knockout was unfortunately very much aware of as he found himself in the position of having to be patched up by the Autobot medic. They didn't say anything to one another but would occasionally glare daggers at each other whenever their optics met. Ratchet's anger was mostly due to the fact that Knockout had not even had Paradox with him for a single day and already she had been severely injured! It was thankful however when Knockout had gone to escape the Nemesis he had the wisdom to subspace some medical tools, which had enabled him to somewhat repair his injured child before she had lost too much energon. She had only roused herself to consciousness once or twice while her injuries were being tended to… And once the two had been brought back to the base Ratchet had patched up the little one before even so much as beginning to look at Knockout's injuries, not that he was complaining about that. Undoubtedly Paradox's well-being meant far more to him than his own… But still the tension was so thick in the room that it would've taken the Primes Starsaber some time to cut through it.
"She should have never gone to see you." Ratchet growled. His words succeeding in earning him a hateful glare from the red Aston Martin.
"She's my sparkling…" Knockout hissed back, his voice was deceivingly low… and it was unable to conceal his vast emotional roller-coaster of anger, stress and nearly immensurable guilt. "My protoform flesh and energon blood."
"And you have had her in your care for less than half a day and she's nearly offline!" The elder medic retaliated harshly.
"Shut up you old fool! I feel guilty enough as it is…"
"That's not enough…." It was these cruel words that caused something inside of Knockout to finally snap and he lashed out with his sharp servos, (And thankfully not his saw) and scratched several deep claw marks into Ratchets chassis. The attack startled the older mech but just before he could return the favor, Knockout backed up covering his optics with his now slightly energon stained servos. And when he slowly uncovered them… it revealed that tears of coolant were already forming and cascading down his face.
"Do you know what it feels like to lose everything?! Well I do! First I lost my mate and then I lost my sparklings! Everything I have ever loved has been torn from me!" He snarled as his tear filled red ringed optics glared into Ratchets blue ones and he could see that they were shining brightly with pain and grief. "If it wasn't for Songbird I wouldn't have known that they were still alive! But now… now that I have been given a second chance and I will not waste it! I don't care one iota about what you think, but I do know that I will do everything I can to be a good Carrier… and I have no intention of losing either of them again!" The ferocity in his tone could not begin to convey how he really felt and even as angry and as worried as he was, Ratchet couldn't help but feel pity for the former Decepticon Medic… An uncomfortable silence resumed between the two with the only sounds coming from the monitors Paradox was currently hooked up to. But just as Ratchet went to say something that would have been borderline apologetic…
"Grandpa? Carrier…?" Paradox asked weakly as she began to come around, immediately whatever animosity that was felt between the two mechs faded away as the little femme called for them.
"Yes sweetspark; I'm here." Ratchet beat Knockout to Paradox's side and picked up her small servo. Of course Knockout was still in his daughters line of sight. "Everything is going to be alright now. You're safe and sound." Paradox nodded with a small smile as she looked between her grandfather and Knockout… but suddenly her smile faded and a look of confusion took its place as she began to look around as though searching for something or someone.
"Where… where'd he go?" She quietly asked as she continued looking around the Medbay. "He said he'd stay with me until everything was alright."
Knockout blinked once in surprise, as he knew that he had been the only one with Paradox since the Vehicons had helped him escape from the Decepticon warship and she had not been conscious for that. "Who?"
"The bigger mech. You know the blue one? He was standing next to you when you were repairing me and he kept saying that everything was going to be all right." She said right before she suddenly began coughing violently, thankfully it subsided after a moment or so, however it had an obvious effect on Paradox and it became apparent that she would not be remaining conscious for much longer. Ratchet began making some adjustments to the pillows on her berth in order to make the youngling a little more comfortable. But Knockout was trying to process her words, every part of his processor was saying that she must have been dreaming, it wasn't real…
It was the only way…
Because what she was saying was not possible…
"Did this mech only have one optic?" He couldn't even believe the words left his mouth and a skeptical glance from Ratchet indicated that the Autobot felt the exact same way.
"That was the funny thing… he only had one optic when I first saw him. But when I saw him the second time he had two." Her optic lids began to droop but just before she fell back into recharge she seemed to force herself to wake back up. "Wait… he told me tell you something…" She coughed again before looking up at Knockout and Ratchet. "He said that something very bad was coming… and that… that…" The youngling never got to finish what she was saying, as recharge finally claimed her. Knockout said nothing but quietly pulled a small, warm blanket over Paradox's body and then turned to face Ratchet, his optics wide with unreadable emotions.
Both were lost for words…
Several more days came and went before Songbird regained her consciousness…
And the first thing that Song felt when she began regaining her consciousness was a crippling processor ache…
She groaned as her processor swam in a haze of pain and numbness, when it finally began to clear and Song began to regain her grasp on the world around her she was suddenly hit with the feeling that her insides were doing somersaults and she also had to fight back the feeling that she was going to purge her tank. Although after a few long minutes to nausea began to leave her and that was when she became aware of a painful sensation within her spark, almost as though it was badly bruised or something else along those lines… But it was that pain that suddenly made all of the memories of what had transpired catch up to her and her optics snapped open and she immediately shot upright!
"Moonrise! Freefall!" Unfortunately her abrupt movement caused pain to surge throughout her entire body like wildfire and she could not stifle the shout of anguish that erupted from her mouth as she curled in on herself. That was when she suddenly became aware of a strong hand on her back and the deep strong voice whispering comforting words in her audio. She looked up only to see the glowing golden optics of Predaking looking at her. "My daughters; they are-"
"Alive." He said calmly as he gently rubbed her back, right between her shoulder blades in a hopefully soothing motion. "They are alive and Orb Weaver is keeping watch over them." Almost instantly a look of relief washed over Songbirds face and she sighed and unintentionally fell forward into Predaking's arms due to her current exhaustion and weakness.
"Thank Primus…" She whispered.
"No. It was not Primus, it was you. You saved them, but you almost lost your life in the process! You shouldn't have done that! You cannot fathom how worried I was! I thought… I thought that I lost you!" He exclaimed unable to hide or even disguise the obvious distress in his voice. Songbird clearly heard it and she looked up at him, her tired optics equally surprised and confused.
"They are my children Predaking, I would have given up my life without a second thought to save them. And… I am sorry that I made you worry."
"I was beyond worried! If I lost you Song I don't know what I would do!" Predaking growled, unaware of the tears just beginning to form in the corners of his optics. But Songbird noticed them and when the first one cascaded down his face, she reached up and with a single claw wiped it away before smiling weakly at him.
"You would survive." She said softly. "You would survive and you would be the rightful King of our restored race. And I know you would be, and will be, a good King and you'll find a loving mate someday…" And she said that last part with expression became visibly saddened, something that Predaking picked up on. Not only that her words filled his spark with pain and anger.
"And where per-say do you believe that you will be fitting into this scenario?" He asked coldly. His voice hiding his growing disdain.
Songbird just blinked those large sapphire optics once as she looked up at him. "I will always be your friend. And I want you to be happy, that is obvious isn't it?"
"You are blind!" He stated flatly, his voice low but angry. "You are blind Song if you think that is what will make me happy! I…" He stopped, finally realizing exactly what he was saying. What he was right about to admit too… He swallowed, finding that the words and suddenly become difficult to say. Not because he did not mean them, but because he was afraid of being rejected. What if she did not feel the same way about him? Hard to believe that he had faced both Megatron and Optimus Prime in combat and it was admitting his feelings to Songbird that made him truly afraid. Still… he was not a coward and he knew it was now or never. "I cannot imagine my life without you by my side. Nor do I want to. I… I love you Songbird. With all of my spark…" Songs large optics went even wider when she heard this, it made her happier than she could ever express and filled her with immense sorrow all at the same time. For she knew the truth…
She wasn't good enough for him…
"You should find someone else…" She said her voice devoid of all emotion. And the look that build Predaking's optics made her want to cry. "Find someone better. You can have anyone you want, don't settle for me."
"Settle?" Predaking echoed the word in surprise. But it dawned on him just what Songbird was implying and why. "You believe that I am merely settling for you because you are the only other Predacon? No… No Songbird, I assure you that I am not settling. You are perhaps the kindest and gentlest creature I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. You are also undoubtedly amongst the strongest but not just in physical strength but in character and spirit as well and your beauty… is unrivaled." With each word Songs spark hammered a little harder in her chest. She knew that in the depths of her spark, she wanted nothing more than to be with him, to be his mate. But she shook her head…
"You should find someone without as many... complications as I have… my children-"
"In case it is not obvious already my dear Song, I have grown to love those two girls of yours. I love them and I love you." He smiled warmly when he said these words and then gently embraced the gryphon femme, holding her close to his powerful spark. A feeling of pure love and acceptance flooded through her entire frame. She wanted this, she wanted him… Although her doubts still lingered in her processor but a thought suddenly occurred to her and Songbird reached into her subspace and pulled out one of her tarot cards. Only to see that she had drawn The Fool…
"Don't be a fool Songbird. Trust your spark… and trust him, for he has earned it a thousand times over." She wasn't sure whether the voice that had just spoken in her processor was her own mental voice or something else entirely. Whatever the case it did not matter, not now. Song looked into Predaking's optics and he looked into hers, sapphire blue looking into brilliant gold… They both closed their optics and shared a deep kiss before gently letting their ornate helms come together in a very intimate moment. There are some acts that are far more ancient than kissing alone and somewhere deep within the ancient lines of genetic coding written in Songbird and Predaking this was an act of great affection and love every bit as much as kissing was.
It was only as the two pulled away did an important thought suddenly occur to Songbird and she began looking around at the unfamiliar surroundings. "Um, P.K… where exactly are we?" Yeah, kind of an important question. But before Predaking could answer, Smokescreen opened up the MedBay door and walked inside but was visibly surprised upon seeing Songbird awake.
"Oh, you're up!" He said somewhat nervously. Obviously it had come as quite a shock to everyone when the female Predacon made a seemingly miraculous recovery that even Ratchet could not explain. The old medic had checked her over several times and even permitted Knockout to look her over and offer up a possible explanation as to what happened (Only after it had been cleared with Predaking of course… to which the Dragonformer had begrudgingly agreed even if he knew the real reason of how Song had recovered. He wanted to be certain that she had no other injuries that Yue may not have been aware of and thus had not healed.) but even he had no idea as to what could have possibly saved her from off-lining…
"What do you want Autobot?" Predaking growled coldly. He still didn't like or trust any of the Autobot's, but he had taken Yue's advice and not made any threatening motions towards them. Although he was not about to agree to an alliance without getting Songbird's input on the matter. Since it was every bit as much her decision as his.
"Um… well I was kind of hoping that you could come with me to the human's infirmary? We have a bit of a situation there that we need your help with." Smokescreen explained nervously rubbing the back of his head. Immediately Songs audios perked up.
"Is that where my daughters are?" She asked urgently and Smokescreen nodded.
"Yeah… but the crazy golden spider femme that you brought with you has locked all of the human medical personnel out and barricaded herself in there and no one can get in to check on those kids. I mean Bumblebee tried… but he found out the hard way that she had booby-trapped the door and he got electrocuted… So yeah, a little help here? Please?" He made an attempt to hide the desperation in his voice, but both of the Predacon's picked up on it so easily it bordered on pathetic. So with a sigh and a groan Songbird sat up, but when she went to stand up she nearly fell flat on her face. Undoubtedly she was still weak from the whole ordeal that she'd been through and fortunately Predaking managed to catch her before she hit the ground and Song found that she had no choice but to lean on him… not that he minded.
And thus the two Predacon's followed smokescreen out of the med Bay and in the direction of the humans' infirmary where Orb Weaver and the girls were located…
Optimus Prime was starting to lose his patience…
"Really miss Orb Weaver there is no need for this!" He called through the door once again. At this point all of the Autobot's as well as Agent Fowler, June and the kids were directly outside of the infirmary's door… By this point in time Bulkhead had returned with Tripwire after having chased him for hours through the desert landscape. The young mech had finally just broken down and started crying, his spark feeling like it had been torn to pieces with his own confusion and indecision about the information he had just learned about his Carrier and Sire. But Bulkhead had just picked up the youngling and assured him over and over again that it did not matter who his Sire was, he was still Tripwire and that fact would never change Bulkheads, Miko or Wheeljack's view of him. He would always be loved by them no matter what. Reassured but still sniffling, Tripwire had followed his parent figure back to the base where they were both informed of Knockout's presence and Paradox's injury. Concerned for his sister Tripwire had immediately rushed to the MedBay to see her only to come face-to-face with his Carrier. There was a great deal of apprehension on the Tripwire's part, he did not run up and embrace the former Decepticon as his sister had done but he did start talking to him… Which is where he was now since he had ultimately refused to leave the MedBay until his sister was all right. He had been there for a few days now, quietly talking with his Carrier and getting to know him. Much to Knockouts joy… so at this point in time Knockout, Paradox and Tripwire were safely out of the way in the Autobot MedBay while these other events were taking place.
Speaking of which and returning to the situation at hand; it was needless to say this situation had spiraled out of control a long time ago when Airachnids daughter had first swiped multiple cubes of energon and scared out all of the humans from the building before locking the door and not letting anybody in. To quote June, she had been fine until something had suddenly made her snap and go crazy…
"Wrong!" Weaver snapped from within the locked infirmary. "I'm not coming out and you're not getting in!"
"Those two children in their need medical attention! Human medical attention!" June growled as she held her sleeping baby girl close. When Weaver had first started acting threatening June hadn't thought twice about wrapping up her newborn and getting the hell out of the infirmary before the shit really started getting the fan and appearently she had done so not a moment too soon!
"Don't worry about Moonrise and Freefall, they are all right. I've got everything under control." She replied calmly.
"If they try to get in, I'll rip them apart." Freefall's agitated voice resounded the room, indicating that she was apparently conscious and in a bad mood. "Weaver this thing in my arm hurts, how much longer do I have to keep it in?"
"Until all the energon in the IV line is empty." Weaver said in an obviously much more gentle tone. But at the same time it revealed that she had Freefall hooked up to an energon drip! Ratchets optics went wide with horror. He knew what energon could do to an organics body!
"Are you mad?!" He exclaimed. "You can't give energon to a human! You'll kill her!"
"Frag off…" Was her only response.
"Miss Weaver, if you did not allow us in voluntarily we will have to resort to other less civil methods." Optimus said warningly but in reality he was bluffing. The Prime was unwilling to do anything that might result in further injuring the two human girls that were in there with Orb Weaver. Unfortunately for him Weaver had a backup plan.
"If you try to do anything stupid, like trying to force your way in here… I have hidden a little bomb somewhere on this base and rigged it to go off with the flip of a switch. So go on… make my vorn!" She growled angrily. It was safe to say at this point Weaver's stress might be making her a bit irrational… and unintentionally badass… But the threat of a bomb somewhere on the base immediately kicked on Fowler's protection and damage control mode and he began ordering the base personnel to start combing the area and locate that said bomb before the crazy femme had a chance to detonate it. But just as the humans were dispersing the towering forms of Predaking and Songbird approached the gathering of Autobot's.
"My daughters?" Songbird immediately inquired the second she had laid her optics on Optimus Prime, but before the leader of the Autobots could say anything…
"Songbird is that you? Are you okay?" Weaver immediately asked capturing Songbirds full attention.
"Weaver? Yes I'm fine, but how are Moony and Freefall?"
"They're fine! Better than fine really… well, it's a bit of a funny story actually-wait, Freefall! Don't pull that IV out! No wait-!" There was suddenly the loud sounds of furniture that had presumably been piled against the infirmary door getting thrown mere seconds before the door flung open and something barreled into Songbird knocking her over! Immediately Predaking flared out his talons but just before he could grab this creature and pull it off of Song what he saw stopped him dead, in fact all of the Autobots stopped and stared at this new creature…
This small, youngling sized gryphon Predacon…
It was small but it was undeniably a femme gryphon Predacon. Appearance wise this young Predacon resembled Songbird, however there were several noticeable differences. First and foremost was its coloring, whereas Song was black and sapphire blue in coloration this smaller Predacon was sky blue and silver with a few splotches of black thrown in here in there. Then there was its tail, Songbirds came to a single lethal blade at the end whereas this new Predacon's came to three smaller razor-sharp serrated blades… Its body was noticeably not covered with enough protective armor and seemed to be mostly protoform, almost as though it was clearly not fully developed yet… But as it looked up at Songbird with its own pale blue optics and immediately Song knew exactly who she was looking at.
"Free-Freefall?" She said in a voice barely louder than a whisper and this smaller Predacon, now revealed to be Songbirds once human adopted daughter nodded as a small smile formed on her beast features.
"Mom!" Freefall said as she reared up onto her hind legs and wrapped her arms around Songs neck and held on tight as she began to sob as she found herself overcome with emotions. "Weaver said you were hurt! The Cyclops… he tried to kill Moony and me! There was nothing I could do! I'm sorry!"
"Shhh… It's alright. Everything is all right." Songbird whispered to her daughter just as Predaking managed to regain his senses and he pushed past the rest of the Autobot's and looked into the room Freefall had just come out of and where Weaver and Moonrise still were.
What he saw was a messy room that Orb Weaver had apparently ransacked as she had cannibalized varying items to make and energon drip for both of the girls. For still curled up and unconscious on her berth was another smaller gryphon Predacon that was presumably Moony. Like Freefall she appeared to be somewhat underdeveloped, less armor and more protoform, but she already followed a noticeable color scheme like her sister only hers was onyx and turquoise blue with highly pronounced splashes of amethyst present on her legs and tail. Otherwise her form looked almost completely identical Songbird. She was apparently sleeping peacefully. Weaver however looked more than a little frazzled, which wasn't all that surprising considering that she had mentally snapped some time ago. But at the same time the teenage femme had set up a small workstation where she had apparently been examining what looked like lumps of human tissue with a handmade microscope. Obviously Orb Weaver had peeled the girls covering layer of useless human skin off of them after she had discovered the growing protoform underneath and was studying it…
"What… what magic is this?" Predaking demanded.
"Yue's magic without a doubt." Songbird answered as she was unable to think of anything else that could explain this bizarre situation. And judging by how Ratchet was staring jaw open and optic twitching he had no clue what was going on either. But Weaver shook her head and cleared her throat getting everyone's attention.
"Not magic;" she said calmly taking a few steps closer to Predaking for protection, since she had undoubtedly pissed off many of the Autobot's with her actions. "I believe I know what has caused this mutation… and it was you Song. When you put them in your spark you caused them to change."
"That's preposterous!" Ultra Magnus growled. But Ratchet blinked a few times as Orb Weaver's words rattled around in his processor.
"Actually… she might be onto something with that theory." He said, earning himself several curious glances from his fellows and the humans as well, particularly Miko.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Timeout! You mean that if you put us in your sparks will turn into Cybertronians?!" She asked, completely dumbstruck.
"I don't see how that would be possible." Raf muttered. "I mean this kind of mutation would have to happen at a cellular level, how could a spark do that?"
"The answer to that is simple little fuzzy haired boy." Weaver began speaking again. "The mutation did happen at a cellular level. According to my research, organic life can be heavily influenced by radiation and a Cybertronians spark emits radiation. But it's a different type of radiation than what you're used to dealing with, it doesn't break down your DNA. The very nature of a spark is that it's the physical incarnation our soul. What has happened here, or at least what I believe, is that when Songbird put the two girls inside of her spark, their bodies absorbed this certain type of radiation as well as some of her sparks mass in order to begin the process… Thus this radiation has converted your organic DNA into our CNA, otherwise known as Cyber Nucleic Acid. The very building block of all Cybertronian life." When she finished talking, the teenage techno-organic finally noticed that everyone was looking at her as though she had just grown another head and Orb Weaver sighed loudly and rolled her optics. "Yes people I know, I am a giant nerd. Deal with it…"
"It doesn't matter." Songbird said quietly as she continued to gently pet Freefall's head and she looked down at her little one and smiled a warm smile as the faintest tears of happiness began to well in the corners of her optics. "This doesn't change anything, to me they are no different than they always have been." She meant those words with all of her being and as she held Freefall close, this sounds of Moonrise beginning to stir from her slumber were heard. Moony opened her now turquoise colored optics and yawned before stretching out her new body and the younger femme suddenly took notice that things were more than a little different than they had once been. Only her conclusion as to what it happened was something only a child as young as she was could have thought up.
"Huh… I had a growth spurt…" She muttered still sleepily before rolling over and apparently returning to her peaceful sleep. After all, Moonrise had always been completely naïve to what she had been the fact that she was human. So now her reaction to this change was so perfectly adorable and it brought a smile to Predaking's face and he fought back the urge to laugh. Weaver just smiled before she walked over to the Moonrises side and checked the IV bag with energon still in it.
"The two of them are still undergoing changes internally. While I think the worst is behind them I still recommend energon since the mutations take a lot of energy while converting their systems from organic to cybernetic."
"Miss Weaver," Optimus said recapturing her attention. "The actions you took to protect the girls are now understandable, but please tell us where the bomb you have set up is located before anyone innocent gets hurt."
The femme stopped and blinked once before smiling nervously rubbing the back of her head. "Um… I didn't really make a bomb, I was bluffing… although I did make a few adjustments to a toaster. It never was anything really dangerous. Just don't try to make toast with it and everyone will be fine." Right on cue the sound of something exploding and a fire alarm blaring reached everyone's audios…
Apparently someone had just tried to use Weaver's little bomb/toaster…
Well that's it for now! I hope that everyone enjoyed this chapter and as always please remember to Read and Review!