A/N: My lovely lovely twinbuddy thedaringplatypus has a huge investment in Rise and has penned some extras on her own. The second half of this chapter is the first of several collaborations scattered here and there in the story.
10. Apis
The night's journey wasn't far, but the headwind remained strong. My thrusters ached, but I kept silent. Starscream probably hurt as much as I did.
This resolution became hard to keep when my thrusters stuttered and the wind blew me back several astrometers.
/Starscream!/
/Land,/ he said, and we both transformed as we touched down. "Sit," he ordered. With the weight off of my landing struts, they felt slightly better. Starscream tugged my pedes into his lap, poking his fingers into my turbines.
"Hey, what—"
"Hold still and let me work. I don't have to be nice about this."
I tried not to squirm. My thrusters were sensitive.
"It's torn up," he said. "Those rocks, and then the wind… you can't fly on these."
"I have to," I argued. "We have to move on. I can make it."
"The more you try to use them, the worse it'll get," Starscream said. "They'll burn out."
"I said I can make it!" I snapped, pulling away. I was a Decepticon, not some pitiful softshell who couldn't bear some discomfort, and I wouldn't slow us down.
We continued southeast, slower than before, but my shredded turbines didn't stall again.
I'd never met a Neutral, but I'd seen them from time to time in Iacon. Prime had Neutral friends, mechs who had once been Autobots but had opted for neutrality instead.
Neutrals had faced suspicion in the wake of Axis. They hadn't declared allegiance to the Autobots, but neither had they openly opposed them. All I knew of Neutrals was that they bore no insignias and were poor. They lived in badly-constructed towns far from the Autobot city hubs.
We were definitely far from Autobot civilization now. The closest major city-state was Praxus, then Altihex. The four city-states closest to the south pole—Kaon, Tarn, Trypticon, and Vos—had been solidly Decepticon throughout the War, at the core of the Decepticon movement, and were still mostly deserted save for Neutrals seeking escape from Autobot prejudice.
It was nearly morning by the time we began our descent. Khalkon was much smaller than any city I'd seen, though it was more than the collection of ramshackle huts I'd been expecting. There was a conspicuous lack of towers and the streets were narrow. Everything looked dull and worn.
As we transformed and came in to land, the backdraft from our thrusters threw up a thick cloud of swirling dust. I cleared my vents sharply and heard Starscream coughing beside me.
"What is all this?" I asked.
"This is why I hate Tarn," he said, still coughing.
The dust settled into the gaps in my armor and irritated my circuitry. As the cloud dispersed, I saw that the town was every bit as bleak as it had appeared from above. Some early risers watched us, grim and suspicious. I was surprised to see a variety of makes and models from different regions. What amazed me the most was the rainbow of colors glowing in their optics. Though I had seen optics of unusual colors before, the overwhelming majority of mechs in Iacon had blue optics. It was the easiest way to immediately identify a bot's faction: blue for Autobots, red for Decepticons. It made sense that mechs who identified with neither faction would choose optics of neither color.
We'd landed on one of the main streets, and though it was still early, mechs were preparing for the orn ahead, blowing dust off stalls, opening shop doors, and activating signs. Others drifted towards us, their pedes raising little puffs of dust.
/What now?/ I asked over comm.
/Leave the talking to me,/ Starscream said. /Trust me./
That could be a challenge after learning that he'd lied to me for all these vorns.
"Hey there," one of the Neutrals said, politely enough. He had the trace of an unfamiliar accent. "Headin' south?"
"That's right," Starscream said. Understanding passed swiftly across the Neutrals' faces. "Been a while since we had a decent recharge. Any accommodations for the two of us?"
The first mech glanced at his neighbor, a sturdy blue-and-red groundpounder with blue optics. When he spoke, it was in a thick drawl that reminded me of Ironhide.
"I kin 'commidate you," he told us, sticking out a hand to shake. "Designation's Sidewall. I got room as long as you need. I'll give you whatever energon I've got t'spare. Young mech like him—" He nodded at me. "—can't live long runnin' on empty. I got a place fer you both upstairs. Real private-like. Ain't no one'll bother you there."
Before he could say more, a skinny protoform came running down the street, dust billowing up behind him. "Sidewall! Autobot patrol comin' in frem th' narth!"
Sidewall moved quickly towards an open door. "Hide there," he urged, gesturing into the darkness. "I'll run 'em off."
Starscream pushed me into the cool dark space and squeezed in behind me, and Sidewall shut the door. Little gaps in the door and walls let in shafts of light. Adjusting my optics to the darkness, I saw a cramped storage area. My wings twitched.
/If we're found, don't think twice,/ Starscream commed. /Take off and fly south as fast as you can. Don't stop, don't look back, just get to Kaon./
/What about you?/
/What matters is that you get to Kaon, understand?/
I heard the sound of motors. Peeking through one of the gaps, I saw the grim, dusty crowd of Neutrals facing down a full Autobot security patrol. The head of the patrol stepped forward, holding out a datapad.
"We're looking for these mechs," he said, casting a disdainful optic over the Neutrals.
Sidewall barely spared the datapad a glance before offering it back. "Never seen 'em."
The Autobot ignored him. He spoke slowly, as though he were talking to a sparkling. "There's a reward. A big pile of credits if they're turned in."
"I said we ain't seen 'em," Sidewall said, shoving the datapad towards him again. "Go look someplace else."
"They're murderers," the captain said, annoyed now. "Kidnappers. Escaped slaves. The kind of mech you don't want in your little… town."
"We ain't got no slaves here," Sidewall asserted.
"We have a Senate directive," the captain said. "We're going to search this entire settlement."
"Well, you ken take yer fancy directive an' shove it up your tailpipe, cause you ain't searchin' nothin,'" the larger mech replied, taking a step forward, followed by the rest. The Autobots looked intimidated. The captain cleared his intakes.
"You can't stop us," he said. "It's the law."
"You don't see us pokin' our olfact'ry sensors in your cities, do ya?" Sidewall asked. "You got no right to come bargin' in here like you own th' place. Now get out afore we throw you out."
"The Senate—"
"Now!"
It was amusing to watch the Autobots scrambling backwards. The captain was the last to transform. "I ought to arrest every last one of you!" he shouted.
"Ah'd like ta see ya try!" the skinny protoform yelled back, and the Autobots vanished, kicking up dust behind them. The Neutrals laughed, dispersing to their own business, and Sidewall came over to let us out. He handed over the datapad the captain had left. Starscream read it and snorted, passing it over. The faces shown were Starscream's, Skywarp's, Thundercracker's, and mine.
"Y'ain't really murderers."
Starscream shook his head. "Self-defense."
"And they didn't kidnap me," I added.
"I believe you," Sidewall said. "These days, give a mech a red insignia an' he thinks he's all high an' mighty. One time th' name of Autobot was somethin' to be proud of. Now it ain't worth slag. Ain't sayin' there ain't good Autobots. Ain't saying there ain't bad Decepticons. Just it don't mean nothin'. I warn't always Neutral… was an Autobot, once. I was jes tar'd of it all, slaves an' masters an' sich. Prime, he's th' only real Autobot left, if y'ask me."
The room tucked away above Sidewall's home wasn't large, but we fit comfortably. I fell straight onto one of the two berths.
"We both need repairs," Starscream said. "Is there someplace where we can buy parts?"
"You want Steelcrusher's place," Sidewall answered immediately. "Jes about anythin' you need, he's got. Mos' secondhand, but they repair it an' make it nice. 'Crusher's a nice fella. Good mech. Tha's the place you want. 'Ere, these're fer you."
He left a moment later. Something plunked off of the back of my helm. I turned my head to see two energon cubes lying beside me. Starscream sat on the other berth, two more cubes in his hands.
"Drink," he said. "We'll buy more later. And we could both use a decent recharge." He glanced out of the dusty window. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to stay in stasis until tomorrow. Then we can find this shop he mentioned and I'll repair our thrusters." He turned a critical optic on his wings. "And paint."
If he said anything further, I didn't hear, for I'd already fallen into recharge.
"You're sure this is it?" I asked Starscream. He cuffed my arm.
"Of course I'm sure!" he snapped back, but I suspected that he was just as lost. He pushed past me and into the shop.
"Someone'll be wit' you in a klik," a huge, hulking tank-model told us, optics burning orange in a plum face. This must be Steelcrusher; his size certainly suited the designation. He went back to haggling over what looked to me like useless bits of scrap.
I examined the items on the walls. Most appeared used, but they had been cleaned and repaired into some semblance of working condition.
"Hello!" a cheerful voice called out. A small orange mech skidded to a stop before us. "I'm sorry, I was, ah, working… in the… back…" He trailed off, gaping upwards once he'd gotten a better look at us. The appendages on his helm (handles, since he appeared to be some sort of motorcycle) perked up, then flared back down as he caught himself staring. "Sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "I've never seen Seekers this close before."
He started chatting away at Starscream, asking what we needed and suggesting different bits of merchandise. I tilted my head to the side. I'd never seen a mech of this model: tiny waist, curvy figure, wide-open face and orange optics. A large upper chassis wasn't unusual in Earth models, like Ironhide and Ratchet, but the orange mech didn't have the same bulky build and thick waist to support the heavy upper torso. His legs were curvy, too. And long.
When the little mech caught me staring, his optics lightened to embarrassed gold.
"Well, I, ah, um…" The mech trailed off, derailed by my staring. I wasn't being that rude. The cycle-bot fidgeted worse than ever, poking his index fingers together and looking everywhere but at me.
"Um, if it's heel-thruster parts you're looking for, I'm afraid we don't have a very updated selection. We don't, ah, get a lot of Seekers around here." He gave an embarrassed laugh and rubbed the back of his neck again.
"Well, then, what do you have?" Starscream asked, just shy enough of condescending that I could at least pretend he was being polite. The handlebars flicked sideways and a scowl flashed across the Neutral's faceplates, but the perfect host was back before I could be sure.
The orange mech described the parts they carried as I examined his face. The curve of his cheeks and the wide set of his optics was a popular look in Altihex, one of the wealthier city-states. Whoever this mech was, he hadn't been Sparked here in this dusty Neutral town.
But my musings were thrown off as the handles at the base of his head, right near where his crested helm met his neck, started twitching again. Back and forth, up and down, side to side and they should not be this fascinating and Starscream was snickering at me.
I glared at Starscream, who continued to smirk. The mech pulled on one of his handlebars, peeking up at us from beneath the protruding edge of his helmet.
"I'm sorry," I said, shooting Starscream a dirty glare. "You were saying?"
He perked up. And then-
"APIS!" a voice screeched from the register. The orange mech flinched, handlebars flattening back to his neck.
"Yes, Andromeda?" he asked, resigned to the worst. The mech scowling from behind the counter crooked one clawed finger menacingly. The little orange mech gave us a rather forced smile.
"One moment, please?" he asked, voice trembling with barely-restrained annoyance.
While the cyclebot crossed the shop to where the other two-wheeler waited, I glared at Starscream. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing," Starscream replied innocently. It wasn't convincing.
"Must you find everything I do amusing?" I snapped.
"When you make it so easy…"
"Aft," I muttered, looking for the cyclebot. He was arguing with the other one, though the green mech did most of the talking. Apis's shoulders were hunched nearly to his audios. I had no idea what they were fighting about until Apis's co-worker ran his optics up and down my frame with a hungry look that made me more than slightly uncomfortable. I turned up my audios and pretended to look at one of the turbines Apis had left.
"Seekers, Apis. Seekers. Why didn't you tell Steelcrusher to give them to me? You probably almost scared them away with that paintjob of yours."
Apis hiked his shoulders up even higher. "Slag off, Andy."
The green mech stiffened and squawked, "What did you call me, you little droid?"
Apis ducked a swipe. "If you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to my customers. Unless, of course, you'd like to tell 'Crusher that we lost the sale because you were jealous."
"You little toad!" the second cyclebot roared loudly enough for the entire shop to hear. Apis danced back over.
"Sorry about the wait!" he chirped, optics glowing and handlebars atwitch from his victory, not quite able to wipe the grin from his face. "So how about those thrusters?"
We ended up buying the thrusters, the turbines, and several cases of paint. Apis was haggling with Starscream over the price when the tank-form stuck his head in from the back room and told Apis to come help. Apis flashed us an apologetic smile, thanked us for our business, and left with one last covert glance.
Starscream's wings were twitching—he had something to say and wanted to say it now. The green mech slunk up to the counter and draped himself across it.
"Can I... help you?" he purred, sweeping his optics up and down. I tried to catch a glimpse of Apis in the back room. I was half-listening to Starscream's continued haggling with the new employee, but the cyclebot's transparent flirting was painful.
Apis didn't come back before we finished (Andromeda, as the green cyclebot had introduced himself, was too busy flirting with Starscream to haggle well, something Starscream took full advantage of). I didn't know why I was disappointed.
"Apis," I mused to myself as Starscream and I walked back to our temporary quarters, laden down with the parts we'd bought. "That's an odd designation."
The other Seeker nodded. "It's a constellation in the Milky Way galaxy."
I frowned. "What I didn't get was his frame." I didn't see so much as feel Starscream stop walking. "I've seen cyclebots before, but I've never seen a mech with that odd a build."
Starscream snorted in amusement and I finally turned to glare at him.
"What now?" I demanded.
"Mech?" Starscream managed. His voice rose in pitch throughout his disbelieving question. I narrowed my optics. "You thought... you thought that little femme was a mech?"
"Oh, hello again!"
Apis's cheery voice greeted me as I walked back into the shop. I thought that Starscream had sent me back here just to make me suffer, but some masochistic part of me had wanted to see Apis again (even though the rest of me wanted to curl up under a rock and deactivate).
I managed a smile, unable to meet his—no, her optics. "Hello," I told her pedes.
"Was there a problem with the parts?" she asked. How had I thought that someone with that voice and face and body, even if most of it was covered with grease and oil, was a mech? In my defense, femmes were scarce in Iacon, and Apis didn't look much like the ones I'd seen there.
"No!" I said quickly. "Not at all! It's just..." I tried to remember what I was here for. My processor seemed to be functioning below capacity. Paint! That was it, our paint. I held up one of the canisters we'd bought earlier this orn. "We got the wrong paint."
Apis grinned. "Well, that's easy enough. Just wait a klik and I'll tell 'Crusher he needs someone else to tinker with the train." She bounded to the side door and stuck her head outside to where a train car lay belly-up. "'CRUSHER!" she shouted—how could such a tiny femme make so much noise?—"I'M TAKING A CUSTOMER. GIT SOME'UN ELSE T'LOOKIT CYBERBLAST'S CART!"
"FINE!" a voice bellowed back. "FRITZ KIN FOOL WIT IT TIL YER DONE!"
"THANKS, 'CRUSHER!" Apis's handlebars flicked as she trotted over and snagged the paint canister from my hands. "What's the paint for?" she asked, leading the way to the corner stacked with more canisters.
I scanned the color chart for the shade that Starscream had specified. "We both suffered damage getting out here and Starscream's so vain that he refuses to wait any longer for his touchup."
Apis giggled and put the erroneous canister back. She pulled out a few shades of blue. "Most Decepticons we get through here are like that. They're so shabby and rundown that they hardly recognize themselves anymore."
Apis strained to reach a blue that was just out of reach. "Needless to say, most of them are escaped slaves, but... oof, slaggit, come here, you little glitch..." She went up on the tips of her pedes to reach for the can. "Most Autobots who come here nowadays are the ones who can see that this slavery thing is wrong and, oh!" She overbalanced and knocked over the canister she'd been reaching for. It dented off her shoulder and sprayed sky blue across her orange. I moved quickly, catching her before she fell and grabbing the bleeding can in my other hand before it could do too much damage.
I pulled Apis up and only then realized that I was still holding her around the waist. I let go quickly and offered her the canister.
"Thank you," she said. My faceplates heated up and I mumbled that it had been nothing. "I didn't really get a chance to properly introduce myself earlier, so..." She stuck out one blue-covered hand. "I'm Apis. It's nice to meet you." She looked at her hand and made an embarrassed sound, handlebars tucking in towards her neck. "Sorry." She began to pull her hand back, but I moved forward and clasped it, ignoring the paint.
"I'm Nova," I said. "And it's very nice to meet you, Apis."
I didn't let go of her hand right away; from the look on her face, I had a feeling she didn't mind.
Starscream was a nosy, interfering slagger.
I sulked in the background while Starscream amused himself by asking Apis about random insignificant details like the ingredients and proper application of the paint—all things he knew already, slaggit...
For a bot who lived out in the middle of nowhere, Apis had a refreshing view on things. Her explanation of the Neutrals was optic-widening, but part of the reason I'd been so enthralled was the sound of her voice and the way her optics lit up and her handlebars wiggled when she was passionate about the topic.
And then Starscream had decided to show up and be an aft. I'd grumbled about it several times, loudly, just to be sure that he heard.
I continued to scowl as Starscream made the purchase (with my credits) and ushered me out of the store. I looked over my shoulder to say goodbye, to say something, but unable to because of the smirking Seeker pushing me out with a firm hand on my shoulder. Apis stared mournfully after us.
As soon as we were clear of the shop and immersed in the crowd again, I shook off Starscream's hand with a snarl and punched him in the torso, leaving a streak of sky blue paint.
"What was that?" I snarled.
"What was what?" he asked innocently. "You were taking too long and I've already gone an ungodly amount of time in this condition."
"We already have all the paint we need! You sent me back for no reason and then barged in to buy paint we already have?"
Starscream snuck me a sly grin. "I don't see why you're complaining. After all, you got to talk to that pretty little mech."
I contemplated punching him again. In the face. "Oh, shut up about that." Starscream snickered. I might have left him behind and just lifted off, regardless of "conserving fuel" or "damaged turbines," when a familiar voice called out my designation.
"Nova! Nova, hey!"
I turned and saw the blue-stained figure wiggling her way through the tight press of the crowd. Starscream's snickering alerted me that I was grinning embarrassingly. I kicked him in the shin to shut him up.
"Hey, Apis!" I said, flinching slightly at the way my vocalizer cracked. Starscream's snickers grew louder.
She beamed at me and bounced on her pedes, rocking up to press her mouthplates against my cheek. Dumbfounded, I stared down at her, one hand pressed to the spot she'd kissed. She laughed.
"You're cute. If you're sticking around for a while, don't feel shy to stop by the shop again, okay?"
And she turned and shot off the way she'd come, transforming midstride to cut through the crowd in motorcycle form.
Though Starscream was smirking somewhere off to my left, I couldn't help but stare dazedly after the little cycle-femme.
"She said I'm cute," I murmured belatedly to myself. Starscream preened as if he had received the compliment.
"But of course," he said, already turning and walking away. "You take after me."