Athena steps into the Command Center on the lookout for Torment, needing to talk to him, but as she scans the large room for his familiar frame, there is no sight of him anywhere, only Flamestrike, who looks curiously at her. He hesitates, then seems to be about to come closer, his expression and intention impossible to read, but she leaves before he can approach her.
He is friendly in his own way, like the rest of Talon's inner circle, but he is the one she knows the least and is least comfortable around, especially when she is on her own without Torment by her side.
It is out of the question to ask Talon about Torment's whereabouts.
The Polyhexian leader is topside with everyone but Flamestrike and Torment, and Torment should have been the one to hold the fort, so to speak. But he isn't.
::Where are you, Torment?::
::Recipient does not want to be disturbed.:: A generic voice states.
-Where are you, Torment?-
No answer.
What in Primus' name can be so important that he doesn't want to be disturbed even by her?!
There is a twinge of hurt in her spark, and she refuses to let him get away with this.
When she finally finds him, he will get an audial full.
Beginning the logical places, she steps into the medical bay as the first, seeing Flux and his staff caught up in work. She waits for Flux to look up, indicating a moment's pause in his focus.
"Flux?"
He turns around and looks at her.
"What are you doing here, Athena? Everything well?" He asks, a crease of worry forming between his optics.
"I'm fine, but I am looking for Torment. He isn't in the Command Center or responding to my hails."
"I have not seen him since this morning. Have you tried on the testing range?"
"No, but I will. Thank you."
Flux resumes his work, and she leaves him to it, following his suggestion.
The testing range is empty except for a small group of frontliners and an elite she is familiar with. She has had him in a few consultations since she became the organization's resident psychiatrist.
"AT ATTENTION!" Wrangle orders when he notices her presence, his order bringing the gunfire to silence in a spark pulse and the frontliners to fold their weaponry back into their frames.
Then he walks towards her.
"What can I or we do for you, ma'am?"
"I am looking for Torment but can't seem to find him. He is not answering any of my hails."
Wrangle allows a smile as he looks down at the tiny carrier who has left her mark on their organization since she captured the spark of their future leader and moved in with them. Where the rest of the organization's leadership tends to keep a distance from the frontliners and elites when they aren't in open conflict with their enemies, Athena had purposefully sought them out, intending to get to know them all better.
And it was how he had ended up in her consultation.
She had taken time on one of her visits to talk to him, and he had opened up about the old traumas that kept him from functioning optimally when out on the battlefield. She had taken time to listen to it all, genuinely interested in knowing about what ailed him, and had offered him to come to see her on a set date and time for further talks in confidentiality.
Initially, he was furious when she, as a result of their talks where he opened up about all his traumas and how they affected him, took him off of active duty, but now he understands she did it to save his life.
Something no one had ever cared about before her.
His traumas are a severe weakness that can cost him his life in the wrong situation, and while he would do anything for his leader, even sacrifice his life to save him, it would be pointless to cast away his life for less.
Athena had made it abundantly clear that if he continued to participate in active combat, a flashback would someday cost him his life when it pacified him in a traumatic loop in a critical moment.
His world had crumpled around him because what use would he be if he couldn't fight?
Then one day, she had come to tell him Talon had found a new function specifically for him. He had stared at her in shock, and if Torment hadn't been with her, he would have picked her up and hugged her in utter gratitude.
And now Torment is eluding her?
"If you want, we can help you look for him."
She smiles her disarming smile.
"That will be of great help, Wrangle. Thank you."
"Don't mention it, ma'am. It will be our pleasure assisting you." He looks at the group of newly recruited frontliners he is training. "Right?"
They straighten with a chorus of confirmation, and the hunt is on. Their small unit works in unity to uncover the vast area of the underground stronghold as quickly as possible, turning it into a training session in teamwork as they search for their elusive high-profile target.
When they finally find Torment's hiding spot, Athena feels like killing someone. That is how furious she is.
Torment sits in deep concentration with a datapad in his lap and a digital pencil in his hand he uses to draw on it, the 3D model he is working on showing on the large computer screen the datapad is connected to. With the utmost care, he changes a defining line in the complex design he is working on, nodding in satisfaction at the final result.
Then he looks up, noticing how the hours have passed while he has been caught up in his work.
It is time to end it for today and see how Athena is doing, but before he closes down the program with the 3D model, he wants Flux's opinion.
"What do you think about it now, Flux?" He asks over his shoulder, knowing Flux will have heard him.
Flux walks into the medical bay's secluded area, studying the 3D model on the computer screen silently for a moment before coming closer.
"There is a barely noticeable discordance here, here and here. I see what you are trying to accomplish, but your fine motor skills are less precise than a physician's. If you will allow me..."
Torment hands Flux the datapad and digital pencil and watches on the screen as Flux corrects his small mistakes, making the 3D model look more aesthetically correct and cohesive.
"What do you think?"
"Perfect."
Before Flux can hand back the datapad and digital pencil, Torment hears light, stomping footsteps coming closer, and he turns around in time to see Athena circumvent the half-wall secluding the reframing station and restorative stasis-pod from the rest of the medical bay.
"So this is where you are hiding!"
His spark skips a pulse at the sight of her.
There she is, his spark's other half.
He can never get enough of the sight of her when she looks like this - when she gives into her nature and drops all her cultured politeness.
She is gorgeous in all her fury, and the look in her optics is a pure turn-on. But then he remembers she isn't meant to be there, looking back at the screen with the unfinished 3D model on visual display in panic.
No! No! No!
She isn't meant to see what he has spent weeks working on!
Only after he has finished it and is ready to present it as his spark bonding gift to her!
Promptly and in pure desperation, he cuts the energy supply to the computer by ripping out its cables, and it and the screen instantly go dark with a high-pitched warning sound.
Athena stares in confusion at Torment's highly unusual behavior, her optics looking at the now dark screen. She had been too angry to notice what had been on it.
What is he trying to hide from her?
She looks from the strangely panicking Torment to Flux, and her fury ignites anew.
"You! How could you!"
"I only did what Torment asked me to do if you came by and asked me about his whereabouts," Flux apologizes and inches away from Torment and out of the direct line of fire when Athena zeroes in on Torment again with a look that could kill.
"What in the pit is going on, Torment?!" She demands to know as Torment looks at her like a silica deer caught in the headlights.
There is no reaction for a while, but then he slumps in the chair he is sitting in and plugs the cables back into their sockets, bringing the computer and screen online again and showing her what he has worked on.
She looks at the incomplete complex 3D model of a frame on the screen, trying to comprehend what she sees. Her hand unconsciously caresses her face as she looks closer at the frame's familiar face.
Every detail on it has been meticulously cared for and considered, clearly showing how the designer sees her.
She looks at Torment, feelings warring within her.
"WHY?" She asks, requiring answers.
Why would he design a new frame for her?
It hits right at her insecurities and self-awareness.
Is she not good enough as she is?
Does he not like how she looks?
She knows she is small compared to him and that there are things they can't do together because of it, but for him to do this, to want to change her...
Seeing her stricken expression, Torment is out of the chair in a split second to pull her against him.
"It is not like that, Athena. You are perfect as you are." He explains, kissing her forehead affectionately. "You were not meant to see it yet. I had planned to reveal it as my spark bonding gift to you."
Stunned at his confession of wanting to bind his spark to hers, she files it away for later and pulls out of his embrace, still not reassured.
"But a new frame?!" She protests. "What if I don't want it?!"
"Then we won't fabricate it."
Fabricate.
He makes it sound so normal.
She looks around and recognizes the specialized equipment and the restorative stasis-pod for what it is.
Highly unethical medical experimentation with the cybertronian frame.
"This is where Flux created your new frame, isn't it?"
"It is."
It is all so overwhelming, and she takes a moment to simply think and be unbiased. To seek out her professional mental 'happy place' where she can view and consider everything, no matter what it is, from a rational standpoint without being affected by feelings and whatnot.
"You don't want to change me?" She more states than asks when she mentally resurfaces, looking at him with rational calm in her spark.
"No, I love you as you are." Torment states firmly. "All I want to give you is a frame built to withstand any danger you may face by my side and enable you to defend yourself against my enemies."
"No lethal weapons."
Torment nods at her demand.
"Only defensive ones."
It is insane for her to even consider it, but now that she understands his logic behind wanting to upgrade her frame, she can't disagree with him. Because she is painfully aware of her vulnerability in his world and the weakness she is to him.
All she needs to do to convince herself he is correct is to remember their trip to Kalis a few months ago and how powerless she felt.
The trip had been vital for her recovery process.
She needed to see where it happened, where it all started, to regain control over her life and continue her healing process.
They had flown through enemy territory after enemy territory on their way to their destination in a luxuriously furnished medium size passenger aircraft large enough to carry home all her belongings to set up a comfortable home in her new home deep underground.
Despite having enough shanix at his disposal to likely buy a small city-state, Torment is used to living with little to no comfort and sees no reason for more. But she isn't and had demanded more than that to feel truly at home. He had offered to buy everything she needed, but it wouldn't give her the comfort she needed. She needed her things, not new items.
Had she known what her demand would lead to, she would never have made it or requested to revisit where Torrent had kidnapped her. But when the negotiation with Hyperline had finished and their visit to Kalis meticulously planned, she couldn't take it back, or it would offend their host.
It was her first encounter with the underworld's politics and showed how much Torment loves her.
He had been willing to traverse his enemies' territories for her and risk his life when they landed in Kalis without protection. Even knowing Hyperline was one of the more friendly of their enemies, he was still an enemy and would have his own agenda for allowing their visit. If he decided to go back on his word, to break his promise of 'no harm', they would be powerless to do anything about it and be utterly at his mercy.
When they landed, she had seen the countless armed and heavily armored alt-modes and vehicles waiting for them, knowing there would be no going back and that this could be their death. As their aircraft got boxed in from all sides to prevent them from taking off, she panicked, and to soothe her, Torment had forced her to look deep into his calm optics and asked her to slowly count her breaths.
"Everything will be okay. You have nothing to fear." He had smiled the smile that only is reserved for her as he had reassured her and then pulled her into an embrace. "Hyperline is honorable and will keep his word."
Torment had led her to the exit door, and as it opened, she had looked out over the sheer number of enemy forces surrounding them. Her panic had risen, but Torment had been fast to quell it with a gentle kiss to her lips before he took a step down the steep stair and turned around to help her down it - confidently turning his back to all his enemies who could so easily have killed him then and there.
The moment they had solid ground under their feet, a refined sire who only could be Hyperline stepped out from the protection of his forces and walked toward them. To her surprise and initial horror, he had ignored Torment entirely and had instead stopped before her, taking her shaking hand in his as he knelt on one knee and kissed it graciously while looking at her with highly expressive optics.
"Welcome back to my territory, Athena. I am so sad to hear what happened last you were home, and I hope this visit will be far more pleasant for you." His expressive optics had briefly looked at Torment before they returned to her. "Since I haven't allowed Torment an entourage, my organization and I will step in as your protection during your stay. After all, we can't have our common enemies ruining your stay, can we?"
Hyperline had been charming and so unlike what she had imagined, only having had Talon to base her expectation on. Despite knowing what he was, she immediately liked him and felt surprisingly comfortable in his presence when her initial fear of him had been put to shame.
"Are you also going to offer assistance in helping move my things out of my apartment?" She had teased half seriously.
Amusement had glittered in Hyperline's optics at her audacious request.
"If that is what you need, it can be arranged." Then he had placed his hands over his spark in dramatic sadness. "Even if I am sad to see you go. But at least I know you will be in good hands wherever you go."
"Enough, Hyperline." Torment had stepped in, causing her and Hyperline to break into light laughter at their shared kalisian humor.
"Don't worry, Torment. I have no intention of stealing your fated love. I value my life too much to even think about doing something like that." Hyperline had reassured as he rose, and Athena had sensed the deadliness entering the previously light conversation when Hyperline dropped his courteous facade.
The charm was still there, but Hyperline had become an entirely different sire than he had been a mere second ago. She couldn't believe she had actually teased the Kalisian Mafia's leader right in front of his gathered forces. Something Talon never would have accepted from her.
They were not on a pleasure trip but potentially deadly business.
She could have ruined it all in a careless split-second.
On their way to her apartment half an hour later, her civilian alt-mode had been dwarfed by Hyperline's flashy, streamlined alt-mode in front of her and Torment's study bearcat at her back. On either side, she had had two of Hyperline's generic-looking subordinates in their armed and armored alt-modes.
-Why aren't there any enforcers?- She had curiously asked Torment.
She still remembered how they had to flee Praxus months ago and Torment's reaction. Now they had been driving down one of the main roads in Kalis in a procession impossible to miss, but there was no sound of sirens or sight of enforcers.
-Hyperline has more than half of the enforcer forces in the city-state in his pocket. The Kalisian Mafia works differently than the rest of us. Hyperline prefers not to openly get dirty hands, so his organization prey on the corruption that exists and spreads it wherever it can. He uses sensitive information and threats to achieve what we in Iacon solve by a shot to the spark. I guess you can say he is a lot more patient when it comes to reaching his goals than Talon and I.-
Hyperline had been a pleasant encounter and most likely the least dangerous of all their enemies for her to be introduced to. The Kalisian Mafia had kept its word, and they had left the city-state unharmed several hours later.
But what would have happened if Hyperline had broken his promise of 'no harm' and had taken them as prisoners?
In her current form, she would have been deadweight for Torment, unable to offer any assistance in escaping and most likely preventing him from escaping instead.
Staring up at the unfinished 3D model on the screen, she no longer sees a Torment wanting to change her but one that wants to ensure her safety as always.
"I accept your bonding gift." She says, still looking at the 3D model. Then she looks away from it and meets his optics. "But I want to be involved in the rest of the creation process. The frame is, after all, going to be mine."
Torment stares at her, looking searchingly into her optics.
"Does this mean..." He asks breathlessly, afraid to finish his question in fear of having misunderstood the intention behind her words.
He feels her hook a possessive digit into an exposed seam at his neck and lets her pull him down toward her.
"Yes." She whispers against his lips. "I want to bind my spark to yours."
Their lips meet, and Torment devours her as she devours him, his spark singing in pure unadulterated joy at her confession.
He had feared her refusal and had already accepted to live his life with her as an unbonded couple.
"Mine." He growls possessively as their kiss rapidly escalates to more and he sinks into her heat on the floor of the medical bay's secluded area, not caring if anyone sees or hears them as he passionately claims her.
"Yours." Athena echoes, welcoming him into her with a cry of pleasure.
Months later:
Torment is looking into the restorative stasis-pod, looking at Athena as she, in her stasis, generates new neurological connections in her processor to the new systems in her new frame.
A timer counts down while a loading bar slowly crawls toward 100%.
This is the first of many times she will spend in the restorative stasis-pod until everything in her new frame has integrated and works seamlessly together.
An hour pass, and finally, the timer beeps, summoning Flux to their side.
This is the moment he has waited for.
The restorative stasis-pod hisses open, and an elegant female carrier steps out.
Athena looks like herself, but everything else about her is changed.
She is still small compared to him and delicate-looking, but there is absolutely nothing fragile about her anymore.
Her frame is as durable as his now, and the defense systems under her armor enable her to free herself without his assistance, should it be needed.
Woe to those who wish to harm her; they will be in for a surprise when she turns her defense systems against them and sows chaos in their midst.
He promised her no lethal weapons and kept his promise; however, defensive weapons can take many forms and be as dangerous as weapons used for deadly purposes.
How you use them is what defines them.
Used right, her ability to transform into anyone she has seen can be more destructive than any lethal weapon in the world. But her conscience will only allow her to use it for defensive purposes, and it sits well with him.
She is, after all, his bondmate, not a weapon to be utilized.