She stayed in her room all day, only leaving to get something to eat because she figured skipping meals would be bad for the protoform.
It took Heatwave a few hours to reply, but he agreed to call her as soon as possible.
All there was left to do was wait, but as the minutes passed, she felt herself drowning in anxiety.
Quickshadow wasn't the type to get carried away by her emotions, but these hormones threw her off balance.
She heard somewhere that high-stress levels could potentially harm protoforms; she had to calm down.
Repositioning herself on her berth, she sat in a lotus position, servos open and facing up on her knees.
With her optics closed, she focused on breathing and nothing else. Calm and serene, her mind drifted off to a cherished memory.
She was back at her old espionage academy, sneaking around campus in the dead of night.
She was a lot younger then and surprisingly rash and very rebellious.
She roamed within shadows, exchanging laughter and hushes with a bot she once considered her best friend. Until...
She jerked her helm, choosing to focus on the first memory.
"..and the look on their faces when you pulled you're vanishing trick on them? Priceless." He laughed. "You have to teach me how you do that."
Her audials picked up pedsteps on the other side of the building they were walking by. "Shh! Someone's coming." She nudged him to hide.
A guard nearby swore he heard laughter and came to check, only to find a seemingly empty corner.
Quickshadow hid behind her friend; his dark gray paint job practically disappeared in the darkness.
Once the guard marched off, they busted out laughing, and this time, the guard knew he wasn't hearing things.
"Alright, who's there?"
The two scrambled for a way inside the building. A vent high on the wall caught their attention, and the gray mech was just tall enough to reach it and climb up.
"Ehem." she crossed her arms, looking at him expectantly.
"Right, right, sorry, uh..." he sputtered sheepishly, looking for a way to help her up.
They heard the guard's heavy pedsteps quickly approaching, and he didn't hesitate to crawl further into the vent.
Feeling betrayed, she hid in her own way, somehow evading the guard's flashlight, and found another way inside.
She opened her optics, dropped her servos, and returned to her regular breathing pattern.
It wasn't the best memory, but it aided in distracting her.
Her datapad buzzed on her nightstand, shattering the tranquil mood.
Swallowing her nerves, she reminded herself to breathe and answered the call.
"Hey." his tired optics lit up when he saw her.
"..Hey." she echoed, forcing any sign of worry off her face.
"You okay?" he asked, direct to the point as always.
"...I don't know." Her voice was soft, and she didn't bother lying; he'd nag her until he got the truth.
He waited patiently to hear her troubles, but she remained silent, trying to keep herself from fidgeting.
"Cody and Frankie dropped by. Wanna see them?" He changed the subject, hoping it would help her calm down.
"Yes, of course." she felt herself relax a little, a small smile thanked him, and he subtly nodded and called the two teens into his office.
Two familiar faces appeared on the screen, and judging by the twin grins they wore, they were happy to see her.
"Hi, Quickshadow!" Cody gave the camera a small wave.
"How's Cybertron? How's your mission going?" Frankie inquired.
She answered question after question, and after what seemed like the hundredth one, Heatwave intervened and stopped their interrogation.
"You two are much chattier than I remember." she laughed.
"Sorry, we just miss having you around." Cody smiled sheepishly.
"I miss you all as well." she smiled sadly. "You just started Highschool, correct? How was your first day?"
"It was pretty good. Our school is much larger, and it took me a while to memorize my schedule." Cody chuckled.
"He was late to every class for two weeks." Frankie snickered, and Cody rolled his eyes.
"Aw, I wish you could've been here for our first day." Frankie sighed. "Do you know how cool it would've been to show up in a movie car on the first day of school?"
"Hey! I drove you to school on your first day." Heatwave sputtered, crossing his arms over his windshield.
"Yeah, I know, but hello? Movie car?" Frankie rambled on.
Cody patted Heatwave's arm and gave him a small smile, apologizing on behalf of his best friend.
Quickshadow chuckled at Heatwave's dispense, earning an annoyed glare from him.
She enjoyed talking to the two teens after so long, and she completely forgot about the news she had.
It wasn't till they said their goodbyes that all her anxiety returned.
She and Heatwave sat in tense silence for a few minutes, her overthinking, trying to word her thoughts while he tried to think of some way to help her.
"I'm sorry for wasting your time like this. You probably had important things to do." she buried her face in a pillow, her thoughts were a jumbled mess, and she couldn't form a single cohesive sentence.
"You don't have to apologize, Shadow. Take your time; I'm not going anywhere," he assured her.
She glanced up from the pillow, her helm tilted in question. He rarely used the nickname, but hearing it always made her smile.
"Shadow?" her smile widened, seeing his cheeks slightly flushed.
"I think we're getting off-topic here." he huffed.
A knock on her door stopped her from continuing with her teasing. "A few agents are transferring here from another division; we're all heading to the briefing room to welcome them." Someone informed from the hall.
Quickshadow thanked the other bot for the heads-up but didn't seem to have any intention to leave.
"Don't you have to go?" Heatwave asked.
"We get a few transfers every month. I'll see them out on the field. Besides, I'd rather stay here and annoy you." she smirked.
"Lucky me," he muttered, eliciting a few giggles from her.
Their banter went on for a few minutes before she decided she'd stalled long enough.
"...Remember how I wasn't feeling well a few weeks ago?"
The atmosphere grew tense and serious. Heatwave nodded, feeling concern swell in his chest.
"I started faltering in my assignments, so I checked my internal diagnostics...and—"
"Are you alright? Did anything show up on a scan?" concern laced his voice.
She nodded and lowered her gaze elsewhere, digits fidgeting nervously.
"Is it curable?"
She chuckled, touched that he cared so much. "...It's not necessarilybad."
His faceplates scrunched up in confusion. "Then..what is it?"
She took a shaky breath, deciding to just get it over with. "...I'm—"
A blaring alarm interrupted her, and the room's lighting turned a bright crimson red.
She groaned in utter annoyance. "Frag." She frowned at the camera.
"Someone called an emergency meeting." she moved to get up. "I have to go."
"We can reschedule for next week. Would that work for you?" he offered.
"Yes, that works; sorry for all this mess."
"Again, you don't have to apologize." he reminded. "I'll talk to you later."
She made her way to the briefing room, annoyed she'd lost her chance to tell him. But she chose not to dwell on it. There was still time.
She had yet to contact Optimus and speak to her superintendent about taking maternity leave and gaining clearance to return to earth. She couldn't just up and leave.
She'd feel much calmer telling him once everything was in order.
She reached the briefing room, along with a couple of other bots who passed on being part of the welcome committee.
She stationed herself in her usual corner, scanning the room for the new additions.
There was a light blue femme, purple under the red lights, keeping to herself in her own corner, observing her surroundings much like she was doing.
She also saw a dark green mech quietly talking with some other bots. He seemed shy but started opening up quickly.
She scanned the room again; by then, everyone had arrived, and the lights had returned to normal.
Her optics caught an oddly familiar paint job, and she felt her energon run cold.
Standing a few feet away from her, an obsidian-colored mech quietly spoke with the superintendent, his furrows furrowed at whatever he was showing on his datapad.
His back was turned to her, but he resembled a bot she knew long ago, and something told her to run.
A few deep breaths helped her compose herself, and she quickly glanced away.
She fiddled with her built-in monitor, needing a distraction or a wall of suppressed anger would crumble.
A text from Heatwave sat in her inbox, and she practically punctured the screen opening it.
'I'm free next Saturday afternoon, does that work for you?'
'Yes, that's fine,' she sent.
Suddenly, she felt optics on her, and the unnerving feeling she hadn't felt for a couple of days returned.
She discreetly looked across the room and caught golden optics staring back at her. Her spark dropped to her engine, and she hoped, with everything in her, she was just seeing things.
The superintendent cleared his throat, gathering everyone's attention.
He explained an encrypted message had been intercepted during the gathering with some predeceasing news.
He went on to explain the content of the message, but Quickshadow couldn't for the life of her concentrate. She felt his optics on her the whole time, picking her apart with his gaze.
A small group was sent to investigate further and reported finding a threat considerably greater than they initially expected.
Immediate action needed to be taken, and they needed to keep a close eye on their movements.
They had a small break while other agents worked on a schedule to monitor the group of Decepticons 24/7.
She opened her built-in monitor, feigning busy to ward off the obsidian mech's optics.
But apparently, he still didn't know how to take a hint, and he walked over to trouble her properly.
The shadow overhead made her engine shift in discomfort, and she hesitated before deciding to face the bot with a steely gaze.
However, she was met with an enthralling golden gaze boring down on her, and she subtly shrunk into her corner.
Disbelieving, Quickshadow wanted to convince herself she was delirious after a week with barely any recharge, but after confirming she was very much awake and present, she froze, feeling the room closing in on her.
A quick upturn of his dermas was the confirmation she was dreading. It was really him.
He leaned toward her, enjoying seeing her shrink away. His voice was sharp with the same malice she remembered all too well.
"Been a while, hasn't it,Slipchain?"