Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Transformers. I just play with them. I only own my OC's.
Units of time:
See Prelude
Seeker genders/family members:
See Prelude
Communication:
:: comm. link ::
- Bondmates/sparkmates -
~: creator/creation bond :~
: sibling bond :
Thoughts/memories/flashbacks/dreams
[symbiot/symbiot carrier]
Seeker Cant
= Cybertronian language = except in memories
Bumblebee talk
The next day, I got chewed out by Ratchet for going through the ground bridge. He didn't rant for too long, though. In the end he blamed it all on Seeker protocols. One confused him was that I hadn't had my Primal Heat cycle yet. It should have happened a long time ago. My sisters were split-spark twins and had theirs around the estimated time. I remember my sire saying that he matured late. The family medic said it was hereditary. Basically, I was a ticking time bomb. He only hoped that an Autobot Seeker Drake came to Earth before then or I was stuck. If I go the entire heat cycle without being Imprinted by a Drake, when the cycle ended I would be rendered sterile and unable to have sparklings. Ever.
It scared me. I had always wanted to be a carrier, ever since my brother, Brightspark emerged. He came far too early. I was about 2 to 3 centi-vorn old at the time of his emergence. When my Beta Carrier discovered that he was carrying, the palace was on edge. No one wanted him to lose this trine. Everyone was very cautious during the first stage. When the sparklets successfully broke away from Beta's spark and survived the trip into his gestation chamber and into their own spark chambers, the island rejoiced. But our celebration way short lived.
About a third of the way through the second stage, Beta's gestation chamber became pained. The cramps didn't stop, they only escalated. His mates rushed him to the medical wing in the palace, where he lost all three sparklings. I had followed them, wondering what all the panic was about. In their haste they left the medbay doors cracked open. I peaked in and heard Beta crying and Sire and Carrier trying to comfort him. The medic had his back to the doors, cleaning some tool that I couldn't identify.
Something flashed on the counter to my right. I walked over to the counter and saw a small bundle flash again. My wings were far too large at my age to hover, so I had to climb the counter to investigate. Once that hurtle was concurred, I unwrapped the bundle and me intakes hitched. There lay three incredibly tiny frames, frames that I could fit in the palm of my own tiny servo. Each frame was see-through and barely looked like a sparkling at all. I could see the inner parts that had been forming. Their spark chambers looked charred, almost as though their tiny sparks went supernova.
I saw the flash again and looked to its source and found that one of the sparklings was still alive! Its spark flashing upon occasion. I felt our sibling bond reach out to my spark and he was cold. His tiny frame shivering. I gently picked him up and supped him to my chestplates as I climbed down the counter and went over to the medic. I got his attention and uncupped my servos, reveling the clear sparkling. He gasped and asked me to give it to him. I did so, reluctantly, and hurriedly told my carrier to lay down on another berth. There was some chaos before the medic proceeded to open up my carrier and place the sparkling into her gestation chamber. If one member of the trine gets sparked, the other carrier's gestation chamber will act as thou he/she, too, was sparked. If the sparked carrier's frame rejected one sparkling, then a medic can transfer them to the other carrier's chamber, if they survive.
The sparkling survived the rest of the gestation period and emerged healthy. My sire asked me to name him. Since his spark was what captured my attention when I first saw him, I called him Brightspark. At that moment I decided I wanted to be a carrier. I wanted sparklings of my own.
Now there was a possibility of that dream being shattered. Ratchet tried to make me feel better, telling me that we didn't need to worry about it now. We'll figure out what to do when I actually enter Primal Heat. I nodded, but I wasn't convinced.
"Hey, Docbot!"
Ratchet sighed dramatically. "What is it, Miko?"
"Bulkhead needs a bridge."
Ratchet walked over to the ground bridge controls and fired up the bridge. Bulkhead emerged, clutching his head. He had gone to investigate an energon signal in Russia earlier this morning. I guess he ran into a 'Con and lost.
He sat down on a medberth and Ratchet got down to fixing his wounds. Override watched him with wide optics as he worked, eager to learn from him. I heard pedefalls behind me. Optimus and the others had gathered.
"Engaging the enemy on your own was foolish, Bulkhead."
"Breakdown jumped me." Bulkhead protested. "I knew I could take him!" He gave a pained groan. "Stay still." said Ratchet.
"But you should see the other guy, right Bulk?" Miko said with pride.
"Yeah, about that …"
"You didn't torch him?" she asked disappointedly.
"Not exactly, I-I figured you all did."
"Oh."
"When I came to, Breakdown was just, gone. I remember hearing a…copter, um … maybe it was Agent Fowler."
"Not me."
We all looked to the elevator that the humans used and an adult human with dark skin came up to the railing.
"But I have an idea who. Show me where this…'Con-napping occurred."
Ratchet turned to the monitors and pulled up the coordinates that Bulkhead was at earlier.
"This is where we picked up Bulkhead."
"The Kamchatka Peninsula in Eastern Russia. Much of it was abandoned 20 years ago when its volcano first erupted. My intel reported MECH activity there earlier today."
"MECH? You mean those, techy guy?" Miko asked.
"The very ones who know of our exist on your planet." Ratchet said gravely.
"They must've tracked one of us there." Bulkhead said.
I didn't get it. But Miko beat me to asking. "But what would they want with Breakdown?"
"What's it matter? They can have him." Arcee said flippantly.
"He can be dragged off by humans." Bee said
Bulkhead chuckled. "Dragged off by humans, ha!" he slammed his fists together. "Guess I softened him up for 'em."
Miko shook her head. "Ehh."
Bulkhead's faceplates fell.
Optimus turned to Ratchet. "Ratchet, reactivate the previous ground bridge coordinates. We will rescue Breakdown."
"WHAT!?" Ratchet asked, shrugging dramatically.
"Optimus, you can't be serious." Arcee said.
"No way!" Bee shouted.
"Can I come?" Moonracer asked.
"He's a 'Con!" Hardwire cried.
"I'm not fixing him!" Override said.
"They can melt him down for all I care! Let the 'Cons rescue their own!"
"It is unlikely that Megatron would bother with an errand of mercy."
"Ok … but this is Breakdown we're talking about." Arcee said.
"Sometimes we must rise above ourselves for the greater good."
"Oh, what's that supposed to mean?! Breakdown's gonna grateful and go all soft and join the cause?" Bulkhead asked.
"While it is unlikely that any Decepticon will choose the path of good, even they possess the potential to change."
Bulkhead growled. "I knew where this was headed!"
"By greater good, I meant human kind."
Huh?
"MECH presents a clear and present danger."
"Prime's right, 2-Ton." Fowler said. "We know MECH is obsessed with ground-breaking technology."
"Which means we cannot allow Cybertronian biology to fall into their hands."
So MECH is a threat to both our races.
"Carrier, can I go too?" Moonracer asked. Arcee hesitated.
"Moonracer, it would be best for you to remain at base. You are too young to be on the battlefield. Wing Saber and Override will be here as well."
As everyone made preparations to rescue Breakdown, Bulkhead just stood in one place with his arms crossed over his chestplates.
"Come on, Bulkhead, you've gotta go with!"
"Don't wanna." I straightened in surprise. Bulkhead was acting like a sparkling.
"Bulkhead," Optimus scolded.
"I'm sorry, Optimus, I just can't do it!"
"I support your choose."
"Wh-wh-what?!" Bulk and Miko cried.
"Given your history with Breakdown, your judgment may be clouded, and thus jeopardize the mission. Besides, the Decepticon may be in more need of a medic than another warrior."
"Looked and loaded, Optimus." Ratchet said.
I looked to Override. "Not enough field training." She groused.
"Autobots, Rollout!" Optimus said as he transformed. Everyone else going followed suit. Once they passed through the bridge, it automatically shut off.
"Fine, happy hunting." Bulkhead said grumpily. I don't think that was the response he was looking for. Miko groaned loudly as the ground bridge closed, leaving three bots and two humans. Bulkhead turned to Miko, "Uh, whad'ya say? Creature Double Feature?"
Miko looked dissapointed. "Sure."
"Wha-ho! I'm in!" said Agent Fowler excitedly.
Huh? Override escorted Moonracer into the medbay and shut the doors. When Bulkhead went to human-sized TV, Agent Fowler cleared his voicebox. Wait, humans don't have vocal processers. They're organic. I turned to him.
"So, uh, what faction are you affiliated with? 'Bots? 'Cons?"
"Neither. I'm neutral."
"Prime said as much. Just checking."
"You don't trust Optimus Prime?"
"It's not that I don't trust him, I'm just curious."
The TV flickered online and with it the conversation ended. I was disturbed by what Miko called a horror flick. Apparently humans watched horror for entertainment. I left for my chambers.
Alone. No family. All my friends were gone. The new ones I have made are either out or going their own thing. Everything reminded me of what I had lost. My spark hurt. I sat on my berth, subconsciously rubbing my chestplates. I decided to browse the World Wide Web, or internet, and see if I could learn more about the organic world. I found that the humans, of this country at least, were fascinated by death. Some of them anyway. But I discovered YouTube and quickly got lost in videos of laughing human sparklings and animals. The human race wasn't much different than us. I was so into my video clips that I didn't realize the team got back until the twins came in and told me that Bulkhead eventually got off his aft and rescued Breakdown himself. The team located Breakdown's optic that Silas, the leader of MECH, had turned into a two-way communication device. Silas vanished after Breakdown's rescue. I thanked the twins and they headed for the washracks.
Once they left, I wondered how much trouble MECH was going to cause our species. From what the twins told me, Silas treats us not as life forms, not as robots, but living technology. Both things rolled into one, which we aren't. We are autonomous robotic organisms. Living sentient beings. Not technology. Tech doesn't have tech, unless it's in holovids. I don't think we'll cross MECH anytime soon, I think they'll lay low for a bit after this.
Ok, I'm gonna try to get a chapter in here that's from somebody else's POV, but no promises. We'll see what happens. Please let me know what you think!
