Chapter 4
I didn't quite understand what Prowl said at first until it truly hit me. I had just spoken Cybertronian-which I had never heard before-and understood what was said to me in reply. Prowl watched me patiently, as if he was expecting me to do something rash. "Relia?" He inquired softly, his vocalizer slurring the syllables of my name together. "Hm..?" I replied. He relaxed visibly; but I could still see that he was tense. His doorwings were held above his helm like butterfly wings, signaling that he was tensed up about something. He approached me carefully and crouched down in front of me. "Relia. We think you may have somehow come in contact with the Matrix." I paused. "The Matrix? But I thought Optimus was the only one who had it? And that it was safely in his chest?" I questioned, starting to cough for a moment at the loss of oxygen. Prowl ran a finger down my back to soothe me for a moment, optics soft with emotion, then continued. "Remember when you first met him so long ago? When he kept you within his chest to keep you from getting hurt? We think you came in contact with the Matrix then and it's only just beginning to react now." He paused to let that sink in, then barreled onward still. "And as a result, Ratchet wants to keep you here, under his watchful optics, to see how you fare. I'm objecting. I want you to stay somewhere comfortable, and out of reach of Decepticon claws." Ratchet cackled at that. "She's never going to be out of their reach, Prowl. She's like a beacon of light for them to see from hundreds of miles away, now that she has a part of the matrix within her and no way of concealing its energon signature." The medic looked pointedly at Prowl, "But you know of a way to change that, even though you won't change your mind on my idea."
"That's because your idea is a violation of our code!"
"It's better than having her under our wing with nothing to hide the signature with!"
"HEY!" I yelled, intervening. Both mechs looked quizzically at me. "I don't know what you're talking about but it obviously includes me, so I demand to know!" I glared at Prowl, who took a short step back in retreat. "Ratchet is our medic; he can tell you what you wish to know." His optics hardened and he stiffened visibly as he turned and left the MedBay, leaving Ratchet to fend for himself. I glared at the medic, whose bravado quickly deflated when faced with an angry human.
"Well?" I snapped, eying the medic closely. He grumbled something in garbled Cybertronian, then returned my gaze. "Prowl wants me to make a signature concealer for you, so the Decepticons can't find you nearly as easily. But.." He trailed off, looking at me pointedly. "It isn't possible." I stiffened. "What do you mean, 'it isn't possible'? What is preventing you from doing it?" Ratchet shifted uncomfortably, transforming into his alt mode. His holoform appeared, a thin, reserved man with horn-rimmed glassed perched on the bridge of his nose but capable of severing Decepticon drones with a single swipe of his saw. I almost laughed when I noticed he was blushing (Quite furiously, too) but I was too angry to give him that. "What is it that you can't do to keep me safe?!" I growled, drilling my finger into his chest. The medic's face abruptly darkened and he grabbed my hand, forcing it down at an awkward angle. I immediately realized my actions and regretted it, painfully so.
"Because it requires that you do rather explicit actions with an Autobot!" He snapped, his face returning to its bright red color, now only a few shades lighter than my own. I blinked, all the frustration and fury from earlier gone. "W…What? You mean…I have to have sex with an Autobot?" I stuttered. Ratchet nodded, pushing his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose.
Well, this was awkward.