Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, only my OCs and this story (as well as the image of Atalanta).

Chapter 8

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one'." - C.S. Lewis

"'Curiosity killed the cat,' Fesgao remarked, his dark eyes unreadable.
Aly rolled her eyes. Why did everyone say that to her? 'People always forget the rest of the saying,' she complained. 'And satisfaction brought it back.'"
― Tamora Pierce, Trickster's Choice

Considering that this was the first sleep she had had on earth that hadn't been an emergency stasis hibernation, Atalanta felt vastly dead.

Apparently, she was still as paranoid and edgy as ever, a trait she had grown to learn on the Captain's ship where no one was bothered about where the meat rations came from.

And just her luck, it seemed the xenos had the same woe as she did, because of course it was the bug's fault.

Damn that parasite's coding!

Every time sleep seemed imminent, harsh grating sounds from footsteps in a distant corridor, the buzzing of voices outside on and landing concrete and the minuscule choosing of air passing by a negligible gap in the metal of her door that even her optics couldn't see.

Because of course, when one is deprived of sleep and delirious enough, one must check this for themselves.

The single blissful 36 minutes of recharge left Atalanta to wake up in a bundle by her door, face pressed against it. When she opened her optic, it automatically focused on the point she had been staring at before. In her pitiful state, she kept looking unblinkingly for another 21 minutes, before concluding that that was all the shut eye she could give in to.

It was 4 hours before dawn.

Atalanta stretched against the floor, her tail creaking and straightening with her back.

The walls still existed, sadly. In that, 'too blank to even be considered dead' grey tone that made her so. Fucking. Angry!

Her claws retracted, armour flaring out as she shrieked and attacked every spot she could reach. Each wall gave in like butter, the cuts so easy there was barely a cry of metal on metal. Atalanta caught sight of the ceiling. Infuriated that it still gazed back untouched, she leapt up and crawled along it, ripping and shredding until large tears revealed an unpainted, coffee stain shaded layer of concrete. Several wires gleamed back in the dim light, spared for their polymer brightness and obvious necessity.

The furniture had been toppled over, but was fairly intact.

Atalanta was by no means domestically inclined to clean, but boredom changes a person, bots included. She set them upright like she had been computed to, changing their original positions defiantly against no particular authority in mind.

And then it occurred to her that technically, she wasn't in a prison cell any more.

The door loomed in front of her, cowering as if it expected to be attacked like the rest of the local enviromnent. However all that happened was a single claw gently tapping in to the security pad. With a sigh, it whooshed open and closed behind her with the resolute silence of the abandoned corridor.

Just under 3 hours till dawn.

With no particular direction in mind (other than logging in restrictions to warn her away from all roots conjoining towards the MedBay in her internal map of the base), Atalanta strolled away in search for a cure for her boredom.

Swoop circled the ground widely and low enough to slide into a land effortlessly, his green gold armour smoothly encompassing his figure. The air was beginning to warm again from the chilling night, and stars were still visible in the blanketed candy toned sky. The Cybertronian version of muscle tissue (a conglomerate of mesh layers and plush inner plating) was relaxed and flexible from the early morning exercise. Yes, Swoop was indeed content, ready to face the day.

The dinobot did not expect that day to begin with the new femme jumping out at him from an unlit hanger.

How the frag did she avid his scanners?!

Swoop crowed in surprise and staggered back, flapping his oversized wings to retain his balance.

"You alright? Sorry, didn't mean to scare you dude." Atalanta said, holding her hands up.

Swoop's wide optics focused on the clawed tips of her digits, travelling across to take hold of the rest of her. His wonder rose at the site of her jurassic like tail. "Swoop fine. Just surprised." He hissed, puffing his chest against the notion of being scared. Especially by a femme!

Of course you are.

Atalanta mentally rolled her eyes. In reality, she quirked an eyebrow to match her smirk. "Uh huh." She teased. "So, you got a designation?"

"Swoop named Swoop." He answered automatically. It didn't seem like he was the smartest bot.

"I can guess why...I've got to say, I'm a little jealous of those wings of yours. You sure know how to use them!" Atalanta cooed, to the preening mech. He was adorable really, with his slanted face and toothless beak.

"Swoop the best! Brothers can't fly. Not Grimlock, not Sludge, not Slag and not Snarl!" Rearing his head back, Swoop trilled loudly to announce this.

Excitement clawed at her. "You mean there are more of you? Shit, you don't know how nice it is to meet a bot that has a tail as well." She chewed her lips, slightly embarrassed all of a sudden. "You don't think you could introduce me to them as well, could you Swoop?"

The pteranodon bot tilted his head. "Mean you alone? No friends?"

Atalanta sighed, her face glazing briefly in nostalgia. "Few and far away from here, I'm afraid."

She cringed at the pitying look she got. Great, even he's more popular than me! Gah! "Femme no alone now! Follow Swoop, make new friends!" Swoop chittered and flapped his wings in excitement. He turned to lead her, then paused. "What femme's designation?"

"Call me Atalanta." She said, walking up next him. "'Lanta' is good as well. I know it's a weird name and all; helps to remove a syllable or 2 for some."

Swoop fell onto all fours, the fingered tips of his wings elongating into another set of appendages. He made another curious sound when Atalanta's own struts snapped into a comfortable position for her to follow in the same way, their tails dancing behind them contently. "Swoop like it. What designation mean?"

She shrugged. "Some huntress chick from Greek mythology I think. Don't know what was going through my mom's head when she named me."

Swoop halted again to throw her a quizzical look. "You named after organic bird?!"

Atalanta snorted loudly. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad.