OMG, the last chapter? How did this happen?
This is the first time I've seen a fic through to the end, and I have to say I'm a little sad it's over. I've had such fun with this!
Enjoy!
Chapter Twelve: Aftermath
Flash Bang flickered in and out of consciousness, only aware of the fact she was being carried. She lolled about in the bot's grasp, trying her best to look for Blurr. Her spark pulsed, pulling her failing attention towards another bot. For a moment, she saw a flash of blue, and her spark surged again as she saw that Blurr was safe.
Quietly, she sank back into unconsciousness.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Flash Bang's digits twitched as her optics flickered online and the first thing she saw was a very concerned purple and silver femme looking down at her. The femme gently ran a servo along Flash Bang's faceplate as everything came into focus.
"Mercury?" she asked weakly, putting her own servo on top of her femme creator's. Mercury smiled gently at the gesture.
"Welcome back, sweetspark," she said softly. "How do you feel?"
"Not too bad," Flash Bang replied. "Just fuzzy."
Flash Bang pushed herself upright slowly, one servo to her cranial unit. She let out a grinding moan as Mercury sat on the edge of the berth and wrapped her arms around her.
"You were so brave," the older femme whispered. "You saved us all."
"Blurr's the one who stabbed him," Flash Bang replied. Suddenly, she couldn't have been more alert. "Blurr! Where is he?"
Mercury giggled slightly as she pulled away and gestured to Flash Bang's left. "Right there."
Flash Bang looked to where Mercury was pointing. There, laid out on another berth, was Blurr. There was a piercing beep, beep, beep coming from a spark monitor next to the berth, showing the regular pulse of Blurr's tired spark. It was a slow, steady beat, and comforting to Flash Bang, telling her that he was alive and well. The femme slid off her berth and to the floor next to Blurr. She looked down at the recharging mech for a moment, but then sat down beside him and put a servo to his faceplate as Mercury had done with her.
"He sustained some mighty damage," Ratchet grumbled, looking down at the two as he emerged from a side room. "But he'll be fine, he just needs rest."
Flash Bang smiled warmly as she looked down at the mech, thumb tracing the line of his cheek plate. She hesitated for a moment, but then lent down and pressed her lip modules against Blurr's. Her free servo ran down Blurr's arm and took a hold of his brilliant white digits. Flash Bang stayed as she was for a moment, not expecting anything more than this, but then Blurr's lip modules twitched and the kiss was returned. Blurr's digits tightened and curled around Flash Bang's, his other servo looping round her back and holding her there. Flash Bang smiled into the kiss before pulling away.
"Wakey wakey, handsome," she giggled. Blurr grinned at her weakly, pushing himself upwards. The two just looked at each other for a moment as Blurr came round, but then they dove into each other's embrace.
"I thought I'd never see you again…" Flash Bang murmured into Blurr's shoulder. Blurr squeezed her tighter.
"I'd never have left you to Shockwave, not on your life or anyone else's," Blurr replied. A quiet sob shook through Flash Bang as she was overcome with relief. Blurr pulled away from her and took her faceplate in his servos, gently whipping away the slight amount of lubricant leaking from her optics with his thumb. Blurr smiled warmly, and then went in for another kiss.
"I love you," he whispered after pulling away. Optics closed, Flash Bang smiled.
"I love you, too," she replied, sliding her servos on top of Blurr's, both of which still held her faceplate.
Mercury made a small sound somewhere between a happy sob and a chuckle, drawing the attention of the two bots.
"I've not seen a natural bond like yours since I met Gearshift," Mercury reminisced. "It's rare to see a pair of bots so in sync with each other before bonding."
Flash Bang blushed and gasped at the mention of bonding, but was quieted by a small chuckle from Blurr, who pulled her tight against him, not deterred by the often overbearing femme.
"I knew there was something different about us," he murmured. "Since the beginning, we've had some weird connection. I mean, why did you save my cubed remains?"
"Because… you were still alive," Flash Bang answered, casting her processor back to that fateful day. "But why I thought to even take a look at you in the first place, I can't really say. Although, you did land on my cranial unit…"
Blurr chuckled and kissed her cheek plate. "True. What about when I kissed you for the first time then?"
Flash Bang paused. He had a point – a kiss couldn't stop a hostile reprogramming like it had on Christmas Day, although she had heard stories of kindred sparks being able to sense each other and do other incredible things. Were they like that? Were they destined to be together and, because of this, were in perfect sync? Flash Bang knew she'd never be able to answer for sure, but she revelled in the mystery. But then there was also the fact they'd been able to hear each other's thoughts. Only bonded sparks could do that. And not only that, but the pull they both had felt recently when they were looking for each other – a classic trait of a bonded pair. Was there some pre-existent connection between them?
The room suddenly shook vigorously, and Flash Bang and Blurr became aware that they were still on the ship. Mercury chuckled as Flash Bang wobbled unsteadily, only to be held up by Blurr. Ratchet unplugged Blurr from the numerous cables wired to him as Mercury began to speak.
"After we were knocked out the Earth Autobots managed to defeat Megatron," she explained, "as well as his Decepticons lackeys. It was an impressive battle from what I've been told."
"It came at a price, though," Ratchet grumbled quietly. Blurr tensed.
"Is Bee okay?" Ratchet couldn't help but chuckle ever so slightly.
"Bumblebee's just fine," he assured. "It's… it's…" Mercury put a servo on the old mech's shoulder and finished what he'd been trying to say.
"They lost Prowl," she said softly. "He gave up his life to bring power to the shattered AllSpark. It's because of him that the Decepticons were defeated."
Flash Bang and Blurr didn't move for a moment, taking in what had been said. Prowl had fallen? Flash Bang wasn't sure why, but it just seemed like Prowl was one of the least likely to die out of the Earthbound Autobots.
Curse him for being such a great hero, Flash Bang thought as she gave a small sad smile.
"What happened to Shockwave?" Blurr asked quietly after a moment of thinking Prowl's sacrifice through.
"He was caught," Mercury beamed happily. "He's locked up tight in the hold."
It was several hours later when the ship landed on Cybertron. Every Autobot in Iacon was stood waiting expectantly as the hatched opened up and the group filed out into the street. Blurr and Flash Bang walked side by side, servos bumping together from time to time, each bump making them want to link digits more and more. They gave in after a while and held servos as they walked up to the crowd, which was cheering loudly at the sight of the captured Decpticons before them. Blurr looked down at those that had been captured, and was surprised when he noticed Shockwave there, without the wound Blurr had given him. Blurr's optics narrowed as he realised this. Something was wrong here – nothing could have repaired him completely in such a short amount of time. He pointed this out to Flash Bang.
"You're right," she murmured, but she couldn't must a theory as to what had happened. She wrapped her arms around Blurr, almost protectively, as she glowered down at Shockwave. The mech seemed unnatural in the way he just stood there, glaring blankly at the crowd. Sure, he had no facial features other than the single optic, but he'd never seemed quite so blank before.
Something was absolutely, definitely wrong.
Three months later.
Bumblebee knocked on the door to the fancy penthouse and waited patiently for someone on the inside to open it up. He twiddled his thumbs slightly as he heard footsteps on the other side and dropped his arms as the door hissed open and Blurr was revealed.
"Hey, Bee," the speedster welcomed, a smile spreading across his faceplate. "What brings you here? Not that we don't want you here, it's just we didn't know you were coming and we'd have sorted out some drinks if we had – you like Heinleinken, right? – and-"
"Really bad news, Blurr," Bumblebee butted in. Blurr's faceplate fell and he stepped to the side to let the little yellow mech inside. Flash Bang came into the living room just as Bumblebee and Blurr did with a half empty Energon cube in one servo.
"Bee?" she said, surprised. "How nice to see you!" She put the cube down on a table and dashed over to Bumblebee to give him a hug. The yellow mech chuckled slightly.
"It's good to see you, too, Flash Bang," he replied, returning the hug. "But you guys may wanna sit down." Blurr and Flash Bang did so, sitting down next to each other on a large sofa. Bumblebee went and sat across from them on a chair.
"What's happened?" Blurr asked. Bumblebee didn't seem sure how to reply, and so just stared at his clasped servos for a moment.
"It's about Shockwave," Bumblebee clarified. "They had him in Kaon prison, in one of the high security cells, you know?"
"Yes, Bee," Blurr replied. "We were there."
"Yeah, well, it... wasn't him."
"What?" both Blurr and Flash Bang cried, leaping to their support servos.
"It was a drone," Bumblebee explained, "one with a hologram system to make it look like Shockwave. Its power supply burned out two solar cycles ago and they only just noticed."
Blurr sat back down and rested his chin on one fist. He knew there'd been something wrong the day they'd returned from Earth. He'd torn a hole right through Shockwave's chassis and yet he'd been caught in one piece. But how had he escaped? Stowed away on the ship? No way, Omega Supreme would have sensed him.
"When I ran into Omega Supreme to find Flash..." Blurr began, "what did you and your friends do?"
Bumblebee told him everything. They'd seen Arcee stood off to one side and Ratchet had gone over to her. Big mistake – it had been a trap, and she was still stuck in teacher-bot mode, anyway. Shockwave had opened fire on the four of them – him, Bulkhead, Ratchet and Sari – only to be beaten back by Bumblebee and Bulkhead who managed to capture him as Ratchet and Sari took Acree inside.
"But I fought him inside," Blurr pointed out. "I stabbed him and he escaped."
Bumblebee nodded. "That must have been the real Shockwave. The one we caught was the drone."
Flash Bang sank back into the sofa and buried her faceplate in her servos. The big bad bot had escaped. Primus only knew what he'd do! He could come after Blurr again, or break Megatron out of Kaon prison, or do who knows what else! She looked over at Bumblebee and asked what the Autotroopers were doing about it.
"They're on high alert. They know the threat and are going after him. But it's anybot's guess if they'll get him or not."
Bumblebee looked at the couple and their joint downtrodden expression. He grimaced slightly, guessing at the whirlwind of thoughts that must have been running around their processors, there was so much to worry about, so much to fear. So Bumblebee decided the conversation needed an uplifting turn.
"So, Blurr, I hear your back in racing…"
Blurr dropped a number of empty Heinleinken cans into the bin after bidding goodbye to Bumblebee. The conversation had turned far more positive before long, and it had turned into a friendly chat about life and how things were, et cetera. It had been an enjoyable evening all in all, but Bumblebee's sentences had been more than a little slurred towards the end of it.
Blurr walked back into the living room. Flash Bang was sat on the sofa watching the photo frame he'd given her. The pictures flashed by and the femme was on the verge of leaking lubricant tears. A thought suddenly occurred to Blurr. The journal Flash Bang had given him; he'd never shown her what he'd written. With a sly smile on his faceplate, he went and sat beside her.
The frame was on the last image of the slideshow – the one of Blurr leaping off a wall. He rather liked the image, it made him look really rather good. As he sat down, he casually slipped an arm around Flash Bang's shoulders, and she sank into his embrace without a word.
"I have something for you," Blurr murmured. Flash Bang looked up at him, curious.
"What is it?" she asked. Blurr reached into his subspace and pulled something out – the journal, as pristine as it was when he'd received it. Flash Bang's spark fluttered briefly, was he finally going to show her what he'd written?
There was a soft beep as it turned on and the little screen filled with writing instantly. It flashed by far too quick for the red femme to see, but then Blurr took it back to the start and handed it to her.
"Read it," he instructed.
Flash Bang did so, ever so slightly nervous. Instantly, it was obvious that the journal was an entire recording of the adventure the two had shared through Blurr's optics, and written as if he'd had the journal from the start – all taken entirely from his memory banks, she guessed. It began all "I'm so lost and confused", but then grew as he had, changing as his memories returned. What he wrote grew in confidence as he wrote of their adventure. But then the tale changed again. Around about the time the two had met that little human female – Isabelle Thwaites – the way the journal spoke of Flash Bang changed ever so slightly.
She really is trying hard for me, one part read. But she's so stubborn! We argued over it at one point, but now that I think about it, I can see she really wants to help me. Have I been unfair to her? She really doesn't deserve it. She's not had the great life I apparently had…
Then the entry for Christmas Day came, and Flash Bang's optics began to leak as she read it.
I love her. I really, really love her. We danced on Christmas Eve. At first it was just meant to be a laugh, but then she really got into it, and she was amazing! How could I not have seen such grace in her before?
But then something really peculiar happened when we fell into recharge that night – we woke up as humans! But Flash Bang's human body was so… pretty. I'd not thought much of humans, appearance wise, until then. But when I saw her, with those tight ringlets of – hair, is it? – of hair and the delicate way she moved about, it was just breathtaking! Well, for my human body it was.
But then Soundwave pulled me out of the program he'd created and put me in some weird dreamscape where Flash Bang was Shockwave's little toy! It made me so angry to see it that I tore up these freaky arms that were holding me down and charged at him. Contrary to what an Autobot should so, I sliced the slagger in half – right through the cranial unit.
I woke up after a frightful sight of Flash Bang melting, although I'm pretty sure that was the program failing and not actually meant to have happened. When I woke up, I ran from where we were being held, as Soundwave was there and he pounced on me as soon as I came-to. He set his pet kitty-cat Ravage on me, but I managed to beat it.
After that, Sari appeared with a bunch of rag-tag bots and declared they were going to save the others. I joined with every intention of saving Flash Bang, but I didn't realise how it would end. She's been reprogrammed into a Decepticon by Soundwave! But after some clever thinking from Sari, his control over her and the others weakened. Taking her on one-on-one, I found myself in a tight position. I couldn't hurt her, but I preferred the idea of staying in one piece, too. But then, something in my spark told me to kiss her… so I did.
The next few paragraphs were almost painful to Flash Bang as she read them. They were all angst and depression as Blurr worried about having ruined their relationship. But then it came to the day Flash Bang had managed to contact Mercury – the day she told him she loved him.
She kissed me! She kissed me, she kissed me, she kissed me! I can't believe this! Am I back in Soundwave's dream world or is this real?
From then on it was page after page of how he felt about her mingled into his narrative of their adventure. Flash Bang let the lubricant tears fall freely as she read on, but then she came to the last part – a little, slightly haphazard poem!
I'm no good at poetry,
But I wanted to give it a go, you see,
So I asked my friend who speaks in rhyme,
(Which annoys people most of the time)
To help and give me a servo,
So I could give it a go.
No-one was ever as dear to me,
As the little red femme who is so pretty,
Though she acts rough and tough,
She is really just like fluff,
So cuddly and loveable,
So darn adorable!
I love her, you see,
And I hope she loves me,
When I look at her move,
I know she wants to prove,
She can dance as well as a star,
As her skill is no faux pas.
She is brace and selfless,
And very restless,
But she saved my life,
By causing Shockwave some strife,
And now we'll see just how great things can be,
When you're with a love that's meant to be.
I love you, Flash Bang.
For a long moment, Flash Bang said nothing. She just stared in awe at what she held before her. Ultimately, it was, to her, a story of how Blurr had fallen in love with her, and this made her spark swell. It was beautiful!
Flash Bang placed the journal on the table, trying her best to remain poker faced, but after a moment, she couldn't help herself. She flung herself on top of Blurr and kissed him. Slightly surprised, Blurr looped his arms around her and drew her in close. A battle of glossas ensued as the passion built up between them, and soon Blurr showed his dominance by flipping her onto the sofa so he was leant over her. The kissing continued, and steam was beginning to vent out of both bots. The next thing Flash Bang knew, she was being carried into the recharge room, her legs still locked tightly around Blurr's waist...
Blurr held Flash Bang close to his chassis as she recharged that night, their sparks pulsing in the perfect unison of a newly bonded pair. Flash Bang seemed more relaxed about the situation than he was. Sure, a psychotic killer was on the loose, but he wouldn't come barging into Iacon and blast the city to pieces in the name of revenge, would he? Naturally, neither of them couldn't say for sure, a fact that Blurr begrudgingly accepted. It didn't make falling into recharge any easier, however.
Blurr nestled his faceplate into Flash Bang's shoulder as she recharged. She was so warm and nice to hold, and Blurr had never felt more complete in his life than he was right then. Life with Flash Bang was as good as he could've imagined, better even. She was so ambitious and fun and energetic – such a personality that complimented Blurr's nicely. She was still her usual stubborn self, however, and they'd fallen into a few minor arguments from time to time. Nothing that couldn't be fixed by a quick visit to the recharge room, however…
As thoughts of Flash Bang and just how plain lovely she was flew through Blurr's processor, he found himself finally sinking into a peaceful recharge.
Elsewhere on Cybertron.
The wires and cables under Shockwave's armour sparked and fizzed as they reconnected, sending vicious little waves of electricity through his chassis, each and every one more painful than the last. He cursed and clenched his claws as the medic-drone worked away, and when it all grew too much he backhanded the little bot across the room, shattering its processor against the wall with the impact. He sat up and looked down at the wrecked drone without sympathy and nothing more than unbridled disdain.
"Pathetic," he snarled. "Everything is pathetic. But not as pathetic as that wretched speedster will be when I tear out his spark. But the femme… there are far more interesting ways to deal with her, oh yes. She willhave such fun taking that little upstart femme apart…"
END
OMG, Shockwave lives!
:O
And what's this? He has plans? Does that entail a sequel?
Quite possibly.
You've all given me such great reviews for this piece that I have in fact planned out a sequel!
Will all things turn out okay for Flash Bang and Blurr? Who is this mysterious "she" Shockwave mentioned? Who is Blurr's rhyming friend? And what did Prowl mean when he thought "Gearshift, what did you do" in chapter nine?
You'll have to wait for me to get my ass into gear to find out!
A great big thank you to everyone who reviewed the story, particularly to Blackmoondragon1415, Mystitsu and Awesomeness for reviewing every week! Also, thank you to anyone who added the story to their favourites or watch and an equally big thank you to those who added me to their favourites or watch – I really do appreciate it!
Oh, and, Awesomeness, I wrote the poem in the journal especially for you! I hope I did it justice!
;D
So, be on the lookout for the sequel, which I have currently titled Shards. That may change but you never know. It's not going to groove to the beat of the proposed season four episodes of Transformers Animated, but is going to be completely separate. It will, however, include who I recently discovered to be the canon Blurr's two best friends (rhyming friend?). If you own or have read The AllSpark Almanac II then you will most likely know who I mean.
;)
Also, many seemingly clever hidden jokes or additions to the cast are taken from The AllSpark Almanac books, so reading them might help you notice these things (hint: Heinleinken? O.o). Regardless of that, you all ought to get those books anyway!
And finally:
Please review!
:D