Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers
Please R&R
(Yeah, some Arcee X Tailgate in here, I never noticed Arcee having her blades in the flashbacks in 'Predatory' and thought up a reason why she would have them later on. Enjoy!)
==Cybertron= Iacon= Femme Barracks==
Tailgate… deactivated…
The words didn't seem right in the one sentence, especially right next to each other. Arcee sighed shakily as she stood on the threshold of the femme barracks, clutching the data-pad that had the fatalities and mission complications in one servo as she stalked down the hall towards her room.
The sound of shrieking laughter from gossiping femmes in the Rec-Room made her cringe, clutching the data-pad that held the proof of Tailgate's demise to her as she sought to slink by the crowded room, unfortunately, a friend spotted her.
"Here's the femme of the hour!" Chromia grinned, her light blue plating glinting harshly in the bright lighting of the Rec-Room as she jumped from her seat and practically skipped over to the startled Arcee "So… what took so long? What's the news? He did ask you right?"
"What?" Arcee asked confused, coughing slightly to clear her vocaliser of static, as she was dragged into the Rec-Room by the cheerful Chromia and thrust into a seat beside their gaggle of friends who were grinning expectantly, almost as if they were waiting for her to gush in excitement.
"Spare no details" Chromia announced taking pride of place beside her best friend and sliding a cube of energon in front of her.
"Chromia, what are you talking about?" Arcee finally asked staring between her now confused friends.
"Tailgate" Chromia asked as if it would jog her memory, nearly bouncing in her seat "He said he was going to ask today!" she whined not noticing as Arcee stiffened her mind flashing back to the interrogation room, poor Tailgate hanging limp and unable to defend himself as the Decepticon spider loomed over him, one of the evil femme's legs poised and raised to finish him.
"Arcee?" the voice broke her vision and she turned shakily to a concerned Chromia "Arcee, what's wrong?"
The dark blue femme didn't answer, dropping the data-pad as she bolted from the room, covering her mouth to muffle the sobs.
Chromia watched her friend leave nearly going after her but pausing as she spotted the writing filled data-pad under the seat. She knelt down and picked it up with a frown, her expression dropping in horror as she read over the mission report, reading aloud to the gathered femmes.
"Fatalities: One
Designation: Tailgate
Cause of deactivation: Spark chamber pierced."
===Arcee's Room, several orns later===
"Arcee, you can't put it off forever you know" Chromia said softly gently rubbing the grieving femme's back strut after another recharge cycle had ended in another scream filled dream. "You were partners, in nearly all sense of the word if he had had the chance to ask. He would have wanted you to do it."
"I can't Chromia" Arcee said lowly her helm buried in her arms "It still hurts"
Chromia sighed "It'll pass, but you need to do this, for yourself and for Tailgate." She gave a small chuckle trying to brighten the sombre mood "You'll have your work cut out for you, you know how messy he was."
"He shouldn't have been deactivated" Arcee croaked "I told the truth… he shouldn't have deactivated!"
Arcee tucked her helm deeper into the gap in her arms, her frame shuddering with the trauma.
===Tailgate's Room= Mech Barracks===
Tailgate's quarters had begun to get dusty, his spare sniper rifle left haphazardly on his small desk with its components spilled across a small section of clear desk that was otherwise packed with spare data-pads. The deceased mechs possessions were kept on a set of three shelves all of them nearly overflowing with objects and reading material.
The dark blue femme sighed, venting the dull smell of grease, rifle lubricant and a faint smell of burnt wire and plastic, clutching an empty box to remove her ex-partner's stuff to get the room ready for the next recruit to the Autobot cause. Chromia gave Arcee a little shove and closed the door after them, the lights automatically springing on as somebody finally walked over the threshold.
"Where to start?" Chromia hummed sadly heading for the desk and spare rifle as Arcee went straight for the holo-picture cube that was flickering through the image captures of the last party the mechs and femmes of both barracks participated in, on the second shelf sitting on top of a curious looking box. One such image was of Arcee and Tailgate at the party, the mech trying to persuade the not impressed femme to dance.
Arcee watched the holo-images flicker before dying, the battery dead, the hologram dissolving and revealing some dust filled grooves on the box beneath. The dark blue plated femme placed the box on the floor and reached for the holo-imager moving off to the side and drawing the box off the shelf, flushing the dust off the top with a firm ex-vent. Her vents stalled and coughed at the small mushroom cloud that enveloped her before focusing her optics on the name printed in Cybertronain text across the top.
"Arcee" she whispered puzzled at the glyphs spelling her name, moving to sit on the berth as Chromia busied herself cleaning up the parts of the sniper rifle Tailgate had once used.
The lid popped off easily, whatever was inside shielded from view by smooth, fine metal mesh, a data-pad sitting atop the folded material. Frowning she picked up the offline pad and it flickered to life in her servo, Tailgate's scrawl rippling across the screen in a cheery message.
Hey partner,
You've wanted a pair of these for a while. So for our anniversary as a couple I managed to pull a few strings in my favour with a friend. I'm sure you'll put them to good use!
Love Tailgate
Arcee smiled shakily at the message "That's cheesy 'Gate" only to realise a P.S beneath her partners name.
I know it sounds cheesy but I'm sure you'll forgive me once you see what I got you!
Chuckling softly Arcee removed the metallic material only to gasp as a silvery reflection caught her optics "Chromia!" she squeaked tilting the box to show her startled friend.
"Foreplating Blades?" Chromia gasped shooting across the room as if her spark depended on it "How the frag did he get those?"
"It says they are for me" Arcee commented showing the lighter coloured femme the note as she examined the carefully crafted blades that would slid out from under her forearm plating when she needed them for close quarters combat.
"Lucky femme" Chromia smiled softly as Arcee picked up one of the blades they would have to persuade a medic to install. "You go see Ratchet to get those put in, I'll do the rest of this. I can't wait to see what they look like on."
Arcee gave the first real smile since her partner had deactivated and gathered the box, heading for the door. "Thanks Chromia"
"No problem, I got me some help coming" the light blue femme grinned wickedly, "Ironhide just came off shift."
===Stellar Cycles later= Earth= Autobot Base===
"Arcee, you didn't even get those dirty" Jack sighed as he helped the femme to polish her deep blue plating after a skirmish with the Decepticons.
"I like them clean Jack" Arcee said neutrally extending one of her forearm blades to sweep across the side of the immaculate silver blade. "They were a gift from an old friend"
"Who?" the human asked curiously as Arcee showed him up close how beautifully crafted the mod was.
"Tailgate" Arcee smiled softly.
In the cycle formers room, sitting on the desk beside the berth, was a holo-imager with a glowing image of a red and white mech trying to persuade a dark blue femme to dance…