Azure's P.O.V
- No way, Chip. – I said firmly, crossing my arms over my chest.
- But, Azure…
- No but, no why or cry. – I answered. Our ship received a Decepticon signature coming from a distant planet. Chip is begging for us to go and meet with them - Talking by livid experience a signal of that magnitude is coming from a war ship and there's no way I'm taking you to a ship full of war mechs.
- But my brother may be there! – Chip replied – You promised me! Promised that if we had even the slightest possibility of finding him, you would take the risk! You promised to help me find him! You stood by my side during all these vorns without anything concrete, but now that we have a clue and a possible destination you say that we can't check? What about all of those lessons you taught me? About grabbing the opportunity and never letting go?
- I also promised to protect you! – I remembered her – And I don't think that taking a teenage femme that never met any mech beyond me, your carrier and brother to a ship full of mechs trained for war is protection.
- I can handle myself, you know this Azure! And if my brother is on that ship I'm pretty sure that he will be able to protect me in case of anything happens! Despite, the "experience voice" already told that 90% of the part of the crew of massive Decepticon warships is formed by drones, and that they are so afraid of the officer's punishment that they won't even have a normal conversation with each other in the presence of a higher ranked 'bot!
I hate when she calls me "experience voice", but I must admit that she is right. She hugged herself and sighed.
- At least, see if they let us check their archives. – She begged me – If he isn't there, we check their archives, try to figure out if he is Decepticon, Autobot, neutral like you, or deceased. Then we leave.
- And what if he's there? – I asked, already knowing what will come next.
- I'll stay with him and you can finally get rid of me. – She said, but this time more serious. She already told me this several other times, but always kidding. Now there's a tone of sincerity in her voice I never heard before – I'll stay with my brother and you can be free to go wherever you want to, listen to whatever you want, meet whoever you want and do whatever you feel into, without having to worry about the stupid teenager that's always dragging you away from your fun.
My jaw hit the floor and she simply walked to her chamber to pick her stuff, her wings twitching with some unknown emotion. She is a seeker like me, and the most part of the time our wings show what our faces don't. But like her brother, Chip knows how to hide her emotions, and she doesn't even need her visor to do so.
- I will. – I mumbled to myself – Bu only if he proves me he is worthy of having you under his care.
Knockout's P.O.V
Breakdown, I and some Eradicons are scouting in the middle of nowhere. I would have stood on the Nemesis, but I simply can't take Starscream's annoyance anymore. Lord Megatron's state hasn't changed and I am trusting Soundwave to notify me if anything unusual happens.
Everything was normal and deadly boring, until we saw a shooting star. I followed an Earth's tradition, closed my optics and wished that something exciting happens.
What a curious thing that the star was actually a small cybertronian ship that passed really close to us.
- WHAT WAS THAT? – Breakdown asked, panicking.
- A small ship. – I answered, calming him down. For such a big mech, he gets scared easily. Of course, he will never admit it.
- Autobot or Decepticon? – He asked again.
- Let's find out. – I said, transforming and speeding in the direction the ship went. I heard him transforming and soon he was following me, and the Eradicons were coming by air.
Breakdown's P.O.V
We arrived fast. The ship landed really close to us.
- Prepare for the worst. – Knockout ordered the Eradicons when they transformed back. I knew he was also referring to me.
The door of the ship opened alone. I got ready to fight if necessary. A blue and green seeker got out with blasters ready to fight. There was an Autobot insignia in his chestplates, but three deep tears ran across the surface, destroying it.
- Neutral, hum? – Knockout asked. The mech smiled and lowered his guns, transforming them back into hands.
- You got that right. – He answered – I'm Azure. My friend is a Decepticon and we received a signal coming from this planet, probably from a massive Decepticon warship. She believes that her brother is aboard that ship and we came here to check.
- Give us a minute. – Knockout asked, making a move for me to come closer.
- You trust him? – I asked, low enough only for Knockout to hear.
- I don't see why a neutral would try to deceive a Decepticon. – He told me – We will cuff him and the friend and bring him to the ship. Starscream will decide what to do with them.
We turned to see Azure, and I saw the most beautiful femme I've ever saw in my entire life standing right next to him.
She has thousands of long black cables in her head, forming something similar to human hair, each one with dozens of small purple panels in each one. She is wearing a black visor that covers only her optics and it is amazing how much the rest of her frame is similar to Soundwave's, including slender arms and lightly curved legs. The most noticeable difference between the two is that she has two pairs of curvy wingplates. In one of them, there's a Decepticon insignia.
I tried to not spent too much time looking at her noticeable breastplates.
- So here's the deal – Knockout said, taking a pair of stasis cuffs from his subspace – We will cuff you two for security measures and take you to the ship. Is that okay.
The femme looked at Azure as if wanting some warning, but he simply shrugged and placed his fists together. Knockout cuffed him.
- Your time sweetie. – KO asked – Will you behave as nicely as your friend?
- Chip. – She whispered for him. Azure facepalmed with both hands and nodded in a disagreeing manner, like if he wanted her to see that she shouldn't have said that. What he thinks KO's going to do? Smack her across the face simply because she said her name?
Instead, he laughed and asked Soundwave for a portal.
Starscream's P.O.V
Breakdown, Knockout and some Eradicons entered in the bridge. Sounwave opened the portal for them and returned to work.
I saw that they have two cuffed seekers with them: a blue and green mech with a destroyed white Autobot insignia and a femme with a Decepticon insignia that looks very much like Soundwave. I gave a look at him and saw that he didn't even turned his head from his work. He is also out of their views.
- Starscream, I strongly suggest you to hear these two. – Knockout said.
- We mean no harm. – The mech assured – I am neutral and she is Decepticon.
- What do you want? – I asked. The mech sighed.
- Early today, our ship detected yours signal. – The mech said. He pointed his cuffed servos to the femme – She believes that her brother may be aboard, so we came to check.
- As far as I know, no mech in this ship has brothers or sisters. – I told them.
- Do you mind if we make a quick research through your ship's data? – The mech asked again – We have been looking for him for vorns now, and it would be of great help if we had just a clue. Just a look and we're leaving.
I don't know why, but I felt some sort of empathy for the two. A good look on the femme's pleading faceplates was more than enough to make me agree.
- I don't see why not. Knockout, you can un-cuff them. – I answered, with a smile. Knockout took the cuffs out of them turning to see Soundwave – Soundwave, help these two in their research.
Soundwave finally turned to see us, but in the moment he saw the femme he froze. She looked at him and froze as well.
Soundwave's P.O.V
I can't believe what I'm seeing.
She ran until me and hugged me tight. I hugged her back, burying my head in her head cabling. She is much smaller than me, so she is hugging my waist, and her head is buried in my stomach.
- I missed you, I missed you, I missed you! – She whispered loud enough only for me to hear. I felt the coolant tears running down my faceplates, and the cold feeling in my tummy and the way her shoulders are shaking tells me that she's also crying
- Chip? – A mech asked. We raised our heads to see a blue and green seeker looking at us.
- This is the 'bot, Azure. – Soundchip said.
I prefer to maintain my silence even if I'm only with good friends, but when Soundchip is with her friends she talks normally to them. When she is in the presence of unknown however, she barely say a word.
- Soundwave? – I've heard Knockout asked – HE is your brother?
- "Got a secret, can you keep it? Swear this one you'll save. Better lock it, on your pocket taking this one to the grave. If I show you, than I know you won't tell what I said, because two can keep a secret if one of them is dead." – I played a piece of a human song called "Secret" by a group called "The Pierces". I guess that they understood what I mean.
I felt a weird sensation on my tummy and looked down to see that Soundchip was nestling on it. I cupped the side of her face with my hand, and she leaned in.
- I guess I won't be needing to test you after all. – The mech called Azure said – It seems that my job here is complete.
- Azure! – Soundchip called, letting me go and hugging him instead – Thank you, for everything you've done for me until now.
- I'll miss you too, Chip. – Azure said, hugging her back. Their hug didn't last as long as mine, and soon the separated – But you can expect a visit or two.
Soundchip laughed.
- Soundwave, can open you a portal for him? – She asked. I walked closer, placed a hand in her shoulder and nodded.
I opened a portal. Azure gave Soundchip a medium size bag, one last hug and walked until it. Before he left, he looked at me.
- You better take good care of her. – He said.
- I will. – I assured him, speaking loud for the first time in vorns. He smiled and disappeared in the green vortex.
The room was filled with silence after that. I felt Soundchip hugging me again. I placed one arm around her shoulders and led her out of the room, to my chamber. I can have another berth mounted there easily, or she can sleep with me. Actually, when I first stepped into this ship my chamber had a bunk and I replaced it with a double sized berth.
Yeah… it's going to be easier if she sleeps with me.
Once we arrived, the first thing we did was sit down on my berth. Lazerbeak and Ravage felt Soundchip's presence, and I deployed both of them to see her. Lazerbeak landed on her shoulder and Ravage curled into her lap.
Actually, Ravage belongs to Sounchip. She is the one who found him and took care of him, but when they kidnaped me and forced me to be a gladiator, she tried to use Ravage to set me free, but he had been caught. To prevent him from dying, I told the guards that he was one of my symbionts and had escaped while I was recharging. He stood by my side since them. Lazerbeak, Buzzsaw, Ratbat, Rumble and Frenzy liked him.
I can say by Ravage's happy face that he is happy by seeing her again. Soundchip allowed her other cyber-cat, Frostmane, to go and meet Ravage. I guess that they are mates or something.
Chip retracted her visor and I retracted mine.
- Missed you, Sounds.
- I missed you too, Chip.