I hope the last chapter wasn't too mushy. I had fun writing it even if it was hard to start. I am trying to show all the couples so that my readers can enjoy the story. This chapter is going to be a little different. I am backtracking a little to catch up to what Hook is doing. Also Knockout is in the group but he hasn't made a definite appearance since chapter one so I thought I would add him into the fray and let the readers see what he is doing.
I hope you are enjoying the story and please take a moment to leave a review. Enjoy!
The speeders were on their last lap. Knockout was enjoying the race with much enthusiasm.. It had been a while since he had been on a planet that enjoyed races with excessive speeds.
"Here, I was right. They do sell energon along with organic foods and drink." Saraphina handed him a cube as he sipped it. He looked back in astonishment as Saraphina smirked at him.
"Yeah, you tasted right, it's high grade though the refinery may be a little rough." She laughed at his expression. "Did you tell anyone that you were playing hooky today with me?"
"No." Knockout said.
"Good. You do know of my reputation?" She asked him.
"I have been warned but I tend to decide for myself if I want to be friends with somebody." Knockout said as he laughed when two speeders crashed on the turn. He liked that the track was open terrain that cameras snapped images as the speeders went by. It beat the vanilla style racing that he had seen on earth. These racers went all out including sabotage and attacking each other on the track. It was terrific and Knockout was glad that he had skipped the melancholy picnic.
Saraphina had proved to be most interesting. He surmised that she preferred someone like her rather than some mech that would simper and follow her like a turbo-puppy. She was delightful when you looked past that persona that she faked to keep people that irritated her away. He made sure to keep his distant and act as a friend because the moment he tried to court her he knew she would attack. He could feel it from her. She liked to be in control and he had to play it cool and only then when he had won her affections was when he would reveal his true intentions.
"I am a strong telepath. I have to be so if you don't mind I will choose who I want to spend time with. I don't like ill intentions or lies or deceit. I see it too much in my job." Saraphina stated as she stared in his optics and Knockout realized that she knew his intentions.
"You're right. I have read you and your intentions but I like what I see. Just make sure you understand that we go at my pace or you die." Saraphina said to him.
Knockout laughed as he shared Saraphina's gaze. "I will remember your words and I will heed your warning." Knockout looked back out at the track had the few speeders that were left came in to claim their places. "I would rather have your friendship than anger you, besides I rather enjoy your company and wouldn't want to jeopardize it. You did manage to get me out of a picnic with a bunch of sappy couples."
Saraphina laughed. "Yeah, I can't believe that Allie has fallen victim to love and with such a wuss of a mech. I mean he is nice and all but he is so diplomatic, and Shalon, she is crazy to get involved with a war lord. He will never give her true freedom." Knockout looked at her carefully.
"Is that what you think of couples?" He asked her.
"In my line of work a femme that settles down is like signing your death certificate. Every femme, whether human or Cybertronian , has had to give up something and for what? To be married or bonded to a mech that is going to run rough shot over them? I think not!" Saraphina shook her head emphatically. "I will never allow someone with that kind of power over me." She stated vehemently. "Do you want to congratulate the winner or did you place any bets?"
"No to both questions. I figured since it was my first time here I would be a spectator." He said as they both stood up in the stands. It was smaller crowd since the main race would be tomorrow but Knockout didn't care, he was happy to get off base with her.
"Well it is only mid-day and we still have plenty of time. Do you want to go into the city?" She asked as they threw away their empty cubes and descended the stairs. The crowd though small, had thinned out but Knockout still took her elbow to help her down the stairs. He felt a tremor run through her as he helped her down from the stands.
"What is in the city?" He asked after they had cleared the stairs and were heading to the exit.
"Well, I need to pick up a few items that I have been putting off and then there is a knife repair store that I need to get by so that I can pick up a blade that I dented." Saraphina said.
"Okay, if you need some things we can go. I don't mind." She smiled as he said this and they left the exit to walk to their hover transport and go into the city.
0o0o0o0oo0o
Hook was happiest when he was alone. Oh, it was nice to finally have the proper help because he certainly was overworked on the Nemesis. If the two leaders could iron out a decent peace agreement then Hook would love working in a modern facility once again. Hook credited Doc with all the hard work and determination to make this infirmary top of the line. He respected her even if she was bonded to an Autobot, and in the week that he had been working here he had even gained a respect for Ratchet. Besides, if he didn't want to work directly with Doc or Ratchet she had told him that he could ask for a transfer so there were many possibilities for him in this new world if Megatron and Optimus Prime chose for them to stay.
"My lord, Hook?" A femme walked in. Doc had explained that she was one of the femmes that had nursing training and who was trained to support him should he need assistance.
"Yes, did you need something?" Hook asked her.
"Yes, the supplies that Doc ordered have come in from a transport form the south. Do you want me to check them in so that we can begin putting them up?" She asked softly. She seemed quiet and shy but Doc had assured him that it was only around him and Ratchet.
"That will be fine, Sabrina." He told her. She had taken a name so that humans would be more comfortable with her since she had to work so closely with them. She smiled and turned to walk out.
"Sabrina?" Hook suddenly called out.
"Yes, my lord?" She turned back to him.
"When you are through I could use your help calibrating the scanners." He said to her as she looked back.
"I will come as soon as I check in these supplies." She said and turned and walked out the double doors toward the tarmac.
He was curious about the femme. She was tall and slender like Cassie and Aura and he liked that she seemed solid and confident in her duties. Hook had no time for squeamish femmes nor did he care for those who were clingy and needy. He would like to test the waters with this femme and see if she would be receptive to his advances. He would wait and be patient. If they were to stay here in the Realm then there seemed to be more femmes than mechs and he liked that for once he might be able to choose instead of having to take leftovers. At least then he might get a femme that was compatible with him and not one that would have to be forced or trained.
He smiled as his thoughts turned to the older days, times before the war when he had just finished his medical training but then had been forced to take terrible posts in the seedier part of Vos and areas of the forgotten parts of Cybertron that the nobles and senate had not wanted to acknowledge. There had at least been plenty of femmes to choose from. His profession alone seemed to draw them to him. He had been one of the fortunate few even if he couldn't get the choicest post as a medic, but he had made due. It was only because of what he had seen in Vos that had made him choose to be a Decepticon. His loyalty firmly established with his master he had vowed to be the best of his profession during the war. He had put his perfectionistic abilities to use immediately which earned him awards of merit from his lord and master. He was one of the few, though not completely trusted by Megatron that could call himself loyal. It was only Soundwave that surpassed him but then Soundwave had symbiots that were completely loyal and did not have to worry about a gestalt with different personalities. He was loyal to a fault and even if this wasn't Cybertron he could appreciate all the work that Allie had done and hoped that Megatron could appreciate the potential that this world and Allie could offer.
0o0o0o0o0o0o
"Do you really think that he won't mind being pranked?"
"No, Optimus has such a wonderful sense of humor. He won't mind at all."
"You really sure?"
"Yes, I'm positive." Rumble and Frenzy looked between the two Lambo twins as their face plates still showed uncertainty and hesitation. To prank one of their fellow Decepticons was one thing but Sunny and Sides was trying to tempt them into pranking the Prime and many things that they would do would not bother Soundwave but they both had a feeling that not only would they catch the bad side of Optimus Prime, but their creator would finish whatever was left by the Prime.
"Look, we do it all the time and we're still standing here in one piece. It's easy and if you do it right he won't even catch you." Sideswipe said in his oily, evil, smooth voice. "Besides, me and my bro got your back. We're twins just like you and your bro. We understand how it is."
"Yeah, when he and his mate come by in the boat, all you have to do is tip it and get out of the way. He'll go down so fast that he won't have time to see you get away and besides, Frenzy your silver color will barely show in the water." Sunstreaker added to the conversation.
"It's easy and you are small where me and Sunny aren't." Sides said.
"Man, Frenzy I just don't know about this. It seems too easy." Rumble said through their bond.
Frenzy didn't say anything back.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Barricade sat in the grass as Chelsea rested on the blanket. He could see that she was tired even though they had done very little. Several of the Meridians had come to them asking about her sparkling and Chelsea talked to them though he had remained silent since he still wasn't comfortable around humans. They were taller and larger than the ones on earth but still seemed fragile though Chelsea assured him that these were friendly and would pose no threat.
Chelsea laid her head in her mate's lap. She was in the sun which was rare but felt wonderful warming her pale skin. Barricade had rubbed the protective lotion into her exposed skin and she was loving the feel of the rays warming her from the outside in. Every once and a while Barricade would lean over and kiss her softly on the lips or rub her sparkling bump and she would smile. Chelsea was completely relaxed listening to the younglings play in the river and all the little snippets of conversation going on around her. Optimus and Allie had yet to emerge and Allie had closed the bond with her 'sisters' to where they couldn't figure out where she was. Allie liked variety but Chelsea knew that she was also sensible and would not do anything that would compromise hers or Optimus' reputation as leaders. This was a day for fun, but it was also a day for introducing Optimus as Prime and Megatron as Lord High Protector which would prepare both factions for formal negotiations.
"Do you think they will be able to iron out their differences?" Chelsea asked her mate.
"I don't know. If things had been different, if I had been found by the Autobots instead of the Decepticons then maybe I would have been a bot. Both leaders have admirable traits and I can't deny that if their egos don't botch things then we may be able to achieve peace." Barricade stated as he watched his lord and leader hold his mate and talk with the ambassador. Prime and Allie still had not returned and Barricade couldn't help but wonder if they were doing it on purpose to make Megatron step up and partake in the political discussion.
"If you had been found by Autobots then it may have taken longer for us to find each other." Chelsea stated. "I don't think I would have lasted as long being Lord Megatron's concubine." She said as she felt the flutters of their sparkling moving in her carrying chamber. "That night that you stopped me in Vos, after we had bombed Praxis, I was thinking such dark thought that night. I was thinking about killing myself that night. I didn't want to return to his berth, but there you were, so young and strong, and you looked up at me from the road as I looked down from the balcony and I felt my spark flutter. I couldn't even see if you were a con, bot, or neutral, but that flutter kept from killing myself that night." Chelsea told him never once opening her eyes. She spoke softly for only Barricade to hear. He had seen that memory in her CPU when they had bonded but never had he questioned why she held it so dear. Now she was talking about it and he realized that they had been meant for each other from the very first time they had seen each other.
His memory of her had been when he was presented to Megatron for the first time. He had just been upgraded into his final body. He had been fighting under Shockwave who had found him and taken him in, but Barricade discovered quickly that there was a price to be paid. Others that had been taken in and rebelled were quickly destroyed, but Barricade had been a survivor. He conformed to Shockwave's standards and excelled and rose through the ranks quickly. He, like Starscream, had been young but he was determined to survive the war. When Shockwave had explained that he had caught the attention of their lord, he had been transferred. It must have been when he had driven down the streets just before being presented to Lord Megatron that she had seen him.
He had been presented the very next morning. He had been so proud of his accomplishments and as he stood before Lord Megatron after bowing and pledging his loyalty he thought that there would be nothing better to ever fill the feeling of happiness, but then she had walked in and kneeled at Megatron peds and Barricade had felt all the longing and loneliness that he had tried to hide come back to him. It had blinded him and confused his processor and he didn't understand, but then Megatron had granted her acknowledgment and had pulled her into his arms and all the longing to be his lord and to have her at his side intensified and Barricade felt everything that he had earned break into little pieces because he realized that nothing mattered if he didn't have that special someone to share it with.
Now years later she was here, bonded to him, and there was nothing in the way to stop their joy. He had learned the hard way that happiness is fleeting, but joy could endure torture, pain, distance, and even death because now if he was to die he knew that he would have known joy with her.
"I think Primus would have found a way to bring us together." Barricade said softly. "I believe that we were meant to be the moment I first saw you."
"And I love you that you believed in me. I just wished that I had told you I was carrying before I left on that fateful mission. You don't know how much I regret you not knowing your son." Chelsea stated.
"No, but I will be here for this one, some way, somehow." He returned. They sat under the partial shade for a while and then when Starscream escorted Kiki to the last canoe, Barricade rolled Chelsea to her side and stood up. He walked over to the pavilion and made Chelsea a plate since she had not eaten anything earlier. He filled it with energon treats, as well as the little confection treats that she liked. He also picked out some organic fruit, though he was a novice at human food, but he knew that she did like some and Doc had said it wouldn't hurt the sparkling. He brought it back for her as he sat back down. She was still resting but he figured that the plate of food would be there for her when she woke up.
0o0o0oo0o0
"Thank you for taking me on the water." Kiki said to Starscream. She was enjoying the sun on her face and the warm spring air. She looked at him as he manned the oars and laughed suddenly.
"What is it?" Starscream asked her.
"I like you better in the sky." She said laughing. Starscream smiled.
"I like being in the sky better although this will certainly buff me up for loving you." He smirked wickedly at her and watch the tell-tale stain her cheeks. She was adorable and his. Kiki didn't say anything for fear of embarrassment so she just watched him through her lashes. She knew how much he liked to tease her because he loved to see her blush.
"Starscream what do you expect from me?" She asked after a while. He kept rowing as he watched her and pondered her words. After a moment he answered her question.
"I don't expect anything from you. I just want to love you as a mate, a beautiful being that has suddenly brightened my spark with your honesty and openness." She said as he rowed them further down the river.
"I'm damaged." She said.
"Sometimes the damaged ones are far more precious than the new things. Sometimes the damaged things in life endure the strongest adversaries." He said somberly as he looked her in the eyes. Kiki felt as if Starscream held her entire world in his optics. He breath caught in her throat and she leaned forward as he stopped rowing to puller closer and they shared a very intimate and personal kiss that only lovers could orchestrate and appreciate.
