I'm glad that everyone liked the last chapter. Yes, I did have a picture of a youngling femme going to her first dance and a young mech coming to pick her up and Megatron sitting there cleaning is fusion canon as he waved good bye to his daughter. Nothing to get someone nervous like a Daddy cleaning his guns! I hope everyone is enjoying the story. I am struggling to write it but I am also enjoying the writing. Now, let's see how Sara and Knockout are doing and I think that I have piqued everyone's curiosity about Magnus and Comm.
Enjoy!
"You certainly know how to sweeten the deal with my mechs." Megatron commented the next morning when he came to the breakfast table. He sat down next to Allie in to talk to her directly even with so much bustling around them.
"I guess you heard what I did for Kiki and Starscream?" She half stated half asked.
"Yes. Now you have Starscream and Soundwave backing you. What's next on your agenda?" Megatron countered. He was beginning to become wary of her motives and Allie smiled at him that smile that he saw her give her mate when she was up to something.
"Are you worried Megatron?" She said smirking at him. "Are you wondering what I may do if I take all your soldiers?"
Megatron's optics flashed fire at her and she laughed.
"Before you go in a rage let me assure you that you will be taking over day to day operations as Lord High Protector. I am only strengthening your military empire." She laughed at his expression.
"I don't like being teased, Allie." He said menacingly.
"I know. That's why I did it." Still smirking as they sat looking at each other. Allie laughed suddenly. "I wouldn't bribe your most loyal mechs, Megatron if I wasn't so sure that we can work towards peace. I just wanted to see you glower at me until I explained."
"That is not the wisest thing to do especially where I am concerned." He still glowered at her as she smiled back.
"You love Shalon and your sparkling too much to risk peace." She stated.
"Maybe I would take you, lock you up, and say the hell with peace." He countered.
"I'd like to see you try sometime."
Megatron didn't say anything. It was uncanny how she could enter his mind without him even aware of it. He back peddled and sat down. Allie was very powerful indeed and Megatron was suspecting that this was only a shadow of what she could do.
"You like control." He said softly.
"So do you." This time she countered watching him.
"So, when you say that I will take your place, you are really saying that we will share power." Megatron said.
"No, you will have control. I want to handle the politics and be at Prime's side." Allie said. "But I have to also make sure that my femmes are taken care of. They are important to me, just has you and your mechs have become important to me."
"I can understand that. I haven't been the most trusting mech in the past." Megatron stated.
"You will also want time to spend with your family and I can rotate in when it is necessary." She said. "I want everyone to go to normal duties, Megatron. I don't want them to become soft because the Realm always holds a potential of danger but I do want them to get days off and rotate holidays. For a long time my femmes have had to work seven days or nights a week with very little rest. We didn't get a break until Alpha Trion and Ultra Magnus started arriving. Then when we expanded out into space we were stretched thin again. With the Autobots and Decepticons uniting we will be a full capacity again where everyone will benefit." Allie folded her hands on her desk. "I have already talked to Optimus about it. The three of us just need to sit down and iron things out."
Megatron thought about what Allie just revealed to him. The empire that she had forged out was impressive but could he tolerate sharing was the question. Megatron did not like to share. The word was an alien concept. Even on Cybertron he never played well in the game of politics because it never appealed to him. Now faced with the question and Megatron had to evaluate what mattered most to him and that was Shalon and their sparkling.
"I will concede that you have an impressive empire here in the Realm and I will think about what you have told me. I do agree that the three of us need to sit down but I am thinking that you want to do that after the peace agreement."
"Yes, there is no point in making too many plans until we have the peace treaty signed." Allie stood up. "I need to check the scheduled training of the troops since Aura is on light duty. I will see you tonight after duty?"
"Yes, I am going to check on Shalon and then Optimus and I are going to visit Jammer in the city." Megatron stood up as well.
"I hope you have a good visit. Make sure that Jammer shows you the warehouse and the ship that we keep moored at dock." Allie told him as she walked around and showed him to the door.
0o0o0o0o0o0o
"Sara, can we talk?" Knockout asked her as he cornered her in one of the briefing rooms. She had just completed training with a group of femmes and Knockout knew that she didn't have anything else scheduled for the morning.
"No Knockout it is better this way." She said sadly. She kept walking toward the hallway that held the private quarters but Knockout could tell that she was walking slowly.
"Sara, I'm sorry about the last time I saw you. I know I pushed but I still want to be friends." He tried to sound as sincere as possible but he could tell she had closed herself off.
"Knockout, I am not the relationship type person and the only way we could ever have a chance is for me to give up my work." Sara said sadly. She did like Knockout but she didn't want the baggage of what a relationship could bring. "It just won't work. I leave in two days anyway. You need to find someone else." She tried to distance herself but Knockout wouldn't let her.
For a moment Knockout wondered briefly if he could seduce her like how Thundercracker did but then did he want to bond himself with someone that might hate him? He stopped walking and let her return to her room on her own. He would have to think seriously about the temptation of spark bonding with her and even still their sparks had to be compatible for the bond to take. If it didn't work then not only would Saraphina be upset but Allie would be furious as well. Knockout was not one for confiding in any mech and being a Decepticon he had few friends. There would be a lot at stake if he made a mistake but he couldn't just forget her either.
In his spark he felt that she was the one that would balance him. She was beautiful like him and she was mysterious which kept him interested. She loved racing and the excitement of the city and all the things that he enjoyed so why was she pulling away. It didn't make sense. He had seen Autobots go to the Prime and they were now working out a peace treaty so Knockout wondered if the Prime could help him. He would have to think about that too. Megatron was out of the question for he would only sneer and say he didn't have time for pettiness.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
"So this is how it is going to be?" Ultra Magnus asked Comm.
She looked down from the image board she was working on for Aura with irritation. If he only knew how much concentration went into all the communication lines that were on that board he would leave her alone.
"What is there to say? You lead me on and then you don't want a relationship and then you come crawling back only to start the same crap over again. I'm done with it. I don't want my affections to be played like that." She said it so matter of fact that Magnus winced. He never realized just how his confusing feelings must have felt to comm. And now that he realized that he loved her it was too late.
"I'm sorry." He said quietly.
"I am too. We should never have gotten involved. You were right. All we do is fight and then the matter of our sizes. We just don't fit together." Comm. was saying these things but inside she was really hurt and upset. If he wasn't so stubborn he would realize how much she loved him but she was not going to be a door mat again for this proud warrior.
"If it is any consolation I do regret my actions." Magnus said to her. Comm. stopped moving on the virtual board and stood there with her back to him. She couldn't say anything because her throat had tightened up so she stood still waiting to see if he had any more to say or if he would walk away.
"Can we try one more time?" He asked her softly, hesitantly. She whirled around and glared at him with over bright eyes.
"Why? We always fight and we end up hurting each other." Because you don't love me and you never tell me anything about how you feel, she wanted to add but was afraid to.
"I admit that I have made mistakes, Comm. but I really want to try again." He pleaded but she turned back around.
"I have to finish this for Allie and Aura and I am on a time schedule." She stated as she proceeded to clear her mind of his presence and started rebooting the hologram to finish her task. "Can we finish this later?"
Magnus knew that she had no intention of finishing the conversation but he had to respect her job. He left her on the observation deck as he slowly walked out and headed back to the tarmac.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
It had been a long day and Cassie was glad to be home with her children. Isis and Firefox were settling in and Shadow was as rambunctious as ever in his new home. Moving them to the suburb of the city was a good idea and Cassie liked having the room that the two story split level house provided, plus the cassettes had turned the basement into a rec room for their own use. Also with the sub-level below the garage Cassie kept the transport and the viper there for emergencies as well as a ground transport in the garage.
She heard the ground transport and then a door opening and then closing. Cassie dropped what she was doing and stood to greet her mate.
"Good evening my lord." She said as she went to him and kissed his face mask before he could retract it back.
"Good evening Cassie. How was your day?" He asked as he had since they had come to the Realm.
"It was good. Frenzy and I went in to help in the city for a couple of hours while Ravage and Rumble watched the sparklings. Frenzy help me to clean out the main computer at the school that some kids hacked into and placed a virus. Frenzy is wonderful and I thanked him for his help. I trust that Buzzsaw and Laserbeak had a good day with you?" She asked.
"Yes, they did. Allie is helping us to get situated into her communications network. She has a vast array of equipment that is superior to what we have been using on earth. It is nice to work with the best again." Soundwave replied as he sat down at the table. Cassie went back to preparing the energon for everyone as all the cassettes began to assemble at the table.
"The sparklings are still napping so I thought we would take the time to eat and drink before they woke up." Cassie explained as she set everything on the table. "I hope you like the oil cake that I fixed. It has been a long time since I made one and I had to call Chelsea to get the recipe." She placed it on the table with heavy duty plates as all the cassettes oohed and awed over it. Even Soundwave's optics brightened in anticipation as he watched his mate finish setting the table. He liked coming home better than anything than cramped quarters could give and having Cassie with him every night filled his spark with peace. It also didn't hurt that she was trying to be a mother and mate to the best of her ability by doing all the little things that he and the cassettes missed about being on Cybertron before the war. He knew that Cassie preferred these domestic trappings because it was something she had never had on Cybertron and he wasn't about to break the spell she wove around him or the cassettes.
"Isis has learned two new words and Firefox is attempting to walk." Rumble said as he sat down next to his twin and greedily eyes the cake. He wondered how much oil did 'mom' put in the topping of it and if the pinkish look was energon that she swirled in it to give it extra color. Buzzsaw and Laserbeak chirped from their perch and even Ravage was circling his bowl waiting expectantly. Soundwave shook his helm as the domesticated scene as he sat at the head of the table waiting for his mate. She walked over and placed a cube of energon on the table for him and a pitcher for the cassettes.
"Gee, thanks mom!" Rumble said cheekily and Frenzy laughed his high cackling laugh. Ravage growled at the twins in disdain and the twin condors chirped with enthusiasm as Cassie placed some energon crackers for them. Soundwave chuckled at how he and the cassettes had adapted to such a docile way of life so quickly. Cassie smirked at thumped him on the back of the head as she walked back to the dispenser to fill up Ravage's bowl with energon. The panther like con jumped up and circled around Cassie as she placed his dish down for him to happily eat.
"Tomorrow, Allie wants to run a series of training tests for Ravage. I am looking forward to see how he does." Soundwave said this with pride and Cassie knew firsthand how well her mate trained the cassettes and she felt confident that when the time came for their sparklings that he would be a wonderful father and train them as well.
"Allie may have a special need for Ravage. He is very unique here in the Realm. He would be very good at infiltrating." Cassie said with pride as she bent down and stroked Ravage before taking a seat across from her mate. Cassie loved her table because she had a chair at each end with benches along the length of the table. All of them could fit around the table and it was perfect because in all it could seat twelve which made it perfect for when the sparklings grew older.
"I have no problems as long as she doesn't endanger my cassettes." Soundwave said.
"You see how careful she is with her teams, Soundwave. She wouldn't purposely endanger Ravage or any of the cassettes if she asked them to serve." Cassie stated. "I've known Allie for a while and she plans everything very carefully like you. Oh I remember how Megatron dives into his projects and I also know how you looked out for him. You are one of the reasons the Decepticons were so victorious in the early days of the war." Cassie cut the cake as she talked and placed slices on the saucers before getting up and placing a slice in Ravage's now empty bowl. Everyone dug in.
"Are you going to be tired later?"
"I don't know. I have to feed the sparklings and then if everyone will play with them for a while then they should go to bed after a late feeding. Why, what do you have in mind?"
"I thought maybe we could take a drive." Soundwave said.
"Let's play it by ear and if we are not too tired I would love to go for a drive."
Cassie smiled at Soundwave as she ate her slice of cake. It wasn't her favorite but she knew how much they loved it and she wanted everyone to enjoy the meal. Since her transformation she like the flavors that biologic food had to offer and Soundwave knew that but he also appreciated her effort to make them feel at home.
"Mom, are we babysitting again tonight?" Frenzy asked.
"Maybe, I don't know yet."
"You and Soundwave deserve a chance to get away so we don't mind." Rumble added.
"I know you don't sweet, but let's first see how tired we are after we play with the sparklings." Cassie told them.
They enjoyed the evening together, a family.
