Pleased to say that you all hate Titanios now.

Totally understandable.

I can't really say that I wouldn't be a little peeved as well.

But what lovely comments you've all made last chapter :)

Loved every one!

Now let's get some drama into the week, shall we? :D

Enjoy!

Of The Spark And Heart

Part 2

Chapter 65

Cooling shadows shifted away when a figure marched through their curtain. They drifted, as a wave, across the humble room when the barrier keeping them captured split down the middle. A hiss befell the silence and the iron walls separated, allowing forth a silhouette of silver matching that of a raging storm cloud, with obsidian accents rivaling the night itself. Fluidly they moved into the sea of dim, making sure to strike up the light beside them to illuminate their space. The black melted back into the meager corners, once again subjected to the whims of light.

Bekos of the analytic and logistics division trod forward in this story of imprisoned shadows and carried himself to the rear of the room. It was there that an energon dispenser called his designation, promising with sweet whispers of a proper fuel and a warm tank. The weary drag of his frame betrayed his inner fatigue, and he sagged greatly in his strides after the door had closed him into his own privacy. Alone he could be the weakest being in the universe if he so wished. But out there, in front of peers, he'd rather slit his own jugular cable than show them vulnerability.

The mech was worn from his sparring with the Combaticon, Brawl. There were scratches and dings across his armor that Knockout would have to polish up for him. A few good knocks to the helm by a mech who was blatantly ignoring his own strength and using far too much force in fake fights hadn't help keep his appeal either. But Bekos was aware that the technology distractions of the ship had made him rusty in battle. He could take a punch or two in the name of the war. But frag did it hurt.

Wincing, Bekos decided he was best left with his computers and poured himself a cube of energon. He then made his way to the far back table in the corner, draped in shadow. Once there he slid into the seat with the cube clutched tight in his digits. He may have held on slightly too tight, for cracks were appearing in the container, however, he couldn't help it. Soreness made his systems tense.

Bekos gave a sigh as his frame finally began to relax. He lifted the cube to his lip plates and downed half the substance in his first go. It was an incredibly satisfying experience, getting the pleasant warmth of the energon, while also getting an electric zing from the shot of high-grade added to the mix. It wasn't enough to get him intoxicated, but it would certainly do. Grinning to himself, he reclined back, tipping the seat until his shoulderbolts rested against the wall.

It felt nice to have peace in a place where the word was all but extinct. With its packed corridors and bustling rooms, no being could quite call themselves 'comfortable' here. However, Galvatron had requested their be a hearty sum of fighters on his ship when it lifted off. Was he afraid? Did he believe a squad of two-hundred or so would be insufficient? The energon levels were getting low again. They'd have to dock and restock soon.

He didn't get to enjoy his time of isolation for long, much to his disappointment, for the familiar sound of the doors opening again caught his hearing. Bekos frowned deeply, having already shut his optics in preparedness to take a quick recharge. But no. Now he would have to get up.

Opening one optic was enough for him to do to see the newcomer. They were huge, perhaps a good seven feet or more taller than himself, with broad shoulderbolts and a squared helm. Although, Bekos never even needed to see who this mech was to know. He had his sparkbond for that.

"You know brother, I had not envisioned you to return here," he commented blandly as Titanios made his way to the energon dispenser. The large being paused and turned his helm in minor surprise. It wasn't like him to be distracted enough to not notice his own brother. Something must have been on his processor. However, it still stung some for Bekos to realize he didn't share a connection as close as he once had to his sibling.

Tipping his chair back to the right position, Bekos folded his arms over the table and continued, "For your actions committed earlier, freeing our priority, I feared you shall be deadsparked upon sight if you showed your faceplates to any of them again."

Titanios again pondered at this, taking his time to get his own cube of energon before making his way to sit across from his brother. His digits trailed the rim of the cube, his expression unreadable. "Megatron is a merciful leader I suppose," he assumed in a voice much unlike him. It was dreary and collected, much different from the insatiable curiosity he once held in his persona. Bekos studied his once close family unit member as closely as he dared. He wasn't sure what he would find. And to be honest, he was afraid of what he would find.

"Megatron...is no longer," Bekos ventured cautiously. "He requests henceforth to be referred to as Galvatron. And I have increasingly dreaded his influence here. I fear..." he paused, "his waning sanity." Bekos sat straighter when Titanios lifted his cube, easily draining it. He set the thing down lightly on the surface and mimicked his brother's stance, his servos balled into fists. There was a hint of something in his gaze...something cold and frustrated as Bekos had ever seen before.

"I'm afraid I do not know what it is you mean Bekos," Titanios clearly lied, darting his optics up to meet Bekos'.

The flier hardened his mandible. Yes you do.

But he ignored the brush of formality and instead took it upon himself to begin back at his own cube of energon. When it was gone, he lifted the cube and stacked it on top of Titanios'. It was tilted the slightest bit, just like they used to do back at the bars on Cybertron. Maybe some things hadn't changed. Taking his arm back, Bekos returned his sight to Titanios.

"Do not feel as though this kalon presented a more lenient Megatron. He is not changed, if not worsened, from before, and shall make his power clear," he said.

Titanios averted his orbs of crimson to stare so hard at the stacked energon cubes that Bekos was afraid he'd burn a hole right through them. "You're suggesting he plans to terminate me," he surmised. There was the break Bekos had been looking for.

"If you expire your usefulness, yes."

It was best to be blunt with him. It wasn't Bekos' way to be gentle, and especially not so with his own brother. They'd known each other too long now to do that. They knew too much of the way one another ticked - it was almost like trying to fool one's self into believing a falsity. Bekos and Titanios had been as close as two brothers could be without being twins. And their sparkbond had shown that. Now, it was merely choked with separation and a longing for what they once had. They'd shut each other out, and that had hurt more than any superficial wound.

"I brought him his Priority," Titanios went on, his voice tight as his fists. Bekos urged himself to swallow the burning words on his glossa."I brought him Fera Lennox. Not to forget the Guardian he has yet to rid of, either."

It was here that Bekos lost it. He jumped from his seat, tipping it over and knocking into the table with enough force to almost flip it. Anger boiled deep from his tanks, churning into a raging fury that nearly blinded him. With a growl of aggravation and grief, he slammed a servo into the tabletop and stalked away. His fuming form was searing with betrayal. The resilience in him was but a fluttering flame, threatening to out itself from the sheer well of sorrow collecting in him. It took all he had not to strike out at Titanios through the most intimate way he could: their bond. The same one that Titanios had blocked him out from these agonizing quartexes passing.

"That has no meaning Titanios!" he snarled, keeping his spinal support to the mech. He was too ashamed to let his brother see his expression. "Do you not see? You betrayed us! You turned your shoulderbolt to us and became a traitor to the Decepticon cause."

The ruffle of the table signaled Titanios' rise. "To achieve our greatest goal," the traitor insisted steadily. There was a break in his words as muffled steps approached Bekos from behind. "Is this concerning more than simple loyalties?" There was a moment in his speech that settled a putrid blanket of remorse onto Bekos' shoulderbolts as the silence between them stole all the cooling air from the atmosphere. "Bekos, did I hurt you?" His tone was soft, almost apologetic. Bekos wanted to punch the mech right in his noseplate. He deserved it.

"What do you think Titanios?" Bekos demanded spitefully, rounding on his brother."You left me here, without warning, and without reason. Along with that, you blocked our bond and ignored my hails since your departure. How is it you expected I feel?" Perhaps the knowledge was finally dawning on the dull creature. His features were loosening from the practiced stoniness and were now a more grayed shade of regret. Bekos had feared his sibling had lost that ability in himself when he'd blocked their bond and betrayed the human female and her Guardian.

Titanios was larger than himself, yes. Nonetheless, he had always been the kinder of them. Whenever Bekos was angered, Titanios had been there to calm his temper. When Bekos was frightened, Titanios would always distract him and comfort him with his innocent demeanor and incessant questioning. Bekos was the elder of them, meaning he was supposed to be the one to protect them. That was difficult to do when your sibling was taller and thicker than you, but he'd tried anyway to protect them. They'd made it through the streets and this far in the war, and Titanios had chosen now to be a good time to break their vow of companionship?

The hulking mech seemed at a lost for words, and for good reason. Bekos was one shot away from clocking his own iron and energon in the side of the helm. But Titanios wasn't like that. Bekos knew that it was only a matter of time before his anger at the giant was aimed for himself. It always ended up that way, and that's what made it so frustrating. But this wouldn't end that way. He was determined.

"I'm sorry," Titanios commented lowly, lamely, in that bafflingly stupid way his slow processor could only come up with. Like he'd always had when they were younger. That was all it took to break Bekos' resolve.

Reluctant to relent yet, Bekos sighed through his vents and set his younger brother with a hard glare. "Sorry will do nothing, brother," he snapped, scanning his sibling's faceplates while he tasted his thoughts. As a scolded youngling, Titanios' helm hung. "I am simply relieved you are here. Whether you plan to stay, or commit treason once more-"

"What-"

Bekos raised a servo, quickly cutting Titanios off. "I shall help you. I do not wish to be separated from you again, even if it means defection." His digits curled and his optics turned to slits. "Perhaps I would have joined you before if you had cared enough to inform me of your leaving."

Titanios was frozen where he stood. Bekos was awaiting a response, any hint of reaction from the mech. There was none for the good click. Their vents caught in motionless strings, their frames stoic as the stone making the mountains of this planet. As the tensity rose, the atmosphere became denser between them. Until Bekos felt one of them would explode from the pressure, Titanios stayed. But then, without warning, the large figure whipped to the side and used his long legs to stride at the door. In one fluid move, he entered in the lock sequence into the keypad and started back for Bekos.

Though the room was shut off, Titanios still snatched his sibling by the arm and thrust them close enough to brush chassis."Bekos, you are far too loyal, why would you assist me?" he hissed. They could have spoken through their bond, but apparently Titanios must have forgotten about that part too.

Bekos bitterly yanked himself free. "I was loyal to Megatron, not this mech," he retorted sharply, a small part of himself offended that Titanios would believe him as anything less than independent. Nonetheless, he couldn't stay angry forever. "And...because you are my brother. My family unit deserves better than a tyrannical psychopath leading them." His volume had lessened to a more relenting level. After all, beside their differences, their fighting and their betrayal, they were still brothers. And as such, they were meant to stay together. Bekos had promised that much to his once much smaller, younger brother.

Titanios' optic ridges screwed inward and he stared at Bekos. "Your family...?"

Ah, that was right. Titanios hadn't been here for that part. "I have a sparkmate now, had you been aware. Thunderblast. And she is holding," Bekos intoned sternly, gesturing his servo towards the tiny arch on his chassis right above where his spark chamber would be. His mate's essence leaked continuously from it, shimmering lightly with the freshness of their unbreakable union.

Titanios' faceplates abruptly turned guilty. "I did not know..."

"How could you, blocking me out as you had?"

That comment must have struck Titanios, for he became awkward and obviously uncomfortable standing beneath Bekos' scrutinizing gaze. Bekos crossed his arms, awaiting for their next move. Titanios deserved to have this reality check, definitely to experience what Bekos had those painful quartexes ago when he left to help the Autobots get their precious Fera Lennox back. Titanios hadn't said a word then, and he seemed as mute now.

"Congratulations," he murmured hopefully. Stupidly. Pleadingly.

Bekos snorted at the meager attempt at retribution, but silently appreciated the gesture. They had to start somewhere, and it took steel ball bearings for Titanios to start that journey. "Save it for a later time. For now, I merely ask you tell me what your plan is."

Titanios' features lit up with a relieved smile, his optics becoming licked in gleaming flame. "Thank you brother. You truly are-"

"Don't." Bekos waved his servos, optics hard. "I can still change my processor."

"There is the Bekos I loved so much."

"Primus...what am I getting myself into?"

None had picture a pair quite like them before. Of course, either had the qualities of their partner, and as much, they echoed greatly in sync with one another often. Separate, they were seen as complete opposite characters. Their personalities should have clashed upon their meeting as the tides thundered mercilessly against the rocky ocean shores, and yet, it seemed as though the very adverse took effect.

One, of fiery passion - with layered spines laid flat along the curve of her spinal support, and a lengthy tail that flickered in her reined heat. Calculated anger danced jubilantly through the rings of her optics, staring with vivid green orbs that pierced the thickest of hides; Of hollow fangs that thrummed with acidic venom, and strength surmounting that of most mechs walking the base.

And another of cool collection; with high, proud shoulderbolts mounted with idle artillery, and a broad chassis strummed with power along each single strand of Cybertronian muscle belt beneath the puzzled symphony of armor. Careful consideration swirled along in the depths of their boundless sights, tacking any whom lock gazes with them to experience the azure universe of itself; Of a soldier's tempered spark beating majestically within its chamber in a far kinder way than most would assume at first sight, and a calming voice which soothed any nerved creature whom met him.

They were of differing worlds, meant never to coexist, however, beside all impossibilities, they found one another in the endlessness of the void and claimed each other the instance their optics met. It had been inevitable that they'd met, he was certain. There must have been a reason.

But they were leaders. And so they waited for their turn.

They'd waited through the endless joors until they could exchange a word while the passed in the halls, and would count each kalon until one may brush another's frame. They'd waited through the uncountable joors spent lying awake in the dark, their glowing optics conflicted with the cruelty of fate. They'd banished all right of themselves, if only to make room for that of another next to them to claim their spark for eternity.

The feral mech in Ultra Magnus had been attracted to the outer wild of she. It had clamored to make its presence known, clawing and scratching to rid his walls of containment and set himself free. Never before had he such difficulty controlling himself amid the company of a fembot. Never before had he the ragged thoughts of frustrating longing for another being but that of a soldier for his missing leader in war. She invoked these beliefs that there was a predator inside of the soldier, and she had brought forth a side of himself not even he recognized.

And he liked it.

There had yet to be a moment where she showed less than the mirrored image of his expression either, which was promising. In fact, she had been the first to display interest when they passed, or played a smile between them when he entered the room. It was a newer experience to feel unsure of himself as he did now. The self-uncertainty within his very core coursed higher than the Nemesis, leaving him stumbling for words and fumbling for grace while in conference with her.

It was driving him insane to hold back. He wished to take her as his - claim something for once that would be his and his alone instead of putting every other Autobot before himself first. His spark had marked her, and so she was destined to mar his essence with the ferocious entity that was hers and scar the slate above the chamber with the arch of the United. That untamed creature that glided along the floors when she walked and beat discipline into her contingent without needing raise a single servo against them - she had managed to equal his thirst and resourcefulness alone. That was what he had been looking for all these vorns of his questionable existence. His wandering was finished.

He should have her pinned at his berth, grinding their exposed sparks until neither of them could tell where time ran it's course and their existence had initially become. He should be kissing her with unadulterated fervor, opening up himself unlike he'd ever done before and spill his entirety to the open for her to see. He should be telling her with sweet whispers of how she ruined him - how she held him and his all under her control without having need say a single word. And he should have her at his arm already, guiding her proudly amongst his peers while they showed off the wondrous connection they shared that many other Autobots may very well never experience.

But he wasn't that kind of mech. He was Ultra Magnus, second-in-command to the Primes and City Commander, loyal to the Autobot cause, and chivalrous to the belief of traditional, practical love. This unrestrained half of himself was contradicting everything he thought he knew, making it near impossible to function properly during the kalons without marching through the halls of the base and finding his fembot to pin to the nearest wall. Where had this half of himself come from? Was it the frustration of being a soldier for thus long, taking orders, without input of word otherwise? Or was it the way he held himself, where every being already had it ingrained in themselves that he was the perfect, solid, unmovable soldier, without a mind or opinion of himself or what he wanted?

It it was because of that false, distorted identity that here they sat, at opposite sides of a table in the depository, with a cube of energon in front of both of them as if not a thing mattered between them.

Magnus folded his large arms over the table, nearly hiding his cube from sight with the bulk of his bracers. The arch of his spinal support bowed over them, as he was far too tall to be seated in such a low position. He hadn't minded though, for it seemed she was in the same position as he, being a bit taller than Optimus Prime. He often found himself staring at her from his spot, studying her features when she looked away and taking in the vent-stealing beauty she held. At this time she was trailing the tip of her slim digit around the rim of the cube, ignoring the half-full contents inside.

Cameo, leader of the Fabials, rival to Predaking, and thief of his spark. Of any of the rare fembots he'd found interesting on Cybertron, Cameo was the brightest star among the dullest comets.

Her optics flicked up, catching his in an unbreakable tie. The atmosphere around them was already tense, with not a single draft from the air conditioners breaching their bubble. She grinned at him, making Magnus clutch his cube to the point of causing cracks to line the sides. Flames licked down Magnus' front, blooming from the excited flutter of his pounding spark to his stiff limbs. He was first to break the contact and avert his sights.

He could tell she was waiting for him to make a move. To do or say anything would have been better than this silence. It had been him to call her here and invite her for a refuel when he no longer could avoid her around the base. He had to speak with her again, faceplates to faceplates, like the mech he was supposed to be. So far he'd felt like a lovesick youngling.

"I-"

"How-"

"Sorry..."

"No, no, I apologize..."

An awkward happenstance of quiet overtook them. A grinding grandeur filed away the top layers of Magnus' oral sheets as he packed all his pent-up frustration into them. Was the color of his armor alright? Was he making her anxious? Bored? Irritated? Did she find him repulsive? It suddenly struck Magnus with a startling fright that Cameo may very well not feel the same way as he. Why would she? She was the definition of wild perfection, while he was the obedient scum of the Autobot command. It was a shock she hadn't outright dismissed him in their first meeting. What he wouldn't give to know what was in her processor.

"How have you been, Ultra Magnus?" Cameo suddenly asked, making the commander jerk slightly. He mentally berated himself for being as on-edge as he was, for there wasn't reason to be the slightest bit fearful of her. Alright, perhaps he held respect enough for her to be scared, as all mechs should be of fembots.

The City Commander cleared his vocal capacitor and dared to peer into Cameo's optics again. "Well," he answered. "And yourself?"

Cameo sighed and pushed aside her cube of energon, crossing her arms over the table herself and giving him her full attention. "I have been better I suppose. It has been some time since I was allowed outside of these walls, and I fear it is getting to my peers and I."

Ultra Magnus couldn't respond right away. His processor had wandered to far-off places, to when he and Cameo had been stationed back in Washington D.C. They were standing in the snow, caught up in the chilled, biting breeze. She'd had that warm hum of absolute happiness in her optics as she dragged Magnus outside. The joy she'd displayed as she showed him a world she'd known far longer than he, had been worth the discomfort it caused in almost freezing the lubricant in his joints.

"You shall be able to roam again soon, I am certain," he reasoned carefully. Cameo grinned, propping up her mandible with her arm. She tapped the rim of her cube in obvious boredom and shrugged slightly.

"I sincerely hope as much," she agreed. Changing subject, she went on, "How is your charge, Firelight?"

The corner of Magus' lip plate came up at the name of the youngling. Firelight had been the charge granted to the fembot Soulsearcher by her late sister on Cybertron. Soulsearcher had in turn traveled to Earth to give Firelight a better chance for life, however, she had been deadsparked by a Combaticon on the Autobot base in California some quartexes ago. Magnus had been in charge of that base then, and had found his comrade with her helm shot off her shoulderbolts, still cradling Firelight to her cold chassis.

He'd taken responsibility of the young one while Soulsearcher's frame had been taken to Washington D.C to be put to rest in the underground mausoleum alongside their other deadsparked comrades. Magnus had heard recently that that frame had helped to build a new one for Fera Lennox, alongside the flier Lero's. She would have been happy to hear that.

"He is doing fine as well, thank you for asking. Corra and Beta are becoming great caretakers for him," he complimented. After the destruction he'd seen in San Diego, and having never raised a sparkling, Ultra Magnus had left Firelight's care to the Fabial sparkmates Beta and Corra. They were fine adoptive creators, even if they'd never had one of their own. Cameo must have been pleased at this, for she gave a smile that put a tingling buzz in Magnus' system, though there was a lack of high-grade in his energon.

As he studied her further, he saw what decacycles of being on Earth could do to a frame. It was a more rugged version of his bulky, commander's-grade armor, with sharper edges and thinner panels for speed and agility. She had taken on a the form of a dragonesque figure, leaving her with odd horns atop her helm and overlapping spikes from the base of her neck to the tip of her barbed tail. Everything about her lizard-like frame type screamed danger. It suited her quite finely.

"Do you remember Cybertron?" Ultra Magnus inquired without thinking. Cameo's optic ridges rose in surprise and Magnus immediately regretted his words. In a moment of uncertainty, he shattered the cube in his servo. The bits of crystalline material stabbed into his servo and Magnus drew in a sharp vent as the liquid inside exploded across the table.

He and Cameo jumped up from their seats to avoid the spill. "I'm sorry!" Magnus blurted as he lifted his servos to hover over the mess. "I hadn't meant to do that..." He tried to move, but ended up bumping into the table, almost knocking it over. Wincing, the mech shuffled sideways, knocking into the table twice more and making energon drip onto the floor before he made it to safety. He rushed to the depository sanitation zone, grabbing whatever towels were there and hurrying back to the spill. Cameo was already working at it, gently brushing the broken shards into her servo.

"It is alright Commander Magnus, I do not mind," she murmured as he began to pat the cloth into the puddle. She moved away to dispose of the shards in the waste bin under the counter. "It was actually charming how you seemed so flustered by someone simple as myself. It is flattering."

Magnus attempted to keep his emotions in check when he heard this, however, he failed miserably, and ended swinging around by accident, splashing Cameo with energon as a result. She gasped and he froze, shocked into a rigid pose. With horrified optics, he found the fembot standing with her green and blue armor dripping with energon. She flicked her servos a few times, sending energon flying into the floor. The mech responsible stood slowly, expecting her to blow up at him any nanoclick. Magnus wished to disappear from the situation completely. Shame boiled lowly in his tanks, making him hold the soaked towel near his chassis.

Swiftly, he stepped toward her, offering the driest of the two towels to wipe off her armor. "Sorry," he apologized again, quick to swipe away at her shoulderbolts. "I am not usually so brazen and foolish around my peers. Please forgive...me..." The mech eventually trailed off, his movement stalling. Here, the wisdom had dawned on him that he was drying off a fembot. Without her permission nonetheless.

Magnus revved his vents and tossed the towel over Cameo's shoulderbolt, beginning to step away. It was ridiculous of him to of behaved in this manner! If Optimus saw him now, what would the mech say? Cameo wasn't even totally Autobot yet, and so she was a valued ally to the cause. What Magnus did may very well have ruined their relationship, or any chance of one.

But to his shock, two arms shot outward for him, snatching his bracers and holding him in place. Magnus found Cameo's optics staring up at him, gently burning with intensity. Step by step she brought him back before her, closer now than he had been before.

"I cannot clean this all myself," she murmured, having no need to raise her voice to reach him. She lifted his servo to her shoulderbolt, setting it on the towel before turning around to face her spinal support to him.

Magnus, stunned beyond speech, picked up the damp cloth and went to work. There wasn't much to clean, as most the energon was on her front, but there was something about working on polishing her from behind that calmed him. He eventually relaxed, taking his time to clean each spine of her spinal support and the intricate series of plates that made up her armor.

Bringing his servo across the space between her shoulderbolts, Magnus grinned when he heard a low rumble escape her. "I haven't many memories of Cybertron," Cameo began, rolling her helm forward when Magnus made his way up her neck. "At least, not many that I care to save. Most are of the war - of how many battles I fought alongside my companions against the Predacons. I could no longer helplessly stand by and watch as my home world died, so I gathered myself and my peers, and we fled to embark for the first sentient planet we could find: Earth. We have been here since times of human kind's earliest recorded histories."

"Then you must know much about them," Magnus assumed. He brushed the cloth over Cameo's shoulderbolt and started on wiping out the spaces underneath her spines.

"Not a vast amount, sadly," she vented. "More than you, of course, however, nothing overly valuable," she turned her helm to look over her shoulderbolt, "And of you? You are of more a mystery here than I care to mention."

Magnus paused for a moment, deliberating. Did she want to hear of his past? There wasn't much to tell. He was younger than Optimus, if but by a few vorns, had been a City Commander on Cybertron, and had traveled to Earth after Rodimus and Rethalia Prime when Iacon fell. This was all nonsense to Cameo, and would have no matter to her.

Deciding brevity would be best, Magnus continued on with working out Cameo's knotted wires. "I was a student for a few vorns before the Great War started on Cybertron," he started. Cameo's frame vibrated when he rubbed out a sore spot between her shoulderbolt and neck. "I kept to myself mostly, and avoided many social places like the cosmic plague. I was far too awkward a mech to mingle. And so I took a liking to reading. I actually preferred reading of the wars above them all."

"You found it interesting? I'd believed you hated war," Cameo inquired, sounding genuinely interested.

His confidence bolstered, Magnus went on with a nod. "I certainly do. However, I liked learning why they happened - how they happened..." he broke off. "What could have stopped it all... I believe the past is the wisest guide in life."

"That is truly wise yourself to say Magnus," Cameo said softly. Magnus went back to clean a spot he'd missed on her shoulderbolt when the fembot rose her servo, catching his and holding it in place. Magnus went solid, unable to move as she pinned him to the spot. With merely a touch, she had managed to do what no Decepticon had done before her: captured him.

He truly was incapacitated. To deter his processor, Magnus swallowed back his dry nerves and went on. "None so wise as the fembot bonded to a Prime. Do you know why I liked this quote?"

"Why is that?"

"It is directly taken from a story of a fembot, whom instead of chasing the Prime, had him chase her. It displayed her cunning nature of lure and provided some tale of a massively confused, lecherous mech used to having fembots fall at his peds."

He could see her smile from where he stood, and he had to fight to stay on his peds. If she could bring him down with a simple smile and a touch of the servo, what power could this fembot have over him?

"She certainly was confident in herself," Cameo noted.

Magnus let his thumb link brush the surface of her armor while he truly processed things. Smiling himself, he looked down on their joined servos. "Perhaps overly so," he agreed. "But the risk was worth it in the end, wasn't it?"

At this, Cameo turned towards him. Magnus, unknowing what else to do, simply allowed himself to stand still while she reached up. Cameo firmly took hold of his upper arms, leading him back to the seat. When he lowered, she did as well, taking spot in his lap. Ultra Magnus was unable to emit even a blabber as she leaned against his chassis. What could he do? He envisioned taking her close, pressing her frame to his, but his arms refused to move. He pictured kissing her, sweetly, while they sat together alone for the first time. He wondered if he should shoot the door panel, locking them both in. But alas, he didn't do a single thing.

"Perhaps. I see what can become of the circumstances when a fembot is teasing of her mech, however, that is not my technique," Cameo proclaimed as her digits began to doodle along the lines of his plating.

Magnus, his attention perked, withheld a shudder and tilted his helm downwards to see the fembot better. "Oh?"

"I see you as the one who needs the fawning - the needy fembot whom may provide you all the confidence you lack in yourself."

"I lack no confidence, fembot," Magnus said, a little hurt.

Nonetheless, beside his claims, he knew he was low in certainty. His decisions were almost always second-guessed, and he constantly was depending on more capable leaders, such as Rethalia and Optimus, to provide him answers. He hadn't ever wished to be leader, even of a small contingent like this one in Saint Louis, or the one in San Diego. It was his weakness to be the center of attention, if he wasn't trying to divert it to save some other comrade from harm that is. Especially when he failed, his already low self-esteem was crippled further. By now, he had to force himself to order around the Fabials, though his processor fought him about his right to do that at every turn.

Cameo stopped her tracing, bringing her own faceplates to aim up at his with cold determination in her optics. They were so different from before; The mech wondered how one could change in as quick a term as she did. She then picked herself up, straddling his legs. If she wasn't insulting him, he would have lost it then and there. Her long arms crossed over her chassis. Her frame was touching his, from her toelinks on his thighs, to their chassis.

"Because I have brought it to you," she told him sternly. Magnus, in all his mechly pride, utterly rejected the thought of backing down from this challenge.

"Lies-"

"You held a broken self-determination and courage within you, oh mighty City Commander," she almost mocked. "Until I arrived in your arms, you were but an anxiety-riddled soldier-"

"Now see here-"

"Had I not given you my all, my wholeness and my spark, who's mech would you be?" she interrupted sharply. Magnus stopped dead, half angered, and half stunned. Where had the fembot who he had been talking with before gone? And wholeness and spark? What did that mean? "Have you bravery to approach a fembot? The titanium of your spark, enough to woo another? Or the indifference to the fear of reject-"

That was it. Magnus had had enough.

Throwing himself up, the mech was able to lift Cameo up and let her drop on her aft onto the table nearby. The puddle of energon they'd abandoned there splashed up at the assault, spraying them both in fresh liquid. His arms were planted on either side of her, his frame hovering close to her own. Her digits had sunken deep into his armor in fear of being dropped and her tail had whipped forward to curl around his midsection. Her expression was that of shock and excitement, the shudder of her vents betraying her riled frame. Their venting produced hot air in-between them, letting humid winds wage battle in the limited space separating their heated frames. His legs were wide, one caught in the middle of hers.

Magnus was focused on the fembot, barely able to hold back the part of himself so unlike him. "I am fully capable of containing my emotions," he swore, sending a wave of scalding breeze to plume around them from his vents. Cameo was watching him, less as much startled now, with her optics snapping from side to side as they studied him. Was she judging him? For reasons beyond him, that gave him a thrill.

The chilled energon still left and not on their frames collected around his palm, soaking through the open cracks of his plates and dribbling deep within the joints of his digits. He could feel the bits of leftover shattered cube poking at his protoform while his open servos rested firmly on both sides of the fembot. He couldn't have cared less. The searing temperature caused by her armor melded with his perfectly, almost making the energon evaporate where it touched them.

Magnus' processor cleared little by little the longer they sat, caught up close enough to keep paper from sliding between their frames. His noseplate was but inches from hers, meaning one single move and they would be connected as he'd wished to be for the longest while. However with that knowledge of their impending kiss, he became conscious of exactly where his frame was, and what position they were stuck in. He lurched back, rearing his helm from hers with a hiss of disdain from his hydraulics. He moved his leg from hers, aiming to escape from her cage of influence before he did something rash.

He hadn't the chance.

A long, powerful tail snapped tight around his abdomen, keeping him within a foot of the fembot. Cameo yanked him back at her, making him stumble and almost fall on top of her. With lightning reflexes, she caught his chassis with one open servo, the digits clamped around his collar armor. Magnus had fallen against the table, having only his strength and Cameo's servo to catch himself. He rose, sluggishly, to find the biggest of smiles on Cameo's lip plates. She pulled him closer the more he stood, eventually having him bowed above her, their faceplates once again close. The sharpness of her oral sheets gleamed in the low light of his shadow.

"Clearly you have control," she murmured, causing a line of quivers to wrack Magnus' spinal relay. "Have you the capability to take me here? Now? Where many roam and threaten our peace?" Her optics were full of a feral summoning, her words challenging. It took all Magnus had not to growl back at her. "Have you the beast within to claim this Queen of the Beasts herself?"

Ultra Magnus let himself go. The inner part of himself took over without mercy, caring no longer for his personal codes or values. The mech brought Cameo flush up against him, her leg hitched over his pelvic armor. Leaning down, and ignoring the sharp intake of air into Cameo's vents, Magnus' helm dipped next to hers while he spoke into her audio. "I am a soldier, not a beast," he told her boldly.

Cameo snarled in something like frustration and began to push away, however, Magnus' grip only heightened, keeping her in place. "And as a soldier, I claim this beast as my prize."

The leader of the Fabials ceased her struggle and chuckled quietly, a stretch of her lip plates replacing the frown from before.

"Only the Beast himself may tame my own."

"Let me be that Beast then if you so stubbornly desire it."

Ultra Magnus pressed his lip plates to Cameo's, closing the painful gap keeping them at bay. They crushed together, meshing two forces into a single entity. Their frames were connected from lip plates to hipbolts without a single line of visible emptiness to spare. The Beast awoke inside of Ultra Magnus, and he let it come. Still, it would never match that of Cameo's own. It was another experience altogether embracing her. She was the thriving passion in their moment. It was from her that the fires raged and the walls tore asunder; It was the grip of her unfathomable majesty that command him to his kneebolts; It was her sun-carved fury that scored immeasurable slashes through his being. She truly was the Queen of Beasts.

They melted together, molding into a steady rhythm of exploring servos and racing sparks as if they'd done it a thousand times over. He was a confounding force, willing dominance in a losing battle against this Queen, which he foolishly and pridefully tried to win. She was a thunderous storm, flashing heat and electricity with astounding strength, sending tingling jitters along the line of his spinal relay. His spark was alive - pattering away as if there were a race to be ran between them. He wanted to become her King - to steal away her dominance for his own, as primitive instinct depict. Fat chance.

Electricity zipped through his frame and welled through as a barraging rage until it hit the tips of his digits. One servo cupped her spinal support, holding her to him close enough that he no longer could tell if she was apart of him or not. That long tail was sliding along his leg, the end waving across his bare protoform and making him shudder. She had the advantage over him, as her digits were smaller, and thus could reach his wiring better.

Cameo abruptly pinched one of these wires, sending a shot of crippling pleasure up his side. Magnus sagged against her, clenching his oral sheets to suppress his moan. Ventless, they parted for the briefest of nanoclicks, meeting once again in resounding vehemence. He gathered his senses enough to strike back in revenge after taking his time to recover. Slyly, his thumb link stroked up the line of Cameo's thigh, getting a muffled gasp from her as reward.

Magnus grinned in triumph, as he'd figured finally won. Cameo still had fight stabbing at him through her optics, but it was less now, more tamed. Quickly, Magnus knew he was finally in control, and he planned very well on using that power. Probably abuse it if he could.

~This is Optimus Prime to available Autobot team, respond.~

The moment couldn't have been worse.

Ultra Magnus jerked back from Cameo, muggy with the remnants of their moment and his processor lagging. They stared at each other, confused until the message sunk in with Ultra Magnus. His lip plates falling into a deep frown, he fought to calm his heavy venting and overheated armor. His arms unwound from the fembot and she made a small noise of displeasure, reaching for him. Ultra Magnus shook his helm from side to side gently and compensated by taking her servo in his. He made sure to give her a hard, long look, before walking up to press his foreplate to hers.

"Did you receive the message?" he whispered, still ventless. Cameo, in all her overwhelmed and foggy state, nodded against him. Her optics were clouded with the lasting effects of her term with her mech. Ultra Magnus himself wished to groan out loud in absolute aggravation, knowing that as Commander, he would again be forced to put himself last and tend to his duties. Because the line had been a general comlink message, Optimus Prime must have been searching for more than one Cybertronian. Reluctantly, he lifted his free servo to press to his communications device on the side of his helm.

~This is Ultra Magnus to Optimus Prime, is there something you needed sir?~

Cameo also brought up her digits to lay on her comlink communicator, her optics brilliant with something besides excitement. "He couldn't have waited," she muttered as she opened the line.

~This is Cameo of the Fabials, you requested for me?~

There was a pause as the messages relayed back over the lengthy distance from Saint Louis to Washington D.C. It would have to of been made by a com hub, otherwise, Optimus wouldn't have been able to reach them from that many miles. And Magnus had been tempted to ignore it. There had been a split certainty in himself that he was to bond with this fembot squirming under him, and now his leader had ruined their moment. For once, he was going to ignore his doubts and simply act.

Optimus came on about ten nanoclicks after Cameo had sent her message, his own deathly grave. ~I have not much time to explain to you both what has transpired here, however, I have a hearty request from the both of you,~ he claimed. There was background noise that came from the message, of rustling voices and the organized chaos of military alarms and personnel.

Magnus' optic ridges came down into his blue sights, burrowing deep in confusion and anxiety. When he saw Cameo again, the fembot was a mirror image of himself. She was pressing her digit to her comlink communicator with more pressure now, as if she were having trouble hearing. ~You sound concerned, Optimus Prime,~ she observed, her free servo coming up to join her other. Cameo's concentrated faceplates angled for Magnus' and he pressed his lip plates into a thin line. Optimus was almost always serious. However, and Magnus could hear it in his voice now, that there was something wrong. Terribly wrong.

An audible sigh could be detected from Optimus' end. ~Incredibly so, I fear,~ he confirmed. ~There has been an incident of major turn that requires yourself and your peers' involvement.~

~What need have you of the Fabials?~ Magnus interjected, squeezing Cameo's servo gently when he saw the terse worry hint in her optics.

In the stretch it took for Magnus' message to reach Optimus, he let go of his communicator and ducked to press his foreplate to Cameo's again. "Whatever it is, we'll be fine," he promised. "It could be a simple patrol mission, we don't kno-"

~Fera Lennox, Solas Kaon, and Titanios have all left our perimeter of sight, meaning, as of this time, they are missing,~ Optimus cut in. ~We need you, Ultra Magnus, and your Fabial contingent to proceed to Autobot location Alpha-One where we shall debrief you all on sight.~

~How did they leave your discretion? There are too many of us on base to lose them so suddenly!~ Magnus insisted back while his stunned fembot sat in total still, apparently fighting for understanding.

~Ultra Magnus, I trust you to get your comrades here safely,~ Optimus went on, obviously ignoring Ultra Magnus. The background noise picked up considerably as the Prime sent over another message.~Cameo, I ask of you to send your flier Galax into upper atmospheric patrol to locate the Decepticon vessel Nemesis. It is imperative we locate them as quickly as possible.~

~Optimus, wait-~

~Optimus Prime, out.~

Still hate Titanios now?

This should turn out to be interesting, huh? :D

And looks like Magnus' little flame is turning hot XD

Sorry, had to put that in there.

One of my favorite pairings needs a little love after being neglected for 25 friggen chapters D:

Anywho,

Thanks so much everyone for reading, and I hope to hear what you all think!

*Chapter Inspiration: The Reason= Hoobastank*