Life got busy for a while, but I got 67 done! So here's 63! Quite a bit happening in this one, hope you enjoy!
Sol led him through the tower's corridors, winding here and there, up more and more stairs until finally, they reached their destination.
The Atrium.
That oh so gilded cage that they'd been kept in whenever one of the Senators was not pursuing them.
The only place the masks could come off…
He'd sought them out, deep into the night, when most of the Senate was elsewhere, running their campaigns, he'd wanted to check on them, and find comfort in their presence.
He remembered that moment when his finals had first caught the sound of voices.
He hadn't ever heard their voices before, he hadn't known the masks could come off.
He'd panicked, thinking someone else was going up towards the Atrium.
It had taken his frazzled processor longer than he'd like to admit to realise it was two voices that had never graced his audios before.
Not like this.
Solarstorm pushed the doors open, revealing the room beyond.
Swings made from golden chains hung from on high, the great dome was one way, revealing the stars beyond, muted by the thick tint.
He remembered a Senator remarking his great grandsire had been the architect.
Mocking them with the stars just out of reach.
He took a cautious step inside, he'd been in here so few times, they normally came to find him.
A singular circular berth was in the centre, indented into the ground, plush and soft.
Far too big for them both to need.
But their measurements weren't the ones considered.
And there perched in the middle, was Nebularburst.
She smiled up at him so sweetly. "Hey there Optimus~ I haven't seen you in ages~" She crooned, mocking a faint as she fell back to lay against the pillows.
One leg lifted up, balancing upon the other and bouncing.
"Which is such a shame~ I get so lonely when you don't come to visit~" She purred.
He flinched back as guilt and regret filled him.
This… he didn't like what his subconscious did to Nebularburst's memory… this wasn't her…
But his love and lust… it had to go somewhere…
Solarstorm frowned, looking at her sister. "Neb, get up, now isn't the time…" She instructed, walking over.
Nebularburst pouted. "Awww… Fine." She relented, sitting back up, lips quirked to the side.
Then she apparently really took in how rough he looked.
She was swiftly on her clawed pedes, rushing towards him. "Optimus! What happened?!" She exclaimed in alarm, then she shook her helm. "No, I already know, just come down here."
She jumped up, grabbing his digit and pulling him back towards the large berth.
He hesitated. "Neb…" He mumbled.
"It's not a 'facing berth right now, it's a cuddle berth." She stated firmly, stepping onto it. "You lay down on your side, big mech." She instructed.
He didn't want to upset her, so he did as she requested.
She shifted to kneel behind his helm, hoisting it up and dropping it back onto her legs.
He managed to let out a soft chuckle. "This normally works better the other way around, you know?" He mumbled.
"Oh shush, it's my turn to do this." She admonished him lightly, flicking the tip of his final, before laying over the side of his helm.
Solarstorm sat ahead of him on the berth. "No rush, talk when you're ready, no sooner."
He managed a small nod, and reached out, gently pulling her in to hold her to his spark.
She went willingly, curling up against him with a soft sigh, helm coming to rest against the glass of his chassis with a light 'tok'.
At some point he curled around her completely, legs moving up to nudge her that bit closer as his helm pressed back into Nebularburst's hold.
One of them started to hum, he wasn't sure which, the other joined in right after before he could discern.
He sagged further, letting the soft melody roll over him.
He remembers this one.
It was when Ratchet had to deploy for a mission in Simfur, and Ironhide had gone with them, he'd offered to look after Bumblebee and Red Alert.
They were both younglings at the time, still new to the frame transition.
It was the first time both of the couple were deployed, and the two had been beyond consolation after the third cycle.
He'd tried, oh he'd made a valiant effort, Elita-1 had tried as well, a lot of bots tried to help.
One the fifth cycle, salvation came.
Nebularburst and Solarstorm had returned from a mission, the wreckers following them in.
At the sound of screeching sparklings, most had made a hasty retreat to the nearest med bay, hoping to seek out the soundproofing for some salvation.
Not the Mutes.
They'd tracked him and the younglings down easily, and he'd been too worn out to consider letting them take the two younglings that were getting close to being even bigger than the both of them.
In a strange way, having bots their own size seemed to calm them somewhat.
And then they'd started to hum this melody, soft and rolling.
The two younglings had been up and stressed for so long, when they finally felt a bit better, they both slumped into a strutless stassis.
He eventually freed them both, but they ended up sticking close to his pedes until Ratchet and Ironhide made it back with only a few dents and scrapes between them.
He still remembered the base wide relief when they didn't cry that night cycle.
That was far in the past, when the war was still new, when battle lines were more like rough drafts and Cybertrons scars were also just a few dents and scrapes.
And yet, after all that time, the song still soothed.
It soothed his spark in a way he couldn't put in words.
He'd missed this.
He'd missed them so much it stung even now.
Eventually, the words spilled out. "I failed them…" He mumbled.
They both pressed closer.
"You were in the middle of a sea, even if you'd scanned a boat, you wouldn't have gotten there in time."
"Well then maybe I should have scanned a plane." He growled out.
"You've never flown before in your life." Nebularburst pointed out gently.
He sagged a bit. "Which means I failed them… the agreement was that we'd protect them in return for letting us stay in their properties…"
"Optimus. You did what you could, they wouldn't be upset with you."
"That's because they're forgiving by nature… I cannot forgive myself so easily…"
"You really are a stubborn idiot sometimes, you know?" Solarstorm commented.
He hummed. "I've been informed of that on numerous occasions."
"Alright, good to have that re-established." Nebularburst muttered, before pinching his final and twisting it.
He yelped and yanked his helm free. "Neb!" He barked, reaching up to gently bend the tip back into place.
"Listen to us and I won't do it again." She warned, wagging a digit at him.
He huffed but relented. "Very well…"
Solarstorm rubbed the plating over his spark chamber. "Your spark is aching, yet you refuse to put a balm on it… you stubbornly take all the blame for things far beyond your control."
"You've deigned upon yourself that you can never forgive yourself, for wrongs you never committed…" Nebularburst offered gently. "You didn't order the mortars to open fire on the refinery… the Decepticons fired first, and the ground forces retaliated… you tried to order them to stop, but no one listened, they were all too busy trying to survive, you never blamed them for that, so, you blame yourself for not having foresight…"
"And you've never allowed yourself to move on from that… because you still feel the pain of their loss… you've subconsciously decided that so long as your spark aches, you will never let it heal… Which is horribly counter productive!" Solarstorm accused.
He closed his optics at some point during their relay on him, following along and trying to resist the urge to let anymore out of him…
But the dams were already gone, they'd burst when he'd still been awake…
The first garbled static that escaped led to a torrent of distressed noises as he clutched Solarstorm even tighter to him.
They both tried to soothe him, stroking along what they could reach as they hummed.
"It's a vicious cycle you've been trapped in…" Nebularburst mumbled close to his audio. "One that in truth, only you can break, by realising, you have nothing at all to forgive, our deaths, you know they were already set… we knew that we were not going to be kept online much longer, and we still went. Our deaths, we did that… we walked into that refinery knowing we wouldn't come back out, Optimus. We never told you, because we knew you'd try and protect us, and every one of your efforts would have been wholly in vain… we didn't want you to feel responsible for that… and yet… you still do… you still blame yourself when you had no idea what was going to happen…"
"How… How do I stop it?" He asked, voice strained by aeons of pain bottled up within his spark.
Solarstorm cupped his cheek with her tiny servo, coaxing him to look at her.
"By letting go of us."
"And moving on."
He jolted awake with a pained gasp, hard enough it spooked Saurouvro, she growled, rising up over him, evidently going into a defensive stance over him, armed tail lashing about, before looking back at him with a tilt of her massive head, a confused noise leaving her as she began to sniff him, checking him over.
He tried to sit up. "I'm… I'm alright… I need to get some air…" He muttered out, trying to get out from under her.
Saurouvro didn't like that suggestion, and promptly dropped her full weight back on him, staring him dead in his own eyes.
It felt like they pierced right into his spark.
He swallowed after a moment of staring into that searching gaze. "I… I can't let them go… they… they… they made me who I am…" He croaked out, his eyes already starting to feel wet.
Her round ears fell, it was a strange expression, a look of despair on a tigers face wasn't quite right in the way it would on a human face.
He reached up, cupping the thick muscles of her left jaw. "Just… how aware are you?" He muttered out the question, assuming he wouldn't get an answer.
He got one from the woman who was at the door. "Not as aware as she used to be."
His head snapped around to spot Sophia standing there, the woman stepping in and pushing the door closed behind her.
He frowned. "I didn't hear you approach." He pointed out.
She chuckled. "Dear, you don't live through all of human history without learning how to be stealthy when necessary." She remarked as she approached, Saurouvro leaning up to accept her hand for some affectionate rubs. "But on your question, in aeons passed, my dear Saurouvro was… much more aware of herself… she used to be sharper than a vipers fang… but now, her sense of herself has dulled…" She admitted.
Saurouvro chuffed, leaning up to lick at Sophia's face, the rough surface catching on old skin for a moment.
Optimus stared at her for a few moments before speaking. "Ah… can you go back to your earlier statement about your claim of living through 'all of human history'? I feel like that is distinctly something that should not be glossed over." He pointed out. "Who, exactly, are you?"
She hummed. "Sharp mind, no wonder Narisa likes you. And before you ask, she's the one who talked to you at that bar, where you tried whiskey?" She answered before he could even ask.
He blinked a few times. "You…"
"Sophia, my name is currently Sophia, I have had thousands of names before, so let us stick with that one for the sake of brevity. And this is Saurouvro, that is her only name, because unlike I and the other caretakers, they have not been allowed the respite of rebirth… Where our consciousness has been regularly transferred into new, fresh brains and bodies, Saurouvro and her fellow guardians have not, they have, well, dementia, their minds worn by the sands of time, the higher functions getting that bit harder to do with each passing millenia. In time, she will think no more than a true beast would… she is getting there I fear… her gaze has dulled."
He looked back to Saurouvro, then to Sophia. "She seems very alert to me?"
"Dear, I used to be able to have actual conversations with her, she's forgotten how to speak." Sophia admitted despairingly. "My oldest friend, and I cannot even discuss how lovely the weather is with her anymore."
Saurouvro let out a crooning call, leaving the bed entirely the wrap around Sophia, pressing her muscular frame to the old woman, who just petted along her flank.
He sat up slowly. "I suppose, there is much to focus on in the present, the past can be for another time."
She looked at him, her gaze something he honestly couldn't place beyond melancholic acceptance, tinged with despondency. "Yes, I suppose that is what we should focus on…"
He got up from the bed. "Shall we head back downstairs?" He offered.
She nodded, following behind him, Saurouvro keeping pace with her, shoulder pressed to her side.
It was late afternoon he realised upon spotting a grandfather clock against the wall, he hadn't meant to sleep most of the day away.
Surprise took him firmly when he spotted Ira on one of the living rooms sofa's, flanked on one side by Kia and Barricade, and Prowl, Annie and Raf on her other side.
Soundwave and his younglings were all occupying the other large sofa, sharing it with Megatronus and Derrick.
All heads present turned as Saurouvro trotted ahead, chuffing to them all before settling down between the sofa's with a yawn that flashed a mouthful of ebony fangs.
Seeing that both sofas were sufficiently overcrowded already, he grabbed one of the kitchen island chairs and brought it around, bringing a second for Sophia to hop up onto. "I am… going to take it there is… a lot I have missed, considering no one seems to be having any reaction to the tiger on the carpet?"
"Key Guardian." Sophia corrected. "She is a Key Guardian."
"Then where's her key?" Rafeal asked, the young lad quite obviously in awe at what was before him, considering his fascination with the old legends.
Having one suddenly in front of him was no doubt a thrilling experience for the young lad.
Sophia hummed. "Her key is hidden somewhere, even I don't know the location of it. The only ones who do, are the other three guardians, so that they never go near it." She explained.
"So." Megatronus spoke up. "Ira needs to have obtained the other three keys, before going to find the fourth?"
Sophia nodded. "That is what has been set up, yes."
Megatronus snarled. "By the same puppet masters, I assume?"
Sophia's expression turned bitter for a moment. "The very same…" She practically growled.
Seeing they were on the same page, Megatronus nodded. "There's no way around this, Ira needs to collect those keys."
Sophia nodded. "Indeed, believe us, we've tried to break free of the cycle… but, no luck… We have had to come to accept it, to be frank, we look forward to the end, we've been alive for far too long now…" She admitted.
Glances of concern went about.
Frenzy was actually the one to speak up. "Ira said you've been here since the dawn of human history… that isn't that long?" He asked.
She hummed, a wry smile forming. "For you Cybertronians and your mechanical minds maybe… but you haven't died, over, and over through that lifetime, have you? There was a century when I never made it past the age of two… it was quite a shock when in my next lifetime I made it to twenty three before I met my end… We didn't have any protection beyond the guardians, and we weren't always able to find each other in time."
That little revelation took a few moments to sink in for them all, Sophia looking to Optimus, who seemed to be just as deep in thought as the rest.
"It's hard to imagine, I understand that, so try not to linger on it too much, alright my darlings?" She offered.
Kia leant forwards a bit. "What exactly do these keys do?"
Sophia offered her a wry smile. "A better question really would be, what can't they do. A single key on its own isn't all that powerful, yes, but once you have at least two together, you could raise mountains, change the course of rivers, turn solid earth to a churning sea of rock under your enemy's cavalry attack."
Ira paled a bit at that. "An', all to'ether?"
"We're not sure actually, we've never dared try that, two was always enough of a display." Sophia admitted. "Though we must all take into consideration the lock itself that you possess within you, Ira, it may very well act to further amplify their power."
Silence fell after that, one broken only by Saurouvro rolling onto her back, chuffing away as she rubbed her back into the carpet.
That was right around when the lift to the basement pinged and Ratchet stormed out. "Was no one going to tell me Ira was back?!" He barked.
Most under his ire pulled back into themselves a bit, but Ira got up, walking over to the medic. "Sorry Ra'ch, been ah bi' he'ic, yah know?"
He huffed but relented. "I need to check on you, where's your actual form?"
"S'ill ou'si'e."
He went right for the front door. "I am giving you the medical riot act later!" He barked.
Ira had the sense to flash Kia a knowing smile. "Oh, ah know tha's comin'."
Once they were outside, and more importantly away from prying ears, Ratchet took her gently by the shoulders. "Ira, I need you to be wholly honest with me, do you need more time to process this all? Ironhide is strong enough to pull Optimus' trailer and we can get you back to the alps, Jazz is already fully briefed so he can help you better than I can with this."
The offer genuinely touched her, and she pulled him into a quick hug. "Actually Ra'ch, ah'm feelin' alo' be'a now tha' ah've tal'e' tah him." She explained, before her holoform fritzed out entirely, and her actual form shifted from where it had been laying on its front in the grass, the visor lifting up for a moment so she could flash him a playful wink, before managing to push herself up into something of a hunched sit, so that as her chassis opened, the revealed spark and beating heart within were in easy reach for the medics holoform to scan.
Something that Ratchet did not delay in doing, taking the readings, and what he could see with his own two eyes.
Sure enough, the fluxing was… diminished.
Still there, but the sparks pulses were not as aggressive as they had been in the past few weeks.
Quite frankly, it was a massive relief.
He offered her a smile. "It seems you're right, it's stabilised… but you aren't out of the woods yet, the damage itself is still extensive, I do not want you to take this as a cue to do anything too strenuous, understood?" He asked.
She nodded. "Of course Ra'che' ah'll be careful, promise."
He patted her upper thigh. "Good, close up now, okay?"
She did so, trying not to make a face at how weird it all still felt, just having what would have been her ribcage moving about.
She highly doubted she would ever grow accustomed to that.
It took a bit of effort to get up to her full height, pouting for a moment she headed towards the garage doors. "I'm going to be in the bunker if you need me."
He watched her go, observing how low to the ground she had to go on her wings and pedes to fit through the door ways.
Once he was sure she had made it in fine, he flicked off his holoform, his actual form also in the bunker still, having let Red Alert take the next shift of watching over the twins to look out for any change in their condition.
He came back to himself, sat just outside in the corridor, getting up with some effort, he made his way to the main area.
He found Ira just rising back to her full height, her attention not on him but on Soundwave, his frame laying propped up against the wall nearest the lift, his younglings were all small enough to not need holoforms to get about in the manor above, so he sat there with his arms holding his legs to his chassis.
He watched quietly as she seemed to really take in his masked helm, tilting her own helm this way and that, observing the planes of his plating, his colours, maybe even the old scars and scuffs that dotted his frame.
Ira began to speak, and after a moment he managed to catch onto the fact she was speaking Russian, knowing this likely meant she was talking to herself, he opted not to have his language processor translate what she was saying, she'd switched language for a reason, and it wasn't his place to pry.
And just like that, the CMO found himself with little to do.
If he tried to go back in to monitor the twins, his son would shoo him off with a wrench, something he knew full well he'd instilled within the younger mech to have as a habit.
After a few moments, he elected to seek out Ironhide, hoping to find a distraction from everything in his mate.
When he felt across the bond for him, Ironhide responded swiftly, and with a surprising amount of excitement and longing.
After a moment he realised he had been quite cut off from his mate recently, the stress of everything keeping his focus away.
His mate emerged from his own room, beckoning for him to come inside, taking his servo with a gentle tug once Ratchet was in reach.
He found himself leaning into his mate's side, humming softly. "Forgive me 'Hide, I hadn't meant to become so distant…" He tried to apologise as Ironhide tilted his helm up by the chin to plant a kiss to the side of his helm.
"Don't give me that, I'm not upset, just happy I can have you all to myself for a while." He rumbled, his powerful engine filling the quiet of the room.
He caught the implication and hummed. "Oh?" He asked playfully, running his servo up along his mate's side. "Well surely there's something I can do to make it up to you?~" He asked.
The rumble of Ironhide's engine grew louder.
Loud enough for the other occupant of the room to make his displeasure known with an indignant squawk.
Both helms snapped around, finding Freedom glaring at them both from the bundles of bedding that Ironhide had wrapped him up in for a snug doze.
Ironhide rubbed the back of his helm. "Sorry lad, forgot you were there for a minute."
Freedom squawked again, shimmying out of the bedding and jumping off the bed, padding over to the door, looking up at him and giving him an expectant look.
Ironhide quickly opened the door for him, closing it again once the eagle was out in the corridor and hopping away towards the main area.
The two exchanged a look then, Ratchet raising an optic ridge at his mate, before snorting.
It broke the silence and Ironhide chuckled too. "Sorry about that Ratch'." He mumbled.
The medic shook his helm, the chuckle lingering. "It's alright, it's good to see he's back to full strength with his legs, I'm impressed you were able to nurse him back to health so well honestly, those weren't insignificant injuries."
Ironhide puffed up with pride a bit at that. "Yeah well, I happen to have a damn good coach helping me with that, didn't I?"
Ratchet smiled at that. "Perhaps, but you handled all of his care yourself, I'm impressed dear." He praised, stepping back up against his mate to lean into the other mechs side, enjoying the physical contact with his other half.
Ironhide's engine picked right back up, rumbling away as his arms went around Ratchet's waist. "Missed you…" He admitted, pressing their helms together so he could nuzzle him. "Red's a life saver, you can take more breaks now…" He commented.
Ratchet huffed. "Perhaps, he does seem quite intent on kicking me out so I don't overwork myself… vexing perhaps in the moment, but I really do appreciate his concern."
Ironhide hummed, a servo coming up to cup his mate's cheek. "You've earned a break, come." He offered, leading him over to the berth, one that had been made big enough to accommodate them both.
He clambered on first, before helping Ratchet up, letting his mate lay atop him partially, their chassis pressed together.
He wasn't sure which of them opened up first, but in the privacy and quiet of his room, their sparks met for the first time in months, a noise of relief leaving them both as they came together as a whole, their sparks clinging to each other as much as their limbs did.
Love and adoration flowed heavy over the link, melting away the stresses that had accumulated in the time since they'd last come together on a forested hill top months prior.
It was almost a cleanse, one they both relished together.
Ratchet kissed his shoulder flaring. "My big strong brute~" He purred.
Ironhide chuckled at the old pet name. "My busy body medic~"
Ironhide noticed something then, a taut coil of emotion within his mates spark, he gently reached for it, trying to soothe it, to understand.
Ratchet hissed softly, but didn't pull away, letting him feel all the confusion and concern that had been knotting itself up in his spark.
The confusion over what the relic had done to the twins, it was far outside anything he'd ever come across before.
Concern not just for the twins' wellbeing, but the wellbeing of everyone, if the twins never woke up, what would become of the deal? Would these new, fragile ties of peace rip themselves apart again?
He gripped his mate a bit tighter as the worries flowed between them.
They shared them.
The worry about if Bumblebee would lose Barricade again, their family unit is almost as whole as it was before the war, to be separated from them all again, it might just be more than they could take.
Would Red Alert and Inferno have to split away from them again?
Those and so much more.
Ironhide did his best to soothe his mate on each, while his servos rubbed along Ratchet's back strut.
Eventually it tired them both out, and feeling somewhat better and stable, both allowed their sparchambers to hide themselves away again, leaving the two to stay in the tight embrace of each other.
Ratchet let out a rough sigh, rubbing the side of his helm into his mates. "I missed this…" He mumbled.
Ironhide just hummed low in agreement. "You ain't getting bored of me now, are you?"
Ratchet huffed, giving his mate a light whack. "Of course not you dolt. I promised you I never would, and I am not a mech who breaks his promises."
He had to chuckle a bit at that. "I know, I know, I was just joking, love…" He mumbled, taking the servo that had whacked him and pressing a kiss to the back of it. "Primus I love it when you get fiery~." He purred.
Ratchet huffed, rolling his optics in good nature. "Oh hush you, I'm much too old for that." He grouched.
Ironhide just grinned that bit wider then. "Primus I must be ancient then~"
That earned him another light whack, and a humoured pulse across their bond.
That brought a proper soft smile to his features, pressing his forehelm to his mates.
Things weren't going perfect right now, but they'd get through it.
They always had.
That was right around the time that Red Alert sent along an alarmed pulse from his side of the bond, sending the both of them right to high alert.
"Carrier, Sire, you need to see this, I need more than my own optics to confirm I'm not seeing things."
They were up and across the corridor before either even processed getting off the berth, sliding the door to the twins and Derrick's room open.
There, still strewn out in the nest, were the twins, and Red Alert, who's field was tangibly thick, prickly, with confusion and alarm.
It didn't take long to spot what had his focus as Ratchet knelt down to investigate himself.
Something was… oozing out of their spark chamber, completely black, it wasn't oil, he'd be able to see himself distorted in it if it was.
He pulled out a sample vile and very carefully, tried to take a sample.
Only for it to flow right back out and splat back onto the plating he'd tried to scrape it from.
Frowning, he trailed back the ooze, it was definitely coming from the spark chamber. "Red, be on the ready." He mumbled as he reached for the emergency release catches that were hidden out of sight on the twins plating.
They tripped, and more flowed out as soon as the opening was made larger, sliding down their frame.
It was a pool, their still beating hearts pumping away, partially submerged as well as their sparks.
Their hearts.
A strike of fear went to his spark when he realised what was wrong with them.
They'd both turned completely black, and were the source of the ooze as it sloughed off the techno-organic flesh.
That was right about when the smell hit him.
He recoiled, reflexively shutting off his olfactory entirely, but that wasn't enough to save him from that initial smell.
Death, acrid, putrid death.
Red Alert and Ironhide were both quick to recoil when it hit them too, Ironhide letting out a string of curses Ratchet wasn't paying attention to as he tried to scoop some of the fluid up.
It was thick, thick enough as soon as it tried to pull it away, it dragged itself right back out of his grip to splash back into the open spark chamber.
"Ratchet, what do we do?" Red Alert asked, the alarm thick in his voice.
He froze for a moment, realising that, once more, he had no idea, except one. "Grab them, it wants to stick to itself, if we can hold them chassis down, it might fall out."
They were quick to act, Ironhide grabbing their legs by the ankle joints while Ratchet and Red Alert took a shoulder pauldron each.
Their wings were luckily tucked into their sides, making the flip easier.
They waited, and waited.
Nothing fell out.
Cursing, Ratchet ordered them to set them back down on their back.
To his horror, more had oozed out, coating the plating around their spark chamber.
It was spreading.
"Get their brothers, Ironhide, get them now!" He barked.
He had no idea what was happening, their family needed to know something was going very, very wrong.
Ironhide bolted from the room, already on the coms to raise the alert to both brothers.
The more it spread, the faster it went.
By the time Megatronus and Derrick were up, the entire upper and lower torso were covered.
Derrick let out a panicked screech, and Megatronus had to bodily heft the smaller mech up so he wouldn't get in the way as Ratchet tried to get any form of readings off them.
That was when Megatronus spoke up. "Don't touch them!" He ordered.
Helms snapped around, staring at the former warlord in alarm.
He looked at the mass and frowned. "They're not dying."
Ratchet's optic twitched. "I'm sorry, but how the slag have you come to that conclusion?!"
The mech scowled. "Because I know exactly what this is… they're going through a change… a metamorphosis if you will."
The ooze was consuming the wings and legs now, and had reached the base of their helm.
Derrick looked up at his older brother in alarm, then back to his sisters. "They… they're gonna be okay… right?" He whimpered out.
Megatronus gently set him down. "They will be. They're probably… going through something drastic in the relic… To cause this."
By then the ooze had completely consumed them, and their frame seemed to start to shift, the wings shifting to wraps around them completely.
That was right about when the others began to crowd into the door, Optimus' stride having put him at the front, with Ira shoving him in the abdomen with her shoulder so she could get past him and into the room.
The smell was fading now, nowhere near as pungent as it seemed to solidify.
What was left, was a cocoon.
Ratchet broke the silence that held for a long few moments after. "How the fuck do you know they're going to be okay?!" He practically roared at the former warlord.
"Ah, is this a bad time?" A new voice spoke up.
Helms once again snapped around to a well dressed human in a red suit, his hair slicked back and a briefcase in one leather gloved hand standing next to the nest.
Everyone except Megatronus went tense, more than a few integrated guns were drawn and aimed.
The former warlord was the one to greet the human. "I would say yes, but your timing is… scarily impeccable, Lucifer."
The very much not human that looked like a human smiled. "I do try my best, Megatronus, old boy. Now, care to fill me in on what has transpired with my dear nieces?"
Hoo! I did say quite a bit would happen!
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Until next time!
Moon.