Disclaimer: Hasbro and Takara-Tomy own Transformers. I just like hounding their giant robots.
Warnings: Part of the obligatory "Ah crap/ make-up" chapter. Needless to say, you shouldn't be getting your morals from TF (Let alone some rando online). Make of this what you will.
It Must Be Exhausting Always Rooting For the Antiseptic
Voltage hadn't thought of herself as an angry person. And then she saw Weirdwolf's idea of sabotage.
The Preda medic had disassembled all CR equipment, scattered and shredded any labels, and wiped the computers.
Voltage found herself not tearing through the building in rage but simmering in the carnage. She could have had all the training in the world, but she still couldn't help when it mattered the most.
Helping to stop one Driller was taxing. Jumpstarting a base was overtime. Fighting off Seeker killers was a bridge too far.
Even Cieve had turned.
Voltage had entered the generator room just in time to see Cieve standing over her circuit-sister, mouth coated with energon.
Cieve relaxed like a whole body wasn't lying in front of her. "Oh good, you let him go."
"What are you doing to them?"
"V, you're compromised; I can't tell you that. Besides, it's none of our business. They're the Decepticon's problem."
Her once caretaker rolled Cypress over by the shoulder, "Now go make your grand entrance. We'll be back for you."
"Bu–"
"Be happy. If this works out, the Dread might recall you. Hang in there."
No, they weren't.
Not if she could help it.
Voltage intended to avoid running into either team again; she grabbed Cypress and bailed.
The twins were more adept at finding her than expected. They should have been trackers. They probably were. Everyone on their little ship did at least four other jobs. Well–their ship, not hers. Not hers, not ever.
"V, where," RoadRage paused, taking in the damage, "Oh."
The Preeker sat up taller for appearance's sake, "I need to set this up…recheck the CR fluid," but Voltage didn't budge. She didn't know where to start.
RoadRage didn't mind her inaction, "Take it easy. I'll help you."
"Do you know how Cypress' CNA doner died?"
RoadRage remained quiet.
"His name was Thresher. He had his helm smashed in by Wrecker Autobots. They needed test subjects. He suffered and was extinguished out of his mind far from home. My CNA doner couldn't save him."
She felt a servo come to rest between her wings, "I'm truly sorry. For all of you."
And the bounty hunter said it with all the sincerity of a pack member.
"Don't be. I hardly knew mine. We were supposed to be the improved models, but I can't even betray you idiots."
RoadRage paused, "Thank you. But back to the first part? You're not done yet. Take your own advice. You didn't obey an order you didn't trust."
Voltage shook her helm, "I told Ratchet to run…I haven't seen him since then. The Decepticons didn't want us—just their old members. No one ever tells me the full scope. I just came for my trine. It was too hard to leave before now. This mission isn't like what they said it would be."
She lowered her wings, "Had we not gotten caught, I fully intended to go at it alone. Eukaris isn't far."
A sensation of betrayal she didn't expect flared from RoadRage, "You were going to leave us? You can't! Why?"
A scan of her face revealed Rager looked upset.
Voltage shifted uncomfortably, "Bonds can fade. We'd all get over it eventually. I couldn't exactly bring you and Bee to Eukaris too. It's forbidden. Bee could hide himself, but they'd deport you; if not, kill you." Voltage gestured at her dented wings, "I would have been punished here no matter what I said or did. Look what they did to their guardian's charge. My head would be on a pike."
"I'm not glad the twins caught you." RoadRage finally sighed, "If I knew, I would have never let them come after you- I'm glad you're still here. Please don't leave."
"You are a terrible bounty hunter."
"Yeah, well, I try to be a better friend, and right now, every one of them is either missing or trying to kill each other."
Voltage tapped at her numbing spark, "I don't like these odds."
"So? The odds of you surviving whatever your bosses did to you were slim. You managed to make me tolerate you." She gave her a light shove, "Beat the odds again."
"We are literally on a planet, in a base where history repeated itself. I just wish we hadn't inherited our predecessor's fate."
"There is no such thing as fate," another voice spat.
Voltage planted her servos on the metal before her and concentrated. She couldn't "see" the other 'former, so she aimed for the sensory distortion in the corner.
Voltage pressed one dented wing into Rager and reached through the flooring. She could force one section of ceiling down on top of the intruder with a little effort.
In the meantime, the floor buckled into spikes, slamming any escape route shut, "I've had enough. Show yourself."
Nanos ticked by.
Voltage drew in as much energy as she could muster and honed in on the intruder's spark. She'd never burst a 'formers spark before, and she had no qualms about trying.
The formless shape gave off irritated amusement, "Is that how you greet your superiors?"
Voltage transformed and hissed. RoadRage loaded her blasters.
A bigger, lankier felid emerged from the distortion, outer edges blurry.
"Feeling better about me now?"
RoadRage nudged her shoulder, ~ I know of her. ~
~ I do too. ~
It didn't mean Voltage trusted Terrorcons.
"We don't have time for this, Arcee. What."
The Terrorcon took on a vehicle-mode appearance with an unsettling fluid jerk. "If your sibling flatlines, you'll feel it first. Let me know, hmm?"
The bond had been a minefield of static since the ship crashed. No one was in a hurry to fix it.
"How'd you get here so fast?" RoadRage ventured.
Arcee dusted her servos off, "Those first unfortunate hallucinations? We've been following you since then."
"The Dread?" Voltage sighed.
"No. Me, Lock, and…" Arcee forced out the designation with a cringe, "Oil Slick. The Dread sent us, and we've missed you all."
Voltage didn't meet her optics until the Terror lifted her chin. The Preeker allowed herself to be bipedal.
"It's true," Arcee continued, "Nice to properly meet you, dear one."
Voltage didn't expect relief to buzz in her lines. It wasn't manufactured from the Terrorcon either. It lasted until Arcee dipped her digits in one cracked barrel of additives. "If we work together, I can have you up and running in a joor. I know a few tricks. Will the younglings last that long?"
"Yes."
"Don't look so sad. We'll have you all feeling better in no time."
Voltage tried to ignore the shorter 'former licking the notoriously inedible CR slurry of her digits.
"Not contaminated."
~o~o~o~o~o~
Nearly dying for the second or third time in less than two years did strange things to your helm. Cypress' HUD refused to clear, so she turned it off. The outside of her stab wound stung intermittently.
Everything was blindingly clear and muddy at the same time.
"I'm going to jail."
Cypress finally looked over at Bee's doorwings tucked against the lowered glass of his CR tube. Whatever high he'd been on had ended in a breakdown. At least he wasn't the type to scream. Nah, his doorwings were stuck at different angles like a distressed hawk.
"I can hear rats half a mile away, Bee. Stop whispering. They won't put you in prison."
"I attacked a senior and helped traitors. No offense."
Cypress winced. Slag, she was too tired for guilt. Her self-repair threatened to put her in stasis. She overrode it. "We're not in anyone's jurisdiction. Traitors get shot then."
"Don't remind me; I've seen videos. Whirl's." He added.
She recalled 'helicopter', 'danger to self and others', and 'crazy' being attached to that name. "Eggh, Michaels."
"Is watching snuff vids normal?"
"Nope." Cypress didn't know anymore. Frankly, Michaels tricking her into watching Evangelion at six felt just as wrong. Getting stabbed by your alleged stepbrother ranked somewhere in there. Any incident was hard to remember at the moment. She was almost grateful for the helm trauma.
Cypress slumped against one wall and poked at the energon infusion line sticking out of her chest. The pain was dulling now, and her optics were getting heavy. This wasn't the pleasant tug of recharge. This was the sucking kind of sleep you didn't wake up from.
"Hey. Hey. Cypress." He slammed the side of the neighboring tube, "Don't go to sleep."
"I wasn't."
Bee's optics cycled tight. "If you die now, I'm never forgiving you."
"It'll be okay."
"The hell it will. Are you not scared of death or something?"
Whatever coding possessed her to attack Sunny reignited, "YES, very scared-of what leads up to it. But I learned from the best."
He snorted.
Not to be hindered by the energon line sticking out of her chest, Cypress sat up.
"That's rich. You tried fighting a literal murder machine to protect Bud and me, knowing you're not Massicon-proof. And you continue to do so. I have learned five things from you people."
"You people?"
"Yes, crazy Ark residents who have no volume control. And they are: advanced insomnia, swearing, multiple uses for an HDMI cable, and sometimes violence works. The only fight I was in as a human I lost, and it screwed me up ever since. I don't know what I'm doing, but the worst has already happened. The best thing I can do is not be a burden and hold on to what's left. That is number five. I appreciate what you did. Thanks for coming."
Bumblebee's furious sputtering sounded like a dial-up modem on high speed. "You're the most frustrating 'former I have ever met. Of course, I came! Stop fighting 'formers out of your weight class. That's my job!"
"What do you want me to do? Let him kill Voltage? The twins ambushed us. Sunny was going to kill her."
"No, but don't make him angrier!"
"He and Sides were going to kill her for something I did. No one else needs to die because I can't hold it together. I have to."
"I know what you're doing." Bee said quietly, "No one realizes they're doing it at first."
Ah, slag. It was the thing that had many names, "giving up" among them.
"I need you here."
That one phrase made her spark twinge, then crack.
Fortunately for her, it wasn't literally this time.
Cypress slouched to bury her helm in her knees, willing herself not to cry.
Bumblebee managed to limp the distance between them and scooted into her tube. He had trouble. After all, a monstrous slash ran the length of his thigh because nothing was sacred when you broke faction trust.
She got ahold of her vocalizer and sat up stiffly, "That glitch tried to stab you."
His EM turned unreadable, "Yes."
"I fragged up."
"Yes, but you're not the one who harassed one teammate to a mental break and then attempted to execute another teammate without a trial."
A cold prickle ran down her spine, her jaws clenched. "Do you know how good tearing into Sunstreaker felt? I would have. I'm scared I won't stop."
Bee didn't move away. He crept closer.
"The last one, yes. I've known Sunny forever. I've been with the Autobots forever. This happens all the time. If it wasn't you, it would be someone else. And he fragged up picking you."
Cypress nudged the arm creeping around her shoulder, "Dude, don't hug me. Weird new spines, remember?"
"Yeah, you lost decision privileges a while ago. I'm cold."
"Only because you got stuck again."
"A little. I'm getting used to it."
Despite the tarp, most of Bee's chest was dotted with gray pinpricks from carrying her here.
Cypress frowned as she dosed him, "I'm serious, Bee!" She paused, "What if they're all dead? Did you see what happened?"
He didn't answer.
"I-I don't know. I'm not sure. But they aren't. Why drag it out unless there's a bigger prize waiting."
"I hope you're right."
Accepting comfort didn't feel right, but Bee wasn't asking for opinions. Any attempts to push him off landed her in another "security embrace".
"Do you hate me now?"
"Nah, I'm mad at you."
Very fair.
"Why didn't you kill Sunny?" he finally asked.
"You don't do that in front of their family members. That's deranged. I like Sideswipe. I'd kill too if–aw scrap."
The twins were more closely bonded than their teams' multiple lines. If Sides hadn't had reason enough to hate her, he did now. When it came down to a choice, you chose your sibling. Cypress refused to believe she picked wrong.
Bee squirmed. "Yeah…dealing with Sides isn't going to be fun."
"Are you going to dump me after this? It's fine. We'll get it out of the way now."
Bumblebee's scuffed faceplate made him look more deadpan than Prowl. His mask had split his bottom derma. "Why the frag would I do that? Nobody will listen to my accordion playing, and I lose a heater."
"Poor you."
"Yes, poor me." He leaned her back against his chassis. "I'm serious; I'm not going anywhere." A thumb ran across her cheek, "Will you at least look at me? What's wrong?"
"Mech, you look messed up covered in energon. And…you and Sunny's colors aren't far apart."
"Scrap. Is not seeing me ok for now?"
Cypress nodded. "He could have broken you in half. "
"Sunny could try, and Prime and Ratchet would have–"
Her vision went cloudy from coolant this time. Bee didn't speak for a long while.
"You know what? Never mind. They'll be back." He croaked, "So your mouth splits? How'd that happen?"
She shrugged, willing the seams to close back. "Rilo used to do it all the time. It was cool, and I wanted to try it." Cypress frowned, the hazy memory shattering instantly. "I think. Too weird?"
"No."
Her right arm was still seeping green and working too hard to remake its armor out of crystallized venom. Cypress ignored the full sensation in her tank and her frame reclaiming anything she could consume. Or that she had consumed.
She really was 'That thing'.
Cypress scraped at her mouth furiously. Slag it all…
"You ok?"
"No. I think I–" Yeah, she couldn't say it.
Bee observed her, optics cycling, "Not going to hurl?"
"I wish I could."
"One time back in Iacon, I got sick during an energon shortage. No one likes to talk about nutrient deprivation in sparklings. I wasn't a high priority for treatment. Arcee got mad and took me beneath the city for help."
Bumblebee paused for too long, "Then…when we got left behind… there wasn't any accessible energon. Jazz and Prowl would disappear for a while and come back with the worst-tasting fuel ever. You don't realize what you would do for survival until it happens."
They made optic contact, "Like I said, you're not the scariest 'former I've met."
Cypress finally twisted around to look at Bee. Really look.
He hadn't changed. Still, the hyperactive not-quite-human that passed out in her living room. Also the determined energon soaked soldier and…
Cypress tilted her helm.
Bee's plating evened out, and he copied. "What's this?"
"You look different now. Good different. Hi."
"Hey." He bumped their helms, "I won't say anything. We've got the same secret."
"See why I don't like biting now?"
"Yea," Bee stopped as another shivering fit racked him.
Cypress craned her helm into the crook of his neck.
"I promise it won't happen again."
Bee pressed their helms together and pressed a kiss to the split corner of her mouth.
"Be careful."
"I know."
One of his arms was speckled with graying spine holes.
"Don't say it." He mumbled.
Cypress traced his faceplate. Now he was the one trying to squirm away. She wrapped her arms around his neck. He was going to keep getting poisoned because he was the clingy type.
"You don't have to do this."
"I want to. First and last time." Cypress brushed his cheek, vents ghosting over his plating. There was no casual way to do this. Bumblebee made the beginnings of a protest, but she slipped forward.
He quieted after she nicked a neck cable with her fangs, applying a heavy antidote. She could feel every movement of his frame in such an intimate spot.
Bee's ventilation pitched down to a stiff wheeze. He cradled the back of her helm. Slowly his systems reset, carefully taking in the new data.
"I'm guessing no one else is getting that treatment."
Cypress rolled her optics and bit a tad harder before pulling away. Only to be drawn into a soft kiss.
"You're more than welcome to do that again anytime."
"Tezuka looking-aft…" She muttered, faceplate hot. Cypress positioned a band of leftover spines around his wrists, "Let this integrate into your plating."
"No, keep your venom. What if I get other orders…"
Cypress cupped his face, "I trust you, Bee. You came, and you did more than enough. You kept your word. That's more than any casual friend has ever done for me."
His optics refocused until he had to look away.
"But we're beyond that aren't we," she bound his arms with mesh bandages.
"Something to remember me by. If it takes, you will be tough to bite. At the least, you'll be immune."
Bumblebee's optics flickered, and coolant welled up. "Can I see your arm?"
Cypress held out her left.
"You don't have on-board weapons. Accessing a subspaced one is almost impossible when you're under attack. You still feel okay?"
"No worse than a joor ago, a little better now you're here."
He started picking at his side until a bundle of wiring puckered out.
"What are you up to?"
"I keep extra blasters."
"In your side. In your guts."
"It keeps it fresh and easy to attach. Doesn't everyone?"
"Sweetie, no…" she started packing his wires back, "You give me headaches."
"And yet you're still here."
There wasn't much plating on her stripped arm to remove. Bumblebee carefully severed and soldered until her HUD alerted her of a new attachment.
"Anyone tries to pin you down again. You use this. Aim for the spark. Now let me see your back."
"Don't write anything stupid."
"It won't be. It'll heal over well. You won't see a scar."
"My spines are going to cover it anyway."
"I know, but I want you to see it when you wake up."
Cypress gave up on the logic of it all. The soft stencil scratching kept her alert, at least. Bee leaned her back toward him, chassis thrumming.
"The hell, mech. It's vibrating my denta."
"I heard it helps speed healing."
"You're purring, cat boy," she snickered.
"That's not what it's called."
"Shame. I'm starting to like cats. If something happens-"
"It won't."
"Tell everyone back home it was a shark attack."
"Nah, knowing you, you tried to pet the shark. You're not a burden. I like taking care of you."
Cypress let herself melt into his frame, "Ah, you're just here for the promise of kinky slag."
"And you're not? I thought you were into it?"
"Eh, I can appreciate a good form. You're stinking cute. You know that?"
"Mhmm. I also know there's also merit to being over here and not in the crypt next door."
He started mouthing a trail down her throat.
"Which one of you is having a spark attack–Oh." Voltage paused before the static in the room increased, "Primacron...what is wrong with you two? Cut that out! You want to flatline?"
There wasn't any heat in her words. "I'm assuming you're feeling stable?'"
Cypress gave a shaky thumbs up. "How are you?"
"Better off than you," the Preeker came over to rub her helm, looking for further damage, and saw crimped neck-cables.
Voltage swatted Bumblebee across the helm.
"OW!"
"That's for biting my sister!" Then she leaned in to hug him the best she could, "This is for–you know."
"Anytime."
Voltage straightened, dented wings raising, "If you get kicked out the Autobots, you'll always have a place with us."
"Thanks."
"Now scram. I need your vitals separate."
Bumblebee let out a put-upon sigh and shuffled Cypress out of his lap.
The Preda-wolf pulled her into an awkward side hug. "You don't feel okay."
"I'll be fine when you're better, sissy."
"Have you seen Terri anywhere?"
Voltage's professional air deflated, "She's wherever Drift is now."
Bumblebee knocked over a tray, trying to get back out of the tube.
"Stop making so much noise, Praxian!"
"I can't help it!"
RoadRage poked her helm in, "Will you leave him alone? He's hurt."
"He was not acting hurt a klik ago," the Preeker hissed. Voltage began detaching the energon line and attaching more CR components as fast as possible, "I still have to get his vitals."
"Relax. I'll take them," a third voice said.
Bumblebee's doorwings shot up, and he squealed, "Arcee!"
"Hey, Bumbles."
The prettiest former she'd seen to date walked in. Cypress decided she wouldn't tell her trine that, no matter how disoriented she was. Still, she could barely hold the spark of excitement that another fan of monstresses was here. Somewhere in her mind, ancient alarm bells were going off. They didn't scream 'danger' as much as whisper it. Cypress recalled being more scared of the guys.
That thought didn't feel good.
Bumblebee poked her in the side, equally excited, "This is Arcee."
"We've met. Kind of. She likes monsters too."
Voltage couldn't hide a pout, "Sissy, that is a monster. She's a Terrorcon."
"Cool."
"They eat other Transformers," RoadRage added.
"Less cool. She's like your cousin-in-law, right, Rager? You should be fine."
Bee frowned, "And she's nice."
"You two have no survival instincts. " Voltage muttered.
"They're different types of monsters, you know."
"Prowl literally morphed into a scarier version of himself. I still trust him. Not like he's any less of himself than he was before. "
"Words to live by," Arcee said, "Let's get to work."
The other three had discussed their plan before. RoadRage and Voltage were distracting Bee. Arcee made her lean back and started reopening her welds.
Feeling ice over your spark and broken chestplates bending was never pleasant.
"Nasty stab," the Terrorcon commented.
Cypress let herself shrink back; she couldn't keep this up. She hadn't realized just how much she was drawing on Bee's systems.
"You should see the other guy."
"Did he break his bipedal mode too?"
"Oops."
Arcee started scraping the broken lines and cauterizing the loose bits inside her. "I swear, no one talks to MTOs before throwing them into the field. Slag it, power down. It's weird with you watching."
"At least take a vid. I need to be able to fix this later."
She raised an optic ridge.
You could do this on your own–if you wanted a ruptured spark casing. Ideally, it was a 'one-person operating, the other person unconscious' job. Cypress' fear wouldn't let her drift off.
"Kid, you have no idea how much I don't want video footage of this." The Terrorcon shared a wordless implication of something unspeakable, "I used to be our medic. I had to stop after Koa. It's better, just not my favorite thing. Thanks for the nightmares."
Cypress started to protest when 'Cee shook her helm.
"Kidding, small fry. Kidding." Arcee sounded confident enough.
"They'll freak out if I pass out like this."
"You're about to lose consciousness anyway."
"Bee's scared-"
"Of CR chambers. I'll watch out for him, but it's time to tap out."
Arcee seemed to be reading her face.
"You'll be fine, and it'll be like nothing happened. Watch out for him on the other side. See you in a few."
~o~o~o~o~o~
Back on the Ark, Prowl found himself lighter than he'd been in vorns. Physically, he felt better than ever, like he'd absorbed all the energy of the Ark and internalized it.
Seeing how dark the ship around them was now, he wanted to reverse it.
Sunstreaker was staring hard. It was an interesting feat with a swollen faceplate. The swelling wasn't the only damage between Bumblebee's and Cypress' attacks. Sunny was full of crystallized venom shards as well.
Swelling was a rare symptom for a Cybertronian. Sunny would be the one 'former to develop an allergic reaction instead of shutting down. The antivenom was working. After that, he could begin salvaging Sunny's servo.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like the pit."
Prowl saw what happened to Cieve; that was a fight. Sunstreaker got mauled. Prowl had no experience with wolf bites, but these didn't look healthy. No part of the frontliner's frame was spared. His tank clenched. Cy had stopped just shy of liberating his helm from his shoulders.
Somewhere part of him cringed at the gore a youngling, his mentee, was capable of. The other part was amazed she'd gotten that far. With more speed and better coordination–pit, just more time– they wouldn't be having this conversation.
Prowl wasn't disturbed. War and close quarters did strange things to your processor. He'd seen Autobots turn on each other plenty of times. He'd been the Autobot in question once.
The twins fought each other in cycles. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were used to direct confrontations.
And then Prowl saw what Voltage had in between getting attacked by Sideswipe.
After Sunny had stabbed and thrown the wolf– jerky, uncoordinated movements blended into an unpredictable tangle. Cypress' frame took on Monolith-like spines and loosened like fur. She dislocated her jaw like a Dread and stalked like a felid. Cypress didn't have a fighting style–she had a killing style.
When he'd welded the same seam twice, Prowl snapped out of his thoughts. He caught Sunstreaker's baffled stare. Prowl expected him to be disgusted, not in awe. His plating was a mess of two alts right now.
"Is this what you always were?"
"Since the Koa labs, yes. I wasn't like this when we first met."
Sunny carefully turned his taloned servo over, "They just gave you a beast-mode?"
"I like the word forced. Not my preference for a mode. It's unstable."
Prowl used a sucking nozzle to drain the gouges in Sunny's plating. Fortunately, Cy hadn't adopted acid into her venom. Sunny's frame quarantined the bitten areas off from energon flow at some point. Not soon enough or with enough frequency to keep him functional, though. Without Ratchet, Prowl doubted Sunny would ever be back at one hundred percent.
"Was it Autobots that did it?"
"In name only."
"Why wouldn't you tell us? You could have started training with me and Sides."
Prowl tucked his unruly plating closer and folded his doorwings away, "It's our secret to keep."
"When you say our..? Jazz?"
"Yes," he paused, "And Lockdown, Bumblebee, Arcee, RoadRage, Voltage, and Cypress."
"You told the Decepticon and not your own team?"
Prowl heard himself laugh. It felt like coughing up asphalt and sounded worse. "Sunstreaker, you don't adjust to differences well, and I didn't have to tell them much. I know what they know like you and Sideswipe do."
The Praxian teeked his EM in the precise tone of 'I saw what you did'.
Sunny went quiet. Of course, he did. "Hm. You waited to tell them at the last minute, didn't you?"
"Let me know if it's getting harder to vent or the paralysis worsens."
"So the answer is yes."
"I'm not telling you slag, Sunny."
"Whatever. Look, I need to be ready in case-"
Prowl had to work to keep himself from snapping, "Save your energy, no one from my pack is coming after you. Not even Voltage. She would like several words with you and worse, but I doubt she'll come back to the Ark anytime soon. Cy's in a CR chamber. "
He dressed his scars well enough to make Ratchet proud. If he were a lesser mech, he'd have let Sunny do it himself.
"I thought we were pack."
"We are. Just different now," Prowl slapped a spark monitor over Sunny's chassis. "You'll be here until your lines clear up. I don't like the look of that arm."
The gold mech finally seemed to see the bitemarks, torn plating, and massive amount of shrapnel removed from him. All that and the lingering splatter of neon core energon across his side.
Sunstreaker was trying not to stare at it.
Prowl didn't bother.
Sunny attempted to brush it off and failed. "Is she okay too?"
Prowl allowed his mouth to slip into a frown, just a little. "I'm not willing to give you that information. I like you, Sunny, but I've killed people for much less. Thank your twin."
The gold mech kept the appropriate wince.
"I'm sorr-"
"Don't apologize to me."
"Mech, I saw something. Her optics went dark."
It wasn't the only thing. For a few kilks, Cypress' EM vanished, as vacant as a corpse's. He'd count it as a side-effect of living as a human, but even organics had bioelectric fields.
"I don't doubt you did," Prowl finally–finally let his optic revert, streaked with the optic colors of his packmates. He made sure Sunny saw. "I wonder where that came from? Try to rest up."
Outside, in the hall, Prowl treated himself to a hefty dose of painkillers. His frame was on fire, but he'd never been in a better mood. His frame was recalibrating; he hadn't realized how much sensation he'd lost.
Something nudged his ped.
Gidget whined until it became a constant squeal.
"Shhsh, I thought you were gone too."
He gently lifted her shaking frame and settled against the wall.
"You're a good girl."
His tail wrapped around her. A saurian's tail that wasn't there before.
Prowl glared at the new appendage, "Uggh." He didn't have the frame of mind or the patience right now to recall it.
His tail's unplanned movements took Gidget's mind off her loss. She nipped at it with half a spark. Gidget's monochrome plating took Prowl's mind off his morphing frame and back to the disaster at hand.
The Cons had struck without warning.
Prowl intended to join, and his frame betrayed him for the last time. He'd had to lie in the halls, in the dark, and listen to everyone vanish. He couldn't even protect his family because he had such little control over his frame.
And then Thundercracker found him.
Prowl squeezed Gidget with his doorwings perked. That made him feel a little better.
The Seeker had been looking for Voltage because she'd gone radio silent. And he had an attachment to her. It was sweet.
Prowl dropped him like a bad habit and left him in the rec room, which was where he was headed.
The Seeker was still there: spread eagle, cuffed to the floor by his ankles and wrists, and gagged with some mesh.
Burning red optics narrowed, and he reacted with just as much outrage as expected. The stasis cuffs were a good touch.
Prowl freed the turbofox and pulled up an overturned chair, "It must be nice not having morality. I have problems. What should I do with you?"
Thundercracker made more angry, muffled noises.
"That's what I thought too. I will get Jazz, and we'll have a real conversation. In the meantime… Gidget?"
The turbofox paused her furious digging into the couch cushions.
"If he moves," Prowl gnashed his newly acquired fangs together.
Gidget's pant turned into a grin. She didn't speak Cy-Stan. She did speak denta.
~o~o~o~o~o~
Jazz waited for Sideswipe to storm into the bridge with the expected fury. The frontliner didn't disappoint him. After he manually slammed the sliding door shut, Jazz was optimistic it would need to be replaced.
"When were you going to tell me you're in with the Dread?"
"Never. I was hoping they'd be subtle."
Sideswipe towered over him, close enough to fog up his visor. "One of their kids tried to eat my brother, and the other attacked me, Jazz."
Jazz wasn't in a joking mood either. He threw his servos up.
"Yes. Okay? There was one way out of Koa and back to the 'Bots. It wasn't my choice, but I took it. The girls are a side-effect. By some freak accident, we found the Dread on Earth. Now we have problems. You going to tell me why you tried killing Voltage?"
Sideswipe growled. If he was angry enough to forget words, he was mad enough for something far stupider.
"I'll deal with them. They weren't involved."
The frontliner bristled further.
"The way I see it, fair is fair. You were going to let him break Voltage, Cy almost ate him. Prime told Sunny and Cy to knock it off, and they got theirs."
The freshly toasted mech glaring at him still glared, "We can't leave two unpredictable menaces on the Ark."
"Prime kept you two around."
"That's different."
"How? Tell me, Sides? We know where they came from; those two were hardwired for shady scrap. What's y'all excuse?"
Sideswipe wasn't paying attention. His plating relaxed, "Prowl's talking to Sunny. You can hear them over bond."
"Yeah…It wasn't much help tonight."
"That's a lot. Eight?"
Jazz kept his annoyed posture until Sides finally backed off. "You're never alone, not even with your thoughts. We keep it quiet, the Wrecker's heads know. We're stuck together the last time we got checked...but it was only four then. The nearest Percy could figure is our frames freaked out and latched on to each other."
"Do you bring in other 'formers on purpose?"
"You can encourage it, but nah, it happens at random."
Jazz slumped against a bridge window. Sideswipe joined him.
"You mad I didn't bring you two in?"
Sideswipe scoffed, "I can't stand Sunny half the time. I don't want to talk to a Seeker."
"Voltage isn't half bad. She knows this bond slag; doesn't get stuck in as many feedback loops." Jazz let his helm bounce off the glass, "I hate this."
"Want me to be in charge?"
"You'd do that for me?"
"No," Sideswipe snorted. He handed a flask over, "I don't do leadership."
"I can't decide who I wanna shoot more. Sunny's out of commission. Kid's nearly dead–for real this time. Stepper would have them stripped of rank and court-martialed." Jazz looked over into the night fondly.
"You're going to banish them?" Sides said hesitantly.
"That wouldn't be good for either of us, now would it?"
"I thought Sunny was being delusional… you all are connected."
"Again. Not willingly."
"How'd you fool Ratch?"
"I'm Ops. And he's going to kill us."
Sides let out a stale snort that masked a whine.
Jazz knew the Decepticon's attack was coming. He would have instigated a fight himself had Steeljaw not run into him. Jazz had only seen the mech through memory and liked Steeljaw even less in person. The bronze and yellow mech stood a head or so taller and used it to his advantage.
They were alone, not far from their teams. Something put him off about the Preda-wolf. He didn't like Steeljaw's looming or the self-assured way the bronzy mech approached him.
Before Steeljaw even spoke, he saw Goonch stalking past. Then loud talking from Skywarp.
Jazz turned to watch and drove his fist into Steel's gut when the expected claws closed over his helm.
The Preda didn't revert to beast-mode. He came down on Jazz with the force of a landslide. Jazz didn't see he was being forced back toward the others at first. Logic dictated he wanted the opposite.
Then the sky opened up.
Spacebridges were only supposed to warp objects in that location. This bridge went rouge, its blue vortex ripping The Vengence up with it. Steeljaw went willingly.
He would have been dragged in too if not for Prowl.
Two.
Sides and Sunny dropped from a smaller vortex at an alarming height. Sideswipe half-shuffled, half limped backwards when he spotted Prowl.
They were up to four until RoadRage came staggering out of a marsh. She couldn't find Bee.
It took a half a joor of hauling the scout out of a sinkhole to realize the twins were missing again.
Less to realize there was a death-match taking place miles away and there was one 'former begging for help. That had been the last message for joors. It still bothered him Voltage of all people asked.
In the present, the creeping uncertainty of another fracture made him wince. And then he felt it right behind one optic.
~ Lockdown. ~
~ We need to talk, Jazz. ~
~ Frag off. ~
Sideswipe grunted, "He's here, isn't he? The one you don't like. You get that..." his friend paused to trace mocking frown lines into his own cheeks.
"If I never hear The Duck Song again, it'll be too soon." Jazz snorted, "For instance, Lockdown thinks he's being funny replaying that song. He doesn't know by doing that I know where he is now, down to the coordinates. Now if I could just figure out where that damn elevator music is coming from…"
Sideswipe only stared, "That explains a lot. You can keep your membership. So your Hunter friend…"
"I can only deal with one pack crisis at a time and he won't come near if he's smart."
"And if not?"
"I'm not above a fight. A lot can change in a few vorns, let alone eleven."
A beleaguered Praxian sighed. "I know he's terrible, but could we save that for later? I've had about all the infighting I can take."
Prowl perched on a console, disfigured doorwings looming behind him. "I did all I could. The rest is up to Sunny's frame to work out. If we put him in a tank while he's got that much venom in his lines, he may not wake up."
"Be nice if it didn't happen in the first place," Sideswipe trailed.
Prowl rolled one shoulder, "No one told you two to go after them like that. You, of all mechs, know what it's like to be hunted."
"You're taking their side?!"
"I am not taking any side. They're your team. One is in your guardian's care."
"We'll see."
"What if it were me doing the attacking instead?"
"I'd know it's whatever they did to you, not that you're a traitorous freak–" Sideswipe cut himself off. "Anyway, how do we know they didn't cause this directly? You don't know what the Dread did to them."
"No. Perhaps we should let them explain," Prowl slid off the console, his frame shifting irritably. "I've got a surprise for you both."
Thundercracker cuffed to the floor and gagged was not on Jazz's list of pleasant surprise ideas.
The Decepticon was just as uncomfortable with Gidget prowling around his helm.
"Prowl, did you have to leave him like that?"
"He won't go anywhere now."
"Looks weird, my mech."
Sideswipe nodded in agreement.
Prowl shrugged, "You're welcome."
"Thanks."
Just as quickly, the red twin hefted a loose pipe and wound his stressed systems up for a swing at the Seeker's side.
Jazz waited until Thundercracker had braced and Sides was halfway to connecting. "That's not what Optimus would do."
"I know. How else do you expect to get information?"
"Don't beat him. I've got a better idea…"
~o~o~o~o~o~
"NO," Voltage boomed out loud.
:: TC knows you. Prowler said he was looking for you too. Soften him up a little? ::
:: I am not helping you interrogate. Use your vocal manipulation on him. ::
:: You know about that. ::
:: I knew you had flexible standards, but this is low. ::
:: V please, I helped you. ::
:: As you should. ::
:: V. ::
:: I don't know who you truly are, Jazz, but I read you correctly from the beginning. Has everyone else? ::
The line went dead when he hung up abruptly.
Good.
"Still fighting?" Arcee sat at a respectful distance. Voltage's energon pressure still spiked. She couldn't stay with the CR chambers and couldn't go outside to blow off steam. RoadRage was on guard.
There was only the facility's depths and the Terrorcon.
"I won't hurt you."
"You're not the first to say that."
Arcee sighed. "I wasn't popular with the Cybertron Predas either…just a bragging piece in the pack."
"I know."
"Vehi modes are easier to be around. They can't sense the real me. Short story briefer, people are slag sometimes. I won't give you any."
"Thank you."
"Hey, I'll even help you punch Sunny."
Voltage felt her wings spasm on their own accord. "Follow me. I can't stay still."
Why she began ranting at the Terrorcon, she'd never know.
"I am tired of being the ever-present danger."
"But you are."
"I thought… it's stupid."
"I could use a laugh, shoot."
"I hoped we'd be friends or at least allies eventually."
"You said it was stupid, not sad, you liar. Don't Seekers normally have a cluster of 'formers around?"
"Supposedly," Voltage hissed sarcastically.
"We're calling it. This experiment has to end. Crowbar said only to observe. You know how terrible it is to arrive and your team is trying to murder each other? That is rhetorical, you don't have to answer."
The Seeker paused, "Do Diahatsu and 'Nia ever ask about me?"
Arcee rocked on her peds, kibbled flexing to compensate. "I haven't spoken to either lately, tight schedule. And the grand idiot is on house arrest."
"Oh."
"If its any consolation, I'm happy to see you. Everyone else is emotionally constipated."
"At least I'm good for something." Voltage stopped inside of a server closet.
"Sure you're up for that?"
"No. I need you to see something."
Voltage produced a rusting, holograph capable data slug still wrapped with a 'formers digits.
"It was powered down, but still on."
She fast forwarded through snapshots of a friend group all of which were scattered in the other room. If she clicked fast enough she didn't have to sense their data.
"They found a mural down here. Someone made a report. Terrors are a gift from Primacron according to this. The last build, made to rally against a great evil. They could call others to their cause. Do you remember anything about this?"
Arcee smiled at her with the same EM Cieve had when the Predawolf was upset about a milestone Voltage missed out on. It was sympathetic and cloying and made her feel like a sparkling again.
"Key word being could. I'm as much of a Terrorcon as you two are Eukarians. For all I know, it should be in name only. There's one other like me and the Autobots snatched him before he could learn anything."
"Would you turn us into Terrorcons?"
Arcee's optics flickered, "I thought about it even after what they did to Prowl. Seriously with Bee. But no. I know how to program smart metal but I don't know how to do that. They say it's all up to your frame. Why?"
Voltage slumped, "All these upgrades and I'm still powerless. I'm supposed to protect them!"
Arcee caged her against the wall as if this were a normal thing to do. Voltage almost lashed out, until the femme's helm butted against her own.
"You really are young. Listen. Autobots took my family. The War took my pack. The Dread took Lockdown and my mentor. Iacon took the rest of my mechs. I'm one of the fortunate ones. There's no amount of upgrades, caste, or breeding that'll shield you from tragedy. But…"
The pink femme guided her helm to point back the direction they came, "You don't need upgrades when you have 'formers willing to fight for you by their own choice."
Arcee patted her cheek, " 'Nia taught you seduction?"
"That's not our type of trine."
"I sure hope not." Arcee walked herself backward into a wall, "You let desperation get in the way. Any other 'formers, it wouldn't have worked. This still isn't was Crankcase had in mind. Humans call this failing upward."
"Is there a point to this?"
"You managed to draw muscle, a scout, and a medic. Boom, trine, quad, whatever you like. There's your upgrade. You protect each other. If that's the plan, it worked. Bee hated Decepticons."
Voltage still didn't feel convinced.
"Smile, Preeker. Packs form over less. Why not sisterhood and the power of boners?"
Voltage had to dig into her cache of Earth slang for that one, "You're very blunt."
"Catches people off guard, I love it."
"What if Cy forgets me?"
"I heard you can't see, so maybe its your EM that doesn't work so good. They love you enough to fight their original team, even bonds like that don't dissolve over a lover."
Voltage got her helm shaken fondly, "Hurry up and get better. I wanna see what Prowl did to TC."
So I made a thing:
It's on the popular spot green music application but I can't link. I'm MitchellsAux with IDW1 Springer and Verity as a pfp.
o-p-e-n. (forwardslash)playlist (forwardslash)1Y6ZkXV2wthVwAuDGddTTR
