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Pandimala: *looks around* Where is the Authoress?
Astrotrain: *sighs* The Authoress is currently eating with her carrier's side of her family. Some kind of holiday people in the place she resides celebrates.
Pandimala: Who says we can't have that?
Tarantulas: *smirks* I can work with this.
Chapter 6: Triple Changers
Sandstorm's 1st P.O.V.
What in Primus' name did Astrotrain get into? As the three of us waited for the siblings who, last I heard, run this planet, to arrive, I allowed my concern to enter my processor. Yes, I knew about the tensions between Regulon IV and Cybertron, however, what could have possibly happened that could change existence for every being currently online? Just what sort of mess did Astrotrain drag Blitzwing, and by extension me, into?
All of this secrecy wasn't like him. Astrotrain was a straightforward mech who was not afraid to speak his processor about how things were. I had given him a few good hits for his words on Vestium Major. Holding back just wasn't in his processing state. And yet, here we were. A mech who at one time couldn't hold a gambling faceplate to save his spark was now an unreadable wall. I swear if this mech was trying to start some kind of trouble, I would thrash him into oblivion.
The opening of the doors caused me to glance up to see Orbweaver, Airachnid, and Tarantulas walk in with a mech I didn't recognize. While I wanted answers, I knew that greeting them first was proper etiquette, and if I was lecturing Astrotrain earlier about the same thing. "It is nice to see you three again after so long and I thank you for your hospitality at my unexpected arrival." The last time I had been here, their creators were still online and they were barely up to my knees. Now, they were fully functioning adult frames. Hopefully, they weren't in as much trouble as Astrotrain was implying they might be.
"Sandstorm, it has been some time," Orbweaver, to my surprise, spoke up before motioning to the mech I didn't know. "This is the mech who is courting me, Makeshift. Makeshift, this is Sandstorm," She then motioned to the mech sitting next to me, "And Blitzwing. Hopefully, they will be able to help us with the trouble we are in."
So, it seemed like I was going to be allowed to know what was going on. The fact that Blitzwing of all mechs was able to keep this information from me told me that this was important, whatever it was. However, before we got into that, her answering my greeting told me that something had changed since I last heard any information from Regulon IV. "So, you are the new monarch Orbweaver? I am surprised. I always saw Airachnid growing into that role."
The three of them sat on a seat to my right before Orbweaver spoke up. "That is a recent change. It is connected to the problem that we are having right now."
"And just what is this 'problem' that you are all avoiding talking about?" I asked, hopefully, more directly this time. I wasn't a fan of all of this dancing around that they were all doing. Either say what needed to be said, or we would be on our way. I had better things to do than listen to them edge around the point of all of this secrecy.
A vent coming from Astrotrain had me glance at him with an optic ridge raised. The mech was on thin ground with me as it was for trying to get Blitzwing to sneak away from Vestium Major even though his training was not done yet.
"A few solars ago, a young bot showed up unexpectedly." Tarantulas spoke up. "We don't know where the bot is from, but they seem to be one of the bots sent straight to adult frame."
Really? That didn't happen often. War times and low population numbers were the only times I heard of a spark being put straight into an adult frame. That was mainly due to the damage that could affect their processors if they weren't handled correctly.
What was strange was the questioning look that I caught Airachnid sending to Tarantulas after he said that. They were still hiding something about this bot. Something that they didn't want me to know. I couldn't guess what they might not want me to know about this bot's past, but I would dig that out later. Something told me that the only way I was going to get more information was by agreeing to work with this bot.
However, there was still something that I wasn't understanding about this situation. "Why call for Blitzwing then? I'm sure that others could work with this bot."
"Not when the bot is a triple changer," Astrotrain added.
I had a feeling that was the case. But how did the Council allow a freshly framed bot who was a triple changer to leave their clutches? "And you thought Blitzwing was a better choice to teach and guide this young bot over me?" There was still something about this that I was missing.
Astrotrain shook his helm. "Not in the sense you are probably thinking. But, this bot is a little hesitant around others and you aren't exactly the most comforting bot out there Sandstorm."
I wasn't meant to be comforting. However, I was able to deal with a multitude of different personality types. "I think you are underestimating me Astrotrain. I've been the top trainer when it comes to triple changers on Vestium Major since you were still a sparkling. There hasn't been a single case that I was given that I wasn't able to handle."
"What about Octane?"
A snarl ripped out of my vocals when Astrotrain brought up that mech. "I handled him. Once I was sure that he would be unable to continue training without risking those on the planet, I had him removed immediately. Sometimes, handling bots means you need to know when to move on from them. Most bots said I should have given up on you, but here you sit in front of me."
That in turn caused the mech to glare at me. Good. Let him remember that he wasn't exactly my easiest case to deal with. There were a lot of recommendations to stop training the mech. Said he was too absorbed into his programming as Octane, who had trained at the same time as Astrotrain, was. But, I had seen the hope in Astrotrain that had been non-existent in Octane. So, I kept on him until I finally got him to overpower that instinctive programming that developed in him. Astrotrain went from a brute who answered his problems with his fists to a mech who took in all sides of a problem before acting rashly.
"I can guarantee you, Sandstorm," Astrotrain started again, with an edge to his vocals, "You have never worked with a triple-changer like this before."
It was obvious that they had their doubts about me, which was completely unwarranted. The only way it seemed that we were going to get through this was for me to play their game and meet this mysterious bot. "Then let's go meet with this bot."
"Yes, I am quite curious about zhis bot that you refuse to talk about." Blitzwing finally spoke up. Strange. I was under the assumption that he knew more about what was going on than I did. However, from that statement alone, I realized that he had to be just in the dark about this as I was.
The five bots who had that information looked at each other, finally landing on Astrotrain. I guess the Hive was giving Astrotrain the final say in this. Astrotrain, in turn, seemed to think for a few more clicks before his wings dropped into a submissive form. "I guess we should get started as soon as we can. The bot should be training with Hardshell right now."
As we stood up, the mech called Makeshift spoke up. "Again? I thought they were supposed to be on berth rest after the round this morning?"
So it seemed like these bots here had already started to work with the young bot. I had dealt with a fresh spark before. I wasn't sure what they were so nervous about.
As we moved through the halls of the Hive complex, I realized that they were holding even more information from me. The looks that were being passed between them told of a whole debate going on between them all. I hated being kept from information. That was especially when that information pertained to a bot that I was being expected to train.
While I told Astrotrain that I had dealt with the Octane incident, it still was one of the only cases that plagued me in my recharge cycles. Octane had been a solemn bot as he was growing, according to the records we had been given upon his delivery to Vestium Major. His first snap had happened when he had been with his friends called Ransack and Crumplezone. They had been heading toward one of the drinking establishments on Cybertron when they had talked about the current rankings in the Pits. Octane had gone off the rails to prove that he was the strongest there was.
He did not take being restrained by the authorities well. Most bots on Cybertron, from what I knew, would have been immediately given trials and, at the very least, placed in the stockades for a few hundred stellars. Since he was a triple-changer, however, he was sent to Vestium Major for our training given their semi-reverence of the rare ability in beings like ourselves. At first, I thought I had been getting through to the mech. He had been becoming more sociable when it came to talking about strength…and more importantly his strength. It was a common stressor for snaps in triple changers and thus one that I had trained out of bots hundreds of times before him.
Then Astrotrain had been brought in.
Another native from Cybertron, he was similar to Octane and so I had the two working together. At first, their competition had been friendly and they worked well with each other. However, as time moved on, I noticed a change. It started when I would encourage their sparring. Astrotrain had more flexibility in his moves compared to Octane and so the mech usually came out on top. That caused me to praise the mech more than Octane.
Octane's snaps then started to grow worse.
Every time somebot would speak to him, he would verbally attack them, and sometimes physically. It was worse with the bots in our program. And his snaps had started to rub off on the others as well. Astrotrain, being his main training partner, had been the worst affected. His superiority complex seemed to grow exponentially over a couple of solars. The program seemed to be falling apart.
Then, the attack happened.
Blitzwing, who was also a part of their training group, had tried to break up one of the fights between the two of them when Octane lashed out at Blitzwing. I had been on the other side of the training field at the time and I tried to move as quickly as I could. However, by the time I had gotten over there, Blitzwing had been half-online while Astrotrain and Octane had been trying to tear each other apart…literally. It took three teams of medics to sedate the two raging bots.
As for Blitzwing, he had the opposite effect from the attack. He lost his confidence in his choices and consistently hesitated, which in turn caused his split personalities to grow dramatically erratic from each other. It was a defense mechanism that he was still trying to lessen the effects of.
Looking between Astrotrain and Blitzwing, I was wondering if that incident was the reason that Astrotrain tried to get Blitzwing to come in alone. Perhaps he was trying to bring Blitzwing's confidence back by letting him help train this mysterious bot. I wouldn't put it past the mech but it was still too much of a risk. Blitzwing was in a delicate state still and this unknown bot would be too much of an unknown factor to do this alone. I made a mistake once and it almost cost those three mechs their sparks. I was not going to let that happen again.
"Frag it! I know you are aiming there on purpose! Quit it!" I focused when I heard a familiar voice yell that on the other side of the door we were approaching.
"You would think the mech would learn by now," Airachnid laughed.
This must be a regular thing with the bot I was going to be helping train. Just where would this mysterious bot be aiming during training that would cause Hardshell to yell out like that?
When the door opened and we walked inside, I almost froze when I took in the scene in front of me. As I thought, Hardshell was the one working with the bot. Strangely, he was holding his wrist joint and glaring at the bot across the way from him.
It was that bot that caused me to freeze, taking in what I could of them. Standing across from Hardshell was a black and lime green triple changer femme. Femmes were almost unheard of as it was, let alone a triple changer. I had only had one before this, back during my first few solars of training on Vestium Major. Her designation was Skulldime and she had been a smaller triple changer, having a two-wheeled mode along with a water travel mode. Like most triple changers, though, she had a superiority complex that had to be worked out. Took longer than I thought to train her but Cybertron had been insistent in her training at the time, given her triple-changer and femme status. I wasn't sure where she was at these solars.
However, the femme in front of me struck an imposing figure. Standing at the height of Blitzwing, the femme seemed to radiate the strength that could compete with any of the mechs I had trained. From what Blitzwing had slipped to me back on Vestium Major, they were hoping to get her training done in only eight solars. They had to have something mixed in their energon if they thought that. Just from what I could see from here, I was going to have my work cut out for me if I was going to get her in the condition she needed to be in thirty solars. Frag eight!
"It's the fastest place I can get you Hardshell," The femme defended herself to what the mech had yelled before our entrance.
The mech let out a vent before he shook his helm. "I know. Still a pain in the aft though. I'll have to cut this short and see Scuttle," He then glanced toward us and smirked. "Plus, it looks like our guests have arrived to take over. Hopefully, they can get around that fragging instinct of yours."
It was at that click that I remembered that the mech was holding his wrist joint, which was definitely out of place. The femme had done that? Hardshell was no pushover from what I remembered of the mech. What sort of power did the femme put behind her hits that she did that to him?
As he walked out the side door, the femme turned toward us and, to my surprise, seemed to hesitate when she noticed me. Must not be a very trusting femme. I hadn't even spoken to her and she seemed to be studying every aspect of me like I had been doing with her earlier. If she was reacting this way to me, then I had a feeling that her reaction to Blitzwing…especially with his multiple personalities, would put her completely on the defensive. Sometimes I doubted that Astrotrain had a processor if he thought that Blitzwing would have been a good choice in training this femme who obviously had her suspicions about me.
That opinion was immediately taken back when she finally moved her glance from me to said mech. Even though it was obvious that she was trying to hide it, the femme seemed almost relieved at his arrival. Strange. It was obvious that Blitzwing hadn't met her before, given the way his Icy persona was studying her. However, the femme seemed to be less on guard around him than me. While Icy wasn't nearly as bad as Hothead, that usually wasn't Blitzwing's most comforting personality. Random had that title. While she could still react badly to his multiple personalities, I was already beginning to have to reevaluate the femme.
"Hi, sorry I wasn't there to meet you both. My designation is Pandimala," She then held out her servo.
To my slight surprise, Blitzwing immediately took her servo in his, his optics not leaving her. "And I'm Blitzwing. Nice to meet jou femme." His faceplate then changed and Hothead came out. "Ve'll see vhat jou can do on zhe training field soon."
Instead of the hesitation I thought I would see from the femme, she seemed to grow even more relaxed around the mech before she nodded. "Sounds like it is going to be fun!"
Well, that was strange. Must be a more tolerant femme than I was used to. Oh well, it was my turn to introduce myself. "And I am Sandstorm. Since Blitzwing is in no state to train you by himself, I will be working with both of you."
And there it was again, the hesitation. Though, as she shook my servo, I realized that there was some slight anger behind her optics as well. Great. She was prideful. Probably thought that she would work around Blitzwing and slack. I wasn't nearly as much of a reserved mech as Blitzwing now was. In his prime, before the incident, Blitzwing was a formidable mech…much like I saw myself. The mech could walk into a room and draw respect. It was that formidable air that had me choose him to watch Astrotrain and Octane train…who I thought could help the spiraling mechs if things got out of servo. He should have been able to handle the two of them while I spoke to Scorchflint on increasing problems within Vestium Major's borders since I worked under him as well.
We had not been prepared for Octane's snap nor for Astrotrain's responding one.
"We'll leave you all to it," Orbweaver spoke up, breaking the studying glances we were giving each other. "I'm going to need my siblings and Makeshift for a meeting with the research team. They said something has changed and I'm curious about what they think they can get away with. Astrotrain, I think Scuttlebug and Entom wanted to talk to you about the situation with the history lessons."
Well, that didn't sound like they were trying to leave us be. Was this some sort of test? To see if I could find out more about what was going on with this femme? As much as I was poking at Astrotrain earlier, I could tell he was thinking clearly when he asked for just Blitzwing to come for this femme's training. However, from what I could see, she seemed to have the same sort of problems that the majority of bots had. Perhaps he was trying to boost the mech's confidence again? Successfully training the femme in controlling her snaps would be a positive for the mech's progress. However, it could backfire and cause even more damage to the mech. We had to be careful with this.
"Well, what are you two waiting for? Start some light sparring for now." I ordered the two bots who were both looking at me. They both nodded at that, the femme hesitantly before they went to the practice arena and started to trade blows. Perhaps some exercise would loosen the femme's glossa.
Pandimala's 1st P.O.V.
Frag them to the pits for this. I hated that they were testing me like this. I sent a quick glare toward this 'Sandstorm' bot when I had a click to take an intake. If he hadn't snuck along with Blitzwing, then I wouldn't have to be working on this already. I knew I wasn't in the right processor space to be trying to hide my past from the mech. When we learned about his arrival along with Blitzwing, Tarantulas had been sent to the med area, where I was being released to loosen up for these lessons, and I got told about his unexpected arrival. Tarantulas had then given me the extra challenge to keep everything about my history away from the mech. I could give him the same information I would give a stranger, but nothing about my past or our recent trouble with Flamewar.
And then I met the mech in question. I was going to give him a chance. I was. However, when he introduced himself and said that about Blitzwing, I already didn't like the mech. Did I believe that he could help train me about my snaps? Yes. That was definite. His approach so far reminded me of a drill instructor. No nonsense, no smiles. If you had time to laugh, you had time to put more training in. We had been at this for a few cycles now and I was starting to tire. Between everything that had happened before and my snap, I didn't know how much longer I was going to be able to take this.
"Pick up your pedes femme," I held back a growl when Sandstorm yelled at me. I was going to shove my fist through his faceplate if he kept this up much longer. "You should have another five cycles of fighting left in you from what I have here of your past training regiment."
Five cycles!? This mech had to be on something. Maybe one if I didn't plan on coming out of recharge in the next solar, but five was going to have me meet Primus sooner than I was sure I was going to.
Primus. Paul. Frag I could use him here right now. He'd know pretty quickly if I could trust Sandstorm. But I couldn't do that. I was alone. A cold chill ran through my circuits when I had that thought. with everything that was bound to come up…would I be able to move forward? Would I be able to get through Cybertron and all of its troubles without ruining everything? Paul wasn't here and, while the Hive and its allies knew about me, they didn't know everything that was to come. It was too much to tell them all at once.
And I knew that they would not be able to come with me to Cybertron. I had to go alone…knowing nobot who would be able to help me. I was going to have to work with everything I could and even then I knew that it might not be enough.
I might not be enough.
"Femme are jou okay?" Blitzwing asked, breaking off our punches and stepping back, looking me over nervously.
"I…I think so," I answered him hesitantly. Even Blitzwing didn't know about everything and it was hard not to just tell him. I didn't care so much that Sandstorm didn't know. The only reference I had of him was that he was an Autobot in one of the dimensions…but not much else. But Blitzwing…as soon as I had seen him walk in, I knew that I could trust him. He was logical, even through his personality, and from what I was seeing now he was also compassionate.
Maybe…maybe I could do this? Looking at Blitzwing, I could see that even if I didn't know bots at first, I could make new friends. I…I just needed that push. Somebot who wasn't a part of this to show me that.
"I don't remember giving you the order to stop," Sandstorm's vocals caused me to jump as he walked up to the two of us.
Blitzwing shook his helm and motioned to me, "She looked like she vas about to,"
"I don't care if she was about to go into stasis, I told you to keep training,"
It was like a switch went off in my helm at his words. With a snarl, I lashed out at the triple changer standing there. "Maybe you should!" I hissed at him as I put myself into a defensive position facing him.
"There you are," What the frag was he talking about? "I've been trying to get you to snap for all of these cycles." Wait…I wasn't in a snap…was I? The last time I was in a snap, I couldn't remember what happened. But, I was still thinking clearly. What was this mech talking about? "Blitzwing, help me restrain her. We'll have to call the medic if she fights back too much. She definitely won't be happy when she comes out of it."
"Sandstorm…I don't zhink,"
"Stop hesitating Blitzwing! This is why I was sure Astrotrain made a mistake in asking you to do this."
That did it! "He didn't make a mistake, you overgrown piece of slag!" I then launched at the mech, striking at him to get him to stand down. "Astrotrain knew exactly what he was doing. You were the one that didn't trust him enough to allow it. Instead, you had to insist that you were always the one correct and butt in where you weren't meant to! And just to clarify something for you, I'm not in a snap right now, I'm just pissed!"
The anger I felt coursing through my systems made me feel invincible even with the hits that Sandstorm was getting back on me. If this prideful slagger wasn't going to listen to reason when Blitzwing was trying to tell him something, then maybe he was the one that needed a lesson beat into him. I knew I wouldn't beat him, and that I was probably going to slip into stasis by the end of this, but I was going to make sure to let Sandstorm get it as good as he was giving it.
It was obvious that Blitzwing was nervous about this training. I still didn't even know a lot about being a Cybertronian. However, despite the nervousness that Blitzwing had, he had seen that I had been about to snap earlier and just by asking his question was able to pull me out of it. Did I have my snaps mastered? No. Not by a long shot. But, that interaction with Blitzwing alone told me that I was going to be alright. That, through all of this slag, I might be ready for Cybertron when the time comes.
My focus was brought back to the fight as Sandstorm's servo made contact with my faceplate. Fragger! As he pulled his servo away, I took advantage of his exposed servo and lashed out with my own. Like I had so many times against Hardshell, I made contact with the joint and felt as it gave way under my hit.
A yell came from the mech as he pulled his servo close to him and took a few steps back. However, the reprieve didn't last long as Sandstorm moved faster than I gave him credit for and got right in front of me before tackling me to the ground. I struggled as I felt his arm start to cut off the lines in my neck. While I knew that I didn't need to breathe anymore, I knew that those lines being restricted would put me in stasis lock faster.
While my vision was starting to fade, I could at least try one more thing. It was going to be a gamble, but this mech was not going to get off easily for this. Releasing my hold against his strangle-hold, I flattened my servo before jabbing it into his knee joint. His yell of pain was the sweetest thing I could have heard as awareness left me.
Astrotrain's 1st P.O.V.
He was a moron. That was the simplest thing I could think of as I looked at the med berths in front of me. I had expected both of them to get into a tumble. From what we had seen from Pandimala, her personality would not interact well with Sandstorm at first. That was why, instead of having to go far to see Scuttlebug and Entom, I just met them in the viewing area to the training area. We were going to keep an optic on how this went and judge both of them. Pandimala was to do her best in making sure she didn't slip anything about her difficult history to Sandstorm, though I knew that he was going to be digging for it while he tried to force her to snap.
Forcing snaps was how he started all training sessions with triple changers. He needed to see first servo just what caused the snaps so he could work with the bot to fix them. It honestly took longer than I thought, but after cycles of waiting, the femme looked like she was going to snap. She had the same wild look in her optics that she got the last time, according to the footage I had seen and what I had walked into. Surprisingly, though, it hadn't been Sandstorm who noticed her snap. Couldn't blame the mech. The fact that she had an introspective snap was rare in itself.
Blitzwing had caught it and, though I was sure the mech didn't realize what he had done, he had talked her out of her snap with his simple question. I knew I had been right in picking him to come and help her. While Blitzwing needed to get some confidence back, his hesitant approach to things had allowed him to learn how to study bots easier than he had been able to do before. He had the situation under control and I was proud of him for that.
Then the moron who was out on the med berth in front of me walked up to them and thought that they were slacking off. Sandstorm was trying to tire her into a snap and it was obvious that it was taking longer than he thought it would. It made him sloppy. If he had asked what was going on, instead of snapping at Blitzwing as he did, then we wouldn't be here right now.
Honestly, I had been shocked at Pandimala's defensive reaction against Sandstorm. I hadn't seen the femme do anything similar during her time here and it had honestly been terrifying. If Sandstorm had realized that she was just getting angry with him, instead of going into her snap, then he might have realized just how terrifying that anger was. While her knowledge of other iterations of Blitzwing might have had some input into the anger, it was easy to see that something else had come into play as well. Maybe it was due to Blitzwing having been the one to talk her out of her snap and a bond forming between the two of them at that.
When the femme had taken out Sandstorm's knee joint, we had rushed in there as the mech yelled in pain. That hadn't been as much of a surprise to us as it had been to him. Honestly, if it wasn't for the amount of damage that the femme had done to the joint before she went into stasis, then I would have been laughing at the mech. Scuttle had to knock the mech out since Sandstorm kept moving the joint while Scuttlebug had been trying to scan it. Between that and the wrist joint that the femme had taken out, he was going to realize what Hardshell had been complaining about.
Of course, then there was the unconscious femme herself. After we got both her and Sandstorm in here, all of us in the know had talked and agreed to inform both Blitzwing and Sandstorm about Pandimala once the two triple changers woke up. Pandimala showed that she was able to keep information about herself to herself even when pushed into a corner. Despite the obvious anger she had at Sandstorm she hadn't given him anything. That was a very positive step for the femme. She still needed work, but we knew now that there was a better chance for success.
And if she forgave the mech, which we were sure she would, Pandimala would be strutting around about the fact that she incapacitated Sandstorm…once she learned the significance of that of course. Her instinct to attack joints confused everybot she fought against and Sandstorm had paid the fragging price for it. I had never seen her do that much damage to a bot before. Even from what Orbweaver reported about the femme's fight with Flamewar, she hadn't been that damaging. Though, with that, it was probably her inexperience showing. I had a feeling that, once we got her trained up to the point we wanted, she would be a monster.
A groan coming from the med berth in front of me caused me to glance at the triple changer as he came out of stasis. Good. I was the one who was going to be lecturing for once. I was going to enjoy every single nano of it.
"What the frag happened?"
Did he have a snap too? "What do you remember?" Sandstorm hadn't snapped in my memory before and if he did now, this would not be good. I wasn't sure if he could stay around Pandimala to train her if she triggered his snaps.
His optics narrowed at me. "Now listen here, I haven't had a snap in millions of stellars. One errant femme isn't going to make me snap now." He then shook his helm. "It was mostly rhetorical. I know what happened. The femme snapped and took me down with her." A growl then slipped his vocals when he seemed to try and move his knee joint. "Fragging femme went right for the seam."
So, he remembered but he was in denial. "You are partly right. She did take you down with her. But, she wasn't the one out of line…and she didn't snap." His glare could have melted my chassis if it was any stronger.
"Vhat do you mean Astrotrain? She was attacking him without backing off." Blitzwing asked as he walked in. "She got him like a scraplet!"
I shook my helm. "The state she is in is a common one mostly referred to as 'Pit has no fury'. You got her angry at you and she wanted to make sure you knew it. When you tried to submit her from her 'snap' she went on the defensive and fought like her spark was depending on it. But she didn't snap."
"She wasn't listening to my instructions, Astrotrain," Sandstorm snapped back.
"As I said, you fragging got her angry. But, she almost did snap during that little training exercise you all did. Blitzwing got her out of it though." I dropped on them.
Both were quiet, and I noticed that both glanced at the femme in question, before Blitzwing spoke up. "I did? How?"
Now it was time to let them know this bit. The rest would wait for the femme to come out of recharge. "She has an introspective snap. She gets herself so worked up in her thoughts that her subroutines can't handle the processing which causes her to go into a panic. Last time she had to be sedated and she didn't remember anything after her trigger set her off. With how long you had them training, she probably started thinking about that stuff again but Blitzwing asking about her condition snapped her out of her thoughts soon enough." I then glared at my old teacher. "Then you walked over,"
"And stuck my pede in where I shouldn't have," He finally seemed to be getting it. Now, it was just a matter of convincing Pandimala that he had learned his lesson enough to inform the two of them about what she was once she was pulled out of stasis. "I haven't had an introspective snap for a few million stellars. Forgot the signs to look for. Now that you mention it, though, I do remember seeing those signs in her. But, if her pride isn't the cause of her snaps, then is she just that confident in herself?"
"Hardly," Airachnid's voice came from behind us. Making room, we let the three siblings and Scuttlebug inside. "But she knows she needs to work on her confidence for when she eventually has to go to Cybertron. So, she has been forcing herself to seem more confident than she is. Her confidence is a part of her snaps."
"Vhat do you mean? Vhy does she have to go to Cybertron? Did zhey send her to you?" Blitzwing asked, now confused about what all of us but the two new mechs knew.
"No," Tarantulas spoke up. "As far as we are aware, they aren't even aware of her existence. Part of the reason was that we were making sure to keep everything compartmentalized. And part of the reason we were upset with your unexpected arrival, Sandstorm."
My previous teacher narrowed his optics at all of us. "If I am going to work with the femme in a way that is beneficial to her, then I need to know all of the facts. What happened this solar wouldn't have happened if I knew what I was working with. I let it slide because you are my past student Astrotrain, but no more. Either you tell me about the femme, or I am taking Blitzwing back to Vestium Major and he will not be returning until you give us that information."
"You're noisy. Has anybot ever told you that before?" We all glanced over the femme's berth as her optics flickered online. How long has she been awake? Once she sat up, she glanced at all of us before her optics fell on Sandstorm. "Look, I don't completely blame you for what happened there. The fact that they were testing both of us at the same time didn't mesh well. But, if you don't watch how you talk to bots, then we will have a problem."
Sandstorm raised an optic ridge at that last part. "Are you threatening me femme? I can guarantee I have more experience than you do."
"A bit of friendly advice," She said with a blank expression before she smirked. "And despite that experience, I'm pretty sure your presence on that med berth means that I still took you down with me."
"It won't happen again femme, I can promise you that," Sandstorm shot back, some of the tension leaving his chassis. The banter was something that he could deal with.
Instead of backing down, Pandimala's growing smirk caused me to shiver. "You shouldn't make promises you might not be able to keep." The two kept their glances at each other for a few more nanos before Pandimala looked at us. "So, I'm taking your presence here as a sign that we are bringing these two in? Because as fun as it was to keep that all from them, they are going to need to know to help get me trained in time for Thrust's arrival."
My optic ridges went up at that. We hadn't discussed when we thought she would be forced to go to Cybertron. Yet, here she was, thinking that it was going to be that soon. Where did she get that? "Why would we need to be ready by then?" Orbweaver asked the question that we were all thinking about. "Oh, and yes, they are going to be read in."
"Perfect," Pandimala responded…I was assuming to the second part of that before she spoke up. "Given the lack of chatter about the Flamewar incident, I have a feeling that she was sent in secretly by Cybertron to cause the Hive to collapse in on itself. Since that hasn't happened, and to them, it looks like you're trying to ally yourself with Vestium Major of all planets, then they are going to look for any sort of leverage. I have a feeling that Thrust is going to claim that she was some sort of advanced guard for his arrival, given the recent strain in the Hive. The fact that she is offline will give him a right to claim some sort of reparations." She then motioned to herself. "Since I am the one that offlined the femme, I can take the fall since I am not a part of the Hive." Then, she gestured toward Sandstorm. "With a representative of Vestium Major present, they would have to agree to allow me to take the blame. I figure I'll be shipped straight to Cybertron…and most likely either Kaon or Tarn since I doubt that they will check for my wings."
As disturbing as it was that the femme was even thinking about that, I knew that she was right. We had been worried about the lack of reaction to Flamewar's disappearance and what she guessed made sense. That would be the perfect setup on their part. Pandimala sacrificing herself would save the Hive from losing our sovereignty, especially with Sandstorm present as a competent representative of Vestium Major, and it would get the femme closer to the bots she needed to be close with to change the future as she knew it.
"Vhy the frag does zhe femme need to get to Cybertron?" Blitzwing demanded as those of us in the know did not speak after her. I honestly wanted to respond to him but I was trying to think of a better way to solve this. While her idea would get what needed to be done finished the odds of her being placed in the mines or the Pits…or frag it both, were incredibly high. As a criminal that would be the best-case scenario for her.
Orbweaver was the first of us to snap out of the silence we had been in. "We should all take a seat. This is going to take a lot of explaining."
Airachnid's 1st P.O.V.
A growl slipped from my vocals as I sat in my entertainment room. This wasn't fair. She shouldn't have to pay for our mistakes…my mistakes. It was my fault that we were in this mess. If I had just gotten out of my helm, the Hive would not have been vulnerable enough to be attacked the way that we were. I knew that Orbweaver was a good fit for the monarch, and yet I allowed my pride to hold me back from making the right choice.
"Care to share your thoughts?" I glanced up to see Sandstorm walking into the room. Surprisingly given the training I knew the mech wanted to work on Pandimala after he learned of her history. It had taken a lot of convincing on his part for him to accept her past. More than even Astrotrain had thought it would. However, once we were past that, the mech was adamant that Pandimala begin training twice as much as she was. Even with the good news we got from the exploration team about Thrust's delayed arrival, I thought he would be spending every click he could with the femme.
I did not expect him to be back here right now. More on point, I did not expect him to be asking about my thoughts. What was he getting at? "Why do you think I have anything on my processor right now? Can't I just be enjoying a nice cube of energon before recharge?"
He gave me a doubting look before he shook his helm. "I'm used to dealing with triple changers and their snaps on a solar basis. I've picked up reading bots to the point of it being an art form."
"And yet you couldn't read Pandimala." I taunted the mech, hoping that he would forget his original question to me.
Sandstorm let out a vent at my retort before sitting across from me. "To be fair, I've never had to read a newspark…and a newspark whose species doesn't even exist yet? There are bound to be queues that I don't pick up right away. I'm still learning after all. However," Something about his pointed look told me that he hadn't been deterred by my deflections. "I can still read a bot pretty fragging good. And right now you are practically broadcasting your thoughts like you claim Pandimala does."
"That femme does," I huffed back in a last-ditch attempt to get him to drop the subject of my thoughts.
"Not nearly to the point that it looks like," He argued back. "Sure, she doesn't hide a lot of her thoughts or emotions, but she can keep what she wants hidden. She proved that during that little test of ours earlier. The femme is going to be more than ready for Cybertron by the time I'm done with her, regardless of where she might end up there," I flinched at how he ended that. She shouldn't have to worry about where she might end up. I don't think I would ever be able to forgive myself if the femme offlined in the Pits or one of those mines. "Ah, so that's your problem."
I glared at the mech. "What do you mean by that?"
He placed a servo to his faceplate for a click before he shook his helm. "Femme, you're feeling guilty about the trials that Pandimala is going to have ahead of her. Blaming yourself is not going to help the femme."
"Nothing I've been doing is helping the femme's future," I growled back at him. And it was true. It seemed that everything that I was involved in was only hurting the femme's future on Cybertron more and more. "If I had just allowed Orbweaver to take the mantle when she showed interest in it, then we wouldn't be in this situation."
"You're right, it could have been even worse," I snapped my focus to the mech when he cut in with that. "I have a feeling that whatever force caused Pandimala to end up in this time, instead of the one that our creator wanted her to be in, did so with a purpose in processor. If you had allowed Orbweaver the monarchy earlier, then Pandimala may have been sent somewhere else. Somewhere even more challenging for the femme, who hasn't been one of us for long, to get a grasp on. Even worse, the assassination attempt on your sister and the kidnapping plan for Makeshift could have been planned with even more care than it was. The two-wheeler passed through all of the Hive's security checks and that was with the idea that you all would be at odds with each other. I think that fate is working just like it should be."
"You seem pretty introspective of this for a mech who hasn't been here more than a solar yet," I grumbled to the mech as I found myself agreeing with his words. While I still felt guilty about the situation that the femme was eventually going to be in, I knew that it could always be worse.
He let out a short laugh before he spoke. "I train with triple changers on a solar basis. Say what you will about their snaps, but they do teach me how to read other bots pretty well. Pandimala's snaps are just going to be an even better training field for me in that aspect." His faceplate then grew serious. "However, I do need your help. Just from what I saw this solar, the femme is poorly prepared to face more agile bots. Tarantulas has already agreed to give a servo in her training, but I can't ask Orbweaver due to her status as the monarch. The rest of the Hive might have a negative reaction to any sudden emotions she might send. You are the most agile among your siblings, and the others of the Hive. If you are willing, could you come and work with her for a few cycles each solar so she could build up on that training?"
As if he even needed to ask. "Of course. When do you need me down there?"
"Bright and early next solar. We are going to have that femme trained for Cybertron to give her the best chance she can get."
And I knew in my spark that he meant every single word. While we wouldn't be able to support her in the bot on Cybertron, given what was most likely going to happen, she would have the support of the Hive in the future she was trying to forge. I…We would make sure of that.
Airachnid: *groans* Whose bright idea was this?
Scuttlebug: *Shakes helm* I'm pretty sure all three of them had a servo in this.
*two stare as Pandimala, Authoress, and Astrotrain continue a drinking contest with high grade*
AN: And here is the next chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this and, for all of you who celebrate it; Happy Thanksgiving! This was a fun chapter to write with a few points brought in. Pandimala seems to have a smart mouth and a knack for hitting joints that Sandstorm is only just learning about. Plus, we are starting to touch more about the incident with Flamewar and the future implications that will lead to. Poor Airachnid. She is feeling guilty about not trusting Pandimala before. She knows that what Pandimala thinks will happen will probably be the case. However, from all that Pandimala has told them, she is going to need to be in that situation to make any sort of impact based on her knowledge alone.
Well, that's all I have for that. So, here are the next chapters!
Chapter 7: Simple Errands
Chapter 8: The Trouble with Appointed Officials
Chapter 9: ...(find out next time!)
And that truly is all for now! Happy holidays to everyone reading this and stay safe as the days in some parts of the world start getting colder. If you want, leave a review to review or to say hi. Either is fine. Until next time, TTYL! *listening to Old Time Rock and Roll*