She looked up and saw Optimus Prime or Orion Pax kneeling in front of her. She stood up without making a sound and looked at the monitors. Something didn't suit her, something was different.
She turned to him "What are you doing here Pax? He asked, sounding a little hostile.
"I'm sorry if I somehow disturbed you, you were just screaming as if something had happened to you. And to answer your question. Lord Megatron told me this will be my workplace" Orion said looking at Arcee.
Arcee sighed as if she had killed Lockdown once more and wanted him out of her head. She turned and marched away. She went towards the bridge, to find out something more. She got there and saw Soundwave working on the monitors and Megatron standing behind him.
"Arcee, I'm glad you're here," Megatron said, turning to meet her eyes.
"My Lord" Arcee said as she bowed.
"There is no need for these formalities. You must have noticed that at your and Soundwave's workplace, our new guest is Orion Pax" said Megatron and Arcee nodded "I have a task for you, you will guard Pax until he finishes Project Iacon, or in other words, you will make sure that he does not do anything he is not supposed to " Megatron finished.
Arcee nodded and walked off the bridge. She knew that her protests would be useless, so she went to do her job. On the way there, she stopped for two energy cubes and continued.
She got there and when the door opened, Orion turned to face his companion. Arcee walked over to him and handed him one cube.
"Thank you," said Orion. Arcee nodded and looked at him. She came to his shoulders and where the Autobot insignia had once been, there was now the Decepticon insignia. Arcee walked away from the monitors and sat on the floor. Orion was looking at her. It was a completely different view than Optimus Prime had and especially different when he did not look at her as the killer of his sparkling partner.
"Why are you wearing this mask on the lower part of your face?" Orion asked as he took a sip from the energon cube she gave him.
"I don't want the enemy to see my whole face," she answered calmly. It was only half the truth. Her face was becoming the most attractive part of Lockdown and when she got away from him, she swore that no enemy would see her without the mask.
Orion stood in front of her drinking energon. "I'm sorry, but I don't know your name, can I know your name?" he asked.
"Arcee, my name is Arcee" replied Arcee. She was thinking whether to take off her mask and drink the energon or not. But she decided to drink it too, even if in the company of a robot who doesn't know how close he is to her.
She put her hand on her face and the mask stayed in her hand. She slowly started drinking energon when Orion joined her.
"Can I ask you something else? Orion asked and Arcee nodded. "Lord Megatron told me that the Autobots destroyed our planet, led by Ratchet. You don't know what happened to Ariel, Lord Megatron didn't tell me anything"
Arcee frowned a bit as she thought of a good lie "She betrayed you, turned her back on you and changed your name. She became Elita-One. She cheated on you with Ratchet and when you wanted to break up with her, she attacked. Lord Megatron came to defend you, but it was too late. She hit you so that you went into stasis" Arcee said and it sounded convincing as Orion looked down at the ground in disappointment. Megatron who was listening through the cameras smirked, some Decepticons knew how to lie better than him.
Arcee looked at him and then at the monitors "show me how to decode these coordinates" she said and pointed at the monitors. Orion stood up and started decoding and explaining something.
Orion was so focused that he stopped explaining and in an hour he had the first coordinates figured out. He was so focused that he didn't even notice that Arcee was slowly falling asleep.
He turned to her and saw her head on her knees and an almost full cube of energon in her hand. He quietly sat down next to her and waited to see what would happen. Arcee looked up once in a while, but now that she couldn't see the red and blue frame, she jumped to her feet.
"Don't worry Arcee, I'm here" Orion said with an amused smile. Arcee turned to him and frowned. She never thought that I would see this robot with an amused smile. She sat down next to him and gently poked him in the side.
"Ahhh, help this femme wants to kill me ahhh" Orion made a drama as he fell on his side and pretended to die. Arcee must have laughed honestly years later, but she realized it much later than Orion. "Are you laughing at me?" he asked, looking offended.
"No, I wouldn't allow that in my life," answered Arcee with a smile under her mask. Orion smiled as he sat down next to her again.
"Arcee, may I ask how old you are? You look probably the youngest I've seen on the ship." Orion asked, seeing Arcee's expression return to neutral.
"I'm the youngest of Nemesis and I was born, a few hundred years before the war" Arcee answered, but she is interested in one thing from her side, there may be more, but this is the most. "Orion, can I ask you. Have you ever wanted sparkling Arcee asked.
Orion smiled "I never told Ariel, because I didn't want to pressure her, but I always wanted to have sparkling, most probably femme. A femme that I would protect from the mosses who would want to harm her, protect her and make sure she is okay every night, be there for her in sad moments but also in happy ones" Orion said and smiled towards the monitor. Arcee lowered her eyes, he would do all this, but she knew that this was not Optimus Prime talking, but Orion Pax, a shy and kind data officer in Iacon from the hall of records.
"Orion, do I have another question? Do you know why Ariel left Iacon for Kaon for four months?" Arcee asked. Orion looked at her and saw a hurt look from something.
"I know she went there for work, but before her arrival, Ratchet also traveled to see her and then they came back together," answered Orion and saw an even more hurt look.
Arcee's thoughts were completely somewhere else. So if I didn't become what I became and the war didn't start Optimus or Orion would never know about me she thought.
Arcee stood up and walked towards the door "Arcee" Orion addressed her and she looked at him "sorry if I offended in any way" he said and had a completely innocent look.
"That's fine, I'm just going to clear my head, keep decoding and I'll be back later" Arcee said and left the room. Arcee came to control the underground bridge and turned on arbitrary coordinates to Jasper Nevada.
Arcee transformed and started driving. When she came to town everyone was looking at her, it didn't happen often that a luxury sports car Lotus Emira came to Jasper Nevada.
She was passing by when she left the city and started driving in the desert, she pushed her limits when a yellow-black Urban 500 started driving behind her. She drove further and faster when a green army vehicle entered in front of her. Arcee skidded to a halt, but was forced to transform.
She landed on the ground with a crash and quickly stood up. She stood in a fighting stance and in front of her were two Autobots.
"Where is our leader and what have you done to him?" asked Bumblebee, his eyes narrowed in anger.
"What's wrong, dad?" Arcee asked sarcastically, and Bumblebee's optics narrowed even more in anger, but he was also surprised that he knew. The only people who knew that Elita and Optimus adopted him were the Autobots.
"Answer me, where's Optimus?" Bulkhead chimed in.
"I have no reason to tell you this, but I can assure you that Lord Megatron is taking good care of him," Arcee said, continuing to watch the two Autobots. Then she heard the green Wrecker whisper something into his communicator.
"Ratchet, Starcream was right, he's on Nemesis" Bulkhead said quietly, thinking she hadn't heard him.
"So the coward came to Nemesis?" Arcee asked in a mocking tone. Bulkhead looked at her nervously, not wanting her to hear it.
Arcee activated her blade arms when she felt something stab her neck. She turned and saw Ratchet with a needle. Arcee started to feel dizzy and her vision blurred, she shook her head and before she could do anything darkness fell on her.
Later, the Omega-1 Autobot base
Arcee turned on the optics and was a little disoriented as she began to remember what had happened. I'm stupid for not finding out they had their own trap, Arcee thought. She was about to move her hands when she realized they were cuffed, just like her legs. She sighed in frustration. The door began to open and Ratchet entered.
"What do you want from me Autobot?" Arcee asked hostilely. Ratchet returned her angry look.
"I want my leader back and you're going to help me" Ratchet said and Arcee didn't react, she wanted to know what plan this autobot medic came up with "we'll trade you for Orion Pax when we get a fully restored key from Vector Sigma-" Ratchet didn't finish as Arcee laughed.
"Doctor, listen to me very well. Megatron will never trade Orion Pax for me, I may be one of his good fighters but I'm not naive like Starscream and I know Pax is more valuable to him now than a battle femme" said Arcee and Ratchet angrily left the room leaving Arcee.
He entered the hangar, where everyone was waiting, from humans to autobots. He sat down on the crate and rubbed the optics. June came to him first.
"Ratchet" addressed him and he looked at her.
"He won't tell us anything, it's useless to us. She's too loyal to Megatron and she knows he'll never give up Orion for her" he paused and sighed "we have to get to the space bridge Starscream told us" he paused again as he walked over to the monitor and watched the signal coming through Jasper "I called Wheeljacka he will go with Jack to Cybertron in case there are any Decepticon troops left on Cybertron " finished .
Days passed and the Autobots were ready and set off on a mission. Arcee was now sitting in her cell staring at the ceiling. When she heard the Autobots leave, she began her escape. After a few minutes her cuffs were open and she placed a small bomb on the door.
The door exploded and the people who remained at the base began to fear. Raf, who was closest to the console and communications, contacted Ratchet.
"Ratchet, we have a problem," Raf said quickly, hearing Arcee's footsteps approaching the hangar.
"Raf, what a problem, everything is going well here Jack and Wheeljack have already crossed the space bridge" said Ratchet.
"Ratchet, Arcee broke free and is outside, going to the hangar" said Raf scared.
"Activate the underground bridge" Ratchet said and a second later the underground bridge opened and Raf went to hide with Mike, June and Agent Fowler.
Arcee walked into the hangar and saw no people anywhere, but she saw the underground bridge activated and Bumblebee came across it. He attacked right after her, but she dodged.
"Let's see who came to protect the pets, little scout" she teased as she dodged another punch "say how it feels to know you were never Optimus' sparkling" she continued and Bumblebee became even more aggressive. He was aggressive and she took advantage of it.
He wanted to punch her in the face, but she caught his hand "remember and remind Optimus too, when you happen to get him back, he wanted a sparkling femme like Orion Pax" she whispered into his voice receiver and gripped his hand even tighter. Bumblebee cowered from pain when she hit him in the face and he fell to the ground.
Arcee stepped over him and looked around "I know you're human here and I'll spare you this time but the next time you meet you'll no longer inhabit this world" Arcee said sounding like an Airachnid but worse. Raf and June were shaking with fear. Miko was not shaking from fear and immediately wanted to run out and say something to her, like Wrecker, but Agent Fowler stopped her.
Arcee crossed the open bridge and was in for a nice surprise. Megatron just knocked the remaining two Autobots to the ground. She saw that she can handle it here, so she called a bridge to Nemesis.
The soldiers were surprised as they thought something had happened to her. Arcee walked towards the workplace where Orion Pax was working. She came there and he stood there, but when he turned around he was frowning.
"What's wrong Orion?" Arcee asked innocently.
"Who am I?" he asked and Arcee looked at him with such a questioning look "Who am I?" You told me I'm Orion Pax, but when Starscream was here, he called me Optimus Prime, I decrypted your folders and I'm written there as the leader of the Autobots, so I'm asking. Who am I?" Orion asked looking desperate. He moved closer to Arcee and wanted to grab her as she stepped away from him.
"If you think you're Optimus Prime, you'd look at me differently. Ariel never betrayed you, but what she did was she kept one thing from you. You said you wanted a sparkling femme, you had one, but she left it in an alley in Kaon. She left it sparkling and didn't care if anyone found it. And you are looking at the murderer of your Ariel. I killed her and I enjoyed it and you don't even know how" Arcee said and that's when a piece of anger finally woke up in Orion.
He grabbed her by the neck and pressed her against the wall. Arcee didn't fight back she let him hold her as hard as he saw fit "why did you kill her?! What did she do to you?!" Orion asked angrily as he transformed his other hand into a blade and thrust it into Arcee's stomach. Arcee didn't scream or do anything but respond.
"Because I'm your sparkling Optimus Prime" Arcee said mockingly. Orion removed the blade and let her body fall to the ground. He ran out of the room looking for the control panel of the underground bridge.
Minutes passed and you could hear how angry Megatron came at Nemesis. Arcee sighed, her energon leaking further onto the floor. She didn't care if she died. Arcee was sitting there when she heard the door open and Megatron, Soundwave and Knockout walked in.
Arcee sat further when Megatron stepped into her energon and when he saw her, he was surprised that she was alive, but also threatened because his best soldier was like this.
"Knockout" addressed and no one noticed her yet except Megatron. Knockout turned and Megatron pointed to the spot. When Knoukout saw her, he immediately picked her up and carried her to his Medbay. Soundwave was also horrified and became afraid. Who knew she was here and she was hurt. He wanted to go after Knockout, but Megatron set him up to decode the coordinates of Orion Pax.
"I want you to continue decoding and when Arcee is fixed she will be assigned to you" Megatron said and left the room. Soundwave waited until Megatron was completely gone and made his way to the Medbay.
He went in there and saw Arcee in stasis and being repaired by Knoukout with the help of Breakdown.
Autobot base Omega-1
They all welcomed Optimus back and were happy. Later, when it was over, Ratchet changed Optimus' insignia back into an Autobot and started repairing everyone, especially Bumblebee, who had his arm broken by Arcee.
Optimus walked around the base and came to the room where Arcee was being held. The room was destroyed and when he went further inside he saw a small dagger. He has seen such a dagger before. He took her to his room and opened the drawer where he had the dagger that was with Elite when she died. They were identical.
Optimus lay down on the dock and closed his optics. It was a difficult day.
A dream
Optimus was on Cybertron, more precisely in Kaon. He didn't know what he was doing in Kaon, the only reason he went there was because of Megatronus, who was also fighting for a new era on Cybertron.
He looked around to see Soundwave and a small femme hiding nearby. It was blue with pink highlights and beautiful lavender optics. He remembered her, she was nice, but also shy and that's why she always stuck to Soundwave. He never said if she was his daughter or not.
Optimus did not understand why he had such a dream and he was even more surprised when he arrived at the base and Bumblebee told him what Arcee told him.
Optimus was looking around when he heard a familiar voice, he started walking towards him and when he came he saw his love, with whom he would have been united if she hadn't died.
"Elite?" Optimus addressed her and she turned to him and smiled. He walked up to her and hugged her.
"Optimus" she said and hugged him back as she pulled away from him and looked into his glasses.
"I miss you, and so does Bumblebee," Optimus said. Elita put her hand on his cheek.
"I miss you too" she paused and sighed "Optimus what do you remember from Nemesis?" Elita asked.
"Nothing, I don't remember anything. All I know is that I was fighting Megatron on an open space bridge and my whole team was behind me, Wheeljack and Jack" Said Optimus. Elita sighed once more as she touched his forehead and he remembered some things.
"Orion, may I ask, have you ever wanted sparkling?" Arcee asked.
Orion smiled "I never told Ariel, because I didn't want to pressure her, but I always wanted to have sparkling, most probably femme. A femme that I would protect from the mosses who would want to harm her, protect her and make sure she is okay every night, be there for her in sad moments but also in happy ones" Orion said and smiled towards the monitor.
"Who am I?" he asked and Arcee gave a questioning look "Who am I, you told me I was Orion Pax, but when Starscream was here he called me Optimus Prime, I decrypted your folders and there I am written as the leader of the Autobots, so I ask. Who am I?" Orion asked looking desperate. He approached Arcee and was about to grab her when she stepped away from him.
"If you think you're Optimus Prime, you'd look at me differently. Ariel never betrayed you, but what she did do was keep one thing from you. You said you wanted a sparkling femme, you had one, but she left it in an alley in Kaon. She left it sparkling and didn't care if anyone found it. And you are looking at the killer of your Ariel. I killed her and I enjoyed it and you don't even know how" Arcee said and that's when a piece of anger finally woke up in Orion.
He grabbed her by the neck and pressed her against the wall. Arcee didn't fight back she let him hold her as hard as he saw fit "Why did you kill her?! What did she do to you?!" Orion asked angrily as he transformed his other hand into a blade and stabbed it into Arcee's stomach.
Optimus shook his head "Elita we had sparkling?" asked Optimus and with a look begged Elita to say that it was another cruel lie of the Decepticons.
"Yes, we had and she was a beautiful femme, but I didn't know if you would want her and so I left her in Kaon" said Elita and Optimus had a disappointed look.
"And what does that have to do with the images of the past before?" Optimus asked. The elite sighed again.
"Optimus tell me, didn't the femme who dated Soundwav look a bit like you and any details about you?" Elita asked and Optimus began to think and finally nodded hesitantly. "And now look at the femme who is on the enemy side and compare her to the little femme," Elita said. Optimus started to compare and they were identical except for the age difference, size and now she was wearing a mask.
"Why didn't you ask me if I wanted to have some fizz with you?" Optimus asked, looking at Elita with a questioning look.
"I was afraid," answered Elita, letting a tear fall from her eyes. Elita said and tears flowed from her eyes and her shoulders were shaking. Optimus pulled her and hugged her.
"I'll get her back, he tried to talk her into leaving the Decepticons" Optimus said as he kissed the top of Elita's head. They were still in each other's arms for a while, when they started to disappear.
Optimus looked at her and she stroked his cheek. "I'll see you again Orion Pax" she said when she completely disappeared.
The end of the dream
Optimus opened his optics and looked at the ceiling as he sat down. He needed to find out something else. He walked through the corridors and came to the Medbay. He walked in and only Ratchet was there, he closed the door behind him and looked at Ratchet's back.
"Did you know that?" Optimus asked and Ratchet turned to him with a puzzled face "Did you know Ariel was on fire?" He asked more and Ratchet lowered his head to the ground in disappointment. "Who says I don't want sparkling?" Optimus asked, already a bit annoyed, since Ratchet knew about it and he didn't.
"Optimus I'm sorry-" Ratchet didn't reply when Optimus cut him off.
"Just answer my question. Who says I don't want sparkling?" He asked the same question for the second time. Ratchet sighed.
"You were young and started hanging out with Megatronus. And years later you went before the High Council, if you had sparkling back then it would have been in danger" Ratchet said and lowered his eyes more to the ground, unable to meet his oldest friend's eyes.
"Did you meet her when we were dating Megatron and Soundwave?" Optimus asked and was more and more disappointed with Ratchet, but also with Ariel, but also with Ratchet for making such a decision.
"Yes I recognized her" Ratchet replied as his own question came to mind "Why are you asking all this now?" Ratchet asked and Optimus looked into his optics.
"Because I learned something about Nemesis that was hidden from me for millennia and that was trying to kill my own daughter" Optimus said and Ratchet was confused and Optimus was noticing it all. "Arcee, she is my daughter, just changed and on the enemy side" Optimus said and left the Medbay.