"Who are you? Where am I? She asked and Optimus was taken aback. Ratchet said he would be fine. He slowly reached out to her, but she picked up a stick and held it in front of her.
Optimus was surprised by several things. Arcee held a metal staff in front of her instead of transforming her hand into a blaster. She did not know who he was and where he was, even though she had already been to the base once. And the last thing he was most interested in. Why did Ratchet have a metal cane in the apothecary.
"Arcee, you're safe" Optimus said and slowly walked towards her, but she quickly noticed and prepared to attack.
"Don't come any closer! I do not know who are you! " said Arcee, her optics filled with fear.
"Arcee calm down I'm Optimus, Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots" He said calmly pointing to his shoulder insignia. Arcee looked there and was confused.
"And where am I?" She asked, her posture slowly loosening.
"You're at the Autobot base, but what's the last thing you remember?" Optimus asked. Arcee completely relaxed her stance, but still kept the staff close to her.
"I remember" she paused as she put everything together, but it was difficult, there were big gaps in it, it was just empty" we are on Cybertron, there is a war, I don't know what factions I belong to or if I belong to any, then I find a stasis module, I travel to some planet, I'm in the forest and that's it, nothing more" said Arcee and retreated further into the corner. She slid down the wall and sat there as she pulled her knees to her chest. "I don't know what's going on, how did I even get here from the forest?" She asked innocently, looking at Optimus for answers.
Careful not to startle her, Optimus knelt in front of her and touched her hand. He didn't like to do it and he knew the Decepticons did it, but this could change the relationship between him and Arcee.
"We found you in the forest, you probably got hurt while riding the stasis module. You were a few meters away from him and as soon as we found you we brought you to the base and our good medic patched you up" Optimus said and Arcee stared at the ground.
But while lowering her head, she saw her reflection in his front windows, which covered his chest. Why do I have a mask? She asked herself. She looked up and went to ask why I was wearing a mask when someone entered the treatment room.
"Bot boss we're back... woah" Bulkhead said as he and Bumblebee walked around the bay and when they saw that Arcee was awake they immediately pulled out their blasters.
Arcee stood up in a second and ran out of the room, running in all directions. She didn't recognize it and all the corridors were the same. She heard the others running after her.
Arcee tried to hide when she entered the large room and realized too late that she was trapped. She looked around quickly, trying to find cover. She looked up and saw ledges that might be strong enough to support her weight. She ran, bounced off the wall, grabbed the ledge and pulled herself up.
She was looking down and then four Autobots ran into the room with Optimus in front. The yellow one with black stripes still had an activated blaster, as did the large and bulky green one. And the last white one with orange stripes was frowning at the leader all the time.
"Arcee please come out we don't want to hurt you" Optimus said and Arcee couldn't believe it. If they didn't want to hurt her, why did they have two blasters still activated. She remained silent and did not move.
The Autobots walked further into the room and knew for sure that she had run in here. Optimus was walking through the room when he saw the small cracks in the wall that Arcee had left when she bounced off of her. Optimus looked up and saw her sitting there, scared and still looking at Bulkhead and Bumblebee.
Optimus went to order them to put down the blasters, but before he could, he noticed that Bulkhead noticed her and fired. The ledge broke under Arcee and she fell to the ground. Two Autobots walked towards her with blasters drawn and cornered her.
"Bumblebee, Bulkhead put down the blasters" Optimus said in a harsh voice. Bumblebee obeyed but Bulkhead still held him and went to fire when he uttered three more words "that's an order!" Optimus said and Bulkhead let out a frustrated sigh as he transformed the blaster back into his hand.
Optimus walked past his soldiers to Arcee, who was sitting in the corner like a scared cat and trying to go there more. He knelt in front of her as he placed a reassuring hand on hers.
"Alright, they've already put down their weapons" Optimus said gently and Bumblebee was a little surprised, since he never used such a voice even with him, so how was this Decepticon different.
Arcee looked at the others in disbelief, unsurprised. Optimus noticed the look "Ratchet, Bulkhead and Bumblebee can you please go to your rooms" Optimus said not even looking at them, not losing eye contact with Arcee.
The Autobots also left muttering and the only one who understood it was Ratchet. When they left Arcee looked to the exit and then back to Optimus.
"Why were they chasing me with blasters?" Arcee asked. Optimus sighed as he touched her wing and she pulled away. She didn't know what Optimus was doing, even if it was nice, she didn't know him.
"Look at your wings and you'll understand why they were chasing you" Optimus said calmly and Arcee looked back only to see the Decepticon insignia. She looked back at Optimus.
"Did I hurt someone? Someone who was close to the other Autobots?" Arcee asked and Optimus nodded. Arcee looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry," Arcee said and didn't look into his eyes, she felt that she had hurt him too, but she didn't know how.
Optimus touched her hand again and when she looked at him, he smiled a little.
"What happened, happened. It won't change anything, but they'll definitely feel better when they know you're sorry" Optimus said positively, not seeing the small smile on her face.
Optimus was interested in one more thing. He remembered the conversations from Nemesis and knew that her face had been uncovered for a while.
"Arcee, how about you take off your mask?" Optimus asked. Arcee touched the mask and examined where the folds were and how to take it off. Once she had it, she placed her hand properly and pushed the small studs on the sides of her mask. She put it down and Optimus smiled at her and she smiled back.
Later they came out of the training hall and Optimus escorted Arcee to his room so she could rest for a while while he was somewhere else, like talking to Ratchet like she forgot about things in her life.
Arcee made it to his room and laid down on the dock and closed the optics. Optimus made sure he was charging as he left to see Ratchet, who told him that it was probably only temporary and all it took was a small thing, a movement, or just a word and Arcee would remember everything. Well, they didn't think it would come so soon
Arcee was lying on the dock as images began to flash through her mind.
... ...
She was in Kaon and she was younger than now, she was running and Soundwave was behind her. They went for a walk in the park and maybe even turbo foxes could be seen in the distance. Arcee stopped at the railing and when Soundwave caught up with her and took her in his arms, two adult turbo foxes and three cubs ran across the field.
... ...
She was in a neutral city and was sitting by the window. She looked outside and watched young people her age playing with their creators, their Sires and carriers. Arcee sighed. She considered Soundwave as her Sir, but sometimes she longed to meet her own. But she didn't know that she had already met them.
... ...
Arcee was in the dark room at the berth crying. She wanted to leave there, she tried several times, but the last time she did it and almost ran away, Lockdown shot her in the leg and left her like that for a few days while he repaired her wound. She hated him, she hated this room.
... ...
Arcee killed Lockdown, ripped out his spark, and his face had all kinds of cuts, all kinds of lengths. Arcee wandered until she got somewhere between Kaon, the Decepticon capital, and Iacon, the Autobot capital. During her escape, she took all the credits that Lockdown had and used them to buy high-quality metal, and during the night, when she was not traveling, she wore a mask on the lower part of her face.
... ...
Arcee was once again in the room she hated so much years ago, but now she wasn't the one being held. In the center was the Elita-One, or should I say her carrier, hanging from the chains.
"Tell Elita-One why you left the sparkling in Kaon?" Arcee asked as she walked around her. Arcee hasn't hurt them yet except for the gash on the back of her head when she stunned her.
"I don't know what you're talking about decepticon, I've never had sparkling" Elita-One said and Arcee sighed. This is going to be interesting.
... ...
Arcee let them find the dead body of her carrier, she waited at the place where she killed her. She knew that someone was too stubborn to let the death of his love go unavenged.
Optimus stood in the center of the room while Arcee watched from above. "Come out Decepticon and fight" said the angry Autobot. "I know you're fighting so damn it!" He yelled and Arcee didn't even smile, while other Decepticons would have laughed if they saw Prime so desperate.
"The time will come when we meet, but I'll give you one advice Prime, keep the dagger here, I want you to kill me with it if you find me" was the last thing Arcee said when she disappeared from the building and left only Prime there.
... ...
"You will take my name to All spark" she paused as she placed the blaster on the back of his head "I am a silent killer" she whispered when a shot went through his head.
... ...
Arcee woke up with a gasp. She didn't know what it was, she didn't know who the robots were, but she had an idea that she was familiar with them. As if she experienced it, but didn't remember it. Arcee sat up and looked up at the ceiling.
Arcee had an urge, or a feeling, it was like a bomb, it was going off inside her. Arcee knew it was rude, but she needed an answer. She opened the drawer and found the dagger she saw in those pictures.
She turned it and saw that it was colored with energon, but it was old, older than several hundred years. She looked at it and saw how it was designed.
She ran her finger over the blade and a piece of new energon was left on it. It looked like nothing was going to happen as the dagger glowed a little blue and the beginning of the hilt opened. A small disk fell into her lap. She wanted to find out what was there when she heard footsteps.
She quickly put the disk in her pod, closed the small cabinet and put the dagger where she found it. She sat back down on the dock and seconds later, the door opened and Optimus stood there with a small smile.
"How did you rest?" he asked as he entered the room and sat down next to her.
"Fine," Arcee said a little incredulously, but confused it with her own question "Can I ask, if you don't mind, could I do something?" Arcee asked, subconsciously wanting to do something, since just sitting would kill her and if she managed to get to the monitor, you could look at what is on the disc.
"I think you could" replied Optimus as she stood up and gestured for her to follow him. They were passing through the base when they arrived at the main hangar and there were already children and their guards. Both Bulkhead and Bumblebee glared at Arcee and she sighed.
They came to the main computer and there the Iacon database was open, but not all of it just a piece that they had managed to save during the fall of Iacon.
"Would you be able to decode it?" he asked and everyone in the room watched as Arcee slowly walked over to the monitor and her optics started walking and started typing. The minutes were tense when she managed to decode the first part of the coordinates.
Hours passed and Arcee continued to decipher when the Iacon Relic beacon appeared on the screen. Arcee walked away from the monitors and the first person she found was Bumblebee. She walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to her, hatred against her clearly etched on his face.
"I'm sorry if I hurt you, but the beacon of the Iacon relic appeared and you were the first one I found" she said and Bumblebee's look softened a little as he activated the communicator and informed Optimus and Bulkhead.
She also returned with Bumblebee to the hangar and after a few minutes they left, leaving only Ratchet, the children and her at the base.
"If they call and demand the bridge, just open it and then close it when everyone is back. Do you understand?" Ratchet asked, Arcee as if she was several cycles old fizzy. She didn't want to start an argument, so she just nodded.
Ratchet left and Arcee turned to the monitors. She also heard something from the children's conversation, but she didn't deal with it now. No one was near her and it was a great time to see what was on the disc. She pulled it out of the basement and plugged it into the monitors. Seconds later, the recording started playing.
... ...
Arcee was there. She was wearing a mask and her optics radiated hatred, but also sadness.
"Optimus Prime, since you're watching this video, it means you killed me, or at least wounded me with the dagger I left with the Elite," Arcee said, unmasking her face.
"Optimus, ask yourself a question, who do you think I am?" Arcee asked, but the recording was not followed by the person to whom it was intended.
"If you answered that I'm a murderer who killed your loved one and several good friends, you're half right, but only half" Arcee said with even more pain in her eyes than when she started.
"Did you ever want sparkling?" She asked even though she knew he wouldn't answer "you did but Ariel left it where you went so often before the war started, you even met your sparkling" Arcee said and her face returned to a stoic form and her optics showed no emotion.
"I hope you figured it out" was the last thing she said as the recording turned off.
... ...
Arcee stood in front of the monitor, her optics closed. She looked normal when she put on the mask and grinned under it.
"So Prime, he used the time when I forgot something to get closer to me, I expected something better from him," she said quietly. There was little problem or advantage in the whole thing. She was a basic autobot and no one knew she remembered.