Author's Notes: Crazy CRAZY work life! I have needed to take over a whole different schedule on top of my own because of very unfortunate reasons relating to my ex-Coworker. And as we all know, the company (like many large companies) has decided filling that missing position is strictly optional! I've been slowing down my two week momentum for each chapter publication because of it… So far things are still limping along, but I'm just giving a heads up now, if I slow down a little on updates. But fear not! I may slow down, but will never abandon it, save for me dying!
And update over! Please have a blast reading! Drop a comment to share what you think! Love you all!
Date: January 10th, 2020
Bumblebee
He had told Soundwave that the Prion thing was going ok… but that may have been strictly conditional. The two factions on the remote desert world weren't fighting anymore, true, but that was only because they had to physically push both minicon parties farther from each other.
He was checking on that progress, and it was, well…
Bumblebee looked up from his log when he heard the cannon fire.
A spherical minicon alt mode launched from a cobbled together cannon and hurdled through the sky towards the Autobot minicon camp like the universe's craziest cannon ball. How the little Cons had constructed a launcher with the scrap they had lying around was a sheer testament to their stubborn will. All without blowing themselves up.
The flying Con came crashing down onto the Autobot minicon encampment with a flurry of blaster fire and cackling curses. Bumblebee vented. It was a decent visual representation for how things were going.
He put down his log and jogged over to break up the ensuing fight. This had been the third time this cycle.
"I'll never surrender, Autobot scum!" The Attacking minicon insisted from under Bumblebee's servo. He had been plucked from the fray by Bumblebee without a word and they were now walking back towards the Con side.
"Never change, Doomitron," Bumblebee hummed with a chuckle.
He deposited the now smoldering Con leader among his people, commandeered the launcher and headed back towards their own temporary base. Bulkhead and a few others were supposed to be hard at work trying to construct a hard link for their Spacebridge grid. Prion was so far out, they needed it, or a Spacebridge's accuracy was questionable. And as much as they found themselves here over the past twenty cycles or so, they really needed a faster way to get here. The excavation for their mysterious relic was going about as well as the opposing minicon faction's peace negotiations.
"We almost online?" Bumblebee asked as he tossed the launcher onto the growing pile of contraband they had commandeered from both sides of the Minicon war. The launcher was now among an army's hoard of tiny blasters, blades, cobbled together incendiary devices, and one small sling shot like construct that only existed to fling creative insults scratched out on scrap pieces. Much like the launcher, that last one was Doomitron's handywork.
"Would go a lot faster if you didn't ask me for an update every klik, brat!" snapped the cranky voice before Bulkhead could even attempt to answer. Soundwave's head engineer Rivet continued to grumble from his place in the guts of the Spacebridge hard link. Something about impossible standards and stupid Autobots. Both teams were meant to work on the hard link together, and an engineering team was promised from the Decepticons. In place of a team, Rivet arrived, and he shoved the Autobot's out of the way to take on the brunt of the work.
Bulkhead rubbed his helm as the Decepticon continued to curse, as if that were an integral part of the creative process, "Eh, it's going. How about the dig?" he reported to Bumblebee for Rivet.
They both glanced down the dusty hill. Beyond the two minicon camps was a now somewhat noticeable hole dug into the ground. That was the spot Soundwave had zeroed in on the relic, and their own scanners had confirmed. They would have had the relic unearthed in less time than it would have taken to transform, if not for the relic's protective aura. Days of work had only gotten them a stone's throw down with double of that to go.
It had been determined early on this relic had a similar fail safe placed upon it as the Star Saber had when they first found the legendary sword on Earth. Only a Prime could dispel the shielding to get to the relic. That was more hint pointing towards the importance of whatever was buried under their peds. But with a heavy Spark, Bumblebee noted they didn't have a Prime anymore. So, they would have to get creative to retrieve this one.
Both parties were taking turns taking their own collective whack at it, as per their relic agreement. Right now, it was the Decepticon crew's turn. They tended to favor explosives in their archeological attempts. They tended to favor explosives in most endeavors.
"It's going," Bumblebee retorted with a vent.
"If this relic is as big as we think it is… will the same neutral ownership rules still apply?" Bulkhead wondered nervously.
"Duh," Arcee said without looking up from her own work. She was busy logging some issue regarding the Spacebridge and sending the feed back to command. "The last thing we need is the treaty to break over one admittedly impressive relic. The minicon's here are doing wonders breaking the treaty as it is."
Wheeljack snorted. He was supposed to be helping with the Spacebridge, but once Rivet arrived many of them found themselves redundant in the project. And if they didn't feel that way, Rivet made sure to tell them so. Now he was just lounging with peds up on a rock formation, flicking a grenade up and down with one hand. "You would know all about treaty breaking, wouldn't ya Cee? Attacked a Con leader twice in a decade. Grimlock can't even claim that title."
Arcee glared daggers at him from over her work. "First of all-"
"No worries!" Bumblebee interrupted with an exceptionally forced smile, "We worked past that and now we can look forward to the bright and happy future! Big relic is almost out of the ground hopefully in time for Optimus' remembrance at the memorial garden! Let's focus on that!"
Arcee just rolled her optics. But she did catch Bumblebee's silent pleading. 'Please don't pick a fight with Wheeljack.' His optics and aura were begging her. If they fought, they would drudge up the reason behind the fight. Then the topic would land back on Soundwave and Rhea, and Arcee would spiral down even farther. Bumblebee's fleeting inner peace could not handle that again.
"You going to make another speech for the memorial?" Wheeljack asked Bumblebee. Then he smirked before adding, "You gonna cry again?"
Degrading, but it was distracting from the tension, so he could take it. "Maybe. I'm big enough to admit I can cry in front of a massive crowd and pretend to be ok with that."
The upcoming remembrance memorial was an annual tradition, or at least it was for the past decade. Hopefully, it would continue, as that would mean the war was in the past. It was to honor Optimus Prime and his sacrifice to restore Cybertron's Well. The massive domed satellite they constructed to orbit Cybertron was the final resting place for many Decepticons and Autobots lost in the war. And the two respective leaders of both groups were no exception.
Not long after Optimus Prime had ventured into the center of their world to restore it to its former glory, a small team followed to assure the Well did not need further repairs. And that was where they found him. Resting still under Primus's Spark with his own Spark long departed. A knowing smile still resting on his lip plates. It had been good to have a body to bury. Now Optimus Prime was laid to rest in the crypt under his statue in the memorial gardens, surrounded with his achievements and holding the Star Saber on his chest.
Megatron's remains had a similar arrangement. Across from Optimus was Megatron's own tomb. The Decepticons had their own day to honor their fallen leader. In fact, they had three. A little bit overkill, but Decepticons were as Miko would put it in human terms, 'hella extra.' And they loved any reason to set off illegal explosives in the Northern Autobot districts and piss off Ultra Magnus with said illegal explosives. The first of his remembrance days was when he gave himself the name Megatron instead of Megatronus. The second was the day he declared war on the original Senate. And finally the day he had returned from his self-imposed exile to assist in the defeat of Tarn a decade ago. The same day he died.
Bumblebee and his fellow Autobots all tried very hard to sit through the first two days to show their unity. The third day was easier. In fairness to their Decepticon allies, a good number of Kaon reliably showed up for Optimus Prime's remembrance. He restored Cybertron after all. It was hard to not like that, even if they weren't on the same team.
/Come in team Prime./
Bumblebee was alert when Ultra Magnus was in his audio.
"What can we do for you boss?" He asked.
/My search through the outer system has come up empty./ He reported grimly. /I'm returning to Cybertron to report my findings. I want you all there within the cycle./
Arcee made a confused face, "If you didn't find anything, what's there to report?"
Beyond the normal delay for a comm sent from such a distance, Ultra Magnus hesitated before answering, /I did not locate the ships that were reported missing. What I did find, was an SOS./
"Who's aft we need to save now?" Wheeljack snickered. "Bet it's Rodimus. I'm still amazed somebot gave that kid his own ship. It was only a matter of time until they got lost on some space adventure…"
/The SOS did not originate from an Autobot vessel,/ Magnus clarified. /The transmission was from the Peaceful Tyranny./
An icy chill somehow permeated the desert world even in the midday heat.
"Tarn's old crew?" Arcee asked, utterly unconvinced. "They were asking for help?"
"From what?" Bulkhead added with growing fear at the concept of what it would take to accomplish such a feat.
/We do not know. The message was cut off after the initial ping./ Magnus said.
"Do the Con Lords know?" Bumblebee asked.
/No. I intend to inform them in person. I have requested their presence on Cybertron as well. Soundwave and Sharpshot have agreed to the meeting. Starscream has yet to reply, as per his dramatic need to be fashionably late to everything… I have also initiated a call to our deep space allies and have sent summons to other colonies. We want to avoid a panic, but we are officially in a state of emergency. All ships are barred from entering that space until we have discovered a cause for the multi vessel disappearance./
"So no word from the Lost Light either?" Bumblebee said, holding out dwindling hope. Speaking of Rodimus, he had turned his mishmash of a crew from colony work and instead went in search of the missing. Then he and his crew went missing. Rodimus had several morally dubious crew members who could hold their own against any threat. And Tarn's old crew were some of the most feared Decepticons to ever live. Both parties were now gone along with countless others. Bulkhead was right. What could have done that?
"It's probably Destructor," Peeped up the small yet assured voice at their peds.
Having been so tense, Bumblebee almost jumped backwards at the silent arrival of the Minicon. It was Sparkplug, the leader of the Autobot Minicons, and apparently the new sworn enemy of Doomitron. Their long and Energon soaked history stretched out a little over a week now.
Wheeljack groaned, "This again?"
Sparkplug wheeled on him with a glare, "YES. This again! You lot have been comfy planet side this whole time! We haven't had that luxury! There are cosmic horrors beyond imagination out there in the outer rings and Destructor is one of them!"
"And we already asked the Con's if they had a bot by that name," Bulkhead huffed, "They said they didn't."
"And you trusted them?" Sparkplug said with a scoff. "There's giving bots the benefit of the doubt, and then there's just being stupid."
Arcee stored away her data pad with a vent of frustration as there were now far too many distractions for her to really concentrate on work, "It would help if you could at least give a somewhat stable description of this Pit Spawn of a Con that didn't change every other cycle."
Now Sparkplug wheeled on her, "I've already said he's a size changer! And rumor says he never leaves any survivors! How's anybot supposed to get a good look at him? I'm not willing to risk my Spark getting ripped out!"
"Whatever we're dealing with has to be more than one Con," Bumblebee insisted. "Plus, some Con ships have gone missing. Why would this Destructor attack his own?"
"Because he's nuts," Sparkplug said with total confidence. "But that aside, it's almost time for our side to take over excavation for the relic. I think we should switch to more direct tactics before-"
"Hey chump!"
Sparkplug's whole expression fell sour. With considerable effort, he creaked around to face Doomitron. The Decepticon leader was standing on one of his larger shacks and the shoulders of another little Con so his shouting voice would carry farther. He was also waiting for some kind of acknowledgment to his previous outburst.
"What?!" Sparkplug finally snarled.
Arcee groaned at him, "Why would you take the bait and answer to 'chump?'"
Even from such a distance, Bumblebee made out the Con's evil grin, "What has two rusted wheels and is a pile of scrap?"
Sparkplug vented loudly, "Is it me?" He hissed back.
"Good guess!" Doomitron reached down to high five the Con who's shoulders he was standing on.
"Imma wipe that grin off his faceplates and off this planet…" Sparkplug grumbled to himself bitterly.
Bumblebee stood in between them to block Doomitron from sight the moment the Decepticon started doing an annoying little mocking dance from atop his ally's shoulders. He was worried even all this distance would not be enough. "You guys can really carry on with your logging mission in space. We have this covered. You don't have to stay."
Sparkplug startled at that, "And leave you at their mercy? Absolutely not! We will guard the relic to our deaths! Whether that threat come from unknown forces or more familiar Con activity."
That was what Bumblebee was afraid of. "If you could," He knelt to be more optic level with Sparkplug, "We have official business back on Cybertron. What would be remarkably helpful, would be if you retained vigilance on Doomitron's forces… from a distance. And all suspicious activity, you report to our excavation team. Then we will decide how to go about handling it. Ya know, for the good of the peace."
"For the good of the peace," Sparkplug echoed tiredly. He gave Bumblebee a mirrored grin, "It's good we have you, representative. You always have the Treaty's best interest in mind."
Bumblebee shrugged. "It's what Optimus always wanted. The least I can do is not mess it up." He stood back up and turned to his team. "Alright bots. Better head back. Nothing good comes from keeping Magnus waiting."
"Finally headed out? GOOD," Rivet hissed, "You won't be distracting me anymore!"
Bulkhead fidgeted on his peds, "Um, I'm never any good at the committee stuff. I could lend a servo to get the work here done faster-" Rivet's response to the offer came in the swift form of a tool hurling at Bulkhead's helm, which he just managed to dodge.
"I think he's got it covered," Wheeljack snickered. "Call it a hunch."
"He's got a point though," Arcee spoke up. Bumblebee found her once more trying to log something away, so her focus wasn't solely on their conversation. "We hardly need everyone for this meeting. Not like I can help Rivet, but I could stay here to facilitate the dig, and keep the minicons from killing each other." Bumblebee noted she was scanning over the same few lines of data, not exactly reading it. She was trying not to look at any of them.
"That the only reason?" Wheeljack hummed. "Or is it the fact Soundwave will be at the meeting, and it's too good an opportunity to not take another swing at him?"
"Jackie… You weren't supposed to say the quiet part out loud," Bulkhead groaned.
"I may skip him and focus my blaster fire on you," Arcee snapped at Wheeljack.
"Ultra Magnus did summon all of us," Bumblebee pointed out. "But, if this is too much for you-"
"Too much?" Arcee laughed sarcastically and utterly offended, "It's not, and I can hold my emotions in check. Just because I don't want to see his smug faceplates doesn't mean I'll make a scene." She shoved past them and headed back for the ship. Bumblebee exchanged an uncertain glance with Bulkhead, fixed Wheeljack with a warning glare, and then followed her.
And Soundwave was anything but smug.
Once back on Cybertron and seated amongst his fellow reps alongside Ultra Magnus, he looked across the table at the three Decepticon Lords and their Generals. Soundwave was hard to read even with his optic band engaged and his field pulled in tight over his plating. But Bumblebee had come to know him by his posture. His engagement in meetings. So far, he radiated misery. Bumblebee didn't blame him. In fact, he pitied the Con Lord, though would never dare say that out loud. Ever since the 'incident' with Rhea's most recent Cyberformation, and now the disbandment of the project, Soundwave had only just managed to hold himself together. Again, he didn't blame him. A project he organized and facilitated to try and extend the life of his human Conjunx had almost killed her. And now, they were back to facing down the prospect of her normal human life expectancy, like the rest of them were with their human wards.
But not everyone present shared Bumblebee's sympathetic perspective.
Arcee had promised she wouldn't make a scene. Bumblebee worried she may forget that agreement, just going by her own flaring aura. She wasn't listening to Ultra Magnus either, instead busying herself trying to glare a hole through Soundwave's helm. It looked like she was using every bit of willpower she had to not jump over the table and throttle Soundwave.
"This is Tarn's old crew we're talking about," Starscream hummed and waved off Ultra Magnus's findings. "Any weakness they show is assuredly a trap. If they were broadcasting an SOS, they were trying to lure in the hostiles in the outer rings. I'm sure they will show back up with the hooligans chained to the front of the Peaceful Tyranny's hull."
"We can hope for that outcome," Ultra Magnus said measuredly, "But until the cycle they return, we must take this threat seriously. Now two major ships of Autobot and Decepticon origin have been reported missing. That doesn't even count the number of unaffiliated or smaller vessels."
He made sure to really pause on every point, maintain optic contact with those assembled around the table. All except Soundwave, whose optics were hidden. Or Predaking, who's larger than average chair was just empty. When it came to affaires off world, the King of the Predacons seldom bothered showing up. His people were content to remain on Cybertron. They didn't really care what lay beyond.
"What do you recommend?" Sharpshot intoned seriously. Starscream rolled his optics, obviously annoyed this prompt to meeting was still dragging on.
"A unified effort in retrieving the lost," Ultra Magnus insisted. "Each group have sent out their own vessels, and they either find nothing, or are added to the list of the missing. But a large enough formation of our forces combined could be what it takes."
Starscream leaned in, optics narrowing, "And where would we pull these forces? From our existing armies here? That would leave our respective Capital's without a reasonable defense against, more present threats." He gave the whole Autobot side of the table a suspicious and not very subtle scan over.
"Exactly where I was going to take this meeting," Ultra Magnus stood up, pulling the attention of the long table onto him. Aside from Arcee. Her glare was still occupied elsewhere. Ultra Magnus pulled up a holo image over the table of multiple off world colonies, zooming in on a choice few. "We have maintained contact with members of our army off world. These forces could either initiate the search, or take our place here until we return."
Starscream, along with his generals scoffed right away, "And I believe it is stated in the Treaty, opening line section three in fact, that not one of either faction will outnumber the other within a span of at least a galaxy. If you pull in forces, we will as well."
"Do you have Decepticon forces ready to return to Cybertron within a timely fashion?" Ultra Magnus questioned.
Starscream pursed his lip plates, "Define, 'timely fashion.'"
"To end this ridiculous conundrum," Soundwave uttered with a hollow inflection. It was the first time he had spoken the entirety of the meeting. Just his voice alone made Arcee's field noticeably flare. "We will communicate with our off-world colonies and add them to this retrieval force."
Starscream turned to him with a huff, "Our colonies are less then responsive."
Soundwave's helm didn't even twitch towards his fellow Lord to address him, "If they do not, we will do without them."
"And let the Autobots outnumber us here?" Starscream snapped.
"Would you suggest letting this threat continue, or possibly accelerate? What if the threat in the outer rings move closer to Cybertron?" Soundwave pointed out.
Starscream growled but didn't have an immediate answer.
"We voting?" Sharpshot assumed and was already going to stand up. Without an acknowledgment, Starscream and Soundwave stood up too, along with their band of generals.
Unlike the Autobot Committee, the Decepticon chain of command had a much different way of dealing with disagreements. On the Autobot side, the Committee was made up of over a hundred members whose tenure was determined by vote and each member holding differing levels of authority. Bumblebee was sort of midlevel, where he was most comfortable. He saw how stressed Ultra Magnus usually was when dealing with higher government affairs.
To simplify, a problem would come before the Committee, they would talk about it, sometimes for cycles and cycles, research, debate, bring up similar situations or decrees and measure it against the extensive Autobot ethics codes, the works. They would vote, and if it was a tie, (it usually was) they would start the process all over again. It was tedious, but Bumblebee believed it was the best way to keep the whole system fair.
The Decepticon's government was a little more straight forward, and Bumblebee often didn't know if the process made him jealous or horrified. Each Decepticon Lord shared exactly equal power, but those three were absolute in that power. No voting them in or out. They remained Lords until they relinquished the title or died. None of their generals or underlings could outvote them or veto any decisions, no matter how crazy. It was a good way to get shot. However, the Lords seldom disagreed. Whatever they were debating usually was against the Autobots, and they were unified in that regard almost one hundred percent of the time. But if they did disagree, they would vote between the three of them. Two out of three would be the winner, and the one loser would just be upset. This process took a little under ten earth minutes. Was that too fast for serious topics? Bumblebee and every Autobot on Cybertron and beyond thought so. But he couldn't say it wasn't fragging efficient.
There was nuance to it. The Generals had their say, sort of. They of course would back up their respective Lord, and they would argue against each other, maybe bringing some other info to the table the other Lords hadn't considered. But the fighting still only took place within those few precious ten minutes. Starscream's Generals tended to go low and scheme. Sharpshot's group liked to stick to facts and stay on point. But Soundwave had Thunderblast for a high general, and she could out shout anyone in the galaxy. And if she was feeling especially devious, she would let her dog, usually in a little air filtrated bubble, bark over everyone else in the room. His air bubble was not sound proof by any means.
No long-winded debates. No filibustering or vetoes. They reached a decision almost immediately. Supposedly, Bumblebee heard there was a sort of unofficial way for the loser Lord to further assert his point, but that would require blaster fire. In a decade, it hadn't come to that. Yet.
Bumblebee leaned back in his chair, waiting for the group of Decepticons to come filing back in. They had about eight minutes to go. Around the five-minute mark, he heard the distinct barking of an Earth canine.
"I mean, Starscream is right to be wary," Bumblebee offered in the interim. He shrugged when Ultra Magnus gave him an odd look. "Wouldn't we be worried if the Decepticons wanted to bring in loads of their off-world forces over something we haven't even officially identified as a threat?"
"I don't hold out high hopes for whatever they decide," Arcee grumbled. Bumblebee saw she was busying herself glaring at the door the Cons left through, "Unless it's Sharpshot's win, they'll find some way to frag us over." This wasn't said loud enough for the rest of the Committee to hear. It was just a jab shared amongst the few closest to her. Bumblebee was also positive she wasn't only talking about the vote.
"What is your actual problem?" Bumblebee demanded, less discreet than she had been.
It had been a risk, but it got the reaction he was hoping for. Arcee startled out of her dark mood to instead look shocked at him. Bumblebee didn't wait for her to gain her wits to respond in kind, "I doubt you even know what they're voting on. You have basically been on a different planet this whole time. The 'We Hate Soundwave' planet to be precise."
She blinked at him in shock. Then she glared, "What does me being pissed matter at all? I'm not filibustering?"
"But I can hardly see past your murderous field to glimpse the other side of the table," Bumblebee pointed out, "It's distracting, to say the least." She looked ready to ignore him in favor of continuing her stare down with the Decepticon door. Bumblebee pushed his luck. "If it's about Rhea's Cyberformation, then what in the Pits do you have to still be mad about? Soundwave stopped it. Congrats, you won. Ten years of you and the Ethics Committee shoving into their business worked out."
With aura flaring, she whirled around to Ultra Magnus. "Permission to speak with Representative Bumblebee off the record?"
"Make it quick, and before the Decepticon Lords return," Magnus agreed.
She shoved herself up from the table and he followed her into the hall. The moment the door rolled closed she was snapping at him in a hushed voice, "Don't tell me how to feel. You hear me, Bee?"
Bumblebee crossed his servos in a bid to appear steadfast. In truth, he was shielding himself from her verbal and energetic assault, "I wouldn't if it wasn't affecting the team, or what's going on. It is. But again, I don't get it. Why are you still mad?"
"It almost killed her!" Arcee hissed, and she didn't have to specify she was talking about Rhea. "How are you not upset? It's like everyone here has lost their fragging minds! Everything Optimus fought for, we are just turning our backs on. Remember humanity? What we worked so hard to protect? Everything we have been debating regarding Rhea's Cyberformation almost came true! And here we were not doing a damn thing to stop it! I was even there for Primus sake, just letting it happen!"
"Soundwave didn't try to kill Rhea," Bumblebee pointed out, a little softer than he originally intended. But Arcee sounded guilt ridden, her presence at the most recent testing maybe being more harmful to her than Bumblebee anticipated. "Who could have thought-"
"Don't even finish that thought," Arcee hissed, "Because we did think of it. How many times have we and the Ethics Committee talked about this? Over a hundred times, at least. How many times did we wonder if a human dying on our watch would outweigh the treaty's standing? But this isn't just any human. We know her! She's our friend and colleague. And frag whatever Soundwave says now, he's a Decepticon, and he will go back on his decision and start the testing right back up again. Maybe not soon, but what about when her age starts getting more obvious? He's going to crack."
"Wouldn't you?" Bumblebee pointed out.
Arcee stammered. Her once angry optics shrunk in the smallest hint of fear. She knew where he was going with the thought, but he said it anyway. "How are you going to feel when Jack gets older? What if there really was a way-"
"DON'T finish that sentence," she warned him. He was actually worried she would attack, just going by her tone alone. Just so she didn't have to hear it.
She stopped looking at him entirely. He worried he had stepped over the line. "Even in spite of me being 'encouraged' by the Ethics Committee to oversee the Cyberformation, I've always thought… She gave him way more than he could give back. It's just the nature of the beast. The moment Jack started expanding his roots on Earth, I've tried to back away. I don't want to, but it's the right thing to do. But we all see what she does for him. She's a human, but she became a self-admitted Con for him. Not just any Con either. She's dating her Lord. Power imbalance much? And he, an advanced alien super being compared to her, offered his proposal to her basically the minute she stopped being what humans consider to be a 'kid.' That's not odd timing to you at all? What if she just, decided to start seeing another human? Like, if Shawn's dorky charm started to work on her? How do you think that would go over? For her, or the hypothetical human she was seeing?"
"But, it's just that, hypothetical," Bumblebee pointed out. "I mean, yeah, is the whole thing morally dubious? Sure, but what would have been a good age for her and Soundwave to tie the knot and have it not been insane? They have an age gap of about six million years. She could have been a hundred and you could still make this same argument. This is different. For all we know, it's never been done before. Is that morally wrong? Who knows. But then again, Thunderblast abducted a dog from Earth, and they have all sorts of space hijinks together. She puts that poor animal in countless otherworldly dangers he can't even comprehend."
Arcee gave him a pointed look, "She's not dating her dog though."
Bumblebee gave a bit of a chuckle. "True, but is what I pointed out any more morally foggy even if you don't add that too? Should we have gotten close to our humans, or kept them simply at servo's reach emotionally? We messed up the trajectory of their lives either way."
"We were protecting them from the Cons," Arcee reminded him.
"And Soundwave was protecting Rhea from her human abusers," he added.
"So then, you think this is just my lingering bias towards the Cons?" She actually sounded a little unsure, even when she tried to mask the question with her normal amount of sarcasm.
"Could be. Maybe it's more too. Maybe you should talk about it with them."
Arcee vented a sigh. Her anger was mostly deflated. Now she was just, defeated? He wasn't sure if that was the right observation. He could no longer read her energy field. She had retracted it the moment her angry façade started to crack to unearth what lay underneath. "I just don't want her to regret it. I don't want any of the humans to regret anything, related to us."
"Even if she did, she would have you to always look out for her."
Her arched brow ridge was loud enough on its own without her adding, "You give me way too much credit."
"Or you don't give yourself enough," he said and headed past her back into the board room. He heard the commotion of shuffling peds filing back in from the other side.
He took his seat just as the Cons were returning. After a moment, Arcee trudged back in too. She had regained her appearance of apathy, and at least was no longer glaring daggers at Soundwave.
"We've decided to agree with your proposal," Sharpshot told Ultra Magnus while Starscream sat cross servoed and pouting.
"With some notable conditions!" Starscream added quickly with a growl.
Ultra Magnus nodded. It was assumed that would be the case, so he didn't bother arguing. "First, we want to know each and every vessel you are summoning and who is onboard." Starscream had regained his original authoritative air. "And in the event, we are unable to summon a relative number of our own forces, we will only contribute a fraction of our vessels to this search mission in order to maintain our control here."
It was more than nothing. And even with Soundwave so visibly down in the dumps, he had a knack for tracking down even the most elusive frequencies and turning opinions. Bumblebee assumed they would find more space faring Cons sooner than they thought. If Doomitron was any type of example for his people, they looked for any excuse to shake things up.
Things turned to different topics quickly enough, and of course the still missing Apex Armor became the focus. Relics found after the peace treaty were held in a neutral location, but the relics found before the treaty were still considered property of whichever team found them. And the impressive armor was the property of the Autobots, until it mysteriously vanished from Iacon's vaults. Bumblebee figured it could have been worse. It was only the armor and no other relics. Not like the Spark Extractor was what went MIA.
Though others clearly didn't share that attitude. Things quickly devolved into a shouting match between the higher Representative Ironhide and Lord Starscream. Bumblebee wasn't exactly listening beyond the accusations and name calling. He was still focused on Arcee.
She was sullen, focus locked onto the table. Ironically, Soundwave appeared in a similar morose mood across the way, in no mental condition to help Sharpshot hold Starscream back.
The meeting concluded early with a lot of curses and veiled threats of violence. Bumblebee stuck around to catch Sharpshot for a moment. He was curious how their vote shook down, and if they should be worried about Starscream carrying a grudge out of the meeting. They did not need a fist fight between the Autobot weapon's specialist and the uppity Con Lord.
But before he could sneak to the Con side of the room, he noticed Arcee and Soundwave were among the first to silently excuse themselves. Both of their hasteful retreats probably motivated by a similar topic but vastly differing views regarding it. He just hoped they didn't bump into each other.
Rhea
She wasn't exactly 'sneaking' into Shockwave's lab. She had unhindered security access. Plus, she was married to the overlord of the city the lab occupied. Unhindered access was just one of the perks. That was also what allowed her to pass down the corridors of the Decepticon north command building without drawing any unwanted attention. She roamed the halls all the time after all. It was the main reason the building had air.
The security cameras were the tricky bit of this recon mission. At any point, Soundwave could access them, even from his current position across the planet at one of the many and growing in occurrences Autobot and Decepticon meetings. But that was just a risk she had to take.
The meeting had been lucky, but it wouldn't last forever. That was where Laserbeak came in.
He didn't know her plan. He couldn't without Soundwave also knowing. She just assured him she had one, and when the time was right, buy time. How Laserbeak would do that, she left it up to him. Another hitch in the plan was Laserbeak's inability to warn her about their inevitable return. She didn't have her translator. She left it upstairs on her desk in Soundwave's apartment. She said she had a headache and was taking a break from it. (That wasn't a lie either. The now common place migraine was only just not blinding her.) But without the translator in her ear, Soundwave wouldn't see her location shift from their shared living space and down one hundred stories into the bowels of the laboratory.
Him catching her didn't really matter. Not like she'd get in trouble. He would just give her that 'seriously?' face of his and she would shrug and remind him she was a Decepticon too. Sometimes for the greater good, you had to scheme. And that was a direct quote from one of Megatron's manifestos so he couldn't argue with it.
She just had to learn what went wrong. Convincing Soundwave to continue authorizing her Cyberformation would come next. He had said it would only continue if the risk was gone. Well, finding out why the most recent test almost killed her was a good start. And the only one who would know that was Shockwave.
She arrived at the large blast proof doors of the cold scientist's workplace and living area. The barred entrance was either there to protect the precious Decepticon tech being developed inside… Or more likely, to contain anything recently created within that may try to claw its way out.
Without the translator there to activate the doors, she used her manual access code, typed into the small keypad far below the much higher one made for normally sized residents.
The screen buzzed its denial at her. She stared a little too long at the red message, absorbing everything that meant. "Bastard," she said out loud while picturing Soundwave's stupid yet handsome face. He had already anticipated her trying to get back into the lab and had barred her entrance. Really? Did he expect she was going to somehow force Shockwave to keep trying to change her? How in the freaking world would she even go about doing that?
"You don't think I can't hack into Cybertronian tech?" She began to grumble as she did just that, "Really, Soundwave, have you even met me?" She pulled up the security files on the screen. There was Soundwave's new block with its highest access, barring her out. The absolute audacity. As she worked, careful not to trip the alarm, she risked the occasional glance over her shoulder at the black globe on the ceiling, recording her treachery. She hoped the meeting was still going, or at the very least, Laserbeak was being creative and insisting they take the long way home.
The approaching ped steps made her breath hitch in her throat. No, it wasn't Soundwave's careful gait. Two bots were coming down the hall behind her. Just going by their footfall, she could guess one was built on the smaller side of average, and the other sounded monstrous.
Rhea tried to remain casual as their shadows came around the bend. She still had forever to go before she got into the third layer of security. Crap!
The steps stopped. She decided it would be more suspicious if she didn't turn around to greet them.
Sharpshot's helm was tilted in curiosity as they observed her, assuredly not in the place Soundwave may have mentioned she should be. By the short Decepticon Lord's side, and in her bot form, was Silverwing. Standing next to her partner was almost laughable. She loomed over them, and most others. For a Predacon, that was hardly unusual. Her yellow optics looked between Sharpshot and Rhea. She was probably picking up the tension and didn't get it.
"Um, hi," Sharpshot finally greeted, "Whatcha doing?"
Rhea gave the doors a glance. Then she looked back at them as innocently as she could. "Testing security."
Inside she was panicking. Despite what she thought before about not getting in trouble if caught, she still thought she would be farther along by now. At least inside the lab and talking to Shockwave. But Sharpshot's presence meant the meeting was over. So, then Soundwave was maybe coming home too.
"Ah ha," Sharpshot said, absolutely unconvinced.
"That was a short meeting," Rhea commented with a forced smile, "Everything ok?"
"Starscream got in a shouting match with the Autobot rep Ironhide. So, we rescheduled," Sharpshot explained.
"Shoot," Rhea huffed, then added in a less panicked fashion, "Too bad about that. Leave it to Starscream to break up a good time."
Silverwing snickered through her fanged denta, "The little one here is plotting something. I am curious."
"Not at all. Just some unimportant business with our esteemed scientist," Rhea insisted. She was trying very hard not to glance any more at the cameras.
Silverwing laughed louder, "Now I am sure of it. Love, your fellow Lord Starscream call's my creator 'esteemed' when he is plotting something too." She said to Sharpshot. Then she came closer, and Rhea had a hard time not being thrown to the ground by the force of her massive steps. She wasn't even stomping on purpose. The mountain sized Cybertronian knelt, then got lower, helm almost on the floor so she could see what Rhea was doing. "Says access denied… You want in?" Those once playful yellow optics narrowed, "No one should tell you where you cannot go. I could make short work of the door for you."
Before Rhea could insist against the generous offer that would without a doubt trip security, the door clicked with sudden access. Rhea and Silverwing looked up to see Sharpshot at the Cybertronian keypad, having entered their own override. The only override that could infringe on Soundwave's. That of another Lord. "Not that I didn't think you could get in yourself," they insisted to Rhea. Then motioned to Silverwing and added, "And I trust you would indeed have made short work of the door, sweet spark. But I find time is better spent doing what you want without wasting it. We'll just say I had no idea you weren't supposed to get in."
Rhea could almost hear the wink behind their tone.
"Thank you, really," She said to them both as she scurried through the opening door.
She caught Silverwing still on her knee joints and smiling, "Go cause havoc, little adventurer."
The door shut behind her. A moment later in the silence of the lab she heard her two conspirators continue down the hall. Once they were gone, it was eerie. She was left in the dark and echoing laboratory with its unusual clanking sounds and encompassing chill not even her jacket could contribute against. Places that weren't Soundwave's apartment tended to be cold, but this was ridiculous.
She shoved her hands into her jacket pocket and carried on into the first expanse of the lab. "Shockwave?" He probably heard her but was too engaged in one of his many morally questionable hobbies to answer. Now that Soundwave had pulled the plug on the Cyberformation project, Shockwave was bound to have a considerable amount of free time.
The lab was made up of about ten rooms varying in size. Some cavernous, some claustrophobic. And that was claustrophobic to a Cybertronian standard. She was still trekking across football fields in some cases. But the drab colors and sterile air sure made it feel smaller. How long had it been since oxygen was cycled through? Probably when she was last here a week and a half ago. Could air mildew? It smelled like it could.
Her quest for the lab's cold inhabitant halted at a large glass cylinder tucked away, but not forgotten. Optics closed and resting in stasis was her avatar. She was glad it hadn't been tossed in a dumpster out back behind the building. Not like they really had dumpsters in a human sense, but the minute her brain had concocted the image she was stuck with it.
But thankfully, her imagination had been wrong. Her Cybertronian body was fine, just as the day she so rudely abandoned it to die instead. For a Cybertronian without a soul, she looked peaceful. Rhea almost didn't want to linger in fear of waking her much larger counterpart. She was also on borrowed time already. Laserbeak wouldn't be able to stall Soundwave forever.
She still stood a moment more to admire the alien. Metal detailing of brushed gold and copper adorned her helm like a subtle crown. Small shoulders and oddly feminine features for an androgynous being. She supposed it wasn't strange to have a kinship with it. It was hers, no matter what Soundwave said.
"Hang in there," She patted the base of the stasis pod and carried on. She was drawn by the trudging of peds headed into the room she occupied.
Rhea wasn't surprised Shockwave found her first. He probably knew the moment she started hacking into his door. Maybe even before she loitered outside in the hall.
They both stood, observing the other in a tense silence. Staring up at the one-eyed scientist, Rhea now realized how odd it felt being here with him, without Soundwave.
"I had a question about the last test," she said in place of a greeting. Formalities with Shockwave were a waste of time.
"I anticipated that." Shockwave side stepped her on his way to the avatar's stasis pod. Even taking up so little space, Rhea stood out of his way. He was still working on the avatar? That's how it appeared as he typed into the stasis pods monitor, fiddling with this or that. How he would do that without her was anyone's guess. Maybe another random human was stuffed somewhere in the lab to take her place, willingly or otherwise. "I suspect you have concluded a plan to persuade Sovereign Soundwave's decision regarding the Cyberformation?" him talking after such a long span of silence, and without him looking up from his work was jarring.
"Did he already talk to you?"
"Affirmative. He concluded the project a failure. In my opinion, it was a premature decision determined from rash illogical thinking."
"Well, it did almost kill me," she reminded him.
"An unaccounted factor. But it should not have been grounds for an indefinite suspension of the project. Especially considering the promising results. Sovereign Soundwave's infatuation with Cyberformed human life could have been expounded on with any number of other human test subjects."
She tried very hard not to roll her eyes, "Thanks for that. But I think there is a way I can change his mind. But to do that, I need to learn what went wrong. Why did it almost kill me?" She fumbled in her bag to produce the many lab results she procured from the hospital in the form of a flash drive. "Would this help? It's everything my body did right after the failed test."
"I would not place much merit in any test results obtained from archaic technology." Despite his dig at the entirety of human scientific advancement he took the drive and held it between very careful digit tips. He assimilated the flash drive out of sight, and within moments the information appeared larger on a monitor on the wall, already translated into Cybertronian. He took a beat to study it. "Your systems crashed. I would assume it was an acute energy overload from extended testing. Your substandard body's endurance is easily consumed."
"Again, thanks," She grumbled but continued pushing forward, "If we can just, figure out a way for it not to almost kill me every time?"
"Risk will always be a factor," Shockwave stated coldly. Or at least, colder than normal.
"I don't understand that at all," she found herself snapping at him. She should really not push her luck with her only means of getting this issue resolved. But Soundwave was probably flying back as they spoke in circles. "Were you lying when you said it wouldn't kill me at the start of all this?"
"I was missing data," he corrected.
Rhea huffed with growing frustration. Maybe this was a dead end after all. Shockwave may not even care to continue the project.
He continued to study the supposedly 'archaic' test results from the hospital, then switched back to the avatar's own monitors. His focus was unbroken, forgetting she was standing down by his ped expectantly. Realization dawned on her. "You don't know what went wrong, do you?" It had been subtle. So small and unassuming most would have missed it. But she noticed the way he paused typing for the slightest moment. "It's why you're still working on it even after Soundwave stopped it."
"Your observation, is not incorrect."
"Fancy way of saying yes. But you have no theories? Ideas? Guesses?" She was grasping now. The smartest mind on Cybertron, maybe even in the whole universe, had no clue what had gone wrong. Maybe he was right. Maybe it was just something about her mind or body? Was she defective?
"I have many hypotheses. There is no sustainable way to test these hypotheses unless we can continue testing."
Rhea deflated. At least she wasn't the only one disappointed. She had no idea Shockwave was invested in this experiment. But here he was, forbidden to carry on but still typing away in front of the avatar, studying his notes, then those of the human doctors she provided for him. All joking aside, he really was frustrated. If he were like any other Cybertronian, or human, or intelligent life form, she would offer words of sympathy. But Soundwave was hard enough to read. She didn't have the emotional energy to learn Shockwave's complicated personality, or lack thereof.
A sustained and annoying beeping came from somewhere in the lab. Shockwave didn't flinch at it. "I trust you to relay any and all questions regarding our conversation to your Autobot chaperone."
"Hu?" was all she managed to say before the door to the room slid open.
Even in the dim light she recognized Arcee. The fiery Autobot stood stunned with the expression of guilt at being caught when Rhea spotted her. "What are you doing here?" She demanded before she could seemingly stop herself.
Rhea crossed her arms with an indignant smile, "Technically, I live in this building part time. It's weirder seeing you here."
Arcee mirrored her stiff and defensive tone. She even upped the ante and leaned against the open door, "Thought I'd test out the Con's security. And good thing I did. Looks like someone already tried hacking into the control panel outside."
The excuse was hauntingly familiar, and Rhea couldn't help but acknowledge the irony both their brains jumped to that cover story. When neither she nor Shockwave ordered her out Arcee let herself in the rest of the way. Was she thrilled to see the bot who almost punched her husband? Not particularly. But she felt like it wasn't her place to kick anyone out of Shockwave's lab.
Shockwave only studied Arcee for a few curious seconds before returning to his own task. Rhea maintained her passive glare. Arcee came to stop where Rhea and Shockwave were stationed. Before the chamber that contained the slumbering avatar. She crossed her own arms and hummed a tone of borderline amusement. "I thought the project was canceled. Why haven't we tossed this thing yet?"
Rhea mirrored her blatantly passive aggressive stance, "Project or not, the thing is mine. I'll park it in my apartment's garage if I damn well please." Arcee gave a snorting laugh to that but maintained her focus on the avatar. "So, you're back to not looking at me?" Rhea growled.
Arcee's semi-amused smile withered. Now she was glaring down in kind, "It's got nothing to do with you, Rhea."
"Could have fooled me. Though I appreciate you rushing me back to Earth before my heart stopped, I still am less than please you tried to attack my husband. You all didn't get enough of that after four million years?"
"You won't get it," Arcee started to vent a sigh.
"I agree! Because you won't explain it," Rhea snapped.
Shockwave's work ceased with a jarring thud from the monitor. Rhea had almost forgotten he was there. "When you both are done bickering, or my assistance is needed, I shall be in the next chamber." He excused himself without further explanation. Had Rhea almost read annoyance in his flat affect? That was new. Or she and Arcee were being that annoying.
The door closed behind him as he abandoned them both to their bickering. Rhea caught Arcee venting a sigh again. She maintained her tone this time around, "Whatever reason you have a problem with all this, I just wish you didn't resent me for it. Or take it out on Soundwave." Rhea admitted.
"It's not…" Arcee's shoulders slumped, "It's not resentment. At least, not towards you." That appeared to be as much as she was willing, or able to explain before her blue gaze found the avatar again.
"Why did you come here?" Rhea asked, "Going to blast my poor sleeping robot body to smithereens?"
Arcee shrugged, "Have to admit, it crossed my mind. But nah. I can't imagine the pile of paperwork I would have to file if I knowingly destroyed the head Decepticon scientist's property. Especially considering it is one of the Con Lord's passion projects." Arcee gave the glass a little tap, like she half expected it would jolt awake the slumbering Cybertronian inside. "Can I at least know why you want it so bad? Are you scared of growing old?"
It wasn't an accusation. Maybe she was even pitying when she asked it. Arcee sounded legitimately curious.
"No. I'd do it even if I grew old as a bot."
Arcee's optics narrowed. "So, then it's for him?" Now that was accusing.
"Not that either," Rhea corrected with a huff, "Well, maybe a little. Obviously, he's a major component. But it's not because Soundwave wants me to do it. In fact, now he apparently doesn't want me to. I want it. And I want him. It just feels right to me. Plus, I love Soundwave, and I don't want to leave him."
"And if it actually kills you?" Arcee asked with a brow ridge arched, "You'd definitely be leaving him if that happened."
"Well, that's why I'm here. To figure out what went wrong so that doesn't happen again."
"I guess that make's two of us in a way," Arcee admitted.
Rhea found herself tilting her head curiously. Arcee pointed at the body, "My own grievances with this whole project be damned, even I was impressed with the last attempt… Until the end. I want to know why everything was fine until it suddenly wasn't."
"So, then you aren't here just to test the security?" Rhea quipped.
Arcee smiled at the door, "I didn't have to. Con security sucks. I couldn't count how many times I snuck onto the Nemesis."
She fixed Rhea with a very pointed look all of a sudden, the small amount of joking air they managed to regain retreating into the shadows of the lab. Rhea felt her stomach dropping. She almost wished they weren't looking at each other again. "It scared the scrap out of me seeing you like that. And you mentioned the war? Four million years, I have never seen Soundwave freeze up like that. That's how I know it was bad. I have my doubts the project is really done. So, if it's going to continue, I want to make sure that doesn't happen again."
"That's, a reasonable compromise," Rhea found herself agreeing. Not that she wanted to end up in the hospital again. "So, if we find out what happened and keep it from repeating, then you'll be ok with it?"
Arcee gave a grudging shrug which was emphasized by an optic roll, "I'll just say right now, I'll never be 'ok' with it. But, you promise it won't kill ya, then I'll at least back off. No more interfering beyond my continuing to chip away at Soundwave. And I wouldn't mind watching Shockwave struggle. I can tell it's pissing him off."
Rhea gave the other room which Shockwave vanished into a nervous glance. Arcee caught her meaning, and leaned closer, "He doesn't know what went wrong," Rhea explained just above a whisper. Why she bothered, she didn't know. Shockwave most likely heard her fine. She wasn't even sure if he would be offended.
Now Arcee glanced at the door too. She was amazed and smiling, "No kidding? Brainiac doesn't have a clue? That's amusing," She looked back to Rhea curiously, "So, if Shockwave hasn't figured it out, what are you going to do?"
To that, Rhea didn't have a reliable answer. She turned to take in the avatar in her crystal chamber. The monitor next to her Cybertronian body still advertised the test results from the previous test, juxtaposed to the doctor's notes from her hospital visit. She understood what the Cybertronian characters on the screen meant, but their deeper scientific meaning, she had no idea. If Shockwave couldn't figure out the problem, how could she hope to?
The door clicked, startling them both. But Rhea was the only one with her heart in her throat. Soundwave had caught her, and she was no closer to solving the mystery. She fought the urge to hide behind Arcee's ped. Oddly enough, the door didn't open instantly with normal Lordship access. It clicked in protest, much like it did when Arcee forced her way in.
The door finally slid out of the way. The motion startled the bot who was there hacking it. The smaller Seeker soundlessly gasped when he saw Arcee and Rhea looking at him. He clearly thought he would not find them on the other side of the door.
"Autoclave?" Rhea said out loud in utter amazement.
Who the hell wasn't sneaking into Shockwave's laboratory today?
It was far from the first time she had seen the scientist. In fact, he had sought her out a few times while Starscream wasn't around to stop him. Much like Thunderblast, the mostly mute scientist was fascinated with organic life. Humans above all else. But what was odd, was him being here. Starscream had assured his last remaining friend from before the war live on the other side of Kaon with him, FAR away from Shockwave's dwelling. Rhea just sort of assumed he wasn't supposed to come around this part of town. "Does, Starscream know you're here?" she asked, already assuming the answer.
The small flyer's wings drooped behind his back in a very guilty posture. Following that bodily expression there was a short bout of silence. Autoclave appeared confused as Rhea remained staring at him expectantly. Then it clicked in her head. Despite the apparent silence, he was talking. Or at least, he was talking on the higher Cybertronian frequency. She just couldn't hear it because her translator was sitting on her desk upstairs.
Undeterred, he switched strategies. [He does not know… I am using the cover of the Autobot and Decepticon meeting in Iacon to conduct my research here.] He explained through a series of blips and whirls. A type of simplified code Bumblebee had once utilized before Rhea knew him, when his voice box was similarly damaged. Thankfully, she caught the gist of it. Laserbeak's own language was similar, so she had learned both.
Rhea gave him a mischievous grin, "You and me both."
"I have bad news for everyone who snuck behind sombot's back to come here," Arcee said dryly, "The meeting ended early. Thanks to his Lordship Starscream himself, as a matter of fact."
Autoclave's optics widened in horror. He hurried in and closed the door and locked it, as if Starscream didn't have an override to get in. [Is Shockwave here?] he asked after assuring the door was pointlessly secured.
"Um, yeah, he is," Rhea confirmed. Had Autoclave had a reason to assume Shockwave would be out to avoid him?
Though somewhat shaken, Autoclave appeared steadfast, [Very good. I have a need to speak with him.]
"Oh, so that's why Screamer can't know," Arcee realized.
Rhea blinked at the older bot, "You… Want to talk to him?"
Autoclave nodded eagerly, [It involves your Cyberformation, in fact. I am fortunate you are here as well.]
"Has Starscream passed along Shockwave's notes?" Rhea asked,
To this, Autoclave rolled his red optics, [Only when I demand them. But notes aren't enough context for me. I wanted to see the project with my own optics and speak with its designer.]
"Brave of you," Arcee noted.
To this, Autoclave's wings perked back up, [We are on the same team, after all. And the war is over. I am trying to put aside personal grievances to further my understanding of this project,] he smiled down at Rhea, [Has Lord Starscream shared my thesis with Shockwave or Sovereign Soundwave?]
"Not to my knowledge," Rhea admitted. Though she attempted to be vague to spare his feelings, until the mishap with the last test, she was involved very intently with this project, and she knew for sure nothing of Autoclave's had come to any of their attention.
Autoclave's expression soured into one of annoyance. He appeared disappointed, but apparently not surprised. He recovered quickly enough and retrieved a drive from his subspace. [Well then, I'll give you the cliff notes! Aside from my boundless personal curiosity regarding the topic of swapping minds into a different form, I think the avatar project could be endlessly beneficial for further colony exploration,] he plugged the drive into a nearby monitor and a sprawling bout of his notes started scrolling past. Rhea blinked at the massive archive. Autoclave wasn't kidding about his fascination with the topic. Now she felt guilty for unknowingly baring him out of it. [Consider how little impact we would have on neighboring worlds if we could explore as a native? After the destructive trail we blazed during the war, this could be a good step towards the right direction. Plus, if the Rust Plague ever vexes us again, we could utilize organic based forms to study it without having to worry ourselves over instant and agonizing death, an option which was not available to our race the first time.]
Arcee tried to keep up with the scrolling document, "Don't we have holoforms for that?"
[Holoforms are limited, both in their ability to interact with the world around them, and the sensory input we receive through them.]
"Hold on," Arcee said. Rhea glanced up, and saw her staring intently at the words on the screen, "Are you saying, you would hypothetically be able to pull a reverse of this project, and put a Cybertronian mind into an avatar, like, that of a human?"
Autoclave beamed at them, [Exactly! Or really any species. I'd imagine there would be extensive testing and virtual simulations before we got to that stage but-]
Arcee motioned to Rhea, "Well, you may want to work those simulations out now, because the last test almost fried her brain."
Autoclave blinked, taken aback, [Oh… Are you ok?]
Rhea gave him a casual thumbs up, "Didn't kill me, so it's a win in my book."
"At least it's a win in someone's book," Arcee grumbled.
Another chamber door opened before Rhea could glare at her. Despite Autoclave's assured bravery before, his stature shrank and his wings fell flat under the weight of Shockwave's glowing and unbroken stare.
The dark plated Decepticon scientist stomped slowly into the suddenly silent room. Arcee shifted somewhat between the two scientist as if she expected she would need to defend the smaller Seeker. Rhea had unknowingly done the same, though what she would do in her current state, that was anyone's guess.
[Um, hi,] Autoclave managed to beep.
"What do you require?" Shockwave asked, straight to business as usual.
Autoclave's previous confidence had abandoned him. He fumbled to stand out of Shockwave's way as the larger (much larger) scientist stepped up to the monitor to read over his notes. "What would be the purpose to transfer a Cybertronian consciousness into the vessel of a lesser life form?" Shockwave asked. Shockwave wasn't trying to be condescending. It was just how he spoke to, well, everyone. Rhea was used to it, especially after dealing with him with this project. Autoclave, however, was clearly not used to it just going by how low his wings managed to droop. [Um, to lessen the damage to other worlds as we expand?] he said, sounding so very less sure than he had when explaining it to Rhea and Arcee.
"Is that a pressing concern we have deemed necessary to remedy?" Shockwave asked.
"Oh, you Cons," Arcee said with a sing songy vent, "Either blowing up this world or any other. You're just not happy unless you take Solus Prime's hammer to everything in your way."
"The forge of Solus Prime was rendered worthless in battle, if I recall," Shockwave reminded her when he missed the original sarcastic meaning. "In addition, there is no living Prime to activate it."
Arcee glowered at him, "Yeah, I am well aware."
Shockwave turned from the monitor to Autoclave, making the small Seeker wince. "Was there anything else?"
Now he looked in real danger of running for the exit. But Autoclave maintained his stance of forced bravery and tried so desperately to remain civil. Aside from the bleak history between them, Shockwave's endearing coldness was not helping. [Actually… Um,] He looked to Rhea and Arcee for some semblance of support. He fidgeted, and a second small drive appeared from his subspace. [I was, researching something that could pertain to you… I…]
Shockwave's sustained stare was what knocked the rest of the wind from Autoclave's wings. The drive shifted away, and he vented instead. [If I could look over the Cyberformation notes? Just for my own curiosity.]
Shockwave stepped out of the way to the path for the monitor, "Indulge yourself." He stomped away to another task, leaving Autoclave trembling, and glaring at the floor. Context told Rhea the Cyberformation project wasn't the only reason Autoclave was here in Shockwave's lab.
Whatever that hidden reason, Autoclave instead trudged in defeat to the monitor.
"You ok?" Rhea asked gently.
Autoclave answered with a wilted smile before returning his focus to Shockwave's work.
"I wonder if Shockwave caught any of that tension?" Arcee pondered of the scientist, even with him in the same room and his back to them. "It was thick enough to cut with a blade. Either he's totally apathetic or denser than the core of most black holes."
Shockwave neither acknowledged the mockery or even gave her a backwards glance. Rhea assumed it was the former. He was the master of apathy.
[Um…] Autoclave's beeping was so quiet, Rhea almost missed it. He was paused on a particular sentence in the log. [Should I point out the mistake?]
Whispered beeps or not, Shockwave heard that. He was turned fully towards them and focused solely on Autoclave, "What mistake, are you referring?"
If bot's could gulp, Autoclave did his people's equivalent as Shockwave approached once more. He tried and failed to point to the screen without his sharp digit shaking, [N-not with the consciousness transfer. That is fine. Flawless in fact! I just noticed, there is no equation or safe distance for the human Spark equivalent to safely disconnect from the organic chassis during these transfers. I may have missed it… I'm sure you have it somewhere here-]
"Human's do not have a Spark, or any equivalent," Shockwave pointed out quickly, interrupting him, "Therefore, the reason for a missing equation where there would normally be one present. A Cybertronian mind is able to traverse a large distance from the Spark and chassis without lasting damage. As a human does not have a Spark, there should be no limit. There is no flaw." He started to walk away again after he assumed he had set the smaller scientist straight.
Though flustered, Autoclave wasn't deterred, [On the contrary,] His whole form winced when Shockwave turned back, a little too quickly. [And with all due respect… There is a limit to how far a Cybertronian mind can travel from its Spark. Take the holoform for example. I could utilize a holo projection of myself from this location to anywhere on Cybertron and as far as our most distant moon. And in addition, we have hard evidence even beyond this concept,] and this time he looked to Arcee with an excited grin. She was caught off guard when she was pulled into the equation. [When our departed Megatron's mind was separated from his chassis and Spark through the Cortical Psychic Patch and housed within the mind of the Autobot Representative. But the two were never separated farther then a planet's length. Beyond that, it would stretch the limit of the mind and Spark connection and risk complications…]
Now Rhea was looking to Arcee for context. When Arcee seemed to recall what Autoclave was referencing, she explained, "This was before Soundwave drug you into our combined shenanigans. Over eleven years ago maybe? We needed intel only Megatron knew so we could save Optimus… But the only hitch? Megatron was in a coma at the time. We used Shockwave's freaky mind melder to try and dig in his unconscious brain to find it. Unfortunately for Bumblebee, Megatron's consciousness hitched a ride back with him. We had to use the Patch again to separate them, or, Megatron had to."
Autoclave nodded along excitedly. He pointed to Shockwave's own notes. It was the paragraph pertaining to the last test, precisely when Soundwave stood Rhea up and they walked away from the table to look at herself in the mirror. Rhea's brain was starting to catch on. [There is a chance however, that the mind and Spark, or…] he looked to Rhea for a word to use instead.
"Soul?" Rhea answered, assuming that was what they were talking about.
Autoclave nodded to her gratefully and continued, [Right. The limit of the mind and Soul connection for organics, or at least, for her particular race, could be massively shorter in distance then our own. Her Cybertronian avatar walking away from her human chassis would have stretched that limit, possibly almost severing it. That would account for her organic chassis' violent reaction and near shutdown.]
For once, Shockwave didn't have a quick and cutting retort. In his silence, Rhea looked back and forth between the notes and Autoclave's observations added to the document. It actually, made a massive amount of sense. They were just ripping her mind away from her body and leaving her soul behind? Forgetting this conversation among alien scientists was casually proving the existence of the human soul and by extension the afterlife. Not much time to unpack any or all of that. It explained why her body had filed such a violent complaint when they took her mind out for a jaunt without the rest of her.
"But there is no research concluding humans have an equivalent to a Spark to be stretched from the mind." Shockwave pointed out.
To this, Autoclave retrieved yet another drive. Did he just carry his life's work on his person like Shockwave? Was this a normal scientist thing? Now that she thought about it, Raf did it too.
[According to my research, and thanks to General Thunderblast for volunteering her many organic pets in my experiments, there is something noteworthy.]
Hope, however small, had returned to her. Had they cracked it? They just needed to find a way to drag her stubborn soul out of her living corpse with each transfer? Really, how hard could that be?
She glanced Arcee, who had been silent since her short explanation regarding the mind transfer. She was just staring at the notes, her expression a blank mask. Was she happy? Annoyed? Angry? Maybe all of that now that there was a good chance the testing would continue? Did Rhea understand any better why she hated the whole concept so much?
The sound of the override code pulled their collective focus to the door. It swiveled out of the way far too fast, revealing two of the Decepticon Lords. Scrap. They were caught. All of them.
As she suspected, Soundwave was giving her his 'seriously?' face. She just smiled sweetly at him, radiating ignorant innocence. With everything they learned, there was no way she wouldn't be able to win him back over.
The more alarmed of the newcomers was Starscream. His horror-stricken focus was locked onto Autoclave, who was still basically within strangling range of Shockwave. "WHAT are you doing here?!" Starscream snarled after the shock wore off.
Autoclave stuttered on beeps, not having a chance to plug in his work to further explain his previous concept, [I was meaning to talk to Shockwave about-]
"NOPE!" Starscream interrupted. He wasted no time marching over to the meek scientist to snatch him by the servo. Glaring at Shockwave all the while, he dragged Autoclave out of the lab.
Right on their heels, Arcee exited in silence. She made sure to bump Soundwave's shoulder on her way out. Still, she was blank. Rhea had no idea what she was thinking.
Rhea might as well have been left alone with Soundwave, as Shockwave was mentally gone. He had every available screen, even the one on his servo, open and scrolling on this new turn in the project. Was he running a new scenario, using Autoclave's new perspective? But Starscream had botnapped the scientist before he could download his work and show them.
It was a great sign for the project, but now she just had one more lose end to tie up.
Soundwave vented deeply, "So, imagine my guilt," he began with a hum and started towards her, "as I attempt to continue business with the Autobot faction, my minicon is pestering me the whole duration of the meeting about abandoning my poor conjunx back home after already abandoning you once to die on Earth after the last test. And if I was any kind of decently forged being of moral standing, I would find a means of making it up to you. Seeing as I have pulled the plug on the only means of prolonging your life, and there for have personally damned you to an unnecessary death. Those were your exact words, were they not, Laserbeak?"
He glanced down at his chest where Laserbeak was docked. She couldn't hear the minicon without the translator, but she caught the gist of his quiet chirps. He was remorseful but was mostly stuttering out his own half thought out explanation. Wherever he was going with the excuse, Soundwave held up a hand, and Laserbeak's chirps cut off. His pondering focus fell back onto Rhea. "So, I fall for it. Because apparently, I am a fool, even after all these millennia. And I allow Laserbeak to talk me into getting you a gift, because it is the least I can do after 'signing your death warrant.' Again, I quote Laserbeak. But then I find you gone, and your translator mysteriously left behind. Curious, I think. As you would require that piece of tech to traverse the building's security doors or even contact me for a Bridge back to Earth. And a quick peek at the security feed shows you scampering down here, oddly enough, trying to dodge the sight of said security feeds."
Rhea bit her lip, "So… Whatcha get me, love?"
Soundwave's whole expression pursed. Though visibly very irritated, he knelt to hand her a (very small for his grasp) prism of some sort. Looking at the oddity within the thick crystalline sphere was a little mind melting. It appeared like nothing in the center, but the light behind and around it warped the center point in a physics bending way. "Is this a black hole?" she guessed.
"Indeed," Soundwave admitted, still sounding cross, "It is a carefully crafted super mini black hole artificially created and specially contained utilizing a process I won't bore you with. And it is shatter proof, if you are concerned with slip ups."
She continued to twist the container to admire the oddity in her grasp. The image of her fingers behind the glass twisting and vanishing around the little pinprick of impossibility. If it wasn't contained, would it weigh like, a billion tons? "This is so freaking cool. How much would you even pay for something like this?"
She glanced up from her gift, and seeing his face she decided it wasn't the best time to play twenty questions. Right, he was still mad. "Thank you. And I'm sorry."
He shrugged. "I am more impressed you both conspired behind my back without me knowing. Congratulations. This is hauntingly reminiscent of Frenzy and Rumble's hijinks." He held out a hand and she hopped into it. She was soon lifted to his shoulder.
"I was going to tell you once you came back," she promised and leaned into his neck cables while cradling her little pet black hole. "But Soundwave, I think we may have found something important."
"Regarding the testing that is no longer happening?" Soundwave assumed as he made his way to the exit.
Now Rhea frowned. He was lucky his gift was so cool, or she'd have thrown it at him. "Turns out we missed something big. It's probably why it almost killed me."
"Probably?" Soundwave specified, "Good to know we are using such precise specifications when dealing with your life."
"Sovereign Soundwave," Shockwave's cold inflection interrupting their playful, semi passive aggressive banter brought him to a halt before he reached the door.
"Yes?" Soundwave said simply. He didn't turn.
Unfazed, Shockwave elaborated, "Autoclave posed an interesting concept. If he is correct, it would account for my missing variable. I only need a means of testing this final theory, and permission to study Autoclave's work. If I am permitted access, the risk factor regarding the transfer subject would be almost completely eliminated. But as you are aware, I have been forbidden from entering Starscream's fortress."
Rhea spun on his shoulder to gaze pleadingly at Soundwave's face. "Please. You could convince Starscream."
Soundwave now looked even less convinced. "That is no easy task. And for a concept Shockwave is unfamiliar with."
She could feel Laserbeak buzzing under her with silent pleading. Soundwave was glaring at a fixed point in front of them. Should she plead more? She assumed Laserbeak was doing that for her. Instead, she merely touched a hand to his faceplates. His glare softened. He turned back to Shockwave. "I will see what I can do regarding Starscream. In the meantime, you may send me your newest projections, and I will consider it," he told Shockwave, and by extension, everyone else.