Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.
Pandimala: I was going to mess with you for not updating us for a couple of months. But then I saw how long this chapter was and realized you needed that time.
Authoress: *nods* The editing alone took ages. And I'm still sure I screwed up some stuff. But it's time for everyone to have a chance to see this.
Pandimala: *shakes helm* I'm sure half of them will be traumatized because of you.
Authoress: *shrugs* Possibly. However, there will also be laughs as well.
Chapter 4: Coming to Terms
Fowler's 1st P.O.V.
Everything hurt. Damn Prometheus to hell for this! All of those experiments. The energon…I now knew why the bots always kept us away from it when they could. It burned. I wasn't sure how I wasn't just melted into a puddle. But I hadn't. They only continued putting more in when they said I was 'stable' enough.
Then they added the dark energon. I wasn't sure where they got their greasy hands on the stuff. However, once that was added, everything went black until I woke up five days later, according to what Prometheus' scientists said, and I was turned into a bot. Was this what happened with Lizzie? From what the 'Bots had reported back then, she had been hit by a blast of dark energon from Megatron, and adding energon had been the catalyst for her change, though hers had taken some time to culminate into the explosion that turned her into Pandimala.
I moved on from those thoughts as I reflected on my current situation. While I didn't know MECH's plans, I wouldn't let them succeed. I'd get all of us out of here. Then, I'd get word to Bryce so he could evacuate us back to base. Once that was done, I could try to contact the bots to see how they might help with what was happening.
Of course, I had to get out of here first. When I found my chance, I was going to escape. While Prometheus seemed more paranoid than old Silas, he made mistakes. I should be able to use one of those to make a break for it. Hell, how long had it been since I was last awake?
Moving my arm, I felt shocked when I realized I wasn't strapped down as I was before. Had they slipped up? While I wasn't sure if this was a test or if they had made a mistake, I wouldn't risk missing this chance. With finality, I moved to stand and charge out of here.
However, before I could move off of the table they had me on, a familiar voice came from the side of the room. "Knew that you were going to be one that fought." I felt my eye…optics, widen when I saw Knockout leaning against the wall. In his servo, he looked to be holding a sedative. "Joe thought you would look around and take in the situation first, though."
I continued to stare at the ex-Decepticon for a moment. "How did I get here?"
"First things first," Knockout said as he put away the sedative and brought out a scanner. I'd seen Ratchet use one a few times when the other 'Bots were injured. "May I start my scans on you? We thought you all might start waking up by the end of the solar."
'All'? That meant that I wasn't the only one that got out. I was about to ask him who else was here when I realized he wanted an answer. "Go ahead," I agreed before he started to take the scans. "And how did I get the luck to get you? We haven't exactly always been friends."
A laugh escaped the medic. "That is quite the understatement, Agent Fowler. However, we thought you would react the best around me between the five of you. Keeping you all as calm as possible is one of our main priorities outside of ensuring you all stay healthy."
He said five of us. That meant that they got everyone out. "When did you lot show up anyway? I know we have been in contact, but I'm not sure how long MECH had us for."
As Knockout started another scan, he answered me. "Tomorrow will make eleven solars. You all were held captive by those insects for about ten solars before we got to you all." Ten days. Did all of that happen over only ten days? It felt a lot longer than that. "For the most part, you all were healthy…relatively speaking, of course. If you all weren't out of stasis by next solar, we were going to force you awake to make sure that nothing was physically keeping you all that way."
"Are any of the others awake?" If they wanted more of us awake before tomorrow, then I might not be the only one conscious right now.
However, I was disappointed when Knockout shook his head…no, they called it a helm. Fuck I was going to have a lot of learning to do. "None of the other medics have reported in yet. I already let the others know that you are awake, however. Before I leave, I'll have to introduce you to one of the bots guarding you. Don't need you panicking when you see him."
Guarding us? They must be worried about MECH infiltrators. As hard as we tried to keep them out of the unit, we knew it was impossible. And MECH would use whatever resources they could to get us back. "Sounds good." When a beep came from the scanner and the mech moved to the monitor in the room, I figured I was done for now. "What's the damage?"
Knockout typed a few more things into the console before text appeared on the screen. While I knew I shouldn't be able to read it, I realized I knew what it said. "Fit, all things considered. You'll have to go through lessons to learn to use your new chassis, but that will wait. Before we begin that, you will need at least another full solar of rest." He then moved through the report. "Processor scan is fine, t-cog seems functional, and your spark rate is steady. Health-wise, you're fine." He then scrolled further down the report. "I also took the liberty of doing weapon and mod scans on you just to see what you had. The mod results are still being processed but I can read you your weapon scan result if you wish."
Weapons. As a military man…past military man—I appreciated the medic's mention of them. "Sure thing, Doc. What am I packing?"
Knockout smirked slightly at my response before he turned back to the screen. "Each servo has a blaster integrated into them, and you have a blade integrated into your right servo. You have a dagger, a blaster, and a three-barrel heavy machine gun in your subspace." Sweet Uncle Sam, I was strapped! Another ding came from the monitor, causing Knockout to look at the results. "Well, this is certainly interesting."
I didn't like the way he said that. "What is it, Knockout?"
When he turned to look at me, I noticed a smug look on his faceplate. "Just how many times were you electrocuted when we were here?"
What kind of question was that? "Why the hell is that important? Plus, you caused one of the times!"
Knockout let out a vent, though I didn't miss the smug look that flashed on his faceplate when I mentioned the time he had electrocuted me before he continued. "That makes at least two that I heard about." He then gave me a serious look. "But I need to know as your medic right now. How many Fowler?"
Well, if he said it like that, I guess I had no choice but to give him the answer: "Four."
His shocked expression almost made admitting that worth it. "Four? That's more than I thought. I'll have to get the stories about how that happened later." I would not be telling him those. Nope. I didn't care if he was my medic or not. "Though that much contact with our voltages of electricity would explain this. I'm not sure about two of those interactions, but neither mine nor Soundwave's brief jolt to knock you out would have influenced your CNA enough to do this. What were the other times?"
Fuck. How he asked it meant that those times may have influenced whatever he found. "I was shocked by that console on the Nemesis when we infiltrated it to stop your out-of-control ship."
"Dark energon-infused shocks would help with this much influence, but not enough to manifest like this. Perhaps a weapon, but not this. What about the other time?" Knockout pushed.
Hell, I didn't like thinking about that. That psycho tortured me. It also wasn't my proudest moment. I had been angry at being assigned what I thought was 'babysitting' duty; what I didn't know at the time. I had been ready to cause the team an insurmountable amount of trouble by reporting them. In a sense, I owed Soundwave and Laserbeak for stopping me that day.
"I was captured by your lot," I elaborated when the mech looked confused. "Before you got there. Anyway, I was captured and hung up to be questioned by Starscream. That sick bastard didn't hold back with that prod he was using. I was barely conscious when the bots finally got to me. Honestly, I don't remember much after they showed up."
"That would do it," Knockout agreed before he motioned to the datapad in his servo. "Your scans show that you have a special mod connected to your servos. Possibly, your CNA manifesting that memory in your chassis so you could avoid that situation again. The scans picked up electrical currents constantly moving toward your servos. If my guess isn't wrong, you should be able to coat your servos and the blade that transforms from your servo with electricity. With practice, you may even be able to shoot it from your blaster."
I could use electricity? I could already see the different situations that could be useful. Hell, that would have been useful back when I was human. If I had this ability, then I might not have…
A heaviness settled over me as I thought about what happened. We were completely taken off-guard. They were depending on me to defend them, and I hadn't been able to do shit against MECH's people. They picked us off before I could even think about doing anything against them. I'd have to get with the General to discuss how my new development would be helpful going forward against MECH. It was time to take MECH out.
Time…
"Knockout," The medic looked up from the files he was going through. "What am I supposed to do now?"
The mech looked confused at my question. "If you mean right this nano, you should probably try to get some actual recharge. Stasis doesn't restore the chassis as well as recharge does."
"No, not literally right now." While asking him for advice felt weird, I knew he was close with Pandimala from what they had reported before they all dropped contact. Plus, I had been working with the mech to help get them all here, building a rapport between us. I wasn't sure if I could ask any other bot about this. "But what am I supposed to do in the future? I figured I had about forty years left if I was careful." I then held up my new servo, which was so different and yet so similar to the hands I used to have. "But now? I don't even know how long I'm expected to live."
Knockout set his datapad down and stared at me for a few seconds before walking up. "Look, I'm not the best at this advice stuff. But you do need to think about that. None of us know how long any of you are going to live. Longer than you planned? Yes. Much longer. However, we can't know if you will live for millions or even billions of stellars to come." He then let out a vent. "If you want the best advice I can give you, I'd say just take it one solar at a time. Worrying about the future isn't going to help you any. You obviously loved this country you live in enough to risk your life for it once. If that is what you feel is right, keep doing that." He then smirked. "Or, once all this mess has been settled, you could try reconnecting with that nurse, June Darby. I remember thinking you two were already in a relationship, but my bondmate informed me that was incorrect."
"You thought we were dating?" I was shocked to hear it from the mech. Back then, I thought he had said that bit about us arguing like an old married couple because he was annoyed with us bickering like we were.
In response, the mech placed his servos on his hips. "I did. And from what I remember, you two have good chemistry. I wouldn't risk pursuing her right away, but I wouldn't let her get away from you." He then walked over. "Now, enough questions. You need to get some actual recharge and I need to introduce you to your guard for the next few cycles. You don't want him to get wind of your complicated love history. Skywarp has this way of making those situations more awkward."
Warning received. Don't talk about romance with whoever this Skywarp fellow was. I could do that. "Anything else I need to know about this mech before you bring him in?"
For a moment, Knockout looked annoyed. However, I grew worried when he looked thoughtful after some time. "Given your history with Starscream, then yes. He and his brother, Thundercracker, are brothers with Starscream—almost identical triplets. However, they were disowned, so I wouldn't recommend bringing Starscream up with him."
Say what now?
June's 1st P.O.V.
I felt my heart…spark…whatever it was, I felt it quicken as I came back to consciousness. Those monsters, I refused to call them doctors; they had hurt my boy. They had hurt Jack, and I couldn't do anything to stop them. I was helpless. It seemed like whenever it came to MECH, I was helpless. And now, these monsters had us again! There had to be a way for me to get Jack out of here. If I could get him to safety, I could rest a little easier.
"Ms. Darby, your readings say that you are conscious. Can you respond to me?" Whose voice was that? I didn't recognize it, and it felt…safe. So, with caution. I opened my optics and looked around. Immediately, my sight landed on the mech who I knew was Jack. The new leader of MECH, Prometheus, had taunted me enough with the fact during the few times I was conscious. He looked unharmed for now, so I kept looking until I noticed a femme medic I didn't recognize. However, the Autobot symbol emblazoned on her chassis caused me to feel relief. No Autobot in their right processor would work with an evil organization like MECH. "You can at least hear me; that's a good start."
I then realized I hadn't responded to the femme, who must be our medic. I knew better than not to answer her when I could. When I had patients, I needed to know they were alright before I moved on to any other exams and tests I might need. "I can speak." A shot of pain went through my throat as I said that. Guess I wasn't used to having a conversation.
The femme nodded and approached me with a cube of blue liquid in her servo. Energon. I immediately flinched away from the substance. Between that and the dark energon MECH had shoved into us, I couldn't stand to look at the liquid. "I understand this might not bring about the best memories for you," The medic stated as she stopped in front of me. "However, you must drink this. It is the energy source that all mechano-based beings run off of." She then held the cube out toward me.
While it was hard to look at the liquid, I knew as a fellow medical professional that this femme was right. I knew enough from the bots worrying about their energon shortages to know that energon, while difficult to look at now, was necessary for me. So, hesitantly, I took the cube from her before I took a small sip. Instead of the burning that I had started to acquaint with energon, the liquid now felt like a cold glass of water. "Thank you," I thanked her. I did notice that my voice wasn't so strained.
"You're welcome," she responded to me. "My designation is Red Alert. I am in charge of your recovery as well as your son, Jack's," the newly identified Red Alert said before she held up a scanner similar to one I had seen Ratchet use before. "May I start scans on you to ensure everything is in working order?"
I nodded, and she started her scans. While she did, I decided to try to get to know the new femme better. "So, how long have you been a medic?"
"Since before the war," Red Alert answered me. "I was trained in Iacon, though I mainly worked in Praxus. My teachers pushed me as far as they could, and I'll always be grateful to them." She then went quiet as she started the next scan. After a few more scans, she moved to a console in the room and attached the scanner. She focused back on me once the information was visibly moving on the screens. "How is your core temperature holding? There was damage to it discovered upon your arrival here."
I had been damaged? That explained the pain I was in the last time I had been conscious. MECH's people must have been trying to do something but failed. However, now was the first problem I was having. "How do I check that?"
"It should be a reading in the lower right side of your right optic," Red Alert answered. The number there should read somewhere between one hundred ninety-five and two hundred twenty degrees Fahrenheit."
Looking at one specific corner of one optic took longer than I wanted. However, I eventually found the number. "Two hundred eight degrees," I read the number to her.
"Good. You were the only one that came to us with any complications. Your core temperature wouldn't hold without assistance until earlier this solar. We've been keeping an optic on it, but now I want you to do the same. If that number drops below safe levels, you let one of us know immediately." Red Alert spoke. "Given your medical discipline from being human, I trust you to keep an optic on it." I nodded toward her as a sound came from the console. "Here we are," She muttered before speaking louder. "Medically, you're sound. We'll have you take it easy for a few solars to ensure your core temperature doesn't fluctuate." She then seemed to move the information from the console to the data pad she was holding before she walked in front of me. "I also have the scans of your inventory finished if you would like to know what it contains."
While thinking of weapons and using them was the last thing I wanted to do, I knew that not knowing would be negligent of me. That was especially true if I could help Jack and whoever else was here with what I had. "Yes, please."
She smiled back at me softly before she started to read the list. "It seems that your left servo has both a blaster and a syringe built in, both useful in varying situations. In your right, you are equipped with a blade, welding torch, and scalpel. Scans picked up two short blades in your subspace, and…oh my. That will be useful."
"What is it?" My curiosity was getting the better of me. Red Alert didn't seem like the type of bot to get surprised easily. Based on what she found, I was set to become a medic. Of course, that would mean training. And depending on what she had found, that training would be even more critical.
The femme motioned to me as she spoke. "It seems you were created with a medical EMP generator."
It took my brain…processor—a moment to realize why this was such a big deal. Being able to stop the flow of electricity in a bot medically must have the same implications as an EMP would have on human technology. "I'll have to learn to use it," I responded as I thought about what she told me.
Red Alert nodded. "And we will teach you. For now, you should rest and,"
"Keep away from her!"
We both jumped as Jack's voice suddenly cut through the air. Looking at him, I saw that he was sitting up and trying to get his bearings. Motion from Red Alert caused me to focus on her, and I noticed that she had a sedative in her servo. "Wait, let me get through to him." I stopped her with a motion.
The femme looked nervously toward Jack before she let out a vent and nodded. "Very well. But, if he tries to approach before you calm him down, I will sedate him. If he is in this state, I'm not physically equipped to manage a bot his size."
As a nurse, I understood her reasoning. She had to consider her safety and my own over what she might have to do to Jack to get him to calm down. So, I nodded in agreement. Once she was out of the way, I looked at Jack. "Jack, listen to me. It's alright. We are with the Autobots. We are safe."
It took him a few moments to calm down. However, once he had, he looked around. "Mom, are you alright?" I nodded. "Good. I was so worried."
"I know, but we are fine now." I agreed before I motioned to Red Alert. "This is Red Alert. She's our medic for the moment."
I didn't like the look of suspicion on Jack's faceplate. "Where's Ratchet? Arcee? Optimus?"
"None of them are here." Hearing the slight anger in her voice was odd. Years of listening to patients and trying to make sure they weren't dangerous to me allowed me to hear it now. I doubted Jack heard it. "However, you are among friends, Jack." She then motioned toward me. "And those friends risked energon and blood to pull all of you out of that pit you were in. I don't care about past allegiances, past notions, or anything that isn't relevant to our current situation."
"The past always matters." I felt my optics widen when Jack almost growled.
"Jack, that is enough!" I reprimanded him. While we didn't know the whole situation, she was an Autobot, saying we had friends who might not be Autobots. For now, we should be grateful to be away from MECH. We would deal with any problems later one. Right now, we were in no shape to be suspicious of everyone.
"That is your opinion," Red Alert answered him as any doctor might if she was dealing with a difficult patient. "However, I will say this. If either of you try anything against those here, you will be detained. Regardless of your feelings about the past." While I was slightly offended at being included, I did understand why she did. Since I was included, Jack wouldn't feel like he was being attacked. Red Alert then motioned to the scanner in her servo. "Now, mech, will you let me take scans of you? Your carrier has already done so. Whatever your choices moving forward, you would probably like to know what sort of weaponry you may have access to so you can defend yourself if needed."
While Jack looked hesitant at allowing Red Alert access to him, her saying that she would inform him of his defenses stopped him from outright refusing. Once Jack and I had a minute alone, we were going to have a long talk about this attitude. "Very well, but I'll be watching you."
"I should hope so," I was surprised when she said that to Jack as she began her scans on him. "You don't trust me, which is your right. If you decided not to watch me, I would worry that MECH had done something more to your processor."
"And how do you know they haven't?" Jack demanded.
Red Alert raised an eyebrow. Wait, those were called optic ridges…I think. Anyway, she raised an optic ridge when he asked that. "You must not think highly of any medic outside of Ratchet. As soon as we got you all to base, the four of us have been working on making sure you all were healthy. That means nothing is in your processor that isn't supposed to be there."
"And just who are the others?"
"Jack, enough. They are helping us. Red Alert hasn't earned this fourth degree you are,"
"It is fine, June." Red Alert interrupted me with a servo raised. When she looked at Jack, I noticed she seemed to anticipate this. "While you wish for that answer, Jack Darby, you do not have a right to it. I will be the medic taking care of you from this solar until you are well enough to move about the base. I find your mistrust in those you have not met to be alarming. You would not survive a solar on the galactic stage, that is for sure." She moved to the console and connected the device while continuing to speak. "Do you think Optimus Prime has only allowed Ratchet to work on him? While Ratchet is a highly capable medic, he is not the only one of such quality in the universe. I would even say he is far from the best. The universe is filled with beings who perform miracles every nano."
"Ratchet is the greatest medic," Jack retorted as the console signaled it was done analyzing the data it took from Jack.
"No, he isn't," Red Alert reiterated as she stared at Jack, having walked back over with the scanner. "And if I learned anything from him, it was that he would weld your lips shut if he ever heard you say that. He knows he isn't perfect. But being a medic isn't about being perfect. It is about doing your best for your patient, regardless of what might walk through your doors."
For the first time since waking up, Jack seemed to relax. Of course, I had a feeling it wasn't from the point Red Alert was trying to make. Instead, the information she let out about herself probably did the trick. "Ratchet taught you?"
The femme let out a vent as she scrolled through his results. "That wasn't important in what I was trying to tell you."
Jack looked appalled at her indifference to having been trained by Ratchet. "It makes all of the difference. Ratchet trained you. That means you must know him, and we can trust you."
Her optics widened. "That is your standard? If I knew one of the other Autobots you met? If that's the case, would you have no issue if Megatron walked right in and started working on you?"
"What? No! Never!" Jack yelled.
"But," I knew that tone. Red Alert was trying to get Jack to see the flaw in his logic. "Your logic says that knowing one of the Autobots that you were close to allowed you to trust me, regardless of my relationship with them. And while they have been enemies for a long time, Megatron and Optimus Prime were once close friends. Almost brothers. If you want a closer example, should I have Knockout take over all your exams if you trust Ratchet so much?" Jack's flustered expression said more than his words ever could. "That's what I thought."
"What do the exams say?" Jack asked. It was easy to see that my son was trying to change the subject.
From the look Red Alert had, she knew that. However, she did return to looking at the report. "Physically, you are fine. It will take time to re-learn everything normal to you. Walking, moving in general, refueling, and anything that you need to survive from now on. As for your weapons," She then scrolled down the list. "It seems both of your servos house a blade and a blaster. You have two long swords, two daggers, and a cannon in your subspace." She then moved to the door. "For the night cycle, you will be guarded by Landmine. For your medical sake, don't move around too much. I will be by in the early cycles of the solar to do another set of scans."
Once Red Alert left, I went to speak with Jack. However, from the look he gave me, any talking we did right now would turn into an argument. While I knew we would have to talk soon, we needed to listen to our medic's orders for now. I knew from my time as a nurse that we were going to have a long road ahead of us to recovery. Jack would have help, even if he didn't realize he needed it.
Miko's 1st P.O.V.
I had to get out of here. I bet I could take down the MECH troops. Maybe when I was human, they could have stopped me. But I was a bot now—a true Wrecker. I'd beat them all up and get everyone else out of here. And the best way to do that was to take them by surprise. These assholes didn't have a chance.
With a yell, I onlined my optics and charged forward. A moment later, I yelped as I fell forward. Slag legs were hard to use now. I winced as my faceplate met the floor. "Ow," I muttered as I tried to stand back up.
"And no surprise you try to wake up swinging." Wait! I knew that voice. Glancing up from where I was still lying, I smiled when I saw Joe. "Joe! When did you guys get here?"
The drone walked over and helped me return to the berth before he answered, "Ten solars…days ago." Once I was sitting, he held up the scanner in his servo. "Can I run some scans? Make sure everything is working properly?"
I grinned and nodded. "Sure thing, doc," Joe shot me a look before he started to scan. But as he started, I realized I didn't know who else was here. I bet Bulk was fighting the medics to get in here to make sure I was okay. "Hey doc, is Bulkhead waiting to see me?"
When Joe suddenly paused his scans, I was worried. Did something pop up that he wasn't expecting? But I thought most scans had to be decoded through a console. It was part of the reason Ratchet was yelling all the time about having to deal with Earth tech. "Miko…Bulkhead isn't here."
He wasn't here? "You mean he's out tracking MECH down to give them the biggest beatdown ever, right?"
He shook his helm. "Miko, he didn't come from Cybertron with us. Last I heard, he was still there."
They had come back…and Bulk hadn't come with? "Why?"
Joe shook his helm. "I don't think I'm the right bot to,"
"Why?!" I interrupted him. Why wasn't Bulkhead here? We were best friends. If an opportunity had come up to come to Earth, he would have been the first in line. He would have!
"Miko, enough." I jumped when Joe suddenly said that. "I am not the right bot to explain everything to you. I will say that the political issues on Cybertron caused us here to flee…as fugitives. There are going to be bounties out on our helms for what happened. I'll be honest: I don't know what Bulkhead's stance on all of this was, but he wasn't a part of the group that came here. You know better than to pester bots for answers they don't have. We aren't all-knowing machines, as you will have to learn sooner or later."
I didn't mean to upset Joe. It just felt wrong for Bulkhead not to be here. We were friends—best friends—wreckers. We were supposed to have each other's backs in everything. But when I needed Bulk the most… "Sorry, Joe. I didn't mean to snap at you."
Feeling a servo on my shoulder, I glanced at him and felt relieved when he didn't look angry. "It's alright, Miko. You've been through a lot, and you are stressed. What I was going to say before, though, was that I am not the best bot to tell you. While Bulkhead isn't here, Wheeljack is here. And he will be the first guard for you in the room for the rest of the night cycles."
"Wheeljack's here?" I asked just to make sure I heard Joe right.
As the bot restarted his scans, Joe nodded. "He's here. And he has been giving the medics a hard time about coming in to see you."
"How about my host family? Are they alright?"
"Alright, and here." They were here? "Given what happened, this government felt it was right to inform them and the Esquivels about all of this. They are also waiting to see you. Given the stories we heard about how Pandimala reacted, we felt it best to wait for you to meet them until you all learned more about your chassis."
His scanner then made a sound, which prompted Joe to walk over to the console and plug it in. Once words started moving across the screen, he turned back to me. "And before you ask, the others are doing just fine. We got all five of you out of there."
I assumed they had gotten the others because I was here. "That's good." She then glanced up at me. "Hey Joe, when will we get alt modes?" I wanted to be able to give MECH a piece of my processor. Given that MECH kept us strapped down all the time, I hadn't got a good look at myself.
A vent escaped the mech as he crossed his arms. "Why don't we worry about getting you able to walk first? And before you even ask, that won't be for a while. It'll be berth rest until tomorrow at least." The console then made a beeping sound, causing Joe to walk over there before he took a datapad out and looked at the results.
"So, what's the damage doc?" I asked him as he moved to stand in front of me.
"A lot of helmaches for the future, for sure," A laugh escaped me as he muttered that before he began to talk. "Physically, you're fine. After a few more solars of taking it easy, I may even let you start some light training." Training? That would be awesome! "Only if you are good during the next few solars, Miko."
"Aw," I pouted as he made that a condition. I wanted to start wrecking now!
From how his optic ridge rose, I was sure he didn't find me funny. "If you promise me that you will behave for the next few solars, I'll tell you about what weapons you have."
Weapons?! "Why didn't you lead with that, Joe? I promise to behave for the next few solars," I smiled. "Now you gotta tell me! What did I get?"
Joe let out a laugh before he scrolled down the data pad. "Firstly, it looks like your helm has a half visor that you can have drop down over your optics. It should be useful for any fights you might be in. Each of your servos can turn into blasters and blades," Sweet! "Your right servo can turn into a hammer, and the lower half of your arms can combine to form a cannon."
"I'm a walking army!" This was going to be amazing! I couldn't wait to get to wrecking MECH.
I flinched when Joe lightly helm-slapped me. "Not now, femme. Recovery first. I'm serious." I huffed but nodded. He must have taken that as a sign to continue. "Anyways, you have two blasters, two daggers, and two long curved blades in your subspace." I was going to be unstoppable! A ding coming from the datapad had the mech looking down at it. "Well, that's not going to be terrifying in your servos."
Wait, what was it? "Hey Joe, care to share what that is?"
"Not really," HEY! "But as your medic, I have to. You seem to have been formed with a special mod."
What the frag was a special mod? I didn't remember the bots having anything like that. "What the frag is that, doc?"
At my question, the drone looked up toward the ceiling. "Primus, give me patience with this one. Please." Ha ha, he was so funny. Thankfully, he then started to answer me. "Special mods are rare. Pandimala's fire and ice abilities for her cannons were some," Oh right, I forgot she could do that. "There are a few bots here as well who have them, though you'll be introduced to them later. You seem to have gotten a rather potent one. You'll have to train with those bots with special mods to learn to control it…and also far away from the base."
Was he going to keep talking about it, or was he going to tell me? "Spill the tea already, doc. What's my special mod?"
Joe let out a vent before he motioned to the datapad. "According to my scans, you can emit an EMP shockwave from your chassis."
E.M.'s pee? What the hell kind of ability is that? "Whose pee?"
My question resulted in Joe faceplate palming himself. "Primus, help me not to strangle her before the night is over. Not 'pee', E.M.P. As in an electromagnetic pulse. Once you learn to control your ability you can shut down non-medical electronics within a certain area of you." That sounded so much cooler than pee! "Unicron had to pick all the burned-out motherboard bits for your processor."
"Hey! Take that back!"
"Not after that." Joe shook his helm.
Fine, whatever. I'd show him one day…solar. Whatever, the point was I had an awesome ability that I was going to be able to use to destroy MECH! Too bad it wouldn't stop bots. But they must have different electrical stuff than regular tech. Raf would be able to explain it better. "Hey doc,"
He glanced at me wearily. "What is it?"
"You said that the others are here as well. Who's working on them? And why are you the one working on me? I mean, I could flatten you in a nano, so it's weird that they didn't place you with June or Fowler. He's getting kind of old. You might be able to take him."
In return, Joe let out an amused huff. "Miko, the floor was able to take you on a few nanos ago. I think I was fine."
"Hey, not cool!" He didn't have to mention that. I was just finding my pedes…I could have totally taken him after a few min…clicks.
"Keep dreaming," Joe laughed before he motioned to me. "If it makes you feel better, I was picked for you because out of the three of us who still had to be assigned at the time, I was the one who had the best chance of holding you off. I might be a drone, but I can take a bot down if needed. And just to jog your processor a little, I punched the Optimus Prime in the faceplate the last time we were all here." I totally forgot about that. Joe was a boss during that.
But wait, he said, out of the three who needed to be assigned. That meant the fourth bot could have handled me but had been picked for somebot else. If I had to guess, it was for Jack. I saw him at one point and he was Optimus' size! They probably had their biggest medic working on him. "For Jack, right? I saw him once when MECH was holding us."
To my surprise, Joe shook his helm. "No, he was part of our discussions after the fact. I already told you why I was placed with you. However, to be fair, the other two medics who were not already assigned could have also worked on you. But you might have punched Knockout based on your reaction to him after the second Omega Lock incident. Given Jack's reactions to Decepticons, we felt Fowler would be the best bot for him to work on. And while you wouldn't have hit her, Red Alert isn't used to your…energy and may have sedated you during that little stunt you pulled. So, we had her working on Jack and June."
They had one medic working on two bots? She must be pretty good. "Can she handle a bot Jack's size?"
Joe nodded. "She'll be fine. Plus, given that she is the only Autobot medic here, we figured Jack would react better to her. All three of them are awake. With you being awake now, that just leaves Raf to wake up."
"And who's working on him?" I had a guess but didn't want to guess out loud. Joe already had enough ammo against me to last forever.
In return, Joe motioned to what I was guessing was outside. "Like any of us were going to keep 'Mala from helping him. She was on the team that found Raf and hasn't wanted to leave him any longer than necessary." He then let out a vent, which sounded stressed. "She keeps blaming herself for not being here for you all. Given that he is the youngest, we also agreed she would be best at keeping him calm, given that she is a familiar faceplate to him."
I was relieved when he answered like that. I had hoped that 'Mala got Raf. She was good with him. Pandimala didn't treat him like a baby like the bots used to sometimes do, but she did understand when he might need somebot to talk with. Plus, the bots never got great at catching human emotions. Since Pandimala used to be Lizzie, she was easy to talk to when Bulk wasn't at base. "That's good."
Joe nodded. "I agree." He then stood up. "I'll go let Wheeljack know he can come in now. But, I want you to get a good bit of recharge tonight. No spending cycles on end talking to the Wrecker. Understand? Or I'll make sure you get Barricade in here instead. And he isn't one for chit-chat."
Message received. I gave Joe a salute at that. "You got it, doc!" He nodded at my promise before he walked out of the door. A nano later, I smiled when Wheeljack came into view. "Wheeljack!"
Raf's 1st P.O.V.
I tensed as a sound brought me out of whatever sleep they put me under. Not again. I couldn't keep doing this. It all…it all hurt so much. I just wanted it to stop. They had to stop! Please, just make it stop. It always hurt—the 'needles', the energon, the dark energon. When Pandimala, back when she was Lizzie, was shot by Megatron with the stuff, I couldn't imagine what it had to be like for her. Had she been in that much pain? She had been so scared that I never asked what kind of pain she had been in.
Another noise caused me to tense. No. It hurt too much. Everything had hurt. Why did MECH still want us? The bots had left, and their inside people had to know that. So why did they attack us? It wasn't fair! It wasn't. "Please, stop," I cried as I heard something move next to me. I didn't want to look. It always hurt too much.
Instead of feeling needles, I felt shocked when I felt a large hand set itself on my forehead. "Raf, it's alright. No one is going to hurt you here." I onlined my optics and looked next to me. Staring back at me were green optics. "I won't let them."
This wasn't a dream. She…she was here. "Pandimala…" I felt tears well up in my optics as I looked at her. We were safe. The bots…they came for us. They got us out.
She smiled. "It's okay, Raf. You're safe. We got all of you out." Pandimala spoke softly as she continued to smile at me.
When she said that, I couldn't stop a sob from coming out of my vocals, and I started to cry. There had been so much pain. It looked like it would never end. We were going to be stuck there forever. I wouldn't be able to see my family again. Or Bee. We were going to be forced to go through every experiment they were doing on us over and over.
A sudden motion caused me to focus as Pandimala pulled me into a hug. "Raf, I'm sorry I wasn't here for you. We shouldn't have left you all here alone. You should have never gone through that."
No words came to me as she said that. All I could do was cling to her and cry. Even as I cried, I knew it wasn't her fault. It wasn't any of their fault. They couldn't control what happened after they left. After a few minutes, I felt myself calming down enough to speak. "It wasn't your fault."
"Raf, we left you all knowing that you were in the sights of an enemy." I focused on Pandimala and saw that, outside of crying, she also looked guilty. But it wasn't her fault!
She shouldn't take the blame for this—not her, 'Bee, Optimus, or any of them. "Were you all responsible for what the Decepticons did when they were here with you all? Did you blame Knockout for what Megatron did to you?"
I felt her tense when I brought up Megatron. "Raf…no. We weren't. I guess…I guess I just needed to hear you say that." I felt relief when she seemed to relax. While it was selfish, I needed her to get through this…I was still scared, and I needed her help—hers and the rest of the bots that were probably here, along with my family.
My family… "Pandimala," She focused on me, a few tears left on her faceplate. "Is my family safe?"
When she nodded, I felt even more relief. "They are here and doing fine, Raf. Everyone's worried about you for sure. Your mama even threw a sandal at Knockout the other solar…day."
Pandimala correcting herself made me realize that after…this…I was going to have to learn so much about myself. I remembered laughing about Pandimala stumbling when she had been trying to walk, and now…that was me. Not only did I have to learn to walk, but I would also need help learning how to be close to my family. "What did Knockout do?" Knockout was terrifying, and for mama to throw her sandal at him, he had to do something really bad.
Pandimala laughed before she spoke. "Your mama was helping cook for the others here when my idiot of a mech decided to question your mama on her cooking choices."
Her mech? Last I heard, Pandimala wasn't that close to Knockout. "Are you two dating?"
Smirking, Pandimala shook her helm. "In human terms, we're married." Married!? "To be fair to you all, you didn't know we'd been dating for months. Probably started dating about halfway through my first stay on the Nemesis."
Oh, that made sense. Given how the bots reacted to Joe and Steve when they joined us, they probably wouldn't have reacted too well to hearing that Pandimala was dating one of the Decepticons. "Oh, um, congratulations."
She smiled at that. "Thanks, Raf. Anyway, as much as you probably want to see your family, I have to clear you first medically, and then we will have to teach you and the others how to interact with humans without hurting them. I had a little easier time given everything about my past." Yeah, that she was from another timeline altogether.
Since my family couldn't see me yet, maybe 'Bee could. "What about 'Bee?"
The stricken look on her faceplate gave me a bad feeling—a really bad feeling. "Raf…slag, this isn't going to be easy."
What was it? Was 'Bee alright? "What happened? Is Bumblebee alright?"
Pandimala looked at me hesitantly for a few seconds…nanos, before she let out a vent. "Raf, I'm not going to lie to you. Honestly, I don't think I could even if I wanted to. But…well…I want to make sure you are ready for this. I'm not sure you will like what I'm going to say. Do you truly want to know?"
With how she asked me, I wasn't sure if I did. With everything that I had just gone through…I wasn't sure I could handle hearing if something happened to 'Bee. But I wanted to know. She was there for us, and I didn't want to be kept in the dark. "Pandimala, please tell me."
She hesitated for a few nanos before she spoke. With each word she said, I felt something hurt inside. How…how could they? Bumblebee and Optimus, I always looked up to them. Yet they allowed this new ruling Council to do that to Paul? He was our friend and stood by us all during everything that happened here. How could they just brush that aside? Looking down at my ha…servos, I worried about what they would do if they found us. Make us leave here with them? This was my home, and I didn't want to go. If they…if Bumblebee and Optimus did that to Paul, what would stop them from doing that to me?
I glanced up at Pandimala as she wrapped her arm around my shoulders, an understanding look on her faceplate. "We won't let them take you, Raf, just like we didn't let them keep Paul locked away like that. We have pledged to uphold that freedom for anyone who comes here. It doesn't matter what power they have against them. The governments of this world, the Council, Optimus Prime, MECH, and any other galactic power that is out there, we'll fight them all. Freedom is a right that most of the bots on Cybertron have forgotten when it comes to Paul. And if they try the same with you, we will fight."
Even though I thought I was done crying earlier, I was proven wrong when more tears came down my faceplate. Everything…everything had changed. Nothing was the same. "It's not fair," I muttered, thinking about everything that happened and everything I just found out.
"It isn't," I glanced at Pandimala as she said that. "Trust me, I get it. And the days to come won't be easy either. Even though I made this," She motioned to her chassis. "Look easy, it wasn't. I struggled so much, Raf. But you all will have support just like I did. More than I had, even. There are so many bots here who can help you all, and with your families here for support, you all will one day be fine."
She was right. As scary as all of this was, we would be alright. And for now, it would be good to show her I could pick up lessons. "Solars, not days."
A laugh escaped Pandimala at that before she smiled and nodded. "Solars." I felt nervous when she stood up until she brought out a scanner. "Would it be alright if I got some medical scans in? We figured we would wait until you all woke up to perform some of the more detailed but less important scans. If you want, I can tell you any weapons or abilities you may have once I'm done with the more health-based scans."
Thinking about weapons made me nervous, but I knew that being a bot meant they would be necessary for the rest of my life. And, with the support Pandimala said I had here, it would be better if I knew about them sooner rather than later. "Okay."
She gave me a nod in return before she started the scans. Thankfully, the scans didn't take long at all—at least they didn't feel like they took long. Once she was done, she was about to head to the monitor to start decoding the data before she paused. She then reached to her side, into her subspace, I think. I couldn't help but flinch back when I saw the cube of energon she pulled out.
Pandimala seemed to notice my reaction. "I know you aren't going to have the best memories of energon, Raf. But, you need to intake it. While it hurt to touch when you were human, this is your energy source now. That's it. Remember how much the bots struggled to keep their stores full?" I nodded. Ratchet's brush with synth-en happened because he was worried about their stores. "It was so important because it is our only source of energy. If you don't drink it, I'll have to force a hook-up on you. And given how you were found, I doubt you would like that."
"Please, don't," I immediately agreed with her. MECH, they caused me so much pain with energon, and now I had to drink it. "I'll…I'll drink it."
Pandimala nodded, and once she plugged in the scanner to start the decoding process, she walked back over with the energon in her servo. Once she was in front of me, she held out the blue substance. While I didn't want to do this, I knew I had to. Plus, I trusted Pandimala. So, I brought up the cube to my lips. But, as I went to tilt it back, I started to panic. Just seeing it was bringing back memories. It hurt so much when the MECH agents used it on us. I couldn't…not again.
"Raf," I flinched and glanced at Pandimala. "It's alright. I know it's scary, but you need this. Do you think I would ever give you anything I knew would hurt you?"
No. She wouldn't. Pandimala wouldn't do that to me. So, with a shake of my helm, I slowly brought the cube in front of me before I placed it against my lips. Tilting my helm slightly back, I tensed as the liquid pressed against my lips. This was it. There was no going back now. So, with caution, I opened my mouth.
I wasn't ready for the cool feeling that filled my new body as I swallowed the energon. It was so…different. There wasn't any pain. It was…normal. But it wasn't supposed to be. A servo on my shoulder caused me to move the empty cube away, and I saw Pandimala looking at me with an understanding look. "It's okay, Raf. Drinking my first energon was awkward, so I could only imagine what it's like for you. It'll take time. But trust me, it will get better." She was right. It had to get better. So, I nodded in agreement.
However, the monitor suddenly dinged before I could say anything about that. Guess my scans were done. "Saved by the bell," I tried to joke as she walked over.
"For now," Pandimala shot right back with a smile before transferring the information to a datapad she had pulled from her subspace. She then scrolled through the information. "Medically, you are fine. There is nothing concerning on this scan, so that's a plus. And mentally, you seem to be stable as well. Both positives given everything." She then scrolled further down the list. "Now, for your weapons and abilities." She then paused to read. "Alright, you seem to have blasters that can come out of each servo. Your right servo can turn into a blade, while your left servo seems to be equipped with a sonic blaster. You have a small blaster and a short blade in your subspace."
She then read a little more before she paused. She looked hesitant. "Pandimala, what is it?"
Pandimala, in turn, looked up at me and seemed to think about something before she spoke. "Raf, were you able to see yourself while you all…were captured?"
I shook my helm. "No, but I've seen a little. My arms look similar to Soundwave's."
"Not just your arms," My optics widened as Pandimala said that. "You have a highly similar build to Soundwave, and that is also showing in your abilities." My abilities? "The easiest to explain is that you have a full faceplate visor similar to his, though yours seems to have a retractable capability. Soundwave has to physically take his off if he wants bots to see his faceplate. Also, your chassis has two tentacles that seem identical to his. Soundwave must have made quite the impact on your life, Raf."
Was that how my form was created? "But why am I not more like Bee, then?" While it hurt to think of what he had done recently, he had been my best friend while he was here. I thought we were close. If Pandimala was correct, shouldn't I have become more like him?
Pandimala shook her helm. "Honestly, Raf, most of our theories are guesswork. However, given how the others look, we think our pasts and major influences impact them. We don't pick the influences. I took on the appearance of a character that I made to reflect myself in my stories, even though other characters had major influences on me that are not visible. Knockout told me that Fowler has electrical capabilities that integrated themselves into his CNA. Given all the times he was electrocuted with Cybertronian-strength electricity, that's not surprising. Given how much her job influenced her, June's medical career hit her more than other aspects. Jack's interactions with Optimus and having the Key of Vector Sigma for the short time he did influenced his CNA."
"And Miko?" I understood where Pandimala was coming from and was curious about how Miko was affected.
A laugh came from Pandimala. "Oh boy, then there is Miko. She was always wanting to help in the field against all enemies. She's armed to the denta and can short out electricity through an EMP pulse. That makes sense given her connections to the Wreckers and how she was always running out into the fights." She then smiled softly. "While you were close with Bumblebee, you saw him as family, so your CNA probably didn't take that as a mitigating factor. He was just like a brother to you. A brother you always had, even though that technically wasn't true. When he is off the table, it's easy to see how Soundwave influenced you. Your interactions with each other pushed you and made you evolve. So, your CNA, according to our theory, reflected that evolution in your new body."
While it was weird to think about, what Pandimala said made sense. From the situation at the satellite array in Texas to the Damoclese incident and beyond, Soundwave and I were pushing each other. However, I hadn't realized that I was even that challenging for Soundwave until now. I thought he just got distracted, and I slipped in. However, with how Pandimala looked like she was hesitating, there seemed to be something else. "Pandimala, what else is there?"
For the first time since we started talking, she looked hesitant to answer me. "Now, Raf, when I tell you this, realize that you don't necessarily need to use this should the opportunity arise—if it ever even does." Now, she was scaring me. What did I have in common with Soundwave that she was nervous about? "Raf, you've seen Laserbeak, right?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I asked Blaster about her connection to Soundwave once, back before you all left, and he told me that she is a symbiote, like Eject, Rewind, and his other symbiotes are to him. They share a psychic connection through a bond that they form through connections. He said that bots without connections could form the bonds, but they were easier to break than the bonds bots with the connections made."
"Thank Primus for Blaster," Pandimala thanked before she continued. "Raf, your chassis has five possible symbiote hook-ups. If you choose to do so in the future, you could connect with up to five symbiotes as Soundwave and Blaster have." She then held up a servo. "But, like I said, just because you can make the connections doesn't mean you have to use them. You lose nothing by not using them."
Silence fell between us for a couple of min…clicks. This was a lot to take in, and I had a lot of questions. But, while I wanted to ask Pandimala about them, I needed to remember that she was like us. As experienced as she was compared to us, she was also still new to everything. "Thanks, Pandimala. And if you could, can you also thank everyone else who helped rescue us?"
She smiled and nodded. "Of course," she said, standing. "Now, I have to go and give some reports. You'll have a guard in here in case of any trouble. I'll return in the morning to run more scans and answer any questions you might have."
"A guard?"
Pandimala paused at my question. "Raf, MECH has agents that have infiltrated Unit E. Until we route them out, none of us are taking chances with you all. Round the close protection for all five of you. Jazz will have first watch with you, and then Steve will switch with him." Jazz. I knew Jazz. I'd be alright. And Steve had been on Earth with everyone else. While I didn't know him well, I knew Pandimala trusted him. So I could trust him, too.
"Thank you,"
To my surprise, Pandimala shook her helm. "No thanks are needed, Raf. This is just me making up for the problems we all left you guys with." Before I could say anything to change her processor, she opened the door and let Jazz in. Once he was inside, Pandimala waved to me before she left.
Authoress: *walking down hall*
Paul: Authoress, we need to talk.
Authoress: *sighs* What about?
Paul: I'm nervous about the future. Is there anything you can tell me?
Authoress: *shakes head* No, because the future is not set in stone. There are glimpses, but you know the dangers of basing our futures on glimpses.
Paul: *defeated* I know. I'm just not used to being unprepared for the future.
Authoress: *places a hand on Paul's shoulder* I know, Paul. But I'll try my best to make sure you all are prepared for the future.
Paul: Thank you.
AN: And here is the next chapter! Honestly, I wasn't planning on this chapter being this long. But a lot of information needed to be unpacked here. Everyone reacts to trauma differently, and I hope I hit each person well. Jack, as he always is, was a little difficult to write. But I felt that, given Arcee's closeness to him, Jack would pick up on the mistrust that I feel she gives off. And to be honest, I really don't like Jack. So, he will be the in-house antagonist (though not a bad guy, just causing issues and not really learning from those incidents) during this arc. I couldn't resist putting Fowler with Knockout for the small part of their conversation about when Knockout kidnapped him, June, and Paul.
I admit, I had the most fun writing Miko's part—even more fun than I thought I would. Their personalities played off of each other almost seamlessly. And of course, Miko is still mishearing words even in her new bot form. While she was crushed to hear that Bulkhead wasn't here, she is mature enough to listen to Joe (plus, given her inability to walk right now, she couldn't leave the conversation if she wanted to).
Of course, she wasn't nearly as crushed as Raf was to hear about Bumblebee. Plus, with everything else that he has to work through, Raf had a rough chapter here. I feel that Raf is more mature than his age would typically allow, thanks to his interactions with the bots when they were here. But he is still a kid. He gets scared, and he is going to struggle with this. Thankfully, there are plenty of bots there to help.
Something else I should mention is that while there are limited bots on Earth, there are more of their supporters on Cybertron and beyond. Blaster, for example, is in full support of them. You will find out later why he isn't here. Some others, I'll admit, I'm going to keep hidden for a while. Keep you all guessing who supports the faction on Earth and who isn't. While that won't play much of a role in this first arc, I will use this first arc to build up to that.
Also, I feel like I need to explain how each of the five appears and the in-story logic behind it. In my view, CNA would evolve differently for humans who are turned into bots as opposed to other species that may go through this (don't worry; I'm not planning on doing that, but the possibility needs to be considered for this explanation). Humans are beings fully formed under the influence of dark energon. If you have read Awakening Resolve, I introduced some deities and briefly explained how they influence their planets. Each deity, outside of Primus, Unicron, and the Creator, gives partial influence of both chaos and order. With humanity forming under chaos, the adaptive 'element' between the two, their CNA would evolve them based on what challenged them as humans or what influenced big changes in their lives.
Fowler is a military man, but he also seems to give off the vibe of being very rooted in his culture. That will show more later on with his alt mode. Also, while he does not have a camouflage color scheme, his dark and earthy coloring has roots in his military background. Being a Ranger, Fowler would have had to understand not standing out. That, and all the other training he received, would have influenced his CNA. This gave him his weaponry as well. And, as we found out during the chapter, all of that electricity he was influenced by would have caused his CNA to make sure he had a defense against that sort of attack. That was mostly formed from his torture at Starscream's servos, though the other times influenced it.
While June wasn't focused on during the show, we almost always see her in her scrubs. She is a medical professional, and the show seems to want to constantly remind us of that fact. While I understand that nurses and other medical staff can have long hours, they do get the chance to change into regular clothes every once in a while. Yet I don't remember a single time when we saw her in anything other than her scrubs. So, from that, her job is a vital part of her life. Her CNA would have reflected that in its evolution. The medical EMP (and yes, I have a difference between medical EMPs and regular EMPs) is influenced by both her work and the dangerous situations she was in. First and foremost, the time she was kidnapped by MECH and used as bait by Airachnid. Given that it was her 'introduction' to all of this, that would be a pivotal moment for her CNA and its evolution. If she had been able to disable Airachnid, and later in the show Knockout when he had her, Paul, and Fowler captured, then she would have been able to escape them. With both of those influences in her life, her CNA would have made sure she had that tool to assist her in the future.
Optimus' influence in Jack's life helped Jack, though not completely, and became a father figure for Jack. Optimus entrusting Jack with the Key to Vector Sigma was a huge evolution in his character development. That gave Jack the build of a leader. Unfortunately, Arcee's personality also played a big part in his evolution. Jack showed in the show that he was susceptible to bad influences if they came from a being he wanted to impress. Sierra was his 'love interest' while he was human, and that caused him to make usually out-of-character choices like the racing and the need to show Vince that he was better than him, though his personality outside of there showed that he didn't care what Vince thought of him. The interaction at the Knock-Out Burger where Jack doesn't hesitate to backtalk Vince even though that caused him trouble. Yes, he cared about them driving off without paying since it influenced his paycheck, but he didn't care about what Vince thought about him. There was no need to one-up Vince. Then, when Smokescreen showed up, he trusted Smokescreen and ended up throwing pizza at Vince's car, though that sort of vandalism is something that Jack would have been too mature to do normally. Plus, Jack seemed to care about listening to his mom, given how he was worried about being late for curfew when he was grounded. That was even when Arcee needed to be focused on her missions. However, later in the timeline, he has no qualms about going to Arcee to override his mom when he doesn't agree with what she is saying. Her attitude and approach to situations would have been a major influence on Jack's CNA.
And then there is Miko. Oh boy, that is a lot to unpack. As explained in the chapter, her constant drive to help in the fight helped gear her CNA to ensure she had every advantage she might need. That was especially true since, most of those times, she was ill-equipped to assist in the fights (though the Apex Armor helped give her the one-up she needed). So, Miko is a walking armory. The EMP pulse was influenced by her want to fight as well. She has seen the physical way that the Wreckers fight and has taken to that style of fighting well in the past with the Apex Armor. I only remember her using non-physical ways to stop a bot when she offlined Hardshell by firing the rockets at him. Even on the Nemesis, she used brute force to hold Soundwave at bay until they trapped him in the shadowzone. Her CNA would have given her the ability to stop outside technology from influencing her fight away from what she was best at, which will be physical combat, despite the array of weapons she has access to. As for her alt mode, I'm not sharing that detail yet.
Bumblebee, while a brother to Raf, wasn't as life-changing as Arcee and Optimus were to Jack. Raf has brothers. Yes, Bumblebee showed him more attention, but he had family at home that were similar to 'Bee. So, Bumblebee's influence in Raf's life didn't impact his CNA much. Soundwave, however, filled a missing part of Raf's life that, to me, seemed to be missing. From what we can infer, since Raf is in high school with Jack and Miko, Raf doesn't have many peers, if any, that can challenge him. There was no one who could have pushed Raf toward growing his talents. Soundwave changed that. Each time they crossed paths, they made each other work for their goals. And that allowed Raf to grow. It also allowed Raf to see the struggles of the outside world, and that his fights in the technological had outside consequences. This was shown when Soundwave came to physically stop him and the others at the array and when the Decepticons targeted his house to prevent his interference during the Damocles incident.
...That explanation went a lot longer than I thought it would.
Enough about that, though. Here are the names of the next chapters!
Chapter 5: Rising Threat
Chapter 6: Lessons
Chapter 7:... (find out next time!)
And that's all for now! Thanks to everyone who reads my stories. Even doing that inspires me to keep writing. Until next we meet, TTYL! *vibing to Go Big Or Go Home by American Authors*
