After a few days of rest and proper monitoring, Glitch's energon consumption significantly improved; it was almost normal according to Knockout. The warship stayed relatively calm during that time, though occasionally a group of troopers would leave and return with random items or energon to be processed. Like clockwork, everyone went about performing their duties; except for Glitch, who remained idle other than familiarizing herself with her surroundings. She felt like she should be doing something but was turned away whenever she offered help to anyone. It made her feel burdensome.
A little ways from their quarters, Blade Runner meanwhile prepared a training room for Glitch to hone her combat skills. It was small compared to what had been available back on Cybertron, but it would do just fine for their purposes.
Glitch was unsure about the idea of training for war and was still firm in her conviction that she would never kill anyone, but after a few sessions, she grew to enjoy it simply as an activity. However, Blade Runner noticed that she would pull her punches, especially when sparring with Steve. She had to explain that she wasn't hurting her friends, but rather learning valuable skills that could save their lives one day, and that she wouldn't learn properly going easy. One match with Blade Runner knocked the whole idea of pulling her punches out of her system. Both literally and figuratively.
It became a routine. Every day Glitch trained, then occasionally Blade Runner would go off to do a task for Megatron and return to find Steve teaching Glitch how to operate the ship's computers. The young bot was a quick learner in both mind and body, quicker than most ordinary Cybertronians, which Knockout continuously took credit for. As the days rolled by she gradually grew stronger, her reflexes swifter. Blade Runner was rather proud. Rejoining the Decepticons thus far had turned out not to be as bad as either of them thought it would. For now at least.
On her way to train, Glitch turned a corner blindly and accidentally collided with someone. They were short enough that she might've tripped over them had she not caught herself. "Sorry! I didn't mean to run into you, are you okay?" She profusely apologized as she looked down to identify the small being.
Airachnid glowered as she brushed off the nonexistent filth she contracted from having made contact with such a lower lifeform. She couldn't believe the thing was permitted to roam freely on the warship. "Of course, it's not your fault, dear," she sneered. "Blade Runner ought to keep a tighter leash on her pet."
Glitch was taken aback. She blinked, not entirely certain if she'd heard correctly. "Pardon? I'm not—"
"Darling, let's not pretend you have equal rights as the rest of us, shall we?" Airachnid circled her, a haughty grin gracing her expression as she held her head high. "You may walk and talk like a Cybertronian but as an experimental asset, at most, you're lower-class rubbish. Expendable. An inferior lifeform. Or perhaps the word 'slave' would be easier for you to understand?"
The taller femme turned as the other spoke, not feeling comfortable having her back to those spindly legs. What sort of nonsense was she saying? "I-I'm not... I don't think..." Glitch stuttered her initial response but cleared her intake as she plucked up her courage, "That's not very nice."
Airachnid laughed and waved a clawed hand dismissively. "Don't take it personally, dear. It's simply the way things are. The sooner you come to grips with the fact, the easier things will be for you." A spider leg took Glitch by the chin and roughly pulled her down to her level, audibly scraping and ever so slightly cutting into the metal it was hooked on. Airachnid beamed with delight at the pained yelp from the other bot. "And believe me, things could be much more difficult."
Glitch fell backward as the spider bot released her. She winced when she rubbed the stinging feeling on her chin, then looked to her digits to see the bright blue glow of energon. A frown formed on her face as Airachnid began to chuckle.
"Now run along, pet. You wouldn't want to be late for your training." With that, she transformed into her spider mode and crawled on her way, leaving Glitch trembling on the floor behind her.
She sat there silently for some time, stunned at having been spoken to in such a manner. Was she not equal to the others? Perhaps not in military rank, but surely as members of the same species? What made her different from the rest of the bots on the warship? She was certainly no animal, as Airachnid had implied. Is that how the spider saw her?
The sound of jogging footfalls behind Glitch startled her, and for a moment she feared Airachnid had returned. It was Steve who came around the corner, however, and he nearly passed the corridor she was sitting in. He quickly realized her presence and doubled back a step before approaching to help her off the floor.
"There you are, Glitch," Steve sighed in relief. "You're late for training so Blade Runner sent me to come find you. What are you doing on the floor?"
For a moment, Glitch was afraid she had lost her voice. She stood, looking back between Steve and the direction Airachnid had gone. "I... I don't... S-She... I-I'm not..." she stuttered, unsure of where to even begin. But her optics betrayed the fear she felt, and her friend's cheerful expression fell.
Steve gasped, noticing energon dripping from the cut on her chin. "Oh scrap, are you alright?! You're bleeding! What happened?"
Glitch took a few seconds to gather her thoughts and huffed, finally finding her words. "I... I'm fine, Steve."
"You don't look fine!"
"I just want to go train," she said, attempting to wipe away the energon leak.
"Not until Knockout has a look at you. I'll call Blade Runner and tell her what's going on." Steve reached two digits up to his comm unit.
"But—"
He shushed her, "Absolutely not. I insist."
"That slagging..." Knockout stopped himself before he said 'glitch', Blade Runner sending him a warning glance as he let the words trail off. Glitch frowned and looked between them as the medic applied a small patch kit to her injury.
"Is that everything she said to you?" Blade Runner inquired, a glare etched into her expression but aimed at no one in particular. Her apprentice nodded. "Fucking piece of shit..."
Knockout raised an optic brow but didn't comment on her steadily increasing and colorful variety of swears. "Pay Airachnid no mind, Glitch. She thinks being a superior lifeform is all about having the most legs." He shuddered in disgust.
"Is it about having more legs?" Glitch asked confusedly.
"No, no, I was merely—"
Blade Runner cut him off, "What Knockout means to say is don't let her words upset you. But Airachnid is dangerous, and you should definitely pay mind to where you step around her. From now on I want you to steer clear of her, especially if no one else is around. If you see her, walk the other way."
"Don't worry about it, Glitch," Steve chimed after having been silent. "You're not the odd one out, she's rude to everyone. Besides, Lord Megatron made himself pretty clear on the command bridge. She wouldn't dare harm you."
"Obviously," Blade Runner growled.
"Err... significantly..." Steve added carefully.
Glitch frowned again, deeper. Megatron had made himself clear. She remembered what he said, and she didn't like it.
"Do not forget that it is I who owns her..."
Was what Airachnid said true then? One only owns possessions, and living possessions consisted of pets and slaves only, both of which the spider bot had labeled her as. Was she not permitted to be her own person? Glitch didn't ask... because she didn't think she would like the answer.
At some point, Blade Runner lead the two bots in her charge back to the training room as she struggled painfully to remove the scowl warped into her faceplates. She would have to watch Airachnid more closely, as it was becoming clear that she intended to make herself a problem. Blade Runner knew she had a superiority complex, but her second thought was that Airachnid was also trying to get at her. The spider bot hated Blade Runner almost as much as she hated Arcee, and they were in the same faction.
As training began, Glitch appeared to get increasingly distracted, her thoughts taking her mind elsewhere. Blade Runner stopped the sparring session when Steve managed to flip the pink bot onto her back.
Blade Runner stood over her apprentice, arms crossed. "A real opponent won't give you the luxury of going easy if you lose focus." She made a finger gun and pointed it at Glitch's head. "Boom, you're dead."
Glitch sighed heavily and got to her feet. "Sorry... I was just thinking."
"Care to share with the rest of the class?"
There was a moment of silence before Glitch decided to answer. "What does it mean to be 'lower class'?"
"You're still on that?" Blade Runner rubbed her optics as she made her way back off the sparring ring. "It's not something you need to worry about, Glitch..."
"I just want to know what it means," she replied firmly.
Blade Runner sighed as she leaned back on a weapons display shelf, crossing her arms again. "A lower class person is someone who has the lowest social standing and is the least respected amongst others of their kind. They're almost always a working class, have little to no education or skills, and according to some, live simply to be used."
Glitch's brows furrowed as she stared at her mentor. "So a slave."
Blade Runner had to physically hold back a grimace. "Not quite... but close enough I suppose."
"Am I a slave, Blade Runner?"
The purple fembot blinked in surprise, unsure of how to answer at first. She hated that word. Loathed the idea more than anything. It brought back painful memories... memories from before the war on Cybertron had even begun. This was exactly the situation she'd been hoping to avoid. "No... No, Glitch, you're not. Right now, you're a soldier in training. Someday you may decide that you want to be something else. No one is responsible for your fate but you. Always remember that. But you must also remember that one has to do what one must to survive... even if it means tearing down another to do so. Life... Life is your right, Glitch. And it is your job to defend that right, no matter what. Do you understand?"
Glitch nodded slowly but still looked troubled. She didn't want to tear anyone down, not even Airachnid. Is that what it meant to defend oneself? She certainly disliked the spider bot, but would never wish harm upon her. She could hardly dream of it.
"I think so," she said finally, deciding against voicing her thoughts.
Blade Runner seemed satisfied. "Good. Let's go again. Clear your mind and focus," she instructed.
Steve got back into position and Glitch turned to face him, a newfound determination in her optics. If all Airachnid, Megatron, and Starscream saw in her was just an inferior lifeform, she would have to work hard to prove them wrong. She had to be able to hold her own, as strength appeared to be the one clear thing her fellow Decepticons seemed to respond to.
The next thing any of them knew, Glitch had her opponent pinned to the ground. Blade Runner allowed herself to smile.
Breakdown strode into the laboratory as its doors opened with a hiss, causing Knockout to look up from the pile of data pads he'd been organizing. The medic smiled upon his partner's entry, eager for a distraction of any kind from his work, but Breakdown was always the most welcome one. "Where have you been all this time, Breakdown? You missed all the fun I had today dealing with the steadily increasing number of females on this ship." He sighed, "What I wouldn't give for some high-grade and an oil bath right now..."
"I heard," the blue mech chuckled. "Is Glitch alright?"
"She's fine, it was barely more than a scratch," he waved it off as he began filing the data pads into a crate. "Blade Runner on the other hand..."
"Uh oh."
"She looked like she was ready to blow a fuse," Knockout said. "Good thing we were in the med bay I suppose."
Breakdown knew better than to deploy his hammer in his partner's lab, but the mere thought of Airachnid made his energon run hot. "Honestly I don't blame her. That bug is a real fragging piece of work. I shoulda let the Autobots scrap her when I had the chance."
"Can't be helped, you were in a sticky situation," Knockout smirked at his own pun and Breakdown gave a hearty laugh.
Ah, things always were better when it was just the two of them. All Knockout's problems seemed to just float away and he could forget the war. But even during battle, Breakdown certainly made fighting the Autobots that much more fun. And he could always rely on him to buff the scratches he received to his paint afterwards. He almost wished he'd get scratched up more often. Almost.
There was no one he cared for more.
"By the way," Knockout continued onto a new subject, "have you seen Starscream anywhere? He was supposed to come in for diagnostics but I haven't been able to get ahold of him."
Breakdown suddenly frowned. "No one told you?"
Knockout hesitated and blinked. "Told me what?"
"He and Airachnid left the ship for awhile..." the blue mech began, "but she returned without him. Said he was captured by the Autobots."
Knockout stared for a long while. He saw what she was trying to do now: weasel her way into the higher ranks and get rid of the competition so she could eventually take control. Surely Megatron was aware of this. "Are we sure he's even still alive?" Knockout asked finally.
Breakdown shrugged. "If Airachnid hasn't killed him, to be honest, I'm not sure the 'Bots would. You shoulda seen Megatron though, the big guy was livid."
"Well, I can't see Starscream as being the type to keep his mouth shut when held at gunpoint. The question is what sort of secrets will he spill?" The medic pulled the crate off his worktable and began carrying it out the door. "But anyways, what's that human saying? Not my circus, not my monkeys?"
"I wouldn't know," Breakdown chuckled as he offered to take the crate from his partner. Knockout relinquished it immediately with a wide grin and wiped his now empty hands together as he took the lead, closing the lab doors behind them.
"Eh, whatever," the red mech waved dismissively. "Starscream's absence will be good for Glitch. One less bot barking orders and stunting her mental development. I'm sure Blade Runner will be happy to hear about it."
Breakdown gestured to the crate of data pads he was carrying. "Is that where we're taking this?"
"Blade Runner asked for more info on the experiment Glitch was the result of. These are all copies of Shockwave's relevant logs."
"She must really like to read..." Breakdown cringed as he looked down at the crate's contents once more.
Knockout shook his head. "She's just really good at her job: being prepared. Especially after... you know."
"Right."
The two bots eventually stopped in front of the training room and knocked. A clang of metal against metal could be heard before shuffling footsteps sounded just on the other side of the door. It was the unusually intelligent vehicon trooper who opened it to them, but further inside Blade Runner could be seen with her foot over Glitch's backside, the pink bot pounding on the arena floor with her fists and struggling to get up from under her mentor's weight.
Knockout failed to hold back a snicker, "I hope we're not interrupting anything."
"What is it?" Blade Runner glanced over at the door but didn't lift her foot.
"We come bearing gifts," the medic returned, ignoring the other's tone. "That 'little something' you asked for."
"Ah." Blade Runner moved off of Glitch to take the crate from Breakdown before setting it in a corner by a small workbench. Glitch stood and brushed herself off before removing her protective visor so she could greet her comrades.
"Hi, guys!" She waved as she trotted over to them, "What'd you bring?"
One look from Blade Runner told Knockout to keep the information to himself. He easily feigned disinterest, "Reading material. Nothing interesting."
"Yeah! Blade likes to read," Breakdown added unnecessarily, earning him a slightly irritated glance from his partner.
"Oh, what kind of reading material? I like to read too!" Glitch's optics whirled, eager to learn and full of enthusiasm. But Blade Runner quickly put an end to the subject.
"You've got more important things to worry about right now besides reading. You need to focus on your training."
The young bot pouted as Steve ushered her back over to the arena to resume their sparring, while Blade Runner moved in closer to the other two mechs to make sure they were out of earshot of her apprentice. "Glitch is worried enough about her social standing on this warship as it is, I don't need her poking around in the logs of the mad scientist who created her. Next time comm me first about something like this."
"Hmph, co-created. I did over half the work," Knockout grumbled as he briefly examined the tips of his pointed digits. "On that note, we thought you should know that Starscream is out of the picture now, so that's one less self-centered cavalier 'Con on your backs. Should make things at least somewhat easier for Glitch."
Blade Runner put a hand on her chin. "Dead?"
"No, but I doubt he'll be back. At least not for awhile due to Airachnid's handiwork," Knockout shook his head.
Breakdown pounded his fists together. "If we're lucky, maybe she'll be next."
A humorless laugh escaped Blade Runner's vocalizer. "I've waited over a million years for that to happen. Don't get your hopes up."
"Just tryin' to be optimistic," he replied. "If you ever need help kicking her aft..."
"Thanks, Breakdown," the purple fembot laughed again, more genuinely this time, "but I think I've got it covered for now, don't worry."
Breakdown shrugged, and the two mechs said their goodbyes and waved to Glitch before leaving. Knockout hummed to himself as they headed to their quarters, pondering over the protective nature he'd been seeing in Blade Runner since her return with Glitch. Ever since her partner's accident, she'd become very distant from other bots, even her own teammates. So it was strange seeing her so close to someone like this; offering her help, rejoining the Decepticons, getting upset over Glitch's mistreatment... She didn't have to do any of that. Was she doing all this out of something as simple as pity? Or maybe she had something to gain? Knockout might've said yes if he hadn't witnessed the interactions for himself, and that's what he had thought originally. But now he wasn't so sure. Perhaps Glitch revived something in Blade Runner's spark, something all of them thought had long since been snuffed. It was good to see a little light back in her optics.
Knockout only hoped that her relationship with Glitch wouldn't end the same way it had with Nightblaze.