"Medicine? How can this demonic, death-reversing substance be medicine?" Predaking growled. "It may be poison!"
Vortex growled back, "Death-reversing translates to incredible regenerative properties on the living. I've seen how good this stuff works! We used to take it as a war drug. It fixes wounds, empowers you, makes you unstoppable. But right now, I need it to get a friend off his death-bed."
Vortex shoved the container into his chest, flipped back, and transformed. Before Predaking could reconsider halting him, Vortex zipped away across the dark field.
"Is what he says true?" Predaking demanded of the Vehicon.
"It is," he muttered. He shoved his new container into his chest.
"What were you given in return?" Predaking asked.
The Vehicon gripped the wheel tightly; Predaking could imagine a deep frown on his face.
"Maybe we should forget it," Skylynx advised. "Medicine isn't terrible, and it is not like Decepticons can ask the Autobots for medical assistance."
"A fair point," Predaking conceded.
The rest of the journey carried on in silence, with the Vehicon no longer telling them stories of the Nemesis. The Predacons lifted off the truck, flying slowly overhead. By the time the vehicle rolled back to Iacon, the sky had eased into a lighter shade of blue. Predaking and his brethren went straight home, curling up in beast mode and letting sleep diminish their feelings of awkwardness.
An orange evening glow warmed the golden buildings by the time the Predacons flew to the Vehicon clubhouse. As soon as they walked inside, the Vehicons near the door turned to them.
"Welcome back, heard you went to the factory," one said. "How was that?"
"Interesting…" Predaking replied, checking the body language of the other Vehicons. None were hostile.
"Hot as the pits, isn't it?" another Vehicon piped up.
"Hot doesn't bother us much," Darksteel snickered. Then he pointed at a copper-coloured Vehicon seated in the room. "Wow! Who's that?"
"He called himself Lucian," a Vehicon sighed wistfully.
"Shiny…" Darksteel commented.
"We can all be shinier if we want to," a different Vehicon carried on. "There's a bathhouse now pumping hot oil, though, it's usually crammed with Autobots."
"A bathhouse?" Skylynx prompted.
"We could show you where it is," one of the Vehicons offered. "Now could be a good time to go."
"First, let us refuel," Predaking replied.
The Predacons squeezed through the tables past purple Vehicons. Only Acrylic the red wheeled one and Lucian the copper jet provided colour variety to the group. Pastel and Ciel weren't around at the moment and Pine, who had turned dark green, soon disappeared after his change. No silver Vehicons were present, Predaking noticed.
After drinking their fill from barrels of energon, the Predacons returned to the Vehicons in the back of the room. Three of them rose from their seats and led the Predacons outside.
As they walked, the clanging of fresh construction near the city centre surprised Predaking and his brethren.
"Is something new being built?" Ripclaw asked.
"Yes," a jet Vehicon grunted.
They changed course to head toward the construction. Turning the corner onto another street, they all nearly crashed into the backs of Autobots.
"Wow," Darksteel inhaled.
Around one hundred Autobots of every size chatted excitedly outside of a short grey building. They pressed in as close as they could to it, or rather, the big plump golden bot standing at the foot of it. Predaking huffed to see Prowl, Ironhide, and other officers around him. Even some of the Autobots from Earth were there. A glowing sign depicting the plump golden bot's face was then raised by cables. Autobot cheers erupted as screams, which made Predaking shake his head aggressively.
"Let's move on," Predaking snarled.
The Vehicons and Predacons scampered away from the commotion.
"See, now the bathhouses are free," a Vehicon pointed out.
Ripclaw inquired, "What were those Autobots all excited about?"
"Someone named Maccadam. They were saying something about drinking the best drinks again because of him."
"Is that all?" Skylynx replied.
Predaking retorted, "He must be just another one of their overglorified idols."
Straying further from the city centre, they eventually came to a low but wide silver building with the sign "Public Wash Area". After they stepped through the open doors, the Vehicons and Predacons paused and looked around in wonder. Halls both short and tall were marked by signs, indicating size limits. A thick, rich scent saturated the air and a humming shook the building. The Predacons headed down the hall intended for larger Cybertronians, arriving in a grand open space with three long pools. Warmth radiated from the softly boiling brown-black sludge within them.
"Wow, so we go in there?" Darksteel chirped.
Scuttling, Darksteel beelined for a pool. He leapt in with a splash, disappeared, and then peeked out with the eyes of his beast form. Chittering happily, he urged them to join him. They jogged toward the pool, but Skylynx slipped on some oil, tripped, and fell inside. After each spectacular splash, the Predacons transformed but pushed each other down the length of the pool to make room.
Predaking dropped his chin on the ledge with a low trill as his entire body relaxed in the hot oil. Echoing his purr, his brethren also rested their chins on the ledge. Their eyes closed and their tails swished under the sludge, brushing against each other.
Footsteps thudded on the metal floor. Instead of a Vehicon, Predaking opened his eyes to behold a lone average-sized Autobot, one who was blue, red, and grey.
"Wowww, it's so big in this section!" the Autobot exclaimed, spinning around. He then glanced over the Predacons. "Oh haha, you are cute in a line."
Predaking raised his neck suddenly, looming over the Autobot.
"Oh, did I say something wrong? I'm sorry…" The Autobot rubbed the tip of his foot into the floor. "I only wanted to meet you. I didn't get the chance yet… I think Predacons are cool! I used to find them so fascinating to read about, but I never lived during their, or uh, your? time. Yeah, but you can talk like us so it's even better…! Oh, sorry I'm talking too much."
Predaking sank back into the pool. He was wavering between being annoyed at the disturbance or pleased that an Autobot was in awe of his species. But Ripclaw transformed to bot mode first to reply to him.
"You like our species?" She crossed her spiky arms over the pool's ledge. "Aren't you intimidated by us?"
"Well, not when you're living among us…" The Autobot held his own hands. "Obviously you're not going to attack us."
Predaking transformed to mutter, "We were once your adversaries. I have fought and injured Autobots in the War. So have Skylynx and Darksteel."
Climbing over the ledge, Predaking towered over the Autobot.
"Your faction terminated twenty-four Predacons on Earth. Many of your brethren insult us at any given chance. It matters not that you like us—it is foolish that you do without knowing us regardless. It matters that I will never like you, although we will live peacefully alongside each other."
"But I didn't do anything to you…" The Autobot frowned, saddened instead of afraid. "Some Autobots may hate you, but I don't. I can see that you aren't wild beasts. I'm not really a fighter by the way, just an engineer. But I've seen that real beasts don't have a particular look. So I sense the feel of a bot, know if they are dangerous or not. And I know you're not going to hurt anyone… unless you have to. If you liked hurting bots you wouldn't be so calm right now. You would have grabbed me by the neck or something! But you didn't."
An image flashed through Predaking's mind of Megatron seizing Starscream by the throat.
"Yes… I am nothing like them," Predaking rumbled.
"I'm Bluestreak." He bowed slightly. "Sorry again that I talk so much. I just get so excited!"
"Bluestreak?" Predaking squinted. "I heard your name before. You have a connection to Prowl."
Bluestreak let out a long awkward laugh. "Um, yeah. Haha, that's a funny way of putting it… We're close. Really close."
"With him?" Predaking snapped. "He was especially insulting to us!"
Bluestreak waved his hands. "I'm sorry! I know… Prowl is… judgmental. It's wrong of him. He has a war habit of categorizing bots between 'dangerous' and 'not dangerous'."
Predaking growled, "As if that is any excuse to be hostile to those he does not know."
"And based on their species," Ripclaw hissed.
Skylynx and Darksteel nodded.
"You're right," Bluestreak said. "He's… hostile. The War made him spiral into a state of mind where if he can't identify all his enemies, he thinks we'll be killed in our recharge cycles. Spies in our midst, unknown figures approaching our position… it has made him paranoid. He used to be a better bot a long time ago, friendly and conversational with everybody. That was when I was around on Cybertron and he was happy. Then we got separated. He was alone, sad, broken. By the time we reunited, he had changed. For everyone else, except for me. I want him to treat others with the same kindness he treats me with. But the War only just ended, kind of, but who can be sure this peace will last? Prowl is in a survival state and isn't ready to drop his guard. It's still Autobot vs Decepticon, group vs group, with traitors hidden everywhere…"
"Why did you follow us here?" Predaking demanded. "Was it just to convince us not to abhor Prowl?"
"Uhm… sort of," Bluestreak said.
"Ulterior motives," Predaking uttered.
"No! I-I do think your species is remarkable… I did want to meet you… and make you feel more welcome. Because I know Prowl doesn't like you. I heard others saying you were dangerous. It isn't right. We should talk to each other, find common ground…"
"If Prowl wants to apologize to us, you make him," Ripclaw said. "But we don't want anything to do with him otherwise!"
"Right… You're really mad at him, I get it. He was mean to you…"
Predaking huffed. "You best go back to Prowl. I distrust whoever claims to be a friend of his."
"Al-alright…" Bluestreak said. "I'll go if you want me to, but…"
Predaking waved him off and the Autobot retreated back the way he had come. Relieved, Predaking slipped back into the hot oil and transformed to beast mode. The silence was sweet and his tail thumped against Skylynx's and Ripclaw's again.