Q&A
Sakumon16
This looks amazing. And it's nice to see a good Airachnid. But I so need good images!
Answer:
Check out my community Discord in the fan art section or my DeviantArt page. My custom artwork for that character are there.
Chapter 2: A Tough Call And Revelations
Ark Med Bay
Optimus entered the med bay, They were extremely lucky that the ark's med bay seemed to be relatively intact. There were some pieces of equipment that were no longer functional but Ratchet assured him that they were easy to fix. The ark Apparently had crashed land on the planet centuries ago causing it to be eventually buried by the sands of time. The ark would never fly again but at least it did its job and got them to this planet. Even though they were awakened a lot later than they expected. But that did not concern him, what concerned him was the two unconscious beings in the Med bay. One of them was his youngest charge Arcee, Who wouldn't have gotten hurt if he wasn't so careless. The other one was a being that seemed to inhabit this world, and that same child lying unconscious was slowly being converted into a cybertronian.
If you wish to see the artwork of this, check out my community Discord
The boy somehow had merged with the Allspark. Which according to Ratchet should have been an impossibility. But Optimus knew, that it was possible due to the information that the matrix of leadership had. The Allspark was capable of matter-energy manipulation, which means it should be possible for it to do this. But the question was why. The Allspark was a piece of Primus himself and according to the matrix of leadership, it held a piece of Primus's spark as well as all his knowledge. Optimus wondered if the Allspark was sentient in a way and he guessed he now had proof. But the question is, is the boy who now has all of the future of all cybertronians in his hands worthy of holding such power? It was only one way to get the information and he did not like it and he knew Ratchet Would like it a lot less.
"Ratchet status." Optimus Prime said in an authoritative tone.
"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" Ratchet asked after giving out A long Sigh of exasperation.
"The good news first." Optimus said as he sat down next to the bedside of Arcee.
Optimus could hide it well, but Ratchet knew Optimus for a very long time and he could easily tell that he still felt responsible for letting Arcee go into a dangerous situation, At least he had some good news for him then.
"Well first Arcee Should be fine, she probably will wake up in a couple of hours. The only thing concerning is the new components that she manifested. There are five in total and I only know how one of them functions, the rest I have no clue." Ratchet said causing Optimus to raise his eyebrow questioningly. Deciding to answer his unanswered question ratchet continued.
"The component that I was able to recognize is a bioscan translator and a very advanced one at that. As you know a bio scan translator allows a cybertronian To transform into a bio-form. Normally a Cybertronian's T-cog (cybertronian organ that allows them to transform,) Cannot understand a biological structure, it simply does not know how to process the information. The bio-scan translator takes that information and then processes it. It then creates a format that a cybertronian's T-cog could process and use to transform into a bioform." Ratchet says As he reads off The Datapad where he keeps his notes on the two patients in his med bay.
"Isn't that the same component that Airachnid has?" Optimus asked confused. Because according to his knowledge that device was designed by her, which was later replicated by various other cybertronians. That component was very rare so how did Arcee develop one all of a sudden?
"Yeah, when she woke up and I showed it to her she was extremely surprised and excited. Apparently, the one she developed was actually from a corrupted file she found that had a partial blueprint of the component and it took her years to build a working prototype. The one that Arcee has is the real deal. I gave Airachnid a couple of detailed scans of the device, which she's studying right now. Anyway, the other components I have no idea what they're used for. But right now they're dormant, so we do not need to worry about it at the moment." Ratchet says which caused Optimus to frown a bit. Four components that not even Ratchet could identify were worrisome. But if Ratchet isn't concerned about them he shouldn't either. Turning his head back to ratchet he asked his next question.
"What about the boy?" Optimus asked.
"Well, that's where the bad news comes in. There's no way I can reverse the process or stop it, doing so will kill the boy. HIs physical maturity of his Cybertronian physiology Is about the same as Arcee's. Which if my guess is right, it matches What remains of his organic body. Although, I can't be sure about that, since I had not studied any of his species before. His brain and neural Pathways have already been converted as well as Half his body and four of his internal organs. At how fast it is Progressing, within a day and a half the boy would be converted into a Cybertronian. Not to mention that he is developing the same Parts as Arcee. They also both have bio patterns already saved in their Bio scanner memory Core. I do not know what forms that were scanned but I locked them so they don't accidentally access them." Ratchet said after letting out a long Sigh. This made Optimus's earlier decision a little bit harder, But a lot more crucial than before. Making his decision he looked at Ratchet and speaks up.
"I want you to do an information retrieval on the boy's Memory core." Optimus said causing Ratchet to reel back like somebody hit him.
"You... you can't be serious. The boy has committed no crime, Because of that, such a procedure is a violation of his Cybertronian rights. The boy may be only half cybertronian now, but at the end of the day, we're going to have to treat him like one of our own." Ratchet said Half shocked half angry at what Optimus said.
The procedure that Optimus was requesting him to do was to extract all the information from a cybertronian's memory core. It allowed them to review every information that the cybertronian had gathered including their memories as well as their thoughts. It was a huge breach of privacy and was usually reserved for extremely dangerous war criminals who would not cooperate. To do this to a child, let alone a child who had done nothing wrong, made him understandably furious.
"I know, but we need to know if the boy is going to become another Megatron or not. The power of the Allspark is simply too great to be In the hands of somebody who is not worthy of wielding it. You and I will be the only ones viewing the boy's memories and Unless it is for ours or the boy's safety that information will be kept Confidential." Optimus said causing Ratchet to suppress his anger.
Optimus was right, he didn't like it but he was right. For all they knew this kid could be a mass murderer even though that was unlikely. But something like the Allspark they could not leave up to chance. So ratchet with extreme reluctance got the equipment together to perform a data retrieval. The second that he was about to hook up the equipment to the boy, Airachnid walked into the room with a data pad in her hand. Spotting what Ratchet and Optimus were doing she instantly knew what they were planning, and to say she was Furious was an understatement. But after they explained their reasoning she agreed to let them if she was the one that oversees the operation. During her time in the Decepticons, she was an interrogator As well as one of their scientists. So she knows how to Use the equipment better than Ratchet ever could.
Unfortunately, this meant that she too was going to need to Look over the boy's memories. But that was a small price to pay for an expert hand on such a delicate operation. Once the information was extracted all Three of them went over the memories. The problem with data retrievals was Having to deal with an ungodly amount of information, especially for older cybertronians. It is also very invasive and could cause damage to the individual to the point of data loss. But that usually depends on age and luckily for the boy, he was young enough that the risks were minimal, and the information was a lot smaller. But still, 14 years of information is a lot of information to go through. But thanks to Airachnid's expertise they were able to go through the information pretty quickly. And what they saw shocked, disgusted, and angered the three. The boy lived through hell, Being abused daily because of the way he was born and being scorned for what he wanted to be.
It reminded Airachnid of her early life, Her purpose in life was decided The day she was born, to be in an extermination unit. The extermination units were seen as the lowest of the worker class And as such she suffered dearly. Her main task was to Exterminate these spiders that fed on Energon. The amount that a hive consumed(which could consist of tens of thousands) was so minuscule that they didn't oppose a threat to any Cybertonian health. But the fact that they consumed Energon was enough for the higher-ups to mark them for extermination. But Airachnid never had The will or the heart to do it. Instead, she captured them and kept them, So she could study them. She was fascinated that somehow an organic species could consume Energon as her species could. The more she collected the more she got attached to them. Being an extermination unit was a Lonely existence. So those little creatures were the only form of companionship that she could get.
But when the higher-ups found out about this they arrested her and killed off the spiders that she was taking care of. It's why she joined the cybertronian rights movement. it was The same movement that Optimus and Megatron led. If she knew that Megatron lied when he said that Optimus Betrayed their movement for power, She would never have joined the Decepticons. At the time she thought Optimus had Betrayed everything that they worked hard and fought for. And it was only after a grueling battle between the two as well as a long talk that she ended up seeing that he was not the man she thought he was. It was that day she scratched out the Decepticon symbol on her chest and carved her new symbol into her own plating.
She knew if instead of the higher-ups repurposing her, And had instead left her on the streets After they burned her living quarters filled with the only creatures that gave her any form of companionship. She probably would have done the same thing that kid attempted to do and ended her existence. But that's the question, why didn't he die, she's positive that the fall would kill him so why didn't he? Looking over the data again she found where the data was located for his last minute of memory. Her eyes widened in shock at what came up. Showing the other two, Quickly they too were shocked.
"That was the voice of Primus." Optimus said shock evident in his tone.
"You can't be serious Optimus, how can that be the voice of Primus, that's impossible." Ratchet said flabbergasted at Optimus's words.
"I am positive that was the voice of Primus." Optimus said with certainty in his tone.
"How can you be so sure Optimus?" Airachnid asked dumbfounded at Optimus's statement.
"It is because when I received the Matrix of leadership I heard that same voice. It told me itself it was Primus." His words caused the two to go silent and as they thought over the implications. The Silence continued for a couple of minutes before Airachnid broke it, by standing up and speaking.
"Well, at least we know for a fact that the Allspark is in good hands." Arachnid said as she left the room. Both Ratchet and Optimus could not help but agree with her words. Optimus stayed for a couple more minutes before leaving Ratchet to continue doing his work. Especially since Optimus needed to start making some plans for the new member of their little family.
4 Hours Later
The minute that Arcee woke up she was looked over by Ratchet before being escorted into one of the cargo Bays where everybody else was waiting. Optimus planned on telling everybody what he did as well as important information. Originally he was against the idea but Airachnid reminded him that the boy had just gone through something traumatic. If they didn't tell him and he found out they would lose all trust with the boy. Not to mention the other Autobots deserve to know what they did and why. Not because they might lose their trust in them. But because the boy was going to go through some serious changes to his life and they were going to need everybody on board to help him.
Optimus could not help but reluctantly agree. If anything Airachnid probably knew the boy better than he did due to their similar upbringings. Not to mention her expertise in psychology made her even more qualified. Optimus knew that the skills that She developed in the Decepticon scientific and interrogation core were questionable but Without a doubt valuable skills. He also knew that her time as an interrogator took a heavy toll on her and that she blamed herself for being tricked.
He knew that She honestly thought that she was doing the right thing and the people that she was interrogating were like the same scum who destroyed her companions. The same scum that wanted to oppress Them once again, and he had to admit in the early stages of the war he had some Cybertronian's under his Command Who had those views. But he made sure to quickly take care of that issue. If it wasn't for that battle she had with him Several million years ago she probably would have turned into something as Twisted as Megatron. Optimus shivered at the thought, he did not want to fight an evil Airachnid especially one as Twisted as Megatron. Shaking his head away from those thoughts and getting back on topic he explained to the group what he had done. They were honestly upset but could understand why he did it. He also explained what the boy went through but he made sure not to go into too much detail and only said what was needed.
He told them that he was abused and mistreated because he was born different. On this planet, The local population has what are called quirks and he was born without one and because of that, he was abused. He told them that he had no family as well as his attempt at suicide. Optimus knew that they needed to know this so they could look for warning signs, Especially as he Transitioned. He also explained due to how they treated people differently, that they were going to have to do their best to hide themselves. If the population found out that they were aliens, who knows what they would do?
Optimus knew that they were stuck here, the ark was way too damaged to ever fly again and the planet's technological Advancements had not got to the point where intergalactic space travel was possible. So they were stuck here possibly for life, That means they needed to blend in. There was also the problem that the ship's stores of Energon were extremely Low. Luckily the planet had a lot of scattered deposits of Energon all across it. If they were right It was enough to feed several planets' worth of Cybertronians for years.
The problem was getting to it without being noticed. Optimus hoped that the boy could help them with that, he knew the planet way more better than they did. From what the information they were able to gather from him was anything to go by he was extremely intelligent. For now, they needed to Scavenge Anything that they could from the ark, So if they did have to move they could do it quickly. Luckily that would take several days and hopefully by the time they were done taking what was salvageable he would be up and about. But if he could be helpful only time will tell.
Notes:
I hope you like the story, leave a review if you have any suggestions or ideas. This is cross-posted on Archive of our own.
I made a Discord which the link is below. If you wish to support me with comments or cash, or with some fanart, The Discord has all the spots and information for you to do so. Once my second fanfiction is established I will start setting up some meet and greets in the Discord. Keep an eye on the Events announcement tab for that.
Also if you are a fellow writer you are welcome to join my Discord and spread your content and interact with the community that I'm building.
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