~The bridge~
"Ya know for a first impression ya did a sucky job out there Cade." Jazz shook her helm in disbelief of the purple and black officer in the cell.
"Hmp, I'm not going to force bots that already hate me to try and like me. That's too much effortless effort and time wasted. Besides, she had it coming." Barricade sat in his cell on the cement block bench.
"You're on a different fraction now Barricade, and the most logical thing to do would be to make allies and quickly. Unfortunately though, due to your little 'display' that's going to be very hard for you now." Prowl crossed his arms and stared at the Ex-con though his gold visors.
"I don't really care about 'friends'. I didn't even have any on the Nemesis an I don't need any now; besides I'm not going to let any bot step all over me, no matter what 'fraction' I'm on."
"Ya jus got here! That and ya kinda started it ya self Mr. Loner." Jazz lifted an optic brow behind her visors.
"Regardless you'll need to start behaving Barricade. That is if you plan to stick around and get out of the bridge."
"Prowls right Cade, cuz if ya don't we'll have to keep you here or give ya back to Megs and I'm pretty sure he'll tear you apart after what ya just did." Jazz snickered a bit ta the thought.
"…" Barricade said nothing more as he lowered his helm and face away from the good cop and upbeat lieutenant.
"What about you Knockout?" Prowl optics slid to the red medic car.
"What about me?" Knockout sat on the chain suspended bench with her brilliant red legs crossed and servos in her lap.
"Why tag along with him? Why leave the Decepticons?" Prowl data pad and pen in servo, readily documenting any type of useful information.
"There's nothing else there for me. Besides I felt the need to come back to my Autobot roots. If you catch my drift." A small smirk beaming from her face plate.
"What do you mean knockout?"
"I mean I was an autobot before I was forced to join the cons, Barricade included."
"Lying won't change the situation you're in at the moment." Prowl crossed his arms in disbelief.
"She's not lying babe. They were in fact bot before cons."
"What! That's non sense! If they were, then there would have been records of them in the Autobot record file. It list every bot that is AND were Autobots."
"Unless their profiles were ordered to be locked away after they got their decepticon insignia. But ya know that's non of my biz"
"What's that's supposed to mean Jazz."
"What it means prowls is that Jazz was ordered to either erase or lock our files away. I might not be the brightest medic on the block, but that was pretty straight forward." Knockout propped her servo on her knee an simply stared at Prowl bore like.
Prowl glared at the medic from the corner of his optic, then back to Jazz. "You tampered with Valuables information Jazz."
"I did what I had to at the moment."
"At the moment hu?"
"Yes. At the moment. You don't really have input on anything that happen that day since you weren't even part of the team yet."
"Rather I was part of the team or not Jazz! You can't just go erasing information like that!"
"THINGS WEREN'T ALL SUNSHINE AND RAINBOWS AT THE TIME PROWL! I DID WHAT I HAD TO KEEP THE AUTOBOTS AND THEM SAFE!" Jazz digits pointed at the two cons. "YOU THINK THAT I'M ALWAYS PROUD OF SOME OF THE THINGS I HAVE TO DO! NO! I HAD ORDERS THAT I HAD TO FOLLOW!"
"ORDERS FROM WHO!? WHO WOULD WANT THESE TWO PROFILES LOCKED AWAY SO TIGHTLY THAT NOT EVEN TELETRAN KNOWS OF THEIR PRIOR ALLIANCE!"
"That would be me Prowl" Optimus casually made his way between his lieutenants. His deep voice dominating the sound of the bridge doors closing.
"Prime..?"
"As Jazz said, at the time things were not in our favor. Things had to be done to keeps other bots safe, alive. Sacrifices were made and horrible outcomes occurred. Even I do not like to think of what happen that day. However if you truly wish to know information on what happen. Do only ask me. Jazz had a hard enough time coping back then I won't make her go through it again."
Prowl kept quiet, his arms crisscrossed over his chassis and his helm tilted down. "Forgive me Jazz"
"Ya good, I guess. Forget what happened back then, what about now? What are we gonna do with these two? Cuz even I know that will go from cool to jacked up real quick." Jazz propped her right servo on her hips.
"Agreed Jazz; we can not simply throw then into the crew. Especially not with their current conflict with Ironhide and Chromia. However we will ease them into the crew and see how things go."
"How exactly will we do that sir? They will stick out an awful lot." Prowl doorwings twitched a bit.
"True, but there is at least one bot that is willing to keep watch of them without much problem." Optimus cuffed his chin and faceplate.
"Or maybe a certain femme these two don't mind being around."
"You do know were still here right?" Barricade lifted an optic brow in disbelief.
"To be honest Barricade, I don't think they are listen at the moment." Prowls optic cut to the cade.
"Of course not -_-" barricade simply shook his helm and continued to listen.
Prowl gave a soft chuckle to the cons in the cell behind him. "Don't worry I hear you."
Jazz glanced at Cade for a moment then to Knockout. " I think Bee would do fine 'escorting' these two around." A happy go lucky smile stretching across her faceplate.
Prowl instantly snapped back to Prime and Jazz conversation. "No way Jazz! We are NOT putting Bee in charge of these two!"
"I'm sorry Prowl, but I must agree with Jazz on this one. Bumblebee would be the best fit for this side mission."
"Prime sir, Bee is in no condition to be in charge of them. Or anything for that matter."
"Yo Prowl chill will ya, this isn't gonna happen right off the bat. Ya do know that Don't cha?"
Prime gave a soft chuckle at the two "Don't worry Prowl Bumblebee will not be doing anything anytime soon. Besides things are to stressed out throughout the crew its self. We'll let things calm down first and gather some information from the two of them before anything is to be put into motion. An as you said Prowl; Bumblebee is in no condition to be held responsible for the two of them. Putting her in charge of decepticons while she's not fully functional put her in extreme risk."
"Yes sir, but what of the twins?"
"I'm heading to medbay next to talk to them and find out what happened. For the time being go ahead an gather as much information you can from Barricade and Knockout. Jazz you're with me for the time being."
"Yes sir!" Prowl nodded his helm to Prime in approval and turn towards the 2 cons.
"I will be checking on you from time to time Prowl so comm me if you have any trouble."
"Of course sir."
"Jazz, lets go."
"Right behind ya OP." Jazz gave a quick frown before turning to leave with Prime.
The two left Prowl to work as they made their way to Ratchets Medbay. For a while neither said a word; they just simply walked in silence. A soft sigh escaping from Jazz lips.
"What seems to be the problem Jazz?"
"I'm starting to rethink my decision Optimus."
"Of letting Bumblebee be held responsible for this task?"
"Yea, it's not like I don't think she's not responsible or anything like dat, it's just. *Sigh*
Look I know ya can't really give anyone a break or what not, but she's still a kid Prime. Besides if ya knew what happen on the Lost Light then-"
"Is what happen on the Lost Light what caused my '3rd in command' and 'Weapons Specialist' to attack one another?" Optimus optics cut down at Jazz in disappointment.
Jazz peered away rubbing the back of her helm.
"Hehehea so ya still mad bout that…" she chuckled nervously.
"How could I not when both the leaders of my team are at each other's neck."
Jazz didn't say anything.
"That wasn't like you Jazz. I could expect mild behavior like that from Ironhide, but never you. I don't know what happen on the Lost Light those two years. That you are correct of, but was that the time or place for that?"
"N-no Sir." Jazz kept her pace beside Prime; shamefully silent.
Prime released a heavy vent before operating his com link to the other members of last nights mission.
"Ironhide, you and mirage will meet me in my office la-" The commander was cut off when something yellow bumped into him catching his attention.
"Sunny? Shouldn't ya be in medbay with Sides and Bee?" Jazz watch Sunstreaker continue to storm off angrier than usual.
Prime caught sight of Sideswipe quickly gliding around the corner towards Jazz. Swiftly he pulled Jazz out the red Lamborghinis' path just in time.
"Uh t-thanks Optimus..."
"S-sorry Sir! SUNSTREAKER WAIT UP!" Sideswipe rushed like a streak of red paint and disappeared around the corner just as quickly as he appeared.
Jazz and Optimus both just watched. Prime simply shook his helm an proceeded to medbay. Walking down the final corridor and through the medbay doors while Jazz stayed closely behind.
"So you finally made it here I see. It took you long enough!" Ratchet sat in a stool looking over a datapad.
"Forgive me old friend I had a few other things to tend to before coming here." Prime quietly stepped to Bumblebee and simply rubbed her recharging helm; earning a soft smile.
"Its alright I had business of my own to settle with the twins. Things are uncomfortably even, for now."
"What's that 'posed to mean Ratch?" Jazz tilted her helm in a bit of confusion at the statement.
"Well, I'll start by saying the twins had a LOT to do with what happen the other night."
The statement caught Optimus attention. "How so old friend?"
"From what Bee has told me they are having trouble controlling their Decepticons
coding again."
"Exactly how much trouble Ratch?" Jazz tilted her helm in a bit of misunderstanding. She propped her servo on her hip joint casually.
"To the point Jazz were Bee nearly got killed in the crossfire."
"Alright that's a lot of bad trouble. What happen though, I mean they were doing just fine with it before we left. You mean to tell me they got worse over the span of 2 years?"
"After you all left they started to have minor 'episodes'. At first they weren't that bad. They just stayed locked in their quarters." Ratchet let out a heavy sighed.
"At first?" Jazz lifted an unseen brow under her visors and corrected her posture.
Ratchet watched as Prime left Bumblebee's berth side to engage in the topic more.
"Yes Jazz, at the beginning things were normal and they both had a good handle on things. However those 'episodes' began to happen more frequently. The frequent recurrence of these 'episodes' caused them to become-"
"Unstable." Optimus completed Ratchets sentence subtly.
"Yes, It's now starting to become a physical and mental issue. If we don't get a lock on this now then their pretty much useless, as well as dangerous" Ratchet crossed his arms, keeping a undamaged datapad in one servo.
"What are ya gonna do if it comes down to them not getting a handle on things then Prime?" Jazz waited for his reaction.
Prime let out a low, but heavy vent. Remaining quiet as he looked at Ratchet for a better solution. Ratchet simply nodded. "I'll have to offline them. I pray to Primus that it will not come to that. They have become like family."
"YOU'RE KIDDING RIGHT! YOU CAN'T JUST GUN 'EM DOWN LIKE THEIR JUST…JUST WILD ANIMALS OR SOMETHING!" Jazz servos flew through the air in correspondence to her emotions.
Prime stood with his arms crossed and his optics closed.
"I care for the twins Jazz; just as I care for everyone on board. However I must think of everyone's lives." Primes glanced over to Bumblebee. Assuring Jazz understood the value of the others on board the ark.
"Main reason why we must do whatever we can to keep that from happening Jazz! If Sideswipe and Sunstreaker both lose control of this specific Coding and these 'episode' get any worse; then it'll be the ARC vs. the Twins. Trust me when I say that the Arc will not be the victors of that battle." Ratchets optics cut deep into Jazz visors.
Jazz remained silent for a moment taking all that in and reading between the lines. "Does any of the other bots know?"
"No an it would be best to just keep it between the 3, well 4 of us." Ratchet never let up his gaze.
"4? Let me guess Bee the fourth?"
"No Firestar is."
"What? Why Starry? You're just pullin' her in randomly don't cha think."
"Trust me Jazz, she knows about this issues more than you think." Ratchet digits tapped lightly on his forearm rhythmically.
"Oh, how so? Do enlighten me Ratch."
Optimus Stood between the medic and lieutenant careful listening to the two. "Firestar is Sunstreaker and Sideswipe carrier Jazz."
"WHAT! NU UN! YOU LIEIN'!" Jazz's posture stiffen from shock.
"Quiet down Jazz! Bumblebee is finally getting the rest she needs, DON'T WAKE HER!" Ratchet quickly shushed Jazz with a loud whisper.
"Sorry, sorry, but I wouldn't expect Starry to be the twins carrier. I always has suspicions but, ya know. Anyway do ya mind me asking who the sire is then?"
"Fortress Maximus is their Sire"
"Wow, well explains the twins height an strength. So wait, what happen. I mean why doesn't she tell the twins this. I know too well that the twins would be glad to find out info about their care takers."
"It's not that simple Jazz. Firestar had to go through a lot to ensure the twins safety. One of them was to make sure the twins did not know of their creators."
"Okay, so good personal reasons. But how'd they end up with the Cons so early on? Starry wouldn't just give 'em up, right?"
Optimus nodded his helm to the special ops.
"Correct, but, even I do not know exactly what happen. However from what Elita has told me when they found Firestar the day the twins had just emerged. It took some convincing her to let Elita and the team bring her back to the base to get checked out." Prime took a big intake and continued on.
"Initially Elitas team was supposed to regroup with us that current week.
"What happen to throw Lita off course?"
Fortress Maximus happened. He found out the where about of their base and attacked them during the middle of the night. I am assuming during the raid is when Firestar had a confrontation with Maximus and lost the twins."
"Man…so what happen after words?"
"Its more of who happened, Don't you agree Ratchet?" Optimus turned to Ratchet with a faint smile.
"Indeed, Though it is unfortunate my brother was treated like a traitor for what he had done."
"Ya mean the whole Joining the cons and then back to us thing? Wait, whats he gotta do with the twins?"
"Well Since dear old Ironhide forced our little brother to join the war very early on, our dearest brother became quite a good fit. At the time he was the special ops. If I'm not mistaken he trained you his self Jazz."
"He did, But what does-"
"I'm getting to that!"
":[..."
Optimus chuckled at the two and let Ratchet continue on.
"My brothers was our Special Ops before you were, obviously. Though his methods were a bit extreme he got the job done flawlessly. On one of his missions he asked for Firestar to tag along with him.
"It was quite a shocked when he asked for her to come along. I saw no reason at the time to not allow her to go so I gave him the okay." Optimus glanced to Bumblebee yet again.
"There were gone for about 3 to 4 days before the returned. When they returned My brother mate was the first to meet Firestar. The 3 chatted for a second before she burst into a big smile. It had been a rough couple of months for her. It turned out that he had been tracking the nemesis for quite some time and caught wind of what was going on. He brought her along so she could see that her sparkling were okay and alive. He snuck her in and she got to hold them again."
"I since there's a twist…" Jazz frowned a bit before letting the medic continue on.
"Hook and shockwave had been feeding qualified sparklings red and dark energon mix formula. Testing to see how the CNA would react to the destruction and reconstruction of their very being. My brother did a bit of digging and found out that Fortress maximus was a successful prodigy of the very first experiment. So his sparkling were next in line and since he had twins it made it more phenomenal.
"what the experiments consist of? Other then that toxic mix of energons."
"Sparkling splicing; Shockwave would do take a carrying femme or mech and splice its CNA with dark energon. He would wait to see if it effected the sparkling development process. Which it did; most times however the sparkling would be lost. However if he discovered that the splice had to happen at a specific gestation period of early development. If successful the sparkling would became chimera to the carrier. Only matching CNA to the sire. Barricade is a good example this experiment.
Jazz felt a little bad for the cop con. Overall he wasn't a bad kid, just his up bringing was wrong. "So what of the caretakers of the unemerged sparkling? Don't they get a say?
Ratchet paused for a moment feeling bad for the few caretakers that cared for their sparkling "Not really Jazz. Commonly the carrier would refuse to even acknowledge their growing tanks as anything, the sire would forcefully take care of his mate. To ensure that shockwaves work went without any problems. Blackout and Black Arachnida for example. Blackout had to assure Arachnids safety and health. I will say though Blackout sincerely cared for Barricade. He assured his safety even after his emergence. "
"So the twins went through this same splicing experiment as did Barricade correct?"
"Yes. More or less every experiment has its major pros and cons. Which later on resulted in my brother bringing the twins, Barricade and Knockout here. As an attempt to save them."
"Okay so how come we never see Cade or Knockout or even the jet twins tweaking out like the Lambos?"
"From the information we had on our database about their situation everything was set in motion and going perfectly according to the decepticons notes. What messed up everything was the fact that they split into twins after the splicing had occurred. So everything was now unproportionable; Or so they thought. What ended up happen was that Sideswipe AND Sunstreaker doubled their dark energon levels after becoming two separate sparks. So it was no longer the correct amount to balance out with their natural levels. They struggled with this as a child as well, just not to this degree. The older the twins get the more the dark energon replace certain physical CNA traits. Bumblebee mentioned earlier that when the situation had happen their optics had changed colors and their digit became claw like. Though they've had fangs since they were little so that not really a new thing to me at this point."
"Ratchet do you believe there is a cure, r maybe a way to lower the amount in their system?" Optimus stood with his arms folded curious of the medics reply.
"Possibly, I'm not sure. I would think that shockwave would have created one just in case something were to go wrong. However, knowing Shockwave he more than likely created a stimulant rather then a cure. Remember Optimus Shockwave and Megatron were trying to control them; if they got killed in the process, oh well."
"Man, that's fragged up to a whole new level. So you mean Maxy had been forcing Star to go along with this the entire time. Then; even afterwards they still used the Lambos as test subjects. I applaud my teacher man; he did what he could to save them. I mean it worked for so long." Jazz simply shook her helm at the thought. Reminiscing at all the times he would be gone and, all the things he had done before joining the well of all sparks.
"Indeed Jazz; Thus why I asked him to be my Special Op. He was capable of doing the things that most other mechs or femmes could." Optimus simply gave a smile to the thought.
"He even got close enough to Shockwave to Get all this. Trust me when I say that mech isn't easy to fool and can see through any lie."
"You seem to know an awful lot about Shockwave and, his work Ratchet; Even his thinking patterns…"
Bumblebee was sitting in her berth; her legs crossed over one another and her servos in the middle.
"Heyya Bee how ya feeling!" Jazz put on a big smile and a bit enthusiasm for her.
"I'm fine Jazz, thank you for asking though." She gave a soft smile to Jazz breifly before presuming her gaze back to the leader and CMO.
"How long have you been up Bumblebee?" Asked the CMO.
Bumblebee gave an awkward smile to him. "Not too long I guess."
Optimus cleared his vocals for speaking out. "Forgive me old friend, but i must be taking my leave. I have yet to talk to the twins or Ironhide. We''ll discuss everything later on."
"Yes sir." Ratchet watched as Prime left with Jazz right behind him.
"I'll chit chat with ya later Bee!" Jazzed waved off to the scout happily.
Bee gave Jazz and Prime a light smile, and wave as she watched the two leave. The moment those doors closed her attention went straight to the medic. "…Hey…"
"Are you feeling better?" Ratchet turned away from the young scout.
"Ratchet…what's going on with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker?" Bee sat there patiently slightly worried about the twins.
"Here." He hands her a fresh energon cube while avoiding optic contanct with her. "You've been in recharge for a good few hours; you need to keep your levels up." He turned back around collecting a few data pads together
"Ratchet…" she played with the cube for a moment before setting it to the side an hopping off. "Will they get worse?"
"How much did you hear..?"
"Enough to know that, the twins are at risk of. Well, being something other then Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. So? What's the plan?"
"Bumblebees, this isn't something you can just jump into without all information. They are dangerous Bee, to you especially! They could of offline you!"
"But instead they teased me, played with me, an surrendered. If they really wanted to off me they would have done it Ratch."
Ratchet stood silent for a long moment. "Just…just stay away from them Bee. Please."
Bee hopped off and leaned against her berth; softly playing with the I.V drip. "Ratchet their part of the crew! I can't just up and not socialize with them; especially without a reason. Second why, why are you so bent on them staying away from me? I get the feeling you are hiding something from me. Whatever it is, it seems to be important...But it doesn't matter does it. You'll never tell me, will you?"
"Just this once Bee, just do as I ask." Ratchet finally looked up to face the young scout. The expression of exhaustion, sternness and plead plastered on his faceplate. He simply watched as she looked at him completely hollow. ( I've never seen her so blank. Almost horrifying to see her so…empty.)
She let out a heavy vent an unplug the drip from her arm. " I'm sorry Ratchet, but no. I can't do that an if that's how you feel about this whole ordeal then I'll head you word outside the confines of the medbay."
"Bumblebees what are you- you are not leaving this Medbay in your condition. Especially not to go see Sideswipe and Sunstreaker!" Ratchet stood an blocked the exit.
"Ratchet…"
"I AM NOT ABOUT TO WATCH YOU WALK TO YOUR DEATH!
"Please step aside Ratchet. At least let me out to talk to them. Let me try Ratchet, and besides were here at the base there are too many optics looking." She waved her servo over the sensor to open the door.. "I'm sorry Ratchet, but I have something I have to do." She qickly sidestepped around Ratchet and pushed him just enough for her to get by. " Sorry Ratchet! You can scold me later!"
The medic stumbled out of the way; swiftly reaching for her as he clearly misses. "BUMBLEBEE!"
Bumblebee took off down the corridor at full speed.
(I'm so dead when he gets ahold of me. Now where would a slightly hostile, tall frontliner be off to?) She slowed her pace once she got to the more congested areas of the base. Saying hello to a few of the bots that she got along with. Making sure to avoid Jazz and especially Prime; knowing they would literally carry her back to medbay.
"BITTY BEE!"
"Hu? Whose...Jetfire! Hey!" She made her way to him with ease.
"Hey! What are you be doing out of Medbay?" Jetfire stood towering over everyone else in the rec room. His massive jet wings fluttering a bit from excitement and confusion.
"Maybe..." Bee tapped her 2 index digits together lightly and pouted a bit. Just as a sparkling would do knowing that they have done something wrong.
" You are escaping aren't you?" a huge smile plastered on his faceplate.
"…."
"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! You are to being so offline when he finds out."
"He, uh, kinda already knows...he was blocking the exit..."
"...It was nice of meeting you bitty bee while it lasts." Jetfire couldn't decide rather to smile or laugh hysterically.
"Ha, ha, laugh it up why don't ya."
"Oh! I am!" His servo over his mouth holding back a hard chuckle.
"Anyway; have you seen Sunstreaker?"
"Yes, he was coming through not to long ago. He seemed extremely angry. More to being so than usual. He headed towards the balcony area I am believing."
"Thanks, Jetfire! Also, don't tell Ratchet or Sides where I ran off to...please?"
"Of course, BittyBee. Good luck and we will to being seeing you later."
"Yea! See ya and thanks again!" She waved off, dodging through the older mechs and femmes that were coming and going to the rec room. Cutting through unused corridors that eventually lead to the upper area of the arc.
(Now where are you Sunny? ...You would be in the most isolated part of the base!)
She walked the empty halls that had been neglected for so long. "Sunstreaker...Sunny...It's me...Bumblebee." The dark empty halls simply echoed her voice back.
(This is creepy, then again whenever I did come up here when I was younger it was even creepier so, yea, don't know why thought it would get better with ti-)
*CRASH!*
"What the-" she followed the sound all the way to the farthest crack of the dark corridor. She heaved the door open enough trying not to startle the mech.
"GET LOST SIDESWIPE!"
"Uh, sorry Sunny, but I'm not Sides." Sunstreaker was leaned up against the cold metal wall. His forarms above his helm as the slit of his purple optics peaked through under his arm.
"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be with Ratchet in the medbay. Also, how the frag did you find me?" The sound of his massive frame shuffling about echoed loudly though the room. The darkness covering his body; even his silhouette.
"I was coming to check on you."
"You need to be more worried about your own wellbeing."
She simply gave the frontliner a soft smile. "Maybe..."
GUYS! I. AM. ALIVE! LOL seriously though this chapter had me stuck for a while and I couldn't decide what direction I wanted to go with this story. Also I lost all kinds of motivation to do anything then life got complicated an blah blah blah. So yes! Also I know it ends a bit awkwardly just bare with me. A lot happens in this chapter xD
An very special thanks to this Anonymous lovely! Aquarius89
Thank you for your comment. I wasn't going to continue initially; I thought no one liked it. Especially after I re-wrote all 6 chapters; However, after I read your message I got right on. So thank you love.