Glad you like it : D
and go ahead i don't if you post it anywhere else, made it for your story anyway.
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More Than Meets the Spy (SPY X FAMILY/Transformers)
- Thread starter MetropolisMCU
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- transformers
and go ahead i don't if you post it anywhere else, made it for your story anyway.
Mission 5: Drinking and Driving
Longest chapter of this fic thus far is now ready to go (though I say that, and I just know somewhere down the line I'll end up writing an even longer chapter. It's inevitable).
This chapter was actually inspired by a comment made by The Creative writer, and if you're on the Spacebattles thread, you can already gleam what this chapter's gonna be about. Then again, I changed the name from the previously mentioned "Storing Up on Energon" to a more fitting one that gives it away.
Not much else to say other than that I hope you all enjoy the chapter.
Special thanks to SwapAUAnon and Quantum01 for Beta Reading.
Mission 5: Drinking and Driving
The drive back to his start-up base (it was more of a hiding hole at this point though) was more than a bit stressful for Bumblebee. A good chunk of it did stem from the fact that he'd just gotten back from a power plant in Ostania, having barely managed to keep hidden from the guards there as he fired up the Energon converter. He was still calming down from that, but it admittedly was less stressful than the cargo he carried in his back seat.
Here's to hoping I got it right, Bumblebee turned his rearview mirrors and looked at the cargo in question. Next to his converter were three glowing blue cubes of Energon, and the first he'd ever made by himself. The fact that he wasn't sure whether or not he screwed up in making it was another contributor to his panic, but that paled in comparison to the final and biggest reason: getting back to his hiding spot without setting it off.
"Don't-want...BRRZT...*explosion sound*-happen," Bumblebee experimented with the different radio channels, trying to form something resembling a coherent sentence. Thankfully, traffic was incredibly light tonight, with the sidewalks having few pedestrians as well. He hoped that his windows hid the glow of the Energon cubes. Odds were someone would find it suspicious that the interior of a yellow car was glowing an ominous blue. Well, that and it'd draw attention to the fact that he didn't have a driver at the moment.
Almost there, Bumblebee sighed in relief as he recognized the foliage surrounding his spot next to the supply store, slowing down just a bit when he saw people walking out of it. Not taking any chances, he entered the parking lot and stationed himself under a light, hoping it would drown out the Energons' glow. From the looks of it, it was just a small family of four; a mother with brown hair, a father with black hair, and two wards taking after the mother in looks. The son was about Anya's age and wide awake while the daughter seemed younger and was held in her mother's arms. The father, meanwhile, was carrying a few bags of provisions in his hands. Both parents were happily chatting, saying something about a possible vacation to somewhere called Hugaria, as they walked past Bumblebee's still form, not paying him or the blue glow in his backseat any mind.
Huh, that vacation they were talking about sounds pretty nice, Bumblebee mused as the family entered their car and drove out of sight. For a moment, he stayed there and wondered what a vacation was like. Maybe it was something he'd have a chance to go on someday? Families seemed to go on them here, so perhaps one with the Forgers wasn't out of the question. But the second it entered his head; he shook it off and started driving to his hiding spot. Gonna have to face the facts, Bumblebee, he transformed once he was hidden behind the trees and carried the Energon and converter in his arms, You can't interact with anyone here, so no matter how much you'd like that, it's impossible. Besides, you're in the middle of a war and have a base to get started on, he thought as he stood in front of the covered hole, No time for vacations.
As soon as he finished removing the stones, he entered and placed everything inside. With a nod, he turned to head back to the Forger residence, but stopped when an errant thought entered his processor, Should I test the Energon myself first? He looked back at the three cubes and picked one up. Normally, it was better to test the Energon via specialized equipment, which he sadly didn't have on him. Not to mention he had no idea how to jury rig any for himself. There were two potential avenues; the first being that he got it wrong and would be too sick to get back to the Forger residence on time. The second was that he got it right and was worrying over nothing.
Either way, odds were that he wouldn't find out if he just left.
Well, Bumblebee brought the cube up to his mouth and took a drink, Bottoms up.
"Ugh," Anya groaned as she felt something nudge her. Instead, she turned away from it to get some sleep, snuggling into her blankets. But before she could go back to dreaming of mama and papa stopping a big bomb from blowing up the city, her blankets were pulled off the bed along with her. "Ow!" she fell to the floor and rubbed her eyes, tears forming in them. She didn't cry though, since a familiar, slobbering tongue licked at her face. Blinking, she saw it was Bond, who looked super sorry for pulling her out of bed.
"Borf," he quietly yipped. Anya was annoyed, but Bond kept licking her face, and she couldn't help but smile and let out giggles.
"It's okay Bond," Anya hugged her dog, "But why'd you wake me up?"
Bond looked really scared of something as Anya realized his future vision was probably why. Staring into his eyes, she focused on his thoughts and read his mind, seeing images of a big yellow robot with a black stripe walking around the city. Is that what Bumblebee really looks like? Anya wondered, but she didn't have time to think about that. The next thing she saw was him stumbling about, bumping into people and driving them to panic.
And now Anya was panicking.
"Oh no," she said, shaking Bond's head, "Bond, what do we do? Mister Bumblebee can't be seen!" If people saw Bumblebee, they'd call someone, then they'd try to catch him. If he got caught, they'd stick him in a lab, poke him and run a bunch of tests just like what those people did with her. Plus, if he was caught, then the secret police could figure out Papa bought him, then they'd look into him, then Mama, then they'd all be found out, then...
World peace is in danger! Anya shook Bond's head even harder, "What do we do Bond!? What. Do. We. Do?"
"...Borf."
"You're right!" Anya whispered as loud as she could without waking her parents. She got changed out of her pajamas and into her everyday clothes with a black, fuzzy coat. "Starlight Anya and Bond have to save Mister Bumblebee!" she opened the door to her room and looked both ways, tip-toing to her parents' rooms and saw they were fast asleep.
"Borf?" Bond yipped just behind her, with Anya shushing him.
"They're sleeping," she whispered and tip-toed to the apartment door, "Let's go Bond. We gotta bring Bumblebee back."
"Borf," Bond barked as Anya slowly opened the door, letting both of them out before gently closing it behind them. When they were out into the streets, she hopped onto Bond's back, and he started running as fast as he could. He knew where Mister Bumblebee was, so Anya'd let him lead the way. Anya scrunched her face to look as much as Papa when he was super serious.
Hang on Mister Bumblebee. No scary people are gonna take you away, or my name isn't Starlight Anya!
Anya had no idea how long she'd been riding on Bond's back, or how long she'd been out looking for Mister Bumblebee. What she did know was that Bond was getting tired and starting to slow down. Wanting to give her dog a break, she got off his back and ran forward.
"Mister Bumblebee!" Anya shouted, "Where are you!?"
No one answered. The streets were empty with no cars or aliens in sight.
Maybe I shouldn't yell, Anya realized, remembering that Bumblebee didn't know that she knew that he was secretly an alien robot. But at the same time, that made things harder since she had to help him stay out of sight without him seeing her. How am I gonna do that? Anya put a hand to her chin and entered "thinking mode", And why's Bumblebee out like this? He's usually super smart about hiding. Is he looking for something too? Are there more space aliens here? What abo-
"Borf!"
"Just one second, Bond. Anya's thinking of something."
"Borf!" Bond bit her sleeve and pulled her back onto his back, forcing her to hold on tight as he zoomed down an alleyway. He ran down one corner, then another, then straight until he ran into a dead end. Bond sniffed the air, then barked, looking like he had another vision. Anya didn't get to see it, since he ran back and turned down a different corner.
"Bond, did you find Bumblebee?" Anya asked, but that was answered when she heard a loud crashing noise around the corner just ahead. Bond ran and turned, revealing to Anya a large yellow robot that looked like he fell face first on the floor. "Bumblebee!" Anya shouted, immediately regretting it when the robot lifted his head, Oh no, now he's gonna know that we know and run away. Instead of freaking out, Bumblebee made a loud, whirring noise as his...eyes? Lenses? The robot version of eyes drooped like he was about to sleep. He made a few more beeps and boops, with Anya realizing he was trying to talk. Since she couldn't understand what he was saying, she closed her eyes and focused, reading his mind.
Whash's Anya doing here? And why are the four of her...shpinning? Bumblebee's head was looking in a circle, like he was trying to follow something, Heh, that's a fluffy looking protoform.
Why're Bumblebee's thoughts all weird? Anya wondered, They're a lot like when Momma and Uncle Scruffy were... her eyes widened and she understood, Oh I get it! He's drunk! That's why he's stumbling around all...wait, robots can get drunk? More questions entered Anya's head, like what could possibly get a robot drunk? Did robots eat? What was a protoform? Why was Bumblebee making a bunch of beeping noises? Couldn't he talk? Were the beeps some super confusing alien language that no one could understand? Or was it space scout talk to hide stuff from the bad guys like Papa's ciphers?
"Borf."
"You're right Bond, we should get back home," Anya ran the corner alongside Bond and looked back at Bumblebee, "Mister Bee, follow us!"
Bumblebee stood up, stumbling after them with a loud whir, Hey, you forgot to pay the Shannix! Courier's gotta make...HIC...make a living!
Is that space money? Anya turned another corner, a loud crash coming from behind as she looked back and saw Bumblebee bump into a wall. A few toppled trashcans were behind him too. Calling out to him again, she led him through the alleyways to the exit. She walked out to the streets and looked around, seeing no one on the sidewalks. A car did drive by then, making her worry. Then another car, then another.
This is bad, Anya looked back and saw Bond making his way around the corner to her, Bumblebee following the dog like he wanted to hug him. Thinking quick, Anya ran back into the alleyway, stopping to the right of some stairs on the side of a building. "Bond, don't move!" Anya ordered, getting her dog to stop as Bumblebee picked him up, making more beep boops.
Fluuuuffy-HIC-protoform! Bumblebee sat down, leaning against the building as he petted Bond, Fluffy protoform.
"Borf! Borf! Borf!" Bond loudly barked a few times. He didn't look happy to be in Bumblebee's arms. Maybe he was petting him too hard? Or maybe the cold metal didn't feel good on his fur?
Gotta think of a way to get Bumblebee home without the cars seeing him. Not to mention get him to let Bond go. How am I gonna- Anya's thoughts were cut off as the door to her left creaked open. Out walked a woman with long black hair (though the lighting made it look kinda blue) in a nightgown rubbing at her eyes.
"What's going on out here?" the woman asked, noticing Anya, "Hey, are you okay, miss?"
"Uh, I-I'm fine," Anya answered as the woman walked in front of her.
"What are you doing here? A child shouldn't be out this late," she worriedly said, completely unaware of what was behind her.
"I...I got lost?" Please work, please work!
You poor child. Did your parents leave you behind? "I'm sorry to hear that," the woman said, followed by a lot of bad thoughts towards Anya's parents.
Mama and Papa are not "deadbeats", Anya frowned. The only reason they didn't know she's here was because she snuck out. They were the best parents she'd ever had! A perfect 100 points!
She didn't have time to say anything in her parents' defense, as the woman's mind went, Alright Kelly, no way in hell are you leaving a kid on their own. And maybe you can give these terrible parents a piece of your mind after you help her.
No! Anya panicked, seeing that the woman was about to turn and see Bumblebee. Before Miss Kelly could move, Anya yelled, "Uh, it's okay though! I can find my way back on my own."
Miss Kelly looked confused, and now Bumblebee was looking their way. His robot eyes had that same look Anya's had when the teachers at school said something confusing...which was a lot. "Uh, I don't mean to offend, miss," Kelly scratched her head, "What'd your name, kid?"
"Anya," she answered, getting nervous as Bumblebee put Bond down and stood up.
"Okay, Anya, it's really not safe for you to be out here. I'll go inside and call the police, see if they can escort you home," Kelly said as she knelt down to meet her at eye level, all while Bumblebee was stumbling towards them.
No, Bumblebee, stop moving! Anya couldn't motion for him to stay still. That'd just make Kelly look behind her.
Whysh Anya talking to a tiny lamppost? Bumblebee thought, And-and did Anya alwaysh have two sets of...what are organic auditory resheptors again?
Is he talking about my ears? Anya shook off the question, trying to find an answer to her problem when suddenly...
"Borf!" Bond ran up to Anya and began licking her face, giving Anya an idea.
"Bond!" she cheered, hugging him, "I found you!"
"Wait, you got lost looking for your dog?" Kelly asked.
"Yup! I got lost looking for Bond. That's exactly what happened. You can go inside because Bond can take me home!" Anya hoped that would be enough for Miss Kelly. But that hope vanished when she saw Bumblebee clumsily looming over them. Without thinking, she motioned for him to get away and hide.
"Ooookay? Either way, I'll call the authorities to help bring-what are you doing?" Kelly looked where Anya was motioning, jumping back as she stared up at the large yellow robot. Bumblebee just wobbled in place, making a beep noise that sounded a lot like a hiccup.
"Uh," Anya ran in front of Miss Kelly and waved her hands, "You're dreeeeeaaaaaming thiiiissss."
Miss Kelly didn't even move. She just stared, and stared, and stared. Anya tried reading her mind, but it was a complete blank. Before anything else could be said, Kelly's eyes rolled back and closed as she fell to the floor.
"Oh no, we killed her!" Anya shook Miss Kelly while Bond nudged her.
"WEEEEEEEEHHHHH!" Bumblebee whirred out, falling back with a loud thud. Anya gave him a glance before she saw that Kelly was still breathing. Letting out a sigh of relief, she and Bond picked her up by the arms and leaned her against the apartment door. It took a lot, since she was big and Anya was small, plus Bond didn't have hands, but they managed. Hopefully she'd think everything really was a dream when she woke up and not go to the Secret Police. That last thing she needed was for Mama's brother to go after Bumblebee.
"Bumblebee," Anya ran up to the robot's head, "You gotta get up! We gotta get you home." Bumblebee just let out a loud beep, leaving Anya to look over and see that there were still cars zooming by. She had a feeling it would be the same for every exit these alleyways had. And that was if they didn't wake more people up. There's gotta be a way to sneak Bumblebee home, Anya thought, It's not like he can hide in public like a- and then it hit her like a brick, mostly because she slapped her head, I'm such a dummy.
"Borf?
Anya looked to her dog, "I got an idea," poking Bumblebee's head, she said, "Bumblebee, transform!"
"WEEEHHH?" Bumblebee droned out as he picked himself up.
"You know, turn into a car?" Anya asked, putting on her best pleading face as she clapped her hands together. Not even Papa's super cool spy training could resist the pleading face. And he tried. Mama never lasted long though.
Instead, Bumblebee just looked confused and hiccupped, Ish Anya clapping or praying? Anya tried waving her arms around to get him to focus, but instead, he thought, I didn't know humans had wings.
With a huff, Anya knelt down and folded herself, hoping she looked enough like a car, "Like this! You need to turn into a car like this!" Bond followed Anya's actions and did the same thing to help her out. Bumblebee still looked confused, but then his robot eyes lit up, like he just understood something, and then...
TSCHE-CHU-CHU-CHU-TSCHE!
...Bumblebee's parts shifted and warped around. Anya looked up, her eyes going wide as she watched the whole thing. Car lights, windows, wheels, and mirrors all moved into place. In a few seconds, Bumblebee wasn't a robot anymore, and was now Papa's car again.
That was... Anya jumped and cheered, "That was so cool!" Now that Bumblebee was in car mode, Anya opened the door and helped Bond into the back while she sat in the driver's seat. Even though she couldn't see what was in front of the car, she couldn't help but grab the wheel. I feel just like Papa, Anya smirked, "Okay Bumblebee, let's go home!"
Bumblebee revved up, going so fast that Anya's head hit the back of her seat. They zoomed right out of the alleyway, but a bright light came from the left. Anya looked to it, but everything went all blurry as something crashed into Bumblebee, sending him and them spinning out of control. Anya was knocked out of her seat, face hitting the side window before sliding down. Her forehead felt a constant stinging as she rubbed it and started to cry. Bond's bark drew her attention to the back seat, and she saw him through tear-stained eyes.
Wiping her face, she checked to see if he was alright. Thankfully, he wasn't hurt at all. Anya was about to step out of Bumblebee to see if he was hurt too, but then she heard a door outside slam shut. Followed by hearing someone who didn't sound nice. She nervously poked her head up to look out the window, and she saw two large, mean looking grown-ups. One was holding a gun and the other was wearing a black coat.
Stupid ass driver, was what the coat guy was thinking, We're gonna miss our deal because of them. Good drugs like this ain't cheap.
When I get my hands on that damned idiot, I'll load him with lead, the gun man thought as both started to walk to Bumblebee.
Who're thosh guys? They look familiar, Bumblebee's mind slurred.
Uh oh, this is bad! Anya crawled under the car drawer and motioned for Bond to hide beneath the seat. He did, but not before he gave her a vision of the two scary men looming over her, pointing the gun and pulling the trigger. It was all too much like when Papa first adopted her; when bad guys kidnapped her and he swooped to the rescue. Only now there was no Papa, no Mama, no Bondman, or anyone like that to save her. Just her, Bond, and a drunk robot space scout who had no idea what was happening.
"Doesn't look like there's anyone in here," one of the bad guys said, but Anya couldn't tell which one. She was trying not to breath too loudly. If she kept quiet, maybe they'd go away.
"Open it up," the bad guy's command made Anya's heart jump into her mouth. She heard the door handle jiggle, but it didn't open. The bad guy got angrier with trying to get it open, even hitting the window, but Bumblebee wouldn't budge.
Bumblebee's...he's keeping them out? Anya's eyes went wide with wonder. Even though he wasn't thinking right, Bumblebee was still protecting her and Bond. She really did have a Bondman here to save her!
Okay, that guy'sh holding a...looks like a blaster pistol, the other's got dark armor and a logo on his... Bumblebee's thoughts went quiet before they suddenly screamed, These guys are Decepticons!
What's a Decepti- Anya didn't think to hard on that, as she was suddenly knocked down when Bumblebee revved up and shot forward with a burst of speed.
YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME! DECEPTICREEPS! Bumblebee swerved a few times before his driving straightened out. Anya managed to pick herself up and stand in the driver's seat to see they were about to run into-
"WHOAH!" Anya took the wheel and turned it to the right, helping Bumblebee barely avoid the car. Then she saw a sharp corner ahead and turned the wheel all the way to the left. Bumblebee skidded on the sidewalk and barely managed to get back on the streets, where he zoomed past another car. Anya saw that there weren't any other cars and sighed, now she just had to get Bumblebee back home...somehow.
"Borf!" Bond barked, Anya leaning over her seat to see him looking out the rear window, two bright car lights behind them.
"What is it Bo-?"
BANG! BANG! BANG! came the sound of a gun, bullets bouncing off Bumblebee's rear.
"Oh no! The bad guys!" Anya froze before bright lights flashed behind her. Thinking quick, she took the wheel and helped Bumblebee avoid the car.
Lots a shiny lights out here! Bumblebee thought, Just wanna go out and grab 'em!
"Nonono! Don't hit the cars!" Anya shouted, more gunshots coming in from behind. She tried looking in the rear-view mirror like Papa and saw the bad guys gaining on them. "Uh, Bumblebee," she looked at the radio, "Y-You gotta speed up!" Bumblebee made a loud siren noise, not seeming to understand what she was saying or that they were in danger. He was too drunk to know that they were being shot, and then...
"Born to be wiiiiiild!" the radio belted out, almost like Bumblebee was drunkenly singing at the top of his...whatever robots had for lungs.
"Bumblebee, listen!" Anya yelled over the music, looking back for a second to see that the bad guy car right behind them, "Those people behind us are Deceptitons! You can't let them catch us!"
Suddenly, Bumblebee's mind lit up in a panic, Decepticons? Oh scrap! Better get out of here! his driving stick shifted, Hold on to your skidplates!
Is that robot for bu- Anya's head flung back into the seat as Bumblebee sped up. She heard Bond yelp in shock, with her looking back to see the car lights fading. She managed to look forward, seeing a few cars ahead as she helped Bumblebee get passed them. The music got louder, and next thing Anya knew, the road started rising above the buildings. I think I remember this in school, Anya thought, They called it an-an overpass!
"Borf!" Bond barked again, and this time Anya didn't need to look back to know the bad guys were catching up again. The pistol shot told her that already.
"Fire all your guns at once!" Bumblebee "sang" more of the song, "And explode into space!"
"Bumblebee, speed up! The Deceptitons are gaining on us!"
Not on my-HIC-watch! Bumblebee's speed hit its limit and they were propelled faster than ever before. Anya struggled to keep them from hitting any cars as everything outside was now all blurry. She had a close call with a big white car to the left, but she managed to just barely avoid it. There was a lot of honking coming from behind her, and she looked back to see that the white car had turned, now blocking the road and the bad guys' path.
"We did it! We Got away!" Anya cheered, Bond barking happily while Bumblebee stopped the music. His radio played what sounded like a cheering crowd. Anya faced forward to help Bumblebee drive, but her happiness went away when she saw the turn that was up ahead. It was too close for her to start spinning the wheel. So as Bumblebee ran through the stone that stopped cars from falling off, she screamed. She screamed and felt her feet lift above the seat as they soared in the air. Bond howled and barked.
Bumblebee, however, played more lyrics, "I never want to die!"
"We're gonna die!" Anya screamed as she saw them close in on the roof of a building. She closed her eyes and braced for impact. Instead, they landed right on the roof, causing her to let go of the wheel and fall back into the seat. She couldn't see where they were going anymore, so she fastened her seatbelt and shut her eyes, arms covering her face for safety. She heard Bond shuffle in the back, probably doing something to keep safe too.
Suddenly, it felt like they were in the air again, then it felt like they landed, then they were in the air again, then they landed. Instead of going into the air a third time, they kept driving straight. Opening her eyes, Anya kept her seatbelt on and poked her head up, seeing they were back on the road...and speeding straight for another building.
"Not again!" Anya spun the wheel to the right, making a hard turn around the corner that spun them out of control. Anya fell back in her seat, holding on to it and feeling like she was gonna throw up from all the spinning while Bond barked in a panic. She closed her eyes tight and braced for impact, but suddenly, they stopped, Bumblebee leaning to the side for a second before falling back down.
Is it over? Anya opened her eyes and unbuckled her seatbelt. She looked over to Bond and saw he was okay, petting him to calm both of them down. Checking on Bumblebee next, she gave the radio a worried look and asked, "Are you okay, Bumblebee?" No answer, not a beep, whir, or boop. Anya read his mind and sighed in relief. He'd just fallen asleep. Good, we're okay, Anya got out of Bumblebee and saw that they were right back at their building, with Bumblebee parked exactly where Papa left him before.
With a tired smile, she opened the back door and let Bond out before patting Bumblebee, "Goodnight, Mister Bumblebee."
She and Bond made their way to the front door of their building, but right when they reached the stairs, it slammed open. A very worried Mama and Papa stormed out, "Yor, we'll split up and cover more ground, I'll start around-"
"Hey Papa!"
Mama and Papa's heads snapped to her. "A-Anya?" Mama asked, sounding super relived.
"I'm okay! I was just-" Anya was cut off as Mama zoomed forward and picked her up, hugging tightly. Papa ran up and began checking on her, making sure she wasn't hurt.
"Oh Anya! We were so worried!" Mama cried, followed by thoughts of her being super happy she was okay.
"Anya, are you alright? What happened?" Papa was asking questions super-fast, his mind wondering on where she was. I thought she and Bond were kidnapped. It seems the only logical explanation for how she disappeared in the middle of the night. But how could I have not noticed? Were the kidnappers using some kind of stealth technique? Did Anya escape on her own? Was she afraid? I should've been there to help her. I really have failed as both a spy and a father.
"No!" Anya realized too late she said that out loud and retracted, "I-I mean, I'm okay! I was just..." Anya looked down at Bond and got an idea, "Taking Bond out for a walk."
...
"Oh thank goodness! We thought you were kidnapped," Mama believed her immediately and hugged her tighter, For a second there, I was about to go through every criminal in this city to find you. Anya grimaced at all the violent thoughts running through Mama's head. Papa, meanwhile, looked at her with his usual seriousness, like he saw something and was now inves-tee-gating. He brushed the hair covering her forehead aside and his eyes went just a bit wide.
"Anya, did someone hurt you?" he asked, his thoughts trying to keep calm, but it was pretty obvious to Anya that he was angry at someone. Mama looked at her and gasped, thinking more angry, scary thoughts about killing "the monster who hurt her daughter". Anya felt her forehead and winced at the stinging, only now remembering when her face slammed into Bumblebee's window. It sounded like she had a bruise.
"N-No, no one hurt me, I, uh..." Anya stammered and tried to think of a good lie, "I...I fell?"
Mama calmed down, but Papa didn't look convinced. Anya got nervous, but Papa calmed down too, I suppose that makes sense, his mind flashed back to all the times Anya tried to do different sports, and all the times she fell on her face. Anya looked flatly as Papa thought, At the very least, I'm glad she wasn't attacked by anyone, but still, he sighed in relief before he gave her a stern look, "Anya, you shouldn't have snuck out like that. You should've woken us up first so we could go with you. Going out alone at night is a danger, especially in today's day and age."
"I-I know," Anya felt tears start to well up, remembering the bad guys that were chasing them. The whole thing was so scary, and she thought she was gonna die. She, Bond, and Bumblebee were just really lucky they came home in one piece.
"Anya, what's wrong?" Mama asked.
"It was-" Anya sniffled, "I was just really scared. I-I got lost, and Bond helped me get home." It wasn't a complete lie. She really was scared with what just happened, and looking back, she did kinda get lost trying to find Bumblebee, "I wanted to be b-brave like you, b-but I wasn't."
Mana and Papa looked to each other, then back to Anya as Mama knelt down to place her on the floor. "Anya, it's okay," Mama held her close in a warm hug, "Believe it or not, I'm not always that brave either. When we saw you were missing, I was terrified."
"So was I," Papa patted her head, giving his own small, reassuring smile, "Anya, I know you're a tough child for your age, but you're still a child. It's okay to be afraid. Even grown-ups like me and your mother get scared a lot." Especially in life-or-death missions like stopping nuclear bombs from going off or getting cornered by a terrorist cell, "Just promise us you won't sneak out like that a second time."
"O-Okay," Anya yawned, feeling her eyes begin to droop, "I'll try not to...sneak...out," she wobbled forward, with Mama there to catch her.
"We should probably go inside now," Mama said as she picked her up. Anya heard Papa say something while Bond barked, but everything was getting muffled. She managed to open her eyes just a bit, and saw they were walking inside. With one last yawn, she drifted to sleep.
Uuuuuuuuuugh, Bumblebee groaned as the sun rose, feeling his processor ache, What happened last night? I remember I was drinking the Energon and...yup, that was not good Energon. Gonna have to redo the current batch.
It frustrated him that his first attempt at making Energon on his own was a screw up, leaving him to stew in his failure until the Forgers walked out of the building. As they got into their respective seats, he couldn't help but notice that Anya seemed a bit nervous, but for whatever reason, he didn't know. Loid turned the key, but Bumblebee struggled to get his engine started, still feeling fatigued.
"That's odd," Loid muttered.
"Something wrong?" Yor asked.
"Sounds like the car's having some engine troubles," Loid answered, "Think I'll need to look under the hood to see what's wrong."
Really not in the mood for that, Bumblebee forced his engines to start up, revving to indicate he was set to drive.
"Huh, never mind. Everything seems to be working now," Loid took the wheel and pressed the gas petal, sending them off. Throughout the drive, Bumblebee still couldn't help but feel a bit bummed out regarding his Energon failure. His entire job here was to set up a base, and how was he supposed to do that when he couldn't get Energon right?
"Papa," Anya began, getting everyone's attention, "What happens when you mess something up?"
"Hmm?" Loid looked back to Anya for a bit, "Why the question?"
"Because I-" Anya looked down, "Because I mess up in school a lot, and it bugs me. I want to do better, but...it's hard."
Yor looked back at her daughter with worry while Loid seemed lost in thought. Bumblebee wanted to say something through the radio, but he stopped himself, remembering he couldn't do that without arousing suspicion. Thankfully, he didn't need to, as Loid answered, "Anya, everyone messes up every now and then. I've made more than my fair share of mistakes at my job. I know that much."
"Same here," Yor added, "I can't even begin to tell you all the times I messed up when I first started working."
"But the important thing is you keep picking yourself up and trying until you're good at it. Nobody ever gets anything right their first go around."
Yeah, that's true, Bumblebee remembered Optimus' words that often, failure is a teacher. Everyone has made their share of mistakes, and what matters is that you learn from them. He even said something similar to what Loid brought up; that if they got everything right the first time, they wouldn't be at war. Still, he thought, Wish I could remember what happened last night, for some reason, Anya sighed in what looked like relief, It'd be a lot of trouble if I got seen by someone.
Anya looked a bit nervous again, and Bumblebee couldn't fathom why. He eventually shrugged it off and guessed it was about school.
"First Lieutenant!" Second Lieutenant Yuri Briar saluted as he walked up to his desk.
"What is it?"
"Police report," he answered as he held out the file, "They received a call from a civilian, one Kelly Shiragami, about something suspicious she witnessed last night."
"And they felt it curious enough to send it to us, huh?" the first lieutenant took the orange folder and opened it.
"Boss wants you to look it over, see if her claims are worth investigating," Briar answered, leaving the elder officer to thoroughly read through the file. The claims from the woman were that she ran into a hulking metallic beast in the alleyways the previous night. She went into detail about its freakish blue eyes and sickly yellow plating. But aside from that, there was very little else to work off of. In fact, the claims sounded more like those of a rambling drunkard.
"From the looks of it, we're dealing with either a crank caller, or someone who was drunk and saw things."
"You sure, sir?"
"Take it you read the report too?" at the question, Briar nodded, "Then be honest with me. You really think she ran into some giant metal monster in the alleyways? Sounds like pure science fiction. Besides, this isn't the first time we've gotten calls like this about the most outlandish things imaginable." He opened a drawer and put the file in it, "Best to just ignore it. Our job is to hunt spies. We're not paranormal investigators."
"Understood, sir!" Briar saluted and headed off, leaving the first lieutenant to ponder over the report one last time.
A giant robot. Tch, how absurd.
Yes, that's Kelly from the RID 2001 anime. Her bad luck shall follow her no matter what universe she's in. Her last name, Shiragami, is taken from her original Japanese name, Junko Shiragami.
As a What Could Have Been, I was initially planning for the chase scene to be with a police officer, but I decided to alter it to be with a couple drug dealing gang members instead. And I ultimately decided on Born to be Wild by Steppenwolf as the chase theme.
And yeah, Bumblebee petting Bond included a Big Hero 6 reference. Really, I kinda low-battery Baymax on the brain when I was writing out the scenes with Drunk!Bumblebee (aka Drunklebee).
And once more, thanks to TFwiki for having the transformation onomatopoeia available. Sometimes I wish all wikis were like TFwiki. Anyone else?
It's kinda funny that the recent SPY X FAMILY chapter was all about an over-the-top drunken Yor while this one's all about an over-the-top drunken Bumblebee.
Also, a brief cameo appearance from Yor's brother, Yuri. He doesn't quite have an active role in the plot yet, but he'll have one in the future.
Next stop will be the next Camien Odyssey Chapter. As for the next chapter of this story, let's just say that Bumblebee's gonna be getting a front row seat to Loid and Yor's fighting abilities. So, I'll see you then with Mission 6: Concussive Therapy.
This chapter was actually inspired by a comment made by The Creative writer, and if you're on the Spacebattles thread, you can already gleam what this chapter's gonna be about. Then again, I changed the name from the previously mentioned "Storing Up on Energon" to a more fitting one that gives it away.
Not much else to say other than that I hope you all enjoy the chapter.
Special thanks to SwapAUAnon and Quantum01 for Beta Reading.
Mission 5: Drinking and Driving
The drive back to his start-up base (it was more of a hiding hole at this point though) was more than a bit stressful for Bumblebee. A good chunk of it did stem from the fact that he'd just gotten back from a power plant in Ostania, having barely managed to keep hidden from the guards there as he fired up the Energon converter. He was still calming down from that, but it admittedly was less stressful than the cargo he carried in his back seat.
Here's to hoping I got it right, Bumblebee turned his rearview mirrors and looked at the cargo in question. Next to his converter were three glowing blue cubes of Energon, and the first he'd ever made by himself. The fact that he wasn't sure whether or not he screwed up in making it was another contributor to his panic, but that paled in comparison to the final and biggest reason: getting back to his hiding spot without setting it off.
"Don't-want...BRRZT...*explosion sound*-happen," Bumblebee experimented with the different radio channels, trying to form something resembling a coherent sentence. Thankfully, traffic was incredibly light tonight, with the sidewalks having few pedestrians as well. He hoped that his windows hid the glow of the Energon cubes. Odds were someone would find it suspicious that the interior of a yellow car was glowing an ominous blue. Well, that and it'd draw attention to the fact that he didn't have a driver at the moment.
Almost there, Bumblebee sighed in relief as he recognized the foliage surrounding his spot next to the supply store, slowing down just a bit when he saw people walking out of it. Not taking any chances, he entered the parking lot and stationed himself under a light, hoping it would drown out the Energons' glow. From the looks of it, it was just a small family of four; a mother with brown hair, a father with black hair, and two wards taking after the mother in looks. The son was about Anya's age and wide awake while the daughter seemed younger and was held in her mother's arms. The father, meanwhile, was carrying a few bags of provisions in his hands. Both parents were happily chatting, saying something about a possible vacation to somewhere called Hugaria, as they walked past Bumblebee's still form, not paying him or the blue glow in his backseat any mind.
Huh, that vacation they were talking about sounds pretty nice, Bumblebee mused as the family entered their car and drove out of sight. For a moment, he stayed there and wondered what a vacation was like. Maybe it was something he'd have a chance to go on someday? Families seemed to go on them here, so perhaps one with the Forgers wasn't out of the question. But the second it entered his head; he shook it off and started driving to his hiding spot. Gonna have to face the facts, Bumblebee, he transformed once he was hidden behind the trees and carried the Energon and converter in his arms, You can't interact with anyone here, so no matter how much you'd like that, it's impossible. Besides, you're in the middle of a war and have a base to get started on, he thought as he stood in front of the covered hole, No time for vacations.
As soon as he finished removing the stones, he entered and placed everything inside. With a nod, he turned to head back to the Forger residence, but stopped when an errant thought entered his processor, Should I test the Energon myself first? He looked back at the three cubes and picked one up. Normally, it was better to test the Energon via specialized equipment, which he sadly didn't have on him. Not to mention he had no idea how to jury rig any for himself. There were two potential avenues; the first being that he got it wrong and would be too sick to get back to the Forger residence on time. The second was that he got it right and was worrying over nothing.
Either way, odds were that he wouldn't find out if he just left.
Well, Bumblebee brought the cube up to his mouth and took a drink, Bottoms up.
"Ugh," Anya groaned as she felt something nudge her. Instead, she turned away from it to get some sleep, snuggling into her blankets. But before she could go back to dreaming of mama and papa stopping a big bomb from blowing up the city, her blankets were pulled off the bed along with her. "Ow!" she fell to the floor and rubbed her eyes, tears forming in them. She didn't cry though, since a familiar, slobbering tongue licked at her face. Blinking, she saw it was Bond, who looked super sorry for pulling her out of bed.
"Borf," he quietly yipped. Anya was annoyed, but Bond kept licking her face, and she couldn't help but smile and let out giggles.
"It's okay Bond," Anya hugged her dog, "But why'd you wake me up?"
Bond looked really scared of something as Anya realized his future vision was probably why. Staring into his eyes, she focused on his thoughts and read his mind, seeing images of a big yellow robot with a black stripe walking around the city. Is that what Bumblebee really looks like? Anya wondered, but she didn't have time to think about that. The next thing she saw was him stumbling about, bumping into people and driving them to panic.
And now Anya was panicking.
"Oh no," she said, shaking Bond's head, "Bond, what do we do? Mister Bumblebee can't be seen!" If people saw Bumblebee, they'd call someone, then they'd try to catch him. If he got caught, they'd stick him in a lab, poke him and run a bunch of tests just like what those people did with her. Plus, if he was caught, then the secret police could figure out Papa bought him, then they'd look into him, then Mama, then they'd all be found out, then...
World peace is in danger! Anya shook Bond's head even harder, "What do we do Bond!? What. Do. We. Do?"
"...Borf."
"You're right!" Anya whispered as loud as she could without waking her parents. She got changed out of her pajamas and into her everyday clothes with a black, fuzzy coat. "Starlight Anya and Bond have to save Mister Bumblebee!" she opened the door to her room and looked both ways, tip-toing to her parents' rooms and saw they were fast asleep.
"Borf?" Bond yipped just behind her, with Anya shushing him.
"They're sleeping," she whispered and tip-toed to the apartment door, "Let's go Bond. We gotta bring Bumblebee back."
"Borf," Bond barked as Anya slowly opened the door, letting both of them out before gently closing it behind them. When they were out into the streets, she hopped onto Bond's back, and he started running as fast as he could. He knew where Mister Bumblebee was, so Anya'd let him lead the way. Anya scrunched her face to look as much as Papa when he was super serious.
Hang on Mister Bumblebee. No scary people are gonna take you away, or my name isn't Starlight Anya!
Anya had no idea how long she'd been riding on Bond's back, or how long she'd been out looking for Mister Bumblebee. What she did know was that Bond was getting tired and starting to slow down. Wanting to give her dog a break, she got off his back and ran forward.
"Mister Bumblebee!" Anya shouted, "Where are you!?"
No one answered. The streets were empty with no cars or aliens in sight.
Maybe I shouldn't yell, Anya realized, remembering that Bumblebee didn't know that she knew that he was secretly an alien robot. But at the same time, that made things harder since she had to help him stay out of sight without him seeing her. How am I gonna do that? Anya put a hand to her chin and entered "thinking mode", And why's Bumblebee out like this? He's usually super smart about hiding. Is he looking for something too? Are there more space aliens here? What abo-
"Borf!"
"Just one second, Bond. Anya's thinking of something."
"Borf!" Bond bit her sleeve and pulled her back onto his back, forcing her to hold on tight as he zoomed down an alleyway. He ran down one corner, then another, then straight until he ran into a dead end. Bond sniffed the air, then barked, looking like he had another vision. Anya didn't get to see it, since he ran back and turned down a different corner.
"Bond, did you find Bumblebee?" Anya asked, but that was answered when she heard a loud crashing noise around the corner just ahead. Bond ran and turned, revealing to Anya a large yellow robot that looked like he fell face first on the floor. "Bumblebee!" Anya shouted, immediately regretting it when the robot lifted his head, Oh no, now he's gonna know that we know and run away. Instead of freaking out, Bumblebee made a loud, whirring noise as his...eyes? Lenses? The robot version of eyes drooped like he was about to sleep. He made a few more beeps and boops, with Anya realizing he was trying to talk. Since she couldn't understand what he was saying, she closed her eyes and focused, reading his mind.
Whash's Anya doing here? And why are the four of her...shpinning? Bumblebee's head was looking in a circle, like he was trying to follow something, Heh, that's a fluffy looking protoform.
Why're Bumblebee's thoughts all weird? Anya wondered, They're a lot like when Momma and Uncle Scruffy were... her eyes widened and she understood, Oh I get it! He's drunk! That's why he's stumbling around all...wait, robots can get drunk? More questions entered Anya's head, like what could possibly get a robot drunk? Did robots eat? What was a protoform? Why was Bumblebee making a bunch of beeping noises? Couldn't he talk? Were the beeps some super confusing alien language that no one could understand? Or was it space scout talk to hide stuff from the bad guys like Papa's ciphers?
"Borf."
"You're right Bond, we should get back home," Anya ran the corner alongside Bond and looked back at Bumblebee, "Mister Bee, follow us!"
Bumblebee stood up, stumbling after them with a loud whir, Hey, you forgot to pay the Shannix! Courier's gotta make...HIC...make a living!
Is that space money? Anya turned another corner, a loud crash coming from behind as she looked back and saw Bumblebee bump into a wall. A few toppled trashcans were behind him too. Calling out to him again, she led him through the alleyways to the exit. She walked out to the streets and looked around, seeing no one on the sidewalks. A car did drive by then, making her worry. Then another car, then another.
This is bad, Anya looked back and saw Bond making his way around the corner to her, Bumblebee following the dog like he wanted to hug him. Thinking quick, Anya ran back into the alleyway, stopping to the right of some stairs on the side of a building. "Bond, don't move!" Anya ordered, getting her dog to stop as Bumblebee picked him up, making more beep boops.
Fluuuuffy-HIC-protoform! Bumblebee sat down, leaning against the building as he petted Bond, Fluffy protoform.
"Borf! Borf! Borf!" Bond loudly barked a few times. He didn't look happy to be in Bumblebee's arms. Maybe he was petting him too hard? Or maybe the cold metal didn't feel good on his fur?
Gotta think of a way to get Bumblebee home without the cars seeing him. Not to mention get him to let Bond go. How am I gonna- Anya's thoughts were cut off as the door to her left creaked open. Out walked a woman with long black hair (though the lighting made it look kinda blue) in a nightgown rubbing at her eyes.
"What's going on out here?" the woman asked, noticing Anya, "Hey, are you okay, miss?"
"Uh, I-I'm fine," Anya answered as the woman walked in front of her.
"What are you doing here? A child shouldn't be out this late," she worriedly said, completely unaware of what was behind her.
"I...I got lost?" Please work, please work!
You poor child. Did your parents leave you behind? "I'm sorry to hear that," the woman said, followed by a lot of bad thoughts towards Anya's parents.
Mama and Papa are not "deadbeats", Anya frowned. The only reason they didn't know she's here was because she snuck out. They were the best parents she'd ever had! A perfect 100 points!
She didn't have time to say anything in her parents' defense, as the woman's mind went, Alright Kelly, no way in hell are you leaving a kid on their own. And maybe you can give these terrible parents a piece of your mind after you help her.
No! Anya panicked, seeing that the woman was about to turn and see Bumblebee. Before Miss Kelly could move, Anya yelled, "Uh, it's okay though! I can find my way back on my own."
Miss Kelly looked confused, and now Bumblebee was looking their way. His robot eyes had that same look Anya's had when the teachers at school said something confusing...which was a lot. "Uh, I don't mean to offend, miss," Kelly scratched her head, "What'd your name, kid?"
"Anya," she answered, getting nervous as Bumblebee put Bond down and stood up.
"Okay, Anya, it's really not safe for you to be out here. I'll go inside and call the police, see if they can escort you home," Kelly said as she knelt down to meet her at eye level, all while Bumblebee was stumbling towards them.
No, Bumblebee, stop moving! Anya couldn't motion for him to stay still. That'd just make Kelly look behind her.
Whysh Anya talking to a tiny lamppost? Bumblebee thought, And-and did Anya alwaysh have two sets of...what are organic auditory resheptors again?
Is he talking about my ears? Anya shook off the question, trying to find an answer to her problem when suddenly...
"Borf!" Bond ran up to Anya and began licking her face, giving Anya an idea.
"Bond!" she cheered, hugging him, "I found you!"
"Wait, you got lost looking for your dog?" Kelly asked.
"Yup! I got lost looking for Bond. That's exactly what happened. You can go inside because Bond can take me home!" Anya hoped that would be enough for Miss Kelly. But that hope vanished when she saw Bumblebee clumsily looming over them. Without thinking, she motioned for him to get away and hide.
"Ooookay? Either way, I'll call the authorities to help bring-what are you doing?" Kelly looked where Anya was motioning, jumping back as she stared up at the large yellow robot. Bumblebee just wobbled in place, making a beep noise that sounded a lot like a hiccup.
"Uh," Anya ran in front of Miss Kelly and waved her hands, "You're dreeeeeaaaaaming thiiiissss."
Miss Kelly didn't even move. She just stared, and stared, and stared. Anya tried reading her mind, but it was a complete blank. Before anything else could be said, Kelly's eyes rolled back and closed as she fell to the floor.
"Oh no, we killed her!" Anya shook Miss Kelly while Bond nudged her.
"WEEEEEEEEHHHHH!" Bumblebee whirred out, falling back with a loud thud. Anya gave him a glance before she saw that Kelly was still breathing. Letting out a sigh of relief, she and Bond picked her up by the arms and leaned her against the apartment door. It took a lot, since she was big and Anya was small, plus Bond didn't have hands, but they managed. Hopefully she'd think everything really was a dream when she woke up and not go to the Secret Police. That last thing she needed was for Mama's brother to go after Bumblebee.
"Bumblebee," Anya ran up to the robot's head, "You gotta get up! We gotta get you home." Bumblebee just let out a loud beep, leaving Anya to look over and see that there were still cars zooming by. She had a feeling it would be the same for every exit these alleyways had. And that was if they didn't wake more people up. There's gotta be a way to sneak Bumblebee home, Anya thought, It's not like he can hide in public like a- and then it hit her like a brick, mostly because she slapped her head, I'm such a dummy.
"Borf?
Anya looked to her dog, "I got an idea," poking Bumblebee's head, she said, "Bumblebee, transform!"
"WEEEHHH?" Bumblebee droned out as he picked himself up.
"You know, turn into a car?" Anya asked, putting on her best pleading face as she clapped her hands together. Not even Papa's super cool spy training could resist the pleading face. And he tried. Mama never lasted long though.
Instead, Bumblebee just looked confused and hiccupped, Ish Anya clapping or praying? Anya tried waving her arms around to get him to focus, but instead, he thought, I didn't know humans had wings.
With a huff, Anya knelt down and folded herself, hoping she looked enough like a car, "Like this! You need to turn into a car like this!" Bond followed Anya's actions and did the same thing to help her out. Bumblebee still looked confused, but then his robot eyes lit up, like he just understood something, and then...
TSCHE-CHU-CHU-CHU-TSCHE!
...Bumblebee's parts shifted and warped around. Anya looked up, her eyes going wide as she watched the whole thing. Car lights, windows, wheels, and mirrors all moved into place. In a few seconds, Bumblebee wasn't a robot anymore, and was now Papa's car again.
That was... Anya jumped and cheered, "That was so cool!" Now that Bumblebee was in car mode, Anya opened the door and helped Bond into the back while she sat in the driver's seat. Even though she couldn't see what was in front of the car, she couldn't help but grab the wheel. I feel just like Papa, Anya smirked, "Okay Bumblebee, let's go home!"
Bumblebee revved up, going so fast that Anya's head hit the back of her seat. They zoomed right out of the alleyway, but a bright light came from the left. Anya looked to it, but everything went all blurry as something crashed into Bumblebee, sending him and them spinning out of control. Anya was knocked out of her seat, face hitting the side window before sliding down. Her forehead felt a constant stinging as she rubbed it and started to cry. Bond's bark drew her attention to the back seat, and she saw him through tear-stained eyes.
Wiping her face, she checked to see if he was alright. Thankfully, he wasn't hurt at all. Anya was about to step out of Bumblebee to see if he was hurt too, but then she heard a door outside slam shut. Followed by hearing someone who didn't sound nice. She nervously poked her head up to look out the window, and she saw two large, mean looking grown-ups. One was holding a gun and the other was wearing a black coat.
Stupid ass driver, was what the coat guy was thinking, We're gonna miss our deal because of them. Good drugs like this ain't cheap.
When I get my hands on that damned idiot, I'll load him with lead, the gun man thought as both started to walk to Bumblebee.
Who're thosh guys? They look familiar, Bumblebee's mind slurred.
Uh oh, this is bad! Anya crawled under the car drawer and motioned for Bond to hide beneath the seat. He did, but not before he gave her a vision of the two scary men looming over her, pointing the gun and pulling the trigger. It was all too much like when Papa first adopted her; when bad guys kidnapped her and he swooped to the rescue. Only now there was no Papa, no Mama, no Bondman, or anyone like that to save her. Just her, Bond, and a drunk robot space scout who had no idea what was happening.
"Doesn't look like there's anyone in here," one of the bad guys said, but Anya couldn't tell which one. She was trying not to breath too loudly. If she kept quiet, maybe they'd go away.
"Open it up," the bad guy's command made Anya's heart jump into her mouth. She heard the door handle jiggle, but it didn't open. The bad guy got angrier with trying to get it open, even hitting the window, but Bumblebee wouldn't budge.
Bumblebee's...he's keeping them out? Anya's eyes went wide with wonder. Even though he wasn't thinking right, Bumblebee was still protecting her and Bond. She really did have a Bondman here to save her!
Okay, that guy'sh holding a...looks like a blaster pistol, the other's got dark armor and a logo on his... Bumblebee's thoughts went quiet before they suddenly screamed, These guys are Decepticons!
What's a Decepti- Anya didn't think to hard on that, as she was suddenly knocked down when Bumblebee revved up and shot forward with a burst of speed.
YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME! DECEPTICREEPS! Bumblebee swerved a few times before his driving straightened out. Anya managed to pick herself up and stand in the driver's seat to see they were about to run into-
"WHOAH!" Anya took the wheel and turned it to the right, helping Bumblebee barely avoid the car. Then she saw a sharp corner ahead and turned the wheel all the way to the left. Bumblebee skidded on the sidewalk and barely managed to get back on the streets, where he zoomed past another car. Anya saw that there weren't any other cars and sighed, now she just had to get Bumblebee back home...somehow.
"Borf!" Bond barked, Anya leaning over her seat to see him looking out the rear window, two bright car lights behind them.
"What is it Bo-?"
BANG! BANG! BANG! came the sound of a gun, bullets bouncing off Bumblebee's rear.
"Oh no! The bad guys!" Anya froze before bright lights flashed behind her. Thinking quick, she took the wheel and helped Bumblebee avoid the car.
Lots a shiny lights out here! Bumblebee thought, Just wanna go out and grab 'em!
"Nonono! Don't hit the cars!" Anya shouted, more gunshots coming in from behind. She tried looking in the rear-view mirror like Papa and saw the bad guys gaining on them. "Uh, Bumblebee," she looked at the radio, "Y-You gotta speed up!" Bumblebee made a loud siren noise, not seeming to understand what she was saying or that they were in danger. He was too drunk to know that they were being shot, and then...
"Born to be wiiiiiild!" the radio belted out, almost like Bumblebee was drunkenly singing at the top of his...whatever robots had for lungs.
"Bumblebee, listen!" Anya yelled over the music, looking back for a second to see that the bad guy car right behind them, "Those people behind us are Deceptitons! You can't let them catch us!"
Suddenly, Bumblebee's mind lit up in a panic, Decepticons? Oh scrap! Better get out of here! his driving stick shifted, Hold on to your skidplates!
Is that robot for bu- Anya's head flung back into the seat as Bumblebee sped up. She heard Bond yelp in shock, with her looking back to see the car lights fading. She managed to look forward, seeing a few cars ahead as she helped Bumblebee get passed them. The music got louder, and next thing Anya knew, the road started rising above the buildings. I think I remember this in school, Anya thought, They called it an-an overpass!
"Borf!" Bond barked again, and this time Anya didn't need to look back to know the bad guys were catching up again. The pistol shot told her that already.
"Fire all your guns at once!" Bumblebee "sang" more of the song, "And explode into space!"
"Bumblebee, speed up! The Deceptitons are gaining on us!"
Not on my-HIC-watch! Bumblebee's speed hit its limit and they were propelled faster than ever before. Anya struggled to keep them from hitting any cars as everything outside was now all blurry. She had a close call with a big white car to the left, but she managed to just barely avoid it. There was a lot of honking coming from behind her, and she looked back to see that the white car had turned, now blocking the road and the bad guys' path.
"We did it! We Got away!" Anya cheered, Bond barking happily while Bumblebee stopped the music. His radio played what sounded like a cheering crowd. Anya faced forward to help Bumblebee drive, but her happiness went away when she saw the turn that was up ahead. It was too close for her to start spinning the wheel. So as Bumblebee ran through the stone that stopped cars from falling off, she screamed. She screamed and felt her feet lift above the seat as they soared in the air. Bond howled and barked.
Bumblebee, however, played more lyrics, "I never want to die!"
"We're gonna die!" Anya screamed as she saw them close in on the roof of a building. She closed her eyes and braced for impact. Instead, they landed right on the roof, causing her to let go of the wheel and fall back into the seat. She couldn't see where they were going anymore, so she fastened her seatbelt and shut her eyes, arms covering her face for safety. She heard Bond shuffle in the back, probably doing something to keep safe too.
Suddenly, it felt like they were in the air again, then it felt like they landed, then they were in the air again, then they landed. Instead of going into the air a third time, they kept driving straight. Opening her eyes, Anya kept her seatbelt on and poked her head up, seeing they were back on the road...and speeding straight for another building.
"Not again!" Anya spun the wheel to the right, making a hard turn around the corner that spun them out of control. Anya fell back in her seat, holding on to it and feeling like she was gonna throw up from all the spinning while Bond barked in a panic. She closed her eyes tight and braced for impact, but suddenly, they stopped, Bumblebee leaning to the side for a second before falling back down.
Is it over? Anya opened her eyes and unbuckled her seatbelt. She looked over to Bond and saw he was okay, petting him to calm both of them down. Checking on Bumblebee next, she gave the radio a worried look and asked, "Are you okay, Bumblebee?" No answer, not a beep, whir, or boop. Anya read his mind and sighed in relief. He'd just fallen asleep. Good, we're okay, Anya got out of Bumblebee and saw that they were right back at their building, with Bumblebee parked exactly where Papa left him before.
With a tired smile, she opened the back door and let Bond out before patting Bumblebee, "Goodnight, Mister Bumblebee."
She and Bond made their way to the front door of their building, but right when they reached the stairs, it slammed open. A very worried Mama and Papa stormed out, "Yor, we'll split up and cover more ground, I'll start around-"
"Hey Papa!"
Mama and Papa's heads snapped to her. "A-Anya?" Mama asked, sounding super relived.
"I'm okay! I was just-" Anya was cut off as Mama zoomed forward and picked her up, hugging tightly. Papa ran up and began checking on her, making sure she wasn't hurt.
"Oh Anya! We were so worried!" Mama cried, followed by thoughts of her being super happy she was okay.
"Anya, are you alright? What happened?" Papa was asking questions super-fast, his mind wondering on where she was. I thought she and Bond were kidnapped. It seems the only logical explanation for how she disappeared in the middle of the night. But how could I have not noticed? Were the kidnappers using some kind of stealth technique? Did Anya escape on her own? Was she afraid? I should've been there to help her. I really have failed as both a spy and a father.
"No!" Anya realized too late she said that out loud and retracted, "I-I mean, I'm okay! I was just..." Anya looked down at Bond and got an idea, "Taking Bond out for a walk."
...
"Oh thank goodness! We thought you were kidnapped," Mama believed her immediately and hugged her tighter, For a second there, I was about to go through every criminal in this city to find you. Anya grimaced at all the violent thoughts running through Mama's head. Papa, meanwhile, looked at her with his usual seriousness, like he saw something and was now inves-tee-gating. He brushed the hair covering her forehead aside and his eyes went just a bit wide.
"Anya, did someone hurt you?" he asked, his thoughts trying to keep calm, but it was pretty obvious to Anya that he was angry at someone. Mama looked at her and gasped, thinking more angry, scary thoughts about killing "the monster who hurt her daughter". Anya felt her forehead and winced at the stinging, only now remembering when her face slammed into Bumblebee's window. It sounded like she had a bruise.
"N-No, no one hurt me, I, uh..." Anya stammered and tried to think of a good lie, "I...I fell?"
Mama calmed down, but Papa didn't look convinced. Anya got nervous, but Papa calmed down too, I suppose that makes sense, his mind flashed back to all the times Anya tried to do different sports, and all the times she fell on her face. Anya looked flatly as Papa thought, At the very least, I'm glad she wasn't attacked by anyone, but still, he sighed in relief before he gave her a stern look, "Anya, you shouldn't have snuck out like that. You should've woken us up first so we could go with you. Going out alone at night is a danger, especially in today's day and age."
"I-I know," Anya felt tears start to well up, remembering the bad guys that were chasing them. The whole thing was so scary, and she thought she was gonna die. She, Bond, and Bumblebee were just really lucky they came home in one piece.
"Anya, what's wrong?" Mama asked.
"It was-" Anya sniffled, "I was just really scared. I-I got lost, and Bond helped me get home." It wasn't a complete lie. She really was scared with what just happened, and looking back, she did kinda get lost trying to find Bumblebee, "I wanted to be b-brave like you, b-but I wasn't."
Mana and Papa looked to each other, then back to Anya as Mama knelt down to place her on the floor. "Anya, it's okay," Mama held her close in a warm hug, "Believe it or not, I'm not always that brave either. When we saw you were missing, I was terrified."
"So was I," Papa patted her head, giving his own small, reassuring smile, "Anya, I know you're a tough child for your age, but you're still a child. It's okay to be afraid. Even grown-ups like me and your mother get scared a lot." Especially in life-or-death missions like stopping nuclear bombs from going off or getting cornered by a terrorist cell, "Just promise us you won't sneak out like that a second time."
"O-Okay," Anya yawned, feeling her eyes begin to droop, "I'll try not to...sneak...out," she wobbled forward, with Mama there to catch her.
"We should probably go inside now," Mama said as she picked her up. Anya heard Papa say something while Bond barked, but everything was getting muffled. She managed to open her eyes just a bit, and saw they were walking inside. With one last yawn, she drifted to sleep.
Uuuuuuuuuugh, Bumblebee groaned as the sun rose, feeling his processor ache, What happened last night? I remember I was drinking the Energon and...yup, that was not good Energon. Gonna have to redo the current batch.
It frustrated him that his first attempt at making Energon on his own was a screw up, leaving him to stew in his failure until the Forgers walked out of the building. As they got into their respective seats, he couldn't help but notice that Anya seemed a bit nervous, but for whatever reason, he didn't know. Loid turned the key, but Bumblebee struggled to get his engine started, still feeling fatigued.
"That's odd," Loid muttered.
"Something wrong?" Yor asked.
"Sounds like the car's having some engine troubles," Loid answered, "Think I'll need to look under the hood to see what's wrong."
Really not in the mood for that, Bumblebee forced his engines to start up, revving to indicate he was set to drive.
"Huh, never mind. Everything seems to be working now," Loid took the wheel and pressed the gas petal, sending them off. Throughout the drive, Bumblebee still couldn't help but feel a bit bummed out regarding his Energon failure. His entire job here was to set up a base, and how was he supposed to do that when he couldn't get Energon right?
"Papa," Anya began, getting everyone's attention, "What happens when you mess something up?"
"Hmm?" Loid looked back to Anya for a bit, "Why the question?"
"Because I-" Anya looked down, "Because I mess up in school a lot, and it bugs me. I want to do better, but...it's hard."
Yor looked back at her daughter with worry while Loid seemed lost in thought. Bumblebee wanted to say something through the radio, but he stopped himself, remembering he couldn't do that without arousing suspicion. Thankfully, he didn't need to, as Loid answered, "Anya, everyone messes up every now and then. I've made more than my fair share of mistakes at my job. I know that much."
"Same here," Yor added, "I can't even begin to tell you all the times I messed up when I first started working."
"But the important thing is you keep picking yourself up and trying until you're good at it. Nobody ever gets anything right their first go around."
Yeah, that's true, Bumblebee remembered Optimus' words that often, failure is a teacher. Everyone has made their share of mistakes, and what matters is that you learn from them. He even said something similar to what Loid brought up; that if they got everything right the first time, they wouldn't be at war. Still, he thought, Wish I could remember what happened last night, for some reason, Anya sighed in what looked like relief, It'd be a lot of trouble if I got seen by someone.
Anya looked a bit nervous again, and Bumblebee couldn't fathom why. He eventually shrugged it off and guessed it was about school.
"First Lieutenant!" Second Lieutenant Yuri Briar saluted as he walked up to his desk.
"What is it?"
"Police report," he answered as he held out the file, "They received a call from a civilian, one Kelly Shiragami, about something suspicious she witnessed last night."
"And they felt it curious enough to send it to us, huh?" the first lieutenant took the orange folder and opened it.
"Boss wants you to look it over, see if her claims are worth investigating," Briar answered, leaving the elder officer to thoroughly read through the file. The claims from the woman were that she ran into a hulking metallic beast in the alleyways the previous night. She went into detail about its freakish blue eyes and sickly yellow plating. But aside from that, there was very little else to work off of. In fact, the claims sounded more like those of a rambling drunkard.
"From the looks of it, we're dealing with either a crank caller, or someone who was drunk and saw things."
"You sure, sir?"
"Take it you read the report too?" at the question, Briar nodded, "Then be honest with me. You really think she ran into some giant metal monster in the alleyways? Sounds like pure science fiction. Besides, this isn't the first time we've gotten calls like this about the most outlandish things imaginable." He opened a drawer and put the file in it, "Best to just ignore it. Our job is to hunt spies. We're not paranormal investigators."
"Understood, sir!" Briar saluted and headed off, leaving the first lieutenant to ponder over the report one last time.
A giant robot. Tch, how absurd.
Yes, that's Kelly from the RID 2001 anime. Her bad luck shall follow her no matter what universe she's in. Her last name, Shiragami, is taken from her original Japanese name, Junko Shiragami.
As a What Could Have Been, I was initially planning for the chase scene to be with a police officer, but I decided to alter it to be with a couple drug dealing gang members instead. And I ultimately decided on Born to be Wild by Steppenwolf as the chase theme.
And yeah, Bumblebee petting Bond included a Big Hero 6 reference. Really, I kinda low-battery Baymax on the brain when I was writing out the scenes with Drunk!Bumblebee (aka Drunklebee).
And once more, thanks to TFwiki for having the transformation onomatopoeia available. Sometimes I wish all wikis were like TFwiki. Anyone else?
It's kinda funny that the recent SPY X FAMILY chapter was all about an over-the-top drunken Yor while this one's all about an over-the-top drunken Bumblebee.
Also, a brief cameo appearance from Yor's brother, Yuri. He doesn't quite have an active role in the plot yet, but he'll have one in the future.
Next stop will be the next Camien Odyssey Chapter. As for the next chapter of this story, let's just say that Bumblebee's gonna be getting a front row seat to Loid and Yor's fighting abilities. So, I'll see you then with Mission 6: Concussive Therapy.
- Location
- none of your business
Heh, can't wait until he sees that Bumblebee is one of the shorter examples of Cybertronians. Hell, we might just end up seeing something like Omega Supreme or literal actual Metroplex in this
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Okay, I have a preview for the next Camien Odyssey chapter. Should help in painting a picture for what the rest of this side story will be about.
"Ugh. W-What happened?"
The bot's processor ached as she picked herself up, taking more effort than she expected. Her optics opened and took in her surroundings; a dark, cramped enclosure whose only source of light was the crimson glow of the hard-light door. Am I...I'm in a prison cell? Now curious, she stood at full height and gave the barrier an experimental touch. Seeing that it didn't damage her servos, she pressed them to the barrier and looked down the hallway, gasping at the sight.
"By Primus," she muttered, seeing the dark purple hall lined with countless cells, all baring the same crimson barrier that hers did. Inside the ones she could see were fellow Camiens, some taller than her, others shorter, but all recognizable. Someone captured us, she mused, trying and failing to stifle her horror at her current predicament, But who could've- Her optics went wide as she remembered everything.
The warships that came from the sky, that bombarded the city. She remembered the screams as bots calling themselves Decepticons fired upon them. She remembered her and Chromia, her love, heading into the fray, blades and halberd at the ready to protect whomever they could. The last thing she recalled was being pinned to the ground, everything going black as something smashed into the back of her head.
"We lost," she muttered, "But that means..." a number of questions began to swarm around in her processor. What of her home? What of Caminus? Had these Decepticons conquered her world? Where were they taking them? Why did they invade in the first place? What of Chromia? Was she captured and aboard this ship like her? Was she still on Caminus? Was she...was she de-
"Got a lot of questions I take it?"
A gasp escaped her pipes as she turned, instinctively trying to draw her sabers, but nothing came up. "What?" she looked down at her servos, "My blades, where are-"
"Don't bother trying to bring any weapons out," came the older voice, clearly belonging to a mech, from the darkest corner of the cell, "They've installed Mode Locks onto the prisoners. Can't transform, can't pull out any weapons. And that's assuming they didn't just take them from you before they chucked you in here."
"W-Who are you?" she asked, seeing the positively massive outline of her current cellmate. She didn't mean to sound so frightened, but she was alone, far from home with no idea if those she cared most for were even online, weaponless, powerless, and trapped aboard a prison freighter with her cell occupied by someone whom she had no clue was either friend or foe. Silently, she hoped for friend.
The bot didn't immediately answer the question. Instead, he stood at full height and walked up to her, the glow of the barrier illuminating his white armor plating. Red lines ran along his chestplate and wings, which also had a prominent symbol of a Cybertronian face on them, one that stood in contrast to the more angular faces the Decepticons bore on their armor and ships. The smaller, intimidated bot had no clue what it meant, but before she could ask, the taller bot sighed, arms crossed as he shook his head, "Sorry. To be honest, I'd almost forgotten how my height could put bots off."
"I'm...sorry?" she wasn't sure what else to say.
"It's fine. Can't be helped. Looks like we're gonna be stuck here for a while, so we best get to know each other," the taller bot smiled and held a servo out, "Name's Jetfire."
She looked at the servo, then back up to Jetfire's kind, blue optics. Her initial fear slowly went down as she took the servo into hers and shook, introducing herself.
"Windblade."
Let me know what you all think of the preview when you can. If you see any spelling/grammar errors, please let me know.
"Ugh. W-What happened?"
The bot's processor ached as she picked herself up, taking more effort than she expected. Her optics opened and took in her surroundings; a dark, cramped enclosure whose only source of light was the crimson glow of the hard-light door. Am I...I'm in a prison cell? Now curious, she stood at full height and gave the barrier an experimental touch. Seeing that it didn't damage her servos, she pressed them to the barrier and looked down the hallway, gasping at the sight.
"By Primus," she muttered, seeing the dark purple hall lined with countless cells, all baring the same crimson barrier that hers did. Inside the ones she could see were fellow Camiens, some taller than her, others shorter, but all recognizable. Someone captured us, she mused, trying and failing to stifle her horror at her current predicament, But who could've- Her optics went wide as she remembered everything.
The warships that came from the sky, that bombarded the city. She remembered the screams as bots calling themselves Decepticons fired upon them. She remembered her and Chromia, her love, heading into the fray, blades and halberd at the ready to protect whomever they could. The last thing she recalled was being pinned to the ground, everything going black as something smashed into the back of her head.
"We lost," she muttered, "But that means..." a number of questions began to swarm around in her processor. What of her home? What of Caminus? Had these Decepticons conquered her world? Where were they taking them? Why did they invade in the first place? What of Chromia? Was she captured and aboard this ship like her? Was she still on Caminus? Was she...was she de-
"Got a lot of questions I take it?"
A gasp escaped her pipes as she turned, instinctively trying to draw her sabers, but nothing came up. "What?" she looked down at her servos, "My blades, where are-"
"Don't bother trying to bring any weapons out," came the older voice, clearly belonging to a mech, from the darkest corner of the cell, "They've installed Mode Locks onto the prisoners. Can't transform, can't pull out any weapons. And that's assuming they didn't just take them from you before they chucked you in here."
"W-Who are you?" she asked, seeing the positively massive outline of her current cellmate. She didn't mean to sound so frightened, but she was alone, far from home with no idea if those she cared most for were even online, weaponless, powerless, and trapped aboard a prison freighter with her cell occupied by someone whom she had no clue was either friend or foe. Silently, she hoped for friend.
The bot didn't immediately answer the question. Instead, he stood at full height and walked up to her, the glow of the barrier illuminating his white armor plating. Red lines ran along his chestplate and wings, which also had a prominent symbol of a Cybertronian face on them, one that stood in contrast to the more angular faces the Decepticons bore on their armor and ships. The smaller, intimidated bot had no clue what it meant, but before she could ask, the taller bot sighed, arms crossed as he shook his head, "Sorry. To be honest, I'd almost forgotten how my height could put bots off."
"I'm...sorry?" she wasn't sure what else to say.
"It's fine. Can't be helped. Looks like we're gonna be stuck here for a while, so we best get to know each other," the taller bot smiled and held a servo out, "Name's Jetfire."
She looked at the servo, then back up to Jetfire's kind, blue optics. Her initial fear slowly went down as she took the servo into hers and shook, introducing herself.
"Windblade."
Let me know what you all think of the preview when you can. If you see any spelling/grammar errors, please let me know.
Camien Odyssey: Chapter 2: A Long Way From Home
Finally finished the next chapter of Camien Odyssey...and WOW is this a long one.
Now, as an aside and a very important announcement, given that the Fanfiction Dot Net site is well on its way out (especially with the recent domain debacle), I'm not gonna take any major risks. With that said, from here on out, any fic I write and make will be posted to AO3, Spacebattles, and Sufficient Velocity. Now, whatever I have currently on Fanfiction Dot Net will still be updated on the site, but any new fics I make will not be posted here.
For those who read my stories on Fanfiction dot net and want to comment on them, I suggest you either make an AO3, Spacebattles, or Sufficient Velocity account. In regard to the former, I have things set up there so you can't read or comment on them unless you're a registered AO3 user. Precaution taken to mitigate the risk of theft/plagiarism.
Sorry about that, but I personally think it's for the best given how FF Dot Net's been lately.
Special thanks to SwapAUAnon and @Matrix Dragon for Beta Reading this chapter. And once more, big thanks to TFWiki for all the Transformers terminology.
Chapter 2: A Long Way From Home
"Ugh. W-What happened?"
The bot's processor ached as she picked herself up, taking more effort than she expected. Her optics opened and took in her surroundings; a dark, cramped enclosure whose only source of light was the crimson glow of the hard-light door. Am I...I'm in a prison cell? Now curious, she stood at full height and gave the barrier an experimental touch. Seeing that it didn't damage her servos, she pressed them to the barrier and looked down the hallway, gasping at the sight.
"By Primus," she muttered, seeing the dark purple hall lined with countless cells, all baring the same crimson barrier that hers did. Inside the ones she could see were fellow Camiens, some taller than her, others shorter, but all recognizable. Among those immediately visible, she could see Javelin, Hot Shot, Skystriker, and Firestar. Someone captured us, she mused, trying and failing to stifle her horror at her current predicament, But who could've- Her optics went wide as she remembered everything.
The warships that came from the sky, that bombarded the city. She remembered the screams as bots calling themselves Decepticons fired upon them. She remembered her and Chromia, her love, heading into the fray, blades and halberd at the ready to protect whomever they could. The last thing she recalled was being pinned to the ground, everything going black as something smashed into the back of her head.
"We lost," she muttered, "But that means..." a number of questions began to swarm around in her processor. What of her home? What of Caminus? Had these Decepticons conquered her world? Where were they taking them? Why did they invade in the first place? What of Chromia? Was she captured and aboard this ship like her? Was she still on Caminus? Was she...was she de-
"Got a lot of questions I take it?"
A gasp escaped her pipes as she turned, instinctively trying to draw her sabers, but nothing came up. "What?" she looked down at her servos, "My blades, where are-"
"Don't bother trying to bring any weapons out," came the older voice, clearly belonging to a mech, from the darkest corner of the cell, "They've installed Mode Locks onto the prisoners' backs. Can't transform, can't pull out any weapons. And that's assuming they didn't just take them from you before they chucked you in here."
"W-Who are you?" she asked, seeing the positively massive outline of her current cellmate. She didn't mean to sound so frightened, but she was alone, far from home with no idea if those she cared most for were even online. Not to mention weaponless, powerless, and trapped aboard a prison freighter with her cell occupied by someone whom she had no clue was either friend or foe. Silently, she hoped for friend.
The bot didn't immediately answer the question. Instead, he stood at full height and walked up to her, the glow of the barrier illuminating his white armor plating. Red lines ran along his chestplate and wings, which also had a prominent symbol of a Cybertronian face on them, one that stood in contrast to the more angular faces the Decepticons bore on their armor and ships. The smaller, intimidated bot had no clue what it meant, but before she could ask, the taller bot sighed, arms crossed as he shook his head, "Sorry. To be honest, I'd almost forgotten how my height could put bots off."
"I'm...sorry?" she wasn't sure what else to say.
"It's fine. Can't be helped. Looks like we're gonna be stuck here for a while, so we best get to know each other," the taller bot smiled and held a servo out, "Name's Jetfire."
She looked at the servo, then back up to Jetfire's kind, blue optics. Her initial fear slowly went down as she took the servo into hers and shook, introducing herself.
"Windblade."
Jetfire nodded, retracting his servo as he took a seat within the cell, "So, you want to start, or should I?"
"I'm still trying to process a few things," Windblade admitted, servo to her head as she sat next to Jetfire, "You alright with starting?" at his nod, she pointed to the symbol on his chest, "Think you could start by telling me what that symbol means? It's pretty different from the Decepticons'."
"Symbol of the Autobot Resistance," Jetfire explained, optics looking at her in confusion, "If you know what a Decepticon is, how do you not know about the Autobots?"
"Because they just invaded my world. I didn't know things like Decepticons or Autobots existed until-" she shook her head, "Primus, I don't even know how long I was out. All I can remember was their attack on Caminus and getting knocked out."
"Wait a minute. Did you just say Caminus? As in, the lost Cybertronian colony of Caminus?"
"I wouldn't exactly call us 'lost'," Windblade rested her chin to her kneecaps as she stared to the floor, since if anything, lost described them far too well. It was true that Caminus had lost contact with Cybertron eons ago, with Windblade having read about the event in her history lessons.
It was said that in ancient times, the first of the Primes, Prima, called for the aid of all their world's Cityspeakers to stop a great calamity. However, not long after their departure for Cybertron, all forms of contact with the entire planet just vanish, with the general pervading belief being that the calamity Prima spoke of was the cause. Making matters more troublesome was that their world's namesake Titan was slumbering at the time, no one left to awaken him since the Cityspeakers left. And over hundreds of thousands of Vorns, the art of Cityspeaking would find itself lost to the annuls of history, no one left to pass it down to the scarce few who had such potential. At least, that's what her lessons taught.
A lost Titan, a lost art, a lost contact, and a lost home. That word might as well have been synonymous with Caminus.
"Shannix for your thoughts?" Jetfire asked, interrupting her musings.
"I-It's nothing. Just..." Windblade sighed, wanting to keep her mind of troubling topics, "You're from Cybertron, yes?" Jetfire nodded, prompting her next question, "What's it like?"
"Not well I'm afraid," Jetfire solemnly replied, gesturing to their cell, "I guess you could say our current predicament's part of that. Cybertron's at war with itself."
At war? Windblade wondered, seeing the haunted look in Jetfire's optics, "You mean between the Autobot Resistance and the Decepticons?"
Jetfire sighed, "Yeah. Weren't always a resistance movement, but these Solar Cycles, Autobots are spread thin and scattered. The Decepticon Empire rules our home planet, and now they're spreading out across the galaxy, conquering whatever stands in their way."
"But why?" Windblade asked, "Why would they do this? What are they hoping to gain from taking over Caminus? From conquering worlds? From bringing death and ruin to so many?"
The more questions she asked, the more her voice wavered. She just couldn't fathom it. During their assault, the Decepticons displayed a ruthlessness and brutality she'd never seen before. The innocent were slaughtered like animals, and many of the opponents she cut down were smiling, as if they enjoyed the cruelty they inflicted. How could anyone be so monstrous, so uncaring to life itself?
"That's just it, Windblade. They do this because they can," Jetfire answered, a haunted look in his optics.
"Spoken like a true traitor."
Huh? Windblade looked to the cell barrier for the source of the new voice, seeing one of the guards looking down at them. More specifically, he was glaring at Jetfire. The Decepticon in question had black and red armor plating, matching Windblade in height, with his optics hidden behind a yellow visor.
"Better a traitor than a planet-razing monster," Jetfire sneered back.
"Won't be saying that for long," the guard, whom Windblade mentally called Tweedledum, gained an almost mocking smile, "This ship's gonna be making a stop near planet Messatine before we head back for Cybertron." Windblade saw Jetfire freeze, seeming completely terrified as Tweedledum continued, "You're next on the DJD's list. From what I hear, Tarn's got a lot of ideas on what he wants to do to you. Shame the rest of us won't be able to watch."
Tweedledum laughed and walked away, not so much as given Windblade a chance to demand answers from him. She looked to Jetfire and saw he was still petrified. "What was he talking about?" Windblade asked, an array of questions forming in her processor.
"The Decepticon Justice Division," Jetfire's voice was almost hollow, as if bracing for the inevitable, "Enforcers of Megatron's will. Their goal is to find any and all who abandon the Decepticons and kill them in the most gruesome manner imaginable."
"...so," Windblade began after a moment of silence, "You were one of them?" at his nod, the Camien tried to process that fact. Even if Jetfire was a former Decepticon, his entire being just seemed so far removed from the others. They were cruel, sparkless monsters without a shred of empathy, given their ruthless assault on her home, as well as the description of the DJD. Jetfire, however, seemed kind and empathetic, with not a shred of deception to be found. It was impossible for her to imagine him having ever been one of them. With all that running through her processor, she managed to ask, "Why were you a Decepticon?"
"Guess you could say I was a Decepticon before there even were Decepticons," at Windblade's confusion, Jetfire clarified, "What I mean is that the Decepticons didn't start out as monsters," he smiled in remembrance as he stared at the wall, looking past it and into the distance, "In the beginning, we were a social movement, one aimed at bringing change to the caste system that ran Cybertron," his smile fell, a somberness overtaking his optics, "But things grew more turbulent over the movement's life cycle. We started losing sight of our original goal, changing from seekers of equal rights for all to monsters who just wanted an excuse to break everything they hated," he looked down at Windblade with bitterness and regret, clearly trying to stave off the dark memories, "And when they'd broken everything on Cybertron, they went looking for new victims to satisfy themselves."
"H-How many...how many worlds?"
"I don't know," Jetfire reluctantly admitted as he and Windblade fell into another silence, this one more uncomfortable than the last. "Your home planet," Jetfire regained his voice, drawing Windblade's attention, "Caminus, I mean. I'm sorry for what happened to it."
"It's fine, you're not at fault for the Decepticons' actions," Windblade clutched at her kneecaps, "What do we do now?"
Jetfire looked around their cell before standing, holding out a servo to help her up, "I'd like to escape this place. Don't know if it'll work, but I gotta try. You?"
Windblade's face mirrored the determined expression Jetfire had as she nodded, "Yeah. Any ideas?"
Jetfire hummed and started feeling around the walls, "Should be a panel here. I can rewire a circuit to short out the cell barrier," looking back at Windblade, he asked, "Think you could help me find one?" The Camien began helping the Autobot as they searched the cell walls, removing whatever panels were loose enough. Despite their efforts, however, they found no circuitry to work with, and if there was any, it was likely behind what was too reinforced to breach. "Blast!" Jetfire punched a wall, an echo reverberating throughout the hallway.
"Hey! Keep it down over there!" one of the guards, a femme from the sound of it, shouted. A series of stomps made their way towards the cell, the guard entering the prisoners' field of view. Windblade noted a few similarities in appearance between this guard and Tweedledum, but her armor was black and purple with more prominent chest plating. The guard's exposed yellow optics glared at them with scorn.
Must be related with the last guy, Windblade mused, mentally calling this one "Tweedledee".
Tweedledee looked around the inside of their cell, seeing the removed floor and wall panels before chuckling, "You worthless pieces of scrap metal getting ideas? Don't bother. Nothing in these walls for you to mess around with."
"Guards! Help!" a Camien in a faraway cell, several to the right from the sound of it, shouted, "M-My friend, he's fallen to the floor! I don't know what's-"
"OH SHUT UP!" Tweedledee yelled back, "You think we don't have that trick back on Cybertron!?"
"B-But he's really-"
"How about I go over there and blast the fragger's Spark out!? Can't be 'sick' if he's dead!"
"...never mind."
"That's what I thought," the guard returned her focus to Windblade and Jetfire, "Like I said, don't even try."
Alright. New approach then, Windblade steeled herself and walked up to the cell, glaring into the Decepticon's optics, "You sound so confident when you talk to those who can't fight back."
"And?"
"I wonder if you'd be so bold if you were in here with us," Windblade sneered.
"Tch, think I'm dumb enough to try that?"
"Don't bother, Windblade," Jetfire put a servo to her shoulder, "You're talking to a proud Decepticon. All bark and no bite. She won't try to prove you wrong because she's too much of a coward."
"Who you calling a coward?" Tweedledee growled.
"Considering how I didn't see you when the Decepticons attacked my home, I'd say you are," Windblade smirked, "Bet you didn't even get off the ship until after the battle was won."
"I...I was there you little-!"
"Really now?" Windblade yelled out, "Hey! Any of you see this bot on the battlefield during the attack?" a chorus of negative answers followed. Windblade smugly looked at the increasingly angry Decepticon, "I rest my case."
"THAT'S IT! YOU WANT TO GO AT IT!?" Tweedledee snapped and reached for the cell's keypad, only for a sudden servo to reach out and stop her. Windblade and Jetfire saw that it was Tweedledum.
"What do you think you're doing, sister?" he angrily asked.
"What in the Pit do you think I'm doing, bro? I'm gonna teach this...oh. OH!" Tweedledee chuckled and pointed at Windblade, "Clever. Very clever. Almost got me."
"Wouldn't have worked anyway. Those Mode Locks implanted on you have a 50,000 klik radius and would've shocked you into submission if you did escape," Tweedledum added, pressing a hand against the barrier as he leaned forward, glaring at the prisoners, "Megatron wants you lost, backwater colony pieces of scrap on Cybertron. Don't know why though. Personally, I think you all would serve a better purpose doing labor on your former planet." Windblade bit her anger back at his insults while he turned his attention to Jetfire, "And the DJD's getting their quarry. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. So do us all a favor and wait here to die, traitorous trash."
The two Tweedle guards left, unlikely to come back. With Jetfire and Windblade alone, the latter sighed and banged her head against the nearest wall. "Sorry," she said, "I thought that would work."
Jetfire leaned against another wall and gave her an apologetic glance, "Don't be. It was a good idea. Would've worked had the guard not seen through it."
"What do we do now?"
In response, Jetfire looked upward, staring at something on the ceiling. Windblade followed his gaze and saw the ventilation shafts. "That's one way out, but neither of us'll be able to fit in those. If we were Mini-Cons, maybe we could," Jetfire said, "And even then, we'd have to find a way to bypass the Mode Locks."
"You said they're on our backs, right?" Windblade's question was met with the taller bot turning, revealing a small, circular disk implanted on his back. "Hmm," Windblade gave it a good look, "Any chance we could just smash these things?"
"Tried that, didn't work," he answered.
"Scrap."
"I hear ya," Jetfire faced her, "Odds are there's a terminal somewhere on this ship connected to the Mode Locks. But we're not in a position to reach it, so that option's off the ta-"
"ZZZZTT!" came the sudden noise from above, prompting both bots to look up and see the ventilation duct emit a yellow glow at the edge before a plasma blade cut through it, slicing its borders. Within seconds, the entrance was pulled back, revealing a small bot, a Mini-Con to be exact, with orange plating around the chest, head, and servos, which bore three digits each. He looked down at them with worried blue optics that quickly grew warm.
"Option's no-no-not off the table anym-or-or-ore," the Mini-Con said with a grin, his voice glitching out.
"Fixit!" Jetfire whispered as loud as he dared, "What are you doing here? I thought you got away."
"Came back to re-re-rescue you."
"Wait, who is he?" Windblade asked.
"The name's Fixit!" the bot introduced himself.
"He's an Autobot medic and maintenance specialist," Jetfire explained before looking back at the bot in question, "Look, I appreciate the help, but you shouldn't have come back. They're taking me to the DJD. Last thing I want is for you or anyone to get caught up with those butchers."
"All the more reason for me to be here," Fixit retorted, "You got ca-ca-captured rescuing me. Now I'm going to retur-tur-tur-turn the favor. Just sit tight, I'll find the terminal and have everyone-one out in a jiff."
Before Jetfire could say another word, Fixit was already gone, moving down the vents. Now curious what the smaller bot meant, Windblade asked, "So that's how you were captured?"
Jetfire nodded, "Yeah. I was on the outskirts of a Decepticon outpost that I planned to raid for intel, but then I saw them hauling Fixit in as a prisoner. Plan changed and I fought my way in to bust him out. Ended up getting caught to help him get away, and here we are," he gave Windblade a look, "When I got tossed in here, you were already on the floor in stasis. Wasn't sure whether or not to wake you."
"Personally, I'm glad you didn't. I might have ended up attacking you by accident," Windblade said before looking up at the vent, "He seems nice."
"He's a good friend. Just wish he wasn't risking his Spark for mine."
Windblade hummed and sat down, seeing no other option but to wait for Fixit. As Jetfire sat down next to her, she asked, "You think he'll pull through?"
Jetfire seemed unsure, but answered, "Fixit's one of the best bots I know when it comes to mechanical work. We were partners for a number of lab experiments during the war on Cybertron. If anyone can hack into this ship and free us, it's him," his gaze grew deathly serious, "He has to."
Fixit made his way through the ventilation system, searching for the terminal prisoner Mode Locks were connected to. Thankfully, he had the foresight to sneak around when he first got aboard and download a map of the vessel interior. It was how he found the detention levels where Jetfire was, after all. Only reason he didn't make immediate contact when he got there was because of those two guards on watch.
Better find a way to free the others too, Fixit thought, having no desire to leave any of those bots locked up down there. An Autobot's duty was to help those in need, and he'd be damned if he left everyone to suffer the Empire's tyranny.
On his way to the detention level terminal, he passed above a recreation room where he overheard a pair of Decepticon troopers drinking oil and discussing something about races on Velocitron. Apparently, Knock Out won the recent Benefit 500 and was able to win a vacation with his Conjunx Endura, Breakdown. Fixit stayed for a few cycles longer to see if he could scrounge up any intel from them. The Cons, however, only talked about superfluous things like game scores and concerts, none of which was really noteworthy. The Mini-Con was about to continue on his way, but then he overheard something that made his audio receptors twitch.
"What do think the boss meant?"
"What do you mean?"
"When Commander Strika sent us off, she said something about how the prisoners would help Lord Megatron 'wake the Titans'. Any clue what that means?"
Titans? Fixit wondered. He'd read stories about them, how they were rumored to sleep across the stars, but he dismissed it as little more than a myth. Not to say that myths didn't have uses, given how the legends of those giants were the basis for Project: Omega back in the middle of the war, even if that ended in disaster.
"Can't say I do," the Con answered, "Either way, we should check in with the bridge. See if we're on course."
"Yeah, I hear you. Hope handing the traitor off goes by fast. Those fraggers give me the creeps."
Better get moving, Fixit headed down the ventilation shafts, moving left, right, up, and down through a complex maze of tunnels, unseen by any Decepticons. You'd think they'd bother to install cameras or security drones in the vents, Fixit smirked as he neared the room with the detention level's terminal. As always, the Decepticons' arrogance bit them in the aft. Mini-Cons like himself were always looked down upon both figuratively and literally, but that just made it easier for him to get by unnoticed (except for earlier at the outpost, but that was beside the point).
"He-he-here we go-go," Fixit looked into the room and saw that there was only one guard at the terminal. From the looks of it, he was monitoring the cameras in the detention level's hallways as well the statuses of the prisoners' Mode Locks. Fixit shifted his arm to a plasma cutter and sliced through the duct, placing the grille behind him as he shot a grapnel and lowered himself into the room. As quietly as possible, he rolled up to the unaware Decepticon, nearing the bot's leg and shifting his arm into its taser form.
"ARGH!" The Decepticon cried out as Fixit drove his taser into the leg. Electricity coursed throughout the bigger bot's body as he slumped to his knees. His actual target now easy to reach, Fixit rolled up to the front of the Con and delivered another taser strike to his head, shocking him until he was out like a light.
"Let's see here," Fixit hoisted himself up to the terminal controls, checking the cameras to see the prisoners, all either looking tired, angry, terrified, or solemn. Among them, he saw Jetfire and Windblade from outside their cell, the latter pacing around while the former sat patiently. "Hang o-o-o-on everyone," Fixit plugged himself into the terminal, "I'll have you all out in a Nanokli-kli-kli-klik."
Jetfire sat on the floor of his cell, outwardly calm, but frantic and worried on the inside. Tapping a finger on his kneecap, he looked over to Windblade, who paced about the cell with a concerned expression. "You alright, Windblade?" Jetfire asked.
"Yes," Windblade tried to perk up, but slumped, "No. And you?"
"Honestly, you look how I feel at the moment."
"Sorry."
"Can't say I blame you," Jetfire looked back up at where Fixit left, "This is always the most stressful part of these kinds of things."
"How will we know if he succeeded?" Windblade asked.
"Well," Jetfire looked to the hardlight barrier, "If we hear an alarm, we'll know he was caught. But if the barrier shorts out, we'll know-"
The barrier chose then to short out, as did the ones for the cells in front of theirs.
"-he was successful."
"What the frag!" the guard from before could be heard down the hall, "How in the Pit did-"
His sister yelled, "Everyone back in their ce-ARGH!"
Jetfire and Windblade stepped out to see two Camiens holding the guards down. Both Decepticons angrily struggled until their captors punched them in the back of their heads before throwing them in the nearest cell. As their unconscious bodies slumped to the floor, the cell's hardlight barrier re-activated. To top it off, Jetfire felt a tinge of electricity on his back, followed by the sound of a small piece of metal plopping to the floor. He looked down and saw that it was his Mode Lock.
"Thanks Fixit," he said as he looked to Windblade, seeing sparks arc harmlessly on her back as the Mode Lock fell to the floor. The sound could be heard several times over from within the cells as the prisoners poured out. Windblade went to check on her fellow Camiens while Jetfire headed for the detention level exit. The door automatically opened, letting the Aerialbot poke his head down the hall, looking left and right to see no Decepticons either way, at least until he saw the shadow of one around the corner.
Scrap, Jetfire headed back inside and met with Windblade, who was comforting a grieving Camien, hers and the youngling's friends surrounding them with sympathetic looks. A few of those further back were embracing each other with shaking shoulders, the loss of their world weighing heavy upon them. Some looked wrathful, while others were more solemn. Jetfire did what he could, gently placing a hand to the young bot's shoulder to reassure her, Windblade sending him a thankful glance. He would've said things were going to be okay now, but that would've been a lie, given their current circumstances. Reluctantly, he broke the respite and said, "We've got to get out of here."
"How?" Windblade asked as both she and the bot in her arms looked to him. Many other Camiens did the same.
"Do any of you have your weapons?" Jetfire asked. Windblade stood and tried to bring forth her blades, but nothing came out. The other Camiens tried to pull out weapons as well, but they too found themselves unarmed. Looks like the Cons were smart enough to disarm them. I know they took my saber, and it looks like I don't have my photon rifle anymore, Jetfire's face grew inquisitive, Though some of my weapons were built right into me, I wonder if... he looked to his right arm and focused, shifting it into plasma cannon form. With a smile, he headed over to the cell the two guards were chucked in and pressed the keypad, opening it and checking their unconscious bodies for any weaponry.
"What are you doing?" one of the Camiens asked, to which Jetfire pulled out a pair of laser rifles before exiting and reactivating the barrier.
"Here," Jetfire held out the guns, "The best shots here can take these." Instead of taking them, all the Camiens looked amongst themselves in a mix of confusion and awkwardness, "Something wrong?"
"Jetfire," Windblade stepped forward, "None of us have ever wielded a firearm before. Our people consider them wasteful, so we're only good with close-quarters combat."
Jetfire's optics went wide for a moment, "Oh," he shrugged, "Well, perfect time to learn, I suppose."
Windblade was the first to step forward, taking one of the rifles. The second ended up going to the bot she'd been comforting earlier, looking scared, but determined. "Please tell me you have a plan to get everyone out of here?" Windblade asked while trying to get a feel for the new weapon.
"Not much of one, but better than nothing," Jetfire explained, "First thing we'll have to do is capture a Decepticon and interrogate them. Get them to give us a layout of the ship. Then we make our way to where they're holding everyone's weapons. Odds aren't exactly in our favor for sneaking out, so we'll need to be ready for a fight."
"Makes sense," Windblade and a few Camiens nodded, "Then what?"
"Then we move for the escape pods, split off from there so that if they give chase, we'll have less to deal with. Wherever we end up, we'll need to keep our heads low," Jetfire concluded, "Any questions?"
"Not much of a plan," one of the taller, more grizzled mechs muttered.
"Believe me, I know," Jetfire pinched the space between his optics, "But it's the best I could come up with at the moment. Wish I had more time."
"H-How..." the bot Windblade comforted earlier found her voice, "How are we going to capture a Decepticon?"
Jetfire shook his head, "Still working on that."
"Maybe one of us could sneak out and bring a soldier back here?" Windblade suggested.
"Risky though," another Camien, this one an elderly looking femme, interjected, "If you get caught, the whole ship will start swarming us."
"Another possibility could be we wait here until a patrol officer comes in, then we grab him, interrogate him, and toss him in a cell," Jetfire scratched his chin, "Problem there is the odds of that happening are-"
"What in the name of Primus!?" the sudden voice came in from the entrance, all of them turning to see a patrol officer staring agape at the scene.
"Very high, apparently," Jetfire took aim with his plasma cannon, the Con doing the same before Windblade pointed her rifle at him too. Having more firepower directed at him, combined with Jetfire looming over the now terrified bot, led to him holding his hands up in surrender. Jetfire grabbed the bot and hoisted him up, dragging him into the center of the group before throwing the hapless Decepticon to the floor.
"What do you want!?" the terrified guard asked.
"Tell us where you stored our weapons!" Windblade kept her gun pointed at the Con's chest.
"W-What?"
"Here's what we need from you," Jetfire kneeled down next him, "You're a patrol officer, so we know you have a layout of the ship. Give it to us and we'll toss you in one of these cells. Nothing more, nothing less."
"I-I won't do it!" the officer stammered, "Do you have any idea what my superiors would do to me if I did!? Besides, you colony lowlifes won't get off this ship alive! You'll die just like those on your worthless world did!"
Jetfire glared and began charging his plasma cannon up just enough to scare the Con. From the corner of his optic, he could see Windblade almost growl before she calmed herself. The rest of the Camiens looked somewhere between angry and ready to pummel the officer to death. "Look," Windblade began, tone low and dangerous, "You're outnumbered and outmatched, so just do the right thing and give us what we need."
The officer snarled, looking ready to spit out another insult before a sudden shot rang throughout the room. Smoke emitted from the floor just behind the Decepticon's head, a laser shot having grazed its side. Everyone followed where the shot came from, shocked to see the young bot aiming her rifle at the Con, who looked ready to scream had his attacker not shoved the barrel into his chest.
"Y-You piece of scra-!"
"Shut up y-you monster!" the youngling all but screamed at him, her servos shaking and eyes tearing up with coolant, "Y-You Decepticons attacked our planet, destroyed o-our homes, k-killed our loved ones, and you act like n-nothing happened! You act like it's something to be proud of!"
"Lightbright," Windblade nervously coaxed, "You need to calm dow-"
"MY FAMILY IS GONE BECAUSE OF YOU!" Lightbright shrieked and heaved at the Con, completely ignoring Windblade.
"Kid, stop! Don't shoot!" Jetfire held his servos out but didn't make a move to take the gun. In his experience, that always led to the younger bots doing something rash.
"H-Here!" the officer tossed a small, circular device to the ground; a holo-map of the ship's interior. Jetfire took it as the officer stammered, "There, y-you have what you wanted! J-Just send me to my cell and-"
"No! Shut up!" Lightbright's finger twitched, clearly torn between whether or not to pull the trigger.
Windblade gently placed a servo on Lightbright's shoulder, "I understand your anger. I think all of us do," she looked around at her fellow Camiens, who were still in shock at the youngling's outburst, "But you shouldn't let these monsters drag you down to their level."
"He needs to die!" Lightbright glared at Windblade, "I...they need die! They...they're..." her shoulders slumped as coolant dripped down her cheeks, "They're never coming back, are they?"
"No, they're not. I'm sorry," Jetfire shook his head as Lightbright stepped away from the officer, letting Jetfire and another Camien, a femme with aquamarine and red armor, hoist him up and toss him into a cell, activating the barrier to lock him inside. As the Con fearfully sat in a corner, Jetfire looked to the femme and said, "Thanks for the help, miss...?
"Call me Pyra," she replied.
"Thanks Pyra," Jetfire nodded and looked over to Lightbright, who was being looked after by Windblade and two others: a femme with purple armor and a single eye, and a mech with yellow plating around the arms limbs and red at the torso.
"Don't worry. We'll look after her," Pyra said before they headed back to the group. The Camien looked to her purple and yellow colleagues and called out, "Javelin, Hot Shot, you two are with me."
Jetfire saw the laser rifle on the ground and picked it up, "Pyra, since you seem to know what you're doing, think you can manage this?" he held the gun out to her. Pyra took it and held it at the ready before glancing down at Lightbright, "Stay close, young one. We won't allow any more of us to die today."
The youngling finished wiping her tears away and huddled close to the group. Jetfire, meanwhile, pulled out the holo-map and searched for the fastest route to the weapons vault. After a few Nanokliks of plotting out the best course, Windblade walked up to him with a questioning look. "You and I will guard the front," Jetfire said loud enough to gather everyone's attention, "Pyra and her group will guard the rear. Cover all our bases until we get everyone armed. Then we'll meet up with Fixit and make a break for the escape pods."
"I'm guessing sneaking about isn't an option," Windblade said.
"No, not with a group this large. Best we can manage is to weather the storm fast enough to get to shelter," Jetfire answered.
"You're the one with the map," Pyra stepped forward, "And of everyone here, you know the Decepticons the best. We'll follow your lead for now."
Jetfire nodded and made his way for the door alongside Windblade, everyone else following behind. Not long after they entered the halls, they ran into a pair of soldiers, who backed up at the sight before shifting their arms to blaster form and taking aim.
"They've escaped!" one of the troops shouted before Jetfire filled his chest with plasma. The second fired, landing a shot at Jetfire's chest. The Aerialbot withstood it, despite the pain, while Windblade opened fire. Her first four shots were way off, but her fifth shot went straight for the Con's blaster, disorienting him enough for Jetfire to run forward and punch him to the ground. Thinking quick, he searched the downed troops for any spare firearms and handed them to a couple Camiens.
No way that went unnoticed, and as if like clockwork, the alarms went off. "Everyone, get ready!" Jetfire shouted as the next several cycles filled with running and blaster fire.
Windblade grunted as the group rounded the corner of the last hallway, running just behind Jetfire, but ahead of her fellow Camiens. Just ahead was the weapons vault at the end of the hallway, but blocked by another armed patrol of Decepticons troops, this time with one massive, heavily armored trooper wielding an Energon hammer. As the armed Camiens took aim and began a fire fight with the standard grunts, Jetfire charged the heavy soldier, firing plasma blasts that managed to halt him. The Autobot reached the large troop and delivered a series of punches to his helm. However, the heavy soldier withstood the strikes and caught Jetfire's fist, delivering a hammer swing straight to his chest. The act sent Jetfire flying back right towards Windblade and Pyra.
"Scrap!" Windblade and Pyra were able to catch the Autobot with some effort before placing him down, hearing him groan in pain. With a glare to the Decepticons, Windblade opened fire on the heavy troop, thankful that his enormous frame meant all her shots hit him. Sadly, they didn't have the same effect as Jetfire's plasma cannon, as the Con ignored her attacks like they were a gust of wind. Pyra joined in, but both their rifles combined still didn't manage any progress.
Making matters worse, both rifles ceased fire with a spark dropping click.
"No! Not now!" Pyra tossed the weapon right at the troop's face, which did nothing. Windblade did the same towards his chest, proving equally ineffective.
"How are we supposed to get passed that armor!?" Windblade shouted in fear and frustration, jumping up and delivering a spin kick to the Con's head.
"You can't, little bot," the Con's deep, gravelly voice shook Windblade as she found herself grabbed by the leg and slammed into the ground. The world became a blur as she was smashed about over and over, smacking into a charging Pyra to knock her away, before getting smashed into the floor again. For the briefest moment, she saw her fellow Camiens continue their fire fight with the remaining Decepticon troops, losing ground despite their best efforts. The moment ended, and her world became pain once more, followed by her getting thrown into a far-off wall.
"N-Not gonna..." Windblade croaked, "Have...to..." even through her blurry vision, she could see Pyra attempt to fight the armored trooper up close, rushing him and grabbing his waist in an effort to force him back. Windblade closed her optics, the pain overwhelming. They were so close, the weapons vault right in front of them. They'd fought their way through every Decepticon thus far but were on the verge of death right as they reached their first goal. They were right there! Things couldn't end like this! "HRRK!" Windblade felt herself spit up Energon as Pyra's body was thrown at her chest.
"I'm...sorry..." Pyra muttered as the Decepticon made his way to them. From the corner of Windblade's optics, she could see the unarmed Camiens hiding just behind the corner they came from. She tried to move her servos, motioning for them to run and save themselves, but she couldn't do that with Pyra's weight on her.
"Any last words?" the Con smiled sadistically. Windblade refused to give him the satisfaction, glaring defiantly as he brought his hammer overhead.
Chromia, Windblade's gaze softened slightly, a tinge of fear re-entering her optics as she braced herself for the end, Goodbye.
But before the Con could swing, a sudden plasma shot hit him from behind, smoke, sparks, and circuitry coming out from where his neck met his shoulder. Windblade and Pyra looked to the source, seeing a barely conscious Jetfire, whose plasma cannon was being held by Lightbright.
The young bot glared fearfully at the armored Decepticon and yelled, "S-Stay away from them!"
"You little-!" the Con turned away from Windblade and Pyra, his arm shifting into a massive cannon aimed right at Lightbright and Jetfire. Windblade tried to get up, and she felt Pyra do the same, but before they could manage, sparks lit up from the ceiling. The Decepticon noticed it too, looking up just in time for the panel to fall right on his face, distracting him enough for Fixit to jump out of the vent. "Get off me you piece of scrap!" was all the Con could scream, as Fixit's arm became a taser that he jammed into the large bot's exposed circuitry. His entire body went haywire, cannon arm swinging everywhere like mad before he randomly opened fire in an effort to get the Mini-Con off.
"ARGH!" came the cries of his fellow Decepticons, all of them caught in the explosions of his cannon fire. One final cannon blast hit the weapons vault door at its center, blowing it off the hinges. Fixit ceased shocking the Con's weakpoint before jumping in front of his face. The still dazed Decepticon only had time to widen his optics as Fixit's arm transformed into a rocket launcher, which he then shoved into the larger bot's mouth.
Windblade's audio receptors almost burst at the sudden, nearby explosion, which sent Fixit flying back and rolling on the floor. Thankfully, his injuries were minor as he picked himself up and rolled back, stopping at Jetfire first to gauge his injuries. Windblade and Pyra managed to fully stand and make their way past the headless Decepticon corpse to the injured Autobot.
"Hey Fix," Jetfire coughed as he barely managed to pick himself up, "Took you long enough."
"Sorry I'm la-a-a-ate," Fixit apologized, "I would have been-been-been here sooner, but the ventilation end-end-ended up being a bi-bi-bigger maze than I thought."
"Heh, better late than never, I suppose," Jetfire slumped, Windblade and Pyra catching him while Lightbright and Fixit worriedly hovered nearby.
"C-Can you heal him?" Lightbright asked.
Fixit nodded, "Gonna need some space tho-o-o-o-ough."
"You can repair him when we're inside the vault," Pyra recommended, "I think a number of us need repairs."
"I can see tha-a-a-a-at. Just let me tend to Jetfire and I'll-I'll-I'll get to everyone else quickly," Fixit said everyone entered the vault, Windblade and Pyra placing Jetfire down so the Mini-Con could get to work. Once that was done, Windblade, Pyra, and several Camiens started looking around for their weapons.
"Aha!" Windblade cheered, finding her twin sabers hanging on a wall amidst other blades. She took them down and gave a few experimental swings before practicing the movements of a form or two. She smiled, glad to have her weapons back. It was almost like she'd been missing a vital part of herself without even realizing it.
With that done, she retracted them back into her arms, briefly wincing as her prior injuries were starting to catch up. Making her way back to Jetfire, she looked around and saw the others gather their weapons; Pyra took a pick-axe while Lightbright was given an Energon shield to defend herself. Hot Shot and Javelin, meanwhile, went for more unorthodox weapons in the form of dual arm-mounted plasma blasters and a sniper rifle respectively. Even Firestar and Skystriker took up blasters of their own.
"Hey, Windblade," Jetfire drew her attention. She looked and saw that, outwardly, he seemed much better as he remained seated while Fixit did work on his upper torso.
"Glad to see you're all better," Windblade said with a wince, the pain cropping back up.
"Not entirely-y-y," Fixit responded, jumping down, "I repaired much of the out-out-outward damage, but the internals will-will-will need better equipment," he gave Jetfire an admonishing look, "Try not-not-not to take to much da-da-damage until we get out of he-he-here."
"You know I can't promise that," Jetfire sighed, rubbing the back of his helm. Windblade looked away guiltily, recalling how in every single fight they'd gotten into on the way here, Jetfire tended to throw himself in front of as much enemy fire as possible in an effort to protect the unarmed Camiens. Even with those armed, he still did so, with him having gotten in the way of a plasma blast that would've hit Windblade. That last one in particular did a massive number on him, and it amazed the Camien that Jetfire could still fight even after that. She just wished he didn't constantly take those hits.
Then again, reverse their positions, she'd probably do the same.
"Windbla-bla-blade," Fixit rolled up to her, "Let-Let me see your in-injuries. I'll try to-to patch up as ma-many as I can."
"Alright," Windblade sat down while Jetfire stood and went deeper into the armory. As Fixit began his work, she asked, "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure-Sure."
"What happened to your voice?" at the question, Fixit ceased his repairs and froze, as if remembering some terrible event. Fearing she offended, Windblade apologized, "Sorry! I-you don't have to answer."
Fixit shook his head, briefly flashing Windblade a reassuring, but sad smile, and continuing with his repairs, "It's fine, you were-weren't aware. Just kno-know that it-it happened in-in-in an accid-cid-cident."
"I see."
"I'd also-so appreciate-ate it if you did-didn't ask-ask-ask again. Sore subje-je-ject. In any-any-any case, all finished," Fixit jumped off, allowing Windblade to inspect her chassis. Sure enough, she looked good as new. "Now," Fixit began, "There's still some internal-nal-nal damage I want to look at later, but we be-better get out of-of-of-of here first."
Windblade nodded as loud steps approached. She looked to the source, seeing Pyra walk up to them, the rest of the Camiens behind her, all of them fully armed. "Glad to see you've recovered, Windblade," Pyra smiled as she held out her servo, Windblade smiling back and taking it to stand. As soon as Windblade stood, Pyra knelt down to better meet Fixit's optics and asked, "Any chance you could look after those behind me? The last battle saw some of us taking quite a few hits, I'm afraid."
"I'll see what I can d-d-d-d-o," Fixit nodded and rolled over to the Camiens behind Pyra, "Alright ev-everyone-one-one, form a line from mo-most injur-jur-jured to least."
As Fixit began his work, Windblade asked, "What about you, Pyra?"
"I'll live for now," Pyra dismissed, despite all the dents and scrapes that covered her stating otherwise, "Besides, the others matter more," she looked over to them as Fixit's repairs were underway, "I failed them, my team, and our entire world once. I won't do it again."
"When you say your team, you mean the Torchbearers, right?" Windblade asked, "The color scheme gives it away." Pyra nodded, looking away somberly, likely thinking about her missing teammates. Windblade had seen all the Camien prisoners aboard this ship, and Pyra was the only Torchbearer aboard. Wanting to ease Pyra's worries, Windblade said, "If it means anything, I'm sure your teammates are alright. You're all the best of Caminus' defenders, after all," she let out a shy chuckle as she rubbed the back of her neck, "You know, growing up, I always loved to hear the stories of the Torchbearers' exploits. How they'd fight evil and right wrongs. Back then, whenever Chromia and I had spare time, we'd pretend we were members of your team, spouting off lines you said in battle."
"Oh please tell me you didn't say-"
"By Solus' hammer, I smite at thee!" Windblade mimed a hammer swing with a laugh, hoping to help cheer the Torchbearer up. While Pyra shook her head in annoyance, Windblade did see a ghost of a smile.
"I told Praesidia that was a silly thing to say in the heat of the moment," Pyra sighed wistfully, but much to Windblade's dismay, the Torchbearer's face grew solemn. "Look, I understand what you're trying to do," Pyra looked to the floor, arms crossed, "And while I appreciate the effort, the fact of the matter is we got captured, our world is now occupied by tyrants, and I could have-" Pyra glared downward, "I should have done more to stop it."
Windblade was taken aback by the amount of hatred in Pyra's voice, almost all of which sounded directed at herself. "I'm..." Windblade stammered, "I'm sure you and the others did everything you could have done."
Pyra muttered, "No, I didn't. I-" she leaned against the nearest wall, pinching the bridge between her optics for a moment. When she continued giving her reflection on the floor a death glare, Windblade was about to ask what was wrong, but the Torchbearer disdainfully sighed, "When the Decepticons attacked Caminus' capital city, we fought as hard as we could, but then we came face-to-face with the leader of the invasion. She called herself Strika," the sheer venom in Pyra's voice at the name almost made Windblade back away in fear, but she managed to calm herself as the older bot continued, "We all tried to fight her, but she had us outnumbered and outmatched. We were divided by her forces, and just when I manage to break away to go after her, she-" Pyra wasn't able to continue, her glare replaced with pure sorrow.
"Pyra, maybe you should sto-"
"Praesidia's dead."
Pyra's sudden, low statement elicited a gasp from Windblade, who almost couldn't believe it. All the stories she'd heard of the Torchbearer's leader always made her seem larger than life, beyond death itself. But in many ways, reality was a cruel mistress. Their current predicament was proof of that. Finding her voice, Windblade reflexively gulped and asked, "A-And her killer was Strika?"
Pyra nodded bitterly, "The moment I saw that, I was completely frozen. The Decepticon hadn't seen me at that point. I could've snuck up from behind her and killed her, ending the invasion. But I just...I didn't. And I was captured for my inaction. I failed."
Windblade wanted to say something, but she didn't know if there was anything she could've said. Maybe she could have said that killing Strika didn't guarantee that the invasion would've halted, but she couldn't. She didn't know if that would've happened. Scrap, who's to say that wouldn't have made things worse? Windblade looked down, upset that she didn't have a single answer to Pyra's woes. Instead, all she could muster was to ask, "A-And what about the rest of the Torchbearers?"
Much to Windblade's dismay, Pyra shrugged, "All I remember was being barely conscious, hearing Strika order for us to be boarded on the ships. When I came to, I was in a cell. I don't know where they are or if they're even alive anymore," suddenly, her gaze began growing more resolved, "But I intend to find out. Once we're all out of here, once everyone's safety has been assured, I'll head off and find my teammates, wherever they are. Then we'll find our way back to Caminus and take our home back. That's a promise."
Windblade smiled slightly, feeling that same determination burn in her own spark. They'd escape this ship, she knew with absolute certainty. They'd find their fellow Camians, return to their home, and drive the Decepticons off their world.
In that moment, there was no doubt at all.
"Glad to hear that," Jetfire's voice chimed in as Windblade and Pyra turned to face him. He was walking up to them, a large Energon sword in one servo and an equally large gatling gun in the other, "You know, you're starting to sound like some Autobots I know."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Pyra looked behind Jetfire and saw the rest of the Camiens. From what could be seen, they were all patched up. Or at least the frontmost ones were.
"Fixed what I co-co-could," Fixit rolled up from behind them, stopping just beside Jetfire, "Hopefully, it'll be enou-nou-nough for now."
Jetfire pulled out the holo-map of the ship, "Escape pods should be just a few floors down."
"And how many Decepticons between here and there?" as if to answer Windblade's question, steps echoed throughout the hall outside, drawing everyone's attention to where the vault door used to be. Running towards them was many Decepticons, all heavily armed.
"Open fire!" the frontmost one shouted, forcing everyone in the vault to take cover.
Ask a stupid question, Windblade berated herself as she saw Jetfire jump into the doorway and fire his gatling gun, sending a barrage of ion blasts towards their attackers. Those at the forefront were shredded while those further behind got out of the way. Javelin leaned out from her position and took aim with her sniper rifle, managing to hit a Decepticon right between the optics. Hot Shot rushed out from behind cover and activated a setting on his plasma blasters, launching torrents of flame that forced their opposition back.
Seeing opportunity, Windblade looked to Pyra, who nodded as they left their cover and charged the Cons. Windblade reached them first, drawing her blades and delivering a twin slash down across one's chest before spin kicking another into a wall. A third managed to get behind her, but she reacted in time to avoid his shot, backflipping over him and delivering a sweep to his legs that knocked him down. Before he could get up, Windblade held her blade in a reverse grip and drove it into the Con's chest. At the sound of the ensuing battle behind her, she stood up and turned just in time to watch Pyra finish off the last of her opponents with an axe strike to the head. More footsteps approached, this time from the Camiens and Jetfire while Fixit rolled up.
"That all of them?" Hot Shot asked, Javelin at his side and Lightbright hiding just behind them.
"Doubtful, there's gonna be a lot more coming our way," Jetfire took lead, "Everyone ready?"
Everyone gave an affirmative shout as they once more ran down the halls, ready for anything that was thrown their way. One way or another, they were getting out of here.
"Die you filthy Autobo-GAK!" were the last words uttered by the Decepticon grunt as Jetfire sliced him in half with his Energon saber. He could hear further slashing and crushing behind him, courtesy of Windblade and Pyra laying waste to their opposition. Up ahead of him was Fixit, tasering another grunt and holding him still long enough for the purple Camien, Javelin, to get a clear shot and blast his processor out.
"Think that's the last of them," Windblade said as she retracted her blades.
"For now, anyway," Pyra reminded before walking forward just past Jetfire, "Not that it matters. We're here."
Right in front of the group was the entrance to the escape pod bay, which they wasted no time opening, as more Cons would likely close in on their location soon enough. Jetfire, Windblade, Pyra, and Fixit all stood guard, letting the rest of the Camiens run in first. Once it looked like they were in the clear for the moment, they entered and started checking the pods.
"Look's li-li-like only three can fit per pod," Fixit analyzed, Jetfire taking in said fact as well. He counted the number of pods, and from the looks of it, there were almost enough to fit everyone. Almost being the key word. While Fixit would be able to fit as a fourth for one of the pods, two of them would have to remain behind. Jetfire had no qualms staying to ensure everyone else got away, but that left one more bot who wouldn't make it.
Cross that bridge when you get to it. Focus on getting everyone else out of here, "Okay, let's start loading everyone up!" Jetfire directed three Camiens to the first escape pod, with the impromptu trio making certain they were strapped in. Once that was done, he looked over to Pyra, and at her affirmative nod, closed the hatch and typed away on the side console. With exact coordinates to the nearest planet on the ship's star map set, the pod launched into space and away from the ship to safety.
"Thr-Thr-Three down, a bu-bu-bu-bunch to go!" Fixit chimed as they loaded the next several pods, Camiens all taking their seats before being launched out, Jetfire inputting those same coordinates he input for the first pod. When they arrived at the final two pods, Pyra motioned for Javelin, Hot Shot, and Lightbright to get in. The three took their seats, but the youngling among them seemed frightened.
"Hey, kid, it's gonna be alright," Javelin reassured, her single optic conveying understanding for Lightbright's fears.
"Yeah! We'll be with you each step of the way. Promise," Hot Shot added, giving the warmest grin he could muster and an awkward thumbs up.
Seeing that the youngling was still afraid, Pyra placed a gentle servo on her shoulder, "Little one, don't be afraid. After having fought alongside these two, I would trust them with my spark. And though you've been through much, you've persevered," she gave Lightbright a calming smile, "You're stronger than you believe. So have faith, and may Solus guide you," Pyra looked to rest of the pod's occupants, "All of you."
"I...o-okay," Lightbright, still fearful, managed a nod and strapped herself in. With that, Jetfire typed in the destination and sent the three on their way, leaving one final pod, but six Cybertronians.
As Jetfire set the coordinates, Windblade turned to two of the finale Camiens; a femme whose head bore an intense flame atop it, as well as a mech with blue armor and small yellow wings on his back. "Firestar, Skystriker," she addressed them respectively, "You two strap in."
"You as well, Windblade," Pyra said, drawing a surprised look from the Camien in question.
"W-What?" she gasped as Firestar and Skystriker took their seats in the pod, "But why?"
"I won't be able to rest easy until I know all of our people are safe. I need you to go with the others."
"No, I'm going to stay here and help!" Windblade looked over to Jetfire and Fixit, "Jetfire, you and Fixit go. You've done so much for us already. And with the Decepticons planning on taking you to those DJD butchers, you need to get out of here!"
Jetfire shook his head, "Sorry, but I'm with Pyra on this one. We'll stay here. Keep the Decepticons off your tailpipes."
"I'm no-no-no-not gonna leave my friend behind," Fixit said, servos crossed with a tone of finality. Jetfire was going to protest Fixit's decision, but Windblade interrupted.
"B-But-"
"Listen," Pyra began, "I said that I would allow no more of our people to die this day, and I meant it. Now go!"
Windblade, in frustration, shouted, "NO! If you stay here and die, that would just as much break the vow you made!"
"Or we all die and I break my vow even further," Pyra cynically muttered before asking, "Then what do you propose we do? As you can see, only one more will fit within the pod, and none of us intend to leave at the expense of another."
"I don't know, but we need to think of something."
"Windblade, time isn't a luxury we have at the moment. Please, for all our sakes, get in the pod. I'll try and find another out if I can."
"But what if-"
"Uh, excuse me?" interrupting the argument was one of the final pod's occupants. More specifically, it was Skystriker, who asked, "How about we make it easier on you and stay too? Think not dying will be a lot easier when it's all six of us."
"No, you need to get ou-"
A deafening boom came from the pod bay entrance, where a pair of Decepticon grunts came in and opened fire. Jetfire and the others shielded themselves as best they could, but he suddenly found himself flying back, crashing into the floor. As he picked himself up, he opened his optics and saw his attacker.
Frag, he cursed, now standing face-to-face with a Seeker, a femme from the looks of it, whose wings menacingly loomed over the downed Autobot. Before he could stand, the elite soldier stomped on his head, her foot jet activating as his face found itself scorched. As he screamed, he heard Windblade yell, followed by the foot and intense heat removed from him.
Things became a blur as fighting sounded in the background. He heard Fixit tell him to hold still, followed by Pyra yelling to "stay in the pod". Then came more fighting and slashing, followed someone being slammed into. Just as he felt things become clear, he blinked, seeing Windblade fly above and crash behind him. Fixit moved away as Jetfire forced himself up fully, just in time to see the Seeker manage a kick to Pyra's chest that knocked her into the escape pod.
"Now now," the Seeker sealed the pod doors, Pyra's shouts of anger heard from behind it. With a crude laugh, the Seeker mocked, "Let's leave the riff raff out of this, shall we?"
"No! Don't-" Jetfire's plea was on deaf audio receptors, however, as the Seeker punched the console, sending Pyra, Firestar, and Skystriker out into space. Now enraged, Jetfire drew his saber, "You'll pay for that!"
"And you'll pay for abandoning us, traitor," the Seeker aimed her arm-mounted blasters at him, "Those freaks in the DJD won't get you. I'll savor killing you myself."
"Then by all means, come try it," Jetfire challenged, prompting the Seeker to open fire. The Aerialbot deflected the first two shots before shifting to his plasma cannon, aiming right for his opponent's head. However, the Seeker shot the plasma blast, resulting in an explosion that blanketed the area with smoke. Jetfire tried to activate the scanners in his optics, but found that they weren't working. Scrap, her first attack must have done a number on them, Jetfire cursed, but then he heard screaming coming from within the smoke. As it began to clear, he saw an outline of the Seeker, but an electric current was running across her body, and at her feet was the outline of a familiar Mini-Con.
"Jetfire!" Fixit shouted from within what remained of the smoke, "Now!"
Not wasting time, Jetfire complied and activated the jets in his feet, flying forward and reaching the Seeker in the span of a nanoklik. Drawing his saber, Jetfire slashed at her head and decapitated the Seeker in a single swing. As the Con's body fell limp to the floor, Jetfire rushed back to Windblade and shook her, "Windblade! Windblade, are you alright?"
"Ugh, too loud," Windblade groaned as she shook her head, a servo to her helm, "What was that?"
"A member of the Seeker Armada. The Decepticon Empire's elite, and my former unit before I became an Autobot." Jetfire explained, his tone solemn on the last bit.
"I'll say, she was way tougher than I expected," Windblade recovered, Jetfire helping her up as she looked around, "Wait, where's-" she gasped, "Pyra and the others! Jetfire, what happened to them!?"
Jetfire's gaze grew apologetic, "The Seeker tossed Pyra into the pod and sent her out with the others. I'm sorry."
"No," Windblade's optics clenched shut.
"If it means anythi-thi-thing, the coordinates were locked into the pod," Fixit rolled up from the pod's console, "If lu-lu-lu-lu-luck's on our side, they should be flying ri-ri-right for the same planet everyon-on-one else was."
Don't think that's helping, Fix. Especially when you phrase it as a matter of luck, Jetfire was about to point this out, but Windblade started whispering loud enough for all to hear.
"I should've listened. If I'd just gone when I was told, she'd still be here. If I didn't argue so much, Firestar and Skystriker's safety would've been guaranteed, but now we don't know if they'll make it or not."
"Hey, don't focus on that right now," Jetfire held Windblade by her shoulders, shaking her out of her guilt-fueled stupor, "Could you have done that? Yes, but we don't know how differently things would've gone. I've made a lot of mistakes over the vorns, but one thing I've learned is that we can't undo the past. We can only pick ourselves up and continue forward. I think Pyra will do that, and I'm sure she'd want you to do that too."
Windblade didn't say anything, still downtrodden. Jetfire would have said something else, but the Camien beat him to the punch, "What do we do now?"
It's a start at least, Jetfire mused. Windblade's low tone and unwillingness to look anywhere but the floor wasn't the best sign, but addressing the problem any further would have to wait until they were out of here. "We need to take control of the bridge," Jetfire said, standing at full height as he led the way out of the pod bay, "Once we've taken out the crew, we can use the ship to head for where we sent the other Camiens."
"And then we can make sure everyone made it in-tact?" Windblade's tone lightened slightly as they all began running, or in Fixit's case, rolling, down the halls.
"Yeah! Don't wo-wo-worry Windy! I'm sure-sure they made it," Fixit reassured, sounding as bright as possible. Unfortunately, the corners far ahead of the trio filled with Decepticon troops, who opened fire on them. The trio was forced to take cover as laser blasts filled the hallway.
We don't have time for this! Jetfire pulled out the ship's layout and saw that they were several floors beneath where the bridge was. He looked over to Windblade and yelled, "On my mark, get ready to fly!" Windblade nodded, and the Aerialbot waited for an opening before he rolled out of cover and opened fire, blasting a few Cons. "Now!" Jetfire shouted as he picked up Fixit and transformed into his jet form. Activating his engines on full blast, he rocketed past the blockade and down the halls. Windblade flew just behind him in her own jet form, though hers had rotary engines in addition to rockets.
"Uh, Jetfire? I think they're gaining on us!" Windblade yelled, Jetfire looking back to see that a few of the troopes had transformed into jets as well. Others were chasing them down on wheels.
"Follow me!" Jetfire picked up the pace, going through hallway after hallway until the elevator was right in front of them. He loaded up a missile and launched, destroying it and opening the elevator shaft for the trio to fly up. While this took care of the ground chasers, they still had the flyers on their tails. As the roof and floor of their destination approached, Jetfire got an idea and opened fire once more. The resulting blast sent shrapnel and debris falling downward, the trio making a hard turn at the exit. In the clear at the moment, they transformed back to robot form as Jetfire placed Fixit down. All three of them looked down the elevator shaft to see that the chasers were battered and sent crashing from the rubble.
"Hah! Eat that Decepticre-cre-cre-creeps!" Fixit cheered with a jump.
"PHEW! We...we actually made it," Windblade calmed herself down, propping herself against the nearest wall for a moment.
"Yeah, surprised me too. Didn't think that was gonna work for a Nanoklik," Jetfire admitted, feeling his own Spark calm down. No matter how many life-or-death scenarios he found himself in, improvising an idea on the spot was always a stressful time.
"Don't know how I'm supposed to feel about that," Windblade chuckled.
"No one ev-ever does," Fixit laughed, causing Jetfire and Windblade to laugh in kind. However, the laughter died down as their current situation re-entered their processors. Jetfire looked forward and saw that they were in a singular hallway, no exits save for the one at the very end: the entrance to the bridge.
"This is it. Odds are, the bridge will be heavily guarded," Jetfire turned to Windblade and asked, "Ready?" Windblade, without any hesitation, nodded, with Fixit giving his own affirmations as well. With that, Jetfire shifted his arm into a missile launcher and fired at the door, blowing it off its hinges as he, Windblade, and Fixit stormed the place.
"Kill them!" a soldier shouted, and the trio was immediately besieged by plasma shots through the initial smokescreen. Jetfire took to the air, letting his large frame divert much of the initial fire while Windblade and Fixit got to work on their attackers. Shifting his arm into a plasma cannon of his own, he started shooting down any troops that his friends couldn't immediately reach. After he finished off all the gunners, he watched as Windblade kicked two Decepticons together before running them through with her blades. Fixit, meanwhile, was on the back of another heavy soldier like the one guarding the weapons vault. But unlike the previous one, Fixit didn't have the element of surprise, being grabbed and thrown off.
"Fra-a-a-a-ag!" Fixit shouted as he flew across the room, Jetfire speeding to him. He managed to catch the Mini-Con just before he was smashed against a wall. "Thanks!" Fixit said as they looked down to see the large troop strike at Windblade with a massive battle-axe. She was able to dodge most of his strikes before backflipping over him and delivering sword strikes to his back and heels. He doubled over, with the Camien set to impale him from behind, but the large Decepticon recovered in time and turned, batting Windblade away.
"ARGH!" Windblade shouted in pain as she skidded across the floor on her back. Jetfire was about to rush over to help, but a sudden laser shot almost hit him square in the head. Thankfully, he dodged it in time and saw the culprit: the sole remaining technician of the bridge crew.
"Fixit, see if you can keep the technician off me. I'll deal with this guy," Jetfire ordered, seeing the heavy troop loom over Windblade and bring his axe down. The Camien was barely able to hold the axe blade off with her sabers, and it was clear she wouldn't be able to hold for long. Fixit nodded, with Jetfire throwing him right towards the technician's head. With the shooter now distracted (and screaming loudly) Jetfire rushed down and drew his blade, ready to drive it through the heavy Decepticon's head. However, the Con reacted in time to block it with his axe, instead skidding far back on his feet. Thankfully, it gave Jetfire and Windblade some breathing room.
"Thanks for the save," Windblade stood up, swords at the ready, "Any ideas?"
"I'll keep him distracted. You get him from behind while he's dealing with me," Jetfire answered as the Decepticon charged, Windblade running ahead of Jetfire as they charged in kind. The former slid under the Con's legs while the latter blocked his attack, sword clashing against axe. Windblade leapt onto the Decepticon's back and drove her swords into his shoulders.
With a cry of pain, the Decepticon flailed in an effort to get the Camien off, dropping his axe in the process. Jetfire picked it up, wielding it alongside his blade as he flew forward. Windblade jumped off just in time for the Aerialbot to slash downward with both weapons at where one of her blades had previously been impaled. The force behind the attack cut the Decepticon's arm clean off, making him back up in agony and fall to his back, but not before shifting his remaining arm into a cannon in an effort to blast Jetfire.
"Oh no you don't!" Windblade shouted as she drove a sword into the arm, pinning it to the floor and granting Jetfire an opening. With all his might, he drove the axe right into the Decepticon's chest plating, penetrating deep enough to rupture his Spark chamber. As the light left the Decepticon's optics, Windblade retracted her sabers and walked up to Jetfire, who was about to comment on something, but then...
"Surrender-der-der, Decepticreep!"
"Alright alright! I give!"
Jetfire and Windblade overheard the end of Fixit's fight with the technician and ran past rows of the bridge's control consoles. When they reached the Mini-Con, he was holding the heavily damaged Decepticon seated at missile point. Fixit, for his part, had some superficial damages to his orange armor, but nothing too severe.
"Can't believe this," the Decepticon muttered, "Beaten by a stupid Mini-Con."
Jetfire saw Fixit scowl at the comment, Windblade glaring alongside him as she knelt down and met the technician optic-to-optic, "Be quiet. I won't hear you insult my friends."
"Tch, whatever, dumb colony trash." the technician's crude comment made Windblade's optic twitch. Jetfire gently placed a servo to her shoulder.
"He's just trying to get a rise out of you. Don't let him."
"Yeah, listen to the traitor. Real trustworthy bot there," Jetfire ignored his comment and went to the controls, seeing that they were heavily damaged with coordinates locked in. He cursed internally before looking out the port windows.
"Oh scrap!" Jetfire's optics widened as he saw they were flying right into an asteroid field, "Fixit, please tell me you can repair this thing fast?"
Fixit jumped onto the console, looking outside then back to the broken system, "Uh...definitely not-not-not in time for that-that."
"HA!" the technician laughed as the first asteroid hit, shaking the entire vessel as the bridge's lights flashed red and an alarm blared, "Looks like we're all gonna die."
"You did this! So undo it!" Windblade held the Decepticon at blade-point, but another asteroid hit them, briefly off-balancing her.
"Can't, not that I would if I could," he smirked and glared at them, a third asteroid hitting the ship, "See you in the Pit."
"Uh, guys, giant asteroid dead-dead-dead ahead!" Fixit's frightened yell drew their attention to the asteroid in question. Sure enough, it was gargantuan, possibly a quarter the size of a planetary satellite.
"Jetfi-WOAH!" Windblade shouted as another asteroid hit, this time impacting the window and cracking the glass, "What do we do!?"
Jetfire's processor flared with panic, not knowing or seeing any way to avert the current crisis. The repeated impacts from the smaller asteroids and the cackling of the technician weren't doing him any favors either. Looking at the control console, he tried to see what options were available to him. Dropships within the loading bay? No way they'd make it in time, and that was without accounting for the other Decepticons aboard still out for their Energon. Manual controls? Completely busted. The only things working were the communications and weapons systems. Thinking quick, he activated the ship's targeting computers and let them open fire on the smaller asteroids. Enormous laser blasts sounded in the background, but that wouldn't do a thing to the much larger asteroid they were rapidly approaching. There was only one thing left that they could do: survive and hope help would reach them.
Hope this works, Jetfire cleared his throat and shouted on an open frequency, "To any Autobots who can hear this mess-" a stray asteroid jostled the entire ship, with the Aerialbot reorienting himself to continue, "We are under attack! Repeat, we are under attack! This is Aerialbot Commander Jetfire, can anyone read me!? We're aboard a Decepticon prison ship, and are currently flying through an asteroid field! We were able to free the other prisoners, but we don't know if we'll be able to esc-" another stray asteroid hit them, "If we'll be able to escape in time. If any Autobot ge-," another asteroid, "-gets this message, trace it and find us! We don't have lo-" another, followed by the cracking of glass, halted his message. He looked outside and saw that the glass was this close to breaking. Making matters worse was that one final asteroid was flying in from the side.
"BRACE YOURSELVES!" Jetfire grabbed Windblade and Fixit, flying as fast as he could out of the bridge and towards the other end of the hall. The resulting impact shook the entire ship as it spun out of control. The three of them were almost sucked out into space as the glass shattered, but the emergency airlocks sealed them into the hallway, leaving them to get jostles and tossed around, smashing into wall after wall, from floor to ceiling. With one final crash, Jetfire felt his consciousness leave him, everything fading to black.
Windblade groaned as she felt the world around her return. It took all her strength, but she managed to pick herself up from the floor, hunched over as a sudden spike of pain shot from her abdomen. "ARGH!" she clutched at it before looking to see a large gash, Energon bleeding out of her and dripping to the floor. She leaned against the nearest wall to hold herself up, wincing in pain as she sat down. It gave her enough time to take in the rest of her wounds. She felt cracks running along her face, and it looked as though both her wings were bent out of shape. To make matters worse, she saw no sign of Fixit or Jetfire anywhere. Where were they?
"Jetfi-fire? Win-Windy? Anyone?" Fixit's voice called from down at the end of the hallway, as if to answer her question. It sounded like it came from close to the wreckage of the elevator, which Windblade noted was both upside-down and slanted. Sensing her friend was in trouble, she forced herself to stand and limped towards his location, all while sparks and broken lights illuminated the hall. She moved past shredded metal like she was walking downhill, eventually reaching the end, where a familiar orange limb waved from underneath rubble.
Despite the pain it caused, Windblade moved quickly and dug through it, managing to pull Fixit out. Parts of his plating were broken, revealing the circuitry beneath, but the worst of it was below his waist, as his wheels were severely mangled. "Winbla-bla-blade! Thank Primus," Fixit said as the Camien picked him up under her arm. He looked at her injury and asked, "Doesn't tha-that hurt?"
Windblade nodded, "What abo-OW!" she clutched at her wound, another shot of pain running up her body before she fought it back, "W-What about you? You're not looking good either."
"Believe me, It's more pain-pain-painful than it looks."
"Hopefully we'll both be able to get repairs soon," Windblade said with a wince, "But first, we need to find-"
"Uuuuuuh," a loud groan came from within the dilapidated elevator shaft. Windblade and Fixit looked to each other before the former limped towards the entrance and gasped. There, half-buried beneath a mound of scrap-metal with a completely broken wing and Energon bleeding out of a couple holes in his upper chest and mouth, was Jetfire. If not for the groaning and the fact that his optics blinked open, Windblade would have thought he was dead. "W-Wind...Windblade?" Jetfire rasped, his voice scratchy and hoarse, "Fix..."
"Jetfire, just hold on!" Windblade shouted, ignoring her pain long enough to jump into the shaft and reach Jetfire. "Scrap, this looks bad," she said before putting Fixit down atop Jetfire's damaged chest plate, "Can you do anything for him?"
Fixit shook his head, "Not in my current condition-tion-tion-tion. This ship shou-should have a medical bay, but..."
"No way to reach it," Windblade finished, looking back down at her barely conscious friend. She blinked her tears away, promising herself that she wouldn't let him die, and dug through the rubble. Once he was freed, she used all her strength to pick him up and get him out of the elevator shaft before climbing out with Fixit in tow. It was then that she couldn't ignore her wounds anymore as the pain overwhelmed her, forcing her to lay down beside Jetfire as she clutched at her wound. Everything hurt, with all her subsequent attempts to force herself to stand only furthering that pain. She was beginning to doubt she'd be able to get up again, let alone carry her friends out of here.
Can't...can't quit now... Windblade tried to pick herself up one more time, Come on, get up! But it didn't work, her body falling back to the floor. "Frag..." she felt darkness overwhelm her, what little strength she had left was fading fast. She didn't want things to end this way, but it seemed inevitable as her body finally felt like it was giving out...
"Windy, just hold o-o-on for me!"
...until Fixit's voice echoed in her audio receptors, and suddenly, a powerful jolt forced her awake. With a gasp, she snapped her head upward and looked around, seeing Fixit doing what he could to repair her wound. From the looks of it, he seemed to have crawled all the way over here.
"Fixit, you-"
"Upupup! Hold sti-sti-still," Fixit tinkered with the internal wiring and circuitry within the wound before shifting his arm into a welding torch, "I've sea-sealed the bleeding-ing-ing, but tha-tha-that's the most I can do right now."
"Thank you," Windblade found she had enough strength to pick herself up, but it was still a strain, and even with the bleeding sealed up, everything else still hurt. "Really," she continued, "After everything, I owe you a lot."
Fixit smiled, "Think nothing-ing of it-it. I'm a doc-doc-doctor, so it's in my job des-description-tion-tion. Besides-sides, what are friends for?"
Windblade smiled at that, gently picking him up in one arm before moving over to Jetfire. It took a good deal of effort, but she managed to sling his arm over her shoulder and lift him up. Limping, she carried them to the bridge entrance, its airlock conveniently busted open, most likely from the crash. She brought them through, taking in the demolished, upside-down bridge room and the shattered windows leading to the outside. Wasting no time, they exited and stepped onto the rocky terrain of the asteroid, making their way from the ship.
"Jetfire, you still with us?" Windblade asked, the Autobot's silence terrifying her.
"Yeah..." he quietly answered, much to hers and Fixit's relief.
"Just hang on-on-on buddy, we'll stop somewhere-where to patch you up," Fixit said, "Then we wait-wait-wait for an Autobot who picked up your dis-distress signal-nal-nal-nal.
A tinge of worry ran throughout Windblade's body, "What if Jetfire's signal wasn't heard?"
"Ships..." Jetfire muttered, "If...no one...docking bay...find...ship..."
"Think any of them would still be functional?" Windblade asked.
"I hope so," Fixit replied while Jetfire began murmuring something. The Mini-Con looked up at Windblade and said, "Better find a spot to put-put-put hi-him down soon."
"Good idea," Windblade nodded as the group started nearing rock formations where they could rest and patch up. "Jetfire, I need you to talk with us. Let us know you're still ther-ARGH!" Windblade doubled over, almost dropping her friends as a sudden pain seared along her wing. She looked and saw that one of her rotors was gone, sparks erupting from what remained as laser fire came down on the group. Ignoring the pain, she forced herself to run, friends in tow as they hid behind the rock formations, laser blasts still sounding.
"Scrap! Looks like some survi-vi-vived!" Fixit shouted as Windblade poked her head out from behind cover, seeing several Decepticons jumping down from what used to be the bottom of the ship. While just as many remained up top and continued to fire upon their position, those that jumped down were slowly making their way over, clearly enjoying taking their time.
Sadists, the lot of them, Windblade grunted and drew her blades, ready to strike the first one that came close, but the act itself reminded her of the injuries she'd accumulated. Then she looked over to her injured companions, realizing that the odds of her being able to fend off the Decepticons and protect them in her current condition were practically non-existent. Doesn't mean I shouldn't try, her optics entered a glare as she readied herself to run out and meet them face-to-face.
"Windblade..." Jetfire croaked, "Run..."
What? Windblade looked at Jetfire like he was insane.
"Take Fixit...run...leave...me..." he rasped.
"No," Windblade immediately said, ducking as a particularly powerful laser blast shook the rocks providing them cover, "I won't abandon you or any of my friends. Not now or ever!"
"That goes dou-double for me-me-me!" Fixit agreed, making it clear that if this was it, they were facing the end together.
Instead of protesting any further, Jetfire gave a solemn smile, "It's...been an...honor..."
Windblade gave Jetfire and Fixit one last smile as she looked out from behind cover, seeing a pair of Decepticons almost upon them. Jumping out, she took a combat stance with her sabers while the Cons took aim. Windblade's Spark pulsed with terror, but she wouldn't let it show, instead preparing to deflect whatever they shot at her, even if it would be for a short time.
But suddenly, all enemy fire ceased, with the two Decepticons in front of her looking up, at which point Windblade heard what sounded like a loud engine in the distance. Taking advantage of the distraction, she quickly cut the two down in front of her, causing the other Decepticons to recover and open fire. She deflected a few shots, but a stray one struck her leg. With a cry of pain, she jumped back to cover, sitting next to her friends as she clutched her newest injury.
"You okay?" Fixit asked.
"Y-Yeah," Windblade winced, "What happened?"
A brief, hoarse laugh escaped Jetfire, followed by him rasping, "Looks like...help...arrived...after all..."
As the loud engine noise grew louder, Windblade looked to its source to see a massive ship flying down towards them, floating just above the destroyed prison barge. Even from this far, Windblade could see the Autobot emblem proudly displayed on its side, the sight making her Spark swell with relief. All Decepticons started firing on the newly arrived vessel, but to no avail.
The ship's underbelly opened up, and out dropped two bots; one was a mech with black and white armor plating and twin bladed disks in each servo. The other had white and grey armor with a prominent shoulder cannon. The latter shouted, "COME AND GET SOME, DECEPTICREEPS!" as he and his partner began fighting the Cons topside (technically bottomside) of the ship.
"Fixit...was that?"
"Yup," Fixit answered Jetfire, "That was def-def-definitely Wheeljack."
"Friend of yours?" Windblade asked.
"Not exactly," Fixit awkwardly answered, "More an...acquaintance-tance-tance. He's a Wrecker. They're not-not exactly the most sub-subtle of bots."
"HA! THAT THE BEST YOU GOT!?" Wheeljack shouted, followed by an explosion.
"Ah," Windblade understood, another explosion, this one bigger than the last, going off where the two Autobots fought, "I take it this is a regular occurrence when it comes to him and these...Wreckers, as you called them?"
"This is actually rather-ther tame by hi-his standards," Fixit commented, leaving Windblade to look at the Mini-Con like he grew a second head. If this was tame, what the frag did Wheeljack's normal look like?
Maybe don't think too hard on that, Windblade immediately decided for the sake of her sanity. Not that she had time to think about it anyway, as the ship flew overhead and landed just in front of the injured bots, kicking up dust and rock everywhere. The ship's rear ramp opened up, two Cybertronians in vehicular form driving out at top speed. The reddish car reached them first, transforming into a femme whose helm had two skinny fins atop it. Her blue optics looked at all of them with compassion and worry.
"Are you three alright?" she asked just as the large blue truck arrived and transformed into a very tall mech with truly massive shoulder pads.
"Elita...Magnus..." Jetfire rasped, smiling and gaining more strength as he looked at the new arrivals, "Aren't you a sight for sore optics."
"Good to see you to, old friend," Elita knelt down rested a gentle servo to Jetfire's shoulder, "But save your strength. We're getting you out of here," she looked to Fixit and Windblade, "All of you."
A sudden, powerful plasma shot impacted their cover, knocking away large chunks of it. As more blasts hit their location, Magnus asked, "General Elita? Your orders?"
"Get these three aboard the Alpha-5. They need medical attention ASAP!" Elita commanded, the bracers on her servos unfolding over her fists, revealing a pair of gauntlets, "I'll cover for you."
"Understood," Magnus helped Jetfire up as the wheels on Elita's legs revved up. The Autobot shot out from behind cover faster than Windblade could keep track. Poking her head out, the Camien watched as Elita elegantly dodged all enemy fire that was now aimed at her, closing in on her targets to deliver powerful, yet graceful blows to her opponents. "Let's go soldier!" Magnus snapped Windblade out of her awe as she turned and saw that he was already at the ship's ramp, Jetfire and Fixit in tow. She briefly turned back to watch the ensuing battle before limping after Magnus, who patiently waited for her.
"Sorry," Windblade said, wincing slightly.
"Let's get you three to the medical bay for now," Magnus replied as they entered the ship. All the while, the relief Windblade felt from before magnified tenfold, a single thought replaying in her processor.
They were safe. They were finally safe.
Elita flipped over the grunt's attempted charge, catching him by the shoulders and throwing him towards his only remaining ally. She's already taken care of everyone but these two, and they weren't proving much better than their predecessors, especially in their desperation. One pulled out his blaster, but Elita revved up her wheels, delivering an uppercut that knocked him into the air before spin-kicking the poor trooper into the ground. She could sense his partner try to rush her from behind, but she rolled her optics and smacked him away without even looking.
"Last chance, Decepticon. Surrender," Elita-1 walked up to the trooper still in front of her, who glared in defiance as he reached for his blaster and charged it up. Elita pulled out her Neutron Blaster and shot it out of his servos before he could fire. The Con raised his arms in surrender as Elita lowered her weapon ever-so-slightly. But then she noticed the ghost of a smirk and realized the troop had glanced behind her.
Not hearing any steps from her flank, she swiftly turned and was about to take aim at the bot's partner, but before she could, a pair of cutting disks flew in from above, slashing away the bot's blaster arm and head respectively. The Decepticon's corpse fell to the ground, Prowl and Wheeljack landing from their battle above as the latter kicked the decapitated head away like a mecha-soccer ball.
"Not a bad shot Officer," Wheeljack complimented, which went ignored by the Cyber-Ninja as his disks returned to him. The Wrecker scoffed at Prowl's aloofness before standing next to Elita and pointing at the single remaining Decepticon, "So what about him?"
"Might I suggest interrogation?" Prowl spoke up, "Given that this was a prison ship, I assume we're dealing with a prison transfer from one planet to the next. Perhaps he knows something useful, such as where the prison itself is."
Wheeljack chuckled and pounded his fists, "Sounds fine with me. I got a knack for roughing Cons up."
Elita held out her servos, telling the two to hold it. There was more than one way to skin a Turbofox after all, and she'd rather use methods that weren't so needless. Kneeling down to meet the terrified Decepticon at optic-level, she said, "This is your chance to do the right thing. I'd take it."
"We were taking prisoners from a newly conquered planet back to Cybertron! Lord Megatron wants them. T-he main console's on the bridge! It has all the ship's navigational data!" the Decepticon shouted, "I swear, that's all I know! J-Just let me leave! I swear I'll fight for the Decepticons again!"
"Prowl, go check the nav data," Elita ordered as she stood tall. The Cyber Ninja nodded and made his way for the broken bridge of the ship, leaving Elita and Wheeljack to watch the grunt. Instead of pulling any expected tricks, he remained seated, quaking in fear as the cycles passed. In that time, Elita pondered just what the trooper meant. The Decepticons continued conquest was nothing new, but in her experience, the world's population remained where it was to serve as labor for harvesting resources. She didn't know what made this planet so significant for Megatron to order its people to be transported to Cybertron, but it wasn't anything good.
When it came to her former friend, it was never anything good.
Soon enough, Prowl returned, Elita and Wheeljack turning to him as he said, "Much of the ship's systems were damaged in the crash, but I was able to gleem over a good deal regarding this ship's transport routes and its former prisoners. More specifically, they were from the lost colony of Caminus."
"Huh, always thought that planet was a myth."
"As did I," Prowl looked to Wheeljack and said, "But it seems the Decepticons found it and, naturally, conquered it."
"Nice work, Prowl," Elita looked back to the grunt, who was still shaking, and said, "If I catch wind of you hurting anyone like you did before, I won't be so forgiving next time we meet," she levelled her coldest glare, "Now transform and get out of here."
The Decepticon frantically nodded and shifted to vehicular mode, revving up his engine and bolting as far away from the Autobots as possible. Once he was little more than a far-off speck, Prowl walked up, "You know he's more than likely to fall back in line with the empire."
"Then we'll deal with that when it comes," Elita sighed as they made their way back to the Alpha-5.
Wheeljack scoffed, "Think it might have been more merciful to just blast his head off. Quick clean kill and all that."
"Can't say I disagree," Prowl added, "Given that he just gave us vital information, he'll at best live in terror of his superiors finding out, or at worst they do learn and make sure he suffers before killing him. And that's assuming he lives long enough to see such a moment."
Elita would admit that there was a point to what both her fellow Autobots had said. After all, the higher ups of the Decepticon Empire weren't known for mercy or forgiveness. But nonetheless, she had no intention of following through with such an idea. "Like it or not, that isn't how we operate," Elita sternly replied as they entered the ship, "We don't kill the unarmed and helpless. We only engage in aggression when all other methods are exhausted."
"Yeah yeah, what separates us from them. Yeesh, if I had a shannix for every time I've heard that speech from ol' Optimus, I'd be as rich as Mirage used to be," Wheeljack brushed off, the three of them entering the med bay where Magnus monitored Jetfire's vitals. As for the others, Fixit was currently in stasis for repairs while the third bot, a heavily damaged femme with red armor, bent wings with a broken turbine, and distinct facial markings sat on the third operating table, her legs dangling over the edge. The young bot's concerned gaze shifted between Jetfire and Fixit, unwilling to rest.
"How's everything looking Magnus?" Elita asked.
"Jetfire's in bad shape, but he'll pull through," Magnus answered, not looking away from the monitors, "Fixit will be fully repaired in approximately one Mega-Cycle. I'm certain his expertise will accelerate Jetfire's recovery."
"That's good to here," Elita was relieved, but looking over to the recovering femme put a damper on that. Walking up to her, she asked, "You alright?"
"Y-Yeah," the femme stammered, shaken up by the entire experience and concerned for her friends in equal measure. Elita-1 gave her a sympathetic look, remembering how surreal everything felt after the crisis ended; how odd the lack of laser fire and destruction felt after being forced to accustom herself to it.
"Don't need to be so jumpy, kid," Wheeljack chimed in, "We don't bite. Unless you try to shoot or stab us, that is."
"N-No, it's not that, it's..." she sighed, "It's just...it's everything. My friends are hurt, I have no idea what happened to my home, we barely escaped by the metal on our plates," as she continued, her pace grew more rapid and frantic, "I almost died several times, I had to watch the Decepticons slaughter so many people and it's just-" she cut herself off and did what she could to calm down, "It's just one cycle I'm hanging out with my loved ones on Caminus. The next, I'm thrown into the Pit without warning. Everything just happened so fast, and I don't know how to keep track of it all. I don't even know if I want to."
Elita gave her an understanding look, remembering the first time she'd been in a life-or-death situation and the fatigue that came after. Gently reassuring the bot, she asked, "What's your name?"
"Windblade," she answered.
"Windblade," Elita repeated, "I'm sorry for what happened. Believe me, I know what you're going through," she gazed at everyone else in the room, "I think all of us do."
"Indeed. One's first time in combat is always the most difficult, but you'll grow accustomed to it over time," Prowl said, Magnus providing a curt nod or agreement.
Wheeljack chuckled, "One cycle you're freaking out, the next you're busting heads and having a blast."
"Okay boys, you're officially not helping," Elita groaned before giving Windblade her full attention, "Sorry."
Windblade shook her head, "No, it's okay. I...I appreciate it anyway. Besides, they have a point. I'm probably gonna need to adjust to this if I want to save my home."
Elita gave her a small smile, "And we'll do whatever it takes to help you." Windblade looked ready to protest, but Elita beat her to the punch, "As Autobots, it's our duty to help those in need. To protect life wherever it resides. If the Decepticons have taken over your planet, we'll work to free it. Right everyone?"
"Of course, ma'am," Magnus saluted, with Elita resisting the urge to roll her optics.
"Hey, I'm always in the mood for kicking Con aft," Wheeljack smirked, "So count me in."
"I'll provide aid as well," Prowl said.
"And I'm sure if they were awake, Jetfire and Fixit would be all in as well," Elita turned back to Windblade, "So, what do you say?"
Windblade looked at them all, completely flabbergasted, "I...I..." she had trouble finding the words, but after a few nanokliks, she smiled back, "Thank you. All of you. But first, we need to find the other Camiens. We sent them off in escape pods to some planet. I don't remember which one though, but if we had the ship's nav data, we'd be able to find them."
Elita looked at Prowl, "You have the nav data. Think you can help?"
Prowl shook his head, "Sadly, no. The nav data was heavily damaged in the crash. I was able to access locations the ship itself had previously been to, but I couldn't find anything on where escape pods were sent out."
"I see," Windblade looked downtrodden at this news, "In that case, I'll hope for the best. They were able to get away from the Decepticons, so that'll have to be enough for now," she looked up to Prowl, "What about Caminus? Was there enough to plot a course to it?"
"About that..." Prowl put a finger to his temple, causing his optics to glow and emit a holo-map of the galaxy, "Based on the data I gathered from the ship, flying directly to Caminus isn't the most viable solution. As you can see," the map pinpointed Caminus' exact location in relation to them, "We're rather far off from it."
Wheeljack whistled, "With that kind of distance, it'd take several Stellar Cycles to get there just by flying."
"That's..." Windblade was in utter shock, "How did they fly so far so quickly? How long was I unconscious on that ship?"
"Hmm," Magnus looked at the map.
"Think it's a space bridge, Magnus?" Elita asked, knowing the answer.
At his nod, Magnus ordered, "Prowl, check the nav data for any space bridge locations. If we can find which one the prison barge came from, we can use it to fly us directly to Caminus. If we're lucky, this ship's been through most of them." Prowl concentrated, the holo-map flickering, and revealed the locations of a number of Decepticon controlled space bridges across the cosmos. The nearest one looked to only be, at least by a generous estimate, a couple Chords away. "That's the one," Magnus pointed, "But it will most likely be heavily guarded."
"Then we'll be ready," Elita said.
"So what are we waiting for? Let's-" Windblade looked ready to jump off her table, but winced in pain, "ARGH!"
"Hey, don't move around too much. You need to get patched up first," Elita helped rest Windblade back to the table.
"But-"
"We'll get to Caminus and free your people," Elita said, "But it won't do you any good if you rush things as you are. Focus on that for the time being, then all of us can work out a plan together." Windblade looked ready to protest, but after another wince, she reluctantly complied. Seeing her despondence, Elita reassured, "Don't worry, we'll be on our way before you know it. For now, save your strength and rest," she looked over to the slumbering Jetfire and Fixit, "After all you've done to help my friends, you've more than earned it."
Windblade didn't answer initially, only laying back on the table and closing her optics. Elita motioned for Prowl and Wheeljack to move out of the med bay to give Magnus room to work. She followed after them, but not before she heard Windblade one last time.
"Elita," she said, "Thank you."
The Autobot leader simply smiled and headed on her way.
"Frag!" Cold Iron yelled as the damaged communication systems sputtered electricity in his face and emitted loud feedback.
"Is it fixed yet?" his sister, Burnout, whined from what was technically the roof of the bridge. Cold Iron looked down and saw her stomping about, kicking random scraps of rubble, all the while the one patrol officer, Brave Steel, tapped his foot impatiently.
Cold Iron growled in frustration, "I wouldn't know, since this was never my area of expertise to begin with."
"Great! Fragging great!" Burnout kicked a piece of rubble with all her strength, making it bounce everywhere and hit Cold Iron square on the head.
"OW! Really sister!?"
"You're fault for flying there in the first place!"
"I'm only flying up here because we need to contact someone to give us a ride off this dump," Cold Iron flew down and poked Burnout's helm, "How about you fly up there and try to patch things up? See if you can do any better."
Burnout glared for a second before shrugging, whipping out a blaster and pointing it at the console, "Sure, I'll just blast it till it works. No biggie."
"NO!" Cold Iron and Brave Steel held her back.
"What?" she asked indignantly.
"You blow that thing up, we're really never getting off this rock," Brave Steel pointed out, "Don't tell me you're that stupid!"
Burnout shoved both of them off, "Oh go to the Pit! I don't have to take this from the bot who gave the traitor a map of the entire ship!"
"They were gonna kill me!"
"A tiny, frightened brat was going to kill you," Cold Iron said, arms crossed, "You should've let her. Those prisoners never would have made it that far otherwise."
"Y-Yeah well you..." Brave Steel stammered, "You both let yourselves get jumped by them!"
"That's it!" Burnout punched Brave Steel and started wailing on him. As the pathetic patrol officer begged, Cold Iron sat back and watched, smirking at the sight. Sure, he would never have gotten to see the traitor get what he deserved, but this was a close second. After she finished, she stood back and let the waste of space try and pick himself up. He only barely managed, now propping himself up using the fallen, mangled remains of a chair.
"Now that things have calmed down, I suggest letting me finish my work," Cold Iron said, almost jumping up to try and continue repairs.
"And then what?" Brave Steel asked, his voice raspy as he spat out Energon.
"We go back to Cybertron," Burnout replied as if she hadn't spent the last few Cycles beating the ever-loving slag out of the bot who asked, "Why? What else would we do?"
Brave Steel shook his head, "Had it ever occurred to you that the higher ups are gonna blame someone for this?"
"Yeah, they'll blame you. This is all your fault anyway," Cold Iron dismissed.
"And you," Brave Steel caught them off guard, "Think about it. We're the only three Decepticons left alive. If they find us, we're as good as dead for this failure."
"...slag," That's actually a good point, Cold Iron thought. If they did make it back, they'd face harsh punishment for this. Now if the Seeker Captain assigned to the ship was still alive, she'd be the one who'd take up that burden, but sadly for them, she was dead.
"What do we do then, bro?" Burnout asked.
"We fix up the comms, that doesn't change," Cold Iron concluded, "But we'll need to find a planet to lay low. After we trick a ship into coming near here, we hijack it and set course for Regulon-4."
Brave Steel looked terrified, "B-But isn't that home of the metalmongers?"
"Yeah, and that means if any of our old outfit tries hunting us down, they'll be in for a surprise," Cold Iron explained, recalling the rumors he'd heard about the metalmongers; how only a few of them managed to pose a threat to hundreds of Cybertronian warriors. Whether it was true or not was another story, but rumors were a powerful thing. "Now if you'll excuse me," Cold Iron flew back up to the upside-down console and continued his tinkering, "I have to try and get lucky with this thing so that we can actually contact someo-"
"Oh, there's no need for that," amidst his tinkering, a deep, familiar voice spoke from the other end, "I can hear you just fine."
"Yes! We're saved!" Burnout cheered, and for a moment, Cold Iron shared in that jubilation as he floated down.
"No, quite the opposite, actually."
"Huh, what are you-" suddenly, it hit Cold Iron. He realized who was talking to them, "T-Tarn?"
"Indeed. I'm calling you from Messatine," the DJD's leader answered, "Apologies for the sudden transmission, but I couldn't help but notice that your ship failed to deliver the traitor, Jetfire, to me. He was next on our list, after all."
Brave Steel gave an awkward, terrified laugh, "Y-Yeah, about that. See, he might have sorta, kinda, maybe..." he gulped, "...escaped."
"Do tell me, how did he escape? Was it not your job to ensure he'd remain locked up?"
"Brave Steel gave him a map of the ship! He helped him and the prisoners get away!"
"Burnout!" Brave Steel looked at her with utter horror and betrayal.
"What, it's true," Burnout said, despite having the same terrified expression. Knowing how the DJD operated, better to throw the coward under and hope the kill calmed them down enough to leave the rest alone. After all, unlike Brave Steel, Cold Iron and Burnout didn't help an Autobot get away.
"I see," Tarn said, "Brave Steel, have you nothing to say?"
"I-I didn't do any-they w-were holding me at gun point and-"
"How pathetic," Tarn interrupted, venom in his voice, "And you call yourself a Decepticon? You're unfit to bear the mark."
Cold Iron and Burnout smiled in relief as Brave Steel quivered in terror. From the looks of it, they were safe, all of Tarn's anger directed at the soon to be dead patrol officer.
But then the music played.
"In fact, none of you are."
"HRRK!" Cold Iron felt his body weaken. He fell to his knees and puked out Energon.
"You don't mind the sudden music, do you?" Tarn quietly asked, "The Empyrean Suite, composed by Eucryphia during the era of the Thirteen Primes. I tend to enjoy playing this as I whisper my prey to death."
"What is...what's-"
"It's simple," Tarn explained, voice growing lower, "I'd been trying to hail your ship's comms for quite some time these past few Megacycles. In your seemingly futile efforts to repair them, you unknowingly succeeded. So, when you three started making plans to abandon the Decepticon cause, well," he snarled, "I. Heard. Everything."
The more Tarn spoke, the more agony Cold Iron's body felt like it was in. His Spark felt like it was beating slower, and his limbs couldn't move at all. "W-What..." he rasped, "How are...how is...you're not...here..."
"Come now, Cold Iron, it's common knowledge that my voice can kill. But it seems you were unaware of the fact that I don't need to be with you for it to work. You merely need hear me, and your life is mine to do with as I please," Tarn let out a mirthless chuckle, "Understandable, as I rarely employ it outside torture, and that's always when we have our quarry alone."
"But...but we..." Cold Iron looked to his sister, who was hunched over, puking and crying about how she didn't want to die. Brave Steel seemed to have just given up entirely, lying flat and bracing himself for the end. "P-please," Cold Iron begged, "Let my sister go. T-Take me instead!"
"You won't have to worry about your sister. You'll be the first to go, after all," Tarn taunted, his voice lowering even more.
"I..."
"It's such a shame I won't be there to watch the life leave your optics, much as it is a shame that all of us couldn't be there to torment you three in person," Tarn's voice reached the quietest it'd ever been, electricity coursing throughout Cold Iron's body as the DJD leader said, "But for what little it matters, I will allow you the opportunity to speak your last. Tell us, what shall the final words of Cold Iron, former prison guard and lowly deserter of the Decepticon cause, be as he chokes on his own Energon and perishes into nonexistence? Hmm? We're waiting."
The electricity grew more violent, cracks formed along his entire body as his optics started breaking apart. His spark's pulse grew fainter, and the last thing he saw in his shattered vision was the horror on his sister's face. All he could muster was a rasped, broken whisper, "I'm...sorry..."
And that very moment, his Spark gave out.
Tarn grinned as the explosions sounded from the other end, all three deserters having died one-by-one. As he gazed upon the twin setting suns of Messatine, he would admit there was a certain...euphoria, that came with killing traitors. Those who abandoned Lord Megatron's will deserve nothing but torment before their inevitable demise, thus weeding out the ranks of the unworthy. That was the mission of the Decepticon Justice Division: Find. Kill. Cleanse.
But alas, while three were slain, one got away.
"Tarn? What are you doing out here?" Nickel's maternal, almost patronizing voice came in from behind, the DJD leader turning to see the light blue Mini-Con roll up to him, "You took a call and headed off without a word. Left me and the others worrying for a bit."
"It's nothing, Nickel. I was merely taking care of a few loose ends," Tarn replied, walking alongside her back to the Peaceful Tyranny.
"Must have been some noisy loose ends for you to walk out on everyone," Nickel commented.
Tarn nodded, "Indeed they were, though they've been silenced now," in the far distance, he could see their ship, "When we get back, tell the others to start up the Peaceful Tyranny's engines. We're going on a hunt."
"You mean for that Jetfire bot?" Nickel asked.
"Yes. He managed to escape the ship he was being transported in. So now it falls to us to bring him to justice for his betrayal," Tarn snarled, barely keeping his rage in check. He clenched his fist so hard that Energon bled to the snow ground beneath his feet, but he didn't care. He relished in it, for he would deliver that agony to the traitor a million-fold.
"Tarn!" sadly, Nickel did care, and saw fit to force him to as well, "Gah! Again! How many times do we have to have this talk? How many? Now give it here."
"Very well then," Tarn knelt down and let Nickel work on repairing his servo.
"Twist my frikkin arm a little," Nickel mumbled, finishing the repairs in no time.
"Thank you," Tarn said as he stood, much to Nickel's indignation.
"Na-na-na! I don't want to hear it. You can show some proper thanks by actually keeping your temper in check for a change."
"I promise nothing, especially when our next target requires a more...personal touch," Tarn walked ahead of the Mini-Con, gleeful as images of his former friend being burned in acid, torn to shreds, shocked into overload, and ripped apart from the inside-out played in his mind.
"Personal? What did this Jetfire do anyway?"
"He lived, Nickel," Tarn answered, refusing to divulge any further, "He lived."
This certainly wound up being much, MUCH longer than I expected, but that kind of thing happens sometimes.
While I had a point A and point B I wanted to get too, plenty in the chapter ended up being more spontaneous, with things like the moments with Lightbright just happening as I wrote.
Speaking of, should probably do some explaining there.
Lightbright was originally introduced in Transformers Animated as a background character before the old IDW continuity brought her in as a Camien. She's a combination of both versions, being from Caminus like the latter continuity and having the youthful appearance of the former.
As for the others, Hot Shot was also from Animated (he was in Armada and Animated, with his IDW version also being a Camien), with Pyra being the leader of the Torchbearers in the first IDW continuity. Though in her case, she lacks the Magna name since she hasn't taken it up yet.
I'm mostly bringing this all up because, given that this story's focus will be on Elita-1, Ultra Magnus, Wheeljack, Prowl, Jetfire, Fixit, and Windblade, the other Camiens will be going through their own off-page adventures as they fight and survive across the galaxy.
Elita's collapsible gauntlet bracers were a suggestion by @Matrix Dragon, which I went with to fit her fisticuff battle-style from EarthSpark.
Now you all know why this side-venture is called Camien Odyssey, as it's the adventure of the Alpha-5 crew in their journey to the lost colony of Caminus to free it from Decepticon control.
The three bots at the end, Cold Iron, Burnout, and Brave Steel, are OCs. The first two names were suggested by SwapAUAnon. I was originally gonna go with Cracked Bricks for the latter as suggested by @Matrix Dragon, but I opted for Brave Steel for the sheer irony of naming the utter coward that.
The final scene establishes the main antagonists of this space trip: The Decepticon Justice Division. And we get our introduction to the nightmare including psychopathic leader of the group, Tarn. Hope his intro was sufficiently terrifying.
With all that said, let me know what you all think of this chapter. What you liked, disliked, felt could use some work, etc.
In any case, I'll finally be getting back to writing out the next chapter for The Silver Raven. I've put that story off for way longer than I should have, and I know there's a lot of readers waiting for the next update.
Now, as an aside and a very important announcement, given that the Fanfiction Dot Net site is well on its way out (especially with the recent domain debacle), I'm not gonna take any major risks. With that said, from here on out, any fic I write and make will be posted to AO3, Spacebattles, and Sufficient Velocity. Now, whatever I have currently on Fanfiction Dot Net will still be updated on the site, but any new fics I make will not be posted here.
For those who read my stories on Fanfiction dot net and want to comment on them, I suggest you either make an AO3, Spacebattles, or Sufficient Velocity account. In regard to the former, I have things set up there so you can't read or comment on them unless you're a registered AO3 user. Precaution taken to mitigate the risk of theft/plagiarism.
Sorry about that, but I personally think it's for the best given how FF Dot Net's been lately.
Special thanks to SwapAUAnon and @Matrix Dragon for Beta Reading this chapter. And once more, big thanks to TFWiki for all the Transformers terminology.
Chapter 2: A Long Way From Home
"Ugh. W-What happened?"
The bot's processor ached as she picked herself up, taking more effort than she expected. Her optics opened and took in her surroundings; a dark, cramped enclosure whose only source of light was the crimson glow of the hard-light door. Am I...I'm in a prison cell? Now curious, she stood at full height and gave the barrier an experimental touch. Seeing that it didn't damage her servos, she pressed them to the barrier and looked down the hallway, gasping at the sight.
"By Primus," she muttered, seeing the dark purple hall lined with countless cells, all baring the same crimson barrier that hers did. Inside the ones she could see were fellow Camiens, some taller than her, others shorter, but all recognizable. Among those immediately visible, she could see Javelin, Hot Shot, Skystriker, and Firestar. Someone captured us, she mused, trying and failing to stifle her horror at her current predicament, But who could've- Her optics went wide as she remembered everything.
The warships that came from the sky, that bombarded the city. She remembered the screams as bots calling themselves Decepticons fired upon them. She remembered her and Chromia, her love, heading into the fray, blades and halberd at the ready to protect whomever they could. The last thing she recalled was being pinned to the ground, everything going black as something smashed into the back of her head.
"We lost," she muttered, "But that means..." a number of questions began to swarm around in her processor. What of her home? What of Caminus? Had these Decepticons conquered her world? Where were they taking them? Why did they invade in the first place? What of Chromia? Was she captured and aboard this ship like her? Was she still on Caminus? Was she...was she de-
"Got a lot of questions I take it?"
A gasp escaped her pipes as she turned, instinctively trying to draw her sabers, but nothing came up. "What?" she looked down at her servos, "My blades, where are-"
"Don't bother trying to bring any weapons out," came the older voice, clearly belonging to a mech, from the darkest corner of the cell, "They've installed Mode Locks onto the prisoners' backs. Can't transform, can't pull out any weapons. And that's assuming they didn't just take them from you before they chucked you in here."
"W-Who are you?" she asked, seeing the positively massive outline of her current cellmate. She didn't mean to sound so frightened, but she was alone, far from home with no idea if those she cared most for were even online. Not to mention weaponless, powerless, and trapped aboard a prison freighter with her cell occupied by someone whom she had no clue was either friend or foe. Silently, she hoped for friend.
The bot didn't immediately answer the question. Instead, he stood at full height and walked up to her, the glow of the barrier illuminating his white armor plating. Red lines ran along his chestplate and wings, which also had a prominent symbol of a Cybertronian face on them, one that stood in contrast to the more angular faces the Decepticons bore on their armor and ships. The smaller, intimidated bot had no clue what it meant, but before she could ask, the taller bot sighed, arms crossed as he shook his head, "Sorry. To be honest, I'd almost forgotten how my height could put bots off."
"I'm...sorry?" she wasn't sure what else to say.
"It's fine. Can't be helped. Looks like we're gonna be stuck here for a while, so we best get to know each other," the taller bot smiled and held a servo out, "Name's Jetfire."
She looked at the servo, then back up to Jetfire's kind, blue optics. Her initial fear slowly went down as she took the servo into hers and shook, introducing herself.
"Windblade."
Jetfire nodded, retracting his servo as he took a seat within the cell, "So, you want to start, or should I?"
"I'm still trying to process a few things," Windblade admitted, servo to her head as she sat next to Jetfire, "You alright with starting?" at his nod, she pointed to the symbol on his chest, "Think you could start by telling me what that symbol means? It's pretty different from the Decepticons'."
"Symbol of the Autobot Resistance," Jetfire explained, optics looking at her in confusion, "If you know what a Decepticon is, how do you not know about the Autobots?"
"Because they just invaded my world. I didn't know things like Decepticons or Autobots existed until-" she shook her head, "Primus, I don't even know how long I was out. All I can remember was their attack on Caminus and getting knocked out."
"Wait a minute. Did you just say Caminus? As in, the lost Cybertronian colony of Caminus?"
"I wouldn't exactly call us 'lost'," Windblade rested her chin to her kneecaps as she stared to the floor, since if anything, lost described them far too well. It was true that Caminus had lost contact with Cybertron eons ago, with Windblade having read about the event in her history lessons.
It was said that in ancient times, the first of the Primes, Prima, called for the aid of all their world's Cityspeakers to stop a great calamity. However, not long after their departure for Cybertron, all forms of contact with the entire planet just vanish, with the general pervading belief being that the calamity Prima spoke of was the cause. Making matters more troublesome was that their world's namesake Titan was slumbering at the time, no one left to awaken him since the Cityspeakers left. And over hundreds of thousands of Vorns, the art of Cityspeaking would find itself lost to the annuls of history, no one left to pass it down to the scarce few who had such potential. At least, that's what her lessons taught.
A lost Titan, a lost art, a lost contact, and a lost home. That word might as well have been synonymous with Caminus.
"Shannix for your thoughts?" Jetfire asked, interrupting her musings.
"I-It's nothing. Just..." Windblade sighed, wanting to keep her mind of troubling topics, "You're from Cybertron, yes?" Jetfire nodded, prompting her next question, "What's it like?"
"Not well I'm afraid," Jetfire solemnly replied, gesturing to their cell, "I guess you could say our current predicament's part of that. Cybertron's at war with itself."
At war? Windblade wondered, seeing the haunted look in Jetfire's optics, "You mean between the Autobot Resistance and the Decepticons?"
Jetfire sighed, "Yeah. Weren't always a resistance movement, but these Solar Cycles, Autobots are spread thin and scattered. The Decepticon Empire rules our home planet, and now they're spreading out across the galaxy, conquering whatever stands in their way."
"But why?" Windblade asked, "Why would they do this? What are they hoping to gain from taking over Caminus? From conquering worlds? From bringing death and ruin to so many?"
The more questions she asked, the more her voice wavered. She just couldn't fathom it. During their assault, the Decepticons displayed a ruthlessness and brutality she'd never seen before. The innocent were slaughtered like animals, and many of the opponents she cut down were smiling, as if they enjoyed the cruelty they inflicted. How could anyone be so monstrous, so uncaring to life itself?
"That's just it, Windblade. They do this because they can," Jetfire answered, a haunted look in his optics.
"Spoken like a true traitor."
Huh? Windblade looked to the cell barrier for the source of the new voice, seeing one of the guards looking down at them. More specifically, he was glaring at Jetfire. The Decepticon in question had black and red armor plating, matching Windblade in height, with his optics hidden behind a yellow visor.
"Better a traitor than a planet-razing monster," Jetfire sneered back.
"Won't be saying that for long," the guard, whom Windblade mentally called Tweedledum, gained an almost mocking smile, "This ship's gonna be making a stop near planet Messatine before we head back for Cybertron." Windblade saw Jetfire freeze, seeming completely terrified as Tweedledum continued, "You're next on the DJD's list. From what I hear, Tarn's got a lot of ideas on what he wants to do to you. Shame the rest of us won't be able to watch."
Tweedledum laughed and walked away, not so much as given Windblade a chance to demand answers from him. She looked to Jetfire and saw he was still petrified. "What was he talking about?" Windblade asked, an array of questions forming in her processor.
"The Decepticon Justice Division," Jetfire's voice was almost hollow, as if bracing for the inevitable, "Enforcers of Megatron's will. Their goal is to find any and all who abandon the Decepticons and kill them in the most gruesome manner imaginable."
"...so," Windblade began after a moment of silence, "You were one of them?" at his nod, the Camien tried to process that fact. Even if Jetfire was a former Decepticon, his entire being just seemed so far removed from the others. They were cruel, sparkless monsters without a shred of empathy, given their ruthless assault on her home, as well as the description of the DJD. Jetfire, however, seemed kind and empathetic, with not a shred of deception to be found. It was impossible for her to imagine him having ever been one of them. With all that running through her processor, she managed to ask, "Why were you a Decepticon?"
"Guess you could say I was a Decepticon before there even were Decepticons," at Windblade's confusion, Jetfire clarified, "What I mean is that the Decepticons didn't start out as monsters," he smiled in remembrance as he stared at the wall, looking past it and into the distance, "In the beginning, we were a social movement, one aimed at bringing change to the caste system that ran Cybertron," his smile fell, a somberness overtaking his optics, "But things grew more turbulent over the movement's life cycle. We started losing sight of our original goal, changing from seekers of equal rights for all to monsters who just wanted an excuse to break everything they hated," he looked down at Windblade with bitterness and regret, clearly trying to stave off the dark memories, "And when they'd broken everything on Cybertron, they went looking for new victims to satisfy themselves."
"H-How many...how many worlds?"
"I don't know," Jetfire reluctantly admitted as he and Windblade fell into another silence, this one more uncomfortable than the last. "Your home planet," Jetfire regained his voice, drawing Windblade's attention, "Caminus, I mean. I'm sorry for what happened to it."
"It's fine, you're not at fault for the Decepticons' actions," Windblade clutched at her kneecaps, "What do we do now?"
Jetfire looked around their cell before standing, holding out a servo to help her up, "I'd like to escape this place. Don't know if it'll work, but I gotta try. You?"
Windblade's face mirrored the determined expression Jetfire had as she nodded, "Yeah. Any ideas?"
Jetfire hummed and started feeling around the walls, "Should be a panel here. I can rewire a circuit to short out the cell barrier," looking back at Windblade, he asked, "Think you could help me find one?" The Camien began helping the Autobot as they searched the cell walls, removing whatever panels were loose enough. Despite their efforts, however, they found no circuitry to work with, and if there was any, it was likely behind what was too reinforced to breach. "Blast!" Jetfire punched a wall, an echo reverberating throughout the hallway.
"Hey! Keep it down over there!" one of the guards, a femme from the sound of it, shouted. A series of stomps made their way towards the cell, the guard entering the prisoners' field of view. Windblade noted a few similarities in appearance between this guard and Tweedledum, but her armor was black and purple with more prominent chest plating. The guard's exposed yellow optics glared at them with scorn.
Must be related with the last guy, Windblade mused, mentally calling this one "Tweedledee".
Tweedledee looked around the inside of their cell, seeing the removed floor and wall panels before chuckling, "You worthless pieces of scrap metal getting ideas? Don't bother. Nothing in these walls for you to mess around with."
"Guards! Help!" a Camien in a faraway cell, several to the right from the sound of it, shouted, "M-My friend, he's fallen to the floor! I don't know what's-"
"OH SHUT UP!" Tweedledee yelled back, "You think we don't have that trick back on Cybertron!?"
"B-But he's really-"
"How about I go over there and blast the fragger's Spark out!? Can't be 'sick' if he's dead!"
"...never mind."
"That's what I thought," the guard returned her focus to Windblade and Jetfire, "Like I said, don't even try."
Alright. New approach then, Windblade steeled herself and walked up to the cell, glaring into the Decepticon's optics, "You sound so confident when you talk to those who can't fight back."
"And?"
"I wonder if you'd be so bold if you were in here with us," Windblade sneered.
"Tch, think I'm dumb enough to try that?"
"Don't bother, Windblade," Jetfire put a servo to her shoulder, "You're talking to a proud Decepticon. All bark and no bite. She won't try to prove you wrong because she's too much of a coward."
"Who you calling a coward?" Tweedledee growled.
"Considering how I didn't see you when the Decepticons attacked my home, I'd say you are," Windblade smirked, "Bet you didn't even get off the ship until after the battle was won."
"I...I was there you little-!"
"Really now?" Windblade yelled out, "Hey! Any of you see this bot on the battlefield during the attack?" a chorus of negative answers followed. Windblade smugly looked at the increasingly angry Decepticon, "I rest my case."
"THAT'S IT! YOU WANT TO GO AT IT!?" Tweedledee snapped and reached for the cell's keypad, only for a sudden servo to reach out and stop her. Windblade and Jetfire saw that it was Tweedledum.
"What do you think you're doing, sister?" he angrily asked.
"What in the Pit do you think I'm doing, bro? I'm gonna teach this...oh. OH!" Tweedledee chuckled and pointed at Windblade, "Clever. Very clever. Almost got me."
"Wouldn't have worked anyway. Those Mode Locks implanted on you have a 50,000 klik radius and would've shocked you into submission if you did escape," Tweedledum added, pressing a hand against the barrier as he leaned forward, glaring at the prisoners, "Megatron wants you lost, backwater colony pieces of scrap on Cybertron. Don't know why though. Personally, I think you all would serve a better purpose doing labor on your former planet." Windblade bit her anger back at his insults while he turned his attention to Jetfire, "And the DJD's getting their quarry. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. So do us all a favor and wait here to die, traitorous trash."
The two Tweedle guards left, unlikely to come back. With Jetfire and Windblade alone, the latter sighed and banged her head against the nearest wall. "Sorry," she said, "I thought that would work."
Jetfire leaned against another wall and gave her an apologetic glance, "Don't be. It was a good idea. Would've worked had the guard not seen through it."
"What do we do now?"
In response, Jetfire looked upward, staring at something on the ceiling. Windblade followed his gaze and saw the ventilation shafts. "That's one way out, but neither of us'll be able to fit in those. If we were Mini-Cons, maybe we could," Jetfire said, "And even then, we'd have to find a way to bypass the Mode Locks."
"You said they're on our backs, right?" Windblade's question was met with the taller bot turning, revealing a small, circular disk implanted on his back. "Hmm," Windblade gave it a good look, "Any chance we could just smash these things?"
"Tried that, didn't work," he answered.
"Scrap."
"I hear ya," Jetfire faced her, "Odds are there's a terminal somewhere on this ship connected to the Mode Locks. But we're not in a position to reach it, so that option's off the ta-"
"ZZZZTT!" came the sudden noise from above, prompting both bots to look up and see the ventilation duct emit a yellow glow at the edge before a plasma blade cut through it, slicing its borders. Within seconds, the entrance was pulled back, revealing a small bot, a Mini-Con to be exact, with orange plating around the chest, head, and servos, which bore three digits each. He looked down at them with worried blue optics that quickly grew warm.
"Option's no-no-not off the table anym-or-or-ore," the Mini-Con said with a grin, his voice glitching out.
"Fixit!" Jetfire whispered as loud as he dared, "What are you doing here? I thought you got away."
"Came back to re-re-rescue you."
"Wait, who is he?" Windblade asked.
"The name's Fixit!" the bot introduced himself.
"He's an Autobot medic and maintenance specialist," Jetfire explained before looking back at the bot in question, "Look, I appreciate the help, but you shouldn't have come back. They're taking me to the DJD. Last thing I want is for you or anyone to get caught up with those butchers."
"All the more reason for me to be here," Fixit retorted, "You got ca-ca-captured rescuing me. Now I'm going to retur-tur-tur-turn the favor. Just sit tight, I'll find the terminal and have everyone-one out in a jiff."
Before Jetfire could say another word, Fixit was already gone, moving down the vents. Now curious what the smaller bot meant, Windblade asked, "So that's how you were captured?"
Jetfire nodded, "Yeah. I was on the outskirts of a Decepticon outpost that I planned to raid for intel, but then I saw them hauling Fixit in as a prisoner. Plan changed and I fought my way in to bust him out. Ended up getting caught to help him get away, and here we are," he gave Windblade a look, "When I got tossed in here, you were already on the floor in stasis. Wasn't sure whether or not to wake you."
"Personally, I'm glad you didn't. I might have ended up attacking you by accident," Windblade said before looking up at the vent, "He seems nice."
"He's a good friend. Just wish he wasn't risking his Spark for mine."
Windblade hummed and sat down, seeing no other option but to wait for Fixit. As Jetfire sat down next to her, she asked, "You think he'll pull through?"
Jetfire seemed unsure, but answered, "Fixit's one of the best bots I know when it comes to mechanical work. We were partners for a number of lab experiments during the war on Cybertron. If anyone can hack into this ship and free us, it's him," his gaze grew deathly serious, "He has to."
Fixit made his way through the ventilation system, searching for the terminal prisoner Mode Locks were connected to. Thankfully, he had the foresight to sneak around when he first got aboard and download a map of the vessel interior. It was how he found the detention levels where Jetfire was, after all. Only reason he didn't make immediate contact when he got there was because of those two guards on watch.
Better find a way to free the others too, Fixit thought, having no desire to leave any of those bots locked up down there. An Autobot's duty was to help those in need, and he'd be damned if he left everyone to suffer the Empire's tyranny.
On his way to the detention level terminal, he passed above a recreation room where he overheard a pair of Decepticon troopers drinking oil and discussing something about races on Velocitron. Apparently, Knock Out won the recent Benefit 500 and was able to win a vacation with his Conjunx Endura, Breakdown. Fixit stayed for a few cycles longer to see if he could scrounge up any intel from them. The Cons, however, only talked about superfluous things like game scores and concerts, none of which was really noteworthy. The Mini-Con was about to continue on his way, but then he overheard something that made his audio receptors twitch.
"What do think the boss meant?"
"What do you mean?"
"When Commander Strika sent us off, she said something about how the prisoners would help Lord Megatron 'wake the Titans'. Any clue what that means?"
Titans? Fixit wondered. He'd read stories about them, how they were rumored to sleep across the stars, but he dismissed it as little more than a myth. Not to say that myths didn't have uses, given how the legends of those giants were the basis for Project: Omega back in the middle of the war, even if that ended in disaster.
"Can't say I do," the Con answered, "Either way, we should check in with the bridge. See if we're on course."
"Yeah, I hear you. Hope handing the traitor off goes by fast. Those fraggers give me the creeps."
Better get moving, Fixit headed down the ventilation shafts, moving left, right, up, and down through a complex maze of tunnels, unseen by any Decepticons. You'd think they'd bother to install cameras or security drones in the vents, Fixit smirked as he neared the room with the detention level's terminal. As always, the Decepticons' arrogance bit them in the aft. Mini-Cons like himself were always looked down upon both figuratively and literally, but that just made it easier for him to get by unnoticed (except for earlier at the outpost, but that was beside the point).
"He-he-here we go-go," Fixit looked into the room and saw that there was only one guard at the terminal. From the looks of it, he was monitoring the cameras in the detention level's hallways as well the statuses of the prisoners' Mode Locks. Fixit shifted his arm to a plasma cutter and sliced through the duct, placing the grille behind him as he shot a grapnel and lowered himself into the room. As quietly as possible, he rolled up to the unaware Decepticon, nearing the bot's leg and shifting his arm into its taser form.
"ARGH!" The Decepticon cried out as Fixit drove his taser into the leg. Electricity coursed throughout the bigger bot's body as he slumped to his knees. His actual target now easy to reach, Fixit rolled up to the front of the Con and delivered another taser strike to his head, shocking him until he was out like a light.
"Let's see here," Fixit hoisted himself up to the terminal controls, checking the cameras to see the prisoners, all either looking tired, angry, terrified, or solemn. Among them, he saw Jetfire and Windblade from outside their cell, the latter pacing around while the former sat patiently. "Hang o-o-o-on everyone," Fixit plugged himself into the terminal, "I'll have you all out in a Nanokli-kli-kli-klik."
Jetfire sat on the floor of his cell, outwardly calm, but frantic and worried on the inside. Tapping a finger on his kneecap, he looked over to Windblade, who paced about the cell with a concerned expression. "You alright, Windblade?" Jetfire asked.
"Yes," Windblade tried to perk up, but slumped, "No. And you?"
"Honestly, you look how I feel at the moment."
"Sorry."
"Can't say I blame you," Jetfire looked back up at where Fixit left, "This is always the most stressful part of these kinds of things."
"How will we know if he succeeded?" Windblade asked.
"Well," Jetfire looked to the hardlight barrier, "If we hear an alarm, we'll know he was caught. But if the barrier shorts out, we'll know-"
The barrier chose then to short out, as did the ones for the cells in front of theirs.
"-he was successful."
"What the frag!" the guard from before could be heard down the hall, "How in the Pit did-"
His sister yelled, "Everyone back in their ce-ARGH!"
Jetfire and Windblade stepped out to see two Camiens holding the guards down. Both Decepticons angrily struggled until their captors punched them in the back of their heads before throwing them in the nearest cell. As their unconscious bodies slumped to the floor, the cell's hardlight barrier re-activated. To top it off, Jetfire felt a tinge of electricity on his back, followed by the sound of a small piece of metal plopping to the floor. He looked down and saw that it was his Mode Lock.
"Thanks Fixit," he said as he looked to Windblade, seeing sparks arc harmlessly on her back as the Mode Lock fell to the floor. The sound could be heard several times over from within the cells as the prisoners poured out. Windblade went to check on her fellow Camiens while Jetfire headed for the detention level exit. The door automatically opened, letting the Aerialbot poke his head down the hall, looking left and right to see no Decepticons either way, at least until he saw the shadow of one around the corner.
Scrap, Jetfire headed back inside and met with Windblade, who was comforting a grieving Camien, hers and the youngling's friends surrounding them with sympathetic looks. A few of those further back were embracing each other with shaking shoulders, the loss of their world weighing heavy upon them. Some looked wrathful, while others were more solemn. Jetfire did what he could, gently placing a hand to the young bot's shoulder to reassure her, Windblade sending him a thankful glance. He would've said things were going to be okay now, but that would've been a lie, given their current circumstances. Reluctantly, he broke the respite and said, "We've got to get out of here."
"How?" Windblade asked as both she and the bot in her arms looked to him. Many other Camiens did the same.
"Do any of you have your weapons?" Jetfire asked. Windblade stood and tried to bring forth her blades, but nothing came out. The other Camiens tried to pull out weapons as well, but they too found themselves unarmed. Looks like the Cons were smart enough to disarm them. I know they took my saber, and it looks like I don't have my photon rifle anymore, Jetfire's face grew inquisitive, Though some of my weapons were built right into me, I wonder if... he looked to his right arm and focused, shifting it into plasma cannon form. With a smile, he headed over to the cell the two guards were chucked in and pressed the keypad, opening it and checking their unconscious bodies for any weaponry.
"What are you doing?" one of the Camiens asked, to which Jetfire pulled out a pair of laser rifles before exiting and reactivating the barrier.
"Here," Jetfire held out the guns, "The best shots here can take these." Instead of taking them, all the Camiens looked amongst themselves in a mix of confusion and awkwardness, "Something wrong?"
"Jetfire," Windblade stepped forward, "None of us have ever wielded a firearm before. Our people consider them wasteful, so we're only good with close-quarters combat."
Jetfire's optics went wide for a moment, "Oh," he shrugged, "Well, perfect time to learn, I suppose."
Windblade was the first to step forward, taking one of the rifles. The second ended up going to the bot she'd been comforting earlier, looking scared, but determined. "Please tell me you have a plan to get everyone out of here?" Windblade asked while trying to get a feel for the new weapon.
"Not much of one, but better than nothing," Jetfire explained, "First thing we'll have to do is capture a Decepticon and interrogate them. Get them to give us a layout of the ship. Then we make our way to where they're holding everyone's weapons. Odds aren't exactly in our favor for sneaking out, so we'll need to be ready for a fight."
"Makes sense," Windblade and a few Camiens nodded, "Then what?"
"Then we move for the escape pods, split off from there so that if they give chase, we'll have less to deal with. Wherever we end up, we'll need to keep our heads low," Jetfire concluded, "Any questions?"
"Not much of a plan," one of the taller, more grizzled mechs muttered.
"Believe me, I know," Jetfire pinched the space between his optics, "But it's the best I could come up with at the moment. Wish I had more time."
"H-How..." the bot Windblade comforted earlier found her voice, "How are we going to capture a Decepticon?"
Jetfire shook his head, "Still working on that."
"Maybe one of us could sneak out and bring a soldier back here?" Windblade suggested.
"Risky though," another Camien, this one an elderly looking femme, interjected, "If you get caught, the whole ship will start swarming us."
"Another possibility could be we wait here until a patrol officer comes in, then we grab him, interrogate him, and toss him in a cell," Jetfire scratched his chin, "Problem there is the odds of that happening are-"
"What in the name of Primus!?" the sudden voice came in from the entrance, all of them turning to see a patrol officer staring agape at the scene.
"Very high, apparently," Jetfire took aim with his plasma cannon, the Con doing the same before Windblade pointed her rifle at him too. Having more firepower directed at him, combined with Jetfire looming over the now terrified bot, led to him holding his hands up in surrender. Jetfire grabbed the bot and hoisted him up, dragging him into the center of the group before throwing the hapless Decepticon to the floor.
"What do you want!?" the terrified guard asked.
"Tell us where you stored our weapons!" Windblade kept her gun pointed at the Con's chest.
"W-What?"
"Here's what we need from you," Jetfire kneeled down next him, "You're a patrol officer, so we know you have a layout of the ship. Give it to us and we'll toss you in one of these cells. Nothing more, nothing less."
"I-I won't do it!" the officer stammered, "Do you have any idea what my superiors would do to me if I did!? Besides, you colony lowlifes won't get off this ship alive! You'll die just like those on your worthless world did!"
Jetfire glared and began charging his plasma cannon up just enough to scare the Con. From the corner of his optic, he could see Windblade almost growl before she calmed herself. The rest of the Camiens looked somewhere between angry and ready to pummel the officer to death. "Look," Windblade began, tone low and dangerous, "You're outnumbered and outmatched, so just do the right thing and give us what we need."
The officer snarled, looking ready to spit out another insult before a sudden shot rang throughout the room. Smoke emitted from the floor just behind the Decepticon's head, a laser shot having grazed its side. Everyone followed where the shot came from, shocked to see the young bot aiming her rifle at the Con, who looked ready to scream had his attacker not shoved the barrel into his chest.
"Y-You piece of scra-!"
"Shut up y-you monster!" the youngling all but screamed at him, her servos shaking and eyes tearing up with coolant, "Y-You Decepticons attacked our planet, destroyed o-our homes, k-killed our loved ones, and you act like n-nothing happened! You act like it's something to be proud of!"
"Lightbright," Windblade nervously coaxed, "You need to calm dow-"
"MY FAMILY IS GONE BECAUSE OF YOU!" Lightbright shrieked and heaved at the Con, completely ignoring Windblade.
"Kid, stop! Don't shoot!" Jetfire held his servos out but didn't make a move to take the gun. In his experience, that always led to the younger bots doing something rash.
"H-Here!" the officer tossed a small, circular device to the ground; a holo-map of the ship's interior. Jetfire took it as the officer stammered, "There, y-you have what you wanted! J-Just send me to my cell and-"
"No! Shut up!" Lightbright's finger twitched, clearly torn between whether or not to pull the trigger.
Windblade gently placed a servo on Lightbright's shoulder, "I understand your anger. I think all of us do," she looked around at her fellow Camiens, who were still in shock at the youngling's outburst, "But you shouldn't let these monsters drag you down to their level."
"He needs to die!" Lightbright glared at Windblade, "I...they need die! They...they're..." her shoulders slumped as coolant dripped down her cheeks, "They're never coming back, are they?"
"No, they're not. I'm sorry," Jetfire shook his head as Lightbright stepped away from the officer, letting Jetfire and another Camien, a femme with aquamarine and red armor, hoist him up and toss him into a cell, activating the barrier to lock him inside. As the Con fearfully sat in a corner, Jetfire looked to the femme and said, "Thanks for the help, miss...?
"Call me Pyra," she replied.
"Thanks Pyra," Jetfire nodded and looked over to Lightbright, who was being looked after by Windblade and two others: a femme with purple armor and a single eye, and a mech with yellow plating around the arms limbs and red at the torso.
"Don't worry. We'll look after her," Pyra said before they headed back to the group. The Camien looked to her purple and yellow colleagues and called out, "Javelin, Hot Shot, you two are with me."
Jetfire saw the laser rifle on the ground and picked it up, "Pyra, since you seem to know what you're doing, think you can manage this?" he held the gun out to her. Pyra took it and held it at the ready before glancing down at Lightbright, "Stay close, young one. We won't allow any more of us to die today."
The youngling finished wiping her tears away and huddled close to the group. Jetfire, meanwhile, pulled out the holo-map and searched for the fastest route to the weapons vault. After a few Nanokliks of plotting out the best course, Windblade walked up to him with a questioning look. "You and I will guard the front," Jetfire said loud enough to gather everyone's attention, "Pyra and her group will guard the rear. Cover all our bases until we get everyone armed. Then we'll meet up with Fixit and make a break for the escape pods."
"I'm guessing sneaking about isn't an option," Windblade said.
"No, not with a group this large. Best we can manage is to weather the storm fast enough to get to shelter," Jetfire answered.
"You're the one with the map," Pyra stepped forward, "And of everyone here, you know the Decepticons the best. We'll follow your lead for now."
Jetfire nodded and made his way for the door alongside Windblade, everyone else following behind. Not long after they entered the halls, they ran into a pair of soldiers, who backed up at the sight before shifting their arms to blaster form and taking aim.
"They've escaped!" one of the troops shouted before Jetfire filled his chest with plasma. The second fired, landing a shot at Jetfire's chest. The Aerialbot withstood it, despite the pain, while Windblade opened fire. Her first four shots were way off, but her fifth shot went straight for the Con's blaster, disorienting him enough for Jetfire to run forward and punch him to the ground. Thinking quick, he searched the downed troops for any spare firearms and handed them to a couple Camiens.
No way that went unnoticed, and as if like clockwork, the alarms went off. "Everyone, get ready!" Jetfire shouted as the next several cycles filled with running and blaster fire.
Windblade grunted as the group rounded the corner of the last hallway, running just behind Jetfire, but ahead of her fellow Camiens. Just ahead was the weapons vault at the end of the hallway, but blocked by another armed patrol of Decepticons troops, this time with one massive, heavily armored trooper wielding an Energon hammer. As the armed Camiens took aim and began a fire fight with the standard grunts, Jetfire charged the heavy soldier, firing plasma blasts that managed to halt him. The Autobot reached the large troop and delivered a series of punches to his helm. However, the heavy soldier withstood the strikes and caught Jetfire's fist, delivering a hammer swing straight to his chest. The act sent Jetfire flying back right towards Windblade and Pyra.
"Scrap!" Windblade and Pyra were able to catch the Autobot with some effort before placing him down, hearing him groan in pain. With a glare to the Decepticons, Windblade opened fire on the heavy troop, thankful that his enormous frame meant all her shots hit him. Sadly, they didn't have the same effect as Jetfire's plasma cannon, as the Con ignored her attacks like they were a gust of wind. Pyra joined in, but both their rifles combined still didn't manage any progress.
Making matters worse, both rifles ceased fire with a spark dropping click.
"No! Not now!" Pyra tossed the weapon right at the troop's face, which did nothing. Windblade did the same towards his chest, proving equally ineffective.
"How are we supposed to get passed that armor!?" Windblade shouted in fear and frustration, jumping up and delivering a spin kick to the Con's head.
"You can't, little bot," the Con's deep, gravelly voice shook Windblade as she found herself grabbed by the leg and slammed into the ground. The world became a blur as she was smashed about over and over, smacking into a charging Pyra to knock her away, before getting smashed into the floor again. For the briefest moment, she saw her fellow Camiens continue their fire fight with the remaining Decepticon troops, losing ground despite their best efforts. The moment ended, and her world became pain once more, followed by her getting thrown into a far-off wall.
"N-Not gonna..." Windblade croaked, "Have...to..." even through her blurry vision, she could see Pyra attempt to fight the armored trooper up close, rushing him and grabbing his waist in an effort to force him back. Windblade closed her optics, the pain overwhelming. They were so close, the weapons vault right in front of them. They'd fought their way through every Decepticon thus far but were on the verge of death right as they reached their first goal. They were right there! Things couldn't end like this! "HRRK!" Windblade felt herself spit up Energon as Pyra's body was thrown at her chest.
"I'm...sorry..." Pyra muttered as the Decepticon made his way to them. From the corner of Windblade's optics, she could see the unarmed Camiens hiding just behind the corner they came from. She tried to move her servos, motioning for them to run and save themselves, but she couldn't do that with Pyra's weight on her.
"Any last words?" the Con smiled sadistically. Windblade refused to give him the satisfaction, glaring defiantly as he brought his hammer overhead.
Chromia, Windblade's gaze softened slightly, a tinge of fear re-entering her optics as she braced herself for the end, Goodbye.
But before the Con could swing, a sudden plasma shot hit him from behind, smoke, sparks, and circuitry coming out from where his neck met his shoulder. Windblade and Pyra looked to the source, seeing a barely conscious Jetfire, whose plasma cannon was being held by Lightbright.
The young bot glared fearfully at the armored Decepticon and yelled, "S-Stay away from them!"
"You little-!" the Con turned away from Windblade and Pyra, his arm shifting into a massive cannon aimed right at Lightbright and Jetfire. Windblade tried to get up, and she felt Pyra do the same, but before they could manage, sparks lit up from the ceiling. The Decepticon noticed it too, looking up just in time for the panel to fall right on his face, distracting him enough for Fixit to jump out of the vent. "Get off me you piece of scrap!" was all the Con could scream, as Fixit's arm became a taser that he jammed into the large bot's exposed circuitry. His entire body went haywire, cannon arm swinging everywhere like mad before he randomly opened fire in an effort to get the Mini-Con off.
"ARGH!" came the cries of his fellow Decepticons, all of them caught in the explosions of his cannon fire. One final cannon blast hit the weapons vault door at its center, blowing it off the hinges. Fixit ceased shocking the Con's weakpoint before jumping in front of his face. The still dazed Decepticon only had time to widen his optics as Fixit's arm transformed into a rocket launcher, which he then shoved into the larger bot's mouth.
Windblade's audio receptors almost burst at the sudden, nearby explosion, which sent Fixit flying back and rolling on the floor. Thankfully, his injuries were minor as he picked himself up and rolled back, stopping at Jetfire first to gauge his injuries. Windblade and Pyra managed to fully stand and make their way past the headless Decepticon corpse to the injured Autobot.
"Hey Fix," Jetfire coughed as he barely managed to pick himself up, "Took you long enough."
"Sorry I'm la-a-a-ate," Fixit apologized, "I would have been-been-been here sooner, but the ventilation end-end-ended up being a bi-bi-bigger maze than I thought."
"Heh, better late than never, I suppose," Jetfire slumped, Windblade and Pyra catching him while Lightbright and Fixit worriedly hovered nearby.
"C-Can you heal him?" Lightbright asked.
Fixit nodded, "Gonna need some space tho-o-o-o-ough."
"You can repair him when we're inside the vault," Pyra recommended, "I think a number of us need repairs."
"I can see tha-a-a-a-at. Just let me tend to Jetfire and I'll-I'll-I'll get to everyone else quickly," Fixit said everyone entered the vault, Windblade and Pyra placing Jetfire down so the Mini-Con could get to work. Once that was done, Windblade, Pyra, and several Camiens started looking around for their weapons.
"Aha!" Windblade cheered, finding her twin sabers hanging on a wall amidst other blades. She took them down and gave a few experimental swings before practicing the movements of a form or two. She smiled, glad to have her weapons back. It was almost like she'd been missing a vital part of herself without even realizing it.
With that done, she retracted them back into her arms, briefly wincing as her prior injuries were starting to catch up. Making her way back to Jetfire, she looked around and saw the others gather their weapons; Pyra took a pick-axe while Lightbright was given an Energon shield to defend herself. Hot Shot and Javelin, meanwhile, went for more unorthodox weapons in the form of dual arm-mounted plasma blasters and a sniper rifle respectively. Even Firestar and Skystriker took up blasters of their own.
"Hey, Windblade," Jetfire drew her attention. She looked and saw that, outwardly, he seemed much better as he remained seated while Fixit did work on his upper torso.
"Glad to see you're all better," Windblade said with a wince, the pain cropping back up.
"Not entirely-y-y," Fixit responded, jumping down, "I repaired much of the out-out-outward damage, but the internals will-will-will need better equipment," he gave Jetfire an admonishing look, "Try not-not-not to take to much da-da-damage until we get out of he-he-here."
"You know I can't promise that," Jetfire sighed, rubbing the back of his helm. Windblade looked away guiltily, recalling how in every single fight they'd gotten into on the way here, Jetfire tended to throw himself in front of as much enemy fire as possible in an effort to protect the unarmed Camiens. Even with those armed, he still did so, with him having gotten in the way of a plasma blast that would've hit Windblade. That last one in particular did a massive number on him, and it amazed the Camien that Jetfire could still fight even after that. She just wished he didn't constantly take those hits.
Then again, reverse their positions, she'd probably do the same.
"Windbla-bla-blade," Fixit rolled up to her, "Let-Let me see your in-injuries. I'll try to-to patch up as ma-many as I can."
"Alright," Windblade sat down while Jetfire stood and went deeper into the armory. As Fixit began his work, she asked, "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure-Sure."
"What happened to your voice?" at the question, Fixit ceased his repairs and froze, as if remembering some terrible event. Fearing she offended, Windblade apologized, "Sorry! I-you don't have to answer."
Fixit shook his head, briefly flashing Windblade a reassuring, but sad smile, and continuing with his repairs, "It's fine, you were-weren't aware. Just kno-know that it-it happened in-in-in an accid-cid-cident."
"I see."
"I'd also-so appreciate-ate it if you did-didn't ask-ask-ask again. Sore subje-je-ject. In any-any-any case, all finished," Fixit jumped off, allowing Windblade to inspect her chassis. Sure enough, she looked good as new. "Now," Fixit began, "There's still some internal-nal-nal damage I want to look at later, but we be-better get out of-of-of-of here first."
Windblade nodded as loud steps approached. She looked to the source, seeing Pyra walk up to them, the rest of the Camiens behind her, all of them fully armed. "Glad to see you've recovered, Windblade," Pyra smiled as she held out her servo, Windblade smiling back and taking it to stand. As soon as Windblade stood, Pyra knelt down to better meet Fixit's optics and asked, "Any chance you could look after those behind me? The last battle saw some of us taking quite a few hits, I'm afraid."
"I'll see what I can d-d-d-d-o," Fixit nodded and rolled over to the Camiens behind Pyra, "Alright ev-everyone-one-one, form a line from mo-most injur-jur-jured to least."
As Fixit began his work, Windblade asked, "What about you, Pyra?"
"I'll live for now," Pyra dismissed, despite all the dents and scrapes that covered her stating otherwise, "Besides, the others matter more," she looked over to them as Fixit's repairs were underway, "I failed them, my team, and our entire world once. I won't do it again."
"When you say your team, you mean the Torchbearers, right?" Windblade asked, "The color scheme gives it away." Pyra nodded, looking away somberly, likely thinking about her missing teammates. Windblade had seen all the Camien prisoners aboard this ship, and Pyra was the only Torchbearer aboard. Wanting to ease Pyra's worries, Windblade said, "If it means anything, I'm sure your teammates are alright. You're all the best of Caminus' defenders, after all," she let out a shy chuckle as she rubbed the back of her neck, "You know, growing up, I always loved to hear the stories of the Torchbearers' exploits. How they'd fight evil and right wrongs. Back then, whenever Chromia and I had spare time, we'd pretend we were members of your team, spouting off lines you said in battle."
"Oh please tell me you didn't say-"
"By Solus' hammer, I smite at thee!" Windblade mimed a hammer swing with a laugh, hoping to help cheer the Torchbearer up. While Pyra shook her head in annoyance, Windblade did see a ghost of a smile.
"I told Praesidia that was a silly thing to say in the heat of the moment," Pyra sighed wistfully, but much to Windblade's dismay, the Torchbearer's face grew solemn. "Look, I understand what you're trying to do," Pyra looked to the floor, arms crossed, "And while I appreciate the effort, the fact of the matter is we got captured, our world is now occupied by tyrants, and I could have-" Pyra glared downward, "I should have done more to stop it."
Windblade was taken aback by the amount of hatred in Pyra's voice, almost all of which sounded directed at herself. "I'm..." Windblade stammered, "I'm sure you and the others did everything you could have done."
Pyra muttered, "No, I didn't. I-" she leaned against the nearest wall, pinching the bridge between her optics for a moment. When she continued giving her reflection on the floor a death glare, Windblade was about to ask what was wrong, but the Torchbearer disdainfully sighed, "When the Decepticons attacked Caminus' capital city, we fought as hard as we could, but then we came face-to-face with the leader of the invasion. She called herself Strika," the sheer venom in Pyra's voice at the name almost made Windblade back away in fear, but she managed to calm herself as the older bot continued, "We all tried to fight her, but she had us outnumbered and outmatched. We were divided by her forces, and just when I manage to break away to go after her, she-" Pyra wasn't able to continue, her glare replaced with pure sorrow.
"Pyra, maybe you should sto-"
"Praesidia's dead."
Pyra's sudden, low statement elicited a gasp from Windblade, who almost couldn't believe it. All the stories she'd heard of the Torchbearer's leader always made her seem larger than life, beyond death itself. But in many ways, reality was a cruel mistress. Their current predicament was proof of that. Finding her voice, Windblade reflexively gulped and asked, "A-And her killer was Strika?"
Pyra nodded bitterly, "The moment I saw that, I was completely frozen. The Decepticon hadn't seen me at that point. I could've snuck up from behind her and killed her, ending the invasion. But I just...I didn't. And I was captured for my inaction. I failed."
Windblade wanted to say something, but she didn't know if there was anything she could've said. Maybe she could have said that killing Strika didn't guarantee that the invasion would've halted, but she couldn't. She didn't know if that would've happened. Scrap, who's to say that wouldn't have made things worse? Windblade looked down, upset that she didn't have a single answer to Pyra's woes. Instead, all she could muster was to ask, "A-And what about the rest of the Torchbearers?"
Much to Windblade's dismay, Pyra shrugged, "All I remember was being barely conscious, hearing Strika order for us to be boarded on the ships. When I came to, I was in a cell. I don't know where they are or if they're even alive anymore," suddenly, her gaze began growing more resolved, "But I intend to find out. Once we're all out of here, once everyone's safety has been assured, I'll head off and find my teammates, wherever they are. Then we'll find our way back to Caminus and take our home back. That's a promise."
Windblade smiled slightly, feeling that same determination burn in her own spark. They'd escape this ship, she knew with absolute certainty. They'd find their fellow Camians, return to their home, and drive the Decepticons off their world.
In that moment, there was no doubt at all.
"Glad to hear that," Jetfire's voice chimed in as Windblade and Pyra turned to face him. He was walking up to them, a large Energon sword in one servo and an equally large gatling gun in the other, "You know, you're starting to sound like some Autobots I know."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Pyra looked behind Jetfire and saw the rest of the Camiens. From what could be seen, they were all patched up. Or at least the frontmost ones were.
"Fixed what I co-co-could," Fixit rolled up from behind them, stopping just beside Jetfire, "Hopefully, it'll be enou-nou-nough for now."
Jetfire pulled out the holo-map of the ship, "Escape pods should be just a few floors down."
"And how many Decepticons between here and there?" as if to answer Windblade's question, steps echoed throughout the hall outside, drawing everyone's attention to where the vault door used to be. Running towards them was many Decepticons, all heavily armed.
"Open fire!" the frontmost one shouted, forcing everyone in the vault to take cover.
Ask a stupid question, Windblade berated herself as she saw Jetfire jump into the doorway and fire his gatling gun, sending a barrage of ion blasts towards their attackers. Those at the forefront were shredded while those further behind got out of the way. Javelin leaned out from her position and took aim with her sniper rifle, managing to hit a Decepticon right between the optics. Hot Shot rushed out from behind cover and activated a setting on his plasma blasters, launching torrents of flame that forced their opposition back.
Seeing opportunity, Windblade looked to Pyra, who nodded as they left their cover and charged the Cons. Windblade reached them first, drawing her blades and delivering a twin slash down across one's chest before spin kicking another into a wall. A third managed to get behind her, but she reacted in time to avoid his shot, backflipping over him and delivering a sweep to his legs that knocked him down. Before he could get up, Windblade held her blade in a reverse grip and drove it into the Con's chest. At the sound of the ensuing battle behind her, she stood up and turned just in time to watch Pyra finish off the last of her opponents with an axe strike to the head. More footsteps approached, this time from the Camiens and Jetfire while Fixit rolled up.
"That all of them?" Hot Shot asked, Javelin at his side and Lightbright hiding just behind them.
"Doubtful, there's gonna be a lot more coming our way," Jetfire took lead, "Everyone ready?"
Everyone gave an affirmative shout as they once more ran down the halls, ready for anything that was thrown their way. One way or another, they were getting out of here.
"Die you filthy Autobo-GAK!" were the last words uttered by the Decepticon grunt as Jetfire sliced him in half with his Energon saber. He could hear further slashing and crushing behind him, courtesy of Windblade and Pyra laying waste to their opposition. Up ahead of him was Fixit, tasering another grunt and holding him still long enough for the purple Camien, Javelin, to get a clear shot and blast his processor out.
"Think that's the last of them," Windblade said as she retracted her blades.
"For now, anyway," Pyra reminded before walking forward just past Jetfire, "Not that it matters. We're here."
Right in front of the group was the entrance to the escape pod bay, which they wasted no time opening, as more Cons would likely close in on their location soon enough. Jetfire, Windblade, Pyra, and Fixit all stood guard, letting the rest of the Camiens run in first. Once it looked like they were in the clear for the moment, they entered and started checking the pods.
"Look's li-li-like only three can fit per pod," Fixit analyzed, Jetfire taking in said fact as well. He counted the number of pods, and from the looks of it, there were almost enough to fit everyone. Almost being the key word. While Fixit would be able to fit as a fourth for one of the pods, two of them would have to remain behind. Jetfire had no qualms staying to ensure everyone else got away, but that left one more bot who wouldn't make it.
Cross that bridge when you get to it. Focus on getting everyone else out of here, "Okay, let's start loading everyone up!" Jetfire directed three Camiens to the first escape pod, with the impromptu trio making certain they were strapped in. Once that was done, he looked over to Pyra, and at her affirmative nod, closed the hatch and typed away on the side console. With exact coordinates to the nearest planet on the ship's star map set, the pod launched into space and away from the ship to safety.
"Thr-Thr-Three down, a bu-bu-bu-bunch to go!" Fixit chimed as they loaded the next several pods, Camiens all taking their seats before being launched out, Jetfire inputting those same coordinates he input for the first pod. When they arrived at the final two pods, Pyra motioned for Javelin, Hot Shot, and Lightbright to get in. The three took their seats, but the youngling among them seemed frightened.
"Hey, kid, it's gonna be alright," Javelin reassured, her single optic conveying understanding for Lightbright's fears.
"Yeah! We'll be with you each step of the way. Promise," Hot Shot added, giving the warmest grin he could muster and an awkward thumbs up.
Seeing that the youngling was still afraid, Pyra placed a gentle servo on her shoulder, "Little one, don't be afraid. After having fought alongside these two, I would trust them with my spark. And though you've been through much, you've persevered," she gave Lightbright a calming smile, "You're stronger than you believe. So have faith, and may Solus guide you," Pyra looked to rest of the pod's occupants, "All of you."
"I...o-okay," Lightbright, still fearful, managed a nod and strapped herself in. With that, Jetfire typed in the destination and sent the three on their way, leaving one final pod, but six Cybertronians.
As Jetfire set the coordinates, Windblade turned to two of the finale Camiens; a femme whose head bore an intense flame atop it, as well as a mech with blue armor and small yellow wings on his back. "Firestar, Skystriker," she addressed them respectively, "You two strap in."
"You as well, Windblade," Pyra said, drawing a surprised look from the Camien in question.
"W-What?" she gasped as Firestar and Skystriker took their seats in the pod, "But why?"
"I won't be able to rest easy until I know all of our people are safe. I need you to go with the others."
"No, I'm going to stay here and help!" Windblade looked over to Jetfire and Fixit, "Jetfire, you and Fixit go. You've done so much for us already. And with the Decepticons planning on taking you to those DJD butchers, you need to get out of here!"
Jetfire shook his head, "Sorry, but I'm with Pyra on this one. We'll stay here. Keep the Decepticons off your tailpipes."
"I'm no-no-no-not gonna leave my friend behind," Fixit said, servos crossed with a tone of finality. Jetfire was going to protest Fixit's decision, but Windblade interrupted.
"B-But-"
"Listen," Pyra began, "I said that I would allow no more of our people to die this day, and I meant it. Now go!"
Windblade, in frustration, shouted, "NO! If you stay here and die, that would just as much break the vow you made!"
"Or we all die and I break my vow even further," Pyra cynically muttered before asking, "Then what do you propose we do? As you can see, only one more will fit within the pod, and none of us intend to leave at the expense of another."
"I don't know, but we need to think of something."
"Windblade, time isn't a luxury we have at the moment. Please, for all our sakes, get in the pod. I'll try and find another out if I can."
"But what if-"
"Uh, excuse me?" interrupting the argument was one of the final pod's occupants. More specifically, it was Skystriker, who asked, "How about we make it easier on you and stay too? Think not dying will be a lot easier when it's all six of us."
"No, you need to get ou-"
A deafening boom came from the pod bay entrance, where a pair of Decepticon grunts came in and opened fire. Jetfire and the others shielded themselves as best they could, but he suddenly found himself flying back, crashing into the floor. As he picked himself up, he opened his optics and saw his attacker.
Frag, he cursed, now standing face-to-face with a Seeker, a femme from the looks of it, whose wings menacingly loomed over the downed Autobot. Before he could stand, the elite soldier stomped on his head, her foot jet activating as his face found itself scorched. As he screamed, he heard Windblade yell, followed by the foot and intense heat removed from him.
Things became a blur as fighting sounded in the background. He heard Fixit tell him to hold still, followed by Pyra yelling to "stay in the pod". Then came more fighting and slashing, followed someone being slammed into. Just as he felt things become clear, he blinked, seeing Windblade fly above and crash behind him. Fixit moved away as Jetfire forced himself up fully, just in time to see the Seeker manage a kick to Pyra's chest that knocked her into the escape pod.
"Now now," the Seeker sealed the pod doors, Pyra's shouts of anger heard from behind it. With a crude laugh, the Seeker mocked, "Let's leave the riff raff out of this, shall we?"
"No! Don't-" Jetfire's plea was on deaf audio receptors, however, as the Seeker punched the console, sending Pyra, Firestar, and Skystriker out into space. Now enraged, Jetfire drew his saber, "You'll pay for that!"
"And you'll pay for abandoning us, traitor," the Seeker aimed her arm-mounted blasters at him, "Those freaks in the DJD won't get you. I'll savor killing you myself."
"Then by all means, come try it," Jetfire challenged, prompting the Seeker to open fire. The Aerialbot deflected the first two shots before shifting to his plasma cannon, aiming right for his opponent's head. However, the Seeker shot the plasma blast, resulting in an explosion that blanketed the area with smoke. Jetfire tried to activate the scanners in his optics, but found that they weren't working. Scrap, her first attack must have done a number on them, Jetfire cursed, but then he heard screaming coming from within the smoke. As it began to clear, he saw an outline of the Seeker, but an electric current was running across her body, and at her feet was the outline of a familiar Mini-Con.
"Jetfire!" Fixit shouted from within what remained of the smoke, "Now!"
Not wasting time, Jetfire complied and activated the jets in his feet, flying forward and reaching the Seeker in the span of a nanoklik. Drawing his saber, Jetfire slashed at her head and decapitated the Seeker in a single swing. As the Con's body fell limp to the floor, Jetfire rushed back to Windblade and shook her, "Windblade! Windblade, are you alright?"
"Ugh, too loud," Windblade groaned as she shook her head, a servo to her helm, "What was that?"
"A member of the Seeker Armada. The Decepticon Empire's elite, and my former unit before I became an Autobot." Jetfire explained, his tone solemn on the last bit.
"I'll say, she was way tougher than I expected," Windblade recovered, Jetfire helping her up as she looked around, "Wait, where's-" she gasped, "Pyra and the others! Jetfire, what happened to them!?"
Jetfire's gaze grew apologetic, "The Seeker tossed Pyra into the pod and sent her out with the others. I'm sorry."
"No," Windblade's optics clenched shut.
"If it means anythi-thi-thing, the coordinates were locked into the pod," Fixit rolled up from the pod's console, "If lu-lu-lu-lu-luck's on our side, they should be flying ri-ri-right for the same planet everyon-on-one else was."
Don't think that's helping, Fix. Especially when you phrase it as a matter of luck, Jetfire was about to point this out, but Windblade started whispering loud enough for all to hear.
"I should've listened. If I'd just gone when I was told, she'd still be here. If I didn't argue so much, Firestar and Skystriker's safety would've been guaranteed, but now we don't know if they'll make it or not."
"Hey, don't focus on that right now," Jetfire held Windblade by her shoulders, shaking her out of her guilt-fueled stupor, "Could you have done that? Yes, but we don't know how differently things would've gone. I've made a lot of mistakes over the vorns, but one thing I've learned is that we can't undo the past. We can only pick ourselves up and continue forward. I think Pyra will do that, and I'm sure she'd want you to do that too."
Windblade didn't say anything, still downtrodden. Jetfire would have said something else, but the Camien beat him to the punch, "What do we do now?"
It's a start at least, Jetfire mused. Windblade's low tone and unwillingness to look anywhere but the floor wasn't the best sign, but addressing the problem any further would have to wait until they were out of here. "We need to take control of the bridge," Jetfire said, standing at full height as he led the way out of the pod bay, "Once we've taken out the crew, we can use the ship to head for where we sent the other Camiens."
"And then we can make sure everyone made it in-tact?" Windblade's tone lightened slightly as they all began running, or in Fixit's case, rolling, down the halls.
"Yeah! Don't wo-wo-worry Windy! I'm sure-sure they made it," Fixit reassured, sounding as bright as possible. Unfortunately, the corners far ahead of the trio filled with Decepticon troops, who opened fire on them. The trio was forced to take cover as laser blasts filled the hallway.
We don't have time for this! Jetfire pulled out the ship's layout and saw that they were several floors beneath where the bridge was. He looked over to Windblade and yelled, "On my mark, get ready to fly!" Windblade nodded, and the Aerialbot waited for an opening before he rolled out of cover and opened fire, blasting a few Cons. "Now!" Jetfire shouted as he picked up Fixit and transformed into his jet form. Activating his engines on full blast, he rocketed past the blockade and down the halls. Windblade flew just behind him in her own jet form, though hers had rotary engines in addition to rockets.
"Uh, Jetfire? I think they're gaining on us!" Windblade yelled, Jetfire looking back to see that a few of the troopes had transformed into jets as well. Others were chasing them down on wheels.
"Follow me!" Jetfire picked up the pace, going through hallway after hallway until the elevator was right in front of them. He loaded up a missile and launched, destroying it and opening the elevator shaft for the trio to fly up. While this took care of the ground chasers, they still had the flyers on their tails. As the roof and floor of their destination approached, Jetfire got an idea and opened fire once more. The resulting blast sent shrapnel and debris falling downward, the trio making a hard turn at the exit. In the clear at the moment, they transformed back to robot form as Jetfire placed Fixit down. All three of them looked down the elevator shaft to see that the chasers were battered and sent crashing from the rubble.
"Hah! Eat that Decepticre-cre-cre-creeps!" Fixit cheered with a jump.
"PHEW! We...we actually made it," Windblade calmed herself down, propping herself against the nearest wall for a moment.
"Yeah, surprised me too. Didn't think that was gonna work for a Nanoklik," Jetfire admitted, feeling his own Spark calm down. No matter how many life-or-death scenarios he found himself in, improvising an idea on the spot was always a stressful time.
"Don't know how I'm supposed to feel about that," Windblade chuckled.
"No one ev-ever does," Fixit laughed, causing Jetfire and Windblade to laugh in kind. However, the laughter died down as their current situation re-entered their processors. Jetfire looked forward and saw that they were in a singular hallway, no exits save for the one at the very end: the entrance to the bridge.
"This is it. Odds are, the bridge will be heavily guarded," Jetfire turned to Windblade and asked, "Ready?" Windblade, without any hesitation, nodded, with Fixit giving his own affirmations as well. With that, Jetfire shifted his arm into a missile launcher and fired at the door, blowing it off its hinges as he, Windblade, and Fixit stormed the place.
"Kill them!" a soldier shouted, and the trio was immediately besieged by plasma shots through the initial smokescreen. Jetfire took to the air, letting his large frame divert much of the initial fire while Windblade and Fixit got to work on their attackers. Shifting his arm into a plasma cannon of his own, he started shooting down any troops that his friends couldn't immediately reach. After he finished off all the gunners, he watched as Windblade kicked two Decepticons together before running them through with her blades. Fixit, meanwhile, was on the back of another heavy soldier like the one guarding the weapons vault. But unlike the previous one, Fixit didn't have the element of surprise, being grabbed and thrown off.
"Fra-a-a-a-ag!" Fixit shouted as he flew across the room, Jetfire speeding to him. He managed to catch the Mini-Con just before he was smashed against a wall. "Thanks!" Fixit said as they looked down to see the large troop strike at Windblade with a massive battle-axe. She was able to dodge most of his strikes before backflipping over him and delivering sword strikes to his back and heels. He doubled over, with the Camien set to impale him from behind, but the large Decepticon recovered in time and turned, batting Windblade away.
"ARGH!" Windblade shouted in pain as she skidded across the floor on her back. Jetfire was about to rush over to help, but a sudden laser shot almost hit him square in the head. Thankfully, he dodged it in time and saw the culprit: the sole remaining technician of the bridge crew.
"Fixit, see if you can keep the technician off me. I'll deal with this guy," Jetfire ordered, seeing the heavy troop loom over Windblade and bring his axe down. The Camien was barely able to hold the axe blade off with her sabers, and it was clear she wouldn't be able to hold for long. Fixit nodded, with Jetfire throwing him right towards the technician's head. With the shooter now distracted (and screaming loudly) Jetfire rushed down and drew his blade, ready to drive it through the heavy Decepticon's head. However, the Con reacted in time to block it with his axe, instead skidding far back on his feet. Thankfully, it gave Jetfire and Windblade some breathing room.
"Thanks for the save," Windblade stood up, swords at the ready, "Any ideas?"
"I'll keep him distracted. You get him from behind while he's dealing with me," Jetfire answered as the Decepticon charged, Windblade running ahead of Jetfire as they charged in kind. The former slid under the Con's legs while the latter blocked his attack, sword clashing against axe. Windblade leapt onto the Decepticon's back and drove her swords into his shoulders.
With a cry of pain, the Decepticon flailed in an effort to get the Camien off, dropping his axe in the process. Jetfire picked it up, wielding it alongside his blade as he flew forward. Windblade jumped off just in time for the Aerialbot to slash downward with both weapons at where one of her blades had previously been impaled. The force behind the attack cut the Decepticon's arm clean off, making him back up in agony and fall to his back, but not before shifting his remaining arm into a cannon in an effort to blast Jetfire.
"Oh no you don't!" Windblade shouted as she drove a sword into the arm, pinning it to the floor and granting Jetfire an opening. With all his might, he drove the axe right into the Decepticon's chest plating, penetrating deep enough to rupture his Spark chamber. As the light left the Decepticon's optics, Windblade retracted her sabers and walked up to Jetfire, who was about to comment on something, but then...
"Surrender-der-der, Decepticreep!"
"Alright alright! I give!"
Jetfire and Windblade overheard the end of Fixit's fight with the technician and ran past rows of the bridge's control consoles. When they reached the Mini-Con, he was holding the heavily damaged Decepticon seated at missile point. Fixit, for his part, had some superficial damages to his orange armor, but nothing too severe.
"Can't believe this," the Decepticon muttered, "Beaten by a stupid Mini-Con."
Jetfire saw Fixit scowl at the comment, Windblade glaring alongside him as she knelt down and met the technician optic-to-optic, "Be quiet. I won't hear you insult my friends."
"Tch, whatever, dumb colony trash." the technician's crude comment made Windblade's optic twitch. Jetfire gently placed a servo to her shoulder.
"He's just trying to get a rise out of you. Don't let him."
"Yeah, listen to the traitor. Real trustworthy bot there," Jetfire ignored his comment and went to the controls, seeing that they were heavily damaged with coordinates locked in. He cursed internally before looking out the port windows.
"Oh scrap!" Jetfire's optics widened as he saw they were flying right into an asteroid field, "Fixit, please tell me you can repair this thing fast?"
Fixit jumped onto the console, looking outside then back to the broken system, "Uh...definitely not-not-not in time for that-that."
"HA!" the technician laughed as the first asteroid hit, shaking the entire vessel as the bridge's lights flashed red and an alarm blared, "Looks like we're all gonna die."
"You did this! So undo it!" Windblade held the Decepticon at blade-point, but another asteroid hit them, briefly off-balancing her.
"Can't, not that I would if I could," he smirked and glared at them, a third asteroid hitting the ship, "See you in the Pit."
"Uh, guys, giant asteroid dead-dead-dead ahead!" Fixit's frightened yell drew their attention to the asteroid in question. Sure enough, it was gargantuan, possibly a quarter the size of a planetary satellite.
"Jetfi-WOAH!" Windblade shouted as another asteroid hit, this time impacting the window and cracking the glass, "What do we do!?"
Jetfire's processor flared with panic, not knowing or seeing any way to avert the current crisis. The repeated impacts from the smaller asteroids and the cackling of the technician weren't doing him any favors either. Looking at the control console, he tried to see what options were available to him. Dropships within the loading bay? No way they'd make it in time, and that was without accounting for the other Decepticons aboard still out for their Energon. Manual controls? Completely busted. The only things working were the communications and weapons systems. Thinking quick, he activated the ship's targeting computers and let them open fire on the smaller asteroids. Enormous laser blasts sounded in the background, but that wouldn't do a thing to the much larger asteroid they were rapidly approaching. There was only one thing left that they could do: survive and hope help would reach them.
Hope this works, Jetfire cleared his throat and shouted on an open frequency, "To any Autobots who can hear this mess-" a stray asteroid jostled the entire ship, with the Aerialbot reorienting himself to continue, "We are under attack! Repeat, we are under attack! This is Aerialbot Commander Jetfire, can anyone read me!? We're aboard a Decepticon prison ship, and are currently flying through an asteroid field! We were able to free the other prisoners, but we don't know if we'll be able to esc-" another stray asteroid hit them, "If we'll be able to escape in time. If any Autobot ge-," another asteroid, "-gets this message, trace it and find us! We don't have lo-" another, followed by the cracking of glass, halted his message. He looked outside and saw that the glass was this close to breaking. Making matters worse was that one final asteroid was flying in from the side.
"BRACE YOURSELVES!" Jetfire grabbed Windblade and Fixit, flying as fast as he could out of the bridge and towards the other end of the hall. The resulting impact shook the entire ship as it spun out of control. The three of them were almost sucked out into space as the glass shattered, but the emergency airlocks sealed them into the hallway, leaving them to get jostles and tossed around, smashing into wall after wall, from floor to ceiling. With one final crash, Jetfire felt his consciousness leave him, everything fading to black.
Windblade groaned as she felt the world around her return. It took all her strength, but she managed to pick herself up from the floor, hunched over as a sudden spike of pain shot from her abdomen. "ARGH!" she clutched at it before looking to see a large gash, Energon bleeding out of her and dripping to the floor. She leaned against the nearest wall to hold herself up, wincing in pain as she sat down. It gave her enough time to take in the rest of her wounds. She felt cracks running along her face, and it looked as though both her wings were bent out of shape. To make matters worse, she saw no sign of Fixit or Jetfire anywhere. Where were they?
"Jetfi-fire? Win-Windy? Anyone?" Fixit's voice called from down at the end of the hallway, as if to answer her question. It sounded like it came from close to the wreckage of the elevator, which Windblade noted was both upside-down and slanted. Sensing her friend was in trouble, she forced herself to stand and limped towards his location, all while sparks and broken lights illuminated the hall. She moved past shredded metal like she was walking downhill, eventually reaching the end, where a familiar orange limb waved from underneath rubble.
Despite the pain it caused, Windblade moved quickly and dug through it, managing to pull Fixit out. Parts of his plating were broken, revealing the circuitry beneath, but the worst of it was below his waist, as his wheels were severely mangled. "Winbla-bla-blade! Thank Primus," Fixit said as the Camien picked him up under her arm. He looked at her injury and asked, "Doesn't tha-that hurt?"
Windblade nodded, "What abo-OW!" she clutched at her wound, another shot of pain running up her body before she fought it back, "W-What about you? You're not looking good either."
"Believe me, It's more pain-pain-painful than it looks."
"Hopefully we'll both be able to get repairs soon," Windblade said with a wince, "But first, we need to find-"
"Uuuuuuh," a loud groan came from within the dilapidated elevator shaft. Windblade and Fixit looked to each other before the former limped towards the entrance and gasped. There, half-buried beneath a mound of scrap-metal with a completely broken wing and Energon bleeding out of a couple holes in his upper chest and mouth, was Jetfire. If not for the groaning and the fact that his optics blinked open, Windblade would have thought he was dead. "W-Wind...Windblade?" Jetfire rasped, his voice scratchy and hoarse, "Fix..."
"Jetfire, just hold on!" Windblade shouted, ignoring her pain long enough to jump into the shaft and reach Jetfire. "Scrap, this looks bad," she said before putting Fixit down atop Jetfire's damaged chest plate, "Can you do anything for him?"
Fixit shook his head, "Not in my current condition-tion-tion-tion. This ship shou-should have a medical bay, but..."
"No way to reach it," Windblade finished, looking back down at her barely conscious friend. She blinked her tears away, promising herself that she wouldn't let him die, and dug through the rubble. Once he was freed, she used all her strength to pick him up and get him out of the elevator shaft before climbing out with Fixit in tow. It was then that she couldn't ignore her wounds anymore as the pain overwhelmed her, forcing her to lay down beside Jetfire as she clutched at her wound. Everything hurt, with all her subsequent attempts to force herself to stand only furthering that pain. She was beginning to doubt she'd be able to get up again, let alone carry her friends out of here.
Can't...can't quit now... Windblade tried to pick herself up one more time, Come on, get up! But it didn't work, her body falling back to the floor. "Frag..." she felt darkness overwhelm her, what little strength she had left was fading fast. She didn't want things to end this way, but it seemed inevitable as her body finally felt like it was giving out...
"Windy, just hold o-o-on for me!"
...until Fixit's voice echoed in her audio receptors, and suddenly, a powerful jolt forced her awake. With a gasp, she snapped her head upward and looked around, seeing Fixit doing what he could to repair her wound. From the looks of it, he seemed to have crawled all the way over here.
"Fixit, you-"
"Upupup! Hold sti-sti-still," Fixit tinkered with the internal wiring and circuitry within the wound before shifting his arm into a welding torch, "I've sea-sealed the bleeding-ing-ing, but tha-tha-that's the most I can do right now."
"Thank you," Windblade found she had enough strength to pick herself up, but it was still a strain, and even with the bleeding sealed up, everything else still hurt. "Really," she continued, "After everything, I owe you a lot."
Fixit smiled, "Think nothing-ing of it-it. I'm a doc-doc-doctor, so it's in my job des-description-tion-tion. Besides-sides, what are friends for?"
Windblade smiled at that, gently picking him up in one arm before moving over to Jetfire. It took a good deal of effort, but she managed to sling his arm over her shoulder and lift him up. Limping, she carried them to the bridge entrance, its airlock conveniently busted open, most likely from the crash. She brought them through, taking in the demolished, upside-down bridge room and the shattered windows leading to the outside. Wasting no time, they exited and stepped onto the rocky terrain of the asteroid, making their way from the ship.
"Jetfire, you still with us?" Windblade asked, the Autobot's silence terrifying her.
"Yeah..." he quietly answered, much to hers and Fixit's relief.
"Just hang on-on-on buddy, we'll stop somewhere-where to patch you up," Fixit said, "Then we wait-wait-wait for an Autobot who picked up your dis-distress signal-nal-nal-nal.
A tinge of worry ran throughout Windblade's body, "What if Jetfire's signal wasn't heard?"
"Ships..." Jetfire muttered, "If...no one...docking bay...find...ship..."
"Think any of them would still be functional?" Windblade asked.
"I hope so," Fixit replied while Jetfire began murmuring something. The Mini-Con looked up at Windblade and said, "Better find a spot to put-put-put hi-him down soon."
"Good idea," Windblade nodded as the group started nearing rock formations where they could rest and patch up. "Jetfire, I need you to talk with us. Let us know you're still ther-ARGH!" Windblade doubled over, almost dropping her friends as a sudden pain seared along her wing. She looked and saw that one of her rotors was gone, sparks erupting from what remained as laser fire came down on the group. Ignoring the pain, she forced herself to run, friends in tow as they hid behind the rock formations, laser blasts still sounding.
"Scrap! Looks like some survi-vi-vived!" Fixit shouted as Windblade poked her head out from behind cover, seeing several Decepticons jumping down from what used to be the bottom of the ship. While just as many remained up top and continued to fire upon their position, those that jumped down were slowly making their way over, clearly enjoying taking their time.
Sadists, the lot of them, Windblade grunted and drew her blades, ready to strike the first one that came close, but the act itself reminded her of the injuries she'd accumulated. Then she looked over to her injured companions, realizing that the odds of her being able to fend off the Decepticons and protect them in her current condition were practically non-existent. Doesn't mean I shouldn't try, her optics entered a glare as she readied herself to run out and meet them face-to-face.
"Windblade..." Jetfire croaked, "Run..."
What? Windblade looked at Jetfire like he was insane.
"Take Fixit...run...leave...me..." he rasped.
"No," Windblade immediately said, ducking as a particularly powerful laser blast shook the rocks providing them cover, "I won't abandon you or any of my friends. Not now or ever!"
"That goes dou-double for me-me-me!" Fixit agreed, making it clear that if this was it, they were facing the end together.
Instead of protesting any further, Jetfire gave a solemn smile, "It's...been an...honor..."
Windblade gave Jetfire and Fixit one last smile as she looked out from behind cover, seeing a pair of Decepticons almost upon them. Jumping out, she took a combat stance with her sabers while the Cons took aim. Windblade's Spark pulsed with terror, but she wouldn't let it show, instead preparing to deflect whatever they shot at her, even if it would be for a short time.
But suddenly, all enemy fire ceased, with the two Decepticons in front of her looking up, at which point Windblade heard what sounded like a loud engine in the distance. Taking advantage of the distraction, she quickly cut the two down in front of her, causing the other Decepticons to recover and open fire. She deflected a few shots, but a stray one struck her leg. With a cry of pain, she jumped back to cover, sitting next to her friends as she clutched her newest injury.
"You okay?" Fixit asked.
"Y-Yeah," Windblade winced, "What happened?"
A brief, hoarse laugh escaped Jetfire, followed by him rasping, "Looks like...help...arrived...after all..."
As the loud engine noise grew louder, Windblade looked to its source to see a massive ship flying down towards them, floating just above the destroyed prison barge. Even from this far, Windblade could see the Autobot emblem proudly displayed on its side, the sight making her Spark swell with relief. All Decepticons started firing on the newly arrived vessel, but to no avail.
The ship's underbelly opened up, and out dropped two bots; one was a mech with black and white armor plating and twin bladed disks in each servo. The other had white and grey armor with a prominent shoulder cannon. The latter shouted, "COME AND GET SOME, DECEPTICREEPS!" as he and his partner began fighting the Cons topside (technically bottomside) of the ship.
"Fixit...was that?"
"Yup," Fixit answered Jetfire, "That was def-def-definitely Wheeljack."
"Friend of yours?" Windblade asked.
"Not exactly," Fixit awkwardly answered, "More an...acquaintance-tance-tance. He's a Wrecker. They're not-not exactly the most sub-subtle of bots."
"HA! THAT THE BEST YOU GOT!?" Wheeljack shouted, followed by an explosion.
"Ah," Windblade understood, another explosion, this one bigger than the last, going off where the two Autobots fought, "I take it this is a regular occurrence when it comes to him and these...Wreckers, as you called them?"
"This is actually rather-ther tame by hi-his standards," Fixit commented, leaving Windblade to look at the Mini-Con like he grew a second head. If this was tame, what the frag did Wheeljack's normal look like?
Maybe don't think too hard on that, Windblade immediately decided for the sake of her sanity. Not that she had time to think about it anyway, as the ship flew overhead and landed just in front of the injured bots, kicking up dust and rock everywhere. The ship's rear ramp opened up, two Cybertronians in vehicular form driving out at top speed. The reddish car reached them first, transforming into a femme whose helm had two skinny fins atop it. Her blue optics looked at all of them with compassion and worry.
"Are you three alright?" she asked just as the large blue truck arrived and transformed into a very tall mech with truly massive shoulder pads.
"Elita...Magnus..." Jetfire rasped, smiling and gaining more strength as he looked at the new arrivals, "Aren't you a sight for sore optics."
"Good to see you to, old friend," Elita knelt down rested a gentle servo to Jetfire's shoulder, "But save your strength. We're getting you out of here," she looked to Fixit and Windblade, "All of you."
A sudden, powerful plasma shot impacted their cover, knocking away large chunks of it. As more blasts hit their location, Magnus asked, "General Elita? Your orders?"
"Get these three aboard the Alpha-5. They need medical attention ASAP!" Elita commanded, the bracers on her servos unfolding over her fists, revealing a pair of gauntlets, "I'll cover for you."
"Understood," Magnus helped Jetfire up as the wheels on Elita's legs revved up. The Autobot shot out from behind cover faster than Windblade could keep track. Poking her head out, the Camien watched as Elita elegantly dodged all enemy fire that was now aimed at her, closing in on her targets to deliver powerful, yet graceful blows to her opponents. "Let's go soldier!" Magnus snapped Windblade out of her awe as she turned and saw that he was already at the ship's ramp, Jetfire and Fixit in tow. She briefly turned back to watch the ensuing battle before limping after Magnus, who patiently waited for her.
"Sorry," Windblade said, wincing slightly.
"Let's get you three to the medical bay for now," Magnus replied as they entered the ship. All the while, the relief Windblade felt from before magnified tenfold, a single thought replaying in her processor.
They were safe. They were finally safe.
Elita flipped over the grunt's attempted charge, catching him by the shoulders and throwing him towards his only remaining ally. She's already taken care of everyone but these two, and they weren't proving much better than their predecessors, especially in their desperation. One pulled out his blaster, but Elita revved up her wheels, delivering an uppercut that knocked him into the air before spin-kicking the poor trooper into the ground. She could sense his partner try to rush her from behind, but she rolled her optics and smacked him away without even looking.
"Last chance, Decepticon. Surrender," Elita-1 walked up to the trooper still in front of her, who glared in defiance as he reached for his blaster and charged it up. Elita pulled out her Neutron Blaster and shot it out of his servos before he could fire. The Con raised his arms in surrender as Elita lowered her weapon ever-so-slightly. But then she noticed the ghost of a smirk and realized the troop had glanced behind her.
Not hearing any steps from her flank, she swiftly turned and was about to take aim at the bot's partner, but before she could, a pair of cutting disks flew in from above, slashing away the bot's blaster arm and head respectively. The Decepticon's corpse fell to the ground, Prowl and Wheeljack landing from their battle above as the latter kicked the decapitated head away like a mecha-soccer ball.
"Not a bad shot Officer," Wheeljack complimented, which went ignored by the Cyber-Ninja as his disks returned to him. The Wrecker scoffed at Prowl's aloofness before standing next to Elita and pointing at the single remaining Decepticon, "So what about him?"
"Might I suggest interrogation?" Prowl spoke up, "Given that this was a prison ship, I assume we're dealing with a prison transfer from one planet to the next. Perhaps he knows something useful, such as where the prison itself is."
Wheeljack chuckled and pounded his fists, "Sounds fine with me. I got a knack for roughing Cons up."
Elita held out her servos, telling the two to hold it. There was more than one way to skin a Turbofox after all, and she'd rather use methods that weren't so needless. Kneeling down to meet the terrified Decepticon at optic-level, she said, "This is your chance to do the right thing. I'd take it."
"We were taking prisoners from a newly conquered planet back to Cybertron! Lord Megatron wants them. T-he main console's on the bridge! It has all the ship's navigational data!" the Decepticon shouted, "I swear, that's all I know! J-Just let me leave! I swear I'll fight for the Decepticons again!"
"Prowl, go check the nav data," Elita ordered as she stood tall. The Cyber Ninja nodded and made his way for the broken bridge of the ship, leaving Elita and Wheeljack to watch the grunt. Instead of pulling any expected tricks, he remained seated, quaking in fear as the cycles passed. In that time, Elita pondered just what the trooper meant. The Decepticons continued conquest was nothing new, but in her experience, the world's population remained where it was to serve as labor for harvesting resources. She didn't know what made this planet so significant for Megatron to order its people to be transported to Cybertron, but it wasn't anything good.
When it came to her former friend, it was never anything good.
Soon enough, Prowl returned, Elita and Wheeljack turning to him as he said, "Much of the ship's systems were damaged in the crash, but I was able to gleem over a good deal regarding this ship's transport routes and its former prisoners. More specifically, they were from the lost colony of Caminus."
"Huh, always thought that planet was a myth."
"As did I," Prowl looked to Wheeljack and said, "But it seems the Decepticons found it and, naturally, conquered it."
"Nice work, Prowl," Elita looked back to the grunt, who was still shaking, and said, "If I catch wind of you hurting anyone like you did before, I won't be so forgiving next time we meet," she levelled her coldest glare, "Now transform and get out of here."
The Decepticon frantically nodded and shifted to vehicular mode, revving up his engine and bolting as far away from the Autobots as possible. Once he was little more than a far-off speck, Prowl walked up, "You know he's more than likely to fall back in line with the empire."
"Then we'll deal with that when it comes," Elita sighed as they made their way back to the Alpha-5.
Wheeljack scoffed, "Think it might have been more merciful to just blast his head off. Quick clean kill and all that."
"Can't say I disagree," Prowl added, "Given that he just gave us vital information, he'll at best live in terror of his superiors finding out, or at worst they do learn and make sure he suffers before killing him. And that's assuming he lives long enough to see such a moment."
Elita would admit that there was a point to what both her fellow Autobots had said. After all, the higher ups of the Decepticon Empire weren't known for mercy or forgiveness. But nonetheless, she had no intention of following through with such an idea. "Like it or not, that isn't how we operate," Elita sternly replied as they entered the ship, "We don't kill the unarmed and helpless. We only engage in aggression when all other methods are exhausted."
"Yeah yeah, what separates us from them. Yeesh, if I had a shannix for every time I've heard that speech from ol' Optimus, I'd be as rich as Mirage used to be," Wheeljack brushed off, the three of them entering the med bay where Magnus monitored Jetfire's vitals. As for the others, Fixit was currently in stasis for repairs while the third bot, a heavily damaged femme with red armor, bent wings with a broken turbine, and distinct facial markings sat on the third operating table, her legs dangling over the edge. The young bot's concerned gaze shifted between Jetfire and Fixit, unwilling to rest.
"How's everything looking Magnus?" Elita asked.
"Jetfire's in bad shape, but he'll pull through," Magnus answered, not looking away from the monitors, "Fixit will be fully repaired in approximately one Mega-Cycle. I'm certain his expertise will accelerate Jetfire's recovery."
"That's good to here," Elita was relieved, but looking over to the recovering femme put a damper on that. Walking up to her, she asked, "You alright?"
"Y-Yeah," the femme stammered, shaken up by the entire experience and concerned for her friends in equal measure. Elita-1 gave her a sympathetic look, remembering how surreal everything felt after the crisis ended; how odd the lack of laser fire and destruction felt after being forced to accustom herself to it.
"Don't need to be so jumpy, kid," Wheeljack chimed in, "We don't bite. Unless you try to shoot or stab us, that is."
"N-No, it's not that, it's..." she sighed, "It's just...it's everything. My friends are hurt, I have no idea what happened to my home, we barely escaped by the metal on our plates," as she continued, her pace grew more rapid and frantic, "I almost died several times, I had to watch the Decepticons slaughter so many people and it's just-" she cut herself off and did what she could to calm down, "It's just one cycle I'm hanging out with my loved ones on Caminus. The next, I'm thrown into the Pit without warning. Everything just happened so fast, and I don't know how to keep track of it all. I don't even know if I want to."
Elita gave her an understanding look, remembering the first time she'd been in a life-or-death situation and the fatigue that came after. Gently reassuring the bot, she asked, "What's your name?"
"Windblade," she answered.
"Windblade," Elita repeated, "I'm sorry for what happened. Believe me, I know what you're going through," she gazed at everyone else in the room, "I think all of us do."
"Indeed. One's first time in combat is always the most difficult, but you'll grow accustomed to it over time," Prowl said, Magnus providing a curt nod or agreement.
Wheeljack chuckled, "One cycle you're freaking out, the next you're busting heads and having a blast."
"Okay boys, you're officially not helping," Elita groaned before giving Windblade her full attention, "Sorry."
Windblade shook her head, "No, it's okay. I...I appreciate it anyway. Besides, they have a point. I'm probably gonna need to adjust to this if I want to save my home."
Elita gave her a small smile, "And we'll do whatever it takes to help you." Windblade looked ready to protest, but Elita beat her to the punch, "As Autobots, it's our duty to help those in need. To protect life wherever it resides. If the Decepticons have taken over your planet, we'll work to free it. Right everyone?"
"Of course, ma'am," Magnus saluted, with Elita resisting the urge to roll her optics.
"Hey, I'm always in the mood for kicking Con aft," Wheeljack smirked, "So count me in."
"I'll provide aid as well," Prowl said.
"And I'm sure if they were awake, Jetfire and Fixit would be all in as well," Elita turned back to Windblade, "So, what do you say?"
Windblade looked at them all, completely flabbergasted, "I...I..." she had trouble finding the words, but after a few nanokliks, she smiled back, "Thank you. All of you. But first, we need to find the other Camiens. We sent them off in escape pods to some planet. I don't remember which one though, but if we had the ship's nav data, we'd be able to find them."
Elita looked at Prowl, "You have the nav data. Think you can help?"
Prowl shook his head, "Sadly, no. The nav data was heavily damaged in the crash. I was able to access locations the ship itself had previously been to, but I couldn't find anything on where escape pods were sent out."
"I see," Windblade looked downtrodden at this news, "In that case, I'll hope for the best. They were able to get away from the Decepticons, so that'll have to be enough for now," she looked up to Prowl, "What about Caminus? Was there enough to plot a course to it?"
"About that..." Prowl put a finger to his temple, causing his optics to glow and emit a holo-map of the galaxy, "Based on the data I gathered from the ship, flying directly to Caminus isn't the most viable solution. As you can see," the map pinpointed Caminus' exact location in relation to them, "We're rather far off from it."
Wheeljack whistled, "With that kind of distance, it'd take several Stellar Cycles to get there just by flying."
"That's..." Windblade was in utter shock, "How did they fly so far so quickly? How long was I unconscious on that ship?"
"Hmm," Magnus looked at the map.
"Think it's a space bridge, Magnus?" Elita asked, knowing the answer.
At his nod, Magnus ordered, "Prowl, check the nav data for any space bridge locations. If we can find which one the prison barge came from, we can use it to fly us directly to Caminus. If we're lucky, this ship's been through most of them." Prowl concentrated, the holo-map flickering, and revealed the locations of a number of Decepticon controlled space bridges across the cosmos. The nearest one looked to only be, at least by a generous estimate, a couple Chords away. "That's the one," Magnus pointed, "But it will most likely be heavily guarded."
"Then we'll be ready," Elita said.
"So what are we waiting for? Let's-" Windblade looked ready to jump off her table, but winced in pain, "ARGH!"
"Hey, don't move around too much. You need to get patched up first," Elita helped rest Windblade back to the table.
"But-"
"We'll get to Caminus and free your people," Elita said, "But it won't do you any good if you rush things as you are. Focus on that for the time being, then all of us can work out a plan together." Windblade looked ready to protest, but after another wince, she reluctantly complied. Seeing her despondence, Elita reassured, "Don't worry, we'll be on our way before you know it. For now, save your strength and rest," she looked over to the slumbering Jetfire and Fixit, "After all you've done to help my friends, you've more than earned it."
Windblade didn't answer initially, only laying back on the table and closing her optics. Elita motioned for Prowl and Wheeljack to move out of the med bay to give Magnus room to work. She followed after them, but not before she heard Windblade one last time.
"Elita," she said, "Thank you."
The Autobot leader simply smiled and headed on her way.
"Frag!" Cold Iron yelled as the damaged communication systems sputtered electricity in his face and emitted loud feedback.
"Is it fixed yet?" his sister, Burnout, whined from what was technically the roof of the bridge. Cold Iron looked down and saw her stomping about, kicking random scraps of rubble, all the while the one patrol officer, Brave Steel, tapped his foot impatiently.
Cold Iron growled in frustration, "I wouldn't know, since this was never my area of expertise to begin with."
"Great! Fragging great!" Burnout kicked a piece of rubble with all her strength, making it bounce everywhere and hit Cold Iron square on the head.
"OW! Really sister!?"
"You're fault for flying there in the first place!"
"I'm only flying up here because we need to contact someone to give us a ride off this dump," Cold Iron flew down and poked Burnout's helm, "How about you fly up there and try to patch things up? See if you can do any better."
Burnout glared for a second before shrugging, whipping out a blaster and pointing it at the console, "Sure, I'll just blast it till it works. No biggie."
"NO!" Cold Iron and Brave Steel held her back.
"What?" she asked indignantly.
"You blow that thing up, we're really never getting off this rock," Brave Steel pointed out, "Don't tell me you're that stupid!"
Burnout shoved both of them off, "Oh go to the Pit! I don't have to take this from the bot who gave the traitor a map of the entire ship!"
"They were gonna kill me!"
"A tiny, frightened brat was going to kill you," Cold Iron said, arms crossed, "You should've let her. Those prisoners never would have made it that far otherwise."
"Y-Yeah well you..." Brave Steel stammered, "You both let yourselves get jumped by them!"
"That's it!" Burnout punched Brave Steel and started wailing on him. As the pathetic patrol officer begged, Cold Iron sat back and watched, smirking at the sight. Sure, he would never have gotten to see the traitor get what he deserved, but this was a close second. After she finished, she stood back and let the waste of space try and pick himself up. He only barely managed, now propping himself up using the fallen, mangled remains of a chair.
"Now that things have calmed down, I suggest letting me finish my work," Cold Iron said, almost jumping up to try and continue repairs.
"And then what?" Brave Steel asked, his voice raspy as he spat out Energon.
"We go back to Cybertron," Burnout replied as if she hadn't spent the last few Cycles beating the ever-loving slag out of the bot who asked, "Why? What else would we do?"
Brave Steel shook his head, "Had it ever occurred to you that the higher ups are gonna blame someone for this?"
"Yeah, they'll blame you. This is all your fault anyway," Cold Iron dismissed.
"And you," Brave Steel caught them off guard, "Think about it. We're the only three Decepticons left alive. If they find us, we're as good as dead for this failure."
"...slag," That's actually a good point, Cold Iron thought. If they did make it back, they'd face harsh punishment for this. Now if the Seeker Captain assigned to the ship was still alive, she'd be the one who'd take up that burden, but sadly for them, she was dead.
"What do we do then, bro?" Burnout asked.
"We fix up the comms, that doesn't change," Cold Iron concluded, "But we'll need to find a planet to lay low. After we trick a ship into coming near here, we hijack it and set course for Regulon-4."
Brave Steel looked terrified, "B-But isn't that home of the metalmongers?"
"Yeah, and that means if any of our old outfit tries hunting us down, they'll be in for a surprise," Cold Iron explained, recalling the rumors he'd heard about the metalmongers; how only a few of them managed to pose a threat to hundreds of Cybertronian warriors. Whether it was true or not was another story, but rumors were a powerful thing. "Now if you'll excuse me," Cold Iron flew back up to the upside-down console and continued his tinkering, "I have to try and get lucky with this thing so that we can actually contact someo-"
"Oh, there's no need for that," amidst his tinkering, a deep, familiar voice spoke from the other end, "I can hear you just fine."
"Yes! We're saved!" Burnout cheered, and for a moment, Cold Iron shared in that jubilation as he floated down.
"No, quite the opposite, actually."
"Huh, what are you-" suddenly, it hit Cold Iron. He realized who was talking to them, "T-Tarn?"
"Indeed. I'm calling you from Messatine," the DJD's leader answered, "Apologies for the sudden transmission, but I couldn't help but notice that your ship failed to deliver the traitor, Jetfire, to me. He was next on our list, after all."
Brave Steel gave an awkward, terrified laugh, "Y-Yeah, about that. See, he might have sorta, kinda, maybe..." he gulped, "...escaped."
"Do tell me, how did he escape? Was it not your job to ensure he'd remain locked up?"
"Brave Steel gave him a map of the ship! He helped him and the prisoners get away!"
"Burnout!" Brave Steel looked at her with utter horror and betrayal.
"What, it's true," Burnout said, despite having the same terrified expression. Knowing how the DJD operated, better to throw the coward under and hope the kill calmed them down enough to leave the rest alone. After all, unlike Brave Steel, Cold Iron and Burnout didn't help an Autobot get away.
"I see," Tarn said, "Brave Steel, have you nothing to say?"
"I-I didn't do any-they w-were holding me at gun point and-"
"How pathetic," Tarn interrupted, venom in his voice, "And you call yourself a Decepticon? You're unfit to bear the mark."
Cold Iron and Burnout smiled in relief as Brave Steel quivered in terror. From the looks of it, they were safe, all of Tarn's anger directed at the soon to be dead patrol officer.
But then the music played.
"In fact, none of you are."
"HRRK!" Cold Iron felt his body weaken. He fell to his knees and puked out Energon.
"You don't mind the sudden music, do you?" Tarn quietly asked, "The Empyrean Suite, composed by Eucryphia during the era of the Thirteen Primes. I tend to enjoy playing this as I whisper my prey to death."
"What is...what's-"
"It's simple," Tarn explained, voice growing lower, "I'd been trying to hail your ship's comms for quite some time these past few Megacycles. In your seemingly futile efforts to repair them, you unknowingly succeeded. So, when you three started making plans to abandon the Decepticon cause, well," he snarled, "I. Heard. Everything."
The more Tarn spoke, the more agony Cold Iron's body felt like it was in. His Spark felt like it was beating slower, and his limbs couldn't move at all. "W-What..." he rasped, "How are...how is...you're not...here..."
"Come now, Cold Iron, it's common knowledge that my voice can kill. But it seems you were unaware of the fact that I don't need to be with you for it to work. You merely need hear me, and your life is mine to do with as I please," Tarn let out a mirthless chuckle, "Understandable, as I rarely employ it outside torture, and that's always when we have our quarry alone."
"But...but we..." Cold Iron looked to his sister, who was hunched over, puking and crying about how she didn't want to die. Brave Steel seemed to have just given up entirely, lying flat and bracing himself for the end. "P-please," Cold Iron begged, "Let my sister go. T-Take me instead!"
"You won't have to worry about your sister. You'll be the first to go, after all," Tarn taunted, his voice lowering even more.
"I..."
"It's such a shame I won't be there to watch the life leave your optics, much as it is a shame that all of us couldn't be there to torment you three in person," Tarn's voice reached the quietest it'd ever been, electricity coursing throughout Cold Iron's body as the DJD leader said, "But for what little it matters, I will allow you the opportunity to speak your last. Tell us, what shall the final words of Cold Iron, former prison guard and lowly deserter of the Decepticon cause, be as he chokes on his own Energon and perishes into nonexistence? Hmm? We're waiting."
The electricity grew more violent, cracks formed along his entire body as his optics started breaking apart. His spark's pulse grew fainter, and the last thing he saw in his shattered vision was the horror on his sister's face. All he could muster was a rasped, broken whisper, "I'm...sorry..."
And that very moment, his Spark gave out.
Tarn grinned as the explosions sounded from the other end, all three deserters having died one-by-one. As he gazed upon the twin setting suns of Messatine, he would admit there was a certain...euphoria, that came with killing traitors. Those who abandoned Lord Megatron's will deserve nothing but torment before their inevitable demise, thus weeding out the ranks of the unworthy. That was the mission of the Decepticon Justice Division: Find. Kill. Cleanse.
But alas, while three were slain, one got away.
"Tarn? What are you doing out here?" Nickel's maternal, almost patronizing voice came in from behind, the DJD leader turning to see the light blue Mini-Con roll up to him, "You took a call and headed off without a word. Left me and the others worrying for a bit."
"It's nothing, Nickel. I was merely taking care of a few loose ends," Tarn replied, walking alongside her back to the Peaceful Tyranny.
"Must have been some noisy loose ends for you to walk out on everyone," Nickel commented.
Tarn nodded, "Indeed they were, though they've been silenced now," in the far distance, he could see their ship, "When we get back, tell the others to start up the Peaceful Tyranny's engines. We're going on a hunt."
"You mean for that Jetfire bot?" Nickel asked.
"Yes. He managed to escape the ship he was being transported in. So now it falls to us to bring him to justice for his betrayal," Tarn snarled, barely keeping his rage in check. He clenched his fist so hard that Energon bled to the snow ground beneath his feet, but he didn't care. He relished in it, for he would deliver that agony to the traitor a million-fold.
"Tarn!" sadly, Nickel did care, and saw fit to force him to as well, "Gah! Again! How many times do we have to have this talk? How many? Now give it here."
"Very well then," Tarn knelt down and let Nickel work on repairing his servo.
"Twist my frikkin arm a little," Nickel mumbled, finishing the repairs in no time.
"Thank you," Tarn said as he stood, much to Nickel's indignation.
"Na-na-na! I don't want to hear it. You can show some proper thanks by actually keeping your temper in check for a change."
"I promise nothing, especially when our next target requires a more...personal touch," Tarn walked ahead of the Mini-Con, gleeful as images of his former friend being burned in acid, torn to shreds, shocked into overload, and ripped apart from the inside-out played in his mind.
"Personal? What did this Jetfire do anyway?"
"He lived, Nickel," Tarn answered, refusing to divulge any further, "He lived."
This certainly wound up being much, MUCH longer than I expected, but that kind of thing happens sometimes.
While I had a point A and point B I wanted to get too, plenty in the chapter ended up being more spontaneous, with things like the moments with Lightbright just happening as I wrote.
Speaking of, should probably do some explaining there.
Lightbright was originally introduced in Transformers Animated as a background character before the old IDW continuity brought her in as a Camien. She's a combination of both versions, being from Caminus like the latter continuity and having the youthful appearance of the former.
As for the others, Hot Shot was also from Animated (he was in Armada and Animated, with his IDW version also being a Camien), with Pyra being the leader of the Torchbearers in the first IDW continuity. Though in her case, she lacks the Magna name since she hasn't taken it up yet.
I'm mostly bringing this all up because, given that this story's focus will be on Elita-1, Ultra Magnus, Wheeljack, Prowl, Jetfire, Fixit, and Windblade, the other Camiens will be going through their own off-page adventures as they fight and survive across the galaxy.
Elita's collapsible gauntlet bracers were a suggestion by @Matrix Dragon, which I went with to fit her fisticuff battle-style from EarthSpark.
Now you all know why this side-venture is called Camien Odyssey, as it's the adventure of the Alpha-5 crew in their journey to the lost colony of Caminus to free it from Decepticon control.
The three bots at the end, Cold Iron, Burnout, and Brave Steel, are OCs. The first two names were suggested by SwapAUAnon. I was originally gonna go with Cracked Bricks for the latter as suggested by @Matrix Dragon, but I opted for Brave Steel for the sheer irony of naming the utter coward that.
The final scene establishes the main antagonists of this space trip: The Decepticon Justice Division. And we get our introduction to the nightmare including psychopathic leader of the group, Tarn. Hope his intro was sufficiently terrifying.
With all that said, let me know what you all think of this chapter. What you liked, disliked, felt could use some work, etc.
In any case, I'll finally be getting back to writing out the next chapter for The Silver Raven. I've put that story off for way longer than I should have, and I know there's a lot of readers waiting for the next update.
Man, that was pretty great. I wasn't sure what to expect when I saw a 20k-word Omake, but I found myself enjoying almost every minute of it. The fighting was especially well-written, which was a surprise to me since there hasn't been any in the story so far and I haven't read any of your other works.
The loyalty and bravery of the Autobots was rather endearing, and I'm looking forwards to seeing them appear in the main story. Also, I know next to nothing about Transformers, so I can't tell if any of the characters are OCs or not.
The loyalty and bravery of the Autobots was rather endearing, and I'm looking forwards to seeing them appear in the main story. Also, I know next to nothing about Transformers, so I can't tell if any of the characters are OCs or not.
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Firstly, thank you! Secondly:
I'd recommend checking out TF wiki for more information on them. It's easily the best wiki around since it doesn't have the annoying issues that plague other wikis.
I should point out that this isn't an omake. It's a side-story. Omakes are generally small non-canon comedies. Camien Odyssey, meanwhile, is...well, a space odyssey, and is set in the same universe as More Than Meets the Spy.
Still surprised that I'm getting fight scenes down. This is my first time writing fight scenes for the Transformers series. I'll keep doing my best to make them flow well.
With exception to the three Decepticons Tarn killed at the end, all characters in this chapter are canon to Transformers in one continuity or another (or multiple).
I'd recommend checking out TF wiki for more information on them. It's easily the best wiki around since it doesn't have the annoying issues that plague other wikis.
- Location
- none of your business
Apart from the three that Glitch\Damus\Tarn mudered, they're all Canon, especially in Jetfire's case as he's been in the franchise since G1 whereas Windblade was kind of a breakout character
yup, s' what most of us use
Mission 6: A Family Shopping Trip
We're back, everyone! Sorry for the long wait.
Now, as a forewarning, I originally wanted this chapter to have Bumblebee first witness and react to Yor and Loid's fighting skills/superhuman abilities in combat. However, that never made it into the chapter. I do plan for it to happen next chapter, but I wound up finding a good stopping point before I could write that part.
Being honest, it was for the best. No need to force a chapter to be longer than it should be.
That, and if you've been following my previously updated stories (Camien Odyssey and Silver Raven), you'll know that I wrote and uploaded two 15K to 20K word juggernauts of chapters one after another. Frankly, this is also a good return to forum with a shorter, breezier chapter for you all.
Anyway, special thanks and shout-out to Quantum01, @Matrix Dragon, and SwapAUAnon for Beta Reading this chapter.
Mission 6: A Family Shopping Trip
"Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"
"Almost there Anya, just another minute," Papa said, looking back at her through Bumblebee's mirror, Not exactly sure why she's so excited though. It's just a trip to the supermarket.
Yeah! But I wanna make it fast! Anya bounced in her seat, looking outside at the passing buildings and cars. There was a new episode of Spy Wars that was gonna play soon and she didn't want to miss it. Ever since Bond was brought home, she and him always watched new episodes together. If they didn't make it home on time, he'd watch it without her!
"Anything in particular that you want to get, Anya?" Mama asked, smiling back at her.
"Peanuts," Anya answered right away as she hugged her plushie, Mr. Chimera.
What's that? Bumblebee wondered as Papa turned a corner, Is it some kind of Earth provision? I swear, humans have weird names for their food.
That last thought got Anya thinking; did giant robots eat? She learned that they could get drunk, which meant they could drink stuff too. If they could drink, they could eat, but what did giant robots eat? Did they eat scrap metal? Electicity? Or did they eat the kind of stuff normal people would eat like cereal? If they did eat stuff like that, what was Bumblebee's favorite food?
"You know Anya, you need to be careful not to eat too many peanuts," Mama warned, "If you do, you could get sick."
"She's right, Anya," Papa added, looking serious, "It's important to avoid eating too much of anything."
Anya sighed, both her parents sounding like those classes at school about eating vegetables and fruits and stuff. "Maybe peanuts shouldn't taste so good then," Anya muttered before a thought popped into her head and she asked, "Hey Papa, Mama, what's your favorite food?"
"Hmm?" Papa looked back for a bit, "Uh, why do you ask?" Anya shrugged, leading to Papa focusing on the road and thinking really hard, Let's see...
Mama, meanwhile, said, "Well, you remember the stew I cooked for you and Loid?" she smiled, "That's always been my favorite food, ever since my mother cooked it for me and Yuri growing up."
Anya smiled back, remembering how happy was when Mama made that for everyone. Thankfully, it was actually really good, unlike Mama's other attempts at cooking. Still don't know if assassins are terrible at cooking or if it's just Mama, Anya thought before looking to Bumblebee's radio. Seeing that Papa was still super deep in thought, she focused on Bumblebee to see what he was thinking.
Huh, speaking of favorite foods, I miss Chrome-alloy pie. Used to eat it when I could afford it before the war. After that it was mostly just Energon rations, Bumblebee thought, sounding like he really missed it. All it did was make Anya frown at the dead end. Part of why Anya asked was because she'd hoped maybe she could find some food for Bumblebee. She didn't know if he could eat anything besides Energon, whatever that was, and wanted to help. But it sounded like robot food wasn't really something she could get here. Didn't sound like anything she could convince Papa and Mama to get either.
Should probably check back with Papa, Anya looked over to her dad and started reading his mind, a bump in the road making the car jump as they turned a corner.
Hmm, it sounded like Papa was still thinking, I know there was something. But what?
Anya saw a few images flash through his head; a tall blonde woman making food, but it was all fuzzy. Like Papa couldn't remember these things very well. Is that- Anya blinked, Is that my grandma? and without thinking, asked, "Papa-"
"Huh?" Papa snapped out of it said, "Oh! Uh, sandwiches! That's my favorite food."
"..." Anya blinked, Papa's so bad at lying. Still, she was glad for the answer, mostly because she was pretty sure she was about to accidentally say something revealing. Instead, she clapped her hands and asked, "Can we have some later?"
"Certainly," Papa answered, but his thoughts sounded a bit sad, Almost wish I did have an actual favorite food though. Then again, after all those tasteless rations... more images filled his mind, this time of a younger him and a bunch of army guys sitting in a dingy room eating bland looking food. They all looked really miserable, and then Papa shook his head, ending the thoughts, Forget it Twilight, those days are over. All you can do is focus on the present and assure that it will never come again.
Papa really doesn't want to eat bland food anymore, huh? Anya thought, Maybe that's why he makes sure to cook everything super good?
So, do humans eat witches made out of sand? That sounds very concerning, Bumblebee thought, making Anya snicker a bit. Papa just raised an eyebrow and looked like he was gonna ask a question, but Mama beat him to the punch.
"Hey, Loid?" Mama asked, "Think I could give cooking the sandwiches a try later?" I've been practicing a lot since Camilla helped me cook the stew. This would help see if I've improved.
Anya felt a chill run up her spine, and Papa looked freaked out. Bumblebee, on the other hand...
Why did the atmosphere suddenly fill with this sense of dread? he wondered as Papa drove him into the parking lot of the market.
"I uh, think it'd be best if you let me do it, Yor," Papa's voice sounded just a bit scared, not that Anya blamed him. Mama looked sad that she wouldn't be able to cook, which Papa picked up on, "I'm sure you've been improving a lot since then, but it's been a while since I made my favorite type of sandwich, and I'd like to make them for the family." And hopefully prevent all of us from dying of food poisoning.
Thankfully, that cheered Mama up and she nodded, "Okay then, but think you could show me how you'd like them? I want to be able to make them for you and Anya."
"S-Sure. Maybe next week?" Papa kept a straight face despite how scared his thoughts were, all while Anya flatly stared as he parked Bumblebee. He only bought them another week before death came for them all. Taking her mind off that, she looked out the window and stared at the market.
"It's too bad Bond couldn't come with us."
"Well, this market has a strict 'No Pets' policy," Papa got out and said, "So I'm afraid it was out of our hands."
Mama got out next, "It was nice of Frankie to take care of him for us while we were out though."
Wonder how Bond and Uncle Scruffie are doing, Anya wondered as she hopped out.
"Okay, I'm at the edge of my rope," Frankie muttered as he laid his head on the table, "I can't believe I'm gonna do this," snapping it upward, he asked, "How do I get a girlfriend?"
Sitting across from him was the Forger's dog, Bond, staring at him with either indifference or. Honestly, his expression was hard to read. After what felt like a solid minute, the whole thing turned into a staring contest, Frankie awaiting some form of an answer until finally...
"Borf!"
"...that...sounds..." Frankie rose and pumped his fist into the air, "That's genius!"
"Borf!"
Eh, probably something boring, Anya shrugged, Mama calling her name as she took her hand. They started walking together, but someone called Mama's name, making them all stop.
"Yor?"
Anya coughed, I think I have heartburn, before realizing just who it was. All three of them looked and saw the man in question, leaving Anya to grumble, "Oh, it's Unkie."
Thankfully, she wasn't heard, with Mama running over to hug Unkie Yuri, who was apparently in the middle of putting groceries in the trunk of his car. During the hug, Unkie dropped the brown bag he carried, messing up the groceries as he turned a shade of blue from Mama's strength. She was quick to put him down and apologize, with Yuri laughing it off.
Think I saw this guy enter the Forger's building once, but then he left vomiting. Who is he? Bumblebee wondered, Anya thankfully feeling the heartburn pass in the process.
"Anya," Papa knelt down, "I heard you earlier, and it really isn't nice to say things like that about family members."
All Anya could do was sigh, "Okay papa. Sorry."
"I know he can be...well, a lot, but he's still Yor's brother," Papa said, gently patting Anya's shoulder, "It's important that we put up with him for her sake." Not to mention that gleaming SSS intel from him would be beneficial to Operation: STRIX, though I haven't been able to gather much, Papa stood up as Mama and Unkie approached, And sometimes I wonder if it's even worth it in the end.
"Hello Anya," Unkie greeted in a happy voice, though it sounded forced. He looked at Papa and held out a hand, sounding a bit more even, "Loidy."
As Papa forced a smile and shook Unkie's hand, he thought, Still, it's rather concerning to run into one of the State Security Service in civilian guise like this. Does he suspect anything? Perhaps it's just a coincidence, but it feels too convenient.
Spy vs. Secret Police mind games! Anya gasped in excitement and started reading Unkie's mind to see where he was in the brain war.
Gah! Great, just had to run into Loidy and Chihuahua girl while I was doing groceries, Yuri's smile became a bit more strained, Well it's not all bad. Least I got to run into big sis, and who knows? Maybe I can gleam something off Loidy to prove he's a spy!
Anya's smile left her, Oh, so he's really just here to buy things and not do any secret police bad guy stuff. That's...boring, but her smile did return, But it sounds like the mind games are starting now!
"So, Yuri," Papa began, "How have you been?"
Yuri replied, "Oh just paperwork at the moment, but I'm gonna be going on a short business trip to Frigis soon enough. So how about you? You've been treating my sister well?" You better be treating her well.
Huh, so he's Yor's brother? That explains the looks, Anya looked over to Bumblebee tuning out Papa's thoughts in the process, Kinda reminds me a bit of the Ambus brothers. Not to mention Jumpstream and her twin. Too bad she had to be related to Skywarp of all bots.
So giant robots can have brothers and sisters too? Anya wondered, happy at all the cool stuff she was learning.
"Honestly Yuri, sometimes I think you worry too much," Mama got Anya's attention back to the conversation. She saw her mom giggle while Unkie looked defensive.
"Hey, I wouldn't be a good brother if I didn't look out for you, would I?"
No, but you can definitely be overprotective at points, Mama's thoughts sounded tired. Apparently Unkie could get to her too sometimes.
"So, you mentioned something about Frigis? How do you feel about the trip?" Papa asked, Sounds like a potential cover story.
Why is he asking so many questions? Is he trying to probe me for information? Unkie's thoughts made Anya worry for a second, No, cool it Yuri. Can't jump to conclusions. Besides, on the off chance he's actually a spy, I can't let it slip that the trip's a front. Just play the part of the dutiful civil servant. Anya calmed down while her uncle smiled and answered, "A bit nervous, honestly. First time visiting Frigis, so I'm sure it'll be a new experience."
I don't know why, but it feels like there's a lot of tension between Loid and Yor's brother, Bumblebee thought before shrugging it off, Maybe I'm just imagining things. Probably just how humans interact with their in-laws is all.
Nope, just spies and secret police, and it looks like the mind games aren't going anywhere, Anya tugged at Papa's pant leg, "Papa, can we go get groceries now? And can I please bring Mr. Chimera?"
"Sure, just make sure he doesn't get lost," at Papa's answer, Anya went back to Bumblebee and opened the door, picking up Mr. Chimera.
"Huh, I see you got a new car," Yuri commented as Anya closed the door and rejoined her dad.
"Yeah, Loid got it recently," Mama said, standing next to Anya and patting her head, "Anya even gave it a name. Meet Bumblebee."
"I see," Unkie looked at Bumblebee for a bit with an even stare, Why did Loidy buy such a small car? There's barely enough room for two people, let alone a whole family. My sister deserves far better than that.
Bumblebee's awesome the way he is, Unkie. And Mama likes him just fine, Anya couldn't help but glare at him, though she hid it behind Mr. Chimera.
What's with this guy's stare? Feels really judgmental and it's weirding me out, Bumblebee sounded insulted.
"Well, it looks fine enough, but it seems a little...well, a bit too small," Yuri said, "Given that you guys recently got a dog, maybe a larger car would be beneficial? I could help chip in for one if you want."
Aaaaand I officially don't like this guy, Bumblebee fumed.
"Thanks, but we're fine with what we have," Papa answered with his usual smile.
"We honestly haven't had any issues, so we'll stick with Bumblebee," Mama smiled too, and much brighter than Papa.
Anya didn't smile, and instead had the same anger Bumblebee had. Her uncle had no idea what he was talking about. Bumblebee was the bestest car ever! She was gonna tell him that when suddenly, she got an idea. A genius idea that only a master spy like her dad could come up with. And with that idea, her eyes narrowed, and a smug grin overcame her face.
Heh, she ran over to Bumblebee and hugged his side, loudly saying, "Yeah! Mr. Bumblebee's the greatest car of all time! We're never getting a new one because any other car would be stupid! Besides, we love him so much!" she looked back to Mama and Papa, "Right?"
"Of course, Anya," Mama happily answered, It's nice to see how much Anya loves Loid's car. I'm not sure if that's normal for children her age to be this affectionate with motor vehicles, but Loid would say something if it wasn't, right?"
Papa just nodded, but he was also scratching the top of his hat, I mean, it's not like this is the first time she's been favoring to the family car, but this seems a bit more than normal. Maybe she's developing an interest in mechanical engineering from classes at Eden? If that's the case, then- that's when Papa's thoughts got way too fast and confusing for Anya to keep up with.
Uh...thanks, I guess? Bumblebee was confused too, and a bit flattered, Humans are really invested in their vehicles, apparently.
Unkie, however, was getting upset, Does sis really think Loid's car is that impressive? he shook his head, No, she's just going along with what Loid's kid is saying. Kids are weird.
Anya returned to hugging Bumblebee as her smug grin returned, hidden from everyone, and she said, "Mama, I don't think Mr. Bumblebee knows how much we care about him. He needs a hug. Can you help me hug him?"
"Uh, sure!" Mama walked over, Not sure if this is a type of game children play, but I'll play along. Anya seems to be having fun at least, she stood beside Anya and hugged Bumblebee with all her might, "We love you so much, Bumblebee!"
You gotta be kidding me! Yor really thinks this jalopy's that special? Yuri ranted in his head, looking super angry and glaring right at Papa, What's so impressive about it? Is it because Loidy bought it?
Ha! Too easy, Anya smirked, feeling as smart as Papa.
Huh, still feels weird, but it's also kinda nice, being hone-OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW!
Whoops, Anya panicked and heard the metal groan in Mama's grip, realizing this probably wasn't a good idea. She didn't know if she could just let go and tell her mom to stop without Bumblebee realizing something. If she did, then he'd wonder how she knew he was hurting and then run away. She had to think of something fast!
"Okay you two, I think we should head into the store now. Anya said she wanted to get back home in time to watch the new Spy Wars episode, after all," Papa cut in, approaching them, Not to mention Yuri looks like he's about to blow a fuse and a few people passed by staring at us. We'd better get going before we start a scene.
Thanks Papa! "Okay!" Anya let go and reached out to Mama, taking her hand while the other held Mr. Chimera tight.
Argh! Slag that hurt! Bumblebee was still in pain, but it sounded like he was recovering, Okay, I think that confirms the whole "human parents have insane strength" theory.
"It was nice getting to see you Yuri," Mama looked at her brother and grinned, "Well, we better get going. See you later!"
"Yeah, see ya later, sis," Unkie stepped aside, letting them walk ahead to the store. She looked back and saw that Yuri was leaning against Bumblebee, looking really angry.
Okay Bumblebee, let it go. Don't drive off. You gotta maintain cover, remember? she could still hear Bumblebee's thoughts from this far away, Besides, like it or not, he's Yor's brother. It'd be really rude to- then Anya saw her uncle's lips move. She didn't know what he said and couldn't hear him from this far away, but it definitely made Bumblebee mad. Actually, you know what? he snarled, FRAG THIS GUY!
Suddenly, Bumblebee's door slammed open, sending Unkie flying off and landing somewhere out of sight. Mama and Papa looked back at the noise, but saw only heard Unkie shout, "I'm okay!" and start running back to his car. Anya snickered while her parents looked at each other and shrugged. The three of them entered the market and began shopping.
So many different food stuffs to pick out! Anya ran ahead, pointing at all the things she wanted to get. They got some meats for burgers, noodles for soup, sandwich stuff for Papa (even if he didn't really care about sandwiches), some milk, coffee, tea, cookies, fruits, veggies, and a bunch of other things Anya didn't know how to say just yet. Then finally came the time to buy Anya's favorite snack. Picking it out from the shelf, she held it over her head, "Papa! Mama! Look, I found peanuts!"
"I suppose getting them won't hurt. See if you can put it in the cart," Mama picked Anya up to help her, but Papa interrupted.
"Actually, Anya, I don't think that's a good idea," he pointed at the sweets they already had, "We've already bought a lot of sugar as is; cookies, cake ingredients, ice cream, and such. I think were fully stocked as is."
"But Papa! I want peanuts!"
"No Anya, your father's right," Mama agreed, "Honestly, I didn't pay attention to how much we already had."
"Please?" Anya put on her bestest, most adorable pleading face.
"Anya..." he didn't look like he was gonna budge. Mama looked away, knowing she wouldn't be able to say no.
Guess it's time for Anya's secret weapon, Anya took a deep breath and shouted, "I-If I don't get peanuts, I'll stop studying for school!"
"What?" Papa and Mama gasped. "Anya, why would you do that?" Papa asked, a lot of people looking their way.
"Because I want peanuts!"
This is bad, Operation: STRIX is in danger now! Papa relented, "O-Okay, we can buy peanuts, but just this once, okay?"
Anya immediately cheered up, "Okay!"
Papa sighed and let Anya put the box in the cart, When did I become such a pushover? "Alright, looks like we can head home now."
"Yay! TV and Bond, here I come!" Anya let Mama put her down and ran ahead of them. They were at the checkout line in no time. After everyone else bought their stuff, it was Papa's turn. The register person scanned everything and helped bag them all, letting her dad pay and get both change and receipt.
"Have a nice day, BARK!" The register man said.
Bark? Anya looked at the man as they all walked out, realizing what that meant.
Hmm, Papa pocketed the change and stared at the receipt, Looks like a D cipher this time. Seems I'll have to meet with Handler tomorrow morning.
Anya gasped in excitement, knowing what that meant, Papa's got a new mission! This is gonna be so cool!
Well, that was a fairly straightforward mission, Loid re-entered Berlint General's consultation room through the escape route and dressing in his white doctor's coat. The mission parameters were simple; WISE had received word on members of a criminal gang smuggling military grade weapons into Ostania. If those weapons hit the streets, it'd be chaos, and war would certainly follow. With a file on one of their members, he was able to disguise himself and destroy the weapons and subdue the criminals. With that accomplished, he tied up the still living gang members for the authorities and snuck his way back to work, thankfully just in time for the end of the day.
"Still," he sighed, cracking his neck as he slipped into the halls for his office. Straightforward as it was, these things never got any less nerve inducing. The threat of discovery and death was always there, even for a spy with his level of skill. You only had to get unlucky once and that was it. But now there was something more to it; as a husband and father, he had more to lose if he perished on a mission.
Waving to his coworkers, his mind reminded him that they weren't truly his wife and daughter. That he and Yor agreed to their "marriage" for mutually beneficial reasons; to help allow Anya to attend Eden and to put Yuri's mind at ease. Likewise, Anya's attendance of Eden was to achieve her Stellas to bring them closer to Donovan Desmond so as to uncover his machinations, if he had any at all. It was all for the sake of the mission.
At least, that's what he frequently repeated to himself these days, yet bafflingly, with less certainty each time.
"Doctor Forger," his attention was drawn by the monotone, feminine voice just ahead of him. Looking up, he saw the familiar white hair and purple eyes of Agent Nightfall, currently in the guise of Doctor Forger's assistant, Fiona Frost. As she approached him, he noticed that in her hands was a clipboard held with great significance, indicating it was a disguised cipher.
"Ah, Miss Frost," Loid greeted, entering a more civil, polite persona as he exited his earlier musings, "I'm going to be heading out for the day soon. Do you need anything else?" As he spoke, he mouthed a completely different set of words that only his fellow spy could understand, 'Any last-minute orders from Handler?'
Nightfall handed him the clipboard, "Not for me, but the department head would like for you to review these upcoming appointments." 'Our analysts have delivered their reports on the excavated metal from the impact site. Handler forwarded them to us for memorization.'
"I see. Thank you," Loid took the clipboard, Agent Nightfall's hand still held out before she lowered it. "You have a good night, Miss Frost."
"You as well, Doctor Forger," Nightfall said, Loid hearing her footsteps fade into the background as he turned a corner, making his way to the office. When he arrived, he took a seat and began reading the report. While on the surface, it appeared as a list of patients and details pertaining to upcoming appointments, Twilight's eyes could make out the message hidden between the words. Reading the reports, his face dawned a confused frown.
No success in tracing the object's origins yet, but... he raised an eyebrow, Odd, the metals found at the site don't match any known elements? The new detail had his mind scouring for possibilities. Did the perpetrator discover a new element of some kind? If so, was this merely a test run for said element? They had no idea what the intent was, but if it was something sinister, then they had no way of knowing if/when they'd strike again. Before he could ponder any further, the chiming of his wall clock took him out of it, reminding him that he had to be off to pick up Yor and Anya.
Better get going. Don't want to be late, Loid finished reading, committing the reports to memory before disposing of them in such a way that there was no way to trace them. With that done, he hung his doctor's coat and left his office, saying his goodbyes to everyone. He walked across the parking lot and entered his car, Bumblebee as Anya referred to it, before driving out to retrieve his family and head home.
Home, for one reason or another, Loid smiled at that word, and he couldn't explain why.
Like I said, short but sweet chapter. Mostly Anya's POV, but I have the most fun writing for her. Aside from her just being such a fun character in general, her telepathy allows me to convey everyone's thoughts despite them not being the POV character. It's makes for a good work-around for my usual writing style with an in-universe justification, y'know?
Also, BEHOLD! WE HAVE OUR FIRST DISPLAY OF THE ANYA SMUG FACE!
I'd like to think that it's Spy X Family fic law that you must have Anya make the smug face at least once. But she's definitely gonna make it again later on.
From Bumblebee's POV, we have more namedrops for different Cybertronians he's met. First off is the mention of the Ambus brothers, Dominus and Minimus. Both of them originate from the original IDW continuity of comics, with Minimus being that series' version of Ultra Magnus. Now, as Ultra Magnus has already appeared in the side story for this fic, Camien Odyssey, I'll say here that Minimus Ambus and Ultra Magnus are two completely different characters in this continuity.
Jumpstream's also from the original IDW series, but as you can surmise, she's not from Caminus nor a Torchbearer here since Bumblebee knew her back on Cybertron. I decided to have her be twin sister to Skywarp since both are Outliers with the exact same ability: teleportation. Think of them like Dreadwing and Skyquake from Transformers Prime, where they were born from a Split-Spark. This is likely to come up again later on in the side story.
On the subject of Decepticons, for those expecting them to arrive soon, I will say that my plan is for one to arrive around Chapter/Mission 10 of this story, but that's subject to change since nothing's set in stone. So, I can't make any solid promises.
Anyway, we also got our first elongated scene with Yuri, our introduction to Fiona Frost/Nightfall, and a bit of follow-up on Bumblebee's pod. Let me know what you all thought of the chapter if possible.
Next time's definitely gonna be where Bee can see Loid and Yor fight, but it's also the chapter I've been really excited for: Yor learning how to drive.
...Primus have mercy on Bumblebee's Spark. He's gonna need it.
But until then, see you all next time for the Camien Odyssey update. Then after that, I got a new fic to get started on.
Now, as a forewarning, I originally wanted this chapter to have Bumblebee first witness and react to Yor and Loid's fighting skills/superhuman abilities in combat. However, that never made it into the chapter. I do plan for it to happen next chapter, but I wound up finding a good stopping point before I could write that part.
Being honest, it was for the best. No need to force a chapter to be longer than it should be.
That, and if you've been following my previously updated stories (Camien Odyssey and Silver Raven), you'll know that I wrote and uploaded two 15K to 20K word juggernauts of chapters one after another. Frankly, this is also a good return to forum with a shorter, breezier chapter for you all.
Anyway, special thanks and shout-out to Quantum01, @Matrix Dragon, and SwapAUAnon for Beta Reading this chapter.
Mission 6: A Family Shopping Trip
"Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"
"Almost there Anya, just another minute," Papa said, looking back at her through Bumblebee's mirror, Not exactly sure why she's so excited though. It's just a trip to the supermarket.
Yeah! But I wanna make it fast! Anya bounced in her seat, looking outside at the passing buildings and cars. There was a new episode of Spy Wars that was gonna play soon and she didn't want to miss it. Ever since Bond was brought home, she and him always watched new episodes together. If they didn't make it home on time, he'd watch it without her!
"Anything in particular that you want to get, Anya?" Mama asked, smiling back at her.
"Peanuts," Anya answered right away as she hugged her plushie, Mr. Chimera.
What's that? Bumblebee wondered as Papa turned a corner, Is it some kind of Earth provision? I swear, humans have weird names for their food.
That last thought got Anya thinking; did giant robots eat? She learned that they could get drunk, which meant they could drink stuff too. If they could drink, they could eat, but what did giant robots eat? Did they eat scrap metal? Electicity? Or did they eat the kind of stuff normal people would eat like cereal? If they did eat stuff like that, what was Bumblebee's favorite food?
"You know Anya, you need to be careful not to eat too many peanuts," Mama warned, "If you do, you could get sick."
"She's right, Anya," Papa added, looking serious, "It's important to avoid eating too much of anything."
Anya sighed, both her parents sounding like those classes at school about eating vegetables and fruits and stuff. "Maybe peanuts shouldn't taste so good then," Anya muttered before a thought popped into her head and she asked, "Hey Papa, Mama, what's your favorite food?"
"Hmm?" Papa looked back for a bit, "Uh, why do you ask?" Anya shrugged, leading to Papa focusing on the road and thinking really hard, Let's see...
Mama, meanwhile, said, "Well, you remember the stew I cooked for you and Loid?" she smiled, "That's always been my favorite food, ever since my mother cooked it for me and Yuri growing up."
Anya smiled back, remembering how happy was when Mama made that for everyone. Thankfully, it was actually really good, unlike Mama's other attempts at cooking. Still don't know if assassins are terrible at cooking or if it's just Mama, Anya thought before looking to Bumblebee's radio. Seeing that Papa was still super deep in thought, she focused on Bumblebee to see what he was thinking.
Huh, speaking of favorite foods, I miss Chrome-alloy pie. Used to eat it when I could afford it before the war. After that it was mostly just Energon rations, Bumblebee thought, sounding like he really missed it. All it did was make Anya frown at the dead end. Part of why Anya asked was because she'd hoped maybe she could find some food for Bumblebee. She didn't know if he could eat anything besides Energon, whatever that was, and wanted to help. But it sounded like robot food wasn't really something she could get here. Didn't sound like anything she could convince Papa and Mama to get either.
Should probably check back with Papa, Anya looked over to her dad and started reading his mind, a bump in the road making the car jump as they turned a corner.
Hmm, it sounded like Papa was still thinking, I know there was something. But what?
Anya saw a few images flash through his head; a tall blonde woman making food, but it was all fuzzy. Like Papa couldn't remember these things very well. Is that- Anya blinked, Is that my grandma? and without thinking, asked, "Papa-"
"Huh?" Papa snapped out of it said, "Oh! Uh, sandwiches! That's my favorite food."
"..." Anya blinked, Papa's so bad at lying. Still, she was glad for the answer, mostly because she was pretty sure she was about to accidentally say something revealing. Instead, she clapped her hands and asked, "Can we have some later?"
"Certainly," Papa answered, but his thoughts sounded a bit sad, Almost wish I did have an actual favorite food though. Then again, after all those tasteless rations... more images filled his mind, this time of a younger him and a bunch of army guys sitting in a dingy room eating bland looking food. They all looked really miserable, and then Papa shook his head, ending the thoughts, Forget it Twilight, those days are over. All you can do is focus on the present and assure that it will never come again.
Papa really doesn't want to eat bland food anymore, huh? Anya thought, Maybe that's why he makes sure to cook everything super good?
So, do humans eat witches made out of sand? That sounds very concerning, Bumblebee thought, making Anya snicker a bit. Papa just raised an eyebrow and looked like he was gonna ask a question, but Mama beat him to the punch.
"Hey, Loid?" Mama asked, "Think I could give cooking the sandwiches a try later?" I've been practicing a lot since Camilla helped me cook the stew. This would help see if I've improved.
Anya felt a chill run up her spine, and Papa looked freaked out. Bumblebee, on the other hand...
Why did the atmosphere suddenly fill with this sense of dread? he wondered as Papa drove him into the parking lot of the market.
"I uh, think it'd be best if you let me do it, Yor," Papa's voice sounded just a bit scared, not that Anya blamed him. Mama looked sad that she wouldn't be able to cook, which Papa picked up on, "I'm sure you've been improving a lot since then, but it's been a while since I made my favorite type of sandwich, and I'd like to make them for the family." And hopefully prevent all of us from dying of food poisoning.
Thankfully, that cheered Mama up and she nodded, "Okay then, but think you could show me how you'd like them? I want to be able to make them for you and Anya."
"S-Sure. Maybe next week?" Papa kept a straight face despite how scared his thoughts were, all while Anya flatly stared as he parked Bumblebee. He only bought them another week before death came for them all. Taking her mind off that, she looked out the window and stared at the market.
"It's too bad Bond couldn't come with us."
"Well, this market has a strict 'No Pets' policy," Papa got out and said, "So I'm afraid it was out of our hands."
Mama got out next, "It was nice of Frankie to take care of him for us while we were out though."
Wonder how Bond and Uncle Scruffie are doing, Anya wondered as she hopped out.
"Okay, I'm at the edge of my rope," Frankie muttered as he laid his head on the table, "I can't believe I'm gonna do this," snapping it upward, he asked, "How do I get a girlfriend?"
Sitting across from him was the Forger's dog, Bond, staring at him with either indifference or. Honestly, his expression was hard to read. After what felt like a solid minute, the whole thing turned into a staring contest, Frankie awaiting some form of an answer until finally...
"Borf!"
"...that...sounds..." Frankie rose and pumped his fist into the air, "That's genius!"
"Borf!"
Eh, probably something boring, Anya shrugged, Mama calling her name as she took her hand. They started walking together, but someone called Mama's name, making them all stop.
"Yor?"
Anya coughed, I think I have heartburn, before realizing just who it was. All three of them looked and saw the man in question, leaving Anya to grumble, "Oh, it's Unkie."
Thankfully, she wasn't heard, with Mama running over to hug Unkie Yuri, who was apparently in the middle of putting groceries in the trunk of his car. During the hug, Unkie dropped the brown bag he carried, messing up the groceries as he turned a shade of blue from Mama's strength. She was quick to put him down and apologize, with Yuri laughing it off.
Think I saw this guy enter the Forger's building once, but then he left vomiting. Who is he? Bumblebee wondered, Anya thankfully feeling the heartburn pass in the process.
"Anya," Papa knelt down, "I heard you earlier, and it really isn't nice to say things like that about family members."
All Anya could do was sigh, "Okay papa. Sorry."
"I know he can be...well, a lot, but he's still Yor's brother," Papa said, gently patting Anya's shoulder, "It's important that we put up with him for her sake." Not to mention that gleaming SSS intel from him would be beneficial to Operation: STRIX, though I haven't been able to gather much, Papa stood up as Mama and Unkie approached, And sometimes I wonder if it's even worth it in the end.
"Hello Anya," Unkie greeted in a happy voice, though it sounded forced. He looked at Papa and held out a hand, sounding a bit more even, "Loidy."
As Papa forced a smile and shook Unkie's hand, he thought, Still, it's rather concerning to run into one of the State Security Service in civilian guise like this. Does he suspect anything? Perhaps it's just a coincidence, but it feels too convenient.
Spy vs. Secret Police mind games! Anya gasped in excitement and started reading Unkie's mind to see where he was in the brain war.
Gah! Great, just had to run into Loidy and Chihuahua girl while I was doing groceries, Yuri's smile became a bit more strained, Well it's not all bad. Least I got to run into big sis, and who knows? Maybe I can gleam something off Loidy to prove he's a spy!
Anya's smile left her, Oh, so he's really just here to buy things and not do any secret police bad guy stuff. That's...boring, but her smile did return, But it sounds like the mind games are starting now!
"So, Yuri," Papa began, "How have you been?"
Yuri replied, "Oh just paperwork at the moment, but I'm gonna be going on a short business trip to Frigis soon enough. So how about you? You've been treating my sister well?" You better be treating her well.
Huh, so he's Yor's brother? That explains the looks, Anya looked over to Bumblebee tuning out Papa's thoughts in the process, Kinda reminds me a bit of the Ambus brothers. Not to mention Jumpstream and her twin. Too bad she had to be related to Skywarp of all bots.
So giant robots can have brothers and sisters too? Anya wondered, happy at all the cool stuff she was learning.
"Honestly Yuri, sometimes I think you worry too much," Mama got Anya's attention back to the conversation. She saw her mom giggle while Unkie looked defensive.
"Hey, I wouldn't be a good brother if I didn't look out for you, would I?"
No, but you can definitely be overprotective at points, Mama's thoughts sounded tired. Apparently Unkie could get to her too sometimes.
"So, you mentioned something about Frigis? How do you feel about the trip?" Papa asked, Sounds like a potential cover story.
Why is he asking so many questions? Is he trying to probe me for information? Unkie's thoughts made Anya worry for a second, No, cool it Yuri. Can't jump to conclusions. Besides, on the off chance he's actually a spy, I can't let it slip that the trip's a front. Just play the part of the dutiful civil servant. Anya calmed down while her uncle smiled and answered, "A bit nervous, honestly. First time visiting Frigis, so I'm sure it'll be a new experience."
I don't know why, but it feels like there's a lot of tension between Loid and Yor's brother, Bumblebee thought before shrugging it off, Maybe I'm just imagining things. Probably just how humans interact with their in-laws is all.
Nope, just spies and secret police, and it looks like the mind games aren't going anywhere, Anya tugged at Papa's pant leg, "Papa, can we go get groceries now? And can I please bring Mr. Chimera?"
"Sure, just make sure he doesn't get lost," at Papa's answer, Anya went back to Bumblebee and opened the door, picking up Mr. Chimera.
"Huh, I see you got a new car," Yuri commented as Anya closed the door and rejoined her dad.
"Yeah, Loid got it recently," Mama said, standing next to Anya and patting her head, "Anya even gave it a name. Meet Bumblebee."
"I see," Unkie looked at Bumblebee for a bit with an even stare, Why did Loidy buy such a small car? There's barely enough room for two people, let alone a whole family. My sister deserves far better than that.
Bumblebee's awesome the way he is, Unkie. And Mama likes him just fine, Anya couldn't help but glare at him, though she hid it behind Mr. Chimera.
What's with this guy's stare? Feels really judgmental and it's weirding me out, Bumblebee sounded insulted.
"Well, it looks fine enough, but it seems a little...well, a bit too small," Yuri said, "Given that you guys recently got a dog, maybe a larger car would be beneficial? I could help chip in for one if you want."
Aaaaand I officially don't like this guy, Bumblebee fumed.
"Thanks, but we're fine with what we have," Papa answered with his usual smile.
"We honestly haven't had any issues, so we'll stick with Bumblebee," Mama smiled too, and much brighter than Papa.
Anya didn't smile, and instead had the same anger Bumblebee had. Her uncle had no idea what he was talking about. Bumblebee was the bestest car ever! She was gonna tell him that when suddenly, she got an idea. A genius idea that only a master spy like her dad could come up with. And with that idea, her eyes narrowed, and a smug grin overcame her face.
Heh, she ran over to Bumblebee and hugged his side, loudly saying, "Yeah! Mr. Bumblebee's the greatest car of all time! We're never getting a new one because any other car would be stupid! Besides, we love him so much!" she looked back to Mama and Papa, "Right?"
"Of course, Anya," Mama happily answered, It's nice to see how much Anya loves Loid's car. I'm not sure if that's normal for children her age to be this affectionate with motor vehicles, but Loid would say something if it wasn't, right?"
Papa just nodded, but he was also scratching the top of his hat, I mean, it's not like this is the first time she's been favoring to the family car, but this seems a bit more than normal. Maybe she's developing an interest in mechanical engineering from classes at Eden? If that's the case, then- that's when Papa's thoughts got way too fast and confusing for Anya to keep up with.
Uh...thanks, I guess? Bumblebee was confused too, and a bit flattered, Humans are really invested in their vehicles, apparently.
Unkie, however, was getting upset, Does sis really think Loid's car is that impressive? he shook his head, No, she's just going along with what Loid's kid is saying. Kids are weird.
Anya returned to hugging Bumblebee as her smug grin returned, hidden from everyone, and she said, "Mama, I don't think Mr. Bumblebee knows how much we care about him. He needs a hug. Can you help me hug him?"
"Uh, sure!" Mama walked over, Not sure if this is a type of game children play, but I'll play along. Anya seems to be having fun at least, she stood beside Anya and hugged Bumblebee with all her might, "We love you so much, Bumblebee!"
You gotta be kidding me! Yor really thinks this jalopy's that special? Yuri ranted in his head, looking super angry and glaring right at Papa, What's so impressive about it? Is it because Loidy bought it?
Ha! Too easy, Anya smirked, feeling as smart as Papa.
Huh, still feels weird, but it's also kinda nice, being hone-OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW!
Whoops, Anya panicked and heard the metal groan in Mama's grip, realizing this probably wasn't a good idea. She didn't know if she could just let go and tell her mom to stop without Bumblebee realizing something. If she did, then he'd wonder how she knew he was hurting and then run away. She had to think of something fast!
"Okay you two, I think we should head into the store now. Anya said she wanted to get back home in time to watch the new Spy Wars episode, after all," Papa cut in, approaching them, Not to mention Yuri looks like he's about to blow a fuse and a few people passed by staring at us. We'd better get going before we start a scene.
Thanks Papa! "Okay!" Anya let go and reached out to Mama, taking her hand while the other held Mr. Chimera tight.
Argh! Slag that hurt! Bumblebee was still in pain, but it sounded like he was recovering, Okay, I think that confirms the whole "human parents have insane strength" theory.
"It was nice getting to see you Yuri," Mama looked at her brother and grinned, "Well, we better get going. See you later!"
"Yeah, see ya later, sis," Unkie stepped aside, letting them walk ahead to the store. She looked back and saw that Yuri was leaning against Bumblebee, looking really angry.
Okay Bumblebee, let it go. Don't drive off. You gotta maintain cover, remember? she could still hear Bumblebee's thoughts from this far away, Besides, like it or not, he's Yor's brother. It'd be really rude to- then Anya saw her uncle's lips move. She didn't know what he said and couldn't hear him from this far away, but it definitely made Bumblebee mad. Actually, you know what? he snarled, FRAG THIS GUY!
Suddenly, Bumblebee's door slammed open, sending Unkie flying off and landing somewhere out of sight. Mama and Papa looked back at the noise, but saw only heard Unkie shout, "I'm okay!" and start running back to his car. Anya snickered while her parents looked at each other and shrugged. The three of them entered the market and began shopping.
So many different food stuffs to pick out! Anya ran ahead, pointing at all the things she wanted to get. They got some meats for burgers, noodles for soup, sandwich stuff for Papa (even if he didn't really care about sandwiches), some milk, coffee, tea, cookies, fruits, veggies, and a bunch of other things Anya didn't know how to say just yet. Then finally came the time to buy Anya's favorite snack. Picking it out from the shelf, she held it over her head, "Papa! Mama! Look, I found peanuts!"
"I suppose getting them won't hurt. See if you can put it in the cart," Mama picked Anya up to help her, but Papa interrupted.
"Actually, Anya, I don't think that's a good idea," he pointed at the sweets they already had, "We've already bought a lot of sugar as is; cookies, cake ingredients, ice cream, and such. I think were fully stocked as is."
"But Papa! I want peanuts!"
"No Anya, your father's right," Mama agreed, "Honestly, I didn't pay attention to how much we already had."
"Please?" Anya put on her bestest, most adorable pleading face.
"Anya..." he didn't look like he was gonna budge. Mama looked away, knowing she wouldn't be able to say no.
Guess it's time for Anya's secret weapon, Anya took a deep breath and shouted, "I-If I don't get peanuts, I'll stop studying for school!"
"What?" Papa and Mama gasped. "Anya, why would you do that?" Papa asked, a lot of people looking their way.
"Because I want peanuts!"
This is bad, Operation: STRIX is in danger now! Papa relented, "O-Okay, we can buy peanuts, but just this once, okay?"
Anya immediately cheered up, "Okay!"
Papa sighed and let Anya put the box in the cart, When did I become such a pushover? "Alright, looks like we can head home now."
"Yay! TV and Bond, here I come!" Anya let Mama put her down and ran ahead of them. They were at the checkout line in no time. After everyone else bought their stuff, it was Papa's turn. The register person scanned everything and helped bag them all, letting her dad pay and get both change and receipt.
"Have a nice day, BARK!" The register man said.
Bark? Anya looked at the man as they all walked out, realizing what that meant.
Hmm, Papa pocketed the change and stared at the receipt, Looks like a D cipher this time. Seems I'll have to meet with Handler tomorrow morning.
Anya gasped in excitement, knowing what that meant, Papa's got a new mission! This is gonna be so cool!
Well, that was a fairly straightforward mission, Loid re-entered Berlint General's consultation room through the escape route and dressing in his white doctor's coat. The mission parameters were simple; WISE had received word on members of a criminal gang smuggling military grade weapons into Ostania. If those weapons hit the streets, it'd be chaos, and war would certainly follow. With a file on one of their members, he was able to disguise himself and destroy the weapons and subdue the criminals. With that accomplished, he tied up the still living gang members for the authorities and snuck his way back to work, thankfully just in time for the end of the day.
"Still," he sighed, cracking his neck as he slipped into the halls for his office. Straightforward as it was, these things never got any less nerve inducing. The threat of discovery and death was always there, even for a spy with his level of skill. You only had to get unlucky once and that was it. But now there was something more to it; as a husband and father, he had more to lose if he perished on a mission.
Waving to his coworkers, his mind reminded him that they weren't truly his wife and daughter. That he and Yor agreed to their "marriage" for mutually beneficial reasons; to help allow Anya to attend Eden and to put Yuri's mind at ease. Likewise, Anya's attendance of Eden was to achieve her Stellas to bring them closer to Donovan Desmond so as to uncover his machinations, if he had any at all. It was all for the sake of the mission.
At least, that's what he frequently repeated to himself these days, yet bafflingly, with less certainty each time.
"Doctor Forger," his attention was drawn by the monotone, feminine voice just ahead of him. Looking up, he saw the familiar white hair and purple eyes of Agent Nightfall, currently in the guise of Doctor Forger's assistant, Fiona Frost. As she approached him, he noticed that in her hands was a clipboard held with great significance, indicating it was a disguised cipher.
"Ah, Miss Frost," Loid greeted, entering a more civil, polite persona as he exited his earlier musings, "I'm going to be heading out for the day soon. Do you need anything else?" As he spoke, he mouthed a completely different set of words that only his fellow spy could understand, 'Any last-minute orders from Handler?'
Nightfall handed him the clipboard, "Not for me, but the department head would like for you to review these upcoming appointments." 'Our analysts have delivered their reports on the excavated metal from the impact site. Handler forwarded them to us for memorization.'
"I see. Thank you," Loid took the clipboard, Agent Nightfall's hand still held out before she lowered it. "You have a good night, Miss Frost."
"You as well, Doctor Forger," Nightfall said, Loid hearing her footsteps fade into the background as he turned a corner, making his way to the office. When he arrived, he took a seat and began reading the report. While on the surface, it appeared as a list of patients and details pertaining to upcoming appointments, Twilight's eyes could make out the message hidden between the words. Reading the reports, his face dawned a confused frown.
No success in tracing the object's origins yet, but... he raised an eyebrow, Odd, the metals found at the site don't match any known elements? The new detail had his mind scouring for possibilities. Did the perpetrator discover a new element of some kind? If so, was this merely a test run for said element? They had no idea what the intent was, but if it was something sinister, then they had no way of knowing if/when they'd strike again. Before he could ponder any further, the chiming of his wall clock took him out of it, reminding him that he had to be off to pick up Yor and Anya.
Better get going. Don't want to be late, Loid finished reading, committing the reports to memory before disposing of them in such a way that there was no way to trace them. With that done, he hung his doctor's coat and left his office, saying his goodbyes to everyone. He walked across the parking lot and entered his car, Bumblebee as Anya referred to it, before driving out to retrieve his family and head home.
Home, for one reason or another, Loid smiled at that word, and he couldn't explain why.
Like I said, short but sweet chapter. Mostly Anya's POV, but I have the most fun writing for her. Aside from her just being such a fun character in general, her telepathy allows me to convey everyone's thoughts despite them not being the POV character. It's makes for a good work-around for my usual writing style with an in-universe justification, y'know?
Also, BEHOLD! WE HAVE OUR FIRST DISPLAY OF THE ANYA SMUG FACE!
I'd like to think that it's Spy X Family fic law that you must have Anya make the smug face at least once. But she's definitely gonna make it again later on.
From Bumblebee's POV, we have more namedrops for different Cybertronians he's met. First off is the mention of the Ambus brothers, Dominus and Minimus. Both of them originate from the original IDW continuity of comics, with Minimus being that series' version of Ultra Magnus. Now, as Ultra Magnus has already appeared in the side story for this fic, Camien Odyssey, I'll say here that Minimus Ambus and Ultra Magnus are two completely different characters in this continuity.
Jumpstream's also from the original IDW series, but as you can surmise, she's not from Caminus nor a Torchbearer here since Bumblebee knew her back on Cybertron. I decided to have her be twin sister to Skywarp since both are Outliers with the exact same ability: teleportation. Think of them like Dreadwing and Skyquake from Transformers Prime, where they were born from a Split-Spark. This is likely to come up again later on in the side story.
On the subject of Decepticons, for those expecting them to arrive soon, I will say that my plan is for one to arrive around Chapter/Mission 10 of this story, but that's subject to change since nothing's set in stone. So, I can't make any solid promises.
Anyway, we also got our first elongated scene with Yuri, our introduction to Fiona Frost/Nightfall, and a bit of follow-up on Bumblebee's pod. Let me know what you all thought of the chapter if possible.
Next time's definitely gonna be where Bee can see Loid and Yor fight, but it's also the chapter I've been really excited for: Yor learning how to drive.
...Primus have mercy on Bumblebee's Spark. He's gonna need it.
But until then, see you all next time for the Camien Odyssey update. Then after that, I got a new fic to get started on.
Camien Odyssey: Chapter 3: So Many Questions, So Little Time
And I'm back with this story! Sorry for the long wait, but at the very least this isn't a 20K word juggernaut.
Now, I just want to warn everyone ahead of time, the first half of this chapter's kinda gruesome. It involves the DJD's torture of a bot, and if you're familiar with their torture methods in IDW comics...yeah, you've been warned.
Special thanks to SwapAUAnon and @Matrix Dragon for Beta Reading this chapter.
Chapter 3: So Many Questions, So Little Time
Pain. Blip's entire world was pain.
What little strength he had left was coming to the forefront, forcing his body to slowly awaken as he struggled to recollect what happened. He recalled the Autobot holding him at gunpoint, he recalled Elita-1 letting him loose, and he recalled driving away as fast as his wheels would allow him. But after that, what happened? Why was he...
O-Oh...I remember now.
The DJD had found him. They'd surrounded him, Tarn placing a hand to his shoulder and whispering in his audio receptors a multitude of questions, none of which he could recollect. What he could recall was that all of them sounded rhetorical, as if no answer he could give would matter. Not that he could've answered since he was too scared to do so. Then came the torment that had engulfed the next several Mega-Cycles of his life.
More memories came pouring in; an acid chamber melting his armor, only to be pulled out and thrown into a shredder that stripped him of his legs. He then remembered...something being drilled into his face, followed by several shocks that sent him into unconsciousness. After that, nothing.
Please let that be the end of it, Blip could feel tears flow down his face, Why? Why didn't they just kill me?
But as his consciousness slowly returned, he heard the music; the Empyrean Suite from the sound of things. The very same that had been playing as they mutilated him. Confusingly, it felt as though there was something in his mouth, like they'd given him a gag of some kind, and a wet, sticky one at that. To top it off, there was a strange pain in his head, divorced from what enveloped the rest of his body.
"Tarn," a disturbingly familiar voice cut off his thoughts, "Looks like he's coming to."
"Good. Perhaps he'll be in a more responsive mood now."
Blip's optics opened, everything a blur as he stared towards a sheet of pure grey. Blinking, his vision came into focus and he saw that he was staring at the asteroid's surface. He could see shadows looming, followed by a rabid snarl just in front of him. Despite the terror, he found himself looking upward, coming face-to-face with a growling Turbofox. It glared at him with crimson optics, one of which was highly damaged, before the familiar voice called, "Down boy! Don't eat his Spark chamber just yet."
The turbofox obeyed, returning to its master as Blip looked up and saw them: the Decepticon Justice Division.
The largest, Helex, glared down at him with one set of arms to his hips while the smaller set was crossed around the acid chamber embedded in his chest. The second largest, Tesarus, had a more bored appearance, staring with indifference. At least, Blip assumed, since the large X on his face made it hard to tell if he had optics. But then Blip's own optics trailed down to the shredder in the hulking behemoth's chest, and he shivered, remembering that those blades tore his legs apart.
In front of the two was the scrawnier form of Vos, whose optics looked at Blip with maniacal glee as he rubbed his servos together. The holes in Blip's face ached the more he looked at him, and he remembered what happened, and what Vos had done to him. He was almost thankful for the bark that distracted him, turning his attention to just behind Helex, where the crimson bot known as Kaon sat. Unlike the others, he wasn't looking at him (not that he could, given his lack of optics) and instead focused on the pet turbofox, whom he was affectionately doting on. The generator in his chest, coupled with the large coils on his shoulders, brought forth reminders of the electrocutions he'd been subjected to.
Blip wanted to speak. He wanted to ask why him? Why were they doing this? But a massive servo patted his shoulder, and the music ceased. Then the weight on his shoulder left, and out from behind him walked the tall, purple figure of Tarn; the mask that was the Decepticon emblem adorning his face. For a moment, he and the others just looked down and stared at him, as if waiting for something. But terror and the gag held Blip's tongue. They just kept staring at him until finally...
"Looks like he's not going to chew on it," Tarn said, sounding both impressed and disappointed at the same time, leaving Blip to wonder what he meant by that. He turned to Helex and said, "Would you kindly put it back? I think he's ready to start answering our questions."
"Fiiine," Helex whined, walking up to Blip, who shuddered as he neared. The bot's dark blue armor shown as he knelt down and reached into Blip's mouth, pulling out-
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Blip screamed, seeing what the gag truly was. What Helex has pulled out of his mouth was, in actuality, his own processor, wires still connecting the sphere to his head's internal circuitry, all of which bled a glowing blue. Tesarus looked like he was groaning, his mouth moving, but whatever he said was drowned out by Blip's screams. Before his voicebox could give out, Blip found his mouth sealed by Helex's finger, who carefully placed the processor back in his head. He didn't bother reattaching the helm, leaving the internals of Blip's head sticking out.
Once that was done, Helex stepped back, letting Tarn kneel down and meet Blip optic-to-optic, "Well, now that you've found your voice, let's see if you can answer some important questions."
"I-I-I-" Blip could only stutter in fear, not knowing if the next nano-klick would be his last. He heard Vos say something in Old Cybertronian, with Tarn turning to face his fellow DJD member.
"Now now, Vos," he chastised, "Blip here may be our prisoner, but there's no need to make such...derogatory comments about his intelligence." Vos shrugged while Tesarus held out a servo, which the smaller bot hi-fived while saying something else, as if they were really enjoying insulting him. Tarn shook his head and returned his attention to Blip and grabbing his chin, "Apologies for my companion's lack of tact. Though I will admit, it's a very accurate assessment of you."
"W-What?"
"Regardless, I think it best we make this quick. So please, do give me a straight answer," Tarn leaned forward, his optics glowing with outright malice, "The Autobots flew away with the traitor, Jetfire. Did they say anything that may indicate their next destination?"
I...huh? Blip didn't answer, but this time from confusion. He'd admit to not being the smartest, but the DJD weren't making sense with how they were operating. He knew they were torturers, but they just got started on subjecting him to it rather than ask these important questions first. What if he died during the torture? What if he actually did chew on his own processor like they were expecting him to? At best, his mind would be scrambled and whatever he said next would just be utter gibberish. These guys are insane!
Drawing him out of his confusion was Tarn's sigh of disappointment, "It seems you need some encouragement," he stood up and turned to Vos, "He's all yours."
Blip whimpered as Vos walked towards him, "W-Wait-"
The DJD member said something, just as impossible to understand as before, and reached for his mask.
"Please don't-"
Vos removed it, along with the rest of his face as he knelt down.
"I-I'll talk! I'll remember! Please, just not again!"
He turned the underside to Blip, revealing all the familiar drills, claws, and spikes beneath. As phantom pains etched the holes in Blip's sobbing face, he could almost imagine the sadistic smile the DJD member had. At least, if the cruel smirks on the rest of the DJD were any indication.
"Wear. My. FAAAAACE!" Vos whispered, grabbing the back of Blip's head and slowly pulling him to the drills. Blip tried to fight back, to keep away from them, but he couldn't manage it. Just as the drills neared, he suddenly remembered something that the Autobots had said before they let him go.
"W-Wait! CAMINUS!" Blip screamed as the drills stopped, "They're going to Caminus!"
Everyone stood silent for a few nano-kliks before Vos reattached his face and the DJD grouped together, unaware or uncaring that Blip could hear it all.
"So, they're heading for Lord Megatron's newest conquest," Kaon pondered, "But why?"
"Does it matter?" Tarn questioned.
Tesarus grunted, "Not to me. Just wanna kill something."
"Same here," said Helex, Vos adding his own two Shanix in, though like before, Blip couldn't understand any of it.
"Agreed," Tarn looked to Kaon, "Contact the Peaceful Tyranny and tell Nickel to make a call for the nearest Space Bridge. Considering how far off Caminus is from this sector, odds are the Autobots will try to hijack one to reach it. We'll intercept them there and give the traitor what he deserves," they broke the huddle and turned towards Blip, "But for now, why don't we take care of this traitor?"
"B-But I didn't betray anyone!"
"Oh Blip, you really shouldn't tell lies," Tarn lowly said, causing Blip to vomit for a spell as the Empyrean Suite played once more.
"I-"
Tarn knelt beside him and patted his shoulder, "See, here's the thing. In this skirmish with the Autobots, you're the only survivor of the prison ship's crew, and you just so happen to know where they went," he whispered angrily into his audio receptor, "That tells me you either gave them important information in exchange for your life, or you ran away from the fight, possibly with intentions to abandon the cause as well. Now, I want you to understand-"
Blip puked again, feeling like his Spark was about to burst as the speech became drowned out by his own thoughts. He couldn't even deny it. Tarn's words summed up what happened, even if biased and filtered to serve the monster's twisted worldview. It looked like he was finally dead, not at the hands of an Autobot, nor would he die old and at peace on some far-off planet like he wanted. No, he was going to die a traitor's death, at the hands of the cruelest Decepticons imaginable. The very thought made him sick.
But as bile and tears leaked from his face, he looked up and glared at all of them, a burst of defiance coursing through him one last time. He was a dead bot, but if this was it, then he'd die on his own terms. He'd die as himself, which was more than could be said for any of them.
"-so take to heart, little Blip, that you'll serve the Decepticon Empire better in death than you ever did in life. You'll become a shining example of what becomes of traitors to the cause. And when word reaches out of your gruesome demise, any who dare to think about leaving will need only-"
"SHUT UP!" Blip's servos found enough strength to latch onto Tarn's mask in an effort to tear it off. The taller bot stood and shouted in shock, grabbing Blip and throwing him to the ground. The smaller bot managed to lift himself from the ground and looked up, seeing the shocked and horrified expressions of the DJD, all while their Turbofox hid behind Kaon, who shielded it. But Tarn...
"You..." Tarn snapped, readjusting his mask to make sure it stayed on, "You traitorous coward. How dare yo-
"Oh frag off with the theatrics!" Blip shouted, lurching over, "You call me a coward, but I'm not the one hiding behind a mask. I'm not the one playing pretend!" He forced himself to turn his head upward despite the pain and glared at Tarn, "All this talk, this pretense, you're just playing at being some principled warrior. But all you do is hide. You and the rest of this lot. You act like you're a sophisticated enforcer, but I see you for what you really are: an empty, pathetic shell who's nothing without that Primus damned symbol on your face!" leveling one final glare, "You want to know what I think you are without it, Tarn? You're just like me. A pathetic little nobody that the universe couldn't give less of a scrap about!"
Blip heaved, having expended everything on his rant. All he could do now was continue to glare, waiting for the inevitable. Tarn, for his part, didn't move nor speak, his mask hiding his expression. But his optics glowed with pure, undisguised malice, the rest of the DJD backing away a bit. They knew what would happen next, as did Blip, but nothing happened for what felt like several cycles.
Then the music stopped.
Tarn wordlessly grabbed Blip by the throat and slammed him into the ground, surprisingly not knocking his processor out in the process. The DJD leader then slammed a fist into Blip, then another, and another, and another. Having long since been overwhelmed by pain, Blip felt almost nothing as Tarn subjected him to a savage beatdown. As Tarn punched a hole through his chest, Blip coughed up a glop of Energon, but then smiled. He now felt only satisfaction as the masked bot ruthlessly tore out his Spark chamber.
At last, Blip's optics began to fade, the last vestige of life abandoning him, The nightmare...is...over...
Windblade gasped and shot up, clutching at her still aching head, "That was-" she snapped her optics closed, images flashing from her dream. It started out pleasant, but then came the Decepticons to shatter that peace. Once more, she watched as Caminus was brought to ruin, only this time, she saw Chromia pinned down by the Decepticons. Windblade was forced to watch as they tore her apart limb from limb, then they turned to her and did the same, leaving her a lifeless husk. Another corpse atop the pile they'd built.
Don't. Just don't, she told herself and stood up, walking out of her new room to wander the halls of the Alpha-5. Windblade stretched, no longer feeling the pain from before. After Fixit was awakened, he started by getting to work on repairing Windblade, and after the fact asked for peace of mind to focus on patching up the still comatose Jetfire. Never did get to thank him for that, she turned a corner, remembering her way to the med bay of the ship, and saw an open room with the lights on just ahead. Blades and grunts could be heard from within it.
Curious, she peered into the room and saw Prowl, who threw his bladed disks at the holo-matter avatars that surrounded him. Said avatars fought back as the disks flew around the room in a circle, slashing them all apart one-by-one before returning to their owner. His posture relaxed and he took notice of Windblade as she entered the room. "Uh, hi," she awkwardly began, "Sorry to interrupt."
"Windblade," Prowl greeted before returning to training, "What do you want?"
"Nothing, just heard something was all."
"I see. Carry on then," Prowl slashed up one of the avatars before dodging another and spin-kicking it into oblivion.
"So, uh, any chance you've seen Jetfire around?" Windblade asked, "I'm hoping he's recovered by now."
"He's still in the med bay."
I figured, but it didn't hurt to ask, Windblade looked around the room, seeing a small, organic plant on a desk in the corner. From its appearance, the vegetation was well taken care of. Next to the plant, however, was a holo-image of Prowl and another bot at his left. Walking up to the desk, she picked up the projector and took a closer look at the bot, noting the black plating around the legs, shoulders, and helm while the metal around his torso was a pristine white. Despite the fact that his optics were hidden behind a pair of blue shades, his posture and smile radiated this easy-going nature. Even Prowl seemed pretty happy in the image, making Windblade smile.
However, as she looked at the image, she noticed that it seemed cropped; the area around Prowl's right cut off. Staring closer, she saw what looked like the barest hints of a green and black servo. Placing the projector down, she looked back at Prowl, who was delivering a palm-strike to an avatar's head, and asked, "Prowl, who are these two bots?"
"Pause," Prowl said without missing a beat, freezing the holo-avatars in place. He turned to Windblade, a neutral expression on his face, but the annoyance in his optics was evident. "Windblade," he said, crossing his arms, "I don't rummage through your personal life. So kindly give me the same courtesy."
"R-Right, sorry," Windblade sheepishly answered and started out of the room, worried she upset her new...friend? Acquaintance? She hadn't known him long enough to be sure. Not helped by his overall cold, aloof demeanor.
"Windblade," Prowl stopped her before she could turn the corner out the door, "If Jetfire's awake, tell him I'm glad he's alright."
...okay, maybe he's not that cold and aloof, Windblade smiled and replied, "I will. Have fun with your practice."
She stayed long enough to watch him nod and turn back to the constructs. "Resume program," she heard him say as she continued down the hall. The sounds of blades and punches faded into the background as she navigated the path to the med bay. Along the way, she passed by a number of rooms, likely for storage purposes, but found herself slowing down as she heard loud music down a hallway to her right.
"Huh, what's that?" Windblade wondered aloud as she turned, detouring from her path to see what it was. Despite the music being muffled by walls and a door, it was still so loud it started to give her a headache. Part of her almost didn't want to open the door for fear of bursting her audio receptors. Well, too curious to stop now. Besides, it can't be that bad, right? Windblade mused as she tapped a button on the door's panel and opened it.
"-COLD SLITHER! YOU'LL BE JOINING US SOON!"
"ARGH!" Windblade covered her audio receptors, I take it back! This is so much worse than I thought it'd be! Opening her optics, she looked into the room and saw Wheeljack sitting at a desk, his back turned to her as he bopped his head to the needlessly loud track. Based on the sparks flying in front of him, it looked like he was building something. Walking in, she winced in pain as she removed a servo from her right audio receptor and tapped Wheeljack on the shoulder. He turned to her, letting her shout, "COULD YOU PLEASE TURN IT DOWN!?"
Confusion etched on his face, he lowered the volume and asked, "Hey Windy. What's up?"
"Ugh, do you really have to listen to music so loud?"
"Yup," he smirked, "I only have two rules for my kind of music: loud and obnoxious."
"Okay, but could you at least tone it down just a bit? Felt like my audio receptors were gonna explode."
"Fine," Wheeljack groaned and turned the volume back up, though this time it was more manageable.
"We're tired of words. We've heard it before. We're not gonna play the game no more!"
"What kind of song is this anyway?" Windblade asked. Whatever the music was, it fit Wheeljack's description well, sounding rather off-key and obnoxious even with the toned-down volume. Not to mention the lyrics were very...concerning, given the allusions to conquest and a "new order".
"It's called Cold Slither," Wheeljack answered and continued his work, "It's a Con song, but it's a fun one."
"Riiight," Windblade drawled out, not understanding the appeal. She looked over the Autobot's shoulder and asked, "What are you building anyway?"
Wheeljack didn't immediately answer, instead humming the music as he put the finishing touches on it. "This..." he began for build-up as he put the tools down and held it out, "Is a lobbing ball!"
Windblade stared at the large sphere, looking like it was a mishmash of random metals crunched together, and asked, "What's it for?"
"It's for a game we used to play back on Cybertron called Lobbing. We'd throw these things to each other as hard as we could, trying to catch the damned thing. A lot of the time, we knocked the other bot over, sometimes even sent them through the nearest wall!" he explained wistfully, "Practically a favorite for the Wreckers."
"Fixit mentioned that back when you guys were saving us," Windblade commented.
"Oh really? What'd the little guy say?"
"That you're completely unsubtle."
"HA! Guilty as charged. We're unsubtle, insubordinate, and a walking disaster area. Probably the nicest things the top brass would call us back in the old days," Wheeljack grinned, standing up and experimentally tossing the lob ball in the air, "You should ask ol' Magnus about us," he spun the ball on his finger, "Bet the bot'll blow a gasket if you get him talking long enough."
Why does he sound so proud about that? Windblade shook her head, "I'd rather not."
"Tch, your loss, but I'll tell ya, his reaction would've been priceless," Wheeljack tossed the ball and caught it, "So kid, want to play a few rounds? And don't worry about getting hurt. I've seen scrawnier bots survive getting hit if they couldn't catch it."
"Nonononono!" Windblade rapidly shook her head and formed an X with her servos, "N-No thanks! Just got out of the med bay and all," and with that reminder, she backed up for the door, "Speaking of, I should probably go check in on Jetfire."
"Alright then," the Wrecker went back to tossing the ball, "If he's better, ask him if he's good to play lobbing," he grumbled, "Never could beat him at it."
"I will," Windblade answered honestly and got back on the path to the med bay, somewhat surprised by Jetfire's supposed interest in such a game. Based on description, it wasn't really her thing, but it did remind her of the games she used to play with her friends back home. Mostly Tadek, though she was never as good at it as her peers. Still, the memory made her smile.
After a few cycles, she made it to the med bay, the doors automatically opening for her as she entered. Inside, Jetfire was laid unconscious on an operating table with his chest plating opened up. Hovering above him was Fixit, who was in the middle of patching up several of his internal systems. Windblade walked up, prompting Fixit to look up from his work and lift the goggles from his optics, "Oh! Hey Windblade! How ha-ha-have you been?"
Windblade waved, "Been fine, mostly," she took a seat opposite to where Fixit was working, "Couldn't really rest, so I decided to check up on Jetfire. Is he doing better?"
"Just need to make some minor rep-rep-repairs now. When I'm done, he should be up-up-up and at 'em in about a couple mega cycles," Fixit explained as he got back to work, "Though he'll need so-so-some re-re-rest."
"I see," Windblade mused, "Hope he wakes up soon. I'm worried about him."
"We all are," Fixit nodded, continuing the repairs. Windblade watched, not saying a word so as to let the Mini-Con focus. Thankfully, he didn't take long, as he reverted his servos back to normal and leapt out of the chest cavity, letting it close. "All do-done!" Fixit cheered, "Now we just have to wait."
"Good," Windblade sighed in relief before pondering, "Speaking of, I never got to say this earlier, but thanks for patching me up."
Fixit smiled, "Don't mention it, just doing my-my job-ob," his expression grew curious, "Though since you're here, I was wonder-der-dering if I could ask you something."
"Sure. What is it?"
"Back on the ship, I heard a couple Decepticon-con-con-con's talking about the invasion," Fixit's words caused Windblade's smile to drop a tad at the reminder. The Mini-Con took notice and grew reluctant, "Sorry. Maybe I'll ask lat-later."
Windblade shook her head and forced her smile back, "It's fine. You can ask."
At her affirmation, Fixit looked back down at Jetfire from his seat and continued, "Back on the ship, they said something about how the Camiens would 'wake the Titans'," Windblade's optics went wide at his words, though he didn't notice as he tapped his chin, "But it was a bit-bit confusing for me. I always tho-thought Titans were a-a-a myth. Know anything-ing about what they'd be-be talk-talking about?"
Windblade sighed, reluctantly answering, "I think they're talking about Cityspeakers. But if they are, they came to the wrong planet."
"Cityspeakers," Fixit tested the word, "I-I read about-out them too. Aren't they the ones cap-capable of communicating with and commanding Titans?" Windblade nodded, to which Fixit continued, "Thought as mu-mu-much. The myths of Titans and Cityspea-speakers was the basis for-" he cut himself off, "Actually, ask-ask-ask General Elita. Her story to tell, after a-a-all. Anyway-way, what did-did-did you mean by what you just said?"
"I mean that the art of Cityspeaking was lost long ago," Windblade huffed.
Fixit winced and sighed, "Maybe we should sto-stop talking about thi-this. I'm sorry."
Windblade shook her head, "I'm fine with talking about Caminus, it's just that these kinds of things pertain to...well, you know."
"Right," Fixit rubbed the back of his head, "So before...everything, what was life on-on-on-on Caminus like?"
Despite the sadness of thinking about her world, Windblade couldn't help but smile at the reminder of better times, "It was peaceful. We didn't have a lot of warriors, but me and Chromia were training to become protectors for our hometown."
"Who's Chromia?" Fixit asked.
"She and I grew up in the same sorority," Windblade scratched her cheek and felt her spark race, "We're...together."
"That sounds nice," the Mini-Con smiled, briefly looking at Jetfire's thankfully stable vitals, "Romance-ance and I don't really mi-mi-mix. Tried it, didn't see the ap-appeal."
Windblade shrugged, "I understand," looking down at Jetfire to make sure he was fine, she continued, "Anyway, our world's a desert satellite orbiting a gas giant. We had ties with a few nearby planets in our solar system, but we couldn't travel very far beyond that. Instead, we focused our attention inward," she smiled at the influx of memories, "I wish you all could see the murals in the temples. The statues honoring the Thirteen were a sight to behold," sadly, her smile gave way to a frown, "Though, most of them are probably destroyed by now."
"You sure you want to keep go-going?"
Windblade nodded, "I appreciate the concern, but I'll be fine. Anyway, aside from Chromia, we had plenty of other members of our sorority," she counted off with her fingers, "Acceleron, Proxima, and Aileron. We were all mentored by Magarda," a sudden memory popped into her processor, causing her to giggle, "PFFT! There was this one time when we all went out for drinks and..." she tried to stifle it, "And we got so drunk that we ended up transforming in the middle of the bar!" Windblade erupted with laughter, "HAHA! Our...o-our wheels and wings were pointed the wrong way! You should've seen mine! They were somehow on backwards. And don't even get me started on Acceleron!" she sighed wistfully, "If only Proxima didn't accidentally delete the photos, I'd be able to show you."
"Ha! Sounds awesome," Fixit smirked, "Reminds me of-of my more wi-wild days before-ore the wa-wa-war."
"Really?"
Fixit's optics dawned a mischievous twinkle, "Oh yeah, there wa-wa-was that time when me, Flo-Flo-Flowchart, Schematic, and Rundow-down were all watch-watch-watching the gladiatorial games. The bigger bot in front of us got so dru-drunk on Engex that he didn't notice when we-we-we-we stole their Shannix!" Fixit guffawed, "Ah. Good times. Good ti-ti-times."
"That...doesn't sound like something to be proud of," Windblade gave her friend a concerned look.
"Eh, mech was a jerk to us-us-us before the games started. Plus, he was blo-blocking our view of the fight."
"Still..."
"Anyway, what about you-you?" Fixit asked, "Take it Caminus doesn't have-have-have any gladiator games?"
Windblade gave a quick look down at Jetfire's comatose body before shaking her head, "No, we don't have anything like that. I'll say now that the closest thing I've seen to that was a drinking contest that led to what I was just talking about. The Mini-Con running the place warned us not to, but we were paying, so he indulged us. Too bad we didn't listen."
"Huh, so the place was run by a Mini-Con," Fixit mused, looking away before giving Windblade his full attention, "If you're okay with the question-tion-tion-tion, you have Mini-Cons on Caminus too?"
Windblade happily nodded, "Yup! The mech running the bar we were at was Iceberg, and he makes the best drinks in our hometown! I also know some that were part of fraternities and sororities. We all liked to hang out between lessons and-" noticing Fixit's smile grew rather forced, Windblade asked, "Hey, what's wrong?"
"No, it's..." Fixit went quiet, "Looks like Mini-Cons are pretty accepted-ted-ted on Caminus."
"Yeah, why wouldn't they be?" Windblade's question was met with a downright discomforting silence, making her think she made a mistake in asking, "Scrap! I mean, sorry, I wasn't trying to-"
"It's fine," the Mini-Con cut her off, crossing his arms, "I'm glad. It's just..." it was subtle, but Windblade saw one of his servos reach for his throat before lowering, "Well, Mini-Cons aren't always-ways-ways treated right back on Cy-Cybertron."
"...I'm sorry, I-I didn't know," Windblade wasn't sure what else she could say.
Fixit only sighed, "I'll say this though. Bad as-as-as it was before-fore the war, it got a lot slag-slag-slaggin' worse after Megatron started conquering Cybertron-tron-tron."
There's that name again, Windblade recalled hearing it back on the prison ship; it being that of the Decepticons' leader. She didn't think much about it at the time, given her circumstances back then, but now that she did, the name puzzled her. Pondering on that, she stood up and said, "I'm gonna go. Got something I want to talk with Elita about."
"Sure, I kinda need the spa-spa-space right now anyway," Fixit reflected, to which Windblade nodded.
"Alright, see you later," Windblade started walking out, but not before turning back and giving a small, if somber, smile, "And when Jetfire wakes up, tell him I said thanks for what he did back on the ship." Fixit nodded and gave her instructions on where the Alpha-5's cockpit was, letting the Camien walk through halls once more. As she made her way though, she couldn't help but muse on the Decepticon leader's name, Megatron, and its similarity to the name of the 12th Prime, Megatronus.
Perhaps it was a cultural difference, but the similar name was eating away at her. On Caminus, the names of the Thirteen Primes were incredibly sacred. In many respects, to take on their names or one so similar to them was sacrilege. Yet for this Megatron to so brazenly do so seemed unthinkable. Then again, this is the same bot who invades entire worlds and rips them asunder, she bitterly thought, Not like he'd care for something like that. By comparison, it's practically miniscule.
Still, she wanted to try and understand why he took on the name, and Elita struck her as the most likely to know. Based on how everyone deferred to her, she seemed pretty high up in the Autobots, so she had to know something. Right?
Arriving at the cockpit's doors, Windblade sighed and pressed a key on the panel, opening the door and revealing Elita-1 and Ultra Magnus. The two bots sat in their respective piloting seats before turning to her. Elita broke out into a smile and said, "Windblade, you're up! Take it the pain's gone?"
Windblade nodded, "Yeah, I was stopping by the med bay to thank Fixit for that," she managed a smile of her own, "And thanks again for helping me get back home."
Surprisingly, Elita's smile lowered just a bit, "Windblade, is something wrong?"
"I...yeah," she admitted, "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure," Elita looked over to Magnus, "Think you can take over piloting for a bit?" the mech wordlessly saluted, earning an eye roll from Elita as she gestured to one of the empty seats. Nodding, Windblade sat down as the ship's captain asked, "What's on your mind?"
Windblade looked down at her lap, fiddling with her servos, and said, "While I was talking with Fixit, he brought something up that reminded me of a name I heard on the prison barge: Megatron."
"The Decepticons' leader," Elita sighed, Windblade seeing a tired, almost sorrowful look in her optics. Like she was more familiar with the bot than she was comfortable talking about.
Not wanting to push personal questions, the Camien replied, "Yeah, so, it's something I wanted to know," clearing her pipes, she asked, "Why's his name Megatron?"
Elita blinked, clearly not expecting that, "You...you want to know why that's his name? Not why he started the war, what's his end goal, or anything like that?"
"Yes. I mean, sorta-ish," Windblade stammered before calming herself and bringing her knees to her chin, "I want to know those things to. I'm just starting there because the name bothers me so much."
"And why is that cadet?" Ultra Magnus asked, optics still focused on piloting through space.
"Well, it's-" Windblade shook her head, "Uh...did you just call me cadet?"
Elita gave a tired smile, "Ignore him. He has trouble speaking in anything other than military jargon." Magnus grumbled while the femme gave Windblade her full attention, "What is it about the name that bugs you?"
Putting her legs back down, Windblade explained, "It's the fact that he's named after one of the Thirteen," using her fingers, she listed off, "The names of Prima, Vector, Trinitus, Solus, Micronus, Alchemist, Nexus, Onyx, Amalgamous, Quintus, Maximus, and Megatronus are sacred on Caminus. It's...taboo to take such a name for yourself," despite herself, she couldn't help but feel some of her anger slip out as she asked, "I was wondering if you know what convinced Megatron to do so? Arrogance? Ignorance? Or both?"
Upon finishing, Windblade noticed that Elita looked rather uncomfortable, opening and closing her mouth before looking to the floor in deep thought. Even Ultra Magnus seemed uneasy with the subject matter. Windblade wanted to press on and ask again, but she didn't have to. Instead, Elita sighed, still staring towards the floor, "Alright, I think you deserve to know," her expression became somber, "I won't deny that his ego was likely part of why he took the name, but it wasn't just for that. He took it as a symbol that the early Decepticon movement could rally behind. In his optics, our world's society had failed its people. In a word, it had fallen."
"I remember Jetfire saying something similar," Windblade said, "He talked about the caste system that used to run Cybertron."
Elita nodded, "He wanted to bring Cybertron out of darkness and corruption, and so became Megatron. In his own words, 'That which has fallen may rise again'."
"I see..." Windblade scratched her chin, "But that obviously didn't happen."
"No," Ultra Magnus bitterly noted, "It didn't. Instead, we went to war with each other."
Everything was quiet, but Windblade still found it in her to say, "But that still doesn't answer my question," she noticed Elita and Magnus look to each other, then awkwardly look around, "Um, not to sound accusatory, but are you trying to avoid the subject?"
"No, it's just..." Elita rubbed the back of her neck, "Something tells me you're not gonna like what we have to say." Once again, she sighed, "What I mean is that, on our planet, Megatronus Prime is best known as 'The Fallen'."
"Why?" Windblade asked, a pit forming in her Spark.
"Because-"
"General!" Ultra Magnus cut the conversation short, "I apologize, but the monitor's picking up a large object moving rapidly towards our position."
Elita seemed almost relieved before she looked back to Windblade, "We'll continue this later. Okay?"
Slightly frustrated, the Camien answered, "Okay, but I'll hold you to that."
"Don't worry, I promise I'll answer whatever questions you have," Elita twisted her seat and inspected the monitor, "Magnus, any readings on the size of the object?"
"Enormous, dwarfing our ship to be sure," Magnus explained, the monitor beeping rapidly to indicate proximity. As he and Elita stopped the ship, Windblade stood up to get a better look. Leaning from behind the two experienced warriors, she saw that the incoming object was some kind of elongated mass that was about to fly past them. The Camien looked outside, but she didn't see anything directly ahead. Only stars far out in the distance countless millions of megamiles away. But then it came into view.
By Primus, Windblade's optics widened at the sight; a gargantuan, serpent-like vessel that was a pristine silver in color. Flashes of yellow light were emitted from numerous porthole windows throughout its length. It was strange, but the ship seemed to almost be flying slower now.
"Okay, can someone explain to me why we stopped?" Wheeljack barged in, everyone turning to see that Prowl had joined him, "We got heads to bust or..." he froze, staring out at the silver serpent with a mix of shock and concern.
"What is that?" Prowl asked, clearly as confused as everyone else.
"That's what we're trying to figure out," Ultra Magnus answered, attention back to the monitors, "Scanners aren't picking up any weapon systems, but I'm also detecting countless lifeforms aboard, organic and mechanical."
"Anyone have any idea what this thing is then?" came Elita's question.
"The Cosmic Carnival," everyone turned to Wheeljack, who repeated, "It's the Cosmic Carnival, and we need to get the frag out of here, now!"
"Don't think I've ever seen you concerned like this," Elita said, but she activated the ship's engines and began turning it around, "How dangerous is this thing?"
"Long story, but let's get away before they-"
Suddenly, the entire ship shook violently as if they were struck by something. The intercom buzzed, Fixit's voice coming from it with a shout, "Guys, what the scra-scrap was that!?"
"We're not sure," Prowl answered, "But we'll find out. Just stay with Jetfire and-"
"Uh, guys?" Windblade pointed out the cockpit windows towards the serpent, which had stopped moving, yet seemed to be getting bigger with each passing Nano-klik, "Is it just me, or are we moving closer to that thing?"
"Slag no," the Wrecker among them grumbled, "They got us in a tractor beam."
"Wheeljack, what's going on!?" Elita yelled, the Alpha-5 nearing one of the segments as it opened up.
"Let's just say we're about to lose a lot of Shanix."
The torture scene involving Blip is largely based on the same one from IDW, though while Blip was a cult (of one) there, here, he's the runaway from the last chapter. Also takes a few cues from Black Shadow's torture in IDW as well.
If you're stuck on the Primes Windblade listed off and wondering, "Wait, Trinitus and Maximus? Who are they?" Well, they're Alpha Trion and Liege Maximo respectively. Their names don't really match up with the rest of the Primes canonically because they were created before the concept of the Primes was properly introduced, with them added among the ranks. This is my way of bridging the gap by way of giving them previous identities during the era of the Thirteen Primes.
Cold Slither was originally a GI Joe song (and one created by Cobra) that was ported as background music for the G1 cartoon. Used it here as a Decepticon created song because it's unambiguously villainous in nature and fits the Cons pretty well.
Hey, if the Cons (specifically the DJD) are gonna repurpose the once pleasant and beautiful Empyrean Suite into something sinister, the Autobots (specifically Wheeljack in this instance) may as well return the favor by turning their music into something goofy and dumb to sing along to.
Anyway, for those who don't know, the Cosmic Carnival is basically a giant mobile space circus from the Marvel comics continuity, and it's our first stop gap on this space trek. And it looks like Wheeljack has some past familiarity with it. You'll have to wait until next time to see what's in store for the crew of the Alpha-5.
Hope you all enjoyed, and I'll now see about getting to work on that RWBY/EarthSpark crossover I talked about on both the Transformers and RWBY fanfic Spacebattle threads.
Now, I just want to warn everyone ahead of time, the first half of this chapter's kinda gruesome. It involves the DJD's torture of a bot, and if you're familiar with their torture methods in IDW comics...yeah, you've been warned.
Special thanks to SwapAUAnon and @Matrix Dragon for Beta Reading this chapter.
Chapter 3: So Many Questions, So Little Time
Pain. Blip's entire world was pain.
What little strength he had left was coming to the forefront, forcing his body to slowly awaken as he struggled to recollect what happened. He recalled the Autobot holding him at gunpoint, he recalled Elita-1 letting him loose, and he recalled driving away as fast as his wheels would allow him. But after that, what happened? Why was he...
O-Oh...I remember now.
The DJD had found him. They'd surrounded him, Tarn placing a hand to his shoulder and whispering in his audio receptors a multitude of questions, none of which he could recollect. What he could recall was that all of them sounded rhetorical, as if no answer he could give would matter. Not that he could've answered since he was too scared to do so. Then came the torment that had engulfed the next several Mega-Cycles of his life.
More memories came pouring in; an acid chamber melting his armor, only to be pulled out and thrown into a shredder that stripped him of his legs. He then remembered...something being drilled into his face, followed by several shocks that sent him into unconsciousness. After that, nothing.
Please let that be the end of it, Blip could feel tears flow down his face, Why? Why didn't they just kill me?
But as his consciousness slowly returned, he heard the music; the Empyrean Suite from the sound of things. The very same that had been playing as they mutilated him. Confusingly, it felt as though there was something in his mouth, like they'd given him a gag of some kind, and a wet, sticky one at that. To top it off, there was a strange pain in his head, divorced from what enveloped the rest of his body.
"Tarn," a disturbingly familiar voice cut off his thoughts, "Looks like he's coming to."
"Good. Perhaps he'll be in a more responsive mood now."
Blip's optics opened, everything a blur as he stared towards a sheet of pure grey. Blinking, his vision came into focus and he saw that he was staring at the asteroid's surface. He could see shadows looming, followed by a rabid snarl just in front of him. Despite the terror, he found himself looking upward, coming face-to-face with a growling Turbofox. It glared at him with crimson optics, one of which was highly damaged, before the familiar voice called, "Down boy! Don't eat his Spark chamber just yet."
The turbofox obeyed, returning to its master as Blip looked up and saw them: the Decepticon Justice Division.
The largest, Helex, glared down at him with one set of arms to his hips while the smaller set was crossed around the acid chamber embedded in his chest. The second largest, Tesarus, had a more bored appearance, staring with indifference. At least, Blip assumed, since the large X on his face made it hard to tell if he had optics. But then Blip's own optics trailed down to the shredder in the hulking behemoth's chest, and he shivered, remembering that those blades tore his legs apart.
In front of the two was the scrawnier form of Vos, whose optics looked at Blip with maniacal glee as he rubbed his servos together. The holes in Blip's face ached the more he looked at him, and he remembered what happened, and what Vos had done to him. He was almost thankful for the bark that distracted him, turning his attention to just behind Helex, where the crimson bot known as Kaon sat. Unlike the others, he wasn't looking at him (not that he could, given his lack of optics) and instead focused on the pet turbofox, whom he was affectionately doting on. The generator in his chest, coupled with the large coils on his shoulders, brought forth reminders of the electrocutions he'd been subjected to.
Blip wanted to speak. He wanted to ask why him? Why were they doing this? But a massive servo patted his shoulder, and the music ceased. Then the weight on his shoulder left, and out from behind him walked the tall, purple figure of Tarn; the mask that was the Decepticon emblem adorning his face. For a moment, he and the others just looked down and stared at him, as if waiting for something. But terror and the gag held Blip's tongue. They just kept staring at him until finally...
"Looks like he's not going to chew on it," Tarn said, sounding both impressed and disappointed at the same time, leaving Blip to wonder what he meant by that. He turned to Helex and said, "Would you kindly put it back? I think he's ready to start answering our questions."
"Fiiine," Helex whined, walking up to Blip, who shuddered as he neared. The bot's dark blue armor shown as he knelt down and reached into Blip's mouth, pulling out-
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Blip screamed, seeing what the gag truly was. What Helex has pulled out of his mouth was, in actuality, his own processor, wires still connecting the sphere to his head's internal circuitry, all of which bled a glowing blue. Tesarus looked like he was groaning, his mouth moving, but whatever he said was drowned out by Blip's screams. Before his voicebox could give out, Blip found his mouth sealed by Helex's finger, who carefully placed the processor back in his head. He didn't bother reattaching the helm, leaving the internals of Blip's head sticking out.
Once that was done, Helex stepped back, letting Tarn kneel down and meet Blip optic-to-optic, "Well, now that you've found your voice, let's see if you can answer some important questions."
"I-I-I-" Blip could only stutter in fear, not knowing if the next nano-klick would be his last. He heard Vos say something in Old Cybertronian, with Tarn turning to face his fellow DJD member.
"Now now, Vos," he chastised, "Blip here may be our prisoner, but there's no need to make such...derogatory comments about his intelligence." Vos shrugged while Tesarus held out a servo, which the smaller bot hi-fived while saying something else, as if they were really enjoying insulting him. Tarn shook his head and returned his attention to Blip and grabbing his chin, "Apologies for my companion's lack of tact. Though I will admit, it's a very accurate assessment of you."
"W-What?"
"Regardless, I think it best we make this quick. So please, do give me a straight answer," Tarn leaned forward, his optics glowing with outright malice, "The Autobots flew away with the traitor, Jetfire. Did they say anything that may indicate their next destination?"
I...huh? Blip didn't answer, but this time from confusion. He'd admit to not being the smartest, but the DJD weren't making sense with how they were operating. He knew they were torturers, but they just got started on subjecting him to it rather than ask these important questions first. What if he died during the torture? What if he actually did chew on his own processor like they were expecting him to? At best, his mind would be scrambled and whatever he said next would just be utter gibberish. These guys are insane!
Drawing him out of his confusion was Tarn's sigh of disappointment, "It seems you need some encouragement," he stood up and turned to Vos, "He's all yours."
Blip whimpered as Vos walked towards him, "W-Wait-"
The DJD member said something, just as impossible to understand as before, and reached for his mask.
"Please don't-"
Vos removed it, along with the rest of his face as he knelt down.
"I-I'll talk! I'll remember! Please, just not again!"
He turned the underside to Blip, revealing all the familiar drills, claws, and spikes beneath. As phantom pains etched the holes in Blip's sobbing face, he could almost imagine the sadistic smile the DJD member had. At least, if the cruel smirks on the rest of the DJD were any indication.
"Wear. My. FAAAAACE!" Vos whispered, grabbing the back of Blip's head and slowly pulling him to the drills. Blip tried to fight back, to keep away from them, but he couldn't manage it. Just as the drills neared, he suddenly remembered something that the Autobots had said before they let him go.
"W-Wait! CAMINUS!" Blip screamed as the drills stopped, "They're going to Caminus!"
Everyone stood silent for a few nano-kliks before Vos reattached his face and the DJD grouped together, unaware or uncaring that Blip could hear it all.
"So, they're heading for Lord Megatron's newest conquest," Kaon pondered, "But why?"
"Does it matter?" Tarn questioned.
Tesarus grunted, "Not to me. Just wanna kill something."
"Same here," said Helex, Vos adding his own two Shanix in, though like before, Blip couldn't understand any of it.
"Agreed," Tarn looked to Kaon, "Contact the Peaceful Tyranny and tell Nickel to make a call for the nearest Space Bridge. Considering how far off Caminus is from this sector, odds are the Autobots will try to hijack one to reach it. We'll intercept them there and give the traitor what he deserves," they broke the huddle and turned towards Blip, "But for now, why don't we take care of this traitor?"
"B-But I didn't betray anyone!"
"Oh Blip, you really shouldn't tell lies," Tarn lowly said, causing Blip to vomit for a spell as the Empyrean Suite played once more.
"I-"
Tarn knelt beside him and patted his shoulder, "See, here's the thing. In this skirmish with the Autobots, you're the only survivor of the prison ship's crew, and you just so happen to know where they went," he whispered angrily into his audio receptor, "That tells me you either gave them important information in exchange for your life, or you ran away from the fight, possibly with intentions to abandon the cause as well. Now, I want you to understand-"
Blip puked again, feeling like his Spark was about to burst as the speech became drowned out by his own thoughts. He couldn't even deny it. Tarn's words summed up what happened, even if biased and filtered to serve the monster's twisted worldview. It looked like he was finally dead, not at the hands of an Autobot, nor would he die old and at peace on some far-off planet like he wanted. No, he was going to die a traitor's death, at the hands of the cruelest Decepticons imaginable. The very thought made him sick.
But as bile and tears leaked from his face, he looked up and glared at all of them, a burst of defiance coursing through him one last time. He was a dead bot, but if this was it, then he'd die on his own terms. He'd die as himself, which was more than could be said for any of them.
"-so take to heart, little Blip, that you'll serve the Decepticon Empire better in death than you ever did in life. You'll become a shining example of what becomes of traitors to the cause. And when word reaches out of your gruesome demise, any who dare to think about leaving will need only-"
"SHUT UP!" Blip's servos found enough strength to latch onto Tarn's mask in an effort to tear it off. The taller bot stood and shouted in shock, grabbing Blip and throwing him to the ground. The smaller bot managed to lift himself from the ground and looked up, seeing the shocked and horrified expressions of the DJD, all while their Turbofox hid behind Kaon, who shielded it. But Tarn...
"You..." Tarn snapped, readjusting his mask to make sure it stayed on, "You traitorous coward. How dare yo-
"Oh frag off with the theatrics!" Blip shouted, lurching over, "You call me a coward, but I'm not the one hiding behind a mask. I'm not the one playing pretend!" He forced himself to turn his head upward despite the pain and glared at Tarn, "All this talk, this pretense, you're just playing at being some principled warrior. But all you do is hide. You and the rest of this lot. You act like you're a sophisticated enforcer, but I see you for what you really are: an empty, pathetic shell who's nothing without that Primus damned symbol on your face!" leveling one final glare, "You want to know what I think you are without it, Tarn? You're just like me. A pathetic little nobody that the universe couldn't give less of a scrap about!"
Blip heaved, having expended everything on his rant. All he could do now was continue to glare, waiting for the inevitable. Tarn, for his part, didn't move nor speak, his mask hiding his expression. But his optics glowed with pure, undisguised malice, the rest of the DJD backing away a bit. They knew what would happen next, as did Blip, but nothing happened for what felt like several cycles.
Then the music stopped.
Tarn wordlessly grabbed Blip by the throat and slammed him into the ground, surprisingly not knocking his processor out in the process. The DJD leader then slammed a fist into Blip, then another, and another, and another. Having long since been overwhelmed by pain, Blip felt almost nothing as Tarn subjected him to a savage beatdown. As Tarn punched a hole through his chest, Blip coughed up a glop of Energon, but then smiled. He now felt only satisfaction as the masked bot ruthlessly tore out his Spark chamber.
At last, Blip's optics began to fade, the last vestige of life abandoning him, The nightmare...is...over...
Windblade gasped and shot up, clutching at her still aching head, "That was-" she snapped her optics closed, images flashing from her dream. It started out pleasant, but then came the Decepticons to shatter that peace. Once more, she watched as Caminus was brought to ruin, only this time, she saw Chromia pinned down by the Decepticons. Windblade was forced to watch as they tore her apart limb from limb, then they turned to her and did the same, leaving her a lifeless husk. Another corpse atop the pile they'd built.
Don't. Just don't, she told herself and stood up, walking out of her new room to wander the halls of the Alpha-5. Windblade stretched, no longer feeling the pain from before. After Fixit was awakened, he started by getting to work on repairing Windblade, and after the fact asked for peace of mind to focus on patching up the still comatose Jetfire. Never did get to thank him for that, she turned a corner, remembering her way to the med bay of the ship, and saw an open room with the lights on just ahead. Blades and grunts could be heard from within it.
Curious, she peered into the room and saw Prowl, who threw his bladed disks at the holo-matter avatars that surrounded him. Said avatars fought back as the disks flew around the room in a circle, slashing them all apart one-by-one before returning to their owner. His posture relaxed and he took notice of Windblade as she entered the room. "Uh, hi," she awkwardly began, "Sorry to interrupt."
"Windblade," Prowl greeted before returning to training, "What do you want?"
"Nothing, just heard something was all."
"I see. Carry on then," Prowl slashed up one of the avatars before dodging another and spin-kicking it into oblivion.
"So, uh, any chance you've seen Jetfire around?" Windblade asked, "I'm hoping he's recovered by now."
"He's still in the med bay."
I figured, but it didn't hurt to ask, Windblade looked around the room, seeing a small, organic plant on a desk in the corner. From its appearance, the vegetation was well taken care of. Next to the plant, however, was a holo-image of Prowl and another bot at his left. Walking up to the desk, she picked up the projector and took a closer look at the bot, noting the black plating around the legs, shoulders, and helm while the metal around his torso was a pristine white. Despite the fact that his optics were hidden behind a pair of blue shades, his posture and smile radiated this easy-going nature. Even Prowl seemed pretty happy in the image, making Windblade smile.
However, as she looked at the image, she noticed that it seemed cropped; the area around Prowl's right cut off. Staring closer, she saw what looked like the barest hints of a green and black servo. Placing the projector down, she looked back at Prowl, who was delivering a palm-strike to an avatar's head, and asked, "Prowl, who are these two bots?"
"Pause," Prowl said without missing a beat, freezing the holo-avatars in place. He turned to Windblade, a neutral expression on his face, but the annoyance in his optics was evident. "Windblade," he said, crossing his arms, "I don't rummage through your personal life. So kindly give me the same courtesy."
"R-Right, sorry," Windblade sheepishly answered and started out of the room, worried she upset her new...friend? Acquaintance? She hadn't known him long enough to be sure. Not helped by his overall cold, aloof demeanor.
"Windblade," Prowl stopped her before she could turn the corner out the door, "If Jetfire's awake, tell him I'm glad he's alright."
...okay, maybe he's not that cold and aloof, Windblade smiled and replied, "I will. Have fun with your practice."
She stayed long enough to watch him nod and turn back to the constructs. "Resume program," she heard him say as she continued down the hall. The sounds of blades and punches faded into the background as she navigated the path to the med bay. Along the way, she passed by a number of rooms, likely for storage purposes, but found herself slowing down as she heard loud music down a hallway to her right.
"Huh, what's that?" Windblade wondered aloud as she turned, detouring from her path to see what it was. Despite the music being muffled by walls and a door, it was still so loud it started to give her a headache. Part of her almost didn't want to open the door for fear of bursting her audio receptors. Well, too curious to stop now. Besides, it can't be that bad, right? Windblade mused as she tapped a button on the door's panel and opened it.
"-COLD SLITHER! YOU'LL BE JOINING US SOON!"
"ARGH!" Windblade covered her audio receptors, I take it back! This is so much worse than I thought it'd be! Opening her optics, she looked into the room and saw Wheeljack sitting at a desk, his back turned to her as he bopped his head to the needlessly loud track. Based on the sparks flying in front of him, it looked like he was building something. Walking in, she winced in pain as she removed a servo from her right audio receptor and tapped Wheeljack on the shoulder. He turned to her, letting her shout, "COULD YOU PLEASE TURN IT DOWN!?"
Confusion etched on his face, he lowered the volume and asked, "Hey Windy. What's up?"
"Ugh, do you really have to listen to music so loud?"
"Yup," he smirked, "I only have two rules for my kind of music: loud and obnoxious."
"Okay, but could you at least tone it down just a bit? Felt like my audio receptors were gonna explode."
"Fine," Wheeljack groaned and turned the volume back up, though this time it was more manageable.
"We're tired of words. We've heard it before. We're not gonna play the game no more!"
"What kind of song is this anyway?" Windblade asked. Whatever the music was, it fit Wheeljack's description well, sounding rather off-key and obnoxious even with the toned-down volume. Not to mention the lyrics were very...concerning, given the allusions to conquest and a "new order".
"It's called Cold Slither," Wheeljack answered and continued his work, "It's a Con song, but it's a fun one."
"Riiight," Windblade drawled out, not understanding the appeal. She looked over the Autobot's shoulder and asked, "What are you building anyway?"
Wheeljack didn't immediately answer, instead humming the music as he put the finishing touches on it. "This..." he began for build-up as he put the tools down and held it out, "Is a lobbing ball!"
Windblade stared at the large sphere, looking like it was a mishmash of random metals crunched together, and asked, "What's it for?"
"It's for a game we used to play back on Cybertron called Lobbing. We'd throw these things to each other as hard as we could, trying to catch the damned thing. A lot of the time, we knocked the other bot over, sometimes even sent them through the nearest wall!" he explained wistfully, "Practically a favorite for the Wreckers."
"Fixit mentioned that back when you guys were saving us," Windblade commented.
"Oh really? What'd the little guy say?"
"That you're completely unsubtle."
"HA! Guilty as charged. We're unsubtle, insubordinate, and a walking disaster area. Probably the nicest things the top brass would call us back in the old days," Wheeljack grinned, standing up and experimentally tossing the lob ball in the air, "You should ask ol' Magnus about us," he spun the ball on his finger, "Bet the bot'll blow a gasket if you get him talking long enough."
Why does he sound so proud about that? Windblade shook her head, "I'd rather not."
"Tch, your loss, but I'll tell ya, his reaction would've been priceless," Wheeljack tossed the ball and caught it, "So kid, want to play a few rounds? And don't worry about getting hurt. I've seen scrawnier bots survive getting hit if they couldn't catch it."
"Nonononono!" Windblade rapidly shook her head and formed an X with her servos, "N-No thanks! Just got out of the med bay and all," and with that reminder, she backed up for the door, "Speaking of, I should probably go check in on Jetfire."
"Alright then," the Wrecker went back to tossing the ball, "If he's better, ask him if he's good to play lobbing," he grumbled, "Never could beat him at it."
"I will," Windblade answered honestly and got back on the path to the med bay, somewhat surprised by Jetfire's supposed interest in such a game. Based on description, it wasn't really her thing, but it did remind her of the games she used to play with her friends back home. Mostly Tadek, though she was never as good at it as her peers. Still, the memory made her smile.
After a few cycles, she made it to the med bay, the doors automatically opening for her as she entered. Inside, Jetfire was laid unconscious on an operating table with his chest plating opened up. Hovering above him was Fixit, who was in the middle of patching up several of his internal systems. Windblade walked up, prompting Fixit to look up from his work and lift the goggles from his optics, "Oh! Hey Windblade! How ha-ha-have you been?"
Windblade waved, "Been fine, mostly," she took a seat opposite to where Fixit was working, "Couldn't really rest, so I decided to check up on Jetfire. Is he doing better?"
"Just need to make some minor rep-rep-repairs now. When I'm done, he should be up-up-up and at 'em in about a couple mega cycles," Fixit explained as he got back to work, "Though he'll need so-so-some re-re-rest."
"I see," Windblade mused, "Hope he wakes up soon. I'm worried about him."
"We all are," Fixit nodded, continuing the repairs. Windblade watched, not saying a word so as to let the Mini-Con focus. Thankfully, he didn't take long, as he reverted his servos back to normal and leapt out of the chest cavity, letting it close. "All do-done!" Fixit cheered, "Now we just have to wait."
"Good," Windblade sighed in relief before pondering, "Speaking of, I never got to say this earlier, but thanks for patching me up."
Fixit smiled, "Don't mention it, just doing my-my job-ob," his expression grew curious, "Though since you're here, I was wonder-der-dering if I could ask you something."
"Sure. What is it?"
"Back on the ship, I heard a couple Decepticon-con-con-con's talking about the invasion," Fixit's words caused Windblade's smile to drop a tad at the reminder. The Mini-Con took notice and grew reluctant, "Sorry. Maybe I'll ask lat-later."
Windblade shook her head and forced her smile back, "It's fine. You can ask."
At her affirmation, Fixit looked back down at Jetfire from his seat and continued, "Back on the ship, they said something about how the Camiens would 'wake the Titans'," Windblade's optics went wide at his words, though he didn't notice as he tapped his chin, "But it was a bit-bit confusing for me. I always tho-thought Titans were a-a-a myth. Know anything-ing about what they'd be-be talk-talking about?"
Windblade sighed, reluctantly answering, "I think they're talking about Cityspeakers. But if they are, they came to the wrong planet."
"Cityspeakers," Fixit tested the word, "I-I read about-out them too. Aren't they the ones cap-capable of communicating with and commanding Titans?" Windblade nodded, to which Fixit continued, "Thought as mu-mu-much. The myths of Titans and Cityspea-speakers was the basis for-" he cut himself off, "Actually, ask-ask-ask General Elita. Her story to tell, after a-a-all. Anyway-way, what did-did-did you mean by what you just said?"
"I mean that the art of Cityspeaking was lost long ago," Windblade huffed.
Fixit winced and sighed, "Maybe we should sto-stop talking about thi-this. I'm sorry."
Windblade shook her head, "I'm fine with talking about Caminus, it's just that these kinds of things pertain to...well, you know."
"Right," Fixit rubbed the back of his head, "So before...everything, what was life on-on-on-on Caminus like?"
Despite the sadness of thinking about her world, Windblade couldn't help but smile at the reminder of better times, "It was peaceful. We didn't have a lot of warriors, but me and Chromia were training to become protectors for our hometown."
"Who's Chromia?" Fixit asked.
"She and I grew up in the same sorority," Windblade scratched her cheek and felt her spark race, "We're...together."
"That sounds nice," the Mini-Con smiled, briefly looking at Jetfire's thankfully stable vitals, "Romance-ance and I don't really mi-mi-mix. Tried it, didn't see the ap-appeal."
Windblade shrugged, "I understand," looking down at Jetfire to make sure he was fine, she continued, "Anyway, our world's a desert satellite orbiting a gas giant. We had ties with a few nearby planets in our solar system, but we couldn't travel very far beyond that. Instead, we focused our attention inward," she smiled at the influx of memories, "I wish you all could see the murals in the temples. The statues honoring the Thirteen were a sight to behold," sadly, her smile gave way to a frown, "Though, most of them are probably destroyed by now."
"You sure you want to keep go-going?"
Windblade nodded, "I appreciate the concern, but I'll be fine. Anyway, aside from Chromia, we had plenty of other members of our sorority," she counted off with her fingers, "Acceleron, Proxima, and Aileron. We were all mentored by Magarda," a sudden memory popped into her processor, causing her to giggle, "PFFT! There was this one time when we all went out for drinks and..." she tried to stifle it, "And we got so drunk that we ended up transforming in the middle of the bar!" Windblade erupted with laughter, "HAHA! Our...o-our wheels and wings were pointed the wrong way! You should've seen mine! They were somehow on backwards. And don't even get me started on Acceleron!" she sighed wistfully, "If only Proxima didn't accidentally delete the photos, I'd be able to show you."
"Ha! Sounds awesome," Fixit smirked, "Reminds me of-of my more wi-wild days before-ore the wa-wa-war."
"Really?"
Fixit's optics dawned a mischievous twinkle, "Oh yeah, there wa-wa-was that time when me, Flo-Flo-Flowchart, Schematic, and Rundow-down were all watch-watch-watching the gladiatorial games. The bigger bot in front of us got so dru-drunk on Engex that he didn't notice when we-we-we-we stole their Shannix!" Fixit guffawed, "Ah. Good times. Good ti-ti-times."
"That...doesn't sound like something to be proud of," Windblade gave her friend a concerned look.
"Eh, mech was a jerk to us-us-us before the games started. Plus, he was blo-blocking our view of the fight."
"Still..."
"Anyway, what about you-you?" Fixit asked, "Take it Caminus doesn't have-have-have any gladiator games?"
Windblade gave a quick look down at Jetfire's comatose body before shaking her head, "No, we don't have anything like that. I'll say now that the closest thing I've seen to that was a drinking contest that led to what I was just talking about. The Mini-Con running the place warned us not to, but we were paying, so he indulged us. Too bad we didn't listen."
"Huh, so the place was run by a Mini-Con," Fixit mused, looking away before giving Windblade his full attention, "If you're okay with the question-tion-tion-tion, you have Mini-Cons on Caminus too?"
Windblade happily nodded, "Yup! The mech running the bar we were at was Iceberg, and he makes the best drinks in our hometown! I also know some that were part of fraternities and sororities. We all liked to hang out between lessons and-" noticing Fixit's smile grew rather forced, Windblade asked, "Hey, what's wrong?"
"No, it's..." Fixit went quiet, "Looks like Mini-Cons are pretty accepted-ted-ted on Caminus."
"Yeah, why wouldn't they be?" Windblade's question was met with a downright discomforting silence, making her think she made a mistake in asking, "Scrap! I mean, sorry, I wasn't trying to-"
"It's fine," the Mini-Con cut her off, crossing his arms, "I'm glad. It's just..." it was subtle, but Windblade saw one of his servos reach for his throat before lowering, "Well, Mini-Cons aren't always-ways-ways treated right back on Cy-Cybertron."
"...I'm sorry, I-I didn't know," Windblade wasn't sure what else she could say.
Fixit only sighed, "I'll say this though. Bad as-as-as it was before-fore the war, it got a lot slag-slag-slaggin' worse after Megatron started conquering Cybertron-tron-tron."
There's that name again, Windblade recalled hearing it back on the prison ship; it being that of the Decepticons' leader. She didn't think much about it at the time, given her circumstances back then, but now that she did, the name puzzled her. Pondering on that, she stood up and said, "I'm gonna go. Got something I want to talk with Elita about."
"Sure, I kinda need the spa-spa-space right now anyway," Fixit reflected, to which Windblade nodded.
"Alright, see you later," Windblade started walking out, but not before turning back and giving a small, if somber, smile, "And when Jetfire wakes up, tell him I said thanks for what he did back on the ship." Fixit nodded and gave her instructions on where the Alpha-5's cockpit was, letting the Camien walk through halls once more. As she made her way though, she couldn't help but muse on the Decepticon leader's name, Megatron, and its similarity to the name of the 12th Prime, Megatronus.
Perhaps it was a cultural difference, but the similar name was eating away at her. On Caminus, the names of the Thirteen Primes were incredibly sacred. In many respects, to take on their names or one so similar to them was sacrilege. Yet for this Megatron to so brazenly do so seemed unthinkable. Then again, this is the same bot who invades entire worlds and rips them asunder, she bitterly thought, Not like he'd care for something like that. By comparison, it's practically miniscule.
Still, she wanted to try and understand why he took on the name, and Elita struck her as the most likely to know. Based on how everyone deferred to her, she seemed pretty high up in the Autobots, so she had to know something. Right?
Arriving at the cockpit's doors, Windblade sighed and pressed a key on the panel, opening the door and revealing Elita-1 and Ultra Magnus. The two bots sat in their respective piloting seats before turning to her. Elita broke out into a smile and said, "Windblade, you're up! Take it the pain's gone?"
Windblade nodded, "Yeah, I was stopping by the med bay to thank Fixit for that," she managed a smile of her own, "And thanks again for helping me get back home."
Surprisingly, Elita's smile lowered just a bit, "Windblade, is something wrong?"
"I...yeah," she admitted, "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure," Elita looked over to Magnus, "Think you can take over piloting for a bit?" the mech wordlessly saluted, earning an eye roll from Elita as she gestured to one of the empty seats. Nodding, Windblade sat down as the ship's captain asked, "What's on your mind?"
Windblade looked down at her lap, fiddling with her servos, and said, "While I was talking with Fixit, he brought something up that reminded me of a name I heard on the prison barge: Megatron."
"The Decepticons' leader," Elita sighed, Windblade seeing a tired, almost sorrowful look in her optics. Like she was more familiar with the bot than she was comfortable talking about.
Not wanting to push personal questions, the Camien replied, "Yeah, so, it's something I wanted to know," clearing her pipes, she asked, "Why's his name Megatron?"
Elita blinked, clearly not expecting that, "You...you want to know why that's his name? Not why he started the war, what's his end goal, or anything like that?"
"Yes. I mean, sorta-ish," Windblade stammered before calming herself and bringing her knees to her chin, "I want to know those things to. I'm just starting there because the name bothers me so much."
"And why is that cadet?" Ultra Magnus asked, optics still focused on piloting through space.
"Well, it's-" Windblade shook her head, "Uh...did you just call me cadet?"
Elita gave a tired smile, "Ignore him. He has trouble speaking in anything other than military jargon." Magnus grumbled while the femme gave Windblade her full attention, "What is it about the name that bugs you?"
Putting her legs back down, Windblade explained, "It's the fact that he's named after one of the Thirteen," using her fingers, she listed off, "The names of Prima, Vector, Trinitus, Solus, Micronus, Alchemist, Nexus, Onyx, Amalgamous, Quintus, Maximus, and Megatronus are sacred on Caminus. It's...taboo to take such a name for yourself," despite herself, she couldn't help but feel some of her anger slip out as she asked, "I was wondering if you know what convinced Megatron to do so? Arrogance? Ignorance? Or both?"
Upon finishing, Windblade noticed that Elita looked rather uncomfortable, opening and closing her mouth before looking to the floor in deep thought. Even Ultra Magnus seemed uneasy with the subject matter. Windblade wanted to press on and ask again, but she didn't have to. Instead, Elita sighed, still staring towards the floor, "Alright, I think you deserve to know," her expression became somber, "I won't deny that his ego was likely part of why he took the name, but it wasn't just for that. He took it as a symbol that the early Decepticon movement could rally behind. In his optics, our world's society had failed its people. In a word, it had fallen."
"I remember Jetfire saying something similar," Windblade said, "He talked about the caste system that used to run Cybertron."
Elita nodded, "He wanted to bring Cybertron out of darkness and corruption, and so became Megatron. In his own words, 'That which has fallen may rise again'."
"I see..." Windblade scratched her chin, "But that obviously didn't happen."
"No," Ultra Magnus bitterly noted, "It didn't. Instead, we went to war with each other."
Everything was quiet, but Windblade still found it in her to say, "But that still doesn't answer my question," she noticed Elita and Magnus look to each other, then awkwardly look around, "Um, not to sound accusatory, but are you trying to avoid the subject?"
"No, it's just..." Elita rubbed the back of her neck, "Something tells me you're not gonna like what we have to say." Once again, she sighed, "What I mean is that, on our planet, Megatronus Prime is best known as 'The Fallen'."
"Why?" Windblade asked, a pit forming in her Spark.
"Because-"
"General!" Ultra Magnus cut the conversation short, "I apologize, but the monitor's picking up a large object moving rapidly towards our position."
Elita seemed almost relieved before she looked back to Windblade, "We'll continue this later. Okay?"
Slightly frustrated, the Camien answered, "Okay, but I'll hold you to that."
"Don't worry, I promise I'll answer whatever questions you have," Elita twisted her seat and inspected the monitor, "Magnus, any readings on the size of the object?"
"Enormous, dwarfing our ship to be sure," Magnus explained, the monitor beeping rapidly to indicate proximity. As he and Elita stopped the ship, Windblade stood up to get a better look. Leaning from behind the two experienced warriors, she saw that the incoming object was some kind of elongated mass that was about to fly past them. The Camien looked outside, but she didn't see anything directly ahead. Only stars far out in the distance countless millions of megamiles away. But then it came into view.
By Primus, Windblade's optics widened at the sight; a gargantuan, serpent-like vessel that was a pristine silver in color. Flashes of yellow light were emitted from numerous porthole windows throughout its length. It was strange, but the ship seemed to almost be flying slower now.
"Okay, can someone explain to me why we stopped?" Wheeljack barged in, everyone turning to see that Prowl had joined him, "We got heads to bust or..." he froze, staring out at the silver serpent with a mix of shock and concern.
"What is that?" Prowl asked, clearly as confused as everyone else.
"That's what we're trying to figure out," Ultra Magnus answered, attention back to the monitors, "Scanners aren't picking up any weapon systems, but I'm also detecting countless lifeforms aboard, organic and mechanical."
"Anyone have any idea what this thing is then?" came Elita's question.
"The Cosmic Carnival," everyone turned to Wheeljack, who repeated, "It's the Cosmic Carnival, and we need to get the frag out of here, now!"
"Don't think I've ever seen you concerned like this," Elita said, but she activated the ship's engines and began turning it around, "How dangerous is this thing?"
"Long story, but let's get away before they-"
Suddenly, the entire ship shook violently as if they were struck by something. The intercom buzzed, Fixit's voice coming from it with a shout, "Guys, what the scra-scrap was that!?"
"We're not sure," Prowl answered, "But we'll find out. Just stay with Jetfire and-"
"Uh, guys?" Windblade pointed out the cockpit windows towards the serpent, which had stopped moving, yet seemed to be getting bigger with each passing Nano-klik, "Is it just me, or are we moving closer to that thing?"
"Slag no," the Wrecker among them grumbled, "They got us in a tractor beam."
"Wheeljack, what's going on!?" Elita yelled, the Alpha-5 nearing one of the segments as it opened up.
"Let's just say we're about to lose a lot of Shanix."
The torture scene involving Blip is largely based on the same one from IDW, though while Blip was a cult (of one) there, here, he's the runaway from the last chapter. Also takes a few cues from Black Shadow's torture in IDW as well.
If you're stuck on the Primes Windblade listed off and wondering, "Wait, Trinitus and Maximus? Who are they?" Well, they're Alpha Trion and Liege Maximo respectively. Their names don't really match up with the rest of the Primes canonically because they were created before the concept of the Primes was properly introduced, with them added among the ranks. This is my way of bridging the gap by way of giving them previous identities during the era of the Thirteen Primes.
Cold Slither was originally a GI Joe song (and one created by Cobra) that was ported as background music for the G1 cartoon. Used it here as a Decepticon created song because it's unambiguously villainous in nature and fits the Cons pretty well.
Hey, if the Cons (specifically the DJD) are gonna repurpose the once pleasant and beautiful Empyrean Suite into something sinister, the Autobots (specifically Wheeljack in this instance) may as well return the favor by turning their music into something goofy and dumb to sing along to.
Anyway, for those who don't know, the Cosmic Carnival is basically a giant mobile space circus from the Marvel comics continuity, and it's our first stop gap on this space trek. And it looks like Wheeljack has some past familiarity with it. You'll have to wait until next time to see what's in store for the crew of the Alpha-5.
Hope you all enjoyed, and I'll now see about getting to work on that RWBY/EarthSpark crossover I talked about on both the Transformers and RWBY fanfic Spacebattle threads.
Mission 7: Watching a Family Fight
And I'm back! Happy holidays everyone!
Sorry for the lack of updates for this chapter, just got rather busy with other stuff. But I'm back with this and I'm gonna be working on the next chapter after this one too.
Now, while I originally wanted to make this chapter the one where Yor learns how to drive, I kept hitting some snags when writing it due to having been away for so long. It took me a few tries to get back into the groove, and it felt like it'd take me longer than I was hoping for to finish everything. And I really didn't want to leave the year without giving this story a proper update. So, I decided on something else instead:
That being, I'm splitting the chapter in half.
So, you'll be getting the part I know you've been waiting for next time. Sorry in advance, but I felt this was for the best.
Since I'm gonna be working on the next chapter right after this, expect another update sometime in January.
Anyway, special thanks and shout-out to Quantum01, @Matrix Dragon, and SwapAUAnon for Beta Reading this chapter.
Mission 7: Watching a Family Fight
Bumblebee drove along an overpass on route towards Eden Academy to pick up Anya, the afternoon sun shining down on him. At the moment, there weren't that many cars driving around, a far cry from a couple days ago when the roads were practically clogged with cars. Seemed that whether it be Earth or Cybertron, traffic was an unpredictable menace to everyone.
Better enjoy the open road while I can, Bee mused as he decided to pay attention to the current radio station, it being something about a neighboring country called Westalis that he'd frequently heard about. Between Loid having full control behind the wheel with near flawless driving, Yor happily enjoying the sights from her seat, and Bond wagging his tail in the back, he figured it best to take advantage of the peace to learn more about this world.
"-and many of Ostania's representatives saw Foreign Minister Brantz off, exchanging pleasantries before he departed plane-bound for Westalis. After weeks of intense debate, and despite much concerns amongst even our most well-regarded diplomats, it would seem the peace summit was a resounding success for all parties. And despite not appearing himself, Chairman Donovan Desmond of the National Unity Party had his people give Minister Brantz the highest of praises before the man's trip home. We can only hope that tensions between East and West have cooled for the time being."
Huh, that sounds like pretty good news, Bumblebee mused as he continued listening in, even though parts of the report were still a hassle for him to wrap his head around due to unfamiliarity with most of the subjects. He'd never been one to pay attention to the politics of his surroundings prior to the war with the Decepticons. It was always too complicated and boring for him. Given how the war started, though, maybe he should have. If nothing else, learning how things were going was a good thing in the long run, and there being peace between these two countries meant not only that everyone living here got to be happy, but it also meant that the Autobots would have little to worry about when they arrived. Though when he got the signal from Optimus was anyone's guess.
However, his musings were interrupted when Bond turned around and started barking like crazy. Bee noticed a trio of cars approaching from behind, the leading one looking pretty rusty while the other two were a well-polished black and dark green respectively. Loid and Yor seemed to notice them as well, eyeing them cautiously as they started to surround them; the rustic lead now at Bee's rear while the other two drove at his left and right. Unsure what was going on, Bumblebee was lost in thought when the green car slammed into his side. What the slag!?
"WOAH!" Yor held tightly to her seat, with Loid gripping the wheel to keep steady. Unfortunately, that only lasted until the black car slammed into them.
"What the-"
"Hey jackass!" the black car's driver yelled before he pulled out a gun, "This is for making us miss our deal!"
What's going on? Bumblebee's thought was interrupted by several loud gunshots from the other cars, unable to move much due to being boxed in. None could put a scratch on them, and he couldn't feel them in the least, but that didn't mean he liked getting shot at. Even more baffling was that the driver and his passenger in the "shotgun" seat, as he heard humans call it, looked kinda familiar. He just couldn't put a digit on where he'd seen them before.
"Dammit! Not now!" Loid exclaimed, looking rather flatfooted, though he strangely maintained more composure than Bee would expect from someone getting shot at.
"Loid, what's going on?" Yor asked with a worried glint in her eyes, though like Loid, she wasn't panicking, "Are your patients having psychotic breaks again?"
"Wha-I mean, yes! It would appear so!" Loid swerved, forcing the green car to back off to avoid the hit.
Oh, so human doctors also get shot at by their patients! Bee realized as the rustic car rear ended him, forcing Loid to speed ahead to get away, Huh, guess he isn't that different from Ratchet. Maybe they'd get along.
"Yor, take the wheel, I need to get something from the back," Loid said, and at Yor's nod, he let go of the wheel and turned to rummage for something behind the seat, Bond seeming to help him in that endeavor. As more bullets bounced off Bumblebee, Yor reached for the wheel, but suddenly, she froze. A frightened, unsure expression covered her face as Bumblebee started to tilt to the left, forcing him to retake control to avoid scraping against the overpass' stone railing.
WOAH! Bumblebee narrowly avoided careening into a long, black, fancy looking car that was heading straight for him. No one got hurt, but the three chasing cars deftly avoided the oncoming vehicle, rushing by as it turned at its side and blocked the rest of the road behind them. Making matters worse was that Yor's hand still hovered over the wheel, refusing to take it. While she didn't notice that the car was now driving itself, Bumblebee was still at risk of discovery like this.
Thankfully, Loid had returned to his seat, now holding in one hand what he'd called an umbrella, "Got it! Let me take the wheel again," Yor retracted her hand from the wheel so fast it was almost a blur, with Loid retaking his position just as quickly, "I'll see about getting us off the road and somewhere isolated. I should be able to knock them out."
"And I'll help with the concussive therapy," Yor said, her worry replaced with an eager grin that Bumblebee found at odds with their current situation. Loid's composure he could now understand, given that he was a doctor and had to deal with this daily. Bond was barking and growling at the patients, which was easy for Bee to make sense of since they were shooting at them. But Yor seemed too at ease with this sort of thing. Bumblebee hadn't seen much violence since he got here apart from that one warehouse encounter. So why was she so well adjusted? "Kinda takes me back to when I helped you with your patients the first time. You remember how we first met?" Yor asked, with Loid giving a nod as he focused on the road, though Bumblebee could see the ghost of a wistful smile.
Does that mean she helps him with this kind of thing often? Would explain all the nonchalance, Bee's thoughts were cut off as the overpass ended, bringing them back to the streets of Ostania. Spotting a green light ahead, Loid sped up again as it turned yellow, driving just as it changed red while the chasers ran it, causing a lot of honking in the far behind. Bumblebee saw many onlookers stare in confusion and fear at the scene from the sidewalks, many of them running as the first of the chasers started shooting at Bee's tires, Scrap! Loid, you better isolate your patients and knock them out quick. I get the feeling they don't care about bystanders.
"Loid, over there!" Yor pointed to a fast-approaching alleyway entrance at the right, both large and wide enough for Bee to drive through.
"I see it! Thanks," Loid sharply turned, managing a 90-degree angle before zooming right into the alleyway. The buildings at the sides eventually gave way to a small, empty parking lot. Most that was there were a few trash cans, a large open trash bin, and a pay phone in a corner. Surprisingly, given the urgent circumstances, Loid took the time to find a proper parking spot rather than haphazardly stop in the middle of the thing. Then again, Bee understood that Loid was a medical professional. As Ratchet would often tell him, professionals have standards, and this was probably one of them.
Humans sure have weird standards though, Bee mused as Loid and Yor got out, the latter helping Bond out of the back, Probably shouldn't judge.
Loid rushed to the trash can in front of Bumblebee and grabbed its dented lid just as the three cars of patients zoomed into the lot. The rustic car swerved near the exit to the alleyway and blocked the escape route while the other two screeched to a stop ahead. Loid's patients got out of the vehicles, totaling at around ten, and opened fire while the doctor, his dog, and his Conjunx Endura took cover behind Bumblebee's right side.
Okay, this is starting to get annoying, Bumblebee fought the urge to just transform and scare them off, but he reminded himself of the first time he did it and held that thought. Besides the fact that it would reveal himself to Loid and Yor, he also had to remind himself that these were Loid's patients, not some hoodlums out to kill them for funsies.
Suddenly, Loid got out from cover and threw the trash can lid like a discmaster at one of the patients, sending him flying. The man skidded against the ground and hit a nearby wall, knocked out cold. The rest of the patients, however, simply shrugged it off and reloaded, continuing to shoot at them. One even grabbed his knocked-out acquaintance's gun and started dual wielding, though it made his aim more erratic and inaccurate, clearly unused to it.
"Damn it!" Loid took cover again, looking apologetically to Yor and Bond, "Sorry, I was hoping that'd knock more of them out so I could close in with the umbrella," then looked out from behind cover and muttered something along the lines of, "That's the last time I try something out of a Spy Wars comic." Bumblebee recalled how often Anya talked about Spy Wars and how much she loved it. Sounded like a family bonding thing, and it made him kinda sad that he couldn't see it for himself. "Okay, I have an idea," Loid loudly said amidst the shooting as he looked down at the umbrella, "I'll throw this into the air to distract them. Once they aren't shooting at us, we move in quick and incapacitate."
"Right!" Yor affirmatively nodded while Bond barked, seeming to nod in kind. Loid looked out just as a few patients started reloading. When they finished, he threw his umbrella high into the air.
"Now!" he shouted as the patients fired upon the umbrella, giving the Forgers the needed opening. What happened next was something of a blur to Bumblebee.
There were things he could easily make out, like Bond leaping at a patient and somehow dropkicking him into one of the cars, leaving a rather sizable dent in the door. Then Loid rushed one with a shoulder bash, grabbing his leg before he could fly very far. He then spun around and threw him into two other patients; the three of them groaning as they were knocked to the floor, falling unconscious. But Yor...
Holy scrap! Bumblebee was shocked as Yor, within the span of a second, appeared right in front of the remaining five and rapidly struck at parts of four of the patients' bodies with a series of jabs, leaping all around them. Despite Bumblebee's best efforts, he could barely keep track of her movements. When she was done, the patients became still as statues before falling to the ground, leaving the final patient a quivering mess as he aimed his gun at Yor. He opened fire, Yor casually dodging the bullets before taking the gun and crushing it to pieces, leaving not but twisted metal in her hands.
"Sorry about this young man, but I'm sure my husband can help you when you wake up," Yor said sincerely as she let the broken gun's pieces fall to the ground before delivering a swift kick to his chest that sent him flying towards the trash bin far behind. He crashed against the lid before falling inside, closing the bin in the process. As Loid and Bond walked up from behind her, Bumblebee tried to process what he'd just witnessed.
That...was... Bumblebee blinked a few times, not expecting the Forgers to fight with such skill in precision. He knew firsthand that Yor was incredibly strong, and he'd just learned Loid frequently had to fight his patients when they were having "psychotic breaks", as Yor put it. But even aside from the fact that the dog straight up performed a dropkick that'd make Arcee proud, this was still a level of skill and combat expertise that the average family unit definitely shouldn't have possessed. He'd know, having met and interacted with dozens of those during his time as a courier before the war.
But then again, things are probably different here on Earth? The Forgers do seem to be the average human family, after all, Bumblebee reminded himself. If the average human parent possessed strength on par with a Cybertronian, then a standard medical practitioner, and one who had to fight his patients every few cycles, having that level of combative instinct wasn't out of the ordinary. Made sense for Yor to have those skills too if she had to help her Conjunx with his job as often as was implied. Not sure on the dog though, Bumblebee looked at Bond, who seemed to look back at him as Loid and Yor gathered the patients and tied them up, Probably just what the average Earth pet can do.
"I'll call Berlint General and let them know we have some patients to round up. They'll send someone here later," Loid told his family as he headed over to the lot's pay phone to make the call. As he did so, Bumblebee watched Yor kneel down and affectionately pet Bond, complimenting him on his form during the dropkick. Bond returned the gesture by licking her face, happily barking at the praise. The act elicited a giggle from Yor who cooed at the dog before looking over at the lot's alleyway entrance towards the rustic car. She stood up and made her way to it before lifting the entire thing over her head and moving it to the nearest parking space.
After what Bumblebee had seen her do, he wasn't really surprised by this, but for a brief moment, he almost pictured himself being lifted by Yor and tossed around like one of Anya's dolls. The thought scared him before he cooled his jets, Relax Bee, not like Yor would ever toss you around. Sure, she's horrifyingly strong, a dangerous fighter, and almost crushed you by accident, but she's a sweet person. I mean, it's not like she's secretly an assassin or anything. Why would she be anyway? Bee couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. Yor, an assassin? Sounded about as likely as Loid being some kind of secret agent for a nebulous organization. Really, you just have to worry about other human parents getting the excuse to throw you into a building.
As Yor finished moving the patients' cars into appropriate parking spots, Loid finished his call with the hospital and headed back over to them, the three meeting up at Bumblebee's space. "Alright, they should be here in about twenty minutes," Loid said before checking his watch, "But we should probably get going. Don't want to be late to get Anya from school."
"Right," Yor nodded, but she had a bit of a blush to her face that confused Bumblebee.
Loid seemed to notice it as well, asking, "Yor, is something wrong?"
"Nothing!" Yor blurted out before she looked down and poked her fingers together, "It's just...I...I enjoy getting to fight beside you is all."
Bumblebee watched as Loid seemed rather caught off guard by his Conjunx's words, unsure of what to say. Not even the patients shooting at him caused him to have such a reaction. If he could, Bumblebee would have shaken his head, Don't know if I'm ever gonna really get how human romance works.
"I..." Loid slowly regained his composure, coughing into his hand before giving Yor an awkward smile, "Thank you, Yor. I'm sorry my work's always following me back home," he sighed, "I wish it wasn't like that."
Yor smiled back, "Don't be. I know how hard it can be to have a job that requires so much from you with little room for rest, wishing things could be different," she sounded like she spoke from experience, making Bumblebee wonder what office clerk jobs were like on this planet, "You once said that to endure such a harsh job for the sake of someone else isn't something just anyone can do, and I know it's been so much harder for you since your first wife passed away."
So Yor's Loid's second Conjunx? Bumblebee wondered as a few things clicked into place. It certainly explained why the two were still so awkward around each other. Loid's still getting used to having found love again while Yor's probably worried about replacing someone dear to him, not to mention now being a mother. Though it didn't seem like Anya minded, but she was a child, so maybe Loid's first wife died before she could truly remember her? His Spark couldn't help but ache for the Forgers at the thought of all this. Sounds like they're going through a lot.
"But it still amazes me how you persevere for Anya's sake," Yor's eyes gained a determined glint, "Even if we have to deal with things like this, I want to ease whatever burdens you're going through. I want to help provide Anya with the future she deserves. So you don't need to apologize. I'm glad to help our family however I can."
Once again, Loid was flatfooted, but he regained himself much faster, a less awkward, more genuine smile dawning his face as he nodded, "I feel the same way."
The two of them smiled at each other for a bit before descending into an awkward silence as they started looking around, Yor's face a bright red while Loid rubbed the back of his neck. Bond looked between the two and had a strangely disappointed look on his face, almost like he was upset with how the couple's moment petered off. Bumblebee shared in that feeling, but he couldn't blame them for it either.
Still, Yor's words stuck with him, about helping the family however possible. In the time since he arrived, he'd mostly been focusing on gathering Energon, but maybe he could do more than that? The Forgers didn't know he existed, but in some ways, he was kinda part of their family too. And even then, an Autobot's duty was to help those in need.
Maybe I could help them out of this awkward funk, Bumblebee started scrolling through his radio recordings, And I think I know how.
"I give her all my love, that's all I do," the lyrics sang out, getting the Forger's attention, "And if you saw my love, you'd love her too."
"Loid, what's going on?"
"I love her..."
"Not sure, let me check," Loid opened Bumblebee's front door and checked the radio.
"She gives me everything, and tenderly-" was all that came out before Loid turned the dials, switching across random stations before turning the radio off. He then turned the car on and off a couple times in some kind of investigation.
"Looks like the radio just had some power directed into it. It's rare, but it can happen," Loid mused as Yor and Bond approached, but as he got out, he took a closer look at the car, "Although," he ran a finger along the doorframe, "Now that I'm looking at it, Bumblebee doesn't seem to have any damage from the gunfire. Not even the windows seem cracked, but this doesn't look like bullet proof glass."
Frag frag frag! Am I giving myself away? What do I-
"Maybe Bumblebee's built different from the average car?" Yor suggested with a light shrug.
Loid continued to look at the car suspiciously, making Bumblebee nervous, but then he sighed and nodded towards his Conjunx, "It's possible, and I won't look a gift horse in the mouth since it was a big help today. It's just unexpected is all." Bumblebee was relieved as the Loid opened the door for Bond, letting him in and giving the dog an affectionate head pat before taking to the driver's seat. As Yor got in, Loid turned on the ignition and said, "By the way Yor, thank you for taking the wheel when I had to get the umbrella. I'll admit it was a reckless decision on my end, but you handled it very well."
Unlike what was expected, Yor's normal smile seemed to falter a bit as she looked away, the air around her having this melancholic feel to it as she sighed, "I...I suppose I did."
"Yor," Loid began, noticing the shift in mood, "Did something happen back there?"
"No, nothing happened," came her reply as she rubbed her hands, "We should probably go pick up Anya now."
Loid looked like he was about to say something, but he relented, likely realizing that it wasn't a good idea at the moment to force whatever Yor's issue was. Though Bee was sure he'd approach it with her later on. As they drove out of the lot and headed back on track for Eden, Bumblebee stared at Yor, who remained rather out of it until they arrived to pick up Anya, where she regained her cheerful demeanor. He remembered how she froze when asked to take the wheel, watching as her gaze shifted to it before focusing forward. Seemed to Bumblebee that she wanted to drive and was just miffed about losing her chance from freezing up.
Weirdly, the idea of Yor behind the wheel, especially his own, filled him with this sense of dread he hadn't gotten since arriving on Earth. But he just couldn't explain why.
The song be played on the radio was "And I Love Her" by The Beatles.
So yeah, the above was originally just going to be the chapter's first section, but it wound up going a lot longer than I expected. Combined with the snags I was hitting while writing it, I decided to just make it its own chapter.
On the plus side, Bumblebee finally gets to see the Forger family in action. Think my favorite part was Bond dropkicking that poor thug. My second was all Bumblebee's misconceptions about...well, everything that's going on. Let me know what moment from this chapter is your favorite.
And yes, Bumblebee's gonna be lending the two totally not lovebirds a servo every now and then by being a Shipper on Deck. He wouldn't be a good family car if he didn't.
Like I said, I'm gonna be working on the next chapter of this fic right after this one rather than switch over to Camien Odyssey, so we'll finally have Yor drive Bumblebee around.
And as said before, may Primus have mercy on his Spark.
After she's done traumatizing him, then we'll get to Camien Odyssey and our fist good ol' space adventure for the Alpha-5 crew.
Sorry for the lack of updates for this chapter, just got rather busy with other stuff. But I'm back with this and I'm gonna be working on the next chapter after this one too.
Now, while I originally wanted to make this chapter the one where Yor learns how to drive, I kept hitting some snags when writing it due to having been away for so long. It took me a few tries to get back into the groove, and it felt like it'd take me longer than I was hoping for to finish everything. And I really didn't want to leave the year without giving this story a proper update. So, I decided on something else instead:
That being, I'm splitting the chapter in half.
So, you'll be getting the part I know you've been waiting for next time. Sorry in advance, but I felt this was for the best.
Since I'm gonna be working on the next chapter right after this, expect another update sometime in January.
Anyway, special thanks and shout-out to Quantum01, @Matrix Dragon, and SwapAUAnon for Beta Reading this chapter.
Mission 7: Watching a Family Fight
Bumblebee drove along an overpass on route towards Eden Academy to pick up Anya, the afternoon sun shining down on him. At the moment, there weren't that many cars driving around, a far cry from a couple days ago when the roads were practically clogged with cars. Seemed that whether it be Earth or Cybertron, traffic was an unpredictable menace to everyone.
Better enjoy the open road while I can, Bee mused as he decided to pay attention to the current radio station, it being something about a neighboring country called Westalis that he'd frequently heard about. Between Loid having full control behind the wheel with near flawless driving, Yor happily enjoying the sights from her seat, and Bond wagging his tail in the back, he figured it best to take advantage of the peace to learn more about this world.
"-and many of Ostania's representatives saw Foreign Minister Brantz off, exchanging pleasantries before he departed plane-bound for Westalis. After weeks of intense debate, and despite much concerns amongst even our most well-regarded diplomats, it would seem the peace summit was a resounding success for all parties. And despite not appearing himself, Chairman Donovan Desmond of the National Unity Party had his people give Minister Brantz the highest of praises before the man's trip home. We can only hope that tensions between East and West have cooled for the time being."
Huh, that sounds like pretty good news, Bumblebee mused as he continued listening in, even though parts of the report were still a hassle for him to wrap his head around due to unfamiliarity with most of the subjects. He'd never been one to pay attention to the politics of his surroundings prior to the war with the Decepticons. It was always too complicated and boring for him. Given how the war started, though, maybe he should have. If nothing else, learning how things were going was a good thing in the long run, and there being peace between these two countries meant not only that everyone living here got to be happy, but it also meant that the Autobots would have little to worry about when they arrived. Though when he got the signal from Optimus was anyone's guess.
However, his musings were interrupted when Bond turned around and started barking like crazy. Bee noticed a trio of cars approaching from behind, the leading one looking pretty rusty while the other two were a well-polished black and dark green respectively. Loid and Yor seemed to notice them as well, eyeing them cautiously as they started to surround them; the rustic lead now at Bee's rear while the other two drove at his left and right. Unsure what was going on, Bumblebee was lost in thought when the green car slammed into his side. What the slag!?
"WOAH!" Yor held tightly to her seat, with Loid gripping the wheel to keep steady. Unfortunately, that only lasted until the black car slammed into them.
"What the-"
"Hey jackass!" the black car's driver yelled before he pulled out a gun, "This is for making us miss our deal!"
What's going on? Bumblebee's thought was interrupted by several loud gunshots from the other cars, unable to move much due to being boxed in. None could put a scratch on them, and he couldn't feel them in the least, but that didn't mean he liked getting shot at. Even more baffling was that the driver and his passenger in the "shotgun" seat, as he heard humans call it, looked kinda familiar. He just couldn't put a digit on where he'd seen them before.
"Dammit! Not now!" Loid exclaimed, looking rather flatfooted, though he strangely maintained more composure than Bee would expect from someone getting shot at.
"Loid, what's going on?" Yor asked with a worried glint in her eyes, though like Loid, she wasn't panicking, "Are your patients having psychotic breaks again?"
"Wha-I mean, yes! It would appear so!" Loid swerved, forcing the green car to back off to avoid the hit.
Oh, so human doctors also get shot at by their patients! Bee realized as the rustic car rear ended him, forcing Loid to speed ahead to get away, Huh, guess he isn't that different from Ratchet. Maybe they'd get along.
"Yor, take the wheel, I need to get something from the back," Loid said, and at Yor's nod, he let go of the wheel and turned to rummage for something behind the seat, Bond seeming to help him in that endeavor. As more bullets bounced off Bumblebee, Yor reached for the wheel, but suddenly, she froze. A frightened, unsure expression covered her face as Bumblebee started to tilt to the left, forcing him to retake control to avoid scraping against the overpass' stone railing.
WOAH! Bumblebee narrowly avoided careening into a long, black, fancy looking car that was heading straight for him. No one got hurt, but the three chasing cars deftly avoided the oncoming vehicle, rushing by as it turned at its side and blocked the rest of the road behind them. Making matters worse was that Yor's hand still hovered over the wheel, refusing to take it. While she didn't notice that the car was now driving itself, Bumblebee was still at risk of discovery like this.
Thankfully, Loid had returned to his seat, now holding in one hand what he'd called an umbrella, "Got it! Let me take the wheel again," Yor retracted her hand from the wheel so fast it was almost a blur, with Loid retaking his position just as quickly, "I'll see about getting us off the road and somewhere isolated. I should be able to knock them out."
"And I'll help with the concussive therapy," Yor said, her worry replaced with an eager grin that Bumblebee found at odds with their current situation. Loid's composure he could now understand, given that he was a doctor and had to deal with this daily. Bond was barking and growling at the patients, which was easy for Bee to make sense of since they were shooting at them. But Yor seemed too at ease with this sort of thing. Bumblebee hadn't seen much violence since he got here apart from that one warehouse encounter. So why was she so well adjusted? "Kinda takes me back to when I helped you with your patients the first time. You remember how we first met?" Yor asked, with Loid giving a nod as he focused on the road, though Bumblebee could see the ghost of a wistful smile.
Does that mean she helps him with this kind of thing often? Would explain all the nonchalance, Bee's thoughts were cut off as the overpass ended, bringing them back to the streets of Ostania. Spotting a green light ahead, Loid sped up again as it turned yellow, driving just as it changed red while the chasers ran it, causing a lot of honking in the far behind. Bumblebee saw many onlookers stare in confusion and fear at the scene from the sidewalks, many of them running as the first of the chasers started shooting at Bee's tires, Scrap! Loid, you better isolate your patients and knock them out quick. I get the feeling they don't care about bystanders.
"Loid, over there!" Yor pointed to a fast-approaching alleyway entrance at the right, both large and wide enough for Bee to drive through.
"I see it! Thanks," Loid sharply turned, managing a 90-degree angle before zooming right into the alleyway. The buildings at the sides eventually gave way to a small, empty parking lot. Most that was there were a few trash cans, a large open trash bin, and a pay phone in a corner. Surprisingly, given the urgent circumstances, Loid took the time to find a proper parking spot rather than haphazardly stop in the middle of the thing. Then again, Bee understood that Loid was a medical professional. As Ratchet would often tell him, professionals have standards, and this was probably one of them.
Humans sure have weird standards though, Bee mused as Loid and Yor got out, the latter helping Bond out of the back, Probably shouldn't judge.
Loid rushed to the trash can in front of Bumblebee and grabbed its dented lid just as the three cars of patients zoomed into the lot. The rustic car swerved near the exit to the alleyway and blocked the escape route while the other two screeched to a stop ahead. Loid's patients got out of the vehicles, totaling at around ten, and opened fire while the doctor, his dog, and his Conjunx Endura took cover behind Bumblebee's right side.
Okay, this is starting to get annoying, Bumblebee fought the urge to just transform and scare them off, but he reminded himself of the first time he did it and held that thought. Besides the fact that it would reveal himself to Loid and Yor, he also had to remind himself that these were Loid's patients, not some hoodlums out to kill them for funsies.
Suddenly, Loid got out from cover and threw the trash can lid like a discmaster at one of the patients, sending him flying. The man skidded against the ground and hit a nearby wall, knocked out cold. The rest of the patients, however, simply shrugged it off and reloaded, continuing to shoot at them. One even grabbed his knocked-out acquaintance's gun and started dual wielding, though it made his aim more erratic and inaccurate, clearly unused to it.
"Damn it!" Loid took cover again, looking apologetically to Yor and Bond, "Sorry, I was hoping that'd knock more of them out so I could close in with the umbrella," then looked out from behind cover and muttered something along the lines of, "That's the last time I try something out of a Spy Wars comic." Bumblebee recalled how often Anya talked about Spy Wars and how much she loved it. Sounded like a family bonding thing, and it made him kinda sad that he couldn't see it for himself. "Okay, I have an idea," Loid loudly said amidst the shooting as he looked down at the umbrella, "I'll throw this into the air to distract them. Once they aren't shooting at us, we move in quick and incapacitate."
"Right!" Yor affirmatively nodded while Bond barked, seeming to nod in kind. Loid looked out just as a few patients started reloading. When they finished, he threw his umbrella high into the air.
"Now!" he shouted as the patients fired upon the umbrella, giving the Forgers the needed opening. What happened next was something of a blur to Bumblebee.
There were things he could easily make out, like Bond leaping at a patient and somehow dropkicking him into one of the cars, leaving a rather sizable dent in the door. Then Loid rushed one with a shoulder bash, grabbing his leg before he could fly very far. He then spun around and threw him into two other patients; the three of them groaning as they were knocked to the floor, falling unconscious. But Yor...
Holy scrap! Bumblebee was shocked as Yor, within the span of a second, appeared right in front of the remaining five and rapidly struck at parts of four of the patients' bodies with a series of jabs, leaping all around them. Despite Bumblebee's best efforts, he could barely keep track of her movements. When she was done, the patients became still as statues before falling to the ground, leaving the final patient a quivering mess as he aimed his gun at Yor. He opened fire, Yor casually dodging the bullets before taking the gun and crushing it to pieces, leaving not but twisted metal in her hands.
"Sorry about this young man, but I'm sure my husband can help you when you wake up," Yor said sincerely as she let the broken gun's pieces fall to the ground before delivering a swift kick to his chest that sent him flying towards the trash bin far behind. He crashed against the lid before falling inside, closing the bin in the process. As Loid and Bond walked up from behind her, Bumblebee tried to process what he'd just witnessed.
That...was... Bumblebee blinked a few times, not expecting the Forgers to fight with such skill in precision. He knew firsthand that Yor was incredibly strong, and he'd just learned Loid frequently had to fight his patients when they were having "psychotic breaks", as Yor put it. But even aside from the fact that the dog straight up performed a dropkick that'd make Arcee proud, this was still a level of skill and combat expertise that the average family unit definitely shouldn't have possessed. He'd know, having met and interacted with dozens of those during his time as a courier before the war.
But then again, things are probably different here on Earth? The Forgers do seem to be the average human family, after all, Bumblebee reminded himself. If the average human parent possessed strength on par with a Cybertronian, then a standard medical practitioner, and one who had to fight his patients every few cycles, having that level of combative instinct wasn't out of the ordinary. Made sense for Yor to have those skills too if she had to help her Conjunx with his job as often as was implied. Not sure on the dog though, Bumblebee looked at Bond, who seemed to look back at him as Loid and Yor gathered the patients and tied them up, Probably just what the average Earth pet can do.
"I'll call Berlint General and let them know we have some patients to round up. They'll send someone here later," Loid told his family as he headed over to the lot's pay phone to make the call. As he did so, Bumblebee watched Yor kneel down and affectionately pet Bond, complimenting him on his form during the dropkick. Bond returned the gesture by licking her face, happily barking at the praise. The act elicited a giggle from Yor who cooed at the dog before looking over at the lot's alleyway entrance towards the rustic car. She stood up and made her way to it before lifting the entire thing over her head and moving it to the nearest parking space.
After what Bumblebee had seen her do, he wasn't really surprised by this, but for a brief moment, he almost pictured himself being lifted by Yor and tossed around like one of Anya's dolls. The thought scared him before he cooled his jets, Relax Bee, not like Yor would ever toss you around. Sure, she's horrifyingly strong, a dangerous fighter, and almost crushed you by accident, but she's a sweet person. I mean, it's not like she's secretly an assassin or anything. Why would she be anyway? Bee couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. Yor, an assassin? Sounded about as likely as Loid being some kind of secret agent for a nebulous organization. Really, you just have to worry about other human parents getting the excuse to throw you into a building.
As Yor finished moving the patients' cars into appropriate parking spots, Loid finished his call with the hospital and headed back over to them, the three meeting up at Bumblebee's space. "Alright, they should be here in about twenty minutes," Loid said before checking his watch, "But we should probably get going. Don't want to be late to get Anya from school."
"Right," Yor nodded, but she had a bit of a blush to her face that confused Bumblebee.
Loid seemed to notice it as well, asking, "Yor, is something wrong?"
"Nothing!" Yor blurted out before she looked down and poked her fingers together, "It's just...I...I enjoy getting to fight beside you is all."
Bumblebee watched as Loid seemed rather caught off guard by his Conjunx's words, unsure of what to say. Not even the patients shooting at him caused him to have such a reaction. If he could, Bumblebee would have shaken his head, Don't know if I'm ever gonna really get how human romance works.
"I..." Loid slowly regained his composure, coughing into his hand before giving Yor an awkward smile, "Thank you, Yor. I'm sorry my work's always following me back home," he sighed, "I wish it wasn't like that."
Yor smiled back, "Don't be. I know how hard it can be to have a job that requires so much from you with little room for rest, wishing things could be different," she sounded like she spoke from experience, making Bumblebee wonder what office clerk jobs were like on this planet, "You once said that to endure such a harsh job for the sake of someone else isn't something just anyone can do, and I know it's been so much harder for you since your first wife passed away."
So Yor's Loid's second Conjunx? Bumblebee wondered as a few things clicked into place. It certainly explained why the two were still so awkward around each other. Loid's still getting used to having found love again while Yor's probably worried about replacing someone dear to him, not to mention now being a mother. Though it didn't seem like Anya minded, but she was a child, so maybe Loid's first wife died before she could truly remember her? His Spark couldn't help but ache for the Forgers at the thought of all this. Sounds like they're going through a lot.
"But it still amazes me how you persevere for Anya's sake," Yor's eyes gained a determined glint, "Even if we have to deal with things like this, I want to ease whatever burdens you're going through. I want to help provide Anya with the future she deserves. So you don't need to apologize. I'm glad to help our family however I can."
Once again, Loid was flatfooted, but he regained himself much faster, a less awkward, more genuine smile dawning his face as he nodded, "I feel the same way."
The two of them smiled at each other for a bit before descending into an awkward silence as they started looking around, Yor's face a bright red while Loid rubbed the back of his neck. Bond looked between the two and had a strangely disappointed look on his face, almost like he was upset with how the couple's moment petered off. Bumblebee shared in that feeling, but he couldn't blame them for it either.
Still, Yor's words stuck with him, about helping the family however possible. In the time since he arrived, he'd mostly been focusing on gathering Energon, but maybe he could do more than that? The Forgers didn't know he existed, but in some ways, he was kinda part of their family too. And even then, an Autobot's duty was to help those in need.
Maybe I could help them out of this awkward funk, Bumblebee started scrolling through his radio recordings, And I think I know how.
"I give her all my love, that's all I do," the lyrics sang out, getting the Forger's attention, "And if you saw my love, you'd love her too."
"Loid, what's going on?"
"I love her..."
"Not sure, let me check," Loid opened Bumblebee's front door and checked the radio.
"She gives me everything, and tenderly-" was all that came out before Loid turned the dials, switching across random stations before turning the radio off. He then turned the car on and off a couple times in some kind of investigation.
"Looks like the radio just had some power directed into it. It's rare, but it can happen," Loid mused as Yor and Bond approached, but as he got out, he took a closer look at the car, "Although," he ran a finger along the doorframe, "Now that I'm looking at it, Bumblebee doesn't seem to have any damage from the gunfire. Not even the windows seem cracked, but this doesn't look like bullet proof glass."
Frag frag frag! Am I giving myself away? What do I-
"Maybe Bumblebee's built different from the average car?" Yor suggested with a light shrug.
Loid continued to look at the car suspiciously, making Bumblebee nervous, but then he sighed and nodded towards his Conjunx, "It's possible, and I won't look a gift horse in the mouth since it was a big help today. It's just unexpected is all." Bumblebee was relieved as the Loid opened the door for Bond, letting him in and giving the dog an affectionate head pat before taking to the driver's seat. As Yor got in, Loid turned on the ignition and said, "By the way Yor, thank you for taking the wheel when I had to get the umbrella. I'll admit it was a reckless decision on my end, but you handled it very well."
Unlike what was expected, Yor's normal smile seemed to falter a bit as she looked away, the air around her having this melancholic feel to it as she sighed, "I...I suppose I did."
"Yor," Loid began, noticing the shift in mood, "Did something happen back there?"
"No, nothing happened," came her reply as she rubbed her hands, "We should probably go pick up Anya now."
Loid looked like he was about to say something, but he relented, likely realizing that it wasn't a good idea at the moment to force whatever Yor's issue was. Though Bee was sure he'd approach it with her later on. As they drove out of the lot and headed back on track for Eden, Bumblebee stared at Yor, who remained rather out of it until they arrived to pick up Anya, where she regained her cheerful demeanor. He remembered how she froze when asked to take the wheel, watching as her gaze shifted to it before focusing forward. Seemed to Bumblebee that she wanted to drive and was just miffed about losing her chance from freezing up.
Weirdly, the idea of Yor behind the wheel, especially his own, filled him with this sense of dread he hadn't gotten since arriving on Earth. But he just couldn't explain why.
The song be played on the radio was "And I Love Her" by The Beatles.
So yeah, the above was originally just going to be the chapter's first section, but it wound up going a lot longer than I expected. Combined with the snags I was hitting while writing it, I decided to just make it its own chapter.
On the plus side, Bumblebee finally gets to see the Forger family in action. Think my favorite part was Bond dropkicking that poor thug. My second was all Bumblebee's misconceptions about...well, everything that's going on. Let me know what moment from this chapter is your favorite.
And yes, Bumblebee's gonna be lending the two totally not lovebirds a servo every now and then by being a Shipper on Deck. He wouldn't be a good family car if he didn't.
Like I said, I'm gonna be working on the next chapter of this fic right after this one rather than switch over to Camien Odyssey, so we'll finally have Yor drive Bumblebee around.
And as said before, may Primus have mercy on his Spark.
After she's done traumatizing him, then we'll get to Camien Odyssey and our fist good ol' space adventure for the Alpha-5 crew.
Mission 8: Learning How to Drive
...yeesh, did this one go on for way longer than I expected. I feel like I end up doing this a lot. Where I expect a chapter to be a certain length, but then it just keeps going and I only later find the right place where it should stop.
Funnier still is that I stopped the previous chapter where it was thanks to it getting too long, but here we are with the next chapter and it's EVEN LONGER!
In any case, now's the time for Yor to learn how to drive. Poor Bee's not the only person she'll be traumatizing today.
Thanks and shout out to SwapAUAnon, @Matrix Dragon, and Quantum01 for Beta Reading this chapter.
Mission 8: Learning How to Drive
Camilla sighed in annoyance as she took a sip of her wine. It was supposed to be a simple dinner date at a high-end restaurant with her boyfriend, Dominic. After a whole workday of receiving calls, bookkeeping, errands, protecting Millie from the ogling of their section chief, and putting up with Yor's gloomy mood, she'd say she deserved something like that. She'd seen how hard Dominic worked, so he more than deserved it too. The only problem, however...
"So, Yuri, how's the Ministry of Foreign Affairs been treating you?"
...was this. Dominic just had to invite Yuri to what was supposed to be their time together.
"Pretty stressful, what with having to help in the recent Peace Summit. I'm just glad that's all done and over with," Yuri said to Dominic, waving the whole thing off before rubbing the back of his head. He took a bite of his steak with a satisfied hum, "Thanks for the invitation, by the way. The food here's pretty good," as he continued eating though, Camilla swore she heard him mutter, "Nowhere near as good as my sister's though."
Yor, I swear to God, you broke your little brother into something far more...bothersome than you, Camilla thought in annoyance as she continued eating. She refused to believe anyone could stomach, much less legitimately enjoy, that poison Yor called cooking. Either the man's been faking it for years just to keep his sister happy, or he was completely and utterly delusional. Neither spoke highly regarding his state of mind.
If Dominic heard it too, he didn't show, instead giving the younger Briar a smile, "Camilla's the one who picked the place out. It's one of the best restaurants in Berlint, and she has a real eye and taste for the best dishes," he looked over to her, "I'd say she deserves more thanks than I do."
Camilla gave her best smile and nodded to her boyfriend, briefly giving Yuri a glare before taking a sip of her wine. Just put up with it, she reminded herself, Like it or not, he's Dominic's friend. So just play nice for at least another hour, then give your boyfriend an earful for inviting him.
"Uh, did I do something wrong? You've been glaring at me pretty much all dinner," Yuri bluntly pointed out, almost making Camilla choke. Now the center of attention at their table, she saw the two men give her looks; Yuri's expression was one of curiosity (she swore there was this dangerous glint behind those red eyes) while Dominic's was complete, sincere concern.
"Camilla, is something wrong?" her boyfriend asked. Seeing no other option, and wanting to be honest with him, she sighed.
"It's just...I wanted this to be our night. Things have been pretty tough at City Hall lately for both of us, so I figured we needed an evening to ourselves," she leveled one last, brief glare at Yuri, "But you just had to invite him," before giving Dominic a less intense one, "And I'd be a lot less upset about it if you told me about it first."
Dominic, thankfully, didn't seem upset or offended by her anger. Instead, he looked apologetic and said, "Sorry, Camilla. Honestly, I just kinda forgot."
"Dominic, it's not like you to forget things like that," Camilla shifted from anger to worry.
"If it means anything, I think he only forgot because he told me last minute," Yuri interjected, taking a sip of water (Camilla had learned that Briars couldn't drink to save their lives) before continuing, "I only learned about this whole dinner thing a few hours ago."
Dominic nodded, "Things might have been a bit rushed and I forgot in the jumble. Besides, since all of us have been working hard at our jobs, it just felt fair to invite him since he just finished something big for the Ministry. Now that he has some time off, I wanted to be a good friend and help him enjoy it while it lasts."
Sighing, Camilla pinched the bridge of her nose, "Dominic, I swear, you can be too much of a sweetheart sometimes," but she gave her boyfriend a small, earnest smile, "But I can't blame you for wanting to help a friend out like this, even if it bugs me." Dominic returned the smile, with Camilla returning focus to her dinner as she cut a piece, "Still, I wish it could've just been the two of us," she took a bite and swallowed, "Between calls, errands, Yor's cooking lessons and bad moods, not to mention Millie complaining about her dating life again, I've been getting a lot of headaches as of late-"
"Excuse me, could you repeat that?" Yuri cut in, looking at Camilla with such intensity that she swore he was staring right through her.
"I...what?"
"You said something about my sister's 'moods'," he clarified, eyes narrowing, "Did something happen to her at work?"
Looking at Dominic, who seemed just as lost as Camilla, she turned back to Yuri and answered, "Well, it's just that she was pretty glum all day today."
Her answer didn't help at all, as Yuri seemed to have this dark, intimidating presence to him that made Camilla gulp. Dominic tried to placate Yuri, but to no avail. The younger Briar quietly growled, elbows against the table and hands folded beneath his chin, "Tell me, Camilla. Do you have any idea what or who is causing my sweet sister such sorrow?"
The way Yuri asked that question, it was almost like he wanted a very specific name. Like he was accusing someone and wanted her to say it just so he had an excuse. It's official. Yor's the normal one between these two, Camilla thought as she balked under his gaze. Clearing her throat, she answered, "Well..."
Sharon, Millie, and Camilla watched as Yor made herself a cup of coffee, sighing the whole way through. The four of them were currently in one of City Hall's kitchens, taking a break and gossiping over drinks. Or at least, they were, but Camilla found herself unable to think about all the interesting, funny rumors she'd heard about with Yor's glum demeanor almost swallowing the air around them. Sure, the office weirdo had kept it to herself and didn't let it get in the way of her work, but it was getting on her nerves.
Seriously, what does she have to be so moody about anyway? Camila wondered. Between her looks, marriage, happy-go-lucky kid and their new pet, Yor's life seemed pretty well put together. Was there trouble in paradise? Doubtful, seeing as Yor and Loid's relationship was touching enough to make anyone jealous (certainly, most definitely not her though). Did her kid insult her cooking again? Unlikely, otherwise Yor would be weeping her eyes out damn near every single day. No, this was something new.
"Uh, am I making the coffee incorrectly?" Yor asked, having become aware of their staring.
"No," Camilla answered, "Frankly, coffee's one of the few things you can make that won't kill anyone." Ignoring the glare Sharon gave her, she continued, "We're staring because you look like a kicked puppy."
"Oh, sorry," she watched as her drink finished pouring and took the cup to join them, "Guess I've been a bit bothered by something lately."
"What's the problem?" Sharon asked, briefly turning away to puff out the smoke from her cigarette. Yor, for her part, took a sip of her coffee and sighed.
"It's just...I don't know how to drive a car," Yor answered. Camilla and Millie waited for her to continue but were met with silence.
"That's it?" Millie asked, "You're upset because you can't drive?"
Yor looked down in shame, "Yeah. It's weird, isn't it?"
"Not really. Plenty of people your age don't know how to drive. It's part of why some people walk or take the bus," Sharon threw her cigarette into the nearest trash can. That seemed to lighten Yor's mood to a degree as the spacey woman smiled.
But then Millie sent it crashing down with a good point, "Honestly, if it's this big a deal for you, it's weirder that you haven't tried to get a license yet."
Camilla nodded along before giving Yor a questioning look, "Is this like how you forgot to tell anyone you were married? You just kept forgetting to get one?"
Yor nervously clutched at her drinking mug, "N-No. I've actually been meaning to get one for a while. It's just that every time, I always get caught up with-"
"Pardon the intrusion," the four of them turned to the voice, seeing the Director of Policy, Matthew McMahon, standing in the kitchen doorway, "But Mrs. Forger, you have a call waiting for you. It's urgent, I'm afraid."
While Camilla, Millie, and Sharon wondered who could be calling Yor at this time, their coworker had this immediate understanding on her face. Almost like she knew what the call was about before she even received it. Turning to them, she handed her cup to Sharon and, with a polite bow of her head, said, "Excuse me, but I'd better get going. It sounds pretty serious."
Before Camilla could ask what it was about, Yor was already out the door, following Mister McMahon and leaving them behind.
"And it must have been a pretty serious call, since was out for most of the day," Camilla concluded to her boyfriend and his best friend. By the time Yor got back in the afternoon, the blonde was too tired to even bother asking what that was all about.
"I see," Yuri looked to the table in contemplation, having finished his dinner during her explanation.
"I mean, it makes sense when you think about it," Dominic added, his own meal long since eaten, "Like Loid said back at the party, she's been trying to provide for Yuri almost her entire life. Probably never had the time and she's now hoping to change that. But life kinda has a habit of getting in the way."
Camilla couldn't do much else other than nod, now lost in her own thoughts. Honestly, she wasn't really sure why she was getting so hung up over this. Sure, Yor's bad mood was annoying to watch, but she wasn't sure why she didn't just ignore it and move on with her day. It's not like she had any reason to care. They weren't friends or anything of the sort.
"Hey, I think I have an idea," Dominic piped up, Camilla looking to him for clarification, "Since you're already teaching Yor how to cook, how about you help her learn how to drive? I'm sure both her and Yuri would appreciate it."
"Gonna have to pass on that. It'd probably be too much to juggle and schedule around," There's also the fact that I'm completely sure her driving's worse than her cooking, Camilla looked over to Yuri, who seemed to be completely zoned out of the conversation entirely, still stuck in his own head. She had no idea what he was thinking, and frankly didn't want to know. Maybe Dominic and I could try finding Yor a driving teacher? she wondered as she raised her wine glass to her lips, If Yor's a disaster behind the wheel, better them than us. Then again, Loid seems like he'd actually be a good teacher, and he'd have the patience to put up with her, but does he even know-
Suddenly, the table shook, shocking Camilla into choking on her drink. As Dominic hovered worriedly over her, she pounded her chest and took another swig, swallowing the coughs down. She angrily glared to the source; a rather exuberant looking Yuri who stood up so fast his chair fell to the floor, fist slammed against the table in the process.
Before Camilla could snap at him, however, he loudly proclaimed, "I got it! I know just how to help sis with her dilemma!" Camilla noted with embarrassment that his outburst drew in the attention of a few onlookers. "Thanks for the dinner, but I gotta go!" he said before grabbing his coat and running toward the direction of the exit, "See you later Dominic! Nice to see you again, Camilla!"
Camilla and Dominic were left alone, the onlookers thankfully turning their attentions elsewhere. As Dominic picked up Yuri's seat and returned to his own, Camilla sighed, "So much for a simple evening."
"Sorry," Dominic apologized again, "Look, I know Yuri can be...well, a lot, but he's honestly not a bad guy when you give him a chance."
Camilla rolled her eyes, Sure, and aliens are a thing. I'll believe it when I see it. Staring down at her unfinished dinner, she no longer felt her appetite and decided to wait for the check. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long, as their waiter came in a minute later. "Excuse me," she raised a hand as he arrived, "Could we have the check, please?"
The waiter bowed his head, "That won't be necessary, madame. Your dinner has already been covered."
"Huh?" both Camilla and Dominic were confused as the waiter raised his head.
"Your party member, Mister Briar, paid for tonight's course in full as he left."
...Okay, guess he isn't too bad, Camilla thought, Annoying, sure, but at least he's considerate when it counts.
The waiter bowed his head again and asked, "Will that be all?"
"I...sure. Thank you, good sir," Camilla answered as their waiter left. Seeing as they were done here, she held out her hand to Dominic, who smiled and planted a gentle kiss on it before helping her out of her seat. Now smiling herself, she wrapped her arm around his as they walked out the restaurant.
Well, this is the place, Loid stepped out of his car, as did Yor, when they arrived at the massive parking lot of an abandoned toy factory just on the outskirts of Berlint; it was one of many left in physical and financial ruin after the war. Staring at it from a distance, Loid recognized it, hearing the echoes of gunfire and explosions in the back of his mind. How many of his friends died in places like this, and how he killed countless more in retribution. Back then, he'd hardened his heart to the desperation of his enemies, allowed himself to grow cold to his allies. All for the sake of revenge, the most worthless of causes.
Shaking his head, he reminded himself that he wasn't that man anymore, nor would he ever be if he could help it. Instead, he looked around in an effort to find Yor's brother.
The fact that he asked us to come here is cause for concern, Loid recollected the phone call from a few days prior. All they knew is that Yuri had a surprise for Yor and set up a meeting location. Thankfully, Franky was available to look after Anya and Bond while they were out this afternoon, but that did little to ease Loid's worries. After all, Yuri didn't explain what this "surprise" was nor gave any hints, and it wasn't close to Yor's birthday or any holiday for that matter. With those possibilities ruled out, Loid had spent the interim worrying about the possibilities. Has he grown suspicious about the validity of our marriage? This could be a trap, Loid stroked his chin to think of places where he'd grown careless in his cover, the wind and nearby chirping of birds his only distraction, Though at the same time, his call sounded like he wanted only Yor to come here.
Yuri's mood did sour over the phone the minute Yor insisted her husband join in for this, whatever it was. So that ruled out the possibility of it being a trap for him, and he doubted it could be one for Yor. If there was one absolute certainty about Yuri, it was his (obsessive) dedication to protecting his sister. The odds of him ever trying to intentionally hurt her were nonexistent.
Not that he could even if he wanted to, Loid's lip curved just a tad and a light chuckle escaped, drawing Yor's attention.
"What's so funny?" Yor asked, clearly amused and curious about Loid's sudden mirth. For a second, he could've sworn he felt his heart skip a beat, though he was unsure as to why. He wasn't in any danger, after all.
"Nothing, just remembering things," Loid admitted, which was technically true, as he was recalling Yor's fighting prowess and how much he admired it. Every time he thought he'd seen it all, Yor did something to amaze him even more.
Yor gave a small laugh of her own before returning her gaze to the parking lot, the wind billowing her hair. "What do you think Yuri wanted to come here for?" she asked, lightly pacing forward to get a better look at the factory in the distance.
"Can't say," Loid's frown returned, as he didn't like not having answers, "He's your brother, and his call made it clear this was something for you. What do you think it could be about?"
"Honestly, I'm not sure," Yor admitted before the sound of two car engines came in from the distance. They both turned to the source and saw a pair of civilian vehicles, one an orange sports car and the other a grey grand tourer, drove into the lot and found parking spots, the orange sky tinting their windows. From the driver's seat of the tourer, Yuri stepped out and called to his sister with an exuberant wave.
Looks like we'll find out soon enough, Loid thought as Yor ran over and met her brother halfway, giving him a hug that definitely broke a bone or two in the younger Briar. Though as Loid walked over at a more casual pace, the others exited their cars (one from Yuri's and three from the other) and came over at similar speeds. This allowed Twilight to scan their faces as they approached each other, making his eyes narrow with concern, if only for a split-second to maintain composure.
Whatever this was, Yuri brought along with him some members of the State Security Service, all in civilian garb. Loid noticed among them were two men with scars, one blonde and the other with raven black hair. The former's scarring ran vertically along his left eye and was covered with stitching, while the latter's ran horizontally along his nose and under his right eye.
These two he recognized from WISE's files as the First Lieutenant and Captain of the SSS respectively. In the former's case, he even used him as a disguise to probe Yor for intel alongside Franky as a means to determine if she knew of her brother's ties to the SSS. It was an act he still felt immense guilt for, despite constantly reminding himself it was for the sake of the mission.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. Forger," the First Lieutenant greeted in a stern, but not impolite manner. Shaking his hand and the captain's, Loid exchanged greetings with them before the third person from their car walked up, one even more recognizable to him than his peers, but for entirely different reasons.
Holding out his hand, Loid greeted, "Nice to meet you as well."
"Same to you, Mr. Forger. From what Yuri tells us, you're a doctor, right?" 'How goes the operation?' the "officer" asked, mouthing a different question. They'd have to keep this brief, given the close SSS presence.
"Yes, it's a lot of hard work, but I find it fulfilling," Loid replied while mouthing, 'Operation STRIX is progressing,' before he looked to the three of them and asked, "I take it you're all friends of Yuri's?"
"Coworkers, to be precise. Yuri's superiors as fellow diplomats," the Lieutenant answered, looking over to Yuri and his sister as they were now approaching them alongside the last of the SSS. For a moment, Loid worried Yor would recognize the Lieutenant, given the "encounter" she had with him, but made no indication that she did. Perhaps she'd simply forgotten?
"I see," Loid replied, hiding his relief as he looked to Yuri and asked, "Yuri, why did you call us out here?"
The younger Briar gained a rather huffy appearance as he crossed his arms, "Well, Loidy, if you must know, I learned recently that my dear sister was upset, and put together that it was because she couldn't drive," his eyes narrowed, "Something you should've known about, seeing as you two are married."
"Yuri, he didn't know because I kept it to myself," Yor stepped between Loid and her brother, a pleading glint in her gaze to get the latter to calm down, "That's no reason to be upset with him."
"She's right, Yuri. Let it go and just say what this is all about," the SSS officer behind Yuri, a woman wearing a beanie, placed a hand on his shoulder and gave a reprimanding glare.
Yuri looked between the two as his gaze softened, taking a calming breath as he continued, "Right, well, my point is, since my sister sounded so upset about it, I asked my friends from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help me teach her how to drive."
"R-Really?" Yor's face lit up as she gave her brother a second hug, "Thank you!"
Loid smiled at the scene, happy to see his wife's mood brought up. Though at the same time, he couldn't help but find himself agreeing with Yuri's point; the fact that he didn't do much to help with Yor's turmoil was a black mark on his role as her husband. When he first saw her dour mood after they fended off their attackers, he wanted to further question what was wrong so he could better help. Worrying that being too forceful with his questions and needing to pick up Anya from school at the time held his tongue. Combined with Yor's mood improving the following day after he picked her up from work, he assumed it to be nothing. In hindsight, Yor's problem should have been obvious.
It seems I still have a lot to learn about being a husband, Loid and everyone else winced, definitely hearing the sound of bones crack from within Yuri as Yor finally released the hug. Though the younger Briar didn't seem to mind and casually rolled his shoulders, cracking his bones back in place.
"Anyway, let me introduce everyone," Yuri first gestured to the officer in the beanie, "This is Chloe, though you already met her. She's an Attache as far as diplomats go."
Loid put on his most polite smile and held out his hand, "Good to meet you, Chloe," she shook his hand, to which he asked, "So, you're a friend of Yuri's?"
"Well, I wouldn't quite say that..." Chloe admitted, much to Yor's confusion.
"But didn't you say both of you attended the same classes in college?"
Interesting, Loid didn't sense any deception from Chloe's body language and pondered this new information. Judging by Chloe's age (early-to-mid twenties based on appearance) and false rank in the Ministry of Foreign affairs (much like Yuri's former rank), it was clear that she was a newcomer to the SSS, likely having joined at a similar time to Yuri.
"Your brother tended to keep to himself and focus on his studies. Honestly, he didn't interact much with anyone from what I saw," Chloe pointed out, to which Yor looked at her brother somewhere between admonishing and prideful, if such a thing were possible.
"Sounds like Yuri alright," Yor said, Yuri looking away bashfully, "Yuri, I know you tend to prioritize goals like that, but I was hoping you'd get the chance to make some lasting connections while you were there," she looked down in shame, "Something I never really got the chance to do for myself."
"I mean, I didn't have time to do something like that until recently..." Yuri grumbled to himself in a slightly guilty tone, though just loud enough for everyone to hear.
And given how the SSS tend to operate, odds are he won't have time for something like that still, Loid mused, and with how laser focused Yuri was regarding protecting his sister, there was the question of if he even wanted that. Perhaps deep down he did, but he kept forcing it aside. And the more Loid mused, the more he started to question himself? Did he want that? Those kinds of connections? He'd thrown any chance for that away the day he chose to become Twilight, and yet-
"It looks like you're at least getting the chance now. I think both of us are, so better late than never, as they say!" Yor's happily, melodic voice drew Loid out of his musings as she stepped forward to the rest of Yuri's associates, "It's nice to meet you all! I'm Yor Forger," she smiled, but blinked, face turning a tinge red with embarrassed realization, "Uh, s-sorry! You probably already knew that."
Out from the corner of his eye, Loid noticed Yuri's eyes narrow ever so slightly when Yor introduced herself. More specifically, when she referred to herself as 'Forger'. Ignoring that for the time being, he watched as WISE's mole in the SSS stepped forward and held out a hand. "No, it's alright," the mustached man said as Yor shook it, "Seeing as we're all making introduction's anyway, call me Jeffrey."
"Gascoigne," the SSS captain followed gruffly. Everyone looked to the highest ranked SSS officer, who shrugged.
"Let's just get this over with," the First Lieutenant sighed, not even bothering to introduce himself. Though based on body language and what Loid knew about the work schedules of the higher ranking SSS members, he was probably exhausted despite maintaining a professional demeanor.
Certainly seems familiar, Loid recalled every single time he'd felt on the verge of passing out, forcing every fiber of his body to stay awake. It wasn't a pleasant experience, despite having grown accustomed to it over the years.
"So," Loid started, "How are we going to go about this?"
Yuri puffed his chest proudly and gestured to the entire parking lot, "It's pretty simple. I was thinking we help ease my sister into the basics of driving, and the parking lot here's both stable and spacious enough for that to work. We can take things slow with turning, parking, and speeding up in suburban environments. More complex stuff we can continue from there later."
"Sounds pretty well thought out," Loid complimented with a nod, much to Yuri's annoyance.
"Yeah! Can I get started now?" Yor asked, practically bouncing in anticipation. At the sight, her husband couldn't help but smile, sharing in that same joy.
"Sure, let me just get the car star-"
"Actually," Yor interrupted her brother and sped on over to Loid's car, patting its hood, "I'd like to practice driving with Bumblebee, if you don't mind."
"Oh..." Yuri stammered, looking flatfooted before he saw how Yor's eyes pleaded with him, "Sure, I guess that's fine too."
"Great!" Yor practically ran to the driver's seat and opened it, getting in and taking the wheel faster than most could blink. Loid was able to keep up with such movements, but only barely. He saw that everyone else (barring Yuri) was either blinking or rubbing their eyes in an effort to comprehend Yor's displayed levels of speed.
"I...guess we should get in?" Chloe regained herself as she and Yuri started heading for the car. But before they could get very far, Loid stopped them.
"If it's alright, can I help with this?"
"No," Yuri flatly refused, "I don't need your help for this, Loidy. Now just stay back with-"
"That sounds like a great idea," Jeffrey cut Yuri off, much to the latter's shock.
"Agreed," said the SSS Lieutenant, further baffling Yor's brother as he leveled a neutral gaze to him, "Better to have a second or third opinion on this. That way, your sister has more feedback for improvement."
"B-But what about-"
"Kid, enough. Just get in the damned car already," Gascoigne sternly crossed his arms, leaving no room for argument as Yuri groaned. He slumped and made his way to Bumblebee with Loid walking right next to him. Meanwhile, Chloe stayed behind and from the looks of it, was receiving orders from her superiors. Loid pondered on what those orders could be, but if he had to guess, it was to keep a close watch on him.
It's likely the reason why Yuri requested their presence to begin with, Loid thought, the reason making sense. While Yuri's efforts to help his sister were undoubtedly genuine, the State Security Services' aid seemed to mostly be about grilling Loid for evidence. He could see in their eyes that none really bought into the idea he was a spy (at least not yet), but curiosities had to be satisfied. Now, Loid knew Yuri was gunning for anything to prove as such, albeit driven by his protectiveness towards Yor than anything else, but at this point, he knew how to deal with him. The real concern will be this new agent, Loid had no idea how Chloe thought, with the most he could gauge at the moment being that she seemed more strait-laced than Yuri.
But having been Twilight for years, he knew looks could be deceiving.
As they neared Bumblebee, Yuri sped up and reached the shotgun seat with an almost gloating expression. But when he attempted to open the door, it refused. "Huh?" Yuri pulled on the handle as hard as he could, but it wouldn't budge no matter how much he tried, "Ugh! Loidy! What the hell's wrong with your car? The door's busted!"
"Strange, let me see the problem," Loid reached for the handle, only for Yuri to block him.
"No way! I'll open it myself," Yuri snapped, almost like he was trying to keep Loid from the shotgun seat itself. The act made Loid roll his eyes, both because it wasted time and because he was never going to sit there to begin with for this.
"Oh for God's sake, Yuri!" Chloe snapped at him and smacked him behind the head with enough force to leave an almost comically large bruise, "Just let him see what's wrong with it!"
"...fine," Yuri pressed the injury down and reluctantly stepped aside, allowing Loid to inspect the damage. From the exterior, there didn't seem to be anything broken, so he pulled the handle to get a feel for why it was stuck. Instead, it opened without issue. "Oh, so now it's working?" Yuri angrily asked.
"What's going on?" Yor questioned, looking at all of them in confusion.
Loid gave her a slightly confused, but reassuring smile, "Just an issue with the door, but it seems to be gone now. I'll have a better look when we get back home."
At Yor's nod, they all entered the car, with Yuri first entering the shotgun seat. Loid and Chloe sat in the back seats, with the former just behind Yuri's. The seating positions would allow Loid to better see whatever Yor did behind the wheel, and thus, help her improve. He noticed how Chloe's eyes spared him occasional, observing glances that lasted mere moments before returning to the Briar siblings. Between that and Yuri's glaring at him through the rear-view mirror, he also saw Yor nervously curl her fingers on the steering wheel, too scared to move.
"Deep breathes Yor," she muttered, inhaling and exhaling between sentences, "You can do this. You can do this. You can do this."
"Aw, don't sweat it sis. Knowing you, you'll ace this in no time!" Yuri cheered Yor on, now ignoring those behind him. Still, that did help Yor relax just a little, as she took one final breathe. She twisted the key, turning the car on, then put it in drive. Slowly, she seemed to be getting the hang of things.
And then she slammed her foot on the gas...
"Dun dunna, dunna duh da duuuuuun!" Anya started singing, walking on the sidewalk next to Bond and enjoying the afternoon sun.
"What are you singing?" Uncle Scruffy asked. Anya looked back at him while he held Bond's leash. She couldn't help but feel jealous that all the adults could do that while she couldn't. One day, she would be big and strong enough to walk Bond like they could!
"Dunno," Anya shrugged as she hugged Bond for a bit, "Just something I made up."
"Borf!" Bond barked and nuzzled into the hug.
"Huh, neat," Franky scratched his chin, "You know, I'm not sure why, but it kinda sounds...I don't know, a bit on the spacey side," he closed his eyes and hummed, "Reminds me of some shows I watch a lot. There was this one movie about giant alien robots invading Earth..." Anya tried not to giggle, but she failed. If only Uncle Scruffy knew. Heh, always wanted to see a giant robot in real life now that I think of it, he thought with a smile, Read a few books growing up that were pretty inspirational for designing my robotic exoskeleton, even if it's still a work in progress.
Uncle Scruffy has a robot super suit? she saw into his mind and saw him building a shiny looking power armor with an F on the chest, So cool! Anya practically jumped in excitement, getting a look from her favorite uncle. "Uh, Anya just really likes robots. They're super cool!" Anya technically wasn't lying. Ever since Bumblebee arrived, she really wanted to see more stuff with robots like him. Now having an idea, she put on her best pleading face, "Can I watch some of the robot stuff you saw, please? I wanna see the robots!"
Uncle smiled and knelt down, "Sure, though you're definitely gonna want to ask your parents about it. I know a drive-in theater that plays all sorts of movies, so you can ask them to take you there at some point."
Anya gasped, "If I get a stars, would Papa take me to the movies?"
"Ha! If you get another Stella, I think Loid'll probably buy out the whole theater just so you can watch any movie whenever you want!" Either that or you can guilt him into doing it if he says no. The man's a softy on the inside when it comes to his kid, Uncle Franky laughed, making Anya laugh too. But then he stopped, seeing something and asking, "Wait, what the hell's that?"
Anya turned around and looked at the road, seeing a yellow car way in the distance that was driving really, really fast. Wait, her eyes went wide, Is that Bumble-
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Bumblebee screamed in her head as he blurred by the three of them, wind blowing everywhere as Anya watched him drive away.
"...what was that?" Uncle Scruffy asked, looking like Papa whenever Anya got a bad grade.
"Borf!"
"I think that was Papa's car," Anya said as a police car drove past them, red and blue lights blinking on its roof with a loud, annoying siren sound.
"Oh..." Uncle Franky went really quiet, "Shit."
"Uh, Y-Yuri, am I doing this right?"
"You're doing great sis-LOOK OUT!"
Yor yelped and managed to narrowly avoid the oncoming car as she zoomed up the inclined road, reaching its zenith and feeling Bumblebee leap off it like a ramp. In those moments, when gravity felt light and they hovered in the air, she was left wondering if she was making any mistakes. Sure, she'd seen people drive plenty of times, but with her mind racing a billion miles a second, all those instances of observation became a nightmarish, messy blur that made a room of corpses seem cleanly by comparison. Even the blurry view of outside the car seemed comprehensible compared to everything running in her head, but that was probably because she was built and trained to work at such speeds.
Am I going too fast? Yor wondered, since she couldn't immediately recall if she'd ever seen a car drive over 200 MPH before, but she was too terrified to take her foot off the gas. Where there any speed limits like that in Ostania? Westalis maybe? She didn't trust herself behind the wheel to know the answer, so she had to have faith in her husband, brother, and bother's friend to guide her through this and tell her if she was doing something wrong.
Granted, Loid was being...disturbingly quiet, and Chloe was screaming so loud the octave could shatter glass. But Yuri was screaming too and still able to comment on her driving, and so far, he said she was doing good. If Chloe and Loid saw her doing something wrong, they'd tell her and provide the needed corrections, right?
As the car descended, it landed back on the road, making everyone jump in their seats. In the process, a knob on the radio must have loosened, because it turned on and started playing, "-ord help me, I can't cha-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ange!" Yor saw she was rapidly approaching a car from behind and swerved around it, "Lord I can't change. Won't you flyyyyyyy hiiiiiiiiigh freeeeee birrrd, yeah!"
The radio let loose a guitar solo as traffic grew, Yuri and Chloe screaming even louder. Determined to avoid crashing, Yor narrowed her eyes and swiftly turned and shifted past each and every vehicle, keeping away from sidewalks and civilians. While she managed to avoid bumping into anyone, amidst the honking of horns, she noticed how the radio kept getting louder and louder, drowning out Yuri and Chloe's screams. It was almost like it was somehow screaming alongside them.
Maybe I should stop? Yor thought, but she didn't know exactly how to do that. On top of everything, she was in the middle of the road and moving way to fast to properly stop. She needed an open space void of obstacles to slow down first. And that was without accounting for the three-way intersection she was heading towards. Crap! Yor thinking quickly, made a sharp 90 degree turn right and burst forward, dodging a few more cars before the roads became clear again.
"O-Okay sis, still doing great!" Yuri complimented at the top of his lungs as they went through an underpass, "B-But maybe we should probably find a p-place to park!?"
Entering a tunnel, Yor nodded, but before she could slam her foot on the brakes and attempt to slow down, far ahead she saw a construction crew working on one half of the road, directing a few cars to the other side to get around them. There was no room ahead for her to get through, and she couldn't slow down without crashing into anything at this speed. And everyone seemed to realize it too, as their screams (and the guitar solo) grew even louder. Instinctively, Yor did the one thing she could; put all her strength into slamming her body against Bumblebee's door, making the whole car lean in that direction. Then, she drove to the right, narrowly avoiding the last car in line as she slammed into the tunnel wall, rubber burning against it.
All four of Bumblebee's wheels made contact with the wall as Yor drove along it, circling over everything on the road amidst a series of honks and beeps before returning to ground as she reached the tunnel's end and entered the afternoon sun once more.
"Phew! That was a close one!" Yor smiled as tall buildings started blurring past them again, I think I'm starting to get the hang of this!
"Y-Yeah! T-Too close!" Chloe stopped screaming for a moment and found her voice, "NOW PLEASE SLOW DOWN AND STOP THE FU-WATCH OUT!"
"I see it!" Yor swerved to the left to avoid crashing into the building, darting forward at speeds faster than most could blink. Unfortunately, this left her moving too fast to make a second turn left, forcing her slightly shift right and enter a narrow alleyway, smashing into a dumpster that likely went flying somewhere behind her. While the alleyway was a straight shot back to the roads, Yor's eyes could see far ahead to notice a trailer truck had stopped at what was presumably a light, with them on a collision course for each other. Making matters worse, she could see people walking down the sidewalk, there was another large dumpster taking up the right half of the passage, and she had no way to stop without running into any (or all) of those in the process.
"Yuri! Lean for the door!" at her words, Yor's brother nodded and did just that. Combined with Yor's leaning, Bumblebee tilted on its right, letting her turn left and drive up the wall. The instant they reached the end of the alley, Bumblebee flew high into the air, soaring above buildings as the car spun several times over. With each spin, the screaming and music seemed to crack and crackle, as if everyone's voices were getting tired from it all.
After a few seconds, they started to descend, Yor timing the spins just right to force Bumblebee to the nearest apartment building as she slammed her foot against the brakes. Wheels first, the car skidded against the bricks before sliding down to the street, tilting one final time and coming to a complete stop as the guitar solo faded and ceased. Now partially against the empty sidewalk, Yor turned off the car and sighed in relief, I did it. I can't believe I actually- her reverie was cut off when the back door opened, with Yor seeing that Chloe had run out and was now puking in the garbage can just behind them. "O-Oh," Yor was starting to get concerned and asked her brother, "I-Is she okay?"
"Y-Yeah. She'll be fine," Yuri stepped out, legs shaking, "Just gotta...t-take a breather..."
He closed the door and leaned against the car, his entire body shaking as he breathed in and out. Come to think of it, the car itself seemed to be shaking, which was odd since she turned it off. Putting that aside, she turned back to face her husband, whose breathing was ragged and labored, eyes wide as deathly buzz saws that seemed to be staring right through her. She didn't know what was going through his head, but whatever it was, it couldn't have been anything good, and her driving had caused this. What kind of terrible wife was she!?
"L-Loid?" Yor reached out, shaking him with remorse in her eyes, "Loid! I'm sorry, I messed up! Please, come back!"
It took a few tries, but Loid started to blink rapidly as his eyes returned to normal, "Yor...what just happened?"
"Oh thank goodness!" Yor sighed in relief and reached back to hug him. Realizing it was going on a bit longer than intended, she blushed and pulled back, awkwardly clutching at the headrest of her seat. "Uh..." she stammered, "I should...probably go check on Yuri and his friend."
"Yeah..." Loid shook his head, still seeming to be shaking off his stupor from earlier. The guilt coming back, Yor stepped out of the car and looked over to Yuri and Chloe, the former still catching his breath while the latter was hunched against the garbage can like it was a crutch. The sight made Yor's confidence shrink with each passing second. Her husband stepped out a moment later, taking a deep inhale and exhale as he smiled like nothing was wrong. But Yor couldn't forget that faraway look in his eyes.
I've seen that look before, Yor looked down at her hands, remembering a few of the jobs she'd taken as Thorn Princess. As she took the lives of her targets, she looked them in the eyes before delivering a quick death. And in their eyes was the same gaze Loid had; their entire life flashing before them as it ended in an instant. She'd just put her husband, an innocent, loving, gentle man and caring father, through that very same thing. And as the guilt grew worse, so too did the realization of how many innocents she put at risk today. If this was what her driving did to those inside the (relative) safety of the vehicle, what about those outside, who had no such protection and whom she probably drove too close to for comfort.
She should've taken her foot off the pedal and slammed the brakes. No, she never should've gotten into the car in the first place. What was she thinking? She wasn't built to drive a car like a normal person. She'd never be a normal person! She'd always stand out as a complete weirdo, making everyone suspicious with the Secret Police coming after her, leaving Loid, Anya, Bond, and Yuri behind and-
"Yor, that was amazing!" Yuri cut off her rapidly deteriorating sense of self.
"Huh?"
"I mean, did you see your skills behind the wheel? You circled around a tunnel and drove up a building!" Yuri praised, gesturing to Bumblebee's still shaking form, "And you did it in Loid's shoddy old wagon. Honestly, I didn't know it could pull off those kinds of things, but you found a way!"
At Yuri's words, the car stopped shaking completely, becoming so still that it actually concerned Yor. Putting that aside, she looked to her brother, seeing both Loid and Chloe give him looks of utter bafflement, and asked, "Really? You mean I drove good and that I'm not some weirdo who can't drive to save her life?"
Yuri was about to speak, but then Chloe grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him to turn to her, "Yuri, are you insane!? That was horrible!"
"W-What?" Yor's heart sank while Yuri glared at her. Even Loid seemed taken aback by the outburst. Chloe remained undeterred, looking Yor in the eye.
"Yor, I'm going to be completely sincere and honest with you right now," she took a deep breath and clutched at her head, as if getting a headache, "That driving was so horrific, erratic, and just absurdly hyper that the only reason it isn't worse than an actual war crime is because somehow, against all known laws of possibility, no one got hurt!"
"S-So, it really was as bad as I thought it was?"
"No," Chloe answered, voice now utterly monotone, "It was worse. Whatever you thought couldn't compare to the roller coaster of insanity we just went through."
"CHLOE!" Yuri practically growled at his co-worker as the two entered a stare down, "Apologize to my sister, now!"
Chloe's eyes narrowed, "No Yuri, she needs to hear this and you're not gonna tell her anything! All you've done is sing Yor's praises, acting like she could do no wrong when she did everything wrong. The entire reason we're here is to help her improve, and that'll never happen if you refuse to accept that she can make mistakes! And that she, in fact, made more than I could count!"
"Uh, excuse me," Loid tried to enter the conversation, "Can I give my own-"
"Stay out of this Loidy!" Yuri raised a hand at him, narrowing his own eyes at Chloe, "Alright, if she made more than you could count, how about you name them and give advice on how to fix it? Because from where I'm standing, I just hearing nothing but put downs. Tell me, how's that going to help my sister "improve", as if you want her to."
"Everyone, stop it!" Yor all but screamed at them, silencing the argument with stares of shock aimed at her, Loid looking like he was just about to get between the arguing diplomats. Sighing, she looked to the floor and rubbed her hands, "Yuri, like it or not, she's right. I really am a terrible driver."
"Wha-Yor! Don't say that! You're honestly not that bad."
Yor blinked at the statement, "So...d-do you honestly think it was bad?"
Yuri balked, unsure of what to say as he awkwardly looked around, guilt evident in his eyes. Even Chloe, in spite of her earlier admonishments, was regretful of what she'd just said.
"I'm sorry sis," Yuri muttered, sounding ashamed as silence overcame the entire group.
"It's fine, Yuri," Yor replied, "Honestly, I don't think I can blame you for that, since it was to spare my feelings." Besides, with everything I've been lying about to...well, everyone, it's not like I have a right to be upset about something like that. "Let's just try again. I want to get this right, no matter how many times it takes." Everyone looked to each other, either in concern (Chloe), admiration (Yuri), or both (Loid). Thankfully, all of them nodded, with Yor's mood picking up as she clapped her hands, "Great!" she looked to her husband, "Loid, if it isn't too much trouble, could you sit next to me this time? I'd like your direct help when it comes to this."
"Sure," Loid nodded, much to Yuri's clear frustration, though he swallowed it down as the four of them made way for their respective seats. As Yuri struggled to open the rear door (which Loid helped him with), Yor sighed. She was well aware that her brother didn't approve of her and Loid's marriage, and while it started off understandable given its original intent as a cover to both maintain her assassin identity and put Anya through school, it became harder to put up with the longer it went. While Yor sincerely loved her little brother with all her heart, she just wished he'd stop being so needlessly frustrated with her life choices.
Reaching for the driver's seat door, she pulled the handle to open it, yet it wouldn't. Blinking, Yor pulled again, this time harder, yet the result was the same. With a grunt, she pulled as hard as she could, and after some effort, the door finally swung open. "Alright," Yor said as she sat down and closed it, "Let's try this again," inhaling and exhaling, she turned the key, yet nothing happened, "What?"
"Huh, that's odd," Loid tried turning the key, only to be met with the same result.
"Maybe you should go look under the hood?" Chloe asked as Loid turned the key again, the car suddenly turning on the moment she finished the question. Since it was working now, Yor gripped the wheel and prepared to drive, only for the car to just as suddenly turn off.
"Seriously? What the hell's wrong with this hunk of junk now?" Yuri snapped, which was met with the back of Yor's seat slamming into his face, "Argh!"
"Yuri! Are you okay?" Yor asked, everyone looking back at her brother in concern. She wondered how that even happened, as she didn't adjust or even touch the seat.
"Dammit! Why does this car hate me!?" Yuri clutched at his reddening forehead.
"Yuri, a car can't hate you. It isn't a living thing," Loid pointed out as he exited the car, "I'll go look under the hood. See if anything's damaged."
"What about the seat and doors?" Chloe asked.
"I'll check those after the fact," he looked at Yuri, "I may need some help inspecting the car. Think you could lend a hand?"
Yuri was a bit apprehensive to the idea at first, but relented when Yor gave him a pleading look. "Fine," he said, getting out, "Let's figure this thing out."
"There should be a tool kit in the trunk," Loid said, with Chloe offering to get it. As everyone was exiting to work on the car, Yor found herself almost mechanically doing the same, if only to see what she'd broken within Bumblebee. She watched the three struggle to open the hood, and while she wanted to help, she was scared to do so. If her terrible driving broke something, she didn't want to risk doing any further damage. Thankfully, it wasn't necessary, as they managed to get it open and start the inspection.
"Strange," Loid muttered loudly after a couple minutes.
"What?" Yor asked, "Did you find something?" Though the second question she wanted to ask: "How can I help?" went unsaid.
"The opposite, actually," Yuri leaned up from out of the hood, "Pretty much everything's perfectly intact, and there isn't a bolt or piston out of place."
Wait, is that even possible? Yor couldn't believe it. With Bumblebee's behavior, you'd think something inside was ruptured or busted up.
"There's gotta be something wrong here..." Chloe looked across the engine again while Loid and Yuri checked other components. Once more, their inspections came back negative. As this continued, Yor stood back and pondered what was going on, and her mind came to a conclusion.
"What if I'm the problem?" Yor drew their attention away from the engine, "What if Bumblebee's afraid of me? What if the car hates me?"
"Yor, what are you talking about?" Chloe asked, utterly befuddled by the question.
"Think about it," Yor explained, "Bumblebee started working for Loid when he turned the key, but the minute I try to drive again, it shuts down. Not to mention how it felt like the door to the driver's seat was fighting against me. It's almost like Bumblebee doesn't want me to drive it."
Everyone looked to each other, Loid turning back to say, "Yor, I'm sorry, but that just doesn't make any sense. I said it before, but cars can't do that."
"It's the only reason I could think of at this point," Yor sank into the sidewalk, taking a seat with knees to her chin, "But if it can, then it has every right to with how terrible I am behind a wheel." Yor closed her eyes and let her thoughts wash over her, frustrated by the inability to just do the things a normal person could without struggle. Interrupted by the air shifting next to her and a familiar presence, she turned to see Loid had taken a seat at her side, his own eyes both curious and concerned. With a blink, she sat up, "Loid?"
Her husband looked up at Yuri and Chloe, "Could you both give us a moment, please?" Yuri huffed, clearly not wanting to listen to Loid, but Chloe elbowed him and gave a glare as she picked up the tool kit from the ground. He relented with a slightly frustrated sigh, and the two entered Bumblebee's rear seats, neither struggling with the doors like previously. Loid focused his attention on Yor and asked, "Yor, what's this about? It feels like this goes a bit deeper than just not being good at driving."
Yor sighed, "It's just...well, there are a few things. Part of it's because I feel like I'm not doing enough for you and Anya. Like I could be doing more for the family. You already do so much and I..." she licked her dry lips and gulped, "I want to help carry that weight. I figured I could help with things like driving Anya to school when you were too busy or take the wheel if you ever got tired on the road. Just little things like that."
"But there's something else? Isn't there?" Loid asked, gently gazing at her, "You said not being able to drive made you feel "weird", but I don't see anything strange about that."
It still amazes me how well Loid can read people, Yor gave a mirthless chuckle. While she hid her secrets well, when it came to her feelings, she may as well have been an open book to her husband. "Yeah, I talked about it with my coworkers too, and they said the same thing," Yor admitted, hands behind her as she leaned back, "But it just doesn't sit well with me that I never learned how to drive. I want to be able to have these kinds of experiences that I never gave myself the time for. Too bad I messed it all up."
"You were afraid. Everyone makes those mistakes when their fears get to them."
"Doubt they ever get as big as the ones I made today," Yor relented.
"Actually, if I'm being honest, your first time behind the wheel's better than mine ever was," Loid admitted, much to Yor's shock.
"Really?" She faced him as he nodded, searching for even a hint of insincerity just to know if he was lying to help her feel better. Yet in his eyes, there wasn't a trace of any.
"I had friends at the time that were...hurt," Loid explained, staring at the sidewalk as his gaze became distant, "I was desperate to get them help, so I tried to drive them there as fast as I could. Ended up crashing and bumping into almost everything, and I was terrified, both for myself and my friends. In the end, none of it mattered. They died along the way."
"I...I'm so sorry," Yor replied, her earlier frustrations giving way to sadness, "Is that when you decided to become a doctor?"
Loid shook his head, "No, why I took up my occupation is a bit different, but you're closer than you realize. The main reason I became what I am today is so I could do everything to ensure people would never die pointless deaths," he sighed, bitterness tinging his tone, "Like the kind my friends suffered from." Yor wasn't sure what to say after that, nor if she could really say anything. But she couldn't help but wonder why Loid was telling her all this. She wasn't sure that it had anything to do with her previous, horrendous driving attempt. As if reading her mind, Loid finished, "Part of why I'm saying all this is because, in a way, both Yuri and Chloe were right."
Huh?
"What I mean is, your driving was without a doubt reckless and potentially destructive. But at the same time, you showed plenty of good instincts in avoiding that same destruction. Even when you were in fight or flight mode, you didn't hit a single car, building, or person. Reverse our positions, and I don't think the same could be said for me even now."
Yor was taken aback by the honesty in Loid's voice. While he admitted to having his own fair share of mistakes, she often forgot that with how he tended to excel at everything. His words did help, but the ache came back, even if lesser than before, "Yet it feels like I'd be better off if I never got behind a wheel again."
"You don't sound sure."
Yor shook her head and asked, "What do you think I should do?"
Loid went silent for a bit, clearly pondering over his words, before finally speaking up, "That's a choice you have to make for yourself, Yor. I can't decide that for you, nor can Yuri or Chloe or anyone for that matter. If you don't feel comfortable continuing, there's no shame in admitting that. We can stop here and head home."
"Giving up doesn't feel right either," Yor huffed.
"It never does," Loid admitted through a grunt of his own. It sounded like he had experience with that too. He gave her a small smile, "Yor, I've seen you do amazing, often inspiring things. But we're still human and need to understand our limits. The better we do that, the better we can work within them to move forward. Forcing yourself can be more detrimental than it's worth."
"That certainly sounds familiar," Yor couldn't help but giggle, her mind filled with memories of when he came home from work, drained to the point of collapse. Smiling, she remembered when he fell asleep on the couch, with her and Anya putting a blanket over him so he could get rest.
"Yeah, I'll admit, I don't often take my own advice," Loid rubbed the back of his head, face slightly tinting red as Yor's did in kind.
"Makes two of us, I guess," Yor muttered. How often did she preach the virtue of honesty to her little brother, only to hide the fact that she was an assassin? How often did she tell Anya to avoid confrontations when violence and death were the only things she knew how to do? Her entire being was a mass of contradictions. Should that change? Could she be Yor Forger and Thorn Princess at the same time anymore? She didn't know.
But she did know one thing. This wasn't her limit. Or at the very least, it didn't feel like it. Regaining her resolve, she gave Loid a grin, "One more drive."
Loid raised an eyebrow, "You sure?"
"Yeah. You said I should know my limits, and I want to see if this really is one of them," Yor stared determined at Bumblebee, "I know I caused a scare, and I'd rather not do so again. But I want to figure this out. Not just for you and Anya, but for myself too."
Her husband's eyes went wide for a bit, Yor seeing a bit of awe and worry in them. For a second, Yor thought she was being too forceful. That her desire would do nothing but terrify him, and that she was being selfish for asking him to go through that again. But instead, he gained a smile that grew as bright as Anya's. "In that case, I'll be there every step of the way," he stood up and held out his hand for her to take, "Not gonna lie, I'd rather not, but if you think it'll help, I'm with you."
Yor took his hand and stood, her own grin glowing, "And if I lose control behind the wheel again, you'll be able to stop me, right?"
"I promise," hearing the earnest in his voice, they made their way to the two front seats, Loid taking the shotgun while Yor took the driver's. Before either could enter the car, Loid spoke, "And Yor?" she looked to him as he stood tall, "You said you felt like you weren't doing enough for us? For me and Anya?" nodding, she wouldn't let the pang of sadness show. If it did, Loid made no comment as he continued, "You don't need to feel that way. I know Anya's happy for all you've done for her, and I am too. Honestly, you've done more than I think you realize. And that's enough. You're enough."
A light gasp escaped Yor's lips. Despite having received affirmations from Loid and Anya before, she couldn't help but feel like a stranger in her new home. Even after all they'd been through, she couldn't shake those feelings thanks to her previous loneliness. She didn't know how not to be like that. Yet in spite of that fact, Loid considered her good enough to role play as a wife, to help him and his daughter, who now just as much felt like her own. No matter how often she messed up in cooking, sewing, or any of the things a mother should be good at, it didn't matter to them. In their eyes, she'd done enough.
She was...enough.
Heart soaring, she and Loid entered Bumblebee, with her looking back to the other two passengers. For some reason, Chloe had a heartfelt smile on her face with what looked like wiped away tear stains just beneath her eyes. Yuri was resting his head against the car's windowsill, appearing a bit on the grumpy side, but even he had the smallest ghost of a smile when he looked at her.
Why are they looking at me like- Yor's brain caught up as she blushed and immediately snapped forward, Oh my God, were they eavesdropping!? Deciding not to think about it right now, she reached for the key and closed her eyes, Deep breathes Yor, she inhaled and exhaled, Here goes.
She turned the key, and Bumblebee roared to life. So far, everything had been working, but the nervousness crept back up as she put the car in drive and clutched the steering wheel. Yor looked to Loid, who pointed down at her boots, "Gently press the gas. Don't slam your foot unless you want to move faster than a speeding bullet."
"Right. Okay, I can do this! Nice...and easy..." Yor breathed in and out one last time, slowly, gently pressing her big toe on the gas pedal and pushing forward from there. The moment she started moving, she closed her eyes, scared of seeing the messy blur again. But then she reminded herself that would increase chances of crashing and forced one open. To her surprise, she was traveling at a casual cruising speed.
"Take a right," Loid suggested, to which Yor complied, spinning the wheel and turning down the road. For a second, it felt like the wheel was fighting against her, but she chalked it up to her nerves. As she drove, the occasional car passed by, as did people on the sidewalks. Stopping at the light just ahead, she waited for it to turn green, all the while slowly growing giddy.
I...I'm doing this, she thought happily, I'm actually doing this! The light changed, cars ahead of her pressing forward as she followed suit, letting Loid direct her on where she needed to go. It was all a matter of maintaining this easygoing speed and not swerving about like a psychotic maniac. And she would know, given the amount of psychopaths she'd killed.
She turned left when she needed to, then right, then kept herself in tune with traffic. Her grip on the wheel loosened, and she found herself relaxing the longer the drive went, almost entering a sort of mental autopilot, if that made sense. It actually felt less like she was driving and more like the car drove itself. Perhaps it was a sign that this was becoming second nature for her? In any case, she was too happy to pay that feeling any mind.
Through the rearview mirror, she looked back at her brother and Chloe, seeing them relaxed and enjoying the drive as they admired the sunset outside. Even Loid eventually stopped giving directions and just enjoyed the leisurely pace. After a few minutes of this, she found herself driving around the currently empty dog park they first took Bond too. Thinking this would be a good place to stop for now, she found a parking space and stopped the car, taking one final deep breath. Not in nervousness, but in triumph.
"I did it," Yor grinned from ear to ear.
"Yes, you did," Loid said with a smile of his own.
"I can't believe I actually did it!"
"Well believe it, Yor," Chloe complimented, "Honestly though, I'm just as surprised as you."
"WHOO! Way to go sis! You drove like a pro," Yuri cheered as they all started to exit the car and step on the sidewalk.
Once out, Yor lost control of herself, practically zooming to Loid and enveloping him in a hug, "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"
"No problem Yor," Loid sounded like he was struggling to breath. Realizing she was probably putting too much strength into the hug, Yor released him as he caught his breath, and he smiled for her. She turned to Yuri and Chloe, the former looking slightly peeved before he hid it with a smile, and rushed forward to hug them too.
"Thank you! All of you!" she said, making sure to be aware of her strength this time to put less force into it.
"Anything to help, sis!" Yuri said, sounding extremely happy.
"Yeah...glad..." Chloe, on the other hand, sounded like she was running out of air. This left Yor confused since she was actively trying not to hug them very hard. But then she heard what sounded like Chloe's clavicle cracking and opted to let go before someone got hurt. Thankfully, despite the pain, Chloe still smiled at Yor, and Yuri rubbed at the woman's shoulder to help further ease the pain.
As Yor watched her brother and friend smile to each other, she turned to Loid and asked, "So, what now? It's getting pretty late."
They all looked to the setting sun. Judging by its position (she didn't have a watch at the moment), Yor guessed that it was close to 6:00 pm. Loid rolled back his sleeve just a bit and checked his own watch, confirming her estimation. "I think we should call it a day and head back," Loid suggested, "We can set up later lessons to..." he slowly petered off at the sound of sirens in the distance, and Yor noted how it was getting closer as well. Looking for the source, she saw a police car rounding the corner she'd just driven through and headed their way, Loid muttering a quiet, "Oh no," while Yuri and Chloe were equally worried. The police car parked next to Bumblebee at its right side. Two officers stepped out, Loid clearing his throat as they approached to ask, "Anything we can help you with, officers?"
"Yes, actually," the first, likely senior officer said. He was tall, broad-shouldered with pitch black hair, slightly eclipsing Yor's husband in height. "We got reports of a disturbance involving a speeding yellow car with a black stripe. One of our own couldn't keep up, so they alerted other officers in Berlint to keep an eye out," he jutted his thumb at the vehicle in question, "This wouldn't happen to be your car, would it?"
"Y-Yes," Yor stammered without thinking, hand covering her mouth.
The second officer, this shorter than Yor with light brown hair, stepped forward, "In that case, unless you can tell us who was driving, all four of you will have to come to the station for questioning."
Oh nononono! Yor was once again panicking, feeling everyone around her tense up. And for some reason, the car's engine roared in an almost snarl-like fashion. Did she forget to turn it off? This is bad! If I don't say something, we're all going to get arrested! But if I do, I'll get arrested, then Anya won't have a mother in her life anymore. She'll get kicked out of Eden, her future will be ruined, and Loid will fail his first wife's dying wish. Then they'll investigate me and discover I'm an assassin and then I'll be forced to move away from my family! Yor tried to look at her options, but it was looking like a damned if she did, damned if she didn't situation. Staring blankly at the cops, eyes obscured by her hair, she began flexing her fingers, hearing audible cracks in her bones, Maybe I could...take care of these two? That should be me some time to- clenching her fist, she shook her head, No! No! No! You can't kill police just doing their jobs! You don't even know if these are corrupt officers whose deaths would be warranted! Even if they were, you'd be killing them in front of your family and friend. They'll discover what you are and want nothing to do with you ever-
"Officer's," Loid's voice interrupted Yor's spiraling mind as he stepped forward, "I was the one driving the car. Take me in if you have to but allow my friends and family to return home. I'll accept the responsibility."
"Loid, no," Yor whispered beneath her breath from just behind her husband. Much as she didn't want to be arrested, she refused to allow her husband to suffer for her mistakes. She leveled another glare at the officers again as one approached to grab Loid, eyes radiating pure murderous intent that made him freeze for a second when he looked into them. His partner also began backing away in terror. While she had no intention of killing them, if she could just get behind them and deliver a few strikes to their nerves, it'd incapacitate them long enough for everyone to get in Bumblebee and run for the hills. From there, she just had to make sure they never encountered these specific two ever again, though she had no clue how to accomplish that part. Maybe she could speak to the Shopkeeper and see if he could-
"God dammit!" Yuri grumbled loud enough to get everyone's attention, stomping in front of Loid and grabbing the two officers by their shoulders, "Look, officers, I'd like to apologize," he said in a saccharine tone as he started shoving them towards their police car amidst protests, "My brother-in-law's such a klutz behind the wheel and he just can't keep his foot off the gas to save his life. Don't you worry though," he practically threw the smaller officer into the shotgun seat, "We'll make sure he gets the right lessons," he circled to the driver's seat and shoved the taller cop in, "And there'll be no repeat incidents, I promise!"
"Listen here kid, if you're gonna get in the way like that, then we're gonna have to-" the dark-haired officer froze as Yuri leaned forward, an almost threatening aura surrounding him. He reached into his coat and clearly showed the officers something that drained all color from their faces, but just what that was, Yor couldn't tell. Her current angle obscured it.
"As I said, there will be no repeat incidents. And you should know that I always keep my word. Understood, officers?" Yuri's voice was disturbingly peppy, to the point where it was clearly forced. Just what was he doing?
"Y-Yeah! We understand, sir!" the officers said simultaneously as they closed the window and started driving away. It all happened so fast that it made Yor wonder if this was an outside perspective of her driving.
As the dust cloud faded from the previously used parking spot, Yuri walked back to them, an all too proud smile on his face, "Well, I don't think we'll be worrying about them anytime soon."
"...Yuri, how did you convince them to leave?" Yor asked, wondering what he showed them.
"Uh..." Yuri went quiet for what felt like forever, despite only half a minute at most passing before he finally answered, "Cops are afraid of diplomats, so I just...showed them my credentials."
"..."
"..."
"...that makes sense. I didn't realize diplomats had such authority over law enforcement like that," Yor mused out loud. For some reason, her statement made Loid and Chloe collapse to the floor.
"Yuri, I don't think you should have done that," Chloe commented as she stood up, giving Yuri a stern, questioning glance.
"I know, I know," Yuri gestured in a placating manner, "But I had to do something!" for a second, he glanced at Loid with a strange mix of annoyance and resignation in his eye, "And I couldn't let Loid get arrested for something he didn't do."
Once again, Yor hugged her brother tightly, this time in thanks, while Chloe huffed, "What's done is done, I guess. But we're definitely talking about this later."
As Yor released Yuri from the hug, Loid stepped forward and held out his hand, "Thanks. I know you're not exactly fond of me, but I appreciate what you did."
"Yeah, well..." Yuri sighed, reluctantly taking Loid's hand, "You were willing to go to jail to protect my sister. I figured I owed you for that," but as he released the grip, he said, "But I'm still keeping an eye on you!"
Yor was about to gently chastise Yuri for that, but rather than take offense, Loid simply chuckled, "I'd expect nothing less, Yuri."
"In any case, we should probably head back," Chloe started making her way for her backseat, with Yuri following suit.
"Hey, Loid?" Yor asked as her brother and his friend entered the car, "Think you could drive us back? Don't want to risk anything."
"That's admittedly for the best," Loid nodded, seeming relieved by her decision. Still, he gave her a reassuring smile to let her know she ended on a high note, letting Yor smile back in kind as they entered their car. Only now did Yor notice that it was suddenly turned off, which was odd, given how the engine roared during the police encounter. Loid seemed to notice it too, and from what she saw in the rearview mirror, so did Yuri and Chloe.
With a twist of the key, Bumblebee came to life again, radio suddenly running through a few channels, "**** the-police repor-ZZZZT!"
"Uh, what was that?" Chloe asked.
Loid sighed as he twisted the radio knobs to test it, "The radio tends to short out every now and then. Flips through a few stations for some reason before it starts working like normal."
Yuri put his seatbelt on, "You might want to get that fixed at some point. Sounds like a pain in the ass to deal with."
"I don't know, I kinda like it," Yor earned questioning looks from everyone. With a gentle smile, she placed a hand against the dash, "In a way, everyone has something about them that sets them apart and makes them who they are. Maybe I'm just being sentimental for something I haven't had for very long, but I feel like all of this car's little quirks, like the messy radio, are what make it...well, Bumblebee. Personally, I wouldn't change a thing."
Everyone was quiet again, taking in the weight of her words, assuming they had any weight to begin with. Loid was the first to speak, letting out a soft chuckle, "In that case, if it's good enough for you, then it's good enough for me," he gently places his own hand on the dash just as Yor retracted hers, the thought of their hands making such contact being too much for her at the moment. "Plus, I know Anya loves all Bumblebee's little habits," Loid mused out loud as he patted the car, "She's always stifling her laughs whenever they come up."
"Can we get going now?" Yuri asked, sounding more than a bit tired. Made sense to Yor, since it'd been a long afternoon.
Nodding, Loid put the car in drive and proceeded back on the road. Soon enough, they were on their way back to the factory. While Yor's nervousness on driving wasn't completely gone, she wouldn't deny feeling much lighter now.
Yuri quietly focused on the road and his superior's car ahead as they drove back to their respective homes. After they all got back to the factory parking lot in Loidy's car, he'd admit to finding it hilarious how all his comrades were frozen, jaws practically to the floor. Apparently, his sister's driving was such a shock they needed damn near the entire afternoon to recover from witnessing it. Yuri found it a bit insulting to her, but at this point, he was willing to accept it. Besides, there wasn't a whole lot he could say or do anyway.
"I still think what you did back there was a bad idea," Chloe said from her seat just beside her.
"Maybe, but I still don't regret it," Yuri admitted, turning to the left as he followed the Lieutenant's car.
"Yuri, I'm serious," Chloe continued, "I read a lot of history back in college, and little actions like that are a slippery slope. It's one thing for us to exert authority against those that threaten this country when it's necessary. It's another thing entirely to do so against people like civilian officers just because they pissed you off," Yuri could feel Chloe glaring a hole in his head, "And we're supposed to be better than that."
"They were going to arrest someone for crimes he didn't commit," Yuri justified it, even if doing so left the taste of acid in his mouth. He certainly loathed Loid with almost every fiber of his being. Yet for as much as he wanted to find something to arrest him for, he couldn't bring himself to sit back and let him take the heat for something he knew the man genuinely didn't do. Combined with the heart wrenching body language his sister had at the very thought of her husband's arrest, his body acted before his brain caught up with it.
His sweet, beloved sister. Yuri would do anything to ensure her safety and happiness. Even if it meant putting up with Loidy. But the moment that bastard did something. Be it to hurt her, or the country she called home, he'd sniff it out like a bloodhound and bite down until the limbs came off.
"You have that look on your face."
"Eh?" Yuri realized he was glaring and raised an eyebrow at Chloe.
"The same look you gave Loid a few times back there?" she pointed out with narrow eyes, "The same one you suspect to be a spy? Or does this have anything to do with that?"
"..."
"Yuri."
"He doesn't deserve her."
At Yuri's blunt, borderline growled statement, Chloe sighed, "Yuri, I get that you want to protect your sister. That much is obvious. But I feel like you're going overboard. Not to mention this is starting to get more than a bit creepy. Seriously, it feels like you're obsessed with her."
Choosing to ignore that, he asked, "Did you find anything to suggest Loid could be a spy?"
"No, I didn't see anything," Chloe shook her head, "Granted, at least half of that's because I was too busy screaming my lungs out, but even then, I didn't see anything in his body language or words that could even give a hint. Even when we were all shaking hands and saying goodbye back at the factory, he felt pretty on the level," she hummed, "In all honesty, he seems like an ordinary psychiatrist and loving husband. Nothing more and nothing less."
"Looks can be deceiving. It's our line of work to tear off the masks they love to hide behind," Yuri pointed out, still convinced there was something more to Loid. There just had to be. Everyone had something to hide.
"I know, and I didn't say he's suddenly not a suspect of anything. Just that he seems pretty ordinary," Chloe huffed, looking like she was going to punch him in the face again, "What about you? Did you see anything suspicious out of him?"
Yuri thought back over every interaction he'd had with Loid throughout the entire day. Despite his best efforts to scope out anything, nothing really stood out to him. As was the norm, he was polite, charming, and pretty much perfect, which just made Yuri despise him all the more. No one was that perfect, especially not some doctor who came out of nowhere and won his sister's heart.
Loid Loid Loid, everything revolves around Loid these days, Yuri huffed as he slowed down in front of a stoplight and came to a standstill, his superiors' car lucky they were ahead enough to have gone on green, Well, at least Yor's happy, but why'd Loid have to be the one to do it? Ugh, just forget it, Yuri. Yor's happy, so be happy for her! the more he thought about it, the more upset he became. Instead, he tried focusing on other things he noticed during the practice drive and afterward, like that weird symbol on the steering wheel of Loid's car. For some reason, it stuck in his mind with how odd it was, looking like a metal face. Not to mention that for such an old hunk of scrap, it managed to take all the dangers it'd faced without a single scratch on it. Did Loid reinforce it somehow? Yuri's mind began wandering, But where the hell would he get the resources if he's just a psychiatrist? Unless he isn't one and that's just his spy cover! Maybe that symbol means something, like...maybe it's the emblem of some paramilitary organization from out of Ostania. Is Loid part of it? Is it a terrorist cell like the Westalis one we took care of recently? If he is, then I'll be there to stop whatever schemes they're plotting and get that bastard far away from my-
"By the way, did you remember to bug their car? Wasn't able to with my life flashing before my eyes."
Chloe's question snapped him out of it as the light turned green.
"DAMMIT!" Yuri slammed his head against the steering wheel, the car horn blaring out as Chloe sighed and patted his back.
Loid managed to stifle a yawn as he entered his bedroom, it now being past sundown. He'd just finished saying good night to Yor, Bond, and Anya, and thanked Franky for looking after the latter two before sending him on his way. With the apartment quiet as a mouse and Franky heading home, Loid sat down at his desk and pulled out the few coins Jeffrey had discreetly given to him during their final handshake. Thankfully, despite the risk with close SSS presence, they failed to notice. Likely a result of still being too unnerved by Yor's driving (or traumatized in Yuri and Chloe's cases, something he completely sympathized with and knew firsthand) and them just wanting to head home by that point. And now that Loid's mind was on that note...
Why did I do that? Loid thought back to the police encounter and what he'd tried to do. Getting arrested would have put Operation STRIX in peril, especially in a situation where he didn't have the time to formulate a plan of escape or ensure he could destroy all record of the arrest. Yet despite his years of instincts from operating as Twilight telling him not to, his body completely ignored them and did the first thing he could think of to save his wife from potential imprisonment. This isn't the first time something like this happened either, he mused, fingers to his chin as he began opening the coins up. He remembered the interview process they'd taken to allow Anya attendance of Eden Academy, and how Murdoch Swan mocked and bullied both her and Yor throughout it. His reaction, to lash out in anger at the man and just barely redirect it at the last possible second, almost ruined the entire mission.
Yet if Anya wasn't attending Eden now due to a technicality (which he was still quite certain was just something Housemaster Henderson made up), Loid still didn't think he'd have regretted what he'd done. Even now, he was surprised by how he felt few, if any, regrets for his actions during either that incident or the one from today. As Loid took out a small spy glass and read the near-microscopic words, he reflected on these feelings. He wasn't quite sure about how this would affect his mission moving forward, but it wasn't unwelcome either. It felt good, ensuring that his family was cared for, content, and happy. Was that not the entire reason he became a spy to begin with? To ensure the wellbeing and happiness of others.
Huh, interesting, Loid read through Jeffrey's intel and learned the details of a recent raid on a number of warehouses by the SSS. Apparently, they were being used as bases and storage facilities for a Westalis terrorist cell. Loid recalled how he and other WISE agents were busy with missions at the time, so Jeffrey took it upon himself to uncover them and guide the SSS to said locations, stopping the cell. All important details for later reports, but the real meat of the raid, as the saying went, was what the SSS discovered in those warehouses.
From the looks of it, the Ostanian military was already putting the pod from the crash site to use. Their R & D department had been working on reverse engineering the craft and developing blueprints for new propulsion systems that would be put to test on fighter jets and guided missiles. The recent raid by the SSS revealed that the terrorists managed to seize those blueprints, but they now had them back. While Jeffrey couldn't get as much of an in-depth look at them as he would have liked, he could tell that they were highly advanced. More so than anything either Westalis or Ostania currently had.
Mystery after mystery piled into Loid's head. They already knew that the metals of this pod matched no known elements, but now they had confirmation on just how advanced its technology was. Just who built it, what country were they from, and why did they launch it near Berlint? The footprints he'd found that day hinted at the possibility of it being a launch system for an advanced mech of some kind, which would definitely make Franky green with envy given his own interest in anything from realms of science fiction. Still, it was only one potential reason, and there was so little evidence to support the idea. As he tried to ruminate other possibilities, he continued to read through Jeffrey's report, where he got just who copies of the blueprints would be passed on to.
"Blackbell Heavy Industries," Loid muttered, finding that the decision made sense, given the Blackbell family's status as one of Ostania's greatest weapons manufacturers. It also made his job just a bit easier. There's an upcoming parent/teacher conference for Eden, and given that their daughter, Anya's first, closest, and so far only friend, attended Eden, Loid safely bet that they'd be present for the occasion, If I can meet with the Blackbells there, I can see what kind of information about their upcoming developments can be obtained from the conversation, he began to feel his eyelids droop mid-thought. Seeing that fighting sleep was a losing battle at this point, he committed the intel to memory and properly disposed of it before dozing off on his bed, And if I'm lucky, I might be able to encounter Donovan Desmond while there.
An unlikely prospect, undoubtedly, but as the he'd long since been forced to learn, both before and after forming the Forger family, life was most certainly unpredictable.
Yes, the song Anya was singing was the Transformers theme.
Part of me wanted to do a full Bumblebee POV for this chapter, but I decided against it for a few reasons. First is that the entirety of the previous chapter was his POV, and that and this were originally meant to be one chapter before it got too long and had to be split in two (even though, again, this chapter was FOUR TIMES the length of the last one). The second is that I found myself wanting to focus more on the human characters' perspective of things. And thirdly, it allowed me to try and convey Bumblebee's feelings with just body language (as much as a car can convey).
As for the movie Franky was talking about, think of it as this world's equivalent to War of the Worlds, the movie adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel (more specifically the 1953 version). And we allude to some stuff that came up later in the SPY X FAMILY manga/anime like his mech armor.
And we get to see more bits of the SSS alongside a slight follow up on the plot thread of Bumblebee's space pod. Plus, we get to deep dive into Yor's personal insecurities that'd really come to head during the Cruise arc, as well as more details on Loid's time as a soldier during the last war. Should be pretty obvious, but the part he relayed to Yor about him crashing a car around years ago was during said war.
Speaking of the Cruise arc, reminder to the readership that I won't be covering that for this story. This is because, like my Owl House/Devil May Cry fic, The Silver Raven, I don't just want to write "Spy X Family featuring Bumblebee". So, while that arc's gonna be happening in the background, other events will be covered centering on Bee. Besides, not like there's any way for Bee to take part in those events anyway since...y'know, it's on a Cruise Ship.
I'd rather not say too much since I do want to leave room for speculation amongst the readership. But I did overall like how this chapter turned out, and I liked writing all the dramatic irony from Loid, Yor, and Yuri's POVs. Sometimes, it's just hilarious how off the mark everyone can be while simultaneously being on said mark just as much.
Next up with Mission 9, we're finally gonna be going to Eden Academy and meeting Becky and Damian for the first time in the story. And Anya's gonna be introducing them to her family's new car/member.
Funnier still is that I stopped the previous chapter where it was thanks to it getting too long, but here we are with the next chapter and it's EVEN LONGER!
In any case, now's the time for Yor to learn how to drive. Poor Bee's not the only person she'll be traumatizing today.
Thanks and shout out to SwapAUAnon, @Matrix Dragon, and Quantum01 for Beta Reading this chapter.
Mission 8: Learning How to Drive
Camilla sighed in annoyance as she took a sip of her wine. It was supposed to be a simple dinner date at a high-end restaurant with her boyfriend, Dominic. After a whole workday of receiving calls, bookkeeping, errands, protecting Millie from the ogling of their section chief, and putting up with Yor's gloomy mood, she'd say she deserved something like that. She'd seen how hard Dominic worked, so he more than deserved it too. The only problem, however...
"So, Yuri, how's the Ministry of Foreign Affairs been treating you?"
...was this. Dominic just had to invite Yuri to what was supposed to be their time together.
"Pretty stressful, what with having to help in the recent Peace Summit. I'm just glad that's all done and over with," Yuri said to Dominic, waving the whole thing off before rubbing the back of his head. He took a bite of his steak with a satisfied hum, "Thanks for the invitation, by the way. The food here's pretty good," as he continued eating though, Camilla swore she heard him mutter, "Nowhere near as good as my sister's though."
Yor, I swear to God, you broke your little brother into something far more...bothersome than you, Camilla thought in annoyance as she continued eating. She refused to believe anyone could stomach, much less legitimately enjoy, that poison Yor called cooking. Either the man's been faking it for years just to keep his sister happy, or he was completely and utterly delusional. Neither spoke highly regarding his state of mind.
If Dominic heard it too, he didn't show, instead giving the younger Briar a smile, "Camilla's the one who picked the place out. It's one of the best restaurants in Berlint, and she has a real eye and taste for the best dishes," he looked over to her, "I'd say she deserves more thanks than I do."
Camilla gave her best smile and nodded to her boyfriend, briefly giving Yuri a glare before taking a sip of her wine. Just put up with it, she reminded herself, Like it or not, he's Dominic's friend. So just play nice for at least another hour, then give your boyfriend an earful for inviting him.
"Uh, did I do something wrong? You've been glaring at me pretty much all dinner," Yuri bluntly pointed out, almost making Camilla choke. Now the center of attention at their table, she saw the two men give her looks; Yuri's expression was one of curiosity (she swore there was this dangerous glint behind those red eyes) while Dominic's was complete, sincere concern.
"Camilla, is something wrong?" her boyfriend asked. Seeing no other option, and wanting to be honest with him, she sighed.
"It's just...I wanted this to be our night. Things have been pretty tough at City Hall lately for both of us, so I figured we needed an evening to ourselves," she leveled one last, brief glare at Yuri, "But you just had to invite him," before giving Dominic a less intense one, "And I'd be a lot less upset about it if you told me about it first."
Dominic, thankfully, didn't seem upset or offended by her anger. Instead, he looked apologetic and said, "Sorry, Camilla. Honestly, I just kinda forgot."
"Dominic, it's not like you to forget things like that," Camilla shifted from anger to worry.
"If it means anything, I think he only forgot because he told me last minute," Yuri interjected, taking a sip of water (Camilla had learned that Briars couldn't drink to save their lives) before continuing, "I only learned about this whole dinner thing a few hours ago."
Dominic nodded, "Things might have been a bit rushed and I forgot in the jumble. Besides, since all of us have been working hard at our jobs, it just felt fair to invite him since he just finished something big for the Ministry. Now that he has some time off, I wanted to be a good friend and help him enjoy it while it lasts."
Sighing, Camilla pinched the bridge of her nose, "Dominic, I swear, you can be too much of a sweetheart sometimes," but she gave her boyfriend a small, earnest smile, "But I can't blame you for wanting to help a friend out like this, even if it bugs me." Dominic returned the smile, with Camilla returning focus to her dinner as she cut a piece, "Still, I wish it could've just been the two of us," she took a bite and swallowed, "Between calls, errands, Yor's cooking lessons and bad moods, not to mention Millie complaining about her dating life again, I've been getting a lot of headaches as of late-"
"Excuse me, could you repeat that?" Yuri cut in, looking at Camilla with such intensity that she swore he was staring right through her.
"I...what?"
"You said something about my sister's 'moods'," he clarified, eyes narrowing, "Did something happen to her at work?"
Looking at Dominic, who seemed just as lost as Camilla, she turned back to Yuri and answered, "Well, it's just that she was pretty glum all day today."
Her answer didn't help at all, as Yuri seemed to have this dark, intimidating presence to him that made Camilla gulp. Dominic tried to placate Yuri, but to no avail. The younger Briar quietly growled, elbows against the table and hands folded beneath his chin, "Tell me, Camilla. Do you have any idea what or who is causing my sweet sister such sorrow?"
The way Yuri asked that question, it was almost like he wanted a very specific name. Like he was accusing someone and wanted her to say it just so he had an excuse. It's official. Yor's the normal one between these two, Camilla thought as she balked under his gaze. Clearing her throat, she answered, "Well..."
Sharon, Millie, and Camilla watched as Yor made herself a cup of coffee, sighing the whole way through. The four of them were currently in one of City Hall's kitchens, taking a break and gossiping over drinks. Or at least, they were, but Camilla found herself unable to think about all the interesting, funny rumors she'd heard about with Yor's glum demeanor almost swallowing the air around them. Sure, the office weirdo had kept it to herself and didn't let it get in the way of her work, but it was getting on her nerves.
Seriously, what does she have to be so moody about anyway? Camila wondered. Between her looks, marriage, happy-go-lucky kid and their new pet, Yor's life seemed pretty well put together. Was there trouble in paradise? Doubtful, seeing as Yor and Loid's relationship was touching enough to make anyone jealous (certainly, most definitely not her though). Did her kid insult her cooking again? Unlikely, otherwise Yor would be weeping her eyes out damn near every single day. No, this was something new.
"Uh, am I making the coffee incorrectly?" Yor asked, having become aware of their staring.
"No," Camilla answered, "Frankly, coffee's one of the few things you can make that won't kill anyone." Ignoring the glare Sharon gave her, she continued, "We're staring because you look like a kicked puppy."
"Oh, sorry," she watched as her drink finished pouring and took the cup to join them, "Guess I've been a bit bothered by something lately."
"What's the problem?" Sharon asked, briefly turning away to puff out the smoke from her cigarette. Yor, for her part, took a sip of her coffee and sighed.
"It's just...I don't know how to drive a car," Yor answered. Camilla and Millie waited for her to continue but were met with silence.
"That's it?" Millie asked, "You're upset because you can't drive?"
Yor looked down in shame, "Yeah. It's weird, isn't it?"
"Not really. Plenty of people your age don't know how to drive. It's part of why some people walk or take the bus," Sharon threw her cigarette into the nearest trash can. That seemed to lighten Yor's mood to a degree as the spacey woman smiled.
But then Millie sent it crashing down with a good point, "Honestly, if it's this big a deal for you, it's weirder that you haven't tried to get a license yet."
Camilla nodded along before giving Yor a questioning look, "Is this like how you forgot to tell anyone you were married? You just kept forgetting to get one?"
Yor nervously clutched at her drinking mug, "N-No. I've actually been meaning to get one for a while. It's just that every time, I always get caught up with-"
"Pardon the intrusion," the four of them turned to the voice, seeing the Director of Policy, Matthew McMahon, standing in the kitchen doorway, "But Mrs. Forger, you have a call waiting for you. It's urgent, I'm afraid."
While Camilla, Millie, and Sharon wondered who could be calling Yor at this time, their coworker had this immediate understanding on her face. Almost like she knew what the call was about before she even received it. Turning to them, she handed her cup to Sharon and, with a polite bow of her head, said, "Excuse me, but I'd better get going. It sounds pretty serious."
Before Camilla could ask what it was about, Yor was already out the door, following Mister McMahon and leaving them behind.
"And it must have been a pretty serious call, since was out for most of the day," Camilla concluded to her boyfriend and his best friend. By the time Yor got back in the afternoon, the blonde was too tired to even bother asking what that was all about.
"I see," Yuri looked to the table in contemplation, having finished his dinner during her explanation.
"I mean, it makes sense when you think about it," Dominic added, his own meal long since eaten, "Like Loid said back at the party, she's been trying to provide for Yuri almost her entire life. Probably never had the time and she's now hoping to change that. But life kinda has a habit of getting in the way."
Camilla couldn't do much else other than nod, now lost in her own thoughts. Honestly, she wasn't really sure why she was getting so hung up over this. Sure, Yor's bad mood was annoying to watch, but she wasn't sure why she didn't just ignore it and move on with her day. It's not like she had any reason to care. They weren't friends or anything of the sort.
"Hey, I think I have an idea," Dominic piped up, Camilla looking to him for clarification, "Since you're already teaching Yor how to cook, how about you help her learn how to drive? I'm sure both her and Yuri would appreciate it."
"Gonna have to pass on that. It'd probably be too much to juggle and schedule around," There's also the fact that I'm completely sure her driving's worse than her cooking, Camilla looked over to Yuri, who seemed to be completely zoned out of the conversation entirely, still stuck in his own head. She had no idea what he was thinking, and frankly didn't want to know. Maybe Dominic and I could try finding Yor a driving teacher? she wondered as she raised her wine glass to her lips, If Yor's a disaster behind the wheel, better them than us. Then again, Loid seems like he'd actually be a good teacher, and he'd have the patience to put up with her, but does he even know-
Suddenly, the table shook, shocking Camilla into choking on her drink. As Dominic hovered worriedly over her, she pounded her chest and took another swig, swallowing the coughs down. She angrily glared to the source; a rather exuberant looking Yuri who stood up so fast his chair fell to the floor, fist slammed against the table in the process.
Before Camilla could snap at him, however, he loudly proclaimed, "I got it! I know just how to help sis with her dilemma!" Camilla noted with embarrassment that his outburst drew in the attention of a few onlookers. "Thanks for the dinner, but I gotta go!" he said before grabbing his coat and running toward the direction of the exit, "See you later Dominic! Nice to see you again, Camilla!"
Camilla and Dominic were left alone, the onlookers thankfully turning their attentions elsewhere. As Dominic picked up Yuri's seat and returned to his own, Camilla sighed, "So much for a simple evening."
"Sorry," Dominic apologized again, "Look, I know Yuri can be...well, a lot, but he's honestly not a bad guy when you give him a chance."
Camilla rolled her eyes, Sure, and aliens are a thing. I'll believe it when I see it. Staring down at her unfinished dinner, she no longer felt her appetite and decided to wait for the check. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long, as their waiter came in a minute later. "Excuse me," she raised a hand as he arrived, "Could we have the check, please?"
The waiter bowed his head, "That won't be necessary, madame. Your dinner has already been covered."
"Huh?" both Camilla and Dominic were confused as the waiter raised his head.
"Your party member, Mister Briar, paid for tonight's course in full as he left."
...Okay, guess he isn't too bad, Camilla thought, Annoying, sure, but at least he's considerate when it counts.
The waiter bowed his head again and asked, "Will that be all?"
"I...sure. Thank you, good sir," Camilla answered as their waiter left. Seeing as they were done here, she held out her hand to Dominic, who smiled and planted a gentle kiss on it before helping her out of her seat. Now smiling herself, she wrapped her arm around his as they walked out the restaurant.
Well, this is the place, Loid stepped out of his car, as did Yor, when they arrived at the massive parking lot of an abandoned toy factory just on the outskirts of Berlint; it was one of many left in physical and financial ruin after the war. Staring at it from a distance, Loid recognized it, hearing the echoes of gunfire and explosions in the back of his mind. How many of his friends died in places like this, and how he killed countless more in retribution. Back then, he'd hardened his heart to the desperation of his enemies, allowed himself to grow cold to his allies. All for the sake of revenge, the most worthless of causes.
Shaking his head, he reminded himself that he wasn't that man anymore, nor would he ever be if he could help it. Instead, he looked around in an effort to find Yor's brother.
The fact that he asked us to come here is cause for concern, Loid recollected the phone call from a few days prior. All they knew is that Yuri had a surprise for Yor and set up a meeting location. Thankfully, Franky was available to look after Anya and Bond while they were out this afternoon, but that did little to ease Loid's worries. After all, Yuri didn't explain what this "surprise" was nor gave any hints, and it wasn't close to Yor's birthday or any holiday for that matter. With those possibilities ruled out, Loid had spent the interim worrying about the possibilities. Has he grown suspicious about the validity of our marriage? This could be a trap, Loid stroked his chin to think of places where he'd grown careless in his cover, the wind and nearby chirping of birds his only distraction, Though at the same time, his call sounded like he wanted only Yor to come here.
Yuri's mood did sour over the phone the minute Yor insisted her husband join in for this, whatever it was. So that ruled out the possibility of it being a trap for him, and he doubted it could be one for Yor. If there was one absolute certainty about Yuri, it was his (obsessive) dedication to protecting his sister. The odds of him ever trying to intentionally hurt her were nonexistent.
Not that he could even if he wanted to, Loid's lip curved just a tad and a light chuckle escaped, drawing Yor's attention.
"What's so funny?" Yor asked, clearly amused and curious about Loid's sudden mirth. For a second, he could've sworn he felt his heart skip a beat, though he was unsure as to why. He wasn't in any danger, after all.
"Nothing, just remembering things," Loid admitted, which was technically true, as he was recalling Yor's fighting prowess and how much he admired it. Every time he thought he'd seen it all, Yor did something to amaze him even more.
Yor gave a small laugh of her own before returning her gaze to the parking lot, the wind billowing her hair. "What do you think Yuri wanted to come here for?" she asked, lightly pacing forward to get a better look at the factory in the distance.
"Can't say," Loid's frown returned, as he didn't like not having answers, "He's your brother, and his call made it clear this was something for you. What do you think it could be about?"
"Honestly, I'm not sure," Yor admitted before the sound of two car engines came in from the distance. They both turned to the source and saw a pair of civilian vehicles, one an orange sports car and the other a grey grand tourer, drove into the lot and found parking spots, the orange sky tinting their windows. From the driver's seat of the tourer, Yuri stepped out and called to his sister with an exuberant wave.
Looks like we'll find out soon enough, Loid thought as Yor ran over and met her brother halfway, giving him a hug that definitely broke a bone or two in the younger Briar. Though as Loid walked over at a more casual pace, the others exited their cars (one from Yuri's and three from the other) and came over at similar speeds. This allowed Twilight to scan their faces as they approached each other, making his eyes narrow with concern, if only for a split-second to maintain composure.
Whatever this was, Yuri brought along with him some members of the State Security Service, all in civilian garb. Loid noticed among them were two men with scars, one blonde and the other with raven black hair. The former's scarring ran vertically along his left eye and was covered with stitching, while the latter's ran horizontally along his nose and under his right eye.
These two he recognized from WISE's files as the First Lieutenant and Captain of the SSS respectively. In the former's case, he even used him as a disguise to probe Yor for intel alongside Franky as a means to determine if she knew of her brother's ties to the SSS. It was an act he still felt immense guilt for, despite constantly reminding himself it was for the sake of the mission.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. Forger," the First Lieutenant greeted in a stern, but not impolite manner. Shaking his hand and the captain's, Loid exchanged greetings with them before the third person from their car walked up, one even more recognizable to him than his peers, but for entirely different reasons.
Holding out his hand, Loid greeted, "Nice to meet you as well."
"Same to you, Mr. Forger. From what Yuri tells us, you're a doctor, right?" 'How goes the operation?' the "officer" asked, mouthing a different question. They'd have to keep this brief, given the close SSS presence.
"Yes, it's a lot of hard work, but I find it fulfilling," Loid replied while mouthing, 'Operation STRIX is progressing,' before he looked to the three of them and asked, "I take it you're all friends of Yuri's?"
"Coworkers, to be precise. Yuri's superiors as fellow diplomats," the Lieutenant answered, looking over to Yuri and his sister as they were now approaching them alongside the last of the SSS. For a moment, Loid worried Yor would recognize the Lieutenant, given the "encounter" she had with him, but made no indication that she did. Perhaps she'd simply forgotten?
"I see," Loid replied, hiding his relief as he looked to Yuri and asked, "Yuri, why did you call us out here?"
The younger Briar gained a rather huffy appearance as he crossed his arms, "Well, Loidy, if you must know, I learned recently that my dear sister was upset, and put together that it was because she couldn't drive," his eyes narrowed, "Something you should've known about, seeing as you two are married."
"Yuri, he didn't know because I kept it to myself," Yor stepped between Loid and her brother, a pleading glint in her gaze to get the latter to calm down, "That's no reason to be upset with him."
"She's right, Yuri. Let it go and just say what this is all about," the SSS officer behind Yuri, a woman wearing a beanie, placed a hand on his shoulder and gave a reprimanding glare.
Yuri looked between the two as his gaze softened, taking a calming breath as he continued, "Right, well, my point is, since my sister sounded so upset about it, I asked my friends from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help me teach her how to drive."
"R-Really?" Yor's face lit up as she gave her brother a second hug, "Thank you!"
Loid smiled at the scene, happy to see his wife's mood brought up. Though at the same time, he couldn't help but find himself agreeing with Yuri's point; the fact that he didn't do much to help with Yor's turmoil was a black mark on his role as her husband. When he first saw her dour mood after they fended off their attackers, he wanted to further question what was wrong so he could better help. Worrying that being too forceful with his questions and needing to pick up Anya from school at the time held his tongue. Combined with Yor's mood improving the following day after he picked her up from work, he assumed it to be nothing. In hindsight, Yor's problem should have been obvious.
It seems I still have a lot to learn about being a husband, Loid and everyone else winced, definitely hearing the sound of bones crack from within Yuri as Yor finally released the hug. Though the younger Briar didn't seem to mind and casually rolled his shoulders, cracking his bones back in place.
"Anyway, let me introduce everyone," Yuri first gestured to the officer in the beanie, "This is Chloe, though you already met her. She's an Attache as far as diplomats go."
Loid put on his most polite smile and held out his hand, "Good to meet you, Chloe," she shook his hand, to which he asked, "So, you're a friend of Yuri's?"
"Well, I wouldn't quite say that..." Chloe admitted, much to Yor's confusion.
"But didn't you say both of you attended the same classes in college?"
Interesting, Loid didn't sense any deception from Chloe's body language and pondered this new information. Judging by Chloe's age (early-to-mid twenties based on appearance) and false rank in the Ministry of Foreign affairs (much like Yuri's former rank), it was clear that she was a newcomer to the SSS, likely having joined at a similar time to Yuri.
"Your brother tended to keep to himself and focus on his studies. Honestly, he didn't interact much with anyone from what I saw," Chloe pointed out, to which Yor looked at her brother somewhere between admonishing and prideful, if such a thing were possible.
"Sounds like Yuri alright," Yor said, Yuri looking away bashfully, "Yuri, I know you tend to prioritize goals like that, but I was hoping you'd get the chance to make some lasting connections while you were there," she looked down in shame, "Something I never really got the chance to do for myself."
"I mean, I didn't have time to do something like that until recently..." Yuri grumbled to himself in a slightly guilty tone, though just loud enough for everyone to hear.
And given how the SSS tend to operate, odds are he won't have time for something like that still, Loid mused, and with how laser focused Yuri was regarding protecting his sister, there was the question of if he even wanted that. Perhaps deep down he did, but he kept forcing it aside. And the more Loid mused, the more he started to question himself? Did he want that? Those kinds of connections? He'd thrown any chance for that away the day he chose to become Twilight, and yet-
"It looks like you're at least getting the chance now. I think both of us are, so better late than never, as they say!" Yor's happily, melodic voice drew Loid out of his musings as she stepped forward to the rest of Yuri's associates, "It's nice to meet you all! I'm Yor Forger," she smiled, but blinked, face turning a tinge red with embarrassed realization, "Uh, s-sorry! You probably already knew that."
Out from the corner of his eye, Loid noticed Yuri's eyes narrow ever so slightly when Yor introduced herself. More specifically, when she referred to herself as 'Forger'. Ignoring that for the time being, he watched as WISE's mole in the SSS stepped forward and held out a hand. "No, it's alright," the mustached man said as Yor shook it, "Seeing as we're all making introduction's anyway, call me Jeffrey."
"Gascoigne," the SSS captain followed gruffly. Everyone looked to the highest ranked SSS officer, who shrugged.
"Let's just get this over with," the First Lieutenant sighed, not even bothering to introduce himself. Though based on body language and what Loid knew about the work schedules of the higher ranking SSS members, he was probably exhausted despite maintaining a professional demeanor.
Certainly seems familiar, Loid recalled every single time he'd felt on the verge of passing out, forcing every fiber of his body to stay awake. It wasn't a pleasant experience, despite having grown accustomed to it over the years.
"So," Loid started, "How are we going to go about this?"
Yuri puffed his chest proudly and gestured to the entire parking lot, "It's pretty simple. I was thinking we help ease my sister into the basics of driving, and the parking lot here's both stable and spacious enough for that to work. We can take things slow with turning, parking, and speeding up in suburban environments. More complex stuff we can continue from there later."
"Sounds pretty well thought out," Loid complimented with a nod, much to Yuri's annoyance.
"Yeah! Can I get started now?" Yor asked, practically bouncing in anticipation. At the sight, her husband couldn't help but smile, sharing in that same joy.
"Sure, let me just get the car star-"
"Actually," Yor interrupted her brother and sped on over to Loid's car, patting its hood, "I'd like to practice driving with Bumblebee, if you don't mind."
"Oh..." Yuri stammered, looking flatfooted before he saw how Yor's eyes pleaded with him, "Sure, I guess that's fine too."
"Great!" Yor practically ran to the driver's seat and opened it, getting in and taking the wheel faster than most could blink. Loid was able to keep up with such movements, but only barely. He saw that everyone else (barring Yuri) was either blinking or rubbing their eyes in an effort to comprehend Yor's displayed levels of speed.
"I...guess we should get in?" Chloe regained herself as she and Yuri started heading for the car. But before they could get very far, Loid stopped them.
"If it's alright, can I help with this?"
"No," Yuri flatly refused, "I don't need your help for this, Loidy. Now just stay back with-"
"That sounds like a great idea," Jeffrey cut Yuri off, much to the latter's shock.
"Agreed," said the SSS Lieutenant, further baffling Yor's brother as he leveled a neutral gaze to him, "Better to have a second or third opinion on this. That way, your sister has more feedback for improvement."
"B-But what about-"
"Kid, enough. Just get in the damned car already," Gascoigne sternly crossed his arms, leaving no room for argument as Yuri groaned. He slumped and made his way to Bumblebee with Loid walking right next to him. Meanwhile, Chloe stayed behind and from the looks of it, was receiving orders from her superiors. Loid pondered on what those orders could be, but if he had to guess, it was to keep a close watch on him.
It's likely the reason why Yuri requested their presence to begin with, Loid thought, the reason making sense. While Yuri's efforts to help his sister were undoubtedly genuine, the State Security Services' aid seemed to mostly be about grilling Loid for evidence. He could see in their eyes that none really bought into the idea he was a spy (at least not yet), but curiosities had to be satisfied. Now, Loid knew Yuri was gunning for anything to prove as such, albeit driven by his protectiveness towards Yor than anything else, but at this point, he knew how to deal with him. The real concern will be this new agent, Loid had no idea how Chloe thought, with the most he could gauge at the moment being that she seemed more strait-laced than Yuri.
But having been Twilight for years, he knew looks could be deceiving.
As they neared Bumblebee, Yuri sped up and reached the shotgun seat with an almost gloating expression. But when he attempted to open the door, it refused. "Huh?" Yuri pulled on the handle as hard as he could, but it wouldn't budge no matter how much he tried, "Ugh! Loidy! What the hell's wrong with your car? The door's busted!"
"Strange, let me see the problem," Loid reached for the handle, only for Yuri to block him.
"No way! I'll open it myself," Yuri snapped, almost like he was trying to keep Loid from the shotgun seat itself. The act made Loid roll his eyes, both because it wasted time and because he was never going to sit there to begin with for this.
"Oh for God's sake, Yuri!" Chloe snapped at him and smacked him behind the head with enough force to leave an almost comically large bruise, "Just let him see what's wrong with it!"
"...fine," Yuri pressed the injury down and reluctantly stepped aside, allowing Loid to inspect the damage. From the exterior, there didn't seem to be anything broken, so he pulled the handle to get a feel for why it was stuck. Instead, it opened without issue. "Oh, so now it's working?" Yuri angrily asked.
"What's going on?" Yor questioned, looking at all of them in confusion.
Loid gave her a slightly confused, but reassuring smile, "Just an issue with the door, but it seems to be gone now. I'll have a better look when we get back home."
At Yor's nod, they all entered the car, with Yuri first entering the shotgun seat. Loid and Chloe sat in the back seats, with the former just behind Yuri's. The seating positions would allow Loid to better see whatever Yor did behind the wheel, and thus, help her improve. He noticed how Chloe's eyes spared him occasional, observing glances that lasted mere moments before returning to the Briar siblings. Between that and Yuri's glaring at him through the rear-view mirror, he also saw Yor nervously curl her fingers on the steering wheel, too scared to move.
"Deep breathes Yor," she muttered, inhaling and exhaling between sentences, "You can do this. You can do this. You can do this."
"Aw, don't sweat it sis. Knowing you, you'll ace this in no time!" Yuri cheered Yor on, now ignoring those behind him. Still, that did help Yor relax just a little, as she took one final breathe. She twisted the key, turning the car on, then put it in drive. Slowly, she seemed to be getting the hang of things.
And then she slammed her foot on the gas...
"Dun dunna, dunna duh da duuuuuun!" Anya started singing, walking on the sidewalk next to Bond and enjoying the afternoon sun.
"What are you singing?" Uncle Scruffy asked. Anya looked back at him while he held Bond's leash. She couldn't help but feel jealous that all the adults could do that while she couldn't. One day, she would be big and strong enough to walk Bond like they could!
"Dunno," Anya shrugged as she hugged Bond for a bit, "Just something I made up."
"Borf!" Bond barked and nuzzled into the hug.
"Huh, neat," Franky scratched his chin, "You know, I'm not sure why, but it kinda sounds...I don't know, a bit on the spacey side," he closed his eyes and hummed, "Reminds me of some shows I watch a lot. There was this one movie about giant alien robots invading Earth..." Anya tried not to giggle, but she failed. If only Uncle Scruffy knew. Heh, always wanted to see a giant robot in real life now that I think of it, he thought with a smile, Read a few books growing up that were pretty inspirational for designing my robotic exoskeleton, even if it's still a work in progress.
Uncle Scruffy has a robot super suit? she saw into his mind and saw him building a shiny looking power armor with an F on the chest, So cool! Anya practically jumped in excitement, getting a look from her favorite uncle. "Uh, Anya just really likes robots. They're super cool!" Anya technically wasn't lying. Ever since Bumblebee arrived, she really wanted to see more stuff with robots like him. Now having an idea, she put on her best pleading face, "Can I watch some of the robot stuff you saw, please? I wanna see the robots!"
Uncle smiled and knelt down, "Sure, though you're definitely gonna want to ask your parents about it. I know a drive-in theater that plays all sorts of movies, so you can ask them to take you there at some point."
Anya gasped, "If I get a stars, would Papa take me to the movies?"
"Ha! If you get another Stella, I think Loid'll probably buy out the whole theater just so you can watch any movie whenever you want!" Either that or you can guilt him into doing it if he says no. The man's a softy on the inside when it comes to his kid, Uncle Franky laughed, making Anya laugh too. But then he stopped, seeing something and asking, "Wait, what the hell's that?"
Anya turned around and looked at the road, seeing a yellow car way in the distance that was driving really, really fast. Wait, her eyes went wide, Is that Bumble-
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Bumblebee screamed in her head as he blurred by the three of them, wind blowing everywhere as Anya watched him drive away.
"...what was that?" Uncle Scruffy asked, looking like Papa whenever Anya got a bad grade.
"Borf!"
"I think that was Papa's car," Anya said as a police car drove past them, red and blue lights blinking on its roof with a loud, annoying siren sound.
"Oh..." Uncle Franky went really quiet, "Shit."
"Uh, Y-Yuri, am I doing this right?"
"You're doing great sis-LOOK OUT!"
Yor yelped and managed to narrowly avoid the oncoming car as she zoomed up the inclined road, reaching its zenith and feeling Bumblebee leap off it like a ramp. In those moments, when gravity felt light and they hovered in the air, she was left wondering if she was making any mistakes. Sure, she'd seen people drive plenty of times, but with her mind racing a billion miles a second, all those instances of observation became a nightmarish, messy blur that made a room of corpses seem cleanly by comparison. Even the blurry view of outside the car seemed comprehensible compared to everything running in her head, but that was probably because she was built and trained to work at such speeds.
Am I going too fast? Yor wondered, since she couldn't immediately recall if she'd ever seen a car drive over 200 MPH before, but she was too terrified to take her foot off the gas. Where there any speed limits like that in Ostania? Westalis maybe? She didn't trust herself behind the wheel to know the answer, so she had to have faith in her husband, brother, and bother's friend to guide her through this and tell her if she was doing something wrong.
Granted, Loid was being...disturbingly quiet, and Chloe was screaming so loud the octave could shatter glass. But Yuri was screaming too and still able to comment on her driving, and so far, he said she was doing good. If Chloe and Loid saw her doing something wrong, they'd tell her and provide the needed corrections, right?
As the car descended, it landed back on the road, making everyone jump in their seats. In the process, a knob on the radio must have loosened, because it turned on and started playing, "-ord help me, I can't cha-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ange!" Yor saw she was rapidly approaching a car from behind and swerved around it, "Lord I can't change. Won't you flyyyyyyy hiiiiiiiiigh freeeeee birrrd, yeah!"
The radio let loose a guitar solo as traffic grew, Yuri and Chloe screaming even louder. Determined to avoid crashing, Yor narrowed her eyes and swiftly turned and shifted past each and every vehicle, keeping away from sidewalks and civilians. While she managed to avoid bumping into anyone, amidst the honking of horns, she noticed how the radio kept getting louder and louder, drowning out Yuri and Chloe's screams. It was almost like it was somehow screaming alongside them.
Maybe I should stop? Yor thought, but she didn't know exactly how to do that. On top of everything, she was in the middle of the road and moving way to fast to properly stop. She needed an open space void of obstacles to slow down first. And that was without accounting for the three-way intersection she was heading towards. Crap! Yor thinking quickly, made a sharp 90 degree turn right and burst forward, dodging a few more cars before the roads became clear again.
"O-Okay sis, still doing great!" Yuri complimented at the top of his lungs as they went through an underpass, "B-But maybe we should probably find a p-place to park!?"
Entering a tunnel, Yor nodded, but before she could slam her foot on the brakes and attempt to slow down, far ahead she saw a construction crew working on one half of the road, directing a few cars to the other side to get around them. There was no room ahead for her to get through, and she couldn't slow down without crashing into anything at this speed. And everyone seemed to realize it too, as their screams (and the guitar solo) grew even louder. Instinctively, Yor did the one thing she could; put all her strength into slamming her body against Bumblebee's door, making the whole car lean in that direction. Then, she drove to the right, narrowly avoiding the last car in line as she slammed into the tunnel wall, rubber burning against it.
All four of Bumblebee's wheels made contact with the wall as Yor drove along it, circling over everything on the road amidst a series of honks and beeps before returning to ground as she reached the tunnel's end and entered the afternoon sun once more.
"Phew! That was a close one!" Yor smiled as tall buildings started blurring past them again, I think I'm starting to get the hang of this!
"Y-Yeah! T-Too close!" Chloe stopped screaming for a moment and found her voice, "NOW PLEASE SLOW DOWN AND STOP THE FU-WATCH OUT!"
"I see it!" Yor swerved to the left to avoid crashing into the building, darting forward at speeds faster than most could blink. Unfortunately, this left her moving too fast to make a second turn left, forcing her slightly shift right and enter a narrow alleyway, smashing into a dumpster that likely went flying somewhere behind her. While the alleyway was a straight shot back to the roads, Yor's eyes could see far ahead to notice a trailer truck had stopped at what was presumably a light, with them on a collision course for each other. Making matters worse, she could see people walking down the sidewalk, there was another large dumpster taking up the right half of the passage, and she had no way to stop without running into any (or all) of those in the process.
"Yuri! Lean for the door!" at her words, Yor's brother nodded and did just that. Combined with Yor's leaning, Bumblebee tilted on its right, letting her turn left and drive up the wall. The instant they reached the end of the alley, Bumblebee flew high into the air, soaring above buildings as the car spun several times over. With each spin, the screaming and music seemed to crack and crackle, as if everyone's voices were getting tired from it all.
After a few seconds, they started to descend, Yor timing the spins just right to force Bumblebee to the nearest apartment building as she slammed her foot against the brakes. Wheels first, the car skidded against the bricks before sliding down to the street, tilting one final time and coming to a complete stop as the guitar solo faded and ceased. Now partially against the empty sidewalk, Yor turned off the car and sighed in relief, I did it. I can't believe I actually- her reverie was cut off when the back door opened, with Yor seeing that Chloe had run out and was now puking in the garbage can just behind them. "O-Oh," Yor was starting to get concerned and asked her brother, "I-Is she okay?"
"Y-Yeah. She'll be fine," Yuri stepped out, legs shaking, "Just gotta...t-take a breather..."
He closed the door and leaned against the car, his entire body shaking as he breathed in and out. Come to think of it, the car itself seemed to be shaking, which was odd since she turned it off. Putting that aside, she turned back to face her husband, whose breathing was ragged and labored, eyes wide as deathly buzz saws that seemed to be staring right through her. She didn't know what was going through his head, but whatever it was, it couldn't have been anything good, and her driving had caused this. What kind of terrible wife was she!?
"L-Loid?" Yor reached out, shaking him with remorse in her eyes, "Loid! I'm sorry, I messed up! Please, come back!"
It took a few tries, but Loid started to blink rapidly as his eyes returned to normal, "Yor...what just happened?"
"Oh thank goodness!" Yor sighed in relief and reached back to hug him. Realizing it was going on a bit longer than intended, she blushed and pulled back, awkwardly clutching at the headrest of her seat. "Uh..." she stammered, "I should...probably go check on Yuri and his friend."
"Yeah..." Loid shook his head, still seeming to be shaking off his stupor from earlier. The guilt coming back, Yor stepped out of the car and looked over to Yuri and Chloe, the former still catching his breath while the latter was hunched against the garbage can like it was a crutch. The sight made Yor's confidence shrink with each passing second. Her husband stepped out a moment later, taking a deep inhale and exhale as he smiled like nothing was wrong. But Yor couldn't forget that faraway look in his eyes.
I've seen that look before, Yor looked down at her hands, remembering a few of the jobs she'd taken as Thorn Princess. As she took the lives of her targets, she looked them in the eyes before delivering a quick death. And in their eyes was the same gaze Loid had; their entire life flashing before them as it ended in an instant. She'd just put her husband, an innocent, loving, gentle man and caring father, through that very same thing. And as the guilt grew worse, so too did the realization of how many innocents she put at risk today. If this was what her driving did to those inside the (relative) safety of the vehicle, what about those outside, who had no such protection and whom she probably drove too close to for comfort.
She should've taken her foot off the pedal and slammed the brakes. No, she never should've gotten into the car in the first place. What was she thinking? She wasn't built to drive a car like a normal person. She'd never be a normal person! She'd always stand out as a complete weirdo, making everyone suspicious with the Secret Police coming after her, leaving Loid, Anya, Bond, and Yuri behind and-
"Yor, that was amazing!" Yuri cut off her rapidly deteriorating sense of self.
"Huh?"
"I mean, did you see your skills behind the wheel? You circled around a tunnel and drove up a building!" Yuri praised, gesturing to Bumblebee's still shaking form, "And you did it in Loid's shoddy old wagon. Honestly, I didn't know it could pull off those kinds of things, but you found a way!"
At Yuri's words, the car stopped shaking completely, becoming so still that it actually concerned Yor. Putting that aside, she looked to her brother, seeing both Loid and Chloe give him looks of utter bafflement, and asked, "Really? You mean I drove good and that I'm not some weirdo who can't drive to save her life?"
Yuri was about to speak, but then Chloe grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him to turn to her, "Yuri, are you insane!? That was horrible!"
"W-What?" Yor's heart sank while Yuri glared at her. Even Loid seemed taken aback by the outburst. Chloe remained undeterred, looking Yor in the eye.
"Yor, I'm going to be completely sincere and honest with you right now," she took a deep breath and clutched at her head, as if getting a headache, "That driving was so horrific, erratic, and just absurdly hyper that the only reason it isn't worse than an actual war crime is because somehow, against all known laws of possibility, no one got hurt!"
"S-So, it really was as bad as I thought it was?"
"No," Chloe answered, voice now utterly monotone, "It was worse. Whatever you thought couldn't compare to the roller coaster of insanity we just went through."
"CHLOE!" Yuri practically growled at his co-worker as the two entered a stare down, "Apologize to my sister, now!"
Chloe's eyes narrowed, "No Yuri, she needs to hear this and you're not gonna tell her anything! All you've done is sing Yor's praises, acting like she could do no wrong when she did everything wrong. The entire reason we're here is to help her improve, and that'll never happen if you refuse to accept that she can make mistakes! And that she, in fact, made more than I could count!"
"Uh, excuse me," Loid tried to enter the conversation, "Can I give my own-"
"Stay out of this Loidy!" Yuri raised a hand at him, narrowing his own eyes at Chloe, "Alright, if she made more than you could count, how about you name them and give advice on how to fix it? Because from where I'm standing, I just hearing nothing but put downs. Tell me, how's that going to help my sister "improve", as if you want her to."
"Everyone, stop it!" Yor all but screamed at them, silencing the argument with stares of shock aimed at her, Loid looking like he was just about to get between the arguing diplomats. Sighing, she looked to the floor and rubbed her hands, "Yuri, like it or not, she's right. I really am a terrible driver."
"Wha-Yor! Don't say that! You're honestly not that bad."
Yor blinked at the statement, "So...d-do you honestly think it was bad?"
Yuri balked, unsure of what to say as he awkwardly looked around, guilt evident in his eyes. Even Chloe, in spite of her earlier admonishments, was regretful of what she'd just said.
"I'm sorry sis," Yuri muttered, sounding ashamed as silence overcame the entire group.
"It's fine, Yuri," Yor replied, "Honestly, I don't think I can blame you for that, since it was to spare my feelings." Besides, with everything I've been lying about to...well, everyone, it's not like I have a right to be upset about something like that. "Let's just try again. I want to get this right, no matter how many times it takes." Everyone looked to each other, either in concern (Chloe), admiration (Yuri), or both (Loid). Thankfully, all of them nodded, with Yor's mood picking up as she clapped her hands, "Great!" she looked to her husband, "Loid, if it isn't too much trouble, could you sit next to me this time? I'd like your direct help when it comes to this."
"Sure," Loid nodded, much to Yuri's clear frustration, though he swallowed it down as the four of them made way for their respective seats. As Yuri struggled to open the rear door (which Loid helped him with), Yor sighed. She was well aware that her brother didn't approve of her and Loid's marriage, and while it started off understandable given its original intent as a cover to both maintain her assassin identity and put Anya through school, it became harder to put up with the longer it went. While Yor sincerely loved her little brother with all her heart, she just wished he'd stop being so needlessly frustrated with her life choices.
Reaching for the driver's seat door, she pulled the handle to open it, yet it wouldn't. Blinking, Yor pulled again, this time harder, yet the result was the same. With a grunt, she pulled as hard as she could, and after some effort, the door finally swung open. "Alright," Yor said as she sat down and closed it, "Let's try this again," inhaling and exhaling, she turned the key, yet nothing happened, "What?"
"Huh, that's odd," Loid tried turning the key, only to be met with the same result.
"Maybe you should go look under the hood?" Chloe asked as Loid turned the key again, the car suddenly turning on the moment she finished the question. Since it was working now, Yor gripped the wheel and prepared to drive, only for the car to just as suddenly turn off.
"Seriously? What the hell's wrong with this hunk of junk now?" Yuri snapped, which was met with the back of Yor's seat slamming into his face, "Argh!"
"Yuri! Are you okay?" Yor asked, everyone looking back at her brother in concern. She wondered how that even happened, as she didn't adjust or even touch the seat.
"Dammit! Why does this car hate me!?" Yuri clutched at his reddening forehead.
"Yuri, a car can't hate you. It isn't a living thing," Loid pointed out as he exited the car, "I'll go look under the hood. See if anything's damaged."
"What about the seat and doors?" Chloe asked.
"I'll check those after the fact," he looked at Yuri, "I may need some help inspecting the car. Think you could lend a hand?"
Yuri was a bit apprehensive to the idea at first, but relented when Yor gave him a pleading look. "Fine," he said, getting out, "Let's figure this thing out."
"There should be a tool kit in the trunk," Loid said, with Chloe offering to get it. As everyone was exiting to work on the car, Yor found herself almost mechanically doing the same, if only to see what she'd broken within Bumblebee. She watched the three struggle to open the hood, and while she wanted to help, she was scared to do so. If her terrible driving broke something, she didn't want to risk doing any further damage. Thankfully, it wasn't necessary, as they managed to get it open and start the inspection.
"Strange," Loid muttered loudly after a couple minutes.
"What?" Yor asked, "Did you find something?" Though the second question she wanted to ask: "How can I help?" went unsaid.
"The opposite, actually," Yuri leaned up from out of the hood, "Pretty much everything's perfectly intact, and there isn't a bolt or piston out of place."
Wait, is that even possible? Yor couldn't believe it. With Bumblebee's behavior, you'd think something inside was ruptured or busted up.
"There's gotta be something wrong here..." Chloe looked across the engine again while Loid and Yuri checked other components. Once more, their inspections came back negative. As this continued, Yor stood back and pondered what was going on, and her mind came to a conclusion.
"What if I'm the problem?" Yor drew their attention away from the engine, "What if Bumblebee's afraid of me? What if the car hates me?"
"Yor, what are you talking about?" Chloe asked, utterly befuddled by the question.
"Think about it," Yor explained, "Bumblebee started working for Loid when he turned the key, but the minute I try to drive again, it shuts down. Not to mention how it felt like the door to the driver's seat was fighting against me. It's almost like Bumblebee doesn't want me to drive it."
Everyone looked to each other, Loid turning back to say, "Yor, I'm sorry, but that just doesn't make any sense. I said it before, but cars can't do that."
"It's the only reason I could think of at this point," Yor sank into the sidewalk, taking a seat with knees to her chin, "But if it can, then it has every right to with how terrible I am behind a wheel." Yor closed her eyes and let her thoughts wash over her, frustrated by the inability to just do the things a normal person could without struggle. Interrupted by the air shifting next to her and a familiar presence, she turned to see Loid had taken a seat at her side, his own eyes both curious and concerned. With a blink, she sat up, "Loid?"
Her husband looked up at Yuri and Chloe, "Could you both give us a moment, please?" Yuri huffed, clearly not wanting to listen to Loid, but Chloe elbowed him and gave a glare as she picked up the tool kit from the ground. He relented with a slightly frustrated sigh, and the two entered Bumblebee's rear seats, neither struggling with the doors like previously. Loid focused his attention on Yor and asked, "Yor, what's this about? It feels like this goes a bit deeper than just not being good at driving."
Yor sighed, "It's just...well, there are a few things. Part of it's because I feel like I'm not doing enough for you and Anya. Like I could be doing more for the family. You already do so much and I..." she licked her dry lips and gulped, "I want to help carry that weight. I figured I could help with things like driving Anya to school when you were too busy or take the wheel if you ever got tired on the road. Just little things like that."
"But there's something else? Isn't there?" Loid asked, gently gazing at her, "You said not being able to drive made you feel "weird", but I don't see anything strange about that."
It still amazes me how well Loid can read people, Yor gave a mirthless chuckle. While she hid her secrets well, when it came to her feelings, she may as well have been an open book to her husband. "Yeah, I talked about it with my coworkers too, and they said the same thing," Yor admitted, hands behind her as she leaned back, "But it just doesn't sit well with me that I never learned how to drive. I want to be able to have these kinds of experiences that I never gave myself the time for. Too bad I messed it all up."
"You were afraid. Everyone makes those mistakes when their fears get to them."
"Doubt they ever get as big as the ones I made today," Yor relented.
"Actually, if I'm being honest, your first time behind the wheel's better than mine ever was," Loid admitted, much to Yor's shock.
"Really?" She faced him as he nodded, searching for even a hint of insincerity just to know if he was lying to help her feel better. Yet in his eyes, there wasn't a trace of any.
"I had friends at the time that were...hurt," Loid explained, staring at the sidewalk as his gaze became distant, "I was desperate to get them help, so I tried to drive them there as fast as I could. Ended up crashing and bumping into almost everything, and I was terrified, both for myself and my friends. In the end, none of it mattered. They died along the way."
"I...I'm so sorry," Yor replied, her earlier frustrations giving way to sadness, "Is that when you decided to become a doctor?"
Loid shook his head, "No, why I took up my occupation is a bit different, but you're closer than you realize. The main reason I became what I am today is so I could do everything to ensure people would never die pointless deaths," he sighed, bitterness tinging his tone, "Like the kind my friends suffered from." Yor wasn't sure what to say after that, nor if she could really say anything. But she couldn't help but wonder why Loid was telling her all this. She wasn't sure that it had anything to do with her previous, horrendous driving attempt. As if reading her mind, Loid finished, "Part of why I'm saying all this is because, in a way, both Yuri and Chloe were right."
Huh?
"What I mean is, your driving was without a doubt reckless and potentially destructive. But at the same time, you showed plenty of good instincts in avoiding that same destruction. Even when you were in fight or flight mode, you didn't hit a single car, building, or person. Reverse our positions, and I don't think the same could be said for me even now."
Yor was taken aback by the honesty in Loid's voice. While he admitted to having his own fair share of mistakes, she often forgot that with how he tended to excel at everything. His words did help, but the ache came back, even if lesser than before, "Yet it feels like I'd be better off if I never got behind a wheel again."
"You don't sound sure."
Yor shook her head and asked, "What do you think I should do?"
Loid went silent for a bit, clearly pondering over his words, before finally speaking up, "That's a choice you have to make for yourself, Yor. I can't decide that for you, nor can Yuri or Chloe or anyone for that matter. If you don't feel comfortable continuing, there's no shame in admitting that. We can stop here and head home."
"Giving up doesn't feel right either," Yor huffed.
"It never does," Loid admitted through a grunt of his own. It sounded like he had experience with that too. He gave her a small smile, "Yor, I've seen you do amazing, often inspiring things. But we're still human and need to understand our limits. The better we do that, the better we can work within them to move forward. Forcing yourself can be more detrimental than it's worth."
"That certainly sounds familiar," Yor couldn't help but giggle, her mind filled with memories of when he came home from work, drained to the point of collapse. Smiling, she remembered when he fell asleep on the couch, with her and Anya putting a blanket over him so he could get rest.
"Yeah, I'll admit, I don't often take my own advice," Loid rubbed the back of his head, face slightly tinting red as Yor's did in kind.
"Makes two of us, I guess," Yor muttered. How often did she preach the virtue of honesty to her little brother, only to hide the fact that she was an assassin? How often did she tell Anya to avoid confrontations when violence and death were the only things she knew how to do? Her entire being was a mass of contradictions. Should that change? Could she be Yor Forger and Thorn Princess at the same time anymore? She didn't know.
But she did know one thing. This wasn't her limit. Or at the very least, it didn't feel like it. Regaining her resolve, she gave Loid a grin, "One more drive."
Loid raised an eyebrow, "You sure?"
"Yeah. You said I should know my limits, and I want to see if this really is one of them," Yor stared determined at Bumblebee, "I know I caused a scare, and I'd rather not do so again. But I want to figure this out. Not just for you and Anya, but for myself too."
Her husband's eyes went wide for a bit, Yor seeing a bit of awe and worry in them. For a second, Yor thought she was being too forceful. That her desire would do nothing but terrify him, and that she was being selfish for asking him to go through that again. But instead, he gained a smile that grew as bright as Anya's. "In that case, I'll be there every step of the way," he stood up and held out his hand for her to take, "Not gonna lie, I'd rather not, but if you think it'll help, I'm with you."
Yor took his hand and stood, her own grin glowing, "And if I lose control behind the wheel again, you'll be able to stop me, right?"
"I promise," hearing the earnest in his voice, they made their way to the two front seats, Loid taking the shotgun while Yor took the driver's. Before either could enter the car, Loid spoke, "And Yor?" she looked to him as he stood tall, "You said you felt like you weren't doing enough for us? For me and Anya?" nodding, she wouldn't let the pang of sadness show. If it did, Loid made no comment as he continued, "You don't need to feel that way. I know Anya's happy for all you've done for her, and I am too. Honestly, you've done more than I think you realize. And that's enough. You're enough."
A light gasp escaped Yor's lips. Despite having received affirmations from Loid and Anya before, she couldn't help but feel like a stranger in her new home. Even after all they'd been through, she couldn't shake those feelings thanks to her previous loneliness. She didn't know how not to be like that. Yet in spite of that fact, Loid considered her good enough to role play as a wife, to help him and his daughter, who now just as much felt like her own. No matter how often she messed up in cooking, sewing, or any of the things a mother should be good at, it didn't matter to them. In their eyes, she'd done enough.
She was...enough.
Heart soaring, she and Loid entered Bumblebee, with her looking back to the other two passengers. For some reason, Chloe had a heartfelt smile on her face with what looked like wiped away tear stains just beneath her eyes. Yuri was resting his head against the car's windowsill, appearing a bit on the grumpy side, but even he had the smallest ghost of a smile when he looked at her.
Why are they looking at me like- Yor's brain caught up as she blushed and immediately snapped forward, Oh my God, were they eavesdropping!? Deciding not to think about it right now, she reached for the key and closed her eyes, Deep breathes Yor, she inhaled and exhaled, Here goes.
She turned the key, and Bumblebee roared to life. So far, everything had been working, but the nervousness crept back up as she put the car in drive and clutched the steering wheel. Yor looked to Loid, who pointed down at her boots, "Gently press the gas. Don't slam your foot unless you want to move faster than a speeding bullet."
"Right. Okay, I can do this! Nice...and easy..." Yor breathed in and out one last time, slowly, gently pressing her big toe on the gas pedal and pushing forward from there. The moment she started moving, she closed her eyes, scared of seeing the messy blur again. But then she reminded herself that would increase chances of crashing and forced one open. To her surprise, she was traveling at a casual cruising speed.
"Take a right," Loid suggested, to which Yor complied, spinning the wheel and turning down the road. For a second, it felt like the wheel was fighting against her, but she chalked it up to her nerves. As she drove, the occasional car passed by, as did people on the sidewalks. Stopping at the light just ahead, she waited for it to turn green, all the while slowly growing giddy.
I...I'm doing this, she thought happily, I'm actually doing this! The light changed, cars ahead of her pressing forward as she followed suit, letting Loid direct her on where she needed to go. It was all a matter of maintaining this easygoing speed and not swerving about like a psychotic maniac. And she would know, given the amount of psychopaths she'd killed.
She turned left when she needed to, then right, then kept herself in tune with traffic. Her grip on the wheel loosened, and she found herself relaxing the longer the drive went, almost entering a sort of mental autopilot, if that made sense. It actually felt less like she was driving and more like the car drove itself. Perhaps it was a sign that this was becoming second nature for her? In any case, she was too happy to pay that feeling any mind.
Through the rearview mirror, she looked back at her brother and Chloe, seeing them relaxed and enjoying the drive as they admired the sunset outside. Even Loid eventually stopped giving directions and just enjoyed the leisurely pace. After a few minutes of this, she found herself driving around the currently empty dog park they first took Bond too. Thinking this would be a good place to stop for now, she found a parking space and stopped the car, taking one final deep breath. Not in nervousness, but in triumph.
"I did it," Yor grinned from ear to ear.
"Yes, you did," Loid said with a smile of his own.
"I can't believe I actually did it!"
"Well believe it, Yor," Chloe complimented, "Honestly though, I'm just as surprised as you."
"WHOO! Way to go sis! You drove like a pro," Yuri cheered as they all started to exit the car and step on the sidewalk.
Once out, Yor lost control of herself, practically zooming to Loid and enveloping him in a hug, "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"
"No problem Yor," Loid sounded like he was struggling to breath. Realizing she was probably putting too much strength into the hug, Yor released him as he caught his breath, and he smiled for her. She turned to Yuri and Chloe, the former looking slightly peeved before he hid it with a smile, and rushed forward to hug them too.
"Thank you! All of you!" she said, making sure to be aware of her strength this time to put less force into it.
"Anything to help, sis!" Yuri said, sounding extremely happy.
"Yeah...glad..." Chloe, on the other hand, sounded like she was running out of air. This left Yor confused since she was actively trying not to hug them very hard. But then she heard what sounded like Chloe's clavicle cracking and opted to let go before someone got hurt. Thankfully, despite the pain, Chloe still smiled at Yor, and Yuri rubbed at the woman's shoulder to help further ease the pain.
As Yor watched her brother and friend smile to each other, she turned to Loid and asked, "So, what now? It's getting pretty late."
They all looked to the setting sun. Judging by its position (she didn't have a watch at the moment), Yor guessed that it was close to 6:00 pm. Loid rolled back his sleeve just a bit and checked his own watch, confirming her estimation. "I think we should call it a day and head back," Loid suggested, "We can set up later lessons to..." he slowly petered off at the sound of sirens in the distance, and Yor noted how it was getting closer as well. Looking for the source, she saw a police car rounding the corner she'd just driven through and headed their way, Loid muttering a quiet, "Oh no," while Yuri and Chloe were equally worried. The police car parked next to Bumblebee at its right side. Two officers stepped out, Loid clearing his throat as they approached to ask, "Anything we can help you with, officers?"
"Yes, actually," the first, likely senior officer said. He was tall, broad-shouldered with pitch black hair, slightly eclipsing Yor's husband in height. "We got reports of a disturbance involving a speeding yellow car with a black stripe. One of our own couldn't keep up, so they alerted other officers in Berlint to keep an eye out," he jutted his thumb at the vehicle in question, "This wouldn't happen to be your car, would it?"
"Y-Yes," Yor stammered without thinking, hand covering her mouth.
The second officer, this shorter than Yor with light brown hair, stepped forward, "In that case, unless you can tell us who was driving, all four of you will have to come to the station for questioning."
Oh nononono! Yor was once again panicking, feeling everyone around her tense up. And for some reason, the car's engine roared in an almost snarl-like fashion. Did she forget to turn it off? This is bad! If I don't say something, we're all going to get arrested! But if I do, I'll get arrested, then Anya won't have a mother in her life anymore. She'll get kicked out of Eden, her future will be ruined, and Loid will fail his first wife's dying wish. Then they'll investigate me and discover I'm an assassin and then I'll be forced to move away from my family! Yor tried to look at her options, but it was looking like a damned if she did, damned if she didn't situation. Staring blankly at the cops, eyes obscured by her hair, she began flexing her fingers, hearing audible cracks in her bones, Maybe I could...take care of these two? That should be me some time to- clenching her fist, she shook her head, No! No! No! You can't kill police just doing their jobs! You don't even know if these are corrupt officers whose deaths would be warranted! Even if they were, you'd be killing them in front of your family and friend. They'll discover what you are and want nothing to do with you ever-
"Officer's," Loid's voice interrupted Yor's spiraling mind as he stepped forward, "I was the one driving the car. Take me in if you have to but allow my friends and family to return home. I'll accept the responsibility."
"Loid, no," Yor whispered beneath her breath from just behind her husband. Much as she didn't want to be arrested, she refused to allow her husband to suffer for her mistakes. She leveled another glare at the officers again as one approached to grab Loid, eyes radiating pure murderous intent that made him freeze for a second when he looked into them. His partner also began backing away in terror. While she had no intention of killing them, if she could just get behind them and deliver a few strikes to their nerves, it'd incapacitate them long enough for everyone to get in Bumblebee and run for the hills. From there, she just had to make sure they never encountered these specific two ever again, though she had no clue how to accomplish that part. Maybe she could speak to the Shopkeeper and see if he could-
"God dammit!" Yuri grumbled loud enough to get everyone's attention, stomping in front of Loid and grabbing the two officers by their shoulders, "Look, officers, I'd like to apologize," he said in a saccharine tone as he started shoving them towards their police car amidst protests, "My brother-in-law's such a klutz behind the wheel and he just can't keep his foot off the gas to save his life. Don't you worry though," he practically threw the smaller officer into the shotgun seat, "We'll make sure he gets the right lessons," he circled to the driver's seat and shoved the taller cop in, "And there'll be no repeat incidents, I promise!"
"Listen here kid, if you're gonna get in the way like that, then we're gonna have to-" the dark-haired officer froze as Yuri leaned forward, an almost threatening aura surrounding him. He reached into his coat and clearly showed the officers something that drained all color from their faces, but just what that was, Yor couldn't tell. Her current angle obscured it.
"As I said, there will be no repeat incidents. And you should know that I always keep my word. Understood, officers?" Yuri's voice was disturbingly peppy, to the point where it was clearly forced. Just what was he doing?
"Y-Yeah! We understand, sir!" the officers said simultaneously as they closed the window and started driving away. It all happened so fast that it made Yor wonder if this was an outside perspective of her driving.
As the dust cloud faded from the previously used parking spot, Yuri walked back to them, an all too proud smile on his face, "Well, I don't think we'll be worrying about them anytime soon."
"...Yuri, how did you convince them to leave?" Yor asked, wondering what he showed them.
"Uh..." Yuri went quiet for what felt like forever, despite only half a minute at most passing before he finally answered, "Cops are afraid of diplomats, so I just...showed them my credentials."
"..."
"..."
"...that makes sense. I didn't realize diplomats had such authority over law enforcement like that," Yor mused out loud. For some reason, her statement made Loid and Chloe collapse to the floor.
"Yuri, I don't think you should have done that," Chloe commented as she stood up, giving Yuri a stern, questioning glance.
"I know, I know," Yuri gestured in a placating manner, "But I had to do something!" for a second, he glanced at Loid with a strange mix of annoyance and resignation in his eye, "And I couldn't let Loid get arrested for something he didn't do."
Once again, Yor hugged her brother tightly, this time in thanks, while Chloe huffed, "What's done is done, I guess. But we're definitely talking about this later."
As Yor released Yuri from the hug, Loid stepped forward and held out his hand, "Thanks. I know you're not exactly fond of me, but I appreciate what you did."
"Yeah, well..." Yuri sighed, reluctantly taking Loid's hand, "You were willing to go to jail to protect my sister. I figured I owed you for that," but as he released the grip, he said, "But I'm still keeping an eye on you!"
Yor was about to gently chastise Yuri for that, but rather than take offense, Loid simply chuckled, "I'd expect nothing less, Yuri."
"In any case, we should probably head back," Chloe started making her way for her backseat, with Yuri following suit.
"Hey, Loid?" Yor asked as her brother and his friend entered the car, "Think you could drive us back? Don't want to risk anything."
"That's admittedly for the best," Loid nodded, seeming relieved by her decision. Still, he gave her a reassuring smile to let her know she ended on a high note, letting Yor smile back in kind as they entered their car. Only now did Yor notice that it was suddenly turned off, which was odd, given how the engine roared during the police encounter. Loid seemed to notice it too, and from what she saw in the rearview mirror, so did Yuri and Chloe.
With a twist of the key, Bumblebee came to life again, radio suddenly running through a few channels, "**** the-police repor-ZZZZT!"
"Uh, what was that?" Chloe asked.
Loid sighed as he twisted the radio knobs to test it, "The radio tends to short out every now and then. Flips through a few stations for some reason before it starts working like normal."
Yuri put his seatbelt on, "You might want to get that fixed at some point. Sounds like a pain in the ass to deal with."
"I don't know, I kinda like it," Yor earned questioning looks from everyone. With a gentle smile, she placed a hand against the dash, "In a way, everyone has something about them that sets them apart and makes them who they are. Maybe I'm just being sentimental for something I haven't had for very long, but I feel like all of this car's little quirks, like the messy radio, are what make it...well, Bumblebee. Personally, I wouldn't change a thing."
Everyone was quiet again, taking in the weight of her words, assuming they had any weight to begin with. Loid was the first to speak, letting out a soft chuckle, "In that case, if it's good enough for you, then it's good enough for me," he gently places his own hand on the dash just as Yor retracted hers, the thought of their hands making such contact being too much for her at the moment. "Plus, I know Anya loves all Bumblebee's little habits," Loid mused out loud as he patted the car, "She's always stifling her laughs whenever they come up."
"Can we get going now?" Yuri asked, sounding more than a bit tired. Made sense to Yor, since it'd been a long afternoon.
Nodding, Loid put the car in drive and proceeded back on the road. Soon enough, they were on their way back to the factory. While Yor's nervousness on driving wasn't completely gone, she wouldn't deny feeling much lighter now.
Yuri quietly focused on the road and his superior's car ahead as they drove back to their respective homes. After they all got back to the factory parking lot in Loidy's car, he'd admit to finding it hilarious how all his comrades were frozen, jaws practically to the floor. Apparently, his sister's driving was such a shock they needed damn near the entire afternoon to recover from witnessing it. Yuri found it a bit insulting to her, but at this point, he was willing to accept it. Besides, there wasn't a whole lot he could say or do anyway.
"I still think what you did back there was a bad idea," Chloe said from her seat just beside her.
"Maybe, but I still don't regret it," Yuri admitted, turning to the left as he followed the Lieutenant's car.
"Yuri, I'm serious," Chloe continued, "I read a lot of history back in college, and little actions like that are a slippery slope. It's one thing for us to exert authority against those that threaten this country when it's necessary. It's another thing entirely to do so against people like civilian officers just because they pissed you off," Yuri could feel Chloe glaring a hole in his head, "And we're supposed to be better than that."
"They were going to arrest someone for crimes he didn't commit," Yuri justified it, even if doing so left the taste of acid in his mouth. He certainly loathed Loid with almost every fiber of his being. Yet for as much as he wanted to find something to arrest him for, he couldn't bring himself to sit back and let him take the heat for something he knew the man genuinely didn't do. Combined with the heart wrenching body language his sister had at the very thought of her husband's arrest, his body acted before his brain caught up with it.
His sweet, beloved sister. Yuri would do anything to ensure her safety and happiness. Even if it meant putting up with Loidy. But the moment that bastard did something. Be it to hurt her, or the country she called home, he'd sniff it out like a bloodhound and bite down until the limbs came off.
"You have that look on your face."
"Eh?" Yuri realized he was glaring and raised an eyebrow at Chloe.
"The same look you gave Loid a few times back there?" she pointed out with narrow eyes, "The same one you suspect to be a spy? Or does this have anything to do with that?"
"..."
"Yuri."
"He doesn't deserve her."
At Yuri's blunt, borderline growled statement, Chloe sighed, "Yuri, I get that you want to protect your sister. That much is obvious. But I feel like you're going overboard. Not to mention this is starting to get more than a bit creepy. Seriously, it feels like you're obsessed with her."
Choosing to ignore that, he asked, "Did you find anything to suggest Loid could be a spy?"
"No, I didn't see anything," Chloe shook her head, "Granted, at least half of that's because I was too busy screaming my lungs out, but even then, I didn't see anything in his body language or words that could even give a hint. Even when we were all shaking hands and saying goodbye back at the factory, he felt pretty on the level," she hummed, "In all honesty, he seems like an ordinary psychiatrist and loving husband. Nothing more and nothing less."
"Looks can be deceiving. It's our line of work to tear off the masks they love to hide behind," Yuri pointed out, still convinced there was something more to Loid. There just had to be. Everyone had something to hide.
"I know, and I didn't say he's suddenly not a suspect of anything. Just that he seems pretty ordinary," Chloe huffed, looking like she was going to punch him in the face again, "What about you? Did you see anything suspicious out of him?"
Yuri thought back over every interaction he'd had with Loid throughout the entire day. Despite his best efforts to scope out anything, nothing really stood out to him. As was the norm, he was polite, charming, and pretty much perfect, which just made Yuri despise him all the more. No one was that perfect, especially not some doctor who came out of nowhere and won his sister's heart.
Loid Loid Loid, everything revolves around Loid these days, Yuri huffed as he slowed down in front of a stoplight and came to a standstill, his superiors' car lucky they were ahead enough to have gone on green, Well, at least Yor's happy, but why'd Loid have to be the one to do it? Ugh, just forget it, Yuri. Yor's happy, so be happy for her! the more he thought about it, the more upset he became. Instead, he tried focusing on other things he noticed during the practice drive and afterward, like that weird symbol on the steering wheel of Loid's car. For some reason, it stuck in his mind with how odd it was, looking like a metal face. Not to mention that for such an old hunk of scrap, it managed to take all the dangers it'd faced without a single scratch on it. Did Loid reinforce it somehow? Yuri's mind began wandering, But where the hell would he get the resources if he's just a psychiatrist? Unless he isn't one and that's just his spy cover! Maybe that symbol means something, like...maybe it's the emblem of some paramilitary organization from out of Ostania. Is Loid part of it? Is it a terrorist cell like the Westalis one we took care of recently? If he is, then I'll be there to stop whatever schemes they're plotting and get that bastard far away from my-
"By the way, did you remember to bug their car? Wasn't able to with my life flashing before my eyes."
Chloe's question snapped him out of it as the light turned green.
"DAMMIT!" Yuri slammed his head against the steering wheel, the car horn blaring out as Chloe sighed and patted his back.
Loid managed to stifle a yawn as he entered his bedroom, it now being past sundown. He'd just finished saying good night to Yor, Bond, and Anya, and thanked Franky for looking after the latter two before sending him on his way. With the apartment quiet as a mouse and Franky heading home, Loid sat down at his desk and pulled out the few coins Jeffrey had discreetly given to him during their final handshake. Thankfully, despite the risk with close SSS presence, they failed to notice. Likely a result of still being too unnerved by Yor's driving (or traumatized in Yuri and Chloe's cases, something he completely sympathized with and knew firsthand) and them just wanting to head home by that point. And now that Loid's mind was on that note...
Why did I do that? Loid thought back to the police encounter and what he'd tried to do. Getting arrested would have put Operation STRIX in peril, especially in a situation where he didn't have the time to formulate a plan of escape or ensure he could destroy all record of the arrest. Yet despite his years of instincts from operating as Twilight telling him not to, his body completely ignored them and did the first thing he could think of to save his wife from potential imprisonment. This isn't the first time something like this happened either, he mused, fingers to his chin as he began opening the coins up. He remembered the interview process they'd taken to allow Anya attendance of Eden Academy, and how Murdoch Swan mocked and bullied both her and Yor throughout it. His reaction, to lash out in anger at the man and just barely redirect it at the last possible second, almost ruined the entire mission.
Yet if Anya wasn't attending Eden now due to a technicality (which he was still quite certain was just something Housemaster Henderson made up), Loid still didn't think he'd have regretted what he'd done. Even now, he was surprised by how he felt few, if any, regrets for his actions during either that incident or the one from today. As Loid took out a small spy glass and read the near-microscopic words, he reflected on these feelings. He wasn't quite sure about how this would affect his mission moving forward, but it wasn't unwelcome either. It felt good, ensuring that his family was cared for, content, and happy. Was that not the entire reason he became a spy to begin with? To ensure the wellbeing and happiness of others.
Huh, interesting, Loid read through Jeffrey's intel and learned the details of a recent raid on a number of warehouses by the SSS. Apparently, they were being used as bases and storage facilities for a Westalis terrorist cell. Loid recalled how he and other WISE agents were busy with missions at the time, so Jeffrey took it upon himself to uncover them and guide the SSS to said locations, stopping the cell. All important details for later reports, but the real meat of the raid, as the saying went, was what the SSS discovered in those warehouses.
From the looks of it, the Ostanian military was already putting the pod from the crash site to use. Their R & D department had been working on reverse engineering the craft and developing blueprints for new propulsion systems that would be put to test on fighter jets and guided missiles. The recent raid by the SSS revealed that the terrorists managed to seize those blueprints, but they now had them back. While Jeffrey couldn't get as much of an in-depth look at them as he would have liked, he could tell that they were highly advanced. More so than anything either Westalis or Ostania currently had.
Mystery after mystery piled into Loid's head. They already knew that the metals of this pod matched no known elements, but now they had confirmation on just how advanced its technology was. Just who built it, what country were they from, and why did they launch it near Berlint? The footprints he'd found that day hinted at the possibility of it being a launch system for an advanced mech of some kind, which would definitely make Franky green with envy given his own interest in anything from realms of science fiction. Still, it was only one potential reason, and there was so little evidence to support the idea. As he tried to ruminate other possibilities, he continued to read through Jeffrey's report, where he got just who copies of the blueprints would be passed on to.
"Blackbell Heavy Industries," Loid muttered, finding that the decision made sense, given the Blackbell family's status as one of Ostania's greatest weapons manufacturers. It also made his job just a bit easier. There's an upcoming parent/teacher conference for Eden, and given that their daughter, Anya's first, closest, and so far only friend, attended Eden, Loid safely bet that they'd be present for the occasion, If I can meet with the Blackbells there, I can see what kind of information about their upcoming developments can be obtained from the conversation, he began to feel his eyelids droop mid-thought. Seeing that fighting sleep was a losing battle at this point, he committed the intel to memory and properly disposed of it before dozing off on his bed, And if I'm lucky, I might be able to encounter Donovan Desmond while there.
An unlikely prospect, undoubtedly, but as the he'd long since been forced to learn, both before and after forming the Forger family, life was most certainly unpredictable.
Yes, the song Anya was singing was the Transformers theme.
Part of me wanted to do a full Bumblebee POV for this chapter, but I decided against it for a few reasons. First is that the entirety of the previous chapter was his POV, and that and this were originally meant to be one chapter before it got too long and had to be split in two (even though, again, this chapter was FOUR TIMES the length of the last one). The second is that I found myself wanting to focus more on the human characters' perspective of things. And thirdly, it allowed me to try and convey Bumblebee's feelings with just body language (as much as a car can convey).
As for the movie Franky was talking about, think of it as this world's equivalent to War of the Worlds, the movie adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel (more specifically the 1953 version). And we allude to some stuff that came up later in the SPY X FAMILY manga/anime like his mech armor.
And we get to see more bits of the SSS alongside a slight follow up on the plot thread of Bumblebee's space pod. Plus, we get to deep dive into Yor's personal insecurities that'd really come to head during the Cruise arc, as well as more details on Loid's time as a soldier during the last war. Should be pretty obvious, but the part he relayed to Yor about him crashing a car around years ago was during said war.
Speaking of the Cruise arc, reminder to the readership that I won't be covering that for this story. This is because, like my Owl House/Devil May Cry fic, The Silver Raven, I don't just want to write "Spy X Family featuring Bumblebee". So, while that arc's gonna be happening in the background, other events will be covered centering on Bee. Besides, not like there's any way for Bee to take part in those events anyway since...y'know, it's on a Cruise Ship.
I'd rather not say too much since I do want to leave room for speculation amongst the readership. But I did overall like how this chapter turned out, and I liked writing all the dramatic irony from Loid, Yor, and Yuri's POVs. Sometimes, it's just hilarious how off the mark everyone can be while simultaneously being on said mark just as much.
Next up with Mission 9, we're finally gonna be going to Eden Academy and meeting Becky and Damian for the first time in the story. And Anya's gonna be introducing them to her family's new car/member.
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Rereading this, I just had the mental image of the 'anime' pausing to give Bumblebee and the police car title cards with fake scientific names, ala Coyote and Road Runner.
- Pronouns
- They
Questio, Which one? G1? Bayformers? Cybertron? Anime? Beastformers?
Hexcalibur
Not So Ordinary Sword
- Location
- Somewhere
- Pronouns
- It
Congratulations Yor! You managed to traumatized a Cybertronian, a veteran spy and several secret police agents with your driving.
- Location
- none of your business
Pretty sure G1,, albeit Animated got a revamped version in the US
Camien Odyssey: Chapter 4: The Cosmic Carnival (ft. the Magnificent Sky Lynx!)
New
So sorry for the long wait for this chapter! Like with a lot of things, it ended up being WAY longer than I expected. But at this point, I guess I really should be expecting this more often, considering my previous, recent update for The Silver Raven was similarly long.
Time for the Cosmic Carnival! Hope you all enjoy. A few things should look familiar if you've read the 1980s Transformers Marvel comic (specifically Issue #44, which is where we were first introduced to the Cosmic Carnival).
As a quick recap, I'm primarily using Transformers/Cybertronian units of time and measurement here since the main cast is comprised of them.
Nanoklik = Second.
Cycle = Minute.
Mega Cycle = Hour.
Solar Cycle = Day.
Chord = Week.
Stellar Cycle = Year.
Vorn = Century.
All of this can be found on TFwiki for further reference.
And just to clarify/help the readers picture things, the Alpha-5 is basically a gunmetal grey and blue variant of the Orion/Ark ship from Transformers Animated. Just something to help with that.
Also, for clarification, I brought up in the first and this chapter that Jetfire has an accent. Much like in War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron, he has a British accent. So, if you're having trouble picturing it, just imagine that version of the character.
Special thanks and shout out to SwapAUAnon, @Matrix Dragon, and Quantum01 for Beta Reading this chapter.
Chapter 4: The Cosmic Carnival (ft. the Magnificent Sky Lynx!)
"So, this is a...Cosmic Carnival?" Windblade asked, with Wheeljack grimacing at the question as they all exited the ship and looked around the docking bay. The area was a pristine gunmetal grey and pretty sparsely packed, having a couple other ships present, albeit much smaller than the Alpha-5. To top it off, at least one of those ships was being disassembled by a series of worker drones. Based on how the drones kept repeating "NOW EMPLOYEE. ALL PROPERTY BELONGS TO COMIC CARNIVAL" as they took it apart, Wheeljack felt sorry for the poor sap who got suckered into signing a contract with this place.
"Yup. Part interstellar hotel, part casino, part zoo, part circus, all one giant con wrapped in a scam wrapped in a pyramid scheme," came his answer, hating the fact that he was back here again. Seriously, why the frag did this have to happen? Right as he dragged a servo down his face to groan in it, he heard the all too familiar clank of a serving drone putting the death knell for their escape chances on the Alpha-5.
"Is that a-" Elita was cut off when the same drone lowered down to her and dropped a card in her servo.
"Yes, it's a slagging bomb, Eli," Wheeljack huffed, looking up at the device to see that it already welded itself into the hull, a hologram display showing that their exit fee would be 50 billion Shannix. Great, just great, the Wrecker rolled his optics, We're already starting with the chrome alloy pie in the sky numbers.
"You clearly know a lot about this place, soldier," Ultra Magnus, ever the stiff, gave him the "Start explaining" look. Wheeljack could only sigh and walk forward as he remembered everything from last time, especially the longer he looked at the two exits with giant, multicolored neon signs over the hallways. One read as "Sideshow/Zoo" while the other read "Casino/Parks".
"It was back when me and some of the Wreckers were handling some missions out near Dromedon. Cons were setting up a foothold to start taking over the rest of the planetary system there, so we Wreckers did what we do best."
"A mountain of over-the-top violence, swearing, and unnecessary screaming?" Prowl asked with narrowed optics in clear and obvious rhetoric.
"Got it in one, Officer," Wheeljack smirked, earning a glare from Magnus, concern from Windblade, and a chuckle from both Fixit and Elita, though the latter also shook her head while pinching between the optics. "Anyway, we blew up the base and most of the surrounding area, which pissed off the local Shrikebat population. Spent a few Mega-cycles fighting those guys off, but we lost a few Wreckers in the process," Wheeljack went quiet for a few nanokliks to give them the proper respects, "We were pretty outgunned when ol' Kup got an idea on how to get them off our afts. See, turns out he'd fought these things before on a planet called Dread, which-
"What does any of this have to do with our current predicament?" Magnus grunted, always unwilling to let a good story play out.
Wheeljack glared at the bigger, boring, utter killjoy of a bot, "I'm getting to that! So, skipping ahead, we were on our way out of the planetary system when the Cosmic Carnival showed up and brought all of us aboard. First thing one of us tried to do was remove that-" he pointed to the bomb, "And it blew up our ship."
"You-You-You didn't think that the bomb had sensors built in to blow up-up if someone tri-tri-tried to remove it? That's the first thing you learn about bomb disposal!" Fixit asked in utter bafflement.
"Yeah, well, Piston panicked and went straight for trying to pull the bomb off the ship. Sue him," Wheeljack gave another moment of silence for his fallen comrade, "So, since we were stuck here, we explored around and did find that the place sold ships of their own. Only problem back then was that they're more expensive than the paywall to get those bombs off the damned ship in the first place. Unfortunately for us, we went to the casino."
"Wait, how is that a bad thi-"
"Kid, that was the only way we could make any Shannix short of finding jobs here and the slot machines were a fragging crapshoot," Wheeljack cut Windblade off, memories of the entire thing putting him in a bad mood, made all the worse by being here again. "Seriously, those things are built for swindling you out of your money," He shook his head, recalling how they all split up to different machines as a way to make all the Shannix they could. Him and Bulkhead ended up losing all their Shannix pretty quickly by way of bad luck. Kup managed to make quite a bit from gambling but was wise enough to stop while he was ahead. Either way, it wasn't enough to get them a new ship. Grimacing, Wheeljack continued, "Only one of us to make any progress was Whirl. And let's just say he..."
"Whirl, what the frag!" Wheeljack yelled as the blue Wrecker faced him, his single yellow optic half-lidded while his left servo still kept a blaster primed at the slot machine. Or at least, the smoldering remains of it.
"Yeah, you blew up the machine!" Bulkhead joined in, though sounding less pissed and more confused, "Why? You hit the jackpot!"
In response, Whirl...shrugged. He just shrugged, "I got bored."
"..."
"..."
"...young bots these days, I swear to Primus," Kup shook his head and took a drag of his Cy-Gar. Bulkhead groaned and clutched at his helm in how their chance to get out was literally blown away, all while Wheeljack felt his inner Energon boil at the sheer reckless stupidity of the bot in front of him.
"Hey!" a voice called out. They all turned and saw the approaching owner to be a Cone headed Decepticon Seeker, one wearing a badge indicating he actually worked here, "Did you blow up that machine? That's Carnival property! Looks like I'm gonna have to report you to Mr. Big...Top..." the ex-Con (Wheeljack assumed) blinked and took a closer look at them before panicking, "Oh scrap!" he pressed on the side of his helm, "This is Dirge to security, come in! We have Wreckers and they're...uh...wrecking up the place! Repeat, send ba-" suddenly, Whirl blitzed forward and punched him in the crotch, "ACK!"
As Dirge fell to the floor, an alarm sounded. The other players in the casino portion of the ship started running out, leaving the Wreckers trapped as the lights flashed red and the room went into complete lockdown.
"Alright then. Gear up you three!" Kup ordered as he drew his twin plasma pistols, "Looks like we're fightin' our way out!"
"Fine by me, sir!" Bulkhead nodded, transforming his right servo into a large grey wrecking ball while his left became a plasma blaster. Wheeljack, meanwhile, primed his shoulder cannon as hatches within the room opened, revealing security drones that quickly swarmed the place. However, unlike the rest of them, Whirl was kneeling over the downed body of Dirge, not paying any attention to their attackers.
"Uh, Whirl," Bulkhead began, "What are you doing?"
"Trying to figure out how to write 'Slag for Brains' backwards," Whirl looked up to Wheeljack and held out a pincer-like servo, "Jackie, any chance you got a blowtorch?"
Wheeljack would've called him out on bad timing had the drones not opened fire right then and there.
"-and then we had to run for the nearest airlock and blow it up. Spent about five solar cycles just floating in open space, attached to each other with cables so we didn't float off. An Autobot ship picked up our distress beacon and took us home," Wheeljack concluded the tale of one among many miserable low points in his life, "Long story short, we gotta get out of here now. I am not having a repeat of last time."
The rest of the crew just stood there in silence, with Ultra Magnus' optic notably twitching. Though Wheeljack couldn't figure out why. As if sensing his confusion, Chief said, "Whirl certainly sounds as...needlessly hyperviolent as when I last encountered him."
"Ugh, tell me about it," Wheeljack rolled his optics at how over-the-top his fellow Wrecker was. For some reason, his reaction made Ultra Magnus angrier. Before anything else though, Elita stepped in to diffuse the ensuing tension.
"Obviously, we're not getting out of here like that," she turned to Wheeljack and asked, "What else do you know about this place? Anything that could help us escape?"
"Sorry Eli, don't know any escape routes outside the one we made for ourselves. But I was able to pick up on a few details that could help," Wheeljack began recounting over them, "For starters, this place usually sticks around the same area for about a few days, both to draw in anyone who paid the admission fee, assuming they weren't already living here in luxury suites, and anyone with the worst luck to just come near the place. Former group's usually the richest folk you can find in the galaxy, and the latter's expected to just waste away all their Shannix until they've got no choice but to work here and pay off the debt."
"And, quite obviously, they're never going to be able to pay it off," Prowl mused, arms crossed with a glare of contempt at the current environment.
"Well, frag that," Elita murmured and tore the card in half, making Wheeljack smirk.
"Hmm," Fixit stared up at the bomb attached to the ship, "Hey Wheelja-ja-jack, did you notice anything about the bomb from last time that could help?"
"Nope. Blew to smithereens before I could get a look at it. But now that you mention it..." Wheeljack stepped to where Fixit was and took a closer inspection, noticing quite a few details about the bomb that gave hint to how it worked. Optics scanned every facet of the explosive device, inside and out, as he let out a hum.
"Anything?" Ultra Magnus asked.
"Bomb's proximity based, so if it goes a certain distance from the ship, kaboom," Wheeljack drawled out, "At the same time, it can also be activated remotely, so odds are, there's either a terminal or admin switch somewhere around here to shut it down."
"Just like the Mode Locks back on the prison ship," Windblade mumbled and rubbed at her elbow while Fixit and Elita gave her comforting glances. Wheeljack wasn't really sure what to say, since comforting had never been his strong suit, even though he sometimes wished it was. Didn't seem to be Prowl or Magnus' either, judging by their expressions and postures.
So instead, he continued, "Not exactly. Based on the design, we could pop this bomb open and disarm it that way. Maybe even trick it into thinking we paid the toll. Can't do that with a Mode Lock for obvious reasons."
"Heh, r-right," Windblade scratched her cheek.
"Still, no-not sure I'd recommend that. Too ri-ri-risky," Fixit added.
"You underestimating my bomb diffusing skills, Mini Mech?" Wheeljack asked in faux offense.
"Fixit is correct," Magnus interjected, clearly not understanding sarcasm, "In our current environment, we lack a means to repair the ship should the bomb go off, either because of a slip up, or if they notice the attempt and just decide to activate it then and there. Finding the control terminal presents a better option."
"Yeah yeah, whatever you say, tall, blue, and boring," Wheeljack rolled his optics while Chief huffed at the disrespect. Sure, the Wrecker got the point, but where was the fun in that?
"For now, I'm inclined to agree with Magnus and Fixit," Elita stepped in, once again making it a point to keep tensions low, "Not to throw the idea of direct disarmament out, but we'll keep it as a last resort if we can't find the terminal. Understood?"
"Understood, General," Ultra Magnus, ever the boy scout, affirmatively saluted and stood straight. Prowl simply kept his arms crossed and nodded while Wheeljack and Fixit gave salutes of their own, though theirs were lazy and playful respectively.
"U-Uh, understood, Miss Elita," Windblade gave her own salute, one much slower and more nervous. Kid clearly wasn't used to this kind of thing.
Elita saw that too and gently placed a servo to her shoulder, "It's fine Windblade, don't stress out over this. Personally, I'd rather just be called Elita. No salutes or military jargon or anything like that if you're uncomfortable."
"Right, sorry!" Windblade snapped her arm down to her side.
Elita's expression suddenly became a lot more serious and even a bit somber, "And...if you'd like, we'll continue our conversation when we get back to the ship." Windblade nervously nodded, making Wheeljack wonder what they were talking about before the Carnival came in. Releasing Windblade's shoulder, Elita faced the entire crew and said, "Let's get moving. We'll stay in a group for now and explore. See if we can find anything that'll point us to-"
"Actually, I think it'd be be-be-be-best if I stay here," Fixit cut in as everyone's optics looked down on him, "Someone's gotta guard the ship. Plus, Je-Jetfire's still out cold-cold-cold. Need to be there when he comes to-to-to."
Elita nodded and gave a thumbs up, "Alright Fixit. Watch after everything while we're out," she gestured to the rest of the crew and they followed her to the hallway leading for the sideshow and zoo, "Hopefully this won't take long."
"Happy hunting!" Fixit replied as he headed up the ship's ramp and closed it, leaving the rest of them to start exploring about the place.
Elita found herself glancing at the many exhibits as she and her teammates followed through the crowd of various organics and inorganics. Despite the need to search for a means to shut down the bomb holding their ship hostage, she wouldn't deny that the abundance of exotic creatures was a spectacle for the optics.
Still, she frowned as her team continued their trek, There's something not quite right about this place.
Even leaving aside the whole bomb aspect, the sideshow and zoo had this off-putting feeling to it that only increased the longer she looked around. Behind each energy barrier was an animal of some kind; all of them hailing from different worlds that were labeled beside each enclosure. However, while Elita wasn't familiar with most of them, the few she could recognize were grossly misnamed. Whether this was out of laziness or carelessness, she didn't know, but there were clear and present signs of mistreatment with each creature, ranging from small scars and wounds to the pens being too small to accommodate their sizes. Even with those who had room to move about didn't seem all too happy to be there, especially with all the sheer amount of attention they were given by the onlookers.
"Come one, come all, witness species from worlds beyond this or any galaxy!" yelled a voice just ahead that...well, it certainly sounded enthusiastic, but there was a tinge of bitterness behind it. More importantly, Elita recognized the voice from somewhere, and as she moved ahead and through the crowds, she saw the owner and gasped.
"Primus, is that..."
"I believe so, General," Ultra Magnus commented as the rest of the crew caught up, all of them seeing a large Cybertronian, his torso, arms, and legs armored green while his waste was yellow in color. His helm was coated red, face covered by a blue visor and yellow mask.
"What is Cosmos doing here?" Prowl questioned, while Windblade looked between all of them in confusion.
"Who's Cosmo-"
"Behold!" the bot suddenly yelled and gestured behind him, "The cow!"
At his signal, the creatures within the enclosure looked up at the crowd, some of which went "Ooh!" and "Aah!", while most just gave bored stares. Elita herself wasn't sure what to make of these...cows. They were quadrupedal and small, some being black with white splotches of fur, some being purely brown in pigmentation, others having horns but most without. She could say that they were undeniably cute though.
"This bovine species comes from a planet known only as...ugh, Urath! It produces a substance the local organic population calls "malt", and it's known to be quite refreshing. Other than that, they can spit...uh, fire, when threatened and enjoy eating grass. And they...also..." Cosmos started petering off as the crowd lost interest, moving on to other enclosures. He sighed and shook his head, "Yeah, right on time too."
"If it means anything, I thought it was interesting," Elita said in comfort as she stepped forward, her teammates following along.
The minute they neared, Cosmos gasped, "General Elita!" he ran forward and hugged her, "Holy scrap, it's really you!"
"Good to see you too," Elita patted his back as he let go and took in everyone else.
"Lieutenant Ultra Magnus, sir!" Cosmos entered an immediate salute, slipping back into soldier mode as if he'd never left. Elita found it to be a sobering thought, considering why Cosmos left the war to begin with.
I guess no matter how much you try to distance yourself, some things will always stick with you, Elita wondered if it'd be the same thing for her, Optimus, and the rest of the active Autobots when all was said and done. And that was assuming they could topple the madness Megatron created to begin with. Still...
We're gonna try.
Magnus answered with a nod and salute of his own, "As you were, soldier."
"Had no idea you were here," Wheeljack commented, smirking with servos to his hips.
"Wheeljack?" Cosmos asked, getting a nod before the two bots shook servos, "Holy scrap! I haven't seen you since the Scraplet infestation back on Luna-1's base."
"Ha! I remember that. Bulkhead screamed like a newly forged femme."
"Yeah...I uh, I might've also screamed like that."
"Maybe, but I remember Bulkhead's being louder than-"
"Excuse me!" Windblade cut in, getting everyone's attention before balking, "Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt. I'm just kinda lost..."
Elita nodded, realizing introductions were in order, "Sorry about that. Cosmos, this is Windblade. She's among our newest teammates and from Caminus," she turned to the femme in question, "Windblade, this is Cosmos, a former Autobot reconnaissance officer."
"Wait," Cosmos' blinking could be heard from behind his visor, "Caminus is real?"
"Very, and currently under the Decepticons' control," Windblade huffed, but was clearly trying to maintain herself. Elita could understand her plight, given Caminus' recent capture and her previous circumstances. One's home being treated as nothing but a fable after all that would put anyone in a bad mood. Thankfully, even Cosmos took notice, his body language becoming apologetic.
"Sorry."
"It's fine. You didn't know."
"Regardless," Prowl began, shifting the topic, "Cosmos, what exactly are you doing here?"
"As a betting mech, I'm gonna say the place literally reeled you in and stuck you on enclosure duty after the Shannix ran dry, right?" Wheeljack threw out his own guess.
"Eh, kinda-ish? It's a long story," Cosmos gestured to the cow enclosure and began explaining, "See, I was just flying on my way out of this solar system with a bunch of cows I'd taken from a planet called Earth. I was just gonna study them for a bit before bringing them back. Even left an IOU for the locals on these large green fields," he scratched the top of his helm, "Though, I wrote it in old Cybertronian symbols, so I'm not sure they understood it. Honestly, I was so excited to finally have a chance to study an exotic organic species that I tried being fancy about it. Figured it'd make things more...authentic."
"That's pretty understandable," Elita said, recalling the first class she ever taught at the Institute for Higher Programming. She may have tried a bit too hard to be professional about things and made a fool of herself.
"Anyway, when I reached the system's edge, that's when I bumped into the Cosmic Carnival and got taken for a ride. These solar cycles, they like to keep me at the enclosures to take care of and breed the cows I'd borrowed," Cosmo crossed his arms and huffed, "And the worst part is they're forcing me to get the facts wrong and make scrap up! They keep saying it's more "interesting" that way, but this place can seriously get fragged!" he sighed, "Sad thing is, I think I'm the luckiest Autobot here."
"Wait, there are other Autobots trapped here?" Ultra Magnus asked, with Elita and the others equally curious.
Cosmos nodded, "Yeah, there are: Hound, Sunstreaker, Smokescreen, and Sky Lynx. I was the last Autobot to get picked up by this place. Well, until you guys arrived, anyway."
Prowl hummed, "Altogether, that makes the five components of-"
"Yeah, and the minute they saw the five of us in one place, the Coneheads warned the Carnival's owner, Mr. Big Top. They make it a point to keep us far away from each other. I'm not exactly allowed near places like the circus ring or the wrestling arena, and they make sure to keep Smokescreen as far away from the casino as possible," Cosmos' shoulders sagged, a mix of sadness and rage in his voice, "Like I said, I'm the lucky bot. Sure, it's insufferable, but I ain't getting the scrap beaten out of me or being forced to do tricks till I can barely stand."
The more I learn, the more I hate this place...well, more than I already did, Elita glowered, getting a feel for the indignities not only Cosmos and the other Autobots, but the rest of those under forced employment at the Cosmic Carnival suffered. For a short nanoklik, her processor recalled back before the war, when she'd started helping the movement alongside Orion and Megatron. Though she'd never suffered such conditions, she'd made it a point to learn. To ask. To understand.
Bots that she'd once considered friend (or were long since dead) would describe to her what they'd endured. Many spoke of the working conditions they'd hoped to challenge and escape, no longer being bound to a single caste and function. Others would decry how the upper echelons of Cybertron chose to turn a blind optic to such injustices, too caught up in their own decadence to care. She remembered when Megatron took her and Orion to his former prison, the Kaon Pit, for the first time, where he and many of the movement's first followers had been forced to engage in blood sport for the entertainment of Cybertron's crime lords and corrupt authority.
And she remembered the cold, blistering rage he spoke with when discussing it all. That same rage that defined him, that had been there since the beginning, and that was now being directed at everyone and everything he felt was against him. What he chose to do with that rage, and what he'd become, was inexcusable. But Elita understood that the evils which shaped and fueled his wrath were very real.
In many respects, this Cosmic Carnival held many similarities: people forced into harsh roles with no say in the matter, all for the entertainment of an elite that ignored such problems for the sake of indulgence. Elita just hoped that this time, things wouldn't spiral out of control.
Despite their initial plans for escape, she turned to her teammates and sent each of them a look. Ultra Magnus, dutiful soldier she kinda wished he'd stop being half the time, was the first to understand and provide an affirmative nod in kind. Wheeljack smirked and gave a nonchalant shrug, while Prowl's expression conveyed greater reluctance, or at the very least uncertainty. Ultimately, he found himself relenting with a nod of his own, leaving only Windblade.
The Camien, like Prowl, was unsure, though more from clearly not understanding what Elita was conveying. The Autobot leader internally chastised herself, being reminded that Windblade was still new to all this. But before she could be more upfront and explain things in full, something within the young bot's optics seemed to click, shifting towards understanding as her mouth parted just a bit. Not a nanoklik later, her expression shifted to pure determination before providing an agreeing smile.
With everyone onboard, Elita turned to Cosmos and asked, "Is there any way we can help?"
Cosmos looked at her in surprise for a few moments, but he quickly recovered and rubbed the back of his neck in uncertainty, "I don't know, being honest. We've tried getting out before, but that didn't go anywhere. Ugh, if only we could get together, then we could form-" his optics blinked behind his visor, a finger to his chin as he stared at the brown, gravely ground, "Actually, he has a show later, so maybe...if we could all figure out..." he faced Elita and said, "Any chance you can patch me into your comm channel?"
"Magnus?" Elita turned to her second-in-command, who nodded and tapped on his helm to activate his comms. Cosmos tapped his helm too, a loud dinging sound emanating from it before he gave a thumbs up. "Good," she smiled, "You know this place better than we do. Take it you have a plan?"
"Well, more like an idea for...10% of a plan, but it's the best I could think of on short notice," Cosmos explained, "For now, we need to focus on sneaking me, Hound, Smokescreen, and Sunstreaker into Sky Lynx's next show. It's not for another two Mega Cycles, so we gotta be quick about this."
And with those five in the same place- Elita quickly caught onto what Cosmos was going for with wide optics. "I see what you're getting at," Giving a grin, she crossed her arms, "Leave getting them there to us. You just worry about sneaking in yourself," she faced her team, "Listen up, everyone. We're splitting into two teams: Prowl will take Windblade and Wheeljack to find Smokescreen, Sunstreaker, and Hound. Magnus and I will go to where Sky Lynx is and get him up to speed. Who knows? Maybe we'll find an admin switch or terminal along the way." As everyone nodded, she turned back to Cosmos, "Where are the others located?"
"By now, Sky Lynx should be backstage of the circus arena. It's where they keep most of the performers before a show starts. The other three work at "Battle Planet" over in the amusement parks. Should be pretty obvious when you see it."
Nodding, she turned to her team one last time, "Alright everyone, let's roll out!"
"What were they talking about back there? About the plan being to just get the five of them together at the show? You said something about 'components' and I'm wondering what you meant by that."
Prowl looked back to Windblade, who walked just behind him and Wheeljack, and said, "I suppose it would make sense for you not to know about Sky Reign. In any case, the plan is-"
"Actually, Officer, why don't we let this be a surprise?" Wheeljack suggested, much to Prowl's annoyance as they walked through the small crowds of various races, some rivaling them in height while others barely came up to their knees, many of whom seemed to be chatting about something or another.
"Because it's counterproductive to not provide all necessary information."
"Yeah, you're one to talk," Wheeljack muttered just loud enough for him to hear.
"What do you mean by that?" Windblade asked.
So that's where you're going with this, Prowl rolled his optics at the effort to goad him into opening up about his mission. Whether Wheeljack was doing so for his own amusement, out of misguided sympathy and/or empathy, or some nebulous third reason, Prowl didn't know. He'd rely on the others to make his hunt easier, but he'd prefer to keep them as uninvolved as possible. While fine with accepting their support, he was less so with them in direct confrontation with his quarry. Lockdown had already spilled the inner Energon of enough Autobots already.
Rather than take the bait, the Cyber-Ninja huffed, "I suppose it isn't strictly necessary for her to know that particular detail, seeing as we simply need to get them all in one place."
"Nice backpedaling," Wheeljack sarcastically remarked.
"Can't say I like being left in the dark like this," now it was Windblade's turn to huff as she pouted like an impatient youngling.
"Hey, I hear ya kid. But I figured since you haven't seen been off Caminus until the whole Con invasion, you probably haven't seen some of the things we have," Wheeljack explained, "Something tells me you're gonna like the surprise. And after what happened to your home, you could use a pick me up."
Not sure how that would improve someone's mood, Prowl recalled every time a Gestalt (or Combiner, the two terms were interchangeable, but Prowl preferred the former) formed during the war and, regardless of Autobot or Decepticon, he only ever felt terror. One entering the battlefield often signaled that things were beginning to escalate beyond control. In fact, a particularly nasty bout between Gestalts, being that of the Autobot Superion and Decepticon Menasor, resulted in the city of Tetrahex's complete decimation. Then again, Wheeljack's own perspective was skewed, given how Wreckers thrived in such escalation. He probably simply thought it to be "cool", as the saying went, and expected Windblade to share that feeling.
Prowl didn't share that viewpoint and had a few compunctions with the idea of Gestalts in the first place. He'd been more than relieved when Optimus Prime managed to get the Enigma of Combination off Cybertron and into unknown space where no faction would ever find it. Still, he kept that to himself and would trust Elita's judgement. He just hoped she knew how to keep the resulting Gestalt in check.
As they kept down the path, the crowds grew in size and began to congest the hall as it led to a single, large entryway. Above the entrance read "Cosmicland" in bright, gold-plated letters coated in holographic stars. "In any case, we're here," Prowl said as the three of them followed the crowd and entered the park. Everything from roller coasters to Ferris wheels, to an omnidirectional pendulum, to free fall towers could be seen from where they stood, all set beneath a transparent barrier that revealed countless stars amidst the black void of space. After taking it all in, the Cyber-Ninja hummed, "Now assuming this is the right park, we just have to find Battle Planet. But where would that-"
"You mean the giant globe over there that has "Battle Planet" on it?" Wheeljack snarked, to which Prowl followed where he pointed with an admitted glare until his optics landed on the enormous pitch-black globe on the farthest, right servo corner of the park. The words "Battle Planet", punctuated by clashing fists between them, circled around the globe every five nanokliks.
"That would be it," Prowl said, refusing to think about how he missed that before gesturing for them to follow, "Now let's not waste any time."
The three Autobots (technically two Autobots plus one extra) made their way through the park, passing through crowds big and small that were clamoring to get on the various attractions. Impressively, despite the sheer shiftiness of the environment, the rides were actually built to accommodate the varying sizes of several different species. As the crowds started to slowly grow, Prowl looked back to make sure he didn't lose track of Wheeljack or Windblade. While the Wrecker's optics glazed over everything with mild indifference, the Camien seemed completely awestruck by her surroundings.
"Wow!" she mouthed, barely above a whisper, but Prowl could hear her regardless of the park's hustle and bustle. Wheeljack could too, given how he turned to her with a smirk and servos relaxed behind his head.
"I know, it's impressive and all, but I wouldn't get too amazed," Wheeljack's smile faded as his optics went to a public performance with a gathering of onlookers. They were watching a pair of Urtuskians juggle a series of plasma saws between themselves. The spectacle would've been impressive had Prowl not seen the exhausted, miserable expressions on the jugglers' faces. "Poor saps probably got stuck having to pay off a debt. And they ain't the only ones," the Wrecker commented, pointing out the other employees who seemed equally discontent with what they were doing, some hiding it better than others, "Like I said, place is one giant scam to wring suckers dry and force them to work here. Guy running this place gets free labor while everyone else gets entertainment, and eventually everyone else will just end up joining the circus when they don't get out in time. Starts to become a lot harder to enjoy the place when you know about the seedy underbelly."
"Sorry, it's just...we don't have anything like this back on Caminus," Windblade shyly admitted, leaving Prowl curious as they walked past a pair of Skuxxoids with energy pistols. With the badges and way the two armored reptilians eyed the crowd, it seemed clear they were part of Carnival security. Thankfully, they didn't spare the trio of Cybertronians a glance.
"Really? You didn't have amusement parks?" Wheeljack asked, "Had a few on Velocitron I went to with the Wreckers before the war started. What about you, Officer? Never went, but I heard about Six Lasers Over Cybertron. You ever been there?"
"No. Not for leisure, at least," Prowl replied, recalling that the first and only time he went there was on assignment to track down an operation selling the illegal drug, Crysmagnetal. In the process, he learned that his fellow Security Operations officer, Barricade, was actually in league with the dealer, having helped them evade arrest provided he get a cut of the drugs for himself. Prowl vividly recalled confronting the crooks, only for Barricade to stab him in the back and slap a pair of stasis cuffs on him. He was lucky that his former partner saw fit to finish his deal before attempting to kill him, as it provided the needed time to plan an escape and get them all imprisoned. Too bad Barricade managed to leave prison through a few "connections" of his and get transferred to a different precinct.
Didn't surprise Prowl that he joined the Decepticons. Countless Cybertronian criminals became part of the ever-growing empire. Its ideology granted them the freedom to indulge in their most violent desires with unchecked impunity.
Windblade shook her head, "No. We don't. Caminus doesn't have much in terms of resources, so our entire culture is one of mass energy conservation to maintain ourselves," her tone became rather bitter, "Perhaps that's another reason we fell so quickly."
"Yeesh, sounds like what I read about ol' Nominus's Edict," Wheeljack commented, which drew further confusion from Windblade.
"What's that?"
"Bunch of political scrap that I don't exactly care about, but it was required reading back at the academy. Before I got kicked out, anyway..." Wheeljack grimaced, not really wanting to talk about it before changing subjects, "So Windy, never been to an amusement park, huh?" Windblade shook her head again, "Well, if it means anything, maybe when this is all over, you'll get your chance. These places can be a real blast, at least when you know there isn't a nastier side to them. You up for something like that?"
"Yeah," Windblade smiled, "I think I'd really like to try something like this."
"In any case, it'll have to wait. We're here," Prowl stopped, gesturing for the others to do the same as they all looked up at the Battle Planet entrance. Not wasting anymore time, they entered, following the signs to the attraction's arena, where at the center was a large cage with a three v one match took place. The solo fighter was a lumbering reptilian organic that rivaled Optimus in height. He wore brown boots and trousers held by harnesses connected with metal buckles. Lastly, he had notably crimson eyes (the organic term for optics) with pointed ears and a series of spikes traveling down his back. As for his opponents...
"Looks like we found 'em," Wheeljack stood at Prowl's side with Windblade joining at the opposite. Sure enough, the three Autobots were fending off against the brute with impressive teamwork. He recognized Hound and Smokescreen with ease, given the former's flat helm that matched his green torso plating in color, as well as the black metal of his arms and legs. The latter still had the same red and blue plating from when they'd last met, albeit heavily dented from the current fight (the broken yellow crest on his helm was the most notable of it) and lacking his shoulder cannon, much like how Hound's was also missing.
No doubt to keep their offensive options limited, Prowl mused before taking note of the last among the three Autobots, Sunstreaker, who looked...different. The yellow armor and black helm where the same, as were the twin crests on the helm's sides with yellow grills. But the chassis, hips and legs seemed to have had adjustments made to make them more prominent, with lips now coated similar to the helm. Being able to hear the grunts of the combatants from his current position, Prowl also noted how Sunstreaker's voice seemed lighter and softer compared to previously.
"Huh, seems like Sunstreaker finally found time to make those modifications she wanted. Good for her," Wheeljack commented, allowing Prowl to understand what that meant before chastising himself for the potential insensitivity. Outside Jazz, Master Yoketron, and...Lockdown, he didn't really converse with other Autobots or bother getting to know them. Even before the war and the CNC's destruction, socializing was never his strong suit, so he wasn't aware.
"HRRK!" Smokescreen yelped, having gotten careless in the battle as their opponent grabbed his leg from an attempted dive kick. The large reptile followed it up by smashing him into both Hound and Sunstreaker, knocking them into the cage walls before slamming the poor bot into the floor a few times. With the three Cybertronians struggling to get up, their foe roared and pounded his chest in victory to the adulation of the audience.
"Fragger," Wheeljack growled, a glare on his face that he shared with Windblade, who seemed equally ready to draw her weapons.
"We have to do something!" the Camien took a step forward before Prowl blocked hers and Wheeljack's way forward.
"Look," he pointed to the security detail that came out from behind the bleachers and opened the cage. Among them was an Ilxian, a Skuxxoid, and two Cybertronians who bore the Decepticon sigil on the wings attached to their legs. Prowl narrowed his optics, "Ramjet and Thrust."
"Huh, only ran into Dirge last time. Not surprised the other Coneheads wound up here too," Wheeljack grunted as the Autobots' reptilian opponent, surprisingly, helped his foes up in a gentle manner.
"Who are they?" Windblade asked, watching the security force yell at them to get out of the cage.
"Members of the Seeker Armada, but from the looks of it, they work for the Carnival now," Prowl noted the security badges on their shoulders, which glimmered as they shoved the fighters towards the backstage while the audience dispersed towards the exits. Making a nudging gesture with his head, the three members of the Alpha-5 crew got moving and followed behind the security force as they escorted the fighters away. They kept just close enough to keep them in their line of sights but were far back to the point where they wouldn't draw attention, usually hiding around corners while following.
"Keep moving!" the Ilxian shoved Sunstreaker forward, much to her anger.
"Hey, watch the paint! Bad enough it got fragged to the Pit and back already."
"Sorry," the fighter's organic opponent said, surprising Prowl with how sincere and gentle he sounded.
"It's fine Garnak," Smokescreen said, "Job's a job, sadly. If it means anything, you did pretty well."
"Really?"
Sunstreaker nodded, "Yeah, but seriously, lighten up on next time? Takes a lot of effort for me to look this good."
"Tough slag, Autobot," Thrust sneered, "You three have a job to do, and that's take a dive to make the others look good. Give everyone a good show, and maybe Mr. Big Top will consider your debt settled."
"Yes, we know. Do you remind us because you think we'll forget, or are you so dumb that you have to remind yourself what your job is?" Smokescreen questioningly jabbed. Even though Prowl couldn't see it, he could almost hear his smirk.
"Jokes on you! Our job is to keep you lot in line! Not fight!" Ramjet mocked.
"Good, because you suck at it," Sunstreaker snarked, causing the entire group to stop as the Coneheads began accosting their prisoners.
"What did you say?" Ramjet snarled.
"She said that you'd suck at fi-"
"Shut up, stupid fleshling!" Thrust cut Garnak off with a blaster shot to the face. Windblade gasped while Wheeljack glared, but Prowl maintained his cool, especially upon seeing that the plasma wound was already starting to heal.
Seems this Garnak has quite the healing factor. Fascinating... Prowl assumed it to be a byproduct of his species, though he couldn't say for certain. Organic races always astounded him in what they could accomplish.
"Guys," Hound helped Garnak up, "Maybe we should just get back to our barracks?"
"What? It isn't my fault the Coneheads are more slag than processor," Sunstreaker smirked with condescension at the group of jailers.
"You...ugh! You're lucky I don't hit femmes!" Ramjet started leading the way forward, but then Sunstreaker ran her mouth again with an almost sing-song tone.
"Me neither. ~But for you I'd make an exception!~"
"That's it! You Autobots are dead!" Ramjet tried to rush Sunstreaker, with Thrust attempting the same, but their organic co-workers got in the way to hold them back.
"What is wrong with you idiots!?" the Ilxian yelled.
"If you kill the merchandise, Big Top will have all our heads!" added the Skuxxoid.
"Wow, we feel so loved right now," Smokescreen snarked in an amused, monotone voice as Sunstreaker, Hound, and Garnak moved to his sides. Once more, Prowl could tell he was rolling his optics despite the angle obscuring that fact. Looking to Wheeljack and Windblade, he nodded to them and received affirmation in kind. They had an opportunity, they just had to take it.
"Least they know how much I'm worth," Sunstreaker egotistically added with servos at her hips, much to Hound's frustration.
"Why can't we just end a Solar Cycle without you two trying to start a fight with the Coneheads?"
"I mean, not like things can get any worse, right?" Garnak placated as Hound's servo almost welded itself to his face.
Seeing the guards were distracted trying to fight each other, Prowl rolled out from cover and threw his shuriken at the Seekers, striking them in their chests while Wheeljack transformed into vehicle mode and rammed right into the Ilxian. As he transformed back to deliver an uppercut to the chin, Windblade rushed out with blades at the ready to fight the Skuxxoid while Prowl darted forward alongside her towards the disoriented Coneheads. The Skuxxoid regained his bearings to fire at both of them, only to find his shots blocked by the Camien and dodged by the Cyber-Ninja, the former of which getting close enough to spin kicked him into a wall. Prowl, meanwhile, struck at Ramjet and Thrust's vital points to leave them incapacitated. Regardless of their status as former or active Decepticons, they might have had vital information to gleam, even if they were dumber than sacks of rocks.
As the Alpha-5 members stood over their fallen foes, they heard Garnak say, "Uh, is this better or worse?"
The three turned to the four cage fighters, the Cybetronians among which looked at them with wide optics. Smokescreen was the first to regain his voice, "Are you...am I seeing things or are there other Autobots in front of us right now?"
"HA! In the metal, Smokes," Wheeljack laughed, the cage trio's mood brightening up significantly.
"Never thought I'd be glad to see a Wrecker," Hound said as he walked up and shook Wheeljack's servo.
"Good to see you again, Jack," Sunstreaker chirped with servos behind her head, "Thanks for the save. But for the record, I totally could've handled that."
"Sure," Wheeljack smirked before looking at the only organic among them, "Uh...Garnak, right?"
"Yup! Nice to meet ya!" Garnak reached forward and shook the Wrecker's servo with his hand.
"Nice to meet you too, Garnak!" Windblade greeted with a smile, "My name's Windblade."
As Garnak happily shook Windblade's servo (comically shaking the Camien up and down in the process), Hound looked at her curiously, "Huh, don't remember ever meeting an Autobot like you before. You a new recruit?"
"K-Kinda...I-" Windblade stuttered amidst the daze from Garnak's shaking before regaining herself, "I'm from Caminus."
"...the frag's Caminus?" Sunstreaker asked, tilting her head.
"Long story," Windblade said before Prowl interrupted by hefting one of the Seekers over his shoulder.
"Windblade, why don't you familiarize yourself with them? Wheeljack, help me dispose of these four."
"Whatever you say, Officer," Wheeljack lazily saluted before grabbing the two organics and hefting them over his shoulders. Windblade started chatting with the three formerly caged Autobots as they made their way for the barracks, which only grew more animated the longer it went on. They were out of audio receptor shot upon reaching the barracks, where Prowl found that the security badges doubled as keys for the doors. Opening it, the Cyber-Ninja and Wrecker entered, finding a wall with three flat, metal bunks, each one atop the other and a ladder at the edge. Not hard to surmise whom this room belonged too, given that the three bunks had "Hound", "Smokey", and "Sunny" written on them respectively.
"I'll go get the other Conehead," Wheeljack tossed the guards across the room before walking out, which drew Prowl's attention to the wall the unceremoniously collided with. On it was a series of scratches, mostly in a uniform four lines with a dash through it for the fifth. What startled the former SecOps officer the most was the sheer amount that covered the entire surface before reaching the next wall, then the next, then the next where it ended. But that was only because it devolved into scratches and scribbles before giving way to giant words reading "WHO THE FRAGGING PIT CARES ANYMORE!?", making Prowl wonder which of them wrote it and how long had they all been here. Where the lines a measurement of Solar Cycles? Chords? Stellar Cycles?
This reminds me an awful lot of- Prowl cut off his line of thought as he stared at the Decepticon badge on Ramjet's wing. He'd heard all the rumors about how the Decepticon's began. How their fire, their rage, their drive for "equality" was fueled by the brutality they endured from the Kaon Pit, where its first followers were held. Having been stationed on the opposite side of Cybertron at the time, said rumors were all he had to go off of, but he brushed it off, focusing more on his work in SecOps and his training as a Cyber-Ninja.
Then after the war and...everything, he wondered if they ever cared for the goals they preached so much about to begin with. The Autobots had a few former Decepticons in their ranks who would insist on it, Jetfire and Drift among them, but Prowl couldn't see it that way. He'd seen too many atrocities committed by them, broken into cells like this one to rescue fellow soldiers, only to witness the aftermath to barbaric acts of torment, from Kick-Off getting his T-Cog torn out, to B-127's voice box being ripped right from his throat.
These weren't the acts of a movement seeking freedom, but that of terrorists and hoodlums who were looking for a banner to manipulate others into joining. No different than those he'd been arresting for dozens of Vorns before their very existence. And at the helm was Megatron, a malicious tyrant to his very core no matter what his followers, former or otherwise, insisted. He'd dealt with monsters who hid their true intentions behind a well-crafted, convincing mask.
He'd once been friends with one, after all. But he knew better now.
"Yo, Copper!" Wheeljack broke through his musings as he re-entered the cell, "Got Thrust for the slammer. Tried to see if he had any Con intel on him, but he wasn't carrying anything. On the plus side, it looks like Windy's getting along with the fantastic four." Prowl looked back to face him as he placed the Seeker down, only for the Wrecker's optics to grow curious, maybe even a little concerned, "Something on your mind? Seem pretty antsy."
"Yes, I'm fine. Merely wondering how they managed to persist in these conditions for so long," Prowl said while checking Ramjet for any intel. It wasn't a complete lie, so it would help deflect from his ever-devolving train of thought.
"They had each other. Simple as that," Wheeljack casually said as he looked around the cell, "Probably helped them stay sane. Also probably helps that bad as this place is, it ain't a scratch on Con prisons," his voice had a somber tinge to it, "Just barely got out of Kaon Prison alive. And from what I heard about Grindcore, Kaon's pretty tame by comparison."
Ugh, don't remind me, Prowl shuddered, remembering every detail the Autobot escapee, Skids, relayed about the prison and its former warden, Tarn. Learning about the things done there kept the Cyber-Ninja up at night. Though now that he'd thought about said former warden, the fact that the Coneheads were still alive was baffling, given the DJD's zero tolerance policy towards any form of treachery and their reported knack for being able to locate anyone who turned their back on the cause. Either the Coneheads aboard the carnival had the smallest modicum of competence to have pulled that off, or they somehow bumbled their way into a very lucky scenario.
Either way, Prowl stood up, having finished searching Ramjet and found a data drive, "We'll decode this back on the ship. See if it has anything useful." Wheeljack nodded and stretched as the two walked out, locking the cell behind them. Right as they did so, footsteps came in from the side as they turned to see Windblade, Sunstreaker, Hound, Smokescreen, and Garnak all headed their way. "So," Prowl began as they approached, "I take it you've gotten to know each other."
"Yup! You guys got a spunky femme on your squad. She's definitely going places," Sunstreaker playfully elbowed Windblade, who kept up her smile and scratched her cheek at the praise.
"Thanks. You're pretty cool yourself."
"Yeah! Sunstreaker's the best," Garnak cheered, "Did she tell you about the time she beat an entire Decepticon squad using only a bendy straw?"
"Oh stop!" Sunstreaker proudly smirked, making Prowl roll his optics while Wheeljack looked to be holding back giggles. Good to see that her penchant for self-aggrandizing hadn't gone down in the slightest, and it seemed Garnak had fully bought into that. He sincerely hoped Windblade didn't buy it either.
"Yes. Please stop," Hound cut in with a shake of his head as Smokescreen laughed, "And for the billionth time, that's NOT what happened. Last thing we need is Sunny's ego getting even more inflated," he snapped his head at the still laughing Smokescreen, "And I told you to stop encouraging her!"
"I'll get to that when it stops being funny!" Smokescreen retorted as his laughs died down, only for Wheeljack's laughter to roar out in its place.
"Okay, okay, but seriously, we got the up and up on what you guys are planning," Sunstreaker said, Wheeljack managing to cease his laughter as she became pretty serious, "So, you just got to find a way to sneak us backstage for Sky Lynx's show, right?" She received nods, to which she regained her cocky smirk, "Alright, I think we're picking up what you're putting down."
"Being honest, I don't exactly approve, but it's the best we have on short notice," Prowl crossed his arms, still uneasy about a Gestalt potentially running amok.
"Still wish you'd tell me what's going to happen when we get them there," Windblade kept her tone even, but hints of bitterness slipped out as she gestured to her new friends, "I mean, not even they'd tell me. And they just learned about the plan!"
"Patience kid," Hound patted Windblade's back in understanding, "Believe me, I'd tell you in a sparkbeat, but these two..."
"What can we say? We may be...indentured servants, as Big Top oh so likes to call us, but we're still performers," Smokescreen said.
"And the biggest rule of showbiz?" Sunstreaker eagerly chimed in, "Always save your best trick for last."
"Told ya you're in for a surprise, Windy," Wheeljack smiled at the Camien, who smiled back despite her obvious annoyance.
Hound, meanwhile, sighed, "Let's just focus on getting there."
"Agreed," Prowl nodded as he tapped his comms, "Elita-1 and Ultra Magnus. This is Prowl. Do you read me?"
"This is Elita, and we read you loud and clear, Prowl. We're in the main arena right now and are trying to find a way backstage. We'll let you know when we make contact with Sky Lynx," she turned her commlink off, "Ready Magnus?"
"Affirmative," Ultra Magnus saluted his General, who nodded back as they looked down on the arena from their seats within the stands. The arena itself was currently filled to the brim with workers setting the stage for the big show, which was now in one Mega Cycle. If they were going to retrieve Sky Lynx, they needed a solid opening, and fortune found them in the form of unmanned vehicular drones, all rather multicolored and vibrant, that began to bring materials in and out from backstage for the workers to set up. "General," he pointed this out to them, "Look."
"I see it," General Elita-1 replied as the two started making their way down the stands and as close to the backstage entrance as possible. Watching as the drones went by, they saw a particularly large drone, one that had just deposited a cage containing a creature of some sort, make its way back around. As it neared the entryway to the backstage, he and the General jumped in and transformed into vehicular mode, following closely behind the drone. Thankfully, no one looked their way when they entered, and the drone's large size offered them both a hiding place and vantage point to scope out the area as they traversed.
Within the backstage, there were a number of performers preparing their routines, from a trio of electric energy beings (Kremzeeks, if Ultra Magnus recalled) merging into a giant lightning wheel for animals to jump through, to a rather small organic performing tricks on a cycle with a rocket engine as nearby workers, who addressed him as Rorza, complimented his form. However, there was something Ultra Magnus saw in their...whatever the organic term for optics was. They all seemed drained despite persisting, like none of them wanted to be here. His processor drawing on the closest approximation, the look was something he'd seen (and much to his regret, shared) with many an Autobot, usually after several Chords stuck in a trench whilst trying to survive Decepticon bombardment.
"Magnus!" the General whispered, veering to the left and staying near drone groups headed that way. Ultra Magnus followed, as was his duty, and they soon found themselves in an area backstage filled with cages containing various organic fauna. It was similar to the sideshow from before, only they had less room and moved about more actively, as if in terror or anger. Not to mention that this one had an abundance of guards patrolling the place, making it feel more like a prison than a backstage.
"Ready for your big show, Sky Lynx?"
Sky Lynx? Ultra Magnus froze alongside General Elita as they slowly tried to drive as close to the ensuing conversation as possible without arousing suspicion. Stopping right at an empty cage, they stilled and appeared like shut down drones to the best of their abilities. They saw the quadrupedal, draconic looking Autobot Primitive resting in a massive cage that was still too small for his size, glaring down at the group in front of him.
"Yes, I believe I am, Mr. Big Top," Sky Lynx said, tone even yet having a sense of exhaustion behind it as his shuttle wings lowered in reluctance. Ultra Magnus looked at this "Big Top", and saw that he was surrounded by several guards, one of whom he could recognize as Dirge by his navy-blue armor, black arm cannons, and the yellow wings on his legs and hips. As for Big Top himself, he was a large, green, slug-like organic whose body oozed purple slime and held a brown cy-gar (or at least its organic counterpart) in one of his many tentacles, while another had some sort of golden watch on it.
"Good. We're expectin' quite a turn out, so you gotta be on your a-game," Big Top sounded encouraging, but it was easy to discern how fake it was, "So you better bring somethin' new for the viewers. If I see revenue drop because you're gettin' lazy, then it's comin' outta your pay."
"What pay? We both know I'm not making much. I doubt anyone working here does."
Big Top's voice gained a dangerous edge, pointing at the Primitive with a tentacle that splattered slime on his face, "Watch your tone, Lynx. Remember, you're under contract to work for me until your debt's paid off. Everyone here is, that's just the rules."
"Ah yes, rules. Rules you write in words so small on contracts so skewed in your favor and for people too desperate to say no. What remarkable business acumen you possess. If I could, I'd clap for you."
"Watch your tone, Autobot!" Dirge bashed a fist against the bars of the cage. Sky Lynx didn't seem the least bit threatened, instead lowering his long neck and moving forward to glare at the former Seeker.
"Hold on, Dirge, my boy," Big Top held the seeker back, "Let's not get too hasty. After all, my biggest money maker has a show to put on," he smugly looked up at Sky Lynx, "Doesn't he?" The Autobot said nothing, instead looking away. "Perfect," Big top clapped, "Now, let's go over your routine one last time."
"What happened to wanting something new?"
"Eh, that was then, this is now."
"That was quite literally less than a cycle ago!"
"Either way, we don't want the audience to be too uncomfortable, so let's keep things familiar."
"Prowl, do you read?" General Elita whispered into her comms to everyone connected, "We've located Sky Lynx, but he's surrounded. There are a few guards on him, one being Dirge, and the Carnival owner, Big Top."
"That could spell trouble, especially since we're all on our way to your location now," Prowl replied back, "Any openings so far?"
Ultra Magnus huffed as he watched the slug explain the routine, "No. And with how he seems to enjoy the sound of his own voice, I doubt we'll be given one before the show starts. We have thirty cycles at most now."
"We talking about Big Top or Sky Lynx?" a new voice connected to the comms, easily recognizable to Ultra Magnus as Sunstreaker, joked.
"Oh, like you're one to talk, Sunny," Hound sighed.
"Maybe there's something there to distract him?" Windblade suggested.
"Not seeing anything apparent," General Elita replied, "Hound, Smokescreen, Sunstreaker, what do you know about Big Top that can help?"
At that, Smokescreen began, "Well, is he wearing a golden watch?"
"Yeah."
"That's not really a watch. It actually controls all security on the ship. Drones, putting certain rooms on lockdown, bombs on ships, you name it. In other words, an admin switch."
Looks like we found that, at least, Ultra Magnus mentally filed that detail for later and asked, "Anything else, Smokescreen?"
"Yeah, he's a coward at heart, and he always takes a security team with him. Only time he doesn't have them around is when he's announcing and running the main circus shows like Sky Lynx's. However, he prefers to handle most problems on the ship directly, depending on how severe it is."
"Explains why I never saw him last time the Wreckers were here," Wheeljack chimed in with a laugh, "Must've been too scared to come out of hiding."
"So, if we can cause a big enough distraction, it should draw him away from the arena long enough for us to get to Sky Lynx?" General Elita surmised.
"Just leave that part to us, boss lady," Sunstreaker said with a tone easily recognizable as both smug and headache inducing.
"Sunny," Hound began slowly, "What are you do-"
"Yo Garnack! Wanna help us screw over the big bad boss?" Sunstreaker spoke to someone out of the comms, who was muffled, yet enthusiastic from what could be told, "Great! Now go to the center of Cosmicland and start making some noise!"
There were a few moments of what sounded like stomps, followed by silence as Windblade asked, "Uh, Sunstreaker, what exactly did you mean by 'make some noise?'"
"Agreed, because if it's what I think it is, call him back, now," the General sternly, but calmly, ordered, which Ultra Magnus agreed with. Anything that would bring harm to civilians would most certainly not be tolerated, and he struggled to comprehend how Sunstreaker thought something like that would be a good idea for a distraction.
"Oh relax! Garny won't attack anyone. Trust me. I may hate this place and most of the people here, but I ain't that far gone. Just gotta give him a bit to practice his vocals and he'll have your slug problem solved."
Ultra Magnus could hear the General blink, "Wait, you mean he's going to-"
"-and then you'll-" Big Top's watch made a loud beeping as he let out frustrated grumbles, "Hold on," he pressed it, "Yes, what is it?" Neither Ultra Magnus nor General Elita could make out what was being said from here, but the slug's body language said it all, "Ugh, again!? For the love of-" he seethed for a good few nanokliks before yelling into the watch, "Keep him busy, I'll be there shortly."
"Boss?" Dirge asked as Big Top cut off communication.
"It's that idiot, Garnack. He's singin' in the middle of Cosmicland and drivin' people away! I gotta take care of this before the show," he pointed to the former Seeker, "Dirge, you stay here and keep my prize money maker company. Everyone else is coming with me."
"Sir, is that really necessar-"
"I don't pay you to question me!" Big Top sneered as he and his guards began walking away.
"You hardly pay us at all."
"And just for that, you're fightin' him first if he gets aggressive. Now, as I was..." was all they could hear Big Top say as he left audio receptor shot before Dirge demanded someone call in some security drones to help him monitor Sky Lynx. No one seemed to be listening, so Ultra Magnus and the General took the opportunity and drove over to him, placing themselves at his sides and remaining quiet for a few cycles.
"So..." General Elita started, still remaining in vehicle mode, "How are things?"
Dirge looked at her, "Huh? Oh, they're going great! Life's never been better for me."
"Are they?" Ultra Magnus muttered.
"Yup! After everything with the Decepticons and almost dying more times than I can count, I get to be the one on top here!" Dirge waxed on, "I get all the Energon and Shannix I want, plus the boss lets me wail on these idiots whenever they forget their place."
"Does he now?" the General's tone remained even, but a fury was evident behind it.
"Yeah, like last Chord where I got to electrocute a couple fraggers for whining...on the...job..." Dirge blinked a few times and looked between them, "Wait a minute, since when can you drones talk? This a new upgrade I didn't know abou-"
Without saying a word, General Elita and Ultra Magnus transformed to full height, the former decking Dirge in the face. He stumbled back into Ultra Magnus, who bashed the top of his head in with a hammer fist, knocking him out cold.
"I had a feeling something was off," Sky Lynx approached from within his cage, "Though you two were the last Autobots I expected to get stuck on this blight upon entertainment."
"Good to see you too, Sky Lynx," General Elita greeted while Ultra Magnus searched Dirge's body for any useful Decepticon intelligence. Despite having left the faction, he seemed moronic enough to not throw something like that away.
"You as well, and it's certainly been a long time, Ultra Magnus," Sky Lynx greeted him as he pilfered a data drive from the fallen former Decepticon, "You seem to be doing swimmingly as Miss Elita's First Lieutenant."
"I find the position suits me," Better than Supreme Commander ever did, Ultra Magnus stood up and tried not to bitterly muse on his failings as the former leader of the Autobots. His time in that position had more failures than he could count, and he'd been glad when Optimus took the reigns as Supreme Commander, doing far better than he'd done.
"So, we met your boss," General Elita glared at where Big Top left.
"Quite a piece of work, isn't he?"
"Between the tentacles and conniving nature, he reminds me of the Quintessons," Ultra Magnus noted, briefly reflecting on his first war. His fist clenched as he recalled their Prosecutors brought death and destruction to Cybertron long ago, bringing an end to what'd been considered a golden age of peace and prosperity. The slug running this place was hardly any different than those that'd managed to capture him and the unit he was with, that were killed when Cybertron's then leader, Nova Prime, came to rescue them, and that were held back when Prime stayed behind to let them escape, sacrificing himself in the process as the prison was reduced to smoldering rubble. He felt a servo on his arm and saw Elita look up at him in concern, though her gaze became understanding as he forced the memories back.
"An apt comparison from what I'd read of their invasion, but I doubt you're here to discuss history," Sky Lynx drew their attention, "Would I be correct in assuming you're here to rescue me?"
The General began explaining, "In a sense. We got stuck here, then we heard everything from Cosmos. Now we're here to free you guys, and hopefully everyone else trapped here while we're at it."
"And your current plan involves I and my impeccable sense of magnificence and showmanship?" Sky Lynx preened as both of them rolled their optics, though Elita's was better natured.
"Well, what have we here?" the two high-ranking Autobots turned around to see Wheeljack, Prowl, Windblade, Sunstreaker, Hound, and Smokescreen all walking up to them. The Wrecker looked up at Sky Lynx and smirked, "Good to see you haven't changed a bit, Commander Modesty."
"Unfortunately," Prowl droned, eliciting giggles from Sunstreaker, Smokescreen, and Windblade to a lesser extent. Hound shared in the Cyber-Ninja's annoyance, as did Ultra Magnus. Between Wheeljack's recklessness and the combined egos of both Sunstreaker and Sky Lynx, he was certain the ensuing ache they'd cause his processor would be enough to kill him where Quintessons and Decepticons couldn't.
"And it's good to see you too, old chum," Sky Lynx replied, "But where's Cosmos?"
At that, the General shifted to the comms channel, "Cosmos, you there?"
"On my way to the arena now. I'm sneaking through the ventilation systems. I should get there right before the show starts."
"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Windblade asked, "This place is pretty huge. Don't you need a map or something?"
"Nah, I grabbed a map on before I got in," Cosmos answered.
"I'm assuming you're referring to a map of the carnival's interior?" Prowl asked, "That isn't going to help you navigate the-"
"Actually, it will," Smokescreen chimed in, "The maps they give to carnival goers have that too."
"Wait, what?" Wheeljack looked at the rescuees, flabbergasted alongside the rest of the Alpha-5 crew.
"That's because the maps are just the ship's schematics with labels for where the attractions are," Hound explained.
"...I'm sorry, why?" Elita found her voice after a moment's hesitation.
"Probably the same reason why Big Top does everything else he does," Sunstreaker shrugged, "It's cheaper."
Everyone who wasn't a former or current prisoner just stared in bafflement at the sheer stupidity of that design choice. In all his countless Vorns of existence, Ultra Magnus had never once heard of or met someone so idiotic as to broadcast something like that out of sheer laziness and greed. Yet here they were, and it was making him understand how the Coneheads fell into Big Top's employ; they were all on the exact same wavelength of incompetence.
"Ugh, w-what happun last night..." as if on cue, Dirge was slowly beginning to come to, at which point Wheeljack reacted fast and punched his head back into the ground.
"Hey, Windy," Wheeljack hefted the downed seeker to his shoulder, "Help me lock this guy somewhere, would ya?"
"Sure thing," Windblade walked over and hefted Dirge by the opposite shoulder, the two heading off to hide the body.
"Okay, while they're doing that," Elita began as she gathered everyone's attention, specifically looking between the four carnival prisoners, "We'll get to work on the plan," she turned to Smokescreen, "You said that he always announces the circus shows in the arena, yes?"
Smokescreen nodded, "Bingo, and to close them out too. It's also the only time he doesn't have guards surrounding him."
"Perfect," she faced them all again, "In that case, I believe I know how to get the admin switch away from him, but it will require a deterrence, which is where you five come in," she addressed Sunstreaker, Smokescreen, and Hound, "The three of you will hide in the audience with us and jump out when Sky Lynx gives the signal," she then talked directly with Cosmos over the comm link, "Cosmos, make sure you drop in right then, understood?"
"You got it, General Elita!" Cosmos answered back.
"As for the signal itself," she faced Sky Lynx, "It'll have to be when you're finished performing and his guard's down. Think you have one more show in you?"
Sky Lynx scrunched his face in contemplation, "I believe so. And after a long, unappreciated, forced career of entertaining the masses, I think I'd very much like to end it on a high note such as this."
"Same with us," Sunstreaker nodded, her two companions joining in agreement just as Windblade and Wheeljack returned from hiding Dirge's body.
"Take it everyone's ready?" Wheeljack asked, gaining a nod from everyone else.
"However, I should stress that there will be no long ranged weapons or explosives," Elita sternly advised them all, "We'll be surrounded by civilians, so we can't risk doing anything that'd put them in harm's way. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am!" everyone entered a salute as they all stood straight (exception being Sky Lynx and Cosmos, who were respectively incapable of that and not physically present), making the General smile and nod back at them.
"Great, but just in case, we might need a fallback option," she tapped into her comms once more, directly patching them into the Alpha-5, "Fixit, this is Elita-1, do you read?"
"Yup! Read you lou-lou-loud and clear, boss!"
"Good to hear. How's Jetfire doing?"
Fixit hummed, "Let me guess. Emergency backup?"
"Yeah," Elita smiled, "Emergency backup."
Windblade drummed her fingers against her knees as she sat in the stands and awaited the beginning of the show. At the moment, she and the others had on large cloaks (borrowed from the arena's backstage) that covered every inch of their mechanical forms, so as not to let any potential circus security know that there were escapees from Battle Planet among the crowd. Despite reassurances from everyone, Elita especially, the Camien still couldn't shake her nervous anticipation at the upcoming events.
Sure, Elita made sure to keep her in the know regarding every detail of the plan, but it was that final piece that Wheeljack, Sunstreaker, and Smokescreen insisted on hiding that bugged her. The most Windblade knew was that the five carnival Autobots were to be the "big gun", as Wheeljack so eloquently put it; to intimidate Big Top and any potential guards into submission so they could take the admin switch and go. Sounded simple enough, yet she couldn't shake her nerves. She'd never been in situations like this until very recently, and it left her wondering if she'd ever get used to them.
Keep it together. Like it or not, you're gonna have to, Windblade tried her best to still her drumming fingers. Was this what the others felt? This anticipation for something to go right or wrong? She hadn't had time to think about it back on the prison barge, but that was because there wasn't any time at all.
"Ladies and Gentlethings, creatures of all ages!" the giant slug, Mr. Big Top, according to the others, made his way to the massive arena's center ring, voice projected to reach across the entire audience, "I welcome all of you to the crown jewel of the Cosmic Carnival: The Grande Spectacular!" The crowd roared in excitement as he continued, "Now, to get our show started, please look up above, and feast your eyes, optics, or whatever you have on the cage above!" Everyone's gaze shifted upward to just that, the spotlights shining on it as its captive's metal shimmered, "Behold, the pride and joy of my show, I give you all, the magnificent metal master of death-defying, high-altitude acrobatics...SKY LYNX!"
Upon the name being spoken, music played as the bottom of the cage opened up, letting Sky Lynx fall and plummet to the ground. The crowds gasped in shock, and Windblade would admit that, with the speed at which he fell, she did too. But the other Autobots didn't, instead calmly watching the show and following his descent. She was quick to understand why, as right before he hit the ground, he transformed, shifting into a spaceship that zoomed just a single mechanometer above the ground.
"Show off," Hound grumbled, Prowl nodding in agreement as Sky Lynx increased in altitude, flying in dazzling circles over the awed crowd. Even Windblade couldn't help but get swept up in the excitement of the display, watching the Autobot perform all sorts of spins, rolls, and tricks that were especially impressive for his large frame. As he did this, a series of platforms lowered themselves from the ceiling alongside several large hoops. Taking that as his cue, Sky Lynx circled around the stands one final time, lowering himself and slowing down just enough that members of the crowd could graze a servo (or the organic version) against his wings before swiftly approaching the first of the hoops.
With a sudden spin, he launched the cargo pod into the air, where it spun several times as he flew through the first hoop. Then he transformed, his appearance now resembling a wyvern, and as the cargo pod approached the nearest midair platform, it transformed as well, shifting into a large, mechanical feline. Windblade and the audience gasped in astoundment as the two performed side-by-side, separate, yet acting as one whilst respectively leaping across platforms and flying through hoops. Never in her life had she seen a Cybertronian that could separate like this, nor had she ever seen one perform such intricate, complex aerial movements. She knew for a fact that she'd never be able to do such things, nor had she seen any of her friends growing up accomplish anything close, and Aileron had certainly tried.
"Cosmos, you there?" Elita contacted the missing Autobot on the commlink right as the transformed cargo pod leapt off the final platform with a somersault.
"Read you loud and clear!" Cosmos answered, the huge robo-feline performing flips as it plummeted. Just as it neared the ground, Sky Lynx's wyvern half caught it on his back, Big Top throwing several large balls upward, which the two-in-one combo caught with ease.
"It looks like Sky Lynx's part is starting to wrap up," Elita explained as Sky Lynx flew around the crowds again, this time with his cargo carrier juggling the balls with all four legs, back against the wyvern as the speed picked up, "Where are you?"
"I'm in the shafts just above the arena. Waiting for Sky Lynx to give the signal," Cosmos explained just in the nick of time too, as Sky Lynx flew above the center ring, aerial half throwing the cargo pod and balls high into the air. With one final spin, he caught the feline on his underbelly and fully transformed back into his draconic mode before catching the balls, balancing them on the tip of his nose. The music ceased, letting the crowd roar in applause as Windblade found herself standing, joining in the adulation with exuberant claps. Yes, she was aware that, given the seediness and what everyone was going through, it was ill advised to cheer for the show, but she couldn't help it. She'd never gotten to experience something like this before and let it wash over her.
Plus, the show was calming her neural net about the upcoming plan and helped take her processer off what happened on Caminus, if only momentarily, so she'd embrace it for now.
"The magnificent Sky Lynx, everyone!" Big Top declared as the crowd's roars slowed down, "Now, for our next event-"
But before he could continue, Sky Lynx asked, "Excuse me, my good sir, but before we continue, may I say a few words to thank the audience?"
Big Top seemed apprehensive (and annoyed) by the very idea, but he ultimately shrugged, "Sure, but make it snappy."
"He's about to give the signal," Elita reminded, "Get ready, everyone."
"Now, I'm grateful to have such a massive, excited audience for my performances each and every time I come out. If all of you will permit me some ego, I'd like to believe that I am the best part of this show in your most humble opinions, yes?" Sky Lynx's rhetorical question was met with a wave of giggles from the audience. Even amongst the Autobots, Windblade lightly giggled while Wheeljack, Sunstreaker, and Smokescreen were struggling to stifle laughs. "I rest my case," he said confidently, "But despite it all, I'll admit that it can be rather stifling. And I'm certain my fellow performers understand that sentiment rather well." Windblade could see Hound, Sunstreaker, and Smokescreen nod from behind their hoods, all while Big Top started to look rather nervous as Sky Lynx turned to him, "So, Mr. Big Top, I must thank you for this opportunity, not just for my time on stage, but for the chance to finally say, from the bottom of my spark..."
Right on cue, a ventilation cover fell from high above and slammed on Big Top's head, dazing him for a spell as Cosmos flew down. In a spaceship form of his own, he circled around a few times before landing just beside Sky Lynx. The two Autobots stood proud and tall as the Battle Planet trio took that as their cue and jumped into the arena, ditching their cloaks and transforming. They drove to the center ring, much to the bewilderment of the crowd, and as Big Top slowly tried to back away...
"WE QUIT!"
"Everyone, now!" Elita ordered as they all leapt in and transformed, surrounding Big Top as he attempted to escape. Pointing their weapons at him, Windblade heard behind her what sounded like metal uniting with metal. Curiosity getting the better of her, she turned her head while keeping blades pointed at the carnival owner, only for her arms to go slack as she fully faced what was forming.
Sunstreaker and Smokescreen's bodies became powerful legs that attached themselves to Sky Lynx, whose own body morphed into what looked like a massive torso as the shuttle and cargo pod merged completely. Smokescreen and Hound, however, shifted into equally strong arms that connected to the now looming figure. The feline head of Sky Lynx's cargo carrier popped out from the top of the torso, forming a snarling head that looked down on all as the five fully became one.
T-They...they've become a...
"Oh... it. Is. GOOD TO BE BACK!" They stretched and posed, servos in the air as they introduced themself, "Hello Cosmic Carnival! Sky Reign's here to make their grand debut!"
Windblade was silent, the crowd was silent, and Big Top was silent. The only ones moving were Sky Reign and the rest of the Alpha-5. But then...
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Windblade all but squealed from pure joy, having finally processed what she'd just witnessed, "You guys-You all just..." she turned back to the others, servo still pointing at Sky Reign, "They're a Combiner! There's an actual Combiner standing right in front of us!"
"Told ya you were in for a surprise," Wheeljack cheekily said, cannon still aimed at their quarry as he smiled at the excited Windblade.
"Heh! Thank you kindly, little lady! Always pleased to meet a fan," Sky Reign knelt down and offered a finger from their left servo, which Windblade exuberantly shook.
"This is so amazing!" Windblade cheered, looking up to Sky Reign in awe, "I never thought I'd get to meet an actual Combiner!" she gasped, "I have so many questions! When did you first make Contact with the Enigma? What was it like? Are there more Combiners? How often do you form? Are there any side effects to merging or-"
"Windblade!" Elita gently chided, reminding her of their quivering quarry, "Focus now, fangirl later."
Feeling the inner Energon in her face heat up, Windblade aimed her blades at Big Top once more and stuttered, "R-Right, sorry!"
"Yes, please refrain from further inflating the Gestalt's already needlessly inflated sense of self-importance," Prowl drawled, refusing to take his optics or shuriken off the large slug. Windblade was a little shocked at how disinterested (borderline disdainful) Prowl seemed to be about Sky Reign's presence. Shaking her head of that for now, she focused back on Big Top, who was balking like crazy.
"We're giving you this chance," Ultra Magnus glared, a massive war hammer in his servos that crackled with electricity, "Surrender. Release all those you've locked into your service, as well as all ships you've trapped here, and that will be the end of it."
"Interestin' offer," Big Top sneered, slowly sounding more confident as he went along, "Too bad you might've overplayed your hand. NOW!"
A sudden blast struck Sky Reign, making him stumble backward as smoke and dirt rose up, shrapnel flying everywhere. Windblade covered her optics, unable to see anything through the dusty cloud aside from the outlines of Big Top and her friends. Countless stomps, whirring noises, and guns being primes were heard in the background alongside a loud coughing from some of the audience, however, and as soon as the dust settled, they found themselves surrounded by dozens upon dozens of guards and drones from every possible angle. All of them were armed with large cannons, most of their sights aimed at Sky Reign, but plenty aimed at the Alpha-5 team too. As Windblade nervously looked around, her hopes began to dim while Big Top cruelly smirked.
"After I figured out that I had a Combiner, you think I'd be dumb enough not to prepare for this?"
"I mean, if you're dumb enough to turn schematics into maps..." Wheeljack pointed out.
"Bought these beauties from a Decepticon like the Cone boys," Big Top continued, clearly not listening, "Fella by the name of Swindle. They fetched a pretty Shannix, and he almost managed to dupe me a few times with defective ones, but I got the real deal outta him. They'll keep your little Combiner friend occupied. Now for my counteroffer," he sneered at them, "From now on, all of you work for me, and you'll keep workin' for me until you break down and I can sell ya for scrap metal!"
Windblade glared alongside everyone else, servos shaking slightly at the turn of events, before she heard Elita, still in a fighting stance, retort, "Mr. Big Top, you seem like a reasonable enough being," there was a hint of sarcasm in her voice that Big Top, as evident by his preening, didn't hear, "So tell me, is that really what you want?" Elita gestured to their surroundings, from the arena itself to the crowd of innocents, "What you're considering will cause a lot of collateral damage and hurt these people."
"What, you honestly expect me to believe you'll order that combined freak of nature to attack?" Big Top asked, Sky Reign bristling at the insult as they drew a massive saber, but held their position while carnival security started to twitch, "I know you bleedin' heart types. You ain't gonna pull the trigger. Too soft for your own good. And what makes you think I care about my audience anyway?" the question elicited shock from a number of his security forces. Even the crowd clearly heard, as Windblade could hear disbelief and panic ripple across them, "Seems I have all the advantages."
Windblade watched as Elita's optics narrowed in a struggle to find an answer. For the briefest nanoklik, it seemed like she was actually going to pull out her blaster and shoot the slug in his slimy, conniving face. Instead, she closed her optics, sighed, and just as quickly opened them, calming herself in reminder of their current predicament. The Camien wondered what else ran through her processor, but she wouldn't be allowed to dwell on that for too long as Elita stared their enemy in the face and, with a tranquil glare, spoke.
"Seems that way, except for one thing: you'll damage your profits in doing so," Elita's response was met with surprise from Big Top, followed by contemplation as she continued, "The dead can't pay you, and the injured can, and will, ensure that no one comes here again. That's your best outcome, while your worst is physical retribution from them, and since everyone's already trapped here, you have nowhere to run." Elita kept her gauntlets on, but now stood in a more placating manner, "Neither of us want a fight to start, both for our own reasons. So please, stand down before we all regret it."
Big Top continued to think about it. For a few nanokliks, it even seemed like he was considering Elita's proposal...
But then his smirk returned, "Eh, ma and pa always had a sayin': 'A sucker born every second.' I can always get a new audience," he sneered, "Open fire!"
Elita gritted her teeth and retook her fighting stance, everyone else ready to move as the crowd started screaming. The drones began charging up their blasters while the guards' fingers nervously twitched on their cannon triggers, unsure whether or not to fire. Then a blast rang through the air that made impact far above as metal screeched and tore. Everyone looked up just in time to see Sky Lynx's open cage plummet to the ground, Big Top only being able to panic and cry as it landed right on him.
His tentacle didn't retract in time, however, and was quickly severed and sent flying into the air. Wheeljack was the first to react, leaping high enough to catch it as he started tinkering, shutting down the drones before they could fire. One by one, they started short-circuiting and shutting down, leaving everyone, from guards to audience to Autobot, a combination of relieved and confused.
"Sorry we're late. Hit a little traffic," a familiar, accented voice called from a distance. They all turned, crowd of guards parting to reveal-
"Jetfire!" Windblade gasped, wings extending from her back as rotors spun, sending her flying forwards. The instant she reached her fully repaired friend, she enveloped him in the biggest, strongest hug she could muster, "You're back!"
He patted her back and returned the hug, "Good to see you too, Windblade."
"Hey, what am I? Cho-Cho-Chopped kibble?" Fixit asked in amusement as he jumped down from Jetfire's shoulder. Windblade released the large Autobot and hugged the Mini-Con, who gladly returned the gesture. After several moments, she released him and they returned to the rest of the Alpha-5, the security forces allowing them to walk by. From lingering confusion or fear, Windblade wasn't sure.
"Sky Reign," Jetfire greeted with a nod.
"Commander Jets," the Combiner greeted back with a nod of their own.
"Hehehe, o-okay, soooo..." Big Top squirmed in his cage, suddenly looking rather small, "I-I know I said some things, but-" he was cut off by a barrage of glares from everyone. The only exception was Wheeljack, who was still messing with the watch as a holo-screen displayed over it, all while the captured carnival owner tried again, "But I think we can still work out a deal that benefits all of us."
"Oof. Tough luck, but to quote a miserable old slug, it looks like we have all the advantages," Sky Reign haughtily said.
"I-I'm still your boss! You have to do as I say! Now let me out of-"
"Wheeljack, have you figured it out yet?" Elita asked, cutting off Big Top again.
"Almost, aaaaand DONE!" Wheeljack smirked as the holo-screen flashed a few times and displayed something Windblade couldn't see from her current angle.
"What did you do?" she walked over to get a better look, seeing the screen flash "ALL DATA ERASED."
"I just deleted every single contract ol' Toppy here had," Wheeljack answered proudly, much to Big Top's horror. All the security forces looked between each other before, one after the other, they dropped or threw away their weapons, leashes having effectively been severed.
"Y-You didn't-"
"And also..." the Wrecker tapped a few keys on the holo-screen again until it read, "DEACTIVATED. ALL CLAMPS UNLOCKED." and smirked at the slug, "I just shut down all the bombs on every single ship here, including the ones you were selling."
"This is why having everything accessible from such a small, easily stealable device is utterly moronic," Ultra Magnus said in a matter-of-fact tone, sounding almost disappointed by the sheer stupidity of the decision. The knowledge that they could now leave caused the pace at which the workers were already leaving to increase immensely. Big Top could do nothing but squirm and shrink as he was left to his fate.
"If nothing else, it certainly makes things easier for us," Prowl shrugged while Wheeljack finished doing a few more things on the admin device.
"Hey Sky Reign!" Wheeljack threw the watch into the air, "Want to do the honors?"
"Gladly!" Sky Reign easily caught the device and squeezed hard, opening to reveal nothing but dust and small splinters of glass that fell to the ground. Upon clapping their servos of what little remained, a lighter series of claps could be heard from part of the audience. All members of the Alpha-5 team watched as it slowly evolved into a chorus, everyone in the audience clapping and cheering for them. Sky Reign was the first to recover from the sudden shift in mood, basking in the adulation as they bowed, "Thank you, Cosmic Carnival! Thank you and goodnight!"
"Ugh, why?" Prowl grumbled, still annoyed by the Combiner's antics. Ultra Magnus shared in it, judging by how he pinched the bridge of his nose. Windblade couldn't help but giggle at them, though. She wasn't alone on that front either, if the laughs from the rest of her teammates was any indication.
"Officer, you really need to lighten up," Wheeljack nudged Prowl's shoulder before stepping up and facing the audience with a bow of his own, "Thank you and goodnight, everyone!"
Elita stepped up with a playful smile, much to Magnus' bewilderment, "General?"
"Can't be all scowls and business all the time, Magnus. Just have a little fun," Elita said, turning to the crowd and giving a flourishing bow. Jetfire soon followed, standing beside her and giving a bow and thanks of his own. Fixit and Windblade weren't too far behind, bowing in kind. After that, even Prowl and Ultra Magnus finally joined in, though they were incredibly stiff when it came to bowing. But as they all stood tall, side by side with Sky Reign just behind them, Windblade swore she saw small, if awkward smiles on the both of them.
Unable to help her grin, she and the others all bowed to the audience one last time before making their exit, a certain pep in her step from all the excitement.
Jetfire couldn't help but muse over the blur of events that had happened since he recovered. While Fixit was getting him up to speed on where they were and what was going on, the sudden call from General Elita-1 sprung him into action. Took a bit of flying around to figure out where to go, but he and Fixit got pointed in the right direction by a kind organic named Garnak after saving him from some rather violent security, mostly comprised of mechanical life forms that kept calling their victim "braindead organic scum" among other things. While glad to save him, Jetfire did have to wince when he first laid optics on the scene, as it was a little too reminiscent of times where, before the war, he'd stumble upon his fellow movement members getting beaten in the streets of lower Iacon for protesting the system. And that was before his mind went further ahead to during the war in cities under the Decepticon banner, where the same thing happened, only now it was them delivering such brutality to any who protested against their system.
He could see in Fixit's optics that it gave the Mini-Con unpleasant memories too, and the way he scratched at his throat made it clear what memories those were.
Thankfully, everything after rescuing his teammates from the arena helped pick his mood up. He smiled while watching Windblade gush over how incredible it was to witness a Combiner, the Camien asking the five newly released Carnival Autobots several questions at light speed. Jetfire couldn't help but chuckle alongside Smokescreen at how Hound shook his head, mostly thanks to Sunstreaker and Sky Lynx, lovable narcissists that they were, answering all her questions with the expected level of embellishment involved about both Sky Reign's and their own accomplishments. The whole thing reminded him a lot of the aftermath of Superion's first formation, where five of his Aerialbots (Silverbolt, Air Raid, Fireflight, Skydive, and Slingshot) were bombarded with questions from scientists and the top brass about the experience. Though Windblade's genuine enthusiasm lacing her curiosity was a lot more endearing than the rigid, analytic data gathering from back then.
While that was going on, Cosmos got his cows (Jetfire thought they were rather ugly looking, being honest) out of their enclosure before everyone else shoved the defiant Big Top inside. By the time they left, a crowd was already gathering to take pictures of the petulant, sleazy con artist. And that led to here, with all the Autobots at the docking bay, members of the Alpha-5 at the bottom of the ship's ramp and facing the five Carnival Bots.
"Are you sure the five of you don't want to tag along?" Elita asked, "There's plenty of room, and with where we're headed, any helping servo's always welcome."
Jetfire could tell Cosmos was smiling behind his mask, "Thanks, but I don't think I'm ready to rejoin the fight just yet. Something tells me I'll have to at some point, but until then..." he went quiet for a few brief moments, shaking his head, "Besides, I kinda gotta look after my cows now. Doubt I can return them to the owners since they're not even the same ones."
Jetfire nodded alongside Elita, Windblade, Fixit, and Wheeljack. Prowl said nothing, though he did cross his arms like the aloof Cyber-Ninja he tended to be, and Ultra Magnus looked rather conflicted. The Aerialbot Commander supposed he understood why, given Ultra Magnus' war-focused, all servos on deck mentality that dictated many of his actions. Far as he knew, the old bot had always been a soldier and knew nothing else. But despite that, the former Supreme Commander relented and gave Cosmos a stiff, if honest nod, "We understand, sol...Cosmos."
Based on his posture, Cosmos smiled even brighter as he gave Ultra Magnus a salute, who returned the gesture. Sunstreaker then grabbed him and Smokescreen, one arm draped over each of their shoulders, as she said, "And as much as I hate this slag forsaken dump of a vacation spot, I hate breaking up a set even more. I'll be sticking with these guys." She let go of their shoulders and rubbed the back of her head, "Besides, with Big Top locked up, someone's gotta clean up this whole mess. We'll handle that while you do your own thing."
Understandable, and frankly, I'd probably do the same thing, Jetfire recalled how, after Big Top's capture, so many of his workers started leaving that all the ships he'd been selling back got taken pretty quickly, leaving the rest stuck here. They'd had to fend off a few eager thieves from stealing the Alpha-5, with Sky Reign forming again to tell them it was off-limits. Though even then, Jetfire couldn't exactly blame them, desperate as they were to leave.
To top it off, word spread of the arena incident and now so many of the carnival's previous guests were leaving in droves, adding to the current chaos. Between them, those still stuck here, and those who'd been trapped for too long and weren't sure how to leave, it was a mess, to put it mildly.
"I wish we could stay to help, but..." Windblade went quiet, obviously recalling her home. Jetfire placed a hand to her shoulder, placating the young bot.
Meanwhile, Hound sighed, "Honestly, much as I would like to tag along with you guys," he gestured to Sunstreaker and Sky Lynx, "Someone's gotta keep these two in check. And it sure as the Pit won't be Smokescreen."
"Don't pretend it ain't part of our charm," Sunstreaker wrapped an arm around Hound's shoulder, eliciting a chuckle from Smokescreen.
"She's right, it is."
Hound facepalmed as Sunstreaker released him, "Primus, I've got my work cut out for me with all three of you."
"Eh, it's honestly Sky Lynx you gotta worry about," Smokescreen pounded a fist against the giant Primitive's chassis.
"What can I say?" Sky Lynx preened, "Bots of my standard are quite high maintenance, and I do mean that both figuratively and literally."
"Gee, hadn't noticed," Prowl droned with a roll of his optics.
"Hey guys!" Garnak's voice rang out from far behind them, everyone turning to see the large reptilian run up, "The other Battle Planet fighters are throwing a party to celebrate Big Top going down! Wanna join?"
"HA! As if a party can truly begin without me," Sky Lynx was the first to turn and join Garnak, but not before bidding the Alpha-5 one final farewell and a good luck.
"Sure, I'll join. Sounds like a blast," Smokescreen started after them before turning back to them, "You comin' or what?"
"In a nanoklik!" Sunstreaker replied while Hound shrugged.
"Eh, I-I don't know," Cosmos pressed his fingers together, "Never been the partying type."
Smokescreen playfully smirked and walked away, "That's fine. I'll just go make sure Garnak doesn't accidentally cook up one of your cows at the party thinking they're food. Anyway, good luck and goodbye, everyone!"
Cosmos gasped and started running after him, "Nononononono! Wait for me!"
As he left, everyone couldn't help but chuckle, with Sunstreaker and Wheeljack letting out loud guffaws. The former finally managed to calm down and wipe away at her optic, "Classic Smokescreen." Sunstreaker stretched and followed after in a relaxed walk, "I gotta go. Can't let them have all the fun."
"And I'm gonna make sure you don't do something stupid," Hound said, now in lockstep with Sunstreaker as he waved goodbye to the Alpha-5. Jetfire watched Elita smile, and smiled in kind as they started making their way aboard the ship together.
"Yo, kid!"
"Hmm?" Windblade stopped, prompting Jetfire and Elita to do the same as the rest continued into the ship. They turned and saw Sunstreaker facing them, servos rested behind her head while a relaxed, yet reassuring smile remained affixed to her face. Hound stood alongside her with the same expression.
"Don't worry too much about Caminus. Not a whole lot you can do about that right now, so dwelling on it won't help," she said, tilting her head ever so slightly, "Besides, knowing the bots you're with, I'd say you're all in good servos," she gave the three of them a thumbs up, "Now go kick some Con tailpipe!"
At the encouragement, Windblade's own face dawned a warm smile as she returned the gesture. With a warmth in all their Sparks, the three entered the Alpha-5 and headed for the ship's main bridge, where Ultra Magnus awaited with Fixit, Prowl, and Wheeljack. Everyone now aboard, Elita activated the ship's engines and took off, leaving the Cosmic Carnival, and their Autobot friends, behind to their own devices.
Once they were back on track towards the nearest Space Bridge, Ultra Magnus stood up alongside Prowl, the two leaving to decipher the Decepticon data drives they pilfered from Dirge and Ramjet. Wheeljack, meanwhile, said he wanted to make some modifications to his personal ship, the Jackhammer, and left for the Alpha-5's docking bay. This left Elita, Jetfire, Windblade, and Fixit on the ship's bridge as they flew onwards.
"Hey, Elita?" Windblade's voice cut through the silence as everyone turned to her, "Can we talk now?"
"Sure," Elita said, though Jetfire could hear a lot of trepidation in her tone. She looked to him and asked, "Think you and Fixit could give us some room to talk? We're gonna need it."
Jetfire didn't like the sound of that, and looking between the two, the topic seemed like a heavy one. Still, he respected their wishes and stood up, nodding as he and Fixit headed out. "Come on," Fixit took point once they were in the hallways, "Better do one final check-up-up-up just in ca-ca-case."
"Sounds good," Jetfire nodded, but not before looking back at the bridge entrance in worry. Part of him wanted to go back and see what this was about, but he decided against it. Trusting Elita's judgement, he sighed and continued after Fixit to the medical bay.
Whatever it was they were discussing, he was sure things would be alright in the end.
Admittedly less carnival thrill ride and more introspection from the characters, but I like how this chapter came out overall. Anyway, on to some explanations because this chapter had SO MUCH MORE worldbuilding than I was planning.
For that bit that Cosmos was explaining, as you can probably guess, he's kinda sorta responsible for the "Crop Circle" phenomenon. And he's also responsible for inspiring/codifying the archetypical appearance of the UFO/Flying Saucer on Earth.
To clarify, Sunstreaker in this series is a trans woman, with the idea being based off the Transformers Animated Allspark Almanac, where she was female. According to there, it was a result of time travel that led to alterations in the timeline, but here it's more simplified in that she transitioned at some point in the past. And yes, she did drop a reference to Borderlands' Tiny Tina from the Assault on Dragon Keep DLC trailer, which I found hilarious. To complete the reference, picture her as being voiced by Ashly Burch here, though with a voice more leaning towards her role as Chloe Price from the Life is Strange series.
Sorry for fans of Transformers Prime's Smokescreen. I like the guy too, but I opted to go more with the classical version, who's more of the snarky, charismatic, but heroic trickster. He does still share the same voice as the Prime version though. Part of that was because I felt he'd fit better with the Combiner team as a result, but also because Prime's Smokescreen is a bit too similar to Hot Rod, whom I kinda already have plans for. Not for this fic, but for later down the road.
Garnak is a character from the IDW 1 continuity of Transformers comics who ended up joining the Autobots. Far as his voice goes, I was picturing Bill Fagerbakke (the voice of Patrick Star) while writing his dialogue, so I recommend picturing that. I would have had a joke from Wheeljack about how he sounds similar to Bulkhead since Fagerbakke voiced the character in Transformers Animated, but then I realized that it made no sense seeing as Bulkhead is mainly based off his Prime version in voice and backstory as a Wrecker, so I left that out.
Got our first sneak peak of Whirl, the Autobot's resident one-eyed agent of chaos. To give an idea, here's how it works: You know how violent, loud, and over-the-top Wheeljack is here since he's based off his Transformers Prime version? Well, Wheeljack's the Ultra Magnus to Whirl's Wheeljack.
Let that sink in.
And we got the debut of our first Combiner/Gestalt in this fic: Sky Reign! They're also the cockiest, most showboating of the Combiners, which can be attributed to two of their components (Sky Lynx and Sunstreaker) alongside the fact that I was channeling a lot of Sardonyx (Steven Universe) energy when writing them. Their components are a combination of the IDW 1 continuity and the Combiner Wars toyline, with Hound as the left arm, Cosmos as the right arm, Sunstreaker as the left leg, Smokescreen as the right leg, and Sky Lynx as the head/torso. And yes, I'm writing them as enby/non-binary.
Windblade geeking out over getting to see a result of the Enigma of Combination was fun. I like showing the cheerful sides of characters like that, and it was one of the things I was most looking forward to when planning this chapter out with the Betas.
On the subject of Windblade, I had her take a backseat mostly before the Combiner moment in the penultimate section since we've gotten a lot of focus from her in the past two chapters. So, everyone else gets a spotlight here and we get a look into their mindsets and pasts from both before and during the Great War. Favorite would have to be both Elita's and Prowl's differing perspectives on Megatron and the Decepticons, as well as what shaped those perspectives.
Got our first look into Ultra Magnus' head too. Bot's been around for a long time, so he's got a lot of stories to tell, such as his time in the Quintesson War (also known historically in this universe and in the Aligned continuity as "The Age of Wrath"). And yes, his former position in the Autobots is an element taken from Transformers Animated.
Also got to mention Bumblebee/B-127 in this fic, and I even brought up Kick-Off. He's an Action Master, and as such, can't transform. The reason why here is...uh...not pretty.
And hey, we got Barricade mentioned before he makes his official debut in More Than Meets the Spy. Even back before the events of the war, he was quite the crooked jackass. Him having been Prowl's former partner in Security Operations is an aspect taken from the 2019 IDW continuity.
Any who, next time should hopefully be a much smaller chapter where we're focusing back on Windblade and her reaction to learning about the history of the Thirteen Primes that Caminus never knew. Poor girl's gonna be in for it.
Hope to see you all again later and take care!
Time for the Cosmic Carnival! Hope you all enjoy. A few things should look familiar if you've read the 1980s Transformers Marvel comic (specifically Issue #44, which is where we were first introduced to the Cosmic Carnival).
As a quick recap, I'm primarily using Transformers/Cybertronian units of time and measurement here since the main cast is comprised of them.
Nanoklik = Second.
Cycle = Minute.
Mega Cycle = Hour.
Solar Cycle = Day.
Chord = Week.
Stellar Cycle = Year.
Vorn = Century.
All of this can be found on TFwiki for further reference.
And just to clarify/help the readers picture things, the Alpha-5 is basically a gunmetal grey and blue variant of the Orion/Ark ship from Transformers Animated. Just something to help with that.
Also, for clarification, I brought up in the first and this chapter that Jetfire has an accent. Much like in War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron, he has a British accent. So, if you're having trouble picturing it, just imagine that version of the character.
Special thanks and shout out to SwapAUAnon, @Matrix Dragon, and Quantum01 for Beta Reading this chapter.
Chapter 4: The Cosmic Carnival (ft. the Magnificent Sky Lynx!)
"So, this is a...Cosmic Carnival?" Windblade asked, with Wheeljack grimacing at the question as they all exited the ship and looked around the docking bay. The area was a pristine gunmetal grey and pretty sparsely packed, having a couple other ships present, albeit much smaller than the Alpha-5. To top it off, at least one of those ships was being disassembled by a series of worker drones. Based on how the drones kept repeating "NOW EMPLOYEE. ALL PROPERTY BELONGS TO COMIC CARNIVAL" as they took it apart, Wheeljack felt sorry for the poor sap who got suckered into signing a contract with this place.
"Yup. Part interstellar hotel, part casino, part zoo, part circus, all one giant con wrapped in a scam wrapped in a pyramid scheme," came his answer, hating the fact that he was back here again. Seriously, why the frag did this have to happen? Right as he dragged a servo down his face to groan in it, he heard the all too familiar clank of a serving drone putting the death knell for their escape chances on the Alpha-5.
"Is that a-" Elita was cut off when the same drone lowered down to her and dropped a card in her servo.
"Yes, it's a slagging bomb, Eli," Wheeljack huffed, looking up at the device to see that it already welded itself into the hull, a hologram display showing that their exit fee would be 50 billion Shannix. Great, just great, the Wrecker rolled his optics, We're already starting with the chrome alloy pie in the sky numbers.
"You clearly know a lot about this place, soldier," Ultra Magnus, ever the stiff, gave him the "Start explaining" look. Wheeljack could only sigh and walk forward as he remembered everything from last time, especially the longer he looked at the two exits with giant, multicolored neon signs over the hallways. One read as "Sideshow/Zoo" while the other read "Casino/Parks".
"It was back when me and some of the Wreckers were handling some missions out near Dromedon. Cons were setting up a foothold to start taking over the rest of the planetary system there, so we Wreckers did what we do best."
"A mountain of over-the-top violence, swearing, and unnecessary screaming?" Prowl asked with narrowed optics in clear and obvious rhetoric.
"Got it in one, Officer," Wheeljack smirked, earning a glare from Magnus, concern from Windblade, and a chuckle from both Fixit and Elita, though the latter also shook her head while pinching between the optics. "Anyway, we blew up the base and most of the surrounding area, which pissed off the local Shrikebat population. Spent a few Mega-cycles fighting those guys off, but we lost a few Wreckers in the process," Wheeljack went quiet for a few nanokliks to give them the proper respects, "We were pretty outgunned when ol' Kup got an idea on how to get them off our afts. See, turns out he'd fought these things before on a planet called Dread, which-
"What does any of this have to do with our current predicament?" Magnus grunted, always unwilling to let a good story play out.
Wheeljack glared at the bigger, boring, utter killjoy of a bot, "I'm getting to that! So, skipping ahead, we were on our way out of the planetary system when the Cosmic Carnival showed up and brought all of us aboard. First thing one of us tried to do was remove that-" he pointed to the bomb, "And it blew up our ship."
"You-You-You didn't think that the bomb had sensors built in to blow up-up if someone tri-tri-tried to remove it? That's the first thing you learn about bomb disposal!" Fixit asked in utter bafflement.
"Yeah, well, Piston panicked and went straight for trying to pull the bomb off the ship. Sue him," Wheeljack gave another moment of silence for his fallen comrade, "So, since we were stuck here, we explored around and did find that the place sold ships of their own. Only problem back then was that they're more expensive than the paywall to get those bombs off the damned ship in the first place. Unfortunately for us, we went to the casino."
"Wait, how is that a bad thi-"
"Kid, that was the only way we could make any Shannix short of finding jobs here and the slot machines were a fragging crapshoot," Wheeljack cut Windblade off, memories of the entire thing putting him in a bad mood, made all the worse by being here again. "Seriously, those things are built for swindling you out of your money," He shook his head, recalling how they all split up to different machines as a way to make all the Shannix they could. Him and Bulkhead ended up losing all their Shannix pretty quickly by way of bad luck. Kup managed to make quite a bit from gambling but was wise enough to stop while he was ahead. Either way, it wasn't enough to get them a new ship. Grimacing, Wheeljack continued, "Only one of us to make any progress was Whirl. And let's just say he..."
"Whirl, what the frag!" Wheeljack yelled as the blue Wrecker faced him, his single yellow optic half-lidded while his left servo still kept a blaster primed at the slot machine. Or at least, the smoldering remains of it.
"Yeah, you blew up the machine!" Bulkhead joined in, though sounding less pissed and more confused, "Why? You hit the jackpot!"
In response, Whirl...shrugged. He just shrugged, "I got bored."
"..."
"..."
"...young bots these days, I swear to Primus," Kup shook his head and took a drag of his Cy-Gar. Bulkhead groaned and clutched at his helm in how their chance to get out was literally blown away, all while Wheeljack felt his inner Energon boil at the sheer reckless stupidity of the bot in front of him.
"Hey!" a voice called out. They all turned and saw the approaching owner to be a Cone headed Decepticon Seeker, one wearing a badge indicating he actually worked here, "Did you blow up that machine? That's Carnival property! Looks like I'm gonna have to report you to Mr. Big...Top..." the ex-Con (Wheeljack assumed) blinked and took a closer look at them before panicking, "Oh scrap!" he pressed on the side of his helm, "This is Dirge to security, come in! We have Wreckers and they're...uh...wrecking up the place! Repeat, send ba-" suddenly, Whirl blitzed forward and punched him in the crotch, "ACK!"
As Dirge fell to the floor, an alarm sounded. The other players in the casino portion of the ship started running out, leaving the Wreckers trapped as the lights flashed red and the room went into complete lockdown.
"Alright then. Gear up you three!" Kup ordered as he drew his twin plasma pistols, "Looks like we're fightin' our way out!"
"Fine by me, sir!" Bulkhead nodded, transforming his right servo into a large grey wrecking ball while his left became a plasma blaster. Wheeljack, meanwhile, primed his shoulder cannon as hatches within the room opened, revealing security drones that quickly swarmed the place. However, unlike the rest of them, Whirl was kneeling over the downed body of Dirge, not paying any attention to their attackers.
"Uh, Whirl," Bulkhead began, "What are you doing?"
"Trying to figure out how to write 'Slag for Brains' backwards," Whirl looked up to Wheeljack and held out a pincer-like servo, "Jackie, any chance you got a blowtorch?"
Wheeljack would've called him out on bad timing had the drones not opened fire right then and there.
"-and then we had to run for the nearest airlock and blow it up. Spent about five solar cycles just floating in open space, attached to each other with cables so we didn't float off. An Autobot ship picked up our distress beacon and took us home," Wheeljack concluded the tale of one among many miserable low points in his life, "Long story short, we gotta get out of here now. I am not having a repeat of last time."
The rest of the crew just stood there in silence, with Ultra Magnus' optic notably twitching. Though Wheeljack couldn't figure out why. As if sensing his confusion, Chief said, "Whirl certainly sounds as...needlessly hyperviolent as when I last encountered him."
"Ugh, tell me about it," Wheeljack rolled his optics at how over-the-top his fellow Wrecker was. For some reason, his reaction made Ultra Magnus angrier. Before anything else though, Elita stepped in to diffuse the ensuing tension.
"Obviously, we're not getting out of here like that," she turned to Wheeljack and asked, "What else do you know about this place? Anything that could help us escape?"
"Sorry Eli, don't know any escape routes outside the one we made for ourselves. But I was able to pick up on a few details that could help," Wheeljack began recounting over them, "For starters, this place usually sticks around the same area for about a few days, both to draw in anyone who paid the admission fee, assuming they weren't already living here in luxury suites, and anyone with the worst luck to just come near the place. Former group's usually the richest folk you can find in the galaxy, and the latter's expected to just waste away all their Shannix until they've got no choice but to work here and pay off the debt."
"And, quite obviously, they're never going to be able to pay it off," Prowl mused, arms crossed with a glare of contempt at the current environment.
"Well, frag that," Elita murmured and tore the card in half, making Wheeljack smirk.
"Hmm," Fixit stared up at the bomb attached to the ship, "Hey Wheelja-ja-jack, did you notice anything about the bomb from last time that could help?"
"Nope. Blew to smithereens before I could get a look at it. But now that you mention it..." Wheeljack stepped to where Fixit was and took a closer inspection, noticing quite a few details about the bomb that gave hint to how it worked. Optics scanned every facet of the explosive device, inside and out, as he let out a hum.
"Anything?" Ultra Magnus asked.
"Bomb's proximity based, so if it goes a certain distance from the ship, kaboom," Wheeljack drawled out, "At the same time, it can also be activated remotely, so odds are, there's either a terminal or admin switch somewhere around here to shut it down."
"Just like the Mode Locks back on the prison ship," Windblade mumbled and rubbed at her elbow while Fixit and Elita gave her comforting glances. Wheeljack wasn't really sure what to say, since comforting had never been his strong suit, even though he sometimes wished it was. Didn't seem to be Prowl or Magnus' either, judging by their expressions and postures.
So instead, he continued, "Not exactly. Based on the design, we could pop this bomb open and disarm it that way. Maybe even trick it into thinking we paid the toll. Can't do that with a Mode Lock for obvious reasons."
"Heh, r-right," Windblade scratched her cheek.
"Still, no-not sure I'd recommend that. Too ri-ri-risky," Fixit added.
"You underestimating my bomb diffusing skills, Mini Mech?" Wheeljack asked in faux offense.
"Fixit is correct," Magnus interjected, clearly not understanding sarcasm, "In our current environment, we lack a means to repair the ship should the bomb go off, either because of a slip up, or if they notice the attempt and just decide to activate it then and there. Finding the control terminal presents a better option."
"Yeah yeah, whatever you say, tall, blue, and boring," Wheeljack rolled his optics while Chief huffed at the disrespect. Sure, the Wrecker got the point, but where was the fun in that?
"For now, I'm inclined to agree with Magnus and Fixit," Elita stepped in, once again making it a point to keep tensions low, "Not to throw the idea of direct disarmament out, but we'll keep it as a last resort if we can't find the terminal. Understood?"
"Understood, General," Ultra Magnus, ever the boy scout, affirmatively saluted and stood straight. Prowl simply kept his arms crossed and nodded while Wheeljack and Fixit gave salutes of their own, though theirs were lazy and playful respectively.
"U-Uh, understood, Miss Elita," Windblade gave her own salute, one much slower and more nervous. Kid clearly wasn't used to this kind of thing.
Elita saw that too and gently placed a servo to her shoulder, "It's fine Windblade, don't stress out over this. Personally, I'd rather just be called Elita. No salutes or military jargon or anything like that if you're uncomfortable."
"Right, sorry!" Windblade snapped her arm down to her side.
Elita's expression suddenly became a lot more serious and even a bit somber, "And...if you'd like, we'll continue our conversation when we get back to the ship." Windblade nervously nodded, making Wheeljack wonder what they were talking about before the Carnival came in. Releasing Windblade's shoulder, Elita faced the entire crew and said, "Let's get moving. We'll stay in a group for now and explore. See if we can find anything that'll point us to-"
"Actually, I think it'd be be-be-be-best if I stay here," Fixit cut in as everyone's optics looked down on him, "Someone's gotta guard the ship. Plus, Je-Jetfire's still out cold-cold-cold. Need to be there when he comes to-to-to."
Elita nodded and gave a thumbs up, "Alright Fixit. Watch after everything while we're out," she gestured to the rest of the crew and they followed her to the hallway leading for the sideshow and zoo, "Hopefully this won't take long."
"Happy hunting!" Fixit replied as he headed up the ship's ramp and closed it, leaving the rest of them to start exploring about the place.
Elita found herself glancing at the many exhibits as she and her teammates followed through the crowd of various organics and inorganics. Despite the need to search for a means to shut down the bomb holding their ship hostage, she wouldn't deny that the abundance of exotic creatures was a spectacle for the optics.
Still, she frowned as her team continued their trek, There's something not quite right about this place.
Even leaving aside the whole bomb aspect, the sideshow and zoo had this off-putting feeling to it that only increased the longer she looked around. Behind each energy barrier was an animal of some kind; all of them hailing from different worlds that were labeled beside each enclosure. However, while Elita wasn't familiar with most of them, the few she could recognize were grossly misnamed. Whether this was out of laziness or carelessness, she didn't know, but there were clear and present signs of mistreatment with each creature, ranging from small scars and wounds to the pens being too small to accommodate their sizes. Even with those who had room to move about didn't seem all too happy to be there, especially with all the sheer amount of attention they were given by the onlookers.
"Come one, come all, witness species from worlds beyond this or any galaxy!" yelled a voice just ahead that...well, it certainly sounded enthusiastic, but there was a tinge of bitterness behind it. More importantly, Elita recognized the voice from somewhere, and as she moved ahead and through the crowds, she saw the owner and gasped.
"Primus, is that..."
"I believe so, General," Ultra Magnus commented as the rest of the crew caught up, all of them seeing a large Cybertronian, his torso, arms, and legs armored green while his waste was yellow in color. His helm was coated red, face covered by a blue visor and yellow mask.
"What is Cosmos doing here?" Prowl questioned, while Windblade looked between all of them in confusion.
"Who's Cosmo-"
"Behold!" the bot suddenly yelled and gestured behind him, "The cow!"
At his signal, the creatures within the enclosure looked up at the crowd, some of which went "Ooh!" and "Aah!", while most just gave bored stares. Elita herself wasn't sure what to make of these...cows. They were quadrupedal and small, some being black with white splotches of fur, some being purely brown in pigmentation, others having horns but most without. She could say that they were undeniably cute though.
"This bovine species comes from a planet known only as...ugh, Urath! It produces a substance the local organic population calls "malt", and it's known to be quite refreshing. Other than that, they can spit...uh, fire, when threatened and enjoy eating grass. And they...also..." Cosmos started petering off as the crowd lost interest, moving on to other enclosures. He sighed and shook his head, "Yeah, right on time too."
"If it means anything, I thought it was interesting," Elita said in comfort as she stepped forward, her teammates following along.
The minute they neared, Cosmos gasped, "General Elita!" he ran forward and hugged her, "Holy scrap, it's really you!"
"Good to see you too," Elita patted his back as he let go and took in everyone else.
"Lieutenant Ultra Magnus, sir!" Cosmos entered an immediate salute, slipping back into soldier mode as if he'd never left. Elita found it to be a sobering thought, considering why Cosmos left the war to begin with.
I guess no matter how much you try to distance yourself, some things will always stick with you, Elita wondered if it'd be the same thing for her, Optimus, and the rest of the active Autobots when all was said and done. And that was assuming they could topple the madness Megatron created to begin with. Still...
We're gonna try.
Magnus answered with a nod and salute of his own, "As you were, soldier."
"Had no idea you were here," Wheeljack commented, smirking with servos to his hips.
"Wheeljack?" Cosmos asked, getting a nod before the two bots shook servos, "Holy scrap! I haven't seen you since the Scraplet infestation back on Luna-1's base."
"Ha! I remember that. Bulkhead screamed like a newly forged femme."
"Yeah...I uh, I might've also screamed like that."
"Maybe, but I remember Bulkhead's being louder than-"
"Excuse me!" Windblade cut in, getting everyone's attention before balking, "Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt. I'm just kinda lost..."
Elita nodded, realizing introductions were in order, "Sorry about that. Cosmos, this is Windblade. She's among our newest teammates and from Caminus," she turned to the femme in question, "Windblade, this is Cosmos, a former Autobot reconnaissance officer."
"Wait," Cosmos' blinking could be heard from behind his visor, "Caminus is real?"
"Very, and currently under the Decepticons' control," Windblade huffed, but was clearly trying to maintain herself. Elita could understand her plight, given Caminus' recent capture and her previous circumstances. One's home being treated as nothing but a fable after all that would put anyone in a bad mood. Thankfully, even Cosmos took notice, his body language becoming apologetic.
"Sorry."
"It's fine. You didn't know."
"Regardless," Prowl began, shifting the topic, "Cosmos, what exactly are you doing here?"
"As a betting mech, I'm gonna say the place literally reeled you in and stuck you on enclosure duty after the Shannix ran dry, right?" Wheeljack threw out his own guess.
"Eh, kinda-ish? It's a long story," Cosmos gestured to the cow enclosure and began explaining, "See, I was just flying on my way out of this solar system with a bunch of cows I'd taken from a planet called Earth. I was just gonna study them for a bit before bringing them back. Even left an IOU for the locals on these large green fields," he scratched the top of his helm, "Though, I wrote it in old Cybertronian symbols, so I'm not sure they understood it. Honestly, I was so excited to finally have a chance to study an exotic organic species that I tried being fancy about it. Figured it'd make things more...authentic."
"That's pretty understandable," Elita said, recalling the first class she ever taught at the Institute for Higher Programming. She may have tried a bit too hard to be professional about things and made a fool of herself.
"Anyway, when I reached the system's edge, that's when I bumped into the Cosmic Carnival and got taken for a ride. These solar cycles, they like to keep me at the enclosures to take care of and breed the cows I'd borrowed," Cosmo crossed his arms and huffed, "And the worst part is they're forcing me to get the facts wrong and make scrap up! They keep saying it's more "interesting" that way, but this place can seriously get fragged!" he sighed, "Sad thing is, I think I'm the luckiest Autobot here."
"Wait, there are other Autobots trapped here?" Ultra Magnus asked, with Elita and the others equally curious.
Cosmos nodded, "Yeah, there are: Hound, Sunstreaker, Smokescreen, and Sky Lynx. I was the last Autobot to get picked up by this place. Well, until you guys arrived, anyway."
Prowl hummed, "Altogether, that makes the five components of-"
"Yeah, and the minute they saw the five of us in one place, the Coneheads warned the Carnival's owner, Mr. Big Top. They make it a point to keep us far away from each other. I'm not exactly allowed near places like the circus ring or the wrestling arena, and they make sure to keep Smokescreen as far away from the casino as possible," Cosmos' shoulders sagged, a mix of sadness and rage in his voice, "Like I said, I'm the lucky bot. Sure, it's insufferable, but I ain't getting the scrap beaten out of me or being forced to do tricks till I can barely stand."
The more I learn, the more I hate this place...well, more than I already did, Elita glowered, getting a feel for the indignities not only Cosmos and the other Autobots, but the rest of those under forced employment at the Cosmic Carnival suffered. For a short nanoklik, her processor recalled back before the war, when she'd started helping the movement alongside Orion and Megatron. Though she'd never suffered such conditions, she'd made it a point to learn. To ask. To understand.
Bots that she'd once considered friend (or were long since dead) would describe to her what they'd endured. Many spoke of the working conditions they'd hoped to challenge and escape, no longer being bound to a single caste and function. Others would decry how the upper echelons of Cybertron chose to turn a blind optic to such injustices, too caught up in their own decadence to care. She remembered when Megatron took her and Orion to his former prison, the Kaon Pit, for the first time, where he and many of the movement's first followers had been forced to engage in blood sport for the entertainment of Cybertron's crime lords and corrupt authority.
And she remembered the cold, blistering rage he spoke with when discussing it all. That same rage that defined him, that had been there since the beginning, and that was now being directed at everyone and everything he felt was against him. What he chose to do with that rage, and what he'd become, was inexcusable. But Elita understood that the evils which shaped and fueled his wrath were very real.
In many respects, this Cosmic Carnival held many similarities: people forced into harsh roles with no say in the matter, all for the entertainment of an elite that ignored such problems for the sake of indulgence. Elita just hoped that this time, things wouldn't spiral out of control.
Despite their initial plans for escape, she turned to her teammates and sent each of them a look. Ultra Magnus, dutiful soldier she kinda wished he'd stop being half the time, was the first to understand and provide an affirmative nod in kind. Wheeljack smirked and gave a nonchalant shrug, while Prowl's expression conveyed greater reluctance, or at the very least uncertainty. Ultimately, he found himself relenting with a nod of his own, leaving only Windblade.
The Camien, like Prowl, was unsure, though more from clearly not understanding what Elita was conveying. The Autobot leader internally chastised herself, being reminded that Windblade was still new to all this. But before she could be more upfront and explain things in full, something within the young bot's optics seemed to click, shifting towards understanding as her mouth parted just a bit. Not a nanoklik later, her expression shifted to pure determination before providing an agreeing smile.
With everyone onboard, Elita turned to Cosmos and asked, "Is there any way we can help?"
Cosmos looked at her in surprise for a few moments, but he quickly recovered and rubbed the back of his neck in uncertainty, "I don't know, being honest. We've tried getting out before, but that didn't go anywhere. Ugh, if only we could get together, then we could form-" his optics blinked behind his visor, a finger to his chin as he stared at the brown, gravely ground, "Actually, he has a show later, so maybe...if we could all figure out..." he faced Elita and said, "Any chance you can patch me into your comm channel?"
"Magnus?" Elita turned to her second-in-command, who nodded and tapped on his helm to activate his comms. Cosmos tapped his helm too, a loud dinging sound emanating from it before he gave a thumbs up. "Good," she smiled, "You know this place better than we do. Take it you have a plan?"
"Well, more like an idea for...10% of a plan, but it's the best I could think of on short notice," Cosmos explained, "For now, we need to focus on sneaking me, Hound, Smokescreen, and Sunstreaker into Sky Lynx's next show. It's not for another two Mega Cycles, so we gotta be quick about this."
And with those five in the same place- Elita quickly caught onto what Cosmos was going for with wide optics. "I see what you're getting at," Giving a grin, she crossed her arms, "Leave getting them there to us. You just worry about sneaking in yourself," she faced her team, "Listen up, everyone. We're splitting into two teams: Prowl will take Windblade and Wheeljack to find Smokescreen, Sunstreaker, and Hound. Magnus and I will go to where Sky Lynx is and get him up to speed. Who knows? Maybe we'll find an admin switch or terminal along the way." As everyone nodded, she turned back to Cosmos, "Where are the others located?"
"By now, Sky Lynx should be backstage of the circus arena. It's where they keep most of the performers before a show starts. The other three work at "Battle Planet" over in the amusement parks. Should be pretty obvious when you see it."
Nodding, she turned to her team one last time, "Alright everyone, let's roll out!"
"What were they talking about back there? About the plan being to just get the five of them together at the show? You said something about 'components' and I'm wondering what you meant by that."
Prowl looked back to Windblade, who walked just behind him and Wheeljack, and said, "I suppose it would make sense for you not to know about Sky Reign. In any case, the plan is-"
"Actually, Officer, why don't we let this be a surprise?" Wheeljack suggested, much to Prowl's annoyance as they walked through the small crowds of various races, some rivaling them in height while others barely came up to their knees, many of whom seemed to be chatting about something or another.
"Because it's counterproductive to not provide all necessary information."
"Yeah, you're one to talk," Wheeljack muttered just loud enough for him to hear.
"What do you mean by that?" Windblade asked.
So that's where you're going with this, Prowl rolled his optics at the effort to goad him into opening up about his mission. Whether Wheeljack was doing so for his own amusement, out of misguided sympathy and/or empathy, or some nebulous third reason, Prowl didn't know. He'd rely on the others to make his hunt easier, but he'd prefer to keep them as uninvolved as possible. While fine with accepting their support, he was less so with them in direct confrontation with his quarry. Lockdown had already spilled the inner Energon of enough Autobots already.
Rather than take the bait, the Cyber-Ninja huffed, "I suppose it isn't strictly necessary for her to know that particular detail, seeing as we simply need to get them all in one place."
"Nice backpedaling," Wheeljack sarcastically remarked.
"Can't say I like being left in the dark like this," now it was Windblade's turn to huff as she pouted like an impatient youngling.
"Hey, I hear ya kid. But I figured since you haven't seen been off Caminus until the whole Con invasion, you probably haven't seen some of the things we have," Wheeljack explained, "Something tells me you're gonna like the surprise. And after what happened to your home, you could use a pick me up."
Not sure how that would improve someone's mood, Prowl recalled every time a Gestalt (or Combiner, the two terms were interchangeable, but Prowl preferred the former) formed during the war and, regardless of Autobot or Decepticon, he only ever felt terror. One entering the battlefield often signaled that things were beginning to escalate beyond control. In fact, a particularly nasty bout between Gestalts, being that of the Autobot Superion and Decepticon Menasor, resulted in the city of Tetrahex's complete decimation. Then again, Wheeljack's own perspective was skewed, given how Wreckers thrived in such escalation. He probably simply thought it to be "cool", as the saying went, and expected Windblade to share that feeling.
Prowl didn't share that viewpoint and had a few compunctions with the idea of Gestalts in the first place. He'd been more than relieved when Optimus Prime managed to get the Enigma of Combination off Cybertron and into unknown space where no faction would ever find it. Still, he kept that to himself and would trust Elita's judgement. He just hoped she knew how to keep the resulting Gestalt in check.
As they kept down the path, the crowds grew in size and began to congest the hall as it led to a single, large entryway. Above the entrance read "Cosmicland" in bright, gold-plated letters coated in holographic stars. "In any case, we're here," Prowl said as the three of them followed the crowd and entered the park. Everything from roller coasters to Ferris wheels, to an omnidirectional pendulum, to free fall towers could be seen from where they stood, all set beneath a transparent barrier that revealed countless stars amidst the black void of space. After taking it all in, the Cyber-Ninja hummed, "Now assuming this is the right park, we just have to find Battle Planet. But where would that-"
"You mean the giant globe over there that has "Battle Planet" on it?" Wheeljack snarked, to which Prowl followed where he pointed with an admitted glare until his optics landed on the enormous pitch-black globe on the farthest, right servo corner of the park. The words "Battle Planet", punctuated by clashing fists between them, circled around the globe every five nanokliks.
"That would be it," Prowl said, refusing to think about how he missed that before gesturing for them to follow, "Now let's not waste any time."
The three Autobots (technically two Autobots plus one extra) made their way through the park, passing through crowds big and small that were clamoring to get on the various attractions. Impressively, despite the sheer shiftiness of the environment, the rides were actually built to accommodate the varying sizes of several different species. As the crowds started to slowly grow, Prowl looked back to make sure he didn't lose track of Wheeljack or Windblade. While the Wrecker's optics glazed over everything with mild indifference, the Camien seemed completely awestruck by her surroundings.
"Wow!" she mouthed, barely above a whisper, but Prowl could hear her regardless of the park's hustle and bustle. Wheeljack could too, given how he turned to her with a smirk and servos relaxed behind his head.
"I know, it's impressive and all, but I wouldn't get too amazed," Wheeljack's smile faded as his optics went to a public performance with a gathering of onlookers. They were watching a pair of Urtuskians juggle a series of plasma saws between themselves. The spectacle would've been impressive had Prowl not seen the exhausted, miserable expressions on the jugglers' faces. "Poor saps probably got stuck having to pay off a debt. And they ain't the only ones," the Wrecker commented, pointing out the other employees who seemed equally discontent with what they were doing, some hiding it better than others, "Like I said, place is one giant scam to wring suckers dry and force them to work here. Guy running this place gets free labor while everyone else gets entertainment, and eventually everyone else will just end up joining the circus when they don't get out in time. Starts to become a lot harder to enjoy the place when you know about the seedy underbelly."
"Sorry, it's just...we don't have anything like this back on Caminus," Windblade shyly admitted, leaving Prowl curious as they walked past a pair of Skuxxoids with energy pistols. With the badges and way the two armored reptilians eyed the crowd, it seemed clear they were part of Carnival security. Thankfully, they didn't spare the trio of Cybertronians a glance.
"Really? You didn't have amusement parks?" Wheeljack asked, "Had a few on Velocitron I went to with the Wreckers before the war started. What about you, Officer? Never went, but I heard about Six Lasers Over Cybertron. You ever been there?"
"No. Not for leisure, at least," Prowl replied, recalling that the first and only time he went there was on assignment to track down an operation selling the illegal drug, Crysmagnetal. In the process, he learned that his fellow Security Operations officer, Barricade, was actually in league with the dealer, having helped them evade arrest provided he get a cut of the drugs for himself. Prowl vividly recalled confronting the crooks, only for Barricade to stab him in the back and slap a pair of stasis cuffs on him. He was lucky that his former partner saw fit to finish his deal before attempting to kill him, as it provided the needed time to plan an escape and get them all imprisoned. Too bad Barricade managed to leave prison through a few "connections" of his and get transferred to a different precinct.
Didn't surprise Prowl that he joined the Decepticons. Countless Cybertronian criminals became part of the ever-growing empire. Its ideology granted them the freedom to indulge in their most violent desires with unchecked impunity.
Windblade shook her head, "No. We don't. Caminus doesn't have much in terms of resources, so our entire culture is one of mass energy conservation to maintain ourselves," her tone became rather bitter, "Perhaps that's another reason we fell so quickly."
"Yeesh, sounds like what I read about ol' Nominus's Edict," Wheeljack commented, which drew further confusion from Windblade.
"What's that?"
"Bunch of political scrap that I don't exactly care about, but it was required reading back at the academy. Before I got kicked out, anyway..." Wheeljack grimaced, not really wanting to talk about it before changing subjects, "So Windy, never been to an amusement park, huh?" Windblade shook her head again, "Well, if it means anything, maybe when this is all over, you'll get your chance. These places can be a real blast, at least when you know there isn't a nastier side to them. You up for something like that?"
"Yeah," Windblade smiled, "I think I'd really like to try something like this."
"In any case, it'll have to wait. We're here," Prowl stopped, gesturing for the others to do the same as they all looked up at the Battle Planet entrance. Not wasting anymore time, they entered, following the signs to the attraction's arena, where at the center was a large cage with a three v one match took place. The solo fighter was a lumbering reptilian organic that rivaled Optimus in height. He wore brown boots and trousers held by harnesses connected with metal buckles. Lastly, he had notably crimson eyes (the organic term for optics) with pointed ears and a series of spikes traveling down his back. As for his opponents...
"Looks like we found 'em," Wheeljack stood at Prowl's side with Windblade joining at the opposite. Sure enough, the three Autobots were fending off against the brute with impressive teamwork. He recognized Hound and Smokescreen with ease, given the former's flat helm that matched his green torso plating in color, as well as the black metal of his arms and legs. The latter still had the same red and blue plating from when they'd last met, albeit heavily dented from the current fight (the broken yellow crest on his helm was the most notable of it) and lacking his shoulder cannon, much like how Hound's was also missing.
No doubt to keep their offensive options limited, Prowl mused before taking note of the last among the three Autobots, Sunstreaker, who looked...different. The yellow armor and black helm where the same, as were the twin crests on the helm's sides with yellow grills. But the chassis, hips and legs seemed to have had adjustments made to make them more prominent, with lips now coated similar to the helm. Being able to hear the grunts of the combatants from his current position, Prowl also noted how Sunstreaker's voice seemed lighter and softer compared to previously.
"Huh, seems like Sunstreaker finally found time to make those modifications she wanted. Good for her," Wheeljack commented, allowing Prowl to understand what that meant before chastising himself for the potential insensitivity. Outside Jazz, Master Yoketron, and...Lockdown, he didn't really converse with other Autobots or bother getting to know them. Even before the war and the CNC's destruction, socializing was never his strong suit, so he wasn't aware.
"HRRK!" Smokescreen yelped, having gotten careless in the battle as their opponent grabbed his leg from an attempted dive kick. The large reptile followed it up by smashing him into both Hound and Sunstreaker, knocking them into the cage walls before slamming the poor bot into the floor a few times. With the three Cybertronians struggling to get up, their foe roared and pounded his chest in victory to the adulation of the audience.
"Fragger," Wheeljack growled, a glare on his face that he shared with Windblade, who seemed equally ready to draw her weapons.
"We have to do something!" the Camien took a step forward before Prowl blocked hers and Wheeljack's way forward.
"Look," he pointed to the security detail that came out from behind the bleachers and opened the cage. Among them was an Ilxian, a Skuxxoid, and two Cybertronians who bore the Decepticon sigil on the wings attached to their legs. Prowl narrowed his optics, "Ramjet and Thrust."
"Huh, only ran into Dirge last time. Not surprised the other Coneheads wound up here too," Wheeljack grunted as the Autobots' reptilian opponent, surprisingly, helped his foes up in a gentle manner.
"Who are they?" Windblade asked, watching the security force yell at them to get out of the cage.
"Members of the Seeker Armada, but from the looks of it, they work for the Carnival now," Prowl noted the security badges on their shoulders, which glimmered as they shoved the fighters towards the backstage while the audience dispersed towards the exits. Making a nudging gesture with his head, the three members of the Alpha-5 crew got moving and followed behind the security force as they escorted the fighters away. They kept just close enough to keep them in their line of sights but were far back to the point where they wouldn't draw attention, usually hiding around corners while following.
"Keep moving!" the Ilxian shoved Sunstreaker forward, much to her anger.
"Hey, watch the paint! Bad enough it got fragged to the Pit and back already."
"Sorry," the fighter's organic opponent said, surprising Prowl with how sincere and gentle he sounded.
"It's fine Garnak," Smokescreen said, "Job's a job, sadly. If it means anything, you did pretty well."
"Really?"
Sunstreaker nodded, "Yeah, but seriously, lighten up on next time? Takes a lot of effort for me to look this good."
"Tough slag, Autobot," Thrust sneered, "You three have a job to do, and that's take a dive to make the others look good. Give everyone a good show, and maybe Mr. Big Top will consider your debt settled."
"Yes, we know. Do you remind us because you think we'll forget, or are you so dumb that you have to remind yourself what your job is?" Smokescreen questioningly jabbed. Even though Prowl couldn't see it, he could almost hear his smirk.
"Jokes on you! Our job is to keep you lot in line! Not fight!" Ramjet mocked.
"Good, because you suck at it," Sunstreaker snarked, causing the entire group to stop as the Coneheads began accosting their prisoners.
"What did you say?" Ramjet snarled.
"She said that you'd suck at fi-"
"Shut up, stupid fleshling!" Thrust cut Garnak off with a blaster shot to the face. Windblade gasped while Wheeljack glared, but Prowl maintained his cool, especially upon seeing that the plasma wound was already starting to heal.
Seems this Garnak has quite the healing factor. Fascinating... Prowl assumed it to be a byproduct of his species, though he couldn't say for certain. Organic races always astounded him in what they could accomplish.
"Guys," Hound helped Garnak up, "Maybe we should just get back to our barracks?"
"What? It isn't my fault the Coneheads are more slag than processor," Sunstreaker smirked with condescension at the group of jailers.
"You...ugh! You're lucky I don't hit femmes!" Ramjet started leading the way forward, but then Sunstreaker ran her mouth again with an almost sing-song tone.
"Me neither. ~But for you I'd make an exception!~"
"That's it! You Autobots are dead!" Ramjet tried to rush Sunstreaker, with Thrust attempting the same, but their organic co-workers got in the way to hold them back.
"What is wrong with you idiots!?" the Ilxian yelled.
"If you kill the merchandise, Big Top will have all our heads!" added the Skuxxoid.
"Wow, we feel so loved right now," Smokescreen snarked in an amused, monotone voice as Sunstreaker, Hound, and Garnak moved to his sides. Once more, Prowl could tell he was rolling his optics despite the angle obscuring that fact. Looking to Wheeljack and Windblade, he nodded to them and received affirmation in kind. They had an opportunity, they just had to take it.
"Least they know how much I'm worth," Sunstreaker egotistically added with servos at her hips, much to Hound's frustration.
"Why can't we just end a Solar Cycle without you two trying to start a fight with the Coneheads?"
"I mean, not like things can get any worse, right?" Garnak placated as Hound's servo almost welded itself to his face.
Seeing the guards were distracted trying to fight each other, Prowl rolled out from cover and threw his shuriken at the Seekers, striking them in their chests while Wheeljack transformed into vehicle mode and rammed right into the Ilxian. As he transformed back to deliver an uppercut to the chin, Windblade rushed out with blades at the ready to fight the Skuxxoid while Prowl darted forward alongside her towards the disoriented Coneheads. The Skuxxoid regained his bearings to fire at both of them, only to find his shots blocked by the Camien and dodged by the Cyber-Ninja, the former of which getting close enough to spin kicked him into a wall. Prowl, meanwhile, struck at Ramjet and Thrust's vital points to leave them incapacitated. Regardless of their status as former or active Decepticons, they might have had vital information to gleam, even if they were dumber than sacks of rocks.
As the Alpha-5 members stood over their fallen foes, they heard Garnak say, "Uh, is this better or worse?"
The three turned to the four cage fighters, the Cybetronians among which looked at them with wide optics. Smokescreen was the first to regain his voice, "Are you...am I seeing things or are there other Autobots in front of us right now?"
"HA! In the metal, Smokes," Wheeljack laughed, the cage trio's mood brightening up significantly.
"Never thought I'd be glad to see a Wrecker," Hound said as he walked up and shook Wheeljack's servo.
"Good to see you again, Jack," Sunstreaker chirped with servos behind her head, "Thanks for the save. But for the record, I totally could've handled that."
"Sure," Wheeljack smirked before looking at the only organic among them, "Uh...Garnak, right?"
"Yup! Nice to meet ya!" Garnak reached forward and shook the Wrecker's servo with his hand.
"Nice to meet you too, Garnak!" Windblade greeted with a smile, "My name's Windblade."
As Garnak happily shook Windblade's servo (comically shaking the Camien up and down in the process), Hound looked at her curiously, "Huh, don't remember ever meeting an Autobot like you before. You a new recruit?"
"K-Kinda...I-" Windblade stuttered amidst the daze from Garnak's shaking before regaining herself, "I'm from Caminus."
"...the frag's Caminus?" Sunstreaker asked, tilting her head.
"Long story," Windblade said before Prowl interrupted by hefting one of the Seekers over his shoulder.
"Windblade, why don't you familiarize yourself with them? Wheeljack, help me dispose of these four."
"Whatever you say, Officer," Wheeljack lazily saluted before grabbing the two organics and hefting them over his shoulders. Windblade started chatting with the three formerly caged Autobots as they made their way for the barracks, which only grew more animated the longer it went on. They were out of audio receptor shot upon reaching the barracks, where Prowl found that the security badges doubled as keys for the doors. Opening it, the Cyber-Ninja and Wrecker entered, finding a wall with three flat, metal bunks, each one atop the other and a ladder at the edge. Not hard to surmise whom this room belonged too, given that the three bunks had "Hound", "Smokey", and "Sunny" written on them respectively.
"I'll go get the other Conehead," Wheeljack tossed the guards across the room before walking out, which drew Prowl's attention to the wall the unceremoniously collided with. On it was a series of scratches, mostly in a uniform four lines with a dash through it for the fifth. What startled the former SecOps officer the most was the sheer amount that covered the entire surface before reaching the next wall, then the next, then the next where it ended. But that was only because it devolved into scratches and scribbles before giving way to giant words reading "WHO THE FRAGGING PIT CARES ANYMORE!?", making Prowl wonder which of them wrote it and how long had they all been here. Where the lines a measurement of Solar Cycles? Chords? Stellar Cycles?
This reminds me an awful lot of- Prowl cut off his line of thought as he stared at the Decepticon badge on Ramjet's wing. He'd heard all the rumors about how the Decepticon's began. How their fire, their rage, their drive for "equality" was fueled by the brutality they endured from the Kaon Pit, where its first followers were held. Having been stationed on the opposite side of Cybertron at the time, said rumors were all he had to go off of, but he brushed it off, focusing more on his work in SecOps and his training as a Cyber-Ninja.
Then after the war and...everything, he wondered if they ever cared for the goals they preached so much about to begin with. The Autobots had a few former Decepticons in their ranks who would insist on it, Jetfire and Drift among them, but Prowl couldn't see it that way. He'd seen too many atrocities committed by them, broken into cells like this one to rescue fellow soldiers, only to witness the aftermath to barbaric acts of torment, from Kick-Off getting his T-Cog torn out, to B-127's voice box being ripped right from his throat.
These weren't the acts of a movement seeking freedom, but that of terrorists and hoodlums who were looking for a banner to manipulate others into joining. No different than those he'd been arresting for dozens of Vorns before their very existence. And at the helm was Megatron, a malicious tyrant to his very core no matter what his followers, former or otherwise, insisted. He'd dealt with monsters who hid their true intentions behind a well-crafted, convincing mask.
He'd once been friends with one, after all. But he knew better now.
"Yo, Copper!" Wheeljack broke through his musings as he re-entered the cell, "Got Thrust for the slammer. Tried to see if he had any Con intel on him, but he wasn't carrying anything. On the plus side, it looks like Windy's getting along with the fantastic four." Prowl looked back to face him as he placed the Seeker down, only for the Wrecker's optics to grow curious, maybe even a little concerned, "Something on your mind? Seem pretty antsy."
"Yes, I'm fine. Merely wondering how they managed to persist in these conditions for so long," Prowl said while checking Ramjet for any intel. It wasn't a complete lie, so it would help deflect from his ever-devolving train of thought.
"They had each other. Simple as that," Wheeljack casually said as he looked around the cell, "Probably helped them stay sane. Also probably helps that bad as this place is, it ain't a scratch on Con prisons," his voice had a somber tinge to it, "Just barely got out of Kaon Prison alive. And from what I heard about Grindcore, Kaon's pretty tame by comparison."
Ugh, don't remind me, Prowl shuddered, remembering every detail the Autobot escapee, Skids, relayed about the prison and its former warden, Tarn. Learning about the things done there kept the Cyber-Ninja up at night. Though now that he'd thought about said former warden, the fact that the Coneheads were still alive was baffling, given the DJD's zero tolerance policy towards any form of treachery and their reported knack for being able to locate anyone who turned their back on the cause. Either the Coneheads aboard the carnival had the smallest modicum of competence to have pulled that off, or they somehow bumbled their way into a very lucky scenario.
Either way, Prowl stood up, having finished searching Ramjet and found a data drive, "We'll decode this back on the ship. See if it has anything useful." Wheeljack nodded and stretched as the two walked out, locking the cell behind them. Right as they did so, footsteps came in from the side as they turned to see Windblade, Sunstreaker, Hound, Smokescreen, and Garnak all headed their way. "So," Prowl began as they approached, "I take it you've gotten to know each other."
"Yup! You guys got a spunky femme on your squad. She's definitely going places," Sunstreaker playfully elbowed Windblade, who kept up her smile and scratched her cheek at the praise.
"Thanks. You're pretty cool yourself."
"Yeah! Sunstreaker's the best," Garnak cheered, "Did she tell you about the time she beat an entire Decepticon squad using only a bendy straw?"
"Oh stop!" Sunstreaker proudly smirked, making Prowl roll his optics while Wheeljack looked to be holding back giggles. Good to see that her penchant for self-aggrandizing hadn't gone down in the slightest, and it seemed Garnak had fully bought into that. He sincerely hoped Windblade didn't buy it either.
"Yes. Please stop," Hound cut in with a shake of his head as Smokescreen laughed, "And for the billionth time, that's NOT what happened. Last thing we need is Sunny's ego getting even more inflated," he snapped his head at the still laughing Smokescreen, "And I told you to stop encouraging her!"
"I'll get to that when it stops being funny!" Smokescreen retorted as his laughs died down, only for Wheeljack's laughter to roar out in its place.
"Okay, okay, but seriously, we got the up and up on what you guys are planning," Sunstreaker said, Wheeljack managing to cease his laughter as she became pretty serious, "So, you just got to find a way to sneak us backstage for Sky Lynx's show, right?" She received nods, to which she regained her cocky smirk, "Alright, I think we're picking up what you're putting down."
"Being honest, I don't exactly approve, but it's the best we have on short notice," Prowl crossed his arms, still uneasy about a Gestalt potentially running amok.
"Still wish you'd tell me what's going to happen when we get them there," Windblade kept her tone even, but hints of bitterness slipped out as she gestured to her new friends, "I mean, not even they'd tell me. And they just learned about the plan!"
"Patience kid," Hound patted Windblade's back in understanding, "Believe me, I'd tell you in a sparkbeat, but these two..."
"What can we say? We may be...indentured servants, as Big Top oh so likes to call us, but we're still performers," Smokescreen said.
"And the biggest rule of showbiz?" Sunstreaker eagerly chimed in, "Always save your best trick for last."
"Told ya you're in for a surprise, Windy," Wheeljack smiled at the Camien, who smiled back despite her obvious annoyance.
Hound, meanwhile, sighed, "Let's just focus on getting there."
"Agreed," Prowl nodded as he tapped his comms, "Elita-1 and Ultra Magnus. This is Prowl. Do you read me?"
"This is Elita, and we read you loud and clear, Prowl. We're in the main arena right now and are trying to find a way backstage. We'll let you know when we make contact with Sky Lynx," she turned her commlink off, "Ready Magnus?"
"Affirmative," Ultra Magnus saluted his General, who nodded back as they looked down on the arena from their seats within the stands. The arena itself was currently filled to the brim with workers setting the stage for the big show, which was now in one Mega Cycle. If they were going to retrieve Sky Lynx, they needed a solid opening, and fortune found them in the form of unmanned vehicular drones, all rather multicolored and vibrant, that began to bring materials in and out from backstage for the workers to set up. "General," he pointed this out to them, "Look."
"I see it," General Elita-1 replied as the two started making their way down the stands and as close to the backstage entrance as possible. Watching as the drones went by, they saw a particularly large drone, one that had just deposited a cage containing a creature of some sort, make its way back around. As it neared the entryway to the backstage, he and the General jumped in and transformed into vehicular mode, following closely behind the drone. Thankfully, no one looked their way when they entered, and the drone's large size offered them both a hiding place and vantage point to scope out the area as they traversed.
Within the backstage, there were a number of performers preparing their routines, from a trio of electric energy beings (Kremzeeks, if Ultra Magnus recalled) merging into a giant lightning wheel for animals to jump through, to a rather small organic performing tricks on a cycle with a rocket engine as nearby workers, who addressed him as Rorza, complimented his form. However, there was something Ultra Magnus saw in their...whatever the organic term for optics was. They all seemed drained despite persisting, like none of them wanted to be here. His processor drawing on the closest approximation, the look was something he'd seen (and much to his regret, shared) with many an Autobot, usually after several Chords stuck in a trench whilst trying to survive Decepticon bombardment.
"Magnus!" the General whispered, veering to the left and staying near drone groups headed that way. Ultra Magnus followed, as was his duty, and they soon found themselves in an area backstage filled with cages containing various organic fauna. It was similar to the sideshow from before, only they had less room and moved about more actively, as if in terror or anger. Not to mention that this one had an abundance of guards patrolling the place, making it feel more like a prison than a backstage.
"Ready for your big show, Sky Lynx?"
Sky Lynx? Ultra Magnus froze alongside General Elita as they slowly tried to drive as close to the ensuing conversation as possible without arousing suspicion. Stopping right at an empty cage, they stilled and appeared like shut down drones to the best of their abilities. They saw the quadrupedal, draconic looking Autobot Primitive resting in a massive cage that was still too small for his size, glaring down at the group in front of him.
"Yes, I believe I am, Mr. Big Top," Sky Lynx said, tone even yet having a sense of exhaustion behind it as his shuttle wings lowered in reluctance. Ultra Magnus looked at this "Big Top", and saw that he was surrounded by several guards, one of whom he could recognize as Dirge by his navy-blue armor, black arm cannons, and the yellow wings on his legs and hips. As for Big Top himself, he was a large, green, slug-like organic whose body oozed purple slime and held a brown cy-gar (or at least its organic counterpart) in one of his many tentacles, while another had some sort of golden watch on it.
"Good. We're expectin' quite a turn out, so you gotta be on your a-game," Big Top sounded encouraging, but it was easy to discern how fake it was, "So you better bring somethin' new for the viewers. If I see revenue drop because you're gettin' lazy, then it's comin' outta your pay."
"What pay? We both know I'm not making much. I doubt anyone working here does."
Big Top's voice gained a dangerous edge, pointing at the Primitive with a tentacle that splattered slime on his face, "Watch your tone, Lynx. Remember, you're under contract to work for me until your debt's paid off. Everyone here is, that's just the rules."
"Ah yes, rules. Rules you write in words so small on contracts so skewed in your favor and for people too desperate to say no. What remarkable business acumen you possess. If I could, I'd clap for you."
"Watch your tone, Autobot!" Dirge bashed a fist against the bars of the cage. Sky Lynx didn't seem the least bit threatened, instead lowering his long neck and moving forward to glare at the former Seeker.
"Hold on, Dirge, my boy," Big Top held the seeker back, "Let's not get too hasty. After all, my biggest money maker has a show to put on," he smugly looked up at Sky Lynx, "Doesn't he?" The Autobot said nothing, instead looking away. "Perfect," Big top clapped, "Now, let's go over your routine one last time."
"What happened to wanting something new?"
"Eh, that was then, this is now."
"That was quite literally less than a cycle ago!"
"Either way, we don't want the audience to be too uncomfortable, so let's keep things familiar."
"Prowl, do you read?" General Elita whispered into her comms to everyone connected, "We've located Sky Lynx, but he's surrounded. There are a few guards on him, one being Dirge, and the Carnival owner, Big Top."
"That could spell trouble, especially since we're all on our way to your location now," Prowl replied back, "Any openings so far?"
Ultra Magnus huffed as he watched the slug explain the routine, "No. And with how he seems to enjoy the sound of his own voice, I doubt we'll be given one before the show starts. We have thirty cycles at most now."
"We talking about Big Top or Sky Lynx?" a new voice connected to the comms, easily recognizable to Ultra Magnus as Sunstreaker, joked.
"Oh, like you're one to talk, Sunny," Hound sighed.
"Maybe there's something there to distract him?" Windblade suggested.
"Not seeing anything apparent," General Elita replied, "Hound, Smokescreen, Sunstreaker, what do you know about Big Top that can help?"
At that, Smokescreen began, "Well, is he wearing a golden watch?"
"Yeah."
"That's not really a watch. It actually controls all security on the ship. Drones, putting certain rooms on lockdown, bombs on ships, you name it. In other words, an admin switch."
Looks like we found that, at least, Ultra Magnus mentally filed that detail for later and asked, "Anything else, Smokescreen?"
"Yeah, he's a coward at heart, and he always takes a security team with him. Only time he doesn't have them around is when he's announcing and running the main circus shows like Sky Lynx's. However, he prefers to handle most problems on the ship directly, depending on how severe it is."
"Explains why I never saw him last time the Wreckers were here," Wheeljack chimed in with a laugh, "Must've been too scared to come out of hiding."
"So, if we can cause a big enough distraction, it should draw him away from the arena long enough for us to get to Sky Lynx?" General Elita surmised.
"Just leave that part to us, boss lady," Sunstreaker said with a tone easily recognizable as both smug and headache inducing.
"Sunny," Hound began slowly, "What are you do-"
"Yo Garnack! Wanna help us screw over the big bad boss?" Sunstreaker spoke to someone out of the comms, who was muffled, yet enthusiastic from what could be told, "Great! Now go to the center of Cosmicland and start making some noise!"
There were a few moments of what sounded like stomps, followed by silence as Windblade asked, "Uh, Sunstreaker, what exactly did you mean by 'make some noise?'"
"Agreed, because if it's what I think it is, call him back, now," the General sternly, but calmly, ordered, which Ultra Magnus agreed with. Anything that would bring harm to civilians would most certainly not be tolerated, and he struggled to comprehend how Sunstreaker thought something like that would be a good idea for a distraction.
"Oh relax! Garny won't attack anyone. Trust me. I may hate this place and most of the people here, but I ain't that far gone. Just gotta give him a bit to practice his vocals and he'll have your slug problem solved."
Ultra Magnus could hear the General blink, "Wait, you mean he's going to-"
"-and then you'll-" Big Top's watch made a loud beeping as he let out frustrated grumbles, "Hold on," he pressed it, "Yes, what is it?" Neither Ultra Magnus nor General Elita could make out what was being said from here, but the slug's body language said it all, "Ugh, again!? For the love of-" he seethed for a good few nanokliks before yelling into the watch, "Keep him busy, I'll be there shortly."
"Boss?" Dirge asked as Big Top cut off communication.
"It's that idiot, Garnack. He's singin' in the middle of Cosmicland and drivin' people away! I gotta take care of this before the show," he pointed to the former Seeker, "Dirge, you stay here and keep my prize money maker company. Everyone else is coming with me."
"Sir, is that really necessar-"
"I don't pay you to question me!" Big Top sneered as he and his guards began walking away.
"You hardly pay us at all."
"And just for that, you're fightin' him first if he gets aggressive. Now, as I was..." was all they could hear Big Top say as he left audio receptor shot before Dirge demanded someone call in some security drones to help him monitor Sky Lynx. No one seemed to be listening, so Ultra Magnus and the General took the opportunity and drove over to him, placing themselves at his sides and remaining quiet for a few cycles.
"So..." General Elita started, still remaining in vehicle mode, "How are things?"
Dirge looked at her, "Huh? Oh, they're going great! Life's never been better for me."
"Are they?" Ultra Magnus muttered.
"Yup! After everything with the Decepticons and almost dying more times than I can count, I get to be the one on top here!" Dirge waxed on, "I get all the Energon and Shannix I want, plus the boss lets me wail on these idiots whenever they forget their place."
"Does he now?" the General's tone remained even, but a fury was evident behind it.
"Yeah, like last Chord where I got to electrocute a couple fraggers for whining...on the...job..." Dirge blinked a few times and looked between them, "Wait a minute, since when can you drones talk? This a new upgrade I didn't know abou-"
Without saying a word, General Elita and Ultra Magnus transformed to full height, the former decking Dirge in the face. He stumbled back into Ultra Magnus, who bashed the top of his head in with a hammer fist, knocking him out cold.
"I had a feeling something was off," Sky Lynx approached from within his cage, "Though you two were the last Autobots I expected to get stuck on this blight upon entertainment."
"Good to see you too, Sky Lynx," General Elita greeted while Ultra Magnus searched Dirge's body for any useful Decepticon intelligence. Despite having left the faction, he seemed moronic enough to not throw something like that away.
"You as well, and it's certainly been a long time, Ultra Magnus," Sky Lynx greeted him as he pilfered a data drive from the fallen former Decepticon, "You seem to be doing swimmingly as Miss Elita's First Lieutenant."
"I find the position suits me," Better than Supreme Commander ever did, Ultra Magnus stood up and tried not to bitterly muse on his failings as the former leader of the Autobots. His time in that position had more failures than he could count, and he'd been glad when Optimus took the reigns as Supreme Commander, doing far better than he'd done.
"So, we met your boss," General Elita glared at where Big Top left.
"Quite a piece of work, isn't he?"
"Between the tentacles and conniving nature, he reminds me of the Quintessons," Ultra Magnus noted, briefly reflecting on his first war. His fist clenched as he recalled their Prosecutors brought death and destruction to Cybertron long ago, bringing an end to what'd been considered a golden age of peace and prosperity. The slug running this place was hardly any different than those that'd managed to capture him and the unit he was with, that were killed when Cybertron's then leader, Nova Prime, came to rescue them, and that were held back when Prime stayed behind to let them escape, sacrificing himself in the process as the prison was reduced to smoldering rubble. He felt a servo on his arm and saw Elita look up at him in concern, though her gaze became understanding as he forced the memories back.
"An apt comparison from what I'd read of their invasion, but I doubt you're here to discuss history," Sky Lynx drew their attention, "Would I be correct in assuming you're here to rescue me?"
The General began explaining, "In a sense. We got stuck here, then we heard everything from Cosmos. Now we're here to free you guys, and hopefully everyone else trapped here while we're at it."
"And your current plan involves I and my impeccable sense of magnificence and showmanship?" Sky Lynx preened as both of them rolled their optics, though Elita's was better natured.
"Well, what have we here?" the two high-ranking Autobots turned around to see Wheeljack, Prowl, Windblade, Sunstreaker, Hound, and Smokescreen all walking up to them. The Wrecker looked up at Sky Lynx and smirked, "Good to see you haven't changed a bit, Commander Modesty."
"Unfortunately," Prowl droned, eliciting giggles from Sunstreaker, Smokescreen, and Windblade to a lesser extent. Hound shared in the Cyber-Ninja's annoyance, as did Ultra Magnus. Between Wheeljack's recklessness and the combined egos of both Sunstreaker and Sky Lynx, he was certain the ensuing ache they'd cause his processor would be enough to kill him where Quintessons and Decepticons couldn't.
"And it's good to see you too, old chum," Sky Lynx replied, "But where's Cosmos?"
At that, the General shifted to the comms channel, "Cosmos, you there?"
"On my way to the arena now. I'm sneaking through the ventilation systems. I should get there right before the show starts."
"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Windblade asked, "This place is pretty huge. Don't you need a map or something?"
"Nah, I grabbed a map on before I got in," Cosmos answered.
"I'm assuming you're referring to a map of the carnival's interior?" Prowl asked, "That isn't going to help you navigate the-"
"Actually, it will," Smokescreen chimed in, "The maps they give to carnival goers have that too."
"Wait, what?" Wheeljack looked at the rescuees, flabbergasted alongside the rest of the Alpha-5 crew.
"That's because the maps are just the ship's schematics with labels for where the attractions are," Hound explained.
"...I'm sorry, why?" Elita found her voice after a moment's hesitation.
"Probably the same reason why Big Top does everything else he does," Sunstreaker shrugged, "It's cheaper."
Everyone who wasn't a former or current prisoner just stared in bafflement at the sheer stupidity of that design choice. In all his countless Vorns of existence, Ultra Magnus had never once heard of or met someone so idiotic as to broadcast something like that out of sheer laziness and greed. Yet here they were, and it was making him understand how the Coneheads fell into Big Top's employ; they were all on the exact same wavelength of incompetence.
"Ugh, w-what happun last night..." as if on cue, Dirge was slowly beginning to come to, at which point Wheeljack reacted fast and punched his head back into the ground.
"Hey, Windy," Wheeljack hefted the downed seeker to his shoulder, "Help me lock this guy somewhere, would ya?"
"Sure thing," Windblade walked over and hefted Dirge by the opposite shoulder, the two heading off to hide the body.
"Okay, while they're doing that," Elita began as she gathered everyone's attention, specifically looking between the four carnival prisoners, "We'll get to work on the plan," she turned to Smokescreen, "You said that he always announces the circus shows in the arena, yes?"
Smokescreen nodded, "Bingo, and to close them out too. It's also the only time he doesn't have guards surrounding him."
"Perfect," she faced them all again, "In that case, I believe I know how to get the admin switch away from him, but it will require a deterrence, which is where you five come in," she addressed Sunstreaker, Smokescreen, and Hound, "The three of you will hide in the audience with us and jump out when Sky Lynx gives the signal," she then talked directly with Cosmos over the comm link, "Cosmos, make sure you drop in right then, understood?"
"You got it, General Elita!" Cosmos answered back.
"As for the signal itself," she faced Sky Lynx, "It'll have to be when you're finished performing and his guard's down. Think you have one more show in you?"
Sky Lynx scrunched his face in contemplation, "I believe so. And after a long, unappreciated, forced career of entertaining the masses, I think I'd very much like to end it on a high note such as this."
"Same with us," Sunstreaker nodded, her two companions joining in agreement just as Windblade and Wheeljack returned from hiding Dirge's body.
"Take it everyone's ready?" Wheeljack asked, gaining a nod from everyone else.
"However, I should stress that there will be no long ranged weapons or explosives," Elita sternly advised them all, "We'll be surrounded by civilians, so we can't risk doing anything that'd put them in harm's way. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am!" everyone entered a salute as they all stood straight (exception being Sky Lynx and Cosmos, who were respectively incapable of that and not physically present), making the General smile and nod back at them.
"Great, but just in case, we might need a fallback option," she tapped into her comms once more, directly patching them into the Alpha-5, "Fixit, this is Elita-1, do you read?"
"Yup! Read you lou-lou-loud and clear, boss!"
"Good to hear. How's Jetfire doing?"
Fixit hummed, "Let me guess. Emergency backup?"
"Yeah," Elita smiled, "Emergency backup."
Windblade drummed her fingers against her knees as she sat in the stands and awaited the beginning of the show. At the moment, she and the others had on large cloaks (borrowed from the arena's backstage) that covered every inch of their mechanical forms, so as not to let any potential circus security know that there were escapees from Battle Planet among the crowd. Despite reassurances from everyone, Elita especially, the Camien still couldn't shake her nervous anticipation at the upcoming events.
Sure, Elita made sure to keep her in the know regarding every detail of the plan, but it was that final piece that Wheeljack, Sunstreaker, and Smokescreen insisted on hiding that bugged her. The most Windblade knew was that the five carnival Autobots were to be the "big gun", as Wheeljack so eloquently put it; to intimidate Big Top and any potential guards into submission so they could take the admin switch and go. Sounded simple enough, yet she couldn't shake her nerves. She'd never been in situations like this until very recently, and it left her wondering if she'd ever get used to them.
Keep it together. Like it or not, you're gonna have to, Windblade tried her best to still her drumming fingers. Was this what the others felt? This anticipation for something to go right or wrong? She hadn't had time to think about it back on the prison barge, but that was because there wasn't any time at all.
"Ladies and Gentlethings, creatures of all ages!" the giant slug, Mr. Big Top, according to the others, made his way to the massive arena's center ring, voice projected to reach across the entire audience, "I welcome all of you to the crown jewel of the Cosmic Carnival: The Grande Spectacular!" The crowd roared in excitement as he continued, "Now, to get our show started, please look up above, and feast your eyes, optics, or whatever you have on the cage above!" Everyone's gaze shifted upward to just that, the spotlights shining on it as its captive's metal shimmered, "Behold, the pride and joy of my show, I give you all, the magnificent metal master of death-defying, high-altitude acrobatics...SKY LYNX!"
Upon the name being spoken, music played as the bottom of the cage opened up, letting Sky Lynx fall and plummet to the ground. The crowds gasped in shock, and Windblade would admit that, with the speed at which he fell, she did too. But the other Autobots didn't, instead calmly watching the show and following his descent. She was quick to understand why, as right before he hit the ground, he transformed, shifting into a spaceship that zoomed just a single mechanometer above the ground.
"Show off," Hound grumbled, Prowl nodding in agreement as Sky Lynx increased in altitude, flying in dazzling circles over the awed crowd. Even Windblade couldn't help but get swept up in the excitement of the display, watching the Autobot perform all sorts of spins, rolls, and tricks that were especially impressive for his large frame. As he did this, a series of platforms lowered themselves from the ceiling alongside several large hoops. Taking that as his cue, Sky Lynx circled around the stands one final time, lowering himself and slowing down just enough that members of the crowd could graze a servo (or the organic version) against his wings before swiftly approaching the first of the hoops.
With a sudden spin, he launched the cargo pod into the air, where it spun several times as he flew through the first hoop. Then he transformed, his appearance now resembling a wyvern, and as the cargo pod approached the nearest midair platform, it transformed as well, shifting into a large, mechanical feline. Windblade and the audience gasped in astoundment as the two performed side-by-side, separate, yet acting as one whilst respectively leaping across platforms and flying through hoops. Never in her life had she seen a Cybertronian that could separate like this, nor had she ever seen one perform such intricate, complex aerial movements. She knew for a fact that she'd never be able to do such things, nor had she seen any of her friends growing up accomplish anything close, and Aileron had certainly tried.
"Cosmos, you there?" Elita contacted the missing Autobot on the commlink right as the transformed cargo pod leapt off the final platform with a somersault.
"Read you loud and clear!" Cosmos answered, the huge robo-feline performing flips as it plummeted. Just as it neared the ground, Sky Lynx's wyvern half caught it on his back, Big Top throwing several large balls upward, which the two-in-one combo caught with ease.
"It looks like Sky Lynx's part is starting to wrap up," Elita explained as Sky Lynx flew around the crowds again, this time with his cargo carrier juggling the balls with all four legs, back against the wyvern as the speed picked up, "Where are you?"
"I'm in the shafts just above the arena. Waiting for Sky Lynx to give the signal," Cosmos explained just in the nick of time too, as Sky Lynx flew above the center ring, aerial half throwing the cargo pod and balls high into the air. With one final spin, he caught the feline on his underbelly and fully transformed back into his draconic mode before catching the balls, balancing them on the tip of his nose. The music ceased, letting the crowd roar in applause as Windblade found herself standing, joining in the adulation with exuberant claps. Yes, she was aware that, given the seediness and what everyone was going through, it was ill advised to cheer for the show, but she couldn't help it. She'd never gotten to experience something like this before and let it wash over her.
Plus, the show was calming her neural net about the upcoming plan and helped take her processer off what happened on Caminus, if only momentarily, so she'd embrace it for now.
"The magnificent Sky Lynx, everyone!" Big Top declared as the crowd's roars slowed down, "Now, for our next event-"
But before he could continue, Sky Lynx asked, "Excuse me, my good sir, but before we continue, may I say a few words to thank the audience?"
Big Top seemed apprehensive (and annoyed) by the very idea, but he ultimately shrugged, "Sure, but make it snappy."
"He's about to give the signal," Elita reminded, "Get ready, everyone."
"Now, I'm grateful to have such a massive, excited audience for my performances each and every time I come out. If all of you will permit me some ego, I'd like to believe that I am the best part of this show in your most humble opinions, yes?" Sky Lynx's rhetorical question was met with a wave of giggles from the audience. Even amongst the Autobots, Windblade lightly giggled while Wheeljack, Sunstreaker, and Smokescreen were struggling to stifle laughs. "I rest my case," he said confidently, "But despite it all, I'll admit that it can be rather stifling. And I'm certain my fellow performers understand that sentiment rather well." Windblade could see Hound, Sunstreaker, and Smokescreen nod from behind their hoods, all while Big Top started to look rather nervous as Sky Lynx turned to him, "So, Mr. Big Top, I must thank you for this opportunity, not just for my time on stage, but for the chance to finally say, from the bottom of my spark..."
Right on cue, a ventilation cover fell from high above and slammed on Big Top's head, dazing him for a spell as Cosmos flew down. In a spaceship form of his own, he circled around a few times before landing just beside Sky Lynx. The two Autobots stood proud and tall as the Battle Planet trio took that as their cue and jumped into the arena, ditching their cloaks and transforming. They drove to the center ring, much to the bewilderment of the crowd, and as Big Top slowly tried to back away...
"WE QUIT!"
"Everyone, now!" Elita ordered as they all leapt in and transformed, surrounding Big Top as he attempted to escape. Pointing their weapons at him, Windblade heard behind her what sounded like metal uniting with metal. Curiosity getting the better of her, she turned her head while keeping blades pointed at the carnival owner, only for her arms to go slack as she fully faced what was forming.
Sunstreaker and Smokescreen's bodies became powerful legs that attached themselves to Sky Lynx, whose own body morphed into what looked like a massive torso as the shuttle and cargo pod merged completely. Smokescreen and Hound, however, shifted into equally strong arms that connected to the now looming figure. The feline head of Sky Lynx's cargo carrier popped out from the top of the torso, forming a snarling head that looked down on all as the five fully became one.
T-They...they've become a...
"Oh... it. Is. GOOD TO BE BACK!" They stretched and posed, servos in the air as they introduced themself, "Hello Cosmic Carnival! Sky Reign's here to make their grand debut!"
Windblade was silent, the crowd was silent, and Big Top was silent. The only ones moving were Sky Reign and the rest of the Alpha-5. But then...
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Windblade all but squealed from pure joy, having finally processed what she'd just witnessed, "You guys-You all just..." she turned back to the others, servo still pointing at Sky Reign, "They're a Combiner! There's an actual Combiner standing right in front of us!"
"Told ya you were in for a surprise," Wheeljack cheekily said, cannon still aimed at their quarry as he smiled at the excited Windblade.
"Heh! Thank you kindly, little lady! Always pleased to meet a fan," Sky Reign knelt down and offered a finger from their left servo, which Windblade exuberantly shook.
"This is so amazing!" Windblade cheered, looking up to Sky Reign in awe, "I never thought I'd get to meet an actual Combiner!" she gasped, "I have so many questions! When did you first make Contact with the Enigma? What was it like? Are there more Combiners? How often do you form? Are there any side effects to merging or-"
"Windblade!" Elita gently chided, reminding her of their quivering quarry, "Focus now, fangirl later."
Feeling the inner Energon in her face heat up, Windblade aimed her blades at Big Top once more and stuttered, "R-Right, sorry!"
"Yes, please refrain from further inflating the Gestalt's already needlessly inflated sense of self-importance," Prowl drawled, refusing to take his optics or shuriken off the large slug. Windblade was a little shocked at how disinterested (borderline disdainful) Prowl seemed to be about Sky Reign's presence. Shaking her head of that for now, she focused back on Big Top, who was balking like crazy.
"We're giving you this chance," Ultra Magnus glared, a massive war hammer in his servos that crackled with electricity, "Surrender. Release all those you've locked into your service, as well as all ships you've trapped here, and that will be the end of it."
"Interestin' offer," Big Top sneered, slowly sounding more confident as he went along, "Too bad you might've overplayed your hand. NOW!"
A sudden blast struck Sky Reign, making him stumble backward as smoke and dirt rose up, shrapnel flying everywhere. Windblade covered her optics, unable to see anything through the dusty cloud aside from the outlines of Big Top and her friends. Countless stomps, whirring noises, and guns being primes were heard in the background alongside a loud coughing from some of the audience, however, and as soon as the dust settled, they found themselves surrounded by dozens upon dozens of guards and drones from every possible angle. All of them were armed with large cannons, most of their sights aimed at Sky Reign, but plenty aimed at the Alpha-5 team too. As Windblade nervously looked around, her hopes began to dim while Big Top cruelly smirked.
"After I figured out that I had a Combiner, you think I'd be dumb enough not to prepare for this?"
"I mean, if you're dumb enough to turn schematics into maps..." Wheeljack pointed out.
"Bought these beauties from a Decepticon like the Cone boys," Big Top continued, clearly not listening, "Fella by the name of Swindle. They fetched a pretty Shannix, and he almost managed to dupe me a few times with defective ones, but I got the real deal outta him. They'll keep your little Combiner friend occupied. Now for my counteroffer," he sneered at them, "From now on, all of you work for me, and you'll keep workin' for me until you break down and I can sell ya for scrap metal!"
Windblade glared alongside everyone else, servos shaking slightly at the turn of events, before she heard Elita, still in a fighting stance, retort, "Mr. Big Top, you seem like a reasonable enough being," there was a hint of sarcasm in her voice that Big Top, as evident by his preening, didn't hear, "So tell me, is that really what you want?" Elita gestured to their surroundings, from the arena itself to the crowd of innocents, "What you're considering will cause a lot of collateral damage and hurt these people."
"What, you honestly expect me to believe you'll order that combined freak of nature to attack?" Big Top asked, Sky Reign bristling at the insult as they drew a massive saber, but held their position while carnival security started to twitch, "I know you bleedin' heart types. You ain't gonna pull the trigger. Too soft for your own good. And what makes you think I care about my audience anyway?" the question elicited shock from a number of his security forces. Even the crowd clearly heard, as Windblade could hear disbelief and panic ripple across them, "Seems I have all the advantages."
Windblade watched as Elita's optics narrowed in a struggle to find an answer. For the briefest nanoklik, it seemed like she was actually going to pull out her blaster and shoot the slug in his slimy, conniving face. Instead, she closed her optics, sighed, and just as quickly opened them, calming herself in reminder of their current predicament. The Camien wondered what else ran through her processor, but she wouldn't be allowed to dwell on that for too long as Elita stared their enemy in the face and, with a tranquil glare, spoke.
"Seems that way, except for one thing: you'll damage your profits in doing so," Elita's response was met with surprise from Big Top, followed by contemplation as she continued, "The dead can't pay you, and the injured can, and will, ensure that no one comes here again. That's your best outcome, while your worst is physical retribution from them, and since everyone's already trapped here, you have nowhere to run." Elita kept her gauntlets on, but now stood in a more placating manner, "Neither of us want a fight to start, both for our own reasons. So please, stand down before we all regret it."
Big Top continued to think about it. For a few nanokliks, it even seemed like he was considering Elita's proposal...
But then his smirk returned, "Eh, ma and pa always had a sayin': 'A sucker born every second.' I can always get a new audience," he sneered, "Open fire!"
Elita gritted her teeth and retook her fighting stance, everyone else ready to move as the crowd started screaming. The drones began charging up their blasters while the guards' fingers nervously twitched on their cannon triggers, unsure whether or not to fire. Then a blast rang through the air that made impact far above as metal screeched and tore. Everyone looked up just in time to see Sky Lynx's open cage plummet to the ground, Big Top only being able to panic and cry as it landed right on him.
His tentacle didn't retract in time, however, and was quickly severed and sent flying into the air. Wheeljack was the first to react, leaping high enough to catch it as he started tinkering, shutting down the drones before they could fire. One by one, they started short-circuiting and shutting down, leaving everyone, from guards to audience to Autobot, a combination of relieved and confused.
"Sorry we're late. Hit a little traffic," a familiar, accented voice called from a distance. They all turned, crowd of guards parting to reveal-
"Jetfire!" Windblade gasped, wings extending from her back as rotors spun, sending her flying forwards. The instant she reached her fully repaired friend, she enveloped him in the biggest, strongest hug she could muster, "You're back!"
He patted her back and returned the hug, "Good to see you too, Windblade."
"Hey, what am I? Cho-Cho-Chopped kibble?" Fixit asked in amusement as he jumped down from Jetfire's shoulder. Windblade released the large Autobot and hugged the Mini-Con, who gladly returned the gesture. After several moments, she released him and they returned to the rest of the Alpha-5, the security forces allowing them to walk by. From lingering confusion or fear, Windblade wasn't sure.
"Sky Reign," Jetfire greeted with a nod.
"Commander Jets," the Combiner greeted back with a nod of their own.
"Hehehe, o-okay, soooo..." Big Top squirmed in his cage, suddenly looking rather small, "I-I know I said some things, but-" he was cut off by a barrage of glares from everyone. The only exception was Wheeljack, who was still messing with the watch as a holo-screen displayed over it, all while the captured carnival owner tried again, "But I think we can still work out a deal that benefits all of us."
"Oof. Tough luck, but to quote a miserable old slug, it looks like we have all the advantages," Sky Reign haughtily said.
"I-I'm still your boss! You have to do as I say! Now let me out of-"
"Wheeljack, have you figured it out yet?" Elita asked, cutting off Big Top again.
"Almost, aaaaand DONE!" Wheeljack smirked as the holo-screen flashed a few times and displayed something Windblade couldn't see from her current angle.
"What did you do?" she walked over to get a better look, seeing the screen flash "ALL DATA ERASED."
"I just deleted every single contract ol' Toppy here had," Wheeljack answered proudly, much to Big Top's horror. All the security forces looked between each other before, one after the other, they dropped or threw away their weapons, leashes having effectively been severed.
"Y-You didn't-"
"And also..." the Wrecker tapped a few keys on the holo-screen again until it read, "DEACTIVATED. ALL CLAMPS UNLOCKED." and smirked at the slug, "I just shut down all the bombs on every single ship here, including the ones you were selling."
"This is why having everything accessible from such a small, easily stealable device is utterly moronic," Ultra Magnus said in a matter-of-fact tone, sounding almost disappointed by the sheer stupidity of the decision. The knowledge that they could now leave caused the pace at which the workers were already leaving to increase immensely. Big Top could do nothing but squirm and shrink as he was left to his fate.
"If nothing else, it certainly makes things easier for us," Prowl shrugged while Wheeljack finished doing a few more things on the admin device.
"Hey Sky Reign!" Wheeljack threw the watch into the air, "Want to do the honors?"
"Gladly!" Sky Reign easily caught the device and squeezed hard, opening to reveal nothing but dust and small splinters of glass that fell to the ground. Upon clapping their servos of what little remained, a lighter series of claps could be heard from part of the audience. All members of the Alpha-5 team watched as it slowly evolved into a chorus, everyone in the audience clapping and cheering for them. Sky Reign was the first to recover from the sudden shift in mood, basking in the adulation as they bowed, "Thank you, Cosmic Carnival! Thank you and goodnight!"
"Ugh, why?" Prowl grumbled, still annoyed by the Combiner's antics. Ultra Magnus shared in it, judging by how he pinched the bridge of his nose. Windblade couldn't help but giggle at them, though. She wasn't alone on that front either, if the laughs from the rest of her teammates was any indication.
"Officer, you really need to lighten up," Wheeljack nudged Prowl's shoulder before stepping up and facing the audience with a bow of his own, "Thank you and goodnight, everyone!"
Elita stepped up with a playful smile, much to Magnus' bewilderment, "General?"
"Can't be all scowls and business all the time, Magnus. Just have a little fun," Elita said, turning to the crowd and giving a flourishing bow. Jetfire soon followed, standing beside her and giving a bow and thanks of his own. Fixit and Windblade weren't too far behind, bowing in kind. After that, even Prowl and Ultra Magnus finally joined in, though they were incredibly stiff when it came to bowing. But as they all stood tall, side by side with Sky Reign just behind them, Windblade swore she saw small, if awkward smiles on the both of them.
Unable to help her grin, she and the others all bowed to the audience one last time before making their exit, a certain pep in her step from all the excitement.
Jetfire couldn't help but muse over the blur of events that had happened since he recovered. While Fixit was getting him up to speed on where they were and what was going on, the sudden call from General Elita-1 sprung him into action. Took a bit of flying around to figure out where to go, but he and Fixit got pointed in the right direction by a kind organic named Garnak after saving him from some rather violent security, mostly comprised of mechanical life forms that kept calling their victim "braindead organic scum" among other things. While glad to save him, Jetfire did have to wince when he first laid optics on the scene, as it was a little too reminiscent of times where, before the war, he'd stumble upon his fellow movement members getting beaten in the streets of lower Iacon for protesting the system. And that was before his mind went further ahead to during the war in cities under the Decepticon banner, where the same thing happened, only now it was them delivering such brutality to any who protested against their system.
He could see in Fixit's optics that it gave the Mini-Con unpleasant memories too, and the way he scratched at his throat made it clear what memories those were.
Thankfully, everything after rescuing his teammates from the arena helped pick his mood up. He smiled while watching Windblade gush over how incredible it was to witness a Combiner, the Camien asking the five newly released Carnival Autobots several questions at light speed. Jetfire couldn't help but chuckle alongside Smokescreen at how Hound shook his head, mostly thanks to Sunstreaker and Sky Lynx, lovable narcissists that they were, answering all her questions with the expected level of embellishment involved about both Sky Reign's and their own accomplishments. The whole thing reminded him a lot of the aftermath of Superion's first formation, where five of his Aerialbots (Silverbolt, Air Raid, Fireflight, Skydive, and Slingshot) were bombarded with questions from scientists and the top brass about the experience. Though Windblade's genuine enthusiasm lacing her curiosity was a lot more endearing than the rigid, analytic data gathering from back then.
While that was going on, Cosmos got his cows (Jetfire thought they were rather ugly looking, being honest) out of their enclosure before everyone else shoved the defiant Big Top inside. By the time they left, a crowd was already gathering to take pictures of the petulant, sleazy con artist. And that led to here, with all the Autobots at the docking bay, members of the Alpha-5 at the bottom of the ship's ramp and facing the five Carnival Bots.
"Are you sure the five of you don't want to tag along?" Elita asked, "There's plenty of room, and with where we're headed, any helping servo's always welcome."
Jetfire could tell Cosmos was smiling behind his mask, "Thanks, but I don't think I'm ready to rejoin the fight just yet. Something tells me I'll have to at some point, but until then..." he went quiet for a few brief moments, shaking his head, "Besides, I kinda gotta look after my cows now. Doubt I can return them to the owners since they're not even the same ones."
Jetfire nodded alongside Elita, Windblade, Fixit, and Wheeljack. Prowl said nothing, though he did cross his arms like the aloof Cyber-Ninja he tended to be, and Ultra Magnus looked rather conflicted. The Aerialbot Commander supposed he understood why, given Ultra Magnus' war-focused, all servos on deck mentality that dictated many of his actions. Far as he knew, the old bot had always been a soldier and knew nothing else. But despite that, the former Supreme Commander relented and gave Cosmos a stiff, if honest nod, "We understand, sol...Cosmos."
Based on his posture, Cosmos smiled even brighter as he gave Ultra Magnus a salute, who returned the gesture. Sunstreaker then grabbed him and Smokescreen, one arm draped over each of their shoulders, as she said, "And as much as I hate this slag forsaken dump of a vacation spot, I hate breaking up a set even more. I'll be sticking with these guys." She let go of their shoulders and rubbed the back of her head, "Besides, with Big Top locked up, someone's gotta clean up this whole mess. We'll handle that while you do your own thing."
Understandable, and frankly, I'd probably do the same thing, Jetfire recalled how, after Big Top's capture, so many of his workers started leaving that all the ships he'd been selling back got taken pretty quickly, leaving the rest stuck here. They'd had to fend off a few eager thieves from stealing the Alpha-5, with Sky Reign forming again to tell them it was off-limits. Though even then, Jetfire couldn't exactly blame them, desperate as they were to leave.
To top it off, word spread of the arena incident and now so many of the carnival's previous guests were leaving in droves, adding to the current chaos. Between them, those still stuck here, and those who'd been trapped for too long and weren't sure how to leave, it was a mess, to put it mildly.
"I wish we could stay to help, but..." Windblade went quiet, obviously recalling her home. Jetfire placed a hand to her shoulder, placating the young bot.
Meanwhile, Hound sighed, "Honestly, much as I would like to tag along with you guys," he gestured to Sunstreaker and Sky Lynx, "Someone's gotta keep these two in check. And it sure as the Pit won't be Smokescreen."
"Don't pretend it ain't part of our charm," Sunstreaker wrapped an arm around Hound's shoulder, eliciting a chuckle from Smokescreen.
"She's right, it is."
Hound facepalmed as Sunstreaker released him, "Primus, I've got my work cut out for me with all three of you."
"Eh, it's honestly Sky Lynx you gotta worry about," Smokescreen pounded a fist against the giant Primitive's chassis.
"What can I say?" Sky Lynx preened, "Bots of my standard are quite high maintenance, and I do mean that both figuratively and literally."
"Gee, hadn't noticed," Prowl droned with a roll of his optics.
"Hey guys!" Garnak's voice rang out from far behind them, everyone turning to see the large reptilian run up, "The other Battle Planet fighters are throwing a party to celebrate Big Top going down! Wanna join?"
"HA! As if a party can truly begin without me," Sky Lynx was the first to turn and join Garnak, but not before bidding the Alpha-5 one final farewell and a good luck.
"Sure, I'll join. Sounds like a blast," Smokescreen started after them before turning back to them, "You comin' or what?"
"In a nanoklik!" Sunstreaker replied while Hound shrugged.
"Eh, I-I don't know," Cosmos pressed his fingers together, "Never been the partying type."
Smokescreen playfully smirked and walked away, "That's fine. I'll just go make sure Garnak doesn't accidentally cook up one of your cows at the party thinking they're food. Anyway, good luck and goodbye, everyone!"
Cosmos gasped and started running after him, "Nononononono! Wait for me!"
As he left, everyone couldn't help but chuckle, with Sunstreaker and Wheeljack letting out loud guffaws. The former finally managed to calm down and wipe away at her optic, "Classic Smokescreen." Sunstreaker stretched and followed after in a relaxed walk, "I gotta go. Can't let them have all the fun."
"And I'm gonna make sure you don't do something stupid," Hound said, now in lockstep with Sunstreaker as he waved goodbye to the Alpha-5. Jetfire watched Elita smile, and smiled in kind as they started making their way aboard the ship together.
"Yo, kid!"
"Hmm?" Windblade stopped, prompting Jetfire and Elita to do the same as the rest continued into the ship. They turned and saw Sunstreaker facing them, servos rested behind her head while a relaxed, yet reassuring smile remained affixed to her face. Hound stood alongside her with the same expression.
"Don't worry too much about Caminus. Not a whole lot you can do about that right now, so dwelling on it won't help," she said, tilting her head ever so slightly, "Besides, knowing the bots you're with, I'd say you're all in good servos," she gave the three of them a thumbs up, "Now go kick some Con tailpipe!"
At the encouragement, Windblade's own face dawned a warm smile as she returned the gesture. With a warmth in all their Sparks, the three entered the Alpha-5 and headed for the ship's main bridge, where Ultra Magnus awaited with Fixit, Prowl, and Wheeljack. Everyone now aboard, Elita activated the ship's engines and took off, leaving the Cosmic Carnival, and their Autobot friends, behind to their own devices.
Once they were back on track towards the nearest Space Bridge, Ultra Magnus stood up alongside Prowl, the two leaving to decipher the Decepticon data drives they pilfered from Dirge and Ramjet. Wheeljack, meanwhile, said he wanted to make some modifications to his personal ship, the Jackhammer, and left for the Alpha-5's docking bay. This left Elita, Jetfire, Windblade, and Fixit on the ship's bridge as they flew onwards.
"Hey, Elita?" Windblade's voice cut through the silence as everyone turned to her, "Can we talk now?"
"Sure," Elita said, though Jetfire could hear a lot of trepidation in her tone. She looked to him and asked, "Think you and Fixit could give us some room to talk? We're gonna need it."
Jetfire didn't like the sound of that, and looking between the two, the topic seemed like a heavy one. Still, he respected their wishes and stood up, nodding as he and Fixit headed out. "Come on," Fixit took point once they were in the hallways, "Better do one final check-up-up-up just in ca-ca-case."
"Sounds good," Jetfire nodded, but not before looking back at the bridge entrance in worry. Part of him wanted to go back and see what this was about, but he decided against it. Trusting Elita's judgement, he sighed and continued after Fixit to the medical bay.
Whatever it was they were discussing, he was sure things would be alright in the end.
Admittedly less carnival thrill ride and more introspection from the characters, but I like how this chapter came out overall. Anyway, on to some explanations because this chapter had SO MUCH MORE worldbuilding than I was planning.
For that bit that Cosmos was explaining, as you can probably guess, he's kinda sorta responsible for the "Crop Circle" phenomenon. And he's also responsible for inspiring/codifying the archetypical appearance of the UFO/Flying Saucer on Earth.
To clarify, Sunstreaker in this series is a trans woman, with the idea being based off the Transformers Animated Allspark Almanac, where she was female. According to there, it was a result of time travel that led to alterations in the timeline, but here it's more simplified in that she transitioned at some point in the past. And yes, she did drop a reference to Borderlands' Tiny Tina from the Assault on Dragon Keep DLC trailer, which I found hilarious. To complete the reference, picture her as being voiced by Ashly Burch here, though with a voice more leaning towards her role as Chloe Price from the Life is Strange series.
Sorry for fans of Transformers Prime's Smokescreen. I like the guy too, but I opted to go more with the classical version, who's more of the snarky, charismatic, but heroic trickster. He does still share the same voice as the Prime version though. Part of that was because I felt he'd fit better with the Combiner team as a result, but also because Prime's Smokescreen is a bit too similar to Hot Rod, whom I kinda already have plans for. Not for this fic, but for later down the road.
Garnak is a character from the IDW 1 continuity of Transformers comics who ended up joining the Autobots. Far as his voice goes, I was picturing Bill Fagerbakke (the voice of Patrick Star) while writing his dialogue, so I recommend picturing that. I would have had a joke from Wheeljack about how he sounds similar to Bulkhead since Fagerbakke voiced the character in Transformers Animated, but then I realized that it made no sense seeing as Bulkhead is mainly based off his Prime version in voice and backstory as a Wrecker, so I left that out.
Got our first sneak peak of Whirl, the Autobot's resident one-eyed agent of chaos. To give an idea, here's how it works: You know how violent, loud, and over-the-top Wheeljack is here since he's based off his Transformers Prime version? Well, Wheeljack's the Ultra Magnus to Whirl's Wheeljack.
Let that sink in.
And we got the debut of our first Combiner/Gestalt in this fic: Sky Reign! They're also the cockiest, most showboating of the Combiners, which can be attributed to two of their components (Sky Lynx and Sunstreaker) alongside the fact that I was channeling a lot of Sardonyx (Steven Universe) energy when writing them. Their components are a combination of the IDW 1 continuity and the Combiner Wars toyline, with Hound as the left arm, Cosmos as the right arm, Sunstreaker as the left leg, Smokescreen as the right leg, and Sky Lynx as the head/torso. And yes, I'm writing them as enby/non-binary.
Windblade geeking out over getting to see a result of the Enigma of Combination was fun. I like showing the cheerful sides of characters like that, and it was one of the things I was most looking forward to when planning this chapter out with the Betas.
On the subject of Windblade, I had her take a backseat mostly before the Combiner moment in the penultimate section since we've gotten a lot of focus from her in the past two chapters. So, everyone else gets a spotlight here and we get a look into their mindsets and pasts from both before and during the Great War. Favorite would have to be both Elita's and Prowl's differing perspectives on Megatron and the Decepticons, as well as what shaped those perspectives.
Got our first look into Ultra Magnus' head too. Bot's been around for a long time, so he's got a lot of stories to tell, such as his time in the Quintesson War (also known historically in this universe and in the Aligned continuity as "The Age of Wrath"). And yes, his former position in the Autobots is an element taken from Transformers Animated.
Also got to mention Bumblebee/B-127 in this fic, and I even brought up Kick-Off. He's an Action Master, and as such, can't transform. The reason why here is...uh...not pretty.
And hey, we got Barricade mentioned before he makes his official debut in More Than Meets the Spy. Even back before the events of the war, he was quite the crooked jackass. Him having been Prowl's former partner in Security Operations is an aspect taken from the 2019 IDW continuity.
Any who, next time should hopefully be a much smaller chapter where we're focusing back on Windblade and her reaction to learning about the history of the Thirteen Primes that Caminus never knew. Poor girl's gonna be in for it.
Hope to see you all again later and take care!