Fic: Smoke and Mirrors, Secrets and Lies 13/?
TITLE: Smoke and Mirrors, Secrets and Lies, part 13
SERIES: Imperfection Deviation
AUTHOR: Macx
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me, sadly. They are owned by people with a lot more money :)
FEEDBACK: Loved
WHO TO BLAME: Sapphire! It only took one weekend to work this out, two weeks later the story was written out as a rough draft. Darn bunnies!
Bella found her father in what could only be called a small, private sitting area. There was a TV running, but the sound had been switched off. No one else was around.
“Hey,” he greeted her.
She steeled herself and asked, “When were you going to tell me that you’re bonded to a mechanoid life form?”
Part of her was pleased when he stared at her like a fish out of water. His mouth opened, then snapped shut again. He finally closed his eyes and sighed.
“Who told you?”
“Arcee said something. I asked her. She answered. She didn’t think you had kept that tidbit from me.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “So you and Ironhide are what? Married? Engaged?”
“No!” he protested, looking aghast.
“Then what’s this bond? It sounds like some role playing game special to me! And I know RPGs. I play!”
Another sigh. “Sit, please.”
She sat down.
“I didn’t want to swamp you with even more stuff,” he said, expression serious and apologetic in one.
“Okay.”
“Ironhide and I share almost twenty years of service together. I was the commanding officer of the team, then this base, and he was a good friend back then already. He’s a warrior and he relates to warriors. When this happened…” he gestured at the runes, “he supported me as a friend. That he could also support me in more than physical training and acceptance of my new self came later.”
“You have sex?” she asked, straight-forward.
Will stared at her, apparently shocked by her open questions. “What?!”
“It’s a simple question. I wouldn’t know how and it seems ludicrous, but a lot has already. And you can change into this… protoform…”
“Gawd,” he groaned and hung his head.
“You didn’t tell me!” she said accusatorily.
“No, I didn’t,” he sighed.
“Why?”
“Because some of it is intensely personal and I didn’t want to freak you out more than you already are.”
Bella looked at him, face unreadable.
“And no, we don’t have sex. We share something. It’s personal. We… bond.”
“And that translates into…?”
“Not sex.”
Bella gave a frustrated groan. “Listen, I don’t care if you had a girlfriend or boyfriend! I think I’m too much of a new-generation girl to object to her dead father being bi or gay. I just can’t think of you and a mechanical life form from outer space!”
“We don’t have sex, Bella. We’re not sleeping together.” Will leaned forward. “It doesn’t work like that. They don’t have that concept. There are no male and female roles, no babies. They don’t… do it.”
“But you and Ironhide bond.”
“Think of it as an energy transfer.”
She frowned. “That sounds… painful. And weird.”
He smiled a little. “It’s not painful.”
Since Will didn’t elaborate, Bella added her own thoughts to it. It had to be good. Well, probably as good as sex. Gawd, her brain was going into the gutter. She couldn’t fathom that relationship, but she couldn’t understand what her father had become either.
“Bella?” Will asked carefully. “Are you okay with this?”
“It’s your life, Dad. I’ve just gotten back into it. I’m not someone to judge you.”
“It’s still something very big.”
“Twenty feet tall and toting more weaponry than a small country?”
Will smiled. He reached out hesitantly, then clasped her hand. “I want you back in my life. You’re my kid. And I know this is a lot. I just don’t want you…scared or freaked or… disgusted.”
Bella shook her head. “I’m more freaked by the giant alien robots and the runes than the other stuff. It’s not like you have sex, right?” She winked.
Will rolled his eyes.
“And like I said, I’m a child of the internet. And RPGs. You have no idea what’s going on in there!”
He smiled a little more. “I probably don’t want to. But that’s fantasy. This is reality.”
“I can handle it. Give me a while to get to know him. It’s not like he’s my step-mother or something.”
He grimaced.
“And he has to get used to me, too.”
Will chuckled. “Yeah, probably. We’re good?”
“Sure. You going to introduce me to him? I mean properly?”
Will shrugged. “No problem, but he’s currently in the weapons’ lab. Ironhide’s in love with guns.”
Bella grinned. “Okay. Then how about a lunch date for now?”
Will rose. “I’m all for it.”
They left for the mess hall.
* * *
As always, time was relative for Sam when he was deep-scanning. What wasn’t relative was his reaction afterwards. He felt his head pulse with a coming headache. Even after so many years, the result of a deep-scan was always the same. Always.
Someone carefully touched him and he leaned into the familiar hand, taking deep breaths.
::I’m fine, Bee:: he told his partner. ::Just the usual stuff. No harm done by Drift::
Opening his eyes he found himself watched by the Decepticon’s red optics. Drift knew what he had seen and he knew what Sam would have to tell the Primes. It scared Drift and there was nothing Sam could do to alleviate that fear. He might be a Prime, but Optimus was seen as the senior leader. Drift saw him as the final judge.
Raoul was next to his friend, frowning with confusion. One hand rested on the thigh armor of the seated mech. Sam wondered if the mechanic was aware of that he was doing, how similar he and Drift were to Sam and Bumblebee from twenty years ago.
“I’m okay, Raoul,” the Ford said, smiling briefly. “Sam?”
“Okay,” the technopath answered. “Only a headache. Happens every time.”
“Sucks,” Raoul muttered.
Sam chuckled. “You have no idea.”
“So he’s in the clear now? You checked him out?”
Sam took a powerbar offered by Bumblebee and gave him a grateful smile before answering the question. “I know enough to understand his position and that he truly wants to be neutral.”
Drift gazed at him as if he was waiting for more. But Sam didn’t say more. This was between him and Drift. It was something only to be shared among the Primes.
“And the others will see it your way?” Raoul challenged.
“Optimus already does. He simply wanted a confirmation.”
“Which you can give him? We can leave and go back to LA?”
Sam nodded.
“Finally!” Raoul threw up his hands. “I told you from the start that he’s a good guy! But would you believe me? No! You’re worse than…”
Drift hummed, stopping the rant mid-sentence. Amusement shone in the red optics. “Raoul, it’s all right. I think I don’t need a lawyer any more.”
The young man snorted.
Sam smiled. “There’s going to be some more stuff to clear, but I think you can go home soon. If you want. You could also stay at the base, get an update on matters.” The last was addressed to Drift.
The mech shook his head. “No. Like I said, I’m neutral. I don’t want to get involved in your matters.”
“Okay. No problem.”
“But I think we should get some rest before driving back to LA.”
“It’s only a few hours,” Raoul muttered.
“One night won’t make a difference.”
The mechanic shrugged.
Sam left them, smiling at the very obvious friendship between them. Bumblebee radiated amusement.
“A boy and his car,” he teased.
The technopath laughed. “Right! The possibilities are endless.”
“Scary.”
“Oh yeah.”
* * *
Optimus listened to Sam’s detailed report on Drift, on what he had seen of the past, motivations, hopes and dreams. To make it easier for the two Cybertronian Primes, Sam had simply dumped the information on them through a technopathic link. Will had opted out of this meeting, which was his right, to be with his daughter. He would catch up on matters the usual way and Sam knew Optimus had already sent the private message with the appropriate attachments. Sam didn’t see Will as someone to object to Drift’s neutral status.
“I knew Megatron had hired several Decepticons to off-line me,” Optimus said. “There were those from his most trusted circle as well as freelance operators. I think Ironhide has very detailed reports on that.”
“And Drift was one of those.”
“He paid for defying Megatron’s commands,” Sam said. “In a way he worked for you guys. He helped spoil attempts and he botched up his own missions until it became too obvious. He has too much respect for a Prime to kill one in cold blood. He would have no reservations should his life be threatened by you, but he won’t ever make the first move.”
“For someone who’s a Decepticon warrior and trained killer, he makes strange choices,” Rodimus remarked. “He’ll kill everyone but the Prime?”
“Yes.”
“If Neutrals had been given the freedom to remain neutral, he might never have joined Megatron. So he had to make a choice, and he made the wrong one,” Optimus said, voice thoughtful, soft, almost guilty. “We are guilty of the same deeds, Rodimus. We asked Neutrals to join the Autobots. Medics, for example. They never had a faction until the war. They wanted to remain between the lines, offer assistance to both sides, but they couldn’t stay that way. Autobots and Decepticons saw to that. We are to blame just like the Decepticons.”
Like so many things, it weighed on the senior Prime. Rodimus shot him an understanding look and Sam was quite aware of the hum between them, a connection shared by equals. Since he wasn’t mechanoid in origin, that connection eluded him and Will and Tony, but they each had their own way to connect. He didn’t intrude into that second-long moment.
“Even if I didn’t owe him my life several times over,” Optimus finally spoke up, “I accept his designation as Neutral. More might find this planet as the years pass on and more might be tired of fighting and choosing sides.”
Sam nodded. “He loves Earth. I could feel it. It wasn’t pretense. In a way he feels like Scavenger or Mixmaster when I first touched them. They wanted to stay here, wanted to remain among us, even if they could never openly show themselves. Drift respects Raoul. He taught him, he tutored him, he opened up to a degree. He wouldn’t sell out a friend to anyone and he’s fiercely protective.”
“It’s decided then,” Rodimus said. “He’ll go back to LA, a Neutral.”
The other two nodded their agreement. Sam met the ancient blue optics of Optimus and smiled.
::Thank you, Sam::
::My pleasure.::
And it had been and still was.
Rodimus waited until he was alone with his co-leader, then felt along the link to Optimus. He sensed the guilt washing over the older Prime and he mentally shook his head. How had Optimus remained sane under all these emotions, this guilt, this weight?
Ancient blue optics met his.
No Prime was meant to lead alone.
“It’s not your fault, Op,” Rodimus said calmly. “You didn’t start the war.”
“No.”
“And the Neutrals would have been killed by Megatron.”
“He killed enough.”
“Ratchet and many others voluntarily joined the Autobots.”
Optimus gave a soft whirr, shaking his head. “None of them ever should have been forced to make a choice.”
Rodimus walked up to the taller mech and looked into the pained optics. “Not your fault. Not your guilt to carry.”
The connection hummed between them and the younger Prime felt something lift from the other’s spark.
“We have a chance now and then, to make up for the horrors of this war,” Rodimus went on. “Drift was a Decepticon and he wants to be a Neutral. Whatever his past, I think we should give him that chance.”
Optimus nodded. “How many more?” he asked, almost to himself.
“We’ll find out.” Rodimus smiled a little. “One by one.”
Optimus was silent for a while, then sent a silent ‘thank you’. Rodimus winked, then turned and walked away.
No, Primes weren’t meant to be alone. He would make damn sure that Optimus wouldn’t fall back into old patterns of trying to shoulder things alone. They were co-leaders. They had three trusted friends who would share this responsibility with them.
::Not alone:: he sent, startling the older Prime.
He got a silent wave of amusement and a confirmation.
Not alone.
tbc...
SERIES: Imperfection Deviation
AUTHOR: Macx
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me, sadly. They are owned by people with a lot more money :)
FEEDBACK: Loved
WHO TO BLAME: Sapphire! It only took one weekend to work this out, two weeks later the story was written out as a rough draft. Darn bunnies!
Bella found her father in what could only be called a small, private sitting area. There was a TV running, but the sound had been switched off. No one else was around.
“Hey,” he greeted her.
She steeled herself and asked, “When were you going to tell me that you’re bonded to a mechanoid life form?”
Part of her was pleased when he stared at her like a fish out of water. His mouth opened, then snapped shut again. He finally closed his eyes and sighed.
“Who told you?”
“Arcee said something. I asked her. She answered. She didn’t think you had kept that tidbit from me.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “So you and Ironhide are what? Married? Engaged?”
“No!” he protested, looking aghast.
“Then what’s this bond? It sounds like some role playing game special to me! And I know RPGs. I play!”
Another sigh. “Sit, please.”
She sat down.
“I didn’t want to swamp you with even more stuff,” he said, expression serious and apologetic in one.
“Okay.”
“Ironhide and I share almost twenty years of service together. I was the commanding officer of the team, then this base, and he was a good friend back then already. He’s a warrior and he relates to warriors. When this happened…” he gestured at the runes, “he supported me as a friend. That he could also support me in more than physical training and acceptance of my new self came later.”
“You have sex?” she asked, straight-forward.
Will stared at her, apparently shocked by her open questions. “What?!”
“It’s a simple question. I wouldn’t know how and it seems ludicrous, but a lot has already. And you can change into this… protoform…”
“Gawd,” he groaned and hung his head.
“You didn’t tell me!” she said accusatorily.
“No, I didn’t,” he sighed.
“Why?”
“Because some of it is intensely personal and I didn’t want to freak you out more than you already are.”
Bella looked at him, face unreadable.
“And no, we don’t have sex. We share something. It’s personal. We… bond.”
“And that translates into…?”
“Not sex.”
Bella gave a frustrated groan. “Listen, I don’t care if you had a girlfriend or boyfriend! I think I’m too much of a new-generation girl to object to her dead father being bi or gay. I just can’t think of you and a mechanical life form from outer space!”
“We don’t have sex, Bella. We’re not sleeping together.” Will leaned forward. “It doesn’t work like that. They don’t have that concept. There are no male and female roles, no babies. They don’t… do it.”
“But you and Ironhide bond.”
“Think of it as an energy transfer.”
She frowned. “That sounds… painful. And weird.”
He smiled a little. “It’s not painful.”
Since Will didn’t elaborate, Bella added her own thoughts to it. It had to be good. Well, probably as good as sex. Gawd, her brain was going into the gutter. She couldn’t fathom that relationship, but she couldn’t understand what her father had become either.
“Bella?” Will asked carefully. “Are you okay with this?”
“It’s your life, Dad. I’ve just gotten back into it. I’m not someone to judge you.”
“It’s still something very big.”
“Twenty feet tall and toting more weaponry than a small country?”
Will smiled. He reached out hesitantly, then clasped her hand. “I want you back in my life. You’re my kid. And I know this is a lot. I just don’t want you…scared or freaked or… disgusted.”
Bella shook her head. “I’m more freaked by the giant alien robots and the runes than the other stuff. It’s not like you have sex, right?” She winked.
Will rolled his eyes.
“And like I said, I’m a child of the internet. And RPGs. You have no idea what’s going on in there!”
He smiled a little more. “I probably don’t want to. But that’s fantasy. This is reality.”
“I can handle it. Give me a while to get to know him. It’s not like he’s my step-mother or something.”
He grimaced.
“And he has to get used to me, too.”
Will chuckled. “Yeah, probably. We’re good?”
“Sure. You going to introduce me to him? I mean properly?”
Will shrugged. “No problem, but he’s currently in the weapons’ lab. Ironhide’s in love with guns.”
Bella grinned. “Okay. Then how about a lunch date for now?”
Will rose. “I’m all for it.”
They left for the mess hall.
* * *
As always, time was relative for Sam when he was deep-scanning. What wasn’t relative was his reaction afterwards. He felt his head pulse with a coming headache. Even after so many years, the result of a deep-scan was always the same. Always.
Someone carefully touched him and he leaned into the familiar hand, taking deep breaths.
::I’m fine, Bee:: he told his partner. ::Just the usual stuff. No harm done by Drift::
Opening his eyes he found himself watched by the Decepticon’s red optics. Drift knew what he had seen and he knew what Sam would have to tell the Primes. It scared Drift and there was nothing Sam could do to alleviate that fear. He might be a Prime, but Optimus was seen as the senior leader. Drift saw him as the final judge.
Raoul was next to his friend, frowning with confusion. One hand rested on the thigh armor of the seated mech. Sam wondered if the mechanic was aware of that he was doing, how similar he and Drift were to Sam and Bumblebee from twenty years ago.
“I’m okay, Raoul,” the Ford said, smiling briefly. “Sam?”
“Okay,” the technopath answered. “Only a headache. Happens every time.”
“Sucks,” Raoul muttered.
Sam chuckled. “You have no idea.”
“So he’s in the clear now? You checked him out?”
Sam took a powerbar offered by Bumblebee and gave him a grateful smile before answering the question. “I know enough to understand his position and that he truly wants to be neutral.”
Drift gazed at him as if he was waiting for more. But Sam didn’t say more. This was between him and Drift. It was something only to be shared among the Primes.
“And the others will see it your way?” Raoul challenged.
“Optimus already does. He simply wanted a confirmation.”
“Which you can give him? We can leave and go back to LA?”
Sam nodded.
“Finally!” Raoul threw up his hands. “I told you from the start that he’s a good guy! But would you believe me? No! You’re worse than…”
Drift hummed, stopping the rant mid-sentence. Amusement shone in the red optics. “Raoul, it’s all right. I think I don’t need a lawyer any more.”
The young man snorted.
Sam smiled. “There’s going to be some more stuff to clear, but I think you can go home soon. If you want. You could also stay at the base, get an update on matters.” The last was addressed to Drift.
The mech shook his head. “No. Like I said, I’m neutral. I don’t want to get involved in your matters.”
“Okay. No problem.”
“But I think we should get some rest before driving back to LA.”
“It’s only a few hours,” Raoul muttered.
“One night won’t make a difference.”
The mechanic shrugged.
Sam left them, smiling at the very obvious friendship between them. Bumblebee radiated amusement.
“A boy and his car,” he teased.
The technopath laughed. “Right! The possibilities are endless.”
“Scary.”
“Oh yeah.”
* * *
Optimus listened to Sam’s detailed report on Drift, on what he had seen of the past, motivations, hopes and dreams. To make it easier for the two Cybertronian Primes, Sam had simply dumped the information on them through a technopathic link. Will had opted out of this meeting, which was his right, to be with his daughter. He would catch up on matters the usual way and Sam knew Optimus had already sent the private message with the appropriate attachments. Sam didn’t see Will as someone to object to Drift’s neutral status.
“I knew Megatron had hired several Decepticons to off-line me,” Optimus said. “There were those from his most trusted circle as well as freelance operators. I think Ironhide has very detailed reports on that.”
“And Drift was one of those.”
“He paid for defying Megatron’s commands,” Sam said. “In a way he worked for you guys. He helped spoil attempts and he botched up his own missions until it became too obvious. He has too much respect for a Prime to kill one in cold blood. He would have no reservations should his life be threatened by you, but he won’t ever make the first move.”
“For someone who’s a Decepticon warrior and trained killer, he makes strange choices,” Rodimus remarked. “He’ll kill everyone but the Prime?”
“Yes.”
“If Neutrals had been given the freedom to remain neutral, he might never have joined Megatron. So he had to make a choice, and he made the wrong one,” Optimus said, voice thoughtful, soft, almost guilty. “We are guilty of the same deeds, Rodimus. We asked Neutrals to join the Autobots. Medics, for example. They never had a faction until the war. They wanted to remain between the lines, offer assistance to both sides, but they couldn’t stay that way. Autobots and Decepticons saw to that. We are to blame just like the Decepticons.”
Like so many things, it weighed on the senior Prime. Rodimus shot him an understanding look and Sam was quite aware of the hum between them, a connection shared by equals. Since he wasn’t mechanoid in origin, that connection eluded him and Will and Tony, but they each had their own way to connect. He didn’t intrude into that second-long moment.
“Even if I didn’t owe him my life several times over,” Optimus finally spoke up, “I accept his designation as Neutral. More might find this planet as the years pass on and more might be tired of fighting and choosing sides.”
Sam nodded. “He loves Earth. I could feel it. It wasn’t pretense. In a way he feels like Scavenger or Mixmaster when I first touched them. They wanted to stay here, wanted to remain among us, even if they could never openly show themselves. Drift respects Raoul. He taught him, he tutored him, he opened up to a degree. He wouldn’t sell out a friend to anyone and he’s fiercely protective.”
“It’s decided then,” Rodimus said. “He’ll go back to LA, a Neutral.”
The other two nodded their agreement. Sam met the ancient blue optics of Optimus and smiled.
::Thank you, Sam::
::My pleasure.::
And it had been and still was.
Rodimus waited until he was alone with his co-leader, then felt along the link to Optimus. He sensed the guilt washing over the older Prime and he mentally shook his head. How had Optimus remained sane under all these emotions, this guilt, this weight?
Ancient blue optics met his.
No Prime was meant to lead alone.
“It’s not your fault, Op,” Rodimus said calmly. “You didn’t start the war.”
“No.”
“And the Neutrals would have been killed by Megatron.”
“He killed enough.”
“Ratchet and many others voluntarily joined the Autobots.”
Optimus gave a soft whirr, shaking his head. “None of them ever should have been forced to make a choice.”
Rodimus walked up to the taller mech and looked into the pained optics. “Not your fault. Not your guilt to carry.”
The connection hummed between them and the younger Prime felt something lift from the other’s spark.
“We have a chance now and then, to make up for the horrors of this war,” Rodimus went on. “Drift was a Decepticon and he wants to be a Neutral. Whatever his past, I think we should give him that chance.”
Optimus nodded. “How many more?” he asked, almost to himself.
“We’ll find out.” Rodimus smiled a little. “One by one.”
Optimus was silent for a while, then sent a silent ‘thank you’. Rodimus winked, then turned and walked away.
No, Primes weren’t meant to be alone. He would make damn sure that Optimus wouldn’t fall back into old patterns of trying to shoulder things alone. They were co-leaders. They had three trusted friends who would share this responsibility with them.
::Not alone:: he sent, startling the older Prime.
He got a silent wave of amusement and a confirmation.
Not alone.
tbc...