[COMPLETE] I see my infinite dreams coming to an end-
Characters: Pip Bernadette & Optimus Prime (?) [coyotealpha & thegoodtouch]
Content: So what exactly happened to Pip in the time of this post? Now you will know the answer.
Setting: Kropmork's docks, where the Convoy once was docked.
Time: About an hour after this log, when most of the crew has split apart to go all over Kropmork and the like.
Warnings: Uuuuuh. Notable emo and angst, with a dash of mild facepalming later.
It had only been about an hour since the whole incident, and still the reality of the situation hadn’t really quite sunk into Pip’s head just yet. Everything had happened in a frenzy-one moment everything was fine, and the next thing everything was in a rush, and now before he could even figure out what had happened the Convoy was gone, taken right from his hands. And the one who had done that was… really, it would have been the ultimate joke, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was actually true.
Merde, I just failed again… the mercenary thought as he ran one gloved hand past his messy hair. He had already sworn to himself to never fail again ever since that day, but yet, here and now… here he was, lost on what to do now that both Prime and the ship was gone. The memory of that moment was still vividly clear in his mind-the robot aiming that rifle at him, those eyes directed right onto him, without the usual warmth and light that he was familiar with…
Pip gritted his teeth at that thought, jaw clenching as he resisted the urge to just punch something there and then. He had failed to do anything right at all-Prime had defended him, gave him a new life and a new reason to live even after their initial encounter… and just what had he done? Nothing but one failure after another; the man knew right from the start that he wasn’t cut out for this, but for things to happen to this extent... he had just failed, big time. And now because of his constant screw ups, he was paying big time for it. Maybe this was why Prime had left him-had left them all like this.
The man let out a sharp exhale as he buried his face into his other hand, lone eye squeezing shut as his mind whirled about the situation. Now what was he going to do? Prime was gone along with the Convoy, and it’d take forever before he could ever properly secure a ship... but he couldn’t just give up like this either, not when so much was at stake…
Finally, he was free.
Optimus didn’t know what had happened, not for certain. One moment he’d been in stasis, recharging, and the next, he’d woken up in a cold laboratory in a completely unfamiliar body. His shock and horror at seeing hands -- human hands - before his eyes had been considerable. They’d left him in an empty room, discarded like useless surplus.
All Prime could guess was this: that somehow, the people behind this had taken his robot body and transferred his consciousness into a human one. But why? What could anyone gain from…
…the Convoy, he realized. With his body, they could take control of the Convoy. That was what Denouement wanted, wasn’t it? A superweapon? So, since they were unable to control Optimus Prime, they took the body and left the consciousness behind.
He knew he had to escape.
Prime had broken out as soon as he could. Luckily for him, the guard hadn’t been difficult to overpower, even in Optimus’ weakened state. He had centuries of battle experience. His first priority was to get to the ship. If he could warn his crew, then perhaps they wouldn’t let the impostor in his body on board. He’d made his way through Kropmork as quickly as he could, finally spotting the Temple of Small Gods. He knew that landmark. That meant the docks were…this way…he was almost there…
…oh. Oh, no.
That was definitely an empty space where the Convoy should have been.
“No,” he murmured, face falling. “It’s gone. I’m too late.” If the ship was gone, where was the crew? If they were still on board, they were in grave danger. And if not…had there been a fight? How many were hurt? Or killed? Fear for his crew and anger at himself for not getting here sooner filled Prime’s heart.
He had to get in touch with them somehow. Optimus would find a difference engine somewhere (he couldn’t interface electronically with the network, it was a strange feeling - everything felt strange in this body, everything around him was too big, the air was too cold, his face was too bare…) and would try to contact them.
But wait a moment. That figure, standing at the edge of the dock. It looked familiar. Could it be…? The Autobot commander felt a surge of hope. If it was Pip, if Pip was here…he’d know what had happened for sure! He walked towards the figure, intent on discovering its identity.
Pip didn’t know how long he stood there, really-it felt to him like a second, a minute, an hour and a day all combined together. Everything was all chaotic and lost and for one of the few times of his life, the man really didn’t know what he could do. The whole crew was stuck in Kropmork (Crapmork, really, considering what had happened) and now their ship and captain was gone and he had just lost everything he had lived for, yet again, all because of him again-
-smoke, he went tiredly, as he rummaged through the folds of his jacket in order to find his box of cigarettes. I need a smoke, merde. He needed to calm down now, to think through this rationally and decide a course of action. Once he had his smoke, he was going to have to think over this whole thing and debate on what to do next and how he was going to get the ship (and captain) back somehow. If Prime truly had left them all behind… then it was up to him to take over now, and do what he had to do. If anything, they needed to at least find Prime again, and demand a proper reason for what he had done. To do what he had just done… it just wasn’t like him at all.
Managing to find his box, the man opened it-only to growl in frustration and crunch up the box in irritation and chuck it to the side when he saw that it was empty, swearing aloud as he did so. “Merde!” Was anything even going to be right for him now?
“Well, it looks like you and swears like you,” Prime said from behind him, feeling a relieved smile cross his face despite the situation. “Is that you, Pip Bernadette?” There was hardly any doubt about it in Prime’s mind now. This was a good sign; it meant that some, at least, had made it off the Convoy.
“If it is, you can tell me what happened to my ship.” His hands were resting on his hips, bold as brass and completely unbothered by his lack of clothing, aside from the obvious cold. …it really was freezing out here, but he hadn’t had time to find some of those things humans wore to trap heat, and hadn’t thought to take them from the guards before he was already outside.
When he heard that voice from behind him, for a moment Pip could feel his blood turning cold, and his heart almost stopping. In spite of the lack of static and whatnot, that voice was easily distinguishable-moreso with the words and the way he spoke and what the hell how is this even happening-
The first mate opened his mouth, more than ready to respond to the question-but then he stopped before he could say a word. No, this was all way too convenient for his tastes; even with the situation as it was (especially with the situation as it was, really) there was no way that he could really believe right off the bat that this guy was Prime. In the first place, Prime was a robot-how the hell could he just turn human, especially after just now?
A frown crossed his face as Pip now crossed his arms, lone emerald eye regarding the other with a fair amount of suspicion and caution, voice guarded as he spoke. “How do I know that you’re really who you say you are, mate?” Really, this appearance out of the blue was much too convenient-who was to say this wasn’t a trap or anything like that?
“So you recognize me,” Prime said, surprised. He sighed and tilted his head to the side, looking at Pip sidelong. “I can’t blame you for being suspicious. But I can explain - at least part of it. Will you hear me out?” It was good that Pip was being cautious, but Prime wanted to hear about the crew. He was worried about them. How many had made it off the ship? Were they safe? Had there been a fight? He was burning with questions that would just have to wait until Pip trusted him.
There was a pause after that question as Pip debated on his decision-on one hand, hearing out this guy wasn’t going to cause him any harm at least, and would prove his credibility as Prime if he really was who he claimed to be. But on the other hand, knowing the kind of enemy they were ultimately facing up again, it was hard to say if he could simply take this guy’s word for it; in this day and age, anything could be done to fool the enemy.
“…answer me this first,” he went, looking at the other man with strict vigilance. “What’s the licence plate of your car?”
Prime laughed drily, despite the situation. “That isn’t the best question to ask, Pip. The people who took my real body could answer that. It’s C-zero-Y-zero-T-three. But wouldn’t you rather ask something only I would know, like what I said to you when you agreed to work for me?”
And Pip in turn only let a small smirk cross his face in spite of the situation as it was now. “That was just the first question, mon ami-here’s the real one. What was the initial name that the Convoy was supposed to have?”
Prime matched the smirk, confident. He knew this one. “The Prime. It was the name of the component part the scientists reformatted into the ship. But I thought it was big-headed to name an entire ship after myself.” Blue eyes, just as blue as the robot’s optics but lacking the electric glow, narrowed. “Satisfied?”
“Not yet, I’m afraid,” Pip answered, though at least now he was much more confident in the fact that there was a high possibility in the fact this person was indeed Prime. “Last question, mate-before you were known as Optimus Prime, what was your name?” Now this was something that only the two of them knew-not even Bumblebee was aware of this. If the guy could answer this, then he could be sure once and for all that this person was truly who he was… even if he wasn’t a robot.
That, now…that brought back memories. Prime’s eyes took on a distant cast as he lost himself for a moment in the golden age of Cybertron, of peaceful days and no cares but double shifts at the docks. “Orion Pax,” he answered softly. “I was Orion Pax.”
Those days seemed so far from here. He couldn’t afford to get lost in memories, not now. There would be plenty of time for that once the crew was safe and the ship was back. Prime’s voice was firmer as he spoke again, focusing on the task at hand. “Now tell me, what happened here? Where’s the rest of the crew? Are they all right?” The people on the Convoy were the captain’s top priority. As long as they were alive and safe, everything else could be dealt with. If they were in trouble, well…rescuing them would likely come with retrieving the ship, but if it didn’t, the crew came first. They were Optimus Prime’s men, his friends, his responsibility.
That settled it, then-this person really was Prime, somehow, one way or another. Relief washed over Pip as he let out a breath he had been holding in, knowing that this was indeed Optimus Prime. Once a robot who somehow had become a human for some reason and was now right in front of him and naked-
…
The man pointedly glanced away at that thought, doing his best not to facepalm now. With the initial surprise and shock now gone plus the suspicion cleared, the fact that his captain was human and naked was settling quite easily into his brain. While Pip was much more lax about these things, there was the fact that they were in public and they also happened to be in one of the… well, they were in Kropmork. That pretty much said everything without needing the words.
“Well, uh, before that…” Pip started as he took off his jacket and made his way towards the now human Prime. “…wear this first, chief.” It wasn’t the best and there were no pants, but this was what they had to make with for the moment. At least it’d make things easier to manage later.
The former-robot accepted the jacket gratefully, pulling his arms through the holes without difficulty. Unfortunately, he had it on backwards. In his defense, he’d never put on a coat before, and pulling it on from behind seemed counter-intuitive. “Thank you. But my internal temperature is the least of our problems. What about the crew? Where are they? Are they all right?” Optimus pressed, concerned. Surely Pip wouldn’t be worrying about the cold if the crew was in pressing danger?
“…” the mercenary stared for a good while-not at the words, but rather at the way the former robot was wearing the jacket. Despite the situation as it was, Pip once again could do nothing else but feel the urge to facepalm at the whole thing. “Uh, captain, you have it on the wrong way.”
“The crew, Pip,” Prime said, pulling the jacket off and staring at it - if it didn’t go this way, how did you put it on…? Did he have it upside-down? No, that made no sense. From behind, then? Optimus got one arm through a sleeve, and after a little bit of difficulty, got the other on, as well. So, it was worn like a jetpack, then? He’d remember that. It looked like he had a lot to learn, if he was going to be in this body for any length of time.
Rather than replying, Pip simply stared at the other as he figured out the mechanics of wearing a jacket-Prime really didn’t know about a thing in being human, did he? This whole event would have been funny, if it wasn’t for the current situation at hand. The fact that Prime was… well, was human meant a lot of bad things, especially since the Convoy was gone now…
“They’re fine,” he finally responded, voice turning into something much more serious and formal. “Everyone was out of the ship by the time it was taken.” Pip paused after that, in order to eye his captain for a moment before continuing. “And you… earlier…” There was that question that needed to be asked, after all-if Prime was here right now before him as a human, then just what exactly that whole thing was with… well, with ‘Prime’ taking away the Convoy from them like that earlier?
Prime breathed a sigh of relief, the action of closing his eyes feeling almost identical to shuttering one’s optics. Breathing also reminded him of cycling air through his systems. Though it was very different…there were similarities, as well. It was fascinating. He wished he had the time to study it more fully - no Cybertronian had ever experienced something like this before, at least not to his knowledge. Some of the scientists he’d known would have had a field day with this.
But back to the problem at hand. He didn’t understand what Pip was saying. Earlier? “What are you talking about?” Optimus asked, blinking his eyes in confusion.
“Earlier, just now…” Pip started, and while his voice was steadier, it was obvious that he was still finding it hard to speak-even though he knew that wasn’t Prime now, but the whole situation itself had just…
The man paused to take a deep breath in order to steel himself before he spoke again. “Just now… when the ship got taken away… your body was the one who took it. Destroyed the gangplank and all as well, so that we couldn’t get back in.” Just remembering it still made him feel terrible, even though he knew now that it wasn’t exactly the captain-but the whole experience still had been harrowing enough to shake him up.
Eyebrows creased in concern. “I wish I could say that surprised me,” he said heavily. “Whoever’s behind this must have somehow transferred my consciousness from the Optimus Prime you saw into…this.” He held up one hand in front of his eyes for examination. “I’ll be honest with you,” he went on, “I’m not really sure how it happened. Somehow, someone got me off the Convoy while I was in stasis and into the laboratory I woke up in an hour ago. Most likely, somebody infiltrated the ship.” His mouth pulled into a thoughtful frown. Prime’s face was more visually expressive than anyone had seen since his days as Orion Pax. He rubbed thoughtfully at his chin with one finger, absently noting how strange it felt compared to the metal-on-metal he was used to. “I have my suspicions about who did it, but no proof…not yet.”
Someone infiltrated the ship? That certainly could explain the whole situation, then. Pip’s mind immediately whirled at that information, trying to determine just who was it that could do it-the most possible suspect was of course, that passenger they had. He had been going around pretty strangely alright, and his acts did cause enough eyebrows to be raised. Still, he had thought it was just a guy being too curious and believed that it would be over once they were done with this job. Looks like things were hardly anything like either of them had expected at all. But who could-?
“We can worry about who exactly look the ship later,” the mercenary replied, arms crossing over his chest once again as he thought about this development. As much as he wanted to find the culprit himself, this wasn’t the time or place for the moment. “Now we need to figure out what to do next.” At least now that Prime was still here and not gone-even if this was kind of unexpected. At least now, things weren’t looking as bleak as they had been a few minutes ago. Prime was alright, though he could be better… the crew was safe, and all they had to do now was to chase after their stolen ship. Somehow.
“First, we gather the crew and tell them what happened,” Prime instructed. “Then we find a way to go after that ship…and stop it. If I’m right about who’s behind this, we need to stop whatever they’re doing with the Convoy as soon as possible. Then, maybe, just maybe, if we can get our hands on my robot body and bring it back to the lab I woke up in, we can figure out a way to reverse whatever they did to turn me into this.” He held up his hands in front of his optics, turning them back and forth to look at the palms and backs alike. Prime’s tone was calm, steady with the confidence of an experienced leader. It was a leader’s job to show no fear, to be brave and not falter in the face of adversity. He couldn’t afford emotions like uncertainty, or afford to feel overwhelmed. Any show of doubt would only lead to fear from his troops. It was his job to make plans, to encourage, to lead. So, even freezing cold and naked in a foreign body with his ship gone and his future uncertain, Prime was collected.
But there was one question that was bothering him. “Pip,” he said, “you said the crew was off the airship when it was stolen. Why weren’t they on board?”
“The crew’s around Kropmork now, but they can be gathered back up easily enough,” Pip returned with an acknowledging nod. As much as everything was going to hell at the moment, the fact that Prime was still around to lead was a comforting knowledge-Pip never really saw himself as a leader in spite of what he had done. For him, his people were his family, the men he needed to care for; he looked at them as people he needed to protect rather than to direct. But he could never be the leader that Prime was, and for that the mercenary had long since come to respect his employer.
But that wasn’t the point at hand for now, nor was it the time for his inner monologue. The long-haired man kept his expression serious, doing his best to sound as neutral as possible despite the guilt that tore at his insides as he began to retell the story to Prime. “You were missing for a while, and I was trying to find you in order to talk to you about our next job. When I went to your quarters I only saw you missing, and bombs lined up all over the room. I thought they were real bombs so I had the crew get off for their safety, but…” Now that he thought about it, there wasn’t any explosions at all during the whole fiasco, aside from nothing else but a lot of smoke-were they just smoke bombs then, to cause a distraction…?
“But…?” Prime prompted. He heard that undertone of guilt in Pip’s voice, and it troubled him. Whatever had happened, he was certain it wasn’t Pip’s fault. If anything, Denouement was to blame for this, not the first mate of the Convoy. Pip had Optimus’ full attention; his arms were crossed over the coat, his eyes fixed on the other, his expression serious. “If they weren’t bombs, what were they?”
Pip gritted his teeth at that, anger boiling through him as he answered. “Smoke bombs, most likely. They were just made to look like bombs to make us all leave so that they could take the ship without any trouble.” And how well that had succeeded, indeed. Now they were without their ship, and god knows what Denouncement (for of course it was them now that he thought about it) had in mind now when they had something like that in their possession once again.
Optimus could piece together the rest of the story. Blast it. Well, at least the crew had gotten off safely, Prime was grateful for that much.
He didn’t miss Pip’s anger, though, and it grieved him to see his friend beat himself up over this. Optimus reached out and placed a hand on his first mate’s shoulder in a comforting gesture. “Don’t worry, we’ll get it back. You did the right thing. It isn’t in Denouement’s nature to be merciful. Those smoke bombs could have been knockout gas, or worse. Your quick thinking probably saved the whole crew’s lives.” He looked Pip firmly in the eye, the sudden near-equality of their heights making this far easier than it would have been a few days ago. His voice held honest gratitude. “Thank you, my friend.”
The mercenary looked up at the hand on his shoulder, something like relief and gratitude flashing across his eyes as he looked at Prime and a small smile crossed his face back in return as he spoke. “I just did what I had to do, Chief.” Regardless of anything, he was still the first mate of the Convoy-no matter what, it was his duty to protect all on the ship. That had been the duty he was entrusted with along with his position, and Pip was simply doing what he had to do. Even if he did end with screwing up somehow.
Taking a moment to collect himself, Pip closed his eye to let out a breath he had been holding, opening it back once more to direct his gaze back at his employer as he spoke again. “Alright, let’s get back the crew together and decide on what we need to do from there, chief.” And, well… get the other come proper clothes while they were at it. It really wasn’t that all a good idea to have Prime just go around with his nothing but his coat on.
Relieved to see Pip calm down, Prime nodded, squeezing his friend’s shoulder for a moment before releasing him. “Do you have your difference engine?” he asked. “I don’t know how many managed to salvage their journals from the ship, but it’s the most efficient way to contact them. The ones we can’t reach, we’ll just have to track down in person. We’ll meet up at the Mended Drum in two hours. That should give everybody plenty of time to get there.” I’ll have to figure out how to use that, too, Optimus thought. He’d always made transmissions from his own direct mental uplink to the network, as his robotic hands were rather too large for a keyboard. It couldn’t be too difficult. A machine that simple would be fairly straightforward.
“Ah, yeah, mine’s with me,” Pip replied, looking down in order to fumble with his-oh right.
He looked back up towards Prime again, scratching the back of his head awkwardly now as he spoke again. “It’s in my coat, chief. The big pocket inside the left.” His journal was much more smaller and portable than others (not to mention more expensive since he had the dubloons to get it), so the mercenary made it habit to keep it on his coat so that he could reach for the network easily when he needed to. It was also a good thing that his coat was highly durable as well, so it could keep the journal without much incident.
“Oh. I see.” A little sheepish, Prime reached into the pocket and pulled the difference engine out. Opening it, he held it in the palm of one hand as he stared at the keys. Letters, numbers…he recognized the power button, and another button marked “Rec.” He got it powered on, but…well, he wouldn’t want to make a mistake right now. “It’s…that button, isn’t it?” he asked Pip, pointing. “You’ll have to forgive me, I’ve never used one of these manually before.”
Pip stepped closer so that he could see his difference engine, pointedly ignoring the stream of messages that he was seeing on the screen-he could deal with all of that later, once the immediate concern was taken care off. Besides, this would solve a few problems anyway.
“Yeah, that’s the one,” he replied with a small nod before looking over towards his captain. “If you want, I could just start it up for you-all you gotta do is speak.”
Shaking his head, Prime reached for the button himself. “If I’m going to be human for a while, I’ll need to learn to use these.” Pressing the button, the Autobot commander cleared his vocalizer - no, his throat.
“Optimus Prime to the crew of the Convoy. As I understand it, the ship has been stolen by something that looks very much like me. It is imperative that we go after it at once. Those of you who can hear me, spread the word to those without journals to meet me at the Mended Drum in two hours. I’ll explain everything then.”
He paused in his oration. No, he wouldn’t tell them yet. Some things had to be seen to be believed.
“Prime out.”
…wait, how did you turn this off? “Pip,” Prime muttered, “how do I stop recording? Wait a second, I see the button now…” You had to select the “Post” button on the screen, he saw that now. Doing so, he waited for the voice-post to appear onscreen before powering the device off and placing it back in the coat-pocket.
“You have to-” well, at least that was over and done with. Pip sighed again, scratching the back of his head once more. At least one thing was settled-now they had two hours to settle their matters, and of course the most important thing at hand was to get something for the captain to wear. Having him going around like this in a place like Kropmork was not a good idea, considering how the city was.
Yes, so. Clothes. “Alright, chief… let’s go to the town and get you something to wear first before we do anything else.” Like maybe make him understand some other things about being a human, since that was what he was going to be stuck as. This whole situation really was quite weird on its own, and Pip had already gone though enough weird things in his life as it was already.
“You won’t hear me arguing,” Prime admitted honestly. “My internal temperature is descending rapidly. I never understood how important clothing was to humans until now.”
Internal- Pip started, only to stop and let out a mental sigh. ...never mind. It wasn’t important now, anyway, and really-he could never really understand all those metaphysics that the robots worked on. Regardless, what was most important now was to get Prime looking decent and maybe teach him on some basic concepts lest their meet up with the crew later turned disastrous. He really didn’t want to have to face the situation where the captain ended up doing strange things like eating everything that seem edible; going through that once was enough, thank you very much.
“Right, then let’s go,” Pip went as he turned around and after making sure that the other was okay, started to lead the way into the city. They had a lot of things to do in these two hours before meeting the crew.
...and speaking of the crew, the first mate couldn't help but wonder what their reactions to this would be later when they met.
Content: So what exactly happened to Pip in the time of this post? Now you will know the answer.
Setting: Kropmork's docks, where the Convoy once was docked.
Time: About an hour after this log, when most of the crew has split apart to go all over Kropmork and the like.
Warnings: Uuuuuh. Notable emo and angst, with a dash of mild facepalming later.
It had only been about an hour since the whole incident, and still the reality of the situation hadn’t really quite sunk into Pip’s head just yet. Everything had happened in a frenzy-one moment everything was fine, and the next thing everything was in a rush, and now before he could even figure out what had happened the Convoy was gone, taken right from his hands. And the one who had done that was… really, it would have been the ultimate joke, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was actually true.
Merde, I just failed again… the mercenary thought as he ran one gloved hand past his messy hair. He had already sworn to himself to never fail again ever since that day, but yet, here and now… here he was, lost on what to do now that both Prime and the ship was gone. The memory of that moment was still vividly clear in his mind-the robot aiming that rifle at him, those eyes directed right onto him, without the usual warmth and light that he was familiar with…
Pip gritted his teeth at that thought, jaw clenching as he resisted the urge to just punch something there and then. He had failed to do anything right at all-Prime had defended him, gave him a new life and a new reason to live even after their initial encounter… and just what had he done? Nothing but one failure after another; the man knew right from the start that he wasn’t cut out for this, but for things to happen to this extent... he had just failed, big time. And now because of his constant screw ups, he was paying big time for it. Maybe this was why Prime had left him-had left them all like this.
The man let out a sharp exhale as he buried his face into his other hand, lone eye squeezing shut as his mind whirled about the situation. Now what was he going to do? Prime was gone along with the Convoy, and it’d take forever before he could ever properly secure a ship... but he couldn’t just give up like this either, not when so much was at stake…
Finally, he was free.
Optimus didn’t know what had happened, not for certain. One moment he’d been in stasis, recharging, and the next, he’d woken up in a cold laboratory in a completely unfamiliar body. His shock and horror at seeing hands -- human hands - before his eyes had been considerable. They’d left him in an empty room, discarded like useless surplus.
All Prime could guess was this: that somehow, the people behind this had taken his robot body and transferred his consciousness into a human one. But why? What could anyone gain from…
…the Convoy, he realized. With his body, they could take control of the Convoy. That was what Denouement wanted, wasn’t it? A superweapon? So, since they were unable to control Optimus Prime, they took the body and left the consciousness behind.
He knew he had to escape.
Prime had broken out as soon as he could. Luckily for him, the guard hadn’t been difficult to overpower, even in Optimus’ weakened state. He had centuries of battle experience. His first priority was to get to the ship. If he could warn his crew, then perhaps they wouldn’t let the impostor in his body on board. He’d made his way through Kropmork as quickly as he could, finally spotting the Temple of Small Gods. He knew that landmark. That meant the docks were…this way…he was almost there…
…oh. Oh, no.
That was definitely an empty space where the Convoy should have been.
“No,” he murmured, face falling. “It’s gone. I’m too late.” If the ship was gone, where was the crew? If they were still on board, they were in grave danger. And if not…had there been a fight? How many were hurt? Or killed? Fear for his crew and anger at himself for not getting here sooner filled Prime’s heart.
He had to get in touch with them somehow. Optimus would find a difference engine somewhere (he couldn’t interface electronically with the network, it was a strange feeling - everything felt strange in this body, everything around him was too big, the air was too cold, his face was too bare…) and would try to contact them.
But wait a moment. That figure, standing at the edge of the dock. It looked familiar. Could it be…? The Autobot commander felt a surge of hope. If it was Pip, if Pip was here…he’d know what had happened for sure! He walked towards the figure, intent on discovering its identity.
Pip didn’t know how long he stood there, really-it felt to him like a second, a minute, an hour and a day all combined together. Everything was all chaotic and lost and for one of the few times of his life, the man really didn’t know what he could do. The whole crew was stuck in Kropmork (Crapmork, really, considering what had happened) and now their ship and captain was gone and he had just lost everything he had lived for, yet again, all because of him again-
-smoke, he went tiredly, as he rummaged through the folds of his jacket in order to find his box of cigarettes. I need a smoke, merde. He needed to calm down now, to think through this rationally and decide a course of action. Once he had his smoke, he was going to have to think over this whole thing and debate on what to do next and how he was going to get the ship (and captain) back somehow. If Prime truly had left them all behind… then it was up to him to take over now, and do what he had to do. If anything, they needed to at least find Prime again, and demand a proper reason for what he had done. To do what he had just done… it just wasn’t like him at all.
Managing to find his box, the man opened it-only to growl in frustration and crunch up the box in irritation and chuck it to the side when he saw that it was empty, swearing aloud as he did so. “Merde!” Was anything even going to be right for him now?
“Well, it looks like you and swears like you,” Prime said from behind him, feeling a relieved smile cross his face despite the situation. “Is that you, Pip Bernadette?” There was hardly any doubt about it in Prime’s mind now. This was a good sign; it meant that some, at least, had made it off the Convoy.
“If it is, you can tell me what happened to my ship.” His hands were resting on his hips, bold as brass and completely unbothered by his lack of clothing, aside from the obvious cold. …it really was freezing out here, but he hadn’t had time to find some of those things humans wore to trap heat, and hadn’t thought to take them from the guards before he was already outside.
When he heard that voice from behind him, for a moment Pip could feel his blood turning cold, and his heart almost stopping. In spite of the lack of static and whatnot, that voice was easily distinguishable-moreso with the words and the way he spoke and what the hell how is this even happening-
The first mate opened his mouth, more than ready to respond to the question-but then he stopped before he could say a word. No, this was all way too convenient for his tastes; even with the situation as it was (especially with the situation as it was, really) there was no way that he could really believe right off the bat that this guy was Prime. In the first place, Prime was a robot-how the hell could he just turn human, especially after just now?
A frown crossed his face as Pip now crossed his arms, lone emerald eye regarding the other with a fair amount of suspicion and caution, voice guarded as he spoke. “How do I know that you’re really who you say you are, mate?” Really, this appearance out of the blue was much too convenient-who was to say this wasn’t a trap or anything like that?
“So you recognize me,” Prime said, surprised. He sighed and tilted his head to the side, looking at Pip sidelong. “I can’t blame you for being suspicious. But I can explain - at least part of it. Will you hear me out?” It was good that Pip was being cautious, but Prime wanted to hear about the crew. He was worried about them. How many had made it off the ship? Were they safe? Had there been a fight? He was burning with questions that would just have to wait until Pip trusted him.
There was a pause after that question as Pip debated on his decision-on one hand, hearing out this guy wasn’t going to cause him any harm at least, and would prove his credibility as Prime if he really was who he claimed to be. But on the other hand, knowing the kind of enemy they were ultimately facing up again, it was hard to say if he could simply take this guy’s word for it; in this day and age, anything could be done to fool the enemy.
“…answer me this first,” he went, looking at the other man with strict vigilance. “What’s the licence plate of your car?”
Prime laughed drily, despite the situation. “That isn’t the best question to ask, Pip. The people who took my real body could answer that. It’s C-zero-Y-zero-T-three. But wouldn’t you rather ask something only I would know, like what I said to you when you agreed to work for me?”
And Pip in turn only let a small smirk cross his face in spite of the situation as it was now. “That was just the first question, mon ami-here’s the real one. What was the initial name that the Convoy was supposed to have?”
Prime matched the smirk, confident. He knew this one. “The Prime. It was the name of the component part the scientists reformatted into the ship. But I thought it was big-headed to name an entire ship after myself.” Blue eyes, just as blue as the robot’s optics but lacking the electric glow, narrowed. “Satisfied?”
“Not yet, I’m afraid,” Pip answered, though at least now he was much more confident in the fact that there was a high possibility in the fact this person was indeed Prime. “Last question, mate-before you were known as Optimus Prime, what was your name?” Now this was something that only the two of them knew-not even Bumblebee was aware of this. If the guy could answer this, then he could be sure once and for all that this person was truly who he was… even if he wasn’t a robot.
That, now…that brought back memories. Prime’s eyes took on a distant cast as he lost himself for a moment in the golden age of Cybertron, of peaceful days and no cares but double shifts at the docks. “Orion Pax,” he answered softly. “I was Orion Pax.”
Those days seemed so far from here. He couldn’t afford to get lost in memories, not now. There would be plenty of time for that once the crew was safe and the ship was back. Prime’s voice was firmer as he spoke again, focusing on the task at hand. “Now tell me, what happened here? Where’s the rest of the crew? Are they all right?” The people on the Convoy were the captain’s top priority. As long as they were alive and safe, everything else could be dealt with. If they were in trouble, well…rescuing them would likely come with retrieving the ship, but if it didn’t, the crew came first. They were Optimus Prime’s men, his friends, his responsibility.
That settled it, then-this person really was Prime, somehow, one way or another. Relief washed over Pip as he let out a breath he had been holding in, knowing that this was indeed Optimus Prime. Once a robot who somehow had become a human for some reason and was now right in front of him and naked-
…
The man pointedly glanced away at that thought, doing his best not to facepalm now. With the initial surprise and shock now gone plus the suspicion cleared, the fact that his captain was human and naked was settling quite easily into his brain. While Pip was much more lax about these things, there was the fact that they were in public and they also happened to be in one of the… well, they were in Kropmork. That pretty much said everything without needing the words.
“Well, uh, before that…” Pip started as he took off his jacket and made his way towards the now human Prime. “…wear this first, chief.” It wasn’t the best and there were no pants, but this was what they had to make with for the moment. At least it’d make things easier to manage later.
The former-robot accepted the jacket gratefully, pulling his arms through the holes without difficulty. Unfortunately, he had it on backwards. In his defense, he’d never put on a coat before, and pulling it on from behind seemed counter-intuitive. “Thank you. But my internal temperature is the least of our problems. What about the crew? Where are they? Are they all right?” Optimus pressed, concerned. Surely Pip wouldn’t be worrying about the cold if the crew was in pressing danger?
“…” the mercenary stared for a good while-not at the words, but rather at the way the former robot was wearing the jacket. Despite the situation as it was, Pip once again could do nothing else but feel the urge to facepalm at the whole thing. “Uh, captain, you have it on the wrong way.”
“The crew, Pip,” Prime said, pulling the jacket off and staring at it - if it didn’t go this way, how did you put it on…? Did he have it upside-down? No, that made no sense. From behind, then? Optimus got one arm through a sleeve, and after a little bit of difficulty, got the other on, as well. So, it was worn like a jetpack, then? He’d remember that. It looked like he had a lot to learn, if he was going to be in this body for any length of time.
Rather than replying, Pip simply stared at the other as he figured out the mechanics of wearing a jacket-Prime really didn’t know about a thing in being human, did he? This whole event would have been funny, if it wasn’t for the current situation at hand. The fact that Prime was… well, was human meant a lot of bad things, especially since the Convoy was gone now…
“They’re fine,” he finally responded, voice turning into something much more serious and formal. “Everyone was out of the ship by the time it was taken.” Pip paused after that, in order to eye his captain for a moment before continuing. “And you… earlier…” There was that question that needed to be asked, after all-if Prime was here right now before him as a human, then just what exactly that whole thing was with… well, with ‘Prime’ taking away the Convoy from them like that earlier?
Prime breathed a sigh of relief, the action of closing his eyes feeling almost identical to shuttering one’s optics. Breathing also reminded him of cycling air through his systems. Though it was very different…there were similarities, as well. It was fascinating. He wished he had the time to study it more fully - no Cybertronian had ever experienced something like this before, at least not to his knowledge. Some of the scientists he’d known would have had a field day with this.
But back to the problem at hand. He didn’t understand what Pip was saying. Earlier? “What are you talking about?” Optimus asked, blinking his eyes in confusion.
“Earlier, just now…” Pip started, and while his voice was steadier, it was obvious that he was still finding it hard to speak-even though he knew that wasn’t Prime now, but the whole situation itself had just…
The man paused to take a deep breath in order to steel himself before he spoke again. “Just now… when the ship got taken away… your body was the one who took it. Destroyed the gangplank and all as well, so that we couldn’t get back in.” Just remembering it still made him feel terrible, even though he knew now that it wasn’t exactly the captain-but the whole experience still had been harrowing enough to shake him up.
Eyebrows creased in concern. “I wish I could say that surprised me,” he said heavily. “Whoever’s behind this must have somehow transferred my consciousness from the Optimus Prime you saw into…this.” He held up one hand in front of his eyes for examination. “I’ll be honest with you,” he went on, “I’m not really sure how it happened. Somehow, someone got me off the Convoy while I was in stasis and into the laboratory I woke up in an hour ago. Most likely, somebody infiltrated the ship.” His mouth pulled into a thoughtful frown. Prime’s face was more visually expressive than anyone had seen since his days as Orion Pax. He rubbed thoughtfully at his chin with one finger, absently noting how strange it felt compared to the metal-on-metal he was used to. “I have my suspicions about who did it, but no proof…not yet.”
Someone infiltrated the ship? That certainly could explain the whole situation, then. Pip’s mind immediately whirled at that information, trying to determine just who was it that could do it-the most possible suspect was of course, that passenger they had. He had been going around pretty strangely alright, and his acts did cause enough eyebrows to be raised. Still, he had thought it was just a guy being too curious and believed that it would be over once they were done with this job. Looks like things were hardly anything like either of them had expected at all. But who could-?
“We can worry about who exactly look the ship later,” the mercenary replied, arms crossing over his chest once again as he thought about this development. As much as he wanted to find the culprit himself, this wasn’t the time or place for the moment. “Now we need to figure out what to do next.” At least now that Prime was still here and not gone-even if this was kind of unexpected. At least now, things weren’t looking as bleak as they had been a few minutes ago. Prime was alright, though he could be better… the crew was safe, and all they had to do now was to chase after their stolen ship. Somehow.
“First, we gather the crew and tell them what happened,” Prime instructed. “Then we find a way to go after that ship…and stop it. If I’m right about who’s behind this, we need to stop whatever they’re doing with the Convoy as soon as possible. Then, maybe, just maybe, if we can get our hands on my robot body and bring it back to the lab I woke up in, we can figure out a way to reverse whatever they did to turn me into this.” He held up his hands in front of his optics, turning them back and forth to look at the palms and backs alike. Prime’s tone was calm, steady with the confidence of an experienced leader. It was a leader’s job to show no fear, to be brave and not falter in the face of adversity. He couldn’t afford emotions like uncertainty, or afford to feel overwhelmed. Any show of doubt would only lead to fear from his troops. It was his job to make plans, to encourage, to lead. So, even freezing cold and naked in a foreign body with his ship gone and his future uncertain, Prime was collected.
But there was one question that was bothering him. “Pip,” he said, “you said the crew was off the airship when it was stolen. Why weren’t they on board?”
“The crew’s around Kropmork now, but they can be gathered back up easily enough,” Pip returned with an acknowledging nod. As much as everything was going to hell at the moment, the fact that Prime was still around to lead was a comforting knowledge-Pip never really saw himself as a leader in spite of what he had done. For him, his people were his family, the men he needed to care for; he looked at them as people he needed to protect rather than to direct. But he could never be the leader that Prime was, and for that the mercenary had long since come to respect his employer.
But that wasn’t the point at hand for now, nor was it the time for his inner monologue. The long-haired man kept his expression serious, doing his best to sound as neutral as possible despite the guilt that tore at his insides as he began to retell the story to Prime. “You were missing for a while, and I was trying to find you in order to talk to you about our next job. When I went to your quarters I only saw you missing, and bombs lined up all over the room. I thought they were real bombs so I had the crew get off for their safety, but…” Now that he thought about it, there wasn’t any explosions at all during the whole fiasco, aside from nothing else but a lot of smoke-were they just smoke bombs then, to cause a distraction…?
“But…?” Prime prompted. He heard that undertone of guilt in Pip’s voice, and it troubled him. Whatever had happened, he was certain it wasn’t Pip’s fault. If anything, Denouement was to blame for this, not the first mate of the Convoy. Pip had Optimus’ full attention; his arms were crossed over the coat, his eyes fixed on the other, his expression serious. “If they weren’t bombs, what were they?”
Pip gritted his teeth at that, anger boiling through him as he answered. “Smoke bombs, most likely. They were just made to look like bombs to make us all leave so that they could take the ship without any trouble.” And how well that had succeeded, indeed. Now they were without their ship, and god knows what Denouncement (for of course it was them now that he thought about it) had in mind now when they had something like that in their possession once again.
Optimus could piece together the rest of the story. Blast it. Well, at least the crew had gotten off safely, Prime was grateful for that much.
He didn’t miss Pip’s anger, though, and it grieved him to see his friend beat himself up over this. Optimus reached out and placed a hand on his first mate’s shoulder in a comforting gesture. “Don’t worry, we’ll get it back. You did the right thing. It isn’t in Denouement’s nature to be merciful. Those smoke bombs could have been knockout gas, or worse. Your quick thinking probably saved the whole crew’s lives.” He looked Pip firmly in the eye, the sudden near-equality of their heights making this far easier than it would have been a few days ago. His voice held honest gratitude. “Thank you, my friend.”
The mercenary looked up at the hand on his shoulder, something like relief and gratitude flashing across his eyes as he looked at Prime and a small smile crossed his face back in return as he spoke. “I just did what I had to do, Chief.” Regardless of anything, he was still the first mate of the Convoy-no matter what, it was his duty to protect all on the ship. That had been the duty he was entrusted with along with his position, and Pip was simply doing what he had to do. Even if he did end with screwing up somehow.
Taking a moment to collect himself, Pip closed his eye to let out a breath he had been holding, opening it back once more to direct his gaze back at his employer as he spoke again. “Alright, let’s get back the crew together and decide on what we need to do from there, chief.” And, well… get the other come proper clothes while they were at it. It really wasn’t that all a good idea to have Prime just go around with his nothing but his coat on.
Relieved to see Pip calm down, Prime nodded, squeezing his friend’s shoulder for a moment before releasing him. “Do you have your difference engine?” he asked. “I don’t know how many managed to salvage their journals from the ship, but it’s the most efficient way to contact them. The ones we can’t reach, we’ll just have to track down in person. We’ll meet up at the Mended Drum in two hours. That should give everybody plenty of time to get there.” I’ll have to figure out how to use that, too, Optimus thought. He’d always made transmissions from his own direct mental uplink to the network, as his robotic hands were rather too large for a keyboard. It couldn’t be too difficult. A machine that simple would be fairly straightforward.
“Ah, yeah, mine’s with me,” Pip replied, looking down in order to fumble with his-oh right.
He looked back up towards Prime again, scratching the back of his head awkwardly now as he spoke again. “It’s in my coat, chief. The big pocket inside the left.” His journal was much more smaller and portable than others (not to mention more expensive since he had the dubloons to get it), so the mercenary made it habit to keep it on his coat so that he could reach for the network easily when he needed to. It was also a good thing that his coat was highly durable as well, so it could keep the journal without much incident.
“Oh. I see.” A little sheepish, Prime reached into the pocket and pulled the difference engine out. Opening it, he held it in the palm of one hand as he stared at the keys. Letters, numbers…he recognized the power button, and another button marked “Rec.” He got it powered on, but…well, he wouldn’t want to make a mistake right now. “It’s…that button, isn’t it?” he asked Pip, pointing. “You’ll have to forgive me, I’ve never used one of these manually before.”
Pip stepped closer so that he could see his difference engine, pointedly ignoring the stream of messages that he was seeing on the screen-he could deal with all of that later, once the immediate concern was taken care off. Besides, this would solve a few problems anyway.
“Yeah, that’s the one,” he replied with a small nod before looking over towards his captain. “If you want, I could just start it up for you-all you gotta do is speak.”
Shaking his head, Prime reached for the button himself. “If I’m going to be human for a while, I’ll need to learn to use these.” Pressing the button, the Autobot commander cleared his vocalizer - no, his throat.
“Optimus Prime to the crew of the Convoy. As I understand it, the ship has been stolen by something that looks very much like me. It is imperative that we go after it at once. Those of you who can hear me, spread the word to those without journals to meet me at the Mended Drum in two hours. I’ll explain everything then.”
He paused in his oration. No, he wouldn’t tell them yet. Some things had to be seen to be believed.
“Prime out.”
…wait, how did you turn this off? “Pip,” Prime muttered, “how do I stop recording? Wait a second, I see the button now…” You had to select the “Post” button on the screen, he saw that now. Doing so, he waited for the voice-post to appear onscreen before powering the device off and placing it back in the coat-pocket.
“You have to-” well, at least that was over and done with. Pip sighed again, scratching the back of his head once more. At least one thing was settled-now they had two hours to settle their matters, and of course the most important thing at hand was to get something for the captain to wear. Having him going around like this in a place like Kropmork was not a good idea, considering how the city was.
Yes, so. Clothes. “Alright, chief… let’s go to the town and get you something to wear first before we do anything else.” Like maybe make him understand some other things about being a human, since that was what he was going to be stuck as. This whole situation really was quite weird on its own, and Pip had already gone though enough weird things in his life as it was already.
“You won’t hear me arguing,” Prime admitted honestly. “My internal temperature is descending rapidly. I never understood how important clothing was to humans until now.”
Internal- Pip started, only to stop and let out a mental sigh. ...never mind. It wasn’t important now, anyway, and really-he could never really understand all those metaphysics that the robots worked on. Regardless, what was most important now was to get Prime looking decent and maybe teach him on some basic concepts lest their meet up with the crew later turned disastrous. He really didn’t want to have to face the situation where the captain ended up doing strange things like eating everything that seem edible; going through that once was enough, thank you very much.
“Right, then let’s go,” Pip went as he turned around and after making sure that the other was okay, started to lead the way into the city. They had a lot of things to do in these two hours before meeting the crew.
...and speaking of the crew, the first mate couldn't help but wonder what their reactions to this would be later when they met.