You hold onto the past like it owes you something. Move on. The whole future is waiting out there for you, but you’d rather focus on what you can’t change.
That said… You are one of the most resilient mechs I have ever known, including Optimus.
How is that a lie when I don’t even know who I am anymore? I don’t know when I became like this and I don’t remember who I started as. And Kindle is here to remind me of everything I’ve done and it’s all true.
It’s a lie that you have been broken at all. You are still here, parsing all of this out and continuing to fight for clarity and for others, so you have not been defeated like you seem so content to convince yourself.
:: You first. I’m…not sure how much is real and how much is in my processor. They haven’t used your voice yet. ::
They?
::Mine passed when we cut off the source, but it was Soundwave, and he was… Not himself.:: He doesn’t elaborate further, not wanting to think too hard about it. ::Who is it for you?::
::I’ll wager I look a bit more familiar to you at the moment.::
It takes a good five minutes for Bumblebee to settle on an appropriate response.
:: By the Primes…how many bots know? Is that Livewire bot saying anything? ::
::Less than twenty, and I would like to keep it that way for the moment. I’m in the process of being restored, but it is still far too slow for my liking.:: Megatron turns his hands over, the one part of him that looks familiar. That is at least a comfort.
::He has been strangely quiet recently, but then, so have I. I believe he is waiting on my formal response to gauge how to move forward. He is not the only one.::
He is energy. Something that has to go somewhere, has to transfer and flow and spread. A sentient disease that cannot be destroyed, only shifted into another form.
No one seems to understand this. I didn’t understand it! Not until the first time my goals did not align with his. I was a part of it, part of him and I fought so hard every time he reminded me of that…
My determination preserved my sanity, and some semblance of freedom, but there was no cure. I accepted this more easily than any of my allies who kept searching for one because I could feel it and they could not. I could hear him with my very being! And they could not. I knew from the moment I disobeyed him that I was doomed if I faltered an inch.
I faltered. They claim to have him contained now, and though I can’t hear or feel any trace of him left I know. It’s foolish to believe that you can stop a supernova. He will find any way he can to spread…
The best that we can do is prepare for when he does. I will still fight when he returns, harder now that I know what Unicron is. I am intimately familiar with the odds.
A few drops splash the ground, staining it with blue. Almost immediately, the fuel catches fire, burning a brilliant white. The flames dance and expand, moving outward in a giant circle beneath the summoner’s pedes. The fire burns all in its path but leaves Bumblebee unharmed, at the center manifesting a massive figure, visible only where the firelight glints off of his plating.
“My blessing is not granted lightly, but fuel has been shed in my honor. Answer me, child of the outskirts, what is this unrest that flickers around us all?”
This kind of camaraderie from Bumblebee is baffling even if it’s purely for Smokescreen’s sake, but he’ll take it.
::I have little doubt that if Livewire has his way, all mechs who took part in the war, no matter which side, will be put under scrutiny at the least. At worst, we would be exiled. They could do it. Though we are more heavily armed, the neutrals outnumber us by a great margin. More are arriving every day.::
::We must prove that everyone’s interests are being minded, not just the Decepticons. Rather, I must prove that I have not been acting selfishly.::
Megatron's back up 