Chapter Text
Rebooting…
Rebooting…
Memory Capacity 74%...
Processing Damages…
Damages Restrained 38%...
Transformation Cog 47% Damaged…
Ability to Transform: Negative
Processing Awake Mode…
Awakening…
Twitch opened her eyes just as quickly as she sat up wherever she was. Her eyes tried to process where she was, where was she? She sees a desk, computers, and she's on a table. It’s not very comfortable- Glasses, screens, medicine- Medicine? Was she in a hospital? Or maybe the lab of another evil scientist?
Nuh uh, not happening. She was not getting experimented on, no way Jose!
Twitch slipped off the table, only to find herself on the ground. She stared at her legs, in confusion. She gasped as she realized that one of her legs seemed to be crushed. And yet it didn’t hurt? Twitch felt like something like this was supposed to hurt, and yet she feels no pain. That’s a bit terrifying.
She tried to ignore the fear in her spark as she crawled to the wall, using her other foot to hold her weight as she stood. She had to get out of here- Wherever here was. Twitch couldn’t stay here for long, she had to get to-! To…
Get to what?
She shook her head, she’d just have to worry about that later.
Right now her leg was busted up and she was in an unfamiliar environment. What did Bumblebee teach her in times of fear? Of course!
Scout it out!
Twitch slowly made her way to the door, keeping her footing simple. If her leg was this damaged, she didn’t want to try and fly yet. If she can’t feel the pain in her leg, maybe she couldn’t feel the pain in her propellers either? Essentially- It wasn’t a good idea to fly just yet.
She used the wall to carry herself, sliding across it easily. When she got to the door, she opened it slightly, feeling a bit surprised that it was a metallic sliding door. Fancy!
Twitch peaked into the next room, seeing it filled with more medical equipment. Weird. Maybe she was in an evil scientist’s lab. Like back with Mandroid! Ugh, the memory made her shudder. Maybe she shouldn’t have thought that so positively.
Surveying her area, it was easy to deduce that no one was in the next room. Perfect! Quietly, she stalked into the room, careful to remain near objects larger than her to hide in. Just as she was passing a desk, she heard large footsteps coming over. Clomping loudly against the metallic floor. Quickly, she ducked behind the desk.
“Wait wait- What do you mean this new mech is barely two cycles old?” A voice asked. It sounded a bit young- But almost the same age as Bumblebee sort of young.
“That’s what I’m telling you right now if you’d stop interrupting me.” Another voice replied back, this one sounding very professional like. “This mech, and the other ones we ended up picking up, are the same age as well! Only this one and the other are older, and only by a few orbital cycles!” The voice continued, and Twitch heard them coming closer and closer- Wait others?
They have my family!
She mentally gasped. Although all this- Cycle talk? Very confusing.
Twitch was quiet as she stayed behind the desk. The footsteps walked past her, and she saw their backs. They were Transformers! Another silent gasp. She had to stay quiet. Think about Bumblebee’s training!
One was Red and Orange and was pretty spiky looking, and that was just from the back.
The other was Red and White. He looked pretty doctor-like actually. Twitch watched them, slowly making her way behind the desk, dragging her leg quietly behind her. It was still really weirding her out that she wasn’t feeling any pain.
She made it a bit away, just near the next door, before she heard a yell.
“WHERE DID THEY GO?” It was a very loud yell, Twitch had to admit. It was also her cue to get the heck outta there!
Twitch lifted herself up by the door frame, and hobbled as quickly as she could through the hallways she now found herself in.
This had to be some kind of weird underground facility or something. And with Transformers! Although- She didn’t get a good look at their logos, so maybe they were Decepticons. Or Autobots! But she couldn’t take any risks at the moment. She didn’t exactly know why, but she can feel it in her spark.
Don’t trust anyone .
She continued through the very weird labyrinth of halls. If her siblings were here- Wouldn’t they have also been in that medical-experiment bay? Were they being kept somewhere else? Maybe as prisoners?
Twitch hefted herself, keeping a steady and quick pace. She still didn’t want to risk using her propellers, just in case they were damaged.
“I found them!” A yell rang out, Twitch turned her head and saw the red and white Transformer down the hall, with the Red and orange one right behind him.
Crap!
She started running, which was very difficult with only one functional leg she realized. But she knew she had to make due. Twitch couldn’t afford to lose- Not here.
The heavy foot falls and yells behind her didn’t exactly give her comfort though, she ducked behind doors, large boxes, anything to conceal her. It wasn’t the first time she’s hidden away from Transformers bigger than her.
She remembered having to hide from Elita when she was under that rage plague virus thingy-majinger. It was weird and actually something she’d rather not think about at the moment.
All her swooping and hiding, really wasn’t doing her any good, as she did not know where she was going. But apparently, the people chasing her did, as she ended up slamming right into someone’s leg.
“Ack-!” She spat out, falling down. She looked up to see someone huge . Maybe even bigger than Optimus! If not the same size!
“Rodimus- I have located the runaway mech.” The Transformer held his hand on his head, maybe speaking through a communication device. Twitch glared up at the massive guy. He almost looked like Optimus, in all honesty. He was blue and red, the only difference being that this guy was a lot scarier looking.
Twitch tried to make another run, going to stand up, when she felt her arm get tugged on, being pulled back.
“You are to stay stationed next to me until Rodimus arrives!” The big Transformer spoke, voice large and booming. Great! Even scarier! Twitch stared at the large Transformer, annoyance building up in her. Her entire arm was basically hidden away from his giant grip!
Twitch sent the meanest glare she could, trying to yank herself out of this weird Transformer’s grip. That only seemed to make the Transformer just as annoyed as she was, as she found herself being lifted into the air. Alright. This was a bit showboaty even for her.
“Hold still!” The Transformer demanded. Twitch scowled at him. She swung towards him, latching onto his arm using both her legs. She held on tight as she bit into his hand as hard as she could.
“WHAT IN THE-?” The larger Transformer expressed a very surprised yell. “Unacceptable! That is-! This is- Highly inappropriate! I demand you stop biting me at once!” The Transformer started swinging his arm up and down, trying to get her down.
Jokes on him! He’s ignited Twitch’s rage! She only clamped down harder.
“GET OFF!” He demanded very loudly. Nope!
“Magnus I heard you found them-” The Transformer stopped trying to shake Twitch off immediately as soon as he heard the voice of someone new- The orange and red guy Twitch saw the back of earlier. “What. What are you doing?” The orange transformer asked, his hand covering his face.
“I am arresting an unruly passenger.” Big Guy- Now named Magnus, said pointedly. Twitch rolled her eyes. Yeah right.
“You are not arresting one of my patients!” The red and white guy came in now! Where were all these Transformers coming from? Who are they? How can she even know if they’re good- She looked down at the orange one’s chest.
The autobot symbol.
Twitch blinked at him for a moment or two.
“A-Are you really arresting them?” The orange one seemed to almost be laughing. “I’m pretty sure they’re using you as a teething tool!” The orange one was definitely laughing.
“Rodimus! Be serious!” Magnus sputtered out, clearly distraught at being laughed at. Twitch felt prideful.
“Excuse me, please get off of him. I promise we mean no harm.” The red one walked towards her, as if she was some ravenous beast! Well maybe she could be. But that wasn’t the point. She glared at him, then looked at the big Magnus guy. She stopped biting him, and let herself dangle in the air.
Magnus looked at her.
She looked at her arm still caught in his grip.
He looked at his hand still holding her arm.
He dropped her.
Twitch made a little gasp as she fell, instinct then taking over as she used her propellers to slowly let her dissent to the ground.
Oh.
Her propellers did work. Well. That would’ve been useful to know.
Twitch landed on the ground peacefully. Nearly falling over because of her smushed together leg, but was able to balance herself. The red Transformer made his way towards her.
“Are you alright?” Red guy asked. Twitch stepped back, again, out of instinct. She wanted to trust them- She really did.
Don’t trust anyone.
“Who are you, where am I?” She asked, putting on the bravest face she could. Twitch readied herself, just in case.
The orange one took a step forward.
“My name is Rodimus. And you’re aboard my ship- The Lost Light .” His smile was infectious, Twitch swiftly learned. She kept up her mean face, arms ready to reach for her swords- Only to realize they weren’t even on her back! That was a big problem. “We found you and a couple others drifting through space, including two Humans.”
“Aretheyokay?” Twitch asked rapidly, faster than she thought her voice could actually process. The other Autobots looked taken aback.
“They’re okay- We don’t have much for Humans, but we’re doing our best.” Rodimus looked like he was telling the truth. He looked down at her with such… Trust? It was weird. Not in a bad way. Just in a way she couldn’t describe.
“Where are they?” She asked, once more pushing a more meanness in her voice. “Take me to them!” Twitch demanded, a twitch in her step.
Rodimus and the red transformer glanced at one another, and Rodimus nodded.
“Aright!” Rodimus clapped, “Follow me and I’ll show you them. Trust me, they’re okay. Just a little beat up.” Rodimus turned his body, ready to walk. Twitch watched as Rodimus looked back towards the Magnus guy, who seemed a bit offended to have basically been useless in this situation besides to be laughed at. Rodimus gave Magnus a little wave, and then a salute. He glanced back at Twitch, seeing if she was going to follow.
She followed.
Twitch denied help the entire walk, using her propellers to allow her flight. And although she learned they weren’t broken, they also weren’t exactly working the way she wanted them too. Perhaps one of her blades was bent? She couldn't lift herself high off the ground, but just enough to where her leg wasn’t a bother.
“So…” Rodimus was the first to speak. “What’s your designation?” He asked, almost delicately. Twitch looked at him.
“That’s confidential information.” Twitch answered briefly, as she didn’t really know what he meant by ‘designation’, but didn’t know. Rodimus seemed to look down at her, a twitch of an annoyed smile on his face. She knew that smile. She’d seen it all the time when Bumblebee was annoying Megatron.
She was annoying him.
For some reason, Twitch felt a burst of pride in her spark.
“My designation is First Aid.” The red one introduced himself. Oh. Designation, like a name? And, First aid? Twitch pondered, so he is a doctor. Maybe she actually was just in a medical bay. But why?
Twitch glanced at her leg.
Oh. Right.
“You and your friends, as well as the Humans, took a mighty hard crash it seems. Do you remember what you were doing?”
Not friends.
Twitch thought bitterly.
And of course she remembered what she was doing!
She was- She was… Twitch had to think for a moment. She was just going to say- Her actions were- She-
Her eyes darted across the floor everywhere as she tried to collect her memory. Come on!
Accessing Memory…
Memory Blocked.
First Aid seemed to take her silence as an answer though, as he walked up closer to Rodimus, speaking low to him.
Rude.
They were clearly talking about her in front of her.
She looked to the side of her, a large window catching her attention.
Twitch gasped.
Idly, she drifted towards the glass, putting her hand up to it.
All she saw, in every direction, was space . Stars littering the coloureless void.
“Woah…” Twitch exclaimed lightly, taking in the awe of space. She’d never really- Seen it before. Not like this. She’d seen it at night, when with her siblings. When Mo and Robby were asleep, none of the other Terrans had anything to do.
When Nightshade told them all that the stars moved, they made a game of picking specific stars and naming them, and having to keep track. It was a fun.
Twitch wondered where her star was.
She had named it ‘Twat’. Twitch and Twat, a great pair.
“Impressive, isn’t it?” Rodimus asked, coming up behind her. She bit back the natural instinct to jump back in surprise. “A whole bunch of worlds out there.”
She nodded.
“It’s pretty.” It really was.
“Which world are you from?” Rodimus asked, looking down at Twitch. The question seemed to fuel a bit of annoyance from within her spark.
“All of them.” Twitch lied easily with pride. Rodimus looked at her in only what could be deciphered as annoyed amusement.
“Oh yeah, all of them? Sure. Sure.” Rodimus hummed, almost vocally waving her off. “Probably picked up bits and pieces off the rubble and put them on your casing, I’m assuming?” Twitch just looked at him confused, tilting her head to the side, and narrowing her eyes, just to express just how confused she was.
“Is that an insult?” She asked. Rodimus simply smiled and walked away back to First Aid.
Twitch was biting him next.
The rest of the walk towards the direction that Twitch had just come running from, as she quickly realized. Twitch was, well, twitching to see her family. They had to be okay, and if they weren’t, she was totally biting someone. Or maiming. She wondered if she’d be allowed a little maiming if anyone was hurt.
Her spark felt closed off as so many thoughts and possibilities of her siblings and their conditions could be. As she hovered over the ground, a glance towards her busted leg didn’t ease her concerns.
Especially Robby and Mo! They’re humans! And even though they’re the best, and toughest older siblings ever, that doesn’t mean they have the same strength as the Terrans! They didn’t have the hard outer Transformer shells that they did, and it freaked Twitch out.
Not to mention, didn’t this Rodimus guy say that they were found drifting in space? Last she checked, humans can’t breathe in space! She definitely saw that in a documentary that Hashtag and Nightshade was watching.
“Alright, I should warn you-” First Aid spoke as they finally made it to a door. That was not a start to a sentence Twitch wanted to hear. “They aren’t awake yet, and they aren’t in the best shape. The humans are a little less for wear, but they are breathing and alive, okay?” Twitch numbly nodded. First Aid looked at Rodimus and they shared a look.
The same look that the Autobots would share when they had to reveal a secret.
First Aid opened the door, and nearly tumbled as Twitch dove into the room.
Her spark jumped.
Her siblings, both Terran and human, were strapped to large tables. They were all in different conditions
Jawbreaker had some horns cracked and broken off, a good chunk of his arm was taken too. His foot was damaged too, as if it had been crushed by a large rock.
Hashtag had her visor completely gone, parts of her torso looked to be shattered, with some repairs being made already. That earned a little faith within these Autobots from Twitch.
Thrash seemed okay, all things considered. But she knew there had to be internal damages. He had a few scrapes on his head, with a couple of long, deep cracks running down both his arms.
And Nightshade-
Oh, Nightshade .
Twitch hovered over their table, looking down at their little big sibling. Half of their face was gone, with their inner cables popping out. Their chest looked as if something had crashed through it, twice , and their right leg looked as mangled as Twitch’s left one.
She softly took their hand, feeling a small warmth.
They were all alive- Even if unconscious. And that had to be okay. It was like Hashgtag’s doctor shows she watches, where they are unconscious for a little bit, and then they wake up.
Like Twitch did!
She glanced over to the other tables, just next to Thrash.
Her older brother and her older sister laid there.
They looked okay, and Twitch stopped tensing the shoulders she didn’t realize she was tensing. Twitch looked over them, delicately. Their cyber sleeves were okay, and they didn’t seem hurt.
Not cuts, or bruises, or lost limbs. That was important.
She remembered when Bumblebee had told them that Humans are more fragile, that they can’t just replace their limbs like Transformers can. When Thrash argued that their mom had a replaced leg, Bumblebee said that although humans can replace some limbs, they couldn't replace things like their face. Or their heart. And it wasn’t always a guarantee.
Twitch was gentle as she touched Robby’s arm, seeing if she could find a connection at all. He was definitely alive, but was also unconscious like the rest of her siblings. It was just like sleeping, she told herself. They’d wake up just like they did everyday. They had to.
Twitch looked up, almost forgetting that there were two autobots in the room. A part of her knew that under different circumstances, she would’ve been jumping around, excited to meet them. Asking so many different questions, not really expecting answers immediately. She’d be showing off her cool fighting moves or her siblings. But at that moment, she felt so small.
“Will they be okay?” She asked, not even believing that this was her own voice. It sounded far too- Small? Was that the right word?
“They should be. We’re already making a departure to a human-friendly world to get some supplies.” First Aid spoke up, making his way towards Twitch. She recognized that his advances were slow, almost analyzing. “Perhaps if you could share with us how you all found yourselves floating in space, it could help us help you all.”
Don’t trust anyone .
“I don’t know.” Twitch spoke the truth. She stared back at her older brother, gently holding his unmoving hand. “I- I think we were fighting something. We had to have been- I remember a lot of screaming and pain.” Her grip tightened, but she was still conscious of not to hurt Robby. “All I remember is waking up here.”
It was all she could do.
First Aid seemed to take that information well, despite it not really being anything useful.
“It’s alright, sometimes processors can get a little messed up.” The doctor autobot seemed to be speaking friendly, but she once again tilted her head confused.
“What’s a ‘processor’?” She asked. Was this a Transformer thing? First Aid looked a little taken aback, but quickly regained composure. He tapped his head.
“The thing that you use to think, and hold memories.” He replied. Twitch made an ‘o’ with her mouth in understanding.
“Oh! My brain!” Twitch nodded, now understanding. “That makes a lot of sense now!” She chuckled, thinking back to all the comics that she and Thrash would read. Sure, she would sometimes just skip ahead some parts to get the cool battle scenes, but some of the terminology wasn’t really what she was interested in.
Twitch looked over to her brother.
He probably would’ve recognized the word.
She ignored the strange look that the two Autobots gave to her.
“Is there anything that you could tell us about you? We tried giving Energon, but that didn’t seem to do a lot. All of you have such low Energon levels.” First Aid hummed, then snapped his head at her in a moment of bewildered realization. “WAIT-? How are you moving right now? Last I did a check up, your energon levels were horribly low!” He exclaimed, which caused Twitch to jump in the air slightly.
“I got better?” She shrugged, having a bit of humour at the Earth pop culture reference. The other two did not seem as amused. She gave a sigh. “Energon doesn’t really do it for us.” She spoke bluntly.
Don’t trust anyone .
Her spark seemed to flare violently within her. It almost caused her to lose her footing in the air. Almost.
“What do you mean by that?” Rodimus intervened now, a look of interest and curiosity. She went to speak, but felt herself be forced back.
Don’t trust anyone!
She fought off her spark mentally, this was information they had to know if they were going to help her siblings! If they help her siblings, maybe they were just good people! They’re autobots after all! It’s basically their entire job to be good people and do good things.
Shrugging off her own spark, she reached into one of her compartments. She grabbed a bottle of the energon water, a rush of glee rushing through as the bottle didn’t seem harmed at all.
The sinking feeling of if they were stranded in some weird place without energy was something that Twitch decided was not going to be the main focus in her thoughts. And instead, she was going to focus on the happiness that her water was okay.
Twitch had to assume that her siblings’ waters were also intact.
“We drink this.” Twitch said, holding the bottle towards the doctor. First Aid nodded, and took it. He loosened the cap, and looked inside. He looked confused, would be the best term.
“What is it?”
“It’s water mixed with energon.”
“Water?” Rodimus asked, the bewilderment on his face matched his voice. Twitch only laughed at his confusion. She always loved seeing the faces of Transformers realizing they drink water, it was always so funny. She could’ve sworn Arcee didn’t believe it at all until she watched it.
“Yup! You want a taste?” Twitch challenged, swiping the bottle back from First Aid. She shook it in front of Rodimus.
“And rust from the inside? No thanks.” Rodimus huffed, crossing his arms. Twitch shrugged, and started to drink a little bit.
She had to make sure to conserve her energon water. Who knows how long until she can get more. If she could even get more.
But! That was a later problem!
“They should have some in their compartments to help.” Twitch said, hovering over her unconscious siblings. She went to each compartment, and grabbed their waters.
First Aid was hesitant to let her do so, it was obvious by the way he almost tried to reach for her. But she was careful, she knew what she was doing.
In total, they only had three bottles, including her own. That was okay. They could make due. They just had to be really careful!
Although, sick people needed more liquids didn’t they? To get more energy? Were their three bottles going to be enough?
She was lucky that one of the bottles was Hashtag’s, and since she was a bigger gal, her bottle was bigger too. But would she and Thrash’s saved bottles be of any use to Jawbreaker or Nightshade?
“Here, may I see one of them?” First Aid asks, lifting out a hand. She was hesitant.
“You aren’t going to steal these and blackmail us with them are you?” Twitch asked, voice defensive. First Aid shook his head.
“Uh- No. No, I’m not going to do that at all. I was going to hook these up to your friends.”
“ Family .” Twitch corrected. Once again, she was given a weird look. Well fine, she can look at them weird too. All the weird looks in one room where all her siblings aren’t conscious, and she’s totally fine with that. Super a-okay with everything going on.
Twitch gave one of the bottles, hers, to First Aid. She watched in interest as he made his way to each of her siblings. She kept a very sharp eye on them. Even if they are Autobots, she just felt as if they couldn't be trusted.
Twitch didn’t know why.
Don’t trust anyone .
Nevermind, Twitch knew why. Her spark was being quite clear and cut about it. She couldn’t even tell why her spark was telling her this. But surely her own spark wouldn’t lead her astray? However, as she watched First Aid tend to her siblings, filtering some medical bags filled with something she didn’t know, mixing with her energon water, it gave her some hope. Surely they wouldn’t try poisoning them? Twitch would destroy anyone in her path who even thought about hurting her family. Which, she realized, might be a longer list than had first anticipated.
They’d made quite a few enemies actually, like Mandroid, but he’d already been dealt with, so he’s off the list! Then there was Soundwave, and Shockwave, and Starscream, and- honestly all of the Decepticons could be on the list actually.
There was something else. Someone else on the list. Or maybe something else? Maybe many things?
Why couldn't she remember?
Accessing memory…
Memory Blocked.
“Uh, you okay?” The voice of Rodimus cutting clear into Twitch’s ear caused her to jump, hovering away from him almost immediately. Whether or not she also shrieked a little was of no one’s concern.
“I’m fine! Fine! Greater than fine! Toooootally fine!” Twitch spoke rapidly, a bit defensive. However, Rodimus didn’t look convinced. Which was a bit offensive, Twitch thought her lying skills were pretty good. She was usually able to fool JB! Then again, it wasn’t that difficult to trick JB. Maybe he wasn’t a good example.
“Listen,” Rodimus hummed, “I know this is all probably super stressful for you, but, there are a few things we have to go over here. Especially as it seems you’ll be staying on the ship for a while, as well as your family.” Twitch watched as the red autobot spoke. There was a certain air to it that was a little familiar. Almost a mixture of Optimus’ commanding presence, and Bumblebee’s carefree nature. It was familiar. She could even say it was nice.
“First things first, I need to know your designation.” It wasn’t a question, but a demand. The same tone that Megatron or Optimus used during missions. She shuffled a bit, slowly hovering down onto a counter to sit atop of. She glared at him, daring him to continue. "You're allowed to have whatever secrets you'd like, but I need to know what to call you. You know, for paperwork and all that." He gave a charismatic smile. It made her want to tell him everything about everyone, but she stopped herself. She had far more self-control than that.
Truthfully, Twitch didn’t see a reason not to share her name, or her siblings’. Surely it could be simple to tell these Autobots about her siblings, but something felt strange. It felt off. And she wasn’t sure what was wrong. These autobots were clearly alright, if they were already tending to her wounded family. But it still didn’t fit. And it wasn’t just her spark telling her to not trust anyone, which perhaps would be for the best.
A sigh escaped her. Even if she did lie, once her siblings woke up, surely the entire truth would spill out.
“I’m Twitch. Twitch Maltos.”