Chương 47: INTERCEPTED DATA-004. ARCEE.

"-and then Indomina went'aaaargh!' and the reliquary started sucking up all that purple mist stuff-you saw that right? Yeah, and it-" Arcee was nervous.

"-then Optimus was like 'Unicron, I imprison you forever more! And we were all standing there awkwardly for a minute looking at each other afterwards, like out of some kind of fragging cartoon show-" Which was a given, considering she was helping transport Unicron while surrounded by Decepticons, but she felt it needed to be mentally stated at least once, just for the sake of her possibly fraying sanity. Seriously, there were dozens of them, all around her and the other bots.

Especiall y after Shockwave had presumably sent his new minions to reinforce them. Really, with the current situation, who wouldn't feel nervous after the fight they'd just been through?

"-and of course you can't just-hey Arcee, are you even listening to me?" All while one of said Decepticons... or Predacons, in this case, jabbered next to her, filling her audio processors with noise. Airazor was... nice. Sure. Possibly too nice. The Predacon just... never stopped talking.

"Of course. You were talking about... cartoon shows."

"... Oh yeah! So anyway!" Arcee allowed herself to vent heavily, the mimicy of a sigh parodied by the larger Predacon walking across from her and Airazor. Compared to his 'sister', Backbite was a far quieter mech, and oddly enough seemed to have trouble meeting her optics half the time. A rarity, considering how tall he was. Usually the larger bots liked to lord their height over her. Up until she cut them down to size at least.

Still, she preferred it over Airazor's motor mouth, so she subtly did her best to move over to the mech's side, allowing the third member of their group to continue ranting at thin air. Backbite's orange optics glanced at Arcee's sudden proximity for a moment, before stubbornly staring straight ahead. The femme just smirked, hurrying slightly to keep pace with the larger mech's strides.

While most of their current convoy were moving in alt mode, those at the perimeter (including her) had elected to remain in their root forms. The decision had proven worthwhile after a few lone Terrorcons had stumbled upon them, seemingly just wandering Unicron's abandoned caverns and tunnels without a greater will to guide them. Regardless, she was slightly bored, and she couldn't properly talk to any of the other Autobots thanks to Prime spreading them out.

All in order to make sure the entire group had at least one elite soldier watching one side. Normally she'd just speak through comms, but even that was proving less than worthwhile thanks to the ever present interference. Optimus had barely been able to get a short message out to the surface, and that was with the boosted systems of a Prime backing him up. Airazor wasn't really an option either.

Arcee had briefly managed to hold up a conversation with the young Predacon femme, but the second the words anime and manga had slipped out of her mouth, Arcee's processor had blanked. At best, she understood it was some kind of human entertainment form, but that was about it. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. So Backbite it was. He at least seemed a bit less... sporadic.

Sidling slightly closer, but not so close as to make it awkward, the blue Autobot lightly pinged the darker blue Predacon with her close range relay systems. The mental equivalent of a tap on the shoulder, effectively.

"Hey." Backbite's response was a grunt, the mech still staring forward. His faceplate entirely unreadable. Thankfully, that was something Arcee could work with. It almost reminded the veteran warrior of herself, before she'd opened up a little more.

"Quiet type, huh? Surprising. Most of your kind seem pretty happy to chat." Her helm tilted slightly towards the still talking Airazor, who was now gesticulating at the air with a pair of transformed blasters, making shooting noises. Those orange optics flicked toward her again, a small quirk drawing Backbite's mouth ever so slightly upwards.

"They... we... are an acquired taste." Arcee blinked, analysing the response. For just a moment, she almost could have sworn the voice seemed familiar, but considering the mech likely hadn't actually existed for even a stellar cycle, she somehow doubted them having met at any point before now.... Primus that really was horrifying, now that she thought about it. They were all practically sparklings compared to the likes of her and the others. The only real difference was that they were... fully formed. And trained.

Eugh. The entire situation was leaving a bad taste in her mouth, almost akin to stale energon. Just another reason to keep an eye on Shockwave, not that she needed any more. Partially restored emotions or not, the Decepticon scientist was and always would be a monster at spark, no matter how hard Optimus hoped. It would just be up to her and the others to keep the mad mech in check.

Nodding to herself, the femme glanced back at the once more silent Predacon, feeling a renewed urge to at least try and get the youngling some form of interaction that wasn't tainted by the Decepticons. Having Shockwave and the other officers aboard the Nemesis as role models? The only worse example she could think of was Megatron, and even that was just stretching it that little bit more.... No wonder Optimus had wanted them spread out among the resurrected warriors.

The Prime really was sneakier than most bots gave him credit for.

"They are. We didn't get the chance to properly introduce ourselves during the battle, but Airazor mentioned you. I'm Arcee. You're Backbite, right?" The Autobot smiled as the large mech grumbled back a response.

"Yes, that would be me." Progress! She'd have him talking back in no time at all.