Chapter Text
Jack, Miko, and Rafael had been with the Autobots for a week. In that time, they had begun to understand what the bots were fighting for and why. They had also started to become close with their designated guardians.
At the present time, the kids were playing a video game, Ratchet and Optimus were standing at the monitors, Bulkhead was attempting to form a new lobbing ball out of scrap metal, and Bumblebee and Arcee were processing the energon that they had brought back from their last mission. Another bot that the children had only seen a fleeting glimpse of, sat in his berthroom, sharpening his sword. Torrent did not like the fact that they were stuck on a new planet with tiny life-forms that seemed to be helpless. Of course, he felt just as helpless and useless, despite what the rest of his team said.
Back in the main room, everyone was jolted from their tasks as the proximity sensors went off. There was a collective groan from every being in the room besides Optimus, who stood and waited patiently for Agent Fowler to enter the base. I chime sounded and a gray suited man stepped onto the platform.
“Prime!” Fowler bellowed, even though said bot was already standing in front of him.
“What is it Agent Fowler?” Optimus asked calmly, his impassive expression unchanging.
Fowler seemed surprised and angered that the Prime didn’t already know that Decepticons were up to something. “The ‘Cons are attacking two very important military intelligence bases! Why haven’t you done anything about it yet?! The attack has been going on for the last hour and all you and your team have done is sit here!”
The Prime seemed to be taken aback by the government agent’s sudden outburst and continued to look confused as the man kept rattling off occurrences from the last three hours. When he was finally done, he yelled at Optimus again, asking why they had simply stood by and done nothing.
Ratchet was about to retaliate and say something to the agent when the sound of heavy and uneven ped-steps filled the room. Everyone turned towards the hallway as a black, red, and silver mech stepped into the light, his cyan optics held a look of extreme anger. Heavy scars covered most of the left side of his face and body. His bulky frame cast a jagged shadow on the floor. The anger in his optics seemed to intensify when he saw the one who had insulted his comrades and leader.
“You think that we are simply sitting around and doing nothing?” Torrent growled, “Has the thought ever occurred to you that we can’t be everywhere at once? Or maybe that we are severely outnumbered? Or that we have to deal with an outdated combination of human and Cybertronian technology? We have been trying everything that we possibly can! We have been fighting nonstop for centuries and you think that we aren’t doing anything?! Has it maybe occurred to you that we can’t afford to lose anyone else?”
Agent Fowler stared at the bot that he too had only seen glimpses of, much less heard speak. His anger at the bots still hadn’t dissipated though. He scowled, “You must be Torrent. How come I haven’t seen you around at all? What gives you the right to say that your team has actually been doing something about the Decepticon problem? You don’t seem to serve any purpose on this team! You don’t go on missions, you don’t fight! What are you here for?”
Torrent cast his optics down to the floor. He knew that he was a burden to the other bots, hell, even Fowler had noticed it. Sometimes he wished that the others could read his mind, just to let them know that he agreed with what they thought of him. He agreed that he shouldn’t be a part of Optimus Prime’s team. He agreed that he should have offlined at the hands of the Decepticons. The rest of the Autobots looked at Agent Fowler in horror. Optimus’s optics narrowed at the man standing on the balcony, they had never told Fowler Torrent’s story and now he wondered whether it had been the right thing for them to do.
Torrent sighed and turned to leave, the Autobot Elite Guard insignia on his shoulder gleamed in the light. All of the humans gaped in surprise as they saw the black mech’s. The scarring was even worse than what they had seen when he was facing them. Two wings protruded from the warrior’s back. One was horribly twisted and the other was cut clean and half. He walked with a noticeable limp, his left stabilizer was mangled and dented from his thigh down. The humans’ eyes remained where the mech had stood before, even after he had disappeared into the darkness.
Optimus’s optics lingered in that spot longer than anyone else’s, a sad and distant look adorned his faceplate. When he turned back to the now-silent Agent Fowler, the sadness melted away and was replaced by fury.
“Agent Fowler,” Optimus growled, “How dare you speak as if he has done nothing to help our cause. How dare you insult someone who gave up so much to save the lives of others. If it wasn’t for Torrent, none of us would be standing here today!”
Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Arcee, and Ratchet all nodded. They had only seen Optimus lose his temper a few times and it was something to be scared of. But after a moment, the anger seemed to wash away, only to be replaced by the same sadness as before.
Agent Fowler’s face was running through many different emotions; fear, shock, anger, sadness. It was as if he had realized part of his mistake and was trying to decide whether or not he should speak, but then he seemed to chose silence as the best option.
Optimus vented deeply before speaking, “Torrent has always been under risk of attack, not only because of his skill on the battlefield, but because of who his conjunx endura is. He is bonded to Ultra Magnus, who is commander of the Autobot Elite Guard.”
“Hold on a minute!” Mike yelled, “What’s a conjunx endura?”
Ratchet looked down at the girl, a little surprised and embarrassed by the question, but he ended up answering for his leader anyway. “It is the Cybertronian equivalent to a husband or wife.”
Miko only nodded before turning back to listen to Optimus.
The Prime continued his story, “When the time came for Cybertron to be evacuated, Torrent and Ultra Magnus were separated. Ultra Magnus forced Torrent to come to Earth with us while he stayed behind to help the rest of the population escape. Torrent was only just recovering from an injury from a previous battle and Magnus thought it best that he got away from the front lines for a while. The voyage to Earth was long and we spent most of it in stasis. Disaster struck when Earth came into view. A blast from the Nemesis, the Decepticon warship, hit our ship and knocked Torrent from stasis. The rest of us were somehow unaffected. Torrent noticed the danger we were in and took control of the ship. Eventually though, we were hurdling towards the ground at high speeds. We crash-landed and when the ship made impact, Torrent was thrown from the wreckage, knocking him out and injuring him badly. When we came out of stasis, we were too late. Torrent had been taken by Megatron and the Decepticons. After we were found by your government and given this base, we were able to bridge onto the warship, which didn’t have cloaking technology yet. We found Torrent severely injured, barely alive. He had risked his life and furthered his injuries by breaking into the Decepticon database and sending important codes and coordinates to us. He was found and brought back to his cell. He was beaten, and tortured by Starscream and yet, he still refused to give up any information about our mission on Earth, what information he had sent to us, or about where we had sent the Allspark. He stayed awake through everything, never letting out as much as a whimper of pain. He refused to yield anything, even when Shockwave hooked him up to a cortical psychic patch. We eventually found the tapes of his cell, allowing us to learn about what happened to him. After everything he went through to protect us, Ratchet was able to save his life, but without the proper tools or facilities, there are many things that he couldn’t fix. Torrent is no longer able to transform, he can’t walk without a limp, and he is in near-constant pain. He hasn’t had any contact with his conjunx and he thinks that Ultra Magnus will not accept him now that he is disabled.”
Agent Fowler was absolutely silent. Optimus knew that the agent was probably silently berating himself for speaking out of line, but he didn’t push his point any farther.
Instead of continuing the argument, Fowler simply made eye contact with the Prime, quietly mumbled a thank you, and stepped into the elevator, leaving the base.
As soon as he left, Optimus turned and headed towards Torrent’s berthroom, ignoring the looks he received from the rest of his team. When he came to the black seeker’s door, all he heard was silence. He vented, then knocked. A faint “come in” sounded from behind the door. Optimus slowly pushed it open. The seeker was sitting on his berth with his helm in his servos, his broken wings drooping low on his back struts.
The Prime closed the door quietly behind himself. “Torrent,” he called softly, “Are you all right?”
Torrent looked up at his leader, his icy blue optics giving away his sadness. “Optimus, why do you keep me around? I have become a waste of energon and a burden to the team. I can no longer fight, nor can I protect the human children that have become charges to Bulkhead, Acree, and Bumblebee.”
Optimus knelt down in front of Torrent and put his servo on the seeker’s shoulder. “Torrent, look at me.” He whispered; a cyan set of optics met Optimus’s before he continued. “You are not and never have been a burden to us. You will always have a place among us. Do not heed what Agent Fowler says, he does not know the extent to which you have helped us.”
“That was a long time ago! What happened in the past is in the past! I’m completely useless! Sometimes I wish that Megatron had just offlined me when he had the chance!”
The look of sadness in the Prime’s optics intensified, “You saved our lives Torrent, there is nothing we could be more grateful for! I hope you never wish to be offlined, you have a conjunx endura to return to!”
The mention of Ultra Magnus made tears run down the scarred bot’s faceplate. “He will never accept me the way I am now. I saw the looks of disgust and disappointment he gave soldiers that were injured beyond recovery. I am now one of those broken bots. Optimus, he won’t want me back.”
The sobs that wracked Torrent’s body shocked the Prime, he had never seen the seeker let his walls down so completely, even when Ultra Magnus returned from battle injured.
After some time though, Optimus managed to calm Torrent down and he eventually fell into recharge.
Optimus stood up, Making sure to be quiet so as to not wake the slumbering mech. He closed the door once more and made his way back to the main room. The rest of the Autobots looked up as their leader entered the space. He told them of his conversation with Torrent and of how the seeker felt like he had lost his purpose.
~ to be continued ~