Chapter Text
I once prided myself on my insignificance, at least that's how I wished the world to perceive me. If the truth I concealed became known, the consequences would indeed be dire for me.
My days were predictable—rising early, fueling up, and embarking on my work as a civilian courier. A life of ceaseless motion, accompanied only by the soothing strains of classical music.
One night, however, fate had other plans. As I made my way home, I found myself pursued—my vehicle, indistinguishable from another that had clearly provoked the ire of a particularly ruthless juggernaut. The streets screamed nearly every corner taken, every near-collision close call, and many sudden shifts. The advantage of my smaller craft lay in its linear and turn speed, so after a tense chase, I managed to lose him. Yet, my efforts led me barely a quarter full and astray, down a path far too familiar to retrievers.
I heard tales of such creatures (as I thought of them) dragging loiterers and lawbreakers to the impound. Those ill-starred individuals who didn't pay their fees or have a set legal representative would be brought to the scrapyard to be repurposed, disassembled, or meltdown for spare parts.
My path was already unsettling, with no one else in sight, and small critters were frenzy dancing on the illumination source. I felt as if my intake dropped when a guttural cry pierced through my receptors. I didn't know where it came from and didn't want whatever caused it to breech upon me. It felt too long to build up speed. My mind raced faster than the rest of my systems, and before I knew it, I collided and then blacked out. When I came to, I was facing the skies, and my weight swayed with the motion of whoever or whatever was carrying me.
"Oh, you're awake," I heard from a rather feminine voice.
I was worried about where she was taking me, so I writhed, trying to get off. She obliged, loosening her clutches and having me land on the ground. I didn't have a proper footing, so I stumbled; my hands caught me before my face reached the ground.
Turning back, I would have confused her as a shadow belonging to a beast if it weren't for her glowing blue eyes accented with golden irises. So much surged throughout my body and became worse as it transfer and ascend up the pole which cause the lights above me to flicker and explode. It stung, it buzzed, it hurt, I didn't know which part of me to hold first. I was ventilating heavily, shaking irrationally, yet she stopped her approach as she continued her pattern of hushing.
She looked concerned.
"I didn't think where you were was the safest place to be left. I don't think you're in the best state to drive off, either. Let me take you elsewhere, a medical perhaps," she said softly.
I struggled to vent and regain my composure, so I said, "Um... no, thank you, that won't be necessary. I'm quite capable of addressing my own... conditions."
She eyed me skeptically, but before I could protest again, a sudden surge of electricity pulsed through me. Everything blurs, and I'm met with darkness yet again. I woke up lying on a bench in a deli with my head in a cast. The faint aroma of energon lingered, mingling with the quiet hum of refrigeration units. It starkly contrasted the chaos that had unfolded mega cycles earlier. Speaking of megacycles, I was very behind schedule.
"Frag," I crudely retorted, with no doubt I would receive a severe reprimand and more unpaid overtime as penance for such "discretions."
The next time I saw her was during my delivery at a laboratory. I didn't recognize her at first, she was on two peds, large forelimbs hung from her shoulders like winged capes while her lower arms tucked close to her body with digits interlocking together as if in prayer. Her features look softer, rounder, and more elegant. Massive portions of her frame herald a different color scheme from before; she acclaimed the pigments of white and different shades of turquoise. Her wrists and face remained in the darkest of tones, making her stare appear just as striking with those familiar optics.
"You again?" was what I allowed to leave my voice box haphazardly.
"Right you are Mr. Composer," she shot back.
The moment I heard that, I went into my datapad and saw a recent draft of his personal work. A wave of unease washed over me.
"You looked through my stuff?" is what I sputtered anxiously.
She grins, unrepentant, "Guilty as charged, Glitch." she unrepentantly quipped, her tone as sharp as the static coursing through my circuits.
My internal systems flashed warning signs as my anger flared up, and then I accidentally made my data pad inoperable. She smirked she have dirt on me.
"Don't be rude to him, Calypso," a voice called out to intervene. I turned toward the source, spotting a bot significantly larger than us with an imposing and calculating presence. His features made me assume that his alternative was likely areospacial. His optics are keen, and his tone is deliberate and measured but not cold. He approached us both with a certain calm, suggesting an understanding of the bigger picture, "Please forgive her. I brought up something to her yesterday that she didn't appreciate."
"You don't need to defend me, Shockwave. I can take care of myself just fine," she blurted, but her expression appeared to give off a desire to backtrack her words towards him.
"I'm sure you could. Now he, do me a solid and handle these documents. After all, these aren't arranging themselves, okay," chaffed as he landed a pile into her servos.
Calypso raises an optical ridge but nods as she shifts out of their perception.
"Charming, isn't she," I sarcastically said.
"No, she needs more time to get accustomed to working for my mentor, Jhiaxus. She may find what happened to her to be a massive uproot. She was stationed at Post C-12 for most of her life until it was arranged to be automated," responded Shockwave.
"Jhiaxus," I echoed, startled, "as in Nova Prime's chief theoretical strategist?"
"Yes," he said concisely.
"What made him decide to choose her?" I questioned, still reeling from what I had just heard.
"Well, I convinced him to. She doesn't have much going for her on the moon, so she would do commissions and side hustle to kill time. I have seen her work, and I'm impressed with what she has done in spite of her previous situation. My mentor, while brilliant, has drawbacks. He has been denying his impulses for so long that it has weakened his ability to think on his feet in many situations. Once Jhiaxus has set a course of action, it is tough for him to diverge from his strategy. So, having her around could shake things up for him, especially since I won't always be around. I have my sights of carving out a name for myself."
I mulled over Shockwave's words, uneasy about how quickly this seemingly mundane delivery had spiraled into an encounter with not just one but two unsettlingly enigmatic figures. He wasn't used to this kind of attention; his routine revolved around keeping his head low and avoiding trouble.
"Carving out a name for yourself?" I echoed with a skeptical tone.
"I'm sure working for the Jhiaxus is already prestigious enough."
Shockwave inclined his head with a flicker of what might have been amusement crept onto his faceplate.
"Prestige is transient. Legacy, however, is permanent. And a name built on one's ingenuity holds far more value than one borrowed from association."
I frowned, unsure whether Shockwave's statement was meant to impress or intimidate me, but it didn't sit well either way.
"You talk like you've got everything figured out." I decided to snark out and be met again with Shockwave's analytical glare. The larger bot didn't respond immediately. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the doorway where Calypso had disappeared. His tone measured when he finally spoke.
"I don't. I barely scratch the surface. Well, it was nice talking to you. You may want to leave before she comes back. She knows how to smell out insecurity and personal woes, and apparently, you managed to get on her radar."
I decided to heed Shockwave's advice and left the premises as soon as possible.