#where did the nice word processor go

[zeropro]

Skywarp: Origins - Chapter 2

https://archiveofourown.org/works/63945331/chapters/164272084#workskin

Skywarp was with the Decepticons before Starscream joined, and now we get a follow up to Thundercracker:Origins from Skywarp's pov. I'd love to know what you all think! I quite like with how this one turned out so I'll post it in its entirety here too haha:

-vvv-VVV-vvv-

Chapter 2

Thundercracker was Starscream’s friend, and that is the only reason Skywarp puts up with him. 

Why a cool guy like Starscream would have a friend as lame as Thundercracker is beyond him. The two couldn’t be more different! Where Starscream exuded confidence and charisma, Thundercracker was reclusive and brooding. Where Starscream could charm an entire room with only a few short words, Thundercracker always kept to himself.

When Starscream first joined the Decepticons, he had impressed Megatron with a huge speech in Vos and then walked right up to Skywarp and declared the two of them should be best friends!

Thundercracker spent his first night having a panic attack.

Skywarp did try to be nice at first, he really did! Might have even felt sorry for the guy. He thought maybe Thundercracker would eventually get over himself and come fly with them after a few days, or at least not just sit by himself in the rec room. Skywarp had no idea why the sad sap even joined the Decepticons in the first place. The mech was miserable, like, all of the time and never stopped worrying over pointless things like “making the right choice” and “doing the right thing.”

The worst part was: normally he could just ignore mechs like Thundercracker, leave them to their miserable self-inflicted processor ache, and move on with his life. Unfortunately for Skywarp, he liked Starscream, and Starscream liked Thundercracker, and he for some reason had decided to take responsibility for the soft-sparked moron.

Even then, it wouldn’t have been Skywarp’s problem if Starscream wasn't constantly complaining to him about it.

“He’s a loser,” Skywarp pointed out helpfully. “Just ditch him if it’s so much trouble.”

“Ha, yeah I really should,” Starscream would say. And then he doesn't.

-vvv-VVV-vvv-

Skywarp gleefully launches another missile into the burning streets below, the light from the explosion glinting off the black jet’s wings, painting his purple stripes an ominous gold. Flying through the smoke, he pulls out of his dive at the last moment, laughing as mechs scramble to get out of his way. He isn’t exactly trying to hit anybody, but he isn’t trying very hard not to either.

The Decepticons were going to drop a big bomb on Praxus tonight, and Megatron wanted as many of the civvies cleared as possible before that happens.

Watching the last of his bots escape, a warning from Skywarp’s chronometer pops up on his hud, reminding him of the approaching launch time. A few of the other Seekers start leaving the blast zone, having determined their sectors cleared. Skywarp wonders if he should do one more quick sweep before calling it quits. It had been a lot more fun when there were still law enforcers putting up a resistance and actual people on the streets to terrorize. Flying around over empty highways and sidewalks was much less exciting.

A larger number of jets are now leaving the city, and with nothing left to do, he flies up to join them. He would have loved to stay and get front row seats for the fireworks, but he’d promised Megatron he’d watch from somewhere safe this time. 

One Seeker didn't seem to get the memo, however, flying against the formation back into a cluster of buildings. Skywarp growls in annoyance when he recognizes the broad blue wings of Thundercracker.

“You've got to be kidding me.”

Skywarp’ll never hear the end of it from Starscream if Thundercracker got blown up. He swings back around to follow the blue Seeker.

Scanning the airways, his sensor net picks up movement below, but instead of Thundercracker, he finds a black and white Praxian with a red head crest dodging behind some rubble. A police bot, wounded and unarmed but still kicking, and as far as Skywarp is concerned, that makes him fair game!

Without landing, he switches to root mode and aims his last missile at the target below. 

The air around him suddenly explodes with a deafening sonic boom, throwing him sideways into the nearest building. Shattered glass rains down around him as he rolls into a rough landing inside. 

“Khaaa…augh, what the slag,” Skywarp groans, his audio receptors still ringing with static. Giving himself a few good smacks to the helm, he shakes out the last of the fuzz before glaring up at the mech responsible for the assault. Thundercracker had followed him in through the broken window and was wringing his hands in the most pathetically apologetic way possible.

“Sorry! Sorry, are you alright? I wasn't…”

Skywarp didn't bother picking himself off the floor, instead opting to teleport behind the blue Seeker and spin kick him in the back. Thundercracker lands with a satisfying crunch, the shards of glass making a mess of his plating. “There,” Skywarp says with a huff, grabbing Thundercracker’s arm to haul him back up, “Now we’re even.”

“Ugh!” Thundercracker shoves Skywarp off of him and stalks back towards the opening in the wall, miserably picking glass out of his hands. Skywarp bounces after him. 

“You must be stupid or something. Didn't you see everyone leaving? We’ve got, what—ten breems before Shockwave launches the bomb!”

“But what if there are still people down here? Mechs that haven’t evacuated…”

“Who cares? We got most of them! Hey!”

Thundercracker was already flying away from the building, still not leaving the city. Skywarp stomps his ped in frustration and seriously considers abandoning the mech to his suicidal quest. A new message on his hud distracts his thoughts. It was a comm from Megatron asking where he was, and then eight additional comms from Starscream pop up in quick succession. It got him thinking.

Was Thundercracker ignoring his comms?

He could respect a mech willing to flirt with death, even if it was for a geeky reason. Plus, it'll be really funny to watch Starscream try to hide his concern when he berates Thundercracker for being stupid again. Less funny if Thundercracker actually dies. Skywarp flags the messages as acknowledged without bothering to read them and kicks off after the blue jet.

As long as he’s there he can teleport them both out in time, so why not have a bit of fun?

He finds Thundercracker trying to move an entire building’s worth of rubble away from the entrance to some high-rise. He could hear muffled voices shouting from inside. “You having fun there?” Skywarp jeers, crossing his arms.

Thundercracker bites back a curse as his hand slips, a trail of energon smearing across the surface of the wall. “Why are you still here, Skywarp?” he grouses, stepping back to reevaluate his options. 

“Boo!” Skywarp pops into existence on top of the rubble in a pink cloud of quantum mist, making Thundercracker jump back in surprise. Lowering himself into a crouch, the teleporter cocks his helm to the side, fixing Thundercracker with a toothy grin. “Why do you think, numbskull? I’m here to make sure you don’t get your sorry aft blown sky high!”

Thundercracker’s optics widen for a moment before narrowing in frustration. “Then help me get those mechs out of there!”

“Why don't you just use your big boom to turn this rubble to dust?” Skywarp supplies helpfully.

“That’ll bring the whole complex down!” Thundercracker snaps back, voice raising with stress.

Skywarp plants a hand on the ledge he was perched on and lazily swings his legs up into a handstand before flipping himself down to the ground. “Why do you care so much? They’re just civvies. Nobodies! Besides, it’s their own fault they didn't get out in time.”

Thundercracker looks horrified. “How can you just say stuff like that?” Pushing Skywarp out of the way, he starts prying small pieces off the blockage one crumpled slab at a time. 

There is a desperation in his movements that Skywarp just doesn’t understand. “You don’t even know them,” he mumbles, starting to feel annoyed.

“That shouldn't matter.” Thundercracker replies, heaving a large chunk away. Energon drips from his fingertips. Skywarp notes the lack of progress being made. “It's the right thing to do.”

Aaand there it is. Skywarp rolls his optics and gives Thundercracker a hard shove, once more sending the mech to the ground. For a Seeker his size, he sure does fall easy. 

“You’re a sap, you know that?” Skywarp says with disdain, turning to the building. Starscream was still blowing up his comm unit with pings, and another new one came in from Megatron. If Skywarp wanted to not get blown up for some lame bot like Thundercracker, he might as well help speed things along.

-vop-

Skywarp lands with a splash. The ceiling had caved in, making the inside of the building more dark and more cramped than it should have been. Liquid cleanser spews all over the floor from a cracked pipe in the wall. Huddled by the blocked entrance, Skywarp counts seven bots: three minibots of some kind and the rest an assortment of four wheelers and science nerds. Upon his arrival, someone screams, “Oh Primus it’s a Seeker! ” and another starts banging on the jammed door, wailing, “Help! It’s gonna kill us!”

Skywarp licks his lips. This is going to be fun.

With a menacing growl he lunges at the group, most of whom scramble over each other in a panic to escape his claws. He manages to get ahold of two of them and with a -vop- deposits them outside.

Skywarp gives the speechless Thundercracker a cheeky wave before teleporting back in. He immediately loses his footing on the slick floor and falls backwards just as one of the larger mechs holding a lead pipe takes a massive swing at where his helm had been. Skywarp laughs, catching his fall with one arm and windmilling his legs around to sweep the big bot off his peds. 

The other big guy pounces on him, grabbing Skywarp’s arms and forcing him down. “Ow! hey!” He yelps as the one on the floor throws himself on top to help hold him down. Seems like the civvies can fight after all!

“Skywarp?” Thundercracker’s muffled voice can be heard calling from outside. Skywarp decides to make this his problem and teleports outside with both bots still clinging to his frame.

Thundercracker is ready with his blaster and fires two warning shots, close enough to scorch armor. Realizing they are now outside, the smaller of the two bots immediately bolts, running for his life. The other one drops to the ground, shaking and crying in a disgusting heap. 

“Woop! Thanks!” Skywarp laughs. “Have fun with that .” He gives the cowering mech a kick before leaving Thundercracker to deal with the mess.

Back inside, he’s curious to find the room completely empty. Skywarp hums, deciding on how he wants to play this game. Slowly, emphasizing the heaviness of his footsteps, the Seeker begins stalking the parameter of the destroyed lobby. “Come out little things,” he calls out in a sing-song voice, “I just want to plaaaay!”

In one swift motion he grabs the edge of a counter and forcefully pries the entire thing from the ground, hurling it loudly against the opposite wall. His sudden violent outburst is rewarded by a startled whimper, identifying the minibots’ hiding spot.

“Ah ha! There you are!”

-vop-

Cackling victoriously, Skywarp descends on the screaming minibots as they scatter. Snatching up one in each hand, he heads back outside and launches one at Thundercracker’s head while the other gets rolled down the street. Thundercracker, to his credit, reacts fast, fumbling to catch the living projectile as Skywarp vanishes from sight.

The final minibot sat in the middle of the flooded room in tears. “Last one!” Skywarp crows, grabbing her from behind and jumping them both straight up high over the city. 

With a quick spin, Skywarp throws the bot as far away from him as he can manage! After a moment of terrified screaming, he watches her finally transform into some sort of drone copter and whizz away as fast as her little rotary blades can carry her. Skywarp almost cries from laughing so hard; this had definitely been worth sticking around for!

His mirth is cut short by a firm smack to the helm. 

“Hey! What gives?!” Skywarp whips around, expecting to be confronted by Thundercracker’s annoying kill-joy attitude. He is instead greeted by a very irate Starscream. “Oh! Hi Screamer!” he says, smiling as sweetly as a newspark who’s never done anything wrong before in his entire function.

Starscream looks ready to hit him again, clearly not in the mood. “If you're quite done, Skywarp, we have exactly one breem to find Thundercracker and clear the blast zone! You two are the only ones that have not reported in!”

Skywarp clasps both his hands against his cheeks and makes an exaggerated gasp sound, “Starscream! Don’t tell me you were worried about me!” 

“Oh for crying out—!”

Skywarp laughs as Starscream makes a grab for him, diving back down to where Thundercracker had been.

It didn’t take long for them to locate their third, still scouring the streets for energy signals.

Skywarp had been correct: the poorly-concealed concern wracking Starscream’s frame as he berated Thundercracker was hilarious! The normally unflappable Seeker’s wings were hiked so high up on his back it looked as though they might fly away without him! As for Thundercracker, it was as though a switch had flipped in his processor the moment he saw Starscream rushing at him. Soon, he was the one insisting they should get to safety while Starscream wouldn’t stop going on about ignoring his comms and putting all three of them in danger in the first place. It was unfortunate that the show had to be cut short. They had run out of time.

With a contented smile, Skywarp slung an arm around each mech’s shoulders and warped all three of them away.

That night, Praxus fell. The explosion was spectacular, and the Decepticons all got charged on the city’s high-grade. Thundercracker sat by himself as always, and Skywarp didn't pay him any mind. He was Starscream's friend, after all.

[nonsscrapheap]

TFP: Universal Observations

YES YES HELLO I AM BACK!

so sorry for the delay! i was very busy irl, i had to move into a new place and things are still just settling here but i have FINALLY finished this next chapter of alien mecha! took longer than i thought but here we are!

another reason why it took so long is because this chapter OVERTOOK the last chapter's 6k+ word count... it is 11.8k long. so i really hope you guys enjoy this one!

ALSO! while this is DEFINITELY in the Aligned Continuity and based on the Transformers Prime show, i took more than a few liberties for their worldbuilding and lore. just to make things more fun for me and hopefully you guys.

anyway, here we go!

ACT I: Alien Mecha - II -

[ ----- TP : UO ----- ]

The Nemesis

After the… Actor? Universe? Thing? (After Lord Megatron got pissed at his own counterpart/actor for speaking uh, for disrespecting him. (Wow.)) And after that bot, the orange one- his name was… Ri-no, it was Rung? Rung, right, Rung. After Rung's one-sided conversation, which left all of them on edge, there was a moment of reprieve as the Autobots and their humans tried to figure out the sphere.

Observer.

Thing.

Breakdown had no idea what those guys were doing, and unfortunately, neither did Soundwave or Lord Megatron. It obviously grated on the warlord and even their communications officer, being unable to control the Observer as they wanted but there wasn't much they could do.

Anyway, while they were doing that, Lord Megatron had sought fit to move all of them to a meeting room with chairs so they didn't have to stand around and do nothing but gawk oin their pedes the entire time.

Now they get to sit around and gawk instead.

Not that Breakdown was complaining, it was just a little boring to just- watch whatever the frag was going on with the Autobots, humans, Observer while listening to the speculations from his fellow Decepticons.

Surprisingly Knock Out and Starscream were collaborating with Soundwave to figure out more of the Observer, at the start, mostly on Lord Megatron's orders but as they watched the Autobots somehow pull up blueprints of the Observer's inner mechanisms- well, Breakdown was lost when Starscream said something about 'alternate-universal planar' something, something.

The ex-wrecker had forgotten that Starscream wasn't just a vain second in command seeker, but had roots in science. Vaguely he remembered Knock Out mentioning that Starscream once went to an Iaconian Academy- impressive, really.

There wasn't much to do while the main processors were hashing slag out about the Observer but to passively listen and do a little vehicon management through some commlinks and such.

Sometime later, seemed like the Autobots were finally continuing as Soundwave, Knock Out and Starscream came to the conclusion that the Observer was capable of self-repair but needed to be in use to be able to do so.

Which meant watching more universes where things were weird and different.

Well, this was going to be fun.

Breakdown didn't even mean that much sarcasm, he was genuinely interested in what was going to happen. It wasn't everyday you get to watch other universes after all, sure, all of them so far were weird…

Decepticons acting chummy while the Autobots were actual menaces with con-like malice. Actors who were playing out their universe, fragging Unicr—

But honestly, it's more entertainment than Breakdown's had in a while on this hunk of rock. Reminded him of holovids and such, and he knows Knock Out is more than enjoying this since it also reminds him of the human media that they both tend to watch in private- some of them Breakdown doesn't really like but eh, they had their preferences.

( As an ex-wrecker he did like the demolition derbies and action movies, but only Knock Out would know that he had a soft spot for nice, well done romanctic movies and shows. )

[ KEY WORDS ; ALIEN MECHA ]

Alien Mecha?

He had to wonder just what was going on in the Autobot base, he knows the Observer was busted inside so the whole 'Key Words' input thing was probably fragged as well but seriously, just what led to those pair of words becoming literaly key words into looking in another universe?

And of course it starts weird.

Slow motion, edges frosted over, and a small human- a child, human equivalent to a sparkling- just standing there. Confusion was the first thing that came to mind as he watched things progress, before his plates bristled at the sight of an unknown creature standing so menacingly in front of the young human.

Look, humans were weird. Humans were weak, and squishy and he didn't have the best impressions of them especially because humans were the reason he lost a fragging optic. But as much as a Decepticon Breakdown was, he never approved of going after sparklings, regardless of creatures.

Even when he taunted Bulkhead over his female human pet, it was posturing and battle-focused taunting at best.

Also? He was with Knock Out, whatever the frag that was, it was hideous.

Imagine his surprise though, when he sees another human suddenly appear with a small metal stick of all things and bash the canine-like monster in the fragging face. Clearly terrified but mostly furiously protective over the young child, who Breakdown would learn was actually the much younger self of one of the Autobot's humans.

Arachnid apparently recognized her, muttering, "What a contrast, I had that woman cocooned helplessly yet here she is, trying to take on something beyond her size."

Breakdown hid a snort, Arachnid has never been around creators then. Organic or not, there was clearly something akin to the creator-protocols that demanded their young's safety overall. Breakdown watched curiously, only having seen such feats from humans in movies and shows, and though this felt like watching human media, this was undeniably real. Just set in another universe.

"Did I watch that right or did that tiny human manage to kill one of the- whatever the frag that was?" Breakdown asked aloud, in disbelief and slight awe at the sight of one of the monsters actually down despite the size-disparity and the clear danger that the monster was.

"She shoved her arm and weapon right through the mouth, unorthodox yet effective. Unfortunately not without its demerits." Huh, even Lord Megatron seemed impressed- just the tiniest bit, but that was saying something.

Carriers.

Breakdown never wanted to go against one, regardless of species.

Anyway, it turns out to be a dream. Or maybe a memory by the looks of things. The human, Jack, Breakdown was actually going to have to address the organics' names at this point since there were going to be other humans, wakes up then shortly after the other human, Raf, wakes up too.

Honestly the next few minutes are a bit boring, and he distantly hears Starscream grumbling over the fact they were watching the Autobot's humans. As much as he agreed a bit with the seeker, Knock Out's answer was the reality of things.

The Autobot humans were the ones in control here, so of course the Observer would focus on them. At least in the beginning, back in that other universe, the one with the blue-eyed Lord Megatron and malicious (yet hot) Optimus Prime, the focus had started out on the children before it drifted over to a Decepticon vs Autobot showdown.

Cut short because of—

"- My name is Rung -" Breakdown tried not to look at Soundwave, tried not to remember the other Prime cutting the mech's fa—

Give m—

Breakdown shuddered, shaking his helm and focused on the screen. The humans were walking now, down a hall and- wait a fragging minute. He recognized those uniforms! "Those're the humans that nabbed me and my optic!" He hissed, his glare at the screen shortly turned towards a chuckling spider-bot.

Finally Bulkhead's human comes unto screen, looking far different from usual- the pink of her hair was extremely faded, not to mention said hair was short. Weird. He could see Knock Out making a face at the faded human paint job, probably comparing it to his own paint job or something.

Then comes a name that no one expected— "SHOCKWAVE!?" Everyone exclaimed, even Soundwave! Although his exclamation, was of course, a recording of someone else shouting the cylcoptic mech's designation.

"What did happen to Shockwave?" Arachnid asked lowly, eyeing the way Lord Megatron glared at Starscream.

Breakdown shrugged, disgruntled at the question but not really blaming her for asking. She'd been out of the loop of the Decepticons for a while now. "Dunno, something about a bridge explosion back on Cybertron?"

"Or so Starscream says." Knock Out added in, smirking. "Who knows how reliable that information is."

Alarms blare from the screen, grabbing their attention again. Breakdown narrowed his optic at the 'callsign' being used, "Wrecker?" he couldn't help but mutter. Being an ex-Wrecker, hearing the callsign was definitely something.

Did Bulkhead consider his human charge to be part of the Wreckers? Did she think she was one of them? Hah! Breakdown wondered if this human, Miko, the other one on the screen, truly earned the callsign of Wrecker.

Whatever that meant in this universe anyway.

His amusement turned into a seething anger as he caught sight of him. Silas, on the screen. Looking not too different from the counterpart he'd met not so long ago. "That puny little— next time I see him, I'll smash him to bits!" He snarled, still not over his missing optic.

Arachnid laughed, sneering at him, "Do you need a hand with that, Breakdown? Or sorry, an optic?" Breakdown bristled, threatening to stand up if it weren't for Knock Out holding his arm and soon enough-

"Enough! Both of you, silence!" Lord Megatron commanded, glaring at the bristling cons who were quick to back down.

"Yes, Lord Megatron." He and Arachnid muttered reluctantly, though Breakdown didn't stop glaring at the bemused spiderbot. Damned Arachnid…

Wait a klik, that was Shockwave?! That human was Shockwave?!

"What the slag?!" "That's Shockwave?!"

There was a sound of a click among the voices, Breakdown glancing over to see Soundwave taking a picture of the humanoid Shockwave.

"Other universe people!" Knock Out exclaimed, reminding them of what was happening. "Remember, this is another universe! We don't know what's in store for any and every universe, safe to say this universe's Shockwave is human! In fact, maybe we're all human."

"Insidious." Starscream hissed, dramatically shuddering at the sheer possibility of such a thing.

"Well, at least Shockwave's… human? Self? Fits the mech. Can't really imagine myself as one." Breakdown grunted but sent a smile to his conjunx. "You'd look great as one though."

Knock Out preened, "Naturally."

They watched as the universe continued- they'd been too focused on the surprising appearance of Human Shockwave to notice the bodies- no, the mecha in the room. Watching in stunned silence as the three humans were lifted to their respective robotic… suits??

"… Okay, I think I know where this is going." Knock Out deadpanned, hiding how uncomfortable he was at seeing the mecha. It was uncanny really, how Cybertronian-like they were yet weren't. Each one reminded Breakdown of bots who underwent empurata… Thinking about it, that human Shockwave was wearing a mask, they didn't see his face. Did he suffer a face-injury? Did the humans have empurata there??

He really hoped not. Cybertronian empurata was bad enough, he'd rather not think of humans doing that to their own kind- too organic and squishy for Breakdown's tanks. Ugh.

They watched the humans 'clock in' as they said, stunned to see each human having to plug into their mecha via wires to neck port. Breakdown can't recall the last time someone had that type of mod installed- Breakdown may have above average medical knowledge thanks to being Knock Out's assistance but even he couldn't think of any procedure or reason for anyone to have ports on their necks like those humans.

Lord Megatron made a noise of intruige, "If only Shockwave was here, perhaps he could give some insight of what's happening." Starscream wilted over the pointed, displeased look the warlord leader gave him. "Even though his counterpart is human there, I'd imagine he would've had an inkling to his counterpart's thought process regardless… It's truly a shame that he died on Cybertron."

"Hahaha… i-indeed..."

Starscream seemed so nervous, enough that Breakdown had to wonder if the emotionless scientist was dead… Then again, Breakdown couldn't really care less? Shockwave was terrifying, even to the average Decepticon.

"Cortical Psychic Patch?!" Lord Megatron hissed the moment it was mentioned, soon afterwards the screen paused- the Autobots no doubt pausing because of its mention. And remembering the last time that thing was in use; the Autobot scout that once housed Lord Megatron's mind while the warlord's body was in a coma. Hand't that been a wild thing to learn about?

"Could a human recreate cybertronian technology like that?" Breakdown asked Knock Out, though surprisingly it was Starscream who answered.

"Technically, it isn't cybertronian technology- not in that universe. It's human, though Shockwave's involvement isn't a surprise. He did create it here, although now I'm curious as to what is going to be subjected to a patch-link." The seeker muttered, squinting at the screen, "These humans have mentioned these 'XTRs' multiple times already, perhaps that? That would beg the question as to what they are and if they're capable of patch-linking with a cortical psychic patch in the first place…"

"The monster from the start." Arachnid hummed, clearly more interested in the viewing now than earlier. "The one that almost attacked young Jack and no doubt, killed Jack's mother… what was her name again? Ah, no matter. Perhaps those are the XTRs."

"Big robot bodies for such small things." Knock Out pointed out dryly, seeing the disparity between the hound-like creature that was, sure, bigger than most humans but that other human's mecha, Raf? Senscript? That was surely big enough to deal with those…

So why build bigger ones like Ja-Tailbreaker and M-Wrecker's mecha?

The answer would come as the screen suddenly played, the Autobots no doubt wanting to know just as much as they did.

[ A series of clicks and deep beeps, mostly unintelligable even by Cybertronian standards was heard as the scene shifts to a rocky terrain. It wasn't exactly a natural type of rock as something was attempting to bore into the side of a gigantic clifface. Sharp, curved spade-like claws dug at the thick rock, connected to heavy muscled and plated limbs from lumbering giants that had comparatively smaller heads that had no mouths, just slitted eyes that held no intellgence whatsoever.

Around them, a small group of familiar hound-like creatures patrolled alongside a bigger group of gigantic, even somehow more monstrous versions of themselves. A group of heavily muscled and plated humanoid soldiers stood by guarding a smaller, in comparison, creature that seemed just as techno-organic as the rest of them. However, instead of being humanoid, it wasn't as such- it had crab-like claws on one set of large tentacles, smaller ones lining its sides with six insectoid-like legs supporting its weight. Its head was oval-shaped, bulging out of its oblong body with two-faces on its front and back. ]

( "Children, pause the screen right now!" Nearly everyone in the base jumped at the commanding and severe tone the Prime said.)

The screen paused just as Lord Megatron began to swear. Heavily.

"Of course. Of course, that's why that creature looked familiar at the start." Megatron hissed, glaring at the screen with caution that had everyone in the room instantly on edge.

"An explanation would be appreciated, Lord Megatron." Arachnid said dryly, though she was just as tense as the rest of them were.

The silver ex-gladiator invented sharply, "… What you see on the screen, that thing with two faceplates, half-organic, half-cybernetic… That is a Quintesson." He doesn't even wait a moment, doesn't glance over to their confused expressions as he continues. "Not many cybertronians would recognize it of course, it's an old, old race. From even beyond the Golden Age of Cybertron. During the age of the Thirteen Primes and its tribal era, not long after Unicron's downfall, shortly after a new generation of our people were just beginning to crawl out of hotspots, a cyber-organic race found our planet and introduced us to the stars… Only to try and take us to said stars in chains and boxes."

"The Quintessons had came to Cybertron looking for fodder, servants, slaves. Unfortunately for them, the Thirteen Primes were still in the apex of their rule, of course they weren't going to let our ancestors get taken and enslaved by such creatures like that. So they retaliated, and wiped out the Quintessons once and for all. The invasion was short-lived, so short-lived the records of the Quintessons were sparse and few, and the knowledge was deemed unnecessary in regular historic education."

"And yet you know of it." Starscream states, for once sounding genuinely curious.

Lord Megatron's optics didn't stray from the screen, narrows and trained on the now-identified 'Quintesson'. "… I had a contact who worked in the Iacon Hall of Records, an archivist that shared what he deemed as 'interesting' material to me back before the war." He replied in a stiff yet oddly quiet tone.

Knock Out frowned, about to open his intake when Soundwave shifted, a series of glyphs and pictures going over his visor before transferring it to a nearby screen within the room for a better look. Right, Breakdown forgot that they had access to the Iacon Hall of Records- most of it was encrypted of course, the important stuff.

But the information, or what little there was, about the Quintessons hadn't been deemed important enough to encrypt fully. Breakdown squinted at the file. There wasn't an actual photo of Quintessons, just old sketches and drawings that depicted a similar looking creature to the one on the screen right now.

"Astute as ever, Soundwave." Megatron complimented, finally looking away from the Observer's screen. "Although not a one-hundred percent accurate depiction, the similarities speak for themselves… They even tell of beasts that the Quintessons attempted to use to subdue cybertronians of old." A screen blinked, depicting a hound-like creature that was indeed, very similar to the one that had attacked Tailbreaker's human carrier at the very beginning and the creatures they could see right now.

"By the looks of it, the Quintessons weren't wiped to extinction in this universe, or perhaps they never attacked Cybertron- if it even exists there considering Shockwave's current… species." Arachnid theorized with a grimace, she didn't like the idea of being a human. None of them did.

Well, most of them.

The ones who didn't mind would never voice it aloud though.

( "So we're fighting actual alien enslavers and stuff? Sounds like a pretty good reason to build giant robots for ourselves and kick their afts!"

"Miko! This is serious! You heard Optimus, the Thirteen Primes had to wipe out the Quintessons and they were like- demi-gods or something, We aren't them, Earth is in serious, serious danger there!"

"You don't know that! I mean like, ugh- I know this is serious and dangerous, but we got this! Humanity isn't going to roll over and let those- crab-like things take over the Earth! By the looks of things, we're pretty experienced in kicking Quint-butt! C'mon just- let's watch it! You'll see, we are going to be awesome here, I just know it."

"Miko—"

"Jack, Miko's right- in that, we should probably keep watching. We do seem like we know what we're doing, and, uh, we do need to keep watching to repair the Observer… So, continue!"

A worried Prime quietly speaks with his old medic-friend before going silent as the screen continues to play. )

[ Hidden on an outcropping far above and away, Senscript hunkered down, spying on the group through his cameras. "Found them, sending coordinates and assessing troops… Hound units, scouts and K9s, six groups, two scouts for every K9. Soldier units, class 6 and 7, three of each in pairs circling the Commander." Senscript reported dutifully before frowning, "New XTR identified, unnamed and unclassified. Size comparible to a class 8, looks like a tank but doesnt have the proper armor or equipment, two of them, digging into the cliff… They're looking for something." ]

On one of the screens of the Nemesis, Soundwave was writing down information- XTR, K9, hound units, soldier units, class 6-8. As expected from the communications and information gathering officer and Lord Megatron's third-in-command.

Even had the whole thing alphabetized with accompanied pictures from the screen. Meticulous as ever.

[ Silas' voice came through comms. .: Any additional forces hidden among the ranks? :.

"Searching now…" Senscript replied, tensing in his chair as his mech froze in place. The back of his mech's head began to open, like a flower blooming, it reached all the way to the base of his mech's head as the sensitive sensory panels glowed dimly.

A wave of information and data flew across Senscript's mind and screens, not just there, but across the screens of MECH's main base as well as Tailbreaker and Wrecker's screens as Senscript transmitted the data.

In the shadows of the clifface, an outline of several invisible things were perched against the rocks. Hundreds of them. "Confirmed; swarm type 3 hidden within the area. Numbering to the hundreds but not surpassing two hundred." ]

Breakdown tilted his helm when the back of Senscript's head, the mech's head just- opened. It looked very familiar. "That's a sensory crown, huh, humans built that too? Freaky." He muttered aloud, continuing when he saw Knock Out's questioning look. "Had a couple of miner friends back before the war, lotsa' them had one of those. Helps them sense through the mines for energon and minerals and slag."

He was surprised to see Lord Megatron glance over to him, faceplate unusually tense yet thoughtful, considering. He didn't get why before his processor provided him a clip of a memory from earlier on—

"That's not the gladiator of Kaon! That's not the Decepticon Warlord who waged war for millions of years against Optimus Prime! That's definitely not the revolutionary who wanted to break free from his masters in his backstory back when he was a miner!" 

Oh slag, hadn't that actor guy said- had Lord Megatron really been a miner? Breakdown hadn't known that. So did that mean…

Breakdown's optic quickly glanced away when he realized that he was staring at the back of Megatron's helm with too much curiosity, the warning look his leader gave him was enough to remind him that he only had one optic left and he'd rather keep it that way.

Meanwhile, Lord Megatron could almost feel his own sensory crown twitch underneath his helm. It wasn't possible though, considering it was offline, he rarely used it anymore… seeing this human, this child that he had nearly killed in an offshoot future regardless of fictionality, ( his counterpart dared to call him disappointing?! ), seeing Senscript's unsettling human-made mech reveal his sensory crown…

It was unnerving.

It reminded him of memories he'd left behind eons ago.

( And elsewhere, a Prime remembers but keeps silent, glancing at the youngest human in the room before continuing to watch the screen. A medic explains to a curious boy about it instead, which leads to an epiphany.

"Oh! I think that is why my other self is so hypersensitive to light and sound!"

The medic pauses and worries. )

[ .: Ugh, swarms. :. Came Wrecker's reply, though it was quiet and swept aside for Shockwave's voice instead.

.: Mission parameters unchanged, deal with the rest of the XTRs and subdue the commander. Leave nothing else alive, test the cortical link and extract whatever data and information you can get from its processors. :.

.: Confirmed, engaging shortly. :. Tailbreaker replied, .: Wrecker focus on the Soldier units, I'll deal with the Hounds, when the swarm hits—:.

.: We wreck 'n ruin! :. Wrecker grinned ferally. ]

Breakdown couldn't help but mirror the grin- what can he say? He may be an ex-Wrecker, but the familiar phrase was pretty much etched into his spark. He was a Wrecker through and through.

And, okay, he can see why Bulkhead was so attached to the pink-haired fleshling if this was what she usually was. Pits, he can see his alternate being attached to her for good reason in that weird universe where Opti- uh, where Lord Megatron had blue optics. Yeah. That universe.

Maybe the little squirt was Wrecker material after all.

Just maybe.

( A girl cheered with her guardian, the green Wrecker practically preening and puffing his chestplates proudly at the phrase being used. )

[ Tailbreaker snorted, .: Not my style Wrecker, but sure. Senscript, you'll provide long-range support, keep us posted and keep your distance. Remember the mission. Things get dicey, fall back. :.

Senscript nodded, sensory crown closing once more. "Copy that." ]

Breakdown frowned.

The plan's basic, simple. But sometimes that's all you really need for a mission, however there was still the problem that the three humans, pilots? Were vastly outnumbered compared to the Quintessons. MECH had sent only three of them against what was essentially a large company of soldiers- regardless of classification.

That usually meant two things; they were overconfident and were being stupid. Or their confidence was justified.

Breakdown, biased as he was against humans, especially MECH, wanted the former to be true. But with how things were looking… might be the latter.

He kept a sharp optic on the screen, time to see for himself on which it was.

[ The screen shifted to the pair of digging XTRs, the commander was right behind them, barking orders with clear authority and a certain level of urgency. ]

"Just what could they possibly be looking for?" Knock Out couldn't help but ask aloud, squinting at the screen.

“Whatever it is, it seems important. Enough to require heavy enough protection yet discretion.” Starscream muttered with a critical optic, scheming as he was, there was a reason why Starscream was Second-In-Command, other than for Lord Megatron to keep an optic on him anyway. The Seeker was actually quite the tactician, especially in the air. "Is that their language? I don't suppose there's a possible translation lexicon or program somewhere in the Iacon Archive database for it? Uh, Lord Megatron."

Quintesson language sounded weird, even to them. It was both mechanical yet completely organic- a contradiction that seemed to fit the cyber-organic species that were more organic than cybernetic. Trying to understand it by audial went something akin to— { Exclamation - Negative - Positive - Urgency - Exclamation }, or something like that, which meant… nothing really understandable? To Breakdown at least.

For once, Lord Megatron didn't give Starscream his usual sneer- just a thoughtful expression as he looked over to Soundwave. The silent mech was still for a moment before an 'X' symbol made itself known on his screen. "Shame, although perhaps the screen will show us a way to translate the Quintesson language. Keep note Soundwave, and attempt to translate yourself if possible."

There was the tiniest nod, honestly Breakdown can't believe the amount of work that Soundwave accepted on Lord Megatron's orders. Wasn't he already cataloging the Quintessons, attempting to find the Autobots base based on whatever transmission connection the Observer had and stuff?

Soundwave was scarily good at multitasking.

[ One unit of Hounds were patrolling nearby, the scouts- the larger, more monstrous versions of K9s, sniffed at the air while their smaller counterparts were sniffing the ground.

Suddenly, both sets of grotesque alien dog creatures froze before growling lowly in warning, muzzles splitting open as if to alert the rest of the XTRs- but it was a little too late for that as—

BOOM

The ground shook when the massive form of Wrecker collided hard against the nearest Soldier Unit with a thick, bone-shattering, metal-denting sound. Tailbreaker was right behind her, bladed arms digging into the sides of the Hound unit that had almost alerted the rest of the XTRs just a few seconds sooner.

Not that it mattered as immediately Wrecker and Tailbreaker started to carve their way towards the commander who shrieked and shrilled at the sight of them. ]

"Woah."

The word spilled unconsciously from his intake as Breakdown watched both false-cybertronians essentially slaughter through the pack of Quintesson soldiers and scouts. For being such big, mechanical human-made machines- they were far more fluid than Breakdown had expected them to be.

Especially because they were, unfortunately, much bigger in size. Lord Megatron (and Optimus Prime maybe) was the size of Tailbreaker here from Breakdown's estimations, while Wrecker was heads taller.

However from the looks of it, there was a very good reason as to why they had to be bigger- the Quintessons were huge now that they were on the same screen as the piloted machinery, mostly towered over even Wrecker.

For being human-made, unsettlingly cybertronian-like mecha, they were functioning pretty much flawlessly as Quintesson killing machines.

Which was the entire point, Breakdown realizes as he watches with intrigued yet somewhat disgusted optics when Tailbreaker lived up to his designation when he grabbed the spiked tails of the large Hound units and broke it- tearing the sharpened tail off of a dead Hound just to accurately throw the spikes at the snarling smaller K9s that threatened his pedes.

"Ugh, I think I'm going to be sick." Starscream gagged at the sight and sound of organic flesh and bone breaking and tearing, disgust clear on his faceplate yet like the rest of them, he couldn't take his optics off of the horrifyingly compelling sight of the humans in empurata-like false-cybertronian bodies going against the Quintessons who were definitely more organic than expected.

If Breakdown hadn't been used to the sound of organic flesh being broken and torn apart from the human media that Knock Out had forced him to watch in secret, his tanks would've been roiling like Starscream's. Knock Out himself was only mildly disgusted, the look in his optic told Breakdown he was watching with a medical-intent of fascination, taking in what little Quintesson biology he could see and guess in his processor on what the insides of the cyber-organic creatures were like.

Only Lord Megatron, Arachnid and Soundwave didn't seem as disgusted, looking far more fascinated instead- with the exception of Soundwave for obvious reasons.

"Impressive, the humans must have been attacked by the Quintessons long enough to create adequate weaponry to counterattack. These… mecha, are all essentially war weaponry, Quintesson killing machines." Arachnid commented, chuckling when Wrecker started wrestling with a large Quintesson soldier only to lift the thing and slam it into another.

"Indeed." Lord Megatron agreed, optics narrowed with clear interest- it wasn't a one-sided battle, both Tailbreaker and Wrecker suffered hits and such, but their mecha were certainly made with tougher material that they had expected coming from the planet they were on. And by the looks of things, the young humans piloting them were very experienced in combat against the alien threat.

( Among the three humans, only one of them can watch with glee and minimal disgust, cheering on her alternate self while the her friends struggled to watch the carnage- cool as it was, it was far too graphic for their tastes. Still, for the eldest among them, it was cool to see himself piloting a giant robot and fighting aliens.

The Autobots on the other hand were disturbed and somewhat disgusted but were far too used to war to be truly affected by the carnage… however the fact that these were the alternate versions of their charges fighting head on, it made them worry.

A certain scout did try to shield his charge's view of the screen, but the young boy protested heavily, insisting he could handle it much to the chagrin of the others. )

[ The scene returns to Senscript, who was watching nearby, still hidden among the boulders atop the lower cliffsides. His mecha's sensory crown was revealed once more, data flying across his screens and mind as the XTRs numbers dwindled- though it was clear he was still keeping an eye on his teammates and the hidden swarm.

"Wrecker, four o'clock- Soldier unit heading towards Tailbreaker. Swarm activity rising, brace for it!"Senscript warned, the silhouettes of the hidden XTRs beginning to move, carapaces and plates shifting to reveal fast-flapping insect wings. "Commander seems urgent, but it's not retreating, whatever's buried in the cliff- it's not leaving without it!"

The intelligent XTR was barking order after order, urging its digging subordinates to dig faster into the rocky wall. Discretion was no longer an option, nor was stealth. ]

"I've asked this before, but what the frag are they looking for? What's so important that they're willing to risk it all just to uncover whatever's in the cliff?" Knock Out frowned.

"Must be something useful, powerful." Arachnid theorized, helm tilting with interest as the swarm began to ripple in and out of regular sight.

[ "Swarm activity; rising!"

.: Make sure the commander can't call in reinforcements. :. Shockwave commanded, .: Activate Signal Blockers. :.

"That's going to block everything other than local comm systems, are you sure about that?" Senscript asked a bit worriedly.

.: We cannot risk escalating the situation beyond what it is, having a commander on field with such little protection is a rarity, we can NOT let it call in reinforcements. Prioritize testing the Cortical Psychic Patch and scavanging data from its processors. Wrecker and Tailbreaker, remember your orders and ensure the commander is subdued and Senscript is safely able to extract information from it. I will not tolerate failure. :. Silas interjected, .: Deactivate the Blockers only after you've tested the link and extracted data. Is that understood?! :.

.: Yes sir. :. Tailbreaker replied tersely.

Wrecker snorted, .: Loud and clear. :.

Senscript noticed the swarm's movement and immediately began to pull some levers and activate some programs from his mecha. "Swarm incoming! Activating Signal Blockers!" Two antennae slid out at the side of his head, right before the edge of the sensory crown, sparking with power as Shockwave and Silas' voices disappeared from the communication line he, Wrecker and Tailbreaker were in.

.: Wrecker! :.

.: I know! Senscript, block shit out- I'm getting out the big guns! :. ]

Breakdown had wondered if the humans had weaponry installed in those gigantic suits of theirs- so far they'd done nothing but basic servo-to-servo combat. Which was admittedly already impressive enough.

But then the large servos of Wrecker's mecha shifted alongside the shoulder pads- not by much, thick plating shifting back to reveal strange circular indents- subwoofers? Meanwhile, the arms of Tailbreaker's mecha shifted to let out sharp serrated blades that reminded Breakdown slightly of the Autobot femme's weaponry.

Arachnid was thinking the same thing, looking at the blades with interest and annoyance. Because of course Jack's counterpart's mecha would have weaponry resembling Arcee's own blades. They were longer and serrated at the end though.

( A femme scout smirked, commenting on Tailbreaker's weaponry, saying it was a good choice. Her human partner grinned in turn. Meanwhile a certain teenage wrecker hollered at the subwoofers, suspecting what was to come. )

[ .: WRECK 'N RUUUUUUUIN! :. Wrecker screamed with excitement as the subwoofers of her mecha let out a deep, frame-shaking noise towards the majority of the swarm that flew towards her and Tailbreaker. Tailbreaker positioned himself right behind Wrecker, wincing in his cockpit at the noise, adjusting his auditory sensors and trying to brace from the ridiculously effective sonic weapon.

Senscript had hastily retracted his sensory crown, but left the Signal Blocking antenna out. Even with his sensors fully blocked out, he flinched in his cockpit, pressing his hands against his helm.

The swarm faltered, blown back by the sonic wave that messed with their senses. Some even beginning to smoke and fall from the air. They, along with the other units, the Soldiers and Hounds, were temporarily stunned from the auditory attack.

Which was all Tailbreaker needed to start his own attack. ]

Alright, so the human girl was definitely Wrecker material. He could see how she got her callsign, but it was another thing to see if she deserved to keep it. Sonic attacks weren't exactly common among Wreckers- though he does know of a mech who did that. Blaster… Never knew the mech personally, he had joined after Breakdown had left the Wreckers, but they did fight on a few battlefields.

"Hm, reminds me of an old weapon my scientists created- what was it again…" Lord Megatron said aloud, turning when Soundwave let out a ping, showing a picture of a weapon on his visor. "Ah yes, the resonance blaster. It was a fine piece of weaponry… unfortunately it got stolen by the Autobots and locked away in the Iacon Vaults."

"There are similarities, however so far it's not on par with its capacity and power. The only commonality is that its a sonic weapon." Starscream muttered, unimpressed with the screen. "With the actual blaster, that swarm wouldn't have stand a chance."

"You know of it, Starscream?"

The seeker bristled at the condescending question from the arachnoid con, "Of course I did! I oversaw its creation!"

"As well as oversaw as one of the ones who lost it and the blueprints to the Autobots." Starscream's intake shut firmly, torn between withering underneath Lord Megatron's sneer or indignantly glaring back. Self preservation won out and the seeker grumbled silently in his seat.

"Hm, to think that humans could create such suits with that much fluidity and motion. You'd be hardpressed to see even some average cybertronians move in such way." Knock Out commented, watching with interest as Tailbreaker weaved, slashed and hacked his way through the swarm. Targeting not only the insects but the stray Hound or Soldier in his way. His suit was almost elegant in its movement, "No doubt, Shockwave, human as he is in that world, had a hand as to why and how. But still, it's impressive."

( A pink-haired girl whooped and cheered at the sight of her and her friend absolutely wrecking the swarm and the Quintessons. Shaking the older teen besides her as his other swiftly moved through the swarm like a living blender almost. )

[ Wrecker's subwoofer weapons stopped, the young woman taking a deep breath as her screen showed that the wave had been set to 45% output damage and that the integrity of her mecha suit was now at 80% with fuel just at 78%.

She looked through the cameras of her mecha to see Tailbreaker slicing through groups of the swarm. Dodging soldiers attempting to attack him and even using a Hound to launch himself up into the air to get to the higher flying XTRs.

Her attention shifted back to the commander, who was snarling, tentacles whipping around it but was unable to do anything but bark more orders- this time at the unknown digging XTRs. One of them halted from its task of digging into the wall, joining the rest of the living Soldiers and Hounds, pointing right at her with a clawed tentacle.

"Oh you want a piece of this huh? COME GET IT FUCKERS!" She cackled, adjusting her output to 52%, aiming all of it into her mecha's hands which slammed into the floor as the XTRs rushed towards her. The ground shook, cracking underneath the sound of the deep bass sound, the vibrations moving the very earth underneath her hands, making them stumble in place. ]

Breakdown had to wince at the deep sound those subwoofers made- though it seemed like it was mostly muffled through the screen compared to the damage it was actually making. So it looked like that despite using sonic weaponry, their audials weren't being blown up so thank frag for that.

And it looked like her subwoofers were adjustable. He had to wonder what it would look like if she cranked it all the way up to 100. Probably nothing good.

( Continuous cheering, a green-painted Wrecker watched on with pride. Grinning and cheering alongside his charge. )

[ Wrecker quickly stood her mecha up as fast as it could, which wasn't as fast as Tailbreaker but with the XTRs trying to regain balance- it was enough. She joined into the fray, going back to hand-to-hand combat in dealing with the XTR but this time with the occasional sonic attack from the subwoofers in the palms of her hands and her shoulders. Occasionally letting out a big sonic attack against what was left of the swarm which had dropped from its two hundreds to less than even one hundred.

Tailbreaker was swiftly dealing with the rest of the Hounds and taking out more of the swarm that was trying to avoid Wrecker.

The commander seemed extremely frustrated, body turning around with both faces snarling and shouting in its language as it stomped its pointed legs and lashed out with its tentacles. Crab-like claws gouging the rocks around it. Finally it raised its tentacles in the air, as if to summon something… Only for nothing to happen and finally shriek with something akin to panic. ]

"Lord Megatron, not to put in any doubt to the information you've provided us. But are you sure these were the aliens that once tried to enslave our ancestors?" Arachnid couldn't help but ask a tad snidely, sneering at the pathetic display the Quintesson 'commander' was showing from its tantrum to it finally showing panic from its situation. "After all, it took the Thirteen Primes to deal with the Quintessons, yet this one is struggling with the humans. Granted, the humans have those mecha suits but still…"

Luckily, Lord Megatron was sneering at the screen as well. "They have the resemblance of Quintessons, but after this unimpressive display… I am starting to have my doubts. However keep in mind that this is merely a small group of Quintessons- soldiers, hounds, a swarm, a single commander." His optics narrowed. "We have yet to see their full armada nor see the full extent of they can do. The humans built entire false-bodies to deal with the Quintessons, complete with class-typing and unconventional weaponry and tools. There must be a reason for that."

The femme fatale made a face before conceding with a reluctant nod, sharp digit tapping the table in thought as they continued to watch the screen.

[ Wrecker's palms slammed into the small head of the digger XTR, which had been flailing wildly- clearly it was not created with combat in mind. The digger had no chance against Wrecker even as it tried slamming its spade-like claws into Wrecker's mecha frame, merely scratching the plating before dying when Wrecker activated her subwoofers directly against the digger's head.

The head contorted from the vibrations before splurting with blackish blood. Wrecker was quick to grab the now limp body, hauling it into her grip just to use it as a shield against the more combat-oriented Soldiers that aimed their weapons at her. And from a shield, she turned it into a ram as she charged right at them.

Tailbreaker was getting closer to the commander, who seemed far too busy to notice his gradual approach. .: Senscript, confirm- how many XTRs left? :.

Senscript had been gradually moving closer to the field, having climbed down from his perch at the cliff edge but keeping discrete and stealth in his approach. His antennae pinged, helm unfurling just a bit, .: Majority are dead and injured. Two Soldier units by the commander, four Hount units, twenty-seven- ah, twenty-four insects from the swarm and the other digger. Wrecker just needs to finish off the Soldiers she's facing :.

.: Alright then, Wrecker, wrap it up! We need to secure the commander ASAP. :.

.: Roger that. :. ]

Breakdown hadn't really thought much about the Autobot's humans outside of whenever they appeared. They were humans after all, why care? Other than the fact they could be used against the Autobots, not that Breakdown usually thought of that anyway. Not exactly his type of thing to do, but he knows mechs like Starscream, Arachnid and even Lord Megatron would think of such things.

But now the Observer was pretty much making him think about the humans beyond of what they were, first with the 'Shattered Glass' world, then the 'Actor' world, and now with this 'Alien Mecha' world.

The three humans were doing a solid job as a three-man team.

Wrecker was the muscle, Senscript was the support and it was clear that they took to Tailbreaker who was their leader. Breakdown had to wonder if that was the dynamic the humans took here as well, and if it did… Breakdown will have to keep an eye on that.

The ex-Wrecker watched as the other humans made quick work with the rest of the Quintessons, even if Arachnid was right earlier on- even she would have to admit how impressive it's been that the humans have been dealing with the invading alien forces. Though Breakdown did want to see them going off a bigger group than this one.

Lord Megatron muttered something quietly as they finally reached the Quintesson 'Commander', disposing the remaining Quintessons with relative ease. Wrecker ended up pinning the shrieking creature down, however it kept moving. Struggling. Flailing to get Wrecker off of itself. Tailbreaker ended up intervening and cutting off the flailing tentacles that tried to las out as well as the legs. Essentially dismembering the Quintesson alive, leaving only the torso and the head in tact.

Yikes. Brutal. but effective.

The humans here didn't have any giant robot suits, at least not to Breakdown's knowledge, but still. Just in case.

He's already underestimated humans before.

HIs empty socket twitched, and he frowned deeply.

He was never making that mistake ever again.

( Multiple bots winced at the dismembered Quintesson, expressing from disapproval but it wasn't like they could say it to the other humans. And their own humans were expressing their own disgust at it, it seemed unnecessarily brutal. It may be a Quintesson but to be dismembered yet left alive… It certainly disturbed them all. )

[ .: Commander subdued. All yours Senscript. :. Tailbreaker said, gesturing to the smaller mecha.

"Right. Commencing first field testing of Cortical Psychic Patch created by Doctor Waltz Stein, callsign 'Shockwave'." Senscript said aloud, a screen within his cockpit showing that he was recording the moment. ]

"Waltz Stein." Knock Out repeated with a rear of his helm, faceplate twitsted as he tested out the name. "I'm sorry but, I just cannot see Shockwave having a human name. It just… feels wrong."

Starscream looked perturbed, nodding his agreement. "Even as a human, I feel like his 'callsign' is far more suited for him… Waltz Stein, hmph."

None of the Decepticons present could ever see Shockwave referred to as 'Waltz Stein', even if the Shockwave of that world was human. It just didn't fit right. Shockwave was Shockwave, that was that.

If that was Shockwave's human name, Breakdown couldn't really imagine what name he and the others would have… Great, now he was thinking of what name he would have as a human.

( There was a similar reaction for the Autobots, the thought of the mad scientist having a human name was… incomprehensible really. The humans just shrugged. )

[ Wrecker leaned back against her chair, "So this 'Cortical Psychic Whatever' is what you've been working with Doc Shock? The one that's going to make a whole new class?" She asked Senscript, watching with interest as Senscript's head unfurled once more. In the middle of the sensory crown, at the very middle of the back of his mecha's helm, something shifted, a tentacle-like cord with orange ring-lights slid out with a sharp looking point at the end. "Oh, wicked."

.: Yes. And again, it's Doctor Shockwave at least. Anyway, the Cortical Psychic Patch is supposed to link my mecha to the commander's processer- the mechanical part of it mostly but we're hoping to translate the biological aspects of it as well. That way, we can find out more information about the XTRs and figure out just what they want from Earth and humanity. Please keep the commander's head still, I need direct access to the top of its head. :.

.: Woah, hold on. Wouldn't this also link you to the commander's processor? You're clocked in with your mecha. You've got four ports Senscript. :. Despite the worry Tailbreaker had, he still complied, he and Wrecker gently but firmly holding on to the squirming XTR's head, with the larger mecha making sure its body didnt squirm too much.

.: Five, actually. I needed a new port to accommodate the new cord in my mecha. :.

Wrecker sat up, suddenly alarmed. "Wait what? Raf! You're already on four ports, you don't need five!"

.: Callsigns! Wrecker! But- I-I'm with her, Senscript, you were already too young for more than three ports but now you're on five in your second year of piloting? That's not good, you're going to end up Crashing at any wrong point, which will be WORSE for you considering you have FIVE connecting ports! When did you even get that fifth po— Shit, two months ago you were called to California. That's when you got it didn't you? Fuck. :.

.: I was the only one strong enough for the prototype which needed a port of its own to fully control and search for important information. I know you're both worried but I worked this out with Doctor Shockwave, I know the ramifications, the risk, but I can handle it. If this works, we'll be creating a new sub-class of mecha. Hackers, intel-focused pilots that will get vital information from these XTRs and help the Earth. It's worth it. Now shut up, I need to concentrate and keep holding him still. :. ]

Knock Out's optic ridge raised in interest, "Oh? Do tell." He said, leaning forward. "How interesting, naturally I knew there would be side affects to these humans hooking up their biological systems to a mechanical suit like that but whatever this 'Crashing' event is, it seems dire."

"Seems like it also involves and is exacerbated by the amount of ports one 'pilot' has. The other two humans have two ports so they seem relatively safe from this 'Crash' but the youngest is the most at risk." Starscream muttered, optics narrowed in thought over the tidbit of information provided.

Lord Megatron hummed, "Intriguing… Looks like they're about to test human Shockwave's cortical psychic patch link, let's see how this Shockwave's human intelligence and ingenuity fairs. And just what information he'll be able to uncover from the Quintesson."

( In a base elsewhere from the Nemesis, the Autobots were not liking the information that was given to them. Glancing to their youngest human charge in worry, said human smiled lopsidedly in hopes of reassuring them. He was fine, his other was… well, it was worrying, what was said. But there wasn't much they could do about it.

He also couldn't help but apologize to his friends who waved it off, feeling the same concern for him as the bots.

A medic grumbles and bristles over every word, indignant words masking over the concerns he had for the youngest pilot on the screen. )

[ Senscript's cortical patch link stationed itself over the top of the XTRs head, Tailbreaker and Wrecker keeping the commander still despite their concerns. "Field testing commencing. Engaging."

SHRLK!

Immediately Senscript tensed in his cockpit, alien data and symbols flying over most of his screens as the orange lighting of the cord glowed brightly. The XTR roared once from both faces before falling limp underneath Tailbreakers and Wrecker's grip.

.: Senscript? Senscript, come in! Senscript, are you conscious? :. Tailbreaker asked after a few minutes of silence, getting worried over Senscript's silence and stillness.

Both he and Wrecker let out sighs of relief when they heard his voice over their comms, .: S-Shut… up I'm— processing, ugh, processing- the data. Translating… Give… give me a few… minutes… fuck… :.

All over most of Senscript's inner screens were alien symbols and glyphs, rapidly flashing over before changing from one thing to another. On another screen, a program was being run, the words 'PROTOTYPE TRANSLATION SOFTWARE ACTIVATED; TRANSLATING XTR LANGUAGE…' flared before more words in English were being added underneath.

Unbeknowst to the pilots, even Senscript himself, his nose began to bleed slightly. Leaving a thin trail down his face. ]

"Hm, it's working." Arachnid said, a bit surprised but definitely intrigued.

"Seems like it." Breakdown couldn't help but reply, optic narrowed at the sight of presumably the Quintesson's written language being shown- it was going too fast for Breakdown to understand. Soundwave seemed enraptured, recording the entire sequence to no doubt look at later on on his own or by Megatron's orders.

"It's different from our Shockwave's actual Cortical Psychic Patch Link," Lord Megatron said with a purse of his derma. "However it is working… just not like what ours does… Again, if only Shockwave was here to make sense of what is happening. Visually dissect how they've managed to do this." He didn't bother to look Starscream's way this time but the seeker still avoided looking at the warlord anyway.

"It's working… but not without its side effects." Knock Out said quietly, seeing the blood beginning to drip from Senscript's face.

( "Raf!/Beep!" "Guys I'm fine! I- oh forget it. C'mere Bee." "Beep…" )

[ Wrecker grunted, turning her mecha's head towards where the XTRs had been digging. Curiosity started to bleed in as she thinks she sees something embedded in the rock. "Hold him down Tailbreaker, I think I see something…" She ignored his protests, releasing the XTR to stand up and head over to the cliff wall. "Hey Senscript! Think you can figure out what they were trying to dig up?"

.: I… m-maybe? Why? :.

"'Cuz I think I just found whatever they were trying to find." With a short cry, she launched her fist at the wall, just to break the rock a bit more. Afterwards she dug into the wall a bit more, prying apart sediment and rocks to reveal something silver buried in the wall. "C'mon… Aha!" She lurched backwards, yanking with her something that had been lodged deep within the cliffside.

It was a silver disk with blue lights, it was barely the size of Wrecker's servo. To Wrecker, it meant nothing, but to the XTRs? It meant something. ]

"The Apex Armor?!" Starscream blurted out in shock, standing from his seat at the sight of the disk. "That's- that's the Apex Armor! But how?! That's a Decepticon invention! It looks exactly like the Apex Armor's de-activated form from this world!"

It definitely looked identical to the Apex Armor of their world, it looked of Cybertronian make. Not one difference whatsoever.

They all stared at it in shock, thankfully it seemed that the Autobots were just as shocked as they had paused the viewing.

( "Pause it! Pause it now!… Primus, can it be?" "That is… the Apex Armor…" )

"How is that possible? I thought we were all humans in this world!" Arachnid exclaimed, puzzled.

"When we saw Shockwave we just assumed we'd be human as well, but perhaps that isn't the case." Lord Megatron murmured, "It seems that our race does exist in that world, however they have yet to find Earth. However it seems that some of us are not Cybertronians, but humans. Which makes me wonder…" Just who were humans and who stayed Cybertronians?

It's not a question that Breakdown and the others had been expecting to ask today, or ever. But with the new info, the possibility of Cybertron and their own species existing in that world yet seeing Shockwave as a human…

"Another good question would be why is the Apex Armor on Earth? And if it's on that Earth, then is it here as well?" Knock Out wondered aloud.

"Soundwave, figure out where they are and see if you can find its location here." Lord Megatron immediately ordered, "If the Apex Armor is indeed here, possibly launched from the vaults of Iacon Archives after our attack on it, then we must retrieve it before the Autobots."

"Easier said than done." Starscream grumbled.

"What was that Starscream?"

"Nothing! Nothing…"

( "But how are we going to find it? It's not like we know where it is! Besides, it might not be here, or at that exact location! It could be somewhere else for all we know."

"It's still a risk we cannot allow to be known, we mustn't let the Decepticons know of the Apex Armor's whereabouts. Possible or likewise… Perhaps we can find out more by watching."

"Alright, observer! Continue!" )

[ Tailbreaker leaned closer in his cockpit though his mecha did nothing, still holding down the commander who was still limp underneath him. "Doesn't look human-made. Think it's one of their tech?"

.: No idea, but why would one of their tech be here? Did they lose it a long time ago or what? :. Wrecker came back to their side, holding on to the mysterious silver disk. .: Got a clue what it is, Senscript? :.

The smaller mecha finally moved, Senscript lifting his head while still connected to the XTR. .: That's… hold on, retrieving relevant information- found s-something. Translating… :. It cuts to within Senscript's mecha, a screen showing a picture of the silver disk in question. .: It's called… 'The Apex Armor'? It's not… not theirs I think, it's from- someone else? :.

Wrecker held up the disk, her faceless mecha couldn't convey the bewildered puzzlement that was on her face. .: Someone else? What? Who? Also 'Armor?' How's this thing supposed to be armor? It's a disk! :. ]

"It's not just a disk, girl." Starscream huffed angrily, "Humans… honestly."

"To someone who doesn't know what it is, it is just a disk though." Breakdown couldn't help but point out, rolling his optic at the bristling look he got from the seeker.

"Are you defending a human Breakdown?"

Breakdown snorted, "I'm not defending slag, just pointing out the obvious… Woah, hey. I don't think humans are suppose to bleed that much blood." He comments, a little bit alarmed as more blood seeped from Senscript's nose on screen. That had always been depicted as a bad thing in the human media, hadn't it?

"Something's happening." Knock Out's servos clenched slightly in anticipation as all of a sudden, Senscript's screens flared red and the little human cried out in pain.

( "Wait, what's happening?!" "Rafael! Humans shouldn't be bleeding that much blood from their nasal area!" "Uh, no duh, Ratchet! Something's wrong!" "B-Bee, I'm okay! Please don't tighten your grip." "B-Bweeooo…" )

[ .: Senscript! :..: Senscript?! What's wrong!? :.

Senscript's hands flew to his head, both his actual hands and his mecha's. "Agh- AUGH! M-My head! Something's- i-in my- head!" His screens flared red, alarms going through his mecha's internal sound systems as he could feel something interfering with the link. Blood slipped into his mouth but he had no idea, too preoccupied with the pain that lanced through his skull. "You're- you! Get out! Get OUT!"

On his screen, a few lines were typed out in English.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHEDOBJECTIVE: APEX ARMOR - LOCATED AND RETRIEVEDENEMY ACTION DETECTEDSIGNAL BLOCKERS DETECTEDDEACTIVATING SIGNAL BLOCKERSACTIVATING SPACEBRIDGELOCATING COORDINATESCALLING FOR REINFORCEMENTSENEMY PRESENCE DETECTED WITHIN INTERNAL SERVERBEGINNING MENTAL DE—

.: That's it! :. Senscript felt a large spike of pain, crying out as Tailbreaker yanked the cortical cord's out of the XTR's head, finally noticing the wide, unnatural grin on the twin faces of the XTR. .: You bastard—:. He interrupted himself, moving to catch Senscript's swaying mecha before it could fully fall over. Senscript was limp in the chair, it wasn't clear whether or not he wsa conscious and he was only propped up thanks to the seatbelts that kept him from fully slumping over.

.: Wrecker! We're done here, retreat! Now! :. He barked, lifting Senscript's mecha- it was a bit awkward but he did his best to make it work. ]

"The cortical psychic link is usually a one-way connection," Lord Megatron commented with a surprisingly soft voice, "however if one isn't careful, that one-way connection can easily become two-ways… They should have prepared for such an outcome." He finished with a low smirk, remembering how he managed to hitch a ride with the Autobot's beloved scout to free himself from his coma.

He wonders if the Quintesson had managed to do the same here… But then again, it was one thing for the mind of the same species to share a space- the young human was an entirely different species than the Quintesson. Would it be compatible? Or would there be other side-effects? Only time would tell.

"Considering it's Shockwave who created the link, I'm sure he thought of it… Only whatever defenses he prepared with Senscript clearly wasn't enough." Starscream said with a small smirk, taking some delight that a version of Shockwave's efforts had been for naught.

Arachnid hummed, optics glittering with delighted interested. Having found the last few minutes very entertaining and interesting, "It seems the Quintesson's mission was to retreive the Apex Armor with discretion… I don't know about considering the mission accomplished when the Quintesson is missing all its limbs and its forces are wiped out, but it seems to have a back-up plan."

"One involving a spacebridge." Knock Out said, having noticed the later texts.

( A young boy yelped as he was handed over to a medic, a scout angrily beeping and shrilling at the screen while gesturing heatedly, possibly rudely, at the grinning Quintesson. His fellow scout and friend grabbed his shoulder, trying to calm him down while trying to quell her own anger.

The medic couldn't help but carefully prod the young boy, who whined and reassured all those who listened that he was alright but paled as he listened to the possible injuries his other could have thanks to the cortical link he had with the Quintesson. No one was happy at the moment. )

[ Before any of them could even move from their spot though, light bloomed above them. Startling them as they suddenly found themselves underneath a colorful swirling vortex that grew to encompass them all. .: W-What the— :.

.: NO! :. Wrecker suddenly shrieked, panicked as she grabbed Tailbreaker's mecha with her own, tugging and trying to escape the vortex only for both of them to suddenly lift in the air, they were heavy though and so their ascent was unfortunately slow but steady. .: No- nonono! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! Wrecker to MECH HQ! We are being sucked into some sort of vortex portal! It's the thing that took Ja—:.

Abruptly, the speed of their ascension was accelerated, interrupting Wrecker who shouted in surprise as Tailbreaker was desperately trying to hold on to Wrecker and Senscript, the younger pilot was still seemingly unconscious.

.: —me in, come in— —aker, Senscript, Wr— — —ome in! Status report! Do you co— :.

The screen showed Wrecker's pin-prick eyes before something, a series of images? Flashed in quick succession.

A mecha, smaller than Wrecker's, a different build and clearly holding a sword, painted white, green and red, standing in front of a swirling vortex before something pierces through it, dragging it inside.

"WHEELJACK!" Wrecker screamed before the screen went dark. ]

"Wheeljack?" Breakdown and Starscream chorused together in varying tones of disbelief.

Lord Megatron raised an optic ridge, "Wheeljack? I know of him, he was part of the Wreckers who took down Shockwave's tower back on Cybertron… It seems like he's a human here. Interesting."

"A human who seemed to have died in front of Wrecker's optics." Arachnid snorted, smiling at the way Wrecker had screamed the Autobot's name. Or 'callsign' in that world. She has to wonder how the Autobots themselves were taking this reveal… How she'd love to see the look on their faceplates right now.

( A Wrecker and his charge shouted together, concerned and worried. After a moment, with the help of a Prime, they calm down. The Wrecker promises to try and contact his friend before marveling at the fact his friend's other was a human.

The same goes for his charge, the tiny human cheering at the fact that she knew him but was worried after remembering how he disappeared. )

[ The scene abruptly shifts, no longer the desert area of Earth but a strange city under attack, smoking and smoldering with the sounds of screams and roars in the distance. Buildings were crumbling, smoke was all over the air and fires were starting or being put out.

It was a war zone on another planet. ]

"Praxus."

Breakdown has no idea who said it, too busy staring at the burning, crumbling city with a heavy spark. There it was. Cybertron.

Cybertron that was still alive by the looks of it, there was still a city to burn. His servos clenched as he heard the distant sound of screaming and blaster shots, it made him slip into his memories of… orders faintly being shouted, the sharp hum of seekers in the air, bombardments on each and every corner. Autobots and Decepticons alike scrambling through the streets, firing shots at each other at every opportunity—

Breakdown shook his helm, a tense silence was in the air as it was official; Cybertron existed in that world.

And the war was still going on on that version of their planet.

( For a moment, it looked like someone was going to ask to pause the screen. But in the end, no one did, all the bots watched on with heavy expressions on their faceplates and when asked about it. They would simply tell their human charges, that the city they were seeing was Praxus, a city on Cybertron which fell early on in the war.

Though it begged the question, how was it still standing now? )

[ A mech runs through the desolate but burning and cracked streets, his paint was scuffed but was clearly red, blue and silver. A double-headed axe in servo, .: Optimus Prime to Prowl, Optimus Prime to Prowl, do you read me? Does anybody read me? :. He asked hurriedly through his comms, blue optics narrowing as he heard nothing but static from his comm. Which would make sense considering there was a clear dent on his helm where his comms were supposed to be. One of his finials was even snapped off while his battlemask was partially broken.

He kept running, jumping over fissions in the ground the best he could, he kept moving even as the ground began to shake and explosions went off in the distance. ]

"Optimus Prime…" Lord Megatron growled, yet there was a look of nostalgia as he sees the axe within his arch nemesis' servo. "I suppose it wouldn't be fun to have him as a human, but oh. That axe, I haven't seen that since the bombardment of Iacon!" He cackled, grinning wildly. "I almost miss that treacherous weapon."

Breakdown winced at the sight of the axe, the Prime had a mastery over that thing and quite frankly been more than just a pain in the aft than usual, more than one Decepticon had cheered at the news that he'd lost the damn thing.

"Hm, I don't remember what battle this is… perhaps it's something exclusive to this world." Lord Megatron pondered, optics narrowed at the sight of the other Optimus Prime running through the exploding streets of Praxus. Trying to find the memory of the attack from his memory bank.

( "You wielded a two-headed AXE?! WHAT?! Optimus! That's amazing! What happened to it?!" "Unfortunately it was lost a long time ago, Miko." "Aww… Why couldn't you get another one?" "That axe was rather special to me, and I never had the time nor were there available resources to recreate it or find a replacement." "Awww…" )

[ Out of nowhere, a bomb dropped from the sky behind Optimus, sending him flying for a brief moment from the explosive shockwave. It send him nearly over the edge of a large fissure in the ground, looking more of a canyon as the bottom couldn't be seen whatsoever.

Optimus' optics narrowed and he grunted, using his axe to prevent himself from being sent over, dangling from the edge with only his weapon keeping him from falling. He struggled to reach for the edge with one servo, pedes scraping the side for purchase.

Something heavy landed in front of his axe, kicking up dust that made Optimus close his optics for only a brief moment before opening to see silver pedes standing at the edge. Blue optics roamed up to meet a pair of red optics glaring down at his.

Megatron stood before him, armor scuffed and dirty yet looking all too intimidating as the fire gave him light from behind. The Decepticon symbol clear on his chestplate. ]

Lord Megatron brightened, his grin turning sharp and wild at the sight of himself. "Yes! There I am, with Optimus Prime at my pedes!" He roared, standing from his seat, slamming a servo on the table with eager bloodthirst. "Kill him! Kill him now!"

"Are we really going to see Lord Megatron kill Optimus Prime in another world?" Starscream murmured, a bit stunned to see the moment before snorting. Privately, he thought that something was going to interfere- the Prime had too much luck to just die to Lord Megatron just like that. And in such an easy way as well. Thankfully for him, Lord Megatron was too caught up in his excitement to notice Starscream's doubts and derisions.

Soundwave tilted his helm, a red dot signifying he was recording the moment clear on his visor.

Breakdown and Knock Out shared a look, keeping quiet as their leader called for Optimus Prime's blood.

Arachnid also kept silent, but was eager to see whether or not Optimus Prime would finally die. It wasn't Arcee, but she would never say no to seeing Optimus Prime's death.

( The Autobots and their humans raged and worried, shouting at the screen. Once abruptly confused and stunned at the switch from Earth to Cybertron and the fact that Cybertron existed in that world, they would never stay silent at the scene of their beloved leader possibly dying in front of them.

A medic in particulr was swearing from Cybertron's Pits to Earth's Hell about Megatron, snarling threats in Cybertronian as if to protect the humans' ears but the way he was growling made it clear to them that whatever he was saying, it was nothing nice.

Their leader tried to calm them down, but was disheartened to see his other in such a position. Hoping for the best, hoping that this was not the end, and that the humans and his team would not see his demise…)

[ Megatron glared down at him, before sighing deeply. Reaching down to grab Optimus' servo in his, grunting as he pulled the mech up from his precarious position and into his arms. One arm around his chassis and the other underneath Optimus' knees, holding him bridal style. "What have I said about leaving my side, my Prime?" He growled, leaning in to glare directly into Optimus' optics before smirking. "I can't leave you for even a klik, can I?"

Optimus' battlemask snapped open, revealing a small, fond smile on his faceplate. "I would apologize, but it was not my fault this time my Protector. I am entirely blameless in this endeavor."

Megatron's smirk turned into a charmed smile, "We'll see about that, but for now…" He raised his helm, letting Optimus down from his hold as they stood back-to-back. Surrounded by all sides by large, monstrous creatures with Soldier Quintessons riding atop them. "Let's deal with these mongrels, shall we?" His fusion cannon hummed to life, charging.

Optimus' battlemask snapped close as he readied his axe. "We shall." ]

Complete.

Utter.

Silence.

Even as the screen pauses—

( "PAUSE! PAUSE PAUSE PAUSE—" )

There was nothing but silence for a solid klik before Starscream blurted out what they were all thinking;

"What the frag?!"

[ ----- TP : UO ----- ]

HEUAHEHAEUHEAHEHAEH THE MEGOP REVEEAAAAL admittedly it was short here but don't worry! we're getting right into it next chapter!

AND YES! I TOOK LIBERTIES AND CHANGED THE QUINTESSONS HERE IN THE ALIGNED UNIVERSE! this is my story and i do what i want! if i want the quintessons to be barely known in the tfp uo universe then dammit, i will do that! makes it more fun when i do their reactions anyway hehehehe.

next chapter will take a bit since i'm still debating whether to switch back to twice the primes or dance of the firebot, we'll see which fic calls to me most. dont think ive forgotten them! im just.. letting whatever motivates me into writing take over.

anyway i hope you guys enjoyed! i'll see yall later :D

[NEXT]

[START]

[PREV]

[smallestapplin]

hellooooo i remember you saying you’re willing to write most G1 characters… could i perhaps request a nsfw scenario with Hoist and human reader where it’s like their first time together? 🥹 please?

Yes! I love g1 so much. So for you, hon? Absolutely (i hope i got his character right.)

Warnings : ‘I love you’ is said a lot, gn!afab reader.

Mdni you will be blocked! Adults only please.

-

-

Hoist wanted this to be perfect for you, not only are you so much smaller than he is but so much more delicate as well, the large mech adores you too much to ever allow any risk to come to you and this is new waters for both of you. He was certain to take you on a nice date, making sure the mood was set as he kissed you and muttered praises into your skin, wanting you to be loved just before making it to his berth.

Yet you sat so pretty on his lap, your pussy dragging across his throbbing spike, making his processors fry. His servo on your hip, trying to ground himself into reality, this is really happening, you’re with him, you want him, him! He still can’t believe that you wanted and loved him, wanting to share such a deeply vulnerable and intimate moment with him.

“Hoist.”

Your voice breaks him from his thoughts, making his optics look up from where they were trained on your organic valve and looking to your face, his visor glowing brightly as his frame trembles.

“Sorry, I just…you’re so alluring, it’s hard to focus with you on top of me like this. My processors are torn, should I stare at this adoring sight of me committing every last divot, blemish, scar, and mark to memory? Or do I finally move and worship your body like a deity sitting at your altar?”

Your breathing hicks at his words, hole clenching around nothing. Hoist ex-vents shakily feeling your wet heat on his spike, his servo helping your hips move and grind against him soaking his shaft in your juices. You move your hands to hold his servo and slowly rub it from his digits and up his arms before moving them to his chassis.

“I love you, my handsome mech.” You sigh out. Moving your hips forward placing his leaking tip at your needy hole.

Hoist chokes on his next in-vent, his spark thrumming loudly overwhelmed with his love and affection for you. What did he do to earn your love, he will never know, but he refuses to let your affection go unnoticed.

“I love you too, my star.”

Yet his servo tightens, stopping you just shy from sinking down on his spike.

“Please? I want to make you feel good too, I want to feel you to be close, to finally and wholly have you.”

Grabbing his servo to tug on it, silently asking him to move it, and he lets you guide his servo up to your face allowing you to kiss his digits. Hoist’s engine revs loudly, visor brightening at such a simple act making his spark feel as though it’s going to burst from the speed of his energon flowing through him.

“You are too kind to me, starshine. I love you, I want you. Please, allow me to show you just how much I crave your taste, your touch, the feeling of your beneath my digits.”

Slowly and carefully he gently guides your hips down pushing the tip of his spike into your pussy. Both of your choked noises echo in the room, he’s so big and you’re so tight even with the training you’ve put your cunt through to fit him.

You cling to him needing him close and Hoist swiftly hunches over, bringing his face plate close to you, his mask retracting to press his dermas firmly against yours, keeping you firm against him and his kiss as he pushes more of his length into you. Your head is spinning, he’s so big there is so much of his spike and it’s filling you up so much! You’ve never been so full before, already knowing he’s ruined you for another.

You pull yourself away from his lips gasping for air as his hips press flush against you. He’s in, every inch of him managed to get lovingly shoved inside your pussy.

“I love you, I love you so much, fuck..!” You cry out, your cunt clenching around his thick shaft. Trying desperately to not cum so soon, but it’s all overwhelming.

Hoist struggles to not overload, his optics roll back behind his visor with how much your pussy is trying to milk him of his transfluid, but he wants to last, he wants to stay like this for as long as he can and let you get use to his size, but slag it all you feel so good! Your words alone threaten to make him lose it, but your organic valve is like nothing he’s ever felt before, so wet, so warm, so snug around him.

But more importantly it’s you.

He’s one with you, open with you.

He wants to bare his spark to you here and now, is it too soon? He wants you, never wants to let you go, to love and adore you so you so let him.

“I love you too-mm! O-oh primus…my light, please, I won’t last if you-“

“Hush, I don’t care about that, I’m here with you, finally. I just want us to be close like this as long as possible, please?”

He hopes for your first time together he makes this good, for he has already found himself longer for more together.

[signedkoko]

hiii!!! i’m new to anons lol but i love ur writing so much!!

i was wondering if i could pretty please request some vox x reader romantic headcanons where reader is a fallen angel exorcist, like vaggie? and possible vox finds them left after an extermination and takes them in?

tysm❤️‍🩹

Vox X Reader [Romantic]

In which Vox finds you cast down from heaven after the extermination. Reader is genderneutral.

While the Vees remained somewhere safe during the actual extermination

The first person to get back into things is Vox; he needs to know every detail, count every death, and report any massive fallings of overlords

Every camera flickers to life, his teams are sent out to repair, and as his processor is counting up the hundreds of deaths, he catches something strange on his camera

You're limp, shoved against a wall, with gold leaking from your back and a broken spear in your hands

Oh yeah, he's going for this one himself

He's not saying a thing because the implications of who you might be could be world-shattering, and he wants to be the first to say it

Making sure to keep an eye on you via that camera, he's glad he shows up because you look like you are on the verge of death

At first, hes cold, looking at you, wondering if you would be worth the trouble

But then his curiosity kicks in, along with his itch for innovation and wanting to be the first at everything

With the zap of some electricity, hes transporting the two of you to his workstation, where loose wires and all sorts of projects mid-construction are sitting around

At that point, you've actually started to try and fight back, which gives him a good glance at your back, where two gaping holes near your shoulder blades were pouring out the golden blood

" Jeez, chill out! It's not like I can kill you or anything. "

He's unsure of his own words, but you seem to stop then, which confirms that he really did have no means to kill you

But one thing was certain: you were not from around here

Vox will bandage you and ask all sorts of questions; he wants everything, and you seem more than willing to tell him everything, although he could tell you ommit a lot of details

" So then, where'd your wings- "

" I think you have overstepped. "

Alrighty then!

He won't press too much, but he will run vitals to make sure you're in a more stable condition

Vox won't let you out of his sight, though who can avoid his gaze?

For the first week, you remain in the workshop until he can work out a room for you

He would hide you from his coworkers for a month; he's worried they might try to exploit you or let shit out

But eventually he introduces you to Velvette- though neither of you share where you are from, as far as she is concerned, you are something of a partner to Vox

Valentino won't know until it happens accidentally, because jesus, Vox can't trust that asshole with a single thing

He won't want you to go out without someone too often, worried someone might find out and try to kill you

He says it's because he needs to be the only one who can study you, but the way he clings to you at night tells you he just doesn't want to lose you

Author's Note - Alternative title: local tech overlord can't admit he has a crush because ur the first person to be nice to him and mean it

[smilingformoney]

Rickmas Day 5: Open Doors

Character: Eli Michaelson (Nobel Son) Relationships: Eli x reader Warnings: smut, student/teacher hookup

Read on Ao3 or below:

You closed your laptop with a sigh. You’d tried pretty much every spot on campus you could think of, but everywhere was crowded and noisy, and you just couldn’t focus. You left the study hall with your laptop under your arms, trying to think of where you could go to get your coursework done. You needed somewhere quiet, somewhere no one would disturb you - preferably somewhere with a lock.

As you wandered through the halls of the college, you passed through the science block, and an idea struck you. It was a long shot, but you thought you might as well give it a go.

You found your Chemistry professor’s office door and knocked. After a few moments, the door swung open to reveal a frowning Dr Michaelson.

“Office hours are over,” he said shortly. He hesitated, though, looking you up and down thoughtfully. “…I might make an exception, though. What do you want?”

“I’m sorry to disturb you, Dr Michaelson, and I know this is gonna be a real cheeky ask…”

Dr Michaelson raised an eyebrow curiously and leant against the doorframe, his arms folded.

“I’m tryna do my math homework but everywhere on campus is so busy, I can’t focus. Is there any chance I could just sit in the lab to do my homework?”

“And risk knocking something over?” Dr Michaelson scoffed. “No chance. But… you could work in here.”

That took you aback.

“Really? You wouldn’t mind?”

“Sure. Just keep the noise down, would ya? I got my own work to do.”

Dr Michaelson stepped back and opened the door, gesturing for you to come in.

“Wow, thanks, Dr Michaelson, I really appreciate it. I owe you one.”

You said this as you walked into the office, so you didn’t see the hungry smirk that teased at the corner of your professor’s lips when he heard that.

“Not a problem at all, [Y/n]. Anything my students need. Here - lemme make you some space.”

He gathered up some of the papers strewn over his desk to make some space, then pulled a chair around for you. You thanked him again as you sat at his desk next to him.

“Now, don’t go telling everyone they can do this,” Dr Michaelson said firmly. “This is a one time thing, you hear? You caught me in a good mood.”

You mimed zipping your lips closed. Dr Michaelson smiled, then turned back to his own work.

You opened your laptop and loaded up your math homework again. Finally, you were able to concentrate. You liked having company when you studied, but not the obnoxiously loud company that Stanford seemed to be full of today. It was nice having Dr Michaelson for company, because he didn’t disturb you, and you were able to really focus on your homework.

Although he was mostly quiet, you did hear Dr Michaelson grumble under his breath sometimes. After the third “fuck’s sake” from him, you had to glance over.

“Something wrong?” you asked with amusement.

“I hate computers,” Dr Michaelson replied with a grumble as he hit the backspace button aggressively. “It keeps telling me I’m spelling Musettamycin wrong.”

You peered over at the screen, where his word processor had put a red squiggle under ‘Musetamycin’.

“It has two Ts,” you said.

Dr Michaelson frowned at you. “I think I know how to spell Musettamycin, [Y/n]. I am a Nobel Laureate.”

“Yeah, in Chemistry, not English.”

He narrowed his eyes, then stood up and grabbed a book from his shelf. He flicked through the pages, apparently found what he was looking for, and quickly put the book back on the shelf.

“Well done. You passed my test.”

He sat back down and added an extra T, and the red line promptly disappeared. You giggled.

“Do I get extra credit?”

Dr Michaelson looked at you thoughtfully.

“You get one chance for my help with your math homework.”

“Who says I need help?”

Your professor scoffed.

“You’re smart, [Y/n], but you ain’t that smart. You’ll need it,” he said confidently.

He turned back to his work, and you to yours - and, sure enough, eventually you came across a problem you just couldn’t solve.

“Alright, I admit it, I need help.”

Dr Michaelson leaned back in his chair with a triumphant grin.

“Well, well, well…”

“Stop!” you laughed. “Are you gonna help me or not?”

Dr Michaelson sighed dramatically. “Well, there are drawbacks to being a Nobel Laureate, I suppose. Everyone thinks you know everything - which I do. Come on, then, let’s have a look.”

He scooted his chair closer to yours to look at your screen.

“Oh, that’s easy. You gotta find a substitution to simplify it. Look at the denominator - what kind of substitution d’you think you need?”

“Uhm…”

Your mind went blank for a moment when you felt Dr Michaelson’s breath on your cheek. You realised suddenly that he’d scooted very close to you. He had one arm on the back of your chair, while with his other hand he pointed at one of the integers on your screen.

“Oh, er… trigonomic, right?”

“Good girl,” said Dr Michaelson, and you felt a strange shiver run across you, like he’d said some secret code to make you blush. He glanced at you, clearly noticing your reaction, and smirked.

“So… choose a substitution.”

He spoke softly, as if he were talking about something very different.

You cleared your throat and went to write out a substitution, trying not to get distracted by how very close to you he was. Dr Michaelson pulled his hand away from your screen… and rested it on your knee.

You could feel his gaze burning into you as you wrote out your workings, and when you paused, he glanced back at your screen.

“Good. Now, rewrite it in terms of theta.”

You weren’t sure how you were supposed to do that when his hand was still on your knee… or when it began moving up your leg, his fingers grazing your inner thigh. Was your Chemistry professor seriously coming onto you right now?

“Good girl… so smart,” Dr Michaelson muttered in your ear. “I don’t think you need my help at all… you just wanted some attention, huh?”

You could feel your heart racing. Your cheeks were burning red, but it just seemed to spur him on.

“Is it really all that busy on campus, [Y/n]? Was I really your only option for some peace and quiet? I don’t think so…”

“I, um… I remembered you said the lab stays locked…”

Dr Michaelson chuckled, his deep voice reverberating in your ear.

“Mmm, and you wanted to get me behind a locked door, is that it?”

“N - no, I…”

You gasped as Dr Michaelson reached the top of your thigh, but instead of stopping, he just kept going, his large hand suddenly cupping your crotch firmly through your pants.

“It’s bad form to lie to your professors, [Y/n],” he whispered. “I could report you for academic misconduct, you know.”

He stroked you with his fingers, and even through the fabric of your clothing, it sent a tingling feeling right to your core.

“Dr Michaelson…”

“Call me Eli.”

“Eli… how do you know I won’t - ah!” - another squeeze from him - “won’t… report you for this?”

He smirked.

“Are you telling me you don’t want it, [Y/n]? Say you don’t want it and I’ll stop.”

He continued caressing your crotch, his fingers dancing dangerously close to your zipper.

“It’s… it’s bad form to lie to my professors,” you said, stealing a glance at him. His pupils were wide with lust, his confident smirk on his lips just begging to be kissed.

Eli chuckled.

“Smart girl.”

He unzipped your pants and slipped his hand inside, causing you to let out a high-pitched whine.

“Wet already?” he teased, his fingers exploring your folds as you tried to keep your lips closed tight, lest you cry out a little too loud and be heard in the corridor. “My, you are an eager little thing, aren’t you?”

He pushed two fingers between your inner folds, digging deeper into the wetness that was pooling between your legs. You bit your lip, your eyelids fluttering, and let out another whine when Eli’s fingertip found your sweet spot.

“You need to simplify the expression,” he murmured in your ear as his finger circled your clit.

Your eyes fluttered open, confused.

“I - huh?”

Eli nodded towards your computer screen. “Simplify it, then integrate with respect to theta. Then your integral will be straightforward.”

What the fuck was wrong with him?

What the fuck was wrong with you, for that matter?

He stopped his movements very suddenly, and you whined in frustration.

“Go on. Show me how clever you are.”

You tried to clear your mind and focus on the expression on your computer screen, but you were far more interested in the finger that was now circling your clit again, spreading your wetness around as you tried to remember what numbers were.

“Good girl,” Eli said again. He’d clearly figured out how weak you were to those words, and he was using them to his full advantage. “What do we do next?”

Finger me, you thought.

“Substitute back to x,” you said.

“Go on, then. You can finish it from here.”

As your fingers moved across the keyboard, his fingers moved down through your folds, and pushed at the entrance to your pussy.

“One more step. Go on.”

You cried out as his fingers slipped inside you, but you kept going, willing your mind to try and think about stupid numbers at a time like this.

“Root over four minus x squared,” you said aloud, trying to ignore the way Eli’s fingers were crawling deeper inside you, reaching out to find your G-spot.

“And then - ah! - plus C.”

You sighed with relief as you finished your answer.

Eli smirked.

“See? You didn’t need my help with math. But I do think you needed my help with this, didn’t you?”

The hand that was on the back of your chair reached around to slide under your arm and grab your breast through your t-shirt as he began pumping his fingers harder inside you. You moaned.

“You like that, huh? You like getting fingered by your professor?”

“Y - yes,” you admitted. “It feels so good…”

“You think this is good? Just wait ‘til you feel my cock… you’ll be coming back every day on the pretence of needing help with homework, but really you just need my cock.”

You let out a moan of his name, which seemed to spur him on, as he began fingering you more aggressively, his other hand pawing at your breast, as if he were resisting tearing your clothes off to get straight to your flesh.

You grabbed onto the arm of your chair to steady yourself, and with your other hand, you reached over to Eli’s lap to cup his hard length beneath his trousers, and you couldn’t hide your reaction when you felt how big he was.

“You want it, huh? You want my cock, [Y/n]? Go on, tell me you want it… all you have to do is ask…”

“P - please, Dr Michaelson,” you panted. “I need your cock. Please - please, fuck me on your desk…”

Eli groaned, overwhelmed with arousal at your words. He withdrew his hands from you, then grabbed you by the waist and pulled you onto his lap. Your lips connected with his instantly, his arms wrapped around your torso, and you could feel his rock hard erection straining through his trousers, rubbing against your own far too clothed crotch.

He was a sloppy kisser, seemingly trying to get as much of his saliva in and around your mouth as possible. You reached down to unbuckle his belt, and he groaned with relief when some of the pressure on his cock was relieved.

“Fucking hungry little minx,” Eli growled as you fumbled with his belt. “Bet you’ve been dreaming about this, haven’t you? Fingering yourself to the thought of me… mhm, I know you have. Go on, get those damn pants off.”

He pushed you off his lap, and you obediently pushed your pants and underwear down past your knees, kicking them off along with your shoes while Eli finished opening his fly and pulled his cock out from underneath his boxers.

He hummed with satisfaction as he looked at you, pulling languidly on his cock as he took in the view of you, naked from the waist down, your pussy soaked and ready for him.

Oh, he had definitely found his new plaything.

Well, he’d better test her out.

He got to his feet and kissed you again, his cock brushing against your skin, his lips parting from yours only to pull your t-shirt over your head. He grinned when he saw the lacy bra you were wearing.

“Someone had a plan when she got dressed this morning,” he said smugly. “Did you decide to seduce your professor this morning or were you already planning it last night?”

“I like to wear this sometimes,” you admitted. “It makes me feel confident.”

“Mmm, and damn right too… God, those tits are so fuckable. Maybe another day, hm? I promised you my cock and you’re gonna get my cock. It’s what you deserve for being such a smart girl. Now - on the desk.”

You obediently hopped up onto the desk, perched on the edge, but Eli placed a firm hand on your shoulder and pushed you onto your back. You could feel papers sliding around beneath your back, and you had to push aside a stapler that was digging into your shoulder, but something about getting fucked by Dr Eli Michaelson on his work was incredibly hot.

“Look at you, fucking hell,” Eli growled as he rolled a condom he’d pulled from a drawer down his shaft. “You’re gonna get your slutty pussy juice all over my papers. Ah, well.”

He entered you with one fluid motion, causing you to cry out in surprise as his cock pierced your cunt, sliding easily up your walls, stretching them out with a delicious burn that sent your pleasure receptors wild.

Eli kept a firm grip on your thighs as he thrusted into you, groaning with abandon and no apparent care for who might be walking by.

“God, I fucking needed this,” he moaned. After his wife had left him and his last plaything graduated, he’d been going through a frustrating dry spell. And now here you were, presenting yourself at his office with your low-cut top and your tight little ass. It was too good an opportunity to pass up.

“Oh, fuck - fuck, Dr Michaelson, that feels so good…”

He smirked proudly at your moans. He knew just how good he was at fucking, but he still loved to hear it.

“Your cunt’s full of my cock, [Y/n]… I think we’re on first name terms now.”

You laughed, which quickly turned into a groan of surprise when Eli pushed your thighs back further, spreading your pussy out for him as his hips pummelled into your flesh.

“How long have you wanted this, [Y/n]?” Eli asked. “Did you walk out of my first lecture with soaking wet panties? Or did it take you a few lectures to realise how badly you wanted my cock?”

“I - I always thought you were handsome,” you admitted. “Ever since I - ah! - saw your picture in the paper when you got your Nobel Prize. I saw you worked at Stanford and - oh! - applied for my postgrad here.”

Eli grinned, his ego swelling as much as his cock.

“You applied here just so you could fuck me?”

“No!” you insisted. “I was gonna go to UCLA, but I thought - mhm - if I came here instead, I could study under a - ah! - a Nobel Laureate - fuck!”

Eli picked up his pace, fucking into your cunt furiously, the stroking of his ego sending a fresh wave of lust over him.

“Mmm, now look at you - you’re certainly under me now, huh?”

The desk was shaking violently, papers flying everywhere, and you heard the crash of a pen pot falling to the floor. Neither of you paid much mind to it.

“I might just have to schedule some one to one tutoring with you, [Y/n]… since you went to such lengths to be under me. Would you like that?”

“Y - yes,” you panted, your voice straining as you felt pleasure coiling inside you. “I think that would be - ugh - beneficial… fuck, Eli, I’m gonna cum…”

“Mmm, yes, cum all over my cock,” Eli growled. “God, look at you… fucking magnificent… and all mine…”

He released one of your legs from his grip to press his thumb against your clit, and as soon as he began rubbing circles around the swollen bundle of nerves, you knew you were done for.

“Yes… yes… Eli…”

“Fuck, [Y/n], I’m so close… I’m gonna cum so fucking hard…”

His moans increased, his thumb rubbing your clit and his cock furiously fucking into your cunt, and combined with the look of unadulterated pleasure on his face, you felt yourself tipping over the edge, and you cried out his name as you came, your legs twitching and your cunt gushing around his cock as your orgasm overwhelmed you.

Feeling you cum around his cock was the last straw for Eli, and he moaned loudly as he came too, filling the condom with his seed as he continued fucking you through his orgasm, hips stuttering erratically as he came inside a cunt for the first time in far too long, and such a warm, tight one too.

Eli stayed buried inside you for a few moments as his movements stilled and you both caught your breath. Then, he pulled out of you with a loud squelching sound, and passed you a box of tissues to clean yourself up.

“Fuck, that was so good,” he panted as he pulled the spent condom from his cock and deposited it in the bin.

You mumbled what sounded like “uh-huh” in agreement, your mind still addled from the pleasure as you tried to mop up as much as you could from between your legs.

When finally you’d managed to locate your clothes and get them back on, Eli was sitting back in his chair, watching you with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Well, I’d certainly give you an A for that,” he said proudly.

You laughed.

“What, am I majoring in sex now?”

“If you did, you’d be top of the class.”

He passed you your laptop, which thankfully hadn’t been damaged by your escapades.

“So… reckon you need some one-to-one tutoring?”

You blushed under his intense gaze, his eyes still staring at you hungrily.

“If you think I need it, Professor,” you said coyly.

Eli grinned and reached around to give your ass a squeeze.

“My door’s always open for you, [Y/n].”

[illdowhatiwantthanks]

The Mango (The Surprise, Part 13)

Emily Prentiss x fem!reader Warnings: explicit language, innuendo, implied sex, periods, mostly just fluff, reader taking care of Emily because our girl deserves it Word count: 1.9k

Summary: Emily comes back from a hard week in the field and you treat her in all the ways you can possibly think of. Because she's baby girl and she deserves to be taken care of.

Week 23: The Mango

In both your personal and professional life, you were a wildly independent person. Self-sufficient, dedicated, proud of the work you did and how hard you’d worked to get where you were. You were nobody’s doormat, nobody’s housekeeper, nobody’s mom.

If anyone else you knew, especially men, asked you to cook for them or do their laundry or take care of them in any way, you would have been personally affronted. You would have said, “You’re a fucking grown-up, do it yourself. I’m not your mom.” And you’d mean it.

So it embarrassed you a bit that, with Emily, you acted like a full-blown ‘50s-style housewife and you loved it. Not all the time, of course. But enough of the time that you couldn’t just brush it off. Dinner on the table when she got home? Your pleasure. Packing her lunch? A joy. Doing the laundry and making sure she always had a second go-bag packed and ready in case there was a quick turnaround on cases? You lived for that shit, especially when you hid little notes in the pockets that said things like:

I love you (so does little mango)!

We miss you! <3!

So proud of you for saving lives and kicking criminal ass! P.S. It’s hot. ;)

The bottom line? You were down bad for Emily. You had been from the moment she’d asked you out and all the years since. But after you’d gotten pregnant, your roles had switched a bit. Emily had always taken care of you well, but in the last few months she'd taken over significantly more of the household tasks since you were often tired and achy. You ordered takeout more often than you cooked (Emily had tried, but after her third time setting off the fire alarm you’d said, “You know what, babe, why don’t we just order out?”).

You missed taking care of Emily. God knows, she wouldn’t let anybody else do it. So when she’d called you from the jet to let you know she was on her way home after a grueling week in the field–made even more grueling by the fact that she was on her period–you set out to treat Emily right. To treat her in all the ways you used to treat her before you got pregnant, in all the ways that Emily deserved to be treated and so rarely let herself be.

You had groceries delivered to make her favorite meal, and when the little Find My dot that was Emily showed up at Quantico and started making its way back to DC, you ran her a bath–water scalding so it’d be nice and hot when she came in, fragrant with lavender Epsom salts. You lit candles, turned the bathroom lights low, even put her favorite hoodie and sweatpants and a fluffy towel in the dryer so they’d be toasty and warm when she got out of the bath.

You started on dinner, playing Emily’s favorite Salah Ragab record on the turntable. The food processor growled as it worked overtime to blend a homemade hummus, complete with your secret ingredient: a splash of aquafaba. You chopped parsley and mint for fattoush, made a marinade for the chicken flavored with all the spices Emily loved so much from her childhood years in Oman and Egypt, sumac and cardamom and coriander and all the others that you ordered online from a specialty Middle Eastern spice seller.

Your oven shawarma wasn’t as good as shawarma from a spit in Cairo, but it was about as close as you could get at home, and Emily loved it. And you made a damn good fattoush and hummus. You sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, whipped together a quick yogurt sauce.

You’d just put the chicken and veggies in the oven and were starting on the cream cheese filling for the stuffed dates when you heard the door open and shut.

“In the kitchen!” you called, hands sticky from slicing the dates.

Emily looked exhausted, with dark circles under her eyes, her blazer rumpled from a long day of travel. But her face lit up when she saw you.

“Do I smell… shawarma?!” she asked, wrapping her arms around your waist and kissing your neck, her hands resting protectively over your baby bump.

“Mmhm.” You grinned, feeling Emily’s body melt into yours, the tension in her muscles already dissipating.

“What’s the occasion?” She turned you around, so she could lean her arms on your shoulders, running her fingers through your hair.

You shrugged. “Can’t a girl just want to treat her wife?”

“She sure can.” Emily smiled and leaned in to press her lips softly to yours. You held your hands out at your sides so you wouldn’t be tempted to press them into Emily’s clothes or skin.

Emily pulled away, watching you lovingly as you sliced and mixed and stirred.

“Can I help with anything?” she asked, lowering herself into a chair and wincing slightly.

“In the kitchen!?” You scoffed. “Absolutely not. There’s a bath ready for you, so go relax for a bit.”

Her eyes brightened. “Aw, honey. That’s so sweet of you.” She grabbed your hips again, once again turning you away from the counter so she could press you against it in a hungry kiss.

You giggled and swatted at her with a dish towel. “Go before the water gets cold!”

“Care to join?” she asked suggestively, pulling lightly at the waistband of your shorts.

You smirked, gently grasping her fingers and moving them away. “I have to finish dessert.”

Emily walked toward the bathroom like a scolded puppy, looking back with big eyes. “I can think of something else I’d rather have for dessert,” she commented, eyebrows raised.

You waved her off, blushing furiously. “Get out of here, you dork! Go take your bath!”

“I thought we were treating me tonight!” Emily called from the bathroom.

“That’s an after-dinner treat, honey,” you yelled back. “I’ve got shit to do first.”

“Fine! But I’m gonna hold you to that!”

You shook your head, grinning, as you spooned cream cheese filling into the halved dates, pressing them into a mixture of crushed pistachios and rose petals. God, you loved your wife.

When the dates were plated, the bulgur in the fattoush soaked through, the pita warmed, and the chicken covered in foil and resting on the counter, you washed your hands and went to find Emily, grabbing her comfy clothes and towel from the dryer.

You heart surged when you found her still in the tub, eyes closed, face relaxed. This is what your girl deserved. You leaned down to kiss her on the forehead.

“You alright, honey?” you asked, trying to squat down next to the tub, but ending up on your knees thanks to the baby.

She hummed in affirmation, keeping her eyes closed. “Thank you so much for this, baby,” she mumbled quietly.

“Anytime, love.” You watched her for a few more minutes, then set the stack of warm clothes on the bathroom counter. “There’s a warm towel and some PJs here for you,” you said, struggling to get to your feet.

“You good?” Emily chuckled, watching you out of the corner of her eye.

“Yes.” When you finally managed to make it to your feet, you had beads of sweat on your forehead. It wasn’t even that your belly was that heavy yet, it was that it threw off your center of gravity and made moving from one position to another awkward. “Get dried off when you're ready,” you told her. “I’ll get dinner on the table.”

You were proud of the spread when you stood and surveyed it. Shawarma chicken straight from the oven, spiced and heavenly-smelling. Warm pita bread and a swirl of smooth, creamy hummus with just a bit of paprika and olive oil on top. A lovely, vibrant fattoush, sliced cucumbers, juicy tomatoes. A little plate of stuffed dates, popping with green and pink from the pistachios and rose petals.

Emily walked in, hair wet around her shoulders, blotching her sweatshirt. You pulled her chair out for her but, before she sat down, she wrapped her arms around you, pulling you in for a hug. She smelled like lavender and fresh laundry, and you breathed her in, holding her close.

You could tell by the way she lingered there, by the way she breathed easier with her body pressed against yours, that Emily would need a lot of touch tonight. Not just in a sexual way, though Emily’s sex drive was always through the roof on her period. You could tell that tonight, Emily would let you hold her, that she’d curl herself around you tightly, possessively, as if to cover the most that she possibly could of your surface area.

In other words, she needed comfort. And she didn't get it from anyone else, not really. It had taken her a long time to even ask for it from you, to seek it out. So when she did, you were always more than happy to oblige. More than happy to hold clingy, sweet, needy Emily for as long as she needed.

She whined a bit when you pulled away, and you kissed her cheek, playing with her fingers.

“You’ve got to eat something, love. Then I promise I will not let you go for the rest of the night.”

She sat obediently, squeezing your hand, and piled her plate with all the things you’d made, eyes rolling back in her head when she swiped a finger through the hummus and put it in her mouth.

“I don’t know how you do it,” she gushed. “I swear your hummus tastes just like my friend Zainab’s mom’s from when I lived in Oman.”

“It’s the specialty spices,” you shrugged, taking a bite of pita with shawarma and veggies.

“No, I think it’s the special person making it,” Emily cheesed, beaming at you.

You smiled and rolled your eyes playfully. “Oh, you’re getting it tonight.”

“I certainly hope so.”

When your plates were cleared and the leftovers tucked safely into the fridge, you led Emily to the bedroom, pulling back the covers for her, tucking her in.

“You know these are just gonna get untucked, right?” she asked, biting her lip.

“Shh,” you scolded. “Let me take care of you.”

You crawled into bed next to Emily, drawing her body into yours, holding her gently as you pressed your lips to hers. She melted into the kiss, already breathless.

You brushed her hair out of her face, placing your hand gently on her lower stomach. “How are your cramps?” you asked. “You want any medicine or anything?”

“The only medicine I need is you,” she said, guiding your hand lower.

You chuckled. “Alright, Romeo. Calm down.” You lowered your face to her neck, planting kisses all across her shoulder and collarbone. “I told you I’d take care of you, and I will.”

Emily held your face gently in her hands, looking deep into your eyes. “Why are you so good to me?” she whispered.

You pecked her on the lips. “Because I love you. And you deserve good things.”

And with that, you started your long, slow journey across the topography of Emily’s body, ready and willing to give her every good thing you possibly could.

[sideswipesjetpack]

He is never fighting any ‘con one on one ever again.

Okay- Sideswipe was lying seventeen times over saying this (why seventeen specifically? That’s for him to know and you not), so let's rephrase, because remember kiddos, lying is bad- he is never fighting a con close to three times his size one on one again.

…eh, he's probably lying about that too, but at least it gives him some temporary peace of mind. It certainly does give Sunstreaker some, if the bond is anything to go by. 

Still, he supposes this sudden moment of self-reflection could've come at a better time. Like, maybe before he was almost turned into a newly developed kind of the human dish dubbed ‘pancake’.

His eye decides to sizzle painfully just in that moment to remind him of his poor situation. 

Ouch, right- the whole ‘getting beaten to a bloody pulp’ thing. How could he forget? (Seriously, how could he? That seemed worrying. Forgetting important stuff when you just almost died and are most definitely severely injured in the head is proooobably not a good sign. Don’t quote him on this though, even bots as amazing as Sideswipe could be wrong sometimes.)

His optic was in shambles, and that was putting it nicely. It hurt, frag, it hurt so badly. Humor was his way of coping and he could handle havign a limb ripped off on most days, and even now this was pushing his limits of pain tolerance. He had limits too okay?! He could barely see beyond the blaring red warnings clouding his visual feed which only added the stress of possibly being ambushed again on top of the warnings themselves, of energon loss, of destroyed optical systems, of visual feeds at only 46%, all the terrible no-good information about how sory his current state was. He couldn’t think, let him think- So much text his processor was hurting, aching worse than his wounds. He was overworked, tired, exhausted even, and Sunstreaker was stuck fighting his own battles, so Sideswipe was alone as he waited for his twin to help, he needed his twin, please, Sunny, just hurry it h u r t s-

He felt cold and hot at once, his systems running at full capacity, adrenaline burning through his lines, energon and coolant a stark contrast against his faceplates, making his shiver-

Right, right, focus Sideswipe. Imagine you slapping yourself on your cheeks just now! You gotta stay alive for there to be something for your brother to pick up. Pull yourself together. 

Still, it was so damn hard with his processor working at barely half capacity-

“Frag- That… wasn't fun…” Sideswipe panted, wishing Sunstreaker would hurry his shiny golden aft for once, shivering slightly as his ex-vent caused air to touch his wounded face.

Instinctively, he brought a servo up and wiped the corner of his mouth, wincing as it came back stained pink. Moreover, the shoulder of the arm he used was starting to ache suspiciously sharp through all the other mild aches around his body. He didn’t even need to glance to know it was damaged in some way.

And he just used that arm out his two available ones to do a, relatively, unnecessary action. Possibly aggravating the wound in the process.  Oh, if his injuries didn’t kill him first, Ratchet was so gonna finish the job. --- OH YEAH, I FINALLY DID IT! Hope you like this little word vomit of mine lmaooo I really like showing the chaos inside a wounded character's head, especially how it affects their thoughts. They're hurt, they're scared, they're in pain, and like Sideswipe, probably wishing for a saviour to come. And Sideswipe is already a funky little guy, pain is only gonna make everything 100 times worse in his brain! Also I tried including everything I could get from the drawings, so that lil wound on Sideswipe's shoulder also got a cameo. Sunny being busy with his own fight is pulled from his drawings where he's in combat. A nice way to tie it all together <3

^^^EVEryone.. READ THIS NOWWW!!^^^^

I’m going to throttle you affectionally, shake you back and fourth/affectionate

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHUYYUHHHHUUU AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHUYYUHHHHUUU AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHUYYUHHHHUUU AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHUYYUHHHHUUU

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH O MY GOAHHHHHHJHHHHHHHH

DUDEEEEEEE

this is such a beautiful thing to come home to after a 9 hour shift 💕💕💕

AHHHHHHHH LOOK LOOOOK THE CAMEOS? THE WORDS AAHHHSGSGAAHAHJSJAOSJSOAHSJS

I’m speechless I’m word vomit

THANK YOU SO KUCH BRO, IM EATING ALL OF THIS, I reread it twice before deciding better answer it LMAOOOO

When you’re absolutely battered and your bros antagonising the cons half a mile away 💔💔

[in1-nutshell]

I am once again humbly asking for more Brainstorm.

Brainstorm with a human buddy that, while not the most scientifically inclined, is very chaotic and excitable and is just a pure enabler for his bullshit.

Like Brainstorm will just be going on about his latest invention, and Buddy will just be sitting there listening to him, not really understanding what he's saying but they heard the words explosive, so they're on board.

dealers choice for platonic or romantic, i just want to see more of this funky little man

Hello again! It's nice to see people appreciate this mad scientist. I know Buddy surely appreciates his more explosive weapons.

Hope you enjoy!

Brainstorm and Human Buddy who loves explosives

SFW, platonic, mentions explosions, Human reader

MTMTE

Ever since they met, Buddy had been drawn to Brainstorm.

They couldn't tell you when their friendship started. Brainstorm couldn't tell you either.

But Ultra Mangus can tell the exact moment when his processor ache started.

Buddy and Brainstorm start clicking.

Ultra Magnus in his office.

"Someone is thinking about shenanigans..."--Magnus

It's no secret to everyone on board that Buddy loves explosives. The crew found out about it during the Pepper spray Incident.

An incident consisting of Pepper spray, pepper, a battery, engex, and Whirl.

That was also the day Whirl swears he found his soulmate. Or a good friend. He still doesn't know yet.

Brainstorm quickly figures out that Buddy isn't as scientifically inclined as he is. But then again not many bots are, besides Perceptor of course.

"Hey Brainstorm..."--Buddy

"What is it?"--Brainstorm

"In the hypothetical situation, I managed to set a binary gun on fire from the inside. What would happen if I put water on it?"--Buddy

"Well that a strange-wait you did what?! Where is it?!"--Brainstorm

"Oh it's right over there."--Buddy

"Why is it there!?"--Brainstorm

"I don't know I thought it was a good idea!"--Buddy

"How is putting it on the top shelf a good idea!? How did you even get up there?!"--Brainstorm

"I don't know!"--Buddy

Brainstorm does appreciate Buddy making an effort to understand his science rambles.

Does Buddy space out sometimes? Yes, they do.

Does Buddy try to contribute the conversation with zero understanding. Yes, they do and Brainstorm loves them for that.

Buddy wants to be in on any experiments that have explosives involved. Brainstorm, while he loves the enthusiasm, knows that Buddy shouldn't be around so much of it.

"Please, Percy! I want to see the cool experiment!"--Buddy

"I'm sorry Buddy but this one is simply too dangerous, especially for your organic nature can't withstand these conditions."--Perceptor

"Brainstorm?"--Buddy

"Percy's right Buddy. Your organic form can't handle this one."--Brainstorm

"Thank you Brainstorm."--Perceptor

"Which is why you need this exosuit to watch us do it!"--Brainstorm

"Yeah Brainstorm!"--Buddy

"No Brainstorm!"--Perceptor

If someone tries to give Buddy a hard time for not being intelligent enough, Brainstorm is ready and armed. No one is going to make his friend feel like a worthless intelligent slug, they are the ones who are the worthless unintelligent slugs!

"So you thought it was a good idea to go and tell Buddy that they were some dumb organic. Your words to be exact."--Brainstorm

"So? They are. All organic life forms are dumb and worthless.""--Random bot

" Oh I think my accomplice and I would disagree. Isn't that right Whirl?"--Brainstorm

Whirl with two blasters in his claws.

"You picked the wrong fleshy to mess with."--Whirl

Shoots Random bot in the knee.

"That's for messing with My Buddy!"--Whirl

"Your Buddy?"--Brainstorm

"I'm still working on it!"--Whirl

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

and found - outtakes

Hey, folks, I have weathered the first feast holiday of my winter season and had a super breakfast, and now I have to be at work but there's obviously nothing doing so it's time to post a couple of things that got cut from "and found," generally due to lack of narrative space for them.

***

girlboss

“Jiao Liqiao did some incredibly out of pocket shit, but she was kind of a girlboss. Or at least she knew how to be straightforward about, like, ‘hey, Di Feisheng, I want to tie you up and have insane sex with you.’”

Di Feisheng lets out a startled cough. “You're overestimating her willingness to explain anything ever.”

“Well, ok, yeah, but she knew what she wanted and she did something about it and I respect that as someone else who would, like, commit serial murders to hang onto you. And like. She looked at you and said, man, he's super hot and good at kung fu, the dick must be insane, and it's not like she was wrong.”

This time it's Fang Duobing's turn to cough, as Di Feisheng transitions into looking smug. “She had y–h–Bicha poison?”

“Oh, and god forbid women do anything.” Xiangyi glances at them and then cackles. “No, I mean, don’t get me wrong, if I could time travel I’d break her fucking jaw, but game recognize game.”

“I don’t. I don’t think that phrase applies here? Since you’re not evil?”

“You are seriously underestimating the degree to which you both make me feel like an insane person, if something happened to either of you nothing could get between me and the nuclear launch codes.”

“The. The Secret Service?”

“Shifu. I could take them! You don’t think I could beat up the entire Secret Service?"

Di Feisheng snorts. “And you worry about me getting on watchlists.”

***

“Of all of the technological innovations you’ve seen over the course of your life so far, what would you say is your favorite?”

(this one isn't even an outtake, it's just something I wrote down because it was funny even though there's never been a spot in the story where I could start having Xiangyi shoot interview questions at various immortals)

Fang Duobing: “I really like typewriters? Fountain pens were good, but getting a typewriter was game-changing.” (“Not word processors?”) “I mean. A word processor is fine, but it doesn’t go click in the same way.”

Di Feisheng: “Motorcycles.”

Wen Kexing: “Zippers are the greatest invention of the past eight hundred years. Although blenders are also good.”

Zhou Zishu: “Milkshakes and smoothies, any frozen drink. Unless that doesn’t count as technology, in which case hydroponics.”

Jing Beiyuan: “Hm. Noise-cancelling headphones. And there have been significant advances in the field of sex toys that I really appreciate, but I doubt you want to hear about that.”

Wu Xi: “Noise-cancelling headphones. Rubber gloves. Poison control hotlines.” (“You think of poison control hotlines as a technological innovation? What are they an improvement over?”) “They’re better than waking me in the middle of the night because some idiot’s eaten something they shouldn’t.”

Orlando: “Photography, and I do appreciate how easy it is to bathe now.”

Kenzaki Kazuma: “I mean, I haven't actually lived longer than a normal human yet, but smartphones are great.”

Kurenai Gai: “Ramune.”

Hob Gadling: “Modern painkillers are incredible, do you know what I would have given in the 1500s to be able to go round the corner store and get a bottle of paracetamol?”

Wen Ning: “Electric lighting is really nice.”

Song Lan: [ text messaging ]

Xiangyi: “If we don't get flying cars in the next hundred years or so I’m fully going to throw a tantrum. Unless Elon Musk is involved. Hey, A-Fei, can we kill Elon Musk?” (“You have a major study running right now.”) “Well, yeah, obviously we’d do it after that.”

***

Ultraman

Xiangyi bats his hand away without looking at the screen. “Cut it out, illegal to be horny at me during Ultraman time.”

Di Feisheng raises an eyebrow. “You said earlier that Ultraman makes you horny.”

“Which is true, and I stand by it, but this rise is important to the whole, like, emotional arc of the show and I don't want to miss it.”

“Not that I’m not enjoying this show, but I didn't think these aired in the USA.” Fang Duobing adjusts his glasses, apparently fascinated as he watches the transformation sequence. “How did you get to be such a big fan?”

“Oh, Uncle Xun had a couple of the old shows on, like, laserdisc, Yuze and I used to stay up all night watching them when we were kids. We got in fights about which one to put on, even, because he always wanted to watch Return because he has no fucking taste but then he’d make fun of me for wanting to watch Ace because he thought it ‘wasn’t fun’ or some shit.”

“I’ll be honest, I don't recognize any of those names? I watched the original show when it first aired, and Ultra Q before that, but then after that I was busy doing other things, so I never got around to watching anything after those. Didn't see the point, anyway, since Eiji had died, it felt weird watching his thing without him working on it.”

Xiangyi freezes, reaches for the remote very slowly, pauses the show, and turns. “Xiaobao, are you saying you knew Tsuburaya Eiji?”

Fang Duobing blinks. “Yes? Him and Kinjo Tetsuo, they were good men. I spent a few decades living in Japan mid-century.”

“What were you doing there?”

“Ah…sabotaging warships and fighter planes, mostly. Well, until I got arrested. I broke out, of course, but I couldn't manage to get out of the country, so I was living under an assumed name for a while, and then there was. I mean. I…” He trails off, looking haunted. “It's hard to stay angry at an entire country after you see something like that happen. So…I stayed. Someone always needs a doctor. I’d rather not talk about it. Ah, so, I set up a practice and one day a couple of men came in and asked if I’d come with them because there’d been an accident, and when we got there the first thing I saw was a monster? It was very startling.”

Xiangyi realizes that he's been holding his breath. “Was it Godzilla?”

“No, ah, Rodan. Anyway, someone had a sprained ankle and once I’d gotten it wrapped up I said, what were they doing here, and they said they were making a movie, and here was the man who’d designed the monster and he wanted to know what I thought of it, since apparently the face I’d made was very funny.” Fang Duobing smiles fleetingly. “I kept hanging around because safety standards in filmmaking at the time were…not good.”

[smokescreenstuff]

Smokescreen does NOT want a medical checkup

(Takes place after Darkmount n stuff)

Phase shifter au

Smokescreen sighed in relief as he phased into his room, the intricate markings on his arms from fusing with the phase shifter slowly dimming into a dull cyan.

He had escaped ratchet(and a medical checkup) once more. HAHA!! Take THAT!! He refused the matrix once so he can refuse a medical checkup. He did NOT want to go NEAR the medbay. No thanks. He would rather talk face to face with Unicron than do that.

The Autobot walked over to his berth, sitting down with a sigh and running his servos over his face plates. It is getting more and more difficult for him to avoid the medbay, let alone ratchet.

He was just glad the medic hadn’t enlisted the help of anyone else- like bee, or worse, Optimus.

Knocking on the door.

His entire frame tensed and went intangible, causing the mech to fall on his aft with an audible “oof-“ as he phased through his berth.

The beeps and clicks of Bumblebees vocalizer were unmistakable, causing the bot to relax as he approached the door, becoming tangible once more and opening the door, greeting the yellow bot.

[“Hey Smokescreen!]

“Heya Bee! Whatcha need?”

[“Boss-Bot wanted you for something.”]

That caused his door wings to perk up with curiosity as he tilted his helm to the side slightly.

“Any idea why?”

With that, Bumblebee shrugged and shook his helm.

“Dang. Guess I gotta see.”

He exited his room, before turning to bee once more.

“Oh yeah- Where is Op?”

[“Main area.”]

“Sweet- Thanks bee!”

He spun on his heels, humming as he made his way through base. Not any tune in particular, just one he heard on human radio that got stuck in his processor.

Eventually, he arrived to where Optimus was.

…

And ratchet.

Scrap.

He waved at the two as he approached, ratchet practically staring holes in his helm and Optimus nodding with an acknowledging hum.

“Heyyaaa Op! Doc-bot! Whatcha need?”

“What YOU need is a medical checkup.”

“..Welll I would say I am A-OKAY and there is NO NEED for me to get a medical checkup. Sooo I’m just gonna gooooooo-“

“Smokescreen.”

SCRRAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPP

“I would advise you to listen to Ratchet, he is doing this to make sure you are healthy.”

“eeeehhhhhhhh- I’m fiiine- ahha-“

He slowly started to back away.

“Smokescreen.”

“Yyyyeaaahhh?”

“That is an order.”

He tensed up, before sighing.

“…….ffffffine.”

yeah this was lazy but hey no suffering for now I’m also just very sleepy and hungry

-story anon

Oh my goodness, I love this. It's nice, kind of slice of life. The way you draw out his words to show reluctance without saying something like "Smokescreen sighed out reluctantly". It's a good skill. Conveying emotions with just words.

Also, hope you had good sleep and food.

[fereldanwench]

Hi! I'm not sure if you've answered this question or not or if I missed it in your pinned post. I've been dying to mod Cyberpunk for forever, and have finally decided to give it a try. I am very intimidated by the whole ordeal because I know cyberpunk has so many spec requirements (I play on console) and was wondering if you had recommendations? I'm looking to buy a PC to start my modding and visual photography journey but don't know where to start. I've scoured reddit for recommendations but keep getting mixed signals.

I've watched you slowly create your digital portfolio for Valerie over the last couple years and have just been in utter awe of your work. I've looked up to you for a while and want to follow in your footsteps.

Thank you for your time! ☺️💖

Hey there! Thank you so much for the sweet words!

You didn't miss anything, so no worries! I don't think I've ever shared my PC specs in one place. Currently I have:

Motherboard: MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk MAX

Processor: i7-14700K (with a Cooler Master liquid cooler, I forget the exact model)

RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR5 64GB

GPU: Geforce RTX 3070 Ti

SSD: Samsung 860 EVO 2TB

NZXT H710i ATX tower case (I think this exact model is discontinued, but I'm a fan of NZXT cases in general--They're very roomy, have good airflow, and have good cable management features)

I've built and maintained my own PCs for about a decade now, and I remember when I first made the switch from console to PC, a lot of the conventional advice I got from more seasoned PC gamers was "Build your own rig, it's cheaper, and it's not that hard." I wasn't fully convinced, though, and I did just get a pre-built gaming PC from some random company on Amazon. If you have the money and you're really intimidated at the idea of building your own, there's nothing wrong with going this route.

Once I had my pre-built, I started with upgrading individual components one at a time. Installing a new GPU, for instance, is pretty easy and fool-proof. Installing a new CPU is a little trickier, especially with all the conflicting advice on how much thermal paste to use (I've always done the grain of rice/pea-sized method and my temperatures on multiple CPUs have always been fine). Installing a new power supply unit can be overwhelming when it comes to making sure you've plugged everything in correctly. Installing a new motherboard is not too far off from building a whole new thing.

And building/maintaining a PC is pretty easy once you get past the initial intimidation. There are so many video tutorials on YouTube to explain the basics--I think I referred to Linus Tech Tip videos back in the day (which might be cringe to suggest now, idk), but you search "how to build a gaming PC" and you'll get a ton of good results back. Also, PCPartPicker is a very helpful website in crosschecking all your desired components to make sure they'll play nicely with each other.

The other big piece of advice I'd offer on building a PC is not to drive yourself crazy reading too many reviews on components. Don't go in totally blind--Still look at Reddit, Amazon reviews, NewEgg, etc. to get an idea of the product and potential issues, but be discerning. Like if you check Amazon reviews and see a common issue mentioned in multiple reviews, take note of that, but if you see one or two complaints about something random, it's probably a fluke. Either a one-off manufacturing error or (more likely, honestly) user error.

You'll probably also see a lot of debates about Intel/NVIDIA vs AMD when it comes to processors and graphics cards--I started with Intel and NVIDIA so I've really just stuck with them out of familiarity, but I think the conventional wisdom these days is that AMD processors will give you more bang for your buck when it comes to gaming.

If you do go the NVIDIA route, I've personally always found it worth the extra money to go with a Ti model of their cards--I feel like it gives me at least another year or two without starting to really feel the GPU bottleneck. I was able to play Mass Effect Andromeda on mostly high settings with my 780 Ti in 2017, and I actually started playing Cyberpunk on my 1080 Ti in 2021--I think most of my settings were on high without any notable performance issues.

Now you probably couldn't get away with that post-Phantom Liberty/update 2.0 since the game did get a lot more demanding with those updates. However, my biggest piece of advice to anyone who wants to get into PC gaming with a heavy emphasis on virtual photography is that you do not need the absolute top-of-the-line hardware to take good shots. For Cyberpunk, I think shooting for a build that lands somewhere along the lines of the minimum-to-recommended ray-tracing requirements will do you just fine.

I don't remember all my current game settings off the top of my head, but I can tell you that I have never bothered with path-tracing, my ray-tracing settings range from medium to high, and I don't natively run the game at 4K. I do hotsample to 4K when I do VP, and I do notice a difference between a 1080 and a 4K shot, but I personally don't feel like being able to constantly run it at 4K is necessary for me right now since I still only have a 1080p monitor. If I'm going to be shooting in Dogtown, which is very demanding, I'll also cap my FPS to 30 for a little extra stability.

(Also, and hopefully this doesn't muddy the waters too much, but I feel like it's worth pointing out that you could have the absolute best of the best hardware and still run into crashes and glitches for random shit that might require advanced troubleshooting--My husband had a better build than I did when he started playing CP77, but he kept running into crashes because of some weird audio driver issue that had to do with his sound system. I just recently upgraded my CPU, RAM, and motherboard, and I was going nuts over the winter because my game somehow became less stable. It turned out the main culprit was Windows 11 has shitty Bluetooth settings.)

But in my opinion, I think getting good shots is less about hardware and more about 1) learning to use the tools available to you (e.g. in-game lighting tools, Reshade, and post-editing in programs like Lightroom or even free apps like Snapsneed) and 2) learning the basics of real-life photography (or visual art in general), particularly when it comes to lighting, color, and composition.

I don't rely on Reshade too much because I try to minimize the amount of menus I have to futz with in-game, but I do think DOF and/or long exposure shaders are excellent for getting cleaner shots. I also like ambient fog shaders to help create more cohesive color in a shot. However, I put most of my focus on lighting and post-editing. I did talk a little bit about my methods for both in this post--It is from 2023 and my style has evolved some since then (like I mention desaturating greens in Lightroom, but I've actually been loving bold green lately and I've been cranking that shit up), but I think it still has some useful advice for anyone starting out.

For a more recent comparison of how much my Lightroom and Photoshop work affects the final product, here is a recent shot I took of Goro.

The left image is the raw shot out of the game--It has some Reshade effects (most notably the IGCS DOF), and I manually set the lighting for this scene. To do this, I set the time in-game to give me a golden hour affect (usually early morning or early evening depending on your location) so the base was very warm and orange, then I dropped the exposure and essentially "rebuilt" the lighting with AMM and CharLi lights to make Goro pop and add some more color, notably green and blue, into the scene.

And the right image is that same shot but after I did some color correcting/enhancement, sharpening, etc. in Lightroom and clip-editing and texture work in Photoshop.

Okay, this was long as hell so I'm gonna end it here, haha. If you have any more questions about anything specific here, feel free to ask! I know it can be really overwhelming and I threw a lot at ya. <333

[lavenlady]

Thank you very much, Lady. Could you do part 2, where the reader realizes that the relationship she had was bad and wasn't true love, but things get bad when they see Flame Nova back.

Here you go! Enjoy!

⊗ Is This Love? ⊗ | Yan!Flame Nova x Fem!Cardbot!Reader - part 2

part 1, part 3

Spending time on Earth was refreshing, you didn't have to follow a set list of rules and finally felt free from your duties of a housewife. Though your habits still stayed and Blue Cop was worried - was it from your time with Flame Nova or after? You were so quiet, you nearly didn't fit the description given by his former boss. You were said to be talkative, welcoming and caring, but having spent some time in your presence you only talked when asked a question, giving the shortest answers you could come up with.

You were by his side in a fight with Mega Trucker, refusing to rest even with your damages, your optics filled with dread when he wanted to partol alone the city. You practically begged him not to leave you alone, you were on the brick of crying. It made him feel bad and just let you tag along. He realised he needed to watch over your poor mental state, he didn't know what happened on Machina exactly, but you were a friend of his now and friends supported each other.

Soon you found Jun, the chosen one to carry the Metal Breath. You visibly calmed down near the childs presence and the Star Guardian hoped further interactions with other Cardbots would help you open up again. New newcomers were added to korean boy's friends. They were so different from each other and nice to hang out with, yet you couldn't bring yourself to seak a word to them. It started to change when you were waiting for Jun one day as he helped his parents in their restaurant. You saw how they treated each other, eyes full of pure love, they joked and sometimes argued, but talked out their problems.

It made you look back at your time spent with your beloved, it wasn't like that, could it even be called love? After bringing Jun to the Auto Shop you decided to pay a visit to the pair or mainly Yuri who you thought could help you better at your dilemma.

" How, how can I be like you? " You looked at the adult with optics. You couldn't grasp how they could be so happy with each other and you along with your lover couldn't even compare to their bond. Maybe you were the problem all along, you saw how others looked at you weirdly, like you had done something so baffling it made them second guess their point of view.

" You don't have to, just be yourself. I like you for who you are [Y/N]! Don't let anyone change that. " The woman looked at you with a similar expression others did, but with something more - sympathy. It didn't immediately help, rather got you onto the right path to do so.

After that you started to finally talk with other Cardbots, showing more of your shunned personality with each interaction. It made all of them let a sigh out of relief. Sadly your bonding time with the team didn't last long, at least with the entire team. You sadly couldn't escape being thrown into the portal that led you into Spellanza. All of you talked and waited fro the rescue to come, each day was a torture. It made you connect with the team on another level, without the humans to overhear you told them your part of the story. This gained you understanding from your teammates.

You all were deadly silent when you saw other individuals enter the ship. Among them was Flame Nova, your beloved. You couldn't help but dread seeing him face plates to face plates. It made you panic all over again. Later Jun finally found you and took you back for the final fight. You were released before Heavy Iron, successfully knocking back obstacles in the way. It made the former Star Guardian readjust his optics. You, you were here and he didn't know it! How much did they mess up your perfect processor to make you fight him back?

" Sweetest, I have finally found you! Did you know how much I have missed you? Leave them behind and come back to me like the good wife you are. " He spoke so confidently and so full of his victory, but you could only look on with rage. You shook your helm, your servos shook in your silent anger. You now knew, he was not the one for you, you won't let him dictate your life again. His optics narrowed as he saw your defiance. " I will have to do it myself then. "

The battle was exhausting, but fruitful. Flame Nova was sealed once more and you could finally let all the stress to leave your frame. You had met other Cardbots and got along with them pretty well. You were finally back to your talkative and welcoming self. It was refreshing to be in your presence. Though one small flicker of your hope thinks that Flame Nova can be changed, but not with your help. Jun can make miracles work and surely he can do just that again.

'Maybe there can be a happy ending for both of you' you thought as you looked at the taken photos, returning to Mowtown.

□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□

( Hope you liked it! )

(Master list)

( Request away! )

[yoursweetestnightmarelover]

Juzi head cannon

J after coming back with Tessa, starts hanging around Uzi she didn't know why, but she wanted to be around her, she wanted her attention each time the purple haired drone, Comments on this, she just brushes her off with "Don't flatter yourself I'm just keeping an eye on you."

Uzi, coming back from school and heading to the pod, after a few minutes of walking Uzi calling out "N V are you guys here?" Uzi calls out only to hear the sound of a drone landing behind her "They're not here sorry toaster, out hunting" J said casually "Then why aren't you with them" Uzi said with a snarky tone, bracing herself having to deal with J, "I already got what I needed" K said in a smug tone. While waiting for N and V. Uzi pulling out her phone scrolling through 9chan a copper 9 image board J slinking over behind her watching Uzi scrolling through a thread talking about some show "Can I help you?" Uzi said, turning around to look at J "Ugh no just surprised out browse there do you take shower once a year too?" J says in a catty tone, letting out a laugh, "BITE ME" Uzi shouted walking away heading into the pod but looking behind her as she hears a male voice saying Hey Uzi.

"Can't you two be nice to each other" N says in a sad tone, Uzi and J rolling their eyes J being the first one to speak up "Maybe if she took a bath once in a while~ J teased Uzi quickly shot back "WELL MAYBE IF SOMEONE WASN'T SUCH A CAPITALIST LAPDOG-" N quickly intervened "Uzi J please stop fighting" he pleaded "V help?" he asked V rolled her eyes and said "if you two are going to fight take it outside I don't need to listen to you both bitch at each other" N looked at her "V!!" he shouted "what" V said N just shook his head and flew off Uzi left shortly after J following V watching this realized what was going on even if they didn't.

Uzi stomping off, heading back to the bunker, "GOD WHY WAS J SO ANNOYING COULDN'T SHE JUST SHUT UP" Uzi thought to herself she wanted to wipe that smirk off her face Uzi's mind Imagined J laying on the ground panting and scuffed up Uzi would straddle her hips a smug look on her face as she looked down grab her tie and pull her into a kiss Uzi blocking that thought from continuing further in her processor Uzi knocking on the bunker door

A few days later, J returning from an unsuccessful hunt landing on the pod and entering it only to see Uzi there looking up at her "where are N and V?" Uzi asked, "Don't know, don't care" J growled out Uzi noticing that "what's got your tail in a twist someone stole on your JCJenson signed manuals" Uzi asked in a mocking tone J staring daggers at her only to stop for a moment to exhaling venting out some of the heat from her core J taking off her suit top leaving the dress shirt on sighing as she felt a small amount of relief as did Uzi seeing this realized what was going on "OHHH you don't have enough oil~" Uzi said a smug smile on her face "UGH YES FINE I'M LOW YOU HAPPY?!" J shouted Uzi smile faded, she knew what it was like to deal with the heat, It was like suffocating in a steam house J looked at Uzi was-was she really going to ask HER, of all drone for oil, "Uzi?" J asked In a quiet tone? "Uzi, already knowing what she was going to ask her, "Hm? Need something?" Uzi asked, "Your oil give it to me" J said in a whisper looking away from Uzi, "I don't think I heard you" Uzi lied J immediately knew what she was doing a part of her knew Uzi would do this she was about to tell her to go shove it but J panted feeling a spike in her internal temperature dropping to the floor J shakily getting back up she decided that she needed that oil NOW "Your oil give it to me" J said looking at Uzi. "You're missing the magic word~" Uzi said "PLEASE" J shouted Uzi looked at her still waiting J knew what she wanted to hear and In desperation she said it "Uzi may I please have some of your oil?" J pleaded Uzi, offering her arm up "you may" she said, a smug smile on her face, J had a sinister thought she wasn't going to play this game exactly the way Uzi wanted her too. J slowly moving to her then shooting to Uzi neck straddling her biting down lapping the oil that came out of the wound "J WHAT THE HELL I MEANT MY ARM" Uzi shouted trying to remove J from her neck J switching her hands to claws digging them into the seat, Uzi deciding that It may not be a good idea to move her not sure where to put her hands she slowly lowered them to J hips J noticing this but to busy enjoying her meal By JCJenson himself she tasted good after a few minutes of drinking Uzi oil she entered sleep mode Uzi realizing this had a blush on her visor WHY WAS SHE BLUSHING Uzi thought to herself.

[tokiro07]

Toki Reads Shonen Jump 2025, Issue #8: Omurice Week

One Piece: The Giants give us a bit more lore on Nika, revealing that the legends are heavily debated based on translation; Not!Shanks and Gunko approach Loki with an offer to join the Holy Knights, but he refuses even as they kill one of his animal friends. Nika being up to interpretation reminds me of what Rayleigh told Robin about how their interpretation of the Poneglyphs might be different from hers; Gunko is confirmed not to be Monet, but god damn if that design ain't an immediate Top Tenner for me!

Yozakura: Mutsumi makes a nice dinner for the family to reveal that she's expecting another child, and everyone gets one last moment to show off their personalities as Gondaira signs off the series' run with a commemorative photo of the family. Sniff...fambly...I may not have been incredibly invested in the plot of Yozakura Family, but I really enjoyed this cast while they were around, and I'm gonna miss them

Undead Unluck: The Union is given the right to edit the Master Rules as the Gods of the new world, but only choose to edit Revolution to bring back Autumn and make absolutely no other changes; Andy takes Fuuko back to the bridge where they met and finds that Soul is still hanging around, who has a brief discussion with both Andy and Ruin about what's next for the world; Fuuko's memories return. In classic UU fashion, the events of this chapter felt a little fast, but Fuuko being the one to climb out onto the ledge of the bridge to keep Andy safe is ABSOLUTELY worth it

Roboco: Roboco makes friends with a little old lady, Tome, and her obsolete robot, Hanaco; when Hanaco breaks down, Roboco takes her to Dr. Mockus, who manages to transfer her processor to a more modern OrderMaid, allowing the two to continue their lives together. I don't love all of the one-off characters that Miyazaki keeps introducing, but this duo was really sweet and endearing

Sakamoto: Shin tries to get Sakamoto to bring him along to meet his dad, but Sakamoto refuses and Shin goes off on his on; he successfully finds his dad, but gets thrown off a boat for his troubles; fortunately, Sakamoto saves him in his usual badass way, by catching him with a car as he drives off a bridge. I think I could have stood to see a little more build-up in their first meeting, just one more chapter of them butting heads, but I'm having fun

EluSam: Emperor Go-Daigo dies and Takauji is made Shogun; under his rule, internal conflict among the Ashikaga Shogunate begins to crop up, most notably including the execution of Toki Yorito. Wait, review canceled, when I was trying to look more into the incident that led to his execution, I learned that Toki's disrespect of Emperor Kogon was the first documented usage of the word "baka," how the hell did Matsui NOT include that???

Witch Watch: Momo accidentally eats sweets with Nico's growth spell infused into them, making her a giant; hilarity ensues. Is this the horniest chapter of the series so far? This was a rough one to read while on break at work

Blue Box: Chinatsu's introspection on interpersonal perception continues, this time being applied to the all-too-familiar misconception that talented people are simply born geniuses and not incredibly hard workers; Chinatu resolves to not worry about being misunderstood and instead focuses on enjoying her passion. A classic theme in Shonen Jump, Miura manages to make it work exceptionally well; it also seems to be setting up that for however naturally talented Yumeka is, the difference between her and Chinatsu's efforts is catching up with her, which is just a fascinating angle to take this storyline

Akane: Rakugo reporter Kashio laments the sudden disappearance of Akane from the Rakugo world right when she was on the rise; while on a business trip to Paris, he stumbles across her performance and sees that she's not only doing well, she's honed her craft to new heights. Is it just me, or does Akane look exactly the same? I feel like her design, if there are any differences, isn't strikingly different enough for a three-year timeskip, but perhaps it'll be more obvious and impactful once she's up and moving around

Kill Blue: Ogami and Ryo find Chisato and Tenma on a date and decide to tail them; while Ryo challenges Tenma to a game of catch, Ogami and Chisato discuss their relationships, with Chisato suggesting that Noren may have stronger feelings for Ogami than she lets on. I really like Chisato and Tenma as a pairing, I wish we'd see more of them

Nue: Gakuro gets his ass kicked by Yoshichi, who turns out to have enough Command Energy to not only use TWO Shikigami, but to use them continuously even outside of battle. While the explanation given certainly makes it seem impressive, I'm mostly caught up in the idea that Yoshichi's "integrated Hollow Weapon" is somehow distinct from other armor-based Hollow Weapons; however, I don't care enough to research whether or not this is actually consistent with the power system so far

Kagurabachi: It's revealed that up to this point, Chihiro has been coasting on the overwhelming power of his Enchanted Blade and in actuality doesn't have any sword skills worth a damn; this upsets sword-nut Kuguri, who abandons their battle out of frustration until Chihiro draws him back in by revealing that he's learned one of Samura's techniques after only seeing it once. While everyone else is losing it over Chihiro resolving to be "Hakuri's samurai," I'm over here appreciating that we're getting a closer look at how sorcery plays into this world's combat, even if it is a pretty standard method so far

Chojo: Chojo is cursed by a haunted doll until Ippongi accidentally defeats it with a purely reflexive judo throw. I think I'd appreciate a deeper dive into the supernatural aspects of this world - if espers and ghosts can exist, what else is out there?

Astro Royale: Hibaru continues fighting Hachiku, the older brother of the guy who pretended to be Shikaba previously; Hibaru tanks one of Hachiku's explosive punches just to land a hit with his own, calling him out on his lack of ambition. Ambition's another classic theme in Jump, but I haven't really been getting the feeling so far that it's one Wakui really cares to analyze in this story; guess we'll see

Kiyoshi: Sanguis Commander Kyoka comes to visit the Gates of Hell, ordering omurice from Kiyoshi before knocking out his friends and going on the offensive; when Kiyoshi reverses the situation, she concludes that he's her type and asks him on a date; Sakaki declines a warning from a fortune-teller because he prefers to gamble. Kyoka is hot as hell, an instant fave, but uhhhh how old is she compared to Kiyoshi?

Hima-Ten: Kanna finds a roach in her house and recruits Tenichi to take care of it; she dresses up as a maid and makes him omurice as a thank-you, making this Omurice Week. Kanna continues to be best girl, PLEASE let this series be poly so she can be happy

Ichi: Desscaras shows World Hater and the audience why she's called the Strongest Witch. Is this how the yaoi girlies feel about Gojo?? I'm sorry I ever doubted you Desscaras, I wasn't familiar with your game

Shinobi: After the fight with Tobi, Yodaka is brought in for emergency care, but after seeing Mukai's concern for his wellbeing, he can't shake the feeling that there's more wrong with him than just some broken bones. I said earlier that I didn't want the leads to become romantic with each other, but I didn't realize just how much chemistry they'd have at the time

Hakutaku: Hideout Plan is rejected by the judges for being too big in scope to ever achieve proper implementation, but everyone's skills are acknowledged; Hikuma realizes that he wants to make games that only he can make. Probably the best chapter of the series so far, we'll see if it bears fruit

Syd Craft: Waltz captures Elio as she prepares to blow up the ship, but Elio's love for Syd inspires Waltz to sacrifice herself to protect the ship instead of sacrificing them to save her kidnapped lover; Elio, Syd and Lulu (who was apparently on the ship) save Waltz from both the bomb and herself. I'm embarrassed, I was so smug about calling that Waltz was the second bomber but I MISSED that she was explicitly drawn with a bomb strapped to her; however, since no one said anything , I assume either no one noticed or no one cared

Top 3 of the Week:

Undead Unluck for giving me a lot to chew on in this week's review

Ichi the Witch for Desscaras' breathtaking ceiling battle

Mission: Yozakura Family for leaving us on a note that makes me look back fondly on the last five years with this family

Runners-up include Blue Box's ongoing analysis of Chinatsu's character and the themes of the story, Kagurabachi's extremely compelling yaoi moment, Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi's new knockout waifu, and Shinobi Undercover's success at endearing me to a couple I didn't initially care about

[emberdew]

Be More Ghost Chapter 7: Do You Wanna Ride?

Summary:

A Be More Chill AU where Danny gets a Super Quantum Intel Unit Processor (or Squip) to help him become cool and win over Valerie, but things don't really go as planned.

Masterpost | AO3 Link | Word Count: 1,363

Do you wanna get inside Star’s mother’s car? Drive it on home, don’t you say no, Danny can you be coerced? Home in a snatch only one catch we gotta stop for frozen yogurt first.

“Ugh, let’s get out of here,” Paulina said.

Danny had been watching Paulina rant to Star in the clothing store for several minutes. They seemed to have forgotten about him. 

Danny was startled when Squip-Phantom grabbed his shoulder to get his attention. The Squip raised its sunglasses and Danny met its glowing green eyes. Did he have the same casual confidence as the Squip when he was Phantom? Danny didn’t think so, but maybe the Squip could help him with that.

Star is going to offer you a ride. It is imperative that you accept. 

Sure enough, Star took a step toward Danny.

“Do you wanna ride?” 

Say yes.

“Yes!” Danny said. Then he realized this actually wasn’t going to work out. “Um, actually maybe I can’t. I’m supposed to meet back up with Tucker soon.”

“Oh…” Star said. She seemed disappointed, which confused Danny. Why did Star care if Danny came with them? Danny was just a loser D-Lister.

Danny, if this is going to work, you need to do as I instruct. 

Great, now the Squip looked disappointed in him too. But Danny couldn’t just leave Tucker behind, right?

“Danny, are you sure you don’t wanna ride?” Star offered again. “We drove here in my mother’s car, and like, it wouldn’t be a problem to drive you home.”

Danny considered it. Driving home in Star’s mom’s car with two cute girls did sound pretty appealing. It was wild that Star had even asked him. That would have never happened before he got his Squip.

“Oh! Actually, there’s one catch.” Star caught Paulina’s eye and they both smiled. Danny braced himself- of course, Star’s offer was too good to be true. Danny was just a loser after all, why would she ask someone like him-

“We gotta stop for frozen yogurt first!” Star and Paulina cheered in unison. 

Oh. That wasn’t what Danny was expecting. 

“Frozen yogurt?” 

“Yeah! They just added a new ecto-lime flavor at Phantom Phroyo!” Star explained excitedly. “Have you been to that place?”

There was a frozen yogurt place named after him now? Danny shook his head. He just couldn’t comprehend why Star and Paulina were suddenly being so nice to him. Sure, the Squip had explained that having a common enemy could bring people closer, but he had never expected their opinions of him to change so dramatically after just one conversation. 

“It’s really good,” Paulina said. “Are you sure you can’t be coerced into joining us, Danny?”

“Yeah, c’mon, don’t say no!” Star pleaded. “Just take the ride!” 

“I… Next time.” Danny really, really wanted to. But he couldn’t do that to Tucker. “I promise.” 

“Whatever,” Paulina turned and started walking away. To Danny’s surprise, Star stayed behind.

“My boyfriend cheated on me too,” Star said softly. She grimaced. “Ex-boyfriend. So… I know how you feel.” 

That was… Really sweet. Too bad Danny had actually lied about being cheated on. It left a sour taste in his mouth.

“Star! Come on!” Paulina shouted from the store’s entrance. 

Star giggled and started walking, but turned back to wave at Danny.

“Cya!” Star said and exited the store, following close behind Paulina. 

Danny looked around for Squip-Phantom and saw it looking down at him from where it was floating just a few inches off the ground nearby.

“Did you see-” Danny couldn’t contain his excitement, “that was awesome!”

The Squip didn’t react. It continued frowning at him.

“I have to find Tucker-”

Tucker has left the mall.

“Wait, what?” Danny’s good mood faltered. “How do you know?”

I can access all the mall security cameras. Squip-Phantom crossed its arms. 

“He just left without me?” Danny was shocked that Tucker would do that, especially since Danny had flown him here. It wasn’t a long walk to Tucker’s house, but it was still a little surprising. 

I told you that accepting a ride was imperative. Squip-Phantom looked smug. Right, Danny could have gotten the ride if he had known Tucker had already left!

He facepalmed. Of course he would make such a stupid mistake. Even with the Squip helping him, Danny was hopeless. 

___

When Tucker made it back to the food court, he wasn’t exactly surprised that Danny wasn’t still at the table where he left him. Tucker took a seat and set down his bag of newly acquired Crystal Pepsi. He took out one of the bottles and turned it around in his hand.

Tucker peered around the food court as he uncapped and sipped the “vintage” soda. No sign of Danny and no sign of a ghost attack either. Interestingly, he did spot Valerie and Dash at a nearby table chatting and eating pizza. He also saw Ashley hanging around the food court typing away on her phone, probably spreading gossip. 

Tucker took out his PDA and considered calling Danny. But if something had come up or there really was a ghost attack, Tucker didn’t want to bother him.

With a sigh, Tucker capped his Pepsi and put it in the pocket of his cargo pants, then checked his PDA one last time before putting it away too.

Being Danny’s friend meant sometimes walking home from the mall alone, but Tucker didn’t mind that much. His house wasn’t too far away. And he didn’t blame Danny for the ghost attacks, even if Danny did usually blame himself. 

Tucker loved being Danny’s guy in the chair. He really loved Danny… as a friend, of course. They went way back and they would always have each other’s backs. And when they hugged sometimes, Tucker always felt comforted by the slight chill that Danny’s skin always gave off when it touched his. 

He wondered if Danny’s lips would also have that chill if they ever kissed.

Tucker shook his head. Danny definitely did not feel that way about him. He literally wrote a love letter to Valerie and joined a ghost hunting club for her earlier that day. Tucker personally didn’t understand why Danny was crushing so hard on a girl who was dead-set on wasting his ghostly alter ego but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. 

Well, nothing except wish that Danny would someday get over his crush and maybe start crushing on his best friend instead-

No! Stop. Bad brain!

There’s no point wishing for something that would never come true in a million years. Well, unless he wished out loud with Desiree around, but there’s no way that would work out. Especially for “Bad Luck Tuck.” He’s had enough bad experiences with Desiree to last a lifetime. 

Tucker stood up and looked around one more time. He smiled when he saw Danny on the other side of the room holding a bag that looked like it came from a clothing store. That was a little weird, but maybe he went to buy something to cheer himself up after the Squip thing didn’t work out? Danny had just entered the food court and his head was down as he walked between the tables, so he must have just not noticed Tucker earlier.

“Hey, Danny!” Tucker shouted. He waved and tried to get Danny’s attention.

Danny looked up and around the food court, but he didn’t seem to see Tucker. Tucker started speed-walking through the room to catch up with him and was confused when Danny shrugged and continued towards the exit.

How had he not seen Tucker?

He finally caught up with Danny when he rushed through the sliding doors into the mall’s parking lot. The sun had fully set now and there weren’t any other people around. 

“Hey, wait!” Tucker tried to get Danny’s attention again, but Danny didn’t seem to hear him.

With a flash of light, Danny took a running jump and transformed into Phantom in mid-air, then took off at high speed towards Fentonworks. Tucker watched as Phantom flew away without looking back.

Well, it seemed like Tucker was going to have to walk home alone after all.

[noodleblade]

-inhale- imagine if after the kiss BD actually grew a pair and went to see one of KO’s races but like a self fulfilling prophecy KO has an accident and loses

UMMMMM OUCH?????? :C I uno reverse your sad ask and uhhhh wrote something...nice? Maybe?? The speed in which I wrote this is a bit unbelieable but uhhhh I love them ;--;

It was a bad crash.

Breakdown raced through the stands, going as fast as his treads would take him as he pushed through the other spectators around him. By the time he weaved through the crowds and cleared security (he's not sure how they knew him, but he didn't question it, just happy they let him through even if they did give him distrusting sneers) Knock Out was already being seen by medics. He was conscious but very injured. He won't be racing for a while.

Cloudy optics looked past the medics as they spot that matte blue finish. His servo, shattered and plating ripped off, raised in a weak attempt to beckon Breakdown close. It's not even a question for Breakdown to cross the distance to get as close as possible. He tried not to be in the medics' way, but Knock Out was insistent that Breakdown hold his hand so much. It was more annoying for the medics to deal with Knock Out than having to work around Breakdown, so they let him in with barely a glance.

"Are you okay?" Breakdown asked. He could see the damage and it was not pretty. Ripped and torn plating, crushed legs and punctured tires. His chest was a mess with gaping holes and dents, energon leaking out of his seams.

"I'll live," Knock Out whispered back weakly. His fingers twitched but that was the most his servo could move. "You came."

"I did," Breakdown said, though it was pained. It was his fault. Surely. Knock Out's perfect record ruined. His finish and frame nearly destroyed. Breakdown nearly lost Knock Out because of his selfishness. He shouldn't have tested fate, shouldn't have come, should have stayed in his lane and where he belonged. "I'm so sorry."

Knock Out frowned, though it didn't seem to be from pain. Then again, the medics seemed to have turned off all sensors from below his intake.

"Why are you sorry?" Knock Out asked, his words slow and confused. "You...I wanted to here. I've always wanted you here." A brightness sparked in his optics, breaking through the foggy gaze. "I was surprised you were here. I did a second take and then I..." Knock Out quieted as he looked down as his body. His optic ridges pinched together and all Breakdown wanted to do was smooth them down. "I got distracted. You distracted me." A flush rose up Knock Out's faceplates, embarrassment curling around his field. "I wanted to impress you and wasn't paying attention. Primus, I was trying to show off and- and I crashed." Knock Out winced as he looked away from the medics to peer back up at Breakdown. "Rookie mistake."

Breakdown was...speechless. He couldn't comprehend Knock Out's nonchalance tone at his own grave injuries, let alone process the words that...that...

"Impress me?" Breakdown withered.

Small, cute pout found its way to Knock Out's lips. "Failed that one, didn't I." The words were bitter, self-loathing. "Not only did I lose from a rookie mistake. I humiliated myself in front of my adoring fans and a trashed my finish and now you'll never come to another of my races-"

"Is that what you are thinking?" Breakdown choked out a laugh. He felt out of body, his processor muddled in absolute disbelief and complete and utter adoration at this beautiful, stupid, idiot speedster that he loved. Primus he loves this dumbass. "I love you. Win or lose."

Knock Out blinked at him owlishly, optics wide and clear. "Oh. You do?" A smile wormed its way to his face. "That's good. You shouldn't settle for losers, though, Breakdown. You only deserve the best."

Breakdown struggled to figure out if he should laugh or cry. "You are the best, you-"

"Not to ruin this really cute moment," one of the medics cut in sharply, utterly unamused. "But he needs to be taken to the ER now. You can finish this conversation when he isn't bleeding out and his systems aren't processing three different pain inhibitors and sensor reducers."

"I'm fine," Knock Out whined. His shattered hand could barely hold onto Breakdown so he simply followed along as the medics began to roll the speedster away.

"Can I come with?" Breakdown asked. The medics gave an uncaring shrug which was about as close to a yes as he thinks his luck will allow. He looks down at Knock Out who looks like he's on the verge of sleep. "Do you want me to come with?"

Knock Out snorted, the sounds unattractive in every way possible. "Always."