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wyntir_knightAN: And this chapter bring me just past the 50,000 word mark that I was originally aiming for. The plan is that there will be six chapters left. We'll see if that's how it turns out. It may end up being a bit more before I can finally type "The End".
Marissa stepped off the shuttle and looked around, her eyes wide, her head turning back and forth as she tried to take everything in. Rodimus smiled as he watched her, reminded forcibly of Daniel on Christmas morning.
“I will never get tired of seeing this place,” she breathed. “It’s just so incredible!”
“It’s refreshing to see Cybertron through someone else’s eyes,” Kup said with a smile as he came to stand next to her. “Hopefully the rest of us don’t ever forget just how special it is.”
“And I hope we still have a planet in a week,” Ultra Magnus replied. “All this sight-seeing can wait. We need to get to the Chamber of the Ancients so we can find out where this Heart of Cybertron is.”
“Actually, I think I may have a better contact,” Springer replied. “There’s this barkeep I know who can probably point us in the right direction.”
“A barkeep?” Magnus asked incredulously. “How do you figure that a barkeep will be able to help us better than the Ancients can?”
“If there are secrets around here, Macadam will know,” Springer said. “He hears everything.”
“This is ridiculous!” Magnus argued. “We need to take this seriously, and you want to go bar-hopping. We need to speak with the Ancients, not some high-grade soaked barkeep!”
“Yeah, and the Ancients will start a committee, they’ll talk forever, and by the time they’ve made a decision, Unicron will have eaten us all! And that’s assuming that they’re even willing to see us!” Springer said, anger rising in his voice.
“I don’t think that they’re going to have a problem seeing Prime,” Magnus replied. “And besides, there’s every chance that this Heart of Cybertron is the Vector Sigma chamber. And if it is, we need their permission to go in.”
“Oh come on!” Springer shot back. “If it was the Vector Sigma chamber than the message would have said so! This is obviously something else and we need to-”
“Look, stop arguing about this,” Kup said. “We’re just wasting our time, and we need to get moving!”
“Okay, so then where do we go?” Springer asked. “Fine we have to get moving, but we need to know where we’re headed before we go, now don’t we?”
Rodimus tuned out the argument and began to look around the spaceport of Iacon. From here, the city was far more beautiful than he had ever remembered it, shining like a jewel in the distance. But there was a dark shadow underneath the shine, something that just seemed wrong to him. It wasn’t anything he could see, nothing that he could quantify, but something still was pulling at the back of his mind.
“It’s like they put gilt over rust isn’t it?”
Rodimus started at the voice. Looking down he saw Marissa standing beside him, staring out at the city in the distance.
“I mean, I know that you built everything back up, but it’s like there’s no memory of the war at all,” she continued. “Like you’re trying to forget about it completely.”
“I don’t know if that’s what we’re doing,” Rodimus replied. “It’s not like we need the visual reminder anyways. We all lived through it, and it’s not like we’re so short lived that the memory will be gone in a few generations.”
“You mean unlike us humans?” Marissa asked. “Maybe it is our short lives that make us put up memorials to our atrocities, but I would think that it would be so much easier for all of you to forget. You can erase your memories … or rewrite them to suite your purposes.”
“Hey!” Rodimus objected. “I thought you liked it here? You just said it was beautiful.”
“And it is. But so’s a Lionfish. Just because it’s beautiful doesn’t mean that I can’t see the danger underneath it all,” Marissa replied.
Rodimus shook his head and chuckled softly at the analogy.
“Alright, I’ll agree with you. It’s too perfect. It’s like we’re trying to forget something,” he said. The he paused and stared out at the Tower of Pion, its topmost spire just barely visible from the spaceport.
“Maybe that’s what the cloud in the dream meant,” he said softly. “Maybe it was trying to warn us against forgetting …”
He was yanked out of his musings by Kup’s harsh voice.
“Well, when it comes down to it, it’s not our decision anyway!” he argued. “It’s up to Rodimus. So what do you want to do, lad?”
“I’m sorry?” Rodimus asked. “What do I want to do about what?”
“Do we go to the Council of Ancients or do we go to this bar that Springer suggested?” Magnus asked impatiently.
“Bar? What bar?” Rodimus asked, turning to face Springer.
“It’s called the Old Oil House. It’s run by this old mech who knows everything-” Springer began.
Springer’s voice was suddenly drowned out by a voice in Rodimus’ mind.
“You do know me. Maybe not you, but one of you does,” the voice said, sounding vaguely like the barkeep in his dream.
Rodimus cut Springer off with a wave of his hand. “We go to the bar. The Ancients won’t be able to help us. And we need to see that barkeep. I think he has something for me.”
Rodimus transformed and opened his door to let Marissa enter. “Lead the way, Springer!” he called out.
Springer shot Magnus a smug look that spoke volumes before transforming and leading the way through the streets of Iacon.
The Old Oil House was nothing like the one in Rodimus’ dream. It was far newer and was bustling with activity. But the location seemed right. Rodimus thought he recognized the nearby buildings and alleys from his dream, and as he tried to recall, the scene seemed to shift in front of him. It was as if someone was displaying a transparent hologram over the scene. In back was the city as it was, but in front were the ghostly images of burnt out buildings and rotting corpses. Rodimus shivered slightly at the apparition.
Almost as if she was in tune with his mood, Marissa placed a comforting hand on his hood, patting it gently, reassuringly, before stepping back to give him room to transform. With her touch, the scene turned back to what it was supposed to be, gilded and beautiful.
“This is the place,” Springer said as he transformed and landed beside Rodimus. “If anyone knows where to look, it’s Macadam.”
Magnus transformed and shot a dark look at Springer, but said nothing, choosing instead to hang back. It was obvious that he was waiting for his ‘I-told-you-so’ moment, but was willing to be patient for the time being.
Slowly, the group entered the bar and were struck immediately by the noise of hundreds of voices, the smell of high grade energon and organic food, and all the people. The bar was packed and it seemed that everyone was welcome here. Many of the Cybertronian bars were trying to keep their clientele robotic only and had no problem with forcibly removing any organic being that dared enter. This was not the case at Macadam’s. Autobots, Neutrals, Krellians, Gorshaks, Devonians, Vellarish, Hornbeyes, and even a few beings who could have been Human or Nebulan, all did business and drank together, heedless of faction or physical makeup.
“Find a seat if you can,” a server called out from behind the bar. “Someone will be right with you.”
“Actually, we’re here to see Macadam,” Springer called back.
Suddenly everyone stopped talking as they all reached a common pause in their conversations. Silence reigned over the bar, broken only by Springer’s request. As soon as he had spoken, the conversations began again as if nothing had been said.
“Great, announce us to the world why don’t you?” Magnus hissed.
“Give me a break!” Springer shot back. “I didn’t know that would happen.”
“I’m sorry, is Mac expecting you?” the barkeep asked, heedless of the brewing argument.
“No, but-,” Springer began.
“Then you can’t see him,” the server interrupted. “Sorry guys, you should have called ahead or something, he’s really busy tonight.”
Springer sidled closer to the bar and took the server’s arm lightly.
“I think he can probably find the time. Prime wants to see him,” he said, motioning to Rodimus.
The server looked over at Rodimus and let out a short bark of laughter.
“I’ll admit he’s cute and if he wants me to call him Prime, I’d be happy to, but that’s not Optimus,” she said.
“Not Optimus, Rodimus,” Springer said.
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” the server replied as she pulled her arm away. “Either way, Macadam is busy tonight.”
With that she pulled away and moved down the bar to serve the other patrons.
“Well that settles it,” Magnus said. “This is a bust, now we go to the Chamber of the Ancients”
“No,” Rodimus replied. “We’re not going anywhere until I’ve spoken with Macadam.”
He picked Marissa up with a gentle grasp and began to push his way through the crowd. Heading toward the back where he had seen the door in his dream.
“What? Rodimus!” Kup called out as he fought to follow him. “Hold up, lad, we don’t even know where this barkeep is.”
“Yeah, I do,” Rodimus replied under his breath as he kept moving.
“Roddi,” Marissa said, “are you sure this is wise?”
“I don’t have a choice Marissa,” Rodimus began. “Now hold on tight, I need to loose the others.”
“What? Why?” Marissa asked.
“I need to do this alone,” he replied.
“Oh,” Marissa replied. “Then why don’t you put me down here. I’ll go speak with those Nebulans over there.”
Rodimus stopped his forward motion suddenly. It hadn’t occurred to him that she wouldn’t be with him through this. It wasn’t that he had forgotten that she was with him, it was more that she had almost become a part of him. Looking at her darkened face he realized just how important she was to him and just how much he had hurt her.
“I … no, Marissa, I don’t mean alone,” he began. “I need you with me. I can’t … I can’t do this on my own.”
“I’m sure you’ll do fine, Rodimus,” she replied. “After all, you have the Matrix, and you have the guidance of that dream.”
“Yeah, but none of it makes any sense without you with me,” Rodimus replied. “Please come with me, and we can talk about this all after?”
Marissa paused for a long time before answering. She pursed her lips, furrowing her brow, obviously trying to remain impassive and separate. But she was failing. Finally she dropped her gaze.
“You’d better hurry,” she said. The others will catch up with us soon.”
With a smile, Rodimus continued toward the door. As soon as he reached it he turned back and opened a channel to the others.
“Marissa and I will talk to Macadam. The rest of you should go to see the Ancients. We’ll likely need them before this is over.”
“What? No! Rodimus, wait!” Magnus called out.
With a heroic push he and Springer made it though the crowd only to arrive at the door as it closed behind Rodimus and Marissa.
Rodimus allowed the door to slide shut behind him and found himself plunged into darkness. He felt Marissa draw her breath sharply and reach out to gain a handhold on his armour. Rodimus lit his headlights and began to look around. The room was a storage closet of some sort.
“Uhm … Is this what you expected?” Marissa asked.
“No,” Rodimus replied darkly. “I was so sure that this was where I was supposed to go … This is the door I went through in the dream!”
“Maybe you’re interpreting this too literally,” she replied. “Maybe the door was symbolic for something.”
“Maybe,” Rodimus said doubtfully. “Maybe Magnus was right and we need to –”
He stopped suddenly and cocked his head, unconsciously mimicking the human listening gesture.
“What is it?” Marissa whispered.
“Shh. I think I hear something,” Rodimus whispered.
Marissa held her breath and listened. For a long time, all she heard was the sound of her own heart and Rodimus’ engine, idling softly. Then, she heard it too. A shuffle, like something was being dragged, or pushed. It wasn’t coming from in the room, but almost like it was from somewhere below it.
“There it is,” Rodimus said in a whisper.
Slowly he put Marissa down, unpocketed his gun and moved forward slowly, scanning the room for the source of the sound. Crates and barrels stood like pillars in the room, obfuscating it and throwing strange shadows. They moved further into the room, following the sound as something continued to be dragged, or pushed.
“Well it took you long enough,” a voice said from behind them.
Marissa let out a small squeak of surprise as Rodimus turned and raised his gun preparing to shoot the interloper.
“Whoah! Hold up there, son!” an old mech cried out, as he held up his hands, allowing a small create to crash to the ground. “I’m no threat to you!”
“Who are you?” Rodimus demanded.
“I’m who you’re looking for,” the old mech said. “I’m Macadam, and I’ve been expecting you for a while now.”
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no subject
Date: 30 Oct 2007 12:33 (UTC)no subject
Date: 30 Oct 2007 14:37 (UTC)To tell the truth, I'm leaving her out because I have major problems writing the character. I don't like her and that comes across in the writing, and I don't want to fall into the character bashing trap. As it is, I've already called her a "smothering hen" in one of the earlier chapters.
However, I am planning on having a "final battle" which will include at least a mention of everyone, so she will make an appearance there.
I can see promise in the idea of introducing Arcee to the the fact that Rodimus and Marissa are growing closer, though. So it may turn into a later one-shot. Thanks for the idea :)
no subject
Date: 30 Oct 2007 14:44 (UTC)no subject
Date: 30 Oct 2007 15:09 (UTC)