Straydaways verse. Blackflight. Following up on research.

[random_xtras]

Bumblebee saw a movie a few weeks ago in the Nexus that caught her attention. A couple days later she managed to scare up a version of the old bot that was featured on said movie and managed to glean important data from his ramblings. Very shortly after that she started using her down shifts to to to the Nexus and hunt up every notebook by every Autobot or Decepticon medic that she could find on the multiweb and crack the codes to.

And then she started working in the medbay with the door locked.

She's in there now, after missing her scheduled stint on the bridge. The crew really might not notice since she received a kindly donation of cinnaSeekers and left them there as a decoy gift. She's pretty sure Songstop's not going to notice what she took out of that padded box in his quarters. Someone might have noticed a few energy surges last night, though since the energy didn't come from the Blackflight it might not have been too noticeable. The missing parts from the store room may have been just a wee bit more attention getting. Maybe. Probably not.

The swiped energon probably caught someone's attention, though.

Comments

[strayedaways.livejournal.com]

Like the rest of the crew, Songstop has had a lot more on his processor than he would dream of admitting to Bumblebee-

OK, not true. He's thought about it, can't see any way of talking to her about it that Sellout couldn't beat. And he's had time to think about it - more than their routine of subsistence and showtime would normally give him. He's spent progressively less time on the comms week by week, leaving the care of the monitors to Redecho and Sellout. He'd been afraid Bumblebee would ask him about that, but she hasn't yet noticed. Probably because she's been absent a lot, too.

But the pattern of time away and missed shifts has finally worked its way into his attention. Maybe it's the parts they noticed missing during yesterday's round of inventories - maybe the power surges Redecho nearly gave the captain a spark attack by mentioning.

Either way, he tries the medbay looking for Bumblebee. And true to his luck, he walks smack into the sealed door.

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Inside the room Bumblebee startles and shoots a wary and guilty look toward the door, then pats something on the table in front of her and nearly tiptoes over to the door com. "Who's there? Scanbar? I'm busy right now."

Behind her the Matrix is glowing softly as slender fingers hold it up curiously.

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"Yeah, the ghost that just showed up and gave me a funny look." She frowns at him, then looks down at the smaller femme. "And that's Oriana."

[strayedaways.livejournal.com]

"Oh." He stares at the newcomer for a second, then accelerates into full-on paranoiac mode. "Where the slag did she come from? Is this the Nexus again? I told Sellout that airlock needed a real lock- there wasn't a ship, was there?"

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Her face heats visibly. "NO! And... it's not horrible. ...It's just private. Someone else helped me, okay? And not Scanbar. It was...."

Slight flailing as she shifts back to her well-rehersed lies and looks away again. "It was kind of an accident."

[strayedaways.livejournal.com]

"Accident?" Songstop looks at her. And at the little bot. And kind of sees how that might be except- "How do you accidentally build a whole Cybertronian?"

He frowns, and adds, "For that matter, how do you accidentally get help doing it? I can't even get a spare hand when I try."

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//You knew about the Matrix?// Outrage stops her short for a moment.

And Oriana, meanwhile, looks at Songstop again, then beeps and points the way Bumblebee went.

[strayedaways.livejournal.com]

//Ah. Er, knew what about it?//

He glances that way uneasily. "Yeah, I don't think she wants to talk to me right now..."

[random_xtras]

Her arms go around him as she hides her face on his shoulder and cries a little, silently. She's aware of Oriana pressing against her side, but she can't tend to the little droneling till she's got something to tend her with.

[strayedaways.livejournal.com]

This is about the only part of this situation he understands. He's getting used to offering her comfort, whatever it's worth from him. He holds her back, still nervously conscious of Oriana beside them.

"What's going on, 'Bee?" he asks softly, at a volume calculated to be too low for the youngster to make out. You could mistake it just for worried murmurings.

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"But I already looked at her, sir. I can give you the information." She squeaks slightly with alarm as Songstop moves and moves back herself a bit to resume her protective position. "I've been studying repair, so I know what I'm doing."

[strayedaways.livejournal.com]

"But you don't have his scanning equipment," Sellout counters politely. Scanbar fidgets in place, Ruindream looming over his shoulder like a thunderhead. The truck-bot's optics are locked on the newspark behind Bumblebee.

Songstop shifts uneasily, daring to look away from Oriana at her creator. "Uh," he says, adding his weight to the issue, "he does have to look."

[random_xtras]

Bumblebee doesn't know whether to relax or not at that.

And Oriana, in the meantime, is trying to test a scanbar for flavor.

[strayedaways.livejournal.com]

Scanbar yelps and then snickers as he's licked, only laughing harder as an alarmed Songstop and Ruindream rush in to try and pull her off. The scanner-bot strolls into the repair bay merrily, grinning at the lot of them.

"Be careful," Sellout hisses at his underlings, hand still on Bumblebee's shoulder.

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"Bbbb!" says Oriana, startled by the hand snatch. Then she stares up at Songstop for a few moments before her optic shutters drop and she goes limp.

Yes. She just had a nap attack. It's been an eventful first few hours and she needs to analyze and absorb all the data.

"She's not a random spark. She's not dangerous. Unless you're an energon goodie," says Bumblebee wearily as she winces and shifts so she's got less weight on her bad leg.

[strayedaways.livejournal.com]

Sellout sighs and waves Scanbar away (he is ignored), covering his optics. "You told us where she came from. Scanbar, knock it off."

The pathologist slinks away reluctantly. Songstop looks around, looking cranky as he finds himself in sole custody of a suddenly napping mini-bot. "So? What do we do with her now?" Pause, and an accusing look at Scanbar while he points at said 'her'. "That's just recharge, right?" Scanbar nods, beaming. Songstop scowls in response.

[random_xtras]

She follows as best she can, silent except for the creaking of her joints as is her way. But then the silence is broken as she falls over with a mighty clatter.

And Oriana doesn't even twitch.

[strayedaways.livejournal.com]

Songstop turns before she's even hit the floor, squashing down alarm. "Bumblebee? Slag!"

He can't even check on her with his arms full. Oriana's going to get put back on the worktable as fast as he can get there.

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She perks. "Yeah, that would work!"

[strayedaways.livejournal.com]

"Guess I'll make a trip later, if I get time," he says, thinking. "'Course, I know what the others'll say."

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"I studied a lot before I made the plan for her shell." She frowns at him quizzically.

[strayedaways.livejournal.com]

"No, I meant... her creation." He gives her a searching look - though he's not sure what he's searching for and he looks away hurriedly after a few seconds.

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"It's his game stuff." She moves her mouthplate in a tired smile. "He wanted to give me something to do. And Redeco's been helping me decorate the walls in here after he finished painting me."

[strayedaways.livejournal.com]

Songstop sits down on the bunk as he looks around. It's not a big room: he's not surprised the satellite could do that during breaks. Especially if Sellout wanted him to... "He did? That's funny. It doesn't hurt to look at."

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Up until even a few weeks ago she might have offered him a kiss. But now she just pats his hand again and shutters her own optics with a sigh, worn out from the day's events and the preparation before them.

[strayedaways.livejournal.com]

Songstop doesn't know how to reply, and not just because of the mixed feelings her actions today have stirred up. He dims his optics and broods quietly in the darkness, until his processor loses patience with the unfamiliar activity and starts tugging him into a nap.