Wandering Connections Chapter 6:
Everything seemed to just blend into each other like paint - one second, he was walking down the hallway, and the next - a void.
The world moved around him in a rhythm he couldn't place. Bots moved along and around - making sure to not step on him. They were all aware that Aero was now on the ship, but they weren't aware of the fact that his body wasn't his to control anymore. They only saw the outside.
Aero could view the world from the holes in the void, still able to only see half. His blind eye made it harder to deduce where the voice was guiding the body to. It mentioned something about the file room. But why? It only had files about Cybertronians and him. Why would an entity want a file on extraterrestrial beings?
The entity guided his body to the file room in an unnatural gait, the room expanding beyond the doorway, giving a full view of the consoles and terminals inside.
*"Wonderful... Now, where to start?*" The entity spoke, a meticulous yet conniving tone in its voice.
Aero floated in the void, looking worried.
"Um... why are we here?" He asked.
*"That, little Aero... is on a need-to-know basis. You will know soon enough..."* The entity responded.
Before he knew it, his body was up on one of the terminals, having climbed up without his command.
*"You wouldn't happen to understand this, would you?"* The entity asked, its mock innocence palpable.
Aero looked uncomfortable answering. He'd taken to understanding Cybertronian language when he first met the Decepticons, slowly teaching himself the language over the years he'd known them. But he didn't wanna risk telling the entity that fact. Who knows what they could do?
"... Not... all of it. I'm still struggling with some parts..." He said innocently, hiding details and hoping the entity didn't poke into his thoughts.
The entity went silent for a bit before sighing.
*"Oh well! Guess we'll have to find an alternative, won't we?"*
"An alternative?" Aero asked.
*"You'll see..." The entity said. *"For now... be a good boy and play with the others, hm?"*
Aero made an uncomfortable noise, before suddenly blinking back into reality. He looked down at himself, clenching and unclenching his hands to see if he was back in control. He sighed in relief, but he wasn't completely off the hook.
*"But don't get too comfortable..."* The entity whispered in Aero's ear.
The man flinched, before looking around. He sighed when he saw nothing there.
The ship hovered in the sky with a quiet, rhythmic hum, the inhabitants onboard going about their daily tasks and routines.
Megatron and Starscream had stayed on the bridge to keep an eye on things. Soundwave was with them, checking surveillance footage every now and then. Vehicons occasionally came and went, quickly and quietly doing their thing like normal.
Aero, meanwhile, had wandered down the hallway, having thankfully shaken off whatever concern and anxiety he had. He sighed to himself before a familiar voice broke silence.
"Ah, hello Aero! Wasn't expecting you to show up on the ship today!"
Aero snapped out of his thoughts and looked around, spotting Knockout behind him.
"Oh, hey Knocks! It's been a while since I last came here!" He said, a soft smile on his face.
"I agree. We've been missing you quite a lot since we last met. What caused you to come up so suddenly?" The medic asked, gently crouching down, and offer his servo for Aero to climb up on.
"Well, I just wanted to see how everything was going! I was kinda missing you guys, actually!" Aero explained, gently climbing up onto the bot's servo, letting him pick him up.
"Missing little ol' us? How generous of you. We missed you as well, Aero. Especially your advice on mechanics." Knockout said, a chuckle escaping his lips shortly after.
"Glad to have you back here." He said, walking towards his medbay.
The door hissed as it opened, letting Knockout enter inside. Aero looked around with a smile. He'd missed being in the medbay with Knockout. He'd spent most of his time here ever since he was taken.
"The medbay is still running, as you can see. Nothing much has changed." Knockout noted.
Aero chuckled softly.
"Dang. That boring, huh?"
Knockout nodded.
"Unfortunately, so. This stalemate has given us time to relax, but... I do miss beating the Autobots every other days sometimes." Knockout explained.
"Yeah. I'm kinda surprised it's still going." Aero said.
"Agreed. But... it gives time to reinforce ourselves and upgrade whatever's necessary. I'm sure the Autobots are doing the same thing." Knockout said.
"Yeah. But hey! More time to hang out!" Aero said cheerfully.
Knockout gave a soft chuckle.
"Mm. I like your thinking. I do miss chatting with you. For starters, what would you recommend for a change in rims? I've been driving around a bit across Earth to pass the time, and my rims are becoming quite... lackluster, in a sense." Knockout asked, gently setting Aero down at a nearby terminal.
Aero pondered the thought. He loved talking to Knockout about mechanical stuff, so he was excited to talk about it!
Time seemed to fly as the two talked, the topics of frame color and axle size getting jumbled in with talks about radiators and upgrades. They were in their element, able to freely talk about something they both had deep connections with.
After a while, Knockout got a notification from his comms that Breakdown was back, having arrived at the docking bay.
"Ah, he back. I'll be back." Knockout said, before quietly leaving the medbay to go greet Breakdown.
Aero smiled as he stayed put, clearly still giddy about his conversations with the medic. But that changed when the voice suddenly reared their head again, suddenly plunging Aero back into the mind fog and switching into place
*"Good. That bot is gone. He was starting to annoy me. At least he was polite enough to leave the terminal unlocked."*
Aero whimpered a bit as he was back in the void, flailing around a bit before getting his bearing again. He watched as the entity used his body quickly and efficiently, almost as it was its own. The terminal showed a file of Aero on it after a few button presses.
*"Ahh! There we go!"* The entity said, quickly skimming over pieces of data.
*"My, my, you really have made yourself quite known here, little Aero! Something tells me you might be a lot more useful than I initially thought!"*
Aero looked worried and slightly frustrated.
"What do you want? Knockout will be back any minute!" He asked.
The entity merely chuckled at his question.
*"Now, now. We wouldn't want to be pushing our boundaries now, would we? I'm sure you wouldn't like being on the other side of a pede, now would you?"*
The man stopped for a moment - the thought scaring him a bit before he reluctantly went quiet. He couldn't really do much inside his own mind. All he could do was watch.
*"Good boy..."* The entity said, before gazing through the file once more.












