May I request Fortress Maximus x City/titan speaker Reader au?
[IDW] ♡ FORT MAX— TITANS AU
the AU idea is that Autobots & Decepticons used to be giant city-formers locked in conflict for millions of years, the war ended when the cityformers were mysteriously locked in their city alt modes. the colonists from Caminus find these cities drifting in space and try to revitalize them, thinking they're doing them a favour and not knowing that some cities are better left lost to history.
in which, a Camien cityspeaker finds a dying prison needing assistance.
note: you have traditional cityspeaker face paints
this is not a formal fic and more like many ideas taped together as snippets and hcs to form a fic
When you first found this titan, you were... Distraught? Disturbed? It was harrowing in all honesty. The poor thing had its externals torn through, his internal circuits and workings damaged— From the looks of it, it was like he was left to die here. Whatever he faced, it must've been a powerful foe. You were lucky to find him as he drifted in the vast endlessness of space.
As a cityspeaker, the well-being of titans is your responsibility, it is your sacred duty so you waste no time trying to find the titan's brain module, exploring this labyrinth of what seemed to be prison cells. There were rusted frames in there and the sight disturbed you. Whatever happened here was... definitely a massacre. Your tanks churn at the thoughts and images that pass through your processor when you try to piece what could've happened.
Eventually, you do find it and its just as you thought— No one has down here in vorns, perhaps millennia. Readying yourself, you prepare to connect your mind to his, just to see if you can bring him online.
The moment you initiate a connection, overwhelming pain shoots through your circuits, his pain as your conscious passes to the other realm, one of his psyche. Your vocalizer rips out a scream as you bring the titan to his consciousness. Scattered memories and voices enter your mind, memories that are not your own. In the physical world, you fall onto your knees, servos holding on the ground for some kind of support as you vent hard— The words ringing through your processor.
Siege. Prisoners. Autobots... Overlord.
...Who is Overlord?
For a moment, the titan's mind goes blank, a faint view of a giant battleship doused in blue and pink approaching this prison planet flashes through your mind. The aura from the nearing ship is beyond menacing.
"Who are you intruder?" A glitchy voice, angry and pained rings through your audials. His words are clouded by static but you can make out a few words. You manage to find your footing, the overwhelming pain and anger from the titan ebbing away as you manage to stand back up. Your designation leaves your vocalizer, some static paired with it.
"I'm here to help." You say, trying to sound reassuring but it only served to make his anger flare yet again. The ground beneath you, constructed in his mind feels like its shaking.
"Help?" He scoffs, you can feel what this mighty titan feels through your circuits. He's deeply unhappy, he feels... abandoned? Its a mix of so many intense emotions- You might just fry your brain module trying to process them all.
"They send help after all is lost? After the siege?" The venom in his voice, it feels like it shoots up your own systems. A dangerous edge to his voice, you need to calm him down now.
"I.. I was not sent by anybody." You try to explain, trying to remain calm as you address what your kind would consider as a god, not quite sure what he means by 'sent by'. His momentary confusion registers in your mind and you take a breath, a short break from his intense resentment towards... You can't really tell who.
"I am a cityspeaker, hailing from Caminus." You bow, a sign of respect. "I am here to help you recover." Your voice remains firm, your commitment to your purpose is unrelenting.
There's a silence, an uncomfortable silence. The titan before you is confused. How are you in his mind? What is a cityspeaker? How are you able to communicate with him? How are you talking to him when his alt mode is locked? He can't seem to transform back bipedal either... Not like he wants to right now...
You can sense the confusion from him and you're not sure what to expect. You haven't had the honour of getting to guide such a powerful titan before— To be a titan's caretaker, his optics and audios. Its an honour. Your experience is limited and for a moment, you doubt if you can truly assist this monolith to get back to working condition.
"I can take good care of myself, worry not about your abilities." His voice booms, the connection is two way— He feels what you feel and that thought makes you slightly embarrassed. Titans wouldn't want a speaker who doubts themselves... Clearly, he wants a closer look because it seems he was calling for his psychic manifestation.
And even that seemed to tower over you, a large mech with red optics and black helm of what seemed to be horns. There's an almost regal look to him, though his face looks almost uncertain, hesitant as he approached you. You stand there, not backing down. If anything, curiously watching his approaching figure.
"...You claim to want to help me, but why?" He asks, observing you closely. The titan has not seen a bot like you before, he finds the paints on your face interesting and its clear you're not built for war either. Definitely nothing like the many wardens who came for him.
"...why.. why not?" You're confused, he can feel it. The question clearly caught you off-guard. Its just like he had predicted, you're not war made in the slightest... Definitely not one of them. And as much as he'd hate to admit it, he could definitely use the help.
Does he not want to be helped? You're not so sure.
"I am Fortress Maximus." He introduces himself formally, he seems slightly timid in the way he carries himself but you choose not to comment.
You feel a bit happy that you could at least calm him down.
Fortress Maximus, as you came to know him as is a very... interesting titan, to say the least. There is much about him that's a mystery to you but you do not dare to ask. You can see the state of his registers and cache memory, trying to make him recall events stored on corrupted files within his memory banks is a risk. Right now, you have to earn his respect and trust, somehow...
Fortress Maximus is weary of you, even when you say that you want to help him. He does not trust you, even if he is grateful you brought him back from injury induced stasis. But from the look of it, you're not a Decepticon... perhaps he has nothing to worry about. Though, the titan doubts that.
He keeps a close eye on you as you work on him, rerouting his power and what small energon reserves he did have. Fort Max can tell you're trying to keep somewhat of a calm face, he can see the alarm in your optics with how they widen when you see the status of his energy reserves.
In a way, he is touched that you... care so much about him. Despite the distrust. Fort Max was abandoned for who knows how long amidst the great titan war, he has not had inhabitants or company in a long time.
He used to be busy, constantly— Serving as a mobile prison ship to hold the scrouge of the Decepticons. It was a job that never let him rest for not only was he the prison, but also its chief warden. The security cams are directly linked to his optics, he has full vision of his insides just as he does the outside and that meant constant monitoring until they were damaged .
The titan thinks of those times fondly, even if it meant he had notorious criminals in his holding cells— Recalling how the many guards beneath him, under his command would give him some sort of company in the process. There was never a moment he was truly alone.
And now its you. He wants to push you away, get you to leave him alone but you're so persistent! Not to mention how... foreign you are. He can tell you're not from Cybertron, probably never seen Cybertron as it is. Or even know of their history yet. Regardless, he finds himself intrigued with how you worry about him, how it seems to be norm in your world that titans like him are given the respect and care they deserve.
"Alright, I've rerouted your power systems." You say, holographic screens popping up around you showing the many vitals and system specifications of this titan you now commandeer.
"You should be able to see now, Max." You say with confidence, a hundred precent sure about what you've managed to accomplish here.
"...Max?" His voice rings through your helm as you remain connected via the link.
"Yes, Max." You say, rather indifferent about the name you've put for him. "Fortress Maximus is wayyy too long. Its a strong name, don't get me wrong but its a mouthful." You speak, you've warmed up to him quicker than he has to you, you speak quite freely around him rather than the typical intimidated look you have— You speak as you work on his cooling systems, without fixing those, there's a chance of his processor damaging even more if you try to keep up this link between you two.
"So I shortened it to Fort Max. But calling you as 'Fort' doesn't... It just doesn't feel right." You swore you heard him snort, as if the idea of a giant mobile prison like him being addressed as 'Fort' was amusing to him. You're pretty sure that's the first time you got a positive response from him.
"Yeah, I felt the same..."
The next priority is to get his many sensors up and working, you don't want him to go through an asteroid belt or something when he's drifting like this. Getting his navigational systems up and running will also be an issue... But right now, you really need to get him mobile. He needs extensive repairs you're sure you can't do yourself...
The moment you manage to bring his optics online, he rejoices. Fortress Maximus can now get a better look at you, a close look. You can see it with the way the many cameras that still somewhat function zoom in to your direction. He's getting visual feed from you at all angles. Your hologram display within his conscious really... doesn't do you any justice.
He stares at you, shamelessly through his internal visual feed. Not like you can really tell considering its all just cameras. Fort Max worries that he just might be growing fond of you. You're a lot more light-hearted and playful even, war hasn't corrupted your spark the way it has the many other bots he knew.
Fort Max grows increasingly interested about your homeworld, Caminus. You speak about it to him, telling him about the various customs and beliefs your people hold. Specifically more about city-speaking, it intrigues him. Closest thing he's had to a city-speaker in the past was his assigned junior warden who is... now... He'd rather not talk about it...
But naturally, you have your own curiosities about him. He can tell. The cityspeaker and titan link is a two way processor bound connection— He can feel your confusion, worry and curiosity. Its how he came to trust you, your intentions are pure and he can quite literally tell. You hold off your questions for his sake. And when he started getting curious about you, you couldn't seem to ask a few questions of your own, uncovering what happened during the great titan war; the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Of course, you seem to shy away from asking what happened to him and he... oddly appreciates it.
Never having had a cityspeaker of his own before, the feeling of getting to feel your thoughts and you feeling his own felt... odd to him. He needn't vocalize what ails him, you can see it through those holographic screens that pop up. All of his vitals, his defences, his weapons, his systems... Everything. While he may not want to admit it, Max finds himself oddly enjoying being taken care for like this. Not to mention how you're trying your damned hardest to get him in working order.
Does he get attached to you?
Yeah. It... It was inevitable. This was exactly what he dreaded because now, he's not so sure what he will do without your company, its been so long since he's had someone to talk to, just joke around with. And yes, he does joke. Sometimes. It caught you off-guard badly the first time.
Sometimes, when you two remain linked in his psyche, you get to experience Fort Max's avatar ranting to you about things you've... never really heard about before. Something something Prowl and something Decepticons... You have no idea what he's on about. But you listen keenly, titans have either own emotional needs. Titans are beings that never get to communicate with others most of the time. Mostly in their alt modes and far, far away from home. So you nod, Fort Max is slowly catching up to the fact that you actually have no idea what he's on about.
If you want to get him mobile, you need to get his thrusters in working order. Otherwise, you'll never manage to get him the help he needs... There's only so much you can do! You wish you could do more for him. He can sense it when you two connect, he can feel that need to do more and it strikes a chord in his spark.
"...Thank you."
His voice, for once, is soft. The aggression he had the first time when meeting you seems to have completely blown away. Now replaced with something appreciative. You were busy trying to rework the connection to his thrusters for the... 'who knows how many'-th time. He could sense your frustration. His words makes your helm shoot up to his brain module, its lights illuminating the cranial complex from where you stand.
"Don't thank me yet, Max" You say, a smile on your face, it... warms his very being. That smile. A need to keep you safe swells up within the titans' spark...
"Once we get you moving, your repairs will be complete." And he won't be in as much as pain anymore.
You finally manage to fix most of his processor, it took months. Months of you staying within this prison planet with what little energon you had to keep you running. His memory files under recovery, memory banks being thoroughly cleaned. His system diagnostics show he's doing so much better now...
He truly has no idea how he will ever thank you for this.
There is nothing he can do to repay you.
Fort Max knows that.
Not to mention how he finds himself... yearning to be able to converse with you outside of the mind link. Its not... how he's supposed to feel, he doubts it appropriate in the slightest. Even if he were to do bipedal, you'd fit in the palm of his servo. Though, the titan does find it appealing to have you in his hand as the two of you walk across the plains of Cybertron... He could show you what his home looks like then.
Its unlikely but he dreams that maybe, someday he could hold your servo, instead of having you in his servo... Maybe if you fixed his internal holoprojection system... Then...
You don't really know why he'd been so pushy about trying to get a few internal projection systems running. The priority was to somehow get him mobile so he could get the help he needed! There's limited energy as it is! But you do it anyway and...
You nearly jumped when you saw a hologram display of Fort Max, roughly the size of any bot but still much taller than you. You have no words, looking up and just... Blinking.
"....Nice to see you again."
Fort Max has a smile on his face as those awkward words leave your intake, he's come to find you mannerisms somewhat endearing.
"li-zzsht-kewise." There's a static clouded response from the speakers of the prison that honestly had you startled, a hearty laugh leaving the titan but thankfully, you don't have to hear it through those damaged speakers. Rather, you feel it as a slight rumble of the ground beneath you and his hologram laughing hard.
While he may not be able to talk to you, barely being able to get a word or two out from his speakers every now and then, he can still be with you. Sort of. A hologram display of a much, much more downsized version of him following you around. He makes use of his hologram's facial expressions to communicate with you. Raising his optical ridge, a frown, a smile, the adjusted glow of his optics...
But... he still can't really touch or hold you close the way he wants to with a hologram form. The light from his projects passes through your touch if you ever try to reach out for him— He cannot feel you. He never can. Fort Max laments something he could never have.
Besides, something tells him that titan-speaker relations may be forbidden on your homeworld-
The titan is undeniably in love with you, its something he tries to hide from you. He tries. Emphasis on try. A cityspeaker-titan link is unfortunately two-way, and you've actually learnt how to use these special abilities of yours, you did mention some kind of cityspeaking training back on your homeworld. You can feel what he feels, so as long as you two are linked and he cannot hide it from you.
Your spark beats hard as you establish the link, entering his psyche and standing on an invisible ground. The stars surrounding you from every corner, its a beautiful scene— Definitely a sight he's seen from his many years as a mobile prison.
The feeling that overwhelms your spark is... Strange. Its a familiar kind of feeling, definitely something you've felt before. The titan calls to you, you can hear your Maximus' thoughts, whispers through your audials and its.. Overwhelming this time. Nothing like the sheer rage or anger from the first time you two linked, rather, something... Soft. Reverent, invisible touches going up and down your frame, his way of trying to soothe you as you make your stay in his mind— Unfortunately though, they only seem to make your plating puff and stand on edge. Your spark skipping beats as your internal temperatures rise a bit.
There's a somewhat flustered look on your face as you understand what he's trying to tell you, what he's trying to communicate without any words. Your optics dart up to the figure of Fortress Maximus, his typical downsized avatar looming over you with a smile, his servos gently cupping your face.
His mind will be the only place he gets to feel your warmth.
He doesn't say a word, he doesn't have you. You're in his mind and you can bask yourself in the affection he has for you first hand without him having to lift a digit.
And from the looks of it, despite your hesitant demeanour, you silently remain there. Looking away from him as he pulls you closer to his frame. Fort Max tightens his hold upon the realization that you want this too. He doesn't want to let you go...
"Thank you." He murmurs, one of his large servos moving from your face to the top of your helm, the other's thumb gently stroking the paint beneath your optics with a gentle touch. What could only be described as a lover's.
How the hell are you going to tell the Mistress of Flame that you're falling for a titan...?
You've done so much for him... Maybe you could break a few taboos in the process?
LORE FOR CITYFORMER FORT MAX!!!
Overlord is a battle cruiser titan and he was fighting Fort Max for thousands of years until Fort max unfortunately lost due to the sheer power of Overlord. Overlord's passengers managed to get onboard Fort Max and kill all the bots on board, indiscriminately.
It left a lot of scars on his because he could see every death through his internal visual feeds and it scarred him badly, that long with the blows he took had his processor already damaged deteriorate.
Throughout the duration of this battle though, Fort Max had sent many distress calls to the nearest Autobots and Autobot titans. But no one came. All his messages were received by Prowl who didn't send him any help until it was too late and his stasis locked prison alt was drifting through space where he got even more damaged due to asteroids, solar storms and space debris.
Prowl is not a cityformer, he is not a titan. I was thinking he's more of a pilot. He used to pilot Fort Max before he got reassigned to another city so he had faith in Prowl to help him out, alas...
Cityformers/Titans have two alts: Bipedal, City-Spaceship (legit just a city that can fly). Fort Max is a giant prison ship, replacing the city with prison. I think it would suit him well being a prison warden and all that. Also, this is his own version of Garrus-9.
Anyway, the difference between a pilot and a cityspeaker is that a pilot is able to move the ship alt of a titan to the preferred location manually, like usual pilots. Pilots never have to interact with the titan they command and most titans just obey without question.
Cityspeakers have direct communication to titans by being able to go into their minds, its a psychic link. But this also means that its a two-way link and the titan can get into their mind. Its a deeper bond than a pilot and titan. These links are established via patches or wired connections and the link is severed once the patch/cable is taken off. They can ask the titan to do something directly rather than taking manual control, its more of a partnership.
How does the Autobot-Decepticon war happen in this AU? I'm working on that. Regardless, the idea of cityspeaker!reader x titan!s/o is something that has been on my mind for a long ass time ever since Windblade. The fact that I got a request like this... I LOVE YOU SO MUCH FOR ASKING ME THIS!!!
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