Bonds: No one had ever really stopped to think as to why Shockwave never fell victim to things like love or hate … it was like he had no emotions, or perhaps it was he who had had them first. [Adopted plot bunny]

Disclaimer: If only, if only, the plot bunny sings.

Rating: Mature for mentions of adult themes.

Chapter 1: Once Upon a Time

XXX

Skywarp yawned as he and Thundercracker walked down the halls of the Nemesis. It had been a long day, yet the two had been unfortunate enough to have to be the mechs to deliver the latest shipment of energon to Shockwave … with Starscream. Now, it wasn’t that mech’s had any particular disliking for the mad scientist, but when Starscream and him got into a room, there were bound to be words. Yet, for some strange reason, Starscream had a cocky grin on his face.

Thundercracker gave his commander an estranged look before asking, “Alright, either you planted explosives on base or your CPU was finally fried, because you are never happy when Megatron sends you to Shockwave.”

The flier huffed as the elevator started to pull them up towards the surface, “Tuh, can’t I be happy? We got a great shipment of energon in and it’s going to the Decepticon cause.”

The two fliers gave him a look before Skywarp butted in, throwing an arm over the red mech’s shoulder, “As if. Starscream you’re never happy unless Megatron’s dead or dying; when last I check he was neither. Come on … tell us what you’re up too? I won’t tell.”

With a growl, Starscream pushed the purple and black mech away and into TC’s grasp. He then gained a cocky grin as the blue sky was suddenly revealed to them. His vents seemed to sigh at the cool ocean breeze as they rose from the ocean.

“Come on Screamer,” said Skywarp with a whine and he went to clutch onto his fellow flier’s arm like a whiny child. “Tell me. You know I can’t take baiting.”

The commander sighed, his happiness invaded, and gave Thundercracker a look as the mech readied himself to carry his load. The blue being returned the same look before saying, “You know he’s not going to stop until you tell him, so you might as well spare yourself and me a few hours of whining.”

“Fine,” he chuckled darkly. “I was going through some old files. I mean ancient … like before golden age ancient.”

“Yawn,” said Skywarp as he pretended to fall asleep on TC’s shoulder. “How are dead mechs and the forgotten things they did interesting?”

“Who said they were all dead?” chided the flier, his optics dimming for a moment.

The other two mechs stopped to give him a look before Thundercracker sighed, “Facing Shockwave about his olden days isn’t going to faze him; you’ve tried before. It is impossible to get under that mech’s armor. You should know that by now.”

A soft, almost sinister laugh escaped the flier as he transformed and sprang into the air without even a moment of hesitation or fear with his load. It was like he had suddenly become part of the wind and his two wing mates followed after, the team quickly falling into position.

“Yes, I do know that,” said Starscream as the wind rushed over his being, “but I also know now that Shockwave once did have emotions … a very long time ago.”

“Oooh, do I feel a story time coming on?” chuckled Skywarp as he fell in a little closer to the red flier.

“Why, yes, a story time is coming on, and I’m going to start this off properly. Once upon a time, millions and millions of years ago, there was a metallic planet that glittered like snow around the star it revolved. And, on that rock was a mech who was considered one of the greatest scholars of the species’ earlier history. Many students wished to learn from him and to do so, at the time, they would sparkbond with their teacher.”

“Ewww, talk about gag fest, Starscream. No one wants to hear about Shockwave’s bond partners,” said Skywarp like a child.

“Tuh, moron. This was a time before interfacing and the ability to transform. Primus, they didn’t even know what love or hate was. Now, shut up or I won’t tell you the rest of the story.”

…

Shockwave stared at the young mechs before him. They were all newly minted creations of Vector Sigma and soon to be his students. He generally would not pick a student, due to the fact that the last time he had picked one and sparkbonded with him to properly forward information, a strange feeling slammed into the back of his spark. He immediately went to a medic to have his spark properly checked. The medic said that there was nothing abnormal … yet the feeling was there and when he inquired other scientific teachers about such an occurrence, some reluctantly answered that ‘yes, they had’. It was an abnormality that none were able to explain; not that it was needed. There were bigger things that needed attention, like improving the miners’ efficiency, increasing the size of memory banks, and fighting rust. Those things were far more important that some strange occurrence of the spark.

Shockwave did not disagree, but neither did he agree. He was one of the oldest mechs of the scientific community, and he feared this feeling. It seemed to grow stronger and stronger each time he created a bond with a student. It was like there was a voice whispering for him to rip open his spark and … and what? There was also this tingling behind his cod piece from time to time during such periods; he had no idea why. There was just an underused linkup cable beneath the plate which wasted a large amount of energy if used. Many mechs agreed that the wires beneath the codpiece were unneeded and many beings had it removed. Shockwave had been considering such an action, and even went to a medic. The healer merely checked out the wires and said that due its apparent sensitivity, it would be incredibly painful to do such a thing. So removal was denied.

So Shockwave had allowed the cord to be, and ignored it successfully for a few centuries. The slaggen thing had remained calm and the sensitivity gradually faded. Yet, it seemed that the question he had asked the collection of scientists had come back to haunt him. There had been an inquiry on the true purpose of the cord. Apparently, lots of younger models had been informing their caretakers that there were strange misfires of energy around the vicinity of the interfacing cord. The scientific community decided to look into it and promoted the case to one of their older scientists: Shockwave.

That was why this group of young models was before him. They had all reported strange ‘misfires’ yet apparently no defects in theirs structures. He would observe them all, but he wanted to have the most highly affected mechs directly under him with a bond so he could observe firsthand and feel these strange reactions through a bond. The scientist hoped to be able to determined the cause and if it was a major health concern.

Pulling up the list of mech’s before him, the purple scientist looked up and stated simply, “State your designation and the severity of your circumstances dealing with the spark misfire condition. Please step forward.”

The first mech was a rather interesting colored mech. He was bright yellow with green lines drumming down his shoulders and arms. His optics were a soft green and his face was hidden behind a mouth guard. One could still smell the newly minted metallic pine that came with young mechs. The green optics brightened for a moment as he stated in a deep dripping voice, “Name is Circuit Drive, sir. I have been experiencing pings in both my spark chamber and uplink cord. Some times it’s so severe that … I-I release myself.”

Shockwave wanted to ask the next mech his name but he stopped … released himself? The elder had heard that some mech’s were developing a type of speech impediment that was now referred to as slang, but he had no idea what the word was supposed to mean in that context.

“Explain ‘released yourself’?” asked Shockwave, trying not to notice that the other mechs tried not to squirm.

“Yes. Sometimes my systems start to react so painfully that I discover my hand, almost subconsciously, moving down to my cod piece. Then, I find myself causing friction amongst the input linkages down there with my fingers and my spark starts to react, like it’s burning beneath my chassis. Yet, just when it feels like it’s too much, as if my systems are going to overheat, there is this … release … a wave of energy flowing and burning though every circuit. There’s nothing to describe it … its painful yet so wonderful I find myself … releasing … myself more and more often,” finished the mech, his voice dripping slightly in a strange way.

The scientist stared at the young mech, noting the confusion in those optics. It was understandable. The youth’s logic centers were not making conclusions; the problems were left unsolved. Circuit Drive would find relief for his CPU soon enough, after Shockwave discovered what the malfunction in these younger mech’s was. Hopefully, whatever it was wasn’t a serious glitch. He’d hate to have to shut down these young beings because of an incurable glitch.

The old mech nodded, turning his attention to the next mech, his CPU already creating hypothesizes and possible experiments. He observed the next candidate for a moment: the next youth was a soft blue with white patched adoring here and there, interesting ear antennae on his head. Sometimes Shockwave had to wonder if Vector Sigma as sentinel and had a creative side, such appendages seemed to be a waste of materials.

“Designation, Live Wire. Same as Circuit Drive, even the reoccurring want to continue the procedure,” said the mech.

Shockwave merely nodded and looked to the next being. This one was a little larger than the first two; he even threatened to tower over Shockwave by an inch or two. He was a deep wet-gray color. Rather plain, except for those optics that burned a deep hovering crimson.

“Metro is my designation. I have only recently started to release myself. I have not reached the stage of chosen repetition of the act yet though.”

Shockwave merely nodded, making note to keep an eye on the specimen more carefully than the others. Perhaps he could observe what sets the reaction off, his gaze falling onto the next being.

“Flux is the name … releasing my game. Been doing it since I got my younglin’ upgrade. Tuh, for shame.”

Shockwave stared at the grey mech with a purple pattern running down from the back of his helm, two flat horns adorning the top of his head. He didn’t know what to think. Was this youth glitching … or was this that slang he had heard about. Ignoring the confusion plaguing his processor now, Shockwave took a step in front of the next youth.

“Hubcap is my designation,” said the green mech, who was a little on the short side, but rather interesting with the helm he was adoring. “Sometimes it gets so intense I nearly offline from the power of it.”

Now that didn’t sound good. He’d have to schedule an observation session with this one and soon. He wanted to get some data before the youngling offlined from this glitch. Shockwave nodded his head and his yellow optic fell on the last youth; a large mech even by his standards but in a bulky manner.

“Dent. I am the same as the others,” was all the mech said, nothing more.

Unable to stop himself, Shockwave gave him a slightly irritated looked by dulling his optic, but said nothing more. It seemed that these mechs had more problems than just strange urges. They all had strange program behaviors. Maybe there was a link there. He’d have to look into it, but that could wait for tomorrow. First, the scientist would have to decide which to sparkbond with to better observe. In fact, part of him was wondering if it was would be easier to have access to all of them and therefore make connections to the defects easier. Either way, tomorrow would be interesting.

XXX

Paw07: I was bored. Tried to work on my usual stuff, but I had an urge to work on something different. This is one part of a planned three. It was supposed to be a huge one-shot, but I felt lazy.

Adopted from http://community(dot)livejournal(dot)com/tf_bunny_

Description: sparkbonds really didn’t have anything to do with romance or sex. They were originally used to mentor younger bots. Of course, the first time a mentor and his student had sex, that function swiftly went out the window.