It was a silent evening. The fresh air, filled with the slowly crouching darkness of night, was full of the smell of the up coming spring.
Acardiac loved silent moments like that, the best time to reminisce and process some new collected data’s. The Subordinate-Mecha was on her way to complete a sabotage mission she got by Lord Megatron and Lord Starscream and welcomed the loneliness her One-Man-Mission brought with it..
If her features in her animal form allowed it as much as in the humanic form a Transformer usually has, she would definitely smile now. Lord Starscream, Megatron would properly kill her if she ever say it aloud, especially in front of the Decepticon leader. The silvery Master of humiliation did not like it very much, if someone comes close to his position in any way, so much the female programmed bot learned in her short time with Decepticons.
Lucky for the professors she killed in her breaking out back then, to give her the understanding of ranks like the Subordinates have in their packs: Maybe the so called gods, the white-furred animals believe in, will be merciful to let their useless malfunctioning souls rest in peace.
What so ever, Acardiac thoughts drifted back to the seekers leader. Starscream was all in all nothing special, had his good and bad sides like everyone else, and he was just young, very naive in some ways, but still young for the means of their kind. Yet there was something about of him. Maybe it was his young and naive character that gave him some charisma, just as his two brothers, but remembering the moment he pet her head while lauding her, it made Acardiac’s spark thumping, she felt proud, very proud…and worth…worth being alive.

Being alive…

Strange, the first time she met a real Subordinate and fought with it, the organic creature won easily. But that wasn't what bothered the Sub-Bot. It was merely the thing the winner said to her: “So sad, so beautiful you are, and you don’t even know, what life means. But you could, if you just let that what the humans gave you run through your very veins. And remember, life is wonderful, but the reason why, every one of us has to find out their selves.”
Life….life…..wonderful….

Acardiac shook her head hardly, making herself seesaw in her flight. These thoughts are confusing, they should be pushed aside…at least for now.
Maybe she should ask Microwave later, after her return to the Decepticon base.
The communication bot was a little weird, or at least looked weird, but his life experiences in spite of his proportional young age were worth gold.
He really was a guy worth to be trusted.


Soon her processor picked up its old steady rumbling and beating.
She concentrated again on the impressions nature built around her. The sky was really beautiful: There was a long gap short over and parallel to earths surface between a cloud, which seemed to raise from the horizon edge as a black rogue wave coming to erase all living being and creating space for new one, and the big sky-covering cloud, which seemed to stay still in it’s wandering directly over Acardiac and had the size of a whole continent plate.
The bottom edge of the gap was tainted orange and red by the last remaining beams of sun, while the upper one almost got into the darkish blue of the night sky. In between, seemingly, all blue tones existing in the world.

Acardiac memorized these unforgettable impressions as good as possible. If it was possible, she would breath in and out as strong as possible.

“Come with me, I'll take you now to a place that you fear”

Her thoughts were broken by a sound coming from far away, which catched her attention. Immediately she recognized, what it was: A song, the song of a lonely but happy male Subordinate, a real one.

“For no reason why
your heart has turned away from me
And I will make you understand”

Again a moment she would like to smile. These songs of her examples were pure words, making sense, telling wonderful stories. Every living being knows their language, everyone would understand it.

“Everything will become clear to you
when you see things through another's eyes”

Everyone except the humans.
They only hear noises like groaning, growling, cheeping, bleeping. Doubtfully they would even be able to identify it as a singing Subordinate. For them it only would be a random animal, which dies currently or so.

“Everything will become clear to you
whatever’s meant for you, you will find”

Sad. They don’t even know that all songs existing on earth are old songs sung by the ancestors of all animals and humans. All songs the humans create are songs legally copyrighted by Subordinates to say so. When a human writes a song, it means in reality, that he or she just remembers a song of their ancestors.

“Come with me, I'll take you there
to a place where you'll see”

Acardiac caught herself 50 meters away from her destined course, flying into the direction of the song. Megatron would kill her, if she cocks up that mission, or at least scold about her non-correct behavior, calling her useless piece off scrap.
Immediately she corrected her course.

“Everything you need
To be the one you need to be”

Besides, it would also be the shock of his life, if the male Sub sees what kind of female he had bribed.

“And all of those things that you feared
will disappear from you in time”

None the less, his song was very hopeful and attracting to be sung with. And, after shutting all COM links and connections, she did something, that was done by her almost as rarely as transforming into her real form: She raised her voice, trying to hold it as low as possible, so that the male wouldn’t hear it and started to sing, in the same old and mysterious language the real Subordinates uses since they are existing, singing every phrase of his song in a little changed wise at the same time:

“Everything will become clear to you”
“Everything will become clear to me”

“When you see things through another's eyes”
“When I see things through another’s eyes”

On her way to the Autobot base she flew over a large lake, where she lowered to the surface, foozling it with each paw in a stroking, soft manner to the tact of the song and brushing it ever so slightly with her wing tips, leaving weak waves behind which on their movement making the water glistening with the light of the moon and his eternal companions, the stars, where they could come through the cloud’s hard and dark grip.

“Everything will become clear to you”
“Everything will become clear to me “

“Whatever's meant for you, you will find”
“Whatever’s meant for me, I will find”


The song ended.
And with the fading of his song, also her voice died down again, not clear, when to be used again. And most likely not knowing that this next time was not so far away.
Acardiac’s spark thumped so hard now. She never felt so alive before.
So the Subordinate was right back then: She was able to be one of them, if she only let her true self kick in, all that what makes a Subordinate, the feelings, emotions, instincts etc.
Now, the Mecha-Sub couldn’t suppress a little giggle. Damn Microwave, this most gorgeous idiot in the world. He was right with the instinct and animal stuff after all.
With short processing she granted herself access to all Internet sides possible, searching after a matching song for her mood. And soon enough she got what she was looking for.
She was glad to see that the humans not only have bad taste.

At first the song was soft, giving her possibilities to work out the typical air posing of her real, yeah she almost want to say, organic relatives. Movement limits because of her incomplete frame seemed to have never existed before.

And as the fast part of the song started, so her maneuvers became more playful, wild, dangerous. Starting with the risky flight through a dense forest that could cost her life, should she loose her control now, what was not so implausible after all. The crazy air dance went through the forest until she reached its other end and flew over the edge of a deep canyon. Acardiac let herself sink into the deep part near the canyons bottom, animal like calls escape her mouth, seemingly full of joy.
The insane covey ended with the raise from the canyon short before it was over and with the break through the dark cloud, which seemed to be so imprisoning before and was now nothing more than a bad illusion, just like a nightmare you wake from and realize its harmlessness.

Over it the moon was full and bright, mirroring in Acardiac’s surface, making her looking as if her body was clad by the same reflecting and wonderful white fur as her relatives had.
Feeling so one with the whole world, something would escape her now, properly never being able to be heard again. The volume of the song, of course not heard at  the outside but only in the internal processor, was turned a little down and she opened her mouth again, singing the words of the song’s interpret in the human language.

“Say a prayer for those who crawl
Say a prayer for those who run
Say a prayer, so on and on,
There’s a better life to come"

Hard pulses of her spark went through her whole body, giving her shivers like an organic creature. She sped up and flapped her wings in the same rhythm as each spark-beat. Little moments of her life shot through her head, making her feel strangely nostalgic, yet very…very…happy?


"Say a prayer for those alone
say a prayer for those apart
for those hungry boys and girls
and crusaders of the heart"

She remembered the time in the lab, their experiments with and on her, and somehow, she was sure there was something, or someone, in the connection of the lab she should remember, too, but nothing showed itself in this way, so it was fast forgotten and pushed aside by other memories.

"Say a prayer for all the lost
Say a prayer for the unborn
Say a prayer for all the young
it takes a fire to keep them warm"

The accession to the Decepticons, the first meeting with Starscream and Megatron.
The first arguments of the two, which made her, certainly smile.
The first flight with the seekers, such a wonderful and amazing moment.
Starscream's laud and his petting hand.

"Say a prayer for those obsessed
Say a prayer for those enslaved
Say a prayer for they’ll be strong
from the cradle to the grave"

The little battle with Ravage over senseless rankings.
And the fight with the Subordinate.
Her words, the moment the female said to the Sub-Bot, that she said she would spare her life, and why.

"Say a prayer to all the saints
Say a prayer for all the sins
Let the dancing never end.
Let the future now begin"

Her first meeting with Microwave.

"Say a prayer to all the gods
some are near, and some are far
Say a prayer to all the gods
make us braver than we are”


Gosh, she was so enjoying this very moment. So much that she even refused to use her boosters and flew only by her own strength.. And for a second she also had the feeling to see a shadow, a silhouette of another Subordinate behind this and that cloud. Or was it just her internal wishes, which made her shadow to something it wasn’t?
With some powerful wing beats, she even sped up a whole lot more, practically screaming out the last few words

“How far is too far baby?
Come on, take me, take me.
We are crusaders of the heart
And going on the way is just a start.

How far is too far
How far is too far, baby?
Take me deep inside your heart
And going on the way is just a start.

Going on the way is just a start.
Make us braver than we are.

There’s is no such thing as "too far"
I got to be, where you are.
Going on the way is just a start.”"


The last repeating of the song lyrics ended from her mouth just as simple hums.
Acardiac felt like she had overheated three times in a row, though she was long away from being tired.
Still she forced to calm down now, reminding herself of her sabotage mission.
Somehow, a really sad feeling seeped through her now. This little dance, this little freedom, this little moment of being a sentient being worth to be alive was gone far too early, showing her the painful truth again. She would also love to live it out with others, maybe with the seeker-brothers, or Microwave.
She was just a machine, existing to carry out orders of others and erasing other malfunctioning machines, metallic or organic did not matter.
And it would be better, if the others never know about her little amorous adventures of living out her dirty errors of her programming.
She would never be like the strangers (even though she called them relatives just a minute ago) called Subordinates she was built after.
There was no future for a mixed up freak like her, a malfunctioning machine, and an Acardiac through and through. One day, if it won’t happen already before by someone else, she will probably have to shut herself down by her own hands.

But maybe the male Sub some time ago was right. There was a way for her. Maybe, if only maybe, she was supposed to be alive…and happy, able to understand herself and her kind into all its deep secrets.
But until then she will cling to what kept her alive till now, these little moments living out her malfunctions or the lauds of the Lord and the Second in Command or the little jolly plays with Microwave or the little (not so bloody anymore) fights with Ravage.

Yeah, life is a hard guilt to bear, but it is worth it.
She would never admit it aloud, but after all…

…life was wonderful.