CHAPTER FIVE
--Caminus, Grand Hall--
"I think it's going to be a while before we get to meet the Mistress of Flame."
"And the Great Detective solves yet another elusive mystery," Whirl said, tapping his head against the wall. He had already had had enough of all the bots pouring into the Grand Hall, they're bright colors and curvy frames being too much for his single optic. "I wonder what mystery he'll solve next? The location of Optimus Prime's trailer? The true colors of Rumble and Frenzy? The actual spelling of--"
"Whirl, we get it," Nautica snapped, leaning against the wall with her left foot propped against it. "You don't want to be here. Don't we all. Just keep your mouth shut and maybe--"
"What did you just say to me?!" Whirl roared, spinning around to get into Nautica's face. "Did you just tell me to shut my mouth? Huh?" He gestured to his face, which only bore an eye; no mouth to speak of whatsoever. "Those are fighting words, pal. You wanna pick a fight with me?"
"People are starting to stare," Nightbeat muttered, seeing the numerous faces turned towards them. "You two might wanna break it off. Or, better yet, stand on complete opposite sides of the room."
Whirl and Nautica remained glaring at each other for a moment until the former finally backed off and strode away from the other two, vanishing into the growing crowd of Camiens. Once he was gone, Nautica allowed her frame to relax.
"I'm surprise he actually listened to you," she murmured. "Even Ultra Magnus can't always get him to obey."
"I suppose it just depends on the mood, he's in," Nightbeat said.
He then stepped aside as a large, blue and white Camien came over and set down an engex distillery unit next to him. Once she had hooked it up and got it running, the Camien poured a glass and handed it to him. Nightbeat shook his head as he waved a dismissive hand.
"Thanks, but I'm not--"
"Oi, it's not fer you, mate!" the femme snapped. "I was givin' it to Nautica. Yer just in the way."
Nautica reached over and took the glass. "Thank you, Starfield. Say, you haven't seen Overcast anywhere, have you? He left to speak with someone after getting the news and I haven't seen him since."
"Nay, I'm afraid I haven't," Starfield replied. "You might try asking Skystriker. He's...." Her speech suddenly trailing off, Starfield tilted her head at something out of Nautica's line of sight. "Oh. Look who it is."
Nautica frowned, not turning around. "Who?" she asked quietly.
"Turn your blasted noggin and see fer yourself," Starfield grunted, taking a hold of Nautica's head and turning it.
It wasn't difficult for Firestar to stand out from the rest of the crowd. This was owed in part to her "flame hair", a modification to her helmet which made her detectable from a mile away. It also helped that she carried herself as if she was better than everyone else in the room, as if she were the host of a party or something.
Then again, she probably was. The way she was giving directions to others certainly gave Nautica that impression.
"That's Firestar, ain't it?" Starfield asked. "The two of you are s'posed to be Amica Endurae, right?"
"Yeah," Nautica murmured. "We are."
"Well, go on then!" Starfield gave her a small push. "Go talk with her! You've got thirteen hundred years to catch up on."
"Joy." Left with no choice -- and Nightbeat watching her curiously -- Nautica started to make her way towards Firestar, silently praying to Solus that everything would go curiously.
* * *
"Excuse me. Pardon me. Coming through."
Rung pushed his way through the crowd, trying hard not to bump into anyone or cause any grief. Luckily, no one seemed to take notice of him. Sometimes, he was grateful for the knack for inconspicuousness he always seemed to have.
Eventually, he came out into a clearing within the crowd and found Swerve in his natural habitat: working at the bar. Upon seeing Rung, the white and red minibot grinned and waved him over.
"Howdy, partner. What can I get for you?"
"Why, dare I ask, are you running a bar in what's supposed to be a funerary service?" Rung asked. "And to think I would ever have to ask a question like that...."
"The femme with the head on fire told me that Thunderclash wanted to be remembered in the same way he had lived: with much glory and splendor. In other words, a party."
"Ah. And you're in charge of refueling."
"Hey, no one else was up for the job, so I volunteered. At least it's something I'm good at." Swerve frowned as he scanned the crowd. "Now if only someone would come by with that engex distillery."
Rung cleared his voicebox. "Well, I hate to cut this conversation short, but I'm looking for Fortress Maximus. He had been just with me a minute ago."
"I think I saw him walk out with Ratchet. Don't ask me where they've gotten to though," Swerve replied. "Although, speaking of looking for people, some mech was just by here looking for you."
Rung lifted an eyebrow. "Really? Did they say why or who they were?"
"He didn't say why, just that he wanted to meet you at the Beta Memorial on the fifth floor. I didn't catch his name, but he was a real spindly fella in white and blue... and a speaker for a mouth."
Rung took a step back, putting these descriptors together in his head. No, it can't be. It can't be him.
Adjusting his spectacles, Rung thanked Swerve before reentering the sea of bots, making his way for the exit.
* * *
"Well, well, look who it is."
Nautica stopped cold in her tracks, having not realized that Firestar had seen her approach. She quickly put on a cheerful smile and waved back at the red femme. "Hey, Firestar! Long time no see!"
Firestar laughed as she came forward. "No kidding. Last I heard from you, you'd just finished your exams at the Monoplex Academy."
Nautica's expression wavered, processing her friend's words. "Monoplex...? Firestar, that was over a thousand years ago. I've sent you probably a dozen more since then."
Firestar's own grin dropped from her faceplate, becoming an orange blank slate. "Oh. I guess I never got them. Was probably too busy or... something."
"You... you didn't think I had forgotten about you, did you?" Nautica asked, frowning. "That I had put everything behind me when I left?"
"No. No, of course not." Firestar laughed, though it hardly sounded genuine. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm not that kind of bot. We both had our own lives to live, and I suppose it's easy to get caught up in them."
"Maybe so," Nautica murmured. "But I still sent messages to you, at least one every year. I only stopped because of the war and--"
"I understand." Firestar rested a hand on her shoulder, still wearing that unconvincing smile. "I do. Really. You don't need to explain yourself. It's all good."
The two Camiens held each other's gaze for a moment until Nautica returned the smile with her own. "Okay. If you say so."
Dropping her hand from her best friend's shoulder, Firestar then said, "So. Overcast tells me you're searching for the Knights of Cybertron as well. Have you made any progress?"
"Uh, funny you say that." Nautica rubbed the back of her head. "So far this is the only progress we have made -- getting here to Caminus. Our captain wanted an audience with the Mistress of Flame, but... that seems to have been postponed."
Firestar hummed, her face unreadable. "Yeah, we had just been over Troja Major when Thunderclash started... failing. We had been about to visit an antique collector who was said to have knowledge on the symbol Thunderclash had been seeing in his dreams."
"Symbol?" Nautica asked. "Dreams?"
"Yeah, you'd have to ask Velocity about it. All I know is that it's some weird gear shape."
"Interesting. Well, at least you guys have something to go off of. All we've got is some slapdash map Drift came up with."
Firestar chuckled. "I'll admit, I'm surprised we've gotten this far without one. All we have to go on is Thunderclash's visions and hunches."
The two friends then fell silent, both trying to think of another topic to discuss. While they had been talking, someone had started playing music -- "Hymn of the Wingless Angel" by Sir Lukarios V -- and the lights had been turned off to bring out multi-colored ones. Already bots were starting to dance to the beat. Pretty soon there'd be no good place to stand without colliding into a blind dancer.
"Well then," Firestar said, already turning to leave. "I'd better go back to preparations. Want to make sure Airwave doesn't play anything offensive again. Last time we had a party, he played The Chaos Bringers' 'Cybertron's On Fire (And Mortilus' My Conjunx).' Needless to say, Afterburner had a field day."
Nautica chuckled lightly. "Then you'd better get going. I'll see you around, yeah?"
"Of course. Later, Naughty Nautica."
Firestar left with those words, leaving Nautica standing there with a smile that didn't know what to do with itself, that looked like it didn't belong.
It was a smile that told you the person wearing it was feeling anything but happiness.
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