T0paz616

“Siphon–” Optimus started, eyes wide. The older Prime slashed her hand in the air, cutting him off. He continued anyways. “Solus, I am very worried about this. I would prefer you tell me how to disable the Armor or damage it enough for us to remove it from her. Miko is certainly one for adventure, but I am certain that even she will become panicked at the prospect of staying trapped inside forever. It would be best if she was released and allowed to live out the rest of her life as an organic in peace.”

These were the wrong things to say. Solus went eerily still, and turned her face towards him slowly. Her expression was blank.

“Do… not… DARE TO PRESUME YOU HAVE ANY AUTHORITY TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!” The elder Prime thundered, her form growing larger and larger and larger above him until she was the size of a city-former. Optimus scrambled a few meters back, tripping over his own pedes and falling. Solus’ titanic hands slammed into the ground with enough force to send shockwaves vibrating through the ground and air. 

Her wild yellow eyes glowed hellishly in the dark shadow of her face. “I AM ONE OF THE THIRTEEN PRIMES. I LIVED THOUSANDS OF TIMES LONGER THAN YOUR LIFETIME AS OF YET. I HAVE SEEN HORRORS YOU CANNOT EVEN DREAM OF! I AM THE ONE WHO GIVES YOU INFANTS WISDOM, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND! YOU FORGET YOURSELF.”

Optimus’ jaw opened and closed soundlessly. Solus had never lashed out at him like this before. 

“I… I am very sorry, Solus. I have grievously overstepped,” Optimus stammered softly, ashamed. 

“For all the wisdom your team believes you possess,” Solus boomed above him, “I still have lifetimes more. You would do well to remember that, little brother.”

The younger prime nodded meekly.

Solus Prime stood once more, still unfathomably tall. She began to shrink again. “And, Optimus, as I have said already, multiple times, there is nothing that can be done. It has already locked her in, and the Apex Armor is indestructible. Miko will have all of eternity to come to terms with what is happening to her, even if she reacts badly.”

Returning to her normal size a few heads taller than Optimus, Solus summoned her chair back and sat as if nothing had ever happened.

“The nervous system is likely going to be the Armor’s first target. It will want to put in a connection as close as possible to her brain. Probably immobilize her neck and take out one of those little vertebrae covering her spinal cord,” Solus mused, chin in her hand.

“You… certainly know a great deal about human biology,” Optimus tentatively put out, pushing away that disturbing little tidbit of what might happen. Solus perked up at that.

“Oh, yes! You know we can see everything you see if we wish, even if you are not focusing on it. I in particular have been watching Ratchet’s research on human biology and medicine from the corner of your optics. Such interesting little creatures, and their biology is almost a perfect organic mirror of our own… Yes, I’m sure the entire process will be very quick and painless since it will be so easy to figure out!”

Optimus thought over this. “Very quick” for a Cybertronian could mean months or even years for this entire process to take place. He was going to break the news of this to Miko first, of course, and then to the rest of the team. Including Agent Fowler. Miko’s family, both her host parents and biological parents, would have to be brought in on the secret of the Cybertronians' existence on Earth. They would have to handle this all very delicately once he got the entire process out of Solus…

“Solus, if I may, when you said ‘siphon her mind out’ earlier, what precisely did you mean?” Optimus inquired.

“Her organic body is weak and fragile,” Solus said rather bluntly. ”It will not last long. Cells never do, even when they’re pumped full of life-giving chemicals. I certainly tried extending organic lifetimes during my period of insanity, but it was impossible.

“The Apex Armor, once it establishes the connection to the nervous system, will spend a bit simply learning how her body processes work through how the brain tells the body to perform its functions. It’ll observe how her neurons fire, how her digestive system works, her muscular system, everything. I programmed it to mimic organic digestive systems as closely as possible, for when she will run on energon. As for the muscular system, it only watches that to decide how best to alter her brain to connect directly to the suit’s motors and hydraulic system.

“At the beginning of the process, Miko will be able to feel the Armor’s surface and all its parts as if they were her own organic body parts. She will feel both of her bodies at once. Over time, as her body degrades naturally, it will separate her brain from her old body, numbing it to help the disconnection along. I imagine feeling yourself rot is rather disconcerting, even for her. It will keep her organic remains in a sealed pod; they will stay there forever. Her brain will be kept active and alive for much longer than her body. After all, that is where her mind will be for a long time.

“Despite the artificial longevity of her neurons the Armor will induce, they too will decay at some point. Before that time arrives, it will put her in a coma. Then, it will deepen the technorganic connection and download all of her memories, habits, personality traits, speech patterns, and all that she has learned over the course of her life into a processor the Apex Armor will build. The brain will be disposed of into the pod with the rest of the body.”

Optimus sat in shock for a long, long moment. “That is quite grisly, Solus. I do not know how to even begin to approach this topic with Miko.”

Solus chuckled. “Mmn, you may find it easier than you think. She might find it fascinating. From what I’ve observed of her behavior through your optics, there is a good chance she’ll be very excited to spend the rest of eternity with her Wrecker friends.”

Optimus smiled weakly, and stood up. “I had best leave now. Thank you for giving me the information about the Apex Armor, Solus.”

Solus waved her hand dismissively, also standing. “Ah, not a problem, Optimus.” She paused. “...Except for the part where you acted like you had authority over me.”

The younger Prime winced. “I apologized for that already.” His fellow Prime scoffed.

“You’ll need to try harder than that for me to forget,” Solus said, a wry smile on her face. She walked over to the Matrix-shaped door and opened it, stepping one foot in.

“Oh, Solus, one last question–” Optimus blurted. She turned back and raised an eyebrow at him. “What will she do when she outlives all of the rest of us? When she outlives all Cybertronians and organic species?”

“She can throw herself into the core of any blue star,” Solus replied. “That’ll be hot enough to melt her.” The dead Prime turned back to the door glumly and stepped the rest of the way through, slamming the door behind her.

Optimus stood in the “lobby” of the Matrix of Leadership, alone. The silence pressed in on him. He could hear quiet, very muffled talking emanating from behind the door. Sobbing, and Solus’ other siblings softly cooing comforting words to her.

He shut his eyes, dread pooling in his spark, and pulled his mind out of the Matrix.

-------------------

Masterpost

The teenager quietly put down her drawing pad and pencil. Contrary to popular belief, Miko could be almost completely silent. But she saved that skill exclusively for scheming like this.

She slid off the couch, landing on the ground with a soft tap. Oops. A little too careless. She descended the stairs soundlessly and, once out of Ratchet’s view, broke into a dead sprint towards the artifact vaults. Miko’s goal? The Apex Armor.

She slid to a stop in front of the rolling door that served as a vault for this particular relic. Pretty pathetic, if you asked her. Any ‘Con that might break in here could rip through that door like it was paper. Miko slapped the red button that opened the door, and it began to rise. She ducked under it impatiently.

There it was. Miko’s favorite toy. She scaled the table it was on and stood next to it, grinning down on it. The artifact sparkled mischievously. She crouched, and leapt straight onto the center of the Armor’s condensed form. The very instant her shoes made contact with the metal, it unfolded from itself like a flower to surround her in a pod of metal. 

Ha, she was getting better at activating it! The Armor had taken a full second to react the very first time she made contact with it. It got faster and faster every time.

In the darkness, the second step began. More metal emerged and enveloped Miko’s limbs. The walls of the pod rolled and shifted to form loosely around her body, filling points of movement with a soft, silicon-like material. Metal and a flash of something bright and clear fluttered past her face, and the transparent visor settled in front of her. She was ready.

All that was left now was to get Ratchet away from the groundbridge so she could sneak through it. Miko crept as quietly as she could in the armor, her footsteps making soft clanks as she returned to the main area. 

Ratchet was still at the computer, slowly typing away with his index fingers. Miko searched around for something she could throw. There– a small piece of rubble left over from a previous mission. She swiftly crouched down, picked it up, and stood up again.

Miko threw the human palm-sized rock into the opposite corner of the large room, producing a thud that echoed in the quiet room. Ratchet’s head lifted, and he stopped typing to investigate the noise.

While he was walking over to where the rock had hit, Miko used his loud, clanking pedesteps to disguise the fact that she was racing over to the groundbridge controls, selecting the last coordinates to be typed in, and throwing down the switch to open it. The wild, noisy whirling of the groundbridge filled the room, and a shout of “MIKO!!” echoed from behind her, but she was already through. 

Time to join the party.

***

Miko, Bulkhead, and Wheeljack were hot off the mission. They had gotten five whole cartfuls of raw energon for them to process and add to their stores. Bulkhead was weakly scolding her for coming along, while Wheeljack was praising her guts and ambition.

"Not bad, kid! You took down a whole lotta Vehicons out there," he comments, grinning.

"Yeah!! It was so cool!! I was like WHAM BAM and that one at the front with those new grenades the Decepticons have just collapsed like it was made of paper or something and then I ducked down and ran forward and BOOSH I got those two with my arms and--" Miko's excited spiel was cut off by angry stomping coming in their direction.

Ratchet.

"Miko! How many times have I told you to stop taking the Apex Armor for your little adventures?! That is a priceless, ancient artifact of Cybertronian culture we know almost nothing about!"

Miko bristled inside the armor. "It's not like it's getting used very much! I'm doing something useful with it instead of just letting it rust in a vault!"

The medic scoffed. "It's still not yours. Now get. Out."

Miko's angry posture quivered for a few seconds more, then her shoulders sank defeatedly. She knew Ratchet would keep pushing. "Fine."

The teenager turned her attention to the controls that had swallowed her arms. It was odd that they had shown up for her, as anyone else using it would be much larger than her and could control the limbs with their own. It was also odd that the Apex Armor was even able to recognize her presence in the first place.

When she had first jumped on top of it in the middle of the fight with Starscream, she half expected it to do absolutely nothing to protect her. But it had encased her in plates of thick, strong metal, surrounding her legs, arms, and individual fingers and giving Miko total control over the titan that transformed out of the dense shape.

Inside of each of the four controls there was a subtle button that controlled a lock on the outside, allowing her to leave at will. She shifted her pointer finger inside the metal "glove" to tap the button.

Nothing happened. Miko's brow creased. She tried the other three controls. Still no reaction. She tried again, frantic.

"Hey, Miko! Come on out of there, the monster truck show you like is coming on!" Bulkhead beckoned to her from over near the TV, smiling.

She opened her mouth. "Gimme a minute, Bulk, I'm having a little trouble getting out." More taps at the button, more and more, dozens of times yielding no results. What was going on?!

"Ratchet, I need help!" Miko cried, panicked. "It's not letting me out!"

The medic turned his head towards her. “What?! What do you mean it won’t let you out?!”

The teenager exhaled sharply, fogging up the visor briefly. “You heard me right the first time, Ratchet! I can’t get out.” 

He grabbed one of his tools and walked over to her.

“Can you retract the visor?” He questioned. The medic lifted his tool. It was a glorified colonoscopy scope, just a camera attached to a long, flexible wire. “Let me look, I don't entirely believe you.”

Miko nudged her head to the side, depressing the button for the transparent visor. It slid down, and she breathed a small sigh of relief.

In the background, Bulkhead frowned, got up, and left the room.

Ratchet stuck the camera straight in her face. “Hey!!” Miko yelped. She shuddered as the camera then slid down her chest and into the small cavity around her body. Ratchet’s face was still with concentration as he stared intently at the computer monitor. 

The controls were larger around her limbs than they used to be. They looked to be more than doubled in thickness from the original single layer of metal and wires. 

Ratchet made a ‘hmm’ sound. “Try the button again, Miko.”

She pressed the release button yet again. On the monitor, metal shifted, and the two of them perked up. As they watched, though, it quickly became apparent that the button was still not working, and the shuffling metal was in fact two more layers building up around her. The Apex Armor was not letting her go.

Ratchet swore quietly. “I’m going to go get Optimus, see if he has any insight on the situation.”

“Already done, Ratchet!” Bulkhead had returned, with Optimus following behind him.

Miko and Ratchet turned to face the new arrival. Ratchet pulled the camera out of the Armor, and the trapped girl put the visor back up with a snap.

The Prime came up to the computer monitor. “May I see the playback of the footage?”

“Of course,” replied Ratchet. He pressed a button, and the view of what the camera had seen began to play.

Optimus watched passively, his eyebrows contracted slightly, through the first part of the footage, and his frown deepened as the Armor’s utter refusal to let go was made clear to him.

Ratchet stepped close to him. “I was wondering, since we know almost nothing about this relic, do you think any of the Thirteen might know something?”

The Prime stood straighter. “An excellent idea, old friend. I will consult the Matrix.” He turned to leave. He stopped. “Oh, Miko… It may be a while before I am able to get any answers. I advise you to take a seat and watch your show.”

Miko stared blankly. She sat, thoughts whirling. She hadn’t meant to cause trouble with the Apex Armor. She was just so bored all the time, and with the other humans gone it was even worse.

Optimus stepped into his berthroom and shut the door. He ignored the cold metal berth and sat on the floor, assuming a meditation position. The Prime took a deep vent in, and exhaled, closing his eyes.

He drew deep within himself, to the place in his coding where he could enter the Matrix and speak with the Primes of old. 

Optimus opened his mind’s eye to face the virtual door that led to the Matrix. It was much larger than him, and shaped just like the glowing blue core of the Matrix of Leadership. He usually kept it closed, though if he was in a situation in which he may need The Primes’ wisdom often he would leave it ajar. 

He cleared his vocalizer. “Solus Prime, I have need of your aid.” The door shuddered, but remained shut. A beat passed. So she was being obstinate today. “Solus.”

The door shuddered another time, giving off the peculiar sensation that it was… wincing. A click sounded from the door, and it creaked a few inches open. A voice trailed from within. “...Optimus, you’re gonna be so mad at me.”

The living Prime rolled his optics. “Solus, if it’s really that terrible, then it is better to get the ordeal over with now rather than later, when I am out of patience.” Fragging older siblings. Always so reluctant to get to the point. Especially Solus, she was the one who teased the most out of the whole lot. 

“Nnngh, fine.” The door swung open the rest of the way, nearly clipping Optimus in the face. The purple and yellow bot stepped out of the mindscape Matrix, giggles and cheers of good luck echoing out behind her from the other twelve. Optimus’ spark filled with a sudden, ominous dread. It felt like things were about to take a nosedive.

Solus pushed him aside so they were away from the door. “Let’s go over here for the story.” She conjured two chairs and a small table full of cute little energon treats they couldn’t actually eat. The Primes sat down. 

The younger Prime fixed the elder with a stern glare. “I need to know all about the Apex Armor, how it is able to function for organics, and how my team and I can fix the apparent glitch it is suffering.”

Solus Prime fidgeted in her seat. “...Before you can get the answers to your questions, I need to start with why I made it.” The older Prime stood up, walked a few paces away, and stopped, turning to face him again. Her chair vanished.

“As you know, the Age of Expansion was during about the latter half of my life. Seven of us Thirteen Primes, Prima, Alpha Trion, Vector, Nexus, Liege Maximo, Nova, and Zeta stayed on Cybertron to rule it, while me, Onyx, Alchemist, Quintus, Micronus, and Megatronus split up and explored the universe with all who wanted to join us. I traveled with Onyx, and we and our teams explored millions, even billions of worlds across the galaxies.

“Most of them were barren and devoid of life, but a small percentage of them did have life! Microbial, mostly, but an even smaller percentage of the life we found was intelligent. One such world that is relevant to my story was called Akode. On it lived this small, beautiful species–” Solus projected an image from her memory of several members of a bipedal organic lifeform about a quarter of the height of the average Cybertronian with long, upright ears and thick, bulky bodies, possessing a color palette consisting of various shades of gray and colorful accents. They had short muzzles, fur of varied length spread over their bodies, and long, whiplike tails with a tuft at the end.

The elder Prime vanished all of the conjured organics but one– a smaller member of the species covered in a bluish gray color with icy blue accents. They had a gentle expression on their face, and their entire demeanor seemed to be full of kindness. Solus’ eyes locked on them, and her face softened with a kind of sad, wistful affection.

“This is Apex,” the Prime murmured. Optimus jolted, realization flashing through his processor like a lightning bolt.

“You loved them,” he rumbled. His eyes moved across the frozen projection standing in between him and Solus. The ears were the same shape as the finials on the Apex Armor. The accents on the Armor mirrored the stripes on Apex’s arms, legs, and chest in size, color, and shape. Even the placement of the plating seemed to be taken directly from Apex’s fur ruffles. “What happened to them?”

Solus smiled weakly. “The Akodi’s world was torn apart in a long and bloody civil war, just like our kind is now. One side ruled by a greedy, territory seeking warlord. The other side consisted of all the people who refused to be stepped on by the conquerors. Apex was a high-ranking general on the good side. They might as well have been the leader of the entire faction with how much the higher-ups went to them for guidance. Their kindness was known throughout the entire military of their faction, and they were well protected. By both me and the armies under their command.”

The older Prime sat down on the floor of the void, still staring at Apex. She rested her head on her hands. “Any of their subordinates would have taken a blaster shot for them.” Solus laughed. “Not that any of them would have to, given that I participated in every battle Apex did and made sure they made it out the other side in one piece.” Her face fell. “Any of their subordinates but five.”

Solus moved the projection of Apex to her side with a wave of her hand, and conjured five more Akodi figures. These ones were immediately quite different from Apex. Three of them were unusually large for their species, with red, orange, and dark green markings respectively. Likely heavy hitters in battle. The last two were identical, probably twins, and shared violently bright yellow-green markings. They were small, and rather skinny. Their expressions were shrewd, with sharp eyes and toothy grins.

“Those twins were the ringleaders of the whole thing. Spies, sent from the conquerors to destabilize Apex’s faction. I had always thought they were suspicious, but I had thought it was nothing more than my own paranoia and overprotectiveness of Apex.” Here Solus paused, grinding her teeth. 

“But then there was one battle. One battle that I wasn’t at, Prima had called me to Cybertron for a meeting.

“During that one battle, the twins crept up behind Apex while they were in the midst of a brutal fight with the warlord. Together, they drove their blades into Apex’s back. The other three came forward and began beating Apex while they were down on the ground. The warlord stood and watched with glee as his greatest enemy was destroyed.

“Coward,” Solus muttered, face dark. “Couldn’t even do it himself, made his lackeys do it for him–” She broke off. A beat of silence passed.

“Anyways,” Solus continued, “They didn’t last long after that. All those under Apex were sent into a rage at what they had just seen. All of them immediately abandoned their fights to swarm the twins, the three, and the warlord. Our enemies were captured and executed at once, at the cost of my beloved. They were rushed to a hospital immediately, where their wounds were stabilized as best as they could be. I was sent a message that told me that Apex had been grievously injured in battle, and that I needed to return at once.”

Solus Prime conjured a chair again, and sat down heavily. “I made my ship go as fast as it could fly. Onyx followed me. I got into the hospital, crouched down beside their bed for hours. At last my Love awoke. They turned their head towards me, smiled and said, ‘I’m glad you’re here, Solus.’ And then they died with their eyes still open. Looking at me. Smiling.”

Optimus gaped in horror. “...Solus, I am so very sorry you had to go through such a tremendous loss.” He stood up and walked towards her. He stopped just in front of her chair and extended his arms. Solus looked up at him, trembling slightly. She stood and threw herself into his arms. The younger Prime closed his arms around his fellow Prime, encasing her in a tight, protective hug.

It lasted for several seconds before Solus began to pull away. Optimus unfolded his arms from around her. They took their seats again.

“I know organics don’t live as long as we do,” Solus wiped her optics with the back of her hand. “But I thought that if I had been there to be their shield, their armor…” She paused meaningfully, and Optimus bowed his head in understanding. “...Then maybe I would have gotten more time with them.”

“Apex is the inspiration for the Apex Armor?” Optimus questioned. Solus nodded.

“I made the Armor specifically for organics. I only added the ability to recognize Cybertronians as an afterthought. Onyx suggested it, they thought Prima might suspect something was off about all of this more than she already did, and hiding the fact that it was meant for organics was a good idea.”

Solus leaned forward, rattling her plating a few times as if shaking the sad memories off, and rested her forearms on her open thighs. “I coded the Apex Armor’s AI to activate the Armor around a Cybertronian, but nothing more. We’re already metal,” she knocked on her virtual chest, “so we don’t really need much more protection.”

The elder Prime looked to the side and made an embarrassed expression. “Now, before I continue and you inevitably get mad at me, just keep in mind that I was absolutely sick with grief and wasn’t in my right mind at all.”

Optimus nodded, sympathetic. “Go on, then.”

Solus took a deep inhale. “As you know from experience dealing with the Apex Armor, it is completely unbreakable. Unmeltable, impervious to all harm. The person inside wouldn’t break a sweat even if they were taking a bath in fresh magma. I used my Forge to ensure this would remain so for all eternity.

“How the Armor imprints onto organics is a long process. The very first time an organic individual uses the Armor, it subtly takes a sample of their DNA and saves it. This is to help identify potential candidates for bonding. If that individual returns for more uses, the Armor moves their sample up in the priority queue and prepares for the next steps. With consistent usage, one organic individual will become the only one able to use the Armor. If the organic dies outside of the armor before it’s too late, then the bond with the Armor is broken and it becomes usable to others again.”

The dead Prime fidgeted. Optimus raised a single eyebrow. “‘Before it’s too late’?”

Solus grimaced. “So you know how earlier you called what was happening to Miko a ‘glitch’?”

Optimus’ spark sank. “...Yes.”

Solus folded in half and dropped her head between her knees, placing her hands on her helm. “It’s not a glitch,” came her voice from out of view. “It’s the next step. The Apex Armor is physically bonding with her. She can’t leave now.”

Optimus stared, mouth ajar, at Solus. He didn’t say anything for a long moment.

“...Why,” he began, “Would you ever add such a feature?!” He stood and began to pace, a panicked expression on his normally stoic face. “What am I going to tell her? Is she ever going to be able to go into public again? What about when she needs to expel waste products? Or eat?! How long will she be able to open the visor? This is the worst thing that could possibly happen to her!”

“Incorrect,” Came Solus’ stern voice. Optimus abruptly stopped moving and turned to face her. Solus’ expression was angry. “I told you that I wasn’t in my right mind! The twisted logic my grief-stricken processor was using said that with this Armor, with this bonding process, any organic warrior I or any other Cybertronian befriended in the future would be protected! No harm would come to them ever again!”

Her expression changed to one of pleading desperation. “All isn’t lost, Optimus! Miko’s not going to die in the Armor. She won’t die at all.” 

-----------------

Ooh, cliffhanger! Let me know what you think! Oh, by the way, I'm just pulling lore out of my ass with this, I haven't read the books associated with TFP.

Also! I have genderbent eight out of the thirteen Primes! I found it irritating that Solus is the only lady in the Primes, so I added some more girls and non-binary Primes.

Here is the list of pronouns:

Prima- she/her

Alpha Trion- he/him

Vector- they/them

Nova- she/her

Nexus- he/him

Liege Maximo- they/them

Solus- she/her

Zeta- he/him

Onyx- they/them

Micronus- she/her

Megatronus- he/him

Quintus- they/them

Alchemist- they/them

---------------------------------

Masterpost