Once Ratchet removed the bandage, he advised that she take it easy. In addition to avoiding sudden movements, she needed to stay away from stress and excitement. After all, it was either fear or tension that had burst the optic in the first place. The instructions were rather simple, so Verdant nodded along to them thoughtlessly before leaving the med-bay.
In the main room of the base, everyone's mood had lifted again. Ultra Magnus was out on patrol with Smokescreen, probably wanting to impart some knowledge on the newbie, and Optimus was working at the monitor. Arcee was talking to Raf and Bumblebee, but she looked very confused.
Wheeljack was back and listening to some crazy story Miko was telling him. Jack rolled his eyes from where he was sitting next to her.
The wrecker glanced over at her and Verdant instantly avoided his gaze, but she didn't miss the smirk tugging at the edge of his derma.
Last night was... nice. Considering the fragile state of her optic, neither of them went very far. It had been a simply, gentle kiss. Nothing more.
He'd left after that, telling her to get some rest, and Verdant hadn't objected.
But the moment was now over and distant, and Verdant couldn't help but internally panic. What would Ultra Magnus think? Ratchet told her to avoid stress, so Verdant formulated a plan to avoid the fact that Wheeljack existed. At least for now.
"Your left optic is looking shinier!" Wheeljack called out across the room.
He wasn't helping.
"Wheeljack, have I ever told you how strange you are?" Arcee asked.
Verdant ignored them and sat down at the monitor.
"How are you this morning?" Optimus asked politely.
"I'm doing well, sir," Verdant nodded. "And you?"
"Wondering why you haven't dropped the 'sir' yet, but otherwise rather content," Optimus replied. "It is a relief to have our energon storage full for the first time."
She smiled. "I'm glad to hear that."
"Did Wheeljack visit you and apologize?" Optimus asked. "He seems happier."
"Uh," Verdant's fans kicked on. "Yes. He did."
"It went well?"
"You could say that," Verdant laughed nervously and tried to zone in on the screen. "What are you working on?"
Optimus frowned. "We accessed the Hall of Archives' database after liberating a copy from the Decepticons some time ago. The goal was to decrypt his personal messages and find relics he sent to Earth. All of them have been located by now, but I am trying to decode the rest of the database so that it can be used by the public after the war."
Verdant tilted her helm. "Why didn't you ask me to help out?"
"That would require me to teach you Alpha Trion's code language, which would be a violation of my agreement with him," Optimus explained. "The only other bot who knows it, Soundwave, acquired methods of decrypting it after... Megatron manipulated me in a moment of vulnerability. It did not end well."
She nodded. "If you believe that is best."
A small voice in the back of her processor was annoyed by his explanation. She wasn't a Decepticon, and she certainly wasn't Soundwave. It isn't as if she'd use the decryption against him.
But, alas, the pains of respecting someone else's irrational fears would remain in play for the remainder of her onlining.
Verdant released her tentacles and clamped them down onto the other computer.
YOU ARE READING
Going Green
Fanfiction"I'm not Soundwave." Ever since the destruction of her home, Verdant had spent her life as a loyal Autobot soldier. She was Ultra Magnus's third in command, and the most renowned intelligence officer in the Autobots. She was of the same frame-ty...
