She slowly came to. The bright ceiling lights briefly impaired her vision, and she blinked a few times to recalibrate her optics. She glanced around, taking in her surroundings while her systems slowly went online.
Machines and medical equipment surrounded her, leading her to believe she was in some sort of medbay. But why was she there?
She lay on the medberth for a while, trying to make sense of where she was and how she got there, but her mind was blank. There was a dull ache at the back of her helm that threw her off. She didn't recall hitting her helm, but the more she tried to remember, the worse her headache got.
Her systems took longer to reboot than usual, and she started stirring despite her limited mobility. Her struggle was futile, and she barely shifted a few centimeters when her audials picked up on the sound of pedsteps coming closer to the door.
Her instincts told her to close her optics and pretend she was still out, and she obliged. The door swung open, and two hushed voices approached her side. A large servo wrapped around her wrist, and she did her best not to tense. "She's still out." she tried to identify the voice; she swore she had heard it before. "But she should awaken in the next few hours."
"Inform me when she does. I have to get going."
The second voice immediately put her on edge; thankfully, both bots were already walking out of the room and hadn't seen the jolt on the spark monitor. She waited until she could no longer hear their steps and sat up once she regained mobility.
Her internal clock indicated she'd been out for almost an hour. But why was she unconscious in the first place?
She didn't have time to contemplate the question because as soon as her systems finished rebooting, a sudden surge of pain overtook her senses, and she bit back a scream. She hunched over the edge of the berth, muttering a few curses through gritted denta as dread filled her mind. Something wasn't right.
She glanced at the door, the neon exit sign caught her optic for a split second, and small fragments of her memory returned.
Exit..the space bridge...she had escaped. Right?
She tried to suppress intense pain for a second and tried to recall what had happened.
She had walked through the space bridge—no...she had no recollection of doing so.
Her servo subconsciously massaged her audial, and she realized it was ringing. Her optic ridges furrowed as she tried to connect the pieces. Ringing? Why was it ringin—
Images of an explosion flashed in her mind, accompanied by a deafening boom. Everything suddenly clicked into place, and she realized the bitter reality.
She was so close—mere inches from the portal. Two more steps, and she would've been on Earth. But a faint beeping noise made her falter, and by the time she realized what it was, it was too late.
She felt herself being flung into the wall parallel to the machine, slamming her helm hard enough to make her black out.
The last thing she saw was Eclipse stepping closer with a detonation control in servo, and the last thing she heard was his irritating voice. "I warned you, didn't I?"
Another surge ran through her frame, and it took everything in her not to cry out in pain. The spark monitor picked up on her distress and started going off. She immediately ripped the patches off her wrists and gave the obnoxious machine a good punch, effectively turning it off.
After a few long seconds, the pain finally subsided, and she started searching for a way out. She needed to get to a hospital to see if her sparkling was okay. An accident of this scale had to have consequences, especially when she was due in less than three weeks.
She carefully stood up and inched her way to the door. Peering out the small window, she was both relieved and offended to see no one standing guard outside. Eclipse underestimated her too much.
She strategically made her way around the facility, avoiding other agents, cameras, and motion sensors until she reached one of the secret flush doors on the south side of the building.
As soon as the door opened, alarms went off, and the emergency lights bathed the halls in crimson. This time she didn't hesitate and ran outside. She prepared to transform when yet another wave of pain forced her to lean against the wall for support. She took deep breaths and tried to ignore the cramping sensation in her abdomen.
She had to keep moving; Eclipse was probably already notified of her escape, and it wouldn't be long till he sent a group to find her.
Taking another staggering breath, Quickshadow transformed and sped off, reaching speeds she didn't know she could. The further she got, she couldn't help but feel she'd forgotten something, but another surge quickly pushed the thought away.
She slowed down and did her best to drive in a straight line. She couldn't think straight. All she could rationalize was pain. So much pain.
Half an hour later, she found herself pulling up to a hospital with no memory of how she got there. The receptionist took one look at her and had her sent to the ER.
Medics ran a series of tests and analyses and asked questions that she only partially answered.
Medic after medic came to check up on her, but they didn't tell her anything about her condition. She was terrified that something was wrong with the sparkling, and their silence only added to her stress.
She later learned the random surges of pain she was having were contractions. They started coming more frequently over the past hour, inflicting almost twice the pain.
"What's..wrong with me?" she managed through gritted denta. The nurse at her bedside didn't look up from the machines she was monitoring, but she was the first to answer the burning question. "You're in labor."
"What?!" Quickshadow tried to sit up, but two other nurses held her down. "...I can't be—" she sputtered. "I'm only 18 weeks along."
"Yes, but whatever accident you had induced labor." the nurse frowned apologetically. "The sparking is coming now."
— — —
A/N: I did some research on Cybertronian reproduction, but there weren't many sources that gave a definitive time frame for the gestation period. Some said 10 months, while others said 2-3, but I went with 4 months (~20 weeks) because it was easier to work with. That being said, sorry if it's inaccurate; I tried my best.
I also added an important little detail toward the end of chapter 5 when Quickshadow is hacking the computers for information. It completely slipped my mind while I was writing it; sorry about that.
Thank you for reading (:
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Back To You
FanfictionHer departure affected him greatly. It had been more than a decade, but Heatwave still couldn't bring himself to move on. She was keeping him in the dark, and it was slowly killing her. She prioritized Heatwave's safety but hated that it meant she h...
