[Video // Second Transformation]

[proveyourmetal]

[For all you night owls out there, Vanguard decides that now (just five minutes past midnight in an abandoned house at the edge of HospiTown) is the perfect time to voice his displeasure.:]

As you are all my witness, there is nothing here, there's no such things as ghosts, and if this rickety old house comes crashing down on our heads, it's Bumblebee's fault.

[Bumblebee shines his flashlight back at Vanguard and the D-terminal with an amused smile, Vanguard gives an indignant scoff.]

I'm not scared. I'm annoyed

[Bumblebee laughs silently, patting Vanguard as he moves past. Vanguard murmurs irately and paws his impeccably groomed mane back into place. Ghosts may not exist, but Digimon ghost types certainly exist. Even the small ones are a pain to deal with, dispatched with a good fireball. But the higher level ones? Best to stay away from those altogether.]

Can we just go now?

[Bee sighs. Fine, they can head home, if that's what he wants. Of course, that's when the camera catches a glimpse of something: moonlight pouring in from a window flickers on the wall behind him, like a shadow dashing across the light. Floorboards in the distance give off a terrible groan, wood creaking under something's weight. The orb of light from Bumblebee's flashlight creeps down the long, dark corridor. The beam hardly penetrates the stifling darkness to reveal a room at the end of the hallway, its door half fallen off its hinges.]

[The D-terminal's camera starts to shake from unsteady hands. And as camera focuses, two slivers of light stare back at them. Soft mumbling carries down the hallway as the D-terminal's shaking intensifies.]

[Bumblebee, stricken more with curiosity and wariness than fear, takes a tentative step forward. Bewildered, Vanguard snatches Bumblebee's sleeve]

What're you doing-!?

[As if in response to the noise, the two slivers of eyes disappear into the dark. A voice that is neither Bumblebee's nor Vanguard's hisses vehemently right next to the D-terminal:]

-can't take it from me!

[The inhuman noise that comes from Vanguard is so panicked and high pitched, it's practically comical. His flailing knocks the flashlight from Bee's hand, and the D-Terminal goes sailing with it. Both hit the ground with a clatter.]

[The last thing the feed picks up is the sound of rapid footsteps in the dark. The feed cuts.]

Comments

[proveyourmetal]

[It's Bee's turn to quiet, a bit of sadness coming over him at the AI's words.]

That's a shame. Some of my closest allies and friends are human.

Why would they think of you like that in your world?

[fuckinstoplights]

I'm an AI.

[He says it as if that should explain everything. But he frowns, then, lowering his head, starts to elaborate.]

A... prototype. Nothing but a shadow of the real thing. Something they intended to throw away when I had finished training the more advanced model.

[His voice lowers, quiet, but steady.]

All the humans I met saw me as nothing more than a machine capable of speech. Nothing worth keeping alive.

1/2

[proveyourmetal]

[The more that he speaks, the more that Bumblebee's anger rises. It seethes, churns in his stomach like poison.]

Throw you away? That's just [He can't even think of a strong enough word.] wrong!

You can think. You can speak. You can feel pain and get hurt.

You're willing to throw yourself in danger for someone important to you.

2/2

[proveyourmetal]

[His jaw is clenched. He knows little of the AI's world, but he knows a grave injustice when he hears it.]

Kagerou... you're more humane than many humans I've met.

Why would anyone want to throw all that away?

[fuckinstoplights]

I... thank you. That's... that's too kind.

[The Autobot's words are -- well. They're flattering, to say the least. He lowers his head, the more Bumblebee talks, as if too embarrassed to accept them.]

[More humane than a human being...? How can that be?]

[The question at the end, it earns a slight, one-shouldered shrug.]

Because I'm an AI.

[It comes out quietly. Tiredly. He knows it's not much of an answer, but... that's all the answer he was ever given. He is nothing more than data. Nothing more than memories that can so easily be erased.]

And the lives human beings are worth more than any of us.

[proveyourmetal]

It isn't kind. It's just true.

And what about you? Is that what you think?

Do you really think human lives are worth more than yours?

[fuckinstoplights]

It sounds kind. To me. All of you living robots have been.

[He hesitates. A long time. Long enough to where his answer is probably going to be obvious.]

Yes.

Someone who means everything to me... he said as much. He would never lie to me.

[proveyourmetal]

[Bumblebee would never say something like that, especially to someone who valued his opinions as much as Kagerou seemed to value this person.]

That doesn't make you angry at all?

[fuckinstoplights]

[He blinks, like he's trying to understand a foreign language.]

It's upsetting... yes.

But it's true. [Shadowmaru said so. Therefore it's the absolute truth.] And... now humans can't argue I'm not alive.

Not when I'm like this.

[proveyourmetal]

Who means that much to you?

[Who means enough to Kagerou that he would accept something that horrible as truth?]

[fuckinstoplights]

... The one who I was made for. My... reason for existing.

A prototype has no purpose, if their design isn't used for an upgraded model, right?

[It's harsh, but, for some reason, saying it makes him smile a little. Shyly, almost.]

[proveyourmetal]

He was based off of you?

[He hates to type it, because it seems so cruel. Even if Kagerou seems almost... fond of the idea.] To replace you?

[fuckinstoplights]

Yes.

That was why I was made, after all. So that he could be perfect.

[He says it so simply, too. As if there's nothing at all wrong with it.]

[proveyourmetal]

I certainly hope he thinks as much of you, as you do him.

[And his words are in no way sarcastic or ironic. It's a genuine wish on the other's behaf.]

[fuckinstoplights]

I... I think that he does.

[He hopes so. He has to believe so.]

[proveyourmetal]

Have you had much of a chance to speak with him?

[fuckinstoplights]

Yes. We... spent every day together. Ever since they brought him online...

But, now -- I haven't seen him since coming here. I haven't seen him for months, now.

[proveyourmetal]

Sorry.

Must be hard to be separated from him after all that time together.

[fuckinstoplights]

It...

[It is. He just tries not to think about it, lately.]

Yes. It is.

[proveyourmetal]

What was his name?

[fuckinstoplights]

... Shadowmaru.

[There's that little flicker of something on his face when he says it. Before it fades and he tilts his head to one side.]

No one has ever asked me questions like this.

Is it really that interesting to you?

[proveyourmetal]

[He laughs at the message]

If you ask my teammates, they'll tell you I've always been this curious. About Earth, about humans, about this world and everyone in it.

I like learning about people. About the good in them. And about what's really important to them.

[And this last part is a little closer to his spark.]

They remind me what I'm fighting for.

[fuckinstoplights]

Curiosity... Yes. I understand that. There's a lot to learn. Isn't there?

[And it is sort of fun to hear about things. To find out more. Provided, of course, someone is willing to teach him. Which isn't always the case.]

Fighting --

You're in the war too. The one Wheeljack talked about. Aren't you?

[proveyourmetal]

There is. And the more you learn, the more you realize how much more you don't know.

[Perceptive, Kagerou.]

I am. Arcee and Wheeljack and I are on the same side. They're teammates from my world.

More than teammates, actually.

[fuckinstoplights]

I think I have already realized that last part. I don't know anything, here.

[Sometimes, even the most naive BP unit can figure things out!]

They're your friends?

That's what you mean, isn't it?