A Storm Without Rain (Transformers)

Chapter 15: Distance

A/N: Yo, sorry for these delayed updates. I've been crazy busy lately. I also wanted to announce that I made a small alteration to Chapter 11: The Prisoners. I changed Dino's name to Mirage cause it feels more familiar if that makes sense... 

Ironhide's P.O.V. 

I had not seen Delta in weeks. I didn't make any move to go and speak to her either. Every night I'd look down the hall at the door to her quarters and I'd sigh. After everything that she said to me, the guilt that weighed on my spark made it feel as if I could not breathe. I couldn't eat or hardly sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about the way her cheeks had trails cutting through the sand on her face, the tears exposing her chrome features. Her words rang in my ears and I longed to even remember the sound of her laughter. 

"I'm thinking about maybe changing my paint. Maybe black! Then we'd match." Chromia giggled. I said nothing, still lost in my thoughts, tinkering with a cannon I was building. 

"'Hide! Are you listening?" She snapped. I put down my tools, staring straight ahead. 

"Yeah," I grunt irritably. 

"Well, what do you think?" She asks.

"Sure. It'd look great." I roll my optics, returning to my work. Chromia sighed deeply and came to stand beside me. 

"Ironhide, you've been so distant lately." She said, placing a gentle servo on my arm. I huff and shake my head. 

"Got a lot on my mind," I respond. She opened her mouth, but I interrupted her. "And no, I don't want to talk about it," I say lowly. Chromia frowned at that.

"Well, you should talk to someone. Talk to Ratchet or Optimus." She pleaded. 

"No, 'Mia. It's my problem." I put down my tools and turned to her. Her bright optics saddened at that. 

"Okay. Well, I'm here if you need anything." She promised. I nod and rub my face. My optics were so tired. When I can't sleep, I work. I've expanded largely on the armory since the fight I had with Delta. 

"I'm gonna go and see what the girls are up to, alright?" She said. I nod again and go to a different workbench. "I'll see you later." She rubbed my arm as she left. I heard her ped steps fading as she got farther and farther away from me, then finally I couldn't hear them anymore. I put the blaster I was holding down and I leaned down, resting my elbows on the bench and rested my head in my hands.

Delta's P.O.V. *

"Mix this for me, would you dear?" Perceptor asks, holding out a liquid solution resting int he bottom of a beaker. A powder floated at the top of the liquid. I took it and started swirling the beaker, watching him transform and look at some of the tissue from the creatures under his microscope. 

"Interesting..." He hummed. "Delta, could you apply the solution to the sample?" He inquired. 

"Sure thing," I reply. I use the dropper and as soon as the solution made contact with the tissue, it fizzed and bubbled.

"Gah! Mark that as failed experiment number fifty-eight." He ordered as he transformed back. 

"What is the point of these experiments?" I groan, setting the beaker aside, logging the information into our datapad. 

" I want to find a way to clone these creatures. They would be an excellent weapon against the Decepticons." He explained. 

"Have you forgotten about their acid breath? That would be lethal to everyone on the battlefield, including us and the humans. How do you expect to control them?" I say, shocked.