A/N: Okay, so, this is my first story involving a drone. Hope you guys find it enjoyable!

The battlefield was littered with graying purple corpses.

Every single one of the Autobots had left the skirmish unscathed. Again.

Amidst the battered frames that scattered across the unforgiving ground, one pair of optics slowly onlined, and shuttered momentarily, as a pile up of system error reports screamed at him to see a medic. The vehicon, frame slightly shorter than most, slowly lifted himself to a sitting position and observed his surroundings. Every other 'Con in the area was dead, slowly fading from their standard regal purple to gunmetal gray. Protocol dictated that the drone comm. the Nemesis for a groundbridge to be picked up, get his necessary repairs, then go about his duty. That was exactly what he did. Or, at least, attempted to do, because his comm. links were down, either that or damaged, he couldn't tell.

He weighed his options. Sit here and hope for pick up, or leave and hope he finds some sort of way to get in contact with his fellow decepticons. A quick check on his energon reserves, and it seemed his decision was made for him.

Energon level: 32%

The Vehicon grunted as he attempted to stand. It was very painful. It was then, that it dawned on him exactly why he had been unconscious, and why his reserves were so low, when a sharp gasp of pain escaped his vocalizer and his servo flew his midsection, servo being immediately slicked with energon from his dripping wound. He clenched his denta and shuffled his peds forward, preparing to rummage through his dead comrades for energon and spare parts.

His heavily conditioned 'soldier' processor saw no problem with it. He was just another drone, anyways, and so were the dead soldiers around him. It's not like they needed their parts anymore.

Months later

The vehicon sped down an abandoned highway, his scratched, dull, and un-maintained frame reflecting a minimal amount of sunlight. He had been scavenging for energon, and managed to discover a small amount wedged between a few large boulders, much to his content. He had been even more pleased with himself when he stumbled out of the woods and shrubbery into a clearing, and found himself on the edge of an unused road, giving him a chance to exercise his wheels and just drive carelessly for the first time in cycles. Travelling in the dense trees did horrors to his paint, causing his magnificent purple paint to be merely a shadow of itself, faded and scratched, especially around his peds and shoulders, where he had to weave through branches and trudge through bushes and overgrowth. He snickered as he imagined his ship's Medics' facial expression if he were to ever lay eyes upon his paintjob.

He swerved around an imperfection in the road and continued driving. He had run into some campers, once. A human male and his smaller human male offspring. They panicked, alright. Big time. He was sure he gave the older one a spark attack when he was spotted coming through the trees. If he were still reporting to his superiors and hadn't been left behind, he probably would have killed the humans, in all honesty. Travelling endlessly and viewing the many wonders of this planet can really change a mech, especially a vehicon that isn't even supposed to have a basic personality, he supposed. Don't get him wrong, if Starscream came barreling through the trees and started barking orders at the vehicon, he would probably follow, but he just simply isn't what he used to be. Or what any other drone is now, for that matter.

He had long since discarded his original designation, and renamed himself Elias. He renamed himself after he ran into the campers, when he realized how much he had actually changed. He knew he would have shot the two humans. He would have made them two black spots on the ground, but upon realizing he was no longer a mindless drone, a mindless follower, he named himself Elias, when he heard the bigger human reveal the smaller human's designation in a moment of panic and fear. Elias was the name of the small human. Elias continued to dwell in his processor, until his attention was quickly directed back to the road to avoid another imperfection that could potentially pop his tires.

The vehicon had long since given up his hopes of trying to find his way back aboard the Nemesis, after he realized that no, serving Lord Megatron was not the only way of life, and that yes, he did need to focus more on surviving than worshipping a mech that has probably no qualms about offlining Elias by crushing his helm under his massive ped, simply because he was in a bad mood. That, and he had taken a liking to the human music radio, something that doesn't(at least he doesn't think, he never knew about it or tried) work on the ship, being so high in the atmosphere. There had been several occasions where he'd break out in dance while listening to the human music, and if in car mode, he'd just bounce on his tires, which is what he was doing now. He quietly hummed along to AC/DC as he took a turn to a more populated road, his speed causing the blazing sand next to the road to fly up in his wake.

He cranked his radio louder, if anything to muffle the sound his humming a little. He passed a road sign that read 'Welcome to Jasper, Nevada.' and decreased his speed to accommodate the desired speed limit of the town. He usually didn't pass through towns, being there was nothing he could actually do within it, except stare at little fleshlings. Not something he wanted to do exactly, sorry fleshlings. He opted to simply pass through the town, and just be on his way.

Over the months, he had observed the specific pattern of human traffic, and with a little research on their browsers, he was able to learn said pattern. He used this knowledge to his advantage now. He stopped at the red light, his music still blaring in his audio receptors, and his frame bouncing slightly to the beat of his human music, which he was sure that even with his relatively soundproof armor, the music could still be heard on his exterior. He didn't mind, though. His light turned green, and he drove deeper into the town, fully intending to emerge on the other side and never look back as he sped into the distance. He merged into the outer lane that held the sidewalk next to it, and stopped at yet another accursed red light.

He continued to bounce on his wheels, now to the beat and because of his impatience of waiting, but shortly eased his movements slightly to look at the three fleshies that were giving him an incredulous stare. One was a femme, her black organic head-wires had pink paint in it and was held in two human acessories, another was a male, head-wires black as well, but shorter than the femmes, and the last, who was much shorter, a male with brown head-wires and optical aides adorning his face.

They all looked nervous and fearful, yet for some reason confused. Was it because he was blaring music? Maybe cars don't bounce.. he should really try to drop the bouncing habit when he was in a populated area. Maybe they knew what he was? If they did, he could understand the confused stares then, because he was completely out of the typical vehicon behavior zone. Way out. That, and he was probably scratched and dented to the pit. Lord Megatron would typically never allow his soldiers, cannon fodder or not, to run around looking slagged, as it would be viewed bad on his part, 'because he would seem too poor to supply his own soldiers with their necessities'. If anything, his Lord would want his soldiers to look like Megatron was a grand and glorious leader. Which, of course he was. The light turned green again and Elias revved his engine, snickering as the humans flinched, and peeled down the road with an audial piercing screech, before being forced to slow down, lest he crash into the car to his front.

He drove through the town for some time, and huffed in relief as he bypassed a sign stating he was leaving the town. This place gave him the creeps, because there was this yellow and black car that kept trailing him. He had outmaneuvered the car, yes, but as soon as he did, a large green vehicle replaced it, further freaking him out. He had a growing suspicion that they were autobots. Soon enough, the camaro found its way back to him, and drove alongside the green one, before being joined by yet another vehicle, a blue and baby pink motorcycle. His suspicions, to his great dismay, were proven true when he caught a glimpse of their emblem when they got a little /too/ up close and personal for his liking. They seemed to falter a little as Elias, as casually as he could, drove outside of city limits, they were confused that he was not engaging them in battle, he could tell, but they still followed. Internally, he was screaming. Panic set in and he shut off his music, and, quite suddenly, peeled down the long road. He needed to get away! Dread settled into his spark as he realized that by running away from the populace, and coming out in the open, with no place to hide and everywhere to run, he was sealing his fate.

No!

He decided to test a theory.

He skidded and spun on his tires, and drove back towards the town. He narrowly clipped the camaro's side mirror with his own, both having dodged each other last second as the vehicon desperately raced back towards civilization. The three vehicles swerved around and resumed their chase.

Elias hopped a curb and spun around in a parking lot, creating skid marks in his panic... and parked(perfectly, might he add). He parked right next to a building, in a populated area, hoping to sweet primus that the autobots had the moral code that they are rumored to have. The three 'Bots parked around him, making him extremely uncomfortable. The motorcycle was the first to speak up, her hologram it's usual unnatural stiff posture, "What are you planning, 'Con?" She spoke his allegiance name with venom. Elias didn't reply at all, only responding by hunkering down further on his wheels.

They wouldn't attack him, not here. There were too many organics around, and if the Autobots were to attack him, they would only blow their carefully concealed disguises. Elias let out a -rather pathetic- squeal of alarm when the green Autobot rammed into the back of him. Why was he always wrong? They wouldn't transform, but it doesn't mean they wouldn't dent the slag out of him. The Autobot rammed him again, and the 'Con was about to peel out of the parking lot, when a rather angry human barged out of the store next to them. "Hey!" The human stomped over to the vehicles, "That's someone's car and you're destroying it!" The human was a relatively small adult male, black head-wires reaching his ears and slightly tanned organic skin. He had on a red collared torso-cover and black leg covers that all of the humans wore, but he had an apron covering his front with a tag attached to it that said 'Hobby lobby'. The human had optical aides sitting low on his nose, and his face was red and twisted in obvious anger. "That's a nice car! Someone obviously paid a lot to customize it and you're just wrecking it?!" He stood behind the vehicon and in front of the large green autobot- a rather courageous move- and proceeded to scream at 'whoever was in the vehicle'. "Get away from this car!"

Bulkhead revved his engine in frustration, but wasn't sure what he should do. The human obviously thought that they were just abusing the already-battered 'Con for no good reason. He had no choice but to back off and wait for the drone to come back into the open. As he was in reverse, backing up so he could drive off, he heard the vehicon let out a long-held vent in relief. He revved his engine again and lurched forward in a silent-but-loud threat, not wanting the 'Con to get comfortable or feel safe, and huffed in satisfaction when he saw the drone stiffen on his tires, and continued to back up to leave. Elias watched the three Autobots leave, and stifled a laugh when the human made an obscene hand gesture at the cyclebot's hologram. The male turned around to face the vehicon and dragged his servos down his small fleshy faceplates, "Oh god, you're so banged up." The human came closer and looked the car over. "I don't see a license plate.." The human checked the chronometer on his wrist, "Ugh, I need to get back to my shift!" He exclaimed and trotted back into the human store.

The vehicon huffed and waited. He wasn't sure what he should do; speed out of the parking lot and risk offlining by the Autobots, or stay here and risk the human coming back. Neither option seemed very appealing, though his processor was made up to stay put when he saw the Autobots cruise by again, this time, with a large semi truck that he recognized as Optimus Prime trailing closely behind. What? The only reason he was able to recognize the Prime when he couldn't even name the rest of the 'Bots, was because Lord Megatron made it almost impossible to not recognize the mech.

Elias strained his audials when a sickly familiar noise captured his attention. He turned his optics to the sky- and there- there it was- a bird-like object passing overhead, it's angular frame immediately recognized as Laserbeak. All regard for the Autobots was immediately discarded when the need to get back on the ship took over him; the need to see other vehicons, the need for a stable energon source, and the need to recharge on an actual berth, no matter how uncomfortable, made him spin his wheels and shoot out of the lot in desperation to catch up to Laserbeak. He barreled down the road leaving town, optics still trained on the Decepticon.

"Laserbeak!" He turned up his vocalizer to the max to try and get the quickly vanishing 'Con's attention. "Commander Soundwave!" He called out again. Frag his fried comm. links! He lurched forward and yelled in surprise when the camaro from before rammed into his rear.

His bumper is sooooo dented… Slaggit! What was with them and ramming into his aft? That sounded dirty..

The green vehicle came around to his side and attempted- and succeeded- to ram him off the side of the road and slagging his side mirror in the process. The Vehicon swerved and twirled around when his rapidly spinning tires lost almost all traction in the sand, making the burning sand fly everywhere and engulf him in a cloud of red. He gained control, and with a final spin of his tires, pitched forward and away from the others. He saw Laserbeak curve around in the sky, heading back in his direction, the skirmish no doubt attracting his attention.

Primus bless him, he was saved! A groundbridge opened directly in front of him and he drove straight through, noting that it closed just out of the Autobot's reach after Laserbeak swooped through behind him. He stumbled out of his alt mode, dropping dirt and sand all around him, grinning like an idiot behind his standard issue mask. He was in the transport room, none other than Lord Megatron himself standing in front of him, glaring at him expectantly with Commander Soundwave lingering next to/behind him.

Wow, Megatron must have absolutely nothing to do for him to be addressing me himself.

"Lord Megatron, sir, Commander Soundwave." He dropped to a knee, because, well he was supposed to show some form of respect, of course, but mostly because he was venting harshly in exhaustion and could barely stand at the moment. "It is an honour to lay optics upon you again." He hung his head low in the form of submission, a practice he had long grown unused to. He decided he didn't like it, having tasted sweet freedom for so long.

"VR-34, Why, pray tell, have you failed to report in for half a stellar cycle? You have been declared offline for quite some time now.." If looks could kill, Elias would be nothing more than an energon stain on the ground.

"My comm. links are damaged, sir." He was glad he had his mask to hide his nervously biting his derma plating. He's never had this problem before, where he had to control himself from quaking in fear. Was it because he didn't have fully developed emotions like the last time he was in the presence of an officer? Sure, all of the drones had basic emotions, but they were almost feral. They could hate, feel comfort, prefer something, feel fear, and understand language, but they didn't necessarily have a coherent string of thoughts or complex feelings. They were just trained soldiers.

Megatron gave the drone a contemplating look. The drone looks like he's been through the pit; he was scratched helm to ped, visor unusually dimmed, armor dented, and covered- no, caked in a layer of dirt and red sand that twisted his faded and sun bleached purple paint into an unusual color. The drone himself was unusual, his posture wasn't professional like the other drones, he seemed.. off. He was most definitely damaged, he could see the traces of being shot right in his stomach, where it was tinted black and slightly warped, along with minimal damage to the side of his helm, likely grazed by a blast. He vented and looked the trembling drone over once more, " Go to the Medical Bay and see to it that you are repaired." And with that, left the transport room, TIC following closely behind, Laserbeak latched to his chassis.

The vehicon let out a long held vent and got back to his peds.

The medbay doors slid open to reveal the backside of a medic leaning over a table and organizing his tools. "Commander Knockout, sir?"

"Hmmm?" The medic turned around to face the vehicon, and his facial plates blanched in horror at the sight. Heh. So that was what his expression would be. Not as dramatic as he expected, but still pretty terrified, nonetheless.

The vehicon then spoke, "I was ordered to co-"

"Primus! You're absolutely filthy!" The medic cut him off after he was brought out of his stupor, and rushed over and reached out to grab his arm, but retracted his servo in uncertainty. "Just- come here." The doctor guided him into a backroom that contained a medical shower. "Bathe in here, I can't have you stomping around my med bay like that!" Knockout left the room and shuddered. Elias looked the shower over and(when he was sure he was alone) squealed in delight. He hadn't had bathed in what felt like ages. He bounced on his peds momentarily then hopped over to the shower to turn it on.

A/N: Rate and Review? Gimme some feedback, guys, I want to know where I should go with this! Also, I wanna put in some commander romance in there, but i'm unsure who Elias should be shipped with.. I'm fond of Dreadwing(he needs more love tbh), but I also kind of want Shockwave? Because Shockwave is bae.

OR

OR MAYBE

It can be a threeway ship? That would be fragging amazing. Imma do it. Tell me what you think! I would need to make this a borderline AU though because Dreadwing dies almost as fast as he shows up and it suuuucks