Author's note. A short story that was requested, I hope everyone enjoys.
Sadly, I haven't been able to upload other stories as there's a problem with . I hope it's fixed soon, is anyone else having problems submitting new chapters?
Enjoy and please review.
Elita groaned heavily as she regained consciousness, her whole being ached terribly. Blinking her bright blue optics, they world appeared dark and fuzzy. She raised a hand and rubbed her optics, trying to clear her vision. The world came into slightly better focus but it was still pretty dark.
She realised that the fuzziness wasn't just because she'd just woken up, this whole place was very dusty and heavy particles hung in the air. She coughed, trying to clear her intakes of those particles that had settled there but didn't have much luck. She grimaced, she was obviously underground and she didn't like that.
She was no flyer but she did adore being out in the fresh, cold air of Cybertron. This place was too warm and dusty for her taste, not to mention it had a rather claustrophobic feel to it. She shivered, she didn't like this at all.
She didn't move from her spot though, instead she examined her prison. She was in a low tunnel which was littered with stones and glittering dirt. She realised with a jolt that she had fallen into one of the old abandoned Energon mines. Barely any were in use because of the War.
She sighed heavily, she'd been separated by her companions as they'd rushed across an empty plain when an Earthquake had struck. Since the fighting had begun, planetary tremors had become much more common. Some sad it was because Primus was trembling with anger and sadness at how his children were acting.
But this had been a rather severe one, the ground had bucked and cracks had appeared everywhere. They'd done the only thing they could, they'd run for it. Sadly, there were no flyers in their group so it was every bot for themselves.
But just as she was leaping over some fallen machinery, there had been another tremor and the ground she landed on collapsed beneath her. She'd screamed as the ground had swallowed her up, she'd plunged down and down before she lost consciousness. She had no idea what had happened to her friends, whether they too had fallen or if they'd been left behind on the surface.
She shifted slightly, wincing as she did so. Her body had taken a fearful beating on the journey down here. It seemed she had plunged down an old covered mine shaft but the earthquake had then closed it up. She could see no trace of the shaft she'd fallen through and the air down here was stale, there was no exit nearby.
She trembled for a moment but quickly squashed the rising panic within her. There was no point in panicking, especially as her salvation could only be a short distance away. For now, she was just going to take stock of her situation.
Thankfully, there was no internal damage to her systems, they were just a little stressed. And while he body was bashed and slightly dented in places, there were no serious injuries. She'd be stiff later but for now, she could move freely with only a little bit of discomfort.
She carefully got to her feet, looking around warily. She'd heard whispers of monsters that lived deep within the crust of Cybertron, terrifying ones that would rip you apart and drink your fuel. She shivered but at least she had at least two weapons hidden in Sub Space, a knife and a small blaster.
Her father had always insisted she be thoroughly protected, especially when he wasn't around. It was good advice and meant he felt a little easier about her being away from him. Being the only daughter of the Prime wasn't an easy burden, she constantly had people worrying and watching over her.
Or at least when she was younger she did, now she had a bit more independence. She even led a small group in the fight against the Decepticons, a mixed group of Femmes and Mechs, each with different skills. Her skills included leadership and she happened to be quite a good Medic though she hadn't trained as one.
It meant she was much more level headed than of her fellow Commanders, she considered just how badly her bots could be injured and what could she do to reduce this risk. Not that she was afraid to form plans and send her troops out, she was just much more aware of what could go wrong.
She had a SIC who was much more ready to leap into battle, guns blazing so this nicely balanced her cautious nature. Chromia was probably already organising those up above and looking for her and any others who might have fallen.
Speaking of which, she tried her comm. but it stuttered and wouldn't pick up a signal. She realised that it wouldn't work while she was this far underground, the minerals in the rock and soil just interfered with it too much. Perhaps if she got higher up, she'd have better luck with her comm.
She got up carefully, wondering which direction she should take. Neither direction looked different to the other, so she's have to judge by where she'd been on the surface. She ended up deciding it would be best to take the right tunnel, that should take her back to the city.
Or so she hoped.
She sighed again and then straightened her back, there was no point on dwelling on her situation. So with a brisk pace, she started down her chosen tunnel, sense on high alert. If there was anything down here, she'd be ready.
It was so quiet down here, no sounds whatsoever. The humidity was starting to affect her though, her cooling systems were starting to go into over drive. This wasn't good, if she stayed down here for too long, she'd overheat. She couldn't understand how the miners stood it, especially considering how deep they'd go in search of precious Energon.
She didn't know any, a lot of them had gone over to the Decepticon side. Mind you, sometimes this war could be considered a war of classes, the majority of Decepticons were from the lower classes. She knew many Autobots considered them uneducated brutes but she wondered about this.
Was it really that simple?
She'd never met one properly and she was the type that didn't like to form an opinion too quickly. It came with her cautious nature whereas others were much quicker to fix stereotypes and believe every word of them. But how many of those stereotypes were true?
She mulled over all this questions as she continued walking. She didn't want to risk her vehicle mode, who knew how unstable this tunnel really was. Besides, she could hear better in her bot form and would be able to spot danger quicker.
She was sure she'd been walking for hours when she finally came across an obstacle. So far, this had just been a single tunnel with none branching off. And now she'd come across a rock fall which completely blocked the tunnel. All that walking for nothing.
She couldn't help it, she let rip with a few choice swears that would have her father scolding her and her friends laughing. But as the echoes died away, she heard something. A sort of scuffling and it was coming from behind that pile of rocks and dirt.
"Is someone there?" she called hopefully, could a rescue be right behind them.
There was silence for a moment and then someone tapped sharply on the other side and she almost cried with relief. Everything was going to be fine, she needn't have worried.
"Do you think you can get through?" she questioned.
She wasn't sure if they'd come for her or whether they'd been trapped too. If they'd been trapped and had been trying to get out, she could show them the other tunnel that she'd declined to go into. Together, they should be able to get out of this maze.
A series of taps on the rock and then she heard the sound of shifting rubble. With a happy smile, she pitched in, moving the ones from the top first so as not to cause the whole lot to fall on top of her.
She soon realised it was only one bot behind the rock pile, judging by the sounds she could make out. That made it much more likely that they had fallen prey to the earth tremor but this didn't bother her. At least they'd both have some company down here and who knows, maybe she could get a friend out of this.
It wouldn't be long now, the rocks were disappearing at a fast pace and soon she would see who it was. As a particularly large piece of rubble tumbled down, her vision was briefly obscured by dust but she could just make out someone peering from the hole they'd managed to make.
Coughing, she leaned forward, rubbing at her optics in an attempt to rub away the dust. She felt someone take hold of her while her vision was obscured and pull her through the gap they'd made. She was so surprised by this action that she didn't struggle, just allowed herself to be set back on her feet once she was through.
As her vision cleared, a deep and amused voice said.
"Well, this is an interesting situation we find ourselves in."
"What...?" she started to say before gasping as she saw who the mysterious bot was.
A tall, broad shouldered Mech smiled down at her, gripping her forearms tightly. He was nearly grey all over but had some red and black highlights, mostly around his middle. Scarlet red optics were fixed on her shocked face as he smiled down at her.
"Megatron," she said quietly as she looked upon the Decepticon leader's son.
"Elita One," he said in a deep slightly rasping voice.
"Prime's little princess...and my prisoner."
Elita's optics flashed and she angrily tried to jerk out of his grasp but he held onto her. So she snarled.
"Let go of me."
"I don't think so," he said coolly.
Letting go of one of her arms, he took a pair of stasis cuffs from sub space and snapped them on one wrist. She struggled but he managed to snap the other one on too, rendering her helpless. Smirking, Megatron took her arm and started to led her back along the tunnel that he'd been trapped in.
Elita tried to jerk out of his grasp again but he had to firm a hold on her. So she was forced to stumble along at his side as he strode forward.
"Do you have any idea where you're going?" she asked irritably.
"No," he said casually. "But these old mineshafts are a maze, they all connect up. Sooner or later, we'll find a way out."
"So we're just going to wander around aimlessly?" she said contemptuously.
"More or less," he said in an unconcerned voice.
"Now you better do as I say or else."
"Or else what?" she sneered.
Megatron came to an abrupt halt and spun her to face him. Grabbing her chin, he brought her face close to his and hissed.
"There are plenty of things left by the miners in these old tunnels. I could easily carve you up with any of those things. Like rusted pick axes or even some corrosive acid. And trust me, you don't want to feel either of those on your armour."
She swallowed, staring helplessly into his burning optics.
"H-how do you know that?" she asked in a whisper.
Megatron snorted.
"Let's just say the bosses were very keen on...discipline."
"What?" Elita said, horrified by those implications.
"How could they do that?"
"Very easily," he said shortly.
"Now come on."
She didn't say anything but just walked as he started walking again. Her processor was in over drive about this new information. Had the miners really been tortured to keep them in line? She knew they hadn't been treated very well but this just beggared belief. This train of thought kept her occupied for the next while as they kept on walking.
Finally, they came to a junction where Megatron halted, examining his options. He looked down at her and growled.
"Stay here, I'm going down one of them. If you try to escape, I'll find you and beat you."
Looking into his optics, she saw he was deadly serious. He would run after her, catch her and do exactly as he promised. So she nodded and sank to the ground for a rest. He glared at her before marching down one of the tunnels.
She just leaned against the dusty wall, she was tired, dirty and stressed. If they managed to get out of here, he was going to take her straight to his father, Galvatron who would use her as a hostage. But that might not stop him from torturing her for information or...doing worse things.
The old purple Mech did not have a good reputation where Femmes were concerned.
She looked up as she heard the tell tale crunch of the approaching Decepticon. He looked grim which told her he'd had no luck. He shot her a glance but seemed satisfied she was staying put and headed down the other tunnel. She glanced down the third tunnel but saw there was some fresh debris littering it. This was probably the tunnel Megatron fell into during the earthquake.
At least, she assumed that's what happened, she actually had no idea how he'd ended up down here.
He came back a few minutes later, and went straight to her. Leaning down, he took hold of her arms and pulled her to her feet.
"This one looks clear," he said shortly, taking her arm and leading her down the new tunnel.
As they walked, Elita found that the temperature was steadily increasing. Elita's cooling systems kicked in harder than ever, she hated when she was stuck somewhere humid. Her amour was becoming slick with dust and condensation, she'd need a good shower after all of this.
If she was allowed one with the Decepticons she thought with a heavy sigh.
"Not nice, is it?" Megatron said quietly and she jumped slightly, not expecting him to say anything.
He indicated her filthy armour.
"Imagine being like that all the time and worse."
"Worse?" she couldn't help but ask.
"We mined minerals down here, Elita One, hundreds of different kinds as well as Energon. Unless you are cleaned regularly, they can start to form crystals on your armour, clogging up your joints and every crack they can reach. Not to mention, injuries tended to scab and go bad."
Her face creased, that sounded like hell. But he said it in such a calm matter of fact voice, like he didn't even care. But she knew behind that cold exterior he probably cared a lot, more than she could ever know.
"They weren't treated?" she asked softly.
Megatron snorted.
"Not if they were small and we could still work. Only serious injuries were given care and only very grudgingly. But it matters not, no one works these mines now."
"But it should matter," she said, her voice louder than his.
"It should," he agreed softly as the tunnel they were in started to widen until they emerged into a low craven.
It was full of equipment which lay broken and littered about the floor. There were the remains of old lighting orbs on the ceiling though Elita highly doubted any of them worked. There were a couple of doors on opposite walls as well as a few tunnel entrances. Elita stood at Megatron's side as he surveyed the room.
"This will do," he muttered quietly and led her into the craven.
As she shot him a questioning look he said.
"We'll recharge here for a few dececycles, and then I'll decide what to do from there."
Elita started to nod before realising what this meant. She would be sleeping with one of the most dangerous Mechs on the planet. The thought terrified and strangely...thrilled her.
To be continued.
Author's note. Does anything happen between Elita and Megatron? Find out in the next chapter, until then.