Transformers Animated: Team Diana

AN: Welcome to Team Diana! First off, big thanks to autobot12328 for beta reading and dealing with me this past month. Another shout out to Darth T-Rex for allowing this story to happen. I've had this story in the works for over a year now, though I didn't start typing until the beginning of August, and I can't wait to introduce you to all of our characters! A couple of important notes: the Decepticon Nightbird will refer to a Galvatron, but it is not the Galvatron in this story. More on that will be explained later. The events that Hook refers to will be brought up later in the story in the form of flashbacks or just fond memories. Well then, let's begin!

Here is how time works.

Stellar Cycle- a year
Megacycle- a day
Cycle- an hour
Jours- 30 minutes
Breem- a minute
Kilk- a second

Of the First Four Receiving the News

Timecode: 9501.2.05

New Kaon was a dark rock, dead and the Capitol of the Decepticon operations. The surface was hard, metallic, and cold like the occupants.

Part of the surface was covered in poor buildings, ships, and large centers of activity. In the centers of activity, one would be able to see the fights and the gambling that all the Decepticons stranded on the planet took part in so that they could distract themselves from the depression that lived through the colony since Megatron had left on his journey to find the AllSpark.

While one side of New Kaon was lit with Decepticon activity, the other was dark and uninhabited. On this side, if you looked closely, you could just make the silhouette of a mech. He was hard to make out, because his armor was the same dark purple as the rocky ground that surrounded him. Judging by a set of wings that were folded up against his legs, he was a flyer, but than other than that, his armor was well fitted to his frame, and seemed to emphasis his figure. Two things drew attention, the first being an orange cannon on his lower right arm. It was nowhere near as big or bulky as Megatron's fusion cannon, but it stood out well against the purple and there was no doubt that it could cause serious harm. The next detail was his helm, violet also, but it cupped his head, and on the brow three points arose like a crown.

Against everything in New Kaon, which appeared old and crumbling, the mech was expected to bare the same tiredness of everything else, but one look at his face told a very different story. The protoform of his face was light and smooth, showing his youth, while his red optics blazed with a passion currently unknown to his home.

He was Galvatron II, a first lieutenant in the Decepticon army and probably the youngest Decepticon in existence.

At the moment, Galvatron was laying on the ground, staring up to the thousands of blinking lights in the void that was space. Every now and then his lips would form a smile and he'd take his left arm and trace a shape that he had identified among the glowing points.

Off in the distance, he could hear the roar of thrusters. He ignored them, snickering instead as he traced out the shape of a space cruiser that had crashed on New Kaon only the day before.

There was the sound of whirling parts indicating a transformation, then the loud thud of someone landing feet first. Galvatron didn't turn around to address the Decepticon.

"Yo."

There was no reply. Galvatron sat up still looking up at the stars.

"How did you know I was here?"

"This is the farthest point away from New Kaon's light population, and you don't like being with normal Decepticons," the other answered in a low voice that sounded uncaring.

Galvatron turned to take in his teacher. A flyer, but a far different model; strongly built, with pointed wings looming over his back and a high helmet with a pair of vertically long crests. He bore the same violet color scheme but appeared far older.

"Who is it that wants me so bad that they would send you to pick me up, Cyclonus?"

Cyclonus didn't seem offended by Galvatron's tone, and simply replied, "General Strika wishes to meet you in the docks."

Having delivered the message, Cyclonus proceeded to take off again back towards the populated district. Galvatron waited until he could no longer see him, then transformed to follow.

Flying wasn't very bad, in fact, flying to the Decepticons was often considered mandatory. The only Decepticon's that could get away with not flying were those in high ranks that had proved they didn't need the sky to terminate Autobots. Galvatron himself liked flying not as a strategetic ability, but for flying itself. He could perform manuvers in the air that were impossible on the ground, and any negative energy could be drained out of his processing unit while flying.

General Strika was a big femme with a thick frame plated in purple, sliver and golden armor. She had two large cannons that sprouted from her shoulders right above her squat head with beady red optics. Normally, Galvatron didn't like to dwell on her because she was, quite frankly to him, rather unpleasant to look at. He respected her only so far as she was Cyclonus' leader in Team Charr, but other than that, didn't have much interest in her. In return, Strika's attitude toward him was uncaring but attentive due to his relationship with Cyclonus. She never said anything, but Galvatron was sure that if he looked bad, it would reflect on her, and she could end his meetings with Cyclonus.

Part of Galvatron didn't really care though. He supposed that being around Cyclonus all this time had resulted in gaining his dismissive attitude. Only two megacycles ago, his teacher had admited that there was very little left for him to learn, and the remaining knowledge could only be gained through first hand experience. Staying and sparring with him would be nice, but now that they were practically finished, the few ties to New Kaon that had ever existed were cut.

The population came into sight, and Galvatron opted not to land and walk through the crowds but to land in the docks. Last time he tried to walk, he got into four fights and was an hour late for his meeting with Adrimal Sky-Byte, the closest thing he had to a friend.

The docks came into sight, and Galvatron transformed in midair touching down in front of the entrance. Stepping inside, he was greeted by eight ships currently docked: Team Charr's the Payload, Trypticon, the Jailor, the Ares, the Warhelm, the Smuggler, the Avenger, and a new ship that Galvatron couldn't place. Sitting outside the Payload were all of Team Charr except for Blackout. Strika caught his eye and he approached carelessly.

"Ah, General Strika," he grinned calling out as he strode over, "How wonderful it would be to see you again if you weren't the herald of bad news!"

The Decepticon General's optics flashed, "What makes you so sure of bad news?"

Her voice was thick and deep, but the femme cords were still there, if you bothered to listen for them. Galvatron smirked as he looked at Cyclonus through the corner of his optic. There was no sign of acknowledgement, which cemented his theory further.

"Because the high and low don't mingle," he sighed dramatically, "unless something bad happens."

"You meet Sky-Byte regularly without trouble," another member with green and black plating drawled through a helmet that was similiar a test tube filled with green liquid. Oilslick, a Decepticon chemist and cyberninja.

"Sky-Byte will have a drink with anyone that will listen to him and his slagged poetry," Galvatron countered, knowing that much was true. Really they met because Sky-Byte was the only bot on all of New Kaon that had a sense of humor that didn't involve blowing up other mechs. Not many Decepticons could stand the Admiral, but Galvatron was very different.

"First Lieutenant Galvatron II," Strika suddenly addressed drawing herself to her full hight, and instinctively Galvatron went to attention, "you have been promoted to Captain."

The sudden rigorness in Galvatron dropped like a bomb. "What?"

"You will be assigned a crew and given a ship to take on various missions that will be chosen by the Council of Generals," she continued looking down at him unimpressed. "There will be a ceremony in the next megacycle in which you receive all of their names and begin active duty."

Whether or not she continued, Galvatron wouldn't know, for at that moment, his systems promptly sent him into stasis.

-(\:/)-

In the midst of an astroid belt, a small ship called the Strangler floated. Outside of it, a femme looked on in silence. She was cloated in thin grey armor that also covered her mouth. Around her hips many weapons could be seen, such as two short energy swords and packs containing shock shuriken. There was no armor to indicate a vehicle mode, but there was a piece of vertical armor on her right shoulder that displayed the Decepticon badge that glowed in the faint star light. Her optics were a bloody, angry red that were bright in contrast to their colorless surroundings.

She was Nightbird. The first and only femme cyberninja currently known.

Noises began to drift from the Strangler through her commlink.

'Nightbird, guess what? You've been reassigned!' the scratchy voice of Bombshell exclaimed. He sounded happy enough. But then, all the Insecticons hated her.

'Hurry back, back.' Sharpnel, their squad Captain cut in. 'We don't want to be late for the Generals in New Kaon, Kaon.'

Nightbird didn't speak into her commlink. But then, she didn't speak at all. It was a choice she had made at the beginning of the war. Her closest friend had been killed by the Autobots for not speaking out against the Decepticons when the uprisings were small. Believeing him to be a traitor in the making, he was executed.

She was Nightbird. The fact that she existed was criminal to the Autobots.

There was no such thing as a femme cyberninja, others had said. Femmes were designed to care for the young. There was only one femme in the first thirteen, and she had never fought.

Galvatron had changed that. He had taken the foolish and comfortable Council and pushed them to the ground. He changed the very course of life with his actions. He created the Decepticons with legends such as Bludgeon who had taught her the ways of the cyberninja, even if it was against everything that the cyberninjas preached.

She was Nightbird. She remembered.

The time before the war, the times in between, what brought it on, and the true leader. She remembered Galvatron finding Megatron, training him, and then Megatron taking up his blades and slaying his mentor.

The Decepticons had hated Galvatron at that point. They had thought of him as a simple mad mech who would destroy them all. Megatron became to them the savior that Galvatron had tried to be. Galvatron was all but forgotten.

But she had known Galvatron, had been with him in the beginning. She knew that in his last stellar cycles, Galvatron who had once been a proud defender began to hear the Well of AllSparks calling. He would have left earlier if not for the Decepticons. Believing that it was not the end he wanted, he did begin to drift in and out of reality. He did his best to focus on completeing his work: taking back the planet that he was losing. Then Megatron prevented it all.

She was Nightbird. She would never forgive Megatron.

'Nightbird, now, now!' Sharpnel's voice screamed through the commlink.

Nightbird took one last look at the astroid belt, then boarded the Strangler. It was time to return to New Kaon and begin another life in Megatron's army.

-(\:/)-

Lucifer was a Decepticon colony renonwed for it ship building. From single fighters to war ships, the Decepticons of the army could boast if their ship was built in its yards. Any mech from the planet was better fed than other Decepticons and had more pride in their ability. They were often teased about not going into combat, but the standard response from any of the ship builders would be, 'and your ship's from where..?'

On this planet, in the ship yards, was a mech with black and green plating. Over his right shoulder was a crane and a red visor covered his optics. The mech was reading a reassignment order with pursed lips and a deep scowl. His ship designs were state of the art, his works treasured, and the mechs he repaired from time to time went into battle with better results than before. But then again, most of his work was perfect. He was simply a genius, and not afraid to admit it.

This was Hook. An engineer that rivaled even some of the Autobot's best. And he was being reassigned to work as a medic on a crew.

"They're insane," he snarled to no one in particular. A couple of optics looked up from their work at the other desks in the room. "Completely clonked."

All the rest of the mechs in the room sighed or rolled their optics. They were quite used to Hook's drama.

"Who designed the Nemesis? I did," Hook stood up and began to rant, "Who was the one that saved Megatron's life in the battle of Tyger Pax? That was me!"

Across the room, many mechs began to mime Hook's frantic yammerings, smirking quietly.

"Who got Shockwave into Autobot command? Me! Who designed the facilities in New Kaon? Hook! Who reforges Megatron's swords everytime he goes out and breaks them?"

"Hook the magnificent," one of the mechs snickered.

"HOOK THE MAGNIFICENT!"

Mechs began to groan.

"And they think that I would be better off serving on some Primus forsaken ship in the middle of nowhere? They've-"

"WHAT!"

The entire room was staring at Hook in complete amazement. Hook stared back waiting for the uproar of refusals. They all began to imagine a day without the perfect Hook...

Roars of excitement filled the room. Hook found himself shocked at his fellow engineers' behavior. Each turned to the other and began to congratulate themselves on lasting this long. One mech began to plan a party.

Hook began to pull himself together. Shaking with silent fury, Hook took his reassignment orders and charged out of the his shop to his private quarters leaving the mechs considered in his mind as associates. He began shoving things into crates and downloading files onto data pads. Those idiots. Didn't they realize all that he had done for them? What he could continue to do for the army?

Maybe these mechs were wimps and just needed a little tune up. Hook's processor began to build on the idea. Perhaps if he upgraded the new squad and they did extremely well, they would let him come back. Or maybe reassignment was a vacation that the Council of Generals was giving him under the mask of work.

His mood began to brighten. Reassignment didn't sound so bad anymore.

-(\:/)-

At the far side of New Kaon, there was a set of barracks three times as big as a normal barracks nearby. Outside, in the front was a crowd watching and placing bets of energon cubes and credits as two huge mechs sparred. One was Devastator, a tall green and purple mech with fists that made huge holes in the pavement everytime he missed his opponent. The other was Predaking, no where near as large as his adversary but quicker and bearing a great deal more weapons of arcane nature to Devastator's blaster. As the two tried to pound the other, bets were placed by the regular troops for length of the battle, the winner, number of times a weapon was used, and number of words said by one of the fighters.

"Devastator smash Preda-thing!" The green mech charged.

These two fighters were members of a group of Decepticons christened the Heavy Brigade. All of them were literally living weapons, Devastator being the oldest and developed in the time of the first Galvatron. When Megatron came to power, he authorized the building of more which gave birth to Predaking and the well known Blackout. When the squad was first sent into action, they were lead by the powerful Lugnut. After Cybertron had been lost, the squad was split.

Five Heavies were currently docked in New Kaon of the previous ten. Predaking and Devastator stayed on New Kaon full time as defenders. Menasor of Team Inferno was resting in the back along with Blackout of Team Charr, who appeared to be trying to remember something, and the unassigned Bruticus.

Menasor was between the size of the two mechs duking it out to the pleasure of the audience. He was mostly black with stripes of purple. Blackout was the size of Devastator, but much thicker and smarter, though it is to say that Devastator was the simpliest mech in the Decepticon army. Both watched the fight eagerly, though every now and then Blackout would frown.

Sitting beside Blackout was Bruticus. He was as big as Menasor, but with bigger guns on his back, thicker plating, and longer but extremely thick arms. His armor was a creamy white and a deep green. The lower half of his face was obstructed by a jaw clamp. He didn't look very interested in the fight. Instead his attention was focused on a data pad in his hands. His large fingers moved with speed and deftness across the screen at the same speed of the two Heavies fighting, if not faster. He was playing a number game. The data pad was full of number games that younglings played in the third stage of their devolpment. He was getting very good at them, though no one ever noticed.

They all thought he was stupid. He didn't think he was stupid. He was smarter than Blackout. He just had a hard time talking. Words in his processor had a hard time coming out of his vocalizer. But everybody always said, "break this, Bruticus" or "kill the Autobots, Bruticus" and sometimes even "Do you know what that means Bruticus?" then they would laugh at him. Back when he first was sparked, he didn't know any better and Lugnut seemed like the rest of the Heavies, even if he was much smaller. What Lugnut said to do, he would do. But then he began to ask questions. Lugnut would never give a clear answer. He would just tell him, "Our master demands it" or similar. One day, Bruticus got the chance to ask Megatron.

Something very funny had happened. Megatron and his men seemed surprised by his asking, but then Megatron began to explain using very big words and Bruticus listened very carefully. After all, it was his Lugnut's master, and he liked Lugnut. Even as Megatron lectured, Lugnut was watching him with a very blissful expression. Then Megatron mentioned things about destruction and how he needed to do things. After Megatron stopped talking, Bruticus noticed that the other Decepticons were snickering. What had he said that was so funny? He began to review the new information in his processor. Then he began to notice patterns, suggestions, prompts and baits to make him do things. It hit him suddenly; he was a pawn, he was nothing but a tool for destruction. But he decided to take things slowly for the others. He started with asking why they were laughing. Megatron had frowned at both the squadron and at Bruticus. Then he told Megatron something that changed everything.

"I don't...want...to break...other bots"

The reaction was immediate. Everyone had stared, then burst out laughing. Even Megatron had smirked. He tried to explain again Decepticon principles but Bruticus had interrupted him.

"Not...fight...Megatron not need...to fight...you...can make peace...Bruticus...not want...destruction..."

The others had started laughing even harder, but Megatron was now frowning. Bruticus could see something in his optics, something that wanted to destroy. Suddenly he was scared, scared of Megatron, scared of Lugnut, scared of Megatron's army, scared of the Decepticons. But what could he do? There was nothing to do.

Bruticus had backed off, then run off. He didn't take part in that battle. Lugnut yelled at him. He didn't take part in the next. Megatron came again and tried to use his big words to get him out. But Megatron did not get the answer he had expected.

"Liar...Megatron liar...use words to...control...then hurt...everyone...so that you...can get...Cybertron for...yourself..."

The next day Decepticon medics came to deactivate him. He deactivated them.

Ever since then he hadn't obeyed an order. He fought off people at first except the Heavies, the real Heavies-not Lugnut. The Heavy Brigade didn't understand or care about him. But they didn't take kindly to people trying to deactivate one of their own. So he stayed on New Kaon, taking care of himself and watching for anything to get him out of his mess.

And all this went through his processor in a single second as he played his number game.

Blackout shifted, then turned to him.

"Just remembered," he grunted, "Strika say you'll be with Galvatron."

Bruticus looked up at his 'friend'. "What you...mean? Who...Galvatron?"

Blackout conscintrated, "Strika say that you're on Galvatron squad. Ceremony tomorrow."

So they were trying to assign him to a mech? After so long?

"Like Galvatron," Blackout said suddenly, "He tells good jokes. With Cyclonus lots. He's good."

That got his attention. Blackout made friends easily, but few people passed as 'good'.

"Good?...Like who?"

The black mech stared up into the starry sky for a bit before answering.

"Good like Sky-Byte."

Roaring came from the spar. Devastator had pinned Predaking and cheers filled the air along with growls as bets were distibuted and fights broke out concerning cheating and such. Menasor began to giggle and Bruticus watched as Blackout got up and left for Team Charr. He wondered what, "Good like Sky-Byte" meant, but decided that a street fight was not the place to think about it, so he got up and went inside. But not before a simple word unconciously escaped his vocalizer.

"Galvatron."

AN: An introducation to the characters, I'm going to try to update once a month at least, but we'll see how that turns out. Until next time!