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The First.

This is the horrifying tale of what happened on Cybertron just a few years before the beast wars, to some of the children on Cybertron who were born with a program error known as psychic abilities. Some of these brave little heros would indeed make it into the war, while others became casualties in a one sided war, small children against scientists. This is the story of the psychic experimentation lab for Maximals, P.E.L.M.

The green fembot looked around nervously as she walked out of her apartment in Cybertropolis. After a few moments she smiled. "All clear." She walked out holding the hands of two young bots. The female was orange, while the male was a light green, both sporting identical white lower plates and chest plates. "Now I don't want you two causing any trouble today alright?"

The green one looked up at the fembot. "I won't mommy. Trioptica might."

The Orange one gave him a dirty look. "You cause problems Stellar, not me!" A moment later, a chunk of debris flew off the ground and hit Trioptica in the face. "MOMMY!"

The fembot stopped. "This is exactly what I mean! I told you not to do that in public! We don't need anyone noticing your abnormalities."

Stellar looked at his mother. "I thought you didn't care if we did it mommy."

The fembot sighed, and knelt down next to them. "I just don't want anyone to see you doing it. It's ok if we're at home, but not while we're here in public."

"Yes mommy." The twins said in unison.

The mother stood up, and noticed a man watching them from an alley. She gripped their hands tighter. "Come on sparklings, we have to get some food for dinner tonight, then we'll go see daddy at work."

As she walked away, the man peeked his head out of the shadows to watch her, and he let out a low cackle.

"Step right up, step right up! You sir, for just 5 credits, I'll guess your age! All you have to do is write your age on this data pad without letting me see it. If I guess anything except what you wrote, you win 10 credits!"

A man walked over to the young bot, perhaps 5 Stellar Cycles old. "This I gotta see. Ok kid you're on." He placed 5 credits on the cardboard box the child was sitting behind, and picked up the data pad.

The child, rather than looking at the pad, looked at the man, and focused. 34. He'll never guess. Everyone says I look 27! The child smiled as well as he could with a speaker style mouth. "Are you ready sir?" The man nodded. "Though you look very young, I'll have to say you're 34 Stellar Cycles." The man looked stunned, but before he could do anything the boy took the data pad out of the man's hand. "Yup, looks like you lose. Tough luck." With that he quickly grabbed the 5 credits before the man could take them back.

Indeed the man looked furious. "You little piece of slag! You swindled me somehow, I know it!"

The boy just smiled, and turned away from the man, yelling again toward the passers by. "Step right up, this may be the easiest money you ever won!"

After a few minutes the boy felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and swallowed. "Hello son, I'm with the Cybertron police. What's your name and race?"

The boy swallowed again. "R..Rampage sir. I'm a Predicon." He knew he was in trouble the moment the officer arrived. Even now Predicons were looked at as swindlers and liars.

"Well Rampage, did you know it was illegal to run a gambling business of any sort without a license?" Rampage shook his head. "Well I'm going to have to take you down to the precinct. Will you walk with me calmly so I don't have to handcuff you?" Rampage nodded, and the officer took his wrist gently, and took him to the station.

On their way to the station, the officer questioned Rampage about how he always seemed to know the right answer. "I can hear their thoughts." He said proudly. "They always think about their age first, and sometimes they write down the wrong age just to see if I get it wrong, but I always know."

The officer nodded at Rampage when he said this, and refused to speak to him anymore. When they got to the station, a bot in highly polished armor. "Hey Streamline, you get the memo the commissioner sent out this morning?"

He glanced at Rampage sadly. "Yes, yes I did, that's what I'm doing right now."

"Oh..." The other bot said. He gave Rampage a pitying look, and Rampage shrunk away from them as best as he could. "Well best take him up to the tenth floor for processing."

Streamline nodded, and took Rampage onto an elevator. When it reached the tenth floor he saw a large desk with a friendly looking bot at the counter, and two halls ending in doors. The bot got up from the table, and smiled. "Looks like he's the first one to come through here. What's his information?"

Streamline pulled Rampage over to the man, and put his hand into the other bot's. "This is Rampage, a 5 Stellar old Predicon. He's an orphan, and was found running a gambling game using telepathy."

Rampage didn't understand what the last word meant, and he looked at Streamline curiously, but he refused to look at him. "Don't worry, he'll be quite content here among his own kind. You've done a fantastic service to your community. I'll take him from here."

Streamline knelt down next to Rampage, and hugged him. Rampage was very confused as to why a Maximal police officer was hugging him. He heard him whisper in his ear. "Be brave, be strong, and always be willing to help those who need it, and you might get through this."

Streamline stood up quickly, and walked onto the elevator. Rampage tried to follow him, but as the doors shut the man holding his hand jerked him back quickly, and suddenly punched him in the face. "I don't think any of the usual testing is needed, but just in case lets take you to the on site lab."

Rampage struggled, but couldn't throw off his captor. He was dragged through the door on the left into the most terrifying room he had ever seen. There was a bed, but not one for sleeping on, because it had chains, and restraints all over it. There were scanners and needles attached to a beam above the bed. A woman walked up to him and grinned evilly. "Lets see how talented you are boy."

They lifted him up and strapped him to the bed He yelled and kicked, and then he thought desperately. STOP!!! The two bots suddenly stopped, and grabbed their heads painfully. He smiled, and tried to break free from the restraints, but felt a terrible pain in the side of his head. He wasn't unconscious, but he was stunned. He could hear his audios ringing, and soon his whole body felt like it was on fire as dozens of needles pierced into him.

"Look at his spark reading! I've never seen anything like it. According to this, it can't be extinguished!" He heard the femme say from what seemed like far away.

"He's definitely a psychic. Contact Phobia, and tell him we have one for P.E.L.M." At that point the pain in Rampage's body grew too much for him, and he passed out.

"Why in the pit did we have to get stuck with them? They nearly got me fired today!" An orange mech fumed.

"Now dear, they meant no harm by it. They are three now." The green femme said to her husband. Over in the next room Stellar and Trioptica listened fearfully at the door.

"No harm my aft! I'm telling you, once they're old enough I'm sending them to a private school, and we'll try again to have a normal baby!"

The femme yelled tearfully. "How can you say that about our own sparklings?! I don't care if they're a little odd, they're still our children!"

Sounds from the other room had stopped abruptly as the chime of the doorbell was heard. The twins ran out of the room toward the door, both screaming "I'll get it!" Their mother ran to head them off, but they reached the door first and opened it.

Outside their door was a purple mech with visor like yellow optics. He smiled at the children politely, and looked at their mother. "Good evening madam. My name is Phobia. I'm from P.E.L.M academy, the preparation for exceptionally learned Maximals academy. We just recently opened our doors, and are now searching Cybertron for children who meet the required age and IQ. May I come in?"

She looked at him curiously, but nodded, and waved him into the living room where her husband was sitting on the couch. "Dear this is Phobia from P.E.L.M academy."

The mech smiled. "Come on in, would you like a drink? I've only got beer."

Phobia smiled. "No that's alright, thank you. Now as I told your wife, our school has just opened. We're now accepting students as young as two stellar cycles old. There is no charge to send your children to our school, we are completely government funded, and guarantee your children will receive a top quality education, leaving our school with job opportunities in the most advanced and coveted fields on Cybertron. I have a brochure here for you to look at."

The parents looked at the brochure eagerly. The femme glanced up at Phobia suspiciously. "How do you know if our children are qualified?"

"It's quite simple really. I have a scanner that can read a bot's IQ. It tells their IQ on this screen here, and if it's above 145, they are immediately accepted into our school. While you look at that further, I'll just take a look at their IQ's." The parents nodded, and Phobia waved for the children to approach. "What's your name young lady?"

The orange femme walked up to him shyly. "I'm Trioptica, I'm a Maximal, and this is my brother Stellar. We're twins."

"Really? That means you two must be very close right?" He said as he waved the scanner in front of Trioptica. He smiled widely. "Very good, now for you Stellar." Stellar approached looking nervous. Another wave of the scanner, and Phobia's face lit up. "I have good news parents, your children are gifted. Their IQ is at 157."

"Really?! I would have never thought it!" The mech said.

The femme looked at him suspiciously. "May I see that for a moment?" Phobia handed over the scanner, and she scanned her children. Both turned up at 157. She scanned herself, and it came up as 128. "Well this seems right. I hope you understand, we're not just going to hand off our children to just anybody who walks through our door."

Phobia nodded. "I understand entirely, however the term is going to be starting shortly, and they'll need time to settle into their new surroundings. We're really at the deadline. If you are still unsure, you can contact the school board, and inquire about us, but if you want them to attend the decision will have to be made tonight."

The femme looked aghast, but the mech moved in front of her. "Go get the phone, and call them! I don't want to pass up an opportunity like this. You two, go pack your things just to be on the safe side."

Stellar looked at his father sadly. "Where are we going daddy?"

He gave him a firm look. "If the school board confirms this man's story, you'll be going with him to a private school."

Trioptica ran toward her father, and latched onto his leg. "No daddy! I wanna stay with you and mommy!"

Just then their mother walked back into the room. "Well the board confirmed it, they also showed me a picture of you. Why didn't you say you were the headmaster?"

Phobia bowed. "I don't like to toot my own horn. As for their things, they won't need anything, they'll be given clean uniforms, and toiletries at the school."

"Can't I at least bring my earth dolly?" Trioptica asked timidly.

Phobia smiled. "Of course you can! Both of you go ahead and pick out what toy you want to bring with you. Just one though! If you do well in your studies you're given the chance to go into town once a month and pick out a brand new toy!"

The children smiled at the thought, and ran to their room to find their most cherished toys. A few minutes later they came back out, Trioptica holding a stuffed snow leopard, and Stellar a stuffed white tiger. Their mother hugged and kissed them both. "Now you be good for the teachers, I'll come to visit you as soon as I can!"

The mech walked up to them, and it seemed now that he was faced with the departure of his children, he was regretting it. He reached down and rubbed Stellar on the top of his head affectionately, and ran his hand down Trioptica's cheek sadly. "Don't pull any of the stunts you do at home."

"We won't daddy!" They said in unison. Phobia beckoned, and they walked through the door ahead of him, looking excited. When they got outside they gasped at the limo parked in front, the driver standing ready with the door open. "Wow!" they said together again.

"Hop in kids." They ran into the limo, and Phobia walked in after them as the driver shut the door, making sure the child proof lock was on. The twins bounced around happily for several minutes in the limo, until Phobia cleared his throat. They stopped and sat on either side of them. He put an arm around Trioptica. "You two sure are full of energy. I think children your age are so cute." He said running his fingers gently over her cheeks in a way unlike her father had.

Stellar watched Phobia, suddenly nervous. He could feel Trioptica beginning to feel scared too. After stroking her cheeks a few more times Phobia pushed her down onto the seat, and removed her lower plate. "Get off her!" Stellar yelled.

Phobia looked back, and swiped at him, hitting him in the stomach, and sending him to the front of the limo. He curled up in a ball, and winced. Trioptica looked at her brother, then back at Phobia who had removed his lower plate as well. He gave her a wicked grin. "It's better if you don't fight, it won't hurt then... much."

She screamed as something was thrust inside her. She could feel mech fluid flowing from between her legs. "I said get off her!" She heard Stellar yell. Still inside her Phobia paused, and she heard a loud clang, and a sickening thud. She looked over, and saw her brother lying face first on the floor, mech fluid dripping slowly from the side of his head.

She screamed as he continued thrusting inside her. After what felt like an eternity he let out a strangled cry, and pulled out of her, getting up, and moving to the floor where Stellar was lying. He began removing his lower plate as well. "Please don't! Don't hurt my brother!"

Phobia looked at her angrily. "Shut up or when I'm done with him, you'll get it again!" She watched in horror as he flipped Stellar onto his stomach, and thrust into his ass.

She felt a deep rage well up inside her. She let out a cry of rage, and jumped toward Phobia. He turned and caught her by the throat before she even landed on him. He started applying pressure, choking her. She tried to punch him, but everything was starting to spin. Before she lost consciousness, she saw Stellar's optics flicker online, and he looked at her fearfully.

"Sis. Sis you awake?" Trioptica opened her optics, and pain washed over her. She cried out, and tried to sit up, but Stellar took her, and cradled her. "It's ok, you'll be fine."

She sniffed and looked around. They were in a room with a cold metal wall at the back, and where there should have been three other walls, there were forcefields with small square shaped holes in them near the center. A voice echoed from their left. "Did she wake up Stellar?"

Stellar nodded, and helped Trioptica sit up. "Trioptica this is Rampage. He says he was brought in just before we were."

Trioptica sat up, and looked at Rampage. "Where exactly are we? We thought we were going to a school."

Rampage snorted. "I don't know if I pity you, or if I'm jealous of you. You were taken away from your family, and lied to about where you were going... Though I didn't have a family to get lied to. I'm an orphan, they just lucked out to find me."

"But what do they want with us?" She said near tears.

Rampage looked at her calmly. "You have powers too don't you?" They nodded. "I think that's what they're doing, collecting kids like us to study them."

"No way!" Stellar said. "The Maximal government wouldn't let us get experimented on."

Rampage snorted. "Please don't go all high and mighty Maximal on me. It was your police that sent me here, and did this to me." He showed them the unmistakable marks from needles in his arms and legs.

Trioptica started sobbing. "I'd rather be dead!" Stellar hugged her, and tried to sooth her, but he was crying too.

Rampage turned to ignore them, but then he remembered what Streamline had said to him. He got up painfully, and moved over to the small square that he could use to reach into their cell. "Come here you two." They crawled over to him painfully, and each took one of his hands. "We have to be brave now. If we're gonna get through this we have to be strong, and keep hoping things will go right. They always do!"

Trioptica sniffled, and smiled. "You're right. They can't keep us here forever. Someone will find us soon!"

"That's the spirit!" Rampage said. They smiled at each other, and let go. "So tell me, what are your powers?"

Trioptica and Stellar smiled at one another, and Rampage was lifted off the ground. At first he yelled, but then he started laughing. "We can move anything!" Stellar said. They lifted themselves up as well, and began floating around their cells, and for the first time since they woke up in that horrifying place, they found that they were quite happy.

The young femme moved quickly through the crowded street, trying not to make optic contact with anyone else. Finally she turned into an alley, and sat down next to an older femme who was wrapped in a dirty blanket, and was otherwise naked. "Did you find it Airrizzon?"

"Yes mommy. Here's your medicine." She said handing a small wrapped package to her mother.

The femme opened it eagerly. Inside was a bottle of pills. She opened it, and swallowed two. After several minutes she took a deep breath and looked relieved. "Thank you Rizzy."

The two femmes sat on a crate silently for several minutes. Finally Airrizzon spoke again. "Mommy why do I keep having to take these pills from the store? I'm scared someone's gonna see me."

Her mother hugged her and coughed slightly. "Ever since we met the humans, all our medicine is made from herbs on their planet. You always did have a way with plants sweetling."

Airrizzon rubbed a bit of mold on the crate with her fingers, and made it crawl around her hand. "Yeah, but why do you need them?"

The older femme hugged her tighter. "Sometimes life's unfair sweetling. If we had a proper home and some money maybe I wouldn't need these pills... Sometimes mommies have to do... difficult things to keep food in their sparklings tummies, and there's always a consequence for everything you do in life." She noticed her daughter's confused expression, and sighed. "You'll understand when you're older sweetling. Run along now, go see Mr Tearhide. Maybe he has some food for you."

"Mr Tearhide doesn't like me anymore..." Airrizzon said sadly.

Her mother smiled. "Nonsense Rizzy. He forgave you for what happened last week. Now off with you, go on!" She said in a playful voice. Airrizzon turned around to go down the alley a bit further, and started talking to an old mech.

"I hate to see something like this. A child trapped in a world of poverty, with nowhere to go but down that spiraling path."

The femme turned around. A purple bot with yellow optics was looking at her sadly. "Yes, my dear little one will have a hard life. To be honest I'm surprised the Matrix hasn't taken me yet. Perhaps my illness will take me once I know she's in good hands."

"I feel this is not a chance meeting. Tell me, is your child smart?" Phobia asked.

"Oh yes she's very smart. A little odd sometimes. You see, she can make the mold around here move. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen her do it."

Phobia smiled widely. "Ive heard of that. It's a recent glitch in circuitry that often comes along with high intelligence. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Phobia, headmaster of P.E.L.M academy."

The femme gasped. "That high class private school for gifted children? Oh please Phobia tell me you'll take Airrizzon! I wouldn't be able to let her go if it weren't for the fact that I won't be around to raise her much longer!"

Phobia bowed. "I only live to improve the quality of life here on Cybertron among our youngest residents. No gifted child should be without an education."

"Airrizzon, come here please!" She called. Her yelling brought on another coughing fit, and she was barely able to wipe the mech fluid off her lips before her daughter arrived.

The child looked at Phobia, let out a small yell, and clung to her mother's leg. "Mommy, who's this?"

"This is Phobia sweetling, a teacher at a very high class school. He wants to take you there to get an education."

"NO! I won't leave you mommy I won't!" Airrizzon cried in anguish.

"Don't worry sweetheart, you'll have everything you ever wanted there. You'll get three meals a day, a warm bed, and lots of friends. Who knows you might even get to grow up and be a senator, or ambassador!" The femme said to the small sparkling holding onto her leg, peering at the mech in front of her.

"But mommy I wanna stay with you!" The sparkling yelled.
The fembot got down on the child's level, and took her shoulders gently, looking her in the optics. "Rizzy, you deserve better than this. I can't raise you like this, not since daddy joined Primus." The fembot said sadly.
The child looked around her. An old back alleyway had been redecorated by the bots living there so there were crates and skus separating living areas. Her little home for the first two Stellar cycles of her life, was hung with tattered cloth to keep leering eyes from such a tender child, and she slept on a sku with her mother, pilled high with moldy rags.
She looked up at her mother afraid. "Please don't send me away. I didn't mean to make that mold attach itself to Mr. Tearhide! I promise I'll be good from now on, just don't send me away!"

The bot with the yellow optic lens, and purple face bent down and took the child's hand. "Don't worry Ma'am, we get this reaction a lot. Such young children are terrified to leave their families, but once they see the grounds they're so excited they forget to even write home!"

The child began to quiver. The fembot made a sad smile. "You said it's forbidden to leave campus, and I have no real mailing address." She said with a wave. "I can come and see her though?" "Whenever you like Ma'am. We encourage it." The fembot and child smiled at one another.
"You'll come see me mommy?" The sparkling asked.
The fembot smiled, and quickly brought her hand to her mouth to cover a coughing fit. Airrizzon didn't miss the shine of silverfish blue liquid, before she put her hand behind her back. "You know it Rizzy. Get going dear, they have so much to teach you." The child smiled to her mother, beginning to understand why she was giving her away, and was grateful she wouldn't suffer the same fate. As she left she heard her mother yell, "Always do well Airrizzon! Make me proud and grow up to be a successful woman!"

"I will mommy!" She yelled back. Phobia took her hand and led her out of the alley. After walking less than a block they stopped in front of a limo. "Is this my school bus?" She asked.

"You could say that. Climb in." He said with a wide grin. When they were in, Airrizzon started looking out the window fascinated. She had never gone so fast in her life! She felt him put an arm around her shoulder. "You're amused by such simple things aren't you?" She nodded still looking out the window. "Want to know what amuses me?" Before she could respond he had grabbed her, and thrown her down against the seat. She screamed, but he ignored it, and ripped off her lower plate. He held her underneath him while he removed his, and penetrated her.

She started crying. "Let me go, please, I wanna go back to mommy! Let me go back to mommy!"

"And once she dies in a few days let you be all alone out there? No I think it's better if you stay with me. You'll be with me for a very long time Airrizzon."

It had been two days since Trioptica, Stellar, and Rampage had been captured. In that time they had learned to fear the sound of footsteps. Whenever they heard that noise it meant that one of them would be taken in for testing, which often involved them being hooked up to machines that zapped them, or them being beaten unless they displayed their powers for the doctors, and every time at the end of the session they were raped.

They had been playing a game with each other, seeing if Rampage could properly guess which one of them was thinking what, since according to him they seemed to have a telepathic link, so it was hard for him to read their thoughts. They stopped laughing as soon as they heard the footsteps. "Where should we toss this one?"

"Just put her in with the twins. Phobia says he wants the gutter slag to rot on his own for a while till we can complete more tests on him."

They all moved to the back of their cells as the guards approached. One of them was carrying a small silver femme. "If either of you try anything, you'll be in the lab for a week!" The lowered the forcefield, and tossed the tiny femme inside.

She let out a small cry as she landed, and one of the guards kicked her. Trioptica tried to stand up to help her, but Stellar held her back. The guard snorted at the trio, turned the forcefield back on, and walked away. As soon as they were gone Trioptica ran to the child, and took her in her arms. "Poor little thing! She's so tiny!"

The child opened her optics, and looked at Trioptica. She saw the kind look on her face, and clung to her sobbing. "I want my mommy!"

"Oh Stellar, she's so scared! It's ok little one. I'm Trioptica, a three year old Maximal, and this is my twin brother Stellar. What's your name?" Trioptica said gently.

She sniffed. "My name's Airrizzon. I'm two, and I'm a Maximal."

Rampage stuck his head into the square. "Why are you here Airrizzon? What's your psychic power?"

She looked at him slightly afraid. "I make plants move and grow. Mommy sent me here because..."

Rampage had a sour look on his face. "Because she didn't like your powers?"

Airrizzon screwed up her face, looking ready to cry again. "Cause mommy's sick and she's gonna die!" She wailed. She clung to Trioptica, who held her tightly.

"Rampage, can you look into her mind, and tell us what happened to her? I don't think she can say it right now." Stellar said.

Rampage nodded and closed his optics. Airrizzon gasped, and heard a calm voice in her head. It's ok Airrizzon. I'm going to bring up your memories, so we know what happened, that way you don't have to say it if it'll make you cry. He felt a small bubble of happiness inside the child, and smiled. He watched her short life with a look of horror on his face. "She had it about as bad as I did. Her father died in a gun fight, and her mom..." He looked at Airrizzon, not sure if she would understand what he was about to say. "Her mom became a prostitute to pay for food, until she contracted an illness. She's been living on the streets of Cybertropolis her whole life."

Trioptica turned Airrizzon's face toward her. "And after all that you wound up here? You poor girl. Don't worry I'll be your friend from now on!"

Airrizzon smiled at Trioptica. "As long as we're best friends." She said as they embraced. That night the three of them curled up together to sleep, and the two girls held onto each other all night.