Chapter 1: Strange Place
She was groggy as she awoke, her head hurting like she just got piledrived by a bus. She couldn't move for some reason, and she felt really weird. She felt like she weighed a ton and then some.
What had happened? Last she remembered she was chilling on a couch in her appartment. Did Vela give her a bad margarita? Or did Marius make some of those laced cheesecakes again and she was having a bad trip? Or maybe Lois's bird attacked her and transferred some bad bird decease to her? She was placing her money on the cheesecake one.
She shifted, only to be greeted by the clanking of chains and something tight constricting her wrists. Her eyes snapped open and she tried to sit up, but thick, metal cuffs around her wrists prevented her from moving far.
"What the fuck!?" she whispered to herself, freaking out. Then she looked down at her body and had a real panic attack. Her breaths quickened to hysterics and she was two seconds from loosing it and letting the waterworks fall.
She was made of metal, her whole body looking like one big armored suit of silver and blue metal. Metal hands and feet, legs and hips and everything!
She couldn't control her breathing and she was starting to see black spots in her vision.
How had this happened? Had she been stolen away and experimented on by some mad scientist? She tried to look down and see more but something held her down, pulling at something on her back that were sensitive. What were they? Did she have wings or extra arms in the center of her back? She tried to turn her head to look behind her, but banged something on her head that also wasn't there before. Every scene was screaming at her. The coldness of the floor burned, and her heavy breaths pulled at her chest like a rope around her sternum.
Her heart (did she have on still?!) beat faster and faster in her chest and she began to thrash, yanking on her bonds. She made loud distressed sounds as she thrashed, kicking and screaming until she heard loud groans of metal. The chains just under her left cuff snapped away. She reached over and scratched at the other cuff until her metal wrist and fingers were raw and oozing out this blue liquid. The other cuff came off and she tried to sit up, only to have herself pulled on once again by the things on her back. She tried pulling, but the new appendages were highly sensitive.
She was in full panic mode, her mind only focused on getting out as soon as possible. She didn't stop to inspect the room or the area around her, only focused on getting free.
Get free, get out. Get free, get out.
She grabbed a pointy thing that sat near the metal slab she was on and reached behind herself with it. She searched for anything,a hole that would unlock it like the ones on her cuffs would be best for her. She found one and shoved the pointy thing in it, wiggling it around until she heard a loud click and whatever was on her new appendages was gone.
She hopped up off the metal bed and looked hurriedly around for a door. She saw something that resembled one, but it kind of looked like a door from a sci fi movie, but she didn't think much on it, just ran for it. She stumbled a lot, still feeling off and heavy. Her body slammed into the wall next to the door as she lost her balance further. She looked down at her metal feet as saw that they were in the form of an ankle-breaking heel. This made her even more panicky and frightened. She could never run in these!
She slapped at the metal door and it opened. She wobbled through it and looked out. There was a hall that went both ways. She looked both ways before wobbling down towards the right.
Every sound made her jump and panic more. She hugged the wall, peeking around corners before scooting down them. The appendages on her back hit the wall often, sending a painful jolt through her. Her whole body trembled, her metal body lightly rattling from it.
This looks the same as the last hall! she screamed in her head. She jumped when she heard something coming from the hall in front of her. Looking around quickly, she spotted another door and stumbled over to it. It opened and she ducked inside before whoever it was could see her.
The room she was in was dark, she couldn't see a foot in front of her face, but she gave off a strange glow. She blinked noting that the light would grow dimmer as her eyes began to close. Her eyes were glowing? She covered her eyes with her hands, hoping that if whoever was walking down the hall came in, she could hide in the shadows.
She crawled in the darkness, feeling around until she found a corners to curl up in. She curled up in a ball, her head buried in her knees. The appendages on her back twitched and she could feel everything with them: the temperature of the room, the air pressure, any breeze that passed through. She didn't like it, there was just… too much, of everything.
She couldn't think correctly, and these things kept popping up in her vision: percentages of levels of whatever, damage reports, something about temperature and overheating, and these readings of other levels and reports on functionality and processor usage? She didn't know what any of that meant, it was all so confusing and it hurt her head.
Loud clangs knocked her out of her crazed thoughts. They sounded like footsteps, each coming closer and closer. Her heart(?) pounded faster and faster with each one, her breath coming quicker and quicker. She covered the spots where her ears would normally be to block out the sounds, but found that it did nothing, but she continued to push down. The muffled thumps slowly faded, becoming quieter the harder she pressed her hands down.
She sat there in her muffled silence for an eternity, her frame shaking and burning with fear.
It was only when she thought the being was finally gone did it happen. There was a loud swish of the door opening and several loud footsteps before she felt herself being picked up roughly. She screamed, thrashing in her captor's hold as their arms constricted around her tighter and tighter. She hit anything that she could reach: their head, chest, and arms. Her captor yelled in anger and grabbed her arms, pinning them to her sides.
The panic was too much for her already stressed body; she passed out.
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"Who is she?"
"I dont know, her signature does not match with any in our database."
"Find out. "
She faded in and out, unable to fully awake. It was like her brain was filled with cotton balls. She could hear bits and pieces of things around her, but nothing made sense, and if she did manage to hear something, she forgot what was said. Like she was stuck in a dream she couldn't remember.
Her own breath was loud in her ears, each one forcefully steady no matter how she tried to quicken them. She couldn't move or talk, she was trapped in her own body. Her processor reeled with possibilities and questions, each leading to more questions than she had answers for.
If she was here, was anyone else captured? Or whatever the hell she was? Where they made into giant metal people, too? Why was she made into this? Why couldn't she remember anything beyond that evening on her couch? Why does everything hurt?
She was panicking again, her processor running too fast for her mind to keep up. Numbers popped up in her processor, scrolling and scrolling down, pieces of code highlighted in red and green, lighting up behind her closed optics like some sort of demented Christmas strobe light rave from hell. Everything was hot, too hot and too cold at the same time. What was happening?
"Extreme spike in processing activity. Frag!"
"What's happening Doctor?"
"Her processors are going into overhaul, she's going to fry her systems at this rate."
"Fix her."
"I'm shutting of her processors and rebooting her systems in three… two…"
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When Corvin awoke, she did it slowly, taking her time this time so her processor didn't freak out. First thing she was aware of was her breathing, it was slow and steady. Next was hearing. She could hear her breaths, the sounds of her new body whirring softly, a barely audible hum. The beeping of machinery, monitors, a steady thump like a heartbeat but different. Next was what she felt. Coolness pressing against her back, a strain against her extra appendages, something heavy on her chest, arms, and legs. She ached everywhere, especially her helm.
Corvin couldn't help the groan deep in her throat as she shifted, her face pinching together in discomfort. Her optics cracked open and she was relieved to see that the lights in the room were dimmed.
"The hell?" she croaked, her throat burning from her screams the other day. Corvin looked around, noticing she was in a strange metal room. Strange designs covered the walls in spirals and grooves, giving the area a strange, outer space feel to it. She could see a long, thick cord connected to her chest (chassis?), its end looking like a giant metal suction cup.
Corvin sat up, hissing at her head spun. A restricting sensation came from her wrists and she looked down to see cuffs, which were extremely thick, thicker than the last ones she had on were.
'Probable cuz I broke them.' she thought to herself, grumbling. She blinked slowly, letting her processor catch up to everything that was happening. She let out a deep breath and steeled herself.
'Ok Corvin, you got this. Just get out of here and run. But to where? Where even was here?' She frowned as she thought looking around. Obviously something really fucked had happened and she got turned into a metal lady. She was dead set on shoving her foot up whoevers ass had done this to her, and since her foot was made of metal she was sure to make it hurt. Corvin was getting angry now, huffing as she glared at the wall like it had caused all her problems.
'Domo arigato mr roboto can kiss my fucking ass, who the fuck does this shit to people, what the fuck!' Corvin pulled at her cuffs as she internally raged. The things on her back flicked, startling her. She looked behind her with wide eyes.
"The fuck?" it looked like two giant metal sheets had been attached to her back, with two smaller ones that the larger ones overlapped with. Corvin shook her head, she'd deal with that anomaly when she was free.
Corvin looked for anything sharp she could shimmy into the locks of the cuffs. She spotted a tray of tools a few feet away, out of reach. She frowned, glaring at the try, wishing she had some type of X-men power to magically move it over. Telekinesis would be helpful, or Magneto's power since everything here was made of metal.
Corvin tested the strength of the cuffs and found no give. But she refused to give in that easily.
She suddenly got an idea. Her legs had not been restrained down, perhaps she could reach the tools and pinch one between her ridiculously tall heels? Not seeing any other alternative, Corvin began to scootch her butt across the metal table bed thing she was on until she was at the edge. It put an uncomfortable strain on her wrists, but she couldn'g give a flying fuck at the moment. She just wanted out of this freaky place. She leaned out with her legs and brushed against the edge of the table with the tools.
"Agh, fuuucckk me." she cursed, scooting forward more, which put a sharp pain into her wrists. Her legs flailed, desperately attempting to hit the edge of the tray. The tip of her foot hit the tray of tools and sent them scattering across the floor. She winced at the noise it caused, freezing in place. She listened intently, holding her breath as she did, to hear if anyone had heard the clatter. She waited a good five minutes before breathing out a sigh of relief (which also freaked her out because she didn't feel the need to breath in those five minutes?). She moved both her legs down to attempt to pinch on of the tools between them. After a few minutes of failing spectacularly, she managed to get one between her feet (peds?) long enough for her to bring it up and drop in on the table bed thing.
Now what? How the hell was she supposed to get the tool into the locking mechanisms on the cuffs? Corvin huffed and pushed the tool to one hand… servo? Was she supposed to think in robot terms or human terms? She cast that thought out of her mind to think on later.
She grabbed the tool in her right servo and maneuvered it as best she could to the flat locking mechanism that looked like a credit card chip reader. She wiggled the tool into the lock, moving it around. After a while, Corvin could see she was getting abso-fucking-lutely nowhere. She growled and jerked the tool around harshly inside the lock mechanism.
She flinched when she heard a crunching noise and a fizzling noise. Smoke rose from the slot and the cuff clicked before falling off her wrist.
Her optics were wide as she looked between the tool and the cuff.
"Sweet~" she drawled, a victorious grin forming on her face. She quickly did the same to the other cuff and let it fall off her wrist. She twisted so she was sitting on the edge of the bed table. She stretched really quick to get the stiffness out of her limbs before getting to her peds. She wobbled for a moment before gaining her balance on her "death heels".
"How do supermodels walk in this shit?" Corvin grumbled her arms out from her side as she kept her balance. Taking a few steps, she reached the door and collapsed against it. "Fucking black magic, that's what." Slapping at the door, Corvin growled when it refused to open.
"Fan-fucking-tastic," she hissed, "who would have though? An open door, oh no, that's too much to ask from the universe apparently. No good karma stored up, even after waking up as a giant metal lab experiment, oh no. That would be toooooo kind." Sarcasm laced her voice as she continued to smack at the door.
She took a quick look around at the room, searching for a way out. The room was dark, almost dingy in a way. The berth she had been on was at an angle (her HUD was saying it was around 35 degrees, but she was just gonna ignore that), and a large, tubey machine hanging above it like some demented octopus.
Corvin did NOT sign up to be in this hentia show, no thank you, she was gonna get the fuck up outta here before anything got close to her genitals, thank you very much.
Though… if she thought about it… the room looked oddly familiar. But she couldn't put her finger on it. Something about the design and lighting rang a few bells in her processor that she couldn't get to shut up. But Corvin didn't get to think on it long, not when the door she had been previously slapping suddenly opened up to reveal a giant (well in relative to human size, but compared to her, he was just a few heads taller) red, shinny, familiar looking mech.
"How-what? How the frag do you keep getting out?" the red mech exclaimed as she stared at him in absolute shock.
"IM HOUDINI!" Corvin shrieked, her shell-shocked processor kicking into high gear. She then decked the red mech in the face and ran past him as he hit the floor.
Internally, and she was also sure externally, Corvin was panicking as she raced down corridor after corridor, away from the sounds of metal hitting metal as they chased her.
Now, Corvin was a hard-core Transformers fan, no doubt. She even had a full body, Generation 1 Optimus Prime cosplay that she used to wear to conventions every year. To say she loved the Transformers franchise was an understatement.
And going off that, she'd have to be hit SUPER hard on the helm to forget who Knockout was. And, from the looks of it, it seemed like it was the Prime verse of him. Why the fuck would scientist recreate Knockout? They'd have to be as nerdy as her to do that, but it would have cost billions of dollars to recreate him. No to mention gratuity to Hasbro for the design, unless they did it without them knowing? The scandal!
But that also begged the question as to why she was now a giant robot. Surly they would have picked a trained official to pilot the robotic giant she was now inhabiting. Why the fuck would they pluck her, an insignificant woman with no training, just an unhealthy love for Transformers and a few too many lizards she named after Lord of the Rings characters, to do the job? Seems like someone in their candidate department really fucked up in their job.
Corvin felt something, it was strange, like a 6th sense just opened up. She knew where to go, the air was getting lighter, cooler, fresher than the air where she used to be. She was close to the outside. There was a large door, just up ahead, a break in the seemingly never ending identical corridors. She raced over and slapped the door.
Cold air rushed past her, making her whole body shiver as the door opened to reveal the night sky. Strangely colored clouds drifted lazily by as Corvin cautiously walked out to the deck and away from the lightened corridors.
Were they up in the mountains? How else would there be clouds floating by? Covin walked to the edge of the platform and looked down, feeling the blood (did she have blood?) drain from her face.
They were flying.
Corvin gulped, the world crashing down around her. She was trapped, aboard a flying ship crawling with metal giants and the scientists who created them. No doubt she was here as some wicked science experiment. Why did this happen? Why was she here? How was she going to get home? Who was going to feed her lizards?
Corvin stood like a statue, staring out into the darkness, where pinpricks of light from distant stars twinkled through the clouds. It was disturbingly peaceful for a the current situation, and Corvin contemplated whether or not jumping would be worth it.
The sound of metal hitting metal reached her audios, but she didn't turn as they came closer and closer, stopping at the door to the platform. It was quiet for a moment, before the ped stepps slowly drew closer, until they were right next to her.
"... why don't you fly away?" a familiar voice asked, genuine curiosity lacing their words. Corvin was quiet for a moment, bitterly remembering the metal sheets on her back, no doubt wings.
"I-I… I don't know how to fly." she said quietly.
"Pity, it's quite an experience." the bot said, a surprising lack of malice in their voice, especially considering who it was.
Corvin turned to Starscream.
"Why am I here?" she asked quietly. The Starscream remake (because scientists made him as well as Knockout and herself) raised an optical brow.
"Do you not remember?" he asked, and Corvin shook her helm. "We found you in a stasis pod during a raid of an Autobot held medical facility"
Corvin looked at him, confused "What? What medical facility?" Starscream gave her a long, long look, his calculating optics searching her face for… something. Corvin felt the sneaking suspicion that she was being left out of the loop on something, or there was something she wasn't grabbing that was just out of reach.
"Come with me." he commanded before turning on heel and going back into the ship. Corvin hesitated, wanting answers but not trusting the mech in the least. Corvin finally gave in and walked towards the door back into ship. Corvin felt an ominous feeling as the door closed behind her and locked, her chance of escape slipping out of her fingers.