So, yeah, TFA fanfic. Pretty much an alternate ending kind of thing since I thought the ending could have been better and all... It's supposed to be right before the episode "This is Why I Hate Machines" and retell the story from there.
We meet a couple of new characters here. Don't worry, I'm not going to go fan-bot psycho with this, these two are the only ones to come up as main characters in the story and there will be one more fan character showing up for a short time later on (just because he's too bad ass not to use).
TFA: Archetype
Chapter 1: Paths of the Lost
Some would say that Space is empty. Whether or not you believe that to be true is your own opinion. But while Space may seem empty as a whole it is certainly true that parts of it are filled with sometimes many and sometimes few things. In one particular part of Space there floated a ship which to some beings, such as the race called Humans, would seem rather large while to others would seem normal size or perhaps even a bit small. The lone pilot inside the spacecraft let out a sigh, a dull expression on their face.
"It's all starting to look the same again…" the Cybertronian muttered to themself. This happened from time to time, becoming more frequent the more time passed. When one traveled through Space all the time with no set destination things easily started looking the same. Sometimes it was because they had been there before, like a few solar-cycles ago when they had been startled to find themself going past their home planet, a place they had hoped to avoid after they had left all those stellar-cycles ago. Other times it was because one could only stare at the stars for so long before they all started looking like each other.
The pilot shifted a bit in their seat, turning away from the readings and such displayed on the monitors. It's not like they had been paying much attention to the readings in the first place as they rarely changed much. Even after being hit by that strange blue cube outside Cybertron there didn't seem to be any change, the only result seemed to be some minor surface damage to the outer plating of the ship.
Thought of that cube caused the pilot to shift again and cast their gaze upon the door to the storage bay, each movement they made causing their unique iridescent coloring to shift between purple and green with traces of other colors mixed in depending on where the light hit it. Why they'd kept that strange cube was still a mystery to them. It was a bit hard to explain but they'd just had a feeling that the blue cube was somehow important, so they picked it up and put it in the storage bay where it sat now, just about the only thing in there aside from some repair equipment and spare parts for the ship. Perhaps it was the odd bright blue color that intrigued them? Most of the scrap they'd come across in their travels had been colored rather dully after all. Or maybe it was that strange light inside that could be seen shining out of one of its sides, which had reminded them of their own spark.
"Whatever..." the pilot sighed, leaning back in their seat and listening to the steady sound of a blaring alarm fill the air. It wasn't like they had the faintest idea what that cube was or how to use it, if it was even supposed to be used for something, and it was a pretty rare occurrence that they meet someone else in their travels so for now it was just a piece of scrap in the storage bay. Wait a cycle, blaring alarm? That was never a good thing.
They shot upright, turning to the monitors just in time to see three more of the readings begin flashing "CRITICAL" and glow red. The pilot stared at the readings in horror. "Yeah... I have no idea how to fix that..." they said to themself. Suddenly the whole ship jerked a bit, causing the Cybertronian's head to hit the control panel rather hard, the result being a few buttons being pressed, a few switches being flipped, and a few knobs being twisted. They lifted their head up and looked at the mess as even more readings went critical. "No... No no no no no!" They frantically tried to set everything back to normal but it was too late, the damage had already been done.
The ship jerked again but this time the pilot was a bit more prepared for it and grabbed onto their seat to brace themself. The question was why did the ship keep jerking like that? They looked up at the large outer view monitor to see a blue and green planet drawing closer. That had to be it. That planet must have a rather high gravitational field and was pulling the ship in. If they could pull out of it then that was one less problem to deal with.
They immediately checked the engine status only to find that they had gone offline. Well so much for that plan. It looked like they were going to be making an emergency landing on this planet, and from the look of the ship's readings it was going to be a bumpy one.
As the sun began sinking behind the horizon and the electric lights of the city began to flicker on a large dark orange snowplow drove through the streets of Detroit. Considering that this was Detroit it probably wouldn't seem too odd, except for the fact that it was currently summer in Detroit. Another oddity of the snowplow in question was the speed at which it was traveling and the way it was maneuvering, almost as if it was racing to get somewhere or perhaps away from something.
The large vehicle came to a halt in front of what appeared to be something along the lines of an abandoned warehouse. "Maybe I'll find something here..." a female voice said from the vehicle. The voice hadn't come from a passenger or driver because this particular snowplow lacked both. With a series of whirs and clicks the large vehicle changed into a large robot. At least, she was large by human standards. As far as Cybertronians went she was a bit of an odd size, larger than most Autobots but a bit small as far as most Decepticons went.
She entered the building and began searching around for something. Had she been paying a bit more attention she may have noticed implications that the place was not quite as abandoned as it first seemed. However, the idea that someone might be there wasn't exactly the biggest thing on her mind at the time. She came across a room with many various tools and smiled. That looked promising. She began digging through and it wasn't long before she found what she was looking for, a power sander.
Looking down at her chestplate her optics narrowed a bit as she stared at the purple pointed symbol there that marked her as a Decepticon. "Not anymore..." she uttered quietly. Slowly she pressed the power sander to the symbol on her chestplate and hesitated for a moment before bracing herself and turning it on. It took everything she had not to scream in pain from the harsh burning sensation where the sander ground away at her and to hold it steady in that location. A loud, screeching, grinding noise shot through the air as sparks flew off her chestplate, mixed with shards of metal and paint. If she could just hold out a little longer she would be rid of that horrid mark forever and it will have been well worth the pain.
"What is going on in here?!"
She quickly turned off the sander and looked to the doorway where the unfamiliar voice had come from to find a red and white Autobot standing there. Upon slightly closer inspection it became obvious that he was a medic bot, and an older one at that. She stared in shock for a moment, not sure just what to do, when another voice broke in.
"What's going on, Ratchet?" A small yellow bot ran over to the doorway and looked at her in surprise. "Woah, who's she?"
"I'd like to know that myself." The medic bot said in a tone that seemed to demand that she start talking, not looking away from her for even an instant.
"Uhm... hi?" She said, struggling to find something halfway reasonable to say. By this point three more bots and what appeared to be a teenaged human girl had also gathered in the doorway. "Yeah... this is a bit surprising. I wasn't really expecting to run into anyone here..."
"Considering that I wasn't expecting to find some strange bot here taking my power sander to her chestplate I'd say the feeling is mutual." the medic bot said, sounding a bit more frustrated. "Now who are you and what are you doing here?"
"Oh, right, I'm Zero!" she answered quickly. "And I believe we just established that I'm here taking your power sander to my chestplate, which I seem to be done with now so I'll just be on my way..." As she put the power sander down she glanced at her chestplate and noticed two things, some of the pointed tips of the Decepticon symbol were still there where the power sander hadn't quite covered it up and she now had a faded and scratched up Autobot symbol displayed on her chestplate. Whichever they noticed first it wasn't going to look good for her. Best she try and keep herself positioned so they could get a good view of that particular spot.
"I'm afraid it's not going to be quite that easy." said one of the larger of the Autobots who was colored blue and red.
"Really?" Zero asked, hints of both disappointment and pleading in her voice. "We can't just do the whole 'this never happened' thing and then i leave and you never see or hear from me again? Because that would be so much easier..."
"If you're trying to make it seem like you aren't trying to hide something you're doing a really bad job of it..." the 'human' girl said, crossing her arms and looking at Zero suspiciously.
"Wha- I've answered your questions, haven't I? Ugh... look... I really thought this place was abandoned, okay? I just came to look for a good power sander and, on the off chance that I find one, use it really quickly and then leave, that's all. Is that enough of an explanation for you?"
"Maybe you want to try explaining why you were taking a power sander to your chestplate in the first place?" the small yellow bot suggested.
"Yeah, that's not exactly normal..." the large green bot added.
Zero froze for a moment. Well slag, that was the kind of question she had been hoping to avoid. How was she supposed to explain that without making herself look bad? Somehow she thought something along the lines of 'I used to be a Decepticon but I'm better now' wasn't likely to go over well. There seemed only one way to do this that had a slight chance of working out well, let them see her chestplate and ask their questions and answer truthfully. With a sigh she turned and faced the group, allowing them to see her chestplate clearly.
For a moment they all looked at the damaged symbol on her chestplate a bit puzzled. Zero waited nervously for someone to start asking questions, but once someone spoke it proved not to be a question but just about the last thing she wanted to hear.
"You're a Decepticon!" the yellow bot shouted accusingly.
Zero quickly jumped back and put her hands out defensively. "NO! Well... I was..." She sighed again, lowering her arm. "I changed my mind. I don't want to be a Decepticon anymore. I needed a good power sander so I could get rid of the Decepticon symbol on my chestplate. That way I won't be automatically associated with the Decepticons. It's kinda one of the first steps in the process of switching sides."
The group of Autobots looked at each other, unsure whether or not to trust the explanation that they were just given. It seemed to add up. Obviously it was the Decepticon symbol she had just removed since a few purple tips were still visible. But considering everything that had happened recently it was not much of a stretch to think that she was lying to gain their trust and then strike when they least expect it.
Suddenly an alarm of some sort sounded from another room, startling everyone a bit. The seemingly human girl and the small yellow bot rushed off, the large green bot following behind them.
"What is it now...?" the medic bot groaned.
"Umm, guys? You may wanna take a look at this..." came the young girl's voice from the other room. "It's definitely Cybertronian and it's coming in fast..."
The three bots who had remained in the doorway all looked at Zero who once again put her hands up in front of herself defensively. "I swear I had nothing to do with it!"