Chapter One – The Beginning
Summary: Skyshadow has watched warriors rise and fall. Some though, seem to evade death and survive. But survival tends to come at some cost. Will Skyshadow pay hers? In a war that is planet-wide, survival seems to only give itself to the fittest.
Prime universe mainly with some things from Transformers: Exodus. This story is in the same universe as my other story, Origin Steeldust, it just takes place a few vorns later.
There's a list of Cybertronian to Earth terms on my profile page if something doesn't make sense, but hopefully it does :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. Just my oc's and the plot for this story.
A tall blue seeker crept along the side of the building in which shadow he was hiding. He glanced around carefully as he went, watching for any movement. Above him, he could barely hear the quick pedesteps of one of his fellow squad members.
The small group had been dispatched to the city state of Tarn on a recon mission. There had been information obtained about a mad scientist working on illegal science projects somewhere in the state, but the information was near useless other than giving a rough location. So, Autobots had been sent out to investigate further.
The seeker reached the end of his building and knelt to a crouch. He waited, and soon a small figure dropped from the roof beside him. Looking to the side, he kept one optic outwards into the offcycle and one on his teammate.
"See anything from above?" he asked in a whisper.
The form beside him shifted to return his glance. Large blue optics met his as the petite red and black flier shook her helm. "Nothing at all except for the others occasionally. The place is deserted."
"So far so good then," muttered the bigger flier.
He stood then, his partner mirroring his actions. At around twenty-six pedes tall, towered over the sixteen-pede-tall femmeling and was way broader than her small frame. Her quick optics glanced around, taking everything in. After a few astrokliks, she darted off ahead into the dark shadows and up the next building.
Knowing that it was time to keep moving, the light blue seeker crossed the alley and sped quietly down the street. Continually scanning for hostiles, he saw a flash of orange under a lone flickering street lamp. He stopped immediately, his large wings twitching, waiting for it to appear again.
The seeker saw the faint glow of two bright blue optics in the shadows across the broken road. Realizing it was likely just Bolt, he relaxed and put a hand up to his comm.
"Hey, Bolt," the seeker whispered. "That you who just ran through the light?"
An energetic voice immediately whispered back, "Yeah, I guess that was me. At least it was only you who saw me, Cloudbreaker."
"Let's hope anyway," replied the blue seeker, closing the comm. He continued on his way, sighting Bolt every so often in the shadows. Soon, the thin figure of Jolt joined the orange mechling and the pair continued on together.
Cloudbreaker couldn't help but smile. It didn't surprise him that they were sticking together. Those two were inseparable. Where one was, the other would be close by.
After the group had traveled for a couple breems, the red flier and the other femme scouting ahead returned to the three mechs. The flier disappeared to look for Bolt and Jolt, while the motorcycle joined Cloudbreaker immediately.
"Hey," Cloudbreaker said, smiling down at the aqua and silver femme.
"Hi," she replied, taking a step nearer to him. She opened her mouth to say more but closed it when she heard pedesteps approaching.
Two mechlings the same height emerged from the shadows. One a heavier and more muscled build, the other thin and lanky. The red and black flier followed close behind them.
Once the five were gathered together, the aqua femme spoke.
"All seems to be clear up ahead. But the strange thing is, it feels quiet. Too quiet," she said to the rest of the group.
"What do you mean, Starfrost?" asked Bolt.
"Yeah," added Jolt. "It is already quiet."
"She means a different kind of quiet," replied the red and black femmeling lowly. "It's almost eerily so."
Cloudbreaker, Jolt, and Bolt looked at each other.
"Then-" began Jolt, chin in hand as he thought- "we should advance together. If there is something or someone up ahead, we would be wise to face it together."
Bolt spoke up then. "But we can't sneak up effectively in a big group."
Starfrost raised an optic ridge, crossing her servos. "Yes, Bolt. Five is such a large group. Practically an army by itself."
Her remark was met by a dirty look from the orange truck.
Cloudbreaker stepped in between them before the quick-tempered Bolt could start yelling. "Okay, you two. Cool your jets. Back to the mission. We should tell Scatterstrike and give him an update."
"You're right, Cloudbreaker," nodded Jolt, already working on sending a message to the squad leader who was standing by in their ship.
'Let's go," spoke Skyshadow.
She started off, soon followed by the rest. Jolt was next, behind him was Starfrost and Bolt. Cloudbreaker brought up the rear, the seeker serving as the rear guard.
Not very long after, the group reached where the two young femmes had stopped and turned back.
They were right. Everything seemed to get suddenly quiet. Nothing moved or made noise. The remaining buildings that were long deserted except for the homeless refugees were silent. It was if this area of Tarn was completely deserted and possibly avoided. For what reason was unknown.
Carefully, the recon team made their way forward, stepping lightly as if there was a possibility of alerting something, or someone, to their presence. For breems they carried on, the buildings becoming darker, more broken, and less friendly. The streets became more uneven and there were several small craters from the city being bombed.
In short, this sector of Tarn had suffered the same as the rest of the city-state and then reclaimed. It was a good place to retreat if you didn't want to be bothered, for no one in their right mind would willingly enter this place.
Something sinister was here. All five Autobots had an increasingly bad feeling about it. They were tense, waiting for some evil to lunge from the shadows and attack them.
Skyshadow knelt to the ground, observing something she saw.
"What do you see, Skyshadow?" asked the dark green and blue mechling behind her, looking over her shoulder.
"Tank tracks," came the reply.
The rest could now see them as they came closer, all five sets of optics examining the tracks. They were big tracks too, joining and heading in the same direction as the Autobots.
"Seem to be fairly fresh too," muttered Skyshadow, rising to her pedes and turning to face the others.
"We should follow them," said Cloudbreaker. The light blue seeker followed the tracks with his optics until he couldn't see them. "It's the only thing we've found since the group of neutrals and refugees hiding in the buildings where we landed."
Jolt frowned. "Whoever left these must be a fairly good size. And if he has friends like him, I do not think I wish to meet them on their terms."
"Well, if he does, and if they're baddies, we'll just have more 'Cons to pound into dust," said Bolt, smacking his fist into his other hand.
Starfrost rolled her optics and sighed. She started walking in the direction the tracks led. "You're going to get yourself in major trouble one of these orns, Bolt."
Bolt just waved her off with a grin and ran so he was in the lead. Jolt shook his helm as he watched his best friend take off. "I am afraid he runs to trouble willingly, Starfrost."
The remain four picked up the pace to catch up with Bolt. Little did they know, Starfrost's observation was soon to come true. For all five of them.
"Sir. There are five unknown mecha approaching from the west."
"Autobots or Decepticons?" came the deep-voiced reply.
"Our sensors say Autobots, Sir," answered the smaller mech, still standing at the door.
"It is illogical for them to be here unless they have acquired information about our whereabouts," said the larger mech in an emotionless tone. He did not look away from what he was working on. "Have them brought to the prison cells. I will inquire their motives for their presence. They must not be allowed to give away our location."
"Yes, Sir. They will not escape."
The mech left, his pedesteps echoing off the empty passageway walls until he was too far away to hear.
The scientist stood at one of his work tables, working on a formula.
"If they have no useful information to yield, they will be useful to me in a different way," spoke the purple mech to himself as he poured the contents of a vial into a container with a different liquid.
"Their screams of pain will further this experiment."
The team had traveled far from their landing coordinates. The tracks from the tank they were following had led them out of the city ruins and down into the second level of Cybertron. The dim light from the stars that they'd had on the surface of the planet was now gone. They now had to rely on their night vision, as what lights in the second level that still existed would have ended with the city outskirts.
Other than the trail they followed, there was hardly any signs of life. A few retrorats scurried into their holes as the Autobots approached. Once they heard some creature growling nearby, but it soon supposedly left the area once they approached.
They were glad it did, as there were some dangerous creatures that lurked in some of the lower levels of Cybertron. Though the war had brought some of them closer to the surface, whatever the Autobots had disturbed, it likely wasn't one of them.
They had also found the remains of several mecha, who looked as if they'd dragged themselves to their current position before offlining. "Had they been wounded in battle? Or something else?" wondered the team.
Jolt had reported to Scatterstrike several times since Skyshadow had found the tracks. Their commander told them to proceed with extreme caution and to alert him the first sign of trouble. He wasn't pleased that his charges had insisted on going and him staying with the ship, though they pointed out that he was the only one who could fly it. If they needed an emergency pick up, he was the one who would be able to accomplish that.
"What do you think happened to those poor mecha?" whispered Starfrost, who was keeping close to Cloudbreaker.
"I do not know," answered Jolt. He glanced around nervously. This place was not getting any less eerie.
"It's as if they were trying to get away from something," continued the aqua coloured noble. She furrowed her optic ridges in thought.
"Well, whatever happened to them, we can't help them now," said Cloudbreaker regretfully.
All four were silent for a while, since there wasn't really anything to say on the subject.
Bolt was getting farther and farther ahead, almost reaching a group of buildings.
Suddenly, Skyshadow halted. She stiffened, her wings flared back and as high as they could go. She had stopped so suddenly that Jolt, who was right behind her, almost ran into her.
"Skyshadow!" the green mech protested. Then, noticing how tense his friend was, he asked, "What is wrong?"
Skyshadow said nothing for a few moments, bright blue optics darting around rapidly. "Someone call Bolt back. Now."
Jolt quickly commed the orange mechling who had kept going and was now quite far out in front of them. His doorwings twitched as he said, "Bolt, come back!"
"What's up, Jolt? Did you mecha find something?" Bolt asked eagerly.
"I am not sure. Just come back please?"
"Okay, I'll be back in a klik. I think I see something."
Skyshadow, having heard their conversation, turned around sharply. "No! Don't let him."
Bolt heard her and just laughed. "What? Is Sky afraid I'll find something before she does?" With that, he cut the comm.
"Skyshadow, what's wrong?" Cloudbreaker asked, frowning down at her in concern.
"There's someone out there, watching us," the small flier replied, pointing in the direction that Bolt was. "Can't any of you feel it?"
"Maybe. What kind of someone?" asked Starfrost, looking for Bolt who'd suddenly disappeared behind a building.
"Chances are, not a friendly one," growled Skyshadow, taking off running to catch up with their orange companion.
The remaining three Autobots glanced at each other. They ran after the red and black flier, who wasn't slowing down at all.
Skyshadow was the fastest of the group, both in her jet alt mode and by pede. Jolt was a close second by pede, third in alt mode. But Skyshadow had a head start, so it took Jolt a few kliks to get even close to her.
Quickly the distance between them and Starfrost and Cloudbreaker was getting longer. The only reason that Starfrost was still with the big flier was because he was keeping to her pace instead of using his full speed. Otherwise, she with her much shorter pedes would have been left behind.
Reaching the spot where they'd last seen Bolt, Skyshadow slid to a stop. Soon, she was joined by Jolt, and the two of them started looking for their missing friend.
"This way!" hissed Jolt. He led the way and they began the chase again, not daring to yell Bolt's name.
When Cloudbreaker and Starfrost reached the spot, they looked around for what they hoped would be their three team members. But the alley that they'd entered was empty except for debris and filth littered through it.
"Great," snapped Cloudbreaker lowly. "First we lose the loose cannon. Now we've lost the silent one and the professor."
Starfrost chuckled dryly at the use of the team's nicknames. "Yes, well, maybe they lost us."
"Something like that," grouched Cloudbreaker, leaning down to examine what looked like three sets of pedeprints. "This way," he said, beckoning with his hand for Starfrost to follow.
The two followed the trail of their companions for several blocks, turning in and out of alleys and around buildings and over debris. Suddenly, the prints came to a stop. All about in the same spot, they just disappeared.
Starfrost and Cloudbreaker gave each other a worried look. This was bad. Pedesteps didn't just disappear unless the subject was a flier.
Jolt's alt was a sports car. Bolt's was a pickup truck. Out of the three, only Skyshadow could fly, and there was no way she could possibly carry both mechlings.
"Scatterstrike," said Starfrost, opening a comm. Fear crept into her voice, making it pitch higher than normal. "We've lost Bolt, Jolt, and Skyshadow."
"What?" yelled the older mech. "What happened?"
"We don't know," whimpered the femme. "Jolt and Skyshadow ran ahead to catch Bolt who ran off and now they're gone!"
Cloudbreaker opened his own comm and added, "we were following their pedeprints which suddenly disappeared."
"That shouldn't be possible," muttered Scatterstrike. "Send me your coordinates. I'm coming- "
He was interrupted by a scream.
"Starfrost!" yelled Cloudbreaker, whirling and trying to reach the screaming femme as she was being pulled up and over the rooftop.
"Cloudbreaker! Help!"
"What's happening?" yelled Scatterstrike in the blue seeker's comm.
"Someone just took Starfrost!" Cloudbreaker yelled back. He crouched, readying himself to leap into the air and chase the kidnapper.
He never made it off the ground.
Instead, he fell forwards, flat on his faceplate as something made contact with the back of his helm. And whatever it was, it hit him hard.
"Cloudbreaker!" yelled Scatterstrike. "Cloudbreaker!"
That was the last thing the seeker heard as his vision turned to black.
So that's chapter one.. Thanks so much for reading! Let me know what you think :)
Any guesses as to who the scientist is? :P
Credit Song: Siren's Call - Epic Score