Chapter One "The Meeting"
The day had dawned bright and early, but there was too much work to be done to enjoy the sunrise. Too many people were up at the crack of dawn as it was called. The Autobots themselves never needed to sleep, but they still needed rest. More Autobots were coming to Earth to join the fight against the Decepticons. NEST was starting to have problems housing them all. Many of them chose to live in the nearby forest and the mountains of the peninsula the campus had been built on. Recently, there had been a rash of Decepticon break-ins. Things had been stolen, much like the AllSpark had before. Security had been severely stepped up, but it still happened. Lately, some of the software had been malfunctioning. The Autobot scientist Wheeljack was working non-stop to try to find out what was wrong. Optimus Prime was helping in the main hanger when the radar picked up a signal not to far from base. Immediately, he dispatched a scout to find out what it was. Decepticons could not be attacking so soon, he thought with a frown at the radar. The blip didn't seem to be Decepticon, but one could never know for sure about them.
All too soon, the scout returned and reported nothing but an Autobot in that sector. Prime nodded and dismissed the scout, thanking him for returning so quickly. Something wasn't right. He'd not gotten any signals of new arrivals lately and everyone was currently accounted for. Perhaps I shall investigate further on my own. The scout saw an Autobot, but we shall see. Prime turned to Wheeljack and told him where he was going and headed out. Wheeljack nodded and gave a wave without turning to look, focused on his monitors. Thinking of the mission ahead as a simple jaunt, Prime nevertheless asked Drift to come with him. Having a partner there in case of an attack could be invaluable. Having Drift there could turn the tide of battle, should there be one. The two Autobots headed out of the base and into the forest. Prime followed the radar signal. As they got closer, Drift noticed it wasn't quite the same as the other Cybertronians.
"Perhaps it's one from one of the outlying planets, Prime?" Drift offered, keeping alert to their surroundings.
"Perhaps," Prime replied, watching the blip on his radar. "We could certainly use more of them."
"Heh, but where would we put them? We don't have enough room as it is!" Drift snorted, glancing over at his leader. "Half our forces are now out here," and he motioned to the surrounding forest.
"We'll find a place," was all Prime said and continued towards the strange signal.
Delena Darkside was walking though the strange woods on her own. She'd had a rough couple of days, having to hide from humans constantly. For years now, she hadn't been able to cry, not since her father and her best friend had given her a new body. Her metal joints squeaked occasionally. She hadn't had time to take anything with her since the attack at the lab. Her father had immediately told her to run. Find Wraith, was all he'd said and she'd obeyed, too frightened to think of anything else. Military had streamed into the laboratory campus and controlled the campus within minutes. Delena had slipped out the back door, transformed into her semi truck form and gunned it out of there. A mile away was the protected forest that Wraith lived in. Once she hit the trees, she transformed back to her robot mode. A semi would not be able to drive through the rough forest and it left too large a trail. Delena found Wraith's "cave" easily, the path instinctive from too many times coming here.
On the outside, the cave looked just like what it was: a open but shallow cave. At the back, however, was a hidden press switch about ten feet up from the ground. Too hard for a human to reach, but easy enough if one is over twenty feet tall. Once inside, Delena had known Wraith hadn't been home in a while and looked for the not the transformer always left in her place. Following the directions on the note, Delena had set off to find her friend.
The directions had taken her several days away, to an unknown forest. During that time, Delena had calmed down and almost turned back to find her father, but every time she almost did, she'd hear Wraith's scratchy voice saying something like Don't be silly, child. Rushing into problems never gets them fixed. You have to think! It would always make Delena continue to find Wraith. Her friend always seemed to know what to do.
Delena sighed, thinking back on the last week of her life. It hadn't been pleasant and she still hadn't found Wraith. This is not one of my better days, she rolled her optics in sarcasm. Her joints were starting to scratch and she had branches and leaves stuck everywhere. She needed to find a water source. It wouldn't fix the problem, but it would help. Her sensors picked up a small swiftly running stream and she found it easily. It's not like it was hiding. Delena giggled at the odd thought and sat beside the stream, cupping water and cleaning herself off as best she could.
Silently, she prowled through the underbrush, watching as the unknown transformers slowly came closer. Crouching in her sabercat form, Wraith kept her shadow ability active to keep them from seeing her. Her tail swished back and forth, the deadly blade on the end slicing through the ground.
Absently, she wondered why they were here, this deep into the forest. Wraith watched them as they traveled, obviously searching for something. She knew it couldn't be herself as her natural abilities kept her from popping up on the radar. It had been a rare ability back when she was younger and it was even rarer still since too many had died in the beginning of the war.
Optimus and Drift walked, steadily getting closer to the unknown signal. They picked up a small stream, but nothing else. The signal seemed to have stopped by the water.
"It has to be an unknown transformer, Prime," Drift spoke up quietly. Sound could easily carry quite far in the silence of the trees. "Why else would it have stopped by water? Humans don't come up on our radar."
Prime nodded, watching the blip, but didn't say anything. Absently, he peered through the nearby bushes, but didn't find any tracks. The transformer must have come from another direction. The two Autobots continued towards the riverbed.
Wraith watched the blue and red transformer peer through the bushes for something and nearly laughed out loud. What is it looking for in there? she thought to herself, blinking slowly. When it seemed to give up and head off after checking something, Wraith's ears twitched, but didn't catch any audio transmissions. As it walked off, Wraith crept after him, not rustling anything nearby as she passed swiftly through the underbrush.
Abruptly, she sniffed, catching another scent in the wind towards the riverbed. Wraith inhaled and recognized it as Delena. Not good. Wraith gave a small snarl and whirled deeper into the bushes, her tail slicing through the leaves. Checking to make sure her shadow was still active, she dodged the transformers optics, keeping just out of sight.
Drift whirled around when he heard something behind him, whipping out his blades and crouching, ready for anything that came out of the trees. When nothing happened, he relaxed slightly, glancing at Prime, who was too intent on the signal to have noticed the quiet sound. Drift thought it must have been some organic animal and sniffed. Again, nothing came up and he slowly put his blades away. As he turned around, he noticed some sliced leaves fall to the forest floor. Drift narrowed his eyes and placed a hand on his sword hilt, to be ready. Something was stalking them. He backed up a little to reach Prime, optics on the forest behind them.
Delena finished filling up her coolant tanks and heard something behind her. Expecting Wraith, she stood up and turned around. Instead, she found a red and blue transformer standing in front of her with a white transformer behind him. Worried, Delena noticed the white one had two large swords in his hands.
"What? Don't hurt me!" Delena cried and took a staggering step backwards. She was scared that they were going to kill her. Wraith had told her stories about the old transformer war on this planet and on their home planet, Cybertron. She didn't know what side these two were on.
Optimus raised his hands up to reassure her. Drift narrowed his eyes at her, but with a motion from Prime, he put away his swords. Prime smiled at her, "What is your name? I have not seen you at the Autobot base before."
The blue and red one took a step closer to her as she spoke and Delena backed up. She had to find Wraith. When the white transformer put his swords away, she relaxed slightly, but didn't get any closer. "Why are you asking me? What do you want from me? You're the ones who came up to me."
Prime took a step closer and held out his hand. "We mean you no h-" He was interrupted by a snarl from behind him as a faded black cybernetic cat launched from the darkened trees. Wraith's tail sliced downwards, slashing through Prime's upper right arm. She landed lightly between the two transformers and Delena. Wraith roared at the two as Prime's arm transformed into his gun and Drift whipped out his blades and advanced sideways to flank her.
Wraith paced low to the ground, snarling alternatively at Prime and Drift. Her tail whipped back and forth, keeping Delena back and out of the fight. No matter, she thought, I've taken more than two on before.
Drift twirled a blade and dodged her tail strike, counterattacking with a slice of his own. Wraith snarled as the tip met her ear. She shook her head and launched full body at him, batting away the blade Drift used in defense. They went down and rolled, Wraith slashing furrows into his arm. One of his blades skittered across the grass. Optimus aimed his gun, but realized he couldn't shoot with Drift so close to her and aimed at Delena to keep her from attacking. Little did he know, Delena couldn't fight and was too afraid for Wraith to run. The cat's tail wrapped around Drift's remaining sword and pulled, but the swordsbot refused to let go, punching Wraith in the chest. She yowled in pain and rolled off, snapping her jaws at him.
Wraith crouched low to the ground to protect her middle. Her ear that was slashed in half twitched and she blinked. Wraith snarled, turning towards the other transformer as he came up to her other side, holding his gun at her. It didn't phase her one bit and she launched herself at him. The other's sword suddenly appeared in her side vision, arcing downward at a dangerous speed. She twisted in midair, trying to avoid the blade, but it bit deeply into her shoulder. With a cry, she landed at the red and blue's feet with a thud. Wraith tried to get up when she heard Delena's cry and saw the child push past them to her. Prime raised a hand at Drift to stop him. Both of them realized Delena was no threat to either of them. It was the cat they had to watch.
Delena fell to her knees next to her friend and mother. "Wraith! No!" Wraith tried to get up, but Delena pushed her down. "No, you're hurt." She glared up at the two. "Surely you have a doctor or something? She was only trying to protect me!"
"I'm not dead yet, child!" Wraith growled and shoved at Delena's hands. She pushed herself to her feet, though her front right leg refused to work. Knowing she was beat, the other two transformers backed up, but let her. Wraith's tail curled around her, but was relatively limp. Wraith sighed and looked down at herself, inspecting the damage with an internal system. It was deep but minor; her attempt to twist out of the way had payed off at least. Nudging Delena out of the way, Wraith stood, transforming into her robot mode. Standing, she was nearly as tall as Delena and the blue and red transformer. Her right arm still didn't work right, but it would in time. Her systems would eventually heal the damage.
Slowly, Prime put his gun away. It looked like the Decepticon knew she was beaten and waited for him to take them hostage. What he didn't understand was why she was with a transformer that looked like a warrior, but acted too young.
"What are you doing here, Decepticons?" Prime asked as Drift kept his blades out but relaxed slightly. The white Autobot watched the cat in case she tried to pull something. "This is Autobot and human territory."
Wraith narrowed her eyes. "I go where I wish! There were no scouts to warn me off, or barriers to cross."
"Decepticon! What is that?" Delena asked at the same time, staying close to Wraith. She didn't like them too much at this point. "Who are you?"
"My name is Optimus Prime. This is my brother-in-arms, Drift," Prime responded. Drift looked surprised at Delena's response and snorted. "We are here to protect this planet from those that would destroy it."
"There hasn't been a Prime for millennium," Wraith rasped. Her tail flicked in surprise when the transformer named himself a Prime.
Optimus looked at her sadly, "I am the last."
"I never seen you a around here before," Drift spoke up. Prime glanced over at Drift and Wraith caught sight of the ancient symbol on his head. Wraith inhaled sharply took a step backwards. Drift narrowed his eyes and tensed. He'd never sheathed his blades and was ready to defend his leader.
"You have not seen me because I chose not to join your war and I avoided humans as best I could," Wraith cast a glance back at Delena with a sigh. "The Decepticons have no Prime, so you must be the Autobot leader I've heard recently. My name is Wraith and this is my protege, Delena."
Delena was completely confused. "What is a Prime and they just tried to kill you!" Delena cried to Wraith while the Autobots simply watched. "You're never this accepting."
Wraith shook her head and looked over at Delena. "They didn't try to kill us, Delena, I attacked them. There is a difference." Wraith glanced over at Optimus Prime. "To answer your question, Delena, you should ask him."
Delena blinked in thought. "If he's a leader then there are more...Right?" she asked as she looked at Optimus Prime.
Optimus nodded with a small smile. "It seems we got off on the wrong circuit. I am sorry if I seemed to threaten your friend. Would you like to return home with us to the Autobot base?"
Immediately, Drift objected. "They can't attack us and then you just let them join with us, Prime!"
Optimus looked over at Drift. "It was a misunderstanding, Drift. She," and he motioned towards Wraith, "was only protecting a friend. Decepticons don't do that."
Delena looked at Wraith, unsure, but the old transformer looked at her. It was her decision, then. Giving a sigh, Delena looked up at Optimus and said, "Yes, we would." Unintentionally, she compared the two Autobots to Wraith. They were clean, not too many battle scars that she could see, and their paint job looked new. It made her wonder how old Wraith was and why her "mother" had stayed away from others of her kind for so long.
Optimus gave her a reassuring smile. "Let's roll," he said as and turned to head home. Drift grumbled but trotted off to scout ahead.
Delena looked at Wraith, nervous suddenly. "Is that ok?"
Wraith shrugged, but finally smiled to make Delena feel better. "The choice is yours, Delena. There are always two sides to everything. That is why the war started in the first place."
Delena nodded and turned to catch up to Optimus, who had stopped to wait for her. He's so nice, came the unbidden thought and Delena had to work not to burst into giggles. Catching sight of Wraith watching her with an unknown look of hers, Delena hurried to follow the two Autobots.
They quickly found the edge of the trees and Delena and Wraith could see the large campus in the distance. The open space was mostly grass and wildflowers, though bits and pieces of it were trampled by feet and tires. Optimus nodded to Delena with a smile. Hesitantly, she smiled back at him. Drift huffed and transformed into his white sports car and sped off. Optimus led the way across the grass and into the base.