Transformers: Fractal Web (section: 1)
By Waspinatrix (waspinatrix@hotmail.com)
Legalese: Transformers, Autobots, Decepticons, Cybertron, Energon, Vector Sigma, the Matrix, Primus, Metroplex, Springer, Rodimus Prime, Arcee, Galvatron, Cyclonus, Unicron (or Unicrom), Perceptor, Sweeps, StarScream, ThunderCracker, Charr, Prowl, the Arialbots, Spike Witwicky are all property of HasKen and are used without permission for the express purpose of entertainment without profit.
Buster Witwicky, Mutants (Homo Sapient Superior), and the Mutant Registration Act are properties of Marvel Comics and are used without permission for the express purpose of entertainment without profit.
Mara Benedict, Sarai Benedict, Anthony Benedict, Marcus Benedict, Charles "Charlie" Reagan, Lourdes Maria Maza, FlameDancer, WhirlBlade and NightShade are copyrighted to me 1992-2000. This story is not to be redistributed in whole or part without my permission. Nor are my characters to be used without my permission. Reviews, questions and critiques are always welcome. Happy bidding, er.. reading. :D
Phase One: Queen
Battle... searing flash. Memory limited, vivid. Machines breathed for her. What was left of her; a seething mind locked in a useless pulp of flesh. No senses, no hope. How long -- how long has she been in this never ending hell? No way for Mara to know...
~How cruel this fate.~
"Yes." Of course it was!
~God is laughing...~
"Yeah, right, there's no such thing!"
~Laugh back...~
"How?" Was she finally going mad?
~Come to me...~
Mara felt the bitter need to laugh. First her body, now her mind betrayed her.
~Come to me...~ Wrapped within the command were images; cold, freezing black, laced with distant pin-pricks of star-light burned into her mind's eye. The voice continued in her head, ~the ability to escape this retched existence is still within your grasp. Take it. Take this chance to avenge yourself.~
"What are you?"
~God...~
"Prove it!" Liar!
~Disprove me...~
Mara could not conceive a reason to refuse the request of this madness. In entertaining thoughts of death, it had been given voice. Why not? Surely the quick end of a frozen explosion was better than this endless torture and loneliness.
"Very well, God,' Lead on," Mara thought back sarcastically, as she drew on her innate powers. Lightning cascaded through dead nerves; the power focused on warping the space immediately around her. The hospital lights flickered out and the back up generators hummed to life. The equipment, that had extended her torture, overloaded and the heart monitor gave a high pitched keening, bewailing her demise. Mara was away of none of this, as she blinked out, transversing interstellar distances in the span of a few heartbeats.
*
Mara waited for Death's cold embrace, and nothing... Without eyes to see or ears to hear she had no idea of what was holding her from Death's door. Something was suspending her against the void. Fear clawed at her mind. What was going on?
~Welcome Mara,~ the voice rang in her head, no longer sheathed in coaxing, or pity, its raw-iron power gripped, giving no quarter.
"Who are you?" Mara forced herself to form coherent thoughts.
~Your salvation from this prison of flesh.~
"How?" Mara suspected that this was either an elaborate delusion of her mind or, possibly a reality...
~A new body.~
Oh this was just too funny, it had to be a delusion, but, at least it interacted with her, and she had been so lonely, "knock yourself out."
~A chance for revenge.~ The voice paused.
Mara, torn between feelings of insanity and her need for that comfort tensed when the voice stopped. She had to have just a little more time before making up her mind. "I'm listening."
~Accept and live, or refuse and die.~
Mara chose this as her reality; she was being given a chance to be capable, useful, a chance to avenge the wrongs she'd suffered. "What have I got to lose? Yes, do it!..."
~Excellent,~ the voice purred.
Mara thrashed back into convulsions. Pain firing though damaged nerves -- a staccato barrage of acid dipped needles. Her body stretched to the point of ripping, she blacked out in the overload...
Blackness -- she wasn't alone. Opening her eyes, she saw a glowing, discorpreal Autobot standing before her, holding her hands, a steadying reassuring presence. How was this possible for a Transformer to hold her hands, the size difference was enormous.
"I can, because I always have," he said cryptically.
"I-" Mara said, struggling to remember his name.
"It's not your time yet," he said gently, "not until all are one."
"What?" Mara was confused by his obtuse comments, when she sensed him leaving. "Wait."
"I've always been a part of you, now more than ever," he said, smoothing her hair aside, "you've never accepted me."
"Wait!" She cried as he faded.
As the cocoon of energy dissolved, Mara could see again, feel and move her limbs again. The sight that met her eyes was horrifying, defying reason. A monstrous planet loomed before her.
~Welcome to life, Mara,~ its voice had an amused tone.
Mara looked at her hands. Inhuman, robotic gauntlets, with rigid-plating. Her fingers ended in needle-fine points. She felt herself reel with shock. "What is this?" she demanded.
~An improvement.~
"A Mockery!" Mara raged, bitterness constricted her throat. She didn't want to end up like her mother.
A wave of nauseating pain smashed through her. As the planet sad, ~I allow no dissension. Go...~ His order was accompanied with a new image, the destination she was ordered to go to.
As the pain diminished, Mara glared for a moment of defiance at her master. She realized that in her rush to find relief she had signed a pact with hell. She truly was her mother's daughter. Summoning her power, she vanished, teleporting to Charr.
***
Phase Two: Rook
FlameDancer lounged back in her chair, resting her optics. The screen before her was filled with text, one of many footnotes in her research -- a comprehensive history of Earth's religions. She had an unquenchable fascination, a driving need to comprehend the elusive Mysteries of Life.
Springer leaned against the doorway, a hand-unit held behind him, as he watched her. FlameDancer's orange and yellow hide seemed to flicker with a subtle life of it's own, even when she was at rest. She may have changed, a new body, and name, but Springer would always love Arcee in any incarnation.
"Springer," FlameDancer said, catching sight of the green robot.
"In person," he smiled as he approached her and handed her the hand-unit, "here, this came though from Metroplex about an hour ago." She accepted the small computer and started reading the message. Her optics became unreadable as she looked up to Springer.
"I must go to Metroplex. Is there a shuttle ready?" She announced, as she stood up. Springer frowned; he had previewed the message before giving it to her.
"It's dangerous," he warned.
"I know," she soothed, taking his hand, "but this is the only way to correct a fatal mistake. Doctor Reagan has done so much for us, so has Miss Benedict. We owe it to them."
"There must be some other way-"
"I'll be alright, Springer, you'll be with me." She asserted. Springer relented, though his mouth was still had it's obstinate twist on it. FlameDancer sighed. Springer would probably never understand.
***
Phase Three: Knight
The laboratory, Charlie Reagan's adopted habitat, was cluttered with gadgets and devices made by his own hands. The circular platform in the center was his current focus, a cumulation of twenty years, more than half his life.
Charlie blew the unruly strands of his nondescript, mousy hair off of his forehead as he ran a systems check for the ninth time. The hair fell back to rest on the rims of his glasses once more. Absorbed in more pressing matters, he forgot his need for a hair cut, again.
Mara's dire situation had forced Charlie to rush the completion of this experiment. Especially if he didn't want his daughter' to suffer any longer. William Benedict, her guardian had denied Charlie permission to restore her humanity after the accident. Only Sarai, Mara's mother could counter the decision.
"How are things on your end, Perceptor?" Charlie asked. Perceptor started rattling in his multi-syllable rhetoric. Charlie only listened for the Autobot scientist's tone of voice, have learned long ago that when he was in a rush and needed a simple answer, Perceptor's tone was a good indicator. Even though Charlie could decipher his friend, time was pressing.
Charlie swore under his breath, "where IS she?" He was anxious to push this project forward, for Mara's sake.
"FlameDancer is en route. She Departed posthaste, determined to participate in this endeavor..." Perceptor elaborated, sparing his small companion a glance.
Charlie ran his hand through his hair and exhaled, exasperated. He suddenly tensed, filled with last minute thoughts... was he forgetting something?!? "The medi-bed!" He exclaimed.
"Was procured forty-three minutes ago." Perceptor reminded him. Charlie sighed, he felt redundant, useless... The lab door slid open, disrupting his self-pity. Springer entered, followed by FlameDancer. Charlie noticed her otherworldly aspect, as he usually did on the few times he saw her. She was constructed as a priestess of Vector Sigma, the female counter-part to the matrix barer.
"I am here as you requested, Dr. Reagan," FlameDancer said, as the door slid shut behind her.
"Thank you," Charlie managed. He indicated a chair with a HUD helmet jacked into it. FlameDancer obliged him by sitting down. Perceptor helped her adjust the helmet.
"The relevant data is already within the computer," Charlie said, as he hovered over the control panel nervously. The few preliminary, full-scale tests he had run had been devastating. This time he was trying something radical, and he prayed it worked.
"All you have to do is guide Sarai here." Charlie instructed as he primed the machine. The hum, at first unperceptible, grew in intensity, vibrating the area. Charlie prayed -- to a god he rarely acknowledged since the death of his parents -- that this venture would work, as he pulled the switch. There was no turning back.
FlameDancer gasped, pressing into the chair back. Her soul shot from her like a cannon. Reality shattered into a turbulent maelstrom, a sickening whorl of incoherent impressions. She struggled to stay cohesive as her senses were bombarded with input she couldn't begin to comprehend. For an eternal moment the oneness of many cacophonied, as the dimensions twisted and convulsed, turning inside out.
The feeling of being ripped from herself, FlameDancer held on as the shift froze and reality reintegrated itself, swallowing her in its depth. She was stunned, hardly aware of herself. Where was she? The data-feed from the helmet forced her awareness to refocus. Earth... Daybreak... Battle... Battle... FlameDancer stirred. Watching the aftermath of the daring rescue, replaying twenty years after it had happened.
Prowl was carrying Charlie -- a youth, not out of his teens yet. Sarai, decked out in Power Armor, was providing cover for Prowl's escape. Charlie screamed and Prowl stood by helplessly, as Megatron's cannon came to bare on Sarai. FlameDancer remembered herself, and refocused the scene just as Megatron fired. Sarai was engulfed by the fusion beam, and was gone...
*
FlameDancer labored to shield Sarai from the void between realities. Blackness, more shock. FlameDancer lifted her head, remembering that she had a helmet on, she removed it. The sight that met her optic was devastating. Charlie was kneeling on the platform, cradling the limp form of Sarai, crying as he held the young woman to her. How could I have come so close, and fail?! FlameDancer despaired. Charlie looked up at her. Wiping his face announced with relief, "She's alive!"
***
Phase Four: Bishop
~Galvatron,~ Unicrom's Ubiquitous voice filtered into the mind of his servant.
"Unicrom(!)," Galvatron seethed, ire beating through his fuel-pump.
~I am sending you a helpmeet. A means to rise up against our enemies.~
Galvatron listened, reigning his reaction, he casually asked, "what is this means you speak of?"
~A living Matrix...~
Galvatron laughed at the audacious comment, saying, "you jest! There's only one ma--Ahrgrh--" he was cut off mid-sentence, as his body was lanced with pain.
~The warrior will arrive soon, Galvatron.~ Unicrom said, as he withdrew from his slave.
Galvatron made no reply, as he silently raged at the indignities he was forced to bare. Perhaps her could use this so-called Matrix to revenge himself on Unicrom. The idea appealed, providing a sense of comfort as he summoned Cyclonus.
***
By Waspinatrix (waspinatrix@hotmail.com)
Legalese: Transformers, Autobots, Decepticons, Cybertron, Energon, Vector Sigma, the Matrix, Primus, Metroplex, Springer, Rodimus Prime, Arcee, Galvatron, Cyclonus, Unicron (or Unicrom), Perceptor, Sweeps, StarScream, ThunderCracker, Charr, Prowl, the Arialbots, Spike Witwicky are all property of HasKen and are used without permission for the express purpose of entertainment without profit.
Buster Witwicky, Mutants (Homo Sapient Superior), and the Mutant Registration Act are properties of Marvel Comics and are used without permission for the express purpose of entertainment without profit.
Mara Benedict, Sarai Benedict, Anthony Benedict, Marcus Benedict, Charles "Charlie" Reagan, Lourdes Maria Maza, FlameDancer, WhirlBlade and NightShade are copyrighted to me 1992-2000. This story is not to be redistributed in whole or part without my permission. Nor are my characters to be used without my permission. Reviews, questions and critiques are always welcome. Happy bidding, er.. reading. :D
Phase One: Queen
Battle... searing flash. Memory limited, vivid. Machines breathed for her. What was left of her; a seething mind locked in a useless pulp of flesh. No senses, no hope. How long -- how long has she been in this never ending hell? No way for Mara to know...
~How cruel this fate.~
"Yes." Of course it was!
~God is laughing...~
"Yeah, right, there's no such thing!"
~Laugh back...~
"How?" Was she finally going mad?
~Come to me...~
Mara felt the bitter need to laugh. First her body, now her mind betrayed her.
~Come to me...~ Wrapped within the command were images; cold, freezing black, laced with distant pin-pricks of star-light burned into her mind's eye. The voice continued in her head, ~the ability to escape this retched existence is still within your grasp. Take it. Take this chance to avenge yourself.~
"What are you?"
~God...~
"Prove it!" Liar!
~Disprove me...~
Mara could not conceive a reason to refuse the request of this madness. In entertaining thoughts of death, it had been given voice. Why not? Surely the quick end of a frozen explosion was better than this endless torture and loneliness.
"Very well, God,' Lead on," Mara thought back sarcastically, as she drew on her innate powers. Lightning cascaded through dead nerves; the power focused on warping the space immediately around her. The hospital lights flickered out and the back up generators hummed to life. The equipment, that had extended her torture, overloaded and the heart monitor gave a high pitched keening, bewailing her demise. Mara was away of none of this, as she blinked out, transversing interstellar distances in the span of a few heartbeats.
*
Mara waited for Death's cold embrace, and nothing... Without eyes to see or ears to hear she had no idea of what was holding her from Death's door. Something was suspending her against the void. Fear clawed at her mind. What was going on?
~Welcome Mara,~ the voice rang in her head, no longer sheathed in coaxing, or pity, its raw-iron power gripped, giving no quarter.
"Who are you?" Mara forced herself to form coherent thoughts.
~Your salvation from this prison of flesh.~
"How?" Mara suspected that this was either an elaborate delusion of her mind or, possibly a reality...
~A new body.~
Oh this was just too funny, it had to be a delusion, but, at least it interacted with her, and she had been so lonely, "knock yourself out."
~A chance for revenge.~ The voice paused.
Mara, torn between feelings of insanity and her need for that comfort tensed when the voice stopped. She had to have just a little more time before making up her mind. "I'm listening."
~Accept and live, or refuse and die.~
Mara chose this as her reality; she was being given a chance to be capable, useful, a chance to avenge the wrongs she'd suffered. "What have I got to lose? Yes, do it!..."
~Excellent,~ the voice purred.
Mara thrashed back into convulsions. Pain firing though damaged nerves -- a staccato barrage of acid dipped needles. Her body stretched to the point of ripping, she blacked out in the overload...
Blackness -- she wasn't alone. Opening her eyes, she saw a glowing, discorpreal Autobot standing before her, holding her hands, a steadying reassuring presence. How was this possible for a Transformer to hold her hands, the size difference was enormous.
"I can, because I always have," he said cryptically.
"I-" Mara said, struggling to remember his name.
"It's not your time yet," he said gently, "not until all are one."
"What?" Mara was confused by his obtuse comments, when she sensed him leaving. "Wait."
"I've always been a part of you, now more than ever," he said, smoothing her hair aside, "you've never accepted me."
"Wait!" She cried as he faded.
As the cocoon of energy dissolved, Mara could see again, feel and move her limbs again. The sight that met her eyes was horrifying, defying reason. A monstrous planet loomed before her.
~Welcome to life, Mara,~ its voice had an amused tone.
Mara looked at her hands. Inhuman, robotic gauntlets, with rigid-plating. Her fingers ended in needle-fine points. She felt herself reel with shock. "What is this?" she demanded.
~An improvement.~
"A Mockery!" Mara raged, bitterness constricted her throat. She didn't want to end up like her mother.
A wave of nauseating pain smashed through her. As the planet sad, ~I allow no dissension. Go...~ His order was accompanied with a new image, the destination she was ordered to go to.
As the pain diminished, Mara glared for a moment of defiance at her master. She realized that in her rush to find relief she had signed a pact with hell. She truly was her mother's daughter. Summoning her power, she vanished, teleporting to Charr.
***
Phase Two: Rook
FlameDancer lounged back in her chair, resting her optics. The screen before her was filled with text, one of many footnotes in her research -- a comprehensive history of Earth's religions. She had an unquenchable fascination, a driving need to comprehend the elusive Mysteries of Life.
Springer leaned against the doorway, a hand-unit held behind him, as he watched her. FlameDancer's orange and yellow hide seemed to flicker with a subtle life of it's own, even when she was at rest. She may have changed, a new body, and name, but Springer would always love Arcee in any incarnation.
"Springer," FlameDancer said, catching sight of the green robot.
"In person," he smiled as he approached her and handed her the hand-unit, "here, this came though from Metroplex about an hour ago." She accepted the small computer and started reading the message. Her optics became unreadable as she looked up to Springer.
"I must go to Metroplex. Is there a shuttle ready?" She announced, as she stood up. Springer frowned; he had previewed the message before giving it to her.
"It's dangerous," he warned.
"I know," she soothed, taking his hand, "but this is the only way to correct a fatal mistake. Doctor Reagan has done so much for us, so has Miss Benedict. We owe it to them."
"There must be some other way-"
"I'll be alright, Springer, you'll be with me." She asserted. Springer relented, though his mouth was still had it's obstinate twist on it. FlameDancer sighed. Springer would probably never understand.
***
Phase Three: Knight
The laboratory, Charlie Reagan's adopted habitat, was cluttered with gadgets and devices made by his own hands. The circular platform in the center was his current focus, a cumulation of twenty years, more than half his life.
Charlie blew the unruly strands of his nondescript, mousy hair off of his forehead as he ran a systems check for the ninth time. The hair fell back to rest on the rims of his glasses once more. Absorbed in more pressing matters, he forgot his need for a hair cut, again.
Mara's dire situation had forced Charlie to rush the completion of this experiment. Especially if he didn't want his daughter' to suffer any longer. William Benedict, her guardian had denied Charlie permission to restore her humanity after the accident. Only Sarai, Mara's mother could counter the decision.
"How are things on your end, Perceptor?" Charlie asked. Perceptor started rattling in his multi-syllable rhetoric. Charlie only listened for the Autobot scientist's tone of voice, have learned long ago that when he was in a rush and needed a simple answer, Perceptor's tone was a good indicator. Even though Charlie could decipher his friend, time was pressing.
Charlie swore under his breath, "where IS she?" He was anxious to push this project forward, for Mara's sake.
"FlameDancer is en route. She Departed posthaste, determined to participate in this endeavor..." Perceptor elaborated, sparing his small companion a glance.
Charlie ran his hand through his hair and exhaled, exasperated. He suddenly tensed, filled with last minute thoughts... was he forgetting something?!? "The medi-bed!" He exclaimed.
"Was procured forty-three minutes ago." Perceptor reminded him. Charlie sighed, he felt redundant, useless... The lab door slid open, disrupting his self-pity. Springer entered, followed by FlameDancer. Charlie noticed her otherworldly aspect, as he usually did on the few times he saw her. She was constructed as a priestess of Vector Sigma, the female counter-part to the matrix barer.
"I am here as you requested, Dr. Reagan," FlameDancer said, as the door slid shut behind her.
"Thank you," Charlie managed. He indicated a chair with a HUD helmet jacked into it. FlameDancer obliged him by sitting down. Perceptor helped her adjust the helmet.
"The relevant data is already within the computer," Charlie said, as he hovered over the control panel nervously. The few preliminary, full-scale tests he had run had been devastating. This time he was trying something radical, and he prayed it worked.
"All you have to do is guide Sarai here." Charlie instructed as he primed the machine. The hum, at first unperceptible, grew in intensity, vibrating the area. Charlie prayed -- to a god he rarely acknowledged since the death of his parents -- that this venture would work, as he pulled the switch. There was no turning back.
FlameDancer gasped, pressing into the chair back. Her soul shot from her like a cannon. Reality shattered into a turbulent maelstrom, a sickening whorl of incoherent impressions. She struggled to stay cohesive as her senses were bombarded with input she couldn't begin to comprehend. For an eternal moment the oneness of many cacophonied, as the dimensions twisted and convulsed, turning inside out.
The feeling of being ripped from herself, FlameDancer held on as the shift froze and reality reintegrated itself, swallowing her in its depth. She was stunned, hardly aware of herself. Where was she? The data-feed from the helmet forced her awareness to refocus. Earth... Daybreak... Battle... Battle... FlameDancer stirred. Watching the aftermath of the daring rescue, replaying twenty years after it had happened.
Prowl was carrying Charlie -- a youth, not out of his teens yet. Sarai, decked out in Power Armor, was providing cover for Prowl's escape. Charlie screamed and Prowl stood by helplessly, as Megatron's cannon came to bare on Sarai. FlameDancer remembered herself, and refocused the scene just as Megatron fired. Sarai was engulfed by the fusion beam, and was gone...
*
FlameDancer labored to shield Sarai from the void between realities. Blackness, more shock. FlameDancer lifted her head, remembering that she had a helmet on, she removed it. The sight that met her optic was devastating. Charlie was kneeling on the platform, cradling the limp form of Sarai, crying as he held the young woman to her. How could I have come so close, and fail?! FlameDancer despaired. Charlie looked up at her. Wiping his face announced with relief, "She's alive!"
***
Phase Four: Bishop
~Galvatron,~ Unicrom's Ubiquitous voice filtered into the mind of his servant.
"Unicrom(!)," Galvatron seethed, ire beating through his fuel-pump.
~I am sending you a helpmeet. A means to rise up against our enemies.~
Galvatron listened, reigning his reaction, he casually asked, "what is this means you speak of?"
~A living Matrix...~
Galvatron laughed at the audacious comment, saying, "you jest! There's only one ma--Ahrgrh--" he was cut off mid-sentence, as his body was lanced with pain.
~The warrior will arrive soon, Galvatron.~ Unicrom said, as he withdrew from his slave.
Galvatron made no reply, as he silently raged at the indignities he was forced to bare. Perhaps her could use this so-called Matrix to revenge himself on Unicrom. The idea appealed, providing a sense of comfort as he summoned Cyclonus.
***