Over on the Comics in Disguise Forum, we've been doing a weekly drabble project. At first, I didn't think I'd be writing things that were good enough to post here. But overall, they haven't been too bad. And one or two have been good enough to be given stand-alone story status (I love you, Halfback! *sniff*) So here you go: a new drabble once a week, more or less.
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Week One
Characters: Megatron, Cliffjumper
Must include the phrase, "Hiding under Cliffjumper"
A/N: I may never quite get over the shock of Cliff's death in the new TF: Prime series. But even so, this turned out much more whiny than I'd intended. (I'd wanted a more starry-eyed approach.) But I promised myself I wouldn't get too hung up on how these came out.
In His Shadow.
Read-Only File 2-00053/AF
He exploded onto the scene three years ago. I suppose I should have known even then that he was going to be my hero. But, well, you know how it is. It's hard to idolize someone who treats you like a bumbling protoform all the time. Maybe you understand a little of what that's like. I know you want the others to take you more seriously. They don't mean it, I suppose; and there doesn't seem to be much more we can do to change their minds. We'll always be the kids in the crew, you and me; and, well, I don't know about you, Raf, but whenever I try to prove them wrong, it always seems like I end up proving them right instead...
I was the last bot to see Megatron as he left Earth – you know, before. I saw his contrail rising out of the atmosphere as I lay like a coward, hiding under Cliffjumper, legs shot off again...
I had only meant to get some useful information. You know, to see the others' optics light up as they realized what I'd brought them; to have Prime tell me I'd done well...
But I guess I got too close. Or maybe it was my usual dumb luck. I'd assume that Primus hates me, if I didn't always somehow make it out of all the problems I get myself into...
I'd detected Megatron's signature – It was never hard to miss – and come up on him and Soundwave muttering together. Megatron muttering is never a good thing. Proclaiming is ok – you know what he's up to. But muttering means something so serious he's even a little afraid of it...
I'd heard them say a lot of things I didn't understand, about space and maps and Unicron. I inched a little bit closer in order to hear better; but I guess Soundwave must have spotted me, because all of a sudden he held up a hand to stop Megatron. And you don't stop Megatron in mid-speech unless you're sure it's worth it.
I didn't want to call for backup. I wasn't even supposed top be out alone. But I'm a scout. I'm supposed to go out alone! I'm supposed to be gutsy. But my SOS-signal went off automatically when the first shot took off my legs...
I was lying on the ground with Megatron's fusion cannon in my face, with Soundwave recording the moment for eternity... and who do you suppose was the bot in the neighborhood?
Soundwave never knew what hit him, so the rest of the fight went unrecorded, thankfully. But Megatron put up a fight. I think the only reason we weren't scrapped was that Cliff had landed a shot under Megatron's shoulder, so he couldn't raise his cannon-arm.
But that didn't mean he couldn't punch with the other one. Cliff took a couple big ones to the face, and then Megatron grabbed him by the horns and threw him across the field. That really made Cliff mad. You don't mess with The Horns.
Megatron was lifting his dead arm with the other one, in order to fire, so I squawked out a warning. Cliff was turning to fire again, when he... Well, he tripped over me. I won't tell you what he called me as he fell.
Megatron swung his arm around, and managed to get off a shot at him; and because it was just that sort of day, he didn't miss. And Cliffjumper, of course, rolled over me to protect me from the blast.
Megatron stumped over to gloat. His armor was smoking. He wasn't happy. And everything he was muttering was directed at Cliffjumper. He'd forgotten all about me. Or maybe he'd never cared. But I was mad. So I shot him. Hey, my arm was free. And because sometimes life is like that, I hit him in the knee, and he stumbled.
He wasn't looking good, but he could still have killed us both, no problem. But then, without even raising his head to look, Cliffjumper powered up his ion cannon, and fired. He aimed by sound alone. And he hit Megatron in the face. Because he's Cliffjumper, I guess, and not me.
He winked at me as we heard Megatron howl. "Nice distraction, kid," he said. "But next time, try to let the bigger bots handle these 'Cons."
Megatron grabbed Soundwave, and tore off into the sky. And that's the last we saw of him. Till, you know, now...
I'm not sure why I'm telling you all this, Raf. I guess I just needed to tell somebody, and it seemed mean to say all this to anyone else. I mean, he drove me crazy. But I would have taken that energon blast for him. That's just the way it is, I guess. Now more than ever, I'm doing everything I can to be like Cliff.
We'll show them, Raf. One of these days, we'll show them. We may be little. We may be young. But there's a lot we can do yet.
