A/N: This story is the result of a plot bunny gone wild while my children were watching a marathon of the Michael Bay movies. I'll admit in advance that I'm only a novice when it comes to Transformers, but there shouldn't be any noticeable OOCness. Also, I'm not using any particular canon series as a base for this story, since there are quite a few to choose from, but one that is a blend of G1, Armada, and the movies/games. The timeline of events, however, is post-DOTM. That being said, please enjoy the story and drop me a line to let me know how I did. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers in any of their incarnations, and this story is for entertainment only, not profit. The original characters are mine, along with the storyline.
Alone
Chapter 1
Kensington, Illinois
June 21, 2015
10:00 PM
Deep, repeated lowing sounded in the starless night, bellows of discontent from one of the human's meat animals. Judging from the slight echo rebounding off the grassy hillside behind him, the creature was located somewhere on this farm, probably in the pasture behind the collection of worn barns that stood close to the rear of the two-story house. It was most likely reacting to the charged atmosphere that grew heavier as invisible clouds collected in the blackness overhead. Or it was about to give birth. Either way, animals weren't the focus of the small mechanical creature that crouched patiently in the darker shadows of the night. He had other things to attend to.
His red eyes gleamed as he began to roam the edge of the neglected lawn, scanning the area ahead, looking for any sign of a threat from the people inhabiting the house. There were two in residence, a male lying inside the large living room asleep, and a female posted on a porch swing, fingers twitching every now and again as she became more engrossed in the book lying on her lap.
Tiny whirring clicks broke the stillness as Doc took his chance and scurried across the unlit open space and headed toward the barn closest to him, sensors alert for any change in the environment. The barn was a wide building, with no windows and a set of double doors large enough for two elephants to exit shoulder to shoulder. Apparently this structure was designed to house plowing and harvesting equipment, and not mere animals. Slipping between a large crack in the door, he found himself surrounded by stacks and stacks of various glass and metal parts designed for a quantity of different machines, and not a single one whole. It was a silent graveyard of the mechanical, a fitting place for him on this night.
Shrugging off the useless sentiment a moment later, he performed a quick scan that told him no security equipment was in place, and no animals were in the near vicinity either. He had learned rather quickly about the tenacity of the human's protective canine companions, and had no wish to repeat the experience of being chased by one of the four-legged beasts.
Now satisfied that he would remain undisturbed, Doc turned his attention to the piles of metal around him. There didn't really seem to be an order to things, other than to keep it out of the middle of the floor and away from a workbench that sat in one corner. Windshields were stacked on car seats, quarter-panels for various vehicles were heaped inside an intact truck bed, other pieces of unidentified origin lay bent and twisted in small hills along the wall. Rows of dust-covered shelves stood sentinel above him, holding everything from larger tools and work lights to discarded and broken headlamp bulbs.
Moving over to what looked like the most recently acquired set of items, Doc began examining them, looking for anything familiar. He picked up a silver triangle of metal and stopped. It was a piston joint, designed to slide and rotate large amounts of material at the same time... and it was not of human make. Tossing it to a barren section of the floor, his discretion died as he searched for more pieces in a near frenzy. Rummaging through one stack after another, he separated cybertronian parts from human, carelessly dropping the discarded pieces in a heap on the dirt floor until he spotted what he was really looking for beneath a stack of hubcaps. With a heave he pushed them all aside, unmindful of the clatter of metal banging on the ground, until only a small, dusty box lay before him. Picking it up with care, he cleared the dirt away with a whirr of his surgical fan, revealing the Decepticon symbol etched in purple on the clear glass casing.
A smile pulled his mouth upward. At last, a small taste of victory. The battle in the human city of Chicago had shattered their forces, leaving only the smaller of the bots loyal to Megatron alive. For once their size was an advantage, and they managed to slip away from the city. They had gone into hiding together, but it wasn't long before they were sought out by the humans and Autobots and exterminated with a vengeance. As far as Doc knew, he was the only one left. He could only attribute this to his ability to outsmart the primitive hulking hunks of flesh and metal that didn't seem to operate past their fists. The device he had invented to mask his energon signature had helped as well.
Once they had been lulled back into a sense of ease, he began his search for his leaders. He found the disassembled forms of Sentinel Prime and Megatron locked away in a secret military base, but they had been so badly damaged there was no way he could revive them. Soundwave, Demolisher, Sideways… they had all been melted down by the human soldiers that called themselves NEST, no doubt as appeasement for their own losses. But there was one that not even the humans held a record of after the battle. Damaged beyond recognition and tangled in the rubble of a fallen building, the body had been picked up by a large scale clean-up company and taken with everything else to a commercial scrapyard to be sold for parts. He wound up following a lot of dead leads and taking some very high risks to find the last known location of the box in his hands, and after tracking the human who had unwittingly purchased the carcass, he finally had what he was looking for.
Climbing up on the workbench that he could now see held a bevy of metalworking tools, he gingerly set his prize down. Pulling a small package from a storage compartment in his torso, he reached over and sprung open the box, revealing the large crystal inside. He was pleased to see that it was intact, otherwise his mission would have been for nothing. Tearing the package apart, he allowed the black sand he had spent almost a month collecting from the revealed Tomb of the Primes to fall around the crystal. By itself the sand was worthless; it wasn't a part of the Matrix of Leadership, just the material on which the highest form of power sat for thousands of years, absorbing a small portion of life-giving energy. But when combined with enough energon, the residual force would produce a chain reaction large enough to revive a dozen cybertronians. Unfortunately, the only available source of energon he had lay in his very chest, and it still may not be a strong enough catalyst.
If it worked, he would be a hero of the Decepticons. If not… well, it didn't really matter. He was alone, the only purpose left in his life to ensure the continuation of the mission Megatron started.
With a dark, metallic chuckle he popped open the casing around his spark, reached in and wrapped his hand around his own crystal. It was hot, and the metal of his fingers began to turn red as they heated rapidly. He tugged as hard as he could, yanking the glowing stone from his chest and dropping it inside the box with the sand.
As his eyesight began to dim, he breathed a final command.
"Rise… Starscream…"
He didn't have time to see the crystal shatter and release his life force because his strength left him and he fell from the workbench and into the dirt with a cold clunk.
XXXXXX
The chains on the porch swing creaked in a sad rhythm as Jenny Aldron slowly rocked back and forth, turning the pages of the science book she was reading. The house behind her reverberated with noise from the blaring television, her father having passed out early in front of it, leaving her to her own devices. She was so glad of it, because that meant she had a small reprieve from him until he woke up late the next day. Ignoring the laughter of the studio audience pounding away at her back, she returned her attention to the chapter on astronomy she was working her way through. Sure it was summer now, and she didn't have to learn anything until she started college in another three months, but she found some comfort in keeping her mind busy. Knowledge was power, and power was hope, hope for an escape from the hell that plagued her life.
There must have been a time when things weren't the way they are now, but she couldn't remember it. All that remained of a previously happy life was a tiny book of old pictures, filled with forgotten smiles and special moments that would never come again. Her mother died of illness when she was three, leaving her grieving father to raise her on his own. She imagined that he must have loved her with the entirety of his soul, because when she died, he lost all traces of it. There hadn't been a day since that he had been sober or pleasant. Time only seemed to poison him, and his anger over her loss grew into something monstrous.
If it hadn't been for her aunt, Jenny probably would have died of neglect before she was five. But she had moved in until she was seven, and old enough to at least feed and bathe herself without help. Then she had left, unable to stand her brother's temper any longer. Jenny couldn't help resenting her a little for leaving her behind. But things were what they were. She got herself ready for school every morning and taught herself to cook by watching television in the evenings when her father was out. She cleaned the house as best as she could, and tried to care for the farm when she had time, but there never seemed to be enough. When she turned twelve she had been fairly confident that she could make it on her own, despite the lack of parenting. But then her thirteenth birthday arrived, and that brought on a whole new set of horrors when her father's so-called friends noticed her rapidly developing body...
Pushing the bile that threatened to rise back down, Jenny gazed out across the yard. The night was hot, with a dark sky full of heavy clouds. No evening birds sang, the crickets and frogs were quiet, and the slight breeze just kept making the strands of her short hair stick to her sweaty face.
She had just turned another page in her book when a crash from the front barn caught her attention. It sounded like a stack of parts suddenly falling. A wave of alarm passed over her, but she quickly pushed it away. Setting her book down, she rose to investigate, moving slowly to keep the chains from protesting loudly. It was probably just a hungry coyote or stray dog looking for something to eat. No one with any sense would come sneaking around here. Her father would in all likelihood shoot them and there was nothing of value to be had anyway.
The noise from her tennis shoes on the gravel was muted by the clatter coming from inside, ensuring nothing would be warned of her approach. She thought she heard a muffled voice from inside, but when she stopped in front of the barn, only silence emanated from within. She quietly lifted the latch to the doors, and with a mighty heave swung them open. Stepping inside, she let her eyes adjust to the darkness. She saw nothing at first, but then a blue glow in the middle of the barn caught her attention. Reaching over, she flipped on a light switch, illuminating the interior with a dull yellow glow. The blue shine she saw was coming from a small box lying open on a workbench. Beside it on the ground lay what looked like a small robot, its hand lying limply next to the table's wooden leg.
Jenny froze in place. Years ago she had watched along with everyone else as Chicago was seized and nearly destroyed by a faction of alien robots, confirming both their existence and danger in one fell swoop. But they had been destroyed by the military and the Autobots, who had disappeared from the public eye soon afterward. Uneasy at this turn of events, she took a couple of small steps forward, her eyes trained on the small metal humanoid. It didn't seem conscious now, but it had gotten in here somehow, and she wasn't taking any chances. Picking up a long piece of metal that worked as an impromptu spear, she reached out and poked at it. It didn't move, so she poked it again.
When she still didn't get a reaction she turned her attention to the box on the table. The blue glow had intensified, and a nearly inaudible whine seemed to be coming from it now. Reaching out with her free hand, she started to touch it. She quickly withdrew it when the thing started to visibly vibrate as the whine grew louder until it was a full-blown mechanical hum. She took a step back and gripped her spear with both hands as the thing began clattering wildly around on the table. The doors on it closed and it fell face-up on the floor, right on top of the apparently dead robot.
The only warning of danger she had was the rattle of metal behind her before a large sheet of steel came spinning over her head to land on top of the box with a crash. She yelped in surprise just as the metal spear was ripped from her hands by an invisible force and dropped horizontally on the sheet metal. More of it followed, and she dropped to her stomach and covered her head as the barn erupted in a maelstrom of moving parts. But as vulnerable as she was, she couldn't look away. She watched as the parts were all drawn to the box, surrounding it and connecting to each other of their own accord in a blaze of blue sparks.
Molded and reshaped, they began forming what looked like a giant metal skeleton. Hoses, pistons, bolts and screws flew around her like a mechanical meteor shower. Wires, moving like possessed snakes, surrounded a brain-like matrix, drawing it upward, expanding it as more blue sparks brought the copper pathways to life before extending and twisting throughout the frame. Two large, chevron-shaped pieces snapped into place behind the shoulders to form a pair of wings. Last came the protective outer shell, layers of metal growing hot and glowing white as they were fused together. Paint from forgotten cans ran under the direction of an invisible artist, splashing different sections in red and blue. Two old windshields were drawn together, the glass turning red as thin bands of metal braced against them, shaping the glass into a trough before connecting to the top of the chassis. Then bright sparks started showering around her and she dropped her head to shield her eyes as the sound of the automated construction continued.
After several minutes of nerve-wracking noise, Jenny was roused by the sudden silence in the barn. When she lifted her head, she found herself crouched between the knees of what appeared to be a giant robot lying in the middle of the dirt floor. As silently as possible she climbed to her feet and looked around. The shelves were cleared of their parts, leaving nothing but the smell of hot metal and disturbed dust floating in the air. The thing wasn't moving, and the high-pitched whine she heard before was gone. She waited, rooted to the spot, ignoring the instinct that told her to run away.
She didn't know how much time passed while she stood there, chest heaving, staring in shock at the goliath before her, but it seemed like ages before she came to herself. Silently she stepped backward and laid her hand on what looked like one of the feet. The metal was warm, but not scorching as she expected, and the less distinct smell of hot wires and oil drifted up to her nose. Her touch didn't evoke any sort of response, so she circled warily around it. It was definitely a humanoid robot, one that could fly judging by the wing-like sections attached to the back and the cylinders at the feet that looked quite a lot like aircraft engines.
She paused again when she was even with the other foot. She should go get her father, call the police, do something. But she scarcely believed her own eyes, and how foolish would she look if she woke her father only to show him an empty barn? No, she would stay until either something happened or she was sure nothing else would happen. Then she would get her father. But first she wanted to see if this thing really had a face.
Summoning her courage, she stepped even with one of the knees, put a foot on one the cylinders that made up the joint and climbed the metallic mountain. She mounted the leg before clambering up to stand on the chest, one hand on the glass dome in front of her. She couldn't see the box now, but she could hear it humming somewhere beneath her. An arc of electrical energy crackled around her, making her jump and gasp. She was beginning to rethink her course of action when a grinding noise sounded ahead and below her, and she looked up to see that the head of the thing had lifted and amber eyes were staring at her, dim at first, but growing in intensity. Its mouth moved, as if it was trying to speak, and at last an oily squeak filled the air, followed by a scratchy, high-pitched voice.
"Get off of me… insect."
Before she had time to scramble back the hands moved to brace against the dirt floor, and Jenny was sent tumbling down as it rose to a sit. Her arm hit his thigh hard before she landed on her bottom with a oomph. Applying pressure to what would soon be a nasty bruise, she looked up at the towering frame. It was staring down at her, and if it had a facial expression, she would say that it looked surprised that she was still sitting there. She was wondering herself why she wasn't screaming her head off and trying to escape, but a strange calm had filled her, and instead she rose to her feet, meeting the amber eyes over the mountain of metal that made up the body between them.
The silence grew thick and Jenny cleared her throat, searching for anything to say.
"Are you an Autobot?" she asked after she finally found her voice.
It continued to stare down at her, and she began to wonder if it could understand her when it suddenly snarled,
"How dare you, worm! I am a Decepticon!"
Pulling his legs under him, Starscream stood to his full height, plowing through the roof of the old barn as if it were made of matchsticks. Timbers fell around Jenny, making her duck and cover her head, and if she hadn't been between the robot's feet, she would have been crushed. Once the roof had settled in a great cloud of dust, the Decepticon turned and sneered at her, then in a single leap, jumped over the still-standing back wall of the barn.
Jenny sat there stunned, looking around her in disbelief. The barn was in ruins, the metal parts her father tinkered with gone, and her only explanation was rapidly disappearing. He was now out of sight, walking through the grove of old apple trees behind the barn when she heard her father come out on the porch, slamming the front door in his wake. Swallowing the sudden lump of fear that stuck in her throat, she jumped to her feet, ducked between the downed rafters and pushed on the jammed barn door until she was free and back in the open air. Her father was heading down the steps, his face twisted in a mask of still-drunken anger.
"Jenny! Why aren't the dishes done yet? Get your worthless ass in here, now!" he yelled as soon as he caught sight of her.
Starscream was just about to transform and leave this hellhole behind when he froze in his tracks, the words of the human running through him like hot oil. The sound of heavily staggering feet on gravel reached him before the girl let out a small squeak of protest.
"What the hell did you do to the barn?! Are you trying to ruin us, you stupid bitch?"
He didn't hear what she said in reply, but the voice that was growing more annoying by the second bellowed out, "Don't you lie to me!"
A loud thump echoed in the night, and Starscream turned around, creeping silently forward to peer over the edge of the demolished building. An older human male had the girl by the arm, his free hand raised, fist clenched, ready to strike again. She was glaring at him defiantly, her head held back, but up. Starscream's amber eyes narrowed in hatred as the female's head snapped back under the force of the following blow.
Stupid insects.
"Don't do that again."
He hadn't realized he had spoken until both of the humans looked straight up at him. Rising to his full height, Starscream adjusted his wings as he glared down at them, the clicking of his pistons loud in the new silence. The man released the girl, who fell to the ground, one hand cradling her face. He turned to run as Starscream cleared the building in an easy jump, sending gravel flying in all directions as he landed with a thud. Reaching forward, he plucked the scrambling man up in his hand. A scream erupted from the worm's throat, and in his terror, he began to struggle.
Starscream laughed humorlessly as he let the man dangle in the air before tossing him up and catching him with his other hand. More screaming ensued as the human was tossed about like a ragdoll. After nearly dropping him twice, Starscream closed his hand around him and brought him close to his face.
"Is this what it feels like, to control someone so much weaker than you?"
A whimper was all he got in reply, so he continued on, "It's nice and all, but there's just one problem with this kind of power." He closed his fingers tightly around the man's torso. "There's always someone bigger that comes along to take it away."
A rush of anticipation ripped through Starscream, and he clenched his fist around the tender flesh until he felt the fragile bones give way. The ribs collapsed just before the spine snapped and the man's efforts ceased. Dropping the heap of broken flesh to the ground, he frowned at the body before locating the girl. She sat where she was, hand still up to her face, her whole body trembling. She didn't look at him, keeping her face turned away even when he leaned over her. With a shrug he straightened and turned away.
Without looking back, he jumped into the air as the girl slumped completely to the ground, transforming before his engines fired and he headed out of the planet's atmosphere as fast as he could go.