I looked up from the T.V. at a heavy dragging noise to see the girl from earlier. She still looked badly hurt, but I was surprised she was alive at all. Without a word, she limped out of the base, and I leaned around to see Prowl and Ratchet emerge from the medi-lab.
"What was that all about?" I asked. Ratchet shrugged.
"I have no idea, you think when someone is brought back from the brink of death they'd be grateful..." Ratchet answered.
...
~Aria's POV
I limped out of the Autobot's base, for some reason, fury was the only emotion that I could hang onto. I knew I couldn't make it far, I was still hurt too badly, so like a dying animal I dragged myself to the woods outside of Detroit and stayed there, panting from effort. I was actually able to move my fake limb, though not very much. I leaned against a tree, sliding down the trunk and burying my face in my hands.
Those stupid Autobots, they're the ones that got me hurt in the first place! Why couldn't I have just died? I thought as I grimaced in pain. Now I was half-robot, a freak, no one would want to be around me, and it was all their fault. I thought about a kid on the street, well known between gangs and rogues like me. His nickname, Tomb, was modeled after his slogan 'Take out my brothers' because he had a reputation for double-crossing anyone who got in his way.
The idea was becoming more appealing to me, who cares if the Autobots had saved my life; they had ruined it as well. Now if only I could find a way to get back at them...
Loud griping reached my ears then, it sounded like only one voice, and I judged it to be heading right this way. It was odd, though, I didn't hear more than one being, but the tone of voice changed every once in a while. I didn't even bother trying to hide, simply waiting for the owner of the voice to stumble onto me.
"Ugh, vhy did Megatron have to send me to scout dis accursed place..." the owner of the voice said before the tone changed. "OOoooh a squirrel!" I heard before a loud blast followed by insane laughter. The source of the odd voice finally broke through the trees and was nearly on top of me before noticing me. It was a Decepticon, I could tell from the wings on his back, and there were missile launchers mounted to his shoulders as well as cannons attached behind them. I didn't move, and the Decepticon leaned down to me. I saw why the voices had changed, because his face spun from what had looked like a jack-o-lantern to a bluish, calm looking expression with only one eye.
"Vhat are ju doing all ze way out here?" the Decepticon asked, glancing down at my obviously injured appearance. "Zhou are hurt? Vhat is your name, organic?" he asked. I just shook my head, searching for a stick I could write on the ground with. I found one, and started to write with the Decepticon looking at me curiously.
"Vhy don't ju simply answer me?" he asked. I wrote the word 'mute' quickly on the ground and tilted my head back to show the scar over my throat.
"Ah, I see... Again, vhat is your name, and how did ju get hurt?" he said. I scratched my name, Aria, into the dirt. To answer his second question, I wrote the word 'Autobot' and hastily scrawled 'revenge' underneath it, tapping it with the stick for emphasis. The Decepticon looked at me thoughtfully, seeming to think for a moment.
"Ju have Cybertronian technology linked to you, and I'm picking up a Spark signature as vell. Ju have become a techno-organic, as ve call you... I think ve can help ju with your little problem, but ju will have to fully side vith ze Decepticons before ju can be trusted. Do ve have a deal?" he said. I considered a moment, then nodded, scratching out 'Name?' in the dirt. He gave a faint grin.
"Zey call me Blitzwing. Now let's go." Blitzwing said, picking me up somewhat carefully and activating rockets that I hadn't seen before. We were high in the air quickly, and I turned away from the far away ground and instead focused on the Decepticon insignia on Blitzwing's chest. He glanced down at me, tilting his head slightly.
"Are ju afraid of heights?" Blitzwing asked. I swallowed and looked up at him, nodding. His persona changed to the jack-o-lantern face and he cackled.
"Zis is nothing, ju are going to have to get over it if ju vant to be a Decepticon!" he said. I risked a glance down, somewhat confident that I wasn't going to fall, and I saw the tops of the far-below trees that from here looked like broccoli.
Blitzwing flew for a while in silence before dropping into a hole in the top of a plateau. He landed on his feet, me sitting painfully in his hand as he spoke with his crazy personality.
"Hey guys I'm home, look vhat I found!" Blitzwing said, holding me out to the Decepticons standing in the room. One of them with a dark pink, silver, and black paint job walked up and peered at me.
"Blitzwing, why did you bring this organic here, it's injured too, you should have let it die." the Decepticon said. Blitzwing changed back to his icy personality.
"It vas the Autobots that caused her to get harmed, Starscream. Her name is Aria und she vants revenge." Blitzwing said. A very large Decepticon behind him piped up.
"She wishes to join the almighty and powerful Lord Megatron? Our glorious master will have a new subject to rule?" he rambled.
"Put a muffler on it, Lugnut. Jes, she vants to join us, but right now she needs to recover from her injuries, is Shockwave here?" Blitzwing said. Starscream nodded, pointing out the door, and he gave a curious glance at me.
"Why don't you speak? Are you afraid?" he asked. I shook my head, lifting my chin and tracing the scar over my throat. Blitzwing answered for me with his hotheaded personality.
"It's not her fault she's mute, leave her alone you pile of scrap metal!" he yelled as he walked out. I got his attention, mouthing 'where are we going' because I couldn't talk. He switched back to his icy personality.
"I'm taking you to see Shockwave, he vill finish repairing you und give ju an upgrade so ju vill be able to keep up vith us vhenever ve go out. Zen I'll escort ju to Megatron so ju can properly join us." Blitzwing said as he walked into a dim room with a few large metal tables. Another Decepticon, who I assumed was Shockwave, turned when we came in. He had only one red optic set in the middle of a black faceplate, and when he spoke it was with an almost old English accent.
"Ah, this must be that techno-organic. I got your earlier transmission, I've gotten everything ready. Set her down over there." Shockwave said, motioning to a table with a tray full of sharp things next to it that I didn't really want to think about. Blitzwing did as he was ordered, and I grimaced when he put me down. Shockwave glanced at me.
"How would you like the opportunity to speak again?" Shockwave asked. My eyes widened, and I nodded intently.
"Very well, I will include that in your upgrade." Shockwave said, picking up a small device and programming it. I couldn't ask what it was, but he pressed it against my neck and a jolt stiffened my body before I blacked out.
...
"Uhhhhnn... What happened?" I said. Starting, I realized I could talk again and turned to Shockwave, who was cleaning his tools, a few of which I noticed were stained with what must have been my energon.
"How did you fix me? I haven't been able to talk for four years." I stuttered. Shockwave pointed at my throat.
"I didn't necessarily repair your organic voice capabilities... I installed a voice processor identical to our own and programmed it to respond to your processor signals. I equipped you with your own blasters and fully mechanized your internal structure as well. You've got a T-cog now, you'll be able to transform if we can find an alternate mode for you; though you do have flight capabilities on your own." Shockwave explained.
I looked down at myself, judging I was at least a foot taller from my added armor. I had a dark color scheme like most of the Decepticons; the majority of mine was dark purple, though I had silver and black highlights on my armor as well. A pair of silver and black metal wings were also folded lightly against my back and I craned around to admire them.
Blitzwing knocked on the doorframe, wearing his icy persona, and motioned for me.
"Come, ve give ju ze initiation now." Blitzwing said. I dropped off the table, surprised I didn't have a limp, and followed Blitzwing through the halls. He glanced back at me as we neared our destination.
"I vill warn ju, ze branding iz not pleasant..." he said as we walked into a large room where only one Decepticon was waiting for us. Blitzwing bowed, though I could tell he didn't really want to.
"Lord Megatron, here iz ze techno-organic that wishes to join us." he said. Megatron stepped towards me, and I tried to look like I wasn't intimidated. He went through a whole speech of 'Do you promise this' and 'Always destroy that' before asking me if I would accept. I nodded.
"Yes, I accept." I said. With that, Megatron picked up what looked like a sort of prod, but the end of it was the Decepticon insignia, and it sparked heavily with pinkish energy. Before I could back away, Megatron shoved the prod against my chest and I bit back a cry of pain as I felt the prod sear the insignia into my armor. When he stepped back, the Decepticon's symbol was permanently burned into my chest and small tendrils of smoke were rising from the burned part of my armor. I decided to start acting like a loyal Decepticon at once, though I wasn't going to grovel like Lugnut. I bowed, speaking without looking up.
"Thank you, Lord Megatron, I await my orders." I said.
"Leave me; go find an alternate mode for yourself." Megatron commanded. I backed out of the room, Blitzwing not far behind. I walked beside him down the hall, and he glanced down at me.
"So, how does it feel to be a Decepticon?" he asked. I put on my best evil grin and looked him in the eye.
"It feels great."