TRANSFORMERS

Imperial Wings

A girl is given a second chance at life, in exchange for ending the war of Transformers. It's about as easy as it sounds. And, whilst sorting out her own life, she discovers two younglings without mothers, and the reason why their families fight.

CHAPTER TWO

Seekers Attack – Sunstreaker Gets Serious!

O~O~O~O~O

Okay, now where am I? Emma opened her eyes slowly, to find herself lying face-down in the middle of a desert. How did she know it was a desert? Because, no matter which direction she looked in, all she could see was sand. Looking up, she saw that there were no clouds in the sky. Just the hot, blazing sun.

Glancing down at herself, Emma realised that she was wearing different clothes now. She'd started out the day in a black skirt and turtleneck. Now, however, she wore a white sundress that came to just above her knees, and was low-cut enough to show off the blue disc on her chest. She was curious about that disc, and so touched it carefully.

Emma was startled when it sent a jolt through her, and then a small energy wave a few feet around her.

"Yikes…" She realised, before looking down and noticing the pink snake lying on the sand. "Oh my gosh!" She cried, kneeling down beside the little robot. "Platinum? Speak to me, Platinum! Are you alright? !"

The little snake looked at her with golden eyes, and nodded her head once, before flying up and curling around the human's neck. Emma sighed with relief. "Okay then, I guess we'd better go…somewhere…"

Platinum cocked her head to once side, as if to say: Where?

"Pick a direction." Emma shrugged.

The snake raised her head, then jabbed it in one particular direction.

"That way?" Emma decided it couldn't hurt to listen to the snake for now. She didn't have any better options. "Okay, let's go then." She started walking, leaving footprints in the sand with her white sandals that reminded her of Sailor Neptune's shoes. At least Primus knew how to outfit a girl with style.

O~O~O~O~O

"What's the report, Jazz?" Optimus Prime hurried into the room, where Jazz stood in front of the monitor.

"Teletran-1's picking up some sort of energy vibes," Jazz informed him promptly.

"Is it the Decepticons?" Optimus wanted to know.

Jazz shook his head. "Negative. The reading's show it's a lot like the energy of a spark, but there's something different about it too."

"Different how?" Optimus asked, not taking his eyes off the energy readings. They seemed familiar to him, somehow.

Jazz hesitated, then said: "I'm not entirely sure…should we check into it?"

"Definitely," Optimus agreed, activating his com-link. "Hound's in that area, so I'll send him. It may be a Transformer, and Hound will be able to track him quickly before there are any problems."

"By problems you mean the D-Cons, right?" Jazz guessed.

"Precisely." Optimus nodded, before speaking through his com-link to the tracker. Hound, I have a job for you to do…

O~O~O~O~O

She'd been walking for an hour.

"I live with my parents," Emma told Platinum, as she continued walking through the sandy wasteland. "But my sister and her partner are moving out to their own place at the end of the year. Mum and Dad want me to move out, but I wasn't ready. I guess it's happened, though. I don't really get along with my parents. They want me to grow up and stop watching anime and playing video games. They want me to get a job (not that I haven't been trying) and a boyfriend." She sighed. "Sometimes I think that last one's the hardest of all. Guys just don't seem to like me. I've never even been out on a date. And now I'm depressed…"

Platinum, who had been listening silently for Emma's entire rant, now tilted her head to one side, and then music began playing.

In my own time I'll take a chance…in my own time I'll find romance, in my own time…it'll be mine…

"Thanks," Emma said, patting the side of the snake's metal body. "I'm not sure that made me feel better, but I do like that song." She liked this snake already, and could definitely get used to having her around. Now, if she could only figure out where she was. "Send me a sign!" She exclaimed, raising her arms to the sky. "Anything!"

She suddenly heard the roar of what sounded suspiciously like a jet-engine.

Her heart nearly stopped beating. "Except that."

O~O~O~O~O

Why on earth would Megatron even send us out here? Starscream arced his jet-body slightly to the left, following the coordinates he'd been given. Up here, in the sky, he was the master of all he surveyed (or so he thought). He just wished he wasn't flying off on some wild-grease-chase for Megatron.

He didn't say, Thundercracker replied. He just said to bring back whatever it was we found.

How will we know what it is? Skywarp wanted to know.

Dunno. Thundrecracker mentally shrugged. I don't get it, either. I guess we'll know when we get there.

Both of you, look, Starscream said suddenly, sharply. I see something!

The other two Seekers looked.

It looks like a…human? Skywarp guessed.

Why would Megatron want us to bring him back a human? Starscream wondered, having absolutely no clue what was going through his leader's mind. To him, it just proved his theory – Megatron was insane.

Well, orders are orders. Thundercracker said, diplomatically.

In that instant, something clicked inside of Starscream, that little piece of him that loved doing this sort of thing. We're going in. He said.

The three jets angled down.

O~O~O~O~O

Hound was picking up on what he supposed was the source of the power force. It certainly smelled that way to the tracker, who was driving in his vehicle mode over the sandy terrain. However, his scanners were also picking up three other entities closing in fast – and Hound knew from past experiences what that must mean. No doubt about it. Megatron had seen the energy reading too, and sent either the Seekers or the Cone Heads out to retrieve it. For the sake of whoever it was they were all after, he hoped it was neither of the above.

As Hound closed in on the power source, his sensors picked up on a second energy signature. This one was completely different from the first one – and that worried Hound slightly.

He increased his speed.

O~O~O~O~O

Emma was absolutely frozen to the spot as the three Seekers landed around her, their red optics glowing slightly in what she supposed was meant to be a threatening way.

It was very threatening to her.

Platinum was still coiled around her neck, but now the Pythormer arched her neck down and then raised her head, hissing softly.

The Decepticons didn't seem to notice the little snake, but instead exchanged glances.

Emma was shaking slightly. Well girl, you wanted Transformers, you got em'! She felt like fainting. She didn't do the whole 'people' thing…well, in this case, it was robots, but same thing! She was the definition of a wall-flower, and hardly ever socialized!

"Okay, girlie," Thundercracker was the first to speak. His voice sent chills down Emma's spine – he was a Decepticon! "You're coming with us…"

Emma didn't say anything. It was like she had lost the ability to speak. Her mouth felt like it was filled with sand.

"What's the matter, human?" Starscream asked her. "Caticon got your tongue?"

What the hell's a caticon? Emma wondered.

Skywarp was looking at her, and suddenly he grinned.
Why is he smiling at me like that? Emma wondered, just as Skywarp reached down with amazing speed, and picked her up. She let out a yell, but couldn't struggle because she felt frozen.

Skywarp brought her up to eye-level, and looked at her.

"Skywarp, what are you thinking?" Thundercracker wanted to know.

"She's a cutie." Skywarp said bluntly, and Emma felt a flush rise up in her face.

Thundercracker blinked. "Uh, she's a human, Skywarp." He shook his head. Sometimes Skywarp never ceased to amaze him.

"She's still cute." Skywarp said stubbornly.

Thundercracker sighed. "She's, like, half your size." He pointed out.

"So?" Skywarp wasn't backing down.

All this time, Emma had been listening, but now she was starting to find her voice. Platinum was coiled around her neck, and hissed softly again. She didn't like the Decepticons, it seemed.

"Hey," Emma said softly and, when they didn't seem to hear her, she spoke louder. "Hey!" Her voice rang.

The three Seekers looked at her.

"I have a name you know, so stop calling me 'she' and 'girlie' and 'human'!" Emma said the words before she thought, and wondered why she kept speaking like this to giant robots. "And put me down, Skywarp, this isn't fair!"

Skywarp's red optics gleamed. "It doesn't have to be fair," He told her, squeezing her a little bit tighter. She gasped. "We have orders to bring you back to Megatron, and that's just what we plan to do!"

"What?" Emma managed to free her arms, but that was about all she could do. "No! I don't wanna go!"

Starscream smirked. "You haven't got a choice, girl." He told her.

"My name isn't 'girl', it's Emma!" She exclaimed. "And I really don't wanna go, Megatron's a psychopath! He's insane!"

The three Seekers stared at her for a second, before they laughed, Starscream loudest of all. Maybe this human wasn't so bad – she certainly seemed to hate Megatron, a view Starscream could understand all too well. Another view Starscream saw, but wasn't sure if he understood, was Skywarp's. This girl was pretty cute – for a human, anyway. And, because she was a human, she wasn't going to be able to do much to get away.

He just wished he knew why Megatron had asked them to bring her back. Well, only one way to find out.

Starscream looked at Thundercracker. They nodded to each other, and prepared to return to the sky.

Emma gulped. Now what? She really didn't want to do, but…

Apparently, neither did Platinum, because she suddenly decided to take matters into her own…wings.

She spread all four of them at once and uncoiled herself from around Emma's neck. She flew straight up into Skywarp's face, and the startled Decepticon jumped back, letting go of Emma in the process. She fell to the ground, landing hard on her right side but, luckily, the sand was soft enough to cushion her fall.

"Aurgh!" Skywarp shouted, as the tiny robot snake hissed somewhat ferociously at him.

Starscream and Thundercracker were just as shocked as Skywarp was. "Is that a Pythormer? !" Starscream wanted to know, as all three pairs of red optics were glued to the tiny pink thing.

Emma looked up in shock at Platinum. Gone was the cute little snake the colour of spun sugar that had coiled harmlessly around her neck like a scarf. Now, Platinum looked about as sweet as a cobra getting ready to strike, and Skywarp was backing away from her.

"Careful, Skywarp!" Thundercracker warned him, also backing away from the snake's range. "Don't get bitten!"

Huh? So Platinum can bite. And, the Decepticons are afraid of it, ah but why? Emma stared up in shock at her not-so-harmless little familiar, and felt a strange rush of connection to the robot snake. It may look harmless but, clearly, it had bite.

Starscream was the only one that hadn't backed off by that stage. If anything, he had moved closer.

"Easy, Starscream," Thundercracker told him. "If you get bitten, we ain't scrapin' your melted metal off the sand!"

Her poison melts metal? ! Emma was startled. Whoa…

Starscream didn't answer, and instead was looking at Emma. Emma sensed this and glanced away from Platinum, looking at Starscream half in question and half in fear.

Starscream suddenly switched his own gaze to Platinum and, in a swift and decisive movement, fired an energy blast at her.

"NO! ! !" Emma screamed, as the energy blast hit Platinum, causing the snake the writhe in agony in mid-air, before falling to the sand. She would have hit it, had Emma not run underneath her and caught her. "Platinum!" Emma cried, her voice choked with tears. The little snake's body was covered in cuts, and some even emitted sparks.

"Starscream, you attacked a Pythormer!" Thundercracker was shocked.

"So what? I didn't kill it – yet!" The second-in-command said sharply, before reaching down to grab Emma, who stared back up at him in horror.

Tears were pooling in her hazel eyes, and there was sand in her short dark brown hair and on her dress.

She looked at Starscream pleadingly and, for some odd reason, the Seeker hesitated.

Which was good, because it gave Hound enough time to transform and crash-tackle Starscream, slamming into the Decepticon and knocking him away from Emma, who was now frozen to the ground again. The appearance of the Autobot had startled her, but she was very glad to see him.

Not so glad that it was three against one, and now Platinum was hurt. Emma looked down at the snake in her arms, and Platinum looked back up at her.

"Hound! Why do you always get in the way? !" Starscream shouted.

"It's what I do!" He yelled back.

Emma thought that he was very brave, but she was also scared.

What should I do now, Primus? She thought. What should I do? She hugged Platinum closer to her chest, feeling the warmth of the little robot's spark against her own. A single tear dripped down her face and landed on the jewel on the snake's forehead. What?

As soon as the teardrop hit the jewel, a bell-like tone resounded, followed by a much larger energy wave than had been before. It was seen and felt by Hound and the three Seekers he was fighting at once. It reached the Autobots who were at their base known as the Ark, and those that weren't there got it soon afterwards. Even the Decepticons got it back at their base.

It didn't appear to do any damage, and all were left staring at their hands, trying to figure out what had happened.

Emma sniffled, still holding the injured Pythormer close to her chest, but now she looked up, and locked gazes with the Autobot Hound.

"Help us…" She whispered.

Hound moved quickly. He lunged forwards, grabbing the small human gently but firmly in one hand. In less than a second, he had transformed, and Emma found herself sitting in the driver's seat, the seatbelt wrapped firmly around her as Hound drove away over the sand dunes.

"After them!" She heard Starscream say. She looked in the wing-mirror just in time to see the three Seekers transform into jets, and give chase. Her blood ran cold.

"They're coming after us, Hound!" She exclaimed, looking at the steering wheel which was moving by itself. A small voice in the back of her mind was cheering, however. She was riding with an Autobot! This was actually happening!

"On it!" Hound replied, and the white gun at the back of his jeep alt-mode swung around, and fired at the Decepticons. They dodged, but one of them (Emma didn't see which one) got his wing grazed, and she hoped that it was Starscream. It would serve him right for injuring Platinum! She looked at the snake in her arms, and prayed she'd be alright.

Suddenly, movement from up ahead caused her to look up at the now less sandy terrain, and she saw two vehicles headed towards them.

"I do hope they're Autobots!" Emma exclaimed. Please let it be Autobots!

O~O~O~O~O

Hound hadn't known what to think when he'd arrived on the scene. What could the Decepticon Seekers possibly want with this human girl? Then it hit him – she was the one responsible for the energy signature! She and her little pink robot were in desperate need of being rescued!

After the second power influx, Hound had realised that the little pink robot was a Pythormer, although what one was doing with a human was beyond him. All he knew, was that when the girl looked at him with tear-filled gold eyes, and begged for his help, he knew he had to get them both back to Ratchet.

As he sped through the desert, he tightened the seatbelt around the small girl, and noticed that he was shaking slightly. He didn't blame her in the slightest for being scared, and no doubt worried about the Pythormer. The Decepticons were known for being relentless and persistent, and Hound had a feeling he might not be able to shake all three of them off his tail but, luckily, just as he'd drawn this conclusion, help arrived.

"I do hope they're Autobots!" He heard the girl exclaim.

They were. "It's Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe!" Hound clarified and heard the girl gasp.

The two Lamborghinis drove into view, both of them about to get a lot less shiny.

The three Seekers transformed, as did Sunstreaker and Sideswipe.

Hound was about to continue on, but Starscream wouldn't allow it. The Seeker's movements forced the tracker to transform, holding the girl and her snake in his hand as he faced the Decepticon.

"Give her to me, Autobot, and I'll spare your life!" Starscream told Hound.

"Not gonna happen, Decepticon!" Hound said. "What would you want with a human, anyway?"

Starscream laughed; a mocking sound. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Hound!" Hound looked down, startled, at the human girl in his hand. She was looking up at him, with something shining in her eyes and her voice. "Hound, we have to get out of here!" He felt her heart pounding in her chest. "Platinum needs a medic!" She glared at Starscream suddenly. "He hurt her!" Her voice shook, but Hound got the message. She was angry at Starscream for hurting her Pythormer.

"Enough talking!" Starscream said suddenly, and fired his plasma cannon at Hound.

Hound dodged out of the way, and landed near Sideswipe, who had succeeded in injuring Thundercracker enough to be able to take the girl from Hound, so that he could deal with Starscream.

"Hi." Sideswipe said to the girl, who was now perched on his left shoulder. She was small, though he could tell she was probably in her early twenties. She had short dark brown hair that was covered with sand, like her white dress. A small pink robot snake – a Pythormer – was curled up in her arms, against an intense-blue disc on her chest (which, Sideswipe noted, was a fairly nice proportioned chest). She looked at him, her eyes were hazel. "I'm Sideswipe."

"I'm Emma," She said shyly, and glanced down at the Pythormer. "This is Platinum." She blinked, and then her face took on a determined look. "We have to get her to a medic!"

"We will, Ratchet will help her." Sideswipe assured her.

"Good." Emma replied.

Just then, Skywarp fired at them, and Sunstreaker jumped in the way, tarnishing his once pristine paint-job and damaging his arm.

Everyone froze. Emma gasped, and covered her mouth with her hand. "That Decepticon knows not what he's done." She whispered.

"Frag." Starscream muttered, his red optics flashing. Skywarp's in for it now.

Everyone knew how insane Sunstreaker was about these things.

Sideswipe was staring at his brother, and then he nodded. He turned and began to run, followed by Hound. Both of them transformed, and Emma somehow found herself sitting in the driver's seat of Hound's alt mode again.

When they were only about one hundred metres away, there was a massive explosion.

O~O~O~O~O

Both Hound and Sideswipe swerved, and they and Emma watched as three shapes flew away from the explosion site.

Then, Sunstreaker was driving towards them.

"You over-did it, brother." Sideswipe informed him when his brother reached them.

"He deserved it." Sunstreaker replied angrily. Emma noticed that his yellow paint job was now dirtied, which she was sure didn't impress him.

"Yes, it was his fault." Sideswipe said pointedly, and Emma realised that the cause of this was because Sunstreaker had been protecting them.

She opened her mouth to say something, but just then Hound said: "We need to get back to the base."

"Right." The twins agreed, and Emma nodded.

Hold on Platinum. She thought, and hoped that Ratchet was a bloody good medic.

O~O~O~O~O

Not a word to anyone about this, understood? ! Starscream was beyond furious.

But…shouldn't we tell Megatron about the girl? Skywarp could hardly speak. Sparks were crackling from his wings, and he sensed a massive repair job coming on.

NO! Starscream said, a little too quickly. The other two Seekers didn't say anything. We're not telling Megatron anything, and remember to keep your thoughts blocked from Soundwave! Understood? Skywarp? Thundercracker?

Crystal.

Transparently.

Good. Starscream had a lot of thinking to do about what had just transpired…