Author's Note: There will be more notes at the end if you're interested. I couldn't put them here without giving things away. Transformers belong to Hasbro and Takara. Enjoy and feel free to comment.
A Blessing and A Curse
By Quetzal1
Chapter 3
Into the Wind
xxxx
The abandoned base wasn't hopelessly damaged. The lone femme had decided to see what could be done to make the place tolerable and in doing so had recalled a backup generator installed by the ever efficient Constructicons that was still functional enough to power some lights and the computer. The computer itself had also required a little work. The transmitter portion was beyond repair, but the receiver was okay, once a few minor repairs were made. With a couple of adjustments and luck she was able to tap into a Direct TV feed. It was a connection to the outside world and a poor kind of company. She needed a little companionship of some kind. As long as she didn't contemplate anything risky the only voice in her head was hers.
She had cleaned things up and carefully marked where the sunlight came in through the remnants of the main doors. There was no question of resting anywhere but there when she felt the need to be off line for a little bit. It was a need she fought as hard as possible, for fear of not waking again. If only she didn't require energon. A small stash of that had been discovered in a side room. There had been several of the normal pink cubes and three of the compressed, concentrated ones. She used as little as could be gotten by with and that was enough to get her slightly tipsy and unable to fight going off line. The nanites did what they could with the time they had gradually building more subsystems and connections for them. Any attempt at stasis somehow awakened their owner and meant several days before they could do anything else. But in their own way, they knew that they only had to remain patient. Sooner or later she would wear herself down enough to be unable to oppose them any longer. One good thing had come from her persistent resistance to the natural process: they had finally reached a consensus with the conflicting energies and information and decided on a design and alt mode. Television helped with the latter.
xxxx
On a nightly basis she would sit outside and think. Being forced to hide underground all day was tiresome, but there wasn't anything to be done about it. Some nights, when there was nothing good on, she would stay out until almost sunrise.
The moon had been full several times since she first came back to the world of the living. No one had come to the silo for years and it was unlikely anyone would now. There wasn't all that much helpful information on the news. There was something about attacks on a place called Autobot City, which she had never heard of. They must have really lied like crazy to get to establish an entire city. And it cheered her to know there were still Decepticons. When they showed some grainy file video of the attack, she always watched for anyone familiar. The first attack, which had happened not so long ago, lasted for days and she was pretty sure she could make out all the seekers she knew. The video had been shot from a long distance so it was hard to be certain. Devastator was in attendance and there was definitely an appearance, albeit brief by a white and silver mech. The next attack had several participants she hadn't seen before and was missing some of the regulars. It wasn't worrisome. Megatron had told her that once they reclaimed Cybertron there would be some 'bots she hadn't met who had either remained on their planet or had gone off to colonize. Those guys would probably be sent and the others could get little break or strike somewhere else.
Staying awake for days at a time gave one a great deal of time to think and wonder. Once the satellite signal was coming in clearly, she was shocked to discover she'd been out of commission for years. It wasn't hard to figure out that no one knew she was here. Everyone must think she was dead. That part made sense. The rest of it remained a confusing mystery. The new body was taking some getting used to, but it didn't upset her like it might someone who hadn't spent years among the living machines. These days, she didn't live all that differently from a lot of humans. If she wasn't outside or trying to make some improvement inside, she was parked in front of the TV. It was better than constantly thinking about the future.
XxXxXxXxX
Cyclonus was in a foul mood and thoroughly disgusted. As he, Scourge and the Sweeps had approached the surface of Chaar, they encountered a group of Decepticons fighting over a couple of energon cubes. He wasn't sure what to do, but the sight of once feared warriors in such a pathetic position finally put him at the end of his considerable patience.
With no leader, how far would they deteriorate before they could stage a recovery? And was recovery even possible? In what felt like no time they had been driven from Cybertron, and even worse, had lost their leader. He and Scourge had searched all over but had been unable to find any trace of Galvatron. Their master had gone off with the matrix to face Unicron on his own. He was indestructible, or so they had thought, and neither of them quite dared to voice their concerns. Truthfully, they didn't have any real concerns. The matrix was the only thing that could destroy Unicron and they possessed it. The monster would be destroyed and then the remaining Autobots. They would be victorious once and for all.
But something had gone terribly wrong. They had waited and waited and Galvatron did not summon them. Reluctantly the decision was made to look for him. It was a surprise when they encountered the head of Unicron orbiting Cybertron. So their leader was successful. They should have expected nothing less. Unfortunately for them they entered the planet's orbit and immediately the defenses were unleashed upon them, and then was augmented by a party of Autobots. Where were the Decepticons? It was confusion and chaos and they were forced to retreat. The logical place to look for their surviving comrades would be that which was closest. Chaar was nothing but a burned out disaster area but it was nearby. And there they were. They were a dispirited lot. Cyclonus tried to rouse their combative nature to no avail. He refused to believe that Galvatron was destroyed. It was unthinkable. None of the others knew anything about his whereabouts. But there was someone, something that might.
XxXxXxXxX
The last of the pink energon was gone. All that remained was the multicolored concentrated stuff. The femme picked one up and looked it over. It seemed stable enough but really, she didn't know all that much about it. It was kind of like mass displacement, in other words, over her head. What she did know was that any 'bot she had seen ingest it, got way, way over energized more so than on high grade, even. It would require care and she would have to use it because nothing else was left. What would happen when this was gone was more than she wanted to think about. It was certainly a problem, but hell, that's all she had these days. Oh well, screw it. It was time to watch Mythbusters. She could worry after that.
After settling in the usual place on the floor, she carefully sipped the multicolored concoction. None of it had a flavor as she knew it. It did burn and tingle though, and some of it was worse than others. Surprisingly, the compressed cube didn't have near the bite of the regular kind. Maybe sitting around all this time made it weaker? Eh, what was the difference? And besides, there were more interesting things to ponder like what would happen if one were to strap a big ol' rocket to the roof of a Chevy.
XxXxX
The compressed cube was nearly drained. She was so interested in the program that she hadn't noticed. It had hardly any sting and she wasn't feeling that different at all. Yes, it must have lost its strength. The effects weren't that noticeable until she got up to go outside. Wow! That stuff really snuck up on you. It was like Everclear for 'bots. She tried to go toward the door and staggered sideways.
Maybe you'd be better off staying inside tonight.
Yeah, that was a possibility, but it was so nice out.
You're really not in any condition.
Okay, fine. Bitch, bitch, bitch. You really aren't a lot of fun, you know that? She thought, throwing her arms upward in exasperation.
Her conscience said nothing more.
She was extremely tired suddenly. An energize indicator in her vision was totally off the scale. It was weird the way that worked. You'd think that one would feel more awake like with coffee. She was going to have to shut down for a time. It was inevitable but she'd stubbornly fight as long as possible. An adjustment to the computer brought up the Military Channel on the monitor. She had been pissed to discover this had replaced Discovery Wings during the years she'd been indisposed but what could you do? Back when she'd still been human, there wasn't a single seeker that hadn't considered everything on the Wings channel high comedy. She watched this one and the Weather Channel when there was nothing of interest on. The voice over announced that presently there would be a program on about aircraft carriers. She liked those because there were often F-15s featured prominently. It was kind of depressing too, as it made her miss her friends even more. What were they all doing now? She went over to her designated spot and got comfortable. A half hour into the program she went off line, and seeing the opportunity, the nanites forced stasis. A cocoon of the pale blue gel began to envelop the protoform.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Scourge was not convinced that any of what they were doing was wise. Given the present state of the Empire, it did not seem advisable to go provoking trouble. They had pilfered the remnants of Unicron's memory banks and managed to locate Galvatron. The tracker did not care to ever repeat that experience. He was no coward but the eerie silence inside the immense severed head was unnerving. The beast was still alive somehow, he was sure. Unfortunately, there was no talking Cyclonus out of it. He was possessed by the idea of finding their missing leader, and it turned out he had been right
Now they were somewhere over one of the moons of Jupiter in pursuit of a couple of Autobots after having destroyed a space platform belonging to the humans. Their esteemed leader was determined to have the Autobots' heads as trophies. So far it had cost them one Sweep. The unfortunate had been hit and had fallen out of sight.
When they had located Galvatron on Thrull he had promptly lit into all of them and they allowed it to a certain degree. If he wasn't so unbelievably loyal Cyclonus could possibly have taken him and if the Sweeps were a little more used to working as a team, the same could be said of them. The entire group combined could have done it without question, but in the end they all pledged loyalty. At the time they thought he was merely angry, but the more they were together the more Scourge was convinced something was very wrong.
Cyclonus had caught on right away. He was almost fanatical in his devotion and it was obvious to him that this was not the same mech that had gone off to slay Unicron. What had happened? Was it from all the time submerged in the plasma on Thrull? Or could it somehow be from the destruction of Unicron? The planet-sized monster had had a hold over their leader. At will it had used pain and torment to keep Galvatron under control. Perhaps during the final battle it had gone so far as to destroy some vital part of his mind. All this random running around was completely out of character.
In time the Autobots were presumed destroyed (though they did not have their heads) and they began the return trip to Chaar. Maybe being back amongst his troops would normalize him a little. Scourge certainly hoped so.
XxXxXxXxXxX
What the hell? Again with this crusty dried up husk. The femme kicked and struggled and succeeded in shredding it, emerging like some kind of malevolent butterfly. Her optics blinked on and were very different. All around the periphery of her vision were many new indicators that had not been there. And she felt great! There had not been such a feeling of strength and clear headedness in a long time. How long had she been out?
The last of the fuel remaining in the generator had run out. The whole room was in darkness. Suddenly and inexplicably, she wanted to be outside more than anything else. She paused a moment before getting to her feet and heading toward the door. Her conscience had nothing to say on the subject. Good. The night vision came on and clearly indicated the exit. The 'bot opened the door and as she tried to walk through it, she was clotheslined to the floor, landing flat on her back with a resounding bang.
"Ow!" she snarled into the darkness. What the fuck was that all about? Her backside hurt and so did something new. She got up and slowly approached the door. Just as she cleared the threshold she could hear a metallic scrape and feel the doorframe touching her brand new appendages. Every Decepticon with an aircraft alt mode had complained regularly about the door being too narrow and would have to pass through it at an angle. She backed away and turned a few circles trying to get a look at the new additions to her frame, resembling a dog chasing its tail in the process. Yes! She had wings!
XxXxX
The sun was still up and would be for more than an hour. She leapt out of the tunnel and could hardly contain herself. The femme noticed immediately that she had gotten more than just wings. Perched on each forearm was a weapon of some kind. Each one was short and fat, staying out of her way of her hands rather than extending past them. They sort of looked like little fusion cannons. She carefully peered into each while trying to stay out of their line of fire. Inside where multiple barrels arranged in a circle. It was a cross between a Gatling gun and the laser she had worn on her left arm. Neat! The armor on the back of the forearms extended past the elbow when the arm was bent. Each section was sharpened like a blade and came to a wicked point. Further up, the nosecone and part of the fuselage split in half and hung down in three sections over each shoulder and the upper arm not unlike the pads worn in football. The canopy that covered the cockpit was conspicuously absent. Instead there was more armor and sheet metal that confirmed that she remained a femme. Looking down at her legs revealed engine intakes and exhaust from the knees down. The rest of her legs carried a distinct female appearance, though on the outer thigh of each there was a panel that looked like it should move but it didn't, or she couldn't get it to. Not bad. Some paint was definitely in order, though. She looked like a femme but had far less humanoid characteristics than any of the female Autobots she'd seen pictures of. How could any of them fight hand to hand against anyone with those spindly limbs? She wished there was a puddle to use as a mirror but it hadn't rained in weeks. The best thing of all was that she could leave and find her comrades. She had missed them. And boy, wouldn't they be surprised!
You should take some time to learn before you go running off into who knows what.
Hey Sunny Jim, I was wondering when you'd show up. She thought.
It's the sensible thing to do. You have no idea of your abilities or how to use them.
That was certainly true.
You have been presumed dead for years now. A little longer won't matter.
Alright.
What could she do besides fly, presumably? There were clues to be had in the indicators surrounding her view. Some of them were the same as before, telling the amount of charge and energon reserves. Then there were others. Some were easy, such as "missiles remaining," but others were more mysterious like "voltage scatter." Whatever that one was, she didn't seem to have enough power to activate it despite a three quarter charge and equal energon reserves. She had looked at all of them before realizing that each was written in Cybertronian and she could read them. Wow, she'd been upgraded all over.
There was easily enough juice to power the guns. She pointed an arm skyward.
Do you have any idea how far that shot will go or how visible it is?
No.
Now is not the time to reveal your presence.
I guess not.
She pointed toward the ground away from the silo and paused. No comment from Jiminy Cricket. This would work. Okay, how did they activate? There were no visible triggers. A display for the cannons turned red and read "armed" but nothing else happened. Visualization was the key. She briefly imagined what they would look like in action and was startled when a flash of purple laser fire burst forth and kicked up a spray of dirt and gravel. Now that was something else. She spent the next hour getting an idea of how to activate them with little effort and at varying strength. Her aim was off and it was beginning to annoy her. As though by magic a little, circular reticle popped up in her vision. It was round and flashed red whenever it had a target locked. Just how it knew to recognize something like a rock as a target, she didn't know.
At last darkness began to draw down. Now it was time for the fun part. There remained enough light to see what she looked like if she hurried and found a pond or something.
Again, no warnings or admonishments. So how did one transform, anyway?
This would be so much easier if there was someone around to ask. Visualization seemed to operate the weapons so maybe that's how everything worked. Anything that flew always jumped up first. She crouched and leapt upward. The sections of nosecone and fuselage on her shoulders whipped upward and surrounded her head, while the wings rotated around to point the fight direction. Her legs joined together at the engines and then the whole mess crashed to the ground.
"Damn it!" she said. It wasn't hard to get untangled but it hurt a little.
You can't picture the process if you don't know what you look like and how you go together. Try flight in robot mode first.
You ass. Why didn't you speak up sooner?
There was no further comment. It was a good idea though. She could use that style of flight to get to where she could see herself. And it was a task that proved far easier to master. Her processors worked a little differently due to her origins but it was effective. They visualized what was desired and this set into motion the other circuits and systems needed to achieve the desired effect.
The femme was not expecting this to work and was caught by surprise, which led to some ungainly flailing around before she got control of herself. In robot mode, Decepticons became airborne through an anti-gravity device, which was why they made so little noise. It was weird. At first she just hovered at a low altitude for several minutes before discovering a series of fans that controlled movement. She had seen those before whilst making repairs to the mechs but had thought they were for just air circulation. Even after her many years among the 'bots, there were some things Megatron thought it best she not know about, and that was one of them. It did not take long to get the hang of it. It didn't take long to locate water, either.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Galvatron was enraged, although that tended to be his state of mind all the time. And it was truly an understatement. Nothing was what he intended or wanted. He was stuck on a planet that was nothing but a garbage heap and his so-called warriors were worthless. How could he keep being defeated this way? He had gained the matrix and went off to destroy his would-be owner, but then the matrix was no help to him. He had it in his hands and it would not work. Unicron had been destroyed and no longer had any control over him. He had warned that stupid, overgrown mechanism that he belonged to nobody. (Overlooking the fact that it was the Autobots new leader who had actually done the deed.) Unicron's end was the only positive. Well, that and the fact that he had given the traitor Starscream the overdue retribution he so richly deserved. After that it was just more failure. They had gone back to Earth and even with the might of Trypticon on their side, had been foiled yet again. He was surrounded by fiasco. Once in his other life he would have learned from these experiences, even if it was just one small thing, but not now.
The anger overwhelmed him for a second and his optics flickered unsteadily as he repeatedly punched the wall over and over before calming down a little. He even lacked the resources to get his old form back and was stuck in this casing dictated by Unicron. That only infuriated him further and punching the wall was so unsatisfying. The Autobots would suffer for this! It was entirely their fault and he would track them one by one if he had to, and slowly and painfully murder them. Cybertron would become intimately familiar with his wrath. Oh yes. He would lay waste to the entire planet if that was what it took to meet his goal. But how? Slag it! He wanted to hurt something NOW, if just to relieve the poison in his own mind.
"CYCLONUS!" he roared. He knew that the mech would be somewhere close by, the moron.
"What do you require of me, mighty Galvatron?" Cyclonus asked upon entering the room. He knew he was taking his life into his own hands by doing this but his programming demanded loyalty.
"Come here a moment. I wish to discuss your failures of late,"
XxXxXxXxXxX
The pasture field was pretty isolated so there was no one to witness the cattle running in terror as the 'bot landed hard next to their large pond. The next time, she'd have to remember to get lower before cutting off the anti-grav.
And then the moment of truth. She stood on a bank and leaned out over the water. Holy crap, but things were way different than last time. Her faceplate was definitely femme but those pissed off looking, slightly downward slanted optics were awfully familiar, even if they were green and the sharp corners a little rounded. Her head had the same helmet like appearance as any transformer with three sharp looking ridges raised above the surface and running from front to back. On the sides were two exceedingly wicked looking points sticking up. They appeared to be folded and had a protective cover at the base. Must be an antenna or something. The wings were similar to those of her friends, though thinner. The engine intakes were on her legs instead of sticking up on either side of her head, which indicated that her alt mode was certainly different from theirs too.
What am I besides some kind of seeker? She wondered.
Not what. Who. Who are you?
The answer wasn't Erica Dawes, she knew that right away.
Correct. Erica is long dead. You are someone else entirely.
Okay, who?
You tell me.
Shit. She hated it when he got all cryptic. Who was she? Good question, that. Gradually, a name surfaced and she heard herself speak to the voice out loud, a thing she avoided because it somehow confirmed insanity to her.
"I…I'm…Stormvolt?" It felt right, but why was that her name? Names didn't always mean something, but more often than not they did. Hmmm. The longer she considered it, the more correct it felt. Alright then, from this point on she was Stormvolt. If it meant something, the mystery would be unraveled eventually. For now though, there were other puzzles to solve.
After several minutes of committing the images to memory, it wasn't hard to figure out what went where. It was so easy it stunned her a little. Processors were so much faster than a regular brain. By then it was dark. She moved away from the pond and outside the fence. After a little thought she made the attempt. Success! Maybe. At first she couldn't see anything, but then the optics popped on with the standard readouts plus some flight indicators. It would be a long night and when she finally got a glimpse of herself in alt mode, she would have no idea what she was…a YF-17.
XxXxX
Author's note continued: Yeah, you knew that was coming. There was no way I could make her something ground based. The YF-17 is real. It was created by Northrup and competed against the YF-16, which was originally developed by General Dynamics but is now made by Lockheed Martin. The Air Force picked the YF-16, which became the F-16 Fighting Falcon, but the Navy wanted something with two engines because of long flights over water and so the YF-17 design was modified and became the F-18 Hornet. The 17 never got beyond the experimental stage, but it did have a cool animal name like the others, though it was unofficial: Cobra. Compared to the F-15 the 17 is approximately 8.2 feet shorter in length, 3.1 feet shorter in height and the wingspan is 5.2 feet narrower. I picked it because it's similar in appearance to the F-15 but smaller as you would imagine a femme to be, and it had two engines. As with anything, you can find lots of photos of it on Google image. I haven't decided if all this research is good or hopelessly dorky, but there you have it.
