Chapter 4
Upon returning to base, the reluctant trine reported their success to a very happy megatron, but the moment they left their master's sight, Starscream ripped into Nightfury. In his rant about disobeying her commanding officer and superior flier was drowned out, but She did catch the seeker warble off about how his ex-partner would've deserved what he got if Nightfury had not been stopped by Pixel, but the moment he tried to discipline Pixel, Nightfury hissed and sent the seeker running,
"I'm sorry Night, I'm the reason you got in trouble," Pixel whimpered, sitting on their shared berth - one of Starscream's ideas of saving space and his own little fantasy,
"Don't be. There was enough death in those ruins for anyone to stomach, no one else had to die," she replied, sitting on the berth side, her tense form relaxing as she reflected over what she had done and what she was about to have done. Pixel watched the older femme, but a question was itching the back of her processor, something just seemed off,
"That mech...the flying Autobot...did you know him?" the question slipped out before she could stop it, crawling over to Nightfury and leant on her back, resting her helm on her shoulder and looping her arms around her neck. Pixel wasn't sure what compelled her to do it but it just seemed right. She could feel Nightfury tense at the question, she must've known him if she made such a reaction to him,
"I...did, a long time ago...I thought he was dead," Nightfury replied, her voice lower than normal, almost strained,
"Who was he? This Jetfire?" Now her curiosity peaked, Nightfury had once told her she never saw the outside of Shockwave's lab, yet she knew this mech. Sensing her hesitance, Pixel nuzzled the side of her helm, another instinct meant to soothe the rage driven femme, and it seemed to have worked,
"He...he's my sire," now that was a shock, Pixel never thought the mech could be her father, though it did explain why she was so tall, obviously getting that line of code from her sire,
"You're an Autobot too?" she asked, staring in disbelief,
"I was taken from him when I was a sparkling, he wanted to show me Cybertron but he never thought the Cons would attack so far into Iacon," she explained, before something Pixel never thought she'd ever see in the strong femme; tears. Looking at Nightfury, she saw fresh tears rolling down her faceplates, her face plates never scrunched up with emotion but remained frozen while tears flowed, "I always thought he had passed into the well, reasonable enough since he never came for me...why didn't he find me if he was alive?... Maybe then, we could've been spared,"
"Maybe he tried," looking up, Nightfury turned to Pixel. The little femme pulled her around before wiping her tears away, "Maybe he was lied to as well, told you had died so he wouldn't find you. The look on his faceplates when I called your name, it was relief...he was happy you were alive,"
"No. He called me a monster...that's what I am," Nightfury looked away from the innocent femme only to be brought back by her dainty servos,
"No, you're not. You're Nightfury, my friend, and I want you to be happy," Pixel smiled, "We're both Autobots, we may look different now because we were taken by the enemy and experimented, but our base code will always be Autobot. We shouldn't be here,"
"Pixel. What you're suggesting will only bring pain. Slag, it's worthy of the DJD hunting you down and making you pay for thinking in such a way," that very thought caused the purple seeker to pull her smaller pink/blue trine mate into her arms, "No way, I can't let that happen to you,"
"But maybe your sire could help us. If we go far away, Megatron won't be able to find us," Nightfury could see the hope in e little femme's optics and just couldn't bring herself to say no. She had not learned that once branded a Decepticon, there was no going back; they would be treated differently, by both Autobots and Decepticons. Autobots would see them as fakes, spies for Megatron trying to infiltrate their ranks or assassinate officials from within. Decepticons would see them as traitors, either bringing them in for the malicious Tarn to deal with them or even Megatron himself to deal with. No, the thought of this small femme being subjected to such prejudice made Nightfury's tank turn, but it was what she wanted,
"Alight. I'll try and cause a distraction long enough for use to escape from here, we will then find some Autobot soldiers to take us to Jetfire. I pray he listens, he has witnessed what we can do," she replied, her spark warming at the sight of Pixel's joyful smile.
It was official. They were to escape, tonight.
After meeting with Megatron and receiving their new mission, Starscream lead the femmes out to scout for more energon. He hadn't noticed the femmes conversing as to how they were making their escape all the more easier, with a bonus: blaming their capture on Starscream.
Arriving in the ruin of Polyhelix, Pixel and Nightfury picked up the strong scent of energon below their pedes. But before they could alert the vehicons to come and mine the site, Nightfury picked up Autobots nearby, and they were closing in. Squeezing Pixel's shoulder alerted the femme to the approaching bots, which she too picked up, and awaited Nightfury's signal,
Before they knew it, the Autobots were on them. The vehicons took cover and managed to lay some cover fire while Nightfury ran into battle. Locking with a tall brute of a mech, she placed their plan in motion,
"I don't want to fight, we need your help," she hissed, coming in close to the brute class mech's audio receptors,
"Why should I believe you con?" he hissed, his face guard moving as he spoke,
"Because, my partner and I were bots, experimented on. If you take us to Jetfire, I promise to pass on vital information on Decepticon operations in this area, as well as the names of those Shockwave killed in his sick experiments," she replied,
"Nightfury! What the slag are you doing?! Kill him already!"Starscream's shrill cry echoed over the battle field,
"If you come with us, in cuffs, I'll see what I can do," he grunted, watching Her nod in agreement. He watched her glance over to a smaller bot, half her size, peek from behind cover. With one nod, the little femme rushed out onto the field, her servos changing in to medical grade blades, pretending to run into battle to aid Nightfury,
"Make this convincing," Nightfury pulled back, giving the mech an opening. Slam! His fist drove into her tanks, gasping from the slight pain before force her body to collapse,
"Nightfury!" Pixel cried, playing along. Starscream watched as she tried to defend her team mate but was struck as well, not hard though, but she faked stasis,
"Men! Fall back! Take the femmes!" the mech cried, slinging Nightfury over his shoulder and another of his men grabbed Pixel, fleeing the battle. Pixel cracked her optic stutters open a touch to see Starscream cursing and ranting to the vehicons, blaming them for their capture.
As promised, the femme fliers were brought into an underground Autobot bunker in cuffs. Many of the bots within murmured as to why femmes were cuffed and why they were fliers, but all of that drowned out when a mech walked out and spotted Nightfury. His optics grew wide and he howled a terrified scream,
"DEMON! SPAWN OF UNICRON! RUN BEFORE IT LOSES IT!" he shrieked, pushing past other mechs standing around, some drew their weapons, training them on Nightfury. Pixel was spooked by the outburst and huddled close to the femme's side, now fearful on the guns trained on them,
"What in primus name is going..." Jetfire walked into the main chamber to find the last 2 he would ever see again, stopping short as he recognized them, "Nightfury? What are you doing here?" he asked, staring in disbelief, as were many others,
"Trading information for freedom...if we could speak in private," she asked, her expression unchanged but her grip on Pixel as she sensed danger, her rage boiling and her scanners picked up every weapon trained on them. Pixel sensed her anxiety and feared a blood bath would ensure if she didn't do something,
"Night, it's okay. We're not in danger," Pixel whispered, watching as her partner's frame relaxed somewhat, her feral look slowly fading from her optics,
"Very well. Leave them with me soldier; I know what they are capable of," Jetfire nodded to the mech who, thought reluctant, allowed the femmes to walk past him and into a separate room. The moment the door closed, Jetfire cautiously removed their cuffs. Pixel said thank you to the kind mech but as he removed Nightfury's, she said nothing. "Night...you've grown so much," he sighed, looking at the femme who was once no bigger than his knee joints, but now she reached his collar plating, her once innocent optics now blazing gold like a smelters pit,
"Are you willing to help us for this information?" she asked, pushing past the subject,
"Night please, talk to me," Jetfire begged, moving up to his daughter, Pixel watched on as sure tried to connect with his sparkling,
"We are, we're talking business. Are you willing to help us in return for this information?" she asked again, avoiding the mech,
"Primus! Nightfury, what happened to you? What did those cons do to my little seekerling, the same who wanted to be an artisan?!" he demanded but became stunned when the same femme tripped him and pinned him to the ground, her optics ablaze with anger,
"She was taken from the one mech who she thought could protect her! She spent her years suffering in a freak's lab while she believed her sire would miraculously return from the dead to save her, that maybe even his friends and comrades would save her!" Pixel could sense the anger in her voice, running forward to stop her only to freeze. A drop of blue lubricant dripped onto Jetfire's white faceplate. He stared up to see the once angered, deadly femme staring down with fearful and tired optics, tears falling as she stared at him, "A youngling who believed all she loved was lost...and all she would ever know was pain and death...I wished and prayed...but no one heard..." more tears fell as her frustration and anger turned to depression and sadness. Her frame became limp as Jetfire sat up, watching almost transfixed as his sparkling cried,
"Nightfury..." Pixel began to feel her partners pain through their strange sisterly bond, her own tears blooming on the corners of her optics,
"And only after I have done so much harm...dragging an innocent into this world of pain...Primus only now heeds my plea, sending me back to my sire...a monster," the moment that word left her vocaliser, Jetfire pulled himself to his knees and snatched Nightfury into a tight embrace. His spark reached out to hers, re-establishing the old broken bond they once held,
"Oh my child, I tried. Primus knows I tried to find you," he whispered, cradling her close, "I abandoned my restraint and hunted down the mech's who took you, then those who sold you, I searched and searched...but I had to believe Megatron's lies, saying you were with your carer...I swore they would pay, every last one of them. But seeing you, working for them and killing your fellow mechs...I almost off lined," pulling back, he stared into those unfamiliar familiar optics, finally seeing the sparkling he had lost, "I know I can't make up for the years you suffered, but knowing your alive gives me hope," his smile did her in. All restraint, the walls she enforced around her spark dissolved allowing her spark to spring out and grasp her sire's, holding for dear life as she latched onto him, burying her helm into his chassis.
Pixel now felt a little out of place. This was a moment for Nightfury and Skyfire but as she stood to leave them in peace, she felt an arm grab hers. Looking back, she saw Nightfury in a little so unfamiliar to the stoic femme, her bright optics staring at her, begging the smaller femme not to leave as she pulled her close. Nightfury must've said something to Jetfire or the large mech simply knew from her reaffirmed bond, he welcomed the little bot into the embrace.
It had remained like that until everyone calmed could speak properly again. Pixel and Nightfury plotted all the energon locations they had picked up while on other missions, what Decepticons could use to cripple their resistance and some projects Shockwave was working on.
Despite only just reuniting, Jetfire programmed an Autobot signel in a small transport to get both Pixel and Nightfury off of the planet and to the only other bot he trusted with their well being - Optimus Prime. They had received a message from the Autobot commander and being that he had a small team, the femmes would be able to help. Jetfire had even accepted Pixel as his own; she had explained her noble father had enlisted her at a young age to apprentice under Ratchet and he saw thesadness in her optics when she spoke of her father. The smile spread across her face plates when he offered to be a surrogate sire was a sight to see.
But the moment their ship was to leave, the Decepticons attacked,
"Nightfury! Take Pixel and go!" Jetfire cried, pulling his men back into thehidden tunnels. Now fearful for her father's safety, he simplykissed her helm and Pixel's, silently promising they would meet again.
Fighting through the Decepticon forces was like a dream come true for Nightfury; turning berserk and slicing through all in their way will deadly grace, holding Pixel close to her as they finally reachedtheir ship but just as the hatch closed, Nightfury froze,
There, in the middle of the chaos was the last mech she wanted to see, flanking Megatron as he surveyed the retreating Autobot forces. Megatron had seen the ship fly off, turning to the con in question,
"Were they on the transport?" he grumbled, not please with what had occurred,
"Yes My lord," the deep baritone voice passed the plates forming his mask, watching patiently as Megatron roared and killed fleeing bots,
"Find them Tarn, put them in the list but do NOT kill them, they are too valuable. Punish them if you must...not too badly thought," Megatron hissed, leaving Tarn to regroup with his men. He was looking forward to this hunt.