Blood and Energon 4
A Transformers Prime FanFiction
Two big rigs pulled into a truck stop on the Alcan Highway. In near perfect synchronization they rolled gracefully to a stop among the scrubby spruce forest. A reasonably flat section of gravel merged into sparse weeds, serving as the parking lot. Old timbers, half returned to the soil, lay marking the boundaries of the truck stop. If both drivers seemed to take a little extra time to talk to their rigs before getting out, there was no one else around to notice.
Two young men, neither looking quite old enough to be solely in charge of such expensive pieces of equipment jumped out of the rigs. The slightly older one, sporting a worn leather flight jacket over faded blue jeans, displayed several degrees more grace and confidence in the movement. The younger, wearing a rumpled cameo uniform, stepped forward with that awkward grace unique to young men on the verge of reaching full growth. They met up half way to the restrooms and walked on chatting happily together.
If anyone had been close enough to observe the idle trucks they might have made a few observations. The trucks appeared to be just a pair of Peterbilts; the sky blue needle-nose much older than the primary red 381. From the dings and scratches that covered the body of the sky blue truck it would appear it had seen far more action than its brother rig. They both sat immobile, indifferent to the events that transpired around them. All of these observations would have been very wrong.
As soon as the young drivers disappeared into the restrooms a flock of large ravens seemed to gather out of nowhere. One especially large and battle scarred male circled high over the trucks calling out harshly. A white scar crossed his vicious looking bill. As the seconds ticked by dozens more joined him and added their voices to his cry. There was something malevolent in the gathering; something personal in the looks the head raven was giving the sky blue rig. None of the birds seemed especially eager to get close to the sky blue rig but soon many had settled on the other truck.
With a fortitude born of endless years of warfare Optimus Prime ignored the presence of the birds. Their feathers and droppings stuck to the roof of his trailer and cab. The Autobot made a mental note to shower down in the newly installed facility Agent Fowler had arranged for them back at base. Perhaps the children could help. Arcee assured him that receiving a good scrub down was a very enjoyable experience and the children seemed eager to offer the service. He was mentally arranging his schedule around the pleasant prospect when a signal caught his attention.
Someone was performing a search for monitoring devices. The Prime was immediately on alert. The signal was low quality, human equipment no doubt, the kind used to locate wireless signals. Optimus allowed himself to relax and decided not to pursue the matter. Somewhere nearby some human was fruitlessly trying to access the internet. Were they not maintaining strict radio silence the Autobot might have obliged the seeker by providing an uplink. Over head the ravens were growing bolder, seemingly egged on by the calls of their leader. One darted down and gave a quick peck at the other rig. Optimus cast a worried glance towards the restrooms, these creatures offered him no real harm but those bills might be a problem for the humans.
A second signal rolled over the Autobot, claiming his full attention now. It was still only a human device, but it was stronger, military grade at least. There was no way it would detect his Cybertronian signals but it raised some questions. The Prime located the signal, and felt his concern level rise considerably. The searching signal was emanating from the rig at his side. Before Optimus could fully analyze the implications of the situation, a third signal activated, this one was more confusing. It was clearly not Cybertronian but it ran up and down spectrums never utilized by humans, and there was something organic, about the search pattern. Optimus was just about to summon Jack when the signal abruptly ended.
Without starting its engine the big rig known as Salcha gracefully rolled back and slid closer to the Cybertronian, coming to a stop with its needle nose about half way up his length. Optimus resolutely maintained his silence as the flock of ravens took to the skies in alarm. For a moment the other rig just sat there, so close their mirrors overlapped. Soon the corvids regained their courage for another assault. They began to land on the Autobot, calling down mockingly at the other rig from out of its reach. Almost out of its reach, they belatedly realized. Long yellow tie straps snapped out and over Optimus's trailer. The birds dove frantically out of their way, but only regrouped above the two trucks. They appeared to be making an effort to drop their deposits as frequently as possible on the rigs.
Optimus sat and watched the display in puzzled silence. Clearly there was more than met the optic to this other rig. It was no Autobot the Prime had ever seen. If it was a Decpticon either there would have been an attack by now or it would not have blown its cover to chase off a few Earth birds. The Autobot remained silent and waited.
The snapping tie straps coiled back into place on the rig. The hood tilted up just enough to admit two black tie straps. Salcha reached into his engine compartment and pulled out a piece of raw meat he'd been saving for later. He placed it carefully on his now shut hood and let the two black ties slump around the scrap in a loose circle. The calling of the corvids grew louder. Several crows and jays had joined the flock, while that had no loyalty to the scarred leader they were curious. One of the younger ravens grew bold and darted down to snatch the meat. Another seeing him uninjured followed and challenged his right to the morsel. In the ensuing fight neither saw the ties tense then snap out.
Quickly and painlessly it was over. Two limp bodies were pulled down into the engine compartment. A strange grinding, tearing sound emanated from the sky blue rig, loud enough to be heard over the outraged screaming of the birds. A black cloud of torn feathers puffed out of the front grille. Something clear and viscous dripped to the ground beneath the engine. The hood lifted again and the ties pulled out two perfectly articulated raven skeletons held together by the tendons and coated in a clear gel. The ties lifted the skeletons up and shook them at the now silent swarm of birds over head. The jays and crows immediately vacated the air space and the majority of the ravens slunk of into the surrounding forest. Only a murder remained loyal to their leader. Salcha emitted a screech that was a good impression of the ravens if a bit deeper. With one final scream the murder disappeared into the trees. Only the scarred one stayed, perched menacingly on a lamp pole, sullen and plotting.
Salcha let out a tired sigh. A yellow tie reached into his cab and pulled out a length of bailing wire. He bound one of the skeletons to his smoke stack and the other to one of Optimus's. The long yellow tie straps reached up and carefully swiped away at the thick layer of raven guano that had collected on the Autobot's trailer and cab.
"I'm not sure how much good this will do you big guy," a deep voice murmured softly. "Frack, I hope Smith doesn't get in trouble for this mess. If you really are some top secret government project they won't be pleased to get their new toy back all filthy. He's a good kid, that one. Not as good as my Zechariah, mind you, but then no one else is. There, that's the best I can do right now." The rig pulled one side mirror off and lifted to up to get a good look at top of the Autobot. "Well, you're a mess, but being an emotionless hunk of silicon and steel I guess you don't care too much." Sal pulled back to his previous position. The entire incident had taken maybe five minutes.
"Here I am talking to an inanimate object again," sighed the big rig. "I'm sure glad we met up with Smith. I wonder what his real name is. I know it's supposed to be Zech's first solo adventure and everything but I really don't like him being alone. I don't like being left alone without anyone to talk to. Humans always make the best friends, but it's lonely when they leave you alone. Why the creator made a primarily social species that needed periods of isolation is beyond me." The rig fell silent for a moment.
Optimus prime was still sitting quietly. It was looking more and more as if this was no Cybertronian. The Autobot was gently reaching out with his senses in search of spark energy, and coming up with nothing. Either a Decpticon or an Autobot, or an unaligned for that matter, would have easily recognized the faction badge on his trailer. Exactly what this creature was; was still a mystery. There were no other sentient beings native to earth. Optimus paused in his train of thought, none that the humans had told them of, he amended. For a few seconds he searched his memory banks. When exactly had the humans told them they were the only sentient beings on the planet?
"I need to find Zech a mate!" Sal suddenly declared, surprising the Autobot leader out of his train of thought. "That would solve everything. She could come with us on drives and keep us company. Make sure he eats right. When they had a baby we could bring it along too. The right girl makes everything better. Hmmm," the rig rumbled happily at the thought, shaking the corvid skeleton atop his smokestack. "Now who do we know with a daughter of the right age… Zech will need someone with a deep soul…"
The sky blue rig drifted off into a low rumble as he happily plotted the future for his partner.
This was definitely not a Decpticon, Optimus decided with amusement. The incident that had left the organic remains hanging from his smoke stack was, odd, to say the least, but it did appear to be a form of self defense.
A small nagging pain distracted the Autobot. He summoned his HUD and nearly started in surprise. Where the ravens had perched on him were numerous tiny scratches. The deepest of which had not even seeped energon, but for an organic life form to be able to do even that much damage without the aid of a weapon was shocking. As the Prime rerouted his healing nanobots to the injuries he pondered the situation. There was far more going on here than met the optics.