Author's Note: Double digit chapters now. I think this may be the longest thing I've ever written. Thanks for reading and for taking the good time and trouble to comment. It's nice to know that people are enjoying this. Transformers belong to Hasbro, Takara and others, not me though.
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Come Around
By Quetzal
Chapter 10
Grave Robbing
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The team would consist of Starscream, Dirge, Longhaul, Scrapper, Skywarp who was in charge, and Erica. If it turned into a fight it was better to have forces on the ground as well as the air. Not to mention the fact that the Constructicons were very strong and less argumentative. The photos provided by Astrotrain showed a fairly uninhabited area to the south of the base and the town. They would land there and then approach the base on foot. Laserbeak's reconnaissance showed that away from the buildings, it was almost total darkness. The main force would wait at a distance while one 'bot deposited the human over the fence. She would locate the targets and then summon the others who would abscond with them. They would strike the following night. It sounded simple.
Erica wasn't worried about the plan. These guys had been doing this kind of thing for a long time and it seemed to be a sound strategy. What bothered her was participating and what it meant. Thus far, she hadn't done so much that was really all that bad. Sure there was all the stuff that was stolen, but that was a legitimate matter of survival. She did have to eat, after all. However, stealing from the United States military was something else all together. Hell, it had been her idea. It surely counted as treason. Did they still hang people for that or was it a firing squad? Probably it was nothing more dramatic than the electric chair for a civilian. But then what was she worried about? She'd never get as far as the county jail, let alone the chair, not as long as she had this collar on.
While she was beginning to develop a hatred for the Autobots, people were another matter. They were just misguided, and she didn't want to hurt anybody. At least she had convinced the Decepticons to try stealth and in a place that might make it possible to avoid any fighting. She sighed and resumed her aimless wandering about the base. She was supposed to be sleeping but seriously, how could she with this hanging over her head? Eventually she came to a viewport and stopped to look out at the darkness. Even during the day it was hard to see much of anything.
After a few moments, she thought about resuming her wandering. The repair bay was nearby but she didn't think going there would be so wise. Would Thundercracker really kill her at the first opportunity? Skywarp didn't seem to think so, but how could he know for sure? Damn, but she'd never seen anyone so angry. It made her blood run cold. And what would happen if this little scheme worked? Would he still be mad? Trying to do the right thing certainly made a person's life harder.
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Megatron was feeling the need for a recharge. Things were in a controlled state of disarray and it aggravated him. His current plan for a way to collect energy had to be put on hold until this business with Thundercracker was resolved one way or another. Seekers were very useful soldiers but they could be such high-strung creatures. In all his time as Decepticon leader this was not the first time he had seen this situation. The last time had been long ago in the early days of the war. Sundevil had been a good soldier but then wounds sustained in battle had rendered him unable to fly. He didn't give up immediately and tried to carry on, but eventually became so unstable and prone to violent unprovoked outbursts that Megatron finally had to terminate him. Should Thundercracker show the same tendency, he would also be eliminated. First though, he would allow this experiment.
Honestly he was surprised that Skywarp had come up with it. Erica's proposal to steal from this "graveyard" was interesting as well and then the whole business of the two of them managing to save Thundercracker. They were becoming quite a team and he wasn't sure if he liked that or not. Either way, she was doing a pretty good job of gaining acceptance from most of his troops.
And then Starscream returned from wherever he had been, not looking any the worse for wear considering what he claimed to have endured. Unbelievably, he had not uttered a single word of protest when informed that Skywarp was in charge of the mission. Strange goings on, indeed. He rose from his chair and made his way to the corridor, about to head to his recharge chamber when he spotted his human standing in front of the viewport staring out into the darkness.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" He asked.
"Good evening, mighty one," she replied, so lost in thought she hadn't noticed his approach.
She had very good manners he would admit that much. "You needn't be so formal, it's just you and I."
Silence. The mech had noticed that she did not seem to be quite as attentive as she usually was, although when she became aware of his presence all sorts of biological functions ratcheted up to much higher levels. Despite how well she got along with some of the others, she had not lost her fear of him. Very wise of her.
"What is troubling you?" He asked, trying to sound concerned and sounding so fake to his own audio sensors it was almost funny.
She looked up, unsure if she should tell him or not. Someone who'd been around for a few million years might have some good insight. Well, unless he got pissed and decided to squash her like a bug. It was hard to tell what would set him off sometimes.
"It's this mission." Geez, that sounded weird. She wasn't the sort of person who went on 'missions.'
"What about it?"
"I don't know. I guess it's just that what we're going to do…I don't feel exactly right about it."
Humans and these ridiculous moral dilemmas! "What specifically don't you feel right about?" He asked, trying not to sound as exasperated as these things made him feel.
She thought about it a moment. "I don't know. It's just that so far I haven't really done anything against any other humans…but this isn't just humans, it's my country and I just…." She trailed off with a confused shrug. "I'm not making any sense am I?"
"Some, but not much."
"It's hard to put into words." Her father had been with the Marines in Vietnam and both of her grandfathers had fought in World War II. Patriotism was a serious thing in the Dawes household.
"Obviously."
"I don't even know why you need me for this."
"So it's acceptable for you to make suggestions but not to participate?"
"No. That's not what I meant."
"You surely haven't forgotten what I've told you. I know you did not want to believe but how much evidence do you require?"
"I didn't forget and I believe you."
"You're serving the greater good."
"Yeah, I guess."
"The actions you take may save many lives later on. At the least you may save Thundercracker."
"Would he really not want to live?"
"All Decepticons can become airborne but only a seeker truly flies. Can you understand the difference?"
She thought for a few moments before replying. "Kind of."
"It is who they are, what they live for. And to lose that would eventually drive him mad. I have seen this before, you know. What you witnessed earlier was nothing compared to what he would eventually degenerate to. I'm sure you don't want that."
"No, I don't." This was two independent sources she had heard the same information from now, though Megatron tended to express it a little better.
"Well then, I don't see why this is so difficult for you."
"Put that way, it isn't, but…I don't know. Everything's not as black and white for me as it is for you."
"Erica, do I have any reason to be concerned that you will make some sort of trouble while you're gone?" he asked, tilting his head to one side and looking at her very hard.
"Absolutely not," she said, sounding insulted as she glared right back at the towering mechanoid. And he didn't. She would not focus on the treasonous aspects but instead the fact that it was necessary to save Thundercracker. And maybe, just maybe they had it coming for trying to kill him in the first place.
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The skies were clear with no moon. A good night for trespassing and stealing. Each Decepticon took off at intervals of 10 to 15 minutes apart and on slightly different headings. On the off chance someone detected them it was better not to be seen en masse, as it would arouse suspicions. They would all converge on the coordinates decided upon earlier. As mission leader, Skywarp left first. He would scout the rendezvous point and make sure everything was as it should be well before the others arrived. He was perhaps the most surprised of all of them to still be in charge of this assignment even after the return of their Air Commander.
Erica watched as he transformed and rocketed away, suddenly disappearing in a sort of cloud of wavy lines that looked like the heat waves from a hot surface.
"Wow, what was that?"
"What?"
"Skywarp just disappeared."
"He teleported," Starscream replied with disinterest. He had seen it more times than anyone could count and the novelty was long gone.
"Teleported? Really?"
"Yes, hence his name Skywarp?" He replied, emphasizing the second half.
"Oh. I thought that had something to do with his sense of humor." Erica was being serious but she thought her nemesis actually cracked a smile, albeit very briefly.
The pair had been thrown together out of necessity. Skywarp didn't know what would happen to a passenger when he teleported since until recently, he'd never had one, and now wasn't the time for experimenting. The Constructicons flew in robot mode and Dirge was just too creepy. The human probably wouldn't be able to make a move or say much of anything without getting the standard death-comes-to-he-who-whatever nonsense. And Primus help her if she asked Dirge if she could 'drive' like she did him sometimes (the request always got an annoyed refusal from Skywarp.) The gravity of the undertaking kept either of them from so much as making a noise or look of disgust when told they were going to be paired together.
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It was a long way to Arizona. Erica passed the time by going over the plan in her mind and trying unsuccessfully to doze when it was obvious that Starscream wasn't going to engage in any sort of conversation. Hey, at least he wasn't purposely trying to make things unpleasant. It was strange really, but she chalked it up to his being worried about Thundercracker. After what felt like an eternity she could hear the engines drop in pitch as though decelerating and the nose of the jet pitched upward slightly. She was about to be ejected. And approximately three seconds later she was shooting upward toward the stars with no aircraft. Thanks for the warning you jerk, she thought. Evidently Starscream had seen fit to warn the other 'bot because just as she lost momentum and started to come down, Skywarp's large hand caught her with hardly a jolt. If you had a good catcher that could almost be fun.
The meeting spot was situated in a dry creek bed between some hills. The only lights around were several miles away and there were no roads. The other Decepticons arrived within the hour and the group set off in a northerly direction toward the base. There was a low ridge that Skywarp squirmed to the top of while the others stayed hidden. His sensors enabled him to see the tall fence topped with barbed wire and signs attached at intervals advising the reader that it was government property and the use of deadly force was authorized. Oh, please! He'd show them some deadly force the first chance he got. Beyond the fence was row upon row of various aircraft. Unfortunately, they had been unable to determine just where the kind they needed were located in the vast expanse. Astrotrain's photos allowed only for generalizations.
"Are you ready?" Erica heard in the earpiece she had tucked into place earlier. Skywarp was able to transmit his voice without actually speaking out loud. It was like telepathy.
"Let's go," she said in a voice that wasn't even a whisper. The transmitter part of her device was stuck to the base of her throat with a band-aid and caught every word no matter how quiet.
Skywarp lowered a hand and she got aboard. And then the mech began to approach the base crouched low to the ground so as not to leave any kind of silhouette against the starry desert sky. It was amazing how someone of his size and weight could be so quiet especially after being used to the way they stomped and clanged around the base. Instead of just dropping the human on the other side of the fence, he stepped over it with lots of room to spare. He put Erica on the dusty ground and then stepped up to the end of a line of F-4 Phantoms before transforming.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to wait here."
"You think that's a good idea? You kind of stick out."
"I blend in better than you, now go so we can get out of here."
He had her there. Erica looked around before darting across the narrow dirt road to the next line of planes.
Skywarp hoped that the wait would not be long. He watched as the human eventually disappeared beyond the range of his night vision sensors and then began tracking her with another sensor that picked up the signal from her collar. He was left all alone amongst the carefully preserved aircraft. Each one was wrapped with something that covered the canopy and all the engine inlets and exhaust. It was as though they were in shrouds and it gave him the creeps. He knew they were just Earth machines and had never been alive and never would be but it didn't matter. It was a lot like being alone in the Decepticon crypt back on Cybertron.
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Where in the hell could they have put those things? Erica thought to herself. She had no idea how far she had come from the fence, but it felt like a long way. She had been hiding and running from row to row but so far had had no luck. Too bad Thundercracker wasn't an F-4 because there were a crapload of them. She recognized them from one that was on static display outside a National Guard Armory near her hometown. Far off to her right she could make out the big bulky shapes of larger craft. Well that wasn't the way to go.
The next row she came to was comprised of more than one type of machine. Shit! What if one of the rows she'd already crossed was the right one? F-15s weren't all that old so there might not be many. Or maybe they don't have any, She thought. This hadn't really occurred to her. Megatron would have her hide if they came back empty handed. Okay, don't panic. Think about what you're doing. How would people operate a place like this? This facility had been around since just after World War II at the least. That part of the documentary had stuck in her memory because she thought how cool it would be if they'd still had old stuff like that around, but it was long gone of course. It would make sense that the newer stuff would be farther out from the main buildings since the space closer would already be occupied. Unless they got rid of a bunch of old junk and put new stuff in that spot. Her mind added unhelpfully. Screw it, that's the theory she'd go with for now. It might also be a good idea to start going up and down the rows instead of just crossing them.
She took a careful look around and saw or heard nothing. The expanse of clear unobstructed sky was nearly hypnotic. It had been a long, long time since she'd been outside and had a moment to just look without running like a maniac to avoid the cops. She gazed up at the stars for a few more seconds and then took off again.
"What is your current status?" Skywarp asked over the communicator.
Erica had gone deeper into the complex and up and down the entire length of several rows by then. Once she thought she'd found what they needed but it turned out to be F-14s. She bowed under the wing of something she couldn't identify and crouched by the landing gear.
"I'm still looking," she finally replied.
"What's taking so long?"
"One person and a whole lot of ground. I'm looking as fast as I can."
"Alright."
She hoped the mech wasn't getting bored. Anything could happen then. As it turned out, he wasn't bored just really uneasy and wishing he'd stuck to the original plan and gone back to hide with the others. But he couldn't quite bring himself to leave the human completely alone and unprotected. Stupid sentimentality.
An hour had passed and still no luck. Erica would have been tired otherwise but she was far too on edge to realize it. She was pretty sure that she'd heard something, but so far there was no sign of whatever it was. She crept out from yet another hiding place beneath some anonymous airplane and started to move down the row when her foot caught on the edge of a rock sending her sprawling into the dirt. She landed hard, small stones dug into the palms of her hands and one knee and she bit her tongue. There was hardly time for the pain to register as a flashlight came on in the distance.
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Airman First Class Paul Lewis had drank entirely too many sodas and wasn't feeling like driving all the way back to one of the maintenance buildings to take care of the problem that presented. He had been on this shift for a week and still wasn't used to staying up all night. Being a security policeman was cool but guarding the grounds around the AMARC facility was pretty dull. At least he wasn't out here in the middle of nowhere during the daytime being roasted alive. With business taken care of, he was in the middle of fastening his belt when he heard a dull, quiet thump.
He finished with the buckle and slung the M-16 from his shoulder in almost a single fluid motion. His flashlight shone around the barrels and miscellaneous items that surrounded him. Nothing. He began to carefully pick his way past the obstructions when he heard the quiet scratching noise. Something was out there.
Erica had remained motionless until she saw the beam of the light bob around and then begin to advance. She wasted no time in getting up and scrambling back to her position behind the landing gear of the nearest aircraft.
"Is everything okay?" Damn, not now. Skywarp had clearly heard the grunt that smacking into the hard ground knocked out of her.
"Yes," she whispered, her injured tongue making it sound a little odd.
"What happened? You sound funny."
"Nothing! I can't talk now there's somebody out here!"
"Do I need to come to your location?" It was disconcerting the way his voice could go from mildly curious to flat and deadly.
"No, stay there and stand by."
The beam swept back and forth over the area and began to come closer. There was nowhere to run. She had crouched down behind the wheels as far as she could get and waited. The edge of the beam was only a few feet away from her hiding spot. She ducked and waited. Either she would be found or not.
"Well, hey there," said a voice.
Erica raised her head just enough to see the path of the beam. It was close enough to reveal her but it was pointed several yards to the left and spotlighting an enormous jackrabbit. The animal's eyes glowed with the reflected light. She had gone past that very spot not ten minutes earlier. The animal leaped away into the darkness when the owner of the light chucked a small rock in its general direction before miraculously turning and going back the way he came. She did not dare stir until an engine started and she saw a pickup truck with a light bar on top slowly cruise down an adjacent dirt track swinging a spotlight along yet another row of aircraft. The last thing she saw before the spotlight abruptly went off was a very familiar sight.
Skywarp was growing more concerned by the second. His sensors told him that Erica remained stationary for a few minutes and then quickly moved in what appeared to be a random direction that deviated from the methodical approach she'd been following. Was someone after her?
"Hey, I found them," he heard.
"I will summon the others and join you."
There was no sound for several minutes and Erica was about to ask Skywarp what was going on when she saw five enormous forms rise up against the night sky. Amazing. They had made their way to her location in silence. Things went much faster then. The mechs quickly rigged a series of straps and chains around the two aircraft that were selected and then easily carried them out of the facility. Their cargo was lightweight compared to the Decepticon equivalent.
The group became airborne at very low altitude once they had gotten far enough from the base to be safe. Skywarp went in advance of the others to make sure the way was clear, but carrying the stolen planes slowed them down to the point that teleporting wasn't necessary. They ranged far south to stay over the deserts where there was much less chance of being spotted.
Erica was suddenly exhausted when it was clear that they had gotten away with it. Being back with Skywarp was also more pleasant. The engineer was out cold within half an hour and was unaware of the remainder of the trip until they were almost home.
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A couple of hours later she was awakened by the violent shaking of the aircraft and the cacophony of alarms and flashing lights inside the cockpit. The tower was just visible below and then the world began to slowly spin.
"SKYWARP, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?!" She screamed as she grabbed for the control stick and unsuccessfully tried to help the situation.
The tower loomed closer and closer. Just before it was too late the jet righted itself and whipped hard to the left as the alarms and flashing lights stopped. Erica let fly with the most colorful stream of swearing that the mech had ever heard.
He could not help but laugh. "Hey, we're home," he said.
"You mechanical asshole! That wasn't funny!"
"You're awake though, right?"
The human didn't say anything but instead extended a hand at the instrument panel with only the middle finger raised. Skywarp was unfamiliar with the gesture but understood the intent behind it and that was enough to get him laughing again.
"Jackass," she muttered.
What could he say? He was in high spirits over their success so far, the trip back was boring and he had a few minutes to kill while he waited on the others to land and get the cargo inside.
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Megatron and Starscream were waiting when the pair finally got inside and down to the main floor.
"Well done," Megatron said, sounding pleased. He seemed to not even notice the human.
"Thank you," said Skywarp, happy at the praise and relieved that his part of this was over without incident. Erica bowed and said nothing.
"Skywarp, you are free from duty for the next two days." It was a reward, but Megatron also knew that the seeker would be distracted and next to worthless until the fate of Thundercracker was determined. "Carry on," he said, turning and going back to his business.
Erica was mildly annoyed at going more or less unacknowledged. Oh well. That was how it went. Leaders got the glory and the grunts remained invisible. All she wanted now was a shower and something to eat. She turned and started down the corridor.
"Where do you think you're going? We have work to do," Starscream said.