Whoo. Next chapter up. ((dances around and tries not to hurt self))
The psychotic plot bunnies that run this story have returned en masse and won't leave me alone. Which, you know, is perfectly fine with me. I'm tired of thinking of things I could write instead of this. ((grumbles)) Anyway, I'm relatively pleased with how this came out, you know? I envisioned a lot of other things in it, but I couldn't add them in because I had no way of describing them. If I ever get out of my art jam, maybe I'll draw a few pictures for this story and post them in my deviantArt account... unlikely, but whatever. :)
More Cade and Autobot interaction next chapter... maybe. Or at least near the ending after the pests are driven out. :)
Frenzy chittered erratically in Cybertronian the entire way, warily staying away from Erin lest Scorponok deem him a threat to the girl and attack. For the most part, Erin ignored him, too busy clutching her head in pain as thankfully, the "sound" lessened with distance. Mei returned a few seconds later, claiming that she didn't have the strength to make the stretch; indeed, her mind-voice sounded weary as Erin's did when she didn't get enough sleep and woke up early.
Abruptly, Scorponok stopped, jarring the girl's injured knee and causing her to cry out.
"Little Scorponok." The voice was deep and grating, nothing like the now-familiar Autobot voices. It wasn't unpleasant, but it also wasn't smooth; more like a mix of both that gave her the vague thought of a rusty grate. The voice sounded both amused and surprised. "Frenzy, how have you found our friend so quickly?"
Gasping, Erin clenched her leg as she fought to remain silent. Scorponok was shaking once more, though if in fear or worry for her, she couldn't tell. 'CadeCade! Did nothing just walk down hall. Scorpy found. Protects it, though.'
There was a pause. "I see." Scorponok hissed and backed up; Erin could hear the whir of his cannons charging, and feel his tail arching.
'Barricade.' Mei whispered. 'Where Frenzy is, he's not far behind. He's known to be murderous.' She trailed off as a fresh wave of pain assaulted Erin. 'Are you all right, Erin?'
'Fine. Just peachy, in fact.'
Mei gave a dry chuckle. 'You only say "peachy" if you're being sarcastic. Thus, you must be okay.' Erin grumbled but said nothing.
'Need to get to med-bay.' Scorponok chittered almost fearfully, backing up marginally before stopping, tail arching further. 'Girl hurthurt. Needneed medic.'
There was a long pause that seemed to last an eternity. "You care for this human, don't you Scorponok?"
There was an immediate answer from the scorpion. 'Girl friendfriend. Be nice to Scorponok and keep Autobots from shootshooting Scorponok. Healheal Scorponok's tail.' He waved the appendage for emphasis. 'Girl hurthurt bad and Scorponok needneed take girl to medic. Medic knowknow how to help girl. Girl says medic always knows.' There was a seed of doubt as Scorponok added the last part, but the former Decepticon pet remained stubbornly optimistic.
Barricade was silent for a long while, then: "Come. If she can direct me, we can get there much faster."
Scorponok hesitated, then looked up at the pale, sweating face of his friend. "I'm blind, Barricade." Erin told him shakily. "If I could, I would, but I can't; then I'd also be leaving Scorponok and I wouldn't want t' do that."
"You can understand us?"
Erin's lip curled in distaste, impatient to go. "There are a lot of things I can do, but one thing I can't do is see. Regardless, we need to get to the med-bay now."
Barricade rumbled in amusement as Frenzy cackled. "Then let us be on our way, then." There were two thudding steps and Scorponok lurched forward, racing down the halls. There was the unmistakable of a transformation, and a powerful engine rumbled somewhere behind them.
'This will take some explaining.' Mei said in quiet amusement, involving Scorponok, Frenzy, and Barricade in the conversation.
Erin snorted. 'Indeed. I just hope Ironhide doesn't shoot me for bringing two more Decepticons home.' She chuckled out loud. 'I can just see it now: "Mama Ratchet, can we keep them?" Insert big googly eyes here and an innocent smile.'
Mei laughed though she sounded weary. '"Mama?"' she echoed. 'I'd rather have an anaconda armed with hundreds of sharp, pointy objects at his beck and the ability to throw them while spewing out curses in every known language of the galaxy for a mother.'
Scorponok chittered in amusement. 'He certainly protective enough.'
'Like you are?' Erin asked sweetly and yelped as Scorponok shook.
'Now you see what I have to deal with.' Mei told Barricade and Frenzy as Erin and Scorponok began to bicker like little kids. Which in a sense they were.
Barricade's engine growled in his version of a laugh as Frenzy bounced spastically on his front seat. "I pity you and all that are involved."
'As you well should.'
'Aww, Mei!'
Their conversation was postponed as they reached the med-bay. Scorponok paused but at the symbiotes' prompting, opened the door.
'Wait here a moment, please.' Erin told the Decepticons behind them who said nothing but obeyed.
Ratchet's optics were immediately on them as they entered, and he fairly ran over to them, eyeing the suddenly-pale face of the formerly tan girl. "Are you all right?"
Erin shook her head. "No, not really. We delivered the message, then went to tell Prime. On our way back, I heard something that really hurt. Like a high-pitched screeching that presses at the base of my skull. Hurts like hell, by the way. On our way back, we met a few…acquaintances."
Without looking, she could tell his optics were narrowed warily. "What kind of…acquaintances?"
Erin scratched the back of her head almost guiltily. "Well…the kind that someone living with an Autobot sees up close without being stomped on or coddled. An acquaintance that isn't usually seen working with an Autobot."
There was a long pause and slowly, Barricade inched forward so his hood was visible and halfway in the med-bay. "You brought more Decepticons here?"
"What?" Ironhide roared, shaking the floor as he leapt to his feet. The cannons on his arms whirled to life and fired before anyone could stop him. There was a roar as Barricade charged into the room, transforming without slowing a beat. Like a professional baseball player, he slid in front of the symbiotes and Scorponok with the sharp screech and whine of tearing and scratching metal. The blast connected with Barricade's chest and stomach, tearing through the metal and into delicate systems. The second wave of cannon-fire came as Barricade fell with a cry of surprise and pain.
Erin had never felt so hopeless, trapped on Scorponok's back as the next wave of oppressive heat raced forward, ready to tear into the Decepticon's (was he neutral now, or will this sudden attack send him back to the Decepticon's side?) stomach, tearing through weakened metal and destroying everything it touched and sending him into agony before he died. Blind, she could do nothing but squeeze her eyes shut.
They opened on their own accord and through Mei, she could "see" what was going on. Which the AllSpark was going to stop. Their hands shot out, fingers splayed out as if to do a push-up on the air itself. The blast, seen as a blue ripple of air that crackled like electricity stopped as if it hit an invisible wall, bluish embers flying in all directions as it extinguished.
Ratchet acted, throwing a wrench with unerring accuracy and knocking Ironhide hard in the head as the symbiotes scrambled down from Scorponok's back. Painfully limping the small distance between them and Barricade, they waited as he moved on his back, optics flickering in pain and wires sparking.
'Primus, I hope I have enough strength for this.' Mei said quietly and had the surprising feeling of her host comforting her for once.
'We'll do it together.' Erin's calm, hidden strength and will filled the AllSpark's spirit as drinking warm tea filled Erin's body with warmth on cold days.
'Aye. Together.' Together, they raised their arms and placed them on Barricade's side. Closing their eyes, they concentrated and the power from the AllSpark and stubborn determination and human strength from Erin spread through their body, down their arms, and into Barricade's body. Erin's nose began to bleed from the amount of power flowing through her body, and her legs became weak, but they stubbornly ignored it and was rewarded with the sound and feeling of metal knitting itself together, wires reconnecting, and power rising to do its ordered work. With a slight smile of accomplishment, they closed their eyes and allowed their body to fall.
-
When they woke, Erin could tell that something was wrong. It felt as if she was in a pool of some strange liquid that covered her entirely and was both warm and tingly at the same time.
'Sorry, Erin.' Mei said, sounding stronger than she had a while ago.
'What's going on?' she asked, intrigued.
'I was running low on energy so I took a gamble and… well, jumped into a cube of energon.' Mei sounded apologetic at that. 'I figured that since none of my energy reserves are nearby, the best way for me to recharge and gain my power back was to somehow ingest fuel.'
'Ah. I see. Would you mind if I get a breath of air? My lungs are stinging.'
'Oh. Right. Sorry, Erin.'
Erin gave a crooked smile. 'Nah, it's okay; I don't mind.' She surfaced and took a gulp of cool air before obligingly diving back down into the warm-tingly depths.
'I don't think it'll have any harmful side effects on you, but I'm not entirely sure.' Mei admitted as her host settled herself at the bottom of the cube of energon. 'I just hope it doesn't affect you too much.'
Erin said nothing for a while but Mei could tell that she wasn't particularly bothered by the chance of being injured; instead, she had nothing to really say. It all changed when something connected with the liquid they were immersed in and a pair of large metal fingers wrapped around their waist. Unceremoniously they were yanked out of the liquid and dropped, dripping on a berth. "Hey!" Erin sputtered, wiping her eyes and shoving her wet hair out of her face.
"What the HELL were you doing?" Ratchet demanded. "You could've killed yourself!"
"Well I didn't, all right?" Erin snapped back, unhappy about the chilly air in the med-bay; the energon, no matter how dangerous, would be a welcome relief from her shivering. "Do I look dead to you? Well do I?"
'Friend all right?' Scorponok asked meekly, approaching slowly from behind.
Erin closed her eyes and counted to ten in all the languages she knew. Calm, she opened her eyes and stroked Scorponok's head gently. 'Friend just grumpy.'
'Oh. Okay.'
'What girl doing?' Frenzy asked, poking her gently with a clawed hand.
'Shivering. It's what humans do when they're cold.'
'Oh. Girl cold?'
'Yes Frenzy, girl is cold.' Scorponok chittered, annoyed.
'Did you have to deal with this at the Decepticon base?' Mei asked Barricade, meaning the bickering between the hacker and scorpion.
Barricade gave a grumble of a sigh. "You have no idea."
'Then I pity you.' That caused Barricade to chuckle, then laugh from his perch nearby. Then, "Okay, Ratchet, I'm aware that you're slagged off at us for jumping into a cube of energon. We're sorry and we'll never do it again."
'Fat chance.' Mei muttered and Erin fought a smile. Mei paused. 'I went and searched for the source of the sound and it comes from the control room where a certain colony of pests has established their base of operations.'
Erin frowned, ignoring whatever Ratchet was saying to them and concentrating more on what Mei was telling her. 'That doesn't sound good.'
'No, of course not.' Dry amusement colored her voice as she paused. 'I'm going to go and try to stall them as long as possible.'
'Mei?' Erin asked, catching the spirit before it could leave. 'I think I should go with you. Remember the last time we stretched?' She felt the hesitation radiating from her symbiote. 'Who knows? Maybe I can help somehow?'
'You realize Ratchet's gonna kill us when we get back, don't you?'
Erin grinned, leaning comfortably against Scorponok's claw. 'Since when do you care?' With a wry laugh, Mei "pulled" Erin along with her, soaring through the walls and down the halls, racing toward Sector Seven's hideout, a pair of wraiths bent on taking things into their own hands.
-
The pair hovered over a pair of guards a moment later. 'We need to get them out of here.' Mei told Erin. 'Or better yet, unconscious so they can't sound the alarm.'
The human sank lower until she was directly in front of the first. 'I wonder…' then she disappeared, flying directly into the man's body. The guard yelped in surprise as he was thrown back a few feet before catching his balance with amazing speed. Before the other could react, "he" swung his firearm and knocked the other over the head before eyeing the impromptu bludgeoning weapon before turning it on "himself". Erin crept out a moment later a wide smile on her spectral face. 'Good enough?'
Mei shook what could pass as her head in amusement. 'You definitely have a mean streak.' Erin pouted before following her symbiote friend into the next room, where the agonizing sound had been coming from. Then all they could do was gape.
'Oh my.' Erin whispered, floating along the enormous shipping containers, each carrying a rack similar to one in a slaughterhouse. On each hook was a strange, pathetic creature that couldn't be human or Cybertronian. They were instead, a sad, grotesque mix of the two, and no two of them were alike save for their eyes. Each eye was bright and glowing, red as blood and luminous as rubies. In each container there were perhaps twenty of the sad creatures, and there were perhaps ten of the containers.
'They are neither organic nor machine. Those poor creatures.' Erin could say nothing in response, staring on in horror. The thing on the first rack beside her twitched, luminous optics activating. The cyborg-creature did nothing more, giving a sort of mechanical sigh and swinging lightly on the hook. 'The mechanical parts were forced upon them; look at the massive amount of chafing around the metal areas.'
The cyborg near Erin deactivated its optics and fell back into an uneasy recharge-mode. The human ghosted down the racks before stopping at the one Mei was inspecting. 'Sweet Primus.'
Any other time, Mei would've laughed at hearing the human teen calling to an alien god, but the horror was too evident in her symbiote's voice for the deity to call any semblance of amusement to her mind-voice. 'What is it, Erin?'
'I knew him. Whenever I went to visit Uncle Aldrin at the base, he'd take me around and see all sorts of things.' Horror colored her voice, and a small moan drifted out as she continued on. 'He was really nice but the last I heard from him, he was killed in action a few months before Mission City.'
'I guess this is what happens now to soldiers who die fighting for their country.' Mei said disgust evident. 'Stuffed with mechanical parts and other crap to fight another war with beings that'd rather injure themselves trying not to injure another being. It sickens me.'
'That's humans for you.' The sadness was a raw wound that bled from Erin's thoughts and voice. 'Killing each other and mutilating the remains.'
'What was his name?' Mei asked, peering closer at the creature. With a spectral hand, she touched the skin of the cyborg's cheek in an almost comforting gesture without thought to look at the dog tag hanging around its neck; it was filled with numbers, not letters.
Erin hesitated for a long while. 'Michael.' She said at last. 'His name was Michael.'
As if hearing his name brought the dead soldier back to life, the cyborg jerked and its optics activated. One by one, the cyborgs around it activated, each raising their grotesque head and looking around almost blankly. Then, the one formerly called Michael spoke.
-Who calls?-
With a surprised gasp, Mei and Erin jumped back, swirling around each other anxiously. The confused query was echoed by all of the other cyborgs until it sounded like a never ending echo.
Mei was tugging on Erin to leave, but the human remained firm, giving the pitiful creature a hug. 'I call.' The monstrosity asked again and taking a deep breath, Erin tried again.
-I call.-
There was a long pause. –You call?-
'Erin, what are you doing?' Mei demanded, swirling anxiously around her symbiote. 'He's not Michael anymore.'
Erin ignored her. -Yes. I call.-
-Where you? You not here?- the dead soldier sounded confused.
-I'm here but not.- Erin replied. –What are you? Why are you here? Do you remember me?-
There was a long pause. –Not sure. They call Us Monsters, but not know what we are.-
-Not know. Not know. Not know.- the plaintive phrase was echoed around the control room.
-They send Us here. Say You fight. If no fight, no listen, We hurt.- the soldier sounded bitter, and rage was filling its deep voice. –They say that They better than big metal ones. Say They can destroy big metal ones and send Us after them.-
'Mei. Sector Seven wants them to destroy the Autobots.' Horror and revulsion filled Erin's mind-voice.
'Not only do they want to get rid of what could be a huge asset to their defense and knowledge, they stoop to messing with them that should be dead and resting peacefully to accomplish it.' Mei was filled with a great many emotions, anger and revulsion being the strongest of all.
-We want to help you.- Erin said after sensing the rage emanating from her symbiote.
-Help us? How can help?- the soldier sounded intrigued. –We not like Them. They mean to Us and hurt Us a lot. Want hurt Them now.-
-We'll do just that.- Mei promised them. –We help you and you help us. Sound fair?-
The half-gone face of the soldier formerly known as Michael split into a freakish grin. –Sound fair.- he agreed. –You help Us, we help You. We destroy Them together.-
-Together. Together. Destroy Them together.- the room echoed with the wordless murmur of cyborg voices.
-
-First need destroy Thing.- Michael told them, red optics alight at the prospect of hurting Sector Seven. –Thin makes screeching sound and hurts Us when not follow what They tell us. When Thing destroyed, We run out and fight Them.-
-Don't hurt the other humans and big metal ones.- Mei told them firmly, etching in their minds what the squad of humans and Autobots would look like. –They're helping us too.-
-No hurt others.- the cry was echoed around the room as the cyborgs helped each other down from the hooks and armed themselves. Only Michael remained apart, talking with the symbiote "spirits".
-I show you to Thing. Then arm up.- he told them when they asked. He thumped his metal-and-organic-matter chest with a metal fist. –Strong enough now, stronger and meaner with weapons and armor.- that being said, he led them at a quick, ground-eating lope across the room. The symbiote pair followed him to a set of closed doors. –Guards on other side.- Michael told them. –We cannot open from this side. We have tried.-
Erin placed a spectral hand on his shoulder. –It's okay, Michael. We can handle it.- the grotesque cyborg nodded and went to arm up. 'Let's do this.' With Mei in the lead, they plunged through the metal door.
In a moment, they took care of the pair of guards before pausing to look at the Thing. It resembled a large metal stereo, though no stereo any of them had ever seen was taller than ten feet tall and made of thin sheets of hammered metal as the Thing was.
Their moment of surprised awe was over and they got to work dismantling it bolt by bolt to see how it worked and to ensure that it couldn't be put back together again. Without warning, the machine turned on and the powerful motor whirred, catching them both by surprise and dragging their spectral bodies through the sloped hole of the machine, twining them around each other as if trying to braid them together.
Erin couldn't break free, and neither could Mei despite all the deity's struggles. 'The energon was only a temporary fix.' She explained as they both struggled. 'My reserves are still severely depleted.'
'Together.' Erin suggested. 'Like we did with Barricade and Ironhide; we can do this together – not separate.'
Mei paused. There was great risk involved, but… there was a great risk to many things they did, involving being symbiotes. 'On three. One…two…three!' together they stopped struggling and allowed the motor to pull them into the machine together as one.
Okay. There's a lot of stuff in this chapter which makes me wish I could open my head, pull the ideas and images out, and shove them into the computer. ((pouts)) Regardless, I'm rather fond of this chapter.
I've borrowed a lot of ideas from all sorts of genres other than Transformers: more than eight in all. If anyone can catch five or more, I'll .. I dunno, do something for them. Requested story, perhaps? Dunno. I'm in a rather cheerful mood right now. :) Must've been the tea. So go ahead. Guess. ((big grin))