And welcome to the—I think it was—10th installment of Shards of a Legend!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything transformers.
Chapter 10
You are what you choose to be
Starscream fell over yelling in pain. I landed on my two feet panting heavily. "AAAUUGH! You insolent little whelp!" Starscream bellowed trying to get up. "When I get my hands on you I'll—"
"You'll what?"
I smiled widely. Optimus put his hands on Starscream's shoulder, the look in his red optics were priceless! Starscream shot around and found the Autobots before him. "So what's this about kidnapping our friend?" Jazz asked cracking his knuckled. Wow, I didn't know Cybertronians could do that. Starscream transformed into an M-22 with a large chuck of metal missing from one of its wings and flew off spinning and thrashing erratically.
"Wow, I didn't design that glove to do that much," Ratchet said looking at the path of smoke Starscream left behind and rubbing the back of his head. "All right! BACK OFF!" Maggie and newspaper boy jumped in front of me; Maggie had a large branch so she didn't look lacking compared to newspaper boy's metal bat. "Run, get help, we'll hold 'em off!" Maggie hissed. "Guys, guys; don't worry. These robots are friendly."
"Friendly? Friendly!" They both yelped looking at me then at the Autobots. "Yes, friendly." I said prolonging and emphasizing "friendly."
"Hey there," Hotshot said waving. Maggie and Newspaper boy put their respective weapons behind their backs and flashed the Autobots big (nervous) smiles. "So, um, how is it that you are friends with giant alien robots?" Maggie asked through clenched teeth. "It is one freaking long story." I said.
(15 minutes later…)
"And now I'm here talking to you (Gasp)!"
Maggie and Newspaper boy (who went by the name of Kane), just gaped at me for a second. "So because you can sense the pieces of this power source—the all spark—the Autobots need your help to find them before the Desepticons do?" Kane asked.
"Yep."
"And if the Desepticons find the all spark, they'd wipe out all the Autobots and the humans?" Maggie added. "Correct."
"And now you sneak out of town every weekend to go on adventures with the Autobots?" They both asked. "Precisely!"
They both looked at each other for a moment, then Maggie gave me a look. "AAAUUGH! You lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, little—"
Maggie was shaking me and I was getting a serious head ache! "Ma-a-ggie! Ple-ease sto-op!"
She stopped and looked me in the eyes. "Sora~~~~! Why didn't you tell me??? I'm your friend! I can keep a secret!"
"I didn't know if the Autobots would've been OK with it!"
Maggie looked over at the Autobots.
"We're not getting involved." Hotshot said putting up his hands in an "I'm Sweden" gesture. "OK, OK, we're both a little surprised and jealous here, no need to put your friend through kraketowa (I don't think I spelled that right and spell check has no suggestions)."
"Wasn't kraketowa a volcanic eruption?" I asked. "There were earthquakes in it, and don't question me when I'm trying to defend you please."
"Right, sorry."
Maggie let go of my shirt and I brushed my self off. "So where have you guys been staying? It's actually rained a few times since when you guys said you came to earth."
"We've been staying at that factory that overlooks Bell Wood." Ratchet answered. "Giant alien robots staying in an abandoned factory? That just won't due! You guys need like a high tech base or something!"
'We're working on it." Ratchet said. Maggie and Kane looked at me with wide smiles. I didn't really have to think to know what they were getting at. "Please!" The both yelled. "Um, not that this isn't interesting, but I'm picking up news helicopters on their way to your school, and this clearing is right on their route." Ratchet said. "We'll give you guys a ride home." Jazz said as all the Autobots transformed. We all piled into Hotshot. The drive was made up totally of Maggie and Kane asking me question, after question, after question, after question. "OK, Maggie, Kane, we're at you're neighborhood!" I breathed shoving them out the door. "Wait one last thing—!" Kane yelped. "When you guys beat the Desepticons, could I have an exclusive interview." I smiled. "That's not my decision." I said. Kane looked at Hotshot. "Sure, why not." He answered, a smile came across Kane's face, and he and Maggie walked off.
"They seem nice." Hotshot said. "They can be annoying, but hey, they're my friends." I said.
#
"So, why don't you tell us why you don't have the human and how you lost most of your arm?" Megatron asked. Starscream was totally overcome by fear and shame. "The…human…" he muttered. "What was that?"
"The Autobots… gave the human girl a weapon…she used it to…incapacitate me."
"Your constant failures are becoming a nuisance; if you weren't so loyal to me I would've melted you down for the scrap metal at this point." Starscream flinched. "So I was forced to bring in backup. Starscream; meet Thrust." Starscream nearly yelped "WHAT??" Thrust was the greatest tactical mind the Desepticons had. But whenever Starscream heard his name he always got a sick feeling. All though he admired him he felt that the fellow jet was simply not to be trusted. "I live to serve you lord Megatron." The black fighter announced.
"Who's the shrimp over there?" Cyclonis jeered. There was a small Desepticon beside him; he was only a few feet taller than most fleshlings were. "This is sideways, under most circumstances useless, but he has a great understanding of the all spark, so I felt tat he may come in handy." Sideways knelt in a respectful manner, "It is an honor to meet you Master Megatron."
"Sideways, why don't you tell them of your little discovery?"
"Yes sir; it's about a major weakness the humans have."
"Well spit it out runt!" Cyclonis bellowed. "I'm sure you noticed how younger humans are smaller than the older ones. Well; it's very common for them to be very protective and nurturing towards them; we may be able to use this to our advantage."
"So true Sideways," Thrust began "But for now, our main priority is to gather the Autobots into one place. They have most of the all spark at this point for an unknown means of tracking them. We'll make it so they have no choice but to play the heroes, and that's when we'll strike." Starscream didn't like Thrust. There was something about the glint in his red optics, how much of a kiss up he was. Starscream didn't trust him. "And as the humans say 'we'll take a page from his book,' whatever a book is." Thrust said gesturing to Starscream. "We'll use the human girl as bait. But this time we won't be as spectacular in our retrieval."
#
The look on my mom's face when she got the call about the school was priceless! I sware she was under the impression that she was being prank called for a sec! "Um… honey…did you happen to see anything strange at the school yesterday?" I had to look away to hide my smirk. "No mom, there was nothing weird going on when I left." Priceless!
So later I went to go and see the buzz. There were reporters from Inside Edition there! I even got an interview with one of the people from the evening news. All I told them about was my mom's reaction and me being "totally amazed."
"This is Mary Madison; I am here at the sight of a collapsed Bell Wood High School. Look at the building behind me; it seems almost as if a something huge has rammed into the building's west wing. Witnesses reported seeing what they could only describe as a "large metal monster," these reports are unconfirmed."
The woman and her camera man walked off. It was a relief that no one had gotten a video of Starscream. I was on my way home when I got a call. "Sora! Are you OK? I-I-I heard about what happened at your school and—!" It was Mr. Tanner. "Mr. Tanner, I'm OK. The Autobots pulled through for me; thee haven't picked up any major Desepticon activity since." Mr. Tanner calmed down a bit. I kept on talking to him about my experience on the way home.
It was hard to believe how routine crap involving giant alien robots had become for me. It made things like a quiet walk home seem almost unreal. Somehow…I felt that these moments were going to become rarer.
It was then that a sickening feeling lurched through me. It wasn't like an all spark shard was near; it was more like something else…something bad. "H-hey uh, Mr. Tanner, I'm going to have to call you back 'kay." I hung up without saying goodbye. The feeling was growing stronger and stronger. I had to clench my stomach as I ran to keep from keeling over. I had never gotten this sort of feeling before. When I was closing in on an all spark shard it was an urge to go to something, this was sickening sensation telling me to get away as fast as I could.
The felling pushed me away from the main area of the town and towards the brush. I could tell that this wasn't going to be good. I tried to go as fast as I could but I felt so sick at this point that I was crawling on 3 of my fours with my dominant hand on my stomach. It got to the point where I was nearly gagging.
"Well it looks like the humans a little sick." It didn't take much to realize that there was a Desepticon behind me; but I didn't recognize his voice; it was completely unfamiliar. But this one… it was even worse than Megatron's! It just seemed so…so…sinister! And dishonest…I knew that I wasn't going to get any sympathy from this freak. I felt something grab onto my shirt and I was pulled up by it. I had to overcome the need to hold my belly so that I could pull my shirt down and cover it.
"Starscream had trouble catching you? It was probably because of this!" He opened his hand and an invisible force pulled my glove right off of my hand! Great! Now I had no means of defending my self! "Tag her and bag her Sideways." The new Desepticon threw me to "Sideways." He was a fairly small transformer, not all that much taller than Will. Sideways…when he caught me…there was something about him…my stomach ache eased up when I got closer to him. He held me for a moment before dropping me violently. "Sorry about this kid, alls fair in love and war—whatever love is to you humans." Desepticons knew Shakespeare? And I thought that saying was only really used when it came to crush fights or something, not in actual war.
He pulled me up and clamped something over my mouth. What happened next could be described by the simple phrase "black out."
(…)
I tried to move my limbs, but they wouldn't budge. I tried to cry out, but all that came out was a muffled moan. I opened my eyes and all that I could see were blurred figures. Soon my vision focused and I was met with the sight of a new Desepticon and Sideways before me. I came out of my daze and the past events flashed through my mind. I looked down at my self. I was in these weird shackles that went across my torso in an "X" shape. It took a few attempts at moving to figure out that in the center of the "X" on my back my arms were stuck there. There was a similar "X" shackle on my legs. There was some kind of metal gas mask on my mouth—I think it was the thing that Sideways out on my mouth. I was in an unfamiliar section of forest; it seemed to be just before sunset.
"Well look who's decided to open her eyes!" The new Desepticon said. He snapped his fingers and the gas mask thing came off. "What's your damage Deseptifreak???" I bellowed. He chuckled. "My name is Thrust pitiful fleshling." He said holding my head so that I was forced to look at him. "And if it weren't for Sideways you'd be in shreds at this point." He finished, letting go of my head. I got into a sitting position and looked at Sideways, amazed and unsure what to say. "Well then sideways—what further use do we have for the child now that the Autobots know that we have her?" He asked mockingly. "Our Shard—" Holy crap! He pulled out a shard! I must have been so close that I didn't get a gut feeling. "It reacts strangely when it gets closer to her. Look." He held it to my chest, and the shard began glowing brighter, then less bright, then brighter again, in unison to my heart beat.
Thrust's red optics widened. "So that's it…!" He breathed. "What's it??" I bellowed. "So you're the Autobots' key to finding the shards." How did he figure that out??? "We may just have use for you yet." He jeered. "Wait! O-O-Ok I admit it! I can find the all spark shards! But why did that shard react to me??"
"I think just for fun I'll keep you hanging for now."
Good God this guy pisses me off!
"For now," Thrust took Sideway's shard. "It wont be too long until both the Autobots and the Megatron will be out mf my way for good. My heart dropped and Sideway's nearly fell over. "B-but Thrust!"
"And you! Stay here and keep an eye on that insect!"
"Oh you had better have been pointing at a moth!" I yelled as he transformed into a black fighter jet and blasted off. I looked over at Sideways. He was staring at the ground and clenching his fists. "Sorry about this," He said picking up the gas mask thing. "Wait! Sideways! Don't!" I said trying to crawl away. But he just grabbed the belt/shackle thing that was around my torso. He had placed the mask on my face and was about to press something on it when I pleaded with him. "Sideways you don't have to do this! Your better than him!" Sideways suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Why would you say something like that about me? I'm a Desepticon. I'm the bad guy."
He put me down and dropped the mask. My heart beat slowed to a more normal pace. "Eh, more like the confused likeable bad guy."
"What?" I chuckled. "I write and read allot in my spare time. Allot of the time, writers put an antagonist in that has redeeming qualities or second thoughts about his wrong doings."
"Yeah, but this isn't a story book kid."
"But that doesn't mean that you don't think that what Thrust is doing is wrong."
"Yeah, but I'm a Desepticon. Killing, dishonesty; its all in my nature."
"I don't believe that."
"How can you say that?"
"Many would say its in the nature of humanity for us to destroy ourselves. But you cant say that each and every human is the same. All intelligent life is gifted with free choice. One's nature is one's own decision. If you want to be dishonest and ruthless that's your own choice." I love it when I go fortune cookie on people and yet I make sense ^_^.
"But…I'm a Desepticon…"
"Didn't I just explain why that doesn't matter?"
"Yeah but…shouldn't you hate me? Desepticons have nearly killed you several times on occasion."
"Like I said; any one and every one is different; I don't judge one by another's actions."
Sideway's optics widened. "Megatron is going to kill me for this…" he muttered. Sideways snapped his fingers twice and my binds snapped off.