Predacon's Researcher


When the sun had fully set and night had truly begun to take its hold on the world, they left their Secret Place, and the uncommon duo made their way back into the wilderness. The Predacon continued to run scans of the landscape as he searched for viable food sources for his human-sparkling, and made a memo to himself to patch into the human-society's internet in order to do extensive research on the subject of human nutrition. He didn't want to accidentally poison his sparkling or give her too much of one thing when she also needed something else. He vented, mandibles clicking with anxiousness. Why couldn't humans be simple and consume Energon? There was nothing wrong with it; it was a rather viable source of fuel. Organics just had to be picky.

"Hey!" He heard Miya call to him from where she clung onto his back, having to shout to be heard above the winds around them. "Can we stop over there?!"

He turned his head in order to glance back at her so he could see where she was pointing to. Following her outstretched arm, his optics picked up activity at the edge of the forest along the human road. It was a small town, barely noticeable as it sat in the middle of nowhere, just a few short buildings clustered together. The only way to tell it was there at all was the light pollution leaking into the sky from the streetlights.

The Predacon snorted with a firm shake of his head. There wasn't any way by Primus that he was going to take his sparkling so close to human territory. He knew that he had to keep as low a profile as possible, and he couldn't exactly go stomping around human settlements. That was bound to draw attention. But he felt Miya lean over the side of his shoulder, trying to catch his optic.

"Please!" She shouted up to him so his audio receptors could pick up her little voice. "I need new clothes and stuff!"

The Predacon wanted to give her another firm negative to the suggestion, but her words made him ponder. He glanced back at her and did a quick but discreet scan. The concept of clothing was alien to him and other cybertronians for that matter, as they were made as they were, only various upgrades changed the appearance at suitable times. But humans were soft and fragile and weird. No other life form on this planet needed to adorn themselves in garments. It only solidified the Predacon's belief that humans were not built to survive, as they needed extra protection against the elements as well as to hide their modesty. But he had to admit, Miya's clothes were now dirty and torn and barely holding together. He noticed how her body temperature rarely grew above what was basically needed for her to survive, and so he knew that he would need to give in to her request.

He vented with a huff, knowing he wasn't going to like this one bit. But he still changed course as he silently glided towards the unsuspecting town.

He quickly spotted a suitable place to land, as the town was surrounded by hills that the light didn't shine on where he could easily be undetected. Landing as softly and as quietly as he possibly could, the Predacon kept his optics and audio receptors on alert for any sign that they had been discovered. Only when he was sure that no one suspected their presence, did he let Miya down off of his shoulder as she climbed down his foreleg.

"Okay," She whispered. "Stay here, I'll be back as soon as I can!"

The Predacon growled, not liking the idea of letting her wander off alone. But the girl was already off and running towards the town. Lying himself flat against the hill with his head at the top, he watched with focused optics as he carefully followed Miya about the town.

The first place she went to was a 24hour store beside a refuelling station. With his optics narrowing in on her position, the Predacon was able to follow Miya as she snuck into the store as quietly as possible, noticing how the human at the desk was already asleep. Miya quickly went about the store, and the Predacon had to shift his optics' programming to heat-seeking so that he could continue to watch Miya through thermal scans when she ducked out of his line of visual. The girl quickly went around the store picking up various food items, as well as bottles of chemicals and then clothes. As silently as she had entered, she then slipped back out, keeping her head down in the case of cameras following her movements.

It surprised the Predacon slightly that Miya seemed to comfortable and so at ease with stealing. Had she done this before? His mandibles clicked against his teeth in thought, and he made it a point to try and figure out why his sparkling seemed to know how to thieve. He couldn't exactly ask her, so he would need to puzzle it out on his own.

The second place she went to was next to the fuelling station, a public lavatory bunker. There were no windows, so the Predacon had to use his thermal vision in order to make sure Miya was in there by herself and unharmed. Because when using his thermal vision he couldn't make out details, only shapes of bodies, a lot of things were unclear to him. He could make out the girl using the various bottles of chemicals she'd picked up to apply them to her body before washing them off and putting on her new clothes. When she came back out, he switched back to his normal vision to find her dressed in new jeans and a thicker hoodie as well as new shoes. Her skin was shinier, and her auburn hair damp, and the Predacon concluded that she must have been grooming herself.

Much to his confusion, Miya left the food that she'd stolen in the bathroom in a hidden corner before she trotted across the town towards a building with the word: "LIBRARY" on the front. Seeing as this building was the closest to the Predacon, he stealthily moved himself around so that he was position by a large window looking into the interior of the Library. It was a building housing books, but Miya instead sat herself at a computer terminal closest to his window, checking over her shoulder to make sure he was there. She offered him her secret smile, and the Predacon had to wonder at how she could spot him in the darkness. Perhaps she could see the glow of his yellow optics?

The Predacon then watched as Miya searched through the computer terminal in order to connect to the internet. With curiosity, he watched as she manually searched through the internet, leaving him to wonder how humans seemed so ill equipped that they couldn't link with something like the internet simultaneously.

He was very curious to discover that she was searching for herself, when he recognised the name "Miya Kenston". Was Kenston her second designation? The 'family-name', as humans called them. Miya herself seemed to be searching through news articles, though he had no idea why she would be researching herself. She payed most close attention to any articles with reports from authorities. The Predacon felt his processor burn with questions as this mystery deepened. But there weren't many articles for her to look through, and her research soon came to a quick end.

As if she could feel his optics on her burning with questions, she turned to glance at him out of the window, an amused smile growing on her face. She then turned back to the computer, and tilted the screen slightly so that it was better facing him. He watched as she typed into the all-knowing Google-engine the word 'dragon' before clicking on the images. She turned to watch him as his optics scanned the various images that came up on the screen. He was interested to say the least, for he was assaulted with images of what looked like organic versions of himself. Large, burly reptiles with massive wings and sharp teeth and even breathing fire. The resemblances were so uncanny that the Predacon had to take a moment to wonder if there was more of a connection here then he realised.

Miya's expression turned thoughtful, before she turned back to the computer and modified the search for 'robot-dragon'. The images changed, though these ones didn't seem to… fit. There weren't many of them to begin with, but the ones that were there didn't seem to match as well as the organic pictures did. But despite his disappointment in that regard, the Predacon was suddenly struck with an idea…

It wasn't long after that that Miya left the library and went back to the public bathroom to pick up the pieces of food that she'd stolen before running back towards him. The Predacon greeted her with a friendly chitter as he clacked his mandibles, already his spark was more at ease at having his sparkling back with him again. Stuffing the food she'd stolen down inside her hoodie, Miya quickly climbed back onto the Predacon's back as he crouched down for her. When she was safely in place, he leapt into the air and they both made their way back to the Nemesis.

When they arrived, Lord Megatron was beside the communications dish that had been broken, shouting at Starscream who constantly cowered away whilst Shockwave fixed the dish. The Predacon eyed the dish carefully as he passed, but otherwise brushed right past the group, Miya safely still on his back as he went straight towards their den. The group didn't pay them any mind, apart from Starscream who gawked at Miya perched on the Predacon as she was.

Back in their den, both the Predacon and Miya seemed to be a little more at ease, but as the girl began to deposit her stolen food by the truck filled with water bottles, she had that thoughtful look on her face. Settling himself down, the Predacon decided to wait and see what she said, seeing as he knew that the girl's curiosity would soon get the better of her.

"You know, I can't seem to understand you…" She murmured as she turned to look at the Predacon, a hand on her hip as she looked at him as if he were a giant puzzle. "You're dragon-shaped, but you're a robot. Everyone on this ship is a robot, but you're all aliens – you gotta be! But the others don't seem to think you're the same as them. So… who are you? Or, rather, what are you?"

Ah, the questions that had been burned into his processor by his own need to know the answers. How could the child expect him to answer her when he did not even know the answers himself? Why didn't he know the answers himself?! It was so frustrating and so confusing to have so many questions about himself of all things, that it was actually enough to put him in the start of a foul mood. He snapped his jaws as he growled, glaring away from her to look at the wall.

But the girl still flinched at his sudden negative behaviour, slightly taken aback by it. The Predacon forced himself to calm, though the frustration still made his generator crank with fire. He curtly commanded her to settle for sleep with a slight huff and gesture of his head, and Miya was a little hesitant as she came towards him. His spark flickered with guilt to think that he had frightened her, but he couldn't help it now, and so let her get comfortable by his side before he curled around her. It took a while, but before long, Miya was asleep.

Yet still he remained functional as recharge wouldn't claim him, his processor far too alive with questions that refused to let him rest. He couldn't keep them from circling around in his consciousness, taunting him, never ceasing in their demand to be answered. It was many hours later when he finally could take no more and gave in.

It was such a late hour that he surmised that most aboard the Nemesis were either in recharge or it were busy at their stations and therefore would be unaware of him. Miya was fast asleep as he slowly and carefully curled out and quietly left her there, leaving the den as stealthily as he possibly could as he snuck his way back towards the flight-deck. He came upon the newly repaired dish and peered at the small control panel. It was easy to recall from his memory-banks the code that Starscream had used earlier, and knowing he would need that code to gain access to the system, the Predacon used a careful claw and typed in the code.

He sat there for a while processing all of the information that he gathered from the warship's databanks. First researching into the predacon species, and learning that they once ruled Cybertron before being extinct by a great cataclysm. During the war for Cybertron, Megatron then cloned a few and sent them to earth in order to safeguard the deposits of energon on the planet, before the passage of time and starvation slowly killed them off. The predacons had influenced early human-kind and inspired many of their myths, which would explain why he had felt such a resemblance with the pictures Miya had shown him. There were also several references to a 'project-predacon' in the files, but every time he tried to gain more information on the project, his access was denied due to the fact that it was highly classified.

Then, he'd tried to research himself. It was rather difficult as he had no designation to place into the search and had to try and differentiate from his previous searches when he put in 'predacon'. But eventually he managed to find something. It was merely a file of his composition and records and how he was birthed. All of this was merely historical and scientific fact, nothing that could tell him who he was or what life had been like for him before this.

With his research now at a dead-end, the Predacon realised that he was now no closer to his answers then he had been before. He knew more about his species now, as well as the history of their role in both the war and on cybertron, and it honestly made him proud to come from such a mighty lineage. And yet there was nothing about himself that could give him any answers, not even help him find a designation for himself.

Perhaps… maybe he should name himself then? It wasn't a terrible idea, and seeing as there was nothing else for him to go on, he decided to try. But he needed a suitable name, one that fit to his might and grandeur, something that spoke of who he was and who he wanted to be. The rumours circulating about more predacons arriving meant that he would have a place amongst his own kind, so what did he want that place to be?

He thought of the vision he had had, of a mighty army the likes of which could not be rivalled. What if that was a sign? Could he be part of that army? Could he lead his brethren into a new age, to bring about the second coming of the predacons, where they might herald a dynasty that would far outlive their ancestors? And then, something Miya had said earlier that day came to mind. She had compared him to a king… and somehow, he found her really liked to think of himself as such. Perhaps that could be his new role amongst his own kind… So he might as well go with something along the lines of the title of a king…

Megatron was the lord and master of the Decepticons, but he would be a king of all predacons…

A Predaking.