CHAPTER12
The black of the space…
Stars all around her…
A violent wave of fresh air that slapped across her face…
In the end, she landed. On a metallic, hard and cold ground.
Still a bit dazed, her vision went blurry, everything turning around her. She didn't manage to sit up. As soon as it stopped, she suffered from retching. The way through the portal had been rough…
It hadn't been a ground-bridge. Definitely not.
But so…
Night sat down, looking all around.
It was dark.
But it didn't look like her home. She'd got the feeling that she was in a town…Her first instinct had been transforming into her alt-mode. She didn't want to get caught by humans…
But she quickly forgot about her fear…
Here…
Buildings were much taller and bigger. Much more, even for humans. Skyscrapers almost touched stars…Night had a better view on the Milky Way above her indeed…
Such a beautiful sight…
And doors allowing the entrance of a Cybertronian…
What was this place?
It's definitely not the Earth…far from it.
She'd landed in an isolated street. She transformed again and simply walked ahead.
Roads all around…Some of them encircled some buildings, just like a planet's rings.
Was she dreaming?
Unbelievable.
Night's steps went slower.
Everything was lighted up…It was an alive city…
Suddenly, she came to hit something.
Or rather someone.
She looked up.
Her optics widened as soon as she discovered a much bulkier and taller Cybertronian…
Red optics…A Decepticon…
"Did you get lost, pretty?" He asked her, a sour voice.
She didn't like his tone…He sounded too sinister…
Yet she didn't know wherever she was.
She needed some answers…
"…Where am I?" She questioned him. She wished her tone had sounded more self-confident.
The bot raised one eyebrow.
"In Kaon, of course!"
"Kaon?"
"You don't even know about your planet?"
Night twitched.
It struck her…that portal she'd been through…
Was it a space-bridge? Had it led her straight to Cybertron?
"…No…"
She was in Cybertron? Her planet?
The one she'd always wanted to visit, to explore…The one her mother'd promised to bring her to…
It left her speechless. The bot gave her a devious smirk.
"Surprised? Do you need to find your way?"
Night felt a servo on her shoulder.
She immediately stepped back. She wondered if she still possessed her laser-gun…if she hadn't lost it in the space-bridge…
Because without it…
"Where do you think you are?" The bot growled, before violently pushing her backward.
Her back hit the wall. She looked up as the bot walked ahead, a threatening expression on his face.
Night suppressed a terrified scream. Her mother had told her about Cybertron…It wasn't like the Earth…here…it was the law of the jungle.
She was no longer in a protective cocoon…
Her mother wasn't around…If he'd been, the bot wouldn't have lasted more than two seconds.
"You'll come with me now!"
"LET ME GO!"
She quickly searched for her laser-gun. Nowhere! The bot grabbed her shoulderplates, holding her tightly. He refused to release her. Terror struck her, a great strength taking over her body. She needed to defend herself! She immediately grabbed the first item she found. An empty cube of energon.
Then before he could add anything else, she used it to strike him hard in the face. He let out a whine of pain and Night took the opportunity to free herself. The cube fell down. Night didn't event try to pick it up.
She rushed out of the street, the bot screaming behind her. She didn't turn around.
She needed to contact her mother…Telling him where she was…how so? "Mama, I'm on Cybertron? Can you help me, please?"
She touched her earshot.
"Mama?" She called, still running.
No answer. Just some odd noises…
She growled out of frustration. She tried again.
"Mama!"
Nothing.
She suddenly realized that, in her fall, her earshot had been damaged.
"Nothing?"
At the scrapyard, Autobots were reunited around the control center. Fixit typed on his keyboard as fast as he could. They needed to find a signal…Night's signal…
Fracture simply let out a frustrated growl. Better this than bursting out in fury and worry, in front of all Autobots. He mentally wanted to smash Fixit's head on the keyboard. Maybe this way he'd get faster. Was it difficult to find a signal? Especially since Night shall not be far!
He'd woke up alone. Night wasn't in the garage anymore. At first, he hadn't been worried. He'd thought she was at the scrapyard. Sometimes she woke up earlier to go there. But as soon as he'd tried to contact her through comm-link, he'd got no answer.
He'd tried many times…Without any success.
He'd panicked and he'd transformed, driving fast to the scrapyard.
No one had seen Night this morning.
Bee repeated over and over that everything'll be alright, that they'll find her…But Fracture wouldn't get appeased as long as he'll not have any hint of clue about her whereabouts…
"SO?" He impatiently shouted.
"I'm trying, I'm trying!"
"Try harder! Do you want me to do your own job?"
"Fracture!"
Localisation appeared…the searching bar appeared…
Fracture clenched his fists.
But no result appeared. The purple bot's spark nearly stopped.
"Get out of here!" He cried out, pushing the Minicon off his seat. He then sat down in front of the screen.
"Fracture, calm down! We'll find her!" Strongarm said.
"There must be a signal! You haven't searched well! You are just ready for the scrap heap, right?"
He didn't control his words any longer.
He frenetically typed on the keyboard, just like Fixit had done before.
No result.
There was something to hack, to track…The thought made Fracture hysterical. Fracture had his fist up and almost punched the screen out of anger. Unfortunately, they needed it.
Windblade's stare was…sad? Compassionate? In any way, it stopped him from damaging the screen.
"Can't you search in the history?" Strongarm offered.
"Yes…the history of her signal's position" Elsa approved.
"I'll try"
Fixit typed on his keyboard again.
Fracture felt his arms trembling. He didn't bother to hide them.
Then a red dot appeared on the map…
A red dot…It'd been Night. At the garage.
Night…
The red dot left the garage then took a road…
Fixit clicked on the map to follow it.
It arrived to a steel mill of their knowledge…
At Autobots' knowledge since it'd been Steeljaw's headquarters during one time…
And at Fracture's knowledge since he'd lived here during one time…
The dot stopped.
"What?"
Then the dot vanished.
Seeing as Fixit lost Night's signal, Fracture couldn't contain his emotions any longer. His legs gave way, Fracture falling down.
Someone caught him up. He didn't look back. He already knew it'd been Grimlock.
"Fracture…"
"No…I refuse…"
His shoulderplates went shaky.
If a signal got lost…it could mean two things.
Either the person'd left the planet…
Either the person had died.
And at the thought of this second hypothesis, Fracture broke down. His vision went blurry…
It couldn't happen.
He couldn't lose her…
Bumblebee had repeated that they'll find her…
Fracture remembered about a documentary Denny had been watching. Something about missing children…he hadn't believed it could happen to Cybertronian children…
But he couldn't manage to contact her…her signal had been lost…
Suddenly, the alarm resonated. Everyone got startled at that.
"What's going on?" The Autobot leader asked.
"I don't know…"
Fixit focused back on the screen.
His optics widened.
"There is an intruder! It's coming from behind the scrapyard! The stasis pods!"
"What?"
"Stingheart, Berry, go to the children!" Slipstream ordered them.
Stingheart and Berry had already left to put them in safety.
Everyone took their weapons. Fracture wasn't in the mood for capturing a criminal. He'd been just thinking about one person: Night.
He wanted to go to the steel mill…he wanted to know what'd happened…
He wanted to call Father John…he wanted to hear reassuring words…
Yet he remained at the scrapyard and pulled his blades out.