Glossary
Vorn– 83 years
Solar-cycle – 1 day
Stellar-cycle – 1 year
Orbital-cycle – 1 month
Nano-klik – 1 second
Joor – 6 hours
Breem – 8.3 minutes
Groon – 1 hour
Deca-cycle – 3 weeks
Disclaimer: Its fanfiction. Of course I do not own it.
Quickstrike's Story – War on Cybertron
Chapter 2
Ratchet knew there was something wrong. When he first stepped out onto the battle field, he noticed that Quickstrike was looking at Prime. He felt his energon run cold, she wasn't battling to get to Prime and was looking right at him. It meant that she had news that must be delivered. As he was looking at her she turned suddenly and brought out her blades, Ratchet almost cursed. Mirage must have gone up. He then shook his helm. 'She will find a way to tell him through the battle' he thought. He then ran around the battlefield helping and fixing the damaged bots.
He looked up sharply when he heard someone cry out loudly. He looked over and saw Mirage come visible with energon running down his back. Ratchet saw where the two were and almost glitched. They were on the edge of a deep crevasse and it seemed that they didn't realise. He followed were Quickstrike's optics were looking and saw the second Decepticon taking a shot. Ratchet knew the shot would take them over the edge so he got up quickly and tried to get over there sooner. It was in vain. The shot knocked them over and while Quickstrike could fly out, he knew she wouldn't leave another Autobot to die. She met his optics just before the two went over the edge but then looked back to the injured Autobot in her servos. They then fell over the edge.
Ratchet turned around to see Ironhide roaring in fury and dashing at the Decepticon that took the two shots. Ironhide must have seen what he did as well. The Decepticon, Dirge, Ratchet realised, almost glitched at the sight of the Autobot weapon specialist charging towards him.
Before Ironhide could get to him however, Starscream called the retreat. Ratchet ran over to the edge of the abyss and looked over, trying in vain to see the two bots. He was soon joined by Optimus and Ironhide.
"We have to get down there. Mirage was heavily injured and who knows what happened to Quickstrike." Ratchet said to the two.
Optimus nodded, "We will, but first we must make Prowl knows what's going on." Ironhide nodded and took off to find Prowl and tell him what they were doing. Optimus turned to Ratchet.
"Ratchet, We will do what we can up here before we go to them. Make sure you have everything for the two of them." Ratchet nodded and ran off to help other bots and get his Medic-kit ready. Optimus looked down the chasm once more before getting ready and finding a way down.
.0
When Mirage came to, he was pleasantly surprised. He had thought he would offline before anyone found him and repaired him. He turned to see who his saviour was and he saw Quickstrike. She was sitting a few metres away fixing up her damaged armour. He didn't move for fear of alerting her that he was awake and ran a quick scan over his body. He saw that he was fixed as best as a field medic could. Mirage turned his optics back to the femme and frowned. Why had she fixed him? She was emotionless and a Decepticon. Why would she help an Autobot?
Mirage must have shifted as he was thinking because Quickstrike spun around and walked over to him. Mirage was instantly on the defensive.
"Why am I still online?" he questioned her. Quickstrike kneeled down next to him and check his injury.
"You are lucky I saw that blast coming otherwise you would be offline. Do not make any sudden moves otherwise you will undo what I have done." Quickstrike looked and they met optics.
Mirage stared back at her with confusion. "Why did you stop that blast from killing me, then when you could have let me fall down here, you did not. You are a Decepticon. Why would you help?" For an astro-second mirage thought he saw sadness in her optics before it was washed away.
"I must get to Prime, and the only way he would come to me was if there was an Autobot with me." Mirage wanted to offline her so she could not destroy Optimus but his instincts told him not to hurt her. He could not think of anything to say but didn't have to as she spoke again.
"Prime, is on his way here with Ratchet, maybe Ironhide. I know that medic of yours saw us go over the edge and judging by the roar of fury from Ironhide, he did to." He thought he detected an amused tone in her before she turned around. He watched as she put away her med-kit in her subspace and thought about what she said. If Ironhide was coming with Ratchet and Prime then Optimus would be fine against Quickstrike.
.0
Quickstrike continued putting her med-kit away and thought about what happened on the way down the chasm.
~Flashback~
Quickstrike used her jets to boost herself up to Mirage falling above her. She grabbed onto the Autobot warrior as they fell.
"Why?" he asked. Quickstrike knew she had to come up with something as to not give away her position.
"My falling would have made that fragging seeker call the retreat. I cannot leave just yet." She knew that she sounded slightly desperate, but it was highly important news that she had to give them. Quickstrike looked at the Autobot and noticed that his systems were slowly shutting down.
"Hang on Mirage. We are almost at the bottom. Just stay with me." For some reason her spark was telling her not to let this warrior offline. More of his systems were shutting down.
"Don't you dare die Mirage. I have finally found a worthy battle partner. Please, stay with me, Mirage." She knew that he had gone into emergency stasis. She knew what she was about to do would hurt but she needed to hurry and treat Mirage otherwise he would offline.
She cut the power to her jets and the two of them fell faster. Quickstrike looked down to see how far they were, it was quite a ways but it was the only way Mirage would live. Quickstrike positioned herself for the crashlanding.
When she hit the ground, it hurt. Oh Primus it hurt, however Quickstrike was trained for pain and didn't even make a noise. Her body, though was still broken as she hit the hard ground. She placed Mirage on the ground and got her med-kit out of her subspace and began patching him up. She ran her servos over Mirage's armour, finding the broken bits and patching him up. She could not help her worry seeping into her optics as she saw the large patch of energon surrounding Mirage.
Once the warrior was patched up, Quickstrike moved on to her own wounds. She did however keep an optic on the Autobot.
~Flashback end~
Her processor was spinning. The whole time she had the Autobot near her, even now. Her spark sang. Quickstrike pushed this away and put it under her wounds from the fall.
It was two breems before Quickstrike heard them. She could hear their heavy footsteps as they ran towards her and Mirage's position. She turned to Mirage who had been startled when she stiffened up and looked past him.
"They are here." Mirage tried to get up but Quickstrike held him down.
"Cease, you will only open your wounds, the patches were made to last until your medic got here." When Mirage still tried to sit up, Quickstrike grabbed him and dragged him up to the wall of the chasm and sat him against it. He was stunned by her display of power and just let it happen.
It was Optimus who rounded to corner first. As soon as he spotted the two he called back to Ratchet and Ironhide that he found them. Ratchet almost flew past Optimus as ran over to them. He looked and saw heavy damage to both of them but Quickstrike shook her head and pointed to Mirage. Ratchet nodded at her and began to work on Mirage. Ironhide and Optimus caught up quickly.
Quickstrike knew she had to leave quickly otherwise the Decepticons would assume she was offline and either send someone to find her body or they would put someone else in her position. She knelt down in front of Optimus, ignoring the warnings that appeared.
"My Prime."
.0
Mirage was watching her to see what she would do, when she did do something, he had to restart his optics a few times just to make sure it wasn't a trick of the optics. A Decepticon was bowing to Prime. The third in command of the Decepticons was bowing to Optimus Prime and calling him My Prime. The only ones who called him 'My Prime' were the Autobots who felt they were not worthy enough to be in the presence of the Prime.
Optimus almost sighed. He hated it when bots did that but if he said anything about it… so he just learned to put up with it.
Quickstrike stood back up and got into a fighting position.
"I was unable to face you today, let me do so now." And with that she lunged at Optimus. Surprising for Mirage, Ironhide just stood there while Optimus battled the femme.
Mirage tried to get up but Ratchet just pushed him down. "Stay down, she will not hurt him!" Sure enough after half a breem the fight finished and the two just stared at each other. The look on Optimus' faceplates was one of horror. Quickstrike then transformed into a jet and took off.
Mirage could then see so many dents and pieces missing. He knew he had not injured her that badly during their fight and Optimus had not even touched her. It hit him like a meteorite. It must have happened when they were falling, but Mirage wasn't that injured.
"How did she get that injured? She wasn't like that when she fell?" Ironhide saved him the trouble of asking. Ratchet had growled when he saw the injuries especially since she had told him not to fix her.
"It must have been when they were coming down here. Judging by the way they were, I would say crash landing from a great distance with extra weight. From the two's injuries, she must have dropped down to fix Mirage before he off-lined." Mirage had wide optics. She had dropped down when he went into stasis. That was a very long way to fall. Why did it hurt so much that she had hurt herself badly for him.
.0
Quickstrike approached the Decepticon base. She was heavily injured from the fall still. She had rejected Ratchets offer of help because she could not show up at the base all fixed up. She could see the base coming closer. She fought off stasis to make sure she landed. Pulling in to the base she transformed into her bi-pedal mode. However her wounds took a toll on her legs and she fell over. She could hear the other Decepticons shouting for a medic and watched through the fog Starscream entering the hanger with a look of disbelief on his face. She felt smug for making it back, right before dropping into stasis.
.0
Mirage was confused. As Ironhide was carrying him back to base, they were talking about Quickstrike. However it wasn't like they were talking about a Decepticon. They were worried for her.
"Ratchet, do you think she will make it to the Decepticon base with those injuries?" Optimus asked his medic. Ratchet had a thoughtful look in this optics.
"If she flew straight there with no stops and no distractions then she should go into stasis as soon as she lands." Mirage looked at him
"How in the pit do you know that?" Ratchet looked smugly over at him.
"I am a medic." Mirage raised an eyebrow.
"Don't bother. No one else understands how it works." Ironhide said. Optimus simply chuckled.
Mirage then took the opportunity to ask what he wanted.
"What is with you mechs and Quickstrike. Isn't she a Decepticon, yet you worry over her. She didn't even fight seriously and she saved me. Decepticons do not do that. She called you 'My Prime' for Primus sake. What is going on?" Optimus looked over at the wounded warrior.
"It will have to wait until we get back to base. There all will be explained." Ironhide looked over at his leader.
"But, Optimus-" It was Ratchet who cut the weapons specialist off.
"Mirage knows, if we do not tell him, he may dig into it and destroy what we have now. Plus, I don't think she wants Mirage to be in the dark on this otherwise she would not have done what she did."
"And what did she do?" Ironhide asked. The medic chuckled.
"If she did not want to alert him she would have made sure he stayed in stasis until we got there." The mechs agreed with this statement. They let the subject drop.
The Autobot base soon came into view. Optimus started laying out instructions.
"Ironhide. You and Ratchet take Mirage into the med-bay and get him ready for the meeting. I will gather the others."
"Yes sir." Came the reply.
When the four Autobots got inside the base, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker ran up to them, they took Mirage from Ironhide and carried him between themselves.
"Mirage! You're alright! When they told us you went over the edge with the femme, we were worried that you might not make it. Did the femme offline? How did you survive?" Mirage was having a bit of difficulty keeping up with the twins questioning.
"Uh…" Mirage looked over at Ironhide and Ratchet. They read his message of help and answered.
"He used Quickstrike's jets to slow the fall. Both were highly damaged when they hit the ground. They were in stasis when we got there. However Quickstrike was coming out of it and got away before we could stop her." Ratchet said. The twins accepted this and carried Mirage to the med-bay.
When they got there Ironhide told them to put him down then get back to training. When they didn't want to leave, Ratchet simply reached for his wrench and they scattered.
When Mirage went to ask them something, A mech barged in through the door.
"Is she alright? How badly was she hurt? Will she make it back to the Decepticon base? Are you alright Mirage? You didn't get hurt to badly, did you? She fixed you didn't she? It looks like her handy work." the mech babbled. For a moment he thought it was blurr but when he looked to see who it was, he found it was his best friend Jolt.
"JOLT! CALM THE FRAG DOWN!" Ratchet said throwing the wrench he had threatened Sunstreaker and Sideswipe with. Jolt swiftly dodged the wrench, not even looking over in Ratchet's direction, but his optics were fixed on Mirage.
Mirage was stunned, "You know about her?" Jolt nodded. He opened his mouth to say something but Ironhide stopped him.
"Jolt, He does not now everything yet. She is fine. Go help Optimus gather everyone for a meeting. She had news for us today." Jolt stood to attention then ran out of the med-bay. Ratchet went over to Mirage and started repairs. When Jolt left, Mirage, still stunned, turned to Ironhide.
"How many know about her?" Ironhide grunted.
"You will find all this out at the meeting." Mirage's optics narrowed but he just kept quiet and waited for the meeting.
.0
Quickstrike was awoken by prodding at her chassis. She on-lined her optics instantly and tried to jump off of the berth, but someone was holding her down. She could feel the mechs servo over her spark-chamber and did not like that. She used the sharp pieces of armour on her legs to stab the mech who was trying to get into her spark-chamber.
When the mech jumped back in pain, Quickstrike leapt up on the berth and slid out her blades. She took notice of who it was. It was shockwave. Quickstrike jumped off the berth and sliced into Shockwave. He, however, moved enough so it only cut into his shoulder. She was enraged that he had almost bound her to him.
When Quickstrike pulled it out to go again, the med-bay doors burst open and Megatron came in with Barricade. The two mechs took a nano-kilk to register everything.
"Enough!" He roared. Quickstrike immediately stopped and jumped back. She looked over to the new comers and bowed when she saw Megatron.
"Lord Megatron."
Megatron walked up to her. "What is the meaning of this?" he snarled in her face.
"I woke to the sensation of someone trying to force open my chassis. I took necessary action to cease this unwanted bonding." She could practically feel the tension in the med-bay coming from the decepticon leader and Barricade. They were oozing out anger.
She did not want to be in the med-bay anymore. She looked over herself and found she was fixed.
"Lord Megatron. May I leave the med-bay?" Megatron looked over her, medically and lustfully. Oh yes, the Decepticon leader wanted her.
"You may. Barricade, make sure she gets to her quarters." He snapped. Barricade nodded then walked out with Quickstrike following.
.0
Ratchet had finished fixing Mirage and now they were heading to the meeting. When Mirage walked through the door he was surprised at the mechs that were there. There was; Jazz, Prowl, Ultra Magnus, Jolt, Ratchet, Ironhide and Optimus.
"Ah, Mirage. Welcome." Prowl said. Mirage nodded at him still in disbelief.
"Mirage, we understand this may be a lot to take in but sit down and we will explain about Quickstrike." Said Jazz.
Mirage sat down and prepared to find out about the femme, designation: Quickstrike.
"It started when the war was only starting to begin, the war council at the time decided they wanted a constant spy on the Decepticons…" Optimus began.
~Flashback~
"We need someone on the inside. If we left the Decepticons alone, who knows what they could get up to without us knowing about it." Sentinel Prime stated. He had called together the war council and they had discussed the need for a spy.
"But who would it be? All the Autobots we have with us would be found out too quickly since they would not be able to fight viciously like those Decepticons do." Ultra Magnus spoke up.
"You have answered that question in your own. We need someone who is not an Autobot." Sentinel said.
"But then how would we be able to trust the mech. If they were not on our side they could be on Megatron's and feed us false information!" Another of the war council stated.
"What if it was a mech wanting to be an Autobot?" Ironhide asked.
All the others seemed to consider this.
"It would work. However they would have to be trained for anything they could encounter in the Decepticon base and that takes quite a while to do." Ratchet put out. There was a moment of silence before one spoke up.
"I have a perfect candidate." All optics turned to Jazz.
"Who is he?" Sentinel asked desperately. All could see he was a greedy mech and wanted nothing more than to have the glory of beating the Decepticons and taking all the credit for himself.
"Well, I was in Tyger Pax and saw a mech that ran into a youngling …"
~Flashback in a Flashback~
The Youngling fell to the ground with a loud thud. Jazz watched the faceplates of the youngling closly. He was surprised to find that there wasn't even a wince. The mech curse then got angry.
"How dare you step in my way." The mech then kicked the youngling continuously. The youngling's face was bare of any emotion.
Jazz then stepped in, pulling the mech away from the youngling. Jazz the stepped with is back facing the youngling and his optics on the sorry excuse for a mech. The mech simply grunted and walked away.
Jazz turned and bent down to the youngling. They youngling just stared. Jazz was shocked. He put it in the back of his processor and smiled.
"Hi, What's your designation?" The reply that came was one that shook Jazz to his core.
"Quickstrike." The youngling spoke in a monotone that gave no indication of emotion.
"Where are your creators, Quickstrike?" Jazz's smile had fallen at the answer and turned into a frown.
"Creators are elsewhere. Location unknown." Quickstrike replied. Jazz was now seriously frowning.
"Where do you live, Youngling?" Quickstrike turned and motioned for Jazz to follow. To which he did.
Jazz was getting angry as he followed Quickstrike. The youngling was leading him into a very bad place. Why anyone would leave a youngling alone I a place like this was beyond him. Why they resided there in the first place was beyond him.
"Why do you live here, Quickstrike?" Jazz asked.
"Creator said that no one would hear the screams or bother the progress." Jazz was scared for this youngling. He asked a question that he dreaded the answer to.
"Who's screams?" the answer was what he was dreading it would be.
"Mine."
Jazz almost grabbed the youngling and got the pit out of there, but he knew that he needed to get the trust of the youngling first. His anger at the youngling's creators was simmering beneath the surface.
"We are here, Jazz." Jazz was jolted out of his anger at the younglings voice.
"How did you know my Designation?" Jazz asked once he realised that he hadn't given the youngling his name.
"Creators kept Data Pads on specific Cybertronians." Quickstrike told him.
"hm, did they now." Jazz murmured.
Walking into the residence Jazz noted everything a torture specialist would need. It made him sick. There were chains, blades, connons, guns and more. Jazz wanted to hurl.
"Quickstrike, why would they do this to you?" Jazz asked the youngling.
Quickstrike looked back up at Jazz.
"They said that triple changers were rare and they wanted to have a super-soldier who could do their dirty work for them." Jazz was speechless.
"You are a triple changer?" the youngling nodded.
"Quickstrike, how would you like to get out of here?" Jazz asked the youngling.
Quickstrike looked at him.
"And do what?"
"Well, You could have a different set of creators and you wouldn't have to worry about yours ever again."
"That is impossible." Jazz was seriously concerned about the youngling now.
"Why is it impossible?"
"I would not know how to function in a family unit. I would not be able to be a proper youngling. I am built for battle."
"You don't have to be."
"It's the only thing I know!" Jazz took a step back at the younglings raised voice. It was the first time the monotone was not used. He looking into Quickstrike's optics and saw the youngling was crying.
"I am build for battle. That is who I am, But I don't want to be on the bad side. I want to help others. Can you find me a place like that Jazz." Jazz pulled Quickstrike into a hug. Quickstrike not knowing what to do just cuddled up to the mech.
"I will try my hardest." Quickstrike smiled the first smiled Jazz had seen.
"Until you do I will remain here." Jazz wanted to scream in protest but by looking in the youngling's optics he gathered that it was the best.
"Alright. If you ever need me though, just look for the Jazz-man." Quickstrike nodded.
Jazz was about to leave but decided something.
"I will visit every time I can to help you become like a proper youngling." Quickstrike smiled.
"I would like that Jazz."
~End Flashback in a Flashback~
Once Jazz had finished his tale there were a few angry Autobots. However, Sentinel was excited.
"Perfect. Bring the mech in. A triple changer would be most…useful." Jazz almost shuddered at his tone. Sentinel was about to leave when he was stopped by the sheepish look on Jazz's face plates.
"What is it?" he asked hotly.
"Uh, The youngling is not a mech but a femme." There was a nano-klik of silence before the roars of the mechs was in his audios.
"A FEMME. WHO WOULD DO SUCH A THING!" Ultra Magnus erupted. He wasnt not the only one thinking of dismembering the femme's creators.
Sentinel was seething. He however did not care that it was a femme being torture but that Jazz wanted a pathetic femme in the Autobots.
"Why did you not say it was a femme?" Sentinel questioned. Jazz took on the defensive for the youngling he had come to love as his own.
"I have promised her that I would find a place for her. Give her a chance she will do this."
Sentinel hesitantly agreed to see the femme the next Solar cycle.
~Pause Flashback~
Mirage was seething. Doing anything like that to a femme youngling was unforgivable. For some reason he was seeing red when he was told about Quickstrike's torture.
Jazz took note of Mirage's reaction and smirked slightly. He looked over to see Ratchet smirking slightly as well. Optics met and they opened a locked comm.
::Are you gathering what I am Ratchet?::
::I most certainly am. Its rather obvious. Quickstrike was subtle but I saw it. Her look softened when she looked at Mirage before she left::
Jazz smiled. She was softening up. But he was concerned, would the softening affect her mission.
Optimus took note of everything but decided to continue on.
"When Quickstrike arrived the next Solar-Cycle she surprised a few mechs…"
~Play Flashback~
Jazz was seen arriving with a youngling the next morning by Ironhide, who then Promptly informed the others that Jazz had arrived. Ironhide watched the youngling. 'Jazz was right' He thought. The femme had no emotions on her face.
Ironhide walked up to meet them. He nodded at Jazz who nodded back then he looked down at the youngling.
"Are you ready to be made an Autobot today?" he asked.
Quickstrike looked at him "I was born ready." Ironhide admitted to himself that the monotone of the femme made him shiver but he simply nodded at the youngling.
"Are you sure this is what you want?" Ironhide asked her.
"Affirmative. Jazz asked the same thing when he came to me. I however believe this is the best thing for me." Quickstrike monotoned.
Ironhide sighed but straightened up and motioned for them to continue walking.
When they arrived at the meeting room, all the mechs except Sentinel were worried about what would happen if she was caught by the Decepticons. Saying no to the femme didn't even enter their processors. Sentinel was the only one thinking of such things.
"Why should I let you into the Autobots?" he asked her.
Quickstrike looked up at him, she realised this was the one her creators worked for. She was certain of it. Jazz had told her of the other mechs reactions. She knew that whatever she did, this mech would try to stop her from being the spy.
"You would have done so if I was a mech." She answered, again in her monotone. The ones that had not heard it before shivered slightly.
Sentinel tried to come up with a comeback to that of why she would not be allowed, but everything he thought of the other mechs in the room would disapprove highly of him. So he put on the best smile he could.
"Very well. Your training will last 1 deca-cycle. If I approve of you in that time you will be the spy." He said as if he was talking to a baby. Quickstrike wanted to roll her optics so badly like Jazz did when she did something he didn't believe. She refrained wanting to keep on his good side, however out of the corner of her optic she spotted Jazz rolling his optics which was followed by an elbow in his side from Ironhide, who was smirking.
When Sentinel turned around she smiled slightly, which made a few mechs smile efore whipping it from their faces when Sentinel faced them.
"Jazz, you will be in charge of her. You, Ratchet, Prowl and Ironhide will be in charge of her training. Go to it." Quickstrike saluted Sentinel, when he turned to her. He was a bit taken aback but righted himself he then turned to the other mechs.
"Any problems with her will come to me." Sentinel said. Everyone could see he wanted there to be a problem so to not put her in the position. They did not understand why he was so against having a femme in the Autobots.
"Take her to get settled in, training begins in a joor."
"Yes sir."
~End Flashback~
"So, Quickstrike passed all the tests Sentinel put towards her and since the mechs had nothing against her, sentinel could not refuse her. She was released from our care and she went and joined the Decepticons." Ironhide finished.
"She gave us little information at first as she was not very high in the ranks but, imagine our surprise when we brought her in, she said that she was third in command." Jazz stated
Mirage was brought out of the story and was in awe.
"wow." He stated. Smirks were all round. Mirage looked at Jolt.
"How did you get involved in this?" Jolt looked excited.
"Since I was Ratchet's apprentice, Ratchet needed help fixing her one time when we 'brought her in for questioning' so I was made her medic if Ratchet is unavailable. She is rather nice for someone who shows hardly any emotion and speaks monotone." He stated.
Mirage looked at Optimus, "How did you meet her?" Optimus chuckled.
"She was being trained when I was made Optimus Prime. I think Sentinel was a little threatened by her." Optimus said.
Mirage nodded, "So, why did she battle you and not just tell you?"
"We used the battles as a way to gain information so that she does not have to sneak out of base and we fight because it hides the sounds of our talking. Have you ever heard us communicating during battle?" Ironhide asked. Mirage shook his head.
"What was the information she gave you this time?" Ultra Magnus asked. Immediately everyone could feel the tension coming from Optimus. As Optimus opened his mouth to answer everyone unconsciously took a breath.
"Megatron is going to go after the All-Spark." No one let their breath out. "Megatron wanted that battle to make us believe that he was going to get in here so we would bring our Autobots away from the Cube. But since we know we will be abe to defend to cube better." Everyone let their breaths out in relief.
"Do we know when he is going to do this?" Prowl asked. Optimus shook his head.
"She said that he was not coming after it for a while and would continue doing feint attacks for a while to draw us away from the All-Spark." Optimus said.
"well, that's some good news at least." Jazz mumbled
There was silence as everyone tried to figure out what to do.
End Chapter