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 4It had been an orbital-cycle since the last time Quickstrike had been let out of the base. Ever since her stunt in the training room she had been punished. What got Quickstrike confused was that fights in the base never merited punishment. When she voiced that to Megatron, she was told clearly.
~Flashback~
"Lord Megatron, Why am I being punished for something as trivial as this?" she had asked in her monotone. The response was not one she was anticipating.
Megatron lashed out, catching the side of her face with the back of his servo, throwing Quickstrike to the ground. Quickstrike thrust her servos out to catch herself but Megatron stood on her back, in between her wings, pushing her into the ground.
"You dare question me!" Megatron lifted his foot and kicked her away with such force, she met the wall.
Quickstrike felt as her armour was dented and scraped along the wall. Megatron picked her up by her wings and held her close to him.
"Do you question my judgement!" Quickstrike so wanted to yell yes but for the sake of her cover she replied, "No, Lord Megatron" Megatron put her down.
"Good. Now leave." Quickstrike stumbled then left Megaton's office. She headed to her quarters, thankfully passing no Decepticon on the way and went inside.
Quickstrike knew he was pissed off from her reaction to his claim of her.
~End Flashback~
Now it was the first time in an orbital-cycle that she could leave base. Thankfully it was for a battle with the Autobots. She would be able to see the mech that had been on her processor for the entire time. During her training she had continuously brought up Mirage's hologram to fight, just to see him. The Decepticons of course thought that she hated him because of her constant fighting him.
Now was the time. She would be able to fight with him again, properly and without rush.
"Quickstrike you will be fighting beside me." Or not.
"Yes, Lord Megatron." Mentally, Quickstrike was grumbling. She wanted to fight with Mirage so badly, but now Megatron was telling her to fight beside him. She could only hope that Mirage came next to Prime and they could move away whilst battling. It was a long shot but she hoped it would work.
"If you leave my side during the fighting, I will have you further punished. I will continue with your punishment from earlier in the orbital-cycle." Well, once again, there goes that plan.
"Decepticons, Move out!" Megatron roared.
...0.0
Jazz and Mirage had been worried. Quickstrike had not been seen in the battles for an orbital-cycle. Both Autobots knew something must have happened. Quickstrike would never, just not battle. They figured she was on another mission or something, but both had bad feelings.
When the Decepticon alarm sounded, Mirage and Jazz exchanged a quick glance, both hoping Quickstrike would be there, and then ran out to get ready for battle.
Coming into the fighting, both mechs spotted Quickstrike, they wanted to run over to her but when they saw who she was beside, they almost froze. Quickstrike was beside Megatron.
::Jazz to Optimus. You are needed out here. Megatron's here::
::I'm on my way::
Jazz took one last glance at Quickstrike then ran over to help others with their fights. Mirage knew that if he even got close to Megatron he would be slagged and so he followed Jazz into battle.
...0
Quickstrike almost ran over to Mirage and Jazz when she saw them come out of the base, but a warning growl from Megatron had her staying where she was.
"Remember what happens if you move from my side." The Decepticon leader growled out. Quickstrike nodded then got prepared for battle.
Megatron and Quickstrike remained above the battle field and watched as the fighting took place, she could not help but want to be down there to help the Autobots but she knew if she left Megatron's side she would be in deep slag. She then spotted someone running towards them.
"Lord Megatron, Prime and the weapons specialist are here." Quickstrike reported.
"Good. You take care of the weapons specialist. Make sure he is down, then come and assist me." Quickstrike almost froze. He wanted her to offline Ironhide then join him in killing Prime? She could not do that. She would have to find a way to resist that path.
"Yes, my lord."
When Prime and Ironhide were close enough, both Decepticons leapt off of the ledge they were on and clashed together.
Quickstrike lead Ironhide a little bit away from Megatron and Prime as Prime did the same thing for her and Ironhide.
"Ironhide. I am so sorry. I must wound you deeply and put you into stasis." Quickstrike explained swiftly.
"What has happened to you Quickstrike?" Ironhide asked as they continued fighting.
"I was being punished." Quickstrike replied.
There were many more clashes between the two before they spoke again.
"Okay, I have commed Ratchet and told him to get over here as quickly as possible after the battle. If I do not make it, I will not blame you." Ironhide said.
"I will. I will not allow you to offline. I will get you into stasis and that is all. I do not want a vengeful Chromia on my aft." Ironhide stumbled.
"I have my ways." Quickstrike said before Ironhide could say anything.
Both Cybertronians looked over to Prime and Megatron when they saw Optimus getting the upper hand on Megatron. Megatron glared over at her. Quickstrike got the message.
She looked back at Ironhide. "I am sorry Ironhide." And with that Quickstrike thrust her blade into the mech.
Ironhide's roar of pain shook the entire battlefield. Out of the corner of her optics she saw Chromia falter. The femme quickly finished off her opponent and tried to get to her mech, but more Decepticons would get in her way.
"Go Quickstrike." Ironhide breathed before he went into stasis. Quickstrike went to join Megatron when the front-liner twins interrupted her path.
"Don't think you will get away with this!" Sideswipe yelled. Then Quickstrike remembered, Ironhide was their mentor. She wanted to reassure them that he was alright but she knew she would give herself away. So she opted for a different approach.
"Fragger is still online. Get out of my way!" She yelled at the twins. They were stunned that she had not used monotone and she used that opportunity to get passed them and be on her way to help Megatron. Quickstrike was pissed off that she had to do something like that and that she had to help Megatron.
...0.0.0
Mirage, who had been battling a mech at the time, spun around at the sound of Ironhide's roar of pain. What he saw shocked him. Quickstrike had stabbed Ironhide. Ironhide then dropped to the ground not-moving. When Mirage saw the twins confront her and she darted passed them, he was horrified. Then she ran over and tackled Prime who was just about to stab Megatron.
Mirages processor flew back to their conversation an orbital-cycle earlier.
'What do I do? Do I become his spark-mate to get more information or do I reject him?'
Jazz was having similar thoughts but soon wiped them away. She would never betray them. But then again, if she bonded with Megatron, she may have no choice. Both Autobots continued battling with heavy sparks.
When they looked over, what they saw made their sparks run cold.
...
Flinging Optimus off of Megatron was the easy part, now came the fighting Optimus with Megatron part. As Optimus was still a ways away on the ground from the force of the tackle Megatron turned on Quickstrike.
"You were not to leave my side." Before Quickstrike had the chance to respond Megatron grabbed her by the wings and ripped them off.
This time it was her screech that rang around the battlefield. Many Autobots and Decepticons were surprised at this. Megatron had ripped his own Third in Command's wings off her back.
Optimus had stopped when he saw this, he could not stop the look of horror on his faceplates as he witnessed what he did.
Megatron then kicked her off of the ledge they had gotten back on top of and into the battles below, throwing her wings after her.
Megatron took the chance to look around the fights and saw they were once again loosing, he cast a sneer at Quickstrike's spasimming body then called out to his troops.
"Decepticons Retreat. Leave the femme. She will come back to us or we will retrieve her later." The threat in his voice was clear, she would willingly come back or they would drag her. The Decepticons obeyed their leader and left. However one Decepticon remained and went over to the femme, Barricade bent down next to her and said something then left, following after the retreating Decepticons.
...0
Ratchet had seen everything, but he knew Quickstrike would want him to go to Ironhide first. Plus it would look suspicious if he ran over to her. With a heavy spark, he ordered Jolt to follow him over to Ironhide.
Optimus was having a similar problem, but he too knew he had to get to Ironhide. He looked over and saw Jazz and Mirage desperately wanting to get over to them femme. He saw Prowl with a heavy frown. Prowl had to have figured out what Ratchet and Optimus had.
::Optimus to Jazz and Mirage, Retrieve the femme::
Jazz and Mirage didn't even bother to reply as they were across the field and by Quickstrike's side in nano-kliks.
When they got there it wasn't a sight they wanted to see. Quickstrike was lying in a puddle of her own energon and her body rocked with spasms from her missing wings. Said wings were next to her with a small patch of energon.
Jazz was horrified; his surrogate daughter had had one of the worse things done that could happen to a seeker. The removal of their wings. Jazz knew that he could not show worry for her very much but he knew that he could not keep it off his faceplates. He turned to Mirage.
Mirage was in a similar state as he was but Mirage was furious. However Mirages emotions would have to be controlled because of the two's previous encounter.
"Mirage, you will need to keep as much emotion you can off of your faceplates. I know it will be hard but if you are unable to do it, I will get prowl." Jazz's voice broke through Mirage's rage. Mirage shook his head.
"It will not be possible for me. I will carry her wings while you and Prowl carry her." Jazz nodded. He looked out at the Autobots.
"Prowl!" a few bots jumped at Jazz's yell but Prowl came running over anyway.
"I need your help carrying her. Mirage will carry her wings." Prowl nodded and prepared to pick up the femme.
While Prowl could keep his face blank Jazz could not fully. He only allowed a small amount of concern flicker across his faceplates. Glancing back at Mirage, Jazz almost winced. Quickstrike's wings were covered in Energon and badly dented. Mirage was looking everywhere but at the wings.
"Let's get her back to base." Mirage spoke through clenched teeth. Jazz and Prowl nodded then carried Quickstrike's body back to base.
...
When Ironhide woke up in the med-bay, he was instantly given a view of Chromia, Ratchet and the twins arguing. Chromia and the twins were trying to get at something behind Ratchet, but he would not allow them.
"Primus." He groaned. All activity paused before everyone rushed over to his side.
"How are you feeling, Ironhide." Ratchet asked.
"I feel like I had a blade shoved through my chassis. Otherwise I'm fine." He said sharply.
"Yep, he should be fine." Ratchet said before moving back to whatever he was doing. Ironhide turned his helm to see what it was and when he did, he almost glitched.
"What in the fraggin' pit is she doing here?" he asked in a strangled tone. Chromia and the twins glared over at Ratchet and Quickstrike who was laying chained down on one of the berths in the med-bay.
"She had her wings ripped off my Megatron. She is getting repaired before questioning." Ratchet said knowing Ironhide was worried.
"I reckon we should just question her, if you repair her wings, it could give her a chance to escape, again." Sunstreaker stated. In the minds of Ratchet and Ironhide they were echoing similar thoughts of 'that's the point'.
"She would not be lucid enough to answer questions." Ratchet stated.
"How's Jazz?" Ironhide could not help but ask, even though there were three clueless bots in the med-bay.
"I had to force him to recharge. He wasn't looking too good." Ratchet sighed. He knew that Ironhide needed reassurance more than being worried over the other bots in the med-bay.
"Speaking of which. Why was Jazz worried about the femme? She is a Decepticon and the third in command. Why should he be worried?" Sideswipe asked.
Ratchet and Ironhide knew they could tell a little of the truth, so at the same time they both answered. "Jazz saved her when she was a youngling, before she went to the Decepticons."
The three were surprised. They would never have guessed that the saboteur had been close with the Decepticon third in command.
"Now Ironhide, She missed your spark-chamber, which I guess was in a rush to get over to Megatron." Ratchet said to 'inform' Ironhide of what Quickstrike had done.
"Yeah she probably wanted to stop Prime from killing her mate." Sunstreaker stated. Before any bot could open their mouths there was angry growling.
"I'M GONNA OFFLINE HIM!" Quickstrike yelled as she tried to get off the berth and attack who ever had said it. She was once again in her rage. She had woken when Ratchet had told Ironhide of what she had done when she caught Sunstreaker's sentence. She was pissed that Megatron had ripped off her wings and pissed that she was being called a mate to that beast.
"Whoa!" and "Watch the paint!" was what the twins said as they scrambled back from the pissed off femme. (AN: You could probably guess who said what.)
Ratchet was yelling at the femme to calm down but she was in her berserker rage and could not be calmed.
Autobots came pouring into the med-bay at the sound of Quickstrike in her rage. Ratchet and Ironhide could not calm her down as much as they were trying. In her rage, Quickstrike had opened her wounds that Ratchet had closed. Nothing they did could calm her down.
Optimus came into the med-bay and seeing the femme in her rage, he knew only two bots could calm her down. He commed them.
::Optimus to Jazz and Mirage. Emergency, please respond:: It took a klik for them to come out of recharge.
::This is Mirage::
::This is Jazz::
::You two might want to get down here to the med-bay::
The fury of Quickstrike got louder and Optimus knew he did not need to explain why they needed to get to the med-bay.
::We are on our way::
Optimus watched as his friend broke the chains that held her to the berth. She got off and was swiping at anyone that came within distance. He ordered everyone who was not Ratchet, Ironhide or himself to leave. They did so but with weary optics. The sounds of arguing came from outside the med-bay.
"Move!"
"Get out of our way!"
Then Jazz and Mirage burst into the med-bay. Mirage and Jazz took a moment to assess the situation before they jumped into action. The silver saboteur ran up to the ferocious femme and grabbed her arms and he pulled them behind her body. Mirage stood in front of her and held her shoulders.
"Calm down Quickstrike!" He yelled at her. The femme got one of her servos out of Jazz's hold and swung at where the voice had come from and was about to stab her servo into the mech when she saw through her haze at who was in front of her. She instantly stopped her claws and her optics cleared.
"Mirage." Quickstrike then collapsed as she had lost more energon in her struggle than she could afford.
Mirage caught her before she hit the ground and held her close. The other bots were only worried for the femme and didn't really take notice of Mirage holding her like she was the most precious thing in the world.
Jazz released her arms and sat down. Ironhide lay back on his berth, from where he had sat up in the chaos, groaning in pain. Ratchet told Mirage to lay her back on the berth. Mirage did so very carefully and this time it was noticed.
"What happened in here, Ratchet?" Prime asked with concern.
"Sunstreaker was saying that Quickstrike had only missed Ironhide's spark-chamber because she was in a rush to get to her, er, Megatron." Everyone noticed Ratchet's non-use of the word they knew was going to be used there.
"Her spark-mate?" Prime asked. There was growling following Primes words. Mirage did not need to be told what to do.
"Calm down Quickstrike. You are no one's spark-mate." The growling died down. The mechs were surprised.
"She reacts so badly to that word being used in context to Megatron. Why?" Ironhide questioned. "She's not actually his spark-mate, is she?" all optics turned to the femme, who that time had not growled at the use of the word.
Before anyone could say anything there was a knock at the med-bay door. Ratchet sighed in relief.
"Come in Jolt." Said bot came into the med-bay.
"How is she?" He asked quietly, optics fully of worry.
"She is heavily injured and her berserker rage from before just opened up her wounds." Ratchet said.
"What caused it?" Jolt asked. None of the mechs wanted to answer in fear of her rage appearing again.
"You'll have to ask Sunstreaker, we do not want a repeat." Ironhide said. Jolt nodded in understanding.
"Prowl wanted me to let you know that the brig is ready for her." Jolt said quietly. The mechs all vented and nodded. Ratchet scratchily repaired her wings while Mirage calmed her down. Jazz, Prime and Ironhide left the med-bay and headed over to tell all the other Autobots that crisis was diverted. Jolt had been told by Ratchet to find something to do before the questioning and so Jolt went to ask Sunstreaker about what he said.
...
When Quickstrike woke up she was in pain, she on-lined her optics and saw she was still in the med-bay.
"Shouldn't I be in the brig?" she asked in her monotone. Ratchet paused from working on Quickstrike's wings for a moment.
"Do you want your wings attached or would you rather have them hanging off?" He growled.
"I would rather have them hanging off." Quickstrike responded with her monotone firmly in place. Ratchet dropped his wrench in shock.
"Why?" he asked. Quickstrike vented softly.
"If I was to show up at the Decepticon base with my wings fully fixed, wouldn't it be suspicious?" Ratchet bent down and picked up his wrench, pacing it in his subspace.
"Fine." Ratchet looked at the femme then commed for Mirage and Prowl.
Quickstrike was thinking. She was going to be in for some major slag when she got back to base. She knew that the ripping off of her wings would only be the start. Another reason for Ratchet not to fully attach her wings was that they might get ripped off again.
When Mirage and Prowl arrived she was ready for questioning. It had been decided that it would be Prowl and Mirage questioning her as prowl would ask the questions and if she got into a rage, Mirage would calm her.
Moving her was an easy task. As she was being dragged through the base towards the brig, there was a small trail of energon following after them. Other Autobots would glare at her and some would curse at her but she never did anything about it. She simply let herself be dragged through the base, towards the brig.
...
"What happened to make you be gone for so long?" Prowl asked Quickstrike once they begun the questioning.
"I was being punished."
"What were you punished for?"
"My punishment was for almost offlining a mech at base when he reported that I was to be Megatron's spark-mate and for my obvious anger at the thought. Megatron did not like it."
"What did your punishment entail?"
"I was beaten near daily and not allowed to be a part of battles."
There was some heavy growling.
"Mirage stop." Prowl told him. Prowl was secretly growling as well but he held it in better.
"Why did you attack Ironhide so viviously?"
"I was ordered to offline him then assist Megatron with Prime."
"Why were you in such a rush to help him?"
"I did not want to be punished aymore. However if his and my actions on the battlefield say anything, it is that I will be punished further."
Prowl and Mirage glanced at each other.
"Is there anything we can do?" Mirage asked the Decepticon femme.
Quickstrike thought for a moment. She was getting vulnerable. A stellar-cycle ago she would not have been so full of emotion and it was beginning to wear down her emotionless façade. She would not be able to defend herself if she was in stasis.
"There is. You will not like it though." She said. Prowl and Mirage were intrigued and worried.
"What can we do for you?" Prowl asked.
Quickstrike looked Prowl in the optics.
"Bring me Ratchet."
End Chapter