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After forever…
Transformers © to Hasbro!
OCs © to me!
Chapter 3: Eabm
The silver femme shot up, gasping as she jumped out of recharge. Her arms wrapped around herself. Again, she'd dreamed of that day, the day the bombings took everything from her.
The day the war started.
"Remix." A tall red femme stepped into her quarters. "Your daily energon ration is waiting."
"Coming Mercury(1)…"
Remix wiped down her slender silver frame before stepping out of her room. The soft gray walls reflecting off her shiny plating. Other younglings of all ages walked in the same direction, toward the main hall. Each of them looking for their energon ration.
The main hall opened up before them, a square room with tables, looking dully like a warehouse. A warehouse for younglings. Only dull walls of silver. The only thing of color was a silver-blue sign with a list of rules listed on it:
Rule 1: No fighting
Rule 2: Obey the bots in charge
Rule 3: Do not go outside without permission
Rule 4: No weapons
Rule 5: DO NOT join a faction in the war
Sure, she'd broken a rule or two in her time there. She'd fought a bully. She'd gone out without permission (but everyone did at least once). The punishments weren't too severe, except for the last one…
Anyone who joined either the Autobots or Decepticons was kicked from the center. This happened more often than the leaders liked to admit. So the orphans became dragged into a bloody war or left to die on the street.
The polyhexian walked over to the table of energon cubes. She grabbed the one by her nameplate. She sat down, drinking her energon cube as she scanned the room. The adult Cybertronians around the room kept their eyes on the younglings.
She'd spent most of her childhood in this Youngling center. When the war began, orphaned younglings were sent off to a Cybertronian colony to be safe, specifically to Neutronia.
"Did you hear?" A little praxian giggled. "Flashback snuck out last night. The enforcers brought him home though."
"Hey sparklings, don't even think about sneaking out." A lanky tarnian mech slumped over the table, his face decorated with a smirk.
"Why not, Strider?"
Strider slid into his seat, the maddening smirk plastered on his face. "Because sparklings who sneak out might get nabbed by Decepticons. My buddy, Dark Moon, went out one night. I saw him through the windows trying to come home, only for a big arm to grab him, dragging him off into the night."
"That's just a story to scare us!"
"Yeah, no Decepticon is gonna grab us!"
Remix rolled her optics. All the younglings were told stories about Decepticons kidnapping them to keep them inside. But that's all they were. Stories. However, there was some truth to them. The black market was always looking for slaves to be shipped off. Neutronia(1) was pretty safe, but if a youngling strayed too far… but none of them were stupid enough to actually go out on their own like that.
Well… that wasn't completely true.
The front doors unlocked, allowing the younglings to exit the building and go into the town. Frag this place. It felt more like a prison than anything else. Timed locks. Small energon rations. A cold, blank building.
She wanted out.
As soon as the doors clicked open, the femme bolted, stepping outside. The stifling feeling she felt lifting from her spark.
"Morning, Remix." A mutacon(2) named Black Hole smiled over at her. "Ready to get out of that box."
"Yes!" The femme transformed into her small vehicle form and drove away, ignoring pedestrians and such as she hurried off. On the other side of town (far away, and on her own) Remix leapt the fence to the warehouse district. There were practically no other lifeforms around there. It was a wide space with warehouses dotted around.
Peaceful.
Quiet.
Perfect.
Remix climbed onto a pile of boxes, tapping the metal with her fingers, humming along to a random tune.
"Is that the newest magna march song by Allegria?"
Remix jumped, screaming slightly as she turned around.
A mech stood on the other side of a box pile, grinning up at her. He had yellow and purple armor and wore a smirk similar to that of Strider's, which did nothing to calm her racing spark.
"Allegria is a wonderful singer, isn't she?"
"Y-yes…" Remix stammered, slipping off the box pile as her optics searched for any and all escape routes.
Remember that thing about not being stupid enough to go off alone… well, she honestly didn't care. Until now.
The mech just grinned. "Where ya from? I'm from Kaon myself, but don't let that fool ya. I'm no crook or petty thief, I'm a business-mech. I'm just here to check one of the warehouses for some merchandise. So, what's a little thing like you doin' here?"
"I'm just on my way back to the youngling center. They'll be waiting for me…"
"Really, but you just got here?" He stepped around the boxes, his grin shifting to a cheerful snarl as the Decepticon insignia on his left leg came into view. "And I've been looking for some new merchandise."
That did it.
Remix turned, transforming as she made a beeline for the fence. Oh scrap, the stories were true! Oh, scrap! Oh, scrap!
A sharp, hot pain hit her back bumper, causing her to scream as her vehicle mode spun out of control. The femme transformed, rolling across the ground and into the fence.
"Well, what do ya know, your plan actually worked, Onslaught!"
"I beg your pardon?! My strategies are brilliant, Swindle!"
Remix shook her help as she looked up at the gray and navy blue mech who stood over her, a blaster in his right servo.
The other mech, who'd met her first, and who was apparently named Swindle, walked over. "Sorry about that, boss."
"Let's just get this over with." Onslaught turned his blaster, planting it straight onto Remix's forehelm.
Why?
Remix's optics leaked coolant as fear overtook her. She wanted to scream, to run, but she found herself frozen, unable to move at all.
Why her?
A moment later, a pain surged through her, and everything went dark.
Was this the end?
As Remix's vision began to swirl, she wondered what the Allspark would be like, but instead of bright light or anything else she imagined wasn't there.
She found herself in a dark room, small and cramped, strangely shaped, and full of boxes and other things. A metal band wrapped around her mouth and stasis cuffs held her hands and legs together.
Where was she? What was going on!?
"Ya know, that stun blast could've fried her circuits!" Swindle's voice echoed from another part of the room.
Onslaught huffed. "Then we'd sell her for scrap."
"Do you know how much Shockwave, Trepan, or any of the other science freaks would pay for a pristine test subject to work with!? If you fry her, then we'd lose all those credits."
Swindle and Onslaught's voices moved further away and Remix heard the loud opening of a bay door.
Was she on a ship?
What would become of her? She felt the panic well up in her spark and the coolant pool at the corners of her optics. She wanted to go home! She would never complain about that stupid youngling center again if she could only go home.
"Look out!" The two Decepticon mechs yelped as blaster fire began echoing against the ship, peppering the metal hull.
Remix slumped over, offlining her optics. Hoping that some blast fire wouldn't pierce the ship.
"What about the payload!?"
"Leave it! Or would you rather become cannon fodder?"
Remix didn't look around again until the blaster fire stopped. "Check the area!" A mech's voice rang out.
Footsteps approached the ship, one set coming onto the ship. Remix could see a light probing the ship; the footsteps and light grew nearer until a red and white mech with a flashlight came around a box.
"By Primus… LIFELINE!" The mech dropped his flashlight and ran to the little femme. "Don't worry, you're safe now." He activated his blade and cut her cuffs before pulling off her gag.
Remix stared into his blue optics before her optics drifted to his Autobot insignia. The Autobots saved her.
More footsteps came closer until a green and white femme came into view. "Oh my!" The femme ran over, a visor appearing over her optics as she looked over the femme. Her servos reached up to Remix's forehelm. "Looks like a burn… Red Alert, get her outside where I can take a better look."
Red Alert took Remix in his arm, muttering slightly. "I told Inferno I saw a femme near those two, but he said I was paranoid." He vented before smiling down at her. "What's your designation?"
"R-Remix…"
"Well, Remix, I'm sorry you had to endure that, but you're safe now."
The mech carried her outside. Other Autobots stood around, checking various things, but most looked up at the femme, each of them staring with concern and relief. An army transport ship sat nearby with a red mech waiting beside it. Red Alert carried Remix inside and laid her on a berth.
"Move." Lifeline, the femme, pushed past the mech, looking over the youngling. "Well, no lasting damage, but she was apparently hit point-blank with a shock blast. She is fortunate… she could have easily been offlined."
The red mech walked over, kneeling down before the femme. "My designation is Inferno, what's yours?"
"Remix."
"Well, Remix, we'll get you patched up and sent home." He smiled. "Are you from the youngling center?" She nodded. "Alright, I'll send a messenger down there and let them know what happened and that you are safe." Inferno gently patted the top of her helm and walked away.
Lifeline grabbed a roll of holotape and wound it around Remix's forehelm. "There you are. How are you feeling? Does anything else hurt?"
"No…" Remix's optics moved to the Autobot insignia on the shoulder plating of the femme. "Thank you, for everything."
"It's our pleasure."
"I wish I could be brave like you." Remix vented. "But I'd probably have to join the Autobots for that."
"Why don't you?" Red Alert smiled.
Lifeline vented. "Don't you even try to pull her into the military. She's just a youngling."
The mech sat down. "I know, but she wouldn't have to fight. There are medical posts and tech posts, search and rescue."
"You're saying I could join?" Remix's optics blinked. She'd never really thought about joining the Autobots before, but it would get her out of that prison of a center, and she would never be helpless again. She could learn to fight, and the next time she ran into a mech like Swindle, she could take him down.
"Younglings do not need to be joining the war."
"Lifeline, we have bots younger than her already."
"That's not a good thing!"
The green femme stood up, glaring at the mech who easily towered over her. Both bots looked ready to launch into a heated argument.
"I want to join." They paused, staring at the little femme. "I don't want to be helpless anymore. I couldn't do anything to stop the bombings when the war first started, and I couldn't do anything to stop Swindle and Onslaught. Please, let me join."
Red Alert grinned. "Alright, femme."
"If that's what you want." Lifeline smiled, albeit sadly.
"It is."
Remix rubbed her shoulder plating. It stung where the Autobot insignia now lay etched in her armor. She was to grab her things from the youngling center and then go to the shipyards. Inferno was to formally bring her into the Autobot ranks when she arrived.
She would be getting out!
Her pedes carried her to the center, and she threw open the door…
"Remix!"
Only to find Mercury glaring at her. "Where have you been!? I've been worried sick! An Autobot showed up and said you had been captured and were receiving medical attention." Her servo touched the holotape. "You know better than to go off alone!" She looked over the young femme before her optics stopped on the Autobot insignia. "Remix…"
"Mercury, I'm sorry. I've come to collect my things and go."
"Get out." The older femme snapped. "You're not getting anything! Get out!" She shoved Remix back and shut the door.
For a moment, Remix just stood there, staring at the metal door to what was once her home. Just like that, she'd lost it.
Just like that.
An explosion rocked the ground, sending her to her knees. She looked up, toward the shipping docks. A plume of smoke and fire rose up from the docks. "No!" The femme turned and ran for the docks, passing by confused and concerned onlookers.
Drawing near, she saw a giant mech of mismatched colors, bringing down his giant fists upon an Autobot vessel.
"Remix!" Lifeline ran over, grabbing the femme's arm. "You must go! Bruticus is leading the Decepticons against us." She threw a small cloak of organic cloth of the femme's shoulders. "There is a refugee ship about to depart. Get on and go." She placed some credits in the femme's servo. "Find another Autobot and they'll take care of you."
"But…"
"Go!" Lifeline shoved her toward the other section of the docks.
Remix saw Autobots attempting to fight the giant known as Bruticus. She would have no chance. Her pedes carried her to the refugee ship, where a mech ushered her aboard. The ship was crowded, full of bots, organics, and other species. No one even glanced at the little femme as she squished herself in a corner.
The day's stress began to slam into her, taking all of her mental ability to keep herself from just passing out and ignoring it.
Eventually, she gave in and recharge took her.
Nothing would be the same ever again.
Ok, we're catching up to where we were in the original story…
Please review!
Footnotes:
(1) This was a Cybertronian colony in the golden age.
(2) Cybertronians blessed with infinite combination and transformation.
VAs:
Mercury- Karissa Lee Staples (Invi, Perry Sommers, Victoria, Paloma)
Swindle- Fred Willard (Swindle, Boogey Man, Melvin, Wally Kogen, Gary)
Onslaught- Travis Willingham (Onslaught, Thor, Roy Mustang, Hulk, Aced)
Red Alert- Brian Dobson (Red Alert, Sky Beak, Force Commander, Ernst)
Lifeline- Madison Davenport (Nameless Star, Materia, Quillo, Stacey, Fiona)
Inferno- Michael Daingerfield (Inferno, Han Solo, Sesshomaru, Quickmix)
"And when I lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself."
John 12:32