Author's Comments:
Characters, other than those self-inserted, are property of Hasbro, yaddy da…
Maybelle's history, takes place after the Rebirth, but Arcee never became a headmaster. Personally, I'm not that fond of the whole Arcee-Daniel bond. The fuzors are also included, along with Terrorsaur and Scorponok who never died in the events of the Aftermath. For those of you who crave action, this first installment may start out somewhat, but it's necessary to establish the plot and some relationships among the characters. I hate to disappoint, and guarantee that there will be more action, and a faster moving story to come!
Side note: the [ ] brackets enclose internal dialogue, thoughts, and conversations
******************************************************************
Darkness, it was endless and enveloped all life created in its path. The infinity of it surrounded her, and time passed beyond her shrouded existence. Worlds were created, destroyed, rebuilt, perishing. But hope persisted, even if it was in the insignificant form of a single spark.
She awoke with a start, not remembering how long she had been offline. Confused and vulnerable, she found herself sitting in the charred remains of a status pod. Is it over? Desperately, she scanned her surroundings for life. Comrades, enemies, hope above all else. When she found none, her spirit fell. The harsh tundra environment seemed to mock her, the blizzard threatening to swallow her into the bland surroundings. She was about to leave the pod, when she saw the blinking icon of a stored program. It was labeled as a memory file, and judging from its creation date, she was very overdue to play it. Carefully, she attached her visual cable into the working remains of the pod.
[Play]
**************************************************************
"This is crazy, Optimus." A large green robot paced impatiently across the deck
of a ship. His irritation was evident to all who knew him.
"Springer, you know this is the only way that the Decepticons won't be able to identify her. She houses valuable knowledge about Earth, and we can't let them get to that."
"But won't she lose her memory bank when we completely remodel her?"
"No, she'll still be the same bot that we always knew."
Unconvinced, Springer went and knelt beside her unconscious form. At least her face wasn't any different. He loved that sweet face, especially when it showed emotions that were remarkably… human. "Arcee," he murmured while stroking her faint pink cheek. She hadn't changed that much, but he cared for her to the extent that any slight difference made him uneasy. Trying to calm down, he strolled over the sound-wave receptor and turned it on. A female singer was softly crooning her melodious tune.
"She'll need a new name too," informed Optimus.
"What?? Why can't she still be called Arcee?" Springer loved that name. The sound of it rolling of his cybernetic tongue delighted him to no end.
"That would be an obvious giveaway of her identity."
The triple-changer sulked, focusing his attention back to the song.
"Who's the singer?" asked Optimus.
"…Some gal called Maybelle Lorne,"
"Then I'll program her to be called Maybelle." Springer was about to protest, but figuring it was for her own good, shut his mouth. At least she was still Arcee in every other regard.
"There, done." Optimus Prime patted his friend on the back. "She'll be back
online in several cycles. I know you definitely want to talk with her."
"Yes…I will."
*************************************************************
The program ended abruptly, due to outside interference. She had her blaster in hand, ready to fire. Peeking over the snow hedge that had formed around the smoking pod, she made out the forms of two animals. One was a magnificent white tiger, and the other a swift cheetah. They rapidly approached her area, but she was relieved anyhow to see some life forms.
"Wow, check it out Tigatron! That pod sure came in for a nasty spill."
"Let us hurry then. And you better inform Optimus back at base about our sightings."
[Talking animals!? How can that be?] She laid low, abdomen flat against the interior of the pod, waiting until they were within a few meters before striking.
"What the-!" The cheetah's sentence was cut off as her foot connected with his jaw. Rolling into the loosely packed snow, she fired a shot towards the tiger.
"Tigatron, MAXIMIZE!" She watched in fascination as the tiger transformed, revealing that he was actually a robot by Cybertronian design.
[So they've adopted animal forms now. Those Decepticons sure are
sly…]
The tiger-bot charged at her, but stopped leaving a few feet between them. "Who are you?" he demanded.
"I will tell you nothing, Decepticon." Her mauve optics blazed with anger.
[ They are the ones responsible…] A strange look overcame the other transformer. His red optics seemed to scan the length of her.
"What are you saying, you are not a Predacon?" Meanwhile, the cheetah had slowly recovered from the blow and transformed as well. She didn't understand what he was saying.
[Predacon? What in the world..?]
"She doesn't have the Pred signature." The cheetah stared at her too; they both examined her like an alien life form.
"Which side are you on?" She demanded in frustration.
"We're Maximals..."
"No! Are you for the Autobot or Decepticon cause?"
"Whoa, check out her sign! She's an Autobot!" The cheetah-bot pointed excitedly at her wing blade. Shocked, the tiger dropped his weapon.
"Hey look, you have to come with us back to our base. Our leader would definitely explain everything to you."
She eyed the two robots suspiciously. [Why should I trust them? Yet, I'm so lost and confused that all I want is an explanation.]
"Who's your leader?"
"Optimus Primal, commander of the Maximals."
[Optimus…Prime? No, Primal. But could it still be him?]
"Alright, I'll come with you." Cautiously, she hooked her blaster back at her hip, and ejected the program disk from the pod.
"Uh, I'm Cheetor and this is Tigatron. What' s your name?"
She hesitated, but decided there was no need to hide her identity. "Maybelle…"
******************************************************************
The two Autobots walked hand in hand, her slight pink arm entwined around his strong green one through the space deck aboard the Ark. The femme turned towards her companion, a smile slowly spreading from her crimson lips.
"Springer, honestly I feel fine. It's much better this way."
"You sure?" His face was full of concern. "If anything happened to you I'll never forgive myself." He held her protectively in his arms, wishing as he always did that they were in another time, another place…
One of the others ran by, stopping abruptly when he noticed them.
"Hey Arcee," he noted, " you're looking a lot better. Optimus sure fixed you up good." Her face scrunched just slightly, confusion tugging at her.
"No Jazz, she's Maybelle now."
Jazz stared at the triple-changer, but then realization dawned on him.
"Oh, I see…" He smiled broadly at the pink/silver femme. "You'll still be the same friend to us." She nodded, happiness flooding her senses at the realization that she would be reaccepted.
**************************************************************
As they made their way further south, Maybelle noticed that the climate was becoming more and more comfortable. The frozen earth had been replaced by green fields, and the blue sky overhead reminded her of another planet.
1 [My birthplace…]
The two Maximals led her towards a large ship, or at least it would have been a ship if it didn't appear so battered.
"There it is," motioned Cheetor, "the Axalon. It doesn't look like much now, but I'm tellin' you someday that ship's going to get us back to Cybertron."
[Cybertron…] "What's Cybertron to you?"
"Cybertron's our home, where we should be instead of this beat- up planet."
The mention of that far-away home stirred unwelcome feelings in both the cheetah and Maybelle. Tigatron, who had never seen the place, was pretty indifferent.
"Sentinel, lower shields!" The three made their way to the lift, with Cheetor talking non-stop the entire way. [I hope he's not trying to impress me.] Still, he had a pretty friendly personality, and she probably would have liked him if she hadn't still been suspicious. The ramp lifted, as tension knotted in her sensors. [What if the explanation I get is, horrible?]
******************************************************************
The sliding doors opened, admitting an anxious Springer as he bolted into her room.
"What are you doing," she started to ask, but stopped when she saw his expression.
"Maybelle, you've gotta leave! The Decepticons have started an air raid and this base isn't going to hold." His optics radiated fear, and he talked faster than she had ever heard him.
"But how did they manage to find this colony? We only have thirty- so units on this planet."
"Never mind," he interrupted her, "right now you are heading right for the evacuation site. They're going to start launching status pods into orbit and I want you to go first." He pulled her out of her desk, literally dragging her out of the room.
"Wait," she reasoned, "aren't you going as well?"
He turned so that his optics bore into hers. In his, she saw fear, love, and a wild desperation. "I can't now," he muttered, "it's my duty as a ground commander to see this through. But you, if you don't make it out alive my spark will never rest even if it's doomed to perish this time." A loud explosion knocked them both into the corridor, while sealing off a possible exit.
"Go! Head for the evacuation center now!!" He yelled at her through the dust and debris. She scrambled to her feet, fear driving her to run. The sound of his steps pounded behind her, as well as the echoes of overhead explosions. Up ahead were the doors to the evacuation center, but destruction threatened to stop them before they got there.
"Wait…"
The voice of her companion stopped her in her tracks. She turned back to see him get up after being hit by flying debris. His outstretched hand held an object towards her. Quickly, she made her way to his side, just as he pressed a disk into her palm. "Load this into the pod. If anything happens, it'll help you remember."
"No one else is leaving, they're outside and that's where I should be…"
"Hurry!" Giving her a last glance, he shoved her through the double doors. She heard the sickening crunch of the corridor ceiling give way, burying life into an eternal grave.
"Springer!!!" Slamming against the doors, she tried desperately to pry them open. Strong arms took hold of her, tearing the frantic Autobot from the opening and separating her forever from him.
"Springer made sure that you would be able to leave."
"I won't leave, not like this!" They ignored her, activating a nearby status pod.
"Get in."
"But…"
2 "Get in!!! Don't you realize what he did for you?!"
Truly frightened now, she was paralyzed from one end of circuitry to the other. An active sympathetic system was all that enabled her to climb into the pod. [Why, Springer, why??]
The pod's lid was closed, as though enclosing her into a permanent tomb. Tears streamed from her optics as she felt the acceleration when the pod launched from the base. It hurtled into cyberspace, leaving behind the doomed planet. [Why did this happen?] She felt for the disk he had given her, the only piece of him she could take. Loading it into the pod's drive, she felt a strange sense of dread grip her. [So I'll never see him again?]
"Preparing for automatic shutdown."
The voice startled her, representing a new threat. Before she realized what was about to happen, the deafening sound of a dying planet washed over the insignificant pod.
"Springer…"
She was able to whisper before her fluid-pump abruptly stopped.
Characters, other than those self-inserted, are property of Hasbro, yaddy da…
Maybelle's history, takes place after the Rebirth, but Arcee never became a headmaster. Personally, I'm not that fond of the whole Arcee-Daniel bond. The fuzors are also included, along with Terrorsaur and Scorponok who never died in the events of the Aftermath. For those of you who crave action, this first installment may start out somewhat, but it's necessary to establish the plot and some relationships among the characters. I hate to disappoint, and guarantee that there will be more action, and a faster moving story to come!
Side note: the [ ] brackets enclose internal dialogue, thoughts, and conversations
******************************************************************
Darkness, it was endless and enveloped all life created in its path. The infinity of it surrounded her, and time passed beyond her shrouded existence. Worlds were created, destroyed, rebuilt, perishing. But hope persisted, even if it was in the insignificant form of a single spark.
She awoke with a start, not remembering how long she had been offline. Confused and vulnerable, she found herself sitting in the charred remains of a status pod. Is it over? Desperately, she scanned her surroundings for life. Comrades, enemies, hope above all else. When she found none, her spirit fell. The harsh tundra environment seemed to mock her, the blizzard threatening to swallow her into the bland surroundings. She was about to leave the pod, when she saw the blinking icon of a stored program. It was labeled as a memory file, and judging from its creation date, she was very overdue to play it. Carefully, she attached her visual cable into the working remains of the pod.
[Play]
**************************************************************
"This is crazy, Optimus." A large green robot paced impatiently across the deck
of a ship. His irritation was evident to all who knew him.
"Springer, you know this is the only way that the Decepticons won't be able to identify her. She houses valuable knowledge about Earth, and we can't let them get to that."
"But won't she lose her memory bank when we completely remodel her?"
"No, she'll still be the same bot that we always knew."
Unconvinced, Springer went and knelt beside her unconscious form. At least her face wasn't any different. He loved that sweet face, especially when it showed emotions that were remarkably… human. "Arcee," he murmured while stroking her faint pink cheek. She hadn't changed that much, but he cared for her to the extent that any slight difference made him uneasy. Trying to calm down, he strolled over the sound-wave receptor and turned it on. A female singer was softly crooning her melodious tune.
"She'll need a new name too," informed Optimus.
"What?? Why can't she still be called Arcee?" Springer loved that name. The sound of it rolling of his cybernetic tongue delighted him to no end.
"That would be an obvious giveaway of her identity."
The triple-changer sulked, focusing his attention back to the song.
"Who's the singer?" asked Optimus.
"…Some gal called Maybelle Lorne,"
"Then I'll program her to be called Maybelle." Springer was about to protest, but figuring it was for her own good, shut his mouth. At least she was still Arcee in every other regard.
"There, done." Optimus Prime patted his friend on the back. "She'll be back
online in several cycles. I know you definitely want to talk with her."
"Yes…I will."
*************************************************************
The program ended abruptly, due to outside interference. She had her blaster in hand, ready to fire. Peeking over the snow hedge that had formed around the smoking pod, she made out the forms of two animals. One was a magnificent white tiger, and the other a swift cheetah. They rapidly approached her area, but she was relieved anyhow to see some life forms.
"Wow, check it out Tigatron! That pod sure came in for a nasty spill."
"Let us hurry then. And you better inform Optimus back at base about our sightings."
[Talking animals!? How can that be?] She laid low, abdomen flat against the interior of the pod, waiting until they were within a few meters before striking.
"What the-!" The cheetah's sentence was cut off as her foot connected with his jaw. Rolling into the loosely packed snow, she fired a shot towards the tiger.
"Tigatron, MAXIMIZE!" She watched in fascination as the tiger transformed, revealing that he was actually a robot by Cybertronian design.
[So they've adopted animal forms now. Those Decepticons sure are
sly…]
The tiger-bot charged at her, but stopped leaving a few feet between them. "Who are you?" he demanded.
"I will tell you nothing, Decepticon." Her mauve optics blazed with anger.
[ They are the ones responsible…] A strange look overcame the other transformer. His red optics seemed to scan the length of her.
"What are you saying, you are not a Predacon?" Meanwhile, the cheetah had slowly recovered from the blow and transformed as well. She didn't understand what he was saying.
[Predacon? What in the world..?]
"She doesn't have the Pred signature." The cheetah stared at her too; they both examined her like an alien life form.
"Which side are you on?" She demanded in frustration.
"We're Maximals..."
"No! Are you for the Autobot or Decepticon cause?"
"Whoa, check out her sign! She's an Autobot!" The cheetah-bot pointed excitedly at her wing blade. Shocked, the tiger dropped his weapon.
"Hey look, you have to come with us back to our base. Our leader would definitely explain everything to you."
She eyed the two robots suspiciously. [Why should I trust them? Yet, I'm so lost and confused that all I want is an explanation.]
"Who's your leader?"
"Optimus Primal, commander of the Maximals."
[Optimus…Prime? No, Primal. But could it still be him?]
"Alright, I'll come with you." Cautiously, she hooked her blaster back at her hip, and ejected the program disk from the pod.
"Uh, I'm Cheetor and this is Tigatron. What' s your name?"
She hesitated, but decided there was no need to hide her identity. "Maybelle…"
******************************************************************
The two Autobots walked hand in hand, her slight pink arm entwined around his strong green one through the space deck aboard the Ark. The femme turned towards her companion, a smile slowly spreading from her crimson lips.
"Springer, honestly I feel fine. It's much better this way."
"You sure?" His face was full of concern. "If anything happened to you I'll never forgive myself." He held her protectively in his arms, wishing as he always did that they were in another time, another place…
One of the others ran by, stopping abruptly when he noticed them.
"Hey Arcee," he noted, " you're looking a lot better. Optimus sure fixed you up good." Her face scrunched just slightly, confusion tugging at her.
"No Jazz, she's Maybelle now."
Jazz stared at the triple-changer, but then realization dawned on him.
"Oh, I see…" He smiled broadly at the pink/silver femme. "You'll still be the same friend to us." She nodded, happiness flooding her senses at the realization that she would be reaccepted.
**************************************************************
As they made their way further south, Maybelle noticed that the climate was becoming more and more comfortable. The frozen earth had been replaced by green fields, and the blue sky overhead reminded her of another planet.
1 [My birthplace…]
The two Maximals led her towards a large ship, or at least it would have been a ship if it didn't appear so battered.
"There it is," motioned Cheetor, "the Axalon. It doesn't look like much now, but I'm tellin' you someday that ship's going to get us back to Cybertron."
[Cybertron…] "What's Cybertron to you?"
"Cybertron's our home, where we should be instead of this beat- up planet."
The mention of that far-away home stirred unwelcome feelings in both the cheetah and Maybelle. Tigatron, who had never seen the place, was pretty indifferent.
"Sentinel, lower shields!" The three made their way to the lift, with Cheetor talking non-stop the entire way. [I hope he's not trying to impress me.] Still, he had a pretty friendly personality, and she probably would have liked him if she hadn't still been suspicious. The ramp lifted, as tension knotted in her sensors. [What if the explanation I get is, horrible?]
******************************************************************
The sliding doors opened, admitting an anxious Springer as he bolted into her room.
"What are you doing," she started to ask, but stopped when she saw his expression.
"Maybelle, you've gotta leave! The Decepticons have started an air raid and this base isn't going to hold." His optics radiated fear, and he talked faster than she had ever heard him.
"But how did they manage to find this colony? We only have thirty- so units on this planet."
"Never mind," he interrupted her, "right now you are heading right for the evacuation site. They're going to start launching status pods into orbit and I want you to go first." He pulled her out of her desk, literally dragging her out of the room.
"Wait," she reasoned, "aren't you going as well?"
He turned so that his optics bore into hers. In his, she saw fear, love, and a wild desperation. "I can't now," he muttered, "it's my duty as a ground commander to see this through. But you, if you don't make it out alive my spark will never rest even if it's doomed to perish this time." A loud explosion knocked them both into the corridor, while sealing off a possible exit.
"Go! Head for the evacuation center now!!" He yelled at her through the dust and debris. She scrambled to her feet, fear driving her to run. The sound of his steps pounded behind her, as well as the echoes of overhead explosions. Up ahead were the doors to the evacuation center, but destruction threatened to stop them before they got there.
"Wait…"
The voice of her companion stopped her in her tracks. She turned back to see him get up after being hit by flying debris. His outstretched hand held an object towards her. Quickly, she made her way to his side, just as he pressed a disk into her palm. "Load this into the pod. If anything happens, it'll help you remember."
"No one else is leaving, they're outside and that's where I should be…"
"Hurry!" Giving her a last glance, he shoved her through the double doors. She heard the sickening crunch of the corridor ceiling give way, burying life into an eternal grave.
"Springer!!!" Slamming against the doors, she tried desperately to pry them open. Strong arms took hold of her, tearing the frantic Autobot from the opening and separating her forever from him.
"Springer made sure that you would be able to leave."
"I won't leave, not like this!" They ignored her, activating a nearby status pod.
"Get in."
"But…"
2 "Get in!!! Don't you realize what he did for you?!"
Truly frightened now, she was paralyzed from one end of circuitry to the other. An active sympathetic system was all that enabled her to climb into the pod. [Why, Springer, why??]
The pod's lid was closed, as though enclosing her into a permanent tomb. Tears streamed from her optics as she felt the acceleration when the pod launched from the base. It hurtled into cyberspace, leaving behind the doomed planet. [Why did this happen?] She felt for the disk he had given her, the only piece of him she could take. Loading it into the pod's drive, she felt a strange sense of dread grip her. [So I'll never see him again?]
"Preparing for automatic shutdown."
The voice startled her, representing a new threat. Before she realized what was about to happen, the deafening sound of a dying planet washed over the insignificant pod.
"Springer…"
She was able to whisper before her fluid-pump abruptly stopped.
