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Other Shadows
By nightdragon0
"Hhaargghh!" I yelled swinging my sword.
Kirath brought up a blade of his own, deflecting the blow.
Frustrated, I swung from the side, Kirath blocking again. I begun attacking wildly, and yet Kirath still blocked each one, seemingly without much effort at all.
On the last blow, he tripped me, sending me rolling head over heels.
"You're not focusing." He said. "You have to clear your mind!"
However, I wasn't listening. Instead, I was growling from my kneeling position.
"Nightfire?"
Letting off a fierce roar, I transformed into my dragon beast mode and charged at him.
"Nightfire!" Kirath raised his blade, through hesitant to use it on me.
I had no such compulsions and let my beast instinct take over. I slashed at his arm with my claws, causing him to drop his sword.
"Nightfire! Control yourself! Argh!"
I sank my fangs into Kirath's hand. He refused to strike back and I began clawing his face and chest.
"Nightfire!" He cried desperately.
I threw my body weight against him, slamming Kirath onto his back. Pressing my fore claws against his shoulders, I released his hand and went for his neck. Kirath brought both arms up and grabbed one hand onto each of my upper and lower jaws. I snarled and continued to shove against him, hot saliva dripping from my mouth.
"Please, don't make me do this!"
Kirath finally saw he had no choice and quickly reached a hand down to his belt. I almost knew what was coming next, and yet I just couldn't let go.
Kirath brought up a taser and fired it at my chest. I cried out in pain as the energy swept through my body. This taser hadn't been set to hurt me through, just paralyze me for several minutes, until I could calm down.
I gave one final howl before I hit the ground. All feelings in my body had suddenly disappeared.
"You know I dislike having to do that to you." Kirath sighed, tossing the taser aside and pushing my body off him.
I could only utter a muffled whimper, give the face that my jaws were paralyzed. Kirath gently set my head down on the ground and saw down beside me.
"This is the reason why no one wants to be near you these days. You just let loose with your beast instincts and end up nearly killing the rest of us."
I didn't want to deny him. Giving my conscious mind up to the wild, untamed nature of my dragon side was by far the easiest form of emotional release I could currently muster.
Especially since the…no, I didn't want to think about it. Silently, I prayed Kirath wouldn't bring it up.
"I know you're tormented within." Kirath closed his eyes. "As much as I want to tell you 'I know what you're going through', that would be a lie. But is this how you want to carry on?"
Please Kirath, just stop there!
"What would Syndrea think if she saw you like this now?"
That was the breaking point. My entire body trembled and wriggled as I tired desperately to move. Kirath cradled my head in his arms and stroked my face.
"Calm down, calm down…"
Finally, I submitted and relaxed my tense muscles.
"We've all had losses. Airazor and Tigatron disappeared, Dinobot…Syndrea…I think you know. Syndrea…wasn't your fault. We've tried to tell you that time and time again, yet you keep pushing us away."
It was true perhaps, what he said. But Syndrea…I just couldn't get the scene out of my mind. I kept playing it back, each time wondering if there was something I could've done, something I should've done. But now, I was powerless to do anything at all.
Syndrea…she had been my link to the rest of this group. Only now, I realized how much I'd come to depend on her support to get me 'into the pack'.
Without her, it was startling to see how much I'd reverted back to my old self.
Cold…uncaring…heartless…
It was the reason why I had told myself in the past that I wouldn't depend on anyone, ever. But now that I'd started caring again, I couldn't get out of it.
The only person you can depend on is yourself. I repeated that phrase.
Yes, life would've been so much simpler if I'd kept to that…
Flashback…
It was seemingly an ordinary night that I walked into the bar.
It was closing up, but the bartender knew me personally. He nodded to me as I took my usual spot by the counter and waited for him to lock the door and finish clearing up. It was quite common for me to do this, especially to avoid the crowd. As a fellow Predacon, the bartender certainly knew that.
"My usual." I waved.
I gulped down the large mug and allowed the bartender to deduct the amount from my credit card.
"Seems like you had a tough time at work." He commented, leaning both elbows against the counter.
"You can tell, huh old timer?" I muttered.
"I was young like you once, kid. When it comes to us Predacons, things tend to repeat themselves. Whether or not we have to kill for a living."
"Well, I'm about to be different." I growled. "I'm quitting."
"What about that big job you were talking about?"
"Oh, that moron Megatron and his Golden Discs. Pah, I ditched the guy. Too bad he didn't get caught when I 'accidentally' sounded an alarm."
"Hmmm…turning your back already. Is that what you nearly killed your brother for?"
"Humph." I muttered. "Wish I had killed him."
"What's Megatron going to do with a bunch of old relics anyway?"
"Don't know, don't care." I replied, drowning down the rest of my mug. "In a few hours, I'll be on a ship out of here. And I won't be coming back."
I slammed a pass down on the table and allowed him to look at it.
"Maximal Exploration Vessel, Axalon. Enlisted crew…hmmm…pulled another one, I see."
"This ship'll be going far away." I explained, gesturing to backpack I'd set down on the floor, containing my personal belongings. "And I'll be on it. Getting far away from here. Came here for a final drink before I set out."
"Don't drink too much. You don't want to be suffering from a hangover on your 'mission', especially posing as a Maximal explorer."
"Don't burden yourself with concerns about me, old timer." I growled. "I don't need people backing me up…they only get in my way. The only person you can depend on is yourself."
"If that's the way you see it, then believe it. I can't stop you anyway."
"By the way, here." I tossed the bartender a keycard. "To my old apartment. I cleared out all the important stuff, but you might want to grab some equipment…before it gets raided or something."
"Erm…thanks kid. I'm gonna miss my best customer through."
With that, I got up and waved, slinging by backpack on and walking out the back door. Leaving one lifetime behind.
The present…
"You thinking about something?" Kirath's voice snapped me back to reality.
No.
The taser's effects were still active and I wasn't able to move a joint or muscle yet. Kirath's head turned and he stared up at something in the sky. Even without being able to see for myself, my 'psychic' senses still picked it up.
"Nightfire, you feel something?" Kirath wondered. "Hmmm…was it that light I saw in the sky just now?"
Indeed, it was. It was…well…hard to describe. Unlike anything I'd ever felt before, and yet…so familiar.
I almost dreaded to find out what.
"It's something alien in origin all right." I heard Rhinox saying as I followed Kirath into the base.
"Is it anything like what we've encountered before?" Optimus asked.
"Quite frankly, I'm not sure." Rhinox shook his head. "But I can tell one thing, it's big. Very big."
"A transport vessel?"
"I would say a floating city."
"Seems as through its coming down deep within the arctic regions." Silverbolt put a finger on the screen, displaying a map.
From the crowd around the screen, it didn't take much to figure out what was going on. The scanners had picked up a large, unidentified flying object emerging from transwarp space just outside the planet. The unknown vessel had descended and apparently landed within a heavily snowy area, far away from both Maximal and Predacon bases.
"Think it's worth checking out?" Cheetor asked. "It could be something important."
"Whatever it may be, we can't get Megatron claim it." Optimus declared.
"But what if it's something dangerous?" Rattrap asked. "You know, maybe it'll go BOOM or something and Megs'll get fragged. Better him than us going and getting ourselves killed, right?"
"You're an optimist." Calico snapped sarcastically.
I was at the back of the room with my arms folded, staring at the blinking dot on the map. Then, all of a sudden, the flashes began.
Images that abruptly shot through my mind. While I couldn't make out much of them, one in particular caught my attention.
It was the flash of the unknown warrior, with his plasma cannon pointed directly at my head. Unintentionally, I dropped to my knees, putting one hand to my head and the other over my mouth to prevent me from screaming out. I was glad no one was looking in my direction to see me freak out.
That place…I thought, taking a last look at the screen.
I was back in beast mode, out the back door and flying away before anyone could stop me.
The chilling winds tore at my scales like thousands of tiny insect bites. I wasn't really adapted for winter conditions, and the fact that I was flying against the winds certainly didn't help.
My scanner beeped, indicating several friendly shapes behind me: the other Maximals. I frowned, but knowing it was futile to run away, I slowed down and let them catch up.
Optimus carrying Rhinox, Cheetor carrying Rattrap, Silverbolt and Kirath with Calico.
"And just what did you have in mind running off here by yourself?" Optimus asked angrily.
"That alien structure…I have to check it out…on my own." I said. "You might be in danger if you come."
"Care to elaborate?"
"Not really…I mean, I can't…I don't know." I muttered. "I just feel something with it."
"Either way, we detected several Predacon signatures in the area. And we're all going in together for this one, got it?"
"Fine, I got it." I nodded glumly. "It's this way."
I led the group over the mountains, down a twisting valley and finally, out to an open area.
"Looks like a crater!" Cheetor pointed.
In anticipation, everyone quickened their pace and flew over the final hill, to see a large crater in the ground…and nothing inside it.
"Talk about anti-climax." Rattrap muttered.
"But how could something so big just disappear?" Silverbolt wondered, flying closer.
"Wait! Don't go near to…"
BAM! A light flashed as Silverbolt hit an invisible barrier.
Howling, the Fuzor was thrown out of the sky. I swooped down and caught him by one of his rear talons, hovering just a couple of feet above the ground.
"There's your answer." I said.
The next instant, I dropped him head-first as a missile shot past us.
"Optimus Primal, predictable as always." Megatron's boastful voice sounded.
"Quite your gloating Megatron! We…"
"Oh just shut up and start fighting!" I cut in, throwing several fireballs in the Predacons' direction.
Their group too, split up and took up battle positions.
Still in beast mode, I drew my sword and lingered back slightly, deflecting anything that came in my direction. I was looking out for one warrior in particular, one I could really take my frustration out on.
"Hey Deathwing! Come and get me!"
"Don't push your luck!" Deathwing screeched, swooping down towards me with his talons.
I clawed back and the two of us broke into a mid-air claw and talon scratching match. Using my tail, I pushed against him and forced us apart. At the same time, both of us transformed and whipped out our weapons. However, we never got a chance to start shooting.
"Rrargh!"
"What the?!"
Something exploded right between us, stunning Deathwing slightly, but sending me crashing into the snowy ground. Wiping the snow out of my face, I looked up to see lasers firing at both Maximal and Predacon alike from seemingly nowhere.
A cloaking device? I thought, staring up at the empty space.
The battlefield was thrown into even more chaos as both sides panicked. Some were standing and firing, some were running.
I was wondering what to do myself where a flicker of light caught my eye. It was my sword, seemingly suspended in mid-air. As blue energy cracked around it, I realized it was stuck in the wall of whatever vessel was beneath the cloaking device. Not wanting to leave it behind, I moved towards it, only to be thrown forward by a stray blast. But instead of being repelled by the invisible shield, I found myself lying beneath my sword.
Apparently, the odd design of the outer structure had saved me.
I glanced around and saw several of the other transformers lying sprawled around the area. Not dead, but merely stunned. All the firing had now stopped.
The area around me flickered, and slowly, a solid shape begun to materialize. I gasped, staring at what seemed to be a 50 foot dark blue pyramid-like structure over me.
To be able to shield and cloak this thing…the energy requirements must be enormous!
I heard the sound of gears grinding and saw a ramp opening above me. Grabbing my sword, I ducked beneath the ramp and watched.
A line of soldiers marched out in formation. They seemed somewhat familiar, and when I finally put the pieces together, I wished I hadn't remembered.
These were the humanoid Cybertronians, dark blue in color, armored at both body and head. Their helmets completely covered their faces, making it impossible to distinguish one soldier from the other. Each one also carried an assault rifle similar to the ones our military utilized.
These were the same soldiers I'd seen in my vision of Sky Lynx's last battle.
I shuddered at the thoughts of my past life coming back to haunt me. I was so lost in thought that I barely noticed the soldiers dragging the others up the ramp and into their fortress.
Next thing I knew, the ramp was retracting.
On impulse, I flew up and dashed between the closing gap, hearing the dull thud as the metallic door slammed behind me.
Perhaps it would've been better if I'd thought about it much, much more carefully first.
The black walls of the fortress allowed my black hide to blend in fairly well. In dragon mode, I clung to the pipes hanging down from the ceiling and choose to follow the group of the soldiers escorting Kirath, Calico, Cheetor and Rattrap.
The four were glancing around uneasily, but with blasters jabbed at their backs, and probably orders not to speak, they marched on in silence.
The place was literally a maze. At one point, I mistakenly took a wrong turn and ended up entering a large, storage room, littered with various construction materials.
As I turned to leave, someone grabbed me from behind, holding my jaws shut and placing a sword at my throat.
"Oh, it's just you."
It was Deathwing, speaking in a rather calm tone considering the situation.
"You know, I'd love this chance to make a trophy of your head right now, but a fight would certainly stir up a lot of unwanted attention. Besides, your dead body lying around would look rather conspicuous. So, stop struggling and listen."
"What the hell are you doing here?!" I asked harshly as he uncovered my mouth.
"Same thing you are. Trying to rescue some comrades." He laughed. "Although I hardly know whose where in all the chaos. By the way, a bunch of your Maximals were taken down the corridor to the southwest."
"Humph, why should I believe you're not sending me into a trap?!"
"Because, if you get busted, it'll put the whole place on alert."
"I expected that." I muttered. "Fine, just get your sword away from my neck first."
"It's strange, after all this time how we still think alike." He commented, stepping back.
"Stay out of my way, and I'll keep out of yours." I growled, checking the corridor before leaving the room.
"There's no time-traveling orb to help you out this time. Think about that before you get yourself killed." Deathwing said as he departed, jogging lightly in the opposite direction.
I had indeed been pointed in the right direction. Standing outside the door, I could hear the captured Maximals talking among themselves.
"Come on, we've got to think of something!" Cheetor was saying.
"Well, I can think of three." Rattrap replied. "We're screwed, we're more screwed and we're all gonna die."
"Oh shut up." Calico growled.
I reached out with my mind and probed the room. Three guards, but no security cameras as far as I could tell.
"Surprise!" I yelled, barging through the door and slicing the nearest soldier vertically in half.
Another whipped out his rifle and fired while the last one ran for what I assumed to be the alarm. I used my sword to deflect the shot into the running one, blowing his head off. With a telekinetic shove, I pushed the last guard into the prison barrier.
The powerful energy surge overloaded his circuits, blowing him to pieces.
"Could you possibly have been any louder?!" Rattrap remarked as the prison bars flickered off.
"Hey, don't complain when you're being rescued." I growled. "You guys know if anyone else was taken prisoner?"
"We don't know." Kirath replied, gathering the group's weapons from a nearby locker. "Only thing we can do is find some way to get them through our com-links."
"Which happened to be jammed right now." Calico sighed. "Wonderful! Besides, who the heck are these guys anyway?"
"Another fraction, one that's been lying in wait since our ancestors began the Great Cybertronian Wars. Slowly, they've been developing and gathering their resources."
"So now, they want to frag both our sides?" Rattrap asked.
Kirath had the instinct to stand by the door and keep watch during the discussion. It was his warning that saved us from having a nasty surprise.
"Everyone on alert! They're coming!"
"Impossible, how'd they find me so fast?" I muttered, transforming and drawing my rifle.
"Forget about it! We've got to get out of here!" Calico declared, also bringing up her twin Uzis.
"This way!" I yelled, kicking the door open and tossing a fragmentation grenade down the hall.
The explosion sent the approaching squad flying to the ground, giving our group a chance to sprint down the only other corridor available.
Chaos ensued and guns blazed as my rifle, Kirath's dual pistols, Calico's Uzis, Rattrap's handgun and Cheetor's Quasar blasters exchanged shots with the 'alien' soldiers. Clearly, these were expendable troops as it didn't take much to bring them down.
The only problem was that everyone's ammunition had been depleted from the previous battle with the Predacons. And the enemy seemed to be in such large numbers that no matter how many we shot down, there were always more to take their place.
Alarms began blaring as red lights flashed, illuminating the black walls in a dark red.
"Not good." Calico muttered.
At the rear of our group, she riddled a last guard with bullets before continuing.
"The entrance ramp was right here!" I pointed as we turned a corner.
The rest of the path was a single, straight hallway.
"Rattrap, get the door open!" Kirath ordered. "The rest of us will hold this position until then."
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Rattrap replied, running for the control panel beside the door.
I stood beside Calico as we ducked into an alcove in the wall to avoid the enemy gunfire.
"What are these guys? Drones?" I wondered, over the vibration of my rifle.
I ejected the empty clip and stuck in a new one.
"Hmmm…hundred on one odds." Calico commented. "Sounds like your kind of battle."
"Dinobot would've liked it better."
That sentence just came out in the heat of the moment. I regretted it the instant it was out of my mouth. It hadn't been too long since Dinobot's heroic effort which had saved the valley of pre-humans, at the cost of his life.
I'd heard that Calico was pretty hurt by it, but I'd never paid attention, having my own losses to deal with. The vixen must've noticed the look on my face.
"Don't worry about it." She smiled. "Doesn't take a telepath to know what you're thinking."
"Guess…you really cared about him." I said, for the lack on anything else to mention.
"Something like Airazor and Tigatron before they disappeared. And you and Syndrea too." Calico spoke with hesitation. "Only I, well, never had the chance to mention it. I was afraid, really."
"Afraid is something I'd never thought I'd hear you say."
"It's hard to care sometimes, when your self image is at stake. Especially in a war zone." She sighed. "But you know, I think I actually learnt a lot from him. Hard as it is to believe."
That certainly was a 'deep', conversation, more so considering it took place in the middle of a battle.
"Hey people, we have a problem!" Rattrap called. "The ramp controls are linked to the main system. I can't override them form here!"
"Then blast it open!" Kirath yelled. "Take cover everyone!"
Our group ducked as the ear-splitting explosion shook the area. I looked up, only to stare in shock at the door. It hadn't even been scratched by Rattrap's bomb.
"No way…" Cheetor gasped.
"We ain't getting out this way." Rattrap said.
"I don't think we can hold this position much longer too." I added in.
"Kirath, I'd give our hosts a little diversion and you lead the others down there." Calico pointed to one of the paths leading off from the X-junction ahead.
"No, Calico I can't let you…"
"I'll be fine, trust me." She insisted.
"And whatcha hoping to do? Distract all those guys with a striptease?" Rattrap laughed.
Calico promptly slapped him.
"Hey scale-brain, give me a smoke grenade." She said, snatching one off my belt. "Once you see the smoke, go. Understand?"
"All right." Kirath nodded reluctantly. "Just be careful."
Calico nodded and transformed into her fox beast mode. As I was kneeling and reloading my rifle, she leaned close to my ear.
"Nightfire, you know that duel we're supposed to have? I know you would've won anyway." Calico grabbed the smoke grenade in her jaws and ran.
It was only when I looked down and saw her discarded Uzis, with all the empty ammo clips nearby that I realized what she intended to do.
"Calico! NO!" I shouted.
Too late, the cloud of smoke appeared as she detonated the grenade.
"Let's go!" Kirath ordered.
The junction was surprisingly clear as we dashed through. Calico had lured the entire squad of soldiers to follow her in the opposite direction from which we were headed.
However, in the distance, I could hear the crackling of her whip.
I think everyone remaining felt the same way I did about Calico. We carried on in silence and unfortunately, ran right into a dead-end room.
The soldiers had caught up with us by this time, and I kicked a table over to take cover behind as we exchanged fire.
"Oh man! We're trapped like rats!" Rattrap yelled.
Ignoring him, I scanned the room and spotted a small vent in the wall. I shot it open and glanced down. It was a long tunnel leading down into darkness.
"A rubbish chute." I told the others, taking a whiff of the unpleasant odor.
"Maybe we can use it to escape." Cheetor beamed.
"Well, it's certainly suited for trash." I said, gesturing towards Rattrap.
"Hey!"
"Hurry and go first." Kirath told him.
"Always got to be the rat." Rattrap sighed, covering his nose and leaping down.
"Cheetor, go." I said.
Cheetor hesitated for a while, looking over both Kirath and myself. The two of us were both larger and had broad wings, which couldn't be folded too much.
"But how are you two going to fit down that?" He asked.
"That's the point. We can't." I replied, before grabbing the younger Maximal and throwing him down.
"NIGHTFIRE! GENERAL! NNOOOO!" He screamed as he spiraled down into the darkness.
"Kirath? You knew, right?"
The older warrior gave me a nod. I dropped my M4A1 rifle, the last of its ammunition depleted. Kirath's two Berettas joined the pile.
"Looks like its over for us." He said softly. "They don't look like they'll be taking prisoners this time."
"Not before we go out fighting down to our claws!" I declared, reverting to my black dragon form.
Kirath too, did the same, transforming into his jade-green dragon mode.
I drew the Phoenix Blade, my green Energon blade and grasped it tightly.
"You don't kill fire breathing dragons without taking a hell of the flames first." I continued. "Especially intelligent ones."
"Haha, nice speech." Kirath chuckled.
"General, promise me something." I whispered. "Promise me we'll both go down…together."
"I promise." The green dragon smiled. "Well, you can let loose that dragon's rage now. We both can, together."
Outside, the soldiers would certainly have noticed but now that our firing had stopped. They'd wait for a while before storming in.
And it seemed like their time was now.
Our simultaneous roars echoed throughout the corridors as we attacked, as dragons.