Hostile Territory

Written by: Okami

Chapter 3- Alone

~

I can't sleep beneath the trees of wisdom

When your ax has cut the roots that feed them

Forked tongues in bitter mouths

Can drive a man to bleed from inside out

Lyrics: What If_Creed

~

Authors Note: I do not own Robots in Disguise. I do however own Alana and Suzuki, therefore they can not be used anywhere other than this fanfic without my permission.

Helpful Hints:

****** - Means a change in scenery, or from Autobots to Decepticons

~~~ - Means a change in point of view but the same scenery

* * - Indicates a comlink conversation

******

The Build Team hauled load after heavy load of earth, in the midst of construction another passage for the Global SpaceBridge. Wedge, the team's leader, pulled back from his position and sighed heavily.

"Is something wrong Wedge?" HeavyLoad's voice asked. The yellow dump-truck backed up next to his leader, worry clearly in his tone.

"Huh? No, nothing's wrong. I just need a break," Wedge replied.

"Are you sure you're all right? You've never needed a break before," Grimlock put in, stopping his digging.

"Look, really I'm fi-"

A soft voice echoed down the tunnel, cutting off the Autobot's protest.

Win dain a lotica

En vai tu ri

Si lo ta

Silence fell upon the stunned Build Team.

"Did…did anyone else hear that?" HeavyLoad asked quietly.

"Yeah," the others replied just as quietly.

"Oh man, I hope this won't turn out like that other tunnel we were digging in," Wedge whined, transforming into robot mode. His troops followed suit soon after, finding it uncomfortable to be in their vehicle moods after hearing the strange soprano voice.

"What other tunnel?" Hightower asked, scratching the side of his head in confusion.

"You know, the one where we all looked like Predacons to each other," Grimlock replied, gently knocking his teammate upside the head.

"Hey! I remember all ready!" the crane Autobot protested, rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head.

Fin dein a loluca

En dragu a sei lain

Va fa-ra les shutai am

En riga lint

"There it is again!" Wedge cried, whirling around to face the section of the tunnel they had all ready completed. To his great dismay, nothing unusual appeared before him, just rocks and earth.

"Maybe we should return to base," Hightower suggested, not wanting to take any chances of repeating their earlier hallucinations.

"No. We were given the order to expand the SpaceBridge and that's what we're going to do," Wedge replied confidently, turning back around to face his comrades. "Are we going to let some singing voice scare us away from our mission?"

"No sir!" the three Autobot builders cried.

"Then lets finish this tunnel!"

"Yes sir!" Together, the Build Team completed the new tunnel in record time, all secretly fearing to hear the voice once more.

******

Alana sniffled as she stumbled through the forest, away from her uncle and the only family she had ever known. Her parents had died thirteen years ago, when she was merely five, and left her with her uncle. The man was rude, mean, and cruel to the child; she was forced to act as a slave in her own home.

Her ice-purple eyes stung with tears as she remembered sleeping in the stables with straw as her only bed and cover. It was not as bad as one might think, for she had the horses and the dogs to keep her company. The animals were always kind to her, giving her warmth in the winter months, even though it never got that cold, and wet kisses when she was upset.

A tree branch seemed to appear out of nowhere, scrapping against the unexpected teenagers face, leaving a bloody scratch across her cheek.

"Oh, damn," she hissed, wiping at the blood. The sound of a river reached her ears a few moments later, so she decided to clean away the grim before the injury became infected. The last thing she wanted was to need medical attention, considering the fact that she was in the middle of a forest with no humans around for miles.

The water was cool and refreshing, easing the inflammation on her cheek. It also soothed her parched throat and filled her belly. She sighed happily and laid down on the grassy shore, staring up at the large, green trees, simply listening to the birds sing and river babble.

Alana closed her eyes and let herself relax, falling into a light sleep. She did not know how long she slept but when her eyes reopened the stars shone dimly in the dusky sky. Her stomach rumbled for food, but since the teenager did not have anything to eat handy, she ignored the growls and made a small fire. The fire blazed brightly in the dark forest, giving the girl a sense of protection and warmth.

A sparkle of light shimmered from down the shore. Alana gazed cautiously at the light then noticed the fire was reflecting off of something metallic. Carefully grabbing a stick, she lit the end of it and picked her way towards the metal thing. She gasped and took an involuntary step back, staring up at the mangled form of a robot.

Shadows fell across the large transformer, illuminating places while at the same time darkening others. Dull sparks crackled in various places, giving the impression of a warrior with many recent battle scars. Scorch marks and dents were common on the robot's metal frame, along with open gashes oozing some sort of gel.

Alana stared open mouthed at the large creature, not quite sure what to make of it. The robot sort of reminded her of the others that had attacked her uncle's oil refinery, but those had similar features to animals; this one resembled a vehicle. She nearly jumped out her skin when the thing groaned, twitching a few times before laying still.

Watching the robot with sharp senses, she crept up to it. Pulling a stray lock of her long, forest green hair behind her ears, Alana observed the massive damaged wires and metal. Her heart ached for the poor robot; she had always had a soft spot for the injured or underdog. Whenever an animal was injured, she would do her best to tend to it; and she felt no different towards this creature.

The teenager carefully gathered the extra firewood she had gathered, and made a new camp closer to the robot. Thankfully, the fire helped to illuminate the large metal creature, making 'repairs' easier.

Wires crackled and sparked in the human's face, creating dark smudges all over her countenance. She continued to reconnect the severed wires and circuits to the best of her abilities, very glad to have taken classes on mechanical repairs. The worst area was the left arm where a large gash had been opened by an unfamiliar piece of metal. Sacrificing her only pair of jeans, Alana used the fabric for the legs to create a makeshift bandage for the robot; giving herself a pair of frayed shorts.

Finally, when the moon was high in the night sky, the female retreated from her working space to examine her progress. To her dismay, there were various other sparks flashing on the transformer's belly.

She laughed nervously. "I don't think so. I don't want that thing waking up with me crawling under it," she mumbled. Since she had no sleeping bag or any kind of bed, the human curled up on the ground near the robot; its sheer size gave her a sense of security.