Gateway Future
The Locked Door
Alarms, confusion, pain, suffering. She raced down the hall behind a younger robot, racing to where she could help in some small way. When she caught sight of Jet Fire and Red Alert, she veered off course and ran as fast as she could down to where they were.
"Damn it! They really must be getting desperate!" Jet Fire cursed.
"Either that or they're close to their goal." Red Alert glared. The sound of a human painting heavily caught their attention. Red Alert was the first to recognize the girl leaning against the wall, panting as if she had just run a marathon. "Erin! You should go back inside quickly!" She stood straight up and nodded her head no.
"If you want to help, then head back inside. You remember where the med room was?" Jet Fire demanded of her. Erin seemed to pause for a few moments, nodding slowly in agreement. "Good. Go with Red Alert back to the med center. There'll be wounded and casualties coming soon." Jet Fire quickly transformed into a futuristic red space shuttle. "Clear the pad for launch!"
Red Alert took Erin in his hand and ran back inside the compound. Erin looked out at Jet Fire as he tore through the sky, his blasters already burning red with the constant use. His enemies were flying pterodactyls colored green and black adorned with a sharp looking purple face somewhere on their bodies. Their very presence brought back memories Erin had tried hard to block out; memories of people screaming, of men opening fire on innocent lives with machine guns hidden in suitcases. She bit down on the end of her fingernail in worry as more monsters charged out through the walls, these ones resembling black and green wolves. Luckily for her, Red Alert's secondary hand had a less domestic use. He sliced through the four wolves with ease.
"Looks like they've broken in..." Red Alert whispered. He looked down at Erin, who looked up at him with eyes pleading for the loss of life to end. "Don't worry; those Terracons don't really have a conscious. They've got nothing but programming and an energy core; they have no heart or soul." Erin nodded in understanding. Once glance at the twitching paw of the Terracon wolf made her cringe.
"...Let's hurry..." she whispered.
"Right," Red began his dance past Terracon intruders, running at top speed to the medical center located in the center of Autobot City.
Twenty minutes later and the once giant rooms were filled with those from the lightly wounded to the dead and dying. Red Alert worked as hard as he could, repairing the most sever injuries first before moving on to the minor wounds. Despite having little medical knowledge, or so she claimed, Erin almost seemed like a gift from Primus to the wounded. Her small hands worked with a surgeon's skill over the wounds of those close to death, and after every check by Red Alert, the wound seemed to have healed from its previous fatal condition.
"Oh no...!" Erin whispered just above an echo. Red Alert paused from the minor injury he was repairing and followed her frozen stair. He cursed.
"Damn it, Jet Fire!" Red cursed under his breath. He passed the wound to another secondary repair unit before bolting over to the injured shuttle. He was fighting back against medical staff, claiming that his wound which was a giant gash across his front torso was nothing life-threatening.
"Jet Fire, sit down before I'm forced to sedate you!" Red Alert boomed.
"I'm fine, Red! There are others that need your help more than me!" Jet Fire countered. His hand went across the center of the gash and he doubled over slightly.
"Jet Fire, sit down, please...!"
"Oh shut up and go help someone else! I'm fine!" Jet Fire snapped. Red Alert was about to counteract that statement when his young nursing aid did so for him.
Erin's fan snapped closed on her palm, creating an echoing slam that stopped both robots from exchanging curses. She glared at Jet Fire with a stair that seemed to freeze his spark. Something about that stair pinned him down and froze him solid, making his instincts scream that ticking their new guest off was a bad idea.
"Sit," Her voice was twice as cold as her glare, if that were possible, and left no room for argument. Jet Fire gulped and obeyed. "Stay still and let Red Alert tend to your wounds. The remainder of the life-threatening cases have been dealt with, so he's free to repair you. I don't want to have to use this tone of voice again, got it?" and she tagged on as if it were an after thought, "Sir?" Jet Fire gulped and nodded in agreement, tagging on,
"Yes ma'am."
Erin suddenly became bright again, a warm smile splitting the ice cold moment in two. She gave a shy giggle and excused herself from the elder warrior and medic's presence. The two elders exchanged a look of shock.
Deep within the confines of space, a top-hat shaped ship floated in what seemed like aimless patterns. It went starboard at one moment, towards the aft the next, then so far forward that only a trail of space dust was left behind it. The ship suddenly stopped, almost as if looking around for something. It glowed bright gold for a moment then returned to looking pure black. Two aerial Terracons flew past it, grabbing one side of the ship each and towing it to a large pile of floating silver space debris. A door in the center of a metallic orb opened, flooding out golden light into the darkness of space. The two Terracons released the ship, sending it on a collision course with the glowing door of light. Once the ship was lost inside the door's glow, the door sealed shut and the universe stood still.
Kicker finally had his dream. Both he and Erin were alone on the upper observation tower of Ocean City looking out at the repair robots working like busy ants on restoring the main ocean bridge.
"It's a beautiful night, huh?" Kicker questioned nonchalantly. Erin looked out at him from the corner of her eye, a sparkle there Kicker was quick to note upon. "I never got a chance to say that you look absolutely lovely in that kimono. Where'd yah get it?"
Erin blushed lightly, returning her gaze to staring blankly down at the ground. She fought back a gasp as a larger green robot with the same purple symbol the attackers had worn walked out of Ocean City. He yelled at the smaller repair robots in harsh orders to hurry up; he even threatened to report them for 'lolly-gagging' if they didn't speed up on repairs. Kicker looked down at what had caused Erin to go so stiff and sighed.
"Hey, Demolisher, take it easy! They're working as fast as they can!" Kicker shouted. Demolisher looked up at them in a glare before sighing and returning to look at the repair robots. One of them had been caught under some loose debris. Demolisher blinked for a moment, then laughed slightly as he rendered aid to the smaller robot.
"Be carefully, okay?" he ordered, smiling. The repair robot nodded in agreement before instantly returning to work. Kicker released a huff, waving the robot off.
"Don't worry about that big lug. His name's Demolisher; he's the only trustworthy Decepticon in the lot and he's the only one that hasn't defected to Scorponoc's side."
"Scorponoc?" Erin blinked, looking at Kicker with a blank expression.
"Yeah. He's the Decepticon claming that the old Decepticons' leader, Galvatron, is still alive." Kicker sighed, turning his back so that he could lean against the railing. "I've got a bad feeling that he's just using them to bolster his own gains, though." Erin looked at Kicker for a moment. Her eyes began to glisten in understanding and her hand was closed delicately over her heart. She looked down at Demolisher, at the false smile he tried to use to mask his sadness for being forced to fight his friends, and seemed to understand all of his pain.
"...Being used...is painful beyond words..." Kicker blinked at that, looking over at her with a puzzled expression. Erin closed her eyes, huffed, and turned towards the door.
"Hey, where yah goin'?" Kicker jumped. Erin gave no answer.
Her movement was almost as fluid as water. The bow of her kimono sash fluttered in the wind like an angel's wings, leaving an almost glowing trail for any being to follow. It was with a noiseless grace that she walked outside and approached the still smiling Demolisher. He blinked, looking down at her.
"Oh, you're the kid found at Plane City!" Demolisher jumped. "Is there something I can do for you, ma'am?"
"No... Do you mind if I sit here for a while?" Erin questioned, her voice as smooth and controlled as velvet. Demolisher smiled again and nodded that he had no complaint to her sitting on one of the rebuilt pillars. He even helped her reach her perch.
Demolisher directed the repairs while Erin sat in complete silence. He would laugh every now and then at the seemingly humorous antics of the repair robots, but it would never be a true laugh. Erin released a sigh, making Demolisher look back at her.
"You should head back inside, ma'am; it's a cold night tonight." Demolisher warned.
"It's even colder if you're alone," Erin whispered. Demolisher blinked, looking at her eyes with a distant expression. After what seemed like hours, he sighed and turned to stair at the ground.
"...Yeah..." he looked back at her and added, "You can't imagine how it's like, you just being a human and all... I mean...I'm torn between wanting to revive Galvatron and what I know is the truth... But Scorponoc's got proof that Galvatron's alive, and that makes it even harder for me to decide what to do..."
"What's his proof?"
"Galvatron's sword, the Black Star Saber..." Demolisher looked up towards the heavens then, releasing an icy sigh. "I swore an oath to Galvatron that I would forever be loyal to him and him alone. Not even death would stop me from fulfilling that oath... Maybe..." Erin's fan snapped shut then, and she shouted,
"No, you shouldn't! Scorponoc has no real proof! It's just as easy to take a sword from a dead man as one stuck in a coma; for all you know, he stole that sword from a corpse." Demolisher's head snapped back to look at her, a mix of fear and shock echoing in his optics. Erin returned the stair with her own piercing glare. She released a sigh, closing her once cold eyes and melting back into a quite serenity. "...You're right...I have no knowledge in the matters that deal with Transformers...I was just tiered and I snapped, that's all. I apologize if I hurt your feelings, sir."
Erin gracefully fell off the pillar back onto the bridge. She bowed once more to Demolisher before excusing herself to her room. Demolisher stared after her as she vanished deep into the shadows of the Ocean Base. Her words haunted him even through his recharge cycle.
The door to the top hat opened ominously. Black light that seemed to devourer the bindingly white light inside the docking port oozed out like a ramped plague from the inside of the ship. A single silver outline walked forward through the black light. It was a tall being wearing shades and a black top hat. His suite was pressed tight in even creases and his shoes looked to have been spit shined. It looked around the docking bay with an emotionless face.
"Welcome, Commander, to my heart. I am Unicron." a voice full of darkness and hatred echoed around the otherwise empty docking bay.
"I know who you are," the being spoke in a voice that seemed as empty as the voice that had reverberated before, only somehow, it seemed twice as dark. Also, the speaker never once moved his lips. "Why is it you sent your Terracons to kidnap my ship?"
"I have a...business position for you, Commander; one that will prove beneficial to both our parties." The being seemed to smirk in a fashion that had any living being with heart seen it, they would have felt their heart stop in fear.
"You have my attention,"
The early morning sunshine bounced around her like a glowing ball, illuminating the kimono and making it glow as if it were a soft light bulb. Kicker sneaked up behind her, tapping her teasingly on the shoulder. She whirled around with closed fan in hand as if to counter an attack, but instantly loosened her tight grip on the fan when she saw it was only Kicker. He was dressed in a blue open button down t-shirt, white under shirt, tan kaki pants and white tennis shoes.
"Hey, I just checked with Prime and he said we could go down to the city for a while and catch a movie." Kicker laughed, pushing his blue shades up above his temples. Erin giggled lightly at the idea and instantly agreed. "Great! Red Alert found some street cloths for yah. So, why don't you go get out of that kimono and I'll meet you at the gate, kay?"
Erin nodded yes and seemed to vanish within the nightly folds of Ocean City. It was only after she vanished that Kicker noticed a glimmering jeweled bracelet resting on the balcony she had been leaning against. He blinked in confusion at it, then gently slipped it over his wrist. Laughing that it was perfect with his outfit and promising to himself that he'd return the bracelet that was obviously Erin's as soon as the time was right, he walked back inside the base and made his way to the front gate.
Jet Fire stared blankly at the opposing wall, his optics unfocused and his mind wandering in confused circles. That strange girl, Erin... He'd been receiving reports that despite her gentle and shy nature, if she was angered to a certain point, the source of that anger was verbally reprimanded with such a cold glare that, as one junior who had nearly started a fist fight in her presence put it,
"Fighting the whole Decepticon army one on one seemed easier than facing her."
A sudden knock at his door made him blink. Jet Fire stood quickly, echoing that whomever it was could come in now. The door stayed shut, making Jet Fire blink. He walked to the door and opened it, looking around to see who it was. A rather odd red gem shaped limply like a bracelet was resting on the floor in front of his door. Jet Fire blinked at it. He picked it up gently. An odd idea came to him and he slipped it over his wrist. It instantly contracted to fit his wrist perfectly – just loose enough to remove it if he ever wanted to but tight enough that it wouldn't interfere with his transforming mechanisms. Considering that it made a nice addition to his paint job, he shrugged, closed his door, and returned to his pondering.
A sudden knock at his door made the medic blink.
"Come in," Red Alert ordered in an emotionless baritone. The door remained closed. Curiosity soon drove him to his feet and he manually opened the door. Peaking his head out, he questioned if anyone was still around. The glint and glimmer of a sky blue stone caught his attention. Red Alert blinked at it, picking it up off the ground. He put it over his wrist in an experimental fashion and gasped when it shrunk to fit him perfectly. Curiosity overrode his pervious thoughts as he returned inside. He took the gem off carefully and set it under a high powered Transformer sized microscope. Several scans later and he still had no answers to the puzzling mystery of the crystal bracelet.
"Then it's agreed," the man in the top hat stated, his lips never moving.
"Agreed," The top hat man shook hands with what seemed like air. He turned back to his ship and closed the door. The second being barked out orders to a shadowed metallic creature hidden in the background of the shuttle bay that jumped up to its clawed feet and bowed in compliance to its new orders. The scorpion-looking beast dashed off as fast as it could, leaving a smoking trail of metallic dust in its path.
"We commence strike in twelve earth hours. Be ready, Commander."
"My group has been ready since the beginning of time, Unicon. Just be sure the enemy is thoroughly distracted with the Renegade before engaging their command base."
"Of cores, so long as you remember to take out Ocean City first, Commander."
"Done,"
"And done. Soon both our enemies will be nothing more than painful memories..."
The glowing white door of the metallic sphere opened, admitting the top hat shuttle to depart the docking bay. It flew off, this time with a destination in mind.