"Maybe I'm amazed at the way you pulled me out of time, you hung me on the line. Maybe I'm amazed at the way I really need you."
Paul McCartney
"Everything's all wrong yeah. Where the hell did I think I was? Stranger than your sympathy: all these thoughts you stole from me. I'm not sure where I belong. Nowhere's home and I'm all wrong . And I wasn't all the things I tried to make believe I was. And I wouldn't be the one to kneel before the dreams I wanted. And all the talk and all the lies were all the empty things disguised as me."
Goo Goo Dolls
Megatron's second in command of the Decepticon army confidently approached their newest recruit with a sense of purpose. She was finally his to control, a colleague to train. He was hoping she could fill another void. As he walked up to her, the others deferentially stepped away to give her a wide berth, even in mid-conversation. He felt a warm surge of power. Soon enough, this treatment would be from a whole planet. Nova's new purple sigil caught his attention. Her eyes were still blue, and it clashed with her green and yellow body. Not pertinent. It made the symbol stand out more.
"I see you have a new affiliation," he commented.
Nova stuck her chest out proudly. "I'm under the motor division."
"That is below everyone," he reminded her.
She shrugged assuredly. "It's a start. My situation will change."
"Of course. That is why you are here." He looked around. The others had drifted. There were a few other tasks to perform before battle. Starscream wanted to get her in the habit of seeking him out, talking only to him, constantly being his informer. It would start now. "I need to speak with you." He walked away, assuming she would lag after him. He walked rather slowly, one arm occasionally sticking out, as though he were expecting to grab something out of midair.
Nova followed Starscream down the main hall into his private chambers. When the door closed he turned to her. "Although you are in motor, and vastly inferior to me, I will have private discussions with you occasionally."
"OK." Nova wasn't sure if this was normal.
Pause. "You must go to Thundercracker for protocol training. Unlike your disorganized Autobots, there is a strict hierarchy here."
"Yes sir."
"Good, that's a start." He stopped himself again. Her blue eyes dazzled respectfully. He couldn't ask her to do it. This was a completely different Autobot and it felt awkward. He would continue to sleep alone, at least until he could repair what was left of the prisoner. There was really nothing else to say to her, and she was beginning to look confused. "Well, that was all. I will contact you again later, Mishap."
"Mishap?"
"Nova. I said Nova." If she had any mental acuity she would ignore the slip.
"Yes sir." The door opened and Megatron waited behind it. His mind probe of Mishap had been less fruitful than Nova's report, but he had gleaned a few unnoticed attributes of Starscream's that needed addressing. He watched her begin to leave. When she noticed him, she stood at attention when she should have kneeled. Megatron ignored it in his eagerness to close in on his target.
"Dismissed." Megatron walked into Starscream's room.
"Mighty Megatron," greeted Starscream sarcastically as he kneeled. He had seen this coming.
"I know what you are doing." Megatron's glare was nothing new.
"What a coincidence! So do I!"
Megatron paced the length of Starscream's room. "You are trying to undermine me with your own little camp, assembled in your image in preparation for a revolt." He stopped and glared at his Air Commander. "Your contributions, the only rationale for my reluctance to terminate you, are dwindling."
Starscream scowled. "My lord, you ignore the significant accomplishment I have made, risking considerable harm to me for the glory of you. I single-handedly broke the unspoken taboo of willing Autobots turning over to our side. Those who feared doing it now have an antecedent. We will have an influx of knowledgeable turncoat Autobots, thanks to me!"
"We have a crazy femme, a belligerent disabled femme, and maybe Skyfire! I have to commend you for finally realizing no Decepticon will betray me, and that the Autobots are your last hope, and even attempting to manipulate them is a calculated maneuver, but Starscream..." his laugh was contemptuous. "This is NOT your most proficient idea!"
"Proficient enough to merit your concern."
"This is not concern," he returned darkly.
"Contempt, even. The point is, you noticed."
"This was not a bid for attention, either." Megatron searched his face. Starscream's arrogant smile did not reach his optics. They were almost crafty, planning, somewhat pleading, and desperate. Megatron could almost smell his anxiety. "Do you want to get off this planet that badly?"
He did not speak; he didn't have to: the answer was obvious. "You want to flee from me, as well." Megatron's hand was out, stroking Starscream's arm, absent-mindedly. Neither met the other's optics. "You cannot escape me, you are mine; however..." Why not? There was no greater amusement than seeing how far Starscream could go on his petro-rabbit-brained schemes. "...should you accomplish your intentions, I will allow you a planet for you and your faction to rule."
His Air Commander's grin faded. Had he not sealed his optics shut when Mishap left he would have teared up. The joy radiated.
Megatron hid his own condescending amusement better. He allowed a small smirk. "You are permitted to repair your femme. She's in the detention center." He leaned over and kissed his favorite form of entertainment on the forehead. "We attack by the end of the week."
The Decepticon prison was not a place anyone would relish visiting. The acoustics were perfect for amplifying the screams of the damned to a ghastly decibel. The dank never left, even in the light. Nothing looked pretty. One lone Seeker dropped his tools at the too-appropriate sight of the only prisoner in a cell.
Her voice box was still difficult to work. "It must be pretty bad." Lyra wondered if she looked this disgusting when those political insurgents found her the first time she almost died.
"What did they do to you?" He had been too late to join in the festivities after chasing the Autobots to shore, where Superion waited. This was his first glimpse of her. It hurt his optics.
"Makes your energon deprivation look civilized, doesn't it?"
He did not answer. He was shaking in rage, trying to console himself with a thought Lyra could not pick up from his life force. She wondered what he was doing since she could barely discern him from the shadows. She told him where the light switch was located, thanks to her last visitor. Primus, that memory made her solenoids heave. She tried to think of something pleasant. She would never give anyone the satisfaction of knowing about that.
After subspacing her wings for better maneuverability Starscream sat down, intersecting her prone body, one leg under her, one knee bent in the air. He picked her up and leaned her shoulders against his bent knee. Her chestplate would have to be cut off; it had been kicked in. He reached for his snips.
"Getting what's yours?" she scratched. He ignored her. "Good, get it out, maybe everyone will stop hating me, I'll have friends again. How do you live like this?" Starscream worked the plate looser. It creaked in protest. "Nobody likes you, irritating personality, no companions-"
Starscream let her and her plate drop to the ground with a 'clunk.' He stood, angrily heading for the door. Lyra wondered if he would come back. When he did, he had a container of liquid in his hand and a contraption in the other.
"What's that?"
He held up the machine. "A refiner. Your nasty Autobot personality has mixed with my life force, and I want it out." He held up the tube. "This is something I concocted myself. I got it from reading earth medical journals. They have a nutrient-carrying substance called 'blood' in their circulatory system." He grunted as he put his toys down on the floor. "Sometimes they lose too much blood, and there is not enough from another human to succor them, thus the medics concoct artificial blood."
"Fake life force?" Would she have a fake persona?
"It will gradually steam out as your internal mechanisms create more of your own," he explained. He looked at her questioning expression. "I tried it out. On Ramjet. He was fine." He chuckled to himself. Lyra stared at it warily. She did not trust it. "First, I have to fix you." He reached for her faceplate. Lyra shut down for this. She did not wish to see, out of her good eye, his steamrolling her face.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked later while he gently fastened it back onto her head. Her lip had been split, and he had mended it, but it had a permanent mark. It made her look a little scary. Starscream held up a mirror for her to see. He'd done a pretty good job.
"Tell you what? Turn your eye on; I want to see if I wired it correctly."
"About Skyfire. It works. My scanners say it's perfect."
"Perfect. Of course." He went to work on her arm. "What is there to tell you about Skyfire?"
"How you're companions."
He sighed. "We're not." He reached for his new soldering iron. "We do thought transference, but I am not bonded to him." He noted her surprised expression. "What?"
"When did you become friends?" His projected feelings were deep affection, with the same intensity she felt upon her own reunion with Starscream. Skyfire was important to him, important enough to make Lyra want to know everything that had happened between them. The question of whom he really bonded with had left her.
"I needed somewhere to begin my scientific endeavors. Someone intelligent enough to aid my research, a robot to talk to. As you already mentioned, my personality is not the most gregarious. My mentor paired us up. We were together for long periods of time, making us grow closer. Too close." He glared defensively, head turned away from her as he told the tale. "We did not bond, merely allowed thought transference. The next best thing. He actually cared more about me than I did him." He smiled wistfully, looking up at Lyra. "When we had a disagreement he claimed I had betrayed him and that we were no longer friends. He neglected to reveal his self-destructive tendencies to you, I am sure. Now he is a prisoner of his own bad choices, still blaming me for his demise. Too bad. Such a graceful transformer does not thrive in any type of binding situation. He cared for me enough to ignore his own inclinations, which is never a good way to build a relationship. The results of my disregard caused immense mental suffering, making him difficult to work with. It was almost a welcome relief when he dove into that iceberg in a moment of desperate histrionics."
This explained the Skyfire parts he placed in her. It explained their behavior, and the bitterness of their ongoing strife. Lyra could not believe Starscream was so casual about this. "And you SHOT him the first day he was out of stasis? How can HE be the traitor? He..." Some delicate wiring began to spark.
"Calm down! Emotional fool." He rearranged some of the wires before she shorted out. "We are over. The Decepticons are my companions now; there is no longer a need for him. He chose to be an Autobot, so be it. I will treat him as such."
"Do you miss him?" Lyra cautiously turned on her internal diagnostics. They still screamed at her, so she turned them back off.
"No." Lyra sensed something else. "I was pleased he had you to keep him company. He feels alone there, friendless. That must sound familiar. Neither of you fit into that stupid group."
"You do care about him!"
"It does not matter! He made his choice! He is a traitor! When he left me for the Autobots, as far as I was concerned, he died."
"Well, he didn't." Lyra's scanners re-connected her arm. "I have a finger out of joint." He snapped it back in. She winced. "He talks about you a lot. You could mend this broken relationship."
"That means nothing to me." He set about replacing her shattered knees. "The space between us is filled with acrimony."
"Your feelings betray you," Lyra intoned. She could pick up his excitement.
"I am shutting off your voice again." He reached for her wires. Lyra held up her newly attached hand in protest and turned herself off, preferring to wait until she was completely repaired.
When he finished Starscream held her in his arms as he looked her over. Nothing out of place. Both of them were whole again, sharing the energy the other's body supplied as they shared a recharge, like the old days. He chuckled to himself. So Skyfire missed him. That was a pleasant thought. He would soon reconsider joining the Autobots; they were no different from Decepticons, except that Decepticons acknowledged their hypocrisies. Nova knew that. If Starscream could turn one of their loyal fighters, then he could turn anyone. Skyfire could not suppress his still-living obsession with Starscream much longer. This time, Starscream would be able to manipulate him easier, with the help of the female beside him.
Mishap...Starscream smiled at her as he put his tools away. He had lied to her, but it did not matter, soon he would have an underling again, two or three if he played this right. Enough for a small faction. Megatron was more than willing to allow him control of a planet. When that went well a piece of Cybertron would follow. Granted, they were Autobots, but he'd run out of options. At least he had a strong team. He would be unstoppable with a fighter, a spy, and a scientist in his league. It would be perfect! Finally, power would be his!
She came online again alone. An internal reading reported no more injuries, at least nothing that required a third party. Her new parts, unpainted, blended with the rest of her in the darkness. Something else was missing. Her body felt vague, fuzzy, almost as though she were floating underwater. Lyra hoped that she would get rid of this fake life force soon. Until then, Starscream would need to be heavily pounded for all the trouble he'd caused her. Footsteps cause her to stand up (a fluid motion for once, really he was missing his calling as a surgeon) quickly. It didn't seem as awkward as usual.
Starscream stood at the other side of the energon bars. "I see you are online."
"Yes." His optics glowed in the light. All Decepticons had this feature. It added something to their terrorizing abilities. She noticed someone next to him. Small, less mass. Blue optics softly shimmered.
"So this is Mishap?" Nova sneered.
"Lyra," returned the only Autobot in the room. Her rival's new insignia was hard to make out in the dark, but the energon bars gave enough of a glare to show the purple symbol where red once stood. "I'm really disappointed in you."
"Who cares?" Nova asked. She turned to Starscream. "What do we do with her?"
"Nothing." Starscream growled. "Motormaster gave you guard duty over the prisoner. You will not fail, of course." He patted her arm and started to walk out, until he remembered the unfinished business he had. "Mishap, I meant to ask you: were there any oversights in my repairs?"
"None."
"Excellent. When the battle is over, we will begin the re-integration process."
What! "Starscream, what do you mean?"
He walked out the door. Lyra leaned closer to the bars and yelled at him to reconsider, ignoring Nova's retaliatory glare until she was struck in the chest with a mild shot.
"The next one will be worse." Nova smirked.
Lyra was furious. "How can you DO this? Do you know what Decepticons do?"
"Kill Autobots. Rule the universe. Works for me."
"You'll be shooting at your friends!"
"I had only one friend!" yelled Nova, face eerily glowing against the energon bars. "She's supposed to be in that cell, not YOU. We would be Decepticons together! No more losing! No more starvation! We'd have power and glory and each other, and Starscream brought her along for the fun and YOU MADE HER GO!" She looked down at her blaster, considering another shot at her captive audience. "Who am I kidding? She wanted to leave, even though I was with her and Starscream when they left Autobot headquarters, she abandoned me." Nova angrily paced the length of the cell waving her gun to punctuate her wrath. "She told me to go get help, like I wasn't needed, and then she shoved me in the way of Superion, who tossed me aside like space junk into the water, telling me to take cover! How can you tell me I'm shooting at my friends? Friends don't do that! I've had enough! I'll join a cause that doesn't say one thing and do another! I'd rather work my way up the ranks killing the hypocrites that you ally with than anything else..." her voice box broke. "How could Moonracer do that? We were...best friends. We were so close, and she cast me off like-like I was you, instead of her...best..." Nova pulled herself together. "Starscream never cared about me either. He cares for you, Primus knows why..." Lyra involuntarily flinched. "He thinks-But at least I knew that." She recovered for a moment. "I had no idea I was deemed so useless to the Autobots."
"Nova...That's not true..." There was too much anguish in this femme. Lyra told her it would be all right, that Moonracer's behavior was not meant as an insult, but a safety concern. "It's standard Autobot procedure to get as many innocent people out of the way as possible." She held a hand out, energon slightly zinging her circuits. (Not as much as at the Autobot base, for some reason.) "They-we care about you." Nova struck the hand away.
"Back off. Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse. Doesn't matter. I'm on my own, and I'll be fine. I don't need them! Once I've earned enough trust I'm digging up Nightbird and teleporting off of this slimy mudhole. Megatron will be pleased and I can rule a corner of Cybertron the way it should be ruled. And I'll have a friend who won't have much to say. You won't do so bad yourself, being the Air Commander's protege."
"I don't want to be a Decepticon." Lyra said firmly. Nova grinned.
"Too bad. Starscream had to pull some long strings to get you repaired and re-instated. Megatron wanted to let the others pound you to smithereens, until Starscream intervened. I think I know why he wants you around."
"I'm his last hope of retaliation. He and Mirage hate each other." Lyra was telling herself that more than the yellow and green femme. She refused to believe the possibility that Skyfire was more important than she.
"No, that's not it. Starscream hates everybody." Nova was not even looking at her. The inexperienced guard's back was to Lyra. "You're the latest in a long line of collaborators that has turned on him. He's tired of failure. Skyfire, the Seekers, some human who tried to help him, Red Alert, the Combaticons: all failures. He has minor hopes for me, but YOU, you have the honor of not being given up. Congratulations. You're stuck with Starscream." Lyra had to think quickly, but she couldn't with all of this fuzziness. She tried another subject.
"What about you?"
Nova turned, face to face with Lyra. The energon bars crackled. "I stay here and guard you until the Autobots are annihilated, which shouldn't take long since they have NO idea what the space bridge is really bringing them." Nova grinned broadly. "The Decepticons have awakened Trypticon and are teleporting him here to make atoms out of these measly inhabitants, including your alliance. They will now experience the power of a fully operational battle station." She laughed so hard her entire body rattled with savage delight.
That was the cue Lyra had been looking for. The prisoner reached through the bars and pulled Nova into them. This caused both her and the bars' charge to short. The spy felt the shock too, but thanks to the dullness she was experiencing, it was not as circuit-blinding as the jolt at the ark. She made it out, optics flickering for a second. No, those were the lights when the security alarm goes off. This meant that all external and vital exits were locked. How would she escape? Lyra became invisible to buy more time. She had to think! Nova groaned behind her, weapons at Lyra's feet. They had given Nova the blaster Sunstreaker had provided earlier, as well as her own flame-throwing piece. She beat Nova to both, picking them up and storing one in subspace to use later. As she ran out of the prison area she stole one last glimpse of her adversary. Nova was on all fours, getting up, shaking her head angrily.
"This isn't over, Mishap!"
Lyra refused to take the bait and hurried through the flashing corridors to the bottom exit, one Starscream had used a long time ago. This one was not connected to the main security system, which had sealed any security risks when the alarm sounded. She punched the buttons. It didn't work. She tried her own blaster on it. Nothing. She tried Nova's blaster. Nothing! She tried both. Nothing! The sounds of activity were giving her position away. Weary already, Lyra leaned against one of the boxes in the room.
"I'm having a bad week," she muttered. The box next to her rattled in agreement. "Hamdingers?" What was that? Lyra tore the box open to be tackled by a seething Nightbird.
"Hey hey hey! It's OK! I'm a female, too!" Admitting anything else might be dangerous. "There's only one way out, and I can't get it open!" Nightbird inspected the door, fastened something to it, and took cover, dragging Lyra with her.
After a frightening explosion, success! Lyra excitedly watched water fill the basement and turned to thank the ninja, but she was already fighting the current to escape. Lyra followed suit and transformed into jet mode, darting towards the surface as fast as she could. Nova was probably trying to override the alarm system at his moment. She'd have a mess on her hands, unless the self-preservation system kicked in. 'Have fun being the only Decepticon who can sing,' Lyra thought, hitting the air with a whoosh.
It was Elita-1's turn to cling to Seaspray, wondering how long this less-than-smooth ride would last. The ocean stretched out forever, the blue meeting the lighter blue of the sky. Waves covered her pink paint with corroding salt, nicking the glass in her optics.
"There!" cried Moonracer. Four meters to their left a large blue jet erupted from the water, causing a giant wave. Seaspray's first reaction was to open fire.
"Don't shoot!" Elita recognized her. "Lyra! It's us!"
"What are you guys doing here?" she asked happily, transforming and landing on Seaspray. Elita-1 suddenly saw time stop as her visions emerged in their true light. The decayed corpse, the treachery, the pain…it all fit just looking at her and recalling her previous behaviors. The mental black vanished with the hallucinations and time began again.
"Rescuing you." Elita tried to hide her reaction to the sight of Lyra in harsh sunlight and failed. The unpainted panels that covered most of her body, the split lip, the aura of shock that Elita recognized above all of the excellent repairs told a frightening story. It was uncomfortably obvious the Decepticons had mutilated her. Moonracer's lack of tact spoke first.
"Great Primus! What happened to you?"
Lyra's face fell. After a moment, she replied in a flat tone, "Nothing worth repeating."
No one spoke. Waves slapped the boat and the wind gusted up with a whoosh. Seaspray's radio came on, calling for all Autobots to render aid immediately. Elita-1 seized the opportunity. "We should go." All nodded. "Before we are spotted." Lyra transformed into a jet and Seaspray took off towards shore.