I liiiiiiiivvvvvee!
Though I guess anyone who follows me or any of my other stories already know that.
Anyways, after more than a year later *grimaces* I have finally gotten around to writing more on this story.. The first section of this chapter has been sitting in Pages since probably shortly after the last one was posted. The poor story, just left to collect dust...
Enough of my dramatics. In all seriousness, thanks to those anyone who's been waiting for so long!
Hope you enjoy!
Chapter Six - Do or Die
Nitro awoke to the chill of the offcycle and a view of the starry open sky.
And a pounding helmache.
Before moving, the mechling listened to his surroundings.
Shuffling from off to his right told him that someone was still present. Crackling told him they had built a fire.
Whispered arguing farther away told Nitro that the accursed pair of siblings and their giant horror of a friend were still here.
"Perfect," Nitro groaned internally. "But why did they spare us after knocking us out? I'm pretty certain that he got the message."
Risking revealing that he was now awake, Nitro opened his optics all the way and sat up, a bit slowly and painfully. Immediately, he turned his gaze to the flying transport.
Who was staring right back at him from across the fire.
He was sitting silently, just watching. As if he had known that the two-wheeler was about to wake up.
With a slight frown, Nitro considered his options. He could bolt, but how far would he get before possibly being caught? And he couldn't leave without knowing Roadrage's status.
Waiting and observing would be better.
Nitro stared up across the flames. Even while seated on the ground, the triplechanger was huge.
The big mech and the much smaller one held a stare off for several kliks, waiting to see what the other would do.
Dagger and Taser didn't notice the shift in the mood, their whispered argument keeping the same pace and tone.
Nitro, without moving his gaze, gingerly shifted in place so he was sitting crosspeded in front of the fire instead of laying beside it.
Out of the corner of his optic however, he noticed Roadrage's still form. The mech was merely unconscious Nitro noted, a sort of relief rising in his thoughts.
"They didn't offline him either," he realized. "Good. Maybe, I can get him awake and we can figure out what to do."
Because Nitro didn't know what they should do.
So he continued to watch the giant, wary for any sudden movements.
"You are awake," the mech finally rumbled. "I am surprised that you are up first."
Nitro quirked an optic ridge. "That is all you have to say?"
"No. But it is pointless to say more until he is also back with us," was the reply, with a tilt of the helm in gesture to the motionless red and black warrior on the ground.
Even Nitro couldn't argue that logic.
"Fine," he hissed.
Meanwhile, the pair of siblings had been alerted to Nitro's status by their conversation.
The two doorwingers had wandered off a ways from the circle of light provided by the fire. To talk privately, Nitro guessed from their hushed tones.
Now, they were making their way back, watching him carefully.
Nitro returned the look with a slight smirk. They were likely wondering what he would do. If he would take them down again.
Taser gave him a dirty look and kept walking, finding a spot to sit near the giant.
Dagger followed suit, keeping an optic an everyone present.
Internally, and disliking his own curiosity, Nitro wondered if the pair were rethinking their alliance.
Not that he really cared about what they did with themselves.
He'd long since had enough of them.
Nitro held back a sigh. Just thinking about the possibility of having to endure more of being stuck with them was giving him a helmache.
Or rather, increasing the one he already had.
He shook his helm. He'd be surprised if he didn't suffer processor trauma from that hit he'd taken.
Though, the mechling had to admit, had been a fairly decent counter maneuver on the giant's part.
Next time, if there was to be another fight, Nitro would keep an optic out for unexpected moves like it.
He wouldn't be bashed helm first into the ground ever again if he could help it.
"Live and learn," he thought dryly. "If you don't offline from it, make sure you don't make the same mistake twice."
As Razordrift had said once, "Mistakes can get you offlined. Don't make them. If you do and survive, never make the same one again. In this world, no one is that lucky."
Roadrage came to not long after Nitro had.
The broad mech sat up, his attention immediately zeroing in on the giant triplechanger, optics narrowing to slits.
"Obviously, you do not take no for an answer," came the low grumble as the red and black lifted a hand to his helm.
"I do not," the giant said in a deep rumble. "And neither does my employer."
"As I believe I made clear before. I don't really care."
"Do you wish for me to knock you out again and drag you the rest of the way?"
Nitro observed silently as the two adult mechs glared each other down.
Taser decided to voice her opinion then.
"I think ya should just agree an' come with us," she said, crossing her servos. "It'd be easier for us and less painful for ya two."
Her brother gave her a look while Nitro bristled.
"There's no us," said the triplechanger without turning his helm. "You listen to me. I bring you to Swindle, you do what you're told."
"Swindle," Nitro repeated the name internally. "That designation sounds familiar."
It certainly didn't sound like the designation of someone you wanted to work for.
Roadrage spoke again. "What does this Swindle character want with us?"
"I told you," the triplechanger said. "For your skills. He's forming an organization that will find them useful."
"Why do you need us specifically?" Nitro asked, arching an optic ridge. "Kaon and the surrounding regions are full of mecha with similar, if not even better skill."
"I have decided on bringing you two already," came the grunted reply. "You two will do. I am certain your place is guaranteed."
"What if we do not want the opportunity you're offering?" growled Roadrage.
The triplechanger then turned and looked him in the optic. Tone flat, dead serious, he answered, "Then I will kill you."
Nitro's optics flitted to Roadrage momentarily before going back to the hulking mech across the fire.
The fifteen-vorn-old knew the giant spoke truth.
And that he could fulfill his promise if prompted.
Roadrage was silent for several kliks, staring at the mech, undoubtedly considering what to do.
Nitro on his part, was doing the same thing.
"I rather like living," he thought. "But is going back to something that might be almost the same as what I just left really living?
"It certainly wouldn't be freedom."
But was he really living now? Or just surviving.
"I'd like a moment to speak to Nitro. Alone," Roadrage said, getting to his pedes and walking away from the circle.
None of the three mecha across the fire offered any complaints.
Following the mech out into the dark, Nitro wondered what to do.
Hopefully, Roadrage had come up with a good solution.
Preferably, one that didn't include them joining or offlining.
Once out of hearing range, Roadrage turned to address the younger mecha following him.
The one who'd, perhaps foolishly, followed him all the way from Slaughter City.
"I think you know as well as I do what we have to do to remain alive."
Nitro's spark sunk. He nodded, faceplate remaining stoic as normal.
Roadrage took that as a sign to continue. He glanced towards the circle of light in the near distance, the fire reflecting the anger in his optics.
"The brute will expect a fight if we refuse. And he will more than be able to deliver."
"You don't think we have a chance..." Nitro asked, trailing off, already knowing the answer.
The red and black shook his helm briskly. "Not while he expects it. You seen how quickly he took us down earlier.
"And then, offlining wasn't his intention."
Nitro looked towards the triplechanger watching them from afar.
The mechling knew Roadrage was right. Trying to fight their way out would be asking for death.
"Do you think we could try and run for it?"
Roadrage let out a scoffing sound. "We could. But he would follow. Even if we both lost him, I have a feeling if he managed to track us down out here, he'd find us again."
"He's not that fast," protested Nitro. "We could outrun him, go north for awhile. He wouldn't expect that."
"You might be able to," Roadrage said, tone neutral. "But like I said, he obviously didn't have much to go on before to find us."
The mech paused, then added, "And if I'm right in guessing, even if this one can't find us, the mech he works for will have others that can."
"Who is Swindle? The designation sounds familiar."
"That's because Savage has worked with him before. He's a noble that deals on both sides of the tracks so to speak. From legal to illegal, the mech has his digits in everything."
Nitro turned away, gazing at the starry horizon.
"I don't want to be caught up between the politics and problems of nobles again, Roadrage," he said quietly. "Not again."
The black and red mech frowned, waiting for the mechling to continue, knowing he had more to say.
"We just got away from that," Nitro whispered, still keeping his helm turned away. "And if this Swindle's like what you say..."
"It's their world, Nitro," Roadrage replied lowly. "We have to play their games."
"But what if Razordrift was right in suspecting that some will soon try and make it their world instead? You heard what mecha were saying in Kaon. How does that affect this?"
"That depends, Nitro."
Nitro glanced over his shoulder, furrowing his optic ridges.
Roadrage was looking at him, his mouth set in a grimmer line than normal.
"If I'm correct in thinking, Swindle and Savage both know about the gladiator and his followers. Maybe they're involved.
"Change will come. It's been coming for some time now, whether we like it or not. The age of the upper class is crumbling beneath them. Most will remain unaware until it's too late because they cannot bear to lower their raised helms long enough to see."
Turning, Nitro tilted his helm. "What are you saying?"
Roadrage shook his helm slightly. "Optics look to bring down the higher castes, not to those like us. We have a choice. Either join the resistance, or watch the destruction.
"What kind of mecha are you? Are you the sort of mecha that wants to make the world yours? Or will you watch from the shadows?"
Nitro looked away. "I just want to be left alone," he thought.
"We might not have to choose now, but there will be an orn when we do," continued Roadrage, knowing he wouldn't get an answer. "But for right now, if we want to survive, we must at least play along."
"Join now, escape later?"
"If possible, yes. That is, at least, my plan."
With that, Roadrage turned and lumbered away, back towards the firelit circle.
Nitro stood where he was for several kliks and watched him.
Deep down, he knew the mech was right. There was no other real option.
And change was coming. Big changes.
The two-wheeler preferred to stay out of it all, but if Roadrage was right in his hinting, the change would be widespread and nonexclusive.
It would be wise to see what this Swindle knew if he was involved in it. Or at least see what he'd heard from whatever network he was in.
And if they joined, they could have a better chance of escape later when the triplechanger didn't expect it.
So, with a heavy spark, Nitro trudged after Roadrage. He would follow the mech into this.
Even if it felt like he was walking into a cage as he stepped pede into the circle of firelight.
Roadrage had waited for him to join to speak his answer and gave him a side glance from where he stood next to him.
Feeling all optics on him, Nitro gave a barely perceptible nod.
Returning it, Roadrage then turned to meet the triplechanger's gaze. Hostile optics met as the mech spoke.
"We will join you."
"Very good," replied the giant with a curt nod.
It felt to Nitro as if they'd just slammed the cell door closed and locked it.
He gazed into the fire, hands relaxing at his sides from the fists they'd been clenched in since he'd woken.
The mechling hoped they wouldn't be staying long.
The next orn, as soon the sun rose above the horizon, the five mecha moved on, led by the giant triplechanger.
Nitro and Roadrage brought up the rear, while the two siblings followed directly behind the heavily armoured tank.
It was slow going.
Thundercloud, as the mech revealed his designation to be, was not as fast in his ground alt as his flying one.
Nitro had doubts that he could catch any of his four collected mecha if they decided to run.
Definitely not him as he was quicker than even the sports car alt siblings.
But what was agreed upon was agreed upon.
For now at least.
The young two-wheeler was determined to keep watch for a good opening to escape.
"So, how old are you anyways, Nitro? I never asked," inquired Taser from in front of him, trying to make conversation with someone besides her brother who was tuning her out currently.
"What's it to you," Nitro shot back, irritated at his situation and pretty much everyone and everything around him.
"I just wondered," replied the femmeling, ignoring or oblivious to his tone. "I know yer about me and Dagger's age. I'm still trying to guess if you're older or younger than either of us."
"He could be the same age as one of us," noted Dagger, revealing he was listening.
"Oh yeah," Taser said thoughtfully. "So, are ya sixteen or seventeen vorns?"
"No," Nitro clipped.
"Older?"
"No."
"Younger?"
"Yes."
"Huh, that's actually not what I was guessing," Taser said in surprise. "I mean, ya are a two-wheeler, so I guessed ya were just really short. For yer age I mean."
Dagger inquired hesitantly, "How- How much younger?"
Nitro, though confused by the other mechling's uncertainty, answered anyways, not knowing why it mattered.
"I'm fifteen."
Dagger didn't reply.
"Huh, how long have ya been on yer own? I mean, without yer creators," Taser asked, both for herself and her brother.
"Since they offlined."
"When was that?"
"Taser!" Dagger hissed.
Nitro sighed and snapped, "Long enough ago. Why don't you mind your own business."
"Enough chatter," Thundercloud suddenly spoke, diverting from their initial direction they'd been traveling.
His partially unhappy-to-be-present group followed him along until he came to a stop at the crest of a shallow valley.
"We're here," the triplechanger said. He then transformed and lumbered down the sandy hill.
The rest transformed and stood gathered at the top, looking around.
"Where's here?" Taser asked.
"How the pit should I know?" Dagger grumbled, watching the triplechanger wander around below them.
"Maybe I wasn't talking to ya," snapped back Taser. With a roll of her optics, she started down the hill. "If you mechs are gonna all be a bunch o' wusses, I guess I'll go first."
Dagger sighed, and with a roll of his optics, followed his younger sister.
Nitro moved his attention from the siblings and scanned the horizon.
He soon saw what Roadrage had been already watching.
"We have incoming company," the warrior grunted, noting that the approaching dust cloud had caught the two-wheeler's attention.
Turning his helm towards the trio in the valley, Roadrage yelled, "You expecting anyone else, Big Pede?"
Thundercloud glanced up at the pair still standing on the higher ground. "Yes. There should be two of them. I suggest you join us down here."
Exchanging a look, Roadrage and Nitro then began their descent, the latter sliding down on his pedes.
"Who are the two mecha coming?" asked Taser, standing on the tip of her pedes, trying to see over the crest of the hill.
"Two mechs that may join us," the giant replied, patiently awaiting their arrival with his servos folded.
"May?" inquired Dagger, arching an optic ridge. His red optics momentarily flicked towards the two newest members. "They get a choice?"
"No. They either will prove themselves and accompany, or not."
Nitro frowned.
This sounded a lot like Thundercloud was going to beat them up like he had Roadrage and him.
Soon enough, the dust clouds appeared in their vision, and shortly after that, two heavily armoured ground vehicles crested the hill and stopped.
Nitro watched as the pair both transformed and turned their gaze towards the five mecha in the valley.
The first mech was coloured a dull grey and black with heavy scarring on one shoulder. He was roughly the same height as Roadrage, but a bit broader and more muscular. An angry scowl seemed to be permanently etched on his faceplate and beady, red optics peered down at them from under lowered optic ridges.
The second mech was, like his companion, an unfriendly looking sort. He was broader and taller still, roughly thirty feet. Coloured dark blue and green, his colouring made him stand out against the landscape unlike his companion who blended in much better.
"Greetings," bellowed Thundercloud. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming."
"We just got here," Taser whispered to her brother, low enough that Thundercloud probably couldn't hear, but still loud enough that Roadrage and Nitro could.
"Probably tryin' ta intimidate them," replied Dagger lowly.
The grey and black mech spoke then, slowly stomping down the hill. "I think your chronometer must be off. We're here when you said you wanted us here."
The blue and green mech followed him and soon both newcomers were on the same ground level as the rest.
The two groups eyed each other warily.
Roadrage leaned down towards Nitro. "Miners," he whispered, a deep frown on his faceplate. "I wonder where Big Pede found them."
"Or busted them out of," replied Nitro.
"From the looks of them, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if they've managed to escape."
"Agreed."
"We've already spoken about your possible involvement in this organization. Are you ready to prove yourselves?" Thundercloud asked, taking a step forward.
Wordlessly, the two mechs nodded.
"Very well. Decide on one weapon to use each. This valley is your fighting ring."
The grey and black mech's scowl turned to a look of confusion. He jerked a digit in his companion's direction. "You want me to fight Ransack again?"
The blue and green took a step away from the other mech, a dark smirk on his faceplate.
"No." Thundercloud shook his helm. "You'll be fighting as a team this time."
"Are we fighting you then?" challenged the grey and black.
Thundercloud stepped to the side, gesturing to the others.
"No. You will be fighting Roadrage."
"Just Roadrage?" Taser asked, optic ridges raising high on her forehelm. "Not Roadrage and Nitro?"
"No."
Nitro glanced between Roadrage, Thundercloud, and the two newcomers.
This was strange.
The two-wheeler had a niggling feeling in the back of his processor that this could turn out badly.
"Let's get this over with," grumbled Roadrage, walking away to stand near the center of the valley. "What're your rules, Big Pede."
"It's Thundercloud," growled the triplechanger. "And the rules are, you get one weapon and the fight is to yield. Do not offline your opponent or opponents."
The grey and black stalked towards the center of the valley, a dark grin on his faceplate as he pulled a battle axe from it's sheath on his back. The edge of the wicked looking blade gleamed in the sunlight.
"This is going to be fun," he chuckled, eyeing his opponent.
The other mech, Ransack, followed behind him, brandishing a large war hammer. He grinned, optics glinting.
"You bet, Crusher. Two on one? This is gonna end quick."
Thundercloud turned and gestured towards the three younglings. "You three go back up on the hill and watch from up there."
The siblings quickly took off without argument, while Nitro lingered behind, looking towards Roadrage.
"What're you waiting around for?" Thundercloud demanded.
"Why are you putting Roadrage against both of them by himself?" Nitro asked. "Why not both of us?"
"Because. I don't need you getting squashed. Besides. I don't need to test you. I already know you can't take someone bigger than you out without crawling up their back."
Biting back a retort, the mechling glanced towards Roadrage. The warrior gave him a nod, tilting his helm towards where the two siblings were up on the hill.
Nitro grimly nodded back and sprinted up the side of the valley.
He had no doubt that Roadrage could hold his own.
But he still felt that he should be helping.
And Thundercloud apparently thought he was like the siblings.
Useless and untrained.
Nitro was undecided whether or not he felt the need to prove himself to the giant.
It was more towards the not.
Roadrage stood steady, not taking his optics off of his opponents. Thundercloud backed away from the makeshift ring, pausing only when he was halfway up the slope.
"BEGIN!" he roared.
Thundercloud belongs to my brother, Blaster 2.0, and everybody else here are my oc's. (Except Swindle) Yeah, if you haven't guessed yet, this story is mostly oc's...
Thanks so much reading!
