Epilogue
Almost six vorns later.
"Do not return."
Those had been Roadrage's orders. Nitro would obey.
He had a sinking feeling in his tank that there was probably no one to return to.
The twenty-one-vorn-old stood from his crouch and turned away from the edge of the roof.
Arson glanced over his shoulder, furrowing his optic ridges as he watched Nitro walk away. "Where are you going?"
Nitro paused, but he didn't turn to face them. He was silent for several astrokliks, glaring off into the dark horizon.
"You're not going to look for them, are you?" Wingnut asked slowly, his expression sober. He started to get up too, ready to follow if the affirmative was given.
Arson twitched his wings but stayed where he was.
"No," came the quiet reply finally.
"Then where?" prodded Wingnut. "We're in a good spot to watch for anyone coming. And, didn't Roadrage tell us not to come back?"
"No one's coming, Wingnut," Nitro replied, barely above a whisper.
The seeker stared at the two-wheeler's back, his optics wide as realization set in.
"It's been too long," continued Nitro, turning his helm to look at them.
Sorrow was in his red optics.
"They're all dead."
Wingnut slowly sat back down, optics flicking to the ground as his wings sagged. Arson looked away to the ground far below them, his wings copying Wingnut's.
"All of them?" questioned the older seeker hoarsely.
Arson shook his helm. "They might not be all dead. But Nitro's right. They're not coming. We're on our own."
Nitro's shoulders sagged further, someone else saying it making it all that much more real.
The other Gauntlet members were probably dead or dying. They may be all that was left.
If someone had escaped, they would have made it to the regrouping location by now. Even if injured. It had been too long.
They were on their own.
"What do we do now?" whispered Wingnut, lifting his helm to meet his companions' optics in turn.
Neither had an answer.
Thunder rolled in the distance.
"We should find shelter," Arson said lowly, standing and glancing towards the gathering storm clouds. "We can figure out what to do after the rain passes."
The other two wordlessly agreed and followed him. The trio made their way down from their perch on top of the building and down several alleys and streets. Finally, they found a suitable place to wait out the storm.
All three found a corner in the abandoned store to try and get some recharge, all confident that there was no need to designate someone for first watch.
No one would be wandering about in the incoming storm way out here in the outskirts of the city.
And none of them would actually be recharging.
"I'm leaving Polyhex."
The seekers glanced at each other, then back at the two-wheeler. In all the vorns they'd know him, he was rarely the first one to speak in the early orn.
Out of the three present, Wingnut definitely should have been the one to break the offcycle's silence.
But not only had Nitro spoken first, it seemed he'd made a decision first.
"Where will you go?" asked Arson quietly.
The two-wheeler, youngest of the remaining gang members, kept staring out the broken shop window at the still gathered glowing puddles from the offcycle's rainfall.
"I'm not sure."
"You're surely not going to head anywhere north, right?"
"Obviously not. I'm not joining either faction."
"The war is everywhere," Wingnut piped up. He then scratched his helm with a claw. "Or, mostly everywhere. Do you have an idea of where we could avoid it?"
Nitro was silent.
Arson's wings sagged as he realized something. Wingnut noticed and jerked his helm back and forth, looking between his two friends, his optic ridges furrowed.
"You don't mean to stick together, do you," Arson guessed, his tone flat.
Nitro sent them an apologetic look over his shoulder.
Wingnut's whole frame slumped. "Why not?"
"You two can make it together better than with me." The two-wheeler turned to face them fully. "I don't know where I'm going, and you two might not be able to come with me. Or I might not be able to go with you."
"So, you're just going to wander aimlessly around until what?" challenged Arson, rising to his pedes. "You get jumped or something? One of the factions finds you and thinks you're a spy?"
"No."
"Then what?"
Nitro looked away. "I don't know. But I'm leaving Polyhex. I'm taking my freedom and running with it this time."
The seekers glanced at each other, guessing what he meant.
"I hope you two make it," Nitro said. He paused, trying to find the words he was looking for. "And I hope you know how much I value your friendship. Maybe we'll meet again some orn."
"And I yours," Arson replied soberly. He strode forward and clasped servos with his friend. "Till we meet again, Nitro. I will miss you."
Wingnut rushed over and picked them both up in a hug. "I'll miss you, too!"
"Okay, Wingnut," Arson squawked with a grimace as his wings were being squeezed. "That's enough now!"
Nitro managed to squirm his way out of the seeker's grasp and brushed himself off.
He nodded once more to the pair, who were now both again standing on the floor.
"Farewell. I wish you the best."
Before they could reply, he'd jumped through the broken window, transformed, and roared off down the street.
Wingnut slowly lowered his hand he'd intended to wave and turned to Arson.
"Now what?"
The younger seeker merely shrugged and walked out of the shop.
Nitro had driven a great distance that orn and now was taking part of the offcycle to rest before continuing his journey.
He still wasn't sure where he was going.
He didn't want to go near where there was a lot of mecha, or to the Rust Sea where he knew bandits and smugglers hid throughout the wasteland.
Nitro had wanted out of Gauntlet for a long time, from the very beginning when he was forced to join. Before that, he'd just escaped Savage's crime syndicate in Slaughter City.
His life had been chains as long as he could remember. He was done. He didn't need anyone and he wasn't joining anyone.
Now, Nitro was letting it go. Like another, one he might even consider a friend, had left.
Next time, if there was a next time, Nitro would die before he joined someone in something against his will.
He would miss some of the mecha that had belonged to Gauntlet. And he regretted what had very likely happened to them. But he knew that there was nothing for him there to go back to. And even if there was, he didn't want to anyways.
He also regretted leaving his remaining two comrades, but he'd known that it was for the best. At least for now.
Nitro was free from gangs and hate that came with it. Free from Slaughter City and Polyhex and all the problems and strife that had come with them. Free from doing things he'd rather not if he had the choice. Free to do what he wanted and go where he pleased without being possibly killed by a superior for it if they didn't like it.
He was a free mech now, and this time, he would stay that way.
His hands were no longer tied.
Nitro looked up at the stars.
Gazing up at the offcycle sky, a small grin spread across Nitro's faceplate. A sad, but genuine one.
"This is what freedom is. Real freedom."
The End.
Nitro will return.
Story credit song: Only Be A Story - Icon For Hire
I want to thank you all so much for reading this story! It has been fun to write, even if it's taken me ages to complete. Thanks for sticking with me, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! See you in another one.
