Never Was
Disclaimer: A bizarre idea that came to me shortly after I watched the new Transformers Animated episode on Saturday on March 13th. I'm not so sure if it is a... "realistic idea", to begin with, but I will make it as "real" as I possibly can. This idea was bugging me so much, I had to put it down. So if you feel this isn't the best, you can tell me. It won't hurt my feelings, honest. This fic takes place before the events of Animated.
"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before."
-Edgar Allan Poe
"The utmost extent of man's knowledge, is to know that he knows nothing."
-Joseph Addison
By: VampireQueenAkasha
"Your reasoning is highly illogical."
-Shockwave, G1 Episode
Chapter One: Unwanted Comrades
Unknown Planet
Cold.
Red Alert felt nothing but cold, and...wet?
With a soft mumble, her optics lit up and she focused them all around her. Her scans picked up images of trees and earth. Red Alert quickly sat up and glanced down. She had been lying in a small river bank. This was obviously an organic planet. The warp gate must have warped them here.
But where was here?
Red Alert spotted Shockwave and Hot Shot lying in the ground; Shockwave's body lying on his side and Hot Shot resting against a tree stump. Red Alert cautiously crept up to Shockwave and tapped his body with one foot. Had the warp shorted his circuits out?
Suddenly, Shockwave's long, clawed hand shot up and seized her ankle. Red Alert gave a startled cry and wrenched from him, just as he jumped to his feet, hand reaching for a hand gun in his back. She mimicked the move and both stood, guns leveled at each other. They circled each other, daring one or the other to make a move.
"Make a move, Autobot." Shockwave challenged.
Red Alert tensed, ready to open fire if she had to. Then, her optics fell to Shockwave's left leg. It was sparking slightly, several wires jutting out of a damaged joint. His arm also seemed to have suffered the same damage as well. But it didn't seem to bother him.
Hot Shot groaned and lifted his head, optics flickering to life. "Whoa, that was one slag of a ride..." he muttered, "Where are we any-" He cut himself off in mid - sentence and cried out, seeing the situation and jumping to his feet, leveling his torch at Shockwave's head.
Red Alert scowled for several moments more before raising her hands. "Okay, wait a minute," she said, "Let's be nice to each other, children. This is not going to get us anywhere."
"No, but it will make me feel better!" Hot Shot snapped.
Shockwave leered down at him. "Likewise, Auto-trash!" he shot back.
Red Alert lowered her weapon and tried to maintain a semblance of order. "Both of you, just stop it for a minute!" she snapped. When they looked at her, she calmed herself somewhat. "Now, we have to get ourselves in order because now is not the time to be tearing each other apart." She gestured around her to the strange planet. "Look."
The two glanced up and gazed at their surroundings. "Whoa...where are we?" Hot Shot asked.
Shockwave held up his wrist and a small panel opened, revealing a digital map of the planet and its proper coordinates. "According to my scanners, this planet is no where listed on Cybertron's records. Nothing exists of it." he murmured.
"So...you mean we're totally lost?" Hot Shot cried.
"It...would appear so." Shockwave replied.
Red Alert nodded once, attempting to keep the peace. "Well, if we are lost out here, then there is a good chance that we will not be found for some time," she said, "So I think it's probably best if we learn to get along while we're here."
"Not possible." Shockwave simply stated.
"That is absolutely not gonna happen," Hot Shot said, gesturing to Shockwave, "Not with ol' One Eye lurkin' around."
Red Alert sighed heavily in frustration. She was no fool. She knew perfectly well that Shockwave was not a Decepticon to trust. But at the same instant, she knew that even the most stoic, such as Shockwave, feared being lost...alone. So he would not make a move and risk dying out here by himself. She was determined to restore order with them.
"Not a single one of us like each other, that's obvious," Red Alert said, "But I think that maybe, considering the circumstance, it would be best for the three of us to work together." She gestured to them both. "Now why don't you two shake hands?"
Shockwave and Hot Shot glanced down at each other and Hot Shot made a face before eventually offering his good hand. Shockwave made no move. He simply glanced at Red Alert.
"While I agree that the situation calls for our teamwork, I will simply not shake this fool's hand." he said, simply.
Hot Shot scowled angrily. "See?" he snapped, "He's going to find any reason to start a fight with me!"
Shockwave leered down at him. "I, unlike most Decepticons do not seek a way to cause trouble for any reason at all," he said, almost menacingly, "Nor do I make idle threats. I make promises that I have every intention of keeping."
Hot Shot looked over at Red Alert. "Red Alert! Don't you see? He's trying to trick us! We let him go he'll throttle us in our sleep!"
Red Alert shook her head. "Hot Shot..."
"I'm sorry, I can't do it, Red Alert. I won't wait around for him to kill us." Hot Shot told her, determined, his torch at the ready.
Red Alert frowned. "I'm not sending him away to die out there alone." she said, sternly. "So how are we going to solve this?"
Much later, the night had settled in on the strange, vegetative planet. Red Alert had built a fire and Shockwave was sitting beneath a jagged incline, body wrapped up tightly in wires. He sighed heavily and shook his head with disdain.
"Either this is the most paranoid act that I have ever seen, or it is the most cowardly..." he muttered, apparently disgusted.
Red Alert shook her head. "I'm sorry, but Hot Shot is so unreasonable right now. I suppose it's the fact he is without an arm at the moment." she replied.
Shockwave ignored her.
Hot Shot moved up to the campsite, groaning heavily. He was dragging a large part of a branch. "Phew. I'm wiped out." he mumbled.
"You didn't even do anything." Red Alert laughed.
Hot Shot smiled. "Exactly!"
"Silly little thing," Shockwave murmured, "That small foliage organic branch will not serve as a proper shelter for you."
"Bolt it!" Hot Shot snapped. He stoop up and smiled. "Besides, it's only just the start of my plan. With my highly upgraded processor, I shall create the best shelter out of this stick."
"Fascinating..." Shockwave sounded unimpressed.
Hot Shot smirked arrogantly at the Decepticon. "We shall truly see if brains triumph over brawn tonight, now won't we?"
Much later that evening, Hot Shot was seen struggling to tie down the branch pieces with vine. He grunted in frustration and a single branch piece fell right on his head. Shockwave watched this and Red Alert was sound asleep.
"Keep trying, Autobot, I'm sure you'll get it." he said, a hint of mockery in his voice.
Hot Shot glared back at him. "Shut it!" he growled, storming over to Shockwave, leveling his finger in the Decepticon's face. "You shut up right now. You say one more word, just one more! I'll burn off your legs and leave you to die, got me?"
Shockwave's camera optic flickered once. "Never look into the optics of someone you want to kill, they will haunt you forever. Believe me, foolish one, I know."
Hot Shot scowled angrily down at him. He was not going to take his optics off of that Decepticon for an instant. He sat down against a rock and pointed at Shockwave, determined.
"I'll be watching you, Decepti-scum." he said, menacingly. "All night. I can go seven cycles without any kind of recharge at all."
"I can go seven Solar Cycles." Shockwave countered.
Hot Shot glowered at him, his arms folding across his chest. "We will just see who falls asleep first." He made gestured to his own optics, and then to Shockwave, indicating a serious "I'm keeping my eyes on you" gesture to him.
Several hours passed, each mech staring each other down. Shockwave's single optic never once blinked, while Hot Shot occasionally did, blinking sleep away. He felt his systems slowly shutting down. He needed sleep, but he was fighting it.
Shockwave just sat there, emotionless and wide awake. His single eye glowed in the dark.
Finally, with what seemed like forever, Shockwave was sound asleep. Hot Shot smiled, triumphantly before he leaned back, continuing to stay awake for as long as he needed to.
Meanwhile
Onboard Megatron's Decepticon warship, he received the current status from Starscream and Strika. Currently, the situation was rather bleak for all Decepticon kind. The Autobots had the upper hand and their numbers were dwindling.
"Where is Shockwave?" Megatron demanded.
"We, uh, lost him..." Starscream said, a little uneasily. "He disappeared into a warp gate."
Megatron tightened his lips with a growl. "You lost my top Intel Officer?" He glanced up at the sound of Autobot ships closing in before he grabbed Starscream by the wing and yanked him close. "I want that Decepticon back, Starscream." he said, menacingly, ignoring Starscream's groans of pain.
"I-I'll find him!" Starscream stammered.
"You had better, unless you want me to seek out a replacement," Megatron snapped, forcefully releasing him. "We'll go up to the 8-LV quadrant. Meet us there. And he had better be alive. Can we trust you with that, Starscream?"
The Seeker growled in frustration and anger, rubbing his still sore wing. "Let's go." he groused, storming off in a huff.
O
Hot Shot mumbled and yawned, stretching. He glanced up, only to meet bright sun, smiling. "Ahh...what a nice nap..." he sighed. A shadow cast over him, while his optics dimmed and he furrowed his brow. "Dear Primus, what happened to the sun?" He looked up and cried out.
Shockwave was glancing down at him. "Sleep well?" he asked.
"He-You-!" Hot Shot cried, jumping up. "How'd you get out?"
"I set him free." Red Alert walked up. "We need all the help that we can get, Hot Shot. We can't afford to be holding onto grudges right now."
Hot Shot stared at her in disbelief. "Are you nuts?"
"No, I'm realistic." Red Alert replied. She took Hot Shot aside and he stared at her in protest.
"You're not actually gonna trust this guy, are ya'?" he asked.
"Of course I'm not going to trust him." she told him, voice barely above a whisper, "I'm keeping my eye on him for now. But as long as he doesn't make a move, we don't have to. We just keep our eyes open, that's all we can do at this moment."
Hot Shot seemed to understand and nodded once, annoyed. "Fine, I'll give the guy a shot. But that's the only one he gets."
"Alright." Red Alert replied, a bit more than relieved. "I'm glad we took care of that." She turned to Shockwave. "Now, this planet may have some way for us to contact our factions, right?"
Shockwave glanced around the general area. As far as he could tell, the planet seemed almost too primitive to allow any kind of help on their part. Still, maybe, there was that chance there was something that would allow them to do what she was talking about.
"Perhaps a powerful energy source and some reasonable materials may allow for me to craft us a device that I could use to send out a signal to Cyberton headquarters." he answered, "Although the chances of that are extremely limited."
Red Alert shook her head. "We don't have much choice at the moment," she replied, "Sitting here won't get us off of this planet."
Hot Shot nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I guess..."
Red Alert smiled. "And we'll work together for the time being," she said, "Once we are back on Cybertron, it's back to our own factions, alright?"
The two nodded their heads in agreement. Even Shockwave was all for this plan. After all, he needed the two to serve him while he worked up a plan to get off of this planet. He didn't care for what happened to them afterwards.
O
Note-Thus the beginning well...begins! Ugh...even I found that to be in bad taste.