Man or Mech

by Lyra Harp

What do you get when you cross a seventeen year old wolf (Dria), a fifteen year old cybertronian (Cai), and a eighty year old woman who thinks she's twenty (Lillian)? A hot mess. Dria's stuck with a stick-in-the-mud and a paranoid human. She would rather be as high as a kite than deal with these idiots, but she has to since they share one body. Will these three ever get along?

4. Meet the Beast

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra or any of the songs. I got all of the transformers stuff off of TransWiki and the Egyptian God stuff off of Wikipedia...Basically, Wikipedia all around. Dria and Lillian are mine.

"The Bumblebee" = Smallest plane in the world

[Memories]

Thoughts

:Sound Clips:

::Comlink::

#History/Internal Dictionary#

:Music: = Radio Transmission (R#)

R1: Been to Hell by Hollywood Undead

R2: Dead Bite by Hollywood Undead

R3: Undead by Hollywood Undead

R4: I Don't Wanna Die by Hollywood Undead

R5: Colors of the Wind by Ashanti

R6: Bang Bang (My baby shot me down) by Nico Vega

R7: One of Us from the Lion King 2: Simba's Pride (Composed by Tom by Jack Feldman)

R8: Make it go away by Sheryl Crow

R9: Scimitar by Deathchain

R10: Shut up and Drive by Rihanna

R11: Where Has She Gone by The Checks

R12: Frenzy by Ke$ha

R13: Breaking The Law by Judas Priest

R14: Useless by Imogen Heap

R15: Fuck by Bring me the Horizon

R16: Don't Need No Help by Young Buck

R17: You Lie by The Band Perry

R18: Problem by Natalia Kills

R19: What The Hell by Avril Lavigne

R20: Pick Up The Phone by Falling in Reverse

R21: Telephone by Lady Gaga

R22: Who Says by Selena Gomez

R23: Pretty Girl Rock by Keri Hilson

R24: U Remind Me by Usher

R25: Work To Do by Isley Brothers

R26: Her Diamonds by Rob Thomas

R27: Crazy Bitch by Buckcherry

R28: It's Not Over by Daughtry

R29: Get Stoned by Hinder

R30: Hello Kitty by Avril Lavigne

R31: Dictator by The Clash

R32: Is That All You've Got For Me by The Donnas

R33: Before I Die by Papa Roach

R34: Kiss n' Tell by Ke$ha

R35: This is War by Thirty Seconds to Mars

~0~

Lillian thought that intelligence officers were supposed to be intelligent. It was in the title, never mind the job description. To Lillian Wescott, Soundwave wasn't intelligent. He was the dumbest dumb cybertronian she had ever met. Why? Because he made her attend to Shockwave's needs. He set her up to work with Shockwave 'on a temporary basis' to 'help heal the pain' and 'get over' the 'shocking discovery' that Prowl's past was filled with guns and roses. Ergo-her boss was a moron. She wanted to kill Shockwave, not work for him. Soundwave said it was a collaboration. A group effort. Soundwave obviously thought that she was a moron, too, because there was no way in hell that Shockwave considered what they had a 'collaboration.' She was the slave in the Shockwave-dominatrix scenario. He was a dominatrix, plain and simple. Or a sadist. Why else would he be assigned to all torture, interrogation, and scientist roles?

She heard that Starscream was ticked at being demoted to being just the military specialist. That was the only good news...Oh wait, Starscream was the one with the red energon supply. In short, he controlled her future...Damn. Maybe she was a moron.

She was foolish to think for a moment that any good could come from living on the decepticon warship. The name, if anything else, should have tipped her off. The Nemesis. The only thing here were guns and the thorns from the roses. The autobots got those, naturally, because they were so sweet. Obviously none of these bone-heads had meet Ironhide. Or Ratchet. Or Jazz when he was really, really ticked off at someone.

No matter how she looked at it, none of that mattered. She was stuck with Shockwave until otherwise advised. And she listened. No emotion or sarcasm. She didn't pretend to know the basics-Ravage filled her in on whatever Shockwave was talking about. Transistors? Electrode? Particles? CNA? No one told Shockwave that Lillian hadn't finished basic biology, let alone chemistry or physics. The only thing she knew was that energon was combustible. Five years in a desert was plenty of time to figure that out.

Today, Shockwave had a different task for her. After nine months of slave-driving, Shockwave gave her the whip...More precisely, the energon-whip. To whip someone-something, she was told-into shape. Ravage was the one who kept her jaw off the floor when she saw that the decepticons had a frickin' dragon. In the words of Epps, 'why do the decepticons always get the good shit?!' It was true, too. The autobots got a scientist that blew stuff up that he wasn't supposed to, a weapons specialist that blew up everything in sight and a paranoid security director that couldn't look at a cup of coffee without thinking something was wrong with it.

She was beginning to see why the war had lasted for longer than Earth's existence. The only reason why the autobots were still alive were because of Jazz and Prowl-

Ravage scratched her with his tail. She focused. Shockwave was staring at her. "You are to tame this beast."

Her optics rotated. She looked at the 'beast.' In actuality, she thought the dragon was cute. Saying that would get her killed, though, so she decided to circle it to stall. The dragon tilted its head at her-

Cute.

-and hissed-

Not cute.

-when she finished circling him, as though saying, 'are you shocking me or not? I don't have all day!'

Well.

Well well.

Lillian narrowed her field of vision to the beast's optics. Aside from hissing, he wasn't doing anything wrong. Was this a test of her loyalty or her sanity? Decepticons weren't nice. But she thought that they would at least have the common sense to not tick off a dragon, especially when it was at least twice their size. Would she be reported to Megatron if she didn't-?

There. The beast's eyes moved from Shockwave to her. Checkmate.

She turned to Shockwave. "This is a set-up." It wasn't a question. She wasn't liking the fact that Shockwave's eye seemed to narrow at her, but Ravage kept her from running off the side of the ship to her death. She had seen Shockwave's lab enough times to know that she did not want to end up in it as his next experiment.

"Explain."

"The beast would be much more aggressive if it were not." She curled up the whip. "It has already been tamed by its creator." She threw the whip to Shockwave. "You."

"How did you deduce that I am the creator of this creature?"

"For one thing, you just called it a creature instead of a beast."

"Illogical. They have the same context."

"They are different. Same context aside-the beast looked to you for permission to rip my helm off."

::Spicy.:: Ravage said.

::Spicy will get me killed. I'm using logic.::

::First time for everything.::

"Your reasoning is logical."

::Does that mean I die or not?::

::It means you're on his list.::

::Something tells me that's not a list I want to be on.::

::It's not so bad. I'm on it.::

::That doesn't reassure me.::

::It's not supposed to. I'm being logical.::

::Hardy har har. You're hilarious.::

::So I'm told.::

"You are to report to Soundwave in 0300 hours. I no longer require your assistance." Shockwave left the 'roof' of the Nemesis without another word.

::What just happened?::

::We're free and alive. Who cares how it happened?:: Ravage detached from Lillian's chest. "See ya! Wouldn't want to be ya!"

"Wait-!" He looked back at her. "Where are you going?"

He snorted. "I have more important things to do than watch your lazy aft. Figure something out. You have three hours."

Lillian flinched when a shadow fell over her. She looked up at the dragon. She never thought that she would see the day when she wanted to be close to Shockwave. "Uh..." She slowly backed away from the beast while holding up her servos. "It turns out that I have stuff to do, so-" She was about to bolt when the beast sat like a dog, lowered its head and grumbled at her.

Her optics cycled. She did not speak dragon, and she really didn't want to call Ravage to interpret. There were so many things that a growl could mean. It either meant 'get with the picture' or 'you're lunch.' If she were still optimistic, she would say that he was saying, 'Hi. I'm so-and-so. Want to go find me a chew toy-Starscream-so that I don't chew you out? Thank you very much.' Yeah, she didn't think so.

"I don't speak dragon," she said slowly. She really didn't know what else she was supposed to do-aside from blink when the dragon walked away from her a minute later. She blinked...and blinked again. Had the thing really just-?

The dragon turned its-his-head back to look at her as if to ask, 'are you coming or going?'

Going. Definitely going.

~0~

She was not freaking out. Lillian Wescott did not freak out...Who was she kidding? She was Red Alert 2.0. She was designed to freak out! It helped that this was the perfect time to panic.

The beast had lifted his paw-foot-pede whatever up into the air and touched her forehead with a digit-finger-claw. She didn't care what Ravage would say to her, it had glowed. It had glowed like in freaking Avatar: The Last Airbender. The only difference was that the dragon-Predaking-wasn't a turtle-city and Aang hadn't, to her knowledge, gone insane when he got his knowledge from his ancestors. That actually reminded her of Optimus and the Matrix a little-

Urg, focus! Lillian screamed at herself.

How could she? A robotic dragon that she had never met before had just touched her head-helm with a glowing finger-claw-digit, and basically told her its life story and history before she could process what was happening.

Logically, she should have followed Ravage's advice. 'We're free and alive. Who cares how it happened?' She did. She cared a whole bunch. She cared enough to try to ignore it for three hours in dream land.

~0~

Lillian should have known by now that going to dream land only made her more crazy. Her being crazy was the only logical explanation for a voice coming to life and telling her her life story. Not her like hers, but-Urg! Lillian sat in Soundwave's berth that he never used and went over the dream again...using terms from Soundwave's dictionary.

[A wolf pup was born along a red river. All things considered, the river was isolated. Even though it laid on the opposite side of the Mithric Sea, one had to travel over the Manganese Mountains to get to the river. Manganese Mountains were known for being haunted by vicious killers. A list of travelers to these mountains include Prowl-Exit description. The wolf pup lived a happy life along this river. The wolf population lived much like the Egyptians in the sense that they lived off the river. The river was their life, their god, and their way of staying connected to other packs. Since the packs lived in harmony, their only enemy were outsiders. Even though the location protected the wolf population for a period of time during the war for Cybertron, being near Slaughter City was their downfall. Prior to the war, Slaughter City was second only to Kaon as a site of illegal gladiatorial games. It was one of the early strongholds of Megatron's supporters before the war. During the war, the autobots controlled the region, making it extremely perilous for a Decepticon to stray within its boundaries. The pup had grown up to the brink of becoming an official hunter for her pack before their downfall.

A group of decepticons led by Deadlock traveled through the Manganese Mountains in an effort to invade Slaughter City in secret. Megatron singled an unknown mech out of the crowd, and asked him to join the Decepticons to fight for a better Cybertron. The mech agreed, and was renamed Deadlock by Megatron. Deadlock had a high-standing in the decepticon army. Megatron held Deadlock in high esteem. The last siting of Deadlock was after a battle on the planet Dabola. When the group ran into the pup's pack, Deadlock decided to blast his way through rather than go around. The pack was destroyed and thrown into the smelting pits. The Smelting Pool is a combined torture and recycling device used by the Decepticons to melt down their enemies. Harvester units constantly flew overhead depositing victims into the pool. The Smelting Pools were originally erected in the city state of Kaon. The pup jumped into the pits after her pack, preferring to die with them then to live without them.]

Granted, it wasn't the happiest story in the world. But that didn't mean that Lillian pitied the wolf enough to not tell it to shut up. The voice would not stop talking into her brain. It was all very disturbing. Perhaps she was just disturbed. Trauma did that, right? Right. It was logical that being transmitted to another species, figuring out that her alien boyfriend was brainwashed as a child, and meeting a dragon that pulled some majorly-screwed-up voodoo magic on her would...

She banged her helm once into her servo. She would have continued if her body suddenly wasn't being controlled like a puppet from the inside. She considered blood bending as a possibility.

::Stop inflicting damage on our frame. Insanity is normal. Get used to it.::

::Get used to it. Right. How?::

::Here's how it's going to work. You get days. I get nights. Deal?::

::Yeah, whatev-No! You are not taking over!::

::You sound like it will be the end of your precious little planet if I get a night online.::

::Will it?::

::Depends on whether I'm in a good mood or not.:: Lillian really wanted to bang her helm against the wall, but the voice still wouldn't let her. ::You're not insane. I'm here. Get used it. And stop referring to me as 'the voice.'::

Lillian sighed. ::You have a name, then?::

::No.::

She rolled her optics. ::Do you want me to assign you one?::

::As long as it's not lame.::

Lillian huffed as she stood up. ::Fine. You'll be Dria on this crazy decepticon ship. Now if-::

Whoa. Who turned off the-?

#Automatic system shutdown initiated

Reason: Rapid decrease in energy reserves

Solution: Refuel at the soonest opportunity#

Scrap.

~0~

At first, Knockout suggested that it was the altitude. Then he remembered that she wasn't human, and that she would only need to recalibrate her systems if she had lungs...which, to his knowledge, she didn't have.

So he suggested rest. Soundwave didn't like that suggestion. Neither did Megatron. The femme had only worked a mere four hours. What did she need rest for?

To cover his tracks, Knockout said she was suffering from a withdrawal of Speed. The way he said it suggested that Lillian had been on drugs for five years. This was not a rehabilitation center. This was hell and she was suffering.

:Welcome to a city that'll bring you to your knees

It'll make you beg for more, until you can't even breathe
Your blindfold is on tight, but you like what you see
You better grab a hold cuz now you know you're falling apart
You thought these streets were paved in gold but they're dirty and dark

You need to wake up and face it

So you can taste my reality

Now you're stuck in this place you hate

And you came here so happily

Then it made you lose your faith

And that's what fucked with your sanity

Say goodbye to your soul and hello to your vanity

The undead are your family

I'm the reason you came here

I'm the American Tragedy

Welcome to the world where dreams become nightmares!: (R1)

Lillian did not like Dria's dark sense of humor. While suffering, Lillian took the day shift...Or at least worked as long in the morning as she could before fainting. Soundwave lied to Megatron about how long she had been working. It wasn't until the moon came out that Dria worked. Soundwave liked her pace better than Lillian-not that he knew that the swap had ever occurred. Ravage was too blind to consider it. He only had an eye for Lillian. Any other extraterrestrial being living inside of her was otherwise ignored, even if it was a distant animal relative.

There was one who noticed the difference, however, and that was 'the harvester.' 'The harvester' had been Dria's suggestion. She suggested that if someone would bring her energon to her while working, she would get more work done, as she wouldn't be taking 'unnecessary' breaks, and possibly manage to stay online long enough to keep a halfway-decent pace. Megatron, to Knockout's, Starscream's, and Ravage's astonishment, agreed.

Megatron granted her access to 'the canal.' 'The canal' was the place where the human 'fugitives' were kept. Lillian didn't understand why they didn't just call them slaves. Dria argued that she would have been indignant, disturbed and angry regardless of their title. Since Dria had been the one to pick the slave, she had been given the option to give it a title, a designation and a gender. Hence, the harvester. Dria asked what gender it was just to annoy Lillian and 'it.' 'It' said female. 'It' was given the designation Asura and the title of 'harvester.' Dria also marked Asura with a collar as a clear warning to other vehicons and decepticons alike to 'keep their paws off' unless 'invited.' Lillian did not want to think about the implications of what Asura would be 'inviting.'

No one had to tell the decepticons twice regarding the 'paws off' law. The name Asura, which meant demon, was warning enough. There was also the fact that Dria liked to creep around as a wolf at night. She had scared half of the vehicons back into their quarters. Thanks to Predaking, none of the vehicons liked anything that remotely resembled an organic.

It took three months of the harvester facade for Megatron to snap. The frequent drinks only made Lillian and Dria crash more. It defied all logic.

Megatron told Knockout to 'work swiftly and efficiently' on a cure for 'the disability.' Dria took offense to her new title. Lillian was ticked and tired. Knockout was practically tottering on his pedes as he worked the fasted Lillian had ever seen him work. He barely had time to stutter out a 'shoot between the optics' before ushering them out. It was Rocca who told Dria and Lillian that they were being sent off to war, and that she wouldn't be waiting with a first aid kit on the sidelines.

~0~

That night had not been a pleasant one in Soundwave's quarters.

"Why can't I come with you?" Asura asked in arabic.

"You will die," Dria said.

"I can help."

"You can do nothing."

"I have skills," Asura argued. "You never let me do anything-"

"You do what I tell you to do. End of discussion."

::You are the worst:: Lillian said.

::She will die. How does me not letting her go make me 'the worst'?::

::It doesn't. The way you're saying it makes you the worst.::

::It doesn't matter how I say it. She's not going.::

::I'm not saying she's going. I'm saying you have terrible people skills.::

Dria growled. "Good night."

"Good night," Asura mumbled just as rudely.

The lights went off, but Lillian was still reeling. She transformed back to the mode that was more 'human' and sat beside Asura. "Sura-"

"Go away, Lali."

"I will not, Sura."

"What does it matter? You will not change her mind. You are weaker than her." Lillian stared at the human below her. She lifted her up. Asura struggled. "Let me go! I don't like you! Let me go-!"

"Sura," Lillian said harshly. "You are no asura."

Asura glared at Lillian. "What do you mean?"

"Asura means demon."

"I know that. Everyone calls me 'the little demon-'"

"Listen. Sura means new life." Asura blinked at Lillian, questioning why she should care. "You will live to see a new life."

Sura snorted. "No I won't. I was born a slave, and I will continue to be one forevermore."

"You do not have forever," Lillian pointed out. "Sura means life. You will live it."

"It has to mean more than 'new life.'"

"It means green leaf. It's the same thing-"

"It also means 'spirituous liquor,'" Ravage pipped up from Soundwave's berth. "Now agree, shut up, and go the frag to sleep. You're not the only one who's being forced into the warzone with your dumb blond aft."

"I'm not dumb or blond and-You know that's not getting you anywhere, right?" Lillian asked Asura. Asura was scratching at Lillian's digits with her fingernails. Lillian thought that Dria and Predaking, were they awake, would be proud that Asura was attempting to bite the metal off of her as though she were a chew toy.

Asura crossed her arms and sulked. "I do not like you."

"You've made that clear."

"Let me be miserable."

Lillian set her down next to Ravage. "Not in the job description."

"You're a terrible decepticon," Asura mumbled.

Lillian smiled as she watched Asura snuggle into Ravage, and Ravage wrap his tail around Asura. I know.

~0~

Lillian didn't go a day where she thought that war didn't suck. No one who ever lost a loved one-her uncle, dammit, why?-continued to think that war was okay. No one that she knew, anyway. Even though she knew she had saw, felt and talked to Mark in heaven, it still didn't make sense to her. Maybe she should have asked him why he joined. Then again...if she couldn't even remember whether she asked Sonya, her aunt, about it, what was the point in asking?

The point would be was that she was sitting on the front lines, staring at Jazz, who had been her 'alien robot jerk of a boyfriend' when she was human, in the optics, and all she could think about is whether Asura was doing okay in Soundwave's quarters. Maybe she should have asked Soundwave to watch her. She would have told the evil twins, Frenzy and Rumble, to do it, but Ravage said that she would end up broken after being 'ordered' to execute one of their many 'stupid pranks.' Lillian didn't think she would have been ordered around so easily by the evil twins. She only listened to Dria...Now that she was really analyzing the situation, she thought...even though it made her cringe on the inside...that it may have been a good idea to tie the girl to something. She knew from experience that humans were very resourceful and sneaky and...

Ravage growled from her chest cavity as she shifted. Her nerves were making her paranoid now. She almost wanted to call Soundwave, but-

"'Cuse meh, missy." Lillian looked up at Jazz who was standing five feet from her. It was Ravage who kept her from jumping him to the ground and kissing him. His voice was too good to her six years of nights with no Jazzy-hugs. Jazz placed a servo on his hip. "Do ya know where you are?"

Lillian looked around Jazz. Megatron and Optimus had stopped their pre-battle speeches and had initiated the fighting. Lillian counted Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Smokescreen, Optimus and Jazz. :This is war!: (R35)

"Uh huh." Jazz's tone was between amusement and deadpan, as though he was talking to a person with amnesia. "And do you know what happens in a warzone?"

:Tomorrow we'll rise so let's fight today.: (R3)

"Hmm." Jazz smiled. "You don't seem too keen on it."

:I'd rather rage than sit around and wait all day
Don't get me wrong, I just need some time to play: (R19)

"Uh huh." Jazz looked at her chest. "S'up, Ravage. Steel's cool, by the way. Says ya need ta come over more."

Ravage grumbled. "He always does."

Jazz looked up at Lillian. "Ya know..." He reached out to place a servo on her shoulder. Dria had her stepping back. Jazz pulled back. "Ravage is a neutral, too. Ya could, ya know...switch. Yer obviously new ta this. Prime would be cool with us chillin'. Have a drink. Talk things out. A little more, too, if yer cool with it."

Lillian's optics narrowed. She knew that Jazz was a player, but this was ridiculous. He was flirting with her in the middle of a battle! He hadn't even attempted to hurt her yet. While it was true that she didn't want him to hurt her...she was beginning to wonder if fragging was how the autobots made neutrals out of the decepticons. There was Soundwave and Blaster and Ravage and Steeljaw. Trading loyalty for a frag or several seemed a bit...weird. Then again, it wasn't like she was into fragging when she was human, either.

Lillian raised her scimitar blade, which Ravage had scanned from The Bumblebee plane for her, to Jazz's throat. She wasn't planning on actually hurting him, but she would have to play around eventually if she didn't want Megatron to kill her here and now for standing there like an idiot.

:What would you do if your life's on the line?

I've got something that'll blow your mind, mind

You know I got a grenade, and it's got your name on it: (R2)

::You mean a love grenade.:: Ravage snorted.

::Shut up. I'm trying to be threatening.::

::You're failing. Miserably.::

::Dria?:: Lillian asked.

::Finally.::

Dria smirked.

:People say I'm insane

Let me buy you a drink, how 'bout a roofy, gin and tonic?

See my smile, it was born from amphetamines

Better duck, 'cause it's war on my enemies.: (R2)

Jazz copied her smirk. "That mean your game, missy?"

:I know that we have never really met before

It's just me being intoxicated

'Cause being sober's so overrated

You gotta keep 'em fed, or the dead keep biting

You know that I'm the reason people lock their doors

But, I got nothing but time, so I'ma wait on the porch

But-but-but-there's a hole

Come and get a ticket, follow me to the creep show

Turn on your nightlight, cover up your head

'Cause we do exist, and there's no need to pretend

That you're not afraid of meeting the Undead

Red, red rum, when you look into these eyes

Buckle up

Everybody knows that we're the devil's heroes

Let the dead bite

Wrap a rope around your head and watch you as you take flight

Let the dead bite: (R2)

Jazz chuckled as he drew his blades. "Well, a'ight, missy. We'll play first."

Lillian quickly realized as she watched Dria and Jazz go at it that she would have been dead if she was the one fighting Jazz. He was faster than she expected with his frametype. And Dria...Well, at least now she knew why she would have been promoted to a hunter in her pack. She could kick Sunstreaker's aft if she wanted to. The way she moved was beautiful...and nothing she would have tried without puking. She would have never guessed that her body could move like Dria was contorting it. She wasn't kidding about the 'creep show.'

:I see you duck, you little punk, you little fucking disease

Fuck all haters I see, 'cause I hate that you breathe

He's down to brawl: (R3)

"You betta believe it, missy."

:You know, I don't give a fuck what you think or say

'Cause we'll rock this whole place anyway: (R3)

"Really? You know how to rock?"

Jazz was hurting Lillian's brain-processor. Only he would talk so casually while trying to cut someone's slagging helm off.

:Yeah, I'm a God motherfucker, and it's judgment day!

I'm getting used to this nuisance of bitches who bad mouth this music: (R3)

"I used ta rock befo'. Got any sweet kicks?"

:What the fuck you know about being a gangsta?

What the fuck you know about being in danger?

You ain't doing this, so you know you're just talking shit: (R3)

"I'm serious, missy. Look it up in The Records that 'Wavey keeps if ya don' believe meh."

:We're a pack of wolves

'Cause we don't follow the rules

And when you're running your mouth

Our razer blades come out: (R3)

"A'ight, I'll shut up if that's what ya really want." Dria ducked one of his swings. "There's just one thing..." Lillian rolled her eyes mentally. There was always 'one more thing' with him. "You fight like a ninja," Jazz said. "You ever heard o' Yoketron?"

:What the fuck?

Motherfuckers don't know what

You better watch what you say

I'm motherfuckin' drunk

What the fuck?: (R3)

"Hey, thought I'd try. I like yer moves." He liked her moves because Dria downloaded them from Lillian's memory from when Lillian, Jazz and Prowl used to spar.

::Bitches, we got problems.::

::Tell me about it. This devil doesn't completely suck.:: Dria said.

::Which one are you talking about?:: Lillian asked wearily, already having an idea.

::It rhymes with 'devil' and ends with 'corpse.'::

::Asura.:: Lillian grumbled. She logged into Ravage's systems and looked at what he was seeing. Asura was hiding, rather unsuccessfully, behind a bush made of twigs. ::I knew I should have tied her to Soundwave.::

::Soundwave would have killed you.:: Ravage said. ::What do you want me to do?::

She looked again, this time with her own optics. Sunstreaker was getting close to her.

"You a'ight, missy?"

:Why you always pressing?

You know I'm never stressing: (R3)

"I dunno. Ya look a little distracted now."

::Get Sunstreaker. If he steps on her I'm scratching his paint until he screams.::

::Will do, crazy cat lady.::

Ravage detached from Dria, yowling as he bounced off of Jazz, and raced toward Sunstreaker. Jazz grunted as Ravage jumped him. He also dropped to one knee, which is how he ended up seeing what Ravage, Dria and Lillian already knew.

Scrap, he thought.

::Prime, we got a human on the field.::

::Understood.::

:This wolf's old enough to run

You ain't hiding anymore

Another victim of the star spangled banner of the street

Now you're in the world of the wolves

And we welcome all you sheep: (R1)

Jazz looked at Dria. "You know her?"

:Hollywood is your friend, and the undead are your family: (R1)

"She yer slave?"

:Hollywood is your friend, and the undead are your family

The sheep fell

Rollin' down the boulevard, full of pimps and sharks

Grab a soul to sell

Been to hell

The sheep'll follow me into the night: (R1)

"You want her to live, then?"

:It's a motherfuckin' riot

We've been dying to start

The sheep can't even breathe

This wolf is falling apart

They're dirty and dark: (R1)

Jazz stared at her.

Lillian didn't notice. Ravage attacking Sunstreaker just made him get closer to Asura, who wasn't moving. Asura was too busy watching Dria fight Jazz to notice anything else.

:Motherfucking time to ride

See you duck when we drive by

You better get up out the way

That shits as worse as it gets

This verse is over

I quit: (R3)

Jazz let Dria go.

Dria raced across the field to Asura.

She never got there.

Because Jazz shot her down.

No one except Optimus, Ravage, and the good twins stopped what they were doing.

Dria looked over at Jazz.

Jazz nodded.

Dria walked over to Asura. She stood over her.

:When you look into my eyes I'll be the last thing you see

I look inside of myself and try to find someone else

Someone who's willin' to die as to watch you crying for help

Blood is getting hotter, body's getting colder

I told you once I'm the only one who holds her

So let heaven be told that some may come some may go

I know that blood will be spilled and if you won't then I will

I don't wanna die so you're gonna have to: (R4)

Lillian and Optimus screamed 'no' at the top of their non-existent lungs.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched as Dria tore into Asura's chest. Blood splattered everywhere. Dria licked up any blood she could around Asura's arteries.

:Words turn into blood and the blood keeps on pourin'

From every pour I wipe it off

I won't watch my baby cry so I keep on just goin'

Am I a man or a beast?

It's mother nature at least

Watch humanity cease 'cause it's our human disease: (R4)

Dria picked at Asura's eyes with her claws like she was stabbing an appetizer with a toothpick.

:I gotta pick up the pieces I gotta bury them deep

And when the dirt hits the coffin just go to sleep

Goodnight, sleep tight

Don't let the dead bite: (R2)

Sideswipe puked. Sunstreaker was frozen. Jazz stood up. Ravage inched closer to Dria.

"Ravage, leave her! I have no use for a beast who looses control over an organic."

Ravage hesitated as he watched Dria rip Asura's heart from her body, lifted her head to the crowd, and let them stare at the sight. It was a display. Dria was telling the autobots who was boss. In spite of his methods as a spy, he didn't approve. :Yes, my lord.:

The decepticons retreated through one of Soundwave's spacebridges.

Dria, complete with the ritual for the god that she had seen at the time of dying, ran off into the wilderness.

Jazz walked over to Asura, picked her up, and turned to his Prime. ::Sir?:: Optimus looked at him. ::The little lady needs a proper burial.::

Optimus nodded. He looked at his frozen troops. "Autobots-Return to base." Optimus transformed and drove toward base. Jazz was on his tail. It took the others a few minutes to catch up. The twins didn't come back to base until the next morning.

~0~

No one needs a dying person. So they ask the question: Why? Why is it important that we save this dying person? This person was in the way. This person wasn't a person. It was an object. It was in the way, and they got rid of it.

He got rid of it.

Jazz, the second in command of the autobots, who were supposed to be the good guys in all of this-this-this thing called war, got rid of Asura. He thought he was doing her a service, and maybe-maybe he was. Maybe it was better that Asura died on the battlefield, but Lillian couldn't see anything past: you monster. Murder, murder, murder.

Problem was, Lillian didn't know if Jazz was the murderer, or if she was. True, Dria was in control. But if she really wanted to, she told herself, she could have taken over. She could have taken over and saved her life, but she didn't, and there was no excuse she could give for that.

Would she really be saving her life, though? Or would she have made her live a life that wasn't worth suffering for? She couldn't have gotten Asura out to save her life, let alone hers.

There were so many scenarios after the fact. Lillian thought that she could have gotten her out beforehand-before the battle. No one would have noticed, just as no one noticed that a human was on the battlefield until-Until. Until the autobots decided that they must protect humans at any cost-and that it didn't matter why or how she was there. They would save her because that was what they did. The good autobots protected the neutral humans from the evil decepticons even if that meant killing them. At least, such was the way of a special operations commander in broad daylight.

Optimus Prime didn't see it that way. The way he screamed 'no' right before Dria ripped Asura's head off was reason enough. It would always be reason enough for Prime, because Prime didn't see things the way that Jazz did, or Prowl or Dria or Ravage or any of the rest of them. Prime never wanted to get the humans involved in their war, but it was inevitable. They were on their planet and, unless someone called Megatron said otherwise-

:You think you own whatever land you land on

The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim

You think the only people who are people

Are the people who look and think like you

You think I'm an ignorant savage, and you've been so many places, I guess it must be so

But still I cannot see if the savage one is me

How can there be so much that you don't know?

You don't know: (R5)

It was true. Lillian may have known Jazz, Prime, and Prowl for sixty years, but that didn't mean that she knew them. Lillian wasn't even a dot to them. She was an insignificant dot on their timeline. How would they remember her? They had a war to tend to. They had objects to kill and people to save. Lillian was just one in a field of many.

To her, what happened to Prowl as a sparkling was tragic. He had watched his carrier die right in front of him, and then been brainwashed by a scientist. But he was a commander-He was the second in command of the heroic autobots. He met Jazz, who was the third in command of the heroic autobots, and they had fallen in love. They worked together to make this place better. It had to be better. But-

:Bang, bang.:

-it-

:You shot me down:(R6)

-wasn't.

Lillian kept replaying that gunshot over and over until-Until. There was no 'until.' She heard the gunshot. She saw Jazz point the gun. She saw Jazz shoot the girl-human-object-decepticon slave that she was supposed to watch over and it wasn't alright. It would never be alright. And still she sat staring at Asura's-not her real name that wasn't her real name god what was it primus what have I done-heart in her servos. It was night. There was no wind to speak of. The moon was only half full, and Lillian was suddenly angry-very angry-at the moon.

What have you done?

Nothing. It was the moon. It didn't do anything.

She didn't do anything.

She let one of her own species die. She had done something.

:You are not one of us

You will never be one of us: (R7)

She wasn't human. Right. Lillian laughed outright. She wasn't human. Who was she kidding? She had no flesh or bones to break, tear or step on. She was metal. Cold steel. But she wasn't hard-Oh no. She was soft. She was softer than a human because she was weak and she had let it happen and if she really wanted to she could have but she didn't so stop whining and sobbing dammit that's not your job-

Her job. That's right. She had a job.

Lillian placed her servo to her audio, intending to connect with Soundwave. Work, she thought. She could distract her raging mind with work. Work was good. Work was-what Prowl did. Her servo slipped. She looked up at the moon. Her processor went off somewhere so lost to her that her frame felt numb.

Dria did not see the point of Lillian's processor-numbing rambling. She was the incarnation of Ammit, the server of Anubis. Someone was going to have to die eventually. Anubis didn't give life without taking a life in turn. Asura was her cosmic balance. She would have been cursed with the Karma of the Dead if she didn't judge someone's heart.

Lillian should have been glad that she didn't swallow the heart when she was in control. She even removed her eyes so Anubis would know to erase her memories of this life! She could start over now. What was Lillian whining about? Wasn't she the one preaching about the girl starting a new life? Did she not hear her when she told Asura's soul to sleep? At least she didn't throw it in the lake of fire. The smelting pits had not been kind to her in her past life. She did not wish restlessness on another who did not deserve it. That would be eternal hell.

She did wonder, however, if the reason that the cybertronians who were frozen on the battlefield did so because she was similar to something else that they feared. Ammit was known by many names. Her titles included: 'Devourer of the Dead', 'Eater of Hearts' and 'Soul-Eater.' According to Soundwave's records, there were 'unconfirmed' records of Sparkeaters. Their titles were 'Cybervores', 'Soul snatchers' and 'the Nightmare with a Thousand Names.' Dria snickered. Well, she supposed that she would find out soon enough.

Dria heard a whine at her pedes. She looked down. There had been a pack of wolves that had come across her, but they had essentially ditched her when they figured out that they weren't getting food from Lillian. Dria was too big for the alpha to fight. However, there had been one that had stayed-most likely the one who always got the scraps anyway. He was stubborn. He had been asking her for permission to eat the heart at ten minute intervals.

Dria let the heart-meat-food-offering slip from her servo. Anubis would not mind if another creature ate the heart as long as she had already passed judgement. The wolf attacked it mid-air. It looked at her before running off to eat it in peace.

"And here I thought you would be mourning the loss of the perfect slave." Barricade's voice broke Lillian's concentration. She looked at him. "Feeding your organic harlem not working for you?"

:Go away: (R8)

"I came down to this rotting planet to send a message. I'm not leaving until you have enough common sense to face your demons with a knife."

:Scimitar: (R9)

"You think I care?" Lillian looked at where the wolf had gone. "How long are you going to lay there, weakling? Get up. I said get up." He kicked her. "On. Your. Pedes. Soldier. No way in the pit am I dragging your aft to an energon source you lousy excuse for a decept-"

:Shut up!: (R10) Lillian growled as she stood up. :She threw her cruelty at liberty. It's already filled with holes. Where has she gone?: (R11)

"Jazz took care of her. It's nothing to worry your pretty little helm over."

:What's a Frenzy? Let's talk about Frenzy, you sick demon.: (R12)

"He's with Rocca. Why in the pit do you care about my partner, anyway?"

:I don't. You don't have a clue. Nobody cares if I live or die. You'd break the law if I live-Breaking the law.: (R13)

He snorted. "Slag that. I always break protocol. Besides, Megs said to leave you behind. He didn't say for how long."

:I am useless

Speak to an ear deaf to my voice

I'll always be nothing: (R14)

"Let me translate dictator language for you. What he meant was: Don't come back to base until you have your helm on straight. If anyone stays behind to help said 'beast' they will become slag themselves. You could've done whatever the pit you wanted with that organic slave of yours. Megs couldn't care less. He also said that if anyone tries to slag with you intentionally from now on...I think you can guess. Not that any idiot would try after seeing you today-"

:You speak to an ear that is deaf. Do you even realize I am here just wasting away?: (R14)

"Frenzy must be rubbing off on me."

:You fuck 'til the sun goes up: (R15)

"Do you want help or not, weakling?"

:Fuck tha police. We handle it ourselves. Even if I beat to death, we don't need no motherfuckin' help!: (R16)

"Says the cannibalistic spark-eater." Lillian threw herself at Barricade. She placed her scimitar inside his throat cables. She moved the knife around the cables until she hit the center. Even as Barricade shivered, he still looked into her visor. "Do you want to make something of yourself?" She pulled the knife back a centimeter. "Are you going to eat my spark?"

She pulled the knife out of his throat, smirking. :I never liked the taste of crow but baby I ate it. They tried to warn me. They said that you were ornery. You might as well throw gasoline on a rich man's floor. The way you taste-like a coon dog on a fire. You might as well taste like gasoline. It just comes way too natural to you. That ain't my perfume.: (R17)

"I take it you only eat humans, then." He sat on a boulder. "Tell me, beast, what do they taste like? Are they chewy? Does the smell of their dead, rotting flesh get you off? What is it? Do you frag organics? What is it about humans? Does their blood get you high? Is it the audience? What is it?" He crossed his arms. "What makes you go wild?"

:I oughta kill you right now and do the whole wide world a service.: (R17)

"You frag the dead? That's funny," he sneered. "I didn't see you stick around for that. Or do you prefer to frag with your organic harlem that just left you for dead?"

Lillian placed her elbow on Barricade's shoulder and leaned into him. She stared at his red optics. :I got your name hanging from my chain. You got a problem? Don't you wanna claim my body like a vandal?: (R18)

"I didn't come here to arrest you." He stood up. He picked up one of the dreads hanging behind her back and played with it in front of her. "I like twisted minds." Lillian's optics cycled. He dropped the dread. It slapped her thigh on the way to her back. "Take it or leave it."

:That boy is a god damn problem. We're hell raising and we don't need saving. Drive to hell.: (R18)

"Can't do that, youngling."

:What the hell?: (R19)

"Soundwave's orders."

Lillian rolled her optics. :Pick up. Pick up. When they take both of us to jail, they're gonna wanna know what's up! What's up with pick up?: (R20)

"For me? Midnight." She raised an optic ridge. "Thought you might like a chance to say goodbye to your little organic harem."

She growled. :There's never a right time to say goodbye. I'ma do the best I can to get you to understand. I never make the first move. I never say goodbye.: He stared at her. She facepalmed. :Killing me. Do you hear me?: She looked at him. :What's on? What-do you-know? What-do-I-do?: He raised an optic ridge. :You'll understand when I finish. Do-we-go-our separate ways? You go-and-I-don't.: (R20)

"Finally picked up on that, huh? Ravage was right. You are slow."

:You know, this thing ain't been no walk in the park for us. I swear it'll only take a minute. You tell-that-baby come here-sit down-let's talk-: (R20)

"Save it. I don't play owl." He said that while throwing a piece of metal at her.

:Wha-wha-what did you say? I play telephone: Lillian's optics cycled when Barricade rolled his optics. :This is a disaster. Calling like a collector. You're not in service. What did you play?: (R21)

"It doesn't matter what I 'play.' I carry around a pigeon all the time and all he does is talk my audio off and play 'how long can I electrocute this bastard for until he overloads?'" Lillian's optic ridges went sky high. Masochist, meet Cannibal. :What is this?: (R21)

"An audio clip. Press play." She did. He freaked out. "Not to me! I don't want to hear whatever lover-bot slag he plays for you."

:Who?: (R22)

"Ravage," he snarled. "You frag, don't you?"

:Oh my, that's a little bit scary. Boys can stare at my derriere but if you touch it Imma bury. It's not pretty.: (R23)

"Your not pretty." He swiped the clip. "Here. Now pay attention. I swear, slaggin' younglings don't know scrap..." Lillian was surprised that she had to shut off her voice box in order to not laugh. For a decepticon, Barricade reminded her alot of Ratchet when he reprimanded a patient for 'forgetting' to show up to an appointment and Ironhide whenever he had to chase down the twins...or...or Prowl...

Lillian blushed. Barricade felt the heat rise from her faceplates as he finished attaching the clip to her audio. He raised an optic ridge when she shifted. "You sure you don't want that frag?"

:You remind me of a girl that I once knew. I see her face whenever I look at you.: (R24)

"If you say Ravage I'm out-"

She snorted. :I relate her ignorance to you, creep. You won't believe all of the things she put me through. This is why I just can't get with you.: (R24)

He crossed his arms. "Well?"

:You gotta work. I can't work. You're off to work I can dig it-later. But woman, work it out, 'til the job's done.: (R25)

"I've already connected it to your interface."

:What the hell?: (R19)

He rolled his optics. "So open the file. Does drinking human plasma slag your processor?"

:Oh my. Mad 'cause I'm cuter than the girl that's with you. I don't gotta talk about it.: (R23) That's right, Lillian thought. I'm a computer. Just connect to the internet. You're viewing a youtube video. Go to it and...there.

"Charming," Barricade grumbled.

:Get yourself together. Don't talk. If you want I'll be happy to repeat it. Don't talk.: (R23)

Lillian tuned out Barricade's insistent grumbling as she listened to Ravage's message.

:Oh what the hell she said
I just can't win for losing
And she lays back down
Man there's so many times
I don't know what I'm doing
Like I don't know now
By the light of the moon
She rubs her eyes
Says it's funny how the night
Can make you blind
I can just imagine
And I don't know what I'm supposed to do
But if she feels bad then i do too
So I let her be
She sits down and stares into the distance
And it takes all night
And i know i could break her concentration
But it don't feel right
By the light of the moon
She rubs her eyes
Sits down on the bed and starts to cry
And there's something less about her
And I don't know what I'm supposed to do
So I sit down and I cry too
And don't let her see

And she says oh
I can't take no more
Her tears like diamonds on the floor
And her diamonds bring me down
Cause I can't help her now
She's down in it
She tried her best but now she can't win it
Hard to see them on the ground
Her diamonds falling down
She shuts out the night
Tries to close her eyes
If she can find daylight
She'll be alright
She'll be alright
Just not tonight: (R26)

If Barricade wasn't with her, she honestly would have teared up at that. Ravage could be nice when he wanted to be.

:Hey
You're a crazy bitch
But you fuck so good, I'm on top of it
When I dream, I'm doing you all night
Scratches all down my back to keep me right on
Break me down, you got a lovely face
We're going to your place
And now you got to freak me out
Scream so loud, getting fuckin' laid
You want me to stay, but I got to make my way
Take it off, the paper is your game
You jump in bed with fame
Another one night paid in full, uh
You're so fine, it won't be a loss
Cashing in the rocks, just to get you face to face
You want it all
To be a star
You'll have to go down
Take it off
No need to talk
You're crazy
But I like the way you fuck me
Get the video
Fuck you so good
Get the video
All right!
Crazy...bitch: (R27)

He always had to remind her that he was jerk, though.

She browsed through the internet to find two songs to add to the clip.

:I was blown away.
What could I say?
It all seemed to make sense.
I've taken away everything,
And I can't deal with it.
I try to see the good in life,
But good things in life are hard to find.
Taken all I could take,
And I cannot wait.
We're wasting too much time
Being strong, holding on.
Can't let it bring us down.
My life means everything,
So I won't give up that easily.
I'll blow it away, blow it away.
Can we make this something good?
'Cause it's all misunderstood.
This love is killing me,
But you're the only one.

Don't get caught up in yourself.

Well, I'll try to do it right this time around.

'Cause a part of me is dead and in the ground.
Let it out.

Let's start over.
It's not over: (R28)

She smiled when she found the next song.

:Just hear me out
If it's not perfect I'll perfect it 'til my heart explodes
I highly doubt
I can make it through another of your episodes
Lashing out
One of the petty moves you pull before you lose control
You wear me out
Go home and get stoned
Without a doubt
The break up is worth the make up sex you're giving me
Lets hash it out
Cause your bitchin' and your yelling don't mean anything
Don't count me out
I can handle all the baggage that you're carrying
You wear me out
But it's all right now
Let's go home and get stoned
We could end up making love instead of misery
Cause the sex is so much better when you're mad at me: (R29)

Lillian looked at Barricade when she was done. "Well?"

She disconnected the clip like a flashdrive from a USB interface in a computer before throwing it back at him. :Someone chuck a cupcake at Hello Kitty. Not gonna talk about it tomorrow. Keep it just between you and me. Pretty, silly kitty should wanna do everything with you. Roll around like a fat kid on a pack of Smarties. Mom's not home tonight.: (R30)

"Whatever." She placed on hand on her hip and leaned toward him while squinting. "Do you have a kink in your armor?"

She stood up straight before crossing her arms. :What-dictator-say-in exile?: (R31)

"He said you're depleting our energy reserves. You're on your own."

:What the hell?: (R19)

"He doesn't want you coming back to base until you get your 'hunger' sorted out."

:How dangerous can that be? I'm never gonna die. Yes I am the liquidator. I spent twenty years in exile.: (R31)

"Megs doesn't care if it takes a hundred years. His exact words were 'get it done.'"

Great. I've only been on the Nemesis for a year before getting kicked off...At least they didn't throw me overboard, though...

:Is that it? Is that all you got for me? Justa copy of a copy.: (R32)

"You're a greedy little thing." She barely had time to narrow her optic range before Barricade was smacking his lip components against hers. The last time that she had gotten a kiss from a sort-of-neutral-but-still-decepticon cybertronian, all that she had to show for it was a punch in the face. Now? Now she had a painful puncture in her arm.

:What the hell?: (R19) Lillian hissed as she held her arm.

"Your welcome," Barricade said as he stashed the very long needle. "Knockout said that should last you a week."

:Before I die!: (R33)

"Before you crash from exhaustion."

:I'm so sick of it. I've had enough.: She punched him in the shoulder as hard as she could. :Never thought that you would be the one acting like a slut. You really should've kept it in your pants. Your looking like a tool not a bawler. Your acting like a chick, why bother? I can find someone way hotter with a bigger wow...well. You weren't smart enough to keep your stupid mouth shut. Maybe you shouldn't kiss n' tell.: (R34)

She started to walk away before jumping when he smacked her aft. He smirked at her. "Thought you might like a pick-me-up."

She glared at him before transforming in a wolf. She set her caller ID to 'Soundwave' before letting a howl rip from her throat. Barricade blocked his audios. "The pit-?" He screamed.

Lillian smirked at his dumbfounded look when a space bridge showed up ten feet away from him. :A pick me up and then you're off again. The crowd's there to see if you'll sink or swim. They laugh and cheer when you crash and burn. But they'll be back for your big return. They'll never learn.: (R32)

She transformed into her new motorcycle mode before zooming off.

Barricade looked from Lillian to the ground bridge before shaking his helm. "Younglings," he muttered.

~0~

Sura ~ New Life ~ Spirituous liquor ~ Green leaf

Asura ~ A demon ~ People with this name have a deep inner desire for travel and adventure, and want to set their own pace in life without being governed by tradition.

Check out DeviantArt to see what Dria looks like.