Chapter 7
Night Stalker awoke, feeling like she had been put through the scrap heap a dozen times over. Why hadn't the recharge worked? She groaned and struggled to sit up causing Knock Out to awake in concern. Taking one look at her he ordered her to go get some energon. Of course it was something so simple. She was slagging dehydrated! With a sigh, the femme stumbled out of Soundwave's room to go find some energon. She met Grand Slam, who had returned while she was in recharge mode. A smirk was on his face.
"Oh wait until I tell Knock Out where you were."
"Fine by me. You can find him in Soundwave's room. Now if you'll excuse me you little runt."
Night Stalker stalked past the Youngling who did as she suggested and was sorely disappointed to find Knock Out where she said he would be. Obviously Grand Slam didn't care if he was in trouble or not. She made her way to the energon storage unit to find Arcee coming out.
"You too? Let's share."
The other femme smiled at Night Stalker. The younger femme was grateful. It meant some female companionship. They went and shared the energon and suddenly Night Stalker felt a lot better.
"What happened?"
"Hm?"
"Knock Out came back after Grand Slam's little… episode and you didn't return."
"Oh. I needed some space. That night I dreamed of my human parents. In a sense it was both them and not them."
"What do you mean?"
"My human half desperately wanted to see them, but the Matrix needed something to use to contact me with. Basically my parents told me it was a good thing they ignored my feelings."
"And why is that? I don't see how their dying was a good thing."
"That's easy. If they HAD listened to me I wouldn't be sitting here right now. They told me that Knock Out was meant for me. We cared deeply for each other and if they had listened to me I would have never met him, or if I did in a different way and we would be starting off on a different foot."
Understanding dawned on Arcee. "In a way their deaths paved the way for you to become Night Stalker. So sometimes it's good to ignore the feelings presented while other times you need to follow them."
"Exactly. I still miss my parents, but now I see that if they hadn't gone away I wouldn't have met Knock Out, become a Transformer, and then become an Autobot. That dream just showed me what I was too slagging stupid to see, the Autobots are my family."
Arcee smiled and then backed away, leaving Night Stalker a little confused. Suddenly, Knock Out's arms were around her and the femme leaned back against her bondmate.
"I'm sorry your parents died, but I am not sorry that you and I became bondmates. I love you Night Stalker."
"And I love you Knock Out. If I had to repeat every moment from my parents' deaths to the time we met? I would do the same things over and over again."
It was true. Night Stalker had chosen her path after her parents had died. Their deaths still weighed heavily for her, but the femme knew that she could think of no other place she would rather be than right here in the arms of her bondmate and in the presence of her family. In a way that's what all the Autobots were, her family. In a way that sounded awkward considering two of them were hers and Knock Out's lovers, but it didn't change the fact that Night Stalker would die for each and every one of them.
Arcee then excused herself. She had been called away to do patrol with Bumblebee. That left just Knock Out and Night Stalker alone.
"Why did you call him a little runt?"
Night Stalker snorted, "Because I came out of Soundwave's room and he thought he caught me in the act of betraying you and when I told him where you were at he was disappointed to find I was telling the truth."
"Ah. Grand Slam really needs to learn some manners. Pyro is ignoring his brother now, but it hurts him."
"I'll go talk to him. See you tonight."
She placed a gentle kiss on her bondmate's lips before rising to find Soundwave's gentler Youngling. She soon found the young male sitting in a room on his own.
"Hey. Why aren't you playing with Star Cross, Nightwing, and Midnight Chaser?"
"Didn't feel like it."
"Come here."
For a moment Pyro was going to ignore her, but then he moved over to sit next to Night Stalker. Once he did he broke down.
"Grand Slam is my brother. Why is he the way he is?"
"Not everyone can be nice and wonderful. It's what makes as all living creatures. Some prey on the weak while others survive by hiding. Each living creature has a unique personality with some traits similar to others."
Night Stalker picked the Youngling up and held him close, "Grand Slam has little to no similarities to Soundwave or Megatron, but he's still your brother. Until he decides where he wants to be, you have to include him. You might not have to like it, but he's your twin and despite everything you can feel his death as if it were your own."
"I know. Grand Slam and I used to be so close. What changed?"
Night Stalker was silent for a moment before responding. "You're both growing up. Even Miko has changed since she was fifteen. She used to run into battles every chance she got, but since I came along she's been a little more reserved. You're both finding your footing and in a few years you'll both be in your first mating cycle."
"How old were you when you experienced your first mating cycle?"
"I was human so they have different mating rituals. As a human male and female mating doesn't usually happen until around sixteen years of age, sometimes a male forces himself upon a younger female or male, but usually it's consensual."
"That's a long time before you can mate."
"Once a male matures, depending on who they are and what the factors are surrounding them, they stay active until they die. A female, once she matures, can only get pregnant until about 45 years of age. After that all her eggs have either been used up or her body would just no longer support getting pregnant. Humans only live to be 90ish usually. There's a rare few who's lived to be in their hundreds. The oldest, last I checked was around 120 years old."
"Wow. Humans don't last a long time do they?"
"No they don't. Sometimes humans die at birth or don't make it to adulthood. It's just the way the dice of life rolls. When your time comes it comes and there is nothing you can do about it."
"You refused to give up on Knock Out. Wasn't it his time?"
"If it was he would have gone offline despite everything that First Aid, Ratchet, and myself did. Come on. Let's go find the other Younglings."
The two left the room before Night Stalker was called away for a patrol. She sighed, "Duty calls. Last I looked Star Cross and the others were playing with Miko and Raf. You run on ahead while I go see what Optimus wants."
The two parted ways and once Night Stalker was present, Optimus ordered her to lead an Energon patrol with Smokescreen, Wheeljack, and Ironhide. The four of them groundbridged to a location that had active Decepticon signatures. As leader, Night Stalker ordered Ironhide and Smokescreen to patrol ahead while she and Wheeljack stayed behind. Looking at the Wrecker she pondered his past.
"Why are you so against Ultra Magnus?"
"He's… It's complicated."
"A lot of things in life are complicated. Is that what you're going to tell everyone you meet?"
"The Wreckers used to be just that; Wreckers. Once Ultra Magnus was put in charge they became softer."
"Wheeljack. Things aren't meant to last forever. As I told Arcee earlier, if my parents had listened to me then you and I wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation. Things happen for a reason."
"Yeah, but Bulkhead left us."
"And from what I hear it was a good thing. How else would that shifting 'Con have been weeded out?"
"Hey you're right!"
"You're both still Wreckers, but maybe change isn't always as bad as you think. At first I didn't know anything about my real life when Megatron ordered Shockwave to implant my mind into this body. By the All Spark; I don't even know if my human body was even saved. What I do know is this… it gave me the chance to be with the one male that I was destined to be with; Knock Out. I love him with all my heart, spark, whatever. Sometimes changes are good. Just look at what happened since I found out about you all. Knock Out and Soundwave have both defected from the Decepticons and joined the Autobots. Is that even POSSIBLE?"
Wheeljack shook his head, but quickly pulled his swords out when Ironhide and Smokescreen came barreling out of the cave. "DUCK FOR COVER!"
Wheeljack's eyes widened and cursed before transforming and speeding off. Night Stalker was confused. Unfortunately this proved to be her downfall. She was hit from behind by something insanely hot. With a yell of confusion and terror, the femme blacked out. When she came to she found a strange face staring down at her. With a groan she struggled to sit up. However, the figure would not let her.
"Easy. You've had a nasty blow."
The voice was clearly male. Letting her optics clear a little, Night Stalker found herself staring at a slightly familiar face… however, it seemed aged.
"Do I know you?"
The face crumbled. "You do, but you shouldn't even be here. That blast knocked you… elsewhere. You're in the future… 175 million years into the future to be precise."
"Is there any way back home?"
"No. There isn't. I am Pyro."
"PYRO?!"
"Yes. One and the same with the Pyro you spoke to the day you left. It's only been mere moments for you, but 175 million years for me."
"Pyro is she awake?" A fearful voice asked.
"Yes Star Cross."
Night Stalker's voice hitched. Star Cross? The same Star Cross she had named all those years ago? The femme stepped into the light and Night Stalker saw how much she had grown.
"Is… is there any others?"
"Grand Slam is still around as are Midnight Chaser and Nightwing. Ironhide's Sparkling turned out to be a girl. She went offline ten years later. Murdered, no one knows how."
"Anyone else?" Night Stalker feared the worst.
"I'm sorry Night Stalker. If you're hoping to see any of your generation… they died a long time ago. Knock Out returned to the Decepticons in hopes of finding a way to find you again, but shortly after he disappeared. No one knows why. All we were told was that there was a strange machine in his lab that smelled oddly of fire. It was assumed he managed to time jump as well. Where too no one knows. Optimus and Bulkhead died protecting Miko and Jack. Smokescreen became the new Prime. He's the only one left. Though he refuses to see anyone."
"Take me to him!"
"But-"
"NOW!"
Pyro sighed and led Night Stalker to where the Prime had sealed himself away. He chimed and Smokescreen's voice answered back.
"This had better be important!"
"Well… sort of, sir."
A sigh and the door opened. Night Stalker was happy to see an old face and rushed at Smokescreen. "I know you're a Prime now and all, but you're really the only familiar face I have left."
"Night Stalker! You were blasted here to the future? What happened? We all thought you were right behind us."
"I was confused. You and Wheeljack were terrified and Ironhide just seemed to be running for the hills. The next thing I know I got hit by a blast and woke up here."
"It was an ancient Cybertronian beast. For a time Team Prime hunted for the bones of these creatures in order to stop Megatron from making an army of these creatures. They got loose and multiplied. Apparently they managed to find a way to create some kind of machine that allowed time travel to happen. Unfortunately, they destroyed their machine after blasting you with it."
"Did Megatron…"
"No. He had no knowledge of this. Airachnid was released and she was horrified to discover all that had happened."
"I heard there was a rift between Arcee and Airachnid?"
"Yes. Airachnid killed Arcee's first partner, Tailgate. The two have been bitter enemies ever since. Currently the Decepticons and Autobots are- "
Alarms sounded and footsteps could be heard. Pyro excused himself to go join the fight. Smokescreen pushed her behind him.
"Smokescreen-"
"Rodimus Prime. It's my new name. We spent YEARS fighting these creatures. If it's them you do not want to get in their way."
Night Stalker heard a gasp of surprise from outside and weapons clattered to the ground. Not long afterwards a familiar red shape was brought in. With a shout of surprise and happiness, Night Stalker ran into the arms of her bondmate; Knock Out. It was a happy reunion. However, the two still needed to get back to the past and set things right.