Chapter two:
Ratchet blinked in surprise as his communicator went off. "That's . . . odd." He said as he looked at the others.
Optimus frowned. "This isn't going to be good news." He said sadly as Ratchet answered the comm.
Ratchet hadn't even said anything yet when Dawn's fear-ridden voice came over the other end. "Please answer . . . oh please answer . . ." She was quietly weeping into the comm.
"Dawn? What's wrong?" Ratchet instantly regretted the fact he wasn't there in person to comfort her, he could sense her pain all the way from his current location.
"It's Lyn . . . she killed him! Left! Oh sweet night . . . he's dead!" She wailed as she hugged herself tightly, rocking back and forth as she stared at the deceased Kyle.
"Shush, it's alright. Tell me what happened." Ratchet switched the communicator so they all could hear.
"Lyn! I told her about the Autobots . . . she got angry! Said she had a better offer and attacked me! Kyle, he came to my defense, he's always protected me . . . she killed him!" Her voice was broken and weak, she started sobbing again. Ratchet looked at the others; he already knew what was going to happen.
"We're coming, can you meet us back at the spot you did earlier today? Can you get there?" Ratchet asked, and wasn't sure she heard him, all he heard was sobbing.
Finally, a response came. "I think so . . ." Optimus nodded and they immediately prepared to leave the ship in the care of the Autobots on board while the five of them left to go assist Dawn.
"Hang in there, okay? It'll be okay, just get to that spot. Everything will be okay." Ratchet told her reassuringly as they made their exit.
"Okay." She sniffed as she grabbed her jacket and carefully stepped over Kyle's body, suppressing a wail as she did so. "I'll meet you there." She said as she disconnected the link.
She walked through the dark manor, stopping only to grab an emergency light from the cabinet and flicked it on before going out into the near darkness. It's going to be fully dark before I get there, she thought, but at least it's gonna be two full moons and a half moon. She thought as she glanced at the sky, both full moons had risen and the half moon was cresting the horizon. She sighed and trotted across the vast back yard toward the wooded area, she wouldn't be able to move quickly through the woods, so she'd make up for the time now. She wiped her tears away with her free hand as she went, her breathing still coming in small sobs. "I can't believe he's dead . . ." She whimpered, than fear crept back into her stomach. "She's really gone . . ." The thought hit her hard, impacting her like a ten ton truck. For the first time in her life, she was entirely alone. No sister to fall back on. She reached out to touch her sister's mind, but found it cold and closed to her. She pulled back and bit her bottom lip as the pain from the rejection hit her hard. "She hates me." She whimpered, slowing down as she entered the woods. It would take her nearly twenty minutes to reach the secluded area where she was to meet the Autobots, and she was determined to not be all teary eyed when she got there.
When Optimus and the other four landed in the clearing the day was nearly gone, two of the three moons had already risen and the third was rising. At least there will be light enough for her to see, he thought grimly as he waited patiently in the growing dark. He looked over at Ratchet. "Do you think you'll be able to comfort her enough to get out the full story?"
The other shrugged. "It depends on her mental state. She'll probably be in a state of shock and grief. I can only presume that Ashalyn has never done anything of this magnitude before. That is at least what I am gathering from the hysteria Ashadawna is experiencing." Ratchet told Optimus as their leader looked to Jazz and Ironhide.
"If it is true, and Ashalyn has joined the Decepticons, it changes the way this war has been going. With her at their side, they will once more rise from the ashes and resume the fight for the Allspark. I can assume that Megatron realizes the mortality of his newest prize and will want to regain a more permanent source of power." Ironhide commented.
"We still don't know what race these younglings are; they could be a long lived race as far as we know. Ashadawna looked young for being twenty years old." Jazz added as he looked to Ironhide, who was nodded his agreement.
"Very true, but even long lived races wither away and die before the length of our own kind." Optimus reminded them. "Megatron will likely rebuild his armies and than come clashing for the Allspark once more. The war will continue as it has for all these years." They all grew silent, Optimus was grateful for the silence; it gave him time to think of their options, which at the moment were all grim. Would they have to destroy the young Ashalyn? Could she be brought to the truth before it came down to that? He sighed and scanned the area for signs of Dawn.
All three moons were above the trees when Dawn finally appeared through the trees. She staggered into view, her arm wrapped lightly over her ribs as she breathed heavily in the cool air. The sight wasn't at all what Ratchet had been expecting, he quickly closed the distance as he saw her fall to her knees ten yards away from them. He scanned over her quickly, acting on instinct, her race type may be unknown, but she still had a familiar physiological make up that he could scan and understand.
Ratchet winced. Two ribs on either side of her ribcage were broken, several were bruised and he was sure that the bruising would be evident on her skin at this point. Her left side of her face was slightly swollen; he didn't know that it had been the side that had hit the wall when Lyn had thrown her. She had obviously tried to fight her sister, and obviously had lost. He felt a pang of sympathy for her. "Ashadawna, here, let me help you." He spoke softly and calmly to her, reached down he carefully helped her up. She whimpered at the pain. Back at the manor, the shock of it all had numbed her, but now, now the pain was starting to increase to almost unbearable. Almost . . . she'd experienced worse she tried to tell herself, but she doubted it.
She smiled weakly up at Ratchet. "Thanks, I'm okay." She was surprised at how weak her voice sounded. She pushed away from his hand and walked over to the others with Ratchet ready to catch her if she started to fall again. "The Decepticons have already spoken with Lyn." She told Optimus, who gave a slight groan at the news he already feared true. "She's left to join them." She felt tears springing up in her eyes and shut them tightly to keep herself from crying.
"It's alright, young one, I know it's painful." Optimus murmured to her reassuringly.
That was all she needed to hear, she nearly collapsed to the ground, and Ratchet caught her and held her while she cried. "She left me! She didn't even look back! She just abandoned me! How could she after all we've been through together?!" Optimus looked at Ratchet with concern etched on his face.
She's very distressed. I knew she'd be upset, I feared she would be this upset. How do you suggest we comfort her? Optimus sent Ratchet through sonic bursts she could not hear.
I will do my best. It's a part of what I am after all. Ratchet replied back as he oh-so-gently scooped up Dawn and held her in his hand carefully. "It's alright, Ashadawna, it's alright. We'll get this all sorted out, we'll get her to see the truth, it will all work out, you'll see." He cooed to her as he gently stroked her shaking back with a finger.
She looked at Ratchet with watery eyes and tears streaking down her slim face. "She killed him! She didn't have to, but she did! She enjoyed it!" She shook her head, her long hair shaking in waves across her shoulders. "Why did she kill him?" The last was barely a whisper, were it not for their extremely good hearing it would have been missed.
Ratchet took a deep breath and sighed. "Some people are just . . . evil." He paused as he tried to find a good word, and settled on one at last.
Dawn's expression hardened with determination as she shook her head. "No! She's not evil! She promised them all she'd do it! All those years ago when they tortured us! When they forced us to do all those horrible things! She promised them that she'd kill them! Kyle was only the beginning! She'll kill them all now that she's loose!" This triggered her to stop and open her mouth in sudden realization. "They're going to help her, aren't they?"
Ratchet was a little confused, but he knew who they were. He nodded solemnly. "If getting her help means they have to help her kill people, than yes, they probably will help her. After all, exterminating people and civilizations is what the Decepticons do best. They will help her to prove they mean her no harm and once they get her loyalty, they will use her to their own means."
Dawn bit her bottom lip and chewed on it for a moment before speaking. "A lot of people are gonna die . . . and all because they hurt us."
Get her to explain, it would help clarify the matter if we understood what these children went though. Optimus urged Ratchet as the other gave a barely perceived nod of understanding.
"I'm a little confused, what happened when you were little?" Ratchet pried gently, coaxing her to tell the story.
Dawn looked around at those gathered around her and sighed. It wasn't something she was ashamed about. Lyn was ashamed of it, after all, most of the bad stuff had happened to Lyn and not her; she'd learned fast not to use her powers. Lyn was constantly using hers, therefore, constantly punished. She took a deep breath and started with the only beginning she could remember.
Her memory started when she was around four, how she and her sister had been found was a mystery to her, the only information she'd been privileged to know was that they'd been found crying in the middle of a wreckage, whether there had been others who had been among the wreckage, she didn't know, she could only assume there had been others and they had been the only survivors. They had been taken to a hospital to be cared for, and then a special branch of the government had been issued to take them when they were released from the hospital. Around the time when they were two, their powers started to reveal themselves, at first, the government was lenient and allowed for their powers to be used, at first it was harmless stuff. A bottle would levitate across the room to them, or a toy. As they got older, their powers became more active and other things started to happen. The older they got, the more their powers changed. It was when they were four that Lyn had first utilized her powers to change an inanimate electronic toy into a small lively creation which attacked everything in its vicinity, causing much damage and two fatalities before it was destroyed.
Lyn's punishment had been strict. She had been told to never do that again and had been punished. She had cried for hours it had seemed, Dawn had done everything in her power to comfort her twin, but hadn't been able to stop the pain her twin was feeling. Dawn had vowed she would never repeat her sister's mistakes. As they got older, Lyn pulled the same stunt over and over again, only giving life to more complex things, each was devastating, and her resulting punishment more severe than the last. With the final punishment, Lyn vowed she would destroy them all some day, they had laughed; she had been barely eight years old. Finally, after a long span of time between 'incidents', they were given to a young government official who had risen through the ranks to his current position. Taking care of the now adolescent twins had been a task! They're powers were increasing and keeping them from using it was difficult. He had been assigned a taser wand to deal out his punishments, Dawn fell under its wrath a few times, but Lyn seemed to always earn a punishment. The young official, named Kyle, had hated punishing the two, but Lyn had given him no choice. She promised him her revenge every time he punished her, and Kyle would point out that if she would not use her power, she wouldn't be punished. Lyn never learned. She didn't seem to want to learn, she had told Dawn on several occasions that they were born with this power for a reason, and it wasn't to be suppressed by these people. Dawn felt the same, but never wanted to feel the pain of that taser wand again if she could help it. So she took to using her own powers in acceptable ways, small and insignificant ways that were allowed, but those ways were never good enough for Lyn.
As Lyn had gotten older, she had been given a vehicle when she was seventeen, she loved it. She felt the potential for life within the vehicle. She focused her power and had given the vehicle life, only this time; she had given it something extra she'd never thought of before. She'd given it a purpose and intelligence. It had worked until she had been caught using her powers again in public. The government had taken Lyn away and the vehicle had leapt from its vehicle mode into a larger more intimidating bipedal form and had attacked the government officials. Lyn had been thrilled, but her joy was quickly killed when the military stepped in and used heavy armor to destroy the vehicle. It had taken a lot to take it down, and Lyn had struggled and screamed for them to stop. They hadn't. Again, she vowed her revenge. Her punishment had been extremely severe, leaving her scarred. Lyn didn't talk for six months afterward; Dawn could only guess what had happened.
"That's it in a nut shell. Not the full story, but enough to help you understand a little." Dawn sighed as she wiped the tears from her face. Ratchet looked at the others. These two had been through a lot. It was surprising that they had survived with the strict laws binding their power. Creatures of power needed to use that power, it was much like breathing to them, to be suppressed was like refusing to allow one to breath a full breath of air. Ratchet understood this. From the looks around him, so did the others.
"Thank you." Optimus said softly as he looked at the small wonder before him. She had learned a painful lesson. Her power had suffered because of that lesson. It would take her years to recover from the setbacks they had caused her. But some day soon, her power would blossom like her sister's had. It would only take time. He thought as he sighed in heavy regret. He looked over at Ironhide and sent a burst of sonic at the other. We may have a difficult time with swaying Ashalyn to our side. She may be lost in her anger and join with them fully.
Ironhide grunted. We'll have to deal with her, if that is her final decision. The idea of having to destroy Lyn was not one that Optimus wanted to think about. Destroying one twin might do permanent damage to the other.
It may not come to that. Megatron might prove to be a harder slaver than this government of theirs. Jazz interjected, watched as Dawn chewed on her lower lip.
It is possible. Optimus replied, than turned his attention back at Dawn. "We will not let them hurt you any longer. Will you come with us? There is nothing here for you any longer." Dawn nodded her solemn agreement. There was nothing left. She had nothing even when there was still life bustling in the manor.
"I just need to grab a few things." She said quietly as she looked to Ratchet who had shifted his position.
"I will take her back to the manor; I have scanned the area and find it lacking any witnesses." Ratchet told them as he carefully set her down and transformed into a form of a jet that Dawn had never seen before.
She mouthed the word 'wow' and hesitated when the cockpit opened and he urged her to get in. "I've never flown before . . ." She said nervously as she eyed the jet before her.
Bumblebee spoke to her softly. "You won't feel a thing, he's a good flyer." She stepped up the steps and lowered herself into the cockpit, wincing as her ribs screamed in protest.
"Careful now, take it easy." Ratchet murmured as she lowered herself into the seat and felt the restraint latch across her chest, she gasped as it tightened, causing a sharp pain to explode in her chest. "Sorry." He apologized to her as he sent to the others. I will meet you back at the ship. Than he carefully lifted off, flying dangerously close to the trees in order to stay below any scanning radar. He hated taking a flight mode, but there were times when the situation demanded it. This was one of those times.
Dawn rested her head against the seat as the pain caused tears to come to her eyes. She knew Lyn had done a good bit of damage when Lyn had grabbed her with her power. Lyn had been getting rougher and rougher as the years had passed, and now she was this. Dawn took a shaky breath, wincing at the pain the motion caused. Ratchet kept an internal watch on Dawn's progress, the broken ribs were bad, one was dangerously close to sliding into a lung, but if she kept her motion restricted, it would remain a safe distance away. "Where will you take me?" She asked, trying to think of something other than her pain.
"That is up to Optimus, but I have an idea. He will probably take you back to one of our main bases. There are other humanoids there that would like to meet you, I'm sure." He reassured her as she saw the manor looming in the darkness. He set down in the massive drive way and opened the cockpit. "Quickly now, I don't know for how long this place will be safe." He cautioned her as she climbed out and down the small ladder, wincing in pain. Ratchet winced with her; he knew the broken ribs and bruising had to hurt.
"I'll be right back." She said, slightly out of breath from the effort to not hurt herself as she climbed down. Ratchet waited patiently, scanning the surroundings for any signs of a threat. His scanners picked up the distant city and than the even more distant presence of the Decepticons. He shuddered; they were so close, yet so far, hopefully occupied with Ashalyn and not scanning for Autobots, with the others headed back to the ship, he stood little chance against the seven of them. Wait . . . seven? He scanned again, there were seven signatures, and he had not miscounted. He felt a shiver go through his circuits. She must have created another one, the last time they had scanned the Decepticons there had only been six. Now there was one more.
Dawn felt her heart jump at the sight of Kyle lying on the floor. She put her hand to her mouth to stifle the whimper and hurried to her side of the room, quickly grabbing her bag from the closet and stuffing important things within the bag. Clothes, journals, important writings and findings, research, the stone that had been wrapped around her neck when she and her sister had been found. She noticed that Lyn had taken her own stone as well. She sighed; at least her sister still had some form of sentiment. She zippered the bag up and winced at its weight as she slung it over her shoulder, she yelped as it caused pain to rip through her chest. She staggered downstairs and barely recalled going back to Ratchet and climbing back into the cockpit before she felt the sweet darkness take a hold of her as she passed out from the pain.
An hour prior
Barricade drove most of the way to the meeting point in the desert in silence. Lyn offered no end to her own silence, but at least now she had released her power and seemed to brood over something. He watched her closely as he drove in the moonlight. She shifted her weight as if uncomfortable, running a finger across the frame of the door. Barricade suppressed a shiver, the touch felt good. She kept sliding her finger, tracing the lines in the door. Before he went crazy he broke the silence. "What happened?" He asked her, satisfied with the way it sounded.
Lyn shrugged, than, wondering if he could see the shrug, answered. "My sister had other plans. She's always looking to be a good little slave. Always doing what she's told." The answer was cryptic. She was avoiding.
"I noticed you were holding tightly to your power, there was energy radiating from the manor. What happened?" He pressed, he didn't feel like waiting for Megatron to divulge the secrets of Lyn's past when he could interrogate right now.
She shifted her weight again; squirming under the suddenly demanding mech. Barricade smirked. "We had a fight." There was a slight pause. "I hope I didn't hurt her too badly." She whispered, but not quiet enough for Barricade to avoid hearing it.
So this was what she was avoiding. She regretted attacking her sister. She was fighting guilt. "You only did what was necessary." He told her as he continued to watch.
"Yeah." She said uncertainly at first, than again with more confidence. "Yeah, I did warn her to back off, to come with me, and she decided not to. It was her own fault." A sense of justification washed over her. Her guilt faded and a smug bit of satisfaction had fallen over her again. "I killed him." She said smugly.
Barricade started. She killed? "Killed who? The boy who was your guardian?" He had become familiar with her life and her schedule, it was how he had learned about her vehicle and had copied it.
"He wasn't a boy, he was a grown man. And yes, I killed him. I warned him many times I would kill him eventually and I finally did. Promise made, promise kept." She said simply as she folded her arms across her chest.
Barricade sighed. At least she wasn't stroking him anymore. He felt a bit of regret for that, but discarded it. "And you always keep your promises?" He asked, trying to get a better picture of the young woman in his mind.
"Always." She answered smugly, allowing a smirk to play across her lips. Barricade felt himself smirk inwardly at the sight. For a fleshling, she wasn't all that bad.
"Do you regret killing him?" It was a legitimate question, right? Barricade pondered as he watched Lyn.
She shook her head. "Not one bit."
"Did you enjoy it?" He asked her softly.
There was a slight pause, than her hand started to trail across the dash board and across the delicate instruments. "Yes, I believe I did." She purred, absently stroking.
Barricade felt his attention wander from the road for a moment and had to swerve to get back on the road when they suddenly hit the dirt at the side of the road. "Stop doing that." He growled at her.
Lyn's smirk broadened. "Alright." She said simply. Suddenly Barricade wondered if she hadn't done it on purpose.
The rest of the trip was in silence. And, Lyn kept her hands blissfully to herself. When they arrived at the location, the others were there waiting. Lyn was pleased to see that Crisis was among them. With two moons full and the third half, there was plenty of light to see by. She immediately recognized Megatron, but the others were hard to tell apart in the darkness even with the moonlight.
Barricade came to a halt and the restraining belt left her, the door opened and she wordlessly got out, shouldering her bag. She looked at them curiously a small smile playing at her lips. They came all the way back just because I said I would join them. The power I hold. She thought wistfully as she stepped a few feet away from Barricade so that he could transform and join his fellows.
"Where is your sister?" Megatron asked, already knowing the answer, but wanting to hear it from her.
She shrugged. "She got a better offer. I'm better without her." She felt a pang of sorrow at the realization that they had separated in different directions. But than I always knew we would one day. She thought as she folded her arms across her chest, lazily fingering her long hair with one hand absently.
Megatron thought for a moment before speaking. "I am glad you accepted the offer. But if I can ask, what offer did you sister receive?" He already figured he knew the answer, but he wasn't about to assume.
"Some group called the Autobots." She said dismissively, but noted that the others stiffened considerably.
Nearly lost her to the Autobots, Megatron thought as he watched her with renewed interest. She had chosen him over the offer of the Autobots, how intriguing. "They are the enemy I was speaking of when last we met." He told her, she nodded slightly, her hair waving behind her.
"I gathered that when Dawn told me about them." She cocked her head to the side and played with her hair some more. "So, tell me, are you called the Decepticons?" Megatron was about to answer when she held up her hand. "Don't worry about answering that, I already figured that one out too when she talked about you. But personally, I don't think you're as evil as they make you out to be. Completely different from the Autobots, I have no doubt, but certainly not as evil as Dawn made you sound. If you were that evil, you wouldn't have asked me to join you; you simply would have taken me against my will and forced me to do your bidding." Lyn said as a coy smile came to her face. "Am I right?"
Megatron smiled easily. "You're right. We're not as evil as we are made out to be." He was a smooth liar, and without the ability to detect such, she would play easily into his hands. Lyn nodded with a smirk.
"That's what I thought. Now," She gestured to the shadowy figures behind him. "I believe introductions are required? It would be nice to have names to match faces." She said, trying not to make it sound like a command. After all, he was obviously their leader, and probably wouldn't respect her at all if she showed him no respect.
Megatron nodded and stepped aside, gesturing at his gathered comrades. "This is Bonecrusher." He gestured to the large mech, who gave her a slight nod of acknowledgement. "Devastator." He pointed to the next mech, slightly larger than the previous. "Blackout." She shuddered as she laid eyes on him, he showed no sign that she even existed. "You already know Barricade, and the final is my second in command, Starscream." He finished by gesturing to the final large mech. She of course already knew Crisis, so introductions were not necessary.
She lowered her voice; a frown coming to her face, Megatron lowered himself to the ground to hear her better. "Any of them I need to be wary of?" She was looking at Blackout, who was looking at her with a glare that made her blood run cold.
Megatron followed her eyes and smiled to himself. She chose the right ones to be afraid of. He thought as he nodded slightly. "Use caution around Blackout, which is my suggestion." He told her as he stood again and smiled. "Well, since the introductions have been made, let us get back to the Nemesis, shall we?" Lyn felt a tremor beneath her feet, the sand behind her shivered violently as something massive raised itself out of the sand behind her. She turned and leapt closer to Megatron as a massive mech, massive to her, but small compared to the other mechs, pointed twin pulse canons at her, long tail with wicked blades pointing at her. "Ah, I knew I was forgetting someone." He muttered in amusement. "This is Skorponok, he belongs to Blackout." Megatron said as he watched Lyn cringe away from the mech. He gestured back to Blackout, who came forward and screeched at Skorponok, who scurried over to him and as Blackout knelt to the ground the other seemed to 'attach' itself to the larger mech. "There, now we are ready to go."
Lyn hesitated as the others transformed around her, all were flight worthy, but how was she suppose to go with them? Her answer came as Megatron's voice jerked her out of her thoughts. "You will go with Starscream." The one mentioned growled a response, but didn't argue. She was about to ask which one Starscream was when the mech opened the cockpit and snapped at her impatiently.
"Well come on! I'd like to get off this rock." Starscream growled, angry at the fact he would have to carry the young fleshling to their ship. Him! The second in command! Why one of the others couldn't have done it was beyond him. Lyn climbed in effortless and settled into the seat, looking in awe at the control panel before her. "Don't touch anything!" He growled as the cockpit closed and a restraint belt fastened around her stomach and chest, tightening enough to force the air from her lungs, she gasped and Starscream chuckled as he lifted off, the others having already left, leaving him behind as the last one. Without warning he went straight vertical and left for the ship.
Lyn felt her stomach drop and than did something Starscream hadn't expected. She laughed. "This is great!" She said happily, and he grunted in disappointment, but admitted that the little fleshling did surprise him. Not many fleshlings could handle what he had just done; she had handled it with apparent ease.
Her excitement was catchy; he smirked as he did a few fancy aerial maneuvers, looping around, flipping and flying upside down, doing barrel rolls. She yelled and whooped at it all, he was slightly irked that she was taking it so well, but felt a bit of joy that he had someone else who enjoyed such stunts. Had Megatron been watching Starscream wouldn't have done so, but since Megatron wasn't there to criticize him it couldn't hurt.
When they finally broke the atmosphere, Lyn was breathless with excitement, her face flushed pleasantly as she panted. "That . . . was awesome! We have to do that again sometime!" She told Starscream as she relaxed against the seat.
Starscream chuckled before he could catch himself, than growled. "Don't get used to flying in me, fleshling." He growled, although Lyn could hear he didn't mean it as viciously as it sounded, his heart was obviously not in it anymore.
She just laughed and snuggled against the seat, her hand absently stroking the frame of the cockpit. "If you say so." She muttered as she continued stroking.
Starscream felt he'd go insane if she kept touching him. It felt so good he didn't really want her to stop, but he had to concentrate and she wasn't helping. "Stop that!" He snapped, hating himself for sounding desperate.
Lyn smirked and raised her hand up in defense. "Alright, boss man, if you insist." She said innocently as she folded her arms across her chest, one hand straying to her hair to stroke a lock thoughtfully. Interesting, they are touch sensitive, just like my old vehicle. She thought as she looked out the window and felt her mouth drop at the huge ship that was coming into view as they went around the dark side of the moon. "Wow!" She gasped as she leaned as far forward as the restraints would let her. "That's . . . huge!" She gaped as they got closer.
"That, dear Ashalyn, is the Nemesis. Our home." He muttered the last darkly.
"I'm gonna get so lost." She muttered as she watched as Starscream made his approach to dock inside the massive hanger bay.
Once inside, they lingered a moment with her still fastened tightly. "They have to recompress the area with oxygen." He explained at her silent question. "Once the shields are back in place and oxygen has been cycled throughout than we'll join the others."
Lyn nodded. "Yeah, oxygen is important." She muttered lightly, her eyes taking in the sights around her.
Starscream chuckled lightly, in spite of his efforts, he found himself liking her. She wasn't that bad for a fleshling. Too bad she's not one of us; he thought bitterly, we could certainly use someone like her around. He scanned the area and found the oxygen levels acceptable for her. "Alright, we're free." He said as he slid the restraints off of her and opened his cockpit. She hopped out effortlessly and did something unexpected. Huge wings appeared out of her back and she floated effortlessly down to the ground. She fluffed her wings once before they seemed to retract back into her back. Had Starscream been transformed his mouth would have fell open in shock. Wings?! No wonder she took so well to the air! She was like him! A flyer! He felt his systems stutter at the thought of someone else understanding the want for the open air, than shook himself out of it. He transformed quickly behind her as she looked around. She turned and watched him with large blue eyes. He looked down at her and sighed. "I have to carry you; you'll never keep up with me." He muttered more to himself than to her as he bent down and grabbed a hold of her delicately.
Despite the gentleness of his grip, she still winced; he figured it was more out of uneasiness than pain, as her vitals showed no sign of pain. She muttered something under her breath that Starscream didn't catch and he didn't intend to ask her to repeat it. If he didn't hear it, he likely wasn't meant to. After only a few short minutes of walking, Lyn gave up trying to memorize the way they were going. She was hopelessly lost. She stopped looking at her surroundings and studied Starscream. He was hardly considered small, he was almost as big as Megatron, perhaps a little smaller, but no less impressively built. He was obviously a natural flyer, where the others had no wings in their transformed state, Starscream still bore his wings. I wonder if they are as sensitive as mine are? She thought as she looked away as soon as Starscream looked at her. She didn't want to be caught staring. It wasn't polite.
After about ten minutes of walking, they stopped at a door and Starscream took a deep breath before entering. It appeared to be the command bridge, standing in front of the huge viewer was Megatron, a few other Decepticons were seated at their stations scattered around the bridge. Starscream made no motion to say who they were, she didn't ask. He stood motionless a little farther back from his leader, waiting patiently for Megatron to acknowledge him. Finally, after nearly five minutes, Megatron turned and smiled at Lyn. "Welcome to the Nemesis. This will be your home for a time." Megatron informed her as he looked at Starscream patiently. I take it you were nice to her. It wasn't a question.
Of course, Lord Megatron. Starscream said a little too politely, the smile left Megatron's face. She enjoyed the . . . er . . . flight the entire time. He added quickly, inwardly relieved that he was holding Lyn so that his leader could not punish him for his attitude.
Megatron grunted. Very well. Than turned his attention back to Lyn as she spoke.
"Before we can leave, there is something I have to do first." Lyn felt nervous asking, but she felt she had a right to ask. When the other waited patiently for her to continue, she hesitated a moment. "I have a promise to fulfill to the military and the government down there."
Megatron smiled patiently. "Dear Ashalyn . . . there is no need for you to prove yourself to them that you are capable of their destruction." Lyn frowned and folded her arms; Megatron knelt down to be closer to her. "Do you doubt that you could kill them all, if given the chance?" She shook her head, but before she could speak, he was speaking again. "I have no doubt that you could destroy them all and their feeble cities as well. Your powers are immense and your potential far greater still, but do not get caught up in petty revenge. Look at the broader scheme of things . . . With us, you will learn the true limits of your power and learn what you can do with it and how far your reach is extended." Lyn liked the sound of that, but she wasn't happy about giving up her promise of death and destruction to those on the planet below.
"I really want . . ." She trailed off as she felt the other's patience start to dwindle. She swallowed hard and nodded slightly. "Alright." She agreed quietly as Megatron's smile returned.
"Excellent! You must be tired. I will have Barricade take you to the place you will be staying for the time being." He informed her as he looked over at Barricade, who had been standing in a corner waiting patiently for his orders.
Barricade stepped forward and gently took her from Starscream. Lyn was surprised for the third time that day at how gentle they could be for being monstrously huge mechs. He turned and left the bridge without another word. Lyn felt strange being carried everywhere, but was inwardly grateful, and hoped she wouldn't be forced to find her own way around the ship any time soon. "Are you hungry?" Barricade asked her, his voice softer than it was earlier.
Lyn thought about it for a moment, than realized she was very hungry. "Yes." She answered simply, he nodded as they walked what seemed an impossibly long way, taking turns occasionally through the long hallways before he stopped before a door and opened it.
"This is where you'll be staying for the time being. It has been accommodated for you in advance. I will get you some food. I will return." He said as he put her down in the room and closed the door after him.
She stared at the room, it was huge compared to what she'd been used to at the manor, and she'd always thought the upstairs suite had been big! She walked around the room in awe. The filling of the room was her size, but the room itself was obviously meant to hold one of them. The ceiling was extremely high and the door was so massive there was no way she could get out or in without the aid of one of the Decepticons. She felt a sudden pang of regret as she saw two beds sitting next to each other in the room. The room had been made to accommodate both herself and her sister. She sighed and sat down on one of the beds. Perhaps one day it will still hold her. She thought hopefully as she looked at the plain steel walls, or well, she thought it was steel, it was probably made of something much stronger. She looked around the room, it was filled with furnishings that suited a whole house! A small kitchenette, a dining area, a living area, the bedroom area she was sitting in now . . . everything she could possibly need was right there. Except for her sister . . .
After nearly ten minutes the door opened and Barricade entered with a machine in one hand. Lyn looked at him in confusion. He set it down in the kitchenette area that was bare and hooked it up to what could have been an outlet. Without a word he made a few minor adjustment and than turned to her. "This is a food processor; it has been programmed to foods you are familiar with. Just use the panel to input your need and it will create what you ask for." Lyn walked over as he explained it, her first thought was it was going to be horribly complicated, but one look and she felt comfortable with it. The panel was just like a computer keyboard, she just had to type in a keyword and several options would be displayed. She smiled at its simplicity. "Understand how it works?" He asked, looking down at her, she looked up and nodded. "Good. I will be back in approximately ten hours to get you. That should give you sufficient recharge time." He told her as he turned to leave.
"Barricade?" He stopped and turned to look at her before walking through the door. "Thanks." He gave her a brief nod and left. Lyn looked back at the machine before her and sighed.
Meanwhile back on the Autobots ship . . .
Dawn stirred out of the blessed blackness. She opened her eyes and winced at the bright light above her. "Wha . . ." She muttered, trying to regain her bearings.
"Shush, you're alright, I'm just about finished. Feel any pain?" A female voice asked her, Dawn tried to push the fog away. She didn't feel pain, but she did feel a pressure on her chest.
"No pain . . ." She muttered, her voice sounding slightly slurred.
"Good, that's excellent." The voice told her, Dawn tried to lift her head, but found she was unable to move even so much as a finger.
"What's going on?" She asked, frowning at how slurred her voice was.
"One of your broken ribs punctured a lung; I'm repairing the damage that was done now. You're sedated, that's why you can't move." She answered Dawn's unasked question. "I'll be finished in just a few more minutes, than given a few hours of rest, you should be able to get up and move again." Dawn grunted a response as the blackness overtook her once more.
When she drifted back to consciousness, the room was dimmer and she felt a heavy warm blanket across her body pulled up to her chin. She opened her eyes and looked around. "Hey there, beautiful! Nice to see you join us!" She blinked in momentary confusion before the name flashed into her mind.
Dawn smiled. "Hi Jazz . . ." She answered weakly. "How long have I been out?"
The other shrugged. "About a day and a half, gave us quite a scare, mostly to Ratchet, poor guy doesn't need anymore stress on 'im." Dawn frowned, so Jazz explained. "They're guessing that it was the added weight of your bag and climbing into Ratchet that did it. But one of your ribs took a quick journey into your lung. Collapsed it, and you passed out. You were bleeding pretty good internally for a while, scared us pretty bad, so much so that we thought we might lose ya. But you pulled through alright." He finished with a smile.
Dawn mustered the strength to smile. "I've always had a strong will to live." She said with a smile.
"Well, now that you're awake, I'd probably better let Optimus know. He was here most of yesterday waitin' for ya to wake up. I'll be back in less than a minute!" He told her as he leaped to his feet and hopped out the door, leaving Dawn to stare where he had been.
She sighed and stared at the ceiling for a long time. When she heard the door hiss, she was startled. "I didn't mean to frighten you." The deep voice of Optimus sounded as he walked over to her bed, and knelt down beside her. "How do you feel?"
A fair question, she thought as she pondered the question. "Alright, I guess." She struggled to sit up, wincing as her chest pulled tight; she put a hand to her ribs as she slowly worked her way into a sitting position. Optimus flinched when she did, even without having ribs of his own; he knew what having things broken felt like. "But I've been better." She said with a small smile.
Optimus chuckled at her attempt at humor. She's joking around, that's a good sign. He thought as he settled himself onto the floor beside her bed. "Do you feel up to talking? Or would you like to continue resting?"
Dawn smiled warily. "I could definitely use the company, I don't like being alone." She muttered the last softly, but Optimus heard it and smiled reassuringly.
"Than company you shall have." He informed her softly. Her smile broadened. He thought about the questions that needed answered, and was pondering the way to ask them when she spoke.
"Promise me something?" Dawn asked weakly.
"Hmm?" Optimus replied, giving her his full attention.
"Promise me that you'll let me handle my sister? Don't kill her? I might be able to bring her around." Her words broke his heart.
He shook his head sadly. "I cannot make that promise, Ashadawna. But I will do my best to let you deal with your sister first. However, I will not stand by and watch her kill you. Should it come down to that, I will do what is in my power to stop her. Even if it means her death."
Dawn's lower lips trembled at the thought of her sister dying. "Just promise me than that you'll let me try before you . . . before you handle the situation yourself, okay?"
Optimus nodded. "That, dear Ashadawna, I can promise." He told her with a smile, she responded with a smile in return. "Now, you were telling us last night that this government of yours treated you poorly. You said that you were not punished often, but your sister was, correct?" Dawn nodded. "How many times could you estimate were you punished throughout your life?"
Dawn thought about the question for a moment, shifting her position, wincing at the dull pain that moving caused. "No more than two hundred times, but no less than eighty." It was a fair guess; after all, she never did keep track of how many times she was beaten or punished. Or well, she had but had stopped counting after eighty.
Optimus reeled at the thought, and she had received less punishment than her sister? How many times had her sister been punished? He voiced the question. "And your sister? A rough estimate?"
Dawn didn't have to think about that, she had kept track of each one and feared for the next. "More than ten thousand . . ." She refused to give the actual number; for fear that Optimus might decide to intervene with the military and the government.
"Ten thousand . . . no wonder she is so filled with hate." Optimus said in dreaded wonder. So much pain . . . so much agony and all because she had refused to conform to their ways, all because she had refused to give up what she was born to do. All because she clung to her own identity. Megatron will have a field day with this. She'll be easy to manipulate as long as he allows her to use her powers freely. He thought in dismay as he watched Dawn curiously. "How do the two of you get along? Being twins, I imagine you share quite a lot."
Dawn smiled as she thought about the past. "We can finish each other's thoughts, sentences, and can feel each other's pain. Are minds are always open to each other, we can easily sense what the other is feeling and thinking . . ." On instinct, she reached out to feel her sister, but found the link cold and dead. Tears sprang to her eyes as she recalled what had happened the other day. "Or well . . . we used to . . ." She whispered as she looked down at her hands in sorrow, blinking past the tears which threatened to fall.
Optimus put a finger gently on her chin, forcing her head up. "Hey, it's alright to cry. Don't be ashamed of your sorrow. You have a reason to feel such. There is no weakness in showing your emotions." He told her softly as he locked her eyes with his optics.
Unbidden the tears suddenly started to flow over her cheeks and dampened the blanket still clutched to her. "I've always heard from Lyn that crying is a weakness . . . and I try so hard to be strong like she is." Dawn's voice wavered as she spoke, but she tried to keep the tears out of her voice.
"There is more to strength than what is seen on the outside, dear Ashadawna." Optimus told her gently.
Dawn gave a small smile. "Just call me Dawn, okay? Or Asha, I don't care which. Ashadawna is so formal." She said, furrowing her nose up at the word.
Optimus gave a slight chuckle impressed that she was trying to lighten the mood. "Alright, as you wish Dawn." A thousand questions still echoed through his mind as he watched Dawn as she struggled to get into a more comfortable position. "Are you in much pain?"
Dawn smiled reassuringly and shook her head. "Not really, just really uncomfortable." She tried to reassure him, but she noticed that he flinched every time she winced. "It's not that bad, honestly. I heal fast." She told him as she flashed a reassuring smile.
Optimus shook his head. "Well, just don't get too carried away. I want you to take it easy for a while. No more scaring us half to death! I didn't rescue you just to watch you die." He said in mock sternness. She smiled in response. "Now, answer me this. What can you and your sister do with your powers? What are you capable of?" He knew of what the Decepticons had derived off of the planet, but he hadn't been able to get all the information they had gotten. Only enough to know there was going to be trouble unless they intervened.
Dawn thought about it for a moment. "Well, I haven't really tested my powers like Lyn has, but I know I'm practically a mirror of her, so our powers might be the same. Although I know she's stronger than I am!" She touched her ribs tenderly. "Let's see here, I can persuade people to do things, manipulate objects with my mind; I can . . . umm, well, I can give life to electronic devices, but I've never tried on anything larger than a CD player." She confessed, looking a little embarrassed by that fact. Optimus urged her silently. "I can create fire in my hand." She held her palm upright and concentrated on the heat in the room, focused it into a single point in the center of her hand, got the air molecules into closer contact and added the 'spark' that was needed to ignite it. A small pale flame danced in the center of her hand. Optimus was impressed; however the effort it took had been logged for future reference. "I can kind of command the wind . . . but I have to be outside to do that, I'm not strong enough to do it indoors . . ." She looked down at her hands again, Optimus sighed, it was going to take a lot of work to rebuild her self-esteem. "That's all I can think of right now on my side at least." She told him, looking at him once more.
He nodded and stroked his chin in thought. "And your sister?"
She winced. "There's a lot she can do. She's much stronger at everything than me. I know she can bring huge machinery to life, she did it to her vehicle one year not so long ago, and it tried to protect her and they destroyed it as a result. She can bring fire to her hand without a second thought, she can command the air even in a room like this, or a much smaller room for that matter, and bring the wind like a hurricane. She can manipulate objects far better than I can and with much more strength than I could ever manage to have. She can also command ice and cause the earth to do funny things like a really focused earthquake or make the ground like quicksand to an extent. And her persuasion is much stronger than mine. There really isn't a limit to what I've seen her do, she's really strong and uses that strength all the time. . ." She broke off with a shudder, remembering the feel of her sister's grip around her waist and chest. It has been unmercifully tight.
Optimus weighted his options. With Lyn on the Decepticon's side, she was a more powerful ally than he had previously thought. All these added powers would be terrible to face in a battle situation. "Thank you for telling me." He told her as they both fell silent. Dawn probably wouldn't stand a chance against her sister in a fight, and they both knew it, but Dawn still wanted to try rather than watch as her twin was destroyed. Optimus felt a weight upon his shoulders at the sudden possibility of killing Lyn. Dawn stretched a little and stifled a yawn. She wasn't tired, but she was a little bored. He smiled down at her. She would be his newest charge. He hadn't had a charge since he had taken care of Bumblebee when he was a youngling. . .
Dawn looked at him expectantly. "So, what brings the leader of the Autobots to my bedside?" She asked, watching him closely.
The other shrugged and was about to answer when the door hissed and Ratchet walked through. "I heard you were awake. Feeling better?" Dawn looked at Optimus once more to be certain he wasn't going to say anything.
"I feel much better, thank you. Where am I?" The question was directed at Optimus.
"You are on our ship for the time being, we're headed in the direction of one of our bases. The one in particular that we're headed towards you will have other humanoids to interact with; hopefully you will get alone well enough with them." Optimus answered her as he looked at Ratchet. "How close are we?"
Ratchet took his eyes off of Dawn to look at his leader. "Nearly there, only about a few hours left." He told Optimus as he looked back at Dawn, scanning her thoughtfully. He was surprised to find that one of her ribs was completely healed, the one that had punctured her lung was mending nicely and her lung had completely recovered and was nearly healed back to its original state. She is nearly healed. She can get out of bed if she wishes. Ratchet said through sonic communication to Optimus.
Really? Already? But it has only been two days! That's fast by our standards . . . Optimus responded, astonished at the information. I still want her to take a few more hours before she becomes entirely active. He told Ratchet, who slightly nodded.
Dawn watched them closely. She could feel the slight 'ripple' their sonic communication caused, but she didn't say anything, not wanting to interrupt their conversation, after all, if they were using such to talk, it was likely they didn't want her to know what was being said. She shrugged mentally, that was fine by her, and she wasn't paranoid like her sister.
"When we arrive at our destination, I believe it will be alright for you to 'test your feet' so to speak." Ratchet told Dawn with a smile. "You have healed sufficiently, however I would take the extra time to recover if I were you." Dawn nodded with a small smile.
"Okay . . . I don't feel much like moving around at the moment anyway." She answered, closing her eyes.
Ratchet looked at Optimus and gave an indescribable look. "I think I'll leave the two of you alone, should you need me I will be a shout away." He told Dawn, than looked at Optimus. Ironhide has chosen to take up guard at her door, he feels she needs the extra security from any unwanted visitors. You are free to talk to her as you wish without farther interruption. Optimus nearly groaned.
Ironhide had been his friend for many, many years and it wasn't likely that he would leave if he was told too. Dawn was small, frail and in a weakened state, Ironhide would have the natural need to protect her. After all, she was little more than a youngling herself . . . and Ironhide fiercely protected younglings. He thought as he gazed at Dawn curiously.
"See you later, Ratchet." Dawn said as Ratchet walked toward the door, looking back with a smile before walking out. "I like the medic." She said with a smile. Optimus chuckled softly. "So, I know you said you were going to protect me, but I feel like a fifth wheel. What can I do to help out?"
Optimus shrugged lightly. "We'll have to see what you're capable of. But you really don't need to do anything. You shouldn't feel obligated." He told her, but she shrugged.
"I like to help." She said cheerfully.
"Well, for right now, we'll just focus on your healing, than, after you have made a full recovery, we shall see what you can do to help out. Does that sound acceptable?" He asked her, watching her intently.
She thought about it for a moment, mostly because her mind was still a little groggy and she was thinking past the fuzz. "Yes. That sounds okay." She said after a short pause.
Optimus smiled. "Excellent. Now, I suggest you get some rest, I can assure you that you will not be bothered." He told her as he carefully stood back up.
Dawn looked up at him and nodded. "Yeah, I think I'll take up that suggestion." She said as she stifled a yawn. Optimus nodded and walked quietly out the door. Dawn watched him go, catching a glimpse of Ironhide outside her door. She grinned sleepily. She knew the large mech was going to be keeping everyone out. She lowered herself back down on the bed and was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Ironhide stopped Optimus as he exited the door and waited for the door to close before talking. "How is she?"
"She's doing better. Mostly healed, in fact." Optimus informed him as he gave Ironhide a strange look. "You're being very uncharacteristically sentimental. Your protectiveness I can understand, but the added concern on top of it? You feel okay?" He joked lightly at his long time friend.
Ironhide huffed. "She almost died. Of course I care how she is doing! But it's great that she's mostly healed, but isn't that a little fast? I thought her injury was more serious than that."
Optimus grunted softly. "She's obviously made of some pretty tough stuff. She's still very fragile and vulnerable, but she's recovering nicely. She's sleeping at the moment, but you're free to visit her you know. It would do you some good to have a conversation with her. She's got a lot of information about her sister you would find interesting."
Ironhide took the bait. "Like what? We already know she's powerful. What else is there to know? She's probably power hungry just like Megatron." He muttered as he looked at the closed door.
"I'll let her answer your questions. You can probably think of some more formidable questions than I can. Feel free to ask them when she wakes. I am guessing she'll wake in approximately forty-five minutes." Optimus told him as he let Ironhide think about it. "I have work to go do. Contact me if I am needed." Ironhide grunted and let Optimus walk away, lost in his thoughts of whether he should talk to Dawn or not.
Back on the Nemesis . . .
Lyn had spent nearly two and a half days on the Nemesis and hadn't once experienced boredom. Until now. She sighed and stared out the massive window, listening to the others drone on in a language she couldn't understand. If only I could understand, maybe I'd know what was going on. She thought bitterly as she looked longingly out the window.
"Bored?" Lyn jumped at the voice right behind her and turned. Starscream was looking down at her. Lyn nodded. "I am no longer required." He shot a venomous glare back at the other Decepticons and than turned back to Lyn. "So how about we entertain each other."
Lyn eyed the Decepticon with suspicion. As far as she knew Starscream didn't like her. Her list of allies was very short. Her list of enemies grew; it seemed, by the day. "And how would we do that?" She asked, narrowing her eyes slightly.
Starscream sighed in annoyance. "I'm not entirely sure. My means of entertainment are not the same as yours, I am sure." He told her with evident irritation in his voice. He cast a withering glare at Megatron who just smiled wickedly back; he huffed and turned his attention back to Lyn. "Let us go somewhere away from others." He growled, glaring at the snickering Decepticons who were watching.
Lyn felt slightly embarrassed by the laughing Decepticons, it had occurred to her that perhaps 'playing' with her was a sort of punishment and he was being forced to interact with her. But she pushed it aside as she stood up, nodding to the air commander. "Fine with me, they're a bunch of jerks anyway." She mumbled as Starscream picked her up and carried her out of the room.
They walked in silence for a long time before Starscream spoke. "We're going to a hanger bay. There won't be anyone there this time of day."
"Why there, why not somewhere else?" Lyn inquired, looking at Starscream intently.
He sighed irritably. "Because I prefer wide open spaces, the hanger bay is the largest area on this blasted ship." He growled in response.
"Ah. See, I didn't know that, did I?" Lyn replied with painfully politeness. Starscream fought back the smirk that threatened to cross his lips. She almost reminded him of himself when he was younger. They walked in silence for a couple more minutes before Lyn spoke. "Do you go to the hanger bay often?"
"As often as I can get away." He said, the agitation starting to wan from his voice.
"I had a place like that where I used to live too. I enjoy space as well." She replied back softly, Starscream almost felt a pang of sympathy for her at the sound of loss in her voice. Almost.
"For you, this ship must be huge." He stated, making the final turn toward the hanger bay. Lyn nodded. "But for me, this ship is like your house back on your home planet."
"It wasn't my home planet." She said so softly Starscream almost didn't hear it. He chose to remember that, but say nothing about it.
"This ship gets a little cramped after a while." He continued, still walking into the hanger bay, giving it a quick scan to make sure no one else was there to watch. It was empty. He walked over to the huge viewing window and set Lyn down on a crate so she could be even with him when he sat down.
Lyn stretched a little as she watched Starscream lower himself to the floor. "So, if I remember hearing right, you're the air commander, am I correct?" He grunted a response. "Must be nice, to be so free to fly whenever you want." He looked over at her in mild surprise.
"I saw your wings. You can fly, why you make it sound as though you can't." He asked her incredulously.
She shrugged as she sat down on the crate, looking at him. "Long story." She replied shortly. "You probably wouldn't be interested."
He folded his arms across his chest plate and narrowed his red optics at her. "Try me. I have nothing but time right now." He told her flatly.
She looked at him warily. Why is he suddenly so interested in my life? She asked herself as she pursed her lips before answering slowly. "The planet I come from, the people there don't have wings. In fact, they don't have much in the ways of powers either. People like me and my sister were considered abominations of nature and were constantly punished for using what we were born with." All of this, Starscream had already gathered from the limited data he'd been able to read when Megatron had been in recharge. "Our wings were clipped when we were younger, keeping us grounded. As we got older, we learned how to . . . retract them, as to keep them safe from being clipped. As long as we kept them 'retracted' we wouldn't have to worry about the consequences. Well, I know Dawn never brings her wings out unless she's certain that there isn't anyone around, but I used to go out behind the manor and into the woods to a clearing and spread my wings as far as they would go." She felt embarrassed suddenly by what she was about to say. "I . . . uh . . ." She couldn't continue.
So Starscream answered for her softly. "Can't fly." His tone of voice surprised both Lyn and himself. He couldn't imagine having the ability to fly and not the knowledge. Flying was his life! Anything that had wings couldn't live life without the taste of the air! And yet . . . this small fleshling was grounded. He frowned slightly. "Show me your wings." He commanded her.
Lyn looked at him like he'd asked her to suddenly strip and dance naked before him. "What?! Why?!" She demanded, climbing to her feet suddenly.
"Just do it." He snapped.
Lyn gave him a bad look, but complied. She stretched her wings out as far as she could, the muscles flexed across her back, shoulders and neck as the wings moved gently, coming to a rest at her sides. "Happy now?" She growled, leaving her wings hovering about her.
Starscream marveled at her wings, they were dark steel gray ending in black tips. They were impressive for one as small as her. "Are they . . . heavy?" He asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. He'd only heard of winged races, he'd never actually met any one of them.
Lyn cocked her head to the side, disarmed by the question. "No, not really. Although I've been told that I weight a heck of a lot more with my wings out than without them." She told him as she settled herself back down into a sitting position at the edge of the crate closer to Starscream.
"Interesting." He murmured as he watched her wings as Lyn flexed them slightly. "You say you can't fly, but I saw you glide down. Certainly you have the basics of flight down."
Lyn shook her head. "Only out of trial and error can I glide. It took me a long time to learn how to use the air with my wings." She replied, hunching down on herself in shame.
Starscream felt an odd emotion then, something he only felt for his wingmates. He felt the need to comfort her. "I can teach you." He heard himself say confidently.
Lyn looked up in surprise. "Really?" She asked, than suspicion darkened her eyes. "Why would you do that for me?"
Starscream allowed himself a smirk. Her paranoia would probably keep her alive for as long as the Decepticons had her. But his intentions were noble, for once. "I remember when I was a youngling. I couldn't fly and it was a heart-wrenching sensation for me to see others do it and not be able to follow them. Those born to fly should rule the sky." He told her with a smirk.
Lyn felt a smile of her own tug at her lips at the thought of finally learning to fly. It is extremely tempting . . . but can I trust him? What is his motive? What are his intentions? She asked herself as she heard herself answering Starscream. "Fine. Alright, deal." She saw his smirk change into a smile as he nodded. He stood and looked around the hanger.
"This should be more than enough space for you to learn. You're small, this hanger is big enough for a small Seeker to fly in, and so it should hold you with no problems." He commented as he turned back to Lyn, who was standing. "We'll start with the basics." He told her as she nodded. "There isn't much air movement in here, so this is a good place to start. When there is wind, it is going to be slightly different. But no wind is a good way to start." He informed her as he began telling her the basics of flight and how she needed to change her wings position during flight to get the desired lift. If I can get her to trust me, than I could finally have an advantage over Megatron. He thought as he explained flying to Lyn. He was grateful for his interest in the flying races, the information turned out to be more useful than everyone jested it would be.
Lyn listened intently, eager to test her new knowledge. She realized that she would fail many times before succeeding, but it was only the result that mattered, not the means. After nearly an hour of listening, Lyn was ready to test her knowledge. Starscream watched with sudden patience as she tested herself. Her first attempt was . . . laughable, but he held his silence as she cursed. The second attempted looked . . . painful, but he resisted the urge to laugh. The third attempt wasn't much better, she had finally managed to get off the ground, but got so excited at the prospect that she'd dropped like a rock to the floor. She cursed words that weren't in Starscream's vocabulary and he made a mental note to ask her about those words later. Finally, she looked at him with a look of pure determination. "Alright, I'm finished playing around. It's gonna work this time. Pick me up; put me back on the crate please." She said, adding the please as an after thought.
Starscream shrugged and put her up on the crate. It was only about ten to twelve feet above ground, so she wouldn't seriously damage herself when she fell he calculated. He watched as she flared her wings out and charged her power. He blinked in confusion. What did her power have to do with flight? He wondered to himself as he felt a slight stirring of wind brush against him.
Lyn took a deep breath. This had to work, or it was going to be very, very painful. She thought as she used her strong leg muscles and launched herself off of the crate, using her power to cause the air to support her wings, she pumped her wings with two mighty flaps and was airborne! Starscream was impressed. She had used the air to give her lift as she did her initial takeoff and than used her muscles to do the rest. She climbed up to nearly twenty feet before the muscles in her back screamed for her to stop. She eased the strain by gliding down in a spiral, landing a few yards from Starscream, her landing however, was not so graceful. She hit the ground hard, her knees buckled and slammed into the ground, the pain instantly forcing her hands to catch her before she slammed into the ground. But she did it! She flew! If only for less than one minute, she still succeeded! "I did it!" She said in triumph, but her voice betrayed the pain she was in from the landing.
"You need lots of work, but not bad for a first-timer." He told her as nicely as he could. He noticed the amount of pain she was in and commented. "Do you need help?" He asked, watching her as she seemed reluctant to get off the floor.
As much as Lyn didn't want to admit it, she needed help. The landing had hurt more than she originally thought and she was momentarily afraid that she might have hurt something. "I think I can make it." She muttered as, wincing, she climbed to her feet. She swayed and fell back down with a yelp as she put full weight down on her legs.
"You're definitely going to have to work on that landing of yours." Starscream told her as he reached over and gently picked her up, scanning her for any serious injuries. He sighed as he saw she had badly bruised her kneecaps, but did little other damage. "A few days of rest are what are required before you go trying that again." Starscream told her as he held her.
"I see you haven't killed her yet." The voice caused both Lyn and Starscream to jump.
"Blackout." Starscream practically spat the name out.
The other smirked. "Getting a little soft with the fleshling around, are we?" He taunted, eyeing Lyn held gently in the other's hand.
Starscream scowled. "There is nothing wrong in being nice every once in a great while. Perhaps you should learn that." He countered, but Blackout seemed unaffected.
He looked past Starscream and directly at Lyn. "One day soon, little one, you're usefulness will be up. I will be there when that happens. It has been a long time since I have had a toy to play with." He said smoothly to her, smiling wickedly at her.
Starscream automatically held her closer, protective of her from Blackout. "Not while I'm around." Starscream growled in response. "Megatron would kill you for harming her. Don't you forget that!"
The other shrugged. "Her time will come. We will eventually regain the Allspark, and her usefulness will expire, than Megatron will hand her over to me. When he does, I will rip those little wings from her back." Blackout's optics glowed dark red with promise, Lyn felt herself shudder under the gaze.
Starscream was about to say something in her defense when another figure appeared behind Blackout. "Enough." The figure said simply, Blackout shrugged and walked away the way he had come. Megatron watched his warrior go with a look of dark malice on his face.
Lyn was shaking uncontrollably. "Is it true?" She asked in a small voice, looking at Megatron in fear of his answer.
But the leader of the Decepticons smiled a reassuring smile, all the evil malice gone from his face. "No. It's not. Blackout specializes in instilling fear in his opponents. He knows what to say that will cause the greatest effect. Have no fear, you're usefulness to me will never end." He said calmly, Lyn felt herself slowly starting to relax. She felt odd under the observation of the leader, she felt oddly naked under that gaze. She retracted her wings self-consciously, Megatron noticed her discomfort. "You will learn that there is nothing to fear from me." He told her softly as he approached his second-in-command. The height difference between them was nearly six feet it seemed, slight by their standards, but a huge difference by hers. You played nice, didn't you, Starscream? Megatron used sonic communication to ask his second.
Of course, Lord Megatron, today has been most entertaining. Starscream replied, at ease by his leader's cool temperament.
As Starscream talked, Megatron scanned Lyn, finding her injured, he felt his anger boil. Put her down, Starscream. It was a command, Starscream flinched, but complied. As Starscream placed Lyn on the crate, Megatron's hand whipped out and latched a hold of Starscream's throat. I told you to watch after her! I told you to take care of her! You failed me yet again, Starscream! Lyn flinched at the swiftness of Megatron, and felt fear in her stomach for Starscream. She lashed out with her powers and pried Megatron's fingers off of Starscream's throat in one swift move, shoving the leader back a step. A force field appeared around Starscream to all threes surprise. Megatron turned his hateful glare to Lyn, who flinched.
"He didn't do anything wrong!" She yelled at the angry leader. "He doesn't deserve to be punished!" Megatron made a fist in one hand and took a deep breath.
Megatron looked at the cowering and confused Starscream and back to the distressed Lyn. "My orders were that you were to be protected. I find you have been hurt." Lyn felt herself flush with embarrassment. "Do you care to explain?" He was speaking to Starscream.
"I hurt myself." Lyn told him, but he was still looking at his second for an explanation.
"I was . . . teaching her how to fly. She landed wrong and hurt herself." Starscream mumbled as he eyed his leader worriedly.
Megatron looked at Lyn, who nodded her agreement to the statement. Suddenly Megatron laughed. "The heartless Seeker was teaching a fleshling to fly!" He said after a few moments, than started to laugh again. Starscream felt angry, but Lyn felt very hurt. She had thought that it had been thoughtful and nice of Starscream to teach her something she had only previously dreamed of, and now Megatron was mocking that gift. Megatron seemed to sense that and stopped. "Seriously, it is good to see the two of you getting along so well together. Forgive me, I have known Starscream for many, many years and it seems this is the first time he's shown compassion to something other than his wingmates." Megatron explained as Lyn slowly released her force field from around the Seeker.
"She's special." The Seeker muttered under his breath. Megatron chuckled.
"So she is." Megatron replied, eyeing Lyn with interest. There was nothing about force fields in the reports, he thought amusingly. Lyn shifted positions uncomfortably under his gaze. "Show me your wings, little one." He told her softly, but the command was there no less.
Lyn took a deep breath and extracted her wings. She unfurled them with a small flourish as she flared them out. Her body trembled with effort as her muscles screamed against the motion of holding her wings up high. Megatron took notice of the strain. He took in the sight with a sense of awe. The wings were around twenty-six feet in length, impressive for someone no taller than 5'2. Lyn let her wings drop down to her sides, curling them halfway around in front of her to relax her aching back and neck. "Satisfied?" She asked, suddenly weary.
Megatron smirked slightly. "You've never flown before? With all the things you did in your life, you never dared to spread your wings and fly away from it all?" He asked, reminding himself not to go too far.
Lyn lifted her head up defiantly. "I felt no need to do so because they would have clipped my wings again! That is a painful, humiliating and horrible process to go through!" She snapped at the leader angrily, her vicious nature snapping back into play.
The other chuckled. "Very well, at least you are learning now." He murmured to her softly, she defused. "Take care of her, Starscream." I am leaving her in your care. I am entrusting you. Don't disappoint me.
Starscream nodded. She is safe in my care, mighty Megatron. He said smoothly, a little too smoothly, Megatron glared at him. Starscream swallowed hard, knowing he had just pushed his leader a little too far and added quickly. I am going to take her on a short trip off ship, if that is okay with you.
Megatron grunted. Fine. But do not linger long out there, Autobots could be scouting there still, it would do us no good if you got yourself blown up and Ashalyn destroyed with you. He chided Starscream. He looked down at Lyn. "I will speak with you later today about your powers." Lyn's heart jumped at the promise, he had been postponing it for nearly three days now, he had promised her he would let her start to use her powers, but not until after they had talked. She had kept her end of the deal, now it was up to Megatron to uphold his end. He turned without another word and left.
Starscream looked down at Lyn and smiled. "You liked flying in me a few days ago, right?" Lyn nodded, a look of confusion crossing her face. His smile broadened. "I have a treat for you today!" He told Lyn as he helped her off the crate, stepped away, transformed and lifted the cockpit. "Climb in, we're going for a ride." He told her, she smiled in sudden joy and climbed in.