AU G1/IDW-verse. Taking place during the events of All Hail Megatron. Megatron's on Earth, running rampant with his Decepticons. Prime's down and out on Cybertron with the Swarm slowly moving in. Unbeknownst to both sides, an underground group is about to make it's appearance on Cybertron for the first time in several millenia...
A/N: OCs used. All mentioned characters belong to their respective owners, Transformers is property of Hasbro, the time line belongs to IDW.
Please keep in mind that this an AU G1/IDW-verse setting. Some things may appear different then they may appear in the comic.
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Welcome to Tomorrow
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Chapter 4.
She drifted an she learned. There wasn't much Knight could do to help the humans, if she was to as much show her face she'd be slagged on sight, so what she did was tap into their mass communications network. Their 'World Wide Web' was an interesting system. It provided the needed insight she needed to better understand this world and it's inhabitants.
Knight was a unique Cybertronian. She couldn't really be defined as an Autobot or a Decepticon. She was her own. Her overall existence was a mystery, only known to a few. She rarely talked about her past, finding it left her filled with bitter memories she would rather not have remembered. Storm, Ice Queen, and her wingman, Excalibur were the only one's that knew the whole truth.
Out of the nine of them, Knight was the second youngest, the youngest being the Twins, Havoc and Catastrophe and yet in her short life (short by Cybertronian standards) she'd seen and experienced enough that even a battle hardened mech would cringe at. Her existence, overall, was an accident.
As the femme floated aimlessly through the SZ, in the course of mere moments she reviewed thousands to millions of news articles. The humans were so much like them it was unnerving. The humans built great cities of their own, they had their leaders, they had their enemies, and they had their own wars. The humans society was so much like theirs it was no wonder why the Decepticons sought to take advantage of it.
After several moments of absorbing the seemingly endless stream of information, she found something that she found interesting and would certainly explain why the Decepticons seem intent on holding themselves up in one of the humans cities. The humans had various sources of energy that seemed to never end. Fuel of various types, water, electricity, and the list seemed to go on. A majority of those energy sources were renewable as well which was no wonder the Decepticons were here.
Knight drifted more again. Passing by a shadow portal she heard an strange animalistic sound, a roar of some sort. Pausing in her scan of the 'World Wide Web', the grey and black femme glided towards the portal. Peering through portal she came to see a strange quaddredal organic of sorts. Colored in various shades of grey the strange creature was dotted with black and white rosette spots. The growling, snarling organic paced its cage like structure while another like it lay perched on a rock nearby.
That's when it occured to her... The way these two beasts acted, they reminded her so much of two of her companions back on Cybertron.
A small smirked played its way across her face, the mischievous glint in her optics hidden by her visor. Drawing in close to the portal, she quickly scanned the twin beasts before falling back into the SZ. With another satisfied smirk, she flew off.
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Four of the planets solar cycles passed and Knight alternated from following Starscream to following Megatron. Megatron was a bit harder to stick with, the reason being his faithful follower Soundwave was always with him. Granted, while submerged in the SZ she was untrackable and untraceable, Soundwave though was able to pick up her thought patterns without a moments hesitation.
Falling to a back up plan, she followed the other Decepticons, perhaps one of the others would be more cooperative.
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It was another two solar cycles later when Knight found herself hidden amongst the shadows of various native aircraft on the deck of a large nautical ship. It was there where she found a scan worthy of her Decepticon swords-master. Getting a scan of the aircraft she fell back into the darkness after hearing the sound of a small engine roaring from nearby. Following the sound she came to see a human pull up on small four wheeled vehicle of sorts and hide amongst the shadows.
Knight tilted her head curiously. "Interesting..." Knight said as she scanned the strange vehicle. Searching through the data she collected on the planet she found the vehicle was called an ATV. No sooner did she complete the scan did the vehicle and human disappear again into a building. Knight tilted her again wondering what scared the human away. That's when Knight noticed something fly overhead. Tracking the energy signature, it was certainly a Cybertronian. Following the jet Knight came to see the Seeker Thundercracker confronting the Insecticon Bombshell.
Listening in on the exchange, Knight back tracked some when Skywarp suddenly appeared. After a brief moment and exchange between the Insecticons and the Seekers, the Insecticons flew off. Knigth drifted back from the portal, her hand on her chin in thought.
The Swarm up until recently have been dorment and quiet. Now something suddenly has them on the move again. "How does this all tie in?" She asked herself.
Searching out Starscream's energy signature, Knight tracked the signature to where the Seeker stood perched on a building top, surevying the city that lay in ruins below him. Knight stayed with him, hidden within his very shadow. Three more solar cycles passed and nothing of importance was ever said. Abandoning the hope of getting information from Starscream, Knight thought back to the confrontation between Thundercracker and Bombshell.
The Insecticons Bombshell, Kickback, and Shrapnel were the end result of an experiment that took vorns to get right. Their predacessors making up the Swarm. The Insecticon project was started to make a more energy efficient Cybertronian. The Insecticons being able to feed on any type of material, whether it be organic or inorganic and convert into energy they could use. Unlike the Insecticons, the Swarm were driven by an almost organic, primal instinct to feed. It was a hive mentality in a sense. On more then one occasion while out on patrol through the surrounding sectors of their make shift base, Knight ran into Swarm scouts. Before they could make a sound or call to summon the rest of the massive colony she would silence them with a quick swipe of her saber.
The Swarm itself were usually quiet but with the sudden rush of activity she had to surmise that something had them spooked and in a frenzy.
Going on a hunch Knight got on the com-link to Storm.
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The heavy set black and midnight blue femme was at her usual spot at the main computer console when the com-link went off.
-Storm, it's Knight do you read me, over?-
Storm reached forward and pressed a button to open the communication line. -I read ya Knight, what's up? Find any good information?-
-Nothing much, not a word was passed between the Cons in regards to the Autobots location.- Knight reported. -Though I did easedrop on a rather interesting discussion between Thundercracker, Skywarp, and the Insecticons. There's alot of friction between the Seekers and the bugs.-
Storm stilted her head curiously. -Hmm.-
-Storm I have a question for you.- Knight then said.
-Shoot and not me please.- Storm joked good naturedly.
Knight shook her head, a smile on her face as she floated upside in the SZ. -Since my abscence from Cybertron, has there been reported higher levels of activity from the Swarm?-
Storm leaned back in her chair, hand on her chin, deep in thought. -Now that ya mention it, yes. Disaster and Blue had a run in with a small scouting group a couple clicks north of base.-
There was a moment of silence over both ends before Knight came on again. -I think theres a reason why the bugs are on the move... What if the Autobots were driven off Earth and the only safe place for them to return is Cybertron?-
-First off.- Storm stopped her. -What is 'Earth'?-
-Earth is the name given to this planet by the humans.-
-Ah.-
-Like I was saying, perhaps thats the reason why the Swarm is all up in arms. What if the Autobots returned? Maybe the reason the Swarm is on the move is because when the Autobots returned maybe they crashed.- Knight provided.
Storm once again sat back in her chair, a curious glint in her visor. -Hmm... Ya may be on to something.- Storm leaned forward and started inputting data into the console. -Several cycles ago Indigo reported a massive tremor in the northern terriotories. When she, Blue, and Disaster return from their latest search in the western territories I'll gather everyone up and have a pow wow and let em in on what we know.-
-Understood. You want me to continue my survaillance?-
-Yeah, continue for the time being. Find anything good?- Storm asked.
-Define 'anything good'.-
-Anything good as in anything good. Like information on the planet, inhabitants, native creatures, and so on.-
Knight laughed lightly across the com-link. -Well the humans are very much like us in the way they act. The native life forms are interesting as well. I managed to acquire a couple alternate forms as well. Some that I know a couple you guys may appreciate.-
Storm laughed out loud. -Be sure to nab me one with some real lug nuts to it if you would please.-
-Anything you say Storm, anything you say.-
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