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. Unbeknown 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 6.
Storm had contacted Knight, informing her of their plans. The older femme had informed her to be ready to return back to Cybertron at a moments notice in case things started to spiral out of control. Knight kept the com-link open, ready for the call if it came. Knowing she wasn't going to get any information from the Decepticons at this time, she decided to further explore the organic world.
It was truly astounding; with what was happening in one of their greatest cities, they truly had no care. They went about daily routines.
It was when the young femme was investigating the life of a river bottom when an alarm on her heads up display made its prescence known. Checking the message, Knight gritted when she found her energy running low.
"Gotta love to hate the SZ system I guess." Knight mumbled to herself.
The SZ system, while it was a technological wonder all its own, utilized an alarming amount of energy to use. Due to its constant use, it made Knight the highest consumer of energon among their group. Storm told them, that whatever energon they recovered, that Knight get a certain percentage first then the rest would be spilt among the rest of them. Knight was grateful, unlike Storm, Ice Queen, and everyone else, if Knight's energy dropped to a dangerously low level she would fall into stasis lock and suffer irreparable damage to her primary systems. She had a close call once before and it took Indigo several stellar cycles to get her back up to full operational strength.
Knight exited the SZ and found herself on the river bottom. Adjusting her sensors for the environmental change, the femme scanned her surroundings. Looking towards the surface, Knight could see the light from their moon shining down through the water. Activating the jets mounted on the sides of her legs, Knight rose to the surface. Head breaking the surface, she ignored the water pouring down over her visor as she scanned her surroundings.
"Great." She gritted again. "I had to appear right near one of their military bases." Looking out before her, she took in the fleet of naval ships that lined the shores. Tilting her head curiously, Knight drifted towards the shore line. Keeping her scanners on high alert and her cloaking systems online, she made her way to the docks.
"Curious..." Knight said quietly to herself. Observing carefully, she watched as, what appeared to be civilians get loaded onto some of the massive naval ships. "... Odd." Ducking back under the surface, Knight swam up river a bit until she found a secluded spot where she could come ashore. Climbing up onto the the grassy shore, Knight took the moment to inspect the strange organic material under foot. Other then Cybertron, this is the first world Knight had ever set foot upon. The fact that it was a entirely organic world made it even more interesting to her. Disappearing into the cover of the forest, Knight's sensors continued to scan around in hopes of finding a suitable energy source she could consume.
She treaded carefully through the trees. Not knowing the tolerances of the strange organic plant life, Knight choose to be careful. A couple minutes into her trek, she stopped suddenly. Quirking her feather like audio receptors forward and backwards, information scrolled across her heads up display. "Hmm..." Turning towards the direction of the sound she heard, Knight made her way through the trees up until the tree line. Staring out before her, she watched as a human clad in various shades of green and brown camouflage walked by a couple feet away with a strange quadrupedal animal by his side on a leash.
At her approach the animal turned her way and snarled, baring its fangs. Then suddenly it lurched forward out of its keepers grasp and dashed her way. Shrinking back more into the trees, more out of sight, she observed as the creature came rushing through the brush after her. It stood before her, barking, growling, and snarling. Tilting her head, a small smirk playing its way across her face plates, Knight scanned the strange creature. Knight lifted her head, hearing the creatures' master calling for him, crashing through the undergrowth looking for him. Thinking it best not to be seen at this crucial time, Knight leaned in low and gave the creature a low, threatening hiss.
The animal crouched low, whimpered, and fled back towards its owner.
Sergeant First Class Jacobs was on his patrol of the civilian sector with his German Shepherd partner appropriately named Rambo. Passing by some apartment buildings, Rambo suddenly stopped and without any provacation broke free from his grasp and dashed into the trees barking. Jacobs sighed heavily looking skyward before following his dog. He was about to enter the trees when his dog suddenly came running out again whimpering.
Looking curiously at his dog, Jacobs bent down and grabbed hold of the leash. "What did you see boy? Something scare you Rambo?" Standing up again he scanned the tree line, his hand automatically falling to his fire arm which sat in his belt. A rustling caught his attention and Rambo whimpered loudly again. Quickly drawing his hand gun he was about to shout to whoever was hiding in there when a skunk carelessly sauntered out of the brush roughly twenty feet away.
Stowing his fire arm back in its holster, Jacobs quickly led Rambo away from the skunk. "A skunk Rambo? Seriously? Come on before we get sprayed." Jacobs led a still whimpering Rambo away from the bushy black and white animal and around the side of the apartment complex and out of sight.
From where she was crouched amongst the trees, Knight vented air through her vents. "Close call." She said to herself. Standing up carefully, she continued on her way in search of a suitable energy source to nourish herself with.
A few steps further in, Knight's heads up display beeped at her. Checking her scanners a smile crossed her face plates again. "Good... A suitable liquid energy source." Turning in the direction her scanners indicated, Knight took cautious steps through the brush until she encountered a barrier of sorts.
A fence of mesh metal that reached up to just above her knees lined a facility with a half dozen storage silos inside. Scanning around for any survalliance equipment, Knight nodded to herself when nothing appeared on her scanners. Stepping carefully over the fence, the young femme approached the closest storage unit, going unbeknownst to her, her foot breaking a laser boundary sensor...
Surveying the unit she found a small valve on the bottom of it. Kneeling down, Knight easily flicked the valve off and watched as the liquid immediately started pouring forth. Cupping her hands, she dipped them under the flowing liquid, a smile crossing her face plates as she bought the handful to her mouth.
Sipping the liquid experimentally, Knight let the liquid swish around her mouth before gulping down the rest in her hand greedily. She dipped her hands back under the flowing liquid and gulped it down even faster. She did this several times until she had her fill.
She was so engrossed in refueling herself, she failed to notice the army of humans slowly moving in around her, fire arms poised. One human charged his rifle, the click making Knight stop mid sip, the fuel oil dripping from between her fingers and down her arm to the ground below. Her tall feather-like audio receptors quirked forward and backward before falling back along her helmet. Then suddenly with a rush of movement Knight was off running.
"HOLD YOUR FIRE UNTIL IT'S CLEAR OF THE FUEL FARM!" Knight heard a human yell as she weaved in between the silos. 'Smart thinking organic.' Knight thought as she heard the humans mobilize. 'Don't want this entire facility going sky high.' Moving quickly, Knight easily lunged over the security fence and into the trees where she was forced to stop short. Spotlights erupted through the darkness, temporarily blinding her.
It took a moment for her optics to clear, but once they did Knight found a squad of armored vehicles and humans slowly moving in to surround her. "Uh oh." She muttered whipping her head around looking for an escape route.
"Robot!" A human before her shouted from the bed of an armored Topkick pickup truck. "Disarm yourself and surrender now! We got you completely surrounded!" And true to his word even as he spoke more humans were swarming in around her. Rising high over the tree tops attack helicopters swooped low and formed an aerial barrier above her.
'So, so, sooooo not good...' Knight thought to herself. 'No way in the Pit I'm disarming.' She opted for the second best. Kneeling down slowly, she came to be in a low to the ground crouching position. 'Okay, I've gotten myself out of tighter situations...' Tilting her head curiously at the Topkick, Knight surpressed the smirk as she scanned the truck. 'Storm better be darned grateful for this...'
Glancing over head real quick she spotted an opening amongst the airborne barrier. Channeling some energy to her legs, Knight prepped her jets for a quick burst.
"DISARM YOURSELF!" The lead human commanded again. "We know you understand us! Disarm yourself now or we WILL shoot!"
Tilting her head at the human, Knight decided to be daring. "From the looks of your weapons you have had encounters with my kind." She spoke up, obviously startling several of the humans.
"It's- It's a girl!" She heard one human utter, gaping.
"Of course I am a female. Why does it come as a shock to you? Most species on your world come in both genders, male and female. You think it as impossible for other beings such as yourselves to have a gender?"
"Enough gender talk!" The lead human barked again. "Disarm yourself now!"
"I'm not armed." Knight lied.
"Then what do you call those blades on your back?" The lead human challenged, thinking he got the best of her.
Knight flexed her short back mounted wing blades, looking over her shoulder. "These? They help me to fly when I change form." Well, it was a half lie. Her rotor blades did serve two purposes, flying and sword combat.
After a moment the lead human spoke up again, "What were you doing in our fuel farm?"
Shifting to a more comfortable position, she answered. "I was merely looking for energy source in which to nourish myself. Your fuel oil suited my needs."
"What's your affiliation with those robots in New York City?" He then inquired in a more commanding tone.
'Certainly an inquisitive species...' She thought. "No affiliation what so ever, sir." She answered respectively. "I bear no identifying mark as you can see." She straightened up showing that she had no insignia. "I am a neutral by all accounts."
"A neutral girl, yeah right." Scoffed the commander.
"Humph." Knight snorted. "Our species aren't to far from each other. From what I've been told, during the height of the Great War on our planet, the males handled the females as you humans say it, with 'kid gloves'. It cost us greatly. I'm told there's less then twenty of us still functioning. Those being lucky enough to have escaped the genocide that engulfed our home. I myself came into existence more towards the end of the war, but of course you don't want to her my sob story, now do you?"
"Fascinating and all but we're under orders to take you into custody, robot." The commander explained with a less authoritative tone.
"I do have a name so you know, sir." Knight explained, shifting herself again to be kneeling on one leg.
"Why are you calling me 'sir'?" The human inquired, raising an eye brow from underneath his protective helmit.
Knight tilted her head again. "Isn't that not what you refer to a superior officer as?"
He seemed taken back by that simple question. He quickly shook off his shock. "An acceptable answer I suppose."
She nodded. "May I ask your name then, sir?" 'Truly an interesting race.' Knight added with an after-thought.
"Colonel Jacob Reynolds, United States Army." The colonel answered after a moment of contemplation.
She nodded and dipped her head respectively.
"And your designation?" He pressed, now curious.
"My name translates into 'Knight' in your English language." She explained.
Colonel Reynolds crossed his arms. "Knight huh? Your kind have interesting names. Megatron, Starscream..." He started ticking off.
"In my personal opinion those two are obviously compensating for something." Knight snorted, crossing her arms over her chest.
This earned a loud laugh out of the Colonel and snickers from amongst the other humans surrounding her.
Still laughing, the Colonel smiled at her. "Your right on one thing, Knight." He started. "Our two races do have alot in common... Now, enough with the pleasantries, I'm to bring you in, dead or alive. Your choice. I'd rather not have to resort to such measures."
Knight bowed her head, remaining silent for several moments. "I'm sorry, I can't do that." She said slowly. "I have others back home waiting for me. It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance Colonel Jacob Reynolds, I'm only sorry that we had to meet under such circumstances." With that her leg mounted jet thrusters roared to life. Soaring skyward, Knight flew through an opening between helicopters. Cutting her thrusters she dropped back down into the forest and took off in a dash.
Almost instantaneously the humans gave chase, guns blazing. Knight weaved through the trees, her shoulder armor snagging branches, slowing her down. Looking overhead, she spotted the attack helicopters giving chase, search lights shining through the tree tops. Shooting a quick glance over her shoulder, Knight quickly scanned the closest helicopter, this one much more stealthy and faster then the others that were chasing her. Quickly reformatting her body, Knight spread her five long, back mounted rotors. Leaping above tree level, rotors now spinning, she took to the skies.
No sooner was she airborne did the artillery fire start raining down. From a nearby ridge, loud blasts ripped through the dark sky. Looking towards the source of the blasts, Knight spotted a row of tanks, barrels smoking. Thats when she felt the first tank round hit her. Yelping loudly, her shoulder smoking, Knight dived, dodging the opposing blasts. 'Great!' She gritted. 'Now I'll have Indigo breathing down my neck!'
The humans small arms fire easily bounced off her armor, but the tank shots were much more pressing and a whole lot more dangerous. "Into the SZ!" Knight called out to herself, cutting her thrusters. Immediately she dropped like a rock. Falling towards the river that now ran beneath her, Knight's body seemingly vanished into the darkness that surrounded her.
With spotlights still shining on her, those humans on shore who were still firing watched as she plunged into the water... The only problem was there was no splash, the water didn't even ripple. She simply vanished into the night.
Once in the safety of the SZ, Knight breathed a sigh of relief, venting air out in a gust from her vents. Reclining back, her hand reaching back to her burnt and aching shoulder. Gritting her dental plates Knight sighed crossing her legs, floating aimlessly in the shadowed parallel dimension between universes. "Great first encounter Knight..." She chastised herself. "Nothing like making a good first impression."
-Knight, it's Storm you on the air?-
Knight winced, "She has the worst timing..." -Knight here.- She answered after a moment.
-You sound guilty, what did you do now?-
Knight mouthed 'Slaggit.' -Eer... Well...-
-Knight, now.- Storm pressed sounding impatient.
The younger femme sighed across the com-link. -Sorta a bad first encounter.-
-How bad?-
-Well, I needed to refuel. I found a suitable source on a human military base. I errr... Sorta got caught.- She admitted.
-Knight, Knight, Knight...- Knight could picture Storm with her head in her hand, shaking her head. -What's the damage?-
-To me or to the humans?-
-Both, starting with the humans.-
-Besides a now empty fuel silo, no damage, no causalities.-
-And you?-
-Took a blast from one of their tanks to the shoulder. Minor damage, just scorched paint and minor discomfort.- The grey and back femme reported.
-You better hope so because if Indigo finds anything wrong she'll have your wings.- Storm chuckled.
-I am well aware of that.-
-Moving on... So what have ya got for me?-
-Could you be a tad more specific?-
-Info? Scans? The usual?-
-Well, during my encounter with the humans, I had a nice discussion with a human who's a colonel with their army. They were quite shocked when they discovered I'm a female.-
-Males... They're all the same.- Once again Knight could picture Storm shaking her head in disbelief.
-This Colonel Jacob Reynolds I spoke with was actually in interesting individual. He and his squadron were carrying speciaized weaponry that was created with specifically taking us out in mind.-
-Ehh... That's not something I was hoping to hear.-
-Try being in the center of it.-
-Been there, done that, but in a different situation.- Storm explained. -So how the scans coming?-
-Got em, want me to transfer data?-
-Go for it, ready to receive.-
Sending the data Knight continued, -So you know, the form I scanned for you nearly got me slagged.-
-But you didn't and that's all that matters.- Storm beamed receiving the files. -Ooh, I like it, I like it.-
-Glad you approve.- Knight smirked.
-I got Ice Queen and the Wonder Twins with me, I'll pass on the data.-
Knight nodded to herself. -What's the situation Cybertron side?-
-Blue and Indigo found a Autobot battle cruiser, no shells were found on board, so the crew got off in one piece, the crew also being under the command of Kup.- Storm explained.
-Kup?- Knight tilted her head confused.
-Oops, sorry, that's right, we knew Kup way before you came into the picture.- Storm paused. -But anyways, the Bugs are trailing the Bots, so I got Dizzy tracking the Bugs. I got Excalibur airborne as an extra safety precaution.-
-Copy that. Do you want me to return?-
-Naw, not just yet. It's bad enough Icy may be spotted, I wanna keep you out of the line of fire for as long as possible. Keep your com open and sensors on high alert.-
-Understood.-
-If something is gonna happen, it's gonna happen, and if we need to evac we gotta have you fueled and ready to go.- The elder, battle worn femme told Knight.
-So I'm guessing your not going to reprimand me for my lil stunt?- Knight asked.
-You did what was necessary to stay online and functioning. I'm not going to say anything this time but watch your aft. If you get slagged, we're all in for a load of trouble.-
Knight nodded her head once again. -I understand.-
-Good, listen I gotta get off the air for the time being. We're heading into the Echo Canyons where you know as well as I do that com-link transmissions are impossible to get in and out.-
-Understood. I'll have my scanners split between Cybertron and Earth.-
-Good thinking. Alright, once we're past the canyons I'll contact you again is need be.-
-Copy that. Good luck and be safe.- Knight bid her elder mentor goodbye.
- Aren't I always?- Storm chuckled.
-Bye Storm.- Knight closed that com with Storm.
Sighing, laying back, floating upside in the SZ Knight muttered to herself after a long moment. "Well, as humans would say... 'It's all a waiting game' from here on out."