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 9.
As Knight and Excalibur left on their energon run, Storm and Ice Queen still stood before Prowl, Kup, Ironhide, and Jazz.
"Why don't we just send Knight in ta get the Matrix back?" Jazz tilted his head curiously at the two elder femmes before him.
"No can do." Storm shook her head.
"Why the frag not?"
"Cause Kup," Started Ice Queen, her arms crossed over her chest. "Knight may be good, but she's not that good. She's never combat an actual Decepticon face to face before. And don't give me that look Jazz, I'm one thing when it comes to fighting, but Knight never faced Starscream up close, she's never experienced Soundwave going through her head, and she's never looked down the barrel of Megatron's blaster before. In situations she's not familiar with, Knight has a tendency of loosing focus."
Prowl turned to Storm. "Is that what you meant when you told us she's very much a youngling?"
"Exactly." She acknowledged. "Like any youngling, in a tense situation they panic and freeze. Knight is no exception. She's was doing great until we met up with you guys." She snorted, gritting her dental plates. "You guys have her so high strung, it's a miracle all its own that she isn't hiding in the Shadow Zone."
Ironhide laughed harshly. "Well then the kid needs to grow up."
Ice Queen gave a feral growl, making a move to throttle Ironhide when Storm reached out and stopped the female Seeker from doing anything to rash. "Easy... Icy." Storm shushed her then whipped her head towards Ironhide, glaring at him.
"You better watch yourself Autobot." Ice Queen hissed. "Put yourself in her position. How would you feel if you were suddenly thrust into existence. Awakening to unbearable pain, your very being seemingly rippling with energy you can't control. Having some one-opticed freak take you apart panel by panel and seeing what makes you tick... So yes Ironhide, she is a youngling because essentially she is. She's just fourteen vorns old." She almost barked that last part.
"Fourteen vorns?!" Kup gaped, his arms going from being crossed across his chest to hang limply at his side.
Storm nodded as Prowl and Jazz looked at her for verification. "Just shy of her fifteenth vorn."
"Dang..." Jazz rubbed the back of his head. "From the way she acts I would've thought she'd be a little older, but fourteen vorns?"
Storm released her hold of Ice Queen, seeing as she was no longer looking to throttle Ironhide, who in himself had a shocked expression also. "She's been forced to grow up in some aspects." Ice Queen explained. "Knight's come a long way since she first came online. But like any youngling she learns and adjusts. And being surrounded with who she thinks are friendlies isn't helping matters." She sent a quick glare at Ironhide. "So I suggest for your sake as well as her's, watch what you say around her."
The Autobots nodded, even Ironhide, who after a moment nodded as well slowly.
"Now that we've gotten way off topic... I've sent Excalibur and Knight back to our bunker. We have a nice store of energon locked up there. Knight's gonna bring it back through the SZ so as to avoid bug detection. It's the safest and fastest way for us to do this."
Prowl nodded. "Depending on how much energon you have we'll be able to repair Prime."
"I'm pretty sure we have ample energon to get that job done." Storm smirked. "To remind you of this, Knight when she uses the SZ for transport, consumes energy like its nothing. She'll need a few cubes to herself."
"That can be arranged." Jazz said in Prowl's stead.
Storm nodded approvingly.
Prowl looked from the aqua colored female Seeker to the larger black, Storm. "Is there anything else you need to discuss with us?"
"As a matter of fact yes."
"And?"
Storm gave Prowl a side long glance. "What are your plans for the future?"
"We don't know." Came Kup from beside the tactician. "Our ship's slagged, we're pretty much trapped here."
Ice Queen rested a hand on her chin, deep in thought.
"I know that look Icy, spill." Storm crossed her arms over her chest looking at the Seeker.
"Knight may not be able to retrieve the Matrix, but she could possibly, a few Bots at a time mind you, get them to Earth."
The gathered mechs and femme gave Ice Queen a long look. But after several moments it was Storm who broke the silence.
"You do know what that would do to Knight right?"
Jazz looked at Storm curiously, "Huh?"
Storm shook her head exasperated. "Knight burns more energy when she's transporting something with her through the SZ. Look at the number of you guys here. Now imagine Knight trying to transport the lot of ya off planet to another planet. She'd end up half dead or worse if she tried such a stunt."
"Ah... I see."
Prowl rested a hand on his chin in thought. "But if she had enough energon would she be able to pull it off?"
All present looked at Prowl.
"Yes and no." Storm explained, doing a 'this-and-that' motion with her hand. "You gotta take into account the Bot's size who she could end up transporting. A Bot your size or Jazz's wouldn't burn up a lot of energy. Myself, Prime, or that other big guy you have, that's another story. We'd have to be taken by ourselves because of our mass."
"I see."
"But yes as to answer your question, if we had enough energon it could be done." Storm shrugged at Prowl.
"We'll have to take that into consideration." Kup said from behind Prowl.
"I agree."
Ice Queen shifted some, flexing the wings on her back. "You also may want to take it up with Knight."
"When she comes back from her errand I'll ask her." Jazz offered.
Storm nodded approvingly. "So what are we going to do?"
Kup shrugged his shoulders. "Nothin much we can do at the moment. Keep up recon teams to make sure the Swarm stays back for the time being."
"My team is at your disposal, Prowl. Disaster has olfactory sensors like no other. She was built with sniffing out the bugs in mind."
"Thank you, Storm." Prowl acknowledged. "She'll be helpful in keeping tabs on the Swarm from a safe distance."
"Well for now, I say we adjourn." The older Kup explained, hands on his hips. "How long until they get here with the energon?"
"Not long." Ice Queen said. "Once their there, getting the energon here will be easy."
"Let me know when they get back." Prowl asked.
"You got it." Storm smiled.
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After a short while, Knight and Excalibur landed in front of their underground bunker. Jumping off Excalibur's back, the younger femme landed gracefully as the larger mech, transformed and landed beside her.
"Storm made sure to secure it from the inside." The taller Excalibur explained standing beside his younger friend.
"Guess I'm getting us in huh?" Knight gave a small smile.
"Best believe it young one." Excalibur said lightly, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Do what you do best."
Nodding, Knight accessed the SZ system. With Excalibur having a firm hand on her armor, they both sank into the darkness of their own shadows. In a matter of mere moments, they rose up again from the darkness that shrouded their safe house. Once their feet hit solid ground did Excalibur release his hold on Knight. That slight movement triggered a motion sensor causing the lights base wide to come online.
Looking down past Knight, Excalibur walked past her. "Let's get that energon and get out of here." He said leading the way, Knight following close behind.
"I'm going to miss this place." Knight explained softly, head dipped slightly. "I practically grew up here."
Her taller companion nodded, his attention now on her as they walked. "I understand how you must feel, but Cybertron is no longer the shining star is used to be. You came online during the worst of it. You were never there to see Cybertron at its peak. I'm sad to say we've fallen so low there's no going back."
Noting the sadness in his voice, Knight rested an uneasy hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry..."
"You have nothing to be sorry about, my dear Knight. It was our own fault that the planet has fallen into such disarray. What is done, is done. There's no changing it. We can only look ahead and move on with our existence."
The hybrid nodded, her blue and red optics glinting in the white light above them.
After treading lightly through the base for a few minutes Excalibur stepped up to a door on the left hand side of the hallway. Punching a code into the panel beside it, the door slid open revealing a large stock pile of energon cubes. Stepping through Excalibur gave the room a quick look around.
"Okay." He started turning back to Knight. "We have about 27 cubes. Can you transport three at a time?"
She nodded, "Yes."
"Good." Turning around he picked up three cubes and handed them to Knight.
Taking hold of the bundle, the femme accessed the SZ system. Sinking into her shadow with the cubes in hand, she got on the com with Storm. -Storm, it's Knight. En route with first batch of cubes.-
There was a moment before the older femme came back. "-Copy that. Lock onto my position, you can drop off here.-"
-Affirmative.- With that, Knight locked onto Storm's position and then no more then a second later she rose up half way through Storm's shadow and set the cubes down.
Kneeling down in front of Knight, Storm inquired. "How many trips do you reckon it will take?"
"At least 9. I can make it less if I just have Excalibur hand them over and start a chain effect."
Resting a hand on her chin in thought, she considered the option. "What's your energy status first?"
"Running at 78%."
"Will it be enough to finish the job?"
"Plenty. You don't have to worry."
"When it comes to you, I always worry."
This earned Storm a small chuckle from Knight.
Sighing and standing up, Storm rested her hands on her hips.. "Do it."
"You got it. Be right back." Ducking back into the SZ, she, after a moment rose up again in front of Excalibur. "Okay here's the plan. Hand the cubes to me and I'll pass them straight to Storm."
With a cube tucked under his arm, the white, blue, and red mech tilted his head at her. "Will you be okay with it?"
"Storm asked the same thing." She smiled up at him. "I'll be fine. If something goes wrong, you'll be the first to know."
"I'm going to keep you to that." He said, handing her the energon cube.
Taking it, she switched it to one hand and passed it through the other end of the shadow portal where Storm readily grabbed it.
As Knight continued to pass the cubes, Storm got on the com with Prowl. -Prowl, cube delievery under way. I could use some help getting them stacked and out of the way.-
"-Copy that Storm. Bumblebee, Trailbreaker, and Drift are on their way.-"
At the 7th cube in, Bumblebee, Trailbreaker, and Drift walked in just as Storm was recieving the 8th.
After a tense moment it was Trailbreaker who commented, "That's just creepy."
Storm smirked handing him the cube. "You'll get used to it, trust me."
With the extra help the storage room back in the safe house emptied quickly. Rising from the SZ, Knight looked around the now barren storage room. "I must say, I've never seen this room, this empty before."
"Agreed." Excalibur nodded. "Well let's get back."
Nodding on confirmation, she grasped hold of Excalibur's arm, activating her system they both vanished into the SZ again. Not even a second passed when they rose up from the SZ again in Storm's presence. At their sudden appearance Bumblebee and Trailbreaker stood back alarmed. Drift looked indifferent to their arrival.
Storm surveyed the stacked energon cubes before turning to the newly arrived team. "Nice job guys. This should hold us for a while or so." The black, visored femme then turned to Knight. "What's your status?"
Swaying some on her feet, Excalibur looped an arm around her shoulders to prevent her from falling over. Knight's optics had a far off look to them, the usual bright blue and red light of her optics dulled. "...Status at 36%." Knight managed out.
Leading her carefully to the side, Excalibur gently seated her against the wall. "Knight?" He patted the the side of her helmet.
The young femme pulled her knees to her chest, her form shuddering and shaking uncontrollably.
Storm was immediately beside Excalibur, looking over Knight. "Knight, come on focus." She urged. When no response came she turned to the nearest mech behind her. That mech turned out to be Drift, the moment he saw something amiss he stood behind Storm watching with keen optics. "Get me a couple of energon cubes. Her system is seizing up." She pointed to the stacks on the opposite side of the room.
The white, silver, and red mech complied retirieving several small cubes from the larger storage cubes. He handed one off to Storm.
Crouching down that low on digi-grade legs was a feat all it's own but Storm managed it. With a hand resting on Knight's shoulder, she pushed the energon cube into her shaking hands. "Sip it slowly." Storm advised.
Knight did so. Bringing the cube to her lips, with shaking hands she managed down a few gulps, the shaking calming to a lesser level.
"What happened to her?" Drift asked, coming to be kneeling beside Excalibur.
"That trick she pulled, forming a corridor from our safe house to here expended alot of her energy reserves." Storm explained in a somber tone.
"I-It's not your fault Storm." Knight managed out weakly, the light returning to her optics and the shaking becoming less and less.
"You, " Started Excalibur. "Stop talking and rest." He ordered pointing a finger at her.
Storm heaved herself to stand at her full height. "I gotta brief Prowl on the energon situation. You two," She turned and looked at Trailbreaker and Bumblebee. "Thanks for your help, your free to go. Excalibur I need someone airborne to keep scanning for the Swarm. Think you could do that?"
The white, red, and blue mech looked at Knight as she sipped at the cube again. "What about Knight? I don't want to leave her here."
"I'll look after her."
"You up to it?" Storm locked gazes with the mech.
Excalibur stood up, placing a hand on Drift's shoulder. "It's alright Storm, he's clean."
Storm gave him a once over, noting the long sword on his back. "You sure, Cal?" Compared to Drift, Storm easily towered a good two heads above him. Of course if she were to stretch out her digi-grade legs to their fullest she'd be around Prime's height. She was protective of Knight, she didn't just let anyone near her. Storm wanted to hear from the one closest to Knight as to how trust worthy this Autobot was.
"Are you positive Cal? I can get Disaster or Blue to look after her."
"It's alright." Knight broke in shyly.
Storm knelt down again and rested a hand on her shoulder. "You sure?"
She nodded.
"Alright then. Excalibur let's go." Standing up and leading the way, Storm exited with Excalibur in tow. The later looked back and gave Knight a small smile before exiting the room, the doors sliding shut behind them leaving Knight in the care of Drift.
After several moments Drift sat himself beside Knight against the wall. "Are you feeling any better?"
The shaking pretty much died down by this point. "A little." She answered softly, sipping at the remains of her cube.
"Here." Drift offered her another cube.
Cautiously taking it, she set the other, now empty cube down and more greedily gulped at the new cube.
"Easy there." Reaching over, Drift pushed her hands down, making sure she didn't ingest to much energon at once.
She obliged, taking slower sips as Drift pulled his hand back. Sitting back more against the wall, Knight stretched out her legs, shuttering her optics. "The SZ system is at times more like a curse then a gift." She explained slowly.
"I've never seen a system quite like it. Impressive."
"It is... At first, the first time I was able to consciously access it, I was scared out of my processor. I didn't even know I was capable of such a feat. I didn't know what to do..." She trailed off looking at the cube in her hand. Snorting she reached back with her right hand and flicked at her feather like audio receptors. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this."
The strange mech chuckled. "Perhaps it's because there's someone here willing to talk to you?" He offered.
She shrugged.
There was a few minutes of silence between them as Knight slowly finished off her second cube.
"One more."
Looking at Drift from the corner of her optics, she watched as Drift held out another cube to her. Taking the offered cube, she slowly sipped it at this time around. Sighing deeply she looked down at her feet. "I must admit..."
"Hmm?"
"That little while ago, when you confronted me on the bunker roof, I felt some sort of kinsmanship towards you." Knight admitted slowly. "You mentioned how you were once a Decepticon, and that you had a totally different appearance."
"Correct."
"... If you don't mind me asking... What happened?"
Drift sighed deeply, the air venting long from his vents. "My history is..." He tapered off for a moment. "My history is a sad one. I'm sad to say that I have killed for the Decepticons. I've killed Autobots and a host of other species alike for the sake of the Decepticon cause." He cast a sad glance to his hands. "It was during one of those attacks in which an old shaman asked me why we were destroying his village. Somehow the way he said it got to me... Before I could answer my commander at the time, a Decepticon called Turmoil ended the old shaman's life."
Responding to the somber mood, Knight's audios fell half way back submissively.
"I thought long and hard about everything I have done during this long war. I came to my own conclusion that mass genocide was never the answer... I only wished I realized that sooner... I faked my own demise and went underground. There I met with an ancient group of Cybertronians, neither Autobot or Decepticon. They showed me that every being, no matter if they be organic or Cybertronian in nature has the right to exist and carry on their races continued existence." He paused. "I laid down my fire arms, and let them show and teach me their way of coexisting with others. Their teachings are a widely kept secret, that of which I'm sad to say I can't repeat to you. But they stripped me of my Decepticon identity of Deadlock, they gave me a new body and a new name. I may bear their symbol, but I am neither an Autobot, nor am I a Decepticon."
Knight looked thoughtful for a moment before finally saying softly. "So instead of using fire arms, you've resorted to using swords?"
"I made that decision when I discovered many of the victims of our war are those hit and killed by rogue shots." He bowed his head.
Knight nodded. "I guess you and I do have a bit in common..."
"Now I have a question for you." Drift tilted his head at her. "It's obvious your a hybrid, a construct and uniqueness to you like no other. How is it that you came to be like this? Were you created as such?"
Her audios quirked forward and backward with uncertainty. "I remember my creation day very well..." It was her turn to trail off. "The very first thing to happen to me, my very first conscious thought process was excruciating pain." Her gaze shifted to the half empty cube in her hands. "I didn't even know why or how. The very first thing that came into my line sight was Shockwave... My first few cycles were not pleasant ones."
"I can imagine."
She shook her head, her audios drooping. "My spark signature is that of a femme, but when I initially came online I was in a misformed body of a mech."
This piece of information perked the former Decepticon's interest. "A mech?"
"My body was constructed using the remains of an Autobot spy once known as Phantom and a Decepticon assasin known as Shadowstalker." Knight took the brief moment to finish her third cube and set it down between herself and Drift. "Now this is something I'm going to tell you that I have yet to even tell Storm, Excalibur, or anyone else, you must promise me you will not repeat it."
"You have my word, I swear it."
Knight inhaled a almost shuddering breath through her intakes. "From time to time I experience 'flashbacks'."
He tilted his head. "Flashbacks?"
"Yes..." A pause. "It mainly happens when I recharge but I actually 'see' their memories, their experiences. My fighting style for instance, granted Ice Queen taught me some but the rest I 'remember' from the life of Shadowstalker. I gained a good majority of my swordsmanship skills through the memories of Phantom, Ice Queen's training has helped me to fine tune what I already supposedly know." Knight looked at her hands. "I can... I can remember Shadowstalker looking at his fluid covered hands as he ripped out an Autobot's spark. I remember feeling Phantom's emotions as he over looked a body strewn battle field." Clenching her hands closed, she bought them close to her chest plate.
Drift said nothing, a forlorn look to his optics.
Inhaling deeply again Knight willed herself to continue. "I suffered through cycles of experimentation. The poking, prodding, electrical shocks. He muted my vocal compacitor so he didn't have to listen to my screams." She frowned. "There were times when I wished that I've never came online..." Running a hand over her helmet, she pulled her knees to her chest again. "Some time later he was called out. I remember him talking to someone... At the time I didn't know who it was but I soon learned his identity to be that of Megatron. He called on Shockwave for something, what I didn't know. When Shockwave left he sealed his lab from the outside, leaving me secured to a berth within."
Drift waited several tense moments before resting a hand on her shoulder. "Knight?"
Her form flinched away slightly from the touch but didn't entirely pull away. "I don't remember how long I spent there... Shortly after he left I managed to get myself free of the berth, but the lab was secured tightly with no way of getting out. I conceded to myself that I would slowly perish alone in there. I was proven wrong when Excalibur discovered the lab and had to blow the lock to get in." A faint smile crossed her face plates. "Our first meeting wasn't exactly a pleasant one. He saw me and was about to put a hole in my head when Alpha Trion stopped him."
"Alpha Trion?" Drift drew back, clearly surprised.
Knight nodded. "He took me back to his safe house, after much coercing on his part, I finally allowed him close enough to examine me. When he discovered that I was truly a femme, he offered to reformat my body." She gestured briefly to her side. "Shortly after he did the reformatting he vanished. Then a few short cycles later Storm and the others arrived, from there the rest is history." Stretching her legs out again she turned fully to look at Drift to discover he was looking back. "So in short my life has been nothing but tramatic experience from one moment to the next." She shrugged.
Drift smiled some. "I can assure you that you won't have to worry to much while your with us."
She snorted. "Yeah right."
"Granted it'll take time for the others to get used to your presence here, but you now have one more person on your side."
Whipping her head to the side to give the mech a long, shocked look, Knight furrowed her brow not believing. "How do I know that you won't, just to use a human quote here, 'stab me in the back'?"
Pushing himself up to come to a standing position he looked down at Knight, a small smile crossing his face. "You don't really, but all I ask is that for you to trust me." Drift then extended a hand out to her.
She looked at the offered hand. In all her short time alive she had never had anyone be so... Polite to her. Excalibur and the others somehow didn't count. They were in a sense her family unit and they all cared for each other in one way or another. In her short time with the Autobots they weren't exactly becoming of her. Then she ran into Drift, she couldn't be sure of his role in all of this but he was the most forth-coming of the troop. Reaching out with a hand of her own, Knight cautiously took the others hand.
Drift repressed a smile as he closed his hand around the smaller Knight's. Pulling back, he pulled her to her feet. She was still unsteady, so he quickly looped an arm around her shoulder until she found her balance.
Knight automatically quirked her audios back. Not from surprise, but more from embarrassment.
"You alright?"
Knight took a moment a get her balance, Drift taking the decency to step back some but still staying in reach in case she were to stumble. "Give me a moment." She said letting go of the mech fully. Wobbling some on her feet, Knight took a couple steps to make sure she got her balance back fully. More so to show off (why she didn't know), Knight dashed across the room then launched herself forward into a front flip before landing and doing a low sweeping kick across the floor before she came to rest in a predatory pose. Hiding a smirk of her own, Knight got back to her feet. Looking back towards Drift, she quickly quirked her audios back curiously. The mech was standing there, arms crossed over his chest, and a grin spread across his face.
She tilted her head. "What?"
"Nothing."
Knight quirked an audio at him. Shrugging she walked past him and made her way to the door. "Now that there's no chance of me going into shock again, let's see what the situation is thus far."
Drift nodded making his way to the door himself. He stopped as the door slid open and stepped to the side, gesturing her through. "Something I picked up from Hound when he was on Earth. I believe it goes, 'Ladies first'?"
Knight locked him with a neutral gaze before she let a smile take its place. Leaving the storage room with Drift close behind, the smile that covered her face didn't go un-noticed.
Under a console close by, Disaster laid in her canine form. A toothy grin spread across her snout. 'Bout time that kid found someone she can relate with.' Repositioning herself, Disaster laid on her side, resting her head on her paws and shuttered her optics. 'Get some recharge while I can... I feel something coming and I know we're all gonna need it.'
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