Chapter 4: Animal She Has Become
The cargo aircraft made its final approach toward the Airbase. Ledra lowered the gear and extended the flaps on his jet. Breakaway walked off the runway to make room for the massive cargo jet. It touched down, creating a bump for his passengers. The engines opened up and switched to reverse thrust. As the jet came to a halt, the cargo ramp opened up. Ratchet and Barricade drove out and transformed. Ethan helped Alira back onto her feet and took her outside. Ledra was absolutely right. It was morning. Alira walked out of the plane onto the tarmac. Ethan followed her closely. Ledra was the next one outside. On the airbase, he had nothing to hide. He took off his body armor just wearing his IDF uniform. He unzipped special zippers on the back of his shirt to allow his wings to grow. His face lengthened into a lupine muzzle and his ears changed shape and position and his skin turned grey as grey fur covered his body. Claws burst from his fingertips and he grew a three-foot wolven tail. "It's good to be me." He said to himself.
Ethan looked around for Selene or Michael. He saw Selene walking out of one of the hangars. Never straying far from tradition, she was wearing her Death Dealer garb. Alira saw Selene and ran for her. Selene gave Alira a small hug and let her go. Ever since her parents death during the Decepticon incursion at Johannesburg, Selene was like a mother figure to her. Selene took her in and kept her safe. She noticed the bandages.
"What happened here, Lifesign?" Selene examined the bandages and removed some of them to see the wound. Once she saw what was clearly a lycans bite, she cursed softly and then aloud. Ethan walked up.
"Is that a nickname?" Ethan asked.
Selene developed a special sense that helped her sort out the humans from the immortals. She could tell Ethan was one of them. He had the aura of a lycan. Selene ran to him and held him up against the cargo jet by the collar of his shirt. "You have a lot of nerve coming here. Is Barricade with you? Did you stow away? Did Lucian send you?"
Ethan was scared. A vampire was not only in the sunlight, but keeping him in the air with no effort. "In that order. Yes, no, and no."
"What about Alira? Is that not your bite?"
"Lucian… in front of her… jumped after… he dodged and Alira…"
"Selene, Put him down!" Ledra shouted. His voice was lower and gruffer. He walked up to Selene and she released Ethan. "You could always take a blood sample. Even lycans have blood memory."
Ethan caught his breath and stood back up. "At risk of being choked again, I need to take Barricade to face judgment. Good day to you." He walked off toward Barricade and looked for the Autobots' hangar. Fortunately, he didn't have to look for long. Optimus Prime came out of the hangar. Barricade knelt before him.
"Noble Optimus Prime" said Barricade, "I have come of my own free will and with all my spark seek to defect. I submit myself to your judgement."
Optimus stood unfazed. Not showing any emotion. "I must convene with the others before you may join us. Until then, remain out here." With that out of the way, Optimus walked away. Barricade transformed and put himself on park. Ethan, however was going to get ready for what he knew would be one messed up blood test. He went over to Alira, who took Ethan to her bunk. She took out a rubber tie on for Ethan and a syringe. Even back when he was human, Ethan hated heving blood drawn, for whatever reason. Alira tied the rubber around Ethan's bicep.
"This will sting a little." She said with a smile. A little voice in her head said payback. Ethan tried to remain calm, otherwise it would just hurt more, but Ethan really hated needles. Alira drove the syringe into Ethan's arm. His canine teeth became long fangs and he let out a terrifying, painful roar that the whole airbase heard. Even Optimus heard it in the other hangar.
"What in the Allspark's name was that?" he asked.
"Ethan's getting blood drawn for Selene." Ratchet answered.
"He must really hate needles." Sideswipe commented.
In the medical station, Alira took the sample and gave it to Michael, who now had a splitting headache. "Take these to Selene." She said. Michael nodded and left the medical station. She looked over at ethan and gave him a bandaid for the injection site. "I'm sorry." She said. "Did I hurt you?"
"Yes! That was worse than when I got turned! Is this your idea of payback for turning you?"
"No, you just have issues with needles." She said with a laugh. Ethan was silent. "Don't worry, Selene will welcome you," Alira said. She then let out a sigh. "but how can I keep my own lycanthropy a secret." She was sadder now, a single tear rolled down her face, followed by three more. Ethan had a genuine concern. Raze and Lucien taught him a few things. Even techniques to influence his form to be more or less lupine, but he wasn't sure he could teach Alira. Out of his own personal guilt, however, he had to try.
"Alira," Ethan said. Alira turned to face the young Lycan. "I can be with you tonight."
"But, what if I go crazy? What if I hurt someone?" she asked, the tears now coming in full force. Ethan got up and wrapped his arms around Alira. She quickly returned the favor, her arms wrapped around Ethans waist.
"I promise I will not even let you near a human." Ethan looked into her eyes, and Alira stared into his. His eyes shifted to a lupine yellow as a result of the excitement he was feeling. Alira started to feel better and she was no longer crying. Her face drew closer to Ethans. Just as they were about to kiss, Michael walked back in and they released each other.
"Ethan, Selene wants to see you." He said.
"Did she say why?" Ethan asked.
"She said something about an assessment of your will to defect."
Ethan looked towards Alira again. "You should go," She said.
Not seeing a choice, Ethan followed Michael to meet with Selene. This is not good. The walk to what he would later call Selene's "office" was long and took him past at least three hangars. At the fourth hangar, they walked inside and found a room similar to where Kahn used to work as the covens weapon master. She stood there with John working on one of the new weapons they received. It looked like a pistol version of the Arc Gun. Selene saw Ethan standing there with Michael. Selene motioned for Ethan to get closer. He walked into the office and Selene motioned for Ledra to leave. Ethan looked at the clock on her desk. 6:00 pm. It was already getting dark. He had to finish this and find Alira.
"Selene, you wanted to see me?" Ethan said.
"No lycan has ever defected before, much less been allowed to. Why should I let you live to fight with us?"
"Lucian is a madman with nothing redeeming about him. I was raised by wolves after he attacked me and killed my parents." Ethan traced the line of his scar. "This was the only thing he ever gave me save for Lycanthropy. I hate that monster with all my heart. He hurt me and I want to make him pay." Ethan said. Selene nodded.
"Tell me what happened." Selene said. Ethan began his life story how he was born, how he survived the Salem Witch Trials and how he came to be recruited against his will by the monster that took his parents and his humanity.
"First things first," Selene began "you need some new equipment. Your old bullet-proof vest won't stand up to the cybertronian weapons technology that the lycans possess."
"And you know this how?"
Selene cleared out her throat and then began to speak. "We found that out the hard way at our manor house. Your best option is a new set of armor." She reached into a chest and pulled out a black plastic chest piece similar to the MNU scorpion class vest. "The black comes from a near impenetrable layer of ablative Obsidian-silver coating. It's safe for a Lycan to handle." Ethan put in on over his trench coat. It had the NEST emblem on the upper right side of the chest.
"Does this mean…" Ethan said before Selene cut him off.
"Yes. Welcome to Networked Elements: Supporters and Transformers."
"Thank you. I'm going to go check on Alira." Ethan left the hangar and made a mad dash for the hangar Alira was in. Faster he ran until he made it. It was 5 minutes before moonrise. She sat there waiting. "It's almost time." Ethan noticed some unusual weapons next to her. A crossbow with a disc atop it, a handgun with a bolo loaded and a large net launcher. All of it was designed for one purpose: Live capture. "Michael sent those, didn't he?"
Alira nodded. 2 minutes left. "If I break out, Use them to bring me back. The crossbow system is from Viktors time, so it's a last resort." 1 minute left. The moon was on the sky. Alira had a pain shoot through her. She dropped to all fours. Claws burst from her fingertips and were digging through the ground. Her legs shifted to a more lupine form. Fur covered her arms and her eyes shifted to a lupine yellow similar to that of most other lycans. Her screams grew more animalistic and far less human. Sounding more like snarls and growls. Her teeth grew sharper as her face elongated forming a lupine muzzle. Her ears changed shape and position and all but her underclothes were torn away as the fur covered the rest of her body. Her transformation was complete. Ethan grabbed the weapons just in case. Alira stood motionless.
"Alira? Can you hear me?" Ethan asked. He moved closer to the new lycan. cautious as not to alarm her. "It's me. It's Ethan." Alira quirked her wolven head threw it back, letting out a long howl. Afterward, she ran off out onto the airstrip in a snarling rage. "oh f**** me." In his right hand he took the bolo gun and ran after her, his trench coat flowing in the draft. He had little trouble keeping up. Speed and agility were his specialties. Alira ran after a soldier head on. He raised his gun, an M16 loaded with silver nitrate rounds. Before he could even get off a shot, Alira pounced on him and tore him apart. While she was preoccupied, Ethan steadied the bolo gun and aimed for her legs. He pulled the trigger and the bolo game out and wrapped around her legs. She fell to the ground covered in human blood. She turned around and saw ethan with the weapon in his hands. She let out a snarl and her claws cut through the bolo's rope with ease, setting the wolf free. She ran again, this time after sergeant Epps. Ethan was in pursuit with the net launcher. Alira came close to the sergeant before Ethan caught her in the net. He ran to Alira to try and make her see reason and give rise to her human mind over the wolf. "Alira, if you can hear me, I want you to focus on who you are." Alira broke fre of the net and just stood there, motionless. "You have to remember! You're not an animal!"
These words seemed to strike a chord in Alira. The wolf in her mind was no longer in control and at this rate it never would be again. She suddenly came to her senses and just broke down whimpering. What had she done? Ethan moved closer and petted the lycan on the head. "It's okay Alira. I'm here" Ethan said comfortingly. He helped the lycan to her feet. He didn't think much of it, but this lycan in her underclothes was very beautiful. He took her back to the hangar. Unknow to them, John was flying with his back to the moon. He swooped down and landed near the dead soldier.
"Riposi nella pace, il mio amico caduto, dato che non avete bisogno di combattimento. Conoscerete la pace." He closed the eyes of the soldier and laid his head down on the gorund. Tonight would be the first of many in the Hybrids mind. He flapped his mighty wings and took off once more on the flights he took to clear his mind. Not that his past haunted, but that he knew so little. He also knew little about Ethan, especially whether or not he could be trusted.
holy crap, John speaks italian. Spinnoff, Spinoff Spinoff. I sense a Spinoff.