Duty and Deceit

Chapter 9

Of Broken Spark

She walked slowly to the address that Shadowlight had given her. The little femme had never been one for parties, but she also wanted to have some femme friends. After all, she'd been in Kaon for a while and was going to be there for the foreseeable future. Taking a deep in-vent to steel herself, she rang the doorbell politely.

Darkshine opened the door for her and the spy gasped at the sight that greeted her. The room was bright and shining. The two jets' quarters were huge and full of expensive furniture and extravagant decorations. The blue, ombre, Cybertanium walls were lined with shiny white light panels and fabulous paintings. One whole side of the living area was glass, providing a rare view of the Kaonian city gleaming in the dark of the night.

"Not bad, huh?" Darkshine commented airily.

The two-wheeler nodded slowly still taking in the grand surroundings. "How can you afford this? I have a hard enough time paying for my tiny one-room apartment! And I outrank you!" For the moment, she didn't even notice the other two femmes that the sisters had invited.

"For starters, there's two of us sharing the bill. Also; warrior class get higher pay. Higher risk and whatnot." The black jet shrugged. "We brought a couple of our other femme friends along. This is Thunderblast and Nightracer."

The two femmes in question were reclining comfortably on the fluffy brown sofa. Thunderblast, a petite – considering her alt-mode - boatformer, looked up from polishing her servos to smile at her while Nightracer, a cute carformer much closer to her own age, glanced up and waved shyly. She waved back, grinning behind her mask.

Just then Shadowlight walked in from the kitchen area and grinned widely at them, a cube of sweet En' for each of them balanced precariously in her hands. "So we've had our introductions... Let's get this party started!"

All of the femmes' processors were fuzzy by 2400. Far too much sweet En' had done that. The sweetened energy most commonly drunk by younglings was by no means addicting, but it sure tasted good... Not to mention spiking one's energy levels. At the moment, the five femmes were laying sprawled out on the floor playing Truth or Dare; their armor sparkling and shining from being freshly polished... several times.

"My turn!" She said happily, though her voice was a little harsh from laughing so hard just a little bit earlier at Darkshine, who had just finished doing an imitation of a decapitated robo-chicken for a dare. "Nightracer, truth or dare?"

"Truth." The blue sniper answered instantly. Obviously the little car didn't want to risk a dare like 'Shine's.

"What is the most embarrassing thing you've ever done?" Her optics glinted with challenge and anticipation. This one was bound to be good...

"Oh! Oh..." Nightracer gave her an uneasy look, squirming slightly. "Can I do a dare instead?"

"Nope!" The spy grinned evilly, her mask having been lowered since her last turn. Her slight resentment toward Thunderblast for that dare had faded mostly after her peace offering of copper candy. "Don't wimp out on me femme."

"Aww... Um... Well there was the time I first got my guns..." She looked away awkwardly. The other four femmes nodded for her to go on, all of them wearing wide grins. Nightracer was the last one to be asked a variation of that question. "'Kay, so I was only in my third youngling frame and I had just been upgraded; so like, I wasn't totally adjusted yet and my coordination was off... A lot... and well, I tried to fire them both at the same time. It sort of didn't go too well."

"Ah c'mon! What'd you do?" Was the unanimous response.

The sniper's engine whined but she went on bravely. "I- I blew my own feet off – and I mean totally off – after shooting my mentor in the face. I couldn't walk for two-and-a-half orns!"

"From blowing your feet off or from shooting your mentor in the face?" Darkshine asked morbidly.

"You blew your feet off." The two-wheeler repeated dryly. "You blew your feet off? How in the world did you manage that?!"

Peals of hysterical laughter echoed through half the deck. The friendships made that evening were well worth the next rotation's reprimands for tardiness.

He flew towards her, rolling masterfully through the clouds. The fluffy clouds split in his wake and trailed beautifully off his rust-red wingtips, the sunlight reflecting off his cockpit. Terabyte watched Skyquake's flight enraptured. At that moment, the jet was the most wonderful thing she'd ever seen.

Time seemed to slow down as Terabyte watched Skyquake descend towards her. As she watched him, it struck her that the mech was trying to talk to her. Shaking her helm gently, she looked up at him, a myriad of memories flooding her mind.

"Tera'?" Skyquake's low, gravelly voice washed over her audios like sweetest music. The femme was so pleased to see him again that she forgot to lower her battle mask. Likewise her Energon blade remained fully charged and ready.

"Skyquake!" All other words lost, Terabyte ran to her long departed friend. Optic fluid rolled down her face and pooled on the edge of her mask, so great was her joy. The little two-wheeler jumped up to give the towering mech a welcoming hug.

She never saw it coming, or if she had, her processor had been unable to comprehend it at the time.

Half-way to him, Skyquake raised his arm and back-handed Terabyte out of the air. The moment his hand connected with her abdomen, Terabyte's ecstasy was crushed just as quickly as the steel gray proto-plating. He wasn't supposed to have reacted like that. It didn't even occur to the spy that her dagger and war mask might have given the wrong impression.

Slumped up against a boulder several car-lengths away, Terabyte sat stunned. Optics shuttered and opened, once, twice, three times. Her processors stuttered, the effort of simply trying to figure out why he'd done that pressing her mind to the brink of glitching. Emotionally and physically injured by Skyquake's assault, Terabyte gazed up at the angry mech, now approaching her with his machine gun levelled on her spark, with devastated optics.

For seven vorns she'd imagined how their reunion would be, but never – not even in her worst nightmares – did Terabyte consider such a response from her comrade. Shock, hurt and distress threatened to overwhelm her.

"You would attack me? I would have thought you were wiser than this Terabyte." Skyquake spat her name as if it were the worst of insults. "How long have you been a traitor, femme? How could you turn on our cause after so long? After everything we've done for the Decepticons, you would turn on me now?"

Terabyte's engine whined long as she backed up further against the boulder. Tears filled her optics and she let out a pained gasp. She knew him too well; she could never do anything to hurt him – even if she wanted to – and she would not survive should Skyquake attack.

"Sky! Please, hear me out!" The Prussian blue femme's voice broke as she stifled a sob. Terabyte wasn't sure if it was from the pain caused by her badly dented armor that was now beginning to leak life-En, or from the pain in her spark. Skyquake was her best friend, this shouldn't have been happening. "I'm not reall-"

"Lies from the mouth of a traitor. Terabyte..." Skyquake's jaws clenched and his voice was low. He'd made a decision and his mind would not be changed; that's what that tone was. "Tera', I don't want to harm you, but I will if I must. Today I will leave you. Should we meet again, I cannot be so lenient. Please," His voice went soft, breaking slightly, "Do not – I hope we shall never have to meet again."

With that final warning, Skyquake transformed and flew back to the battle he had started with the Prime. For a whole breem, Terabyte didn't move. She merely stared at where the jet had been standing, her mind numb and her spark feeling as if it had just been torn apart. No. This shouldn't have happened... It wasn't supposed to be like this.

Suddenly fueled by a desperate determination, Terabyte shook herself from her devastated thoughts and stood slowly, ignoring the sharp sting in her frame as the damaged plating pressed against her protoform. Her mind made up, the sturdy little femme took steady, certain strides towards the battlefield.

'Who cares if he kills me afterwards? I must help him. He needs help or the Prime will offline him for sure. Skyquake is a great fighter, but Technahar proved that the Prime will still win. If I help, Sky may still have a chance...'

She arrived over the raging battle just in time to see Bumblebee reach the top of the cliff. Skyquake was nearing the perfect place for the yellow scout to ambush him. Her mission and her own safety discarded as unimportant, Terabyte put on a burst of speed and jumped on Bumblebee with her Energon dagger still drawn.

"Don't. You. Dare!" She ground out from where she had grabbed hold of his doorwing. Knowing how sensitive a Praxian's doorwings were, Terabyte put her full weight on it. "Leave Skyquake alone! Don't you have any honor? Two to one is hardly even odds, Autobot! Or are you scared your precious Prime can't fight his own battles?" She taunted as she wrenched on the scout's wing.

Bumblebee growled at the insult, but made no response. He tried to shake her off but her grip was too strong. Terabyte raised her dagger to impale his other doorwing. Unfortunately she had underestimated the scout and before she could inflict further damage to him, he had punched her in the face; leaving her on the ground.

"Sorry." Bumblebee added an apologetic whirr to his toneless Cybertronian.

"No! Don't hurt him!" Terabyte screamed in desperation.

The scout ignored her and leapt off the edge, landing on Skyquake's back. The two-wheeler got back to her pedes and followed their flight as best she could, anxiously watching the two warriors and waiting to see what Bumblebee would do.

Terabyte stared in horror as the yellow Autobot plunged his fist into the side of Skyquake's jet-mode. Bumblebee tore his hand from the green frame, bringing with it a sparking handful of his internals. The hole that was left was smoking and Skyquake began losing altitude.

"NO! No... Skyquake!" The Prussian blue femme cried, her inability to help tearing at her very being. When Bumblebee thrust his other fist into Skyquake, yet again tearing out a fistful of circuitry - this time sending a web of cracks down his cockpit as well - Terabyte staggered backwards where she stood as if the injury was to herself rather than the jet. Now bearing two smoking holes in his frame, Skyquake plummeted to the earth. Shortly before the soldier crash-landed, Bumblebee leapt off of him and onto Fowler's jet, from which Skyquake had gotten his new Earth alt-mode.

The army green mech transformed moments before he hit the ground. Skyquake slid across the canyon floor, leaving a slightly charred trench, damp with his own life-En, in his wake.

She shook herself from her stupor, running recklessly down the cliff-side; jumping from one ledge to the next. Terabyte ignored the spikes of pain that ran through her at every landing. All that mattered to her now was reaching Skyquake.

Skyquake lay motionless on the ground. He felt like he'd just fallen off the tallest spire in Kaon. Which he might have actually done before… But his processor was so blurry; he could hardly remember anything. He wasn't sure why he was on the ground or who had put him there. He just knew that that's where he was.

Slowly he opened his optics. The sunset above him was so pretty… So pretty… Rolling his helm to the side to see more of his surroundings, Skyquake saw a femme about half his height – if she was half his height how tall was he? If he didn't know how tall he was, how did he know she was half that? The confused thoughts made his helm ache – She was prettier than the sunset, Skyquake decided finally.

The femme was Prussian blue and black with steel gray proto-plating on her thighs, abdomen, arms and neck. A small gap in her armor ran down her sides and from that gap came the faint yellow glow of her bio-lights. She had a mini cannon with gold and blue ornamental attachments on it latched to her forearm. The femme's joints were gold and sparkled in the light of the setting sun, as did the black windscreen of her alt-mode which wrapped around her neck like a scarf.

What was a scarf? Skyquake frowned minutely. His processor kept supplying him with analogies, comparisons and words that he couldn't remember. And… why did he hurt so much? He barely noticed the thin plume of smoke rising from his chassis. His helm was wet and pounding painfully with every spark pulse.

By this time, the femme was bent over him, her face just a foot or two from his. The beautiful two-wheeler – two-wheeler? She had three wheels! Skyquake's fuzzy logic centers argued. Again he chose not to dwell on it too much – was crying. Why was she crying? Did he know her? Was he dying? He didn't want to die.

The femme lowered her battle mask and smiled at him weakly. Her silvery face was angular and elfish – though he wasn't sure what an elf was. This was starting to get annoying. He ought to know these things – marked only with a thin jagged scar that cut across her cheek. It started just below her yellow optic and ended by her lips. She had dainty, seemingly perfect lip-plates… Skyquake belatedly realized they were moving and turned on his audials. The action took more energy than he'd thought it would and his optics powered down.

The last thing he saw was a warning symbol on his HUD. It said, 'Warning: Energon levels critical. Inducing stasis lock in 10, 9…'

"Skyquake! It's going to be all right. I'll save you, I promise!" A tiny smile touched Skyquake's face. Her voice was so harmonious, even as worried and grieved as it was. He just wished he knew why she was so sad… He wanted to make her ha–

His audials crackled with static before shutting down. All at once Skyquake felt his systems crash.

'I don't want to die…' Skyquake thought in one last astro-second of panicked consciousness. 'She will save me. She promised! Please help me, I don't want to die.'

"NO!" Terabyte's wail echoed through the canyon as Skyquake's optic closed and his frame relaxed under her. She held his face gently in her hands, "Sky! No!"

A.N. Oh boy… Am I evil or what? I did say this chapter would be massive. Whatever will I do next? Anything can happen at this point.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Transformers. Only my OC's. Speaking of which, Thunderblast and Nightracer are canon, they are just much younger in my timeline. Check them out on the tfwiki for an idea of what they look like. Also, to see Terabyte's alt-mode : . : go to that site. It's pretty awesome, and we all know a picture is worth a thousand words. :)

Sorry this one's a little late... I posted chapter 8 early and accidentally threw off my whole writing schedule. Also be warned... Chapter 10 may also be late. It keeps arguing with me... This story really has a life of its own.

Review and comment, dear readers!