They say never judge a book by it's cover. Well, you'd be more than dead if you tried to judge me by my appearance. I maybe small, but I pack a mean punch if you mess with me and my team... Oh, I'm sorry. That was rude... hey there! I'm Windswept! And boy, have I got a story to tell you. Well, what are you waiting for?! Get over here and get ready for my adventures on Team Prime!
I deeply apologise for not posting when I said I would. Last holidays, a family member of mine went into hospital after suffering a stroke. So those holidays and the first few weeks of the second term for me were full on dealing with them and school. School work then took up the bulk of the term so unfortunately my mind was still elsewhere. And in the last week, I've had to say goodbye to a friend moving countries and a friend ended up in hospital after collapsing. So this term has been full on for me and I apologise once more for not keeping my promises. But unfortunately that is the way life goes and I pulled myself away on purpose to concentrate and get mentally better.
As stated in the last chapter, this one is an original chapter. And while I did say that there was nothing special happening in this one... I kinda lied... You'll just have to read to see what I mean.
Thank you to Minate Namikaze for following/favouriting this story.
- Transformers Prime does not belong to me. All rights go to the people and brands who were able to create this show.
- Windswept, Carly Esquivel and Rebecca Rose belong to me.
WINDSWEPT P.O.V
The past week was full of many up and downs. The return of Megatron, the demise of Megatron... oh, and the arrival of our four new friends. I just couldn't believe how much our lives had changed.
Our bonds with our human friends were growing and strengthening every day. I now know that Carly and Raf come from a huge family that consisted of both their parents, an older sister, an older brother and a sister whose age was between Carly and Raf. I think my charge is the third eldest child of the Esquivel family and her brother is the youngest.
Carly found something funny about her family during her explanation - Raf was the only one who looked more like their mother more than anyone else in their family. The rest of them looked more like their, apparently, black-haired, tanned skinned father. Even Carly had picked up the tan skin off of him!
Although, she did pick up the same brown hair colour off her mother. So, I guess I could say that she had features from both parents. Oh, and she didn't pick up the red-rimmed square glasses that her mother and Raf wear.
The only members that I had met of the Esquivel family were Raf, Carly and their mother. The older sister, Pilar I think her name was, popped into the garage once and noticed me, but apart from that, I hadn't meet the rest of them. Carly mentioned her Dad worked a lot and her eldest brother worked with him too.
I was watching the sun rise up when a chill raced up and down my spine. No, not one of those chills telling me something was wrong, but one of those 'something good might happen today' chills. I hoped my spine was correct.
Very large footsteps approached behind me, making me briefly glance over my shoulder. I wasn't too surprised to find the Autobot leader making his presence.
"Windswept," He greeted me with a nod, taking a look out towards the rising sun.
"Good morning Optimus," I greeted back, folding my arms behind me, "Recharge well knowing that Megatron is no more?"
He let out what I believed was a mix between a sigh of relief and a sigh of trouble, "Despite his demise, I cannot say that I recharged better than most nights."
"Oh, I understand, I mean, when you're the Autobot leader, surely it must take its' toll on you?"
The red and blue Autobot leader paused, causing me to look up at him and wonder why he hasn't replied to my question.
"Shouldn't you be making you're way out to pick up Carly?"
I raised an eyebrow at him, "Are you changing the subject on me?"
Optimus only looked down at me, also raising an eyebrow... Okay, I'm overstepping here.
"Right, yeah, I think it's about time I headed off. Gotta go see my new friend." I walked away from Optimus to the elevator that would take me down to one of the corridors inside the base.
"Windswept?" I looked over my shoulder, starring at the back of Optimus' frame. "It... certainly takes its' toll." He turned his helm towards me. "But know that I will never falter at the challenges we will face as a team."
I nodded at the answer that Optimus provided for me, his words swirling through my head as the elevator began its descent into the base.
We know you won't falter Optimus. You're our leader, the one we turn to for your guidance. Just like you turn to us for support. You won't fail as long was we are with you.
NO ONE'S P.O.V
Meanwhile, deep into the heart of space, a flying object was floating around silently. The object looked to be the size of a meteor, maybe similar to the Dark Energon supply Megatron through into the Spacebridge in an attempt to reanimate the dead Cybertronians on Cybertron.
But this possible meteor looked larger than that supply. As it continued to float around, it revealed a small red logo on the underside of it.
A small red Autobot logo.
The meteor was an Autobot escape pod from Cybertron.
Suddenly, blaster fire began raining down upon the pod. The sudden rush spun the flying object around, but none of the blaster fire hit it. It was until a Cybertronian jet flew over the pod that it caught some of the wind gust, thus the air pushing it forwards suddenly. It began flying further and further into space.
The jet paused, watching the escape pod. The jet was mostly black with hot pink flames dancing around the wings and up to the cockpit.
Seeing where the Cybertronian pod was flying, the jet chuckled to itself, immediately following the pod's course to a blue and green planet in the far off distance.
Earth.
WINDSWEPT P.O.V
"Soooooooooooo," Carly began, extending the letter 'o' in the small word as we began our drive to Autobot base, "What are we doing today?"
Super eager as always, the teenage girl was ready to head to base. It seemed that the more we went there, the more happier she was becoming. I presumed it was because she was getting to spend more time with her close friend and little her brother.
But that was at first.
Now it seemed that every time she turned up at base, the first person she went to go see, and talk to I might add, was none other than Arcee's charge Jack Darby.
I've become more convinced the past few days that Carly has feelings for that boy.
However, if I questioned her about, I was afraid that I was going to get my head bitten off.
She is an Esquivel, after all.
I performed a wheelie and listened to my friend cheering while I answered, "I dunno, Carly. Maybe we could go racing, or we could just cause some mayhem at base. Or we could chat about our backgrounds again?"
"If I do accept the last one, you promise me this time that you'll be the one doing the chatting?" Carly asked with a sly tone evident in her voice.
So she picked up on the fact that I've ditched every question she's been asking about me and turned the conversation back on her, huh?
I sighed cheekily, "You're not as silly as I thought you were."
"Oh, Windswept, have you met me?!" the girl asked with the same tone, "I'm a lot smarter than people think I am." Then her voice quickly changed. "And hopefully, I'll be able to prove that to that woman the next time I see her."
"Carly? What woman? Who are you talking about?" When she refused to answer me straight away, I started getting concerned. "What's going on Carly?"
My brown-haired charge seemed hesitant to answer. She continued to stay silent. I couldn't allow her to stay silent like this, it was worrying me too much. I slammed the brakes on hard, skidding to a stop in the middle of the road between Jasper and Autobot base.
"What the hell, 'Swept?!"
"Carly!"
She went to yell at me again, but she paused for a moment, collecting herself together. Probably thinking better of it than to yell at me.
Something was clicking over the radio, like someone was going to get into contact with me. I ignored it. It was probably nothing really. Probably just Ratchet asking me how long it was taking me to get to base.
As Carly rested for the moment, I allowed her the break. To be honest, I felt that I had pushed her too hard. I should've just left her alone about the whole thing. But this might be a serious issue, one that I might have to deal with myself if it's an issue that's out of her control.
I heard her sigh and I flicked up my rear-view mirror, pointing at her helmet covered face. Finally she spoke, "Last week, with all that drama with the 'Cons, I...uhhhh, we, rather... we me-"
"Windswept? What are you still doing out here?"
Driving around to see the person who spoke, Carly and I came face to face with a slowly braking Arcee and Jack, parking up near us on the white line separating the lanes.
"What do you mean?" I asked my Autobot friend with a confusing tone, "We have plenty of time to get to base."
"You may think so, but we don't! Didn't you get the radio transmission from Ratchet?"
Ohhhhh, so that's what that clicking noise from my radio was earlier...
Whoops...
"No, I ignored it," I told her, "I thought it was just him checking on how long we were gonna take to get to base." Then the urgency in her voice reminded me that something was happening, "Come on, drive and talk, drive and talk."
She sped ahead as I collected some pace and spun around, driving into the right direction since I'm heading towards Autobot base.
While Jack and Carly greeted each other and began talking above us, no surprise there, I immediately commed Arcee.
"So what's going on?"
"Ratchet's picked up a strange signal entering Earth's atmosphere. Optimus wants to scout the area before its' arrival on this planet's soil."
Scrap. Sounded serious.
I guess my chat with Carly was going to have to wait a little while longer.
"Has he picked up on what it could be," I asked.
"At first, he thought it was a simple meteor that was going to fly by Earth. But something disrupted it and the disruption changed the meteor's course. Now that it's heading towards Earth, the signal appears larger than what he thought," Arcee explained.
What'd I tell you? Those chills down my back can certainly pick it, huh?
NO ONE'S P.O.V
The Autobots weren't the only ones to pick up the strange and growing signal heading towards Earth. The eyes and ears of the Decepticons known as Soundwave was flashing the moving signal on his screen, immediately catching the attention of the new leaders of the team.
"Well, what do you expect us to do with it?" Starscream asked, clueless as to what to do with the signal still in orbit.
Soundwave zoomed in closer on the signal, revealing it to be a Cybertronian escape pod.
"Ahhh, an escape pod from our once thriving world," Slipstream noted. Then she zoomed her own optics in on the pod, finding a blurry red symbol on the side of the object. She zoomed out with a chuckle, "An Autobot escape pod."
"Another Autobot that we can torment?" Rebecca asked eagerly, appearing out of nowhere when she heard about the signal.
Slipstream looked at the human immediately in disgrace, "Is that all you can think about? The second we get wind about an Autobot, or a human for that matter, all you-" She paused to glance at her brother, who chuckled nervously at the looks he keeps being given. "And him want to do is torment them!"
Starscream and Rebecca exchanged glances and shrugs.
"Is that such a big deal?" Starscream questioned, shaking nervously at the death glare still being given to him by his sister.
"I bet you've done it to one of the Autobots in your time during the war," Rebecca smirked knowingly.
Slipstream went to argue, but quickly realised that the human was right. She had tormented a few Autobots during the war for Cybertron. Her lips curled into a smirk as she remembered a few of those Autobots, some she knew were still alive... and others who died during the torment she brought upon them.
"See?" The blue and purple Decepticon glared at the not-exact human in defeat.
The monitor began beeping, breaking up the small squabble between the trio of Decepticons. Looking at the monitor, Rebecca gasped at what the scan had brought up.
"There's a Decepticon signal trailing after that pod!"
"Soundwave, see if you can make contact with Decepticon signal," Starscream immediately requested, turning to the always silent Decepticon, "We must remain one step of the Autobots as much as possible."
"That step will need to be pretty huge if we wanna stay ahead of the 'Bots," Rebecca muttered, arms crossed and rolling her eyes at the monitor.
Behind her, the twin Decepticons just glared at the back of her head in frustration. Why did that stuck-up human always have a smart aft comment to say?
Soundwave managed to provide the request given to him by the new Lord of the Decepticons. His face provided a radio transmission. All that needed to happen was to make contact with the Decepticon signal.
Slipstream decided that she was going to be the first to make contact, moving over to stand in front of Soundwave, "Decepticon Warship to unknown Decepticon signal, introduce yourself."
"Well, well, well. It's been a long time since I've heard that voice."
Slipstream widened her optics, an angry expression crashing over her faceplates.
"You."
WINDSWEPT P.O.V
When Arcee, Jack, Carly and I arrived at Autobot base, Ratchet was quick to fill us in on the details. From what he's noticed about the so-called meteor, he was unsure of what it could possible be. But he stressed that if the object turned out to be an escape pod of some sorts, we had to be very careful as the thing that could come out from it might not be friendly.
When Optimus was making his decision who take with him, it felt like Ratchet was just dying to kick one of us back out onto the field already!
And, fortunately for him, he managed to kick me out onto the field with Optimus and Bumblebee.
The Prime decided against bringing Arcee and Bulkhead, having decided that they should be available for if we need to bring backup onto the field.
And with Bulkhead back at base, I could only presume that Ratchet and Arcee weren't taking any chances, given what happened the last he was left alone at base with the humans...
I was on his side of course. It seemed like Miko was going to be trouble from the start. And she only confirmed when she went out on the battlefield with her guardian a week ago. She'd only known Bulkhead for not even a full twenty four hours and yet, she was already trusting him with her life!
Carly wasn't much better, but she gave me her word that she not intending to go out on the battlefield any time soon...
... Unless it was to bring back a screaming and kicking Miko back to base.
The coordinates Ratchet provided for the Groundbridge lead us out to a very clustered and somewhat claustrophobic forest. Remember when I was with Optimus and Ratchet on that quest that lead us to the battlefield of dead Cybertronians and I mentioned that fog that I said had felt like it was choking my neck?
It kind of felt like that. But this time, I was being stabbed in the stomach by the branches that continued to pop out of nowhere.
As we continued walking, being mindful of the terrain which kept switching between flat and rocky, I looked over at Optimus, who was navigating his way over a small river we had come across.
"Had the object entered Earth's atmosphere when Ratchet caught its' signal?"
"When the signal first appeared, Ratchet had suggested it was targeting Earth's atmosphere. But since his tracking of it, he has since stated the so-called meteor has already entered our atmosphere."
"It could land at any moment?" Bumblebee bleeped his question, wanting to be involved into the conversation.
As he asked his question, he reached a servo out for me to grab as we traversed over the surprisingly wide river. On the other side of it was a large hill that was too steep for my short stature. So Bumblebee, being the gentlemech he was, helped get across and up the unnaturally large hill.
Human nature's weird. But the human's would probably think the nature was weird on Cybertron. So who am I to judge?
"Indeed Bumblebee," Optimus nodded at our scout as we continued, "We must be prepared for its' landing."
I agreed with Optimus. When the meteor was to make its impending landing, it would land violently, disrupting the peace in the surrounding areas and possibly cause the Earth to move shakily. Kind of what the humans would call an earthquake, but without widespread damage, causalities and deaths I suppose.
Then there's the fact the movement wouldn't be called an earthquake since the so-called tectonitic... or was it tectonic? Anyway, the whatever-they-were-called plates won't be moving below the Earth's surface, thus not being called an earthquake.
... What? Carly tells me things and I listen! That's what friends do, right?
Speaking of, I had to remember to talk to Carly as soon as we would return. The person that she had been speaking of this morning was really bothering her and I knew that something had to be done about it. Before any of us do anything stupid, talking was the best, and the first, direction to go in.
The loud noise above us made us look up at the sky. Through the suffocating green leaves, we could make out the orange flames licking around the meteor as it flew across the blue sky.
"Get ready for the collision," I warned quietly as we looked towards the trees ahead of us.
With his mouth guard activated, Optimus began running towards the direction the meteor was heading in. Bumblebee and I followed with a nod.
There was a strong chance the Decepticons had also picked up the signal and were also coming out to play. So we had to be on our guard at all times and to make sure that there weren't any distractions around us.
We paused when the ground below our feet began to wobble. Trees began waving their branches around a bit more and any birds that were flying around or in the trees squawked with fright, flying away from the scene at rapid speeds. Any other animals that were around would've taken off as well, thought I suppose they would scattered the second they heard of us coming.
Regaining our footing, the shaking began to subside before it eventually passed through, ready to rock the ground behind us.
Checking over of us with a simple glance, Optimus locked his eyes forwards, "Autobots, maximum overdrive."
I swear that was becoming his new catchphrase.
We transformed into our vehicle forms, Optimus in his Peterbuilt truck semi, Bumblebee in his Urbana 500 vehicle and I into my Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle and sped off. The scenery had backed off on the trees at this point, and there was a slight clearing ahead in the distance. Nothing but flat terrain.
And no rivers.
Perfect for a good drive.
NO ONE'S P.O.V
The landing zone the escape pod landed upon wasn't strong enough to hold the entire impact of the Cybertronian pod. It dug deep into the ground, creating a rough circle surrounding the meteor-shaped object.
A lone black bird swooped down to the pod, landing on top of it and inspecting the object. Its' clawed feet struggled to get a hold of the metal exterior, causing the bird to instead fly over to the ground and inspect the damage the pod made created.
Loud banging from inside the pod caused the lone bird to fly away in fright, squawking as it flew over to a tree, now wonky from the damage the object made upon impact. It watched as a part of the pod was slammed open on the inside, creating a hole for whoever was inside of it.
The occupant crawled out of the escape pod now through the self-created doorway. The Cybertronian groaned from being in stasis for so long, stretching their arms. It was good to get out and be free!
They turned around and inspected the damage of the pod and around the area it destroyed.
"Oh my," a small, very feminine voice whispered, bringing a small hand to her face, her small fingers barely touching her lips.
Looking around at the area her Cybertronian pod landed in, the femme's curiosity peaked, beginning her walk into the forest...
Meanwhile, landing in a dark area of the same forest that the Autobots and the lone Cybertronian were in, unknown to them, the black and hot pink Cybertronian jet landed, the air blowing around the leaves on the trees and the small plants on the ground.
The jet growled to itself, "Scrap it."
The aerial vehicle transformed into its true Cybertronian form. The frame of the Cybertronian was fully black except for the hot pink flames dancing up their arms and legs. At the side of their left hip was a large purple Decepticon insignia.
Thus, confirming their status as a Decepticon warrior.
The Decepticon took a look around at their surroundings. It seemed they had arrived at a bare patch of the forest, standing in nothing but brown dirt that expanded in a circle around them. Nothing but lifeless trees surrounded them.
What disappointed them was what they were following up in space had seemingly disappeared before their eyes. The Decepticon realised that since the signal had disappeared, the escape pod must have crash-landed, knocking its sensor out of whack in the process.
The Decepticon kicked a small rock in front of them in frustration. They had the Autobot before their eyes!
Suddenly, they felt a rush of wind blowing around them as the trees began to blow. The lifeless plants around them also blew at the sudden gusts of wind.
Looking up, they spotted the second thing they were looking for. Transforming back into its jet form, it began flying to the Decepticon Warship above.
WINDSWEPT P.O.V
I quickly started to believe that maybe the Decepticons were playing jokes on us. We had been driving for ages and ages and there were no signs on the meteor we were trying to find.
Would the 'Con's really got to all that trouble of faking the movement of the ground to make us believe that the meteor had landed?
Probably. I mean, look who's leading the Decepticons now!
We eventually drove out into a clearing. The forest continued on the other side of this massive dull patch of green. But that was all I got to see before I spotted the massive ditch in the ground.
Where we all presumed the meteor had landed.
Transforming into our Cybertronian forms, Optimus, Bumblebee and I activated our blasters just in case something or someone hostile was still in the ditch. We stalked up it slowly, spreading ourselves out as a precautionary measure.
We came to the edge of the ground at the same time, discovering that what Ratchet thought was meteor turned out to be something a bit more bigger than that. It turned out to be something I haven't seen since I was the last to join Team Prime in one of these things.
A Cybertronian escape pod.
Flashes of the last days of Cybertron leaped into my vision. Flashes of Alpha Trion saying goodbye. Flashes of the escape pod waiting for me. Flashes of the last moments with my closest friend back on my home planet...
"Hey 'Swept!" I shook my head out of those flashes at the beeping and whirrs coming from Bumblebee. He waved and indicated at me to join him, "Get in here! You gotta see this!"
"Be careful you two," Optimus warned, glancing at the pair of us.
Nodding, I leaped down into the massive circular ditch, stretching out my arm with my blaster on it in case we were in for a surprise attack. I joined Bumblebee and we slowly circled the pod, splitting apart to head around it in different directions.
When I reached the other side to meet up with the scout, I was surprised to find that I wouldn't meet up with him exactly as I thought. Separating us was a massive hole blown outwards from the inside of the pod.
As Bumblebee searched inside it, I looked up Optimus, "Whoever's crashed landed has escaped from the pod! Be careful Optimus!"
He nodded at my warning, looking around the forest when suddenly, his blasters pointed at something across the ditch from him. Looking at the other side of the ditch with Bumblebee, we exchanged a knowing look and silently scaled up at the ditch.
Nodding at one another, we leaped up to the flat ground ahead, pointing at the enemy before us.
I gasped at the sight... I know who this is!
Standing before us was a femme. She had sky blue optics and was mostly a pale pink colour with white swirls dancing around her frame. She had a large, silver Autobot logo on the side of her right hip. I looked down to her feet, a small smile appearing on my face. She still had her small heels at the bottoms of feet in an attempt to make her taller. It did help a little - it helped her become my height.
I looked back at the femme, who was holding out a knife she used a weapon. She paused in her actions, also looking up and down my frame.
"Windswept?" Her angelic voice whispered in recognition.
The smile on my face grew that little bit wider, "Starlight."
Starlight's hands flew to her mouth, dropping her knife. I jogged up to her, grabbing her arms and checking over her. Starlight was like my little sister, like family. Poor thing, she must've been in that escape pod for a very long time for her to be reacting this way. It must be the first time she's seen Cybertronian life apart from herself.
I pulled her into a tight hug.
Was this really happening? Was one of my old partners, and one of my close friends, from Cybertron here?
I released small happy tears quietly as Starlight shuddered in my arms.
"Thank goodness you're here," The femme snivelled.
"I got you, Star," I comforted her, rubbing her back, "You're safe now."
Optimus' heavy footsteps got my attention behind me. I pulled out of the hug, smiling softly at the femme.
"Windswept, please introduce us to your friend," Optimus requested kindly, seeing how upset Star and I were.
The good kind of upset though.
Starlight looked up at the Prime and straightened up at the sight of him upon realisation the he was, in fact, Optimus Prime. Saluting to him, she stood in a soldier stature, "Designation: Starlight, Sir."
"At ease, soldier," Optimus told her.
Starlight eased up, but still kept a straight posture on her. Behind her, Bumblebee whirred when he picked up the weapon she had dropped.
"I believe this belongs to you."
Starlight turned around, gasping at the sight of her dropped knife – or maybe it was at the sight of Bumblebee surprising her – either way, she grabbed the knife out of his hands with a shy smile, "Oh, thank you so much... uhmmm..."
"Bumblebee."
"Bumblebee," My friend repeated as if she was making sure to remember his name.
"Welcome to Earth, Starlight," Optimus Prime announced to her, "When we are ready, we would like you to return to base to answer a few questions."
Starlight nodded, "Of course, Optimus. I am ready to head off when you are."
"Ratchet, open the Groundbridge and stand by for our discovery," Optimus spoke into the comm-link.
As the swirling portal opened before us, I remembered the questions that Optimus asked me upon my arrival onto planet Earth. He had asked me what my designation was, how I got myself onto the escape pod and asked what I knew since my leaving of Cybertron. I was unable to answer the last question due to me being locked in stasis my whole journey from our former home world to our new home world. I only awoke when I landed in my escape pod out in the desert of Jasper, Nevada.
Optimus and Bumblebee walked through the Groundbridge first before I allowed Starlight to ahead of me. I looked around, making sure that no one was in sight before walking in after our growing team.
Immediately, upon walking through the Groundbridge and into the Autobot base, poor Starlight was bombarded by the excitable Miko, who was at the edge of the balcony already greeting and asking questions to the femme.
"Hiya! I'm Miko! Who are you? Do you have any neat-o weapons? You look really pretty!"
Well, that last one was a compliment...
"Huh, uhhh, thank you?" Starlight thanked nervously, obviously out of her comfort zone by Miko's brashness attitude.
"Ignore her, she's just trying to make new friends," Carly teased with a laugh, joining Miko at the protective bars. While her friend glared at her, Carly simply ignored it, "Though take her last sentence as a compliment. She hates the colour pink!"
"I don't hate the colour, exactly," Miko began protesting, "It's too girly is what I'm saying."
"Give up now while you're ahead Miko," Jack advised, him and Raf joining the girls, "You're losing."
Starlight looked at me with a mix of panic and confusion and side of 'please help.'
"Starlight, these are our new human companions. Jack, Carly and Raf. You've already met Miko," I introduced her to the humans, who waved at Starlight. She waved back nervously. Then we looked over at the rest of the Autobot team she hadn't meet yet, "Meet Arcee and Bulkhead. You remember our favourite medic Ratchet."
Ratchet just shrugged off the introduction while Bulkhead and Arcee smiled before the latter's face turned neutral.
That was understandable. Arcee didn't know who Starlight was and probably feared the thought of her turning out to be a Decepticon spy in Autobot armour. But I trusted my instincts. This was Starlight. It had to be!
Though, just in case, I did take a small step closer to the humans. Just in case.
"Your arrival on Earth was very sudden, Starlight," Optimus began, giving Starlight the idea of continuing.
"It was indeed," She nodded in agreement, "I have no idea what happened. The last thing I remember on Cybertron was stumbling upon the escape pod suddenly when I was fighting a Decepticon wave. They must have overpowered me or did something. Because the next thing I know, I'm in an escape pod floating around helplessly. I woke up from stasis still in transit when something hit the pod and knocked me back out again. Next thing I knew, I was smashing the escape pod open and trying to figure out where in the world I was."
"So you've been on a tough ride, huh?" Arcee asked slyly, still not convinced.
Optimus gave a 'stand-down' glance to Arcee, who shrugged in response, before looking back at Starlight, "Did you see who it was who sent your escape pod to Earth?"
"See, that's why I got out of the pod. I would've thought that whoever hit me would be waiting to take advantage of the situation. They must of lost the signal when I crash-landed."
"The beacon was damaged when we discovered it. It must have gotten damage during the crash," Bumblebee suggested through his beeps and whirrs.
Starlight nodded in agreement.
"What'd he say?" Miko asked quietly behind us.
"The beacon was damaged when he and 'Swept discovered the pod. It must have gotten damaged upon landing," Carly repeated quietly.
"Ohhhhh."
"Starlight, we would be honoured if you would join our team in our quest to stop the Decepticons. But here on this planet, we use vehicle forms to travel outside of our base. It would be best if you also followed the procedure and acquired a vehicle mode before we can start sending you out on patrol and missions," Optimus insisted to the new arrival.
I didn't wanna muck about! Let's go now! "Open the Groundbridge, Ratch. Star and I can head out now!" I wrapped an arm around Starlight's shoulders, "And the sooner we can get you a vehicle form, the sooner we can head out missions together. Like old times!"
Starlight smiled as brightly as she could, "Yeah, like old times."
One thing I forgot about Starlight was how picky she could be with EVERYTHING. We had been out here, watching the traffic go past us on the highway on this cliff for nearly three hours now. Nothing suited Starlight's style or body form.
Since Starlight was, on a technicality given those little pink heels on her feet gives her a small boost, mine and Arcee's height, she needed a motorcycle form that suited her frame.
Nothing came past us on the highway that she was immediately jumping to. And when something appropriate for her did zoom past, she merely shrugged at it and made a comment about how it was 'too bulky' or 'not flash enough' and even the straight up one 'I don't like it'.
That was Starlight, picky and honest. But sweet. As the human simile says, she's as sweet as sugar.
While we passed the time searching for an appropriate motorcycle form, we began to discuss recent times and how I've adjusted to living on Earth teaming with humans.
I must admit, it was a struggle adapting to life on this planet. Having to be cautious about what vehicles were actual vehicles and what vehicles were Decepticons in disguise. Having to be cautious in town when they're were humans around. Having to be cautious when both Decepticons in disguise AND humans were around. We were doing alright up to the point when Cliffjumper passed away and Arcee accidentally attracted a certain black-haired teenager to her right when the Decepticon drones were targeting her.
Seriously, we were doing good!
I mentioned how we had recently lost Cliffjumper and how we've had to change our tactics when it came to attacking the Decepticons scouting around Jasper in vehicle form. I mean, we all love Jack, Carly, Miko, Raf and sometimes Agent Fowler, but that's as far as it can go. We are not picking up any more humans.
Seriously, no more!
And then I discussed how we, the small team of Autobots growing slightly bigger by the week it seemed, destroyed Megatron's Spacebridge, Megatron's Dark Energon-powered army of the undead, and Megatron himself.
"Megatron's dead?" Starlight repeated in surprise, "Those are the two words I never thought I would ever hear."
"Me too," I agreed with a nod, "But, its true. He's well and truly gone."
Starlight suddenly stood up at the sight of a motorcycle speeding by.
"Gotcha!"
We sped through the desert and back to Jasper, Nevada. Now equipped with an Earth-appropriate vehicle form, a 2006 Suzuki GSXR 600 I think Star had said, we decided to put our speeds to the test.
I'm getting really sick of tying every time I race someone. Carly and I still haven't broken that tie with Jack and Arcee yet.
After our little race, I decided to show off some of the tricks Arcee and I have been teaching ourselves to teach Starlight.
Watch out world, don't be surprised when a blue motorcycle, a pink and white motorcycle and a red and blue, yep, you guessed it, motorcycle are performing wheelies down the highway.
It's just us being us.
We braked to catch our energy, Starlight laughing in her motorcycle form and pointed her front wheel towards me, "Seriously is this what you guys do all the time?!"
"Not all of the time-"
"How do you guys manage to defeat the Decepticons AND have a little fun on the side?"
A swirling Groundbridge portal came to life a few hundred feet from us before I could answer. Confused, we transformed into our Cybertronian forms and starred at the portal.
"Hey Ratch? I didn't ask for a Groundbridge portal."
"Well, lucky for you, I didn't provide one," Ratchet sassed back.
My eyes widened, "Uh-oh."
"Uh-oh indeed." Starlight and I froze as the Decepticon presented herself to us.
I was expecting Slipstream at first, but the figure that appeared froze Starlight in place even further.
"Moonlight," Starlight greeted bitterly, gritting her denta.
"Starlight," The dark and pink Decepticon greeted with a smirk, "How nice to see you again."
Starlight and Moonlight. The Light Sisters.
Growing up, Starlight was the last born out of the two sisters, and was showered with attention constantly. Moonlight had an affinity of getting herself into trouble all the time, something their parents looked down upon. At the time, it was when the war was at its highest peak, so you could imagine just what exactly Moonlight could get up to.
After the murder of their parents during the human equivalent of their teenage years, Moonlight quickly defected to the Decepticons. Starlight quickly choose our side because of evidence suggesting that her family was destroyed by Decepticons. Upon discovering the sides they took on the battlefield, they both have been fighting one another ever since.
And before you start, don't go comparing mine and Slipstream's battle to theirs. Ours maybe on a personal level, but theirs is on a whole 'nother level of personal. It was a war within the family.
"Likewise," Starlight hissed.
Behind the black and pink Decepticon, two Decepticon drones stood on either side of Moonlight. The Groundbridge portal swirled shut behind them.
"And you, Windswept," Moonlight recognised, "I've heard much about you. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person."
"I could say the same, but then I'd be lying," I snarled back.
Moonlight didn't take that too nicely, sending her Vehicons towards my direction. I rolled my eyes.
Seriously?
If you've heard so much about me, then you would know that I love a good challenge, Moonlight. Not a pathetic attempt at one.
The drones started their attack by charging towards me, activating their blasters and immediately firing shots towards my direction. I dodged them as well as I could, using my smallness as an advantage. When they got too close, I flipped over them. One stood there confused, but the other had watched me.
Performing a roundhouse kick, the drone got a foot in the face, falling to the ground almost instantly. The second one turned around in time to meet my fist, punching him hard in the faceplates. He fell front first on the ground, joining his friend.
The battle between the siblings must have started the second those drones came racing after me. They were so drawn into their personal vendetta, throwing punches and kicks left, right and centre.
The Light Sisters were well known for two things – agility and stamina. Each one of them were so thin from head to toe. They were able to perform moves Autobots like Bulkhead and probably Bumblebee could only dream of.
No offence to either of them.
And the two had the stamina of the strongest animal alive. They could go for ages and ages, battling one another like the world around them didn't exist.
Now, you would think Starlight was the one at the disadvantage with her sister being a head taller than her. But Star used it for her advantage, sneaking around her sister more quicker than the eldest one could pull move on her.
"Windswept? Are you there? What's going on?" Ratchet commed urgently.
My eyes widened, remembering that I had commed Ratchet earlier about the Groundbridge. Pressing a hand to my audio processor, I commed back before I could get distracted by the battle again, "Ratchet, we need a 'bridge back now!"
At the request, the swirling green and blue portal came to life behind us.
"The Groundbridge is ready and waiting."
Nodding at the knowledge this 'Bridge was ours, I looked over at the battle that had suddenly swung into Starlight's favour. Moonlight must have been distracted by the Gportal opening up and Starlight must have taken advantage of it.
Moonlight was now on the ground, crawling backwards in an attempt to get away from a furious Starlight, who was holding one of her knives behind her back.
Starlight's knives were special to her. Those Kunai knives were amongst the rare set of weapons you could find on Cybertron. She carried around a trio of them on her hip all the time.
Starlight gripped the hot pink handle tightly in her hand. The blade was dark pink with a black peak riding up the middle, her thumb peaking through the small circle gap at the end of the handle, ensuring her tight hold on the knife before going in for the kill.
Already, Starlight?
"Star! Come on! We gotta go!"
She didn't listen, raising her knife up...
"STARLIGHT!"
She still didn't listen, but it froze her in place for the moment.
I knew I had to take action.
Unfurling my blaster, I fired a couple of warning shots at Moonlight, the momentary distraction allowing Starlight to realise what she was doing. She placed her knife back on her hip and back flipped away from her sister, transforming into her recently acquired vehicle form. Following suit, I allowed her to enter the Groundbridge first before speeding after her, making sure she didn't turn back.
In my mirror, the last thing I saw of Moonlight was her standing up and brushing off the dust on her frame before the sight of the main room of Autobot base filled my front view.
We transformed back into our Cybertronian forms just as the Groundbridge closed behind us. I turned my attentions to Starlight, hands on my hips and with an angry expression on my face.
And when I have my hands on my hips AND an angry expression on my faceplates, that's when you know that I mean some serious business.
"What the heck were you think, Starlight? You haven't been here twelve hours and you've already fallen back into one bad habit!" I scolded.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Starlight was quickly apologising, "I let my anger of my offline parents get the better of me."
Optimus walked up, pressing a hand on Star's shoulder, "I do not know what happened, Starlight. And I have no doubt that I will be filled in. But you mustn't let your anger control your emotions."
Starlight nodded in defeat, "I'm sorry, sir. I-I'll try to not allow my emotions get the better of me again."
It was a sentence not worth saying to be honest. But knowing that she'll try sounds supposedly better than nothing.
It was then that I realised the cuts and scars Starlight had earned herself from the recent battle. I wasn't the only one to notice.
"Come here, Starlight. I'll patch you up," Ratchet said to her softly, guiding her towards the med-bay.
Snapping at her probably wasn't the best thing to do, especially with the humans in the room too, but after the past week with the loss of Cliffjumper and the near loss of Arcee, I blamed my anger on the fact that we didn't want to lose, or nearly lose another member of our small Autobot team.
As everyone went about their business, my eyes found my human charge, reminding me that Carly and I had started a conversation that we had yet to finish.
We made eye contact and her eyes immediately knew what was about to occur.
"You, me, corridor, now," I instructed, pointing at the corridor leading down to all of Team Prime's individual berthrooms.
Carly nodded instantly, heading towards the steps.
Behind her, Miko laughed and Jack smirked, "Oooooooh Carly's in trouble!"
The brown-haired girl stuck her tongue out at the response to her friends, nearing the end of the steps. When she was on the ground, I allowed her to go first into the corridor, shortly trailing after her.
Man I was being kind to everyone today.
"Alright you," I began when we were out of hearing reach, bending down to meet Carly's eyes, "Tell your new best friend what's going on."
The teenage girl smirked at me for a moment before her face became serious, "Last week, when we meet you guys and, you know, went through all that scrap and everything. But you forgot to mention one person on the Decepticon side."
My face twisted up in confusion.
"Rebecca? Rebecca Rose?"
She's still alive?
Oh scrap.
"Windswept? She's stronger and faster than the average human! What aren't you telling me?"
I sighed, "Six years ago, before Megatron's disappearance, we went out to check this signal and found Energon directly underneath a human home out in the country. The Decepticons had picked up the same signal and we had no choice but to fight them to save the human family..." I choked up a little. This was where it got a little tough. "The Decepticons had planted an explosive at the scene moments before we had arrived and as we were fighting, we set off the explosive. The explosion killed the two human adults instantly, but their small, eleven year old daughter survived, despite being in a critical condition and probably had no chance on survival. The Decepticons took her before we could get to her.
"The Decepticons called her Project R and experimented many, many unknown things on her to bring her back to life. They were successful, but the experiments gave her abilities out of her control. Over time, she must have been able to master them. We first assumed that, after discovering her a year after the incident, that she wouldn't have survived all the procedures that she had gone through and that her body would eventually react and self destruct. We never saw her after that... Five years later, it would seem she survived." Arcee confirmed a sighting to me in private after returning from resucing Agent Fowler. She wasn't really convinced since they didn't recognise her. I looked down at my charge. "Did you meet her?"
"Yeah, we all met her. She warned us that we would be seeing a lot more of each other in the future," Carly answered.
"And she probably isn't wrong," I couldn't help but agree with the statement.
NO ONE'S P.O.V
"Moonlight, you may enter."
The Decepticon femme did as she was told, entering the main room of the Decepticon Warship.
She had let her sister get away again, dammit! Now the next time she had to go out to battle, there was a very good chance that she would have to come up against her again. The thought of it made her Energon boil in anger.
But then a smirk appeared one her faceplates as a certain thought entered her mind.
If only her sister knew.
Looking down at the new Decepticon leaders, Moonlight bowed to their height, "My Master." Looking up to her left, she stood to full height with a disgraced look upon her features. "Slipstream."
Enraged, the dark and blue femme folded her arms behind her back silently, her eyes looking sharply at the femme as if she could destroy the Decepticon with her own optics.
Well, she wished.
Starscream, happily proud at the fact he was being referred to as the main 'master', looked up at the new arrival with a questioning, but happy look, "So, how did the fight with your sister and her friend go?"
"She hasn't changed a single bit, Lord Starscream," Moonlight replied, "She's still well aware of my strengths and weaknesses. Fortunately for me, I'm still well aware of her strengths and weaknesses. Fear not Starscream, I'm looking forward to the day when I get to destroy her."
Suddenly, the doors down at the end of the corridor opened, revealing a floating Rebecca, who was using her hoverboard to storm across the corridor angrily. When she arrived at the trio of Decepticons at the monitor, her attentions were quickly placed on the dark and purple Decepticon.
"You didn't show for training."
Slipstream looked up at the girl, "I apologise, Rebecca Rose. It would appear that I have been recently caught up with the recent recruit."
"Apologising isn't good enough Slipstream. I was waiting in that room for hours. You know today's the day we start extending my abilities that tiny bit further. And you couldn't even turn up for that!"
"I understand that it is your seventeenth birthday, Rebecca, but I explained to you that I have been busy meeting with the new recruit! Now excuse me, it would seem that I need to get some fresh air." With that rant, the Decepticon femme marched over to the other side of the room and exited out swiftly.
The Decepticon trio looked at the door Slipstream had just exited out of with disbelief and amusement.
"I apologise for my sister's attitude. As of late, it would seem that the death of the former Lord Megatron has been affecting her harder than it has everyone else."
Moonlight raised an eyebrow, looking at the new leader of the Decepticons, "Was she still trying to drape herself all over Megatron?"
"You noticed that two huh?" Rebecca asked knowingly.
"Of course! You should've seen her on Cybertron. She wanted Megatron all to herself from the day she first met him!" Moonlight explained, "But unfortunately, he wanted something a bit more better. He wanted power." Then the black and hot pink femme flashed a smirk, her hands falling onto her hips. "Oh, and me of course."
"You and Megatron getting it on in the background?" Rebecca questioned with glee.
"Whenever we could."
Rebecca's eyes shone at the new information that came to light, removing her hoverboard and resting on Moonlight's shoulder, "Tell me more! Tell me more!"
"Well, it all started the day I joined the Decepticons. Right then, I knew very well that Megatron wanted me..."
Starscream failed to listen to any more gossip as the two Decepticon females wandered away from him and down to the end of the room to the door his twin sister had just stormed out of minutes ago.
The recent discoveries that had just been unearthed proved to him not only the fact that Megatron's death was indeed affecting his twin far more than it affected everyone, but also explained why Slipstream wasn't too pleased with Moonlight's arrival.
It was then that Starscream knew that everything had changed...
Yeeeaaaahhhhhhhhh, so I added some extra spice to this already spicy mixture of a story I've got writing for you. I'm not sure what went through my mind writing this, but ehhh, I'll resolve in about five, six chapters time maybe.
I apologise once more for the delay. I hope to be writing more for these next two weeks as I'm holiday. I do have a first aid course on Tuesday and Wednesday so you can definitely scrub those days out. But even when I'm not writing, I will be planning things for the next chapters beyond the next one. Some of the future chapters are already being pre-written as we speak - I'm currently up to 'Operation: Breakdown'. And by pre-written, I kind of mean planning what is going to occur to and already writing drafts for them.
So with that little bit in mind, I can confirm that there will be at least two more original chapters for this story. You'll know that they're original because they will have this little symbol beside the chapter title: (O)
Thank you for sticking by me so far and I do hope you continue as I push to get to more of these chapters out for you. Follows/favourites/reviews keep me motivated when life decides to not throw everything my way.
Thank you for reading.
(Last edited: 08/03/2019)