The sky's the limit

Chapter 5

It was clear that Shade wasn't going back home to her family anytime soon but the fact that she had saved her sister and given herself in to protect them made her feel proud and it got her one more step closer to being with the autobots again. Arcee would have surely made back to the base by now and informed her Sire of who she really is; knowing Optimus all too well she easily guessed that he would be furious at Megatrons recent actions and himself for almost attacking her when he rescued his soldiers in the cave but also leaving her behind. Since she was reunited with Arcee which was shortly lived she had been forced back into the cavern where Predaking was forcing himself on her again. His beast form over-powering her bi-pedal mode as he lay on top of her. Though that didn't mean she was going to give in to him.

When Megatron had ordered him to follow along with their plans she had been confused but now she understood everything. They had changed her and made her compatible to mate with the predacon and breed a new generation of the beasts that would serve the decepticon cause. She knew of femmes being taken back on Cybertron to be used for breeding but this had been taken to a whole new level. To carry an army by herself could kill her and she didn't want sparklings; at least not in the middle of this war. Shade even noticed that Predaking was holding himself back a little like he was fighting himself inside – conflicted between obeying his orders and the goodness in his spark that was telling him that this was wrong. There was no honour in it.

Her spark did reach out to him however, feeling his pain of being lonely. She could see that he needed help and perhaps a friend by his side but he would never ask. As he again tried to forced open her interface panel Shade pushed him off of her and stood herself up quickly taking a bold stance to look firm. He growled out at her actions and moved towards her again but instead of backing into the wall she stood still and stretched out her wings letting out a hiss from her vocal processor. The defensive actions seemed to make him stop and stand there staring at her which made Shade feel a little nervous. Her good willed spark now forced her to reach out to him. "Don't do this; you are better than this, better than Megatron" his bright yellow optics locked with her blue optics as he rumbled "You understand honour better than any decepticon does and you can see that there is no honour in what Megatron is ordering you to do…You know the funny thing about orders is that you don't always have to follow them. I learnt from my Sire that obeying them is one thing but listening to your spark and acting upon it was the complete opposite" the air was silent which only put Shade on edge even more her outer armour shifting a little. "Do you really want a sparkling to be born into this war, your sparkling, to be used like some trained animal that Megatron wouldn't care if it died out in the battlefield?"

Those words seemed to hit him the spark as he took a few step back and transformed into his bi-pedal form. It was much taller than Shade, her height only coming up to his chest. He averted his face plates away before speaking to her in a voice that she didn't expect to be so calm and majestic "I may not be as old as some of you but I do have desires just as much as any other bot does. A dream to be able to lead my own kind without the need to fight"

"Then why do you fight for Megatron? His leadership will only lead to the destruction of all life until everything is consumed by fire; there won't be anything left to rule over"

Predaking thought over her words for a moment before he lifted his face so that he could look at her now instead of looking away "I fight for him because he is the one that will bring more of my brethren into this world because I would not be here otherwise"

Shade shook her head seeing that his intentions seems to be misplaced "He was the one that could give you more predacons but by the looks of things I seem to be the only one that can help you there" again he remained silent. The conflict in him arising as he was now in the place where he would have to face it. "I'm sorry for your loss, I really am but can't you see that they would have been used as Megatrons puppets like the rest of you are being used. You say that you want to avoid fighting then believe me to avoid the death of another planet we had to do it…too much as already been lost"

She tried to continue spilling her spark out with all the emotions that she had bottled up about the war that had gone on long enough, she could see that in the short time that Predaking had been online it had taken its toll on him already. His optics widened when he picked up on her words. Throughout their entire conversation she had always referred to the decepticons as though she wasn't one of them. "What do you mean 'we'?"

Shade instantly regretted what she had said to him now even though she was trying to reach out to him. His piercing yellow optics got darker as the femme chose to remain silent. Having seen out his rage almost killed Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack if it wasn't for her interference she would hate to be on the receiving end of it now. Particularly when there was no one else around. "You were on the Nemesis in Shockwaves lab" his voice got deep as he stalked towards her but he didn't seem to be as intimidated by her wings this time. Again she didn't say anything but it didn't help her case as Predaking gasped – his processors having worked it out. He had watched as she had been bound down to the berth and was determined to escape, Megatron had ordered her processor wiped but she was strong enough to resist it which is why she was never allowed to be alone. "Autobot!" he spat the name out in disgust a snarl following it.

Before Shade could speak his servo reached out to her and grasped her shoulder firmly, too firm that she could feel her armour plating shifting from the pressure. Predaking then threw her behind him, her body sliding to a stop on the ground. Predaking clenched his denta as he stomped over to her form again and punched her firmly in the abdomen, any air in her vents having been forced out quickly as she tried to curl into a ball on the ground to protect herself but it did not favours as Predakings ped kicked into her side making her roll a little from him. His anger for the death of his kind was now being blamed on her for being an autobot never mind that she hadn't been on the planet that long and had nothing to do with what her family had done to protect the planet and its indigenous life. "Autoscum! You will pay for what you did to my brethren!" quickly he transformed into his beast mode a loud roar making the cavern shake as he was getting ready to fire upon her. Shade gasped as she saw on his outer plating that his fire breath was charging as he leant his head back ready the purple femme painfully jumped up and ran away from him though there was nowhere for her to go if she could try and get out from the enclosed area again so she made a split second decision; she would face him. He may have frightened her before when she wasn't a beast but now that fear was nothing more than a memory, and the emotion was replaced by something that she could not quite identify yet though she would worry about it later when she wasn't trying not to die.

The predacon lunched his helm forward as he shot out his fire breath at Shade. Her reflexes were good as she peered quickly over her shoulder and at the glow of the dangerous element she jumped up and used her wing to carry her higher while gliding around the cave as Predaking was struggling to hit her with his attack. The rock around her radiated the heat of the fire off which made her flinch a little but she didn't let it distract her as she activated her blades that appeared on her forearms. Just as Predaking stopped his attack and swung his tail around in the air to hit her Shade evaded and flew right at him her blue optics darkened and narrowed now that she had entered battle mode and her attention was solely on winning this fight. Her sudden attack caught him off guard, he let out a screech of pain as her blades made contact with his face plates. The velocity of her flying made it easy for her to swoop past him attacking and then evading his counter attacks by flying up again. She ended her attack by hovering in the air; her wings flapping to push the air down and keep her body up high.

Retracting her blades Shade transformed her left servo into a blaster and encircled him as she fired at him. Predaking keeping on his peds to avoid her shots swung his tail at her again but she wasn't quick enough to move out of the way as it hit her down. The young femme growled out as she looked up to see Predaking charging at her, immediately she transformed into her own beast mode and charged at him. Both of their bodies meeting in the middle with a loud clash. He was going to use his fire breath on her again but Shade knocked that idea out of him literally as her claw scrapped his neck and her wings extended flapping about hard hitting him in the helm and back forcing him to the ground. Though he didn't stay there as she was going to claw his face to pieces with her talons but he moved away and hit her away in to the wall with his own wing. Small pieces of rock fell from the unstable ceiling as she collided with the wall which she noticed fully and took full advantage of as the predacon was running towards her.

Shade remained perfectly still as though she was giving in but her processor was at work as she waiting for the opportune moment which was right at the last second to fly up and over Predaking so that he face planted in to the rock wall. The forced of it made large boulders from the ceiling fall on to him making him weaker. Shade landed back on solid ground and carefully walked over to him which was a mistake as he smashed through the rocks and crashed into her, the both of them toppling over each other in the hopes of pinning the other down. As Predaking stood over Shade she hit him with her wings making him step back a little which allowed her to push off the ground and into him. She placed one of her peds on the side of his face and the other on his shoulder as she bit into his plating with her sharp denta ripping it off which made him squirm in pain as it reveal sensitive wiring beneath. She didn't hesitate to sink her teeth into it making him fall to the ground as her weight pinned him down beneath her. Puncturing his energon line Predaking transformed back to his bi-pedal form and groaned out lifting a servo to the injured area to put pressure on it his other held down by one of Shade's peds while his own peds were pinned down two leaving her remaining peds that was placed firmly on his chest.

His optics turned from a quick glance at his energon stained servo that he quickly returned to his injury to her face plates as she closed the gap between them. When their helms were merely inches from each other she let a loud roar that almost damaged his audio receptors signifying that she had won. Both of them vented in exhaustion, Predaking's face a little anxious that he had lost in his anger and he couldn't predict what Shade might do next. If anything she had the honour to kill him seeing as she won the battle, bearing her denta she looked ready to use them to rip out his spark but instead of finishing him she grunted and lifted herself off of him. Moving to put a decent distance between them. When took the opportunity to pick himself up and back on to his peds Shade transformed; her face full of guilt. "I won't kill you, that's not the sort of femme I am" her voice had returned to his soft tone again but it was a little bit different that Predaking noticed immediately "But I will tell you that I am truly sorry for what happened to your people though you must see that they presented a danger to this planet and its life that the autobots have sworn to protect…If my family hadn't done what they did then a lot more lives would have been lost"

Predaking looked to the femme though he was still angry about the deaths of the others like him there was also a little understanding, particularly where she had not done anything against him. Unlike the rest of her faction she was captured and experimented on against her will which filled his spark with sorrow knowing that no one would like it if it were them.

"I cannot forgive what the autobots have done" somehow everything had gone from a brutal fight to civilised conversation within a matter of minutes.

"I'm not asking you too. I can't forgive the decepticons for what they have done to me and my home. But I am asking you to understand" he looked up to gaze at her. It was there that he noticed something in the femme that he had ignored before or perhaps failed to notice. He had been so caught up in himself that he hadn't really noticed that he wasn't alone as he originally thought. Shade was just like him now. "You're not alone, if that's what you're thinking" somehow she caught on to his thoughts which surprised him "I'm one of you and just because they died doesn't mean that they are lost forever" the words that came out of her mouth calmed him, soothed him that his anger suddenly vanished like it was never there to begin with.

"You're going to take me back aren't you? Even though I don't belong there" Predaking couldn't help but feel sympathy for the femme but she was right if he returned without her he'd hate to think what Megatron would do. It would also prove that he wasn't as successful as some of the warlords other soldiers. For now he would just have to tell him that the interfacing was unsuccessful. He nodded in response to her question using his comm to order a ground bridge that took them directly to the warship. As they materialised through she noticed a line of vehicons waiting for the one on duty to input more coordinates so that they could go somewhere. Once outside the ground bridge room Predaking directed her to the bridge of the ship right to where Megatron was waiting for them, though he walked up to the gladiator Shade remained at the back further away from the decepticon leader. That didn't mean that she couldn't hear what the two mechs were saying though.

"Two other specimens were created on Cybertron in Shockwaves isolation that will be joining us soon and two other experiments are underway that were intercepted in your absence to contribute to the new army's creation" Shade didn't enjoy listening to Megatrons voice it was the last thing she wanted to hear and because she was now a predacon her audio receptors were more sensitive to sound which was why she could pick up their conversation.

She gathered that two other specimens meant that there were two more predacons that the cyclops scientists must have created along with Predaking. Though Shade couldn't quite understand what the other part of his sentence meant though she was sure she would find out soon. Megatron's optics glared over to her before turning his back on her as their discussion switched to their current plan that was put into action though it wasn't exactly working. Shade wouldn't let it happen and she hoped that Predaking understood that she would fight it because what Megatron was asking of both them was something that neither of them wanted. If Shade was going to have sparklings one day she wished it would be when there wasn't a war going on and with her sparkmate that she was yet to find. That didn't mean he wasn't out there.

Shade's optics searched around the room she was in; it normally had plenty of decepticons in it but there were very few now and there was only Megatron and Predaking on the far side. Positively no one was paying attention to her. She jumped when Knock Out then moved into the room glancing to her and backing away as he feared her after her outburst that left his paint job ruined. He carefully stepped past her to move towards his master. Just as the door to the room was about to close Shade slide through it quietly with it shutting behind her. She waited a moment listening carefully but it didn't seem like anyone had noticed she had left. Taking this opportunity she ran through the halls that she had memorised to the ground bridge. Walking in casually which the vehicon on duty was cautious of. She moved up to him not showing any signs of hostility until she was close enough that she used her sharp talon like digits to slice his neck cables. The con fell to the floor with a loud clang but she didn't waste time as she programmed the computer to send her to last used coordinates as well as for it to shut after she went through. Powering it up she didn't hesitate to run through with it. Shade was glad that she was no long on the Nemesis but not so much that the vehicons that she had seen when she bridged aboard had gone into an energon mine. Looking at her surroundings she was in yet another cave but this one was covered in the bright blue substance.

She needed to find the way out without alerting any decepticons of her presence she was about to move down one of the tunnels but stopped when she picked up on the sound of guns being fired. Autobots had to be there which meant she had to go down the other tunnel, she had to find them and help. Sprinting as fast as she could she ran into an open area with different levels which must have been the main mining operation. She noticed the mining machinery on the bottom level and right there taking cover behind them was him. Her spark pulsed in relief that he was here, her sire, though he probably didn't know that she was considering that it would be hard to detect ground bridge energy signatures underground where the planets minerals would interfere with scans.

She noticed as Optimus fought the decepticons back by himself that the ones on the upper platform were giving him some grief but she could easily fix that. Her amour shifted as her wings spread out and her beast form completed. Letting out a loud roar which alerted the other bots in the cavern to her presence. Flying up she circled around them all before descending down to where the decepticons stood they began firing at her but the shots didn't faze her as she flew around and let out her fire breath upon them the majority of them took cover but that meant that she could have more fun.

She had been in a stasis pod and then kept against her will on the decepticon warship without killing a single con which meant that it was hard to hold back the urge to do so but now she could unleash her potential; her anger she felt towards them for everything they had done. Landing on the upper level she charged right up to them crushing one using her jaws strength while slicing another with her talons. Shade grabbed a third in her claws and flew up letting him go smashing into the wall and fall to the ground. Turning back around one of the decepticons jumped from his position on to her back. He fired at her close proximity and her sensitive areas which made her roar out but he was in the one position that she couldn't reach.

She he kept firing Shade lowered her hovering closer to the floor which gave Optimus a better shot that he immediately took, shooting the vehicon right off her back but before he could fall he grabbed on to her ped which was worse for him. Shade growled at him kicking him off and spinning her body around to hit him square with her tail – sending him flying to the opposite side. The last decepticon in the mine was hidden on the bottom level with Optimus though he didn't know it; he was distracted as he observed his daughter and her new form. Shade although happy to see her sire didn't let it get to her as quickly as she sniffed the air. One good thing about her change was that her senses were heightened, she could see the con and he close to Optimus, obviously going for the close proximity sneak attack approach. Looking down at her sire she saw how his optics never left her.

He went to take a step forward but froze when Shade snorted are optics narrowed. She then dived down through the air towards him which surprised him and as you can imagine that was hard to do. Before she could hit him Optimus dived out the way and glanced at where his daughter was only to find her stood over a final vehicon. She had him pinned down, her wings spread out to look much bigger which frightened the con even more. He tried scrambling away but her strength kept him there. Within another nanosecond Shade jumped up and flooded his body with fire before touching back down on the ground. Stopping her attack she saw the dead decepticon on the ground as nothing but a pile of hot partially melted scrap. Snorting again she turned to her sire; her optics softening immediately as were his when he realised that she had protected him from the decepticons…

A/N: And I'm going to leave it there. Thank you to all the reviewers; it is greatly appreciated and I hope you enjoy more that is to come. I don't own Transformers nor any OCs in this fic. All OCs and credit for this go to SuperSentai199.