As Blackout landed, fear gripped through me like a knife. It was dark now, and the only thing illuminating the tarmac in front of us was a large, bright spotlight. Parked on the tarmac, were four other vehicles. Three looked completely unfamiliar to me, but I recognised one instantly. Barricade.
Blackout practically threw me out of him as he began to transform, and I took the time to look over the other vehicles. One was a military tank, much liked the one I had found on base earlier, much to Blackout's glee. The vehicle next to it was a huge Buffalo mine protected vehicle. It was very peculiar, as I could feel the hate rolling off it in waves. I flinched as it seemed to glare me down, seething with hate. Finally, I turned to the F-22 Raptor parked beside it, instantly detecting an aura of nobility resonating from it. My curiosity was instantly piqued.
Seconds later, they all transformed at once. I leapt back in shock, tripping over Blackout's foot in the process. I managed to steady myself however, glaring at Blackout's snickering form. I was about to bite back a response, before a dark voice cut me off.
"So this is the fleshie I've heard so much about."
I turned to face what was seconds before an F-22 Raptor, regarding him carefully. Blackout nodded once, blatantly uncaring towards the Raptor. I didn't blame him, this guy seemed hella up himself.
"Hazel, not fleshie, Hazel," I growled, feeling a moment of confidence consume me. I regretted it instantly as I felt the Buffalo vehicles' eyes narrow at me. The F-22 Raptor was about to say something in return before nodding. Scowling at me slightly. I saw Barricade shake slightly, obviously from laughter.
"Who cares, fleshie?" He stated, emphasising the word fleshie just to piss me off. I quirked an eye at him, crossing my arms over my chest and choosing to flip him off. He didn't do anything in return, just shook his head slightly.
"Blackout, you should learn to control your pet," The Buffalo vehicle snarled. I cowered slightly, my false bravado quickly falling apart. He grinned when he saw me cower, and all I could focus on was the pure evil in his eyes. I pushed my body closer to Blackout's foot, causing him to push me slightly in annoyance.
"Noted, Bonecrusher," Blackout stated, his tone seemingly uncaring. I could detect a slight amount of anger though. Perhaps Blackout didn't get along with him either.
"Cut the slag and get to what you wanted to say, Screamer, before I offline this human myself!" The tank suddenly bellowed, causing Barricade to utter a barely inaudible 'Brawl'.
I shrunk back under the tanks calculating gaze, before shaking myself slightly. No, earn their respect. Do not let them walk all over you Hazel. Show them that you have something to offer.
"Yeah. Get on with it. None of us want to be here a moment longer then we have to," I snapped, smirking coldly. Screamer looked oddly taken aback, before smirking at me. Brawl nodded, a grin etching on his face whilst Barricade sighed in what seemed like relief. Bonecrusher remained mostly indifferent, but I could clearly see the look of shock hidden behind his eyes.
"You were right, she has what it takes to make a decepticon Blackout," Screamer nodded, impressed. What, Me? A decepticon. I looked at Blackout, confused, but he refused to meet my gaze.
"I told you, I chose right. Barricade agrees with me, Lord Starscream," Blackout responded, adding a hint of sarcasm to Starscream's name. I grinned at him, trying to control my laughter as I realised that Starscream had no idea how little his men actually respected him. Starscream rounded on me.
"Look, fleshie. I hate that we're stooping to this level, but our holographs are just not cutting it. We're giving you an option. You have two choices. You pledge your allegiance to the decepticon cause, in turn promising a lifetime of service to us. You would choose us over your government, you'd be betraying your military. Your family, your friends. You would be trained by us to become a spy, and you'd be doing a lot for us. Think of it as if you were our slave, or maybe comrade," Starscream stated calmly, and I nodded meekly, mulling it over in my head.
"What's the other option?" I squeaked, and Bonecrusher cast me a dark look, which I ignored.
Starscream pulled out his cannon, firing it up almost immediately. He waved it in my face, and I gasped as my side began to prickle immediately. Thank the lord for numbing cream.
"I offline you right now. Make a choice squishy. You have ten klicks to decide," He paused for a moment, "Nine."
Could I do it? Could I really betray my own country and people for a bunch of gigantic alien robots? Evil ones at that? Could I become a spy, become a hater of the human race. Betray my family and my friends. Lose all hope of finding my brother? I would no longer be just Hazel Brooks, I would be a decepticon. Turning my back on the good guys. Helping evil to corrupt the world. Could I do this?
I thought back to Qatar, bitterness rising in my throat as I realised that all who I cared for always got abandoned. They left me to die in Qatar. Jason left me. Mom and Dad left me. They all left me.
I didn't need any of them. I only needed myself. "Four," Starscream smirked, his cannon whirring once more. I nodded softly before turning to face the cannon head on.
"I'll do it," I answered confidently. "I'll help you."
/ ~ / ~ / ~ /
It had been about a month since I had chosen to join the decepticons, and life was running smoothly. It had been tough at first, getting used of all of the 'Cons and all of the training regimes. But I had done it. And after I had gotten used to how rigorous training was, I was fine.
I became Blackout's responsibility. He fed me, brought me supplies, handled the majority of my training and generally took care of me. We had grown close, over the past thirty days. A lot closer than I had ever fought possible. We spent almost the entirety of everyday with one another, it was hard not to become close.
Blackout trained me how to survive. He taught me how to think like a decepticon. How to act and how to fight. He trained me hand to hand combat, as well as how to take down a decepticon. He also taught me how to understand and read cybertronian. I would never be able to speak it, as human vocal chords couldn't make the sounds needed, but I'd be able to understand it if 'bots spoke it near me.
Barricade and I had become almost sibling like. He taught me how to scout, to hunt and how to be as quiet and sneaky as possible. He taught me how to blend in. To become a shadow. To be so ordinary that people don't realise that things aren't ordinary at all. He babied me a lot though, and often our training involved me pretending to be an officer and gathering intel on multiple people among the force. It was a fun game for us to play, as we often took bets to see who would get the most intel. It was interesting, to say the least.
Barricade had also shown me his 'holoform' which is what they called the human versions of themselves. He had the same, piercing red eyes as Blackout, but they were not nearly as attractive. He had a tattoo spanning up the inside of his forearm. It was the words 'To Punish and Enslave' in cybertronian. His black hair was always styled in a quiff, and he had a low amount of stubble, framing his face. His teeth were pointy, mostly cat like. And he was reasonably tall, taller then Blackout was, that's for sure.
Brawl and I didn't really speak much. He taught me how to make and use weapons out of anything I could find. He taught me the code names, how to act in hostage situations and more. He also like to tell me gory stories of killing autobots, which often caused me to laugh as he went off on a whole tangent about ripping off heads.
Starscream and I also got on surprisingly well. After I got used to his initial obnoxiousness, he was a pretty cool guy. He'd talk a lot about his trine mates, Thundercracker and Skywarp, and about the pranks that they used to get up to. He taught me a lot of science-y stuff, like how to make sticky bombs and why you shouldn't douse a chicken in hydrochloric acid. Random, I know. He taught me mechanics as well, so I knew how to perform basic repairs on them. Starscream also taught me how to fly, and I realised just how much I loved it. I'd even been given my own arsenal of planes to fly as a birthday gift, which was pretty awesome.
Bonecrusher was forced to hang out with me four times a week by Starscream. And it often was insufferable. He hated everything, including himself. And it drove me nuts. He was such a pessimist, always talking about what a crappy leader Starscream was (Which he was, mind you) and how they were all going to be offlined by autobots. Aside from that, the only thing that he would talk about was killing. And torturing. And why humans sucked. He also taught me some battle tactics, which I was grateful for, but outside of the time that we were force to hang out with each other, I'd avoid him like the plague.
I'm fairly certain he was avoiding me as well.
Not long after I'd joined the decepticons, Barricade introduced me to his mini-con, Frenzy. Frenzy was insane. Literally. And I loved him for it. He had really bad speech, so he would only talk in cybertronian, but he was awesome to hang out with. He also taught me how to hack things, including Sam Witwicky's phone, which was pretty fun. He and Barricade were prankers through and through, often spending their free time pranking Bonecrusher and Starscream. Occasionally they'd get Brawl and Blackout too, but that was only on a rare occasion. Apparently, they weren't fun enough to prank. In reality, it was because Frenzy was terrified of them both and Barricade cared too much to make him suffer.
Scorponok had returned from Qatar missing a tail, which had made Blackout quite mad. Like Frenzy and Barricade, Blackout and Scorponok had a close relationship also. Blackout was going to rip the humans apart when he meets them again, that's for sure. They had a weird sort of bond, kind of like one you would see between a father and son, but when I had asked Blackout about it, he had merely stated that they had been comrades for many years. I think there's a lot more to it than that though, and one of these days I'll find out what.
"Fleshling." A dead beat, cold voice stated from behind me. I turned to face him, sighing as I took in the familiar features of Bonecrusher. His hunched figure towering over my own. I snapped my fingers before nodding.
"What is it, Bonecrusher?" I asked him, staring at his ruby red optics. He glowered at me, before turning away from me, desperate to break eye contact.
"Lord Starscream wishes to speak to you. He's in the main hangar, with Blackout. Do not be late," He warned, before striding away, only hesitating slightly as he did so. Inwardly, I smirked. I think that dudes beginning to warm up to me.
I swirled on my heels, heading towards the main hangar. The main hangar had pretty much become our meeting place/ main hangout/ base of operations. I lived in the conference room, and it had quickly become Blackout, Barricade and Brawl's home too. Starscream and Bonecrusher opted for their own hangars, go figure, and Frenzy roomed with me. Scorponok was still stuck in the infirmary for now, but I had no doubts that when he was fully functional, he would maintain his spot as Blackout's right hand man.
I strolled into the hangar lazily, noting how it was only Starscream and Blackout who were inside. Both in their bipedal modes, they seemed locked in a heated discussion, not noticing that I had arrived. After a few more moments of waiting for them to finish their hushed bickering, I wolf whistled, causing Blackout to turn his cannon on me.
"Woah, you sure do have a habit of brandishing that thing, don't ya? Remind me to never get on ya pissy side, Blackie," I exclaimed, pretending to be more surprised than I actually was. He rolled his optics, lowering his cannon slowly. I felt the prickles of pain rise up in my side again, and willed them away.
The burn had healed up badly. My entire side was now twisted with scarred tissue. For a while, it had been impossible to move, as my skin was so tight. But, the Cons forced me too. They forced me to push through the agonising pain I suffered every time I attempted a move. Because of this, I was now stronger. I had a higher tolerance level to pain, it just didn't bother me anymore. Heat, however, was still a sore spot for my side, which bristled with slight pain every time something remotely hot comes near to it. It was both a blessing, and a curse, wrapped up into one.
"Ah! Fleshie-con, nice for you to finally join us. I sent Bonecrusher after you three breems ago!" Starscream yelled, sarcasm soaking his tone. Starscream had gotten into the annoying habit of calling me 'Fleshie-con' as he refused to call me by my actual name, or designation, as they called it. I looked at him slowly before shrugging.
"I only saw him about two minutes ago. Not my problem. Shoulda sent the scout instead," I replied, and Blackout chuckled softly, his eyes connecting with my own for a moment. I smiled warmly at him, and he merely nodded in return.
"Who cares!" Starscream snapped, agitated. "I didn't call you here just to have a stupid, petty banter with you, Fleshie-con. It's time for you to do your first real mission. But, we have to fit you with some nanobots first," Starscream added, before picking up a large needle and flicking the end of it pointedly. My eyes zeroed in on the large point with pure horror. I may have a high pain tolerance, but needles still managed to scare the bejesus out of me.
Blackout took a step in front of me, shaking his head.
"No, we do not Starscream. You just want a human to experiment on. My human, will not be your guinea pig," Blackout bit out, his optics flashing brightly in anger. I glanced at him in shock. 'My human?' Surely not. Starscream grinned at him sadistically.
"We need to be in contact with her at all times. She needs to feed information to us constantly. What better way to do this then by allowing the nanobots to insert a comm link into her brain," Starscream said. My jaw dropped. That didn't sound particularly pleasing at all.
"There's such thing as a cell phone," Blackout snapped.
"It can be tracked," Starscream responded monotonously.
"Morse code then?"
"Unreliable."
"Letters?" He spat sarcastically in a last ditch effort.
"Too slow."
"Frag it Starscream! You don't even know if the nanobots will work. And, how do you think Bonecrusher's going to react when he is able to get inside her head?" Blackout roared, his claws bawling up into fists. The helicopter blades located on his back started rotating as he breathed through his vents with anger. Starscream shook his head.
"Bonecrusher won't be able to get into the Fleshie-cons head. Only you and her will have a comm link. The rest of us will have to beam our messages through you first," Starscream explained before pointing harshly at me.
"Fleshie-con! Come here immediately," He roared, his tone commanding. I didn't dare go against him as I hung my head low and scurried over to him.
"Yes Lord Starscream," I whispered, absolutely terrified. I could feel the anger rolling of him in waves. Starscream was pissed. Blackout went to open his mouth but he was already too late. Before either of us could react, Starscream jabbed the huge needle into my arm. I shrieked slightly, half in shock and half in pain, as he forced the contents of it into my bloodstream.
When he removed the needle, I wrenched my arm away from him, turning to face him in horror. He was too busy picking up his materials.
"Now, you'll experience severe pain for the next twelve hours as the nanobots work. They won't die out for another vorn, so they'll maintain the comm. link in your head. Only Blackout can access it right now. Eventually, you'll be able to communicate with the rest of us, but for the next stellar cycle, you won't be able to. This is just so your weak human brain can get used to our technology." Starscream explained. "You'll be de-briefed on the mission tomorrow. You'll be mobilised by twelve tomorrow. Oh and Fleshie-con? Good luck getting any recharge tonight." And with a cackle, he left the hangar.