Predatory

"Cybertron was still alive. You had commissioned a secret tunnel to transport troops and supplies. But, there was a traitor among us. The Autobots found out about our little project. You had sent my task group in to clear the no-longer-secret path. We faced strong opposition. You had heard of an Autobot barricade waiting on the other end of the tunnel. You wanted to personally destroy these meddling Autobots and interrogate at least one of them to discover who was the traitor among us." I smiled. "Too bad he was on Tarn's team." My smile faded. The DJD was ruthless to traitors. "My group went in," I said. "We fought. By the end, they had all perished. A plasma grenade caused a beam to trap me. It destroyed the circuiting in my ped. I could not move and was in an intense amount of pain. Why always my feet? Anyway, I called Soundwave to send in some one to help me get free, before you arrived. I remember Soundwave telling me that everyone else was dead. I gestured air quotations, "Shocker," I said. "Soundwave informed me that you, and your second wave of elite soldiers: Soundwave, Dreadwing, Skyquake, Breakdown, Airachnid and Starscream; would be the first to respond. I waited, not for long. I tried an infinite amount of times to get free. Despite my best efforts, I could not."

"...When you finally did arrive, I felt ashamed. An injured soldier never left the battlefield. We both knew that: everyone did. You and your force arrived. You personally lifted the beam and I rolled out from underneath the no-longer-enclosed area. I stood. I don't even know how it was possible, but each step was more painful than the last. I hid my injury. I claimed that I would slow down your group of soldiers, and I requested my return to the base. You would not allow it. You said that I was important, and a good fighter. You forced me to join your party. Your soldiers talked of how weak and pathetic I was: A claim proven by my getting trapped under a freaking metal beam, and a blatant inability to free myself. I did my best to conceal my injury. I walked next to Dreadwing towards the back of the pack. When we exited the tunnel, the Autobots were waiting for us. We fought valiantly -as you probably remember- the Autobots had that disintegration cannon. It had two shots. I saved you twice. Twice. The first I pushed you out of the way. We both avoided the blow. The second, I redirected it. You were fixed in your position. They aimed at you. Supposed checkmate. I moved in front of you and did my best to redirect the fire. Remember back then? When I had tried to use blasters? When I finally woke in the Med Bay, the medical officer informed me. Certain systems were destroyed. One of which, was my targeting. Another was a cut in my energon system. Even without automatic targeting, I would never be able to use a gun again. I was just no longer compatible. You got Shockwave to make me superior armor and boosters to compensate. You remember what you told me? You said that I had saved your life twice. You admitted it. You never did. You asked me why I had risked my life for your own. Starscream wouldn't have. I told you that I wouldn't let any comrade perish if I could stop it. You were stubborn. You concluded that since I would have done it, even without the life debt, neither would count. You joked. You kidded that I would be forced to stay with you forever. Looking back on it: I wouldn't mind standing by your side indefinitely." I squeezed Megatron's servo, "You just have to wake up." I felt a tear of energon roll down my face, "You just have to wake up." I caught my breath, let go of his servo, and dried my face. I told him, "I admitted that I was injured, before the battle. I asked you if you'd want a useless injured soldier... You remember what you said? You told me that you would always want me: Even if I were injured, or useless. But as long as I was by your side, neither would be true."

...

I walked into the command center. Snowstorm was talking to Soundwave. I was timid. Starscream walked up to me.

The commander asked, "Shadow, are you alright?"

Odd.

I answered, "I'm fine." Since Starscream was deciding to be nice, I thought I would as well. I asked for the commander's permission, "I have a request," I said.

Starscream was intrigued. He said, "Go on."

"May I commandeer a training room? I plan to spar with Matrix."

Starscream was surprised, but extremely happy. He answered, "Of course Shadow. Thank you for asking me... But, why bother asking?"

"You are the current leader on the Nemesis. You have jurisdiction over the place. I didn't know if you had planned something or not."

A large smile grew on Starscream's face. He proudly stated, "I wish the others could follow in your example Shadow of Death. Thank you again for asking for my permission."

I nodded and left. I did not want to meet Snowstorm. I had met intelligent bots before. If she was as much like him, as Matrix was the other, I did not want to meet her. Intelligent bots should -in general- be feared. Soundwave, Starscream, Shockwave, Data, etc. all were intimidating and should not be underestimated or completely trusted.

I walked over to Matrix's room. I knocked.

She called out, "Hold on, give me a moment!"

Matrix opened the door. I could tell that she had just gotten up. She was surprised to see me.

She stood up straight and saluted, "Shadow- Death's Shadow, Sir-Ma'am" Her words stumbled over each other. She quickly remembered, "The Shadow of Death, good morning!"

I waved away her salute. I casually informed her, "Matrix, none of this is necessary. I'm not Starscream. You had it right first, just call me Shadow."

Matrix apologized, "Sorry Shadow. It's just... Thank you again for yesterday. You really saved my a**."

Human vocab. Cool.

I rubbed the back of my neck, "It's fine," I said. "About yesterday, I noticed your close combat skills need work."

Matrix looked ashamed. She her gaze fell to the ground.

I quickly restated my offer, "Which is all completely fine!" I said.

Matrix looked up at me with puppy eyes and asked, "Really?"

I admitted, "Yeah. Personally, I also have to work on my hand-to-hand combat. Would you want to spar with me?"

Matrix fist pumped the air, "Hell Yeah! I mean, Pit yeah! No wait... Scrap yeah? Scrap yeah!"

Matrix followed me over to the training room. It was empty. Matrix was awestruck.

She gaped, "Is this entire place for us?"

I nodded, Matrix was taken back by the size, but it was just one of the many places built that was meant to train many units at once. I walked to the middle of the space. Since we both left our weapons in our rooms, we had nothing to cheat with. Matrix faced me.

She ran at me with all of her might, I dodged. Matrix fell. I offered her a hand to get up. She got up on her own. Matrix ran at me again, this time she punched. I blocked with my arm. She continued to punch, I continued to block. I sweep kicked. She fell again.

This exercise made me feel better about my fighting skill. The truth was that I sucked at hand-to-hand combat. Unlike me, Gunfire actually trained to improve. He actually ended up rocking at it. When it came to close combat, I usually defaulted to my swords. This exercise went on for many more hours. We both improved.

We faced each other in the middle. Matrix ran at me. I dodged and punched. Matrix blocked and sweep kicked. I jumped and kicked off of her. I landed a bit away. Matrix ran again. I punched. She dodged. She punched back. I blocked and spun around her. I struck at the pressure point on her back. She fell. Matrix barrel rolled out of the way. She rose to her feet. I rushed her and fake punched. She blocked. Matrix left her chest unguarded. I high kicked. She was propelled backward into a wall. I walked up to her and offered her my hand. She took it. I helped her up.

Matrix looked over my shoulder. Our last match had an audience. I turned around. Soundwave and Snowstorm stood by the door.

Soundwave walked up to me, Snowstorm followed. Soundwave gestured to me, he introduced Snowstorm, "Snowstorm, this is Shadow."

No "Shadow of Death"? Casual. Not work-related.

Snowstorm seemed shy. She stammered, "Hi Shadow. I-I- I'm pleased to meet you."

I responded coolly, "It's nice to meet you as well."

Soundwave left. Snowstorm looked over her shoulder. She was scared.

Matrix kidded, "Shadow won't bite. She might kick you though."

I sighed and asked the question others usually asked me to show that they cared, "Snowstorm, are you alright?"

Snowstorm nodded and timidly explained, "I wanted to meet you. I didn't want to mess this up."

Matrix jokingly asked, "What would happen if you messed up?"

"Then Shadow wouldn't want to be my friend."

"I'll be your friend Snowstorm," I said. Matrix looked annoyed. I added, "—and Matrix, we can all be friends"

Matrix smiled. She smugly said, "See, what was so hard about that?"

Snowstorm defended, "I didn't want to be too forward. If so, then I could appear in-genuine and come off as a threat."

Really smart.

I kidded, "Not a threat? So, you aren't going to kill me or use me as a scape goat then?" Snowstorm could tell I wasn't being serious. She shook her head. I continued, "Good. Because I already have Screamy for all that."

Starscream called me using the training room's speaker.

Matrix commented, "Speak of the devil and he shall appear."

Starscream commanded, "Shadow, I need you to lead Snowstorm and Matrix on a mission. Please report to the command center immediately."

I guess someone doesn't trust Knockout, Breakdown, or the vehicons.

We walked to the said location. I couldn't believe Starscream had the audacity to give me orders. He wasn't even my superior! Snowstorm could tell this from my body language. Intuitive. She didn't tell any of it to Matrix.

Starscream ordered, "There is some Intel you need to erase from a human data source and an object we need returned."

Soundwave opened a portal.

Starscream concluded, "A Decepticon vessel landed and has been catalogued. Snowstorm has already been given all the details. Don't fail."

I didn't even bother glaring at Starscream. I just walked through the groundbridge. In front of us lied a makeshift human base.

I asked Snowstorm, "Who exactly are we up against?"

The intelligence officer answered, "A terrorist organization not affiliated with any government. You reported that they had a gun, which fired devices that disabled technology."

Matrix was lost. I responded, "Oh, them. Do you have a plan?"

"Yes," Snowstorm answered, "Matrix should provide cover fire, you escort me to delete the data and then we steal the alien object."

Matrix turned to me and questioned, "Wait a second... If you're supposed to lead, then why is Snow creating a plan?"

I answered, "Missions never go according to plan, but it's a good one to start out with. For example: this base is made up of three tents connected by pathways. One contains the data we need to destroy, another the object- probably hidden in the crash site- the third, I don't honestly know. If you two stay here, I could scout which tent is which, and then we could move forward. You two stay here, stay hidden and keep your COM links active."

I ran away from the base and then transformed into my jet form. I raised my altitude. Matrix and Snowstorm were talking.

Snowstorm asked Matrix, "Why did you call me Snow?"

Matrix responded, "I have nicknames for everyone."

"Could you elaborate?"

"Sure. The Shadow of Death is Shadow because Shadow is shorter, Starscream is Heels on account of his stiletto heeled feet, Knockout is Elf because he has elf ears, Soundwave is Slender since he looks kind of like slender man, I don't have one for Breakdown yet and I think I'll call Megatron either bushy brow or Bucket head once Elf uses his magic to heal him."

I scanned the area and identified the three tents. The plan would need to change. I went back down to my comrades and sumarized my findings.

I pointed to the base and showed, "From this position, the far left tent contains the crash site. The middle tent contains their base of operations- it's where the data is- The Farthest tent back is where they store their weaponry."

Both of my teammates nodded. I continued. "Matrix, your cover fire should really be a diversion. You need to try and take out their weaponry. Snowstorm and I should sneak in through here. Matrix, as soon as we're in; I need you to take my position protecting Snowstorm. Once you arrive, I'll go to find the object. Is that clear?"

Matrix and Snowstorm complied without question. Matrix transformed and drove around to the other side. Snowstorm and I waited. Then, Boom! A large explosion engulfed the far tent. Snowstorm and I rushed in. I cut us an entrance with my swords. The humans fled their stations. Snowstorm went to a computer and jacked in. Moment's later, armed guards stormed in. They fired at us. I deflected their bullets with my swords. Matrix drove right through a wall and open fired upon the enemy. She guarded Snowstorm.

I 'snuck' to the crash site, knocking out any humans that blocked my path. I could hear helicopters enclosing. I put down my mask and scanned the area. Everything here was an alien object. I rescanned for power sources. I walked into the smoldered remains of the crashed ship. I turned a few corners and my detector went off. I sliced through a safe door. Lucky for me, the safe was damaged. The door popped right off. I grabbed a weird pyramidal structure. A lot of energy was radiating off of it.

I called Snowstorm, "Does the data say anything specific about the object?"

Snowstorm responded, "It mainly measures some power source. But, the data applies to the entire ship."

It seemed the humans were bad at making assumptions. I couldn't believe they didn't even... I walked out of the ship and into a trap. Four helicopters surrounded me. They were each equipped with a specially modified gun.

I called Matrix, "Is Snowstorm done yet? Because, it might be a good time to retreat."

The helicopters fired. I dodged like crazy. I jumped, left, right, back flipped, spun, ducked, and barrel rolled. I transformed into my jet form and led the helicopters away. All the while I maneuvered around their fire.

Matrix responded, "Almost. Just let me check. 43, no, 41 seconds left."

I flew next to a helicopter and used it as a shield. The other choppers shot it with the device. Electricity covered the thing, and then it fell out of the sky. I continued dodging, mainly through barrel rolls.

I ordered Matrix, "I'm going to be flying into sight soon. As soon as I do, aim for the helicopters on my tail. As soon as I get close, I will decrease altitude. You have to hop on and grab hold of me while I am in flight. By the time this happens Snowstorm should be done. She should transform and we'll all flee."

I tight turned, avoiding more fire. I flew toward the hole. Matrix shot down two of the choppers pursuing me. I dropped altitude. Both of my teammates exited the tent. Snowstorm took a running start, transformed and flew. I dropped lower, Matrix jumped, and then held onto a crevice near my cockpit. I followed Snowstorm back to base.

We entered through the hanger. Matrix jumped off. Snowstorm and I transformed. I took the object out from one of my compartments.

Matrix asked surprised, "How did you transport that energy-blasting thing?"

I answered, "It was underneath the glass of my cockpit. Buckled into the seat."

We walked into the command center. Starscream frowned when he saw that we had successfully completed the mission. Restated, I had completed the mission. The vehicons talked of it around us. They claimed that I was a remarkable leader, because I successfully accomplished a task with two almost untrained cons; Whereas Starscream could not complete any of his own missions, even with the best Decepticons under his command. Although it was just talk amongst the vehicons, Snowstorm later explained to me how much Starscream feared my success. I no longer had safety.

We put the object in storage. Soundwave congratulated Snowstorm, and Matrix celebrated with Knockout back on land with a race.

Starscream went back to his scheming. I walked to the Med Bay. I wasn't hurt or anything, I just wanted to tell Breakdown some good news.

I entered Lord Megatron's room. Breakdown was buffing him. Breakdown stopped and turned to me.

"I heard of your victory from the vehicons. Congratulations."

"Thanks Breakdown," I said. I walked toward him and exclaimed, "You won't guess whose ship it was!"

"Then I won't guess," he said. "Whose ship was it?"

I wanted to savor Breakdown's reaction. I coolly stated, "Airachnid's."

Breakdown blushed. His orange face changed into the darkest shade of red. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me, "Really!?" He asked. "That's wonderful!"

Breakdown had a large crush on that spider-like femme. I could never understand why. I hated her at least a little more than I hated Starscream. But, I was happy for Breakdown. This would add some interesting drama to the dynamic onboard the Nemesis.