Red sat yet again in the same spot that night. Soundwave was somewhere else, and an extremely secure lock was firmly in place, only Soundwave and Megatron having the two keys for it. Basically, Red was locked up and the keys were out of her reach. She sighed, feeling lonely and curled up into a tight ball. Keeping her ears open for the sound of Soundwave returning or Megatron coming to admire his new 'pet', she slipped out of her hoodie a silver chain. Attached to it was an oddly-shaped locket. It was diamond-shaped. A small, simple disc charm was attached to the bottom. Carefully, she undid the clasp and opened it. A small, tinkling tune was heard. A lullaby of sorts. But inside of the locket was special. It was a small photograph of her family. Herself when she was eight, her brother Mitch at fifteen, and her parents... her dear, dear parents.
A handsome-looking man with Mitch's dark, copper-red hair had his hand on his son's shoulder and the infamous Botson grin stapled on his face. His other arm was wrapped around the slim form of a woman with Red's fiery hair. Her gentle blue eyes seem to twinkle in the photograph, a delicate and gentle smile on her face. Both her arms were wrapped around her daughter, who's mouth was wide open in a gaped-tooth, laughing smile as she held her brother's hand. They had always been a tight-knit family. They had been... that is... Red's eyes closed and she let a few tears slide down her face. Her parents, no more than three weeks after the photograph was taken, died in a car crash. Mitch ended up with a badly broken leg, and he still slightly limped a little whenever he walked.
Red hadn't been there. She had been back at the house, waiting for them to come home after school. It was their next door neighbor who came instead and took her to the hospital. Her dad had died instantly in the impact. Her mother only lasted a few hours before she too succumbed to her fatal internal injuries. Red squeezed the necklace in her hand and silently sobbed. It still hurt. She had never been in the crash yes, but with the burning emptiness she had locked away inside of her, she may as well have been. Hearing Soundwave return, she forced herself to stop and hid her necklace, pretending to be asleep. She could feel Soundwave's gaze locked into her still form.
Through his visor, Soundwave peered at the dim outline of the techno-organic's form. Deciding to get to know her better, he slid his key into the Cybertronian lock. He closed the door behind him and made sure the key was safely hidden away before walking over and sitting down. Red bolted right up and whirled around to stare at herself in Soundwave's dark visor. "Whut do YA want?" She growled.
"Statement: Soundwave wishes to converse."
She gave him a stone-cold glare. "Hmph... whaddya wanna talk 'bout then?"
"Question: Why is Pet techno-organic?"
"Ah dunno! Ah just ahm!"
"Question: Is Pet's family techno-organic?"
"Pffft! 'Course not! Ahm 'th onlay one in existence!"
"Correction: Pet is only known one in existence. Others may be hiding."
"... Well they'd bettah! Ah don't want anyone tah end up lahke meh... Megatron's newest 'pet'."
"Fact: Pet does not like it here. Question: Why? Decepticons have not harmed Pet, just taken her."
"See? That's 'th whole thang! Ya TOOK meh! 'T make meh some kinda weapon fer y'all own personal gain!"
"Observation: Pet has no family like her. Inference: Pet has an organic family."
"Well, no dip there Sherlock!" Red snapped angrily.
Soundwave was alerted that the course was ready. "Time: Begin training." Soundwave ordered, picking her up and carrying her toward the obstacle course the Vehicons and Eradicons built.
Red grumbled the entire way over. "Ah swear someday... someday y'all are gonna beh sorray ya evah messed with meh!"
"Definition: Never." He simply put. They entered a room, and Red saw it was chock-full of... obstacles?
"Wha..?"
"Correction: What. Answer: Lord Megatron wishes to test Pet's skills against basic human obstacles."
"So... an obstacle course?... Nice." She groaned.
"Objective: Reach end of finish line with no flaws." He stated, placing her on the ground, and began to walk toward the control panel, but not before putting a collar around her neck. Red wrapped her fingers around it and began to tug.
"Oh sure... NOW he put 'th dang collah on meh!"
"Order: Begin..." Soundwave calmly said, springing the course to life. "Megatron is watching."
Red stared with disbelief. "Are ya kidd'n meh- WHOA!" She quickly dodged a hammer. "Gah! Hokay! Hokay! Ahm go'n!" She shot into the obstacle course. "HANDS: ON! ROLLERBLADES: ON! HELMET: ON!" Her hands, feet, and head transformed into Rollerblading equipment as she began to blade through. She climbed over a rock wall with ease, leapt over a hole, and so on and so forth. Soundwave watched her near the balance potion of he raised the beam up so it was 2ft above a large, deep pool of water. Red leapt onto the beam and stopped short, her eyes widening when she saw the water below. "Oh boy... why'd it hafta beh watah?! Why?!" She moaned.
"Answer: Water is the largest thing covering Earth. Reason: To be successful Pet must not fear it."
Red gulped hard. "Easy fer ya tah say... ah bet ya can swim..." She began to inch her way along it. "Ah can't-" Suddenly, the beam began to shake, causing Red to wobble. "WHOA! WHOOOOAAA!"
"Answer: Pet must learn."
"WAAAUGH!" She fell into the water with a loud splash, and began to flail around. "'E-'ELP! AH C-CAN'T SWIM!" She shrieked.
"Urge: Try." Soundwave said, already maneuvering the equipment to be ready to grab her.
"AHM TRY'N! AHM TRY-blub!" She suddenly disappeared underneath! Sighing, Soundwave used the arm to pluck her out of the water, and set her down. Soundwave knew that Megatron would not be pleased. Red coughed and sputtered, retching up the water. She looked up at Soundwave and her green eyes turned to a bright red. "ARE YA TRY'N TAH KILL MEH?!" She yelled at him.
"Correction: Merely trying to test Pet's weaknesses."
Red snapped. "OKAY! THA'S IT! AHM GONNA KILL YA!" She quickly powered up her activated hands and began to fire at him. Soundwave yet again shook off the attacks and, pressing a button on the controller, he sent a jolt of electricity through her collar and into her body. Red shrieked in pain and dropped to the ground, moaning. "Nngh... agh..."
"Observation: That was a bad move."
Red felt her Cybertronian circuits already beginning to rewire and mend after being fried. "Rrr... ya... y'all are gonna p-pay b-big tahme..."
Soundwave ignored her threat and walked back over to the panel. "Request: Start." He ordered, placing a slender digit on the button just in case.
She kept her now red eyes focused on Soundwave. "Ah... AH AIN'T! AH AIN'T AN' THA'S FINAL!" She shouted.
Soundwave pressed the button again. Red shrieked from the pain and fell down again to her hands and knees, smoke pouring off of her body. She took several deep, shaky breaths in. "Request: Start now."
"No." Red said, struggling to stay strong. "Ah ain't gonna train 't 'urt mah friends."
Soundwave was surprised at the half-fleshie for her stubbornness, and he slowly pressed his digit down on the control, getting ready to regretfully shock her. Red took a deep breath in, closed her eyes, preparing for the pain.
"SOUNDWAVE!" The bellow came from the hall as Megatron entered the room. "Stop damaging my malfunction of a pet!" He ordered. Soundwave instantly lifted his digit away from the control. "Now, why are you torturing her?" He demanded.
Red propped herself up to her elbows and knees. "Ah... am... NOT gonna beh yer weapon Megatron." She declared bravely, lifting her head up and revealing her striking, blazing red eyes. "Ain't gonna beh now, ain't gonna beh evah."
"Oh? Well, you won't have much of a choice." Megatron snarled at her.
"O-'ow so?"
"Now what's the fun of telling you right now?" He laughed, a roaring evil sound.
Red glared at him. "Ahm ain't whatchya think Megatron... trust meh." She struggled to her feet, her systems almost done repairing. Although she did gulp in air still.
"You're a techno-organic with stubbornness issues." He laughed again. "Now, begin again, and maybe I'll let you survive."
She glared at him. "Fine." Slowly, she limped over to the beginning, an idea forming in her quick-thinking head. She quickly dived back into the course, redoing everything, except when she arrived at the pool... "TURBO-BOOSTERS: ON!" She activated small boosters on the back of her Rollerblades, jumping and soaring across the pond before landing.
"See Soundwave? A little fear always makes them listen." Megatron told him, chuckling.
Red finished the course and her feet and hands deactivated. She dusted off her hands. "Ah only did it tah prove ahm capable 'a some purty surprise'n thangs!" She told the silver mech.
"Well then, prove me right some more, and maybe I'll consider letting you into the ranks of my army, pet, meaning that you are less likely to die."
"FIRST 'A ALL AH AIN'T YER PET AND MAH NAME IS RED! SECOND 'A ALL, AH DON'T WANNA BEH IN ANY 'A YER RANKS!" She shouted at him defiantly.
"Too bad." He smiled. "My pets never do seem to survive that long. Maybe I'll be nice and let Airachnid take a bite of you." He smirked as he mentioned the femme.
Red sniffed. "Ah'd lahke tah see 'er try!"
"Oh, it wouldn't be too hard. After all, Arcee even has a hard time beating her, so a small half-fleshie with not nearly as many upgrades should be a simple task." He smiled.
"OH YEAH?! WELL ARCEE'S KICKED YER TAIL-PIPE, OH CHEE, AH DUNNO, OH YEAH, LAHKE A MILLION TAHMES!"
"What did you say, fleshie?" He growled. "Say it again, and I promise you, you will not live to finish the sentence." He added while charging up his cannon.
"Ah said Arcee's kicked yer tail-pipe a million tahmes! 'An so has Optimus!" Red said daringly. She wasn't scared of Megatron at all. And if she was eliminated, so be it. Better her gone than the Decepticons use her as their toy.
Roaring, Megatron aimed his cannon at her, and began to shoot, when Soundwave shoved himself at his master, forcing him to hit the wall and offline an innocent Vehicon through it. Red stared in disbelief at what had just happened. "Wha...?" She looked up at Soundwave.
Megatron growled. "The next time you step out of line... I will have your helm Soundwave. Understood?" Soundwave nodded. "Very well..." Megatron padded off. "I will be checking on her later."
Soundwave scooped up Red. "Why?" She asked him.
"Reason: Pet is too important to War." He told her, picking her up and walking back to her cell.
Red blinked with some disbelief. "You... ah know tha' ain't it!" She crossed her arms, telling the visored mech.
"Question: What?"
"Stop play'n with meh! First, it was rescue'n meh from Airachnid! Secondlay, it was mah ponytail ties, 'an now Megatron!"
"Fact: Soundwave is just being nice."
"And that's 'th thang... yer be'n nice... ain't lahke a 'Con tah beh nice..."
"Correction: Lord Megatron rules out of fear, making Decepticons act how he wishes."
"So ya really are a nice guy?" Red grinned a little as she said this. Victory could be sweet!
"Fact: Yes, but no Decepticon or Autobot would believe Pet if she said that." He informed her.
"... Least it's nice tah know ya ain't all tha' bad, Soundwave." She sighed.
"Correction: Soundwave is 'bad', just does not want to be." He shrugged a little, placing her into her cell instead of dropping her, and pushed the apples next to her.
"Okay... ahm do'n this cause ya saved meh back there." She sighed, then snatched one up and began to eat it.
"Correction: Pet is refueling because she is low on organic fuel."
She shrugged. "Ethah way, ah guess we both get whut we want." She sighed and shrugged, taking another bite. Her damp ponytails swung back and forth as she finished her apple, through the core away and walked over to her corner. Sitting down, she laid back her head and stared up at the ceiling, wondering what her brother and the Autobots were up to. 'Mitch is probably worried sick 'bout me... I don't blame him. It'd take another near drown to make me admit it though, but, I'm a little scared too.' She folded her arms and made a soft huff. 'Wildstar and Arcee are probably making vengeance plans, Raf and Ratchet are probably trying to figure out where the Nemesis is... man... who knew that when I first met them... I'd become a part of their lives so quickly!'
Flashback...
Red was getting ready for school. She stuffed her books and such into her cherry-red backpack, grabbed her sweatshirt and began to yank it over, when she stopped for a few moments. She stared down at her bright red tank-top. In the middle of her chest was a small, black circle and some lines, making the area around it segmented and divided. Like robotic chest-plating. She slowly walked over to her full-length mirror on the back of her door, stepping over the clothes piles, stacked books, and such that made up her messy room. She stood before it, staring at her chest. She easily remembered the night she'd transformed into, what she was now classified as, a techno-organic. How couldn't she?
She had been sleeping soundly in her bed, when a terrible, burning pain erupted in her chest. Her eyes snapped open, and she saw her entire body glowing an eerie, dark, blood-red. She'd screamed like the Dickens, her brother rushing in and had stared in shock, for a moment, at her predicament. Then snapping to, he quickly tried to help her. But the moment he got close to her, there was a sudden pulse of red energy that knocked him out. She had felt several of her main body organs, including her heart, disintegrate. Then... the incredible sensation of it all being replaced. She grew wires, segments, connections, circuitry, and a small black circle emerged from within. It dimly glowed with some sort of mysterious power... a kind of power that was keeping her alive. That was the last thing she saw and felt before her world went black.
She gently touched the circle with her finger, gently running it around the rim. She felt the smooth, yet strangely warm and vibrating metal slide underneath her fingertip. Then, drawing her hand away, she allowed it to open. With an odd whirring nose, the segments separated and the circle slid away. Inside were maybe several dozen huge cables and wires, all running in different directions. And a bright, glowing mass of pulsating light throbbed and hummed, right in the very center.
Ratchet, the Medic she'd met the previous day had told her it was her spark. "An unusual red too..." He commented aloud. "Only very few have a spark this color. Even less now with Cybertron gone." He had done some sort of, 'diagnostic scan' on her 'systems', to determine exactly how much of her body now relied on her techno half. And it was a great portion.
Some of her old human organs were still intact, such as her digestive track, but everything else, her nervous system and five senses, were fully functioning by Cybertronian biology standards. And she had so much to learn about her new half-self.
"RACHELLE-REBECCA BOTSON YER GONNA BEH LATE FER SCHOOL!" That's when her brother's voice finally filtered in.
"Whoops!" She gasped, her chest-plating sliding shut with a whir. She quickly yanked her hoodie over her head, snatched up her backpack and flung open the door. "HOKAY AHM MOVE'N IT! ... 'An don't call meh 'Rachelle' Mitch!" She sighed, greatly disliking her real name. She squeezed by her brother in the narrow hallway of the trailer they lived in, quickly snatching a slice of slightly cold toast and gulping down her fruit juice, and gave her brother a kiss on the cheek before rushing outside.
"OH SIS BY 'TH WAY!" Mitch hollered after her.
Red stopped short. "Yeah?"
He rushed over. "First, fergot yer lunch. Leftover pizza t'day. Second, ya don't need tah use yer 'blades. Tha' one Bot's waiting fer ya at 'th cornah!"
Red grinned, grabbed the brown-paper bag he was holding out for her. "Thanks Mitch! Ah'll drop by KO burgahs aftah school! Bah!" She said, running and looking back, waving over her shoulder at her brother. She dashed down the pavement. It was already heating up, the morning warm, clear and sunny. She saw a familiar gold and purple-detailed race car on the curb. She screeched to a halt in front of it. "You mah ride 't school?" She asked it.
"Yep! Climb in!" The door swung open, revealing the driver's seat and passenger's seat empty. She quickly seated herself in the passenger's and buckled up. "So uh... yer name's Wildstah right?"
"Mhm. And your's is Red. Interesting thing for a human to be called, after a color."
"Ah... if ya knew why, ya'd know." She huffed a little bit. Red hated her real name, thinking it too fancy for her liking.
Wildstar turned a corner. "How are you techno-organic?" She asked her.
"Ah dunno. Ah jest am ah guess." She shrugged.
"Ratchet thinks you were a protoform that merged with human DNA."
"Maybeh... if ah knew whatta 'pro-to-form' was any'ow."
Wildstar laughed through her speakers. "Don't worry. You will soon enough. I mean, I've been assigned by Optimus to be your guardian."
"Guardian? Ah... whut?"
"As in, keeping you safe. Your brother has been assigned with Smokescreen. You'll be seeing a lot more of us."
"Nice." Was all she said.
Soon, they arrived on the side of the school. Her car door opened and Red unbuckled and leapt out and dashed down the sidewalk and around to the school, crashing into... "OHF!" Jack exclaimed, being knocked down.
"Whoops! Sorray Jack! Didn't see ya there!" She apologized hastily, getting up and brushing herself off.
"It's... okay... Red." Jack wheezed, getting up himself.
There was a laugh and Red saw Vince, the hotshot and bully strut over. "So Darby! Who's the carrot-top?"
"Uh-" Jack began but Red interrupted him.
" 'Th name ain't carrot-top bustah! It's Red. Red Botson!"
Vince chuckled. "Oh yeah... the new kid." He sneered. "The Hillbilly."
Red scowled. "Ah don't see why yer so special, if all ya evah do is run up a buncha speed'n tickets with tha' there fancy-schmancy car 'a yer's!"
There was a chorus of, "Oooo!" and snickers from the watching students.
Vince growled and Jack nervously fidgeted. "Well, then, why don't I prove how fast I am!"
"Why don'tchya?"
"That a challenge?"
"Ah jump at 'th chance!"
Vince had to lean down to get at Red's eye-level. "Foot race now. Just you, and me."
"Ya got 'er!" She nodded. " 'Round 'th school."
Both lined up and the students crowded around. Vince was renowned for his speed. The little red-headed Southerner would lose for sure! Sierra, the head cheerleader quickly stepped out. "Okay! On your marks..." She said. Red quickly stretched out and crouched. Vince did the same. "Get set..." Red's eyes narrowed. "GO!"
Both were off like a shot, Vince in the lead. They rushed around the school, Vince easily shooting ahead. But Red put on an extra burst of speed as they ran around and approached the finish line. She shot past a stunned Vince and crossed it first, barely out of breath! Everyone cheered, while Vince narrowed his eyes.
"Nice try!" She told Vince, brushing off her hands.
The bell rang just then and everybody scrambled into school. Jack stuck beside Red, and Miko and Raf joined them. "That was amazing!" Miko complimented.
"How were you able to run so fast?!" Raf asked.
Red shrugged and, making sure nobody but them could hear her, simply said, "Techy's intuition." They all laughed.
Flashback End
Red sighed. 'What'd I'd do to go back to them all. I miss them so much.'