A/N: I have an update almost immediately! Huzzah! I'm sure you guys will know to expect this to be temporary if you know me, sadly. This is only possible due to being unemployed and my muse cooperating with me and being as excited to write something as I am for a change. No emotional barriers after struggling with that for a long time also helps, I'm sure. We'll see how things go from here.
And we finally get somewhat of a physical description for Shade' in this verse now. She's going through some iterations, ain't she? IAPA Shadebreaker is a Praxian, YWOB Shadebreaker is a Seeker and now NLNB Shadebreaker has feather-like wings and is a result of experimentation.
Chapter 1: The Encounter
Each step I took, took me closer to the end of the portal Vector Prime had sent me through, and I was not quite sure what to expect. There were a great number of universes in which the Autobots had a base on Earth and a number of different locations for Autobot bases. Also, he didn't tell me anything about how close to the base he was sending me. I imagined right inside would be problematic, even in my clearly not healthy state. Heck, even as it was, how was I supposed to convince the bots I wasn't a threat?
My wings twitched. I wondered if in any of Shockwave's experiments if he'd realized he'd nabbed a human from a world where this was all tv shows, comics and games. Had he seen any of the information in my head? How open should I be about the fact I knew things? How much worry should exist?
"If there's even a modicum of risk, I should probably tell them," I muttered to myself before taking my last step out of the portal. I blink at the rock wall before me. I heard the portal close behind me and turned around to see a large entrance to a cave.
"You've got to be kidding me," I said, greatly annoyed. "I'm in pain, I'm fragile by your own words, I'm limping! And you just drop me off where I gotta walk through a cave?! What if I just…sit here and wait to be found?"
The sound of a jet flying overhead startled me and my wings splayed out further than they had so far before wrapping around me instinctively as if as a shield and I involuntarily squawked before covering my mouth, feeling embarrassed despite the lack of anyone to witness the unusual noise. It vaguely made me think of an owl…or at least some kind of bird. My wings certainly looked bird-like now that I had a look at part of them.
"Ooooo," I said nervously as I listened to the jet continue on its way. At least, I hoped it was continuing on its way and not just silencing its engine.
Without considering much more, I hobbled in the direction of the cave behind me. Surely, there had to be a reason Vector dropped me off at a cave and not, I dunno, in a jungle or literally at the Autobot's doorstep, right? Or, well, this could be the Autobot's doorstep for all I knew, actually. I took a deep breath as I hobbled through the entrance and into the dim light of the inside of the cave.
"Ok," I said. "I can do this. Would be a lot easier if there was more light further in, but I can do this."
I fiddled with my visor for a moment and found it had a flashlight attached to it. I let out some air in relief that I wouldn't end up in total darkness if I kept going. As I made my way into the cave, I used the wall to help support myself. I had a hard time with quiet, though, so I muttered to myself about wishing I had something for music or someone to talk with before quietly singing to myself.
"Oh-" I said suddenly, cutting my own singing off as I came across something that startled me. Cybertronian writing on the cave wall. I moved closer to wear I spied it and looked around to see how much of the wall it spanned. That's when I realized it was next to a doorway.
"Um," I said to myself, trying to mentally access a camera function or something and then found one. I took pictures of the wall to go over the script later with someone who knew the Cybertronian language, spoken and written, a lot better than I did. Especially given my knowledge was based on the work of fans and not something official, I had no way to know if what I remembered was even accurate.
Once the pictures were taken, I moved toward the door before a stern, loud voice stopped me in my tracks. My wings hunched over, spreading a bit to protect my back from attack and I tried not to hiss in pain as my metallic muscles tensed painfully. I didn't know what they said, but the tone was serious enough to stop me in my tracks. They said something else and I shivered, closing my optics for a moment.
If it was the 'Cons they'd probably have jumped on me already, I told myself. I released a large gust of air before finally responding. "I don't know what you're saying," I told them.
They made a noise that sounded like surprise. "My apologies," the voice said and I recognized it as being more feminine than Vector's voice had been. "Most bots know Cy-Stan."
Still shaking, I turned cautiously to face who I was speaking to. "There's no way you could've known," I told her as my flashlight revealed her to me. It was indeed a femme. Blue armor with some pink. Her optics, which had adjusted to the light of my flashlight, were blue, but even from this distance I could see hints of violet. "Apologies are unnecessary. At least you didn't shoot me first, ask questions later."
.:We got a bogey,:. Cliffjumper said over the intercom to Arcee as she was driving down one of the many desert roads of Nevada.
.:I'm picking it up, too,:. Arcee replied. .:Can't tell if it's 'Con or not. I'm gonna check it out, since I'm closer.:.
.:Need backup?:. Cliffjumper asked.
.:Naw, it's just one signal, it should be fine,:. Arcee replied, not feeling worried.
.: Gotcha.:. Cliffjumper replied easily. .:You think it might be a neutral? Or a fellow bot? We haven't added to our team in ages!:.
Arcee internally rolled her optics at her partner as he prattled on over the intercom while she drove closer to where their systems had pinged a signal from. She replied every now and then as she had a quip or sarcastic remark to make to something he said.
.:I'm coming up to the location,:. Arcee told him as she drove up to a cliff off the side of the road.
.:Roger that, I'm not terribly far away if you change your mind on that backup,:. Cliffjumper replied.
The comm went relatively silent as Arcee transformed and looked down the cliff at the small clearing beneath. She looked around for signs of anyone climbing out before jumping down. She immediately saw that she was in the right spot from the way the sand was disturbed.
.:No signs of a fight, but someone was here,:. Arcee said. .:Sand's disturbed, there's a cave. Safe bet they went into it.:.
.:Ah caves, brings me back to the time…:. Cliffjumper started on about a time on Cybertron during the war where his group got ambushed by some 'Cons.
Arcee didn't quite chuckle, but she did smile. There had been a time where her partner's constant chatter had only annoyed and frustrated her. Now it was hard to imagine life without it. She actually appreciated it as she made her way through the darkness of the cave, lit only by the lights from her wrist lights.
It was about ten minutes in that she found what had likely caused the ping on their radars. A bot. Or a creature? It was hard to tell from this angle. All Arcee could see was what appeared to be a bot sized being with a large set of wings behind obscuring what little of their frame her lights caught initially. Either way, it was clearly of Cybertronian nature.
"Hey! Stop right there!" she called out in Cy-stan as the being moved, aiming not only her flashlights fully onto the being, but her weapons as well.
The being's wings flared, revealing how massive they were to cover the majority of the bot's frame, leaving only their pedes visible just beneath what one could describe as tail feathers that shielded most of her legs. They also seemed to hunch a little—a protective maneuver, not a threatening one. At least that's how Arcee was reading it when she saw the way the bot's frame was shaking like a leaf in the wind.
"Easy there, I need you to turn around so I can see you," Arcee said.
Arcee could visibly see the bot release air, releasing some of the tension in their frame.
"I don't know what you're saying," the bots said in English, voice having a strong feminine tone to it.
"Huh," Arcee couldn't help the small sound of surprise. Of all the things she might've expected, it certainly wasn't a bot that couldn't understand Cy-stan, but knew English. "My apologies," she said more gently than she had been speaking. "Most bots know Cy-Stan."
Still shaking, the bot turned and Arcee finally got a better look at who she was talking to. It was definitely a femme bot and Arcee could tell from the care taken in turning around that the femme was injured. There was a limp as she shuffled her pedes to completely face her and one of her wings didn't quite fold up like the other, along with a tail feather that didn't shift to create the pieces of what seemed almost like just decoration over her thigh armor with the others—a spark actually came from that one's connection point. Arcee's flashlight glinted off purple and silver armor that could clearly use a good polish.
"There's no way you could've known," the femme said, tone holding no malice as she looked back at her from behind a glowing orange visor. "Apologies are unnecessary. At least you didn't shoot me first, ask questions later."
"It remains to be seen if I will," Arcee said guardedly, though she was already fairly sure she wouldn't. The femme had not stopped shaking and Arcee was wondering how much of it was fear and how much might be pain. "Who are you? Why are you on Earth?"
"Fair questions," the femme said. Then she flinched and held her side for a moment. "Sorry, give me a moment." She leaned heavily against the wall and gusted air through her systems, confirming Arcee's suspicions that she was hurt.
Arcee lowered her weapons, but didn't put them away yet. It could be a trick, though she doubted it.
"You can call me Shadebreaker," the femme said after a moment, still leaning against the wall. "As for why I'm on Earth…" She shifted her pedes a little, movements careful. "Well, honestly, on the run from the 'Cons. Seeking somewhere safe to heal…then I was thinking of joining the Autobots so I could contribute to stopping them from hurting others."
Arcee raised an optic ridge at that and her guard went back up. A bot who didn't know Cy-Stan, but knew of the war and was actively escaping the Decepticons? "Arcee." she introduced herself. "On the run, huh? I thought you seemed hurt. Any chance they're tracking you?"
"I don't think so," Shadebreaker said. "Someone helped me escape and they destroyed the tracking device placed on me before sending me here. He thought some bots here on Earth would be of better help to me than he would. And thought I'd be of help to them. I was assuming he was talking about the Autobots, though now that I think about it, he could've been talking about anyone. He was not really a straight forward mech." She looked a little perplexed.
"How do I know this isn't some kind of trick?" Arcee asked, lifting her weapons again. "How do I know the moment I take you to base that you won't reveal our location to the 'Cons?"
"I have nothing but my word to give," Shadebreaker replied, lowering her helm and splaying her hands in front of her, palms up in offering. "I understand if that is not good enough for you. I will find a way to survive either way."
Arcee was torn. This could still be a trick, but at the same time something in her spark was telling her it wasn't. Shadebreaker was sitting here, completely vulnerable, not even trying to defend herself. She even admitted that couldn't prove her word instead of pleading or using emotional manipulation to ensure a positive outcome for herself like most Decepticons would. It would be simple to just shoot her and not take the risk, but that's not what an Autobot should do. If Optimus was here, Arcee knew what he would do.
"Alright," Arcee said, lowering her weapons again, putting them completely away this time. "I'll bring you back to base with me. And then we-"
"Well, well, what do we have here," a voice said just as Acree was about to move toward Shadebreaker so she could assist her after calling for a bridge.
Arcee jumped and spun, whipping her pistols back out in less than a second as she put herself between the voice and Shadebreaker. She glanced briefly at the femme to see she had shrunken against the wall and despite the visor hiding her optics, Arcee could see the fear on her face.
"Not a fellow 'Bot, I take it?" Shadebreaker asked with a shaky voice.
"Definitely not," Arcee said as a mech stepped into the light of their flashlights.
The mech wasn't one that Arcee recognized in particular. They were brute-ish and built very much like many of the brute foot soldiers she'd fought during the height of the war.
"A couple lone femmes, boss," a smaller mech spoke as he entered the light, cackling. This mech had a lithe frame clearly meant more for agility than brute strength. "And- And h-hey, doesn't that one look like the files about Shockwave's ex-experiments?!"
Arcee couldn't help the surprise on her face at those words and she heard Shadebreaker whimper a little, heard her armor shifting from how much she shook at the name drop of the Decepticon scientist.
"Oh yeah," the brute. "Little birdy must've escaped her cage. Well, you know how Shockwave feels about escaped experiments. They gotta be caged up or put down!" He removed a giant hammer from subspace and slammed it into his fist.
"Hey!" Arcee called to the femme, hoping she wasn't so far in panic as to not hear her. "If you got any weapons, now's the time to use them!"
"I-" Shadebreaker started, but was cut off as the Decepticons charged them.
Arcee was immediately occupied by the brute while the little one made for Shadebreaker. Cursing, cause even if Shadebreaker was armed, she wasn't in any condition to fight, Arcee tried to knock the brute away, but the brute was bearing down with too much force against her arm blades she'd had to deploy to defend against his hammer.
.: Arcee to Cliff!:. Arcee sent over the inter comm. .:About that backup…:.
.:I picked them up just now, I'm on my way,:. Cliffjumper replied before she'd even finished talking.
.:We got a vulnerable femme here they're after cause she escaped Shockwave,:. Arcee informed.
.:Gotcha,:. Cliffjumper replied and Arcee could hear the determination to get here in time enter his tone.
An owl-like squawk called Arcee's attention briefly toward Shadebreaker, but she couldn't quite tell much beyond the fact Shadebreaker was now on a pillar looking down at the small mech, who was pulling his sword out from the pillar.
"Where's your attention, Autobot?" the brute spat, sounding gleeful at the fact he and his partner seemed to have the advantage.
Arcee gave a harsh shove against the Brute and managed to dislodge him long enough to slip out from under him. She curled her body up tight and then delivered a kick right to his jaw before he had a chance to change position or defend himself.
"Omph," the brute grunted as he stumbled up and backward a bit. He wiped his chin when he recovered, catching her followed up kick with one hand. "Feisty."
Arcee growl and pointed one of her pistols straight at his face. Before she could get the shot off, however, he yanked her leg to the side and then flung her away. She hit the side of the cave with such force that her optics glitched out on impact. They continued to flicker on and off as she slid to the ground. There was just enough light for Arcee to make out the brute making his way to where Shadebreaker was still just barely avoiding being skewered by his friend.
Arcee saw Shadebreaker managed to trip the small mech, causing him to hit the wall behind her face first just before the brute made it to her and grabbed her by the throat.
"I think birdy has had her fun," the brute said.
Arcee grunted, forcing her frame to start getting up despite the warnings about her balancing system being off and her optics still glitching from the impact against the wall.
A strangled noise came from Shadebreaker, one filled with pain and fear as the brute lifted her up high above his helm.
"Cowabunga!" Cliffjumper's voice suddenly filled the space and the red mech crashed into the brute.
Shadebreaker fell to the ground with a cry as Acree began to get her footing back and Cliffjumper beat on the brute's face.
What happened next happened almost too fast for Acree's processor to comprehend. One minute Cliffjumper had the upperhand and then suddenly the small mech was right behind him. Arcee heard her own voice call out, and saw, as if in slow motion the small mech's sword go straight through Cliffjumper's spark, even as Shadebreaker leapt toward the tussle.
Hardly even a moment had passed after Cliffjumper been stabbed when Shadebreaker was tackling the small mech, the two of them going rolling away from the scene Arcee's optics were fixed on. Arcee rushed toward him as quickly as possible as she watched as what happened registered and he turned toward her, flashing her one last smile before falling over sideway, optics going dark.
"Cliff!" Arcee cried as she finally made it to his side. She rolled him over so she could see his face. "Cliff…no, come on, Cliff."
She realized suddenly it had gone quiet and looked immediately to determine where the others were. She saw the small mech first, on the ground, energon pulling around him. Then she saw Shadebreaker, standing there. Clearly injured, but alive, and staring at the scene of her next to her deathly injured friend. Then, movement caught both their attention and Arcee shot the brute in the face with barely a glance at him.
Shadebreaker carefully and slowly made her way to Arcee's side. "We need to go before anymore show up," she said and Arcee thought her voice sounded just as empty as she felt. "Perhaps your medic can still do something?"
Arcee ducked her helm. "Perhaps," she said. She knew better though. She knew the death of a bond when she felt it. Cliff was gone. That sword had pierced right through the spark.
.:Arcee to base, we need a ground bridge,:. Arcee sent over the comm channel. .: And prepare medbay. We got injuries. I need some help getting Cliff home.:.
.:Copy that, I'll come through to help,:. Ratchet's was the voice that replied.
.:We have a newbie coming in, too,:. Arcee thought it best to let him know. .:In much need of your attention as well.:.
.:Understood.:.Ratchet replied.
"Ratchet's going to open a ground bridge and come help us get Cliff home," Arcee told Shadebreaker, mostly so she wouldn't be startled by the opening of a ground bridge nearby. If the femme didn't even know Cy-Stan, it was impossible to know just how much would be new to her. Who knows what Shockwave had done to her, after all.
Shadebreaker merely nodded, seeming to fixated on Cliffjumper's face and the sword sticking out of his chest. She flinched slightly at the sound of a ground bridge, but barely seemed to notice Ratchet coming through and then running to their side.
"By Primus," Ratchet said, kneeling by Cliffjumper's side. "What happened here?"
"I'll give you the play-by-play later," Arcee said, knowing her voice probably sounded as empty as Shadebreaker's had. She motioned with her helm toward the femme.
Ratchet looked up at the femme, who was dripping energon from one of her arms now and holding what looked like a feather from one of her wings loosely in her hand, energon dripping down the entire length of it. Her previously fine wing was being held at an even odder angle than the one Arcee had already identified as being injured. Even with the visor, she looked downright traumatized.
"Right," he said. "Let's get you lot home."
Ratchet carefully removed the sword from Cliffjumper's chest. While he did so, Shadebreaker made a small motion like she wanted to stop him—you weren't supposed to remove such objects in the field unless you could immediately stop the bleeding and repair enough damage to keep them stable and anyone with any medical experience knew that. But she stopped as she must've realized what it meant that he, as a medic, was doing so without then going through and patching in the field, without more energon spilling out.
As Ratchet hoisted Cliffjumper's corpse into his arms, Arcee moved to Shadebreaker's side as she saw a shudder run through her frame. "Come on," she said, lightly touching the other femme's elbow. "We gotta go now."
"Yeah," Shadebreaker said, voice so quiet Arcee almost thought she had heard things.
Shadebreaker limped along with Arcee helping her stay on her pedes as needed, Ratchet right behind them. Shadebreaker almost collapsed about halfway through the ground bridge, but Arcee was able to catch her, which was when she noticed she was crying. She was silent, but streams of tears were rolling down her face from behind her face. Arcee could hardly blame her. It sounded like she'd just gotten out of a traumatic situation only to watch a bot be killed before her optics. She would probably be crying later herself, behind closed doors.
At least Cliff's killer was dead.
Once back at base, Arcee started guiding Shadebreaker toward medbay, pausing only to make sure Ratchet had made it all the way through before turning the ground bridge off. Once at medbay, she helped settle Shadebreaker onto a berth and then glanced at where Ratchet was settling Cliffjumper's body onto another. She hesitated.
I watched as Arcee hesitated as Ratchet was settling her partner on the bed a few feet away from where she'd sat me. Then I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the next bit of my day, whatever that entailed. Likely medical stuff. Which may or may not trigger PTSD symptoms because of the experiments and all that.
"You can go to him if you want," I said quietly, lifting my hand she was holding slightly to make sure she was paying attention to hear.
"Are you sure?" Arcee asked, sounding like she'd stay for me.
I nodded. "I'll be ok," I told her. "And if I'm not, it's not like you'll be a million miles away. It's just a few feet."
Arcee gave my hand a reassuring squeeze and patted my shoulder before leaving my side, passing Ratchet as he approached. I watched Ratchet stop her with a hand on her shoulder and say a quiet word to her I couldn't hear. After a very brief exchange, Ratchet approached me.
"My name's Ratchet," he introduced himself. "I'll be your medic while you are here with us."
"Shadebreaker," I replied, motioning to myself.
"And what's your story?" Ratchet asked as he took my bleeding arm into his hands and began cleaning the wound.
I flinched. "It might be a hard one to believe," I said quietly.
"Trust me," Arcee said from where she stood not far from us by Cliffjumper's side. "If it has to do with Shockwave there's not much we won't believe."
Ratchet paused to look at her and then looked back at me with surprisingly wide optics.
I nodded silently. "He apparently decided he was god and had the right to kidnap a human and turn them…" I looked down at myself and then back up and motioned to myself with my free hand. "Into this."
"You- what-?" Ratchet asked, his work freezing for a moment.
My wings shifted and I squirmed a little bit, causing me to flinch in pain. "Ow, hm, you wouldn't happen to have pain killers, would you?" I asked through the pain. "I have been at an alarmingly high level of pain since…well…since…."
"I can't say for certain if they will work if what you say is true, but yes," Ratchet said as he carefully bandaged my arm. "You will not be leaving this medbay for a while, I hope you know."
"I suspected as much," I replied, flinching again as Ratchet manipulated my arm. "Ow. I can tell you're trying to be gentle, but that really hurts."
"I can only imagine," Ratchet said, tone gentle. "I'm being as gentle as I can be."
"Who was the mech who helped you escape?" Arcee asked.
My wings shifted slightly. "Well, he said his name was Vector Prime," I replied. "But I remain skeptical of anyone I barely knew for twenty minutes. The best I can vouch for is he did have these giant portal doors which are how he sent me here to Earth and the stuff he had me drink has not seemed to poison or kill me, so there's that. And, I mean, rescuing me from Shockwave is some kind of point in the 'maybe I can trust you' category."
I stopped talking and realized both of the bots were staring at me in pure disbelief. "What?"
"You mean to tell me," Ratchet said, fixing the bandage on my arm so that it would stay in place. "That the Guardian of Time and Space took time out of his schedule to rescue you from Shockwave?"
"Yup," I said. "And, yes, I was that incredulous too. But when I asked him why, he was just like 'you'll see in due time.' I-" I cut off when I saw the needle Ratchet had pulled out of a drawer while I was talking. I froze, optics fixated on it and made a scared noise and pulled my pedes onto the bed with me.
"Easy, easy," Ratchet said, making a placating motion with one hand while he hid the syringe behind his back. "It's just the pain meds you requested."
My wings shifted upward a little, hunching like they had when Arcee had startled me in the cave. I was now holding the edge of the bed like it was my lifeline. "I might know that in my head Ratchet, but for the past few years, needles have been nothing but pain and torture, so there's gonna be a resurface of my old needle fear…it's probably worse than ever, actually, given I've never felt the need to flee before by simply seeing one."
"And that's perfectly understandable," Ratchet said, taking a slow step back toward me.
I made a disgruntled owl-like noise and pulled myself further onto the bed as if preparing myself for a launch. My instincts were telling me to transform and fly away, but whatever system would respond to a desire to transform seemed to be down at the moment. That or really slow. AoL wants you to hang up the phone slow.
Ratchet glanced at Arcee and made a very subtle motion and I saw her move in the peripheral of my field of vision. I shifted again, seeing he sent her to cut me off in the event I made a break for it.
"You realize, if you tackle me, trust is gonna be harder to build," I told him as he slowly moved closer.
"We won't have to if you don't run," Ratchet said, pausing in his movements and holding up a hand toward Arcee and I suddenly realized she was behind me. "You need care."
"I understand that," I replied, watching him. "But fear is still real and I have some instincts I'm not familiar with so I'm processing on the go how I'm supposed to cope with the level of fear and the urge to transform and fly away that is screaming in my mind right now. And moving has always been how I cope with anxiety, so bigger movements are natural for me in this kind of scenario, I think. And that doesn't even cover the fact it's piled on the trauma and emotions I was already dealing with."
"Would it help if I held your hand?" Arcee asked, coming up next to me.
My helm snapped to look at her in surprise at how close she suddenly was. My whole body tensed, but relaxed after a moment. "Maybe? There's at least some level of trust I feel toward you. Not that there's none toward Ratchet, but he is the one with the tools. And I've only known him for five, maybe ten minutes."
Arcee chuckled a little bit at that. Then she reached over and took my hand. "I can assure you, you can trust Ratchet," she said. "With your medical care at least." She gave me a wink, clearly joking.
I could tell she was joking and trying to be lighthearted for my sake. I placed my free hand over top of hers and gave her a look of gratitude. She patted my hand with her free hand as Ratchet reapproached, giving me a strained smile before looking away.
I gusted air through my system, closing my optics so I wouldn't see him move the needle toward me as he removed a piece of armor from my shoulder. He cleaned the sight and I almost wished doctors weren't so methodical about cleanliness despite knowing the reason for it. Then he finally stuck me and I hissed, curling up and moving away as much as possible without interfering with the injection. I buried my face into Arcee's shoulder as she rubbed my hand, crying.
Then things started feeling fuzzy. "Hey…that wasn't just pain meds…." I said as I recognized the feelings. "Ya coulda told meh." And then the world went black.