Chapter Text
I stared at the large monitor. The glowing blue screen seemed to regard me with about as much interest as I did it. It displayed transmissions sent across Cybertron from various cities. I was on the verge of shifting down to idle when a sudden brilliance of light threatened to blind me.
As soon as it faded, the cavernous room is dark again. From the source where the light was, I observed a platform extend. A small, pearly white minicon strode across its path, and I guided my hover station down to him. The little bot hopped on, and we drifted back upwards to where I had been before.
"So? What do you have for me?" I questioned.
:Not much. Jazz just went on his refuel break half a joor ago. He's gone to visit his mate and drop off some energon to him.:
"How did Prowl forget his 'gon again? I can understand the past two sols, but today as well? Is he okay?"
:I dunno. The case he took on had to do with Syk. There was a murder that he connected to the drug and then some mob and it's all pretty much downhill from there.:
"A mob? Like the Seven Shocks?"
:I guess. Jazz didn't tell me.:
"...hey Roller?"
:Yeah?:
"Are you bored of this?"
:Of what?:
"Of doing... this."
:You mean coexisting with you? Nah, you're pretty cool.:
"No, I mean...all I ever do all day is stay in this place and monitor communications. It's boring, monotonous, and a complete waste of time!"
Roller's little blue visor flickered as he sighed. He crossed his arms and slouched.
:So what do you want to do about it?:
"I don't know! There doesn't seem to be much of anything I can do! I'm stuck here, and I know I don't want to sit here and listen to all of this scrap. I want to do something. I just don't know what."
:Well, you like helping people.:
"Yeah, I do, but there isn't much I can do."
:Well, not necessarily.:
"What do you mean?"
:You could be walking home right now, since your shift ended about three minutes ago.:
"Oh, slag. You're right. Let's go."
BANG BANG! SMASH! SCREEEEEEECH!
The cheers of the audience echoed throughout the arena as it's we fought. I slash and he shoots at me, as we try to snuff one another out.
However, I'm far more agile.
The other mech pitifully lunged at me with his blade, only for me to parry and stab his midsection. I dealt the final and shot him in his chest, destroying his spark chamber. The offlined shell collapsed on to the ground as the crowds cheered for my victory. I raised my arms and encouraged the crowd to scream more for me, just as I have always done. Their screams become so loud, few can barely hear the announcer's voice as it boomed through the arena.
"MEGATRONUS THE UNDEFEATED IS THE WINNER!"
More cheering.
Such was the life.
I exited the arena and ambled my way to the washracks. A few others already occupied them, including a bulky femme, and were washing themselves as best as they could. I turned on the shower head and stood there, letting the water splash down my frame. Why do I do this? Why can't I be something else? Thoughts echo through my helm over and over again. I picked up a soap bottle and towel, and started working on cleaning myself of the fresh energon and grime that coated me. I want out of this. I hate this life. I want out. Chestplates were done, a bot stepped out. Let me out. Why am I here? Why do I let myself continue like this? I should just end it. The front of my leg struts were clean. A bot came in. I could've let the mech just snuff me. Why didn't I let him do it? Why did I fight? Why can't I do it myself?What's wrong with me? The back of my struts were done. Somebot got cranky with another. I want out of this. What's wrong with me? Why can't I end it all myself? Left pauldron and arm were done. I'm a coward. I'm a coward to not want this, and I'm a coward for not leaving. I'm just a pathetic coward. Right pauldrons and arm done. A bot stepped out. Coward. Coward. Coward. Snuff yourself, if you can coward. I finished rinsing off, and step out. You're lower than a coward. You're lower than the dirt that still clings to you. You don't deserve it. You don't deserve the dirt. I walk down the hallway. I keep my pauldrons back and my helm up. You are worth nothing. I plodded out of the pits, and down the road.
You are worth nothing.
You coward.
Why don't you end it already?
You coward.
Why do I fight?
Coward.
Why didn't I let him snuff me?
Coward.
You are nothing.
Coward!
I am nothing.
COWARD!
I entered my home, or at least what sufficed as one. It's just a one room apartment on the first floor. There isn't a great view, just some dark and grimy alley with scrap that piled up as vorns go by. I don't rent it for the view, I rent it because it's cheap. At the moment no one appeared to be in the alley, but somebot might try to recharge there tonight. I lowered the metal sheet over my one window, and I locked my door. Now I can do what I want... now what...?
I was about to lie down on my berth before I noticed a small black box on it. It was an odd looking thing, with intricate red designs on the lid and sides. Frag, I need to change my locks. The box didn't look like a bomb, but I still opened it slowly and carefully...
A bright red light exploded from the box and I dropped it on reflex. As soon as the light fades, I looked to see what happened. A small, red creature with a large head floated in place. It opened up it's optics to reveal two deep blue organic orbs. "Hi! I'm Tikki!"
My jaw dropped.
:What the frag was THAT mech doing?:
"I don't know, but it was entertaining."
Roller emitted a quiet, chuffing noise as he laughed. I smiled and closed the door behind me, and I strolled into the warmer environment of my shared home. Because his shift wasn't over yet, Ratchet wasn't here. That meant that Roller and I had some time to kill.
Speaking of the little bot, he hopped on to the couch and snatched the remote. The display came to life in a flash, with the volume just a tad too high.
"Turn it down, Roller." I chided. He grumbled but did so. The apartment Ratchet and I have is nice. As you step in to the living room, you're greeted with the flatscreen media display on your left and a faded blue couch on your right. Just past that and you'll end up on a small balcony with a fire escape attached. On the left wall, next to the balcony door is the energon storage. Behind the couch is the rest of the apartment. A kitchen and counter behind and to the left of the couch, and a desk and shelf with datapads on it to the right. Between the two lies a hallway that leads to the washracks and our personal chambers. The first door on your left is the washracks, and on the right is the storage room with almost nothing in it. Past that are the last three rooms. Mine is on the left, Ratchet's has the room at the very end of the hallway, and a guest room on your right. Several of Ratchet's friends have crashed in there from time to time.
Like I said, it's a nice place.
I set my keycards down on the desk and walked to my room. The display's speakers are still loud and blasting some cartoon that looks like it's meant for bitlets. I rolled my optics Roller when he peeked over the couch.
I enter my chambers and hit a cold wall, and I notice my window's open and letting in the outside breeze. Strange, I don't remember opening it. It might've been Ratch or Roller, I guessed. I closed my window and left my door wide open in the hopes to warm my room up again.
That's when I noticed something on my berth.
A small, black box that's hexagonal in shape with foreign red markings on it sat perfectly level on my berth. The markings almost look Vosian, maybe Jazz would know something about it? I picked it up and opened it, and a bright green light exploded from it and blinded me. Though I dropped the box, the light held its place in midair. I shuttered my optics frantically in the hope to regain my vision, and I focused on a small black blob that's floated above my berth. The dark blob unfurled itself and opened its optics. They're like nothing I'd ever seen before! It's optics were slanted on its helm and shone a thousand shades of green woven together towards a black slits in the center. It stared at me and smiled. That's when I noticed it has sharp fangs.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!''
I picked up the nearest thing to me - a towel - and threw it at the creature. It dodged to the left and tried to come closer to me. I scrambled for something else to throw at it. My servo landed on something hard and heavy and I threw it immediately.
Roller came skidding into the room and launched himself at the creature. He landed on the berth with the creature in his servo, which squirmed and whined about being held.
"Hey! C'mon, man! I just woke up!" It said. It had a high pitched and vaguely masculine voice.
"Who are you? What are you? How did you get in here, and why are you here?" I asked it quickly. "I'll tell you if you let me go." It pleaded. Roller and I shook our helms in unison. "Answers first, then your freedom." It sighed. "Fine. M'name's Plagg and I'm a kwami. Someone else gave me to you so that you could become a superhero. Now will you put me down?" Plagg glared at Roller.
A superhero?
Someone wanted me to become a superhero?
I nodded at Roller to let go of Plagg. He released him, and the kwami floated there for a bit before he slowly drifted towards me. "Why was I chosen?" Plagg shrugged. "The last guy who had me didn't think he was cut out for it. He figured that I should go to someone more capable of making a change." I snorted in amusement. "Me? Why would anyone like me be able to make a change?" Plagg sighed again. "I don't know. That's really for you to decide." He said.
I sat down on my berth and thought about it. I did want to make a change in life, so would becoming a vigilante help me accomplish that? I could help Prowl with tracking down different drug circles, gangs, and whatnot. I could help reduce crime in the city.
:'Rion. You don't know how to fight.:
I shrugged at him. "It's a fair point, but that's not the only thing I'd have to do as a hero. I'll have to collect information as well."
"Alright. What would I do if I accepted?" I asked the kwami. "Well," he started. "You'd do superhero things, like stopping bank robberies, saving people, fighting crime and all that stuff." That sounded cool, although I won't be recognized as Orion Pax for any of these achievements. "And how exactly do you fit in to this?" I asked him. "I'm the one who gives you the power." He said triumphantly. "As long as you wear that ring, I can grant you powers." I picked it up and studied it. This little thing? It seemed so ordinary. It was just a little silver band with a bezel and four prongs, but the setting was too shallow to hold anything. I looked back up at Plagg. "Pardon my rudeness, but what is a kwami?" His little tail flicked as he flew around me to explain. "A kwami is an abstract being that's born when a new concept is introduced to the universe. I was born when the first act of destruction happened." He smiled proudly at that. "So you're like, billions of vorns old, huh?" I asked. "Yep! And I don't look a day over 2000." He purred. I chuckled at his vanity while I mindlessly played with the ring in my servos. "So, what powers do I get? How does this all work?" Plagg whizzed around me once more before talking. "Your ultimate power is the ability to destroy things. To do that, you have to say 'Cataclysm' and place your ring wearing servo on the object you intend to destroy. After you've used your power, you have five minutes before you transform back into yourself."
"Woah woah woah woah! Back up! You didn't say anything about transforming! And what do you mean 'back into yourself?' What are you talking about?" I asked frantically.
Plagg's little organic optics widened and the little slits narrowed further. "Oops, forgot to tell you. You have to say 'Claws out' before you try to use any powers I give you. Once you say that, I get absorbed into that ring and your appearance will change drastically. You won't be recognizable to anyone. It helps to protect your identity." He said. "And if you want to turn back, you say 'Claws in'. Got it?" I nodded. "Okay, so I have to give you commands in order to activate anything, right?" Plagg nodded. "So do I get a second layer of armor when I transform? Like the legend of the Apex Armor?" Plagg shook his small helm. "No, your current armor will morph and change color. It'll be a bit thicker though." I shuddered. :Will that hurt him?: Roller asked. "No." said Plagg. "You'll barely feel it." he said to reassure me. "So, how does it all work? Advanced subspace technology?" I asked.
"Magic."
"Magic?"
"Magic."
"Huh."
"Yep. Is it too much?"
"No, I just... wasn't expecting that answer.
"Nobody ever does." He said. "Oh, and I should tell you, no one is to know about me. ABSOLOUTLY NO ONE. Understand?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Roller's okay though, right?" Plagg waved at him. "Yeah, yeah, he's fine. The two of you are connected so it would have been really hard for you to keep a secret from him anyways. Is there anyone else who lives here?" He asked. "Yes. I've got a roommate, Ratchet. I'm guessing he can't know either?" Plagg zoomed around my room. "Nope, but that's fine. I can hide under your armor. You won't even know I'm there." He stopped by my datashelf. "You read a lot?" he asked. "Yes. I find it to be an enjoyable past time." Plagg stuck out his pink glossa and zoomed around the rest of the house. I had a hard time keeping up with him, as he moved with incredible speed and passed through solid objects as if they weren't there. There were many 'ooh's and 'ah's and 'ugh's as he explored the apartment. He dove into the energon storage to take a peek. Just as I opened the door to see what he was doing, he rushed back up to me and said "There's nothing good to eat here."
I blinked. "What?"
"I need to eat every time you use the cataclysm. There's nothing here for me to eat."
"Ok, well what do you eat?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know. And WHY don't you know?"
"Because my taste changes with my charge. You're new so now I have to figure out what I have to eat."
I sighed deeply. "Alright, how about we go to a 'gon market, and we can go around the sampling kiosks and figure out what you like. Sounds good?"
"Yeah!"
"Alright, let's go!"
Plagg followed me out the door with a happy grin on his face.
I sat down on my berth in my bare chambers. A hot breeze struggled to waft around the metal sheet over the window, and my cooling fans kicked up a notch. A small, floating red light zoomed around the place.
"Where did this trophy come from?'' her high pitched voice asked. It irritated my audials to the point where I might try to smash the thing, if it weren't for the fact that it's a so-called kwami, which apparently means that it's a god. It looked too small to be a god. "It was from a fight in the pits. I snuffed the sparks of three mechs that day. That's how I earned it.'' The light from her dimmed and the thin tendrils atop her helm drooped. Good. Maybe then she'll reconsider me, and go find some other bot to annoy. I'm certainly not the right one. "Hey.'' she chirped at me. "Why so gloomy?'' she drifted closer to me and stopped a few inches from my faceplates. Her large, deep blue optics were wide with worry. "I just don't think that you should be here. I'm not exactly the most heroic mech. I mean, you can see the trophies I've gotten for killing bots for sport. Why would you choose me, when there are other bots who could make a difference?'' The kwami stopped, and then smiled. "Oh silly Megatronus! Because you are exactly the kind of mech that Cybertron needs! And I'm not the one you chose you, that was the Guardian. He saw you and thought that you could make a difference.'' I groaned. "Are you not listening to me? I am paid to OFFLINE bots, for the ENJOYMENT of other bots. A hero is supposed to protect and help others.'' The kwami sighed. "I understand, but you can fight! The world needs a warrior who will kill their enemies because no one else can! These bots are ruthless and will not hesitate to offline antone who get in their way!"
Now it was my turn to be concerned. "Who are these bots?'' I asked. The kwami drifted down and sat on my left leg strut. "They have gone by many names over time. I'm not sure of what they call themselves now... but they harness magic to take over and control the universe. Do you remember the ancient story of Dioptric, and his battle against Unicron?'' The tale was vaguely familiar to me, but I could recall how Unicron threatened to seize the small town Dioptric lived in. Unicron was going to use the town as a stepping stone in order to strengthen his hold on Cybertron and destroy it from there. I nodded at the kwami. "He was a charge of mine. At that time their cult was called The Death's Rust.'' I interrupted her. "I'm sorry, did you say that they called themselves The Death's Rust? Really?'' The kwami giggled. "Yeah. They aren't the most creative when it comes to naming themselves. They once called themselves Cosmic Destruction." I barked out a laugh. "How am I to take these bots seriously when they're called such stupid names?" She giggled even harder. "I don't know. I mean, they do some really bad things to mecha. Like, 'Cruel and Unusual Punishment' kind of bad. Most of these mechs have no moral compass."
My pauldrons sagged at hearing that. I was chosen to fight these bots? Was it because I kill mechs for entertainment? "So, the situation is truly that dire?" The kwami popped back up into my faceplate. "I don't know! I've been asleep for several millennia now I don't know how bad it's gotten. I know that Plagg went missing before I went to sleep, but-"
"Who's Plagg?" I interrupted.
"He's another kwami. He's tied to the ring of the black cybercat. Whoever has the ring holds the power of ultimate destruction." Wow. Holy Primus. "Wait, what's your power?" Her optics widened. "Creation! I forgot to tell you, sorry." Interesting. Tikki was creation, and Plagg was destruction. "It's fine. Are there any other kwamis?"
"Yes, five others. Nooroo, Duusu, Pollen, Trixx, and Wayzz. Duusu was lost along with Plagg as well." Five?! So there's a total of seven kwamis, and two of them were already lost. What a fantastic start. "Have the remaining kwamis been handed out yet?" I didn't want to be the only one fighting. "Not that I know of." Great. I was alone. "But don't worry. All that means is that the Guardian hasn't found the right bots yet. You'll get a team to work with. Even if it isn't with Plagg and Duusu..."
A dark shade of sadness covered Tikki's face. Those two seemed to be really important to her. "So tell me what each of them can do." I asked her gently. "Well... Plagg as you know can destroy, and he's my equal. Nooroo can create champions, Pollen can raise an army, Wayzz can slow time, Trixx can create illusions, and Duusu can revive her charge." Damn. Those were some serious abilities. Plagg and Duusu were definitely useful, but the others were just as great. "But of course, none of us can use these powers without a charge. Without you, I can't create."
''What else is there to know?'' Tikki began explaining, all while zooming around the room and being very dramatic with her movements. "Well, when you say the words 'spots on', you can transform into someone else. You basically turn into a superhero! You'll become red with black accents, and a lot of your armor will change too. To use your creation powers, simply say 'lucky charm'. However, you can only make one item per transformation. Once you use the item, you have five minutes before you transform back into your normal self. To transform back before then, you just say 'spots off'.''
It all seemed pretty simple, except for the fact that I still had to become a superhero. "What should I call myself?'' Tikki floated back to me. "You can call yourself whatever you want. My charges have all gone by different names over stellar cycles.'' So it was really all up to me to decide my alternate designation. I looked at Tikki's small, floating form. Glowing red, with black spots, and two little antennae that fell behind her bulbous head. She reminded me of a vii bug. They were tiny drones that glowed red and had black amour, and their diet consisted of the radiation and minerals that would transform raw energon into Tox-En. They were essential to keeping energon preserved in hostile environments.
"Tikki, do you know what the word for a vii bug in the old language?"
"It's turire. The literal translation is 'red angel'. Why?" She cocked her little head to one side.
"I think I'll call myself Turire." Tikki beamed in approval. "So does this mean you'll go and fight the bad bots?" She asked. "Yeah, but not tonight. I need rest." I laid down on my berth and turned out my light. "That you should, you'll need your strength for tomorrow." She chirped quietly. Tikki nestled under my helm, and I drifted off to sleep.
The small mech at the sample kiosk gave me a great smile with his optics, since most of his faceplates were hidden behind a mask. I smiled back and thanked him for the sample. As walked away, Plagg darted out of the armor plating on my right arm to snatch up the treat. My smile grew wider as I popped the small cube into my mouth. It was an aluminum coated energon treat that had a slight tang to it when it hit the glossa.
"Pleh! Nope. Don't like that one."
I darted behind a shelf to let Plagg out. He zoomed up to my faceplates.
"Are you serious? Those are amazing!" I said to him.
"Hm, nope. Not really. I need something with a little more-hey what's that smell?"
I sniffed the air, but didn't catch any scent. Plagg began to follow his olfactory sensors and drifted towards the stink. Plagg hid behind another shelf and scanned for the source. "Sweet Solus Prime! I've had those before!" I looked over to where his interests were. Which apparently was a whole shelf of bagged Ryns. "Those?" I asked. "Really?" Plagg looked at the bags with complete affection. "Yes. I had those a long time ago, but they were really hard to get." Weird. I couldn't remember a time when these weren't in stock. Maybe Plagg had been in a remote part of Cybertron, where they didn't have supermarkets? Because these things were everywhere.
"Can I-can I pleeeeaaaaase have them?" Plagg looked at me with wide, pleading optics. I shrugged. "Alright, they're pretty cheap anyways. The only thing about them I don't like is that they stink." Plagg nearly exploded with joy. "Ohthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! You have no idea how much I love these things." I grinned. "I'm starting to get an idea how much you do..."
I grabbed a bag off the shelf and went to checkout. I drove on the road to home with Plagg yacking in my audials about how much he loved Ryns and how lovely they tasted. We were almost home before we heard a cry for help.
"You heard that, right?'' I asked. Plagg nodded. "Yep. Sounds like somebody we can save!'' I grinned nervously. "Are you sure I can do this?'' Plagg nuzzled my chin. "Aw c'mon. All you gotta do is leave your bag here, transform, and attack the perp from above.'' I set down the grocery bag. "From above? How do I do that?'' Plagg only smiled. "Don't worry. You'll know."
I heard another shriek. "Claws out." I commanded. Plagg seemed to be sucked into the ring as a green light enveloped me. It all happened so fast. One moment I was Orion Pax, and the next I was covered in thick, black armor. The world seemed to become far more clearer as my senses became heightened. I could see and hear so much, it was incredible.
I found a metal rod that was strapped to my back, and at the push of a button, it extended. No time to experiment. I thought. I have a job to do. I bolted down the alleyway and launched myself onto a large garbage bin, and used it to propel myself onto the roof of the short building. I could hear the erratic sparkbeat of someone coming from another alleyway. I ran as fast as I could towards the sound, and found the distressed mech. He was much smaller than his attacker. "Pl-please don't hurt me! Just take what you want!" He whimpered. The larger mech held a gun pointed at the smaller one's helm. "Give me all your shanix." Snarled the attacker. "Hey!" I called out. The larger mech whipped his helm around. "How about you pick on someone your own size?" I leapt off the roof and landed on the attacker who turned towards me. I knocked the gun out of his servo and clocked him in his faceplates. I hissed in pain. I hadn't tightened my fist hard enough and hurt the joints.
The larger mech whipped around and swung his arm at me. His fist connected with my helm hard and I stumbled backwards. I caught myself on the wall and launched myself at him again. He tried to dive for his gun, but I tackled him to the ground before he could get it. I kicked the gun away and scratched at his faceplates. He yelped and shoved me off of him. He bolted down the alleyway and into darkness. I got up and noticed a faint blue glow from the corner of my vision. I looked down and found that I had drawn energon from the attacker. I stared at my servo with disgust. I gently wiped it off on my hip and carefully approached the smaller mech.
"Are you alright?'' I asked him. The mech nodded slightly. He was hunched in on himself and his armor very quietly rattled. "I-I-I think s-so.'' I whispered. "Who are you?" Oh, crap. I hadn't come up with a name for myself yet. "Ah, you don't need to worry about that. Just worry about yourself. How far is it from your home?" I asked. "Oh, not too far. I can make it back myself. Besides, I'm armed now." He raised the attacker's gun in his servo. He shrugged and shoved the gun into a subspace on his hip. "Souvenir, and extra protection." He gave me a small smile, and walked off. "I'll be fine!" He called out. "Alright, take care!" I told him. "You too!"
A wide grin grew across my faceplate. "Claws in." A green light flashed through the alley as I returned to being Orion Pax. Plagg floated back out of the ring. "Ahh, that was cool. Right? Oh wow, you've got something one your face there." I reached up to touch my faceplates. "Where? What is it?" I asked. "Well, it's gone now. It was a smile." Plagg snickered.
"You!"
Plagg laughed harder.
"C'mon! Let's go find the bag! I could really use a snack right now."
"But I didn't use our ultimate power!"
"Yeah, but I'm still hungry."
The both of us laughed as we strolled out of the dark alley and picked up the bag of Ryns. I opened it and gave one to Plagg. He happily munched on it as we walked our way back home. As I walked into the house I could feel Roller's relief that I was home. Plagg ducked into my armor just before I opened the door and stepped inside.
Ratchet was sitting on the couch, reading a datapad. He looked up and frowned. "Where were you?" He asked. "Out shopping. I have a taste for Ryns again." Ratchet scoffed in disbelief. "Ryns? Really? I thought you hated those." I shrugged. "What can I say, things change." Ratchet smiled and shook his helm, and he returned to his pad. I started walked back into my room with Roller in tow. "Tired already?" Ratchet called from his seat. "Yeah," I said. "Long day." Ratchet grunted in understanding, and I dove into my room. Closing the door, Plagg came out from under my armor and flew over to my berth. "You know what? I think we're going to get along pretty well, you and I." I chuckled. "I think I'll get along with you as well." I rolled over and winced at the pain from my faceplates. I rubbed at the offended area. "Although, I am going to need to learn how to fight." Plagg snuggled into my neck. "I can teach you some of the basics, but let's save that for the morning, kay?"
"Alright..."
And I drifted into recharge.
I woke up to something soft rubbing against my faceplate. Still half asleep, I attempted brush whatever it was off me. A soft voice chirped. "Hey, C'mon, you gotta wake up!" I don't want to get up. I'm tired. "C'mon you can do it." There it was again, that soft little voice. Did I take a femme home with me last night? I don't recall. "Megatronus~..." Who was singing my name like that? I opened my optics and tried to focus on the red blur in front of me. "That's it, come on, you can do it." I shuttered my optics a few times, and the red blob came into focus. I stare at it's bulbous, red helm with big blue optics floating in front of me. A little smile crept up it's face. "Good morning!" It's little voice chirped. No, her. It's Tikki. I groaned and turned over. "No no no, you gotta wake up. You've got things to do today!" She said. I flipped the pillow over my helm. Guess last night wasn't a dream. "Megatronus, c'mon!" She tugged at my pillow, and I could hear her little grunts as she pulled. I couldn't help but laugh a little. The tugs stopped. "Megs!" She said indignantly. "Get. Up!" She emphasized her words by hitting the pillow. I laughed louder and shake my berth. "Tikki! Let me recharge!" Her little red helm suddenly appeared under my pillow with me. "No." I frowned, and took the pillow off my helm. I rolled back over to face the rest of my apartment. "Don't call me that." I said. She zoomed through the room to my energon storage box. She pulled out a half empty cube and flew it over to me with great effort. I held out my servo and took it from her. "Thank you." I murmured. I gulped the cube down hungrily. When I finished I saw Tikki looking at me with worried optics.
"What?"
"That was all the energon I found in your storage."
"And?" I asked.
"Shouldn't you have more?"
"I'm fine."
She frowned, but didn't press further.
"So," I started. "I have nothing planned today. What shall we do?" Tikki crossed her little arms. "We need to look for anything weird. Strange occurrences, kidnappings, people just disappearing, buildings disappearing, freak weather, freak accidents, those kinds of things. Have you heard about any of that happening around here?" I thought about it. I didn't have a TV, radio, or any subscription to a news source that could inform me of any crazy events. If I stretch my budget a little more, maybe I can get one. Otherwise, I'll have to go by hearsay. I sighed. Hearsay would be slow, but it's the only option I have today. On that note, what have I heard recently? Tikki's voice piped back up again. "Megatronus?" I glanced up at her. "I'm thinking." She nodded. "Ok, tell me when you think there's something worth checking out." She zoomed around my room and explored.
What has happened recently? I could recall some of the conversations that I overheard in the washracks. Somebot said something about having a scuffle in a back alley? Nope, that's normal. Maybe there was something interesting about that one mech's loan sharkticon problem? Nah. Friend got attacked but there's no shell? Probably just pissed off the wrong bot.
"Nothing." I said. Tikki floated back over to me. "Nothing at all?" I groaned. "Nothing that seems out of the ordinary." She frowned. "What were some of the things you thought of?" I stared at her in annoyance. "A bot had a scuffle in a back alley of the gladiator pits a few days ago, I think it was over some borrowed shanix. Another bot was having a problem with a loan sharkticon, but that mech's always in some sort of financial trouble. Somebot's friend got attacked and disappeared, which probably just means that he pissed off a bot in power... that's pretty much it. None of these are out of the ordinary." I told her. Her optics had widened with each story I told, and she bobbed up and down a bit with each account.
"What..." She started. "...why...this is normal?" Something odd was happening to her optics, they were getting shinier. I nodded. There was a sharp intake from her as she slowly sank down. She was... sad? Scrap, was it because none of these fit the bill? I need to find something we can start on. Fighting these bots seems important to her. "Uh, maybe we can go check out the disappearance? You said that kidnappings were weird, maybe it's connected." She looked up at me, and slowly smiled.
"Okay. Let's go." She said. She zoomed for the door and waited for me to get up and open it. She looked back with a curious look. "Aren't you coming?'' she asked. I felt so tired, and like my chest was going to cave in. "Yeah. I'm coming.'' I stood up and opened the door, and Tikki ducked underneath my armor. I trudged out the door and down the hallway to the stairwell, and passed a mech in deep recharge. He smelled strongly of high grade. I made my way out of the building and started down the quickest path to the train station. Hopefully I would get there in under ten minutes.
"Ayy 'tronus!"
Make that fifteen.
I turned around to face the origin of the voice. It belonged to a tall mech painted in an ugly shade of orange. His faceplates were scarred from previous fights, and the rest of him wasn't much better. The only good thing about his appearance were the places where the paint had been scratched or chipped off. Rummage looked even better in another city, miles away from me. "Where you 'eaded?" Three of his sycophants stood behind him and attempted to appear menacing. They hardly came up to my chestplates, and were only half as wide as I was. "Nowhere of your concern." I replied. His yellow optics narrowed, and a nasty grin broke out across his face. "Not going out to beg for 'gon, are ya?" His cronies snickered at the comment. I gave him a sly smile. "Why? Afraid I'll steal your suppliers?" Shock flashed across his face before settling back into a sneer. "Frag you, 'tronus!" He walked away on that, with his group following closely behind him. They sneered at me, but kept close to their master. If I found them away from Rummage, they would most certainly be cowards.
I continued my way to the station and met no more resistance. Tikki asked me about Rummage, a little worried about his demeanor. "He's just some jerk who thinks he can rule the world, if somebot gave him the chance." I told her that he lived in the same building that I did, and had been bothering me ever since I'd moved in. I had come to the conclusion pretty quickly that he either wanted me as one of his lackeys, or dead. "Well then why would he be mean to you? Why not just ask?" I looked at her funny. "Why would anyone ask for anything when they could just take it?" I said. "If you want someone to work for you, then you have to prove to them that you are stronger and a more capable leader. You have to prove your power, and the way to do that is to challenge your target. He hasn't challenged me yet, which most likely means that he fears losing to me." I chuckled at the thought. Tikki sat on the explanation before saying, "You know, I've only had two other Kaonite charges before, and it was a really long time ago. Things have become a little more tame since then..." I stopped for a moment, and processed that statement. Tamer? When was the biggest city of warframes ever tame? I looked to the kwami, who watched me innocently with big blue optics.
"How old are you?"
"A few hundred billion vorns old, why?"
"Just wondering when the city of Kaon was tamer."
"It was before the city formed. The mecha in this region were only a tad less aggressive before civilization."
"But," I resumed walking. "Aren't mecha supposed to be more reasonable when they live within a city? With social constructs and all..."
"I would think so as well, but that's just not what happened with the Kaonites." She said.
"So... when the city was new, it was not tame?''
"No. It wasn't.''
"Weird.''
"I think so too."
She ducked back into my armor as I approached the terminal. I tried to block out the horrid smells that drifted off of others, but it was futile. Instead I tried to avert my attention to the sky, or at least what little was visible to me. It was still early in the morning, so the sky was faintly illuminated by the sun with an orange glow; a shade of orange that was far prettier than Rummage. I stepped into the transport and gripped the rails on the ceiling. The carriage was sparsely populated and had no seats. The walls were mostly clean, for they had most of their dirt and grime wedged in between the cracks of the walls. The ride itself was a little bumpy, and at one point I actually feared for my safety.
After three stops, mecha moving on and off, and someone inappropriately grabbing another bot (which ended with me glaring at the offender, who kept her servos to herself afterwards), Tikki and I finally made it to our destination. This area of the city didn't smell quite as badly where I lived, but it was nonetheless a horrible smell.
I kept walking out of the transport and down the street until I came across a building surrounded by yellow tape. There was no one around to watch me, so I ducked under the tape and went inside.
The scene wasn't too bad. It looked like there had been a struggle, judging from the mess. Broken glass covered the floor, and was spattered with dried energon. While I bent down to pick up a shard, Tikki zoomed around to look for more clues. The energon looked like it had been there for two sols now, and I know that because I've gone several sols in a row without cleaning my blade. Energon loses its glow over time and begins to form intricate hexagonal patterns to start chipping off. The patterns will start off pretty big, but with time they shrink into a fine dust.
It's a really nasty thing to watch happen.
"Over here!" Tikki called out. "I think I found our proof!" I stood up and walked over to the doorway she was in. An oily black sludge coated the frame, and a vile odor clung to it. "What is that smell?" I asked. "Death." Tikki said, with her face scrunched up. "Death does not smell like that." I said. Death usually smelled more like rust and decaying fluids with a smoky after tone. Basically really nasty. "No, more like organic death. Not a cybertronian kind of death." Oh. That was even worse. Organics were odd looking, but they smelled even weirder. "What is this stuff?" I poked at it, only to find out that the sludge was sticky and refused to be wiped off of my digit. "This is waste made by a bloop." Great. I stuck my finger in organic waste. "What's a bloop?"
"One of the monsters that they summon. The bag monsters on one planet are called shoggoths. Plagg was the one who called them bloops." I chuckled. "Bag monsters and bloops? Where did 'bag monsters' come from?" I asked. "A charge of Trixx's. The femme was full of jokes." Tikki smiled at the memory. "So, if this is our business, then we should perhaps start asking what happened here. What did people see, hear, or maybe even smell that night. Shouldn't be too hard."
Tikki cocked her helm at me. "How are you going to ask those questions without raising too much suspicion? You don't have an enforcers badge to show people."
"I could steal one?"
"Megatronus!"
"You're right, too much work. I could go with the story that I'm looking to move in?"
"That sounds doable!"
"Alright then. There are some apartments on the floors above us, maybe they've seen something."
I woke up to my alarm clock beeping loudly at me, and I had half a processor to throw the thing into my wall. I stretched myself to loosen my cables, and Plagg yawned loudly. "Why is it so early?" He whined. "Because I have to go to work."
"At this hour?!"
"Yeah..."
"What do you do for a living?"
"Monitor communications, flag them if they look suspicious."
"Suspicious?"
"Like, criminal activity."
"Sounds boring."
"It is, unless you tune into something that interests you for a little bit. But you can't let your superiors catch you doing that."
"Awwww. Why not?"
"Because they want us working, and they're killjoys."
"Bah, humbug."
"Humbug?"
"Yeah. Hey listen, do you think we could do something a little more useful with our time? Monitoring communications doesn't seem very superhero like."
"I wish. I start at 5 and get off at 14."
"A nine joor workday? That sucks."
"Definitely."
I heard Ratchet get up from his chambers and walk to the main room, which meant that I should probably start moving as well. Roller was still fast asleep on my berth. I did my best not to disturb him. Within time he'll online because I am, but I'm not really sure how it works. Roller and I have a connection with each other that we don't really know how to explain. When I online after recharge his systems will begin to wake him up. When we first onlined, it wasn't like that. He would stay up while I was recharging and fall into recharge when I was waking up. Neither one of us knew what was going on until a doctor had found sentinel programming in Roller. The doctor said that there was no reason to have it on, so he advised that we turn it off and slowly adjust him to my recharge cycle. Once he had fully adjusted we got to know each other better.
Plagg ducked into my armor as I strolled out my room and down the hall. Ratchet was standing in the kitchen with some energon in servo and another on the counter. "Who were you talking to?" he asked. "Uh," I replied creatively. "I was talking on the comms with someone from work." Ratchet raised an optic brow and walked off. I picked up the other 'gon cube and began to drink. Ratchet sat down on a tall chair and was downing his cube. It was very peaceful.
Until we heard a loud crash outside.
We ran over to the balcony. Far below us in the street a crowd was starting to gather around the accident. I couldn't see much down there, but it was clear that a very large bot carrying cargo had run over somebot much smaller. "I'm going down there to see what I can do." Ratchet left his unfinished cube on the counter and bolted out the door. Plagg popped out of my armor and said, ''So, are you going to be late to work?'' I shrugged. ''Maybe.''
I could see that a small mech edging away from the crash site. ''What's he doing?'' Plagg stared down from the balcony, with the little audials atop his head swiveling and twitching. "Something's not right." He said. "Everyone is crowding around to see what happened, but that guy's leaving." He narrowed his optics and focused on the scene below us. I shrugged. "He's probably just late for work...?" I trailed off. Plagg seemed invested in this bot. "I'm gonna go check him out." With that he zoomed off the balcony. "Plagg wait!" But it was too late: he was already four stories below me and counting. :Curious little dude, ain't he?: mumbled Roller. "Oh sure." I replied. "He tells me I have to keep him a secret and he goes off to investigate crashes in public." I complained as I flew out the door and ran to the nearest elevator.
Not too long after the doors close I wondered if taking the stairs would be a faster way down.
:You think we should be taking the stairs instead?:
I blinked. "I was just thinking that." Roller 'hmm'ed at that. The elevator music was more annoying than usual today. Taking the stairs seemed more and more promising by the moment. Thankfully, no one else used the elevator as we rode down, so our ride was swift. I burst out the door with a bang into the alleyway. I ran as fast as I could down the alleyway. Roller's small servos dug into the seams of my armor. I skidded to a stop when I reached the crowd. Roller dropped to the ground and immediately began to worm his way through the struts and peds of the concerned crowd. I used my weight to push through the crowd, "Excuse me! Coming through." I looked for Plagg, but couldn't see him anywhere. Damn that little kwami!
After a minute of searching, I heard Plagg's little voice in my audio.
"This wasn't an accident."
I whipped my helm around to see where he was. All I got was a weird look from the mech behind me. I pushed my way back out of the crowd and into the alleyway, where Plagg zipped out of my armor. "Plagg!" I hissed. "What are you doing? You can't fly off like that!" The black kwami had the nerve to roll his big green optics at me. "I know how to hide. Besides, I have a lead. I saw a red and yellow mech run away from the scene carrying something in his fist. He's shorter than you, and has a long antenna sticking up from the back of his helm. He ran down the street that way." Plagg waved his arm down the street. "You've still got time to catch up to him. Get going!" He said. I huffed, "You better be right!" I ran down the alleyway and turned while I relayed what Plagg had told me. His reply was as disgruntled as I was about the whole situation. I transformed into Forahlein and leaped onto the rooftops. I listened for the sounds of loud venting and fast pedsteps. I found what I was looking for quickly, a small, red and yellow mech with an antenna sticking out from his helm. He turned and ran into an alley. I jumped down from behind him and was on top of him within kliks.
Something small flew out of his servo as he hit the ground. He screamed and his EM field flared with fear. I covered his intake with a clawed servo. "If I move my servo from your intake, will you scream?'' The mech shook his head vigorously. "Good...'' I slowly removed my servo from his faceplate. "Who are you?" He asked. "Forahlein." I replied. "I'm going to let you go now, promise not to run away?" He nodded. "Good." I unwrapped my arms from him and helped him stand up. He looked up at me with fearful blue optics. Maybe I was a little too scary there. "Can you tell me what you were running away from?" I asked.
His EM field flared in worry. "I-I-I wasn't running from anything! I was just running to work! Honest!"
I hummed and raised an optic brow. "And what's your job, huh?" I asked.
"I-I-I-I-" he stuttered. "I work at a data comm tower. I help manage radio stations and frequencies."
"The one on 35th avenue?" I asked. He nodded slowly.
"Please don't kill me..." He whimpered softly. "Why would I do that?" I asked him. "Because I have information on your boss."
"My boss? Wait, do you think I'm a gangster?" He nodded, confused. I laughed. "I'm not a gangster. Although I can't blame you for thinking that I look like one." His posture relaxed a little bit. "Then, who are you? Really?" I smiled. "I'm a superhero, or at least I'm trying to be." He crossed his arms and looked at me funny. "A superhero? Like the ones in stories? How come I haven't heard of you yet?" I shuffled my peds in embarrassment. "I'm new, I'm just starting out, but I want to help!" He chuckled and shook his helm. He walked over to the thing he dropped when I attacked him. "By the way, sorry for scaring you like that." I said. He waved it off. "This is a recording device. Right now it has audio from a couple of gangsters talking about their plans. I'm planning to send it to the enforcers anonymously." He opened up a port on the side of his helm and plugged the device in. Little lights lit up on the recorder to signal the data transfer between him and the device. When it finished, he took the device out of his helm and gave it to me. "I just downloaded a copy of it to my hard drive. Do what you think is right with this." He closed my servo around the small recorder. I nodded solemnly, and stored it into a subspace pocket on me.
I stared at him, expecting him to say something. I noticed he was staring at me to say something.
Awkward.
"Can I, um, can I take you to work?" I offered. "Uh, sure? It's kinda far though..." I waved it off and said, "I'm fast, and I can get you there without having to go through traffic." He raised an optic brow. "Here," I said, crouching down. "Climb on to my back struts and I can get you there." He laughed, but did so.
I bounded across rooftops and scaffolding with the small mech on me. He and I laughed as I jumped the gap between buildings. My balance was flawless as I ran. We reached his workplace in no time. "Thank you." He said breathlessly as he jumped down. "That was so much fun!" A smile grew wide on my faceplate. "I'm... glad you... liked that..." My vents were running over time trying to keep me cool. He entered entered the building with a bounce in his step. I slipped into a dark alleyway.
"Claws off."
The alley flashed green and Plagg appeared, and settled down on my pauldron. "So? What do you wanna do now?" he asked. "I would like to listen to these recordings, but I have to go to work."
"Well then, do you have a pair of audial buds?"
"Yeah...?"
"Well go GRAB THEM and we can listen ON THE WAY THERE!"
"Oh! Right!"
"So far I have reports of strange, gurgling sounds, a flash of purple light, chairs floating, screams, an 'unholy shriek of despair, treachery, and torment', more screaming, and another flash of purple light... An 'unholy shriek of despair, treachery, and torment', I gotta use that somewhere." I said to myself. I was standing behind the building and reviewing what I had learned. Tikki floated in front of me and nodded at each detail. "What does that sound like to you?" I asked her. "Like there was a summoning from the Shadowzone."
"What's the Shadowzone?"
"It's another dimension where most of the monsters live. You can't see, hear, or touch the things in there, but they can see and hear you."
"Creepy."
"You have no idea."
"So what do they do? Do they just... watch us?"
"For the most part. Some come out to hunt."
"What is it they consume?"
"Mecha."
I shuddered. "What else is there to know about the Shadowzone?"
"If you get stuck in there, you won't die of old age or starvation. It'll probably be disease or a hunt."
"How... have other charges of yours gone in?"
"Yes, but only as a last resort. Most of the monsters can't get out of there without assistance. There are a few that can open up small portals to get over here. They're the scouts and the foot soldiers, but they're still dangerous and hard to kill. Blunt force trauma doesn't usually work when you're trying to kill them. I've found that fire and other forms of heat works though."
I sighed and leaned against the building. All of the reports I had gotten led to the fact that I was going to have to deal with this. "Based on our newfound evidence, is this still a...bloop?" I asked her. Calling it a 'bloop' seemed undignified. "I think so, but those things can't cross over naturally. That means someone else was behind this, and that the monster is still on the loose." Great. "How do we track it?"
"Well, we can't track it. Bloops can't stay in this world for very long, so they have to be summoned every time you want to use them.''
So I can't find the monster, but maybe I could find its summoner. "Tikki, what do you need to summon one of these monsters?'' She tapped her chin. "You need a power source of some kind, like a generator. You also need a lot of food for the bloop, since they're pretty hungry most days. Organic food is the way to go usually, like a carcass of some kind.'' I cut here off there. "Carcass? You mean like...an offlined organic?'' Tikki nodded with a grimace, and I shuddered. It seems that I'm going to have to get used to organic... things. Particularly dead ones. "Are you okay?'' Tikki watched me with worried optics. At least she wasn't a repulsive looking organic. That did give me some hope that there were some organics that looked nice. "I'm fine. What else is there to know?'' I said. "Once the bloop is yours, you have to lay a trap lure it where you want it. To hunt mecha down, you use energon to guide them to the location of the mech, then you open the portal nearby to let the bloop hunt.''
"Let's go back to the crime scene to see if we can figure out who might have set the trap. Maybe we can track down the much who did this."
"We should also try to figure out the victim's connections. He might have had problems with the organization."
"Agreed."
Tikki ducked back into my armor as I stepped inside the building once more. Thankfully this place didn't smell all that bad, but it still looked terrible. I walked to where the crime scene was, and I found a dark blue mech sitting on the ground mumbling to himself. I tried to walk past him, but he stopped me before I got through the door.
"Why are you interested in that place?" he grumbled at me. His voice was low and scratchy, like he had miner's vox.
"I'm thinking about moving, so I'm checking this place out to see if it fits my criteria." I replied.
"You wanna hear something?" he asked.
I raised an optics ridge and turned towards him. "What information do you have for me?"
"You gotta to believe me when I say this, but Stormblade got himself into trouble wit sum bad mechs. They told him that they could grant him the power over this sector of Kaon." He said.
"Power? Did they say how they would give him this power?"
"Stormblade told me they didn't tell him that, only that it would be revealed to him in due time."
This may likely be a tactic for recruiting.
"Was Stormblade ever accepted into their group?"
"Kind of. He was pretty sure there was stuff they were keeping from him."
"Like what?"
"Like...mecha sacrifice and Unicron worship. Stormblade came home before the day he offlined-"
"Offlined? I thought he went missing?"
The mech's optics darkened ominously. "No, he got snuffed by something. Something came for 'im. Something nasty."
"What was it? Do you know what it looked like?"
"It was this black blob of evil, is what i'was. It slopped around an' left this oily ooze everywhere, but it ate 'im. It ate Stormblade."
"Was Stormblade acting strange before he offlined?" I asked.
"Yeah. He was talking about something he saw there. He found out they were doing mecha sacrifice. He said that they were chantin' something in the old language." The mech paused. "He was terrified." He said in a small voice. "He was packing up his things, an' he was talking about moving out of the city. He was asking me for shanix to leave and to get as far away from 'ere as possible. He was so sure that they were gonna snuff him for what he saw..."
"Do you know where these mecha are?"
"Stormy said that they had a place of operations over on 24th street, nearby Midnight Miners."
"Midnight Miners?" I asked.
"It's a club." He shrugged.
Finally, a place to start. "Thank you for your time."
I began walking to the front of the building to exit. "Wait!" he called. "You're not gonna go there, are ya?" I stopped and sighed. "Yeah. Why? Are you going to try and stop me?" I looked back at him. His faceplate was contorted into worry. "I just... I don't want the same to happen to you. You seem like an okay mech." I gave him a small smile. "That's kind, but I can handle myself." I said, and with that, I walked out to the lobby.
Monsters, evil cults, disappearing mechs, bot sacrifice, and alternate dimensions. I walked outside. I needed to find these mechs and stop them, but how? "Tikki?" The red kwami peeked out of my chestplates. "How should I stop these mechs? How do I keep them from harming others?"
"Well, if you can't kill them, then you need to weaken them."
Weaken them? How-wait. If I cut them off from their supply lines, they wouldn't be able to grow in power, or better yet, they wouldn't be able to support themselves. They needed organic material to feed to the monsters, energon to guide them, and a power generator of some kind to help bring them over.
"First thing I think we need to do, is find out where they're getting their power generators, and cut off their supply. That way they won't be able to summon anything else for the time being." Tikki smiled and nodded. "That sounds like a great place to start!" I grinned and began walking down the street to find the Midnight Miners club.
Sweet Solus Prime!
The recordings on the device held conversations about drug deals going down within the city. There was also mention of Syk being imported from Kalis, and that the deal would go down at 18.75 joors tonight, at the Ion Docks. "Plagg, do you think this is what the crashed mech had?" Plagg stirred within my armor. "Maybe. My guess is that someone made him purposely crash so that they crash so that they could get their hands on this." I transformed to my alt mode in front of the Iacon Hall of Records, and began walking up the steps. "Considering the context, it's most likely the dealers who took him out."
As I entered the building, a familiar sense of calm washed over me. I felt safe here, in the Hall. Quiet pedesteps echoed through the room as bots shuffled around for the datapads they were searching for. There was a warm atmosphere that hung between the shelves and the tables. I ambled across the library, and smiled at the different bots that passed by me. Most of them returned the gesture, others were so absorbed in their task that they hardly glanced at me, but it was normal.
When I finally made it to the other side of the room, Roller hopped off of the backstruts and began to walk beside me. "I have a grievance with you.'' Plagg's small voice came from my chestplates. There were two other mechs in the hallway who would soon pass me. For now I could simply pretend that I was receiving a call.
Raising my servo to my audible, I said, ''What is it?'' Plagg was quick to respond. "Last night, you said 'Pick on someone your own size'. That was WAY too cheesy." I raised an optic ridge. "'Cheesy'? What is 'cheesy'?'' I asked. ''Ugh. Awful. It was awful! If you're gonna be a cool superhero, then you gotta come up with better catchphrase, because THAT ONE is a cliché.'' I chuckled as I stepped into an elevator by myself , and as soon as the doers closed, Plagg flew up. "I'm serious. If I'm gonna work with you, you gotta be a little more creative about what you say.''
:What about puns? Could those work?: said Roller.
"Oh I am TOTALLY all for puns. Those are the best!'' Exclaimed Plagg.
"I think I can come up with some puns., but I'll need some help if you want good ones.'' I said.
The elevator dinged and Plagg dove back into my armor. The doors opened and I stepped out. It was a little warmer in the lower levels, since the power generators were down here. They kept the building running and warm ever solar cycle, all stellar cycle. It's expensive to run, but a lot of Cybertron's knowledge and history are recorded here. Without this place, we have nothing but the stories from our ancestors to tell us how things were.
I hung a right and walked towards the Monitor's Hall. That was the place where I worked. I walked down to room 12 and opened the door. A blast of cold air hit my frame as I entered. The spacious room was dark and tall. A walkway extended from the small platform out into the open. My 'office' was a floating disk with sloped walls that let me float up and down the shelves to let me monitor and record communications across Cybertron. I focus on the commas between Kaon, Iacon, Tarn, and several smaller cities. I stepped into my office and turned on the monitor. I guided it upwards to get to the Iacon section.
The room I worked in was tall, cylindrical shape with three pillars. These pillars could tap into the communication waves that traveled across the planet. As you might expect, different areas of the pillars let you access different comm frequencies. I took a cable from my console and plugged it into the Iacon port to start my workday. "This seems boring. Is there anything cool you can do?" I scoffed. "Well, I could monitor police comm, but that's illegal.''
"For civilians.''
I turned to look at the kwami who wore mischievous grin. "Are you suggesting that I listen into the police radio frequencies?'' Plagg shrugged. "Why not? It'll let you know what's happening in Iacon, and you might learn something from them about the drug dealers.'' He was right. The police definitely have more information than I do. I began searching for their frequency.
:Hey, is there something you should do so that you won't get caught?: Roller asked.
"Oh yeah, you're right. I can make it so that it'll fool any check in, I do it all the time." I said. I took out a datastick from a subspace pocket and inserted it into a port on the console. "It does most of the work for me, it's nice." Plagg looked at me funny. "Wait, how come this program you have isn't widespread?" I wondered that for a moment. Why didn't I share this? "Probably because I'd get in trouble, that and it would put some bots out of work."
"Huh, okay. So have you found anything so far?" He asked. I rolled my optics. "I haven't even started!" An exasperated groan escaped the kwami. "Well come on then! Get with it!" I chuckled and began searching for the right frequencies. They were a little tough to find, but it was nothing I couldn't do. It was a little unsettling to me that this was well within my capabilities. Roller sent waves of comfort and reassurance as I worked.
I got in, eventually. I had tapped into all of the comms they had and was stunned momentarily by the din of voices. I worked quickly to organize the various frequencies into where they were coming from and going to. Then I was able to listen to them selectively for the information that I wanted. There were reports from the west side of Iacon that there was a robbery happening. In the northeast two officers were on their way to break up a fight at some bar. Finally I heard something going down in the southernmost part of the city.
"Officer Lightway and Hubcap reporting a possible drug deal on 32nd and 16th, over.''
"Well. That sounds interesting.'' said Plagg.
"SUSPECT IS ARMED AND DANGEROUS, WE ARE ENGAGING!"
:THIS BECAME EVEN MORE INTERESTING.:
"SHOTS FIRED! REQUESTING BACKUP!"
"Hold on, they're requesting backup already? This is bad." Plagg said.
"I think there are more bots than they anticipated..." I spoke gravely.
:Should we go help?:
"I should, stay here and monitor the chatter and tell me if something else pops up. Got it?"
:Yep.:
"Wait, how are you gonna get out of here without anyone seeing you?" Plagg asked.
I pointed up a the ceiling. "There's a maintenance shaft that leads to the roof. Not very many bots know about it, but I use it to sneak out every so often if there's a meteor shower, or an eclipse." I said. "But how are we going to get there quickly?" I asked.
"The staff that you get when you transform. It extends infinitely and can do so with a lot of force. Use it to launch yourself over the buildings.''
"Seriously?!''
"Yes, now GET GOING!''
I climbed over the walls of my platform and began to scale the column. I knew exactly where to grab and where to step so that that nothing would break. Finally, I reached the top. I opened the hatch and climbed outside, and blinked as my optics readjusted to the bright sunlight. I had some trouble closing the door due to the howling winds, but I managed to shut the exit. I straighten myself and looked around. "You said I have to use the staff to launch over the buildings, what if I miss, or the wind blows me off course?" I shouted over the din. "Lean into the wind and use it! You won't fall, so just go!" He yelled back.
I inched towards the edge and stopped. "Plagg!" My voice was just barely audible. "Claws out!" In a flash of green light my armor changed. I grabbed the staff and planted it between my pedes. I'm going to die. I gripped the staff tightly and pressed the button.
Thankfully I didn't lose my grasp as I was catapulted high into the air. I screamed my head off as flew higher. I lifted my digit off of the button and the staff shrank back to its original size. My tanks dropped as I did. I let out an undignified scream as I fell. The roof of another building grew larger and larger at an alarming speed. Instinct took over, and I righted myself before I made contact. I managed to land on my pedes almost perfectly.
I stopped in an embarrassing pose before I realized that I had jumped from one rooftop to another and didn't die. I yelled in relief, and then looked around. The building I stood on was on 36th, so I needed to make five more jumps in order to make it to the junction. Then I'd be able to find the officers and crash the party the dealers were having. I planted the staff and braced myself for another jump. As I soared through the air I felt absolutely free. The air flowed past my helm and whistled in my audials. This must be what it's like to be a Seeker. I landed on the next roof, and took off for the next. I bounded across the rooftops, becoming lighter with every jump.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHGGG!!!"
The scream echoed off of the walls as I landed. I followed them down an alley, and found the fight. The two officers were surrounded by at least four other bots, and one of the officers was on the ground clutching their arm. I ran to the fight and swung the staff at his helm. A resounding BANG echoed through the alley as the mech crumpled in a heap. The thug nearest to me took a shot at my chest. I tried to dodge, but I wasn't fast enough. The blast hit me, and white hot pain seared through me. My vision went black and I felt someone tackle me. I hit the ground hard and my vision cleared. The thug started to punch me, so I lifted my arms to block. I took hit after hit until I decided enough and shoved as hard as I could. The thug flew off of me and hit the wall hard enough to knock him out. I got up and saw the last cop get his struts kicked out from under him. I grabbed my staff and extended it. "Hey!" I shouted. I charged at the smaller one and swung the staff at the back of his knee joints, and as he fell I punched his helm.
Suddenly, two big arms were wrapped around me. I was lifted off the ground and was squeezed. I kicked at the thug's struts and clawed at his armor to find an exposed seam. The moment I found one I dove in and scratched at the wiring. "AAARRRRRGGHHHH!!!" The thug screamed in pain. He let go of me and I whipped around in midair and slashed my claws at his unguarded faceplate. I then went for the exposed seam again and grabbed that section of armor. I used it to pull him off balance and brought him down. That's when I kneed him in his helm and knocked him out.
The clang from my last hit echoed on the alley walls. I stood for a moment and looked around for others. There was no movement in the alley, save for the two cops. There was a deep gash on the arm of one of them. I spotted a piece of tarp on the ground and grabbed it. I ran over to the injured cop and wrapped the tarp around the wound tightly. "Who... who are... you?" Came the mumbled question. I panicked inside a little. I still haven't figured out my hero's name yet. "Just someone who wants to help." I said gently. As I finished tying the knot to secure the bandage, I heard the police sirens. I looked up to see red and blue lights reflecting off of the walls at the beginning of the alleyway. I grabbed my staff and launched myself upwards. I landed on the rooftop and ran to the edge that was closer to the street.
Far below me, I could see cops transforming and running down the alleyway to the officers. I could faintly hear them talking to each other and on their comms. I was going to have to ask Plagg more about what I can do as a hero.
I went back to the Hall of Records the same way I left. Only this time I enjoyed my airtime a little more, but that came to an end once I landed on the roof of the Monitor's Hall. I ducked underneath the large plates and commanded my armor to turn back. Plagg flew out and gave me the biggest smile I had seen on him. I opened the roof hatch and climbed back down into the Hall, and I dropped quietly back into my platform. Roller immediately began grilling me for information.
:What happened? Did you knock out anyone? Were there guns? Did you get hit? Was it awesome?:
"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down, and yeah."
:Yeah what?:
"Yeah to all of your questions."
:By the Allspark. Are you okay?:
"Yeah, I think so. I did get shot at though."
Roller whistled loudly.
:You WHAT?!:
"Calm down, I'm fine. Look at me."
Roller ran around the platform looking form any signs of damage on me.
:You look the same as you did this morning.:
"That's because most of the damage you take as a hero doesn't translate back to you when you transform back." Said Plagg.
I turned to the little black kwami. "What else is there to know? I seem to get stronger and faster when I hero-ize." Plagg scoffed. "Hero-ize? Don't make up words, Orion. That's because those things are enhanced by the transformation. It's about a 200-250% bonus. So if you can get stronger as a civilian, you can get a lot stronger as a hero." He said.
:By the way, have you figured out your name yet? Otherwise Iacon will name you and you probably won't like it.:
I sighed. "I haven't figured anything out yet. Do either of have ideas?"
We stood there looking at each other awkwardly.
:Maybe...: Roller broke the silence. :Maybe something in Old Cybertronian? Like "The Cybercat", only cooler.: "Hm, I guess. Maybe Black Cybercat in Old Cybertronian. What is it?" Before I could search for it on the console, Plagg spoke up. "It's Foraline." I blinked and looked at him in mild surprise. "You know Old Cybertronian?" He looked back at me with his angled green optics. "Yeah, I used to have to speak it. I'm a little rusty now, but I know my basic vocabulary."
I turned back to the monitor. "Alright, let's keep listening into the comms to see what's what. I can't go everywhere, but I can listen to it all." I turned up the volume and filtered through police comm channels. :Okay, but do you like Foraline?: Roller asked. "Yeah, I kinda do." I replied with a smile.
The first thing that hit my olfactory sensors was the engex.
The second thing was the regurgitated engex.
Midnight Miners was a club with a bar to overcharge a small city. There were tables with booths around the walls and a dance floor in the center. Most of the bots were on the floor grinding against one another. The ones sitting in the booths were minding their own business and talking to each other, and the same went for the bots at the bar. I scanned the room for doors and anything that might be suspicious. There were three - no, four - doors in the room not including the one I came in through. There was a door to the far right with an exit sign above it, and was located between two booths. On the same wall was another door shoved into the far corner in the back, and was hidden in the shadows. The third door was on the wall opposite of me, and had lights trained on it. The fourth door was located to my left, and was on the left side of the bar.
I walked along the edge of the dance floor to the door in the corner. It seemed shady enough. Thankfully no one bothered me as I made my way to the back. The door opened without a fuss and I stepped out into the empty hallway. It was damp and barely lit. I was unsure of which way to go, until I heard a faint noise to my left. It sounded like "no" being shouted over and over again. I began walking down that way, even though my spark was beating faster. I came to another door< and when I opened it, the shouting became louder as it echoed up from a descending staircase. I could see the bottom, and I could hear other voices too. I began walking down as quietly as I could.
"Wait." Tikki whispered.
She flew out from under my chestplate. "You should transform into Turire." She said.
I nodded. "Spots on."
She flew to my left audial and a red light engulfed me. A red visor appeared over my optics, and my vision was enhanced. Just as she had said last night, my armor became a deep, rich red with black accents. I looked at my arms and saw that the armor on them now had more plate layers, but they were a bit thinner from my normal armor. In fact, all of my armor was a bit thinner. Fantastic. Well, at least I can be a little quieter now. I found something attached to my hip. It looked like a sparkling's toy I had once seen used, a "yoyo", it was called? I slipped the ring onto my middle digit, and found it to be a perfect fit. Unfortunately, I no longer have sword or fusion cannon. How in the blasted pits am I supposed to fight now?!
I tip-toed down the stairs - I was definitely a lot quieter - and listened to the voices. Some were nervous, whereas others were excited. The "no's" were muffled now, like the bot had been gagged. I reached the bottom of the stairs and peaked around the corner. Inside the medium sized room were altars to various deities that I had never heard of. There were six bots in the room total. One of them raised their servos and clapped twice, and the room quieted.
"The ceremony will now begin.'' he said in a grave tone.
The mechs gathered around the center of the room. Because of the movement I was able to see that there was a large table in the middle, and a small mech was strapped to it, who squirmed under his bonds and moaned behind a gag. The mech who had clapped his servos stood at the head of the table. He began talking about how terrible the world was and that it could be cleaned up and remade into a new utopia. The speech was pretty good, until he got to the part about offering the energon of "tainted bots" to the all-powerful, all-seeing-and-hearing gods.
He raised a long and sharp dagger over his helm.
Now or never.
I stepped out from behind the wall, and I flung the yoyo at the dagger. It wrapped around the blade with a snap, and I yanked it back and caught it. All bots in the room turned towards me with shocked faces.
"Didn't anyone tell you killing a disarmed bot was dishonorable?"
I then threw the yoyo again, this time for the leader's still-raised arm. Like before, the yoyo wrapped around the object it was thrown at. The only difference this time was that I threw him across the room and into one of his minions. The two closest to me drew their blades and charged. Unfortunately for them, they just barely reached my hip in height, and I was still twice as wide as them. I dropped low and swung my right leg strut out as soon as they were in range, and they flew across the room. One of the bots that had been knocked down tried to stand up again, until I hit him in the helm with the yoyo, hard.
The leader lunged at me with another dagger. I, however, was much faster than him and blocked the incoming blade and turned it toward him. I then side-stepped and gave him a little push on the way down. His optics widened as he realized his fate. His momentum threw him off balance and he fell on his blade.
I grabbed the dagger from my hip that I had originally taken from the leader and began cutting away at the tied mech's gag. "I'm here to help. Are you hurt?" I asked. As soon as the gag was free he began rambling.
"That was fragging awesome! Where'd d'you learn to do that? Who are you?"
"Hey." I put a servo on his pauldron. "Are you hurt?" I asked again. He stared up into my optics and went slack jawed for a nanoclick. "They attacked me from behind. I, I think I have a sizable dent on the back of my helm." He said. I broke the chains around his limbs easily. "Can you walk?" He tried to stand, but his legs struts failed him. Before he collapsed on the ground I caught him. I decided carrying him was the best option. I swung the mech over my left pauldron and ran up the stairs. As soon as I busted through the doorway, I heard shouting from my right. I ran left and back to the door I had come through.
To say that I caused a disturbance was an understatement. Drinks went flying as I dashed across the room to the exit. A few bots screamed as the cultists ran after me. A large mech - a bouncer? - stepped in front the exit to try and block me. I whipped my yoyo and knocked out the bouncer. I leapt over his chassis and kicked the door down. As I pushed my way past the bots on the path, I saw a large and heavy sign that looked like it could fall down if one were to pull on it. I threw the yoyo and let the disk wrap around the bar the sign hung on. I yanked hard on it string, but then it became tense. The moment I stopped pulling I was thrown into the air and past the sign. I yelled as I unexpectedly flew above the rooftops and far away from the club. This thing can support my weight?! I thought.
I felt myself reaching the peak of my arc, and I realized that I either needed to throw the yoyo again and swing again or figure out how to land with extra weight over my pauldron. I saw another building ahead of me with something to grab on to, and decided that I could go for another swing. I threw my yoyo once again and swung past the building. The mech I was carrying tapped on my back.
"Can we stop for a moment?" he asked.
"Of course." I said.
I swung upwards this time and landed on a roof. I carefully lifted him off of my pauldron and set him down on the ground. He didn't look good, and immediately turned to throw up the contents of his tanks. Nasty, but then who could blame him? I couldn't see any wings on him, so he wasn't likely a flyer, and swinging from building to building would make any grounder nauseous.
He turned back, wiped and sat there with his optics closed. "Are you alright now?" I asked. He opened his optics and looked at me with what appeared to be a star struck gaze. I didn't believe I had done much to earn it. "Yeah, just all of the 'gon going to my head is all. And the whole swinging thing in general. How do you get used to it?" I shrugged. "To be honest, this is my first night on the job." His jaw hung open, again. "Seriously? You don't act like it." He said. "Uh, thanks?" I replied. His pauldrons sagged. Sorry to disappoint. I thought. Then, his optics widened as he realized something. "That means... that this is your origin story!" He looked up at me with excitement.
"I'm sorry, my what now?"
"Your origin story! You know, the story to how a superhero becomes who they are and why? What made you decide to take to the streets and fight crime?"
"Uh, some higher power decided to make my miserable life interesting by giving me ancient magical artifacts?" I said.
"Wha...?" He blinked in confusion.
"Yeah, that's about my reaction to this whole thing. Listen, where do you live? I'd like to make sure you get home safely." I asked.
"Downtown on Rust Street. It's not too far." He grabbed on to the side of a mechanical unit and used it to support himself as he stood up. I took his right arm and slung it across my back, and wrapped my left arm around his waist so I wouldn't drop him. "That way, right?" I jerked my head to the left. I had been to Rust Street before, but it was a long time ago. "Yeah." He said. "Alright, I'm going to swing again, so hang on." He nodded. We took off again, but this time there was no panic, only excitement. We swung upwards and past buildings. The wind whooshed past us, but it wasn't all that enjoyable because it smelled bad.
He gave directions to get to his home and we soon arrived. He lived in an apartment building that was cleaner than mine, and looked sturdier. I set him down at his door. "Thanks again for saving me, and letting me be a part of your origin story." He said. His leg struts could support him again with little assistance, so he still leaned against the wall. "It's no problem, I'm just glad I got there in time." He chuckled. "So am I." He stood there awkwardly for a nanoclick before saying something. "Hey, can I tell you something? It's kind of a secret." I raised an optic ridge. "Alright, what is it." He beckoned me closer to him. Needless to say I was suspicious, but I bent down to him nonetheless. He came up to my audial-
-and kissed it.
He darted into his house before I could react with anything, but it wasn't like I could. I had frozen up from the contact and stood there bent down a little. Did he really just- Why would he even- I'm really not that attractive- What do I do- I think I should go home now- GAAAAHHHHHHH!!! My mind was racing with thoughts as I tried to process what had just happened. What snapped me out of my trance was the muffled squeal of joy from the other side of the door. It sounded a little terrified too. Then again who wouldn't be?
I walked back out into the open and began my journey back to my home. I should be able to get there far more quickly by swinging than I would by train. The only problem was I was distracted by the kiss. A constant stream of What the frag?! coupled with incoherent screaming ran through my processor. I nearly missed a swing because of my internal commotion.
Finally I made it back home, and I transformed back into myself in an empty alleyway. Tikki flew from my audials.
"AHHHH! You got kissed by somebody! How do you feel?!" She exclaimed.
"Shh, not so loud. I feel...conflicted." I said.
"Conflicted?" She looked at me with concerned optics. "Why do you feel that?" I sighed. "I don't know, I'm not exactly photogenic." I couldn't bring my optics to meet hers. "Who told you that?" She asked softly. "No one, really, but I have had some nasty remarks about my optics, my helm, and there have been mechs who wouldn't even consider me for a night because I was too tall. I've heard bots call me a clumsy oaf, and-"
"I'm going to stop you right there, Megatronus. First of all, 'too big to be beautiful'? That sounds like the mech with a height complex. You're too clumsy? You were absolutely graceful in the club! Those mechs didn't stand a chance against you! Your optics are a wonderful bright red and are shaped without a flaw. Your helm does not look stupid. It's shaped perfectly for battle and frames your faceplates beautifully. Stop listening to the bots who tell you otherwise, because they're idiots who sound as if they don't like themselves."
I stood there and blinked. Not once did I ever receive a compliment about my appearance, and I certainly have never heard anyone rant or defend it. When I worked in the mines I could expect bots to be cruel to me, since miners were nothing more than slaves in their optics. All they cared about was getting their energon quota filled for the day and going home. I had few bots whom I could call friends, but none of us were concerned with our appearances. I was only our masters who beat us down and crushed any spirit we had.
"Thank you, Tikki. No one has ever said that to me." I said. She smiled brightly at me and hugged my faceplate. She giggled and I chuckled, and my EM field flared in happiness. Tikki ducked under my armor as we went inside. I found my apartment, but was stopped before I could go in.
"Where were you, Megatronus?"
I rolled my optics and turned towards Rummage. "It's none of your business with what I do daily." I said. "Go bother someone else." I turned the handle to open the door, but a servo stopped it from opening. "What's got you in such a good mood?" He asked. He stared down at my faceplate with a frown. I immediately pulled back my EM field and kept it much closer to me. "It is nothing of your concern, now move." I stared him down, but he did not budge. I placed a servo on his chestplate, and he backed off quickly and removed his servo from the door. I opened it and went inside my apartment, and I shut the door all while watching Rummage. Once I locked the door Tikki flew back out.
"What is that mech's problem?"
"I don't think he has anything better to do." I joked. She didn't laugh, only frowned at the door.
"I have another joor free before I have to go out and fight in the ring. What should we do now?" I asked. "We wait." She said. "We go back to Midnight Miners tomorrow and do some recon. Right now I think you should rest and prepare for your next fight." I grunted in approval, and laid myself down on my berth. Just as I got comfortable, Tikki nestled into a nook in my armor, and we fell into recharge.
I yawned, Roller yawned, and then Plagg yawned.
I checked my chronometer. It was 17:55.
"We need to leave now." I said.
The two perked up at that. Plagg flew under my pauldron and Roller climbed over to my desk. We bought some things earlier in the day so that Roller and I could communicate on our own secure channel. We also added some gear to my computer so that Roller could listen to police chatter more easily. This way Roller could inform me on police movement, so I can steer clear of them if I need to.
Another bonus was that he'd be able to lead to my destination through other routes. The idea was that I could find faster ways to move around the city now that I had alternate methods of transportation. The staff could launch me thousands of meters in the air onto rooftop towers where I'd be able to see across the city.
I pressed my audial to the wall that separated my room from Ratchet's. I couldn't hear anything coming from his room, which meant that he was likely in recharge. "Plagg, claws out.'' I whispered. After the green light dissipated, I found myself standing in front of my mirror. I admired my new look that I hadn't yet fully appreciated. As Forahlein my armor was thicker and pointier, and was also painted a dark, matte black. I lost all of my biolights, and my pedsteps sounded much quieter. I realized I could hide more easily in the shadows, and sneak up on bots without being heard. My face and helm were different as well. My crest came to a sharp point, and my antennae were now wider and curved inward. A mask covered the upper half of my face and came down in three sharp points. I saw that my optics had narrowed into slits, like a cybercat. Now I understood why Roller suggested "The Black Cybercat" to be my name. I looked like one.
Something darted out of my vision from the corner of my optic. I flipped around to see what it was and it darted away again. Roller giggled.
:That's your tail, stupid.:
"My what?"
:Your tail.:
"Why do I have a tail?" I managed to twist myself around to see it. The tail wasn't extraordinarily slim, but it looked fairly long. It was a matte black like the rest of me.
:Maybe for balance?: He suggested.
I hummed to myself.
"Do you have everything ready?" I asked.
:Yep, we're good to go.:
I tip toed out my door and down the hallway. Carefully sliding open the door, I stepped out onto the balcony. I planted the staff at my peds, and launched myself into the sky. Roller's voice blasted through my commlink as I landed on a roof.
:TESTING, TESTING, IS THIS THING ON?:
I jerked in midair from the noise, and landed on my face instead of my peds. "Roller!" I hissed. "You're going to wake Ratchet!"
:NO I WON'T. I TURNED UP THE MIC SENSITIVITY SO YOU COULD HEAR ME BETTER.:
"Could you lower it?"
:This better?:
"Much, thank you."
:Sure thing. Head west along Iota Avenue.:
"Okay."
I peered down from the rooftop and located the Iota Docks. I shot up into the sky and bounded across the city in giant leaps. I couldn't help but laugh at the wind that blew past my frame. I felt my tanks drop as I descended rapidly. I braced for impact on the rooftop and brought my arms over my faceplates. I tensed up, waiting for the hard stop and landing. What if I missed? What if my armor couldn't take it? What if-
I hit the roof with a thud, then I rolled.
The landing didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. When I looked to see if I was okay, I noticed that I didn't have a single scratch on me. What am I made of now? I thought, Then I saw the damage I did to the building. I took off a section of plating that covered an electrical box connected to the building. There were scratches and chunks covering the metal plating of the rooftop. I may have come out unharmed, but my surroundings did not. I need to be more careful. I readied myself for the next jump.
Roller directed me through the city roof tops and I got to the Docks in no time. The familiar scents of seawater, heavy machinery, and tired bots wafted towards me. I scanned the area for ideal spots for drug deals, but what did they look like? It'd be somewhere shady, right? I jumped across the gap between warehouse roofs and searched for where the deal would take place. A mag crane towered over me and moved slowly to not jostle the shipping containers that hung from its arm. A container was placed gently on top of another in a vast maze of shipping containers. I could hear the loud clunk of the mag disk disengaging from the container before the crane swung back to the ship that held at least fifty more.
The mag crane picked up another container and set it down next to the previous one, but something was off about it. Frowning, I climbed down from the roof onto the tops of the containers. Running as quietly as I could, I avoided any lights that could reveal me as I approached the odd container. As I came closer, I saw that it sat higher than the others. I crawled on top of it and my olfactory sensors caught a faint whiff of something sour, then foul. What in the Pit is in this thing? I shook my head and snapped back into reality. I need to find where the drug deal is happening. I have- I checked my chronometer -less than 3 breems left.
The container below me shifted and was jerked to the side. Somebot was moving it.
The container sunk slowly to the ground in the walkway. I flattened myself out and prayed that no one would see me. I heard a low hum from below, and a steady pace of pedsteps. Somebot had the container on a hover trolley and was taking it down the walkway. I laid on the container, trembling, praying that I wouldn't discovered. The bot took the container through a shadowed gap between buildings and downhill to an unlit loading dock. Perhaps this is the site of the deal? The container stopped moving.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!
The container was loudly pushed off the hover trolley, and crashed on the ground with a loud bang.
"Primus, ya pronghelm, couldja b'an'loudah?" Somebot hissed from my left. He had a thick northern Stanixium accent. "Bang tha' aroun' some more and the cops'll be here all th'way from downtown!" The mech grumbled some more about "young bots these days" and "no sense of self preservation". I kept my EM field close to my frame and my optics dim as I peered over the edge of the container. A scrawny, dull, dark blue mech stood leaning against the shipping container, facing away from me. He stood with his arms crossed and was had a relaxed posture. Movement caught the corner of my left optic and I saw a larger mech approaching the container. I remained as still as I possibly could to not attract his optic as he came closer. The large mech appeared to be a laborframe painted a faded red. He was covered in scratches from a long decacycle of work, maybe longer. He too leaned against the shipping container, next to the scrawny mech. He stood far more stiffly than his friend.
"When'ey gunna show'p?" The large one said, with an even thicker accent. "They said it be at 18:75, so 'nother breem'r so." The scrawny one replied. "They like't take the' time with things like's. Not like'n the ol' sols, when evrybot stuck to'eir schedules. Drug dealin'sa serious business, 'specially when's quality Syk thas bein sold." My optics widened. So I was in the right place! I guess all I have to do know is wait for their boss and the buyers to show up. Then what? Do I attack? They'll likely have guns, and maybe even blades. I survived being shot once, but I'm not confident that my armor can withstand a knife attack. How many shots can my new armor take before I... go down?
A set of doors far off to my right opened up. Six, no, eight bots marched out of it, with one in the center. The mech stood tall and radiated the confidence you'd need to be a crime boss. He surveyed the area, and I became conscious again of any movements I made. "Set up a perimeter around the area, make sure that nobody unwanted interrupts us." The bots surrounding him fanned out and began searching every corner and shadowed spot they could find. My spark pulsed faster as they approached the container. They walked around the edge and behind it. "No one over here." A mech called out, and walked back to the front.
I peered over the edge once more and looked around. Two bots stood guard at the door the entourage came through, two other bots stood by another set of doors at the far end of the room, one at the shipping container with the Stanixium mechs, and three with the boss. The room darkened.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The doors at the far end of the room threatened to come off their hinges with each shudder. The boss sighed. "Let them in." He commanded. The bots opened the doors, and four mechs stood through. One minibot surrounded by three racers. They were definitely Iaconian, from the way they held their helms up high, to the quiet pedesteps that echoed through the room.
"Evenin, Pint." The boss said. "You've got the shanix, eh?" The minibot chuckled. "Ever the conversationalist, aren't you? It should be me asking the questions around here, do you have my Syk?" All of the bots were paying attention to Pint and the boss. No one shuttered an optic in my direction as I quietly slid behind the container. "Of course I've your Syk. Open'r up, mechs!" I crouched down low behind the container. As they opened it up, I crawled away from them and hid in the shadows. Pint and the boss began bicker about prices.
"This is hardly worth-"
"Oh, but I assure you, it is!"
"How about we settle for something lower?"
"How about something higher, Pint?"
"You're a tough one."
"Always have been."
I climbed up some large machinery, it looked like heavy lifting equipment. I love how easy everything seems now! I stepped off the machine and onto a catwalk. From here, I can see the entire room.
"Pint, that's hardly enough for this quality Syk."
"I'm not going any higher than that."
"Why don't we settle for..."
I opened my commlink back to Roller.
"...you still there?" I whispered.
:Yeah. Have you found the dealers yet?:
"I have." The boss seemed to be getting angrier by the klik. "They're arguing about price right now."
:Cool. Anybot whip out a gun yet?:
"Roller... I'm scared."
I heard nothing but silence from the other end. I didn't hear a click that signaled a hang up. Was he still there?
"... Roller...?"
:Call the enforcers. There's a comm button on your baton that lets you talk to people without revealing your location or your true identity. Plagg told me about it earlier.:
My helm spun in confusion. There's been a call function in my staff the whole time? Why did Plagg only tell Roller about it? Why didn't he tell me! I reached for my staff. And seriously? It's definitely a staff! I turned the staff in my servos. Where's the button? Where is it? I tried extending it, maybe the button wouldn't show while the staff was shortened? I twisted the staff in frustration, and it split vertically. I stared in shock, it wasn't a full split, but it did reveal a small screen inside the staff and a call button. I pressed it, and dialed the emergency line.
"633, what is your emergency?"
I hesitated. "Hello? Are you there?"
I took a deep, quiet vent, and spoke.
"There's a drug deal going down at the Ion Docks, in the..." I glanced at the farthest wall for indication of which warehouse I was in. 32. "32nd Warehouse, packing section. Please get here quick-"
I felt an impact from the back of my helm, and my vision went white.
My face collided with the floor, and then I registered a slight ache from the back of my helm.
"Well, well, well, what d'we have're?"
I lifted my helm from the ground, and saw three mechs standing above me. Scrap. I'm going to die. I felt myself being lifted off the ground, and saw the boss striding towards me. "And what's this thing?" He picked up my staff. "Trying to call for help?" He handed it off to one of his mechs. "Throw's in the river. Make sure it ends'p faaar 'way from 'ere." He turned back to me. "Now what," he tilted my helm up with his digit under my chin, "is a pretty little much like you doing around here?" I kept my optics to the floor and my EM field close to my armor. "Look at me." He said, but I didn't dare. There was a blur in my vision, and then I felt an impact in my abdomen, yet there was no pain.
I didn't feel it either in the alleyway. I just didn't realize it until now.
"Look at me." He commanded once more.
Can I...
...not get hurt?
I can't seem to feel much pain.
A grin spread across my faceplate and I looked up, and stared directly into his optics.
His optics recalibrated as he lost focus for a klik, and the smirk on his faceplate faltered as well. "What kind of abomination are you?" Pint emerged from behind the boss. I looked at him and smiled even wider. "Primus." He said. "What in the Pit are you?" The mechs grips around my arms tightened. If I scratched them hard enough, they might let me go, then, maybe I could punch my way out of this.
"No matter, we'll just have to snuff you both. Bring him in!"
Both?
The doors on the far side of the room opened up. Two bots walked out, dragging a limp mech between them. He was covered in deep dents and scratches.
Oh scrap.
The bots dropped him in front of me. I strained my audials, and searched for the familiar sounds of a spark pulse.
"How cute, those audials of yours move just like a cybercat's." A gravelly voice said behind me. I turned to look at the owner.
The mech looked taller than me, and was painted dark blue. His armor was thick, thicker than mine, and pointy. I looked up to his face. He stared at me with malicious red optics, and gave me a fanged smile. A warframe. "It's been awhile since I've seen optics like yours. Last time they were yellow before they went dark." His accent was like nothing I had ever heard before. Vowels deeper than the Well of the Allspark and consonants harsher than the winds of the Rust Sea.
I think I would appreciate his voice more if I wasn't terrified for myself and the mech at my knees.
Pint waved his servo at me and the limp much. "Nightstorm, dispose of them." He and the boss walked away to continue their pricing negotiations. I have to fight. I have to get the much and I out of here.
I dug my claws as tightly and as fast as I could. They went in deep into my captors plating and drew energon. They both shrieked and let go of me. Turning quickly I tried to punch Nightstorm, but he blocked it. "Nice try, kitty." He said. I barely saw his fist move before my vision went white. I stumbled backwards, and saw Nightstorm close in for another hit. This time I saw the swing coming from my right. I ducked. I had to find a weak spot, but his armor was too thick. He unsheathed a blade from his right and swung at me again. I avoided the edge, but his blade changed directions and I was hit. I crumpled onto the floor, but I rolled away from Nightstorm and stood back up. He watched with amusement and smiled. "You're a cute little kitty, but you can't fight. I'll make your death quick." He lunged at me, sword aiming for my throat, and I bolted to the shipping container.
The bots around me had formed a protective barrier between us and the crime bosses. I saw the mech who carried the container in dragging away the limp mech and my staff.
I need to save him and get my staff back, but how?
"Guards!" cried Pint. "Seize him!"
Nightstorm and three mechs charged towards me.
I felt my primitive programming take over and I jumped up, and over their helms. I ran to the far doors, hoping that no one would catch me.
"Get him! Why aren't you getting him?!" I heard Pint shriek. I burst through the doors. The red mech stopped and turned to see what the commotion was. I saw his optics widen in a slept klik before I pounced on him. He fell to the ground with a cry. I snatched back my staff and broke his grip on the limp mech. I grabbed him, slung him over my pauldron, and ran. "Get back here little kitty..." Nightstorm's voice echoed through the halls. I saw the exit and ran faster.
I broke through the doors so fast they flew off their hinges. I extended the staff and shot myself on top of the shipping container stacks. I heard Nightstorm's heavy pedsteps behind me.
Then I heard the wailing of enforcer sirens in the distance.
They're here! Thank Primus!
I saw a mag crane that no one was using ahead of me. I used my staff to launch myself on top of it. I perched on top of the cockpit and laid the mech down. He groaned, and his optics opened slowly. "What... happened? Where am I?" He said. "You're fine." I said. "You're going to be okay. The enforcers are coming." His optics widened almost comically. "No! No cops! I can't go back to jail!" He sat up and scrambled around. Below me, Nightstorm crawled up the crane.
"Hey, hey." I wrapped my arms around him tightly. "Listen to me. Going to jail is likely safer than remaining here with there criminals." He squirmed. Nightstorm disappeared from my field of view, and the sirens became louder. "You don't know what I've done! I've killed mecha for them!" I saw the enforcers lights reflecting off of walls. "If you killed for them, then why do they want you dead?" I asked. "Because I can't do it anymore! I let a bot get away from me when he had evidence of our activity!" He cried. He wasn't squirming as much now. "Evidence?" I asked. "Like a data stick with audio recordings on it?" I nodded. "Why did you let the bot get away?" I asked him. I could see the enforcers now. "Because I know my time is running short, so why not let those monsters be exposed?" I sniffed the air. It was hard to catch a scent of him. I buried my faceplate into his neck. I caught the faint smell of rust.
"What is it you have? Cosmic Rust? It's treatable." I told him. "Only if you've got the shanix... I don't deserve to live" he stared into my optics with despair. I cradled him in my arms. "Hey, I may not know all the bad things you've done, but I do know that if you're capable of mercy, then you can become a better bot." I said. He looked into my optics, like he was searching for something. I let my EM field envelope him, to reassure him that it was okay. He smiled, a little. The expression dropped when a shadow came over us.
"How adorable, and pathetic." Nightstorm drawled behind me.
I let go of the much, whipped around and crouched over him. "You're not getting him." I growled. His sword unsheathed itself and he lunged at me. I blocked his blade with my staff. Sparks flew between us as he pressed harder. "The enforcers are already here. You've lost." I told him. "Not so." He grinned. "The bosses are already gone, and the lackeys left won't say scrap to the cops. You're dead metal." A gun from his pauldron aimed itself at my faceplate. I gritted my denta and noticed my ring glinting in the moonlight. I could destroy him, but that's not who I am, but if I don't do something, I'll die.
I twisted and extended the staff simultaneously. His sword flew off the staff and I clocked him in the helm with it. "Cataclysm!" I yelled. I felt a wave of energy drained from me as my left servo seemed to darken. I lunged for Nightstorm's gun and grabbed it. I gripped the barrel so tightly I felt the metal crunch beneath my servo. Everything seemed to slow down as my servo slammed down onto his gun. I saw dark particles blacker than the night sky drift from my servo. The moment I touched the it the gun began rusting away. It crumbled beneath my digit tips and rusted over like a swarm of hungry scraplets.
In a split klik, his gun was gone.
Nightstorm screamed bloody murder as it detached and fell from his pauldron. "What did you do!?" He shrieked at me. I looked into his crimson optics and saw pain. He could feel that? But it's a weapon, not a limb! "Freeze! Don't move!" A bright light shone on us. I opened my commlink.
"What do I do?"
:Run home, now.:
I planted my staff and launched into the air. Wind whistled into my audials, and the sound of the enforcers were drowned behind me. I flew past buildings and didn't stop until Roller yelled.
:PAX YOU NEED TO COME HOME NOW. PAX. PAX. WHERE ARE YOU? WHAT'S GOING ON?:
"I'm fine." I wheezed. "I'm fine. I just, I just got scared."
:WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU GOT SCARED?:
"Roller, turn the volume down."
:Sorry. What scared you? Why did you run?:
"Because, because... I, I think I hurt somehow."
:Orion, you're a superhero. You're supposed to punch the bad bots, and make them hurt.:
"Roller, there was a warframe."
:...what?:
"There was a warframe. He was working for one of the crime bosses, I think his name is Pint."
:The warframe is Pint?:
"No! The crime boss."
:Oh.:
"The warframe is Nightstorm. He's huge. Waaaaay bigger than me."
:How did-no-ah!- come home. Right now. I need to be next to you for this.:
"Okay."
The transformation wore off, forcing me to the rest of the way home. I was deep in thought when a voice murmured in my cabin. "You okay Pax?" Plagg asked softly. I sighed. "No." Plagg shuffled around in my cabin, trying to make himself comfortable. "Plagg?" He perked up. "Yeah?"
"Why didn't you tell me that my staff has a call function?" Plagg stilled. "I... I wasn't sure if I could trust you. I see I was wrong." I was confused for a moment, then I realized Plagg's situation. He can grant the power of destruction to anybot who has his ring. He wasn't sure if I was the right bot to handle that power. A thought struck me. "Plagg? Can you choose to not grant me powers?" I asked. He shook his head. "As long as you have my ring, you have control over me." That was... appalling. "That... what... what if you don't want to do it?"
"I have no choice."
"But that's slavery!"
"Sometimes." Plagg shrugged. "Normally I'm supposed to end up with someone who isn't uhh, problematic? Yeah. Someone else is suppose to choose who I end up with."
"You trusted this person?"
"Oh yeah. He's been right pretty much every time he's chosen someone, and it's always different!"
"Has there ever been somehow you didn't want to be with?"
"Eh, not really. Well, there was this one guy, but he's gone now."
Plagg slumped in my cabin and was silent. He had no EM field to read, yet it was still evident that he was tired and mourning. "Hey," I said softly. Plagg's little audials perked up. "if I ever start doing things you don't like, tell me. Okay?" He smiled. "Okay, but you gotta promise me one thing."
"What?"
"You have to listen to me. If I think you're starting to go bad, and the power's going to your head, you have to listen to me. Please." His voice was so soft and pleading, it broke my spark.
"Of course. I promise."
We talked about my mission tonight as I drove. He thought I handled things pretty well for my first night on the job. We both agreed that I needed to learn how to actually fight, and how to defend myself. Talking helped pass the time as I drove along the lit streets. It wasn't too long before we arrived at my apartment building. I giggled at his little yawn as we rode the lift up, and he at my loud one. When a I opened the door to my apartment, I found myself attacked by Roller. "Are you okay? Do you hurt? Did anyone follow you? What happ-" I smacked a servo on his mask to cut him off, not like it would do anything to keep him quiet. "Roller, calm down. You're going to wake Ratchet." I picked him up carefully and placed him on my pauldron. I grabbed a bag of Ryns before walking down the hall to my room. I opened the door, closed it quietly and let Plagg ravage the bag as I collapsed on the berth. Roller climbed up and crawled over to my helm. "Are you okay?" He whispered softly. "Yeah." I replied. "Just tired. Can we talk in the morning?" Roller nodded, and we all drifted into recharge.