Transformers re-Prime-d (Season 1)

Scrapheap

I woke up and got out of bed. I walked to my dresser and took a good look at my battle armor. I probably wasn't going to fight today. My sleep armor was the lightest covering I had. So, because battle armor is heavy and I am lazy, I decided not to change my outfit. I looked at Miko's picture and thought about what Soundwave had said yesterday. I could either be an Autobot or a Decepticon with enhanced freedom. I went over to my mirror. I looked nice in light armor. My gaze then looked to the damaged armor. Why were the objects in my room telling me to join the Autobots? But, maybe that's just an interpretation: Picture of praise from human, Reminder of pain from Megatron... Seriously? I should probably put those somewhere harder for me or someone else to find. I walked out of my room and to the cafeteria. I was still not very hungry, so I took a cup to go. I went to the Med Bay to visit Megatron. He was still...

I sighed and spoke, "Hey Megatron. This might not mean anything to you but—"

The monitors' data skyrocketed. I walked over to try and decipher the spiking signals. It seemed that his data core [brain] activity had increased. I sat by his bedside in a chair physicians would use. I placed my cup of energon on a side table.

"Can you hear me?" I asked. The data on the monitor did not go down. I continued, "I may have done some things that cause me to feel guilty. It doesn't matter what." He was silent. "Okay, it was a murder. Of a Vehicon. Which was totally an accident. Okay, not an accident. But, not my fault. Maybe my fault. Definitely my fault." Silence. "He was cybertronian. So are the Autobots, but... I'll shut up." His facial expression didn't change. I felt another wave of guilt. "But anyway, I didn't want you to be alone. So, here I am." I felt stupid and sighed, "I feel really stupid doing this Megatron. It feels like I'm trying to have a conversation, but no one is responding. Almost like I'm talking to myself here."

I stopped, picked up my energon and took a sip. I walked over to the monitors and waited. I waited and waited and drank some energon and then waited some more. Prolonged silence caused the data to lower and return to an almost nonexistent state.

I started talking again, "Megatron, I have a question for you, and I kind of care if you answer. Does this -me talking- affect your brain activity?" The data rose again.

I concluded that Megatron's mental state could be better than I had originally thought. I sat back down and drank some more energon, before putting it back down.

I asked him, "Do you remember when we came to the Nemesis last? It happened quite recently. I'm referring to the time we ate together and talked about old times. We agreed that we'd pick it up later, but later never came. So, now I'm sitting here and I was just thinking, why not now? So, we were talking about the war and possibly exchanging stories. You know me; my memory isn't always the best. But, anyway, I have a story for you. I just have to remember a good one first."

I got up, drank some energon and paced. I wanted to tell a good one: Regardless if he heard me or not. But, I was having trouble remembering anything at all. Isolating a single drop of history in the stream of my consciousness was a task not often attempted: Even less often successful. Then it hit me. I sat back down and put down the energon.

"So, this battle doesn't exactly have a name. For us I mean: the Autobots called it the battle of Sraken-Trek. We didn't give it a name. You sent your Warriors Elite, where I was at the time, to go retrieve some Autobot device. We had journeyed far into Autobot territory, maybe three days of cautious travel. This is the old unit, you know, when you had a bunch and could afford to split us up. So my unit, we were tired, we found covered land. Land out of the line of sight, to sleep. We all awoke to the sound of movement. The Autobots had boxed us in with one way out, forward. We stayed out of sight and trekked forward. It turned out we were being led into a trap. We reached a dead end- a large walled cliff that was plateaued at the top- the Autobots had us completely surrounded. They were behind us, to the left, right, and atop the ledge. Two of our own, Sixshot and Overlord, laid down cover fire. I sprinted toward the right Autobot battalion. It was fairly early, not much sunlight. Anyway the Autobots had us outnumbered 10:1. So, I did what I knew how too. I slashed the Autobots down before they saw me coming. I ran and dodged and slashed. Each of my moves was very precise, very accurate. The sun was behind us, so the first and last thing the Autobots saw was my Shadow. Anyway, I took down the right battalion very quickly. I think my seven comrades had taken out the top group by then. Anyway, I used a dead Autobot as a throw shield and rushed the middle group. That one fell too. My comrades had taken out the left group. They were slow. Early morning. Those Autobot battalions guarded the territory line. Because of their fall, our troops pushed further, our territory grew and the Autobots territory receded. We didn't give it a name because it wasn't any objective, we didn't gain anything. It just was. On the other hand, the Autobots later captured one from our team you know the one. The one who was extremely social and hid behind his guns and massive shield? Dreadwing and Skyquake hated that guy. Skyquake's dead by the way. So anyway, he-who-shall-not-be-named told the Autobots about the battle during an interrogation, which solidified my nickname to them. Personally, I prefer Shadow. It's shorter and less like a title. But you know the Space Gangster's stance on that."

I caught my breath and finished off my energon.

"If you want, I could tell you another story tomorrow. But, how would I know what it is you want? I'll come tomorrow anyway. If for no other reason than to keep you company, I'll come."

I got up grabbed the empty cup of energon and looked at Megatron. I grabbed his servo with my empty one.

"Goodbye Megatron," I whispered, "I'll see you tomorrow."

I let go and left. I deposited the empty cup in the cafeteria. Many vehicons were consuming energon at this time. I walked to the command center. Everywhere I went mechs stared longer than usual. I walked inside the command center. Everyone was at his post. I went to Soundwave.

"Hello Soundwave," I greeted the mech, "Anything interesting happen?"

Soundwave pulled up a picture of a crashed pod in Antarctica. He explained, "This pod was a trap containing scraplets. It landed it Antarctica. The Autobots bridged it to their base. What have you been up to?"

Quick transition. Motives?

"I was in the med bay, talking to Megatron. I feel hopeful he'll recover. I noticed that when I talked, his 'brain' activity rose."

"Really? What did you talk about?"

"I mainly reminisced about the war."

Starscream walked over. He examined my body in depth. A simply up and down glance would be an understatement. He flirted, "Wow Shadow. Light armor really looks good on you." Or, at least I considered that flirting. He never compliments me. He leaned closer and quietly asked, "How about we both take a break from all of this work. You can come undertake more private matters with me on my berth."

I clenched my fist. Starscream crept closer to me. Soundwave could hear every word. I wanted nothing more than Starscream's destruction. I could tell Soundwave was about to cut in. I wanted instead to hurt Starscream's pride. Consolation. I put a hand on Soundwave's arm to get him to back off. I then took a step backward and addressed Starscream.

I teased, "I'm sorry, but I don't take orders from a commander."

I half-expected for him to lunge or fire. I could deflect, dodge, or redirect a missile. I would end him if he attempted to lunge.

Starscream squinted his optics and straightened up. He angrily threatened, "A Decepticon that will not follow orders will not face the Autobots in battle!"

I smiled, "I'm wearing light armor dimwit. I wasn't planning on going into battle anyway."

Starscream glared at me. He shouted, "Oh really Shadow! Well I, Lord Starscream order you to—"

Like yesterday, Soundwave cut off the commander. He stepped towards Starscream and relayed information, "Shadow is an agent of Megatron's task force. Only Lord Megatron can give direct orders that need to be followed."

I silently cheered. Starscream growled and stomped away in rage.

Best day ever.

Soundwave brought up some document on a monitor. Knockout had been contacted. The document was a project Knockout was assigned by Starscream to do. Starscream wanted more highly skilled soldiers. Knockout was close to completing a formula that changed humans into transformers. It seemed that Knockout needed a transformer that had both a flight and a ground alt. form to base a final part of the formula on. Because I was a natural triple-changer, Soundwave thought that I should help.

I looked over the document. Soundwave changed documents. It seemed that test subjects had been found. Knockout wanted to complete this final part of his experiment. The deal that had been worked out was that Knockout would come here and stay on board, if he could base the final component of the formula on me.

I nodded. Soundwave understood and contacted Knockout to accept the terms of the deal.

I left the command center and headed out to the hanger. I flew down to a scenic part of earth and changed into my car mode. I touched the ground and drove until sunset. I admired the beauty of the world and the music I listened to. When it grew late, I flew back to the Nemesis and returned to my room. I laid down on my berth and slept.