Protege of Magnus (Transformers Animated)

Chapter 1

Lunar 1 Moon Base - The Aftermath of The Great War

"Spread out! Search for survivors!"

The loud ringing that echoed in the young fembot's audio receptors slowly died down as she raised her helm from the floor. Trails of dust and tiny pebbles of rubble tumbled down as she did. She heard shouting, coming from one... no, multiple sources. It was muffled at first, so she couldn't decipher what they were saying. But as she slowly came to, the environment around her lost the blurring and contorted shapes to sharper, clearer images.

"Survivors? Does Ultra Magnus really think we'll find anyone here?" One voice spoke in disbelief, he hardly needed say how unlikely survivors lasting this long truly was. "This Moon Base was hit megacycles ago!"

"We didn't have time to search for survivors back then," another replied, his voice thick with dejection,. "Not with the Decepticons constantly trying to pound us into scrap, maybe more would have survived if they had at least tried to stave off their savage foes."

Those voices. . . They sounded like mechs. . .

"Decepticons?" The femme repeated quietly whilst trying to regain her perception of the confusing world around her.

Why did that word sound so familiar to her? Decepticon. . . Decepticon. . .

Then it hit her. She felt as if her processor was given an electric shock as images flashed within it. Fire burned throughout buildings and the streets, lasers and dozens of ships flew throughout the night sky, each bearing the same purple symbol.

Wait. . . I remember now!

It was a cold, unforgiving mark, borne proudly by every gleefully twisted mech and femme who had been responsible for so much death and destruction. The tales and myths surrounding it almost seemed impossible, as if entire lifetimes away from any of them. A chilling cold ran through the sluggishly flowing Energon all across her frame. No one needed to bother trying to separate fact from fiction. Those beasts made both very clear, and a painful series of realities.

There was shouting, screaming. She remembered running from something. Or someone rather. It was hard to tell with all the explosions and blaster fire. There was an explosion that shook the floor beneath her pedes. She looked up, seeing something falling straight for her, a part of a building getting absolutely obliterated. There was a crush like noise soon after. Everything went black.

Her optics flew wider at the realization. I was nearly killed by a building collapsing on top of me! She was temporarily blinded from the sunrise, the rays of the giant brightly lit star shined in her optics and she raised a servo to shield herself. Rapidly blinking, she regained her sight while she scanned the area around her. There was debris everywhere. Broken down skyscrapers, buildings, torn up roads, it was like Unicron himself came and destroyed everything in his path. As much as it pained her to do so, she slowly turned her body around to examine herself to see the extent of her injuries. Her entire frame was covered in dust and dirt, it was nearly impossible to see her paint job. She could make out a few dents along her stomach, arms, and chest plate but—thankfully— to her relief, it didn't look like there was any serious damage.

Well, for her upper frame anyway. A biting, almost nonexistent trickling down her armor called her attention to the source of her discomfort and what had apparently gotten her better than any Decepticon.

From the waist down, she was trapped under a chunk of a giant metal wall that seemed to had broken off from one of the buildings above. It didn't look too big or heavy. Maybe she could push herself free?

"Okay, here we go," she sighed.

Placing both servos upon the metal debris, she first tried pushing herself free. Her legs barely made an inch out of its prison, but by then she could begin to sense a strain of pain building up in her circuits. It crawl up her spine and feel like a thousand knives. With a defeated grunt, she halted her attempted at freedom, glancing down and peering her optics at a crack. She spotted her metal skirt covering her thighs and just beyond that she could vaguely see her legs.