Igniting the Fuse (Transformers)

Desginations

…Designations…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

There had been a moment when existence hadn't mattered because he couldn't remember what it was like to not exist. He could imagine darkness, it was merely a blank slot and then memory burst into existence. When he first came into awareness he remembered the swell of heat that pushed against his sensitive protoform, the barest composition of his being, before he took his true form. The sound of metal being shaved grated upon his audio sensors as lights too bright burned his optics. The sights were confusing, the sounds annoying, but it was the smell that truly bothered him. Burnt oil and heated metal, it was the scent of destruction.

When he came online he hadn't witnessed a creation, but destruction. Wings were mangled, metal shredded, and limbs twisted with exposed wires. Something within him recognized the mangled being as one of his own, even if he was unsure of what he and the being were. It was when the optics flicked from off to on that Starscream realized the being was aware despite its condition. The conveyor belt it rested on slowly rolled along and he watched the mangled body fall over the edge toward the giant metal kettle. White lava burst upward as the scent of burnt oil, heated metal, and what he realized as death followed.

The face that entered his view didn't do anything to calm his growing horror. This was his first memory and he could find no internal comfort. He couldn't logically think away the happenings of his first few moments of existence. The blue optics studied him with analytical purpose; the scarlet 'v' upon the mech's forehead made him think of the mangled being's optics.

"Your designation is 00-4." He wasn't sure if that was supposed to be his name. "I am the Second in Command of the Cybertron War Academy Tactics Division..."

'Am I a weapon?'

"…you may refer to me as Prowl," the mech continued.

The horror he felt was resigned to confusion as he gazed at the mech. Something within him reasoned that he was taking the destroyed mech's place. For what, he was unsure. He did know that he didn't want to end up on that belt, and he would ensure his survival.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Alexis was unsure of what drew her back to the crash site. Common sense vanished as she decided to skip the art club. Raoul and Kevin would be worried, but it didn't matter. There was something beckoning her to the site. Each step caused anticipation to swell, making her walk faster. She remembered that just a few days ago something from the mech in the woods infected her. Ideas swamped her mind, fragments of memories kept her up, and now she was moving toward the Decepticon.

She had easily hacked the Academy of Science files and discovered that the offline mech was designated Starscream, and that Skyfire and he were in the memories haunting her. She had been astonished at her hacking abilities, but ignored it as she searched. Synthetic Energon, she didn't understand what the big deal was about it. Most of Skyfire's work had been deleted; fragmented and damaged files attested to purposeful sabotage. Yet, she knew that Synthetic Energon couldn't be harmful. Prowl's vague words on the subject told her that it was supposed to be something helpful. If anything, Synergon would be the key to helping the Cybertronian race survive.

Science was not her purpose for going to Starscream.

'Curiosity,' Alexis assured herself. She was curious about the Decepticon. His files were as damaged as Skyfire's which drove her further into curiosity. The fragmented memories she saw portrayed him as a hostile, yet intelligent being. The damaged files on him showed that something was being hidden. Something whispered to her that he was the key to something larger than her. The ideas she held she knew could be accomplished with Starscream. All these thoughts and ideas proved as promising as they were terrifying.