Prologue
Lowering her head to hide within the shadows of a prison cell, Lightning Prime froze in place as a Decepticon patrol walked past. They didn’t notice her presence. They exited the prison corridor and left her with the Autobot prisoners. She scrambled to lock the sections’ doors before another patrol came around again, ignoring protests from the Autobots trapped in the cells as they screamed for her to let them out. Lightning Prime growled in frustration as the babbling continued as she locked the last door.
Desperately she padded cautiously up the prison control center, her spiked tail weaving back and forth. Anxiety pulsed through her as she burst open the door, but the room was left empty.
“Strange,” she muttered as she approached the control panel, glancing around the shadows with narrowed optics, “the ‘cats always have tight security.”
She put her paw on the button that released all the prisoners, she hesitated. An angered voice rung through her head, coaxing her to push the button, setting thousands of Autobots and Autopaws free.
Two pairs of red optics glowed in the dark to her right side, their bodies barely visible. One of them smirked and slid out his claws, the one next to him unsheathed his blades from his wrists. Megatron and Darkwind stepped out of the shadows, silence on their side.
Lightning Prime gritted her teeth in anger. Why was this choice so hard?
With a growl that shook the room, Darkwind pounced on Lightning Prime from the side, flattening her to the ground. She struggled to toss him off, grabbing his neck in her crushing jaws, she flipped him over and pinned him to the wall. Darkwind shot a pleading glance over at Megatron who stood, his arms crossed, where he had begun the attack.
Lightning Prime smiled deviously as she saw the Decepticons’ leader unwilling to help his comrade at all. She turned to look back at Darkwind, swatting him with her paw and sending him flying into the control panel. Sparks jumped from the broken equipment and a loud alarm went off as the prisoners were set free.
Darkwind fell limply to the ground and grimaced in pain, “Megatron…” he whimpered.
With a glance at Lightning Prime, he replied, “I take no interest in your way of combat, Darkwind. It shows pride, not strength. Your kind doesn’t kill unless absolutely needed, it disgusts me.”
Darkwind knew he couldn’t argue with Megatron, not with an entire alliance between the Decepticons and Decepticats on the line. All he could do was suck it up.
A deafening rumble grew nearer from the corridors of the prison. All three of them looked in the entrance to the control room. A horde of Autopaw soldiers had come to support Lightning Prime, along with a handful of Autobots.
At the head of the mob was Sparrowhawk, an extremely dangerous Autopaw soldier. He lifted his great black head and let out a war cry that led the soldiers forward. Darkwind scrambled to his paws and broke off running away, but with one swift movement Megatron grabbed the leader by his back leg and hauled him back to his side.
“Halt!” Sparrowhawk commanded sharply, skidding to a stop. Megatron had his cannon pointed in the direction of the soldiers, his blade in the other hand. No one moved an inch for many minutes; a deadly silence filled the prison as the stare down drew on.
One of the senior soldiers, Ignition, let out a growl. Small embers seeped out of his jaw. The Decepticon leader still didn’t flinch as Ignition drew back his head and released a pillar of flames towards him. The fire struck the ground and burned into a wall, cutting off the Decepticons and the prisoners. When the smoke cleared, all the soldiers but Sparrowhawk had fled.
With a jolt he realized he was now alone in the control room, and Lightning Prime had vanished, hidden in shadows towards the edge of the room. He was on his own.
He tensed up his body and waited for the perfect moment to strike his enemy. It was a long wait, but then Sparrowhawk saw his chance when Megatron’s gaze began drifting away from him. Sparrowhawk bowled over the leader with claws outstretched, leaving marks on his armor. As Megatron recovered, he swung his blade around, catching Sparrowhawk on the shoulder. When he stumbled, the ‘con brought his foot down on the Autopaw, crushing him.
“You really think you can kill me, kitty-paw,” Megatron mocked, clenching his fist.
Lightning Prime lowered her head farther into the dark as she watched the battle unfold; it pained her to watch her Autopaw brother die in such an unfair fight. She fought the urge to jump out there and fight Megatron herself, but she knew what her fate would be if she made that choice. So she buried her head in her paws.
Moments later, an agonizing shriek pierced the still air. She glanced up to see Sparrowhawk skewered on Megatron’s blade through the chest. The soldier had torn the blade off Megatron’s wrist with his teeth, but it he had grabbed it before Sparrowhawk could get a hold of it. Sparrowhawk’s mouth hung wide open in agony, his eyes bloodshot. A strange purple fluid dripped from his wound. Megatron let Sparrowhawk’s lifeless corpse fall to the ground, a hard thump echoed through Lightning Prime’s ears. She could barely stand the grief she felt. This is my fault, Sparrowhawk. I led you into this mess, but I’ll never get you out.
Padding through the service ducts inside the walls of the prison facility, the gory scene bit at her conscience. It played over and over again in her mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As she met with her squad on the edges of the Decepticat city of Taloon, she kept silent. She was comforted by one of her mentors, Lurch Step after she told him what had happened.
“Sparrowhawk was a brave soldier,” Lurch Step commented, “young too. He shouldn’t have died today.”
Lightning Prime flattened herself against the floor of the drop ship, “It was my fault he died! If I had pulled him into the ducts with me he wouldn’t have had to face Megatron and Darkwind all by himself!”
A flash of pity entered the Commander’s brilliant, blue optics, “No… stop blaming yourself, ‘Prime. Think of how many brothers and sisters we set free of the ‘cons grip today. One loss is the price to pay for their freedom. Nobody else went offline this time but Sparrowhawk.”
Lightning Prime looked up hopefully at Lurch Step as he continued, “It was a blessing that we lost only one of our brothers, and sometimes things of this nature must be forgotten.”
An Autobot soldier in the corner of the ship called out, “I’d would’ve ripped his spark right out from his chest! That Megatron’s a menace!”
“Easy, Ironhide,” Lurch Step eased, thrashing his tail, “hatred corrupts the spark itself.”
Ironhide snorted in disgust and turned away. Lightning Prime envied the soldier greatly; losses never seemed to affect him much. His ignorance was undeniably strong for someone so experienced.
The Autopaw soldier seated to Ironhide’s right spoke up sheepishly, “So, what happened in the prison? You know besides Sparrowhawk’s death.”
Stalling a moment, Lightning Prime replied, “Lurch Step can tell you later, Deadfall, when we get back to Iacon. At the moment we all need to get some rest before we get home.”
Deadfall dipped his head in respect of Lightning Prime’s request, his amber eyes glowing with an unknown desire, as if he really wanted to hear what had happened.
Looking away from the soldiers, Lightning Prime padded over to the edge of the drop ship and stared at the sun and the clouds as they flew by. The cities below them glittered with lights, making the harsh place seem more welcoming, “We’re almost home,” she muttered to herself, trying to make herself feel better.
Something flashed in the distant horizon. Lightning Prime narrowed her optics and caught the flash. Standing out among the bright yellow lights of the cities below was the purple outline of a Decepticat jet. It was following the drop ship in the cover of the clouds. For a split second it exited the clouds and Lightning Prime had a clear shot at it, but none of her guns were ready to shoot it down. She had no other option but to wait once again for it. The clouds parted with the jet again, but without thinking she jumped off the drop ship and grabbed the wing of the jet with her teeth. It swerved to one side and plummeted towards the surface of Cybertron. Looking up from her freefall, Lightning Prime saw Lurch Step yowling over the edge of the ship for her.
The Decepticat transformed and did a front flip to throw Lightning Prime off him. The enemy soldier positioned himself to face her, his expression blank as a piece of paper. A rocket launcher on the Decepticat’s shoulder fired up and a barrage of rockets slammed into Lightning Prime, knocking her off her center, causing her to fall out of control. The Decepticat turned back into a jet and flew off into the sky once more, but fled away from the drop ship.
Lightning Prime smiled with a dull look of satisfaction on her face. There was no way to survive a fall of this height, and she knew that, but she felt the pride of dying to protect her comrades. I’ll see you again Sparrowhawk. I’ll never forget what I did to you, not in a thousand stellar cycles of my life. Sucks though I won’t live that long, though, Lurch Step always said I would’ve been like you when I got older.
As her mentor’s name entered her thoughts she remembered, Lurch Step’s ‘alt mode is a jet. Why doesn’t he just fly down and catch me?
Without any warning, her fall was cut short as she struck the top of an Iacon building. A sharp pain seared through her back leg on impact. Struggling to remove her face from the building metal, she glanced back at her leg hastily to see it completely out of place, the paw twisted backwards and the leg hanging limply in the air.
Lightning Prime grit her teeth at the sight of her crippled leg. She flinched as her Com link filled with static and a strange voice spoke, “‘Prime, you with me? Reply.”
Baring her teeth, she replied, “Who is this?”
“Don’t act like you’ve never heard of me before, soldier. You act like you’re a Decepticat.”
Feeling quite embarrassed, Lightning Prime thought hard. She knew the voice sounded familiar, but the Com link had made it hard to guess who it was. Her face lit up with recognition, “Fire Prime! Is that really you?”
He snorted with a sense of humor, and then confirmed, “I’ve never met one Autopaw or Autobot who didn’t know my name, soldier. It worries me.”
The last part was sarcasm, she could tell it in his tone. Lightning Prime smirked, “What would the supreme leader of the Autopaws want with such an unworthy soldier such as me anyway?”
“I need you for an… errand of mine. It’s very top secret. I need you to deliver something to Duacon for me, more precisely to the city’s leader, Cavalier. Meet me at the city square in ten cycles, ‘Prime.”
“You must be kidding me,” Lightning Prime retorted sharply, “I serve the Autopaw cause, ready to sacrifice myself for the freedom of our kind, but I’m out running errands instead?”
She felt the impatience of her leader even through the Com link. A slight growl made it through and Lightning Prime tensed, “Oh, fine,” she answered with an angered sigh. The Com link went dark and she was left on her own once again. Staring down at the streets below, she grimaced. Gonna be fun trying to get down from here isn’t it.
She tapped into Fire Prime’s Com link again, “Um… I’m going to need transport if it’s available,” the leader sighed in returned and called out an order that was to fainted for her to hear.
The static stopped and Lightning Prime sat down, her leg bent awkwardly to the side. Minutes later, an Autopaw soldier came up the building. She looked away from him as he stared at her leg. He got her down and ushered her towards the square, holding up his shoulder to support her.
Fire Prime watched her intently as they entered the busy square, many low-ranking Autopaws and Autobots crowded around him like a swarm of troublesome bees. A look of frustration clearly showed on his worn face. As her escort and she came closer and he saw her bent leg, he raised his brow, “You look like a piece of scrap, ‘Prime.”
“The ‘cats’ll do that to ‘ya, sir,” Lightning Prime chuckled, eyeing the leader nervously.
Fire Prime turned to her escort, “You’re dismissed, Delta, go back to your normal duties.”
Delta’s icy optics drooped in sadness, “I think I can be of assistance here, sir. I could go to Duacon with her,” he coaxed, pointing at Lightning Prime. He smiled pleadingly at his leader with a dull hope in his optics.
“Do what you please,” Fire Prime grumbled, smoke flaring from his nose.
Delta’s face brightened up with sheer happiness, “A mission from the great leader himself! What honor!”
Lightning Prime turned her gaze to Fire Prime and waited for him to explain. He handed her a small device concealed in his paw, “This here contains weapon schematics stolen from the Decepticons. We need the Duacon medics to take a look at it to see if the weapon could be a danger to us, but you must be careful! Cavalier and his supporters are very religious and hate outsiders coming to Duacon, especially from Iacon. Duacon is a city full of poverty, plus gangs are everywhere, but it holds such a historic value for our kind that it’s a surprise that everyone there is so poor. Just be sure not to offend them in any given way, Cavalier often has angry outbursts if he senses any form of hostility or trickery is involved.”
Both Lightning Prime and Delta dipped their heads in return. Fire Prime smiled, but eyed them cautiously as he turned to leave, a mob of fans chasing after him.
“Come on,” Delta ordered, “We should leave as soon as possible. It’s two solar cycles journey from here to Duacon by foot, and we’re not allowed to travel by vehicle mode, for some weird reason they take that as an insult to enter another one’s city in your alternate mode.”
With a slight outburst of laughter between the two, they set off out of Iacon. Following the highways throughout the city and over deep gorges in the planet’s surface. After a while on the edges of the roads, Delta spoke up, “You do know this is far more than a regular errand right?”
Lightning Prime gave him a hard stare and said, “Of course, motor head!”
Delta kept his gaze on the ground for many more steps, as if the comment offended him, then nudged Lightning Prime, “Can I see the schematic for a nanosec, please?”
Hesitantly, she took out the data chip and gave it to Delta. He scanned it and showed her a hologram of the weapon and all its functions. The words were in ancient Cybertronian. He muttered, “Oh great Primus,” and dropped the data chip out of his paw. As Lightning Prime picked it up and put it away again he added, “We need to get to Duacon as fast as possible, when we get there I can confirm me theory with the scientists there and send out a message to Fire Prime.”
“Why the sudden rush?”
“The weapon’s dangerous all right, far beyond that. I fear it already and it’s not even built yet… I hope…” Delta shivered uncontrollably, body racked with fear. He calmed down and looked back at Lightning Prime, a new found fire in his gaze, “Screw customs and manners and whatnot, we’re going metal to the pedal!”
With that, he transformed into a sleek golden car and sped off, Lightning Prime right behind him, uttering a short sigh.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As soon as they entered Duacon, all hell broke loose between the newcomers and the citizens of the city. Hundreds of soldiers huddled at the edges of the only road in and out of Duacon, guns drawn and faces emotionless. Others with fangs bared and claws unsheathed, weapons clutched in their mouths. Delta skidded to a stop as the soldiers formed a barricade across the gate to the city. They transformed back and faced the guards as peacefully as possible. Lightning Prime faced one of the soldiers, cold and uninviting. With a shifted glance, she saw something in the soldiers she hadn’t seen with the ones from Iacon. They look half-offline already.
Dents where bullets had struck their armor were scattered randomly across their bodies, making them appear speckled. Claw marks stretched across their faces and teeth marks made deep holes in the armor around their shoulders and chest. Every one of the soldiers wore the same emblem on their armor, a blood red wolf and a lighter red dragon fighting over a black shield.
Lightning Prime recognized the symbol right away; it was the symbol of rebellion. There were many others beside these*; she carried the one that symbolized triumph in war, but this one was consider traitorous to bear.
“You see what I’m seeing, right?” Lightning Prime whispered to Delta, who nodded hesitantly in reply. His body was shaking slightly and his eyes were filled with fear.
A faint rumbling sound shook the ground below, and the soldier’s sprinted away without saying a word to them, but shouted commands to one another. Lifting her head higher, Lightning Prime could see the problem; a riot had formed outside of the city square. Everyone held a spear or a spear with the tip molten with flames.
Delta watched the group with intensity; he eyed the leader of the riot with hatred.
Lightning Prime sighed, “Who you after this time?” she asked, turning away from him.
Delta continued to stare into the leader’s face from a distance, “Sabre, he’s been wanted for treason at least five times, but never seems to end up in prison.”
She glanced over at her side to find Delta had left her side to chase after the leader of the riot with a desperate and determined face; she followed him more slowly, watching him from a distance before he grabbed the leader’s tail when he neared Lightning Prime.
“Let go, you slag-headed kid!” he growled, flexing his claws.
“Never! I let you go once, but not this time, Sabre.” Delta retorted. He yanked harder on Sabre’s tail, his teeth scraping hardily on his armor. A dark figure appeared from an alleyway beside Delta, it’s extremely dark blue optics glowed with intensity.
It stalked out of the shadows and grabbed Delta by the neck. It easily lifted the small Autopaw into the air and tossed him into Lightning Prime. The strange reddish-brown and black Autopaw, turned to face the visitors and bared his teeth, “What do you want from Duacon? Answer or leave!”
Delta lowered his head in respect, and then replied, “We have direct orders from Fire Prime to deliver this data chip from Iacon to Duacon on the terms that your scientists can take a look at it. I have already confirmed that this weapon could be of great harm, but I would like further clarify my thoughts by confirming my theory with your scientists before I run off with my unconventional claims, Cavalier, sir.”
Lightning Prime was surprised that this alley dwelling Autopaw was the leader of Duacon itself. He smelled of a suspicious, burning acid and his armor was almost completely rusted over, except for some large areas the rust had somehow come off.
“That’s Cavalier?” Lightning Prime asked Delta softly, trying to keep the words to themselves.
“Shh!” Delta scolded, “Talk about them like that and they catch it, off goes your head!”
She shrugged her shoulders and turned away from him. Cavalier approached them slowly, his claws making an annoying clicking noise on the ground. He stopped a few feet short of them, an awkward grin on his face, “I’ll take it to the labs, but don’t interfere with our studies of the schematic! You’ll hear our opinion when we are done. Meanwhile, Echo,” he gestured forward a sleek silver soldier with sky blue optics who gave him a look of reproach, but complied as Cavalier gave her a hard look, “can take you to the guest building where you can stay until you are ready to travel back to Iacon with the news.”
Lightning Prime could tell in the tone of his voice that he was almost hesitant to allow them to stay in Duacon for as long as they possessed the schematic. I wonder if they’re taking advantage of us since the schematic is top secret.
Echo glanced sadly back at Cavalier as he sulked off towards the labs, his shoulders hunched over. She sighed with an odd contentment that Cavalier had gone. She gave them a glance and stated, “I’m so sorry, he can be such a pain in the tailpipe sometimes.”
Without warning, Echo dragged them into a musty, damp alleyway as the sound of footsteps rattled the road.
“Why are we hiding,” Delta questioned, shaking water from his face, he was answered by a sharp hiss from Echo, “The Decepticats have used Duacon as an outpost for their military activities ever since they captured it a few stellar cycles ago. Word never got out to Iacon or any other major city so we’ve been under the command of a handful of the lower Decepticats for quite some while,” she shook her head in disgust as she watched the Decepticats pass, “I’m supposed to be tending to the Decepticat warlord in charge of Duacon, but I snuck away. They’re out searching for me.”
Lightning Prime gaze caught a flash of red-brown as the Decepticats went out of sight. She poked her head quickly out of the alley and Echo yanked on her neck, pulling her back into the shadows, “What are you doing!” she scolded, trying as best she could to keep her voice down, “You’ll get us taken hostage like that soldier.”
Lightning Prime gave her a cold, hard stare and spat, “That soldier the ‘cats had was Cavalier! I could see the schematic in his mouth and the Iacon symbol on his charm.”
“What? Cavalier doesn’t have a charm of any sorts and is loyal to Duacon!” Echo retorted, her lips drawn back in a menacing snarl.
Lightning Prime felt her head throb in frustration and she tensed up. This is hopeless. She lowered her head and stalked towards the edge of the alleyway, looking over her broad shoulder she said, “Fine, if you’re too much of a coward to save your leader, then I’ll do it myself.”
She turned sharply and raced down the street to catch up to Cavalier and his captors. She sensed Delta emerge from the shadows and watch her go with a worried face, his body shivering nervously.
With a loud war cry, Lightning Prime pounced on the back of one of the Decepticats and hooked her claws into its shoulders. The other let go of Cavalier’s chains and shoved her off his comrade’s back. The bulkier, orange one charged at her, with impressive speed and caught her off balance with a swipe of his paw; the other Decepticat took advantage and leapt up into the air, catching Lightning Prime in his jaws. He crunched down on her and her strength and spirit began to ebb away.
Then the pressure lifted and she fell to the ground as the Decepticat roared out in pain and crumpled. Holding the ice blue Decepticat down was Fire Prime, his face stained with war paint. He held up a gun to the orange Decepticat and stared him down with his icy blue glare. Rolling over onto her side, Lightning Prime watched silently as the standoff drew out in length. She was just about to sigh in relief when Fire Prime lowered the gun and relaxed as he suggested that they would not attack them again. She cried out as the Decepticat Fire Prime was just holding down stuck him with his claws, ripping up the Autopaw leader’s back. Even though she was limping, Lightning Prime staggered up to the bulky Decepticat and bit down on his back leg, Cavalier had joined them and was pummeling them with fire.
With a swift movement, Fire Prime freed himself from the claws of the Decepticat and landed squarely on his paws in a defensive position. The lighter blue Decepticat fled, looking back at his comrade, “Afterburner!” he called, “Come on, let’s get out of here!”
Afterburner stiffened as he tried to avoid the barrage of gunshot and fire, his voice was cracked with age, “No, you coward, I’m fighting.”
His fellow soldier ducked his head and raced off into the distance. Fire Prime turned his head to call a retreat, but was caught on the muzzle by a well-aimed blow of Afterburner’s claws. Lightning Prime’s face grew grim as the leader crumpled limply to the ground and he grimaced in pain, a show he was still alive. She raced to face the enemy soldier head on and protect Fire Prime as he recovered from the strike. Afterburner caught sight of her crippled leg and chuckled lightly, drawing back one of his paws to catch Lightning Prime’s leg. She sidestepped to avoid it but stumbled.
Fire Prime jerked himself up right and grabbed her good back leg as Afterburner shot his shoulder cannon at her. He was hit in the side and was flung back into a building, busting open a hole in the wall.
With Lightning Prime totally exposed, Afterburner hooked his claws around and caught her in her left side. Fire Prime hid his face in the dust of the impact as her cries of pain faded into a deadly silence. Finally she lay still on the street, a long wound from her neck all the way to her back leg stretched across her left side.
Afterburner shoved Cavalier aside and watched expressionless as they gathered around the lifeless body of Lightning Prime. He smiled dimly, sheathing his claws and putting away his guns in a silent, sweet victory. He turned tail and followed the other Decepticat’s trail away from Duacon.
Fire Prime shouldered his way through the rubble and padded slowly up to Lightning Prime. He felt tears well up inside him, but his inner strength kept them from escaping. He placed his paw on her side, pain radiated off her in waves.
“She’s still alive,” Fire Prime muttered softly, eying Cavalier nervously.
Cavalier snorted, “Barely.”
Fire Prime hefted Lightning Prime over and onto his shoulders, she groaned in pain as he let her crippled leg hang loosely. Cavalier glanced over at Fire Prime and saw the intensity and desperation on his face as he set off to Iacon, “Are you sure that it’s worth the effort to bring her to Iacon than just let the medics in Duacon help her?” his voice conveyed the hesitance he felt towards making the two solar cycle journey to the Autopaw and Autobot capital city.
“Brother,” Fire Prime replied simply, “I feel your opposition to my choice, but she is too severely injured for me to send her to a city crawling with Decepticats. It is the only choice I have at the moment, and I fear as much as you do that she will not make it through this journey.”
“No, you fear it more than I do… much more,” Cavalier observed, lowering his ears against his head.
Fire Prime’s head drooped and his hunched over his shoulders, “Fifty-one stellar cycles of training with you brother, and you still know me better than I know myself. I couldn’t survive as leader of the Autopaws without you,” he sighed, contently, “Optimus leaves such a high standards for us Autopaw leaders to follow.”
Cavalier stifled a chuckle, but the sorrow of the moment dampened the humor. Fire Prime remained silent the rest of the trip, his thick tail dragging on the ground. This is all my fault…
A while later, rain began to fall steadily around the edge of Iacon, turning into a heavy downpour later on. Fire Prime stiffened as a large raindrop splattered on his nose. He eyed an sheltered spot underneath some pipes and dragged Lightning Prime under it. She shuddered as the air grew colder. Cavalier settled down towards the darkest corner and buried his head in his paws, his breath coming out in puffs of vapor. With his body creaking with soreness, Fire Prime put his head on Lightning Prime’s shoulder and curled his thick tail around her, keeping her warm.
He almost jerked his tail back as he felt her agony through the freezing, winter air. While watching the graying sky through the pipes, he settled back into sleep, the rattle of the rain and an occasional rumble of thunder lulled his eyes shut and his body to loosen up. A giant yawn entered Fire Prime’s mouth and he lowered his head down onto Lightning Prime’s shoulder gently, careful not to damage her any further.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cavalier awoke to the sound of splashes outside on the trail. He glared out from under the pipes and saw an Autopaw patrol strutting past them. Cavalier shook Fire Prime awake and dragged him into the rain.
Fire Prime called out to the patrol, his voice sloppy with exhaustion. The patrol skidded to a halt at the sound of their leader’s voice and ran to his call. The soldier at the head of the patrol bowed his head and replied, “What is it, sir?”
“We have wounded,” Cavalier cut in quickly, turning away immediately and brought out Lightning Prime. Fire Prime grit his teeth as he saw her state. Her teeth were shut tightly in pain and she shivered violently, her body wracked with coughs, and the wound across her side looked even worse than yesterday.
Fire Prime walked up to the head of the patrol, “Serian, call Sierra and tell her to meet us here, we can’t move Lightning Prime without hurting her even more.”
The metal wings on Serian’s back flinched open as he nodded,” Of course, sir.”
About twenty stellar cycles ago, his conversion cog was severely damaged in battle and he could no longer transform into a jet, so one of the medics built metal wings for him and welded them onto his back so he could still fly. Now he was leader of the Autopaw Flight Squadron, a great inspiration to younger flight soldiers.
Serian glanced over his shoulder at the rest of the patrol, “Ozone and Downburst, you go back to Iacon and help Sierra on her way here. Whitewater, Buckhorn, and Stryker, you finish the patrol up the canyon. I’ll stay here with them.”
Fire Prime shot a glance at Stryker. He looked way too young to be a soldier already. He had a strong, but sleek build with bright, sky colored optics and vibrant yellow and black armor. As Stryker turned to leave he wondered back a few steps to look at Lightning Prime again, completely concerned. Fire Prime returned his gaze and gave him a reassuring nod. Stryker smiled faintly and whispered, “Thank you,” as he walked away and out of sight with the other two soldiers.
“Sierra’s on her way now,” Serian sighed as he told Cavalier and Fire Prime the news. A faint whimper from Lightning Prime turned heads. From the corner she coughed and looked up at them from where she was situated, “I’m going to die aren’t I?”
Fire Prime’s face lit up in fake joy, “N… no your fine, Sierra’ll be here soon and she fix you up.”
A cross expression entered her voice, “Stop pretending…” her statement trailed off as she hacked again, contracting with waves of shivers and smaller coughs. She drew her paws closer to her body, “I would rather know I’m dying then be lied to about it.”
Cavalier eyed Fire Prime with a questioning look and said, “Go on, tell her.”
Fire Prime shuffled his paws nervously, ducking his head before answering, “We really don’t know, but things look pretty bad right now.”
With a miniature smile of satisfaction, Lightning Prime curled up against the corner and closed her optics, “That feels better doesn’t it.”
“Almost… almost.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sierra arrived later that night, the light of the stars reflected on her sleek, white dappled armor. Her sea green optics mirrored the moon. She approached the shelter with a saddened expression, her paws heavy.
She had heard the news on the way there; Lightning Prime had died in the middle of the night, Fire Prime at her side. “Live on without me,” were her final words, before she smiled for her last time and fell limp.
Sierra had continued only to witness the private ceremony that they would hold for her next to the shelter. As she approached, Fire Prime was hunched over Lightning Prime’s body, tears streaming down his face. Sierra put his paw on his shoulder gently, “Don’t drown yourself in your own grief, ‘Prime. You must remain strong for the Autopaws; all of us rely on you.”
Fire Prime shoved her paw on his shoulder and tensed his shoulders. The tears slowed, “Don’t touch me!” he growled sharply, unsheathing his claws.
His sudden fierceness surprised Sierra and she jumped back. Cavalier emerged from under the pipes and whisked his tail across Sierra’s shoulder, “Leave him be, he’ll get over it soon enough.” Sierra noticed how certain Cavalier sounded.
A bolt of blue lightning flashed overhead and dark clouds began covering the moon. Fire Prime’s ears flattened as a rumble of thunder echoed through the air, and he lowered his head further down. With a deep sigh, he stood up and turned around to face Cavalier and Sierra, “I’m going back to Iacon. Don’t follow me.”
He pushed Cavalier aside as he tried to block the way, sending him flying into one of the pipes. Cavalier rubbed the back of his head as he fell to the ground and sat up. Sierra watched Fire Prime leave, worried for his mental safety.
“He’s not acting like himself,” Sierra observed, shuffling her paws and glancing over her shoulders.
“Yeah, you didn’t see that until just now?” Cavalier snarled, wiping shards of a strange metal from his armor.
“You think he’ll come to see that he doesn’t always need Lightning Prime with him. She was only twelve stellar cycles old, much too young to be an Autopaw soldier. Most are still in training after fifty stellar cycles or more. He must realize he was putting her in danger from the start.”
“I don’t think he’ll recover as easily as most,” Cavalier stated simply, “Lightning Prime may not have been important to him in relationships, but more in pride. He spent years turning her into a-“
“Shut up!” Sierra yowled, stamping down her paw, “That stuff makes me sick, turning innocent new cadets into a living weapon! Who does he think he is? Ruler of everything?”
“Calm down, I can’t even hear myself think,” Serian yelled from the shadows beneath the pipes. He scrambled out from beneath the pipes and gave Sierra a hard stare, “There’s nothing we can do about that now. All we can do is hope and pray he’ll change his ways in time.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*stupid computer screwed up the indents on the paragraphs, sorry about that
Gender:
Points: 940
Reviews: 11