Transformers Movie-verse: "Transformations"
Mm...planning on posting a new chapter of one fanfic or another every day up to Christmas, culminating in a update of *gasp* Daniel Masters.
But, for now, A Transformers fanfic update.
Fandom: Transformers movie(s)
Characters: Sam Witwicky
Title: Transformations
Author: me!
Rating: PG-13
Chapter: 2/?
Summary: A lot changed for Sam after the battle of Giza...
Warnings: Language.
Disclaimer: I own a Soundwave toy. That I paid money for.
I triple checked the coordinates and sighed. I hoped that this Seeker was better than the others I'd run across. Skywarp in particular had touched a few nerves, and only his ability to teleport had saved him from Soundwave's retaliations.
One day, I'll catch the pest when he's asleep and find out what exactly gives him that frustrating ability before scrapping it so damn hard.
Anyway.
I sat down in the middle of the abandoned airfield, looking up at the sky. There were times I envied the Seekers for their ability to skim the clouds, but the general personality traits that seemed to come with being a Seeker turned me off from that idea quickly enough.
I closed my eyes and opened my mind to the web of information constantly flying in the air. Billions of conversations were open to me, wireless internet mine for the taking. Radio transmissions, encrypted information, nothing was beyond my reach.
It was in this way that I was able to detect the flier approaching me. Fliers have a unique flavor to their spark-signature, and a comparison of the spark-signature I was registering to the database I had of all the Decepticons-courtesy of Soundwave and necessity-identified the jet as Tailwind. I stood and allowed my skin to harden into its Cybertronian matte metal. Just in case.
Tailwind arrived rather abruptly, pulling up quickly and dropping to the ground, his feet landing with a dull thud on the cracked-concrete ground.
He looked around, probably searching for another Cybertronian. I coughed and pinged him over the broad Decepticon channel, bringing his optics down to me. The incredulity in his posture made me smile.
“I'm Screen. And you are Tailwind,” I said, not bothering to conceal my amusement.
“You don't look like one of Soundwave's pets,” he said, obviously running a scan over me to make sure I wasn't bluffing.
I rolled my eyes. “Please. Do you know the specifics of what we're supposed to do? Soundwave wouldn't tell me anything.”
“You and I are to do some spying together,” the flier said as he knelt, examining me more closely.
I stood my ground, crossing my arms, examining him as well. His body was a type of jet I was unfamiliar with, but that was unsurprising, considering my knowledge of military matters was gone almost as soon as I retrieved it.
“Then let's get going,” I said. “What exactly are we supposed to retrieve, information-wise?”
Tailwind shrugged. “It was a pretty broad order. Although I think the main directive is to push international tensions in this world to the breaking point.”
“Corrupted information, misdirected intel, and the like?” I murmured. “Sounds like fun.”
Tailwind gave me an incredulous look. “You're human, aren't you?”
“Partly,” I said with a sigh. “But I belong to Soundwave, and what Soundwave or Megatron orders, I obey.”
“Ah,” Tailwind said before transforming into his jet form, popping open the entrance to his cockpit. “Sucks for you.”
I laughed and jumped into the cockpit, which closed behind me. “How'd you get conned into doing this?”
“I can't stand anyone in my patrol, so when Soundwave approached me with this, I jumped at the chance. I might be able to prove to him that I'm strong and useful enough that I can move out of the Air Strike Patrol and gain some rank.”
“Mm-hm,” I murmured. My rank might pull some strings, since, even though I belonged to Soundwave, I was still a Prime. My opinion carried weight. Depending on how the mission went, I might be able to increase his chances of moving up in the ranks. “So, are you a Seeker?”
Tailwind scoffed. “No. Thank Primus.”
“Then what are you?”
There was a shrug in a voice. “Just a flier. I've heard the word 'micromaster' thrown around, but since I don't know what it means, I don't care-I'm just glad I'm not a Seeker.” He said "Seeker" in the same tone one would say "pile-of-toxic-ooze."
He took off quickly enough that it pressed me back in the seat, but, thankfully, I can withstand more than most humans can. It seemed to impress the Decepticon I was riding with.
“Where do we start?” Tailwind asked, obviously unhappy to have to do so. He was probably new to the world, so it was up to me to familiarize him.
I paused and thought. I decided that planning out loud wouldn't be a bad thing, since Tailwind needed the information.
“A lot of European countries still don't trust the Germans and creating political unease in that section of the world will be very distracting, since that's where a lot of the 'developed world' is. Even though there's the European Union, splintering that particular alliance would be incredibly profitable, since it would pull attention away from the whole Decepticon and Autobot conflict to something much closer to home. So if we could cross intel that'd be productive.”
I paused for another moment before speaking again: “Another tactic would be to leak Chinese and North Korean intelligence to America and Japan and vice versa. Throwing Russia into the mix wouldn't be bad either, as would stimulating terrorist activity.”
I could feel the intrigue coming off of the Decepticon I was with. “You do know that you're trying to hurt your own species.”
I sigh. “You know that manipulating Autobot information is messing with your own species, right?”
“Point. So, where do we start?”
It was a good question, and made me think, silence reigning for a long while. Eventually, I came to a decision: “Terrorists.”
“Why?”
“They're international.”
“Huh. Perhaps you are meant to be a Decepticon.”
“It's Soundwave's influence, I promise you,” I replied dryly. “I wasn't this smart before he claimed me.”
Tailwind snickered and banked, changing direction.
“You scout out activity,” I said and leaned back in the seat, closing my eyes. “I'll be watching the information flying about. We'll work on domestic terrorists first before branching out.”
“You know, why I am content at being ordered around by you?” he asked, sounding annoyed.
I smirked. “Because I'm a Prime.”
“Don't try to pull a fast one, human,” he warned.
“I'm serious,” I answered. “It's another reason why Soundwave claimed me. Now, let me focus.”
He grumbled but turned his own sensors outside himself as I concentrated on listening, suppressing my knowledge of his grumblings.
It was difficult, sifting through the myriad of radiation flying around the atmosphere. Television signals, wireless internet, and a billion different phone conversations. Slowly, I put layer upon layer of filters, cutting out mundane conversations and legitimate business dealings, among the broadest filters.
I slowly cut back on government transactions until I was left with only secure channels. I had also sifted through civilian conversations until I had only the ones that were being spoken in code. I ran the code through a thousand data banks until I could listen in on the coded conversations with ease. Some of it was stupid, but there were a few more...interesting ones I stumbled across.
I broke through the secure government channels and listened intently, storing away the information. I turned most of my attention to breaking into e-mail accounts, filtering all the trillions of yahoo, gmail, hotmail, etc. through my mind. I picked up the more interesting ones and re-routed them to the inappropriate recipients, using an untraceable account of my own.
I crossed information between government agencies, leaked secrets to news organizations, and provided fodder and confirmation to conspiracy theorists. I placed virulent viruses, fried delicate systems, and left random destruction in my wake.
When I finally pulled back to myself, it was late by my watch and I tipped my head back to rest on the headrest behind me.
“You were a busy little pet Prime, weren't you?” Tailwind murmured, and I chuckled.
“Oh, it doesn't look like a really bad security breach-it's nothing that'll make them think 'Decepticon!' because it's so random, and since some of the information benefits the government...well.”
Tailwind made a sound of understanding.
“How about you?” I asked politely.
There was a shrug in his voice, “I familiarized myself with the layout of this part of the world. I scouted out and analyzed the domestic military bases. They never knew I was there,” he finished, slightly smug.
I smirked and closed my eyes. “I need rest. You can land somewhere and recharge yourself or keep on flying-it's up to you.”
“Rest sounds good,” he replied. I got the feeling that he wasn't quite used to the Terran atmosphere and his newest form, but I was smart enough not to bring it up. He banked and headed somewhere-not that I cared. I had enough food in my bag that if we weren't anywhere near a point of civilization I could survive for three days or so.
Eventually, we landed at a different abandoned air force base and hopped out of his cockpit when it opened. There was, thankfully, a hangar, which I walked into. It was large and drafty, but it provided a little protection from the elements.
“Where are you going, Screen?” Tailwind called out, curious.
“Somewhere I can sleep. I suggest you come in here, too, just in case someone flies over and sees you.”
Tailwind taxied into the hangar before shutting down, settling on his shocks. I smirked faintly before I took up a position in a corner, pulling my jacket more securely around me. I closed my eyes and very quickly fell asleep.
-
“You know, you do remarkably good work,” Tailwind told me, amusement lacing his voice as I awoke, he in his bipedal form.
I yawned and stretched, slowly standing. “Oh?”
“Your efforts from yesterday seem to have wrecked a lot of damage.”
I paused, cocked my head, and tapped into NPR. I listened for a few minutes, a smile slowly spreading across my face. “Yeah, I can do that when I try,” I told him.
Now, I probably should have been horrified at myself, but being claimed as Soundwave's changes one's perspective on a number of things-one of them being the morality of certain actions. In the beginning, when I was still getting used to the whole Decepticon thing, I did despise myself for my actions, for my willingness to do whatever Soundwave told me to do. But, when you are praised for doing evil deeds and the approval of Soundwave fills you with a greater pleasure than you've ever thought possible...well, you change.
I paused and looked at Tailwind, a thought forming in my mind. “Hey, you're good at stealth.”
“One of the best-I wouldn't be in my patrol otherwise,” came the slightly smug answer.
“How would you like taking down the Washington Monument, Lincoln memorial and Congress?”
Tailwind cocked his head. “Why?”
“They're all national landmarks, symbols of this country. We can get in-I can scramble your spark-signature and communications so no-one knows you're there until too late-do our damage, and then jet out across the atlantic towards Europe.”
Tailwind stroked his chin, obviously thinking. A smirk formed on his face. “Sounds like fun. I don't think it'd be good to take out all three-pick the most recognizable.”
“Lincoln memorial, definitely,” I say. “Even though taking out Congress would halt all political function, it'd have less...impact.”
Tailwind nodded, his optics briefly unfocused as he probably brought up a map of what he had scouted out. “Let's do it,” he said once he had figured out a route in his head, and folded into his jet form.
I quickly stuffed a granola bar into my mouth and chugged a water bottle before climbing into his cockpit, settling myself. “I'll take care of making sure any sightings of you don't get where they need to be.”
Tailwind snorted as he took off. “No-one will see me.”
“If you say so,” I replied.
Silence fell between us as he flew.
“Just how did you get caught up in all this?” Tailwind eventually asked.
He had managed to refrain from asking for longer than I thought he would. “Long story.”
“We've got a ways to go,” he replied dryly.
“My great-grandfather was an explorer. He found Megatron stuck in the arctic ice, activated the big bad's navigation system, and the energy released burned directions to the All Spark's location onto my great-grandfather's glasses. Eventually, they came into my possession and I tried to auction them for money on the internet. This made Bumblebee seek me out to protect me until the other 'bots arrived to retrieve the All Spark. This also alerted Barricade to my knowing where the All Spark was. So, I was now a target for the Decepticons and something to be protected by the Autobots. Through a number of events, I met Optimus Prime, Megatron was woken from his millenia of sleep, and I defeated Megatron using the All Spark.”
“Wait. You beat Megatron?”
“Yeah. Just hold on-it doesn't end there.” I took a breath. “Two years later, I find a shard of the All Spark hidden in my sweatshirt. I touch it and the All Spark downloads into my head...”
“So you also have all the knowledge in the All Spark?”
“Well, yeah.”
“No wonder Soundwave wanted you.”
I snorted. “Yeah. A little. Anyway. Megatron was resurrected, and he apparently went to find his master-the Fallen. The Fallen told him to kill Optimus and he did. Then the Fallen came here looking for the Solar Harvester. I was searching for the Matrix of Leadership, since that would-maybe-resurrect Optimus. I found the Matrix, it disintegrated in my hand, but I kept it anyway. There was a big battle, I managed to get myself killed, but I was resurrected by the Dynasty of Primes-”
“Wait, what?”
“I met the original 13 in the afterlife. They sent me back, saying I was a 'real leader' or some such nonsense. The Matrix solidified in my hand, and I used it to revive Optimus. Optimus then got suped up using Jetfire's parts-he had suicided to give Optimus a boost-and then Optimus took down the Fallen. Megatron and Starscream bolted to recover.”
I took a deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh. “Then I discovered that I was a Prime, since my dreams were haunted by the original 13 explaining how to use the knowledge that the All Spark had given me and figure out just what being a Prime entailed, and the new responsibilities I had acquired.”
“An organic Prime...it's unheard of...”
“Yeah, well, most Cybertronians haven't had contact with the Matrix and the All Spark, so...”
“Point. Where'd your spark come into this?”
I shrugged. “At some point I developed one. Soundwave claimed it in its infancy, and everyone accepted it as just a quirk in the radiation, not recognizing it as having been tampered with-afterall, I was a human carrying a spark; surely things would be different.”
“Screen, you have seen as much in your brief life as any Cybertronian has in our long ones,” Tailwind said, amused astonishment coloring his voice.
“Yeah, well. What can I say?”
Silence fell again before the flier spoke: “We're coming up on Washington D.C. Start your scrambling.”
I closed my eyes and focused, intercepting any conversation that spoke of Tailwind's appearance and broke it off as well as making him invisible on radar-I knew that the flier probably could do it on his own, but I just wanted to be sure.
I felt him deploy his weapons, and a few seconds later he fired off two shots before banking, changing direction, and accelerating. I couldn't help but smirk as I heard the impact from the missiles, but kept up my interference until we were over international waters.
“That was fun,” Tailwind said when I came back to myself. “Can we do more of that?”
I laughed. “Sure. Why not? We do espionage and scouting and wreck havoc on intel before picking a landmark to bring down.”
Tailwind slowed to a more comfortable pace. “I think I'm going to enjoy being on this planet.”
I chuckled. “I'm sure. You'll just have to be careful when I'm not around-don't want you getting in trouble.”
Tailwind scoffed at me, but I simply smirked and leaned back in the seat.
“It won't take long to get to Europe-is that what it's called?”
“Yeah. We'll start with continental Europe, just to give the English-who are one of America's allies-a false sense of security.”
“You know, you must've picked up a lot from Soundwave.”
“You have no idea,” I murmured. “To make sure that I got over all my silly human morals, he kept me with him, as a part of him, overwriting all my previous beliefs, encoding new programs and routines to make me absolutely his. I lost my humanity even though I'm physically still, in part, human.”
Tailwind made a 'hm' sound before falling quiet. “You are a very interesting creature, Screen.”
“Thank you?”
Tailwind laughed and increased his altitude. “Get ready. We'll be there in...ah...this planet has such an odd time-keeping system. 30 minutes.”
I nodded. “Half an hour. Fine. Wake me up then,” I said and leaned back, closing my eyes to catch a brief nap.
-
“Alright, I understand what you meant about possibly getting in trouble,” Tailwind said tightly as I examined his injuries.
None of them were too bad, but it would take a few days for his internal systems to repair them entirely. That meant that we were going to be grounded briefly, and I was out of food.
It had been difficult, but we had found a place to hide-people wouldn't think to look for us in a suburban area, and as long as I left a small scrambling device with Tailwind, no-one would be able to locate him using his spark-signature.
“Just go into recharge. I'll make sure no-one finds you,” I murmured to him, running my hands over his singed wings. He winced, but did as told.
I waited until he was in recharge before I took out a device from my backpack and attached it on his airframe close to his spark. There was a small pulse of energy that washed over him, and when I searched for his spark-signature I was unable to find it. It had taken ages to figure out how to make that, and it leaves me vulnerable-I can suppress my spark-signature, but normal people can feel that I'm slightly...different.
I was out of food and water, so I needed to take a pit stop in the main street of the town. Still, it was Spain, and therefore outside of my immediate experience. I changed my face to a common one and, after listening for a while as I walked down the street, learned continental Spanish through conversation and the internet. Best not to stick out.
I took out my wallet and sighed.
American currency. Damnit.
I put it back in my wallet and looked around for a bank. I didn't think I'd be able to exchange my currency, but I'd probably be able to hack an ATM-if there was one. I growled inwardly and ran a hand through my hair. This sucked. I looked around and saw a man walking by with his wallet sticking temptingly out of his back pocket. I looked away quickly and thought. I had picked pockets before. It wasn't difficult. But this seemed too easy.
So I ignored the man who walked by, but caught the smallest glimmer of something else hiding in his jacket.
Police. No, what were they called in Spain? It didn't matter.
I was still without money.
I ended up withdrawing some money from my account I had in the US using an international ATM (a few robberies and internet identity theft and I have a cache of money), and placed the bills in my pocket. Now to get food and water and stuff.
I found what I assumed to be a supermarket of some sort, quickly walked through it to pick out non-perishable food items and some stuff to drink, paid for them, stuffed them in my bag, and started walking back to where I had left Tailwind.
That caused my mind to drift back to why we were hiding in a suburb of Madrid in the first place.
We had done a successful sweep of most of continental Europe, but we were sighted by one military or another, and had to do some fancy flying to get away. Tailwind's frame wasn't meant for really quick accelerations, so he had tiny fractures on his body from that. He had managed to bring down all our pursuers, but not without damage done to himself.
Perhaps there is a reason fliers work in teams for the most part, I thought idly and readjusted my pack. I stopped walking and looked behind me, turning my body at a sound.
Ah, shit.
I was being followed. Someone must've seen me walk away from where Tailwind had landed, regardless of my efforts at scrambling communications and Tailwind's natural stealth capabilities.
So I started walking towards the people who were tailing me, my hand tightening on the strap of my backpack. The people tailing me couldn't extrapolate where I would have headed, since I was still in a residential district, and it was a one-way street, those trailing me in the car had to either exit the car and confront me directly or continue moving on.
Eventually, one person stepped out of the passenger side while the driver kept on going.
Sneaky, I thought with a sigh. I kept on walking, but a hand darted out and caught my elbow. I looked over at the person, pretending to be puzzled. “Yes?” I asked, my voice the perfect imitation of the general accent.
The man took took out a badge and flipped it open-Interpol.
Well, damn, I thought ruefully. “Is there something I can help you with?” I asked politely.
“If you could come with me,” the agent replied equally politely.
“Sorry, but I can't,” I said calmly before executing a perfect martial arts move and activating my cloaking mechanism, moving quietly and quickly against a building, stopping my breathing.
The agent recovered fairly quickly and swore softly, looking around for me. He said something into a transmitter in his ear and walked towards where I saw a car pull up. I followed silently and attached myself to the roof of the car-the windows were down, so I was able to get a decent grip.
It also let me listen in on their conversation and give me the opportunity to do what I do best. What'd be better than infiltrating Interpol? I'd gain 10 levels in awesome.
Alas, I also had to stay with Tailwind, so I couldn't stray too far. I didn't have too much to worry about, though, considering I had bugged the agent when I threw him. I added a bug to the car, just for extra intel and then grabbed the edge of an overpass they drove under before dropping to the ground once they were out of sight.
It was interesting, dodging traffic, but I'm not espionage for nothing. I got to the shoulder and it took surprisingly little time for me to hit an off-ramp that would take me towards where I wanted to go. I kept my cloaking device up as I walked, taking my time. My body still left indents and reacted to the surroundings, so I couldn't go too quickly lest people inspect where I was more closely.
It took me a while, but I eventually got back to our hiding spot, nearly wilting in relief when I saw my temporary partner still there in recharge. It meant that no-one had found him in my absence. It was only once I had checked for anyone spying on us that I dropped my cloak.
I sighed and sat down in a corner of our current hideout, readjusting my sweatshirt. I decided that I would find places like this all over the world and stash supplies and clothes, if just so I don't have to risk my cover by going out like I had every time.
I closed my eyes, but was unable to fall asleep. I suppose I was jumpy because we were in a more inhabited area, and finding a large jet in a seemingly abandoned place would probably be a bad thing. Sure, we would be able to get away easy once Tailwind was up and running again, but until then, all I could do was wait.
Wait and listen in on the conversations my bugged Interpol agent was having.
I closed my eyes and settled myself comfortably, turning my attention to my job.
--
mm...yeah.
But, for now, A Transformers fanfic update.
Fandom: Transformers movie(s)
Characters: Sam Witwicky
Title: Transformations
Author: me!
Rating: PG-13
Chapter: 2/?
Summary: A lot changed for Sam after the battle of Giza...
Warnings: Language.
Disclaimer: I own a Soundwave toy. That I paid money for.
I triple checked the coordinates and sighed. I hoped that this Seeker was better than the others I'd run across. Skywarp in particular had touched a few nerves, and only his ability to teleport had saved him from Soundwave's retaliations.
One day, I'll catch the pest when he's asleep and find out what exactly gives him that frustrating ability before scrapping it so damn hard.
Anyway.
I sat down in the middle of the abandoned airfield, looking up at the sky. There were times I envied the Seekers for their ability to skim the clouds, but the general personality traits that seemed to come with being a Seeker turned me off from that idea quickly enough.
I closed my eyes and opened my mind to the web of information constantly flying in the air. Billions of conversations were open to me, wireless internet mine for the taking. Radio transmissions, encrypted information, nothing was beyond my reach.
It was in this way that I was able to detect the flier approaching me. Fliers have a unique flavor to their spark-signature, and a comparison of the spark-signature I was registering to the database I had of all the Decepticons-courtesy of Soundwave and necessity-identified the jet as Tailwind. I stood and allowed my skin to harden into its Cybertronian matte metal. Just in case.
Tailwind arrived rather abruptly, pulling up quickly and dropping to the ground, his feet landing with a dull thud on the cracked-concrete ground.
He looked around, probably searching for another Cybertronian. I coughed and pinged him over the broad Decepticon channel, bringing his optics down to me. The incredulity in his posture made me smile.
“I'm Screen. And you are Tailwind,” I said, not bothering to conceal my amusement.
“You don't look like one of Soundwave's pets,” he said, obviously running a scan over me to make sure I wasn't bluffing.
I rolled my eyes. “Please. Do you know the specifics of what we're supposed to do? Soundwave wouldn't tell me anything.”
“You and I are to do some spying together,” the flier said as he knelt, examining me more closely.
I stood my ground, crossing my arms, examining him as well. His body was a type of jet I was unfamiliar with, but that was unsurprising, considering my knowledge of military matters was gone almost as soon as I retrieved it.
“Then let's get going,” I said. “What exactly are we supposed to retrieve, information-wise?”
Tailwind shrugged. “It was a pretty broad order. Although I think the main directive is to push international tensions in this world to the breaking point.”
“Corrupted information, misdirected intel, and the like?” I murmured. “Sounds like fun.”
Tailwind gave me an incredulous look. “You're human, aren't you?”
“Partly,” I said with a sigh. “But I belong to Soundwave, and what Soundwave or Megatron orders, I obey.”
“Ah,” Tailwind said before transforming into his jet form, popping open the entrance to his cockpit. “Sucks for you.”
I laughed and jumped into the cockpit, which closed behind me. “How'd you get conned into doing this?”
“I can't stand anyone in my patrol, so when Soundwave approached me with this, I jumped at the chance. I might be able to prove to him that I'm strong and useful enough that I can move out of the Air Strike Patrol and gain some rank.”
“Mm-hm,” I murmured. My rank might pull some strings, since, even though I belonged to Soundwave, I was still a Prime. My opinion carried weight. Depending on how the mission went, I might be able to increase his chances of moving up in the ranks. “So, are you a Seeker?”
Tailwind scoffed. “No. Thank Primus.”
“Then what are you?”
There was a shrug in a voice. “Just a flier. I've heard the word 'micromaster' thrown around, but since I don't know what it means, I don't care-I'm just glad I'm not a Seeker.” He said "Seeker" in the same tone one would say "pile-of-toxic-ooze."
He took off quickly enough that it pressed me back in the seat, but, thankfully, I can withstand more than most humans can. It seemed to impress the Decepticon I was riding with.
“Where do we start?” Tailwind asked, obviously unhappy to have to do so. He was probably new to the world, so it was up to me to familiarize him.
I paused and thought. I decided that planning out loud wouldn't be a bad thing, since Tailwind needed the information.
“A lot of European countries still don't trust the Germans and creating political unease in that section of the world will be very distracting, since that's where a lot of the 'developed world' is. Even though there's the European Union, splintering that particular alliance would be incredibly profitable, since it would pull attention away from the whole Decepticon and Autobot conflict to something much closer to home. So if we could cross intel that'd be productive.”
I paused for another moment before speaking again: “Another tactic would be to leak Chinese and North Korean intelligence to America and Japan and vice versa. Throwing Russia into the mix wouldn't be bad either, as would stimulating terrorist activity.”
I could feel the intrigue coming off of the Decepticon I was with. “You do know that you're trying to hurt your own species.”
I sigh. “You know that manipulating Autobot information is messing with your own species, right?”
“Point. So, where do we start?”
It was a good question, and made me think, silence reigning for a long while. Eventually, I came to a decision: “Terrorists.”
“Why?”
“They're international.”
“Huh. Perhaps you are meant to be a Decepticon.”
“It's Soundwave's influence, I promise you,” I replied dryly. “I wasn't this smart before he claimed me.”
Tailwind snickered and banked, changing direction.
“You scout out activity,” I said and leaned back in the seat, closing my eyes. “I'll be watching the information flying about. We'll work on domestic terrorists first before branching out.”
“You know, why I am content at being ordered around by you?” he asked, sounding annoyed.
I smirked. “Because I'm a Prime.”
“Don't try to pull a fast one, human,” he warned.
“I'm serious,” I answered. “It's another reason why Soundwave claimed me. Now, let me focus.”
He grumbled but turned his own sensors outside himself as I concentrated on listening, suppressing my knowledge of his grumblings.
It was difficult, sifting through the myriad of radiation flying around the atmosphere. Television signals, wireless internet, and a billion different phone conversations. Slowly, I put layer upon layer of filters, cutting out mundane conversations and legitimate business dealings, among the broadest filters.
I slowly cut back on government transactions until I was left with only secure channels. I had also sifted through civilian conversations until I had only the ones that were being spoken in code. I ran the code through a thousand data banks until I could listen in on the coded conversations with ease. Some of it was stupid, but there were a few more...interesting ones I stumbled across.
I broke through the secure government channels and listened intently, storing away the information. I turned most of my attention to breaking into e-mail accounts, filtering all the trillions of yahoo, gmail, hotmail, etc. through my mind. I picked up the more interesting ones and re-routed them to the inappropriate recipients, using an untraceable account of my own.
I crossed information between government agencies, leaked secrets to news organizations, and provided fodder and confirmation to conspiracy theorists. I placed virulent viruses, fried delicate systems, and left random destruction in my wake.
When I finally pulled back to myself, it was late by my watch and I tipped my head back to rest on the headrest behind me.
“You were a busy little pet Prime, weren't you?” Tailwind murmured, and I chuckled.
“Oh, it doesn't look like a really bad security breach-it's nothing that'll make them think 'Decepticon!' because it's so random, and since some of the information benefits the government...well.”
Tailwind made a sound of understanding.
“How about you?” I asked politely.
There was a shrug in his voice, “I familiarized myself with the layout of this part of the world. I scouted out and analyzed the domestic military bases. They never knew I was there,” he finished, slightly smug.
I smirked and closed my eyes. “I need rest. You can land somewhere and recharge yourself or keep on flying-it's up to you.”
“Rest sounds good,” he replied. I got the feeling that he wasn't quite used to the Terran atmosphere and his newest form, but I was smart enough not to bring it up. He banked and headed somewhere-not that I cared. I had enough food in my bag that if we weren't anywhere near a point of civilization I could survive for three days or so.
Eventually, we landed at a different abandoned air force base and hopped out of his cockpit when it opened. There was, thankfully, a hangar, which I walked into. It was large and drafty, but it provided a little protection from the elements.
“Where are you going, Screen?” Tailwind called out, curious.
“Somewhere I can sleep. I suggest you come in here, too, just in case someone flies over and sees you.”
Tailwind taxied into the hangar before shutting down, settling on his shocks. I smirked faintly before I took up a position in a corner, pulling my jacket more securely around me. I closed my eyes and very quickly fell asleep.
-
“You know, you do remarkably good work,” Tailwind told me, amusement lacing his voice as I awoke, he in his bipedal form.
I yawned and stretched, slowly standing. “Oh?”
“Your efforts from yesterday seem to have wrecked a lot of damage.”
I paused, cocked my head, and tapped into NPR. I listened for a few minutes, a smile slowly spreading across my face. “Yeah, I can do that when I try,” I told him.
Now, I probably should have been horrified at myself, but being claimed as Soundwave's changes one's perspective on a number of things-one of them being the morality of certain actions. In the beginning, when I was still getting used to the whole Decepticon thing, I did despise myself for my actions, for my willingness to do whatever Soundwave told me to do. But, when you are praised for doing evil deeds and the approval of Soundwave fills you with a greater pleasure than you've ever thought possible...well, you change.
I paused and looked at Tailwind, a thought forming in my mind. “Hey, you're good at stealth.”
“One of the best-I wouldn't be in my patrol otherwise,” came the slightly smug answer.
“How would you like taking down the Washington Monument, Lincoln memorial and Congress?”
Tailwind cocked his head. “Why?”
“They're all national landmarks, symbols of this country. We can get in-I can scramble your spark-signature and communications so no-one knows you're there until too late-do our damage, and then jet out across the atlantic towards Europe.”
Tailwind stroked his chin, obviously thinking. A smirk formed on his face. “Sounds like fun. I don't think it'd be good to take out all three-pick the most recognizable.”
“Lincoln memorial, definitely,” I say. “Even though taking out Congress would halt all political function, it'd have less...impact.”
Tailwind nodded, his optics briefly unfocused as he probably brought up a map of what he had scouted out. “Let's do it,” he said once he had figured out a route in his head, and folded into his jet form.
I quickly stuffed a granola bar into my mouth and chugged a water bottle before climbing into his cockpit, settling myself. “I'll take care of making sure any sightings of you don't get where they need to be.”
Tailwind snorted as he took off. “No-one will see me.”
“If you say so,” I replied.
Silence fell between us as he flew.
“Just how did you get caught up in all this?” Tailwind eventually asked.
He had managed to refrain from asking for longer than I thought he would. “Long story.”
“We've got a ways to go,” he replied dryly.
“My great-grandfather was an explorer. He found Megatron stuck in the arctic ice, activated the big bad's navigation system, and the energy released burned directions to the All Spark's location onto my great-grandfather's glasses. Eventually, they came into my possession and I tried to auction them for money on the internet. This made Bumblebee seek me out to protect me until the other 'bots arrived to retrieve the All Spark. This also alerted Barricade to my knowing where the All Spark was. So, I was now a target for the Decepticons and something to be protected by the Autobots. Through a number of events, I met Optimus Prime, Megatron was woken from his millenia of sleep, and I defeated Megatron using the All Spark.”
“Wait. You beat Megatron?”
“Yeah. Just hold on-it doesn't end there.” I took a breath. “Two years later, I find a shard of the All Spark hidden in my sweatshirt. I touch it and the All Spark downloads into my head...”
“So you also have all the knowledge in the All Spark?”
“Well, yeah.”
“No wonder Soundwave wanted you.”
I snorted. “Yeah. A little. Anyway. Megatron was resurrected, and he apparently went to find his master-the Fallen. The Fallen told him to kill Optimus and he did. Then the Fallen came here looking for the Solar Harvester. I was searching for the Matrix of Leadership, since that would-maybe-resurrect Optimus. I found the Matrix, it disintegrated in my hand, but I kept it anyway. There was a big battle, I managed to get myself killed, but I was resurrected by the Dynasty of Primes-”
“Wait, what?”
“I met the original 13 in the afterlife. They sent me back, saying I was a 'real leader' or some such nonsense. The Matrix solidified in my hand, and I used it to revive Optimus. Optimus then got suped up using Jetfire's parts-he had suicided to give Optimus a boost-and then Optimus took down the Fallen. Megatron and Starscream bolted to recover.”
I took a deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh. “Then I discovered that I was a Prime, since my dreams were haunted by the original 13 explaining how to use the knowledge that the All Spark had given me and figure out just what being a Prime entailed, and the new responsibilities I had acquired.”
“An organic Prime...it's unheard of...”
“Yeah, well, most Cybertronians haven't had contact with the Matrix and the All Spark, so...”
“Point. Where'd your spark come into this?”
I shrugged. “At some point I developed one. Soundwave claimed it in its infancy, and everyone accepted it as just a quirk in the radiation, not recognizing it as having been tampered with-afterall, I was a human carrying a spark; surely things would be different.”
“Screen, you have seen as much in your brief life as any Cybertronian has in our long ones,” Tailwind said, amused astonishment coloring his voice.
“Yeah, well. What can I say?”
Silence fell again before the flier spoke: “We're coming up on Washington D.C. Start your scrambling.”
I closed my eyes and focused, intercepting any conversation that spoke of Tailwind's appearance and broke it off as well as making him invisible on radar-I knew that the flier probably could do it on his own, but I just wanted to be sure.
I felt him deploy his weapons, and a few seconds later he fired off two shots before banking, changing direction, and accelerating. I couldn't help but smirk as I heard the impact from the missiles, but kept up my interference until we were over international waters.
“That was fun,” Tailwind said when I came back to myself. “Can we do more of that?”
I laughed. “Sure. Why not? We do espionage and scouting and wreck havoc on intel before picking a landmark to bring down.”
Tailwind slowed to a more comfortable pace. “I think I'm going to enjoy being on this planet.”
I chuckled. “I'm sure. You'll just have to be careful when I'm not around-don't want you getting in trouble.”
Tailwind scoffed at me, but I simply smirked and leaned back in the seat.
“It won't take long to get to Europe-is that what it's called?”
“Yeah. We'll start with continental Europe, just to give the English-who are one of America's allies-a false sense of security.”
“You know, you must've picked up a lot from Soundwave.”
“You have no idea,” I murmured. “To make sure that I got over all my silly human morals, he kept me with him, as a part of him, overwriting all my previous beliefs, encoding new programs and routines to make me absolutely his. I lost my humanity even though I'm physically still, in part, human.”
Tailwind made a 'hm' sound before falling quiet. “You are a very interesting creature, Screen.”
“Thank you?”
Tailwind laughed and increased his altitude. “Get ready. We'll be there in...ah...this planet has such an odd time-keeping system. 30 minutes.”
I nodded. “Half an hour. Fine. Wake me up then,” I said and leaned back, closing my eyes to catch a brief nap.
-
“Alright, I understand what you meant about possibly getting in trouble,” Tailwind said tightly as I examined his injuries.
None of them were too bad, but it would take a few days for his internal systems to repair them entirely. That meant that we were going to be grounded briefly, and I was out of food.
It had been difficult, but we had found a place to hide-people wouldn't think to look for us in a suburban area, and as long as I left a small scrambling device with Tailwind, no-one would be able to locate him using his spark-signature.
“Just go into recharge. I'll make sure no-one finds you,” I murmured to him, running my hands over his singed wings. He winced, but did as told.
I waited until he was in recharge before I took out a device from my backpack and attached it on his airframe close to his spark. There was a small pulse of energy that washed over him, and when I searched for his spark-signature I was unable to find it. It had taken ages to figure out how to make that, and it leaves me vulnerable-I can suppress my spark-signature, but normal people can feel that I'm slightly...different.
I was out of food and water, so I needed to take a pit stop in the main street of the town. Still, it was Spain, and therefore outside of my immediate experience. I changed my face to a common one and, after listening for a while as I walked down the street, learned continental Spanish through conversation and the internet. Best not to stick out.
I took out my wallet and sighed.
American currency. Damnit.
I put it back in my wallet and looked around for a bank. I didn't think I'd be able to exchange my currency, but I'd probably be able to hack an ATM-if there was one. I growled inwardly and ran a hand through my hair. This sucked. I looked around and saw a man walking by with his wallet sticking temptingly out of his back pocket. I looked away quickly and thought. I had picked pockets before. It wasn't difficult. But this seemed too easy.
So I ignored the man who walked by, but caught the smallest glimmer of something else hiding in his jacket.
Police. No, what were they called in Spain? It didn't matter.
I was still without money.
I ended up withdrawing some money from my account I had in the US using an international ATM (a few robberies and internet identity theft and I have a cache of money), and placed the bills in my pocket. Now to get food and water and stuff.
I found what I assumed to be a supermarket of some sort, quickly walked through it to pick out non-perishable food items and some stuff to drink, paid for them, stuffed them in my bag, and started walking back to where I had left Tailwind.
That caused my mind to drift back to why we were hiding in a suburb of Madrid in the first place.
We had done a successful sweep of most of continental Europe, but we were sighted by one military or another, and had to do some fancy flying to get away. Tailwind's frame wasn't meant for really quick accelerations, so he had tiny fractures on his body from that. He had managed to bring down all our pursuers, but not without damage done to himself.
Perhaps there is a reason fliers work in teams for the most part, I thought idly and readjusted my pack. I stopped walking and looked behind me, turning my body at a sound.
Ah, shit.
I was being followed. Someone must've seen me walk away from where Tailwind had landed, regardless of my efforts at scrambling communications and Tailwind's natural stealth capabilities.
So I started walking towards the people who were tailing me, my hand tightening on the strap of my backpack. The people tailing me couldn't extrapolate where I would have headed, since I was still in a residential district, and it was a one-way street, those trailing me in the car had to either exit the car and confront me directly or continue moving on.
Eventually, one person stepped out of the passenger side while the driver kept on going.
Sneaky, I thought with a sigh. I kept on walking, but a hand darted out and caught my elbow. I looked over at the person, pretending to be puzzled. “Yes?” I asked, my voice the perfect imitation of the general accent.
The man took took out a badge and flipped it open-Interpol.
Well, damn, I thought ruefully. “Is there something I can help you with?” I asked politely.
“If you could come with me,” the agent replied equally politely.
“Sorry, but I can't,” I said calmly before executing a perfect martial arts move and activating my cloaking mechanism, moving quietly and quickly against a building, stopping my breathing.
The agent recovered fairly quickly and swore softly, looking around for me. He said something into a transmitter in his ear and walked towards where I saw a car pull up. I followed silently and attached myself to the roof of the car-the windows were down, so I was able to get a decent grip.
It also let me listen in on their conversation and give me the opportunity to do what I do best. What'd be better than infiltrating Interpol? I'd gain 10 levels in awesome.
Alas, I also had to stay with Tailwind, so I couldn't stray too far. I didn't have too much to worry about, though, considering I had bugged the agent when I threw him. I added a bug to the car, just for extra intel and then grabbed the edge of an overpass they drove under before dropping to the ground once they were out of sight.
It was interesting, dodging traffic, but I'm not espionage for nothing. I got to the shoulder and it took surprisingly little time for me to hit an off-ramp that would take me towards where I wanted to go. I kept my cloaking device up as I walked, taking my time. My body still left indents and reacted to the surroundings, so I couldn't go too quickly lest people inspect where I was more closely.
It took me a while, but I eventually got back to our hiding spot, nearly wilting in relief when I saw my temporary partner still there in recharge. It meant that no-one had found him in my absence. It was only once I had checked for anyone spying on us that I dropped my cloak.
I sighed and sat down in a corner of our current hideout, readjusting my sweatshirt. I decided that I would find places like this all over the world and stash supplies and clothes, if just so I don't have to risk my cover by going out like I had every time.
I closed my eyes, but was unable to fall asleep. I suppose I was jumpy because we were in a more inhabited area, and finding a large jet in a seemingly abandoned place would probably be a bad thing. Sure, we would be able to get away easy once Tailwind was up and running again, but until then, all I could do was wait.
Wait and listen in on the conversations my bugged Interpol agent was having.
I closed my eyes and settled myself comfortably, turning my attention to my job.
--
mm...yeah.