Fic - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (Chapter 4 of 9)
Title: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Chapter: 04 - Being Found
Warnings: gen, suspense, a bit mystery/horror, possible disturbing images
Continuity: G1 [part of ultharkitty’s Dysfunction AU, post season three]
Characters: Vortex, Blast Off, Brawl
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Sadly, nothing is mine.
Beta: ultharkitty
Summary: Vortex, Blast Off and Brawl are on a mission to get an alien energy source from an abandoned space station.
Note: Nothing here today, enjoy reading. :)
Chapter 01 - Chapter 02 - Chapter 03
“Talking”
‘Comm-link’
---
…then you show your little light, twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
Part 4 - Being Found
With the panic surging through Vortex’ systems, it was almost impossible to think clearly, and hard to focus on the task of opening the door.
The hissing behind him became louder every astrosecond as the tentacle-like streaks of the web found their way towards him. And he still didn’t fit through the gap between the doors.
When Vortex turned around, he wished he hadn’t. There was only a few feet left until the streaks would reach him and do whatever their intention was. He frowned behind his visor, and for a moment he thought that being caught might be not too bad. Perhaps these tentacles would bring him to where they‘d taken Brawl, then he wouldn’t need to search for the tank himself. But an astrosecond later he remembered the weird alien which had practically melted with the wall of the ship, and Vortex shuddered.
This wasn’t a good idea at all.
Vortex vented, and was about to start tugging and pulling on that door again when a loud rumble echoed from somewhere beneath. The ground shook under his feet and another clatter followed; the roar of torn open materials and the smell of burnt metal hung in the air.
Trying to make out what happened behind the door, he looked curiously through the gap. There was just dust and the silhouettes of several fallen girders.
And before he saw the familiar shape, his commlink crackled.
‘What the pit are you doing?!’ The voice was angry, but Vortex had never been happier to hear it. That was, until he heard the next bit.
‘Take cover!’
He didn’t have the time to ask “where” or to protest “wait”; he had already heard the charging of cannons, and he leaped a step back. Though Vortex didn’t dare to step on the web streaks, and so the distance to the door wasn’t all that huge as the laser hit the metal.
Vortex’ battle programming kicked in. He watched in high definition and slow motion, caused by more pictures processed per astrosecond than he was used to how the door began to glow, to bulge towards him until it finally gave in and burst. The shock sent him sprawling to the floor, glowing metal pieces flying over him, hitting the web and the walls. He felt the web streaks moving beneath him, sending little electric shocks into his armour. A smaller piece of the door bounced off his rotors, and the impact reverberated through his rotor assembly into his back.
The electro shocks and the vibration would have felt nice if he’d been in another situation, and if not for the angry growl of Blast Off’s engine.
Even without looking - he couldn’t see much at all within the dust cloud and darkness anyway - Vortex heard the familiar noise of lasers charging again before they were released in another almighty boom.
The electric flow under him stopped, and the streaks went idle.
It was a pity that Vortex couldn’t have seen Blast Off firing those cannons at the web…
Another growl over the comm, ‘Get up!’ before Vortex was heaved from the ground, Blast Off’s hand squeezing his upper arm with a pleasurable force. It was only thanks to his glitching equilibrium and weak legs that he didn’t glomp Blast Off immediately when he was back on his feet. And on second thoughts, it was probably better that he didn’t, because the shuttle’s voice sounded everything but pleased.
‘Why the frag did you split up? And why the pit do you have your headlights on?! I told you to use your infrared sensors, glitch head!’
It took Vortex a moment until everything Blast Off had said made sense, and he answered instinctively also via comm, leaning against a wall for purchase.
‘What the frag? You just said it’d be better if we use it. Don’t yell at me because of that slag… We have other problems. Brawl got kidnapped.’
The dust slowly settled and revealed the destroyed, burnt web and the annoyed stance of the shuttle staring at Vortex.
‘Kidnapped?’ the shuttle’s voice lost some of the anger and now sounded rather confused, but Vortex didn’t really care. With the view clear again and his sight setting changed back to infrared, he gesticulated wildly as he explained.
‘We were on infrared, but then there was a hole, and Brawl fell in. Or Brawl walked in, or whatever. He said the ground was suddenly missing, and frag, I believe him. I saw the hole, and I looked down, but there was nothing, everything was just black, so I turned my headlights on, but still couldn’t see anything. And then the hole got smaller, and… the floor grew and then it was gone. And Brawl, too. I tried to comm him, but he didn’t answer and moved to the reactor-thing and…’
‘It’s not a reactor,’ Blast Off interrupted, and Vortex shot him a look.
‘I don’t think it really matters if it’s a reactor or something else!’ Vortex snapped, and carried on, his voice again more flustered. ‘Whatever, I tried to keep up with Brawl, though I don’t think it was him who was moving. And there were weird things everywhere. Did you see that alien stuck in the wall? I shot it, and it was all urgh and such, and then I ran off and got trapped in here and then you came and shot the web… And I think this ship is alive… or something.’
Blast Off was quiet when he stared at Vortex for almost a klik. Then, he eventually nodded and huffed.
‘You sound almost like Swindle when you talk like that…’
Right then, it was Vortex’ engine which growled, but he didn’t say anything as Blast Off spoke anew.
‘And what do you mean? What alien...?’
The ‘copter nodded and pushed himself off the wall. ‘There was an alien, you know, the kind that built this thing, it was kinda within the wall, but I guess there was only a puddle of organic mud when you went through the corridor…’
Vortex enjoyed the disgusted shudder from the shuttle, and was glad his battle mask hid his grin. There was nothing unusual in Blast Off’s tone, however, only the familiar condescension.
‘Fortunately, I didn’t have to see any squashed aliens. I used a shortcut.’
The shuttle turned to the remains of the web, stroking over the odd streaks, his optics flickering.
Vortex tilted his head. ‘What shortcut?’
‘None you could use…’ the tone absently, ‘too cold for your build type.’
Sulky, Vortex crossed his arms. Of course, Blast Off was built for worse conditions, and could endure more than Vortex could, and he was faster and overall so much better than the rest of them, Vortex thought, irritated, but he knew better than to say it aloud. And again the shuttle was just staring at the corridor at nothing, and probably ran thousand of scans without telling him anything which could be - maybe - of importance in such a situation.
Sigma, Vortex hated it when Blast Off did this, and the shuttle indeed did it a lot; particularly in situations like this, on foreign planets or before battles or… whenever.
“You’re such an aft-head!” the ‘copter muttered aloud without noticing, and Blast Off only answered with another huff and via commlink, still absent-minded.
‘Use comms. We need to be quiet…’
Vortex’ intakes heaved air to an annoyed sigh. He couldn’t even really argue with the shuttle, because he would just be ignored… This was frustrating. But again, he rather kept quiet about this and instead he asked curiously, ‘So, Space Cowboy, what is this stuff there?’
Blast Off gave him a look, probably because of the new nickname he’d learnt from Brawl, his tone was unimpressed.
‘I don’t know. It’s neither organic nor robotic. I haven’t seen anything like this before.’
Well, this knowledge - or the lack of it - wasn’t really comforting.
‘I thought you’d already seen everything.’
A huff, and a shake of his head from the shuttle before he spoke in a voice he usually used on Brawl. ‘There is no way any living being could have seen everything. Do you have any idea how big space is?’
‘Uhm… very big? Huge?’
‘Tsk… try infinite.’ After that, Blast Off turned again to the streaks and the dark corridor.
Infinite… well, this was even less reassuring, but Vortex was better off not stating that. Although he hadn’t seen as much from the universe as Blast Off had, Vortex knew very well that the shuttle being moody was one of the most unpleasant things ever.
He waited for Blast Off to speak again, and he didn’t have to wait long.
‘We need to find Brawl. And we need to be quiet. Let’s go.’
The shuttle began walking into the hallway which earlier had been blocked by the web, and Vortex hurried after him. He didn’t felt like losing another team mate.
---
Chapter 01 - Little Star
Chapter 02 - No Trespassing
Chapter 03 - Getting Lost
Chapter 04 - Being Found
Chapter 05 - Cathedral
Chapter 06 - Shadow Run
Chapter 07 - Revealing Light
Chapter 08 - Procrastination
Chapter 09 - Supernova
Chapter: 04 - Being Found
Warnings: gen, suspense, a bit mystery/horror, possible disturbing images
Continuity: G1 [part of ultharkitty’s Dysfunction AU, post season three]
Characters: Vortex, Blast Off, Brawl
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Sadly, nothing is mine.
Beta: ultharkitty
Summary: Vortex, Blast Off and Brawl are on a mission to get an alien energy source from an abandoned space station.
Note: Nothing here today, enjoy reading. :)
Chapter 01 - Chapter 02 - Chapter 03
“Talking”
‘Comm-link’
---
…then you show your little light, twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
Part 4 - Being Found
With the panic surging through Vortex’ systems, it was almost impossible to think clearly, and hard to focus on the task of opening the door.
The hissing behind him became louder every astrosecond as the tentacle-like streaks of the web found their way towards him. And he still didn’t fit through the gap between the doors.
When Vortex turned around, he wished he hadn’t. There was only a few feet left until the streaks would reach him and do whatever their intention was. He frowned behind his visor, and for a moment he thought that being caught might be not too bad. Perhaps these tentacles would bring him to where they‘d taken Brawl, then he wouldn’t need to search for the tank himself. But an astrosecond later he remembered the weird alien which had practically melted with the wall of the ship, and Vortex shuddered.
This wasn’t a good idea at all.
Vortex vented, and was about to start tugging and pulling on that door again when a loud rumble echoed from somewhere beneath. The ground shook under his feet and another clatter followed; the roar of torn open materials and the smell of burnt metal hung in the air.
Trying to make out what happened behind the door, he looked curiously through the gap. There was just dust and the silhouettes of several fallen girders.
And before he saw the familiar shape, his commlink crackled.
‘What the pit are you doing?!’ The voice was angry, but Vortex had never been happier to hear it. That was, until he heard the next bit.
‘Take cover!’
He didn’t have the time to ask “where” or to protest “wait”; he had already heard the charging of cannons, and he leaped a step back. Though Vortex didn’t dare to step on the web streaks, and so the distance to the door wasn’t all that huge as the laser hit the metal.
Vortex’ battle programming kicked in. He watched in high definition and slow motion, caused by more pictures processed per astrosecond than he was used to how the door began to glow, to bulge towards him until it finally gave in and burst. The shock sent him sprawling to the floor, glowing metal pieces flying over him, hitting the web and the walls. He felt the web streaks moving beneath him, sending little electric shocks into his armour. A smaller piece of the door bounced off his rotors, and the impact reverberated through his rotor assembly into his back.
The electro shocks and the vibration would have felt nice if he’d been in another situation, and if not for the angry growl of Blast Off’s engine.
Even without looking - he couldn’t see much at all within the dust cloud and darkness anyway - Vortex heard the familiar noise of lasers charging again before they were released in another almighty boom.
The electric flow under him stopped, and the streaks went idle.
It was a pity that Vortex couldn’t have seen Blast Off firing those cannons at the web…
Another growl over the comm, ‘Get up!’ before Vortex was heaved from the ground, Blast Off’s hand squeezing his upper arm with a pleasurable force. It was only thanks to his glitching equilibrium and weak legs that he didn’t glomp Blast Off immediately when he was back on his feet. And on second thoughts, it was probably better that he didn’t, because the shuttle’s voice sounded everything but pleased.
‘Why the frag did you split up? And why the pit do you have your headlights on?! I told you to use your infrared sensors, glitch head!’
It took Vortex a moment until everything Blast Off had said made sense, and he answered instinctively also via comm, leaning against a wall for purchase.
‘What the frag? You just said it’d be better if we use it. Don’t yell at me because of that slag… We have other problems. Brawl got kidnapped.’
The dust slowly settled and revealed the destroyed, burnt web and the annoyed stance of the shuttle staring at Vortex.
‘Kidnapped?’ the shuttle’s voice lost some of the anger and now sounded rather confused, but Vortex didn’t really care. With the view clear again and his sight setting changed back to infrared, he gesticulated wildly as he explained.
‘We were on infrared, but then there was a hole, and Brawl fell in. Or Brawl walked in, or whatever. He said the ground was suddenly missing, and frag, I believe him. I saw the hole, and I looked down, but there was nothing, everything was just black, so I turned my headlights on, but still couldn’t see anything. And then the hole got smaller, and… the floor grew and then it was gone. And Brawl, too. I tried to comm him, but he didn’t answer and moved to the reactor-thing and…’
‘It’s not a reactor,’ Blast Off interrupted, and Vortex shot him a look.
‘I don’t think it really matters if it’s a reactor or something else!’ Vortex snapped, and carried on, his voice again more flustered. ‘Whatever, I tried to keep up with Brawl, though I don’t think it was him who was moving. And there were weird things everywhere. Did you see that alien stuck in the wall? I shot it, and it was all urgh and such, and then I ran off and got trapped in here and then you came and shot the web… And I think this ship is alive… or something.’
Blast Off was quiet when he stared at Vortex for almost a klik. Then, he eventually nodded and huffed.
‘You sound almost like Swindle when you talk like that…’
Right then, it was Vortex’ engine which growled, but he didn’t say anything as Blast Off spoke anew.
‘And what do you mean? What alien...?’
The ‘copter nodded and pushed himself off the wall. ‘There was an alien, you know, the kind that built this thing, it was kinda within the wall, but I guess there was only a puddle of organic mud when you went through the corridor…’
Vortex enjoyed the disgusted shudder from the shuttle, and was glad his battle mask hid his grin. There was nothing unusual in Blast Off’s tone, however, only the familiar condescension.
‘Fortunately, I didn’t have to see any squashed aliens. I used a shortcut.’
The shuttle turned to the remains of the web, stroking over the odd streaks, his optics flickering.
Vortex tilted his head. ‘What shortcut?’
‘None you could use…’ the tone absently, ‘too cold for your build type.’
Sulky, Vortex crossed his arms. Of course, Blast Off was built for worse conditions, and could endure more than Vortex could, and he was faster and overall so much better than the rest of them, Vortex thought, irritated, but he knew better than to say it aloud. And again the shuttle was just staring at the corridor at nothing, and probably ran thousand of scans without telling him anything which could be - maybe - of importance in such a situation.
Sigma, Vortex hated it when Blast Off did this, and the shuttle indeed did it a lot; particularly in situations like this, on foreign planets or before battles or… whenever.
“You’re such an aft-head!” the ‘copter muttered aloud without noticing, and Blast Off only answered with another huff and via commlink, still absent-minded.
‘Use comms. We need to be quiet…’
Vortex’ intakes heaved air to an annoyed sigh. He couldn’t even really argue with the shuttle, because he would just be ignored… This was frustrating. But again, he rather kept quiet about this and instead he asked curiously, ‘So, Space Cowboy, what is this stuff there?’
Blast Off gave him a look, probably because of the new nickname he’d learnt from Brawl, his tone was unimpressed.
‘I don’t know. It’s neither organic nor robotic. I haven’t seen anything like this before.’
Well, this knowledge - or the lack of it - wasn’t really comforting.
‘I thought you’d already seen everything.’
A huff, and a shake of his head from the shuttle before he spoke in a voice he usually used on Brawl. ‘There is no way any living being could have seen everything. Do you have any idea how big space is?’
‘Uhm… very big? Huge?’
‘Tsk… try infinite.’ After that, Blast Off turned again to the streaks and the dark corridor.
Infinite… well, this was even less reassuring, but Vortex was better off not stating that. Although he hadn’t seen as much from the universe as Blast Off had, Vortex knew very well that the shuttle being moody was one of the most unpleasant things ever.
He waited for Blast Off to speak again, and he didn’t have to wait long.
‘We need to find Brawl. And we need to be quiet. Let’s go.’
The shuttle began walking into the hallway which earlier had been blocked by the web, and Vortex hurried after him. He didn’t felt like losing another team mate.
---
Chapter 01 - Little Star
Chapter 02 - No Trespassing
Chapter 03 - Getting Lost
Chapter 04 - Being Found
Chapter 05 - Cathedral
Chapter 06 - Shadow Run
Chapter 07 - Revealing Light
Chapter 08 - Procrastination
Chapter 09 - Supernova