Battle Starved


A simple story idea. It's roughly based off of the Transformers: Movie-Verse

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     (Y/N) coughed. 

     It wasn't every day you fought against giant alien robots, for most. Since Earth and Cybertron had joined forces, however, it had become a daily endeavor. The woman only wished she could fight with guns and grenades, not insinuations and insults.

     She could already hear the usual garbled offenses from Starscream, the constant barrage of slighted teases from Ironhide and the death threats from their friendly neighborhood Barricade and his loyal pet Frenzy. Housing criminals in the universe's smallest, yet most secure Decepticon prison on Earth was no easy chore, especially for the weak minded. (Y/N) had little strength left. 

     There's a difference between the strong and the stubborn. The strong have long lasting wit, their chin held high, and arms up and at the ready for anything. The stubborn fake it until they make it but can be whittled down until they have no strength to keep the image of a strong-willed individual, and their true nature begins to shine. Maybe they are a coward, or they're soft hearted. They can be cold, holding hearts of stone, or simply depressed.

     (Y/N) looked at her disheveled hair, coming it back with wetted fingers from the steel tap. Readjusting her collar, slacks and keychain, the woman stepped out of the tiled bathroom. Her heels clicked on the concrete floor; a clipboard tucked in her arm. She took no notice of the Marines as they muttered a short morning greeting beneath the hollering of Frenzy, who demanded his morning ration. 

         "So he's irritable today." (Y/N) noted as she entered the high-ceilinged hallway. Three large cells were on the left, the right having Cybertronian turret guns pointed straight at them. A Cybertronian sat in each cell, separated from the human guards by a mere orange tinted energy field. (Y/N) believed the guards to be a waste of resources.

         "And you're looking worse off than Megatron when he was plunged into your seas." Starscream chuckled, noting the woman's dark and sunken eyes, blackened bags under her lids and pallid features. She had originally been assigned to the TDHF (Temporary Decepticon Holding Facility) for a month, but whoever was in charge decided that she was more useful taking verbal attacks than physical ones. "You look positively dreadful."

     His optics met a dark, pointed stare. It made the Decepticon pause, calculating what she might say or do next. He hadn't come across this reaction before, and it was intriguing. Starscream's heavy body leaned against the wall tiredly as their stares held, refusing to be the one to look away.

         "Said the one with a failing spark."

     This made the Seeker stiffen, expression turning to a dark scowl. Something changed in this woman, and it wasn't for his benefit. 

         "If you continue to refuse treatment, it will become too weak to sustain itself and ultimately implode. At least my clock isn't running out any time soon."

     She strode passed the first cell, hearing Barricade's snickers. He was lying on his berth, an arm lazily hanging from the side as he twitched his digits. Clearly, he wasn't feeling like threatening her today, or else he'd be pounding against the barrier trying to make her flinch. 

         "You've become cold, nearly ruthless." He commented. "Your face was the first to show who you really are, but now your walls are crumbling. If I was in the right position and you weren't a helpless fleshie, I would recruit you as a Decepticon."

         "You and I both know the Decepticons have been that desperate before." (Y/N) scribbled on her clipboard as she stopped her slow march by the keypad near Barricade's cell.

         "You small-minded humans only think that." He huffed. "Any human ally we may have recorded was swiftly offlined after their usefulness had expired, if we recorded their use."

         "And yet it's humans that continue to be the eternal thorn in your side." The woman responded, dragging her finger in a pattern against the keypad. A series of sharp clicks sounded and a cube of energon appeared from a slot under Barricade's berth. "Just be glad your death sentence is within the week. I'm sure you'll enjoy the sweet release from this living hell to the Pit itself."

         "Anything is better than being surrounded by the stench of organics." 

         "I don't think fried circuitry will be any better."

     With the hinting of how he was going to die hanging in the air, (Y/N) passed the mech and continued to the smallest of three beings, bombarded once again by Barricade's death threats. His usual punches to the energy barrier making the turret twitch as it followed his helm. It was an amusing sound to the woman, for once. How she knew suggesting he was going to be electrocuted to death would earn such a reaction was anyone's guess. It worried the guards who had seen her pass by for months. (Y/N) wasn't acting like herself, or at least, not the version she had shown for the last two years.

     Frenzy found it hilarious.

         "You got him going this time!" He cackled. "What'd you do? Call him a-" the Minicon ran a string of Cybertronian gibberish that Barricade apparently heard, because he responded in kind, making his smaller partner cackle once more. "Come on, femme, tell me!"

     Out of the three in the holding facility, Frenzy was the only one to acknowledge (Y/N) as an individual. The other two simply combined her into the whole of the human race, as if they were talking to the very representative of such, like she was a hive mind. 

         "Give me three good reasons why I should." Frenzy watched as she flipped through her ever-growing stack of papers on the sturdy but thin piece of plastic. He caught sight of a passage saying their resident Autobot, Ironhide, was being transferred for relief purposes.

         "'Cause if he's mad, I wanna know why." Was the simple, excited answer. 

     Seeing as the Minicon was actually being somewhat decent for a change, (Y/N) decided to play along.

         "I alluded to what his death sentence might be." Dark, spiteful eyes glanced towards the smaller being, who frowned at the idea of his partner being offlined.

         "And?" His question held only one word, but it was saturated with concern and worry. Despite the usual stereotype being that Decepticons were cold, uncaring brutes, there were a few exceptions.

         "There's a few possibilities." (Y/N) continued lowly. "Whatever he gets, is up to the Autobot Council. You'll likely be transferred to the Minicon facility on Delta Minor."

     Frenzy's expression fell to one of terror, but he quickly composed himself. Both beings knew what Delta Minor meant for him. Autobots spoke of peace, but even they have their bad apples in the bunch. Delta Minor was rumored to have such unmentionables. Minicons were sent there for reform, with paperwork saying they went willingly. Not many were released.

         "You humans think you can just throw us away and forget, don't you?" He spat at the orange barrier, golden liquid slipping down the glowing wall. 

     (Y/N) wondered how he was able to filter whatever oil-like substance from his systems and successfully spew it towards her.

         "Most, yes," she admitted, "but others want the war to continue. We want battle and adrenaline. And then we're stuck in places like this."

         "We?" Frenzy questioned, but (Y/N) was already walking away.

     The facility was deadly silent. Mechanics were slipping back down to the floor after installing the new turrets. They were upgraded, with more firepower and faster tracking systems. When they whirred to life, they followed any micro-movement their three targets made. Frenzy played with them as he ran from one end of his cell to the other (being small enough).

         "These aren't meant for us." Starscream noted, standing close to the orange energy barrier.

         "No, we're old news." Barricade agreed, leaning against the wall next to Starscream's cell. "They've found bigger trophies to keep."

     As the night drew on, the approaching sunrise brought strange happenings. Their usual guards left, replaced by strangers who were as stiff as stone, and held no heartbeats. Light began to flicker, metal and concrete creaking in odd places. Then the energy barriers flickered off with the lights, never coming back on.

     Silence enveloped the three as they froze, watching the offline turrets closely. If it was a trap, then one move meant death. The lifeless guards remained at their stations, Frenzy being the first to act as he dashed towards the closest figure and knocked it over.

         "It's an automaton." He stated, watching the turret closely. "We're being broken out!"

         "There's no Decepticon left alive who could pull this off." Barricade stepped out of his cell, scanning the area with his multiple optics. "Unless Soundwave were still alive."

         "You and I both know he's long gone." Starscream huffed, following the interrogator.

     The trio followed the wide-open doors they had been pushed through before, as prisoners. Starscream's wings barely fit between the walls, having to step sideways as a support beam stuck out from the wall. Their optics soon adjusted harshly to the white light of an open area; its ceiling domed at the top. Waiting there, was (Y/N), alone in the middle of the room standing at the controls of one of the old turrets. She stared darkly, a determined and excited expression frozen on her face.

     All three Cybertronians remembered being lowered through the domed ceiling in chains, defeated but struggling, nonetheless.

         "What is the meaning of this?" Starscream questioned harshly.

     Barricade scanned the woman's pale features, her limp arms skinny and bone-like.

         "She's dead." He told his comrade. "There's bullet wounds in her back."

         "How is she still standing?" Frenzy poked the corpse after climbing the hunk of metal, and it fell like a wax statue from the top of the turret to the floor.

        "Rigor Mortis," Starscream answered, "I can detect a metal brace under those poor excuses of human armor keeping her upright. She's been dead for at least four hours."

         "And the rest of the facility?" Barricade wondered out loud, ordering Frenzy to go search. 

     It was sometime later when the Minicon came back with an unsettled expression.

         "They're all dead in various rooms. It looks like a gas leak."

     The two bigger beings looked to each other before glancing at the woman's corpse.

         "She orchestrated this and hoped to bid us farewell to the Pit." Starscream chuckled. "Foolish human."

     Frenzy found the operation panel that opened the dome of the building, Starscream taking Barricade's servo, who held Frenzy in his other palm as they lifted off. The Seeker dropped the grounder once they cleared the now lifeless building, Barricade transforming upon impact and driving on the sandy surface of Earth. Frenzy cackled in his cab. 

         "Do you really think (Y/N) was the one to free us?" The Minicon questioned, earning a thoughtful silence before Starscream answered through an open comm-link.

         : I think she was battle starved.: The commander admitted. : The last we saw her; she was sick looking and bored. Irritable and quick to nick our every nerve. Did you see her corpse's face?:

         "Get to the point, Starscream." Barricade huffed.

         : I already said my point!: The Seeker shrieked. : If you had cared to answer properly, I would have explained that her expression was one of dark contentment.:

     Barricade remembered the expression frozen to the corpse. Indeed, she died with a confident and homely smile. She had lived long enough to place herself in a metal brace, or perhaps she always wore it (the energy barriers made scanning anything difficult), but her facial muscles had miraculously remained stiff with her smile. She was ready to fight the first Decepticon to step through that hallway.

         "As her last hurrah, she was going to kill us." Barricade hummed. "We were all going to die anyway. Death by turret gun didn't make much of a difference."

         "Humans are selfish." Frenzy hummed, sitting in Barricade's passenger seat comfortably. "But (Y/N) was delusional." 

     An eerie silence fell over the three as one flew and the other drove. They dared not send an S.O.S., or a summons for other Decepticons, to avoid detection. Starscream remembered (Y/N)'s slow change from cheerful and witty to cold and apathetic. Barricade began to wish he could have abducted the woman, knowing she would have been fun to play with and torture. Frenzy recalled some of the nicer conversations he had with the woman. 

         "I would have liked to know her in the battlefield." He decided to announce. "Seeing her dance between plasma shots would have been amusing."

         "She probably would have been... tolerable." Barricade admitted.

         : Would you two shut up?:

THE END

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