Ep. 1 - Harbinger of Bad News - (Closed)

[Deleted]

Takes place one day after "The House of Stone and Light"!

---

The comm, when it came, was perhaps not unexpected.

It arrived at its usual time, which was a little past midnight, when the moon rode high in the cold and darkling sky and the stars shed their silent brightness through a layer of wispy cloud. The voice on the other end of it was harsh, and spoke curtly.

"Dart," it growled. "This is Commander Starscream. Are you alone? Why do I even ask that, of course you are. Then are you in a position to accept a ground bridge to my location?"

[Dart]

It had taken Dart the better part of yesterday to limp her way home from Marble Canyon. Once she was finally within the boundaries of Oregon, she'd sent a short bust of contact to the two fliers who had sent her in in the first place. Still alive, yes, Autobots escaped, can't recommend anyone go down there right now unless you have a death wish...

That was all she could come up with without resorting to a quip about how she wasn't going to check the fuses in the basement ever again. Ever, ever again. Oh who was she kidding. Orders were orders, and each time she survived them, she learned what not to do again, or what to watch for. For example, avatars took on the smell of the environment, but they didn't have any of their own. They did reflect body language beautifully and well, and they translated some things she never might have expected; a lift of plating, a pensive huff of systems, damage to the actual, physical body. She'd mused over that for a few hundred miles, alone with her thoughts as she trotted through the rugged, arid landscapes around her.

Dart had managed to scrub most of the mess off of herself during one of the rivers she forded, using handfuls of silt and sand. Without any soap to cut the oil and grease much of it still lingered in the scratches and gaps of her plating, and she still could smell it on her, as if she'd been working a charnel house.

At least when she'd gotten back to base the only one there was one of the Vehicons. Apparently Pyrotech and the others were out on another supply run, and had left the mech guarding the base. He didn't ask her to relieve him of the task, though, and she didn't offer for once.

Instead she'd slunk back out into the wilderness around the base, found a place to tuck herself back against a ridge. First things first; she fished her datapad out of her hip carrier. The worn green and grey casing fit easily into her hands; she thumbed it on.

It took her a while to set up a gmail account. First was because she didn't know how. Second was because every name Dart came up with was taken, darnit. Finally she was able to get one she liked - haha, Trackpony- and she managed to email Veronica, Sarah and Mark, and reassure them that they were home safe, as well as politely thank them again for all their help.

It took a while though, the data pad tended to like to flip between horizontal and vertical alignment on a whim.

After that, Dart had called up a magazine article she'd not had the chance to finish and sat quietly reading in the dark. It helped her focus on that and not on all the other thoughts and worries that were flicking around in her head, or the fact that she ached all over.

When the comm came through- her main pump skipped a beat and she winced. It wasn't that she hadn't expected the call, she'd known it was coming. She was surprised it had been this long, in all honesty. At least it had given her some time to think about what had happened.

Starscream's tone caused her spoiler to droop and splay to the sides of her shoulders even as the courier scrambled up to her feet. She turned off the datapad and quickly stuffed it in her pannier.

"Yes sir," she answered. "I am, sir."

[Deleted]

Over her commline, Starscream grunted.

"Good," he said shortly. "I am locking on to your signal's coordinates as we speak. Once the ground bridge has activated, step through to my current location. Hm. How odd. That's different. Dart! If the bridge should appear to lose stability as a result of what may appear to be an exotic matter collapse I advise you to..."

His voice trailed off. "Bah! What am I saying. It's stable. It will be fine. Just walk through it. You'll be fine."

A moment later a portal burst into life in front of her, swirling with energy that shone green against the rock and trees. It looked... normal.

[Dart]

Good. Good was a nice word.

Really, Dart could handle the word good, that was a better start to a meeting over a botched mission. That word was so much better than dammit, and it was absolutely fabulous compared to a inarticulate snarly sound.

Wait a minute, whoa, whoa, hang on - nope, still talking. Actually no, he was musing. Not about her or the situation. In fact, he'd gone onto musing about science. Dart was up on her toes now, she was listening, tilting her head back and forth.

Dart changed her mind.

Dammit was a nice word too. Honest.

The courier’s spoiler was rising over her narrow shoulders. It was a slow, cautious motion that snapped both sides upright. The narrow panels of metal quivered completely vertical at the words 'how odd.' This was followed by an incredulous jaw drop and then a loud, nervous whoosh-snort of her intakes at the remark 'that's different.'

The courier was backing up one step at a time, her hands held in front of her as if she could ward this whole conversation off. Especially the casual comments about oh, stability and exotic matter collapse.

Advise me to what? Dart's thoughts yelped in her head. Run away? Turn into a car and go tumbling through space like an obelisk and have monkeys hit a Trans AM with femur bones? Stand there and hope there's not some weird freaky space time accident that ends up with me being turned into a chicken? Really, love some advice, sir.

The green light flickered, coalesced into a solid, bright tube.

Dart stared at it and decided that in the end, the possibility of being a crushed paperweight might not be so bad. Had to be a fairly peaceful existence. Okay, as long as she didn’t end up being Pyrotech’s paperweight. She knew for a fact that one got winged across the room on a regular basis.

“Yes sir,” she sighed, shook herself, gulped, and then scrabbled forward into the portal. Really, it was– uh, walking. Speed walking.

The other side of that groundbridge could show up any time. Preferably right now.

[Deleted]

For an instant the bridge wheeled all around her, brilliant and green. Its energy streamed across her plating, and then -

Her footsteps clanked.

Dart would find herself stepping into murky darkness. All was pitch black around her, save for a handful of scattered lights, which glowed like tiny green fireflies all around her. The gloom was thick and the air was stale and motionless. The stench of ancient dust, of rust and deep mechanical corrosion and stagnant water infused with a slick of oily chemicals, would lie heavily in her olfactory sensors.

The ground bridge winked out of existence behind her. The darkness creaked and cavernously groaned.

"There you are."

The harsh voice echoed along the metal walls. As her optics adjusted to the darkness she would soon be able to make out a little of the narrow room she stood inside. Masses of tangled cables draped like vines from the low and buckled ceiling. Beneath her feet the floor sloped, as if it were pitched at an angle.

"This way."

On the other side of the hanging cables, the dark figure of the Air Commander appeared. It gestured impatiently at her.

"I require your assistance with something," he said. "These blasted power cables! At least the ground bridge is functioning. What a mess, barely jury-rigged together... pah! I suppose I should be grateful for what little I have."

[Dart]

Dart hadn't quite been oh, walking through the groundbridge. Okay, she'd been dashing through it. It was a bit of a shock when her toes hit metal; even more at the rancid, enclosed scent of this place. Immediately, she reared back, dug her heels down in surprise and tried to stop.

The slickness of the patch of floor she was on didn't quite allow that to happen. There was a completely ungraceful moment where she flailed and pinwheeled, before she crowhopped a few times in the air and finally managed to stop herself.

Dart's nose lifted and she drew in air to analyze even before she completely realized she was in a structure. This was so not what she'd expected at all; she'd expected some part of the planet, some outcrop of rock, some abandoned oil platform in the middle of the ocean.

The tiny green lights didn't even do much against the dark. She huffed out that first test of the place and drew it back in again; water. There was water here and there was rust and whatever that greasy chemical odor was...

At the echo of Starscream's voice, Dart blinked and twisted in place, trying to find him within this space. Sound and scent bounced oddly within the confines; the stale air didn't move things well. It was hard to explain, sometimes, how scent moved so fluidly. Air currents often helped her define where, how, what, and who before anything else ever did.

"I'm here," Dart replied, even as she brought up her hand to touch her sigil in respectful salute. Then she quickly gathered herself up and trotted immediately forward when he beckoned. She ducked and flattened a bit to go under the cables; her light footsteps echoing along the metal floor.

Something Starscream said suddenly threw her completely.

Groundbridges always- weren't they from the Nemesis? Dart froze, having to reassure herself that they were not moving- that there was no deep thrum of engine or the slight rise and fall - because if so, open the groundbridge again please. She'd take her chances with it.

Okay- no, not moving, not in the air, all right, it was okay. Where were they then? What was this place? The courier swallowed and shook herself, then padded over towards where the Air Commander was waiting.

"Yes sir, how can I help?" she asked.

[Deleted]

Wherever she was, it was completely still. No rumbling of engines could heard, nor did the floor rise and fall with the subtle currents of high altitude turbulence. Even the motes of dust in the air hung motionless, stirred into sluggish eddies only where she passed.

The closer she drew to Starscream, the brighter the tiny lights grew. After she ducked beneath the cables she would be able to see that they were actually tiny illuminated lights on a terminal built flat against the wall. A panel had been torn off it and laid on the floor - a nest of wires and cables were dimly visible within the hole laid bare. They softly hummed. Everything was caked in a layer of grime and rust.

Green light glowed against Starscream's face as he waved her forward.

"Here, here," he said curtly. "First, hold these."

He thrust a pair of heavy cables at her chest, joined together by a makeshift connector. The green lights cast long and dancing shadows across the dangling wreckage behind him as he turned back to the open terminal.

"Keep that connection secured," said Starscream. He reached into the hole and scowled. "At the count of three I'm going to flip a switch back to the open position. At three, you're to hold that connection tight and push up that knife switch at your left elbow. That one, right there."

He nodded to light on the terminal, the only one which glowed red. Beneath it was a small hinged lever, currently flipped downwards.

"Ready? One, two, three - now! Don't get electrocuted."

[Dart]

Obediently, Dart padded forward until she stood next to his shoulder. She was looking at everything around her; the ceiling, the dark. She flinched and tried not to think about the lack of windows and the fact that the only air that moved through this place was caused by her path. It was horribly stale and tasted of decay.

Usually there was some faint thread of fresh air in the confined spaces they sent her into that she could follow, she could pull in and reassure herself that there was an escape somewhere she could find if she needed to. Here thre was nothing of the sort. Her reassurance that the floor wasn't moving, that they were somewhere still and solid was nudged aside for a different fear.

Dart wasn't fond of enclosed places like this. You couldn't see around corners; the walls kept you from dodging left or right, and the constant sense that everything was closing in around you. Over the years she'd learned to deal with it in the best way she could; concentrate on something else. Other words, other familiar scents.

The Air Commander smelled like open sky, the chemicals and cleaning systems on board the Nemesis, as well as his own familiar odor, sleek and well-cared for. It was a far better thing to touch on than this place; but even so, she automatically stretched out her nose to sniff at the panel and wires, and--

Dart blinked and froze in place, now holding both cables.

"Wha- oh, all right, got it, hold these, and keep the connection secured, yes sir," she said, and looked down at the connector. Huh, this looked like an item that needed duct tape. A lot of duct tape.

"Three, hold, push up switch, left elbow," she repeated dutifully and then her spoiler abruptly flicked up and the tips snapped forward. Hold on, one second here. If I'm holding two sides of the cable together, how am I supposed to reach that lever to flip it? Okay, quick plan time, quick is good, quick is - what?

Dart scrambled, she shifted her hands; the makeshift piece started to slip apart. Desperate not to let that happen, she snapped out a foot and balanced awkwardly, sliding the tip of her toe underneath the lever to push it upward.

After that, she froze again and stared down at the connector in her hands. Okay, not dead yet.

Yet was always that key word.

"Can- can we actually get electrocuted?!" Dart asked, staring at Starscream from under the brim of her helm. Her spoiler was folded back and splayed to the sides, and there was no way she was moving until he said it was all right. After all that had happened in the last day, it would be downright unfortunate to go out like this.

Or purposeful. Dart tried not to think about it, but it snuck in and settled somewhere.

"Like... dead electrocuted?"

[Deleted]

At the flip of the switch the cables hummed in Dart's hands. She would feel the electricity pulsing through them, rushing in search of a completed circuit.

But though it prickled at the sensors just beneath her plating, there was no scorching zap or painful spike. Just a hum of life in this cold, dead place.

All at once the lights overhead flickered. They sprang alight, and for an instant the narrow room was brilliantly flooded with harsh light, illuminated the wreckage that lay strewn across the slanted floor, the cables hanging from the crumpled, gutted ceiling. Then there was a pop, and everything was plunged back into mouldering darkness again.

Starscream let out a curse.

"Blast!" he snarled. "The infernal water vapour present in this planet's atmosphere eats away at everything it touches. Everything is rust, rust and corrosion and filth, and seeping ruin. Bah! Wait, what's this?"

He yanked his arm out of the terminal and stared past the courier, to a place on the wall where a single monitor was lit. Its faltering glow was watery and dim, and the screen was smeared with grime - but it was online. Rows of command lines scrolled across it, faded and broken where a big crack split the screen.

Starscream tapped his chin with one talon.

"Hm, well," he mused. "It appears that the power is live, connected - merely the circuit the lights run on is damaged, perhaps. I suppose it is no matter. It is the computers I need, and little else besides. Hm."

He scraped the talon along the underside of his chin, his wings swept back and optics narrowed in thought. Then, all at once, he seemed to remember that Dart was standing there.

"You may let go of the cables now," he said. "There is no longer a risk of death by electrocution, yes. Unless you mishandle them. I would be careful of what you touch in here, if I were you."

[Dart]

Even when the lights flared, Dart only slightly lifted her head and looked around them. The rest of her remained totally still; hands holding that cable together, weight on one leg as she kept her toe under the lever.

It was a mess, wherever they were. The thing that struck her most though was that it was a structure that was designed for them. She'd spent a lot of time trotting through abandoned human structures; cities that had taken the brunt of the recession, old warehouses, even docks and train depots. None of them felt quite like this; there was angles and bends and the layout of Cybertronian places that were not human ways. Like- like wider corridors to accomodate wings and bulk, wider doors, less stairs and more places where you simply jumped from one level to another.

Then she simply listened to him; water, yes. She didn't mind water at all. Dart never thought about it except that sometimes the rain was miserable to drive around in. Or that you had to skirt rivers and streams, or swim. Starscream no doubt would prefer to never, ever have that happen, but as a grounder, it was part and parcel of all that she did. Water was a constant, dirt was a constant, but so were the animals and the humans and the sky and the stones --

Water. Time and a river.

That thought came back to her and the courier's spoiler twitched slightly, the tip of it turning as if to focus on something far off in the distance. When he spoke though, she immediately turned to follow his voice.

Oh. The cables.

"Er, yes sir. Thank you," she agreed. "No longer- okay, that's good. Won't mishandle them, even better."

Ever so gingerly Dart slid her toe out from under the lever, settling her weight back on her feet. Then she cautiously lowered the connected cable back onto the floor, making sure it had a clear place to set itself before she straightened back up.

Dart raised her hands in front of her and held them up for a second, nope, not touching a thing. Then suddenly she decided instead to rest them on her hip carriers. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, thumbs nervously clicking the latches on either side. Finally she opened them and stuffed her hands deep within.

"I won't touch anything you don't tell me to," she replied, and then glanced around again. A sniff, a soft huff of air. "It says something though, doesn't it, that anything's working at all, sir. That's- that's pretty amazing, isn't it?"

[Deleted]

Starscream swept past her with a grunt, picking his way gingerly in the near dark. He did not bother to pass her a glance, evidently feeling confident that his instructions would be followed to the letter.

"Considering the shape the rest of the structure is in, one might argue it is nothing short of miraculous," he said sourly.

He stopped at the cracked monitor and leaned towards it, frowning, one hand knuckled over his hip while he tapped his chin with the other. Its scrolling lines of code glowed faintly against the underside of his jaw.

"That said, the computer system for this half is at least operational, even if currently running in an emergency state," he said. "Hm. Perhaps other life support or backup systems will prove likewise salvageable. At such a low power draw they will at least be undetectable, particularly given the dense cover that this particular location offers..."

Starscream trailed off in thought.

Time passed as he stood in silent contemplation, his gaze fixed upon the tiny screen. All around them the cavernous gloom creaked and groaned, while things dripped in the darkness. From somewhere deeper within stirred currents of fresh air that brought to Dart the stench of rust and decay as well, mingled with the scent of loam and pine needles and sap. The air was chill and damp.

Eventually, Starscream shook himself out.

"Well, little more can be done here," he said. "We'll return to the bow and see what can be accessed from whatever stations are now functional with the restoration of some ventral power and what happened to you?"

The last part came out sharply as he stared at her face.

[Dart]

Dart sidestepped a smidge to allow the Air Commander's wings ample passage. He was obviously frustrated with the condition this place was in; his shoulders were curled, his steps were tight and controlled. Usually he moved with a... well, the only way she would have described it was disdainful grace. As if he was merely allowing the ground to support him, but always one step from bounding back into the air.

When he moved by, the click of his heels echoed around them, bouncing off of the ductwork in this place. The soft light of the monitor lit him up from underneath as he paused. It threw harsh shadows against his plating, making it seem even more angular and stark.

The courier listened and nodded, shifting her weight over her toes, unsure if she should even move. The last thing she wanted to do was step in a puddle of water with a live cable in it. It- it was damp in here, yes. However, where it annoyed him, it was oddly reassuring to her. Not the stench of rust and decay and things crumbling-- oh.

She'd realized something now that she had a moment to regain herself. Only his scent was in here. No other mech, nothing. Not even faintly, and that was strange to her. Dart lifted her head and sniffed again; drawing in a tiny bit of air and letting it linger on her olfactory array, sorting down to the fractions. Dampness was the sort of situation she preferred; it kept scent adhered to the environment. Dart could track for miles and miles in a wet scenario- it was the dry, arid places where it became increasingly difficult for her.

Oh. Loam. Pine. Dart was drawn away by those scents. They were somewhere in a forest, then. She couldn't make out specifics; every forest had different touches wherever it was. For example, aspen and birch mingled in told her they were no longer in the old growth forests in Washington or Oregon; those trees needed more light. Sugary maple was found on the East Coast. Every plant changed with elevation, water, and heat.

"Yes sir," she replied, and turned to follow him-

A blink, and she immediately froze in place again. He had no idea. What had happened there hadn't gotten back to him yet. She hadn't been called here for this at all, it was something else he needed. That totally threw her; and for a second, she just ducked her helm and peered over at him in utter confusion.

The courier's hand automatically came up to touch her cheek and then her helm. She winced. The curve down by her jaw had been hit so hard it was angled inward. She'd had to catch herself several times on the way home from jabbing it into her jaw. On the way home, Dart had even tried sliding her fingers under it and prying it back away from her face. It was better, but not great. The rest of her wasn't a whole lot better.

She tucked her hands quickly to the small of her back and straightened. Well, this was even more awkward, she decided. She'd been ready to be barked at, not put on the spot to explain everything that had happened.

That meant the Vehicons hadn't explained it yet either. Oh, she was sure there was going to be a comment later on about 'well, you're the courier, bring him the message.' Thanks guys, will do.

"Marble Canyon," Dart finally said. Her spoiler rattled, and then it slipped slowly back down and the tips splayed awkwardly. She lifted her toe and scuffed it at the floor. "It ended up being kind of... er, kind of a mess."

[Deleted]

For an instant Starscream looked at her blankly. Then his expression changed.

He sniggered.

"Oh yes, the patrol," he said. "The Vehicons sent a report back stating they had encountered a solitary Autobot in the vicinity of the Canyon and were positioning to attack. Well, well."

With another low chuckle he turned, crooking a finger to indicate she was to follow him. The click of his heels on the floor echoed quietly as he ducked through the dangling cables and made his way down the length of the narrow room.

There was a bulkhead at the other end. The door had been torn open, jammed by metal debris. Starscream stepped over the scrap in the entrance and, with a glance to the left and right, turned into the corridor. A soft hiss was soon followed by a swell of red light as he shifted one of his arms into a blaster. It's glow illuminated the murky gloom, revealing more wreckage laying strewn across the floor. Wires hung like moss from above.

"So, you ended up in pursuit of this Autobot as well," he said as he made his way down the corridor, stepping warily. The light from his blaster shone against the floor, the buckled walls. Without looking back at her he said, "How exactly did that come to pass?"

[Dart]

At the mech's short burst of laughter, Dart cocked her head to one side. She quietly eyed him for a moment, her fingers lacing just a bit tighter at the small of her back.

That- that hadn't been what she was expecting. Then again, Starscream was often unpredictable. Dart respected that he was usually twenty paces ahead of everyone else- well, except Megatron. Both of them were incredibly intelligent mechanisms, in very different ways.

Then she let a soft trickle of air pass the corner of her lips and nodded. "Yes sir," she said quietly as she followed after him. She was careful not to crowd him as he moved through the debris. Her hands were down by her sides, cautious not to touch anything- Dart was taking his warning seriously. Being made of metal and stepping on a live power line absolutely was not a safe combination.

When Starscream lit the way with his blaster the red wash of light actually made her more comfortable. She doubted he wanted to step on anything dangerous himself. Their footsteps echoed off the metal walls. The couirer hesitantly picked her way through the ruins after him.

"Yes sir, I did, sir. I was waiting up on the road like I was supposed to be," she replied. "I figured they were going to go into radio silence and need me to run something back to another patrol. They couldn't locate him from the air though, because of the stone and the caverns, I think? So they had me go down and track and locate him for them."

[Deleted]

Starscream nodded, slowly. Stone could block radar, it was true. From both the ground and the air. It was one of the reasons why a flier dropped low and hugged the terrain when approaching and disengaging from a target area, using it to shield them from enemy radar.

"I see," he said. "An old and uncommon procedure, but not unheard of. And you do have advanced sensors, particularly when compared to the Vehicons."

He ducked around a section of the ceiling which had bent and collapsed nearly to the floor. The damage was bad enough that it forced him to flatten himself against the wall to edge around it, which he did with a pained scowled.

"I take it you found the Autobot?" he said, his wings scraping. "And that the situation swiftly proved itself to not be a simple matter of tagging his location and retreating unscathed."