Ep. 1 - The House of Stone and Light - Closed - Finis

[Deleted]

With her back to the big Autobot and her eyes forward, Dart would only hear his heavy footfalls as he trod behind her, his strides long and uneven. Things creaked within his armour – whatever damage he had suffered had ruined the seamless mesh of overlapping plates. The stench of fuel and char hung in his wake.

Outside the cave the air was fresh and crisp, at least. The intense heat had left with the sun, leaving the sand and rock to shed their warmth back into the cool night air. Thousands of stars twinkled between the high peaks of the lagoon walls. Above them the clear night sky was nearly a mirror of the water below, a dark and glittering pool.

Beneath the courier's feet the sand gently shifted, sliding under her weight. Moonlight had turned the beach into a pale crescent, snow–bright against the darker water of the river. It swirled through the lagoon, a soft murmur of sound, before rushing downstream and into the night.

Behind her, Dart would hear Maximus check himself at the entrance to the cave. His rifle was in his hands; it quietly hummed.

“I'll remain here,” he said. “Stay where I can see you. This water will suffice in cooling down your systems?”

[Dart]

"I'll stay where you can see me, sir," Dart answered. She was grateful to turn her nose out to the dark and pull in something other than that pain-laced air that eddied around the mech. The rifle's soft thrum could even be overheard over the natural noises of the canyon. Her spoiler rattled slightly, then stilled.

In the shadows and the dark, her scruffy, travel-worn plating blended in well, and her lack of lights and accents simply helped her hide from most eyes. She picked her way down slowly to the edge of the lagoon, careful never to stray or even give any impression that she was going to bolt.

"I think so," she replied. "Er, I hope so. Running is best, though. Moving, anything."

She paused at the water's edge. It was silent enough that their voices carried easily back and forth. The courier tipped her head back and looked up; one thing she always loved about the backcountry was the lack of light. In the cities the stars were hidden, swallowed in the ambient backlash of houses, of high-rises, a wash of light that so many people were so accustomed to they never thought anything of it, only seeing a few stars.

Here, they blazed, they shone. They trailed across the sky in bands as thick as the strata below. Even the wilderness of Oregon couldn't compete with this pure, perfect dark, in a National Forest. The water below was like black glass, and the courier hesitated again, then stepped into it.

Her foot came up, and she reached out gingerly, then pawed a little.

It splashed. Somehow, this seemed to help her, break whatever thoughts she was thinking. She bent her head and stretched herself, pawed again, shifting legs, sending up sheets of water. Her intakes snorted and then all of a sudden, she trotted forward into the lagoon. It surged past her knees rather quickly, but she still waded out farther, completely at ease in the water.

"This is not going to be my most graceful moment, sir," she called back. She glanced over her shoulder at him, obviously waiting for the okay before she went any farther. "Don't... don't worry, I'm not going anywhere, promise."

[Deleted]

Unlike the sand and the rock, the deep and smooth-flowing river had drawn little heat from the sun. The water was cool against her legs and plating. It splashed off her, washing some of the canyon dust with it.

Maximus drew to a halt at the water's edge. He did not step into the river himself but remained on the beach, silent and watchful. Like the courier, his dull plating melded into the night, rendering him little more than a dark and looming figure. Even the foreign object lodged into his chassis was indistinct. The moon illuminated only his back and hunched shoulders, and the heavy tank treads of his alternate mode. His red optics remained starkly alight, however. They glowed like coals, still fixed steadily upon her.

A jumble of rock stood nearby. He veered over and sank down upon it with a reluctant sigh, drawing one foot off the sand. The big rifle came to rest between his legs, leaned against his knee. He folded his hands over the muzzle.

"Understood," he said quietly. "Just do what you need to."

[Dart]

"Thank you," Dart replied, and her tone was utterly grateful.

A moment later, the courier just bounded forward into the deeper part of the river. The Colorado river itself ranged from six feet in shallow places up to about thirty feet in the depths. Spring melt and winter ice changed that, but right now, it was at a lower point. Where Dart finally stopped was a little over eight feet, and that seemed as deep is it might get unless she left Max far behind her.

Nope, no way was she doing that. A glance back, he was... oh. Sitting. Using the rifle to prop himself up.

Dart hesitated. She lifted her head and sniffed the air. For a second, she was looking off into the canyon, into the dark, her blue eyes throwing their glow, the only thing on her that was at brightly lit at all.

Then she simply glanced back at him again, panted out a few quick passes of air. One final paw of her foot and she sunk to her knees and dropped into the water. She led with her shoulder, and the rest of her followed that roll; settling on her hip before she splashed at the water with one forearm and then the other, just letting the water hold her weight, go over her-- it would have been better if it was colder, but... it did drop the heat faster than just standing.

It was just all motion; a flurry of limb and leg and she rose once with a little grunt before flopping down on her other side and repeating the whole pattern again. It smelled like water, it smelled like stone and mud and tiny fish who were bolting away as fast as they possibly could. It washed away the stink of fuel lingering in the back of her throat, and once she'd come back up; she took deep heaves of air through her systems before diving back in for one last good, solid roll.

Finally, Dart huffed out a misty spray of water; and rose back up onto her feet. She tossed her head a few times and went into a full body shake, throwing water droplets everywhere. Her spoiler lifted and rattled, she flexed her hands and stretched herself, and then turned back to him.

"Way better, sir..." she said, and started to pick her way back out of the water. It was. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't like opening up the throttle on a dead run and forcing air over her in sheer speed, but the dampness on her plating helped, evaporating slowly into the warm night. It didn't bead off her finish; she really didn't have much wax on her to speak of. Actually, she couldn't remember the last time. Years? At least a year. No, two? Something.

"Wish it had been a little faster," she said to him. "I mean, the river, sir. It's warmer this time of year. Not as much melt, I guess."

[Deleted]

The big Autobot had not moved once while Dart was in the river. He had sat like a stone, as still as a mountain, his hands folded atop his rifle. Without a word he had watched her as she lowered herself beneath the surface to let the icy cold water rush through her overtaxed systems and wash away the heat.

Now, as she walked back up the beach he shifted upright, settling his weight back. He lifted his rifle from the sand and laid it across his knees, one hand curled around the trigger. The other was pressed to his side, exactly where his holoform had clutched the bloodstain that seeped from chest to hip.

The moon sailed higher into the night sky. Slowly the lagoon brightened as its wan light fell down from the walls. It fell upon the sand, the widening ripples the courier had left on the water behind her, and upon the battered armour of the Autobot on the rocks. It gleamed upon the sharp edges of torn metal, revealed black patches of char. The ugly thing wedged in his chassis was still difficult to make out in the dark. It was crumpled and black, flattened like a blade.

In silence Maximus watched her approach. The sound of his own intakes drawing in air was loud, harsh. When she drew near he lifted his hand from his flank and held it up in a warning gesture.

"I'll take your word for that," he said. His voice was hoarse. "Stop! Stand there. No closer. Stay there. You're fine now? Can you last another day on the raft with the humans, or will it be too much for your cooling systems to compensate for?"

[Dart]

The courier's nose turned to that little motion; the gun lifted, one finger on the trigger.

Dart dug her heels in immediately, and stopped dead. The courier shed water in a dark patch on the sand. She shifted her weight from foot to foot. Her eyes drifted over him for a second; and she winced at that... spike? Thing? A sword, but she saw no handle. Then again, he might have broken it off. She'd really thought it was a telephone pole earlier, but heh, silly courier telephone poles were nowhere near the Canyon. Maybe a chunk of rock. It didn't matter.

"Stopping, sir," she said. "Sorry. I'm right here. You've got a bead on me. I'm not moving, promise."

Dart shrugged slightly. The moonlight daubed along her; it made the droplets of water shine and gleam. Even the silver lightning bolt on her chest was visible better now that it was clean. "I'm fine for now," she admitted. "I- I honestly don't know. I don't sit still this long, really. I mean, it's still hot, I can take a few more trips into the river tonight, if that's all right, and standing up helps, I can at least shift my weight."

A pause. "It'll have to hold, sir," she said quietly. "I understand that. If it doesn't, well, we're both in trouble. I mean, I can't let the humans know what we are, we're not supposed to make much contact with them and you..."

"You- you look rough, sir. I'm more worried about you lasting that day, right now. I don't know how I'm going to explain it to them if something happens to you, and-"

The courier's helm ducked, she started to settle her hands on her hip carriers; fiddling with the latches, just for something to do. No moving, just stand, stay, but everything was wanting to move. "I don't want them getting hurt just because they helped us, you know?"

An odd little look crossed her face, something pensive, unsure. Dart's spoiler chattered. Then she took a long draw of air in, and inclined her head. Her shoulders came back slightly, military straight, as if she was shoring herself up, bracing herself against what she expected as a response. "Is- is there anything I- I can help you with? I mean, anything that might help stabilize things a little? I mean, I'd offer to call, I really would, give me a frequency that you just dump later, something, anything?"

[Deleted]

Maximus glowered at her. His red optics bored into hers.

"Just... stay there," he growled. Now that he faced her as a mech again his wariness had returned, curt and strained. He gripped his rifle and waved her off, his mouth twisted into a grimace. "Worry about your own problems. Stabilize this? Let me show you something."

The muzzle of his rifle slammed into the ground. Braced against it, Maximus stood.

He staggered to his feet. The big frame unfolded to its full height, tall and lean and broad across the shoulders. The forearms were heavily paved in sheets of armoured plating, all the way down to the articulated knuckles. Dark gore ran in rivulets down his knees joints, twining into the great armour of the lower legs that not only anchored the frontliner's stance and lent him an impenetrable guard, but protected the gun turrets compacted into the limbs. The steel-clad treads of his alternate mode shielded his back, braced on tracks that extended them down each flank and well over each shoulder.

Across his chest his plating was streaked in char. Something had torn into the guards over his shoulders, slashing desperate rents into the metal. But the worst damage came from the black object rammed in his midriff, where the plating lay thin over a layer of flexible mesh. A tangled gash of shorn metal and black fluid traced the path it had travelled to get there, down to the place where it had struck him above his hip and kept ripping upwards, carving towards his chest until his internals had finally dragged it to a halt.

It was a Vehicon's crumpled wing. It hadn't skewered him. It had cut him nearly in half.

Shorn lines oozed black gore. Maximus leaned on his rifle and stared hard at the courier, his face a stony mask beneath his armoured helm.

"No stabilizing," he said harshly. His voice rose in mounting agitation. "No calls, no Autobot frequencies handed over to Decepticons. No help! We get to a radio, I call my side, I let you go back to your side. That's the end of it. Over and done with. And don't make the mistake of thinking I'm too 'rough' to defend myself. The first Deception to make an attempt at laying a hand on me gets his damn head ripped off, and should it come down to it that includes you as w-"

The sky rumbled, cutting short his tirade. Maximus glanced up into the night sky in frustration. His expression quickly changed as he recognised the noise that was drawing their way.

Jet engines, streaking over the top of the canyon. Growing louder by the minute.

"Damn it," he said.

[Dart]

There had been one moment where the tips of her spoiler peeked over the courier's shoulders, expressing a hesitant hope. Even before the first word came out of his mouth, they were already falling, splaying outwards under that crimson gaze. She had stepped out of her own comfort zone, stepped out of that safe place of do not ask things. Mistake made. She had been taught by the best - you did not ask questions. You obeyed and you listened, but you shut your mouth and you saluted, and you did what was needed.

It was what it would be, but she had simply had to try. Not for herself. She was... fine, right now. Sort of. Better off than the rest of the situation. No, she tried because of those three humans in the canyon. Even for him, but she knew that she could no more explain it to him than he would believe her.

Nothing living deserved to die out here like this. It wasn't a swift death. It was one of lingering agony and fear, and Dart knew that, she understood it as clearly as the sky rising over them. The thought touched on memory; panting breath, hot sun, taking two steps and dragging on- and with it came the smell of burning metal.

The mech's answer came with the swiftness and frustration she'd been expecting. His treads rose above his shoulders, mechanical hackles; the growl had her twisting her chin, flashing an automatic, submissive gesture of grey throat.

"Staying," Dart breathed, even though all she wanted to do was turn and flee. Run. That's where she was safest, at the gallop. Nothing could catch her once she started using Earth to her advantage. She knew the thin gaps between the pines, dry gullies with deep washes, using the terrain and her speed to sprint away from anything close to her, out of weapon range. Yet, deep in some primitive part, it understood. Do not move. Sit. Stay. Down.

The mech's agitation rose up as he himself did. It thrummed through him like the sound of the powering rifle; his body language changed in an instant, going from exhaustion into full throttle fury. She dug her toes into the sand, nodded, and brought up her hand to salute, to touch her chest automatically, like she would have to any superior officer. She realized at the last second what she'd done and quickly dropped her hands away from the purple sigil. Dart tried to keep her head turned so she didn't meet those red optics shining in the dark.

It was the smell that she could not escape. It forced her nose back towards the mech's injury, and now all she could do was offer up a short gasp of shock on finally seeing it for the first time, along with the rest of him. The moonlight highlighted everything on the mech. It blazed across metal; across his armor and the trails of viscous gore streaming down from that terrible wound.

Not from above, her brain pointed out. Below. How... how does a wing strike upwards like that, and the force-- she knew speed. This was speed. Like stakes driven through oak trees during hurricanes. The other thing it pointed out- muzzle down. Not up. Down.

Dart stood and listened to him speak as if her life depended on it. It likely did. All she did was nod. No stabilizing. No calls. Done with. Don't make that mistake - now hold on, wait a minute, she'd never thought that even once- er, right, head ripped off. No, sir she did not want to be a Decepticon Pez Dispenser. Nod. Yes sir, yes sir, yes sir, understood, and it will never, ever be brought up again, sir. She was starting to shake under both the strain of holding so still, and the smell of the gore that bored back into her sensors.

The rumble caught her off guard as well. At first Dart rocked back on her heels, unsure. At first she thought he'd just- gone to wordless snarls, but then she realized he was no longer focused on her. Immediately, she lifted her head and followed his gaze, and now- now her expression became tight and drawn before she looked back at him.

"Sir?" she finally asked, and waited for his orders.

[Deleted]

Maximus stared up at the sky.

His jaw tightened. Without lowering his gaze he lifted his rifle from the sand, swinging it up until it came to rest in both of his hands. He thumbed a switch and the fusion generator droned, sparking a white-hot particle of light deep inside the barrel. In the silence of the lagoon the sound of his battle net firing up was audible, a soft whine as internal systems designed purely for combat hummed into activation. One of his treads spun, shedding dust, even as his feet shifted against the ground to lower his stance.

Then, he paused. He lowered his head and looked about himself. His optics cut to Dart and he studied her, intently.

The big Autobot grimaced.

"No," he muttered. He relaxed his grip, and the muzzle of the big weapon reluctantly lowered. The drone faded out. "No, no good fighting here. We'd be pinned down. I'd be pinned down. We retreat back into the cave and wait for them to pass. Airborne radar won't penetrate the rock."

Above them the canyon walls vibrated with the roar of the inbound jets. Maximus pointed to the cave entrance with his thumb and snapped, "Move! Quickly! Into the cave!"

[Dart]

There was no hesitation, nor even words. Order given, Dart obeyed. You didn't live long among the Decepticons if you did not. Her build had many limitations and one of them was that her plating was not at all sturdy or designed to take hits. She was no frontliner, no matter if at times in her life she'd ended up being tossed into that position due to lack of troops, sheer desperation... well, and some other reasons.

Even before the mech's thumb had fully finished relaying his motion, the courier had kicked a foot back and shoved off the sand. It scattered behind her as she shot forward, bounded past him and dashed for the cave. One stride, two, and she was flattened out, gaining speed with every stride. Her spoiler twitched and lifted in counterbalance.

A few more leaps and Dart dived through the cavern mouth. The smell of fuel smacked into her like a wall; she snorted, spooked and ducked sideways before diving back into the spot he'd had her sitting in earlier. She folded down to the floor, legs under herself, her intakes blowing and snorting and then she sucked in a gulp of air and held it. Her spoiler tucked back against her shoulders, clamping down. She started to flatten to the dirt, belly low, then caught herself and simply froze in silence, and waited for him to get back under cover as well.

Ugh, if they saw him and shelled from the air a couple of Vehicons had the firepower to knock this place down around their heads. That would be bad.

[Deleted]

Maximus thundered into the cave an instant later. Despite his size class and his injuries the big mech moved fast, swift on his feet. A combat model from the ground up, his armoured frame was evidently powered by manoeuvring systems that were both strong and deft.

He crossed the space between the beach and the entrance in a flash. By the time he ducked inside he was already wheeling about in a power slide, his feet tearing through the sand. As sand crashed to the floor of the cavern he stood tensely, his rifle in his hands.

Out on the beach all was pale and quiet. Maximus said nothing, his optics focused upon the trampled prints they had left in the sand. His treads spun over, their steel plates grinding.

The roar of the approaching jets echoed into the cave. Dirt sifted down as the vibration shook the rock walls. The Autobot flinched.

"Damn," said Maximus. "The Vehicons. My guess is they've assumed I've killed you and I'm attempting to evade them by travelling at night. They're scanning the length of the canyon."

His voice was low. What little moonlight fell into the cave illuminated his pale, strained face. He backed away a step, edging his feet through the sand. "Damn it. They may have backup by now as well. No way to tell for sure. My radar doesn't extend through rock either. Ugh!"

Maximus sagged hard to the side until his shoulder hit the cavern wall, his hand clutched over the rent at his hip. Fuel seeped through his fingers. He swore, even a shadow passed over his face, an expression of fear he allowed only because he likely believed it was too dark for her to see it.

Meanwhile, in Dart's head, a cold voice was speaking.

"Courier Dart," said it through her internal comm. "Courier Dart, this is Vehicon patrol V944. Report, Courier Dart."

[Dart]

Dart was just sitting there, tucked back along the stone wall. One hand was pressed against the cold dirt floor for balance, the other was lifted, her hand tucked slightly back. At the echo, she ducked a bit- tiny pebbles pinged off her damp plating. The dust settled on her, recoating her shoulders and helm with a dirty haze. He flinched and she flinched too; reading his body language, the angle of his shoulders, the way he was braced and tense and twitching.

She too was focused outside; when he backed up a step, her nose turned to that open space. Dart leaned slightly forward and her intakes drew in the air, frantically nosing past that smell of hurt and pain that saturated the cave. She shoved it mentally aside, her systems bolting to analyze anything else she could find; anything that would give the first alert to her that the Vehicons were sweeping in.

Instead, it was that cold voice over the airwaves. Dart looked up at him; and that one second of expression sent her spoiler folding back. A soft, rolling sound started to rise deep in her chest, the courier shoved her nose back into the air. Wind was coming the wrong way - down, not in. Of course it did. Down the canyon. It was blowing towards them at least - small favors, but not helpful right now.

"I don't smell them yet, sir," she said softly. "Means nothing, I know, but I don't, and their scanners aren't great down here either. They sent me to track you, remember?"

A shake of her head, and then she looked up at him, where he leaned against the wall, dripping fluid and fuel. "They're calling me, sir," she continued quietly, afraid to raise her voice at all. It didn't matter that the rock was pressing around them, on top of them, she spoke as if they were in an open field with no cover, utterly cautious. "Asking for me to report."

[Deleted]

Maximus gave her a sharp glance. "Asking you to repor-"

In mid-word he went mute.

Outside the cave the sky roared. Noise boomed into the lagoon. The water shuddered, ripples dancing on the surface. Dust hazed the air of the cavern as it was shaken down from the walls and the rocky ceiling.

Then, it cut out. The crunch of metal feet hitting the edge of the cliffs hundreds of feet above them was faintly discernible in the abrupt silence.

The big Autobot went still. Even the rasp of his laboured breathing stilled. With one hand he motioned for Dart to remain still where she was, while the other pointed his rifle squarely at the moonlit entrance. But as he did he snatched a distracted glance at her, his face dark and his brow furrowed, as if something she had said something that did not add up to what he had been expecting.

"Don't do it," he finally said. His voice was barely a murmur. "Don't report back. Maintain radio silence. Allow them to believe you've either been killed or are otherwise unable to respond. Radio transmissions can and have been tracked. Once you're free you can report back to them and say you were offlined, or else too far down the canyon to send a clear line-of-sight transmission. But now, don't say a word."

Again, the comm line clicked in her head.

"Courier Dart. This is V944. Report."

[Dart]

Sound. No scent still, nothing filtering down the canyon. It was all sight- all the things outside. Motion. The water shuddering, the reflection of the stars above wavering and breaking. Dart held position; she did not move. Her spoiler was flat against her shoulders; the courier drew in a small huff of air.

Dripping fuel. The Autobot's fingers on the trigger. Dart quietly inclined her head, met that glance with her own. Slanted blue optics took in the lines of his frame, the tension in him; drifted to that horrible wound that tore into his body. The mech was as still as she was. Each footfall echoed, it bounced off the rock and the stone of this place.

Then there was one small nod.

"I report back, you will blow a hole through me. Yes sir, I understand sir," she breathed, her voice barely audible. "I'm refusing to respond because you're in a sheltered position to take them both out as well, where you were located in this canyon. Strategy, and... well, I don't want them killed either, even if..."

Dart trailed off as the comm line clicked again. She glanced down past her chest and to the grungy, oily dirt floor. "Maintaining radio silence," she agreed, and then was silent once more, focused on the entrance of the cavern.

[Deleted]

Maximus bristled. His shoulders lifted as, in an instant, his manner shifted from apprehensive to irate. But he remained silent, even as voices drifted down into the canyon.

A few words were exchanged, low and cool and sparse. Pebbles slithered down the cliffs, plinking into the river below. Ripples spread in circles across the water where they hit. High above the shuffle of footsteps could be heard, the whine of flight systems cycling air through turbines. Dart's comm line clicked twice, a non-verbal acknowledgement, and then all at once something blasted into life. The bellow of jet engines receded into the night, streaking upwards and off towards the west.

Only when the sound began to fade into the distance did Maximus relax his stance. His fingers slowly uncurled from the trigger of his rifle as he let the weapon lower. Like a man in a dream he thumbed a switch, and the fusion generator cycled down into a quiet hum.

The big mech stood for a moment, saying nothing. He touched his side, looked at his stained fingers. His expression was shaken.

Maximus leaned against the wall. Then, in a fit of temper, he rounded on her.

"Don't get 'patient' with me," he spat. His optics flared. "I told you all of that for your sake, not to hear myself echoing prior threats. Do you really think those two Decepticons up there would sympathize with or respect you if they discovered you have been taken hostage by an Autobot? I've seen enough of how your ranks work to know that failure - any failure - results in ridicule, punishment, death. If you had responded in any capacity and they had traced your communication down here, what would they have seen? A Decepticon surrendered to an Autobot. The only thing that would have worked in your favour is that it would have been the last thing they ever saw, because yes, I would have killed them - and then you would have been in the enviable position of explaining their deaths back to your superiors."