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Shadows of Tomorrow	By : Breech_Loader Category: Transformers > Transformers: Animated > Het - M/F Views: 1756 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Shadows of Tomorrow

Co-Written by Harley Quinn hyenaholic and Froggy22651

~~~

Harley: Well DJ, you’ll see Frenzy again this chapter.

Froggy: This chapter’s a little shorter but hey, there’s some stuff on understanding Hotwire. Not as vital as some other parts, but still important because you’ll get to watch as Hotwire manipulates people you really like.

Harley: Of course, it doesn’t always go perfectly because Hotwire may be good, but she’s still young and it wouldn’t be fair. All the same, there’s entertainment to be had.

~~~

Chapter Fifteen: My Turf, My Game

Hotwire knew with absolute certainty almost exactly what she was doing as she approached Bumblebee. Humans weren't important. But Bumblebee was the one who was currently guarding Frenzy, which meant she'd have to negotiate his trust in some way. Perhaps become friends with him. Hotwire wasn't in the least concerned that she might find herself reciprocating the friendship; the femme was an expert at taking what she wanted and throwing the rest away.

She walked up to the younger robot quietly, looking into the cell that was designed to contain Decepticons about 20 feet and taller with electrified bars. It made Frenzy look even smaller, "That's my friend in there," she pointed out calmly.

Bumblebee was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looking down as Hotwire approached, "He is, huh?" the younger Autobot spoke, glancing into the cell at the hyperactive, bored Frenzy.

Hotwire’s attention was concentrated entirely on Bumblebee, despite the fact that Frenzy was in the cell behind him, "Yes," she said, "It makes you think, doesn't it? I used to be an Autobot."

"Eh? Well why aren't you one now?" Bumblebee asked, curious about the newcomer that had been captured and brought to the Autobot base of operations. He never had much contact with a neutral before... although, now that he thought of it, since Hotwire was once an Autobot too, would the correct term be ‘deserter’?

"Oh, Ratchet decided I wasn't good enough," Hotwire said casually, "And since revenge is really quite a stupid thing to be into, and since Megatron was insane, I decided not to become a Decepticon either."

Her words were for the most part a lie, of course, but Hotwire was never really concerned about ‘abbreviating the truth’ as long as it worked.

Bumblebee frowned down at the neutral medic, unsure of how to take her explanation, "That doesn't sound like Ratchet to me,” he spoke, "And they must have brought you in for a reason."

"Well obviously," Hotwire smiled thinly, "I was hanging around with Barricade. Your superiors had a problem with that. I wasn't even doing anything..." She turned to face Bumblebee, "So, what's your name, anyway?"

The smooth transition from defence to introductions did exactly what it was supposed to. The Autobot was thrown figuratively off balance, "I'm Bumblebee,” he answered, "And you're Hotwire, right?"

"That's right," Hotwire smiled slightly, "I get the impression," she said calmly, "That you're not quite as uptight as all the old mechs around here. Aren't you a little young to be a soldier?" she asked him. In all truth, Hotwire wasn't that much older than Bumblebee in design.

"I am not too young,” Bumblebee replied harshly. That little fact seemed to be a sore spot for the Autobot, "I'm good at what I do, and that's all that matters."

"It just makes me wonder at what point Optimus Prime will draw the line," Hotwire said, sounding relatively innocent, "Still, according to Barricade, Megatron was also fond of acquiring new soldiers in their youth."

"Yeah, Megatron was also a fan of killing, enslaving and torturing people,” Bumblebee retorted. So he wasn't too stupid, at least.

Hotwire smiled a little, "If you ask me, they aren't that different, from a distance. You know, the Decepticons call Autobots terrorists." If Bumblebee was paying attention to the phrasing, he would have noticed that Hotwire was considering herself neither. But the other statement, the one about Optimus, was far too distracting.

The Autobot frowned harder. He didn't like the comparisons that the neutral was making, and oddly enough, she made a certain amount of sense... Bumblebee shook his head, "Megatron and Optimus are nothing alike,” he insisted, "Megatron was a tyrant."

"Hmmm..." Hotwire leant on a wall, tapping her cheek with a finger, "Words. One mech's tyrant is another mech's leader. Prime was willing to see Cybertron crumble and the Allspark destroyed. He's made us all lose, just so that Megatron wouldn't win."

"But..." Bumblebee wasn't so quick to respond to that statement. Hotwire was oddly making an uncomfortable amount of sense, "But... the Allspark had to be destroyed. It was a threat to everyone as long as it existed!"

"True, true," Hotwire was being horribly reasonable, "But what was it Optimus said about sending the Allspark away so that life could grow on other worlds? I think that was the excuse some Autobot gave me while I was treating him."

Bumblebee blinked, or rather, his optics flickered uncertainly for a moment. Considering the processing speeds of a Cybertronian mind, that was a long moment, "Optimus said that?" he asked.

"Well, I did hear it second hand," Hotwire admitted, "You'd have to ask him yourself to be sure. Although it does sound rather..." her face twisted up, "Well, it doesn't matter, right?" she returned her attention to Frenzy, "How're you doing in there, Frenzy?" she asked him.

The hyperactive robot had watched what Hotwire had done, deliberately planting doubts in Bumblebee's mind, and he had to admit it was clever, though there was no way of telling how effective it would be, "Frenzy is fine," he said, "Nobody is hurting Frenzy. But Frenzy is trapped in this cell."

"Yeah, and I'm supposed to keep it that way,” Bumblebee spoke up. Focusing on that simple job helped him maintain a mental equilibrium, but he still couldn't help but wonder about Hotwire's words. It wasn't out there to think that Prime might have changed his mind about the Allspark. War tended to do that, and the kind of awesome power within that artefact was not to be taken lightly.

"Absolutely," Hotwire smiled at the younger Autobot, although not with her optics. It was taking a huge amount of self-control, much of which she didn't have anyway, not to start screaming about how Barricade was in pain, "Still... at least Frenzy's safe here. Not being hurt."

"Nah, we wouldn't hurt him,” Bumblebee told her casually, leaning against the wall again. He was relaxing. That was another good sign.

Hotwire's slim fingers flexed somewhat. Frenzy was looking at her expectantly, as if he expected her to take down Bumblebee right here. Not that she couldn't, or wouldn't, but she remembered with distaste Optimus' words on how rescuing Barricade alone was suicide. She remembered the look on his face, too. The smug mask of virtue triumphant was almost as horrific as the face of wickedness revealed, "No, Autobots aren't into physical torture," she said, without really thinking about it.

Observant Bumblebee picked out the distinction she put on physical torture. With a similar thoughtlessness, he added, "Or mental,” but it sounded more like a question than he intended.

"If it makes you feel better," Hotwire answered. Being accused of being a useless, treacherous scrapheap for almost three solid months sure felt like mental torture, even if it wasn't intended as such, "But humans do." She shuddered, her spark still connected to Barricade's.

Bumblebee shifted uncomfortably, his memory of being Sector Seven's captive still painfully clear in his mind. He didn't remember any mental torture, but the physical was very, very clear, "They're not always aware of what they're doing,” he said weakly.

Hotwire blinked, reading Bumblebee’s body language, “Wait, they tortured you?” she asked, “And yet you’re defending them?!”

Bumblebee looked up at her and nodded, "Yeah, some humans did. But they didn't know what they were doing, and they're not all bad,” he said, “One of my best friends is human.”

Hotwire just sneered, "How... idealistic," she said, and turned her attention back to Frenzy, her expression becoming serene again, "Well, the important thing is that I'm here," she told him. She was clearly not very good at dividing her attention between people, "And even if the humans do have Barricade right now, it won't stay that way one nano-second longer than I can help."

Frenzy gave her a robotic smirk, "You bonded with him, didn't you."

Hotwire's expression didn't change; it remained perfectly composed. She stood there silently for several seconds, then answered, "I'm going to kill Ironhide. Later, when there's time."

"Uh, I'm standing right here,” Bumblebee spoke up, glaring at the neutral that was blatantly threatening a comrade of his.

Hotwire switched her attention back to him, drawing herself up to her full height - which was still five feet shorter than Bumblebee, "Apart from everything else, any relationship I have with anybody shouldn't be the concern of people I barely know-"

"Then why'd you bond with Barricade?" Frenzy asked, smirking.

"You shut up!" Hotwire snapped at him, fully aware that she'd only known Barricade for a few human days before bonding with him. Frenzy fell silent again - although the little 'con was still smirking like crazy - and Hotwire looked at Bumblebee again, "Yeah, well I will be coming back down here to check on him," she said sourly, before he could say anything about Barricade, "But there are other things to be done now."

"Wait,” Bumblebee said quickly, walking after the former Autobot, "What's this about Barricade? What does this have to do with the humans?" Apparently, the younger robot was left out of the loop.

Hotwire scowled, but explained briefly, "I was brought in by Ratchet and Ironhide, but Barricade was basically handed over to the humans, and now he's being scientifically tortured," she said simply, "I can feel it."

"But we already went through that,” the Autobot replied, gesturing for emphasis, "The humans should know that's torture to us now."

"Then they don't care," Hotwire replied, "We're not thinking, feeling, sentient beings to them. We're just machines to them. And if you'd seen the way they treat machines, and surely you’ve been here long enough to see that, then you wouldn't be surprised. Just angry. You must have seen the way they treat drones."

"That's not true!" Bumblebee shouted suddenly, banging his fist against the nearest hard surface. He was angry, but not for the reason either of them expected, "Humans are not all bad, Hotwire."

"Tell that to the ones who are ripping Barricade to pieces to further their own selfish ends!" Hotwire shouted back at him, "You can deny it all you like but the truth is that humans think only of themselves!"

Bumblebee slowly shook his head, fully denying what she said. Whatever hooks she had managed to get into the Autobot's mind seemed to be forcibly ripped right back out, "The humans are more like us than you know,” he spoke firmly, "And now I have to ask you to leave the cell block.”

Hotwire made a noise that sounded basically angry, and walked out of the cell block, her heels clacking on the metal floor of the base. It was only once she was out of the cell-block that she realised that she'd pushed Bumblebee too hard and too fast in her attempt to manipulate him, "Slag it!" she snarled, punching the wall beside her, and leaving a dent.

~~~

Harley: This chapter is shorter than the others. Curses.

Froggy: You already said that. A vital bickering because I’ll be damned if Hotwire gets on with all the Autobots, whatever she used to be.
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Shadows of Tomorrow