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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

By Harley Quinn hyenaholic and Froggy22651

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Harley: Some things I didn’t say before. Firstly, whenever Transformers talk to each other, they are talking in Cybertronian. Not English. It’s just easier to write English than digital code. It’s a translation, you see. They only speak in English to English humans.

Froggy: Also, for people who don’t like the idea of robot sex, there will be no giant metal penises in this fanfic. No robot jizz. It won’t be completely clean, but it’ll really be more like heavy robot petting. And spark merging, you may have seen it before.

Harley: And hell, by the time we GET to it, you’ll be so into the fic you won’t give a damn anyway. Hopefully.

Froggy: This chapter – absolutely nothing sexual happens. There’s a lot of development though...

~~~

Chapter Two: Junkyard

Hotwire, still in motorcycle mode, stared, shocked, amazed and horrified all at once. The junkyard Barricade had led her to was... well, it was a mess. There was no other word for it, not in human, or in Cybertronian. To put it simply, even on the most savage of battlefields she had never seen so much metal simply left to rust. It was just... abandoned here, as if it was totally useless.

"I'm sorry, Barricade," she apologised to the Mustang next to her, "I just... When you said they just dumped things... it didn't make sense. It still doesn't."

"Barbaric, isn't it?" Barricade growled beside her, "What a backwards planet. Organics rule and machines serve. Not a spark to be seen."

"Humans..." Hotwire muttered, almost angry. She had to remind herself that these machines had never had life, but it was all reverse engineered from Cybertronian techno-biology, making the sight all the more shocking to the unprepared, or even to somebody as used to the sight of death as Hotwire. She shifted and transformed back into her bipedal mode, "I bet if they put even the slightest amount of effort in, they could have repaired at least half of these machines. And now," she shrugged, "It's too late."

"Of course they could have, but those meatbags are careless. They don't respect what they have until they no longer have it,” Barricade commented as Frenzy climbed out. He transformed, glancing around at the scrap metal and broken components with a tight, grim smirk, "I suppose, in that respect, they are a little like us."

"Perhaps," Hotwire relented, but glared again, not at anybody in particular, "And we're going to be hiding here?" she asked, "In this... graveyard? Apart from anything else, I don't think I'm in quite bad enough shape to blend in just yet."

"Perhaps it's not the best place, but you'll have all the spare parts you’ll ever need,” Barricade explained, "We may find a more suitable location later."

"Refrigerators," Hotwire said, cuttingly, "Thousands upon thousands of refrigerators. That's so much help." She suddenly became aware of a repetitive, irritating noise, and it wasn't Frenzy. It seemed to be some sort of carbon lifeform, attracted by the noise they had made approaching. Blast! She'd thought nobody had seen them. It seemed to be a guard dog. Not a threat, but all the noise it was making would definitely attract more intelligent attention. Well, more attention, anyway. That was probably the reason it was here.

Grumbling in irritation, Barricade stepped towards the small creature, which whimpered and cowered from his approach, "Pathetic creature,” he growled at it.

"What is it, Rover?" a human male voice called from somewhere not far away, "Is somebody breaking in?"

"Blast!" Hotwire said softly, and transformed back into her BMW form. She then looked up at Barricade, who was still in bipedal form, and seemed quite prepared to start killing both the dog and the human.

Barricade cocked and loaded his built-in Gatling gun, preparing to turn it on the human and... whatever that four-legged thing was. The last thing the Cybertronians needed right then was witnesses to spoil their temporary shelter.

Hotwire frowned mentally, watching Barricade. She put up no protest. It wasn't the action she would have taken. On the other hand, after what she had seen in the junkyard, she didn't care about the humans.

The wide-eyed human turned to flee, shocked out his stupor by the loud click of the large gun loading. He wasn't fast enough. With a quick burst of fire, Barricade turned the fragile organic into a stain, coating rusted metal with his innards, an end that the robot thought particularly appropriate. The four-legged animal whimpered and hid inside a small dwelling set aside for it. Snickering softly to himself, Barricade raised his foot and brought it down on top of the small structure, crushing it and the organic within.

Well, there were no organics around anymore, "Do you really think that was necessary?" Hotwire asked Barricade, transforming back into her bipedal form. It probably was, but it was just like her to suggest that it wasn't anyway.

Barricade rubbed his foot clean on the dirt below before answering Hotwire's question, "I believe it was. Whether it was or not, it was satisfying."

Hotwire frowned, and sat down on a nearby car, "Humans might be pretty weak and pathetic, but if you kill every one that annoys you - and I don't even know what annoys you right now - don't you think people - the planet's military, Autobozos, so on - will notice?"

"I most certainly have not killed everyone that annoys me,” Barricade corrected her, turning to face her and deactivating his weapon, "But, had I allowed this human to live, he would have contacted the military or the Autobots, and that would not bode well for us."

"He probably wouldn't have if you'd returned to your police cruiser form when I’d returned to my motorcycle form, and spouted a few meaningless reassurances at him," Hotwire pointed out, "Many humans seem to be stupidly trusting of their police force, despite frequent corruption articles on the internet." Barricade recognised the tone she was using as almost identical to the tone she had used to scold Frenzy when she was repairing him.

Barricade felt almost immediate annoyance, "This way was more certain,” he snapped back at Hotwire. Who is she to lecture me? he thought. She wasn't an Autobot or a Decepticon, so why did she care what methods either side used?

In truth, she didn't. What she didn't like was doing something that was pointless and wasteful, "Why did you become a Decepticon anyway?" she asked Barricade. It was a very personal question, but it certainly changed the subject.

Barricade glared at the smaller robot. He was trying and failing to figure Hotwire out, and a mystery was something that frustrated him greatly, "I'm more interested in why you haven't joined either side in this war,” he rumbled, stepping closer to her, "That is the action of someone greatly indifferent... or a coward."

"I am not a coward!" Hotwire snapped, instantly offended. She couldn't remember the number of times she'd had to treat bots with plasma burning over her head.

Barricade loomed menacingly over her, using his size to add weight and power to his interrogation, "Then why have you not joined this conflict?" he demanded.

Hotwire frowned, forced to lean back a little, "I became programmed as a battlefield surgeon under the Autobots, and my tutor expelled me for a ridiculous and pathetic reason, especially considering how badly the war was going for them. Since I had no desire for an instantaneous and horrific death, I didn't go straight to Megatron to offer any services."

"Why not?" Barricade asked, continuing his intimidating interrogation, "The Autobots wronged you! The Decepticons would have welcomed your services."

"Would you?" Hotwire asked, tilting her head, "Or would you have just seen me as a convenient source of data on whatever the Autobots were doing at the time?"

"In war, you take whatever resource is available,” Barricade growled, "If you had information, of course we would have taken it! Now answer the question."

"I didn't join the Decepticons because I didn't feel like it!" Hotwire stood up, "Is that good enough for you? I repaired enough of you on battlefields and you were never grateful then either!"

"In war, there are few things more pointless than an impartial medic,” Barricade retorted, still standing tall over Hotwire, despite her defiance, "Why did the Autobots cast you out?"

"It's none of your business, is it?" Hotwire replied, "And it was a stupid reason anyway! Why should I tell you?"

"Because I don't trust a former Autobot who refuses to explain her reasons for being here!" Barricade boomed, metal fists clinching, "If you have something to hide, it may not be long until you are no longer my ally."

"I don't have anything to hide," Hotwire growled, "And I don't see why I should have to tell you anything. I don't see why I should care whether you're my ally or not; I don't need allies!"

"You don't see why?" Barricade asked, as if surprised that she even needed to ask that question. Either Hotwire had some very sturdy circuits, or she wasn't very bright. He doubted that it was the latter though. Leaning down and getting in her face, he growled, "Take one guess."

"Oh, so it's intimidation, is it?" Hotwire snarled, "Are you willing to kill the only individual on this planet who would be willing to repair you in the event of you getting injured? Then you're even more violently stupid than I thought you were on meeting you!" Hotwire's erratic temper was rapidly spiralling out of control.

Barricade was an intimidating presence, even among other Cybertronians. Usually, his menacing way of interrogating made others give in and do as he wanted, but strangely in Hotwire's case, it was having the opposite effect, "More like I don't desire to be stabbed in the back by an Autobot spy!" he snarled back, "You are not doing much to reassure me otherwise!"

Hotwire continued to glare, but eventually relented, "It was a stupid reason anyway," she said sulkily, and made a pause, "On the battlefield you sometimes have to make difficult decisions. There aren't always enough parts or medication to go around. The humans call it Triage. A battlefield doctor sometimes has to decide who will live and who will die, and the less supplies there are, the harder the decisions become. Apparently. But I found a way around the problem. My tutor disagreed, and said I was a bad example to the rest of the class. So he expelled me."

Barricade found himself genuinely intrigued by this part of Hotwire's story. She must have done something the Autobots thought of as immoral to be cast out, "What was this solution to the problem?" he asked.

Hotwire rubbed her face and gave a metallic sigh, "In Advanced Triage, patients who are so severely wounded that, given the care available they would die in a matter of hours or days anyway are not given treatment," she said, "I found that by ending their lives earlier, I could use the parts of them that had not been damaged to save the lives of less severely wounded Autobots and Decepticons, and painkillers weren't wasted on them either. As the situation for medication and parts became more desperate, I had to end more lives early to save others. My tutor had a big problem with the fact that I didn’t wait for consent, and the fact that some other students of his were starting to copy me."

Barricade snorted in disgust, not at all surprised, "Typical of Autobots,” the Decepticon replied, "Always letting their sentiments and inflexible moral judgements get in the way of cold, hard practicality. Your talents would have been wasted among them."

"You think it was a good idea?" Hotwire asked, surprised, "I could never work out why it wasn't a good idea myself, but my tutor was so adamant about it being immoral... Even though I didn't invent the idea of rationing medication, I just took it further."

"Of course. You merely finished off people who were already doomed to die. The immoral action would have been to let more die simply because you were too weak to do what was necessary,” Barricade explained, supporting Hotwire's actions. He asked, "Did you ever pay back the tutor who did this injustice to you?"

"You mean, did I kill him?" Hotwire asked, with surprising insight, "No, I couldn't see the point. We were close to the end of training anyway. The only result of the expulsion was that I didn't become an Autobot. It didn't stop me from doing what I was programmed to do, and I didn't have anybody hanging over my shoulder, complaining that I was healing the wrong people."

"Hmmm,” Barricade uttered, "So you got what you wanted from them." The larger robot contemplated this. Hotwire indeed sounded like a valuable individual to have on his side of the war, especially following their recent crushing defeat, "The offer still stands to join the Decepticons, Hotwire,” he added, "We would encourage such decisiveness rather than shun it like your former allies."

Hotwire gave this some consideration. She wasn't about to deny that the idea of her theories being appreciated had definite appeal. On the other hand, it wasn't as if there were many Decepticons around right now to appreciate them, "You'll forgive me for asking, I hope," she said, "But... this doesn't seem the most ideal situation to fight a war in. You know, 8 billion against three."

"The odds are stacked against us... for now,” Barricade admitted, "But we are not the only Decepticons. There are others still among the stars that have yet to reach this planet. Once reinforcements arrive, we will stand a fighting chance. Until then, we must wait and survive."

"Why would they come here?" Hotwire asked, "The Allspark is destroyed, as far as I'm aware, and Starscream never struck me as the type to come back for Megatron's body and risk having his own head blown off in the process. Autobots might come here too. After all, I came here because I still get general Autobot transmissions on my radio."

Admittedly, it was a very precarious and dangerous time to be a Decepticon. Barricade wasn't giving up so easily, though, "I do not know for sure the fate of the Allspark, and I assume most Decepticons are unaware, too. Also, the leader of the Autobots is here, and he will make a very enticing target to my allies. It is only a matter of time before more arrive."

Hotwire still looked doubtful, "I think I'll pass for now," she said slowly, sitting back down on the car again, "Maybe it is only a matter of time, but how much time? To be honest, I'm seriously starting to regret coming to this planet."

"Humph. Well... take your time. We have enough of it available,” Barricade replied bitterly, turning around and searching the area for intruders, "If it were not for Megatron and the Allspark, I wouldn't have bothered with this planet either."

Hotwire looked up at Barricade, "Why do you feel some pressing need to remain loyal to a dead bot?" she asked him, "I mean..." she waved a hand around vaguely, "Well, why? I thought most Decepticons were consumed with self-interest. I guess what I'm saying is... why do you think you need to remain a Decepticon?" she asked finally, "Why don't you become neutral?"

Barricade's optical sensors flickered briefly. It was not a question that he had been asked before, "The Autobot way will destroy our people,” he answered at last, "Look at how they ally themselves with lesser species that would betray us all, given the chance! See the madness in Optimus Prime, deciding to destroy that which gave us all life rather than allow anyone else to posses it, even to build the Cybertronian Empire!"

"I didn't say you should become an Autobot," Hotwire replied, "I suggested neutrality. My kind of neutrality involved helping both sides, but for you, you wouldn't have to help either."

"So I should just lay down and let the Autobots do as they please? How would that possibly help matters?" a confused and angry Barricade asked of Hotwire.

"I don't know," Hotwire answered, "It was just a suggestion. It wouldn't help the Decepticons, but-" she was about to say, "Who the pit cares about Decepticons?" but considering her company, changed it to, "But it might help your situation." She shrugged, "It's not important anyway. It's hardly like neutrals need soldiers to fight a war."

It did make a certain amount of sense, he had to admit. "Seeing as I and Frenzy are the only Decepticons on the planet, it's a moot point. Still... ceasing hostilities for now would certainly allow us to survive longer."

"It's your call," Hotwire stood up, "As a neutral, it's all one to me whatever side you're on," she smirked slyly, "But it's not all one to you, is it? If I become an Autobot, I'm your enemy, but if I become a Decepticon I'm your backup. Either way I get dragged into a war I don't care about."

"So you don't care what happens as long as it doesn't affect you," Barricade concluded. It was his turn to smirk at her, "Who is the self-centered one now?" he replied with an amused look.

Hotwire's expression changed, and she looked, for a moment, hurt. Barricade couldn't figure it out. Then her expression became angry again, "I have spent all my life being affected by this stupid, pointless war between the Autobots and the Decepticons," she said, her tone icy cold, "Watching friends die for a cause they didn't even understand. Why pick a side? It will just mean the war goes on longer."

"The problem is that you don't understand that what we have is a difference of opinion so strong that it cannot be settled any other way,” Barricade shot back, irritated by Hotwire's insistence... but not as much as he was earlier. He was beginning to respect her, even if he didn't fully agree with her.

"If I choose a side," Hotwire replied, curtly, "It will be because taking that side will end the war faster. Not because you need somebody to patch you and your comrade up on occasion."

"Then that is your choice. Don't criticise mine because you don't give a slag about what happens to your own damn people,” Barricade growled, turning away from her to explore the junkyard.

"I don't have any people," Hotwire snarled at his back, turning her back on him and heading to explore the mountain of fridges, "And I don't need any either," she added as she walked away.

~~~

Harley: Yes, I know Hotwire’s views on the value of life are hypocritical. She doesn’t notice. It’s part of her personality. We all contradict ourselves sometimes. I just thought I’d tell you, in case you think it’s an accident.
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Shadows of Tomorrow