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Shadows of Tomorrow	By : Breech_Loader Category: Transformers > Transformers: Animated > Het - M/F Views: 1716 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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

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Froggy: Also, all sex between robots will be good old Plug’N’Play. Come on, if you’re reading the fic, please tell us what you think! This chapter, the Autobots come in. Yes, they will play a notable part in this story.

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Chapter Three: Angry, Always Angry

Following the heated argument between the two Cybertronians, Barricade was sitting down on a pile of rusted parts, fuming quietly to himself.

The Decepticon heard something muttering and gibbering, and turned to glare at Frenzy, who had spent some time fixing his own circuits, "Frenzy heard your argument," the smaller Decepticon clicked wickedly.

"Humph,” Barricade uttered, turning his head away from the smaller machine, "I'm sure. It's surprising the humans didn't hear it."

"Frenzy knows something," Frenzy clicked and grinned, "You like her, don't you?"

Barricade fixed Frenzy with a supremely annoyed glance, "Does it seem that I like her?" he growled, clinching his fists, "And I suppose that our yelling in each others' faces was just a form of flirting?"

Frenzy grinned, "Well, usually when you interrogate somebody you rip something vital off when you're done. You didn't hurt her. Therefore you like her," he snickered, "Barricade's got a crush..." It was a human word, but Frenzy was using a lot of those lately, "And you're denying it," he grinned.

"You're the one who is going to have a 'crush' in a moment,” Barricade growled, standing up and looming over Frenzy, "We need her right now just as much as she needs us, and that is the only reason I did not hurt her! Believe me, I feel no such sentiment towards her."

Frenzy, despite his recent damage, dodged away quickly, "Okay, okay, Frenzy knows how to keep a secret," he chuckled, an odd clicking sound, "Or are you just scared she won't feel the same way?" he asked, keeping out of range of Barricade's fists.

"I'm not afraid of anything!" Barricade growled, taking an earth-shaking step closer to Frenzy, his anger swiftly becoming focused on his Decepticon partner.

"You are," Frenzy dodged away again, "You’re afraid of saying sorry!"

"I... I am not!" Barricade spoke, stopped briefly by that unexpected statement. Since when did Frenzy know anything about others' psychology? "I could say sorry whenever I want, if I had anything to be sorry for!"

Frenzy just shrugged in a mechanical manner. He didn't actually know much about psychology, but he had been spending a lot of time on the internet, and it was surprising how similar humans could be to Decepticons. Violent and stubborn, for a start, "If you think so," he said, "Hotwire doesn't strike Frenzy as being the model to say sorry either."

Barricade snorted, an ugly, metallic sound, before glancing in the direction Hotwire had stomped off in, "You're right about one thing, at least,” he spoke in a low growl, although it was hard to determine if that was disapproval or not.

"I am?" Frenzy asked.

"I doubt she is going to apologise,” Barricade explained, sneering at the piles of parts and rusted metal.

Frenzy just laughed in his mechanical, slightly mad way, "Why should she apologise? You insulted her."

Barricade's optical sensors flickered, and the tall robot turned back towards Frenzy, glaring at him, "What the slag does that have to do with anything? She deserved it!" he shouted.

Frenzy rolled his optics, "You want her to become a Decepticon, right? She's not an Autobot, she’s neutral. Why should she stick around people she doesn't like? You don't say something to her, she'll just leave."

That stopped Barricade in his tracks. Hotwire likely would leave if he did nothing, "So? Why should I stop her if she wants to continue with such... pathetic and futile beliefs?" he asked his partner.

"Why don't you try persuading her she's wrong?" Frenzy suggested, "If shouting doesn't work, try something else."

"Interrogation is my specialty, not argument!" Barricade griped, not at all easy with this situation or his little, hyperactive partner in this mess.

"Fine, Frenzy will go tell her you're not going to be talking to her," Frenzy grinned, "She seems to be getting bored with fixing refrigerators already; she'll be glad of some news." The almost lizard-like robot stood up, as if to go and tell Hotwire what a total ass Barricade was being, whether she cared or not.

Barricade growled, reached down, and snatched up the little robot, bringing Frenzy up to his face, "You'll do no such thing,” he growled at him.

Frenzy gulped, "Okay, but Frenzy wouldn't have to if you'd go talk to her," he replied.

Barricade stared at Frenzy for a long moment silently. Then he tossed the little robot into a pile of trash, "Fine,” Barricade rumbled, stomping off in the last direction he had seen Hotwire take.

Frenzy giggled slightly, and then followed Barricade, who was making enough noise to drown out any noise he could make.

When Barricade found Hotwire, she was indeed dismantling three refrigerators and reconstructing them into a single working one. It looked pretty rusted, but it would work. She wasn't doing it for any particular reason; just to pass time. She looked up at Barricade, who still looked furious, "I don't have any people," she repeated; it was the last thing she'd said to him.

"At the moment, neither do I,” replied Barricade, who watched with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance at Hotwire's work on the refrigerators, "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Keeping myself busy," Hotwire said, "Learning how these stupid humans survive. The technology is similar to ours, but of a considerably lower grade. This seems to be a unit for the storage of items that need to be kept at a low temperature."

Barricade grunted. He wasn't terribly interested in human technology. The scrapyard and their feeble little bodies told him all he needed to know about them. He shifted on his feet uncertainly, watching her work, "Why do you not have a people?" he asked finally.

"Because I'm neutral," Hotwire replied, "And because I became neutral before I chose a side. And it's not that there aren't more neutrals. It's just that..." she waved a hand holding a screwdriver around, "We're all on our own. At least you have a people... somewhere..." She returned to her work, not really looking at Barricade, "Not that I care," she added, almost as an afterthought.

That brief pause made Barricade wonder if that was the whole truth. Putting himself in her place, he wondered how he would survive without anyone but himself, "You don't want a people?" he asked, "No allies? No friends?"

"Want has nothing to do with it," Hotwire said more firmly, "I don't need allies. Besides, where are your allies now?" she asked, a little spitefully, "They ran away, or they're dead, and you don't know what to do without them."

"I'm still alive, aren't I?" Barricade growled at her, forgetting that he went over there to try and settle their differences, not enflame them further.

"I guess so," Hotwire admitted, her screwdriver retracting and being replaced with her welding gun, "And you've got Frenzy. That's something too."

"And you. For now,” Barricade reminded Hotwire, shifting slightly on his feet, looking as close to nervous as he ever got, which wasn't much, "Look, about what I said..."

Hotwire welded something into place on the fridge and pushed it aside, all her power tools retracting, and looked up at Barricade again, "What about it?" she asked.

Barricade paused, looking down at her, "I... I'm sorry,” he said, the word sounding alien coming from his voicebox, "It wasn't my place to judge you so."

"Well," Hotwire gave the comment some thought, "I guess that's alright. I suppose I overreacted too. I'm always doing that." She wasn't gloating, like most Decepticons would have. But then again, she wasn't going all, "It's entirely my fault, please let me be all noble and take the blame," like Barricade assumed an Autobot would.

As usual, Hotwire proved to be neither one nor the other, somewhere in-between. Barricade would be lying if he said he wasn't intrigued by her. It was rare to find a Cybertronian who refused to take a side, and even rarer to find one who didn't even care about the sides, "I will do my best to ensure it doesn't happen again,” he added, glad to have settled that.

"It probably will," Hotwire said absently, "But still... it was also wrong of me to ask you to betray your side and become an outcast. Even if they aren't here. Probably wrong," she added.

Barricade found that ironic, considering the number of betrayals that happened within the Decepticon ranks. Their cause seemed to pull in the ruthless and the ambitious, so it was no real surprise to him, "No more wrong than me asking you to join us,” he replied.

"You know, you never told me why you became a Decepticon," Hotwire commented, "Or is it really that private?"

"There is not much to it,” Barricade relented, "I agreed with Megatron, figured that this was a battle worth fighting... and the Autobots are too soft to accept me." The tall robot sneered.

"They seem too soft to accept most of reality," Hotwire agreed, "It's probably why their ranks are so thin now. I know plenty of Neutrals who didn't agree with Megatron, but were turned away by Prime for whatever reason. Sometimes those reasons were similar to mine. Sometimes they weren't," her audio became a high whine, mocking Optimus Prime, "Oh, we can't have anybody who would gut a defenceless enemy in our army, you'll have to go to the Decepticons if you want to do that!"

Barricade smirked grimly. Despite what some Decepticons believed, he did, in fact, have a sense of humour. Sure, it was dark as the gulf between stars and as dry as a desert, but it was there, "Even if I didn't agree with Megatron, I'd still fight the Autobots. They are so... obnoxious and arrogant it makes my circuits burn."

"I don't know many Autobots well," Hotwire pointed out with the hint of a smile, "But they do tend to say the same thing about Decepticons."

Barricade snorted, "I'm sure they do,” he replied casually, "All the more reason to beat them." Admittedly, he knew that in many cases, the Autobots were right about that, at least.

Hotwire looked up, "I don't get it," she said suddenly, "Why do Decepticons hate Autobots so much? And vice versa. Apart from the war, the only cause anybody seems to be fighting for or against is the cause of Optimus versus Megatron. And they're both creeps."

"Call it an unavoidable personality clash,” Barricade tried helping her understand, "Optimus and Megatron are mostly excuses at this point."

Hotwire still didn't understand. It was one of the major reasons she'd never chosen a side, "I'll take your word for it," she said finally, "I still don't really..." she shrugged, "It doesn't matter anyway."

"Not really,” Barricade agreed, sitting down on a pile of metal close to Hotwire, still watching as she toyed with primitive human technology.

Once again, Hotwire seemed utterly absorbed in her work as she picked up a broken fridge motor and started to investigate what made it work. She didn't look all that different to when he had first come up to her. But she was certainly easier to talk to than most Decepticons, and it made a change...

~~~

The Next Day, A Long Way Away

In a way, all was well. Ironhide was staying with Lennox. It allowed him to know what was going on with respect to arriving Autobots. But one had arrived much sooner than expected, which suggested they had already been on their way. Which was worrying. Either way, whether Optimus Prime knew or not, he was on his way to tell his leader.

Prime was standing on top of a grassy hill, overlooking a human city in quiet contemplation when he heard the footsteps of his approaching weapons specialist. The leader of the Autobots turned to face him, asking, "What is it?"

"Optimus," Ironhide managed to present a show of calm, "I have good news, and I have bad news. A Cybertronian has arrived on Earth."

That sounded like good news to Optimus, who had sent out a transmission informing all allies about their success on Earth. The way Ironhide presented it, however, suggested that not all was well. "Is it one of ours or the enemy?" he asked.

"The humans have decided that it is an enemy," Ironhide replied, "They surrounded it soon after it arrived and ordered it to surrender. It fought back, destroying a helicopter. Then this happened..." Ironhide displayed a video taken from one of the military vehicles, of a Saleen Mustang with the words 'To punish and enslave' on the side, running over several humans and helping the Cybertronian - who transformed into a motorcycle - to escape.

Optimus Prime watched the hologram silently before speaking up, "So it's another Decepticon. Not one that I recognize." The metal leader shook his head. "With the Allspark destroyed and Megatron dead, they should have no reason to continue this war."

"There's worse, sir," Ironhide said, somewhat glumly.

Optimus made a deep metallic sound that seemed like a sigh, "Very well. Show it,” he told Ironhide.

Ironhide displayed some holograms of pages of the internet. Images of the Cybertronian in meteor form, protoform, stomping through a golf course, and transforming into a BMW motorcycle were being frantically discussed by people of many nations, "Most of the people who are discussing this are known commonly as 'nerds'," he said, "People do not usually pay much attention to them and they don't socialise much, but there are a lot of them."

"Then they could be a valuable resource to draw from,” Optimus concluded, replaying the video again to himself. "I do not want any more violence if it can be avoided. We should give the remaining Decepticons a chance to join us."

“Join us?” Ironhide was clearly shocked, “Those Decepti-creeps were trying to kill us all a few stellar-cycles ago!”

“But we’re better than them, which is why we give them a chance,” Optimus pointed out, “Is there anything else, Ironhide?”

"The video..." Ironhide pointed, "That's Barricade's vehicular form. I'm sure of it. He didn't show up for the final battle, so we presume he survived..."

"Barricade will not meet us in open combat. He is too smart for that,” Optimus said, "But he may become bolder if he gains allies."

"I believe the Cybertronian he aided was a femme model," Ironhide pointed out, "But she - if I may use the term - is not currently registered as an Autobot or a Decepticon, and if Barricade has taken to recruiting Neutrals, he may have further plans in mind. Aggressive plans."

"Barricade has never before shown any desire for leadership... but we must keep the possibility open,” Optimus agreed, "We must stay alert for any more sightings."

"I'm still concerned that I don't know who this Cybertronian is," Ironhide said thoughtfully, then saluted Optimus, "Have you any orders for dealing with her?"

Prime returned the salute, "Locate and observe her. Take no action unless she threatens the humans. We want to give her a chance to join us and not be our enemy."

Ironhide looked uncomfortable, "With all due respect sir, I'm not the best at negotiating such matters... I'm better with these," his guns popped out.

"Oh, I have faith in you, old friend,” Optimus Prime replied, "You will do well. If you feel you need help in this matter, though, I'm sure Ratchet would be willing to help."

Ironhide nodded. He didn't much feel like going to Ratchet for help - or anybody - and it wasn't an order either. Watching the video file of the agitated Cybertronian again though, he was almost certain that he'd mess up. Especially if she was hanging around with a Decepticon now.

~~~

Harley: Next chapter, some more Autobot stuff. And you will find out the final details of why Hotwire was expelled from her class. And who did it.
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Shadows of Tomorrow