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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

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Harley: Goddammit! Why is every OC femme who joins the Decepticons a bloody medic? It’s like thinking I was original and getting a punch in the face!

Froggy: Well, evidently you weren’t the only one to see that need.

Harley: The only redeeming thought is knowing I’m not intentionally copying anybody, because I’ve only just come into the fandom. But it’s worth warning people about. Reminds me of that time I accidentally ripped off somebody’s robotic echidna. Well, that little rant’s over.

~~~

Chapter Four: Clamping Down

Ironhide walked away from his discussion with Optimus, deep in thought. Generally, his philosophy for handling tough situations like this was that there was no problem that couldn't be solved with enough firepower. Naturally, this frequently left him handling things in a very counterintuitive way, thanks to his leader's forgiving nature. If it were up to him, Ironhide would simply blast this newcomer into oblivion with a hail of flying lead and plasma, but that wasn't an option given. Thankfully, the team medic would likely know of a way to handle this better than him, so the Autobot sought out Ratchet.

Ratchet had taken to working at the local search and rescue center under cover as a search and rescue ambulance. The humans there knew about him, because it was pretty hard to keep it a secret, but accepted him because he was just as good at the job as they were. Sometimes a vehicle that could drive itself came in handy. As did a 20 foot robot. He was fortunately not out searching for anybody when Ironhide arrived.

The other Autobot arrived disguised as usual as a pickup truck, signalling to his ally in Cybertronian, "It seems that you have taken well to your position on this planet."

"I always considered that it was more important to help others than to harm them," Ratchet replied calmly. Ironhide wasn't his idea of somebody to agree with a lot, but he was a loyal and conscientious Autobot, despite his attitude.

The feeling was mutual. While Ironhide still wasn't certain that helping the humans was their appropriate cause, he was a team player. Besides, they were already there, so they might as well lend a hand. "Optimus has given me an assignment that may require your abilities,” Ironhide informed the medic, "It seems that we have a new visitor to this world." He projected the same image to Ratchet that he had shown to Optimus, of the new Cybertronian fleeing from humans and escaping with a little Decepticon assistance.

Ratchet observed the images for several seconds, as it played and replayed, "This may seem like a terrible coincidence," he said finally, "But I used to know that Autobot. What is she doing on Earth? Optimus only sent the message a couple of days ago; there's no way she could have gotten here so soon by starting out after she got it..."

"She is one of us?" Ironhide asked in surprise. It certainly was not what he expected... and secretly, it somewhat disappointed him, "She may have never received the message,” he added, "She was fighting the humans, after all."

"She was built to become an Autobot," Ratchet said sadly, "And it's true that many Autobots joined the Decepticons out of fear, but... her name, when I knew her, was Hotwire, and she was never quite... right. There was something rusted in her processors, you might say. She never joined the Decepticons though..."

"How did you know her?" Ironhide asked Ratchet, curious despite himself.

Ratchet gave a mechanical sigh, "You may know that when I was much younger, I used to teach a class on Cybertronian medics. Hotwire was one of my brightest students, considering she was so young. Unfortunately she was also rather unethical in her practices."

"Unethical? How so?" Ironhide asked, his curiosity growing. He hadn't heard of many unethical Autobot medics, after all, but he was even more curious as to why Ratchet insisted she would not join the Decepticons.

"When the war started, my surgeons and doctors rapidly had to become Battlefield Surgeons," Ratchet said, "And I had to teach them the most difficult of all medical practices - Triage. Hotwire took to rationing medical supplies with no difficulty. But complications arose. When Advanced Triage dictates that a Cybertronian is too badly wounded to use up medical supplies to keep them alive for just a few more hours, they should be given painkillers and made comfortable for their last few hours. Hotwire started by not handing out painkillers to the dying. Many soldiers ended their lives in agony because she restricted even the distribution of painkillers."

Ironhide grunted, "Her reason was to save painkillers for those who could survive, correct?" the Autobot weapons specialist asked. It made a certain amount of brutal sense... even though it was a terrible practice. If he were wounded and dying, Ironhide was sure that he would prefer to be drugged up until he couldn't feel anything at all, "That was the start. So where did she go from there?" he asked.

Ratchet gave another mechanical sigh, "She was far more lax in her labelling of those who were near death than most students. I am certain that many soldiers she labelled as 'Expectant' could have survived if they were given immediate attention - and that is of course the point of Triage. Once again, it saved medical supplies - but it was a crushing blow to the ethics of a medic. Even so, her skill with healing was so considerable that I tried to correct her..."

"So she was caring more about supplies than saving her comrades? That does sound worrying,” Ironhide interjected, "In fact, it sounds very much like something a Decepticon would do."

"Yes, but that wasn't why I was eventually forced to expel her," Ratchet replied, "I discovered that in order to repair some 'Urgent' injuries, Hotwire had started killing 'Expectant' soldiers earlier - and transplanting the parts of them that were still functioning into Autobots who needed the parts. It is true that her approach saved a number of lives. But it was also completely unethical. And what was worse, some of the more impressionable students were copying her. I talked to her, but she didn't merely refuse to alter her methods - she couldn't see what was wrong with them. I couldn't let her continue at the class."

Ironhide rumbled to himself irritably. Killing fellow Autobots, even to save other comrades, was crossing the line. It was a line of thinking that couldn't be allowed to continue. Ratchet was correct to stop it, "But you say that she isn't a Decepticon? She strikes me as their type,” Ironhide commented.

"Yes, I almost expected seeing her become a Decepticon too," Ratchet admitted, "But I began to see examples of her work on battlefields. Some soldiers I talked to told me they'd seen or even been treated by a medic of her description. I saw her work in Decepticons too. Hotwire was still doing what she had been trained to do. The only thing that changed was that she was no longer restricted to Autobot injuries. She had effectively become a Neutral."

"She helps both sides?" Ironhide asked, finding that hard to believe. He would have accepted her simply leaving the conflict much more easily than that, "That's an odd thing for anyone to do, Autobot or Decepticon."

"It’s not odd at all,” Ratchet said, “You are thinking as a soldier. As a doctor and medical officer, I have always found my orders to treat only Autobots morally questionable. But Hotwire thinks differently to most medics," he continued, "I've never been quite sure why she still treats both sides, but it's neither compassion or anger that drives her. Perhaps she does it out of boredom. Or even just because she likes a task with logical steps."

"Hmm, sounds like you're right about her. Something is broken in her head,” Ironhide concluded, thinking carefully, "She's already come in contact with a Decepticon. He is likely going to try persuading her to their side."

"A Decepticon? Who?" Ratchet asked. Ironhide showed him the video of Barricade charging the humans, "Barricade? Oh, that's not good. Hotwire on her own is predictable and logical. Around superiors, or those with an assertive personality, she will take almost any order that makes sense. She probably carried out battlefield surgery these last few millennia because it was the last thing she was told to do. But if Barricade starts giving her new orders..."

"You think she'll take them,” Ironhide completed, "All the more reason we should find her as soon as possible."

"Yes, it would be best to find her," said Ratchet, "We find Hotwire, we find Barricade. I'd just like to warn you however, Ironhide - Hotwire does not like me. She won't come with me. She might come with you, though."

Ironhide wasn't the best at diplomacy, but it was worth a shot. Figuratively speaking. "Of course, we have to find her first,” he pointed out, "We can start by examining her landing zone. Asides from that, you know her better than me."

Ratchet gave a nod - well, he would have done if he wasn't a Search And Rescue van right now, "I will just tell my co-workers that I'm going to be away for a few days," he said, and radioed a message to one of the drivers, before they set off for the golf course in Arizona that Hotwire had landed at.

Ironhide took the lead, staying ahead of Ratchet and alert for any Decepticon attackers. If he wanted to ambush fellow Cybertronians, this would certainly be a place that he would pick for that purpose.

"The place will probably be crawling with military personnel, Ironhide," Ratchet warned his ally as they drove, "If you pull your guns on them you'll be turned into scrap metal. So mind your actions there."

Ironhide felt somewhat insulted that Ratchet thought he would be the one who would lose that competition, but he had a point. They didn't want to start any unneeded battles. The humans were friends. Supposedly. That would change fast if they provoked them.

~~~

Elsewhere...

Another day in hiding, another day of looking at discarded trash. Granted, to Barricade, it was preferable to hiding in the strangely organic locations on Earth, but that didn't make where he was any less dead. The Decepticon boredly poked into the pile of spare parts, partially wondering how he was going to retaliate against the Autobots, if at all, and partially wondering how Hotwire found any use for this primitive scrap.

Hotwire had repaired Frenzy some more since they'd arrived, and the smallest Decepticon was currently recharging in the now dead junkyard manager's office. Barricade wasn't concerned any more about either of them. Then he heard Hotwire's signal calling to him.

"Barricade? I think there's humans coming. They have... more garbage," she radioed him in Cybertronian.

Barricade cursed to himself as he shifted into his police cruiser form, driving further into the junkyard to stay out of sight by putting the piles of junk between him and human eyes. He hoped that Frenzy had the intelligence to do the same.

Hotwire followed suit, changing into her motorcycle form, but instead of retreating, seemed to be approaching the humans. Observing them. They didn't seem to be any kind of authority figures, and had come to the junkyard with a rusted pick-up truck filled with garbage of all kinds... but they did seem to be surprised about the crushed human and dog on the ground, lying where Barricade had left them. One was expelling the contents of his stomach. Humans are such messy creatures, Hotwire thought as she watched silently. How they had ever managed to assert such control over their own planet when they couldn't even control their own bodily functions was astonishing.

"What are you doing, Hotwire?" Barricade radioed to her, "If those humans realise it's only a hologram riding you, I'll be forced to kill those two, as well."

"They won't," Hotwire responded, although it was more of a reassurance than a sure thing. Besides, all their focus was on the dead human.

"We have gotta call the cops!" one of the humans was saying.

"Great, human authority crawling around asking questions," Hotwire grumbled through her radio, "I told you it was a bad idea to kill that human, Barricade! We can't leave just yet; at least not until Frenzy has been fully recharged!"

"Now isn't the time to argue it,” Barricade growled at her before adding, "Frenzy is still there? Damn. Since you disagree with my method, what would you suggest?"

"Frenzy is concealed in GPX boombox form in the office," Hotwire replied, "He shouldn't wake up for hours yet. It's people noticing us I'm more concerned about. You can't squash all your problems, you know."

One of the humans was now calling the local law enforcement and reporting a murder.

Reluctantly, Barricade agreed, "Fine. I'll hide until the authorities arrive, and once they've cleared the scene, I'll patrol the area. The humans won't suspect anything."

"You think they won't notice a perfect condition police cruiser on the premises?" Hotwire snapped, "It's not just a matter of hiding, what if one of their investigative units comes? I mean, it's pretty slagging obvious that humans didn't do this, right? And you think we don't leave tracks?" She watched as the humans left in a hurry.

Barricade suddenly realised that Hotwire wasn't angry; she was scared, and to hide it she was covering with anger. But why should she be scared of a few humans? They were tiny parasites. Even with their weapons and numbers, they still didn't warrant this kind of fear.

"You're afraid of them,” Barricade stated bluntly upon realising this, his attention drawn away from the disgusting little organics for the moment, Hotwire becoming a far more interesting center.

"I am NOT!" Hotwire snarled. The amount of relief she displayed, even in vehicle mode, as the humans left their sight, betrayed her words, "You didn't see me running when those meatbags surrounded and attacked me, did you?" she asked, transforming back into bipedal mode.

"Actually, I did,” Barricade responded dryly, finding Hotwire's reaction and bruised ego amusing.

"But that was..." Hotwire continued to glare, "I am NOT scared of them! Give me one reason why I should be scared of them! They're tiny, they're messy, they're stupid and disgusting... all excellent reasons to hate them, not to fear them! Why should I be scared of them?" she asked him again.

"I don't know,” Barricade answered, chuckling softly over the radio waves, "That's why I’m asking you. Why are you afraid of them?"

"I am not!" Hotwire insisted, before sitting down, almost giving up, on a pile of broken tiles, "I mean, not exactly. I'm not scared of them. I just..." she tried to explain without admitting that she was afraid, "I don't understand them. I understand most things. But humans are so... illogical and stupid. And erratic. They... confuse me. I shouldn't care, but I do anyway, and it messes up my thought processes..."

"Ah..." Barricade understood finally. Hotwire wasn't scared of their weapons or their control of the planet. She wasn't scared of their power. She was scared because she didn't understand them. People she couldn't figure out disturbed her. It was another piece of the puzzle, and a particularly interesting one at that, "Think of them as having flawed programming,” he suggested, "There is a certain amount of sense in human thought, but they have programs constantly fighting for control in a mass of flawed hardware."

"No they don't, they have squishy masses of cells called brains," Hotwire walked over to Barricade, "And electrical signals make them do things... or something... I'm not stupid, Barricade! They're not computers!"

"It's called an ‘analogy’, Hotwire. It's that thing where you compare two equivalent things,” Barricade replied sarcastically to the smaller robot, "I'm sure you understand my point."

"Yes, but it's not the same," Hotwire was extremely uncomfortable with analogies; she always saw the flaws in them, "Humans ARE parasites, they feed off their planet and put nothing back, while slowly killing it at the same time," she kicked a nearby fridge for emphasis, "But they aren't run by programs."

"Humph,” Barricade uttered as he shifted into his bipedal form, still safely hidden in the junkyard, "Something must be governing their behaviour. Not that it matters. You shouldn't let these creatures bother you so much."

Hotwire appeared to sulk briefly, "Maybe not, but... they still bug me. And do you know what the worst thing is? They think they are superior to all other creatures!"

"That wouldn't be as annoying if they actually were,” Barricade commented, facing her, "But the point is, you are superior to them. Don't forget that."

"I know that," Hotwire scowled, turning away from him. She didn't have much else to say, it seemed. Perhaps this wasn't surprising, considering that most of her life's interaction was with incapacitated Cybertronians who were rarely well-motivated to talk. Barricade on the other hand had lots of experience with conversation, or at least, shouting at people. Hotwire looked up at the sky, "Cybertron is somewhere out there," she said absently, "There's no way to get home with this planet's primitive technology, and even if I could, how much of it would be left by now? But at least I was useful there..."

"You are useful here,” Barricade insisted, stepping closer to Hotwire, glancing down at the smaller robot. He could understand her unhappiness at being stuck on this world, but he couldn't let her fall into a depression over it, "If you weren't here, the only company I would have is Frenzy. You wouldn't want that to happen to me, would you?"

Hotwire didn't look around, but her general stance suggested she had at least smiled at that, "No, that would be dreadful," she said, "On the other hand, if you hadn't turned up when you did, I would probably be scrap metal in a human laboratory somewhere."

"It seems we both need each other,” Barricade spoke to her, resting his hands on her metal shoulders, "You are not useless, Hotwire, and I don't want to hear you calling yourself that."

Hotwire pulled away from Barricade, but turned to face him, which was an improvement, "Back on Cybertron I'd be on my way to the next major battle to try and save some Cybertronians," she explained, "I've been doing that for millennia now. I came here out of habit expecting to find more of a mess... After all, wherever Megatron goes, corpses follow. Both kinds. But I suppose I underestimated the Auto-jerks this time... I didn't think they'd actually win. On the other hand, I didn't really care."

Barricade watched her back and forth argument with herself, wondering where she was going with it. Admittedly, he didn't think the Autobots would win, either. If only he managed to get to the battle faster... he’d probably be dead too, "And now?" he asked her.

Yes, what now? "I don't know," Hotwire admitted, "At least helping you and Frenzy gives me some kind of purpose. I'm doing something I know about. I don't know what to do next. I never know what to do next - I've always done the same thing with variations. It's better than doing nothing."

"I appreciate your help,” Barricade replied. It wasn't easy for him to say. Gratitude didn't come easy to a Decepticon, but Hotwire had earned it from him. She didn't have to risk coming to Earth at all.

"Oh, I didn't do any of this to help you," Hotwire said quickly, "It's something to do. And somebody to talk to. I don't talk to many people."

Barricade chuckled, "I got that impression,” he told her, leaning down slightly to her level, "Regardless, it's still appreciated."

Hotwire leant back a little, but then crossed her arms over her chassis, "Your appreciation is appreciated," she said, with a wry smile, "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Just continue doing what you already have," Barricade replied, glancing in the direction of the humans, hearing sirens off in the distance coming closer, "And don't be caught by the humans. That's the sort of trouble we don't need."

Hotwire looked worried again as she listened to the approaching sirens, "I don't think the military has sirens," she said, "But still..." She transformed back into her motorcycle form, without a hologram, looking for all the world like an abandoned bike.

Barricade also changed into his police cruiser form, quietly driving towards the opposite end of the junkyard, positioning himself carefully between piles of junk, hoping his didn't have to leave in a hurry. Nasty as it was, they had a good hiding space going for them.

Unfortunately the police arriving were bound to notice two unaccompanied vehicles, especially an LA police cruiser with a rather original design. They might not make the association between giant alien robot and murder straight away, but they were going to look for the owners.

Thankfully, humans were stupid and still mostly ignorant about the giant robots that landed and battled it out on their planet. A car was just a car to them. That was what Barricade was counting on. If he didn't move, they weren't likely to do anything to him.

There was little Hotwire could do to remain unnoticed. A police officer noticed quickly how shiny and new she was, and obviously decided she wasn't trash, "Do you think the killer's still here?" the cop asked, looking at her - or it, from his point of view.

He sure is, Hotwire thought, but made no move, silently moving certain parts in her engine so that nobody could drive her away.

Barricade likewise did the same, watching the arriving humans like a predator, ready to lash out at them if they proved to be a threat to him or Hotwire.

"It would take forever to search this place for the owner," said one cop, "That's if they are here. For now our best option is to impound this vehicle."

"Without a tow?" the other asked, "No, just clamp it for now."

Impound? Clamps? Hotwire thought, Slag. They still hadn't noticed Barricade, but were now fetching a large red clamp from their own car, which they attached to Hotwire's front wheel.

"No,” Barricade hissed angrily in Cybertronian, itching to transform and open up on the humans with his weapons. That impulse, however, was in conflict with his infiltrator experience which told him to stay low, shut up, and find his comrade later.

Fortunately the cops, after clamping Hotwire, noting the huge footprints, crushed bodies, dusting for prints, and using a lot of Police Crime Scene tape, left without towing Hotwire. She waited until they were well away, and then spoke again, "What the slagging slag am I supposed to do now?!" she snarled. Transforming with a huge clamp attached to one of her wheels would almost certainly do some damage to her internal workings, and possibly also anything in a radius of a hundred yards around her.

Satisfied that they weren't being watched anymore, Barricade transformed and looked down at his shackled companion, "You would make a nice doorstop,” he joked.

"Do you mind?" Hotwire snarled, "Apart from stopping me from driving anywhere, or transforming properly, a large red clamp really lowers the general tone of a brand new BMW, don't you think?" she asked him sarcastically.

Barricade just laughed again. Considering the circumstances, he found it hilarious. He had his fun, but there was no need to drag it out. Hotwire was sore as it was. The tall robot kneeled down and carefully took hold of the clamp, bending it off of Hotwire's wheel.

"Ow! Watch it, that hurts!" Hotwire shouted at him, "You're a copy of a police cruiser, don't you have a key for this sort of thing?" she asked him.

"No,” he growled, "Be quiet. I'm trying to remove this without taking your wheel off." It wasn't easy. In comparison to the clamp, Barricade's fingers were large and clumsy.

"Ow!" Hotwire yelped again, "Watch where you're putting your hands, stop poking under my bodywork!" she scolded him.

"Terribly sorry,” he answered, although he didn't sound particularly sorry. He was trying to find some leverage to put on that slagging clamp... there. With a loud, metallic pinging sound, the clamp snapped and came off Hotwire's wheel.

"ARGH!" Hotwire gave a final, metallic screech, and sprang into her bipedal form, slugging Barricade neatly in the face. It wasn't a particularly weighted punch, but it was well-aimed and fast.

Even aching slightly, Barricade had to admit he was impressed. He'd been expecting a slap from a femme, "You're welcome,” he shot back sarcastically, rubbing his aching face. Not that he was expecting any gratitude from her.

"Well, how would you like it if I started poking around under your armour?" Hotwire snapped, "Poking at all your sensitive places..." she muttered irritably, "Which, if you got damaged, I might have to do," she added.

"I'm sure I'd live with it,” Barricade replied, getting back to his feet and glancing around the junkyard again. It seemed that they had gotten off free - for now. He made a mental note to avoid killing humans senselessly in the future.

At least, until he didn’t have to hide from them like this.

~~~

Harley: Christ but it takes ages to put up those chapters.
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Shadows of Tomorrow