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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
- 7
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- 9
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Shadows of Tomorrow

Co-Written by Harley Quinn hyenaholic and Froggy22651

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Harley: What? So little feedback on the robot sex? I’m surprised at you all! Now I’m going to sulk!

Froggy: So, uh... this chapter has more interaction. Don’t you guys worry, the decision of which side everybody ends up on is already made. Yeah, it does kinda seem like Barricade’s gonna go neutral in places, but I’m sure we can clear that up.

~~~

Chapter Eight: Pileup

Hotwire came out of recharge slowly. She'd had the most incredible... well, humans called them dreams. She'd never had one herself, lacking the imagination of other Autobots, so that meant it wasn't a dream, didn't it? She cast her gaze around the warehouse. No, it definitely wasn't a dream. The deep scars in the concrete proved that; the fact that she was lying next to Barricade, added to the fact that they hadn't been in vehicle form while they'd been recharging, only confirmed it.

She was glad. She'd have hated to have to actually ask him.

Barricade didn't really look any different in recharge than he did awake, right down to his twitching trigger finger. Hotwire wondered if he was having any... dreams.

Barricade would have argued that he didn't have dreams, just simulations, mostly of him interrogating or causing misery to various Autobots in preparation of the day he would have the chance to do so. Truth be told, though, there were recharging sessions in which old data and memory mixed around inside his processor, creating what humans would call dreams. At that moment, those memories and data were mostly of Hotwire. That was the good part. The bad part was that those bits of data were mingling with the brutal simulations. It was a relief to him when his systems, now fully charged, came back online. His optical sensors swept over the warehouse around him, at the scars in the concrete, and finally came to rest on Hotwire herself.

She was looking down at him, her head tilted to one side as if she was assessing him just like any other medic would, and then she smiled dryly, "It's morning," she said, "And considering how we slept, I think we're lucky not to be waking up in some Autobot cell."

"Humph,” the Decepticon uttered, glancing up at her with a growing smile, "I don't think we made that much noise, Hotwire... although I'd be willing to try."

Hotwire just tapped his cheek with her fist light-heartedly, then glanced around, concern registering on her features, "This kind of damage will be noticed by somebody," she said calmly and logically, standing up even though she didn't really want to leave Barricade's side, "I don't think it's a good idea to be here when it is. Primus, it looks like we had some sort of fight in here..."

With a soft grunt, Barricade got to his own feet. It felt like he had stretched or dented something inside him during their nocturnal activities, but nothing serious, "The reason we picked this place was because it was abandoned and ready for demolition. With a little luck, no one will notice for a long while, and if they do, they won’t care. Still, it would be smart of us to move on."

Hotwire nodded, transforming, "You grab Frenzy," she said, her hologram turning on, "We can be out of this city and heading east within an hour."

Barricade nodded his head and turned away, searching around in the darkness of the warehouse for Frenzy's distinctive electromagnetic signature. The little robot was probably still hiding from them both, "Frenzy,” Barricade called out, "It's time for us to move on. Come out."

Frenzy looked out of the office, "You're not going to blast Frenzy?" he checked.

"Next time you pull a stunt like last night's, definitely," Hotwire said, "But right now it would be a waste of time. I'd just have to fix you again later." She looked distracted, as if remembering something, but before Barricade could ask her about it, Frenzy stepped out of the office and hopped into him.

Barricade snapped his compartment door shut. Truth be told, he still was angry about what Frenzy did, but after a good night's recharge, it didn't feel worth the effort to blast him. They all had more important things to concern themselves with, "That's all of us,” he spoke out loud, turning back to Hotwire, "Now let's roll out of this dump," he finished, transforming into his vehicle mode.

~~~

Two hours later, Barricade and Hotwire were both driving together on the highway, with Frenzy nestled inside Barricade, keeping quiet for once. It was a curious partnership, but nobody glanced twice at an LAPD car. Barricade was starting to notice that Hotwire still seemed distracted. All his comments had been met with brief, concise replies.

Slowing down to let Hotwire come up beside him, Barricade spoke, "There's something on your mind." Usually, he was the quiet one. He was curious to know what could get her distant and worried.

"Hmmm?" Hotwire replied, "Oh, nothing important. Just something I said back in that warehouse. It randomly accessed a few memories, that's all. Nothing important."

Barricade usually knew when he was hearing a lie, and he could tell that whatever it was, it was not 'nothing important', "I'd like to know more about this nothing,” he replied, pressing her for information.

"It's not important," Hotwire repeated, and then added reluctantly, "Well, it's not important here. Or anywhere, not anymore. Look, I'd rather not talk about it, that's all."

"Why not?" Barricade pressed.

"Would you like to talk about the worst six Cybertronian months of your life?" Hotwire snapped suddenly.

Barricade didn't flinch. He was used to harsh reactions in his interrogations. Still, despite her intent, it only made him more interested, "If you were interested and if I had such an event in my life, certainly,” he answered, "So what happened to you?"

Hotwire just scowled mentally. In another of her unscheduled outbursts she had told Barricade more than was his business already, even if she did care about him. Not enough for the full story, just enough to get him interested. Primus, why didn't she ever shut up? "It was not long after I'd been expelled by Ratchet," she relented, "I was on the battlefield, effectively showing him what he could do with his 'You'll never be a medic' slag, even if he couldn't see it. A stupid place to be... but that's where all the battlefield medics go to train."

Barricade listened intently. From what he knew of Hotwire up to that point, her actions in that situation were predictable. To do her job, she'd go right where she was needed the most; where all the wounded were, "Trial by fire,” he commented.

"Yes, soldiers do call it that," Hotwire agreed, "It was a disputed zone. Autobots and Decepticons fighting and killing each other. It wasn't the first time I'd seen it either. The Autobots had their own medic, and I ended up healing a Decepticon. I don't remember his name, or even if he told me it. But what I do remember is that when his allies came for him, expecting to find dead metal, and found an Ex-Autobot saving his spark, they took me back to their base."

"They considered you a defector,” Barricade concluded, maybe a little prematurely, "The Decepticons value whatever medics we can find. Our kind doesn't have many of the healing types. We rely on the Constructicons."

"They considered me a prisoner," Hotwire corrected him sharply, "They set me up an 'office' in the cells where they could watch me, and gave me the task of keeping Autobot prisoners from dying of torture. Have you ever..." she stopped, "After a while they started to trust me enough to let me repair Decepticons as well. I wasn't given enough recharge time, and my supplies kept dwindling. It got worse and worse for three months... until one day the Autobots made a major assault on the base and rescued all the prisoners, including me."

Barricade mentally frowned, finding it hard to believe that the Decepticons would have been that harsh to such a valuable resource as a talented and willing medic, "The Decepticons must not have trusted you. They may have considered you an Autobot spy,” he said, defending the actions of his side.

"You're just trying to defend your team," Hotwire replied, "There's really no need. Do you actually think the Autobots treated me any better? After their unit leader found out I was neutral and had treated Decepticons, he never trusted me either. Perhaps," Hotwire gave a harsh laugh, "Perhaps he was right not to. Either way, nobody ever commented on the fact that I was still overworked and undersupplied. At least not until I started going offline during medical procedures. Even then that self-righteous Autobot creep thought I was putting it on."

"Heh. He would,” Barricade spoke with a snort, encouraged, "Autobots are such hypocrites. They claim to value all life, but if one of their own heals a Decepticon, they are treated with mistrust."

"I was put in recharge," Hotwire continued, "I must have spent almost a solid week there. When I came online again, I escaped. It wasn't difficult, since I wasn't in a cell this time. But without a doubt... those were the worst six months of my life. And I don't know what made them worse - the stress, or coming online and realising that Autobots and Decepticons aren't all that different after all." she glared at Barricade, "There. Now you know what I was thinking. Was it what you wanted to hear?"

Barricade was silent for a long moment, driving alongside her. It was hard to judge his reaction while he was in vehicle mode, but the way he soon pulled ahead of her showed how he felt; insulted, "The Autobots and the Decepticons are not alike,” he growled.

"Just as you please," Hotwire replied, "I didn't spend three months in a Decepticon cell finding out your kind and generous natures. Just like I sent three months finding out exactly how much Optimus Prime really believes in that freedom slag he preaches at every opportunity," she added, “Especially considering the jerks he was in control of.”

"War brings out the worst in us. You should know that better than most,” Barricade retorted, "Just because a handful of Decepticons treated you poorly doesn't mean that the entirety of them would."

"Now you're asking me to be the hypocrite and not likewise believe that just because a handful of Autobots treated me badly..." Hotwire grumbled, "If it weren't for you and Frenzy, I'd never even consider picking a side."

Barricade wasn't sure how to take that, but he settled on accepting it as a compliment, "Like I said earlier, don't,” the Decepticon warned her, "The time simply isn't right, and neither side will accept you right now."

"Just like before," Hotwire replied, and Barricade detected a metallic sigh from her. There was a pause, made all the more awkward because Barricade still had his back to her, "I want to stay with you, Barricade," she said finally, with some difficulty.

Barricade could practically hear Frenzy leering at that comment.

Growling quietly to himself, he opened and slammed his glove compartment in rapid succession, cutting short anything Frenzy felt like saying. The police cruiser Decepticon again slowed down to be beside Hotwire, "And I want to be with you,” he told her.

She didn't answer him this time, only keeping speed with him. Her thoughts were rather busy with the anger of how she had to hide all the time. How it made everything so much more complicated.

Since Hotwire wasn't speaking, Frenzy did, "Frenzy thinks Barricade's going soft," he sniggered, "Barricade's too soft to be a Decepticon. You should both join the Autobots and then you can both merge all you like..."

Almost immediately, Barricade slammed on the brakes and spun around on the road, leaving a trail of burnt rubber behind him. The police cruiser came to a stop, and incoming traffic swerved to dodge him, honking their horns in bewilderment, "What was that, Frenzy?! I don't think I heard you correctly!" Barricade snarled at the smaller robot inside him.

Frenzy cowered, "Frenzy didn't mean it!" the smaller Decepticon jabbered, "Barricade's tough enough to... to... to be a Decepticon!" The 'con flinched as a head-on collision and three-car pileup resulted from other cars trying to dodge Barricade at high speed.

"That's what I thought,” the larger robot growled, turned and speeding off, leaving a cloud of smoke behind him, obscuring the wreck he had caused by his stunt. The intent was to scare the living slag out of Frenzy, and much to his satisfaction, it succeeded.

Hotwire glared at him, at least as much as she was able as a motorcycle, "There was no need for that," she scolded Barricade.

"Slagging right!" Frenzy gibbered. He was ignored.

"You've probably drawn attention to yourself," Hotwire said, apparently oblivious to the damage in the wreckage behind them. In truth, she was incredibly relieved that Barricade hadn’t been damaged by his reckless actions, "Strike probably, in fact. Have you less self-control than a petro-rabbit?"

"Sometimes,” he darkly joked. Had he been in bipedal form, he'd be smirking quite contently, "So what if I've drawn a little attention?" he argued, "The meatbags will think it was just some mad police officer, not an alien visitor. It was worth it."

“Humans might think that,” Hotwire hesitated, not quite sure about this; alien visitor wasn’t exactly the sane assumption, but humans could rarely be considered ‘sane’, “But anybody tracking us won’t. And you want me to remodel myself to attract less attention.”

"We'll be fine,” Barricade spoke sharply. He wouldn't give that sort of credit to humans or Autobots. It was a big planet, and he was sure that odd auto accidents happened on a relatively frequent basis.

"We're being tracked," Hotwire repeated, "By Autobots as well as by humans. I wish you'd start thinking before you act." It was pretty hypocritical for Hotwire to be saying something like that.

"I always think before I act,” Barricade shot back, despite the evidence to the contrary. In an annoyed tone, he added, "But if it makes you feel any better, I'll stop causing wrecks on the road." The police cruiser Decepticon sped up slightly, leaving the mess behind a little bit faster. Despite what he said, he knew that he had risked them. There was no point in sticking around to find out if it was a mistake or not.

"Yes," Hotwire said calmly, "You'd better." She glanced at a sign they were passing and translated, "Just about 50 miles to a city called Albuquerque. Apparently it's the largest city in this state. Sounds like a good place to lose oneself, don't you think?"

"Cities are always a good choice,” Barricade agreed. Not only was it a good place to lose themselves, but their Autobot trackers, as well. "We'll be lost in the crowd."

It was just as easy to hide in a huge crowd as it was to hide in the middle of nowhere. Hotwire returned her attention to the road again. Nobody appeared to be following them. But Autobots were so... ugh... persistent. Another way in which they were like Decepticons, she considered silently.

~~~

Harley: So, next chapter there’s more robot sex, which is just great. Also there’s more of Ironhide and Ratchet. Don’t worry, there is absolutely no romantic bullshit between Ironhide and Hotwire, EVER. Geez, it’s bad enough that Hotwire’s doing Barricade...
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Shadows of Tomorrow