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Shadows of Tomorrow	By : Breech_Loader Category: Transformers > Transformers: Animated > Het - M/F Views: 1715 -:- 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

~~~

Harley: Some bad news, people. Some obnoxious twat has spammed a bunch of reviews into a number of my fanfics. This has forced me to delete the fanfics, thus losing a bunch of reviews, both good and bad. And also, I’m also forced to block anonymous reviews for a while. Only the spammer’s reviews were deliberately removed. Nobody else’s reviews were removed on purpose. Even the concrit. Feel free to replace your reviews.

Hotwire is a transformer conversion of one of my characters. I’m doing my best to make her – yes, her – likable as a character. The fanfic is based on a thought I had which went “The Decepticons need a femme who doesn’t change sides, and a medic.”

So that answers the summary question, I guess. No, this will not automatically turn her into a Mary Sue, especially when the first Cybertronian she meets on Earth is the brutal and hard-headed Barricade. But can affection bloom even in the spark of a Decepticon? Even a really sexy one that’s on a door poster?

There will be Plug’n’Play sex, my most favourite kind of robot sex. Much later. Don’t like it? Tough.

~~~

Chapter One: Arriving Early

Today was not a good day for Barricade, the hunter-scout of the Decepticons. Oh sure, it started off fine. Their great leader, Megatron, had returned to them, and they were hot on the trail of the Allspark. The only things standing between them and ultimate victory were a handful of Autobots and the pitiful, carbon-based collection of barely conscious meatsacks that inhabited the planet Earth. Somehow though, everything went to slag, leaving Barricade as possibly the only Decepticon on Earth. The only one likely to have survived the battle other than him was Starscream, and knowing that coward, he had probably done so by putting as much distance between himself and this mess as fast as possible.

Not that it was an unreasonable course of action. Even disregarding the other Autobots on the planet, Barricade was outnumbered several billion to one. The humans could overwhelm him through sheer numbers and firepower if they wished. He had already run over a thousand war games through his quantum brain, and every single one of them ended badly for him. He wasn't taking over the world on his own, which only left the option of staying alive until reinforcements arrived or until he found a way off the planet himself.

Thankfully, stealth was his speciality. He was a Decepticon scout, and hiding behind enemy lines was something he was skilled at. Currently, he was disguised as a symbol of human authority, a police cruiser, meaning he could go almost anywhere. Assuming he didn't do anything highly noticeable, the humans weren't going to bother him. Cruising down their transportation system, he was seeking out the faint signal of one other possible Decepticon survivor, his partner on his mission to this alien planet. He wouldn't be much help in a fight... but some help was better than none at all.

~~~

While Barricade was having the mother of all bad days and homing in on the weak signal of his partner, another Cybertronian was having a bad day, although in an altogether different way.

Hotwire was not in a good mood. Of course, Hotwire was very rarely in a good mood, but a hard trip across a galaxy, homing in on a signal that basically said "Come on to our new homeworld, and keep your damn mouth shut,” was not making it any easier. Of course, the planet Cybertron was pretty much ready to implode now, so it wasn't as if the neutral bot had much of a choice. It wasn't that she was exactly disappointed that Megatron had been defeated. But it sure would suck having to live in hiding on a hostile alien planet whose dominant species would never have advanced beyond hitting each other with rocks if they hadn't found a giant alien robot under a load of ice.

These were the thoughts going through Hotwire's CPU as she entered Earth's atmosphere.

~~~

"Frenzy,” Barricade spoke up as he drove down the human's transportation system. He did so in Cybertronian, on the radio band, rather than audibly to prevent humans from hearing him. They tended to react badly to talking machines, and he was trying to stay under the radar, so to speak, "Frenzy, where are you?" he asked again, addressing his partner.

After several seconds, quite a long time for a super-fast CPU, Frenzy responded, "Barricade," the Decepticon radioed with difficulty, in his traditional high-pitched stammer, "I'm transmitting from the Hoover Dam. I lost half my head I think I need a medic I can't fix all of this slag it all..." The Decepticon's voice trailed off for a moment, then returned, "I'm outside the Hoover Dam but I don't have the equipment to self-repair this human garbage is beyond ancient..."

"Just transmit your position,” Barricade replied irritably, "And be sure to encrypt it; the humans could be listening." Frenzy was a useful ally, but his mannerisms and voice could be obnoxious. Something wasn't quite right with his mind. Barricade always reckoned that he must have been placed too close to a magnet when he was a sparkling. The cruiser wasted no time in driving towards the dam, swiftly searching the human internet for maps of the area.

~~~

While Frenzy was transmitting his position in Cybertronian to Barricade, somewhere above Arizona Hotwire was trying to find an uninhabited place to land. Fortunately the area seemed to be full of strange parks full of carbon-based life. The bot crashed on a golf course, creating the world's largest sand-trap and scaring off some golf-ball hunters at the same time. One of them took several pictures of the giant metal meteorite with his mobile phone. That was before Hotwire's proto-form unfolded. That prompted some more pictures.

Hotwire watched the humans running for it, and considered going after them. No, that would only draw more attention to her. The best thing to do, she decided, was find a form to emulate and hide.

~~~

After some driving time, and some trial and error, Barricade found his way to the dam where Frenzy was transmitting from. The human presence in the area was minimal, so he shifted into his bipedal form to search on foot. It didn't take long. Frenzy's constant gibbering saw to that. Briefly, Barricade was glad that the robot was so small; if he were larger, the noise would surely drive him insane. The hulking metal form crouched down over the smaller one and glared at it through his glowing optics, "So what happened to you?" he demanded rudely.

Frenzy glared; the three foot Decepticon didn't really feel like telling his partner that one of his own shruikens had nearly taken his head off. On the other hand, Barricade never gave up until he got an answer, "The meatbags got Frenzy," the robot tried to stand and fell over again. It wasn't entirely a lie; there was a whole load of lead in his body, "So, did we win?" he asked. Since he'd been trying to stop the humans radioing for help, he was pretty sure he already knew the answer, but it would be nice to be wrong, for once.

"No, we didn't win,” Barricade growled, reaching down to scoop up the small robot. Frenzy was a sturdy little machine that could take plenty of punishment, but he was obviously in need of repair. While Barricade was plenty good at wrecking people, he was not so skilled at fixing them.

~~~

Meanwhile, on the Arizona golf course, Hotwire was heading towards a rather large dwelling, leaving large footprints in the ground. It looked like a mansion - it was actually a private golf club - and she was hoping to find a machine to emulate there, preferably something fast. She could hear the wail of sirens, probably some kind of local law enforcement. After the recent events on this planet, any new arrivals would automatically garner large amounts of attention.

It couldn't be something too big; Hotwire was only eleven feet, which was pretty short for a Cybertronian. The little carts that were all over the strange park were clearly not built for high speed; Hotwire didn't even bother scanning them. But strangely for such a large dwelling that must be able to house hundreds of humans, there weren't many other vehicles.

~~~

"Grr... stop squirming,” Barricade griped as he fumbled with Frenzy's body, trying to pluck out bullets and patch up torn metal. It wasn't easy, considering the other robot's size and Barricade's lack of skill in such matters.

Suddenly something came through on Barricade's police radio; he usually left it turned on when he was alone because it really was quite amusing, what humans were capable of doing to each other.

"There's one of those giant space robots! Just landed on the golf course! Calling all units in the general area for backup!"

Barricade's attention was brought away from his reluctant patient... which caused a squeal of pain to erupt from Frenzy, drawing his attention back, "You'll survive,” the Decepticon uttered, picking Frenzy up and stuffing him into a hidden compartment for that very purpose, "Someone else has landed on this miserable excuse for a planet, and I'd like to know who."

Frenzy yelped; since some of his parts were missing it was difficult for him to transform, "Watch out!" he yelped.

~~~

Slag, thought Hotwire, searching frantically for something suitable to hide as. The cop cars were too big for her to emulate properly, and if they were broadcasting 'giant alien robot' over their airwaves, it wouldn't be long before the military was involved. A light energy cannon formed in her left arm, while a rotary blade slid out of her right arm. She needed some way to hide, or she was dead. Simply hoping the shadows would conceal her wasn't enough; from what she'd learnt about them on her way here, humans were disgustingly stubborn and persistent - not unlike some Cybertronians she'd known, she thought, almost smiling.

~~~

Barricade, back in his vehicular mode, was soon racing along the human streets with his lights on and siren blaring. So another Cybertronian had landed on the planet, but that didn't tell him what side they were on. If it was another Decepticon, Barricade had to render them assistance if either of them intended to survive. If it was another Autobot... perhaps he could find a way to give the humans some assistance in the matter of destroying them. Either way, it was win-win for him.

~~~

Hotwire cursed again. There was only one decent vehicle in the parking lot that she could transform into. She stomped hard on the BMW R1200RT and transformed into an exact replica of the motorbike. Well, except that the BMW logo was missing. She formed a hologram in the driver's seat - it was identical to the one used by all Cybertronians - and took off, heading for the highway.

"All cars, the giant robot has turned into a BMW R1200RT," the cop on the radio sounded somewhat panicked, "No liscence plate! It's headed for Highway 47! Requesting helicopter backup!"

Barricade, listening in to the police transmission, swiftly altered his course to pursue the motorcycle. For now, he was going to blend in with the pursuit until he had an idea of what side the new element to the conflict was on.

It was almost an hour later, and Hotwire was becoming rapidly aware that escape wasn't going to be easy. Humans were just so slagging persistent. There was a helicopter above her too. She'd kept her speed up and dodged several bullets, but evasion wasn't a permanent option any more. She was pretty sure there was a military vehicle in pursuit too.

Hotwire had lots of flaws, most of them involving her short temper, but another was her own stark refusal to give up. Perhaps it came from learning battlefield surgery. The bot skidded to a halt in the middle of the highway, which oddly seemed to have been cleared for the purpose of hunting her down. Police cars surrounded the motorbike.

"Step away from the vehicle mode, surrender any weapons you have," shouted somebody from the helicopter, "We have you surrounded; resistance is futile!"

Hotwire rolled her optics. Did people really say that? She straightened up into robot mode, "And to think I would have let you live if you'd just ignored me," she said loudly. Then her left arm transformed into the light energy cannon, and she fired a blast skywards. The helicopter exploded, and Hotwire regretted never learning to pilot properly so that she could have flown out of the situation.

That settled it for Barricade. No genuine Autobot would turn and use lethal force on the population of that planet. This was an ally in front of him. Swiftly, Barricade transmitted in Cybertronian, "I am an ally of yours. I will help you escape."

It was a shame that Hotwire wasn't really listening right now. She was holding off freezing nitrogen and bullets, and was trying to break out of the circle she had been pinned into by the humans. If that meant killing them all, that was their fault. They threatened her first.

However, the other Decepticon beat her to it. While all their attention was focused on the more obvious robot, Barricade raced at the fragile humans and skidded sideways, slamming on the brakes. The humans were promptly mangled.

"What the pit-" Hotwire looked down at the car that had just run over four humans. The driver in the front seat was a hologram. Which meant the car was a Cybertronian helping her. Well, it seemed she had a shred of luck remaining. In an instant she reformed back into her motorcycle form, "I don't suppose you have any more bright ideas?" she radioed to him in Cybertronian.

"Change your plates and colour scheme, and blend into the traffic,” Barricade ordered gruffly, skidding his tires and taking off again. If he moved fast, the humans would be confused and have a hard time determining which one of their cruisers was the traitor... and by then, it would be too late.

Hotwire switched her blue colour for red and black and pursued the other Cybertronian. It seemed like a good idea at the time. The humans were having trouble reorganising themselves since one of their own vehicles had turned on them. Once they had returned to the motorway, and she was fairly sure the humans were no longer a worry, she radioed to the Mustang again, "So who are you? What's your name? Why did you help me?" Her voice was a low drawl with the mechanical tone all Cybertronians had, but she sounded extremely suspicious of somebody who had effectively just saved her life.

"I assumed you are a fellow Decepticon, and thus I provided assistance,” he answered her question, shutting off the lights and siren in an attempt to be less noticeable, "You may call me Barricade. What is your name? Were there any others who arrived with you? Reinforcements?"

"I'm not a Decepticon," Hotwire replied immediately, and quickly added, "And no, I'm not an Autobot either, so you don't need to kill me. My name's Hotwire, and when I got Optimus Prime's transmission I was given the impression that the war was over, the Autobots had won, and all the Decepticons were dead."

Barricade grunted in dissatisfaction. That wasn't quite what he wanted to hear. "Most of the ones who came to Earth are,” he replied, pulling up alongside her, "Megatron has been slain, so any surviving Decepticons have been scattered."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Hotwire said bluntly, "Optimus might be an arrogant slagging sizeist jerk, but at least he's sane..." she continued before Barricade had the chance to attack her, "On the other hand, I wouldn't have been attacked by those little insects if Megatron had won," she added. Megatron had his good points, she had to admit, even if quietly.

Barricade fumed, annoyed by Hotwire's insulting tone towards his former leader, "You're right. Those insects would have been crushed,” he growled, "But instead, the Autobots won, and look around you! Things are backwards on this world: the machines are the slaves."

Hotwire hesitated, "I guess you saved my life. Or saved me from something, anyway. I suppose I owe you, even if I'm not on your team. Such as it is..." She scanned Barricade quickly, "Who's the other Decepticon?" she asked.

"Frenzy," said Frenzy quickly from the passenger seat; he hadn't liked being left out of the conversation, "Frenzy is Barricade's partner," he said firmly.

"Hmmm..." Hotwire slowed a little, thoughtfully, "Your companion seems to be damaged," she said to Barricade, sensing he was the more assertive of the two, "I'm quite good at battlefield surgery." Quite good was something of an understatement; Hotwire had been near the top of her medical class on everything except ethics. She had eventually been thrown out of the class for a really stupid reason.

"Feel free to fix him. My talents lie with breaking people,” Barricade replied grimly, Frenzy crawling about in his front seat. Having a medic around would be most useful. It was obvious that no matter how the situation on Earth turned out, there would be plenty of injuries.

"We need to pull over somewhere quiet," Hotwire said, "Preferably somewhere enclosed; if humans see us they'll definitely cause a fuss. You two know this planet better than I do," she said, "Is there anywhere nearby that would be suitable?"

"Will it hurt?" Frenzy asked nervously.

"Are you kidding me?" Hotwire asked, "It'll be agony. Unless you'd prefer a slow deactivation. Or I could always deactivate you while I work," she added, though she knew how uncomfortable most Decepticons were with even temporary deactivation.

"Frenzy is fine with agony," Frenzy answered quickly and predictably.

"So, do you know of anywhere close by to pull over?" Hotwire asked Barricade again.

There were plenty of places, if you knew where to look, and Barricade had been scouting the streets for some time, "Follow me,” he replied, following the human roads towards a less populated area. There was an abandoned parking lot fairly close by that they could stop at briefly.

Hotwire followed him into the lot, and after making sure there was nobody around, transformed so that she could work on Frenzy properly.

Barricade let Frenzy out and followed suit in transforming into his bipedal form. Quietly, he loomed over them both to keep an eye out for any humans and to see their new medic in action, "Be quick. We won't be hidden indefinitely,” he warned her.

Several power tools slid out of Hotwire's right forearm. After a few seconds she 'selected' an electric screwdriver and a welding laser, "Now," she told Frenzy, "Whatever you do, don't squirm," she warned him, “You don’t want to get this sucker near your spark...”

Frenzy lay down quietly, and Hotwire began to 'operate' on him. Mostly it involved retightening screws, and reattaching broken wires. It was the Cybertronian equivalent of open heart surgery. It wasn't long before Frenzy did start to wail, either.

Barricade watched, grimly silent as Hotwire operated. Predictably, Frenzy squirmed and wailed like crazy, but that wasn't any different from any other time. Hotwire, on the other hand, was calm and focused and obviously knew what she was doing. He could admire that kind of cool efficiency.

Hotwire managed to keep the far smaller robot still with one hand, "I said stop squirming!" she told Frenzy, "You can be a victim or a patient, but I have no patience for victims!" She managed to complete the final, extremely small and important wires, and replaced Frenzy's plating, "I could do a better job with better equipment..." she said, then after a moment added, "And you should fully recharge before you try transforming again. It should take about... 24 hours."

Frenzy sat up painfully, "Recharge..." he said thoughtfully, and wandered away. He did look better than he had done, although he still looked a mess at the same time.

Hotwire looked over at Barricade, "I could have done better," she said again, "But right now time is of the essence, I suppose. In enemy territory it's important to function as well as possible as quickly as possible. And I don't have any spare parts, either."

"Those can wait,” Barricade agreed, nodding his head, "For now, our best bet is to lie low and hide from the humans and Autobots. We do not have the strength to take either."

"Maybe you don't," Hotwire said, surprisingly bold in the face of a Decepticon 5 feet taller than her, "I don't think I have to be afraid of them. I'm not a Decepticon."

"Humph, you can say that now, but the Autobots don't take kindly to those who disagree with them,” Barricade warned her, towering over the smaller robot.

Hotwire crossed her arms over her chassis, "Are you saying that because you give a slag, or because you want backup for when they find you?" she asked him, a very obvious shrewd streak showing through.

"It would be a shame to lose my only help on this world because she made a foolish mistake,” Barricade told her, "But you are welcome to take your chances elsewhere."

"Hmmm..." Hotwire turned away from him and paced across the parking lot. Then she paced back, obviously thinking hard. The Decepticons were the obvious team to pick back on Cybertron, especially considering the state of the resistance. But here, on this parasite infested alien planet, the odds were different and the choice was less clear. Just because you didn't like somebody didn't mean you automatically had to kill them. Well, not always, "Let me get this straight," she said finally, "You're asking me to become a Decepticon?"

"Why not?" Barricade asked the smaller robot, "The humans aren't going to accept you, and somehow I doubt the Autobots will, either, so ultimately it's your only survivable choice."

"I survived neutrality long enough on Cybertron," Hotwire replied, "With Megatron as a prospective ruler and recruiter that's no easy task," her expression changed, and became slightly mocking, "I don't need to be a Decepticon to hold a grudge."

"If you insist,” Barricade sneered, "Regardless of your desired neutrality, we both need allies if we intend to survive on this worthless planet. I see no reason why we cannot work together."

"Fair enough," Hotwire relented after a few seconds, still obviously thoughtful, "I expect I still owe you, anyway."

"You fixed Frenzy," Barricade pointed out.

"Yes, but that was my job," said Hotwire, "I didn't become a battlefield medic so that I could hold people's lives hostage for favours."

Barricade smirked, or at least as well as his metal face would allow, "Very well. I will hold you to that,” he rumbled before glancing up and again sweeping his sensors over the area. "We are going to need supplies and a place to conceal ourselves from enemy eyes."

"I think I've said this before," Hotwire said calmly, "I just got here. Hiding is one thing. Where would we get supplies for Cybertronians on this backward planet?"

"Human beings are wasteful creatures,” Barricade told Hotwire, pacing slightly across the lot, "They constantly throw away scrap metal and components that could be used for other purposes. Foolish organics. They even have locations set aside for the disposal of this so-called waste."

"Are you sure?" Hotwire asked. It didn't sound feasible that even such stupid, weak creatures as humans would do so wasteful a thing.

"Organics are stupid like that," Barricade replied. He was still coming to grips with the idea of a planet full of carbon-based fleshbags. The very concept of it went against his common sense.

"Very well," Hotwire said, still sounding doubtful. She probably wouldn't believe Barricade until she'd seen it with her own optics, "Now, where's Frenzy got to?"

"Frenzy is here," said a high-pitched voice nearer the concrete.

"I thought I told you to recharge," Hotwire scolded him absentmindedly.

"We would have had to roll out of the area soon anyway," Frenzy replied, "Frenzy decided not to recharge until we're in a more defensible location."

Barricade grumbled to himself. It looked like it was up to him again to take charge. He was more used to taking orders, but there wasn't much choice, like he had expressed, "One of these... junkyards, shouldn't be far from here,” he informed them both.

"Then lead the way," Hotwire said, transforming into her motorcycle mode, her engine purring quietly in readiness.

Barricade complied, transforming back into a police cruiser, leaving a door open for Frenzy to enter through. The small, hyperactive robot leapt inside, and Barricade shut the door. Revving his engine, he took off back onto the streets, with Hotwire close behind.

~~~

Harley: Well, that’s chapter one. I’d like to remind you that this is my first ever Transformers fanfic. That’s not to say I want you to be gentle, since I’ve been doing fanfiction of all kinds for ages now, but at least keep that in mind.

Froggy: Robot sex doesn’t happen for ages. I mean, it’s Barricade, what did you expect? The Autobots won’t come into it for a while, but they will play a part. Updates are weekly.
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Shadows of Tomorrow