𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰

♛Chapter 4♛

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Jazz unlocked the door, opening it. Astrafrost stood there, frozen. "What are you doing?" Astrafrost couldn't see his optics from under his visor, but she imaged him rolling them. "Letting you out, and taking you to Optimus." Astrafrost walked out of the cell, and Jazz quickly put static cuffs on her wrists. "Sorry, it's just to make sure you aren't just going to make a run for it." Astrafrost sighed, but the two walked forward, and out the squeaky door.

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It took a little for Astrafrost's optics to readjust to the light, but eventually, when her optics came back into focus, she saw the war-torn Autobot capital. Tall, golden towers that seemed almost to reach the sickened sky of Cybertron, were damaged by blaster fire. Large statues were toppled over, and the stores that lined the streets were closed down.

But, there were plenty of Autobots walking along the streets, talking with one another. They were soldiers, military officers, combat medics, or just normal citizens looking for safe refuge from the Decepticons.

As she and Jazz were walking through, the bots parted, most of them throwing disgusted and hatred-filled glances at Astrafrost. She couldn't blame them- after all, she was aligned with the side that took away their homes, killed their friends, and started the war that made Cybertron look like this.

She cast her optics to the ground, too ashamed to look at the bots lining the streets.

"Jazz." She heard a voice suddenly call out and a bot walked out of the crowd, and she looked up. The bot, like Jazz, had a visor covering his optics. The doors of his alt-form were spread out behind him like wings and had Neocybex writing on them. 'Police' it spelled out. Astrafrost cast her optics to the ground again. The police bot stared at Astrafrost. "So, who's the con?"

"Her name is Astrafrost." Jazz responded, and the bot crossed his arms. "What is she doing in here?" Jazz laughed slightly. "Relax Prowl. I'm just taking her to Optimus." Prowl continued to stare at Astrafrost, who kept looking at the ground. "Fine. He's probably at the observatory." Jazz smiled. "Thanks."

Astrafrost noticed that Prowl seemed to soften when talking with Jazz. They reminded her of a friend she once had...

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~Flashback~

Astrafrost ran along the streets of Tyger Pax. A few Autobots lunged at her, but she swiftly dodged them and continued down the street. One of the Autobots fired their blaster, aiming at her legs. She fell over and tried to push herself up, ignoring the stabbing pain in her legs. A few Autobots surrounded her, and Astrafrost widened her optics and activated her wrist blades. All of a sudden she felt someone grab her arm and pull her into a dark alleyway before the Autobot soldiers could react.

She looked up at her rescuer, seeing it was a neon pink and rose-colored bot. "Rosebolt? What are you doing here?" She asked the bot, who grinned at her. "Nice to see ya again, Frosty," Astrafrost growled at her. "That didn't answer my question."

"I was supposed to be in the center rank, but I kinda broke away. Then I saw you surrounded by all these Autobots, and I went to save you." Rosebolt answered, helping Astrafrost up. "Well, we better get a move on it."

Rosebolt expertly leaped away from Astrafrost, heading back into the street, and leaping from building to building with ease. Even for Astrafrost, who had gained the nickname 'Red Shadow' for how quick and stealthily she could be, she struggled to keep pace with Rosebolt.

Rosebolt landed behind some Autobot and kicked at the knee joints, causing them to fall over. Astrafrost landed beside Rosebolt and grabbed her arm. "Come on, we can't afford to waste our time on them. Let's go."

~time skip: after the battle~

Astrafrost and Rosebolt walk alongside each other down a metal hallway, inside the large pyramid in Kaon that served as the Decepticon HQ, chatting with one another.

Rosebolt spotted Starscream heading towards them and elbowed Astrafrost. Rosebolt made a gagging gesture and Astrafrost laughed quietly. Starscream stopped in front of them.

"Well, well, well if it isn't Red Shadow and aerobic freak." Starscream sneered, and Rosebolt gave Starscream a lopsided smile. "Screamy. How's it going?" That wiped the sneer off of Starscream's face, and he opened his mouth to respond.

"STARSCREAM!" A voice echoed down the hallway, and all three froze. Megatron rounded the corner, coming towards them. All three stood at attention. Starscream turned to face Megatron. "L-lord Megatron? What are you doing here?" Megatron growled. "What do you think? You have other duties to attend to. Now GO." Starscream ran as fast as he could, and both Astrafrost and Rosebolt would have laughed if they weren't so terrified.

Megatron looked down at Astrafrost and Rose, easily towering over them. He simply scoffed and walked away.

After Megatron was out of earshot, Rosebolt nervously laughed. "T-that was a close one, am I right?" Astrafrost nodded. Rosebolt took Astrafrost's servo, her rosy optics twinkling. "Well, on the plus side, he scared Screamy away! Anyways, as I was saying before we were rudely interrupted..." She continued to drone on with what she was talking about, and Astrafrost smiled.

Rosebolt made the war a little more bearable for her.

❖

Astrafrost snapped out of her memory when she and Jazz arrived at the observatory. The door opened in front of them and they went in, heading up the stairs, up to the top.

She and Jazz went out on the balcony where Optimus stood, staring up at the ailing sky of Cybertron. He turned, spotting Jazz and Astrafrost, and walked towards them.

"Jazz, Astrafrost, what brings you here?" Astrafrost stepped towards Optimus, "I've made my decision. I want to join." Optimus remained stone-faced.

"Then welcome to the Autobots."

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So a few things I want to clarify here: I'm not following a certain continuity. This is kind of my own continuity. Character designs are based on ones they appear in the most across the Transformers universe/ designs I really like.