Transformers Short Story

The First War

Gold Line opened her optics, shifting away from the harsh light from her window, which overlooked the streets, right next to the magnetic center of Cybertron, Iacon Halls. Her internal clock read 7:00 am and she groaned, slowly rolling out of her berth to fully wake her frame. The blue lights on her abdomen winked up at her merrily as she stretched out her limbs, tweaking a few wires like she'd seen Ratchet do, trying to relieve the twinge in her side. She glanced out the window and was surprised to see the streets filled with life. The shouting and yelling reached her ear fins and she pinned them in annoyance, what was going on now? Ratchet and Optimus often sheltered her from the more problematic issues they faced on the council or in Ratchet's clinic, but this felt different. A rumble shook the building complex Gold Line was currently staying in; she'd only moved in to be independent of her creators while also studying under Alpha Trion and occasionally Ultra Magnus, her uncle, at Iacon. Another rumble shook her building, knocking some of the inhabitants of her desk off and onto the floor where they stared up at her. Gold Line felt her pedes stabilize with the shaking ground, allowing her to remain upright as the shivers stopped abruptly. A shriek sounded from the crowded streets below and suddenly the landscape was transformed before her optics. A large crack shouldered the Cybertronians aside as the planet itself split, showing off its brightly lit core to the onlookers. Gold Line stared, venting harshly in surprise at the scene below her. She glanced at the crowd and then up to Iacon, where she knew both her creators were working today. The ground rumbled threateningly but no further shakes spilled over so Gold Line grabbed a couple of essentials from her hab-suit, swinging to her creators on the lower floor but when no one answered the door she turned to face the streets. The crowd seemed to increase tenfold and as Gold Line was trying to make sense of the ebbing energy pushing against her from all sides the streets erupted into chaos once more. Fighter jets strummed overhead, raining ammunition down on the bystanders, felling half of the group and injuring a thousand more. Similarly, bots in the crowd lept at those nearest to them, thinning the crowds to eagerly climb the steps to Iacon. Fear threatened to overtake Gold Line's systems but she stamped it down, pulling a fabric piece over her helm, she gripped her ceremonial blade close to her side, whirling her guns to life as she crept into the streets. She stepped over countless bodies, adrenaline making her wary of her environment as she navigated the familiar terrain. A crunch to her side made her spin, facing her potential opponent with a warning in her movements but she soon lowered her weapons as the familiar paint jobs of Swerve and Bumblebee caught her eye. She grunted, moving closer to the pair, noticing how they seemed frozen at the terrible display before them. Gold Line willed her guns away and reached her servo out, grabbing the mechs and pulling them under an overhang, eyeing Iacon with hardened worry, "Swerve, Bumblebee, what are you doing out here?" Bumblebee shook his helm, fluid building at his optic ducts, "We--my sire he--he's gone-Megatron...Optimus told us to run, get out of Iacon as soon as we-we could." Swerve placed a comforting servo on his friend's shaking form, his own turmoil clear on his face plates, "My sire's in there with the council... they're all trapped." Gold Line shuddered, closing her optics to will away the unnecessary images in her processor, "Look...we've got to go...I think this is the start of the war sire was talking about...we've got to run or he'll capture us for his cause." Swerve turned away, looking over the Halls with a torn expression but Gold Line's insistent stare made his resolve slip, "Okay, where do we go?" Gold Line pulled them with her, willing her pedes to push faster as the three of them ran away from the center. She skidded around a corner and called, over her shoulder plating, "The escape pods...they're not far from here." She turned down another corner and then stopped, bile rising to her pipes as she looked at the massacre before her. Cybertronian's littered the ground, optics unseeing as the three passed by slowly. Gold Line reached her field out, scanning for potential attackers but the streets remained eerily clear, targeting the Halls. Swerve clung to her arm as she led them through the bodies, his servos shaking against her plating. Bumblebee whimpered as one of the bots gasped, his frame torn in two though he seemed to be still alive somehow, and was reaching for the bots pedes with his intact servo. Bumblebee jumped out of his reach and clung to Gold Line's frame, his spark hammering in his chest cavity. Gold Line sighed, hurrying them through the sideway and into another main street, she skittered the edges before leading them down another passageway, this one clear. Swerve tugged at her arm as a jet passed overhead, flying low to view the landscape below them. Gold Line crouched under another overhang, clamping her servo over Bumblbee's mouth when he whimpered in fear. The bot seemed lazy in its movements, not truly searching for anything below them, and soon turned away, leaving the three alone again. Gold Line pulled away, watching the street for a few minutes before motioning them to start again. The rest of the journey was calm, making Gold Line extremely uneasy but relieved. The trio soon stopped before the shiny escape pods, looking over the metal with forlorn expressions; they're weren't many. All the individual pods were housed around Cybertron, with the largest ship able to carry an entire army if necessary. Gold Line stepped forward to begin prepping the pods but a bomb landed in the one closest to her, sending metal shrapnel over the grounded bots. A jet whirled above them, landing to her right and forcing the bot to transform. The femme stood, guns pointed at the three with a malicious smirk painting her face plates. Gold Line recovered first, throwing herself in front of her two friends with her own guns pointed at the femme's spark. The femme laughed viciously, powering her weapons on with a whirl, "You think you're going to beat me little sparkling? Stand down if you know what's good for you." Gold Line narrowed her optics, circling the femme as she retorted, "Then I guess I don't know what's best for me." The femme chuckled darkly, leaping at Gold Line with her powerful guns raised to kill. Gold Line swung away, basting a shot to the femme's flank but she dived, the shot echoing away uselessly. The femme smiled again, rolling her shoulder plating with a set look, "Not bad sparkling." She fired off one of her cannons, the heat passing just beside Gold Line's right ear fin. Gold Line reared back, flinching from the heat but was forced to roll away again, taking a painful beating as she dodged hastily. Gold Line returned fire, making her opponent whirl further away again in frustration. The femme suddenly dodged to her left, forcing Gold Line to pivot to keep her in her line of sight, but she wasn't fast enough, and the blast knocked her back. Gold Line winced, pulling herself up to view the wound. Blue Energon splattered her frame from the mark, her HUB systems flashing widely through her helm. She sent a loving bond to her creators before clamping their bond shut; if she were to die she wouldn't let them feel her pain. Swerve stepped forward to intervene but Gold Line stopped him, motioning to the escape pods, "Take Bumblebee and go...find Drift and get him out of here too...don't wait on me." Swerve stared at her for a moment before nodding, his face plates set, "Try and make it back in one piece okay?" Gold Line rose to her full height, guns aimed at the femme, who was watching their exchange with interest, "You should say that to her...see you later Swerve." Swerve grabbed Bumblebee and forced him into the nearest pod, powering it on hastily and swiftly taking off, leaving the two alone. The femme lowered her guns with a thoughtful look, "Honor...what a mistake you made little one...your friend Drift was it...he's not on your side." Gold Line shook her helm angrily, rolling her optics at the femme's statement, "He wouldn't do that to me...or to this planet, I know him." The femme gave her a pitting look, "Does Deadlock ring a bell, sweets? He was never on your side." Gold Line's optics flashed red and she flung herself at the femme, knocking her off guard and pulling her weapon to the bots face plates, "You lie." The femme smirked, knocking Gold Line back off of her, "Whatever, I don't have time for this and with that wound, you'll die anyway." She leaped into the air, transforming as she went, thundering her engines as she flew away, leaving Gold Line alone. Gold Line winced, trying to stop the bleeding on her side; the femme was right, if she didn't get treatment soon she'd bleed out. She eyed the escape pods before a thought popped into her helm. She smirked before climbing into the nearest one, commanding the rest to hover around her. Gold Line hacked into the systems and pulled the rest of the pods and the larger ship to her designated location, Iacon. She willed the pod to fly above its speed limit, flying circles around the hall in no time. Gold Line opened her bond with her creators, who had been harshly trying to reach her by pushing against her connection. She breathed deeply, ingraining the familiar landscape of her home before linking to their shared bond, "Carrier, Sire where are you? Which side of the building?" Her carrier reacted almost instantly, "Do not come any closer...get away...get to one of the escape pods and run..." Gold Line smiled at Ratchet's worried tone, "I'm afraid that won't happen...all the escape pods are over Iacon right now." Her sire joined the conversation, his tone stern, "Do not attempt this...leave." Gold Line shook her helm, pinpointing her creator's exact location before programming the large ship to crash straight into the halls. She hovered over the crash site, watching expertly as countless Cybteronians swarmed the area, "This is your chance...go." Her creators didn't reply but after a few minutes she saw the ship begin to ascent upwards, the familiar paint job of her sire at the wheel. Gold Line programmed Bumblbee's/Swerve's pod to return to the ship while the rest of the escape pods scattered, landing in safe houses she knew would hold many refugees. The large ship turned, its engines spinning to life with a roar. Optimus's voice filtered through their shared bond, his icy tone making her shiver, "If you ever do something like that again..."-are you unharmed?" Ratchet's worried ping droned out Optimus's next words, making Gold Line chuckle nervously. She ensured her escape pod was attached to the large dock point before pulling herself out of the metal flyer and making her way to the ship's steering systems. She opened the large doors and was surprised to see the number of bots littering the room already; the original guard and others she knew belonged to the Autobot fraction. Her creators stood at the very helm, watching the sky attentively, not noticing her arrival. Ratchet pinged her bond again, "Where are you? Are you safe?" Gold Line edged around familiar faces till she was standing a few pede steps away from the pair, calling out tiredly, "Safe as I'll ever be." Ratchet started before whipping around, his face plate contorted into a nasty scowl, hugging her firmly before opening his intake to lecture her. He stopped when he fully took in her frame and his optics widened in fear, something Gold Line had never seen on her Carrier's face plates before. He shooed her to a small corner, pulling out a med kit from his subspace and assessing her wound.