Entombed

The sand is hot. She moved; creature of metal. She moved; creature of sky. Mindspace filled with all sorts of thoughts — none of them vital. Most of which just worries about the thing she became. The thing she could not recognize as herself. Snake and Specter still called her Ateya, Herr Commander — an old joke that vent out of control and became reality. None of them called her “Moth”, in fact, no one used this nickname in a time she could think was centuries now. “Until one destroys the other”, breaking through the stream of trivial thoughts, this phrase hung in the already almost airless space. The sand was boundless, the sun played mirages on its horizon. Vent system struggled on passing heavy and dry air through. This place was an unfamiliar space, but felt like home. Wide and hungry, crawling for her feet. Gold streaks underneath silver steel. She loved gold; she loved everything that glitters, and this place woke up a soft feeling inside her spark. Ateya almost forgot why she came here alone. This morning, one of the base scanners detected a high energy peak in this area. It was categorized as Third level energon burst. Ateya couldn't say she was protecting the Earth and it's people, but everything related to energon was also related to her. Even if it didn't work vice versa. Snake was busy in his lab, Specter was not even alarmed. He just returned from a date that went wrong from the very start. She was an advocate, he was a Shade. Dark brown hills bled from the sky in weird shapes. They witnessed history, the coords say they've also witnessed the burst. That was the place she headed. She could fly there in a second, but the sky never tasted like the sand here. It is a mesmerizing feeling that was stronger than unwillingness to clean the system of grains of sand at the end of the day. Anyway, her system knew things far worse than just sand. The world under the hills shelter was whole different from the one Ateya just left. Its shade's cold claws grabbed her body abruptly, steaming hot air from the grip. Temperature readings on the screen went down in a flash. Vent's gasp for fresh air felt like her own; she smiled. A stream of cold from the cave entrance in stone touched her softly, that was the place she needed to head next. The inside passage was dark and narrow, a human could not see a thing without at least a flashlight. Thanks gods, she was no human at all. She could see everything as clear, as dune scorpions see their prey. A sudden association with Scorponok led to something itching at the back of her head, as like the feel of the danger from behind. “Humans killed him, someone had to do it, and they did”, Teya thought for a moment, before finding herself in a bigger cave. The awareness that something was not right hit her before the eyesight laid on what was happening. Lights from cybertronian blasters — two at least — illuminated the vast cave. A simple fight was not enough for a “third lever burst” as well as for something, that could interest Ateya. But she was already here, and she had to check it out. Lowering herself just to fit the height of the stone cover, she hid herself behind a column and peered out for a second. A very long and confusing second. Splashes of red and blue in a fierce fight blurred her senses. As if a ghost from the past waited for the most inconvenient moment to remind itself. Forgetting about shelter, about everything in the world, she felt like the surrounding walls were pressing her into the sand, crumbling right above her shoulders. Wait. The ceiling actually did crumble. “Don't!”, screamed Ateya right before the cave collapsed. She went offline. She moves at least; stone beneath and all over the place. Metal and stone, wires and engulfing darkness. Hills were hissing above her motionless body. Ateya tried to move her hands, just to hear more rocks falling down because of her movements. “I've messed it up, and I need help”, she screamed in her mind, but remained silent. She's a leader now; you can't cry for help every time you do something wrong. “I've messed it up”, the thought repeated itself once more; neither can you be wrong so often. Another attempt to get herself out of the tomb gifted Ateya with two news: she's alive and free; she was a bigger tomb now. Also, one wing was cut at its edge, the second lost its half. The worst part was that one of the four wire-like manipulators was dead. The only thing she felt sorry for right now. Ateya activated the survived wires as light sources. “No one called for you!”, as soon as light touched the surroundings, she heard His voice. “Happy that you've escaped too”, she rattled in response, sure that Knockout will hear that no matter how silent her voice was. The light was alive. It made its way right to the decepticon, studying his body. Three manipulators moved softly, like a bunch of sleepy snakes. Ateya couldn't hide her attempt to hug the bot — wires were far more sensitive that she wanted to right now. Good thing Knockout pushed them away like some annoying summer flies. “What are you doing here”, she heard despise in his voice, and it was not that abhor she knew from their past. “You know me, I shadow your battles, collect bets and give prizes to winners”, Moth shrugged. “You get it? Shadow, Shade”, she let out a stiff chuckle. “The question is, what are you doing here?” “None of your business”, he said harshly and examined himself in her light. “Farewell, my dear polish”, he added desolated. Ateya wanted to cheer him up, to speak with him more. She missed the times when they talked every day about everything and nothing in special. But just one look at how dully Knockout ignored her, made Teya reach the spark in her chest with the claws at the edge of her fingers, just to crush it. Let its cinders scatter to the wind like fallen leaves at the end of the autumn. “I'm sorry if it's out of the blue, but… there was another one, right?” Ateya repulsed her own feelings and tried to change the subject. “Ha, I'm on fire today, “blue”. You still don't get it?” They've exchanged looks on each other. He was more than annoyed now. “She'd better be dead.” Grave of stone beneath and over, she knew that feeling now. Ateya remembered and did not want someone she didn't even get to know feel that too. She scanned the surroundings with one of the lights turned back to sensor and saw a leak of energon near them. “Another one” was hurt, but not dead. She also knew that Knockout wouldn't help her. Not now and not when the deal was about an autobot, for sure. What she didn't know, that trying to free someone, she will be greeted with a gun pointed at her face. “I can bury you back, if you're waiting for someone else,” raising her hands, said Moth. “First you won't interfere in me getting out, second you…”, blue fem went silent, realizing what surrounded her. “Alright then, you are free to go. But next time you point a gun in an unknown face, be sure to check out if it does not come with a gun bigger than yours.” A quick sound of something fixing itself to a new position echoed between them, and she finally light up the charging visualizer on her riffle. The weapon, now pointed to the autobot, located on Teya's shoulder and shone a dim teal light. She could hear Knockout's laugh behind, and a second after, his almost panicked screech. “You gonna bury us? Again?” “Remember the saying? The sticks and stones may break my bones…”, with a grim heard in her voice, parried Moth. “And lay me dead in the mud! Put that weapon down, or I will make you,” he hesitated nervously before adding: “Please!” “Long time no see, right, Key? I like gambling, but I'm not stupid,” Ateya let out a silent laugh and deactivated her weapon. She extended her hand to the fem and froze, waiting for her response. Nothing happened, and the gun was still pointed at her. “I don't need the help of a decepticon.” “And he isn't going to help you,” Moth smiled with all the friendliness she could gather right now. “I'm not an enemy, neither am I friend to you. I'm just the one, who wants to help and get out of here.” Small rocks were still falling. They could hear that in the silence, that stretched-out between bots. No one knew how they are going to get out, just like no one wanted to be buried with a foe. Or an ex. Funny how lovers wish to die in one day, so they won't suffer without each other; once they become ex lovers, they sometimes wish to die, and it's not tied up to one day, or even place. Arcee was first to break the silence. She accepted Moth's help and got up, pressing her free palm to the wound. It looked worse when she stood. Ateya highlighted the wound with one of her wires and frowned. “I think you do need a help of a decepticon.” “No way!” in one voice answered both of Key and Arcee. “She's an autobot! We do not save them, we kill them because they kill us. That's the rule. And she proved it when she started the rockfall. Fucking kamikaze!” “Right, I dream and see how to waste my life just to kill you!” “Then why the fuck shooting the load-bearing columns, idiot?” The world went dark and everything except vent systems went silent. Seconds of sensory deprivation awake a strange feeling, like the hills were trying to reach the intruders. There was something mythical in their hiss. The desert finally spoke back. It almost gave up the secrets hidden deep underground, when Ateya returned the light and chased away the ghostly feeling. “Knockout, she needs help. Your help. If you don't want to do it for her, do it for me,” not even looking physically at him, K felt her gaze right into his soul. “You, whose name I still don't know, you require the help of a medic. He is a medic.” “And a killer,” whispered Arcee. “I'm a killer too. And you're a killer too. We're a bunch of fullmetal weapons of apocalypse, buried deep under the sand on a goddamn lost planet, just after we fully destroyed our own home!” Ateya breathed heavily, after accompanieng her words with active hands gestures. “When everyone is alike, then no one is special, right?” The place fell silent again. This time it was a very long pause. Knockout forgot when last time he saw Ateya in such a troubled state. The grim on his face faded and he looked almost as realising how foolish and cruel he was with her during their first meeting after Moth's departure. She couldn't see that, neither feel with the sensor. But Arcee could, and something in con's eyes resembled familiar. Undesirable familiar. She remained firm, waiting for him to approach. Key did not look back, scared to see Ateya's eyes. He raised his hands too, breathed loudly and accepted the situation. In a second Knockout looked just like nothing happened and all he cared about was his polish only. “One wrong move and I'll kill you,” said Arcee, letting him near. “Can't blame her for that,” Ateya shrugged. Knockout catched one of the freely floating lights and moved it over the wound. It was nothing he could not deal with. A torn power cord, which let the energon leak out. “Power it,” he said to Ateya and brought the wire closer to the wound. Arcee paused for a second and then moved her weapon a bit, as if reminding about her warning bedore it all started. “Yeah, I'm gonna kill you with a flashlight,” without hidding his sarcastic tone, said Knockout. Nothing was done to shut off the sensor, so Arcee had to grit her teeth and concentrate on all her hatred for the decepticons. The ones who killed so many of her friends. Those who threatened people and her new friends. Moreover, the one, who was now working on her chance of survival. A new feeling she wanted to forget, but could not, because Knockout really helped her. Arcee lost a lot of energon, but that was the last drip. The con walked away as soon as the job was done. He stood behind Ateya, the only one he could trust here and the only one who could survive anything, that would happen next. “Thank you,” said Moth, watching as Arcee's face changed from daze to uneasiness. She knew that fem had a difficulty accepting the enemy's help, and thanking him for it was an even more difficult challenge. Arcee looked at her, at first uncomprehending, after which she nodded in gratitude. “Now we have to figure out how to escape from this grave and never meet again, right? Any ideas?” Knockout clicked his tongue displeasedly, and the fem frowned. However, Ateya continued to inspect the ceiling with a smile on her lips. An incredibly huge piece of stone blocked the exit and was held there by its personal will. Dust and sand fell of it, but it had no intention of moving anytime soon. At least Moth hoped so. Apart from this boulder, nothing noticeable caught her eye. Teya pursed her lips and shifted her weight to her other leg, tapping her claws against her skin as she thought. “We can't escape, but someone can come and save us.” This time Knockout and Ateya laughed toghether. They cought Arcee's eyesight and Key was first to spoke: “No one loves decepticons. Not even decepticons.” “Well, I love,” interferred Ateya. “And that is why they've killed you.” “Been worse,” she chuckled.

***

Sand on stone on sand. Everything around was unmovable, cold and lonely. Dust fell off the ceiling; dust flew around moved by vent systems. If they were humans, they would call it eternity. But they were not, so they knew exactly how many hours passed. Everyone but Ateya. She chose to draw weird creatures on sand, using only her claws. Sitting on the ground, she was the only one who moved in tone with her drawings. “Stop scratching your wings,” hissd Knockout. “They're already destroyed, don't worry,” Moth raised her eyes and looked at Arcee. “Never seen you before, still, you resemble of a decepticon.” “In fact, few can witness her and survive. One of the best snipers I've known,” explained Knockout and felt how Moth's lights left him in the dark. “I was a support, not just a sniper. A year or so ago. Now I have other priorities,” she looked down at the sand. “My name is Ateya, by the way.” “Support?” even repeated by herself, this word sounded strange when she thought about decepticons. “I'm Arcee.” Moth smiled. Arcee wanted to answer with a smile too, but the presence of Knockout made her feel uncomfortable. Ateya felt that and did not try to force her do anything she didn't want to do. Silence was interrupted by an internal notifications on Teya's screen. It was a message from Snake: “The morning scanner readings were the result of a geomagnetic storm. When should I wait you back?” “Understood. I will return as soon as I will return. Wait. Prepare the medical bay. Don't ask,” she wrote back. “Key?” “Wha?” “How's the life on the Nemesis?” Ateya looked at him and turned one flashlight in his part. “Nothing new. Scream is still aboard, thanks to his long legs. Soundwave is always busy with work. Shockwave follows him like a shadow and Megz. Well, growls enraged: “Curse you, Optimus Prime, for breaking my plans of taking over the Unicron. Again!” and so on, with a pause just to smash someone, who was near him at that very moment.” Atea laughed and even Arcee relaxed to a smile. “Cought the mood?” thought Atea. “Big loss of energon, delirium,” Knockout thought. But he also grinned. It’s strange that being in a stone coffin, somewhere in the middle of the desert, he felt so good. “And the stars?” “What about them?” “I still watch them, almost every night. Like we did before.” “Not,” all of a sudden he changed in face and voice. “Not like before. Then there were four of us: me, you, Starscream and Breakdown. Then right out of the blue you decided that was not the life you wanted to live and vanished with the sunset. Scream lost the last person, who really cared about him and with that he lost his mind. Every time he leaves Megatron, we meet at the medbay and every time I see him I wonder how is he still alive. And Break,” Key didn't even notice behind his rage, that he stood up and aproached Moth. “That's a lie. You gonna lie to make me feel…” Ateya tried to end the speech, but Knockout interrupted her. “Human's laboratory rat he was, until his soonest death.” Knockout moved away from the light, away from her and sat aside. She no longer saw his gaze, but did not stop feeling it. Moth also felt an incredibly strong and burning sensation somewhere in the chest, where her spark was. “Something is wrong,” all systems kept repeating. “A spark cannot hurt. Either it exists or it doesn’t. Such pain is inherent only in people. People are weak, but you are not,” said the voice in her head. “However, these weak people killed Breakdown,” the same voice contradicted itself. Knockout hated people, and Ateya felt that hatred too. Despite the fact that she swore not to harm sentient beings, she wanted with every fiber of her soul to find those who did this to the one she called 'family' and make them suffer. Knockout felt it too. He knew the fem better than anyone else and more than anything he wanted to tell her that he had taken revenge. Protect Moth from going against her principles and get her hands dirty with human blood. But the grudge was stronger than this desire. “I'm sorry for your loss,” said Arcee in a whisper. “I've lost a close friend too…” Ateya looked up at the fem and wanted to say “Thank you,” but the audio system seemed to have failed. The words were not going to leave the bounds of her head, so she just turned towards the fem and sat down again, now regretting her decision to linger here. But even now she didn’t want to leave, in particular because the only thing Ateya wanted was to kill someone and then lie on the floor of her room and suffer, how bad, disgusting and unworthy she was of further existence. Arcee saved her again from this humming silence. “So, no one is coming to save you?” she asked Knockout. “Fuck you,” seeing this more like an insult and not a simple question, answered he. “Then all we have is to wait for my team to come. I think I could make them help you too.” Something in the behavior of these two reminded her that the decepticons were just a bunch of cybertronians like the autobots, with the same feelings and attachments that anyone might have. Side is a matter of choice, and it so happened that the path that Megatron offered was suitable for them. Or maybe some didn't do it by their own choice. After all, in the end, Ateya left this path, which means that everyone can realize that the ideals preached by Megatron are not those that should be believed. Maybe even Knockout, if he weren't such an asshole, could repeat this step. After all, he helped his enemy, which means he is not so strongly attached to his side. “He's probably holding on to his friends, because you would hold on to them, right?” she thought. The silence became too loud. This pissed everyone off.

***

The phase shifter was truly a wonderful find; Smokescreen never ceased to be proud that, with Prime’s permission, he became the owner of this device. Especially at the moment, when, upon leaving the portal, he found himself in front of a cluster of rocks. All the evidence pointed to Arcee being somewhere out there, inside those hills, but there was not a hint of an entrance from outside. “But there is this,” the bot smiled, adjusting the device. Optimus followed him out of the portal, first examining his new surroundings. He didn't have the best memories of the desert, and now, perhaps, Arcee doesn't either. They didn’t even know if the fem was alive, they only relied on the data received from her last access to the network. “I’ll find her,” Smoke said, touching the rock and falling through it as it was an illusion. Optimus nodded and waited outside, ordering the other to keep the bridge on. Watching how quickly the bot “merged” with the rock, he allowed himself to hope that Arcee was still alive. At last, she is a fighter. On his way through the rocks, Smokescreen encountered “voids” a couple of times, which is how he described places not filled with stones. By the way, he also guessed about the rockfall — it was not difficult, in some places stones and sand were still falling, as soon as their fragile peace was disturbed. But still no trace of Arcee, or anyone else. At some point, the “voids” became less and less and eventually they completely ended. The mech walked forward, wondering how soon he would exit on the other side of the hill, until he felt another “emptiness”. After taking a few more steps, he immediately noticed a light, which confused him for a couple of moments. “Smokescreen,” Arcee's voice greeted him and she tried to hug her savior, but went through him and almost hit the wall. Ateya directed one of the “flashlights” towards the newcomer, and spreaded the rest to the sides so that the light could be reflected off the walls. This autobot was unknown to her too, but seeing Arcee happy made her smile. She watched him turn off something on his hand and after that Arcee could reach him. “Poseur,” whispered Knockout, quietly creeping up to Moth and rolling his eyes. “We lost contact with you and decided to focus on your last coordinates,” he explained to Arcee. “Glad you're okay!” “I’m glad too, getting out of here will make me even more delighted,” the fem laughed, holding out her hand to him. Smokescreen took her hand and switched his wrist device again, without thinking twice he turned around and, together with the fem, passed through the wall, leaving Knockout and Ateya alone. Moth looked at the Decepticon and pursed her lips, nervously tapping her claws on the metal. “He’ll be back,” she said before Key could open his mouth. “Why the hell should he save his enemy?” Knockout asked, kicking a stone that was lying peacefully on the sand. “Then why the hell you saved one?” However, Teya did not know this autobot or Arcee, even if they already spent some time toghether in their temporary grave. Just in case, she prepared to accept that autobots and decepticons will never help each other without the intervention of someone else. She also oppened the connection with Snake, because if not Smokescreen, he was the one who would save both of them. “What are you waiting for?” a familiar voice was heard and the one who helped Arcee “crawled out” of the wall again. “I can carry no more than one of you with me at a time, decide who is next.” Ateya smiled widely and pushed Knockout on the shoulder. Her satisfied smile only made him frown more and hiss nervously. Key, unwillingly accepted Smokescreen's help and disappeared into the wall. Remained alone, she touched the sand under her feet. It reached her back with an almost imperceptible vibration. The solid wall through which Smokescreen led Knockout out seemed alive to him. It was as if he was in the stomach of a huge beast and he could swear that certain sections of the walls were moving. Key had no idea how deep it had gone, searching for the source of the morning signal. But he was even more worried about what he would have to come up with for Megatron. No one is allowed to show up on Nemesis like this and say that he didn’t find anything important. At least, it will be necessary to mention the meeting with the autobots. Another thing is how exactly Knockout will present it. “And we are…” the soldier’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. “…out.” The moon was quiet, the sand was cold. It looked dirty and plain, in a sense. Key hated the sand and everything related to it. The desert was boundless, hostile and hungry for their souls, and sanity. It was an ocean that lost everything that made it ocean. He felt himself like that too. The Great Lord did not even deign to order Soundwave to send Laserbeak on survey. Breakdown died for the same reason — no one cared. But in the same time Key saw the leader of the autobots, who had personally come for his fighter. “Well, of course, this one constantly pokes his head where no one's asking. How did he even live for so long, with such a frivolous demeanor?” “Arcee told me about what you did for her, Knockout. I am grateful to you,” Prime bowed his head with respect. “Not out of the kindness of my heart,” Key dodged with a grin, just to hide his daze. “I just didn’t want to spend all this time next to a corpse.” Arcee was no longer around, she left without saying goodbye, apparently that was the order of her commander. And she did the right thing, what Knockout did could be called a temporary patch. Next Ratchet will continue to spend his resources on her. However, no matter how he tried to offend Prime, the leader only smiled gratefully and remained silent. The doctor described the next few seconds of waiting for Ateya as unnaturally awkward. Even if he turned his back to Optimus — for which Megatron or Starscream could at least lecture him on the topic “Always beware of a knife in the back” — Key continued to feel Prime's gaze on him. This unnerved him and, in a sense, he wanted to return to that cave again and wait out this unpleasant episode. But soon Smokescreen appeared, leading Moth out, and Knockout's torment ended. “Optimus!” without having time to properly get used to the sudden increase of the free space around, she exclaimed, happy about yet another face that she recognized. “Ateya,” he greeted Moth with a half-bow. “A truly unexpected meeting. Now some things have fallen into place,” Prime said, smiling again. “Huh?”, Moth smiled incomprehensibly in response, trying to figure out what he meant by the direction of his gaze. But not finding anything to cling to, she smiled briefly, succumbing to the surging emotions. Smoke, meanwhile, had already stood on Prime's left hand, switching the phase shifter. The fighter did not take his eyes off Knockout, who, for obvious reasons, stood further away from the others. “I think from this moment we’ll figure it out ourselves. But nevertheless thank you,” Ateya waved her hand. “Did you mean to say, “thank you for getting us out” and so on?” Smokescreen corrected her, without noticing Prime's smile. “We are strangers yet, but the most important thing you have to remember about me is that I can always get out of any trap,” Moth squinted slyly and snapped her fingers in front of his face. Prime's quiet grin was heard behind their backs, but when Smokescreen turned in his direction, he noticed that Optimus had almost entered the portal. Smokescreen looked at Ateya confused and followed his leader, leaving Teya and Knockout alone again. Moth watched as he disappeared once again, this time into the portal, and then the path to the autobot's base closed. She turned towards Key and walked up to him just to say goodbye. “Tell Megatron that I did this,” she said, poking her claw into the metal of his body. “Anyway, he likes to blame Optimus or me for everything bad that happens, which means he’ll take it easier.” “I can figure out what to tell him myself. The time for collective excuses has long passed,” Knockout crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s funny that for some of them I still feel worse guilt than for a couple of unpleasant tasks on Cybertron,” Moth bit her lip. “Guilt, it's like salt. People add it to their meal, just to cover up the bitterness.” Teya's eyes sparkled, but she did not dare add anything to his words. She didn’t think that Knockout could understand the reason for her leaving. And he did not understand that until The Lords did something, that made Key look differently at the path chosen by Megatron. However, now Ateya saw another version of Knockout, and she liked his changes a lot, even if the path to them was thorny. Perhaps in the distant future, he has a chance to become a wrong Shade.. Snake could burn her alive with just a look of his eyes for such kind of thought. Moth turned around and opened a communication channel with the base, preparing to call for someone to take her home. “And the stars?” “What about them?” sincerely not understanding what Key was leading to and not noticing how she was repeating his own words, asked Ateya. “We're in a desert, from here you can see them clearer than from the Nemesis. Since we’re here, and if you’re not in a hurry,” he spread his arms and sat down, leaning on a stone wall. Atteya chose to be quiet. Closing the communication channel, she simeld for a second, calmed herself and turned around, approaching Knockout. Sitting down next to him, Moth picked up the broken wire, laid it on her knees so as not to damage it even more, and moved slightly closer to the decepticon. The stars were just beginning to appear, lighting up chaotically in the sky, not even forming any constellations yet. And even though it was very different from the get-togethers they had previously, Teya felt the same warmth, which partially brought her back to her memories. Starscream would have already ruined the entire idyll by expressing another triad of dissatisfaction with his superiors; Tired of listening to this jammed record, Breakdown would have threatened him with some new gun from his huge arsenal. Soundwave would thoughtfully look somewhere into the distance, completely not noticing the chaos, and Knockout — who had just arrived from the medical bay — would swear in all possible expressions about “constantly barking at each other idiots.” And Teya, as always, would watch this whole company, and the stars that were so different from those that she saw from the surface of Cybertron. “Moth,” cutting through the silence, Key literally tore her out of her memories. “I took revenge,” he said and added in his thought: “you won’t have to do something against your will again.” She looked up at him in fear, but Knockout continued to look at the stars. His voice sounded measured and his face was calm.