Gaslight_Dreamer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wyntir_knight) wrote2007-11-09 11:42 pm
wyntir_knight) wrote2007-11-09 11:42 pm
Entry tags:
The Devil You Know: Chapter 5
Title: The Devil You Know
Series: G1 universe, focusing on Original characters
Rating: R
Summary: In the early days of the civil war on Cybertron, Sentinel Prime authorized several refugee vessels to take Neutrals away from the planet in hopes that they could start peaceful colonies where they would be safe. Many of these refugees were never heard from again; lost to us through time and distance. But history does record the fate of one of the vessels. The Stormchaser was three orns away from its destination when it was shot down by Decepticons in an act of cowardice and deceit. There were no survivors. That is what history tells us. But in this case, history is wrong.
Author's Note: Day nine. Today I basically fixed up the problem I had with Chapter Five and wrote much of Chapter Six. I'm still not thrilled with this chapter, but I can fix it in the editing process. I can completley see the scene in my mind, but the words and the pacing are elluding me right now. Chapter Six needs more done with it, but at this point, it's going to have to wait until the evil day star once again shines in the sky.
I'm happy that I'm doing better than I was at this time last year, and, according to my self-imposed schedule, I'm ahead in the game, so if something happens, I can afford to take some time off. This is good. Last year there was a lot of "OMG! Gotta catch up!!!" So far that's not a problem this year, but I won't be tempting fate just yet. She is, after all, a fickle mistress.
16773 / 50000 words. 34% done!
So, enough of the process and the numbers. On to the story!
Chapter 5
“Forget the rock,” Strobe said sharply. “We need to get back to camp.”
“Uh … yeah, sure,” Updraft replied, wrenching his eyes from the menhir.
Strobe turned and walked back toward the woods, in the opposite direction from the camp.
“What? Wait a minute, Strobe!” Updraft said, following his team-mate. “You’re going in the wrong direction.”
“Yeah, I gave you your chance to guide us and you screwed up,” Strobe replied. “Now we do things my way.”
“So, what? We walk around the woods aimlessly until we find somewhere we recognize?” Updraft asked as he followed Strobe into the woods.
“Well it’s better than listening to you. Your systems are obviously glitched,” Strobe replied. “Hey! I have an idea. Why don’t you get your medic to take a look at it? I’m sure you could convince her to take a real close look at your systems.”
“Shut up,” Updraft grumbled.
“Aw! Don’t get sore,” Strobe laughed as they walked.
“I’m not getting sore. It just isn’t funny.”
“Yeah, it is,” Strobe replied. “You’re just too far up your aft to see that.”
Updraft was about to reply when something flashed in the corner of his optic. He stopped walking and looked around the woods, taking in the trees, the bits of the sky he could see, the springy earth under his feet, trying to find what caught his attention. There was nothing obvious except that this was the wrong place. They had never been here before, and they were headed in the wrong direction. Strobe continued to walk through the woods, oblivious to the fact that Updraft was no longer following.
“This is ridiculous!” Updraft yelled at Strobe’s retreating back. “We are going in the wrong direction!”
“Fine, then you can go back,” Strobe retorted without stopping. “And when you eventually find your way back to the camp you can explain to Windsaber why it is that you decided to disobey the order of a superior officer.”
“This isn’t about disobeying an order! It’s about getting back to camp as quickly as possible! It’s about helping Windsaber! We have no idea what happened back there except that ‘Saber’s in trouble!” Updraft said emphatically.
Strobe turned and stalked toward Updraft, his optics a dark crimson, his face a mask of rage.
“Do you really think that I don’t know that?” he growled. “What? You figure that I’m just running around the woods for fun? Maybe this is all a plan on my part to keep us from getting there. Maybe this is all a plot on my part to get Windsaber out of the picture. Hey, after all, we know you think that that’s the Decepticon way!”
“What? No! I don’t think that!” Updraft said, stepping back. “All I think is that we need to regroup and think this through. I’m just saying that we can’t just run around without knowing where we are.”
“Ah! So you admit that you don’t know where we are? You admit you got us lost.”
“No, I don’t admit anything like that! I agree that I don’t know where we are, but I do know where we’re going!”
Strobe turned away in disgust.
“You don’t know anything. You’re hiding behind this ridiculous notion that the forest is changing instead of admitting that you screwed up!” he said as he walked away. “We tried it your way, now we’re doing it mine!”
Updraft opened his mouth to protest, then gave up. There was nothing he could say, nothing he could do to change Strobe’s mind, so he just followed him in silence. After a long time of walking in silence, the sounds in the woods began again. Life seemed to return as the night progressed. First it was just the wind in the trees, and then he heard things moving in the dark; the cry of an avian, the howl of a ground hunter on the prowl, and below it all, Updraft was sure he heard something stalking them.
There were footsteps through the leaves and mulch. They walked when the Decepticons walked. They stopped when the Decepticons stopped. And they were always half a beat behind.
“Did you hear that?” Updraft asked.
“Did I hear what?” Strobe asked, distracted and annoyed.
“That,” Updraft said in a whisper as the footsteps stopped.
Strobe snorted indelicately. “Maybe it’s the trees marching after us.”
“I’m serious,” Updraft said. “I think I hear someone following us.”
“There’s no one out there. Now just come on and shut up,” Strobe snapped. “I’m pretty sure that we’re almost there.”
“Actually, I think your right,” Updraft replied as he checked his sensors. “According to my instrumentation, we should be almost there!”
“Oh, well then we’d better turn around,” Strobe snorted. “You being sure of our direction’s probably a really bad sign.”
Updraft just shot Strobe a filthy look and continued to follow him through the trees, carefully marking their direction and the sounds of whatever was following them. They continued to walk in silence until, finally, the trees thinned out and they found themselves at a clearing. But as it was before, this one contained no fire, no Neutrals, and no Windsaber.
“Oh! This is great!” Strobe said sarcastically. “You’ve found another clearing. This is exactly what we needed!”
“What are you talking about? You were leading us!” Updraft argued.
“And you said we were going in the right direction!” Strobe replied.
Updraft sighed, rolling his optics in exasperation.
“I am not going to have this argument with you. We are heading in the right direction. There’s obviously something about this forest that we don’t understand. Maybe it’s skewing our perceptions. But the facts aren’t lying. My instrumentation is not lying. Camp is that way!” he yelled, pointing across the clearing.
He turned away and continued to walk through the clearing away from Strobe. He failed to see the anger twist Strobe’s face, failed to see the communicator lunge toward him. And so, he was completely surprised when he was suddenly tackled by Strobe and sent to the ground in a heap.
“You got us lost!” the infuriated brown and tan screamed as he rammed a fist into Updraft’s side with enough force to dent the pilot’s armour.
“I didn’t!” Updraft yelled. He brought his hands up to his face and attempted to curl into a ball, desperate to protect his delicate receptors and systems. “I didn’t get us lost!”
“Oh, what? I’m supposed to believe that the trees moved?” Strobe spat as her pushed Updraft away violently.
“Maybe!” Updraft yelled before he could censor himself. “Maybe they did move. Maybe someone’s playing with our processors. Maybe we’re just confused. All I know is that we were headed in the right direction!”
As the two argued, they were so focused on each other that neither noticed the clearing begin to shrink or the trees begin to close in. Neither saw the vines crawl out of the underbrush and creeping slowly toward the two Decepticons.
“Trees don’t move!” Strobe screamed. “Forests don’t move! And you are an idiot if you think I’ll fall for it!”
He raised his gun arm menacingly aiming his weapon at Updraft; his optics filled with a psychotic rage. The pilot scrambled away from his team-mate, one arm raised in defence while he grabbed frantically for his own gun.
“Please, Strobe! Don’t do this! Let’s just calm down and think this through!” he cried, trying desperately to calm the communicator, to keep him talking. “You don’t want to do this!”
“How do you know what I want?” Strobe demanded. “I have wanted to do this since you joined the mission! You are a useless sparklet! A failure as a Decepticon and a failure as a mech! You couldn’t even pilot The Renegade without screwing up!”
“I may not be the fighter that you are, but please! Give me a chance! We can talk to Windsaber about this,” Updraft pleaded.
“No! That’s exactly what you want! You want to tell him all about this! You want to spread your lies!” Strobe screamed.
“There’re no lies! I just want to help,” Updraft cried. “Please, Strobe! Be reasonable!”
Strobe just narrowed his optics, raised his gun arm again and fired at Updraft. The pilot rolled out of the way, but the shot went wild as a vine wrapped itself around Strobe’s leg. Upraft watched in stark horror as the vine tightened, pulling Strobe toward the woods. Strobe screamed in horror, dropping his weapon and digging his fingers into the packed dirt, desperately trying to pull away from his assailant. Without a second’s thought Updraft came forward and aimed at the vine, trying to shoot through it, but the vegetation may as well have been made of stone for all the damage his laser did to it. He dropped his gun, grabbed the vine in his hands, and began to pull desperately at it. Using all his strength, he tugged at the vine, trying to stop it from pulling Strobe away, but the wet material slid through his fingers, leaving his hands scratched and shredded.
“Help me!” Strobe cried as the vine began to wrap around his body while it pulled him to the edge of the forest.
Updraft grabbed at his gun again and tied to Updraft tried to shoot the vine, but this time his laser blast hit only dirt as the vine thrashed back and forth, like a predator mauling its prey.
“Hold on, Strobe!” Updraft yelled, grabbing his team-mate’s arms, trying desperately to pull him back.
The vines were too strong. They continued to pull, dragging both mechs toward the edge of the woods. Updraft felt his grip, slick with his own fluid, slip from Strobe’s arms. He finally lost his grip and tumbled away from Strobe. Now that there was less resistence, the vine put on a sudden burst of speed, and before Updraft could react, Strobe had been pulled into the woods, leaving only his screams tearing at the night.
Updraft stood still for a moment staring in the woods. Then he saw it. Glints of red and blue staring at him from the dark. He did the only thing he could. He grabbed Strobe’s gun from where it had fallen and, before he could talk himself out of it, he plunged into the woods after his comrade.
Series: G1 universe, focusing on Original characters
Rating: R
Summary: In the early days of the civil war on Cybertron, Sentinel Prime authorized several refugee vessels to take Neutrals away from the planet in hopes that they could start peaceful colonies where they would be safe. Many of these refugees were never heard from again; lost to us through time and distance. But history does record the fate of one of the vessels. The Stormchaser was three orns away from its destination when it was shot down by Decepticons in an act of cowardice and deceit. There were no survivors. That is what history tells us. But in this case, history is wrong.
Author's Note: Day nine. Today I basically fixed up the problem I had with Chapter Five and wrote much of Chapter Six. I'm still not thrilled with this chapter, but I can fix it in the editing process. I can completley see the scene in my mind, but the words and the pacing are elluding me right now. Chapter Six needs more done with it, but at this point, it's going to have to wait until the evil day star once again shines in the sky.
I'm happy that I'm doing better than I was at this time last year, and, according to my self-imposed schedule, I'm ahead in the game, so if something happens, I can afford to take some time off. This is good. Last year there was a lot of "OMG! Gotta catch up!!!" So far that's not a problem this year, but I won't be tempting fate just yet. She is, after all, a fickle mistress.
So, enough of the process and the numbers. On to the story!
“Forget the rock,” Strobe said sharply. “We need to get back to camp.”
“Uh … yeah, sure,” Updraft replied, wrenching his eyes from the menhir.
Strobe turned and walked back toward the woods, in the opposite direction from the camp.
“What? Wait a minute, Strobe!” Updraft said, following his team-mate. “You’re going in the wrong direction.”
“Yeah, I gave you your chance to guide us and you screwed up,” Strobe replied. “Now we do things my way.”
“So, what? We walk around the woods aimlessly until we find somewhere we recognize?” Updraft asked as he followed Strobe into the woods.
“Well it’s better than listening to you. Your systems are obviously glitched,” Strobe replied. “Hey! I have an idea. Why don’t you get your medic to take a look at it? I’m sure you could convince her to take a real close look at your systems.”
“Shut up,” Updraft grumbled.
“Aw! Don’t get sore,” Strobe laughed as they walked.
“I’m not getting sore. It just isn’t funny.”
“Yeah, it is,” Strobe replied. “You’re just too far up your aft to see that.”
Updraft was about to reply when something flashed in the corner of his optic. He stopped walking and looked around the woods, taking in the trees, the bits of the sky he could see, the springy earth under his feet, trying to find what caught his attention. There was nothing obvious except that this was the wrong place. They had never been here before, and they were headed in the wrong direction. Strobe continued to walk through the woods, oblivious to the fact that Updraft was no longer following.
“This is ridiculous!” Updraft yelled at Strobe’s retreating back. “We are going in the wrong direction!”
“Fine, then you can go back,” Strobe retorted without stopping. “And when you eventually find your way back to the camp you can explain to Windsaber why it is that you decided to disobey the order of a superior officer.”
“This isn’t about disobeying an order! It’s about getting back to camp as quickly as possible! It’s about helping Windsaber! We have no idea what happened back there except that ‘Saber’s in trouble!” Updraft said emphatically.
Strobe turned and stalked toward Updraft, his optics a dark crimson, his face a mask of rage.
“Do you really think that I don’t know that?” he growled. “What? You figure that I’m just running around the woods for fun? Maybe this is all a plan on my part to keep us from getting there. Maybe this is all a plot on my part to get Windsaber out of the picture. Hey, after all, we know you think that that’s the Decepticon way!”
“What? No! I don’t think that!” Updraft said, stepping back. “All I think is that we need to regroup and think this through. I’m just saying that we can’t just run around without knowing where we are.”
“Ah! So you admit that you don’t know where we are? You admit you got us lost.”
“No, I don’t admit anything like that! I agree that I don’t know where we are, but I do know where we’re going!”
Strobe turned away in disgust.
“You don’t know anything. You’re hiding behind this ridiculous notion that the forest is changing instead of admitting that you screwed up!” he said as he walked away. “We tried it your way, now we’re doing it mine!”
Updraft opened his mouth to protest, then gave up. There was nothing he could say, nothing he could do to change Strobe’s mind, so he just followed him in silence. After a long time of walking in silence, the sounds in the woods began again. Life seemed to return as the night progressed. First it was just the wind in the trees, and then he heard things moving in the dark; the cry of an avian, the howl of a ground hunter on the prowl, and below it all, Updraft was sure he heard something stalking them.
There were footsteps through the leaves and mulch. They walked when the Decepticons walked. They stopped when the Decepticons stopped. And they were always half a beat behind.
“Did you hear that?” Updraft asked.
“Did I hear what?” Strobe asked, distracted and annoyed.
“That,” Updraft said in a whisper as the footsteps stopped.
Strobe snorted indelicately. “Maybe it’s the trees marching after us.”
“I’m serious,” Updraft said. “I think I hear someone following us.”
“There’s no one out there. Now just come on and shut up,” Strobe snapped. “I’m pretty sure that we’re almost there.”
“Actually, I think your right,” Updraft replied as he checked his sensors. “According to my instrumentation, we should be almost there!”
“Oh, well then we’d better turn around,” Strobe snorted. “You being sure of our direction’s probably a really bad sign.”
Updraft just shot Strobe a filthy look and continued to follow him through the trees, carefully marking their direction and the sounds of whatever was following them. They continued to walk in silence until, finally, the trees thinned out and they found themselves at a clearing. But as it was before, this one contained no fire, no Neutrals, and no Windsaber.
“Oh! This is great!” Strobe said sarcastically. “You’ve found another clearing. This is exactly what we needed!”
“What are you talking about? You were leading us!” Updraft argued.
“And you said we were going in the right direction!” Strobe replied.
Updraft sighed, rolling his optics in exasperation.
“I am not going to have this argument with you. We are heading in the right direction. There’s obviously something about this forest that we don’t understand. Maybe it’s skewing our perceptions. But the facts aren’t lying. My instrumentation is not lying. Camp is that way!” he yelled, pointing across the clearing.
He turned away and continued to walk through the clearing away from Strobe. He failed to see the anger twist Strobe’s face, failed to see the communicator lunge toward him. And so, he was completely surprised when he was suddenly tackled by Strobe and sent to the ground in a heap.
“You got us lost!” the infuriated brown and tan screamed as he rammed a fist into Updraft’s side with enough force to dent the pilot’s armour.
“I didn’t!” Updraft yelled. He brought his hands up to his face and attempted to curl into a ball, desperate to protect his delicate receptors and systems. “I didn’t get us lost!”
“Oh, what? I’m supposed to believe that the trees moved?” Strobe spat as her pushed Updraft away violently.
“Maybe!” Updraft yelled before he could censor himself. “Maybe they did move. Maybe someone’s playing with our processors. Maybe we’re just confused. All I know is that we were headed in the right direction!”
As the two argued, they were so focused on each other that neither noticed the clearing begin to shrink or the trees begin to close in. Neither saw the vines crawl out of the underbrush and creeping slowly toward the two Decepticons.
“Trees don’t move!” Strobe screamed. “Forests don’t move! And you are an idiot if you think I’ll fall for it!”
He raised his gun arm menacingly aiming his weapon at Updraft; his optics filled with a psychotic rage. The pilot scrambled away from his team-mate, one arm raised in defence while he grabbed frantically for his own gun.
“Please, Strobe! Don’t do this! Let’s just calm down and think this through!” he cried, trying desperately to calm the communicator, to keep him talking. “You don’t want to do this!”
“How do you know what I want?” Strobe demanded. “I have wanted to do this since you joined the mission! You are a useless sparklet! A failure as a Decepticon and a failure as a mech! You couldn’t even pilot The Renegade without screwing up!”
“I may not be the fighter that you are, but please! Give me a chance! We can talk to Windsaber about this,” Updraft pleaded.
“No! That’s exactly what you want! You want to tell him all about this! You want to spread your lies!” Strobe screamed.
“There’re no lies! I just want to help,” Updraft cried. “Please, Strobe! Be reasonable!”
Strobe just narrowed his optics, raised his gun arm again and fired at Updraft. The pilot rolled out of the way, but the shot went wild as a vine wrapped itself around Strobe’s leg. Upraft watched in stark horror as the vine tightened, pulling Strobe toward the woods. Strobe screamed in horror, dropping his weapon and digging his fingers into the packed dirt, desperately trying to pull away from his assailant. Without a second’s thought Updraft came forward and aimed at the vine, trying to shoot through it, but the vegetation may as well have been made of stone for all the damage his laser did to it. He dropped his gun, grabbed the vine in his hands, and began to pull desperately at it. Using all his strength, he tugged at the vine, trying to stop it from pulling Strobe away, but the wet material slid through his fingers, leaving his hands scratched and shredded.
“Help me!” Strobe cried as the vine began to wrap around his body while it pulled him to the edge of the forest.
Updraft grabbed at his gun again and tied to Updraft tried to shoot the vine, but this time his laser blast hit only dirt as the vine thrashed back and forth, like a predator mauling its prey.
“Hold on, Strobe!” Updraft yelled, grabbing his team-mate’s arms, trying desperately to pull him back.
The vines were too strong. They continued to pull, dragging both mechs toward the edge of the woods. Updraft felt his grip, slick with his own fluid, slip from Strobe’s arms. He finally lost his grip and tumbled away from Strobe. Now that there was less resistence, the vine put on a sudden burst of speed, and before Updraft could react, Strobe had been pulled into the woods, leaving only his screams tearing at the night.
Updraft stood still for a moment staring in the woods. Then he saw it. Glints of red and blue staring at him from the dark. He did the only thing he could. He grabbed Strobe’s gun from where it had fallen and, before he could talk himself out of it, he plunged into the woods after his comrade.