Shadow of the Guardian, Part 8

Darkness.  It was so dark… he thought he’d seen as black as dark could get, but this… this wasn’t the absence of light.  This was where light couldn’t even exist.  He raised his hand in front of his face and tried to see it, but he ended up startling himself when the palm of his hand touched the tip of his nose--and he still couldn’t see it.  He lowered his hand, spinning in place as he tried to distinguish left from right, up from down, and finally gave up in that respect.  He had the odd feeling that he’d been in this place once before--and it wasn’t a feeling he liked.

A thunderbolt cracked in front of him, blinding him, before more thunderbolts began flying around him.  He tried to shield his optics with one arm or to move out of range, but he suddenly found himself rooted to the spot and unable to move.  Squinting against the glare of the thunderbolts, he could barely distinguish a shadow in front of him--one that lived and breathed.  A pair of eyes, glowing with an unnatural green fire, stared back at him.  He could distinguish no colors--nothing except a pure black shape in front of him--but it seemed to have either a quadruped form or it was crouching.  It’s… not the Hunter?  He wondered, unable to speak.  A deep, sinister laugh echoed around him--through him--but it didn’t come from this form before him.  A blinding pain seared throughout his body as… he felt… something… He lost all track of self and place at that point, but he could finally place the feeling he sensed--it was… loss.

Starcream sharply sat up straight with a gasp, optics wide and body tensed.  It took him a few seconds to remember what had happened, where he was, and why he was even there, although none of those answers gave him any comfort.  Both he and Sheba had agreed that they both wanted to wait for the Hunter to appear, both of them staying in Sheba’s quarters for the night.  Starscream had kept Quetzalcoatl and gained a few attack spells as well as the curative spells he still had--just in case.  While waiting, Starscream had dozed off while lying against Sheba, who had remained awake since she didn’t trust the Hunter’s intentions and didn‘t want to be caught off-guard.  Evidently, while sleeping, he had gotten a replay of that old dream… or was it a premonition?  He didn’t know, but the memory of it haunted him.

Sheba licked his face and purred, trying to calm him down, as he grimaced and rubbed his forehead with one hand, trying to get the images of the dream out of his mind.  “A bad dream?”  She asked.  Her voice revealed just how sleepy she felt, considering that it was at least around midnight.

“That dream again.  The one I told you about, the one we thought was warning me of the Hunter,” he replied quietly.  “It… It wasn’t her.  It’s someone else.”  He looked at Sheba, who was suddenly wide awake and alert.  “I don’t think this is over.”

The large quarters were suddenly flooded in a greenish-white light and both Guardian and Guarded One leaped to their feet, ready to attack.  The glow subsided, leaving behind two eyes that glowed with the same green fire Starscream had just seen in his dream.  “Hunter,” Sheba snarled.

“Peace, both of you,” Andromeda replied soothingly, approaching them.  She stopped a few paces away, too far away to reach them if she wanted to physically attack them.  “I have come as I promised--and I have little time to speak.”

As she semi-emerged from the shadows of the darkened room, Starscream recognized the difference between the living shadow in his dream and Andromeda before him.  The silver markings in the Hunter’s fur glinted ever-so-slightly in the dim light, but the… thing… in his dream had no such markings.  It truly isn’t over, he thought grimly.

Sheba was hardly convinced with the Hunter’s statement, but since Andromeda was maintaining her distance… “Have you figured things out yet?”  The Guardian asked pointedly.

Andromeda was unaffected by the barb.  “As much as I can, with what I know,” she replied, her expression clearly worried.  “I am sorry, but I doubt I can tell you everything you wish to know.  We Hunters have been isolated from any other of the three Transformer races, to the point where we don’t know of any kind of connection between ourselves and the Autobots--or even of the Transformer homeworld you currently fight over, this ‘Cybertron’.”

Starscream’s jaw dropped at that revelation.  “You can’t be serious!”  He protested.  “All Transformers know of it!”  Andromeda simply looked at him, a neutral expression masking any emotions she might’ve felt.

“What of your Masters?  Who are they and what do they want with me?”  Sheba demanded.

“I don’t know a name you would be familiar with, and I cannot describe their appearance to you because I am forbidden from looking directly at my Master,” Andromeda replied.  She shook her head.  “I can tell you no more than that.”

That answered half of her question, albeit unsatisfactory, but the other half…?  “What do they want with me?”  Sheba repeated, clearly growing agitated.  

“I do not know that either, but I do know that it’s nothing good for yourself, Starscream, or even the Autobots or Decepticons.  In fact, it may even put us Hunters in danger,” the Hunter answered, not raising her voice or her anger to match that of Sheba’s.  The Guardian deflated, now very interested.  A severe look came over the Hunter, the urgency of the situation clear.  “The Masters want you, Sheba, and they’ll stop at nothing to capture you.  They will send more creatures, more Hunters, whatever it takes until they have you.  They will use the Decepticons and even your own Guarded One against you, if they think it will bring you to them faster.”  

“Is there any way we can prevent this?”  Starscream asked, meaning the Decepticons and Sheba.

Andromeda shook her head.  “They already know where Sheba is and that she is a Guardian of a Seeker, but nothing more.  But to your question, Guarded One.  That responsibility falls to me.  I may be able to buy you time, but you must prepare yourselves despite that.  Do not become separated from each other, lest the events of this past night come to pass again, and remain vigilant.  My Masters prefer to strike when their target is the least suspecting of an attack.”

Sheba snarled at the suggestion of someone attacking Starscream like that again, her hackles rising.  “They wouldn’t dare.”

“You are protected by the Guardian of Guardians, but the responsibility of protecting Starscream falls to you,” Andromeda retorted, trying to break that fact through Sheba’s skull.  “There is no penalty to the murderers for killing a Guarded One, provided that they survive the affected Guardian’s revenge.  I have seen what happens to Guardians who have lost their charges, and I do not want the same to happen to you.”

Starscream began feeling ill, if such a thing could be possible for a Transformer, and he sat down with a shocked expression on his face.  “Then tonight… when that thing attacked me…” He whispered.

Andromeda nodded.  “Sheba would’ve woken up in a holding cell without you nearby, and she would’ve sensed the broken link,” she confirmed, her voice softening from the severe tone it had taken with Sheba.  “Only true death can break the connection between a Guardian and a Guarded One.  From there…” she turned her attention to Sheba, “any number of changes would‘ve been wrought in you from the grief, despair, and sense of failure at losing your charge.”

There was dead silence as the full realization of tonight’s events hit both of them.  “So there’s nothing further we can do?”  Sheba asked quietly.  “This is it?”

“As long as you remain vigilant in your duty to protect Starscream--as well as yourself--you should be fine,” Andromeda replied.  “If my plan works and I am able to delay the Masters from coming after you again, it may be anywhere from months to years before they attempt again.  Just remember--I know not why they want you so badly, Sheba, but they will not stop until they have you.  Do not let them.”

“You said that you’re going back to buy us time,” Starscream said.  Puzzled, Andromeda confirmed it.  “There’s something else, isn’t there?  Another reason why you’re going back.”

Andromeda looked away, her averted gaze thoughtful.  “Someone I know… a non-Hunter friend of mine… is being held on my Master’s ship to ensure my return--and my success.  He is under my protection and normally wouldn’t be harmed, but with a failure of this magnitude… my protection is no longer in effect.”

Neither Starscream or Sheba had ever guessed that the normally condescending Hunter had a reason other than the loyalty she had for her Master.  Seeing the expression on their faces, Andromeda smiled faintly.  “As I said earlier, Sheba--you are a Guardian.  You may understand.”

“We… we never knew,” Starscream stuttered.

“It is better this way,” Andromeda replied with a sigh.  “I have told you what little I have been able to understand.  I pray to the Four it is enough.”  She turned and raised her head, nose towards the ceiling.  “Now… I must go, before it’s too late.”

“I never thought I’d say this, but…” Sheba grinned, “…good luck, Hunter.”

“No, not ‘Hunter‘.  Not anymore.”  She glanced over her shoulder at the duo, smiling a true smile again, although it seemed strained--understandably so.  “Although I can hardly prevent you from telling the other Decepticons, I ask that you keep what I have told you a secret between the both of you.  I have a feeling that I have unintentionally set things in motion that’ll determine a lot more than just the outcome of this war.”  She bowed her head towards them in a gesture of respect.  “My name is Andromeda, Sheba and Starscream.  When you think of it, remember my warnings--for they WILL come to pass.”  Before anything further could be said by anyone present, she focused on her final destination and teleported.

***

The Transformer within the cell stood as the sound of claws scraping against the ground approached.  There was a faint humming as well, like an exposed power-circuit, and a chill of fear ran through him.  This is it, then, he thought, twisting his right arm behind his back so his hand was almost directly behind his neck.  It wasn’t easy, considering his wings were in the way, but this gave him plenty of slack with the energo-chain that restrained his arms to his sides.  He slung the chain the best he could over his left wing and air-intake on his shoulder, even his head so the chain could rest on the space between his neck and his right air-intake.  This gave his left arm even more mobility, even as he ignored the discomfort and pain that came from contorting his right arm like he had.

The first being he saw stop in front of his bars was the Master, his face firmly on the Anger expression and he was muttering something under his breath.  Next to him was the Sweep from earlier on--Number 91.  Although in pretty good shape, the Transformer noticed that it had been damaged--and he sensed Mako energy in the minor wounds that remained.  Andromeda, what have you done?  He wondered.

“Your Hunter has failed me for the final time, Seeker.  She can no longer protect you, Confidant or not,” the Master stated, his face shifting to the Death persona as it deactivated the bars.  “Number 91--KILL!”

Number 91 lunged forwards with a bestial snarl and the Seeker within cried out as he threw his left arm up and over his throat, trying to protect it.  Receiving word that the Hunter had returned and was waiting at the bridge, the Master reactivated the bars and left the holding cells.  Even though the Seeker would resist, the Sweep would finish him once and for all--and this time, Andromeda could do nothing to stop it.

**********************

Andromeda paced around the bridge, snarling at anyone who came near her.  She knew the Master was up to something, hence why he wasn’t present here.  She readjusted her Materia combinations one final time, preparing for the inevitability of her fate, but even that she began to question.  My father and Altair, along with countless others killed in the Guardian Massacre… did they learn something like what I had… before they died?  About our heritage, our connection to other Transformer races not associated with the Masters?  A more pressing question came to mind.  Is it possible to circumvent the Curse of the Guardians?

The familiar hum of an energy beam reached her acute hearing and she left that question unanswered for the time being.  She turned towards the door, defiantly curling her tail over her back as she raised her head, and her coldest expression yet fell over her features.  Her Master entered, stopping sharply when he saw the Hunter standing between him and his place at the head of the bridge.  “Andromeda,” he stated in surprise.  “I didn’t expect you to return, after your failure.”

“You know I couldn’t do that,” Andromeda replied harshly.  “Not when you have Soulreaver caged up like a Sweep.  Where is he and what have you done with him?”

The Master’s face shifted to Anger, and the sight of that mini-transformation sent a chill through Andromeda’s spine.  No wonder no Hunter was allowed to gaze at the Masters’ faces.  “Your failure cost him his life,” he answered with a careless wave of his tentacles.  “When Number 91 returned in its condition, I knew you had turned on me.  I had it repaired back to near-functioning status, then released it into the Confidant’s cell.”  Andromeda’s cold expression shattered into one of shock.  “And now… you have returned here, when you know that you have a death sentence looming over your head.”

Andromeda didn’t answer, but her wings and tail sagged as she hung her head.  She could feel the tears begin to gather under her eyelids, but she kept them in.  She would not show weakness--not here, not now.  There was a sudden sharp *crack* and something struck her across the face, right under her right eye from jaw to muzzle, and she yelped in surprise.  She reached up and touched her cheek with one paw, feeling the blood run from the cut, and saw blood--her blood--on one of the Master’s tentacles.  “You… struck me,” she said, her mind not fully comprehending the fact.  Her Master had never physically struck her before.

“And you,” the Master stated, his head turning to the Death face, “have failed me.  Take her!”

Sharkticons swarmed in, surrounding her, and she bowed her head briefly as she prepared herself for what she had to do.  “You have taken Soulreaver from me,” she said quietly.  “Now… I can complete my own mission with no regrets.”  Her head snapped up and a yellow orb on her back flared to life.  “FLASH!”

There was a blinding explosion of light--although no sound to accompany it--and every Sharkticon in the area collapsed, immediately defeated.  The Master attempted to escape, but Andromeda teleported in front of him, blocking the doorway out.  “You will not leave here, and the information on the Guardian Sheba will die with you.”  The multi-colored orbs of a Summon swirled around her as they were absorbed, but her target was not IN the ship, exactly…  “Tera Flare!”

***

Number 91 knew not the danger its Master was in, nor did its thoughts fly beyond the moment.  At that time, all it was focused on was killing and feeding on the Seeker he had been ordered to kill.  The dark Seeker was not making it easy, having thrown one arm over his throat to protect it while also tilting his head down.  The Sweep would not give up nearly so easily, not when it had been waiting years upon years to feed on this certain Seeker.  The Seeker couldn’t hold out forever, and at the instant he faltered…  

Ripping into the Seeker’s arm with his claws and fangs, Number 91 finally severed a fuel-line and got a taste of the mech-fluid.  The liquid tasted much better than the Sweep had expected, and it sent it into an even more furious frenzy.  Now not even trying to fight the arm and force it away, Number 91 began tearing into it in an attempt to rip it off.  The thought of finally feeding on this Seeker was the only thing on the Sweep’s mind, and nothing could stop it now.

The Seeker, on the other hand, locked his jaw and narrowed his optics as pain wracked his body from each bite and slash.  He couldn’t get his legs up to kick the Sweep off, as he had a few times before in past encounters, and the look on the creature’s face… he knew he was dead.  He had bought time by looping the chain over his right shoulder, between the air intake and right side of his neck, and using his twisted right arm to cut the slack in the chain--thereby keeping his left arm in place over his throat.  However, if the Sweep amputated that limb… he doubted that he could get his right arm up in time to shield his throat any further.

He sensed a burst of Mako energy--a LOT of Mako energy--and he felt a glimmer of hope enter his psyche.  Andromeda…?  

There was a few seconds of silence, as if the ship and everyone on it--except himself and Number 91--had frozen in time, before a massive explosion rocked the ship and sent alarms blaring.  The Sweep was thrown off of the Seeker, who found that he couldn’t get up--not without exposing his throat.  The Seeker knew that it was a Summon--a powerful one at that--and for a brief second wondered which one she’d called upon this time, and who it was against.  The Sweep had no such distractions and charged him again, ignoring the warning sirens that normally made it so uneasy.  

The Seeker brought up his legs as if to kick the Sweep away, but Number 91 pounced and pinned him down again, twisting his right arm so much that the elbow joint strained to avoid breaking.  The armoring on the Seeker’s forearm had been completely ravaged, exposing the indo-structure and circuits within, and the Sweep used its jaws to clamp down on the bars that served as the ‘bones’ in the Seeker’s arm.  After a few brief seconds of gnawing, it shattered the two durable pieces of metal with a single snap.  

The Seeker screamed at the overwhelming pain and his hand went limp.  Through the fog that clouded his mind, he realized that it would be an easy matter for the Sweep to slash through what little was left of his arm and he braced himself for the inevitable.  There was a blinding flash of greenish-white light before a savage snarl, louder and more familiar than Number 91’s, shattered the odd silence.  A powerful thunderbolt pounded the Sweep, who recoiled in pain and surprise.  The Seeker felt a slight jolt since he was in contact with Number 91, but it served to clear his mind, not damage him further.  A dark shadow tackled the Sweep to the ground and he saw a flash of red light that didn’t come from the Sweep’s optics.

Stunned from the thunderbolt, the Sweep put up no resistance to being tackled or even the pair of jaws clamped over its throat.  However, the jaws grew tighter and tighter even though it wasn’t struggling against the shadow pinning it down.  It caught the scent, recognized it, and whimpered--its Hunter was asserting her dominance, it wasn’t resisting, so why wasn’t she letting it go as she always did?  It couldn’t ask and the Hunter wasn’t in the mood to giving explanations.  There was a searing pain as the teeth pierced its neck, shearing through the vital systems within, then it knew no more.

Andromeda finally released Number 91 then, her muzzle dripping with its mech-fluid as her eyes lost their red optic-like glow, before she turned back to the Seeker lying on the ground.  “Soulreaver?  Soulreaver, answer me!”  She pleaded, padding to him and casting Full-Cure on him.  She had realized that her Master had been lying after all--the scream she heard had been her first indication… but had she been too late?

The black and red Seeker stirred before his optics reactivated.  “Andromeda…?”  He whispered, turning his head to the side as he saw the dead Sweep lying motionless on the floor nearby before focusing on her.  “You came back.”

“I couldn’t leave my Confidant in danger, now could I?”  Andromeda replied briskly as she gnawed through the energo-chain, freeing Soulreaver’s arms.  Grimacing in the pain, this time welcoming it, Soulreaver stretched his arms in front and above him, working out the last of the kinks.  “We have to hurry.  Are there any other Decepticons here?”

“Decepticons?”  Soulreaver asked curiously, using Andromeda as leverage to stand up.  “I don’t know the term.”

Andromeda grimaced at her mistake.  Of course Soulreaver wouldn‘t recognize the term.  “Military Hardware units.  Are there any still alive?”

“I don’t know,” Soulreaver replied, looking at the way out--although Andromeda had apparently teleported in, the bars had been deactivated.  In fact, his sensors were telling him that the atmosphere was getting thinner and thinner and the ship’s power had been knocked out.  “The longer you were gone, the more Military Hardware units they took to the labs and didn‘t bring them back.  Only I was left when Number 91 was called on a mission.  The Master returned with it and ordered it to kill me.”  He looked down at Andromeda, who seemed to be preoccupied with something.  “Andromeda, what’s going on?  What happened on your mission?”

“The Organic Transformer I was sent after… was a Guardian named Sheba,” the Hunter replied grimly as she shifted to her robotic form.  She knew exactly what was happening to the ship even as it creaked and groaned around them.  The ship had taken so much damage from her Bahamut ZERO Summon that the atmosphere was slowly venting out into space, and its communication and escape capabilities had been negated.  Even if the Master had survived the Quadra Magic Ultima attack she‘d cast on him after the Summon had been completed, he couldn’t issue an SOS or attempt to escape.  “Her Guarded One was a Seeker not unlike yourself, although not of the same markings.”

The ship shuddered, interrupting her trance-like state.  “Hurry, take your scythe,” she ordered, a panel in her shoulder parting and revealing a metal rod.  Soulreaver grabbed hold and snapped his wrist sharply, forcing the rod to fully extend to its full length, before activating the purple energy-blade at one end.  Andromeda was moving before the panel in her shoulder could close.  “We need to see if there are other survivors.  I’ll explain more then.”

“Teleport us there--it should make things a lot faster,” the black and red Seeker suggested.  Andromeda agreed, not bothering with conserving her Mako energy now, and focused on their next destination.  The duo reappeared in the laboratory area, which was some distance (and some levels up) from the holding areas.  

The Sharkticons, and even a few Sweeps, were loose and running around--but they stopped sharply when the Hunter and her Confidant appeared out of thin air.  Andromeda handed her Mastered Slash-All Materia to Soulreaver, who equipped it to his scythe and used the Flash physical attack to immediately defeat everyone present.  With that taken care of, he gave the Materia back and they left their would-be attackers where they lay.  They moved from one area to another to search for any survivors, but the sights they saw were not encouraging.  Most had been dead for some time, ravaged by the Sweeps who made it inside, but some had just recently died--either from the experiments done on them or killed in order to prevent their own escape.  

The last room they found still had a live Decepticon, though not a Seeker, within and two dead Sweeps piled together at the other end of the room--killed by magic, as both could sense in the air.  He was in horrible shape, even worse than the injuries Andromeda had seen Starscream take at the claws of a Sweep.  Andromeda tried to cast Cure3 on the Decepticon, but there was no effect.  “I… am dying… Hunter,” the Decepticon gasped, his voice barely above a whisper.  “Not… even you… can… stop it.”  Andromeda nodded, respecting the decision, and stepped back, turning her attention to other things that were just as important.  

Soulreaver knelt next to the dying Decepticon and took his hand, not knowing the name of this Military Hardware unit, but he did remember seeing him down in the holding cells.  “A… last… gift… between… our kind.”  There was a brief flash of energy as it was transferred from the Decepticon to Soulreaver, whose mouth opened in surprise.  The dying Military Hardware unit had transferred Junctioned magic and a Guardian Force, no doubt intended to be used for the experiment the Decepticon had been forced into, to the Confidant.  What little strength remained in the Decepticon left him and he breathed his last before Soulreaver could say a word.

Andromeda bowed her head sadly.  “Soulreaver, use the magic you just obtained and Teleport yourself as far away from here as you can,” she stated quietly.  “Undoubtedly, the Sweeps are loose and looking for prey.  You must use a Teleport spell and escape this ship--escape the Masters.”

“But… Andromeda,” Soulreaver tried to protest, but Andromeda gave him a pleading look and he said no more on that matter.  “Where can I go?  This,” he motioned around them, “is all I know!”

“Teleport near a planet where we have once trained, but do not remain there,” she advised him.  “Try to find a world where the Masters have not visited for their twisted experimentations.  I must remain here to be certain that my next attack will destroy this crippled ship--and everything in it.”

There was a puzzled look on Soulreaver’s face.  He was clearly not comprehending what Andromeda was telling him.  Suddenly, his face went lax in shock and his scythe clattered to the floor as he fell to his knees.  “No… Andromeda, don’t do this,” he pleaded.  “Everyone else I have ever befriended--loved--has been taken from me!  Don’t join them!”

“I am… so sorry, my friend,” Andromeda whispered as she approached, rubbing her head against his face in consolation before he wrapped his arms around her neck in a tight embrace.  Had she been in organic form, she knew that tears would’ve been streaming down her face.  “What I had discovered on that world while chasing after that Guardian… the other Masters cannot learn of it.  Unless our Master is killed and the ship--and all its data-logs--are destroyed, the truth will be discovered.”

“But why?  What is so important about this Guardian?”  Soulreaver demanded.  His grip around her neck refused to relax, and Andromeda didn’t try to break the embrace.

“The Masters want her, and will stop at nothing to get her,” she replied quietly.  “She and her Guarded One, Starscream… there is a destiny ahead of them that the Masters do not want them to obtain.  I‘m certain of it--why else do they want her so badly?  I don’t understand everything, but there is so much more at stake now than I could’ve ever imagined.  I cannot let them get Sheba.  I must buy time… for their sake.  You know what will happen to her Guarded One should he ever be captured--it will be the same fate you have avoided your whole life.  Please, my friend.  Understand.”

“The same fate I just survived,” Soulreaver added grimly.  “No Seeker should ever suffer that fate.  Yes… I do understand.”  He pulled back, resting his hands on her shoulders and staring at her square in the optics.  “Andromeda,” his voice shuddered with emotion and his face revealed the emotional pain he felt, “Please, Andromeda.  If you survive this… promise me.  Find me.”

“I shall.  I swear it on the Guardian of Guardians himself,” Andromeda promised.  She embraced him one last time, resting her head briefly against his helmet, before she pulled back and her expression hardened.  Soulreaver picked up his scythe and also stood, but rested a hand on her back, as if not wanting to leave--which he most certainly didn’t.  “Now go, Soulreaver.  Before we’re found.”

Soulreaver nodded and the two shared one last look, knowing that it would possibly be the last time they would see each other.  A hard glint entered his optics as he steeled his resolve before he could think twice.  “Teleport!”  He shouted, disappearing from sight immediately.

Andromeda extended her senses as far throughout the ship as she was able, making sure that he hadn’t teleported to a different area of the ship to somehow play the hero.  Her thoughts briefly flickered to Optimus Prime at the thought of a ‘hero’, and she breathed a prayer to both the Four and the Guardian of Guardians to protect him and those with him, ally and enemy.  “May my sacrifice not be in vain,” she said, finishing the prayer, as she focused all of her energy into a single final Summon.  “ULTIMATE END!!!”

****************

Astrotrain cut his engines as he began surveying the area.  The base’s sensors on Earth had picked up a massive explosion on Jupiter’s far side, the kind a starship detonating would release.  Megatron had found it odd that there would be such an explosion right when the Hunter left Earth, so he sent Astrotrain--alone--to survey the damage.  Astrotrain himself could care less as to the fate of that Hunter, but for Sheba’s sake he hoped that she was gone for good.

Cosmos was on a similar mission, although he had been recalled from an intergalactic mission of his own.  Prime had placed the pieces together and knew that this explosion Teletran 1 alerted them to had something to do with Andromeda.  Cosmos wished he could’ve met the Hunter himself, or at least seen her, but he would content himself with the stories he knew his comrades on Earth would tell him when he returned.

The two Transformers spotted each other mid-search, transformed to their robot modes, and faced off, even though it was clear that Astrotrain had the advantage as far as size was concerned.  “What the Pit are you doing here, shrimp?”  Astrotrain demanded as he aimed his weapon at Cosmos.  It was mid-day, Earth time, so the cease-fire had long run out.

“Most likely, for the same reasons you are,” Cosmos replied.  “Something exploded here and it seems like both Megatron and Optimus Prime are interested in it.  However, if you’re coming up with the same results I am, there’s nothing remaining here.  Whatever WAS here was utterly and completely annihilated.”

Astrotrain glared at the small Autobot, his trigger-finger tightening as his hand clenched around the grip of his weapon, but he had to agree with the assessment.  There was nothing here bigger than fragments, and certainly nothing that could tell them what was there or what caused it.  He registered energy readings similar to ones he picked up when the Hunter was using magic and stored that away for the other Decepticons back at base to analyze later.  Cosmos himself also picked up on the energy readings, but he had no knowledge of their significance.

The Decepticon’s comm.-link beeped, alerting him to an incoming call, and Astrotrain activated the mechanism.  >>Astrotrain, report,<< Megatron stated.

“There’s nothing here,” Astrotrain replied.  “I’m picking up a lot of energy readings, though.  I think it’s the same kind of energy the Hunter used with her magic.”

There was a brief silence.  >>Have the Autobots already begun investigating the area?<<

Astrotrain hesitated, staring at the smaller Autobot who hovered in place in silence, watching him carefully.  “Negative, Megatron.  We got here first,” he replied as he lowered his weapon.

>>Good.  Return to headquarters at once.  Megatron out.<<

Astrotrain clicked off the comm.-link and stared at Cosmos.  “Consider yourself lucky, Autobot,” he spat.  “If this was any other mission or any other time, you’d be cold, hard slag by now.”  Cosmos nodded once, but didn‘t reply--there was no need for any further conversation.  He stood by and watched as Astrotrain transformed and headed back to Earth.  

Finding nothing else of interest, Cosmos waited a little longer to allow Astrotrain more time to reach Earth first without it being perfectly obvious that the two had been in the same area after the same thing.  Something red caught his optics and he moved in that direction, curious as to what it could be.  It was a shard of metal, curved and black, but there was an emblem stamped on it--an Autobot insignia.  Cosmos’s hands shook as he recognized the insignia, although he didn’t know who it had come from--only that one of their own had been involved in the explosion.  He transformed and raced as fast as he could back to Earth, Astrotrain be slagged.

***

Astrotrain handed over the data he’d obtained from the explosion site and Soundwave inserted it into the computer for analysis.  Nobody spoke or moved as the computer scanned and analyzed the data, although it took a few minutes for it to complete its analysis.  The results appeared on the screen and Starscream immediately recognized what it said, although the less scientifically-minded Decepticons had no clue.  “Energy readings taken from explosion site are identical to energy readings while the Hunter is using magic,” Soundwave concluded, reading from the screen himself.

Astrotrain grimaced as he brushed shards of metal off of his armoring, only just now realizing that some of the fragments had become embedded in his armor--one of the reasons he didn’t like traveling through space at times.  Scrapper analyzed the metal shards on the ground and he stiffened in surprise.  “Megatron, the metal fragments… they appear to have various types of energy signatures in them.  Although it’s unclear, since Astrotrain’s own energy signature has muted the original signatures… I can scan the Hunter’s energy signature on a few of these fragments.  They might be pieces of her armor.”

“So the Hunter did this… and most likely destroyed herself in doing so,” Megatron stated, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.  His expression was guarded, but either interest or concern glinted in his optics.  “I wonder why?”

“Who cares?”  Ramjet asked, shrugging as a wave of relief washed through most of the Decepticons present.  “She’s gone now.  That’s all that matters.”

Starscream and Sheba glanced at each other, a grim expression on their faces as they remembered what Andromeda had told them the night before.  After she had left, the duo had agreed that what she said was for them and them alone--they wouldn‘t tell anyone, not even Megatron.  Besides, they figured that if Megatron could keep secrets, so could they.  She did what she promised, Sheba thought.  She bought us time.  Let’s hope it’s enough.  Sensing his Guardian’s thoughts, Starscream silently agreed.

***
Prime held the shard of metal in his hand and his head bowed slightly, his optics dim.  “This was from the explosion site, Cosmos?”  He asked quietly.

“Affirmative,” the space-faring Autobot confirmed, shifting uneasily at the sudden silence that had fallen over everyone at his less-than-uplifting news.  

Perceptor returned from his lab, his expression grim.  “The energy Cosmos detected perfectly matches the Mako energy the Hunter releases when using her magic or Summons,” he reported.  He saw the shard in Prime’s hand and his optics widened in shock.  “Th--that…”

“So you recognize it too, Perceptor.”  Prime’s tone was almost weary, like his worst fears had been confirmed.  “Whatever reason the Hunter had for attacking that starship, it resulted in the destruction of both it and herself.”  His hand tightened around the piece of metal, but just barely.  “This is a part of her armoring in robotic form, most likely from her shoulder.  I recognized her energy signature when I scanned it.”

“So she just… left, right in the middle of the night, just like that,” Bumblebee stated, shaking his head.  “Why’d she go and leave without saying goodbye to us--or at least letting us thank her?”

“That was never her way, Bumblebee.  She never was one to be a part of a team--or accept thanks,” Prime replied.  He had stored away the note Andromeda had left behind, since he had a feeling that she didn’t intend for anyone but him to see it, and hadn‘t said anything of their last conversation to anyone.  He doubted he ever would now, in honor of her last wish.  “However, such aloofness was hardly without merit.  In the Hunter’s own way, she was trying to protect us from the effects of her mission--as well as herself from our war.”

There was a long moment of silence.  “May we never forget.” The Autobots murmured their agreement to the Prime’s statement, all of them wishing that events could’ve turned out differently.

***

In a different sector of space, far from Earth, the Sol System, or Cybertron, a white and red jet made its way through the asteroid field.  “You are no kind of Autobot I have ever met before,” the jet commented to a passenger within.

A deep chuckle escaped the passenger’s vocals as he stepped forwards.  In the dim light provided by the jet‘s internal compartment, his white coat shone silver, which revealed a slight pattern in the metallic color--like scars that had refused to heal.  There was a black patch of fur on his left chest, right at his shoulder-joint, and his eyes… his irises were blue but tinged with red and his pupils were glowing almost pure white, but with a tint of green.   “I hope that was a compliment,” he replied lightly.  

“And it was, Orion,” the jet replied, perfectly at ease with his passenger.  Even though they had only known each other for a few years, they had become friends very quickly and had learned much from each other.  “I don’t understand how you knew what was about to happen.  True, I was in the area taking you to Earth to show you that world, but how did you know where that ship was?”

The occupant’s bat-like wings rustled as he shifted his lupine body uneasily.  “I sensed Mako-based magic being used, Skyfire,” he replied simply, “and when you scanned that explosion, I knew.  We were fortunate to get in and out without being detected.”  There was more to it, since he felt like they were being… led there, but he didn’t expect a scientist like his friend to understand such an intangible concept.

Skyfire could tell that he was uncomfortable with continuing that train of thought.  “You told me once that you wish to free others of your kind, Orion, from those you call the ‘Masters’,” Skyfire said, changing the topic as Orion walked back to the rear of the passenger area.  “The sole survivor you found… will she be the first?”

Orion sighed deeply as he lay down next to the still form lying on the ground.  “I pray so, should she survive the wounds she obtained,” he confirmed.  “Guardian of Guardians willing, more will also see the error of serving the Masters and… maybe… we will finally be free.”

There was no indications that the body was alive.  Ravaged nearly beyond recognition, no medic could even consider repairing her to full health--and even a magic-user would be hard-pressed to do the same without exhausting themselves first.  However, whether by accident or not, a blue flash of light flickered in the darkened optics, showing that there was still life in her.  Orion saw it…and smiled.  “Rest, my daughter.  Rest and heal.  You have freed yourself, Andromeda… as I had done for myself four million years past.”

The End?