Nova Black 4/?

[stainless]

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 - Part 14 - Part 15 - Part 16 - Part 17

Nova Black leaned against the wall, putting one hand to her head. She'd been trailing Brightbolt for days now, and gotten nothing out of it but a splitting processor ache. Despite his pro-Autobot sympathies, she hadn't seen him do so much as test out an old comm link.

Her other attempts to find out more about the Autobots who'd left the graffiti had gone just as badly. Apparently they'd seen what she'd done to their little stash, and gotten the message. That was probably a good thing, but it made finding more information difficult.

So she'd left for one of her favorite hiding places, hoping to relax and think. If thinking was even possible with her head pounding like this.

"Eclipse," said a voice.

Startled, Nova turned. "Who is it?" she hissed.

A large vehicle lumbered over to her. She knew who it was, of course. Still, for a moment, the newcomer reminded her so intensely of Colossus that she stepped back, startled.

"Easy there, Eclipse. I'm not here to get in your way," the newcomer said, transforming into a lumbering, squat black robot. "I came to find you because I heard you talking at the meeting. I wanted to tell you I think you're right."

"Thank you, Quake." Nova smiled. "I'm glad to hear that someone does. Especially after Brightbolt's utterly lovely comments about me." She scowled.

The other bot chuckled. "Heh. I'm not sure what Shiny thought that speech would do for him. Where does he think we are? The frontlines of the war?" He shook his dark head. "I have to admit I'm curious about you now, though. I'd love to know if what he said about you means anything."

Nova clenched her fists. "It means Brightbolt's gotten his polish in his processor." Her mouth parts squeaked slightly as they shifted into a sneer. "If I had as much sympathy for the Decepticons as he thinks I do, this place would be a crater."

"Sometimes I'm surprised it's not," Quake rumbled, looking at the hastily constructed buildings, then down at the cracked ground. "If they ever come here for more than taxes --"

"If they ever do that, we're all dead." Nova didn't doubt she could fight off at least one of them. She'd done it enough times before. But if they came in numbers, she'd tried that once as well, and failed. And back then, she'd been at her best. Stellar cycles here, with little fuel, bad repairs, and no practice had surely taken their toll.

"We're all dead if we defy them, you mean." He turned to face her, his round optics staring. "If we don't, maybe we're not."

"If we don't? If they come here looking for their enemies, they won't just leave us alone." Her wings fluttered. "We're lucky they haven't already decided the settlement makes good target practice."

"If we're in their way, yeah." Quake frowned, his curling lip making the metal of his face look cracked. "But we don't have to be. Let's just say that if the war makes it over here, I'm not interested in being on the losing side."

Nova shook her head in surprise. "You would betray the settlement?"

The bigger bot's chest parts vibrated with the laughter. "I don't like the Autobots any more than you do, Eclipse. There's only one other side. You telling me you're not on it?"

Nova growled. This was the last thing she needed. "I already told you, I'm not a Decepticon."

"So what does that mean? The Decepticons and the Autobots show up and have a giant battle in our front yard, you help the 'Cons kick the slag out of the rebels, and then you go right back to life as usual out here?" He snorted, puffs of hot air emerging from the vents on the sides of his head.

Nova clenched her dental plates. "No. I make sure it doesn't come to that. I drive them off, or I go after them. I make sure the Decepticons never notice."

"And if they do?" the other pressed.

"I leave," she spat, snarling the words. "I -- hide."

"You, hide?" He snorted again. "All of Settlement Four knows you're looking for a fight." He chuckled. "Built for one, too, apparently. There's no way in hell you'd fly away from the chance to --" He stopped.

"You already got into trouble with them, didn't you?"

Nova sighed, trying to think of some way to deny it. Slaggit, we're supposed to be clever! But the pain in her head made it difficult to think. If he'd reasoned out this much, no lie she came up with now would convince him he was wrong.

"Maybe."

"So what did you do?" he asked, his round optics widening. "I can't imagine anything that would bother those bots."

"Nothing." Nova's dental plates clenched. "It was a brawl that got out of hand. That was all."

Quake cocked his head, his neck mechanisms creaking as he moved. "Then you must have been brawling with someone important. I've never known Decepticons to care how rough a brawl gets. Unless it's to hope it gets worse."

"True enough." It really was too quiet around here. She chuckled, looking at the bigger bot and once again thinking of Colossus. She'd always enjoyed sparring with that lumbering behemoth.

Mainly because she always won. There was something to be said for speed and maneuverability.

"So what happened?" the other grunted. "You gonna tell me, or sit there thinking until we both rust?"

"Why should I tell you?" Nova's wings fluttered in irritation. This conversation was far less fun than those memories. And could easily become a problem.

"Because I already know something did. What do the details matter? If I wanted to tell 'em you're out here, I already could."

Then maybe I should just blast the slag out of you, Nova thought. Then again, it was a bad idea. She'd never be able to stay after killing someone, and Brightbolt had already made half the Settlement suspicious anyway. If she killed him, that half would decide she must be a 'Con for doing it. And it wasn't much of a step from there to the truth about her. At least if it was just this bot, she might have some control over who knew what.

Besides, she'd never have another chance to tell anyone what those bastards had tried to do and why. Grandeur knew something had happened, but the less that bot knew about what it was, the better. He only protected her because his ex-'Con buddy had died protecting him. If he knew what had really happened, he'd know she'd meant it when she said she was nothing like his little hero.

"All right then. I knew better than to pick a fight with Bane, so I picked one with his pet conehead instead. No one liked him much, and it's not like he did anything but hover around Bane sucking up anyway. But it sent a message when he crashed to the ground, and I stood over him and --" One hand twitched with the memory, but she said nothing.

"You killed him, didn't you?"

Nova studied the big bot. She didn't see fear in the flat, dented face regarding her. Besides, if he meant what he said about siding with the Decepticons, he'd long since made his peace with the world he lived in and the other bots in it.

"I didn't intend to slag him. I just meant to knock him around. But I never liked Bane, and I liked Cinder even less." Her lips curled into a snarl. "Slagging little suckup. Someone should have got him long before I did."

She growled. "I didn't think it would matter. Primus knows it wasn't the first time Decepticons argued and someone ended up dead."

"But Bane liked him, apparently. Is he the one that went after you?"

"That lazy fool would never bother. But a few of the 'Cons in the bar were uneasy about it." Then there was the one who liked the idea of me getting in trouble, she thought, her lip curling in renewed rage. "And if you know Decepticons, you know that 'Cons who get themselves into trouble get themselves out of it."

She looked down, remembering. She'd looked right at Colossus. The big bot had stared back, holding her gaze for a long moment, and then looked away.

She'd known what that was about. Anyone who needed help was weak; anyone who was weak deserved his fate.

One by one, they'd joined the gathering mob, their optics brightening at the thought of more violence, or turned away as Colossus had.

"Wait, a whole mob of 'em came after you and you actually got away?" Quake whistled, a grating, metallic sound. "You're either very smart, Eclipse -- or very, very lucky."

"Lucky, probably," she answered, wincing in remembered pain. She'd damaged the hell out of one of her wings  squeezing through a narrow gap, betting her pursuers wouldn't follow. They hadn't, but it had certainly hurt. And getting shot by her buddies' lasers hadn't felt too good either. "I only survived thanks to the signal dampener currently installed in Tower Three."

"That was yours?"

"Once I stole it, yes." She smirked. "They blew up the building where I'd found it, thinking I was still inside. I activated the dampener as it exploded. When my signal vanished --"

The other nodded, his great head creaking. "They figured you died in the blast." His face wrinkled into another smile. "That's not lucky, Eclipse. That's clever."

"Thank you." She nodded, then gritted her dental plates. "But if you want to make friends with Decepticons, I won't be helping you. I'm only alive right now because the oth -- because the Decepticons think I'm already dead."

"Understood. But now you've got valuable information about a possible rebellion."

Nova tilted her head. "And? What is it you expect me to do, go --"

She stopped, her mouth falling open with a faint metallic squeak. "-- crawling back?"

Quake regarded her without speaking, the only sound the faint rasp of air emerging from the vents on the sides of his head.

She, too, was silent for long moments. Slowly, her lip curled into a snarl. "Get out of here," she snapped, yellow optics flashing. "Just go. Now."