Nova Black 9/?

[stainless]

The Ascension of Nova Black

Part 9 of 17

Verse: G1 AU (all characters are OCs.)
Wordcount: 3,315+
Rating: M for violence, dark themes, etc.
Warnings: Bit of violence here.
Summary: What happens when Nova finally meets up with her old team. Read: Suspicion, snarkiness, and a brawl. And the most adorably evil little Decepticon you ever did see.

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? Nova Black?" A head whipped around on a flexible metal stalk, resting nearly close enough to touch the Seeker's face. Beady red optics widened as they stared at her.

She scowled. What exactly had the little slagger expected? For her to waltz in looking just like she had when she'd left?

She peered around. The bar was full. Although most were ignoring her, she could see a few peering with interest at her.

That was lucky. Even with Bane's protection, coming in here with the wrong color optics made her a target for anyone particularly belligerent or anyone too overcharged to think straight. Fortunately, even those deep in their energon seemed to be waiting to see how her old team would handle her.

"Yes, it's me." Stellar cycles ago, she would have pushed the offending head away, if not snapped the thin metal neck to make her point. Primus knew she'd done so before. And watching his head squawk feebly as it rolled around on the floor was always good for a laugh.

These days, though, doing that was hardly wise. She settled for grunting, "Now get out of my face, Winder," and pointedly ignoring him.

A revving sound interrupted their conversation, and Nova looked away, grateful for the newcomer's timing.

"Blackie? If that is you, you're uglier than scrap these days."

"Hey, grounder." She kept her tone carefully lukewarm as she turned to face the source of the familiar, deep voice. He had abandoned her, after all. "I could say the same."

Still, seeing the dark shape of his bulk, the red optics staring as warmly as they dared out of the midnight-blue face, she couldn't keep her wings from twitching.

But yes, these days, she was ugly. And yes, she realized, she'd need to do something about that.

Snarling, she reached over to her side and yanked out the device altering her appearance. As before, the port stung from her roughness. As before, she welcomed the discomfort. It wouldn't have been right to unmask herself here without some small ritual of pain.

She watched her wings blacken, the stripes on them shifting to gray and yellow. Finally, the symbols she'd changed her appearance to hide appeared on her wings, battered and faded from the long stellar cycles in Settlement Four.

She looked down at the small part in her hand. Then, she hissed again in disgust and threw the device down. It skittered along the floor of the bar and landed with a scraping sound.

A white hand reached down to pick it up.

"That was unwise, Nova Black," a soft voice rasped, gears creaking as the cracked vocalizer moved.

She looked up to see the voice's owner sitting at a table, a half-empty cube of energon clutched tightly in his other hand.

He held the device up to look at it. His face was almost identical to Nova's, though where her face was black, his was a dull white. While her helm was a deep gray, his was, again, washed-out and pale. Also unlike her helm, his was topped with the conical point that formed his nose when he transformed.

"This thing helped keep you hidden from us for stellar cycles." His optics gleamed as he turned it over and over in his hand, touching the intricate cabling almost reverently. "It's quite a remarkable device. Surely, you ought not discard it."

"Fine." She stalked over to the speaker and grabbed his hand. She could feel the ruined metal give almost immediately. Good. Just as she'd expected. He let go, quickly, and she snatched up the device and tucked it away. "Whatever you say, Leech."

Something chittered near her leg. She looked down to find a green mechanoid staring up at her out of five round, red optics arrayed in a dark groove dug into its head.

With a metallic noise, Nova's head snapped back up to stare at Leech again. "What is this? You modified a repair drone and made it your pet?"

One of the thing's appendages flicked out, stabbing the seam in her knee. Pain flared through the joint and the connected circuitry, spreading rapidly outward. Nova howled as her knee gave, a burning sensation spreading through it. Alarmed, she looked down, half-expecting to see the metal of her joint melting.

"It prefers to be called 'medic,'" Leech wheezed, frowning in distaste as he watched Nova fall.

That thing's... sentient? Nova marveled through the pain. That's impossible. Even for you, conehead. Still, whatever the thing had injected was rapidly spreading through her leg now. She didn't have much choice but to play along.

"Fine," Nova snarled. "Medic, then."

Another of the thing's appendages shot out, driving into her knee with a new blossom of pain. Something cold flooded into the wound, soothing the fiery agonies of a moment before. As the frozen feeling faded, she could feel the appendage exploring her joint, poking and twisting.

Then it flicked toward her other knee. Without the antidote to numb it, its twist as it tightened something made her hiss in pain. She rose to her feet, snarling at it.

Then it dawned on her: she hadn't moved that fluidly in stellar cycles. Apparently something in her joints had come loose after so many stellar cycles in the Settlement, and the thing had tightened them for her. However painfully.

She nodded to it. Its optics flashed at her, and it moved back to its place at Leech's side, chirring triumphantly.

Nova stared at Leech. "You created life? You?"

He shook his pointed head, his neck servos screeching as they moved.

"Then how -- ?"

"I said I gave it life. I did not say that I created it. I merely gave it a spark."

Nova recoiled. "You took someone's spark and jammed it into a drone? Aren't you worried it's going to kill you for that someday?"

Leech laughed, a dry hissing noise. "It has no reason to seek revenge on me. The spark I gave it --" he waved a hand toward his chest "-- was a fragment of my own."

"Holy slag," Nova gasped. She wasn't sure she could believe it. How in hell could you split your own spark without it killing you?

She shook her head, deciding it didn't matter whether he was telling the truth or making it up to brag. Either way, it was disturbing. "I knew you were strange, conehead. I never knew you were crazy."

His thin face cracked into a grin. "It was a risky procedure, yes. And a... highly unpleasant one." He shuddered, his wings quivering.

Then he patted his creation's head. It chirred with pleasure, leaning into his hand.

"But it was entirely worth it in the end," he finished, turning back to the energon cube in front of him and taking a long pull.

Nova turned to find Winder's head once again far too close to her face, clicking as it swerved slightly on its prehensile neck. He'd slid closer to her, his thin, tall body close to hers.

"Now that you're done insulting all of us," he squawked, "maybe you could tell us just what you think you're doing here, Neutral."

Nova clenched her dental plates, spitting sparks. "I'm -- not -- Neutral."

"No? You've got huge gouges in your face and yellow optics that say different. Say you were desperate to get away from here." A flash of metal as his head whipped around, moving as he laughed. "Where did you get those things, anyway? They're so dim they might just flicker out."

"Winder," a voice rumbled behind the thin Decepticon, who squawked as the big blue one squeezed him in one hand and lifted him off the ground.

"Colossus," he squealed, his limbs extending and flailing futilely, "don't --"

His thick lip curled. "Don't like seeing those yellow things any more than you do, but if Bane let her in here, he must have a reason."

Winder seethed, sibilant noises coming from his vocalizer, but he said nothing.

What's the matter, Twisty? Nova thought. Can't admit you think Bane is wrong, can you? If you do, it means I'm right about him. But if Bane is right, then that means I deserve to be here. And you're the one who wanted me dead. She snickered as Colossus tossed him away. Still squirming, he landed heavily against a far wall.

Nova chuckled. "Thanks, big guy."

"Don't thank me yet, Blackie," he rumbled, his great fist twitching. "Winder's got a point. Bane wants you for something. We know that. But... you think you can just fly back here looking like that?"

She met his gaze, glowering up at him. "I wanted to live," she answered. "Look at my wings, for spark's sake. I never betrayed you."

He stared down at her, his optics narrowing.

"Oh, come on, big guy!" Her wings clicked in frustration. "Would you have stayed here? Would you have died to prove a point?" She snickered. "That's something an Autobot would do. Not one of us."

Leech, still clutching his half-empty energon cube, laughed, air whistling through his shattered vocalizer. "Indeed. But reminding us of that is not likely to help you to win our trust, Nova Black."

"I'm not asking you to trust me," Nova snapped. "I'm not that stupid."

Colossus laughed, the air vibrating with his rumbling. "Better answer than I expected, Blackie." His head turned, watching Winder slither back toward Leech's table. "Still not sure it's a good one, but better than I thought you'd do."

He lumbered toward her. Knowing what was coming, she planted her feet.

The great hand shot toward her, clapping her hard on the back. She grunted with the impact, rocking forward and nearly losing her balance.

Winder's head slithered toward her, swiveling on the long neck. "You've grown weak over all this time, haven't you?" He cackled, pleased.

You'd be falling over too if Colossus ever hit your back straight on, you slagger, Nova thought, glowering at him. You're even lighter and smaller than I am.

Colossus' optics had narrowed again, glittering red at her in the dim light of the bar. Others were looking too, staring at the grounder's big fist, still extended in front of her.

Slaggit, big guy. Nova's wings twitched as she fought to keep calm. Don't turn on me now. Not after defending me.

"Weak enough you don't belong here," he crowed, happy to have the upper hand again.

Nova stood tall, clicking her wings in derision. After stellar cycles in a Neutral settlement, she just might be. But she was dead if the Decepticons believed it. "Not weak," she scowled. "I used to spar with the big guy all the time. And never lose. Any of you slaggers remember that?"

"Heh." This from Colossus, whose mouth creaked as it turned up in a smile. "You think you can still beat me? Loudmouthed little heap of scrap."

She crouched into a fighting stance. No, she wasn't at all sure she could. Not after all this time. Still, challenging her gave him a way to save face without turning away from her entirely. Sparring happened. It was just a part of the way things worked. If she lost, he could say he'd beaten an enemy. If she won, he could welcome her back into the fold.

And it gave her a way to redeem herself. They couldn't wonder if she was Decepticon enough to belong if she'd just kicked the aft of one of their best fighters, after all.

The others hastily shifted tables as Colossus lumbered toward her. Good. That would give the two of them plenty of room. And the bar ceiling was high enough to give fliers some space above, as well.

Colossus jabbed at her experimentally. She dodged the blows easily. He was playing, for now.

That was perfectly fine with Nova, who transformed one of her hands into an energon dagger and took quickly to the air, swerving past him and gouging a long scrape in one of his upper arms. It didn't do much but hurt and flare prettily as the bright purple blade dug into the metal.

She heard a few cheers from some bots at a far table. They were probably overenergized anyway and not all that clear on what was really going on, but that was good. The sooner one of them was impressed with her, the less the room would hate her. She hoped.

She wove around the broad body of her opponent, diving back toward him every time she thought she might get a punch or a slash in. She didn't manage much, the thick fists rising to swat at her any time she got close. Still, it felt good, her engines revving for a reason, finally, for real, because if they didn't she'd actually get hurt, actually lose something, her place and her pride, and she spun out of the way of the great fist and laughed, louder than she had in stellar cycles, just because she could.

She heard the other's rumble of disapproval and felt her weapons systems kicking on in response, her lasers humming with energy, warming her arms with their hidden heat.

Not that she could use them here, as much as they wanted her to. If she fired on Colossus, even to wound rather than to kill, that would up the stakes of this fight. It would give him every right to shoot back.

Besides, she was an outcast now. Actually shooting at a Decepticon -- even one willingly sparring with her -- would be a disaster. They'd be all over her for that, worse than they ever had after the Cinder incident. Plenty of them had been happy to see Cinder offlined. None of them would be happy to see Colossus shot up by a Neutral.

So much for guns. She cursed. If the damn fools at High Command actually equipped more than a handful of their Seekers with null rays, that would be something. But no. She'd have to do this the hard way.

She heard a telltale click behind her and swerved again, just in time to avoid the other's fist zooming toward her, impossibly quickly. Speeding out of the way, she transformed so she could fly even more quickly up to the domed ceiling of the bar, where her opponent wouldn't be able to reach.

The great fist collided with a table too near to the fight, sending debris everywhere. One of its former occupants clicked in displeasure. Nova looked down, relieved to see the affronted one shaking his fist at Colossus, rather than at her.

The great fists tilted slowly up to aim at her, her opponent rumbling in distaste. She knew why. As long as she stayed up here, even firing those fists at her wouldn't reach, but she wouldn't be able to do anything either. That was fine for a moment of respite -- Seekers did that sort of thing all the time -- but she'd flown away from danger once, and these 'Cons doubtless already thought of her as a coward.

Besides, they wanted a show, not a standoff.

Not having any weapon in her current form besides her lasers, she transformed again and swooped down, snarling, speeding toward the other's bulk, aiming for his face. As his fist swung up to defend himself, she slashed at an uncovered spot in his side, her weapon connecting and biting deep into the exposed cabling.

He roared, bucking to shake her. She pulled her weapon free and kicked at the wound, hoping to throw him off balance. She heard the others around cheer and felt a surge of heat from her weapons systems again. Though she was sparring now, her instincts screamed at her to shoot, now, to take advantage of the weak spot she'd discovered once and for all and obliterate her enemy.

Relax, she told herself, gritting her dental plates against the surging in her circuitry. This is how you nearly got yourself slagged last time. And that's Colossus, dammit.

Besides, if she managed to survive all this and convince Bane, there'd be plenty of fighting to do later. Real fighting.

She settled for kicking again. This time she missed -- he'd twisted, however slowly, to protect the vulnerable spot. But she could hear him grunt in pain, and knew she'd done enough. She just needed to get away, come in for another good hit, hard enough to pitch even a big grounder like him off balance.

She heard the clicking sound as he prepared to launch his fist at her again and spun away, chuckling, the battle-heat lending her speed. It didn't matter that she needed to get another hit in. She'd always been smaller and faster, and it meant she'd never lost.

She chuckled. All she'd have to do was veer off, right n --

Crushing pain burst through her chest. White, staticky fuzz flashed before her optics and she tossed her head, struggling to focus them.

She lay on the floor, dirt and dust grinding into her back and her wings, old, spilled energon sticky against her frame. Someone was looking at her.

Angrily. She fought to think through a haze of pain, to correlate the data coming in through her still-flickering optics with memories.

Then she remembered everything, her vision clearing, her now-functional optics going wide as she saw the fist that had laid her low clench again and saw its owner sneer.

She'd lost.

After all that, she'd lost. And she knew that look in the victor's optics, a look that had, just moments ago, shone in her own. He'd won, and that was all that mattered, and he could do anything he wanted.

And what he wanted was surely nothing friendly. Not when she'd flown in looking just like a Neutral, tossed out a challenge, and wasted the time it took for him to lay her low.

Somewhere nearby she could hear Winder's high cackle. She snarled. If she had to die here she'd die here. But not with that ugly piece of scrap laughing in her face.

"Old friend --" she began, staring resolutely at Colossus, fighting not to shiver at the look he was giving her.

"Don't," he snarled, the deep voice thick with rage. "Bad enough you came back here at all, Neutral. Don't you dare try to tell me Bane wants you online. Don't you dare beg for your life."

Nova's jaw clicked as it widened. Her hands scrambled for purchase on the grimy floor as she fought to sit up. "What? I gave up everything I had to come here. I sold out the bots who took me in just to get back. Slaggit, I risked my life just to get in the damned door."

She glanced at Winder, then back at the face looming over her, hissing. "You really think I'm gonna snivel for it now?

"You won. I lost. Kill me, if that's what you want." Her dental plates ground together so hard they sparked, a new spike of pain in the haze of it already radiating through her systems.

"Throw everything I came here for away, if you want to. That's your right. But don't you dare insult me, Colossus. Don't you dare tell me I don't belong."

He stood a long moment, hovering over her, the twitching of his fingers reverberating in her audios.

"Do it," Winder hissed. "That thing isn't the Nova you remember. That thing is worthless scrap."

The great fist lowered. "That thing sounds almost like the Nova I remember, though."

He turned back to look at her. The hope building under Nova's shattered chestplate died as soon as she saw his expression, the thick lip curled in disgust.

"Get up," he rumbled, turning away as if appalled to be talking to her at all.

She did.