Best Laid Plans, Chapter Four

[dfastback68]

Title: Best Laid Plans
Series: Pre-ROTF
Rating: T
Summary: Demolisher arrives on Earth too late, and Sideways brings with him more trouble than he's worth.



Somewhere in the North Pacific Ocean

“This is humiliating.”

“Get over it.” Demolisher was not surprised by the griping, though it had taken longer to happen than he'd thought. Less than 24 hours was all it took before Barricade had uncovered a problem with their travel arrangements.

“Easy for you to say,” Barricade snapped. “They put me in a packing crate!”

“How else were we supposed to ship you?” Demolisher grumbled back. “Sideways is in one too, so quit complaining.”

“How do we even know we can trust these humans to deliver us to the right place?” Barricade was not giving up, even though they both knew Demolisher wasn't changing his mind any time soon. “I overheard them talking about swiping my hubcaps.”

“What for?” Wheelie piped up, from somewhere on the freight ship. Being the smallest, Barricade had allowed him free reign, so long as he could remain undetected. “They wanna play frisbee or somethin'?”

“Your research methods are sorely lacking if you can reference frisbee but not understand that humans cannibalize their machines for currency,” Barricade snarled.

“Bite me,” Wheelie shot back, before dropping off the radio frequency.

“Of course we can't trust the humans,” Demolisher finally responded. “Just stay in the crate and you'll be fine. Be glad you're not stuck out in the open, especially with the rain coming.”

Not even the humans needed their radar to see what blotted out the horizon, though most of them seemed ambivalent about it. A dark thunderhead loomed in the distance, turning the once blue ocean expanse a lusterless gray. Demolisher did not look forward to being on the top deck under anything besides the sun, but there was nowhere else for his bulk to go. He was a strange 'package' to begin with, and more than one human had already tested the locks on his doors. Barricade was right to be suspicious; however, in order for them to go as undetected as possible, they had to deal with less-than-honest humans.

He hadn't heard a word from Sideways since they had been loaded onto the freighter, which was to be expected. Not wanting to broadcast the Audi's discomfort to Barricade or Wheelie, he did and said nothing to attract attention to him. Despite being stamped with an identical destination, their crates had not been stored next to each other. Demolisher wasn't certain if that was good or bad, but it would hopefully give Sideways some privacy if he did lose it. The Constructicon, not knowing what else to do, left a comm line open between them that neither Barricade nor Wheelie could access. It hadn't done much of anything during their first months together, but Demolisher didn't mind throwing Sideways a lifeline.

“Are we headed straight up the Red Sea, or taking a land route sooner?” Barricade asked, dropping the subject of being stuck in a wooden crate. He had apparently realized he was much better off than Demolisher if a storm was coming. While certainly cramped, the crate would be safe and dry.

“Our last stop is Yemen,” Demolisher said, bringing up a satellite map to double check the routes he'd booked. The less he had to do it, the happier he would be. Eventually a human was going to figure out that the accounts and documents he was using didn't really exist. “We'll work our way north to Egypt from there. Do you have any idea why Scorponok insists on staying there?”

“It won't tell me,” Barricade said, heaving a sigh even over the radio. “It just keeps saying it has something to do, then ignores me.”

“Is it possible Blackout left it orders?”

“That's what I was thinking. Either it hasn't finished its mission yet, or the orders were incomplete, and its still waiting for clarification.”

“Which would mean it was malfunctioning, or at least incapable of grasping its masters death.”

“Scorponok is too intelligent to not know what happened to Blackout. With any luck, it will let us help in Egypt, and then we can be on our way.”

“Italy sounds like a nice place to visit,” Demolisher was met with silence at that, and he thought the Mustang was either considering it, or wondering what the slag he was on about. Sideways had been disappointed about missing Tokyo, but there were other human cultural centers that might interest him. Personally, Demolisher would have liked to see North America, and perhaps put the genre of country music into a sensible perspective.

“Well, Soundwave will have something more concrete for us once he arrives,” Barricade finally replied, tactfully avoiding anything that had to do with Italy. Demolisher did not feel chastised in the least, at the same time learning Barricade was not one for sight seeing. “Assuming we're done by the time he gets here.”

“We'll worry about it when it happens,” the Constructicon said, and left it at that. The Mustang fell silent as well, and Demolisher became aware of a sudden drop in temperature. There were a few humans left out on the deck, looking across the water towards the storm clouds, pointing and gesturing in speculation.

He listened only partially, since the crew members were still unconcerned, just discussing practicalities. Worst case scenario, he thought, was a diverted course that would take them longer to reach their destination. While undesirable, it would not be a complete disaster.

Minding that his shovel was secure against his body, Demolisher let his systems power down one by one. The sun vanished behind the thunderhead, and the wind brought with it sounds of restless waves and vague rumbles of expanding air. The only thing he kept online besides necessary functions was his comm link with Sideways, empty static their only companion.

Demolisher awoke to the sound of tearing thunder and the feel of hard rain pelting against his armor. Beneath him, the ship rolled and groaned against the now violent waves, water crashing over the sides as the sea swelled. The storm had started several hours ago, so none of these things bothered the excavator enough to wake him. It was the sudden gripping, all consuming panic that he felt that had pulled him out of recharge. The overwhelming sensation of terror was gone almost as soon as he identified the emotion, and all that he was left with was mild confusion.

What had caused that sudden flare of panic? Nothing life threatening had occurred during his recharge cycle, and he was not worried about the storm in the least. He had been monitoring the heart rates of the humans on the ship, and while stressed from the rocky weather, they were not frightened. All of them seemed to be experienced crew members, and knew how to roll with the waves, so to speak. He tried to pinpoint the cause of his sudden fear, though it felt more and more detached the harder he thought about it.

He grasped at vague, waking memories, finally coming upon one that had recently been run through his data banks. It had been a long, long time ago, on another planet not so different from Earth, except far wetter. Water and thunder rained down from the sky, accented by the angry retort of nearby weapons fire. The memory was vague to the point that he could not identify who he was with, or what was really happening, except that it had terrified him beyond belief. The sheer emotion packed into that file would have been enough to cause any traumatized victim a relapse or two, except nothing like that had ever happened to him. In fact, the memory wasn't even his.

Demolisher immediately checked the severed symbiotic link he'd had with Sideways and found that it was still dead. Not entirely convinced, he started a diagnostic scan on it, assuming he'd missed some line of butchered code. While waiting, he noticed the comm link between himself and Sideways was still open, unused as always.

“Sideways.”

No response.

“I know you're online. Send me a live uplink to your vitals.”

No response, and no uplink came.

“I intend on monitoring your health for the foreseeable future, in the bizarre case that Ratchet was wrong. Send me your vitals.”

He was met with stony silence, feeling an odd mix of impatience and worry. It wasn't like it was a terrible inconvenience to him if Sideways died, but he'd prefer to avoid that.

“If you don't answer me I will come down there and find you.”

That was probably too much of an empty threat, but he sounded as serious as he could. Sideways continued his silence, but he did respond in a strange fashion. Demolisher's radio came to life, their comm link forcing the scanner to scramble across the air waves before settling on the correct frequency.

“-something's gotta go wrong because I'm feelin' way too damn good-”

“That's not what I asked for.” Static erupted on his radio again as the scanner went haywire, coming to a scratchy halt.

“-thought I was doin' fine, bound to get you-”

“Enough.”

The radio squawked indignantly a third time before going silent. A moment later he received a rush of data, a continuous stream as Sideways' primary vital functions were updated to him. As expected, everything was normal and within acceptable parameters. 'Acceptable' meaning not life threatening, but Demolisher knew terror and panic did not always put one's life in jeopardy. Sideways' intake cycle was accelerated, as was the pressure in his fuel lines. Coolant production was also elevated, rushing to reduce the temperature of overheated circuitry. There were more than enough signs to tell Demolisher that the Audi was stressed, and it had probably started as soon as they boarded the ship.

Sideways was afraid of something, and Demolisher suspected that was what had woken him up. The phantom memory gnawed at the edges of his central processor, so very alien and yet familiar at the same time. His self diagnostic scan eventually came back with the all clear, confident that the symbiotic link was effectively nonexistent.

Demolisher was not so convinced. It was possible the Audi had imprinted memories on him while they had been connected, and vice versa, but why did it not manifest itself until now? And was it coincidence, then, that a memory of such fear would resurface when Sideways was terrified, but not Demolisher himself? The most pressing issue, he supposed, was if it happened again, what could he do about it? He did not need Sideways' ever-present fear to start dragging him down whenever the severed connection flared up.

Knowing Sideways would not speak to him, a fact that had been proven time and time again over the months, Demolisher reused the tactic that had succeeded during their first ocean voyage. Music had barely calmed him, since the Constructicon had only a vague idea of what his favorite songs were. Movies, especially his preferred genre, would only serve to fuel his unease, so he could not use those. Sideways had tuned him out when he tried talking to him about everything and nothing, unable to concentrate on the conversation.

That was when Demolisher had turned to using a more subconscious approach, something he had seen hosts and symbiotes do a million times over. Low, ultrasonic pulses through the link were like soothing whispers across panicked neural networks, a humming heard only by them. The Constructicon felt uncomfortable using them, especially now since they shouldn't work anymore. It didn't take longer than twenty minutes before a few of the agitated vitals began to level out; reduced air intake and a drop in his core temperature. It was hardly a dramatic change, but enough to tell him there was still a hacked symbiotic link between them.

The Constructicon resigned himself to going the rest of the night cycle without another minute of recharge. With luck, Sideways would remain calm during the day hours and once the storm passed. If he did, then Demolisher would close the comm link and stop monitoring his vitals. He decided not to tell the Audi about the link, intending to break the damn thing properly without his knowing it had ever continued.

The rain continued to hammer down on him, the roar of the ocean challenged only by the zeal of the thunder.

Sri Lanka

The air was heavier here than anywhere they had been. Demolisher found he did not mind it, though it did have a way of irritating machines as much as it did the humans. He would not tolerate it for much longer, but they were stuck waiting for another charter ship that would take them to Yemen. From there, they would travel inland across the Arabian Peninsula, crossing the Red Sea when Egypt and Scorponok were close enough.

Barricade, as expected, was nowhere to be seen. He had a habit of kicking his drone out of his alt mode, then taking off before anyone had time to question him. Demolisher did nothing to try and control him; it would have been fruitless as well as damaging. He needed as much of the interceptors trust as he could possibly get, and that was not done by hounding him.

As for Sideways, he remained unaware of the strangely active symbiotic link. There had been no negative repercussions as of yet, and Demolisher had not gotten another strange memory from the Audi. At the moment, the silver 'Con was spread eagle on the grass, relishing in the solid ground beneath him. Demolisher kept watch in his alt mode, letting the smaller sports cars do what they pleased. Wheelie was not far off, digging in the dirt and searching for who-knew-what under rocks.

The ocean was still and quiet under the moon, a perfect circle reflected on the surface. Demolisher was reminded of a saying the humans used frequently, of a supposed 'calm before the storm'. He thought it was terribly inaccurate, like everything else the humans believed with certainty. The calm between storms would be more appropriate, since they had already gone through one, and another was sure to come. May be that was considered too pessimistic, but the Constructicon thought of himself as a realist more than anything.

Demolisher did not stir when Sideways sat up, brushing bits of crushed grass off of himself. He spared the Constructicon a brief glance, thinking perhaps his larger companion was recharging and not watching everything that moved. Making hardly a single noise, the silver Audi ducked into the trees, disappearing into the darkness. He did not go outside of scanner range, about the same distance away as Barricade was, actually. The interceptor had not budged in hours, more than likely sulking to himself than doing anything productive.

He did not worry for either of them. If they hadn't the smarts to protect or defend themselves, they would not have survived the war for this long. Many smaller units had hidden behind Demolisher for such protection, but they soon perished if they strayed too far. He did not mind being used as a buffer; in fact, it was something of a guilty pleasure. Though he was far from insecure, he enjoyed feeling important and useful to others. He was confident in himself and his abilities, with very little fear or hesitation swaying his decisions.

Yet, despite the relative ease with which smaller units ducked behind him, he knew they were still afraid of him. Not only was he unusually large, but he possessed considerable firepower and a commanding air. It didn't help that he was Constructicon, whose ranks included the violent Rampage and the ill tempered Long Haul. Even as a member of their team, he remained alone at the end of each battle, his usefulness waning until the next major offensive. He found himself missing his comrades, even if they spent most of their time bickering. At this point, Demolisher thought he could even handle Mixmaster's rambling-

An unearthly electronic shriek suddenly split the night air, startling Demolisher out of his introspective thoughts. He hadn't been paying attention to any of the others, and was surprised to see Barricade and Sideways right on top of one another on his radar. Immediately after the scream, an unwelcome deluge of emotion hit him like a brick wall. He felt pain that did not exist, unfamiliar thoughts of ow ow ow hurts he's hurting me help me ow no no raced through his processor, stunning him into inaction. There was another yelp of pain, and by now Wheelie was next to Demolisher, tiny flood lights straining to see in the dark.

Demolisher transformed, disoriented even as he pushed the foreign thoughts down as best he could. Wood splintered as Barricade came through the trees, dragging a kicking and thrashing Sideways behind him. With a vicious snarl, the interceptor threw the Audi toward Demolisher, who rolled back as Sideways landed at his wheel.

“Traitor!” Barricade howled, claws shining in the moonlight as he brandished them. Sideways weakly tried to push himself up, putting a hand over the bleeding wound in his shoulder. Bright blue Energon dripped onto the grass, and Demolisher could see it on Barricade's claws as well. “Who were you talking to?”

“N-no one!” Sideways gasped, scrambling away from the advancing Mustang, stopping when he hit Demolisher's wheel. “I wasn't - I wasn't -”

“You were using an Autobot frequency!” Barricade cut him off in his fury, frame tensed as if he were about to pounce. The Mustang never got the chance, stopped short when Demolisher's second wheel came down between them, slamming into the ground hard enough to knock him off his feet. Wheelie took off to hide in the bushes while Sideways threw his hands up of his head, curling into a defensive position.

Peeling the wheel out of the dirt and lifting it back up behind him, Demolisher braced both hands on the ground, leaning over the other two. Sideways flattened himself as best he could, already trying to crawl around behind the excavator. Demolisher did not stop him, instead focusing on Barricade, whose anger had been interrupted, at least momentarily.

“Explain,” Demolisher commanded.

“He was sending an encrypted message using an Autobot frequency,” Barricade growled, barely containing himself. “Ratting us out, to a-”

“Enough,” Demolisher said evenly, though loud enough to stop the interceptor in the middle of his sentence. The excavator had to twist slightly to see the crumpled form next to him. “Sideways.”

The Audi said nothing, and the excavator could feel him shaking where he was pressed into his wheel. Something warm and wet slithered down this armor; a brief glance told him it was Energon.

“Sideways,” Demolisher repeated, tone harsher than before. The silver Audi shook his head, refusing to look at either of them. The movement made him readjust his grip on his wounded shoulder, and Demolisher saw the Energon he had bled onto the side of his wheel.

“He knows I caught him!” Barricade filled in the silence, starting forward once again, only to be blocked by a large hand.

“Sideways,” the excavator was rapidly losing patience with Audi, suspicious of his actions, though not in the same way that Barricade was. “Explain yourself.”

He was met with silence for a few more moments, which only seemed to prove his guilt to the Mustang. When Sideways did respond, it was so quiet the Constructicon nearly missed it: “Ratchet.”

“Your accusations have some truth to them,” Demolisher straightened up at once, regarding Barricade with indifference. “He was contacting an Autobot, but he did not betray us.”

“How do you know that?” Barricade snarled, optics darting between the two 'Cons.

“It's not unthinkable for an injured Cybertronian to contact a medic from the opposing faction,” the excavator said evenly. Did it happen often? Certainly not, but he had seen it at least once or twice before Sideways had shown up.

“He's not injured,” Barricade growled, clearly unconvinced. When Demolisher said nothing, he added: “Well, he wasn't.”

“We will be leaving this area in less than 24 hours,” the Constructicon finally said. “Even if he did alert the Autobots, which I highly doubt, there will be more than enough time to make ourselves scarce.”

“You trust him?” Barricade practically howled. “You really think he called the Autobot medic just to -”

“I know what he did,” Demolisher boomed with startling finality, so much that the Mustang back pedaled, half expecting a blow. “And I also know that you are a liar.”

The silence that met his statement was practically tangible, hanging over them like a shroud. When Barricade spoke, his tone was tight and rigid: “You think I'm lying about him contacting an Autobot?”

“Your reputation proceeds you, Barricade,” Demolisher said. “But I do believe you, because Sideways had reason to contact the medic. You, however, have no valid reason for wanting to retrieve Scorponok so badly. While it would be an asset, we don't really need it around, do we?”

Barricade did not respond, four red optics boring holes into the excavator. Sideways continued to make himself as invisible as possible, keeping his hand flat against the wound on his shoulder. The bleeding had slowed, but his posture was tense, unsure of what would happen next.

“What is Scorponok doing in Egypt?” Demolisher asked bluntly.

“I don't know,” Barricade replied at once.

“I already went through this once with Sideways,” the Constructicon said, his tone making the Audi try to lie lower than dirt. “You get one last chance to tell me.”

“Or what?” Barricade snapped, flexing his claws again. “You'll wrap a chain around my neck and drag me around like a pet, just like Sideways?”

“That's not a bad idea,” Demolisher said airily, despite how much that comment really grated him. Drone, symbiote, pet were all far too synonymous given his current situation. Sideways was none of those things to him, even if the Audi did nip at his wheel like a faithful little terran canine. “But for right now, let's concentrate on Blackout's pet, and why it's obsessed with Egypt.”

“All it said,” Barricade began slowly, as if his patience had worn thin. “Was that Blackout had found something while they were in the Middle East. It's continuing his search.”

“Well it certainly wasn't the Cube,” Demolisher said. “What did he find?”

“I don't know,” the Mustang growled, shaking his head in frustration. “I don't.”

Demolisher considered, watching the Mustang as he waited for an answer. The interceptor certainly did not enjoy feeling pressured or bossed around, but Demolisher had needed a way to take the spotlight off of Sideways. Barricade was clever enough to figure out his rouse, but at the moment he appeared too strung out. He knew it would get dragged out into the light before long, but the business with the parasite and Ratchet wasn't anything Barricade needed to concern himself with right now.

“The next freighter ship will load us at seven o'clock,” Demolisher finally said. “It will take us to Yemen. From there, we will see if your knowledge of Blackout's 'findings' gets any better. Until then, get out of my sight.”

He felt like he was telling off Sideways on their first night, but distance would do them all some good at this point. The Mustang had already transformed, dirt flying as he peeled out and took off, engine roaring in the dead of night. Despite what he'd wanted, the excavator had managed to alienate Barricade in an effort to protect Sideways. The ghost symbiote program was going to have to be purged soon, at least so he could stop blaming it for his poor decisions.

Demolisher waited until Barricade was out of range before turning to Sideways, who remained curled up on the ground next to him. Without the caustic Mustang to distract him, he felt an odd, distant pain. It was not localized, merely hovering somewhere in the back of his consciousness, and Demolisher suddenly disliked the little courier at his side. He was not going to be dealing with Sideways' problems for the rest of his considerable life.

“Sit up,” Demolisher told him, keeping his tone neutral without betraying his thoughts. “Let's see it.”

Sideways obeyed instantly, pushing himself up and presenting his injured shoulder to the Constructicon. He shied away when the larger mech leaned down to investigate, but was stopped when a hand pressed against his back.

“Is there a reason you felt it necessary to contact Autobot Ratchet?” he asked lowly, even though Barricade was long gone. Wheelie was still nearby, however, and might try to win points with Barricade by spying on them.

“I just -” Sideways winced when Demolisher brought his hand around, one finger prodding at the wound. “I just wanted to, um, thank him.”

“So very thoughtful of you,” the Constructicon rumbled, and Sideways looked at his feet. “You must remember that Barricade is suspicious of everyone because he does not trust them, or himself.”

Sideways shifted uncomfortably as Demolisher continued to probe his wound, making certain the ruptured fuel line was sealed and on its way to healing. Severed wires still sparked, making the Audi twitch, but the pain level was acceptable.

“Do not contact the medic again, or even speak of anything concerning him,” Demolisher continued. “I will continue to monitor your vitals.”

“Okay,” Sideways said flatly, still staring at the grass below him. He was less frightened now, but he looked resigned and defeated. Drag me around like a pet, just like - Demolisher shook his head, shoving Barricade's words to the far recesses of his memory banks. The Mustang knew how to pry under armor and manipulate just as well as any Decepticon. Unfortunately, he had somehow realized that Sideways was a weak point for Demolisher, who still found the notion somewhat odd.

“You will be safe,” Demolisher said, wondering what in the world would possess him to say that. Sideways looked up at him sharply, as if debating the honesty of his words.

“So Yemen's the last stop?” Sideways asked, changing the subject for both their sakes.

“Yes,” Demolisher replied, one finger pushing away Sideways' hand as it reached up to mess with his shoulder.

“Oh,” said Sideways, letting his hand fall. “What about pirates?”

“Pirates?”

“You know, Somalian pirates.”

“You're worried about Somalian pirates.”

Sideways had the good graces to look somewhat embarrassed, but Demolisher could only laugh. It was more of a low chuckle than anything else, but the Audi relaxed, probably realizing that his fears were not only unfounded, but misplaced. While the excavator returned to his alt mode, Sideways spread out on the ground once again, staring up at something only he could see. Neither of them could find Cybertron, even on the clearest night, but Sideways always tried. Home never felt farther away than when it was just beyond reach.