Chrome and Ice

A/N: This is a repost from my old account RockTheKaos. I'm back to my original account.

Summary: It was just a normal school day for Alexis; she had no plans to wake battered and barely alive in a dark, filthy medical lab with half of her internal organs missing. The Decepticons start a disgusting new side project-transforming humans into a type of eradicon; a humans-sized, cyborg form that over time, will slowly be transformed into full robotic forms. They call them "minicons," for mini eradicon. The advantages? Full infiltration of human facilities, hiding in plain sight, easier control and manipulation of other humans without holograms; and, if any Autobots try to interfere, they have "human" lives to use against them. Alexis is now thrown into a battle for survival, fighting to keep her human mind while conforming to the Decepticons' power politics to buy time. Partnered with the sarcastic, slimy second in command of the Decepticon army, she does what she must to survive, even if it means killing her own kind. Starscream x Alexis in the TFP verse. Not totally AU, but it branches off.

It's been a while since I've tried writing anything for this fandom; I've tried in vain many times to bring my fandom back, but it died for a few good 3 years. I'm glad to have it revived, finally, fully. Not forced. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Alexis is from Transformers Armada, not mine. Transformers Prime is also (c) to Hasbro. I own nothing!

I try to get over my fear of falling

And calm the rage inside

Medicate my nerves so I can't feel this

I was lost but I was only human

I'm alright

Now I can't feel a thing

Only fear in life is living

A heart made of chrome and ice

I can't feel this plastic life

-Picture me broken,"Dead Serious"

Chapter 1: Plastic Life

One moment, she had been sitting in class. Just one moment, just one breath in time had completely ripped away from her, leaving her in the dark. No history teacher, no chatter of gossiping girls or sniggering of class clowns in the back, nothing. When Alexis had wished for an escape from another lecture on how corn established modern society, she pictured a surprise fire drill or blackout. Not this.

A flat, cold slate table pressed into her back, while strong thermoplastic straps restrained her skinny form and constricted the air out of her starving lungs. She inhaled deeply, fighting against the crushing pain of her restraints to test her amount of room to move. The straps proved stubborn, unyielding to her attempts to stretch them; a sudden sharp pain in the joint of her arm flared. Daring to look down, Alexis could make out a large mass of wires and tubes emerging from needles in the junction between forearm and upper arm. She suppressed a scream. The air tasted of iron and toxic chemicals she failed to identify; the very atmosphere hung heavy and hot with too much carbon dioxide. If she stilled, she could make out the hum of machinery.

Don't panic. Don't panic, Alexis repeated over and over in her head like a mantra. She tried to wrack her brain for how she ended up in this place. Did she fall asleep? Black out?

Her head swam with images, some vivid and others transparent. What she recalled made her blood turn to ice. Disturbing pictures filled her memory, images of explosions and fire ravaging her school, students running wildly in every direction to save their own lives, trampling over one another to reach cover. The sick crack of bone as students struggled over one another to get away, the metallic whirr and screech of metal on metal as something invaded the school.

No matter how hard she tried, she could not pinpoint the source of the shining clawed limbs that reached out in her memory; spindly monstrosities that lashed out, grabbing for students and tearing them out of the wreckage, ripping others completely apart. Her history teacher-one of the clawed monsters had torn him completely open. She had turned to run, not looking back at the sickly organic mess that hit the floor and blocking out the sound of his strangled scream. In her escape, she had dashed directly into the tongues of red flame devouring the school. She had burned alive.

"I should be dead," Alexis muttered aloud to no one. The realization dripped on her sanity like raw acid.

"Primus, it took you long enough to come online, fleshbag," a scratchy, deep voice rumbled from within the darkness. "Any longer and we would have disposed of you. Your kind are only of use to us if we can keep you...maintained."

The sound resonated deep with in Alexis's bones, chilling her to the core. Raw fear spiked, setting her nerves on edge. Her eyes darted about wildly, desperately searching for source of the voice. It seemed to fill the space from all directions, its echo rebounding off of the metallic walls and ringing heavily in her ears. Sweat beaded on her brow, and her hands shook. She struggled desperately to mask her fear, not wanting to show weakness before whatever monstrosity had brought her here.

"W-What, no warm welcome?" she shot back into the darkness. Her voice skipped as she spoke, betraying her fear. Maybe if she communicated with this being, she would get a few answers about her location and talk her way into finding a way out alive.

Alexis could almost feel this being grinning at her, wherever or whatever it was. "This is certainly interesting. This is usually the point where your kind begin to scream and plead for mercy or demand their freedom."

"Most evil captors tend to prattle on about their diabolical plans first before getting to that," she replied, fighting to stall for time. As her eyes adjusted, she could make out numerous sharp objects and tools within the space, all clustered around where she lay. She needed to buy time if she didn't want any of it embedded in her skin, or worse.

"Evil?" the voice sounded amused. "Ah, my dear, now this is merely a matter of perspective."

The sound of clanging filled the space, probably the creature moving; though whether it walked toward her or away from her, Alexis could not tell. Her eyes met with two shining red lights in the darkness, locking gaze with the captor. She could feel her insides knotting together. The lights circled her, signaling it pacing her. Whatever this thing was, it was tall, and more than likely could break her with a flick of its fingers.

"Is fulfilling a goal to save your fellow soldiers evil? What about taking a risk to obtain something that could potentially benefit the empire you want to build for your people? Now, that strikes me as more of a noble gesture, at least by your human terms..."

"An empire, huh? For what? An alien race? An army of giants?" she questioned, trying to keep him occupied as she scanned for a nearby object she could use to free herself.

A large hand with long, spindly fingers slammed down on the table next to her, sending tools flying. The red lights of its eyes beamed closer to her, full of impatient, suppressed fury. Absolute fear gripped her at the sight of its anger; she began to shake again. "Fool. If you think playing games with me will delay me any further, you are very wrong. I do not waste time on such lowly life forms as your kind."

"Then why bother? You could do us both a favor by letting me go and getting me out of your hair for good!" Alexis's voice cracked, her entire form trembling. It was a risky thing to say, but she had to try.

The metallic being emitted a cackle, its 'eyes' focusing on her again with condescension. "If you would like to try and escape on your own, be my guest. Your puny human aft will not make it very far if you try."

Aft? What in the world is that...? she saved the thought for later; any escape plan would take careful planning and thought. "So..." she exhaled shakily, blowing her sweaty bangs out of her face. "Is this the part where you tell me about your master plan?"

"Well, if you insist," it smirked back at her. The red light of its 'eyes' glowing against its teeth. "Allow me to properly introduce myself, fleshbag."

It flicked a switch, a blinding light suddenly jolting on above her; she barely caught a glimpse of its face as her entire vision was bleached with white. Alexis shut her eyes against the harsh glow, blinking slowly to adjust before glaring defiantly back at him. It wanted to see her fear, it found a sort of sick amusement in her torment. If it slaughtered her tonight she didn't want to go down shaking and crying, weak.

"I am Lord Starscream of the Decepticon army of Cybertron. And you, human, along with select others of genetic superiority, serve a very unique purpose to us. In short, my race has been fighting a civil war for countless millennia..." the being continued to pace around her, turning to face away for a moment as it gazed into nothingness, lost in a fantasy of universal domination. It turned back to her, its grin widening as it spoke.

"This makes no sense to you of course, but that is not important now. Your conversion process has begun, the first stage was a success. All that matters is strengthening you at this point and preparing you for the next stage."

Alexis began putting the pieces together, her skin crawling as her eyes darted from the vast array of sharp instruments to the mass of tubes sticking out of her arm. An alien race, a civil war, plans for attack, need for new weapons. This was not good. "Next...stage of what?"

"You see, your planet is full of resources that my soldiers need, and that I require personally to advance forward with my plan," It-Starscream-answered, stepping forward into the lighting for her to see.

The being was absolutely terrifying-all angles and sharp silver planes interlocking with red and black. Pointy jet wings jutted out from either side on its-his?-back, creating ominous shadows on the wall behind him. All red eyes and sharp teeth, smirking down at her akin to the way a mischievous child does a favorite toy, or a wolf its prey.

"Other than the amount of energon-our life source and fuel-this planet offers, it also has a small but sentient population that can serve as excellent workers for the new empire; or, for now, as a weapon resource we can use to our advantage." The Decepticon continued, "As puny as your race is, it controls its own mines and government. You can fit into small spaces, extract the energon from places we cannot reach so easily. But to control such a race, you need to use their best asset against them..."

He leaned close, putting one of those needle-tip fingers under her chin. Alexis stiffened, daring not to move a muscle or breathe lest she slit her own throat open. A trickle of blood ran down her neck from the puncture wound. She held his glare.

"And nothing is quite such a wonderful motivator as fear itself. Better yet, fear instilled in one by one's own kind."

"W-What are you getting at?" she choked out, trying her best not to look away and break her glare.

"My minions are known as Eradicons. You will be slowly changed from this disgustingly organic form into a superior body of your same build and size. You will still look human on the outside, but your internals will consist of mechanics to enhance your strength, speed, and of course, durability. The process has already begun. Yours is quite successful so far in its entirety. Have you noticed yet that your heartbeat is absent? You hunger for nothing? It is all a matter of time until you are completely independent of basic human needs.."

Alexis paled. How on earth was this possible? Removing someone's stomach, digestive tract and heart? What else had they taken from her? How as she even alive and breathing now? What could his blasted army possibly want with a human sized weapon when they were as tall as buildings?

Starscream stepped back, but drew a claw across her cheek, creating a long red welt that flowed freely with blood. "Your very biology is changing. Your blood is slowly becoming more acidic. You will not have need of it, but in the case an enemy wounds you, they will be burned."

"Why in the HELL are you doing this?" she shouted, her voice strangled in the back of her throat.

"I have already explained the uses of your kind to me-to manipulate your own. Decepticons and Autobots cannot go out into broad daylight and generally aim to remain unseen from human eyes for a very reasonable purpose... We currently lack the required number to proceed with a full invasion..."

"You're a coward," Alexis growled, cutting him off mid-sentence. He hissed back at the insult, tightening her restraints under she could hardly gasp in the tiniest bit of air. His expression held nothing short of absolute fury, the urge to rip her apart and string her insides out like lighting decorations.

"You won't have need for your lungs eventually, anyway," he hissed. "Call me a coward again, and I'll see to it to end your life in the slowest and most painful way possible."

One spindly claw pressed harder into her throat. "Do we have an understanding?"

"This isn't over," she glared back, even though pain shot through every fiber of her being, dread knotting her insides together.

"We'll have to see about that, fleshbag."

"I have a name, you know! It's-"

"I am very well aware of your background information, puny meatbag. But not to worry, with a new body comes a new name. As of now you are No. 302. You won't need a human name obstructing your new status in serving the Decepticon army..."

He turned to leave, glancing once back at her with a nasty grin, "You will be checked on periodically; our medics will see to it that you survive. Or, at the very least, they will try their best. They've learned not to play too much with organics, as your kind is so fragile..."

"There is no way in hell I'm going to serve your army, you bastard! Get me out of here! Release me!" she shouted. "Get back here, Starscream!"

"How rude of me to not properly make the new rules of our little arrangement clear. It is Master to you."

A/N: What do you think? Good, bad? Review please! I like critique! Anonymous reviews enabled! I'll try to update soon!

-RTK

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