SEEK NOT TO ALTER ME – a potentially ill-advised Much Ado About Nothing AU, starring Blitzarachnia, Strika/Lugnut, and a host of other pairings.
Only managed to post the prologue tonight as I’m too tired to edit chapter 1, but that’s going up tomorrow!
Also, have a preview:
DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
MEGATRON, Lord of the Decepticons. BLACKARACHNIA of Archa Seven, Chief Science Officer to Megatron. STRIKA of Kaon, Decepticon General of Destruction. STARSCREAM, Megatron’s treacherous Second In Command. BOMBSHELL, ally of Starscream. LOCKDOWN, a bounty hunter currently in Starscream’s employ. STRAXUS, Lord High Governor of Lucifer. SHOCKWAVE, a loyal Decepticon. ASTROTRAIN, a Decepticon officer under Straxus’ command. ONSLAUGHT, an ally of Straxus. BLAST OFF, Onslaught’s consort. LUGNUT, a powerful soldier under Straxus’ command. BRAWL, a friend of Lugnut. BLITZWING, a warrior under Straxus’ command and Lugnut’s closest companion, victim of a botched upgrade. DRAG STRIP, an officer under Straxus’ command, and friend of Blast Off. OIL SLICK, a scientist under Straxus’ command. WILDRIDER, an ambitious Decepticon. VORTEX, a Decepticon warrior. NICKEL, a Decepticon medic. SCOURGE, a seeker.
Assorted other COMMAND STAFF, WARRIORS ELITE, SCIENTISTS, MEDICS and RANK-AND-FILE DECEPTICON SOLDIERS (and one AUTOBOT WARSHIP CREW).
SCENE I
“You do realise that you’re terrible at parking, my lord?”
“A three-mile-long warship is not parked, Strika. And I wouldn’t be sat in this chair right now – and giving you orders – if I was a terrible pilot.”
“You’re not a terrible pilot. You’re just terrible at the thing that is not parking, that one does with warships, when one wants them to hold still in an orbit. I know it’s for the look of the thing, but you don’t have to do this bit, you know.”
“… What was that?”
“The sorry demise of one of Straxus’ satellites, I imagine.”
I love it when we get a little more knowledge about the constructed cold process. So as we can see, Starscream was completely identical to who knows how many others. I think I see the arm blasters there on the left as well. And lastly…not a single splash of paint. Who wants to bet that if a constructed cold bot wanted ANY individuality they had to save up what little money they’d earn from a job they were forced into, just to afford a paint job. After cost of living and all that I’d be surprised if they had more than a couple of shanix to rub together. On a side note I wonder if there would be some body dysphoria from the knowledge that you aren’t in any way unique. That every single piece that comprises you could be tracked to an assembly line.
oh my god, planned obsolescence in cold constructed ‘bots.
every part of your frame comes from a template, all the parts are identical to the fifty other people in your batch…all of it built to some questionable standard and possibly built to eventually give out. they wind up constantly reliant on their manufacturers/the government/black market parts to replace important pieces that constantly break down. that’s just how they’re designed: to artificially break down, so their life span is limited on purpose unless they can find parts similar enough to make it work.
Cybertronian Database 
