Crossover with Warehouse 13
SERIES: Imperfection Deviation
AUTHOR: Macx
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me, sadly. They are owned by people with a lot more money :)
FEEDBACK: Loved
Fate line (palmistry, palm reading): The Fate Line, also known as the line of destiny, tells the effect society and world events have upon your life (things that come to you from outside)
The climate of the Arctic is characterized broadly by long, cold winters and short, cool summers. With the Spring time starting in May and summer already close to over in June, the less-snowy and more-rainy months are shorter than the snow-and-ice ones.
It never bothered the people stationed at Arctic, the Autobot base high up in the North of Canada. Nor did it bother those mechs who were stationed here almost year-round. They were used to a lot colder temperatures and their bodies maintained functionality with ease.
Still, it wasn't normal for anyone to go strolling through the permafrost landscape without serious gear and sensible clothing.
Unless his name was Will Lennox.
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"How can you even talk to me? You're dead!"
There was a wave of what Will interpreted as amusement.
"We all come from the Allspark. We all return to the Allspark."
The cold pit in his stomach wasn't just his imagination. Okay, so it had probably been a stupid idea to attempt this form of communication, but Lennox wanted answers, once and for all. Clear and precise answers. Not the mystical mumbo-jumbo the ancient shadows usually spouted. He had had enough of that.
"You are connected to the Allspark's energy. You can talk to us."
Lennox didn't feel very reassured. "But the Allspark was destroyed," he argued. "Twenty years ago!"
"You can't destroy something like the Allspark. It is so much more than its physical shape."
"What is it?" he pressed.
"You wouldn't understand."
"Oh, that's grand coming from a bunch of dead sparks!"
More amusement. "Our existence inside physical forms has ceased, true. But death isn't the end of everything, Avatar Prime. Energy lives on and will be reborn somewhere else."
"So the Allspark is still there?"
"Its energy is. One day it might gather inside a physical shape once more and have a new purpose. For now it is everywhere."
He was silent, gazing into the surreal landscape around him. "Is it gathering in me?" Lennox finally asked evenly.
"You are the key, not the vessel."
"That's a relief."
"You can tap into certain aspects of the energy and have already done so frequently."
Well, there went the relief. Will shook his head. "Not what I wanted to hear," he muttered.
"Your contact with the Allspark made you receptive for the energy that was contained within the Cube."
"You call that contact?" Lennox exclaimed, a brief anger flaring inside him. "I was stabbed into the gut by that thrice-damned shard!"
There was no reply.
"Oh, right, go silent when I'm not behaving like you want me to!"
"We don't expect anything of you, Avatar Prime. You are our heir, like the others are our heirs. You continue our line."
"I'm not even one of you! I'm human!"
"Origin doesn't change your destiny."
"Would you cut the crap and talk like a normal person?"
The flare had made way for a fire now. Will felt all the fear and anger bubble up. Something sizzled over his skin and he groaned softly when he discovered the bluish-white tendrils of energy licking along the rising runes.
Something walked toward, tall and imposing, a protoform of ancient times. It was bipedal and had two arms, but the face looked more like some H.R. Giger painting, with eight eye slits, all glowing red, a flat opening in the middle of the face that might be called a nose, and no mouth. Well, some kind of jagged opening, but definitely not even close to a mouth. Next to the head two fan-like extensions flared. The Prime – old, dead, ancient, whatever – had three fingers on each hand and a lot of spikes and protuberances everywhere.
"What happened to you was necessary, William," the ancient being said, the voice calm and reasonable. "With the destruction of the Allspark we needed to have a focus."
"Why me?"
"Because you were the only choice."
"You had a lot of other choices!" Will argued hotly.
"None of our kind would have been able to handle what happened. The Allspark does different things to different beings. Taking part of it into us changes the individual profoundly. It might even destroy him."
"And I wasn't profoundly changed?"
It got him a nod of acceptance. "You were changed, but not killed. At the time you were and still are the only viable option."
"You could have asked."
"We have no voice, Will. Without your connection to the Allspark you wouldn't talk to us either."
He was silent, contemplating the information. "How come Optimus wasn't a choice?" he finally asked.
"He bears a strong spark, but sparks can't contain the energy of the Allspark. It destroys them. All of us, no matter the designation, come from the Allspark. Its energy is part of ours. We return and disappear into oblivion until part of us is reborn in another spark, without the awareness or a prior life. To take in more than we already bear is fatal."
"Oh."
"Even for Optimus Prime," the ancient Prime added with a fine smile audible in its voice.
"So, what now? We have monthly meetings?"
"You live your life as you have before. You learn about what you can do and where your limits are," was the simple answer. "We won't interfere with your life. It is your life."
"Thank you for that," Lennox answered with a soft sigh.
"We aren't alive any more," the ancient Prime told him. "What we are is energy. Sometimes we are focused enough for you to hear us. Most of the time we are adrift. One day we might cease to exist completely."
Considering how long ago the thirteen Primes had perished, Will doubted it would be any time soon.
Tenacious bastards, he thought.
The Prime looked at him, waiting, then Will finally nodded. They were done here and he was feeling the first tugs at the edge of his consciousness. It was time to cut this short and return to his own world.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
He came to in a damp and soggy environment. Lennox looked up into the leaden sky, cursing. He shouldn't have done this outside, without a roof over his head, but the risk had outweighed the logic. If something went wrong and the contact to the Primes triggered any kind of reaction within his body, outside was better than blowing up the base because of rampaging energies.
Now he was thoroughly wet because of the sudden rain.
Fun.
Getting up, Lennox wiped water out of his eyes, which was a rather useless gesture. He was thoroughly drenched.
He was also a few miles from the base.
So he walked.
He had walked to this place in the first place, so another walk wouldn't hurt. It also helped him think, clear his head, and he would walk off whatever energy he had stored throughout this mental connection.
Looking at his hands Will saw a few runes. They were faint, barely there, but they had come closer to the surface than usual. He felt nothing amiss with the energy levels, so he didn't think he was a danger.
The rain made the path he was using slippery and he contemplated using his alternate form, but he didn't want to risk running into anyone who might shoot first and never ask any questions. Theoretically this was the land of the State, but you never knew what weirdo happened about what shouldn't be seen – and took pictures.
It took him an hour to reach the base and he got a rather incredulous look from one of the soldiers on patrol. Private Gary McNab, Lennox recalled.
"Sir?" the man asked.
"Took a walk," Will explained, trying not to laugh at the private's expression of disbelief. "Wasn't raining then."
They were high up past the Arctic Circle. It was cold. The rain was coming down as sleet by now. And Lennox was walking around in a long-sleeve shirt and cargo pants. All wet. Actually, he looked like he had taken a swim in them.
He wasn't freezing, though.
"Uh, okay," McNab answered. "Sir," he added.
Will suppressed a chuckle and walked into the base, past two more guards, aware that his approach had been watched through very advanced Stark Industries hybrid surveillance systems. He was also aware that they had no idea who he was when he didn't want them to see him, though he hadn't actively suppressed his presence. It wouldn't do to surprise an armed base and provoke them into shooting one of the human Primes.
Lennox ran into Prowl, who gave him the mech version of a scowl, which was pretty damn close to a human one.
"You should carry a comm device, Prime," the tactician told him.
Bite me, Will thought rebelliously.
"We don't know if Soundwave or another Decepticon might still be on Earth or sneak back onto this planet. Without a communicator we might lose you."
"You haven't," Will replied, forcing calmness into his voice as he dripped a puddle onto the floor. "And I know how to handle myself. You would have seen the energy spike on your radar."
Prowl's optics narrowed. "Your safety…"
"Noted," Lennox interrupted him. "You'll get my itinerary the next time I plan to get all cozy with the energy signatures of some dusty old Primes."
And with that he walked past the white mech, who had been stunned into silence. Will knew that Prowl took his duties very seriously and that it was hard working with a mech who was so by-the-book and, according to Jazz, and using a human term, had a rod up his exhaust. Still, he was simply doing his duty. You couldn't fault him for that. You could only ignore the rising blood pressure when it came to dealing with Prowl's obstinate views.
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A hot shower and dry clothes helped in getting Lennox into a better mood. He joined some of the soldiers on base in the mess hall and finished off a barbecue platter with fries. He listened to them exchange stories from home, about births, birthdays, anniversaries, planned vacations or holidays, and so on. Moments like these he felt completely human, part of the Army again, like nothing had ever changed. No one treated him differently and those who had known him for a while knew that William Lennox wasn't different from any of them when it came to hopes and dreams. Just that his dreams had burst like a bubble twenty years ago.
"How's Bella?" Captain Shaw asked as he wiped the rest of the delicious sauce off his plate.
"Graduating soon. She's planning an internship at Nellis."
"She'll do great," Shaw told him.
Benny Shaw had been a private when Lennox had been Captain and that had been a lifetime ago. Now he was at Arctic, heading a really good unit, and was one of the select few who knew about the mechs.
Sometimes Will felt really, really old.
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He took the early transport flight to Nevada two days later and smiled when he discovered that he had a welcome committee. Ironhide didn't say a thing, but when they were in his quarters, the hardlight hologram expressed what the mech never put into so many words.
"Found what you were looking for?" Ironhide rumbled, playful fingers tracing the Matrix Key tattoo.
Will shivered. "Kinda. No final answers, but enough to get me through the next crisis."
A particular segment had him groan softly as fingers massaged over it.
"Not the Allspark," he murmured.
"Told you so," Ironhide whispered.
"Yeah, well…"
"Now you believe it?"
He nodded, eyes closed, enjoying the touches. "I'm linked to the Allspark energy," Lennox said after a while. "Seems like that stuff is everywhere, waiting to gather again and turn into a new Cube or something."
"Not inside you?"
"No. I'm not outfitted to be the Allspark."
"Good."
And with that it was settled. Will smiled a little sleepily, enjoying the sensual touches. He let himself fall into a doze, relaxing into his partner's solid form, and finally he nodded off.
tbc...