A Handler/Companion Chronicles Story

Through the Shattered Looking Glass

Elita in Wonderland Part 1

Warnings: Violence, sexual themes, profanity

Pairings: StarscreamxThunderblast, MikaelaxLennox, MegatronxElita-One, mentions of OptimusxArcee

Prologue: Daydreams Worlds Apart

Mikaela

She had never been very popular, nor had she ever felt particularly beautiful.

Mikaela Anne Banes had always been the slightly nerdy girl who sat in the front of the class hanging onto the teacher's every word. She didn't start wearing makeup until her sophomore year in high school, and had never even thought about having a boyfriend. Her best friend in the universe was Tranquility High's resident "queen" Samuel James Witwicky.

Sam had been friends with her since she had moved to Tranquility in first grade. Even then he'd been more comfortable playing house with her than playing baseball. He was nerdy, but he managed to make good grades while looking like a male model. Mikaela had never cared enough to try to do anything about her own looks, even though Sam had repeatedly told her that her body was awesome, and she guessed he had a point. When she looked in the mirror she had a pleasing hourglass shape, but she had never seen the point in playing up her looks. Her mother had drilled it into her enough that looks wouldn't get her nearly as far as they used to.

Her life was normal, and Mikaela cherished her normality. She lived out her life as she was expected to, but sometimes she did daydream of something more. In her deepest fantasy she would meet a handsome man riding a dark horse who would save her from impending doom. He would be kind, gentle, but not the wimpy, sugary sweet lump that modern teens seemed to like. Her favorite song was Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out For A Hero because the lyrics spoke to her. She was waiting for her streetwise Hercules to come to her, fresh from whatever battle he had to fight.

She never even contemplated that she would be in the middle of said battle.

Elita-One

She had always been known as a student of the Ancients.

Elita-One had always been known to her fellows as one of the most devoted researchers of the old ways as she was fascinated by the ancients and the legends that had been lost. She was especially interested in the Dynasty of Primes and the surrounding myths. One in particular always enthralled her. On one small section of the Allspark was the mention of the "Magi", an order of bots that was supposed to have been the personal servants of the Primes. This one tale managed to catch her attention like nothing else.

That one small tale was the reason she devoted her life to research, and to that end she joined the Science Division. The Science Division worked with the Cybertron Defense Forces to ensure that the past was preserved so that the Cybertronians could preserve their future. She was enchanted by the information that she was able to uncover while working in the Science Division.

It was there that she met her best friend Arcee. The two femmes had hit it off grandly the first day that they had met while both working as assistants to Captain Ratchet. Elita liked Ratchet well enough, but she quickly became good friends with Commander Optimus. Optimus was a young mech pretty close in physical age and mental maturity to Elita and Arcee. He was easy to be around because of his restful nature and sharp wit. As they lived and worked together, Elita watched the blossoming romance between Optimus and Arcee with an amused air. She thought the two of them would make a fine couple, but she did not think much about her own love life.

At least she didn't until the day the Science Division got its first visit from the new Chief Commander of the Defense Forces. From the first time she saw him, Elita-One developed a crush on him. There was something about him, something within him that called to her like nothing else she'd ever experienced. She didn't exactly like it.

"Arcee, I'm acting like a sparkling." she muttered.

Her friend giggled. "Do not despair Elita. I asked Optimus what he thought of this Megatron mech. He said that he wasn't too terribly insufferable, and that he had asked about you."

Elita nearly overturned her cup of Energon. Her Companion blushed scarlet. "He asked after me?"

"Apparently he wished to know who you were." Arcee said. "Mayhap he is interested in you as well."

Elita-One went through her routine for a long while with those thoughts buoying her. After a few vorns her hope of any reciprocation fast began to wane as her future encounters with Megatron were just as polite and formal as the first. Then one day, she received a missive from the Defense Forces' headquarters. "The leader of the Defense Forces cordially invites you to the annual Senate Ball." Elita plopped down into her chair. "Oh my."

Optimus shook his head. "He finally moves."

Elita-One stared at the card. "I accept." she whispered.

That was the same day that Optimus and Arcee went out to the newest dig near Trypticon and Metrotitan. The site had already yielded promising artifacts, including fragments of stone that had ancient writing on them. Elita was ecstatic, but when the building began to rock from explosions outside, she was forced to lock down the lab. She would be told later of the strange aliens that had attacked the city, and the even stranger behavior of Megatron.

"Optimus, what could he possibly hope to gain from this?" she whispered after listening to Megatron's speech. He had made a great show of telling the Defense Forces to hunt down the aliens and destroy them. Then he had jumped into the air, leading the Defense Forces into space.

"He's calling us to arms." Optimus murmured. "I have no idea what he personally has to gain from warmongering, but it is obviously important to him."

"But it's wrong." Elita cried. "It's against everything we hold to be right!" How could the mech that she had placed up on a pedestal act this way? How could he change from the distantly polite mech who had captured her imagination to this cold, brutal caricature? Or had she always been wrong about him?

Her outburst did not go unnoted.

The next night found Elita alone in the labs near Simfur. Optimus, Arcee, and Ratchet had gone back out to the Metrotitan site, but she had stayed behind to analyze the fragments of stone that they'd uncovered. She was still enthralled by the idea of these possibly being connected to the Dynasty of Primes. She was slowly sucked into the thoughts of a world long past, but her reverie was shattered by Clocker's frantic cries.

"Elita! Elita!"

She punched open the door to the lab and stepped into the hall. "Clocker, what's wrong?"

"We've got to get out of here! Megatron has issued a warrant for our arrest!" he answered. The mech slowed and grabbed her arm. "We've got to get out of here!"

Elita was frozen. "He's issued . . . Warrants? For what crime?"

Clocker looked stricken. "Treason."

That one word shattered Elita's world. Moments before she had been floating on a cloud of dreams of the Primes, only to have her dream-mech rip the veil from her eyes and optics. "Why?"

The younger mech pulled her along. "Because we work with Optimus. Optimus has done something that has completely torqued Megatron. All members of the Science Division that did not heed Megatron's call to arms are to be hunted down and executed on the spot for their act of sedition."

Elita-One vaguely nodded and turned to follow Clocker out, her mind completely numb. She followed him blindly as he managed to get them both out of Simfur before it was too late. She did not let herself think until much, much later, and when she did Elita decided that she was torqued beyond all reason. Later she would find an Earth phrase to suit her true feelings.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

After that fateful night, Elita became one of Optimus Prime's most trusted generals. She did her duty with a nearly single-minded attention. Only Optimus and Arcee knew the extent of Elita's resentment and pain. They did what they could to comfort her, and Elita eventually got over the deep feelings of betrayal that she carried. She reasoned that it wasn't like they had had a relationship. Yes, she had thought she was in love with him, but it was probably only a convoy-cub crush, only made more poignant because it was her first.

She sometimes wondered though, why her Companion still cried at night.