We were once a peaceful race of intelligent, mechanical beings. But then came the war between the Autobots, who fought for freedom and the Decepticons, who dreamt of tyranny. Overmatched and outnumbered, our defeat was all but certain. But in the war's final days, one Autobot ship escaped the battle. It was carrying a secret cargo, which would have changed our planet's fate. A desperate mission. Our final hope. A hope that vanished. In the years since our arrival, our new house, Earth, has seen much change. Energon detectors guard its cities now. Long-range defense systems watch the skies. So now we assist our allies in solving human conflicts, to prevent mankind from bringing harm to itself. We work in secret teams on various missions around the globe. And all the while we search for signs of our true enemies' return.
I stand next to Lennox, fixing up my suit, making sure no metal can be seen, as we wait for the general.
"Hey." I turn around to look at Lennox. "He's here. Let's go." I nod before sticking my hands into my pocket and follow him to the second floor of the building where the General awaits.
"I am Voshkod, General Counsel with Ukrainian Department of Energy. My government will officially deny that we're having this conversation. At one of our decommissioned facilities, a discovery was made, which I fear may be alien in nature." I look over at the man with a questioning look. "The facility's name is Chernobyl." With that he leaves, wiping his hands onto his pants.
"What do you think Kat?" Lennox asks me as we look at the man walking away.
"I don't know. He seemed worried about something."
"Should we check it out?"
"Yeah, let's go..." I turn around heading out of the building and into our van to assemble the team.
"You sure you're up to this? You could sit out."
"Lennox for the up-tenth time I'm fine." I look up, giving him a smile. Once we arrive at our destination, Lennox and I hop out of Optimus, looking at the destroyed area. I place my gloved hand onto a broken carousal before looking at the other toys in the area.
"What do you think happened lieutenant?"
"I don't know. Then again I don't think I want to." I say thinking about all the kids that could've been here. I continue to walk around being attentive of my surroundings until we get the O.K from Lennox.
"Gear up! We have 60 minutes on the ground! Watch your radiation levels." I place my mask over my face, following close behind the Colonel and Mr. Voshkod as we enter one of the buildings.
"Mr. Voshkod, where's your protective gear?" I ask as I walk up to the entrance, making sure it's clear. He doesn't answer as he walks straight in. We round the corner and walk into a room filled with boxes and gas masks, most of it spilling onto the dust covered floor.
"Where's your protective gear?" Lennox asks, following Mr. Voshkod.
"It would not matter. For me, it's only a matter of time." I look at him with a questioning look.
'Somethings not right.'
"Through the school." He points before walking over fallen items and leading us into an alley way.
"Yuri will take you below. And one other thing, Colonel. In private," He then walks off with Lennox, out of ear shot. I watch the two as they speak but I can't help the feeling of being watched. I look around to find nothing, eventually playing it off as paranoia. Mr. Voshkod pushes past me looking frightened as he makes his way out of the building.
"What was that about?" I ask as Lennox approaches me.
"I dunno... but let's keep moving." I nod my head before lifting up my gun, checking everything out.
"Keep moving. Stay tight." I hear over the comm as we enter the next room.
"Okay, right here. I think I found it." One of our team mates say as he approaches the item. We all circle around a sphere shaped object with tubes and wires popping out of it in all directions.
"Optimus, we got a visual." I shine my light on it, inspecting the random wires. I notice some writing in cybertronian, but some of it was worn off, I was able to see some letters but it wasn't clear enough to translate.
"Looks like it's clamped in some kind of metal harness." I say looking at Lennox. He looks down at my feet before crouching down and looking at a block on the floor.
"What's this? Guys! Why does this thing have Soviet space program markings on it?" I lift my head up and start looking around as a feeling of uneasiness washes over me.
"What's wrong lieutenant?" I shake my head turning my body around.
"I don't know, but it can't be good."
"Energon readings, sir. It's strong. Below us. It's coming fast." The floor begins to rumble before a worm like Decepticon comes crashing through the walls.
"Contact, contact!" Tendrils come off of the con before knocking down a generator and grabbing some of the soldiers, throwing them across the room. One of them comes up from behind Lennox, I quickly push him to the ground before the tendril can attack. I turn around to see it wasn't after Lennox but the sphere as it clamps around it and roughly pulls it out before leaving the area.
"Get topside now! Move, move, move!" I stand up, helping Lennox up before we head out of the damaged building and out into the open where Optimus is transformed and ready to fight.
"Let's go!"
"Weapons up! Heavy weapons up!" I quickly transform my hand into a cannon getting ready to back Optimus up if needed.
"Stay behind me!" Optimus says before grabbing a sword and shield and running towards the con.
"Optimus!" Lennox yells out before following behind and firing at the tendrils that come our way.
"Fall back! It's circling around us!" I look around trying to find a way to escape before it blocks us in entirely. I look up to see one tendril about to crash down. I aim my cannon at it, firing at it until it retracts back and away from us. Suddenly I begin to feel light headed and my vision starts to get spotty. I close my eyes for a moment before opening them again and getting back into the action, firing at the con as much as I could.
"It's taking our flank!" I notice the tendril that took the sphere heading my way, taking the chance to change my arm into a sword and slicing the head off making it drop the sphere.
"Get the heavy weapon!"
"Optimus!" I turn around and see a bigger Decepticon emerge from the worm like one, causing debris to fly everywhere. Optimus gets into a fighting stance looking at the con as it retreats back into the factory. Lennox walks up next to me as we look up at Optimus.
"What the hell was that thing?" Lennox says.
"That is Shockwave." Optimus says walking over to the sphere.
"Why was he after this?" Optimus bends down, examining it before picking it up.
"It's impossible. This is an engine part from a long lost Autobot ship." Lennox looks up at Optimus with questioning eyes. I place my hand on my chest as a throbbing pain shoots through out my body making me collapse to the floor and pass out.
I open my eyes stareing at the white ceiling above me for the sixth time this week. I sigh as I get up but a sharp pain explodes in my chest for a moment before disappearing. I begin to pant heavily before taking a big intake of air trying to calm down.
"You're finally awake, good." I look to my right and see Lennox sitting in a chair. I look down at my hands that are folded onto my lap.
"It happened again, didn't it." The room stays quiet before I hear Lennox get up and walk over to me.
"Yeah, but you were out for a couple hours this time. It's starting to worry everyone, especially Bumblebee."
"I know. I swear I felt fine but after using my cannon, I stared to feel dizzy. It's like that every time."
"Maybe you can ask Ratchet about it. He might be able to find a connection." I let out a sigh before getting out of the bed to stand up. I lose my balance, causing Lennox to hold onto me before I can hold myself upright again.
"I'm fine. I guess I should head to him now, huh." I say not making eye contact.
"Maybe you should check in with Bee first. Honestly I've never seen him so worried before."
"You're right. I'll get back to you after I meet Ratchet." He pats my back before leaving me alone in the infirmary. I sigh placing my hand over my heart feeling weak. I clench the heart and key pendent Bee gave m before walking out of the room and searching for Bee. I find him standing next to Optimus having a deep conversation with him. As I approach, I clear my throat, catching their attention. They both look down at me before looking back at each other.
"I will give you two some time to talk. It is good to see you're doing alright Katana."
"Thank you Optimus." He nods before walking off leaving me and Bee alone to talk.
"Hey Bee..."
"Hey... I was-afraid I-lost you." He kneels down to my height. I give him a sad smile before placing my hand onto his face plate.
"You're not getting rid of me that easily."
"I know. I was just-worried about- you."
"If it makes you feel any better, you could join me to go see Ratchet." He nods his head before picking me up and placing me onto his shoulder.
"Anything to keep- my little flower safe." I smile widely placing a kiss on the side of his head as we make our way to Ratchet in the Autobot med bay. Once we arrive, Bee places me onto the large table earning the medics attention.
"Good evening Katana. Colonel Lennox told me you would come to visit."
"Yeah. I'm not sure if you noticed but I keep blacking out on the battlefield every time I use my abilities. Could there be some sort of link to me passing out and my cybertronian parts?"
"It's a possibility. I'm gonna have to run some tests if you don't mind." I nod my head in approval as he looks at Bee. "I'm going to have you wait outside Bumblebee. Can't have you distracting her, I need her to be in full concentration mode if we're going to figure out what's wrong." Bee makes a sad face before exiting the room. I look at the door feeling a strange ping in my chest.
'Somethings wrong... I can feel it.' I look back at Ratchet as his finger turns into a needle making me tense.
'That needle is fucking HUGE!' I begin to panic but Ratchet calms me down.
"Don't worry Katana, it'll be over before you know it." I take a deep breath, closing my eyes and lifting up my sleeve where metal and flesh meet. I feel a light stinging pain in my arm before it vanishes, like it was never there. He hands me a small case before placing the blood sample into a machine. I look through the box and pull out a small band aid, cleaning up the small amount of blood and putting on the band aid. The machine beeps, Ratchet heads over to the screens and reads the results.
"That can't be right." He walks over to his computer typing something in.
"What? What's wrong?" I ask getting a little worried. Ratchet stays silent before turning to me.
"I'm going to do a full body scan just to make sure the results are accurate."
"Okay..." I say as I stand up and face him.
"Stretch out your arms and close your eyes." I do as I'm told, and wait for the scan to be complete. After awhile Ratchet tells me to open up my eyes and face the screen. I turn around and look at the scan of my body seeing the outline of my red and blue veins, but a green strip catches my attention.
"Ratchet, what's that green stuff going through my arm and leg?"
"That there is Energon. Our blood and life force." I follow the green Energon from my arm to my heart.
"How is that possible though. Won't it... kill a human being." Ratchet zooms in on my heart where more of the green is shown.
"Yes it does. It's a miracle you are able to survive this long, but I'm afraid that if you keeps using your abilities it will continue to eat away at you organs." I stare at my heart noticing some small black splotches, looking over my other organs the same black subsistence is there.
"So... does that mean I'm..." I say, a huge sense of dread washing over me.
"I'm sorry Katana... You're dying..."
