Thank you to Blitz-Krazi-1 for prompting me to do a sort of follow-up. You're right, it was getting good. So this one's for you!
Fair warning, this will only be a couple of chapters while I work on some bigger storylines – and Desert Sunrise.
Disclaimer: Lexi squished it. Luckily, I had a spare: I own only Lexi.
Chapter 1: New Strength
Lexi let out a frustrated yell as, rather than come off like it was supposed to, the oil filter crumpled in her grip, spraying oil everywhere. She threw the now-useless part on the ground and glared up at the undercarriage of her poor Malibu, which had been retrieved from her (former) home and brought to the Autobots' base. After all, she couldn't expect the Autobots to taxi her to and from everywhere she needed to go.
Not that she had seen the outside of their base since her near-death at the hands of Airachnid. She didn't have the hang of her somewhat-new body yet, so she hadn't felt ready to brave the outside world.
"You all right, Lexi?" Ratchet inquired gruffly. The Autobot medic – whom Lexi had repaired and befriended when the Decepticons had attacked him and left him for dead – was working on the groundbridge controls again. Lexi wished she could help him with his work, but if she could smash an oil filter with her bare hands on accident, who knew what kind of damage she would do to the delicate electronics of the groundbridge.
"I'm fine. I still don't know my own strength, is all," she sighed. She brushed hair out of her eyes – it had escaped her ponytail – and smeared oil across her forehead in the process. She closed her eyes.
I wish I wasn't so strong, she thought grimly. I can't even work on my own slagging car. Ever since Ratchet had had to "replace" most of her organic inner workings with "synthetic substitutes" – which he had refused to elaborate on – she had felt strange in her own body. She was stronger now, not just in her arms, but everywhere. When she moved, she felt stiff and yet more limber than she could ever remember being. And when she breathed, she almost imagined she could hear air rushing through something other than what it had before. Even her heartbeat felt different. Slag, even thinking felt different.
And she couldn't stand to so much as smell food anymore. That was the worst part. Ratchet wouldn't tell her what he'd done to save her, or why she couldn't eat, or why she always felt refreshed after just a few sips of strange, blue-green liquid that he refused to identify. She also didn't know why he was being so secretive. Hadn't she earned the right to know what he'd done to her?
"Still? But it's been over a week. You should be starting to feel more normal by now," came the stern, motherly voice of the only other adult woman on the Autobot base – Mrs. Darby, mother of Jack, who worked at the local fast food place and was also Arcee's human. Mrs. Darby was a nurse, so Lexi supposed she should know.
"With what she's been through? I'd be surprised if she felt completely back to normal in three weeks!" Ratchet exclaimed.
"Maybe you should tell me what I've been through, then," Lexi snapped, moving out from under her poor Malibu, which was raised on a lovely hydraulic lift that had been installed for her use. The mechanic glanced at the nurse, and then both women turned their glares on Ratchet. The Autobot medic turned all of his attention on the groundbridge controls once more.
"You don't need to know. You can't know," Ratchet muttered. Lexi barely heard him.
"Are you kidding? I have to know, you idiotic old coot, or I might just go insane!" Lexi suddenly shouted. "I can't control my own body, I have no idea how I or why I'm so strong now, and I can't eat actual food – just drink that stupid blue-green crap! I saved you, remember? I deserve to know!" Ratchet didn't turn away from the groundbridge.
"And I saved you, too. I'm the medic. I made a call, and I'm sticking to it," he growled.
"You wouldn't have had to have saved me if you hadn't snuck into my garage in the first place! Is your CPU fried? You're the medic? THEN TELL ME WHAT YOU DID BEFORE YOU END UP NEEDING ME TO FIX YOU AGAIN – WHICH I MIGHT NOT FEEL LIKE DOING!" Lexi screamed. Even Mrs. Darby backed away a bit at that, and Ratchet sighed and finally turned around.
"For your own good, Lexi, I am not going to tell you," he snapped angrily. "Can't you just trust me on this?"
"Trust you? Trust YOU? I feel like a machine thanks to you, and you won't even tell me what you did! Why should I trust you? And how about trusting me to know what I can and can't handle?" Lexi fired right back. Instead of shouting back like she expected him to – the medic had quite the temper, and Lexi had grown adept at triggering it as she pushed him to tell her what all he had done to save her – Ratchet stared at her in shock.
What did I say? She thought, bewildered. She thought back, trying to figure out what had spooked him like that – because he certainly looked spooked. I said I feel like a machine.
Lexi stared up at Ratchet in horror. I feel like a machine. Slowly, carefully, she lifted her right hand and stared at it. She had to be imagining the slight whir that accompanied the movement…didn't she?
"Ratchet, what is going on in there?" Optimus Prime entered the main room of the base. He caught sight of Lexi staring at her own hand in horror and Mrs. Darby staring at Ratchet and Ratchet staring at Lexi.
"A machine," the mechanic repeated softly. Her hand dropped, and she stared up at Ratchet again. "Ratchet, what am I?"
That's the first chapter. Please review! Ideas/suggestions are welcome! Flames will be used to fix whatever Lexi accidentally breaks!