Taking Liberties.
Summary: When Sam receives curious dreams from the AllSpark, he realises he has an important task to carry out. However, it seems he may need help from one of the Decepticons, and if he is unwilling to give it, Sam may be forced to take it.
Continuity: 07/09 Movieverse.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to Dreamworks/Paramount, and Hasbro, not I.
A/N: This is what resulted when ReflectionsOfReality gave me a bunny to play with.
Taking Liberties.
Prologue - AllSpark Dreams.
Sam woke, his head spinning, his mind full of images and his eyes wet from the tears he had shed. Usually, Sam could not recall his dreams, they were vague, nebulous things that dissipated with the first stirrings of consciousness, but these ones were different. These ones were clearly remembered, although very confusing in places. He was also aware that they were not his own.
How he knew was not because they were so clear. Neither was it because he was dreaming of Cybertron, or of a vessel, places he had been told little about and had never visited, although these reinforced this certainty. No, what told Sam that the dreams were not his own was a familiar sensation. He had only felt the touch of this presence once before, a few months earlier in college, but it was immediately recognisable.
The source of these alien dreams was the AllSpark Essence, and the dreams had told him a story, and given him an important task to carry out, a task upon which thousands of lives depended upon. Refusing it was out of the question, Sam's own morals and the Witwicky stubborn streak refused to allow that to be an option. The question was, how could he achieve this monumental task?
He sat up on the edge of his bed and got dressed. Looking at his clock, he saw it was early by human standars, although in the Autobot Base, where he was currently staying during the holidays for a short time, that meant nothing. The 'bots deferred to the human's diurnal sleep cycles to be polite, dimming the lights and not working near the human quarters between 11PM and 8AM unless it was absolutely necessary that the work be done at that time, but the 'bots generally only needed to recharge every seven to ten days. Of course, this interval grew shorter if they had been battling or working hard, but they still worked as efficiently at night as they did during daylight hours.
Sam found that Bumblebee was absent, but was not surprised either by that or by the message he found left for him. Because Sam could not com, and did not always turn his phone on till late, he and Bee had had a large whiteboard installed in his temporary room where 'Bee stated when he was there, with both human and Autobot-sized markers so they could leave messages for each other. On the board in black, in Bumblebee's large cursive hand, was a message for Sam.
'Gone to recharge. Cycle finish time: 1300 hours. B.'
Sam smiled: although the Autobots could recharge just by shutting down, using recharging chambers constructed by Ratchet speeded the process. Sam checked his watch again and nodded. It was before nine in the morning, he would have plenty of time, although he could use some help getting to Tranquility, just a stopoff before he reacvhed his planned final destination.
He used the phone, installed again for his comfort and ease, to call up Mirage in the control room.
"Hey, 'Raj," he said nonchalantly. "I was hoping to go into town this morning to met' Kayla and get her a present a bit early. I guess I forgot to tell Bee, and he's recharging. Could you find out if someone else could take me? I'll leave 'Bee a message on our board."
"Certainly Sam. Please hold on a moment while I enquire of all those whose patrols go through the town or have free time if they could help you out," said the cultured voice of the onetime Autobot noble. Sam held on, knowing it would take mere seconds for Mirage to ask and receive answers, and sure enough Mirage was back online before Sam had taken three breaths.
"Sam, Hound has some free time and intends to go into town to do some people-watching." Mirage's voice held a tinge of amusement: Sam knew that Hound's extreme human-fascination, although lauded by Optimus Prime, had that effect on more than a couple of the 'bots. "Can you meet him in the courtyard in fifteen of your minutes?" Mirage asked.
"Thanks, 'Raj, tell him I'll be there." Sam said, picking up his backpack, throwing out his college assignments and books, and packing a change of clothes and a few more things he thought would come in handy in their place. Once he'd done that, and double-checked what he was and was not bringing, he picked up the cloth, wiped the board clear of Bumblebee's message, and began to write.
Ten minutes later, he was climbing into Hound's front passenger seat and fielding his eager questions about humanity with an easy laugh and a smile. He let nothing of his real intentions out to anybody except for Bumblebee, and even his quickly scrawled note to 'Bee gave no explanation of why.
'B. Sorry, I had to go, I need to get caught by Decepticons. See you later. S'