II – We are Still Here
Maggie Madsen did never really appreciate the barren landscape of the desert. The shades of brown and ochre were not among her favourite colours; she was more that kind of person who loves the ocean and its deep shades. But, nonetheless, while the sunset approached she found herself enchanted by the earthly colours and the shades of the sky.
Mikaela gave her just one amused look and shook her head " They said that the space was boring. Can you believe it? Traveling in the actual space and finding it boring? "
" No, not really... "
" I started to think about it… like I do when it comes to the desert: mostly seems to be tedious, but then... it surprises you. In every possible way. "
Maggie snorted " You are really grown up, aren't you?
Mikaela laughed " I don't think so. But... you have to see things in a different way at a certain point. To avoid to get stuck in the past, and become blind. "
" Mm... " Maggie leaned her head against the door of the car, idly enjoying the hot wind " Don't you find it to be hard? "
" What? "
" Living in the middle of nowhere. "
She shrugged " We have all our little luxuries here. And you? "
" What? Hiding in big cities? Changing name and identity once a month? "
Mikaela nodded.
" Nope. " Maggie smirked " When I was younger I used to read all that novels with spies: crazy adventures and beautiful women. Just think of it: I could have been dead. Now I'm a spy instead, like in those books, and I like it better. "
" It suits you. The role of the seductive woman. " she joked.
" And I thought that this was your role, Banes! "
Mikaela tilted her head, thoughtfully " Dunno. I would like to be able to do more. I'm just gifted with mechanic and repairs. I'm a grease monkey, after all. But I would like to be able to do what you do. Going around, fooling those idiots, catching informations, analyzing data... you're cool! "
" And you're such a fool, Mikaela! " Maggie snorted " I couldn't be able to take your place in a million years. You could take mine anytime. Now stop with this nonsense, ok? "
The other woman shrugged " We are almost there, anyway. Look! "
She pointed a little set of lights coming towards them on the otherwise desert road. The lights where small, too small for an actual car.
Mikaela slowed down, and a minuscule SUV, more suited to be the car of a Barbie, stopped beside her door.
" You're late for dinner, war goddess! " the little SUV transformed, and a likewise small mech jumped in the pickup, seating among Mikaela and Maggie.
The blond woman waved her hand " Hello, Wheelie! "
" Hi there, hottie! "
Mikaela slapped the little bot on his head " Stop it. She is not interested! "
" Why? What have I done? " he lamented.
" We all know you well, little perv. " Mikaela hissed " I'm so not coming to retrieve you from her room tonight, when she will be willingly to crush you, little voyeur. "
Wheelie cried, and Maggie laughed, petting the small mech " Mute it. I could never crush him... "
Wheelie sighed, pressing his head on the lap of the blonde.
" Look, he is so cute! "
Mikaela snorted derisively " We will see. "
" You know what, Mikaela? You never told me how you had this cute babe back. "
" Yeah, I'm a babe... your babe. " Wheelie muttered, rubbing his head against her legs.
" Stop that, sicko! " Mikaela hissed " Don't you guess? He never left me. Or better... I never really left him. He was just keeping an eye on everything for me. Like on the Autobots, Sam and everything."
" Hear, hear... "
Wheelie raised his head " I would have never truly left or bad-mouthed the War Goddess. I'm a little loyal former Decepticon. I work only for the War Goddess. " he extended an arm to touch Mikaela's knee. She rolled her eyes, puffing air from her nostrill like a bull.
" Quite wise on your account. " Maggie noted.
" I've told you. I started noticing strange things before breaking with Sam. What would have you done if you had noticed that my blood was starting to change color at the same rate my disposition changed, mm? "
" I would have called an exorcist? " Maggie shrugged.
" That's so funny. "
" Just joking. So you are certain, the Autobots have been poisoned or something? "
" Since the beginning, from the Government, or whatever power was behind the throne, to use a figure of speech. That or the fault was in the Earth's geomagnetic field, in the ley lines, or in the chemical trails! Ah! "
" They were stupid. " Wheelie noted " They put all of of their faith in the wrong hands. That Witwicky guy, he pulled a stunt with the Allspark thing but it wasn't enough. He wasn't... suited to understand the truth. Or to keep the Allspark... " Wheelie whispered.
Nor Mikaela nor Maggie were able to find an answer.
Well, certainly Mikaela was well aware that the troubles with Sam began when he discovered that whatever ability the Allspark had given to him was gone.
" That's old history. " Mikaela sighed " And we have reached the base. "
Maggie gulped, still a little unnerved by the idea of being in the presence of Mikaela's Decepticons. Thinking of it, that was a funny definition. But Mikaela had found the two of them after Chicago, on the run, battered and almost dead. And somehow, for some irrational reason she had managed to hide them even before moving to the desert, fixing their injuries. She had explained it like sort of a inner compulsion... or probably it was just out of rebellion against the way the Autobots had left her behind.
And when chaos ensued the two mechs simply stayed with her.
Well, all considered staying near a medic was the most sensible thing to do for two of the last survivors of a doomed race. Maggie tilted her head. The mechs were still wild and mostly unmanageable, after all. And scary as hell. But all of them had found a way to coexist and live togheter for the sake of a common cause: surviving.
The car stopped in the middle of nowhere, and Mikaela sounded the horn three times.
" They already know we are here. " Wheelie idly noted.
Maggie shivered, that was another scary thing: they knew that the car was outside not just because of the sensors or the cameras... they had always a couple of satellites following every of their movements. Satellites were the playthings of one of Mikaela's Decepticons, after all.
" I know. " Mikaela stated " But it feels like home. "
A panel perfectly hidden in the dust went up, revealing a dark passage to the underground.
Mikaela drove in the darkness like if the situation was not so strange at all.
Maggie didn't know for sure if the old spaceship, hidden under the surface of the desert, had been there since forever or if it had crashed after Chicago. Whatever was the truth it was an impressive place to be in.
The first time she had been inside, she had felt every possible inch of claustrophobia for being underground; sure, the place was the dream of every Star Trek fan... Glen would have loved it, but it was really unnerving. Gigantic walls made of metal and covered in spikes and strange devices. She felt that if she had just brushed against a panel she could have been easily electrocuted.
Mikaela, instead, was totally at ease. Maggie shook her head, that was just another strange thing in bunch of strange things.
" Wheelie... " Mikaela mused.
" Wha... what? "
" The place is becoming dusty, ya know. "
The little mech freezed, he hated being remembered of his cleaning duties.
" I… I'll manage. " he snorted.
They reached the end of a ramp, and stepped out from the car.
" Good God, Maggie! You're too thin! "
Maggie turned to face an older woman on a wheelchair, followed by a gorgeous pre-teen.
" Sarah! Belle! " she hugged them both " I didn't realize I would have met you here! "
" We had a little incident where we were staying before. We will be here for a little while, before moving to a safer place. " Sarah smiled.
" Or you can stay, instead. " Mikaela shrugged " For a little longer, at least? " she enjoyed human company... even though somehow it was becoming more and more a thing of the past. She met with Maggie, Sarah and Belle once in a while... and she was losing the grasp on why humans needed to live in normal houses, seeing each other, doing normal things.
" I need to bring those bags to the medbay. You will be alright without me? "
" Don't worry Mikaela. " Belle joined the conversation " We can show Maggie around, if she has forgotten the place. "
" Good. I'll see you later. "
They watched Mikaela leave with the sort of same worried look on their faces.
" Now what? " Maggie smiled " Do you have something to eat? "
" Wheelie is so good at heating a can of soup. " Belle laughed and the small mech gulped, surprised that she had spoken good of him... making a step back like a schoolboy too shy to be the focus of conversation.
Maggie gave him a knowlegeable look " I see... " so the small perv had a thing for Belle " Let's try Wheelie's soup! "
.xxx.
Mikaela methodically organized the content of the bags on shelves and containers of her diminutive height, leaving no space to disorder and imprecision.
Everything was in its place, labelled and registered to be quickly found in case of necessity.
Then she thought of going back to Sarah, Belle and Maggie for a little leisure time... but her omnipresent sense of guilt prevailed. So she just seated in the almost dark medbay, a medbay made for a being easily ten times her height, and she went again through all her notions on Cybertronian anatomy, reading again and again list of parts, remembering the times she had worked with Ratchet, procedures, everything she could recall.
There was something terrible in the awareness of being probably the last one to have a vague knowledge of the medicine of another race on Earth, and all while the aforesaid alien race was dying.
She knew she had been able to save her two companions from the outer space just because... just because their superior ability to heal themselves.
No kidding, Mikaela... she thought. You're not a real medic. You're a greasy monkey, and a runaway.
She looked carefully at the wrench in her hands, turning it again and again, imagining it like an extension of her arm.
If only she had been a better suited person, if only she had had more time with Ratchet!
She had been lucky, but lucky wasn't forever.
" Sulking in the darkness, aren't we? " the harsh voice brought her back.
She glanced up to the red eyes floating in the darkness, before their owner stepped in what small light was left.
He had a dangerous, spiky figure and a fractious stare... like it has been created to resemble some sort of nightmare.
" Barricade. " she whispered " Here to mock me? But I'll tell you I'm not in the mood. "
" I don't care what mood are you in. "
She gave him sort of an unpleasant smile " I know that. "
" The Madsen character had brought us informations. "
So they had already put Maggie at work.
" Of the useful kind? "
Barricade extended his finger, adapting and shifting a part of it to fit in one of the ports of the computer on her desk.
" What is that? "
He ignored her question, stepping again in the darkness. Mikaela wondered if he had left or if was just still there, eyes offlined.
The screen of the laptop came to life, showing some images taken by a drone of the Cemetery Wind and Mikaela froze.
It was quick, it was painful. She watched the death of her mentor, so that nothing was left to her imagination.
It wasn't just like knowing it... it was far more terrible, just watching it happen.
She watched the video three times, then a fourth, a fifth time. And then she lost the count.
Dead. Ratchet was dead and gone. And for no reason.
" He was a medic. " she whispered " He was the last medic... "
Red eyes comes to life again in the darkness " No, you are the last one. "
Mikaela felt a stab of rage " Don't play with me! "
He managed to smirk " You are not worth it. You are too weak for me. "
" So, fuck off! Leave me alone! "
" Why? " he was still darkly smirking " I would better keep our last medic near, you never know when it can be helpful. "
" If I'm your last medic you are royally fucked, you fool! " Mikaela sighed taking her head in her hands " Are you enjoying tormenting me? "
" I have already told you, you are too weak for that. "
She bit her lips.
" Now if you are done with your little self-pity party... we are discussing things in the main hangar. "
" Can't you give me a second? "
" No. "
She straightened her back, taking the wrench left on the desk and throwing it against Barricade.
The wrench hit the target, and she knew that it would have been the same if she had thrown a feather.
" Are you coming? " he hissed.
" Yeah. "
" Mmm. Good. "
" I'm sorry. "
" Mmm. "
" Don't make us wait. " he stepped in the dark corridor, and she knew he was truly gone this time.
" Oh, shit... " she cried " Shit, shit, shit! "
She had no idea what they were going to do.
.xxx.
Sarah Lennox had seen too many things to be still surprised from something unusual.
She had received the call announcing the death of her husband on the same day a group of man in black attempted to kill her and her daughter... and then she had been saved, even with a fresh bullet in her spine, from an evil robot and a too young enraged woman. She had been dragged in a spaceship hidden in the desert, she had met another unnerving, silent robot and former sworn enemy to the human race and she had been, somehow, helped.
Annabelle and Sarah had been on the run for four years, changing place too frequently to remember every single step of their journey... but, well, they were still together, they were alive, a family. And they ought to be thankful for that, and for the unusual mercy of a bunch of evil aliens.
Belle was reading a book, ignoring the dark atmosphere, watched by Wheelie. Maggie Madsen was working on a computer, side to side with the silvery, silent Soundwave.
What could be our role in all of this, she mused. She was a disabled woman now, with a daughter too young to be helpful. She wasn't a genius of computer, nor a mechanic. She had never received any training for a situation like this.
All she could be was... a mother.
She and Annabelle would always remember. All they could ever been was... witnesses.
She didn't notice when Barricade came back, he could be silent as a cat. But Mikaela did nothing to hide her presence. She walked in the room and the air changed somehow. Sarah was still a little shocked by this: there was something in Mikaela's determination, and at the same time it was like... something else. A physical shift in the air when she entered in a room. Something that made you believe that some sort of happy ending was still possible, even though Mikaela haven't already acknowledged to be the heart of their revolution.
" Sorry if I'm late. "
" Oh, Mikaela. " Maggie shrugged " You are perfectly on time to listen what I have to tell to you all. "
Mikaela took a seat near Sarah and Maggie went through all the details of what she had been able to discover from her contacts at the KSI. Things that Mikaela already knew thanks to the spying abilities of Soundwave, and little, petty things that only humans would have noticed... but that were the key to infiltrate.
Who liked what, how to bribe someone.
" I'm close. " Maggie whispered " I will be able to set foot at the KSI probably in a few days. They are too busy elsewhere, having problems with Optimus and with their malfunctioning drones. Don't you see? The place has already been infiltrated. Now it's time for me. For something more subtle. "
They all fell in a thoughtful silence.
" There's something else. " Barricade smirked.
" Megatron is back. " Soundwave sounded still detached, too cool.
" Well, sort of. "
.xxx.
.xxx.
Author's Note:
Thanks to everyone who took the time to review/follow/favourite the story! Thanks a lot! :D
As always... remember that my English is not perfect, because I'm not a native speaker, ok?
But let's speak business now: if you are wondering what Mikaela was implying saying that she feared for the Autobots to have been poisoned... well, it's easy said. In the horrible 4th movie the Energon has turned... green, instead of bluish! XD In this fiction this will be explained with the fact that the Government was providing Autobots with the help necessary to synthesize Energon... but at the same time the Government was tricking the bots, adding to that synthesized Energon some kind of drug useful to weaken our heroes, and cloud their ability to judge situations. With this and other reason that you will be able to read in the next chapters, I'm going to explain the unexplainable... -.-
Have you noticed how (especially in DOTM and AOE) the Autobots seems to be emotionally detached?! Tsk, tsk...
Obviously, the Decepticons weren't working with the humans, so they haven't been poisoned, and they have retained their (sort of) sanity (for their standards, anyway!).
Next update probably will take a little bit more to be published... I'm quite busy at the moment; just be patient. And let me know what you think. Personally I've loved writing Barricade... xD
Thanks again and ciao!
.xxx.
Chapter's Soundtrack: God and Monsters by Lana del Rey