The human without a guardian was wandering around the base, not saying anything to distract me and keeping her hands to herself. She, like her brother, had much respect for us Autobots. Thank the Allspark...
"Thank goodness for peace and quiet." I sighed, examining the purple goo found on Arcee. "Houseguests can be such a bother." There was a clattering noise. I looked to see the human girl shrug, confused.
"Wasn't me." She stated worriedly. "But it's close." Then, I heard a metallic tapping. I grew suspicious, and the girl pulled something small out of her blue and white bag.
"Optimus?" I asked. No reply. I suddenly noticed a small creature with a purple optic running at me. "By the Allspark!" The creature lunged at me, but the human raised the object in her hand. A whirring noise filled the base, and the creature exploded. I looked over to see the child lower the device.
"Cool. Whoever gave this to me when I was three was a genius... You okay, Ratchet?" She asked, and I nodded shakily.
"What was your name again?" I inquired, and she sighed.
"Jenna." Optimus entered as I gathered the creature's remains, and we explained what happened
"I have a grave suspicion, Ratchet." My friend frowned. "Dark Energon." Jenna ran up onto the yellow stairway, becoming optic-level with us.
"That's bad, right?" We ignored her and began discussing what Dark Energon was and why it would be here.
/\/\/\/\
The others returned, and Optimus and I announced that we were going on a reconnaissance mission. We went through the ground bridge, not knowing we were followed by a certain young artist. Optimus lead the way to an ancient Cybertronian battlefield on Earth. Megatron himself arrived, and he threw a shard of Dark Energon to the ground, awakening the long-offline Cybertronian corpses.
"By the Allspark..." I stared. The creatures advanced as Megatron laughed, when suddenly... "Is that one of Jenna's bombs?" A silver device hit a reawakened warrior, and the explosion of paint made all it hit fizzle and offline. Optimus and I turned to see Jenna.
"Stay away from my friends!" The child snapped, then threw another bomb. Six more warriors fell. "Start fighting!" We began battling the undead, seeing more bombs go off every second as Jenna bought us time. We discovered our blasts didn't work on the warriors and began cutting them to pieces. The both of us Autobots slowly grew exhausted in the midst of battle.
"Optimus..." I sighed. "This prolonged exposure to Dark Energon is sapping our strength."
"We cannot falter now." Optimus replied, and we resumed the battle, only to get swarmed. I figured it was the end, when a rain of blue and white paint hit the undead and made them fizzle out. Yellow paint freed Optimus. We stood, myself with an injured arm, to see...
"Yah-hoo!" Jenna crowed, riding a warrior and throwing paint-bombs. "This is so cool!" She tasered the warrior she rode upon and leapt off. "Where would you two be without me?" Optimus picked the girl up, looking for injuries. "I'm fine, Optimus! I tasered any Zombie-'Bots who got too close!"
"You should not have come." Optimus frowned under his battle mask. Jenna shrugged.
"A good follower knows when it is and isn't a good time to follow orders... Shouldn't you be fighting evil right now?" We finished off the last of the undead, but Megatron got away, so we returned to Base.
/\/\/\/\
"You fought zombies?!" Miko asked. "And I missed it?!"
"Bulkhead..." Optimus began. "You exercised extremely poor judgement in allowing the humans to accompany you." I frowned at that. "However, today I learned that they can hold their own in battle... At least, Jenna can." The other humans stared at our young artist friend. Jenna waved, laughing nervously at their expressions.
"Hiya."
/\/\/\/\
Miko showed Optimus an equation she had taken a photo of on the Decepticon warship. I took a look, and Jack finally snapped.
"If this is an average day with the Autobots... I don't want to be a part of it." I saw shock on Jenna's face as her older brother spoke. "Not anymore."
"Jack..." Optimus tried. "Putting you in harm's way was never our intent. However, it is no longer the safety of you four that is at risk, but the safety of all humankind." I paled at that. "We will respect your decision if you choose to leave." I started up the ground bridge.
"No point in long goodbyes. Here's the door." I frowned. Rafael refused to leave, and Jack looked at his younger sister expectantly.
"Jenna, we have to go."
"No. These guys need my help! I can build a bomb big enough to take out the undead army without anyone else getting hurt! I can't go!"
"Jenna, I'm not letting you get yourself killed!"
"I'll be fine! Go if you wanna abandon them, Jack, but I'm not a coward! I'm not the helpless little girl I was when you found me!" All went quiet as Jenna's eyes widened, and she covered her mouth. We had all heard...
"What?" Miko asked, and Raf took her hand. By the shocked expressions on their faces, I concluded that this was a big deal on Earth.
"Found her?" Arcee asked. Jenna ran off, and Jack paused before entering the ground bridge.
"Jenna's adopted... As if you couldn't tell just by looking."
/\/\/\/\
A few hours later, we found Jenna working on converting an empty fuel tank into a bomb.
"Jenna?" Optimus asked, but the girl didn't reply as she continued. "What does adopted mean?"
"It means my parents didn't want me, left me on the street to die, and someone found me, pitied me, and took me in." The girl explained, voice cracking. "That thing I saved Ratchet with earlier was one of the few things I have left. Three silver devices, a Doctor Who necklace, a backpack, some weird clothes, and a broken silver fob watch. That's all I have... They saw that I was alive when they left me, but they abandoned me anyway." Optimus and I stared.
"Caretakers simply abandon sparklings on this planet?" I asked. Jenna nodded shakily.
"They even have a name for wastes of space like us... Orphans. If we're found, we get shipped off the orphanages, where we stay until someone wants us... Not many kids ever leave. Jack found me on the street when I was three, and his family took me in." Jenna finished the bomb, and Optimus picked her and it up. "This should take out a good chunk out of Ugly's undead army, based on what those little ones could do."
"Hmm..." I scanned it. "This is very advanced... What caused you to start making these?"
"I suppose... I wanted to leave proof that I existed." Jenna replied. "If anything happens to me, and my parents come back... My art will stand in accusation." I considered that for a moment. Then, we turned to see all of the other Autobots, Raf, and Miko staring. Jenna got to her feet and glared. "That what you want to hear? Yeah, I'm a worthless freak whose own parents didn't want her. Go ahead, laugh it-" Rafael ran forward and hugged the teen. "Up..." Jenna kneeled and hugged back. Miko slowly approached and placed a hand on Jenna's shoulder, frowning slightly.
"I'm sorry."
/\/\/\/\
After Jack returned, we destroyed the space bridge, the army, and hopefully Megatron. The children returned home for the night, having earned rest. We went to look at Jenna's blazing mural in the training room.
"Spark of Rebellion..." Arcee crossed her arms. "Only now I realize it looks like the start of a flame. Jenna's right. We can't let the 'Cons win. We have to fight back." I nodded.
"Has she made any more?" Optimus asked, and Arcee shifted uncomfortably, looking down at the floor.
/\/\/\/\
We were led to Cliffjumper's room, and we were shocked to see a mural.
"It was supposed to be an explosion in our colors." Arcee explained. "But when the dust cleared..."
"Remarkable..." I commented, studying the painting. I slowly smiled. The world would definitely know that child existed, as would we.
I have no words... I only own my OC. Please read, review, check out my other stories, etc. Thanks!
