Title: Breaking the Cage
Author: ontuva
Beta: Open Office ;_; so yep, beta needed...
Rating: T
Pairing: ?
Genre: Friendship, adventure, humor, romance?
Summary: Aurora Banes suddenly finds herself inhabiting a Transformer. Never in her life have things been so utterly complicated. She can't even eat chocolate anymore!
Warnings: Cursing, domestic abuse, violence, AU
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers and I don't gain any money from writing this fic.
Word count: 3,410
A/N: Wow, I'm amazed by the responses I got! You can't believe how happy you made me feel with your reviews! ^^ Thank you so much!
Hopefully you'll like this next chapter too. We'll be getting some Transformers-action! (I'm louzy at writing action scenes, so don't keep your hopes up. ._.)
And again – I'm taking the AU route. I'm bringing in many characters from the animated series (because you just can't have Sideswipe without Sunstreaker! It's heresy to do so!) and I'm changing the storyline quite much. So again – Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon have not happened. And may not happen, depending on what I'll think of. Hardeharhar! :)
The pairings! I almost forgot! I will be pairing Aurora with someone. You have suggestions? Tell me! I'd like to know who you think could be perfect with our little nurse. :)
oOo
Chapter 2: Liar, Liar
"The origins of these paintings are unknown, although scientists and archaeologists are debating wildly where they might've come from and what the pictures are displaying. Some are saying they see a huge robot in these paintings! That of course had led to wild tales and rumors on how there is actually a huge alien robot-grave under these rocks! Can you believe that? Well, of course we haven't found any proof of any aliens and if you ask me that picture represents more a mammoth than a robot..."
"You getting all this, Ironhide?" Major William Lennox whispered in his communicator, which was disguised to look like a handsfree. The small camera hidden in his jacket filmed the walls of the cavern and sent the feed to the Autobot waiting in the parking lot. The dynamic duo, as Sam had started to call them much to their annoyance, had received the mission to find out what was in the cave from Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots, after Sam had somehow stumbled upon the web pages of the cave expedition and seen the promo pictures of the markings on the wall.
"Oh yeah. Optimus is going to love this..." came the grumbling answer to his earpiece. "That's definitely Cybertronian. Sam was right about this one. Be on your guard, there might be a Decepticon in there."
"That doesn't really help the claustrophobic feeling I'm having in here," Lennox muttered and glanced around him. A couple was acting strangely, a tall and dark man was currently leading a long-legged blonde towards a side corridor without the guide noticing. Lennox raised his eyebrows. Slipping away to have sex in a cave while having a guided tour didn't strike as very appealing to him.
"I'm calling Ratchet and Bumblebee," Ironhide informed him. Lennox had to remind himself it wasn't because of the couple but because there might a Decepticon lurking in somewhere. But he had to admit - the thought of Autobots blasting their way through walls to surprise the couple humored him.
"You're sure they are needed?" he asked with a smirk riding on his lips.
"Better to be safe than sorry." Lennox had to agree with that one. After Sam had destroyed Megatron with the All Spark in Mission City, the remaining Decepticons had gone underground. Nobody had had sightings of them in three months. They had been granted scanners similar to the Autobots which identified spark signatures, but no Decepticon had been found. Ratchet, the Autobot medic, had been pretty sure the remaining ones on Earth were using dampeners or some other way to hide their spark signatures from the scanners.
With some persuasion from Optimus Prime's part Sector Seven had been reorganized as NEST, Networked Elements: Supporters and Transformers. For some reason Lennox still didn't quite grasp, he was now in charge of the Autobots. More often it was Optimus giving him orders than the other way around though. Lennox didn't mind that, it was always easier to follow orders than give them. Not to mention he trusted Optimus, one hundred percent.
"Do your scanners pick up anything?" Lennox just had to ask from Ironhide although he knew the answer already. The weapon's specialist would've told him immediately if he had found something.
"No, but that doesn't necessarily mean there's nothing there."
"How about the writing on the walls?"
"It's very hard to read. Words are missing and the remaining ones don't really make any sense, but there's one sentence that repeats itself over and over again. 'I'm not the first. I'm not the last.' A lot of the lines are just begging for help," Ironhide translated.
"And that means?"
"I have no idea."
"Great," Lennox murmured. "Just great. So we don't know what we are dealing with here."
"Probably something nasty I'd say," Ironhide admitted to him. "Luckily I have all my little babies with me!" Lennox rolled his eyes. Ironhide and his cannons...
His trail of thought was interrupted when a woman's screams from the side corridor reached his ears. For a while everyone in the cave seemed to stay still until a wave of questions rose in the air.
"What the heck was that?"
"Who was that?"
"What's going on?"
"'Hide, I think we got a situation here," Lennox informed his partner after making sure he still had his pistol safely with him. It wouldn't help against a Decepticon, but it was better than nothing.
"Call me if you need me" was the steady reply. "Ratchet and 'Bee are on their way."
"Understood."
"Help! Help! My fiancee tripped and fell! Oh god, someone please help her!" Lennox recognized him as the man, who had slipped away earlier with the blonde girl. Obviously that had been his girlfriend. The tour guide seemed to be in a shock. Lennox couldn't blame him.
"Tripped and fell?" the guide repeated and it seemed like he didn't fully understand what had happened. "What? Where?"
"I'm calling the police!" someone of the tourists said and already started dialing.
"She really wanted to see the crystal-bridge and begged me to go with her and she ran the whole way and I saw a ledge and she," the man made a sobbing sound, "somehow she slipped and fell and I couldn't reach her in time!" A lone tear was falling on his cheek.
"But, but... The crystal-bridge is on the other way," the tour guide stuttered.
"Well, how was I supposed to know that!" the man yelled and sat on the ground, burying his face in his hands. "We were supposed to get married in next month! Oh god, oh god, what am I going to do..."
"The police is on their way."
"How could you let something like this to happen! Why aren't the side corridors closed?" one of the parents who had come with her two sons yelled at the tour guide, who still didn't know how to handle the situation.
"But... but you aren't allowed to wander around. There are warning signs everywhere," he tried to explain but was quickly out-yelled by another parent.
"You really think that children or young people care about your warnings! It just makes them more appealing! Really, the safety here is not on a level I expected it to be! If I had known you can wander off and fall off from a sudden ledge, I wouldn't have come here! Especially not with my children!"
"You alright, Lennox?" Ironhide's worried voice reached his ears.
"Yeah, I am, but apparently one of the tourists fell. The police is on their way."
"Noted."
"Where...where did she fell?" the tour guide asked the sorrow-torn man who was still sitting on the floor, but now had two people comforting him and offering him handkerchiefs.
"Some hole in there," he cried and pointed in the direction he had come. "I tried to yell after her, but received no answer and then I came here to get help."
All the color seemed to drain from the guide's face. Everyone in the room was staring at him.
"I think she's dead," he finally whispered to everyone's shock.
"What do you mean she's dead! You haven't even tried to search for her!" the parent who had yelled at him earlier on continued her rampage.
"Ma'am, that route leads only to the Abyss. We haven't had the time to search it throughout because it's many kilometers deep! Nobody would be able to survive the fall!"
The whole cavern went silent again, except for the man weeping silently for the loss of his future bride.
oOo
"Wow, that was really...something," Lennox muttered next to the black GMC Topkick on the parking lot. The whole place was swarming with police officers and rescue workers. Behind him the yellow Camaro made a revving sound as if agreeing with him. The lime green hummer had stayed further away, because an ambulance arriving with no personnel would definitely cause major suspicion.
"Humans do stupid things," Ironhide muttered. Bumblebee seemed to agree with that one too.
"Yeah, but something doesn't really add up. The woman's boyfriend said she'd wanted to go and had actually ran to the corridor, but I saw them leave. The guy was clearly dragging her and not the other way around! And they sure as hell weren't running," Lennox explained while following the on going operation.
"Now, why would he lie?" Ironhide asked.
"I don't know but I'm going to tell the cops how I saw things. And we have the video to prove his word wrong if he decides to lie again."
"You think he might have had something to do with the accident?" Bumblebee asked.
"If it was an accident. This world is full of sick people. After being in the army nothing really amazes me anymore. But, you never know. Maybe he was just shocked and afraid of the police blaming him for the incident."
"The company holding this expedition is very likely to be the one to receive the blame," Ironhide concluded.
"True. I have to admit though, their security was pretty lousy," Lennox sighed. "It is a shame that something like this needs to happen before anyone does anything to do it."
"But at least we got what we came for," Bumblebee pointed out.
"And maybe even more! You getting this 'Bee?" Ironhide was suddenly fully alert. In a mere second his scanner had come alive.
"Loud and clear. Spark signature and it's approaching fast!"
"Evacuate the humans!" Ironhide commanded and to his satisfaction Lennox was already running towards the police, while waving his NEST-badge and screaming orders. "Ratchet, get your aft here! Now!"
"Already coming!" the medic yelled through the comlink. "Optimus has been notified too!"
Both Bumblebee and Ironhide flinched when the cave wall suddenly exploded when something propelled itself through it. Lennox had dived just in the nick of time behind a police vehicle to avoid getting hit by flying debris. Ironhide's battle computer was already running quick schematics. No one had been hurt yet. The key-word being yet.
The dust was so thick Ironhide couldn't see properly so he instantly switched on thermal mode. What he was seeing didn't surprise him. It was definitely a Transformer. It was crouching low, holding something against its chest. Ironhide wasn't sure whether it was a Decepticon, but he wasn't taking any chances. He quickly transformed to his bipedal mode.
"Lower your weapons and identify yourself!" Ironhide commanded and readied his cannons. "You are outmatched!" Ironhide wasn't sure if his statement was true, but if there was any way to prevent a battle happening with humans nearby a little twisting of the truth didn't bother him. Although he had to admit to himself – he was feeling a bit eager about the prospect of a good fight.
Ironhide had to jump backwards when a plasma cannon left a smoking hole where he had just stood a moment ago. He hoped Lennox had better luck with evacuating the humans than he had with getting the unknown Transformer to surrender. Now it was starting to be clear it was a Decepticon.
"'Con scum!" he yelled and was ready to fire a rocket straight to its faceplate when Bumblebee suddenly attacked it from behind. It let out a horrible screeching sound mixed with static, a sure sign its vocal processors were damaged, when 'Bee's own plasma cannon hit in the shoulder. The thing the 'con was holding tight against its chest dropped to the ground with a soft thud as its hand fell limb on its side.
Somehow it made the 'con frantic. It didn't care about the fact that Bumblebee was currently attacking it from behind and trying to take it down with force. Even when the yellow bot kicked it straight to its faceplate it was still trying to reach for the lump on the ground.
"A little help here?" the scout yelled.
"I can't shoot it while you are in the way!" Ironhide grumbled back at Bumblebee. The 'con seemed to get even more frantic and managed to land a lucky kick on the knee joint of Bumblebee. When the yellow bot wasn't anymore on his way, Ironhide decided to let his rockets on the loose. More static left the con's vocal processor as it started running away while shielding its head with its still working hand. It managed to avoid the rockets somehow, although it seemed to stumble on its own legs in the process. The Decepticon didn't stop though and continued its escape with Bumblebee and Ironhide quickly following.
Either the Decepticon was stupid or extremely stupid when it didn't realize the danger of the ambulance speeding right towards it. Ratchet transformed in mid-motion and tackled the Decepticon from the waist. They span around wildly, both trying to get the upper hand. Ironhide could hear Ratchet's curses while the medic wrestled with the smaller 'con.
"Keep her still!" Ratchet yelled at Bumblebee who reached the duo before Ironhide. Not one to argue with the medic's direct orders, especially if there were any wrenches near-by, Bumblebee helped the larger bot to restrain the still battling 'con.
"Any last words, scrap metal?" Ironhide sneered and placed his cannon near the Decepticon's head.
"Ironhide! Stand down! She's not a Decepticon!" Ratchet snapped while pulling a syringe out of his storage-compartment. "And keep her still Bumblebee, I'm injecting sedatives straight into her energonlines. I don't want to puncture any more than you already have."
"What? Not a 'con! But it attacked us!" Ironhide argued while switching his sight back to normal mode.
"She?" Bumblebee was shocked.
"Are you both blind! It's a goddamn femme, who I think is very afraid! I'll have both of your optics checked when we get back!" Ratchet growled and ignored the screeching static coming from the femme.
"But...but..." Now that Ironhide looked at her it was clear she was a femme. Her build was slightly leaner, while her chest was visibly larger so that a sparkling could fit in. Her faceplate was more feminine with strikingly green optics. Ironhide was quite sure he had never seen anyone with green optics. She also had two thin antennae on the top of head, the left one being almost loose. Her color was very light cream, although now it was covered partly with dust, mud and energon splashes.
"I can understand Bumblebee's confusion, but Ironhide, you should know better!" Ratchet was still continuing his complains.
"Hey!" Bumblebee protested. "I know what a femme is!"
"But you've never seen one!"
"Decepticon's have femmes in their ranks too," Ironhide pointed out and was still keeping his cannons ready. This could be some elaborate trap.
"Yes and they also have Autobot-ingsignia in their chest-plate," Ratchet muttered. Ironhide could hear his cannons whine when his shoulder slumped.
"Oh. Sorry," he murmured.
"Don't apologize to me! Apologize to her!"
"Sorry," both Ironhide and Bumblebee said and were interrupted by Lennox, who ran to them.
"How to hell am I going to fix this?" Lennox yelled and pointed at the situation going on. The police were gawking at the Autobots and some were even taking pictures. "I already called Simmons and Optimus, but I don't know if and most importantly how I can keep them under control until Simmons gets here with cover-ups! And you know what! The thing he," Lennox now pointed at the femme, "dropped was the body of the missing woman! Now they are sure he killed it!"
"She," Ironhide corrected almost automatically now that he knew the truth.
"She? There are shes? Then you can, oh wait, don't answer to that." Lennox resisted an involuntarily shudder. He had to use every ounce of his willpower not to think about Autobots having a sex life. It was too weird.
"What?" Ironhide asked.
"Nothing, I'm going back to the police and pretend I didn't think of anything." Lennox was already walking back towards the police.
"What?" the weapon's specialist repeated with a threat in his voice.
"Drop it, 'Hide or I'll give Sarah permission to drive you while she's goes shopping!" Lennox answered. Bumblebee couldn't resist a snort and received a slap on his head.
"If you tell Optimus about that I'm going to make sure you disappear during our next mission."
"I'm sorry. I heard nothing," Bumblebee whispered and protected his head in fear of another hit. Ironhide's slaps hurt.
"I heard everything," Ratchet said. His tone of voice was somewhat humored.
"Ratchet – you are dead," Ironhide swore and pointed his cannons at him.
"Remember that next time you need repairs," he just commented clearly not being intimated at all.
"Fraggit, I wish First Aid was here," Ironhide muttered. First Aid had been Ratchet's medical student back in Cybertron and was easier to work with than his teacher was. Meaning it was easier to scare First Aid in co-operation than Ratchet.
Their banter ended when the femme once again let out some static. Ratchet still sat atop of her and had even put cuffs on her hands, just to be sure. He wasn't that worried about their safety than he was of the femme's. He didn't want her to hurt herself even more by trying to run away or by firing at Ironhide again.
"I'm sorry, we really don't trust you enough to let you go free," he explained to the femme, who fell silent. "And I'm sorry we hurt you."
"I'm sorry I hurt your arm, miss. I thought you were a 'con," Bumblebee apologized and looked absolutely heartbroken. Ironhide was somewhat envious of how well he could portray his feelings through his facial impressions. When Ironhide tried to look apologetic, he only managed to look more angry.
"I'm Ratchet, the Autobot's medic. The yellow one is Bumblebee, our somewhat dimwit scout and the last one is Ironhide, our weapon's specialist and currently our second in command. I know you can't answer us, because your vocal processors are clearly damaged. When we get back to the base, I'll have a look and fix them. I'll fix your arm too." The femme seemed to nod.
Everything went rather well until the police lifted the body bag and the femme noticed it. Ratchet had been lulled into a state where he thought the femme wouldn't struggle anymore and found himself lying on the ground on his back – to his amazement. He hadn't been surprised by a patient in a long time.
And definitely not by a femme.
Ironhide was awake though and managed to stop the femme by standing in her way and grabbing her shoulders. He didn't know why the femme was so emotional because of the body, because that clearly was causing it, but he had to admit he was curious.
"She's dead. There's nothing you can do about it," Ironhide said and hoped the compassion he felt towards her came through. Did she somehow know the unfortunate woman? Was that why she had went to the side corridors with her boyfriend? To meet with the femme?
The femmes whole body seemed to gave out and she fell on her knees. Quiet static came out from her.
"Did you know her?" the black mech asked. The femme seemed to think for a while before she nodded. Her optics seemed to scan the area before stopping. Her whole face turned into something Ironhide couldn't quite read until she tried to run from him again. This time both him and Bumblebee were needed to hold her still while Ratchet gave her another dose of sedatives.
They all were puzzled by her actions but at least Ironhide had managed to caught a glimpse of what she had been looking at -the boyfriend of the missing woman who was pointing at the femme, yelling:
"It killed her! The robot killed her!"
Ironhide had the tingling feeling of him lying.