Notes:

'Speaking', 'Thought', //Spirit Speak//, Cybertronian


Chapter 4 - Defenses

The panicked voice in Sam's voice over the phone was enough to make Mikaela shake slightly. She looked up at the red and black Aerio sitting in her garage with a frown.

'Wha..what?' she stuttered, not quite comprehending what she was heard.

'I swear I'm going crazy!' the boy hissed, his voice broadcasted slightly from the sheer volume of his panic. 'Ravage! In the MIDDLE OF THE HALL.'

'Could this be residual energy from the All Spark?' she hissed back into the phone, elbow on the wall. She scratched her forehead with her free hand. She wasn't completely sure what she was hearing, but whatever it was wasn't normal. Not to say their current life could ever be considered 'normal' again.

'How the hell should I know? I think I'm going nuts! And I swear I saw...' a pause. Mikaela could almost feel Sam's frustration radiate off the phone in waves. 'You wouldn't believe me.' Sam's voice sounded despondent. Angry.

'Your car is a giant walking alien robot. Try me.'

'Some face came out of the wall.'

'A What?' Mikaela hissed loudly, grabbing the phone with two hands.

'A face. Some big metal, pointy face. It just sat there and stared at me, smiled and said I was doing a good job before it freaking disappeared!' Mikaela heard someone walk past Sam on the other side of the line before he started talking again. 'How the hell does a metal face come out of drywall?'

'You need to talk to someone. Optimus... Your parents.'

'Oh right. And who's going to believe me?' Mikaela cringed at the frustrated gasp as Sam continued. 'I swear I saw Jazz in the parking lot yesterday! How can I see anyone who's been dead for the past three years? And I saw GRANDMA!' Mikaela frowned, pursing her lips as Sam almost wailed. 'Just when I thought things could get back to normal! I'm going crazy! First the Autobots and their war. I thought I could handle that, but-' Sam made a strangled noise as panic overtook him.

The phone call had come out of the blue and oddly, the last place she had expected to be called by Sam was at work, especially with him on the verge of screaming. Mikaela huffed slightly as she grasped for answers, ideas, anything that would help placate the hysterical whimpering on the other side of the phone.

Genesis, from her spot in the corner of the human female's garage, studied Mikaela with curiosity. She cocked her head, an oddly bird-like motion and Mikaela covered the phone's speaker to answer the femme's inquisitive look.

'Sam's having problems at school.' she said simply. She returned to her phone conversation. 'I can talk to them. 'Bee, even. He's here if -'

'NO!' Sam shouted. 'Nononono! Keep them out of this!'

'If it's related to the last battle -'

'I want out of their war, out of their -'

Genesis sudden voice startled Mikaela so soundly that she almost dropped the receiver.

'Perhaps I can speak to him?' The femme offered her hand.

Mikaela nodded. 'Sam hang on.' She said. She offered the receiver to Genesis out of habit but was waved away as the femme reached out to pick up the phone cord. Immediately the red and black femme's voice was heard over the line, her voice sounding rather odd. Mikaela, accustomed to seeing the femme speak over the phone line without moving her mouth, continued to speak into the receiver.

'Okay. She's here.'

'Human Sam Witwicky?' Genesis began said calmly. Sam's distraught grunt answered her and she couldn't resist a smile. ' You have difficulties? Tell me. I'm...' She frowned, trying to find the words. Despite all the time she spent watching Youtube, she still had problems speaking english and had a rather odd accent that no-one could pinpoint. ' I'm... Unrelated to the battle between the factions.'

'You wouldn't believe me.' Sam muttered, a hoarse whisper.

'As your friend so firmly stated, you are talking to a giant, walking car.'

Sam sighed, annoyed, then let himself speak after collecting his thoughts for a few moments. 'What do you know about our last battle?' he said slowly.

Genesis was quiet on her end. There was a click over the connection and her eyes dimmed slightly as she accessed her private video files. When she spoke again, her tone was soft.

'Optimus died and was resurrected. There were many deaths as is to be expected with this conflict. You died. I remember that. You were with the Primes, as was -' There was a scowl as she tried to form the words in english. 'Ptah was there, too.' she said instead, her Cybertronian stressed.

Mikaela's head shot up to stare at the red and black femme, her expression utterly confused. Sam went deathly quiet.

'Who?' Sam said. He swallowed. Only he knew there had been others among the Primes. Not even Optimus knew about them.

'Ptah. You've spoken to the Autobot leader about the seekers, have you not?'

'Yes, but there was no mention of... Whoever it is you're talking about.'

Genesis huffed slightly and Sam had an overwhelming suspicion she was laughing at him. He was even more confused now and he threw a look over his shoulder, the damnable watching sensation creeping up on him again.

'It's happening again.' Sam whispered. He clenched his eyes tight, praying that the dread feeling didn't follow suit.

'What is?' Mikaela said, straightening sharply.

'Something is here.'

That caught Genesis' attention and her expression darkened.

'What is?' Genesis asked.

'I. Don't. Know.' Sam huffed and a little louder added, 'It's been like this ever since Egypt. I'm seeing things, feeling things... I don't know. It's been crazy!'

'Explain the sensations.' Genesis said. The femme leaned back against the wall and again her eyes dimmed as she accessed private memory files.

'Like someone's watching me. I keep seeing people. Family. Jazz. Then there's the face I saw.' Sam rubbed his forehead. 'Then I was chased by something yesterday.'

Genesis emitted a growl on Mikaela's end, which translated as dark static over the phone line. A jumble of Cybernetic clicks caused mild feedback across the line and Mikaela jumped back as Genesis suddenly transformed.

This was not good news.

'I understand more than you can imagine, Sam.' she said sternly, the tone of her voice changing frequency as she jumped from touching the phone line to digital interference. 'Perhaps I understand more than the others. If the watched feeling returns, do exactly it tells you to do. Understand?'

Sam goldfished slightly. 'Huh?'

'I'll explain later. It is vital you obey what your instinct tell you. They're there for a reason. Do you want me to come to you or do you wish for us to send a N.E.S.T. official to pick you up?'

'No.' Sam suddenly snapped, grabbing his phone with both hands. 'No. I'll...'

Sam's head shot up and he swore for the life of him he saw Jazz standing in the parking lot staring at him. The mecha waved before he popped out of existence. Ravage, however, popped right out of the ground like a scene in a bad horror flick and took over staring at him from where Jazz had left off.

'Never mind, I've changed my mind. Have someone pick me up. Soon!'


Notes:

If you've read the ROTF pre and post movie graphic novels, you may understand why I used Ptah. Ptah is an Egyptian God who... Well, I can't tell you that, can I? Might give the story line away **Winks**