For Disclaimer, warnings, rating, pairings, summary and legend, please refer to chapter 1.
Chapter 7
(A few weeks later)
Alexx had now calmed down around the Autobots, in the sense that she was no longer hissing and growling at them every time they transformed, instead she was agitated around them for a different reason. In the last week, Alexx had experienced her first ever heat and ferocity in which she experienced it damn near scared her, she was flirting with the soldiers and the mechs at every chance she could, even if she didn't mean too. Of course, some of the soldiers readily welcomed her advances whether they were intentional or not, and who could blame them, a beautiful young woman flirting with them, most of which were single and sexually depraved. However, as soon as Will worked out what was happening, he told the men to back off, warning them that Alexx was his daughter and under the protection of Ironhide too. That was enough to warn most of them off, but one man still went after her, despite his marriage to a wonderful woman and his two beautiful daughters, he wanted to have a taste of the shifter femme.
Currently, Alexx was in the mess hall nursing a cup of tea when the man came in and sat next to her with a cup of coffee. He nudged her a little and smiled at her, his hand going under the table and squeezing her knee, before it began to move upwards, causing her to shiver in arousal. When his hand got close to the apex of her thighs, Alexx got up and walked outside leaving the man there. After a few minutes, the man got up and followed her outside to find her leaning against the wall in a seductive pose, he walked up to her and started nibbling at her neck.
"If your dad catches us, we'll be in trouble" he whispered.
Alexx leaned her head to the side to give him better access to her neck while she moved her knee to his crotch and rubbed her hands up his arms, down his sides and up his back and into his hair.
"We'd best not get caught then" she said.
The man pulled back and grinned at her, before he quickly began to undo pants and Alexx pushed her pants to her knees, turning around, pressing her hands against the wall and bending over, exposing her already dripping womanhood to him. Stepping up to her, the man tested how wet she was before he pushed himself into her, breaching her hymen as he did. He up a slow and steady rhythm that gradually sped up until she came around him, turning her head towards him.
"Pull out before you finish" she said.
The man kept thrusting, with no intention of pulling out, he knew that he had every intention of finishing inside her, knowing it could cause her to become pregnant. Unlucky for him, Alexx realised what he was doing and stomped on his foot, making him cry out and pull away from her, holding his foot.
"You bitch!" He groaned.
Alexx pulled her pants up and turned to face him. He looked at her and pushed her against the wall, starting to jerk off in front of her, intent on leaving his mark on her. However, she pushed him away just as he came.
"I told you to pull out!" She hissed.
The man came up to her again, still stroking his manhood and fumbling with her jeans button and zip, however, Alexx pushed him away, grabbed his shoulders, pushed him against the wall and grabbed his balls, twisting and pulling.
"Stay away from me you bastard!" She growled.
Then she gave a sharp twist of his balls and walked off into the base, leaving him on his knees. She walked back into the mess hall and grabbed a bottle of water, telling the guy that her father would pay for it, then she walked outside the base again, walking away from the man and over to one of the residential buildings that was on the grounds and using a tree to get onto the roof. Sighing, she opened the bottle of water and took a large sip of it before closing it up again and staring out to the horizon, tears accumulating in her eyes as she did. After a few minutes, she heard the hissing of hydraulics and turned to see Ironhide walking towards her, she sighed and looked away from him, not needing his in your face attitude right now. But, as he came up to her, he didn't say a word and out of the corner of her eye, she saw him look towards the horizon himself and she realised that he was waiting for her to say something. But what could she say? She knew she'd been an idiot by letting that man be her first, but not doing anything had hurt her. Once again she sighed and briefly turned her head towards the large black mech before she looked back to the horizon.
"I was stupid" she muttered.
Ironhide turned his head towards her briefly, before he too looked back to the horizon. He didn't really know what to say, he could tell by her posture that she was upset about what she'd done and it didn't take a genius to know exactly what she'd done. He cycled his intakes and once again turned his head towards her, taking in everything about her, he was glad that out here, he didn't have to put up with the scent of her pheromones invading his scent receptors, so being near her was easier and he wasn't trying to fight his own body. He looked back to the horizon and cycled his intakes again.
"You needed it" he stated.
Alexx turned her head towards him and raised an eyebrow, was he trying to be sympathetic towards her? She snorted and turned her head back towards the horizon, wishing she could be at the beach so she could watch the sun set into the ocean and hopefully see the green flash. She put her bottle down next to her and pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her head on them.
"Need it or not, I was stupid to let him take the one thing that I valued above everything else" she said.
Ironhide huffed and turned his head towards her.
"You regret it?" He asked.
Alexx turned her head towards him, still resting it on her knees and she nodded, before turning so that her chin was back on her knees.
"Yeah, I regret it" she replied.
Ironhide rumbled a little and turned his whole body towards her, staring at her.
"We all do things we regret Alexx, ya just gotta put it behind ya and move on" he reasoned.
Alexx once again turned her head towards him and raised an eyebrow as best she could, before lifting her head off of her knees.
"How'm I supposed to do that when the guy is on the base all the time?" She questioned.
Ironhide raised an optic ridge and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Ignore him" he said.
The shifter narrowed her eyes and then shook her head.
"I can't do that, he's liable to tell Will about what happened" she whispered.
The gruff mech shrugged and gazed at her.
"Then ya tell Will yourself and then ignore the guy. That way Will can keep an optic on him" he reasoned.
Alexx snorted and looked away from the black mech.
"You know what Will's like when it comes to me he's overprotective because of me being a shifter and people being out to get me because of that. Plus he'll be angry at me" she said.
Ironhide cycled his intakes.
"Look, I'm no good at this kinda stuff, but what I can tell ya is that, Will is gonna be more angry if ya don't tell him, than if ya tell him. Plus, he's your mech creator, he has a right to worry about ya" he said.
Alexx looked at him and shook her head.
"No he doesn't and no he's not. He's my adoptive father, there is nothing that makes me his daughter apart from the fact that when I was a baby, Sarah found me on their doorstep and took me in because my real parents abandoned me" she said.
Ironhide growled and moved himself so that he was right in front of her, glaring at her with hard optics.
"From what Will has told us, your parents had no choice but to leave you on the doorstep of Sarah Lennox's residence, to give you a chance at living. Do you not think that if they could have looked after you and raised you themselves they would have done it?" He asked.
Alexx looked at him and furrowed her brow.
"How do you know that?" She questioned.
Ironhide rubbed his servo down his faceplates and looked at her.
"Will has told us about you and he has told us the story that Sarah Lennox told him" he replied.
The shifter sighed and shook her head, putting her chin back onto her knees and staring at his chest.
"It still makes no difference, he's not my biological father and I'm not his biological daughter. I'm just a spare part in the family" she said.
Ironhide shook his head and put his servos on his hip struts.
"And that makes no difference either Alexx, he loves you as if he were your mech creator. Why else would he have accepted you into his family?" He asked.
Alexx looked at him and shrugged.
"Because Sarah wasn't going to leave me outside in the cold" she stated.
Ironhide groaned and pinched his nasal ridge looking away from her. He was starting to lose his patience and decided that the truth was going to be better for her, whether she wanted to hear it or not. He looked up a few things, before he began to speak.
"Oh for the love of Primus...are your audio processing units failing?" He asked.
Alexx looked at him and shook her head.
"No wh-" she began.
Ironhide cut her off.
"Because you obviously cannot hear yourself. Stop blaming others for your fragging problems, so what you are not the same as William, Sarah and Annabelle Lennox, who gives a frag? Certainly not Will, he has raised you with the help of Sarah Lennox, as if you were his own and because you made a mistake by interfacing with a bonded male, you are doubting his care for you. Your problems are your own Alexx Lennox, others do not factor into them, they are yours and yours alone and you have to deal with them, blaming others will not make them go away. The fact that you are out here, wallowing in your self pity is annoying and it clearly shows that you are a coward. So you made a mistake, everybody makes them pit, even I have made some mistakes, but I did not allow them to rule me as you are doing, fragging get over it Alexx and get down there and deal with it. So Will may be angry with you, deal with it, it is your fault and you alone can make it right" he said.
Alexx just stared at him throughout his charade and when he was finished she just gave him a shocked and clearly upset look. She hadn't been expecting him to go off on one and hearing all that he said hurt her. However, it was clear that he wasn't finished when he took another breath.
"Femmes like you make me want to purge my tanks. You have a loving family, whether or not they are your biological family, but you...to use a human turn of phrase...throw it all back in their faces. Own up to your mistakes, ignoring them won't make them go away, it'll just make them worse, if you want to blame someone, then blame yourself" he finished.
Again, Alexx just looked at him, before she lowered her head and felt the sting of tears come to her eyes. She got up and climbed down the tree, hurrying into the base and finding a corner where she could release her emotions, sitting there and crying for a good ten minutes before she mentally reviewed what Ironhide had said, realising that he was right, she was blaming everyone for her problems except from the right person...herself. She composed herself and took a deep breath and walked out of the corner, heading over to where Will was.
"Will, can I talk to you?" She asked.
The man looked at her and nodded, dismissing the soldier he was talking to before turning towards his adopted daughter.
"What's up Alexx?" He questioned.
Alexx took a deep breath and began to tell him what had happened and by the end of it, she could see that Will wasn't very happy about what he'd heard.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
Confusion made her brow furrow and she looked at him.
"You're not angry at me" she inquired.
Will raised an eyebrow.
"I'll be angry later, right now I wanna know if he hurt you" he replied.
Alexx shook her head and looked down and he nodded giving a bit of a sigh.
"Good" he said.
The shifter again furrowed her brow and looked up at him.
"That's it?" She asked.
Will shrugged and looked at her.
"You're old enough to make your own decisions Alexx, according to the handbook, by shifter standards, you're an adult now. If you make the wrong decisions, you have to deal with them on your own. I'm not always gonna be here to do it for you" he replied.
Again Alexx felt the sting of the truth settle in her chest and a lump rise in her throat. He was right, she was an adult by shifter standards and she would have to deal with her own mistakes.
"I'll deal with Sergeant Hollier, because he actively disobeyed a direct order" Will said.
Alexx nodded and then turned away, heading out of the base again and into the trees where she shifted and ran off. She needed time to herself, loads of things were running through her mind and if she stayed around the base, she knew that she'd end up hurting somebody. As she ran, everything became blurry, all of the colours blurred into one and a sharp pain ripped through her head, making her stop and yowl in pain. She shifted and the yowl turned into an agonised scream.
~Shifting Hearts~
(Will)
After the conversation with Alexx, Will went to find Hollier, his calm façade hiding the storm brewing underneath. He looked everywhere the man might have been and even asked a few of the other soldiers where he was, most of them didn't know where he was, but one soldier told him that Hollier was in the shower stalls. Thanking the soldier, Will walked to the place Hollier was and stepped inside, waiting for the officer to finish showering and come out of the stall he was in. Hollier looked over at his boss and gave a bit of a smile.
"Hey boss, what's up?" He asked.
Keeping his calm façade, Will walked up to him and delivered a swift punch to his face, effectively breaking his nose and causing the man to yell out and bring his hand to his face, catching the blood that dripped out of his nose.
"If you ever go near my daughter again, I will make sure that you and your wife can never have sex again. Do I make myself clear?" He asked.
The venom in his voice caused the man to look at him and narrow his eyes a little while he still held his hand to his nose. He nodded and Will growled, reaching up and grabbing the man's nose.
"I said, do I make myself clear?" He asked.
The man groaned and tried to follow Will's hand as he pulled his nose.
"Yessir" he said.
Will nodded and let the man's nose go, punching him in the gut and then walking out of the shower stalls and out of the base, deciding to go for a walk to clear his head, when he heard a pained yowl. He didn't really worry about it, until he heard the yowl turn into a scream, one that he instantly recognised. He ran into the base and saw Ironhide.
"Ironhide, get Ratchet ASAP!" He yelled.
The black mech turned to look at Will, to see that he'd already disappeared. Furrowing his optic ridges, he commed Ratchet and told him to get outside on the double, before he himself walked outside. Just in time to see Will come through the trees with a screaming and thrashing around Alexx in his arms. Ratchet came out of the base and as soon as he saw the state Alexx was in, he hurried to Will and put his servo down for the human. Will placed Alexx in Ratchet's hand and when the medimech stood up and walked towards the med bay, he followed.
"What's wrong with her?" He asked.
Ratchet didn't answer, instead he walked into the med bay and carefully lay Alexx on a berth, instantly scanning her.
"Ratchet?" Will asked.
The mech turned around to look at Will and furrowed his optic ridges.
"I am unsure William, physically she is fine, I will have to do an advanced scan of her cerebral cortex to find out if this is merely psychogenic" he replied.
Will didn't understand what Ratchet had just said, but he nodded anyway and the mech got straight to work.
~Shifting Hearts~
(Alexx's mind)
The pain was unbearable, everything was fuzzy like on a television with no reception, that is until it cleared up and she found herself in a field with long grass surrounding her, but where she was stood was short grass. She looked around, hoping to find some clue as to where she was.
"Hello?" She called.
The only answer she got was the sound of her own voice echoed back to her. She continued to look around, this wasn't a normal place, there were no flies, or bees, or wasps, she couldn't see any butterflies or hear any birds singing, she couldn't smell anything and though the grass and trees around her were moving in the slight breeze, she couldn't feel anything. Where was she? She was about to call out again, when she heard a growl behind her. Whipping around, her eyes went wide as she saw a melanistic jaguar standing there.
"G-good kitty" she stammered.
The jaguar stopped growling and just looked at her before sitting down.
"You do not recognise me?" A voice asked.
Alexx looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, but she found nothing.
"Who said that?" She called.
Her heart rate began to climb and her breathing began to speed up. The voice spoke again.
"Over here you ditz" it said.
She stopped looking and slowly turned towards the jaguar that was looking at her with what appeared to be amused eyes. Slowly, she walked up to the cat and knelt in front of it.
"Are you the one who's talking to me?" She asked.
To her surprise, the jaguar gave a nod and she shot back, falling onto her backside as she did.
"T-that's not possible" she accused.
The jaguar sneezed in a laugh, its eyes laughing too.
"Relax, my name is Thera, I'm your shifter" it said.
Alexx furrowed her brow, what she'd read about shifters didn't say anything about the person's shifter side having an entity of its own.
"You're my shifter? H-how is that possible?" She asked.
The jaguar walked towards her and as it did, it shifted into an exact copy of her and the replica sat down in front of her.
"Shifters are born as normal, either in human form or in their animal form, it's not until they reach adulthood and mate for the first time that the shifter side is awakened" she said.
Alexx stared at the other Alexx and slowly sat up straight.
"So you're saying that...shifters have bipolar?" She asked.
The other Alexx chuckled and gave a bit of a nod.
"In essence yes, but we're a part of you and no manner of treatment will make us go away. Until now, when you shifted into your feline form, it was still you" she replied.
Alexx raised an eyebrow and crossed her legs.
"And what, now when I shift I'll be you?" She asked.
The other Alexx shook her head.
"No not at all, most of the time you'll be able to keep me in check, only when you're feeling extreme emotions will I come out. Its kinda a self preservation thing. I'm your wild side" she explained.
Alexx furrowed her brow.
"So...let me get this straight, you're the Hulk to me Bruce Banner right?" She asked.
The other Alexx laughed but nodded.
"Essentially yes, but unlike Bruce Banner, you can control me with practice" she said.
Alexx was still confused.
"Why are you telling me this? If you're my wild side, shouldn't you be against being controlled?" She questioned.
Again the other Alexx chuckled.
"If we had met under different circumstances then yes, but first meetings aren't supposed to scare the other half. Plus, you have questions, I can answer them" she said.
Alexx was about to open her mouth and speak, when she felt an electrical shock in her chest.
"What the...?" She asked.
She felt the shock again and it caused her entire body to jerk.
"What's happening?" She asked.
The other Alexx looked to the side and growled.
"Somebody is trying to revive you with a defibrillator" she replied.
The shock was felt again and the other Alexx shifted into the jaguar and got up.
"We will meet again, but for now, this is adieu" she said.
She then ran off into the long grass and Alexx felt the shock again, the clearing around her started to melt away and everything went back to the staticy TV screen.
~Shifting Hearts~
(Normal)
Ratchet shocked her once more and finally he registered a pulse and he cycled his intakes in relief. He looked down to Will who had been watching the entire thing with desperation in his eyes and he nodded.
"She's back" he said.
Will deflated with relief and looked up at the mech.
"What happened?" He asked.
Ratchet looked back to the shifter female on the table and then looked at Will.
"I would suggest asking her that when she wakes up" he replied.
Will furrowed his brow in confusion.
"What do you mean?" He questioned.
Ratchet cycled his intakes and knelt down, offering his servo to the human male. Will climbed aboard and Ratchet got up, walking over to his desk where he sat down and placed Will onto the top of it.
"The human processor is active all of the time, processing different things, such as scents, sights, feelings and sounds. When humans recharge some of the sections of the processor will go into temporary stasis, to put it simply, it goes into the same state that a motor engine does when it idles" he said.
Will nodded, not entirely sure where this was going.
"What's the point of telling me this?" He asked.
Ratchet cycled his intakes in a minute amount of annoyance.
"Before Alexx went into cardiac arrest, her processor was extremely active, but when cardiac arrest occured, her processor shut down, except her Occipital Lobe, her Temporal Lobe, her Primary Auditory Lobe, her Wernicke's Area and her Broca's Area" he said.
Will just looked at him.
"In English please?" He asked.
Ratchet pinched his nasal ridge.
"The activity of these areas of her processor suggest that she was hearing voices and replying to said voices while being unconscious" he said.
Will furrowed his brow.
"Are you sure she wasn't just dreaming?" He questioned.
Ratchet looked at him.
"No, there was no Rapid Eye Movement and she was in cardiac arrest, I am pretty sure she was not entertaining vivid fantasies of which she would have while in a state of recharge. This was something different entirely" he replied.
Will looked at him and then looked over to Alexx.
"Is she gonna be alright?" He asked.
Ratchet cycled his intakes again.
"I am not sure William. As long as she does not go into a cardiac arrest again, she should recover quite fast, her superior healing ability has already healed the leisions on her spark caused by the cardiac arrest, but the cause of such a thing is still unknown" he answered.
Will nodded and looked at his adoptive daughter.
"I'd better tell Sarah" he said.
Ratchet nodded and offered his servo, which Will climbed upon and then the medical mech put him on the floor and watched him walk out of the med bay.
~Shifting Hearts~
A/N: Alright, so by far the longest chapter I've written for this story, but I felt this was necessary. Now...my Beta has been able to get online, but only for a brief time as her internet has decided to give up the ghost, so once again I apologise if this chapter has any errors, or it doesn't make sense or it's not as good as the first few chapters. Hopefully my beta will be able to get back online soon and things will start to look better. On a higher note, I'm sp pleased that people are following this story and have favourited this story too, even if you don't review, to know that you like this story enough to follow or favourite it makes my heart all warm and fuzzy. Thank you.
Anyway, yes a little bit of drama in this story and for reference, I looked up the parts of the brain that were being used, so I really hope I didn't get any medical terminology wrong, I'd be so embarrassed if I did, it would mean that watching medical programmes and doing research and watching House was a waste of time. So...I hope you enjoy this extra long chapter and don't forget to review.
Thank you for reading and enjoy.
Vampyrex1
Date Written: 30 August 2014
Word Count: 4526
Date Uploaded: Saturday 30 August 2014
Next Chapter Due: Saturday 6 September 2014
