Author's Note

Chapter 5 of 6 posted today

Honestly, this chapter feels a little wayward to me, but my epilogue was getting too long. It's basically just them trying to figure out how to deal with Hydra and pick up the pieces in the aftermath. There's a lot of mess, and none of this is going to be easy.

Especially since one of their own is leaving.

Go onward and enjoy!

After the Fall

They meet back up with the others, N.E.S.T., the Autobots, the Avengers, Fury. Everyone gathers together outside the rubble of the Triskelion. The building did not survive this fight unscathed, one wall completely missing like a huge doll house. Lina sure wasn't kidding about it being a little broken.

But they aren't.

They're a little beat up and bruised. They have scratches and scrapes. But they're mostly okay. They made it to the other side of this nightmare alive and they're still capable of moving along through the next one.

And there is a next one. This is all far from over.

They slump down on the steps in front of the Triskelion, the Autobots' bipedal forms sitting on the ground around them. It's strangely quiet in the aftermath. Either all the agents have already fled, or they're holed up inside still somewhere. Ari's just glad there isn't any shooting anymore.

"So now what?" Sam asks on a sigh, sounding as tired as they all feel. When was the last time they weren't on their feet? It feels like forever ago that this all started and all they want is a moment of peace.

Police sirens wail across the city, red and blue reflecting in the water along with the setting sun as the authorities race across the bridge to the Triskelion's little island in the middle of the river.

"We deal with...that," Ari replies, waving a tired hand vaguely at the approaching police and rescue vehicles. With a deep groan, she leverages herself to her feet, taking a few steps forward to meet their welcome party. Fury moves to stand as well but she shakes her head with a small smile. "It's alright, Nick. I've got this."

He gives her a pointed glare, getting to his feet anyway. "It's my mess. I'll clean it up."

Well, she can't really begrudge him that. Especially when she feels the same. "How about we do it together?"

The first officer to come up goes straight to Fury anyway. Annoying, but not unexpected, since she still looks like a teenager and always will. But she lets it go for now and simply listens since the officer already looks a bit overwhelmed.

He looks over the destruction, rounded eyes darting to the surrounding Autobots every few seconds. Their presence makes him swallow heavily, Adam's-apple bobbing in his throat. "Is the, uh," he glances to the Autobots again, hand hovering over his gun and making Ari stiffen, "is the situation under control?"

Fury rolls his one good eye. "We're among friendlies here. At least when it comes to the aliens."

"But, sir, the reports stated that hostile robots were coming out of this building. Are you sure they-"

"The Autobots aren't the bad guys here," Ari states, trying so hard not to snap.

"And how do we know that?" the officer replies, hand fully resting on his gun with narrowed eyes. "All of you are wanted fugitives. For all I know, you're the ones behind this."

It's a logical conclusion, one she tries not to let frustrate her. Or, at least, she tries to bury her frustration so she doesn't take it out on him. It's not his fault Hydra fooled everyone. "No, the ones who labeled us fugitives in the first place are the ones behind this. We're the ones who stopped this mess."

"But—"

"Look, did you see the info dump?" She waits until he nods warily before continuing. "Then you know who was behind this."

A muscle in his jaw twitches as his jaw clenches, eyes flickering over to Captain America watching them wearily from the steps. "Hydra. They're really still…around?"

"They are. And they made everyone think we're the bad guys so they could try to get away with mass murder." Her voice softens as he gulps, knowing this isn't going to be easy for anyone. Hydra is like the boogeyman. They all grew up knowing about them and fearing them, but never actually seeing them. They never really thought they truly would. But now it's time to face the monster hiding in the closet. "Look, Hydra's been hiding in plain sight all this time. They burrowed their way into every form of authority you could possibly think of. Some of them are probably even your friends."

He stiffens, trying not to glance around them at the gathering crowd of officers and rescue workers, but failing. "Then what do we do?"

Ari hesitates, a little off kilter at the question. Though, not really the question, more that the question gets directed at her. Her and not Fury. It reminds her that this guy probably has no idea who Fury is. No one knew about S.H.I.E.L.D. and the kind of power Fury holds. She's the only one of known authority here.

And Fury doesn't help her. He just stares at her expectantly, just like everyone else, content to let her take the lead.

Ari's fingers tap against her thigh, thinking quickly as she looks back at the Triskelion. How do they know who to trust? These people, the Hydra agents, they need to be taken in, arrested, brought to justice. Put in prison so they can't hurt anyone else ever again.

But how do they know who is Hydra and who is not? How do they even know if they can trust these police officers? What if the police take them in and let all the Hydra agents go because they, too, are Hydra? She knows the corruption runs deep, the AllSpark showed her that much.

Then again, it showed her a lot more, too. It showed her all of Hydra. Everything it's done. It was overwhelming before, but maybe now that she knows what she's looking for….

The door opens of its own accord, already knowing what she wants. Ready and willing to help. She looks around at the faces surrounding her, searching for those same faces within her knowledge. Trying to find out how many of these officers are Hydra.

To her surprise, most of them are okay. Hydra might be going to ground after their enormous failure and ousting of their organization. There are a few Hydra agents walking among them, though, who will have to be taken care of as quietly as possible.

But she thinks they can do it. With her knowledge, she thinks she can weed out the bad from the good.

She breathes in deeply—only a few seconds having past within her doors—and turns back to the officer in front of her. One of the good ones, thankfully. An honest man to put in charge of capturing the worst of mankind to walk the earth in a long time.

Ari gets them organized, subtlety making sure anyone Hydra never gets left alone while the officers round up the agents left in the Triskelion. They're held temporarily in one of the rooms of the Triskelion that's both large enough and still intact enough to securely hold anyone looking to make a break for it. With only the one entrance, she places a few trustworthy officers at the door to act as guards and then walks through the room herself to sift through this mess.

Sorting the good from the bad turns out to be surprisingly easy. It only takes her a second of studying someone's face to tell in they hold a place within her door of Hydra information. Once someone gets cleared, she releases them from holding, playing it off to the officers as if she's using the information dump to figure out who's who.

Really, they could do it that way. All the same information is there, though maybe with a few less details. But Ari's way is faster.

Once enough agents get cleared, she puts them into Phil's care with the task of separating the corrupted officers from everyone else. S.H.I.E.L.D. may be in shambles with their authority effectively destroyed, but they can't risk anyone getting away. Or helping others get away.

Fury comes up to them then, making Ari realize for the first time that he had disappeared sometime around when they were first approached. Actually, she hasn't seen any of the others for a while, not even Sideswipe. Her brow furrows in confusion, head cocking to the side as she asks him a silent question.

His brow ticks up in amusement. "You didn't seem like you needed the help after all. You've handled all this pretty well."

"Well," Ari rubs the back of her head sheepishly, glancing around before muttering softly, "it helps when you have insider knowledge."

"I thought as much, which is why I kept the others busy helping rescue workers out in the city."

Ari nods thoughtfully, tuning into her bond with Sideswipe. He feels tired but content, happy with the work he's doing. "It's good for them," she muses. "To help clean up after watching it all get destroyed. Plus, it lets the people get a look at the heroes of the day. Maybe it'll help them not be so quick to criticize the Autobots, or even the Avengers. They don't need people trying to place all the blame for this on them."

"I thought so, too, but now it's time you lot got some rest."

She shakes her head with a frown. "But there's still so much work to do."

"The police can take it from here. You've just about went through all of the agents who were here. The rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. can wait until after you've taken a break."

"But what about the Hydra agents? Especially the ones who showed up with the police and rescue workers. We've got them cordoned off, but we still need to deal with them without it sounding like we're just throwing accusations around."

There's already been lots of yelling. Thankfully, the room their being kept in is soundproof.

"You let me worry about that," Fury says, placing a hand on her shoulder to lead her away. She goes, reluctantly, but every step she takes seems to get harder, heavier, as her exhaustion starts to make itself known. "I've got some contacts in the FBI to give me a hand."

"Need me to vet them?"

He wordlessly hands her his phone, allowing her to flip through the FBI personnel files. She scrolls quickly, running the faces through her head and only stops at one. "Not him," she tells him firmly, handing the phone back for Fury to see.

He curses under his breath, tucking the phone back in his leather jacket. "And I really thought he was one of the good guys."

"We're bound to be getting a lot of surprises like that," she warns him, chest tightening at the prospect of going through her own soldiers. She tried to be thorough in the selection process after Anti-Alien, but what if her efforts weren't enough?

He sighs deeply, the pain etched across his face making him appear years older than he tries to be. She almost asks if he's alright, if he needs to go rest his injuries, but…this pain is not physical. "I guess it's better to know, right?"

"Even if we don't like the answers," she agrees as they step out of the building, the sun just a fading orange memory on the horizon now. Right away, she catches sight of her ride, the red and blue of Optimus's alt mode catching in the twilight. Odd. She expected Sideswipe.

"He wanted to talk to you," Fury supplies before she can ask, gently pushing her towards the semi alt mode. "Go. Rest up. Take care of your own people. I'll contact you tomorrow to set up your meeting with the UN."

That's another can of worms she doesn't want to think about right now. Dealing with Hydra comes first. Answering to the world for what happened can be worried about later. They'll want answers, sooner rather than later, but they're just going to have to wait a few days. They first need to make sure the world really is safe from Hydra.

Plus, she wants a more solid plan for what comes next. S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone, but they did a lot of necessary work, work someone needs to pick back up and continue.

Maybe her knowledge about Hydra will be of some help.

She nods, squeezing his hand in thanks since a hug would just hurt him right now, and then tiredly clambers into Optimus's cab. He tucks the seatbelt around her, shifting into gear and getting them on the road with a silence that speaks volumes.

Especially with the Seed on the bench seat right next to her.

"So Joyce made it out okay?" she asks, putting off the impeding conversation for a little while longer.

"He did," Optimus answers, a bit of his earlier anger returning, though lessened somewhat. "He apologized profusely before handing the Seed over to me."

"He got played just like the rest of us."

"But what he did to my people was wrong," Optimus rumbles, like a building hurricane.

"I'm not saying it wasn't. I'm just saying that…people will do some pretty bad things for what they think are the right reasons. And Hydra made him believe he was doing everything right. After meeting you guys and seeing the consequences of his actions firsthand, I think he's learned his lesson. That doing things for the right reasons doesn't make it right."

"Then do we just leave him be?"

Ari mulls it over in her head, not really sure what the right answer is here. Sure, he's learned his lesson. But he willingly and knowingly did something wrong. "Joyce will answer for what he's done. He broke our treaty in the most horrific way. A new treaty will probably need to be made with the United Nations, and I'll make sure they know exactly how all of this was allowed to happen. And then we'll just…take it from there."

She knows it's not just her decision to make. The UN and the Autobots will have to do that themselves, but she'll help however she can. They'll just need to take it one step at a time.

The thing is, Optimus isn't going to be here to help them.

"You're leaving," she whispers somberly, staring down at her lap as she plays with her fingers, "aren't you."

"I must find out the truth, Ari," he answers just as quietly, like speaking softly will somehow soften the blow. But it doesn't. It still feels like someone steals the breath right out of her. "We need to find out who Lockdown was working for."

She nods, the image of purple optics flickering across her mind again. "And whoever they are is still on Cybertron. But they want to capture you. Is going alone really a good idea?"

"I am the only one capable. We have no ship and I am the only one with flight capabilities."

"Can't you just wait for the answers to come to us?" she asks desperately, tears making her throat close up, breath shuttering in and out of her. "Maybe now that everything else is over, the AllSpark will let me see more. I can try again and—"

"No, Ari."

"But I'll do better this time, I promise."

"Ari," he says firmly, voice coming from beside her this time. The finger of his holoform curls under her chin, lifting her face to look at him with watery eyes. But she can still see his soft, sad smile. "Ari, you have done nothing wrong. I already told you that. This is not about you and the AllSpark. I need to see it for myself. I can feel it."

It sits right in her chest, too, making her hate the idea even more. She doesn't want him to leave in order to get the answers. She doesn't want him to face it on his own.

But maybe this is why she hasn't been able to see before. It needs to be seen, in person. On Cybertron.

She releases herself from the seatbelt, closing the distance between them and flinging her arms around his neck. "I'll miss you," she whispers into his shoulder, burrowing her face into the soft leather of his jacket.

"I'll miss you, too, Ari," he replies, voice rumbling in her ear as his strong arms enfold her in an embrace that always feels like home. "But it will not be forever. And when I return, I will have answers for us."

"What about Elita?" she sniffles, knowing it's a low blow but…she really doesn't want him to go.

"I've already spoken to her and she understands. She will be in charge of the Autobots in my stead." He pulls back slightly, enough to look her in the eye. Lifting one hand, he thumbs away her tears. "I know the both of you will do well to look after the others, and take care of the rest of Hydra."

"You really think so?"

This still feels like it's all her fault, Hydra getting as bad as it did. Will she really be able to get rid of them once and for all, plus make sure they never come back again?

Optimus smiles, eyes shining with the light of his confidence. "I know you can do it. And even though I won't be here to help you, you are still not alone."

He's right. She has Sideswipe and Sunstreaker and Elita. She has her parents and Rob and her friends at N.E.S.T., not to mention all of the Avengers and Phil and Fury. She has so many people at her back. Even if they didn't have the AllSpark, she knows they can do this.

She leans forward again, hugging him, this time with a smile. "You're right. We'll be able to pick ourselves back up again. And we'll be able to build something new out of the ashes, something to protect the people of the world the right way. Something you'll be proud of when you get back."

He chuckles, holding her closer. "I have no doubt."

Author's Note

So the AllSpark is going to help them get rid of Hydra. Insider knowledge really does come in handy, doesn't it? Honestly, I hated how they decided to just do away with SHIELD and everything (in the movie verse anyway) since it still did a lot of good. The Avengers can take care of the entire world all by themselves. But hopefully with Ari's ability to sniff out the bad, they'll be able to build something like SHIELD, something new, to take its place. Something all of them can be proud of.

Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!