Halfbreed:

So yes it's been a while but here's chapter 21, i appreciated all the reviews i got for chapter 20! I've had a bit of a rough time since my last update and I want to apologize for that, testing, falling behind in work and school. Plus some personal issues that have now been resolved for the time being. I really am sorry :( I love the support though, it's what keeps fanfiction on my mind :) My goal is to reach 100 reviews at least by time this story is over but we'll see what happens. Alright, alright I'll stop my blabbering; here's that chapter! Review, enjoy, and thank you for your patience :D God bless - Rin

Chapter 21: Revival and Revelations

"Any change?" Cain asked as he came over to Ratchet, whom was fiddling around with some little device in his servo.

The CMO vented, his optics looking up at the impatient youngster. One of Cain's most useful traits was his loyalty and devotedness to what he cared about. Unfortunately, that also made him as worried and impatient as a femme who had lost a sparkling in Ratchet's book. It also made him leap blindly after what he was taking care of without thinking, which had caused him much trouble in the past.

"Cain, if there was anything to report than you would be one of the first to know. We won't know if the treatment I gave to Kia has had any effect for a little while. Human's cycle much slower than Cybertronians." he explained to the blue mech for what felt like the hundredth time.

Cain huffed impatiently, his green optics narrowing slightly, but he shrugged and resumed his careful pacing that he had taken up for the past half an hour or so. Ratchet rolled his eyes and looked over the now resting humans. According to their time table, it was around nine thirty at night. Not exceptionally late, but the humans had been up for almost thirty-five hours straight and were extremely tired. Ratchet had offered to watch Kia while they slept and they had readily agreed.

All the bots -except Bumblebee- were too paranoid to rest. Ratchet was extremely tired after his capture and surgery, but he had to stay online while he waited for results from Kia. Optimus had volunteered to keep watch outside for Decepticons, and Cain was obviously too worried about his charge to sleep. Bumblebee had stayed up for a while reorganizing the warehouse since the recent happenings had left the place in disorder, but had fallen into recharge soon afterward in his vehicular form.

The medic quickly turned his head as the sleeping Kia behind him mumbled something, but she just tossed in her sleep and remained unconscious. Ratchet frowned and shook his helm, the energon should have at least started to take effect and yet the girl remained in her comatose state. The nanites in her system should have received the energon and shut down their search, which had aggravated her body's antibodies.

'Did I miscalculate? Did the energon just aggravate her antibodies even more?' he doubted to himself as he turned back to finish his project.

It usually wasn't in his nature to doubt or over think his actions; being a medic didn't give much time for second thoughts, but not having much experience with human medicine didn't help. Hundreds of different scenarios were running rampart through his processor as he worked.

Ratchet sighed again, a very human-like habit that he had picked up while on Earth, and looked down at the device he was working on. The orb was about the size of a human baseball but was constructed of several gears and joints that allowed the bulb positioned in the center to move. In other words, it was the main part of a Cybertronian optic. The orb had to be connected to the rest of the eye socket, but for a skilled medic like Rachet it was a simple enough procedure. He had been tinkering with the optic following his own repairs, his mind set on repairing Optimus's damaged eye. If he was going to continue fighting in this war it was best to replace his optic before the handicap made him loose his spark.

'This war...so many innocent beings killed and so many lives lost. Even with the original war over, a new one takes it's place.' Ratchet reminisced as he tightened a bolt in the optic core, making the bulb in the center flicker with blue light.

"Primus preserve us..." he muttered, and with a slight smile added, "and don't let this madness get to me."

"Talking to yourself is usually a sign that it already has." a weak voice said and the medic jumped to his feet.

Spinning around, he looked over to the small bed and watched as the girl within it shifted slightly and gave a small wave.

"Hey-ya Ratchet...glad to see you're okay."

"IT WORKED!" I winced at the loud voice but was happy when Annabelle hugged

me, almost crushing my lungs

"Course it worked, Ratchet's a genius..." I joked, my voice sounding raspy from lack of use.

Ann sat back on my bed, allowing me to breath and sit up slightly. I looked around at the bots and people gather around.

"Um..what exactly was it that worked?" I asked and silence ensued.

My eyes darted from face to face until my gaze rested on Cain who shrugged minutely. With that everyone turned to look back at Ratchet and he frowned, his servos crossing over his chassis. Everyone else looked simply relieved, if not sleepy. Especially Sam.

"That is a very...uncertain subject at best and it would be paramount to get you up and running first...But if you want I'll explain most of it."

I nodded, feeling unsure now that Ratched had said that, but curious at the same time.

"You fell unconscious after coming into contact with the Matrix of leadership."

I blinked once, thinking back to that day...seemed so long ago, but I vaguely remembered it.

"Okay, but why? All I remember was asking Optimus for the Matrix for...oh...no..." I felt my heart drop as the memories rushed back.

The worm attacking. Tron. All the spilled energon. Then when I felt the tip of the Matrix touch my palm...black.

"Tron..." I breathed and then my head shot up, "Where is he?!"

No body looked me in the eye this time, and I felt my stomach clench in sadness and guilt. Everyone shifted uncomfortably and I looked down at the blanket covering my legs, unsure of what to do. I had only been awake for half an hour at most and already I felt like just curling up and sleeping once more. The temperature in the room seemed to drop and the silence was nearly permeable.

"He was offlined."

The deep voice made half the people in the room jump and we all turned to look at Optimus. He looked around at the surrounding bots and humans before looking to me.

"I see that Ratchet's cure worked." he said before kneeling down.

There was a moment of awkward silence before I felt I could speak again. I took a deep breath and slowly let it out, feeling more questions start to pummel my brain, even as a tight feeling spread through my chest.

"What...happened exactly, and what's happened since?" I asked, not exactly sure if I really wanted to know.

Optimus looked around at the bots and humans that had taken to staring at him before looking back down at me. His shoulders rose and fell with what looked like a sigh. Then, the bot shifted into a slightly more comfortable position and began the long explanation of what had happened while I had been unconscious.

Megatron directed a group of Snatcher-controlled Decepticons to search a row of collapsed buildings, his optics bright and murderous. Yet, it was not Megatron who was watching or commanding the troops; the worm attached to him, Novo, told him every thing to do. The worm received his orders directly from the former Decepticon doctor. If he could still move, Megatron would have torn out his own spark rather then let his movement be controlled by that scrap of filth that now sat on his thrown. But his limbs remained unresponsive to his commands.

The Decepticons listened like the zombified slaves they were and began to shift piles of rubble and metal beams, searching for the remnants of the humans and remaining Autobots. They were the only snag in the plan that Scalpel had broadcasted to his Snatcher troops. To finish building new Cybertron and wipe out the remaining humans left on Earth with...

Megatron didn't know what the conclusion was. Novo blocked that information from the Decepticon's view, but he could tell it was some sort of powerful weapon. Whatever it was Megatron knew that he had to regain control before his own plans were put to rest. If Scalpel eradicated the Autobots, that meant that Prime would be with them. And the Decepticon refused to let his longest rival be put out by any other servo but his own.

I sat in silence, Optimus and the others having just finished explaining what had happened while I had been unconscious. It felt like my brain was going to implode from all the information I had just received.

"So..." I started out looking from face to face, trying to get my facts right.

"I have little mini Cybertronians inside of me, but instead of being attacked by my body like they were before, they are now subdued by the energon you pumped inside of me." I surmised, trying to get the story straight.

Ratchet nodded, "That, I suppose, is the simplest way to put it. Though, the actual mechanics are much more complex." the medic explained. "Of course eventually the nanites will be awakened once more so you'll need regular doses of energon."

I nodded, understanding how my life would be slighter weirder, even more so than before, but as long as I was okay...

"The only thing I don't get is why the Matrix activated the nanites." I asked, looking to Optimus who blinked once.

"The Matrix is connected to anything Cybertronian and is meant as a power source," the Prime began. "And since your optic is Cybertronian, the Matrix transmitted power to it. The nanites that had been contained within the eye were mostly likely dormant because of the lack of energon, but with the power surge they reawakened."

There was another few moments of silence as I sighed and rubbed my normal eye, still feeling slightly tired and overwhelmed. It was then that Ann, Sam, and Epps all let out big yawns within a few seconds of each other and I smiled. I hadn't thought of how much more tired everyone else would be.

"I think it would be best if we all power down and get back to business in the morning." Cain said quietly and everyone nodded agreeably.

Laying back down on my cot I watched as Annabelle, Sam, and Epps almost collapse onto their sleeping bags. Meanwhile, Ratchet and Bumblebee reverted to their vehicular forms to recharge. I watched from behind heavy eye lids as Cain and Optimus spoke, seeming to disagree on something before Optimus walked off to the back of the warehouse to recharged. Cain walked off towards the entrance to what I assumed was guard duty.

My eyes slowly closed and I felt sleep, the first restful sleep covered me like an extra blanket. It didn't feel like two seconds though, before I felt something prod me awake.

"Go away..." I grumbled, waving a hand half heartedly as whatever was poking me.

"Come on Kia, you've had enough sleep." the voice of Ann chided humorously.

I cracked open an eye and saw Annabelle kneeling next to me, holding up a finger to poke me once more.

"Alright..." I muttered into my pillow before stiffly sitting up and stretching me arms above my head.

I looked over to see Ann smiling as I stretched and I smiled in return, "It's good to be back."

The older girl nodded and reached behind her to pull out a medical kit, "It's time to change your bandages and hopefully get rid of them. Your injuries haven't been treated since before you were knocked out."

My split second of happiness dwindled, "Please tell me there will be no more cutting of burnt skin." I grumbled, cringing at the memory.

Ann laughed and I noticed the slight dark spots under her eyes. My smile lessened as I thought over how much sleep and energy she and the others must've lost over trying to help me.

"No, there shouldn't be any more of that. Hurry and get up though, if infection sets in then we might have to cut a whole limb off." At this the somber thoughts started to lessen and my smile came back.

I rolled my organic eye and flipped my blanket off, stretching once more before turning to face Ann, that's when I noticed something was slightly off. My right eye sight was normal but I noticed that something seemed to be in the way of my left (robotic) eye. Four, small red lines were hanging in front of my vision and wouldn't go away.

I pulled my hair away from my face to make sure that it wasn't just a piece of hair or string but the lines remained.

"How do your ribs and hand feel?" Ann asked bringing out her medical kit and taking out fresh bandages, not noticing my confused look.

"Not bad actually." I twisted my torso slightly and flexed my wrist while still trying to pin point the source of the lines. "I guess those nanite things actually messed with my head..." I muttered.

"Why?" Ann asked curiously as she took my wrist and started unwrapping the bandages.

"I'm seeing these little red lines crossing my vision." I said looking down at the palm of my uninjured hand and saw the four red lines come together to form a cross directly in the center of my vision.

"Like little worms?" Annabelle asked, sounding grossed out as she started to take off the last layer of wrappings.

"No...more like a...target. Do you think that's weird?" I asked looking up at Annabelle's face.

I was expecting a neutral face that would tell me not to worry, instead I saw Ann's face pale and her face slacken in what seemed to be disbelief.

"Ann...what's wrong I..." I looked down at my other palm.

"Holy crap!"

I felt my heart drop and at first I wasn't sure at what I was seeing. There was some sort of circular, metal, hole in the center of my palm. Spreading out from the hole were several silver lines that disappeared under my skin like metallic veins.

"I...my...my frickin' hand!" I hissed twisting it this way and that to see the source of the growth but it seamlessly melded into my flesh.

I started scratching at the metal but when it began to hurt I stopped, the idea that this metal thing was actually part of me started to sink in.

"What the hell..." Ann breathed.

I looked at her as panic started to rise up in my throat, threatening tears that burned in my organic eye. Ann looked up and put a hand on my leg, "Kia, it's okay! We'll figure this out we need to just keep calm." she chided.

I shook my head, "I...I can't Ann..." I felt my hands start to tremble and my shoulders shook.

Annabelle wrapped me in a hug as I tried to take some deep breaths but my chest felt tight.

"What's happening to me!?"

Wow that was like pulling teeth to get out :( I'm so sorry for the wait but I hopefully can get back on track with this. I have a whole stack of other fanfictions in the back of my mind but I refuse to let them loose until I finish this and my other TF fic. Hopefully you all can forgive me ;) Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! - Rin