Chapter 20

Lase Vanderbelt couldn't help thinking she was walking to her death. Even as she drew closer to her former employers laboratory, she felt as if the Grim Reaper's bony hand was touching her back. He was waiting...

Hurry up, human! Starscream's impatient voice shouted into her head.

"I'm going as fast as I can," she snapped. "There's only so much one can deal with walking in their bare feet." and boy did her feet hurt.

Why didn't you put shoes on then? he taunted.

"You didn't give me a chance to."

Starscream didn't argue with her there because they both knew that was true. Who cares what I said? he finally demanded indignantly. Just get us back as soon as possible so I can finally get myself out of this disgusting body!

Why did that offend her so much? she asked herself. It wasn't like she expected any else from a heartless Decepticon who only cared about himself anyway.

Maybe because he wouldn't shut up about it and it was getting on her nerves. It wasn't even her fault he wound up inside her head, it was her former boss's obsession with the evolution of mankind and trying to create the perfect cyber human that caused all of this.

Like he didn't know that anyway...

While getting him out of her was a wonderful idea and she was thrilled at the prospect, she couldn't help that nagging feeling inside her that said she was making a horrible mistake. That if she got him back into his body he would just betray her and end her life.

That brought her no comfort at all.

0000

Ratchet studied the girl's expression as she started at the x-ray image of herself with rapt attention. He could tell she was having a hard time believing that those very images were of her body. She kept rubbing her arms as if she were cold and shaking her head in apparent denial of it all.

Poor kid. He wished he could tell her otherwise but after all he'd seen and heard he knew everything she was being exposed to right at that moment was factual and it wouldn't change. He watched the girl walk over to the images and take a good long look as if she were letting it sink in. He couldn't blame her for acting like that at all.

Then she asked the terrible question he'd been hoping not to answer. "Is my body falling apart?"

"I wouldn't say that-" he began cautiously, unsure how to answer that.

"Then why does it look like that?" she demanded, turning to him. "It's not normal! I'm not normal!"

"Now calm down," he ordered, trying to keep his own voice level. "You're not falling apart, you're just different."

"Different?" she snapped. "I'm a freak! Just look at me, look at my body, look at all the garbage I've gone through! I don't know anything about myself!"

Ratchet looked at Optimus. He was having trouble telling the girl what she wanted to know and the look on the Prime's face wasn't helping. He looked just as helpless as the medic felt.

"Just tell me what you know," Nina begged suddenly. "Please tell me why I am the way I am."

"I can try," the medic responded, looking back at her. "But you might not like the answer."

"I want to know anyway," she insisted. "No one else I spoke to could answer my questions. If you can do this I'll be very grateful." and it might even take away some of the fear she'd been living with the past few days.

The two robots looked at each other again then Ratchet began to explain her origins the best he could from what little he'd learned about her.

0000

Dr. Fowler had returned to his lab. He sat at his desk, his eyes rested on the broken tank that had recently housed his most prised experiment. It seemed to taunt him now, reminding him that it had escaped him, right along with it's wretched "mother".

"That woman," he grumbled. "I can't believe this, it's all her fault this happened! I shouldn't have been so stupid as to use her for my experiments!"

Yes, it was her and her strong willed personality. Somehow it had moved on to the creation! That had to be the reason why it had escaped! It had to! It was the only explanation that made sense!

So what was he going to do about it? He still had to find the girl and Petra hadn't been much of a help. She'd let the girl leave!

"I shouldn't have asked for her help," he grumbled. "I should have known she wouldn't be trustworthy." Insane people seldom were and now he was paying for it. "Dumb broad."

Fowler got up from his desk and walked into the room where Starscream's body lay. He paused a moment,. frowning at the corpse with annoyance. If he didn't get he specimens back he would be forced to star over again and it would be much harder without an egg donor also the liquid metal inside the machine was low and he couldn't risk taking more out of it than he actually needed.

"Who knows how long that will last?" he muttered, placing his hand on the Decepticon corpse's arm. "It's surprising there are even anything like that inside this thing to begin with." he looked up at the corpse's face. 'I wonder how it's even made...?"

000

Sari sat in the front seat of bumblebee's vehicle mode as the yellow robot drove down the street back to the autobot base. Her arms were folded and her expression was grim. She wasn't happy about the outcome of their misadventure with the blond woman and Bee was getting the suspicion that she blamed him for the outcome.

'It wasn't my fault!" he exclaimed defensively. "There wasn't anything I could do"

"Please just be quiet," the girl ordered. 'I'm not in the mood to talk about it."

The Autubot wanted to talk about it but something told him doing so would be a very bad idea so he said nothing and they continued their drive back to the warehouse in silence.

0000

Lase paused when dr. Fowler's lab came in sight. She noticed that there was a light on in the building which told her somebody was in there. She also noticed the car parked in front of the building, a car she knew all too well.

Suddenly she felt herself be nudged forward and Starscream's voice hissing into her mind. 'what are you doing?" he hissed. "Get over there and wake me up!"

"I can't," she snapped. "The professor is there. If he sees me he'll probably kill me."

"So what?"

"So what?" she demanded feeling mean. She was getting tired of him verbally abusing her. "if he kills me you won't be getting your body back. How do like them apples?"

Starscream's presence seemed to fade, as if he was taking a moment to let that bit of information sink into his processor. After a moment he finally conceded. 'You're right, that would be a bad idea."

She relaxed slightly, glad that he was listening to her. "We will have to wait until he leaves," she told him. "Otherwise things are going to end badly."

"and what do we do in the meantime?" he grumbled. "Sit around and tell each other our life stories?"

She shrugged. "Why not?" she asked.

"It's none of your business."

Lase saw a car driving toward them and ducked out of view in an alley. "It's not like I care one way or another what you do or have done with your life," she declared. "It was merely a suggestion. You can keep your past to yourself since I know all too well that you Decepticons don't care about anyone but yourselves anyway."

"and who told you that?" he scoffed. "Autobots?"

"It's pretty obvious since you all decided it was a pile of fun to attack this city without provocation," she retorted. "You guys can fight with the autobots all you want, heck go ahead and kill each other for all I care, but you don't have to drag us into your petty wars."

"It's far from petty."

"I'm sure," she rolled her eyes, though she wondered where her sudden courage was coming from. She'd probably totally regret everything she was saying to him later but right now she didn't care all that much. He couldn't exactly hurt her how he was now anyway. "But I'm sure you won't tell me why it's not how I said it anyway since you think it's below you to explain anything to a mere fleshling. Why does it matter if I know anyway? There's nothing I can do with that information."

"You could tell the autubots."

Lase sat down on the pavement, her eyes on the lab across the street. "I'm pretty sure they know your intentions anyway besides I'm pretty sure once I revive you you're just going to kill me anyway. It won't matter if you tell me what is going on with your machines or not. I'll die knowing what it's all about. It won't help my fate any but at least I'll die knowing why I'm a pawn to you."

Her words were met with silence, just like she'd expected them to.

0000

As Ratchet explained his theory on her origins he noticed the girl's expression become more and more horrified. "I'm not sure I'm right," he finally told her. "I am just guessing from what I've seen on the x-rays."

"But you're basically saying that I really am not a normal person after all," she stated. "Everything seems to say that, even my own body."

"I'm sorry..."

Nina sat down on the table, looking down at her hands. "It all makes sense. It explains why all this has happened to me..." she reached up and touched the mark on her face. "I'm a monster."

"I wouldn't say that-"

"Then what would you call it?" she snapped, looking up at him. "I wasn't made how you were and I wasn't born like a normal person! I woke up in a tank!"

The two autobots had no response to that.

Just then they heard the sound of tires squealing and then robot parts shifting. Either Prowl, Bumblebee, or Bulkhead had returned. Optimus left the room to see who it was, leaving Nina and Ratchet alone. She looked up at him, her expression changing from scared to sad.

"You can't fix me, can you?"

Ratchet gave her a startled look. Why would she even ask him that? "No, I can," he told her very gently, to prevent her from freaking out further. "I'm sorry."

It's kind of hard reviving an older story. I had to read over my older chapters to remember what I was doing. Hope you enjoyed it and sorry for keeping you waiting. I'll try updating again soon.