Only one more chapter after this guys. ONLY ONE! I don't know whether to cry or cheer... Eh, I'll let you know after I post the last chapter which I'm not sure when that will be. These next couple of weeks are gonna be pretty busy I think. I'm spending most of this week at my grandma's house with my mom's side of the family like we do every year around this time. I won't have internet access there and if I do talk to you, it's because I'm on my phone, but I can't do much else on my phone besides leave comments. Then next week we have a family wedding, and I have no laptop to use at the hotel, assuming it even has wireless, so the situation will be the same.
Anyway.
Alice Gone Madd—I so totally agree! And I think you'll like this chapter then. ;D
WolfAssassin396—Hunter thanks you for sticking by her all this time. :D AND YOU CAN STOP GOING MENTAL NOW—HERE'S THE NEXT CHAPTER! XDDDDDDD
AllSpark Princess—Had to happen at some point. Took her long enough though. XD
SunnySides—It's okay. I'm jealous too. Well... okay, maybe it's not okay to be jealous, but at least know that you're not alone with your jealousy. LOL No. No it will not rock in the desert. I was wondering if people would catch those. ;) I want a Daddy Optimus too! And... HERE'S THE UPDATE!
The Cybertronium Warrior—They do now. :)
I do not own Transformers Prime, unfortunately. I'm simply borrowing the characters. I only own my OC, the Hybrid race, and any other characters you may not recognize.
" Far away from the land of our birth... we fly our flag in some foreign earth! We sailed away, like our fathers before. These colours don't run from cold, bloody war...!" Iron Maiden; These Colours Don't Run
34
Ω Never Surrender Ω
Bombardier continued to watch the cliff and wait until finally half an hour had passed. That was it. If Hunter was still alive or had come back to life then she would be back up that cliff by now. Maybe she really hadn't been the Fuser. Oh, well, as Starscream had said, that was one less pathetic Autobot sympathizer to deal with now. Chuckling, the Hybrid turned back towards the force-field wall, transforming into his Cybertronian form. He smiled sinisterly in at his captives. " Time's up," he sneered. He pointed. " You first, Prime."
Inside the cell Optimus stood steadfast and firm, undaunted by his captor's taunting. If this was how he was to become one with the AllSpark, then he was not going to go down showing fear and cowardice despite just how afraid he truly was of this mech. Hunter hadn't either time she'd met the end so neither would he. He owed her that much. " Come and get me then, Bombardier," he rumbled under his breath.
Suddenly the ground began to shake. For a few moments it quaked and rolled underneath all of their feet, and then, as abruptly as it had started, it stopped. Everything on both sides of the field became quite, with only the sound of the wind. Raf looked down at the ground beneath his shoes and then back up and around, taking everyone into his sight. " I'm not the only one who felt that right?" he questioned a bit nervously.
Bumblebee, Ratchet, Arcee, and all three children looked up at Bulkhead. Bulk, realizing he was being stared at, jumped and looked back at all of them. " Wasn't me," he quickly dismissed the silent question.
" What was that?" Jack questioned.
Optimus optics drifted from Bombardier back over to the drop-off. A small smile pulled up his lipplates as an overwhelming sensation of confidence and power flooded into his spark. He knew exactly what is was. " Hunter," he murmured, relief, joy, and pride in his voice all at once.
Bombardier had turned to look at the cliff as well. He couldn't deny the feeling of pure terror that was knotting up in his tank as the seconds ticked by. No. It couldn't be!
All at once what looked a lot like a blue shooting star shot up out of the mouth of the canyon; a fireball blasting into Bombardier without warning, throwing him back against the force-field wall with another crack. Shaking his head and rubbing it, Bomber looked up into the cloudy, snowy sky see a tiny scarlet and blue speck hovering high above him. Using his microscopic vision, he honed in on the speck to identify just what it was, thought he had a pretty good idea. The Hybrid cursed.
" Bombardier," the speck addressed him as it slowly began to descended from the air, coming closer and closer, " you are being brought to justice for your crimes against Cybertronians and humanity." Hunter softly landed on the snow across the flat from the black and red mech. " No longer will you reign terror over this planet nor any other planet. Your days are over, bounty hunter."
Bomber snarled at that.
" You have a choice," Hunter continued, undeterred. " I won't ask you to join the Autobots, because I know what your answer there will be. But you can lay down your arms and surrender peacefully so that you may be brought to justice through due process of Hybrid law."
" You don't know nothin' of Hybrid law!" Bombardier accused harshly.
" Which is why I urge you to take the first option," the femmling replied calmly, " because your second option is to allow the Fuser to decide how you should pay for your crimes." Her face suddenly darkened. " And as you said, Bomber, I know nothing of Hybrid law."
Bombardier chuckled. " Finally accepted the truth then, huh, tidbit?"
A slight smirk tugged up a corner of Hunter's mouth. " As a matter of fact, I have," she conceded. " However, the question is, Bombardier," she drew out her sword and held it out before her in a ready position, gazing through the blue fire, " can you handle the truth?"
The older Hybrid chuckled, unsheathing his own blade, also moving it to a ready position. " Well, let's find out, shall we?" With a battle cry, he ran forward, sword poised and ready to strike.
Hunter too surged forward. As she meet her opponent, she swung her sword, his blade breaking upon hers, then she swung her weapon down and slammed the butt of the hilt into the back of his helm. " Hah!"
" Yah!" Bomber stumbled and tumbled forward.
Putting her sword away, Hunter reached down and grabbed him by the back of his armor before picking him up, spinning him around, and him back against the force-field. She began to march towards him, a deadly gleam in her optics.
Shaking off his daze, Bombardier's gaze shot up to the approaching femmling. By Primus she was so much stronger now. The bounty hunter didn't know if he'd be able to hold his own against her this time. In a panic he punched out a fireball at her. It was deflected with a flick of her wrist. He tried again. She caught it in her hands and easily extinguished it. Bomber got to his feet and threw both hands out, sending a massive wave of flames in her direction.
With a smirk Hunter leaped through the wall, parting it with her own pyrokenetic ability, and grabbed the mech's hands, reaching inside of him with her power and extinguishing the flames from within. She then locked her fingers with his, spun around, and through him across the snowy mountain top. " Hoo-augh!"
" Uh! Argh!" Bomber hit the ground, rebounded off it, and hit it again, skidding across and gouging into it. Then he lay there, groaning, too pained to move as he healed. Hearing crunching snow, he slowly cracked his optics open to see Hunter approaching him once more, looking just as murderous this time.
" You've hunted me," the scarlet and black-and-silver striped femmling snarled, " you've hurt me, you've killed me, and you've hurt and threatened the people that I love." She stopped and stood a distance that could be easily closed with two big strides away from the mech and glared down upon him. " You're never gonna do what you did to me to someone else ever again," she softly vowed, lifting her open hands up, hot blue flames ignited in her palms.
Bombardier stared wide-eyed at her in terror.
With a shout, Hunter lunged forward, ready to smote the mech right there. Her hands curled into fists, and she got ready to throw them forward to bring the fire down upon him... but she suddenly froze, the fireballs dropping form her hands and landing right in front of her before being extinguished in the wet snow. Hunter stood there, frozen in mid-stride, arms extended as if to still fire at him, but no flames at her fists, optics wide in shock and confusion, and Bombardier's hands extended out towards her as if to signal her to stop. What in the name of Primus? Bombardier began to move his hands and Hunter's body was inflicted with pain as her outstretched arms were practically pushed and folded back onto themselves before being forced down to her sides despite how much she tried to stop it. The youngling gritted her teeth against the agony. What the Pit was going on here?! It was like she wasn't in control of her own body anymore! " Wh-what's... happening?" she strained out as her body was forced into a pin-straight, stalk-still position, her arms and legs pressed so tightly together and to her torso that she felt like the trunk of a tree.
Rising to his feet, hands still outstretched towards the femmling and held in a strange position, Bombardier panted and chuckled. " Looks like the odds have changed again, tidbit," he teased. He moved his hands again.
Groaning, grunting, straining and fight for control, Hunter was forced down into a kneeling position, her head lowered. The realization hit her. She'd never seen the power at work before, only ever heard of it, but there could be no other explanation as to what was happening to her. " You..." she gasped, screwing her eyes shut and biting against the ever present pain, " you can... control energon?"
" Very observant," Bomber growled. He thrust his hands out at her.
" Ah!" Still made to kneel, Hunter was forced into a grotesque position that made her look like an 'O' the top of her helm almost touching her heel-strut, her arms stretched painfully far out behind her. At that moment, the fifteen-year-old was just thanking Primus that she was as flexible as she was. " But... but how?" she practically squeaked. In that position, even talking made the pain worse.
" You're a smart kid," the mech replied. " You tell me." He drew his hands back.
With a sharp cry of alarm, relief, and more pain, Hunter was pulled back into the kneeling position, though this time she was practically folded in half. She was supposed to tell him how he could control energon? How the pit could she do that?! She didn't fraggin' know! Slag, she'd only just practically just discovered about his absorption power and the fact that he'd killed her father with it... wait. Absorption power... He'd killed her father with it by draining the very life-force out of him. He'd then used it on her and that's how he now possessed the same abilities she did... despite the blessing of sixteen lives from Primus, of course. What person did she know to have/have had the power to manipulate energon? The young femme wracked her processor and then it all came together and made sense. Her optics snapped open. " Scarface Malice..." she whispered.
Bomber snickered. She really was a smart one, this girl. He moved his hands again, pulling her trembling body back up into a position so that she was still kneeling but could look at him directly. " What was that, tidbit?"
Hunter gritted against the pain and then met his optics with her own hard gaze. " Scarface Malice," she repeated, " my great-great grandsire. He had the ability to control energon—that's one the reasons why he was so evil and so feared." Her optics narrowed in accusation. " You stole that power away from him, didn't you?"
" And how would I have done that?"
" The same way you killed my father. You drained the very life-force out of him and extinguished his spark. Am I right, Bombardier?"
The bounty hunter said nothing, only tapped his olfactory sensors with a finger in a gesture that clearly stated 'right on the nose'.
" But why?"
" You're grandsire hired me to assassinate your daddy, but he never once thought that the reason I came to him in the first place was because I'd already been hired to extinguish his spark too. And the ol' coot never suspected a thing until I already had my hands on him, leeching his power, takin' it as my own. Of course that wasn't till after he'd paid for drainin' your sire dry."
" So it was all for money?"
" Of course it was all for money, tidbit! Money makes the world go 'round, and it makes me pretty damn happy too. Besides, leechin' your daddy was hardly worth the money alone. I didn't get any power from it. But Scarface however... well, that's a different story. The chance to have the ability to reach inside someone and control them... that power only comes along maybe once in a life-cycle if at all, tidbit. It was just too good a chance to pass up." The mech laughed. " And I'll tell ya one thing for sure, tidbit," he moved his hands again, forcing his captive into another kneeling back-bend, " I've sure had a lotta fun with your granddaddy's power." He slowly began to lift his hands toward the sky.
Hunter slowly was pulled up and held in mid-air. She couldn't help but release a small cry of pain at the sensation. She hated this! It was like her veins were being slowly ripped from her body and spliced in half all at the same time! For a moment she was held in place... and then she was suddenly roughly slammed back down into the hard, compact earth. " Ahh!" She was flipped onto her back, then flipped back over onto her face before being rolled onto her side, one leg forced to rise up in almost a complete vertical angle from her body and spun around in the snow. " Ahh-ha-ahh!"
" Do you have any idea what's it's like to reach inside someone and control 'em like a puppet, tidbit?" Bomber questioned. " It's amazing." His sneer turned classically sadistic. " I can even rip someone limb from limb just by using it." As if to prove his point, the mech stopped spinning the poor girl, pulled her up on his feet again, lifted her right arm out to the side... and wrenched her shoulder out of it's socket.
Tears welled up in Hunter's eyes and all she could see was wavering stars. " Ahhh!"
The male Hybrid chuckled. " How's it feel, Fuser?" He force the girl back into her human form, pulled his hands back, and then threw them further up the mountain, thus throwing his captive with them.
With a scream, Hunter slammed face-first down into the snow and rock, her shoulder being knocked back into place and her consciousness being knocked out. " Uhm..."
Laughing, Bombardier stalked towards her. He stopped and stood over her, looking down at her as if she were the most pathetic and despicable thing on the planet. " How's it feel to be utterly helpless?" He raised his giant foot and prepared to stomp down and crush the teenager like a bug.
" No!" Optimus threw himself against the force-field, once again trying to break through. He was not going to lose her again!
The other Autobots began to slam their chassis and fists up against the wall as well. They couldn't let Hunter die, not after what she done for all of them! And even though it didn't do much but give them bruises, Jack, Miko, and Raf started kicking and slamming against the force-field too, screaming the entire time. " Hunter! Get up! Wake up!"
" Hunter!" Optimus threw himself against the force-field one more time and was rewarded with a sharp crack. He quickly looked up to see a slight ripple in the wall. Is that what he thought it was? Angling his head so that he could get a different view in a different light, the Prime looked again. Yes! Yes, there it was! A crack in the force-field! Right where Bombardier had hit the wall! Hunter's sonic scream and force of the impacts the bounty hunter had taken against it must have weakened it and caused it to give. That was there ticket out! The Autobot commander turned to the others who were all still throwing themselves at the wall. " Everyone, get back!" he ordered. " Get back and shield the humans and your optics!"
The 'Bots all looked at him blankly for a moment, then they acted upon his orders. Grabbing their human companions the all hurried to the back corner of the cell and turned their backs towards the wall.
Optimus turned back to the force-field. Putting on his battle mask, he primed a cannon and placed it directly along the weak spot. " Primus, please let this work," he whispered. He then fired.
" I wonder how you'll come back to life if I squish ya into a pancake, tidbit," Bomber mused, foot still poised over the redheaded child. " Any thoughts?"
Hunter moaned, just starting to come to.
" Guess we'll find out." The black and red mech was just about ready to slam his foot down when suddenly an explosion shook him off balance. " Whoa-oh!" He regained his footing only to be dealt a painful shot to the shoulder that knocked him off his feet and caused him to go skidding down the slope towards the cliff's edge.
As Hunter came back to reality she was being rained down upon by what felt a lot like feathers. Hot feathers. What was going on? The fifteen-year-old didn't have time to process it before the sound of revving engines and tires crunching on snow and skidding to a stop reached her ears. Strong, warm, protective arms were suddenly around her, lifting her up out of the cold, wet snow and cradling her to a broad chest. Instinctively, the fifteen-year-old rested her head against a shoulder and sniffed. Sweet aged wine. " Optimus...?" she muttered almost incoherently.
" It's all right, Hunter," the Prime assured her as his holoform carefully placed her in his passenger seat. He closed the door, locking her inside the warm, safe confines of his cab. " I'm here. Everything is going to be all right. Autobot, roll out! Maximum overdrive!" He floored the gas pedal and drifted across the snow, heading back in the direction of the cell because, as far as he knew, that was the only exit out of this hell hole.
Laying limp in his passenger seat, Hunter murmured, " Optimus... Bombardier... he's gonna kill us. All of us."
" No he won't," Optimus assured her firmly. " Not if I have anything to say about it." He went faster. The red and blue semi was almost inside the cell when suddenly an utterly painful sensation ripped through him and he was forced out of his alternate mode and into robot mode.
Hunter, unfortunately, didn't stop when he did and continued to fly forward until she hit the hard metal floor of the cell. " Uh..." she lay there unmoving.
The other 'Bots skidded to a stop inside the cell as well and whipped around to stare at their commander in shock. " Optimus!" the all shouted in unison.
Optimus only stared back at them in silence. He was in too much pain to respond, and it wasn't like he could if he'd wanted to anyway. His jaw was being clamped shut by some invisible force.
That's when Bombardier came stalking up behind him, a deadly scowl on his faceplate. " That... is... it!" he raged. " I've had enough of you Prime!" He forced the Autobot commander down onto his knees before pushing him into a bowing position, almost doubling him over.
The other Autobots—even Ratchet—came out of their alternate modes, releasing their human companions, and charged forward, weapons ready for battle. " Haaaah!"
Bomber held up a hand out in their direction and they all froze in place. " I'll get to you, don't worry," he assured them. Then he turned his eyes back on a trembling their trembling commander. " The Prime's first." With a flick of his other hand, the Hybrid bent the Prime back into a kneeling back-bend, and stood over the top of him, gazing down into his wide optics. " Ya know," he couldn't help but chuckle, " your spark-daughter looked at me in that exact same way when I killed her. You two are so much alike. Ya even have the same optics."
Inside the cell, watching out past the frozen bodies of their Autobots, Jack, Miko, and Raf watched on in horror. This couldn't happen! It couldn't end like this! Jack suddenly turned away and sprinted back towards Hunter, who still lay where she'd fallen, to weak to move or even open her eyes. He grabbed her shoulder and shook her. " Hunter!" he practically screamed in her ear. " Hunter! You have to get up! Please, you have to get up! PLEASE!"
Miko and Raf followed his lead. They all began shaking the girl, slapping her, trying to get her to wake up.
" Come on, red, wake up!"
" Hunter, you're the only one that can save them!"
" Come on, Hunter! Hunter, get up! Hunter, Bombardier has Optimus!"
At that, Hunter's sapphire blue eyes began to open. " Optimus...?" she snagged onto her spark-father's name.
" Yeah, Optimus!" Miko screeched. " Crazy, psycho bounty hunter guy has the Boss 'Bot!"
" Optimus..."
" Hunter, he's gonna kill 'im!" Raf shouted.
" So tired..."
" Hunter, you have to get up now! Bombardier is gonna kill him! Hunter, get up! You have to get up! For Optimus!" Jack added the last part, hoping, praying it would work.
It did. Slowly, Hunter began to get up. Bracing a palm against the floor, she shakily began to rise up to her knees, then grabbed the wall as she started to get to her feet. The girl put a hand to her throbbing head. "Ooh..." That's when something caught her eye and she looked up to see Bombardier standing over the restricted form of Optimus.
Morphing his hand into a blade, Bombardier raised it high above his head. " Don't worry, Prime," he said with a twisted smile, " it's just business." He swung the blade down.
" NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Bombardier suddenly froze, his blade mid-way to Optimus' throat.
At the same time, Optimus and the other Autobots fell to the ground, released from their invisible bonds. Panting, Optimus looked up to see a frozen stiff and very much in pain bounty hunter standing over him then looked over past the recovering forms of his soldiers to see Hunter standing there, one hand stretched out towards Bombardier. A look that was a mix of desperation, terror, amazement, and anger clouded her beautiful features as a few tears trickled down her cheeks. The red and blue mech's optics widened, realizing what was happening. " Hunter..." he breathed.
Bombardier's optics too were trained on the child. He stared at her in disbelief. " How...?" he forced out.
An epiphany of understanding quickly flashed onto Hunter's face before she smirked. " It would seem that you're not the only one who can control energon, Bomber," she stated. She formed her hand into a fist, causing Bombardier to transform from his Cybertronian form to his human one with a painful scream. Then she pulled her fist back a bit before thrusting it out towards the Decepticon, causing him to fly backwards. The girl stalked towards him, only pausing beside her spark-father for a moment to place a hand on his and gaze up into his face, silently asking if he was all right. Once he'd smiled and nodded she continued on toward her enemy.
Scrambling to his feet, the red-eyed man threw his hands out towards the teenager in a desperate attempt to stop her as he'd done before. It seemed to work for a moment, causing her to pause in her tracks and struggle to take a step, but she cast his power off to the side and he went flailing once again. " Impossible!"
Hunter stood before him, raising her arms off to the side. " Scarface Malice was my great-great grandsire, Bombardier," she said. " I'm part of his energon-line. I inherited his power, which means that mine is stronger than yours. Your technique is useless against me! Hah!" She thrust her hands out at him again, pushing him along the snow towards the drop-off, when he went over the edge, instead of letting him fall, she held him in place for a few seconds before pulling him back up and over to face-plant into the ground. Releasing her hold on his she reached down and brought out her sword, the blade coming out of 'sleep' mode almost the minute she touched. it. " It's over, Bombardier," she snarled.
Bombardier pushed himself up onto his knees and glared out at her from under his eyebrows. " So what now?" he inquired darkly.
" Your death. Hrraahh!" Hunter pushed off the snow and leaped forward, sword raised above her head and ready to strike. She was almost on top of Bombardier when she suddenly stopped, searing, blinding, unspeakable pain permeating every cell and molecule of her body. The flame-saber dropped from her grasp as her arms fell limp at her sides. A waterfall of energon cascaded down her chin from her mouth. More oozed out of the wound in the center of her chest where Bombardier's fingers—clawed even when he was human—penetrated her body.
The man smiled and snickered. " My death, huh?" he questioned, looking into the fifteen-year-old's blue eyes which were already glazed over. " Doesn't look like my death, tidbit, but it sure looks an awful lot like yours." He pushed his fingers and claws further into her chest.
" Ughm..." Hunter groaned, squeezing her eyes shut. She began to choke on her own energon and coughed, splattering it over everything. She gasped for breath only to start coughing again. Hellish pain wracked her body with each cough.
Bomber just chuckled, watching as she doubled over his hand in agony. Inside her chest he slowly moved his fingers, causing her even more pain. He could feel the warmth of her spark just at his fingertips. " I can feel your spark..." he mused, grazing his claws over the pulsating crystal-like object, "... beating." He suddenly pushed his hand all the way into her chest and wrapped it around her spark before harshly wrenching her up off her feet and holding her above his head. " I'm gonna finish this here and now," he growled up at her. " Let's see how well you come back to life when your very essence is crushed to dust." He constricted his fist around the redhead's spark, feeling it crack in his grip, feeling her writhe in pain because of it. Then he threw her back on the ground. " But first, watch your friends beg for mercy and die at my hands." He stalked away, heading back up the slope towards where the Autobots and children were.
Pushing through the agony, Hunter propped herself up on an elbow and looked after him. She couldn't let this happen. She couldn't let him kill her family—she had to stop him! Looking around, her eyes suddenly came to rest on her flame-saber. A crackling sound then grabbed her attention and she looked down at the ground to see that ice and stone edge of the cliff was beginning to crack and break away from all the times she and Bombardier had been bashed into it. What's more, she noticed that the crack was following Bomber—the cliff breaking under his feet. It was her only option. Gritting against the pain, Hunter sat up, reached out towards her sword hilt, and raised it as far above her as she could force herself too. " Aaahhh!" With as much strength as she had left she roughly wedged the awakened blade down into the crack closest too her and wrenched it back her way. There was a groan and a rumble and suddenly the crack grew bigger and splintered off in a thousand other directions, one passing right in front of Bombardier's feet.
The bounty hunter stuttered stepped backwards and stared down at the fissure in disbelief before whipping around to see Hunter, blade of her sword still wedged into the rock and ice. " You little..." his voice was drowned out by a deafening crack. The whole cliff side dropped down about six inches.
Up on top of the slope, the Autobots and kids watched on in disbelief.
" Hunter..." Optimus whispered.
Hunter looked up and met her spark-father's optics. A small, sad smile creased her lips.
There was another crack and the cliff dropped again and sloped downwards into the canyon. Bombardier feel on his butt and skidded down the land mass, desperately flailing around for something to grab on to so he wouldn't go veering over the side of the cliff. He was stopped, but not in the way he thought. He was stopped when Hunter's razors skewered him through the chest, piercing his spark. He slowly turned his head and met her gaze, mouth open in a gasp.
The teenager smirked at him, blue eyes flashing. " We started this together," she commented, " let's go out together." With that the whole cliff gave way and they went plummeting into the abyss.
The others watched on in shock. Then the rest of the mountainside began to crumble and give way. Optimus spun around and grabbed the children. " Run!" he barked at his soldiers. " To the cell!" The cell was the only thing that wasn't a hard-light illusion. It was the only thing that was truly real. Everyone did as he commanded. Bulkhead was the last one to enter the cell just as the rest of Bombardier's illusion came tumbling down around them.
Nobody knew how long it lasted—the fall of the illusion—but it seemed to last forever for everyone. When all the crumbling and rumbling finally stopped, Optimus cracked his eyes opened and turned to dull light. Slowly he unfolded himself from the protective shell he'd become in order to shelter the children and set them down on the ground before standing up.
Everyone else slowly began to get up as well.
Walking to he opening of the cell, Optimus pushed back a large piece of thick metal. He was immediately blinded by bright sunlight and a wave of extreme hit slammed into him, causing his internal coolant system to immediately kick on. The Prime covered his optics. After a moment, he carefully looked back outwards, blinking rapidly until he's eyes had adjusted to the light. Then he stood there in shock. Not only had Bombardier's illusion come crashing down but his entire fortress had as well. There was a massive debris field of stone and metal and other matter all around them; the cell was the only thing that had stayed intact, and even then just barely. And around the debris field was sweltering, hot, white sand. They were in the middle of a desert! Optimus stared in shock for a moment more before he heard the footsteps of his soldiers coming up behind him, then he plastered on his mask.
" By the AllSpark..." Ratchet breathed, looking out on the unbelievable spectacle.
A few more exclamations and whistles of awe rose up from the others.
" Boy," Bulkhead mused, " when Hunt brings the house down, she brings it all the way down!"
That's when something clicked inside Optimus processor. Hunter—where was she? Where was Hunter? Where was his daughter?! " Everyone begin searching!" he ordered, all but sprinting out into the debris. " We do not stop until we find Hunter, that is an order!"
The others didn't any time. Taking their respective human companions with them, they all hurried out into the debris field to begin the search and rescue mission. Everyone refused to believe that this was a 'search and recovery' mission.
Minutes passed. Then hours. Nobody was finding anything, and there was still a lot of debris to sift through. Though nobody wanted to admit it or think about it, in the back of all their minds there was this thought: If Hunter hadn't been dead when they'd begun this search she could easily be by now.
Pushing the gruesome thoughts away from his process, Prime began searching harder, and he was searching the hardest of them all. His little girl was out here somewhere and he was going to find her and bring her home in whatever condition she was no matter how long it took him. As he was digging through a large pile of metal and stone the Autobot came across his first valid discovery. Bombardier: back in his robot form (the jar of the fall must have knocked him back into it), gunmetal gray, lifeless, optics staring up at the sky and mouth open in a ghastly never-ending scream or gasp, Optimus couldn't tell. The mech lowered his optics to the dead Hybrid's chestplate. If he hadn't died from Hunter stabbing him through the spark, he'd died from the shard of metal that impaled him through the spark-chamber now. Either way he didn't care. Bombardier was dead, and that was more than enough to him. Optimus muttered an obscene farewell to the despicable mech in Cybertronian and then continued on with his search. It wasn't a minute later that he heard it. A soft, familiar whimper. The Prime froze in his tracks and waited, listening intently, willing the sound to come again. And it did! Whipping around, the Autobot commander scanned the surrounding area until his optics fell on a golden sword hilt. The flame-saber! Then the whimper came again from that same direction. Hunter had to be there! Rushing towards the debris pile, Optimus began to quickly but carefully pulled back rubble until he saw a gleam of scarlet. " Hunter?" He continued to dig until finally... " Hunter!" He crouched down beside his spark-daughter. She too was back in her Cybertronian form and was alive... but just barely. Through their bond he could feel her slipping away. He didn't even need the spark-link to tell him that either; it was easy to tell just by the way her exposed and damaged spark glowed and pulsated. Panic and determination came over the Prime. He couldn't lose her again! He wouldn't! Kneeling down and bending over her so that his chassis almost covered her entire body, Optimus cupped her cheeks in his hands and stroked his thumbs along beneath her optics. " Hunter?" he said softly and quietly. " Sweet-spark?"
Hunter only whimpered and shook in pain.
Optimus pulled back and stood up again. Walking a few feet away, he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, " Ratchet!"
At the sound of her spark-father's voice, Hunter stirred. She cracked her optics open and looked around, searching for her spark-father, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. Was she hallucinating or had she really heard him. " D-Daddy..." she forced out.
Optimus swore his spark stopped. Slowly he turned back and stared at the youngling. Had she really just called him what he thought she did? Did she even know what she was saying?
Not receiving any answer or reassurance the first time again, Hunter called out again. " D-Daddy?" Her voice was more pitiful and whimpering that time.
Optimus shook off his shock. It didn't matter if Hunter was calling him 'Megatron' right now. It didn't matter if she did or didn't know what she was saying, she was calling for him. His little girl was calling for him, and, by Primus, he was going to answer that call! Hurrying back to her side, Optimus knelt beside her again. " I'm here, Hunter," he reassured her gently. He cupped her cheekplates in his hands again, wishing her could cradle her in his arms as well but not daring to chance moving her with such a severe injury. " I'm right here. Daddy is right here, sweet-spark." He stroked her cheeks and kissed her forehead.
" Daddy..." Hunter half sighed half sobbed. She winced at the pain in her body. " Hurts..." she gritted out.
" I know, little one, I know," her spark-father sympathized, optics drifting down to the ghastly, oozing wound tearing open her spark chamber and baring her precious spark—a spark which he had sacrificed some of his own to ignite—to the cruel world. He reached down and gently splayed a tender hand across her chest, trying to give the beautiful little thing some shelter. Through their link he began to feed her as much love, solace, and strength that he could.
Hunter cried out, her body contorting in pain.
" It's all right, sweet-spark. Daddy has you. Ratchet!"
" Daddy... tired..."
Optimus watched in horror as his daughter's optics began to roll back into her head. " Hunter? Hunter!" he screamed, grabbing her face with both hands again. " Look at me! Look at me." He was relieved to see her focus back in on him. " Stay with me. No matter what happens, you stay with me." Tears suddenly welled up in his optics and lump formed in his throat. " I can't lose you again, my shooting star," he whispered. " I can't lose you again..."
Hunter gave him a half-out-of-it smile. " Can't lose... me," she told him. " Not... if you... tried." With that her optics rolled back into her head again and she went limp.
" Hunter? Hunter!"
The Hybrid faded into the darkness.
Autobot Outpost Omega One;
Optimus kept constant watch over his spark-daughter. He never left her side. He powered down beside her in the med-bay, refueled beside her in the med-bay (how he convinced Ratchet to allow him to do that, he'd never understand). He didn't go on patrol anymore—the others had offered to take his patrol shift over for him. He hadn't even left her side to go after Decepticons, though they'd been blessed with not having any Decepticon activity for several weeks. The Prime was more than thankful for that. He simply continued to sit in the concrete chair beside her berth, holding her hand, stroking her head, watching her, consoling and reassuring her when she faded into consciousness and then faded back out, talking to her when she was unconscious, trying to get her to wake up.
For a month this kept up and it continued well into the second month. It probably would have continued on longer if it weren't simply for the fact that Ratchet started to practically throw Optimus out of the lab whenever he did a check-up on Hunter. The medic understood his commander's situation, and was more than happy to leave him with his child, but he kept getting in the way, always asking what Ratchet was doing and then going on to inquire if such a thing were necessary. Ratchet could understand why he was so worried. If it had been his daughter lying on the berth in unconsciousness after all of the hell she had endured he would be edgy about having other 'Bots around her as well. But it was just so annoying. And besides, even though he'd never admit it, the questions poked and pried at the white and amber mech's pride a little bit. It was like Optimus didn't trust him to do his job correctly anymore. Of course, that wasn't the case at all—Ratchet knew that. Still.
However, even if was able to kick the Prime out of the med-bay at least twice a day, Ratchet knew it was impossible to keep him out for an extended amount of time, which probably would have been better for his own health. Whenever the requisite amount of time for his dismissal was up, Optimus was right back in that chair. Ratchet finally decided that there was nothing he could do about it and accepted it. He'd take what he could get. He just hoped and prayed—along with everyone else—that Hunter would wake up soon so that all of their minds, as well as Optimus', were put at ease. It was about half-way into the third month after the battle with Bombardier when their prayers were answered.
" Hunter?" a gentle voice called out to her through the darkness. " Hunter?"
She moaned.
" Hunter?" the voice continued to pull her from the black. " It is time to wake up, my shooting star."
Groaning, the Hybrid femmling cracked her optics opened to blinding white, sterile light. She blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to it. A fuzzy blue blob suddenly came into her field of vision, her sight adjusting on it seconds later. " O-Optimus?" she rasped weakly.
Optimus smiled at her. " There she is," he he crooned lovingly, gazing at her with all the adoration and relief in the world. " I was beginning to wonder if I would forget what those pretty optics look like."
At that, Hunter offered a frail smile and giggle. She immediately regretted the giggle, as sharp-shooting pain seared her nerves. The teen grimaced. " Ow..."
Optimus suddenly received a whoop upside the head, causing him to grab his helm and yelp in alarm and hurt.
" Don't go making her laugh," Ratchet scolded, shaking a wrench (which amazingly hadn't been what he'd swiped him with) at him. " She's still healing." The medic turned back to the scarlet and black-and-silver striped femmling with a rare and genuine smile. " Welcome back to the land of the living, Hunter," he said.
Hunter smiled back. " Good to be back," she returned. " How long was I out?"
" Two and a half months," Ratchet reported. " And rightly so. Actually I'm quite amazed that your awake right now. You're spark-chamber was almost ripped completely out, after all. And after the damage your spark itself received... it's truly a miracle that you're even alive. Granted you do have an accelerated healing factor and you are the Fuser, so that has to account for a lot of it." The medic walked off across the room, looking at a chart and muttering something to himself that Hunter couldn't pick up in her groggy state.
Still smiling, the Hybrid looked back to her spark-father, who was still nursing his sore head. She bit her lipplate to keep from giggling again, then she began to sit up. She's barely lifted her torso off the berth when the pain hit again, causing her to yelp. " Bad idea," she groaned, gritting her teeth. An arm gently slipped under her and carefully helped her to sit up.
" Don't strain yourself," Optimus warned her, moving to sit on the berth beside her. He adjusted himself so that he was comfortable and so Hunter could lean back against his chestplate for support. His arms stayed around her.
Sighing heavily, Hunter relaxed back against his broad, warm chest, snuggling closer. She smiled up at him. That's when she realized just how tired the Prime looked. The smile slipping from her face, the fifteen-year-old looked at him with concern. " You look tired, big guy," she noted.
Optimus sighed and opened his mouth to respond, but Ratchet cut him off.
" He should," the medic conceded from across the room where he was busy with something. " He's hardly powered down at all since we got back to base. Been too busy sitting up with you."
Hunter, who had looked over at Ratchet, now looked back up at Optimus with a guilty expression. " I'm sorry," she murmured.
The Prime shook his head. " You have nothing to be sorry for, sweet-spark," he assured her. " I was worried for you. Now that you are awake and well on the road to recovery I'll be able to power down peacefully once again."
Hunter smirked. " Liar," she accused him good-naturedly. " I know you, Optimus. You won't start sleeping peacefully until I'm all healed up and recovered. And even then you probably still won't sleep well."
Her spark-father chuckled. " Guilty as charged," he purred, lovingly nuzzling her before kissing the crown of her helm.
The creak of the door opening drew both of their attention to see three heads looking in on them. Hunter smiled at the sight of the Autobots. " Hey, guys," she croaked.
" You're up," Arcee noted.
" She has just awoken," Optimus confirmed with a nod, gazing adoringly down at the little femmling in the circle of his arms.
" Is... is it all right for us to come in?" Bumblebee buzzed quizzically and cautiously.
Hunter looked in Ratchet's direction. " Hey, Ratch," she called, " is it all right for me to have come visitors?"
" Seeings as how I could hardly say 'no' without causing an uprising," Ratchet replied, still not looking their way, " I would say yes."
" Okay, that's what you would say," Hunter said, " but is that what you are saying?"
" Well, we know now that your impishness is still safely intact," Ratchet sighed by way of answer.
The Hybrid snickered and turned back to the team. " Better get in here now before you're too late then," she invited them.
Smiling, the three Autobots all pushed through and grouped around her berth. Arcee turned to Optimus. " Optimus, Fowler's on the line," she informed him. " He wants to talk to you."
As if to prove the femme's point, out in the main room of the base Fowler's voice carried through from the video link. / Prime!/
Optimus rolled his optics with an exasperated sigh, muttering under his breath in Cybertronian. However, he couldn't help the smile that curled his lipplates as his spark-daughter giggled at him. He looked back down at her. " I shall be back in a little while," he informed her, scooting out from under her and helping her lean back against the wall so that she could sit up.
" Yeah, only if Fowler let's ya," Hunter teased with a smirk.
The red and blue Autobot chuckled warmly before planting a kiss between her optics, standing, and turning to exit the room.
" Tell him to take it and shove it for me," Hunter called after her spark-father as he walked away. She giggled and grinned again as he playfully glared over his shoulderplate at her. Once he'd left the room, she turned to her teammates. " What's up, guys?"
There was awkward silence for a moment as Bumblebee, Arcee, and Bulkhead all exchanged looks. Finally Bulk broke the silence. " You look good, red," he muttered.
Hunter smiled. " Thanks."
There was more uncomfortable quietness.
" Okay, let's just cut to the chase here," Arcee finally said, sitting down at the foot of the berth. She looked the younger femme directly in the optics with such intensity that Hunter was hard-pressed to look away. " Hunter, we all came to see you because we all wanted to say one thing."
Hunter couldn't help the knot of worry twisting around her tank. She was admittedly scared a the prospect of what they had to say because... well, after how they had treated her for so long, she was pretty much conditioned to assume that whatever they said to her would have to cruel. The femmling knew that it wasn't fair to think that way, but she just couldn't really help it. " And... what might that be?" she cautiously asked.
" We're sorry," all three 'Bots said in unison, each apology holding just as much sincerity as the next.
" It was wrong of us to treat you the way we did," Arcee continued on. " We were just... ignorant and stupid."
" Once we found out that you were the Hybrid, all we could think of was how the Hybrids had betrayed Cybertron," Bulkhead confessed, " and it just made us angry. Hearing about who your great-great grandsire was didn't help a lot either."
" We all know now that what happened to Cybertron wasn't strictly the fault of your breed," Bumblebee cut it. " And we especially know that it was wrong of us to put all the blame on you." The yellow and black mech looked up from twiddling his thumbs to look her in the optics. " We're all so sorry, Hunter," he repeated. " We'll never do it again."
Seeing Bumblebee's 'puppy-dog' eyes touched Hunter's spark so deeply that tears formed in her optics. She held her arms out to the mech who was only a little older than she was (in the Earth sense anyway). " Come here," she choked out, blinking back the tears. When 'Bee put his arms around her she pulled him close, nuzzling into his shoulder. " I forgive you," she said. Letting go of Bumblebee she took them all into her gaze. " All of you."
They all stared at her in disbelief. " How..." Arcee began.
" I don't hold grudges," Hunter interrupted her, already knowing the question. " I can't." She shrugged. " Just somethin' I've never really been able to do. You guys said it. You were all ignorant and stupid and you let the pain of losing your home get in the way of your judgment, and I can't hold that against you. I know what it's like to lose a home too after all. And besides you guys are different now—I can sense it. I don't know how, but I can. And seriously, I deserved some of it." She turned back to Bumblebee who was still sitting beside her. " I'm sorry for the crack about your voice box, 'Bee," she apologized. Then she turned to Bulkhead. " And Bulk, I'm sorry for throwing her through a wall and shouting all those things at you. Arcee," she turned to the blue and black femme, " I'm sorry for every mean thing I said to you."
" Forget about it," Bumblebee replied with a smile. " I said worse to you."
" We all did," Bulkhead agreed.
" And I'm sorry for giving you that scar," Arcee apologized.
" Eh, that's okay," Hunter shrugged, gently running a finger over the large scar that ran across her left eye. " I kinda like it."
The others laughed.
" You guys, we're a family," Hunter went on, smiling at them all. " I have a lot to learn about families yet, but one thing I already know is that they don't always get along. Sometimes they'll fight and scream at each other and hate each other, but in the end... they all still love each other. And I love you guys. You guys... your my brothers and sisters." She looked up at 'Bee again and placed a hand on his shoulder. " And I couldn't ask for better ones." Grinning a mile wide, the Hybrid suddenly clapped her hands and held her arms out wide. " Group hug!" When none of them moved, she gave them a hard look. " Don't leave me hangin' guys."
At that they all consented to it, though Arcee still wasn't entirely sure about it.
Hunter quickly regretted her idea, being squished in the middle of thing. " Okay. Bad good idea..."
" Hmm, that's odd," Ratchet muttered.
" What is it, Ratchet?" Optimus questioned.
" We seem to be one energon cube short," the medic answered from where he was taking inventory of their energon stock-pile.
At the announcement, the Prime's lipplates pulled up into a smile, a chuckle rumbling deep in his chest. He had a pretty good idea of where that "missing" energon cube was. " Do not worry, Ratchet," he assured his old friend, sitting down the data pad he'd been reading and getting up from his seat. " I will go and retrieve it." He walked over to the lift, stepped on to it, and began to rise up towards the roof of the base. It had been a little over a week since Hunter had awoken. Thanks to Ratchet's medical expertise and her own healing factor, the young Hybrid was almost fully recovered, though Ratchet strongly advised her to take it easy for another few weeks or so. Now the main concern on Optimus processor was the nightmares. Thankfully Hunter was very resilient, so the nightmares had really increased in number, but they had gotten understandably worse. Most nights the duo slept in the same berth, Hunter asleep in her spark-father's arms, and Optimus was always there for her, soothing and comforting her, patiently listening when she relayed the terrors to him. Though he got the sense that not all the nightmares were about the same thing. He was almost sure that almost half of her dreams consisted of something other than battles and Bombardier and dying and losing her loved ones, but she would never tell him, and he never pushed her. She would tell him if she wanted to on her own time. He just had to make sure that she knew he would be there to listen.
The lift opened up into the open air and the red and blue Prime found himself on top of the mesa that housed the Autobot base. The sun was starting to set in the west, turning the sky a golden orange color. Optimus took in the sight for a moment before looking around for his daughter. Once he spotted her another smile pulled at his mouth. Just as he'd thought, she had the energon, and she was practicing manipulating it. Chuckling and shaking his head, the Autobot stepped off the lift and approached her. " Practicing again, are we?" he called as he moves towards her.
Hunter looked up from what she was doing and returned his smile with a half-smile of her own. " Practice makes perfect right?" she replied with a shrug. " Besides, Greasy's orders. The sooner I master it the better is what he says. And Ratchet would freak if he caught me training already, saying I'm not ready for the strain."
" That he would," Optimus agreed, his features suddenly becoming serious. " And it is what I would say as well."
" I'm okay, Optimus," Hunter assured him. " I don't do any big stuff, just make it go back and forth in the cube really, get used to the feel of it."
Optimus nodded, a small smile starting to slip back on to his face. " Very well then."
" You came up here to take it back right?"
" That was the plan. Ratchet is taking inventory of the stock-pile now." His smile broadened. " But it can wait until you're finished."
Hunter smiled and nodded, then turned back to her work.
Optimus continued to watch her, but the longer he watched the more he felt that something wasn't quite right right Hunter. Through their spark-bond he could feel that something heavy was weighing on her mind and festering. The Prime knew he'd have better results if he just waited for her to open up to him on his own time, but he couldn't wait anymore. " Hunter, what's wrong?" he blurted out.
The teen froze for a moment. She didn't look up at him, but her spark skipped a beat and her tank knotted in disquiet. He knew. How the heck did he always know? " Nothing," she fibbed, going to back to manipulating the liquified energon in the cube.
Optimus smirked and chuckled. " Need I remind you, little one, that we share a spark-link?" he responded, coming closer to her. " I know when something weighs heavy on your spark." He put a tender hand on her shoulder causing her to stop what she was doing once again. Placing a finger beneath her chin, he raised her face to his, giving her a sympathetic look. " Sweet-spark, please," he said, " tell me."
Hunter stared into his optics for a moment before pulling away and looking back down at the energon cube.
" It's the energon manipulation," Optimus concluded, " is it not?"
His daughter silently nodded.
" What is it, my shooting star?"
Hunter shook her head, unable to find the right words to explain the situation to her spark-father. " It's just..." she started, taking a deep vent and releasing it, "... I dunno. It's just that the power to be able to reach inside someone and control them is... friggin' unbelievable, Optimus." She looked up at him with a grin. " I mean, you wouldn't believe the rush of it, the high, the sensation of being in absolute and complete control—it's amazing!" Her grin quickly melted away. " And that's what scares me," she confessed softly. " Power like that... you can so easily get drunk off it. You can so easily become seduced by and dependent on it. And then that power controls you instead of the other way around. Like what happened with Scarface and Bomber." She looked back down at the cube. " Oh, you can not learn to master it, push it aside and try to forget about it, but it's always there inside you, tempting you. And it's so easy to just reach out and grab it to use it—it's so readily available. You can never get away from it or forget about it completely and..."
" And you're afraid of what this power might do to you," Optimus finished for her.
Hunter nodded. " I have the same power as Scarface Malice and Bombardier," she declared. " And the same energon as that of Malice's flows through my veins." She looked up at the Prime, fear etched across her features. " The same weakness. What if it... corrupts me just like it did them? I don't want to become like them."
" And you won't."
" How do you know?"
" Because of the very questions that you are asking right now, Hunter. You recognize the greatness of the power and at the same time you recognize its poison. You know that power like this needs to be respected if it is to be at all effective. Scarface Malice and Bombardier didn't think about that let alone realize it. All they wanted, all they cared about was power. And they were pure evil. You are nothing like them at all."
" How can you be so sure?"
At that the Prime smiled lovingly and stroked her cheekplates with the backs of his digits before cupping them in his hands. " Because I know you," he answered in a soft and gentle voice. " I know the goodness in you and have seen the purity of your spark." He leaned in and pressed his forehead to hers. " Because I love you." He nuzzled her. " With my entire spark."
Hunter giggled and wrapped her arms around Optimus' neck, allowing him to pick her up off the ground and carry her to the edge of the mesa, where he sat down with her in his lap. She cuddled closer to him, snuffling into the hollow of his neck. All of her fears and qualms had disappeared, chased away by the smooth and reverent words of her spark-father; the one person whom she knew she could always trust no matter what. The one person who had stuck with her from the beginning, no matter the trial. The Hybrid began to purr as her guardian started to stroke her antennas. She leaned into his touch.
Optimus chuckled. " My shooting star," he purred fondly.
Hunter nuzzled under his chin before resting her head against his chest, right over his spark-chamber. " I love it when you call me that," she murmured, listening to the familiar, steady song of his spark-beat.
" I love calling you that," the Autobot commander replied, still stroking her precious antennas. Suddenly he scooted out from under her, stood, marched across the mesa top to where they'd left the energon cube and carried it back.
Hunter eyed him suspiciously. " What are you doing?" she inquired as he sat back down beside her.
" Ratchet probably wouldn't approve of you drinking this so soon after your recovery," he replied, holding the cube out to her, " but seeing as how it is just this once, and Ratchet isn't around..."
Hunter took the cube and looked down into the bright blue liquid before looking back up at the mech with a smirk. " I thought you came up here to take this back," she stated.
" I said that I would retrieve the energon cube," Optimus agreed with a nod and a smirk of his own, " but I never said anything about the energon."
The teen shook her head and wagged a finger at him. " Naughty, naughty, big guy," she playfully scolded, tsking her glossa.
Optimus laughed.
Hunter laughed as well before looking back at the energon and then back up at him. " Wanna share?" she asked, holding up the cube. " 'Cuz I don't think I'm gonna be able to drink this all by myself."
With a smile, Optimus took the cube back and took a swig of it.
" Besides," Hunter muttered with a smirk, " that way I have someone to point a finger at when Ratchet chews me out for the cube comin' back empty."
At that, Optimus stopped drinking, his optics widening with the realization that the femmling had tricked him before narrowing, a dangerous gleam glinting in them. Setting down the cube he turned to face her and spat the energon in his mouth out in her face.
" Hey!" Hunter yipped, wiping her face off as her spark-father guffawed. Wait a minute! Why was she wasting time wiping this stuff off when she could easily get sweet revenge by literally throw it back in his face? Bending the liquid off herself, the scarlet and black-and-silver striped Hybrid splashed it back into the Prime's faceplate then sat there, pointing and laughing at his expression. " Don't get in an energon fight with an energon-bender, big guy!"
Optimus wiped off his face and snarled at her. " You think that's funny, do you?" he rumbled with a scowl.
" Slag yeah, I do!"
" Well, then, is this funny? Rraahh!" Without warning the large mech lunged for the child and caught her, knocking her on her backplate to the ground. He began tickling her.
" No!" Hunter screeched, laughter quickly overcoming her. " Not—ahh-ha-ha-ha—fair! Optimus!" She managed to push away from him. Once she'd recovered she turned back to her spark-father and growled, a devious look of her own coming to her optics. She crouched down.
" Uh-oh," Optimus gulped. He leaped to his feet and sprinted away just in the knick of time as Hunter landed where her had been seated only milliseconds before.
Half-growling, half-laughing Hunter got to her feet and lunged after him. " Come here! Rrraaahhh!"
The two chased each other across the mesa top, laughing, tickling, wrestling; a father playing with his daughter.