I know, I'm updating fast. The reason is that there's one more chapter left after this, and I'm kind of sort of in a rift. My muse is half-dead.
So, enjoy the second to last chapter and don't forget to review!
I don't own it.
She kept on running, bounding across the courtyard, recognizing the familiar spot where she and Trina had stood, listening to Fisher proclaim his plan to exile the Autobots once and for all. She snarled, remembering Trina's face, the image disappearing when she saw movement up ahead.
Fisher was crouched against the wall of a building, his shirt torn and his eyes wild. When he saw Mikaela, he shrieked tried to dart to the side, only to find himself pinned down by one of Mikaela's talons.
He writhed and squirmed, tried to shout but faltered when he met Mikaela's devilish eyes.
"Eyes of the devil," he hissed. "You will pay for what you have done."
"No," she whispered. "You're going to pay."
She was going to kill him. Abandon Megatron's "genius" plan and kill him right now, right here on this very spot. Sever his manipulative hold on the government and end a war that hadn't even started.
Show him once and for all that nobody, and she meant nobody, fucked with Mikaela Banes.
Her fist stopped inches from his writhing, squirming fleshy body when something slammed into her shoulder. She fell forward, releasing Fisher and bracing her hands on the wall so she could slide to her knees. Her shoulder was smoking, sparks flying, and she gritted her teeth to shut out the pain.
Humans were shouting behind her.
The police car skidded into view and in one, writhing performance of twisting metal and joints, the car transformed into Barricade. He bounded and drove a shoulder into Mikaela's abdomen, sending her sailing over Fisher and smashing into a nearby fountain.
As she struggled to her feet, the humans around her scattered. Some dropped their weapons in a desperate attempt to flee the ensuing battle, while others scrambled away slowly, too slowly, for Mikaela brushed them to the side.
Barricade, who hovered over Fisher protectively, swiveled his head and snarled, blue spittle flying from his mouth.
"You want to dance, you big, stupid traitor?" Mikaela sneered. She shifted back into a stance, the very stance Ironhide had taught her, and gestured for Barricade to come. "Then let's dance."
Barricade didn't need any more encouragement. He was on Mikaela in a sparkbeat, and though he had more experience in combat than Mikaela, Mikaela was fueled by a blind rage that partly belonged to Roadrunner. She twisted his arm and gained the upper hand, all tactic abandoned as her talons cut through wires, fresh energon spilling from the wounds.
Barricade roared and kicked her off. Mikaela fell, hard, and before she could right herself, Barricade thrust his gun up under her chin.
BLAM.
The shot was like the end of the world. Mikaela was able to jerk the gun away at the last minute, and the shot erupted in front of her face, the flash of blinding hot, white light causing her to falter and she lost a precious second.
Barricade swung his arm, the muzzle of his gun catching her in the side of the head.
Stunned. Dizzy and disoriented, Mikaela lurched away from Barricade, slamming into a wall.
"Megatron!"
"Got yourself stuck in a rut, Mikaela? I'm surprised you, of all people, would need my help."
Barricade lunged, but was promptly thrown to the side by a fury induced Megatron, who wasted no time in overpowering the smaller mech. The two went tumbling, out of sight.
"Get out of here!" Megatron growled, and through the link, there came a grunt and a curse.
Mikaela ran away, tripping over her own two feet because her legs wouldn't work right, and there was thick, blue blood pouring from a damaged audio receptor. The pain was overwhelming, as if someone were driving a spike into her head over and over and over. The agony kept her from thinking clearly and more than once she felt something squish under her feet, and she would stop herself from hurting the innocent, if only she could think.
No, not innocent. They spread the hate! Mikaela could feel Roadrunner bouncing up and down with glee. Kill them! Smash them! Show them who they're messing with!
Mikaela felt her foot slam into the nearest Suburban, watching in roll and bounce across the grass and sail clear over the head of Fisher, who, in a state of panic, had dropped to the ground.
Gunfire. Mikaela felt each little modified bullet slam into her armor – through her armor, and she stumbled.
She turned her comlink back on, sending out a message.
"Starscream!"
She didn't have to call twice. The jet dropped out of the sky, thrusters on, switching into bipedal mode and swooping down again. He lifted another car, just like last time.
Starscream simply carried the car away.
Mikaela stared, and then snapped back into the fight when a projectile slammed into her armor.
"You stupid femme! Get out of there!" Megatron roared. His voice was laced with static, and even though he hadn't said it, she could feel Optimus. The Autobots were here, and Mikaela wasn't sure they would like what they would find. Megatron's voice was almost a plea now, as he spoke to her. "Retreat. That's an order."
Mikaela ran. Kicked away a car and watched as if skidded into a wall. The humans inside screamed as the windshield blew out.
Too many of them on this pathetic planet. On dies, another is born a second later, Roadrunner hissed.
Mikaela ran.
Coward.
Shut up.
She was almost at the gate, almost to freedom, when a thousand pounds of red and blue metal slammed into her from the side.
She was knocked off her feet as Optimus tackled her, a scream tearing at her throat.
And suddenly, she found a sword pressed up against her neck, digging under her chin.
She went rigid, her joints going limp as she lay under Optimus, trying not to move or speak or do anything.
"You want to tell me what in the name of Primus you are doing here, Mikaela?" he snarled. "What washed over your processors to make you even consider - "
"This has nothing to do with you!" Mikaela pressed her hands against his chest plates and shoved. Of course, he didn't budge. "Just….just get out of here."
"It has everything to do with me, Mikaela!" he hissed. Mikaela sunk back into the grass for a moment, never having heard him speak with such suppressed anger. His optics swirled with anger, sadness, and unbearable pain. "I was responsible for you! It was my duty to protect you from…."
"Your duty?"
"Yes…." He faltered. He rolled off Mikaela, the noise of the battle behind them seeming to fade away. He still had his sword pressed against her throat, but not as hard. "I promised Sam…."
"Promised him?" Mikaela laughed. "Haven't you promised enough?"
"I protect what I must protect. It is my duty. And you have been my responsibility, regardless of what Sam has to say."
Mikaela felt her chest tighten as his optics looked down at her, pleading, begging for her to understand and though she did she didn't feel like revealing it just yet. Instead, she leaned back and said, "Listen, Prime," Mikaela breathed, reaching up to caress his metal cheek. "I love you to death, but this was my decision."
"I can't help but fear it has something to do with me."
"Once again, you think that it's all about you," Mikaela laughed aloud, her voice blending in with the sounds of metal against metal and the"Mikaela…." He begged.
"I'm making my own decisions from now on, alright?" She snapped. "Decepticon, Autobot, they're all the same to me. Don't think I'm ditching you for Megatron, like she did," Mikaela's eyes softened, and Optimus' optics brimmed with something akin to tears. "I would never do that. He just happens to be taking the same path as myself, focusing on the same goals."
"He will bring you nothing but pain, Mikaela," Optimus' grip on Mikaela's leg slackened, and the femme was able to escape from his grip and stand.
"I'm used to pain. You should know that by now."
Optimus gave her the saddest look imaginable, and that was when Mikaela saw his walls crumble. His expression was that of a billion years of loss and suffering, of agony and self-loathing. Mikaela couldn't bear to look at that expression any longer.
So she transformed, drove away, and did not look back.