The Human Prime
Chapter 52: Trust
"I still think your nuts." Bulkhead said over the com-link as Artemis repaired Megatron. Everyone had told her she was crazy, repairing the leader of Decepticons, but she continued. After all, Ratchet made it quite known that he would not be within five centimeters of the dictator. Optimus, while convinced in Artemis plight, was on guard and prepared to open fire.
"How's Soundwave?" Artemis asked as if making simple conversation.
"Alive, is that good enough?" Light stood off from them, watching the faceless Decepticon put himself into working condition. Artemis disregarded the sarcastic tone and continued working. All of a sudden, a metallic hand shot up and took hold of her by the throat. Everyone jumped and cocked their weapons at the groaning leader.
"Well, well, well…I thought this day would be all lost." Megatron growled and tightened his grip. "Were you trying to terminate me, little Autobot?"
"I was…repairing you." She said between gasps.
"Release her, Megatron!" Optimus shouted, getting closer to him.
"Why?" Megatron completely ignored him.
"We need…you…only you…" Artemis managed to force out of his grip, he was obviously too weak in his condition to be a threat. "Only you can track the beast…you and Mira."
"Ah, you are requesting an alliance?" He laughed bitterly. "What do I have to lose? If memory serves, the last time I had made alliance with the Autobots it benefited me greatly." He looked over at Optimus and smirked then back at Artemis. "Who knows, perhaps our venture will lead to one of your deaths."
"With all due respect, Lord Megatron," Artemis stood up and dusted herself off. "You would do well to keep those kinds of comments to yourself. Especially in your condition."
Megatron glared at her before moving his servo over his chest, feeling his wounds. Despite Artemis's repairs he was still highly injured. He looked over where Light was keeping Soundwave at a distance.
"I'd like my chief of communications." He glared up at Artemis until she nodded.
"Light, it's okay. Let master and servant reunite." She broke away from him right as Soundwave got to his leader's side. She finally went over to talk to Optimus, who looked like he was going to have a spark attack.
"Artemis, what are you doing?" He held onto her arm, keeping her close in case Megatron got enough strength back to make trouble for them.
"I…don't know anymore." Artemis looked away from him, staring at the path of destruction Spark Eater left in his wake. "I know it is impossible to trust a Decepticon. But…" She looked back up at him. "We can't take down that thing without him."
Optimus looked back at Soundwave and Megatron. They seemed to be having a similar conversation because at the exact same moment they peered over at them. Their optic locked and for a second it seemed that they would charge at each other in their usual fashion. However, their eyes finally turned away from each other. Optimus then looked back down at Artemis and nodded at her. He agreed.
"OVER, MY, LIFELESS, HUSK!"
Artemis POV
I turned towards the shouting and found my sister, pointing her blaster at me like usual. While I was close to drawing my own weapons, the sight stopped me. Her body seemed to be barely holding together. Breakdown hung over her body limply, as if he was having a difficult time standing up. Knockout was clinging to her shoulder, huffing from the struggle.
I felt my body react on its own. I activated my blaster and motion for her to deactivate hers. She growled and I could hear the whirring of her blasters charging. Soundwave grabbed hold her blaster, but she forced it away from and pointed it back at me. However, she didn't fire either.
"Mira, stand down!" Megatron shouted angrily.
"Master, we don't need Autobot help! We can put that traitor back into the ground ourselves!" Mira let Breakdown rest on the ground and got closer to me. "Let me end one threat once and for all!"
"I will not stand for your attempts at intimidation anymore, Mira!" I charged my blasters and stepped forward. "Drop them!"
"Artemis, don't." Optimus put his hand forcefully on my shoulder. I looked back at him briefly before looking back at my sister. I wasn't backing down unless my sister did.
Slowly, but surely, after a long glare from Megatron, Mira deactivated her blasters and stood straight. She gripped her arm and limped back over to Breakdown. I looked closely and found her injuries to be a little more than scrapes and bruises, but not bad. Bulkhead's hip joint was completely unhinged and so was his right shoulder joint. Knockout probably would have fixed it is his digits weren't shaking. It looked like the Decepticon doctor had lost a lot of Energon.
"It seems they are in need of repairs." Optimus said behind me, watching me stare at them. I turned rather suddenly, bumping into him as I passed.
"Let Ratchet do it."
Mira POV
I growled lowly, feeling the torch of the Autobot medic grind down into my armor. I hated that I needed to rely on him to get me into fighting shape. It was also kind of ironic. I wondered if they noticed it too. In fixing me up so well, they were making it easier for me to betray them. No, I supposed I wouldn't. They know I wouldn't. Because while I was in fighting shape, Knockout was still only functioning at forty five percent his normal vigor, Breakdown's joints still were fairly fragile and if he got jostled they would snap again, Soundwave's visor was shattered beyond repair, and my master could barely stand on his own two peds.
There was no way I was going to attack. But that didn't mean I had to cooperate. Even though it hurt, I squirmed under Ratchet's hands. Anything I could do to make sure his job was more difficult I did, because I wasn't going to let him think I was condoning this. I knew Artemis certainly didn't.
While Artemis had no problem fixing Megatron, the gladiator and dictator of the Decepticons, she was significantly against working on me. Even though Ratchet was insistent on letting me rust, Optimus had played on his sense of duty. Artemis did not budge an inch. She stood as far as she could get from me without getting out of blaster range. She was no fool. All those attacks on her had finally taken its toll on her trust towards me. Good.
However…I retract my statement I said before. While I would have liked to believe that with Megatron at my side we could take down Spark Eater, if it was possible we would have done so by now. With the few of us in such conditions, most of our trooper force being wiped out, and RazorMane and Dreadwing still missing, we didn't stand a chance against Spark Eater. We needed to work together. And all that work I had done to get my sister to come at me as an enemy had to be put aside.
I had to play nice.
"Slag this." I mumbled under my breath. Ratchet stopped and stared at me for a second then huffed. "What?"
"You don't seem like much of a threat looking like this." He finished his work before standing up.
"You want to say that again, lap dog?!" I shouted, but Soundwave's ominous gaze shut me up. I hated this. It felt like I was back in my human body again…before it was infused with the Spark of Unicron.
"Any suggestions of what we should do?" Bulkhead, genius of the Autobots as he was, asked. I scoffed and looked towards the city.
"Well it certainly doesn't do us any good sitting out in the open like this, smart guy." I looked back at him. "Obviously we're going to follow it."
"Agent Fowler said the city was fully evacuated. Though, there's no telling what kind of damage Spark Eater has already inflicted on it." Artemis answered, her optics locked on me. "Storming in there without a plan would be more idiotic then standing here."
I growled at her, ready to pounce on her if she said another word. She didn't. I heard Optimus Prime begin talking about some terms in which we would move together, but I wasn't listening. My optics were locked on hers. Even though we had agreed to work together, we were hell bent on destroying each other when their backs were turned.
"We'll enter the city cautiously, seek shelter among the wreckage." Optimus continued to explain.
"Sure, I'll lead." I started walking towards the city, but Artemis stepped in front of me.
"You should learn to pay attention. YOU go in the center of the formation." The way she said that…so matter-of-factly…it made me sick. "I'll lead." She started walking. How brave she was to turn her back towards me. Reluctantly, I took hold of my master's waist and followed the Autobots into the city.
Chicago, Illinois
"What a mess." Breakdown looked over the pieces of destroyed buildings. It certainly was a mess. The buildings creaked, threatening to collapse, and glass crunched beneath their feet. It was a horrible sight. Luckily, thankfully, everyone was evacuated before Spark Eater ever got there.
"Focus Bulkhead, we're looking for a safe haven." Artemis shouted from a little ways in front.
"And for RazorMane and Dreadwing." Mira reminded. Though, now that she thought about it, perhaps they flied back to the Nemesis. If her com-link was working, she would have checked. Though, she doubted it. Dreadwing and RazorMane were not the type to leave their comrades behind. Well…at least not Megatron.
"Of course…how could I forget?" Artemis rolled her eyes, mumbling beneath her breath. She never acted this way before, but the circumstances seemed almost unbearable considering all that the Decepticons had done. Considering all that Mira had done to them.
"Shhh!" Megatron hushed with a hostile tone. "Do you hear that?"
There were definite sounds of movement. Slow movement, as if it were trying to sneak up on them. It wasn't the Spark Eater, it was too small, but they didn't want to take the chance. Optimus directed them towards a disheveled clothing store. The windows were blown out so it was easy to slip inside and it was tall enough to allow them all to crouch.
They waited in silence. Mira peeked over the Autobots in front of her, thinking that the sound could possibly be their missing soldiers. However, it wasn't. A beast, around the same size as them, slowly prowled around the wreckage. It looked a little awkward, its body mainly composed of metal rods and cables. It didn't seem to be that much of a threat, but it was eerie. In the center of the mesh of cables making up its chest, was a small spherical light. It flickered from time to time and whenever it did there would me a faint noise. The noise sounded almost like a tormented scream.
It shifted through the concrete, metal, and glass. Sometimes it would dig at the ground, but would move on. However, when it got close enough, its body tensed. The creatures looked around, sniffing at the air as its head turned. Everyone was dead silent; while the creature looked loosely put together it wasn't certain if it could hear. Gratefully, it started to move on after it seemed to lose interest.
"What in the pits was that?" Mira asked as she pushed passed the others, trying to get out of the confined space.
"Obviously there are things that we still don't know about Spark Eater." Artemis forced herself out as well and looked around.
"It's not safe to stay here on the ground while those monsters patrol the streets." Optimus pointed towards a storage garage. "Let's take cover for now. Artemis call Drexel, have him survey the city for Spark Eater and the stray Decepticons."
"What's that Soundwave lookalike gonna do that we couldn't?" Mira growled. She didn't like taking orders from Optimus. It felt almost wrong to do so. Megatron was her leader, not Optimus.
"He can do anything your precious Soundwave can do, sister." Artemis said haughtily. She waited for the Decepticons to follow Optimus into the garage before heading in herself.
Artemis POV
"Drexel, did Razor Wing find anything yet?" I sat behind Optimus in human form. I was tired; being in Cybertronian form for so long was putting a strain on my psyche. I had to remember that because I was human, I couldn't run as long as the Autobots. I needed to rest. And yet, with my sister in close proximity, I couldn't relax enough to even think about sleep.
"'Negative Sargent.'" Drexel said over the com-link. I sighed and nodded.
"Keep me posted."
"Artemis." Optimus voice brought me to my feet. He looked down at me with an unnerving frown. "You should rest."
"I would." I looked over to Mira and glared. "If I could."
"I know the scars of your rivalry run deep," He said in almost a whisper, trying to keep the conversation contained between us. "But perhaps it would be better to put your feelings aside, in light of the situation we share."
"I know I shouldn't let my feelings cloud my judgment, Optimus. Before, I would be overjoyed that my sister and I were working on the same team. But now…after all the things she's done…I don't I can ever forgive her." I felt a little lonely. I thought Optimus, out of anyone, would understand my feelings.
"I had said the same thing many times." His servo drifted towards me as he shifted to stand up. "But when situation arises, sometimes you must lay down the past in order to preserve the future."
I looked at him in shock as he walked away. Drifting my gaze to my sister's back, I watched as she stretched her human limbs. I could barely believe she would walk around us in her human form, simply because of how much she despised it. I watched her stare out into the broken city.
What Optimus said was right, it always was. I would need to lay down everything that had occurred between my sister and me if we are to face Spark Eater. However, I wasn't sure how to go about that. The only thing I could think of was confronting her. So, I walked over to her.
"Well, well. The great Artemis Prime has decided to grace me with her presence." She groaned, but didn't move from where she stood. I disregarded her statement, for the sake of our alliance.
"Do you think about them?" I found myself asking before I could stop myself.
"Huh?" Mira turned her head towards me in shock, but I kept my eyes fixed on the city outside.
"Do you think about them…our parents?" I asked again. She paused before looking back towards the city.
"I shouldn't have the right to…but…" She looked up towards the sky. "There are times that I remember that make me think…things weren't that bad."
"Are you sorry?" I pressed, hoping maybe there was still hope that she could still be saved.
"No." Bluntly, almost hatefully, she replied. "They got what they deserved…" She paused again, before sighing. "I only have a single regret."
"Not killing me?" I gave a forced laugh, trying to make it work. She didn't say anything; she didn't even laugh which I thought she would. Instead she turned and began walking back towards Megatron. "Yeah…me too."
"'Target Acquired.'" Drexel vocalized over the com-link.
"Drexel, where?" In a few seconds, everyone was back on their peds ready to move again. Mira and I transformed into our Cybertronian glory.
It wasn't long before we were all on the move again. Weaving through the city to try and get to the stray Decepticons' location. We were so focused on reuniting with them that we forgot about the beasts patrolling the street. I believe we were almost there when one of them dropped from the roof.
"Scrap!" I skidded to a stop, hearing the others stop behind me.
"Artemis!" Optimus dashed forward to pull me away before it latched its claws onto me, but I was just out of his reach.
"Get-!"
Mira POV
Artemis' words faded when she saw me kicking it back. She fell backwards and stared up at me as I cracked my claws. With a smirk, I ushered her to sit back and relax. I had all this pent up anger. I was glad that this…thing could step up to the beat down. Being ordered around by the Autobots, making me feel like an insignificant human, it was time to let out the Cybertronian, the Decepticon, in me.
"Come here, you pawn. I want to hear you scream." I jumped at the creature, digging my claws into its deformed chassis. It shrieked in simulated pain and collapsed onto the ground. I couldn't help, but chuckle at the blood lust running through me. It felt good to kill something…it's been a long time.
"Mira." I turned towards my name and found her easing herself off the ground. "Thank you." I couldn't believe Artemis' words. I held that at a distance, worrying such words would turn me soft. Instead of reacting, I simply sighed.
"So, how much farther till we find commander dumb bell and RazorMane?" I asked, looking around for signs of them.
"Just up ahead. They shouldn't be much farther." Optimus responded, commanding his bots to follow me as I charged ahead. I turned the corner and tried to find them, but saw nothing. Then, a piece of debris fell on my helm and I looked up.
"RazorMane!" I shouted up to him. His helm popped out from the roof above. "Where's Dreadwing?"
"He's up here with me. Though, his wounds are severe."
"Can you get down here?"
"One way or another."
"Well, then do it." I growled, wondering why he was wasting my time. His optics drifted between the Autobots behind me and myself. "Stop making that face and get down here!"
RazorMane nodded before disappearing again. I looked over at the Autobots who followed me. Bulkhead, Light, and Arcee… The others must have stayed behind to watch my fellow Decepticons. I mentally counted them. Those three, Optimus, Artemis, Bumblebee, Ratchet…where was ShadowVolt and the faceless copycat? Surely they weren't far behind.
"Hey, smart guy." I watched Bulkhead shift, but turning away in order to ignore me. "Where's my little traitor?"
"None of your bees' wax." He said with a huff. I reciprocated and turned back to the building. About that time, I heard shouting. Reacting before the bots could, I ran over and found my master taking on one of Spark Eater's scouts.
"Lord Megatron!" I rushed to help, but found more of them coming over to block my path. I backed up until I bumped in Artemis. "You."
"Mira…I can't forgive you. But for now our paths align. Don't you agree?" She whispered to me, eyeing down the monsters surrounding us.
"We already called a truce, Prime, what more do u want?"
"Not between Autobot and Decepticon…between us."
"Ah." I mumbled. I didn't answer her, only charged at the scouts in front of me. I hacked away at their armor before jumping above their heads to land behind them. Artemis, taking the opening I gave her, blaster them as they looked up to follow me with their optics. She turned back around to deal with the ones behind her. I waited for them to get close enough to touch her blasters before shooting them down.
Optimus, in all he wisdom, had led my injured fellows towards an underpass. Most likely, he was counting on us for cover. It was kind of scary, but Artemis and I started to move in unison. Our blows complimenting each other to the point of perfect synchronization. I took advantage of her heavily built armor. She took into account of my aerial ability. Though, I was starting to get a little tired. My wounds, though closed, were working away at my endurance. I could not take as many blows as I normally could. Realizing this, Artemis stepped in front of me. She let me catch my breath before letting me lead the retreat.
"There just seem to be more and more of these things." Bulkhead commented, looking around to see if it was finally safe. We had a good hiding spot from the monsters, they would not find us.
"We must be getting close to the Spark Eater." I held my master's arm. He flinched and growled under his breath. "We should strike now, while he doesn't suspect us."
"Do you have a plan?" Artemis asked, looking at me not with hatred, but with curiosity.
"In some sorts," I looked up at the roofs. "That thing has to open up its spark in order to devour someone else's. These buildings could get a great vantage point for a strike. The only thing is-"
"We need bait." She finished for me. Optimus, who had finally come down from his lookout position to join us, commented.
"I will distract the Spark Eater, allowing you the opportunity to strike."
"I will too." Artemis added quickly. She looked at Optimus, suggesting she would not take no for an answer. Finally he nodded. "You'll need a powerful weapon to kill it. Drexel-" She walked off, contacting her spy.
"Mira." Megatron whispered hoarsely. I kneeled beside him and listened. "After the attack from the drone, it is obvious I am no condition to fight." He said in a bitter tone. I could tell he was dreading that fact. "You will lead the Decepticons in the attack against the Spark Eater."
"As you wish, my Lord." I bowed my head.
"Do not forget your place Mira." He concluded. I wasn't sure what he meant, but I nodded all the same. I rose from his side and looked at Knockout.
"Knockout, take our Lord and Commander Dreadwing back to the ship." Before he could counter my orders I turned to Soundwave. "Open a ground bridge. K.O, tend to our master's wounds. If you have the time, look at Dreadwing as well. Breakdown, go with him. Soundwave, RazorMane, and I will stand against Spark Eater."
"As you wish commandant." Knockout slipped under Megatron's servo and led him to the portal. Breakdown followed him carrying Dreadwing on his back. After the portal closed, I motioned for Soundwave again.
"Go find Spark Eater's location, report to me when you find him." Soundwave bowed his head slightly before transforming and flying off. "If luck is on our side, more than one will fall today."
