The Human Prime

Chapter 53: Sisters

Artemis waited for Drexel to walk through the ground bridge. In his arms, he held cannon from the X-Tech vault. She was reluctant to hand the weapon over to Mira, but it was the only thing strong enough to kill the Spark Eater. She took the weapon and looked it over; it seemed to still be functional.

"Thank you Drexel. Go back to Ratchet, keep communications open." She turned to leave, but Drexel stopped her for a moment.

"'Be careful.'" Drexel vocalized, holding tightly to her arm. His worry wasn't without reason. She was the being who gave him life, it was only natural he was worried.

"Thank you for your concern." She smiled. She couldn't say everything would be fine. She didn't know. The Spark Eater's power seemed to be without bounds. Would the plan actually work? If it didn't, we could all lose our lives.

Artemis walked back to the others, cradling the cannon. She caught Mira's optics. The Decepticon was grinning wildly, excited to see the weapon. Mira was about to grab the cannon, but stopped at the last minute. She waited for Artemis' permission before finally taking it.

"You can use that to kill Spark Eater." Artemis said though she didn't need to. Mira seemed excited to use it against anything.

"I missed you." Mira rubbed the barrel of the cannon then nodded. "This will most certainly do." She mounted the cannon onto her back. "Soundwave spotted Spark Eater. While the cannon should do the trick, I won't be able to fly with it on my back. You'll need to give me time to get to the roof."

Artemis turned to Optimus. She wondered if they would be able to hold off the Spark Eater for that long. Optimus stared at the ground for a second before stepping forward. He pointed to RazorMane and Soundwave, who stood behind Mira waiting for her orders.

"Decepticons, draw the Spark Eater's attention from the sky. My Autobots will weaken its legs." Artemis smiled at Optimus plan. She had forgotten that the monster did seem to have weak support on its legs. Optimus turned his soldiers: Light, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Arcee. They all nodded in response, not having any problem with the plan. "When the Spark Eater tries to strike them, Artemis and I will distract it until you are prepared." RazorMane and Soundwave didn't budge until Mira turned her head towards them.

"Make it so." Mira said, cueing them to take off. They jumped into the sky and flew towards Spark Eater's location. The Autobots began heading towards the same direction, led by Optimus. Artemis, just about to head out as well, stared at Mira for a long time. Finally, she held her hand out to her.

"Good luck." Mira sneered at the hand.

"Luck is for gamblers, you fool. You're the one with everything to lose." Mira shouted, but took her servo anyways. "Good luck, yourself."

Chicago, Illinois

The Spark Eater dug his claws into the closest building. He could not find any Energon anywhere. He was beginning to grow hungry despite the meal of Decepticon troopers. Plus, he was no closer to reviving his master. His clones patrolled the city and have yielded no rewards. He couldn't even find those pesky followers of Primus.

"WHERE ARE YOU, FOLLOWER OF PRIMUS?" Spark Eater growled, digging into the building and knocking office furniture to the streets below. He regretted chasing away the fellow followers of Unicron. This planet was strange to him and he wasn't sure where to go.

He decided he had been sitting in one place for a while now. Perhaps it was time to move on. Spark Eater started to get to his feet when a buzzing sound reached his audio receptors. He had heard the sound before when fighting the Decepticons. He was sure he had eliminated them all, but didn't oppose to the idea that he could have missed a few.

Two fliers began to come into view of his optics. As they drew closer, he could recall their coloring to two bots he smacked down before. When they were practically right on top of him, they began to shoot. He swatted at them angrily, the blaster fire stung against his armor. He reached to catch them, but then felt a sharp pain in his legs.

Spark Eater looked down at a group of bots, firing at his feet. They scrambled underneath him, keeping themselves from being caught off guard. He knew if he reached down he wouldn't be able to grab all of them. Even if he did, there were still the bots that were pelleting him with fire from above.

He tried brushing his servo over the area, but the ground bots jumped over his servo and the aerial bots shot at his backside. Again, he tries swatting down the bots above him, but the bots below continued to weak his legs.

In anger, Spark Eater let out a mighty roar and began to create clones to deal with his enemies below. Before he could deploy them, blaster fire pelted at his face. He moved his servo over his face and followed the blast to its source.

"PRIME!" Spark Eater roared when he saw Optimus Prime standing off to the side, firing at his face. He reached out, keeping his servo in the line of fire to protect his face, in order to grab the Prime. Right as he was about to grab him, something stabbed him in his shoulder. He looked over and found a human climbing on him. "PARASITE!"

"Hey, that hurts." The human smiled and ran down the side of his arm. Spark Eater looked closer, his eyes reading the components of the human.

"ANOTHER FOLLOWER OF PRIMUS." He tried to squish the human under his servo, but was surprised when it changed forms and flied away. It landed below him and joined in shooting at his feet.

The pain in his legs were getting worse, he could feel them weakening and the shower of blaster fire from above did not help his condition. He roared again used most of his strength to lean down and grind his claws into the earth. They raked into the ground and, with the force he was putting into it, ripped up concrete enough to make massive mounds.

"I'LL TEAR YOU APART!" Spark Eater looked up and held his servo high in the air. When an aerial bot got close enough, he snatched it and brought it close to him. He was so angry, that he simply began to crush it. The bot squealed at the pressure, squirming to get free.

The human transformer from before landed on his hand and jabbed her sword in his joints. He yelped loudly, soon letting go of the aerial bot. However, he swatted the pesky human down to the ground.

Artemis POV

"Ugh." I groaned loudly. I should have known a monster his size would pack quite a punch. I wasn't sure I risked my life for RazorMane. Just watching him squirm under Spark Eater's grip made me feel sorry for him, it reminded me of Alpha Trion. Alpha Trion's last moments, squirming and grasping for his spark that was slowly slipping out of him. I stood up and transformed into my original Cybertronian form.

"Artemis!" Optimus cried from across the battle field.

"I'm okay!" I responded immediately. He nodded and continued his assault on Spark Eater's legs. It wouldn't be much longer now. I looked at Arcee who nodded at me. She must have seen Light get into position.

"Autobots, fall back!" Optimus ordered. They all ran back to the cover of the buildings. I looked at him briefly before getting on my com-link.

"Light? How long?"

"It's ready when you are." Light responded back immediately. I fired on the Spark Eater's facing, making him angry again.

"Over here, you big brute." I announced, letting him reach over towards me. Optimus made a similar call to the monster, in which he changed his mind and started reaching over towards him. I ran over towards the back of his legs and shot wildly. "No, this way!"

"PESKY CREATURES!" It screamed loudly and swatted back at me. I transformed and drove away from it, causing him to turn his body as much as possible to try and hit me. Optimus hit at the beast's hip joints, making the Spark Eater screech.

"Artemis, my bots are getting tired." Mira told me over the com-link.

"Are you almost done?" I asked, driving in between its legs in order to get a front view.

"Somewhat." Mira paused. "I'm positioned on the roof, but the cannon isn't charged yet."

"Tell them to land, but don't stop shooting." I transformed and shot up the Spark Eater's chin. It started to reach down towards me. "Light, are you clear?"

"Far enough."

"Let's see if this works." I turned back and drove away from the arm. When the beast's servo hit the ground, I shouted, "NOW!"

Light's bombs, only Wheeljack could construct ones better. They went off one after the other, all the way up to the beast's hips. He was so busy watching us peck away at him, he didn't notice Light planting bombs on him. Luckily I was a good shot, and didn't trip them on purpose when I shot at his back legs.

However, when the bombs went off, his arm got caught in the after blast. When his legs collapsed, he didn't have enough strength in his left servo to support him. The monster fell straight down without a struggle. Its face collapsing into the dirt crevasse he created. No surprise to me, or to anyone for that matter, it lifted itself up with its good arm.

Optimus had brought his Autobots back to strike at its face. He came to join my side while I recovered from the close encounter. I caught my breath while he shot at Spark Eater. I couldn't help, but watch in amazement at the determination in his eyes. I was starting to think we might not have needed Mira's help after all. That was, until it released some of its clones from its body.

"Scrap," I stood up abruptly and placed a digit on my audio receptors. "Mira, please tell me you're almost done!"

"If I was done, I would have said so!" Mira shouted at me again. Optimus touched my shoulder and pushed me towards the buildings.

"Go, I will distract it until Mira is ready." He said, still shooting.

"You can't take them all on your own." I looked around at the rest of them, taking out as many clones as they could.

"You have performed well, but you have suffered enough. Take cover, and return to Ratchet." He said so sternly, I couldn't help, but flinch. Before I could respond, he spoke again. "That's an order!"

I frowned as he ran off, offering himself for the Spark Eater to chase. It was true; the Spark Eater was fairly damaged. If it was a one on one fight, Optimus would win. However, the clones had me nervous. They were crawling over the mounds, scraping down the Autobots. It almost seemed like there were no end to them. If any of them went after Optimus, if they distracted him from the Spark Eater for a second, he'd be done for.

"I will not." I stood up and grabbed Light as she passed by. "Light, do you have any more explosives?"

Optimus POV

I drove quickly around the corner of a building. The Spark Eater's arm crashed right through it in attempt to catch me. It damaged its digits severely, but it still chased after me. I transformed back when I cleared the building and could get a good sight of the Spark Eater's face. I shot at its face until it caught his attention. I was about drive off again when a clone tackled me to the ground.

"Ugh!" I shot at the clone's face until it shut down. I pushed the clone off me and looked up. The Spark Eater's hand was right above me. I transformed, but my wheels skidded in the clone's fluids.

An explosion crackled through the air, followed by the screeching of the Spark Eater's warped cries. I transformed back when I noticed the arm retreating from my position. I let my optics roam the battle field for the source of the blast. I was expecting to see Light behind it, but it wasn't her.

"Artemis! Stop!" I shouted seeing her in her human form buzzing around on her hover board. While in her human form, it would be easier for her to slip through the monster's grasp, it was also more vulnerable. "Artemis, retreat now!"

Either she did not hear me or was ignoring me. I transformed and drove off towards her direction. She weaved between the bots digits as it scrapped across the ground. She almost ran straight into me, not noticing me driving towards her. I transformed back and caught her in my servos. Artemis looked up at me, her eyes saying 'you shouldn't have gone off on your own.'

"Optimus, above us!" She screamed, I looked up and noticed the arm descending on me again. I turned into my truck form, Artemis sitting in the passenger's seat, and took off as fast as my wheels could take me. I skidded in the dirt, just missing the Spark Eater's hand.

"Artemis, I ordered you to retreat."

"Optimus, I'm not leaving you on the battle field, ever! We're partners remember? We're in this together." She looked out the window before jumping out and transforming into her bot form. I did as well and stared at her.

"Why?" I asked softly.

"We're friends Orion. Why would I ever leave you here alone?" She laughed at me and looked up towards the sky.

Artemis POV

"We're friends Orion. Why would I ever leave you here alone?" I laughed at him and looked up towards the sky. It was a slip of the tongue, saying his old name. However, it seemed fitting. I know more about him than I thought I ever would know. In that little phrase, perhaps I could convey how much I cared about him, about this war, about helping him defeat this beast who took Alpha Trion's spark. "Let's get back your teacher's spark."

He didn't have time to answer me. We jumped away from each other when the Spark Eater's fist dropped between us. I struggled to find sight of him, to see if he was okay. I should have been paying attention.

The Spark Eater swept my body up into his servo and picked me up. I noticed it as his bad arm, but even that didn't weaken his grip on me. He lifted himself up with his good arm, enough to show his dark spark. Optimus was blasting at the servo, but the Spark Eater didn't faultier. He held me tightly. As if it were the last thing he'd ever do, he was going to take my spark. He opened up his spark at began sucking me in.

A million things flashed through my head. Was I going to survive this? Where was Mira? Did Alpha Trion feel this helpless as his spark was being eaten? I began to think of something else to. How much I DIDN'T want to die. I haven't taught Sam all the things I know. I haven't helped Ratchet get back his planet. I haven't helped Light regain her trust in her own kind. Most importantly, I have told Optimus how much I care. I CAN'T die now, not like this.

"HEY, SPARK EATER! CHEW ON THIS!"

Chicago, Illinois

"HEY, SPARK EATER! CHEW ON THIS!" Mira fired the cannon into the Spark Eater's chest, letting its spark take the blunt force of the blast. It cried out in agony, clutching its good arm at its chest. Without support, it fell again without a struggle. The arm holding Artemis unclutched and dropped her.

The Spark Eater's body crashing to the ground made it hard to pinpoint where Artemis landed. Mira immediately flied into the dust to look for her. Optimus rushed in as well, seeing Mira rush in. He wasn't sure if she was going to try to kill Artemis or not. Mira transformed back, plopping the heavy cannon onto the ground. She saw Artemis' form on the ground; she coughed heavily at the dust even though she didn't need to breathe.

"Look what you did." Mira said, standing over her. "You made me swoop down here, even though I can't fly well with this gun on my back, for nothing."

"We're you expecting me to be dead." Artemis said between coughs as she sat up.

"I wonder." Mira held out her hand. "We make a pretty good team."

"Could have shot him a little sooner, don't you think?" Artemis took the hand and allowed herself to be lifted up off the ground.

"Don't complain. You're not dead, right?" Mira turned to see Optimus running towards them. "Calm down, Big O, I won't hurt your precious little princess." She rolled her optics to the side. Optimus stopped half way, not wanting to get to close to Mira in case her subordinates dropped in.

"Artemis, are you okay?"

"I'm okay, Optimus. But-" Artemis patted at her chest, "I think I'm going to need some R&R after this. I'll get you a doctor's note." She laughed, getting ready to contact Ratchet. However, a shadow cast over them suddenly. Artemis looked up and her mouth dropped.

"I WILL NOT FALL!" Spark Eater screamed, his jaw barely hanging onto the rest of his face. His spark flickered wildly, desperately clinging to life. The armor on its servo fell completely off, while it wasn't as sturdy, it was faster. It zoomed down at them, wanting to crush Artemis in its grasp.

Artemis backed up, frightened by the claws approaching her. She was about to be grabbed when something pushed her out of the way. She coughed at the dust in her face and looked back. Her optics grew wide at the sight of Mira being pressed against the ground.

"Mira!" Artemis screamed, seeing the Spark Eater begin sucking in her spark. She looked around until she found the cannon. She struggled to get her hands on it, but when she did, she turned it on quickly. "Come on, come on!" She shook the cannon, looking between it and Mira.

It was charging, it could not be fired until it was fully charged, safely that is. Artemis weighed the consequences of firing it early, and thought it was worth the risk. Mira, was, and would always be her sister. She pointed the half charged cannon at what was left of Spark Eater's spark. It let out a weak blast, but enough to finish the weakened monster.

The beast cried and, finally, its spark went out. The body collapsed again onto the ground. Its face faded to gun-metal grey. The hand holding Mira, jerked when the blast hit. It swung and hit Artemis in the side, putting her to the ground again. However, after that, the monster didn't move. Finally, it was dead.

"Mira! Mira!" Artemis swung her servo, trying to locate her sister. She managed to see traces of her sister's body and ran towards it. She was shocked to see Soundwave standing over her, touching her chest with his cables. "GET OFF OF HER!" She chased Soundwave away. He jumped back and stood on a mound. "Mira is staying with me! Megatron can't have her! Tell your master that she is staying with me!"

Soundwave didn't respond in any way. He turned away from her, nodding at the waiting RazorMane before jumping into the sky. The waiting flyer followed soon after. Artemis turned back to Mira and found her sister shaking furiously. Her chest was burnt open, exposing her spark. The spark in her chest flickered weakly.

"Mira, wake up." Artemis knelt down, cradling her head just as the Autobots swarmed around them. "Mira."

"I'm tired." Mira said blankly. It sounded as if there should have been sarcasm in her tone, but she was too weak to do so.

"You need to stay away, Mira, until we can fix you." Artemis nodded. "We'll fix you."

"I always hated that about you." Mira chuckled sadly, her mouth spewing Energon as she did so. "Not everything can be fixed, Artemis. Not everything can be in your control. Some things…just…happen."

"I can fix you, Mira. It's possible."

"No, Artemis…you never could." Mira looked up and smiled weakly. "I will admit...this. I…was wrong…about that." Artemis looked at her in confusion, but Mira gripped her servo and continued to speak. "I shouldn't…have said that. No matter…what flows through our veins." Mira stopped speaking, as if wanting to use different words. "I hate you…but you're still my sister."

Those were her last words. Just like that, her spark went out and her optics flickered off. Artemis stared blankly at her face for a while, not exactly sure what just happened. When it finally clicked that her sister died, right in her arms, she broke down in tears. Slamming her fist into the ground, she shouted for her sister to wake up. She screamed at the motionless body that she couldn't go yet. They just started to act like a family.

The Nemesis

Megatron gripped at his arm, watching Mira's life signal flicker out. He wondered if she was successful in destroying the traitor, Spark Eater. Surely she didn't let herself get caught off guard by letting the beast kill her. However, his questions didn't go unanswered. Soundwave entered the control room soon after. Megatron brushed Knockout away, who was trying to work on Megatron's arm. Knockout took the hint and left the room briefly.

"I take it you presence means that Mira was successful in terminating Spark Eater?" Megatron waited for the mute to nod before continuing. "Though, I see she did not live through the experience. Did you retrieve the remains?"

"'Mira is staying with me! Megatron can't have her! Tell your master that she is staying with me!'" Soundwave repeated what he was told not a moment before.

"I see. Then why are you here?" Megatron growled. Soundwave knew better than to keep him waiting with vital information. Soundwave walked towards him and opened his digits. There, sitting in his palm, was Mira's Spark of Unicron. Megatron grinned, taking the artifact and holding it up. "Well done, Soundwave. Well done."