Chapter 13

How do you address everything and everyone you love on a single sheet of white paper? Do you draw a picture? Do you write in neat paragraphs how much you love them? There was not nearly enough paper in the world for that.

Izzy hovered her pen over the blank sheet of paper in front of her. The possibilities of what to say were endless. She wondered if this was essentially her first will? In the chance it was the last thing she would write, it might be important to treat it as such. But it wasn't like she had many possessions to give away, or many wise words to share with her nonexistent kids.

She tapped the pen a few times, trying to wake up the ink, before carefully placing it down on the page. Now what? Isn't this the part where inspiration is supposed to flow through your veins and down to the pen, and you write something eerily beautifully that everyone will remember? Maybe one day, this letter would be in all the school history books. A moment of history to never be forgotten.

Izzy tapped her pen on the paper again. It seemed impossible. What was there to say? It was the third day. She had spent three days in her room, mulling over the possibilities of what she could do. Escape? Warn the others? That asshole in the purple suit had made sure her options were limited.

She crumbled the paper in her hands and brushed it under the table before getting up and starting her daily pacing habit.

The clock read 11:30pm. When was this dickhead going to give her the signal. Was he even going to give her a signal?

She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, digging her nails into her palms.

"Is everything alright?" Lennox voice came through the intercom loud speaker, causing her to jump. She raised her thumb up to the camera staring down at her, giving the most convincing smile she could manage. It wasn't as if she could trust Lennox either. Who knew who to trust these days.

A blaring alarm sounded through the air, the red lights flashing across her room. A heavy thud made her turn to the front door, which had clicked open.

"DECEPTICON ATTACK. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! WE HAVE-"The woman didn't have a chance to finish as the intercom fuzzed out. Izzy could hear the screaming in the hallways and feel the heat from the explosions that carried through the hallways. The fire licked at the door frames as it passed by, starting to melt the metal.

Izzy closed her eyes, deeply breathing in as Bluebird screamed at her from within. Begging to be released. Begging to fight. She ignored her and gently pushed the door open. It's hinges gave out, and cascaded to the ground in the hallway with a large bang.

Carefully, she walked into the hallway, her eyes adjusting around the smoke that billowed through the hallway. She brought her sweatshirt up to her mouth, fighting the smoke that caused her eyes to water, immensely.

The burnt bodies around her were still twitching as their human instinct begged them to try to stay alive. She held her sweatshirt harder against her mouth, trying not to vomit from the putrid smell.

Izzy barely had time to process the large footsteps that were shaking the floor around her. Familiar in a way, but unfamiliar.

Sean Wayne stepped out of the smoke, with nothing less than content in his expression. Izzy held her stance as a large purple and black robot emerged from the smoke, walking behind him, their steps in sync. The robot stopped, his one red eye, glaring down at Izzy.

Mr. Wayne fizzed out as though he was a bad channel on a tv, his entire body disappearing. A hologram. Nothing more.

"Sean Wayne, huh?"
The robot turned and started walking towards the Autobot hanger.

"Shock Wave"

…

Sideswipe watched from the corner of the hallway as Izzy reluctantly started following Shockwave towards the hanger. There was many ways to approach this situation, and none of them seemed like the best of choices. Sideswipe was good at what he did sure, but Shockwave was bigger, taller, and he didn't like saying it, but must better and more equipped than him in a fight. Taking on that brute alone would be most definitely suicide.

"Are there any Autobots within the base?" He transmitted though the private link.

"NO! THIS SHIT IS TOO CRAZY" Skids immediately transmitted in a high pitched shriek.

"West side of base, by the aircrafts, I could use some help. They got me outnumbered" Arcee chimed in before going silent.

"On my way!" Bee texted through the com.

"Sideswipe, why did you ask if there was anyone in the base" Ironhides inquired. Sideswipe paused, watching Izzy and Shockwave disappear around the corner.

"Because, I may be about to do something incredibly stupid" He transmitted and started walking from out from his hiding spot. He was stopped as a familiar hand grabbed his shoulder.

Ironhide There was a different feel in the air than usual. This fight was looking nothing less than meek if anything. They were out gunned, and unprepared. But as Ironhide gently patted his friends shoulder, Sideswipe wondered if maybe they could do this.

"I'm always down for stupid shit"

Sideswipe nodded. They both turned back towards the hallway, their weapons transforming onto their arms. Loaded and ready to go.

….

Shockwave stared around the array of lights. The energon. If he was impressed, he didn't show it.

"It is an interesting choice. Small pods to hide the energy signature so we couldn't find them." He reached up, grasping an energon light in his hand. They all started to ripple in the recognition of a cybertonian being. He grasped it tighter before ripping it out of its socket. Energon spilt to the floor while the rest dripped onto his metal plating, absorbing into his metal, drying as if it was water on skin. "The only problem, is you humans trust anyone with a badge and a nice suit"

Izzy said nothing. She gazed around the base, a place in which she had the oddest of memories. Odd but good. It was weird to think how little time it had taken to get to this spot of her life. She once was robbing rich, white old men of their pride and money, and now was in some alien, robotic war zone, conspiring with the enemy.

She felt the cyrote starting to heat up on her wrist and she gently covered it, with her opposite hand. Now was not the time to be drawing attention to one's self.

"Touch one of the pods" Shockwave growled. Izzy looked over to the flickering energon lights.

"I react to it, if that's what you are wondering-"

"TOUCH ONE!" Shockwave snarled, his foot stomping on the ground so hard, bits of title flew into the air. Izzy managed to keep herself composed as she reached over and grabbed onto one of the pods.

The room started to pulse with energy, over and over again, the lights dimming, brightening and then pulsing. She could feel all the power of the energon through her fingertips, as if asking her to take it.

Shockwave turned, admiring the brilliant array of lights with fascination.

"Had to see it for myself." He grinned, looking down at her. "I wonder how much of human is really left in there"

Izzy was in no position to be angry at the comment, but yet she felt exceptionally pulled to smack him. The robot out in the desert, how had she done that? His skull crushed as though it was a toothpick. Yes. That would be a useful skill to have right about now.

"I'm still human"

"And that part of you, is useless to me." Shockwave growled. "But the cyrote, loves to take in recourses. Energy. You are now a living generator for us. Something the autobots clearly never thought to do"

"Or maybe they just valued my life a little bit more than you"

Shockwave snorted, turning back towards the pods.

"Doesn't hurt you at all, it's what the Cyrote was made to do. It can't very well continue doing it's job if you are dead"

Izzy paused, looking down at the glowing band that was lightly vibrating on her wrist. "It can't do its job if she was dead." That stuck with her. Blue bird was meant to protect her, she already knew this. But if the Cyrote was meant to store energy…maybe it just didn't have enough energy to do its job to the max capacity. Like in the desert…

Shockwave tossed a metal object down to the floor, that clattered and bounced before rolling unsteadily to Izzy's feet.

"Hold that in your hand, it will allow a transfer from the pods"

Izzy reached down, taking the metal in her hand, anxiously trying to gather her thoughts.

"Don't do it, Izzy"

Sideswipe and Ironhide walked carefully out from the hallway, keeping their hands carefully at their sides, weapons at the ready. If it was a fight that they wanted, they didn't look show it. Their movements were well thought out and with worry.

"You want to be taken out with dignity, of course. You picked the right bot for the job" Shockwave strode forward, his hand transforming into what could only described as a chainsaw from hell.

Izzy gripped onto the metal piece in her hand, each second getting more painful than the next. This was a fight, she didn't want to see, nor be around, and there was a high possibility that the ones she wanted to make it out alive, would not.

And that's when it happened.

The plan.

…..

Optimus raised his blade up, before slamming it down towards the earth. The sword didn't miss it's Decepticon target along the way, taking the big, red eyed scum down into the dirt with a new hole in his chest.

Prime ripped the blade back, just in time to duck as two missiles flew by his face, blowing up a N.E.S.T vehicle behind him.

"This isn't going good!" Lennox screamed, quickly jumping out from his hiding space to throw a grenade forward.

"It could be going better" Prime admitted wearily, quickly shooting a few bullets out in front of him. It didn't make even a small dent in the hoard of deceptions that was ripping through the sand towards them. No Decepticon activity in months? This was why. They had been planning, saving their energy, prepping for this attack.

Optimus allowed himself a moment to muse at the idea of how hard it must have been for Megatron to wait as long as he did. When it came to fights, Megatron's patience was about as high as a four year old human child. But this triggered another question. What was so important that he waited until now? What had changed? There was no possible way they had just stumbled upon their base. Was there?

Optimus turned, quickly slamming his fist into a Decepticon that was pinning Mudflap down. Mudflap quickly stumbled up to his feet, checking his body over for what he was sure would be a gaping hole. Nothing.

"Thanks boss bot" He stuttered, turning back towards the next wave of Decepticons running towards them. "I ain't ever seen shit like this"

"And I was hoping you would never have to" Optimus replied grimly. Mudflap flicked a cactus, that was nestled between his plating, back to the ground, grimacing at the uncomfortable prickles it left.

"I swear, since that Cyrote thing came around, shit's been going so bad."

Optimus eye's widened and he quickly turned towards the base, his legs slamming into the sand as he picked up his pace. Mudflap took one look at the approaching army of Decepticons, before high tailing it towards Optimus.

"Are we retreating!? BOSS BOT! WHAT IS HAPPENING!? ARE WE FLEEING?!" He screamed, his little legs pumping as fast as they could.

"Izzy." Optimus responded. "They are here for Izzy"

"We have eyes on her" A very soft transmission from Ironhide. Something was off. Prime didn't stop running, slamming his shield into enemies as he went. Nothing was stopping him from reaching the base entrance.

"What is wrong, Ironhide" Prime transmitted privately.

"We aren't the only ones that have eyes on her"

…..

"WATCH IT!" Ironhide yelled to his comrade as he narrowly missed a missile flying past his shoulder.

"My bad" Sideswipe groaned, quickly rolling to the side as Shockwave slammed his fist down towards the smaller bot. "I would suggest we stay in the relatively same area to avoid hitting each other"

"Or maybe just aim better" Ironhide growled back. Shockwave grinned, watching them bicker. Sideswipe could see how exceptionally self-aware Shockwave was. He knew that the fight was leaning his way, and this was essentially like a cat playing with the mouse to him. Occasionally he went for the kill shots, but they managed to scurry away just in time. It wouldn't be long now for sure. Sideswipe could feel his pace slowly and Shockwave was soon to get bored of his games.

Shockwave slammed his fist forward, smashing it into the ground. The entire room shook as the concrete cracked up all the way to the roof. Sideswipe and Ironhide paused to look at the now threateningly danger above them. They could possibly survive the base caving in, but that was unlikely. But someone who wouldn't survive for sure…

They both turned towards where Izzy was last seen standing.

"Izzy, where are-"

Ironhide wasn't given the chance to finish his sentence as he was smashed back by a large metal rod, slicing its way through his chest and out his back. Energon splashed across the floor as his knee's buckled. He tried to stay up, his arms shaking as they started to give out.

Everything was silent. Shockwave grabbed the metal rod, with his hand while pressing his foot carelessly onto Ironhides back. With a quick pull, it slid out. The sickening groan that followed could only be described as horrid. Sideswipe was frozen in place as he watched the lights in his partners eyes flicker.

"NO!"

Her scream was vile. Vile in a way that you would not wish to hear it ever again in your life. Something that haunted you, gave you chills at night. There was sorrow, anguish, anger, but most of all…there was power.

The energon bulbs flashed rapidly, each one exploding as it brightened to its max. Shockwave quickly covered his head in confusion as the glass shattered from all around him. He backed up against one of the walls, his hands covering his eyes as the intense blue light continued to glow and expand. It was growing at one side of the room, as if being channeled.

Sideswipe quickly grabbed onto Ironhide, pulling him away from the intense wind that was starting to build in the center of the room. The glass started to slam against his armor, scratching at the paint. He turned his head away, trying to protect his eyes to the best of his until he managed to drag Ironhide against the wall, keeping him covered with his own body. It was a hurricane of chaos and energy. Neither bot dared to touch the streaming blue light that was tunneling in the sideways tornado. So much energy, could kill them each with no problem.

Sideswipe glared across the room at Shockwave, who was gripping onto the hanger ledge as hard as he could. Neither of them were in a position to fight and they knew it. All they could do was cover their heads as the wind continued to build, metal and rocks whipping through the air in various directions.

The wind started to die down, along with the glow of the lights. Every single pod drained of it's contents.

Sideswipe shook his head, brushing the pieces of metal and glass that had fallen between his armor, surveying the damage. The front door had completely collapsed into a pile of rocks and metal, while the ceiling looked like it could at cave any moment. He brushed his hand in front of his face, trying to settle the dust. He could see Shockwaves bright red eyes from across the room, but he didn't seem to be making any attempt at movement. They were both disoriented, which gave him time.

He turned towards his comrade. The amount of energon that was pooling at his knees was enough to make any bot feel sick. Ironhide groaned again as Sideswipe gently propped him up against the wall, trying to elevate the wound.

"Izzt…" His voice cracked and fizzed with effort and he tried to point but Sideswipe shushed his as he scanned the damage.

"Sideswipe, Ironhide?!" Prime's voice fizzed out on the intercom. The collapse of the building must have messed up the frequencies.

"Sideswipe here." He said softly. "We are gonna need Ratchet…and some way out of here" He shifted his gaze to the ceiling, unsteadily.

"What in the Allspark did you do!?" Shockwave shrieked, emerging from the dust and shadows of the other side of the room. His arm was loosely swinging by a few fragments as he tripped his way forward over the debris. Sideswipe jumped up, watching the mangled Decepticon make his way forward. Even with one arm, he knew Shockwave could still easily eliminate him.

Shockwave stopped mid-way, turning his attention to the small amount of blue hue that illuminated the room. Sideswipe didn't dare keep his gaze off his target, but found curiosity got the best of him. He stole a glance to the side.

Izzy. She stood on the other side of the room, every single part of the walls beside her were collapsed, but not a single block or even pebble was in a small circle around her. Like a shield had protected her. The energons energy?

Sideswipe found himself even more curious as he took a mesmerized step towards her. Ironhide turned his head weakly, watching the scene play out in front of him.

As Izzy clenched and unclenched her fists, Sideswipe swore a small grin crept to her lips. Her eyes glowed an astonishingly, blinding white, while her veins pulsed and glowed with the power she had acquired. All that energon, in one small being…It was impossible yet…here it was.

She took a step forward, the ground under her foot melting. Sideswipe frowned. Too much power. This was way too much. Her body was clearly not reacting to it in the way it was supposed to. Or was it?

"Izzy, it's too much energon! All that energy is dangerous!" He yelled as she took another step forward. Her eyes dimmed as she turned towards her alley. This time, the smile was unmistakable.

"I know" Her smirk had a sadness to it, and he was unable to process what that could mean as she clasped her hands together. The light pulsing through her veins started to gather, a large ball of energy forming at her fingertips. Shockwave didn't bother to run, or even move. His fascination with the scene before him, was too much to take. Izzy turned towards him, as the tornado of wind started to pick up again. The roof cracked under the rough currents, but she didn't stop her approach towards the Decepticon before her.

"I bet you didn't know that the host of the Cyrote can use the stored energon" She shaped the ball of energon that hovered above her fingertips carefully, showcasing the impressive creation. "Me either, but figured it was worth a shot."

It was over before he could respond. With a quick hurl of her wrist, the ball of light flew forward, melting Shockwave to scrap metal as it barreled onward. The wave of fire was immensely hot as the energy dispersed onto the collapsed wall and Sideswipe quickly turned his face again to shield Ironhide.

Silence. Everything was silent for a moment. The quiet didn't feel right. Had they won?

Shockwave peaked his eye out over Ironhide's shoulder.

Izzy was still standing in the same spot, her face pale and her body swaying, unevenly. She glanced up to Sideswipe, meeting his gaze with uncertainty.

"Izzy…Are you okay?" He took a cautious step forward. She slowly reached up and wiped her nose. Red. Red on her sleeve. Blood?

"You are leaking?" He inquired taking another step. The same liquid started to trickle out of her eyes as she blinked rapidly. He knew enough about human anatomy to know this was not a good sign.

"Human medic. We need a human medic in-"

CRACK.

A small rock bounced off his face plating from above. Than another. The entire ceiling suddenly sunk, barely managing to keep itself up. It was going down, there was no doubt about it.

The ground started to shake below him, and he sunk to his knee's trying to hold onto anything for support. For a split second, his optics met Izzy's eyes. Tears were streaming down her face. She gave a small smile before the roof came completely crashing down.