Chapter 15
One by one, each bot was paired off with another before given a location and off they went. It was like Tetris, pairing each up with another, who would fit best as a team, who was already a team. Optimus had clearly put a lot of thought into it. As Lennox leaned up against the warehouse wall, he felt the deepest feeling of overwhelming loss. A couple months ago, he had yelled at his comrades for existing, for bringing this war upon their planet, and now here they were, separating, saying their goodbyes, and he wished he could have taken that moment back.
It had never been their fault. They were more human half the time than he felt he was. They say goodbye. They mourn. They heal. They fight. They try. They always tried, and even in their failures, they never gave up.
Lennox glanced over to Ratchet who was hovering over Ironhides table in the corner. Not being able to take any more of the goodbyes, Lennox turned around, instead opting to join Ratchet in the medical area. It didn't look like he was planning on leaving, and Prime wasn't pushing it.
Ratchet gave the smallest of nods to Lennox as he joined him. Neither one of them was watching the pair off at this point. Neither one of them wanted to see any go. Instead, they took to staring at the large table that held Ironhide.
"…He's not gonna make it…is he?" Lennox's voice was quiet, and he felt the emotion choke up his throat. With a quick cough, he pushed it down.
Ratchet gazed back at his comrade on the table, his expression unreadable. He was never much of a talker, unless it was a command or to let others know the level of disgust he was feeling. Lennox knew not to push it
"He's already gone"
…..
Izzy gripped onto the metal railing, forcing herself forward. Each step was unbalanced, as Blue Bird screamed at her to stop, but she didn't. She wanted out. She wanted out, now.
It had been three days since the Autobots had given their little press conference and seemed to disappear off the face of the earth. And that is not an overexpression. No one knew where they had gone, and within that time, a whole ass pandemic had occurred. Some virus that was named after a beer? Corona Virus? Izzy hadn't kept up with the news, but all she knew was the shit was spreading fast, and the hospital wasn't where she wanted to be when everyone came, coughing their lungs up.
She pushed off the rail, stumbling as her legs begged her to stop this foolishness.
"Suck it up buttercup" Izzy huffed. It was like fighting with a sibling. Not that she would know what that was like, but she figured it was something like this.
"Ms. Beckett?"
Shit.
Izzy stared down at the ground, her flight or fight response was ticking in her like a bomb, jumping from option to option. Bluebird didn't always believe in the most rational of responses, and the things she was pushing for right now was yanking the railing out of the wall and swinging it around like a baseball bat.
No. That wouldn't be the best of choices.
With her eyes flickering back and forth from silver to baby blue, Izzy turned around to face the nurse, who looked petrified.
"I just needed to take a walk."
"I can't let you do that"
Izzy could feel the heat in her body start to raise. Her eyes flickered again, this time Blue Bird was in control.
The nurse was five feet four, small, but muscular. Not muscular in a way where she clearly went to the gym but fit to a point that she clearly had dealt with enough patients and moving people that she had gained some strength. Hispanic, in her mid-forties, brown eyes, long hair in a bun tied behind her head. The bags around her eyes gave away the long day she must have gone through. This was the end of her shift, and here she was, dealing with some twenty something year old, with glowing eyes while a new pandemic was spreading across the world. Fuck this day.
Bluebird could read it all. Every small little shoulder slouch, eye twitch, and blink. This woman was tired and was not in the mood to put up with much. Security would be her first call, if she had not already.
"I apologize. I'll head back immediately" Izzy smiled, feeling her whole body straighten up. Bluebird was a great manipulator as well. "You look so tired, you should really go get some sleep. I can't thank you enough as a health care professional for caring so much about everyone. You are the reason I have faith in people still"
Such a fake compliment, that anyone with more than an hour of sleep would be able to see through. Unfortunately, this poor woman hadn't slept in days. Tears formed in her eyes as she thanked Izzy, trying to gather her composure. She didn't bother checking to see if her patient actually made it back to her room as she excused herself to the bathroom.
With a quick turn, her socks sliding easily across the title floor, Izzy continued down the hallway towards the exit door. Every small sound, click, footstep, she could hear everywhere. The faintest of conversations held on the other side of the walls. Bluebird wanted out just as badly as she did, and now they were finally working together as a team.
As if by instinct, she placed her hands on the ground, staring to crawl forward like an animal. It was quiet. Who would have thought crawling across the floor like a dog was the softest ways to make your way around?
Ducking under a desk, and with the red exit sign in view, it was only going to be a few moments until she had made it out.
Pause. Movement. An overweight security guard, five feet, ten inches, walking with a slight limp, hands loose at his side. He leaned over one of the desks, rummaging through an empty box that once held face masks. No luck. He silently cursed to himself before continuing his walk.
Apparently, those face masks and gloves were in high demand right now and hand sanitizer had become the same price as gold. Izzy had originally wondered if maybe stealing a few items for her venture would be wise but decided it would be better to save them for the nurses and doctors who really needed them. Their adventure was a lot more important than hers. Saving human lives would always top any importance.
Izzy crawled forward, the exit sign like heaven beckoning.
With speed and perfect execution, she rolled out of the door and shut it in seconds, not a single sound escaping. The staircase beckoned her to continue with her escape, which she invited gleefully. She could feel Bluebirds excitement pumping through her veins, beginning her to go faster. Run faster. Her strength was gaining more and more. Could it be possible the Cyrote was able to collect its own energy? She hadn't been near any energon supply since the explosion, yet Bluebird seemed to be healing on her own.
Quickly swinging over the railing, she jumped down a story, landing on the bottom step with ease. With a burst of adrenaline, she staggered out the exit door and collapsed onto the pavement of the overcrowded hospital parking lot.
No words could describe how it felt to be out of the building and into the natural element of the world again. The rain pounded on the concrete below her, with enough force to drown out the occasional thunder that rolled by.
She could feel a shiver course through her entire body. She was free. Again. But now what? Where to go? Who could she trust?
Clinging the clothing to her body, she made her way forward, carefully ducking around the cars, to avoid being seen.
It was cold out. With nothing but socks and an ugly hospital gown, it wouldn't be long until she would have to seek shelter. Where was she supposed to go?
Keeping low and to the darkness of the other side of the sidewalk, she took to venturing through abandoned parking lots and parks to make her way across the city. No one was up at this time, nor did anyone want to be with a growing pandemic.
Izzy could feel Bluebird fading, as her eyes flickered, the light guiding her way, halting to exist.
"Come on, no. I need to see where I'm going. You gottta help me out here" Her voice was almost a whimper. Begging. Bluebird was the only thing she had left, and she didn't want her to go, even if just for a moment.
She dropped to her knee's as a sudden wave a weakness washed over her. Gasping in pain at the impact the concrete had on her bones, she slipped forward, her face digging into the crack of the sidewalk.
"Fuck!" She groaned, biting her tongue as she curled in a ball to try to inspect her knee's, but it was too dark to see anything. "You got to warn me when you're about to just leave, okay?"
She didn't expect an answer, so she wasn't surprised when none came. Carefully, she forced herself up to her feet again. Her entire body felt like it had been hit by a bus, from the tip of her toes to the top of her head, a soreness that was unexplainable.
The bright white beams of car headlights, was enough to make anyone jump. The engine revved.
Cop? Autobot? Or worse yet…Decepticon?
Bluebird was back within seconds of these thoughts, this time slamming Izzy forward into a sprint. She could hear the vehicles tires screeched across the pavement as it turned to peruse her.
Run. Run. Run. She screamed the words silently to herself over and over as Bluebird struggled to keep going. She was still weak, with every right to be.
Izzy leapt onto a large metal trash can, swinging her momentum forward in a jump. Her hands outstretched towards patio railing, anything to get the hire ground.
It wasn't enough. Her fingers desperately grabbed onto the wet concrete of the building as she slid down the wall. There was nothing she could do to stop the fall back down, except continue to dig her nails into the wall, watching them chip away and bleed.
Izzy's legs buckled out from under her as she fell to the ground, landing in a puddle of water. The chase was over before it even began.
"God damnit" Izzy groaned, forcing herself to flip over onto her stomach to watch the approaching vehicle. If there was one way she promised she would never die, it was by being stepped on by a Decepticon. The idea of that infuriated her. Being stepped on, like some common bug? Like an ant? No. Not her.
"Come on, fucker." She whispered, wiping her bloody hands on her hospital gown as she got herself up to her knee's once more. Heaven forbid any security cameras be in this area, they would see a woman in a bloody hospital gown about to face off an alien in the middle of a crazy storm. Crazy times.
The vehicle came to a halt, dimming its lights on her. No license plate, no signs of a driver. Her hope for a cop, was crushed, but she knew the chances had been slim from the start.
The unfamiliar make of the car, prove to be yet again a threatening sign, but she refused to let her growing anxiety show.
"I don't know where they are" Izzy wiped her drenched hair away from her eyes. "And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. I don't know anything man, I just got out of the hospital, I don't know how I did that explosion. I don't know"
She could feel herself starting to stutter. Whether it was out of fear or if her body was just finally realizing how cold it was, she didn't know. Neither seemed to matter at this point.
The car started to fold in, shifting, over and over again, building itself up. Izzy kept herself still, watching the transformation. It still never ceased to amaze her.
The bot finally stood, everything clicking into place, their red armor shining in the rainfall.
Izzy caught her breath, feeling a sense of familiarity in the shapes and placements of wheels and windows.
"Bee?" She whispered, taking an unsteady step forward. "Is that you?"
The bot finally raised his gaze up from the ground, the pleasant blue eyes nearly causing Izzy to faint in relief. Bee took another step, cautiously, keeping his distance. It took Izzy a moment to realize… she had blown up their entire home. Of course, he had every right to be uncertain.
The growing guilt, started to form a tight knot in her stomach as she shook her head, wordlessly, trying to find the words to say.
"Bee…I'm so sorry. I didn't know what I was doing, it wasn't me" She blubbered, as snot started to drip down her nose. It was impossible to tell if she was crying as the rain continued to pelt down. "This thing in me, it does things to protect itself. I don't do it. Please, I'm so sorry"
She was sobbing now, shaking her head in frustration. Bee didn't move, staring down at her.
Izzy managed to collect herself, again wiping the hair off her face as she reluctantly looked down at the ground.
"You gotta go Bee. You can't be out in the open like this. Not now. Not for a long time." Izzy wrapped the soaked gowned around her arms that were already covered in goosebumps. "What are you even doing here still? It's not safe. Where's everyone else?"
"They have left"
Izzy swore she recognized the segment from an old war movie.
"Why didn't you?"
"I couldn't leave you here"
And just like that, all of Izzy's stress, left her body. A simple 5 words, was all it took. Bee leaned in, bending down on one knee. The softest of rumbles from deep within his throat vibrated.
"I'm okay" She took a step towards him. "Nice paint job"
Bee shook his head in disgust, letting his original yellow and black color flash across his body.
"I like the yellow better too" Izzy gave the smallest of chuckles, before a shiver ran up her spine. Bee pointed towards her, beeping lowly.
"I'm just a little cold" Izzy finally admitted. Bee nodded and quickly began transforming, the front door opening, beckoning her to go in. "I don't know how safe it is for us to be around each other. I can't control whatever the cyrote does"
"Nothing's safe anymore…what matters is we stick together. We're family" the radio fizzed a few times in the transmission as Bee inched forward, swinging the door open again. Izzy nodded, temporarily burying her head in the palms of her hands. Anything to stop the surge of emotions she was feeling.
"Okay"
She carefully climbed into the front seat of the car. The door slammed shut and Bee carefully drove away. Izzy rested her head on the window of the car. Her entire body was aching for sleep, and now seemed like as good as time as any.
….
DING-DONG
Markus hadn't moved from his bed besides to go to the bathroom in over three days. With piles of chips and beer, he considered himself ready for this pandemic. First the Decepticons, and now some virus? Could human existence ever get a damn break?
Reluctantly, he swung his feet over the bed, grabbing one of the crutches to assist himself up. Within all likely ness, it was someone from N.E.S.T assuring that he hadn't left. Many of them had been trying to keep control of every situation. They wanted to feel like they still were in charge of something. Rather pitiful, really.
The door started to shake as fists pounded at it.
"Calm down! I'm coming, god" He shouted, limping his way forward. He unchained the door and opened it to confront the unwanted visitor.
Then black. Everything went black.
