Chapter 6-Long Roads to Ruin part 1
They always started as whispers in his mind before growing louder, with a sense of urgency evident in the tone. Someone was calling out to him. A young girl who was calling his name, calling for help.
"…ro…ide…"
"…ron….ide…"
"Ironhide!"
"Ah!" Ironhide jumped up in his recharge slab, almost snatching up his shotgun in the process. It took him a moment to calm down as he tossed his gun aside and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "For Primus's sake…"
This was the fifth night he had that same dream. It all started just a few nights go out of the blue, and he had no idea what was going on. At first he thought they were just flashbacks to some of his bloodier missions, but after hearing his name being called out, he knew something was up.
In his dream, he couldn't see anything, just colors, like he was floating in the heart of a nebula. All he could hear was a female voice calling out his name. A familiar voice. Just trying to remember where he heard it before made his head ache.
"Ugh, maybe I should talk to an expert on this." Ironhide grumbled to himself.
That expert being Optimus Prime. Early the next morning, Ironhide hunted Optimus down before he could go out on morning patrol and told him about these dreams, hoping that the Prime who had the most supernatural happenings to him on the team would have some kind of idea on what he was dealing with.
"Ironhide, what made you think that I could possibly have anything close to an answer?" Optimus asked.
"I don't know." Ironhide shrugged. "You have the Matrix, and you're pretty much at the heart of every mystical catastrophe, so I just figured you'd have an idea on what was going on."
"Ironhide, having the Matrix doesn't make me an expert on all things supernatural."
"Well indulge me! Throw me a bone here, Prime!" Ironhide said.
Optimus sighed. "You said these dreams didn't feel like dreams, yes? You think they're something else-a message maybe?"
"Kind of. I mean, I know it sounds kind of silly-"
"It's not. There are billions of people on this planet and at least a third of them are espers of various powers and abilities." Optimus said. "It wouldn't be a stretch to say that at least one esper is trying to communicate to you through your dreams."
"That's all find and dandy, but I don't recall giving my mental number to any espers for midnight calls." Ironhide replied.
Optimus gave him a look. "Ironhide, you and I have met on such esper before just last year."
Ironhide looked at him confused, but it slowly dawned on him about the one esper he ran into last year in Azadistan. "Genn."
XXXXXX
Annie loved being the strong, confident girl who was sure of herself and who she was. Her attitude was born from watching her brother be ashamed of his own esper nature for thirteen years-which was tantamount to blasphemy to someone who idolized espers like her. She wanted to be like her father, a proud soldier who was respected by everyone. This never changed after she lost her arm and eye, though she made sure to rein her attitude in after Jezebel incident. She thought that since that incident she would still be unshakeable and firm, someone who had the utmost confidence in herself.
That was until she had her first crush.
Watching her from the bleachers near the football field where the track was, Annie couldn't take her eyes off her as the blonde girl with a light tan (totally natural) ran laps around the field like it was nothing. The girl's name was Brittany, and she was an exchange student who had arrived to Tranquility over the summer for the new school year. Annie heard that Brittany was planning to be an Olympic track and field runner and from what she saw, it was a very possible dream.
'How does she do it?' Annie thought, a hand on her chin as she watched the girl run her fifth lap in a row. 'She barely looks winded. I can barely run that fast unless I had a Decepticon riding my ass.'
She looked away for a moment to adjust the black glove covering her robot arm. The main excuse she was going with was that her arm was badly burned in the fake car crash that took her eye (the only excuse she could think of) and she didn't feel like showing off those terrible and ugly burns. It was a solid enough excuse, so long as the gears in her arm didn't start whirling or something stupid like that.
The sound of the coach's whistle brought Annie back to reality as Brittany finished up her exercises. Spotting the one-eyed girl sitting in the bleachers, Brittany smiled and ran over to her.
"Hey, Annie!" Brittany said. "Free period?"
"Yup. Darren and Gina were busy, so I figured I'd pay you a visit." Annie said, grinning. "You were great out there, Brit. Best in the world."
"Oh please, I still have some things to work on." She replied sheepishly. "The coach says I still need to practice."
"Please, what does she know about you? Your number one fan here says otherwise." Annie said.
Brittany smiled with rosy cheeks. "Thanks."
"Ugh, get a room you two."
Annie scowled as Mandy walked past them, sporting a permanently crooked nose as a result of Annie's assault on her in the girl's bathroom last year, along with a couple of scars on her face. That encounter did little to curb Mandy's mean girl attitude or her animosity towards Annie, though she didn't do anything more other than throw a few scathing remarks her way before peacing out.
"As if the Pirate Queen over here could keep her hands of blondie here long enough to find a room." Dominique, Mandy's lieutenant, laughed.
"Keep talking, Mandy, it doesn't make you any better at sports than Brit." Annie said, crossing her arms. "And you might want to watch your mouth. I've been working on my right hook."
"You wouldn't dare, Cyclops!" Mandy sneered.
"Try me, Scarface." Annie shot back.
Brittany looked between the two girls nervously. Annie had told her about how she had beaten Mandy bloody during a particularly rough time last year, and the crooked nose the bully was sporting was a testament to how strong the girl was when she was angry. For a moment she thought the two girls were going to fight, but thankfully Mandy decided to back off and strutted away with her friend.
"Whatever. Come on, Dominique, we don't want the queer to get any ideas." Mandy sneered.
"I'm so stealing her clothes later." Annie muttered and gave Brittany an apologetic look. "Sorry you had to see that. She's gotten worse since I rearranged her face last year."
"No need to apologize, Annie, I can see why she get's on people's nerves." Brittany said, thinking back to when the girl was giving her a hard time after seeing her out on the track.
"At least her face matches her personality now." Annie quipped, earning her a light slap on the arm. "Hey, you want to hang out after school?"
"Sure! We can head to the mall. I want to see what they've got on sale." Brittany said, getting a groan from Annie.
"Really?"
"Yes, Annie, really. When you hang out with me, you need to expect to visit a lot of clothing stores." She smiled. "Just let me change and clean up a bit then we can head out."
"Sure thing." Annie nodded and watched her friend walk away.
At that moment, Kevin walked up behind her, spotting the dreamy grin on Annie's face. She didn't look at him, but she did accept the fist bump Kevin offered her without a word.
"My man." Kevin laughed.
"Shut up."
XXXXXX
Genn was a member of a Karaba cell Ironhide was forced to infiltrate to retrieve a stasis panel they had in their possession. Back when they first met, she knew him as Aron Hide, and had confided in him her reasoning for joining Karaba was to find her mother, who was taken by slavers when she was a little girl. He hadn't seen her since leaving Azadistan with the panel, but they hadn't really parted on good terms.
Ironhide knew the Karaba cell in Azadistan was acting as a deterrent for foreign powers in return for asylum from the acting queen, Marina Ismal. Their relationship had gotten pretty tense since the raid on the camp, and Ironhide knew that Karaba would be suspiciously eying any pickup truck since the Autobots came out to the world. Not to mention that he'll probably be targeted as soon as he's spotted by their agents.
"You sure you can't just use Teletran to find her?" Ironhide asked Wheeljack.
"I'm sorry, Ironhide, but Karaba has measures to hide themselves from satellite images. It's how they've been able to set up bases all over the planet without countries like Osea being able to find them. Don't ask me how they do it, but trying to find one person affiliated with them isn't possible. At least not yet."
Ironhide frowned. If he couldn't use technology to find Genn, then he was going to have this do this the unconventional way.
That night, he laid on his recharge slab and tried to relax his body. "If Kup ever heard about this, he'll never let me live it down." He grumbled. Hopefully this little connection he has to Genn through his dreams was a two way street or he'd be slag out of luck. "Let's get this done."
He closed his eyes and shut down all his major systems, letting his body fall into recharge mode and slowly went to sleep. It was hard to separate reality from dreams, even for cybertronians, and Ironhide was hardly the type to recognize the difference. But when he heard that distant whisper in his mind, he recognized that little fact almost immediately.
"Ironhide!"
Ironhide's eyes shot open and he saw that he was floating in that same black void. He looked around for Genn's voice. "Genn? Answer me, Genn, I know it's you!"
"Ironhide…help…" Her voice was becoming stronger now. A light shined on his right and he looked over to see a multicolored cloud forming into a humanoid figure. "Ironhide…"
"Genn." He floated over to the cloud, trying to reach her, but unable to do anything more than stop near her. "Genn, I can hear you now, but just barely. What's going on? Where are you?"
"Ironhide, I can't talk for…long. They'll trace me…if they haven't already." Genn said, her voice distorted.
"Who are you talking about?"
"These people…they have strange powers, but I don't…I don't think they're human. I'm in the city Muthia, in Kazakstasn. Go there and I'll be able to find you."
"Genn, you're going to have to tell me what's going on. Are you in trouble?" He asked.
Genn hung her head. "I don't know, Ironhide. I found my mother's trail and followed it to this cult…but it's something more than that. It's bigger than anything I could've imagined, and now they're out to get me because of something they think I have. Remember, Ironhide, go to Muthia and I'll explain it all in person. Now I have to go."
"Genn, wait!"
Ironhide's eyes shot open again and he was back in his quarters. His gears whirled in agitation as he sat up and put a hand to his head. He had no idea what was going on, but he was sure that it was something big, and something that he hoped was punchable. And now he had a place to look for her.
"Muthia."
XXXXXX
'My girl's growing up.' Grindor thought happily as he sat underneath the table in vehicle mode by Annie's feet. 'Never thought Annie would be one for going out on dates.'
Annie and Brittany were sitting at the food court in the mall after spending the afternoon shopping, and by shopping, it was just Brittany dragging Annie around to a few clothing stores. Annie wasn't particularly keen on spending money on clothes she's probably never going to wear, but it was fun enough hanging out with Brittany. It was a bit refreshing to hang out with someone new. Someone human.
"You're joking!" Brittany laughed.
"No, I'm serious! It's faint, but if you look closer you can see the scar on his upper lip where he stapled himself." Annie said. "Debbie said he cried for hours afterwards and he really gave the doctors a hard time."
"Hard to believe that such a quiet boy was so bad at that age." Brittany said.
"He may look quiet and mature, but my baby brother is no less of a kid than I am. You should see his manga collection. Gina really infected his mind with that stuff." Annie grinned evilly. "He even has Sailor Moon!"
"Annie, be nice," The blonde giggled. "I think it's nice that they have the same interests."
"Eh, they're both nerds. Still, it is nice, seeing them so happy. Especially with all the crazy crap that's going on." Annie looked at her gloved hand, which clenched instinctively.
Brittany noticed this. "How's your arm?"
"It's doing fine. I can still feel things a little bit, but most of the nerves in it are almost shot. That, and it looks like raw meat. Which is now how human skin is supposed to look." She sighed. "But I'm better now, aside from walking around with one eye. You think if I ask the Autobots, they'd lend me a robot eye or something?"
"Maybe, if the government lets them." Brittany said. She went silent for a moment, settling with just staring at Annie for a moment. After a while, Annie started to blush from the attention she was getting.
"W-What are you staring at me for?" Annie asked.
"Sorry, I was just wondering what it would be like to have a twin." Brittany smiled. "I always think of things like having a twin that finishes your sentences and hear each other's thoughts, but I wasn't sure if it was true or not. Growing up, it certainly made the idea of having a twin rather cool."
"Don't let the urban legends fool you, having a twin is not as fun as you think it is." Annie warned her with a smile. She could proudly say that she and Darren never finished each other's sentences or shared each other's thoughts, but they did share some level of empathy. Only Annie was sure that Darren was still alive during the Headmaster War, for she would've felt a lot worse after his disappearance if he were dead. "I've never had any of those experiences, but having a twin can either be really fun or really annoying. Fortunately, Darren's not too annoying…most of the time."
"You two are really close."
"We are…or were. Things have been a bit complicated lately due to some…private troubles. We're not fighting or anything, it's just that we're trying to cope with some personal issues." Annie gave a forlorn smile.
Even though six months had passed, the Headmaster War was still fresh in everyone's minds, and it was clear that Darren and Sunstreaker were still suffering from the aftereffects of their merging long after their separation. Sunstreaker made an effort to avoid any and all humans, even the children, and Darren's personality had changed as well. He was prone to fits of anger, lashing out like an angry cobra at random. He developed a temper and a slight mean streak that flared up sometimes, like with Billy and Fred when they thought he would be easy pickings on a bad day. Who would've thought that a single football could land two boys in the nurse's office with bloody faces and wounded prides?
"Family problems?" Brittany inquired.
"You could say that. We have our differences and our fights, but we love each other." Annie shrugged. "All we have are each other and Debbie. We can't really snap at each other's throats when we rely on each other like that."
"That's nice. You look like someone who deserves a lot of love." Brittany smiled. "You're a sweet girl, Annie."
"Oh, stop it." Annie blushed cutely. Then she noticed someone passing by the food court and waved at them. "Oh, there's Justine. Justine!"
Brittany looked over to the girl Annie was calling out to. Justine was a thin, quiet girl with long auburn hair and pale skin, almost to the point of looking sickly. She was dressed in a thick wool sweater that seemed a little big for her, with a plain white shirt underneath and a long ankle-length skirt that definitely looked stitched together. Brittany was surprised at how raggedy the girl looked, it was like she was from the 1940s. How did Annie know this girl?
Justine froze at the sound of her name, but when she looked over, she relaxed slightly, seeing that it was one of those girls. She looked around nervously before heading over to their table, where Annie welcomed her over with a smile.
"Hey, Justine, how are you doing?" Annie asked softly.
"I-I'm doing fine." Justine said, glancing over at Brittany. "Hello."
"Hi, I'm Brittany. I just moved here a little while ago." Brittany said.
"Oh, is that so? Welcome to Tranquility, then." Justine nodded to her.
"We're having a little break from Brit's shopping spree before we head home. You want to join us?"
"No, no, I don't have the time. Mother doesn't like it when I go to those stores, and I'm running late as it is. T-Thank you for the offer, though." Justine bowed her head to them and turned to leave. She paused, though, and looked over at Annie. "How is D-Darren? I heard he wasn't feeling well lately."
"Darren's doing fine, Justine. In fact, I'm sure he'd welcome you back to the book club, if you want." Annie said.
Justine nodded, hiding her narrow face behind her curtain of hair. "I-I'll try to be there. T-Thank you."
Annie gave a little hum as Justine walked away in long strides as if to escape the thousand gazes of the people around her. Brittany looked at the retreating girl with a confused look. "Well she was…interesting."
"Justine's a member of the book club at school, though after seeing her mom, I don't think she's at the club just for a love of reading. She's a smart girl that gets shitted on by girls like Mandy every day and it's really hard to watch." Annie said and stood up from her seat. "Come on, let's finish up before it gets dark."
"Sure." Brittany reached for her plate and was about to toss it in the trash before she noticed something odd. "Huh?"
Brittany picked up her plastic spoon, which was cleanly twisted around without any cracks or warping of the plastic, and she was sure it wasn't like that a few minutes ago. When did this happen?
XXXXXX
"I swear, Ironhide, you get involved in some of the strangest slag in this part of the galaxy." Hound remarked.
"The perks of being friends with Prime. Now shut up and gear up. We're out in five." Ironhide said.
Ironhide didn't want to involve too many people in this situation. He only told Optimus and Prowl about his mission and where he was going, and Optimus suggested that he take Hound along for his expert tracking abilities, which Ironhide found hard to argue against. Telling Barnett was out of the question since he was going to meet a member of Karaba, which wouldn't do well for their alliance with the Osean government. Not to mention Muthia was a densely populate area and he didn't want to bring too much attention to himself.
Ironhide and Hound took a ground bridge to the city, and the first thing they noticed upon reappearing in an alley was the heat. The Middle Eastern region was known for its scorching temperatures, and even the two Autobots were forced to ventilate their systems to prevent overheating. They found themselves in the exact location Genn said to meet her at-the city of Muthia.
"So many people." Hound muttered as he and Ironhide parked themselves on the side of the street, watching traffic pass by in a clustered mess that could make a New Yorker faint. They had their holomatters activated to better disguise themselves, looking like two regular men talking amongst a throng of people.
"Can you get a track on her?" Ironhide asked, not taking his eyes off the crowd. He had given Hound Genn's scarf, something she wore back at Karaba to hide her face when needing to escape to local authorities, and he was hoping that Hound could use her scent to track her.
"Maybe. My sensors indicate that she's been in the city, at least, but her exact location is…spotty. I can't determine where she is by scent alone." Hound said.
"She can turn herself into a living sandstorm. I'm amazed you were able to get her scent at all."
"Well, that's all I can really do for you until we actually get on her trail. For all we know, she might not be in the city at all." Hound said, earning an agitated grumble from Ironhide. "Did she give any hint as to where she was heading?"
"No, she just said to head to Muthia, so here we are." Ironhide frowned. "She said that she'll find me, but I don't have a damn clue how she's supposed to do that."
Ironhide really didn't like how this mission was going so far. The Middle East was a horrible place for an innocent person to live, with all the pocket wars and esper warlords flaunting their powers. A young girl like Genn wouldn't last long alone in a place like this, hence why she hooked up with Karaba, the baddest people in the region. Whatever was after her was something bad enough to make her leave the safety of Karaba and run for her life.
"Let's drive around the marketplace." Ironhide suggested. "You might be able to get her trail and-"
A loud crack shot through the air and a purple energy bolt was fired at the street near the two Autobots. People screamed and ran as cars exploded from the blast, and another bolt was fired, destroying more unfortunate vehicles with people inside them. Ironhide and Hound let go of their holomatters and looked around to see where the attacks came from.
"Who shot that?" Hound asked. "Was it an esper?"
"No, that's too normal for us. That blast didn't come from the crowd." Ironhide said, looking down the street.
They soon got their answer as a giant twenty foot golem marched down the street just a few blocks away from them. It was humanoid in configuration, but had six arms, each limb ending in hands glowing with purple energy. An eerie purple glow emanated from its eyes and exposed circuitry, and Ironhide thought it strange at how fluidly it moved despite being an ancient robot. Not that it mattered, as the golem turned its gaze onto them and shot a blast their way.
"Slag!" Ironhide transformed as fast as he could and placed his body in front of the fleeing humans. The energy bolt slammed into his back and he hissed from the stinging pain of his armor burning. Hound rushed forward and fired his shoulder cannon at the golem. The automaton didn't even try to dodge the missile, not really needing to as it simply raised its main right arm and created a shield that the missile exploded against harmlessly.
"Hound, protect the humans! This bastard's mine!" Ironhide growled. He drew his war axes and charged at the dolem.
The robot waited until Ironhide was right on top of it before dodging his axe strikes. Ironhide's movements were fast and strong, but the golem moved just enough so that Ironhide's axes would miss it. When Ironhide spun around to slash at its side, the golem blocked the axe with one of its arms and punched Ironhide in the chest, knocking him back a couple of steps with a burn mark on his chest plate.
"Okay, I'm no expert on golems," Ironhide coughed. "But even you aren't supposed to be this strong."
"Hey, ugly!" The golem turned around to see Hound behind it. It fired an energy bolt at his head, but it surprisingly passed right through his body. "Psyche!"
"Ha!" Ironhide threw his axe and it buried itself into the back of the golem's head. He ran in and swung his axe at its side, but the golem wasn't as affected by the attacks as it should be. It tore the axe from its side and fired a bolt into his chest.
"Ironhide!" Hound watched shocked as Ironhide flew back from the blast, hitting the ground hard and smashing into an empty car. The golem then grabbed the axe still stuck in the back of its head and threw it at Hound, skillfully digging the axe blade into his shoulder. "Frag!"
Hound opened fire on the golem, but its surface-area shield blocked his shots. It charged at him and Hound met his charge with one of his own, grappling with the robot to push it back. He struggled to stay firm as he was slowly being pushed back by its strength.
"Just stay down you piece of junk!" Hound growled through gritted teeth. The golem was suddenly grabbed from behind and lifted off its feet before being thrown to the ground. "Ironhide?"
Ironhide forced his body to keep moving even as he felt the effects of those direct hits he took. Something about those energy bolts he was hit with made it hard to move, and the spots where he was hit still hurt. Despite this, he landed a few hard punches to the golem's head before jumping off and picked up his axe. "Come on, ugly."
The golem pushed itself to its knees and lunged at Ironhide-then things got really weird. A man in a white suit came out of nowhere (as in literally appeared out of nowhere in a flash of light) and jumped on the golem's back.
"Where did he come from?" Hound exclaimed.
The man channeled a powerful surge of purple energy from his hands into the robot, causing the golem to freeze up as if in the throes of a seizure. The man showed visible strain from doing this and looked over at the stunned Autobots.
"What are you waiting for?" He grunted. "Take its head off!"
Ironhide obliged, running forward and digging his axe into the golem's neck, severing several connecting cables and beheading the machine. The headless body slumped and fell over, the purple glow fading from its body. The man finally stopped his attack with a relieved sigh and hopped off the dead machine.
"Thank you, I didn't know how long I could hold it back." He said, brushing dirt off his suit. "Could've been a little faster there, though."
"I'll be sure to remember that next time." Ironhide said as he and Hound walked up to him. "Now who the hell are you?"
"My name is Dao, and I have been looking for you." The man said.
"Really?" Hound said skeptically.
"Yes, well, not you, you're just a tag along." Dao said to Hound. "I meant Ironhide here."
Ironhide narrowed his eyes. Dao looked like a reasonably fit dark skinned man in his mid-thirties with no hair and a curly brown mustache and goatee that was well-groomed for a native to this region. He looked normal, but appearances can be deceiving. "What do you want with me?"
"I'd rather give you the full explanation in private, away from the battle zone." Dao motioned to the ravaged street, headless golem and oncoming police cars. "But simply put, I've been looking for you at Genn's request. She asked me to find you if anything happened to her."
Ironhide narrowed his eyes and changed to vehicle mode, popping open his door. "Hop in, baldy. We need to talk."
XXXXXX
Genn never realized how much she hated tight spaces until now. She often slept in large rooms or in the hazardous outdoors of Azadistan, unchained and free like sand in the wind. But this chamber…no, this box made her borderline claustrophobic. No thanks to those stupid glowing glyphs on the walls, she couldn't use her esper powers, and they kept her up at night…if she even knew what time it was.
"Séance, any luck on your end?" She called out to the other cell next to hers.
"Nothing, my powers are useless here too." Her friend said through the wall. "They definitely came prepared."
"Considering who they're being led by, they need to be." Genn sighed, running a hand through her long lavender hair.
"Genn, are you sure your message got through? Cause I think they're going to move us soon." Séance said.
"My message reached him, but the real question is if Dao can find them in time."
They were quiet for a moment before Séance asked, "What do you think they'll do to us?"
"What any good cult would do to its prisoners, Séance," Genn said, idly rubbing the small horns in her forehead. "Offer up sacrifices to their god."
Genn wrapped her arms around her legs and leaned against the wall, lost in thought. She really hoped Dao got to Ironhide before the cultists did. After seeing what she saw, Genn was now convinced that these people wouldn't be happy sharing this world with another alien species.
Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. Got sidetracked with my original story on fictionpress and the unholy amount of other stuff I have on this site. I won't spoil anything here, but Ironhide and Genn are about to encounter a cult of people who we've already met in the middle of book 2. And no, they're not dolems they're something slightly less worse than them. Be sure to check out the official Transformers Titan website on wordpress, directions to the link are in my profile. Thanks for reading and please leave a review.