In which Alison has a history lesson, calms down her mom, and sings a song
Mikaela and I ended up spending the night in my room, cuddling and exchanging kisses before we fell asleep. We made sure to wake early though, to try and sneak her back to her room before anyone caught us.
That didn't go as planned as Epps spotted us on his way to the showers. He smirked at our guilty expressions and asked "So how long's this been going on?"
"Just last night," Mikaela said. "Alison was being a little weird about it, and insisted we wait a few weeks before actually dating."
"Nothing happened, though," I quickly said, blushing. "Just cuddles and sleep, honest."
"Damn, I owe Will ten bucks. Don't worry, my lips are sealed." He mimed a zipper and lock on his lips and waved before going into the showers. Mikaela and I ducked back to our rooms before anyone else could spot us.
The rest of the weekend flew by with ease. Ratchet got to run his tests on me, which determined I was able to make maybe three energon globes before I would need to either drink or absorb some (and that was a freaky experience, let me tell you), or (according to the AllSpark) wait three days to replenish my stores. EMP waves, however, I could churn out with ease, as the walkie talkies that we set up learned. Thankfully the AllSpark did repair them, else Lindsey and Ella would be mad about replacing them all so soon. Ratchet did cut my arm in a few places, to see how fast my healing worked, which turned out to be light scrapes and small cuts healed within two minutes, and others took longer, but not more than fifteen minutes before it looked like nothing happened, with swallower cuts healing faster than deeper ones. My speed reading was easily demonstrated as well, with me flipping through the communications manual and answering the questions Epps and Burke asked me about its contents. Thankfully, the AllSpark didn't trigger that for novels, else I would probably never enjoy a book again.
~I enjoy a good story as much as you do,~ she told me when I asked about that, and I got the impression that she was rolling her eyes at me. ~Just read a few books I like sometimes too.~ So, that'd be something of a negotiation to handle, but that's a future debate.
Testing was in the mornings, after breakfast and some morning PT with the rangers and Ella (I was happy to find that the AllSpark gave me an edge over Miles and Mikaela, but we were all still tired after the run, and couldn't match them in sit ups, push ups or jumping jacks). In the early afternoon, Ella got me, teaching me about politics and management of an organization. Some parts of it were quite fascinating, but others were boring as hell, so it basically felt like a class.
Optimus's lessons afterward, however, were much more interesting. We had moved on from lessons involving the Quintesson War and the Era of the Primes, and were now finishing up the War of the Primes, which was caused by an upset in the power balance after the deaths of the Seven, the first Primes created. Seven guesses who was responsible for that, and the first six don't count.
"So Sentinel Prime killed Liege Maximo in the final battle of the war," Optimus wrapped up during our lesson on Sunday. We were in his office, Optimus's root mode sitting in his chair (made from an old boxcar) acting as a projector, while his holo was next to me on the desk (also a boxcar), which had a table and chairs for our lessons. He was projecting a human-sized image of Sentinel's battle with Liege, slowed down to let me take it in. The killing blow was actually a scarily familiar scene; Sentinel standing tall, his cosmic rust cannon pointed down at Liege, who lay half turned on his side, staring up at his brother. The rust started creeping over him, and he reached a servo up. Sentinel dropped his cannon and knelt next to Liege, pulling him into his arms. They spoke to each other, though there was no audio to this projection, and then Liege crumbled away to rust.
"After this, Sentinel fell into stasis, and his resting place was buried." A transition change to Sentinel climbing into a stasis pod, sealing it behind him, and then it getting buried by the shifting layers of Cybertron. "It was fifty thousand years before he was found again, by myself, Megatron, and our sire, Petrus." The images of a young Optimus and Megatron - not as tall, limbs more gangly, and obviously cybertronian altmodes - and then the mech I had seen in my visions, who looked almost identical to the current day Optimus.
"I've seen him before," I said. "The AllSpark showed me his death twice during Mission City, and he stood with Sentinel at one point. They were holding a staff."
"She did?" Optimus sighed and shook his head. "Of course She did. That was Megatron's turning point, but we'll get to it later." He refocused the image onto Petrus and his past self. "The three of us were members of the Alphias Tribe, led by Alpha Trion. We were warrior-scholars, trying to preserve the history of Cybertron. There had been an earthquake, and a new crevice opened up near our camp, so Megatron convinced me to go explore it with him. Our sire tracked us down just as we found Sentinel." Sentinel's pod opened, and Optimus caught him as he fell out of it. "We brought him back to camp to recover, and told him all that had happened."
The projection changed to show Cybertron, but with many colored overlays like a classroom globe. "Cybertron had fallen into many factions and tribes. Some, like the Alphias, were peaceful and only fought to defend themselves." He highlighted a blue colored area. "Others, like the Thetacons, sought to conquer their neighbors, and waged almost constant warfare." This time a collection of red, yellow and green was highlighted, their borders shifting constantly. "As well, with the AllSpark lost to us, the cybertronian population was the lowest it had been since before the Quintessons came. Once he learned this, Sentinel decided we needed to act, and convinced us to start working to unify Cybertron as one people again."
"Hmm." That certainly was interesting, and it did help explain why he would make the deal with Megatron. If he was prepared to take on an entire potentially hostile planet with just a small group of people, and succeeded in doing so, it wasn't much stretch to think he would make a plan to save it at the cost of another. Still not a good thing and definitely gonna try and change his mind, but I could see his reasonings a bit. "So how did you get started in saving the world?"
"We first went to our closest allies, the Tessa clan. They were a warrior tribe of mostly femmes, comparable to your Greek Amazons, and often protected our tribe members as we traveled. Mine and Megatron's carrier was actually from their tribe, though she died when I was still young. An accident, she got caught under a collapsing ruin trying to get others out."
"So family loyalty convinced them?"
"No, it was actually my first diplomatic speech," Optimus said, and the projection became a communal hall, with a gold and green plated femme sitting on a throne, with a pink, blue and purple trio sitting next to her, all armed with either swords or spears. Across from them was Sentinel, Petrus, and Megatron, and they were all looking at Optimus, who stood a few feet ahead, and had his servos raised slightly. "I managed to convince Beta One, the Tessa's leader, to join her blades with ours, as we had several times before, so we would not need to again. With the Tessa at our side, we set off across Cybertron to gather others to our banner."
"What was that banner?"
"Some called us Sentinel's Army, but the name we used ourselves was the Unifiers." A symbol appeared in the middle of the image, and I had to raise a brow at it. It had the top half of the 'Bot symbol, and the bottom half of the 'Con's. Optimus also chose to display it as a silvery blue, which was different than any I'd seen before. "The efforts took the better part of a century to complete, but we managed to convince many tribes to join us." The image changed, with the symbol in front of Sentinel, and his allies standing next to him, others appearing around them in, honestly, a way that reminded me of a video game companion selection screen. Shockwave and Ratchet were two of them, as well as mechs I was certain were Wheeljack and Prowl (based on their audio fins and door wings respectively) and a few others I didn't recognize. "The last holdouts were the Thetacons, who swore they would only bow before the AllSpark. So, Megatron and I assembled a team to track it down."
The image changed to show Optimus, Megatron, the femme trio who I was certain were Elita, Chromia and Arcee, Ratchet and Ironhide (who was also much younger looking) all in a cavern, standing in front of an old seeker. I recognized him from our earlier lessons, though he was in much worse shape. "That's Archangel, right?"
"Yes. He had guarded Her for all those centuries, waiting for someone to come find Her. He tested us, to make sure we were worthy of that task. He was the most critical of me, which I didn't understand until much later, but he eventually judged favorably, and he helped us return the AllSpark to the surface."
The image became a short movie, showing the AllSpark emerging from Her hiding place, still wearing Adalheid's form, and then the group moving up to the surface, emerging in what looked like the no man's land of a battlefield, the Unifiers on one side, and what could only be the Thetacons on the other. The leadership of both sides stepped forward, as Archangel knelt before the AllSpark, who smiled and actually opened Her chest plate!
"What? What is-"
A clear blue crystal emerged from the AllSpark, floating over a cupped servo, and Archangel started to openly weep. The AllSpark placed Her other servo over his chestplates, which opened under it to show his spark, which was a soft red. It left its chamber, and Archangel's body slumped over, but my focus was on the two sparks. The AllSpark drew them together, until the light of Archangel ignited the other crystal, and then their glow became one, blending into a soft lilac, before the AllSpark pulled them both to Her chest, where they were hidden away from view.
"That was… Was that Adalheid's spark?"
"It was. Her body was made a vessel, but her spark remained separate. In death, she and Archangel were reunited, and I hope happy."
"~They are,~" the AllSpark took over to say, and I could feel my lips upturn into a slight smirk before she retreated. There was probably more to the story, but I wasn't going to press that.
"So upon seeing that, the Thetacon's bowed down and Cybertron was reunited?"
"More or less. Wheeljack and Shockwave, along with other scientists, managed to create a device that drew a star into the orbit of Cybertron, with its rays giving ambient energy to the AllSpark. The Thetacons started construction of a Temple dedicated to Her at the spot where we brought Her up, which became the city of Simfur, after the architect who designed it. The Alphias took up residence there as well, and established the new Knights of Cybertron, welcoming all who wished to serve the AllSpark as priests and defenders. And Sentinel and Petrus became Cybertron's official leaders, as our Prime and Lord High Protector, with myself and Megatron as their heirs apparent."
The image shifted to a now familiar one; Sentinel and Petrus standing before the AllSpark, raising a staff together, Optimus and Megatron standing on either side, and the citizens of Cybertron cheering for them.
"The AllSpark showed me this." I smiled, looking at the image. "It's beautiful."
"Yes, it is." Optimus's voice was a little thick, and when I glanced over, I swear his holo had tears glistening in his eyes. He changed the projections to show a battlefield, and cleared his throat. "So, we'll be going over some more logistics and strategy today, based on some of the skirmishes of the Unification."
I nodded and got into the lesson, with a heavy heart as I thought how I could tell him about Sentinel's survival. But he's not supposed to wake for another four years, and the Fallen was still out there. What if he decided to attack because of Sentinel, never mind that he had no idea how to get the Matrix. And what if Sentinel sided with the Fallen, or if he helped Optimus defeat him, only to turn around and help Megatron enslave Earth? Too many what ifs, and all bad outcomes, so I couldn't risk it.
After my lessons with Optimus, I would have a little bit of free time with Mikaela, Miles and Bee, then it was dinner, then homework time, though we got done with that Saturday, so it turned into more free time. Light's out was eleven, and Mikaela and I would sneak for more cuddles, and some making out. Monday night, however, we left right after dinner to go back to Tranquility, to make sure we'd be ready for school the next day.
Barricade was actually waiting at my house when we pulled up, his holoavatar smoking a cigarette in the garage. "Risky coming out here," I commented as we got out of Bee, who immediately brought out his own holo. "Mom and Dad could have seen you."
"Like they could sneak up on me," he snorted. "Besides, my body is in the alley out back, I just look like I'm waiting for a speeder to chase down."
"I don't know, Cade," Miles said. "Judy can be pretty sneaky when she-"
"Honey, why is there a cop in our garage?" We all stiffened.
"-feels like it," Miles finished and we turned to see my mom standing in the open doorway, a laundry basket on her hip.
Barricade started to flick his holo out, but I grabbed his arm. "If we're going down, you're going down with us."
"Alison, what's going on?" Mom set the basket down and fixed me a "you're in big trouble" look. "Who is this?"
I cleared my throat. "Mom, meet Barricade. Barricade, my mom Judy Witwicky."
"Barricade? As in 'chased you halfway across town and back and nearly killed you' Barricade." Her eyes scanned the room, and mine did too. Luckily the only bat-like object was an old campfire fork, and it was behind Mikaela.
"Yes, but he's not so bad now. He was following orders, and now he has new ones to not hurt me."
"It's true," Barricade said. "I am under direct orders to watch the AllSpark Bearer and make sure she does not come to harm. I'm reckless, but I'm not suicidal to ignore an order from Megatron."
"He can't even really hurt us if he wanted to," Mikaela added. "His T-Cog is busted, so he can't change from his altmode. And if he even tried to go for us like he is now, Alison could take out his holo with an EMP."
Barricade looked down at me, his eyes narrowed. "Since when can you do that?"
"Technically since becoming Bearer, but I didn't get to try it out until this weekend. I also got energon globe attacks, super healing, and a couple other little things." I went up to Mom, taking her hand in mine. "Mom, I know you're gonna worry, but you don't need to. I wouldn't let Barricade near me if I - or the AllSpark - didn't trust him."
Mom looked from me, to Barricade, and back. "Alright, but if he hurts one hair on any of you kids' heads, I will demolish him with my bat." She pulled me in to kiss my forehead, then made a shooing motion. "Alright, all of you in the house, I can't do laundry with you hanging around. Bedroom door stays open."
We all trekked up to my room, Miles and Mikaela dropping down on the bed while Bee and Barricade found seats around. "Well, that could have gone better," Mikaela said.
"Could have been worse," I said, tossing my bag into the closet. "Mom could have attacked with- Hey!" I noticed something in the back of the closet, and pulled it out to find a guitar case. "Lookie what I found!"
"Hey, that's the guitar your uncle gave you, isn't it?" Miles said, smiling. "I was wondering where that ended up."
"I didn't know you played guitar," Mikaela said, sitting back up.
"I almost forgot I did myself." Thankfully the AllSpark was being helpful and gave me a few quick flashes of me getting the guitar as a birthday gift from one of my uncles, the hours I had spent practicing, then how I put it away at the start of the year to focus on my grades in order to get my car. I strummed a couple chords, and found it was almost perfectly in tune, just some minor tightening to do.
"Play something for us," Bee said, grinning. "I bet you're great."
"I'm probably rusty, is what I am." But I took a seat in my desk chair and thought of what to play. A rather appropriate song came to mind. "Okay, I got one." I started playing the opening strings of "Time of Your Life" by Green Day. After a moment, I closed my eyes and, when the intro was done, started to sing.
"Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test and don't ask why
It's not a question but a lesson learned in time.
"It's something unpredictable but in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life.
"So take the photographs and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth, it was worth all the while."
I was a little lost in the music, feeling how appropriate it was for me. There have been a lot of trials and turning points in the last month, and more to come. Maybe this was my theme song.
"It's something unpredictable but in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life."
When I got done, I actually felt myself get a little teary eyed, and reached up to quickly wipe them away before I opened my eyes and smiled. "Well, whatcha think?"
Mikaela, Bee and Miles grinned and applauded, and even Barricade had a small smile. "Not bad, AliSpark."
"Thanks." Then I realized what he called me. "AliSpark?"
"Alison. AllSpark. AliSpark. Not that hard to figure."
Bee smacked a hand to his forehead. "How come I never thought of that?"
"Cause Alison hates being called Ali," Miles said with a grin. "She threw an eraser at our second grade substitute and yelled, 'damn it woman, my name is Alison!' when she kept calling her that."
Mikaela laughed. "I remember that, it was hilarious."
I groaned and put my head in my hand. "I was seven, and I'd seen it on TV, so I thought it'd be okay for me to do. Ali has just never fit me." I sat up with a shrug. "I'm Alison, pure and simple."
"Still gonna keep calling you AliSpark." Barricade shrugged and materialized another cigarette to smoke. The nice thing about holo-cigs, they don't actually smell or stain, so I let him have his vice.
"Only you."
"Hey, I just realized," Bee spoke up. "If your parents know, it's only going to be a matter of time before Optimus and the others find out about Barricade."
That brought us to a crashing halt. "Shit, you're right." I started worrying at my lip, trying to think of a way to tell Optimus that I'd been spending most afternoons for the past three weeks with a Decepticon who previously attacked me, my girlfriend, and my guardian, and not so subtly threatened my best friend.
"Well, the important part is making sure Ironhide doesn't go charging off to start a fight," Mikaela said. "If we can keep him corralled we should have time to explain the situation to Optimus."
"Claim diplomatic immunity?" I suggested. "I mean, your orders are to protect me, making you kinda a guardian."
Barricade scoffed. "Like they'll believe any orders from Megatron could have no ulterior motives."
"Make it a neutral zone where you talk about it," Miles said. "Like, maybe the town outside base? And I'm sure there'll be some terms that you can comply to that will have them ease up a bit." He looked to me. "And you can mention the AllSpark's trust, like you did with your mom. That should convince them, if nothing else."
I thought for a moment, then nodded. "We'll do it this weekend. I'll ask Optimus if we can go into town and meet you there Barricade, while the three of you distract Ironhide and the others. Enlist Will if you need to as well."
"And once we get a deal with Prime, you're fixing me!" Barricade pointed at me with his cigarette. "I'm not waiting a minute longer than I have to."
"Alright, once we make the deal. Promise." Hopefully, things will go well in this case.
AN: Alright, here's chapter 11. Quite different from the original but honestly all the better for it. What did you guys think of Optimus's history lesson? What about the plan with Barricade? Think it will work, or will it take a miracle? Let me know in a review!
If anyone is curious as to the unification symbol, it can be found here (remove the spaces): purepng com / photo / 19744 / logos - transformers - logos
Just imagine it as blue.
A note, I am no longer taking FC suggestions for Coppertone (frankly that's been all the reviews I've gotten this week, and I'd rather hear about the fic.). I am, however, still taking some for Prowl and Wheeljack. In case you don't recall their descriptions, they are in the reviews of AllSpark. As we get closer to them actually appearing, I will share the descriptions in the AN. As a reference for age ranges to look in, Prowl is in his mid-late 30s, maybe early 40s, while Wheeljack is in his late 40s, early 50s.
Guest Review Replies
Guest 1 (CH 10): Becky Lynch for Coppertone?
Not quite what I'm looking for, sorry.
Guest 2 (CH 10): Milla jovovich was still a red head for a good part of the resident evil franchise. There should be enough stills of her from the first two movies.
I looked her up, Milla is more a strawberry blonde in those movies, and there are not actually many good screenshots available (I do not own the movies, so google/tumblr is where I get my icons), and like I said, I think she's a little old for the role, even back then.
Shade (CH 10) The story is awesome. Prowl is the protagonista of Transporter, Jason Statham. Wheeljack is Christopher Lloyd, for Dr Brown ( Back to the Future) and Uncle Fester Addams
Thank you! Jason is a bit too old for Prowl sadly, as I see Prowl is in his 30s, maybe early 40s. And I wondered when someone would suggest Christopher Lloyd, and honestly he's my second choice, but I really want Wheeljack to be POC, cause he just reads that way to me.
Duder (CH 10): Older but still youthful hmm? Then you can go for Amy Adams or Isla Fisher with shorter hairstyles. Amy Adams haircut for 'Julie and Julia' comes to mind just brighten up the color a bit. Isla Fisher can pull off shorter styles, but she is a bit more glamorous in her general style. That's the best two I can think of, hope it helps.
Good choices, but not quite what I'm looking for.
Guest 3 (CH 10) Scarlett Johansson as coppertone?
Scarlett is too old, and I can never not see her as Black Widow, so no.
Sorry if I seem picky, but I have a very specific mental image for Copper, and I want it expressed as closely as possible. I'm sure others can relate.
I'll see you all next week, same Bot Time, same Bot Channel!
