Chapter 14

"You!" she gasped, slightly out of breath.

"Ah, so we meet again, Miss Khmer," Shifter's optics sparkled. "Had I known it was you, I would have stopped running blocks ago. What a pleasure to see you again! And so soon!"

Isis knew that this was the moment of truth. She had been wondering what it would be like to come face to face with him again, and had been afraid she'd panic. But as she looked at him, Isis found that she was no longer afraid. All the fear had dissolved from her spark, but the anger, hatred, and disgust were very fresh. She immediately drew her gun, aiming it at his spark chamber.

"Don't move!" she ordered. "You're under arrest!"

"Oh please!" he laughed, "don't tell me you're going to read me my rights too."

"No," her voice was ice cold. "You don't have any rights, you piece of slag! Don't move, or I swear, I'll kill you ten times before you can hit the ground!"

"You still haven't learned anything, have you?" he shook his head, as if he was scolding a child. "How very disappointing. Oh well, I still think you'll make a fine Predacon one day. With my help, of course."

"Ha! And what day would that be? You'll be locked up, or better: executed, long before anything like that."

"No," he shook his head, "because you are going to let me go."

"And why, in the name of Primus, would I do that?" she planted her free hand on her hips.

Shifter chuckled and cocked his head to the side. "Did you already forget about your hero? I shot him, remember?"

Isis thought for a moment. "We were close to the crime scene," she finally replied. "There are good repair bots back there."

"Not good enough," Shifter smiled. "Those charges were implanted with millions of nanobots. They will enter his body, then eat away at his internal systems until all that's left is burnt wireing. Oh, he may survive, but he'll be left with the mental composite of a drone." Isis slightly lowered her gun. "The nanobots are completely untraceable, of course, and they should be beginning there work in…oh, about thirty nanoclicks. Now they're not very powerful. In fact, they can all be rendered useless with an electrical shock of about a hundred and twenty volts. Your hero could service. The question is: will you get to him in time?"

She hesitated. Isis knew that she didn't have enough time to take on Shifter and save Anárion. She had to chose, but she was so close…so close.

"What will it be, Miss Khmer?" Shifter spread his hands, which gave her a clear shot, and she would have taken it if she wasn't so deep in thought. "Can't have it both ways. How much is your revenge worth to you? Is it worth the hero's life?" Isis didn't move. "Time won't wait, Miss Khmer. You now have exactly…eighteen nanoclicks. Fate, I'm afraid, is an unforgiving mistress, but at the moment you've been given a choice. Will you let her chose you or will you chose her?"

* * * * * * * * * *

Anárion awoke in one of the CR chambers at the repair bay of the M.I.U.. He stepped out and looked himself over, assessing the previous damage, then looked over to his right and smiled. Isis sat in a chair at the main council with her head down and optics turned off. In the past four solar cycles, she had been too busy for a recharge. She had talked to Commander Prowl, planed the attack on the Predacon lab, executed that attack, and spent the remaining seventeen megacycles by the CR chamber waiting for Anárion to recover.

To say the least, she was exhausted both physically and mentally. Despite everything, Isis must have felt Anárion's presence, because the dark abyss of her optics lit up in a crimson light as she, too, came back on-line. The silver transformer said nothing, merely smiled down at her, his warm, kind golden optics shinning.

"Hey," she breathed, her voice a whisper. "How are you?"

"Alright," he replied. There was a silence between them, then he spoke again "Did you arrest him?"

"Shifter?" she stood, searching his features. "No, I didn't."

"What happened?"

"You," Isis kept their eye contact. "You became too important. I couldn't let you become a casualty of my personal war." Anárion's hand came up to caress her cheek. "I couldn't let you die when I knew I could save you."

Anárion sighed and drew away his hand. His gaze fell to the floor. "I am sorry. I know how much it meant to you to capture Shifter."

"Don't be," Isis assured him. "He's not worth it. He's not worth sacrificing your life. There'll be another time to catch him, and next time, you and I will both be ready."

"What will you do now?" Anárion looked back up at her.

"I honestly don't know," she admitted. "I need to move on with my life, so I guess I'll go back to work. I…I just want life to be simple again."

"Simple? How so?"

"Alone," she avoided his eyes.

"You want to be alone?" Anárion pressed, and Isis finally looked up.

"No."

They drew closer together. "Neither do I," he whispered and leaned forward, brushing his lips against her cheek. Then, tilting his head, he pressed his lips against hers, in a deep kiss full of the fire and passion they felt for each other.

When they finally drew apart, Isis looked up at him and was moved by the many emotions that played across his features. Kindness, compassion, and pity reflected in his optics. It was as if Anárion could read her very soul, and he saw everything she'd gone through and felt all her pain and anguish. It was at that moment that Anárion made a silent vow to her. He vowed to always be there for her and to protect her from suffering anymore harm.

"The truth," Anárion whispered as he held her closer, his arms wrapped around her, "is that I now realize how much I miss life. It feels like I haven't lived at all for the past three stellar cycles since Laurelin died." Isis nodded sympathetically. "It is true that I cared about her, but I was never in love with her. In fact, I didn't know what love felt like. Until now."

Isis knew exactly what he meant. Ever since the first time she had really stopped to take a good, deep look at him, she felt something stir in the depth of her spark. Like a flood of emotions filling her body with a comforting warmth.

"I…" she looked deep into his optics. "I'm in love with you. I never thought I could ever feel like this, but I do."

Anárion didn't know what to say. It was more than he could ever hope for. Gathering her in his arms once more with one smooth motion. Isis felt one of his hands behind her head and the other at the small of her back, holding her to his warm body. His breath fell on her throat as his voice whispered into her ear a word greater than the eternal void of space and time itself.

"Beloved…"