Chapter 8 - On the first day of school the All-Spark gave to me... Do I need to say anything else? Massive thanks to my ever-patient Betas who give me just enough of a kick to actually post these things :)
(MPOV)
"Mikaela," Sam grinned at me, gesturing toward the empty seat beside him.
"How's it going Sam?" I smiled at him gently.
"Oh, lonely, depressed, the usual," Sam rolled his eyes, "You were right though, we are better off as friends." He sounded like he'd rehearsed that in his head a few times.
"You're still chaffing that Leo there had me put in the freshman 55?" I gave him a half smile. "I told you once we're settled down I'd play your wingman, find you a girl better suited to you. What happened to that girl last night?"
"She can do that?" Leo asked in shock from Sam's other side. "You got a hot ex-girlfriend who'll find you other girls? Do it man! Do it!"
"Lara said she wants to hook me up with a friend of hers, Carly... something," Sam shrugged. "She took my picture and all that stuff, says Carly is planning on working at the British embassy over here."
I smiled to myself, the girl sounded perfect for him.
The professor strutted into his lecture hall at that moment with all the arrogance of a self-proclaimed genius, tossing his hat in a well-practiced move onto the lectern.
"Space," he gestured around him then held up a pocket watch "Time," he took a bite of his apple and dropped it, bouncing it off of his shoe to land at the feet of one of the girls in front. "Gravity."
"Thank you," she whispered up to him, snatching up the apple and cradling it.
Wow, horndog, this was going to be an interesting course. I checked the syllabus, bellcurve marking scheme. Brilliant. I couldn't help but roll my eyes slightly. Sam was watching me curiously. I gave him a tiny shrug and turned my attention back to the professor.
"Finish that for me," he smirked at her, "We're going on a journey together, you and I today, all you eager, nubile young minds, on the cusp of adulthood. And I shall be your consort! Your guide, your chaperone into the heart of darkness." He gave another tolerant chuckle which was joined by the rest of the class. My gaze became fixated on the textbook in front of me. Symbols began to dance in front of my eyes again.
"Welcome to Astronomy 101. For what do we know about the stars? Virgo! The virgin. Orion the great hunter. These are no mere twinkling diamonds, for lovely maidens to wish upon. No they are dynamos filled with a throbbing, savage and pent up energy. Behold the work of Albert Einstein, a professor once, like moi."
Faster faster, I flipped through the pages, not reading, absorbing the content. I reached the last page and slammed the book shut, my hand shooting into the air in the next moment.
"Put your hand down put your hand down put your hand down..." Sam whispered desperately.
"Young lady there are no questions until I've reached the climax of my lecture."
I stood up with my hand in the air still, my mind practically buzzing with information. Too much information, I could barely keep up with myself. "I just finished your book and there's only one problem Einstein's wrong." Quiet laughter rang through the hall as I moved quickly to the lectern. "Energy does equal mass times the velocity of light squared in this dimension but what about the other seventeen, nobody ever talked about the other seventeen. Clear example." I began writing rapidly on the black board for a few moments, drawing out the symbols floating in front of my eyes. I spun about and looked at the Professor, "Break down the elemental components of energon, assume a constant decay rate and extrapolate for each of the f-f-fou-fou-fourteen galactic convergences it took the Sentinel Prime expedition to receive an e-e-e-echo on the signal and you wind up with a formula for inter-dimensional energy increase that mass and light alone cannot explain come on guys I can't be the only one in the class who..." I flashed back to reality and coughed slightly, blushing. The professor walked slowly toward me, getting into my face.
"Young lady, I will not be punked in front of the dean. No, this is my universe here. Do you understand, I am the alpha and the omega, get out of my class!"
"Yes sir," I said quickly and beat a hasty retreat to my desk, snatched up my books, and all but ran out of the lecture hall. The professor's next words followed my retreat out the door.
"Anyone else care to have some sort of mental breakdown?"
Sam ran after me.
"Mikaela!" he whispered hoarsely.
"I gotta go, I gotta go find them," I choked out. "Stay here Sam, we've got no idea what kind of trouble this is gonna turn into. If you want your normal life back, stay."
Sam looked at me worriedly.
"I can take care of myself, you know that," I added softly.
Sam took a deep breath and reached out, gently touching my cheek. In a sense, this was the real goodbye.
"Be careful," he murmured. "If anyone asks, what do I say?"
"That I've always done that kind of thing," I murmured immediately, the lie an easy one. "Blame it on a mild seizure, controlled epilepsy caused by extreme mental stimuli. I've been having them for so long I already know my limits. If I'm not back in three months, tell them that's why we broke up, you didn't know how to handle it, it freaked you out mid-makeout when I'd start babbling and that I didn't blame you. You wanted kids someday, but I don't want to pass this 'genetic flaw.' Apologize to the professor on my behalf, and erase that board. You got that down?"
"Got it," Sam nodded and turned, walking back into the classroom.
I stood and listened for a moment.
"Young man, you are late," the professor stated snappishly.
"I'm sorry Professor, she's a friend of mine from highschool," Sam began calmly.
I touched the tiny canister holding the cube splinter hiding beneath my shirt and began running toward my dorm room, fumbling with my books and searching for my cell phone, the waste bin overbalanced as I stumbled against it. Finally, I crashed through the door to my room and dropped the books, staring at the phone.
"How the hell do you call an Auto-bot without a listed phone number?" I moaned weakly and sat down at the computer, frowning. I pulled up a list of phone numbers to the Pentagon and crossed my fingers. Maybe kill two birds with one stone.
"Good morning, this is the public line for the Pentagon, how may I help you today?" A polite voice answered.
"Hello?" I said in a panicky voice, "My name is Mikaela Banes and I have no idea how you can help me, I need to talk to somebody fairly high up with clearance on something that happened a couple of of years ago that's classified and I can't talk about it but something happened and it's an emergency and I don't know how to contact the person I need to talk to!" I babbled and shut up immediately.
"Understood, can you please hold while I get my superior?" the polite woman's voice said calmly.
"I suppose so yeah," I said, standing and beginning to pace. Five minutes of infuriating calming music and a different voice came on the phone.
"This is General Morshower."
"General," I said quickly, taking a deep breath, "I need to find Captain Lennox, I think, I don't know if he's been promoted, it's been two years since I last saw him in Mission City."
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
"Sir?" I said desperately and slumped onto my bed, "Oh gods please don't hang up, I'm going insane, I know it, I need to talk to Lennox, or rather the... the people he's in charge of, I'm in trouble, I think, something's happening..." I began babbling, rocking back and forth.
"I'm still here, we need a secure line, where are you?" Morshower barked in my ear, I shut up again.
"I'm in New York, in my dorm room at the University."
"Pack a few things. Do the people you need to talk to know how to find you?" Morshower asked quickly.
"Yeah, yeah they do," I said quickly, snatching up my duffel and throwing a few odds and ends into it, finishing my run kit. Paper rustled and glass broke under a heavy foot in the hallway. "Oh fuck," I whispered and leaped for the computer, immediately erasing the search history and snapping the laptop shut, shoving it into it's compartment in the bag.
"Is anyone after you?" Moreshower asked quietly in my ear.
"Unknown," I said quietly, easing toward the door and quickly throwing my bag across my shoulder.
"Listen, I have a soldier headed toward you, get yourself to the library, meet him at the front entrance in ten minutes, he will escort you to headquarters, understood?"
"Understood, thank you sir," I said quietly as a hand pounded on the door.
"Keep your cell-phone on and in your pocket until whomever is knocking goes away."
"Yes sir," I said again and pocketed my earpiece, opening the door. I looked up into a stupidly familiar face.
"Hey Mikaela, haven't seen your car around," Allan started with a small smirk.
"Hey, Allan was it?" I cut him off, "Yeah, sorry about that, it's in the shop right now, I'm kinda busy-"
"That was some kind of freak you did in class," He interrupted, pushing his way into the doorway, "I know who you are, I knew you were special. And we both know that when two people in the know get together-"
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," I interrupted him quickly, "Now, thank you for checking up on me but I really need to be going-"
"Where you going in such a hurry? Surely you have a minute for me," he grabbed my wrist and pushed me into the room.
"Let me go please," I said flatly.
"No, I wanna talk with you for a minute," he leered at me, shutting the door behind himself. "Somebody as pretty as you should know what that means."
"Let me go this instant!" I snapped, tugging my hand lightly, gauging his reaction.
"I don't think so, Mikaela Banes, you have something we want, something my superiors would... kill to have." he began moving closer to me, I could smell electricity on him. Not electricity. Ozone. Energon. It was tainted, dirty, as though the clean, pure scent that emanated from Bumblebee had been corrupted.
"Let me go!" I shrieked, driving a knee into his groin, he didn't flinch.
"Pathetic little humans, leaving something so vulnerable so accessible," he smirked at me, his face began to fall apart, showing bits of metal here and there as he transformed, his eyes beginning to glow a dirty red. "Give me the map little insect."
"Map to what?" I demanded as he grasped my other wrist.
"To the Energon source," he snarled wrenching me around so my back was to the door. "There is another source on this planet, and you're going to lead us to it!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about!" I shrieked, and launched myself into the air, knees to my chest, back against the door, heels into his torso. In that moment I was grateful I'd worn stilettos as the heels sank into gaps in his armour.
My wrists wrenched from his grasp as he fell back, my shoes still stuck in his abdomen, hopefully short-circuiting something. I didn't know, I didn't stick around to watch.
Barefoot and my bag still swinging against my hip I ran out of the dormitory, taking off for the library at the speed only adrenaline could achieve. My hand flew into my pocket and the cell-phone was in my ear the next moment.
"Are you still there?" I asked desperately, running up the steps to the library.
"Where are you?" Morshower barked.
"Library steps," I gasped, "please please tell me your man is close by."
"I'm stuck in traffic! There's a load of cars going around me and I can't see their drivers," a voice said faintly.
"Looks like help is on it's way," Morshower's voice said in my ear.
"Or one hell of a fight," I said faintly, tucking myself into a concealed spot. "What do the cars look like?"
"Fire and rescue, yellow Camaro, a wicked looking semi..."
I began to breathe a little easier.
"So you've taken down the one after you-" Morshower prompted me.
"They don't go down that easily," I murmured, looking around myself worriedly, "I left a pair of heels sticking out of his chest, if it shorted him he might be down for a few minutes. I'm just praying it doesn't think to kill someone else with my shoes to make me look delusional. I'm certain I'm going insane now. There's no way this happens to sane people."
"You'll be hidden if that happens." Morshower said firmly, cutting me off. "This conversation has been recorded and you're not going insane."
"You'll have to forgive me for not getting my hopes up," I replied tiredly. "Fuck, gotta move!" I added in a low growl, Allan was striding toward the library, sans shoes in his chest.
I ducked into the library and scanned the area. Back entrance.
I ran for it, skulking behind one of the shelves.
"Where are you?" General Moreshower growled in my ear.
"In the library," I murmured. The wall exploded, I got up and started running. "BOMB BOMB BOMB!" I shouted.
Instant panic, people were running everywhere, I hid among them, exiting the building.
"So much for fucking subtle," I snarled to myself, I ran for a car, older model, broke in and hotwired it. "Whoever owns this car has my apologies," I stated perfunctorily, slamming it into reverse and screeching out of the parking lot.
A cop car chased after me, I looked at the driver just in time to see it flicker.
"General, please be advised I am in a stolen car with a Decepticon, designation Barricade on my bumper," I snapped out. He bashed the corner of my car, fuck off. I spun a donut and sped the other way, my Uncle's training kicked in, decreasing my response time as I dodged the oncoming cars. I wished I had my bike.
"Where are you now?" the general barked.
"The news chopper up there is going to say I'm the silver ford going north on the one way southbound," I snapped out.
"There are no choppers in the area-"
A grappling hook appeared beside my head. Fuck.
The only option, I spun another donut, up on the curb, around the light post.
Get out of the car. Keep moving.
"Alright, Blackout is tangled to my car at the moment," I gasped, running as hard as I could. An older building, concrete. Huge pillars.
I tucked myself into a concealed spot again, breathing heavily, the chopper released itself and took off again.
"Mikaela!" General Moreshower shouted in my ear.
"Quiet," I muttered softly. "False cop and angry chopper nearby."
"Mikaela, where are you?" Moreshower whispered.
"Fourth pillar, main-street bank," I whispered.
A truck chose that moment to make a screeching halt a block away. Air-brakes hissed and chains clattered. That engine sounded familiar, Peterbilt modified, twenty-seven RPM.
"If that's not Optimus I'm a dead spark," I whispered, creeping out of my hiding spot.
Allan, running toward me. Decision made for me I sprinted toward the semi, climbing up the steps and through the door opening for me.
"Where were you?" Optimus' voice demanded over the speakers. In that moment, the most beautiful voice in the universe.
"Hiding! Go go go go, he's coming!" I shrieked.
"You're with the leader?" Moreshower asked in my ear.
"Yes Sir," I said in a marginally calmer voice. A second later I was thrown back into the seat with the force of the acceleration.
"I'll leave you without distraction then, we'll talk later."
"Thank you, General," I replied. The line went dead.
"You called the military?" Optimus rumbled curiously.
"I don't have your phone number, it always comes up protected and unlisted. I was trying to get Lennox," I shrugged, breathing heavily.
"Ah."
I took a deep, calming breath then shrieked as a skeletal metal frame clung to the side, scrabbling at the window. A gun appeared under my hand.
"Take care of that will you? He's scratching my paint." Optimus rumbled in perverse amusement.
"That's not funny Optimus!" I half shouted, snatching up the gun and aiming. A deep breath and I was centred, "Roll down the window will you?"
I aimed for the chest and gripped the handle, an incandescent bolt of energy blasted me across the cab and threw the skeleton into a light post.
"Good shot," Optimus congratulated me as Ironhide, Ratchet, Bee and a new silver car flanked us. "Now, you said you wanted to talk?"
"Perhaps now is not the best time?" I half shouted as Blackout flew over us. A grappling hook embedded itself into the roof next to my head.
"Wait for us to get into the air!" Optimus groaned as we lifted off, I snatched the gun up again and hooked my knee around the seatbelt, shoving myself out the window and taking aim for the cable. "Give me enough fall time to transform," Optimus commanded.
Dangling in the window, I waited. We were above water now, fuck.
"Aim for the hatch the grappling hook came from," Optimus murmured softly. I took a deep breath, switching my aim. "Wait for it..."
"NOW!"
I fired and felt myself ripped from the cab. Time seemed to slow to nothing as I watched truck become bipedal, the helicopter swerving away with a trail of black smoke following him. A giant hand flashed out and snatched me out of the air, pulling me toward his chest as we fell, landing heavily on the edge of the bay. A few juddering, running steps and we were beneath a bridge.
"Be very quiet, Grindor hunts," Optimus rumbled softly, pulling himself up among the underlying girders as he had the first time we'd met.
"That's not Blackout?" I whispered.
"No, Grindor," Optimus rumbled softly. I nodded and fell silent, feeling a massive amount of dejavu, and a little bit of shock. It felt so... correct... that I was on his shoulder. Except this time, there was no Sam to pull me off of my perch.
We listened to the chopper circle for a few minutes, then retreat.
"Something's wrong, that was too easy," I whispered softly, sitting tucked into Optimus' shoulder. He nodded minutely. "Where do I sit so I'm not in your way?" I asked softly, surveying his shoulder.
"There's fine," he rumbled softly.
I nodded and tucked myself somewhat deeper into his shoulder.
"Let's move," he rumbled after another minute. "We need to get out of the city. Hopefully the EM field hid us long enough that Grindor gave up."
In moments he was climbing over the seawall, I jumped into his hand and he set me down for a moment before returning to truck form. Without missing a beat I scrambled into the cab again, still clinging to the gun.
We took off driving.
"Once this is over, I did not give you that rifle," Optimus told me quietly as a bit of beeping sounded over the speakers. I nodded my agreement.
"Optimus, what's happening?" a familiar voice came over the speakers.
"Major, Mikaela has been targeted," Optimus answered aloud, "she is with me now, we are getting out of the city, Grindor, Starscream and Megatron are no doubt close by."
"And Barricade," I added quietly.
"Why are they attacking her?" Lennox asked sharply. "She's supposed to be off the radar, college, normal kid!"
"They seem to think I can lead them to another Energon source," I said aloud, crossing my arms as symbols began dancing in front of my eyes again. "I don't know if this is the best time to pick apart precisely why I'm certain I'm going insane like Sam's great-grandfather did when Megatron zapped him. Either way, the Decepticons know more than I do."
"Right get back to base, we'll talk then," Lennox commanded brusquely. The line cut out immediately. I sat in silence for a long while, staring at the dashboard.
"There's a grappling hook stuck in the roof still," I finally said quietly, looking up at it.
"My shoulder plate," Prime grunted irritably, taking a quick right onto an exit.
"Did you want me to try and get it out?" I asked, still staring at it.
"Do not shoot it," Optimus snorted, accelerating down another highway.
"I don't think I have to," I said musingly, reaching up and giving a light tug. With a surprisingly small amount of resistance it slid through and landed on my thigh, clamping down. "Damnit! Ow!" I shouted, tearing the claw from my thigh and throwing it out the window, grasping the gash in my leg.
"Be more careful with things from Decepticons, they are designed to hurt," Optimus said in a musing tone. "What are you doing?"
"Ripping up a shirt," I grumbled, tearing another strip off of an old t-shirt that had made it's way into my bag.
"Why?"
"I'm bleeding," I sighed, carefully winding the cloth strips around my leg.
"Mikaela!?" he rumbled in shock.
"I'm fine," I shrugged. "It's not that bad, but there's no sense in getting lubricants on you. Ironhide would be ribbing me to no end."
Optimus snorted and accelerated further, I watched the path we took, another highway, off that and onto a dirt road.
"Megatron is in pursuit," Optimus rumbled furiously. I held the gun he'd provided close to my chest. Breathing deeply, I kept my eyes on his mirrors.
"Here he comes," I stated coldly. He was behind us, transforming.
Optimus braked hard and ejected me, I landed on the ground, rolled a few times and got to my feet. By the time I looked up, Megatron had tackled him.
"Mikaela! Hide!" Optimus roared. I ran, cradling the gun to my chest I ran until I was well into the trees, the sound of battle ringing in my ears.