What? You thought I was that mean? Chapter 8.2, it was just really, really long!
(MPOV)
I looked back.
Optimus was on his feet, fighting.
"Weak!" he snarled, lifting a tree and breaking it over the other mech. Wow. "Puny!" another massive hit. "Waste of metal!" Optimus snarled at him. Perversely, even with two enormous mechs fighting so close to me. The danger, the adrenaline.
I couldn't help but admire how quickly he was getting those hits in.
His blades were out now. Harrying Megatron.
"Junkyard scrap!" Optimus snarled at him.
I took a deep breath and heard a horrifying sound.
Megatron's voice.
"Decepticons!" he roared. Oh god. A trap. I began running again. I had a gun, best case scenario I could take out optics. Worst case... at least I could distract a couple. I got into firing range and stood waiting. Grindor landed, and Starscream that much closer.
"Come here girl!" Starscream growled, grinning at me. Eight hundred feet. I took aim, kneeling down, he took two paces and I fired two shots.
One hit his face, the other just below the chestplates.
Hah.
I took off running. I needed to get to the high ground. Starscream screamed like a little girl. I'd have to remember that. Tell Ironhide. Optimus was holding his own, the three bots chasing me, and rapidly being crippled by him. I took cover behind an enormous, fallen tree and took aim again.
Grindor got past Optimus, running toward me, I fired off a few shots, each one catching his chest, Optimus had him down again. Starscream ran past and Optimus caught him, flinging him around. He was letting off shots. I ducked behind my tree and popped back up the second I heard a crash.
"There is another source of Energon hidden on this planet!" Megatron snarled at Optimus. "The girl could lead us to it!"
Roundhouse kick to the face. Fuck.
I aimed and let off the shots while Optimus was low.
Head-shots. Daddy's specialty. I needed better ground. Optimus got up and I started running again, glancing over my shoulder as often as I dared.
The three were ganging up on him now, Optimus was obviously reeling in shock for that statement. He needed his concentration back.
A few hits and Megatron caught him in the chestplates with a solid blast.
Straight toward me.
I got the hell out of the way.
He landed heavily and shifted slightly. So close.
I could smell the energon.
"Is the future of our race not worth a single human life?" Megatron growled, advancing on us, I sank back into the tree roots I was using for cover and took a deep breath.
This close, I might be able to get a shot up under his chest plates.
"You'll never stop at one," Optimus growled, I looked at him in shock as he got up, a second blade emerged from his free hand. "I'll take you all on!" he roared.
My breath was effectively stolen as he began tearing them apart.
Wow...
Megatron was quickly down, already having taken a beating. Starscream was yelling, his arm torn off. Optimus walloped him a few times with it before kicking him away.
That had to have been taught by Ironhide.
But then, Optimus was on Grindor's back, two glowing, red-hot hooks extending from his hands and tearing his face apart. The bot was effectively dead, Optimus jumped down from his back and dragged him down with a hook.
He began looking around, dropping to a knee.
"Mikaela! Where are you!" he shouted.
Megatron was coming up behind him.
I was moving before I even knew it, out in the open, braced.
"Behind you!" I bellowed, letting off shots, hitting Megatron's face as many times as I could. Optimus was on his feet again, laying a solid hit to the Decepticon leader's chest. I held my fire the second Optimus was in my way, spinning circles. Starscream was reaching toward me with his lone arm.
I began letting off shots again, straight into his face, he backed off, screaming like a little girl again. I turned and ran again, getting clear of the bot's feet, or trying. For a moment, Megatron was directly above me. I shot straight up and switched back, running between Optimus' legs.
"You give toys to insects now?" Megatron snarled. Optimus blasted him backwards.
In the noise, the screeching sound of abused metal, the thunder of their footsteps, Starscream shouting, I barely heard the engines coming toward us.
Barely. I turned and aimed to see the most beautiful of sights.
Ironhide, Ratchet, Bumblebee and several new cars that I didn't recognize. Roaring toward us, transforming.
"Auto-bots attack!" Ironhide roared.
Starscream and Megatron let off a few more shots and took off.
"Mikaela!" Optimus roared, his back to me he dropped to his knees. "Mikaela where-"
"I'm right here!" I shouted, walking toward him on shaky legs, he whipped around and stared at me as I slung the gun over my shoulder. "Wow, never a dull moment." I stated flatly. I put the gun down and immediately climbed up his chest somewhat. "Are you alright!?" I demanded worriedly.
"Mikaela are-" Optimus rumbled at the same time.
"I'm fine," I snapped. "I'm not the one that took a cannon blast to the chest! Are you alright!?" I demanded shrilly.
"You saved my life," Optimus rumbled softly, reaching up and lightly cradling me in his hand.
I leaned my forehead against his thumb.
"What do you say we head back to your place?" I asked weakly. "Mine's an absolute mess." he looked down at me calmly.
Behind me, Ironhide was snorting softly.
"Optimus, are you still capable of transforming?" Ratchet demanded.
Optimus nodded and lightly set me down. Ratchet reached over and touched his shoulder. Optimus groaned softly as a flash of energon flew over his frame. Repairing him.
Mostly.
He transformed and I picked up the cannon he'd given me, climbing into his cab. I glanced over and saw something frankly astonishing.
He'd managed to keep my run kit.
"How the hell?" I asked with a frown.
"Subspaced," he rumbled gently, I looked up.
"There's still a hole in your shoulder plate," I stated worriedly.
"Do not worry about it," Optimus rumbled soothingly. "How is your leg, do you want to ride with Ratchet?"
"If I start feeling lightheaded maybe," I shrugged, "how far are we going?"
"Diego Garcia, there are soldiers before we make it there though, an hour?"
"That's fine," I murmured. I relaxed back into the seat somewhat.
"Now then, where were we?" Optimus rumbled placidly. I stared at him... well... his dashboard. "I mean before the unpleasantness."
I snorted, I could feel him smirking slightly.
"That's not funny," I informed him, desperately struggling to not laugh.
"Then why did you laugh?" he rumbled with mocking curiosity.
"Because you made me," I shot at him, with a mockingly irritable pout.
"I will not be able to say so at base, but you are an incredible fighter, Mikaela," Optimus rumbled with a smile. "I am proud to fight beside you."
"Bull," I snorted. "About all I managed was a couple of distractions. You never said that that's where Starscream got his name."
"Mikaela?" Optimus rumbled in amusement.
"He screams like a little girl," I snorted.
"You shot him in the face," Optimus rumbled with a snort.
"Mikaela shot Starscream in the face!?" Ironhide demanded with a grin over the radio.
"She did," Optimus rumbled with a smile of his own.
"My big-sister shot Starscream and I missed it!?" Bumblebee demanded.
I rolled my eyes.
"Oh come off it, Optimus tore them apart," I called back with a snort. "I got a couple of lucky shots in."
"Twenty," Optimus rumbled calmly.
"Hmn?"
"You made twenty shots, twelve head-shots, seven critical chest and one cod." Optimus rumbled with a smirk.
"Optimus Prime," I stated firmly. "You should have spent more time concentrating on them, not counting how many times I shot at them."
"I was concentrating on them, the plasma rifle kept count, who did you shoot in the cod?" Optimus rumbled curiously.
"Oh... uh..." I coughed, suppressing the shudders running through me as the adrenaline began to wear off.
"Come on Kae!" Bumblebee chirped cheerfully.
"Megatron," I murmured quietly, embarrassed. "Right about the same time you punched him in the face... again..."
Ironhide was howling the next moment.
"You shot Megatron in the spike!?" Ironhide hooted gleefully.
"Let's get out of here," Ratchet put in calmly. "The humans are on the way to clean up the mess."
"Auto-bots, initiate radio silence," Optimus ordered calmly.
He drove in silence for a while. I bit my lip, the symbols were returning.
"Mikaela?" he rumbled gently. I shook myself somewhat and began wrapping more strips of the shredded t-shirt around my leg.
"How have you lot been? I've seen bits and pieces of battles online, the conspiracy nuts are going crazy." I said with a small smile, leaning back in the seat.
"Shanghai was a mistake," Optimus said darkly, "far too many casualties."
"There's got to be a better way to monitor the size," I said musingly, "The video clips from Shanghai show that thing being enormous, size like that they would have sent you in immediately, not just air dropped you in afterwards."
"It is obvious they are searching for something," Optimus stated, "your leaders believe they are searching for us, that we have brought vengeance upon your planet."
"No," I said musingly. "No, if they were bent on vengeance they'd set a trap for the lot of you. You're a Prime, you were trained to guard and protect at the academy, if they were looking for you they'd have you by now. One Decepticon would touch down, make a load of ruckus and you'd go after them to find that a load more were lying in wait. Unfortunately, Megatron or no, Decepticons aren't stupid, they're greedy, they're arrogant, they're ambitious, but they are not foolish."
"How do you know that?" Prime asked very calmly.
"Looking at the data," I shrugged, tying off the last bandage. "If you'd had two incursions it would suggest they're testing you, but after what, six? And no more than what? One or two Decepticons in any one area? No, they're looking for something else. Ugh, I hate smart enemies, give me a stupid opponent any day." I rubbed my forehead irritably.
"How do you know what was taught at the academy?" Optimus clarified in an even calmer tone.
"Not sure," I said quietly then sighed, leaning my head against his window. "Optimus, I need to ask you something that touches the line of insulting, but I need to ask it now, and not in front of other humans. They need to see that I trust you, not that I'm teetering on paranoid terror at the moment."
"What do you need to ask?" Optimus asked gently.
"Speaking the truth as a Prime, did you or any of the other Auto-bots implant a mass of Cybertronian knowledge into my mind?"
"We most certainly did not! I would never break that trust! Such a transfer would potentially kill-" Optimus started indignantly.
"I knew it wasn't you," I sighed in relief, stroking the seat.
"Then why ask such a thing?" Optimus demanded.
"I needed it confirmed, I'm so sorry for doubting you." I replied quietly, fighting the hitch in my voice.
"Lay down in the sleeper, you're exhausted. You said Cybertronian?" Optimus prompted me gently, no doubt listening to my heart rate increasing with upset. I struggled to make my way between the seats, sinking onto the soft mattress.
"Symbols that dance endlessly in front of my eyes, pieces of information that no human should know, let alone know instinctively and visions." Tears began to streak unnoticed down my cheeks. "Visions of places I've never seen, places that defy every rule of existence as I understood it, and then being corrected by more information seeping into my mind, Optimus." I sobbed, I couldn't stop myself. "It's too much, there's too much to process, writing it down sometimes makes me understand it, but it doesn't go away-"
"Shh, easy little one," the deep voice rumbled softly, surrounding me with a gentle nimbus of safety. "When we get to NEST Ratchet will do a full scan on you, we'll find out how to remove-"
"No!" I whimpered, curling onto my side in the bunk.
"Mikaela, you are under the duress of an information overload. Surely you'd wish it to cease," Optimus said gently.
"I close my eyes and see the most beautiful things," I whispered, curling myself deeper into the padding. "When I dream, I see the birth of the stars, the creation of planets. Last night I watched a scorched and barren wasteland become a lush and vibrant home again..." I trailed off, looking out the windscreen with exhaustion slowing my thoughts.
"When did it start?" he asked softly, I could feel him slowing down as we caught sight of a well-fenced compound. "When did you begin seeing the symbols?"
"I've been seeing them ever since..." I gasped, "ever since I touched the cube splinter! Prime I'm such a fool! A splinter of the cube got caught in my jacket, I found it two weeks ago."
"Where is it?" Prime asked sternly.
"Around my neck," I said softly, "I put it in a little canister when I found it, and intended to leave it hidden in a safe place. It won't let me, I can't get more than ten feet from it."
"What happened when you touched the splinter?"
"It burned," I said softly, "It felt as though my blood were on fire again. Like it did when I pushed the cube into Megatron's chest."
"You never mentioned it before." Optimus rumbled.
"When the All-spark set fire, I could feel her anger," I said softly, feeling oddly drugged. "A thing of creation should never be used as an instrument of destruction. I understood it, and as I did, it's like she understood my reason, saw my remorse in destroying it to prevent destruction. The pain went away after that. A lot of pain went away," I said musingly, "It's weird, I cut myself the other day and it took me over an hour to notice that I was bleeding-"
"What!? Ratchet needs to scan you," Optimus said urgently, pulling into the compound and directly into a C-17. A slick series of hisses and clunks and I was sitting bemused in Optimus' palm. I looked at my leg and groaned.
(OPOV)
"Damnit, I'm getting lubricants all over you," Mikaela grumbled, snatching up the remains of her shirt and trying to wipe the sticky pool of blood off of Optimus' hand.
"Ratchet!" Optimus bellowed, kneeling in the plane and cradling the little human as she stubbornly kept wiping up the blood still dripping from her leg.
"Where's it all coming from?" Mikaela muttered as the plane dipped and bounced on it's tires, accepting the weight of first the medi-bot, then Ironhide. Several soldiers followed.
"She's shocking," Ratchet stated urgently, mid-shift. "Prime, why didn't you have her ride with me?"
"Stubborn creature that she is, she said she was fine," Optimus growled, "my sensors were focused on making sure nothing snuck up on us."
"Right! Everybody's loaded up, let's get to base!" Lennox shouted, climbing into the plane and walking toward Optimus. "What's happening over here?"
"She's defying my calibrations!" Ratchet exclaimed. "What happened? You two were together for an hour and a half, what were you talking about?"
"She doesn't notice pain anymore," Optimus rapped out, "From what I understand she somehow absorbed the power and knowledge from the cube when she pushed it into Megatron's chest."
"I don't know what that means but she's bleeding out in a hurry," Lennox stated urgently, climbing into Optimus' hand and putting pressure on the blood-soaked bandages.
"Oh hey Lennox, when did you get here?" Mikaela looked up at the Major with a bemused smile. "Could you help me get this off Optimus' hand? I don't want him to rust."
Ironhide snorted his amusement while the main hatch of the plane closed, sitting still and allowing a few of the soldiers to tie him in place for liftoff.
Ratchet activated his holoform directly beside the young woman, still sitting cradled in Optimus' hand, accepting the medi-bag offered by one of the soldiers. He immediately got to work cutting away the cotton strips holding the gash somewhat closed while Mikaela watched him curiously.
"Oh, it's me that's bleeding isn't it?" Mikaela looked up at Optimus. "Sorry."
"Ratchet, you need to save her," Optimus said desperately, startling everyone around him. He looked up and realized his mistake. He hadn't used that tone since... he ruthlessly stopped that process.
"Prime, she's lost a lot of blood, but she should be okay," Lennox said comfortingly.
"Optimus, she's going to be alright," Ratchet looked up at him with a frown. "What's got your processors in a knot?" the Medi-bot asked sternly.
Optimus stayed silent for a long moment, weighing his answer. Scrap it all, she was one of his dearest friends now. If she would accept him, he would gladly be her guardian.
But he couldn't say that aloud, not here.
"She is the All-Spark now," he said finally. "We need to keep her safe."
"I'm just the host," Mikaela corrected in a cheerfully bemused tone, one hand waving about errantly. "It'll pass or transform again when I die. Probably to Ratchet though, Optimus. Ratchet's always fixing stuff."
"The knowledge has been integrating itself into her mind," Optimus said quietly, "She's becoming a living, sentient All-Spark. It chose her."
"With good reason," Ratchet stated, slipping an IV into the crook of Mikaela's arm. "She's a female, a natural creator among humans, but a sentient All-Spark won't be strong enough to save Cybertron, Prime."
"The All-Spark began as a Sentient," Mikaela murmured, staring at the IV in her arm. The three auto-bots stared at her in shock.
"Mikaela?" Optimus rumbled softly.
"Hmn?" she murmured, still staring at the IV in her arm.
"Mikaela look at me," Optimus murmured, she tilted her head weakly to look up into his chest, then up to his optics. "We're going to make it better," he told her softly, flexing his hand ever so slightly in a minute, full-body hug; drawing a calm, relaxed smile from the femme.
"Optimus?" she murmured. ∂Take me to Cybertron? Cast my ashes in the Guardian's Falls, they were so beautiful in the dienne.∂ her body relaxed into sleep.
"Whoa whoa whoa, what did she just say?" Lennox asked in a shocked tone.
"How..." Ratchet looked at Prime with worried optics, tying off the last bandage and nodding his completion.
In silence, Optimus cradled the tiny creature a bit closer to his spark, offlining then restarting his optics. Sensors never leaving her, he observed the beings around him.
"She was speaking common," Ironhide muttered, "It was the strangest accent..."
"She spoke in Cybertronian?" Lennox exclaimed.
"One of the languages, anyway," Ratchet shrugged carefully, watching Optimus.
"Thought you said humans wouldn't be able to learn it, or are you just jealously guarding your secrets again," Epps grinned at Ironhide, thwacking a joking hand lightly on his knee plate.
"There are over one thousand variations of the Cybertronian language, Epps," Ratchet said quietly, "Try to say: ∂My name is Technical Sargent Robert Epps, United States Air Force Combat Controller.∂
"Ratchet," Optimus began warningly.
"Nah, lemme try," Epps said with a frown. ∂My technical rusty Pitfire, useless scrap Insect junk tin spark∂.
Ironhide burst out laughing.
"Ratchet, it is not nice to make humans randomly swear." Optimus chided him before looking quickly down at the human beginning to stir in his hand, there was fight in her, she was clawing her way to consciousness.
"Ironhide, you're enjoying it, wanna translate?" Graham nudged the bot beside him. The mech looked down with a shit-eating grin.
"Ratchet said Epps' name and title. Epps just swore a bit."
"But was I close?" Epps looked up at Ratchet.
"You went too slowly, it changes the meaning," Ratchet said comfortingly, he looked quickly at Mikaela as her heart rate changed. It began beating faster as adrenaline flooded her system. Optimus read Ratchet's scans in shock as they watched her muscles slowly begin clenching, preparing to jump to her feet in a second if it proved necessary. Damaged as she was, she was becoming battle ready.
"Then what did Mikaela say?" Lennox asked with a frown.
"She..." Ironhide began and looked up at Prime.
"She asked to be laid to rest in a place where it would heal a world." Optimus murmured, watching the tiny femme in his hand. He felt himself sag somewhat and reached his free hand out, extending a few cables from his fingers to gently stroke the hair back from her face. "We will keep you safe, Mikaela," he rumbled softly and was astonished to see her body relax back into his hand.
"There must be a better way," Ratchet exclaimed harshly as Optimus offlined his optics again, "Some way to separate the all-spark from her mind."
"Can you think of any way that would not destroy her?" Optimus asked quietly. "She communed with the all-spark the moment she joined it with Megatron's spark. She accepted it, understood it. Commiserated with it's anger at being used as an instrument of destruction. They do not wish to be separated."
"So what, you'll lead her along until it's time for her to die?" Lennox demanded harshly.
"For them to lead me along would necessitate my ignorance toward what must happen." Mikaela stated calmly, Optimus held back a flinch, looking down at her as she lay cradled over his spark.