It must be said, a million thanks and energon goodies to my dear sweet betas, and a million more to my readers and reviewers. Your comments and critiques are what help me better myself as a writer. Anything you recognize, again, I do not own.

Chapter 57 - The Little Criminal Girl

(CMPOV)

Chris sat through yet another boring meeting, he wanted to get out of here. Ugh.

There was a knock on the door, and one of the aides present went and answered it.

"Sir?" Christina asked timidly, looking at him.

"Lieutenant?" he asked calmly.

"Sir you told me that under no circumstances was anything to get in the way of me telling you..." she started quietly.

"Brick?" he demanded harshly.

She shook her head sadly.

"Gentlemen, something's come up," he barked quickly, rising and shoving his papers into his briefcase. "We're going to have to continue this at another time. Christina, get me the president on the phone. Now."

His aide handed him the phone. It was already ringing.

Ringing as he ran, Christina hard on his heels.

He needed to get there first.

That. Was imperative. In five hours he was in a car with a very confused president.

"Now will you tell me what's so urgent?" the man demanded as they sped to the airport.

"Mr. President, this is a matter of national and international security," Moreshower stated firmly. "Miss Banes is far, far more important than you have been allowed to believe."

"How?" the man demanded.

"You have been made aware of what a CG is?"

"Covert Guardian, but she's not military!" the president stated worriedly.

"No, she was never formally inducted," Chris nodded. "However her father and his entire unit were, and their missions were important enough that Mikaela couldn't be inducted."

"But-"

"So much so, that until I saw Kae and her father in the same room I didn't recognize her, and she never told me," Chris stated flatly. "She has been trained to hide, and she does it so well that she stood right under our noses, tied up with the auto-bots and hunted by the entire world that it never even dawned on us that she is more than she lets on. She is one of the first CCGs."

"C-CG?"

"Civilian Covert Guardian," Chris stated flatly. "And we need to get to her first."

"Why now?"

"Because the last of her unit is dead."

"They what!?"

"Her father was killed, you got that report. Brick is dead too, now, and we need to get there first, not only to collect the information she has been guarding, but to warn her. She is now the number one target."

"Fuck..." the president whispered. Chris nodded.

"We'll take separate choppers," he stated calmly. "I know you're not comfortable in the blackhawks, but they're faster."

The President nodded in relief and sat back.

"So basically I just need to follow your lead," he stated calmly as they pulled in.

"Indeed." Chris nodded. "I'll see you there."

The president nodded and got out of the car with his bodyguards, making a beeline for Marine one. Chris scrambled out and ran to the blackhawk already powering up and waiting for him.

"Diego Garcia, as fast as we can get there," he barked, the chopper took off almost before he was in his seat.

"Permission to speak freely, Sir," the chopper pilot barked out.

"Granted," Moreshower snapped out worriedly.

"We ain't gonna get there first General," the man stated with a frown. "Galloway left on Eagle five forty minutes ago."

Forty minutes. Kae was surrounded by Auto-bots and soldiers, if Galloway was sent by his former boss he'd have to get through those soldiers and bots first. For the first time, he actually found himself blessing Optimus Prime's obstinate demeanour. Nothing was getting to Kae.

"It's close enough," Moreshower grunted.

The flight felt interminably long, even if the pilot was throwing all speed on, they spent a good portion of the flight with their nose pointing to the ground.

Chris spent that entire gods damned flight praying. Praying that he was doing the right thing, praying that Kae actually trusted him as much as she seemed to, and wishing he was back in that boring ass meeting.

(MPOV)

"Where is she!?" a voice bellowed at the other end of the hanger, near the doors.

"Director Galloway! What can we do for you today?" Will called out amicably.

"Don't give me that condescending tone!" Galloway announced gleefully, "Where's that little criminal you've been hiding here?"

"Wheelie, what'd you do?" Lennox looked down at the tiny ex-Decepticon.

"I defected to your side, 'f I showed my face in the wrong circles now I'd be a pile of melted slag," Wheelie defended himself angrily. "I ain't done nothin'!"

"Right, so who are you talking about then Director?" Major Lennox asked calmly.

I glanced up and crossed my fingers, hoping he wasn't talking about me.

"That Banes girl! Your favourite little assistant! Didn't do a background check on her now did you?" Galloway grinned.

I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Last time I checked the army doesn't really care," Graham piped up, walking past toward the Mechanic's corner.

"We have your back, Kae," Ratchet's voice rumbled softly in my ear, his holoform's hand touched my shoulder lightly.

I sighed and looked at him mournfully.

"I hope you can say that still when Galloway's finished." I murmured back.

"You're the one always saying the past shouldn't define us."

"Doesn't mean it always works," I grimaced.

Ratchet patted my shoulder as his holo blinked out.

"Mikaela!" Will called out, "where you at?"

"Third Humvee on the right!" I shouted out, inspecting a crack in the air filter casing.

There was the sound of footsteps before an irate hand slapped a photograph in front of me. I stared at it in shock.

"Where did you get this?" I asked in an icy voice.

"It was clutched in the hand of a dead inmate, that inmate," A finger pointed to one of the men in the picture.

Brick.

I barely heard Galloway continue.

"You can imagine the guard's surprise to have found it, seeing as it didn't get logged with the things he was carrying. Care to explain it?" Galloway's hand grasped my wrist and tried to spin me around. He tugged valiantly, I didn't budge.

"Brick's dead?" I asked quietly instead, staring at the photo.

"Mikaela, you alright?" Ratchet asked menacingly, Galloway's hand dropped my wrist.

"Uh, yeah, Ratch," I said quietly, picking up the photograph and moving to my work table. I sat heavily on my tall chair and leaned back, holding the photograph with care as a flash flood of memories crossed my mind's eye.

Brick... not Brick... not dear, powerfully strong and gentle hearted Brick.

I knew it had been coming, but the knowing never softened the blow.

Mercifully, Galloway was frozen, watching as the Auto-bots rolled in and transformed, walking toward Ratchet. I didn't notice.

"Kae what's happening?" Lennox asked worriedly, touching my shoulder as he looked at the picture in my hands.

"They're all dead," I whispered, "except me," I pointed to my face, so young and carefree in the photo. Most of them were there, Dad, Brick, Paddy, Uncle Sho, Rig... I felt a tear track it's way through the carbon dust on my cheek. Shot into panic, I brushed it away quickly, knowing the black dust had darkened into an oily smear.

"Aaww, isn't that sweet? The pretty little criminal girl is crying for her dead gang members," Galloway sneered.

Optimus' holoform was in front of me the next second, helping Will hold me in place.

"Don't rise," Will muttered to me, "God's sake Kae, he wants you to hit him so he can get you out of his way, don't rise."

"Oh no! I've got her out of here anyway!" Galloway crowed. "Bet you didn't know your favourite little assistant is an accessory to murder!"

"Mikaela!?" Will asked incredulously.

I ground my teeth together, straightening my back and fully preparing to resume the icy silence that had got me through hours of interrogations.

"Didn't even co-operate to save your own skin, did you? Too loyal to your little gang," Galloway shot at me with a smirk. "How does it feel to know that they're all dead now?"

I stayed silent, looking straight ahead at nothing until Optimus' eyes came down to meet mine.

"Kae?" he whispered softly.

∂What do I say Optimus?∂ I asked desperately, the clicks and deep notes almost shrill – it was that much harder to hide emotion in Cybertronian.

∂They would want you to do whatever you need to, to stay free,∂ Optimus stated firmly, if gently. I sagged into his holoform's arms. ∂You fought and sacrificed to keep their names free. the dead do not need our loyalty, they would want you to be free.∂

I nodded into his shoulder with a shuddering sigh, the dear bot held me tighter. Comforting me, concealing me as I gathered my composure together.

∂Doesn't mean you have to be nice about rubbing his face in the truth though,∂ Ratchet added thoughtfully.

"What is this?" Galloway almost shouted, "you lot speak in code now?"

"No, we speak in Cybertronian common," Optimus rumbled in a mild tone, anyone who knew the bot gleefully got ready for him to tear a strip out of the offender. "Kae?"

"Ratchet, would you be so kind as to loan me a scalpel," I asked distantly, pulling back to look at him as I gave Optimus' wrist a gentle squeeze in thanks.

"Surgically altering Director Galloway would not be a good idea," the Medi-bot told me calmly, "what do you need it for?"

"You asked once what the sub-dermal chip contained, I need to remove it." I said calmly, catching and holding Galloway's eyes icily.

Ratchet collected his gear as I unbuttoned my coveralls.

"How many files did you find, Director?" I asked mildly as I bared my hip, poking at the skin until a lump appeared under a thin scar. I took the scalpel from Ratchet and lightly sliced open the scar, prodding a small glass container out of the wound.

"Multiple thefts and a murder," Galloway smirked, throwing a stack of files on the desk.

"There were two murders," I stated quietly, inspecting the glass capsule for a moment before carefully breaking the sealed glass. A tiny chip emerged from the splinters, which I plugged into my laptop close by.

"You're admitting to two murders now?" Lennox asked in a stunned voice.

"I killed no one," I said calmly, "Epps, you lived close to us, do you remember the little girl they found burned in the river?"

"Yeah, that was like, seven years ago, little asian girl, showed she'd been beaten to death, then burned afterwards. Jane Doe." Epps frowned at me.

"Her name was Chen Li, daughter of Master Chen Sho, but everyone called her Tinny. She was my twin sister from another continent." I said sadly, decoding a multitude of files. The first image was of a smiling pair of young girls, arms around each other as they laughed at the man behind the camera. I touched her face on the screen sadly.

(OPOV)

"What happened Kae?" Optimus asked softly, he reached out and laid a gentle hand on the femme's shoulder as Ratchet's holoform glued the cut together on her hip. He offhandedly connected her computer to the projector nearby, sending the images on her computer desktop to the wall.

"When Tinny was born prematurely, her mother suffered a massive hemorrhage. The doctors in rural China did nothing to help her as she slipped away in Sho's arms. When she had passed they asked if he wanted to be rid of the baby. To start his life again without a premature girl who probably wouldn't survive anyway," Kae began softly.

Major Lennox stared at the girl in shock, the soldiers grouping around the femme all stared in shock as she began to speak her family history. No twisted arms, no wheedling, she simply spoke.

"But the Chens were fighters," Kae continued softly, pulling up image after image, "Chen Sho took his tiny baby girl home and kept her warm, he woke up every hour to feed her. Where he went, she went with him, tucked into his riding jacket whenever he had to attend the races. When you're a top racer, the gangs don't let you go. Sho was a fighter, a winner, scraping a meagre living riding at high speed through the streets of Shanghai against the other gang racers with a baby girl zipped against his heart."

"Dedication," Will whispered, Optimus nodded. Kae took a deep breath and continued.

"When Tinny was strong enough, Sho traded his bike and paid all of his winnings to stow away on a freighter. They dropped him off ten miles offshore, dad was out fishing when Chen floated toward his boat, half dead with a three month old Tinny screaming her lungs out." Mikaela smiled weakly. "I was three months old when I met my sister, the day dad brought Uncle Sho home, talking to each other in the language of mechanics."

She pulled up a picture of a raven haired woman holding two babies and smiling.

"Tinny and I were literally born fifteen minutes apart," Kae smiled sadly, "I was bigger, but she was the older, Dad always said mum took one look at Tinny in Uncle Sho's arms, gathered her up and set her to breast milk within seconds.

"We were eight years old when mum got sick. Dad went back to stealing cars at that point, to pay the medical bills, and Uncle Sho went back to racing. It didn't help, she held on just long enough for Tinny and I to say goodbye. Mum lasted just long enough to tell my father to take his time following her into their next life. That was when Uncle Sho taught us the funeral song, to sing her soul into the next world."

Optimus stared at the next picture, the one Galloway had brought. She had the identical photograph on her computer.

"Tinny took that picture when we were twelve, those two bikes in the back were ours, Dad taught us to build them, and Uncle Sho taught us to ride, fight, and speak Mandarin." Kae smiled, gesturing to the photo. "She was going to be a photographer, we were so proud of her. What you're missing, Director Galloway, is this photo. The one she took once she'd figured out the timer on her new camera." Kae poked a button and the next photograph came up, Tinny standing with her arms around Kae's waist, everyone was smiling in this photo, Genuine, laughing smiles. Mikaela took a deep breath and pulled up another set of files.

"That's the murdered guy!" Lennox half shouted, pointing to one of the faces. Optimus stared at the face in shock, it couldn't be...

"Wo Shang, aka Jimmy Wo, among other aliases," she said quietly. "He contacted Uncle Sho, demanding that he race for the local chapter, making threats. Uncle refused, he said he didn't want his little Tinny and Cricket involved with the races. Wo Shang killed Tinny, beat her to death on camera, and sent the video clip to us."

Mikaela's body-language was flinching away from her movements, but she still pulled up the clip, closing her eyes and turning away. Optimus understood why, that clip had burned itself into her memory, she couldn't watch it again. Not and keep her composure. He slid his hand slightly on her shoulder, closer to her neck. Idly covering her artery as he watched the clip again. Somehow he knew that she knew what was happening, simply by the gasps and groans of the soldiers as they watched the tiny girl beaten to death, offering no resistance.

"Dad was in jail already, Tinny and Uncle Sho were still in hiding when it happened," Kae stated softly. "He couldn't go to the police, they were on order to deport him on sight. So we took what was left of Tinny's body and set her in the closest thing to a dragon boat we could make, sending her to the next life with as much honour as we could scrape together." Mikaela wiped away a tear and pointed at the list. "This is the list of men that dad warned me away from. The only reason Wo Shang is still on that list is because Dad didn't know that Uncle Sho tracked him down and beat him to death, so that he wouldn't come after me, too."

She pulled up the photograph of the group again, everyone smiling, laughing. The way she would have wanted to remember them.

"Criminals," Galloway said weakly.

"This was my family," Kae shrieked at him, "They sacrificed everything for Tinny and me," Mikaela rose and stormed to the wall, dragging Galloway by the collar, glaring at the man and pointing the faces out. "Paddy was a grandfather to all of us. Catholic to the bone and always there with the right words. The prison guards reported that he died praying for the soul of the man who'd stabbed him. He made the most beautiful things from glass and could single handedly strip, clean, paint, then re-assemble a car in twenty hours. Rig was the king of electrical systems, he was always fixing Tinny's camera, making it better, more powerful, and could get a car running and out of it's parking space in under twenty seconds. Uncle Sho taught us how to defend ourselves, how to ride away from trouble and Brick," she pointed to the enormous, bearded and grinning man with tears streaming down her face. "Brick was the closest thing to a living teddy bear there was, he'd play peek-a-boo with us for hours on end, bounce around with us, one in each arm singing until we fell asleep on his shoulders.

"We were a unit," Mikaela said fiercely, getting into Galloway's face, "We did what we had to to survive. They fought to stay out of the gangs, we tried to build the shop, build motorcycles legally. They stole to pay the loan sharks, the only ones who would give us the money to pay for my mother's medical bills when the insurance refused. So excuse me, Director Galloway, for holding my silence and accepting a criminal record for six years to protect all the family I had left in the world."

Mikaela released him, turned and walked back to the Humvee, digging back into servicing it. Optimus watched her worriedly, her eyes were glazed with tears, she seemed to be taking apart the filthy air-filter by touch alone.

He turned and glared at Galloway.

"They made their beds-" the man began muttering.

"Man, that was cold," Epps stated sharply, getting into the Director's face, "You ain't never seen the streets have you? The only way to get out the gangs is to join the military or die. If you got family you don't join the military, or they'll kill them instead."

"We will be lodging a formal complaint," Lennox added firmly. "Optimus, you want in?"

"With pleasure," Optimus rumbled menacingly, standing behind his Kae; just so that he would be close to her.

"I have one last question then," Galloway said in a muted tone.

"What?" Mikaela asked none too graciously, staring into the engine. She had the right.

"In the report from Egypt, it states that you were the one to identify that the water in location Z alpha one had been poisoned. It doesn't say how you knew." Galloway stated.

"Mikaela caught the scent of a decomposing body," Will stated coldly. "She said she had caught the scent of death, you will find that in the report."

"I still need to know-"

"Case file one-one-six-five-alpha-tango-eight-eight dash oh three," Mikaela snapped, "Jennifer Wong." she grabbed a wrench and attacked the carburetters.

In an instant, Ratchet was searching for the file. He read it in seconds and froze. There was deathly silence for a long moment.

::. You should be the one to read it, Optimus.:: he sent in a muted tone.

"'July 15, 2003, 03:12 hours. Guards were alerted to panicked screaming in detention cell block six. Investigation of the screaming found Miss Jennifer Wong in a rapidly deteriorating state of health. Miss Mikaela Banes, the next cell over was identified as the one who had been screaming for help." Optimus read the file out quietly. He watched worriedly as Kae gripped the spanner in her hand, forcing herself to continue disconnecting the engine.

"Jennifer Wong was found to be un-responsive to anything said in English, but seemed to listen to the Chinese-"

"Mandarin," Kae said hoarsely, anyone could hear the tears in her voice, she was fighting to not cry. "We spoke Mandarin."

"-being spoken soothingly from the next cell over, Miss Banes, being the one speaking to Miss Wong, was released from her cell to translate what had been assumed as a panicked version of the same language," Optimus continued softly. "Miss Banes reported that no words were in fact being formed, Miss Wong was instead screaming. Upon attempt to return Miss Banes to her cell, Miss Wong grabbed her hand, vomiting and choking on her own blood. Miss Banes broke away from the guard attempting to remove her and sat on the floor with Miss Wong, holding her hand and singing what was later reported as a traditional Buddhist Funeral song. Miss Wong calmed substantially as Miss Banes sang, dying peacefully in her arms.' That is the end of the report."

"Her soul passed peacefully, but her body went into convulsions after she died," Mikaela stated harshly, leaning heavily on the truck. "They thought I'd been the one to poison her at first. I sat with her head in my lap, and sang a friend's soul to the next life. Knelt in her blood as her breath rattled and the acid burned through my clothes and sang her away from the middle areas and yet they thought I was the one to kill her.

"They knew I was good with mechanics, figured that I'd somehow filled her water glass with sulphuric acid from one of the batteries I'd removed while servicing the hall's vehicles under supervision of one of the guards." Mikaela took a deep breath, her next words as cold as the ice on iron shutters.

"They said that when Jenny had felt the acid begin to burn, she'd tried to throw it up again and aspirated it into her lungs. She burned up from the inside out. Melted. They went so far as to show me the pictures of her autopsy, the acid had kept burning her, even after death." Mikaela straightened from the engine to face the shocked and pale men standing around her laptop, the iron shutters were in her eyes again. Cold rage seeped from her.

"It took me a month of scrubbing my skin raw to get rid of the smell of her blood, of her flesh burning." she stated flatly, her hand reached back and wrenched the battery from it's holder. She carried it to the work bench and hefted it up, letting it slam onto the surface to charge. "It took six more to get up the bravery to touch a car battery again. They let me out not long after that, once the jury decided I was an innocent, fully prepared to die to protect my family. The psychiatrist wrote in my file that I was too far gone after her death, too closed up, to quiet. A lost cause. You ask why I do not speak? You have your answer."

She spun on her heel and walked back to the hummer.

"But..."

"I don't think you quite understand the moral of the story, Galloway," Mikaela stated over her shoulder in that same icy tone. "The Auto-bots are my family now, they are the last that I have on this earth, I was prepared to die then, and I am prepared to die now."

Mikaela pulled the carburetters off and disconnected a few more hoses. A few more moments, a few bolts and she was lifting the engine from the frame, paying no more attention to the argument behind her. Zoned out, closed off.

::. Prime.:: Bumblebee sent desperately.

::. We will protect her.:: Optimus sent gently, he glanced at the scout as the resonations of relief hummed softly from his spark. Optimus waited until Galloway was out of the hangar before he walked his holoform up behind her.

"Kae," Optimus rumbled softly, testing the waters.

"Optimus," Mikaela said quietly, setting aside the worn out clutch.

"He's gone Kae," Optimus murmured, reaching out to rest a hand on her shoulder, gently turning the femme around to face him. Mikaela looked up at him and broke down, her composure shattered. Optimus wound her tightly into his embrace, nodding to his unit as holoforms winked online around them, hovering indecisively.

In moments, Mikaela was surrounded by the holoforms of her surrogate family.

And in that moment, Optimus could not have felt prouder that his beloved Kae trusted him enough to cry in his arms.