Chapter 62 - A Year of Hours: Hysteria
-281:28
Location: Diego Garcia Mess Hall
(WPOV)
Mikaela collapsed.
Will took one look at her and ran for the door.
"Optimus!" he bellowed, the mech whipped around to look at him, his holoform onlining the next second.
"What's wrong?" he rumbled in a dangerous tone.
"I think we're going to need you," Will stated hoarsely, dragging the holo into the mess by the wrist, convention be damned.
"Who took care of my death?" Mikaela asked weakly, her tone was way off. Terrified.
"I did," Moreshower told her flatly. "The only people who know that the body being buried in the grave beside your father is nothing more than wood ash and crushed chimpanzee bones are standing in this room. I personally took care of it."
Mikaela took a deep breath and sagged into herself, anyone could see the adrenaline draining from her body. "I'm dead," she whispered. She began laughing.
"Oh this is bad!" Will groaned as her laughter took on a hysterical edge despite it's bizarrely quiet quality. Optimus' holoform darted back to the door, bellowing what could only be orders in Cybertronian before he fairly flew to kneel in front of Mikaela.
"Calm down, Kae come back, calm down." he cupped her face in powerful hands and forced her to look at him.
"I'm dead Optimus!" she looked at him with glazed eyes, "You're all in danger now. Who'll sing my funeral song?"
"You're not dead you're right here!" Optimus told her urgently. "Kae come back, you're safe, nothing's going to get you!"
"Prime!" Chromia's holo snapped, "move over!"
"Chromia-"
"It's a fit of hysteria, talking her down will take hours," Chromia told him flatly. "C'mere Kae," Chromia proceeded to haul Mikaela to her feet and slapped her hard across the face with a resounding smack.
"What the Hell!" Epps shouted.
(MPOV)
"You back with us Kae?" Chromia looked me in the eye sternly.
"Yeah, I'm good," I sighed. "Fuck, I'm a mess, this is a mess, I'm sorry, thanks."
"There's my girl," she smiled gently, pulling me into a tight hug. "And don't worry about it, if you ever see me going hysterical you can feel free to slap me back right?"
"You hysterical?" I laughed weakly, "shit Chrome, you'd kick my ass!"
"Uh, what just happened?" Will asked in a shocked tone, I turned in Chromia's arms to look at the audience, my friends. I groaned and buried my face in her shoulder.
"You caught her off guard," Chromia shrugged. "Lemme guess, you're about two words shy of grabbing your run kit and going completely off the grid?" she looked down at me wryly.
"One name. Oh God Chrome, my run kit's in pieces," I groaned. I made to go, but Chromia held me firmly in place, turning me to look sternly in my eyes.
"That's enough to make any hunter turned hunted hysterical." Chromia nodded firmly. "You're giving off the pheromones of trapped prey. Spill."
"One name is enough to send you off the grid?" Moreshower demanded.
"Well, there are six names, but any one of them and I disappear," I said vaguely.
"Who?" Obama looked at me sternly. I looked around, biting my lip against the tears.
"Oi you! Stick around, the majority of us are warriors!" Arcee told me sharply, "Say the names, they sure as the pit burns won't find you!"
I took a deep breath and sagged against Chromia.
"They already have," I whimpered. "I have to go, I need to make a trail and lead them away, they can't find you, any of you."
"If they have found you then let them come!" Ironhide snarled. Outside the mess hall I could hear his cannons powering up.
"Give us the names!" Moreshower commanded. I straightened and looked at him sadly.
"Special Agent Jason David Liams, Director Joseph Lorenne, Commander Xan Wo Shang, Comrade Viktor Petrov, Sir Edward Manske and Sheik Achmed Aussen. As far as the world is concerned I'm dead, there's nowhere I can hide for long. If I'm found alive I will be declared a fugitive, and my head will be served on a silver platter to our President." I turned to look at the man. "You will be forced to declare me a traitor to save face. A coverup like this is a scandal in the making. The information will at that point be declared forgeries and nullified."
"Fuuuck," Epps whispered.
"Liams... Liams is Galloway's former boss!" Moreshower growled.
"There's nothing former about it," I said coldly. "Who do you think gave Galloway the picture? Brick sure as hell didn't carry it." A cell phone rang behind us. A few muttered words.
"Mr. President," one of the black clad men said grimly, "we have a problem."
"What's happening Leo?" Obama asked quietly.
"Sec Def was found at the bottom of a staircase with his neck broken." the man replied.
"Broken how?" I demanded, instantly alert.
Everyone stared at me. I rolled my eyes with a groan and pinched the bridge of my nose. "As in did he break his neck on the stairs or did someone break it for him? What angle is his head at?" the black clad man – Leo – looked at the president quickly and dialled the phone number at his nod. He passed my question on then covered the mouthpiece.
"Says his head is facing backwards," Leo said with a frown.
"Shit, that's Sabre. They're moving fast," I stated, my voice going from panic to icy calm. I looked at Lennox's shocked face and made the decision I'd never wanted to do. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
"Mikaela what do you know about this?" Moreshower barked.
"It would seem that the next time you see me, Ironhide, you're going to have to go through with your promise," I said coldly. "I will not let my mistake put you all in danger." I turned, walked out of the mess hall and into my tent. I began packing my run kit.
"What promise?" Jacobs demanded behind me.
"That if she were to become a murder, she would die by my hand," Ironhide choked.
"Mikaela what the fuck!" Lennox bellowed, a group of shocked and wide eyed men and holoforms crowded around the open side of my tent.
"I'm going to make a promise to you Will," I said quietly, zipping my duffle and turning to look at him. "I'm going to make sure they never come after your baby girl."
"What are you going to do?" the President asked worriedly.
"I'm going to complete my father's mission, as I was trained to do," I said firmly.
"There's no way in hell you're gonna do that alone!" Moreshower growled.
"We're coming with you," Optimus added in no uncertain tones. I froze, looking around at the grim, unyielding expressions.
"I will not have you lot become murderers to clean up a mess I should have taken care of before the funeral." I said quietly. "Rule forty-five is in effect."
I made to walk away from the group, but Optimus caught my arm, holding me firm.
"How about a briefing before you run off and we'll decide that," Lennox stated firmly. I looked again at the obstinate faces and sighed.
"Fine, but when you decide that it's not for you please don't try to stop me." I said tiredly, "Ratchet, I need a scalpel."
"About scrapping time," the Medi-bot growled, "C'mon, I'll get that damn thing out while you give us our marching orders." I looked at him in shock.
"You're one of us Kae," Bee stated unwaveringly, "a femme who catches and releases bugs alive doesn't kill without reason."
"That doesn't mean you need to get involved," I stated firmly as Ratchet almost dragged me to his work area, sitting me firmly down.
"Marching orders young lady," Moreshower stated firmly, then of all things, he grinned. "Hi, I'm a general, and this here is the President of the United States. I'm involved whether you want me to or not."
"God's sake Chris," I said exasperatedly, "you just want in for the 'adventure', admit it!"
"Your dad was a good man," Christopher Moreshower growled at me, "I was in the hospital when you were born, 'course you were blonde at the time. What good is telling your old man that I'd look out for you in my neighbourhood if I don't help you clean up this mess?"
I rolled my eyes and smirked at the shocked look on everyone's faces.
"Alright fine," I said quickly, "I'll give you lot the bare bones briefing, if you want in you stay put, if you decide you don't want any part walk away at any time while I'm in this hanger. Don't say anything about this to another person and we won't say your name if this comes public. Deal?"
"I like her style," Chance grinned, leaning against the work table. There was a chorus of agreement from the fifteen odd men surrounding us.
"Right, Ratchet I need my arm for another minute," I looked at the medi-bot apologetically. He sighed and released me as I pulled out my laptop. I pulled a pretty hairpin from a small box and plugged it into the audio port. A multitude of images came up on the laptop as everyone crowded close. I switched to my left hand and gave Ratchet my forearm. He grunted his approval and froze the site.
"There was a very quiet movement eleven years ago that our unit investigated," I began in a lecturers tone, "they were basically charged with a 'make work' assignment to see about the reasons that world peace seemed to be impossible. What came to light was a conspiracy that would make the auto-bots living on earth look positively tame. What it comes down to is money, peacetime cuts into the wallets of war-economy based businesses. Weapons manufacturing, oil, aircraft, media and the military to some extent."
I looked around at the shocked faces with a frown and continued.
"They asked the questions you never should if you value your life or career, and they found out more than they bargained for. These six are the heads of it, they worked quietly, got well up into the major organizations and began gathering contacts. Followers. They're well set up, and well guarded. Each of them has an assassin on call, and each has their favourites. That's how we tracked them down. Now." I looked around grimly. "Here's the clincher. Mr. President I seem to have made the mistake of assuming that your predecessor would have given you the name of his favourite go-to boy. But neither of your men are standing at assassin stance."
Obama shook his head in the negative.
"Figures, friggin' oil families," I grumbled. "Right then, that being the case we're going to have to take care of you and your family as well, Liams is second in command at the CIA, so I think we're going to have to re-locate you for the next ten days to one of my safe houses. Speaking of CIA, Leo was it?" I looked at the man in black. He nodded.
"Borrow your phone Leo?" I asked calmly. He dug it out of his pocket and handed it to me at the nod of the President.
"It's an un-secure line," he stated in a deep voice.
"That's alright," I said calmly, carefully dialling a fifteen digit phone number. Lennox looked over my shoulder.
"Holy crap, who's that?" he asked curiously.
"Old friend," I said calmly. "Dad took his orders directly from him, and if any of you laugh or repeat any part of this conversation I will kill you." I hit send, put it on speaker and pressed my finger to my lips. The phone rang once and was picked up immediately.
"Hello?" a woman's voice asked curiously.
"Hey Linda!" I said in a bright, cheerful tone, "is Pookie there?"
"There's my little angel!" she said in a bright voice, "I'll get him on in a second."
There was the sound of a phone being tucked against a shoulder and footsteps. A muted knock on the door.
"Mrs. Jackson?" a male's voice asked curiously.
"Sorry sir, phone call," her voice said in a cool tone.
"So sorry gentlemen, I will return in a few moments," the male voice said calmly. There was the sound of a phone being passed and more footsteps.
"Hello?"
"Pookie!" I called out in a bright, cheerful tone.
"How's my little Angel?" the man's voice asked with a grin.
"I'm okay Pookie, I'm sorry for calling you at work, but I just wanted to let you know that my phone number's changed."
"What is it now?" the man asked with a smile.
"555-8954 like the movie! Isn't that just so cool!" I gushed, sounding exactly like an over-excited, less than bright teenager.
"That's very cool baby girl," the man practically cooed, "So when are you coming over?"
"I'll be all finished up in ten days! Less than two weeks and I get to see my Pookie again!" I gushed. "I'll see you then okay?"
"Alright baby girl," the man laughed, "I'll see you then. Bye bye sweetie."
"Bye Pookie!" I sang and killed the line. I closed the phone and waited a second.
"Okay now you can laugh, but just this once," I said seriously.
"What the hell was that!?" Chance howled out between guffaws.
"That voice... that was the Director of the CIA!" Leo stated in a stunned tone.
"And now he knows to get to ground for the next ten days until this mess is cleaned up, his second in command is going to be going after his blood." I said seriously. Several stunned faces stared at me.
"Alright, next on the list," I said perfunctorily. "I have six highly guarded men to kill in ten days. Mr. President, where is the first lady and your children?" I asked seriously.
"They'll be at the White House," the man stated worriedly, looking at his watch. I leaned back and gave him a stern look.
"How much does she know?" I asked calmly.
"We have an emergency system for if everything hits the fan," Obama said seriously. "Where are we going?"
"My safe house," I said quickly, and turned to Moreshower, "Do you have anyone extremely trustworthy in Washington at the moment?" he nodded, "Good, tell him to go to the White House and be prepared to escort them to the Airport. If anyone tries to interfere, shoot on sight, we're talking professionals. Mr. President call your wife, tell her to pack for a two week vacation in the sunshine. We'll meet her in Miami."
The two men nodded and followed Lennox to the secure line phones. I looked around at the rest of the men.
"The real help I can ask from you lot is communications surveillance, transportation and guard duty, if you're not up for it I'll understand." I said calmly.
"Where's the guard duty?" Jacobs asked in a tired tone.
"Bayou safe house with the President." I said calmly. Jacobs perked up enormously.
"Way out back?" he asked with a grin.
"Oh you're gonna love it," I laughed, "Okay, so who's in then?"
"I'll come with you Mikaela," Epps said firmly, "No way I'm goin' to the Bayou."
"I'll stay with you the entire way," Lennox said just as firmly. "Epps can take command of the away team, and Jacobs the guard duty?"
"I'll stay in Washington and handle communications," Moreshower stated with a nod.
"Holy shit," I said mildly as everyone split up to stand with their leader. An almost perfect split. "Okay then, Chris Epps Lennox, we have five places to target, Washington, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Moscow. In that order. The sixth I'll either get very lucky or I'll need to break away and go hunting." I narrowed my eyes at Epps for a second then nodded, I turned to the laptop and connected to the printer, I handed him a list of coordinates.
He looked at them and frowned for a long moment before looking at Optimus.
"How do you lot feel about splitting up five ways, if we can air-drop a team in a rural area outside each location in one shot, it'd draw less attention altogether. You could stake the safe houses and confirm if they're still safe."
Optimus nodded and turned.
"Arcee, you and the girls take London. Bumblebee will take Paris. Ratchet, Ironhide, take Washington. Sideswipe you'll take Hong Kong and I will attend to Moscow." he ordered. "Objections?"
"No Sir!" Bumblebee chirped.
"Prime? Optimus?" I said softly. He looked at me with a fighter's glint in his eyes. I stood up and hugged his holoform. "Thank you," I whispered.
"Always," he rumbled softly. I pulled away and looked around.
"Okay, Mr. President, have your ladies fly down to Miami on Airforce One. We'll pick them up there, Ironhide, Lennox and I will meet you at these coordinates and we'll proceed to Washington. Once we're finished there, if Lennox decides he doesn't want to have anymore to do with it the two of you can roll."
"What about my Vice President?" Obama asked in a worried tone.
"Pookie's got him," I said firmly, I glanced at my watch, "In fact, the directors of the FBI and the CIA will be kidnapping him about now and taking him to Hetty for safe keeping before they go to ground. Barry knows the drill, he designed it." I looked around, "everyone know what they're doing?"
"Just a moment," Ratchet said calmly, he turned to the President. "Did you want proof or is this going to be silenced?"
"With Mikaela's permission, I'm going to release this information to the other leaders once it's finished. That is, of course if I am correct that you are cleaning up a world wide coup?" he looked at me with a remarkably calm expression. Ratchet's holoform nodded and bustled off to his work table.
"You are absolutely correct," I stated grimly.
"Murder and treason is something my fellow leaders and I completely agree upon, any evidence and proof would be appreciated."
"Yes sir," I said firmly. "Does anyone want out now?"
"Absolutely not," Graham stated firmly, as everyone frowned the negative. "God save the Queen."
"Give us your tired, your hungry, your weak," Lennox added in a strong tone.
"Semper Fi!" Jacobs growled.
"Advance Australia Fair," Chance stated proudly.
"Our loyalty to our Fatherland gives us strength!" Andrev rasped.
"Let's get to it," I stated, rising from my seat.
"Kae," Ratchet stated calmly, "lean back and hold your eyelid open for a second."
I looked at him curiously as I obeyed, leaning back into his cupped hand. Ratchet's holoform carefully put a few drops from a bottle in my eye, then switched to a positively tiny syringe, injecting something directly into my cornea before a bright white flash from his neural fibres blinded me for a moment.
010:00
Location: Moscow
(OPOV)
Optimus sat waiting outside the building as Mikaela walked toward him calmly, Will at her shoulder, frowning.
"It's finished," Mikaela said softly, climbing into the heated cab. "My father's spirit can rest in peace, and I will join him soon."
"What does that mean?" Optimus demanded.
"Optimus..." Lennox stated weakly, "I think we need to get her to Ratchet. And fast."
Mikaela collapsed into the seat. Unconscious.
"What happened!?" Optimus demanded, accelerating into the snow clogged streets and driving quickly toward the airport and waiting C17.
"We went in, Mikaela left me in a safe place to wait, she went in for like, twenty minutes, came out, said 'let's go, the shit's going to hit the fan in ten, I'm sorry Will. I broke my promise!' I made her promise she'd survive this!" Will reported in an almost panicked voice. "Shit, she had everything covered on this, what's gone wrong!? What do we do!?"
"We get on the plane, we get her to Ratchet and we go over the tape to see what went wrong," Optimus stated flatly, accelerating a bit more. "I cannot find anything wrong, her body has begun defying our sensors, only Ratchet has her number at this point."
"Right," Will said in an exhausted voice.
"Rest," Optimus ordered. "I will wake you when we reach the plane."
Optimus felt Major Lennox's brain functions slow as he drifted off. He tried scanning his spark-mate again, reaching for her spark. She had almost no energon in her system, he could only feel the outer edges of her consciousness. At least he could sense no physical pain in her. His spark clenched when he caught the outer edge of the agony in her soul. He onlined two extra processors, one to watch for humans with Radars, and the other to carefully reach for her spark. Making sure she knew she wasn't alone.
He accelerated to a speed his non-sentient counterparts could only dream of, reaching the air-base and C17 in just slightly less than an hour. He screeched to a stop just short of the gates and looked down at the man at the gate.
"US Military, we need to board that C17 immediately," he stated in Russian, just barely touching the voice of command. The soldiers scrambled to obey.
"Optimus! That was fast!" Epps shouted as the semi drove up the ramp and into the plane.
"We have a problem," Optimus rumbled, transforming with one human in each hand and sitting rather scrunched in the plane. "We need to get to Ratchet immediately."
"You heard the Bot!" Epps bellowed, "Let's fly boys!"
Lennox jerked awake.
"Let's get started on that recording," he stated, sitting up quickly.
Optimus nodded and linked to the implant in his spark-mate's arm, projecting it as a holoscreen in front of him as the soldiers tied him in. A time stamp flickered at the bottom.