Chapter 77 - The Temple
(OPOV)
"Are you guys doing the church thing?" Mikaela called out from behind the screen, the sounds of her changing and packing at her normal high-speed drifted through the flimsy barrier.
"Nope!" Will called back. "Just grace over the table."
"Right, I'm packed then," Mikaela grinned, hefting a duffle bag over her shoulder as she walked back through the screens and wearing entirely different clothing.
"How the hell did you do that?" Will asked with a laugh.
"Run organization," Mikaela shrugged, "my room, my dorm room, even my tent had the exact same setup, when you need to run, you do not need to be searching for what you need to pack."
She was ready to run.
"Why would you do that?" Optimus asked with a frown. Mikaela glanced at the doors leading toward his quarters before looking at his holoform. She smiled and set her duffle down, walking toward him somewhat.
"I can't change my base codes overnight, Optimus," she said gently, "I'm conditioned to run. Originally, my duty was to take Tinny and get her out of the area at the first sign of real trouble." she closed her eyes and touched her wrist. Optimus felt his eyes widen in shock, the implant Ratchet had left in her wrist shifted somewhat, sending out a signal. Directly to his spark. A blink of her vital signs. That signal could be so easily traced, except...
"If I ever run, you know damn well it won't be from you," she added softly.
"You just..." he started, fighting to control his voice. Kae smiled, she knew, Optimus strode the holoform forward and snared her in a bear hug.
"It's limited," Mikaela murmured, smiling, "I can't hear you through it, but you know how far I go without my iPod."
Nowhere, she went absolutely nowhere without her music, and where her music was, along with her location? He would never have to guess her location, never have to try to find her to speak with her, ask her a question, or remind her of his love for her.
"What'd you do?" Will asked curiously, off to the side.
"Mikaela sent me a spark-specific location ping," Optimus rumbled with a grin. "A single modification and there will never be a time when I cannot find her."
"What's the mod?" Mikaela asked quickly, looking up at the holoform with a grin.
"I'll leave you two to it," Will laughed as Optimus beamed down at his Kae. The Major began walking toward the door.
"What time do we roll out?" Mikaela asked quickly.
"Oh, half an hour good?" Will grinned.
"Sure, that should be enough time to hunt down a box," Mikaela laughed. "You behave," she added, grinning up at Optimus as he pulled her a bit more tightly into the holoform's arms. Primus but he loved having her there.
"Give me a good reason for him to behave," Epps laughed.
Excellent man, Epps. Optimus thought musingly.
"You mean besides the fact that I'll be staying in his sleeper?" Mikaela asked mildly.
Optimus quickly onlined an extra processor as the first threatened to shut off.
∂You're going to stay in my spark chamber?∂ he asked with a broad grin, forgetting himself and speaking Cybertronian. Scrap it, he was allowed, now and again.
ΩYou've thoroughly invaded my chamber and claimed my spark as your own, my guardian, it is only fair to take every opportunity to hold the spark that sustains mine.Ω She replied in the language of the Primes.
In the language that completely defied lying. It sounded so beautiful, spoken with her voice. She caressed it.
Optimus groaned and pulled her more tightly into the holoform's arms.
"You are going to be the death of me, my Kae," he rumbled tightly, sending up a prayer that she would be strong enough to inhabit her new body.
Kae laughed and squirmed in his arms, reaching up to kiss his jaw.
"Not if I have anything to say about it," she lilted sweetly, "I'm keeping you. To work!" she announced cheerfully.
Optimus laughed and released her. She bounced out of the room with a grin, scooping up duffle and bear mid-step. His femme never stopped moving if she had the option.
Gorgeous.
"Man, you gotta get a ring on her finger," Epps laughed, whacking the holoform before Optimus winked it out, he chuckled and rose, striding to the door and waiting for the humans to catch up.
"All in good time," Optimus rumbled with a broad grin, walking carefully behind Will and Epps.
"Your time or our time?" Robert called up over his shoulder. Optimus snorted.
"Both. Bear in mind that I courted Elita for a millennia, and was engaged to her for another. Of course, ours was arranged." he added offhandedly. He thought of his haughty Elita 1, he missed her somewhat, but the pain was gone.
He had a femme that loved him now. He had his Kae.
"Seriously? Arranged marriage?" Will asked curiously, jogging Optimus back to the present.
"An arranged bond, a bonded guardian is often stronger, and on occasion it was possible for two bonded to merge entirely on the battle field." Optimus rumbled calmly. "It is similar to marriage, but not entirely. Elita was still free to interface with whomever she wished. As was I."
"Did you two... I'm sorry, is it rude for me to ask?" Will corrected himself quickly.
"It is... delicate, but not rude to ask," Optimus rumbled patiently. "And no, I had never found an energonic signature close enough to my own to merge entirely with another."
"Had, past tense," Epps grinned up at him.
That was Primus damned true, Kae's spark merged with his effortlessly.
Will cocked his head and stopped, looking up at him with his head tilted to the side.
Right, he could hear the tones now. Optimus onlined the holoform beside Epps, smirking at the grinning humans.
"I was not sure at first," Optimus admitted calmly, speaking strictly through the holoform. "But when Kae... passed..." he trailed off as his spark flared in pain of the memory.
"And you held her in your spark chamber," Will prompted him gently. Optimus nodded.
"She merged with me entirely while her body was being re-built. It was a terrifying moment, if a spark is not strong enough, it is possible that the stronger of the two could accidentally overlay the gentler. Kae..." Optimus trailed off in memory. "For a moment, Kae wove herself around and through me. Strong enough to hold her own, and gentle enough that there was never any danger of overlaying each other."
"So she's the running beauty queen?" Epps chuckled.
"She is perfection." Optimus smiled, offlining the holoform again and striding carefully toward the entrance bay. "I shall await you in the entrance bay, I should top up my fuel and coolants if we are not returning for a few days."
"Be with you in a bit!" Will called with a grin, ducking into his own quarters.
Optimus stretched, revelling in the height and strength of his bipedal form before shrugging into his truck form. He was rather fond of it, actually. Mikaela was carrying an enormous box, laughing as Lieutenants Chance and Jacobs occasionally poked it, or her, gently trying to off balance Kae. She was laughing, ducking and weaving around the Lieutenants, and Optimus couldn't hold back the bark of laughter as he noted that she was using a mild forcefield to keep the box balanced.
"That's cheating," Optimus rumbled, onlining his holoform with a snort.
"What, you mean this?" Mikaela asked innocently, levitating the box over her head and jumping into action, whacking Jacobs and Chance as they bellowed foul play. "You deserve it!" she shouted back at them, laughing along with the soldiers.
She set her load down beside him and ran her hands down his bodywork.
"So who all is coming?" Mikaela asked with a bright smile as Optimus promptly blinked his holoform and snared his Kae.
"Well, there's me," he kissed her forehead, "and there's you," he kissed her lips, "and there's Ironhide," he kissed her temple.
"And there's me," Chromia giggled, "shove over, I want in!" she bumped his holoform lightly and kissed Kae's other temple.
Mikaela giggled and caught Chromia's waist, planting a kiss on the holoform's cheek. She turned back and looked up at him with mischievous eyes.
"And there's Will," she murmured, hauling herself up and kissing him soundly as Chromia laughed brightly.
"That's my girl!" the Femme cheered as Optimus almost lost control of the holoform. Ironhide glanced over and laughed, transforming quickly and driving to park beside Optimus.
"What'd we miss?" Epps called out, walking toward the group with a duffle slung over his shoulder.
"Oh, Optimus being his normal sack-rat self," Ironhide's holoform shrugged, grinning as Optimus shot him a withering glance.
"I gotta pop in on Ratchet!" Mikaela stated suddenly, ducking out of the holoform's arms and sprinting to the Med Bay. Optimus darted his holoform after her and grinned as she covered her eyes before even walking through the doors.
"Ratchet?" she called out softly.
"Kae, you're not supposed-" Ratchet barked worriedly before cutting himself off.
"I've got my eyes covered, c'mere and give me a hug!" she demanded with a grin. The medic's holoform winked to life a moment later, guiding Kae back out of the med-bay before wrapping her in a hug.
"Four days requires a hug goodbye?" Ratchet asked in amusement.
"Goodbye nothing," Kae snorted, "I never say goodbye. Are you going to tell me I can't hug my spark-father when I'm going to be gone for Christmas?"
Optimus watched with a small smile as the Medic's normally grumpy expression softened into a gentle smile. Showcasing the father in the bot's protective circuits.
"I love you too ∂Daughter∂" Ratchet stated softly, reaching up and cupping Kae's face. "Now get going, have fun, and be forewarned that if you don't eat properly you won't hear the end of it."
"Love you too, ∂Father∂" Mikaela stated softly, reaching up and pressing a gentle kiss just beneath Ratchet's chin. "Get some decent recharge, don't spend the next four days working endlessly, or you'll never hear the end of it."
Ratchet enveloped her in a hug for a long moment. Finally, they pulled back, Kae smiled up at her mentor, who promptly pasted a grumpy expression on his face.
"Get going you," he rumbled in a tone very obviously trying to be irritable, and failing miserably.
"See you later Ratch," Kae grinned up at him, turning to head back to the entrance bay. "Save me some services, or I'll kick your assplates."
Ratchet burst out laughing again, waving a mockingly irritable hand at his spark-daughter as she trotted away.
::. We're keeping her.:: Ratchet stated over the primary.
::. No two ways about it.:: Optimus replied, grinning. ::. Arcee?.::
::. Yeah boss?.:: Arcee trilled cheerfully.
::. You are under orders to kidnap Ratchet and hold him hostage in his quarters if he doesn't get enough 'rest'.:: Optimus smirked.
::. He's back!.:: Ironhide rumbled gleefully.
::. Yes yes, just don't scar the humans.:: Optimus snorted.
::. No promises.:: Flareup murmured in a wicked tone.
Optimus offlined his holo to see Mikaela fussing over Chromia, already loaded into Ironhide's box in deference to the snow.
"What the scrap are you doing with that!?" Chromia's holoform demanded.
"Because I don't want you getting cold!" Mikaela stated firmly.
"This isn't the first time I've seen snow," Chromia stated, rolling her eyes.
"Okay, but if you get a cold don't you dare hide it and let it get worse," Mikaela ordered. A few of the bots jumped to hear the soft touch of the voice of command beneath the young Femme's tone. "Bee did that, and I spent a solid week nursing him back to health, driving in cold weather is miserable, driving while you're sick is even worse."
"Why weren't you fussing over Optimus like this?" Chromia asked curiously, "he was in Siberia for a while."
"Optimus has a block heater," Mikaela stated gently. "It's part and parcel with a diesel engine, you're a B-King, I can't plug you in to keep you warm. Hence the scrapping electric blanket," she added firmly as she walked toward Optimus.
"And she was fussing over me," Optimus added with a snort, "I half expected her to start carrying a fuel quality tester."
Off to the side, Mikaela blushed and glanced away.
"Kae?" Ironhide looked at the femme curiously.
She sighed and dug into her duffle, pulling up a small black case and opening it.
"Fuel tester," Chromia giggled, wrapping her arms around Kae. "You're an absolute dear-spark, you know that right?"
Kae laughed, hugging Chromia's holoform back for a moment.
"Alright boys and bots, let's roll!" Will called out with a broad grin, walking into the hanger with his duffle slung over his shoulder. Optimus grinned and picked up his Kae's luggage: duffel, box. Had to admire a Femme who travelled this light, most of the stuff in that bag was for the bots tagging along.
"So if you tested the diesel and it wasn't good enough what did you intend to do?" Optimus asked, looking at his Femme with a grin.
She looked up at him guiltily and touched a heavy bracelet on her wrist. Optimus laughed as the disguised neural fibres unwound themselves and slid into her wrist, a few tendrils waved gracefully through the air. A tiny ball of energon began to form, growing and shrinking until it morphed into a fuel cell.
"Now what do you plan on doing with that? It is strong enough to run the complex for a month." Optimus laughed as she offered it to him. "You would have me overloading for three."
"Oh! I don't honestly know," she shrugged, grinning. Kae glanced around for a moment and spied Sideswipe.
"Hay Sides!" she bellowed, holding up the fuel cell.
"You cooked us dinner before you left?" Sideswipe hollered back with a broad grin as she hurled the fuel cell to her brother. "Holy shit! Look at this thing!" Sides grinned, flicking the cell around for a moment before palming it. "See you in four days, Little Sister," the bot grinned before wandering toward the Central.
Optimus delicately handed Kae her iPod as he made sure it was still receiving the Primary transmission.
::. Guys!.:: Sideswipe was calling out with a broad grin. ::. Kae's trying to make us fat!.::
she wonders why I'm constantly trying to get her to eat.:: Ratchet snorted.
::. Still wondering.:: Mikaela murmured over the transmission.
::. Because every time you do that – wow, that's an impressive cell, especially for your size – you use your own energy to produce the energon, the more you eat, the more you produce, I very much doubt you're going to get fat, not if you continue to discharge energon like this, thanks for dinner, by the way.:: Ratchet grinned.
Optimus opened his door and Kae climbed in, cuddling into his seat.
Yes, he was definitely keeping her.
"Optimus?" Kae asked suddenly, "Could we turn here for a minute?"
"You going to catch up with us?" Will asked over the radio.
"Yeah, there's something I need to do," Mikaela murmured as Optimus took the exit that lead toward Kae's shop.
"Kae, they burned it, I don't know what you'll find," Optimus murmured softly.
"Ironhide got into the Temple, but he didn't get into the Buddha," Mikaela stated softly.
Optimus turned into the drive, onlining his holoform to stay close to his Kae as she surveyed the damage the fire had done.
"My door held," she murmured finally, walking into the shop and down into a service pit, climbing through the wreckage of a burned out car. Optimus followed her closely, and watched as Ironhide pulled up beside him. Men and Bots scampered after Kae.
"Kae!" Will shouted, "this thing looks ready to fall! Where are you?"
"I'm in the pit!" she called back quickly, counting the enormous, cut out stones, finally, she pulled out a knife and popped a stone out, hauling on the handle concealed beneath as the soldiers picked their way down into the pit.
"Please work," Mikaela whispered, turning the handle. The opposite wall popped open. Kae immediately turned and scampered through the crawlspace, Optimus close behind.
He stood and stared.
"The temple," Ironhide murmured.
"Everyone get along that wall," Mikaela murmured in a commanding tone as she walked toward the glass statue sitting benignly on the far wall.
"That thing's intense," Ironhide rumbled with a broad grin, pressing Will and Chromia against the wall as Optimus followed suit with Jacobs and Epps.
Kae knelt and blew on the floor, removing the dust from the cobblestones. She rose and placed her feet precisely on two of them, kneeling down gracefully and bowing to the Buddha. There was a dull clunk as the stones sank.
It was a shock when a moment later, she shot backwards, grasping a handle that shot from a gap between the stones. Round, razor sharp blades shot out from the wall behind the Buddha, precisely where the soldiers had initially been standing.
"Holy crap!" Will shouted as Kae flexed to her feet and pressed the handle firmly into the statue's stomach. Another section of wall slid open, revealing a shrine.
Kae sank down again, murmuring a prayer in Mandarine before she delicately picked up the tiny statue, wrapping it in rich red silk and tucking it gently into a heavy leather satchel along with a couple of ancient seeming scrolls.
Two large trunks were pulled from beneath the shrine, she opened one and tucked the satchel into it, along with a sword.
Optimus watched his Kae intently, her body language was flinching away from the second trunk, but she still picked it up, carrying it in silence. Optimus quickly picked up the first trunk, following his Kae.
"This place is..." Jacobs murmured quietly.
"Our temple, our dojo," Mikaela whispered. She looked at the glass buddha. "Paddy made that buddha for Chen Sho, spent months sculpting it. We built the shop around this place, it was our sanctuary." she pointed to a beautiful cross on the wall. "That was Rig's place, Brick carved the cross, and Paddy set the gems and gold."
"Sarah would love that thing," Will murmured softly. Mikaela gave him a weak smile and took the cross from the wall, kissing it gently before handing it to him.
"You can't possibly-" Will started in a shocked tone.
"Every piece that I can send to a good home, is a piece that won't be destroyed," Kae murmured softly. The soldier's eyes widened in shock.
"Whomever you lot are, you are trespassing upon sacred territory!" a voice shouted from outside the sanctuary.
"Who's there?" Mikaela demanded in a harsh tone, her hand on her sword. A middle aged man entered the sanctuary and stared.
"Angel!?" Sabre asked in a shocked tone.
"Sabre!?" Mikaela shouted, just as shocked.
"I'm so sorry Angel!" Sabre stated immediately, "I set up the tripwire to keep this place safe, I didn't know you were back in the area!"
"I needed to come back, one last time," Kae whispered. Sabre nodded and looked at the trunks.
"You're moving them?" he asked softly.
"I don't know what I'm going to do with them," Kae murmured, "they're going to tear this place apart in a month or so." Sabre nodded sadly.
"I'd hoped to get everything to safety," he murmured, "Their memories should live on. Will you give me the permission to move the rest of the artifacts? The monastery will care for them."
Kae nodded sadly, setting the trunk down and going to the glass statue. She bent around it and touched it's stomach one last time, speaking softly in Mandarine.
She pulled another handle and another section of wall slid down.
"If they wind up on the black market, I will hunt you down," Mikaela stated in an icy tone, turning to look at the man.
"I swear to you, upon my honour as an assassin trained by Master Chen Sho," Sabre stated firmly. "The artifacts will enter the protection of the monks."
"Thank you, Sabe," she murmured.
"Until we meet again, Master Chen Mikaela, be well." Sabre murmured, bowing deeply.
Kae nodded, touched the man's forehead gently and turned, picking up her trunk and shimmying back out.
"Sabre?" Will asked with a raised eyebrow.
"The original," Sabre nodded firmly.
"You got some balls dude," Jacobs chuckled.
"I serve the Chen dynasty," Sabre stated firmly, "as such, Master Chen Sho's artifacts will be preserved. The living master has left, with all due respect, I would suggest that you do so as well."
Jacobs turned, bowed to the Buddha and squirmed out of the crawlspace behind Will. Optimus levitated the second trunk behind Epps before all three holoforms winked to the other side.
"Kae?" Optimus asked softly as he loaded the second trunk into his sleeper.
"Optimus?" she asked curiously.
"Are you alright?" he murmured, reaching up to cup her cheek.
"I'll be alright." she nodded calmly before forcing herself to grin at him. He looked at her for a long moment and pulled her close, wrapping her in an enveloping hug.
"They'll be safe now," she whispered into his chest.
"Master," Jacobs stated quietly behind Kae. She swung around, her body language flinching and wary. Jacobs looked at her for a long moment before bowing deeply.
"Sabe outed me, that's low," Mikaela snorted, she walked over and gently touched Jacob's forehead. "Let's get going, the spirits have left this place, for which I am grateful."
"Onward!" Will grinned at her. Mikaela laughed.
"Don't we still have to go get your baby girl's present?" she grinned at him. "C'mon, we gotta go just for the sheer enjoyment of watching Ironhide try to find the perfect gift."
Chromia promptly caught Kae in a bearhug.
"That's my girl!" she trilled cheerfully. "C'mon! We are leaving the menfolk to their devices!"