Chapter 152 – The Calm

(WPOV)

Will paced beside the primary console.

Waiting.

He'd told Kae five minutes and they'd be ready.

Which was a bit of a lie, the five minutes was the time it took to get that last fabricator in place. The tents were a different story, the hospitals were already set up, but the civilian quarters and tents weren't. Not quite yet.

The soldiers, the aid workers, everyone was scrambling.

"Sir, the last fabricator is in place!" came over his radio.

Thank god.

The aid workers of course, seemed to think it was a poorly timed drill, but they were still doing quite well with their 'drill'.

"Will," Mikaela stated quickly.

"Now?"

"Now."

"EVERYBODY STAND CLEAR!" Will bellowed, listening to his own voice echoing and his orders being bellowed along the lines.

He watched in shock as the primary console hummed to life.

Then suddenly, thousands of shocked looking people were standing around.

A soothing, gentle sound began humming through the hills. Peaceful, calming.

"Attention," Mikaela's voice stated soothingly. "Due to unfortunate circumstances your city has come under attack. We have prepared for this, you have been evacuated to a safe place. You are safe. Please. To hasten our work in protecting you and your families, anyone who has family outside of the fifteen mile radius of central Chicago living within the city is advised to use your cell phones to contact your loved ones.

"Please advise them to evacuate as calmly as possible. Get out of Chicago. To advise them to find you, you are currently at Redbird, drive west. Any who have family in outlying Illinois or other states tell them to go there. There are aid workers and soldiers around you. Please remain calm, they will help you."

The lassitude lifted, and the people stood in shock for a long moment.

Of the thousands, perhaps a hundred were panicking.

Most were on their phones, already calling and advising their families to run.

The rest were running after their dogs.

She'd transported everybody and their dog to safety. If Optimus had been alive...

Will clenched a fist, standing for a rapid moment of silence.

If Optimus had been alive, they all would have teased her mercilessly about that. But this wasn't the time for grief. He'd promised Ironhide that he'd keep going, and he wasn't going to break his promise.

"Attention!" he bellowed. "We didn't have time to get everything set up for shelter! Any able bodied men and women are encouraged to volunteer! If any medical aid is required, get the injured to the red cross tents!"

A hundred men and women immediately walked toward him.

"Volunteer!" a woman called out, raising her hand.

"Sir! Please! My wife doesn't drive, my kids! I need to get them!" a man bellowed in a half-panic.

"We gotta get back! I'm in charge of evacuating our emergency response group!" a second stated in a far calmer tone.

Will nodded and waved Jaques over.

"Get the 'going back to get the kids' groups together and get them back there," he commanded.

"Sir, yes Sir," Jaques nodded curtly and reached for the panicking man.

The emergency response stranger caught his hand and shook it firmly before moving to Jaques.

"Thank you thank you," the panicked man stated quickly before running after Jaques, a half dozen others following as he began bellowing for the returning groups to get together.

A half an hour of sorting and the six busses rolled out at high speed.

In the meantime, cops, firefighters and paramedics were settling in, tents were going up, injured people were being taken care of.

"This is the first mass evacuation to ever, ever go smoothly." the downtown chief stated mildly, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Will nodded.

"Listen," he started.

"Phase two of your plan is coming up, you lot getting relieved of duty and getting back to Chicago to kick back?" the Chief grinned.

"Yes sir," Will nodded.

"You got reinforcements coming?"

The sound of choppers. Will grinned and pointed.

"Now that's impressive," the man stated brightly as the helicopters landed around them. Art of all Majors hopped out of the lead chopper and ran to Will.

"Colonel!" he barked, saluting.

Will saluted and caught the man's hand.

"Good to see you Art, thanks for the backup," he stated firmly. "Gather your men, you need to know how to run these things before NEST rolls."

Art nodded and barked out his orders. In moments a dozen soldiers and the Police chief were surrounding Will.

"Right, here's the scoop, the bots are... were... well and truly gung-ho about preserving life-"

"No shit," the chief muttered, looking around himself again at the city of tents. Will couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Alright, so food, water, additional tents, clothes, all of that stuff is provided by the fabricators here," Will barked out quickly. "Kae made it stupid easy to figure them out, they're good to run for two weeks at full capacity."

"More than enough time for us to get these folk re-evacuated to their families and into the mainland." Art nodded approvingly.

Will nodded and pointed to the console.

"Right, I'm going to scan you lot in, once you're in you can get others in." Will stated quickly, laying his hand on the screen. He caught Art's hand and laid it on the other palm screen. He pressed his thumb to the 'admittance' spot and the console beeped.

"That's it?" Art asked interestedly.

"It doesn't supply guns, so Kae said that it should be available to all," Will nodded.

"Makes sense." Art curiously set his hand on the screen and jumped as the holoscreen extended, instantly switching from english to his Spanish. "That's just awesome," Art grinned.

"I know right? So yeah, just scroll through, point, poke, grab, accept and out it comes." Will snorted, directing Art's hand, a canteen of water materialized beside the console.

"So cool," the chief moaned.

"Fool proof," Art snorted. Will nodded and looked around. "Go, go get your men, we got this Colonel." the man grinned.

"Good to see your ugly mug again, Art," Will grinned before he turned and ran toward the gathering group of NEST soldiers.

"Phase two," Jacobs rumbled menacingly, Lena standing beside him with ice in her eyes.

"Phase two," Will stated with a grim nod.

(SePOV)

"Nothing, keeps me from my duty for long," Mikaela commented mildly.

"You," Megatron growled furiously.

Mikaela looked up at him and snorted in amusement.

"Me," she stated with a smirk. "Please, offline me, let me rejoin my mate."

Cheeky impertinent little femme.

Primus but he liked her style.

Megatron brought a cannon online and aimed it for her spark.

Sentinel rolled his optics and lightly knocked the cannon out of the way.

"That's what she wants, idiot," he rumbled irritably. "If you cannot abide that, consider the usefulness of dead slaves."

Megatron glowered and paced away.

::. Must you?.:: he sent to her in amusement.

::. Oh I must.:: she sent back evilly.

::. Round two.:: he sent, walking forward and cupping her face.

"The usefulness of dead slaves," Sentinel murmured consideringly. "Or you could simply save us the trouble..."

Megatron whipped around eagerly, walking back toward them.

Mikaela sagged somewhat.

::. You realize that I need Optimus by my side?.:: she sent sadly.

"You want me to heal your home," she stated aloud.

"We do," Megatron growled softly behind him.

"Then bring my Optimus back to me!" Mikaela shrieked, lunging at Megatron, she got a single, solid punch into his chest-plates before she collapsed under her own mental burden, wrapping herself around her own spark chamber and rocking.

That sight, and the pitch of her keening tripped Sentinel's protective circuits like nothing else. The poor, sweet femme.

::. What do you mean!?.:: Sentinel demanded worriedly.

::. To survive, if I rebuild Cybertron on my own without him, it's a one shot deal.:: Mikaela sent sadly. ::. It is doubtful if I will even have the strength to return to the Well without him.::

::. I will return you.:: Sentinel sent firmly ::. If he is there already, I will give you the strength to leave, and he will give you the strength to return to him.::

Sentinel made a point of staring at the femme for a long moment before kneeling beside her. He gently covered her spark chamber with a hand and extended a binder cable.

No information was actually passed. He simply offered her some comfort, a touch to ease away the pure agony in her spark.

"You had intended on healing our home already," he stated aloud.

"You thought me so callous as to hold the power and not wield it for good?" Mikaela choked out. "You fools. You have taken my mate, my strength."

Megatron stared at them before reaching out, hauling Kae to her feet.

"You may find, little femme, that some sparks are more desirable than others," the mech purred, running a finger down Kae's cheek.

Sentinel moved forward slightly.

::. I got this.:: Kae stated silently. Sentinel crossed his arms.

Megatron looked at him.

"True, you are a strong mech, if twisted, you and Optimus were brothers," Sentinel stated with a shrug. "Perhaps you can attract her."

Megatron smirked and continued on, caressing Kae like a good pet.

She stood, her optics dimmed and her body unresisting. Her chest-plates opened and her spark chamber was bared.

"Most beautiful of conquests," Megatron purred, stroking her chamber.

::. What are you doing?.:: Sentinel demanded.

::. I want to see something.:: Kae shrugged silently.

"Open up for me," Megatron purred.

Mikaela obediently opened her chamber, and Megatron threw himself back. Mikaela turned around, glaring around herself as her spark glimmered in the sunshine.

Sentinel looked at it in awe.

Pure. It was so achingly pure, torn, resonating in pain, but so pure and beautiful.

The Decepticons – Pit! He could barely stand to gaze upon her spark.

Her spark chamber closed, and her chest plates locked overtop.

And suddenly it wasn't Mikaela standing there.

It was Archangel Prime.

She strode to Megatron and cupped his face.

"Ooohh," she cooed. "Is the spark of a Prime too much for the great and fierce Lord Megatron to behold? You kill my mate and never consider him to be the stronger? Of course not. You did not kill my mate, you stood stock still and cowardly behind your Decepticon hoards and ordered them to do your dirty work."

Megatron was still cowering in front of her.

"I will never understand your taste in bots," Archangel continued mildly. "That you feel the need to have others cower in front of you. Disgusting, really." she turned her back and sat down in her place again, curling up around her spark.

Waiting.

But to the outside observer:

She was waiting for death.

Megatron stood up and began pacing again, thoroughly cowed. He couldn't kill her, he couldn't hurt her. And now, he couldn't even hold her optics.

::. Well played.:: Sentinel sent with a snort.

::. Thank you.:: she murmured wryly ::. I'm going to meditate, tell me when it's go time.::

Megatron looked at him.

::. Now what!?.:: he demanded.

"We continue to bring Cybertron to this planet," Sentinel stated coldly. "It's safety will be used as leverage to make her heal our home."

Megatron nodded. It was simple, to the point.

Obviously he could do that.

The bot promptly began cowing his subordinates back into respecting him.

Fool.