Author's Note: Wow, everyone! I can't believe the reception this has gotten with me coming back into this fandom. I'm so beyond honored! Again, I know it's been forever, but I'm really hoping to get this tied up all nice and beautiful before the new film releases in June. Don't know if that will happen, but worst case scenario, I start another fic and hopefully you all follow me over to that one!
Again, enjoy - feel free to pop over to my bio and check out some of the stuff I've been working on in my absence! Love you all, and drop a note on the way out, please! Love hearing from you - I've missed ya.
Mira approached the console again. Slower, this time, as the aggravated wounds on her body flecked pain across her skin and deep into the processes of her physical body. She didn't limp, however, as she recharged her thrusters and activated them again to hover over the panel. More Cybertronian words translated in her left lens, and the probe in her throat burned as it pressed deeper into her larynx. Blood was beginning to bubble up into her mouth, and the CAST system did a bodily scan.
There was slight damage to her skin from the puncture and bruising of her larynx, but no immediate threat for the system to take alarm. It logged the scan, filed it away, and she accessed the probe in her palm again. Thrusting it into the port, the console began to shift again, this time a screen filtering into existence as the panel split apart into some type of communications relay. Confused, Mira withdrew her hand and the screen pixelated quickly with Cybertronian code to produce a voice recording. It flashed to life and began to play.
"Greetings, Countess of Iacon," said the voice – it was hardly pleasant; filled with rasps and coughs and the garbled pronunciation that came from someone of great age. On top of the mechanics of Cybertronian, it was hardly audible, so she relied on the English translation from the CAST lens. "the High Council of Cybertron sends you its regards, Commander Lennox. I…I am Alpha Trion." While there was no picture to the transmission, there was a grid-map of the Cybertronian's voice trail, and it dipped low and high with each breath and syllable.
She gasped, the probe pressing against her larynx sharply. She squeaked out a moan of pain and hung her head, pinching her eyes closed as the burning pain pulsated to life once again behind her eyes. She forced in a breath, trying to remember the name. Optimus had spoken of this name before, though it evaded her where and why of its importance.
Mira quickly triggered the DataNet – Cybertron's infinite databank of knowledge compiled over millennia's by many more hands and minds – for a record of the name. Optimus had explained to her once that every Cybertronian tapped into the DataNet within their own individual processors, and that it was vastly complicated. As it triggered to life in her lens, Mira understood.
It was a swirling scape of information and beautifully orchestrated Cybertronian words all racing along a database of information. She could see every keystroke and entry log of information, all pressed into the system like a swirling hierarchy of files and records. It was like a massive bullet point of microscopic code, all rushing to and fro before her eyes – it made her stagger. The lens did it's best to translate as the transmission continued, from Alpha Trion.
"You do not know me like other Countess' have, and I only know you by name alone. I am the Archivist of Iacon, overseer of Cybertron's vast Hall of Records, and mentor of the Primes. I have stood in the times of Cybertron for a millennia and more, and have seen many leaders rise and fall on my great world.
Now, however, Cybertron is stagnant. It is cold with death in the crushing aftermath of a planet-ravaging war. My people, and my Council, have retreated to the underworld, where the stars and suns have no reach, to remain hidden in our state of despair. They struggle to survive, as we all do, and ponder our world as it slowly slips into oblivion. Iacon, a once bright and shining citadel, is now nothing more than a cold carcass of memories and speculation.
That lesson is for another time. You do not know our world, or our customs – but, we know you. Our great Covenant, an object of unfathomable power, has seen you. You have been seen, and you have been known – the Shield draws to the Matrix of Leadership, which resides in all of the great Primes. That knowledge is compiled into the Covenant, and it is my duty to see it fulfilled and safeguarded.
It troubles the Council little that you are an outsider of our people. The sole duty of a Prime is to lead our world and its inhabitants forward into a greater future and ensure that we are safe, productive, and lead. Once there was a crushing tyranny on our world, the castes, where individual thought and freedom was nonessential and next to unheard of. It is easier for an enemy to hide in the darkness and disease it with lies when he has the world in a throttle, as I am sure you know – our people, for eons, lived passively. The Matrix resided peacefully asleep, unused and unharnessed.
Until there was a simple monitor, named Orion Pax. He was a curious young one with a bright mind that saw the bigger picture – he saw Cybertron for what it could be, without even having understood fully what it had been. He gazed upon Cybertron and saw an organic, ever-changing world caught in the paralyzing stasis of passivity and tyranny, and wanted change. And that is when the Covenant foretold him as the greatest and last Prime – the last of the Thirteen, who have long since abandoned our world. That is when Optimus Prime was formed, and Orion Pax was forgotten, though I am certain that a spark of Pax still resides in the Prime."
A cold sweat began to lace over Mira's skin, while simultaneously a sheen coat of sweat trickled from every pore in her body. It was significantly difficult to breathe and think, as the beings behind her were roaring and shrieking and shaking the entire vessel. Though, she continued to hover, listening to the transmission and trying to digest its words. Her thoughts began to melt into frantic prayers, Oh God, what's happening? What does this mean? How is this in your plan, before the transmission continued.
"Prime has fought a difficult battle – a battle of change and individuality like none I have ever seen. Prime's have always been formed straight from Primus himself, but Optimus was formed from a simple monitor with a simple life purpose. Which, perhaps, is why he is the greatest Prime in our history – he has understood his people like no Prime before, and he thinks like them. He is born of the same caste. He has compassion, and understanding, that is unfathomable. And that brings us to you.
During our Ancient Wars, there was a prophecy that went forth from Solus Prime that a great forger of our people would rise and resurrect the title long since deceased with the parting of its bearer, Countess Awestrike, the companion and charge of Nexus Prime. It seems that you, Mira Lennox of Earth, have been the one to revive our great companion.
Rumored to share a large burden with the Prime they represented, the Count or Countess stood beside their leader to help them shoulder the burden of leadership. It is often a lonely cause, and one that is demanding, so it is fit that one should stand and shoulder responsibility. Many Prime's did not know this individual and personal relationship – they had the original twelve beside them. Nexus Prime was the only one of our leaders to have known this intimiate comraderie, as he battled the power of Unicron. Since that time, the position has been dead and rumored mystical. We have not needed one as of yet.
And now, as time has brought our worlds together, the need for a Countess arises once more. Solus Prime, though scoffed and undermined, foretold this event even before Optimus Prime was forged. Someday the need for one to stand beside a Prime would come again. And, that day has come, as our war stretches to your world and runs out from our hands to plague your people. It is only fitting that an innocent rise from the ashes of war and tyranny to stand beside a Prime, just as Orion Pax rose from the broken castes of our world to assume leadership of a society crumbling under oppression. Now, I have understood.
The Matrix responds to you as it has every Countess before your time – it sees beyond the Prime, to a second one, who possesses the Shield and guards it from harm. You hold great power in your hands, Mira Lennox – power that my people have misused and thus have rendered obsolete to our world. But, the Matrix still has power to save you, and your people. There is a Great Power that stretches far beyond our understanding – Primus understood it, as did Unicron, and vied against each other for its knowledge. That Great Power has foretold these events, even now as I breathe – and the Creators vie for this, even now again, as they span the galaxies looking for Optimus Prime, the former Orion Pax, and his human charge.
I do not know the outcome of such developments – I do not know if you will live, or die, or if you will find peace on your world. All I know is that Cybertron has chosen you for its inspiration, to stand beside our Prime, and lead us into the glory we once knew so many eons past. I have faith in you, Countess of Iacon, to guide us in victory as an ambassador of our leader. I welcome you. The High Council welcomes you. Cybertron welcomes you. One day, our worlds will meet amicably. Until that day comes, however, we must part ways. This, my friend, will better equip you.
Until all are one."
The transmission died, and Mira's probe was ejected from the console as it began to twist and mold again, and a jolting bolt of electricity rushed through her body and hammered behind her eyes a pain so severe that she screamed and was knocked backwards, again. Mira the slid across the floor, briefly unconscious and singed, and rested motionless as pain slowly caped her body. She did not see the object that cemented itself into her left temple around her eye – instead, she felt it.
And then, that object jump-started her heart as it melded in to the organics of her biology, and she screamed a blood-curdling shriek that rang off the walls and struck the ship silent. Pain soared like red-hot lightning through her mind, and her left eye suddenly was blind. Screaming in pain and trembling in terror at the sudden loss of a basic bodily function, she felt a tingling electricity and the stream of hot blood trail down her face and into her ear as the object dug deeper into her flesh around her eyes, in a half-moon crescent.
Inside her mind, she could feel the object probing and connecting. It was like a million tiny needles, all searing hot with agony, slipped into her bloodstream. She could feel the severing of her optic nerve as it was replaced with Cybertronian wiring, so organic and real that Mira was unsure if she was even alive. She felt a compartment from her arm lift, and she glanced at it with her right eye. Produced was a thin, Cybernetic looking sphere, thinner than even a contact lens, residing on a sterile metal plate. It was blue, like optics, and somehow her armored hand transformed down and she was able to touch the lens with her fingertip. It was small, not even the size of a dime, and hardly existent on her finger.
Something pinged in her ear, and the optic began to glow. Mira swallowed a ragged sob, and brought the small lens to her eye. Tilting her head back, she placed the lens onto her eye and blinked rapidly before smearing the blood away with her hand. Instantly, the lens assimilated into her eye and there was an electrical connection and a series of engaged clicks and pings – suddenly, the her left eye was illuminated with sight.
But not normal sight. Instead, she saw the processes of her CAST armor, and the DataNet, as well as a communication system and GPS locator. There was a phone, and a clock, and a myriad of other devices all flashing before her lefy eye. Binoculars, night vision, coding systems, hacking technology, her weapons and flight systems – all at her fingertips. She could feel the threads of her optic nerve burning with tingling electricity.
She shrieked again as something pierced through the cartilage of her ear, and snaked into its canal. It fastened itself into her eardrum and she felt blood drip through her ear. She sobbed again, pain now etched into the very marrow of her spine, and tipped her head to the side to allow the blood to drain. Deeper inside her mind, she felt the workings of the device sync to her audible senses, and soon there was an open static in her ear, as well as the mechanical workings of the armor and systems in her left eye. Mira plugged her right ear, and then beat her armored hand against he floor. She heard muffled noise from her plugged right ear, but nothing out of her left.
The left armor of her hand began to power down and transform, and in a matter of moments, her bare hand and wrist were exposed. She wiggled her fingers, sweat profusely dripping from her nose sopped curls, and stared at it with her right eye. Mira swallowed back a breath, aware the four beings were still watching her with muted curiosity, as she slowly tried to rise on her knees. Her equilibrium was affected slightly from the loss of hearing in her left ear, and depth-perception was a new concept, but after a few swirling moments she managed to stay up on her knees.
She was about to stand fully when something disengaged from the panel she'd been attached to. Hardly able to see the small detachment, all Mira knew was that it was coming towards her and running data through her eye. Mira fell onto her backside and scrambled away as the piece came closer and closer on little, mechanical feet, until finally she slammed against one of prisons and the beingwithin shrieked. Too busy covering her ear to muffle the screams, the detachment flashed a bright red, and scrambled up her leg and onto her arm.
Mira screamed and was about to bat it away when the legs retracted and it situated onto her wrist, embedding deep needles of pain into her skin. Mira shrieked again, bloodily, and collapsed backwards into the prison, unconscious again and rendered silent. Blood seeped in a steady stream from her wrist as the detachment snuck beneath her skin, running a probe up through her arm to sync with the implant along her left eye. Almost immediately, the Shield's necklace detached from her neck and raced down her arm. It folded onto the new implant, transformed quickly, and flattened onto the strip of metal now embedded into her skin. Once it had finished and synced appropriately, it rested just slightly above her skin, with the Autobot crest and Cybertronian lettering etched into the metal. The bleeding stopped almost instantly as the CAST injected a form of liquid heparin into her system.
She sat motionless, until Mira began to stir back into consciousness. A new system came to life in her left eye, and she recognized the detachment in her left wrist as a further extension of the Shield. Now it was attached to her nerves and responded to the commands not only verbally but visually and kinesthetically as well. It hurt, and was numb now that her nerves were severed, and would take practice to master. Everything was now blindingly - and terrifyingly - new.
Something flashed across her left eye when she blinked twice – it was a warning for weapons systems to engage. She declined the prompt, and sat up, slowly rising. Her back scraped loudly against the prison as the being within snorted down her neck, but she didn't care. She found her feet, corrected her balance, and the strip of mental on her wrist whirred for a moment. Mira held her hand palm-up, and found that it had produced a small, thin cap, laced with more cybernetics. It synced to the implant in her eye – it was a molar cap.
She inserted it in her back molar along the left jaw, and she heard it connect with the device now punctured into her ear. Something slipped down her throat that tasted metallic – and she opened her mouth to let out a muted scream as something pricked her larynx again. Pain erupted through her throat for a brief moment before a warm numbness set over the injury. She swallowed, and soon the pain vanished as whatever it was integrated into her body. She muttered, "What now?" and found that that her voice had returned, fully.
She ran her fingertips along her neck – she could feel the small, protruding wires beneath her skin, like some sort of IV line, and swallowed. Her body seemed unaffected by the improvements, expect for their initial integration, which hurt. She inhaled an uneasy breath, her limbs trembling as sweat dripped onto the floor from her hair, and exhaled a calmer one.
Upon being prompted with how to manage the device, she clicked her teeth once – a communication link opened, and then twice, it closed. Upon further inspection, Mira found that this device would allow her to engage her own transmissions instead of just hearing incoming ones. Also, it could send and receive written messages, run diagnostics on her armor, translate to at least a dozen different languages, and scramble transmissions with a light EMP emitter.
Mira stood, and engaged the GPS tracker. Instantly, she found unique energy signatures scattered across the schematic layout of the South American terrain – Optimus was great distance away, and the other Autobots were close, but there were other unidentified signatures she understood to be prototypes. When Mira tried to raise Optimus, she was met with a firewall, meaning that Optimus had disengaged his comm-link and wasn't receiving transmissions. She remembered his transmission from earlier, about these creatures, who were busy snorting and tromping quietly, now. She swallowed a breath and found that the probe had disengaged from her throat and her larynx was no longer burning.
I need to set them free, she surmised internally, I promised. The systems in her left eye flashed now as Mira staggered on her feet before approaching the panel again, hesitant. As she came closer, her systems began run code and sync to the panel. Within a matter of seconds, she had full schematics of the ship downloaded into the implant, and triggered the section of the ship's system entitled Cargo Bay Mainframe.
Bypassing security, immediately the cell-block's manifest appeared and gave her the appropriate codes for disengaging the locking mechanisms. She hesitated for a moment, clicked her teeth once, and activated the probe now in her wrist by blinking over its command pin twice. Instantly, the probe was thrust out of the housing; a thin wire hung limply, waiting to connect. She triggered it to do so. Within moments, it was coursing through the Cybertronian technology, until she had the prompt to disengage the locking mechanisms.
She looked over her shoulder to the beings, which looked at her mutely. She was dripping blood slowly form a number of new wounds, she was exhausted, and already a headache was forming behind her ears and in her temple. She closed her eyes and released a slow breath through her lips in an effort to calm her teaming heart that was battering her ribs. Her stomach was in her throat; uneasy and unsettled, and her kneecaps felt all but existent.
She managed to raise her chin, wobbling against the console as pain flared through what was left of the nerves in her left eye as the system flashed a warning. "Help me bring freedom to my world," the language was fluent again, thanks to the molar cap and the insert into her larynx, "and I will help you take back yours."
And, with a blink of an eye, she triggered the locking mechanism, and the prisons disengaged.
. . .
There were a series of echoes and vibrations that erupted from the ship sporadically, which gave the onlookers outside the Cybertronian vessel pause. Sideswipe and Hound had left to scout a perimeter to check for tails and other threats around their little haven in the mountains, leaving Crosshairs, Drift, Sideswipe, and Bumblebee to fend for the humans. They were just as anxious and at the ready.
Cade was pacing back and forth in front of the ramp, hands either in his hair one moment or shoved into his pockets the next. His boots scuffed the turf, rattling small pebbles and kicking up clouds of dirt and other grassy fragments over the toes. Tessa sat on the ramp's end with Merrick and Elaina, as the doctor held the little boy. He sat stoically and stared off into space, pale and looking exhausted. Bryce and Joshua were over a bit away from the shuttle, looking over the Seed with Bumblebee. The engineer couldn't help but mumble incoherently as his heart hammered inside his chest. Every time there was a shriek or a rattle, he paused to look up into the giant ship.
He shouldn't feel this way, he reasoned as he paced back and forth – he should feel so strongly for this woman and her family. It had to be because of circumstances, he mulled over in his head, and it had to be because of the Autobots. This was all instinctual; all happening so quickly. He couldn't actually have feelings for this woman already, could he? Of course she was attractive and smart and everything he'd been looking for since his wife had died– but it couldn't be this soon. Nobody developed feelings this quick. It was abnormal.
When has anything in your life ever been normal, Yeager? He puffed out a breath and clapped his hands together, wringing them with his excess nervous energy. Cade definitely wanted to pursue Mira romantically, yes. He wanted her to be a part of his life, of course. But, he checked himself – did he want her and the responsibility that came with a dating relationship, or did he want the Autobots? A part of him knew that they were mutually exclusive, but he wasn't sure if his involvement with Mira Lennox as a romantic partner would stem from attraction or his involvement with the Autobots. He didn't want it to be so. It had, after all, only been a year since her husband had died…
Suddenly, there was a metallic bang that resounded heavily on the air, as if a piece of the ship had dropped away. There was a human sounding scream for just only a second before it was quiet again. Cade whirled around so quickly that his feet ground into the dirt, and he rushed up the ramp in long, hard strides; Autobots already behind. He heard their weapons system's engage and he glanced over his shoulder, thrusting a dismissive finger at Tessa and Elaina. Bumblebee was already moving to intercept them, Joshua and Bryce running to catch up.
"Go with Bumblebee!" He bellowed, Tessa popping up to grab Merrick's hand and yank him away from the ramp. Bryce met them, and the five began taking off towards the security of a mountain cliff jutting high into the sky. Bumblebee was behind, and began scaling the wall, and leaned over the ledge to offer a hand the humans to help them up.
Cade was almost into the vessel when a hand suddenly grabbed his forearm and yanked him back strongly. He whirled with his fist balled, and threw a punch, not expecting a hand to clamp onto his fist to stop the assault. He hadn't expected Drift's holoform to intercept him, and the man dropped his hand from Cade's fist and shook his head, no.
"Let us handle this, Cade," his calming voice was soothing, even given the shrieks and roars and vibrations racking the ship before them.
Crosshairs nodded and saluted further up the ramp, "The walking haiku is right," he sighed, "we'll check on Mira and see what's goin' on. Stay out here and get back." Drift then clapped Cade on the shoulder before his holoform dissipated into a thousand diamond-like fragments and was gone. A second later, Crosshairs and Drift were swallowed by the vessel wholly.
Cade felt like throwing up as he stood on the ramp, the vibrations increasing as Crosshairs and Drift advanced further into the ship. It was a struggle to stand as the shaking grew stronger, and Cade managed his way off the ramp to do as the two Autobot giants had suggested. He backpedaled away from the ship, blood battering through his ears loudly, when suddenly there was a mixture of voices rushing towards the mouth of the alien craft.
"Go, go, go – get back, get out of the way!" The frantic panic was chilling, and the rattling of metal mixed with screeching was deafening. Cade felt his stomach curdle as it soured and he swallowed back the aforementioned vomit. "They're coming out! Move it!" The echoes of his Autobot friends were still deep in the vessel, but Cade took heed to their warning, regardless.
Cade turned on his heel and bolted towards the cliff where Bumblebee and his companions were already safe. He slammed himself against the stone, and Bumblebee leaned over again to offer him his hand. Cade scrambled into it and was lifted, and watched the vessel while sucking in gulps of air. Blood pumped through his head with such force he almost felt dizzy and unable to stand.
"Mom!" Merrick was screaming and sobbing all at once, pulling from Bryce's embrace, "Mom! Cade, where is Mom!? Mom!" Tessa wrapped her arms around Cade's shoulders, and he drew Merrick into his lap, holding the boy tightly as he cried loudly into his chest. Elaina was pacing behind them, muttering in Spanish, and Bryce watched with gauged interest and fear. Wet tears stained his shirt, but Cade held tightly to the boy as he watched the vessel rattle savagely as echoes rang out of it.
Drift and Crosshairs both exited, their alternation modes slipping on the grass and fishtailing and roaring as they moved away from the craft. Cade, however, didn't see Mira or any sign of the CAST armor Optimus had given her. Instead, Drift and Crosshairs flew over to them, scrambled up the mountain-side, and joined them on the ledge, looking down. For machines, they were breathing raggedly, as their systems released high pressured steam. Cade heard a few cooling fans kick on with quick clicks.
"Holy Primus," Crosshairs heaved, shaking his head, "she has to be as crazy as Optimus –"
Drift threw up a hand, "Quiet, Crosshairs," he said melodramatically, "here they come." He took a knee, and watched the ship as it rolled back slightly from the impact, the first form struggling out of the ship's mouth to stomp through the grass and let out a screaming roar. It shook the pebbles around the mountain and rustled the trees. It seemed to split the air.
Cade's stomach dropped, and his mouth fell open. His daughter's grip on his arm tightened like a vice-grip, and her eyes widened as she began to shake. Joshua was repeatedly swearing under his breath as Bryce stood slowly, shaking his head in muted belief. Merrick quieted and turned in his lap to watch the scene unfold. Suddenly without breath and finding it very hard to function, Cade's throat swelled closed as a deep, chilling fear froze over his entire body – he felt suddenly cold, and alone, and unsure of everything; even his own name. He closed his eyes, struggled to inhale a breath, and listened to the next roar shake his bones. He didn't bother covering his ears.
Then, as the other creatures exited in a series of screams, shrieks, squawks, grunts and roars, there was a gasp of surprise from Tessa and Cade's eyes flew open. There, exiting the shuttle, was a staggeringly small figure dressed in shining armor and curly hair. Mira stood for a moment, processed the beings roaring and observing the perimeter around them, before she collapsed to her knees and sprawled out across the ramp.
Cade sprang to his feet, Merrick in one arm, Tessa's hand in the other. "Mira!" He exclaimed, setting the boy down beside Tessa. Without thinking, he looked down the mountain's sheer drop. His heart was teaming with pulsating blood and energy, and he felt sick. A thousand different instinct's kicked into over drive, as did a thousand more thoughts that sent a shiver down his spine.
He was about to start scaling when Hound and Sideswipe came roaring back on scene from their perimeter scout, only to put on the brakes and throw themselves into transformations. This signaled the attention of the gargantuan figures gathered around the mouth of the ship, who turned to investigate. They didn't engage, thankfully, and Cade's eyes scanned the scene as the two mechs came rushing over, their footfalls heavy and earth-shaking.
Sideswipe, seeing Cade's eagerness to climb down, offered him a hand and lowered him to the ground. He opened his mouth to say something, but Cade didn't stick around long enough to hear him. He took off across the clearing, towards the shuttle, and swung wide around the creatures. They made a series of noises – shrieks, growls, snorts, squawks, and roars – as he approached, but he didn't care as their metal clashed together. He pumped his arms, and gulped back mouthfuls of fresh air until his feet hit the ramp and he carried himself swiftly upwards. He didn't hear any of the Autobots call after him, nor did he care.
He skidded to a halt, sliding to a stop beside Mira before dropping to his knees beside her body. She was limp, and sweating, and covered in an assortment of what appeared to be grinding dust and blood and other smudges of dirt and grease, but he didn't care. Instead, he took her face in his hands and slapped her cheek as if to rouse her, his breathing ragged and uneven. He felt his throat pressing closed with panic.
"Mira!" He said, breathy, "No, no, no! Mira! Wake up!" He jostled her as if it would rouse her, but she didn't move. He managed to pull her body somewhat onto his lap and cradle her head on his arm as the other moved her hair out of her face and took her cheek, squeezing lightly. "Mira! Mira, it's me, Cade! Wake up! We – we need you …Mira! Mira!"
Cade was unaware of the fact that he'd started to cry, until a silent tear dripped down his face and onto the CAST armor given to her by Optimus Prime aboard Lockdown's vessel. His breath was lost and he was struggling to find it as he bent over her, his eyes frantically scanning over her face for any trace of consciousness ebbing its way back into her body. While he didn't know first aide, Cade was pretty sure she wasn't dead, because she was breathing; the rise and fall of her chest was faint as it hid beneath the armor.
"C'Mon, Lennox," he managed to grind out. Cade was hardly aware that the massive beings were staring at him, and the Autobots were hovering nearby beside the mountain, but it didn't matter. It all was fading away rapidly as he stared down into her face – he couldn't think; couldn't breathe. He didn't even notice the changes to her body. His chest was constricting and he was hot and cold all at once. "Wake up, Mira. I need you to wake up -" he went to brush one of her curls away, when suddenly she stirred and there was faint moaning from her lips.
Her head lulled across his lap for a moment as the rest of her body stirred awake, and she reached up a hand to touch her forehead. Her touches smeared the blood, dust and grime along her forehead as it mingled with sweat, but Cade didn't care. When her eyes fluttered upon, he released a nervous chuckle and reached up to swipe at his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. She swallowed a breath and tipped her head to the side to look up at him.
"Hey there," he cajoled her, "welcome back to the land of living."
A wry smile lifted her lips and she went to laugh. Instead, a dry cough heaved from her chest and she groaned, putting a hand to her throat. She fell back against and relaxed, the armor scraping against the metallic ramp. She chuckled instead and gave him a teasing look as he helped her sit up. He wrinkled a brow as she winced in pain and made expressions synonymous with the idea. As he looked her over, he noticed the addition to her ear and the most obvious one, the implant in her forehead. His brow raised over his left eye and he looked down to the wrist she was massaging, only to find the implant there as well.
She held his look. "You okay?" He asked, chuckling, "Looks like you got some upgrades," he said softly. He squeezed her hand.
She snorted and let out a laugh. She winced, put up a hand when he went to help her, and pinned him with a look and a raised brow of annoyance. "Trust me," she croaked, "I've been worse." She went to stand, but immediately she swayed and staggered backwards – Cade was there to catch her and lower her back to the ground.
"Sorry," she muttered, putting a hand to her head again, "haven't quite gotten use to the implants, yet," her voice dropped into a sheepish murmur as he face blossomed with a red color that oddly resembled a blush. An odd feeling settled in Cade's stomach, and he nodded his understanding to her.
"Yeah – give yourself a couple of minutes," he said quietly, his eyes scanning her face for any other sign of injury, "there's only a minor war going on out there, y'know – no biggie." This made her smile at him and hold his gaze, and he slowly smiled back at her when she smacked his muscled forearm lightly, "No pressure, or anything."
She managed a grin. "Maybe only a little," she indicated a small amount with her fingers, and then rested her head back against his arm. She closed her eyes and a smile split her face before she let out another chuckle. She sat up, brushed her hair over her shoulder, and scrubbed her face with a hand. The sun glinted off the implant embedded in her wrist.
He grabbed her hand, turned it over, and ran his thumb along the engraved implant. "Nice upgrades," he dropped his voice low, "they come in my size?"
She pinned him with a flat look, remembering the familiar statement. "You don't want them to," she shot back, the corner of her lips lifting in a dorkish grin, "they hurt like nothing you'd believe." They shared a chuckle before she touched the one around her eye, "I must look like a mess –"
He batted her hand away and shook his head. "No," he challenged her, "you still look great, Mira." He flattened his lips and shrugged a shoulder, before he ran the pad of his thumb beneath her left eye, where the once icy-blue was instead replaced with a milky color. "Impressive, actually," he continued, "I'd be curious to run some code and see what exactly you've got there, Lennox." He teased her by calling her by her last name.
She shrugged a shoulder, "I'd be up for that," she teased and gave him a half smile, and went to sit up again, but he pinned her with a knowing gaze and searched her eyes with his own. They matched his movements and he let his knuckles trace the curve of her cheek as his hand fell into place along her jaw.
"I'd be up for a lot more than that, once this is all over," he murmured, giving her a lidded look. He brushed his fingertips along the implant of her left eye and cocked a brow, and added, "Actually, diagnostic code is the last thing I'd like to run."
She squeaked back a breath, and her face exploded into a red almost as dark as the smear of blood along her forehead and her neck. She bit her lower lip, scanned his eyes for another second for any type of jesting, before she supported herself on an elbow and cocked a brow over her eye. She gavehim a knowing look that he found both desirable and interesting all at the same time.
Mira a shrugged a shoulder, "Put your money where your mouth is, Yeager," she challenged him, before she grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him down to brush her lips against his own, awaiting his consent. He lowered to touch his forehead with hers, and nodded his compliance. He chuckled a reply.
"If I had any money, I would –" he started.
"In that case," she breathed, "just be quiet, Cade." Without another word, she tipped her head to the side, and pressed her mouth against his, and kissed him slowly. The breath was knocked simultaneously from his lungs and he couldn't breathe, again, as a numb sensation washed over his body. Somehow, his toes curled inside his boots. He ignored the tinge of iron he tasted on the corner of her mouth, as well as the grinding sparks and dirt.
All he could process was how good she tasted, and how long it had been since he'd felt this right. His wife had died so long ago, when he'd been so young, and he spent a lot of time trying to forget what this felt like. Now, he couldn't imagine forgetting again as a thousand thoughts teamed through his mind like a locomotive – thoughts of what this meant for them and their respective kids, and what it meant for the Autobots, what it meant for themselves. His mind began to wander into the future and what it would like when she broke away slowly, breathless, and touched his stubbled cheek with a hand.
"We should go," she whispered, "there's work to be done. Optimus needs us."
He nodded his understanding, when movement caught the corner of his eye. They both turned their head stop register the cautious approach of the Autobots and humans approaching the vessel. They each respectively took a moment to register the giant warriors around the ramp they were sitting on. As Cade helped Mira to her feet slowly, Hound was the first to speak.
"If you two are done lockin' lips," he said smartly, the "cigar" bobbing in the corner of his mouth, "you mind gettin' on with whatever the slaggin' pit this is?" He gestured to the creatures with a hand, and let out a rumbling, agitated sigh.
"Please," Sideswipe inserted smoothly, waving his Autobot compatriot away with a hand. He lowered to place his hands on his knees, cocking an optic ridge at Mira and giving her a teasing look, "do share the details, Mira."
She rolled her eyes and snorted as Cade helped her down the ramp. Once they touched ground, she was able to stand apart from his assistance, and shielded her eyes against the sun as she stared up at the towering figures above her. Their scarlet optics were dodging to and fro as they ran scans and tried to process the world around them. To Cade, they were oddly proportioned and didn't look anything like the Autobots and Decepticons he'd ever seen.
Mira smiled up at them, looked back to her allies, and stated simply. "We'll get to that," she gestured to either side of her with outstretched arms, the sun catching her armor and glinting off of it brightly. "Autobots,meet your newest allies – the Dinobots."
And upon hearing their name graced for the first time in what Cade understood as eons, they each respectively let out a piercing roar in the presence of their new leader.
