THISISITTHISISITTHISISIT! We made it to the final fight you guys! Galvatron is on the run and now we have to wipe the floor with Lockdown! I can't believe we're here and that this is almost over. I think one or two chapters more, and an epilogue, and we are DONE with AOE. It's almost surreal.

I think ya'll are going to like the HUGE GIGANTIC ENORMOUS MASSIVE CYEBERTRON-SIZED plot twist I have at the end. Huge thanks to Musical Medli, ZabusasGirl and so many others for helping me stick this out and get this story DONE. I have Megatron-sized things planned for the sequel, and it will be a different flavor than TLK film, but follow the same premise...sorta.

ONWARD, AUTOBOTS! LET'S DO THIS THING! Errors on Megs, like always. xoxoxo

Had Mira not moved from the trajected path of the raging form of Prime, she'd have been batted to the wayside as the Commander collided severely with Lockdown, their warring forms crashing together with enough force to rattle the very air. She'd pulled up from an attack on the Neutral only to watch Optimus savagely knock the mech backwards, Lockdown's form skittering to a stop as Prime righted from the blow he'd landed. He flexed his hand, then spun the hilt of his sword in the other, marching toward the enemy with a snarling growl.

"Get up!" he barked at Lockdown roughly. "Fight me," Optimus was on the mech in two strides, grabbing the back of his helm and slamming him back to the platform, bending low to growl a biting snarl into his ear, "or leave me alone." He released Lockdown, sidestepped around him, and poised the sword once again in defensive posture.

She blinked, her heart hammering roughly against her ribs, pain seeming to replace every trace of skeletal mass within her form. She'd rarely seen Optimus so enraged in all her years of knowing him, and his primal nature of war was almost frightening - but, a gentle nudge from the Shield reminded her that this...this was the nature of Cybertronian war. Aggressive, instinctual- it had been bred into Prime for decades. It wasn't so easily dismissed, reverted. Overcome.

Even her own fingers were flaming with the itch for a fight, her jaw set in determination. She could feel it in her blood, burning with rage like a beast. Time to end this fight, she recalled the bolstering call of her leader, bellowed just moments before with all the courageous leadership she remembered of Prime, Time to end this and bring peace back home...the thought of returning home, to Merrick and Bryce, made her eyes close in anticipated relief. Her heart skipped.

Swallowing a ragged breath of air, Mira watched Lockdown quickly compose himself, shaking off the attack from the large mech before rounding back to face Prime, his face twisted with a growling snarl. Hovering from her place in the air, her eyes flecked to Bumblebee, who had retreated largely form the fight. Lockdown's weaponry was still lodged in his shoulder junction, fat drops of Energon eking from his frame as he put up a hand to the wound, his optics narrowed in considering the enemy's territory.

Brow furrowing in concern, Mira navigated to the scout, and he shuttered is optics when she came to a stop before him. He releasing a low bleat and looked way, apology written across the young mech's features. Mira felt her heart twist at his genuine, muted apology, a twinge of compassion passing through her stomach - Bumblebee, while a good soldier, was still a young Cybertronian. There was so much to learn, so much to experience for him. He was decades older than her, but to his counterparts, he was still such a young being...almost like a brother. Mira reached her hand to touch his facial plating, and Bumblebee's palm extended to her.

She killed the thrusters and fell into his hand, Bumblebee drawing it close to his chest as he took another step back. "Let's see what we've got, Bumblebee," she told him firmly, her eyes falling to the gaping weapon wedged between his shoulder plating. The scout nodded and whirred in appreciation, though he was narrowly considering the area, his solar cannon raised and ready for a fight, should it come upon them during their bought of combat medicine.

Frag you, Ratchet, and your not being here, the words numbly spun through her mind as she assessed the wound. Transforming her hand down, she slipped it between the plating, the warmth of Bumblebee's protomatter enveloping her hand. She pressed against this chest and reached deeper, gauging just how far the weapon was wedged. It wasn't terribly far into his shoulder, and would remove easily, though she worried about the Energon - Lockdown had nicked a main artery, which pulsed the life giving energy into the bot's entire length of arm - he risked the appendage bleeding dry and losing use of the arm, not much else, though Mira didn't exactly like either option.

Her best bet would be to leave it until the fight was over, and help Prime - but she didn't want to leave Bumblebee vulnerable either. Her mind swirled with activity, weighing the options - and before she could even think, she gripped the weapon, and looked up to the scout. "Bumblebee, grab hold - we've gotta get this out and patch you up, soldier." Well I guess I made that decision without much thought...

He nodded, gripped the weapon's hilt, and with one strong pull, dropped the weapon to the platform. A spray of Energon rained down over her, clinging heavily to her curls, but Mira didn't care - she watched the weapon hit the ground, Energon pools running from it, before diverting her attention back to the wound in her companion. Plunging her hands between the plating, CAST scanned the area and identified the main artery. Bumblebee's full anatomy blinked in her left eye, and without any warning, the implant in her wrist fired alive, a searing heat racing up her skin that dared to melt her skin.

She screamed as the heat manifested in the hand of the armor, her fingers alive with the flaming temperature.

Startled at her outburst, Bumblebee quickly sidestepped, and one look over her shoulder told Mira that is mostly to avoid Prime and Lockdown's tumbling forms. Looking back to the word, she could see the heated metal of her armored fingers, and realized what the Shield had triggered her to do - if she pinched off the insulated cable, the artery would be patched, sparing Energon. His range of motion would not be affected until the Energon in the appendage depleted, according to Cybertornian physiology.

Realization dawned like the morning in the back her mind, excitement bouncing down her spine. With her hot fingers, she grabbed the cable between her fingertips and pinched them together, the cable heating enough to steam between her fingers. It melded together, Bumblebee releasing a shrill, painful cry of electric static, stumbling backwards against a row of containment units following flush along the platform. He staggered, shaking his helm roughly. Releasing a whimper, she felt the bot's chassis stiffen at the paint, her heart clenching in sympathy.

She scanned the surgical field again and once satisfied it wouldn't start eking Energon again, Mira's hand withdrew from the young scout's shoulder and she pressed against his chest. Bumblebee didn't even register her retreat, instead backpedaling to create distance. She whirled about in his hand and saw Lockdown running right for them, weapon primed. Optimus recovered from an attack, scrambling to his feet to give chase, his hand pressed firmly to his forearm. Even at distance, Mira could see the blue Energon hitting the floor, flooding from him.

The scout fired off two rounds to Lockdown's shoulder, the mech managing to dodge one of them. The Neutral narrowed a sneer at the pair, growled, and seemed to notice Mira's lingering gaze over his shoulder. Coming about, he met Prime's advance, whipping a blade forward into Prime's forearm again. Optimus came to a startling halt, cried out, and dropped to a knee, before Lockdown came back around and raised a blaster to the scout and his companion.

"If you will not surrender the Shield," he snarled at Mira, pinning her with a darkened glare, "I will rip it from your organic carcass and take it to the Creators myself!" His tone was so animalistically vicious that a jarring fear staked itself against Mira's hear, a chill racing down her form beneath the armor. She reeled back in Bumblebee's hand, Bumblebee raising his other to cover her from the threat.

"Get her out of here, Bumbleebee!" The throb of Prime's order cut through the atmosphere of the battlefield sharply, Mira's head snapping around Bumblebee's hand to peer at her Commander. "Retreat off the vessel, and that is an order!" Mira felt her heart hitch in her chest at the desperately serious stare the Autobot leader threw their direction. It didn't last, for Prime broke eye contact with her and popped to his feet, meeting Lockdown with an evasive side-step, only to pummel a his fist between the bot's shoulders, his grip cemented around his sword.

The Neutral fell, and that was the last thing Mira saw, for Bumblebee turned sharply and bolted across the platform, leaving Prime behind. A hundred different emotions tackled her brain, tearing apart her thoughts like a rabid beast. She couldn't retreat - she was the Keeper, a soldier, Prime's...Countess. Very suddenly she was feeling every ounce of the small human being she was, entirely unprepared and unsuited for her calling. A ripple of self doubt crept across her skin, sending a knee-jerk reaction to her gut that almost made her vomit.

He needs you, Mira, she replayed the words from the vision of Will at the back of her head. For such a time as this. For such a time as this. Her head snapped up and all the memories of her former life - of NEST, all the countless missions, of all her intimacy with Will and her quiet moments with Optimus - rushed her senses at once, her pupils dilating just enough to soak in every ounce of light the dim atmosphere would provide. She felt heat rise on her flesh as adrenaline spiked into her spine, sending bursts of energy through every cell of her body. She could feel so much more than ever before, as if she could number every pore on her flesh that ached with exhaustion.

No more running. No more retreat. She was going to kill Lockdown for what he'd done to her team, her friends - her family. He'd been behind all of it, from the beginning. Will's death had been the beginning of this moment, the beginning of her transformation. In a way, she wouldn't be who she was without Lockdown, wouldn't be feeling what she felt without his involvement...but she didn't stop hating him.

"Stop!" she demanded, igniting her thrusters and leaping from Bumblebee's hand. "No more, Bumblebee - no more running!" She hovered in front of the scout, her face set in a hard stone of demand as she looked beyond him, to see Prime and Lockdown still brutally engaged in a bloody fight - Energon fell from both of them, scattered across the platform in a shining blue that would've given the atmosphere an almost otherworldly appearance. Her jaw clenched and she looked passed the yellow bot, who had a curious brow raised to her.

"We stand, we fight, and we win." She growled at him. Glancing down the platform, she spotted the junction leading to the weapons chamber, where she'd first received her armor from Optimus when they'd been trying to escape this feral ship. "We lead him there, and tighten up the playing field. This ends right now." She thrust a finger in that direction, and nodded to him. "Go, Bee - for Optimus."

He seemed to consider her statement for a beat, his optics scanning the air around her as he weighed the options. Finally, his optic ridges narrowed, and he gave her a solidified expression, as if he'd come to the same conclusion himself. With a firm nod, his radio emitted a heavy whine, and he saluted her before taking off towards the chamber, his advance rattling the platform around them.

She killed her thrusters, and took off across the platform for the fight. Signaling the system to drop the armor from her arm bearing the implant, she jumped the significant pile of collected Energon, which was practically singing Prime's name. She dodged Optimus, who took a half step back as Lockdown pushed him aside, the leader's sword clattering the ground loudly behind her as she stepped between the battling pair.

She sneered at the Neutral. "You want this Shield, Lockdown!" She could feel Prime's gaping surprise hammering into her back, but she didn't care. "Your fight is with me. Without this, the Matrix is dead to you." His attention fully sank to her level, she stepped back a few paces when he advanced, and she started when Prime's hand dropped to the platform, his finger crooked for her to come.

He snorted a raging breath. "Get out of here, Mira!" He barked at her roughly. "I said to retreat - "

She shook her head, racing away from his reach. "No, Prime!" She called back to him. "We do this together, for Earth. Until all are one!" She saluted him and took off back down the platform at full speed, the armor immediately signaling that Lockdown was in pursuit. She hard the Neutral's transformation behind her and kicked on the thrusters, moving at speed in the direction Bumblebee had advanced.

She took the corner quickly, killed her thrusters, and rushed the shadows of the chamber, scanning for Bumblebee. He wasn't anywhere she could see, but it didn't matter - the scream of a sophisticated engine, followed by the bobbing sway of headlights illuminated her presence in the chamber, Lockdown's alternation form lingering in the chamber's entrance. The engine revved, and she could see the cloud of exhaust form around him like an ethereal veil, adding already to the hypnotic, wicked presence of the bounty hunter.

Somewhere beyond their standoff, she heard Optimus call for her, his mass rattling the air beyond the chamber. She was panting, her heart painfully hammering against the tissue of her lungs, her blood thick with adrenaline and heat. Her head was pounding with information from her upgrades, but she ignored it altogether, dropping the visor from her left eye to consider the motionless form across the chamber.

"Come and get me," she called across the chamber, her voice echoing of the shadowed steel. "The Creators demand your compliance." Her gaze narrowed, a smirk rising to her face. She was simmering with confidence over her victory of wit, until she felt the air move behind her in a way that sent a ghosting fear across her body that consumed her rational thought.

Before she could whirl around and face the holoform that manifested, her eyes widening in surprise. She didn't even have time to correct off her turn before the holoform brutally reached out and grabbed her neck in his hand, fisting tightly against the walls of her throat. Every portion of air Mira had possessed was suddenly lifted out of her body, the muscles of her neck screaming for release. Pain and the need to breathe were the only things stabbing into the deep tissue of her brain.

The twisting smile on the holoforms face would've made her blood cold if she'd had the ability to process anything other than her need for oxygen. "It is such a pity that Optimus chose for himself a femme weakling to guard his precious Matrix," he his tongue clucked at her mockingly. "You are nothing more than a weak hope, Mira Lennox. You will destroy Optimus and his people by your mere existence."

Blackness pulled at the corner of her vision, a murky haze skipping over her mind that seemed to veil the world beyond her eyes. Slowly Mira could feel coherency slipping from her nervous system, her battle for air slowly shutting down her body's ability to function. Already bruised from Galvatron's death grip on her throat, tears pulled at her eyes when the familiar feeling of unconsciousness graced the outer perimeter of her sensed. Pinching her eyes closed, she managed a strangled whimper, clawing at the holoforms hands.

"And to think you could've been my pet," Lockdown chuckled at her. "What is that Earth troupe, Mira? All good things must come to an end?" He laughed, a dripping sarcasm painting his tone as darkness passed through the holoforms eyes. He lifted her with every ounce of his immense strength, the pressure around her neck mounting. She squeaked, and the heat of her face deepened as her lungs came to a complete paralysis within her chest. "But maybe not quite yet," he said, his tone low. "What it must be like to take what belongs to a Prime," his lips twisted into a deliciously wicked grin, "...to take everything from a Countess." A delighted pur rumbled in his chest, and Mira felt her female instincts kick into defense, catching his underhanded meaning.

She thrashed one more time before Lockdown threw her down, her form crumpling to the hood of his alternation vehicle. Gasping raggedly for air, her hand reached up for her throat, which was searing in the sharpest, deepest pain she'd ever known. Her body was limp and buzzing as she recollected air into her frame, her arm wobbling as she tried to push herself up, the other hand pressed against the flaming agony at her neck. Her nails curled against the alternation form's paint, her vision still crossed.

In one move the holoform fisted his hand in her hair and threw her head back, Mira's back arching within an inch of snapping her spine. She wailed, her body still unrecovered from oxygen deprivation as Lockdown sneered down into her face. He grabbed her implanted wrist and lifted it, his stare lingering down her form with a lusty curiosity that made her sick to her stomach. Bile rose in her throat and she swallowed it, a pulse of retribution suddenly steeling her gut. Glaring at him, she panted in an effort to distract herself from the pain erupting across her skull, until Lockdown roughly released her, his hand slamming to the chest of the armor, pinning her against the hood of the car.

"Dismiss the armor, or I snap your frail spine and rip it from your corpse," he demanded. When she glared at him, defiance straightening her posture, he chuckled. "Or maybe I'll fashion you a new one from the flesh of your child, femme. Do it. Now." Her ovaries clenched bitterly at the threat, wondering briefly if Lockdown would actually bluff so brashly in front of her in the middle of a fight. But, his leering glare stirred a poison beneath her tongue, and she wasn't about to test the theory.

Dismissing the armor, it folded away, releasing her organic flesh to the air. Immediately it was easier to breathe, and Mira attempted to roll away, though Lockdown lowered to lean into her fist, his hand fisting tightly against her breastbone. The pressure was almost overwhelming, her sternum ringing with pain. She turned her head, watching for any sign of Optimus or Bumblebee, though she found the chamber utterly dark with lifelessness.

Almost instantly, Mira turned to scramble off the vehicle's hood, lunging for freedom beyond its form. Instead, Lockdown savagely grabbed her arm and pulled her up from the hood, an arm latching thickly around her middle as he dragged her against the holoform's lean frame. He was as strong as a pillar, rippling with thick muscle like all Cybertronians were, though his frame was cold, in a lifeless sort of way. It felt nothing like Optimus or any of the Autobots' use of the tecnology, and she felt like convulsing vomit across the floor as his mouth lowered to her ear.

"Let us finish what we began, femme," he hissed into her ear. "And then you can watch your beloved Prime die." He locked his arm around her throat, bracing the back of her head against his chest. Her eyes pinched shut as she grunted out a response, tryin with every ounce of her living force to edge away from him.

She screamed when his other hand slipped down her side, moving to the front button of her denim jeans, arching away from the touch fully when his hand moved from her neck to clamp tightly over her mouth. Pushing back a sob, she felt something warm from his core protruded against the inward muscle of her thigh - and her eyes burst open in wide fear, her heart leaping into her throat.

Channeling all her weight forward, she pushed against his arm, before forcefully thrusting her elbow into the holoform's abdomen. She knew she hadn't inflicted enough physical pain to gauge a warranted reaction, but she felt the muscle in his arm retract just enough in surprise that she was able to tear away from him, flying forward and stumbling over her feet, pushing off the alternation form to make a run for the chamber's doorway.

"Bumblebee!" She screamed, feeling Lockdown's footfalls behind her. Her body was flooded with adrenaline and she screamed again when Lockdown tackled her, flipping her to her back and crushing her to the floor as she writhed beneath him. Fighting with every ounce of belief and hope within her core, she pounded his frame, desperation clouding any tactical training - her mind was skidding out of control, her breath coming in writhing gasps as the holoform sank his full weight against her pelvic floor.

She'd never been so afraid of a Cybertronian, and she'd faced countless battles across the globe. Never had she experienced such burning, life-altering, painful terror. The idea of losing the most intimate, beautiful thing she'd ever experienced to a savage like Lockdown spurred another round of panic in her chest, and she drowned on the ferocity of her own scream, her voice cracking as the county hunter tore one of the sleeves off her shirt, the fabric falling down the side of her body limply.

He heart was frantically skittering like a rabbit within her chest. She thought of Merrick. Of Bryce and Elena. Of what could be with Cade. Of the Autobots. Of Will, and Optimus - all the ones who were a part of her story, all the ones she loved beyond reason. Hope fueled her desperate fight, and she arched away again, her head craning back to stare at the open doorway to the chamber, Prime's commanding call searching for her. Optimus, please...not like this...the Shield was pulling, reaching, screaming for his core, throbbing in her wrist for salvation.

Mira's attention fell back to Lockdown as he loomed over her, and before she could scream for Optimus, the Neutral savagely sealed her mouth in a hot, searingly painful kiss, his taste sour and intrusive against her skin. Her stomach lifted into her throat and she gagged, her spine arching as the reflex consumed her entire frame. Lockdown was fingering at the edge of her jeans, and she twisted her head away, rolling beneath him to vomit whatever contents of her stomach remained within her to the floor.

"You wretch!" Lockdown screamed, scrambling over her. "Disgusting organic flesh. Your race is reprehensible," he snarled, grabbing the front of her disheveled shirt and pulling her into a sitting position. "You repulse me, femme." Her sex dripped off his tongue like a bubbling venom, animosity mirrored in the holoform's eyes. She felt her stomach curl, before she smirked at him, her brow raising in victory.

"That's not what you..." she winced when he released her roughly, her head smacking against the steel floor. "...a minute ago. Ow," she put a hand to her head, the world mildly spinning as her vision danced. Lockdown leaned into her face a second time, an indistinct warmth resting against her pelvis. She writhed at the action, her gut shrieking at her to retreat. She blinked away the black spots over her eyes, releasing a rough cry when his hand latched onto her shoulder, his mouth biting into the flesh of her neck. Eyes pinching closed, she roared in pain, her head curling back against the floor again in an attempt to writhe out of his dominance.

She felt the pull of tears at her eyes, until a bristling chill fell over her, the roaring of diesel machinery dominating the space in her brain. The pounding in the floor intensified as a shrill, mechanical scream pierced through the chamber's air, snapping Mira's head up in hopeful surprise. The alternation form of Optimus filled the chamber's entrance intensely, the glowing lights on the frame almost otherworldly. Lights beaming brightly and illuminating the trespass of Lockdown over her frame, Mira eased out a sigh of relief.

Lockdown stopped the wretched ministrations at her neck, his eyes narrowing as snarl erupted past his lips. He swung off of her, licking his lips, and batted her roughly away as the holoform dismissed, his alternation mode breaking apart into transformation.

Mira scrambled to wobbling legs and staggered away from the Neutral, coughing and gagging as she put a hand to the place on her shoulder he'd bitten. It was throbbing as blood seeped into the would, and when she replaced her hand to her side, she didn't miss the blood on her palm. Swallowing the sour remains of bile from her mouth, she signaled for the armor again, the visor over her left eye replacing smoothly. She stumbled into something as she tried to steady her senses, and one look up told her that it was a weapons cache, her brow raising in surprise.

Lockdown's full form marched towards the Western Star with purpose. "I tire of your petulance, Prime," he barked, making a fist. "We end this right now." He didn't make three paces before pulling out a blaster, rocketing three shots off to the transforming Optimus. Mira screamed for him, but it was too late - hindered by his transformation, two of the three shots erupted into the Prime's chest, sending him flying out of the chamber's doorway, his sword and shield hitting the floor roughly.

"Optimus!" She took off at a run, but not before she witnessed Bumblebee burst out of the shadows, racing towards the leader. It didn't take long for Lockdown to intercept the scout, Bumblebee engaging him sharply in intimate hand-to-hand. Mira dodged them, however, her eyes cemented on the Autobot leader, who was struggling to stand.

Energon was everywhere. She slid to a stop beside Prime's form, putting hands on his arm. He groaned, a hand to his chest, Energon flowing from the wound. Mira was about to ignite her thrusters to examine it when Optimus released a sharp cry, and something activated behind his chest plating - within seconds the Energon stream from the wound ceased, and Mira stared stupefied at the plating, her mouth parted in wonderment as Prime moved to his feet. It took her a moment to realize that the Shield was burning against her wrist.

Without even acknowledging her, Prime witnessed the scene of Lockdown throwing Bumblebee to the ground, the scout crying out in a muted buzz that rattled Mira's nerves alive. Fear for the scout mounted within her core, Lockdown's arm transforming into the same weapon that she had witnessed the night of Ratchet's death. She gasped, screamed, and her eyes immediately scanned for any intervention - any form of retaliation. Prime's sword came into view, and without warning, Mira rushed to it, her feet hitting the floor hard.

She slid to a stop in the pool of Energon, the sticky substance thick over her skin. Tears were mounting again her eyes, the place where Lockdown had bit her pounding beneath the armor as she reached for the weapon's hilt. She watched Optimus go for his shield, reaching for it and flinging it in the direction of Lockdown. It collided loudly, the bounty hunting hurling forward and shrieking in pain as the object lodged between his shoulders. He wasn't defeated, however, and he whirled to consider Prime, crashing his foot down on Bumblebee's chest, the spark extractor hovering over the yellow mech's chest.

It was like slow motion. She heard Optimus cry, Bumblebee let out a shrill whine, her own heart hammering blood into her skull. All at once and without thought, she her hand collided on the hilt of the blade, gripping it with such force that she thought for a moment her hand would break. With a scream for Bumblebee's life, she pulled against the massive weapon, and immediately the Shield released a burst of energy that made her cry. Without warning, the sword ignited in a glowing blue, which traced through every engraved piece of it and it...lifted. Transforming before her eyes, Prime' blade literally fell into a small form, suddenly weighing nothing in her hands.

It was huge even by human standards and was solid as the earth beneath them, and Mira would've been enchanted had the first reaction of her instincts not kicked alive for the sake of sparing Bumblebee's life. She threw the sword as if it were a javelin, the armor putting as much force into the toss as she could manage - and as she hit the ground and rolled forward, popping into a crouch, the tip of the blade lodged itself in the rear of Lockdown's leg, severing his ability to move optimally.

Another shriek from the Neutral and he was on his knees, Optimus' stare lingering on his lieutenant a moment longer than necessary. He bolted, intercepted the Neutral, and threw around a kick to wedge the blade farther into the mech's joint. Howling once again, Lockdown met all fours, and Optimus reached for his sword - it it immediately returning to its full size.

As Prime withdrew it, the transformation tore through Lockdown's frame, his leg merely dangling by a few connecting arteries and wiring. Prime kicked the chassis of the bounty hunter over, spun the hilt of the blade in his hand, and approached the mech as Bumblebee got to his feet, edging away. Lockdown was groveling incoherently, attempting to inch away as Energon poured of his frame, leaking to the floor in streams so blue that the seemed to illuminate the dark chamber.

"It is over, Lockdown," the Prime hissed to the Neutral, his shoulders drawn back in victory. "And you lose."

Mira turned her head as Prime jarred the blade into the mech's spinal column, lifting it out of Lockdown's body in such a way that it sliced the Cybertronian form in two. The grotesque sound of metal scraping against metal made her spine curl, and she only returned her gaze when Lockdown's lifeless shell hit the floor, unmoving and darkened. Energon continued to seep from his body, pooling at the Prime's feet. She killed the armor, it retreating from across her form. Cool air blasted her sweating frame, and she almost staggered at the relief.

Optimus turned to consider her immediately. She nodded at him, signaling that she was alright, before reaching up to move her hair out of her face. Prime looked to Bumblebee and offered him a hand, pulling the yellow scout to his feet effortlessly. Reaching up to replace his sword, he ripped his shield from Lockdown's chassis, and approached, his gaze upon her a mixture of relief, contention, and exhaustion.

Kneeling, he offered his hand to her and she obliged, stepping into it effortlessly. He raised her to his shoulder and Mira carefully navigated to the familiar space, sinking against this helmet as he moved to signal Bumblebee to retreat from the chamber. "You both are alright," he asserted, a deep relief echoing through his tone. At both of their nods, he gestured to the platform of the ship. "Then let us find a way off this ship, and go home."

Mira had never felt a more solid sense of relief hit her stomach, and she sank against his helmet, closing her eyes in relief. "Please," she reached up to rub the shoulder that Lockdown had violated, tipping her head to the side. A burst of heat shot down her spine as her back connected with the Prime's helmet, her other hand finding the engraved language of the Prime's.

"Let's go home."