Chapter 6:

Torpefy

My sight narrowed and sounds turned muted, as if underwater.

Aside from the beat of my heart, no muscle would move. The bullet entered as if she was nothing, just meat, blasting a cavity into her forehead. Her face was frozen, eyes open, mouth slack, as she was propelled backwards. Her eyes stared ahead and in those fractions of seconds, she was there and then gone.

Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone.

She was gone.

Absently I heard Silas's snicker.

Absently I heard the blood rushing in my ears.

Absently I registered the pain in my knees where I drop to them.

Only when the butt of a gun slams into the side of my head do I refocus.

My sight sharpens, my hearing became clear-cut, and I tensed.

I hurled my fist, propelling myself at him. Silas's eyes widened in surprise and my fist landed in his gut. He gagged, the force behind my punch sending him sprawling with a cry.

My vision centred on him, my right fist flexing with hunger and a lust to wrap it around his throat.

I strut forward, watching as Silas desperately struggled to catch his breath while crawling for his gun.

His hand wraps around it and I stomp on his wrist, feeling the way it cracks under the assault. He roared in agony.

But it was nothing to what he had done to Eden, Mia—Aria.

I was going to rip. him. apart.

"You wanted Ophiuchus," I drawled, watching with a deep-seated satisfaction as his eyes widened. I knelt and smiled down at him. "Ну так никогда не уходил."

I reached down and flexed my fingers against his neck, not yet applying pressure but more than ready. " Я заставлю тебя страдать, Silas," I began tightening, slowly as to drag it out, " Я собираюсь вытянуть это, крутить тебя так же, как ты делал со мной. Когда я заставлю тебя молить о пощаде, я продолжу — я покажу тебе, как выглядит безумие."

He gasped, whacking at weakly as the blood vessels in his head began to bulge and his face started to darken.

BANG

My body jerked, grip loosening as the pain registered in my leg.

I hissed, but Silas used my momentary distraction to kick me away. I was sent sprawling. I bared my teeth, snarling as I launch myself at him again.

BANG

My abdomen, beneath my ribs, missing any organs. All the way through.

I crashed to the ground still snarling and began to crawl towards Silas as he stumbled to his feet, the signs of asphyxiation beginning to fade.

I watched as Silas ran, his form getting blurrier and blurrier the further he ran until he vanished altogether.

I rested my head on the ground, staring ahead as the blank spots ate at my vision.

The last sounds I heard were the squeal of tyres.

Logan fell from Optimus's cab, his knees almost giving out at just the sight before him—then it clicked, pushing him into action and he rushed to Aria, crying out her name.

Soma was at Mia and Eden in a matter of moments after Logan.

Ratchet was beside Zelda with a flicker of his holoform. He turned her over, hands coming to press against the bullet wound on her abdomen.

Logan's anguished cry as he clutched Aria to hit them all, but Ratchet was forced to block his screams out and get to work, pulling off the lab coat his holoform wore to press.

There were holoforms surrounding him in seconds, Jazz quickly pulling his own jacket off to press to the wound on her leg, which, to their relief, was nowhere near as serious.

Sunstreaker took over Ratchet's spot as he left to fetch the kit in his vehicle mode. Working quickly with cleaning and putting a stop to the bleeding so that they could transport her to medical for an operation.

Optimus was the one who rushed approach Soma who sat beside Eden, leaving Logan space as he continued to cry over Aria. He knelt before Mia and wasn't able to find a pulse. He sighed softly, mournfully.

His eyes shifted to Eden, where Soma was staring at him in relief. Unconscious, but alive. Optimus rested a hand on Soma's shoulder. The Asian male blinked slowly as he turned to face Optimus; he looked just lost.

But Logan cried out again, and Soma stood, shrugging off the hand and numbly wandered to Logan. He just sat there silently and never made a move to touch either—just sat.

Optimus's spark tightened further as he surveyed their surrounds; optics landing on Zelda last and his bots that were knelt around her. She was unhealthily pale but breathing—the bond that linked her to them still burned strong, weaker and numb, but there.

It was a complete mess.

She knew she was unconscious, but she was awake at the same time.

It wasn't a dream, Zelda knew that, so what was happening?

She choked in realisation, Mia, Aria. She clutched her head, she might not have a body here, but that still didn't mean she couldn't feel the sensation.

She groaned; her thought tangent didn't mean shit.

She hissed and stewed in her anger, her grief, and her desire for justice that she had been robbed off.

Zelda paused however when she was hit with the sensation of large hands cupping around her presence. She twitched, unable to stop her shaking even as she tried to control her rage, in response to the being she could practically taste the power of.

"Welcome back, Dear One," The ancient voice from weeks ago spoke again, "Expected you so soon again, I didn't. Fate may be kept in stone, but nothing is truly unbreakable. Your path has turned rough but alone you are not."

Zelda let out a breath.

"Your very soul seeks companionship and those you allow close, you dearly love. To lose not just one, but two is harsh and fearful of what the future may hold. But know, you will never be alone again, with them in physical presence or just spiritually.

"What you do next, some may be unsure about, or they may agree with but know this, dear All-Spark; I am with you, physical body I might no longer have but with you all that same, I am. Your next task will test you, not physically, but mentally. Much have you suffered through, and this will be the closure of that chapter of life, ready for you to finally enter the next."

Zelda awoke.

Coming too, Zelda realised quickly that her waking was never this easy or peaceful. It immediately set her on edge. She blinked at the familiar beep-beep-beep-beep and eased up. She was in a hospital, right—obviously.

Her mind wandered back to the confrontation and her throat closed up.

She knew she was on morphine when she moved and didn't even feel an ounce of discomfort. Instead, Zelda just blinked up at the ceiling.

She was sure she should feel something. Anger, loss, or something but she felt numb, indifferent, apathetic to everything around her.

She'd not spoken a word since she'd woke up hours prior, even when Ratchet had entered to inquire about how she was feeling.

She felt nothing and that—that should scare her—she was regressing and regressing fast. It wasn't good, at least logically she knew that, but all the same, she didn't care.

Ratchet didn't push her to speak.

Zelda was thankful because she was busy planning how to murder Silas.

"Zelda, my dear," At Judy's voice, Zelda stepped away from Bee's hug to meet her aunt. Judy's red and puffy eyes were obvious, she hadn't even bothered with make-up.

Judy pulled Zelda into a tight hug. She just held her close and slowly Zelda returned it, burying her face into Judy's neck.

Ron and Sam approached, Mikaela a few steps back, shifting hesitantly.

"Hi," Zelda greeted, and she didn't even try to withhold the Russian accent anymore.

Sam blinked, fighting tears and he pulled her into a hug of his own. Zelda wondered if Sam thought she might vanish too. Her lips twitched at the thought.

Ron squeezed her shoulder tightly and rubbed her arm when she'd pulled away.

Mikaela stepped forward, smiling sadly and offered her own hug.

When Soma appeared in Zelda's eye-line, she excused herself to approach him; her mind set in her ways.

"Soma," she stopped a few feet short.

Soma twisted his head to face her, "Yeah?"

"Могу ли я попросить об одолжении?"

Soma's look turned curious.

Carrying the casket with Logan, Sam, and an old familiar face was something Zelda never thought she'd experience. She'd always thought it would be her inside the casket with Aria carrying her.

But it wasn't.

Behind them were Soma, Tanner and Louise (Mia's parents), and Minho (Mia's cousin) carrying Mia.

Then behind them was Michel's casket; his body had been found a day later, left in a ditch by MECH after being discovered. He was being carried by his parents, Mary and Stefan, as well as his two younger brothers Lukas and James.

That was it, Zelda realised as she watched Aria's casket being covered, this was the end of D.A.A. They couldn't run the program with only four of them. The D.A.A would be shut down, but would be transferred onto the N.E.S.T program instead.

Zelda wondered what she should expect in her future. As both a solider, as the All-Spark, and…

Zelda saluted.

(Still no tears fell.)

"Follow me?" Zelda murmured to the twins once the crowd began to slowly disperse around the three newly buried caskets.

"Always," Sides hummed quietly.

They followed Zelda as she led them across the graveyard and to a specific headstone.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe read the engraved writing.

Adan Robinson.

Friend, brother, and forever loved

Rest in Peace

Zelda smiled at the headstone, "I used to come here while I was healing. Конечно, there isn't actually a body here, MECH made sure of that, but it gave me peace of mind all the same," The smile disappeared and she turned to them, "It is my fault Silas attacked the base. I'm the reason their dead."

"No, it's not," Sunstreaker frowned, "You couldn't have known he was going to—"

"нет," Zelda cut him off, "Not… not like that. I mean, he came looking for me personally," She laughed bitterl,. "When I was sixteen, Adan and I were given a mission to take someone from MECH out. We did but… but we didn't get away. We ended up being used as испытуемые by Silas's pet scientist. He was trying to create some serum to enhance the human body. It was a stupid idea, something from a comic book or a movie but… but he actually did it."

Zelda peered down at the gravestone again, "And here I am, the only remaining subject from the experiment. If I remember correctly, there were eighty-three attempts before me, and all of them ended in failure."

The twins exhaled heavily in shock.

"Adan being the eighty-third." She frowned; gaze distant, "I was forced to watch as he deteriorate right in front of my eyes and then, when he was at his weakness, Silas just shot him dead because he wasn't going to survive. So that's why…"

She turned to them, looking them in the eyes as she continued: "That's why I'm going to kill him."

Fun fact: Mia wasn't originally going to be killed off with Aria and Michel, but my hands decided against my original plan. Michel never actually appeared in this story alive, but I picture him to be a bit like Jazz in attitude.

Нутакникогданеуходил– Well, she never left.

Язаставлютебястрадать, Silas – I'm going to make you suffer, Silas.

Я собираюсь вытянуть это, крутить тебя так же, как ты делал со мной. Когда я заставлю тебя молить о пощаде, я продолжу — я покажу тебе, как выглядит безумие. - I'm going to draw it out, twist you in every way you did to me. When I have you begging for mercy, I'm going to keep going—I'm going to show you exactly what insanity looks like.

Могулияпопроситьободолжении? – Can I ask a favour?

Конечно! – of course/sure

Нет– no

Испытуемые– test subjects