Team Prime wasted no time as they arrived at the coordinates where Arcee was previously located. Night had already fallen across the forest and there as even light snow falls occurring at the moment. Optimus had looked over his shoulder-pad to see that everyone else was accounted for, all except for Ratchet. The field medic wanted so desperately to accompany them on their mission, but Optimus had to step in. He simply wouldn't allow it, not when Ratchet meant so much to her. Optimus had already made up his mind and with enough convincing, the medic had stayed behind, much to his old friends displeasure.
"Be on your guard and remember: DO NOT SHOOT, unless I say otherwise." Optimus then summons his face mask and proceeds to lead the way down the cave.
Deep within the abandoned mine is where he was aware of the fact that there were many tunnels down the empty corridors. Optimus came to a stop and was deep in thought as he heard Bulkhead just behind him expressing his disbelief. The prime was only halfway paying attention when Smokescreen decided to chime in.
"Shouldn't we split up? That way we can-" Not a second later, Optimus had whipped his head around and interrupted Smokescreen in mid-sentence.
"No—not when our friends lives are at stake." Optimus made himself pretty clear before turning around and resuming his stride down the mine.
The mechs exchange glances to one another before following right behind the prime. As they proceeded down the path is when they started to hear a faint sound that was emanating from inside a tunnel—to their right. One of the mechs as going to raise a question revolving around the noise until Optimus had simply entered the tunnel without a second thought. They trailed closely behind the prime, with their blasters out and ready to take out anything that dared to challenge them.
On the other side of the tunnel was a spacious part of the mine. Above them were various tunnels around them that were most likely connected to other parts of the mine. But, that's not what they were focusing on. Just on the opposite side of the room was a glass cylinder and inside it was an all too familiar figure.
"Lucy…" Optimus said her name from under his breath as he took a step forward with his hand outstretched towards her.
"You never disappoint, Optimus.''
Appearing seemingly out of nowhere, Megatron made his way across the room and stands right in front of the cylinder where it held the human femme prisoner. He glances pass Optimus and notices the other three autobots with their weapons drawn.
"I strongly advise your autobots to lower their weapons...or had they forgotten to heed my warning?" Megatron gestures his servo towards them.
Optimus looks over his shoulder-pad and signaling them with a silent nod to which they immediately put their weapons away. He looks back at Megatron looking rather pleased with himself.
"We've done what you asked for. Now let Arcee and Lucy go!" Bulkhead demanded.
"Did I say that? Hmm, I don't recall ever stating that." Megatron chuckled. "On the contrary, I'm planning on holding onto them for a while longer...especially her." Megatron looks over his shoulder-pad and from the corner of his optics he could see the femme, sitting on the floor with her head buried into her knees and her arms wrapped around her legs.
"A power in the form of an item from creation." He quoted looking back at them and studied their now horrified expressions. "Did you honestly believe that you were the only ones to successfully decipher the iacon file?" Megatron turns, his back facing them as he approaches the controls that were next to the cylinder.
"At first, I genuinely believed that the script was a lost cause...yet, if it hadn't been for Sila's services we wouldn't have been able to fully decipher it. Although, I must say, she put up quite a fight than any other human I've stumbled across, so, simply taking the necklace from her was out of the question. However…" Megatron turns to face them once again but this time with an evil glint across his optics. "If I am to get my hands on the relic, then I must induce a great deal of harm to the holder, by any means necessary." Once he revealed his true intentions, his arm began to reach towards the lever. This caused the prime to react impulsively, summoning his ion blaster and aiming it directly at Megatron.
"Ah, ah, ah." he shook his index digit mockingly.
There were multiple audible sounds of blasters charging up. With a quick glance around them to see that there were many decepticons surrounding them from every angle possible.
"If you truly value Arcee's life then I strongly suggest you to stand down. You of all people should know that Optimus! Or perhaps...I've finally struck a nerve..." Megatron trails off with a grin plastered on his faceplates.
Despite the warnings, Optimus hadn't lowered his weapon and his optics were fixated onto Megatron. He was left there—unmoving and contemplating.
"Please just...do what he says!"
His optics snapped away from Megatron and was now staring at Lucy in disbelief.
"I'll be fine, Optimus…" she reassured the prime followed by a sad smile.
Optimus's composure faltered for a moment as he took a step back from what she said. He looked away with his eyes shut and then lowering his ion blaster, withdrawing it swiftly. From the moment he made his weapon disappear is when Megatron had begun to say something but his voice became nothing more than incomprehensible murmurs through his audio-receptors. He felt absolutely defeated. Optimus's looks over to Lucy, whose gaze hasn't left him and showed no signs of fear whatsoever. Was she really that self-assured in herself?
A light had begun to emanate above her and she didn't have the need to know what was coming. As the electricity was rampantly charging up it had formed into a sphere before it came hurling at her. Megatron was anticipating to hear cries of agony, instead, there was silence. The femme just stood there with her eyes closed—concentrating—a blue aura surrounding her that acted as a protecting barrier from the electrical current.
"What?!" Megatron mumbled angrily.
He pressed a button and the intensity of the electrical current had increased. Yet the only reaction he got was her going down on one knee, however, it wasn't enough to fully exploit the relics true capabilities. As his processors began to run wild—not knowing what to say—his optics instinctively landed onto Optimus, and the primes gaze was focused on to his human pet. Megatron's optics did not blink, and then a realization suddenly dawned on him. Instead of harming the femme...why not harm those that she deeply care about?
Lucy was engrossed in drawing away the electrical current when suddenly there was a loud bang. Her eyes flew open to witness Optimus being repeatedly struck down by Megatron. "Optimus!" she stood up and then threw her hands onto the glass. By losing her focus, the wave of electricity was starting to painfully affect her. It resulted in her being in excruciating pain, she took in a sharp intake of breath followed by a wail before falling to her knees.
"S-Stop...stop it!" She managed to cry out but no matter how hard she pleaded it was fallen into deaf ears. All she could do was watch helplessly as Megatron continues to pummel Optimus to which he attempted to block incoming attacks.
Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Smokescreen attempted to aid their leader but were swiftly pinned down by the decepticon soldiers as they were forced to watch the scene.
Optimus was thrown on to the ground—hard. With trembling hands, he tried to lift himself back up to his pedes only to be knocked back down. He could hear her shouting out his name and was pleading for Megatron to stop his ongoing assault. Optimus glances over to Lucy and then at Megatron. He was preparing to strike and Optimus took this opportunity to dodge it and swiftly uppercutted him before rushing his way over to Lucy. But as he got nearer is when he heard a single shot, he didn't react fast enough and was struck from behind.
"No...Optimus! Please-please, you have to wake up!"
In a daze, he blinked vigorously and slowly lifted his helm up to focus on what was in front of him. It didn't take long for his vision to finally adjust, he could see Lucy staring at him with liquid streaming down her cheeks.
"...Lucy…" he mustered her name before lowering his helm back down, being too weak to hold up the weight of his head.
There were sounds of heavy footsteps approaching and then it came to a complete stop. She moves her gaze away from the fallen prime and was now staring fixedly at Megatron, who was standing right beside Optimus.
"I implore you to surrender the artifact that is around your neck." Megatron points his fusion cannon just above Optimus's head with a smirk forming. "Or else he will pay for it with his spark."
She knew damn well that he was aggravating her on purpose and she was trying so hard in controlling her boiling anger towards him. All she wanted to do was to spew out many profanities at his direction—she didn't. Instead, she threw her hands onto her head with her eyes closed tightly and was resisting the electrical surge that was burning through her. However, with the pain clouding her thoughts that she didn't realize that her powers were feeding off of the electrical current and the necklace had started to glow with more intensity.
This happened because of her. They didn't deserve any of this and she didn't want them to be harmed because of her own selfishness. At that moment, she had a strong sense of urgency—to protect. That urge was feeding onto her emotional turmoil and thus increasing her powers. Then Megatron cocked his fusion cannon, it began to charge, aiming it closer to the prime's head.
The scratch on the outside of the glass had suddenly cracked and it only grew more by the second. Megatron raised his gaze by the sound and was startled to see that he could no longer see the human girl, instead, the cylinder was glowing and the crack on the glass was growing. Without warning, it exploded and the force of the blast had thrown Megatron on to the other side of the room. However, Optimus remained unscathed by the blast with shards of glass scattered across the ground around him.
Optimus slowly lifted his helm up only to wince from the blinding flash of light and then it began to die down. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that there was a glowing cybertronian figure hovering where the cylinder once stood. At first glance he genuinely thought it was Solus Prime when in fact it wasn't.
This femme has a grey face which had human-like freckles on them with a blue helmet but in the back of her head was flowing energon hair that acted like a burning flame that is in a constant flow. Her helmet isn't too heavily detailed, having no antenna and her audio receptors were hidden underneath the flowing hair. The pieces of her shoulders doesn't overlap like Optimus's and she has a blue chest with an oval-shaped cockpit with the Autobot symbol in the middle of it. There were V-shaped lines that connect to the oval-shape cockpit of her chest traveling all the way down to her ribs, and hips. On her hips were—blue and icy blue colored—flaps which acts as a built-in skirt that would occasionally adjust to whichever movement she does. Lastly, her legs were grey with blue platings.
The femme's optics were literally steaming from how infuriated she was and her pupils were non-existent. Soon afterward, she had begun to move forward and was evidently suspended in the air, being mere inches above the ground as she passes by the prime.
"...Lucy…?" Optimus spoke in a low whisper, not taking his optics off of her as she glided by him.
She came to a halt at the sound of ion blasters charging up. The vehicons were aiming at her but none dared to shoot first. Until a familiar growl could be heard from across the room. Megatron stood up from the rubble and was glaring at his foot soldiers.
"What are you waiting for?! Capture her!"
Before the soldiers could do anything, those that were atop were suddenly crushed by an unknown force and their heads were no longer attached to their bodies. The headless bodies had fallen off the edge and onto the ground with a loud thud. All of the troopers from atop that were left alive exchanged nervous glances to one another and looked down only to see the femme staring directly at them. In a blink of an eye, she had taken out the troops and this caused the others to simultaneously fire their blasters at her.
While the decepticon troops were occupied, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Smokescreen managed to shake off the troops that were pinning them down—shooting them down with ease. However, they failed to notice one decepticon which was aiming his blaster at Bulkhead but was taken down in a split second by a figure.
"Need a hand?" The three mechs turned to see Arcee standing next to the now deceased decepticon soldier.
"Come on we gotta help Optimus!" Smokescreen advised them as he sprinted towards the prime and helped him get back on his pedes.
Optimus moaned from the pain that stung on his back, resting his servo on the side of his helm. "Lucy...where is she?" his optics darted across the room in search for the femme but she was nowhere in sight.
On the opposite side of the room stood Megatron, watching in complete shock at the scene that had unfolded before his very optics. His faceplate twisted into a scowl at the mere knowledge that his plan had been foiled, angered him to no end. Without a second glance he aimed his fusion cannon at Optimus preparing to fire when all of a sudden someone had clutched onto his cannon. He whipped his helm to meet the femmes furious, pupil-less gaze. The next thing he knew he was punched across the face—the force of it almost knocking him out as he staggered back.
She proceeded to strike him without giving him enough time to shield himself. Her attacks were fast and the force that came with it was overwhelming. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to hit her. Then she had grabbed his right arm and with one swift movement she had dislodged it out of socket. Megatron howled from the pain before being thrown across the room. He shakenly got back up on his pedes and looks over his shoulder-pad at the femme whilst holding onto his limp arm.
"...Soundwave…"
Just as the ground bridge had appeared behind him she had outstretched her hand readying an attack. There were sounds of footsteps coming from behind but she ignored it as her servo began to glow.
"Lucy stop!"
She slowly looks over her shoulder-pad, standing a feet behind her was Arcee. When she looks back the vortex had already disappeared with Megatron nowhere in sight.
"You don't have to fight anymore. Come on let's go back-" Arcee was cut off and was held up in the air by her neck. The others reacted and attempted to approach but was held back by an invisible force, and the one who was able to go furthest was Optimus.
"Lucy...ngh!" Arcee tried to pry herself out from Lucy's grip but it resulted in Lucy tightening her hold around her neck.
Lucy's pupil-less gaze narrowing at the two-wheeler. There was nothing but blind rage, and it was depriving her sense of judgement. A scowl formed on her faceplates, ready to crush the femmes neck. However, she didn't go through with it because a booming voice had ultimately snapped her out of the state she was in.
"Lucy!" Optimus took a step forward, the sounds of his heavy pedes caused her to turn to look at him. Her pupil-less gaze were no longer present and was replaced with her true colored optics—electric-blue.
"...Optimus…?" she murmur his name under her breath and then turns to look at Arcee. Her face twisted into horror at the realization of her actions. She had harmed Arcee in her blinded state of hostility, and she felt absolutely remorseful from what she had done, a strong wave of nausea plaguing her senses. Lucy released her grip from Arcee and watched as the femme tumbled down to her knees, a short, dry, frequent cough escaping from her lips.
She glided away to keep a good distance away from Arcee and the others, her optics drifted across the room and taking in the grisly site. There were headless bodies scattered across the room, some didn't have limbs, and others were mangled beyond recognition. She slaughtered them and the evidence was overwhelming. Then an intense sharp pain was shooting throughout her head in which she wailed, throwing her servos on either side of her helm. There were dreadful images flashing through her eyes—blood, so much blood, tears were streaming down her faceplates.
During her outburst, she had unknowingly caused the entire underground mine to tremble. At some point, Smokescreen had sprinted over to Arcee and helping her take cover with the others, all except for Optimus. He remained where he stood as he slowly made his way closer to Lucy. Suddenly, he halted abruptly when Lucy raised her helm and was now staring at him with a mournful look.
"...I'm sorry...I'm...sorry…" she trails off when suddenly her optics rolled back into her head, as soon as that happens she began to fall forward.
Optimus was quick on his pedes and threw his arms forward, successfully catching her and was puzzled to feel that she hardly weighed anything at all. He knelt to get a better grip on her, his optics landing on to her faceplates, even in her unconscious form there was still fluid leaking from the corners of her eyes. Optimus furrowed his brow-ridges, using his free servo to wipe away the fluid.
"Ratchet, we need a Ground Bridge." Arcee said hoarsely, ignoring the stinging pain from her windpipe.
Not a moment to spare, the vortex had appeared behind them. Their gazes landed onto Optimus, who had stood up as he sauntered over to them. Once he was close enough they all headed inside the vortex first with the prime entering last.
When they arrived on the other side, there stood Ratchet looking at them with an anxious expression. He opened his oral vent to say something, but nothing came out, instead his optics landed onto Optimus particularly the femme he was carrying. The medics distraction soon washed away as he turned his attention to Optimus.
"Where's Lucy?" No response. "Well?" Ratchet pressed on, and the only bot that had enough courage to speak out was Smokescreen.
"Ratchet, uhm… I know this might come as a shock to you but the femme that Optimus is carrying IS Lucy." Smokescreen admitted and this revelation had paralyzed the medic from where he stood, with widened optics.
Optimus didn't mutter a single word as he passes by them and was heading towards the medical bay. He carefully places the unconscious femme on the medical berth and remained by her side when Ratchet began to run multiple scans on her.
The minutes had turned into an hour and by this point, everyone else had gone to their rooms except for Ratchet and himself. He hadn't left her side and neither did Ratchet. According to the old medic's prognosis, Lucy will make a full recovery. As soon as Ratchet made his way back to his work area when the proximity sensors went off. Then the doors of the elevator slid open revealing Agent Fowler as he crossed the platform over to where Ratchet was.
"Prime, did you find Lucy? Is she alright?" Fowler asked his eyes on Optimus, as he stood up from the berth.
"We did, and she's doing well under our care." He gestures his head towards Lucy's sleeping form and this baffled Fowler.
"So...the necklace did this?" Optimus simply bowed his head at his assumption which was fortunately true.
"Agent Fowler, there's something that I've been meaning to ask you for quite some time." Optimus's gaze was not on Fowler, instead it was on Lucy.
"Ask away." Fowler simply said as Optimus turned his attention towards Fowler.
"Ever since Lucy's departure, she mentioned that the necklace she holds had once belonged to someone. I can't help but wonder, whom did it previously belonged to? And why is it so important for her?" Optimus asks thoughtfully. He had raised a compelling question and this had caused Fowler to visibly tense up which raised even more questions.
Fowler could only stand there looking like a deer in the headlights. He didn't know where to begin with, as he swallowed hard before regaining his voice back but not without cracking in the beginning of his sentence. "Because that necklace once belonged to her ancestors—passed down from generations to generations—it's a family token that is irreplaceable."
"And yet, she was fully aware of its capabilities, wasn't she?" Ratchet interjected to which Fowler nodded in confirmation.
"She had every reason to withhold this information—to keep you all safe from the secret that she tried so hard to contain and it had caused her nothing but pain." His grip on the railing had tightened and noticed that Optimus had stepped forward from his peripheral vision.
"Are you suggesting that Lucy was harmed in the past?" Optimus speculated. In the back of his processors feared that something much worse had happened, and he couldn't have been more correct.
"In a way—not physically—she experienced serious psychological trauma when she was a child..." Fowler trailed off raising his gaze to meet their horrified gaze. His face hardened but his eyes said otherwise. "I'll tell you what happened but please...be gentle around her about this specific topic, will ya'?"