*REWRITTEN: 6/26/22*
Hello My beautiful readers! Here is the REAL chapter 5 to Born This Way. All rights go to Hasbro and whomever else. I only own Alestia Barone. A big thanks to everyone for being patient with me, and thank you guys for understanding. It truly means a lot!
PSA: There is vivid imagery of physical abuse towards the end of this chapter, separated from the main plot by a flashback. You may skip it if it's what's best for you. The events will be mentioned, but not vividly, later in the story. You won't be missing anything if you decide to skip over it!
(A-POV)
"Optimus, incoming!"
Ironhide slammed his cannon into the ground, sending out a burst of energy. It reached the cars speeding towards us quickly, leaving powerless motors and batteries in its wake. The cars had been successfully immobilized, no longer able to drive. It must have been some sort of electrical burst. Neat.
"Roll out!" Optimus ordered, and all the 'bots transformed into their alt modes and drove to find cover. The leader bent down and laid his hand palm-up. "Up you get." He rumbled.
All three of us hastily jumped on, and I gripped Optimus' fingers as he lifted us to his shoulder. Sam went first, followed by Mikaela and then me. I grabbed onto a piece of armor, hoisting myself up and into the little crook in his shoulder. Surprisingly, it was just the right size for me. I glanced to my left and saw how close Optimus' face was to mine. I was far away enough so that if he moved his head, I wouldn't get crushed.
Optimus started to sprint away from the helicopters, but they just stayed on our asses the entire time. "Optimus," I whispered. "I know you promised to not harm humans, but it seems like we have no choice but to try and lose them in between the buildings."
He nodded slightly, showing that he heard me and understood what I was suggesting. Jumping and trying not to step on any cars or pedestrians, Optimus took off down the road. Suddenly, he sharply turned to the right, using the very tall building as our hiding spot. Surprisingly, the plan worked. After a few moments, I heard the choppers moving away from our position.
Once again, Optimus took off and started seeking another place to hide from view. He finally found one under a bridge, using his arms and legs to support himself so we were parallel to the ground. Almost as soon as Optimus has steadied himself, the choppers flew right under us. I sucked in a nervous breath, praying that they wouldn't find us.
The Commander moved his head slightly in our direction. "Easy, you three." He murmured.
Sam started to panic, and I could tell because he tried to attain a better grip on Optimus and shuffled back a little. Once again, two choppers flew under us, and the wind they created caused Mikaela to lose her grip; grabbing Sam and dragging him down with her.
Sam managed to get a hold of her arm and saved them both by keeping his grip on a piece of armor. "No! No! Sam, don't drop me!" Mikaela shouted.
"No!" I screamed, and swiveled myself so that my legs were wrapped around Optimus's smokestack. I reached down towards Sam's hand. "Sam! You need to latch onto my hand!" I yelled, hanging upside down.
"I can't!" He said back.
"I can't get any closer without falling, Sammy. You have to try!"
"Sam, don't! Sam, don't! I'm slipping, I'm slipping!" Mikaela's shouts echoed throughout the air, and my hands began to sweat. If they fell, nothing would cushion their blow. I tried in vain to find a lower area to hold on to, but nothing was as secure as I needed it to be. The smokestack was our only hope.
"NOW SAM!" I bellowed, stretching as far down as I dared. I managed to grasp the sleeve of his sweatshirt, pulling up as much as possible. As he attempted to secure his hand around my wrist, he slipped and they both went tumbling to the ground. I lifted myself to a safer position, and could only stare in shock as I watched my friends fall to their deaths. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't look away as Optimus strived to ease their fall with his feet.
It didn't work.
The roar of an engine could be heard above their screams, and Bee was suddenly there. Jumping and clutching the two humans close to him, he spun around, reaching them just before they touched the ground.
It was close. Way too close.
I let loose the breath I was holding upon seeing all three of them safe. I lowered my head in relief but immediately snapped it back up when the sound of the helicopters circling echoed in my ears. Spotting a grappling hook emerge from the side of one of the choppers, my heart started pounding in my chest as the hook shot out and twined around Bee's arm. "Bee!" I screeched.
Another three shot out, and Bee stood protectively in front of Sam and Mikaela regardless of his safety. The bot was brought to the floor as vehicles started towards the humans. I could hear Sam and Mikaela's protests and Bee's pain-filled pleas from where I was perched on Optimus' shoulder.
"Let me down, please, Optimus, let me down!"
"Absolutely not." He turned his head slightly to the side, monitoring me with those glowing eyes of his. They were narrowed, presumably expecting me to jump off his shoulder at any given moment. He was right to be suspicious. I was already tensing my arms and legs.
"We have to do something, Prime! He'll be a government experiment, kept in secret, for as long as he lives. We can't just abandon him!" I began stuttering against my will. I felt myself losing control, flashes of a restrained Bee, surrounded by perverted scientists, in my mind's eye.
I could even feel his pain shoot through me. Like I was being electrocuted. But it was cold. So very cold.
"It's futile, Alestia."
"I can't just-"
"You're staying here!"
"I refuse to-"
"That's an order!" Optimus barked, and my body, my entire being, stiffened. My mouth clamped shut, and the tone of his voice slightly cleared my rapidly-fogging mind. It was just enough to force me to begin calming myself. Of course, he was right. I hated it, but I couldn't help them if I, too, was contained.
Sam and Mikaela were immediately surrounded by cars. Men with guns approached the two humans and shoved them down on their stomachs. They piled on and motioned to handcuff them, aggressively pulling their arms behind their backs.
At the same time, other agents went up to Bee and started spraying him with liquid nitrogen. A familiar sharp and burning sensation flooded my chest as I got a better look at Bee, and I gritted my teeth against the pain. I suppressed the urge to jump again. I could do nothing, and a tear escaped the corner of my eye. How could I be so useless?
I wiped it away angrily, watching as Sam was able to escape the grasp of the man holding him and tackled a person who was spraying Bumblebee. He pointed the liquid nitrogen at the person on the ground and was instantaneously sacked as a result.
Sam and Mik were finally hauled away to the cars. Agent Simmons now stood before them. I was too far to see his face, but I'm sure it was smug as hell. He had such a puncheable face, and I hoped to someday give him a black eye for our troubles. Sam paused as if in conversation with him until they were crammed into the backseat of the vehicle.
Optimus vented a deep sigh upon seeing Bumblebee escorted away, and I gently patted his shoulder in condolence. It was his friend, too, that had been taken. During my panic-stricken state, I'd forgotten that. The Prime was probably restraining himself even more than I.
I heard the sound of familiar engines getting closer, along with a distant, "Hang back, lemme check it out."
Jazz appeared from the top of the bridge, swinging down to meet his Commander, who was in the process of lowering himself to the ground. "Optimus, are we just gonna stand here and do nothing?"
"There's no way to free Bumblebee without harming the humans." His voice was low and heavy, deeper than I'd ever heard before.
"But it's not right! He-"
"Let them leave." Optimus interrupted, blinking twice. I twisted my head to look at Jazz, who was staring off in the direction Bumblebee had last been seen.
I felt more than saw Optimus glance at the ground. He must have noticed something lying there, because he bent down, ever-so-carefully picking up the item and bringing it closer to his eyes.
They were Captain Archibald Witwicky's glasses. The Autobots finally had them, but at the cost of losing a friend.
Optimus lifted his hand beside me, and I climbed into his palm. He lowered me to the ground and then transformed into his truck mode when I was safely out of the way. The passenger door opened, and I jumped into the seat.
It was painfully obvious that the rest of the Autobots disagreed with their leader's decision. Not a single one of them brought their eyes to his face as they all transformed. They even drove in front of him. It was a show of disapproval without once defying orders.
The truck soon followed the lead of his comrades, and a silence fell upon us. The images of what happened repeated over and over in my head. "I'm sorry, Optimus," I murmured.
He was silent for a moment. "Whatever for?" His voice seemed to originate from the truck's speakers.
"I allowed my emotions, and my memories, to get the best of me. And I... I only made the situation worse by arguing."
"You were following your instincts, Alestia. They are not to be shunned simply because I am Commander."
I dipped my head in concession. "You made the right call," I added, "There was no peaceful solution. The agents wouldn't have willingly handed him over. Trust me, I know." I stated grimly.
*Flashback*
"Liam! Becky!" I shouted, struggling against the hands gripping my arms and torso.
"Ally!" Becky cried, trying to run to me. She was only five at the time. Liam had more sense than his little sister, as he was nine, and didn't try to follow in her footsteps. I watched as my brother and sister were restrained, their arms and torsos grabbed by the others in the room, and a man approached me. "You will tell me everything about yourself. How it works, and what the limits of your capabilities are. If you cooperate, your family will walk out of here alive." He sneered. "Of course, their freedom in exchange for yours."
I glared into the man's face, memorizing every little line and mark, the color of his eyes, the shape of his mouth and nose. I spat in his face, and grumbled, "When I get free, I'm going to kill you."
The man wiped my saliva away and slapped me across the face. "So be it." He walked toward my siblings, and once again I started struggling against my binds. A needle pierced my arm, and my body went limp. I had no control over my limbs, but I could still move my head and eyes. The drug was pumping through my system quickly. I only had so much time. The man picked up a gleaming scalpel and swiftly pressed it into the delicate skin of my brother's arm. He cried out in pain, and I watched as a trickle of blood trailed down his arm.
"Do you really think I won't kill them first?" His gaze followed the blood. "I've waited too long for this. I'll make you cooperate, in due time." He positioned the scalpel over Liam's arm once more. "Last chance, my dear. Going once, going twice..."
*Flashback ends*
Yeah, I knew alright. I grimaced and shook my head slightly. "I wonder what you think of us humans now," I murmured to myself.
"You are not to blame for the actions of your fellow species."
"It's still a shame. To see humans react violently to that which they do not understand. To experiment and destroy no matter the toll it takes, all to ensure the success of their own selfish actions."
"Then it seems Cybertronians and humans are not as different as they appear."
I was quiet for a long moment, and so was the Peterbilt, both lost in the memories of their pasts, until Optimus' voice tentatively broke the silence. "You speak as though you have been in a... similar situation." He was prodding, and he knew it. But the way in which he said it-gentle and tender, as if the Prime had only the intention to heal-that made me reply.
"I've experienced more than I care to admit." I stared out the window at the night sky. Images of my siblings' faces danced in my vision, and I closed my eyes to keep them at bay. To no avail, naturally, but it was the effort that mattered.
"You lost some?"
I only hummed in reply. I had no motivation to dredge up more memories. Optimus sensed my aversion to the direction of the conversation and elected to steer clear of the topic. I silently thanked him for it by leaning my head against the passenger door, fleetingly brushing my head against the leather seat as I did so.
My gaze returned to outside the window. The silence stretched on, present for the rest of the time we were driving.
And there we have it, the fifth chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, and expect another chapter on Sunday. See you guys later!
