Woo! Chapter 17 is finally done, I have projects to complete for the next few weeks so writing will likely be slower than usual. Hope you all enjoy!


Chapter 14

The moment they'd shifted into the same position that allowed them to walk down the tunnel with the aid of their wings, the twins had bolted into the darkness, ordering their human forces to bring the detained humans with them.

He'd hesitated to follow, to give his mechs the order to move out.

But there wasn't anything to stay in this chamber for, Megatron's now nearly completely melted husk was all but unrecognisable, sans the severed helm that still rested on it's side, features still locked in a murderous snarl, one human team was already using a hoist attached to a flatbed truck they had to take the head away… had the situation not been so pressing, he would of enquired into where they were taking it, but he had a suspicion these humans wouldn't even react if he spoke directly to them.

Sans their leader, they seemed almost… lifeless...

With that in processor, he ordered his mechs to follow, with their cover effectively blown by the now detained humans being led into the tunnel, he transformed down into his vehicle form and revved his engine to get the humans attention.

Opening the drivers side door, he spoke through the radio. "I am not opposed to giving lifts so that you are not left behind."

The humans were evidently hesitant, but when Jazz joined him in opening his vehicle form to them as well, a few broke away from the larger group, glancing a few times at the black tunnel before them where the sounds of their leaders mad dash for the Allspark chamber could be heard echoing.

Even he had to marvel at how quickly they were apparently moving.

Which meant they could not delay much longer.

He ended up with two of the human soldiers, with one of the detainees, the oldest of the group, sitting between the two soldiers.

He didn't wait for the rest of the humans to decide, gunning his own engine and accelerating into the dark tunnel himself, lighting the way with the array of lights that adorned his cab.

The two soldiers were resolutely silent, but the elderly man decided to speak. "You're a real alien?"

"Correct Mr…?" He answered.

"Keller, John Keller, Secretary of Defence. And currently a man in desperate need of answers as to what the hell is going on here."

"Then it would seem that we are in similar positions. I, am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, we are a faction of the larger race, Cybertronian, we have been locked in a eon long conflict with our counterparts, the Decepticons…. The leader of which you likely saw being slowly melted into a pile of slag. We came to your world seeking the Allspark, an ancient relic of our kind that has the power to create new Cybertronian life from inanimate machinations. An ability we cannot let fall into the servos of the Decepticons. For they will use it to raise an army to level all sentient races in the universe. Starting with Earth."

"Sounds like you have your priorities straight… but… what of the… lady that was with you? The one who had… wings? … And… had their ear? Their ear shot off?"

"Aria and Wren. They are an enigma to us. They are the ocherstators of this operation alongside two allies, one of whom is already waiting in the chamber holding the Allspark, and the last of the group is elsewhere, they led us here. They promised to provide the answers that we seek once the Allspark is dealt with... "

"I recognise that kind of talk, you plan to destroy this… this source of life? You'd make that sacrifice?"

"I have no other choice… I sent it to the stars to be lost, so it could not be used… but with it now located, and with the Decepticons likely closing in. It must be destroyed… I will not have a gift from the Creator be used for destruction."

It pained him to say it, to come to terms with what he had to do… it mixed with the near intoxicating pull that was Allsparks call to him, getting more and more powerful the closer he got to where the ancient relic was.

There were other… more intimate methods of creation, but it would likely take many tens of millions of years to return their kind to the population it once was… and with this war seemingly never ending, that seemed to be afar off and fading hope.

A silence remained for only a few moments, as a light appeared before him, quickly getting brighter, larger, the chamber entrance fast approaching. He had to stop himself from transforming outright, he had humans in his cabin, one of which being an important official of the nation they were currently in.

It wouldn't do well if relations between this nation and his Autobots started with him accidentally ending the life of one of their officials.

So, once he entered the chamber, he worked to keep his gaze off the cube, just long enough for the three humans to disembark and be far enough away for him to safely transform.

When his gaze finally landed on the Allspark… all he felt was horror.

"What… what… have you done!?" He rasped out.

There stood Kia, the chamber around them was empty of the relic, platforms and walkways hung in the air, some buckling and one already having snapped free of its moorings on the chambers side.

Held between the two smaller arms of the Harpies minicon companion, the Allspark.

The sigh of relief he let out then at realising the cube had merely been shrunk down took some of the sudden weight that had been dropped on his shoulder plating back off, but it lasted for a mere moment before he realised exactly what he was seeing.

This Harpy, this unknown factor they knew so little about, was holding the most sacred relic of his race.

And it's was badly damaged, pieces missing, they looked like simple chips, but at full size they would of been massive gouges down the sides of the life giving relic…

Had the humans done such extensive damage?

It was Kia's voice that responded as the humans surrounding him and the Harpies present tried to hide in the shadows of the surrounding machinery. "What do you mean? 'What have you done?' Are you referring to the fact I touched it out of curiosity and this little fucker went and broke the laws of physics, or were you referring to the amount of experimentation done of this little fucker that's led to a stockpile of dead babies they've been creating over the last few decades since they cracked the code and started turning coffee machines into said baby aliens?"

Everything from his processor to the hydraulics in his pedes froze stiff. Babies, a term for the newly born of the human race… similar to...

"S-sparklings?"

The twins were looking to him now, tense, and standing directly between him and the Harpies own human soldiers.

Kia stood behind them in turn, though her silence was broken with the rattle of her own frame and the screeching sparks of her bladed denta as they grinded against one another, the minicon attached to her chassis that held the cube even tucked it closer to them, as if they were trying to comfort someone in distress.

The silence was only broken when Keller spoke up. "The experiment they showed us? The one that brought that memory stick to life?"

He turned his gaze slowly to the high ranking official, his internals twisting at the implication of what the man had just said as it darted around within his processor alongside what Kia had already said.

The humans…. Had created Cybertronian life…. Using the Allspark...

Jazz transformed behind him, along with Ironhide and Ratchet.

The humans who'd come with them, were quick to hide, sensing the rising tension within, the rest of the detained group especially looked weary, looking to the humans that were with the Harpies.

The silent humans gave them no heed, their faces completely neutral, hidden by the gas-masks they wore, it would have been a concerning feature to add to the list of future enquiries, but, again, the present time was not for that.

The present was this tense standoff.

Ahead of him, the enigmas and their forces… heavily armed… in both weapons and secrets they could use against him and his mechs.

All around them, those who desecrated their most beloved relic…

And that very relic, in the hold of one of the enigmas.

"Where… where are the sparklings?" Ratchet finally spoke, taking a step forwards, the hope and fear mingling within his vocaliser paining his Prime.

Aria and Wren rose higher in their stance reaching his own helm in height as their joints stretched out, their wings folded tight to their side, and tail feathers flared across the ground behind them, the damaged protrusion twitching uselessly as the rest flared out.

They nodded their head to the only female in the detained group, the one who's shoulder and the side of her face was covered in dried blood.

"Maggie Madsen over there, has the only one that is... still alive." Wren announced.

Still alive…

Optimus wasn't sure how, but his internals twisted ever more.

One.

One sparkling was still alive.

But there had been others...

He and his mechs turned in near complete unison to the woman, whose blood stained face paled, stepping back behind one of the ones dressed in military garb, but the man dared not draw a weapon, if he even had one.

The woman was grasping the side of her head now, panic in her gaze, the other detained humans glanced to her, even the one who'd fired the shot at Arien.

Slowly, he began to move, not daring to take a step and frighten the humans, he slowly turned, and lowered himself onto one knee joint, and then the other, bracing himself on the ground, he held the women's terrified gaze as he slowly reached out his other servo to her.

The man she was standing behind tried to step in the way, but quickly backed down at the unimpressed look he sent the human, he wasn't going to harm the woman.

Maggie, Maggie Madsen was her name.

Already she looked set to collapse, but after a few tense moments, she stepped forwards, the hand not holding the side of her head reaching out, but the hand shook, the entire limb really.

Terror, sheer unbridled terror was all that existed in her gaze.

"Please… do not fear me." He implored slowly, trying to make his voice sound as calm, and soothing as possible, unfurling his digits further so that they rested on the ground, offering his servo as a platform for her to step onto.

Finally Miss Madsen stepped up into his palm, dropping to her knees and just staring up at him, mouth hanging open with the hand not bracing the side of her head, resting on the metal of his palm.

It helped in a way, as he rose back up to his full height, keeping her at optic height, she stayed in place.

There was a moment of silence as his other servo slowly came up, entering her view and causing her to tense. "May I see Miss Madsen?" He requested. "Please… if what has been said is true…"

That seemed to be all he needed to say, as her other hand finally left it's death grip like hold on the side of her head.

With a care he doubted he'd ever actually had to use before, he pushed the hair, stuck together by the drying blood, just out of the way with the tip of his index digit.

It was tiny.

The black metal stood out against the tanned skin and stained blonde hair, half of her ear was missing, replaced with the tiny mechanical being.

By Primus he wondered if it even had a complete spark, there was little to nothing there it was so small, in the gaps of the black metal he could barely make out tiny wires and chips, and a singular green light, an optic perhaps?

He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but it wasn't this…

Almost at once he remembered that there were others surrounding them, his mechs, the humans, both groups, and the Harpies.

He turned his helm to the later. How had they known of this little one? Ratchet was already muttering that it was too small to pick up on his scanners.

But his imploring gaze went unheeded, their own attention focused resolutely on the Allspark held to Kia's chassis.

He followed their gaze back to the beloved relic.

The moment of silence held.

New life, forged by the Allspark, was in his servo… the Decepticons had yet to show themselves…

No… he couldn't allow more life to be brought into this war than already likely had by just the fact that the cube was on this planet…

This tiny, miniscule little sparkling… would in all likelihood, be the last sparkling ever created by the Allspark… the cube had to be destroyed…

He turned his gaze back to Miss Madsen, the knots in his system growing tighter before he could even speak. "It seems, they have chosen you… I know you likely have mixed reactions to them… but please… keep them safe…"

She finally spoke in response. "Why?"

Admitting it only hurt more. "We are about to destroy one of the most vital relics to our species survival… to save your planet from becoming overrun by a Decepticon army… it is a sacrifice we must make. Making this… little one… potentially the last Cybertronian brought into existence."

He caught a muttered whisper from the group of detained humans.

"And you wanted to fry the thing."

He sent a warning look to the rest of the group.

Mr Keller spoke again then. "Surely there's another way?"

He could only shake his helm, carefully turning to pass Miss Madsen to Jazz, the first Lieutenant cradling the woman in his two much smaller servos.

Turning to the relic, he let his sword engage, the glowing red hot blade helping to illuminate the red lit room.

The Harpies reacted to him drawing the weapon poorly, their protrusions flared, their frames hunching as they each let off a scathing warning hiss, the twins standing between him and the Allspark still held in the grasp of Kia's minicon, letting of a low warbling tone.

He had to get it from them, he held out the servo that he still had in its root form. "The Cube. Now. We cannot delay it… it's destruction any longer…"

He heard Ratchet mutter something to Ironhide behind him, they're tones concerned, they were catching on to what he had to do…

In the moment of thought the twins had moved, and suddenly he was being pushed back by their wing struts, the force behind them surprising him as he looked to the two black struts, at this distance, in the red hue of the emergency lights, he could make them out easier, the strange almost organic tiny ridges that ran across them, breaking up what, at a distance would of been a solid looking strut...

He looked back up to Arien themselves then, who now stood between him and the Allspark, Wren's wing pushing against the left side of his chassis, pushing his blade bearing arm back even further.

"Now, let's not be hasty. Kia still has to do her thing." Their completely calm, monotone voice was jarring from the current atmosphere, their visible features completely neutral, a stark contrast from the aggression not moments prior.

But the odd protrusions, albeit one shot in half, were much at work, flaring, bobbing, falling flat before flaring outwards all over again, the motions quick… the patterns each time sometimes different, sometimes the same…

Kia's did the same as they loomed behind Arien, but they had stepped back, put more distance between them...

That was when it finally clicked what those protrusions were for.

Silent conversation.

They'd been speaking one thing, showing another he and his mechs had no hope of deciphering.

"You.."

"Yes, us. You know. The ones who showed you how to get here. So step back, big, boy. We've got some pressing questions that need answers. And you breaking this little relic ain't exactly helping us, is it?" Aria snapped back, the normally bubbly tone harsh, volatile, so she was the one harbouring the aggression.

One pede had already stepped back.

Their gaze, even hidden by the blackout visor they wore was like a physical shackle, keeping him in place as he watched Kia move over their shoulder plating.

The sound of a cannon firing up reminded him of his own mechs behind him, narrowing his optics he took the step back, bolstered by the knowledge he had backing from his mechs. "The cube needs to be destroyed, before the Decepticons arrive."

"We have plenty of time. Given they're all currently hard at work firebombing and shooting air to air missiles at the Cosmopolitan. You know, that place myself and Wren own." Aria snapped back again, the plates that made up their faceplates baring the dangerously sharp blades beyond in a display of anger, it caused him to pause and listen, the name rung a bell for a moment before he remembered, their home, the Harpies home was under attack...

Aria took his moment of hesitance to continue. "We are hefting a pretty fucking massive bill for your little war." They pressed further, stepping up to him, the wings still pushing against his chassis pushing against him with more force, but he didn't let them push him back again, but he could hear the minute groaning of the metal plating of his chassis, and on their struts.

"So the least you could do, is be a fucking gentleman, and put your titanium arse in reverse. Because right now? Our patience is slim to none. Ira is out there in Vegas trying her damned best to get those flying mechanical monkeys off our property but we can't go and join her in defending our home yet, because this! Is the only clue we have to why we were sent here in her bloody first place!" They gestured with a jerk of their helm to Kia behind them.

"So how about we stop bickering, let Kia do her thing, and then, in a somewhat orderly fashion, part ways and never cross paths again! Hmm?" They're helm tilted to the side in invitation, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel they were mocking him. "Doesn't that sound lovely? Us never having to see you again, and you never having to see us again? Yes? Good. Kia, get to it, we'll keep these brutes out of your hair if they try anything." They announced, standing their ground against him.

He tried to push forwards again, but they pushed back just as much.

"Don't." Wren spoke up in warning.

Glancing down he realised they were rooted in place, their talons sliced deep into the concrete, they had the advantage in a battle of pushing, one damaged as it was, his own pedes were broad and heavy yes, but they had no real way of gripping the ground like they did.

Finally he stepped back, only one step, but it was enough for the contact between his chassis and their wing struts to end.

"Arien?" Kia suddenly spoke up, there was a waver in their tone, worried, looking over the twins shoulder plating again he realised the shorter Harpy was acting… odd.

Odder than he'd previously seen at least.

They were swaying, from side to side, their protrusions flared out to the sides and upwards, their lipplates parted ever so slightly, their rouge faceplates frozen in that position until they spoke again. "She's speaking to me. She doesn't want to go."He glanced to Ratchet to check if the CMO had heard the same as he, given the CMO's expression of perplexion, he assumed his audios hadn't failed him.

A frown had formed on the twins lipplates as well. "She? What is she saying?"

"She doesn't want to be destroyed… she wants… me…."

"Kia if you go into the fucking light over an alien relic, your mother is going to murder us." That sounded like a comment that required some external context. But the dark brown femme didn't reply this time, they simply continued to rock, as if within a trance.

"Kia?" Wren called out from behind him, the alarm in their tone evident.

"Kia what are you…" Aria spoke up over Wren, their own alarm rising.

"I… I don't know… Arien… I'm scarred… but she wants me to protect her…" Kia whispered back.

He caught a muttered curse from Ironhide, the red and black mech moving to take a lumbering step forwards, cannon charged and at the ready.

Out of pure reflex his servo snapped out, catching his weapon specialist by the shoulder plates, his own optics still locked on what was transpiring before him.

The monochrome twins were becoming visibly agitated, swaying from side to side, protrusions flared out to their full stretch, revealing the intricate mechanisms that pushed and pulled at the six protrusions, the damaged one sparking and jerking compared to the smooth motions of its counterparts.

But it was the other Harpy who held his attention now.

Somehow even more so as the Allspark began to twist, the cube warping and buckling in an almost… organic motion… as an amber glow started to form within the cracks of the ancient relics metal.

That light became corporeal, forming into tendrils that flickered and waved in the air for a moment, before each made contact with one of the metal plates of the Harpies chassis.

He expected screaming, agonising pain, to see the Harpy buckle.

But none of this happened.

Instead, the corporeal tendrils began routing for cracks in the Harpy's chassis, digging in, taking hold.

The monochrome twins said something, calling their allies name, but it had no effect now, Kia was unresponsive, helm tilting back, visor going skywards, their visor, that impassive pitch black glass flickering, the glass itself becoming like a broken monitor, filled with static, before suddenly erupting into a blinding white as a strangled noise left their mouth.

The sudden flash knocked his optics out of focus, forcing him and his mechs sans Jazz to flinch back, the mechs visor protecting his own optics from the bright flash.

Still, there was no screaming, no pain, by now there was little left of the Allspark still in the smaller limbs of her attached minicon.

Then it was done, the last of the glow slipping between the cracks, the light now emanating from the femmes chassis like there was a fire roaring behind the plates of metal.

Then, even that glowing light died down.

It had all taken a few brief moments, but it had felt like time itself had been stretched out, holding them locked in place by an invisible force that had prevented them from intervening.

Intervening in what should of been the immediate snuffing of the Harpy's spark.

But she stood there, swaying in place for a moment as the bright white of the visor dulled and then shifted back to the pitch black glass of before, their frame slumping somewhat.

A moment later, time seemed to finally start moving again, motion began around him, the twins moved forwards, propelling themselves in almost slow motion in front of him with a single stride to come up against their ally, who seemed to have begun collapsing, falling downwards, where it not for the wing strut that caught them, they would of simply crashed to the floor like dead weight.

Finally, his audios seemed to start working, just in time to hear the panicked mutterings of the Harpy twins as they tried to wake their ally.

"-ia! Kia! Wake up! Wake up damnit!" Wren, it was Wren shouting.

Kia remained limp in their hold, but their armour wasn't losing colour, so the likelihood was, whatever had just happened, hadn't been immediately fatal.

Would the same of happened to him?

He was likely to never know now.

Ratchet moved passed him, then Ironhide, but it was only the later who got a reaction from him, after spotting the still charged canons.

On pure reflex he managed to grab his weapons specialist and jerk the mech back, who's helm snapped up to look at Optimus, snarl on his scarred faceplates.

No words were exchanged, with his gaze alone he implored his weapons specialist to have a few more shavings of patience.

Clearly something had gone wrong.

Now wasn't the time to start shooting a pseudo ally.

But, one thing was for certain in this moment of uncertainty… he could no longer feel the pull of the Allspark.


Las Vegas

Projectiles screamed past her, some tearing between the fibres of her wings, the limbs giving another sharp beat to perform another pin head turn, right wing tip sailing upwards in a graceful arch and left tip plummeting down to perform a hairpin turn that put the one chasing her in the billowing black smoke to shame.

A moment later, talons met fuselage, and tore deep, the talon tips lighting up with the splattering of energon that coated them from similar strikes.

Under the energon, circuitry fired off, projecting, smashing against the firewalls of the the jet she had just struck.

There was little yield, but the defenses were weakening, hopefully one more strike and she'd send the bastard plummeting, as she had with the other one.

The strike had taken but a moment, the force of the impact pushing the two of them apart, giving her time to spread her wings wide and get shot upwards on the powerful thermal created by the burning hellscape that was the Cosmopolitan, the massive hotel was now almost completely ablaze, a towering torch that lit the night sky, turning it a fiery red as the screaming population below, locals, tourists and trained professionals tried fruitlessly to fight the blaze created by the indinderary weaponry that had shelled the hotel from seemingly all angles.

In the toxic fumes, she was protected, her wings carrying her high on the burning air, in the darkness of the smog she had the advantage, even as the edges of her feathers and armour warped from the heat, as her internal systems cried out from the heat that shot through her with the force of an erupting geyser.

She was getting tired, the smoke was blinding her too, her wild multifaceted optics darting around, helm swiveling, she had decided against her beast form, for she had no visor to display the readings coming in from her protrusions in that form.

The screams below were cut out by the louder, higher pitched scream of the jet engines of the one she was currently in a dog fight with, they were below, the up draft had carried her far above where he thought she was.

A smirk twisted her features into a feral wild expression, her wings beat again, before being pulled taught, tail feathers flared wide to right her, unlike him, she was deathly silent, she had the advantage, and she was using it to its full capacity.

She was dropping now, hurtling downwards, protrusions flared wide, picking up everything, narrowing in, a shift, a twist, and she was locked on, even as the searing wind screamed past, she cut through it.

A moment later, she threw herself backwards, and flared her wings out behind, the sudden drag forcing the struts to open wide, her heat warped feathers catching the howling winds and billowing out like the sails of a mighty ship, the scythes hidden between snapping out like that of a praying mantis the moment before the killing strike, their lethal points gleaming in the burning embers around them, the only sound coming from the air whipping past the sharp edges, generating a shrill whistle that sung above the cacophony of the building below collapsing like a house of cards.

A spark beat later, the blades met fuselage, and tore deep, the shrill song cut off and replaced by the screech and spark of metals colliding, and an eruption of energon and fire as the fuel ignited, tearing open the side of the one she'd struck.

The guttural scream that followed from the one struck made her smirk become a sadistic grin, cheshire in it's width and insanity, all as half burnt energon splattered bright across her burnt orange chassis and grey-white plating.

The blades continued downwards, gravity separating the two as she continued to plummet.

But it was for only a singular moment more that she fell further, before her wings snapped back out, blades tucked back away by the spring mechanisms that bound them.

The burning heat of the building caught the wide breadth of their wings and sent her spiraling upwards again in a deceptively agile glide, all as the jet she'd struck plummeted downwards past her, roaring as its engines seized, it's parts bleeding profusely from that final strike.

There were none left… the thrill showed no sign of easing, whatever this body counted as adrenaline, was coursing through her like a physical, corporeal, maddening force, even as only they remained in the sky above the burning man-made precipice.

The building beneath her burned like a hellish beacon, illuminating her from beneath, heralding her as a harbinger of death.

And oh what carnage has she wrought upon the attackers of her domain.

Her talons and wing blades shone bright with spilt energon, her flight feathers stained and sticking together, but the heat kept her airborne.

One might joke that it was by sheer determination that she remained airborne even after the duration of the fight, even with the endless holes in her wings from the rounds that had hit marks, even with the seizing of joints from strenuous overuse, from the brutally sharp turns, the jarring rises, the impacts of talons meeting plating, when they'd landed their own blows on her aching frame, from the toxic clouds of smog that filled her vents that left her systems dangerously hot.

It wasn't determination, it was rage, pure unbridled rage, and a heavy dealing of euphoria and thrill, a numbing, confusing mix that had driven her wild, burning like an overfed fire, roaring so high it encompasses her very essence in it's hold.

And she loved it.

She never got to have such fun anymore.

And now, now she had had her fun, and bested two ancient aliens in aerial combat, aliens who had been born for the sky, whilst she had been born to walk the land, a very state she knew they had likely mocked in their eons of existence.

She had bested them, the sky, this burning canvas, was her domain.

Throwing her head back, she unleashed a sound so inhuman, so shrill and triumphant, that it froze the hearts and minds of the many far below, who looked up into the encompassing darkness of the billowing inferno, and witnessed the demonic shadow within, lit by an eerie faint blue glow as the beast continued to crack the heavens themselves with the haunting scream of victory as the military jet that had just escaped from the smoke, struggled away towards the horizon, it's helicopter counterpart lifeless where it had crashed into the ground, it's rear rotor torn free, and primary blades shorne to pieces, the single screen inside still online flickering for a few more moments, bearing a winged shield, before falling black itself.


I loved writing the bit for Ira, well I loved writing all of this chapter, but her's definitely got me in a fighting spirit as I wrote it way back when. Welp, until next time!

Moon