Welp. that's chapter 21 written up, so it's time for you all to get this one!
Grape Creek
The small forested area he found himself in was eerily silent, sans the odd call of the nocturnal birds.
He barely paid them mind, he was nearly completely out of his energon reserves…
Two cycles of driving, and then three of having to hide from locals would do that he figured.
Frenzy refused to talk to him, had since he tried to offer the little mech as collateral.
His processor was sluggish, rolling to one side, then the other like some over charged fool…
When was the last time he'd topped up his tanks?
Like, really had a full tank?
His four optics cycled closed, taking a moment to just… think.
So long he'd been running on rations… having a full cube to enjoy was a distant memory.
Looking back at the past always hurt…
It always reminded him of what he'd never get back.
The early days of the war always felt like a warm up to the main event… when everything became so much more personal, and no longer were either side shooting to win a battle of ideals, but to wipe out those now considered the 'other'.
He was young then, young and stupid.
He'd flirted with danger, now… he was tired…
He wanted it to end… the fighting had gone long enough… taken from him… them… far too many…
Maybe he'd finally find peace one cycle.
But the far future wasn't why he was laying propped against an organic flora.
No… he was here, waiting for the arrival of the ones who wanted to use him.
He'd avoided turning on his com-link to message Starscream, or any of the other Cons…
He couldn't risk them finding out he was planning to defect… he didn't need one of those slaggers managing to signal the DJD…
Primus he did not want those maniacs coming after him… He'd made a promise long ago to a bot he'd cared for more than he'd ever probably admit, that he'd survive the war, they'd shared that promise… but war didn't care for promises… they'd been offlined on a mission that went horribly… horribly wrong.
One day he'd see them again in the Well… get to hold them close and share that morbid sense of humour that they'd shared... until then, he had a promise to maintain.
At the rate things seemed to be going on this organic planet, his best shot of continued survival was not with the Cons… but with these… femmes.
His audios caught something then, the flapping of wings far larger than the birds around him, and the howl of wind forced aside.
Craning his helm up he spied only one, Kia.
Her landing was quick, whipping up the leaf litter that surrounded him.
Talons gripped the ground, and her frame rose high over where he was slumped.
There was a heavy silence as she seemed to look him over, that black visor impassive as the smaller pair of arms, those were new, slipped into her subspace, and drew an impressive chunk of raw energon…
Raw… energon…
It took a moment for him to properly realise what he was looking at.
The thing was easily the size of his fist!
The smaller arms tossed it at him then, landing between where his pedes had spread apart.
"Eat. Given you're here I'm assuming you've decided to agree to our deal?"
He nodded slowly, lurching the upper half of his frame forwards to snag the chunk before slumping back, though he took a moment to break off a piece and place it down next to where Frenzy was curled up, poor mech was not doing well now, his entire frame locked in a permanent shake.
The mech scrambled for the chunk, barely keeping hold of it long enough to shear a piece off.
He couldn't hide his wince, he loathed ingesting raw energon, the points always had a habit of catching when they went down, it was why processed energon was a thing after all, besides being a more refined and potent version of the raw energy source.
But he didn't have much of a choice, it was this, or run completely out of fuel.
Biting a large chunk of, he grimaced as it eventually went down into his nearly empty tanks, the raw energon spitting and sparking inside as his systems began trying to convert it.
All the while the Harpy remained locked still, the previous wounds she seemed to of received were healing over now, though the dents in her thin armour remained.
The rock base of the chunk was tossed aside as he rose to stand, nudging Frenzy with his pede to get up.
The minicon hissed at him, but clambered up into his armour regardless, one of these cycles the minicon was gonna pick the wrong spot and get crushed in one of his transformations.
Kia stepped back enough to give him room to properly rise to his own full height.
He reached her chassis.
A wing was extended out to him.
He hesitated, remembering how Fernando's wings had hidden those scythes, he wasn't going to risk his servo.
Kia seemed to pick up on the hesitance, and pulled her wing back away. "You do not need to revoke yourself from the Decepticons to work for me. I just need you to keep me updated on my brother… he has a nasty habit of making enemies he has no way of beating alone… the number of times I've had to save his stupid ass I swear…" She muttered the last part.
Barricade huffed but nodded. "I figured as much… regarding your brother that is… I'm a bit surprised you want me to remain a Decepticon after saying I had to be loyal."
Kia shrugged. "We don't plan to fight the Decepticons, unless provoked, and if a fight does break out, I won't be mad if you shoot at me the odd time to maintain your cover."
Ah, so that's how this was going to work. "Limited direct contact then?"
Kia nodded, and a com-link request pinged to life on his HUD, activating it he realised it was a private channel, perfect.
Kia stepped back again, back into the gap between the trees, after spreading her wings she gave him a simple nod. "I expect a report once a week, but if anything happens that requires immediate contact, do not hesitate. It wouldn't be good to lose you. And I'd like to keep my head when we return home, with that ass still alive."
And with that, she kicked off the ground, wings beating to take her higher and higher, further and further until she disappeared back into the darkness of the planets night.
Looks like he was a double agent now.
Now to get in contact with Starscream and figure out where that slagger was.
Something flashed on the ground, turning his attention down it looked like some form of storage device, lowering himself to pick it up, he found a tag was attached to it. 'Virus cure'.
Ah, so they held up that part of the bargain too…
Getting Frenzy's attention was easy, getting him to actually download the antivirus was a whole different matter.
Eventually the minicon obeyed.
Almost instantly the rattling stopped, the virus cleared from his systems, no trace remaining to be worried about.
With that done, his transformed down, grimacing as he felt the raw energon in his tanks bounce around, hadn't felt that feeling in a long while.
Mexico the city of Monterrey
The hanger they were all parked in was one meant for aircraft.
They'd pulled in the night before, and the vast majority of them had settled for the night.
Few raised a brow or optic ridge as an entire dead cow was taken into the trailer.
Nor when the same trolly used was dragged back out with only a few of the bones of the animal remaining.
But now, with the new day upon them, and finally a safe place for them to transform back to their bipedal modes, Ratchet finally made his move on the trailer, which the twin Harpies had remained in through the night.
"Prime, help me with this." The medic demanded, waiting for two of the humans who'd been waiting to host them to open the large doors at the back of the trailer.
The light in the hanger flooded into the dark interior, revealing for the first time in days the prone form of the Harpies.
Or more accurately, their tail feathers, the fibres stained with the violet hued energon.
The damaged pede was hidden beneath.
The Harpies grumbled something as they shifted, getting into the trailer had been a rush of movements, and clearly they'd been left in an uncomfortable position.
One that needed external aid to get out of.
Thankfully his reach was great enough to snag the perilously narrow abdominal platting of the Harpies.
Pulling them out was not a pleasant experience for anyone.
A number of times the twins reacted instinctively, letting out high shrill calls as their damaged right pede was shifted afoul.
Clearly putting on a brave face was no longer of high priority.
Another thing Optimus noted was how light they were.
Despite their towering structure, they likely weighed no more than two tones, and that was being generous considering how easy it was to set them down, even despite their struggles and complaints.
The moment he let go they shifted, wings sprawling out in an attempt to right themselves at least somewhat, their helm, held on their long neck, twisted round to observe the damage themselves.
Optimus felt his spark twist at the sight now laid out in the bright lights of the hanger.
The severed main line was already sealed on both ends of where it had been cut, the area surrounding partly charred from the electrical current that had sparked across it, the plating that had, even when warped, covered the area, was hanging off with only a single catch holding it to the frame beneath.
Ratchet didn't hesitate to get to work, shooing him away towards the other side of the hanger.
There he found himself speaking with Ironhide, who now held the recovering Freedom precariously in the crook of his arm, the avian had been seen to by Ratchet's holoform a few days prior, given the lower risk of being discovered working on the flat bed that was a part of his weapon specialists new alt mode.
The mech obviously still had his reservations over the entire situation they had found themselves in, but had admitted that going along with the Harpies was likely their best shot whilst on this planet.
It was obvious they had power here, enough to protect them from their own former kind at least.
There was also an underlining admission that Freedom had grown on the mech somewhat.
The creature was obviously not in the best condition, besides the injuries he'd suffered the avian seemed to be suffering from some psychological holdings, Aria had commented that Fernando was inept at best and had starved Freedom for the smallest mistakes before, leaving the poor creature unnaturally timid despite his species.
Speaking of which, Wren had still not made a re-appearance.
Even now it was Aria that was snapping at Ratchet as the mech moved the limb around, trying to find somewhere to start on the alien layout of the pede.
"Fucking hell would you stop that?!"
A resounding clang answered the irate twin.
And now the femmes sported a new dent on their helm. "I am doing my best, so keep quiet while I work."
He got a half hearted kick to the leg from Aria for that.
But the twin seemed to relent, and Ratchet set fully to work trying to attached the severed line.
Turning his attention back to Ironhide, Jazz, Bumblebee, and the human companions, the later of which were sitting around where Bumblebee had sat himself down against one of the walls, the scouts holoform was already out and scribbling down word after word on the notebook that one of the unnamed humans had brought for him.
Maggie seemed to of warmed up to them as time progressed and she was filled in fully on the situation.
Mr Barnes was tentative, cautious, and kept side eyeing Bumblebee and the rest of his mechs.
Overall, the air within the hanger was tense.
Broken with the sudden return of one Lena Oxton.
The woman was panting as she bolted through one of the doors, paper clutched tightly in hand.
"My Ladies! My ladies!" She called.
The Harpies reacted almost immediately, Aria's holoform coming into existence just as Mrs Oxton came to a halt, passing the paper to her.
The contents were read and the paper was crunched up in her hands. "Thank you Lena…" Her attention turned to him. "Three hours, that's as much time as we can afford to stay here. Puerto de Altamira, a small cargo based port, that's where the boat is."
The previous tenuous calm was broken, his gaze slipping to Ratchet, who was muttering a curse under his vents, and seemed to be hastening his efforts to repair as much of the damage to Wren's pede that he could manage in the now constrained time they had before they would have to the depart again.
Within two hours, they were departing the hanger again, their tanks churning with the sudden arrival of a small shipment of raw energon, Aria made no attempt to explain how it had come into their possession, but the fact they were no longer running low was at least appreciated by his unit, and curiosity from their human companions.
Lena and Leroy were once again with him, the boy was becoming more lively each day, and with that, needing more and more to keep him entertained, at some point Lena had found a toy car for the boy to play with, running other his dashboard numerous times while trying to mimic the roar of his own engine.
It was normally a cute endeavour, the Prime had to admit, but now, it felt like even the boy realised something had changed.
They could all feel it, their previous guards, the swarm of white SUV's that had led them to Monterrey, vanished as they left the cities borders, breaking away down roads that led back to the city.
One of the drivers even gave him a wave before turning off.
Now, they were on their own again, in territory that was apparently hostile to the Harpies.
Two and a half hours into the journey, Ironhide announced they had a tail.
One tail quickly became two, then three, and onwards until the highway they were racing down seemed to empty out, all save the vehicles following them, no set brand this time, but all bearing the same intent.
Lena was tense, and Leroy had fallen silent in her lap, face buried into her stomach as her hand drifted to one of the guns holstered at her hip.
"Prime, ah don' mean tha pressure you or nothin', but ah really think we're gonna have tah gun it… we can last longer than them, we need tah get tah this boat." Jazz's voice coming over his internal com-link confirmed his already growing suspicion.
He really hadn't wanted to draw attention, but that was already out of the question.
"Autobots, rendezvous at the Puerto de Altamira, shake as many of our followers off as you can."
Confirmations came back, and at once they scattered at the next junction, Bumblebee and Jazz continued to gun it down the open highway, Ratchet, having changed his alt mode not long before crossing the US/Mexico border for a civilian vehicle, broke off next, and then Ironhide at the next junction.
One of the tails broke off each time, but it was obvious that most were still after him, and the cargo he was hauling.
Finding another highway wasn't difficult, and soon enough he was cutting and weaving around the human driven vehicles that seemed to surround him on all sides, their horns blaring as he roared ahead.
Thankfully this alt mode had none of the normal limitations to speed that this vehicle normally had, the needle on his speedometer had already long passed the numbers on it.
Engine roaring and energon pumping through his systems like nothing else, he continued to race forwards
Two hours later, the last of his tails finally broke away.
The sigh of relief that left Lena was one he agreed with entirely.
No conflict had broken out, and all were accounted for.
Their haste had also put them ahead on time.
Just before sun down, he was pulling into the port, similar trucks forming a que, each carrying a large cargo container.
Bumblebee joined the line not long after, followed by the rest of the unit, Ratchet arriving last just as he reached the security barrier.
The man inside merely glanced over his frame before waving them through.
Odd, but he was not going to complain.
Lena nudged him a short time later as he rolled further into the port, she pointed ahead, and he finally laid optics on the vessel.
Giant was not an appropriate descriptor.
The vessel was a massive thing indeed, a Yacht a quick search revealed, with a notably large forward deck, he could probably lie down on it and have room to spare.
The amber lights of the port bathed the white plating of the ship in an orange glow, the lights inside allowing him to make out at least four main levels above the water line, not counting what looked like the bridge at the top.
He honestly wasn't surprised, he doubted the Harpies would allow themselves to be transported in anything less than luxury.
The main ramp was down and waiting, boarding went off without a hitch, even with his trailer, the rest of his unit following soon after.
Not minutes after Ratchet had killed his engines, the ramps were lifted, sealing them within the vehicle hold of the ship.
Motion began with the blare of an air horn above.
Lena and Leroy slipped out of his passenger door not longer after.
Just as the human sized door on the trailer popped open.
To his surprise, after Aria had stepped down, she offered her hand back to the darkness, and helped Wren's holoform down.
The black themed twin looked haggard, her gaze glassy as she lent on her twin for support as Aria led them towards what seemed to be a lift up to the higher decks.
Following suit, he joined Lena, Leroy and the twins inside, just as the doors closed behind him, the rest of his unit would take the next one if they so desired.
The lift doors opened again a short time later, revealing a sprawling lounge filled with grey leather sofas, tables, chairs, and even a mounted screen on the wall that was floor to ceiling panoramic glass looking out towards the Gulf of Mexico.
The twins moved passed him, Aria letting her twin down onto one of the sofas, where she seemed to slump over fully.
Leroy was passed into his hold a moment later as Lena rushed to the sides of the twins.
Opting to give them room, he moved to look out at the view before him, some of the windows were actually doors, that slid open at his approach, granting entrance to the open sea air beyond.
A sharp curse however drew his attention back inside.
From this new angle, he could finally get a good look at Wren.
She was wearing a dress, the bottom cutting off at her knees.
Her left leg was fine, the right…
Primus it was no wonder she hadn't use her holoform in public.
The leg ended half way down the shin, the end was a mass of fluctuating pixels, trying to form something but seemingly not knowing how.
The main relay line still needed work.
The bell of the elevator chimed again and Ratchet, Ironhide and Mr Barnes stepped out, followed shortly after by Maggie and Jazz.
Seeing that the black themed twins holoform was engaged, Ratchet moved over, trying to get her attention.
Wren's expression was still strained, features warped into a pained wince as she clutched to the limb just above where the pixels began breaking apart and fluctuating.
Soon enough Mikaela and Bumblebee joined them.
Everyone being accounted for seemed to of been something of a signal, for not two minutes later the double doors that likely led further into the ship burst open and what seemed to be a small army of crew streamed through.
Two of which each proceeded to lead them all, sans the twins and Ratchet, to the rooms that had been set up for their holoforms.
This was something that the Harpies were apparently doing to get them more accustomed to living on Earth.
Leroy was handed back to Lena some time before they were all lead into their own rooms.
He assumed they were all basically the same, large bed, port hole viewing ports to allow light in, a vanity in the corner, wardrobe built into the wall, ensuite bathroom, and a plasma TV screen mounted on the wall opposite to the bed.
The door slid closed behind him, leaving him to stand alone in the room for a moment before opting to take a seat on the bed.
It wasn't going to hurt to try and unwind for a while, his frame was still wound tight from the pseudo chase to the port.
The bed gave to his weight, the silken quilt soft under his touch as he reclined.
Staring at the ceiling he found himself quickly falling to his thoughts.
They were destined for the Eurasian Continent, fleeing the Americas like wanted fugitives.
The guests of beings claiming to have been brought here by a space time anomaly… they still had to specify what they had meant by that particular statement.
It was around this time he noticed a soft sound coming from the speakers built into the TV, it was soft, orchestral he believed, he'd ask Jazz later, the mech had been spending the last few days keeping Maggie occupied by seemingly exploring every facet of the Earth's vast musical culture.
The music strangely reminded him of the first time he had seen the Harpies, on the shared video link Bumblebee had sent to them all within the Cosmopolitan, the show that the twin Harpies had been putting on before the scout and his charge had been taken away by Ira.
When they had split their holoform… both of Wren's legs had been visible at the times when the dress would flare one way or the other due to a drastic motion to match the beats of the song…
Her right leg had shown no damage…
Or had it? The signal had been warped by distance and the seemingly uncontrolled nature that was the Humans way of sending out signals of seemingly every frequency they could create within and outside of reason.
The relay line being severed was a different issue to a primarily physical wound… but Aria's bleeding ear had proved that such damage was shown on a Holoform when it was fully functioning.
This holoform technology seemed incomplete, rudimentary, yet at the same time, it worked well enough for him to press his fingers together, and feel what skin felt like to skin… or at least, he assumed this is what skin felt like… bumpy, slightly warm, malleable, and of course, fragile.
A fragility that had stayed with the Harpies, the twins had admitted themselves that they were brittle.
It all brought up images of shattered glass and crystal…
Shattered crystal… yes… that was a good way of describing the Harpies.
Easily broken, yet forged by intense pressure and heat, before slowly cooling, forming the beings they are now.
And of course, perilously sharp at their broken edges, physical and otherwise.
It was not difficult to tell that they had… that something was amiss with all of them.
They weren't shattered glass though, glass was common… easily found all around… crystal was rarer, these four were not like the other humans they surrounded themselves with.
They had a power that the others could only dream of obtaining.
What a strange group…
To leave such an impression on him, and so quickly.
His processor helpfully brought up the memory of Ira repeatedly slapping his weapons specialist across his shocked face plates whilst shouting bloody murder at him.
Then one of the twins threatening to slice his glossa off…
Kia seemed honestly to be the most reserved out of all of them…
Yet somehow just thinking that felt like he was missing something.
In all likelihood, he was just yet to witness something of equal caliber from the Bateleur.
He could feel his spark becoming restless, the room felt too small, regardless of the fact it was actually quite spacious.
Pushing his holoform back off the bed, he went for the door, perhaps some exploring would do him good, the journey to the Eurasian Continent would take some time, so it stood as reasonable to find out what this ship had to offer.
Back in the main lounge, Ratchet found himself coming up blank.
There wasn't room in the vehicle hold to transform, so the best he could do now was try and get a better idea of what was damaged on each twin and where, using their holoforms as a template.
A task that was proving difficult to achieve.
For one thing, both outright refused to remove the articles of clothing they were wearing.
Meaning he could only examine what was visible at present, and not the spots that were already staining parts of said attire a deep crimson, the bleeding was sluggish, but it needed to be tended too.
They kept insisting he wait until they got to international waters.
By Primus' spark it wasn't like he was asking them to open up their spark chamber...s?
And in that brief moment of thought, something struck him.
Not literally, but a thought, one that quickly spiralled out of control, the heated rebuke to Aria's irate claim of invasion of privacy falling from his holoforms glossa as a strained noise as all focus went to this new internal enquiry.
Why was it only now he realised the true magnitude that the two beings before him implied?
They were clearly two separate entities, joint piloting a frame, when one was out of action, the other seemed unable to take full control, one half of their holoforms always had a slight delay to it…
Oh but that was just the tip of this wasn't it?
He'd heard of something like this… only once, muttered under the vents of his own mentor, a medic of truly noteworthy accolade. One whom seemed to of perfected the art of scaring the spark back into life with a few choice words and a look of pure murder.
It wasn't a fluke his own berthside manners weren't the best considering his mentor.
They had made claim that once, early in their career, they had been presented with what they referred to as an 'anomaly'.
An anomaly that snuffed soon after, but one that shook the medical institutes to its core, one that was never allowed into the public's conscience.
Split spark, same frame twins.
His mentor ended up siding with the Decepticons when the war broke out, going with their intended, a Kaonian they had meet whilst working in the backwards city at a clinic they'd set up.
They had told him of the sparkling(s), when forming, the sparks had not spread far enough apart, and a singular warped spark chamber had formed around them, followed by everything else.
The frame obviously wasn't going to last, and their sparks snuffed out not long after delivery.
Apparently these two before him now weren't full Cybertronian… could that of been their saving grace?
Or were they completely unrelated due to their Human origin?
Fingers being clicked in front of his optics jolted him back to present, Aria stood before him with a put off expression.
"Excuse us, but I believe we were having an argument." Wren snapped from where she was now lying down along the sofa, her head craned at a somewhat unsettling angle to regard him.
What was it with these two and doing that?
The first thing out of his mouth was an eloquent. "I need to examine your spark chamber."
The heavy pause that followed as both twins obtained expressions of pure purplexion was not a comforting experience.
Aria at least leant forwards and asked the question he could feel forming within the tension around them. "Our… what?"
And that was when it really, truly hit him.
These weren't Cybertronians…
These were humans.
Tiny, organic creatures, who's lifespan so far fit within their journey time to Earth.
Two tiny creatures, flung across time and possibly reality, into bodies literally alien to them.
Had said bodies mangled together with the codings of a third even more primitive flight capable race, and metaphorically thrust together with his own Prime and his unit, by a foul hand of fate.
They had no proper understanding of their limits, the twins flinging themselves across that chamber in the dam after that gunshot wound, their irate tempers, how hesitant they were to fight initially, before lunging into an outright brawl to save one human life.
A human life that had not existed for much less than their own.
By Primus below…
He could see it now, Ira's near non-existent short fuse, Kia's strained patience.
These beings were at the end of their ropes.
They were scared, doing all they could in their power to help them, to help themselves yes but that was fair given the sudden context that had struck him across the helm.
Compared to the rest of the Cybertronians online on this planet, they were wholly inexperienced, flung into a war without so much of a thought…
Slowly he walked passed Aria, and sat down next to where Wren was laying, and slowly rested a hand against her shoulder, even the projected musculature under the holoforms unnervingly accurate skin, tensed at his touch.
He did not miss the warning hiss from the white twin, a notably inhuman feature. He spotted her reflexively flinch back a moment after the hiss had left her, just on the peripheral of his vision.
He looked between the two slowly and muttered. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry."
The reaction was jarring, Aria jerked back as if she'd been physically struck, and Wren just stared at him through the pitch black sunglasses she still wore.
After a few moments of her head twitching from side to side and worrying her bottom lip on her teeth Aria spoke. "You… Your... what?"
He took a long slow breath, an odd thing, not like venting, yet, had the same effect of stabling his sensory array a bit. "I'm sorry… This whole time I have been treating you like insubordinate soldiers… not as… civilian neutrals."
The strained laugh that evolved into Aria's reply felt like a physical blow to the spark. "You're not the worst doctor we've ever had. If it makes you feel any better."
Something flickered on both of their holoforms then, at first he didn't notice anything different.
But then, he did.
And it made his internal systems roil.
Running down the side of Aria's left cheek, a gouge, paler pink scar tissue, and it was not alone.
A glance at Wren revealed matching scars, and another both just above the right eye, poking out from the top of the sunglasses, Wren's eye.
Aria poked her cheek. "A battle wound… you could say… mother… wanted to… to…" Whatever she was going to say died, replaced by a half chuckle and shake of her head. "It doesn't matter…" Like the flip of a switch the tone became icy, her left hand clenching at her side. "We killed her before she could try again… heh… heh... we killed all the bastards…"
She was shaking… visibly shaking.
Slowly he rose, and just as slowly, stepped back to her.
She flinched back, this time it was the black twin who hissed.
He couldn't tell if Wren had flinched after the fact, but something told him she had.
All he did was open up his arms, and say. "Doctor patient confidentiality, no one else outside this room will ever know."
At this distance, he could see her eyes, just through the tinted glass, they widened for a moment, as a small half gasp was pulled into her.
Slowly, as if fearful of harm… the phrase, once burned twice shy, came to mind, the white twin stepped forwards, head ducking to the side before she almost collapsed fully against him, her own arms going around his midsection as he carefully wrapped his own around her trembling shoulders.
Slowly, he began to rock the both of them side to side.
He said nothing as her breathing became more erratic, and as the feeling of liquid pooling against his shoulder became more and more noticeable, and her hold became tighter, fearing letting go.
He did not pull away until she did, her left hand coming up to wipe away the tear tracks with the palm of her hand. "Don't you ever dare tell anyone I cried." She muttered, whatever bite she could normally carry in her words gone as she moved past him and helped her twin to stand on her one working leg. "Her turn."
He simply nodded and let the black twin drop against him.
There was no crying this time, just tight, near painful gripping.
It lasted a lot longer too, before Wren let go with one arm and began blindly searching for Aria, who was already at her side to help her back to the sofa.
They sat side by side then, the grey halves of their holoforms together.
Their expressions were neutral for a moment before Wren reached up, and pulled her sunglasses off, Aria following suit.
He found himself locked in place by two sets of shocking emerald green eyes, nestled against the pupil of each was a singular band of a paler, more blue tinted green, and for a moment he swore the thin bands pulsed, but that could of just been the lights.
In unison they spoke. "Thank you." It was a whisper, but it knocked something in his spark.
It almost made him remember something he'd long since buried away.
Almost.
Somewhere in Texas
Ira sighed, her position perched on the perilous cliff she'd found herself on more reminiscent of a keen predator than a human trying to enjoy the sunset.
Which was what she was trying to do.
But even this she couldn't enjoy.
She couldn't enjoy the beautiful sunset.
It wasn't her sun…
It wasn't her sun…
And as she stared out at the sun that wasn't her sun… she felt the reality of the situation become more and more painfully clear to her.
They were stuck.
They were probably never going home.
It wasn't fair.
Nothing was ever fair.
Slowly she eased her wings to the ground and looked down over the cliff.
She'd given up trying to slip away long ago… it never seemed to work.
She had to wait… wait for death to finally come.
She had to live with the cards fate had dealt her.
Did she even want to go home?
That was a question she'd asked herself many… many times over the last two years.
She'd never been able to get a real answer out of herself…
What was there to really go back to?
A mother she'd long since cut ties with… whatever siblings she had that hadn't done themselves in one way or another… or fallen prey to their mother, whom she'd barely managed to escape by the skin of her teeth...
And… a tombstone… the one granite slab, carved out and probably half overgrown by some damn vegetation now… now she wasn't there to go back every month and take care of it.
Keeley, the ever supportive little thing, seemed to sense where her emotions were going, and pulled something from her subspace, and held it carefully between two talons for her.
Looking down, the setting sun glinted off the the opal band, and the piece of roughly cut ruby held in the precious stones tiny teeth. The whole thing was handcrafted… she could still see the cut marks glinting on both parts of the ring.
"A one of a kind ring… for the one of a kind woman I want to marry. If… you'll be my wife?"
She tried to feel the happiness she'd felt when he'd asked her…
But all she felt was the hole in her chest… the one that had been a constant presence in her life for so long.
Keeley's grip on the ring never waived like hers used to.
They'd agreed… their first daughter would be named Ruby… after the ring…
The sounds of flapping wings approaching cut off her thoughts, swiftly followed by the sounds and wind burst of Kia landing just behind her.
It didn't take long for Kia to glance over her shoulder and spot the ring, whatever she would of said dying in her throat as her wing moved to rest against her other shoulder.
None of them were good at this comforting shit…
Keeley tucked the ring back away from her.
Taking it as a sign, Kia pulled her wing back away and spoke. "Come on… the twins ship is already heading for international waters, Barricade's working for us, we have no more reason to hang around."
Ira just nodded, pushing herself up and out of her crouch. "Yeah… I wanna be in Rome again at some point this century."
There was a pause, a heavy pregnant pause.
"Ira… If you ever want to talk…"
"I' never helped before, i' won't help now." She snapped sullenly, cutting off the larger Harpy before spreading her wings. "Can' believe i' took yah almost ah full day tah get back."
Kia huffed, but accepted the change of topic. "I sent you a text, got word there was some infighting breaking out, had to go clean it up."
Ah, she had actually sent such a text. And her talons did have some newly splattered blood and entrails on them, lovely.
She huffed, this was why she kept her work force small, a lot easier to manage.
"Wha' about Keller?"
"Already passed on to an escort, he'll arrive back in Washington within a few days."
"You installed the device?"
"Winston did, unless they think to scan his brain stem, they'll never know."
Spreading her wings out half way she gave a half nod to Kia, before pitching forwards and off the edge of the cliff.
She allowed herself to drop, just for a few seconds.
The ground rushing to meet her… she almost didn't pull up…
Almost.
Welp, hope you all enjoyed.
Recently coloured a sketch I did, it's basically how the Harpies look, note there are some differences in armour layout and style between each of the Harpies.
Thought you'd all like to see what the Harpies look like as a whole. You can find it either on my Deviantart or in the Archive of your own version of this chapter.
