Ace could hardly feel the sting from her hands each time they came into contact with the bloodied material.
"What the Hell do you think you're doing?!"
His rough voice have become normal to listen to. His drug induced rages or his drunken babbles were the only things that she ever heard around the house aside from the TV that was left on twenty-four/seven.
Every part of her body ached, but she kept going. She had to keep going. It was compulsive, she knew that, but the sting brought her comfort. It was better than turning to drinking like her father. It was better than stringing up a rope and... Ace shook that from her head.
She sat against the wall, looking as the softly swaying body of a blonde haired woman. A metal chair that was rusted on the front two legs that had collapsed upon the female body's weight suddenly leaping off of it. Against the wall, a small, innocent, dark haired girl was rocking herself back and forth with her hands clasped tightly over her ears. She rocked back and forth, back and forth, muttering the same things over and over again.
"Melody Jane Echolyn, five-foot-six-inches, Russian descent, female. Bruising consistent with domestic violence. Her wedding ring appears beaten up," Ace hissed through clenched teeth. A distinct crack was heard through the otherwise silent air as her fists became tighter, "Known lovers: Elijah Weaver, Darrel Lewis, Owen Peters, Julio Nunez, and Elmer Collins. Julio Nunez - known gang member; HVI positive."
Ace could taste blood begin to seep out of her gums and through her teeth. Her jaw was clamped shut, refusing to let out any sound that could possibly let out the smallest sound of weakness. She was practically out of breath, only working off of the faint slivers of actual sleep she gained throughout the night.
He clawed at her hair and took a firm grip, forcing her along the wooden halls of their rickety old house. The cigarette in his mouth fell to the floor with his pile of alcohol bottles. He tossed the little girl, blue eyes wide and fearful, to the other side of the room. The shriek of an innocent child could be heard down the block and back as his heavy work boot slammed into her ribcage. She should have been dead from the impact, cracked and bruised ribs, and undoubtedly punctured lung, but she wasn't.
"You stupid little fucking shit! You should have stopped her from -"
Flames suddenly erupted from his alcohol stash in the corner.
A second and third crack sounded as her hands moved at an impossibly fast rate. She felt his heavy, hot feeling inside of her stomach that was bubbling and ready to spill over. She felt like she was burning up. She could feel the flames that licked at her skin from her childhood. She could feel the faded scars ache with an indescribably pain.
He didn't even look at her. He grabbed his current bottle and bolted for the door. The flames grew bigger and brighter as they caught onto the house, clawed heir way up the carpet, and slithered along closer and closer to her. She screamed in fear, calling for her mother to save her. She called for her father to help her. She prayed for anyone to come to her rescue, but all that came was the fire that swallowed up the hell hole that a woman, a man, and a child once played 'Picture Perfect' in.
Ace flung herself into the air, aiming her leg outwards with a bent knee and light tension. Her lower calf slammed into the punching bag decorated with red spatters of her blood. The rubber cylinder holding sand inside fell off the chain with a notable 'snap!' Air came flowing into her lungs as her mind finally settled itself outside of the memories consisting of fire and booze.
"Would you like to talk about it?"
Ace's blue eyes narrowed upon hearing a voice from behind her. She snapped her head toward the doorway where a familiar six-foot-eight-inch male stood. His own blue eyes seemed patient and kind while looking at the rather distraught female.
"Orion?" she muttered out breathily, "This is your base?"
"Yes, it happens to be where my team and I are stationed," he nodded in confirmation, "So, would you like to talk about it?"
"What makes you think that there's an 'it'?" Ace challenged.
"I recognized the expression," Orion admitted, "A few soldiers here have the same look, but not quite so -"
"Focused?" Ace suggested, "Well, I can tell you that I'm fine. This is normal for me."
He looked over her quickly, noticing the lacking burn marks or bruises, "Ratchet didn't think that you would be awake for -"
"A week, yeah, I know," Ace said with an air of annoyance. She looked down at her fist, watching the black gel she was all too familiar with coating over her fingers that were broken.
She heard Orion take a few steps toward her before stopping. She knew he was waiting for her to look up at him, but for whatever reason, she was nervous to even move with him there. She was upset, angered, and about ready to kill someone. She was still panting, but it wasn't from lack of breath. She felt heat swelling up from behind her eyes and pushing forward. Her vision blurred. Ace had nearly forgotten what it was like - crying. A warm hand hooked her chin and brought her face up to see soft eyes gazing down at her. A gentle smile was on the male's face. He wore the kind of expression that you read about in romance novels, when you know that you love someone so deeply that you'd do anything for them. His eyes twinkled softly, his scent lured her in, and his presence seemed to calm her. And yet, she cried. Her tears came faster and heavier like the rain when it came pounding down from the sky.
Orion didn't speak. He wrapped his arms around Ace firmly, pulling her toward his chest and keeping her there in a tight, secure hug. Ace felt her heart stuttering about in her chest while she simply stood there. Her body felt numb as if this embrace of his was able to wash away everything that had raced through her mind.
"M-my mother," she whispered into his shoulder, "I-I found m-my mother w-when I... when I w-was s-six. S-she was... she was just... hanging there. L-like she was at peace. F-fucking peace!"
Ace's arms flung around Orion. Her eyes clenched shut and her fingers dug into his back for dear life. She couldn't bare to let go. She needed someone to hold her up. Ace needed to be weak for a second. Just a second of weakness and that was all. The arms that embraced her held firm and tight. The man that stood there for Ace to cling to was perhaps the only one to ever see Ace in a state of weakness aside from a few select figures.
When Ace's fingers relented from clawing into Orion's shoulders, she gently pushed off of him, wiping the tears from her cheeks roughly. Orion kept a firm hold on her arms, looking at her blue eyes with his own. Ace felt her heart begin the pound with an almost sick-like feeling. Nervousness fluttered up in her stomach. Heat rose to her cheeks.
"Mind keeping this between us?" she asked. She winced at the sound of her own voice breaking.
"There is no shame in showing weakness for a moment, but no, I do not mind," his rumbling voice soothed, "Azrael, I realize that this might be an inconvenient time, but I would like to ask you to meet my team. There is something about this base that you do not know."
"I... I just need another minute," Ace said attentively, "Please?"
A hand gently touched her cheek and a thumb brushed away a newly shed tear, "Take what time you need."
The shattered mirror in front of her, splattered with blood, showed broken pieces of her face. It seemed like that somedays, that she was broken in a way that she didn't even seem human with overly logical statements and sarcastic jokes lacking any humor. She knew what it was and she knew that it was deeply rooted to her past. Until today, she had been able to deal with it. Why now, when she was here in this place, were these emotions of hatred suddenly arising? Why were these waves of unexplained memories beginning to flood back to her?
Three knocks on the door shook Ace out of her questioning phase. The voice of Roger Epps came muffled from the other side of the door.
"'Ay, Doc, you alright in there?" he called.
Ace brought her hand up to her throat and pressed to of her fingers to the underside of her neck, "Just fine, Epps. I'll be out in a moment."
With a rough wipe of her nose, Ace stood straight in the mirror belonging to her temporary barracks. She forced on a smile onto her face that looked scarily natural. With a quick hand running through her hand, Ace left the mirror in its shattered form and whipped open the door. Epps's excited grin met her own false one, but the faking came a little easier with his energy around.
"Alright, let's do this," Ace said with an air of forced excitement. However, she was extremely curious, "Where to? Now that I know there's something I don't know, I've been wracking my brain over what it could possibly be!"
"We're headed up to the catwalk, Doc," Epps said. He turned to point up to a waving Will who was grinning just as excitedly as Epps.
Ace's feet began to move before her mind could really tell them two. Something about this felt natural - almost calming in a way. But she felt nervousness flutter up in her stomach again. She felt heat bubbling up to her cheeks and her mind jumped over to Orion. She thought of how his hands felt against her skin, how tightly he held onto her - like he'd been waiting so long to do it. He seemed to be made of all qualities tracing back to a leader. Her initial thoughts of him had been so logical and now she was experiencing this odd evocation of emotion in her chest. As if she was missing something.
As if she was missing him.
She got to the top of the catwalk, still far away and deep within her own mind. It was like the catacombs sometimes, when she retreated into her mind. There were so many paths and places to go. Trails and clues that she hadn't picked up on her first dozen times around. It seemed endless, her wandering through thoughts and the softer, kinder memories of her childhood, when a voice called out to her.
"Hey, kid," Will placed his hand on her shoulder, "Is everything okay? You seem out of it?"
Ace blinked a few times, registering the fact that the Major was staring at her worriedly. She shook her head before she gave him a quick nod with a soft smile.
"I'm okay, just... lost in thought, I suppose. It's a maze, my head. Can never really know where you're going unless you've got a map," Ace shrugged. She shoved back the emotions, those little licks of something new growing in her chest, and she put up a brave face, "So, what's there to -"
The screeching of tires cut Ace off. Her startling blue eyes turned to the ground floor of the base, finding a black and yellow modified 1967 Camaro SS. Her mind shot her back in time to high school when she and Sam Witwicky were 'together'. It was hard to say what they were at the time. They had been what was called "best friends", but at the same time, they had been involved with one another in a way that was nearly romantic. Ace brought her hand up to her head as she returned to the present, and she watched as a boy not much different than the one she once knew spill out of the car, laughing amusedly and patting the hood.
"Okay, I give, you've gotten better," he said with a dizzying sort of air around him, "Good one, Bee."
"Bee," Ace repeated, "I... I know that name..."
"Ace, I want you to meet my car, Bumblebee," Sam said with a childish nature.
Said girl raised a brow at the beaten up black and yellow Camaro whose lights blinked at her in welcome. She dragged her finger over the hood while walking to the driver's side. She peered into it.
"How did you do that?" she asked with curiosity.
"Do...what?" Sam raised a brow at her inquiry.
"Miles isn't in here to mess around, and you're standing there, so how did you make the lights flicker?"
Sam walked around the car and grabbed onto Ace's hand. He pulled her away from the car gently, knowing that if he did something wrong - she could probably kill him. Of course, that had been part of the attraction at the time. She was the mysterious girl at school, the one with no friends, and the one that seemed almost deadly. Yet somehow Sam was still alive with his luck.
"Okay, Bee, you're good to transform," Sam said confidently.
Silence was the only thing that rang around them, no movement but by the trees committing to a dangerous dance with the wind. Ace looked at Sam and brought her hand to his forehead.
"Are you feeling okay, Sammy?" she asked softly, nervously, "You don't have a fever - did you contract a virus lacking obvious symptoms?"
"What? No! Just... he's probably scared he's going to scare you away like Mikaela," Sam said quickly. He looked at the Camaro desperately, "C'mon, Bee, don't make me look crazy in front of her."
Ace gently whispered, "You won't scare me,"
The sound of metal shifting into place, gears turning, and rods popping into place echoed throughout the empty field. Ace gazed up at the giant before her, her mind almost not comprehending that there was a creature made of metal standing but a yard away from her and Sam.
"Ace, this is Bumblebee. He's an Autobot, one of the guys that protected Earth from the Decepticons during the battle of Mission City," Sam said with an air of pride, "This guy's the youngest, and my best friend. But he'd also going to protect you, okay?"
The blue eyed girl could only nod, but a soft, genuine smile slipped onto her lips.
"It's nice to meet you, Bumblebee. I'm Azrael, but everyone calls me Ace,"
"Bumblebee?" Ace whispered softly. Her chest swelled as her mind flooded with the memories she had forced away of the youngest 'Bot, "Bumblebee!"
Shifting plates, gears, and popping joins sounded as the transformation began. There was no way to describe the beauty of such an event, but Ace had seen Bee do it enough times to know that this came easy to the young scout. Blue optics focused on her, still just as young and just as radiant as they had been the first time she met him. Immediate recognition lit up in the black and yellow Cybertronian's optics.
"Azrael - that you - girl?" came the fizzling sections of radio shows and songs that played as his voice.
"You two know each other?" Will asked with obvious confusion.
Ace nodded, "Sam and I used to be an odd mix of platonic friends and romantic lovers. One day we would be punching one another in the arm, and the next we would be cuddled on the couch for hours straight."
"So do you and Bee here know one another?" Epps inquired while Bee walked toward the catwalk without crushing an soldiers.
"Sam introduced Bee and I to one another, and at times, Bee played as my guardian when Sam was off doing... whatever the hell he was doing at college. We broke it off after Sam said that his life had too many complications," Ace explained with a light tone to her voice. She smiled when Bee was just below her, "I didn't blame him. I just... I think now I understand what those 'complications' were."