Woo boy this is a big one! Don't wanna spoil anything so I'll keep this brief, hope you all enjoy!
Monaco
Prowl's eyes widened in surprise at what the receptionist had relayed to him, and looked to the note she'd passed him.
'Hi Prowl, something came up at Nari and Sel's family home and they asked me to come give them a hand, they were being cryptic and you and I both know that means something big is up. Doubted I'd be back in time for the rest of the time share, so I cancelled the room, I tried to get through to you but my data plan ran out 'woo', sorry for just leaving you like this in Monaco, but you're an adult, I figured you'd be able to handle yourself now that you caught back up with your friends, see you when I see you and much love, Molly XXX.'
Ira looked over his shoulder at the note. "Kinda irresponsible doncha think?"
Prowl just chuckled and shook his head. "Nah, Molly's right, if Nari and Sel actively said they needed help, that means something really big came up. Them being cryptic and them being at the family house probably means they found something in the family archives they don't know how to deal with… they mentioned that that might be something that happened, so I'm not really surprised." He looked to Ira and tucked the note in his pocket, turning to head back out of the hotel, Ira following on his heel. "C'mon, we've still got a whole day to burn, what do you say we go for a joy ride before heading back to the manor?"
Ira's expression lit up at that. "Can I drive?!"
He laughed and shook his head. "As a police officer, off duty or not, I'm gonna have to remind you you are not insured to drive my vehicle."
Ira pouted and kicked the ground with the front of her shoe. "Damnit."
"I won't stop you if you want to stick your head out of the window though."
And just like that Ira was laughing herself. "Deal!"
Pentagon Washington DC
General Grant was not a man who let speculation rule his judgement, he was a man of facts, of patience, then action when action was needed.
An iron will against the cock dancing that he often witnessed go down between others both above and below him on the chain of command.
He was respected for that, for his take no bullshit attitude.
But all who parted to let him pass could tell, maybe even more than he could himself, that that infamous patience and ironwill was cracking.
Months had passed since the Cosmopolitan Terrorist attack, and the unfounded evacuation of Sector Sevens base at the Hoover Dam.
Even a blind man could see that Sector Seven had lost both it's prized artifacts and all of the data they had collected over nearly a century.
But General Grant couldn't give a monkeys ass about the frozen alien and cube.
His son, his only son, the pride and joy of his life, was still missing.
He'd sent his son and those others there to be safe, but, his son, his partner, the signals analyst and the hacker… none had been located… alive or dead. The other three families were contacted, he empathised as best as he could with their grief.
His wife had slipped into a depression he just couldn't get her out of, he had her seeing a psychiatrist to see if they could help her through the grieving process.
The doors were pushed open for him, and he strode right up to Secretary of Defence Keller. "Sir…" He started with a salute.
"At ease Grant… I know why you're here." The older man remarked.
Secretary Keller looked him up and down for a moment before sighing. "Nothing… that lead we had? Every informant we've sent to look into it, and similar… none of them have reported back." The older man lamented.
General Grant wanted to scream, to kick something, to curse his superior out, but he didn't.
He'd been missing for a time too, but unlike his son, his partner and the other two, he and that band of soldiers from Qatar had been located, somehow all of them had woken up in one of the Pentagons parking lots.
The security cameras had been hacked, showing nothing until the mass of unconscious humans just popped into existence one frame after the other.
Whoever was doing all of this, they were still in the system.
He tried not to think about the fact it had been his son who let them in.
He also tried not to think about those his son had let in were still watching them from their own cameras, mocking them as they seemed to forever stay out of reach of their own IT staff.
It wasn't the Russians, it wasn't the Chinese or the Koreans…
Whoever this was, they didn't want a fight. They wanted the Pentagon to know that, no matter what, if they tried to fight this unknown, they would lose.
He hated tactics like this, it was the style of smug cowards. That or this was the preamble for something far worse.
Thank God they'd been able to keep the public from discovering just how fucked they all were.
He brought himself back to the present and nodded. "I appreciate you giving me the time to speak… how have you been feeling, neck still giving you problems?" He enquired.
Keller huffed, reaching up to roll his head on his neck. "Still stiff, but when you get to my age, that's just what happens… Grant, I know this has been an especially difficult time for you, and again I am truly sorry… but I don't remember anything past those alarms going off… and that voice… the noise haunts me…"
General Grant reached over and gave his superior a clap to the shoulder. "We'll find the ones responsible for this, and we will make them pay… that's a promise sir… America isn't defeated yet, and like hell are we going to let a shadow take us down."
He looked to the security camera, his keen eye spotting the lense spin and direct its focus on him.
They were watching.
He turned fully towards the camera, and snarled at it, barring his gritted teeth.
Keller gave him a perplexed look as he turned back. "Forgive me sir, just showing the enemy my distaste to their cowardice."
Keller nodded, but something wormed around in his gut, telling him that General Grant had only made his situation worse.
That or it could be the other lingering gut feeling that this 'enemy' would only be a threat, if they made themselves one.
It was why he kept advising minimal investigations, pairs of informants, some of their best, so as to show that they were actively still trying to investigate…
The President was in his last months in office, and he was understandably annoyed that this would be going down on the private records… but was at least put at ease by the investigation. Especially considering the 'incident' on Air Force One still equally had no concrete explanation, the security feeds were wiped, and the bodies of those pulled out of the cargo hold in the decompression not revealing anything, the same issue as the bullet hole in the roof of said cargo hold.
But then the informants started disappearing… the last two hadn't made radio contact in over a week…
Keller let out a sigh. "General Grant… see to it that you take some time off, give your wife some company?" He suggested.
He watched General Grant let the weight of everything come down on his shoulders. "Of course sir, permission to be dismissed?"
"Granted."
Monaco Bunker
"PROWL!"
Prowl had been warned that his apparent best friend was on his way.
Someone had apparently forgotten to tell him earlier that he specifically was the one Optimus had located.
And now this mech named 'Jazz' had likely broken every speed limit between Rome and Monaco to see him.
The Law Enforcer in him was half tempted to report him to the local authorities, but the sheer notion of trying to ticket a sentient car and not a driver gave him something of a rather nasty headache.
He'd been warned by Ratchet that the mech was clingy, and was very affectionate with his friends.
Even with all of his years being friends with Narisa, Selena and Bella, he still wasn't really prepared for the mech to lunge from the lowering platform he was on, tackle him and have the force of the momentum send them tumbling into the main area of the bunker with an unholy screech of metal and showers of sparks, those were going to take a while to buff out.
Which meant that the Orichiono's, Optimus Prime, Ironhide and Ratchet were all there to bear witness to this white, black, red and blue mech with a blue visor much like his own nearly snap him in half with a tight hug that had him grimacing.
"Sweet Primus Prowl! You're alive!" Jazz exclaimed, voice somewhat muffled from where he'd buried his face as far as he could push it into the other mechs neck.
Prowl chuckled somewhat nervously. Doing what he could to placate the mech with pats to the back. "Yeah… Jazz right?"
Jazz pulled back from the hug, looking like he'd been slapped, before he seemed to remember the situation, and gave him a smile that oddly reminded him of Sophia when her thoughts wandered to dark places. "Yeah… Ah'm Jazz… Primus Prowl… I… I had an entire speech I came up with on the journey over… but now ah can' even remember a word of it…" He mumbled…
The soft ringing of something tapping metal drew their shared attention to a blonde human standing next to Jazz's thigh, and large chunk of one of her ears replaced by a mechanical replacement. "Hey Jazz… you going to introduce me?"
It took a few moments of Prowl reading their body language and it clicked, he let out a laugh, which seemed to shock Jazz, after a moment he composed himself and spoke. "Looks like I'm not the only one to have fallen in love with a human… good morning Miss, I'm Prowl."
Maggie smiled. "Maggie Madsen, pleasure to finally meet the guy Jazz dragged me out of bed to meet."
Jazz was still staring at him, and Prowl swore he could hear the other mechs brain overworking itself. "Jazz?"
Jazz seemed to come back to himself. "Prowl… You're datin' a human too?"
Prowl chuckled again, a lovestruck expression coming to his features. "Try married to one, twenty sixth anniversary is coming up in four months."
To say that Prowl was bombarded with questions for the next few hours would be a staggering understatement, though he did manage to get a good few in himself to ask about things he didn't remember.
He was rather surprised to discover he'd been a 'by the book to the point of doctrine devotion' kinda guy.
Losing his memories and forming new ones with the likes of his friends and wife evidently loosened him up quite a bit.
Prowl honestly doubted he could feel happier, he'd been reunited with forgotten friends, he'd been accepted despite his lack of memories… the only thing that would make it perfect would be Annie being here.
The Orichiono's had already begun working out the logistics of such a transfer, so he hardly had long now to wait.
Things really were looking up now!
Barcelona a few days later
Barricade pulled at the collar of the suit jacket he was wearing, grumbling something under his breath as Kia sat in the back seat with him, the driver keeping their attention on the road ahead as the city's lights shone through the tinted windows, creating a soft hue of varied colours to fill the inside of the vehicle.
Kia glanced over to him, one of her hands was rubbing at the thick maroon velvet choker around her own neck, something that matched the equally maroon band of metal that was around her actual neck. "Too tight?" She enquired, glancing at the silk tie that was fastened around his neck.
Barricade shrugged, and stopped fiddling. "Human clothes are not something I'm used to."
She shrugged. "Walking around in metal armour isn't something I am particularly accustomed to either, but we must adapt to the situations we are placed within by fate." Kia remarked, pulling her hand away from her choker and instead pulling her large purse into her lap and opening the flap to peer inside, pulling out a small lip-stick and easily applied a touch up of the deep rouge to her lips, unaffected by the bumps in the road.
He wasn't sure where they were going, Kia had said she was taking him out for a 'night on the town', to 'cut loose' a 'thank you' so to speak for bringing that Derrick guy up from the Atlantic.
He wasn't going to tell his boss no, so he accepted the holoform program, if a bit hesitant, and now they were here, in this bright white SUV and being transported to a club Kia said her mother and father had frequented a few times with her back in their own reality.
A unique pitch for a location if he'd ever heard one.
The club was easy enough for the driver to find, and all they had to get in was for Kia to pull the doormans ear down to her level and whisper something that had his eyes going wide as she slipped what looked to be a large wad of cash into his jacket.
Then she turned to him, took his hand in hers, and pulled him inside.
The music was loud, pounding even, the base of which he could feel through the floor.
In one corner was the bar, patrons sitting at and leaning against the polished wood while the staff took tabs and poured drink after drink from the taps.
There had to be at least two hundred humans inside on the three floors, the ground floor had a dance floor, in the other back corner the DJ and Band were playing, the current song seemed to of put a bounce in Kia's step as she pulled him towards the dance floor, where scores of partners were already dancing along to the beat.
Seeing where this was going, he instead pulled her towards the stairs leading up to the second, then third floor, where the music was no less loud, but there were less people about.
Kia gave him a half pout half curious look. "Don't know how to dance pretty boy?"
The last time he'd danced, it had been with Dust.
The sharp pang to the spark seemed to translate onto his face, and Kia was pulling him towards a booth. "Bad experience?"
"No… just… I lost my partner to the war… haven't had much of a reason to dance since."
He watched as her expression shifted, becoming one of surprise, then of regret. If she was in her actual form, he had a feeling those protrusions would have fallen against her helm.
He tried to reassure her she'd done no harm, she could hardly have known after all. "It's not your fault, it was a long time ago… I don't like talking about her… hurts too much knowing she's gone."
Kia nodded, but seemed to still be a bit reluctant, before her mood shifted and she gave a light chuckle. "Well, I think I can safely say that... she was a damn lucky bot, having claimed your tight ass that is."
If he'd been drinking he probably would have done a spit take. "I'm sorry, what?!"
Kia let out a low laugh. "Oh come on! Don't tell me you didn't notice half the women here having a look when we came in, or their male partners sending you eye daggers?" She sounded incredulous, he just shrugged. "Was a bit busy getting a lay of the place, though I did notice the odd male having his attention more on you than me."
Kia shrugged. "I'm used to it."
He glanced down to the dance floor, it had been millenia…. "I wouldn't mind a dance... though after all this time, I'll probably be stepping on your pede at least once."
"Foot, it's foot 'Cade, we're in human company remember." She tapped her nose with her index finger, whatever that meant.
He shrugged in turn. "So… so I can get some basic moves from the internet… what kind of dancing are they doing down there?" He enquired, watching the females dresses flare out as their male partners spun them, he noticed Kia was wearing just such a dress.
"Tango, it's a traditionalArgentinian/Mexican dance, though it's popular here in Spain too, especially in Barcelona. My mama would have kicked my ass if I didn't know how to Tango by the age of ten." She explained.
He nodded, and gave it a quick search.
"Hmm… rather similar to a dance from Tetrahex… this shouldn't be too hard… If my memory is correct on my recollection that is." He muttered, honestly it wasn't surprising, Cybertronians and Humans, while drastically different, were rather similar in their overall shape, and humans loved to turn any movement into dance it seemed, so it was unsurprising this one would by chance line up with a dance from Tetrahex.
The side of Kia's deep rouge lips perked up in a small, teeth baring smirk. "Wonderful, want to go back down now? Or people watch for a bit?"
He glanced back over the banister. "Watch for a bit, study the movements, get a proper lay of the flow of their movements."
Kia nodded, a small smirk still there. "Ever an alert scout, you seem to prove to me every day that it was a good idea hiring your services when I had the chance."
Barricade opted to ignore the majority of that statement so as to answer the first part. "Millenia of war does that too you, can't remember the last time I wasn't on high alert."
Kia raised an eyebrow. "Human company 'Cade, but I do understand what you mean… I've had my fair share of attempts on my life already… hard to relax when there might be a sniper waiting for the perfect shot…" She tried not to think of Wren and Widower 2 at that moment, putting her own attention on the crowd below. "Who knows, someone may make an attempt on my life tonight."
Barricade glanced to her, that wasn't a suggestion… he could feel it.
Someone was going to go after Kia tonight, and while a bullet to her holoforms head wouldn't kill her, it would, without a doubt, reveal that she was just a projection, blowing her cover somewhat.
Something that was best avoided.
She'd made it clear the Harpy's goal was to avoid drawing attention to themselves anymore than they could, and getting their holoforms head blown off and not dying from it, was the abject opposite of that set goal.
They allowed themselves to people watch for a time, watching as the couples and dance partners below had their fun as the DJ and band continued to provide the music, the bar continued its steady flow of alcohol, even as security pulled some of the more rowdy individuals off the floor to kick them out of the club.
"Papa always loved to people watch… he used to have such fun pointing out the drunks to me…" That wasn't a statement directed at him, she was just talking to herself to fill the air between them.
So, he just nodded, got up, and offered his crooked arm to her to take, which she did, and they walked back down the flights of stairs to the dance floor, the song had changed, it was a bit slower, but no less up-beat, he didn't recognise any of it, but he cared little about that, he just kept his audio focus on the rest of the noise, the chatter, the fall of footsteps, the shouting at the bar as a dunkard refused to pay his tab and was dragged away and thrown out.
They found a spot, took their positions, and with Kia leading, he let the music flow into him, and let his motions flow with it as Kia led him.
Every time he twirled her, lifted her up from a dip right into more footwork and high kicks, he could feel himself loosening up a bit.
It took a few songs to realise he was actually having fun.
By some miracle he didn't step on her toes, and as the latest song came to a close, and he pulled her in flush to his chest of avoid her getting kicked by an overly zealous couple, the male had hauled the female right over his head by her waist and her leg had kicked out, he felt her tense, her gaze on the main entranceway.
He subtly glanced over his shoulder, a group of men had all but charged through the door, each of them armed with a gun.
The club was suddenly dead silent.
This was not going to be good.
Jasper Nevada
Annie grunted as Rafeal clambered up onto her bed and with his good arm, while she pulled her thin blanket over him so that he could huddle into her side.
This had become a small routine for the boy, whenever June or the other medical staff weren't about, he'd leave his bed and clamber into hers, they were both off the heart monitors now so it was mostly okay for him to do this.
Annie sure as hell wasn't going to tell him not to, poor kid needed the physical contact.
His parents had come once, in the week and a half their youngest son had been in hospital, had stayed for five minutes, and left again, sighting their busy work lives and that they needed to look after the rest of their absurdly large brood.
The whole thing rubbed her the wrong way. His uncle hospitalised him after breaking a restraining order, and they only come to check on him once?
Rafeal's arm was going to be in a cast for a few more weeks, but was otherwise healing well, the black eye and bruises already only subtle mis-colouring on his skin.
Her phone ringing with the symbol of an incoming call had Rafeal leaning over to grab it with his good arm and passing it to her. "Thank you hun." She said as she pressed the green answer button. "Hello?"
"Annie? It's Prowl."
She sat up as much as she could without joslting Rafeal. "Prowl? Hiya honey, how you holding up?"
"Good, good, just calling to see if anything's been going on on your end, how's Raf?"
Annie glanced to Rafeal, the nine year old was content just snuggling into her healing side. "Oh we're good here, Bella's probably gonna come through the doors with her latest shippment of flowers in about half an hour… got any word on that transfer?"
"They're all ready to transfer you, they've got some people coming to pick you up in the next hour or so."
"I'm not surprised, is there an estimated window for when I'll be arriving in Monaco?" She felt Raf shuffle against her side, she hated the fact she was gonna have to leave the kid here...
"From what I've been able to get from Aria, the day after tomorrow, though Wren said to not be surprised if something gets delayed… I swear she's one more delay off hunting down the ones responsible… She's kinda terrifying when she gets mad, French is a terrifying language."
She laughed at that. Typical Prowl, he always seemed to find himself in the presence of women who intimidated his soft heart. "Hold strong for me hun, if you can face down a gang and come out with a scuff to the cheek, you can handle an irate french woman who isn't directly mad at you."
"I forget that you haven't met these two yet. Aria and Hide spar every morning in a boxing ring they have on the second floor and he's only been able to pin that mad brit three times, that's what Hide said at least, though Aria shouted that it was only once from the kitchen when he said that. Annie that woman is half his size."
"Oooh! I like her already! Think we should introduce them to Nari and Sele?"
"Annie, love of my life, please don't joke about that, it's bad enough Narisa and Selena are still skydiving and wing riding, we don't need them getting ahold of these two!"
"Alright, alright, you've made a point… wait… I thought they hung up their parachutes…?"
"Yeahhhhh, no, apparently that flight they took from Monaco to Switzerland, you know, after I got here, that wasn't a commercial airplane, they took a sky diving plane, chartered it over switzerland, and jumped out at 5,000 feet over Geneva and wingsuited their way to their family manor… you know, like normal sixty year old retired women going to claim their inherited estate."
Annie held the phone slightly away from her ear, Rafeal had been listening in and looked as shocked and surprised as she was, though probably because at age nine he'd likely not heard about the maniacs that were the Solvermor sisters.
Using her other bandaged hand she rubbed at her face. "Did they at least wear parachutes this time?"
"Yes… though apparently they had to cut them loose after they landed in the lake on the estate…"
She wasn't even surprised really, you just could not get those two to tone it down. "Well, at least they're still alive, tell them I'm going to tie them to rocking chairs and stick them on a veranda next I see them."
"Can do! Probably won't hold them long though… lord knows they'll both be hiding at least four swiss army knives each."
She shook her head and glanced to Raf. "You wanna chat to Rafeal? Kid's staring." She jested, causing the nine year old to giggle as she passed him the phone and settled down for a very quick nap.
Apparently a very quick nap was all the time she had before the doors to the private wing swung open and Rafeal's father walked.
Jolting back awake at the sound, she felt Raf curl into her side, the phone pressed to his opposite ear with his good arm so anything Prowl was saying, she couldn't hear.
The man walked over, and dropped a manilla folder on the table on her side, nodded to her, turned, and left.
He hadn't even looked at Rafael.
The doors were still closing behind him and his footsteps only just starting to drift away when she looked to Raf, who was looking to her with an expression she couldn't quite read, but knew no child should ever have.
She pulled him into a hug with one arm, and with the other, opened the manilla folder.
One thing jumped out to her almost at once.
'Surrender of custody' followed swiftly by 'Unable to afford medical bills' and finally 'If denied, will be sent to care'.
Apparently child protective services had looked into the attack…
And Maria had vouched for her and Prowl being good candidates to take Raf on...
She slowly pulled the phone free from Rafael's limp hands, looked the boy dead in the eye and asked her husband. "Prowl, do you think they can organise a plus one for that flight? I think I'm about to adopt a kid."
Prowl was quiet as she explained everything, and true to form, Prowl was with her 110%.
He had his worries of course, the attack by the one he now knew to identify as Starscream was still very much fresh in their minds…
Annie countered that with his new friends, they'd be safer.
Rafael had fallen asleep at some point, the emotional toll of the last half an hour quickly sending him into a somewhat fitful rest in her arms.
Bella had popped in, for once in her life read the room, and quietly deposited the last batch of flowers before vanishing again, likely to go talk to her mother about what Annie had shown her, and to make sure Annie could legally take Raf with her to Monaco now that his family had legally signed him over to either Annie, or the state.
Knowing Maria she'd probably pull enough strings to let it slide, Lord knew how the Chief had even ended up with that kind of web of favours owed to her name.
Which meant really all they had to do now was get a greenlight from the Orichiono's.
It happened within the hour, though Prowl said they'd looked dumbstruck as he explained the situation, and had asked almost as a reflex how badly the boy had been injured, something about this being painfully common where they were from.
Which meant in the span of a nearly two hour long phone call, Annie and Prowl had adopted a kid, they'd take the paperwork with them so he could sign too, and then they'd mail them back to Maria so she could get the papers to where they needed to go.
After all of that, and a final 'love you' and 'goodbye' Annie ended the call, dreaded how much such an international call would cost, and tried to take another nap, she felt a headache coming on and did not want to deal with it, so, she pulled Raf into a proper side hug, and let her eyes fall closed, just a quick nap and those people coming to collect her and now Raf would be there.
Barcelona
Barricade wasn't a mech known by many to have much patience…
He'd like to say that those opinions of him were wrong, considering he'd had to work directly under Starscream for so many millenia.
At present however, he absolutely could not say that.
Considering he was pinned behind an upturned table in the club as a bunch of humans shot at him.
Kia, who was currently ducking down every few seconds so as not to get shot through her head, was right next to him, only taking a few moments to unclip the now spent magazine from the 'Uzi' she was using, pull another off the garter belt on her leg, reload the 'Uzi' and then get right back up to start firing again.
Now to be fair he would be doing the same, only he had been tossed a 'Shotgun' and the damn thing had jammed in both barrels.
He wasn't versed enough in how to unjam said barrels, so now he was stuck, pinned behind this table which was apparently a reinforced bullet shield made to look like a damn table.
All in all it was a rather stressful situation.
That was until he realised the returning fire had died out.
And Kia was now getting up and rounding the upturned table.
He did the same, taking a good look at the veritable bloodbath that the night club had become.
There was… a lot of blood… a lot of dead bodies too.
Stray bullets had struck those innocents fleeing, and while they were the only two left in the club now, the band and DJ gone, the same with the staff behind the bar, all having fled for the exits to the building, there were still more bodies strewn about that hadn't been so lucky when the group of men had opened fire on the crowd.
Kia cursed under her breath, running her hand through her brown hair, the sunglasses she wore speckled with blood as much as the rest of her. "What a waste…" She mumbled.
Before he had time to reply, one of the presumably dead bodies lurched up with a scream, knife in hand.
They both reacted, but Kia was quicker, and the man's skull burst open as what he counted as four Uzi rounds were pumped into his face at almost point blank range.
"Tch...Stupid fool." She muttered, kicking the body aside, causing more blood to splatter onto her leg. "If he'd kept playing dead, I might have let him get out alive."
Barricade looked at what was left of the humans skull. "Why? He was shooting at us not a klik ago."
Kia gave him a little smirk. "Enemy intimidation 101 - His injuries were mostly non-fatal… before the four to the head… he would have been a good living warning. Once they're in the ground or turned to ash, the effect on others is lessened… the chance for wanting vengeance is also more likely to rise to rise at the sight of a tombstone, creating conflict later down the line... if they see one of their own crippled for life, or bearing the scars I gave them, it nails home the message a lot harder that they were a rare lucky survivor."
He was nodding along even before she finished. "Alright… second question… why did they attack us out of the blue? I know you said you'd had attempts on your life before, but there's always a reason, always someone with a motive to pay a high price..."
Kia was already making her way to the evacuated bar, leaning over and grabbing a bottle of something, popping the cap with her nail, and pouring it into a random martini glass that had somehow survived the onslaught of bullets that had seemingly shattered the vast majority of the other glassware and bottles behind the counter.
"Not out of the blue, I asked the twins to put down their leader last week, they did of course, it took this long for them to track me down and try to take revenge because I made it very clear who placed the hit."
That was something of an alarming thing to say so nonchalantly while nursing an alcoholic beverage. "Right…" He mumbled, then a thought came to him. "So, I didn't get to ask before… this was what you looked like as a human? Gold optics and all?"
Kia swirled the glass in her hand, accepting the abrupt change in topic. "More or less, they used to be more a hazel, but now, they look like "the core of a dying star"… or at least, that's what Aria says, though those two always like to over-exaggerate when they're feeling jovial, Aria in particular as evidenced."
He made sure to note that for later, taking a moment for himself to look up and down her figure, for an organic she was well shaped, tapered waist, prominent chest thanks to a delicately arched back, delicate hands, each tipped with a claw like nail.
He watched as she took a sip, grimace, and spat it directly onto one of the corpses.
"Maldito infierno…" She mumbled, dumping the rest over the body, adding to the crimsons stains already on it. "I can't blame Ira for not wanting to get alcohol right… but I swear if I knew catching that damn relic meant I had to go the rest of my life without a good tequila, would have pumped some heavy lead in it and left it on the Savannah."
Now, Barricade wasn't an idiot, and though it took him a moment to file away all of the possible meanings in that statement, his thoughts locked on one in particular. "Relic? What do you mean?"
He hadn't stayed online this long through dumb luck, he saw that flinch.
He wasn't supposed to know something, and now he wanted to know exactly what she wasn't telling him.
Evidently that showed in his expression and her shoulders sagged, only minutely, but the reservation was there.
They were interrupted by the sound of sirens, and as one, they dropped their holoforms.
The cameras were already all destroyed, there was no surviving evidence to pin them.
Estrada Villa
As Barricade came back to himself, Kia was already moving, already used to the dissociation caused by the holoforms.
Shaking his helm to clear some of the static out, he watched the Bateleur move to the room where she kept Megatron's helm… he'd gone back in only once to make his peace… "Kia?"
"You've proven your loyalty is earned by how much survival is promised and provided. Considering what I'm about to tell you… your loyalty may become… less sound… or it may harden..."
That was… rather cryptic.
The door slid open, revealing Megatron's decapitated helm, he glanced further down the wall of the bunker, and spotted a certain alcove a few metres above the ground.
Frenzy was curled up in the nook that Kia had let him punch into the wall for him, the minicon had begrudgingly accepted the pile of blankets Kia had offered, shredding some of them, before discovering they had the ability to trap warmth, Barricade hadn't been able to coax him out for anything but energon since.
He was getting off track, Kia was waiting for him inside the room, glancing between him and Megatron's helm intermittently, waiting for him to step in.
So he did, and the door slid shut behind him, he knew it was soundproof.
Kia didn't beat around the bush. "I have the Allspark in my possession."
Barricade stood there, just, stood there, his four red optics slowly widening as what he'd just been told, the gravity of it, dawned on him, his optics darted around the room, how had he not felt it? He'd assumed the relic was under the Prime's care, wherever the Harpies were hiding him and the other Autobots.
Kia noticed his searching, Nibbler, who was attached to her front, tapped the plating covering her spark chamber. "It's in there, when I got ahold of it at the Hoover dam… it… it merged with my spark chamber, encasing it."
That… that should be impossible, and he exclaimed as such, she shrugged. "Transdimensional space travel is supposed to be impossible too, and yet, here I am. And here it is… this life giving relic, nestled around what is the very centre of my being." She remarked.
She had a point.
He rubbed at the ridge between his optics, feeling an ache in his processor coming on already. "So Fernando was right about the Allspark being in the dam." Kia nodded, and gestured to Megatron. "He was there too, frozen solid but alive, the twins put him down so he wouldn't somehow break free and attack us all while we were securing the Allspark. The humans were picking him apart bit by bit, using him to generate the vast majority of technology humans as a species has access too now… Though there was equally evidence they were trying to find out an effective way of how to kill him if he ever got loose… we spared him from a slow death."
He nodded slowly, letting this all process.
Kia sighed. "The Allspark was what brought me and Nibbler here… I was out on the African Savanna, there was a lot of heat back home… Fernando's plane had gone down over the South Pacific… from what was found of the wreckage, it looked like a bomb had gone off, no survivors… there were a good few who thought I was the one that had the bomb planted, a good number thought the twins did it… they had the motive after all… one few could fault them for… if it weren't for the treaty… they would have killed him the first chance they got… the circumstances that lead to their hatred of my brother though… that is not a story I wish to tell…" A shuffle of pedes followed as she put her focus back on Megatron's helm. "What matters is… I'm now the living bearer of this alien relic… and I have no idea how to use it…"
After a few moments she kept going. "Well, I know how to patch small wounds, and with Ratchet's help I could put Wren's foot back together, it got mangled two and a half years ago after landing on a concealed pitfall trap, the rebar mangled the whole thing. Now she's walking just fine… but..." She gestured with her helm to Megatron. "The Allsparks supposed to reanimate the dead right? This is the only cadaver I've got and I don't even know where to start."
He looked between Kia and Megatron. "You… realise this is Megatron you wish to reanimate… correct? The sworn enemy of your allies?"
Kia regarded him with a look. "Don't worry, once I know he's alive, I fully intent to put him right back down." She remarked, a flick of the wing revealing those scythe like blades.
He did his best to fight down a shudder, knowing just how lethal those things were, he nodded, and offered a servo out. "I may be able to help… my… partner was a top medic before the war, picked up a good bit from her I might be able to use to help you."
Kia's protrusions raised and her mouth opened slightly, now he couldn't see her optics but it was easy enough to assume they'd widened.
She accepted the offer, and they got to work.
2006 Triage Earth, somewhere in Scotland
A storm was raging outside.
The wall mounted TV on the other side of the room droned on, the hourly news broadcaster soberly announcing the news, half her face a gorgeous mask, the mouth even articulated in such a way that it moved almost perfectly with the flesh of the other side.
Over her shoulder, the latest images rolling in, Edinburgh was on fire again… another riot… just another riot… Glasgow was no better really, but at least their Cathedral wasn't on fire again...
A crash of lightning lit the fire lit room.
From under the covers, a little scared noise erupted.
A careful, but ever sharp touch to their dual toned hair soothed them.
"It is merely the physics of this world doing as it so desires, you are in no danger from it."
"Fear is an illogical thing… no amount of reasoning will stop us from jumping." The teens in the bed answered, tugging the thick covers down just enough for one bright green eye to peer out the window, before drifting over to the TV, the topic had shifted the headline 'Newest Cure Attempt Fails'.
He followed their original gaze out the window, watching the wraiths and demons dance in the open, a celebration… another day, another attack survived, the treasures of their masters, safe for another day.
"Why must they always summon such storms?" A quieter voice left the same mouth, timid, cowed by the roaring thunder that was ever accompanied by another flash of lightning nearby.
In the moments when the terrifying forces of nature were not present, howling gales and torrential rain buffeted the glass.
The giant hand, made of knives carefully carded through their disheveled hair, the white and black halves mingling upon the mountain of pillows their head rested against.
"They are celebrating your growing prowess, and my successful defense of you."
His gaze went to the bandages that he knew littered their shared body, some of the wounds would scar.
He felt pride fill him, they'd fought well today, the swords stabbed into the ground next to the fireplace were still caked in the dried blood of those who'd broken into the castle. They would be washed later by the staff.
He'd slain thirty of them, his ever present but unseen nature allowing him to strike them down as if they were nothing.
But in this dulled existence where his steps left no sound, he equally had difficulty hearing… and so, believing he had slain all the assailants in a few quick strikes, had lowered his guard.
Ten had been more clever, had used the distraction of the thirty to draw attention away from their own entrance.
They had gone for the boy, stashed safely away in his room, under the floorboards.
His wards had fought bravely as he rushed to return to their sides, the castle was massive, and it took him time to reach them, despite his size and ignorance to walls and other such solid objects.
The ten were dead by the time he arrived, the boy had been told to cover his eyes as he crawled out from under the floorboards, and his wards had taken him to another room for him to spend the night, while the staff were called to dispose of any trace of the bodies, be it severed limbs or their blood.
The wounds they had tended to themselves, wrapping the gauze as tight as they could to stem the flow of blood, he wished he could help, but his hands were not those meant for healing.
Now they were trying to rest… but their uncles minions were throwing a party… celebrating… and while the drone of the TV normally aided his wards into somewhat peaceful rest, this night, it simply wasn't enough.
He passed his touch to their shoulder. "How is your back?" A rather common question of his.
"It burned when they arrived, but it is calm now…"
"Did it take on the ones you felled?"
"No… we sent them to Grim… we did not want them."
He nodded.
Intelligent as ever, none would wish further interaction with one who'd wished them dead… let alone forty... unless absolutely necessary of course…
"...I can scare them off if you wish?"
"Please?"
"We're tired…"
He nodded, rose to his full height, his head going through the ceiling of the room in the process, and strode out of the building, through the castle's walls, stepped over the moat, and brought himself to a stop right before the party.
They all froze when they noticed his arrival.
"They are trying to rest, I advise you make yourselves scarce before I render your husks obsolete."
They fled like Lucifer himself had been the one to address them.
He cared little for where they went, though humored mentioning their shirking of duties for the sake of a party to Lucifer… next the ruler of hell visited perhaps…
He strode right back to their room, and lowered himself back down next to the fireplace to watch over them. "It is done."
"Thank you Voice." One of them mumbled, their voice heavy with tiredness to the point it was hard to tell which of the two had spoken.
"Rest now… I will be here when you wake, my flesh bags."
He felt it as they drifted off… as he felt everything they did, they were the mortal frame he was tied to, and so, he experienced all they did.
He could not see his own form beyond a flickering ripple that distorted the world around him, bending the light in ways that caused him to grimace when he tried to focus on it for a time.
He did not rest like them, not anymore.
The dead did not sleep after all…
He reached over and carefully picked up a few strands of pitch black hair, they flowed around his hold, before gravity won and it slid back down onto the plush mountain of pillows their head rested against.
He turned his gaze outwards, the storm had calmed, the wind no longer howled like starved beasts, and the lightning was now brief flashes on the horizon, the rumble of thunder more a low purr one felt in their core at this distance.
The rain still beat heavy against the windows, but it too would pass in time.
He turned his attention to the fireplace, and began to pick apart the well burned logs, from there, he carefully snuffed the fire, once that task was complete, he reached over, and with a great care, slowly pushed the button that would turn off the TV, the half masked news presenter flickering off the screen, her voice dying as the speakers fell quiet, all of which brought a darkness to the room that would allow his wards to fully succumb to the nights rest.
With his duties besides guarding done for the night, he trained his dulled senses on the world.
On the heavy double doors, that towered up to near the ceiling, the windows that lined the opposite wall.
On the king sized bed that held his wards, heavy with covers and pillows, all that dwarfed their small, fragile, organic forms.
So easily damaged, so weak compared to him… and yet, so strong of will, cunning and sly, swift in their motions and lethal in their actions.
Just as he had raised them to be.
His perfect girls.
Well… not perfect… organic flesh held not a candle to the strength of hardened metal…
Two hours had passed since his wards fell to rest, and he remained on guard.
Ever on guard.
They were his treasures, his and his alone, though he doubted he would ever say it out loud.
He was not one who liked to share.
But he allowed it… that Estrada girl was useful, when she took over her empire, like his girls had already done their own, few would be able to challenge their united forces.
Oh what Empresses they had become, even so young…
Fifteen… fifteen years had passed since his consciousness had formed within that birthing ward, confused and delirious as his wards had been brought out of their mother… that wretch of a woman.
He tempered his broiling anger, that waste of carbon was gone, his treasures had done well in removing her first.
Kill the queen, and the king is soon to fall.
The second false queen removed herself from the matter when she learned and accepted she could not fight the rising of his treasures…
His empresses.
His-
"GURK!"
Pain, so much… across his neck… a slash… something… something had…
He had no more time to ponder what had taken his head from his shoulders.
The body on the bed lurched up, grasping their throat and gasping for air, a moment later they were coughing out a single spurt of blood… they caught it in their hands as best as they could… some still splashed across the sheets.
Their breath became laboured and ragged, eyes going wide, pupils shrunk to pinpricks, as they felt something within them die… something snapping like a high tension wire, the jagged edges lashing out within them like some unchained monster...
They knew what was dead… they could see his body… that flickering warping of light… fade… he was fading...
He was gone…
Their big brother was gone…
The scream that echoed across the castle was one of an unfathomable agony, one so potent, it would forever echo through the corridors of the castle.
Barcelona, present day
Bright red optics snapped online, he lurched forward, gasping for air as he clawed at his neck…
Voices that were muffled filled the air around him.
Where was he?! Where was he?!
No… more important, his girls, where were his-
The singing song of a blade in motion captured his attention, and he had but a moment to lurch backwards, the blade shot passed him, then another, and another, five in total, scythe like, sharper than any he'd seen that weren't wielded by Grim. They shot mere moments from the bridge of his nose, and hurtled onwards, no doubt if he'd been a moment slower, they would have cleaved his helm in two.
The world came into focus.
A snarl came from his attacker, they swung back their other winged limb, five more scythes snapping out from under the feathers.
They were hurtling towards him a moment later.
Whatever this was, it was Cybertronian, and it towered over him.
He scrambled to his pedes, he tried to online his weapons systems, but nothing responded, he had no weapons to online, no swords, no dual servo cannon…
"Hold still you perra!" The Cybertronian, a femme from the voice, nearly roared as he managed to dodge what would of likely been a lethal kick from her left pede, the back hooks of the talons would of easily torn him to ribbons.
Wait… he recognised that voice… it was older, deeper, more jaded, but he knew that pronunciation of 'perra' anywhere, and he exclaimed his shook. "ESTRADA! STOP!"
The rouge faced, dark brown almost black, tanned red and cream Cybertronian, it's frame reminding him of a bird of prey, lurched back like she'd been slapped.
The silence that followed was deafening.
A mech he only then noticed stepped into his view.
It took a few moments to recognise who the mech was, and the shock as he addressed his old friend and scout caused the mech to flinch back like he too had been struck. "Barricade?"
The mech slowly nodded, but pointedly stayed behind the larger femme.
No, this wasn't just any old femme, he turned his attention back to the femme. "Kia De La Estrada?"
Kia's jaw was hanging, she slowly, very slowly nodded. "How… How did… No, don't answer that, you're going to stand there and do nothing. Barricade, watch him, he does not leave this room without my say so, I need to go make a call, the others need to be here for whatever this is about to be."
Barricade nodded and saluted Kia as she stalked out of the room, the door sliding shut on it's rollers just as the last of her frame cleared the doorway.
Megatron looked to his scout, then down at himself, he was… tiny… A scampering noise drew his attention back away from himself.
Frenzy was on all fours in front of him, he assumed it was Frenzy… he'd ordered Barricade to look after Frenzy as a ward after Soundwave offlined during the battle of Helex…
Frenzy was shorter than him by about a metre, and far less heavily built, if he could compare himself to something, one of those absurdly muscular, towering, humans from those old Gundam Anime's his girls liked to watch seemed to fit best…
But that mattered little now, he reached out and offered a servo to the minicon he was suddenly nearly the same size as. "Frenzy… please… do you know what has transpired that I am here?"
His spark twisted with a painful hope, that had been Kia, the last he'd seen Kia it was during a conference call between her and his girls where they had discussed plans for the Triage… and now… she was Cybertronian… within the same reality as his top scout…
A lot wasn't adding up… Kia had looked nothing like any Cybertronian he had ever seen, arms replaced with wings, dual jointed legs weren't uncommon, but they looked very much like they were originally from an organic bird native to Earth…
Kia had mentioned others.
He could only hope that, by some stroke of miraculous luck, his treasures were counted in that mention...
'Vanishes off into the sunset' BYE!
Moon.
