Chapter 4: A Hero In Their Eyes
A decade had gone by and Angel had grown into a young femme, being sixteen years old in human terms. The decade had been full for her as she learned how to fight by her father, Jazz whenever he and the Elite Guard arrived, and even taught herself moves after watching spy films and matching them with her spider powers, something that made her father proud.
And although she was no longer the little sparkling she once was, she was still in wonder of who her mother was and why she looked the way she did. There was no file on her mother, which made her curious too.
One day, she heard Optimus going over patrol routes with Bumblebee and Bulkhead and she slipped into the shadows, creeping over to her father, ready to give him a good scare. She made sure she was absolutely silent as she was soon behind her father.
"Don't even think about it," said Optimus in a droll voice.
Frustrated, Angel let out a small hiss and then came out from behind her father. "Daddy, how did you know I was behind you?" she asked.
"You've pulled that trick before," he said. "So I've grown accustomed to your sneak attacks. Not only that, Bumblebee's optics kept looking over my shoulder, which gave me a hint that it was you."
Angel gave the yellow Autobot a mock-glare. "I can't practice stealth if you keep blowing my cover," she said. "But at least I don't have a bright paintjob that makes me look like the sun."
"Hey!" Bumblebee said in mock shock as they began to playfully argue back and forth for a moment until Bulkhead gently grabbed them and held them up.
"Hey, come on, knock it off, guys," the big Autobot said gently. "Boss Bot hasn't finished yet."
Both became quiet and listened as Optimus finished outline the patrol routes for the week. He then turned to Angel and smiled.
"Angel, you'll be joining Bumblebee and Bulkhead on patrol," he said. "I need you three to patrol the North and West part of Detroit."
The young femme almost couldn't keep her excitement down. She had always wanted to go on patrol to help out and now was her chance. Bumblebee and Bulkhead headed for the main room to get going, but Optimus called Angel to stay a moment.
"Angel, you need to know what to do in case of an emergency situation comes up," he said. "If a human villain is causing trouble, call for backup. If there's a structure fire or a structure is destroyed with humans trapped inside, call for backup. If there are Decepticons…,"
"Call for backup," Angel said in unison with her father, making him look at her as she chuckled a bit. "Daddy, I'll be alright. I won't let you down."
He smiled and hugged her. "I know you won't, sweetspark," he said. "Okay, go on."
Angel smiled and found Bumblebee and Bulkhead and the three of them transformed into their alternate forms. Bumblebee and Bulkhead had their vehicle modes and Angel transformed into her spider form and began crawling fast after the two. She could keep up pretty well with them on eight legs.
Optimus watched them before letting out a sigh. His daughter was growing into a full grown femme faster than ever. Ratchet came over. "She's certainly not a little sparkling anymore," said the medic.
"She is to me," Optimus admitted. "Because she's my baby girl."
Ratchet nodded. "She's starting to become more like you, Prime," he said. "I can see that she'll be a great leader like you someday, perhaps even become a Prime like you."
Optimus smiled. "Perhaps," he said. "You know, Angel reminds me a lot of her mother, Elita One, before she became Blackarachnia."
Ratchet gave another nod before heading off to work on the computers while Optimus stood by the communications in case the team called in.
Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Angel had patrolled all over the city and it was a calm day for once, but they decided to stick around a bit more and so settled down at the park. All three transformed and Angel decided to hang upside-down on a nearby light post while the other two sat down under a tree.
"It's been pretty quiet lately," said Bumblebee.
"Yeah, maybe a bit too quiet," said Bulkhead.
Angel was quiet, practicing shooting out a string of web to catch flies, bees, or wasps that came near her and chewed them as if she was chewing gum. After a moment, she turned to them. "Guys, why do you think I'm the way I am?" she asked.
"What do you mean, Angel?" asked Bulkhead.
The femme had a serious look on her face. "I mean about the way I look," she said. "I don't mind being half-organic and half-Cybertronian and having a spider altmode, but I often wonder why I don't have a normal body like you, Bumblebee, or Daddy."
"Hmm," said Bee thoughtfully. "You're lucky and lucky you don't have a body like Sentinel."
Bulkhead joined Bumblebee in laughing at that and at the disgusted look on Angel's face before she laughed with them, but then stopped. "Guys, I'm serious," she said.
Before they could say more, the ground suddenly began shaking and to their shock, a large creature sprung up out of the ground from under the street and landed. Its appearance startled them and they saw it was the same robotic-serpent creature Optimus had encountered and fought back on Dinobot Island sixteen years ago when he first found Angel, only it was much different as now the appendages had become more robust and stronger, the body was now covered in steel and bronze plates, and the face had become more grotesque as its lower jaw split apart to reveal a long cable-like appendage that sparked.
Taking advantage of their startled state, the creature attacked Bulkhead first, coiling around him and the cable from its mouth jabbed at the big Autobot's chestplate before an electrical current ran through it, shocking Bulkhead hard enough to make him scream in pain while the monster growled in a happy way before releasing the big Autobot, who fainted to the ground.
"Bulkhead!" Angel and Bumblebee cried out and went over to help, but the creature turned to them with a hiss and before their wide eyes, the appendages that acted like the creature's legs became rounder and bulkier, similar to Bulkhead's legs and its arms shot out large iron balls attached to cables.
"Holy cow!" Bumblebee exclaimed as he and Angel successfully evaded the impact from the destructive attack and ran off to become harder targets for the creature. "It's got Bulkhead's wrecking ball attack! We need to call Optimus!"
Angel looked back and stopped, seeing the creature causing more damage. She made her decision and raced up to it, using her web powers and agility just like she had been taught and tried to stop the mutated serpent, but it saw her coming and used one tail to whip at the femme, making her loose her balance and fall onto the street and it was about to attack her again when a fire truck and an ambulance came up and transformed into Optimus and Ratchet. "Angel, fall back!" said Optimus. "Bumblebee, we need your help!"
Angel grabbed her father's arm. "Dad, I'm not going to leave you guys to face this," she said. "I want to help."
He shook his head. "It's too dangerous," he said in a firm voice. "Fall back."
Reluctantly, she obeyed, but found a place behind the sidelines to watch as the Autobots fought the monster, but they were having a hard time with it as it began to overpower them after using its dangerous tongue to attach to the various vehicles and electronics nearby, upgrading itself with new features to use as weapons. It wasn't long before its new features included a set of arms that shot out nails like a nail gun, five tentacles on its back that squirted out hot tar, a set of pincers on its tail that emitted high voltages of electricity, a pair of huge wings that had membranes to absorb the light of the sun to gain more energy, a laser on its forehead, and the upper half of its jaw became sharp, nasty-looking saw blades.
Despite all the new weapons the creature had, the Autobots kept fighting it, but Angel somehow knew that this was one battle that her family could not win. That fear grew as she witnessed Bumblebee getting shocked by the creature's tail when the pincers on it clasped around the Autobot's torso and Ratchet got spat at with hot tar when he tried to get to Bumblebee, leaving him stuck.
This left only Optimus to face the creature, but that didn't last long as the Prime attacked it with his axe, but the serpent-creature swerved its head to avoid the blade and shot out its tongue to attach to Optimus, making the Prime yell in pain as energy pulsed in and out of him before he faints and the monster sprouted another pair of arm-like blades fashioned just like Optimus' axe.
That was the turning point for Angel. "I can't just stand here," she said to herself and raced back into the battle, leaping up and kicking the monster right in the face with her boot-shaped foot. This made the creature mad as it turned to fight her. Angel was only able to avoid getting shocked by the creature's pinchers and the cable in its mouth because of her agility to leap around, which she used to confuse the monster. But then, just as she leapt to avoid the pinchers again, the creature used one appendage to grab Angel and throw her into a nearby building, which was an auto body shop. The resulting crash left Angel a bit stunned and covered in both paint and car parts before she got up and growled angrily before seeing her family regain consciousness. "Angel!" Optimus cried out as he and the others got up to act as a wall between Angel and the beast, but it saw them and the tentacles on its back shot out hot tar, leaving them stuck again and Optimus watched helplessly as Angel got up and ran into the city with the creature right on her tail.
"No," he said to himself as he tried to get free again, hoping his daughter would be alright as she was the only one right now to stop that monster. For Detroit's sake.
Angel winced when she heard the humans around her screaming in terror as the monster smashed into buildings, crushed several automobiles, and tore up the roads as it tried to catch her. "Run!" Angel cried out to them, and they did so, except for two children who were amazed and watching as Angel turned to fight the monster, but couldn't land an attack as she leapt around to avoid the monster's attacks. She then saw the monster's tail come around and was headed for the two children.
Quickly, she used her webbing and shot out a line that grabbed the two children and pull them toward her before she jumped to a building a few miles away. She then set them down. "Remember, don't play in the street," she said firmly, but gently. "It's very dangerous."
Both children nodded before watching Angel quickly head back to the snake-creature, kicking her feet out again and managing to hit its chin hard enough to make the creature snap its head back in pain before it glared at her and resumed chasing her.
She then received a com. "Angel, there's a construction site by the lake," said Bulkhead.
"Abandoned?" she asked.
"Yes."
Thanking Bulkhead, Angel signed off and headed for the construction site, seeing the frame for a huge skyscraper being built. She was almost there when the monster roared and used an iron ball from one of its legs to attack and managed to hit Angel. The attack sent her flying into the building and she groaned and shook her head fast to get her senses back before seeing she landed at the unfinished skyscraper, which had been her target. She looked back at the creature.
"Bet I'm faster than you, ugly!" she called out to it and began climbing up to the top half that was still under construction, but gave her plenty of footholds and handholds as she climbed up.
Just as she hoped, the monster followed after her, using its snake-like body to wind around the structure and its legs to climb up, snapping its jaws to try and bite the femme, but she made it to the unfinished half of the skyscraper, using her webbing and what she had been taught by her family to swing across the railings and beams.
Seeing she was getting away, the monster's head quickly followed after her, lunging after her and snapping its jaws, which Angel just managed to avoid before the beast stopped in surprise, its head and neck right in front of its prey, but it couldn't move anymore because its large body had gotten tangled up.
The femme smirked at the monster and was about to laugh when a sound caught their attention and Angel looked to see that a column that the monster's coils was wrapped tightly around suddenly bent out of shape and several more were beginning to do the same, making the building shift to the right as the top half began breaking apart as it was coming down, trapping Angel in the tangled mess with the beast, who roared as it felt the building start falling.
A human construction crew had kindly come to help the Autobots get free and Optimus had just finished thanking them when they all heard the roar come from the direction Angel had taken to fight the beast. Transforming fast, they raced to the building, stopping in shock as they saw the building topple to the ground, falling apart in a mess of metal, wires, and plaster.
"Angel!" Optimus shouted out in fear and worry as they waited for the dust to clear. When it did, all they saw was part of the serpent-beast's body surrounded by the debris, and no sign of Angel.
Optimus sank to the ground in despair and the other three bowed their heads in sadness. Even the humans that had come to see what had happened bowed their heads too to show respect for the fallen femme.
Suddenly, they heard some debris shift and saw the monster's head shift and move. The humans stood back as the Autobots stood ready to fight before suddenly being filled with awe as they watched Angel stand up, lifting the beast's head off her and tossing it to the ground. She then lifted her head and smiled.
"Told you I wouldn't let you down," she said teasingly.
Tears falling from his optics, Optimus raced forward and grabbed his daughter in a hug, holding her tightly as relief filled him. Around them, the humans started to cheer loudly and clap, but Optimus and Angel didn't hear them as the father was focused on his daughter and she was listening to her father's spark. "I thought I lost you when the building fell down," said Optimus.
Angel smiled and hugged him. "I'm okay, Daddy," she said before feeling sheepish. "Um, I'm in trouble, aren't I?"
Optimus just chuckled. "I'll let it slide, since you were the only one to stall the monster long enough for Ratchet and I to come and you not only saved us, but all of Detroit too," he said. "I'm proud of you."
The femme smiled and she saw a mother come up with the same two children she had saved from the monster. "Thank you for saving my children," she said.
The mayor then came up and spoke. "I speak for all of Detroit when I say you have all our thanks. We are lucky to have another Autobot that will do all they can to save our city and to protect us and keep us safe," he said. "Thank you."
Angel bowed her head in acceptance, happy that the citizen of Detroit saw her as an Autobot just as her family did. She then accepted hugs from her family before they headed home and Bumblebee challenged her to a video game.
Optimus watched them for a moment before going to the communications computers and calling the Elite Guard, showing them the news footage and reporting what had happened. Ultra Magnus listened and nodded. "From what I can see, you and your crew have been training her well, Optimus," he said.
"Thank you, sir," he said respectfully.
Nodding, Ultra Magnus signed off and Optimus gazed back at his daughter, pride filling him once more. I think Ratchet was right, she is a lot like me and just might one day become a Prime, he thought to himself.
Pride filled him once more as he went over to watch Angel and Bumblebee play against each other on the video games.
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