Chapter 3
I do not own anything by Transformers.
Just an FYI…Optimus does not fly.
Thank you to all of my followers and readers so far. You are what keeps me going with these.
All he wanted to do was protect her. He sent her to be with the rest of the humans when the U.S. government, and other entities came for them. He remembered her running off with Lennox, and then nothing.
He was able to escape, but many of his brothers were not so lucky. The rage he felt towards the human race could not be measured, but he knew it was not all of them. He knew he had help from those he considered his friends. He wanted to hate all humans now, but that was not he.
Besides, there was one very important factor that kept him from hating humans, and that was the mother of his child who happened to be a human, and who he loved more than the universe.
When NEST was attacked, he searched and searched for her. She was his only saving grace from a world gone completely mad. He dared not to go see his other human friends, because he did not want to put them in danger again.
It was not just Gabrielle that he could not locate, but his brothers as well. He cursed them for separating him from his kind, and most of all he cursed them for the ones he lost. There were so few of them left as it was, and the humans just made things worse.
He wasn't injured badly in the initial attack; it was after he began to try to find Gabrielle that he ambushed. Yes, he escaped again, but barely.
He thought he was going to die again. He thought his last thoughts would be of Gabrielle, and it was, and then there was Orianna.
How he had wished for a ship to find her. He would have searched to the ends of the cosmos for her. He felt helpless that he could do nothing to find her, and ease Gabrielle's pain.
When her signals stopped, it was the hardest thing he had to face when telling Gabrielle. There were times he would not even recharge just to get something from his sparkling, but nothing ever came.
He admired Gabrielle's strength through it all. She held her head high as the whispers began of what could have become of Orianna. He was the one who fell apart a few times.
Now, Orianna may be gone forever, so he had only had Gabrielle.
It had been so long since he lost her, that he had forgotten Earth time of when he last saw her.
Now his circuits were burned, and his processors were in and out. He would go into involuntary stasis all the time, and when he was able to function, he would hide as best as he could. He needed his engineer to help put him back together, but right now he was too weak to even move.
His energon continued it's slow leak, and if it lasted much longer his spark would surely go out forever.
The memories of that day would play over and over like a human movie through his cerebral processors.
He had been grateful none of his bio-centric circuits were damaged beyond repairs, because once they were done, that was it, and Bumble Bee was proof of that.
He was also grateful his memory circuits were still intact so when he saw his mate again, he would not forget what she looked like.
His holoform projection was damaged. That was the only thing that really bothered him the most. If he found Gabrielle he could not hold her like the proper human again.
He had to try to gather the strength again to keep looking. He knew she was still alive, but where was the question.
The guilt of not being able to protect overwhelmed his senses once more. He often wondered if Barricade had been right, he was not a good mate to her at all.
He moaned a little at the thought. How much more could he even put her through? A human can only take so much before breaking, and he had seen that first hand.
He had gone searching for her at her parents home, and found out that her father had passed not too long ago.
He prayed to Primus to keep Gabrielle strong. She was already a survivor, but could she hold out for a little more?
What about his brothers? How much more of a beating could they take on this planet? Who lived, who was gone? He did not know.
He put out a warning to them to hide until he figured out what to do, but after that came his second attack, and he was down for the count.
He was now in an abandoned barn somewhere in the state of Louisiana.
He could feel the stasis coming on again. In a way he was glad, because he needed to recharge what energon he had left.
He decided to stay in bipedal mode. It was easier this way.
…..
Barricade and Gabby arrived to Optimus's supposed location later the next afternoon.
"Must you bring that into my car?" He asked when they stopped so Gabby could get food.
Gabby shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Do you want to waste more time and complain or do you want to move and get this over with?"
Barricade sighed through the speakers, but did not say anything more. Then as Gabby was finishing up Barricade suddenly spoke up.
"There is one thing I am going to do and I think this will make the Prime happy," he mused.
Gabby looked at him in confusion, and suddenly a metallic snake like arm shot out from the glove compartment, and went into Gabby's bag.
"Hey!" She protested, but could not pull the arm out.
The talons brought out the cigarettes and threw them out of the window much to Gabby's protest.
"You don't need those anymore, I think," Barricade commented.
"You're an ass," she said, but knew he was right.
Barricade laughed, and the rest of the ride was more pleasant as Gabby still sat there and stewed.
They looked and finally found the barn they thought Prime to be located in. It was in the middle of swampy areas that Gabby said looked familiar from Florida when Thunderwing held her.
She was ready to jump out of Barricade and run into the barn, but knew they had to be careful.
However, she did exit him and he transformed into robot mode scanning the area to make sure they were not followed.
He then looked over at Gabby who held her gun in front of her in a defensive position.
"Go hide behind that tree over there," he ordered.
Gabby wanted to protest, but knew he was right again. They knew it was Optimus, but they didn't know if there was still danger.
Barricade scanned the barn and said, "So far, I am just getting an old hauler, but there are energon readings."
That has to be him, Gabby thought.
She nodded to Barricade and ran behind the big tree facing the big old barn.
Gabby shook her head in frustration as Barricade just ripped the door from its hinges and entered. That was so typical of the Decepticon.
Gabby could only make out slight movement in the darkened barn and she was too far away to see inside clearly.
Then part of the barn exploded and wood went flying everywhere. She heard Barricade begin to yell something, and then another part of the barn exploded. A mortar shell landed not far from her, and then Gabby realized that Barricade was still yelling.
Finally, Gabby had enough and ran into the barn to see Optimus is robot mode speaking in gibberish and Barricade trying to calm him.
His damage was a shock to her. He was covered head to toe in dust and debris, and he had holes everywhere. Energon leaked from the side of his head, and part of the helmet was destroyed.
One optic suffered serious damage, and part of his foot was blown off.
"Gabby no! His circuits are blown! He won't know who you are!" Barricade said trying to protect her as Optimus continued to try to fight something that wasn't there.
Gabby lowered the gun and said softly, "He'll remember me….."
Optimus continued to thrash around and Barricade did his best to protect her from being hit by something.
She began to walk forward as the tears began to flow down her face.
"Optimus," she said.
He did not hear her and aimed his cannon at Barricade again growling.
Barricade growled and aimed his cannon right back, but did not intend to hurt the Autobot anymore than he had to.
Gabby walked forward much to Barricade's chagrin and dropped her gun.
Barricade sighed in frustration as she was almost stepped on by her mate.
"Optimus!" She finally yelled up to the Prime, and suddenly he froze.
His one optic blinked as he looked down at Gabrielle and though they were robots the emotions began to play across Prime's faceplates. It almost made Barricade happy for him, but jealous at the same time.
Gabby backed up and Barricade pulled her further as Optimus fell to his knees and put out a hand.
Gabby approached him again, and touched her hand with his finger.
Barricade never knew he would get so emotional, but he did. Even though he would always wish it was him where Optimus Prime was right now.
….
Gabby knew she had a big job ahead of her, but the repairs she was doing right now would have to be good enough.
Barricade replaced Prime's energon and went out to check to make sure they were still clear.
Thankfully, Barricade had the equivalent of a human first aid kit robot style with him.
Gabby worked on Optimus's one optic. She could hear him sigh in frustration.
"What's wrong?" She asked. Then thought for a moment. "Besides the obvious."
"I should have found you first," he said regretfully.
Gabby smiled softly as she continued to connect the circuits to his optic.
"We can't change that now, but is that really important?" She asked.
"No, the most important thing is that you are safe, and I can't change into holoform just yet," he said sadly.
Gabby smiled again and said, "You will."
"We need to have a long talk," he said as Gabby told him to test his optic. "I want to know everything. I want to know why you felt the need to disguise yourself and run for so long."
Optimus could not see the tears threatening her as she worked on him.
"Gabby?"
"We will," she said trying to prevent the shaking in her voice, but she knew Optimus could sense it.
"I would like to know now," he insisted as she stepped down from his shoulder.
He looked down at her haunted eyes and wanted to shake it out of her, but knew she was not quite ready to talk yet. She was more concerned about getting him repaired.
Gabby was going to say something when Barricade came back in and transformed into robotic mode.
…..
Later on, Optimus still could not activate his holoform, and was disappointed that he could not hold his mate. He did relish the heat from her as she repaired him.
It had been two years since they had seen each other, and he knew now how happy he was to see her, and how glad he was that she was back with him.
Gabby was exhausted after a while, and decided to try to sleep. She found some old blankets and made a bed out of hay. Optimus hated every moment of this.
Barricade waited for him outside so they could talk while Gabby slept.
"Of all the ones who had to find her, it had to be you," Optimus said not hiding his anger in their native tongue.
"Well, if it's any consolation I only found her a day ago," Barricade said with a smirk.
"None at all," Optimus replied angrily. "I would prefer that you just leave us."
"That is not going to happen. You and I both know we need each other right now, personal feelings aside," Barricade replied still smirking.
"Unfortunately," Optimus replied thinking.
Barricade sensed the signals again going into space. He was trying to call for Orianna again.
"I can't say I blame you for not giving up," Barricade said.
"I will never give up until I know what happened to my sparkling," Optimus replied looking down at the Decepticon.
"All I know is Unicron's signals stopped as well. It cannot be a coincidence," he said.
Optimus cursed silently in his language. So, Unicron's delayed arrival seemed timed to Orianna's signals stopping as well. He suspected as much.
"Right now we have another issue. Where are the other Autobots?"
"I told them to go to the bunker that I killed Starscream at. Whether they are still there I don't know," Optimus said.
"Why were you and the other Autobots attacked Prime?"
"I want to know the same," Optimus said thinking of that day.
Optimus looked back into the barn and felt the silence of no answer from his sparkling once again. It was an emptiness that never went away.
"Gabby is the key," Barricade said.
"I think we need to gather the rest of the Autobots first, and then solve this mystery," Optimus said. "I will promise you if Bee is still alive, that is he is to stand down."
"I appreciate that," Barricade said.
Barricade looked back towards the barn and said, "The only human I have ever liked."
Optimus scoffed. "Right now, me too, brother."