Sparks
Official Disclaimer: I do not own the Transformers.
Author's Note: Heehee...hee...um...don't kill me? I have a squeaky hammer?...right, to my fortified bunker-basement it is!
- Chapter Ten: The Seekers and the Matrix -
Alex sighed happily as she steered Optimus past a car that was going about half the speed limit. It was good to be back on the road, even if she hadn't picked up another trailer yet. She didn't know why she'd missed it so much while inside the dam, when it hadn't really bothered her when she'd been at Beth's for longer - she suspected that it was the lack of distraction in the dam. Probably the lack of Optimus' company, too - he'd put himself on a temporary exile, and Alex had missed him. Even though they rarely talked on the highways, his silent presence was something she'd become used to.
"Where are we going?" the question from the radio startled Alex out of her thoughts, and she glanced down and blinked, before returning her attention to the road. Optimus had been silent for the last two hours, since Alex had continued her rant from inside the base, basically telling him off for making her lose sleep and then using that to get away with not explaining what was going on. He'd meekly apologized - something Alex wished she'd had a tape-recorder on hand for, just so she could prove it had happened - and things had returned to blissful normality, which was just fine with Alex. She couldn't even begin to imagine how awkward it would be for her and Optimus to be mad at each other while having to spend the entire day together. "Alexandra?" Alex shook her head and returned her attention to Optimus' question.
"Um. Thataway." she said, waving vaguely out the windshield.
"Obviously." Optimus replied with amusement.
"I'll figure out a destination later." Alex said with a shrug. "Right now I'm just enjoying being out of that dam."
"You disliked it that much?" Optimus inquired.
"Well, it wasn't bad - except for the containment room, that smelled weird - but it was...underground. I'm used to seeing the sky, the landscape, every day - and having it change every day. It was driving me batty seeing nothing but the same concrete walls, the same fluorescent lights, and the same damn people every day. Not that I don't like Emily, but spending that much time around one person can be...wearing." Alex said.
"You don't seem to have that problem around me." Optimus said, and it took Alex a moment to realize what he meant.
"You're different." she said dismissively.
"...how?" Alex could hear the confusion in the Autobot's voice.
"You don't talk all the time, or feel the need to make polite conversation - and, most importantly, you're not poking me with needles and then sticking me in machines and taking readings." Alex replied with humour.
"So it was spending so much time around a doctor that bothered you?" Optimus asked.
"That was irritating, yes, but as I said, there were other reasons." Alex replied. "Imagine spending two weeks in an enclosed space with only Ratchet, who was constantly fixing you or performing diagnostics or whatnot." Alex smiled as she felt the truck shudder under her, and she knew her point had been made. Optimus flipped on the radio after that, somehow managing to find a decent country station.
It was hours later, and Alex still hadn't decided where they were going - except through Arizona desert - when the radio shut off, and Optimus took over, shifting down and slowing his pace.
"Optimus?" she asked uncertainly.
"Quiet." the mental voice disconcerted Alex for a moment, but she complied. Optimus had now slowed to only twenty miles an hour, and continued at that pace, seeming cautious. After fifteen minutes of that, Alex was ready to try and contact him through the private network, when he suddenly stopped, and his driver's-side door swung open. Alex only paused to grab her bag from the back - it had water in it, which she'd need if she was going to be out in the desert for any length of time - before getting out without a word. Optimus, oddly, didn't change as soon as she stepped out, and she risked the mental contact.
"What's going on?" she asked tentatively, unsure if she'd succeeded in contacting only Optimus, even though something told her she had.
"Walk down the highway." was Optimus' reply. Alex gave him a confused look, but complied - and no sooner had she turned her back on Optimus than something erupted from the sand. She whirled, startled, in time to see Optimus in the middle of transforming as the thing hit him. And then, literally out of nowhere, a purple F-22 appeared, already strafing the area where Optimus was, seeming unworried about hitting the scorpion-like thing that had come out of the sand.
"RUN!" Optimus yelled to Alex, and right on the heels of that command, she heard him call to the other Autobots for assistance. Despite Optimus telling her to run, Alex remained frozen in place - until she saw Optimus toss the scorpion-thing several hundred yards and then start firing at the F-22. At that point she decided it was probably safer to leave. Alex got no further than a step away, though - when she turned around, her eyes drifted up to the sky, and she spotted a formation of five F-22s headed in their direction, all but two in definitely non-military colours.
"Optimus!" she yelled, turning around again and pointing. Optimus looked over from firing at the other jet, and his face developed a hard look. He turned his attention back to the other jet, only for it to disappear - and reappear above the other jets, falling into formation. Faintly, Alex realized now would be a good time not to be here - the jets, Decepticons all she had no doubt, were likely going to try and barrage Optimus from the air. She started doing what Optimus had told her to do at the beginning - running.
She stopped when the jets screamed over her head, turning with them to watch as they let loose with the predicted missiles. Optimus staggered under the barrage, but remained standing, sending off a few shots, and hitting one of the normal coloured jets on the wing. It spun, but regained control, turning with the rest of the formation to come at Optimus again.
"RATCHET! WHEELJACK!" Alex screamed over the Autobot's communications network. "ANYBODY! This is not looking good!"
"Alexandra, stay away from the battle!" Ratchet replied. "Wheeljack and I are on our way, and so are the others. We don't need you to have another Decepticon fall on you!"
"Yeah well hurry your asses up - another five jets have shown up!" Alex snapped back, even as she turned and started running again.
"What?" Ironhide put in. "Where did they come from?"
"A vaguely eastwards direction." Alex replied sarcastically. Ironhide snapped something back, but Alex didn't hear, as a roar behind her caught her attention. She turned just in time to see Optimus being lifted off the ground, partially transformed Decepticons swarming on him. Where Optimus had been standing, the scorpion thing could just be seen disappearing back into the sand - it had probably knocked the Autobot off balance so the jets could get him.
"Oh no." Alex said softly, watching as the jets, with their combined strength, lifted Optimus higher into the air. Without any leverage, and with the Decepticon jets holding him spread-eagled and staying well clear of the end of his arms, Optimus couldn't fight back and couldn't move. Alex could only watch in horror as the purple jet from before broke off, doing a tight u-turn in the air before heading straight at Optimus - and began firing.
All the Autobots saw what happened next - Alex somehow managed to transmit what she was seeing across the network, and as she did so, eight vehicles across the country slid to a stop, most of them skidding off the road and not even noticing. The minds that controlled the vehicles were too busy watching what was happening in the Arizona desert - watching their leader blasted away, then ripped apart piece by piece, his parts scattered across a hundred mile area. Watched as the Decepticons flew away, laughing, after buzzing the stunned human standing on the side of the road.
Then, as one, those eight vehicles roared their fury to the skies, got themselves back onto the roads, and sped towards Arizona, mindless of everything and everyone else around them.
---
Ratchet and Wheeljack arrived on the scene first. Wheeljack scoured the ground underneath them, hoping to catch Scorpinok scurrying away so he could blast something into oblivion. Ratchet left the scientist to it, going to Alexandra. He found her on her knees on the highway, eyes still glued to the spot where she'd watched Optimus get torn apart. Ratchet stepped in front of her in an attempt to break her gaze, but she continued staring in the same direction. Kneeling, he gave her shoulder a light push with one finger, recognizing that she was in shock and needed to be brought back to reality. The push caught her attention, and she looked up into his optics for a moment, before her eyes flared blue and rolled back into her head as she collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
"Is she alright?" Wheeljack asked gruffly over Ratchet's shoulder.
"Physically, yes." Ratchet said, and then glanced around, knowing that Alexandra would need cover or suffer sun burns before the humans from the dam facility arrived. Seeing what had been one of Optimus' side panels, Ratchet thought that it was somehow appropriate, and wedged it into the asphalt at an angle so Alexandra was laying in its shade. That problem solved, Ratchet turned to see what Wheeljack was doing, and smiled sadly when he saw. A small pile of Optimus' parts was already resting beside the cracked and broken highway where Optimus had last stood, and was growing steadily as the scientist Autobot searched the desert floor. Ratchet joined him without a word.
The humans from the dam arrived no more than two hours after the two Autobots. They hadn't been told what had happened, but they only had to take one look at the growing pile, and the sheet of metal protecting Alexandra from the sun, to figure it out themselves. They sent out a few radio calls, and loaded Alexandra into a vehicle and took her away, but otherwise they stood back, waiting and watching. Ratchet calmly added Alexandra's sun shield to the pile of Optimus' parts.
Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were the next to arrive, followed closely by Cliffjumper and Bumblebee, and then several hours later, Bluestreak. Ironhide was the last to arrive, less than twelve hours after the Autobots had received Alexandra's transmission of Optimus' death. It was shortly after Ironhide arrived that they finally finished gathering the last of Optimus' parts. The Autobots were silent for a long time after finishing, standing in a loose circle around what was left of their leader, staring at it in as much shock as Alexandra had stared at the sky earlier. Finally, Ironhide stirred and spoke.
"What now?" he asked.
"We tear them apart." Sunstreaker said calmly.
"We have to find them first." Sideswipe said, equally without emotion.
"I have no qualms with spending the next one hundred centuries tracking down each and every one of them and tearing them apart just as they did to him." Ironhide's voice was rough, determined. The others added their agreements, save for Ratchet.
"You will all abandon your human companions?" he asked quietly, and everyone looked at him. He looked back with a trouble face. "To give in to nothing but vengeance, to seek only to do violence against the Decepticons...it is very similar to the goals and feelings of the Decepticons. Optimus said once that it was our interest in the worlds around us, our curiosity about their inhabitants, and the way we sought out their company, that made us different from the Decepticons, who seek only to destroy."
"And now he's dead." Sunstreaker said, glaring down at the pile of parts, but before Ratchet could berate him, the Autobot sighed and shook his head. "No, you are right, Ratchet. To avenge Optimus only to discover we have become Decepticons ourselves would be no revenge."
"So then what do we do?" Bumblebee asked.
"We hunt down the Decepticons - with the help of the humans. And we stay in groups from now on. Bumblebee and Cliffjumper are fine together, as are Wheeljack and I, but the rest of you are spread out." Ratchet replied, taking charge without being questioned.
"Sides and I will have no problem staying together." Sunstreaker said with a grunt, exchanging a glance with his twin.
"I was just wandering, anyways." Bluestreak said, uncharacteristically short-winded, as he nodded towards Ironhide. Ironhide grunted, clearly not looking forward to spending time with the normally talkative Autobot, but he could see the sense in Ratchet's words.
"Good." Ratchet said, and then turned in the direction of the dam facility. "We'd best see about getting Optimus' remains moved."
"I'll take them." Ironhide volunteered.
"Wheeljack and I will make...a place for them." Ratchet said. "Back at the dam, with Jazz's remains."
"Speaking of the dam - how's Alexandra?" Cliffjumper asked softly.
"In shock." Ratchet said wryly. "Though the humans might have managed to pull her out of it by now."
"I'd better check - Beth will want to know." Cliffjumper said, and Ratchet nodded.
"I'll come too." Bumblebee said. "Better get used to sticking together." Cliffjumper let out a sour laugh, and then with no further conversation, the four Autobots heading back to the dam transformed and headed off. Behind them, Ironhide transformed, as well, and Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and Bluestreak began loading Optimus' remains into him.
---
The first thing Alex was aware of was a needle piercing her skin, and concerned voices over her head. Her eyes snapped open, and she saw hooded figures looming over her, the tone of their voices immediately changing as they saw her eyes open. They were trying to talk to her, she knew, but she couldn't make sense of what they were saying. A panic was rising inside of her as she listened to them yammer away incomprehensibly - and then the panic formed into an irresistible urge to run. Jerking away from the needle in her arm and pushing against the nearest figure, sending them staggering backwards, Alexandra scrambled off the bed she was lying on and took a quick survey of the room before sprinting for the nearest door.
The people in the room called after Alex as she slipped into the corridor beyond the room and began running. Large, magnetically sealed doors began closing around her as lights flashed and an alarm sounded, but Alex slipped past the doors and ignored the rest, concentrating on running. She wasn't aware she had a destination in mind until she saw an elevator, and knew she had to get in it. She headed for it, but bullets shattered the floor in front of her, and she was forced to change directions - only to be met with the butt of a rifle to the head. Alex went down, her vision swimming, but amazingly still conscious.
When her vision cleared, Alex looked up to see soldiers surrounding her, guns at the ready and aimed at her. She frowned, wondering idly why they were standing so far away, and seemed so nervous. Then a white-clad figure - Emily, a part of her mind whispered - pushed her way through the guns and began speaking. Alex watched her for a moment, then frowned - like the people before, Emily wasn't making sense. Since she wasn't going anywhere, Alex actually tried to understand this time, though - so why wasn't Emily speaking sense? Emily paused in whatever she was saying, and Alex took the opportunity to ask her why she wasn't speaking sense.
The result was curious, as Emily stiffened, then backed away, grabbing a radio from one of the soldiers and speaking quickly into it. Then she gently pushed down the guns of the nearest soldiers and held out a hand to Alex - but as soon as the guns were down, Alex barreled her way through the soldiers and began running again. Even Emily not making sense wasn't enough to make the urge to run disappear. Alex found stairs, and bolted up them, sending several soldiers tumbling down them when they tried to stop her. Up and up Alex ran, ignoring the burning in her legs and lungs, her focus on running - running higher.
Then, abruptly, she was at the top, and burst out into the morning twilight. More soldiers waited for her, and guns were pointed again, but this time one of the soldiers tossed a radio to Alex. She frowned first at the radio, then at the soldier, and was just about to toss the radio away when a voice came from it. This voice she could understand - it was telling her to calm down, to stop running. Alex considered doing as it asked for a fraction of a second, but the urge to run surged within her as the voice continued to speak, and Alex dropped the radio. She charged the soldiers, uncaring of their guns, but they scattered before her instead of shooting. Alex ran to the road, turned right, and kept going until she saw headlights approaching - but no, they weren't the right ones. She kept running.
Then more headlights - four sets. These were the right ones. Alex stepped out into the middle of the road, and the first vehicle screeched to a halt only inches in front of her. The others stopped, and they all began to change, until four tall figures looked down at Alex. She looked back - and felt her eyes bore into the one that had stopped in front of her. She pinned it with her gaze, and could feel something go from her to it, something powerful, something strong. Then she sat down, hard.
It was some time before the strange mechanical screeching sounds of the Cybertronian language reached her, and she looked up to see Cliffjumper looked at her intently. He was apparently talking to her, since his attention was on her, but why was he speaking Cybertronian?
"Wha-huh!" Alex's attempted question ended in a hacking cough as her throat burned, causing her eyes to water. A bottle of water appeared off to her side, and she looked up to see Emily. Gratefully, she took the water and gulped it down, then tried to speak again, only to end up hacking once more.
"Easy." Emily said soothingly from beside her, a hand rubbing on her back. Cliffjumper said something more in Cybertronian, and instead of trying to speak again, Alex gave him a weird look.
"Oh, are you speaking English again, then?" Cliffjumper asked, and Alex blinked at him.
"You were speaking in Cybertronian back at the base." Emily supplied. "I didn't even know the human vocal chords could make some of the sounds you were, so I'm not surprised you can't talk right now." Alex considered that, decided it made sense according to her blurry memories, and nodded. She frowned, though, as something else about those memories nagged at her. She tried to stand, but her legs screamed in protest. "Over 30 flights of stairs." Emily supplied as she gently pushed Alex back down. Alex sulked then, feeling distinctly disadvantaged, and Emily laughed slightly. "I assume you wanted to see Bumblebee, though?" Alex abruptly sobered and nodded - that was what was nagging at her.
Cliffjumper moved out of the way, and Alex saw Bumblebee sitting on the edge of the road, Ratchet poking at him with tools and lasers. Wheeljack stood nearby, asking Bumblebee questions, which the seated bot answered with a voice that was deeper than Alex remembered. Come to think of it, Bumblebee seemed bigger than before...then all at once, Alex began noticing other differences in the bot. A part here, a design there, the way his arm was constructed - given a longer look, Bumblebee barely looked like himself anymore. He had the same general form, enough to look similar, but the rest...was different. He was even a different color - instead of the bright yellow with black stripes, Bumblebee was a burnished reddish-gold in color. Alex looked up at Cliffjumper in confusion, silently asking for an explanation.
"It's something we'd forgotten about in the wake of Optimus' death." Cliffjumper said, sounding wry. "Well, Ratchet apparently remembered, but he evidently thought it had been destroyed or Starscream had stolen it. Turns out you absorbed it, though." Alex shot him an annoyed look, telling him to get to the point. "The Autobot Matrix of Leadership. You had it inside you, but either it or you knew that you couldn't contain it without dying - the radiation from it was dangerous to both yourself and those around you - and so you found the nearest Autobot to give it to. Bumblebee just happened to be that Autobot." Alex blinked, still not comprehending - the term made sense by itself, but she had no idea what it meant in context. "I'll get Ratchet to explain it better later - or maybe Bumblebee, since he has personal experience with it now."
"For now, we'd best get you back to the dam - Cliffjumper, do you think Wheeljack, Ratchet, and Bumblebee would be able to move to inside the dam? We've blocked off civilian traffic for now, but..." Emily trailed off, and Cliffjumper went to inform Ratchet and Bumblebee. Emily and one of her nurses then helped Alex up - more like lifted her entirely, it hurt so much to put weight on her legs - and took her to a nearby SUV.
As she settled into the SUV, Alex heard the metallic sounds of bots transforming behind her - and then exclamations of surprise from the soldiers around her. Curious, she looked back, and blinked. There was, naturally, Ratchet's Search and Rescue Hummer, Wheeljack's Mustang, and Cliffjumper's Porsche, but as for Bumblebee...Alex didn't even know what type of vehicle he was. Pick-up truck on steroids was too bland a description - it was ridiculously huge, almost rivaling Optimus' Peterbilt 379.
"What the hell is that?" one of the nearby soldiers asked incredulously, echoing Alex's thoughts.
"That would be a Navistar International CXT." another replied dazedly. "One of the most ridiculous trucks ever made." Bumblebee revved his engine in obvious annoyance, and the soldier shook his head. "Sorry, but it's the truth - unless you're a transformer, that truck's only use is to look ridiculously big." Disturbingly, cackling laughter issued from Bumblebee's radio. Ratchet gave the now not-so-small Autobot a nudge with his bumper, and the laughter stopped. The sudden silence seemed to spur everyone else into action, as soldiers quickly piled into vehicles, most trying to look like they weren't still trying to look over their shoulders at the truck Bumblebee had turned into. Fortunately, the drivers managed to tear their gazes away, and they were soon on their way back to the dam.
When they arrived at the base, a wheelchair was brought up for Alex, and as she was being helped into it, something amusing occurred to her. She looked over at Bumblebee for a moment, and then decided to see if she could still tap into the Autobot communications network.
"Sam is going to shit himself when he sees you." she said in Bumblebees direction, and the cackling laughter was heard once more.
---
"I thought they said Bumblebee was going to pick us up?" Mikaela asked softly as she came up beside Sam. They were standing outside the airport, having just flown in after being informed of Optimus' death. Sam shrugged helplessly, still somewhat shocked from the news, and continued to look for the yellow and black Camaro. It was nowhere to be seen, though - there wasn't a Camaro within sight, let alone a vehicle with the same paint job.
"Maybe they got the wrong time?" Sam said after a moment, sighing, then started as a ridiculously huge truck parked at the curb, no more than five feet away from Sam and Mikaela, revved its engine loudly. He sent a glare to the driver...who wasn't there. Sam blinked. And blinked again. Then his eyes slid over of their own accord to the small disco ball hanging from the rear view mirror in the truck, and to the decorative cut-out with a bee design and 'Bee-otch' written underneath. "No way." he said weakly.
"What, Sam?" Mikaela asked, and then followed his gaze to the truck. "A CXT? Someone has compensation issues." The truck blared its horn, causing Mikaela to jump, and she stared at it in surprise. If Sam had been able to tear his gaze away from the truck, he would've been able to see the same gears turning in Mikaela's mind as she realized there was no driver and saw the familiar decorations. Only once the expression of incredulous understanding came to her face did the passenger door of the truck open, and from within, just loud enough to reach Sam and Mikaela, a familiar sound clip was heard: 'Anymore questions you wanna ask?'
"Oh god. I don't even know how to drive a truck!" Sam said with a groan.