Transformerminnionkittycat : I really thank you for your long review. First time i watched the DoTM i almost cried when they 'almost' killed Bee, i know how you feel :(. Bayverses were fangirls' biggest nightmare. I mean, Jazz died, the beautiful Sunny didn't make appearance (no human or bot even mentioned him), OPTIMUS DIED, Arcee died, Ironhide died, Ratchet died. Bay, you glitch :(. Anyways, thanks for your review! :D
xVentressx : Thanks. I loved him, but, sacrifice had to be done! xD
DisneyFreak-Lover : It hurts my spark too everytime i see him dies, don't worry xD. And oh, i'm evil, aren't i? *evil smirk*
joonstar : Why? Why did you find me here? xD Anyways, you can't pick silver and golden at the same time, darling. AND THE SHINY GOLDEN IS MINE, NO TOUCHY TOUCHY. *Astaga xD*
If you recognize that the writing here is different, that's because it is. Thanks to xVentressx because i finally have a beta-reader! I'd like to thank joonstar too because she is one of the reason i'm starting this fanfic, and she also corrected me in writing dialogue.
If you also recognize anything that changed slightly from this fic, don't worry because it won't affect the storyline i've planned. Now enjoy the Chapter 6 of Final Countdown!
This chapter was edited (again) due to my errors in the middle of the night o(╥﹏╥)o, but mostly because of my Ms Word (it glitched). Ms Word, y u no let me do this properly? щ(ºДºщ)
Chapter 6 : Realization
Beta-ed by : xVentressx
Three days after the battle, news spread quickly and created tense feelings all around the nation. The government secured every witness and made sure the accident looked like as a military malfunction.
They disposed of the alien remains into the Laurentian Abyss, which they called the deepest place on earth with 7 miles below the sea level. Huh, weird. I thought Mariana Trench was the deepest, but I guessed they chose it because it was easier to guard that the Mariana Trench which was located in Hawaii. The President also has ordered the Sector Seven to be terminated alongside with its research and experiments.
I never felt so happy. No one was going to limit my power and I could finally become whoever I wanted to be. I could create anything without the fear of getting arrested and being experimented on again. At least for a few years, I was finally free.
We stayed at the old S-Seven Base in Hoover Dam – the one that Megatron destroyed a few days before – including all of the Autobots. Even though the S-Seven was discontinued, the government wanted to replace it with another agency so that humans and Autobots could work together to exterminate the remaining Decepticons on earth. The government said they needed time to build a bigger and more isolated base in somewhere else, so here we are.
Me, Mikaela, and Sam are still stuck in here after all things have calmed down. Ratchet checked the condition of all robots, including Jazz's body. I haven't seen Jazz again since last time, because I just couldn't. He was too painful to look at. Ratchet also checked on Sam because he held the Allspark for a long time and Ratchet was afraid if it affected his body. The scans indicated that there were no strange activities inside his body. His heart, body, and mind functioned properly.
And lastly, Ratchet checked on me. I entered the Med Bay to the sight of Bumblebee sleeping on a berth, the poor guy resting after his legs operation. His legs now looked brand new and stronger, as if he could run twelve laps on a football field. Well he was huge, so that wouldn't have been a problem anyway.
"He's in deep recharge, but he'll wake up sooner than you think" Ratchet caught me staring at Bumblebee's body. I guessed 'recharge' was their term for 'sleep' or 'rest'. Damn, I need to learn some of these Cybertronian phrases.
Ratchet called me and did his scans thoroughly. After the results came out, he analyzed them and talked to me. I was sitting on the other huge Cybertronian berth. Before that, he made sure this medical bay's door was closed, and no one could hear our conversation.
"Sir, with all respect, I object. Why would I need to be her guardian when Sideswipe already volunteered?" Sunstreaker snorted. All remaining Autobots – Optimus, Ironhide, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker – were having a meeting about the conditions they were in and what happened lately.
"There's a possibility that Decepticons might be after her due to her unique power. Therefore, she needs more protection. I do not question Sideswipe's skill, but two is better than one. And I need two of my frontliners to protect her." Optimus explained calmly.
Sunstreaker understood the situation he was in. Bumblebee took care of Sam, Ironhide already became Lennox's guardian, Jazz was dead, and that only left him, Optimus, and Ratchet. Optimus was busy with the human things, and Ratchet was out of option since he was a medic. That left him with no choice.
"She crash landed on Megatron and still survived from such damage. She should be able to protect herself." He growled.
"Youngling, do you even have any idea if Decepticons lay their servos on her? She will be experimented on, again. We already saw the power with our own optics, it would be dangerous if Decepticons use her as their weapon!", Ironhide gently slapped his servo on the desk.
"Chloe has helped us more than once, Sunny." Sideswipe answered in a deep tone.
Sunstreaker understood that she was unique. She has helped his kind more than once and didn't hesitate in any decision she made. Firstly, when she charged into the crowd of humans to help Bumblebee. Secondly, she chose to stay and helped Jazz. And finally, she even crash landed on Megatron. He thought that she was a fool because her decisions always ended up hurting her, but he thought about it again. Was she really a fool when she decided to help his kind?
Nonsense, why did he even pay attention on what she was doing?
He hesitated.
He did gain respect for her, but that didn't mean he would love to become her guardian. She was just a squishy, and squishies made him sick. Then again, it was a direct command from Optimus, he couldn't decline.
"Alright, I will be her guardian, but with one condition" He sighed. Everyone seemed relieved.
"What is it, Sunstreaker?" Optimus asked.
"If she scratches my paint job, I'll haunt her to death"
"Your skeleton has an admixture in your bone tissue ; calcium and ferroalloy consists of iron, manganese, chromium, titanium, molybdenum, tungsten, vanadium, and our cybertronian metals." He explained while showing me one of the scans. "Your blood and body liquid also contains huge amount of energon."
"Thanks for the explanation Ratchet, but I get that a lot." I sighed. Ratchet looked doubtful. Concern written all over his face.
"I still don't know why your body responds so well to the Allspark energy, you can even fully control it." He looked at his data-pad. "My body was already mutated from my parents, so it can adjusts the energy more easily." I simply answered.
"Mutated from your parents?." He froze.
"Yeah, both of my parents were also test subjects, so I inherited their mutant genes. The already-mutated-genes from my family met inside my body and created a perfect life form for the energy to adapt in. That was why they started experimenting on me at an early age." I suddenly remembered what happened back then. The misery of my first injection, the death of my parents. I shivered. "But I get something awesome in return, and it has saved my life!" I grinned.
"That's absolutely ridiculous, Chloe. Yes I am aware of the potential you have, but you have to realize that the power that keeps you alive." He paused, "also slowly kills you"
"I know Ratchet, I know." I was not surprised. Really, I wasn't.
"But I still have three mo-"
"Two." He cut me. "According to my calculation, you only have two more years to live." He stood in front of my berth and looked at me worriedly. "The power drains your Energon - our terms for blood - and turns it into metals whenever you use that power." He explained. Ah, now I understand why I always felt so fatigued whenever I used the power.
So, two more years. I sighed. It was getting shorter and shorter.
"You must not use that power, Chloe. It endangers yourself." He warned.
"The Energon from the Allspark and all metal things have crawled into my heart, Ratchet." I sighed in defeat. "Whether I use it or not, I'll still die in two years." I looked down and murmured. Silence filled the air.
"Little one" Ratchet leaned above me and patted my head, "I prohibit you from using your power because it brings you pain. I will try to do something with your spark, so you can have a longer lifespan. You helped us, and now I am going to help you." He continued.
I was touched, I fought back my tears, and smiled to him.
"Thanks, Ratchet, but you don't need to worry about me right now. Bumblebee needs you more than I do, and-," I turned my gaze to the deeper room inside medical bay where he put the body of his fallen comrade, "Jazz..."
"Jazz is alive, I know it. I want to use my power to help him. I don't care if I hurt myself and whatnot, but that guy is the one who's really dying right now" I raised my voice a bit, but still showed respect.
"Jazz offlined, Chloe. You can't do anything about it. Besides, you are not permitted to use that power. That's an order", he straightened up and after giving his explicit order. He stared me seriously.
I didn't know much about Cybertronian's body, but I knew that they were not like humans ; who bleed to their death once they had fatal injuries. Cybertronian could still be alive as long as their head – their helmet – was still attached and the thing inside their chest – the spark, as they called it – was not damaged at all. It was my analysis, and I had proof to back me up. Barricade was alive after his deathmatch with Bumblebee, the giant tank was alive even after 5 Autobots attacked him simultaneously, heck even Bumblebee could still fight after he lost his legs. Captain Lennox has told me that he had succeeded in killing one Decepticon. It only had serious damage on his chest, and no fatal injuries on other part of the body. With my analysis, I believed that Jazz still have a chance. Even though his body already torn into two, his spark and head didn't receive any damage.
I was not giving up on Jazz, just like Jacob didn't give up on me six years ago. Jazz still had the chance to live.
I hoped that I could use my power to resurrect him. I was happy that there were no agency that could limit my power because I could use it freely now. But then Ratchet ordered me not to use my power, of course I was angry. My freedom had been stolen. Who did he think he was?
"I am not a soldier whom you can give orders to." I was deeply serious. He gave me an irritated look and walked away silently. But shit, I guessed I just lit a fire.
I sighed and thought about it for a sec. I was being a douche to someone who wanted to help me. He was only worried because whenever I used the power, It brought me pain. I understood that, but I was completely fine. I have dealt with this pain for more than a few years and I knew my body more than anyone else.
"Ratchet!" I called out for him but he didn't even look at me.
"Ratchet I'm sorry, it was really rude of me." I sighed. He pretended to be busy. He was ignoring me. Great.
"Ratchet, it's not that I don't want to obey your order, I understand that it's for my own good. However, I have my own reasons to live, and one of them is to use my power in good way and help everyone with it." He slowly turned his body to me. "I will never be myself if I don't use my power Ratchet. I know it brings pain, but I just want to be myself." I smiled. Now he paid attention to me.
He shot me an apologetic look and sighed. This useless quarrel was our own fault, so we forgave each other. We had our own way of dealing with this problem. I promised Ratchet not to use my power too often and let him know whenever I felt any pain. Ratchet promised me not to tell everyone about me dying because I had to be the one who was going to tell them myself. We both agreed, and held no more useless arguments. We got over it.
"Now, shoo. I have something important to do." He forced me out of his medbay. I laughed my head off when I heard that sentence from his mouth. I mean, come on, he shooed my like I was an annoying animal.
I wandered around the base looking for someone to talk to and lighten up my mood. Optimus was having a debrief with all of the Autobots and the government representatives, Sam and Mikaela were busy talking to Sam's parents, Lennox was taking care of something important, and that left me with Jacob. Jacob's status right now was unemployed, but soon he would be one of the important members – alongside Lennox – in the human-Autobot-alliance thanks to his experiences. He was one hell of a talented guy, I was happy to have him as my family.
"Hey Jacob." I greeted him. He was working on his computer when he looked at me, "Hey Chloe, how's your checkup with that medic bot, uhh what's his name, Ratchet?"
"Err.. Ratchet said I have only two years more" I said it calmly as if it was nothing important. Jacob was an understanding person. He respected any of my decisions as long as I was happy with it. But I knew, deep inside, he was really, really sad about me dying.
"Yeah after you crashed yourself on NBE-One's body, it's not so surprising." He laughed about it and grinned, "At least now you're okay."
"Yes, now I'm okay." I grinned back.
We talked about many things, but mostly about my condition. We looked back at the past ; first time I came here and they 'marked' me as an experiment subject. At that time Jacob was not working here, but after three months, he has transferred here and replaced his brother as an analyst in Sector Seven. As my uncle, he was furious when he learned that his big bro's daughter was being experimented on. He knew that I would be a subject, but not that soon. He had calmed down once I accepted my fate and told him I was okay with it.
Still, I wanted to slay everyone who put my parents in misery, but that wouldn't change anything. Revenge was a child's play.
"Speaking of your parents, here." He threw me something. I caught it and found at something familiar on my hands. A necklace with a small, flat, round-shaped pendant on it, "I thought it might make you feel better"
"You brought it here from home but all of us can't even get out of this building? That's not fair." I snickered and put the necklace on. He laughed. He told me that everything was already under control and the government would allow us to go now.
"Now!?" I squealed. I hugged him tightly and kissed him on both of his cheeks. I could finally go out of this building. Sounds of heavy footsteps were heard ; It was the Autobots. They have already finished their meeting. Ratchet finished his job, and Bumblebee was awake.
"Hey, Chloe. Ready to go home?" Sides greeted me.
"You don't have to ask me." I gave him silly grin. I was so excited, I couldn't mind my actions.
I packed up my things inside my barrack – well not really, I didn't have anything in here -. Sam and Mikaela also went home with us, since our houses were in the same neighborhood. Jacob was still stuck here for a little while, but he said he would go home tonight. I went to the hangar only to get confused at the sight of all Autobots waiting for us. I thought it was only Sideswipe and Bumblebee who were going with us. Optimus explained that they were going to do something first before they escorted us home.
We went to a hill nearby and watched the sunset. I like sunset as much as stargazing. "Isn't this your first sunset on earth?" I got out of the car.
"Yes, yes it is." He answered through the radio. I continued looking the breath-taking sunset. It was so colorful, and beautiful. Some kind of light hit my eyes and surprised me, so I looked at the light's source. It was Sunstreaker. He reflected the light with his bright and smooth paintjob, making it more glorious than ever. If only his personality was as beautiful as his looks. The car was already hot, but his personality was as cold as the liquid nitrogen in which had average temperature of minus 335 Fahrenheit.
"Hey, what's that?" Sideswipe saw glimpses of light that my necklace reflected. I raised it and showed him. The golden-colored pendant was glowing under the sunset, "It's a necklace, but not an ordinary one"
"What's a necklace?" He curiously asked. Oh right, he was Cybertronian. I ended up explaining him about the necklace. "We don't have that kind of thing in Cybertron, but it looks good on you. I didn't see it earlier because you always wear the thick soft armor around yourself." He commented.
Thick soft armor? Oh he was talking about my hoodie. Right now I only wore white, long-sleeved shirt and jeans, because my hoodie was completely torn.
"Clothes, they're called Clothes. They protect our body, but not as good as armor." I chuckled.
I was startled at the sound of ruckus beside me, I turned my head and saw Sam resting on Bee's hood with Mikaela on top of him. They were making out passionately. Oh God, this was an open space, couldn't they do it in a more private place instead on the top of Bee's hood? Poor Bee.
Also, this sight made me blush. I rarely saw these things right in front of my eyes. I blushed like crazy, but I managed to return to my normal state before anyone realized.
The sound of gears shifting and clicking also caught my attention, it was Optimus, he stood up proudly with all leader-y aura around him. Damn, Prime, this was an open space, everyone could see you. Before I went full-panic, Sideswipe told me that they had permission to transform in here and the government already dismissed all human in sight. He also told me their real intentions and why they were here on this hill. Optimus was sending messages to any surviving autobots taking refuge among the stars, he invited them all to the earth.
I looked at Sides and asked if I could sit on his hood. He agreed. But when I looked at the glamour red hood of the Lamborghini, I hesitated. There was no way I would sit on it, because i was afraid if I would make dents due to my weight, so I leaned on it instead. He was confused. I explained the reason and he only chuckled, "Don't worry, you're as light as a feather"
"Hey Sides, do you want to know why this necklace is extraordinary?" I raised the glowing gold pendant again. "No" I jolted at the sudden response from the yellow Lambo.
"Hey, look who was listening all along." Sides chuckled. The fact that Sunstreaker answered my question, which was intended for Sideswipe, meant that he was indeed listening to our conversation. A few swear words which I didn't know the meaning of kept coming out from Sunny's mouth. His brother only responded with laughter. This was an interesting brofight, and it was hilarious since Sideswipe always made good and teasing comeback.
"Now shut up, Sunny. Chloe's going to show us something." He shushed his brother. "Oh yeah, here." I took the pendant off of my neck.
With the click of one button, the pendant popped up the cover. The metals inside shifted into three figures of me, my father, and my mother. The three nicely-done figurines spun, and a relaxing melody came from the inside of the pendant. A melody which my mother always played on piano. The pendant which was sculptured perfectly with my father's power. So, this soothing melody and stunning pendant brought back memories.
"That necklace is interesting. It looks and sounds beautiful." Curious Sideswipe was curious.
"Yeah, it was the best birthday gift my parents could have ever given me"
A/N : Anyone still remember that Chloe is an analyst? No? Okay xD. Oh, so it's two more years? *grins*
Let's start the countdown, shall we? *evil laugh*
Review! :D
Axoire