Okay... Sorry for the delay... I would like to blame the weather, a minor writer's block and a lack of energy for the delay of this chapter. I am sorry!
This chapter's kinda on the long side and jumps all over the place. But... Well Yeah... I couldn't just trap everyone in one place... I tried and my muse got trampled XD.
Many thanks to Answerthecall and my two guest reviewer's shadow kat and alishajade96 for reviewing!
Many thanks to the rest of you for faving/following and reading!
Chapter 14: Chaos
x
x
x
Nora was close to beating her head on the desk in front of her. Her wrist's ached, her eyes burned and her back was stiff from sitting in the chair for as long as she had. It didn't help that Dion was twitching across the table from her as he worked on his homework.
They were currently sitting in one of the few quiet rooms in the base... Prowl's office. It had been mostly at his insistence, though she wasn't going to complain if she got some peace and quiet...
And somewhere between working on her eighteenth assignment and another paragraph of her thesis, the borrowed laptop decided to pull a error screen on her. "NO!" she groaned as the error screen popped up. Her hands twitched as she fought to keep from slamming the screen down on the computer.
"I swear to god if I didn't need this piece of technological waste didn't to an auto save I'm giving it to Ironhide as a clay pigeon substitute..." Nora growled at the computer before sighing and pushing her chair back.
Prowl glanced over at the growling femme as she pushed her chair out from the table. She caught him staring at her and smiled weakly before rapping her knuckles on the desk. "I'm going to go for a quick jog to clear my mind. you two stay here and behave for Prowl or no dessert."
"Yes Nora." the twins said monotonously without looking up from their homework. She walked to the edge of the shelf where Prowl had set up their little study area, to start down the ladder but was met by a waiting servo.
"Thanks Prowl." Nora said as he lowered her to the floor. "I'd sty but if I don't get away from that monster... I will be tempted to break it further... and until my thesis and my political sciences assignments are done I am stuck using it... Just do me a favor and don't let the twins touch it..."
"I can do that much for you Miss Swift. I will make sure the twins don't cause you any further set backs in your homework."
"Thanks..."-
x
x
x
"Jogging again I see."
Nora shot up from her resting position against the door frame to meet mirthful dancing in glee at startling her. She stuck her tongue out at him. "Very funny Barri. Make some noise before you sneak up on someone."
"But that would divert the purpose of me sneaking around the base."
Nora shook her head at the holoform. Barricade had made it a habit to scare the crud out of her whenever her jog led her towards the brig. She had even snuck in a few times to hang out with him and one other on staff mechanics on the base named Mercy... it had been interesting to learn how to play poker from the two of them...
Here lately Barricade had taken an interest in her lack of self defense and had been goading the young woman into either accepting lessons from him or to at least ask someone competent on the base to teach her. She was more than positive his lurking, (Not that she didn't call him a lurker anyways considering he was a cop car and t had always been her favorite term for them anyways...) was a way of trying to get his point across to her.
"Homework giving you problems?" He smirked.
She shot him a glare. "When is it not? I don't know why the heck I'm even bothering with trying to take the course in criminology... I mean yeah I am minoring in law but seriously, I'm not going to be a lawyer when all's said and done, I'm in it for the ecological sciences degree. I just want to be able to help protect what green space we have left... But to do that you've got to tango with the damned paper pushing bureaucrats and their ever growing need to create more buildings that will eventually be abandoned and left to rot."
x
x
x
"I gotta go to the bathroom!" Samantha declared loudly, earning a snicker out of her brother.
Prowl raised an optic ridge as he eyed the girl. "Certainly you can wait until your cousin comes back."
"NO I gotta go now!" Samantha growled.
Prowl exvented and shuttered his optics in brief annoyance. "Very well. Go straight there and back youngling. If you do not return in ten minutes I will come and retrieve you."
"Yes sir..." Sam smiled as she hopped off his hand and out the door.
x
x
x
Barricade's smirk never faded as she vented pacing back and forth grumbling about many things, until a loud deafening boom echoed throughout the base, it's source rattling the concrete beneath them.
"What in the world was that?" Nora said with wide eyes.
"Well Considering that the klaxon isn't blaring I would say that it must have been the Autobot's inventor. I hear that he has quite the reputation for blowing himself up." Barricade said dryly.
"I need to go check on the kids..." she said as she flashed him an apologetic smile and jogged out of the hanger.
x
x
x
Smoke and ash filled the air. The garage was burning in small random spots where the oil had not yet been lit aflame...
The sounds of explosions going off in the distance as the Decepticons rained more gunfire on Tranquility, "DAD?!" Mikaela cried as she shifted through the remains of the garage. "Dad where are you?!" She cried freezing as she spied an unmoving limb in the debris... The tattoos in the limb belonging to Freddie, one of the guys that worked in the garage. She knelt down and checked for a pulse, almost jumping out of her skin when the hand tightened around her hand at her touch.
"Miks...?" the weak groan came from under the mess in front of her.
"Hold on Freddie I got you." she said as she began to unearth the man. Freddie was pinned under a broken bit of rafter and a tool chest, most of its contents scattered about him or on top of him.
"Good Lord... What happen Miks?" the young man groaned as she pulled, kicked and shoved the debris off of him. He coughed in the spreading smoke as the oils that coated the debris lit from the dancing flames...
"Terrorists." She gave him the stereotypical response as she pulled him to his feet. "Do you think you can make it out on your own?"
Freddie's hand gripped her wrist. "Miks whats left of the place is about to go up."
"I gotta find my dad-"
"Mikaela!" he called after her as she ripped herself out of his grasp and scrambled over the wreckage.
"Dad?! Dad! DAD!"
"Hey are you okay?" Mikaela blinked as she realized the other mechanic was staring at her with a concerned look in her eyes. Mikaela looked away to keep from letting the other mechanic see the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.
Mikaela took a couple deep breaths and when she could finally "Um... yeah... Say uh... would you mind if I took a break?"
"Um sure... go ahead. I've got the gremlins for now." Mercy waved a hand at her with a smile.
"Thanks." Mikaela said as she quickly retreated from the Shop. She could remember that day clearly... It had been the day she went home... only to lose it before she could blink... She pushed the dark bitter memory to the back of her mind.
Mikaela had went off grid after that... Losing her father in that fire started by the damned 'Cons... She finally heeded the Allspark that day when it willed her to hide... Not just for her sake but for it's own as well...
x
x
x
"Stay here and do not attempt to go anywhere or do anything." Prowl growled as he bolted out of his office locking the door behind him as he ran for Que's lab.
Dion blinked from his seat on the edge of the shelf. "Where does he expect me to go?"
x
x
x
Samantha shuddered as she finally made her way around the broken glass on the floor of the bathroom. The tremor had been strong enough to knock the mirrors from the walls. IT had taken her five minutes of tiptoeing to get around.
She remembered the warning that Prowl had given her but she was nervous from whatever made the whole place shake like a baby's rattle... She decided to go check on her mom.
Samantha made her way over to the Shop with little to no problem. However her mother was not there. The only one working of the jeeps was a green haired woman who was cursing under her breath at the jeep she was currently working on. Sam bit her lip before reaching out and placing a hand on the woman's arm. "Um..."
The woman jumped a mile when the small hand laid itself on her arm as she shot up and slammed her head into the hood of the jeep with a hiss.
"Sorry!" Samantha cringed and yelped the apology as the mechanic turned her gaze on her. Samantha placed her hands behind her back as she looked at the ground.
"It's okay kiddo, I'm fine." The woman said smiling as she rubbed her head. "I know you didn't intend to startle me. Though I gotta ask, what are you doing here?"
The girl shifted uneasily on her feet. "I was looking for my momma."
"I see... Well sweetie she went for a walk... but I suppose you can hang around here for a bit."
Electric blue eyes blinked up to meet kind green ones. "Are you sure?"
"Y-yeah." The woman gave her a brisk nod of her head. "I doubt it's too safe to go wandering about with everyone trying to deal with whatever caused that large clatter wouldn't you say?"
"I guess..." Sam said with a smile as she took a seat on a stool.
x
x
x
Mikaela sighed as she stared at the picture book, tears in her eyes. Why do I want to remember any of this shit? Why do I have to remember all of this pain? Why did the Allspark choose me to carry it's gift on?
Her gaze fell on a picture of her an Samantha laughing happily, covered in grease. What will happen to her? Will her life be as sorrow filled as mine?
Mikaela almost wished she had never gotten in that car all those years ago. If she hadn't things would have been normal. A blissfully ignorant life... But even as she began to think of how her life would have turned out... Her mind retorted with all of the negative imaginations that would have really been... And as much as she hated to admit it... This broken road that her life had taken was more than the happier of the two realities...
x
x
x
The mechanic was growling at the jeep once more. Sam watched her with mild curiosity. Her mind wandered a bit as she thought about all of the bots about the base. Thinking about how Ratchet would probably be able to fix the jeep in front of the with no problems at all... The medic fascinated the young girl, despite the amusing way he would beat the other Mechs with a wrench when they pissed him off.
She now knew where her mother had developed the tendency to beat the appliances at home with her tools before dismantling them...
The mechanic cursed loudly bringing the girl out of her thoughts. Sam watched as she watched the jeep spark and shock the woman.
"Are you okay?" Sam blinked. Maybe I should help her... I've helped mama plenty of times...
"Yeah... I just got a little shock that's all kid."
The girl slid from the stool as she stood. "Do you think I can help you fix it?"
"I'm sorry kid but it's not a good idea to-" The woman frowned as she straightened and glanced at Samantha.
"Please? I really wanna help!" the Sam said as she bounced forward. "I know I can help-" the kid faltered midsentence as heard:
Do you really want to help?
Sam blinked at the calm voice. Who? She thought as there was a blue jolt of energy that jumped from her to the jeep. The green haired woman let out a curse as the energy flared. Sam felt a comforting happiness replace her nervousness as the energy drained her... And then a blissful blackness.
