Chapter Fourteen:
Dawn looked nervously around her as she clung to Mirage. "Are you sure this is gonna be safe?" She breathed as loudly as she dared, hoping Mirage could hear her.
Mirage looked over at her and gave her a reassuring smile. "We'll be fine. Just stay close, keep quiet and follow my lead. Keep your powers at hand, we might need them if we get in a pinch." She said with a wink at Dawn as they started to walk farther away from the hidden vessel they landed in.
Dawn gave a mournful look back at the small escape pod. Mirage had told her that it was small enough that it could slide undetected into the Decepticon lines without so much as a second glance. She had told Dawn that the planet usually had heavy meteorite activity and their blazing entry into the atmosphere would go unnoticed and uncared about. They would only be scanning for Autobot signatures, not other lesser life forms like themselves. But the one thing that Mirage didn't explain to her, was how they were going to leave this planet…after all, this small escape pod was a one-way ticket, it could not breech the atmosphere, only pierce it.
Dawn followed Mirage obediently, mirroring her every move. Sure enough, she was glad that the spy had dressed her so well. It was cold, wet and drizzling. Mirage had been right. And that meant that the Decepticons here on duty were more than likely trigger happy and very cranky. I'll not give them a reason to shoot at me! Dawn promised herself as she looked around.
Mirage came to a sudden halt, Dawn felt a coldness wash over her skin and suddenly her vision wavered as though underwater. "Shush. Sentries." She breathed so softly into Dawn's ear that she could barely her Mirage. Dawn nodded and tried to follow every step the other made. Sure enough, after about forty paces, hidden among the brush and trees, was a huge towering mech hunched down, his crimson eyes scanning the area around him without even so much as a slight movement.
Dawn held her breath as they crept past the behemoth. She was used to seeing Mechs, and was familiar with how huge they were, but there was something about seeing a Decepticon this close up that made Dawn's blood run cold. His crimson optics held no promise of friendship, only pain and torment before an agonizing death. Dawn opened her mouth to breath quietly like Mirage had taught her, not daring for her nose to take that moment to stuff up or make a whistle as she inhaled or exhaled. Any such noises would immediately give them away.
As they past the sentry, Dawn relaxed, but Mirage turned quickly and shook her head vehemently and gestured just a few yards away from them. Dawn froze, terrified beyond belief. "What is that?" She mouthed silently to Mirage.
Mirage's eyes reflected the same fear as Dawn's her face visibly paler. "Deathguard." She breathed so softly into Dawn's ear that she barely heard it at all. But the word itself sent a cold chill through Dawn's blood. During the trip here, Mirage had told her all about the various things she'd encountered and things she'd heard about but never seen. She'd told Dawn only one single horror story of a mission gone horribly wrong. It had to do with something she'd called a Deathguard. She'd told Dawn about her and her partner going on a mission just like this one, it was simple, get information, get out. Nothing else required. The whole thing had gone smoothly until they came face to face with a mechanoid they'd never encountered before. It was smaller than the others, almost like a symbiont only it didn't quite look like one, too big. Mirage had said that she figured maybe it was a symbiont of one of the larger Mechs. But as they tried to work their way silently around it, the unthinkable had happened, it had attacked. Somehow, it had detected them. She had managed to escape, but the Deathguard had captured her partner. Megatron later had sent them back the remains of her partner, but it would have been kinder if he had not.
Dawn thought about that story now and looked over at Mirage. Clearly the woman was terrified. But she still showed all the signs of having her mind in the right place. Mirage grabbed Dawn's arm and lead her silently through a clearing in the direction of active working and talking Decepticons. The Deathguard didn't even seem to notice they had been there. Mirage gave Dawn a look, no words, just a facial expression that said everything it needed to say. "Be extra careful and don't make a single sound!" Dawn had no intentions of breaking that.
As they walked through the countless ranks of Decepticons, Dawn got a glimpse of what her sister was being forced to deal with. Rancorous laughter and things said in a language that Dawn could never dream of understanding surrounded them. Even though she didn't know what was being said, Dawn blushed at the knowledge it was probably something extremely vulgar in their terms at least.
Dawn looked up in awe as they approached a huge building, she stood in the middle of the mass of Mechs looking up at it, momentarily oblivious to all around her. The building looked as though it had been there for centuries. It stood tall, unyielding and looked weathered by time, but obviously built to house the huge Mechs. Mirage yanked Dawn to the side just before a massive foot came down where she'd been standing. Dawn winced and shrunk down in apology to Mirage, who gave her a dangerous glare. Mirage tilted and cocked her head to the side with a look on her face that seemed to say "Please be more careful!" Dawn nodded solemnly and stayed put at Mirage's signal.
Mirage carefully pulled out a device from one of her many pockets and opened it up, she pressed a button and held it out in front of her. Dawn looked at it curiously, she had seen it once before. It was a recording device, it took both video feed and audio and stored it on a small compact but massive hard drive inside. Mirage panned it around slowly, stopping to focus it on certain things, than she gestured to Dawn to follow her.
Slowly they made their way through the camp, Mirage stopping occasionally to record something that was obviously useful, than moving on. The whole procedure lasted an eternity to Dawn, sometimes they had to nearly jog to avoid the massive Mechs that walked by, oblivious to all that their base camp had been infiltrated. Dawn felt like giggling as she thought about how mad Megatron would be when he found out that two small fleshlings had bypassed the superior defenses of the Decepticon camp and got away with a lot of valuable data.
Suddenly the watch on Dawn's wrist started to vibrate, while it made no noise, the vibration startled Dawn so bad she gasped quietly. Instantly putting her hand over her mouth and looking at Mirage with terrified eyes as the whole camp went instantly silent. Mirage stopped and slowly turned towards Dawn with a look of horror on her face.
Dawn shook her head. This couldn't be happening! She'd done so well up to this point! She had known that there would be a signal telling them when to return to the escape pod, but she'd never been told or even thought to ask what that signal was. She hadn't expected the watch or its vibrating. Mirage was pale as even she dared not breathe.
A Mech closest to them growled something in Cybertronian, Mirage grabbed a hold of Dawn's arm and slowly started to pull her away. The Mech pressed a few buttons on his forearm and held out his arm, his wrist dropping down and a strange green beam of light began sweeping the ground. Mirage tried to walk a little faster, aware that the Mech was sweeping the green light in their direction. If it hit them, they would instantly be discovered. Not something that either of them relished in, especially not in the middle of the base camp.
Mirage stopped dead as she gave a slight whimper. A huge Mech was walking into the clearing with a Deathguard on either side of him. She shook her head. Dawn felt the pressure of her mistake crashing down on her. Think! You have to think! She screamed at herself as she tried to remember everything that Ironhide and Optimus had forced into her head about combat over the past few weeks. She was anything but defenseless! She fought back the waves of panic and summoned her power just as Mirage's illusion was stripped by the green light from the other Mech.
The Decepticon with the green light barked an order in Cybertronian, and the camp burst into action. Dawn clawed at her power, and did the only thing she could think of in her defense. She grabbed Mirage and wrapped her power around the both of them, instantly turning them invisible. In a heartbeat the camp went from organized action to complete chaos! Dawn knew that in order to keep herself and Mirage invisible, she'd have to stay focused, but as she struggled to follow Mirage's silent orders where to go and avoid the Mechs from stepping on her, they found themselves face to face with a Deathguard.
"Run! Back to the base!" Mirage screamed as she pulled on Dawn, but the second Deathguard quickly blocked their exit. "Oh holy Light!" Mirage whimpered as the two monstrous mechanoids closed in on them.
"I will be no prisoner!" Dawn said, as she released Mirage, dropping her invisibility and faced the two Deathguards, standing with one to her left and the other to her right. She motioned for Mirage to get behind her. "I will take care of these." Dawn said in a voice that she herself didn't quite recognize as her own.
Mirage watched, filled with a mixture of anger, fear, horror and pure adrenalin that told her to either stand and fight or run like hell itself was after her! She had been told by Optimus and Ironhide that Dawn was a good fighter when it came to ranged combat, but that close combat was her major weakness. She worriedly eyed the two huge Deathguards and wondered nervously if they were far enough away to be considered ranged combat…
Dawn pulled her power deep inside herself, although the whole action took less than a second, to her, time had stopped. She took that endless moment to actually get a good look at the Deathguards. They were huge compared to her own size, but were really no larger than a combat symbiont for a Mech the size of Optimus. The two mechanoids were scorpion-like arachnids, the only differences between them were that they appeared to be two different species of scorpion that they modeled themselves after. From their look, it was obvious that they both had different specialties in their weaponry. The one of her left had massive pincher-like claws that could easily render something or someone to pieces, while the one of her right had a tail that looked like it could probably spear a Mammoth tank and fling it around like a cheap child's toy.
Dawn held her power until she felt she would burst if she didn't release it. Finally, she let it go and unleashed it upon the Deathguards and their Mech escort. Neither she nor Mirage was prepared for the explosion that erupted when her power collided with them! Blinding light exploded and the sound was nearly deafening, the force of the impact flung both women to the ground nearly twelve feet backwards. Dawn moaned, agony piercing her skull, she felt something warm run down the side of her face, her finger reached up and saw red, Mirage groaned a few feet away, likewise trying to get past the sudden lack of sound and dimness of the overcast sky.
A crack of thunder broke the silence, followed by heavier rain. Dawn looked up and saw that numerous Mechs were suddenly looming over them. They definitely did not look pleased. One of the Deathguards walked menacingly closer to them. Dawn swallowed hard. She'd given it her all, put as much power as she could muster…and still, she'd only managed to piss off the massive arachnoids. She shook her head in denial, wincing as the action caused her head to pound miserably.
"Take them to the holding area. I will send word to Lord Megatron we have prisoners." One of the Mechs said in their own Cybertronian tongue. The other nodded and picked them up each in a massive clawed hand.
Dawn yelped as she struggled in the massive Mech's grip. She felt like all of her ribs were being crushed. Mirage didn't make much sound, but Dawn could tell from the look on her face that she felt the same pain as Dawn did. I failed…Dawn thought with growing despair, I trained so hard and to what end? I couldn't even destroy a few of my enemies…and I tried so hard…Dawn thought as she continued to struggle in the Decepticon's unmerciful grip.
For a moment, Dawn thought about the hopelessness of their situation, about how that once you were caught by the Decepticons there was little to no hope of ever escaping. Mirage had politely explained to Dawn on their trip back, that the Autobots didn't usually make it a habit of rescuing their fleshling companions if they should fall into enemy hands. If they did, than the Decepticons would do nothing but take fleshling hostages all the time to get what they wanted and win their meaningless war.
As they approached a small room (small by mech eyes at least) the 'Con holding them stopped in front of another mech who was sitting down at a makeshift desk. From his slightly less bulky look, Dawn gathered that he was not meant to be a warrior but rather most likely a clerk of some sort. "Put them in separate containing fields. I don't want them able to plot and plan together and get ideas of escaping." The smaller one told their captive. He nodded and walked to the back of the small room and dropped Mirage into a small holding cell and then dropped Dawn into another a few dozen yards away.
Without another word, their captor walked away, leaving them in silence, wondering what fate had in store for them now. Dawn assessed their situation again, and used her power to sense the container they'd been placed in. It felt as though she might stand a chance of breaking out of it. The only problem was going to be the Decepticon standing guard over them in the front of the room. Dawn took a deep breath and summoned her powers, she felt certain she could easily take down the lone 'Con sitting at his strange little desk if he chose to interfere with her attempt to escape. With her power swelled to max, she focused her power on the best point she could find that might be a weakness in her little cage. She released it; it slammed into the strange metal with a clap of thunder and a sonic shockwave that moved everything in the vicinity of the blast, lifting Dawn and Mirage off the ground a several feet backwards into the back wall of their cells.
The 'Con in the front of the room muttered something in Cybertronian that Dawn could imagine was something close to be quiet or stupid flesh bags or some derogatory saying she was grateful she couldn't understand.
Frustrated as she jerked on the bars forcefully that they wouldn't even budge, she gathered her power in her once more, focusing more on the destruction of the bars and wiping them from existence. She gritted her teeth as she gathered more power inside of her, Mirage noticed the change in Dawn and quickly scampered back away from the enraged female, Mirage also noted that Dawn's eyes were almost glowing with the power that she was drawing to the surface. Dawn felt as though her chest would explode from the built up power, she focused her total attention on the three bars that blocked her escape from the cell.
Unleashing her fury upon the bars, she let out a cry of anguish as the power ripped out of her. The explosion that erupted was enough to cause the sitting Decepticon and a few others standing guard outside to come rushing in, cursing in their native language. Dawn stood panting and nearly in full rage as the smoke and steam cleared, she was outside the bars. Her hair was puffed and her wings were fully extended and flared in defiance of the mechs that came rushing into the small room.
The mech who was clearly the one in charge of the small outpost looked at the destruction the small fleshling had caused in awe. He'd never in his entire career as a Decepticon seen a femme do so much damage, not to mention the fact that this one was a weak, small organic. "Get her! I don't care what it takes, just don't kill her. Lord Megatron will be most displeased if he discovers that she is harmed." He growled at those around him.
A new young mech stepped into the room curiously. He'd been informed while in mid-flight that the twin of Ashalyn had been captured along with another operative of the Autobots. He figured this would be as good as any start to get to get into the Autobot base. He looked at Dawn curiously. From the sole fact alone that Lyn had been his creator, he knew a few select things that would allow him to get the small fleshling's attention and not in a negative way, but the trick was getting past the enraged veteran Decepticons to reveal his intent to her.
Before he could close the gap between them, one of the other mechs lunged forward to try and recapture Dawn. Still fully enveloped in her powers, Dawn's reflexes had been highly trained, and she was fully capable of flight that her sister would have envied. With a single powerful thrust of her legs and a quick flap of her wings and she was far above the ground and at even with the charging Decepticon. Before he could raise his auto-weapon to fire a stun shot, her wings crackled with a high-charged electricity and she flung her arms forward at him, a strong lightning-like bolt shot out at him. While it wasn't much to a mech, it did a good job of scrambling his processors, disorientating him enough and upsetting his energy output. The slight hiccup was enough to gain her the advantage to slam down a more powerful attack that took slightly longer to charge. A powerful EMP pulse that disabled him, the massive 'Con crashed to the ground, completely offline, even it if were only temporary…it was enough to allow her access to another chance of escape. Using that opportunity, she swung to Mirage's cage and used the same attack as she had on her own while the others were still assessing their next move.
Lightning fast, the attack struck the bars with accuracy that was insane for a mere organic and she rushed down to pull Mirage out to safety before the smoke cleared to reveal the two escaping prisoners. She sent another blast at the back wall, blasting a small hole into the wall, just big enough for them to pass through, but far too small for even the smallest mechs present at the outpost, aside for maybe a small symbiont.
The smaller aerial mech noticed the commotion, and rather than rush forward toward the small hole to try and fish them out of the area, he slipped almost unnoticed out the door and set his scanners to pick up the signals of the small Dawn. Having been given the special detectors by Lyn, he had the advantage above the other Decepticons. As he tracked the small female under the ground, he tried to make himself seem as though he were just another 'mindless' Seeker who was doing nothing but goofing off. It wasn't hard, as most of the mechs here were ground-pounders and hated aerial mechs with a passion that was almost frightening.
Dawn pulled Mirage through the small cave-let she'd found access too, she knew she'd have to probably make another way out, seeing as how this cave didn't seem to have up upper outlet aside from the one they'd just entered from. Mirage was still silent, letting the younger one drag her through the almost pitch dark cave. She didn't question how the younger child could see, or even how she'd managed to find the power to blast through the metal that was said to be impenetrable and incapacitate a mech who was well known to even escape a direct assault from Ironhide and Optimus at the same time with little more than a scratch.
Finally, Dawn paused, and let her power pulse out, sensing to see if she could pick up any possible detections of any mechs lurking above as she pondered how to make her exit from the cave-let. Mirage took the moment to break the deafening silence. "How did you do that?" She asked her hand still firmly latched onto Dawn's upper arm.
"Do what?" Dawn asked, both their voices a bare breathe of a whisper for fear of a Decepticon listening for any signs of their whereabouts.
Mirage gave a soft exasperated outburst. "What…honestly! What do you think! The whole destruction of our cages! Those bars are meant to hold even a small mech! There is no way you should have been able to get out of there without them releasing you! And the way you just knocked the lights out of that huge tank! He's put Optimus in the med bay at least twice that I know of and you handled him like he was a tiny toddler irritating you…do you know the power you contain, Dawn?"
Dawn turned to look at her obviously blind counterpart. "I only did what I had too…I just decided that I shouldn't be afraid of dying. That it would be worse if you and I were to fall into the hands of…umm…Megatron." Dawn said as she struggled to concentrate on where to punch through to the surface. If she chose the wrong place, she could pop up right on top of the Deathguards and their mech handlers…not an outcome that she'd want to face…while she might have appeared to handle the cages and the massive tank mech without effort; she was feeling the drain on her even as she searched the ground above. Her strength was failing, and she knew her time was limited before she collapsed in exhaustion. She'd exerted far more energy than she should have and she knew it.
Far above, Blade circled the sky in lazy loops and other fancy maneuvers that drew attention away from his purpose. While mechs below cursed his loftiness and stupid Seeker love for the sky, he was busy keeping a lock on Dawn and her failing signal. If she were to fall unconscious and her other fleshling companion drag her somewhere else, he'd lose them and potentially his only access point into the Autobot base. But as he watched, a small circle of soil seemed to collapse silently downward like a sinkhole and he watched the older fleshling climb out and reach down to lift Dawn from the hole as well.
Doing a fancy pitch and roll, he spun his way down towards the ground. Clever, he thought, that she should choose to tunnel so far from the encampment and avoid all the external patrols as they tended to lazily stick near the outpost when neither Starscream nor Megatron was present. No Decepticon would wander far for fear of an Autobot ambush and of being cut off from reinforcements. While being a POW of the Autobots wasn't as bad as being held by the Decepticons….those who were captured received twice as bad treatment when they returned to their own faction. Megatron was usually most cruel and heartless to those he had to bargain to get back. Any time Megatron had to make a deal with Optimus, those involved usually suffered extreme torture for a long time.
Dawn was lying on her back, looking up at the sky when her heart nearly stopped as a sound of a helicopter sounded softly from nearby. Mirage took up the stance protectively of Dawn, not that it really would have been helpful against a mech, but it was what her training and instincts told her to do.
The helicopter appeared surprisingly quietly, its rotors set on whisper mode. The mech transformed before landing softly in front of the two of them. Blade tried to seem as nonaggressive as possible, he waited until both females had relaxed marginally before he projected Lyn's message before them.
Lyn's image shimmered into life a few yards before them. Her image gave Dawn a half-smile. "I'm sure you've gotten yourself into some sort of trouble, but either way, this big guy here? He's safe, think of him as my way of making sure you stay safe and outta trouble." Lyn's image smiled warmly at Dawn. "Hey, someone's gotta watch after you while we're apart. You can tell Oppy that he's harmless, think of him as my…..present of goodwill to the Autobots. I'm not a part of this war, I'm just an innocent bystander. As are you I am assuming. I only help as much as I want too, I'm hoping that the Autobots are treating you well as well…that's the other reason I'm sending him. Try to have fun while I'm gone? I'm sure we'll be together again soon." With that, Lyn waved, and her projected image disappeared.
Dawn looked up at the copter mech before her and smiled weakly. "What is your name?" She asked, trying to be polite even though she felt as though she were going to pass out.
"My designation is Blade. My creator gave me my orders and them alone will I follow." Blade said as he scanned the surrounding area. It was still absent of Decepticon activity. He sent a short message on the private link to Megatron's base. Alerting the Leader of the Decepticons that he had located Dawn and would be accompanying them back to the Autobot base, he also quickly explained that Dawn was the prisoner the outpost had captured and he would be 'rescuing' them to gain access to the Autobot base.
With the acknowledging transmission from Megatron stating he understood and was giving the go ahead for the next stage, Blade transformed into his space-worthy travel form and opened his bay doors. "Please step on board; I will take you to your designated rendezvous spot."
Mirage hesitated, eyeing his Decepticon insignia with obvious doubt, but Dawn didn't seem to even have an ounce of hesitate as she stumbled forward toward the open hatch. "Dawn…this could be a trap…Decepticons are really good at recreating holograms with messages to lead you astray…this could very well be his way of getting onto Megatron's good side by personally bringing us in…"
Dawn shook her head as she reached over and grabbed Mirage's arm, pulling her towards the door. "Trust me…it's no trick. I know my sister made him. I know that hologram was her personal message to me. There's no doubt in my mind, trust me on this one…he's not gonna take us to the Decepticons. We're going home."
Mirage still didn't feel as convinced as Dawn, but she couldn't really deny that there were no available alternatives to using this strange Seeker as a means of getting to their rendezvous point. She nodded and helped Dawn into the waiting flyer, inwardly praying that all was as it seemed and not as experience told her. She trusted her instincts and they were flying off the rocker with this new mech.
Once inside and settled, Dawn promptly passed out into a soft state of sleep to recharge the energy she'd used to escape, Mirage sat quietly after she'd told Blade where to go. She didn't wanna converse with the 'Con and he remained completely silent. The trip didn't really take as long as it would have for them, and Mirage had to use his internal antenna to send a signal to her Autobot pickup that they were ahead of schedule.
After the brief…yet explosive argument about their current means of transportation and the young Autobot swearing he'd blow Blade to bits as soon as they were clear, it was all worked out and Mirage sat in the flyer looking at the still sleeping Dawn. She frowned in concern, the small woman-child had been sleeping for close to five hours now…was there perhaps something else wrong?
"Her vitals are all normal. It is just exhaustion that spurs her state of recharge." Blade's voice rumbled softly through the intercom system inside the ship, Mirage narrowed her eyes, but kept her mind as clear as possible.
"How did you know I was thinking that?" Mirage asked, already knowing that the 'Con wouldn't admit to being a telepath even if he was.
"You were watching her with a very concentrated expression, your optics lingering over her chest, from the pattern of your observations you were watching the pattern of her breath and taking her in countenance. So I answered your internal questions. She is fine. Only in a mildly light recharge, she should be rousing very soon. Her brain patterns are started to become more formed and organized. REM sleep has ended." Blade answered without an indication that he could sense or feel the obvious distrust radiating off of Mirage.
Mirage nodded slightly, she looked back at Dawn in time to see her start stir in her sleep. Despite the 'Con's words, relief flooded through her, after all…Optimus had left Dawn in her care…while no words were spoken as to consequences, he had stated that her care and well being were of paramount. She didn't wanna face Optimus Prime with the news that something bad had befallen the young "Allspark" child.
Mirage shook her head as she thought back to the stuff being said behind Dawn's back. All of the mechs and femmes who had heard of the legendary powers of Dawn and her twin Lyn were caught in a passé between what should be done and how it should be handled. Some thought of them as miracles that needed to be observed and protected, artifacts given to them by the Allspark as a sign that their species would not die that hope was living on. Others, however, took it as a bad omen, they said that the two children were abominations and needed to be destroyed before Megatron and his forces or worse got their hands on them and used their power for evil. If Dawn knew that her fate was held in the balance of the decisions of Optimus Prime, she might fear a little more for her own safety.
However, there was no real reason to fear for her own life, Mirage pondered as she watched the small woman-child continue to stir. Optimus had already made the decision that Dawn was to be spared any farther misery in her life. She was going to be revered for the special creature she was. However, Optimus had already sentenced her twin to death…the thought made Mirage shudder as she recalled the echoed words she'd heard while stalking around the base's 'classified' areas. It was something that Zandros had her do…while he fought at the Autobots side, he didn't fully trust them to give his people the entirety of information that they might need.
Mirage let her mind drift back to that day not so long ago…
~Flashback~
Mirage cloaked herself in her stealth ability, carefully adding the extra bit of power that would allow her to be undetected by the Autobots and their sensors. Zandros nodded his approval to his invisible wife, although he couldn't see her, he knew she was still there. She took the cue, and walked off in the direction of the 'classified' meeting room where Optimus Prime met with this other important members of his staff that were present at the Autobot base.
Upon reaching the room, she had little problem as such, the meeting was still gathering members and the doors were as yet still open. The main reason why Mirage waited until this moment to enter the forbidden room, it was easier to access when they left the doors wide open. Hurriedly walking to a small safe place in the far corner, closest to an air vent that would allow her assess to an exit once she was ready to leave after the meeting was closed, she sat down and waited for the members to arrive and the meeting to start.
One after one, the high ranking Autobots entered the room, Optimus Prime was third to last to enter the room. While she didn't know them all by name, she did know a few of them. Jazz, Prowl, Ironhide, and Ratchet, they were the ones she knew the best. The other three she knew as well, and was slightly surprised to see them at this particular meeting, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Bumblebee. They were young and hearty warriors, but they were hardly considered high ranking officers…so she sat up a little more forward as she listened intently, the device in her ear translating the Cybertronian language into her own common language. It was a trinket that she hadn't mentioned to Optimus that her own people had made her before the Decepticons destroyed her home world in rage that they were also assisting the Autobots.
Optimus spoke in his deep voice that seemed to dominate the room. "We are here to discuss a very important matter. As we have all witnessed, the newcomer, Ashadawna has proven to be a powerful tool. Her powers are as the rumors have stated. She is a living organic version of the Allspark. Her powers are great and seem to be limited only to that of her belief in her physical limitations. Ratchet will go into that detail momentarily. While she is a great asset, these things do bear some possible ill tidings.
"She has a twin sister. That sister lies in the hands of Megatron and the Decepticons. There is no hope of reaching her or of bringing her back. She is there of her own regard and free will, although I doubt Megatron would allow her to leave even if she decided she wished to no longer help him." Optimus paused for a moment, then continued, seeming to be suddenly burdened by what he was about to say. "It is this fact that I am deeply disturbed about…The two sisters, Ashadawna and Ashalyn are deeply intertwined with one another, not so much unlike the twins we have present in this very room. Severing the connection between them could prove fatal to the surviving twin…"
Optimus broke off and Ratchet nodded and took over the conversation. "Yes, while we all know that the twin bond between Sunstreaker and Sideswipe is very strong; it is possible that the bond between Ashadawna and Ashalyn is equally strong. It is not known exactly how this powerful bond would act if one or the other was destroyed. While it may not have any adverse affect aside from the typical sense of loss and mourning….it could affect the survivor's life force and ultimately cause her death.
"As Optimus was stating earlier…Dawn's particular power seems to be limitless, however, her own mind has placed limits based on her physical ability to maintain and control. But if you get her mind off of the focus to her physical limitations she can wield limitless power…just like the Allspark. This power makes her a powerful tool and a powerful weapon at the same time." Ratchet paused and Optimus took over once again.
He seemed to be even more heavily burdened as he spoke. "It is my expert information that Ashalyn is twice as strong and capable as Ashadawna…it is with this in mind and a heavy heart…that I am hereby ordering the destruction of Ashalyn…"
Everything seemed to happen at once, Ironhide leapt to his feet from the chair he'd been resting in, Sunny and Sides were both yelling, Bumblebee was protesting and Jazz and Prowl were trying to get the room back under control for Optimus. Mirage agreed with all of them…with the risks at hand…how could he just order the death of one as unique and special as Dawn's sister?! They were the only ones of their kind! If he killed one, it could kill the other and then there would be no more of them…it was too much of a risk to take!
After the brief outburst, the room was back under control and Optimus was speaking again. "If I am in understanding the risks correctly, this act will not take place immediately. Mostly that isn't possible at the moment regardless…Megatron has Ashalyn to well guarded. I have been told by spies that she is within a breath of his personal chambers. If we can take advantage of this parting between them, and give her something else to cling to, than the death of her twin will not necessarily kill her. After all, she is not bound to her twin as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are to each other. There is hope."
There was silence for a few minutes, than Sunny spoke softly. "There isn't really going to be anyone to give her that same kinship as her twin…if you hadn't noticed Prime, sir, there isn't an abundant amount of people like her around…and she's been alone here since she arrived."
Sides nodded in agreement with his twin. "When you don't have your other half, a counterpart is needed. In femmes, it's usually the need for a mech in their life. For us, it'd be a femme. But there isn't a counter for Dawn. She's alone in the world here."
Ratchet heaved a heavy sigh through his vents and nodded his agreement as well. "Dawn shows us all a very happy face. But she is very alone and sad. I have been observing her for a while now, even if we never destroy Lyn, the ache of the separation could very well still claim her life. The video feed I see while she is in her rooms alone reveals to me the full extent of her agony."
Optimus seemed to consider all this for a moment, and Mirage watched his expression intently. "Aside from what we're already doing…I do not know of what else that can be done for her other than this…I am ordering her on a mission with Mirage. This will test her skills and reveal to us the depths of her combat abilities. Hopefully it will not come down to actual combat, but if it does, we will know what her abilities are going to be. Once they return from their mission, each of you will be given a designated time frame in which to interact with Dawn.
"These times will be unknown to her and be unpredictable to her…each of you will do a certain task or lesson with her. Ironhide will continue her lessons in weapons training as well as his current duties with her, Jazz will be in charge of teaching her the art of espionage and being covert while maintaining a fun and friendly relationship with her, and so forth, depending on what each of your special skills are. Your instructions will be designated at the time of your duty." Optimus finished, looking at each of his soldiers closely.
Ratchet nodded. "It is paramount that we get her to understand that there is more to this life than just being with her twin…they have lived together for a very long time…and this is the first actual separation they have ever encountered with each other. Lyn may be taking it just as hard as Dawn, but there is no true way we'll ever know that. It could be that since Lyn is the oldest that she is the strongest and therefore feels no deep attachment to her twin in the same fashion as Dawn does to her. But again…without seeing it first hand, I do not know if that is the case. Our spies cannot get that close to Lyn yet, Megatron keeps her under heavy guard. If it is not himself personally overseeing her, mostly without her knowing it, than she is in the constant care of his bitter and vengeful Air Commander, Starscream."
Ironhide snorted. "You'd think that poor slagger would probably have killed her by now, you know how much he hates fleshlings. For the fact that ol' Megsy has him watching Lyn kinda shows you how much he despises his second in command."
Optimus shook his head. "Not so…from what reports tell me…it appears that Starscream actually enjoys her company. They get along quite well. Although I think it is more or less a show, after all, if he can get her to like himself more than Megatron, than he has an automatic massive upper hand against his leader. We all have seen the internal squabble between them for leadership. Throwing Lyn into this mess just further complicates things."
Ratchet nodded his agreement….
~Flashback end~
Mirage shook her head and blinked as Dawn's exhausted yet concerned face stared at her intently. "What's wrong? You seemed so far away?" Dawn asked tiredly, her eyes were clearly reflecting the fact she hadn't yet slept enough to drive away the weakness she was feeling from her power loss.
Mirage smiled and shook her head. "Nothing. I was just really deep in thought, that's all. Something I was listening to a long time ago, I was just thinking back on it." She said with a small smile.
Dawn gave her a small smile of relief and laid back against the soft bedding Mirage had rested her on inside of Blade. "At least we're free now." Dawn said softly, Mirage frowned at the sign of weakness still in Dawn's voice, but Blade's words that her vitals were fine seemed to take the edge off her fear. "Are we there yet?" She asked, pushing herself up into a sitting position.
Mirage nodded. "Yeah, we're just waiting on our pick up. I just thought it was best to let you rest as long as you could before we left this Con and jumped into the safety of an Autobot." Mirage couldn't help but to cast a worried glance at the Decepticon logo gleaming on the control panel proudly.
Dawn, however, narrowed her eyes and frowned, when Mirage looked back at her younger companion she was honestly surprised at the contempt suddenly within Dawn's face. "He might bare a Decepticon logo…but that doesn't mean he works for Megatron. My sister sent him, she created him with the purpose of making sure I was okay. You can say whatever you want, but I'm staying with him when we leave to head back to the base. I don't trust you or the Autobots! You guys would destroy him or send him back to the Decepticons. He's here to protect me…a gift from my sister…and you people would have him destroyed! I'm gonna make sure that doesn't happen!" Dawn said firmly as seriously as Mirage had ever heard her.
Mirage sighed, she knew she was helpless to force the younger woman to do anything. She nodded. "Fine, if you want…but it will be up to Optimus on whether or not he'll let Blade onto the base, that's beyond my ability to say."
Dawn cocked her head to one side. "Our ride is here." She said, just a moment before Mirage's watch went off to announce their pickup had arrived.
Mirage gave Dawn a worried look, but left Blade as he opened his hatch to let her out. "This is gonna be a disaster…" She muttered as she walked the nearly two hundred yards to where the young Autobot seeker had landed.
"This is unbelievable! Where is Dawn?" The Autobot asked as Mirage climbed into his cockpit.
"She's gonna follow us in the 'Con." Mirage muttered as she sat down in his seat.
The Autobot made a sound of shock and disgust. "You're letting her stay with him?! What if he takes off and brings her straight to Megatron?! And what are we supposed to do? Take him straight to our main hidden base?! It's bad enough that Thundercracker was able to 'stumble' upon it…what if this is an elaborate rescue attempt?!"
Mirage pinched the bridge of her nose. "I know…I agree with you on all points, but there is no way we can force her to come with us without risking her switching sides…and that's all we need…Prime would kill us both before his conscious took over. Look…let's just get to the air space of the base, and let Prime handle it…it's all we can do…besides, if Prime decides that Blade can get access I bet it's severely limited."
"I say you drag Dawn outta that scrap heap and lemme blow his sorry aft back to Megatron." Mirage kicked his controls hard. "Ow! Fine…have it your way…but Prime's gonna be pissed…"
Mirage winced and muttered. "Don't I know it…let's just hope he's in an understanding mood…" She thought back to Optimus' words and shuddered.
Blade was silent for a while after Mirage left, Dawn stood up, stretched and made her way to the main controls and sat down in the 'captain's' chair. "So you weren't lying when you said that Lyn sent me, were you? And please be honest." Dawn asked after a minute.
"Yes. Lyn is my creator. She sent me to you." Blade answered softly, waiting for Mirage and their Autobot escort to give them a sign they were ready for lift off.
Dawn nodded. "They're not gonna be happy with your presence at the Autobot base…its gonna be hard for me to convince Optimus to let me keep you on base…" Dawn muttered, wincing as she remembered the stern lecture she'd gotten out of him for visiting Thundercracker without any supervision.
"I'm sure everything will work out for the best. If Prime asks me to leave, I will return to Lyn with your best regards to her. There will be no hard feelings. I will be sure that Lyn understands that you were not the one that sent me back." Blade answered calmly, picking up the short message that they were leaving and followed the silent, yet obviously peeved Autobot.
"Well…I think I have something up on him if he tries to deny me the ability to have you with me…" Dawn muttered, looking down at her fingernails.
There was silent for a long time, and Dawn did her best to occupy herself, but eventually fell back into a deep sleep. Blade reclined her seat and adjusted his internal cabin temperature to better comfort her. Blade opened up a secure line back to the Decepticon base. "Blade to Base, I have acquired the target, in route to Autobot base."
"Soundwave acknowledges. Lord Megatron will be informed. Knowledge of ability to infiltrate?" The Decepticon Communication officer's voice sounded through Blade's internal communicator.
"Unknown. Ashadawna says she will attempt to negotiate with Optimus Prime, however success is currently indeterminable." Blade responded.
For a moment, there was a sense of pressure within his own mind, he felt his processors strain for a moment, than the pain eased. "Status update will be required within one cycle. Report necessary. Tracker is placed, activate tracker when infiltrated. Further communications at that point unnecessary until mission is completed or failed."
Blade sent his confirmation to the message and the link was severed. He suppressed a shudder. The Communications Officer gave him the creeps…he didn't like the way he was able to easily hack into his own internal personal systems through such a basic communication link. But with that completed, he tested the tracker, indeed, it was there. Putting it to memory to activate it once he was allowed in, he set his focus on following the pissed off Autobot.
Blade couldn't help but inwardly smirk. It was ironic, the Autobots were just as irritable and irate as their Decepticon brothers, however somehow they were better because they fought for the 'good' of all…funny how that worked, after all, Megatron himself fought for the ability for all mechs to be considered equals among themselves and to be considered Gods among other races…not much different from what he'd discovered was Optimus Prime's very views.
Blade gave a hefty sigh and left his communications open to the Autobot as a sign of good will, while he was silent and respectful, the young Autobot was streaming a regular line of threats and promises of dismantling, pain and extensive torture and parts usage when they reached the Autobot Base. Blade just took it all in stride, after all, in the very short time he'd been around the Decepticons…he'd heard much worse. In fact, the Autobot he was open too was rather uninventive with his threats…and it was getting boring. Just when Blade had decided to finally put an end to the Autobot and his carrier and claim it was a micro-meteor storm, there were suddenly many more transformers in alt-modes flying around them.
His systems screamed at him with internal alarms that he was locked on. But he remained calm, knowing they dared not fire while he carried precious cargo. He let himself smirk. He'd reached the Autobot base. "We're here." Blade said out loud to his sleeping cargo.