Dirty Little Secrets 8
Information
A Transformers Prime Fanfiction
:Warning: Violence and sexual content
"You were great Miko!" Fowler gushed with a laugh; he gave her a friendly punch on the shoulder and she grinned back at him a bit weakly.
"If you say so."
"I do! You got up on that stand and…"
"Why is it called that? I mean I was sitting the entire time. Shouldn't it be called the witness 'sit'?"
The man glanced over her pink fringed head at the nurse examining her and they shared a tired smile as the girl squirmed in impatience. With the ordeal finally over Miko's spirit was returning.
"I'll mention that to the justices next time I see them," the agent promised with a chuckle.
"And what happened to the goons who tried to attack me after Ops smacked 'em down?"
"Arrested to the man," Fowler said with satisfaction. "That was a desperate grab they made. It just shows that they're running scared. Wouldn't have tried it unless they had no other options."
"Have you figured out how they found me?"
"No," a frown creased Fowler's face, "Jones has been going over everyone on your file with a fine toothed comb. It doesn't look like there was a leak but you can never be sure."
"But it's still more likely that it was something I posted online," she surmised with a guilty glance at June.
"There is just no way to know Miko," the woman murmured.
"Were they right?" she asked with sudden intensity. "Will others come after this is all over?"
"Doubtful Miko," Fowler said with a shrug. "With this break their North American operations are pretty busted up. I don't think they would waste the effort on just one escaped," the man caught himself before he said the word and glanced away in embarrassment. "Seriously though; I've attended a lot of trials in my time. The way you handled the cross examination was downright amazing! I've never seen such an experienced attorney get so flustered."
"He was a jerk and I told him so," she huffed.
"Well you did it perfectly," June commended her letting her stethoscope fall back around her neck, "and you are perfectly healthy. Will you be needing these?" she held up the leather gloves.
Miko paused and stared at them, her face expressionless for a moment.
"No," she finally decided. "I don't think I will ever need those again."
O
O
Optimus Prime was curious. There was nothing unusual about that. It was an aspect of his nature that had been dominant since the moment he had crawled out of the Well of Allsparks. It had been nurtured through his training and early years as an archivist in Iacon and served him well over the course of the war. Specifically something was tormenting Miko. That something had already manifested itself in the form of attacks on Jack and both human femmes under the Prime's protection. While he respected the human governments' right to keep their secrets where it did not pertain to Cybertronians there was nothing wrong with perusing the internet for public files.
Before the war, before he accepted the mantle of Prime, Orion Pax had spent his waking cycles sifting the massive datastreams of Cybertron for related data, compiling it, and filing it accordingly. Compared to that sifting through the humans' internet was sparklings' play. He started with a simple search on what data was readily available on the name Miko Nakadai. There was surprisingly little and what there was; a deep frown crossed the Primes faceplates and he rechecked the data. There was no doubt about it. All of Miko's information was forged. It appeared in the database no more than a few weeks before she had encountered Arcee behind the school. He also noted the automated programs that were set to track any research on her and report back to a government database. They were simple things and he easily avoided them.
After filing this surprising development away he shifted his search. The building he had waited at was a complex of government offices mainly used for mediating international disputes. The section that Miko had been in was devoted to trails. Posted for all to see on the building's webpage was a list of the issues being dealt with in each office. Optimus nodded in appreciation of that. It implied at least an attempt at transparency of government that he admired. It also made his task significantly easier. There was only one on that date that lasted the length of time Miko had been in the courtroom.
Optimus eagerly perused the file. It was somewhat sparse but contained links to several more documents that he downloaded for later attention. It referred to a crime cartel based in one of the smaller island nations but which had global contacts. The Autobot's frown deepened as he read further. The crimes the defendants were on trial for were all related to human trafficking; trading human beings like non-sentient animals. Finally his processor seized on what he was looking for in one of the secondary documents. It was a written description of the trial provided by a 'reporter', an individual whose duties were comparable to those of a cultural investigator on Cybertron the Prime surmised, and referred to one of the witnesses. She was listed as a minor and therefore her name was not given in the public documents. A full transcript of her testimony was provided.
Slowly Optimus felt his backstrut stiffen and his optics narrow. He ran the data through his processor a second time to make certain there was no error. A hard ball of rage was building in the normally placid Autobot's spark. The question occurred to him of why Fowler had kept this from them. From everything he could see the government that was currently hosting them had played no part in the horrors the child had listed other than arresting the guilty parties as soon as they stepped foot within its sovereignty. The Prime reviewed the data again, and paused. There, there was his answer. He nodded in understanding. He could respect that.
The Prime carefully catalogued the information and sealed it away in a classified file. He purged the search records from the computer and made a few minor adjustments that would ensure no one would realize anything had been hidden. That done he set his processor to the task of determining if there was anything within his power to do to comfort Miko.
O
O
"Well, I guess that's it for today," Fowler said as he and June walked out of the medbay together.
Miko had collapsed on a cot in the back room to sleep and seemed to be truly relaxing for the first time in weeks.
"Yep," June replied with a yawn, waving Jack to the car from where he was studying on the couch.
They both jumped as the concrete shook and turned to face the looming form over them. 'That green giant ain't too jolly,' perversely ran through Fowlers mind as he stared up at the hulking ex-Wrecker.
"I want answers Fowler," Bulkhead growled, "and I want them now!"
The agent shot a look at the nurse. A smaller blue form behind the mech caught it and stormed forward.
"Look June, I get that Fowler has his hands tied but you are no bureaucrat and."
"Hey! Leave June out of this!" Fowler interrupted.
"Yeah this is between Fowler and me!" Bulkhead growled leaning over the man.
"Easy Bulkhead," Ratchet warned.
"No!" the mech shouted stomping his massive ped again. "I will not go easy! Something is wrong with Miko and I am not going to let up until this pompous organic gives me some answers!"
"Well I'm not telling you anything," Fowler snarled; weary from weeks of tension his temper finally snapping. "Now let me leave you stubborn pile of bolts."
The mech gave an inarticulate roar and snatched the man up in one massive servo. He held the human to his faceplates. A small part of his processor took the time to be impressed that Fowler barely flinched but it was quickly overwhelmed by the growing fury. The two began a shouting match while the rest of the humans and Autobots stood around in shock. Ratchet commed Optimus who was currently working in the storage areas of the base but before the Prime could reach them the argument was interrupted by a scream.
"Stop it! Just stop it!" the cry of distress somehow echoed over the cacophony Fowler and Bulkhead were producing.
Both turned their attention to the slim form that had appeared by Bulkheads peds.
"Just stop!" she shouted again kicking at Bulkhead's plating.
The girl's hair was tumbled down around her shoulders and she was wearing fuzzy grey pajamas. Her face was flushed and tears were streaking down her cheeks.
"Miko," Bulkhead called down in surprise as he set the human none too gently on the floor. "I thought you were asleep."
"Who could sleep through that ruckus you were making?" she demanded rubbing at her eyes. "Leave Fowler alone!"
"I just want to know what's going on Miko," the Autobot said pleadingly. "I want to help."
"You can't help!" she hissed, "and it's classified; big government secret. So stop asking!" she kicked him again in frustration.
"Bulkhead!" the powerful voice of Optimus Prime rang through the silo. "What is going on here?"
"Fowler won't let Miko tell me what's going on," the ex-Wrecker fumed, glaring down at the human.
The man opened his mouth to reply but a sharp glance from the leader of the Autobots silenced him. The red and blue mech moved to stand beside the ex-Wrecker and laid a hand on his shoulder guard.
"Calm yourself Bulkhead," he ordered in a commanding tone. "There is more to this situation that meets the optic."
"I know that!" the green mech growled in frustration. "That's the problem."
"While it is important that we respect the wishes of our hosts," the Prime continued. "I have recently become aware of the nature of this information's classification."
Fowler stiffened and shot an apologetic look at Miko who was now looking up at Optimus with fear in her eyes.
"While it is true that Agent fowler is constrained by the laws of his nation from speaking on this matter and Nurse Darby by an oath even older, Miko herself is now, and has been, free to divulge the information to us. I suspect that it has been out of respect for her wishes and privacy that the adults have remained silent."
"What? Is that true Miko?" Bulkhead demanded.
The girl started at the floor, refusing to meet his optics. The mech looked desperately at Fowler and June; the man glanced away with a defeated look on his face but the nurse met his gaze with an even, steady look that told him nothing.
"Hey," he said awkwardly crouching in front of his friend. "This is Bulk you're talking to. You can tell me anything! We're best buddies right?"
The girl shifted away from him, still not looking directly at the mech.
"Miko," he tried again.
"Just stop it!" she hissed up at him. "You couldn't understand. It's, it's a human thing!"
Before the mech could respond the girl spun around and raced back into the sleeping area. Wide blue optics stared after her, filled with hurt and confusion. Jack walked hesitantly up to his mother and touched her arm lightly.
"Mom?"
The woman looked at him with a sad smile and shook her head.
"She'll tell when she's ready," June said softly.
She walked forward and patted the still crouching Bulkhead on the arm.
"Just give her some time Big Guy. Miko has been through a lot recently and she is going to need you more than ever. She's just hurting right now."
The green mech stared morosely at the door his charge had disappeared through.
"Just be patient huh?"