CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I Don't Know
***
"Do you think she's okay?"
"Kid, you ask that every time she gets like this – just relax!"
"But maybe she's not okay, I mean maybe you did something wrong!"
"Not you too – look, I don't need some ex-Decepticon telling me…"
I shifted my fingers a little bit. It was just a small movement, but then I heard Bee's voice again: "Em – are you okay, my love?"
I considered this. "Mmm…somewhat…what time is it?"
Bee laughed gently. "She's okay." He said.
"That's a relief." I recognised Screamer's voice too. "Looks like you did something right, medic."
"Nnn…of course he did…he's Ratchet…" I informed my second-husband, and opened my optics, only to be greeted by the terrible, immense, surrounding blackness, which made me gasp. "Oh Primus…except that!"
"Yeah kid, about that…" I felt Ratchet's hand on my forehead, and knew that he was scanning my optics for the ten billionth time. "Your optics were severely damaged during your little…err, run-in, with the vampire-bots." I heard Starscream growl angrily at the very mention of the vamp-bots. "I tried everything I could…they just won't function anymore…"
"Oh Primus…oh God…" I said, freeing my hands and bringing them up to my eyes. "Oh no…" I moaned, and burst into tears. Purple energon flowed freely down my face, leaving tracks where my scars were.
Not that I could see any of this.
Primus, I may never see again.
How am I supposed to fly?
How am I supposed to raise my sparklings?
"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO STOP MEGATRON AND THE FALLEN FROM TAKING OVER THE UNIVERSE!!??"
I didn't know I'd screamed that last part out loud until I felt two separate sets of arms suddenly wrap around me, and didn't need to see to know that it was Bumblebee and Starscream hugging me, comforting me.
Putting aside their differences for the time being, and focusing on the one thing they had in common.
Me.
It was kind of nice.
But I still wished that I could see.
*
A couple of hours later, after I had been informed that we were in an abandoned warehouse in some town called Tranquillity, I was sitting by myself, trying to work up the nerve to move, when I began wondering where everyone else was.
They had left me all alone.
I didn't like it.
"Bee?" I asked through my com-link. "Where is everyone?"
"Em?" Bee sounded surprised to hear from me – but thrilled at the same time. As happy as I was to hear from him. It made me smile. I hadn't smiled in a while (hey, that rhymes). "Hi! Umm, everyone just sort of…went out for a bit…"
"Where to?" Bee had sounded, oh, I dunno…evasive. After being his spark-mate for so long, I had learned to listen for the signs.
"…Just…out…" Bee was never any good at lying.
So, Starscream decided to get on the line. "Look, we'll be back soon, just try to hold down the fort until we get back."
"Screamer…did…you left me here by myself?" I asked in disbelief.
"No…" That was Bee again. "Umm…Barricade's there with you…"
"WHAT!!??"
"It's okay!" I heard another voice, and I began to wonder if this was an open-com-link. "Well, he's not, he's injured so he couldn't come, but he's totally on our side now!"
"Our si…who is this?" I wanted to know.
"It's me – Stream Fire!"
"Oh…okay then, well…wait, what do you mean he's on our side now?"
"It's kinda hard to explain." Stream Fire replied.
"You two are in love, aren't you?"
"NO!"
"She means yes," Stream Fire's brother said.
"I know." I replied, smiling even though he couldn't see it. "Umm, Screamer…did anyone else stay? Back here with me, I mean? Just cause, ya know, if the cops show up or something, and find two giant robots here – one injured and one blind – then…said robots might not be here when you get back…"
However far away they were, I heard Bee and Screamer groan at the thought.
"Yeah," I heard Hornet's voice. Oh yeah, we were talking on an open-com-link alright. "My Moth did. She and Dragonfly will keep you company if you want them to."
"But we thought we'd give you some space." Ratchet added.
"Are Jetfire and Jetstorm still with you?" I demanded to know.
"We is here!"
"Okay, just checking, seeing as how this is an open-com-link and all." I replied.
I heard Starscream snicker.
"Anyway, when will ya'll be back?"
"Soon, love," Bee assured me. "Soon."
"Okay…okay then, I'll see you guys when you get back…oh, wait, no I won't…" I said sadly. How could I forget? I'm blind now.
"We'll be back soon, Em." Screamer told me.
"Okay." I said, trying not to sound tearful, and disconnected the com-link.
That was when I heard a small, female sparkling's voice from above my head. "Help meeeee!!"
My head snapped up, and my unseeing eyes widened, because I knew what was happening – Moth's and Hornet's sparkling was in trouble! She was about to fall! I wasn't sure why, or even how she had gotten up there in the first place, but I moved without even thinking.
I jumped up, activated my flying ability…thing, and shot into the air, arms outstretched. Halfway up, as she was halfway down, my arms closed around a small, winged sparkling, and I held her close to my chest plate as I returned to the ground, unsure of how I had really just done that.
As soon as I landed, I began checking the sparkling over for damage, and found none.
"Are you alright, little one?" I asked her, looking at her with my unseeing eyes.
"Uh-huh," She replied. I could read into her CPU – she'd been chasing after a mouse on the rafters, and had fallen. I accidentally read too far back into her CPU, and found out that she'd been born whilst her parents were on board Fhantom's ship, and that they had been separated, and she'd been kept a prisoner by Fhantom.
It made me hate him even more, even though he was dead.
He turns me into a Transformer, and a vampire one at that! He kills Wasp, he breaks apart a family…
I could suddenly hear Wasp's voice in my head. "Calm down, Butterfly – Fhantom's dead, there's no point in getting angry about it."
I sighed…and then I gasped. Wait! That wasn't in my mind…IT WAS THROUGH A FRAGGING COM-LINK!!!!
"Wasp!" I yelped. "You're alive!!??" Oh Primus, had the dream been true!?
"Of course I am," He snapped, and I couldn't stop myself from smiling. Same old Waspy.
"But…you were dead…offline…I saw you…" I couldn't understand it. "Oh, I can't believe you're alive!"
"That's not all." Wasp replied.
"What?"
"One of your Autobot friends is, too." Wasp informed me.
"You make it sound like you're not a…wait, what?" I gasped. "Ironhide!?"
"That's me kid." He said gruffly.
"But…I saw you die too!"
"Do I sound dead to you?"
"No."
"Case closed." Wasp said.
"Where are you!?" I was holding Dragonfly in my arms, and I sensed her confusion, but I couldn't tell her what was going on, because, heck, I didn't even know myself!
"We could tell you, but you wouldn't know where we are," Ironhide replied. "Sides', I think the others are coming to find us."
"Oh, okay, but don't attack the fem-bot who looks like Starscream, she's his sister," I said hurriedly. "Also the scary-looking red and orange mech…Wasp knows him, his name is Hornet…"
"Daddy!" Dragonfly said happily.
"Butterfly…is there someone there with you?" Wasp asked.
"Yeah, Hornet's and Moth's sparkling…Wasp, are you sure you're online?" I just couldn't quite believe it.
"Yes," He said impatiently, and then his voice softened. "I wish I could let you see me, just so that you'd be sure, but…"
I bit my lip (a dangerous mistake) and said: "You know about that?"
"Emma, Emma, everyone knows about that." Ironhide replied.
"Oh…really?"
"Yes," Wasp sounded slightly venomous when he said this next part. "Lucky Bumblebot was there to save you."
"Wasp…"
"Sorry," He didn't mean it. "Oh, and just between you and me…"
I never got to find out what was just between Wasp and me because, just then, I heard a different, only vaguely familiar, voice say: "Are you Autobot Ironhide and escapee Wasp?"
At least that's what I think he said. It sounded more like: "AreyouAutobotIronhideandescapeeWasp?"
"Yes…and who might you be?" Ironhide wanted to know.
"Elite-Guard-Blurr-I've-been-sent-here-to-retrieve-you-and-bring-you-to-the-rendevouz-location-where-my-associates-are-waiting!"
…
"Ah…what?" Wasp said.
Suddenly, I recognised the fast-talker as the unknown bot who had been arguing with Bumblebee during my state of semi-consciousness. So, his name was Blurr…I could hear why.
"Wasp, Ironhide," I said. "Go with Blurr, he'll take you to where the others are…and they'll bring you to me…"
"Okay." Wasp said immediately.
"Sure thing, kid." Ironhide told me, and I heard them both transform before the com-link was cut out.
"Emma, what is going on?" Dragonfly asked, very clearly.
I took a deep breath. "Well…"
*
Bumblebee's P.O.V:
The hit came faster than I could've imagined, and I got up angrily, holding my face and glaring at Wasp, who was being restrained by Ironhide and Ratchet.
Hornet, Blurr, Stream Fire and Starscream just watched – Starscream, amused.
"I just wanted to get one good hit in," Wasp said, breaking free of the stronghold and holding up his hands in surrender. He glared at me with his purple optics. "You let Butterfly get hurt – it's all your fault!"
"Oh sure, just like it was my fault you got arrested?" I shot back.
"Oh, I forgive you for that," Wasp replied, glancing up at the sky once as if to say 'yeah, right'. "Butterfly helped me understand that…"
"Hey, she has a name!" Starscream said, angrily. "It's Emma."
"Who are you?" Wasp asked him, his optics lingering over the purple brand on the seeker's chest.
"I'm Emma's spark mate." Starscream replied.
I coughed, pointedly.
"Oh, give me a break," Starscream rolled his optics. "If you're still…"
"ENOUGH!!"
Ironhide, despite having just been brought back to life, was still as
temperamental as ever. "We have more important things to worry
about!"
"Like what?" Stream Fire wanted to know.
Ironhide glanced at her, and then replied: "Like the battle between good and evil, as the humans would put it. Did Emma tell you she can get her sight back?"
"What!?" I yelped, at the same time as Starscream demanded to know: "How!?"
It was Wasp who answered with: "By surrendering the power of The Matrix."
"Oh." Hornet, Stream Fire, Starscream, Ratchet, Blurr and I all replied in one voice.
"She won't do it." Ironhide added.
I had to put my face in my palm.
Starscream said: "Oh sweet Primus, why does my spark-mate have to be so noble?"
I looked up, glared at him, and coughed pointedly.
"Oh for goodness sake!" Starscream snapped. "I am not going to say our spark mate every time I refer to her! That's not what it's all about!"
"Why don't you let her tell us that!?" I replied, just as angrily.
"Ah, excuse me, but her has a name."
We all jumped at Emma's voice, and turned to see her standing there, flanked by both of the Jet-Twins.
They had brought her here.
"Thankyou Jetfire, Jetstorm." Emma said to either of them, and then walked forward, her unseeing optics switching from me to Starscream, Wasp to Ironhide, and Stream Fire to Ratchet and Hornet to Blurr for good measures.
At last, she stopped in front of Wasp, regarded him unseeingly but coolly, and then slagged him straight across the face.
We all gasped, but said nothing.
"That's for slagging my first husband earlier on!" She snapped, and then reached over and yanked Wasp to his feet, catching him in what I could tell was a circuit-crushing hug. "And that's for coming back to us!" She let him go, and somehow found Ironhide, giving him the same treatment minus the punch. "And Hidey', you're back too!"
"Okay, okay, so I am." Ironhide said gruffly, but his optics twinkled and he hugged Emma back. "Good to see you, kid."
"Good to see you too, Ironhide." Emma said seriously, tapping her helmet pointedly.
"Emma…" I ventured.
She turned to me, which was kinda creepy. "Yes?"
"Can you really get your sight back with The Matrix?"
She sighed. "Who told you that? Oh, never mind," And I could tell that she had just read my CPU. "Yes, the six original Primes told me so."
Most of us gasped.
"But," Emma went on. "I'm not going to do it. The Matrix is needed for something much more important. We'll…figure something out." She said at last, her shoulders sagging a little.
Starscream reached her first, the slagger, and put his arms around her. "Something? Like what?"
"I don't know." She replied. Her optics looked strangely purple…oh, right, it was the tears. "I really don't know."
***
Meg: *Sobs* I just finished watching Transformers Animated! Prowl died! So did Starscream!
Emma: There, there Meg, it's okay now. Both Prowl and Screamer live on in our heart-sparks. So does Blurr…
Meg: Yeah… *Sniffs* On the brighter side, I bought a Blurr action figure, and a Jazz action figure! And the Autobots campaign video game!
Jazz & Blurr: Sweet!!
Meg: Ya, I know – the Prowl action figure is up next! No offence Jazz-Man, but Prowl is the ninja of da UNIVERSE!!!!
Prowl: o.o
Arcee: Aww, that's so sweet…
Meg: Anyway, my birthday is in seventeen days! Transformers movie and Animated video game here I come! *Dances around*
Wasp: She's in a good mood…
Sentinel Prime: Must be some weird organic thing.
Angelina: Did you say something, Chin-Boy?
Sentinel Prime: -_-;;;;;;;; *Very annoyed*
Skids & Mudflap: I'd run, if I was you.
Angelina: *Runs and hides behind Ironhide*
Kelsi: Yay! 'Hidey's back!! *Runs to Ironhide and hugs him*
Ironhide: O.O Aww, for Primus' sake…
Meg: Anyway, I need some help over here… *Is lifting some heavy boxes*
Optimus Prime: Oh, here, I'll help you! *Rushes to Meg and helps her*
Meg: Thankyou, Optimus, my most loyal Prime.
Optimus Prime: *Beams*
Starscream: *To Sentinel Prime* Looks like Meg's got a new favourite Prime – and guess what? It ain't you!
Sentinel Prime: o.o`
Meg: Anyway, Shadow and Arlexa are going to get more screen time soon. Stream Fire will end up with Barricade. Zikya's going to have her baby towards the end, and so is Bianca.
Bumblebee: Ha! Now Wheeljack's gonna be a Dad as well! Boss-Bot too!
Elita1: Now THIS should be interesting…Optimus as a Father…
Ratchet: Just what we need…more kids around here…
Meg: *Is listening to Making Kids, by Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams* Huh? What, Ratchet, did you say something?
Sunstreaker: I like this song.
Andy: …
Blurr: -No longer dead!- Megwouldliketoaskyoualltoreadandreviewpleasebecauseitwouldbeacrimenotto!!
Blitzwing: Uh…vhat?
Meg: Blurr makes Blitzy seem almost…sane… -_-;;;;;;;;
Starscream: *To Sentinel Prime* You see? Now she even likes Blitzwing better than you!
Sentinel Prime: Oh, who cares!? Blitzwing's no Prime! I'm still the 'Primer Prime'!!!! *Storms out angrily*
