Sam saw what was in the autobot leader's hand and instantly stood in front of Ruby protectively protecting her from the man on that disk as he always had done for as long as he could remember and nothing not even a giant robot would stop him now.
"Optimus, how much of that did you watch?" Sam asked squeezing Ruby's hand when she squeezed his first.
"All of it," he replied without emotion.
Ruby saw the look on his face and it was the same look of fear and shame she'd seen all her life, her father when she made a mistake, her mother when she got her dad angry, the officers when she told them what she'd done, Uncle Ron and Aunt Judy and Sam even if it was just for a split second.
"I'd do it again in a heart beat," she hissed at the mech.
"Tell me metal man do you know what it means when a man rapes a child and takes away their innocence do you? Do you know the only way to stop a thing like that when nobody else around you will do anything to stop it?" she screamed at Optimus.
"Your just like everyone else you don't care that it was only way I could protect the boys you just see that I killed men who had wives and children of their own. Well I'm sorry for their families and the fact their death was the only way to know the truth. I gave them justice and protection or at least the little I could provide, and yet you are the one that can stand there and pass judgment on me. Those men were the monsters not me...I was just surviving isn't that what you do," she continued with tears in her eyes as the other autobots looked on in confusion.
"Go ahead and show them, show them what a real monster I am," she said before taking off with Sam not far behind her.
Throttle was the first to approach their leader and take the disk from him each downloading its contents all ready to find the men in these videos and deal with them as they would decepticon scum.
"Bumble Bee I do not understand what is rape," Throttle heard Dragon Fly say to Bee so innocent and confused it made both her and the yellow mech's spark ache.
"Something I'll never allow happen to you or anyone else if I can help it," he replied pulling her to his chest in a tight embrace afraid to let her go.
"Sir why are the humans hurting their own kind, I don't understand. Why would a father allow his daughter to go so low to do this why wasn't he protecting her?" Throttle asked confused she knew little of the human ways but she watched her charges family and they were so kind and loving to their sparklings. Then something else confused her and asked the mech," Why are you angry at her for protecting her team as you protect us?"
That finally hit a wire in Optimus and he began to breath heavily and contemplated what he had done, he had done exactly what every other being she met had done and what he tried to teach her not to do herself.
"When I was looking at him in his army greens it wasn't Will I was seeing, I saw a monster," was all she left said as she blinked the pain in her eyes away to reveal those beautiful, mischievous grayish green eyes again.
'If I ever find the human that gave this girl the ability to hide pain like that I may break my oath not to harm her kind' Prime thought to himself picking up the girl and walking back towards the others.
"When we return do me a favor and take a second look at Will Lennox and tell me if you still see a monster," he said to Ruby who just nodded...
"I don't understand not even all our muscle could keep him down how did one noise do it," Prime said turning to Sam.
"That wasn't a noise, she was singing ya know music like the stuff Bee plays on his radio," the teen explained.
"Ok but that doesn't explain how it caused Starscream to submit so easily?" he asked watching Ruby, Throttle and for some reason Jazz doing a 'victory dance' as the humans called it.
"We have a saying around here 'music sooths the savage beast'" Lennox said walking over.
"Apparently she decided to take a second look," the soldier added to Prime referring to the talk he had with the human just before the attack making the autobot leader smirk...
"Your just like everyone else you don't care that it was only way I could protect the boys you just see that I killed men who had wives and children of their own. Well I'm sorry for their families and the fact their death was the only way to know the truth. I gave them justice and protection or at least the little I could provide, and yet you are the one that can stand there and pass judgment on me. Those men were the monsters not me...I was just surviving isn't that what you do..."
"Prime what have I done."Meanwhile...
"Ruby wait up!" Sam yelled at his cousin who was still in tears.
"Why did they have to know about that Sam, that was my life and something they didn't need to know about," she cried into Sam's shoulder when he caught up to her. All Sam could do was hold on to the girl and pray that maybe just maybe he could hug her pain away.
"Nobody is judging you alright they were confused, they don't know any more then we do why bad things happen," he explained," In know for a fact that Throttle, and Bee were nothing more or less then worried sick about you and more then likely you got Starscream shitting himself. The others are worried-"
"And Optimus thinks I'm a fucking monster Sam I know, I saw his face and I know what he was thinking," she whispered.
Ruby knew that she maybe over reacted to one person's opinion but she was tired, she didn't want to be a soldier anymore she wanted to be Ruby a normal high school kid. 'Just once I want to girl, was I such a mistake that I don't deserve to be loved like Sam is' she thought as the tears rolled down her face.
"C'mon let's go home," Sam said puling her away enough to lead her home walking slow so she could dry her face.
When they got there they cam across a sight they most definitely were not expecting to see, there in the living room with a severely pissed of Judy and an equally pissed off and upset Ron was Brandon and his charming wife Laura.
"Ya hear that burning sound Sam?" Ruby said casually
"That's the sound of my day going straight to hell," she continued when Sam gave her a look as they walked into the room to join their guests.
Ron was quick to pull the girl with him into the kitchen using the excuse that he needed her help in the kitchen, when they got there he whispered," I called the police already they'll be here soon but we need to act like nothing is out of the ordinary got that," he explained grabbing a bowl of chips.
"Great I'll just pull out my machete and we'll get this party started," she replied sarcastically following him back into the room.
When they got there Sam was pulling the death glare on his uncle that came nearly close to evil one his mother was pulling that would make a decepticon 'lubricate' itself. Brandon just stared back without the slightest hint of fear slowly eye contact with his child.
"Ruby, you look like your doing well," he said getting up," last time we parted ways you demolished my facilities," the man continued as he walked closer and closer to the girl who was standing her ground well and wasn't afraid of his confrontation.
"Don't tell me old man you still pissed about me exploiting the family business to the world or the fact that I ratted you out," she said calmly.
"Oh my dear where do I begin," he said laughing," your very birth was a mistake, the only reason I came back for you was because I needed a Guinea pig to make into my little pet soldier and in fact you far surpassed my expectations.
"Don't you dare say it," Ron said to his brother who simply smiled back before looking back at Ruby.
"My little mistake became my little monster," he said simply then smacked her slamming her into the corner table.
Before anyone else could react Ron was on his feet and punching his brothers lights out right there on the living room floor as Ruby simply stared at the place where her father was standing clenching her fists and silent tears ran down her face.
"What's the matter little brother, she's worthless don't try to replace a useless child with the child your wife lost in a miscarriage."
At that point Ruby knocked her shocked uncle off the man and punched her father in skull in knocking 3 teeth out in the process repeatedly just punching anything on him she could hit not even flinching when his blood splattered her face until finally she grabbed him by the collar.
"You can insult me till the fucking cows come home but never, NEVER, insult them...it must be embarrassing enough to have you as a brother," she hissed followed by the sound of sirens and turned to her mother who like always said nothing and seemed to look through her.
"Your rides her woman take your charming husband with you," she added kicking in her father's ribs before slamming the door open before Throttle quickly got her attention and were gone in seconds followed by Bee and Sam. The femme felt helpless as the girl squeezed the handlebars tighter then she'd ever felt before not saying a word only caressing the handle with her thumb in gratitude that her friend was there to take her away from the cause of her misery. The familiar sound of another bike got her attention and looked over to see the boy Andy riding by her side trying to get Ruby's attention but that was so far not working so he simply followed.
Sam&Bee P.O.V.
"Mikayla will meet us at the lookout as will your parents afterwards, I tried to inform the others of what was going on as discreetly as possible," Bee said not making Sam feel any better the boy just sat as tears fell down his face.
"She'll be alright Sam we'll help her, there are to many people who care about her not to I promise," the bot said trying his hardest to help his friend.
"How can you be so sure we can?" the boy said upset.
"When have I ever broken my promise or lied to you," Sam heard Bee and couldn't help but smile at the fact leaving the two in a comfortable silence for the rest of the trip.
Back at the hideout both human and autobot alike were ready for the group, or so they thought as far as Ruby was concerned. With the girl they knew they expected her to be violent and scream, she'd want to hit something or deactivate it. But when they pulled into the base she did something they definitely weren't expecting, when Throttle finally came to a stop the girl simply slipped off the bike and cried. Sam was the first to get to her and just pulled her into his chest letting her get 16 years of nothing but pain out of her system, when he looked over at the autobots the sight of them on a normal day would have made him laugh at how utterly confused they all were.
Starscream was the first brave one to go over and see what he could do in his human form, the second he touched her shoulder and turned her to look at him his human spark clenched when he saw the bruising beginning to show on her cheek and the first words out of her mouth were," I must have really been one hell of a mistake if the only thing I'm good for is being a monster."
Nobody could believe their ears when they heard that, whoever this man was had finally done what he had set out to do. Ruby's spirit was crushed and at the moment all that was left of the strong fighting human they once knew was this broken child. The autobot leader was quick to go over to the child knowing he was part of the reason this girl was in the state she was in and gently plucked from Sam's arms.
"I'm going to make something clear to you right now, I have seen more monsters in my time then I'd ever like to know and I can tell you there is nothing monstrous about what you did. Your actions saved the lives of all the boys there, every scar on you is a victory and you should take pride in them. Second just because the wrong parents gave you life doesn't necessarily mean you're a mistake as far as we see you are the youngest child of Ron and Judy Whitwicky, and an important part of our team as well as a dear friend. I apologize if my actions have made it seem other wise," the mech explained hopping to bring back the wild spirit the girl once possessed.
Ron and Judy were in tears by the end of his speech knowing he damn well hit the nail on the head, Ruby was their daughter and nobody was taking her away. The place became silent as he placed her back in Sam's arms her hurt eyes never leaving his. Bumblebee meanwhile was getting tired of quiet and decided if maybe speaking her language would get the point across...
'We are family
I got all my sisters with me
We are family
Get up ev'rybody and sing'
Everybody just turned to Bee like he had grown a second head as he played the song grooving away until he realized everybody was staring at him but when he heard a familiar laugh of Ruby consume the entire room he felt especially proud of himself especially when it got contagious and no one else could help but laugh with her. After a long time of just enjoying each other's company Andy helped Ruby off the floor and that's when Sam saw it and couldn't help but smile, on the bottom of Ruby's back was a tattoo of a message in the shape of a heart."The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is to love and be loved in return."
By the time Ruby's audition came around she was back to her old self and very much making herself nervous about the whole thing, the partner she had been paired with that morning had been picked to perform swing and he was being a really great support but she couldn't help the jitters especially when she hadn't danced swing in years."Hey we'll be great we did great practicing and its only a two minute demonstration no sweat OK?" the guy said doing a surprisingly good job calming her down.
"Ruby and Henry your up," someone called them.
As they got into their positions on the dance floor Ruby had no idea that not only Sam and Andy were in the stands but the entire autobot team in their newly finished hologram forms who looked on anxiously.
'Hey pachuco!
Summer 43 the mans gunnin for me
Blue and white mean war tonight
They say damn my pride and all
The other cats livin down eastside
Or maybe just my brims too wide
Oooh marie you better grab my jack
And zip gun for me
And Ill face no shame
cause tonights the night I die for our name
Well Id like to be swingin
Dancin and singin, just havin a time
Free to do whatever, now more than ever
Ive gotta stick with that gang of mine'
None of them could believe what they were seeing minus Sam, this was her passion and probably the only place in the world where she was happy, Andy meanwhile was still getting over the fact that Ruby could bend that way never mind actually dancing."Boy close your mouth its leaking fluid," Ironhide said not putting two and two together making it all the funnier for Sam.
"Dude try not to have dirty thoughts about my cousin while were here huh?" the autobots heard the comment and suddenly Andy found himself staring at multiple versions of the 'disrespect-the-girl-and-die' look.
After the audition Henry's cam up to him congratulating them both when he asked Ruby," you have anybody come watch?"
"Oh you bet, the whole family came," she replied smiling as she looked up and the whole group waiting for her.
yay a decently long chapter I hope you guys like review and tell me what you think.