Chapter 21

They carried Amelia's body to med-bay as quickly as they could. The doctors went to work and tried to keep her alive but sadly they failed. Amelia's heart had given up, she had somewhat bled out as the bullet had hit a main blood vessel near her heart. The doctors had tried to get a blood match but Amelia's blood was like no other they had ever encountered so giving her blood was out of the question.

The head doctor looked at the flat line on the monitor. They had been preforming CPR for over forty-five minutes and still no heartbeat. He looked up at his fellow companions helping him. They all looked down knowing that it was to late.

"Agreed?" He asked them quietly, as he turned the monitor off. They all nodded solemnly.

"Time of death… 3:27." He said as two nurses put a white cover over Amelia's bloodied, lifeless body. With that, the doctor walked off with most of the nurses and other medics following him. Before he exited he cast a glance towards the see-through med-bay doors where a few of the attacked soldiers stood. They all looked at him for an answer so he shook his head. The shooter had been among the present group.

"I killed her." He whispered to his friends.

"You did the right thing," the one next to him said, "She could have killed us all." Before long they also left and the lights went out.

Abigail had been taken into custody because she was considered some kind of threat. She tried to reason with Mearing but she was having none of it, so new she was locked up in a cell waiting patiently for her friend. She was sitting on the ground and drawing random invisible shapes with her index fingers. She stopped when she heard the clinging of keys and then the lock being opened. Abby stood up and looked at the door eagerly. She was disappointed when a soldier came in instead of her friend.

"Ma'am, I'm here to inform you that Amelia is dead." He said curtly.

"What do you mean?" Abby growled. Amelia could not be dead, she had survived far worse and she knew it.

"She can't be dead!" Abby said angrily as she turned her back towards the soldier who had just informed her about her friend's death.

"I'm… sorry." The he said before closing her cell door again. Abby turned back towards the door once it had closed. She started at it as the information slowly started to sink in. It was not long before here anger turned into sadness. She leaned against the door and slid down it until she was curled up with her knees against her chest. Abigail tried to fight away the tears but they came anyway. She sobbed silently through the dark, empty night as she mourned for her desist friend. She was awoken by the door opening behind her back. She looked up groggily at the intruder. It was another soldier but there was somebody behind him.

"Abigail, please follow me." He said as he stepped to one side. Abigail got up with a grunt of effort before following him out. The soldier was about to put cuffs on her when the person behind him said 'no'.

"Why not? She is a threat." He said.

"She is not the threat, Amelia was." The dark figure said in a deep recognizable voice.

"Optimus?" Abigail asked as she narrowed her eyes.

"Yes." He said as he stepped into the light. It was his holoform, it had brown spiky short hair and electric blue eyes. He was wearing a dark shirt with the Autobot insignia on the front, jeans and sporty looking sneakers.

"Why am I here and where are you taking me?" Abby demanded calmly as she stood in front of the tall Autobot leader.

"We want to talk to you and I am taking you to the main hangar where all the other Autobots are waiting." Optimus said as he put his hand on her shoulder. Abby nodded and followed the Prime to wherever the main hangar was. After a short but complicated walk, they arrived. Abby looked around the hangar, it was gargantuan and all the Autobots were in their robot forms and awaiting her arrival.

"I assume you already know us." Optimus's real form said as he stepped forward letting his holoform disappear.

"You could say that." Abby said as she craned her neck to look up at the tall leader. Optimus prime leaned down on one knee and put his hand on the ground.

"Please get up so I can put you where you are out of harms way." He said. Abby was a bit flustered but did as he said. She grabbed onto his finger as he lifted her up a few meters from the ground and put her onto a large, transformer sized table all the Autobots were now sitting at.

"We would like to have a word with you." Optimus said as he sat forward and preceded to ask her about everything she knew of herself, Amelia, the Autobots and the Decepticons.

The med-bay had been shut down, all the lights and monitors were off and there was nobody there. That's what they thought anyway. Amelia's body had been cleaned up and put into a fresh gown, even though she was dead, the nurses had stitched up the bullet wound and any other small injuries that needed it. Because she was lying on her back, nobody had noticed that her insignia had started glowing a soft purple light. The light was getting stronger and stronger and as it did so, it slowly started to spread through her veins like poison. One it reached her heart there was a bright, short flash of light and then, silence. But it was broken by a shrill scream emitted by the only being in the facility. Amelia cried out again as she clawed at her chest. It felt like something was burning her up from the inside and the fact that she had forgotten how to breath was not helping the matter at all. Amelia fell to the floor painfully. Once she managed to get a few deep, painful breaths she shakily stood up using the metal operating table as support. Still with one hand on her chest, Amelia staggered over to a door and tried to open it as quietly as possible. Once she was in, she locked the door and looked for a place to hide. The room was pretty bare at first sight but Amelia soon figures that the cupboards were pretty much the walls. She opened a few before finding one she could fit in. She fell to her knees and slowly made her way into the small space before closing the cupboard door. It was pitch black and it smelt a bit musty but it would do. Amelia was about to nod off again when she jerked forward in pain. She clutched her chest again as she suppressed the cries of pain that were threatening to pass her lips. She saw that her wound had started to bleed again but it was not bleeding blood, instead it was bleeding some kind of purple glowing liquid. O, great, now I'm radioactive, Amelia thought bitterly as she wiped the stuff off onto her, once fresh, gown. As she sat back and tried to relax a little she sat on something hard and sharp. She ran her fingers over it and somehow it felt familiar. She kicked the cupboard door open to let in some light so she could see what it was. A happy yip of excitement escaped her when she saw what she had sat on, it was her beloved armor, well, part of it anyway. She attached them to here bare skin, there were a few parts missing but she would find them soon enough. Once she was half covered in armor she sneaked towards the door and opened it, then, on her tiptoes, she cavorted to where she saw more of it. Her head and most of her abdomen, chest and left leg gear were lying on one of the metal examining tables. After quickly looking over them for damage she pulled her gown off and put them on herself. Once she was satisfied with how they looked and felt she transformed into a snow leopard and checked to see how they looked on her other form. When she was done with that she stood back up and her hind legs and looked for her weapons. She online her helm and scanned the room for them. It was not long before she located them on the other side of the room and ran towards them. She quickly attached them to herself and tested her bow out on the door. The shot was clear and Amelia walked over to the arrow and put it back with the others on her back. She opened her palm and let a holographic map appear. She looked for her friend's signature and found it East-west in the biggest hangar not far from where she was. Amelia smiled as she walked out of the medical bay and towards the hangar. She kept to the shadows because she was in no mood to get caught again. When she was close she crawled into a vent and carried on from there. She saw on her map that her friend was being accompanied by at least seven if not more large forms. She was at the end shaft now and she opened it with ease. She peaked out and saw her friend on a table with most of the Autobots sitting around her. She watched quietly as Abigail talked about everything they both had been through. She then said that Amelia was dead and that she was the best friend she ever had. Amelia sighed as she watched the conversation further. After an hour and hearing a lot from her friend she sat up. Abby seemed so happy around the Autobots, happier than she had ever seen her before. Amelia wanted the best for Abby so she made a hard decision. She would leave her, not forever, but she was going back to the Decepticons and when she could, maybe once a month or so, she would come and visit. Amelia hoped she would forgive her as she took out a little peace of paper and dipped her finger in a little of her still wet blood. With a trembling hand she wrote the little letter.

Hi, Abby

I'm sorry but I'm going back. Please don't come for me.

Starglider.

It was short but it would do. She folded the paper into a sturdy airplane, then took off her necklace and attached it. With a deep breath and aimed it at Abby's feet and let it fly. As soon as it left her grip Amelia turned and ran off on all fours. She felt hot tears stinging at her eyes and rolling down her cheeks as she sped away down the vent. Once she was out she ran past the gate not caring if anybody saw her. She then dove into the water and swam away as fast as her tailfin's could. When she was out of reach, she slowed down and looked back at the island for the last time before turning around and getting back to land. Once she was out of the water she transformed into her snow leopard form and started running. The sun was on its way down and she wanted to be back at the Decepticon base by sunrise. She ran hard, pushing herself to faster and faster though she was in no hurry at all. She tried to distract herself as here thoughts kept wondering if she really should have left her friend back with the Autobots. She arrived at the canyon and started climbing it. She dug her sharp claws into the sandy thick rocks and hauled herself up until she was on top of it. Then she walked to the crater and jumped down it. The landed on the ground on all fours and then started moving towards the cave. Once she entered she stood back up onto her hind legs and walked towards the Med-bay. She did not have a 'recharge' room unlike most of the Decepticons so, when she did need sleep, she slept in med-bay. Once she entered she looked for and empty berth to sleep on. She could get on them without help thanks to her other form. With a big leap she jumped up onto one of them. Amelia then yawned and curled up onto the berth and fell asleep, the hard metal did not bother her as she had thick fur covering every inch of her body.