Hey guys, just letting you know, this is the last chapter of Black Ops, so...enjoy it while it lasts. (sorry for the the looonnngg delay in updating, I wanted to wrap it up and only had a few things I wanted to get down, and just couldn't find the inspiration to write) So, here I am at midnight with the plot bunnies chewing on my foot and my mind wide awake.
…...
~Morgan's POV
Things had escalated quickly since Sentinel's resurrection. Fortunately, I was using the confusion and turmoil to my advantage. I'd taken to bunking with Ironhide at night; either he'd curl up next to me with his holoform or, more than once, I'd fallen asleep on his chest. The sound and warmth of his spark beating was like a lullaby to me.
Unfortunately, this, like other good things, must come to an end.
…..
I'd been informed that Sam and agent Simmons had gone with Bee to find out information on a couple of Russian cosmonauts that could possibly have information on the missions to the moon that were shut down. Much to everyone's surprise a couple hours later, Lennox ran in, already pulling on his gear. Ironhide rose to his full height from where he'd been cleaning his weapons next to me, frowning.
"Will, what's the matter?" Ironhide asked.
"It's 'Cons, they're after Sentinel and in pursuit of him on the D.C. Parkway." Lennox said, turning his gaze to me.
"Grab your guys, we'll need you and them for backup. Arm 'em and get back to me." Lennox said, jogging off to round up more guys. Ironhide loaded his cannons next to me.
"Finally! I can kick some Decepticon aft!" he said. I smirked, good-naturedly elbowing him in the foot. I picked up my gun from off the floor in front of me and slung it over my back. I already had most of my gear on, and was ready for combat. Making my job easier, Blitz, Collins, and Havii came running as a group and reported to me.
"Morgan, vhat are jour orders?" Blitz asked. I jerked a thumb at myself.
"Gear up, grab a gun, and then find Lennox, that's where I'm going." I said. What was left of my team nodded and scurried off, as I reached into one of my pockets and pulled out my commlink, stuffing it into my ear and activating it. I was getting an anxious, dreadful, butterflies feeling in my stomach that I always did before I went into a fight or made a kill, but of course I passed it off.
Ironhide looked down at me, smiling slightly.
"I doubt this is much, the report said only three 'Cons, though they're baddies, I've heard of 'em. They fight dirty...but not more than any other greaseball of an enemy." 'Hide said, I guessed at an attempt to reassure me. I suddenly heard a voice fill my commlink, sounding desperate.
"We need backup! Sideswipe and I are getting hammered out here!" Mirage called. Ironhide looked my way before transforming as fast as possible.
"I'm gonna go help, don't worry, okay? They don't call me 'Ironhide' for nothing." he said in his alt mode before tearing out of the main hanger hard enough his tires skidded. I watched him for an instant, then couldn't stand it and shifted up onto my toes, breaking into a dead sprint. My gun tapped against my back and my boots thudded against the pristine white tile floor.
I ducked around the exit doors and ran for the main gate, nearly smacking into Lennox who was going the same way.
"Shit hit the fan, this is way worse than I thought." Lennox said, flashing me a look that said 'I'll explain everything later.' I saw Ironhide just bursting through the main gates as Bee and Sideswipe drifted around a corner at the far end of the road, two black suburbans practically sniffing their bumpers. I saw Sam lean out Bee's window as Ironhide accelerated past him, yelling something. I'll admit, I gasped when I realized Ironhide wasn't even going to slow down for the two SUV's.
He plowed into the two 'Cons with enough force to kill them, or so I thought. While the collision had sent all three of them twisting up into the air, they all transformed faster than I'd seen any of them do before. The fight then moved down a street and I could no longer see what was going on, but Sideswipe transformed next to Bee as Sam got out of his alt mode.
"I'm gonna go help 'Hide, you guys stay here." he said, taking off towards the fight.
I waited in apprehension for the fight to end, dying to see if my guardian and, I'll admit it, more than just a friend, emerged. In the wait, Sentinel drove into the holding lot in his alt mode, not bothering to transform, and thankfully, when I turned back, Ironhide was driving back, albeit a bit slowly, behind Sideswipe. I noticed, when he transformed, he had an ugly wound in his shoulder, but Sam cut me off before I could ask about it.
"Guys, you gotta get Sentinel inside, you gotta guard him. He's like, the key to this whole thing." Sam said. Sentinel transformed, standing to his full height, even taller than Optimus. All of us turned to him when he spoke.
"Indeed I am... What you must understand, my Autobot brothers, is that we were never going to win the war. A deal had to be made... with Megatron." Sentinel said. Before any of us could do anything, before I could even breathe, Sentinel loaded his cosmic rust gun and shot Ironhide in the back. Twice.
I screamed, I know I did, whether it was 'no' or just an expression of my grief, shock, and pain, I didn't know, but I dashed forward, even when Lennox barked, "Get back!" Ironhide leaked vital fluids from his mouth, the mouth that had first uttered the words to come with him...to ask to be my guardian...my friend...
"Wh-what have you done?" Ironhide groaned. Sentinel leveled his gun at Ironhide once more.
"I hereby discharge you from duty..." he said, firing. Ironhide jerked as an explosion shot out of the armor on his chest. I felt a tear streak down the side of my face, and, without thinking, whipped my gun off my back as I reached Ironhide's side. I stood near his slackening face, joining Bee's fire on the crazed Prime.
"Die, you freaking bastard!" I cried with more tears running down my face. "You killed my friend you asshole!" I screamed over the tumult. Sentinel armed a machine gun and aimed back at Bee, firing, though he swept it sideways to track Bee's movement.
I was unprepared for the pain that struck me as the Cybertronian's ammo ripped through my body. It felt like I'd been sucker punched in the gut, and I crumpled to my knees, my rifle slipping from my grasp and clattering to the asphalt. I knew what it was like to be shot, I had two purple hearts, but I counted four spreading bloodstains on the camo of my uniform over my chest and stomach.
I was surprised at a slow movement next to me, Ironhide dragged a rapidly rusting arm over the tarmac with a scrape, moving his hand as close as he could to me. It was his final gesture, a goodbye, as I saw his optics flicker out and rust consume his helm. With disgust, I watched as the joint holding on his head rusted through and it fell off, rolling a short distance from his body. I swayed, even on my knees, and slouched forward, bracing one arm against the ground and the other I clamped over my stomach, although the effort was probably futile. I swung my head around the battlefield, Sentinel had moved into the N.E.S.T. Base, and I noticed hazily that my team and Lennox were running my way.
Havii knelt next to me, between the bulk of Ironhide's body and my bleeding self.
"Oh, Twiggy..." Havii said, resorting to my nickname instead of my rank or real name. I realized it must be bad, and frankly I was too distraught to care. Ironhide was gone, and I didn't know what to do without him. Lennox took in the scene sadly, then tugged on Collins.
"Hey, man, you're with me. Havii, Blitz, stay with Captain Greene." Lennox said, sprinting to the base with Collins in tow.
Havii pulled me gently upwards and stretched me out on my back next to Ironhide. He looked like he was working frantically, but my vision was honestly a haze. Blitz knelt next to me, looking at Havii and silently asking if there was anything he could do. He waved Blitz back. Havii untucked my uniform and hitched my shirt and camo up to the level of my bra. I didn't even have the strength, or the will for that matter, to resist.
"Havii..." I croaked, feeling something wet run out of the corner of my mouth. He put a finger to my lips but I shook my head.
"Havii." I said, loud as I could. My voice cracked in my throat, drowned in blood. "Don't even try..." I said. Havii looked at me desperately. I felt something like a static-y warmth inviting me as my feelings dulled.
"Morgan, you are talking crazy, be quiet so I can work." Havii said, fishing an I.V out of his medical bag and taking my arm. With as much strength as I could muster, I jerked away before letting my arm fall back to the asphalt.
"It's okay...it...it feels like my time to go." I said. I half-noticed that a pool of blood was slowly creeping outwards from under me, and I could just barely feel the thick, ropy scar that edged the outside of my brand as it rubbed the tarmac. Havii pleaded and I finally snapped.
"I loved him, Havii...and he loved me... Just let me go...it'll be alright. That's an order..." I said, my vision becoming intensely blurred as I felt a black wave rush up to meet me.
~3rd person POV
Havii looked helplessly at his captain that lay bleeding out on the ground. She had ordered him to let her die, and honestly, from a medic's standpoint, she was beyond saving. Blitz went on one knee next to Morgan, taking her hand as her eyes started to glaze over.
"Ju are ze best commanding officer I could have ever had." Blitz said. Havii nodded, starting to recite the Lord's Prayer in Spanish. Morgan quirked her mouth into a weak smirk, whispering,
"He's waiting for me..." After that, her eyes half-lidded and her face went slack peacefully. The blood pouring from her wounds stopped, and Blitz let her hand rest on the ground. Havii, in confirmation, pressed two fingers against her throat, under her jaw and waited a few moments before rocking back on his heels and shaking his head.
"She's gone."
…...
-Time lapse: after battle for Chicago
Blitz and Havii stood in their full dress in front of Morgan's grave at Arlington cemetery. She'd been buried soon after all the turmoil had ceased, though the dirt was still soft over her grave. Both gave a crisp salute, standing at attention in silence for a full five minutes in her honor, a minute for each year they'd both served under her. Havii patted the gravestone.
"You will be missed..."
"More than jou know..." Blitz finished his sentence. Havii slapped Blitz on the back in comfort and they walked further into the cemetery to find Collins, who had been killed in action when he'd gone with Epps' team to find Carly.
…...
I don't think Arlington gravestones have an epitaph, but if they did, Morgan's would read something like this:
To all the scary, badass chicks out there
who refuse to put up with injustice
and have faced their own nightmares,
Keep up the good fight.
…...
And that, my friends, concludes Black Ops. Yes, it made me sad to write the end. Do I regret it? No, well... maybe a bit. If I made you cry, brownie points to you, I was going for tear-jerking. Let me know what you think. Aurrawings out!