Transformers Titan: Awakening

by kira444

Volume 1 of Transformers Titan. Two warring factions of alien robots, the Autobots and the Decepticons, bring their conflict to the distant world of Terra and begin the next phase of their civil war. Humanity is forever changed as the world is drawn into a war between titans. (Revision!)

33. Whisper

Chapter 32-Whisper

The ring on Annie's finger felt warm, like it was emitting its own heat. In fact, her whole body felt warm, as if she sat out in the middle of a hot summer day without any sunscreen on. That may be because she was sitting in the cockpit of her talos, Enyo, in the middle of a fierce battle between the Autobots and Decepticons in the middle of an already cramped cave.

It was another retrieval mission; Annie, Darren, Gina and their guardians were helping the Autobots secure a moderately sized energon deposit in the Rocky Mountains. Some of the Minicons came along to help mine as much energon as possible and the children acted as their guards with their talos. Admittedly, the deposit was nothing to jump at, and it would've been overlooked in favor of larger deposits…except, there were no larger deposits.

Recently, energon had been a major concern for both Autobots and Decepticons. With their battles getting larger and more drawn out, they were burning through their stockpiles rapidly, faster than they could produce artificially. The cybertronians were also having a harder time finding sufficient energon mines that could sustain them. Things were stable for now, but there was a growing sense of urgency among the Autobots in regards to energon. And the same was happening to the Cons, given Megatron's recent raids.

Because of this fuel shortage, this supposedly simple energon scouting mission erupted into an all out battle in just under twenty minutes. A team of Cons led by Megatron himself came from who knows where and began attacking the Autobots. Optimus led the charge against his nemesis in a chaotic clash of heavy metal fists and blast bolts flying everywhere. The cave wasn't large at all, and most of the combat was regulated to melee and close combat. The kids stayed close to the Minicons, keeping them safe from the Cons that had any funny ideas.

Sparkplug directed the Minicons through the chaos, making sure they obtained as many energon crystals as possible. Darren sheared off the larger crystals to send through the ground bridge, but their progress was slow thanks to the pot shots Starscream kept shooting at them.

"Come on, people, leg it!" Annie yelled down to the Minicons. Enyo dumped another crystal into the half full crates and sent it through the bridge. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, but she remained focused on the task at hand. "We're almost done."

"How much did we gather already?" Darren asked.

"Not a lot." Gina answered. "Just enough to keep the Autobots good for about two days max. Three, if they conserve."

"That's all? I thought Teletran-1 said this was a large deposit!" Darren groaned and rubbed his face in frustration. "What's the point of us even being here then?"

"What the Autobots don't need, they can give to the Minicons." Annie said. "Now stop whining and move it!"

Her unit's combat computer beeped upon detecting an oncoming projectile and she moved her talos to the side to avoid a null blast shot at her from behind. Growling, Annie turned around and saw Starscream walking towards them with his powerlinked null ray fully charged.

"Hand over the energon and I'll let you live human." Starscream grinned.

Annie didn't bother replying, she merely pointed her talos' shoulder mounted beam cannons and fired. Starscream dodged it, but Enyo charged at him like a heavily armored bull and slammed into him with great force. They crashed into a wall and Annie threw a punch at his face, which Starscream barely dodged and kicked her away. He fired a shot from his null ray, which sailed over her shoulder and hit an energon crate. The energon blew up in a plume of blue flames, knocking Darren off his feet and nearly incinerating Centurion.

"No, the energon!" Annie glared hatefully at the smirking Starscream, gripping her control sticks hard enough to make her hands bleed. "You asshole!"

Annie drew her beam saber and fired up her unit's thrusters, shooting forward at the Decepticon. Starscream met her charge with one of his own and brought out his bayonet, slashing at Enyo's head. Annie raised her arm and let the blade bounce off her machine's thick armor before slashing her beam saber upward, leaving a shallow diagonal cut along Starscream's chest. He stumbled back from the close call, but failed to see Enyo's large armored fist heading for his face until he was clocked right in the jaw.

Annie kicked him away and looked around angrily. "Who else wants some?"

A few feet away, Megatron batted aside a missile shot by Ironhide and returned fire with his fusion cannon. Remaining largely isolated from the battle, Megatron hung back and monitored the field for any advantage he could get. He saw a flash of green at the corner of his eye and turned to see one of the humans' talos flying around attacking his soldiers. He almost smirked upon see the black and white talos decimate Starscream and leave him out cold on the ground. It looked like Prime's pets were getting better fighting in their war.

But just because they could fight didn't mean they were soldiers. This conflict was no place for a bunch of aliens, and Megatron was going to remind them of that. Someone had to pay for Lugnut's death, and this girl just stepped up to the plate. With an evil smile, Megatron raised his cannon and waited for the right moment to strike. Once her back was turned, he fired his cannon.

Annie didn't even hear the sound of the fusion cannon firing its fusion beam, as she was too busy watching out for the Minicons. By luck alone, she looked at her rear camera monitor and saw the death beam heading straight for her.

And then the world was flame rushing past metal.

The heat was unbearable. Annie could feel it even within the confines of her heavily armored talos. Her eyes shut and she could see the flashes of red and orange from the explosion. She could feel the heat licking at her cockpit hatch, and tasted blood in her mouth from hitting her head on her upraised arm, still holding the control stick. But death didn't come for her at that minute, as she could still feel her body and the machine around her.

What stood out the most was what she could hear. She heard the roar of flames and the boom of the explosion. She heard the scream of metal tearing apart.

Then she heard a familiar deep voice speak from above. A pained, metallic voice that whispered, "Y-You okay, Annie?"

"B-Bulkhead?"

Annie's ears rang as she looked up at her now wounded friend, Bulkhead. The green Autobot's entire left arm was gone at the shoulder, completely vaporized from Megatron's attack and was smoking and shooting sparks. Bulkhead himself was trying to stay conscious despite the horrendous pain going through his system.

Annie heard voices outside-Darren and Gina. She couldn't hear them, but they were yelling at her in relief and fear. But all Annie could do was lock gazes with the blue eyes of the Autobot that almost died for her through the monitor.

XXXXXX

Back in the Ark, after a long and harrowing battle, Ratchet left the medibay with a sigh and addressed his worried teammates. "Bulkhead is stable, for now. I've fixed his damaged fuel lines and placed him into the CR chamber to recuperate. It'll take some time, but he'll make a complete recovery."

"Which means he'll be off duty for a while." Prowl sighed. "Great, as if we aren't stressed already."

"I should never have let Megatron out of my sight." Optimus sighed and rubbed his forehead crest. "I never expected him to attack Annie so suddenly."

"It could've been worse," Bumblebee said. "If Bulkhead hadn't turned mid-air like that, he would've been blasted clean through his torso."

Megatron's fusion cannon was one of the most powerful weapons in the Decepticon's arsenal. A direct hit from it meant certain death for almost anyone unlucky enough to get caught in its targeting sights. Few could take a blast from it head on, and even Optimus, with his Matrix-enhanced superstructure, made sure to avoid getting hit by its fusion beam. Annie's talos, heavily armored it had been, would not have withstood being hit directly. Bulkhead's quick thinking saved her life.

"It's all my fault…"

All eyes in the room, human and cybertronian, turned to Annie. She was mostly unharmed save for a bump on her forehead and a split lip. Clad in a loose black t-shirt and torn jeans, the girl was trying to blink back her tears that just kept coming.

"He didn't even hesitate…he just dove right in and almost got killed…for me!" Annie gritted her teeth as more tears started to fall.

"Annie, it wasn't your fault." Darren said, walking over to her. He tried to comfort her but she pushed him away.

"No! This wouldn't have happened if I was stronger!" Annie shouted. "Even when I have a giant robot of my own, I'm still fucking weak!"

Annie ran out of the room, leaving behind her speechless brother and concerned friends.

XXXXXX

Annie spent the rest of the evening depressed and in a foul mood. She didn't talk to anybody, she didn't eat dinner and she only left her room to wash up before heading back to bed. Bulkhead rescuing her replayed over and over in her head and the sight of his ravaged body looming over her plagued her thoughts. Despite Darren and Gina's attempts to comfort her, it only made her feel worse and she pushed them away, spending the rest of her night in solitude. Even Grindor was given the cold shoulder, which was a first for him, and he was left feeling very lonely despite being in the same room as her. He didn't like it when Annie was depressed like this.

As she tried to sleep, Annie's mind was still going a mile a minute. She never really had a fear of death that most kids would have, and meeting the Autobots didn't change that one bit. In some disturbing turn of events, being at the center of so many near-death situations with the Autobots and Minicons sort of desensitized the kids to the danger, and at this point, it was just another day on the job for them. Even piloting talos against giant alien killing machines who had no problems snuffing her out wasn't as scary as it was facing down Megatron in their first encounter.

She knew that it came with being friends with the Autobots and forced herself to toughen up or get killed. The events of Belka proved that, even when she was in danger of being killed, she would rather face it head on than sit there and cry, hoping for someone to save her. Crying wasn't going to make the world a better place. However, Megatron's sneak attack on her earlier…that shook her. No, Annie wasn't afraid of death, but it was seeing the people she cared about get hurt because of her that truly frightened her.

Annie had dreams of joining the military as a talos pilot for the Osea Mobile Armor Division. She wanted to be the best pilot in the army just like her dad. She'd rise through the ranks as a natural born badass, as someone people would look up to and call a legend, a pro, a hero; maybe she'd even go out in a blaze of glory protecting her comrades and innocent people. But just today, one of her friends got hurt protecting her from a cheap shot that she didn't even see in time. Annie was grateful for Bulkhead's rescue, but she was also irritated, as she didn't want people risking their lives for her. It made her feel like she couldn't take care of herself, made her feel weak. And there was nothing else in the world that she hated more than feeling helpless.

It was a feeling she spent too long trying to shake off after seeing her mother die, but the fact that all of this happened when she literally had an arsenal at her disposal made it worse. It felt like she would never escape that curse.

XXXXXX

After a sleepless night, Annie skipped breakfast with her siblings and took Grindor to ride to school alone, without waiting for Darren and High Wire. The duo rode in silence, with the serenity of the early Tuesday morning marred by grey clouds hanging overhead. Annie felt like nature itself was feeling pity for her by looking as gloomy as she felt.

"Annie," Grindor said softly. "Are you feeling alright? You haven't slept a wink last night."

"I'm fine, Grindor." Annie said curtly.

'Yeah, she's totally not fine.' Grindor thought. Against his better judgment to leave well enough alone, he continued to pry. "Are you sure? You're looking kinda pale-"

"I said I'm fine!" She snapped. Her outburst caused some bystanders to look at her and she glared back at them. "What the hell are you looking at? Beat it!"

Grindor stayed silent as he drove his friend to school, not wanting to incite her wrath further. She clearly wasn't in the mood this morning, and he hoped that it didn't get her into trouble at school.

Unfortunately for Annie, that fear came true. All morning Annie was wracked with a mind numbing headache that made it hard to focus in class. She felt like her head was going to explode like a cherry bomb. The pain only worsened her mood and she displayed an aura that made everything around her give the girl a wide berth, lest they awaken the beast that was notoriously known as the Abominable Annie.

"Annie!" Darren called out to her in between classes. "Annie, wait up!"

"Come on, Annie, don't push us away!" Gina pleaded.

Annie stopped in the middle of the hallway, her pale skin contrasting with the skin tones of the other students who gave her space as she turned around to face her friends. "What the hell do you two want?"

Gina flinched a bit, not expecting such hostility from Annie. "We…just wanted to see what was up with you. Darren told me you were looking so good this morning."

"Good to know our family affairs stay private." Annie spat, glaring at her brother. "Don't worry, bro, I'm fine. You don't have to dote on me anymore."

"Annie, you look like you got hit by Soundwave's mental assaults. I'm pretty sure if someone blew a trumpet in your ear, you'd pass out." Darren said.

"Not before I knock the asshole out." Annie muttered. Darren sighed and placed his hands on her shoulders to make her look at him.

"Annie, we're just worried about you. You've been acting strange and it's making people concerned. Ratchet said Bulkhead will be alright, he just needs time to recover."

Annie snorted and pushed his arms off her, turning her back on him. "If that's what you think is wrong, then clearly you don't know me as well as you think you do. Now leave me alone."

She marched away from them and went to the girl's bathroom. Walking over to the sink, she leaned over it, rubbing her head and groaning in discomfort. Annie washed her face with numbingly cold water to clear her head and soothe her emotions. She looked up at the mirror; even she couldn't deny that she looked like crap, with bags under her eyes, her dark skin slightly pale, eyes bloodshot. Annie idly thought that she looked like she just watched someone die…right down to their last breath.

'What's going on with me? Why am I thinking these thoughts?' Annie thought worriedly. She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. 'I know Bulkhead's hurt, but Darren did say that he was going to recover. So there should be no reason to be acting like this.'

'But he almost died…' Her mind told her. 'He almost got killed covering for your weaknesses…'

Annie grumbled and ran her hands through her hair, further messing up her already unkept hair. Then she realized that the ring on her right hand was a bit warm. In fact, it felt like it was throbbing, like a festering wound. She ran her fingers over the magenta colored crystal rose and felt her headache slowly clearing away. The door opened and Annie saw the last person she wanted to run into leering at her from the doorway.

"What do you want, Mandy?" Annie spat at the girl she hated with all her being.

"Just taking a peek at the lioness in her cage…where she belongs." Mandy Melbourne replied with a sickeningly sweet smile. Her voice had a nasally tone to it that drove Annie up the wall and had a "rich girl" quality to it you could spot a mile away.

Mandy was the daughter of an Army General who was one of the main supporters of the ERD, having funded its creation and expansion with his various contacts. She was a pretty girl born into money thanks to her mother's clothing designer business, with long black hair neatly washed and straight, a fair complexion with dark blue eyes and full lips. But her beauty was only skin deep. Mandy was a grade-A bitch with a notable disdain for espers, something born from her father's not-so discreet association with Friends of Humanity, the largest anti-esper organization in the country. The fact that Annie's twin brother was an esper didn't help her hatred for the rich bitch.

"I'd rather be a caged lion than a pig like you." Annie shot back.

"You take that back, Annabelle!" One of Mandy's mean girl friends/followers sneered.

Annie promptly gave the girl the finger. "Make me, bitch."

"Look, Annie, I'm on a tight schedule, so could you kindly get out so we can do our business?" Mandy asked, though it was more of an order.

"Why should I do that? Just because you daddy's a rich five-star racist doesn't mean you can boss me around." Annie said, crossing her arms.

"I just have better things to do than play games with you all day, Annabelle." Mandy smirked at Annie's twitching eyebrow. She knew how much that upstart hated that nickname. "So be a good girl and go back to that loser brother of yours, and let the straight girls go on with their day."

Annie growled. "That's it you little-"

"Is something the matter here?"

Penny appeared in the doorway, watching the conversation with narrowed eyes. Mandy scowled at Penny, one of the few high class girls who didn't join the social crowed and had a wit to match her brain. Seeing that things would only get worse with Penny, Mandy decided to call it quits and turned her head up at Annie.

"Nothing's wrong, Pincer. We were just leaving." Mandy said and brushed her hair aside. "Come on girls, it's getting crowded in here."

Mandy and her troop pushed past Penny and left the bathroom. With the wicked witch gone, Penny turned to Annie.

"What was that all about?" She asked.

"Nothing, just Mandy being an asshole, as always." Annie said, turning back to the mirror. "I had it under control."

"You look like you were about to snuff her."

"As I said, I had it under control."

Penny frowned and walked up to Annie, placing a hand on her forehead. "You feeling okay there? You feel really warm."

"It's just a light headache. It's getting better now, so no need to worry about me." Annie doused her face with ice cold water again and grabbed her bag before leaving the bathroom. "See you later."

Penny tried to stop her, but the girl was already gone. Annie didn't want to have any more people pity her today. She just needed some peace and quiet for a few minutes.

And the ring continued to burn on her finger.

XXXXXX

After school, Annie and Grindor went to the Ark alone. Darren had a dentist appointment and Gina was helping her mother out at the dojo. Both girl and Minicon didn't speak to each other for the rest of the day, and it was pretty clear to everyone on the ship that Annie had not gotten over what happened to Bulkhead. It was sad seeing the usually close and happy pair so quiet and detached from each other.

Annie headed to the command center and saw Prowl working on the computer, monitoring Teletran-1 for any energon alerts transferred from their satellite feed. She didn't like talking to Prowl, and the feeling was mutual, but she wanted to know how Bulkhead was doing since Ratchet was hard at work. Quietly asking about his condition, the answer Prowl gave her was uplifting though not enough to get her hopes up.

"Bulkhead's doing fine. Sometime in the CR chamber did his wounds some good and Ratchet's working on gathering materials to repair his arm." He told her, though his frown said otherwise. "However, his recovery will take longer than expected."

"What do you mean?"

"Ratchet's a great doctor, but Bulkhead still needs time in the CR chamber before he can be operated on to give him a new arm. And despite the solar power array we have on the Ark, our more energy consuming equipment won't be working for much longer."

"Which means the CR chambers are going to be offline for now?" Grindor asked.

Prowl was about to answer that when Teletran-1 gave an alert behind him. Prowl quickly called Optimus to the commander center as he checked the readings.

"Alert! Alert! Energon signature detected!"

"Again?" Arcee sighed. It was barely a day after that disaster of a mission and they were already heading out?

"It's raw energon, all right." Ironhide nodded, looking at the screen. "And it's on the move."

"The recent conflicts with the Decepticons show a familiar pattern." Optimus said. "The Decepticons are frequently scouting new deposits with the same urgency as us. Ironhide, Arcee, to the ground bridge."

"Prime," Prowl stopped him. "If another one of you comes back wounded while our energon levels are at a critical low…"

Optimus nodded. "I understand, Prowl. Autobots, mobilize!"

Annie watched the Autobots run out of the room and sighed. It was sad to see these powerful aliens look so desperate. She constantly forgot that Terra was such a unique planet for having natural grown energon the cybertronians could consume. Still, even with all the energon this planet produced, there was only so much that could be found at a given time. Critical injuries and powering a ship as large as the Ark was difficult, solar arrays or not, and synthetic energon took too long to make with current resources. Between this and hunting for Minicons, time was short for everyone.

'I wish I could do more than just be some glorified delivery girl.' Annie thought. 'I hate feeling helpless…"

'Then why don't you do something about it?'

XXXXXX

Optimus, Arcee, Ironhide and Wheeljack were in hot pursuit of Knockout and Barricade through a dark valley on the other side of the world in the Usean countryside. It was the middle of the night and the only source of light were their headlights, which barely helped with the poor visibility. Barricade had three energon cubes in his possession, two in his back seat and one strapped to his hood.

"Knockout, call for a ground bridge!" Barricade yelled. "These cubs are weighing me down!"

"In time, Barricade. The farther we make them chase us, the more fuel the Bots use up, and we win the energon race." Knockout said smugly. His rear view mirror tilted upwards at the sky as three jets neared their position. "Besides, here comes air support."

The Seekers flew over the valley in triangle formation, their jet engines roaring loudly as they soared overhead. In synch, they each fired their missiles at the canyon walls, blasting apart the rocks and causing a rocky avalanche that fell on the two teams. Knockout and Barricade mad it through, but the Autobots weren't going to be so lucky and were forced to pull to a stop as their path was blocked. However, Arcee sped up, changing to bipedal mode and leaping off the boulders as they fell, using them to properly herself forward. Once she made it through the rock slide, she went back to vehicle mode and drove after the Cons. On the other side, Optimus and the others saw the Seekers fly over them in pursuit of Arcee.

"Arcee, fall back!" Optimus ordered. "You're outnumbered!"

"No chance in hell!" Arcee said, pushing herself to her limits as she sped faster. "We need that energon!"

"Prowl, lock onto Arcee's location and send a ground bridge to her." Optimus said.

Arcee continued to chase after the Cons, ignoring Prowl's orders to slow down for him to lock onto her for a ground bridge. She was not one to disobey direct orders from Prime, but she couldn't afford to hold back now.

"I'm sorry, Prowl, but I'm not giving this up. Not when I'm so close!" She told him and switched her comm off.

"Don't be a fool, Arcee! Fall back, that's an order!" Prowl hissed. "Arcee!"

The Seekers locked onto Arcee and fired their laser guided missiles. Arcee swerved to avoid the projectiles as they hit all around her, but the explosions upset her balance and caused her to tip over. A missile exploded near her back wheels and sent her flying, crashing along the ground and reverting to bipedal mode as she rolled to a stop.

XXXXXX

Annie grimaced when she heard Prowl announce to Optimus that Arcee was hit, with three Cons converging on her position. At this rate, help wasn't going to arrive in time for her.

'You know what to do.' Her mind whispered. Annie touched her ring again, the crystal feeling warm and soothing to her touch. 'You know what's powerful enough to stop them. Call for it, and it shall come to you.'

Annie nodded to herself and grabbed Grindor's arm. "Come with me."

What? Whoa!" Grindor almost fell over as Annie pulled him out of the room and down the hall. "Where are we going?"

"To get my Talos, what else?" Annie explained. "I'm saving Arcee, but I also need to get something first."

When not using them, the kids stored their talos along with the Autobots' weapons in the weapons locker. Annie led Grindor over to the room and to Enyo, then made her way to the back of the room where her real weapon was being held.

The legendary hammer, Mjolnir, was once the weapon of the mighty warrior Thor, which Annie inherited during her ill-fated mission to Belka with Bulkhead and Ironhide. After Wheeljack ran extensive tests on the hammer, he sent it to storage in the weapons locker, encased in an energy field on the wall. The tiny but extravagant hammer looked as pristine and strong as the day Annie brought it to the Ark. Wheeljack discovered that it absorbed all forms of electricity, including static electricity, at all times, which was exactly what it was doing now.

Annie remembered how she was able to control it, how it moved through the air like a bullet at her command. Mjolnir permitted only her to hold it, weighing more than 10 tons in the hands of anybody else, even the Autobots. Raising her hand, she mentally called to Mjolnir and smiled when she saw it shake in response to her calling. She clenched her hand into a fist and Mjolnir violently broke free of the energy field, shooting right into Annie's hand.

She smiled as it fit snugly in her grip, energy surging from the handle into her arm and throughout her whole body. The ring started to tingle on her finger as she was energized for the coming battle and walked towards her talos.

Now she was ready to fight.

XXXXXX

Arcee coughed up dust as she sat up. That last missile strike left some burns on her legs where she was almost hit in her vehicle mode and she landed on her shoulder harder than she should've allowed. She looked up and saw the Seekers closing in on her, transforming and landed on the ground in a circle around her. Starscream smirked as he and his troops pointed their arm cannons at her.

"And so the great Arcee meets her end at my hands." Starscream boasted, ignoring Thundercracker's eye rolling. "When you meet your fellow Autobots in hell, tell them I said hi."

Starscream charged up his cannon, but at that moment, a ground bridge opened up right behind him. Something small but fast shot out of the portal and hit the back of Starscream's head, knocking him on his face. Arcee's eyes widened when she saw that it was the hammer Mjolnir, floating in mid-air as the talos Enyo flew out of the ground bridge on a cloud of sol particles.

"A human?" Skywarp said surprised.

"No," Annie smirked. "Your worst nightmare."

Annie thrust her control sticks forward and sent her talos flying forward at high speeds, pushing her back into her seat as she called upon Mjolnir to move. The hammer turned direction and shot at Skywarp, hitting him in the knee. As he fell over, she rammed her shoulder into his chest and sent him crashing into the canyon wall while Starscream got to his feet.

"Kill her, kill her!" Starscream shouted. He and Thundercracker opened fire on her, but Enyo's shoulder mounted beam cannons forced them to break apart when she shot back at them.

Gliding along the ground, Annie engaged the two Seekers in a game of chicken. Thundercracker boosted forward and tried to use his bayonet to cut her down, but she blocked the blade with her talos' arms and punched him in the chest, shattering the glass hatch over his cockpit and punching him in the face as well. Starscream charged at her from behind, but Mjolnir slammed into the back of his knee, sending him falling face first into her uppercut, smashing him to the ground.

"Didn't you learn from last time not to try that on me?" Annie taunted. Skywarp teleported behind her to shoot her in the back, but she spun around and fired her beam cannon into his chest, blasting him away. "Apparently you didn't."

Arcee watched from the sidelines as Annie completely dominated the Seekers. She piloted her talos in battle much more fluidly than before, and the power of her hammer was astounding. The Seekers were hit from all sides by that tiny hammer that packed a bigger punch than they thought and Enyo's heavy weapons were hard to fight against as well.

Starscream growled as his head was ringing from getting hit by Mjolnir. "It shouldn't be this hard to kill a human child!"

"You'd be surprised." Annie grinned viciously.

"Do you know who I am, little girl?" Starscream brought out both bayonets from his arms. "I've killed thousands of Autobots stronger than you."

"Big talk from Megatron's personal punching bag." Annie said and called Mjolnir back to her talos' hand. "Compared to Megatron and Nightshade, you're nothing special."

Starscream growled and boosted forward. Annie sidestepped him, but Starscream grabbed Enyo's head and lifted her into the air to throw her to the ground. Annie cursed and fired her beam cannons, but he dodged and tried to stab her cockpit. She flew back and swung a large fist into Starscream's face, rattling his head and sent him spinning around. Another punch to the face laid him flat out cold, collapsing to the ground with a severely damaged face leaking energon. Like the goddess of war it was named after, Enyo stood over the fallen Seeker triumphantly.

"What was that about your score card?" Annie smirked.

There was a flash of light behind her and Skywarp appeared with his cannons raised. Annie quickly spun around and fired her beam cannons, chasing him off.

"Did you really think you had me there?" Skywarp laughed. "You got a lot to learn about warfare, kid."

"You're not one to talk after I kicked your team's asses. Now shut up and take a nap!"

Mjolnir came down on Skywarp from above, slamming onto the top of his head and violently electrocuting him on contact. His screams became garbled electronic noise as hundreds of volts of electricity surged through his overloaded systems and he crumpled to the ground.

"Whoa." Arcee breathed.

Optimus and the others finally made it over the pile of rocks and ran over to their friends. They were ready to help Arcee fight off the Cons, but instead they were greeted with the odd sight of Enyo standing over the unconscious and badly beaten bodies of the Seekers. Ironhide, after a moment of silence, was the first to voice the question on the tip of everyone's tongues.

"What the hell happened here?"

XXXXXX

Prowl and Grindor stood by the ground bridge in the shuttle bay as the Autobots returned with Annie. The tactician had just gotten done reprimanding Grindor for not just letting Annie go out into the field alone, but also for using the ground bridge without authorization. He was already planning on how he was going to scold Annie as well, but he was more curious about how the battle went.

"What happened?" Prowl asked.

"We only saw the gory aftermath, but apparently little Annie here beat the living slag out of Starscream and his goons." Ironhide said.

"She was amazing, the way she moved in her Talos and took them all down so quickly, it was just unreal." Arcee praised, smiling at Annie. "How were you able to take them down like that? Even with the Enyo's firepower, it shouldn't have been that easy."

Annie climbed out of her cockpit and smiled up at the Autobots. "It was all thanks to this." She held up Mjolnir, its flawless gold shining in the Ark's lights. "Lit them up like the fourth of July."

"But I thought the hammer was put in storage in the munitions plant," Wheeljack said. "How did you get it?"

"That's what I would like to know as well." Prowl crossed his arms, giving her his usual frown.

"All I did was call to it, and it came. I'm its master now, and it answers only to me." She said proudly. "A stasis field isn't gonna stop a hammer that absorbs electricity."

"I knew we should've put it in a vault." Ironhide grumbled.

"This hammer's mine! I took what rightfully belonged to me." Annie scowled. "It's not like you guys were using it."

"Annie, you must understand that acting rashly in this war is dangerous and could get you killed." Optimus scolded her. There was already a target painted on Gina's head for killing Lugnut, the last thing he wanted was the Cons deeming the children as enemies and to be killed on sight. They were already too involved as it is. "Fighting three Seekers alone without support was reckless."

"Optimus, I know Annie shouldn't have been out there, but don't blame her. She was amazing out there and she saved my life today." Arcee said. She was impressed with Annie tonight, and she wasn't going to let anyone spoil her victory. "Please, just let her off, just this once."

Optimus didn't look pleased at letting Annie off the hook, but knew she was right. She saved one of his Autobot's lives and he was thankful for that. "Very well, I will let you off with a warning, Annie. Just think before you act next time, will you?"

"Don't worry, Optimus. I'll look before I leap." Annie smiled, swinging Mjolnir onto her shoulder.

"And we're going to have a nice, long talk about following orders, Arcee." Prowl said pointedly at Arcee.

The pink Autobot sighed. "Yippie."

Ratchet entered the room with a smile on his face, a stark contrast to his grim mood lately. "Annie, there's someone who wants to talk to you."

XXXXXX

"Bulkhead!" Annie cheered as she ran into the medibay after parking her talos in the weapons storage plant.

"Hey, Annie." Bulkhead waved her over with his one hand.

The former Wrecker was lying down on a recharge slab with Longarm looking his stump over with scanning tools for any abnormalities. Ratchet scooped Annie up and carried her over to Bulkhead with Optimus following behind. The doctor deposited her next to Bulkhead and she hugged his side.

"I'm so happy you're alright!" Annie smiled. "I was so worried like you wouldn't believe!"

"I have the best doctor in the Autobot army here, I was in good hands. I'm alright now, just not in one piece." Bulkhead said. "It'll take more than a missing arm to keep me down!"

"Stop moving, Bulkhead, before I rupture a fuel line by accident." Longarm warned him.

Annie explained in great detail what she just did, performing animated movements as she told him of her overwhelming victory over the Seekers.

"You should've seen me, Bulk!" Annie swung her hammer around, spinning and nearly falling over. "I saved Arcee and took out those three stooges with nothing but my talos and my trusty hammer. This thing is wicked!"

"I know, I saw it in action back in Belka." Bulkhead said. "But how did you-"

"She stole it from the containment cell." Ratchet said. "How, I don't know. At this point, nothing surprises me anymore."

"It's a weapon forged for a god by a god." Annie twirled Mjolnir around her finger. "Don't diss my divine swagger."

"Annie, that hammer is not a toy. It's a powerful weapon we still know little about." Optimus told her. "It's too strong for you to handle recklessly."

Annie tightened her grip on the hammer possessively, not wanting to give it up. The crystal ring began to heat up again. "Don't even think about taking it from me again! This hammer is mine. I'm the only one who can hold it!"

Ratchet sighed. "Annie…"

"Come on, just let her keep the hammer." Bulkhead said. When the others looked at her with differing levels of surprise and disapproval (mostly from Ratchet) he explained himself. "Look, she's a smart girl. I'm sure she knows better than to swing it around and cause thunderstorms everywhere. She's not that reckless, right Annie?"

"Yes," Annie nodded and held her right hand up. "I promise to never abuse the power of this hammer to control the forces of nature or smash someone's skull in without good reason."

"That's totally reassuring." Longarm muttered. Annie kicked him in the back and nearly sent him over the edge. "Hey!"

"Be nice." Ratchet scolded them.

Optimus glanced at Bulkhead, silently telling him that anything that happened to Annie was his responsibility. Bulkhead returned his gaze and nodded, showing that he understood completely.

"Annie, you may keep the hammer," He said, earning a cheer from her. "On the condition that you do not take it outside the Ark save for missions."

"I totally understand Optimus, thank you!" She squealed and hugged Mjolnir tightly.

'You see now? Show them just a little power and they will respect you more. Show them that you are just as strong as they are and they will let you fight among them. People only listen to those with power, Annie, and they'll follow a powerful warrior like a pack to an alpha. And you are the alpha."

'Yeah, I'm strong now. I'm not that helpless little girl that had to watch her friends get her because she was weak.' Annie smiled, tightening her grip on Mjolnir. 'I doubt even Megatron to take me on now.'

Annie was so caught up in her power trip that she didn't realize that the voice in her head was not her own.

XXXXXX

Darren noticed a change in Annie over the next few days. Seeing Bulkhead in better condition had lightened her spirits, and it also made her a bit more active. Being able to wield Mjolnir had empowered her, made her feel like someone who could take on the world, and that should've set Darren's mind at ease. It didn't; if anything, it made him more worried.

Being her twin, Darren knew things about Annie that not many knew. He could spot certain mannerisms, guess what she was thinking sometimes, and discern her temperament so as to avoid her on bad days and such. As such, he was able to spot certain changes in his sister.

No longer was she the excitable and loud girl she was a few days ago. Now she was something else, something darker, like a venomous snake with an unassuming appearance. She was quieter now, but still had that underlying aggressiveness just under the surface, waiting to explode should someone challenge her. In a way, it made her kind of scary…and Darren didn't like being scared of his sister.

When she was at school, she was off on her own practicing with Mjolnir, testing out its powers to see what she could do with them. indeed, she had become more skilled at using the hammer, not just to make it fly, but also summon large amounts of electricity and generating small shocks and discharges to create steady energy fields. Darren asked her once how she was able to do all this stuff, and she just explained that the hammer does what she thinks it should do. Her attacks were more precise, and watching her train was like watching a storm rumbling overhead; silent, but always hovering over you, waiting to explode.

If it wasn't that, she was taking martial arts lessons from Gina's mother, Julia. Annie was a dedicated student who learned a lot of her fighting skills from Julia even before meeting the Autobots, but now she was pushing herself with an intensity that made even a war veteran like Julia pause. The martial arts master was always happy to see her students do well in everything, but seeing her daughter's friend act like she was training to kill someone was a bit unsettling. And she wasn't the only one.

One day, while watching Annie train with Julia at the dojo, Darren, Gina and Sara sat on the side throwing around theories as to the reason behind Annie's personality change.

"Are you sure that nothing major had happened at your place?" Gina asked.

"Not that I know of," He replied and groaned. "I mean, aside from almost getting killed by Megatron, there hasn't been anything to make her act this way. I'm getting a bit scared, Gina, she isn't usually like this."

Gina patted Darren's back to comfort him. "It's probably just the shock of it all. Near death experiences are life changing, especially when they happen so suddenly like that. Maybe it's just a phase."

"Well, if it's a phase, then I hope she grows out of it soon," Darren said, watching his sister perform some katas under Julia's supervision. "Because I don't like this new Annie."

Sara just sat in silence watching Annie do her exercises with Julia out on the mats, taking the time to study Gina's mother closely. Julia was a beautiful woman in her forties who looked as strong as she was. She didn't share many features with her daughter, sporting long red hair and a strong physique gained from years of harsh training despite giving birth to a child. If one looked closely, you could see faint, pinkish scars along her arms and collarbone; leftovers from her time serving in the Osean Special Forces as a soldier, and later combat instructor.

As the humans put it, she is strong in mind and body, just like her daughter.' Sara thought. She wondered what Gina's father, Theodore Harkins, was like. Gina spoke fondly of him, but to the android's knowledge, Theo had gone on an excavation to someplace in Belka, and hasn't been heard from since. Oddly enough, Sara found herself hoping nothing bad had happened to the professor, knowing how it would affect Gina. 'Is this what empathy feels like?'

"Sara?" Gina gently shook the android's shoulder to get her attention. "Are you alright? I've been trying to get your attention for a minute."

"I am fine. I was just…thinking." Sara said. "Is something the matter?"

"We were talking about Annie's strange behavior. Did you notice anything that might've caused this change in her?" Darren asked.

Sara thought about it for a minute, but couldn't think of anything unusual. But there was one thing that could've been a possible cause…

"I have not noticed anything out of the ordinary," She told them. "But my past observations have shown that Annie did not start acting like this until she acquired that ring from Penelope Pincer."

"Ring? What ring?" Gina asked.

"She's talking about that ring Annie got from Penny's gold digging during that last retrieval mission." Darren said. "The treasure that she swiped from the golden asp. It was a crystal rose that was wrapped around the stasis panel when Penny found it."

Gina furrowed her eyebrows and looked at Sara intensely. "Sara, are you sure that Annie's behavior started with that ring?"

"Yes, I am 98.5% positive of that." Sara confirmed. Gina gave Darren a worried glance.

"Is it possible?"

"I don't know, but I'm not going to just overlook something like that because of logic." He said, looking over at Annie. She was doing windmill kicks now, and he couldn't help but wince at how strong each kick looked. "It's something worth investigating."

"Don't tell me you're going to try to take her ring. That's going to cause a lot of problems for both of you." Gina frowned, knowing how volatile Annie was these days.

"No, I'll wait until she gets back from her mission with the Autobots. This is a family affair that needs to be done behind closed doors."

Gina didn't like the sound of that. Sibling squabbles were bad enough, but spats between the twins were even worse, especially when said twins were armed with esper powers and superweapons. She hoped that they didn't get into a fight because of this. Things were tense enough as it is.

XXXXXX

Annie felt her stomach lurch a bit as she made her talos jump over a boulder while running down a rocky hill. She heard the Autobots following after her, but she paid them no mind. So long as they stayed out of her way, she would keep her mouth shut and follow Prime's lead. Mjolnir sat in a special holster compartment she had Wheeljack make for her, where it could slide in and out with ease. Once she was close enough to her destination, she stopped hard and hid behind a boulder. The Autobots did the same not too far from her.

The team was investigating another energon signal in one of Coronado's deep canyons. At this location, the Cons were already at the site, with two driller machines digging into the side of a rocky slope. The drillers were being operated by the Minicon Cannon and Knockout's assistant, Scalpel. Blackout, Barricade, and Knockout were also there acting as sentries.

"The Cons may have found a vein, but its giving off a weak pulse." Wheeljack sighed. "Whatever they found, it's barely enough to hold even the Minicons for a day."

"At least the Cons are as desperate to find energon as we are." Arcee commented.

"Do you guys always talk this much on missions?" Annie hissed. Mentally activating Mjolnir, she charged up electricity in the hammer and stepped forward. "I'm going in."

Before anyone could stop her, Annie fired a lightning bolt down at one of the unmanned drillers, blowing it up. The Cons, caught off guard, were scattered by Annie's beam cannon blasts that hit the rocky wall.

"We've got Autobots!" Barricade yelled, firing his blaster at the charging Autobots. Blackout transformed to his helicopter mode and flew up, shooting his laser cannons at the Autobots from above.

Annie leapt into the air, flying right at Blackout and smashing his tail rotor with a solid punch he was unable to avoid. He went spiraling to the ground, almost hitting Knockout in his descent as he slammed into the hard earth below. Optimus led the charge downhill, leaping at Blackout as he transformed and punching him in the face. Arcee, Prowl and Wheeljack attacked Barricade and Knockout with their weapons, igniting a firefight.

"Annie, what part of hang back was so hard to understand?" Prowl growled as he kicked Barricade in the face.

"Please, Prowl, we're not fighting soldiers here," Annie said, slamming a large fist into Knockout's face. "We're fighting cannon fodder."

Cannon and Scalpel took cover behind the driller they were operating as the fighting became more intense. When a laser bolt hit the ground next to them, Scalpel had enough of having some "fresh air" as Knockout put it.

"Ve must leave now!" Scalpel said in his sharp voice.

"We're in the middle of a battle you coward!" Cannon growled. "Decepticons don't run."

Scalpel angrily stabbed his two front legs into Cannon's shoulder and glared into his visor. "You vill do as I say or I vill tear out your T-cog and make you eat it!" He snarled. "Now move!"

Cannon gritted his teeth and started to climb the canyon wall, with Scalpel hopping onto his back like a demented living backpack. As the Mini-Cons climbed up to the top, Annie caught sight of them from her vantage point where she was holding Knockout off.

'More lambs to slaughter.' She grinned.

Cannon and Scalpel reached the top of the canyon and were running away from the battle, not caring about their larger comrades getting their afts kicked by the Autobots. The Enyo slowly rose up above the cliff and spotted their tiny forms on the ground. As if she were simply flipping a switch, Annie fired Mjolnir from her talos' wrist into the air and watched it fall back down like a meteor. It hit the ground near Scalpel and Cannon with explosive force and blasted both Cons off their feet, pelting them with debris. She glided over to them and settled Enyo on its feet, opening the cockpit hatch and climbing to the ground.

"And where do you two think you're going?" Annie asked, casually strolling up to them. She called Mjolnir back to her hand and planted her foot on Cannon's chest, keeping him on his chest. "I don't recall saying you could run from me."

"Get slagged you filthy ape!" Cannon spat.

"Filthy ape, that's a new one." She remarked. "Usually it's insect of squishy, or just the unoriginal vermin. But no one's ever called me an ape before. At least," Her voice took on a hard edge. "Not to my face."

"Here's another one. Eat this Autobitch!" Cannon looked in Scalpel's direction. "Now!"

Scalpel lunged at Annie from behind with his needle like legs pointed in her direction, poised to skewer her like a fish on a spear. But he wasn't expecting for her to quickly dodge him at such a close distance, nor was he expecting her to grab his head. With strength he knew she didn't have before, Annie slammed him into the ground and spun around, smacking Cannon in the face with Mjolnir when he tried to come at her. Energon bled from his mouth as he fell on his back again.

"Now you bozos are going to tell me what I want to know," Annie hissed as she pointed Mjolnir at them. "Where is Megatron?"

"G-get fragged." Cannon wheezed through broken teeth, spitting energon at her. All the mirth vanished from Annie's face instantly and she leaned back.

"All right," She muttered and raised Mjolnir above her head. "Let's do this the fun way."

XXXXXX

Back in the canyon, the battle was already over. The Autobots' surprise attack had taken the Decepticons by surprise and they were forced to abandon their operation. As satisfying as seeing the Cons run home with their tail between their legs was, it didn't feel as gratifying as it usually did.

"That was short and sweet." Prowl sighed and turned to Wheeljack. "So what's the verdict, Wheeljack? Did we hit pay dirt?"

"No, we're broke." Wheeljack shook his head. He did some scans on the vein the Cons found and groaned. "There isn't any more here to dig up. This is it."

Arcee huffed and kicked one of the drillers. "At least we have one of the drillers to take back home."

"YEEEAAARRGGGHHHHH!"

A horrifying scream echoed throughout the canyon, putting the Autobots on alert again. Then Optimus noticed that their human powerhouse was not with them.

"Annie!" Optimus and his Autobots wasted no time in climbing the canyon wall to where Annie's position was located. As they made it to the top, they came upon a horrifying sight.

Scalpel, the Decepticon scientist, lay in pieces on the ground, torn limb from limb with his parts scattered across the area with dried energon splattered across the rocks. His head lied at Annie's feet, his large, round eyes dark and lifeless. His last expression was one of open defiance, his last act before Annie tore him apart.

As for Cannon, he was still alive, but he was only marginally in better shape than Scalpel. His arms were ripped clean from his torso, and his legs were mangled. His chest was caved in and twitching violently. Annie stood over him, delivering strong electrical jolts into his body with Mjolnir. Miraculously, he was still alive and conscious, but just barely.

"T-that's all I know," He cried, his voice sounding like he was suffocating. "P-please, stop…"

"Now was that so hard?" Annie smiled, her eyes glinting with madness. "As compensation for your help, you get to escape your pain. I'm sure your god will be more accommodating to you than I was."

She raised her hammer in the air, about to bring it down on his head, when Prowl's voice stopped her.

"Annie!" He yelled, running over to her with the other Bots. "What the hell are you doing?"

She growled and glared up at him. "Getting results, what do you think I'm doing?"

"Annie, if you want to fight alongside us, then you must adhere to our rules," Optimus said, his gaze hard as he lectured her. "Torture and murder are now how we operate in the field. Autobots do not inflict harm unless all other options are exhausted. It is what separates us from the Decepticons."

"Oh please, is this really the time for another noble speech Optimus?" Annie sneered, her expression taking on a vicious visage. "You didn't happen to learn the location of Megatron's current location, did you? Well I did! And you happen to know where there's a stockpile of raw energon ripe for the taking? I do!"

"Come on, Annie. Calm down." Arcee tried to approach the girl, but she was rebuffed hard.

"Calm? Calm is the last thing we need! Calm is what's prolonging this damn war of yours!" She snarled at them. "The Cons have you all running in circles, chasing after their crumbs, when what we really need to do is hit them hard and fast right where it hurts!"

"A direct assault on the Decepticons is too risky, Annie, and will provoke fierce retaliation." Optimus said. "I will not endanger innocent human lives in a battle that didn't need to be fought."

"But you have no problem endangering mine, or Darren, or Gina! Or your fellow Autobots either, just ask Bulkhead. Oh wait, he's still recovering from a blow dealt by your biggest mistake!"

"That is enough Annie!" Prowl shouted, moving to stand above her to cow her into submission. "You are out of line."

"You're one to talk. I can imagine that you have enough skeletons in your closet to fill a graveyard! Heaven knows how much shit you've done that Prime's turns the other cheek to." She said and gave Optimus a glare so full of scorn that he thought he was staring into Nightshade's eyes. "You know, Prime. For a big, strong bot, you're soft. I bet you've had plenty of chances to kill Megatron and you took none of them. How many of your soldiers died because you couldn't work up the nerve to be a warrior!"

Everyone was silent at the harsh lashing Annie gave Optimus. No one spoke to him like that, even when they were angry with him. Even Prowl, who was usually critical of Prime's decisions, was speechless at how this conversation went and looked at Optimus to see how he would react. The Prime didn't look visible upset, but when he spoke, his voice held a hard edge to it that made even Prowl shiver a bit.

"Annie, you are returning to the Ark, where you will remain for the time being." Optimus said. It wasn't a request, it was an order. "You are not working with a clear mind for sound judgment."

Annie stared at him, then at the other Autobots. She saw their judging stares, along with the pity and apprehension that only made her angrier. She felt the ring get hotter, like it was being held over a fire. Annie took a deep, shaky breath.

"Fine." She said. Annie walked back to her talos and climbed back into the cockpit. She closed the hatch and had it stand up, making sure to stomp over Scalpel's remains.

"Teletran, we need a ground bridge." Prowl requested.

The ground bridge appeared before them and the Autobots let Annie walk through first, disappearing into the portal. Wheeljack sighed, glad that the drama was over, and walked towards the ground bridge, only to be rammed into by the Enyo and sent crashing into Optimus. The Enyo lifted into the air and flew away on a cloud of sol particles before the Autobots could stop her.

"Annie!" Arcee exclaimed.

XXXXXX

Ratchet was surprised at how fast Prime's team ran into the command center with looks of urgency and concern on their faces. Darren and Gina also noticed that Annie wasn't with them.

"What happened?" Ratchet asked. "Did something happen?"

"Where's Annie?" Darren asked.

"Annie just killed one of the Cons and bailed on us to go after Megatron." Arcee said.

Darren felt his heart stop. "She did what?"

"Ratchet, have Teletran track Annie's position." Optimus ordered, but the doctor was already working on it before Prime even finished his sentence.

"I…I can't locate her talos' signal!" Ratchet exclaimed.

"The sol particles the Apollo drive generates negate most forms of radar waves. She's invisible to long range detection systems." Sara explained.

"Do you have a way to track her, Sara." Darren asked. "Please, Annie could be in great danger."

Sara paused for a moment at the fear in Darren's eyes, but she recovered and said, "Y-Yes, I can. I can alter the computer to track the emission of sol particles, but it will take some time."

She jumped onto the terminal and extended a cord from the back of her neck to plug herself into the console. An onslaught of information flooded her cybernetic brain, but she held strong and focused.

"When Sara pinpoints Annie's location, we must be ready to mobilize at once. Ratchet, have any Autobots not on a mission head to the ground bridge on standby." Optimus said and turned to Darren and Gina. "That includes you as well. You two are the fastest on this team aside from Skyfire and can reach her faster."

"You can count on us, Optimus." Gina said, placing a hand on Darren's shoulder. "Come on, Darren, we need to get to our talos."

Darren nodded and followed her out of the room, praying that Annie wasn't hurt. 'Please don't let anything happen to her.'

XXXXXX

The designated C-32 energon mine was probably the largest mine found yet on the planet. Starscream stumbled on this location in the middle of a mountain range in northwest Osea with Blackout. The amount of raw energon there was are enough to keep them satiated for months in advance, and they still had yet to completely excavate all the energon. But on a long term scale, if they didn't find another mine like this soon, they would be right back to square one.

Megatron had most of the Decepticons harvesting the energon crystals in hollowed out tunnels with automated drillers doing the heavy lifting. Nightshade and Starscream were scouting for energon mines in Emmeria and the Minicons were at the Island keeping an eye on things. Everyone was hard at work today, and Megatron was not going to have it any other way.

"Come on, Barricade." Skywarp pleaded. "Just do me a solid."

"No," Barricade growled, at his wits end with Skywarp's constant whining. "I have better things to do than play games with you."

"It's not a game, it's a test. This is a matter of honor, Barricade!" Skywarp insisted. "I'm not going to let Knockout's comment slide like that, and I want to prove to him that I'm faster than you without my powers!"

"It's your fault for being dumb enough to be goaded by Knockout in the first place." Barricade said. He noticed someone walking towards them. "Hmm?"

A large shadow stood in the entrance to the cave, and all they could see were a pair of glowing red eyes before they were hit with a bright flash of light.

Meanwhile, Megatron was grilling Knockout on lack of progress following his recent retreat from the Autobots. They had to be on top of locating new energon deposits, but so far, Knockout wasn't doing very well in that regard.

"You call yourself a scientist?" Megatron growled at Knockout. "You were supposed to have located a fresh energon source by now!"

"M-My apologies, Lord Megatron," Knockout stammered, backing up a bit. "We've ran into a few complications involving the Autobots' new heavy hitter."

"Oh?" Megatron raised an optic ridge at that. "And who might that be?"

His answer came in the form of a beaten and badly burned Barricade, who was thrown to the ground at his feet. Megatron and Knockout looked up to see Enyo standing in the shadows, dragging Skywarp's motionless body behind him. Mjolnir crackled with energy in its sheath.

"This is what you're afraid of?" Megatron said scathingly. "It's merely Prime's human pet."

"No, Megatron," Annie hissed, dropping Skywarp's body. "I'm your executioner!"

She boosted forward and slammed her talos' fist into Megatron's face. Mjolnir discharged a burst of electricity around Enyo's hand, putting more power into the punch. Megatron actually flew back into the tunnel wall, much to Knockout's shock. Megatron glared at her and rubbed his jaw, glancing down to see that his lip was bleeding. He also felt a little jolt from the electrified punch, but it wasn't too serious.

"Well then…" Megatron said and stood up. Annie thought he was going to fire his fusion cannon, but to her surprise, he popped it off his arm and let it fall to the ground. He raised his fists and got into a fighting stance. "We'll do this the old fashioned way."

Megatron lunged forward and attacked with an uppercut with astounding speed. Annie barely dodged the uppercut and moved Enyo's leg to kick him in the chest. Megatron grunted and skidded back a bit, but held his ground and tried to grab her. She glided back and tried to hit him with Mjolnir again, but the Decepticon leader avoided most of her punches, batting away Enyo's fists like he was play fighting with a toddler. Annie quickly got annoyed with how he was treating this, wanting him to get serious.

"Stop running and fight like a man!" She shouted at him.

Megatron smirked. It never occurred to her that he wasn't running, but instead he was just getting her to use up her energy in trying to hit him so that she'd be easy prey for him later. To think that her species were the most intelligent beings on this planet. "I am no man, human. I am Megatron!"

Megatron leapt up and spin kicked Enyo in the side, rattling Annie in the cockpit as her talos crashed into the side of the tunnel. Seeing Megatron charging at her, she instinctively fired one of her beam cannons, hitting Megatron in the chest and blasting him back. She rushed forward and slammed into him, using her talos' weight to pin him to the ground.

"Die!" Annie reared back for a punch and brought her fist down as hard as she could, but Megatron caught Enyo's fist and punched it in the chest, once again violently rattling the cockpit and kicking the talos off him. "Shit!"

Annie tried to regain her balance, but was caught off guard when she saw Megatron's fist shooting at her. Stomping on the left pedal to go in reverse, she barely avoided the uppercut that nearly took her mecha's head off, but she tripped and fell onto her side. Now Annie was starting to panic, jerking her control sticks to bring herself back up…only to see Megatron's red eyes staring at her through the monitor.

She screamed and her talos fell back as Megatron let out a thunderous roar and threw a punch at her. Pressing down hard on the foot pedals, Annie was able to get her talos to dodge the punch and jump back to her feet. The punch itself was so strong that Annie swore she saw the air shift from the sheer force put into it.

For the next few minutes, Annie was forced on the defensive as Megatron came at her with a barrage of lightning fast punches that she could barely see, let alone dodge. Her eyes hurt, her arms burned from the strain of moving her heavy talos and her heart was beating a mile a minute. When Megatron pulled his arm back for another punch, Annie threw her arm forward and slammed Enyo's fist into his jaw, nearly dislocating it. But instead of staggering him, Megatron recovered and turned his body into hers, teeth grinding along Enyo's forearm as he swung his fist into Enyo's chest. Annie was just fast enough to move her mecha's right arm to protect the cockpit as the large fist hit Enyo like a wrecking ball.

His blow sent the Enyo flying back nearly twenty feet before it crashed against the wall again. Megatron spat out a glob of energon and charged at her. Annie managed to get her talos out of the way just as Megatron tried to knee her in the sensory head, shattering a chunk of the stone wall instead. She ran a good distance away from him and spun around to fight him once more. Inside the cockpit, Annie's hands were shaking uncontrollably, her breaths short and labored, sweat pouring down her face. Annie knew that she was in for a difficult fight, but this was…impossible!

Megatron slowly turned to face her, energon bleeding from his mouth. Her punch had knocked out some of his teeth, but he paid it no mind as his red eyes glared heatedly at her. Annie swallowed her fear and pulled off her suffocating helmet to get some fresh air. She willed Mjolnir to start charging up another lightning bolt. One that she was sure was going to drop the Decepticon warlord for good. Then she saw Megatron smirk.

"What's so funny?" She demanded.

"Stupid girl," Megatron said. "You should know better than to fight an enemy alone."

This pause in the fight was her downfall. A powerful kick from the spymaster Soundwave took Enyo's head clean off its shoulders, knocking the talos over. Soundwave kicked it again in the back and slammed the talos to the ground. Annie was knocked forward and hit her head on the control panel, cutting her forehead open.

Megatron and Soundwave stood over the robot. Soundwave inquired Megatron about his wounds, but he waved him off, more interested in the hammer the talos used to attack him. This was definitely not cybertronian technology, and it wasn't of human origin either. Perhaps some further study was required to uncover its origins.

"Soundwave, we're returning to the Nemesis to get this treated." Megatron rubbed his bleeding jaw and looked at Knockout. "Knockout, you have your test subject. See what makes this machine, and its pilot, tick."

Knockout grinned. "With please, my lord."

XXXXXX

At the same time the battle between Annie and Megatron ended, an alert popped up on Teletran-1's screen. Sara's eyes lit up and she said, "I've found her! Sending her coordinates now!"

"Thank you, Sara. Teletran, activate the ground bridge!" Optimus turned to his assembled team and said, "Autobots, transform and roll out!"

The Autobots, Darren and Gina entered the portal at full speed. After a few seconds they emerged inside a large cavern full of energon crystals. Already the Autobots and fighting the Decepticons and laser blasts flew everywhere, hitting some exposed crystals and causing them to explode. Darren forced a shield around himself and Gina as he looked for Annie.

"Darren, I've found Annie's location!" Gina said.

"Then let's go!"

XXXXXX

Annie jerked her controls, trying to move her talos, but her Enyo wasn't responding. "Come on, move damn you!"

Blood ran into her eye, making it sting and angering her further. Without her head, she was blind and the damage she suffered from the surprise attack left her defenseless. She didn't have time to wait for the secondary cameras to start up. She needed to act now before Knockout had her on his dissection table.

"That was a reckless thing to do, little girl." Knockout remarked as he knelt down over the fallen talos. "Word to the wise, unless your name is Optimus Prime, don't take Megatron on alone. Stronger people have tried and got slagged."

"But they weren't me!" Annie pulled hard on the emergency lever next to her seat and the cockpit hatch popped open. Annie jumped out and rolled onto the ground while calling Mjolnir to her. The hammer flew into her grip and she fired a bolt into Knockout's chest, making him jump back in pain.

"That hurt you little brat!" He growled. Glancing down at the black scorch mark on his chest, he gasped in horror. "My armor! I just had that polished! I'll tear out your innards for that!"

Knockout changed his right arm into a saw and was about to attack when two more talos flew into the cave. The Prometheus landed in front of Annie and Darren summoned the boulders around Knockout to slam into him. Knockout tried to attack, but Gina rushed in and began shooting at him with her beam pistols, blasting off chunks of his armor with each blast. Stumbling back, he figured one girl wasn't worth getting his entire paint scheme ripped apart and transformed to vehicle mode before racing back down the tunnel.

With the threat gone, Darren hopped out of his cockpit and ran over to his sister. Gasping at the head wound she got, he went to check on her injury, but had his hands smacked aside.

"Don't touch me!" She yelled.

"Annie, are you okay?" Centurion jumped off Athena's shoulder and ran up to her with Gina.

"Do I look okay? I got my ass handed to me by not just Megatron, but also Soundwave, and now my fucking talos is trashed!" Annie kicked Enyo's leg. "I could've had that bastard if Soundwave hadn't blindsided me."

"You shouldn't have been here in the first place. You could've been killed, Annie!" Gina said. Annie ignored her and tried to walk away, but Gina stepped in front of her. "Don't walk away, Annie. You're not running away from this…from us."

"I never run. Not from you, or anything this world can throw at me." Annie said. "You guys came here to save me, and you did. Now leave me alone and let me wallow in my self-pity."

The fight had left her voice at that moment and Darren could see the exhaustion setting in. She pushed past Gina and walked back to her talos, not even sparing the Autobots a glance as she walked past them.

XXXXXX

If there was one thing Bulkhead hated more than Scraplets, it was being kept out of the loop. He spent almost a week in the med bay having Ratchet and Longarm work on his regenerating arm. They kept him confined to his recharge slab until both the arm and his armor had grown back and was fully functional once the new limb had acclimated to his body.

Constructing an arm from scratch was a hard process, as the medic had to get every joint, every servo, in place or else it wouldn't grow back right. Hence why reconstruction surgery was best left to professionals, and Ratchet was the best of his, or any, generation. He was glad that he was finally able to walk around again, but that relief changed to worry when Ratchet told him about Annie's misadventure involving Megatron.

"I can't believe she did that." Bulkhead muttered as Ratchet checked his arm over. "I'm all for slagging buckethead, but I would never fight him alone."

"Well Annie seems to have taken a leave of her senses lately." Ratchet said. He had Bulkhead make a fist and checked his arm's motor functions. "Even Optimus is at his wits end with her."

"At least we secured an entire energon mine." Longarm added. "We've got an entire stockpile of energon left behind by the Cons after we swooped in and chased them out. Got to thank her for that."

"Where is she now?" He asked.

"At home with Darren and their guardians. Optimus decided to save the lecture and sent her home." The good doctor answered and leaned back, giving Bulkhead the all clear. "She didn't look good. Though no words were said, it's obvious that she's grounded for now."

no words were said, it's obvious that she's grounded for now."

"I need to talk to see." Bulkhead hooped off the berth. "She might listen to me. Maybe I can see what's going on with her."

"Not right now you aren't." Ratchet held Bulkhead back. "She needs space right now. Annie went through a lot, and she needs to be away from our world right now. You can speak with her when she comes over tomorrow."

"But-"

"Annie isn't going to get better overnight and seeing you won't change anything. Just let her rest and recover."

Bulkhead sighed and nodded sadly. Ratchet patted his shoulder and sent him to his quarters. As he did so, his thoughts were plagued by Annie.

Bulkhead liked her. She was strong, outgoing and not afraid to get rough, a lot like him. In fact, she was a bit too much like him. Bulkhead remembered how he was like her back when he joined the Wreckers. He was so full of anger at seeing his home, a small town near Nova Cronum, get ravaged by a Decepticon raid that he wanted to kill everyone who wore a Decepticon badge. He felt helpless at saving his home, and he wanted to hide that pain, that vulnerability, under a layer of bravado and strength so that he wouldn't go through that again. He was thankful that Kup had broken him from that line of thinking, or else he would've gotten himself killed trying to be a hero. Annie did the same thing today, and he was scared at how far she was willing to go to get rid of this inferiority complex.

He reached his quarters and walked inside, falling onto his recharge slab and forced himself to fall asleep. He was going to see Annie tomorrow, and see what was going on with her. Something wasn't right, and he was going to find out.

XXXXXX

The next day was another rainy, gloomy school day, which seemed to match Annie's mood. Aside from a few thunderous rumbles and a light drizzle, it didn't rain too much, but it was clear that a really bad storm was on the way.

Annie's appearance and mood seemed to get worse as the day went on. She walked through the halls looking more like a pale zombie than a spry young girl she usually was. Even the bullies Fred and Billy gave her a wide berth, not wanting to confrontational with her. It was probably best that they didn't start something with the odd looking girl.

The change in her seemed to have happened overnight. Her skin was paler than before, like she hadn't seen the sun in 13 years, but it wasn't a sickly white. Instead, it was as if her skin had become as smooth and pale as marble, flawless of any abnormalities that kids her age often had. Her hair was straighter, glossier than she would've had it. There was a bit of a red tint to her lips, like lipstick, and it contrasted with her pale skin and black hair. Coupled with her dark expression, it made her seem like someone had sucked all the life out of her and came out looking like a gothic-style doll.

"Annie just tell me what's wrong." Darren said as he tried to keep up with her after their English class. "You barely slept last night and you didn't eat breakfast this morning. If you're still not feeling well from yesterday…"

"Leave me alone." Annie didn't even try to talk to her brother as she walked away from him. Darren shivered, her voice was cool, lacking any of the heat it had yesterday. She was getting worse.

In her history class, Annie sat by the window listening to Ms. Masters drone on about some ancient queen she didn't give a damn about. The window was open, and a cold breeze drifted inside, hitting her bare arms, but she didn't mind. The cold air kept her awake. The last thing she needed was taking shit from the teacher for sleeping in class.

"Queen Jezebel was the wife of King Ahab of Bagdad. She was a peculiar woman with peculiar habits. One of those habits was forcing her husband and royal court to worship stone idols, gods who had a startling similarity to our modern day religions. Anyone who did otherwise were persecuted and either imprisoned or killed for their defiance." Ms. Master explained. "She ruled alongside her husband for 47 years before he died and continued to exert her influence with two more kings before Bagdad was destroyed in a coup. Legend has it that for her cruel ways, she ways, she was thrown from the castle wall, trample by horses and eaten by dogs. Not a fun way to go out."

Mandy, who was sitting just a few seats away from Annie, raised her hand. When she was called upon, she asked, "Was Jezebel pretty?"

'For fucks sake.' Annie groaned internally. Could she be any more useless?

"Very," The teacher confirmed. "Jezebel was known for her beauty, but she was also known for her rather…odd interests. Aside from worshipping the idol who we know as Jubileus, Jezebel also had a strong fascination with roses. Paintings, carvings, jewelry, all had a rose motif that appeased her general obsession with the flower. No one knows why she loves roses so much, even back then, but we can only assume that it was because of her deteriorating sanity."

As she continued to talk about the fallen queen, Annie felt her ring warming up again and rubbed it to sooth the itching sensation on her finger. She felt someone staring at her and looked up to see Mandy and one of her friends sneaking glances at her, snickering.

'Look at them, acting like they're better than you because they're pretty. They'd go insane if went through what you've experienced. You're strong than them, and that makes you a threat to them in their eyes.' Her mind said. 'They have nothing but looks to rely on, and they think that they're beautiful, but they're not. You are. Your strength and power makes you beautiful, and they have nothing on that.'

'Shut up inner me.' Annie thought, running a hand through her hair, trying to mess it up only for it to return to normal.

'Wouldn't it feel good just to slit their throats? Watch them slowly bleed out at your feet, begging for help after they acted so high and mighty? It'd be so easy, no one would bat an eyelash at their deaths. They're nothing compared to you!'

'I said shut up!'

"Annie?"

"Huh?" Annie returned to reality, where she saw a concerned Ms. Master standing over her.

"It's time for lunch, Annie. You can go now." She said.

"Oh, sorry." Annie stood up and grabbed her bag, running out of the classroom.

She stumbled her way through the hall, pushing people out of the way as she went to the bathroom. Annie dumped her bag on the floor and washed her face in ice cold water to clear her head. Taking a deep breath, she looked at herself in the mirror and didn't like the face looking back at her. It wasn't her face. It couldn't be.

"What's wrong with me?" She whispered. This was scaring her.

'You're becoming perfect,' The Voice said. 'Just like me. Soon you'll not only be powerful, but beautiful to.'

"Who are you? I know you're not me, so who are you!" Annie screamed at the mirror. Her emerald green eyes had a red tint to them that was barely visible.

'But dear, I am you. I am what you could be. What you should be.'

"Ugh, really Annabelle? Talking to yourself in the mirror? Even I'm not that self-absorbed." Mandy and her posse showed up in the bathroom, looking at Annie like they would a wild animal.

"Leave me alone." Annie growle, clutching the sink so hard the skin over her knuckles turned white.

"Not until you beat it." One of Mandy's lackies spat. "We don't want you around us, so beat it you dyke."

Annie's head snapped to her left so fast she heard her neck snap. "What did you call me?"

The girls took a step back after seeing the murderous glare on Annie's face, but Mandy just took it in stride. "She called you a dyke. That's what you are, right? Everyone knows you bat for the other team. Not much of a surprise, seeing as you act too much of a guy to have boys like you."

"At least I don't have to spread my legs just to get a guy to look at me. Child prostitution is illegal in this country in case you haven't noticed." Annie replied coldly. "Guess you take after your mother."

"My mother was a good woman who was killed by those freaks people like you and your brother seem to worship on a daily basis!" Mandy snarled, her charming façade crumbling as she got into Annie's face. "At least my mother wasn't dumb enough to commit suicide."

Annie's grip on the sink caused the porcelain to crack.

"What, got nothing to say this time?" Mandy smirked. "I see your big sister's been taking care of you and your loser brother by herself. It must've been really hard. I wonder if she's been taking side jobs to take care of your money problems. A pretty girl like her is just perfect for moonlighting as a backstreet-"

Annie punched Mandy square in the nose, hearing a satisfying crunch as his knuckles broke bone and cut skin, drawing blood. The brunette fell onto her back and Annie jumped on top of her, pummeling her face with punches and grabbing at her hair. The ring she sore left bloody cuts along Mandy's pretty features, hurting more and more as it pummeled her face.

"Stop it, stop it!" Mandy cried, but Annie showed her no mercy.

'That's it, show her your dominance! Make her pay! Teach her what happens when she tests the patience of a true predator!"

As more blood covered the crystal rose, its lavender hue slowly turned red to emulate the same flower it was modeled after.

XXXXXX

Annie's explosion at school got her a week-long suspension, with Mandy being sent to the hospital unconscious and possibly needing stitches. She would be okay, but the girl would definitely have some scars for life. Darren took Annie home himself, with the Minicons quietly following in tow. Annie thankfully didn't make much of a fuss along the way and stayed quiet, still covered in Mandy's blood. Upon getting the news, Debbie came straight home and that's when the trouble began.

Almost a half hour after Debbie returned home, Darren sat in his father's reclining chair watching his sisters go at it with each other. He had High Wire and Grindor wait upstairs to give the family some private time, not that it could even be called that given how loud the girls were shouting.

"I can't believe you, Annie. I thought you had more control than this." Debbie said, pacing angrily in front of her sister. "You're lucky Mandy's aunt isn't pressing charges for medical bills after you tore the girl's face up."

"She was asking for it! Insulting our mother, calling you a whore, I'm just doing what others were too scared to do, teach her a lesson!" Annie yelled.

"That doesn't excuse your actions. You can't just punch everyone who makes you mad."

"Whatever." Annie said and stood up. "I'm grounded anyway, so what does it matter? Darren let's go."

"You're not going to the Ark, Annie." Debbie said sternly. "And neither are you, Darren."

"What?" Darren gaped at her. "What did I do?"

"I let you two stay with the Autobots because I thought they could protect you, keep you safe from those Decepticons. But now I hear that you're piloting talos into battle and fighting them? Not to mention Annie almost got killed fighting Megatron of all people!"

"But it wasn't the Autobots' fault!" Annie said.

"It doesn't matter, Annie." Debbie said. "You're kids, you should be worrying about grades, puberty, weekend plans, not fighting for your life every day in a war that has nothing to do with our planet."

"Debbie, the Bots and Minicons have been keeping us safe before you even had a clue about all this." Darren said, not letting this go. "You can't just run from this. The Cons will attack us now, Autobots or no Autobots."

"I'm not arguing with you on this, Darren. Neither of you are going back to them and that's final." She said sternly and sighed. "I'm sorry guys, but I just want to keep you safe."

"Keep us safe? That's a laugh!" Annie said scathingly. The sheer scorn in her voice made Debbie take a step back in shock. "You protect us? This is no different from how you supposedly protect Darren."

"What are you talking about?" Debbie asked.

Annie stomped towards Debbie until she was staring her right into her eyes. "You think I wouldn't notice. That I wouldn't catch how you would use underhanded fear tactics to scare him into not using his powers, or even practicing with them? You have some nerve using the Friends of Humanity as some kind of imaginary boogeyman to cull him into listening to you, making him into a coward who's afraid of himself, who hates what he is!"

"I've never done that to Darren and you know that. I told him not to use his powers because this country isn't safe for espers anymore." Debbie replied, but Annie wasn't having it.

"Don't give me that shit! Anyone who does that and has the balls to call it helping us has no right to call themselves my family!"

Debbie looked heartbroken at that. "Annie…"

Annie turned and walked away, but Darren grabbed her arm. "That was too far, Annie. You didn't have to say that."

"Let go of me, Darren…" Annie said, not looking at him.

"No, I won't let go. You've been acting strange ever since you started wearing that ring, and now it's turning you into some kind of monster. Please, Annie, you wouldn't be saying all these things if you weren't wearing-"

"I SAID LET GO!"

Annie's left hand ripped free from Darren's grip and backhanded him across the face. Debbie gasped as Darren fell back, holding his hand over a deep gash in his left cheek. Blood leaked from the cut as he looked at Annie in surprise. Even Annie was horrified by what she did.

Tears falling, Annie turned and ran up the stairs, pushing past High Wire and Grindor, who were listening in on the fight, and ran into her room, slamming her door shut. Grindor tried to go after her, but High Wire stopped him.

"Let her be alone for a while. She just needs some space." He said. "You can bunk with Darren and me until she's doing better."

Grindor just nodded and sulked against the door. He hated himself for not keeping his friend happy. Fighting Cons was one thing, emotions were a different matter entirely.

XXXXXX

"How are you feeling Bulk?" Wheeljack asked as he strolled into the rec room.

"Like new," Bulkhead said, flexing his new arm. He threw a couple of punches and was glad to find that it wasn't as stiff as he thought it would be. "Feels a bit weird though."

"Your neurocircuits still need some time to properly align first, so it still might feel a bit out of place." Ratchet said. "Don't do anything strenuous until then."

"Got it doc."

"Bulkhead!" Bumblebee ran into the room, looking like he just saw Megatron himself in the Ark. "Bulkhead, we've got an emergency!"

"What is it, Bee? Cons?" Bulkhead asked.

"N-No, it's Annie. Darren just called us and he said she's gone missing!"

Bulkhead's eyes widened. "What?!"

Minutes later, Bulkhead was in the command center with Optimus and Prowl, who also just got the news.

"According to Darren, she was gone when they woke up this morning. Grindor was locked out of her room, so he doesn't know what happened to her." Prowl explained. "There weren't any signs of a struggle or kidnapping. She went on her own."

"W-Why would she do that?" Bulkhead was trying hard not to panic, but he was failing at that.

"She got into a fight with Darren and Debbie and didn't come out of her room for the entire evening and all night. We think she might've run away just for spite, but-"

Bulkhead cut Prowl off. "Who cares about the why? Just tell me where!"

"If she had one of Roll Bar's auto-trackers, we could've found her with Teletran-1." Prowl said.

"But she didn't take her watch." Optimus said grimly. "We already have teams our looking for her, and Darren requested that you help him search the forests around Tranquility."

"I'll be right there, Optimus. Just bridge me to him and-"

There was a loud bang down the hall, followed by a chain of curses from Skyfire. The three Autobots ran into the hall to see what happened and saw Liftor running toward them.

"It's Mjolnir," He stammered. "It just flew out of here! Right out of the room and smashed through the landing hatch in the shuttle bay like it was nothing."

Optimus narrowed his eyes and looked hard at Bulkhead. "Go!"

XXXXXX

Darren tried to remain calm as he searched the skies above Tranquility within his talos, the Prometheus. Bulkhead drove through the streets of the town's outskirts with Centurion and Sara (who was ordered by Gina to assist Darren in the search in her place) in his vehicle mode. Debbie was out with Arcee and Jazz looking on the other side of town, but had no luck. Their only lead was Mjolnir, the only possible way they were going to find Annie.

"Do you have a visual on Mjolnir, Darren?" Bulkhead asked over the comm.

"Nothing yet, Bulkhead." He replied, keeping his eyes peeled. "Come on, where is it?"

"The hammer is flying all the way from the Ark two states away, Darren. And it doesn't exactly move at mach 2 speed." Centurion told him. "We just have to be vigilant."

"I know, it's just…if I had approached Annie sooner, maybe all this could've been avoided. She's been on a downward slope and I didn't do a damn thing!" He gritted his teeth.

"Worrying about the past is pointless." Sara said. "Let's focus on the mission so we can bring her back safely."

Yeah…thanks, Sara." Darren said. He got an alert on his radar panel and saw a green blip moving close to the city. "I got a fix on it!"

"Then guide us, Darren. Point me in the right direction and I'll follow ya." Bulkhead increased his speed and drove out of the city.

Darren flew under the tree line as he entered the forest, following the trail of the powerful hammer. Bulkhead drove on the road leading out of the town and they both saw the glint of the golden hammer flying through the trees. Darren maneuvered his talos to follow it, trying not to get caught in the thick wall of branches in front of him. Bulkhead raced after him, but insisted that Darren shouldn't hang back for them. After a few minutes of following the hammer, Darren realized something and stopped, landing Prometheus on the ground.

"Bulkhead, hold up." He said, looking around.

"Hold up? We need to follow that hammer or we're going to lose it!" Bulkhead exclaimed but Darren didn't budge.

"Something's not right. We should've run into Annie by now." Darren observed. He took out his beam rifle and put his Prometheus into combat mode. "I just realized that Annie can't control Mjolnir from a far distance away. She can only do it if it's in her line of sight or if she knows it's close by."

Bulkhead let Centurion and Sara out before changing to bipedal mode and converting his hand into its blaster mode. "So…you think we're walking into a trap?"

"I'd say we're already in the trap." Darren said.

Sara suddenly tensed up and grabbed Centurion's hand before dragging him back just as a field of black lightning appeared around Bulkhead and Darren. The Autobot cried out and fell to his knees while the Prometheus suffered a major systems failure and fell back into a tree. Darren grunted in pain as he felt the electrical jolt in his cockpit, but wasn't seriously harmed. His talos was another story.

"No, no, no!" Darren tried to move his machine but it was completely dead. He used to emergency lever to open the hatch and jumped down to run over to bulkhead. "Bulkhead, you alright?"

"I'll be fine when I learn what hit us." Bulkhead groaned.

"I believe that was the trap." Sara said. Darren glared at her, but held back any scathing remarks.

"Come out here you coward! We know you're here!" Bulkhead roared and slammed his fists together. "I'm not in the mood for your slag and let's get this started already!"

Just as he called out his challenge, a pale hand emerged from the ground and punched Bulkhead in the chest. He crashing to the ground and rolled to his feet. Sara acted quickly, picking up Darren and jumping back as a large form pulled itself from the dirt and foliage like a deformed plant. Centurion readied his beam saber for battle.

The creature that emerged looked like a mix between a human and a planet, specifically a rose. From the shoulders down, was an armless humanoid body that sat on its knees crawling across the ground. Where it's head should be were five plant stalks that each ended in a rose. From the buds of those roses were body parts, hands, an ear, a mouth and finally the head, which was a woman's face with short black hair and pitch black eyes with a smooth sheet of skin where her mouth would be. The head extension looked down at her prey with mirth.

"It feels so good to be alive again," She said, her mouth talking and waving around in the air, but her head stayed in place as she stared down at them. "It took you long enough to find me. I thought I was going to have to lure you here myself."

"Who the hell are you?" Bulkhead said, looking the creature over. "What are you?"

"I am Jezebel, queen of Bagdad and a goddess among men. Show your queen the respect she deserves, peasants, or I'll get really ugly."

"I don't care if you're Gaia herself, I came here for one reason and one reason only, and that's my sister!" Darren growled at the creature. "Now where is she?"

"Ah, the girl…she belongs to me now." Jezebel's mouth grinned, revealing a mouth full of dagger-like teeth. "Such anger, such inner turmoil, truly she's a rarity among today's youth. Why, she reminds me of myself at that age."

She waved a hand, and a rose sprouted from the ground. The flower petals opened up to reveal Annie sitting in the rose bud, but she didn't look like the girl they knew. Annie's skin was deathly white, and her eyes were black as night, with blood red pupils. Bandages wrapped tightly around her lithe body from her shoulders to her feet, covering her arms to her elbows and encasing her legs up to her thighs, though parts of her body were left exposed to show off her marble white skin. The crystal ring still sat on her finger, but it was pulsating like a heart.

"Annie," Darren gasped. "What the hell did you do to her?"

"I simply gave her what she wanted…power." Jezebel said, reaching over to caress Annie's body like a priceless doll. "She looks entrancing, doesn't she? Your sister is now beautiful in every way possible. This is her calling."

"Give her back!" Darren ran forward, telekinetically ripping up the ground to throw shards of wood and dirt at Jezebel. She snapped her fingers and black lances of energy tore apart the projectiles before shooting at Darren, who jumped back to avoid them.

"Darren, I do not advise fighting her with your current lack of armaments." Sara said.

"Such poor manners, it seems you need to be taught a lesson in how to treat royalty." Jezebel looked down at Annie. "Annie, teach your brother how to act properly before a lady."

Annie wordless ran forward and charged at her brother, moving at speeds that neared superhuman. Darren quickly threw up a telekinetic barrier to block a punch, but he felt his whole body get pushed back as Annie continued her charge. The ground trembled as the twins flew back into the forest, crashing through a couple of tress in the process. Sara ran after them, leaving Bulkhead and Centurion to face Jezebel.

"Now that kids are away," She grinned. "Shall we play?"

"You're going down, tulip lady!" Bulkhead fired his blaster at her head, but they only hit a barrier surrounding Jezebel's body.

Jezebel laughed and swiped her hand, shooting multiple black energy bolts at the cybertronians. Bulkhead and Centurion jumped apart as the bolts tore apart the ground and blasted apart the trees and they charged at her from different angles. Bulkhead tried to attack her lower body, but she snatched him up and threw him into a tree, smashing right through the trunk and into the ground.

"That's the spirit! Come on, try to kill me! Give your queen a show!" Jezebel cackled.

Bulkhead growled and ran back into the battle. He wasn't going to give up until Annie was free, no matter what!

XXXXXX

Darren's force barrier crashed through a tree before slamming into the ground. He grunted and dissolved it before leaping back to avoid Annie as she landed right where he once stood, leaving a deep crater in the ground. The twins stood across from each other in the clearing, brother against sister.

"Annie! I know you can hear me in there!" Darren yelled at his sister. "Please, remember who you are! Don't let that monster control you!"

Annie said nothing, her blackened gaze showing no signs of the sister he knew and loved. She raised her hand and summoned Mjolnir to her. The hammer flew into her hand and discharged black lightning bolts that ripped into everything they touched.

"Don't do this, sis." Darren muttered.

Annie sent a storm of electricity at Darren, who immediately enhanced his body with telekinesis and ran in a circle around her to dodge the bolts. He jumped onto a tree and pushed off it, shooting at her and mentally pulling two tree trunks with him. He sent them at Annie, who smashed them apart with Mjolnir, only for Darren to slam into her and knock her to the ground. She skidded through the dirt and he leapt at her, but Annie quickly jumped back up and kicked him in the chest with the force of a train.

Darren only managed to avoid having his chest caved in because he surrounded his body in a telekinetic exoskeleton that acted as his main source of protection from the superhuman abilities of his possessed sister. Fighting her was literally going to kill him if he wasn't careful. He landed on the ground and deflected more of Mjolnir's lightning bolts, though the force of the attack pushed him back even further.

'I'm not going down that easily!' Darren thought and waved his arms, causing the entire ground underneath Annie's feet to suddenly break apart.

Annie was thrown into the air and Darren propelled himself into her, slamming her into the ground and dragging her through the dirt and foliage, punching her face repeatedly to weaken her. But all Annie had to do was swing Mjolnir into his side and Darren was sent crashing through a tree from that one blow. He bounced off the ground once before landing on his feet and glaring at her.

"I'm not giving up on you!" He said and sent a rock flying at her. With Mjolnir, Annie smashed the rock apart, but Darren had a fist made of compacted dirt slam into her chest, punching her away and making her lose her grip on her hammer. Annie hit the ground hard, but the blows she took were nothing to her. She simply stood back up and raised her hand to recall Mjolnir. "No you don't!"

Darren telekinetically grabbed Mjolnir and kept the hammer from going back to its master. The twins fought over the hammer, which hovered in the air between them. Darren held strong, but he could feel his body being pulled forward, his heels digging into the dirt. Annie's hold over Mjolnir was stronger, and he wouldn't be able to win this struggle. So he decided to cheat.

A finger flick made Annie trip up and she stumbled back, losing her concentration. Now having full control of the hammer, Darren pushed his telekinetic senses to the limits as he threw Mjolnir as far as he could, which was pretty far. The hammer flew into the horizon and he lost sight of it, which was one problem taken care of. But as he turned around, he found himself staring into the blood red eyes of his sister, who had rushed him from behind and already threw a fist at his face.

Despite being protected by telekinetic armor, Darren still felt his brain rattle in his skull as Annie's fist slammed into the side of his head, and the force of the punch alone was enough to blast him a couple of feet back. He smashed through two trees and landed head first into the ground, stopping on his back in the bottom of a ditch. Annie ran after him, leaping the rest of the distance and was about to land on him…when suddenly a white beam blasted Annie out of the air and away from him.

"You are hurt, Darren." Sara said as she jumped down from a tree she was standing on and landed before him, her white bodysuit glowing with power. "Stay here while I take care of her."

"Sara…no," Darren coughed. That punch left him dizzy and the impact knocked the breath from his lungs. "Don't hurt her. She's my sister."

Sara looked at Annie, who was just beginning to stand up. She was completely unharmed from the laser blast she took to the head, but the bandages over her mouth were burned away. Annie's lips were blood red, and her mouth hid a maw of sharp teeth capable of rending flesh and even metal. Like an animal, she hissed at Sara and glared murderously at her as the ring on her finger pulsated like a beating heart.

"That is no longer your sister." Sara said and prepared to take down the threat to her mistress's beloved.

Annie howled and charged at Sara, and the android also ran at the possessed girl. The two met in the middle and threw punches at each other, catching the others fists and struggling in a deadlock. Sara, who was already strong to begin with, found herself being pushed back by Annie's enhanced strength, but kept pushing forward. If she had to break the girl's hands to subdue her, then she was prepared to do so. Unfortunately for her, Annie's evolution granted her more powers than just increased physical abilities.

Annie's eyes glowed bright red and fired two beams of red energy from her irises right into Sara's chest. Sara was sent flying back through the air, smashing through a couple of trees before crashing to the ground, hitting a tree trunk on the way down.

Sara groaned and sat up, fingering a shallow cut in her cheek as she regarded Annie with more wariness. Bringing out her laser swords, Sara ran forward and charged at Annie with the intent to kill, which Annie did as well with great fervor.

XXXXXX

Centurion stabbed his laser sword into Jezebel's hand and cut as deep as he could into her flesh. She hissed and threw him away, slamming him to the ground. Bulkhead hit her lower body with his wrecking ball, hearing the sickening crunch of bone and cartilage under his immense strength. More energy bolts were sent his way, but he took cover behind the trees, staying mobile as the trees were blown apart. Centurion leapt at her head, but she moved out of the way and fired a black energy bolt from her mouth. Though he blocked the blast, he was still sent back into the ground at the foot of an oak tree.

"You creatures are very persistent, aren't you?" Jezebel said, crawling forward on large hands, black painted nails digging into the dirt and leaves. "All this effort for a girl."

"She's my friend, of course I'd go through all this trouble to get her back." Bulkhead replied. "She's just a girl with her own demons that haunt her. Don't play around with her life like she's some toy!"

"She was mine the minute she wore my ring!" Jezebel's snake-like limbs slithered in the air, smashing into the trees and hitting the ground in her agitation. "The girl and I are one and the same now. Kill me and she dies as well."

"Like I'm gonna believe that slag!"

Bulkhead shot a laser blast into Jezebel's forehead, making her reel back in pain. He ran forward and smashed his wrecking ball into her hand, breaking multiple fingers in the process. Snarling, she backhanded him into a tree and summoned thorny vines to wrap tight around his body. Pinning him to the tree, Jezebel's head leaned down and glared at the Autobot.

"Listen closely, machine," She hissed. "I am the only thing that Annie needs in her life, the only one who can give her what she truly wants; power, strength, beauty, she has it all now. All that is left for is to cut her ties with her old life, and then she can truly blossom into a beautiful rose. And that means she has to kill the boy…and I kill you!"

The vines around his limbs tightened and squeezed, slowly crushing him. Bulkhead growled and tried to escape, though it seemed he was well and truly trapped in this monster's clutches.

XXXXXX

Annie and Sara flew through the air, punching and kicking at each other. Sara slammed Annie to the ground, but the girl kicked her into a tree and rammed her shoulder into her chest, smashing her through the tree and throwing her aside. Sara grabbed a tree branch and swung around, but Annie spin kicked her in the side and grabbed her leg instead, spinning her around before tossing her upwards like a ragdoll. Before Sara could recover, Annie jumped up and caught her in a clothesline that threw her into a boulder.

Annie roared in Sara's face before kicking her in the chest over and over. Sara grunted in pain as Annie's kicks slowly pushed her deeper into the rock, before the boulder finally shattered and Sara was kicked into the air. Annie fired her heat beams at Sara, who blocked them with her overshield before leaping at Annie. Faster than the eye could see, Sara flanked Annie and grabbed her hair, slamming her into the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust and dirt into the air, followed by a resounding boom of the earth shattering.

XXXXXX

Darren's body ached despite not being hit directly. Whatever Jezebel had done to Annie had turned her into a walking tank who only seemed to be getting stronger with each passing minute. His TK armor barely held up against her attacks and he knew his fleshy body was no match against her bone crushing strength.

'There has to be a way to help her. She's not last yet, I refuse to believe that!' Darren thought. He heard thunderous booms a few miles away from him where Sara and Annie threw themselves following their last scuffle. Even from here he could hear them fighting fiercely.

"To think I was worried about Sara killing Annie." He muttered. "Perhaps it's the other way around."

Another earth shattering crack rippled through the forest and Darren saw something flying above the trees trailing smoke behind it-it was Sara!

XXXXXX

Sara hit the ground hard enough to leave a crater in the dirt before landing on her front. Her bodysuit was torn and she sported cuts all over her body, revealing her inner circuitry. She weakly pushed herself onto her back and propped herself against the foot of a tree. Everything hurt, which was a first for her, and she couldn't access her weapons in this state. Annie was more powerful than she predicted.

'Is there any way to defeat her?' Sara wondered.

She saw something jump into the air and saw Annie falling towards her, aiming to land the killing blow. Sara struggled to get up and prepared for the onslaught that was sure to end in her death, but she was content knowing that Darren was safe. However, as Annie got closer to Sara's position, a silver blur slammed into her and the girl was sent flying away from Sara at high speeds.

Though she could scarcely process it, Sara knew what she saw was real. That silver blur was Darren!

XXXXXX

Darren screamed as he pushed his body and his powers to their limits. Wrapped in a tightly woven aura of telekinetic energy, Darren was actually flying through the air like a bullet, with Annie trapped in his arms as they smashed through over a dozen trees. Annie grabbed him around the middle and threw him off, but he swung around a tree trunk and planted his feet into her chest, slamming her into the ground. Annie's heat beams hit his force barrier and pushed him back, but he held strong and shattered the trunks of the trees next to her, making them fall on top of her.

With a bestial roar, she tore her way out of the pile of trees on top of her and she leapt at Darren with the intent to rip him in half. Darren waited until she was just inches from him before snapping his fingers and sending a boulder slamming into her with tremendous force. He made the boulder, and Annie fly up high into the air, out of the forest and miles away before flying after her, pushing his body to its absolute limits. Annie tore apart the boulder, but he slammed into her and pushed her higher and higher into the clouds.

Cold air assaulted his senses as he and Annie entered the clouds. He rushed at his sister, but Annie was faster, punching him in the face before grabbing his head and spinning him around and around before throwing him downward. Falling after him, she ensnared his body in a bone crushing grip and began head butting his forehead over and over even as they fell to the ground at high speeds. Darren felt his TK armor weakening and pushed her away, spinning her around and punching her face repeatedly, though she retaliated with a palm thrust to her chest that nearly knocked him off her. Annie gripped his neck and went to fire her heat beams, but Darren covered her eyes with his hand at the last minute just as they hit the ground.

A powerful shockwave burst from the impact point, and nearly blew Sara away as it hit her. She stumbled for a second but kept on running to aid Darren.

At the site where the twins had made landfall, there was a massive crater, with trees blasted over and on fire from the shockwave the kids released upon hitting the ground. Darren climbed out of the crater, his TK armor completely gone and his right arm badly burnt and in terrible pain.

Annie's heat beams had seared away the armor around his arm and nearly took it off as they hit the ground and now he could barely feel a thing. Groaning in pain, he got to his feet and looked back just in time to see Annie standing at the bottom of the crater, completely unharmed save for her eyes, which also sported burns due to the backlash of having her eye beams blocked. Glaring up at her brother, she jumped off the ground and flew at Darren, only for a Sara, who boosted at the last minute, to slam into her.

The girls rolled through the dirt before Sara pinned Annie down and assaulted her with powerful punches that would've shattered a normal human skull. She grabbed Annie's hair and swung her around before letting go and shooting an energy blast into her chest, blasting Annie through a tree and into a clearing, near a pond.

"You…will not…" Sara grunted. "Hurt…Darren…"

Sara sprinted forward and made to hit Annie again, but the girl shot back up and backhanded Sara in the jaw, smacking her away. She grabbed Sara's foot and slammed her into the ground a couple of times before punching her in the chest and sending her into a tree. Sara coughed and slid to the ground, unable to stand up anymore.

Annie charged at her, but Darren, severely weakened but still able to fight, rammed into her and send them both rolling along the ground. He forced his TK armor around his body and punched Annie back towards the pond, but she hit harder, and faster. He only got two punches off before Annie hit him three times in the face, knocking him back. Annie ran forward and slammed her fist right into the middle of his chest, shattering his TK armor and blasting him back into a tree.

She walked over to Darren, standing over his bloody, wheezing body and knelt down to wrap her hands around his neck. Darren quickly covered his neck in a tiny force field, but he couldn't keep it up for long. Just a few minutes more and she was going to choke him.

"A-Annie, this isn't you." He coughed. "You're…not killer. I know that there are things that set you off, that might push you to the edge, but you're not heartless. And I know you're not weak…"

Annie's grip on his throat tightened and she almost shattered his force field. He struggled to breath, but kept talking.

"I know you blame yourself for mom's death. I know how weak and helpless it made you feel, but strength alone can only get you so far in life. Being sad and scared doesn't make you a weakling, Annie; i-it just makes you human."

Darren reached up with his hands and placed them on her cheeks, lightly patting them. Annie recognized the gesture-it was something they always did as babies.

"Being strong isn't eliminating feelings like sadness and fear, it's learning from them and overcoming them. Not letting those emotions rule you is what it means to be strong." He said. "You don't have to face everything by yourself. I'm here, and so is Debbie, Gina, Grindor, Bulkhead and everyone else. We're all here for each other, and we can help you become stronger in both mind and body. We're twins, Annie, we share everything. So let me share your pain."

Annie had stopped trying to choke him and was crying. Her eyes, though still black, lost their red tint and returned to green. Slowly her senses returned to her and she saw her brother lying under her, beaten and bloodied, and she jumped back. Pain surged through her brain as Jezebel's voice ran in her head.

'Kill him! Kill him now and you will finally become the woman you were meant to be!' Jezebel roared in her head. 'With his blood, you will become a goddess!'

'Not at the cost of throwing everyone I care about away!' Annie yelled back. 'I am no one's pawn! I am my own person!'

'No! You belong to me!'

The ring began to violently shock Annie, sending energy through her body through the roots embedded in her finger from the ring. Annie screamed and fell over, writhing in pain. Darren crawled over to her and grabbed her hand with his one working arm, trying to pull it off. He winced as he felt the painful energy lash out at his hand but he ignored it and tried to telekinetically pull it off, but it wouldn't budge.

"It won't come off!" He yelled.

'I will not be refused what belongs to me! The girl is mine, now and forever!' Jezebel said through the ring.

Annie gritted her teeth and looked at Darren, her eye still black but with a less monstrous light in them now. "Darren, I need you to make a dagger from the rocks around us."

"What?!"

"Just do it!"

Darren did so, telekinetically forming the rocks into one sharp blade that fit in his hand. Annie grabbed it and held it over her ring finger.

"Wait, Annie, don't!" He said, but she shook her head.

"This ring is coming off," She said. "One way or another!"

Annie raised the dagger high over her head and brought it down on her ringer.

XXXXXX

The crystal ring Annie wore was an anchor for Jezebel to remain in the physical world. Having died as a human, Jezebel's soul had been retrieved by her so-called goddess and placed within a new, more powerful form, but she couldn't return to life. The ring, which had been hers in her past life, was her only way of getting to see the sun again, and only if it gained enough energy to allow her to pass through. Annie, a girl who was so much like Jezebel in her youth, was the best candidate for the task of being her avatar, anchoring Jezebel to the world in return for receiving her power, good and bad.

Thus, when Annie cut off her finger, she severed the connection between them and Jezebel lost her anchor. This had a detrimental effect on her.

"Kraaaaahhhhhhhh!" Jezebel screamed in pain as she felt her connection to Annie get cut. "You little whore!"

Bulkhead flexed his arms and broke the vines apart, breaking free. He fired a laser blast into her face, making her recoil in pain. He fired another blast at her mouth, blasting the flower stem to pieces with one shot. Jezebel went to attack with her hand, but Centurion leapt up and severed the limb with his laser sword. It was obvious that she was moving slower than before, weaker. Her power was fading.

"You all deserve to go to hell!" Jezebel cried, stumbling about like a sick, twisted version of the woman she once was. Blood poured profusely from her wounds her lower body pushed against the ground in pain. Bulkhead marched over to what's left of her mouth and tore it off.

"I'm getting tired of hearing you yap." He said.

"No," Her voice wailed in their minds. "I can't die…like this…I am immortal…undying…I will not fade again…"

Centurion, sick of her crying and begging, leapt up and descended upon her, slashing his laser sword downward and cutting cleanly into the muscles of her beck, severing her head in one clean stroke. Bulkhead watched her body spasm before falling onto its side, the rose petals wilting in seconds as if deprived of water and sunlight. Centurion landed on the ground and stepped back to keep the blood from reaching him.

"It's…over." Centurion breathed. It was an exhausting fight and he struggled to maintain his form after a harrowing battle like that.

"Darren, Annie, we need to go find them!" Bulkhead said. He got a chime on his comm and answered it. "Who is it?"

"It is Sara, Ms. Gina's protector." Sara's weak but soft voice answered. Bulkhead could tell she was hurt from the strain in her voice. "I am calling to inform you that Darren and Annie are still functional, but both are severely hurt and are in need of medial attention."

"We'll be right there!" Bulkhead answered and called Ratchet.

In the clearing, Sara sat down next to the unconscious twins, holding them close to her despite her own exhaustion. Everyone suffered wounds both physical and mental, but their ordeal was finally over.

XXXXXX

Annie woke up to a dimly lit room, which she barely recognized as the Ark's medibay. She was lying in a very soft bed that was just the right size for her. It was probably made with the children in mind by the Minicons given how much more danger they were in now. Feeling a soft weight on her leg, Annie looked down and saw Debbie sound asleep next to her bedside. Her face was wet with dry tears.

"Debbie…" Annie whispered.

"Good to see you're awake, sis."

Annie turned to her right and saw Darren lying on another bed close to hers. His face and arm was covered in bandages, and presumably his torso was also bandaged as well. He was also dressed in a tacky bathrobe with the Autobot symbol on the back (an early birthday gift from Roll Bar). At Darren's side was Gina, who was also asleep, holding his hand tightly.

"Darren," She said softly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, you gave me and Sara a serious beating back there. Hurts to breath a bit, but I'll manage." Darren said, keeping his voice low so as to not wake up the girls. "You don't look so good yourself."

Annie didn't suffer as many wounds as her brother did, having been a superpowered demon during her possession from Jezebel. Still, her whole body ached and her head was pounding. She felt bandages tightly wrapped around her right hand and lifted it to see that she was missing a finger-the finger that held Jezebel's ring.

"Cutting off your finger was nuts, but it worked." Darren said. "Ironically, Bulkhead said that you saved him from losing anymore of his limbs. Funny how he came to save you and the opposite ends up happening. He said that you're even now."

Annie stared at her four fingered hand for a minute before letting it rest on her chest. "…This is what I get for all the crap I put everyone through." She looked at Darren. "Darren, I'm so-"

"Shush." He said, smiling softly, and laid his head back down on the pillow. "I know. I'm your twin remember? We can talk later. Right now, let's get some sleep."

Annie gave him a teary smile and nodded. "That sounds great."

They closed their eyes, and almost unconsciously, their hands reached out and held each other, not wanting to feel alone as they let their exhaustion take over.

"Darren?"

"Yes, Annie?"

"…I love you."

"Love you to, sis."

For both of them, the nightmare was finally over.

---

I really enjoyed rewriting this chapter, and I loved making the fight between Annie, Darren and Sara longer and more brutal. Did the final fight scene while watching The Death of Superman. Got me so hype. Be sure to check out this story's official website for more information on characters and settings; instructions for getting to it are in my profile. Thanks for reading and please leave a review.