Ironhide drove out, with me sitting obediently inside, of the main room, where the whole celebration of Christmas festivities was taking place, but Ironhide didn't exit the hangar fully. Instead, the truck let me calm down and get the mascara ink off of my face. Besides, I obviously didn't want to have any trails of mascara down my cheeks. As I was sitting in the comfy black leather seats of the truck, the radio suddenly turned on. "I'll come back." It said and I left the truck, trying to balance my walk on the high heels. What was I going to do now? Ironhide silently exited the hangar and went in the direction of the third hangar.
I looked around. Hell, I'm going to exit the middle hangar, too, and I don't care if it's freezing outside. So, I went outside and to say it was 'freezing' outside would be a complete understatement. But I didn't care. I was hurt in my feelings and I didn't care if my surroundings were freezing cold or melting hot. As I walked towards the third hangar, even though I had high heels, I felt my feet touch upon the icy snow. I also felt the fingers, both on my feet and hands, slowly go numb, but I was too lost in my thoughts to prevent it. Of course, how could Ironhide know that people, especially girls in short red dresses and high heels, don't do well in cold weather? But it didn't matter now. My mind was preoccupied with unrequited love. So I had a mental battle with myself.
Love didn't exist. It was just a wishful thought. My mind said. It's useless. Or better yet, its sole purpose is to bring hurt to those who dare to feel it…
If you're brave enough to love, everything is worth it. My heart silently retorted.
Either way, having love or not, it's always going to hurt. Some people say life dies before love. Maybe with true love.
Too bad I wasn't going to experience it. At least, not with the one I was in love with.
Remembering that talk I had with Ironhide, and him playing 'I don't wanna be the brokenhearted girl' by Beyoncé, I felt just like that right now. Everything sucked, but, I wouldn't give up or give in to grief.
I entered the third hangar and hugged myself with my arms, trying to warm myself up. I kept looking at the floor until I found a sofa at the corner near the entrance. I sat on it, and soon my fingers regained their use and I crossed my legs. I looked like a little, female Santa in this cute dress.
I heard some sounds of slamming ahead of me. I looked up and saw Skids and Mudflap, the little cars, hitting each other with their doors. Those are going to leave dents and paint scratches. What was weird was that there were no soldiers here. I stood up and made my way towards the exit. I took a couple of steps, listening to the thuds my heels were making, but two unfamiliar faces stopped right in front of me, just as I was about to get out.
"Dat's 'er." One of the twin boys in front of me said. One had neon green decaled hair and the other one copper red over brown roots. Very weird taste, if you ask me.
"Um, hi?" I said, flashing an awkward smile.
"It was 'bout time they brought 'er to tha base." The red-haired one said with a weird, almost gangster-like accent. They eyed me from head to toe and then looked at each other. Then the other one, with the green hair, spoke up.
"If ol' Hide saw 'er in this, he'd blow a gasket or somethin'." The green-haired on said. I saw they were still looking at what I was wearing.
"She practic'lly his femme already." They snickered and muffled their laughs so childishly. I didn't understand what they wanted from me.
"Who are you?" I asked, taking a step back. And who's Hide? And why would this 'Hide' blow a... a gasket?
"Don't ya recognize us?" The red-haired one inquired, talking fast.
Obviously, I had no clue who the heck these two were. "We's Skids 'n' Mudflap, femme!" Skids and Mudflap… Oh, the small cars! These are their holo... Um, things. I still didn't understand what the holo-things were, actually. Maybe the holo-thing is a military phrase for owners of the cars? It would explain all the weird naming.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I just didn't recognize you." I grinned at them apologetically and they looked like they were going to melt. And just how was I supposed to recognize them? They looked like fifteen year old kids. I didn't know the military employed juveniles.
I heard some weird clicks and whirrs and then a yell in some strange language. It was coming from a room inside the hangar.
"Lil' Mama, we's gon' go, see ya!" Skids said and they ran off somewhere. I didn't know what half of that phrase meant, but I was by myself again, standing still. I saw the green and red cars roll out to the other room, where the strange noises were coming from. I sighed and sat on the sofa again. Maybe I should check out the presents and be with my family? The idea sounded more appealing than just sitting alone like an alienated stranger, so I stood up. Just as I started walking out, loud and metallic noises resonated from the room in the hangar. That caught my attention.
The metallic noises sounded like heavy clicks and whirrs, like a big machine was being turned on. They were vaguely familiar, but what followed next caught me completely off guard. I heard thrashing around, kicking, screeching metal and someone, though I think it was Doctor Ratchet's voice, telling someone to stop fighting.
"Bolts for brains! Ya wouldn't know a 'Con if he stood in front of ya ugly face!"
"I'm ugly?! We're twins, ya stupid aft! We da same!" A lot of metal banging echoed through the room of the hangar and cries of pain shortly followed.
Where they torturing someone? Were they in danger? What the hell was going on?
I started jogging in my heels towards the source of the noises, though this time it was much harder than in my nightmare, and I wasn't really used to the heels, so I had to speed walk as fast as I could.
"Don't make me weld your afts together!" Doctor Ratchet's voice boomed inside the room I was going to enter. What are afts? Which reminded me, what are femmes? I had to ask someone who knew. Maybe it was just more military lingo.
I hid behind a corner just in front of the entrance of the room, peeking my head out through the threshold to catch a glimpse of what was going on. Curiosity certainly got the best of me.
Out of practically nowhere, a green and grey, metallic-looking thing fell in front of me, but not noticing me. My eyes grew wider and my heart quickened upon the sight.
The green thing attacked a red thing. They were… robots. Giant, heavy, aggressive robots.
A picture of two distinct, circular red lights flashed before my eyes, haunting my mind. I still remembered the drizzle of that catastrophic evening, and the pain as just a dull memory, but not a distant one at all. The face of the disappearing cop and his robot car with red eyes flashed like ghosts in my head. My head started getting dizzy as Ron's face appeared in my mind, my savior. I grew angrier at my past inability to save myself, but I wasn't going to let history repeat itself. I couldn't stand it anymore, being this damsel in distress. I started retreating, but stumbled on my feet, since going backwards in heels wasn't really easy. I was shaking my head furiously. Adrenaline was kicking in.
I landed on my butt with a thud, causing all the robots in the room to look at me. There was a yellow robot, a neon yellow, shiny silver, bright green, copper red, midnight black and a flame decaled robot, it was like they were having a summit in this room. There were so many big robots and my heart wanted to stop beating from the fear and terror that was taking over my body. It felt like ice was in my veins.
"No, no, no, no…" I quickly got to my feet as the heels slid off and I was running barefoot on the cold, hard ground, headed towards the exit of the hangar.
"Yo, wait up, femme!" I vaguely heard a voice call behind me. I kept running towards the safest person I knew here, my uncle, and I sprinted outside. I didn't know whether to scream for an attack or just scream. I ran in the direction of the main hangar, but didn't get to it in time as the thudding footsteps behind me grew louder.
"Oh, shit! Oh, shit, shit, shit, shit!" I yelled as I sprinted barefoot over the freezing snow, the cold air making my shiver as goosebumps went up my arms and legs. The cold was slowing me down, making every breath icy and painful, like I was gobbling up sharp pieces of ice.
"Hold on, lil' Mama!" I didn't dare look back as I ran for my life towards the entrance of the main hangar, but something grabbed me by the waist and lifted me off the ground. The warm air was punched out of my lungs in the form of a white mist in the cold weather.
"Yo, no fair man, I wanna hold 'er!" The red robot stood by the green one, which was holding me in his hand like a toy.
"We're under attack!" I screamed from the top of my voice as my throat burned horribly, like someone suddenly fed me hot coal. I struggled and looked down to the ground. Soldiers went out with their handguns in hand, making all sorts of formations. Oh no.
I noticed that the green metal that was curled around me was warm.
No.
Out of nowhere, I was tossed into thin air so offhandedly. I screamed like a hurricane. I landed harshly into a red-plated hand, wincing at the shot of pain that erupted from my hips and back. The hand was squeezing me and I was hurting so badly.
God, please, no. Make it stop.
I screamed again, kicking and bashing at the hand which was carrying me like a toy. "Help me!" I cried out desperately as the soldiers beneath me did nothing and retracted their weapons.
"Yo, femme, ya'll short out our audio receptors wit' yer screamin'!"
Don't pass out, Melissa, fight it!
How the hell am I supposed to fight giant robots?!
I shouted and kicked my legs, but only earned myself a lot of bruises. My heartbeat echoed in my head, my fingertips went numb and I felt so dizzy because I was so frightened. I heard a lot of 'whoa's and 'wait's echoing throughout the base.
"I'm going to die, help me!" Nothing happened. "Somebody please help me!" I screeched. I felt so alone and unguarded. Why won't anyone help me?
"Put her down!" I heard a very, very angry and gruff voice, oddly enough it sounded almost identical to Ron's, only this one sounded slightly robotic. I looked in the direction of it and I saw a black robot, accompanied by a silver, a rally yellow and neon yellow one. There was a huge flame decaled robot that really looked like it had the flames of Optimus's truck. All of them had blue eyes.
For some strange reason, the black one seemed oddly familiar. The silver and neon yellow one were holding him back by the arms, because, by the looks of it, it seemed like he wanted to jump at the small red and green robots.
"Mudflap, release the human." I was positive it was Optimus's voice, or at least something almost identical to it. It came from the flame-decaled robot, who seemed oddly calm. I looked around as tears started helplessly falling from my face. My ribs were going to crack again. Just don't drop me, don't drop me. Please!
"I wanna hold 'er some more!" The green one said, kind of in a pouting manner, as I was put back down on the ground not so gently. My knees were shaking so much, and my cold, almost blue legs felt like feathers that would blow away with the slightest hint of a wind. I couldn't stand on my feet and I collapsed. My whole body was shaking from the shock and the cold. The green robot reached out for me and I tried to get up, but my feet were numb. Was I squeezed so hard it stopped my lower body blood circulation? I couldn't feel anything from the waist down anymore. When I looked at my legs, I gasped, as the short red dress revealed more than it should have, but also, my legs were slowly turning bluer and purple veins popped out again. I looked freakish once more.
"What part of 'let her go' do you not understand?!" Doctor Ratchet's voice boomed from an unknown place. My hearing started getting poorer. Then, I heard a clang coming from the robots. I didn't dare look up, all I knew was that I needed to get out of here, posthaste. My world started spinning.
"Ow, dat's ma helm ya crazy ol' fender!"
I managed to get on my feet and dashed into a run, but didn't make it as much as two steps as I collapsed to the snowy ground, earning myself a scraped knee and two badly scraped palms on Christmas. I shrieked in response, my brown, long hair flailing around me, before a pair of arms wrapped me up and pulled me into their chest. The snow beneath me was slowly turning pink and red from the blood that was exuding from my wounds.
By the smell of the person holding me, I was thankful it was my uncle, not… Ron.
"U-U-U… W-Will…" I sobbed and tried to run, but my legs refused to move. I was going into shock, I could feel it, but couldn't do anything about it. I had to get away. First these robots hurt me, then they'll hurt Will and Sarah, and then Annabelle would lose her parents... I can't have her go through the horror I did.
"Shh, everything's okay, Melissa. They're our allies." He soothed as he ran his hand through my hair and silently whispered. I looked behind him where the robots stood almost proudly, with their chests puffed out and whatnot.
Did Will not have any idea how crazily dangerous these things were? This was the reason I was in bed for weeks!
"N-N-No, they-he-uh! He t-tried to kill me!" I screamed making uncle flinch. "I-I gotta get away!" I leaped from his hug and ran into the main hangar. I hadn't anywhere else to go.
"Melissa, stop! Wait!" Will ran after me, though it felt like half the base ran after me. I didn't know how I had the strength or how I could run again, but I didn't stop, I couldn't. What if the things attacked me again?! I already almost died once because of them, now I was handed and tossed around like a freaking Chihuahua! What actually encouraged me to run faster were the thundering footsteps of the robots running after me.
"Leave me alone! They're going to kill me!" I shouted like a storm, the tears blurring my vision as I stumbled across a present in the main hangar and collided directly with the floor. I banged my forehead against the ground, instantly going blind and deaf for a few seconds. In my disoriented state, all I truly knew was pain. I tried propping myself up on my forearms, but as that caused burning pain to shoot up my arms, I just laid on my side. That's when I felt heat radiating from my forehead. Unconsciously, I groaned and put my hand on it as my vision went back to normal, but I still couldn't hear very. As I removed my hand from my forehead, I saw a lot of blood on my hand.
My heart, if possible, quickened and I thought it was going to burst from all the fear, shock, and trauma it was put through. I could feel it pumping so hard in my ears. Suddenly, I felt a prick on my left arm and I looked in that direction and saw Doctor Ratchet pulling the needle out of my arm. I felt dizzy and sleepy instantly. I saw a bright light around me as it embraced me painlessly.
Was I going to heaven? If I was… then…
What happened? Where am I anyway? I don't recognize this place.
I slowly sat up on the bed I was lying on and looked around. I had minimal trouble moving, but when I looked at my arms… God, I had cuts and bruises all over again. It was as if there was no way I could evade physical injury anymore. My elbows and palms were bandaged and I could feel the bandaging on my knees as well. Also some kind of white gauze was on my forehead when I touched my head.
I didn't remember what happened to me. I remember being sedated shortly before I blacked out, but nothing else.
My eyes looked around the room I was in. It had concrete and metal walls, all in grey, decorated in the Christmas spirit with small yellowish lights and tree branches, which reminded me of one of the rooms of the hangar I was in. A picture of robots with blue eyes flashed across my mind. My heartbeat quickened, one part of my mind went into panic mode instantaneously, but my other side soon relaxed it.
Take a chill pill, Mel, it was just a dream.
I sighed in relief, though there was something else on my mind. Something that made me feel bad and guilty. My eyes shot open as my breathing stopped.
Chill pill…
Only Amanda and my friends from back home would say that.
I put my bandaged palm across my bandaged head. It stung a bit, but…
God, how could have I been so selfish? How could have I… forgotten them?
You didn't forget, you just didn't have time for them to cross your mind.
With a low sigh, I leaned back down on the bed. Why was I dreaming of robots? Perhaps, it was most probably because of the accident with the robot cop that happened a few weeks ago. It wasn't an unknown thing that I still had nightmares about that night. I sighed as I tried recalling the dream I just had. The only thing that I clearly remembered was that it was filled with colorful, tall robots, ranging from green and red to yellow, black and silver robots.
How on earth did my mind manage to make it all up? But right now, my mind was focused on more important things, like going back home, and figuring out how I got so bruised and beaten. Was I in an accident?
Saying going back home, did not mean this home, where I was living with Will and Sarah, no. I had another. It would all start with a phone call.
As soon as I acquired a phone, though. Right now, I still had no idea where I was, and this Christmas-decorated, warm room I was in didn't give away much. No one was here with me, so... What was I going to do? Surely, I wasn't going to sit and sleep here, I had to reach Amanda in any way I possibly could. I can't be here, with all the 'robot-ally' things I dreamt of, and Ron. Too much for my heart and mind.
A knock on the door shook me from my thoughts. "Come in." I said and my uncle emerged.
"Hey Mel, how are you doing?" He sat on my bed and squeezed my forearm.
"I've been worse." I smiled at him and looked at the bandages on my arms.
"Just rest, you need it. You gave us quite a scare back there, but don't worry. Listen I have to get back, but you can use some sleep. Sweet dreams, Mel." He ruffled my hair and got off my bed.
"Uncle Will?"
"Yeah?"
"You wouldn't believe what kind of dream I had." I chuckled. I looked at him and his body froze, before it relaxed and he sat down on my bed. He seemed very interested in it. "You're gonna think I'm crazy." I told him.
"Try me." He smiled.
"I dreamt of… some giant alien robots, like the one that attacked me, only these guys had blue eyes. And two of them hurt me, I don't know. I knew in my dream I couldn't run, my legs were numb from the circulation being cut off because the one green robot held me so tight in his hand. Then he dropped me and I started running, but stumbled and literally spilled myself all over the snow and the metallic floor of the hangar." I nervously laughed.
Will stared at me, wide eyed, but soon recovered himself and smiled.
I continued. "There were these like… yellow, silver, black robots, but they just stood there."
"I see, Mel… That must have been a great dream… You've got one hell of an imagination." He kissed my forehead as he got up.
"It was so real. And in the end, they said they were your allies or something." But I still had unanswered questions. "Will, where am I?"
"We're still at the base. Maybe you should sleep a bit more and then Ron and I will take you home." He said, although he seemed uncomfortable with something.
"What happened to me?" I brought up my bandaged hands. "I look like I had a fistfight with Wolverine."
He chuckled uncomfortably. "We'll have Dr Ratchet take care of that. Rest a bit, then tomorrow I'll tell you everything. If you need anything, just yell." I nodded and he left the room, leaving me to my own devices. I closed my eyes, embracing some peace into my life. It felt good to sleep again. No other thoughts.
When I woke up some time later, I was still in the same room as before. This time, Dr Ratchet was accompanying me, resting his hand on my forehead. "I see you're awake." He retracted his hand. "No fever has been acquired this time."
"Good day to you too, Dr Ratchet." I smiled.
"I am going to take the bandages off, stay still please." He began to unwrap the bandages on my right palm. "You didn't take the first meet quite well." He initiated small talk.
What?
"What are you talking about?" I gave him a puzzled look.
"Don't you remember?" He said. I shook my head as he sighed. "Skids and Mudflap wrestled in the medical bay, so you ran away from them. Earned yourself a good deal of pain and almost went into shock in the process."
"What?" I grimaced. "None of that happened, Doctor Ratchet." Now, he reciprocated the same grimace. "I dreamt that. Since when do doctors see dreams?"
This whole thing felt very weird. Something didn't add up here.
"It was very much reality, Melissa. How do you think you got," I hissed as he poured some liquid onto my palm, presumably alcohol, which started to give off a burning sensation, which was really unpleasant, "all of these wounds? Surely not by dreaming, I presume? Remind me to weld their afts later."
Well, he did have a point, unless you sleepwalk. But, uncle Will said it was a dream. Which made me question…
Who did I trust more? Uncle Will or Doctor Ratchet?
Did I really just ask myself that? Pathetic. Wait a sec, did he say afts?
He moved to work on my other palm.
"Will said it was a dream-OW!" I shrieked. He mumbled about something or another.
"My apologies."
I decided to ask him all the things that I was curious about knowing. I figured Doctor Ratchet would have the answers. "Doctor Ratchet, what are afts? And femmes? And holo-things?"
"Your questions never end, do they?"
"Well, I'm just a curious girl." I said, playing it sweetly.
The temperature in the room was quite warm, so Dr Ratchet took the blanket off me and began to unwrap the elbow and knee bandages. Miraculously, when I looked at my palms, there were no cuts nor bruises anymore. My palm was just pink, like the wound had just recently healed on its own. This doctor really had some amazing meds.
"First of all, they are not called 'holo-things', yet holoforms, and the reason for that is that the Autobots need them to blend in with the humans more naturally. I designed the technology." He proudly stated as he was done with the bandages. I didn't quite understand what he meant with automatic bots or whatever, but I figured I had enough questions as it is.
"That's impressive. How can you design something like that? I mean, it's just the 21st century, we barely have functional holograms." As far as I knew, holograms weren't used in everyday actions and obligations.
"You forget we are advanced beings." He said. My eyebrows knitted in confusion.
"We? You're making no sense at all. Humans aren't 'advanced'."
"Exactly, we are not human, as you've seen for yourself." He said as he poured the burning liquid again, but on my knees this time.
"Doctor Ratchet, what are you talking about?" For God's sakes, what is with this doctor?
"Need we show you?" He said. Show me what? I swear, he makes absolutely no sense to me at all. A knock on the door broke our conversation.
"Come in." I said, and guess who came in.
"Good Ironhide, you're here." Dr Ratchet said.
"His name is Ron." I corrected Dr Ratchet, but he shook his head in denial.
"What did you see in your dream? Tell us about the robots and we'll tell you the names." Dr Ratchet said to me as Ron sat on my bed, by my legs. He looked very tense.
"Are you psychic or something?" I stared at him.
"Well, your uncle told us just a part of it, but try us." Ron said as his gorgeous blue eyes met mine. My breath almost caught again, but I rolled my eyes instead, continuing.
This was gonna be really awkward. "Well, I saw like a race yellow colored robot, around 15 ft tall or so,-"
"Bumblebee." Both of them cut me off, saying the word in perfect synchronization.
"Bumblebee is just a talking car." I said. "And Nicole's boyfriend, or whatever. There's no way he's a robot."
"Continue." Dr Ratchet said as he threw the bandages in the trash bin, which I hadn't acknowledged was there.
"There was this big and black one-" I was cut off again.
"Ironhide."
"Me." Ratchet and Ron said at the same time.
Ron is not Ironhide. "No, you're Ron, so you can't be Ironhide. Ironhide's a truck. And he's better than you." I glared at Ron. He glared back.
"Continue with the descriptions, Melissa. Over time, you will get to meet them all." Ratchet said. I was absolutely baffled at the "you will meet them all" phrase, but decided to think nothing of it and just play along in their little game. I just shook my head and inhaled, secretly hoping my uncle would come and take me home.
I slowly exhaled and continued.
"There was," I paused and batted a finger at Doctor Ratchet, "and don't interrupt me, a silver one, a neon yellow, flame decaled, copper red, green… and I think that was all."
"You have seen Sideswipe-" This time, I cut Ratchet off.
"Sideswipe is not a robot! He's that mean silver car!" I exclaimed.
"The rest are Ratchet, Optimus and Skids and Mudflap. I should give them a beating for hurting you." Ron growled at the last part.
"They didn't hurt me. They were like… fifteen year old kids, they didn't touch me. Though they did say something about a someone name 'Hide' blowing a gasket." I said as an afterthought, that much I remembered from my dreams.
"Blowing a gasket for what?" Ron said.
"I don't know, I guess something I was wearing or whatever." I waved a dismissive hand in the air. Ron caught my hand, but I didn't know why. "Don't touch me." I growled at him through my teeth. I don't even know why I was talking to him. Maybe it sort of… eased my heart or something.
"I'll leave you two to be." Ratchet exited my room.
"You should go with him and let go of my hand." I pulled it back and Ron left it. "What do you want?"
"I came to explain." He said, looking at the ground.
"I already told you, I don't need you explanations. You could have just told me you had a girlfriend or whatever." I looked aside, as I felt tears welling up in my eyes. "I just can't believe you actually cheated on her." I argued.
"Chromia isn't my girlfriend." He said.
"Then why did you make me think that you cared? You should have just stayed loyal to her, instead."
"Why do I always have to repeat myself with you?" He growled. "Chromia is not my girlfriend."
"Chromia is the motorcycle." I huffed. "Of course she's not your girlfriend. Unless you're into car dating, like Nicole."
"How can I put this so you can understand…Mia?" I nodded. I knew who Mia was. Wasn't she that holoforming thing Ratchet designed? Then again, they did say they had holoforms so that they could blend in with the humans. But then again, that leads me to the bikes.
"Wait, so... If they girls are the bikes, what makes the rest of them?"
"Use your head." Ron said gruffly.
"Skids and Mudflap, the fifteen year old kids, they are the compact cars?" I took a wild guess. They kind of had hairs that matched the colors of the cars, so I only deduced that they were some car fanatics or something.
"Yes." He nodded, his look growing softer. "Sideswipe wears a silver jacket as his holoform, to match the color of his alt mode."
What the hell is an alt mode this time?
"Then, that guy with the hat, Optimus, he's the truck, right?" I said. He did say the truck's name was Optimus Prime. And two Optimus's is a weird thing.
Ron nodded. "He is our leader." It took a few seconds for the words to sink in.
"Our?" I said. "I mean, your leader?" He nodded again. "Bumblebee's the yellow car and he's also the blond stud Nicole's dating, right?" I fished again and received a laugh from Ron and a nod. "Since Ratchet is the doctor, I think he's the… Hummer?" It was so damn weird. Ron nodded again. "So that leaves you… and you're Ironhide?"
"Correct." He smiled. I stared at him, without any kind of reaction. His smile faded away as his lips formed a thin line. "What?"
I burst out laughing.
"What?" He asked, his face becoming a mix of anger and confusion.
I face-palmed myself so hard, I think my head and palm wanted to explode.
"You really think I buy this bullshit?" I laughed. "There's no such thing as people being trucks and vice-versa. I don't know what kind of sect you belong to, but I'd rather you kept that away from me." I made a hand motion for him to distance himself from me.
"It's not a sect, you stupid child." Ron said.
"Hey, that's not nice." I frowned at him.
"It's not nice calling my faction a sect, either." He crossed his arms.
"Oh, you're part of a faction, too, now?" I teased.
"I don't understand why you cannot comprehend this. You saw us multiple times, yet you reject our existence. Why?"
"Look, Ron, you're just confusing me more than you need to. I'm already confused enough with the military lingo that I can barely understand. I'd just like to go home now, thanks." I replied tiredly.
"Can you at least try understanding?" Ron said exasperatedly.
"What's there to understand?" I stared at him, raising my voice. "You want me to buy this load of crap you're selling, and then you get mad at me for actually having a brain?" I shook my head.
"How can I prove to you that I am Ironhide?" He put a finger to his chin, thinking deeply.
Well, that should be an easy answer. "Well, you can't, cause you're not a truck."
The guy didn't even answer. I kind of felt sorry for him. At least I could try to play into his game. "Hmm…" I started to think about this. That's when he looked at me, his blue eyes mesmerizing me. I just needed to be sure of one thing, I didn't want to be played at the end. "Prove to me that you're not human." I said and waited for him to do something.
He gave a long sigh as he had an idea that came to mind. "Promise you won't freak out or scream?" He said, looking at me in the eyes. My heart fluttered at his look. I was still in love with him and, thankfully, not even Ironhide knew this. I loved his blue eyes.
"I promise." I said and braced myself for whatever. But I couldn't have possibly braced myself for this. His body started to peel off, like thin layers of blue and white light, until Ron vanished into nothingness. I wanted to scream like a hurricane.
Promise you won't freak out or scream…
I promise.
I stared at the blank space in front of me, wide eyed, my heart racing.
The robot cop, he vanished too! Does that mean… Ironhide is one of them?
Does that mean he wants to kill me, too?
Before I entered any other kind of shock, Ron reappeared the same way he vanished. His weight on the table reappeared and I tried collecting myself and closing my open mouth. I blinked a couple of times. This was as real as it was going to get.
"Who are you?" I said as I brought my knees up, my heart beating erratically as buzzing sounds echoed from fear in my head. I tried to move away from him, but I was paralyzed to the bed. "Get away from me."
"It's me, Melissa. Ironhide." He said as he put a hand to my knee. Out of pure reflex, I kicked him. I felt sorry, but absolutely petrified at the same time.
"Don't touch me!" I shrieked out. "Go away, I don't know what you are!"
"Please, Melissa." His ocean blue eyes looked at mine pleadingly. There was something about his look that calmed my heartbeat with each passing second, something about his protective aura that I felt resonating in the room. "You promised." The way he said it broke my heart for kicking him. I took a couple of long breaths before speaking up again.
"You really aren't human, are you?" I managed to whisper quietly. He shook his head, but kept his kind gaze on my eyes. I wasn't scared anymore. Just his eyes, his protection, that kind face and good soul, it did some things to me. I don't know why, but my soul was reacting to it. I wasn't scared anymore.
"No, child. I'm not." Ron said seriously. "I hope this is the proof you desired."
"It's definitely not what I desired…" I said and he looked to the side, as if he was disappointed. I felt bad for him. "But…" When I said that, he turned his head towards me. "How is this possible?"
"There's a long history behind why we are here, on your planet." I gave a nod, trying to concentrate hard. This was no longer fiction. This was happening, in front of my very own eyes. "But now you know that Ratchet's technology works, and that his human body that you see in front of yourself, is a manifestation of myself. It is a way for me to integrate with the humans, and keep you safe in a better way." He said calmly, slowly, compassionately.
"This is a lot to take in, Ron." I said, straightening my legs back down on the bed.
"It takes time, but you will be at more ease. The first time is the hardest." He said and offered a kind smile. I've never seen him so compassionate before in my life.
"But if this means that you're actually the truck… that you're actually Ironhide…" I said as I connected the dots very quickly. I should have known, or at least speculated! "How could I be so stupid? Why couldn't have I just put two and two together?" I groaned and hugged my own head. Ron took my hands from my head and put them on my legs.
"Easy." He said. "No need to tire your processors." He took his hands away.
"I have a brain, thank you very much." I retorted. "God, I am an idiot! Such a damn idiot! I told Ironhide everything!" I blushed the deepest red color known to man. I turned around and grabbed my pillow, hiding my face in it. Ironhide was like a diary and a shrink to me or something. Instead of writing, all I did was talk to him. He's kind of a psychiatrist, to be honest. He does his job well.
"Yes. You did tell him your worries." He chuckled. I pursed my lips in an annoyed manner. I put the pillow down.
"So it was like I told you everything. Things I didn't want you to know, you knew." I put my hand on my forehead. "You know, you could have told me." I groaned as I looked at him, but could help the hint of a smile to cross my face.
"And spare you the humiliation? Please." He snorted. Surprisingly, I laughed at his remark. "Does this mean we're 'okay' as you humans put it?" He said.
I took his hand in mine, watching him track his gaze from the hand and onto my eyes. His warm hands sent shivers of excitement up my arms. I smiled. "We're okay."
Credits for ideas:
Minimus Prime, Bee4ever