So… here we are. At the infamous 79th chapter named 'Betrayal'. I think the chapter title is self explanatory.
EDIT: now, this is something that I write after I had written the whole chapter, and I'll have you know that I let a tear drop while writing this. Rarely have I ever written and cried at the same time, but there's a first for everything in this world.
I woke up somewhat earlier than noon. I wasn't expecting Hide to be lying in the bed, but I was glad he was here. And he was awake before I was, so his gentle touch was one of the first things that I felt this morning.
"Good morning." He said.
I yawned in return which caused him to chuckle. "Good morning to you, too." I said as I found the immediate strength to get up.
"You should get up earlier today, I think your uncle has something to tell you."
"Yeah?" I said, getting up and changing my clothes. For once, in my entire life, I had been changing my clothes completely in front of somebody. After I had been done with that, I got out of the room with Ironhide, trying to find my uncle and see what he wanted to tell me. "Do you have any idea where he is?"
"Main Room, upper left corner."
"Thanks." I said as I walked downstairs and Will got into my field of sight. I walked right up to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Colonel Lennox, reporting for duty, Sir." I said as he turned around, bafflement spread across his face as I made a military salute.
He laughed, "Hey Mel. I have to tell you something." He said, enveloping me in a one arm hug.
"Sure." I said. Suddenly, I heard to loud engines coming to life and I was surprised to see Dino and Sideswipe racing out of the base. "Where are they going?"
"Bee called in for backup, Sam and Simmons have to go somewhere and it might be risky." He said absently as he was looking through some papers. "Forward these to General Moreshower." He said as he passed the papers to a soldier who nodded at his order.
"Colonel Lennox, phone call." Another soldier called to my uncle.
"Sorry Mel, I'll be right back." He walked back towards the solider and talked to someone, probably someone with a higher rank than him. Ironhide joined my side as we waited for Will to finish with his conversation. "One minute, Sir." Will said as he looked at us and covered the microphone with one hand. "Never mind, it can wait, go… have fun." He quickly said, waving us off with his other hand and returning to his phone call.
"Well, if he doesn't have any news to tell you, I do." Hide said as we walked through the Main Room.
"What news?"
"Optimus just told me that all of you humans got a large apartment."
"Really?"
"Yes, I can take you to it, if you'd like."
"Of course, I want to go see it." I was really keen on knowing what kind of apartment we were getting. I went downstairs with Ironhide, settling into the passenger seat of his Topkick altmode as he started up the engine. With our hands interlocked at the fingers, we rolled out of the base.
Half an hour later…
The place was big. It was a two-story apartment, had one bedroom on the first floor, and two bedrooms on the second floor and a huge terrace. I was immediately drawn to the terrace.
Even though the terrace wasn't anything special, it had nice brown tiles and a couple of large couches. Nothing special, but I didn't mind that, there was a beautiful view at the city.
"It needs some work, but this terrace and the view… I think I could live on this terrace alone." I said, running my hands over the fence.
"And if it rains?" he smiled, his one hand looping around my waist as both of us leaned on the fence of the terrace, watching the city.
"I'll buy a huge umbrella." I wittily said.
"And if it snows?"
"I'll figure something out." I smiled as I imagined him rolling his eyes, which I was certain he was doing.
"I think it's best if we go back to the base." He said turning me around.
"Yeah, it's a good thing the government gave us this place, though." I was silent for a moment as I thought over who would be living here. "Where are Leo and Mikaela?"
"Both of them are on their way over here, with Jolt, Skids and Mudflap."
"So they're the first ones to get out of the base." And by 'get out' I meant stopped living there.
"It would seem so." He shrugged. "Let's go." I nodded as we walked hand in hand, back to his alt and back to the base.
Another half hour later…
"What is going on here?" I looked as we entered through the Main Gate. Soldiers dressed in black were everywhere, carrying massive weapons in their arms.
Ironhide stopped driving as the door opened for me. "Decepticons incoming."
"What?" I yelled as I hurried to get out. Where the hell did they come from?
He transformed in front of me. "Two Decepticons, the Dreads, they are called, are headed this way. Usually there are three of them, but one is missing, probably already offlined."
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" I looked at him with wide eyes, angry that he hadn't mentioned this.
"I only got the information now. They're headed towards the base. I have to go, Mel." he said, looking around, probably looking for the 'Cons to emerge. "You should get inside, for your safety." he said in his gruff voice.
"Just be safe and kick their asses." I smiled assuring myself that he would be okay, but I was worried. Again, I was getting that feeling that Sarah would get every time Will would go on a mission to a distant part of this world. It was a horrible feeling. I pressed my lips together, fear and adrenaline slowly running through my veins.
Ironhide transformed, his engine roaring as the Main Gate opened for him and as he sped out, going in the direction of the Decepticons. I could see them in the distance, 2 matte black SUVs. And in front of the SUVs, from another street, emerged Bumblebee, Dino and Sideswipe, all of them making serpentines, evading the rockets the Dreads were firing at them.
My eyes narrowed to get a good look at where Ironhide was headed.
But then they widened in shock. He was going to crash right into them!
A huge crash sound emitted a couple of hundred meters away from the base, but it could be clearly heard, as sparks erupted and the 3 Transformers transformed in midair.
Bumblebee and Dino made it to the base, while Sideswipe stayed behind to help Ironhide. It looked to me like they had a little Mexican standoff, because of the positions of the Decepticons and Autobots. I feared that someone would lose a head from our guys.
"Mel!" I heard my uncle's voice call for me. He jogged towards me. "What are you doing here?"
"Ironhide and I were checking out the apartment the government gave us and he took me back here-"
A couple of gunshots erupted from the 'Mexican standoff', but luckily, none of the good guys took the blows and Sideswipe and Ironhide easily got rid of the remaining two Dreads.
Suddenly, as Ironhide and Sideswipe transformed in the distance, Sentinel cut in and drove back to the base. I wondered where he had gone. I also wondered where had Optimus gone to. Ironhide and Sideswipe transformed and sped back to the base.
Will immediately took command on their approach into the base, signaling with his hands for all of the Autobots to come in. "Move, get inside! Go, go, go, go, go!"
"Lennox!" I heard Sam's voice as he hurried to get out of Bee. "We got Decepticons everywhere!" Sam yelled, his eyes screaming fear and dread from them as he kept motioning with his hands.
"I got my whole team deployed, looking for them. Ironhide!" my head whirred towards Ironhide, seeing him transform, along with Sentinel. "Protect Sentinel, get him locked up inside!"
"Consider it done." Ironhide replied, but then looked at me. "Mel, get inside as well."
"Are there more Decepticons incoming?" I looked at him. I didn't want him to get hurt or killed.
"Negative, but for your own safety." I nodded, but I waited for my uncle to come inside as well as I stood leaning on the giant metal crate a couple of dozen feet away from Ironhide.
"You gotta guard him, because he's the key to the whole thing." Sam explained, but then abruptly turned around at the sound of Sentinel Prime's voice.
"Indeed I am," I looked up at Sentinel. Something in my stomach churned. Was it something about his voice that made me feel uncomfortable in his presence, was it something about the way he looked or spoke, or perhaps just the fact that I got into a big argument with Ironhide because of seeing his dead body, I didn't know. But all I knew for sure is that something never felt right in his presence. "What you must realize, my Autobot brothers, is that we were never going to win the War."
He turned around, doing something with his right hand. Sunstreaker, who had emerged from the Main Room, walked up to my left, further away from Sentinel. He gave him a scrutinizing look. He said in a low voice, so that somehow, only I could hear him. "Something's not right." He paused. "What do you mean?" he asked Sentinel, but I could see that his body was tensing, his hands forming into fists.
Ironhide caught the look as well and narrowed his eyes at Sunstreaker, as for him to cut it out. "For the sake of our planet's survival," Ironhide turned around to face Sentinel, as Sentinel glared at me. I had the deja vu feeling again, of the time when Sentinel glared at me in room 14-B when he said 'It would mean the end of your world'. I looked at him, frightened. "A deal had to be made… with Megatron."
"Megatron?!" I angered immediately.
Sentinel spun around so quickly, nobody could register the gun cocking sound. He whirred, shooting point blank at Ironhide's spark casing. Ironhide's body froze from the point blank shots, an incredulous amount of sparks erupting from his body, sending him menacingly down to the ground.
Witnessing the scene, my heart stopped. I froze. Pain shredded through my whole body, but it wasn't physical pain. My knees almost immediately gave out, as I gripped my head, shrieking "NO!" My hand reached for Ironhide, but someone grabbed me from behind, dragging me away from the blasts, taking me to cover. "No, Ironhide!" My vocal chords were at their ends as another point blank shot stuck him in the chest.
"Get back!" Will roared from behind me.
"What… have you done?" Ironhide's weak voice managed to say, as his body started to change, it began to rust and painfully fall apart. I stared at the scene with tearful eyes.
A yellow foot guarded me, stepping in front of me to shield me from the oncoming blast from Sentinel. I realized it was Sunstreaker who was shielding me, as he shot at Sentinel. Sentinel roared, "I hereby discharge you from dut-ARGH!"
Sentinel's arm took a bad hit from Sunstreaker's blaster, but Sentinel's weapon fired off randomly at Ironhide's legs. Bumblebee fell to his back as metal parts flushed over him. Getting up quickly, he shot at Sentinel as well, as Sentinel blew up what remained of the space on the Main Gate.
"Bee!" Sam yelled for him.
"Get back!"
"Sentinel!" I roared for him, desperate to throw death threats at him, but my hot tears blurring my vision and my weakened legs stopping me from moving forward. I wanted to destroy him, torture him, make him suffer, instant hate was boiling through my veins.
Sentinel retreated, transforming and fleeing from the scene, and everything suddenly become quiet to my ears.
My red eyes slowly drifted to Ironhide's laying body as Sunstreaker's holoform let me go. The tears streamed down my cheeks, over his dissipating metal body. It pained me so much to see him like this. "Ironhide…" I crawled up to him as his body started to dissipate, rust slowly taking over his metal form. I could do nothing but cry over my mate as he was slowly dying in front of me. "You're going to be fine, please, you have to be fine... I love you..."
His holoform appeared in front of me, glitching, but it was there. He embraced me in a strong hug, his hands caressing my waist. I hugged him so tight around his neck, like never before in my life. I had been so scared. "I will see you again, my dearest, this is not the end." he whispered into my hear, kissing the spot behind it. I shut my eyes as the tears fell over him. "Please, don't mourn my death. I'm not going down without-fight." His holoform glitched, appearing and disappearing fast. I inhaled his scent one last time. "Goodbye, my lover." He pressed a deep kiss, one last kiss onto my lips. I tried grasping onto it for so long, but his holoform died out, leaving me alone in front of his dying body.
I crawled to his hand, which was falling apart, but I couldn't lose him. "Ironhide, please! Fight for it, come on!" I yelled, but his body was giving out on him. "No! I love you and I need you!" I coughed out, my throat burning with pain. "Please… please come back to me… Ironhide, please, I love you!" I wept as my uncle dragged me from behind, I knew it was him so I yelled at him. "NO! We have to save Ironhide! Will, please, I can't lose him!"
I all but cooperated with him, trying to crawl back to Ironhide.
But his body had died. I saw it in his black eyes, before rust took over it.
He had gone to the Well.
He was… dead.
And as my mind had processed this, I had become frozen. Numb.
"Rally all N.E.S.T. forces back to the base! Come on!" Will made me get up on my feet and run. Run to safety. I wanted to go back, find a way to make Ironhide come back to life, but I couldn't. Will was strongly holding my hand, dragging me along with him into the base.
"Will, please, we have to go back!" I struggled, my tears flying from the force, but he was stronger.
"Get a medic down here!"
The wounded soldiers laid on the ground. When I looked at them, I saw Ironhide. My tears blurred my vision as I was almost blindly following my uncle. "Alright, we don't have enough men! Do not engage Sentinel!" I followed my uncle to secret corridors, running up the stairs and tripping on the way up. Soldiers from behind me, picked me up and set me on the ground again.
I recognized the second floor as we ran across room 14-B. I glanced at the Main Room below us.
Dead bodies. Destroyed planes. Lost friends. Lost family.
Everything down there was representing death and chaos. And only one thing had caused it.
Sentinel.
He had to die. Somehow, somewhere, painfully, he had to die. If nobody would kill him, then I would, no matter the consequences. I would find a way.
Sentinel had kept on destroying the main room, explosions boomed everywhere as soldiers fell from the platforms, their dead bodies adorning the floor with red spots on the ground. "I am a Prime, I do not take orders from you!"
With hate boiling through my veins and anger driving my mind, I dared to yell at him. "Fuck you and your Prime status, Sentinel! You will die!" I also dared to spit on him.
If I had a weapon, I would have surely used it.
"Director Mearing, we can't fight him, let's go! We have to go!" Will tried to tell her as calmly as possible, as he grabbed my hand and kept me from falling to the ground. I couldn't stand. I was broken.
But Sentinel seemed not to hear my shrieks, for he kept destroying everything that crossed his path. "Now, return what belongs to me!"
"Oh my God!" Mearing yelled as we all ran back. I took one last glance at the murderer of my mate. I would avenge Ironhide.
I had to. I knew Ironhide would do the same for me.
And just as Sentinel had vanished somewhere, the gunshots had stopped. We all arrived to another part of the base. There was a writing on the wall and it said 'North E 317'. I had no idea what it meant, but it didn't matter. My stomach was churning and I had a feeling I would throw up.
We stood there panting, all of us as Optimus arrived and transformed.
"Yeah, take a look Optimus! This is all on you!" Mearing yelled at him. Honestly, I would have wanted to yell at him as well. It was his fault he had to bring in Sentinel here and revive him, then have him kill my mate… my beloved Ironhide.
A soldier ran up to us and I was surprised to see that it was Alex. "Sentinel hit the vault, took the pillars."
Will's face angered as he aggressively kicked a melted and deformed fence. He ran into the center of the Command Center. "Come on, let's go." We all followed him as he dragged me with him. "Alright, notify the 101st Airborne, we need to hunt this thing down!"
I couldn't run anymore. I hadn't the strength, I hadn't the will.
I let go of his hand and was slowly dragging myself behind all of them. "Mel, come on." Sam stopped running and turned back and offered his hand to me. "Come on." He gently said.
"I can't." I manage to mutter out. "I… I don't have…"
"Stop, okay?" He cupped my cheeks immediately. "Just get through this and we'll talk about everything else later, alright?"
"Sam… I can't… Ironhi-"
"Run, okay? As I said, we'll talk about everything else later." He was surprisingly calm.
Well of course he was calm, he didn't lose someone he loved more than life.
I took Sam's hand as both of us ran into the Command Center. Things in there were chaotic. I didn't know what to think about anymore, I felt like my mind was going to give up on me.
Ironhide never gave up on me.
The tears formed quicker than ever, as this time I was struggling to look through my own eyes.
"Destination has been set, I'm going with Optimus, Bumblebee and Dino. We need the Police Department's units as well, and two dozens of soldiers, we are leaving now." Will quickly said, forming a plan as he was running towards me, with the soldiers running behind him. He looked at me, sadness filling his eyes as he stopped. "Mel, you're going to be fine, I promise." He quickly hugged me, kissing me on the forehead and he ran back out on the scene.
Luckily, the Autobots' holoforms were in the Command Center, just observing the chaotic satiation for they could do nothing else. I came up to Sunstreaker, who had been the nearest person to me. I touched his forearm, gripping it gently as I caught his attention. "I need your help… please…" I looked up into his eyes, feeling horrible for pleading, but I knew that the humans here couldn't help me, because they were too busy with their own business.
Seeing my weakened state, he and I moved aside. This time, he saved the disgusting comments about humans and cut to the chase. "Of course, I'll help you." I was a little taken back by his immediate cooperativeness, but I went with it. He did save my life, but couldn't save Ironhide's as well.
I hiccupped, the tears reducing the amount of oxygen going into my lungs. "We have to find Sarah and Annabelle." I told him in a shaky voice.
"Come on." He started running through the corridors I hadn't even known were there and I followed him. Somehow, we had managed to come to the rooms that were once ours. Surprisingly, all of them were intact.
I barged into Sarah and Annabelle's room. "Sarah!" I yelled, my throat filled with pain each time I said something.
The room was empty.
I looked for them in the bathroom. They weren't there either.
Where were they? If they weren't here, the could have been in the Main Room and then maybe Sentinel got to them…
The thoughts caused me to panic.
I can't lose them too. I can't lose them. Will and I will be left alone, we can't be left alone!
My mind was going in so many ways I thought I was going to faint. "No… No… They can't be gone… They can't…" I gripped my head my eyes so wide I thought they would fall out. I was petrified. My head was going to explode from the grip my hands had on it.
I was so scared of losing the people I loved, so much… and now it was starting to become a reality.
My fear turned into a reality.
My legs gave out as my whole body felt weakened.
Sunstreaker hurried to catch me as I fell into his arms, shaking. "Calm down." He said in his deep voice, setting me to sit up on the intact bed. "Falling into stasis will not help anyone. Losing your sanity won't help either."
I hugged him around the neck, sobbing into his chest. "He's gone, Sunny… In front of my eyes…"
He froze once my arms had found their way around him. But I just had to hug him. I had no one else.
His body slowly relaxed as his hands found their way awkwardly around my back. "I've seen mechs come back from the dead. Jazz is a great example."
I angrily looked at him, "Jazz's body didn't rust to death!"
"True…" he said, not knowing what to say later. "We will find Sarah and Annabelle. They must be here somewhere."
I moved away from him, but kept my left hand on his right shoulder for balance, my tears staining his holoform. And my tears just couldn't stop running. I wiped my eyes. "Can't you scan the rooms?"
"No... Too much blood is around the base, revealing a lot of different heat signatures, but those signatures could be dismembered bod-"
I got up, my legs never feeling as weak as they were at this point. "We have to find them, come on." I managed to mutter, cutting him off, as I was going out of the room. Even though I just wanted to sit and die now, I knew other people depended on me and I had to find them.
I searched one of the rooms and was glad that I found the two of them in my room. I didn't know what they were doing there, but I was glad they were alright. "Mel!" Sarah said, getting up to her feet and enveloping me in a hug, "What's going on? Why are you covered in gunpowder?"
Gunpowder. Guns. Ironhide.
My tears formed again. "I… Sentinel…" my lower lip trembling, throat hurting and mind going erratic, I couldn't for a normal sentence. I think I was in shock. The mere thoughts of Ironhide could block my brain from working.
"What?" She asked.
"Sentinel… he-he shot…"
"Who did he shoot, dear?"
My body starting to shake and tremble harder. "He… he killed him…"
"Who killed who, Mel?"
The words were so hard to utter, I had to force myself to say them. I just didn't want to repeat the horrible words. "Sentinel… he killed Ironhide."
Sarah's grip on my shoulder lessened, to the point where I could no longer feel it. "No… Mel... tell me it's not true." She said as I looked up at her, her eyes filled with anguish, her tears already in the process of forming.
I nodded, my own tears falling on accord.
"Oh God…" she said, sitting on the bed as Annabelle sat in her lap.
"Mommy, what's wrong?"
"Nothing Annabelle." She said, staring at a blank space in front of her. "So that's what happened out there." She meant on the gunshots that she and Annabelle heard while hiding here. I nodded. "Where's Will?" she quickly said.
"He went... somewhere with the Autobots. I don't know where." My trembling voice managed to utter.
"Femmes," Sunstreaker caught our attention. "Optimus ordered that all of you are to be immediately transported to the apartment the government gave you."
"Do you know how to get... there?" I asked, my voice slowly normalizing.
"Of course." He huffed, his normal, egotistical side coming back.
"Can we all fit in your alt?" I asked.
For once, where it was a situation of life and death, he didn't let the 'disgusting humans' thing stop him from taking us to a safe house. "It will be a tight squeeze. Hurry, we don't have much time." He said as he waited for Sarah to take a couple of bags from the room.
"I need to take the food, clothes…"
"No time, Sarah." Sunstreaker took her hand as Sarah snatched a couple of bags with her one hand and we all ran out to the destroyed Main Room. "Cover her eyes, Sarah." Sunstreaker said, implying that Annabelle shouldn't be seeing dead bodies and blood spill at such a young age. Sarah did what he said as he took a turn for the Back Gate, where the alts had been parked.
As we ran up to his Aventador alt mode, the doors opened for us. Sarah quickly opened the hood of the car and stuffed the bags there. Aventadors had engines in the back, that much I knew.
We all sat in, as Sunny did the honor of buckling us up. He sprinted from 0-60 in less than 3 seconds as he drove like a maniac through the city. Night had fallen, and the V12 behind us was spitting flames through its four exhausts. It was a miracle we didn't get busted.
In a matter of only 10 minutes, we had arrived to the apartment. Sunstreaker stopped driving, opening the doors and unbuckling us. "Hurry, my presence is needed elsewhere."
"Are Jolt and the twins here?" I quickly asked, taking Annabelle by the hand as Sarah was taking out the luggage.
"Yes, with those two other humans." He most probably meant on Leo and Mikaela.
As I was starting to go inside the building I stopped. I turned around to Sunstreaker. "Where's Nicole?" He was silent. His holoform wasn't turned on. "Someone please get her here safely." I said as he flashed his headlights in understanding. The doors closed on their own as he went in reverse and sped out, going back to the base, his engine roaring and fading in the distance.
I showed Sarah the way to the apartment, going all the way to the top floor. I just realized that this was a not-so-luxurious penthouse as I first thought it was. "This is the place, I think Leo and Mikaela are here." I said in a low voice, setting Annabelle on the couch in the living room and turning on the TV.
"Mel…" Sarah called me as she and I entered one bedroom. "How are you holding up?"
Pain sizzled through my body. "Barely." I said, voice immediately trembling.
"I know Ironhide meant a lot to you, he was your guardian for six years…"
I didn't need to be reminded. "I know."
She embraced me in a hug as I felt the sudden urge to be left alone. I didn't want to cry in front of her, even though Ironhide told me not to cry at all.
I didn't know how he imagined that I don't cry after his death. The mere thoughts penetrated my heart like bullets.
Bullets. Ironhide took the bullets.
I asked Sarah to keep Annabelle occupied for as long as she could. She would eventually ask where Ironhide was. We needed to explain it to her somehow.
God, Ironhide, why did you have to go?
Now, there is a reason why the 'goodbye, my lover' part in Ironhide's speech was written in italics and you will see and read why, in a couple of more chapters, but remember the 'goodbye, my lover' sentence, because it's important and will be featured towards the end of this story.
So how did you all like this? There wasn't much time to mourn or be sad, considering it was the middle of a war zone, but I tried. Had I had more time to developing a 'weeping' scene, I certainly would have made good use of it.
I think the end of this story is somewhat near, I truly hope we'll get to the 100th chapter perimeter before I finish it. I worked a lot to get to, almost 80 chapters, I think I'll find a way to get to 100.
Review guys. :)