The Human Prime
Chapter 2: Aboard The Nemesis
Artemis felt her muscles ache and heard muttering around her. She attempted to open her eyes but found that her sight was blurred and stale. She must have been out for a while. Looking up, she found chains tying both of her arms together keeping her suspended from the ground. The muttering between two bots became three as she finally managed to open her eyes and see the figures.
"It is very odd. She is definitely a human, but I've detected traces of Energon in her left arm. It's like nothing I've ever encountered." The red bot in which she couldn't recall his name from the memories she had gotten from Cybertron.
"That explains a lot." A dark blue one, rather large, stated blankly. It occurred to her that he wasn't very bright.
"Oh does it Breakdown? Tell me, how do you suppose she obtained Energon in her arm?" The metallic one that towered over them both asked. Now, she knew this one very well and had seen him multiple times in her memories. He turned towards her and realized that she was awake. He walked towards her until his face was right into hers. "Do you know who I am?"
"Megatron." Artemis muttered weakly as she tried to keep her eyes open in order to convey determination.
"Pretty smart for a fleshling. Knockout, I want a full diagnostic of this human. I want to know what makes her so special. Dismantle her if you have to." He smirked then turned and left. Knockout bowed his head slightly.
"As you wish, lord Megatron." Knockout turned to Breakdown and gave a heavy sigh. "And I was hoping to buff up my paint job today. There goes that idea." It was obvious that the red bot cared a lot about his appearance.
"I better go and get some work done. You have this covered right?" Breakdown got closer to the door while waiting for his friends answer.
"Please, don't insult me. It's only a human." Knockout watched Breakdown walk out then turned to his computer. Artemis looked up and down the red bot and was quite impressed. He was pretty good looking. The paint design and rims, no wonder he took pride in his appearance.
"Nice paint job." She mumbled the last thing she needed was to upset him. Nothing wrong with buttering up a doctor who might be cutting you open in a drop of a hat.
"Uh, thanks?" The red bot said over his shoulder and then went back to his work.
"I could just tell you what is up with the Energon and you won't have to cut me open." She suggested seeming that he wouldn't want to stain his interior with human flesh.
"True, but what fun would that be. And what if you lied? Megatron would peel my paint for that." He transformed his arm into a saw and brought it close to her.
"True, but if I didn't lie you would have tarnished your metal for nothing." She attempted to by herself time. "If I helped the Autobots, I mustn't be a good liar anyways."
"Hmm." Knockout brought his other hand to his chin then after a long agonizing pause, reverted his other hand back. "Alright, let's see where this takes us." He folded his arms and leaned against the control panel. "Tell me."
"Well, it began when I was about five years old." Artemis began with a sigh of relief.
At the Autobot Base
Sam clung to Miko as they exited the green car. The base was rather large. Oddly enough, it looked as if it were built for humans before the large robots had inherited it. Miko waved two other humans. Two boys, one around her own age and the other smaller and obviously younger.
"Sam, this is Raf and Jack." Miko extended her hand towards them as an introducing gesture.
"Welcome to the robot fight club." Jack joked which made Sam smile. The boy was rather attractive to her, but the rather dire situation had kept her from flirting.
"Hi." Raf said rather shyly, she thought of him as rather cute like a teddy bear. Sam focused her attention of the large robots. She felt stupid, not because she was new, but because Artemis used to tell her about robots just like these ones and she would just laugh at her. Now, Artemis was in terrible danger and she needed their help to get her back.
"Excuse me." Sam approached the largest of the bots rather shyly who was talking to a white and red bot who looked similar to an ambulance. "I know you are going to do your best to save my friend, but I feel you should tell me some things first and I should tell you some things too."
"Is that so?" The red and white bot said sarcastically. He seemed rather annoyed that there was yet another human child in his base.
"First of all, who are you?" Sam asked trying not to tick off the robots too much.
"We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron. Also known as, Autobots." The larger bot answered as if he had explained it millions of times.
"Uh-huh." She thought of herself more stupid for asking a question that she knew she wouldn't understand the answer. "Do you all have names?"
"I am Optimus Prime, Leader of the Autobots." He gestured to the white and red bot next to him. "This is Ratchet, our physician and scientist." He looked over at the larger green bot and the smaller blue ones. "This is Bulkhead and Arcee, my warriors." He finally looked at the yellow and black bot. "And Bumblebee, my scout."
"Optimus…I have to tell you, this isn't my first time hearing that name." Sam admitted and looked down. She remembered the first time she heard it was from Artemis, of course. Artemis had explained in great detail of a robot that would fight for the right and protection of his planet. "Artemis told me all about you."
"The human girl who was captured?" Optimus asked redundantly, he already figured that was the case.
"Yes. She's not like other human girls. As I have realized from our time together. She…knows things. Things that if she told any other human, they would think she were crazy. Even I, for the longest time, believed her a little off her hinges that is, until I met you all. She knows about your planet and everything there is TO KNOW about your planet. It's history, its Biology, its secrets, etc." She stopped realizing that perhaps they got the message. "I don't know why, but she does. And if these things that captured her decide to cut her open, I don't know if it would be in your best interest." The Autobots stood in silence for a long time. Finally Arcee responded to her speech.
"That would explain that blow to the Decepticon." Referring to the moment when Artemis took on the Decepticon to free Miko.
"It would also explain why the Decepticons would take a human child hostage at all." Ratchet clarified.
"However troubling this news may be, our top priority is to retrieve Artemis." Optimus felt his teams eyes on him once again, some of them slightly nodding.
"But Optimus." Ratchet protested. "How are we supposed to save her if she's aboard the Decepticon warship? We don't even require the means of tracking the vessel."
"Do you have a computer?" Sam smiled confidently.
"I have a laptop." Raf held up his laptop hoping it would help. Sam took it then climbed her way up to the control panel and plugged it in.
"Sometimes Artemis would disappear with a drop of a hat. So we developed a tracking system in her equipment so I could find her if I needed her." She plugged in a flash drive of hers and loaded its contents.
"Impossible. The Nemesis has a very powerful cloaking system. There's no possible way you'll be able to get the signal to penetrate it." Ratchet said right as a beeping on the screen showed a set of coordinates.
"You don't think Artemis thought of that? Insulting." Sam giggled which made Ratchet feel a little foolish and scoff. She worked on the laptop for a while, typing in commands then finally pulling up the tracking screen. A small red dot blinking on the screen; she plugged in a cable to the Autobots' computer if only to make it clearly visible to all on the large screen. "This would be in the sky of course."
"Alright, we might know his exact location, but it is still extremely dangerous! We would be EXTREMELY OUT NUMBERED! I mean this is the Decepticon war ship." Ratchet insisted to his leader who was mulling the choices over as they spoke.
"While I understand your concern Ratchet, I cannot allow a human life to be harmed while we hold the capabilities to prevent it." Optimus turned to his other warriors. "Prepare the ground bridge and prepare to roll out." Ratchet, knowing there was no way he could convince Optimus otherwise, went to set the coordinates for the ground bridge.
"I'm coming with you!" Sam ran up to the large red bot, but he shook his head in disapproval.
"It is too dangerous. In allowing you to accompany us would simply put your life in danger as well." Optimus was about to proceed toward the ground bridge, but Sam ran in front of him.
"Look, I've lived with Artemis my whole life. She's not just a friend anymore, she's family. If anything happened to her and I didn't do anything to help, I would never forgive myself." She shook her head in sorrow. Optimus believe himself to be getting soft for he felt Sam's plea deep in his spark and knew that he had to bring her.
"Do not leave Bulkhead's side." He finally said, already feeling that it was a horrible idea. Ratchet knew that Optimus was feeling the sting of his decision so did not wish to throw salt into his wounds by protesting. They all transformed into their vehicular form and waited for Sam to take cover inside Bulkhead's bulky car form. Finally, they drove into the ground bridge unaware that Miko followed them, followed by Jack.
Artemis View
Artemis noticed Knockout taking notes. She wasn't sure if it was for Megatron's sake or to determine if everything check out in the end, but she continued to explain the complexity which was her life. She was quickly interrupted by an alarm sounding through the halls of the ship.
"Intruder alert! Autobots have penetrated the Nemesis' defenses." A Decepticon announced over the intercom. Knockout's jaw tightened, knowing to well that they came to retrieve the human.
"Well, so much for taking the clean route." His hand transformed into a saw once again and approached her slowly. "Sorry, but with the Autobots after you, I can't risk them taking you alive. Especially after all you told me."
"Perhaps I'm just that lucky." She said sarcastically. It was official; she had to escape these chains now, though it was still cloudy on how. The chains were so tightly around her arm that it squished the blaster so that it would be unable to activate and she did not have the required range of motion required in order to draw out her blade. As the saw got closer, she pulled herself up and yanked on the chains rapidly. If she could just get the chains to drop her down, even just a little, she could use Knockouts saw to cut her free.
"Say, 'aahh' kid." Knockout grinned devilishly as he brought his saw closer painfully slow.
Autobots' View
Optimus took the lead, shooting down Decepticons as they revealed themselves. Bumblebee proceeded from the left while Arcee took the right. Bulkhead covered the rear and together they made a box formation moving down the hall, protecting Sam who followed them in the middle of the formation.
"She's either in the brig or in sick bay for experimentation." Arcee announced to the other three of them as she rapidly shot down a Decepticon.
"We must act quickly. Our best option would be to split up and check both locations." Optimus yelled back as he transformed one of his arms into a blade and took down a Decepticon who had gotten to close. Right as he said that, Sam twitched and looked around. She felt something and she had a feeling it was Artemis.
"This way!" Sam, without thinking, ran down the left hall.
"Sam! No!" Arcee turned her body and began to chase her down. Of course, with the Autobots luck, a Decepticon came from a hall and stepped in front of Sam, aiming his cannon at her. As she heard the charge of the blaster heighten, her eyes widened. This was how her life was going to end? Already?
Sam covered her face, hoping maybe she could at least shield her eyes from seeing her own demise. Right as she thought her life was over, a violent shove came from her left. Arms that cradled her and a body that shielded her from the vibrating impact that followed the cannons blast hitting the floor. She opened her eyes slowly and found Artemis staring at the Decepticon soldier.
"Don't touch my Sam." Artemis removed the gauntlet from her arm, activating the blade, and then throwing it into the Decepticon's right optic. It recoiled and then joined its fellow drones on the floor with the help of Arcee's blasters.
"Artemis!" Sam wrapped her arms around her and held her close.
"Sam, didn't I tell you to keep out of dangerous situations?" Artemis loosely put her arms around her, but Sam could feel her leaning. She looked down and found Artemis' foot burned severely.
"Oh, no you're-"
"Just a scratch. Let's get out of here." Artemis saw the yellow bot turn into a speedy muscle care, inviting them in with loud beeps. She hooked one arm around Sam's shoulders for support and began to limp towards the car.
"Optimus, we got her!" Arcee announced as the two girls retreated into Bumblebee.
"Autobots, Fall back!" Optimus put a finger to his audio receptor. "Ratchet, bridge us back now!" As soon as he finished those words, the ground bridge opened to bring them back to base. Artemis watched as the bots outside the car transformed into their appropriate vehicular forms then drive into the ground bridge. Sam, who had been staring at Artemis in relief, raised a backpack to her.
"You dropped this." Sam saw Artemis smile before taking the backpack from her. When they looked out the widow, they found themselves back at base. However, Artemis rubbed her burnt leg and Sam worried. She helped Artemis out of the car willingly, finding Optimus standing waiting for them to get a glimpse of the girl they've been looking for. Artemis bowed her head respectfully.
"Optimus Prime, it is an honor." She said to the large bot standing before her. Optimus noticed the burnt clothing on her left leg.
"Jack. Call June." He turned to the teenage boy who was standing on the stairs. Jack nodded and dialed his mom's number on his phone.
"What can she do?" Sam helped Artemis onto a metal medical bed.
"My mom's a nurse." He heard his mother pick up and turned to talk to her.
"A nurse? Like a doctor, no, no. We don't…I don't do doctors." Sam went to stop Jack, but Artemis placed a hand on her shoulder which stopped her dead.
"It's okay Sam." Artemis laid back, still clutching her leg. Sam could tell she was in real pain.
"Alright…Alright." Sam cuddled into her side. She wasn't sure what it was, but whenever she was with Artemis, she became a five year old again. Artemis looked up at Optimus who was watching worriedly.
"Where do I start?"