Disclaimer: "I do not own any part of the transformers franchise, or any of their characters. I own only Harper, and any original content that I make her do or say. Everything else is property of the amazing men and women who brought this story to life on the big screen. Thank you."
Chapter 7
The scariest part of the whole hide-and-seek game that followed, wasn't even the danger of possibly being found while it was taking place. It wasn't the heights in which Optimus held them while they were avoiding the choppers. It wasn't even the fall towards the concrete ground that definitely would've killed them all.
The scariest part, was watching Dragonfly get taken down by the giant straps these men used on him.
As they'd been falling, Harper had managed to push Sam out beyond Optimus' large foot. She knows he meant for it to break their fall… but it's a giant ass metal foot. And as her side slammed into it, she figures it probably does more harm than good. He was being thoughtful, she knows that. He just doesn't have an actual understanding yet of just how fragile humans were physically.
Bumblebee swooped in and caught Mikaela and Sam from the rest of their fall. And as Harper continued plummeting towards the ground after taking that hard hit, she suddenly found herself cradled against a green metal chest within two large hands.
They tumbled across the concrete for a moment before Dragonfly was able to bring them to a stop. Harper winces at the pain in her right side, but then smiles up at Dragonfly and says, "Nice catch."
His grin at her is short-lived. Because the next sound they hear is Bumblebee's grunt of pain as a net cannon clamps down over one of his hands. Dragonfly quickly puts Harper down with Sam and Mikaela, trying to help his brother-in-arms break free.
But it's no good. As soon as they have enough hooks into Bee, they start firing at Fly as well. They jerk and trip and take both autobots to the ground.
Harper knows they're stronger than this. They could've easily pulled the helicopters out of the air before letting themselves get taken. But they weren't. Not even as the officers on the ground began arriving, tazing them and firing the freezing gas at them to try and immobilize them. They don't try to fight back, because they know fighting at this point would cause more harm then good for the humans.
Humans that were showing almost little-to-no humanity right now.
Sam and Mikaela get taken to the ground almost right away… but Harper is much more volatile, and harder to detain. Sam hadn't honestly ever seen his sister fight since her army unit had begun teaching her how. He knew they were, but he hadn't actually seen her use any of it.
She broke one man's nose instantly, cracked another's knee with a swift kick, and then bolted like a bat out of hell towards her bike. "FLY!" His eyes were a mix of pain and concern. He clearly wanted her to get out of here, away from what was happening to him. But he was in so much pain. He was hurting.
And he couldn't help but feel touched when she came up behind one of the men and quickly cracked his skull against the pavement. He'd be fine, but he'd certainly have a headache when he woke up. Harper then moved to one of the men with the freezing guns, jerking it from his hands and turning it on him.
It was at that point that the men realized who was really going to be the hardest to capture in the group. Harper. Guns were raised and threats thrown, but she never stopped moving. She came at them with her own new weapon that she'd taken from the other man, broke someone else's arm when he got too close, and would've continued on from there.
Then a tazer stabbed into her left side. A tazer meant for taking down an autobot… not a human being. She heard Sam scream as she was literally thrown to the side from the force of the jolt hitting her body. She heard Dragonfly wail in agony.
She also managed to hear one of the men in uniform yell, "What the fuck, man?! Did you even dial it down! Shit! What if you killed her?!"
What if he had? Was she dying? She felt like she was dying? Every single bone and muscle in her body now ached, and she somehow felt like she was both numb, and yet on fire at the same time.
Finally, though she's not sure whether she's grateful about it or not, she passes out, her world fading into black. Her last thought being… that they'd better hope she was dying. Because if she woke up from this…
Well, let's just say anyone that got in her way from getting her bike back was not going to be shown any sort of mercy.
They were finally stateside. Thank God for that. And as Will and his team began heading for their vehicles, they agreed to reconvene at the exit gates so they could basically drive like an army parade all the way to Harper's house. Their families were obviously important too, but their families didn't already think they were dead. And most likely, Harper did.
Epps slaps Will on the shoulder, "Finally gonna see her again! What you gonna say?" "Still have no idea. At this point, I think I'd just be happy to hold her." "Aw, you're so cute." "Oh, shut up!"
He was about to punch his friend in the shoulder playfully, when three black SUVs came rolling up to them at high speed. And as all doors open, one of the men rushes out and shouts, "Captain Lennox, we need you and your team to come with us right now!" And Will's about to ask what it's about, but the man simply grabs one of his bags from him and says, "Let's go!"
Will and Epps look at each other, and then Will curses under his breath before shouting, "Guys!" The ones who had been heading for a different hanger stop and turn back. Still fuming, he shouts, "Change of plans! Again!"
Climbing into the vehicle, Epps on his left, Will just shakes his head as Bobby says, "Easy, man. We'll get to her." "Yeah? When? Because every five minutes, something else happens that makes it impossible for us to go home." Epps raises an eyebrow, "You mean to Harper. Right?"
And he can't help grinning when Will says simply, "Harper is home."
At the Hoover dam, with everyone dressed in their best once more, as the Secretary of Defense walks up, Lennox calls out, "Team attention! Present arms!" They all salute the man who was responsible for bringing them here. Much as they may want to be elsewhere, they knew this was important.
Not necessarily more important than seeing Harper again. But important, nonetheless.
John Keller, the Secretary, has them stand at ease almost immediately. Approaching Will and Epps, he says, "Captain. Sergeant. Got your intel. Excellent work." Will nods, "Thank you, sir. What about the gunships?" "They are being retrofitted with sabot rounds now. If they hit us again, we'll be ready for them."
Then he sighs and adds, "But… it won't do us much good if we can't get world communications back up."
Meanwhile, further up the bridge, Sam and Mikaela are led up to Agent Simmons again. With a much calmer tone, he says, "Hey, kid. I think we got off to a bad start, huh?" Putting his hand on Sam's shoulder, he says, "You want a latte? HoHo? Double venti macchiato?"
Sam just shoves his hand off and asks, "Where's my sister, and where's my car?"
A new man steps up to them, and says, "Son, I need you to listen to me, very carefully. People could die here. We need to know everything you know, and we need to know it now." Sam shrugs, "Okay."
And then the men grit their teeth when he says, "But first I'll take my sister, my car, my parents, whatever the hell you did with them. You know, you might wanna write all this down. Oh! And Mikaela's juvie record. That's gotta be gone. Like, forever."
Simmons just stares at him from behind his shades, but the other man says, "Come with me. We'll talk about your car. And as for your sister, the hit she sustained from the tazer knocked her unconscious. I honestly don't know how she's still alive. Could have something to do with how much interaction you've had with the aliens. But currently, she's in one of our treatment facilities, until she wakes up. Then we'll have to see what her condition is after that."
When Harper wakes up, she's in a white room that has the lights dimmed to a much more manageable degree of brightness. Which she's grateful for… but it's still entirely too bright. Blinking into it, she turns her head to get a better view of her surroundings. The room has one door, with a coat rack near it for medical coats. A sink on the far side. The bed she's on and the monitor she's attached to are the only other things in here.
Well… and the plastic zip-ties that are securing her ankles and wrists to the bed. Plus the nurse who is apparently in here as well. She stands up from her chair upon realizing Harper's awake. Her smile is genuinely sweet when she says, "Hello, dear. How are you feeling?"
Harper tugs at her restraints in response, to which the woman says, "Yes, we're sorry about that. But we weren't sure how you would be when you first woke up. Rest assured, those will come off soon. We just need you to cooperate for a little bit longer. Can't have you running off before we've run some tests. You had quite a shock to your system."
Harper ponders all of that for a moment, and then nods, "Yeah. Guess so." Her voice was a bit croaky. Good. That made her seem weaker than she was. Feeling for the sleeve of her jacket, Harper holds back a grin when she realizes they left her in it. Then she winces on purpose and asks pitifully, "Can I… have a glass of water?" "Of course, dear!"
As soon as the woman turns her back, Harper finds the secret pocket in her left sleeve, where a pocketknife rests. Her unit of army men had thought of everything when making this for her. She flips it open quickly, and slices through the strap at her wrist in a split second. By the time the lady even starts running the water to fill the glass, Harper has her ankles freed, and her other wrist.
And when the lady turns back to the bed, the monitor is suddenly letting out that steady beep sound that signals someone is dead. But in this case, it's because the patient is no longer hooked to the machine.
The nurse runs out of the room, hitting an alarm to signal a security breach. Then she sprints down the hall in search of the patient she'd just lost. She passes guards and other doctors and nurses on the way.
She misses the fact that one nurse with particularly red and curly hair, doesn't actually belong there. Harper had grabbed the spare medical coat and was now walking down the hall with ease, trying to make herself blend in. Which, was a little hard to do. She still had bruises on her neck and cheek, a cut to her temple, and she's pretty sure her skin must look a little like she'd been cooked too long in an oven.
When she finally finds a bathroom though, she decides it could be worse. With the coat on, and if she turned up the collar and kept her head down, she could blend in. At least until she found Sam and their vehicles. Then they could get the hell out of here, and help find the allspark. Hopefully, Optimus was already on his way to find the damn thing. But they would eagerly send Dragonfly and Bumblebee on their way to help. Anything to get their protectors out of this God-forsaken place.
Harper suspects the car and bike won't be leaving without them, no matter what the cost might be to themselves. But she'll worry about that later. First, she had to find any of them in this… whatever the hell this place actually was.
It was when she finally managed to swipe someone's access badge that she really started getting places. So long as she didn't look like she thought she was in a place she wasn't supposed to be, no one even so much as looked up when she came into the room. But there was still entirely too much space to cover in this place.
It takes her the better part of the next thirty minutes, she's disappointed to admit. But she finally finds her way into another large room, where a robot is being kept on ice. Not her robot, and not Sam's either. But at least this made her feel like she was more on the right track. Perhaps if she went just a few more rooms over, she'd…
That's when she hears Sam's voice say, "Sir, I hate to correct you on everything you think you know. But that's Megatron. He's the leader of the Decepticons."
There's a new man that Harper has never seen before showing them around. Still a member of Sector Seven, obviously. But, as she hurries over to hide behind some transport vans that are behind them, Harper decides she likes this man. He doesn't seem all that offended by Sam correcting him. In fact, he looks more pleased by it than anything else.
He was a smart man, hungry for knowledge. He wanted to know what he didn't know. And if something he thought he knew wasn't correct, he wanted to know that too.
Simmons, on the other hand, got in Sam's face, correcting him about the name of the creature held in a block of ice. NBE-One? Seriously? What does NBE even mean?
Harper knows she must've missed something. But that'll have to wait for later too. Because right now, the Secretary of Defense, whom she'd never had the privilege to see in person before, asks, "And you didn't think the United States military might need to know that you're keeping a hostile alien robot frozen in the basement?"
Oh yeah. Harper definitely likes him. And she likes the new S-Seven man a little less when he makes up the excuse that, until now, there had been no credible threat to national security. To which John Keller says in frustration, "Well, you got one now!"
Harper ducks down as someone walks past on the other side of the vehicles she's hiding behind, which are all lined up and positioned between where she is and the group that's being shown around the facility. And then her knees buckle out from under her and she gasps when she hears Will's voice ask, "So, why earth?"
The conversation around her keeps going on as though nothing had changed. But Harper doesn't think she's ever heard a more beautiful sound in all her life. Peeking over the hood of this transport van, she sees the back of Will's head, and then the side of his face when he and his men turn to look at Sam, who is answering the question.
They were alive. They were alive!
Sam briefly explains that the allspark is why Megatron and everyone else is here. But when John Keller asks him for more information, Sam simply turns his attention to Will.
When the two groups had finally met up, Sam had felt the entire unit turn their attention to him. And they hadn't found a moment to talk or address each other yet, but the question that had come across all of their faces in that moment had been crystal clear.
Where was Harper?
And frankly, Sam was tired of not knowing the answer to that either. So with a firm stare at Will, firmer than he'd ever tried to be with any of those military men, he says, "I'm not answering anymore questions until I see my sister." And at Will's knowing look, Sam feels relieved that the captain of Harper's army unit understands. Harper had indeed been with him, but something had happened to separate them. And Sam was going to need their help, if they wanted to get her back before anything else terrible could happen to her.
Simmons, completely unaware of the silent communication between the two groups, grits his teeth, "You with the sister. We told you, she's…" Sam glares at him, "Yeah, but I haven't seen her yet. And since you shot 1.21 gigawatts of electricity through her body, I want to actually see that she's alive before I say anything else."
Simmons is about to yell at him, declaring that Sam didn't get to call the shots. But then he jumps when Will shouts, "Hey!" All eyes turn to him, but Will simply glares at Simmons like he's the devil-incarnate. And all the anger was very much real in this case. He hadn't actually intended to yell or threaten anyone in order to help Sam find Harper. But upon hearing Sam explain that she'd basically been electrocuted, he demands in a dangerous tone of voice, "Take us to Harper. Now."
"Harper?" Now they all look at the black guy who had come in with the other cybertech analyst. He looked between the army unit, and then Sam, before his eyes blew open wide. "OH MY GOD! You're Sam! You're Sam Witwicky!" Sam nods in confusion, "Um… yeah." "I'm Glen!"
Sam ponders that a moment, and then snaps his finger, "Right! The hacker Harper sends boxes too." "Yes! My baking angel from heaven!" Then he looks to Will and his unit, "And you guys were in Qatar! The reason she asked me to spy on what was happening over there!"
Will and Epps just look at each other, having figured as much by now. And in confirmation of their fears, Glen settles down a bit as he admits, "Oh my God! She thinks you guys are dead. Oh… Oh, my bad. I swear, I went through, like, seven different sites and articles before I told her anything. I…"
Will waves a hand at him to tell him to calm down. Then he turns back to Simmons, "Where is Harper?" Glaring at everyone, Simmons says to Sam, "Look, your big sister isn't going anywhere. She is strapped down, to a table, and will stay there until we've run our tests. And you can just shut it, and…"
The wrench that suddenly smacked him in the head knocks him off his feet. Crashing into the floor, he demands, "Who did that?!" Sam is glancing around, wondering the same thing, as is everyone else. Then, as someone else finally comes in the main door, he spots Harper bent down behind the vehicles. She was snickering, unable to help it, since she was the one who threw the wrench that hit it's target dead on. But she jerked to attention again as the man in the doorway shouts, "Hey! What are you doing?!"
Harper glances at him briefly, and then simply utters, "Shit!" The man hollers up at the guards to get the hell down and detain her. Harper takes off towards the other door in this place. She would circle back for Sam in a minute or two. But before she can get out, the giant door she's heading for opens to reveal three other men running in after her. Along with the nurse who had actually lost her in the first place.
Backtracking, Harper roundhouse kicks the one scientist who had first spotted her, and then runs back towards where she'd been hiding initially. Someone grabs at her lab coat, even while she hears Keller shouting, "Stop! Let her go!"
The man who thought he finally had her didn't listen at first. Not that Harper needed him to. She slid her arms out of the coat easily and continued running, leaving the man with a bewildered expression on his face when he realized he was only holding a piece of material, and not the girl like he'd intended.
Back to the vehicles she'd been hiding behind, she then backs up two steps, and then runs towards them, sliding down underneath the two hoods that are facing each other and vanishing out of sight.
And when Will finally sees her, she comes out the other side, crouched on the ground, glaring at the men trying to follow after her. She was prepared to fight, prepared to take them all on.
And she looked tired as fuck, in spite of how very much awake she had to be. Holy hell, what had happened to her?
Keller finally shouts for all to hear, "ENOUGH!" Everyone ceases moving at that. Everyone… except Will, his unit, and Sam.
Will gets to her first, which Harper is honestly so thankful for. His arms reach down to wrap underneath hers, and she lets herself slump against him. Arms encircling his shoulders, she buries her face in his neck, and for a moment she just breathes him in.
Then she starts crying. Will smooths his hand up and down her back, trying to soothe her weariness. But she just gasps in his ear, "I thought you were dead. I thought you were all…" She can't finish it a second time. Instead she just clings to him tighter, wrapping her legs around his waist and locking herself in place.
She feels the rest of the team, what's left of them, coming up and patting her shoulders. She reaches out for them with one hand, giving Bobby's a particularly hard squeeze in return when he clasps his hand in hers. But she never lets go of Will.
Consequently, he doesn't seem inclined to let go of her. His hot breath comes heavily against the curve of her neck, and she doesn't think anything has ever felt so good in her whole life. His strong arms are locked around her even tighter than her legs are locked around him. And when she feels his lips press a gentle kiss against her skin…
Will feels her grip on him tighten as she trembles, though whether in relief or from another sensation entirely, he's not sure. He just knows it feels so good to hold her again.
Sam smiles wide at the sight of his sister surrounded by these men. He knew he wasn't anywhere near prepared enough or trained enough to help take care of his sister the way she needed right now. She'd been taking care of him through all of this, helping him stay calm and maintain his sanity throughout. She'd tried to protect him whenever she'd been able, and she had bruises to prove it. And he wasn't able to do that for her. He just… he wasn't prepared.
But these guys… they would make sure nothing else touched her again, as long as she was in their sights.
As though to prove that statement, when Simmons marches up as though about to give an order concerning Harper's being here, Will takes a step back and says to his men, "Circle up." The protective circle, the wall of green that forms around them, draws Simmons up short. Sector Seven might have its fair share of fighters and warriors among its ranks. But these were Army Rangers, and every single one of them looked pissed as hell at him.
Sam smirks, "See? You give me my sister, and I answer more questions. Was that so hard?" Simmons glares at him, but Sam just turns back to Keller, and says, "Um… you asked about the allspark. Yeah, so… they came to earth looking for some kind-of cube looking thing. And so Mr. NBE-One here…"
Harper finally lifts her head and says, "What the hell does that even mean? His name is Megatron." Sam points, "Thank you for the confirmation. That's what they call him. But… basically, he wants to transform human technology to take over the universe. That's the decepticons' plan."
Cooling his overheated temper for a moment, Simmons asks, "And you're sure about that?" Sam nods, and then grins when Harper leans back and finally gets Will to put her down. Her hand stays gripped to his shirt front, but she turns to Simmons and says, "Yes, we're sure about that. Unlike you, who simply kidnaps and tortures them, we actually tried talking to these guys. They like us, and explained everything."
Glaring, she adds, "By the way. Nice face." Simmons touches the bandage over his broken nose tenderly while trying to glare back at her. But with the rest of her army friends snickering behind her, it doesn't really work.
And apart from that, Sam is still looking at the other guy that was showing them around now. Shaking his head in disbelief, he asks, "You guys know where it is, don't you?" The man looks like he might like to argue against that. But before he can speak, Keller says, "I would think very hard about your next words if I were you."
He gestures to Harper, and then says, "They're pissed off enough as it is, because they've found her in this kind of condition, and because most of it is your fault. They're not gonna take kindly to being lied to." After that, the man ponders a moment, and then sighs before saying, "Follow me."
Harper jumps in surprise when Will slips an arm behind her back. And then she barely has time to wrap her arms around his neck before he scoops her legs out from under her. "Will! I can walk!" He simply squeezes her tighter against his body and says, "I'm sure you can. But I've just spent nearly a whole week going through hell and back, trying to get back home to visit you." Looking down at her, he says, "Let me. Please?"
He grins when she simply drops her head against his chest. Sighing, she whispers, "I'm so tired." "I know, sweetheart. I promise when this is finished, I'll take you on a vacation." "The beach?" "Wherever you want to go, that's where we'll go." She laughs a little, not completely believing it, even if it was nice to hear. But Will already knows of a friend in the army who owns a beach house of his own. The discounted rate for being his friend would make it easy to make a beach vacation happen.
Alone. Away from anybody else. Where they could hopefully explore a little further the new relationship he intended on having with her. But, first things first, he needed to tell her he loved her, and get her to admit she was in love with him.
For now though, he'd settle for carrying her to wherever they were going next. Well, and figuring out…
"What the hell happened to you?" Harper blinks and then looks up at him. And though the hands that were holding her were firm but gentle… she doesn't think she's ever seen William Lennox look so angry in all her life. Shifting a bit, she says, "Um… well, I took on a miniature version of a decepticon. He was attacking Sam, and then he attacked me when I wouldn't let him attack Sam."
She tilts her head so he can see her neck, "He tried to choke me out. But then Mikaela chopped him to pieces. She's awesome, by the way. We really like her." Will grins, noting a faint blush that enters Harper's cheeks when he does grin at her. "Noted. We like Mikaela. What else? Your whole body smells like you were burnt. And you're favoring your left side. Why?"
Harper blinks again, because she hadn't thought he'd notice that. He just raises an eyebrow, still demanding an answer to his question. Finally, she just grins and shakes her head at him. "Um… well, I fell. From really high up. And the first autobot that tried to catch me… didn't really understand yet just how fragile humans can be. But the second one that caught me did wonderfully."
Leaning up to his ear, she whispers, "Which reminds me, we need to find my bike, and Sam's car. ASAP." "Noted. And what about the fact that you look like you were put in a slow-cooker." "Gee, thanks." "Harper…" Sighing, she says, "I don't know who, but one of them tazed me. With a tazer meant to be used on autobot aliens, not humans. So… I was pretty nearly deep-fried for a minute there. But I'm fine now!"
Will is still glaring forward, and he asks, "Was it that one?" She glances at Simmons, and then says, "I don't think so. I don't know who did it." "Then why is his nose broken?" "Because he threatened Mikaela's dad, and I was tired of listening to him talk."
Grinning again, Will hefts her a little higher and pulls her in tighter to his body. Gentling his tone finally, he says, "Missed you." "Missed you too. By the way, don't ever do this to me again. A very intuitive EMT told me that believing you guys were dead sent me in a mild episode of depression. And I'm very much against doing that again."
She closes her eyes when he kisses the top of her head, and then smiles when he says, "I will do everything in my power to never let it happen again." "Good. Now, please put me down. I think we're here."
He reluctantly sets her on her feet, but not for a moment does he allow her to leave his side. And she actually gives him a look, raising an eyebrow when, as they're all looking at the giant-ass cube in the other room, Will continues to put an arm around her waist, drawing her closer to him when he thinks she's getting too far away.
He just shakes his head in response to her look, not really knowing what else to say right now. He needed her close. He wasn't about to let anything else happen to her if he could, and for that, he needed her close.
Also… well, he just needed to be near her right now. He'd spent about a week in the desert, trying to get back to her, alright? He feels pretty entitled to request her presence be near his for quite a bit of the upcoming future.
Then they all look at the female analyst, who says, "Wait… you said the dam hides the cube's energy? What kind exactly?" The other man, whom Harper has finally figured out is named Tom Banachek, points to her, "Good question. Right this way."
As they're taken into another room, with a few scientists and a creepy looking box in the middle, Tom says, "Please step inside. They have to lock us in." And as he and Harper take up a position next to the box, Will can't help grinning when she says, "Right. Because being locked inside this room next to the scary, glowy, box of death isn't foreboding at all." "Box of death?" "You got a better name for it?"
He shrugs, and then glances to his right to look at the torn up walls some more. When he turns back, Harper has left his side briefly, talking to Epps in a nearby corner of the room.
Grabbing Bobby's arm, she immediately asks, "Is Will alright?" Epps nods, "Yeah, he's fine now. Why?" "He's… I don't know. I mean, it's not weird for him to touch me. He's just… rather determined to keep me close right now. Are you sure he's…" Putting hands on her shoulders, Bobby says, "Harp, the man just spent a week traveling through a hot dessert, battling two of these decepticon monsters on the way, so he could get back to you. He's been trying ever since we reached the base. So… he's just really glad he's finally with you right now."
Harper blinks, "Okay… but… you all went through the desert to get back here. You all…" Epps shakes his head, "He came through it to get back to you. Specifically, Harper. And when we all get back to our families, we'll hold them as close and not let them go for a while." "But I'm not…"
Then she narrows her eyes at Epps, "What's going on? Why is he…" But Bobby shakes his head. Making crossing motions with his hands, he says, "Nope. Nuh-uh. I'm staying out of this. You and he will talk later, and you'll both figure it out on your own from here. I'm done. Bye."
And he literally walks to the other side of the room. Harper's jaw drops in disbelief, even as one of the other soldiers chuckles at her shocked face.
Then she turns to Will again, whose eyes have narrowed playfully at her. Snapping her mouth shut, she moves back to his side, but keeps her arms crossed. Which doesn't stop him in the slightest from wrapping his arm around her waist, or from leaning down to whisper in her ear, "What were you talking to Epps about?" "Nothing."
There's a laugh in his voice when he says, "Liar." She sticks her tongue out at him, making him laugh. Then they return to being serious as Glen hands over his phone, and Simmons places it inside the box. He says something about the phone being Japanese, and that you had to respect the ways of the Samurai. Which would be all well and good… except the phone is a Nokia. And as Maggie, Glen's analyst friend, makes note… Nokias are from Finland.
Harper shakes her head while trying not to laugh, and then jumps when Will places a hand on her back. He wasn't teasing her right now though. His hand simply rested there, his thumb moving in small, slow circles.
It felt really good. Harper swears, she'll pay him to do that so she can fall into a peaceful sleep when all of this is over.
But for now, they watch as the phone gets zapped with some of the cube's energy, and then it magically comes to life. Complete with tiny missiles and machine guns somehow preloaded. Harper has no idea how that works. And as the little demon starts breaking the box, Tom hits a switch, which kills the thing before it can break free.
Then, before anything else can be discussed, the lights flicker in the room, and a tremendous amount of thumping and shaking causes the entire facility to pause in its work. Will stares up at the ceiling for a moment, wondering how stable the structure really is. But then he looks down at Harper as she mutters, "Bad. Very, very bad."
As Keller informs them that the decepticons must know that the cube is here, Tom gets on the speaker to demand an answer for what's happening. And it's a worst nightmare come true. The Megatron hanger has lost power, and the backup generator that they have, isn't going to cut it.
Seriously! Why the fuck do you have a backup generator, if it's not going to provide enough backup power when you so desperately need it?! Shit!
Will is already in motion. Leaning down over the desk where Tom is beginning to panic, he asks calmly, "Do you have an arms room?" Nodding shakily, he directs Simmons to show them the way.
Simmons is about to declare that there is no way in hell Harper, Sam, or Mikaela are coming. But Will takes Harper's hand and says, "She, her brother, and their friend stay with me." "All due respect son…"
Harper's eyes widen when Will gets in Simmons' face. "All due respect… you apparently tried to kill her, and kidnap her entire family. She stays with me. At all times. End of discussion." And then to his men, he shouts, "Let's move!"
In the weapons room, though Harper briefly begins helping with the loading and unpacking of weapons that hadn't been touched in who knows how long, she stops when a gigantic thump surges through the entire facility. They were running out of time.
Glancing at Sam, she nods, and Will watches as she suddenly hurries away from the table next to him, joining Sam to talk to Simmons. Pleading with the man, Sam starts, "You have to take me to my car. You have to. He's gonna know what to do with the cube." Glaring at them, he says, "Your car, and your bike, are confiscated." Harper glares back, "The un-fucking-confiscate them." "We do not know what will happen if we let them near this thing!" "I know what's going to happen if you don't!"
He gives her a look, "What? You gonna break my nose again?" "No. But I will break both your hands, dislocate both shoulders, shatter your knee-cap, and then… yeah, then maybe I'll break your nose again."
The rest of the room had gone silent for a moment, but Simmons doesn't care. "I have people's lives at stake here, little lady!" "So do I! We can't just wait here and see what happens!" "You do not…!"
He should not have reached out and grabbed Harper's arm. The butt-end of the gun that came up and re-broke his nose, wouldn't have done so, if he hadn't tried to grab her. But he did, and now his nose was broken. Again. Harper's eyes widen before she glances over to see Will pushing the shoulder strap of the gun back up his arm so it rests at his back again. He simply brushes a hand up and down her back briefly, both comforting for her, and a clear sign to everyone else in the room that they were not allowed to touch her while he was here.
Then Will shoves Simmons back against a nearby vehicle and demands, "Take them to their cars. Now." Which then results in a sort of Mexican standoff. Every single one of Will's men takes aim at an S-Seven agent that was trying to take aim at him. Will even draws his pistol, pointing it at the man to his right before saying, "Drop it."
Simmons still feels fairly confident, and says calmly, "Drop your weapon, soldier. There's an alien war going on, and you're gonna shoot me?!" "Yeah, well, we didn't ask to be here." "Yeah, well, you certainly seemed happy to be here when your little girlfriend showed…"
The hand on his vest moved to his throat, pressing dangerously, before Will says calmly through his glare, "You're going to want to watch your mouth." Simmons glares back, "I'm ordering you under S-Seven executive jurisdiction!"
Coming up to Will's side, Harper spits out, "S-Seven doesn't exit." Will nods, "Exactly. And we don't take orders from people that don't exist." Simmons glares at Harper now and says, "If it were up to me, you'd be shot in the head, right now!"
John Keller honestly hadn't been sure what would happen in this situation at first. But upon hearing the threat to Harper, the entire group of Army Rangers backed in closer together, tightening their circle around Will, and consequently, Harper as well.
Keller was still trying to figure out what made her so special, when he saw very briefly, the inside flap of her jacket as she turned to look around.
Stepping closer, he holds up his hands in a peaceful gesture, and Will's men let him through. Simmons is still confident he will win, and tells Will, "I'm gonna count to five, okay?" Will simply turns his pistol from the man aiming at him, and instead shoves it against Simmons' chest, "Well, I'm gonna count to three."
As they continue to stare each other down, Keller steps up to Harper. "Young lady?" She turns to him, and he gestures to her jacket while asking, "May I?"
She slips it off for him to look at, and can't completely ignore his widening eyes at the bruises her skin has underneath. Her tank top had partially burned off on the side, and without her jacket, those bruises were that much more visible. Her skin was covered in soot and dirt, sweat and bruises, and even a little blood from where she'd skidded across the ground from the impact of the tazer.
But her movements gave away nothing, and Keller couldn't help grinning at her, before looking to the jacket again. And on the inside, he saw the name of every man in Will's unit, including Will himself, embroidered on the flaps. And at the bottom, a slightly modified version of the motto of the Army was embroidered, saying, 'She We'll Defend'.
Handing it back to her, he says with a gentle smile, "That's not an honor handed out to just anybody." "I know. And I wear it with great pride." Will glances back at her, noting her appearance without the jacket. And he had half a mind to shoot Simmons anyway.
But then, Keller says, "Simmons? I'd do as this man says. Losing's really not an option for these guys. Plus…" He gestures to Harper, and then says, "You threatened a person that they've singled out as being one that they will defend. Meaning above all else. Meaning to the death." Coming closer, he adds, "Meaning you were screwed the minute you laid hands on her."
For a moment, all is silent again. But Simmons apparently does finally begin to feel the full gravity of the moment weighing down on him. So he nods, "Fine. Okay. You wanna lay the fate of the world on the kid's Camaro and her motorcycle? That's cool."
Will still punches him in the face again, sending him falling to his ass on the ground. Holstering his weapon, he then nearly falls down in surprise when Harper jumps at him from the side. Pressing a hard kiss to his cheek, she whispers, "Thank you!"
And then she grabs Sam while saying, "Come on! Let's go!"
Epps grins at Will, who touches his cheek with a grin of his own. Then he looks at the rest of his men before saying, "Oh, shut up. And follow her, for the love of God. We lose her now, we won't be finding her again until this is over."