Hello everyone! I hope you're all well! I'm so excited, we're so close to 50 followers already! Thank you all so much! My exams are now OVER! Summer holiday time! I've officially left school now, so hopefully I'll be going to university in September, fingers crossed! To any of you who have exams, have had them or have them in the future, I wish you good luck!
Optimus
The casual chatter over the primary made Optimus smile slightly at the camaraderie amongst the Autobots. Yes, they were soldiers and Brothers-in-Arms, but first and foremost, they were friends. Sadness began to hum in his spark once again as Optimus thought of all the friends and family they had lost to the war. Hearing the change to his spark's frequency, Ratchet proceeded to send Optimus a withered glare; the Medical Officer had berated him a countless number of times previously over blaming himself for the death and destruction on Cybertron. Optimus would always find himself agreeing with Ratchet - as a bot would have to be one part brave, three parts fool to argue with him - but still a small corner of guilt always remained in his processors, amongst the memories of the life they had all lost.
Ironhide's new alt form came rumbling to a halt between where Bumblebee stood and Jazz rested on a human vehicle, bringing Optimus from his processors. The small form of Bumblebee's human femme opened the door to Ironhide's cab, climbing out and allowing him to transform to his bipedal mode. The motorcycle that rested in the flatbed quickly disappeared into Ironhide's subspace as he stood and stretched out his new armour comfortably. The femme herself shifted slightly under the curious gazes of Ratchet and Jazz but returned them with surprising levels of intrigue and awe.
A delighted string of clicks and chirps came from Bumblebee's vocal processors when he caught sight of the femme. The young scout lept forward to greet her as the femme turned from the others and moved towards Bee also, a broad smile on her face. Optimus watched curiously as the Bumblebee greeted the femme happily, playing some quiet soundbytes through his speakers in greeting.
"I missed you too, Bee." The femme replied as Bumblebee crouched down to her level, examining her closely. "Is that a new paint job, I see?"
Bumblebee began to gesticulate happily with his servos that the femme noticed his change in Alt mode, causing both Ironhide and Ratchet to roll their optics simultaneously.
::.He is too easily pleased..:: Ironhide grumbled on the primary as he moved to stand beside Optimus, the Prime placing a servo on his shoulder plate in greeting. Ratchet hummed in agreement as Jazz simply watched the two with a curious smile on his faceplates.
"Who is she?"
"I have no idea..."
Optimus glanced down to see Sam and Mikaela standing together watching the femme hesitantly, their eyes occasionally flicking up to Ironhide's form also.
"Sam, Mikaela." Optimus began, drawing the attention of the humans upon himself. "Our new companion is the first human Bumblebee made contact with when he arrived here nearly five Earth months ago."
The femme in question, turned from Bumblebee to see Sam and Mikaela watching her suspiciously. She strode forward, Bumblebee shadowing her movements, with a bright smile on her face and her hand raised in greeting.
"The name's Emilia." The femme greeted openly as she approached Sam and Mikaela. "But please, call me Millie. It's nice to meet you...?"
"Sam. Sam Witwicky."
"Mikaela Banes." Mikaela's greeting was somewhat less guarded than Sam's as she returned Millie's smile.
"And I am Optimus Prime. It is a pleasure to finally meet you Emilia." Optimus said, amusement filling him as he saw Millie's eyes widen in surprise as she took a step back to take in his full twenty eight feet in height - the tallest of the present Autobots. What surprised him however, was the clear and honest respect already showing in her optics, alongside her wonder. What had he done to earn her respect so readily? Deciding to online a processor to think upon it later, Optimus turned his optics away from Millie and onto Ironhide standing beside him.
"The pleasure is mine." Millie replied after a moment, seemingly shaking her surprise from herself.
"And this" Optimus said, his optics turning from the curious femme as he gestured to Ironhide, having already introduced Ratchet and Jazz to Sam and Mikaela, "is my Weapons Master, Ironhide."
With an over exaggerated - in Optimus' opinion, anyway - flourish, Ironhide onlined his plasma cannons and aimed them down and the three humans.
::Oh yes, as if that is going to make them like us, Ironhide.:: Ratchet scolded tiredly over the primary.
::Let me have my fun.:: Came Ironhide's quick reply, an undertone of mirth in his voice. Optimus had to restrain himself from yet another roll of his optics as Jazz snorted in amusement, earning himself a glare from the three humans on the ground.
"You feelin' lucky, punk?" Ironhide questioned darkly, lowering his cannons closer to the humans for good measure. Sam and Mikaela both jumped slightly at the appearance of the weapons, Sam taking a step back while Mikaela recovered from her surprise and stood defiantly where she was. Millie beside her appeared to have a small smile on her face as she watched Ironhide with amusement and interest, and she glance sideways with a raised eyebrow at Mikaela's slightly defensive stance.
"Easy, Ironhide." Optimus scolded his old friend in a tired voice, trying to stop the amusement from slipping through as he was aware of the discomfort the cannons had caused.
"I was just kiddin'." Ironhide shrugged with a characteristic grin crossing his faceplates. "I just wanted to show them my cannons."
::As long as that's all you show them, 'Hide.:: Jazz commented dryly over the primary, earning himself a seething glare from the Weapons Master.
To halt the progress of the ensuing argument, Optimus quickly brought the human's attention back to himself as he returned to the narrative he was to give Sam and Mikaela before Ironhide arrived.
"If I may continue where I left off."
Millie
"If I may continue where I left off."
Millie turned her eyes from inspecting Ironhide's frankly awesome cannons back onto Optimus.
She still couldn't quite get over the size of the Autobot leader. He was not like Bumblebee who was lithe but oddly compact, or Ironhide who was only a few feet shy of Optimus but unusually broad and in possession of possibly the same number of weapons as the others combined. No, Optimus was by far the tallest, but where some would assume the height would prove to be quite cumbersome and a disadvantage, for Optimus it appeared to do quite the opposite. His movements as he interacted with the bots around him were swift and graceful, moving in almost an elegant manner. He held himself tall and proud, the sign of a well-established leader.
But what had caught Millie most off-guard when she looked upon him truly for the first time, were his eyes.
Shining a brilliant crystal blue beneath what one could assume to be his helm, his eyes held such strong emotions that Millie had never really thought could exist in a robotics-based lifeform; hope, gratitude, courage, determination, grief, guilt. They were all there. She had always had a talent for reading people, even before she was intensely tutored in sociology at the Facility, but Millie had struggled to contain her surprise when she saw one emotion shining through above all the others: kindness.
"We are here looking for the All Spark." Optimus continued, pulling Millie from her thoughts with his rich baritone voice. "We must find it before Megatron."
"Mega-what?" Sam asked from beside Millie. In response, Optimus raised his hand to his temple and closed his eyes for a moment, focusing, before his eyes opened once again and released beams of light around Millie, Mikaela and Sam.
Incredible... Millie thought to herself as she took a step back, watching as the Earth seemingly fell away from beneath her feet. She knew before long that she was going to run out of adjectives to describe the Autobots and their technology. As science had always been her favourite classes at the Facility, this was just freaking awesome.
"Our planet was once a powerful empire, peaceful and just," Optimus began as what could be assumed to be Cybertron began to form around them, "until we were betrayed by Megatron, leader of the Decepticons. All who defied them were destroyed. Our war finally consumed the planet, and the All Spark was lost to the stars."
Millie watched with wide eyes as a bot she assumed was Megatron threw a deadly metal spear through the chest of a nearby bot, his red eyes glinting with bloodlust and malice. Where had she seen him before? Why was he so familiar to her?
"Megatron followed it to Earth," Optimus continued his narrative, glancing down at Sam as he finished his sentence; "where Captain Witwicky found him."
"My Grandfather." Sam confirmed, an proud smile filtering onto his face as he lowered his eyes from Optimus to see the projection of Cybertron slowly fading from around them, Optimus returning his eyes to as they were.
"It was an accident that intertwined our fates." Optimus agreed, nodding solemnly to Sam. "Megatron crash landed before he could retrieve the Cube, where Captain Witwicky accidentally activated his navigation system. The coordinates to the Cube's location were imprinted on his glasses."
"How'd you know about the glasses?" Sam asked in sheer disbelief.
"eBay." Came Optimus's simple reply, causing Sam to release a deep sigh he didn't realise he'd been holding and Mikaela to shoot him an incredulous look.
"I'm guessing there's a story behind these glasses." Millie whispered to Mikaela, leaning towards the girl slightly to hear her reply.
"He tried to sell them in our Family Genealogy class yesterday." Mikaela whispered back, sending another disapproving glare toward Sam. Millie herself also sent the dark haired boy a disappointed scowl. Did he not care about family heirlooms or family history at all? Guessing that he hadn't lost either of his parents as she herself had, Millie reasoned that he hadn't learned the lesson where you appreciate something a hell of a lot more when it's forcefully taken from you.
Millie was four years old when her parents died and she was placed into her Grandmother's custody. She barely remembered anything of her parents, except that her father was British and worked in the British Embassy in Washington DC, and her mother had a job in the military stationed at Fort McNair. The only family heirloom Millie had managed to keep hidden from the Facility was the small, heart shaped silver locket that her father had gifted her mother upon their engagement. When her grandmother had died two days after Millie's fifth birthday, her five-year-old self had the initiative to snatch the locket from the jewellery box, before officials came to take her away (and take her to the Facility, as it turned out). That locket currently rested round her neck on a thin silver chain, and there it had been for as long as she could remember; tucked away beneath whatever top she wore to keep it hidden from prying eyes.
"If the Decepticons find the All Spark, they will use its power to transform Earth's machines and build a new army." The large yellow Autobot added. Millie assumed him to be Ratchet as his paint job suggested he transformed into the Hummer H2 she'd seen earlier.
"And the human race will be extinguished." Optimus finished, stepping back from the three humans. "Sam Witwicky, you hold the key to the Earth's survival."
"Please tell me you still have those glasses..." Mikaela murmured to Sam, causing the boy to turn his terrified stare from Optimus and onto her.
"Yeah..." He replied quickly, although in a somewhat unconvincing tone. "They're at home in my room... I think..."
"Then we best start looking." Millie said decisively, turning her gaze from Optimus' form onto Sam, whose eyes widened slightly at her sudden determination. "Where abouts do you live?"
"Not far, only a mile or so from here." He replied, Millie's determination boosting his own confidence somewhat. "We live in the suburbs; Williams Avenue."
"Time to hit the road then, lil' bitches." The last Autobot exclaimed as he leapt off the hood of the abandoned pickup he'd been reclined on.
"Agreed." Optimus said, before his form shattered and he began to transform down into his alt mode. Millie watched with wide eyes as he took the form of a Peterbilt 279 Semi, with red, blue and silver flame designs rippling across his bodywork. The passenger door of the cab swung open smoothly as Optimus' voice echoed from the Semi: "Sam you can ride with me and direct the way."
Blanching slightly, Sam nodded and moved forward. He cautiously took the handle and pulled himself up into the cab, slamming the door behind him.
"Wise move," Mikaela muttered to Millie as they turned away from Optimus, amusement in her voice, "you'd be an idiot to argue with a Semi."
Chuckling, Millie nodded in agreement as Bumblebee transformed quickly and pulled in front of the pair of them, his doors swinging open as an invitation.
"Don't argue with a sentient Chevvy either." Millie said, laughing as Bee revved indignantly. She trailed her fingers over his door as she climbed into the driver's seat, Mikaela doing the same on the other side. "I missed your antics, Bee."
As Millie and Mikaela buckled themselves in, Optimus gave the order and the Autobots began to roll out in a convoy. A comfortable silence developed as Bee found a station playing Pachelbel's Canon in D - much to Millie's amusement - and the streets of Tranquility began to fly by.
"Which parent did you lose?" Mikaela asked suddenly turning to look questioningly at Millie.
"How'd you know?" Millie said, surprised at Mikaela's question.
"You were upset with Sam trying to sell his Grandfather's glasses; insulted almost." Mikaela replied, twisting a strand of hair between her fingers. "I felt the exact same way yesterday, because I lost my mum to cancer when I was eleven; you really learn to cherish what you've got left when something like that happens."
Amazed at Mikaela's insight, Millie couldn't stop her eyebrows raise as she looked upon the dark haired girl anew. Perhaps she wasn't just the pretty cheerleader type Millie had assumed her to be a few minutes ago. No, she was far more intelligent than she led people to believe; there was a talent hidden under there that perhaps even Mikaela wasn't truly aware of yet.
"Both of them." Millie replied, turning her eyes away from Mikaela to the Autobot symbol on Bee's steering wheel. "They died when I was younger. I lived with my Grandmother for a while before she passed away. I've been on my own since then."
Well, it wasn't strictly a lie what Millie told Mikaela... More of a half truth.
God I hate my life. Millie thought dejectedly, hating that she had to lie to every single person she met. If they knew the truth...
"Fending for yourself?" Mikaela asked incredulously, empathy filling her at Millie's revelation.
"Yep." Millie replied simply, emphasising the 'p' as she did so. "It's not too bad once you get used to it."
A soft, almost inaudible whine met Millie's ears as she finished speaking to Mikaela, and she knew instantly that it came from Bee. She squeezed the leather seat beneath her hand softly, acknowledging Bee's comfort. The bot knew she was only telling a half-truth to Mikaela, but Millie couldn't spill her secrets to a teenage girl she'd just met. Heck, she couldn't spill her secrets to anyone unless she wanted a one-way ticket to execution. Her crimes were foul, her past; unforgivable. Deep inside, Millie hoped that whatever she did to help the Autobots, whatever it cost her, it would make up for a small fraction of her previous actions and earn herself a slightly less horrific corner of Hell.
One could only hope.
Okay so as you can probably guess from this last part and the first couple of chapters, Millie has a very dark past in the Facility. That will come into play later on, but I'm a sucker for keeping secrets so I'm not going to let myself say any more. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!
Please review, it makes my day and keeps me inspired to write!
-Shakalakaboomboom x