Hey guys! I had some time, so I thought I'd drop in and try an update. This definitely isn't one of my greatest chapters, but you know how they say, "It's always darkest before dawn" ? Yeah, the next chapter takes the cake (at least I hope). I've actually gotten some later chapters written, even through homework and work, and everything else that poos on my extra time. But anyway, here's some info and reviewer feedback, then I'll throw in a little disclaimer, then onto the story!
Info: I've managed to start a deviant account and recently I actually started getting some things done on it. Right now I only have one piece of drawn work and the rest are photography work, but I'm hoping to get some portraits of Cat up soon. But who knows? I might get the up sooner than I think! Here's the link to my account, which is also located in my profile: .com/.
Reviewer Feedback:
AccessBlade: Yeah, I always enjoy other characters that are similar to mine, but this one is titled specifically "7" with the same background info and another project that was still alive, this that and the other thing. And the writer was previously on my fav's list for the original story of project seven. What I think happened is she removed herself from the favs list and waited a couple of months to write her story, hoping I wouldn't see it or I'd forget the name. It just seemed odd to me. I don't want people to think that I'm going to call out every story with a genetically modified character, because that would be insane, but this was totally a blatant rip off of my OC. I like your idea tho! =D
FORD B: Yeah, the new computer is Vista, so it's kinda new to me, but it's awesome! It has a full sized keyboard! I've got a number pad! Imagine! A number pad on a laptop! I was totally excited about it, now I'm just thinking that I have to make this one last longer than the last two... Which will be hard since I use it every day... Thanks for your continuing support on my story!
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, I OWN CAT, and Five, and Rotten and any OC that you'll see on here that's not normally associated with Transformers the shows or the movies. Thank you and good night!
--
Giving most of the medical staff a much needed time for relaxing, Wheeljack had offered to take the night shift. It wasn't often that he was given this power, being that he had his little known ability to make things explode or catch fire. However, he promised to only observe and inform them if anything were to go wrong.
Walking into the medical bay, Wheeljack looked over to the small bed that they had moved Cat to, and saw that the bed was vacant. This didn't alarm him, however. He was already warned, by Ratchet, that the girl would get up and move around, and to keep a close optic on her. Wheeljack, however, gave Cat ample room to do as she pleased, as long as she stayed in the med bay. Then again, the CMO would probably take off his cranial unit if he found out that Jack had lost her.
Looking around the area, Wheeljack noticed the technicians and the on-staff nurses carrying their clipboards and restocking the medical supply cabinets.
"Excuse me," Wheeljack bent down to a nurse as she walked across his path.
The woman stopped and looked up to the scientist with a weary look upon her face. She, along with most, had spent a number of extra hours just to cover the shifts that had to work extra time to look after Cat.
"Yes?" She asked.
"Have you seen Catherine?" Jack asked.
"Oh her?" she looked to the other side of the medical bay and pointed towards the large bed that Bumblebee had been laying on, "Last time I saw her she was sitting next to that one."
Wheeljack stood and looked across the med bay and noticed only the stasis form of Bumblebee. He looked down to the nurse and said, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," she nodded and continued on with her original work.
Wheeljack walked over to Bumblebee, checking on his own vitals and making sure that the equipment around him was all functioning. As he began to turn and leave, his optics caught sight of something on the other side of the smaller mech. Walking to the other side of the table, Wheeljack felt a little relief as he noticed the sleeping form of Cat. Her back was hugging Bumblebee's side, using her left arm to keep her head propped up like a pillow normally would. Her face was emotionless as she seemed to be sleeping peacefully.
Wheeljack smiled down at her. At least, now, Ratchet wouldn't throw something at him for losing her. Walking away for a moment, Wheeljack managed to find an extra pillow and blanket. He brought it back and, gently, moved Cat so that he could set a pillow under her head, and laid the blanket over her.
'She must feel so guilty for having injured Bumblebee,' he thought remorsefully.
It was only a good thing that Ratchet had left the yellow mech in stasis, just in case he rolled over and accidentally squashed her. Jack shook the thought from his mind and began to turn away.
"Wheeljack?" the sound of Bumblebee's vocalizer suddenly spoke in a whisper.
The scientist turned and noticed the bright optics of the seeker staring up at him, "Bumblebee," he said in a quizzical manner, "you're supposed to be in stasis." He looked over and noticed that the machine controlling the stasis controls had accidentally been knocked.... He must have hit it a moment ago...
"What happened?" Bumblebee asked.
"You were nearly offlined by one of Cats surges," Wheeljack whispered back.
"Cat... Cat!" Bumblebee shifted to move as his memory circuits suddenly brought back the events of the past two days.
Wheeljack brought a finger to the mask that covered his mouth, "Sh. It's all right," he pointed down to the smaller mech's side, "She's been awake for most of the day."
Bumblebee looked down to the side that Wheeljack had motioned to and saw Cat as she stirred in her sleep, "She's all right?"
Wheeljack nodded, "The fever that has kept her ill finally broke and hasn't returned. The human medical officers believe that she will be fine."
Bumblebee looked up to his friend and noticed the strange look in his optics, "But..." he prompted.
Wheeljacked looked back to the young seeker and smirked beneath his faceplate mask, "Either you know Cat very well, or I gave too much information away without knowing it."
Bumblebee didn't bother smiling back. Only the worried expression seemed to remain.
"After we were informed that she had awakened, Ratchet, Optimus and I were listening to what she had to say. Apparently there is a lot more going on than we could have ever expected."
--
-Flashback-
"Yeah... It was a piece of the Allspark that fused into me, which provided the energy I needed to complete the transmutation," Cat nodded, "Five tried to tell me about it when we had that whole disaster after the new guys arrived, but I didn't understand what it was that she was trying to tell me..." she lowered her head, "But now I do..."
"Five told you this?" Optimus asked.
"No... Not exactly..." Cat's eyes softened, "But I do know one thing for sure. I need to find Five and have a little chat with her..."
"How do you propose that you do that?" Wheeljack asked in a curious tone, "I was under the impression that your sister was offline?"
Ratchet raised an eye ridge, "She is."
"Right... So there's only one way for me to find her," Cat commented, "I have to die..."
"And just how did you come up with this little theory of yours?!" Ratchet asked, crossing his arms and glaring down at the girl. He, and the rest of the medical crew had fought a dilligent battle with the illness that had nearly killed her, and frankly this new idea of hers didn't sit well with him.
"...The Allspark told me..." Cat kept her head lowered, not wanting to look into the face of of the ones around her.
Silence overtook the group. The Allspark? But how?
"Cat," she looked up into the face of Optimus as he spoke softly to her, "The Allspark was destroyed. Is there any way that you could have just dreamt this?"
Cat shook her head, "No. It revealed a lot of things to me that seemed to make sense. It knew about things that, " she coughed, "Er... things that you guys don't know about. Things that only I would know. That and things that I didn't know, like the whole Mission City mess."
"And it told you that you have to be offlined in order to speak with your sister?" Wheeljack asked in a curious tone.
"Sort of, yeah. It said that the power I hold causes shifts of my soul. When my emotions get the best of me, the power takes over, causing those surges," Cat explained.
"Of course!" Ratchet suddenly realized, "It's the energy from the Allspark that you're emitting! I should have realized that long ago!" he berated himself.
"Yeah... But it wasn't the Allspark that was purposefully using it's power. It was Five," she said, nearly in a whisper.
The three looked down on her with confused looks on their faces.
"Five is... controlling you?" Wheeljack asked.
"Well no, not controlling me. But somehow she's using Alchemy and forcing the power of the Allspark out of me when she thinks it's needed... She's tried to protect me."
"And she nearly killed Bumblebee and the rest of us on other occassions by doing it," Ratchet added.
Cat's facial expression turned from confident to guilt in a split second. It was bad enough that she felt bad for all the other times that she caused so much chaos at the Dam that she hadn't meant to cause. However she felt even worse for almost killing one of her most trusted friends. It wasn't something that she took as lightly as she was letting on.
"Well," Cat replied, "She always did had a way with you guys, didn't she?"
"Yes," Optimus agreed thinking back to having been driven by Five, "She certainly did..."
"I'm not defending what she's done... I'm just telling you what's been happening... I never could control Five, and if you want proof, this is most certainly it. In order for these surges to stop happening so randomly, I need to speak with her. And, according the Allspark, I have to be close to death or dead. In fact, "Cat thought back, "the only way that the Allspark could speak to me was the same way."
"Your illness," Wheeljack suddenly understood.
"Right. I, probably, would have been able to fight off a small thing like a flu without a problem, but I became so worried that I would die off the same way I nearly did last year, that my emotional state caused that shift to take place, and the Allspark was able to use it to speak to me... Which is what I think happened here," she looked back to Bumblebee as he 'slept' in stasis.
-Flashback within a Flashback-
"So you're saying that whenever I get mad, or upset in general, I'll sink into a state where my soul bounces from one side to another?" Cat asked, feeling somewhat worried that she may cause harm unintentionally just by being sad, or angry.
"I believe you might be able to control this, eventually. But until you learn how to do this, yes. You will be a danger to those around you, more specifically any Cybertronian," it replied.
Cat felt her heart hit the pit of her stomach... The Allspark had just confirmed what she feared...
"So if Five can only talk to me while I'm near death.... How are you able to speak to me now?" Cat asked.
"You are within another shift," the Allspark replied simply.
"How? I remember feeling cold and shaky, so I went to bed and fell asleep," she thought aloud.
"Do you not remember feeling worried over being ill?" it asked.
"Worried about being... Wait... I'm sick?" Cat asked.
"Yes. You are unconscious from an illness, and have been for nearly three, full Earth cycles. Our conversation has only seemed to last a few moments, but we have been speaking for quite a while."
Cat was horrified. She could feel her heart begin to pound in her chest, her breathing took a small hitch. No... It had to have been wrong... There was no way...
"You... You mean I've been in a coma or something?" she asked.
"I suppose you could call it that. Your soul is, right now, existing on the plain between life and death. You are only, just barely, alive."
"What," she stopped, trying to process everything she had been told, "What would it take to bring me back?"
"Because you have been on this plain of existence for so long, you are lingering in place. Another shift would be the only way to resume life back on Earth."
"No... No, you're wrong!" Cat began to panic. Was this true? Was she actually dead? Did the Autobots know about all of this? If all of this was, indeed, the truth, then she needed to get back to her life as soon as possible.
"You need to stay calm, there are still many things that I must discuss with you!"
"Discuss?!" Cat scoffed, "How many more days will it take?! No, no I've got to get back! I've got to get back now!"
The white light that surrounded Cat changed into a bright mauve, the air around her begging to feel thin and cold. At this point, something felt as though a cold hand had taken ahold around Cat's throat as she struggled against it. The cold "fingers" enclosed around the back of her neck.
"You must -" the voice of the Allspark faded into the background.
Cat fell to the ground, fighting against the hold that the untouchable ''hand" had on her. She tried to grasp at it, but felt only air. She coughed, trying to pull away, however she was pulled back up to her feet, being dragged in the direction of a black void that seemed to be pulling her in.
"ith.. op..." she tried to yell out to the Allspark, but to no avail.
The "hand" grasped her neck tighter, taking her breath completely away as she was picked up and brought to the front of the void. Kicking and fighting against the hold on her, Cat was reeled back and suddenly thrown into the depths of the void. She screeched a blood curdling scream as she was sucked into the void, her vision fading into nothing.
(in the med bay)
Waking slowly, Cat could hear familiar voices. They were speaking calmly as if they weren't at all mindful of her being aware of them. That was until she began moving her head a little and groaning. Her vision caught sight of something large and yellow leaning over her. Who was it?
"Cat?" Bumblebee leaned closer to her, "Can you hear me?"
She felt a sudden warm touch of metal to her face as she pulled away from it, unsure of who or what it was. She brought her left hand up to bat at it, trying to shoo it away from her face. She rolled her eyes as she tried to readjust her vision.
"She's waking up!" Sideswipe announced.
Cat realized who the voices belonged to just before she felt herself being pulled up into a sitting position, being held. Her eyes fluttered open just a hair more before they started looking around, catching sight of Bumblebee's smiling hologram. It was just then that she realized the pain and anguish had followed her from the unconsciousness and began to swell within her. The searing burn of emotions swirled in her chest and stomach as she tried to fight against it.
'No,' she thought, 'No this can't happen! They'll be killed!' She looked to the hologram with remorse. She could barely bring herself to think, let alone try and speak to warn them, 'Run, fools! Run before I hurt you!'
The hologram turned from smiling into worry as she could only beg for him to take cover with her own eyes.
"What's wrong?" Bumblebee asked.
Cat's mouth forced into making a shape for words, failing miserably.
'I don't want to hurt you Bee... Please listen to me!'
"What?" he asked. Cat could tell that even though he understood very little of what she was trying to say, he understood that she was trying to warn him.
'Why can't I speak?! Why can't you understand me?!'
"R..ru...r..r.." she whispered.
"What's she saying?" Sideswipe asked.
"I'm not sure," Bee replied.
"R..ru..r..run!" she managed.
"Run? Run from what?" Sideswipe asked, confused.
"I don't understand either..." Bumblebee answered.
"Where the slag is Sunny and Ratchet?! And what's going on?" Sideswipe looked frustrated.
Cat felt the swell of the surge begin to overtake her as she let out a small cry just before she felt the wave release from her body. It ended as soon as it began. She felt her body drop to the table, Bumblebee's hologram disappearing as well as the two mechs larger forms.
"D...Damn..." she fell into unconsciousness once more as the light faded into a black nothing.
-Out of Cat's Flashback-
"I pieced together what happened I just... I wasn't sure how to make sense of it all..." Cat explained, "And there's another part that you guys need to know..."
"Go on," Optimus encouraged Cat to tell them everything that was necessary.
Cat looked directly to Optimus and said, "You may not know it, but you're carrying part of the Allspark's power too. By having that fragment, you're keeping its power with you."
The other two mechs looked directly to Optimus in surprise.
"But it was destroyed! How could it possibly carry any sort of power?" Ratchet asked.
"I think you'll find that it has some residual energy to it. The Allspark may be destroyed, but its power is thriving... That's part of what it was trying to tell me," Cat commented.
"Now that I think of it, "Ratchet interjected, "I've never had a chance to examine that fragment of yours, Optimus."
Optimus opened a spot in his chest compartment, pulling out and revealing the jagged piece of metal that he had kept with him since the battle with Megatron. He looked it over just before handing it to the medic.
"Anything else?" Wheeljack thought that maybe this wasn't the end to Cat revealing this new information.
"Yeah... There's two more who have a portion of the Allspark's power..."
"Who?" Optimus asked.
Cat sighed. Was it a good idea to tell them? Was the Allspark telling her the right information, or was it all a misleading dream? Whatever it was she knew that, ultimately, she would regret at least not telling them what she knew.
Looking up to the three Autobots one by one, she replied, "Sam... and Megatron..."
-End Flashback-
--
"Megatron?!" Bumblebee's optics flashed white for a split second with the realization of what Wheeljack had just explained.
"Shh," Jack reminded the younger mech that Cat was still asleep, "Yes, I'm afraid so."
Bumblebee looked down to Cat, from his sitting position, as she stirred in her sleep again, rolling away from him and pulling the blanket around herself more firmly. He looked back up to Wheeljack and asked, "But Sam... How has he been affected?"
"Cat explained that when he used the Allspark against Megatron, there was small amount of energy that was drawn into his own body. It isn't enough to do any damage to him, or produce the same effects that the energy Cat holds, but it was enough to affect him in a different way," Wheeljack continued in a whisper.
Bumblebee picked Cat up, carefully, and cradled her in his palm before looking back to Jack, "He was... affected?"
Wheeljack nodded, "Apparently even more so lately."
--
-Explanation-
Jazz pulled into the driveway of the Witwicky home just as Sam closed the door to Judy's buick.
"Sammy!" Jazz yelled out to the young human.
Sam looked up to see the Solstice pulling into the driveway. The shimmer of the gray sports car gave Sam a small smile on his face.
"Hey, Jazz," he greeted, "What are you doing here?"
"Bumblebee's got some stuff to do for a few days so I'm here to -" And that's when Jazz noticed it, "Sam, ya look exhausted."
The smile faded from the teens face, "Yeah well... I just haven't been getting much sleep... You know, school and all," he lied.
Jazz was quiet for a second before realizing that eveything Mikaela had told him was unrefutable.
The dark skinned, muscular hologram appeared next to Sam and towered over him, "What's been goin' on Sam?" he crossed his arms.
Sam frowned and shook his head, "Nothing... Why would something be wrong?"
"Ya look terrible, and I'm not totally satisfied that you're tellin' me the truth. So what's goin' on?" he asked.
Sam looked into the strangely blue eyes of Jazz's hologram and said, "I've just..." the eyes told Sam that he already knew that anything he said besides the truth wouldn't be accepted.
"What's it matter, anyway?" Sam growled and shoved past the hologram.
"The hell you mean, 'what's it matter'? Sam if you're havin' problems you need to tell someone," Jazz followed the boy into the house.
"Is that you, Sam?" Judy walked into the kitchen, "I'm doing colors for the laundry so if you-" she stopped when she saw the hologram looking at Sam intently, "Oh, hello um... Blues?"
Sam rolled his eyes while Jazz only smiled sweetly.
"It's Jazz, mom..." Sam grumbled as he walked out of the kitchen.
"Oh, right. Hello Jazz," Judy smiled.
Jazz looked to Judy and said, "Good ta see ya," just before he made his way through the house, following the teenager.
Before Sam could slam his bedroom door on the hologram, Jazz caught the door and held it in place, "Mikaela told me about your dreams!"
Sam stopped trying to shut and lock the door when he heard this. He waited a moment before sighing and said, "She did, did she?"
"Yeah. She told me that you've been havin' dreams about Megatron," Jazz added.
Sam shook his head and opened the door, "She shouldn't have told you. I'm perfectly capable of-"
"Takin' care of it yourself? Is that why you've been callin' and askin' for Cat?" Jazz interrupted.
Sam glared back at the hologram, "I suppose Mikaela told you that too, huh?"
"I know why you're callin' Cat. You think that because of the problems she's had, she might be able to help ya," Jazz explained.
"Maybe... But she's never called me back," he turned away and sat down in the chair in front of his computer, "What's going on, anyway? Why hasn't Cat answered? And why did Bumblebee just suddenly take off to the Dam?"
Jazz was almost about to give him the same lie that he had to tell Mikaela, but he sighed. He already knew where that got him...
"All right.. Optimus and the others didn't wanna scare you kids, but I'm tired of havin' you guys mad at me..." Jazz sat down across from Sam on his bed and looked over to the teen.
"What are you talking about?" Sam asked.
"Cat's been... Well she's been sick," the hologram started.
"Sick? Like the flu, sick, or like our fears about her immune system have come true and she's dying, sick?" Sam asked, suddenly finding himself forgiving Cat for not picking up when he called her.
"It's been hard to tell. Ya see a few days ago, she went out to Lake Mead and found herself having to save a human from drowning. It was a bit of a cold day, so she had to ride her bike back to the Dam soaked in the colder temperatures. She thought she was fine, but overnight she took a turn for the worse and she's been in the med bay in a coma ever since."
Sam's eyes widened. He couldn't believe it... After everything that she had lived through, was it truly fate that she would succumb to a flu virus?
"Why didn't you guys just tell us?" Sam asked.
"We didn't wanna scare ya with everything else ya been through. It was perfectly logical to believe that Cat could make it through," Jazz replied.
"And Bumblebee?" the teen gave a stern look.
"He came out to check in on her but... Well, there was a bit of an accident. He's fine, but it'll take a few days for him to be repaired."
"What kind of accident?" Sam felt even more guilty for being upset at his yellow friend.
"Cat woke up early this morning, but when she did, she caused another surge, and it did quite a bit of damage to him. Ratchet's gonna fix him up like new, though," the hologram explained softly.
"So she's... she's awake now?" Sam asked.
Jazz smiled, "Well she is now. I talked to Ratchet a little while ago. She'll be all right, don't ya worry."
Sam sighed, "Good."
"Now," Jazz decided, "We've gotten that outta the way, now I need to know when these dreams about Megatron started. Maybe we can figure out what's goin' on."
Sam's eyes wandered as he went deep in thought, "They started the day before Cat left after she stayed here for the holidays, I guess."
"The day before Cat left, huh?" Jazz thought aloud.
--
"It turns out that the argument the children had with Cat somehow caused a reaction with the residual energy in Sam. Ratchet and Prowl went out the Tranquility to make sure that nothing else happened to him. Ratchet believes that giving Sam a sedative for a few nights will help relieve the active energy. In a few days, he should be able to sleep without the aid of sedatives. He'll be fine," Wheeljack finished his story.
Bumblebee was watching Cat sleep in his hands, not being able to help but feel overwhelmed.
"I knew something was wrong with Sam but I chose not to bother him about it... He must have felt abandoned even more so when I left..." Bumblebee whispered.
"I'm sure he and Mikaela understand now. Jazz managed to get the children to talk to each other again, so I believe everything has been settled," Jack calmed his friend.
Just then, the medical bay door opened and the smiling face of Sideswipe walked in.
"Hey, you're up!" He waved to Bumblebee as he walked towards them.
Bumblebee and Wheeljack both "Shh'd" the red mech and pointed to the sleeping Cat in Bumblebee's hand.
"Oh, sorry. Finally got her to sleep, huh?" Sides walked over to the three being as quiet with his footsteps as possible.
"Well, er... Actually I cheated," one of the on staff doctors stepped forward.
"Cheated?" Sideswipe asked, the others staring down at him as well, "How could you have done that?"
The blond haired doctor stepped to the group, putting down his clipboard on a nearby medical cart. He looked up to the three and smirked, "Ratchet asked me to see if I could trick her into taking a sedative, but after having watched her the last few times that she's been in here, I knew that tricking her would be a lot harder to do that he thought it would be. So when she asked for a soda, I slipped some muscle relaxers in the drink. The sedatives would have left a taste, but the muscle relaxers create the same effect of drowziness, and it would be hardly noticable, so I let a couple of pills dissolve in the drink before I gave it to her."
"You drugged her?!" Sideswipe was somewhat impressed with the doctors initiative.
"Sort of," he smirked once more, "She wouldn't have slept, otherwise. And the deeper the sleep, the less chance she'll dream."
Bumblebee looked down to Cat, never once letting a smile come close to passing over his faceplates.
"I know what you're thinking," Sideswipe smirked, Bumblebee and Wheeljack looking to the twin, "Cat's in the med bay after causing trouble, all of us are running around like mad-mechs, and the kids in Tranquility are trying to hang on to everything that we're doing," he laughed, "What's new, right?"
Bee and Jack both smiled.
"What's new, indeed," Jack replied with his own chuckle.
--
Chapter Teaser!
Mikaela was getting herself ready to be picked up by Sam and Bumblebee so they could head to the Dam for the weekend. It had been a while since they'd visited everyone, and it was high time that they got a start on it. She was finishing fixing her hair when the cell phone on the edge of her bathroom sink vibrated and flashed. She looked down and picked up the device, looking to see who was calling.
"Cat?" Mikaela opened the phone and answered, "Hey, Cat! We're not on our way just yet so-"
"Mikaela!" Cat's voice sounded rushed.
"Everything okay?" Mikaela asked, suspicious.
"Uh.. That depends... I thought I'd call to get your advice on something..." Cat answered, Mikaela hearing cars honking and tires squealing in the background.
"What's going on?" the teen asked.
"Oh, same old thing, I guess... You got a minute?" Cat asked.
"Always," Mikaela thought that maybe her friend was in trouble with the Autobots for something, once again.
"You remember that guy I told you about?"
Mikaela thought for a moment but drew a blank, "You told me about a guy?" she smirked, "When did you start dating?"
"No, no... I'm talking about the guy from Christmas Eve."
Mikaela stopped brushing her hair out, her eyes suddenly getting wide in shock, "Yeah? What about him?"
"Well... I went to go pick up Christine today, and the kid was there..."
Mikaela dropped her hairbrush and walked from the bathroom into her bedroom, looking out the window to see if Sam had pulled up yet, "What did you do?"