It was now Monday, and it was the first day of class. Saphira had a good time on Saturday night, she had won eight races that night and a large sum of winnings that she would make good use of later. She was very pleased with herself about that, and she was able to drive her GTR to the university without getting into trouble simply by parking the car in a spot outside the university, but within walking distance of course. Unfortunately, Sophia had not let up on Saphira about Friday night. She had wanted to avoid that subject, but that spoilt girl just wouldn't leave Saphira alone about it at all. She ignored her though, she wasn't going to let Sophia in on her business at all. There was a line that she did not want Sophia to cross, although that girl had been threatening to cross it.
Saphira walked to the auditorium with her books ready, humming to herself as she entered the large classroom. She saw Alice was already seated a few rows up, but she paid little mind to her. Professor Colin already had stuff written on the board and he noticed Saphira entering. He smirked at her and approached her with a slight swagger in his step.
"Morning, Saphira," He spoke to her in a slightly suggestive tone, that made her grimace and frown at him. He gestures to the front row. "How about a nice, warm seat in the front row hmm? That way you and I can get closer and I'll be able to help you get through the course."
"Um…no thanks," Saphira responded, stepping aside from the teacher. "I'm not a first row kind of person."
"Aw, you look like you are," The professor said to her in a teasing tone. "No matter, I am sure you and I will get along just fine."
She rolled her eyes as she walked up the stairs to take a seat. "That man is clearly no good, huh?" She jumped and turned, realizing Alice was behind her. "That's why I sat here. He said the same thing to me too."
"Yeah, he's creepy. And I am really sorry about Friday. I didn't know my car would do that…really." Saphira knew it sounded stupid, but the girl just smiled at her.
"It is fine. All is forgiven." Alice winked at her with a suggestive grin. "Maybe, at lunch we should go to the library to do some extra study together. That sounds like fun."
Saphira did not respond as she knew that Alice had an interest in her for a romantic reason. She didn't think she would continue being a friend to her at this time because she wasn't comfortable about it. Nonetheless, Saphira hoped to try and get Alice to understand she simply wasn't interested in her as gently as possible. The auditorium fills up with other students, and it was clear on which students were just there to admire the teacher and which ones were there to actually study. Including Sophia who somehow managed to get into this class.
Once the room was full, the man picked up a green apple and tossed his hat onto a lightstand, smiling at the students in his room. "Space." He shows off his little pocket watch as he walked along the stage. "Time." He takes a bit out of the apple and drops it towards one of the girls. "Gravity." Saphira rolls her eyes slightly when the girl picked up the apple and he muttered something to her with a suggestive grin before he continued speaking. "We're going on a journey together, you and I, today. All you eager, nubile, young minds on the very cusp of adulthood." He chuckled softly and Saphira tensed as she felt her brain aching slightly and she found it hard to concentrate. "And I shall be your consort, your guide, your chaperone into the heart of darkness. Welcome to Astronomy 101." Saphira clench her eyes to try and concentrate and listen to the teacher, though it was getting harder to do so. "For what do we know about the stars? Virgo, the virgin." Saphira began to open the pages of her textbook and read throw it, turning the pages very quickly as she did so and unable to stop herself. "Orion, the greater hunter. These are no mere twinkling diamonds, for lovely maidens to wish upon. No, they are dynamos, filled with a throbbing, savage and pent-up energy." Saphira did not notice the other students giving her weird looks as she flips through the pages, reading through each one as quickly as possible. "Behold the work of Albert Einstein, a professor once, like moi. Energy equals mass…"
Saphira pushed the book off her desk and raised her hand suddenly. The professor looked at her in surprise and smirked at her slightly. "Young lady, there are no questions until I've reached the climax of my lecture."
"I just finished your book, and there's a problem," Saphira said eagerly, standing from her seat as she spoke. "Einstein's wrong." The students in the room laugh, but Saphira paid no attention as she walked up to the podium, unable to control the thoughts coming from her mouth. "Energy does equal mass times the velocity of light squared in this dimension, but what about the other seventeen?" She jumped over a barrier and grabbed the chalkboard, rolling it aside and turning it around as she kept speaking as the other students look at her in utter confusion. "We haven't talked about the other seventeen. Clear example…" She grabbed a chalk and began writing on the board, not realising she was writing the symbols she sees in her head on the board. She turned around and began to speak. "Break down the elemental components of energon, assume a constant decay rate and extrapolate for each of the…" Saphira didn't even notice she was twitching in the middle of the sentence as she continued speaking. "Fourteen galactic convergences it took the Sentinel Prime expedition to receive an…echo on it's signal, you wind up with a formula for inter-dimensional energy increase that mass and light alone can't possibly explain. Come on guys, I can't be the only one in the class who…"
Saphira felt herself twitching and took a deep breath when she finally came back to her senses. "Young lady…" She glanced at the teacher with a confused, bewildered expression on her face. "I will not be punk'd in front of the Dean." Saphira glanced down at the front row and saw the Dean looking at her with a shocked expression. Well shit…there goes my college year. Professor Colin approached her slowly with a glare on his face. "No, this is my universe here. Do you understand? I am the alpha and the omega. Get out of my class."
"Yes sir…I'm sorry…" Saphira muttered and rushed out of the class as the other students laugh at her after she gathered her things.
She could not believe what just happened. She had some kind of mental breakdown, and she had no control over it. She spoke things that she didn't even understand, except that she mentioned Sentinel Prime randomly. She knew Barricade spoke to her about it, but she didn't understand any of it. Now she was panicked, it was affecting her and she realized she was seeing symbols and acting crazy like Captain Witwicky. She had to call someone.
She dialled the number to Bee and waited as she ran through the campus. "Saphira?" Bee's surprised voice spoke. "Are you okay?"
"I am not sure," She responded in a panicked voice. "Is Optimus with you?"
"Yes, he is, we're actually on our way to you because there is a lot of decepticons approaching your position," Bee responded, he did not like the tone in Saphira's voice. "What is going on?"
Saphira gritted her teeth as she continued to run through the campus. "Something just happened to me. Do you remember that captain, Archibald Witwicky? He went on that Arctic mission, he found Megatron and he got zapped by the decepticon and he started seeing symbols. Now I am seeing them too…"
"Slow down, you're seeing Cybertronian symbols?" Bee asked curiously. "How is that possible?"
"Yes, well…uh…about that…the second shard I mentioned to Optimus…" Saphira hesitated on that one. "I might not have been truthful about it. I literally just read a nine hundred and three page textbook in thirty-two point six seconds, and had a breakdown in my class…"
"You have that shard don't you? Why didn't you say anything?" Bee sounded extremely disappointed when he asked the question.
"I'm sorry!" Saphira exclaimed as she entered the hallway in the dorm block to head to her room. "I thought I could figure it out on my own."
"And yet, the decepticons somehow know you have it," Bee responded bluntly. "Do you still have the shard?"
"Yes, I just have to grab it." Saphira rushed into her room to begin gathering things. "But my college is officially over." She grabbed a book and began jotting the symbols down into it uncontrollably. "Damn…I gotta get these symbols out of my head."
"When did you start seeing those symbols?"
Saphira paused as she thought about that. "I started seeing those symbols ever since…oh…" She blinked as she realized it. "Ever since I touched the shard."
"You touched it?! You told us exactly what the decepticons intend on doing with that shard, and you touched it!" Bee snapped at her in shock.
"I didn't know at the time!" Saphira snapped back. "Look, if you guys are coming, I'll meet you. Where do you want to meet?"
"East Side of the campus in ten minutes."
Saphira frowned as the line was cut and she shakes her head, writing more of the symbols down in the book. It was like she wanted to get it out of her head to try not to go insane. That is all she wanted right now. She would give this to the autobots once she meets them. She luckily did not have much in the room, so she placed her phone in her pocket, grabbed the book and rushed to get out of the room.
She yelped in shock when she saw both Sophia and Alice at the door. "Here's the freak," Sophia announced, gesturing to Saphira with a frown. "I never knew you were such a nerd. Guess your head hit the concrete too hard, that might have been my fault."
"Get out of the way, Sophia," Saphira demanded bluntly. "I need to go."
"Oh, are you getting kicked out huh?" Sophia asked with a smug expression. "This is so funny!"
"Oh, shut up!" Alice hissed at Sophia, surprising both Saphira and Sophia. She grinned at Saphira suggestively. "I thought it was very brave how she stood up and spoke her mind in front of everyone. To hell on what everyone says."
"Uh, yeah, though I really need to go." Saphira tried to get around them only for Alice to grab her shoulders and push her towards a way. "Woah, woah! Hey! Get off me, Alice! I told you, I am not interested."
Sophia was shocked by this. "Uh, yeah, she is into guys. She has many guys after her as far as I know. Especially that big, bulky guy that rescued you last year when I broke the skin on your elbows."
Alice just smirked and did not take her eyes off Saphira. "Oh come on, friends with benefits, remember? You know what happens when two people are in bed, right? They are genuinely amazing."
Saphira frowned and shoved her away. "Not today, sorry. I gotta…"
Saphira didn't finish her sentence as Sophia screamed suddenly as a clawed hand grabbed Saphira and threw her into a bookshelf. Saphira was stunned and groaned on the impact, she looked back at Alice as her mouth began to transform.
Oh shit!
Saphira scrambled to her feet, grabbed a chair and threw it at Alice, slamming the decepticon into the wall and rushing out of the room. She was shocked when Sophia followed her, it seemed she thought Saphira knew what she was doing.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Sophia yelled in a panicked voice. "What the hell did she turn into?!"
"A decepticon," Saphira responded bluntly as they rush through the hallways, hearing the explosions from their dorm room as Alice destroyed it. She turned a corner and glared at Sophia. "Stop following me if you want to live!"
"Oh sure, that explains why you weren't here last year," Sophia sneered back at her. "That's why you have money now. I want in too."
Saphira shakes her head and ran out of the dorm block to run towards the library, she knew she had to get to the East of the campus to get away. But with Alice on her tail, the closest thing right now was the GTR parked on the West side of the campus. Saphira tried to get Sophia away multiple times, but the dumb girl just kept following her. She didn't understand it. Sophia seems to believe she got money from the government knowing about the bots. She ran into the library and looked for somewhere to hide briefly.
She grabbed out her phone and dialled Bee's number again. Sophia glared at her as she took deep breaths. "Bee! Hi, um, I have a little problem right now. I'm not sure I'll get to the East side of the campus."
"Why not?" Bee asked curiously. "You sound like you're out of breath."
"I am, I have just been running for my life from a decepticon that appeared human," Saphira responded quickly. "She's been shooting up the university and…AAAHHHH!" She nearly dropped the phone when a blast destroyed the door. "Shit! Gotta go!"
She hangs up and climbed over the barrier to get down to the lower level of the library. Sophia followed her, much to her dismay. She didn't care if the girl died though, that girl was a pain in her ass for many years. And right now, following her was a stupid idea on that girl's part. Saphira grabbed the light and lowered herself onto a shelf and jumped down. She groaned as she felt her knees ache from impact and ran through the library to get out as fast as possible. She heard Alice jumping down and charging her weapons, Saphira slid under a table and covered her head as the shots were fired, destroying multiple bookshelves in the process.
Saphira gets up as pages fly around them and she ran towards the exit as fast as possible. She glanced around and she was glad Sophia was not with her this time. Maybe the girl used that brain of hers and got out finally. She didn't want to be annoyed by her and Alice at the same time. However, as she ran, Alice shot at tables and anything that was in her way casually. She was not going to let Saphira go so easily. Saphira kept her head covered as much as possible, she did consider using her own weapon, but there were so many innocent people here she did not want to do that.
She slammed a door open and rushed down the stone stairs from the library. She felt her heart racing and ran away from the library. There was no way to get to the other side of the campus now, the carpark with her car was the closest. She ran towards it and glanced over her shoulder.
"Oh fuck, go away Sophia! You're only going to get killed!" Saphira snapped at the girl who was still following her. "These bots don't show mercy because of our appearance."
"I don't care!" She snapped back as she followed Saphira. She saw Saphira grab out a key and press a button, and the silver GTR's lights go off. "You have a new Nissan GTR?!"
Saphira ignored her as she jumped into the car and started it. She glared at Sophia when the girl got in the passenger side. "You're so damn annoying!"
"Get out of here, she's coming!" Sophia screamed, pointing at Alice who was walking briskly towards them.
She appeared mostly human again, but she began to transform as Saphira pulled out of the parking lot. As she did, Alice jumped onto the car and punches the roof of the car. Saphira frowned and sped away, swerving slightly to try and get the bot off the car. Alice simply chuckled and punches the windscreen of the car, Saphira yelped as glass grazed her cheeks and across the scratch that was still healing on her face. She did wonder why Optimus or Bee never said anything about it when they saw her. But now was not the time.
Saphira spotted a hydrant on the corner, and nothing was blocking it. She was not going to waste time, she pressed her foot on the throttle as the bot pushed her hand through the glass to grab her. Saphira ignored her and turned the car inward slightly, drifting it and causing Alice to lose balance.
"Kiss this bitch!" Saphira hissed, managing to barely miss the hydrant while Alice's body slammed into it.
It threw the bot off, but Alice stood back up and screamed at them, arming her missiles to fire at them. Saphira was about to do defensive manoeuvres when she spotted a dark, blue Dodge Challenger SRT speeding towards Alice and slamming the decepticon into the hydrant, causing the hydrant to explode and water began spouting into the air.
She smiled slightly. "Barricade."
"Huh?" Sophia was gripping the seat tightly and glanced behind to see the car following them. "Another hot guy?"
"Nope, just someone who wants to help," Saphira responded calmly before frowning. "Alright, I'm going to pull over and you need to get out of here."
"Not a chance," Sophia responded stubbornly. "You're stuck with me bitch!"
"Just what I always wanted…" Saphira shakes her head before spotting a helicopter approaching quickly. "Oh shit! Grindor!"
Saphira turned the car suddenly, drifting it away and she heard something clang on the ground, she glanced in the rear-view to see it was a claw that tried grabbing the car. She was relieved, though the helicopter turned to chase her. She knew it was coming after her. Though Barricade armed a missile and shot at Grindor, it hit the decepticon in the tail and he shouted something in Cybertronian. It shot at Barricade, hitting the side of the car and causing him to transform and stumble to the side of the road.
"I guess they've worked out he's a traitor," Saphira mumbled as she speeds the car away. "I hope he'll be okay."
Barricade jumps back onto the road to follow while Grindor speeds towards her, intending to clamp onto the car. Saphira drove past the cars as fast and as carefully as she could. She spotted an area she could try and avoid Grindor and turned the wheel, drifting the car into an old industrial area. Grindor lets out another frustrated roar and Barricade followed. He shoots as Grindor again to get him down, the decepticon manages to avoid the shots and shoots another missile at Barricade. The missile managed to hit the hood of the car and it was a critical hit point it seemed. Barricade slammed into standing gas pipes and transformed. Some of his face and chassis had been destroyed, he groaned in pain and stood up to run after Grindor and climbed up some of the old buildings in an attempt to grab the decepticon. Grindor seemed to ignore Barricade though, as Saphira drifts around an old building to try and get away. Grindor lost patience though, he arms his weapon and shoots at the Nissan. Saphira and Sophia scream, she hears the tyres bursting and the rubber flying off. The car hilts to the right and slides on the ground, causing sparks to fly.
"Shit!" Saphira cursed and moved to open the door to get out as a claw punched through the roof of the car. "Damnit! Barricade!"
The claw hooks the car and lifts it up. Saphira gripped the seat tightly and she saw Barricade run towards the car with wide eyes. "Jump out, I'll catch you!" He yelled at her, gesturing for her to jump.
Saphira was about to try but Grindor laughed and punched the car, causing it to spin on the line. She screamed and gripped the seat, closing her eyes to keep herself from getting severely dizzy and nauseous from the sudden spinning. She also heard another shot being fired and Barricade roaring loudly, he must have been shot again. She wasn't sure, but Saphira focused on keeping herself from getting dizzy. When the car stopped spinning, she opened her eyes and saw they were being carried over a river.
"Shit! Oh shit!" Sophia panicked as she stared out the windscreen.
"Told you that you should have left when you had the chance," Saphira said sarcastically as Grindor carried the car over the river to an old building.
Saphira did not know what was happening, however as Grindor brought the car over a glass roof, she heard the claw release them. She and Sophia scream and brace themselves as the car nose dives into the building, breaking through the thin roofing and a barrier that held up the roof. The front of the car hits the ground, and the airbags go off in their faces. Saphira grimaced as she was glad the airbags did not do damage to her face. The car falls onto the roof, and Saphira took a deep breath, thinking it was over, just as a saw begins cutting through the car.
Saphira screamed and shifts to press herself away from the saw as it slices the car in half. She couldn't believe her new car was destroyed, but that was the least of her problems. The car falls apart and she looks up to see Starscream. He grinned at her and kneels down to spit at her, he glanced at Sophia for a moment, seemingly confused by her presence, before glaring at Saphira.
"Nice of you to drop in, Saphira," Starscream mocked coldly with a chuckle and cold grin.
Saphira stared at the bot fearfully. "Hi…"
"Get out of the car!" He ordered impatiently.
Saphira was quick to get out, raising her hands in surrender and looking at Starscream with wide eyes. She was about to say something when she heard the humming of someone she thought was dead. Although, as he breathed out air towards her, she shuddered and knew it was because of the shard the decepticons had stolen that he was back. She turned around slowly and stared at the decepticon she had killed with shaky legs.
"Megatron."
