Trials, Tribulations, and Transformations

XXXI - Session 3

00000

Denver, CO - June 19th, 2011 - Sunday, 9:00 pm

"How have you been doing Miko?"

The foreign exchange student smiled sweetly. "I'm doing great, never better."

Nurse June Darby returned the smile.

They were in a fairly large room of the estate. It had a plush king size bed, a flat screen plasma tv suspended on the opposite wall and a fully stocked bathroom.

June sat in an armchair while Miko was sitting cross legged on the bed.

And per their arrangement, Miko would have another heart-to-heart talk with June and as far they were both concerned, it was long overdue.

"You and Jack are getting along rather well I've heard."

Miko twiddled her forefingers, some color in her cheeks. "Y-Yeah, I guess so."

"His birthday is coming up you know."

Miko smiled. "Yes I know. Mine too." His birthday is on July 14th and mine is on the 31st.

"What does he like?" Miko asked.

"You're asking me?"

"Well yeah, you're his mom."

June rubbed her chin, thinking for a moment. "He's not really materialistic. I know he enjoys classic Disney movies."

"I know that much and then some," Miko said.

"He likes going on walks."

Miko frowned. "Yeah, when he's not being tailed by Arcee."

June decided that it was time to get to why they were in her room in the first place. "Maybe we should move on to our session."

"Oh ok."

"Now," June said, speaking professionally but compassionately. "Why don't you lie down? Get comfortable."

Stretching out her legs, Miko laid down, settling her head on the plush pillows. She snuggled in, sighing in pleasure of the comfort.

"Nice bed," she said.

"How's your bed?" June asked.

"Very nice," Miko said. "I slept better than usual."

June smiled. "And what about your parents? Your host parents?"

Miko scowled. "What about them?"

"Have you talked with them?"

"Not really."

June purses her lip. "Are you still angry with them?"

Miko shrugged. "A little."

June nodded in understanding. "Less angry than before."

"I guess."

"That's good," June said encouragingly. "Because forgiveness is key to healing."

"I know," Miko said. "I just…hadn't been raised to really embrace forgiveness."

June looked very sad. "I understand, believe me I do."

Miko looked at her. "You've been hurt by your parents?"

"I have."

Miko sat up and crossed her legs once more, her interest growing and expelling any desire to relax. "What happened?"

"Well...my parents were...very overbearing," June said. "My father especially. Always nitpicking for the smallest errors like not having my elbows on the dinner table, and no slouching, and certainly no phone calls after a certain hour."

Miko tilted her head. "That doesn't sound so bad."

"I'm not done." June cleared her throat. "They wanted me to be a lawyer. They were more than insistent about it."

"You?" Miko said, amazed. "A lawyer? I can kinda see that."

June gave Miko a look of feigned annoyance. "You see me as a blood sucking parasite?"

"Wha-No!" Miko cried holding her hands up in surrender. "You? A blood sucking parasite? Never!"

June smiled sweetly. "I'm just teasing Miko."

"Oh." Miko blushed. "Still not used to you making jokes."

"I know, I know," June said. "I know I've been a bit of a stiff but the pressures of being a mother and tending to other children while in the midst of an intergalactic war."

Miko inwardly gasped. Oh wow. I hadn't thought about it like that. What she goes through all the time. How does Ms Darby do it?

"Wow," Miko said. "You must be superhuman or something."

June laughed. It was a very pleasant sound for Miko to hear, considering how serious Ms. Darby has been.

"I don't know about superhuman Miko," June said, "but parenting and nursing are certainly not for the faint of heart."

"Neither is fighting a war where the enemy are giant robots who can transform into cars and planes who either want you enslaved or dead."

June shook her head. "You got me there." She cleared her throat again. "Now...my parents wanted me to be a lawyer and I was put through law school after law school for it."

Whoa. You think she'd be making a better living with such an education.

"Why didn't you just say 'no I don't want to be a lawyer?'"

"Because Miko I was afraid of letting them down, of being a failure in their eyes. My family has been in the legal office for a long time. My father was a lawyer and his father before him. My mother was a legal assistant and she prided herself in it. So naturally, when I decided not to take a career in the legal office, which was not easy, they were pretty disappointed."

"How disappointed?" Miko asked.

June bowed her head. "So disappointed that they said things that I'm not going to repeat to you."

"Seriously? Is being a nurse instead of a lawyer that big a deal?"

June looked sad. "It was to them a career far beneath my potential and an insult to their profession. They made sure I knew that."

There was a grim silence in the air. "I'm sorry," Miko said.

"It's alright, it's all behind me." June's solemn expression turned cheerful as though she were reflecting on a happy memory. "But eventually, their hearts softened and now are better people. Do you want to know why Miko?"

"Yeah?"

"Because even though they've been very hard with me Miko, I still loved them and I forgave them. I made sure they knew that."

Miko's mouth dropped open. "How? How can you do that? After everything?"

"Because Miko," June said, her voice becoming hard but gentle, "I had to learn the hard way of what holding on to old hurts does to you. It's a corrosive, slow-acting poison that you take in order to hurt someone else. No matter how much you hate someone or hold unforgiveness against them, it will not hurt them an inch Miko. There is nothing to be gained by it. It is better to just let it go."

Miko scowled. Easy for you to say, let it go.

As though reading her thoughts, June continued. "Miko, I'm not saying that we excuse the actions of those who hurt us, far from it. Forgiveness is about letting go of that hurt, of no longer wishing any ill on the person who hurt you, of never bringing it up again. But trust is another matter entirely."

"Meaning?" Miko asked.

"You don't turn your back on that person is what I mean. Forgiving them is one thing but giving them the same trust before they violated that trust?" June shook her head. "No, not so quickly. Trust is something you have to build and broken trust is something you have to rebuild."

"And you did that with your parents?"

June nodded. "I did. It took them time but eventually they softened. The first time I had talked to them after we split, they were very ashamed of how they were."

"Did they grovel and beg for forgiveness at your feet?" Miko asked jokingly. She did not actually expect June to say yes.

June seemed to know that as she was smiling deviously. "Yes actually."

"What?!" Miko almost shrieked. "You're kidding!"

"Nope." June cringed a bit. "It was a little embarrassing though."

"They seriously did that?"

June nodded firmly. "They did."

Miko was in awe. "Wow."

"It would not have worked out so well Miko if I ever stopped loving them," June said resolutely. "Returning bitterness with bitterness will heal nothing. You have to rise above it, only then will you find peace."

"But what if they are never sorry for what they've done?" Miko asked.

"Then that's on them Miko and you move on, that's all."

Miko bit her lip. "And Crowson? I must forgive even him?"

"Yes Miko," June said firmly but lovingly. "For your own sake. Holding on to that hurt would mean that he's won. Such persons who do the things that Crowson did to you at that Homecoming Dance, they just want to see fail and live in misery. You can't let them keep you down and rise above them."

Miko looked down at her lap. Her emotions were running wild and her heart burned with anger and sorrow. She wrung her hands anxiously. She rubbed her eyes and then she spoke.

"Ever since that night…I've been so miserable. I...hated Crowson for what he did to me. I wanted him to die for it so many times. But…" Tears welled up in Miko's eyes. "...but it was me who was dying on the inside...every time I thought about it…the bitterness, the hatred, it made me want to die so many times...but Jack...your son saved my life...so many times...not just on that night...but in the cave too." Hot tears rolled down Miko's cheeks and hiccuping sobs erupted from her lips.

June got up from her armchair, sat on the bed and pulled Miko into an embrace. The girl clung to her for dear life. "And I...and I...oh God, it's like God had sent him to me to be my guardian angel!" Miko coughed. "I love him Ms. Darby! Oh God I love him so much! And I...and I want to be by his side for the rest of my life!"

June smiled widely, tears of joy leaking from her eyes, rolling down her cheeks and into Miko's hair. "Have you told him?" She said.

Miko sniffed. "No."

"Why?"

Miko shuffles uncomfortably in June's embrace and she whispers, "...Cuz."

"Cuz?" June asked.

"Cuz...cuz...I can't say it."

June patted her head. "Yes you can."

Miko shook her head fiercely. "I'm afraid that he doesn't feel the same way."

"What makes you think he doesn't?" June asked.

"He hasn't said it."

"You've only been dating for nearly two months now, what's the rush?"

"I just," Miko said hesitantly. "This life we have now. The war, the danger, it seems like our lives will always be in danger and I don't want to wait."

"Then don't," June said. "Tell him how you feel. Jack is the sort who wants the direct approach. Just talk with him, you know he will listen to you."

"I know," Miko croaked, her voice hoarse. "He's like the first guy I ever truly fell for and he's practically the first guy to ever really give a damn about me."

"Oh Miko," June cooed as she planted a kiss on Miko's head.

And that's what did it.

Miko buried her head in June's cardigan top and wept so bitterly, she shook. The nurse tightened her embrace and rocked the hysterical girl back and forth.

June whispered in her ear. "Was that ok Miko?"

Miko hiccuped. "More than...ok. I haven't...I just...wish my own mom treated me like that when I was still in Tokyo."

A jolt of hot anger rose up in June, but she siphoned it for Miko's sake.

What kind of family has this poor girl been in?

Miko sniffled and she motioned to wipe her nose with her forearm.

"Uh uh," June said, stopping her. She went into her cardigan pocket and pulled out a handkerchief.

Very gently, she wiped Miko's eyes with them and then applied it to her nose, which was now dripping with mucus.

"Blow," June said.

The sound Miko made was like a motorboat trying to make its way through a dead swamp and having a hard time doing so.

"There we go," June said, drying off Miko's nose before folding the handkerchief and putting it away.

Miko turned around and June allowed her to press her back against her and she snuggled her head into June's bosom as she wrapped her arms around her waist. She giggled. "You always keep a handkerchief on you?"

June laughed with her. "Only when I'm dealing with very emotional patients."

"I'm not that emotional," Miko whined.

"I've had much, much more emotional patients Miko, believe me."

"Really?"

June nodded. She rotated her shoulders as though a chill came up in them. "One patient I can think of, this one screams at random, just no warning, just screams at the top of their lungs for no apparent reason."

Again, Miko's mouth dropped. "No."

"Yes."

"Wow, but are you allowed to tell me this? If it's a patient?"

June grinned. "Ethically it's not good. But you're not going to tell anyone I told you."

Miko smirked. "Why shouldn't I?"

A wicked glint appeared in June's blue eyes. "Because if you do, then I'll have to do this."

June raked her fingers into Miko's underarms. The girl laughed wildly as she attempted to escape the nurse's grasp but June had a firm grip on her.

"No no! Eeeee!" Miko squealed.

"Swear you'll never tell!" June said playfully.

"N-never!" Miko giggled.

June shrugged. "Have it your way."

00000

Undisclosed location

Deep in the caverns of a certain mountain range, hundreds of miles away from the Autobot Base, more than 900 meters below the ground, Decepticons miners and technicians were heavy at work.

They were constructing a Space Bridge, to replace the one that was destroyed by the Autobots half an earth year ago.

It was transported to an underground cavern for the purpose of concealment, so that the Autobots would not locate it so easily.

The project was nearly complete. All that was left was acquiring a power core that would be potent enough to activate the transport.

Breakdown was in charge of its construction, as well as the acquiring of the ordinance needed to complete it.

A reward granted him by Megatron for his efforts in the decimation of MECH's mountain base as well as the data he acquired just before it self-destructed.

Airachnid would simply not do as she was too wild, too uncouth, too unpredictable for the task. Megatron did not entirely trust her. Actually he did not trust her anymore than he trusted her predecessor, Starscream.

Actually, anyone would be crazy to trust her implicitly.

Knockout could not oversee the project as his most important task was tending to Soundwave, who was still comatose. Therefore his medical expertise was in greater need than his technological know-how. Also, for some reason, Megatron did not particularly trust him either.

Breakdown however was entirely different. Out of all his current staff aboard the Nemesis Warship, Megatron had known Breakdown longer than any of them, second only to Soundwave. He had been one of his most loyal soldiers. Certainly not the strongest or the smartest, but he was loyal and daring.

It was Breakdown who accompanied Megatron and Soundwave in the ground assault of Iacon, on the attack on Sentinel Zeta Prime's fortress, the capture of the defeated Prime and the attack and capture of Omega Supreme, who was literally the key to Cybertron's core.

Although he had been captured by MECH, a deep state military organization consisting of humans (a species that are considered inferior beings), it would seem that Breakdown has been somewhat redeemed of this disgrace in his most recent success of his part in the crippling of MECH as well as the acquiring of some of their invaluable secrets.

Megatron might've rewarded Breakdown by restoring his missing optic, if such biological components were readily available.

Unfortunately, as the Leader of the Decepticons put it, new optics are a lost art.

Nonetheless, Breakdown was content, proud, happy even that Megatron had entrusted him with the responsibility of overseeing the construction of perhaps the Decepticon's most important priority, the very device that may be the key to turning the tides of the Great War back into their favor.

As Breakdown watched the multitudes of Vehicons working on the frame of the Space Bridge, which was a little more than a metal skeleton in its production. There were sparks of welding shining and flashing across numerous random spots of the construction. There were certain pieces of Cybersteel being lifted by certain pulleys and cranes in order to fit them on the Space Bridge frame, locking them into place, like a gigantic puzzle piece.

I almost forgot how satisfying building something is. Too bad we don't have the Constructicons with us, they'd build the Space Bridge no problem and in no time at all.

"Lieutenant?"

Breakdown stood up straight as he turned to address the Vehicon soldier who just spoke. "What is it Stockade?"

"Status report: completion at 67%."

Breakdown nodded. "Good. Have you found a power source?"

Stockade looked down at a data pad in his hands. "A few potential places of interest. But if we're going to acquire one, we need to do it without tipping off the Autobots."

"Very good. Keep up the good work."

Stockade nodded thankfully.

But he didn't leave.

His mind seemed to be elsewhere.

Breakdown raised an eyebrow, his only eyebrow. "Is there something else?"

"Well…" Stockade said, a tad nervously. "Do you remember what we talked about in that Energon mine a month ago?"

Breakdown scratched his head. "I recall it vaguely. Did I say anything that stands out?"

"Something about finding you-know-who intriguing?"

Breakdown blinked. "Megatron?"

Stockade shook his head. "Airachnid."

Breakdown almost recoiled. "I said that? About her?"

"To be precise sir, you said you were intrigued by her."

Breakdown almost shuddered. "Scrap, what was I thinking?"

If Stockade hadn't been wearing his battle mask, he'd be smirking. "You were a bit attached to her for a while."

Breakdown fixed Stockade with an unimpressed look.

Stockade started to tremble, realizing he stepped across a line.

But Breakdown smirked. "Very funny Stockade," He said half pleasantly and half annoyed. "You're dismissed."

In order to placate the Stunticon further, Stockade bowed before leaving. "Thank you sir." And he walked away, perhaps too quickly.

Breakdown turned back to the assignment at hand. But his mind took him elsewhere.

The boys are loosening up. Maybe because the Eyes and Ears of the Decepticons is currently out of commission. Then again, Megatron seems a bit different too. He's...calmer somehow. And Airachnid… Breakdown shuddered involuntarily. ...she seems even more psychotic than usual. Why Megatron would make her his second-in-command, I'll never know. And Soundwave…geez...whatever Ravage must've been through to put him in a coma just through a spark link, it must've been Hell. Breakdown gritted his teeth and he clenched his fists, so hard he was shaking. Those miserable humans. They'd better pray that the Autobots get to them first, they'd better all pray.

Breakdown's dark thinking was so intense, he failed to notice swift but subtle movement occurring in the roof of the cave.

None of the Decepticon workers even remotely noticed.

00000

Laserbeak. Soundwave's Surveillance Drone and loyal friend.

Family actually. Laserbeak had been with Soundwave from the beginning. He had seen and witnessed everyone of his brothers and sister when they sparkbonded with the silent mech.

Frenzy. Rumble. Ravage.

Laserbeak's spark ached in memory of his dearest sister. Sister by sparkbond but sister all the same.

The agony of her captivity and what it has done to Soundwave.

Laserbeak felt a surge of anguish stir in the pit of his iron gizzard. It drove him on in his crucial task.

I hope I still remember how to do this.

It had been some time since Laserbeak had to operate a bridge remotely, but a Space Bridge? That would be tricky.

Laserbeak had found a cavern that would serve as a blind spot. No need to alert the Vehicon workers. This was a secret mission after all.

The Space Bridge does not have a sufficient power source. But it has just enough backup power for this.

Laserbeak remotely connects with the Space Bridge's navigational system and zeroed in on his intended place of extraction.

And then a portal came to life, one quite small but just big enough for them to come through.

And two shapes swept through.

The Space Bridge closed.

They were both crouching, gleaming in the fluorescent lighting of the construction.

They rose simultaneously.

One of them smiled as though greeting an old friend that thought to be dead. "Good to see you Beaky."

Laserbeak paused. Annoyance gleamed in his singular visor.

And then he transformed into his long dormant avian form.

Laserbeak arched his neck in irritation. "You're as charming as ever Rumble."

The minicon with the purple and black color scheme shrugged his shoulder comically. "It's been a long journey, 'kay?"

His brother, who had a blue/black color scheme, smacked him in the back of the head. "Get serious Rumble, we have work to do."

"Yeah yeah Frenzy, I know," Rumble groaned, nursing the light soreness in his helm. "That hurt you know."

"Enough!" Laserbeak snapped. "Both of you!"

Rumble and Frenzy halted in their quarrel. And without a moment's notice, they stood tall.

"Megatron has orders for us?" Frenzy said.

Rumble scoffed. "Otherwise he wouldn't have used the emergency summons for us."

"Very special orders," Laserbeak said. "You are aware of what happened to Soundwave and Ravage."

The twin minicons grimaced as though something pained them terribly. "We are," Frenzy answered.

Laserbeak nodded in understanding. "Then you know why you're here."

A multitude of emotions flashed in the fiery optics of Frenzy and Rumble. There was rage, anguish, fear but brightly, a certain murderous resolve.

Laserbeak didn't need to wait for an answer. He already knew because he knew them. "The human organization known as MECH."

Rumble and Frenzy's optics glinted.

"The humans who did this to Ravage. To Soundwave, the one who gave us our lives."

Rumble brandished his seismic jackhammers and Frenzy, his embedded wrist blades.

"What are Megatron's orders?" Frenzy asked gravely but eagerly.

Laserbeak issued a silent command, a recording in his own audio system.

It played back in Megatron's voice.

"Kill them all."

To be continued…

VOICE CAST

Laserbeak - Robin Atkin Downes (Ezylryb, Owls of Ga'Hoole video game [2010])

Rumble/Frenzy - Reno Wilson (Imagine Mohawk from the Last Knight)