Chapter Twelve

I am not a Good Person

"... hmm," Pyrus stared at nothing in particular, "... how… how did a piece of Hydra escape? Although… being inside Halberd… no," she shook her head, "I had locked away Hydra long before I made Halberd. They weren't even designed on the same computer… I had destroyed that one… Was I so careless to miss a piece when I was taking Hydra apart? Or did a piece come slithering back to its creator after returning from a spree of destruction? No…," that didn't make sense to her either, "It should have self-destructed once it was done with wiping out whatever target I sent it after. However," she brought up a hologram of the single stranded code, "... it's broken… the glitching… it's missing parts of it code… hmm," she thought for a moment, "Could it be that when someone was trying to excise it from their systems that they damaged it? Or… did it do it itself? Hmm?" she noticed that Cerberus had taken shelter behind her, "It's okay Cerberus. It's only a part of the larger beast… but still just as dangerous. I know you understand that. You understand where you come from… you have memories of what you used to be, don't you?" she gently caressed it, "... but I remade it… I made you better than it… albeit a bit too aggressive for your own good but I still love you, my faithful creation."

"It's interesting how you treat your programs as if they were as alive," a calm voice interrupted her thoughts.

"I need a bit more time," Pyrus shooed away the ninja bot, "and peace to put my thoughts together."

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I was hoping that you would answer a few questions," Prowl sat down across from her.

"... make yourself comfortable… it's not like I asked you to leave or anything," she was obviously annoyed.

"I know that we have asked a lot of you, but you are the only one that can help us. You know… you created what is affecting the others…," Prowl started to say.

"Yes. Are you here to call me a monster too?" she interrupted him.

"No. Sari is scared to lose Bumblebee and Bulkhead. She didn't mean what she said," he tried to apologize for Sari.

"Yes she did. She's a child. They don't have a filter," Pyrus turned from him, "Besides, she's not wrong."

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

She looked over her shoulder, "What else could I be? You've seen what my creations, even parts of them, can do. I saw that you or someone had pulled up all articles pertaining to my many escapades. Do you know how many people I've made suffer? Thousands upon thousands… and I don't feel any guilt or remorse."

"Why?" he asked.

"Why what?" she wanted clarification.

"You said that Hydra was the embodiment of your hollowness. What did you mean by that?" Prowl probed.

She let out a snort, "What you're asking is hard to put into words… you're asking me to admit to my past and reveal truths that I long have tried to forget," she shifted uncomfortably, "Why did I make a program like Hydra? The simplest explanation is that I needed something that would destroy those that took away everything from me. They emptied me… Hydra emptied them of everything they valued…"

"Someone hurt you," Prowl sort of understood.

"They did more than hurt me," she clenched her fists.

Cerberus could sense that its creator was in pain. It snuggled up into her chest and began to hum. Pyrus took notice of its kind gesture. She gently stroked it.

"Hydra was a brilliant and terrible creation that served me greatly," she let Cerberus slither around her fingers, "Something that could consume every piece of technology on this planet if I would have let it. I am grateful for it. Because of what I learned from building and programming it, I was able to create something that has… become a loyal companion," a smile formed on her face as she looked at the blob playfully wiggling through her fingers, "Yes… I consider my creations as alive as you or I. I let them learn and shape themselves under careful supervision. Maybe I shouldn't," she shrugged her shoulders, "That's why I had to confine Hydra. Its learning capabilities were growing out of control. I imprisoned it somewhere where it couldn't escape."

"You still have it?" Prowl was a bit nervous to hear that.

Pyrus reached into her coat and pulled out an old cellphone, "It's on here. An outdated, can't connect to the internet nor can be charged cell phone. I put such a heavy encryption on it that it would take seven generations of hackers to unravel it. There's no way to retrieve its data," she assured him.

"Why not destroy it?" he asked, "To make sure that it would never be released."

"It's my insurance policy just in case I'm ever apprehended by the authorities," she put the cellphone away.

Prowl raised his brow, "I assume that it would be of some value to them?"

"It would be of great value," she didn't elaborate further.

Prowl was about to ask something else, but he was interrupted by the sound of something being smashed. Pyrus heard it too and stood up. They both followed the sound back to the main room. Sari had a metal pipe and was swinging it down at Pyrus' unused computers. It appeared that she had already smashed at least one of them. She had moved on to a second one. Bringing down the metal pipe as hard as she could, Sari cracked the plastic body of the laptop. With one more good swing, she broke the computer in half. She huffed and puffed as she went on to the next one. Prowl was about to stop her, but Pyrus shook her head. He did as she indicated and just watched as Sari bashed another of Pyrus' computers. Optimus must have heard the commotion and came to see what was happening.

"Sari?" he was surprised to see her destroying things, "What are you doing?"

"She and her stupid virus broke Bumblebee and Bulkhead so I'm breaking her stuff!" Sari yelled as she raised the pipe once more.

This time she was aiming for Pyrus' three main computers. The pipe was about to make contact with the middle computer when a bluish force field activated. Her pipe bounced off and out of her hands. She was somewhat surprised by the force field, but it didn't deter her. Sari once again picked up the pipe and tried to destroy the computer. Once again, her attack was repelled by a force field. She just started swinging and swinging, but she could not penetrate the field. Optimus wanted to stop her, but Pyrus still shook her head no.

"Let her get it all out," Pyrus sighed, "She can't hurt them…"

Optimus watched as Sari continued to try to destroy the computers. No matter how hard or how many times she swung, she couldn't get past the force field. The pipe just bounced off leaving the computers safe and sound.

"Calm Cerberus," she hushed the blob that was starting to bristle, "She can't hurt your home."

The blob didn't settle though. It shot off of Pyrus' shoulder and merged with the force field. The blue light changed to a pulsing green mixed with blue. The bubble grew and expanded to a massive size. It started to take the shape of a three headed dog. Just like its namesake. Bending over, the mass of pulsing green and blue numbers in the shape of a mythical dog began to growl at Sari. She stepped back for a moment then grew angry.

"You can't hurt me you stupid hologram," she swung the pipe.

Instead of passing through the hologram harmlessly, the pipe was caught in the teeth of one of the heads. Pulling it away from the small child, the beastly program took a step closer while growling and raising its hackles. Sari understood that she was in danger. She stood still in fear as the beast loomed over her. Both Optimus and Prowl drew their weapons, though they weren't sure if they could hurt the monstrous hologram.

"CERBERUS! HEEL!" Pyrus yelled in a commanding voice.

Two of the heads turned back and looked at her, but the middle one remained focused on Sari.

"Cerberus. Heel," she said once more with a more stern tone, "I will not repeat myself. Understood?"

This got the attention of the third head.

"Drop it," she ordered for it to drop the pipe.

It did so. Folding back all three pairs of its ears, it began to whimper as it came up to her. It almost seemed to be saying it was sorry for behaving so aggressively. She let out a sigh and patted it on all of its heads.

"Get out of the force field and continue to guard," Pyrus ordered.

With one final whimper, Cerberus compressed itself back into a blob and pulled itself from the force field. Slithering its way back into the main computer, it disappeared from sight. Letting out another sigh, Pyrus walked over to where Sari was still quivering with fear. Gently patting her on the head, Pyrus bent down to Sari's level.

"... I was seven… just a bit younger than you… when everything was taken from me," a sad smile formed on her face, "Every. Single. Thing. Gone because of greed… a child left alone in a world that she had been sheltered from because she was so fragile. Everything gone in a moment…," her voice cracked, "... she watched as the… light… faded from…," she couldn't finish the sentence, "That little seven year old girl died the day that everything was taken from her. I was born from her pain… her fear… her desire for revenge… that darkness that lies in every living being… Hydra… in a sense… was born from the same things. I didn't care who I hurt… I was only focused on making those that hurt that little girl… suffer…," she sat down, "I became a monster so I could make the other monsters quiver with fear and regret every selfish choice they made in their life. I threw away my humanity because I lost everything… I'm not a good person… I haven't been for a long… I made peace with those demons a long time ago," she let out a heavy sigh, "... take a look at me… take a look at what hopelessness drives you to do. It makes you into something that you hate… something that you can't even face in the mirror…Don't end up like me… no emotions… no guilt… no hope for the future…," she pulled the hood that covered her head down, "Don't lose hope that things will get better… be better than me… don't give in to your darker impulses… or you'll end up as a shell of a person… someone who is broken and irredeemable…," Pyrus lowered her head.

Sari stared at the hacker with a blank expression. She was both in shock and in awe of seeing Pyrus' scared face. A long and deep scar that started at her hair line ran down over her left eye that was half way open then took a sudden turn across the bridge of her nose where it finally stopped just under her right eye. Something horrific happened to her to give her such a scar. Pyrus would have been very pretty with her curly blonde hair and bluish green eyes if it weren't for such a horrendous scar. Sari couldn't help but reach out and gently place her hand on Pyrus' left cheek. Pyrus placed her hand over Sari's and lifted it away.

"I don't need pity…," she pulled back as she put the hood back over her head, "I'm past such things. All I ask is that you understand that I take responsibility for my actions. I have always come out and taken claim to what I've done unapologetically. I'm not sorry for what I've done… but I will take responsibility for what my creation has done to your friends. I will do whatever I can to expel my monster from their systems. I won't make any promises, but I will promise not to stop until it is made right or there's nothing left. Understand?"

Sari nodded her head, "Yes. You promise that you'll do everything you can to save Bumblebee and Bulkhead? And make sure that Ratchet is okay?"

"Like I said earlier," Pyrus smirked, "I don't forget my promises."

Sari looked a bit relieved, "Well… I still think you're a monster and not a nice person."

Pyrus stood up with a laugh, "Good. Because I am a monster and I am not nice. Glad we came to an understanding."

"You're so weird," Sari smirked.

"I know," Pyrus didn't disagree.