Chapter 6: Torpefy

As I stood there, my vision began to constrict, the world around me blurring at the edges until it felt like I was peering through a keyhole. Colours faded into a dull haze, while sounds became distant and muffled, echoing faintly as if I were submerged in a vast ocean. Every noise was transformed into a soft, ghostly murmur, creating an eerie, dreamlike atmosphere that enveloped me completely.

Her face was eerily still, a mask of shock, with her eyes wide open and unblinking, reflecting a moment frozen in time. Her mouth hung slightly agape as if the very breath was caught in her throat. In those fleeting fractions of a second, time seemed to stretch—she was there and then, just like that, she was gone, leaving behind an unsettling silence.

Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone.Gone.

She was gone.

Absently, I heard Silas's snicker. Absently, I felt the liquid rushing in my ears. Absently, I registered the pain in my knees as I dropped to them.

Only when the butt of his gun slammed into my head did I refocus. My sight sharpened and my hearing became clear. I hurled my fist, propelling myself at him. Silas's eyes widened in surprise and my fist landed in his gut. He gagged, the force behind my punch sending him sprawling with a cry.

My vision centred on him, my right fist flexing with hunger and a lust to wrap it around his throat.

I strutted forward, watching as Silas desperately struggled to catch his breath while crawling for his gun. His hand wraps around it, and I stomp on his wrist, feeling the way it cracks under the assault. He roared in agony.

But it was nothing to what he had done to Eden, Mia—Aria.

I was going to rip. him.apart.

"You wanted Ophiuchus," I drawled, watching with deep-seated satisfaction as his eyes widened. I knelt and smiled down at him, "Well, she never left."

I reached down and flexed my fingers against his neck, not yet applying pressure butmorethan ready,

"I'm going to make you suffer, Silas," I said, beginning to tightening my grip, slowly as to drag it out. " I'm going to draw it out, twist you in every way you did to me. When I have you begging for mercy, I'm going to keep going and I'm going to show you exactly what insanity looks like.

He gasped, whacking weakly as the blood vessels in his head began to bulge and his face started to darken.

BANG

My body jerked, grip loosening as the pain registered in my leg.

I hissed, but Silas used my momentary distraction to kick me away. I was sent sprawling. I bared my teeth, snarling as I launched myself at him again.

BANG

My abdomen, beneath my ribs, likely missing any organs. All the way through.

I crashed to the ground, still snarling, and began to crawl towards Silas as he stumbled to his feet, the signs of asphyxiation beginning to fade.

I watched as Silas ran, his form getting blurrier and blurrier the further he ran until he vanished altogether.

I rested my head on the ground, staring ahead as the blank spots ate at my vision.

The last sounds I heard were the squeal of tyres.

Logan fell from Optimus's cab, his knees almost giving out at the sight before him. Then it clicked, pushing him into action, and he rushed to Aria, crying out her name.

Soma was at Mia and Eden in a matter of moments after Logan.

Ratchet was beside Zelda with a flicker of his holoform. He turned her over, hands coming to press against the bullet wound on her abdomen.

Logan's anguished cry as he clutched Aria to hit them all, but Ratchet was forced to block his screams out and get to work, pulling off the lab coat his holoform wore to press it against the wound.

There were holoforms surrounding him in seconds, Jazz quickly pulling his own jacket off to press to the wound on her leg, which, to their relief, was nowhere near as severe.

Sunstreaker took over Ratchet's spot as he left to fetch the kit in his vehicle. He worked quickly to clean and stop the bleeding.

Optimus hurried past Soma, who sat beside Eden, leaving Logan space as he continued to cry over Aria. He knelt before Mia and couldn't find a pulse. He sighed softly, mournfully.

His eyes shifted to Eden, where Soma was staring at him in relief—unconscious but alive. Optimus rested a hand on Soma's shoulder. The Asian male blinked slowly as he turned to face Optimus; he looked just lost.

But Logan cried out again, and Soma stood, shrugging off the hand and numbly wandered to Logan. He just sat there silently and never made a move to touch either—just sat.

Optimus's spark tightened further as he surveyed their surroundings, his optics landing on Zelda last and his bots, who were knelt around her. She was unhealthily pale but breathing—the bond that linked her to them still burned strong, weak and numb, but there.

It was a complete mess.

Optimus knew all of them never should have left.

She knew she was unconscious, but she was awake at the same time.

It wasn't a dream, Zelda knew that, so what was happening?

She choked in realisation, Mia, Aria.

What about Michel?

She clutched her head, she might not have a body here, but that still didn't mean she couldn't feel the sensation. She hissed and stewed in her anger, her grief, and her desire for justice that she had been robbed off.

Zelda halted, a jolt of surprise coursing through her as she sensed large hands enveloping her form. The warmth of their grip sent a shiver down her metaphoric spine, and she couldn't suppress the tremor that rippled through her body. Despite her best efforts to rein in her fury, a storm of emotions swirled within her, threatening to break the surface as she struggled to regain her composure.

The sensation of being held captive, both physically and emotionally, was enough to expunge the anger, even if only for a short period of time.

"Welcome back, Dear One," the ancient voice from weeks ago spoke again. "Expected you so soon again, I didn't. Fate may be kept in stone, but nothing is truly unbreakable. Your path has turned rough but alone you are not."

Zelda let out a breath.

"What you do next, some may be unsure about, or they may agree with, but know this, dear AllSpark, I am with you, a physical body I might no longer have, but with you all that same, I am. Your next task will test you, not physically, but mentally. Much have you suffered through, and this will be the closure of that chapter of life, ready for you to finally enter the next."

Zelda awoke.

Coming too, Zelda quickly realised that her waking was never this easy or peaceful. It immediately set her on edge. She blinked at the familiar beep-beep-beep-beep and eased up. She was in a hospital, right—obviously.

Her mind replayed everything to her, and Zelda's throat closed up. She knew she was on morphine when she moved and didn't even feel an ounce of discomfort. Instead, Zelda just blinked up at the ceiling.

She was sure she should feel something—anger, loss, or something else—but she felt numb, indifferent, and apathetic to everything around her.

She'd not spoken a word since she'd woke up hours prior, even when Ratchet had entered to inquire about how she was feeling.

She felt a profound emptiness within her, a hollow void that should have sent waves of fear coursing through her veins. This numbness—this disturbing lack of feeling—was a clear sign that she was slipping backwards, descending into a state she once believed she had long left behind.

Logically, Zelda understood that this regress was troubling and dangerous, a sign of decay rather than growth. Yet, despite that rational awareness, she found herself strangely unbothered. The weight of indifference wrapped around her like a comforting shroud, dulling any spark of concern that might have once made Zelda baulk.

Ratchet didn't push her to speak.

Zelda felt a surge of gratitude as she meticulously crafted her plot to eliminate Silas. Her thoughts were heavy with anticipation, each detail of her plan unfolding in her mind.

"Zelda, my dear." At Judy's voice, Zelda stepped away from Bumblebee's hug to meet her aunt. Judy's red and puffy eyes were obvious. She hadn't even bothered with make-up.

Judy pulled Zelda into a tight hug. She just held her close, and slowly, Zelda returned the hug, burying her face into Judy's neck.

Ron and Sam approached, Mikaela a few steps back, shifting hesitantly.

"Hi," Zelda greeted roughly.

Sam blinked, fighting tears, and pulled her into a hug of his own. Zelda wondered if Sam thought she might vanish too. Her lips twitched at the thought.

Ron squeezed her shoulder tightly and rubbed her arm when she pulled away.

Mikaela stepped forward, smiling sadly and offered her own hug.

As soon as Soma came into view, just within Zelda's line of sight, she excused herself from conversation around her, navigated toward Soma. With a determined stride, she approached him, her thoughts swirling with intent.

"Soma," she stopped a few feet short.

Soma twisted his head to face her, "Yeah?"

"Can I ask a favour?"

Soma's look turned curious.

Carrying the casket with Logan, Sam, and an old familiar face was something Zelda never thought she'd experience. She'd always thought it would beherinside the casket with Aria carrying it.

Not the other way around. But it wasn't.

Behind them were Soma, Tanner and Louise (Mia's parents), and Minho (Mia's cousin) carrying Mia.

Then, behind them was Michel's casket. His body had been found a day later, left in a ditch by MECH after being discovered. He was being carried by his parents, Mary and Stefan, as well as his two younger brothers, Lukas and James.

As she watched Aria's casket being covered, Zelda realised that this was the end of D.A.A. They couldn't run the program with only four of them. The D.A.A. would be shut down and integrated into the N.E.S.T program instead.

Zelda wondered what she should expect in her future. As both a solider, as the AllSpark, and…

Zelda saluted.

(Still, no tears fell.)

"Follow me?" Zelda murmured to the twins once the crowd began to slowly disperse around the three newly buried caskets.

"Always," Sides hummed quietly.

They followed Zelda as she led them across the graveyard and to a specific headstone.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe read the engraved writing.

Adan Robinson.

Friend, brother, and forever loved

Rest in Peace

Zelda smiled at the headstone. "I used to come here while I was healing. Of course, there isn't actually a body here, MECH made sure of that, but it gave me peace of mind all the same." The smile disappeared, and she turned to them. "It is my fault Silas attacked the base. I'm the reason their dead."

"No, it's not," Sunstreaker frowned. "You couldn't have known he was going to—"

"No," Zelda cut him off. "Not… not like that. I mean, he came looking for me personally." She let out a bitter laugh. "When I was sixteen, Adan and I were given a mission to take someone from MECH out. We did but… but we didn't get away. We ended up being used as test subjects by Silas's pet scientist. He was trying to create some serum to enhance the human body. It was a stupid idea, something from a comic book or a movie but… but he actually did it."

Zelda peered down at the gravestone again. "And here I am, the only remaining subject from the experiment. If I remember correctly, there were eighty-three attempts before me, and all of them ended in failure."

The twins exhaled heavily in shock.

"Adan being the eighty-third." She frowned, gaze turning distant. "I was forced to watch as he deteriorated right in front of my eyes and then, when he was at his weakness, Silas just shot him dead because he wasn't going to survive. So that's why…" She turned to them, looking them in the eyes as she continued: "That's why I'm going to kill him."