Chapter 2
Things around base were stressful at times with Amber now hanging around since she was still cold to all of them. However with some encouragement or strictness from Optimus she was starting to loosen up a bit. Optimus seemed to be correct that there was a deeper reason for her hostility and he had high hopes that he would eventually find out what. Of course she was not making it easy for him to learn anything about her fight him tooth and nail. Feeling that she need a change of pace he allowed her to accompany Arcee, Bulkhead, Miko and Jack to an old Decepticon Energon mine.
Amber had surprisingly jumped at the opportunity to get out of the base but soon found herself bored out of her mind well she waited outside the mine's entrance with Jack and the restless Miko. "We're supposed to be at a rock concert but all I see are rocks." the Japanese girl grumbled.
"Relax Miko the show doesn't start for two hours." Jack attempted to reassure her.
"Do you know how long I've waited to see Slash Monkey?" She asked him but before he could answer Miko cut him Off "Forever! And it's their only US date!"
"There's a shock. I mean who doesn't love Bulgarian shriek metal?" Jack asked sarcastically well looking at Amber who was seemed a bit on edge well she looked at the forest around them and the skis. "Hey Amber you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm just being on guard since the last time I was in a forest like this one I was nearly mauled by a bear." Amber told him not looking at him or Miko, instead she kept her eyes on the trees. The other two look at her in shock but before they could ask her more about it Arcee and Bulkhead were walking out of the mine.
"By all appearances the mines been stripped." Acree was saying.
"But I'm still getting a signal." Bulkhead commented as he looked at the scanner in his hand. "It's faint but it's defiantly Energon."
This seemed to make Miko and Jack happy well Amber was confused as she joined them. "This doesn't make since. This operations been abandoned four, maybe five years and Decpticons never leave Energon behind." Acree said with a bit of confusion of her own, none of them noticing Miko as she ran off into the mine until Jack noticed and informed the rest of them. "She went in? Unbelievable."
"Really have you met her?" Jack asked his guardian.
"I take it she does this a lot?" Amber asked them as Bulkhead ran after his charge with a growl. "It would be kind of interesting to see. You know if it were-" Jack started to say to Arcee.
"Safe." Arcee cut him off as she stood over him and Amber. "A stripped mine can be structurally unstable Jack."
"I promise to step lightly." Jack told her.
Arcee thought about it as her optics fell on Amber. "And what do you think Amber?" she and the young girl had more than once butted heads in the short time Amber had been with them. Surprisingly though she and the girl both agreed that Miko took great enjoyment in getting into trouble and being frustrating. This time being no different as Amber glared down the cave, a look of distain on her face. "I'm thinking I'm going to cuff Miko on the back of her head for doing something so stupid." was Amber's reply to the two wheel's question, walking into the mine.
Arcee conceded she had a point and she fallowed the new girl. "Just don't tell your mom." she ordered Jack.
Amber walked with Jack and Arcee in what was a comfortable silence which up till she had been put under the care of June and the bots had been far and in between. Ever since she had gotten away from MECH and her father, Amber had been living in constant fear that Silas would discover that she was still alive and hunt her down. Fear had been her constant companion for a long time and she had survived on her own for so long because of it. There of course had been times where she had been comfortable and care free in the few short years but even then she was still plagued by her nightmares. Now it seemed that even they were gone as she hadn't had a one since moving into the Darby's house. She pushed these thoughts a side as Arcee tried to make contact with Bulkhead but it was nothing but static. "Scrap. The mineral composition down here is causing interference."
"Try adjusting the frequency filters to compensate." Amber offered without thought or hesitation well she looked down the tunnel. Hearing both Jack and Arcee stop moving she turned and looked at their shocked faces. "What?"
"How in the world do you know something like that?" Jack asked but immediately regretted it as she glared at him. "Not that I'm calling you an idiot or anything like that."
"Really? Because that is exactly what it sounds like." Amber growled before she turned on her heal and stomped off down the tunnel ahead of them.
Jack face palmed well Arcee looked down at him sympathetically. "Well you could have said worse but definitely not the best way to get on her good side." she told him before shouting out to Amber that she needed to stay close, surprised the upset girl stopped to wait form them. They continued walking, fallowing the tunnel, hoping to soon find Bulkhead and Miko, when they started to hear voices. Amber frowned as they came closer and realized that she didn't recognize the voices at all, and she soon saw why. They entered a cavern and there she saw two Cybertronians she had never seen before.
The taller of the two had an arm cannon charged and pointed at a smaller and sleeker looking one that was cowering at his feet. "- so you shell simply cease to be." the taller one was saying as the smaller one suddenly took notice of them. This of course brought them to the taller one's attention around the same time Arcee walked into sight and saw who it was. Amber felt the tension rise in the cavern until the tall silver mech growled and fired at them.
Arcee swiftly grabbed both Jack and Amber as she headed behind a stone pillar and put them there. "Stay down!" she ordered as she returned fire or tried to but the silver mech kept up a never ending barge of fire on their position. That is until the smaller mech, that a few moments ago was going to be off lined, ran out of the cavern. "You dare abandon me Starscream?!" The war lord shouted at his retreating form before opening fire at the coward.
This left his back open for Arcee to take advantage and fire back at the silver mech, well Amber and Jack peeked around to watch. Amber was not really sure that any of Arcee's shots were doing any damage to him as he simply shrugged her hits off and he turned to fire back at them. Arcee was able to hit his right arm, forcing his cannon fire to hit the cavern's roof, which in turn caused it to collapse the roof on top of him. As a result of all their fire the entire cavern started to come down around them. "Scrap!" Arcee cursed before she turned to run towards the two teens . Jack and Amber could only watch as the ground gave out from under her, seconds before they both were swallowed up.
It felt like an eternity to Amber before it all came to a stop, and her ears were left ringing in the after affects. She coughed to clear her throat of dust and tried to get to her feet, quickly realizing that her left leg was pinned under some rocks. Amber was trying to get herself free when she saw Jack get to his feet, also coughing a bit. "Arcee! Amber!" he called out well looking around.
"Jack, over here!" Amber called out getting his attention well waving her hand happy when he turned towards her. "My leg is stuck and I don't think I can get it out on my own."
"Hold on Amber, I'm coming." Jack said as he carefully climbed over the rocks to get to her. When he reached her he stared at the size of the rock that had her left leg pinned, it was almost as tall as him but was big all around. It took a few moments and a lot of pushing up against the rock but he was able to move it enough for Amber to pull her leg free. Amber winced a little when she banged it on another rock, which made both of them pause to look at it. Jack rolled her pant leg back and they saw that a large purple bruise was starting to form, which worried him greatly. "That doesn't look good."
"It may not look good Jack but I don't think that it's actually too bad." Amber assured him as she moved her leg around a bit taking in how it felt. When she tried to stand up on her own, she bit back a cry of pain, her leg giving out from under her, causing Jack to catch her. "Ok so maybe it does. You're going to have to help me walk, I'm sorry."
"It's ok, we'll find the bots and one of them can carry you then. Come on." Jack assured her and they began to walk carefully over the rocks and down the nearest passage way. They soon came across some of the old Decepticon mining equipment which was relatively intact. "Well that could come in handy." Jack said as he walked them that way.
They soon reached the digger, Amber was able to climb up on her own, letting Jack get up ahead of her, only needing to help her up near the control panel. Amber sat down, happy to get off of her leg and watched Jack turn the machine on and got it moving. "Roll out." Jack muttered as they went, looking down the tunnels.
"How did you know how to turn it on?" Amber asked him.
"You hang with the bots enough and you just learn to push buttons till things start working. Hopefully with this we'll find the others faster." Jack told her. They went along, soon hearing some sounds on the other side of a clasped wall. So they began to dig there and broke through in a matter of moments and Jack backed it up, then to the side so they could see who they had found. Neither of them were expecting to find Megatron himself. "I suppose helping those less fortunate would be out of the question?" the big con asked the two humans, Jack backing away in fear well Amber just studied him with a frown. "If that is the case you might as well use your drill to finish me. I guaranty you'll never have a better opportunity then right now."
Amber looked up at Jack who looked torn but then he glared at the leader of the cons. "Jack? What are you thinking?" Amber asked him hoping that he would make the right choice, which to her was to just leave the con to rust. Even though she wasn't close to Jack, Miko and Raf she didn't want them forced to make such hard life choices. Not like she had been forced to.
"Well what are you waiting for?" Megatron asked focused on Jack but he did see Amber's glare directed at him. "Think of the glory, seize the day. Optimus would."
"No he wouldn't, not like this." Amber looked up at Jack in surprised. He had not hesitated to say that after Megatron's statement, and she realised that Jack was probably right. Jack turned his back on the giant con and started up the drill driving them away.
"I'll be sure to share the details of our little conversation with Optimus the day I rip out his spark!" Megatron shouted as they drove away. Amber sat quietly, the encounter with Megatron going though her mind. If Silas had been in Jack's place, she was sure that he would not have hesitated to end the big lug. But was Jack right, would Optimus have spared the leader of the Cons?
Amber's thoughts were interrupted when they began to hear voices and a lot of banging from up ahead. Heading that way they soon found Bulkhead, who was stuck holding up the ceiling of their cave, a dusty Miko and the slim con that Jack had told her was called Starscream, whom had been hit with the drill. "Jack get Miko out of here now." Bulk ordered when he saw the other teen was driving the drill. Jack jumped from the controls letting Amber take his place well he went to help Miko up on to the drill.
"Come on, come on!" Jack urged her.
"Run Miko!" Bulkhead shouted at her well he strained to keep the rock up. Miko finally let Jack pull her up and she shouted that they couldn't leave Bulkhead well Amber backed them out of there and into the main tunnels. "Arcee will save him wont she?" Miko asked Jack worried and sad.
"We just need to find a way out of these tunnels. You doing alright there Amber or do you need me to take over?" Jack asked concerned about her leg.
"I'm alright let's just get out of here before Megatron digs his way out." Amber said picking a direction and she winced when Miko panicked cry that Megatron was there too hurt her ears. They didn't get too far before Arcee found them and they told her about Bulkhead's situation. Moving fast Arcee helped Bulkhead, forcing Starscream to switch places with him and allowing them to all leave the cave finally. Once they were outside the humans took in some much needed fresh air well Arcee and Bulk looked back at the cave. "We could finish them here and now."
"Shame we didn't bring any grenades." Bulk said in disappointment.
"Would Optimus finish them?" Jack asked curious.
"No he probably wouldn't. Not like this." Arcee confirmed.
"I know if it was Silas and MECH they wouldn't hesitate with it being the best of opportunity to take them both out." Amber said bitterly.
"But Optimus wouldn't rescue them either right?" Miko asked for once looking shy. Arcee didn't answer directly but she did call for a ground bridge to take them back to base. Noting Amber's limp Bulkhead offered her a ride on his shoulder to which she accepted gratefully, surprising him. None of them were very surprised when they got to base and found a very upset June waiting for them. Amber was relieved when June and Optimus gave Miko a stern talking to. Then June got a chance to look at Amber's leg. "Just a very bad bruise and strain. You'll be fine in no time just it take it easy and rest it when you can."
"Thanks June." Amber said relived well she stretched out her sore body ready to have a nice long sleep.
-o0o-
The next day at school, Amber was sore and very much board out of her mind well she sat in history class, studding the American Revolution. The pain killers June had given her that morning had worn off an hour ago and no matter which position she put her leg in, she couldn't get comfortable. However she was soon saved by the school bell ringing for the end of classes for the day. She took her time heading outside mainly to not aggravate her leg further and looking forward prop it up at base. Her dreams however were dashed when she walked out the front door and spotted Vince towering over poor Raf, who was laying on the ground. "Hey! Leave him alone Vince!" Jack snapped trying to stand between the bully and Raf.
"Buzz of Darby this doesn't concern you." Vince said pushing Jack away. Miko, who was also nearby was about to charge him but Amber stopped her. She shook her head before puting her pack down and approached Vince.
"Hey ugly." Vince turned and glared at Amber, noting her limp well she approached him. He smirked thinking she was an easy target and went to punch her right in the face. He was surprised when she used her hand to stop his punch and grab his fist in a vice grip. "It's always so easy for someone like you to pick on someone who's not only smaller than you but smarter than you. Isn't it?"
"What?" Vince asked confused.
"Just think about it- Vince is it? Years from now when we're all graduated from high school and become adults Raf will most likely be going to university. He'll probably become a great scientist or maybe he'll start the next technical revolution, who knows. For him his future is full of limitless possibilities to change our world for the better. Then there's you, what are you going to do when all of your so called strength and power that you think you have right now will lead you nowhere?" Amber asked him with a smirk on her face.
Vince growled at her. "You're so dead." Amber let him pull his hand free of her grip and he went to punch her again. This time she side stepped him and stuck her good leg out, Vince stumbled but stayed on his feet and he growled when he turned and glared at her.
"Oops." she said with a shrug well all the students who had been watching all laughed at him. Vince glared at all of them, his face turning red before he charged at her again, throwing multiple punches. Amber easily evaded them all, smiling the whole time, pissing him off further, but then she twisted out of his way, a spike of pain shot up her leg. Amber winced but then shoulder rolled to evade the kick Vince aimed at her midsection.
Vince chuckled well he watched her hop on her good leg to put some space between them. "Not so cocky now are you. I don't know what happened to your leg but I'm-"
"What is going on here?" One of the teachers demanded well he walked through the crowd of gathered teens. His eyes fell on Vince and Amber, noting how she was holding her left leg. "There is no fighting on school grounds you two."
"But Mr. Brock, Vince was the one fighting." Raf said stepping forward. "Amber stepped in to stop him from bulling me."
"Yeah, she hasn't even thrown a single punch and I have the video to prove it. " Miko informed their teacher, holding up her phone, having indeed recorded the whole thing. Mr. Brock quickly watched the video, impressed not only with what Amber had said but how well she had evaded all of Vinces punches. So in the end Vince was given a week's detentions and Amber was free to go which she did right to Optimus's waiting cab.
"Well done Amber." Prime said once they were on their way to out of town so Optimus could bridge to base.
"Meh, I hate bullies." she said well she sat back and tried to will the pain in her leg to go away.
"Is your leg still experiencing much pain? I can always go and have June look at it again well she is still at the hospital." Optimus offered having seen her limp and noticed her discomfort. Amber assured him that she was fine and that she simply wanted to go relax at base. Optimus didn't argue with her well he asked Ratchet to open the ground bridge, but he did keep a close eye on her for the rest of the day.
The next day however when Amber woke up it wasn't her leg that hurt so much, it was the rest of her body that hurt. 'No please don't tell me that I'm sick?' she thought sitting up and holding her head which felt like it had been stuffed with cotton. It was then that June knocked on her door and stuck her head in. "Morning Amber. I'm afraid Jack is sick, so you'll have to go to school without him. How's your leg feeling today?" she asked kindly since she had given Amber some more painkillers last night before bed.
"It feels better today so I'm good." Amber told her well she got to her feet and started to get ready for the day, hoping to avoid direct eye contact with the nurse. The last thing Amber wanted was for June to notice that she was sick too and have to stay home and look after her. "You already told Arcee I take it?"
"Yes, I already called her. You better hurry and get ready since Optimus should be here soon to get you. Are you sure you're alright?" June asked trying to get a good look at her having seen how slow she was moving.
"June I'm fine ok. Can you please just let me get dressed in peace?" Amber snapped, her back to June so she didn't see the hurt look on June's face when she left. Amber slowly got ready for the day and grabbing her bag she went outside to wait for Optimus. He soon arrived, letting Amber in his cab but they did not get too far before Amber told him to pull over so she could throw up.
"Amber it would seem that like Jack and Miko you are unwell." Prime said once she had finished and climbed back into his cab. Taking a closer look at his charge he noticed how flush her skin looked and his scanners picked up her higher body temperature. "Why did you not inform June and stay home with Jack?"
"So Miko's sick too huh?" Amber asked, her head laying back on his seat, feeling beyond tired now. "I didn't want to be a bother to June." She wasn't surprised when he got the chance Optimus turned around and headed back to the Darby's house.
"I do not see why you would not want to be looked after well you are unwell but then there is not much that I do know about you." Prime said and he wasn't surprised that she frowned at his comment. Though he had made much progress in getting Amber to be less hostile and nicer to the others, she was still very tight lipped about herself and her past.
They were quiet for the rest of the drive back to the house, Amber frowning the entire way and growing more pale. June was in the driveway about to get in her car to go to work when Optimus pulled up and let Amber climb out. She took one good look at the girl and knew what was going on. "Come on, let's get you inside and back to bed." June said going to help Amber but was taken back when Amber brushed her off.
"I'm fine June I can take care of myself." she snapped, hurrying inside. June watched her go sadly but she was also concerned well she called the school. Once that was done she turned to Optimus and said. "Thank you for bring her back. I had suspected that she was trying to tuff it out but I didn't want to push her to stay either."
"I understand June. Do not worry I will stay and keep an eye on both Amber and Jack. I will only leave if a situation presents its self-back at base." Optimus told her well making preparations and contacted Ratchet about the situation.
June was surprised. "Optimus that is a nice gesture but do you know how to look after sick human's and how would you?" she asked just as the driver side door opened and a tall human male hopped out. He looked to be about 6 feet tall, with salt and pepper beard and hair. He was dressed in a pair of jeans, a red shirt and brown jacket that matched the boots on his feet. His blue eye seemed to glow well he smiled at the stunned June. "Optimus? But how?"
"This is called a holoform, it allows us to blend in and interact with humans easier. Ratchet only just finished creating this one for me and I have been looking for a reason to use it." Optimus explained before indicating they should head in. June was a bit surprised but decided to roll with it well she explained how to best look after Jack and Amber.
Both Jack and Amber were surprised to learn that Optimus had a holoform, since Arcee did have Sadie to blead in but it didn't faze them for long. Jack was glad to have the Autobot leader sticking around with them but Amber shut herself in her room. June left for work soon after letting Optimus settle down on the couch with Jack. The morning passed fine, with the two talking for a while till Jack started to get sleepy and headed to his room to rest.
Optimus decided to go check on Amber, knocking on her door, receiving no answer and decided to poke his head in her room. She was curled up in a tight ball on her bed, her back to him well she shivered. Walking over to the bed he placed a hand on her forehead and read her internal temperature, quickly realising it was dangerously high. Knowing that June had already given Amber some medicine Optimus checked the net for what else he could do to cool Amber down.
He ended up grabbing a bag of frozen peas, which he wrapped in a tea towel before he placed it on her head. Amber groaned because of the cold but she didn't move otherwise or push him away. For the next few hour he checked on her periodically, relieved when her fever began to go down. He was just making some soup for the two, having read that it was a good thing to feed someone when their sick, when a scream came from her room.
Bolting up the stairs and into Amber's room Optimus saw her thrashing on the bed, her eyes closed but darting around. "No please daddy don't." she shouted, looking like she was trying to fight someone off. "I didn't… I've been good."
Hearing the pleading in her voice worried Optimus, slowly he approached her and then tried to wake her up. He simply paced a hand on her shoulder and before he could react Amber's eyes shot open and she lunged at him, punching him right in the face. Despite it not being his real body Optimus still felt some pain well the two of them fell to the floor. He ended up having to wrestle with Amber and she tried to keep hitting him, eventually pinning her to the floor. "Amber I am not your enemy, wake up." he shouted at her well he hovered over her.
Amber's eyes blinked well she looked up at him, her eyes finally coming into focus. That was then Optimus saw the tears that were running down her face and how red they were. He didn't say anything well he let her up and pulled her into his arms, a sob escaped her. Amber held onto him weakly well she cried. Optimus rubbed her back in what he hoped was a soothing manner, suddenly hearing a gasp from the door way. Looking up he saw a wide eyed Jack standing there, staring at Amber's back for some reason. "Jack?" he asked confused.
"Optimus, her back- it's… covered in scars." Jack muttered well looking ready to throw up again.
Frowning Optimus stood and laid the now whimpering girl on her stomach on the bed, before he very carefully lifted the back of her shirt. His eyes shot open wide as he saw the multitude of scars that ran all over Amber's back. The ugliest one started at her right shoulder and ran down and across her back stopping above her left hip. They were ugly and old… old enough that Optimus had a good idea of who had made them.
Pulling her shirt back down Optimus wrapped Amber up in her blanket before he carried her downstairs to the living room. There he placed her on the couch so he could go and turn the stove off and not burn the house down. Then he went back to Amber who by this point had stopped crying and was watching him with an emotionless face. Still not saying anything he picked her up again so he could sit and placed her in his lap, wrapping his arms around her securely.
Amber was beyond shocked by his actions, and looking at Jack she could see that he was just as surprised. She knew that what had just happened would need to be addressed and Amber was beyond terrified about that conversation but she was really too tired at the moment and she had a small problem. "Optimus?" she finally asked after a few minutes of occurred silence.
"You do not need to say anything Amber, or explained what happed a few moments a go. Unless you want to." he told her well he let her rest against him.
"Um- actually I need to pee." she admitted with a blushed.
-o0o-
It was later in the day when Optimus returned to base, grateful for the drive to clear his mind a bit after the day's events. Amber and Jack had eaten the soup he had prepared before the three of them sat on the couch to watch TV. None of them brought up what had happened or about Amber's scars, mainly because she spent most of the time sleeping with her head in Optimus's lap. When June came home from work she had smiled at the sight of the great leader sitting there letting himself be used like a pillow. That smile had quickly vanished after getting up Optimus took her aside and told June what had happened. June was shocked to hear about the scars on Amber's back but agreed with him that it was best to leave it alone, at least for now. "We'll wait till Amber has recovered before asking for answers." June had said before sending him on his way.
Optimus soon arrived back at base where all of his team were waiting, along with Raf, the only one of the young human companions not sick. He along with Bumblebee were playing a racing game, completely occupied. That was fine by Prime since he did not wish Raf to hear about what had happened. "I see you have returned Optimus. How are Jack and Amber faring?" Ratchet asked.
"They were greatly improved when I left but there was an… incident with Amber this morning that allowed me to learn something most disturbing about her." Optimus told not only Ratchet about what had happened and of her scars, but Arcee and Bulkhead as well. He then shared his suspicions with them. "It is my belief that Silas is the one who gave her those scars."
"I wouldn't put it pass him." Arcee said in disgust. "After he teamed up with Aracnied and let her torment Jack and June I realised he was just like Megatron, if not worse."
"This is troubling and does explain some of her innate hostility to trust anyone. I do believe that we will have to inform Agent Fowler about this new development." Ratchet said looking thoughtful. Though he would not admit it he had come to like having the girl around. She was curious about their science and was eager to learn, though she tried to hide it. He just hoped that his fear of her working for MECH was wrong.
"Agreed. I also want none of you to question Amber. I fear if confronted about it she will shut us out and refuse our help." Optimus said deep down, he was angry at the leader of MECH. How could anyone hurt their own child?