A/N
Howdy hey, everyone! Welcome to the finale. That's right, Prime Karma is finally complete. I don't know how to feel about it, either. Believe it or not, this was the first fanfiction I have ever written, having started the model for it when I was about eight. Now, almost a decade later, it's exactly where I think I've always wanted it. Now, I'm not gonna start on Revenge of the Fallen just yet, I'm gonna give myself time to try and maybe finish my other works, like Blood and Ash and Monty's Handler and write some more for Living Ink Lies and my newest fic; Heaven Sent. Thank you all who have read, liked, and followed; and I hope you enjoy the final chapter of Prime Karma.
11
Karma felt like she was on fire. Everything hurt and she blamed it on the Allspark. Because that was the mature thing to do. She felt like that was fair. Immediately after she came to, she knew she was in some sort of hospital or medical wing. The bright lights behind her eyelids and the stench of too much sanitation was testament to her location.
As she shifted, she took note of what injuries she could feel. Bandages adorned her arms and torso with the occasional smattering of wraps on her legs. Another brace had been wrapped around her ribs, replacing the old one. Karma could feel the itch and tightness of both scabs and stitches under the wrappings. Every time she breathed, or moved in general, a stabbing pain went through her ribs. All-in-all, everything was broken, and it was starting to annoy the shit outta her.
Slowly, Karma opened her eyes, hissing at the too-bright lights. As her vision came into focus, she took note of the room she was in. As well as the strangers that occupied it.
It was a private room, with surprisingly decent space. The walls were a pale blue with a window spanning one side. By the window, sitting at a small, four person table, was Sam and Michaela. They were eerily quiet, eating a cup of pudding each. Clearly, neither had noticed Karma was awake. Shaking her head slightly, she shifted her gaze to the rest of her room.
Opposite of her, was a small "living room" area with a sofa, and two armchairs facing a TV. In the armchair to her left, closest to the other two teens, sat a man vaguely familiar. A moment or two of thought later, Karma had a name for the body. It was Ratchet's holoform. And if Ratchet was there, then she had to assume that the rest of the men were the other Autobots.
On the sofa, closest to Ratchet, was a mountain of a man. He was pure muscle with black, spiky hair. He was dressed in a fitted black shirt, a black windbreaker, and military cargo pants, his feet adorned in black combat boots. From what she could see of his skin, he was covered in the most scars. It didn't take a genius to recognize the unfamiliar man as Ironhide.
In the middle seat of the sofa was a younger man, probably close to her age, if Karma had to guess. He had pale skin with dirty blonde, messy hair. He had on a light yellow shirt and black wash ripped jeans. Tied around his waist was a black jacket with yellow armbands. His feet were in black and yellow running shoes. Bumblebee, always with the color scheme.
On the right of Bumblebee, boxing him in, was a black man with stylish silver dreads tied into a ponytail. He wore a navy tank top under a silver see-through jacket and dark jeans. Over his eyes was a light blue visor. His feet had on a pair of black boots. Considering Karma had already named Bumblebee, this one had to be Jazz.
Last but not least, sitting in the other armchair, was a tall man with red-brown hair. He was wearing a red shirt and boot cut jeans. A black leather jacket with blue flames on the cuffs was thrown on the back of his chair. His feet were clad in dark brown cowboy boots. Optimus Prime, ever the southern gentleman.
Karma couldn't help the gentle smile that crossed her lips. It was nice to have people worry about her. Sure, she had Sam, she'd always have Sam, but it felt good to have this many people in her circle. And, with the looks of it, they hadn't left her for long if they ever needed to.
As her eyes kept scanning, Karma caught a futon in one of the corners of the room, hidden just beneath a small writing desk. On the makeshift bed, in a position that couldn't be natural, let alone comfortable, laid Epps. The man was knocked out. It looked like as soon as they had her settled, and they knew she wasn't going to up and die on them, he passed out. At the desk was Lennox. He was sitting in a chair, his feet kicked up on the wood of the desk and he had himself leaning precariously back. How he managed to keep that still and not tip over was something Karma didn't have an answer to. Both men still had their gear on, but their guns were nowhere in sight. If Karma had to guess, the medical staff didn't let them keep them.
Humming, Karma sat up, crossing her legs under her. How could she get their attention and shock them? If Karma was anything, it was sneaky. And slightly self-deprecating, but that could be looked at another day.
"So," She started, watching as heads whipped in her direction. Epps and Lennox jumped. Her voice was raspy from disuse, and she suspected that the dust she had to have inhaled couldn't have been good for her lungs. "Did we save the world, or what?"
As soon as Karma got her words out, Sam was flying at her. Her eyes widened and she put her hands up to try and stop the oncoming collision. What ended up stopping him was a yellow blur from her peripheral vision. Bumblebee ended up slamming into the boy to keep him from tackling his cousin.
"Easy, dude. I don't know what exactly I did in that fight, but I do know that if you try that again, Ratchet's either gonna bite your head off, or throw something at it." Karma pointed at the aforementioned holoform.
Sam laughed nervously before backing up a couple steps, his hands up in a placating manner. Epps and Lennox carefully walked up to her beside, their eyes scanning her form. Probably looking for anything… off. Behind them, the Autobots made a semi-circle, trapping the humans inside. Karma couldn't help the feeling that they wouldn't be letting any of them out of their sights for a while. They'd lost too much in this godsforsaken war.
"So, anyone gonna answer my question?"
"We won the battle, little one." Optimus replied, a sad smile on his human face.
Guilt seemed to crash through Karma in waves. She remembered everything. She remembered killing Megatron, shoving the Allspark into his chest and destroying the relic. It wasn't like she'd had another option, but Karma was more than aware of the fact that the Prime and the Warlord were close.
"I'm sorry." Karma mutters, looking down at her hands. They had been wrapped too, her fingers being the only parts of skin she could see up to the middle of her forearm.
"Why would you be sorry?" That was Ratchet. He was astonished at the fact that she was apologizing for saving them all. Both humans and Autobots alike.
"I destroyed the Allspark. Destroyed the only thing that could've possibly brought Cybertron back to life."
"You did destroy the Allspark. However, your life is much more valuable to us. In any case, we have a sliver of the Cube, hidden away. Which means not all is lost as of yet."
"Sorry to interrupt, but we were given orders to escort Karma to another hangar. The government wants to speak to you." Lennox stated, looking directly at Karma.
"I don't think that is wise, Captain Lennox." Ratchet said, a scan running over Karma's body. "The youngling hasn't fully healed, and I'm still getting slight readings of Allspark radiation on my scans."
Karma's eyebrows raise. "Radiation? Like, radiation radiation?"
"It is my understanding that your prolonged exposure to the Allspark allowed for its more alien chemicals to sort of absorb into your skin. Not to mention, the burns and cuts on the rest of your body had managed to get energon mixed in. Which is something I was not made aware of until a little while ago." He stated sharply.
Karma had the decency to look sheepish, a hand coming up to rub the back of her neck. Before anything else could be said, someone knocked on the door, drawing everyone's attention. Karma cocked her head to the side. Everybody she knew was already in the room. Maybe it was a doctor?
When the door opened, Karma was met with the business end of a rifle. Not doctors then. Behind her, she heard the Autobots shifting before Optimus and Ironhide came into her peripheral vision. Their holoforms buzzed with anger.
"Remember when I said our government wanted to talk to Karma?" Lennox asked, putting himself between the armed soldiers and the overly protective Autobots. "This is her entourage. They're here to escort her to the bay where they're holding y'all."
The tenseness of the room shifts slightly at the mention of them going to the holding bay. They'd be fine letting her go with the soldiers as long as they could stay with her. With an almost imperceptible nod from Optimus' holoform, the soldiers escort Karma from the room, followed closely by the Autobots.
While the Autobots might have allowed the soldiers to manhandle them, that wasn't the case for Karma. Any time they got too close to the teen, the Autobots were quick to remind them that they weren't allowed to touch the girl. Even with the "no-harming-humans'' rule, the Autobots could be very intimidating.
It didn't take too long to get to where the soldiers were holding the Autobot's alt-forms. When they reached the entrance to the bay, the holoforms disappeared in a burst of colorful static and glitches. Within moments, the Autobots were standing and walking back to where they had left the soldiers and Karma.
A table sat in the middle of the bay, a couple of important-looking people in suits sitting in chairs and trying very hard to not look at the Autobots. Or make noise. Karma couldn't help that ugly chuckle that bubbled out of her throat. It was hilarious to see people who were high and mighty be terrified of probably the friendliest group of Cybertronians. Well, if she didn't count that Ironhide and Ratchet were in procession.
One of the soldiers that had been escorting her gestured towards the table and the one empty chair that sat at the head. As soon as Karma had walked up to the fancy-pants government people, they stopped cowering. They were hiding behind their "power" over her. As if they had power over her. With everything she'd just been through the past week or so, nothing scared her anymore, certainly not any humans who couldn't do anything but give out empty threats.
"Karma Watts?" One of the Suits questioned.
"I would hope so." The Suits weren't amused by her response. Tough crowd.
"We need to discuss what happened today. And why."
"Should I start at the beginning, or do you wanna ask me questions?"
The original Suit was interrupted by another, this one with a strong American accent. Karma's eyes narrowed. He was Texan. Great.
"From what we were told, you managed to steal one of our greatest technological advances, an alien weapon, as well as half of our military before destroying the first two with no remorse."
"You're right. I did. Wanna know why? Because if I didn't, Megatron, your technological advancement would've taken the Allspark and killed everyone here."
"You had no right to do any of that! We had the issue under control. We didn't need some kid walking over our toes."
"Trust me, the "issue" was nowhere near controlled." Karma snarled. "The only reason you have a problem with me now, is because of the fact that I took away your toy. Y'all are acting like spoiled children who had their toy broken, demanding reparations and payment for something that you were playing finders keepers with. The Allspark was never yours to begin with. Megatron was never your to use and experiment on.
"I took the Allspark and saved billions of people. Sure, we lost a couple, and they will never come back and their families will never stop grieving, but we did what y'all wouldn't. So, yeah, you can have an issue with me, but don't you dare make it out to be because I "stole" government property. If you're gonna have an issue with me, fine, but be honest about it, and say it's 'cause y'all lost your money-maker."
Karma took heaving breaths after she finished her rant. The Suits looked befuddled by the fact that she had spoken like that to them. It was clear that they weren't used to people not fearing them. They relied on that fear for their power. Take away that fear and that power, and there was nothing that they could even think of doing to Karma. She was more than aware of the protection that the Autobots provided. And it seemed like the Suits did, too.
The Suit's faces were scrunched up in a sneer, disbelief written across the wrinkles. After a few minutes of a stare-down, the original Suit dismissed the "meeting" and they walked out, the Autobots watching them like hawks.
After they were gone, Karma wilted. She was fucking exhausted. That throw-down might not have taken a lot of time, but it took a lot out of her still frazzled mind and body. Suddenly, she was wrapped in a strong hug, muscled arms clinging to her torso as she was spun around. A giggle made its way out of her throat as she grasped Lennox's shoulders, a small shriek breaking the laughter at the speed he was turning her.
"That was incredible, Karma!" Epps called out joyfully.
Lennox finally put her down before talking, holding her still by her shoulders. "I wish I could've gotten that on tape. The guys would've been thrilled. That was almost as good as watching you put Simmons down."
"You're one spicy kid, ain't ya?" Epps asked.
Karma laughed. "Yeah, well, this spicy kid needs rest. Shitting on the government makes one tired. Can't eat the rich without proper rest, now can I?"
The rest of the humans burst out laughing minutes before the Autobots did, having to look up what the saying meant.
A couple of hours later, and Karma, Sam, and Michaela had been released from the hospital, the former of the trio was given strong pain meds for all the shit she'd been through. On their way back to the Witwicky house, Karma fell asleep, her head resting against Bumblebee's back window. When they got to the house, the teen was still asleep. Neither of the humans wanted to wake her up, and Bee had been told to let the girl rest. Instead, Bee fabricated his holoform and carried Karma inside, laying her down in the bed that Sam gestured towards.
That was the best sleep Karma had had in years. She had a feeling it wasn't just because of her exhaustion either. For once, she felt at ease. Safe. Maybe, for once, it'd stay that way. That was what she would call prime karma.
Thank you and goodnight! *bows* :)