Ruby - Transformers: The Last Knight

Ice Queen

Ruby cranked up the heater in the Lambo that was Hot Rod. Her chattering teeth rose above the roar of the engine, despite the speedo pushing past a hundred. Simmons sat in silence beside her. He stared at his phone, a frown sharpening the angles of his face in the shadows.

Ruby could see nothing of the road. It was dark and Hot Rod kept his headlights off. Incognito then.  

The car warmed up, but Ruby didn't thaw out. She felt cold on the inside. She missed Tom. And Cade. She missed Optimus. Her Optimus, not Quintessa's shady possessed version. Her fingers curled into fists in her lap and the bracelet glowed. 

Quintessa had done this. Because of the creator, Ruby had left Tom behind, lost Optimus, and been forced to hunt Cade. She couldn't wait to meet her again. Because, when she was through with her, the creator would be nothing more than a pile of ash. 

"Cool it." said Simmons, without looking up. "Save it for the final fight. We're gonna need all the power you've got to pack a punch hard enough to blow Cybertron away."

"I take it you have a plan,"

"Sure," he still wouldn't look at her. 

"Right," said Ruby, settled back into her seat, "You can't tell me in case I go all ice queen again.

"Not exactly. Grimlock said you were free of that madness, in his prehistoric, monster language,"

His phone lit up and he began tapping away with whatever he'd received.

"There, now we can talk. I had to make sure we were clear of TRF and decepticon ears. Technology advances are way out of control."

"Where's Dutch?" Ruby recalled Simmons' ex-mafia assistant, mad gunman and genius hacker. He was good at dealing with the tech stuff.

"When, you know, all the dark of the moon crap went down," he paused to tap at his phone again, then; "I had to skedaddle, fast. Dutch was also at risk, he had to go his own way." He sighed, "Ah, Dutch. I miss that guy."

"It's silly, isn't it?" said Ruby, "All that time we spent, all that work we did, the number of times we saved the world, and they just toss us aside like trash. Sam got his college paid for and a medal from the president. We get exiled. Great."

"We've been in the business far too long," he agreed, "But its where you meet all the best people, so time to stop whining and get going."

He wasn't wrong. Ruby sat and stewed in silence, the bracelet pulsing with her growing rage.

Hot Rod revved his engine until it roared, and they raced all the faster to their mysterious destination.

*

Another airfield. Ruby should have guessed. Outlined through the gloomy night was the rusty old plane, and glinting in the doorway, was Cogman. Could things get any worse?

Hot Rod opened his doors. Ruby didn't move. The fresh air flowing over her damp clothes chilled her to her cybertanium bones. Simmons offered to help her out;

"Where are we flying to?" she asked, "Can't we just drive there?"

"England, so no." Simmons held out his hand.

"I have to go home first," she said with little conviction.

"There's no time for that and you know it," snapped Simmons, "The autobots and Cade are going to meet us at dad's house."

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea." Her teeth began chattering again with the cold.

"Look, Cybertron is going to hit Earth, like, tomorrow. It's gonna shatter us to bits and you are the only person in the entire universe with the power to stop it. To save us."

Ruby started to protest;

"No matter what the government say. What Lennox says. Get out of the car."

"I k-know what w-will happen if I-I'm there!" The teeth chattering made her sound like a child having a tantrum.

"So you're afraid of being the sacrifice to save everyone else? That's a last resort. Very last. Get out of the car."

Ruby got her shivering under control, power warming her body like fire.

"No, you don't understand," she kept her voice steady and quiet; "It's not me who will die. If that creator witch possesses me again, I will be fine. But everyone else will die. I'll kill them."

Simmons paced away from the car, shaking his head, "That doesn't make sense."

"I've seen it."

"No," he stormed back over to where she sat, "You've seen what creator witch wanted you to see!"

"It wasn't recently. I saw it many years ago, when Ironhide and I went to South America to stop alien weapon dealers." Ruby remembered the trip with a twinge of sadness. "Look, it's a long story. But I know what I saw." And heard. The voices still haunted her. Saveus saveus can you save us?

"What if you're wrong?" Simmons rubbed his brow, "We don't have time for this, get out of the car and on to the plane before I get Hot Rod to throw you out and Cogman to carry you. We'll go over everything when the team is back together. We still don't know what is at Stonehenge."

"Fine." 

She helped Simmons tie Hot Rod down while Cogman did pre-flight checks. Whatever Quintessa had done to her had also healed Ruby's broken ribs, yet an echo of the pain remained. A blow like that, from a loved one, is bound to leave a mark, Ruby guessed. She sat away from the others and closed her eyes. She'd had it with all this rubbish. She was ready. She wished with all her heart Tom was safe, and that Cade would follow through with her plan. 

Because Optimus was not going to save them this time. 

*sorry for the slow chapter, I just couldn't get past this little block, the rest will be back up to par with any luck!*