Ruby - Transformers: The Last Knight

Bring on the Wall

England at night was much like England by day. Drizzly and miserable. 

It turns out that the afternoon sunshine at the manor was a rare weather blip, as courteously pointed out by Cogman.

Ruby tuned out the rain tapping on Hound's windscreen and focused on the green lines rippling across a grey screen on the dash. Drift's radar had been unable to pick up Tom's phone. He projected his findings to Hound from the ship, so Ruby could see for herself. 

"And Optimus? Megatron? Have you been able to find them?"

"Alas no," said Drift, "They have gone silent as petals moving in the wind; they could be off world,"

"I don't think so," Ruby murmured to herself, continuing to the scan the radar for blips, "They want Cade's token, the last knight's token. I think they're close."

"I am directly above England and will focus the radar only on the country to boost power, it might penetrate their shields." said Drift, "I will check back in soon."

"Alright." Ruby slumped back in the seat and buried her face in her hands. Her bones were on fire. She felt as if her skeleton should glow in the dark. She was beginning to develop a theory about that. The closer she was to the token, the more uncontrollable her energy, like the token drew power, deep within her, to the surface.

"Hey, are you all seeing what I'm seeing?" Simmons came over the radio.

Ruby zipped up the black hoody she'd grabbed from the house and jumped out of the truck. Water and gravel sloshed under foot as she jogged down the line of vehicles to the front where Simmons and Hot Rod had stopped.

Looming ahead in the torch light was a wall. 

"It doesn't look real," said Cade. 

The grey monstrosity did indeed look like an illusion. It twinkled with spots of gold, like stars in the night sky, making it impossible to tell where the wall ended and the sky began. 

Simmons juggled several small devices. He scanned the wall, made a phone call, and finished off banging it with his fist. 

"Well?"

"I got nothin'." He shook his head, "It's like it doesn't exist, it doesn't show up on anything, yet we quite clearly can't get through." he slapped the wall again, proving it was solid and real. "Autobots, you're up."

Bee transformed, stomped up to the wall, and engaged his canon blaster. It climbed in pitch and began to glow orange in the dark.

Cade fidgeted next to Ruby;  "Wait, no, no, let's think about-"

BOOM.

The ground trembled. A brilliant flash of fiery light shot into the sky, shining a spotlight on them all. Singed metal burned up their noses.

"Now you've done it!" Cade paced back and forth, "TRF, decepticons, nemisis Primes all know exactly where we are." His hand went to his back where he'd tucked a gun in his waistband.

Bee shrugged and kicked the perfectly intact wall. 

"OOOoooo" he whined, hopping up and down on his good foot and nursing the one he'd banged. 

"I don't understand," said Simmons, "Why put up an indestructible wall when the decepticons want us around to steal from?"

Ruby didn't have any room in her head for more questions. All she could think was how this wall might be separating her from Tom, and so it had to go.

She placed her palm flat against the wall with her fingers splayed. It was oddly warm to the touch, and smooth as marble. She applied a little pressure. 

The wall shattered. Shards fell like pieces of a giant mirror, dropping to the ground and vanishing upon impact. 

Everyone except Ruby dived for cover. She stood completely still, her hand still raised, while the wall fell all around her. 

When the tinkling sounds faded away, Ruby looked down at her hands. The bracelet glowed lilac. 

"It's Quintessa," she whispered, "She doesn't want us to know something, whatever it is about Stone Hench,"

"How, the heck, did you just do that?" said Hound. 

Cade and Simmons' mouths hung open as they looked for any remnant of the wall. There was none. 

"I think," said Ruby slowly, "It's because her power is my power; the wall was made by her, so I could destroy it." 

"Right, well," said Cade, blinking rapidly and trying to put his eyes back in his head, "Onward then," He slicked his hair back and climbed back into the Lambo that was Hot Rod. Simmons stared at Ruby for another heart beat, then followed. 

The autobots bumbled over the English countryside. Hound covered the slippery terrain easily. Crosshairs and Hot Rod, being in the form of super cars, found it a little more difficult. Bumble Bee drove along in a bizarre half-transformed state and coped well enough. 

With scraped bumpers and weeds hanging out of their grills, they all arrived at Stone Hench. The full moon lit the circle of rocks like a halo on the hill. The place was deserted. 

"Do you think NASA or TRF or anyone knows this is going to be the point of impact?" asked Cade.

"I would have thought so," said Simmons, "They probably couldn't get past the wall. But they will now. We don't have long," He got out his array of devices and started scanning the area for alien activity. 

Ruby tilted her head back, taking in the huge structure of rocks.

"I read that men built Stone Hench to track the movements of the sun and moon," she said, "And predict solar events, like an eclipse. But now, seeing it for real, I think it was built by the transformers."

The autobots transformed. 

"Ow!"

"I think I broke my left axle!"

"My suspension springs are shot,"

"Urgh there are grass stains all over my legs!"

"Oh stop whining, the lot of you!" Hound roared.

Ruby wandered between the rocks, twisting a long lock of hair around her fingers to keep them busy. She longed to touch the wet stone, to see if she could feel more power there. Instead she used only her eyes, looking for symbols or anomalies. 

As she walked, a humming sound climbed in volume until it hurt her ears. It was as if the very ground she walked on was alive.

"Do you guys hear that?"

"I don't hear anything," said Cade, who stood with his back to the stones, scanning the horizon, "But I can smell freshly turned soil, look at the tyre tracks you lot have all left! You'll lead the enemy straight to us!"

"I can hear it," said Crosshairs. 

"Me too," said Hound. Bee and Hot Rod agreed.

Simmons came hurtling back to the group, "It's happening, look!" 

Rising like a second moon in a narrow gap between two rock pillars, was what could only be the planet Cybertron.