Newer World Order

Chapter 15: Aftermath

"Good morning, June. I hope you're feeling better today." Arcee sat across from her at the picnic table and Jack took the empty spot beside his mom.

June stared off into the distance with bleary eyes.

"Hey." Jack put a hand on her shoulder and she glanced at him as if just now realizing he was here. "You okay? You look like you didn't get much sleep."

"None. I just ... every time I started to fall asleep, I remembered the ... well, you know." June stared at the table. "I keep seeing the back of Sokolov's head explode. And I'm the one who pulled the trigger."

"Saying this might not help, but you didn't do anything wrong." Arcee patted June's hand. "He'd already killed a lot of people, including kids, and he intended to kill Jack. If you hadn't wasted him, I would have, even if it cost me another limb."

"I keep telling myself that. It hasn't helped. I'm a nurse ... and I took a life."

"That doesn't make you a bad person, Mom." Jack put his arm around her shoulders. "Miko and I have done our share of killing since we got involved in all this. So has Arcee and the other 'Bots, and Ashanti and her team."

"Most of those were in the heat of battle during a war. With you, it was an accident. You didn't mean to kill that guy, you were just defending yourself." June shook her head slowly. "This was a choice. Sokolov wasn't going anywhere. Once Miko got her hands on him, he was finished. He wouldn't stop threatening you and something in me just snapped."

"June ... " Arcee shrugged. "I wish I knew what to say to make this better. I dunno, maybe this being so painful for you is a good sign. If everyone hurt this much after taking someone's life, the history of both of our planets might not be filled with warfare. And mine might still be alive."

Footsteps in the distance caught her attention and she glanced over at the mess hall to find Ashanti's team, Miko and her parents, Clayton, Rosalina, and the human-sized bodies of Bulkhead, Khalilah, and Strika approaching. Arcee smiled and waved.

Just in time. Maybe they can talk June out of her funk.

Everyone greeted them and sat. Arcee noticed Terwilliger waiting for Strika to take a seat before hurriedly plopping down beside her, as if going out of his way to be near her. It reminded her a bit of how Jack had acted around her before she figured out how they felt about each other. Except in this case, Strika seemed unlikely to be anything but oblivious to Terwilliger, or to understand his crush on her even if she was aware of it.

Clayton placed a tray of drinks beside June and took the empty spot beside her. He held a cup out to her and said, "I brought cocoa."

"Thanks." She managed to smile as she accepted the cup.

The ground-shaking footsteps of a full-sized Cybertronian drew Arcee's attention again and she glanced up to find Bilby making his way carefully across the parking lot toward the tables. He lifted a hand, hesitated, and waved as he reached them.

"I, uh ... hope you don't mind me joining you for a while. After what happened yesterday, I ..." He shrugged, glanced down at June, and sat cross-legged on the pavement nearby. "I don't know. I thought you might need some reassurance."

"We all thought the same thing," Roz said. She smiled and reached over to pat June's shoulder.

"Glad to have you here," Arcee said. "June's in serious need of cheering up."

"I'll try. I've been a 'glass-half-empty' kind of person for a long time, so stop me if I make things worse." He chuckled nervously and glanced at Arcee and Strika. "I hope your repairs are coming along."