Ruby - Transformers: Order and Chaos

The Human Factions

The first thing Ruby noticed was a prickly feeling in the back of her hand. She opened her eyes and saw a needle stuck under her skin. She twitched her hand and the needle glinted. She followed the tubing and saw a bag of fluids, and beyond that, a hospital room. It smelled of disinfectant and hand soap.

Someone had hooked her up to a drip. Well thank the heavens and all the possible Gods. She relaxed her sore head back into her pillows. Relief at last. She was saved, her imprisonment to that demon alien over-

"Good, you are awake."

Ruby's stomach plummeted so hard she was surprised it didn't plop out underneath the bed.

Quintessa came to stand over her, eyes twinkling lilac, silver circlet gleaming bright across her forehead; "We must continue soon." She stroked Ruby's hair with an ice-cold hand; "I had a human doctor treat you for a day. He has cleaned you up, given you water and liquid nutrients, as well as something for your nausea. He has provided me with spares so that we may complete our work without having to make these inconvenient stops."

A man in a lab coat, with a stethoscope draped across his shoulders, sat in a chair across the room. He stared at the ceiling with purple eyes, in some sort of trance. 

Ruby had no words. Her heart might have stopped.

Quintessa eased the needle out of Ruby's hand and threw back her covers. Ruby had been dressed in clean silk robes, similar to Quintessa's, except hers were a deep shade of blue instead of the Creator's preferred lavender. As dread pooled in her heart, Ruby counteracted it by reminding herself that Optimus was himself again. He would be looking for her, he'd come for her. 

*

Former agent Simmons hadn't bothered going to bed. He had worked through the night, and although he looked like a tired mess, his eyes twinkled. Knowing for sure that Ruby was alive had renewed everyone's determination. Tom hadn't left the lab. Optimus, Drift and Grimlock had taken their spaceship as high as possible, ready to dive the next time they caught a signal. But so far, their radar was silent.

Simmons jogged across the driveway as dawn broke, wrestling to keep hold of his papers. The wind whistled in his ears and threatened to knock him over. Lennox tailed him. The pair burst into the garage and hurried to shut the doors.

Bee was pacing. Cade was throwing darts at a board whilst Crosshairs taunted him. Hound and Hot Rod appeared to be snoozing in vehicle mode.

"Get Optimus," said Simmons.

Bee stopped and saluted. 

"Have you found them?" Optimus' voice came through, eager.

"Not yet, but there are seven horns," Simmons slapped down a sheet of paper on the Lamborghini's hood, "Or there were, before the ones in Africa and the Middle East vanished. The remaining horns are in New Zealand, Patagonia, North Dakota, Russia, and Antarctica,"

"One on each continent," said Lennox, looking over his shoulder.

"Exactly." 

"How do we know which one Quintessa will take Ruby to next?" said Drift.

"I was hoping you could pick up a signal," Simmons replied.

"Quintessa can transport instantly to anywhere on the planet. We cannot." Optimus, said, "We will always be one step behind her if we wait for a signal."

Hound transformed loudly, banging and clanking; "The original plan was to see if the old dinosaur could use the bracelet to track Ruby, what happened to that?"

"We would still have the same problem, you fool," Crosshairs pointed out, "The faster we find the girl, the sooner we can leave this planet."

"We need to figure out the sequence, which horn they'll visit next, so we can get there first," said Optimus, "Quintessa is still very powerful. Our best chance of success is to ambush her."

"This can't be good," said Cade, "Lennox, can you talk to your army people? We could have teams ready and waiting at every horn. And a couple of autobot teams. We can't just keep sitting here, waiting around."  He threw the last dart, hitting the bullseye with a satisfying thud.

Lennox scratched his head, "Er, unfortunately you guys are forgetting that most governments around the world, including mine, have ruled all transformers as illegal, to be executed or incarcerated on site. Ruby too."

"Oh. Right. Yeah..." Cade rubbed his head. 

Hound ground his teeth. Crosshairs spat oil. Bee whined. Outside, the wind howled.

"I may be able to help with that," said Simmons, "I've tracked the leader of TRF-"

"Santos," said Lennox,

"-yes, that guy," said Simmons, and sarcastically added; "Thanks for clarifying. He is in New Zealand. I have spent all night digging through the classified files of many organisations around the globe, not just TRF, to uncover information," he held up his index finger, "Information we can use against them."

"Bribery and blackmail?" Lennox crossed his arms, "You don't have enough weight behind you to make any meaningful threats. And I'll be labelled as a deserter, a traitor. It's not an option. No."

"Oh, you have no idea, solider boy," Simmons took out his phone, pressed a key and lifted it to his ear; "Hello, Dutch."

*

Field Commander Santos of the special black operations team Transformers Reaction Force, TRF for short, ignored the New Zealand soldiers who occupied this air base, and moved on to inspect his own team.

Last time they had stooped so low as to align themselves with aliens, much of his team had been lost. This time, recruitment had been even more ruthless. And standing before him now were supposedly the best of the best. Or the worst of the worst, depending on how you looked at it. Killers, all of them. Ruthless, unafraid and unfazed by anything. Or so he was promised.

"Today, we will lose no men," he said, shouting to raise his voice over the wind, "Today, we make an alliance that, although sickening, will ultimately get us to our goal. There will be no loss of life today, on either side, in either party," he corrected himself, "But that is just today. The time for killing will come!"

"Sir, yes sir!" the soldiers replied in unison.

Santos walked with his hands clasped behind his back, glowering at all of them. He hated them. But he hated the transformers more, and he hated that abomination girl the most.

"What is our mission?!" he yelled.

"Alien eradication!"

"By what means?!" The veins in his neck stuck out.

"By any means necessary!"

"RIGHT!" his face glowed red. "Keep that in mind."

He glanced at the air crafts. The flight coordinators had tried to ground all flights today. The wind was too strong. Everything on the base creaked and clanged in the gale. It wasn't safe. Santos didn't care. They had been searching for this specific signal since the reaction a few days ago. He might not get another chance. It had to be now.

"WHEELS UP!" he bellowed.

Luckily, no one hesitated.