A New Dawn - Transformers Prime (4)

Chapter Fourteen

  "But she's always working now," I frowned. "I know this is all important, but what if she becomes one of those people that's so into her job that she doesn't even have time for herself anymore."

  He didn't reply immediately, thinking my words over. "I think she's under a lot of stress right now, that's all. We've got this entire situation hanging over our heads, and it doesn't help that those Cybertronians are both full and small sized now. Plus, Finn is halfway across the country, and she doesn't have the military resources she'd like. There not much else she can do."

  I sighed, knowing he had a point. "Everything is just changing so quickly."

  He gave me a surprised look. "I though you of all people would be excited about this."

  "About fighting Valilorna's peeps? 100%, I'm stoked! We finally get to be in on the action, it's great! But we're doing all this training in such a short amount of time, it's crazy."

  "Like I said, we just don't have the resources we need yet," Jack said, taking another bite. My frown stayed in place though, until he reached over and tugged a loose strand of hair. "What's really wrong?"

  I shrugged. "What if, when Finn gets the military involved and all, they don't end up needing us?"

   "What do you mean?"

  "Everyone can see why Amanda needs to be involved, because she's got her powers and is already fully trained to kick butt, Finn needs to be there because he's basically the military factor, Raf needs to be in it because he's a techy genius, but what about us? We're not even fully trained, we don't have any special powers or connections or anything!"

  "Miko," His expression was reassuring. "You're forgetting that we're two of the only people with major exposure to Cybertronians. We're already on the military's radar as experts in the field thanks to Fowler, and we know more than even Fowler does when it comes to Cybertronians. Even if all else fails, which it won't, there's no way Amanda and Finn will let the military boot us out of this."

  "You really think so?"

  "I know so."

  I didn't know what to say for a long moment, before I grinned. "Not bad, champ."

  His grin matched mine. "You think?"

  The sound of the front door unlocking and opening made us both jump, causing us to burst out laughing at our reactions.

  "What'd I miss?" Ms. Darby asked, walking into the dining room with her coat still on and her bags in her hands, a smile on her face.

  "It's been three hours, Mom!" Jack joked, earning him a look from his mom.

  "Well, I couldn't exactly tell someone who just had a heart attack that I was late to dinner with my son and his girlfriend, now could I?"

  A laugh burst from me before I could muffle it, getting Ms.Darby's attention as she turned her smile to me. While Jack left to fill a plate for his mom, she and I chatted about small things, making the rest of my stress melt away.

[Raf]

  I yawned. "I guess we'll have to call it a day then?"

  "Yes," Ratchet agreed, clearly ready to finish the frustration we'd been sharing over decoding the followers of Valilorna's database. I shut down my laptop, leaving it on the table in the living area of the base before grabbing my bag and heading down the stairs. Just as I reached the bottom, I stopped and looked up at the medic, who was moving towards the ground bridge controls.

  "Hey, Ratchet?"

  "Hm?"

  "Do you think we'll stand a chance?"

  He looked down, confused. "Care to elaborate?"

  "Against Valilorna's followers. Do you think we'll be able to stop them from hurting humans? I mean, they've technically got a full on goddess on their side giving them more powers, not to mention the fact that some of them can really blend in with humans. Even if Finn gets the okay... How are we supposed to win?"

  He watched me carefully, as if he was choosing his next words carefully. "You never doubted Team Prime before."

  My gaze lowered to the ground. "That was when we had the Autobots."

  "You mean when we had Optimus."

  His blunt comment made me take a deep, almost shaky breath. "Yeah."

  "Rafael," Ratchet lowered himself to kneel in front of me. "The Autobots were not always led by Optimus Prime in the past, and they will not be led by him in the future either. That doesn't mean that Valilorna will be allowed to wreak havoc unchecked. Leaders do not last forever, but they are always present, whether they are in the same form or a different one."

  I frowned. "But things always seemed so- I don't know- easier with Optimus in charge."

  "The battles were never easy," He countered. "But Optimus was the type of leader to instill courage and faith whenever it was absent. We have always been outnumbered, outgunned, and faced challenges bigger than all of us put together, yet we made it this far. I do not doubt that we will do that again."

  That made me look back up at him. "What do you think about Amanda taking charge of this then? You've seen the successful leaders during Cybertron's wars, how does she measure up?"

  "No two leaders are the same, Rafael, but I believe Optimus chose well when leaving her in command of Team Prime's Earth division. Still, I can't be the one to decide for you whether or not you put your faith in her as a leader."

  "I trust her," I said quickly. "But she's got something that puts her ahead of all of us. The fight seems simple for her, but how are we supposed to keep up when we have no powers at all?"

  "No powers at all?"

  I shrugged. "Well... yeah. She's got the powers of Cleona. Me, Finn, Jack, Miko... What do we have?"

  "How far do you think Amanda would have gotten if she didn't have Miko by her side when they discovered the Cybertronian ship in the desert? She would have likely passed by the escape pods if Miko hadn't pointed them out. Even if she did spot that detail, wouldshe have been able to download the entire ship database without someone on this side, ensuring the information wasn't lost in the cloud? Would she have been able to intervene at the Montana military base without Finn? Would any of that be able to happen without Jack and you monitoring the situation from here?" He paused, letting his words sink in before continuing, "Everyone plays a role inthe fight, regardless of how insignificant it may seem. You do not have to beon the front lines to do your part, and you do not need any special powers." A small smile appeared on his face. "Look at the Autobots. Optimus Prime may havebeen on the front lines, but he was only able to be because he had his team behind him. I highly doubt that this time will be any different."