Several hours had passed since they had touched down in England, and a certain alien ship had arrived carrying some important mechs. At first, Elizabeth and Cade were upset that these mechs disregarded the danger and brought a fourteen year old girl along. However, they couldn't remain angry for long as everyone was ready to leave fairly quickly. Watching as Cade spoke to Izabella off to the side, Elizabeth stood with the other Autobots as they prepared to take their own ship into battle. The humans were filing into the massive helicopters while the mechs all went into the Knights Ship. Opting to stay with the humans, Elizabeth sat near the edge of the row so that she would be the first to leave the helicopter. Taking off high into the sky, they looked around the outcropping of Cybertron that was making its descent to Earth. All of the metallic vines that reached well over a hundred miles long were beautiful, and even though their planet was dying, Elizabeth couldn't deny the beauty of their world. There wasn't any signs of organic life, so there was no grass or trees, but even then it was quite the sight.
"There! That's the ignition chamber! Looks like Primes coordinates are right!" A man shouted from the front of the helicopter.
"Look! The vines are starting to swing!" Elizabeth shouted as she pointed behind them.
"We have to bail!" The pilot shouted before something large smacked the side of the helicopter.
Everyone was quick to start rushing out of the aircraft and run along the ground towards the ignition chamber. Glancing behind her, Elizabeth mouth dropped when she noticed a specific child run out of the helicopter. Feeling Tiny grip around her arm, the woman rushed forward and started a mad dash towards a few large craters in the distance. She was much further than the rest of the group because of her quick departure, however, she also wasn't deterred by the enemy fire that was converging on the group behind her. Suddenly, launching itself over her and towards the group was a large multi-headed Decepticon. Waiting for it to completely clear her, Elizabeth was quick to start making her way towards the opening of the ignition chamber.
From across the battlefield, Lennox and Cade finally noticed where the woman was and both groaned in frustration. There was no way that they would be able to quickly catch up with the woman. Even the Autobots were struggling with moving forward in this battlefield. But, they couldn't keep their eyes on her for long as she disappeared within the chamber.
Entering the large room, Elizabeth couldn't help but stare in awe at the sheer size of the space. However, looking down the metallic floor, her eyes caught sight of two Cybertronians. One was very familiar, while the other she had never seen before. The unfamiliar Cybertronian was much smaller in size, but it seemed even more powerful.
"Ah, it is good to see you again." Megatron laughed as he turned to face the woman.
"Who is this half-breed?" The female Cybertronian sneered.
"That is the human I told you about. Although, I was told that she was dead. Perhaps this is the definition of death that they meant." The Decepticon leader shrugged.
"I want a closer look." The femme softened.
Walking towards the woman, Megatron's red optics remained vigilant on every movement her body made.
"Don't fight me, woman." He grumbled as he reached down and wrapped his fingers around her body.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Elizabeth sarcastically remarked.
Lifting her gently from the ground, Megatron made his way back towards the femme that wanted to see her. Silently watching the femme, Elizabeth watched as her blue optics spun and dilated. The second thing that she noticed about this femme was the human like face.
"I am Quintessa, the Prime of Life. It seems that you have been tampered with. I can make you whole again." The femme stated with a small smile.
"Whole again?" Elizabeth questioned with a raised brow.
"Yes, the humans have experimented and merged you with another spark. I can separate you two and make you both whole." Quintessa spoke calmly and with grace.
"I don't understand. If you remove the Transformium I will die." The woman frowned.
"You will not die. You will be reborn." The femme seemed to grin as she wrapped shimmering tentacles around the girl.
At first it was gentle, however, the tentacles started to tighten around her. Struggling against the tight hold, Elizabeth started to gasp for breath. Then suddenly the entire chamber began to shake and gravity seemed to pull the space downwards. Since she was already suspended in the air, Elizabeth barely noticed that everything was floating around her because they were falling.
"Elizabeth!" Cade's voice echoed through the chasm.
"Cade!" The woman shouted as she struggled against her bonds.
"That's her! Kill her!" Quintessa shouted as she pointed towards the Vivian, who had entered just behind Cade.
"No!" Elizabeth shouted as Megatron started running toward the newcomers.
Optimus was quick to defend Vivian and Cade by getting in between them and Megatron. Watching the battle unfold before her eyes, Elizabeth was shaken out of her stupor when electricity seemed to surround both herself and Quintessa. Struggling harder in her bonds, she tried to squeeze out of the tentacles so that she could escape from the falling chamber. Flipping upside down, the woman watched as Vivian managed to get her hands on the staff and remove it from its place on the pedestal that Quintessa had placed it on.
"Don't let it go!" Elizabeth shouted as she struggled.
"Quintessa! Leave our planet alone!" Optimus shouted as he swung his sword at the femme.
"You are a traitor to your own kind!" Quintessa shouted as she brushed off his attack.
"Say hello to my friend, Bumblebee." The Prime sneered.
"Sting like a Bee." The yellow and black mech taunted as he shot the femme in the back.
Gravity was pulling everyone down at a rapid pace, and even Elizabeth had finally managed to slip from the tentacles and was falling at fast speeds. Screaming from Cade and Vivian echoed around the plummeting cavern, and the Autobots were quickly trying to round up the humans so that they could safely get them all to the ground. However, falling from further above them, Elizabeth was out of reach.
"I won't let you get away!" Quintessa's screeched as she attempted to catch Vivian in her tentacles.
"Tiny!" Elizabeth called in panic as she held both of her hands in front of her.
Aiming her hands towards the femme, Elizabeth positioned her fingers as if she were holding a large alien blaster. Tiny was quick to transform in a buckshot blaster that would send several armor piercing rounds at the same time. Giving a shout, they fired at Quintessa and managed to land several of the bullets in the femme's shoulder. But, it wasn't enough to fully incapacitate their enemy. Screaming in agony, Quintessa altered the direction that her tentacles were going and plunged them towards Elizabeth who didn't have time to dodge in the air. Holding Tiny above her head, Elizabeth took the attack head-on and was ultimately speared in the side by the tentacles. Quintessa's tentacles would then wrap around the injured woman's body and halt her from falling any further towards the Autobots.
"Elizabeth!" Optimus bellowed as he looked up at the woman in shock.
"Liza!" Bumblebee also called out in panic.
"Tiny, one last time!" Elizabeth whispered.
"I'll find us a way to survive, I promise, Liza." Tiny squeaked as he readied another armor piercing bullet.
Looking passed the injured femme, Elizabeth noticed a not-so secure chunk of Cybertron just above them. Giving one last look at her Autobot friends below, she gave a big smile before taking aim and firing. As usual, her aim was true and she managed to dislodge the chuck of metal so that it began to fall directly towards Quintessa. The shouts of her friends below were agonizing to hear, but that there wasn't enough time for them to reach her, or for her to maneuver her way out of this. Tiny quickly got himself behind Elizabeth and wrapped his smaller arms around her shoulders and transformed into a miniature jetpack. He couldn't sustain much altitude or power, but he was able to at least avoid the larger debris as they fell. Unable to hold them up any longer, Elizabeth felt Tiny transform back into his bipedal form. The speed in which they were falling increased tenfold, and with the uncertainty of surviving, Elizabeth deemed that at least one of them should survive. Reaching around and grabbing her mini bot, she pulled him tightly to her chest and curled herself around him as best as she could.
"Liza! Stop it! You won't survive the fall!" Tiny's higher pitched voice rang as he struggled against her hold.
"I love you, Tiny, and I'm not gonna let you die after being alive for such a small amount of time. You deserve to be able to grow and learn more new things!" Elizabeth smiled sadly as she made sure to tighten her grip.
Growing silent, Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut and Tiny turned off his optics as they waited for the inevitable impact with the ground below. It felt like they had been falling forever before a quick but sharp pain entered Tiny's little mechanical body and he tumbled away from Elizabeth. The pain was quick, but he was unable to stay online long enough to look around as he fell into recharge. Hours would have passed before the mini bot finally regained consciousness and sat up to look around. Night had fallen and the ground where he lay was empty. He took a sharp intake of air as he quickly scanned his surroundings for one specific person, and when he couldn't see her, he felt panic start to settle in his processor. Jumping onto his peds, he noticed a section of debris that rose high enough to use as a vantage point. Rushing up the broken pieces of metal, he glanced all around him to see how much destruction had come to his mother planet. Even though he wasn't born on Cybertron, he still felt a pain in his chassis when he looked around. However, his searching came to a halt when he noticed a pale arm sticking out of some of the debris on the decline.
"Liza!" Tiny shouted as he tripped down the pile.
Landing just before her exposed arm, he started to pull the metal away and dig out the woman's body from underneath the rubble. It was completely quiet as he worked, but when he finally freed her from the debris, the pain in his chassis deepened. Her skin, which was normal tan, was completely pale and her eyes were half-lidded and dim of life. Her back was covered in blood from the impact with the ground, and he could see that majority of her bones were broken. Unable to move her further from where she was, the mini bot decided to lay across her torso and wait. Wait for the Autobots to come back and take her back to her home where she belonged. However, who arrived was not who Tiny had expected. A Cybertronian with menacing red eyes peered over the top of the debris pile and was staring directly at the woman. Unsure of how to defend himself and her, Tiny quickly stood to his feet and faced the Decepticon with a glare.
"Elizabeth Witwicky." The Decepticon mumbled as he stepped over the pile and towards them.
"Stay back!" Tiny shouted as he turned his arm into a small blaster.
"What do you plan to do with that? Step aside." The mech growled as he knelt beside them and gazed at the woman's face.
"I won't let you touch a single hair on her head!" The mini bot shouted as he fired a miniature rocket at the mech.
"That barely stung." The mech scoffed before lighting pushing the mini bot to the side and gently picked up the woman.
"Stop!" Tiny cried.
"I do not wish to harm either of you. There is a Decepticon base Northwest of here that has a full medical center." The Decepticon sighed as he began to walk away.
"What can the medical center do? She died." Tiny asked as he scampered after the much taller mech.
"We can try to bring her back." The mech stated shortly before reaching down and picking up the mini bot.
"Why are you helping us?" Tiny finally questioned with an inquisitive eye.
"Because, while I threatened her and was her enemy, she still had enough compassion to help me. I may have betrayed her trust back then, but now is the time that I return the favor." The mech explained before transforming into his vehicle mode.
Tiny fell into deep thought as he rested in the driver seat of the vehicle, his gaze periodically directing itself to the unconscious passenger. He didn't recall Elizabeth talking about helping a Decepticon willingly, other than Megatron. Or at least, she never told him of helping one prior to her capture by the Decepticon leader. Glancing out of the driver side window, Tiny noticed just how far they had driven. They were miles from where this Decepticon had found them, and it started to make the mini bot feel anxious about where they were headed. What if this was a trap and this Decepticon was trying to create some sort of bait for Optimus and the others.
"We're here." The mech suddenly spoke as he transformed around Tiny and Elizabeth.
"Are there others inside?" Tiny asked as he hung off of the Decepticon's back.
"No. There are no life readings inside." The Decepticon scoffed.
Keeping his head on a swivel, Tiny glanced by every hallway that they had passed. However, this Decepticon base was like a maze and Tiny couldn't help but already feel lost as they made another turn. All of the walls were the same shade of gray, with the same markings, and the same cables that ran along them. It wasn't until much later that they had finally arrived at the medical ward that Tiny felt a small sense of peace. Looking around the ward, Tiny noticed the large gurneys that the wounded Cybertronians would rest in and several tanks near the back end of the ward. Although, he couldn't help but feel a little creeped out when he noticed several gurneys being occupied by dead Cybertronians that hadn't escaped the planet or the war. Walking to the back of the ward, the Decepticon finally laid the woman and mini bot down on an unoccupied gurney and started preparing one of the tanks. Tiny continued to watch every move that the Decepticon took, and scrutinized every step that the mech took. Checking to see if the tank was fully intact, the large mech then turned to face the woman that was still laying on the gurney unmoving.
"What do you plan to do?" Tiny questioned, breaking the silence.
"The only thing that could possibly save her. That is, if, she has any life yet." The Decepticon stated.
Watching on in silence, he kept a close eye on the mech as he lifted the woman up gently and placed into a large tank. Within the tank was a type of clamped structure that she was placed into that held her upright. Closing the top of the large tank, the mech moved to a computer panel and started to input different codes in order start the procedure. Pressing the small green button at the bottom of the panel, the lid closed tightly before small different colored wires came streaming down and attaching themselves all over her body. As the wires moved, a bluish liquid began to fill the tank and a mask attached itself to her face. It only took several minutes for the fluid to completely fill up the tank, but once it did, Elizabeth looked ethereal. Observing every detail of the suspended woman, Tiny couldn't help but admire her. The mech that assisted them stood off to the side watching the mini bot in interest before beckoning him away from the tank.
"While these are Decepticons, you can take them apart and use their parts for yourself." The mech stated while pointing on the long dead Cybertronians.
"Thank you. Can you at least tell me your name?" Tiny asked.
"Barricade." The mech gruffly answered.
Giving a whir of acknowledgement, Tiny moved over to the gurneys that had bodies of passed Cybertronians and started to look over their general condition. It would take awhile, but he knew that over time he would be able to make himself a true Cybertronian. For the next two months, Tiny wouldn't leave the safety of the old Decepticon base and Barricade had positioned himself in the control room so that he could get the base completely functional. During this time, Elizabeth remained unresponsive within the tank, but her body was slowly showing signs of change. About twenty-five percent of her body had a silvery tinge to it, as if the bluish liquid was slowly turning her skin to metal. This slow change fascinated both mechs as they watched the woman get covered by the metallic sheen. Tiny had also changed quite a bit over the last two months, instead of him being a two-foot mini bot, he was now roughly seven feet. Replacing some of his joints, he was able to initiate the growth plates in the Transformium and began growing like any other Cybertron born Cybertronian.
Another several months had passed before the motion detectors outside of the base began to pick up movement. Tiny was quick to prepare himself for an attack, while Barricade thumbed through the different camera feeds to find who was approaching their home. At first, they couldn't see anything or anyone on the feed, but after some time, there was movement. However, they couldn't tell what was out there. Both mechs nervously watched the screen before deciding that it would be best to just keep an eye on the main door. Hours would go by before the detectors would pick up movement again, but this time, the main doors opened shortly after. Positioning themselves at an intersection, both mechs had their weapons at the ready.
"Stop! State your business!" Tiny shouted as he kept his optics on his partner.
"We are only searching for refugees, survivors, of the war." An extremely familiar voice answered quickly.
"Wait a second, was that Tiny?" Another voice questioned.
"Optimus?" Tiny asked as he peeked his head around the corner.
"That is Tiny!" Hound exclaimed with a relieved laugh.
"This is where you've been all this time? What happened? How'd you get so big?" Crosshairs asked as he took a few steps forward.
"I've been taking apart other Cybertronians that had passed during the war. It was recommended to me." The smallest mech answered.
"Recommended? There is another signal here. Who is that with you?" Optimus asked with calculating optics.
It was silent for a moment before Barricade stepped out from his hiding place across from Tiny. The Autobots froze at the sight of the notorious Decepticon and glanced between their long lost friend and their enemy. Barricade, sensing the unease, put away his weapons and raised his servos just above his shoulders.
"He has...treated you well?" Optimus placed a hand up as if to halt the others from moving.
"He has."
"Where is Liza?" Bumblebee suddenly asked as he took a few steps forward.
Glancing over at Barricade, Tiny gave a small nod before looking back to the Autobots and beckoning them to follow. Awkwardly looking between themselves, the group slowly followed after Barricade and Tiny further into the old Decepticon base. Walking slightly ahead of the others, the former Decepticon glanced over his shoulder at the group before turning his optics back towards the front.
"Don't act rashly. This is something that has obviously never been done before." Barricade spoke tiredly as he stopped in front of the medical bay doors.
The group of Autobots looked to one another before giving an unsure nod to the Decepticon who then pressed a button to open the door. Once the door slid open, Tiny rushed up to the tank to make sure that the others wouldn't react negatively to her status. Looking back at the others, he noticed the expressions of surprise radiating from the group that had entered behind him. The sight of Elizabeth already is pretty astonishing, but for those who were just seeing her for the first time, it was a whole new experience. Instead of seeing the woman with soft olive skin, she was completely covered in a metallic sheen. She still had human features, but she no longer looked human. Walking slowly up to the tank, Optimus stood just beside Tiny and observed the woman's new features. Instead of supple skin, she had metal plating all over her body. The clothes that she was last seen in was in tatters, but otherwise still floating around her body.
"What have you done?" Bee's radio mumbled as he slowly stepped forward.
"Saving her life. She was barely alive when we brought her here." Barricade scoffed.
"What gives you the right to tamper with human life?" Hound growled as he stared at the tank.
"I won't let her die! She deserves to live a very long time!" Tiny suddenly shouted.
"I am only returning the favor to her." Barricade shrugged before turning and leaving the room.
It was silent for a moment as the Autobots watched the mech leave them. Tiny was still standing before them with his servos clenched, but his eyes shone with determination. A deep sigh escaped the Prime as his gaze remained on the woman, but he couldn't help but feel anxious about this. Never in the history of mankind or Cybertron did they ever try to intermingle species. This could be taboo, or this could be something amazing. However, there was no way to know without following through with what Barricade had started. Turning on his peds, Optimus left the medical bay to find the Decepticon.
"Don't touch anything until I return." The Prime spoke firmly before disappearing.
"If this is a success, what do you think that would mean?" Crosshairs questioned with his arms cross.
"That our dear friend has survived yet another perilous trial." Drift nodded as he looked down at the tank.
Several minutes would pass and Optimus would then radio for everyone to come to the command room to discuss how they wanted to move forward. Barricade was also in the command room, but it didn't seem like there would be any trouble.
"I will be there in a moment." Bumblebee nodded as the rest of the group, including Tiny, left the room.
Tiny hesitated for a moment, but the look in Bumblebee's eyes proved to the smaller bot that there was nothing to worry about. Leaving the yellow and black mech to himself, the others made their way to the command room. Bee, keeping his gaze on the woman, sat down on the hard ground and began reminiscing their life together up until now. It would have been feasible to say that the mech loved Elizabeth with all of his spark, much like the other Autobots, but there was more to it for the younger yellow and black mech. After failing to save her cousin, he had grown even more attached to the woman. Leaning back against the gurney behind him, Bumblebee found himself dozing off. At first he attempted to fight the drowsiness, but after several minutes, he succumbed and went into recharge. The buzzing of the machines were extremely soothing for the bot, and even though the floor wasn't all that comfortable, he was perfectly content with where he was. While the mech slept, the panel connected to Elizabeth's tank suddenly whirred to life and the lid decompressed. Steam bellowed through the small spacing between the glass and the lid before the bluish colored liquid began to filter out at the bottom of the tank. It wasn't until another few moments that the cables that were attached all over the woman's body began to regress and return to the lid and the mask also disappeared. A steady beeping from the panel softly emanated before suddenly the woman's eyes shot open and bright blue calculating optics were shown.
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Thank you for reading! This is the end of the story. I'm unsure if I should continue with another book, so please do give me feedback!
I do not own Transformers as it is owned by Hasbro and writer/producer Michael Bay.
I really only own Elizabeth Witwicky, who is Sam's cousin, and the employees of Ben's Mechanics.