Optimus sped down the open road, canyon and sand for miles painting the horizon a rusty, burnt orange.
His small team of what remained of the autobots trailed close behind him, a small yellow Camaro sped up, keeping pace at the shoulder.
Anger coursed through his very being as he sent up a dust cloud in his wake. The autobot leader felt betrayed, but most of all, he was hurt.
After finding the small drone and tapping it for information, he could almost have purged his tanks when he saw the humans, those that he swore to entrust and protect, smelting down Ratchet and Leadfoot as if they were just scrap. As if they hadn't given their own to protect their planet.
Besides the apparent desecration of the dead, the autobot leader learned several other things; Megatron was alive and with a human in his corner, Lockdown was afoot and hunting them with said humans. Further inspection reveal the maker of the small drone: KSI. Kinetic Solutions. Defense, aerospace, and government contracts, ties with the CIA. The technology was theirs, the slaughter of their kind was in their name and bloodied their hands.
The company, he found, was headquartered in Detroit, and so, that's where his wheels carried him.
He'd sworn to never kill humans, to never bring harm upon another living specie if he could help it, but when he finds out who's behind all the carnage, they were going to die, mark his words.
"No way to get inside without a battle." Hound had commented.
Pleasantries were the last thing on the autobot's mind, he wanted to right what was wrong and avenge his fallen comrades. Their deaths would not be in vain, he vowed that much.
His encounter with Lockdown and the human black ops yielded much information. Certainly, they were were together under some sinister contract. But, something striking stood out...
His subordinates appeared Cybertronian or even Quintessan at a quick glance, but the way they moved, the way they fought, was anything but. There was no light, metaphorically, behind their optics. They were lifeless, devoid of sentience. It was wrong and defied the very laws of the universe.
Despite what he wanted, he could play by their rules.
____________________
Lauren awoke from her restless slumber without so much as a yawn. Rubbing the sleepiness from her eyes, she was quick to rise. Changing quickly, the woman was swift to make her way down to the main floor.
She did little in the way of greeting everyone else as she approached her tools and the small pile of odd ins-and-outs that Scalpel scrounged in her absence. It was a rather sizable pile considering the short notice and just how much effort the small decepticon had to go throw to drag it in. Odd pipes, both of the metal and plastic kind. Nuts, bolts, and screws of varying sizes. A car jack, and other bits and pieces she couldn't put names to.
"Howdy to you too, who took the jem out of your doughnut?" Nitrozeus emerged into the building.
Lauren turned to the small battery powered radio Scalpel had so graciously found. In truth, he probably wanted it for parts, but really what use would a radio from 2003 be? "Why do you talk like that?" She jabbed verbally at the tracker bot, her fingers filling with the small piece of technology.
The mech made his way around to her side. "Why do you talk like that, betsy. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes."
A small smile graced her lips as she tuned into a radio station. The speakers were somewhat scratchy, but fiddling with the volume dial proved fruitful.
"Turn that garbage off." Barricade grumbled from the other side of the room, face screwed up in irritation.
Nitrozeus bent at the hips, coming closer to her. "He doesn't get laid. Ignore him and his blue balls." He gestured with his helm.
Lauren snorted dryly at the absurdity of the joke as she move to climb atop Megatron, heavy tool box secured in her grasp as the beat of the song carried through out the space.
Occasionally, if he was near, she'd ask Blackout to better help her identify what she was working on to which he'd begrudgingly answer.
"You come over and start up a conversation with just me and trust me, I'll give it a chance now (mm-mm)."
She sang along absent mindedly as she was elbow deep in his chassis reconnecting and soldering wires she knew went with one another. Her head bobbed slightly as she crimped a set of wire.
"Your love was handmade for somebody like me."
Hastily, she pulled her hand away having burned her finger with the soldering iron. It was old and had been her grandfather's before her, needless to say, the tool was finicky on even the best days.
"Say, 'Boy, let's not talk too much. Grab on my waist and put that body on me'. Com on now, follow my lead."
Scalpel skittered up to her, his spectacles secured in place. "Zere is ein ding in zee fluid bump. Zupchect may Hexberience decreazed bumping." He scurried off toward his upper chassis.
Setting the soldering iron aside, she followed, wiping her hands along her pants.
The spider bot crouched to peer beneath a half risen chest plate, his small appendages poked.
Gripping the underside of the plate, she pulled. "I'm so sorry if this hurts." She apologized with another yank to no avail. Scalpel, too, tried to help in her endeavor, pushing at the metal.
Much like she'd done before, she retrieved the car jack, climbed atop him once more, before jamming the tool beneath the plating. With some difficulty, she torqued the jack until the metal chest armor gave way, popping open with a hiss.
Nitrozeus whistled. "Have some decency, put on a show."
His perverse comment went ignored as she pushed the metal up and out of her way giving way to a much more vulnerable thoraxal cavity that she wasn't acquainted with.
Scalpel scuttled past her with a tap of his spindly legs. "Ah, ja! Right here!" He almost cooed.
Following his movements, she panned her vision to where his tapped. The smooth pipe was indeed dented to a good degree, luckily it hadn't caved. Gently, she reached out to rest her hand atop the infliction. It was warm to the touch and that made her feel like she was on the right track.
"Zere is Henerkon debozits hintering zee flow." Scalpel acted as though he was resting an ear over the pipe.
Deposits? Like a clot? He was clotting in his... heart-pump thing? Was he suffering some kind of robot heart attack?
God, she wasn't cut out for this.
"I need you to get me the rest of the PVC piping, my blow torch, and the small circular saw from the tool box. Hurry." A newfound urgency bled into her tone as she kneeled over the fluid pump. The music droned on in the background.
"And another one bites the dust. Oh, why can I not conquer love?"
"You're either a cowgirl or a doctor, which is it betsy? Tell a man." The single optic mech quipped from beside the scene.
Scalpel returned with the requested items. "I'm neither." She answered flatly, clearly distracted as she swiftly cut bits of the PVC to size. If she could've, she'd of just heated the metal and allowed it to morph back into shape, but she knew heat couldn't be used in a situation with running liquids.
Powering on the small hand held saw, she focused.
"I'm still fighting for peace. I've got thick skin and an elastic heart."
"Easy there betsy, don't torture the guy-"
Blackout entered the building right as she made contact with the pump, bits of liquid spirted from the pipe. In her other hand she held a PVC cap.
"What is the meaning of this?" The chopper chided with narrowed optics.
The music and voiced were lost in her as she focused, forcing the cap over the end of the pipe before too much of anything could be lost. It wasn't going to hold long, so she had to act fast.
With haste and energon speckled hands, she grabbed for her torch, flicking it on in an instant.
"And I will stay up through the night. Let's be clear, won't close my eyes."
Lauren made quick, yet tedious work of reshaping the pipe to its former self, using a hammer to poke at the malleable metal. Sweat beaded along her forehead with the torch so close. Without the proper Headwear, she squinted at the brightness of the flame. Abandoning her hammer, she switched to pliers as reshaped the end.
"And I want it, I want my life so bad. I'm doing everything I can. Then another one bites the dust."
With no time to let the metal cool, she turned back to the small cavity, securing the opposite end. With a huff, she snatched the PVC cap away, fitting the newly fitted end around the other as energon rushed to flow.
"I may snap and I move fast. But you won't see me fall apart. 'Cause I've got an elastic heart."
She let go of her breath after a moment without catastrophe. Fly away hairs stuck to her damp skin and flecks of the alien liquid stained her tank top, the song fizzled out near its end.
All optics were on her.
"What was that ? " The chopper stepped forward, his tone rich with malice.
Lauren turned her head to stare at the hunter, her ears still somewhat trained on the music in the background. "He had a blockage." She stated rather flatly, her blood still racing through her body in am attempt to calm. "An energon deposit?" Her words came as a question. "The fluid pump was dented." Her eyes trailed the room. "Why is everyone staring at me?" Annoyance flared in her tone as she rose to her feet, wiping her welt covered hands along the cotton on her tank.
Blackout left once more with a parting scoff.
"Why the face? You look madder than a wet hen cowgirl." Nitrozeus drawled, cocking his helm to the side for emphasis.
Making her way to her toolbox, she fished around in its contents. "Because you all keep staring at me like I'm trying to fuck him over or something. I know what I'm doing." She pulled out some spare wire insulation and a rag (which just so happened to be her old shirt torn into strips).
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, betsy."
"You know nothing, don't act like you do human." Barricade grumbled, his bulky body jerking with the force of his words.
"Hey, I'd watch your tongue if I were you. Megatron doesn't take to kindly to others fucking with his little lady." The tracker snickered. "Big man gets protective, don't 'ya?" He sniggered. "Why do you think the screamer is blind in one eye?" And he couldn't comfortably rotate his shoulder servo 360 degrees.
Of course the mech in question didn't answer, but a small part of her felt reassured that someone considered that he may be listening whether voluntarily or not.
Barricade pulled a face before hissing something in Cybertronian. Onslaught only observed with a wet cough here and there, face contorting to display his pain.
Lauren turned to the less acquainted mech. "Do you want any help? Or would you rather suffer in silence? I can work with either."
Onslaught gave a rasped noise that was hard to distinguish. The mech was far more stout than the others, stockier. "It's a true scientific marvel that I'm still online." He ground out. "Your small hands will do no good by me."
She crossed her arms atop her chest. "Yes or no? If not, I have work to do." Truly, she didn't care either way, but she figured that asking couldn't hurt, or it could hurt a lot. Her train of thought had long derailed.
The stout mech grumbled out a curse, pushing himself up into a better sitting position, his chassis was a mess of petrolex and energon. A small puddle formed below him, smeared across the gray pavement with his movements. "You offer service and stand there like a thoughtless cretin."
Lauren retrieved some simple tools. "All you had to say was 'yes'." She approached his side with some reluctance. The brunette wanted to say that she had a loose grasp on each character around her, but he truly wasn't someone she'd gotten a read on. It stirred up primal weariness in her. "Could you move your hand?"
The mech did so with a pained growl, his clawed hands slapped the cement causing her to jolt as she eyed the damage. It was in fact an inner pipe that had been punctured by something or another. Without question, she reached her hand across the wound, causing the bot to tense visibly.
"Think of that as an encouragement to hurry the hell up cretin." He growled through clenched denta, his optics burned holes into her.
God, this was so much easier when they were unconscious...
It was a small puncture given his size, but the constant flow was certainly doing him no good. Should be an easy fix. Sliding off his thigh plating, she retrieved her heat gun and a sliver of PVC.
With some struggle, she made her way atop his leg once more, pulling the rag from her pocket. "Can I?" He gave a grunt of approval and she gentle careened her hands around the wound, dry the surrounding metal to the best of her ability before plugging the puncture. Once she noted the lack in leakage, she turned to heat the dense plastic pipe, creating a sort of cuff that she could then melt over the hole.
It only took a moment's time with the powerful heat gun. Securing the plastic over the metal pipe was tricky, but she managed. Her clothes further dirtied by alien gunk. The surrounding metal was still damaged, but he was no longer withering away.
She removed herself near immediately and made her way back to Megatron.
"Now aren't you a doll. Flattery can only get you so far, like someone's bed."
Ignoring Nitrozeus, she climbed atop the decepticon once more, resuming her original task as the music droned on like white noise.
"Your men are falling apart at the seems." She commented to him as she worked to solder wires, laminating them in insulation for good measure. "I'm sorry I wasn't faster..." That part came out even quieter. She crimped another wire gently, the surrounding area was starting to look better, not as mangled.
Her eyes trailed over his frame, premature spots of rust plagued his claws and palms. She'd have to clean that soon before it spread further.
Her sights panned up toward his face, she studied the new ways the metal dipped and curved, a stark contrast from his previous appearance, but it was still very much him. It was pleasing to the eye, smooth and not so sharp, but still intimidating.
She may have lingered her stare too long, jumping when she accidentally grazed her wrist with the soldering iron. Another burn added to her steadily growing collection. The stinging went ignored.
"You took my hand, you showed me how. You promised me you'd be around."
Lauren followed the lyrics with a bob of her head, twisting some wires between her sore finger tips.
"If someone said three years from now, you'd be long gone. I'd stand up and punch them out. 'Cause they're all wrong. I know better 'cause you said forever and ever."
She scooted up his chassis, moving to what appeared like a some sort of stab wound. Her fingertips brushed softly along the smooth edges. The night was wearing on, growing late.
"I wish I could touch you again. I wish I could still call you a friend. I'd give anything."
A yawn escaped her as the music was silenced abruptly. "I was listening to that."
"It's better than country, but that's all you get. Make like a horse and get on to gettin'." Nitrozeus shooed.
"I still have work to do." Lauren retorted as she set to soldering another set of wires, finding the action a bit more difficult in the narrower space of the smaller wound.
He rolled his optic. "Yeah, and I have a line of babes waiting to preen my backside.
"Go away and let us have some peace, fleshbag. You've bothered enough for one joor." Barricade gestured with his hand, his voice rumbled.
"Go recharge girl, you may continue your duties tomorrow." Soundwave cut in.
"But, I-"
"Do not argue further. Go recharge." Blackout interjected, sliding the door shut behind himself.
Suddenly, she was hoisted into the air, dropping her wire insulations and soldering iron. "Hey! Put me down!"
Nitrozeus mocked her accent. "Boots are made for walkin' betsy." He dropped her onto the second story catwalk, just outside the office.
"I was going to go!" She huffed. "Goodnight!" The door was slammed. God, she felt like a child being ordered to bed by their parents. If they just wanted some peace and quiet, she'd of turned off the music. All they had to do was ask! But, apparently, asking wasn't a thing she found common among them, it was always telling, ordering. No wonder they butt heads so often.
After changing into her pajamas, she lied on the floor for the night, the office grew dim and all the bickering beyond the drywall ceased.
She tossed and turned for some time before she eventually drifted off.
____________________
She was in that dark void once more, much like her previous nights sleep. Black, vast, nothingness.
Lauren sighed deeply to herself. It was going to be a long night at this rate. She'd almost prefer a nightmare of it gave her something to do.
"It's not a dream, girl." A familiar baritone voice spoke from behind her.
Pivoting, she nearly stumbled as she snapped around to face Megatron. Her skin suddenly felt hot as her pulse quickened.
This isn't real... A small part of her sniped.
The tyrant sat with a knee servo propped up, Purple Hearts bloomed in clusters in the surrounding area. His body still dawned his injuries and battle torn state.
"It's the bond, that's why you're here, bug." He reached a tentative claw out at her. "Come, girl."
Her feet stuttered. "B-but you died... I thought- I felt-"
He frowned. "Stasis does not eliminate the bond. You will not be rid of it till the day you perish. Come."
Lauren's body moved on its own, heading his call. He was swift to scoop her into his palm.
"The bond was only subdued, it still remains. Just search for it, bug." He informed gruffly as he held her, noting the way her body had grown lighter in weight. His metal features curled into a grimace at the realization.
"I'm sorry." She suddenly said, her eyes downcast. Even if this wasn't real and it was all some delusion, she'd cherish the time spent.
"Do not give me sympathies, girl." He bit out.
"So, you're alive? I thought I was too late." She admitted.
"Yes, I do live." His words came out firm and absolute, leaving no room for uncertainty. "What of my men?"
"They're assholes. Is that what you wanted me to say?" A smile tugged at her lips. "The short chubby one- Onslaught? He's not great. Starscream disappears any chance he can get, but I'm not complaining."
That told him all he needed to know, they were in scraps. He snarled. Everything was starting look bleak. "That treacherous traitor does not know what's good for him if he wants to keep his helm."
The seeker was aloof, that much was obvious. To what extent, she didn't know however. A hum escaped her throat.
Her fingers brushed against the beginnings of rust on his palm, the texture rough and rubbing off onto her skin. His new metals were much smoother than the former, making the rust stand out all that much more. It was a bittersweet reminder.
"Disgusting." Megatron had commented.
"I'll remove it, don't worry."
He scoffed, but something told her he really didn't mean it. "I have more pressing matters to perturb me than some rank corrosion, fleshling. I am no weakling."
"That doesn't mean you should have to deal with it, though." Sapphire eyes flicked down to his cavernous wound. She needn't ask what happened, she knew; Lockdown. Her chest panged subtly, causing her lips to pull into a small smile.
"Do you understand now, girl? Only in death will you be rid of the bond." He spoke with purpose, but held no harshness save for his usual grit. "Nothing will befall me."
The last sentence was said in both to himself and to ease what worries her mind may harbor. He held a particular disdain for the apprehension that plagued her and in turn, himself.
Lauren's fingers caressed along his palm, avoiding the corrosion, absentmindedly. "Will you be okay, though? You're alive, sure, but..."
"You dare doubt me, bug?" He's almost growled.
"No, but I am allowed to ask."
He vented in a grunt. "Physical damages are only an inconvenience."
Humming, she accepted that answer. His way of saying he'd be okay, she supposed. "You were bleeding pretty bad when we found you."
"Our bodies have reserves. Refrain your fretting, girl."
Ah, that made sense. No wonder he and Onslaught hadn't kicked the bucket sooner. They had fail-safes.
The brunette reclined, resting back onto his chassis. She was pleased to feel his warmth once more, finding it far more inviting than the cold. He felt alive. Knowing he'd be okay lifted a world's worth of weight off her shoulders and heart. Finally, she could breathe comfortably. She relaxed into him, calmed. Was is possible to fall asleep when already sleeping?
"What's with the new get-up by the way?" The question came as her eyes slipped closed.
"This is the first you've commented." He jabbed.
"Just finally found the right moment to ask."
'The right moment' was something he'd only ever used in combat. "Cybertronians often change primary modes, girl. It is a vital function."
She supposed that it wasn't much different than coloring one's hair or plastic surgery. He was still distinctly Megatron, there was no question there. And it wasn't as if she hated the change. He was bulkier, smooth, and towering, it all added to his person. Though, there was a chance that their reasons for changing were far more survival oriented than a humans.
Who cared? She certainly didn't. It was his body and she was almost positive that nobody else beneath the tyrant would dare question it.
"Oh." Was all she replied with a sigh.
Megatron nudged not so gently, jostling the small woman. "Cease your recharge, bug." He plucked her up, setting her down.
Her feet barely caught her as she stammered. "Wha-"
"Go, get to your recharge, girl." He shooed her off with a claw of his hand, dispersing before her vision and taking the purple hearts with him. Oddly, it didn't leave her in a panic, him leaving. She knew he was still there, looming in the back of her mind.
Lauren's sleep that night was plentiful and she got well needed rest. Not once did she toss and turn or wake up. Drool dripped from her agape mouth and her eyes crusted.
Yes, good sleep. Now, all she needed was a proper pillow and blanket.
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