The Witch and the Robot (ABANDONED STORY)

Chapter 10 - The Ritual

Alice took the finished product of her jar and held it out in front of her as everyone looked on. This was the first time she was doing it in front of others, and she had to admit, she was nervous and unsure how to proceed with so many eyes on her. She would look to Optimus for guidance, but he would offer only a simple nod as if telling her that it was okay to continue. Alice would let out a breath, releasing her nervous energy before closing her eyes and chanting quietly to herself again, speaking slowly as she held the jar before her still, finally sealing the lid. She would finally cease the gibberish after a moment, holding the jar up above her head slightly as she closed her eyes. "Oh, great mother Earth, protect this place from harm and negative energy. Protect this place from those who wish to find it, and wish to do harm unto those within, seal these intentions within these sigils, powered by the contents within, derived from your natural resources. This is our will, so mote it be." Alice finished, closing her eyes as she then brought the jar close to her heart, uttering some more gibberish to it before the sigils that Alice had written on the jar would actually seem to glow slightly, even to the untrained eye, showing the power she held.

The candles she had lit around her mat on the floor would flicker for a moment before she would open her eyes, and they would suddenly extinguish, the incense she had made in the bowl suddenly going cold before the sigils would flash a white light, then returning to the dim glowing that everyone, even the bots, could see. Alice would then set the jar down on the table and let out a small sigh. "There, a powerful protection spell has been placed over this place, all that's left to do is place it somewhere that it won't be disturbed." Alice instructed, beginning to clean up. Though Fowler seemed mildly impressed by the light show, he wasn't convinced of her ability just yet.

"I'm not convinced, Alice. A protection spell isn't something that we can see results in right away, that's more what I was looking for." Fowler would say seriously, walking over to her and looking at all of her materials, wondering what exactly some of them were.

"Ever impatient, Agent Fowler. Most of Witchcraft never yields immediate results, but, if you're wanting to see something that will, I have a couple of options. All are a form of scrying, but you won't know the truth until you trust me." Alice explained, though Fowler would agree to some scrying, at least it could be proven through a phone call or going somewhere, agreeing simply with a nod. "Well, if you want me to scry on someone I've never seen before, I'll need something of theirs, preferably something biological, like hair or blood. If you want me to scry on a specific place or object, I'll need a detailed description or an image preferably. Then I'll need to know the last known location of said object, now the biggest I've done this for is a cruise ship, so I know the method works on vehicles too." Alice explained her process slightly, though Ratchet, who was also in disbelief of everything, would bring up an image of the deception warship.

"Let's see you scry on this then. That will be a true test of power and usefulness." Ratchet would say with a bit of a scoff, letting Alice come closer to see the image more clearly, even showing her what they had for blueprints of the inside, as the ship was Autobot before it was taken over by the decepticons. Alice would study the image and then get to work once more, making a different incense and cleaning up her previous one, though as she worked, Miko would notice that the candles around her mat had relit themselves, and she would silently point it out to Jack, who would furrow his brows and step forwards to say something, only for Fowler to put an arm out in front of him to silence and stop him. He needed to see how this went, because this would mean, if she could scry on something like the deception warship, she could scry on military bases, and was a threat to security. He would have to take her in if this was possible, if the bots would let him.

Alice focused on herself and then sat down in her circle as the incense began billowing through the room, almost seeming to circle around her some. She would take one last look at the image Ratchet had up before closing her eyes and beginning to mutter to herself once again, some in gibberish, and some in a language that they could understand. "Great Mother Earth, show me where this vessel roams, show me inside it so I may experience what it has to offer." Alice muttered before continuing to chant in her gibberish, though what they didn't expect was for the windless room to suddenly gain a breeze, and as it blew the smoke seemed to almost swirl beneath her, lifting Alice up. She floated about five inches off the ground, though shockingly the candles never blowing out in the intense wind. As it picked up to its full speed, Alice would open her eyes, only for everyone to see that they were filled with an intense white light, unnaturally lighting them up.

For Alice, however, she did not see what was in front of her, she saw the interior of the Decepticon warship, though everything was moving in slow motion. She wandered the ship, passing through walls and doors, even looking around at the various bots that roamed the place. It was terrifying to be on the enemy ship, but Alice knew she was safe, or so she thought. As Alice got to the bridge of the ship, looking for some kind of coordinates to give Fowler, just as she would find them, she would see a rather large silver bot standing before the console, it was Megatron. Alice didn't know this, but he was a menacing bot, one that almost made her hesitate as she floated up to the console, looking to get the coordinates, though something caught her eye, movement on the seemingly still ship. 

A purple, wispy, spiritual hand would reach out and try to grab at her or knock her off the console, Alice wasn't sure as she ducked suddenly, looking back at where the hand came from. It came from the Silver bot, who seemed to have some kind of spiritual enhancement, allowing him to see her. His eyes were slowly turning to where she was as the hand came to swipe back at her, making her have to leap away. As she tried to memorize the final coordinates, she would have to break the connection before she was harmed.

Coming out of it, Alice would drop to the floor suddenly, her breathing having picked up with the adrenaline that filled her. She would give the coordinates, or what she could remember, but she would then have to go and sit on the couch, catching her breath. "Something isn't right on that ship. Someone saw me and tried to grab me, twice. Someone on that ship has a spiritual connection. It was this big, silver bot, scary looking too." Alice would explain, looking to Optimus as Ratchet looked at the coordinates that she gave. Optimus would frown, knowing exactly what had to be causing it. Megatron had seen her, meaning she was in a lot more danger now than ever before.

"That was Megatron, the enemy leader. He has something within him known as dark energon, which no doubt has given him the spiritual connection you speak of. If he has seen you, you are in more danger now than ever before. He knows that you infiltrated his ship and got away with it." Optimus would explain, looking to Ratchet as he ordered Arcee and Bulkhead to the coordinates to check them out. "Though he likely has no idea what happened or how you did it, Megatron will be on the hunt for you." Optimus finished explaining, knowing that he would have to pay extra attention to the sky and ground when he was standing vigil over her home.

Alice would seem tired however, getting off the couch and beginning to pack up her things and generally clean up, dampening a rag with some of her moon water and then wiping the marks off of everyone's foreheads while listening to Optimus speak, getting to him last to clean off the mark. She would tiredly look at him and shake her head, looking away. She seemed like she wanted to be anxious over the matter, but lacked the energy to do so. Alice didn't even feel like she had the energy to do something as simple as a reading after pushing herself so hard to not only make a very potent spell, but to scry so far from their current location, and get clear details from a screen, which was usually very difficult.

"I understand, but I'm exhausted... would you mind if you took me home early?" Alice asked, continuing to pack up and clean the mess she had made, though Fowler would be the one to speak rather than Optimus, getting everyone's attention.

"I'll take her somewhere that she can be safe." Fowler said seriously, coming to Alice's side, but she would shake her head some, trying to politely refuse Fowler's offer to take her someplace safe, as she simply wanted to go home.

"Agent Fowler, Alice is my charge, therefore her safety is my responsibility. If decepticons are looking for her, then Alice would be safest with an Autobot by her side." Optimus attempted to reason, though Fowler would simply sigh and shake his head, Optimus wasn't catching what he was trying to imply, which was understandable for the prime and the tired girl for them to not catch it.

"I wasn't asking, Prime. This girl is a threat to national defence, especially if she can scry into other places so accurately." Fowler would say just as Arcee and Bulkhead left to go and check the coordinates to make certain that the ship was there. Which Ratchet was immediately bombarded with their comms asking to come back, and fast. They had been transported right onto the warship, and it was abuzz with activity as if someone had kicked the hornet's nest. Fowler would simply gesture to the frantic Ratchet who was busy bringing the two autobots back.

Alice would look up a bit, stepping away from Fowler slightly as she held her things close to her chest. "I'm not going anywhere with you, I want to go home, with Optimus. My dad's going to freak out if I'm not home tonight." Alice would explain, seeming to finally clue into what was going on here. Fowler had needed to see if she was a threat to national defence, that's why he wanted to see the full extent of her power.

Optimus looked like he wanted to protest, but even he couldn't argue with that. In the wrong hands, she could be dangerous, but that was all the more reason to keep an eye on her and protect her. "I understand, Agent Fowler." Optimus would start, but he would quickly think of another idea, rather than having him take her away. "You will need to hold her at a military facility. So why not this one?" Optimus asked Fowler, which had the man confused. "You can allow her to inform her father that she will be attending a camp of some kind, and she can remain here without hassle, protected in a military outpost by Autobots." Optimus explained, this way both people would get what they wanted, and if it ever came down to it, they could protect her from the decepticons.