The Parting Glass

Meet Dawn

     Dawn Avalon Summers was never really 'normal' to others. But don't worry. Our hero is 100% human. Her prosthesis are the only Cybertronian thing about her. Let's get back to Dawn's past so we can understand how this will affect the coming events. As a child, Dawn was always doing something with music and her hands. Whether it's helping her Mom with the farm animals, or her Dad with his Car Detailing business. Dawn was there to help. When she started middle school, that was when things became difficult for her. Because of her toughened, scarred, and calloused appearance from spending all her time out of elementary, working with her parents, she was picked on. High school was worse. The bullying became physical and slowly tore her down mentally. By the time she graduated top of her class, Dawn had become introverted and self-conscious. Skip to her twentieth birthday, and that's where things get interesting.

Mission City: May 26, 2007

The first encounter with the Autobots was while she was visiting a college friend in the location of Jazz' 'death. But the small silver Autobot didn't die actually. He was saved by Dawn. She was fueled by rage because her best friend had been blown up by Starscream's first attack. With only one eye and half her face burned off, Dawn took the gun of a fallen soldier and shot at the Decepticons. It impressed the Autobot leader that a severely injured human fought, even if it was out of revenge (at least that was what he thought.). Dawn and her friend had just come from the archery range, when the attack happened. They actually were going to help the soldiers as they were in ROTC while in college. Aided with knowledge in combat, Dawn killed all newly created Decepticons that were created by the shockwave of Allspark energy. And as mentioned earlier, she saved Jazz's life. All with ONE EYE! Of course after the battle, and the adrenaline died down, Dawn collapsed from loss of blood and pain. When she woke up in a classified military base; three months later, she found out that for her bravery and sacrifice. The Autobots had gifted her with an optic and metal plating to cover where the flesh was no more.

Egypt: September 21, 2009

Two years after first meeting the Autobots and losing half her face and eye, Dawn joined NEST as the Autobot cosmetic mechanic. She did go on missions though with a modified bow given to her by Ironhide. The bow didn't require any physical arrows. It created them from light that was absorbed and condensed when the string was drawn. Optimus had become her guardian, and taught her about the history of Cybertron, as he learned that she had degrees in Geology, Anthropology, and Archeology. Still being the same self- conscious person she was in high school, Optimus never knew about Dawn's past. She joined Sam in his hunt for the Matrix of Leadership and fought in the final battle against the Fallen and the Decepticons. She lost both her arms to the Fallen, when he learned she was Optimus' charge. That was six months of being comatose. Ratchet gave her cybertronian prosthetic arms that he connected to her central nervous system. The human Government was slowly becoming worried that the Autobots were trying to turn Dawn into one of them. But it was not true. They were simply repaying her sacrifice.

Chicago: June 6, 2011

After Dawn mastered control of her new arms and got over the fact that she now had energon flowing through her veins too, she became a full time combatant in the Autobot forces. Though she is small for an Autobot. And still mostly human. The Decepticons know her as The Rising Sun. When NEST went to Chernobyl, she stayed with the Autobots till the driller made an appearance. Optimus wanted her away from this particular fight because of the feelings he harbored for her. Dawn was there when Sentinel was found, the older Prime took a liking to her as a possible student, and she him as a mentor. Sentinel would spend hours telling Dawn about Cybertron and Optimus from before he became a Prime. Oh, the sparkling stories. When Sam, Simmons, and Dutch were researching the whole Dark side of the Moon situation, Dawn was giving Sentinel a tour of Washington D.C. and she showed him her 'upgrades' because he was curious about how she was able to fight alongside Optimus and the other Autobots. When Sam declared that Sentinel was to be protected, and he was the whole key, that was when Dawn had been betrayed for the first time. Sentinel went to shoot Ironhide, but since Dawn was still close to the elder Prime, she used her cybernetic ion fusion cannon to redirect the shot. Sentinel took her captive and took the pillars. Skip to Optimus rescuing her and then the immense heart/spark break she had watching her guardian, friends, and family get blown to bits in the Xanthium. Alongside Sam, Epps, and other retired NEST friends, she went to stop Sentinel and Megatron. The normal humans were going to rescue Sam's bitchy girlfriend Carly. While she was fighting her way through Chicago, hell-bent on revenge, the Autobots made a surprise appearance. After hours of intense fighting, Dawn lost her legs to Sentinel's double-ended sword (which she took for her own after Ratchet modified it for her use. Don't ask how. I was never told, Dear Reader.). Once that battle was over, Ratchet gave her new legs. That was the last of her physical upgrades luckily. She felt that any more and she wouldn't know what she was originally anymore.

Hong Kong, China: October 31, 2015

Because of the pure devastation left in the wake of the Battle of Chicago, a group rose up and began to hunt down all cybertronians and anything associated with them. Optimus, and Dawn were the number one targets. Ironhide stayed with Dawn, since she was still healing from her new legs. Ratchet never strayed farther than a hundred miles from the Weapon's Specialist and the woman. They spent four years on the run, till one fateful day, a comm came from a certain flamed Prime. Ratchet, Ironhide, and Dawn raced to try and meet up with them in the desert, but unfortunately, Cemetery Wind intercepted them. Lockdown left Ratchet and Ironhide caged up at KSI and took Dawn to study her. When the Autobots found out about Ironhide and Ratchet being alive in KSI clutches, they stormed the facilities and freed them. Optimus was furious when he learned that Dawn was in the clutches of Lockdown. As for Dawn, she was brutally tortured and injected with more potent energon. I would leave her immobile for hours as her crystalized heart/spark labored to build immunity to it. When Optimus was captured by Lockdown, a badly beaten and bruised Dawn was thrown in his cage with him after a very, very strong dose of energon. It scared Optimus to watch his charge and one he loved be internally tortured. He really lost it when she stopped breathing and her heart became a complete hollow crystal with her soul; that made up the spark energy, pulsing in the center. All blood was eradicated by the energon. When Optimus was rescued and the Knight's Temenos was commandeered, Dawn had mostly recovered and it relieved Optimus. Unfortunately, whereas this Prime had romantic feelings for her, she did not. When the flamed Prime professed his love to her, she gently told him that her feelings for him were that of a very close best friend. Optimus distanced himself from her after that. When they made it to Hong Kong, Dawn was knocked out of the Temenos with Bumblebee, Hound, and the other humans. The battle was long and hard fought till Optimus, Drift, Ratchet, Ironhide, and Crosshairs showed up with the Dinobots. After the Battle, once Lockdown was killed along with Savoy and Attinger, Optimus took the Seed and flew off into space after giving Dawn the Matrix of Leadership.

This brings us to where Dawn is three years later...

-Music video and Dawn are made by me-