Optimus is gone. Life is scrap and weird horns are popping up all over the world.
Yeah, things are going great for Orchid.
Then, a small Autobot and a possibly insane old man come along and change everything she knows.
Will Orchid find Optimus and m...
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Cade went to check out a rusty Cybertronian corpse. Why, I don't know. When he shone his flashlight in it's black optics, they suddenly flickered online again and the huge mech lurched to his peds with a roar. Cade shouted and fell off, landing hard on his rump. The mech looked very angry. "Who has come for the staff?" he hissed, pulling two huge blades out if the ground. Cade got up and ran to Viviane and pushed her out of the way before the mech's one ped accidentally hit the coffin and smashed it to pieces. I remained where I was, still in a type of shock. From which I quickly recovered. I grew back to my full size and pulled out my staff. Now that I was the biggest thing in the room, the mech swung both blades at me. I lifted my staff and blocked both of them, straining against his strength. I pushed hard and shoved the mech away from me and dove into a roll past him. The mech swung his left sword and I stopped rolling just as the weapon's sharp edge hit the floor an inch in front of me. He swung with the right one and I did a backflip over it. I didn't want to hurt him, just distract him so Cade and Viviane could get out. "You fight well," the mech growled,"but not well enough!" He swung one leg out and it hit the back of my knees. I folded backwards but the mech caught my shoulder-plate with one servo and tossed me across the room. I hit one of the walls with a 'crack'! and collapsed one the floor. Pain was running circles up and down my back and side. I tried to get up, but the mech pushed me back down and kept me there with a ped on my chest-plate. He lifted both his swords to finish me off. My optics widened in fear. Then an explosion hit him in the side and he staggered off me. A bunch of military men rushed in, shooting at the mech. One took out his optics, and now the mech was teetering dangerously on the edge of the raised floor. All it took was another explosion on his leg to send him stumbling backwards to his death. I groaned and slid my knees beneath me. My side was making dark spots dance in my optics, and I wagered I had broken at least a rib or two. "Orchid, you okay?" a familiar man's voice asked. I looked down to see Lennox. Words cannot describe how happy I was to see him. "Couple broken parts but I'll live," I smiled weakly. I closed my optics and focused hard. I felt a warm glow on my side and felt the broken bones click back into place. My side and back stopped hurting and I sighed in relief. When I opened my optics again, Lennox's men had cornered Viviane, who was holding a silver staff with odd symbols on one end of it. "Lennox, tell them to stop!" I shouted, standing up. "We just want that staff," he replied,"Miss, drop the weapon." I shook my helm,"No, Lennox. Please." Viviane held the staff over the edge of the platform,"You drop it, or I will." A bold move, which did not seem to sway Lennox or his men. "Only I can wield it," Viviane told them. "You don't know what you're doing, Lennox," Cade said softly. "You want this staff, then you'll have to kill me to get it," Viviane said bravely,"Go on. Shoot me!" The green dot of someone aiming a gun moved up straight to her forehead. Someone was taking her seriously. "Do it!" Viviane shouted,"Shoot me!" "You don't know what you're doing, Lennox," Cade repeated,"Don't." Suddenly two Knights awakened. "Protect the staff!" they shouted in unison. Lennox and his men turned their attention to shooting at the two large mechs. It didn't seem to be having much effect on their armor, not even the explosions seemed to have an impact. Suddenly a sword stabbed through the left mech's chest-plate from behind, which was then dragged sideways and up to come out and decapitate the right mech. They both fell down to reveal...Optimus? "I've come for that staff," he said. Something stopped me from running up and throwing my arms around him. Was it his purple optics? Or was it the fact that Optimus had warned me that Quintessa was sending his body to Earth to retrieve the staff? Both I guess. This was not Optimus. "Optimus, what're you doing?" Cade asked. "Give me the staff, human," Not-Optimus growled, advancing on Viviane. "It's me, Cade! We fought together!" Cade shouted. "I fight for my own kind, my own planet!" Not-Optimus snarled. "C-Cade?" Viviane trembled. "Give me the staff human," Not-Optimus said, looming closer to the woman. "Cade?" Viviane asked again, more desperately. "I will kill you," Not-Optimus threatened. "Give it to him," Cade sighed,"Now." Viviane slowly lifted the staff, which was about the size of a twig to a fully-grown Cybertronian. Or in this case, the possessed body of my Sparkmate. Not-Optimus grabbed the staff and put it into a compartment somewhere on his chest before getting up to walk away. A man foolishly shot at him, but Not-Optimus slapped him aside with the tip of his sword. "Who dares to challenge me?" Not-Optimus snarled, walking out. "Bee we gotta do something," Cade was telling the yellow and black mech who had just entered with his femme-friend,"That was not Optimus. We gotta stop him. Remember CB-7? You gotta be that Autobot again." Bumblebee nodded and ran off, pulling a hammer off his back-plates. Kamicazii helped me fully up. When Not-Optimus had entered I had crouched in the shadows. "What...?" she began but I hushed her. "I don't know yet, but I need to get to Optimus' body before the Knights wake up," I replied. Then I ran out there, steeling myself for an intense battle with the empty husk of my Sparkmate.
