𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 ━ transformers

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞

Walking turns out to be a task. I have to lean on Ironhide as he follows behind Ratchet to the autobot hangar. Luckily, it's not as long of a trek as it would have been coming from the old infirmary, but my back is twitching painfully and my legs are burning by the time we reach the gaping hole in the door, voices already echoing out of the large room.

"I am still pleasantly surprised you managed to knock an entire door off its hinges," Ratchet says like he's trying to cut the tension. A bead of sweat collects on my forehead when he glances back at me, the same look scientists have on their face when they see a new lab rat. "If you don't mind, I would like to take some tests. When you're feeling better, of course," he adds, and I assume Ironhide glared at him because he went tense beside me.

Because my voice still isn't working, my throat as hot as the underneath of a volcano, I only nod. Ratchet accepts this graciously, herding us along. I keep close to Ironhide, because I don't know who this Bumblee is, and I need answers from Cliffjumper, but he is being quiet. I feel dislocated, like I'm not on the right plane, not on the right earth. Months ago, I was worried about an internship, and now I'm worried about the voice in my head and whether or not a murderous Cybertronian is going to return for me.

"You okay?" Ironhide presses into me, voice low. I nod, glancing at him slightly. I don't want him to see the panic in my eyes. Fear would have me paralyzed if he wasn't with me. I huddle closer to him, shivering, wishing this was just a nightmare.

My throat aches uncomfortably.

Ratchet hums a tune as he leads us into the main part of the hangar. With hooded eyes, I see what the commotion is about. My dad is on the same platform I was on last night, absolutely screaming at two Cybertronians, one green and one orange. Mudflap and Skids, I realize. Huh. They're. . . smaller than what I imagined, but they still have the same flair as their other forms did, accents southern and twangy.

"And did you even think about how much she could have been hurt had she not moved out of the way?" Dad shouts, red in the face. It's blotchy and a little uncomfortable to look at, and I sigh silently, walking slowly towards the commotion, head already aching. "It's out of pure luck that she's alive right now!"

"'Ey, now how were we 'posed to know that little Ellie was in 'ere?" the green one, Skids, if I can remember correctly, asks. Skids, the one that's less serious and wants to be seen by Prime so badly that he will do anything even if it means risking lives around him because one day, one day of course, he's going to be seen by Optimus himself and Mudflap will acknowledge it too, and--

I shut off my brain, eyes widening. It felt like a computer screen had loaded into my brain and was feeding information into it, but I never asked for it. I didn't want to study it or know more about Skids's sad truth, and yet here it is, as bold as lighting on a stormy day. As true as the sky is blue.

"Yeah, man, she don't show up on no sensors," Mudflap, the orange one, who is the same as Skids but in different ways. The both want to be noticed, but they are stronger together, and that's because of the split spark and Starscream fought them once, and it almost ended disastrously for Starscream, but he won't admit it because he's too big for that, Megatron will see--

"Eleanor," Ironhdie says softly as I tuck my head into the crook of his shoulder--right where it meets his neck. My breath is shallow, and everything is starting to hurt now. There is too much information in my brain, and I can almost see the fight, and my dad is still screaming at the autobots, and Starscream is screaming his vengeance in my head, and Ironhide is warm, but he cannot keep this ice out.

I shake it off. I try to stop the shivers, the shaking, but they remain. I really just want Cliffjumper. I hate it, hate to admit it, but he knows stuff. He is the key to everything, and if he could just help me. . . If he could just tell me what's going on.