Even Heroes Know Pt.10

The last time Samantha experienced the heart of the battlefield was when she was four; that was traumatic. The threat on her life when she was attacked at her grandmother’s house came close to that event; that was horrific.

But this. This was Hell.

Samantha crouched against the interior wall of the third weapons hangar, clasping the sides of her head in a weak attempt to protect herself. There was heat from fiery explosions so hot she couldn’t breathe, scorching fumes that stained her tongue with toxic blight, and pain from the pinching ache of icy terror that went to her joints. She had already thrown up once from the contamination of this abrupt attack. Now she struggled to keep what mind she had as her sanity was beginning to tear between the forces of anxiety and the possibility of death.

The hangar shuddered with the sound of mechanical gasps, rattling the many freight containers inside, the hanging lamps swayed from the ceiling. She couldn’t move. Kaon had promised he’d keep her safe but he had disappeared with the lock lens the second the fighting started. She thought she saw him towering just outside the hangar entrance, crouching for cover and firing the lens at the unseen Autobots.

A pathetic squeak of a scream escaped Samantha’s throat followed by a series of violent hacks as she inhaled energon-fueled smoke. She had to get out of there. Find someplace safe. Get up, Samantha! Get up! Her mind screamed and she was able to open her eyes. Two Decepticons, Kaon’s allies, ran by the hangar, their feet shaking the ground with energized fighting power. An explosion went off by the door and one of the Deceptions crashed to the ground just in Samantha’s view—its chest sputtering energon and sparks shooting from its neck. “Do not let them have the advantage!” She heard Kaon order. “Prime will be here any minute! Keep fighting!” He came into view again, shooting a beam from the lens. A distant cry followed and she saw Kaon smiling with triumph.

Bullets shot through the hangar and Samantha ducked her head until the firing stopped. It wasn’t safe. She had to move—get away from the base. Samantha scooped up every ounce of courage she could get at the bottom of the barrel and stood. She sprinted for the door and out into the blinding sunlight.

~ ~ ~ ~

The ground bridges on Earth were only used for emergencies. Decepticon and other terrorist attacks were such cases. Optimus and Drift sped through the active portal in alt mode and floored it the second they hit tangible ground.

“Primus!” Drift exclaimed as they came up on the Nellis base. “I’m detecting a count of 21 Decepticons swarming the base. This must be all that have been hiding on Earth in one location. Why here? Why remove the spark cloaking signatures?”

“Such a drastic move makes me think ‘lure,’” but Optimus’ reply was distant as the energon running through him pounded with the rapid pulse of his spark. He could see the levels of destruction the closer they got to the base. He could hear the blasts of weapon-fire—feel the essence of violent vibrations in the ground. Immediately, he began to slip to the back of his mind as a side of him that had subconsciously gone into hibernation was now consciously shouldering its way to the front of the controls. It had been summoned without his knowing and it dragged with it a fury that brought on a thirst that a Prime should never hold. A thirst that could dangerously convert to want for domination over others.

Optimus instantly recalled the second he was split in two. The very moment this side of him was molded by the contagious power of violence. And oh, what power violence could hold. It was in the half of a second that he made the ultimate decision to stop caring about the pacifism that the long lost librarian held so dear to his spark and start making results that could match the might of Megatron—that could match the brokenness that wracked him when Megatron shattered their friendship and declared war on peace. Optimus learned the hard way that in war you had to fight fire with fire, and the fire that was born out of him was frightening.

And uncontrollable.

The familiar static that hyper-focused his optics and pinpointed his concentration with the crimson of fury seeped through his components with nostalgia. At 300 feet from the gate they transformed and raced head-on into the fray. Optimus did not hear the ringing of Drift’s sword leave its sheath and did not recognize the weight of his steps. When the Decepticons came into view there was no going back. Side two of Optimus Prime emerged and he latched onto it, emotion becoming secondary, the thought of battle consuming all of his attention.

This was the side of Optimus Prime Earth chooses to forget. The vicious side that was crafted from war.

He locked focus onto a large Deception advancing onto a group of human soldiers.

His hands turned into swords and with them he embraced destruction.