Chapter Text
I can’t decide what’s more demoralizing, to never know love… or to have love but realize it was never real to begin with… to lose it all in the end.
Love, family, nothing more than a construct formed by society to give you a sense of comfort and hope. Hope that the world isn’t really so unjust and cruel as to cast a child to the depths of hell, living hell, but she knows better.
Andromeda Bishop… that’s the name she was given as a reward, a reward for surviving. She and her brother were dawned that name the day they were able to hold their own.
She felt so proud to dawn that name for her own, Bishop, it was all she had ever wanted, to belong.
‘Andromeda Bishop, has a nice ring to it,’ she mused.
But she didn’t want this…
The memories of her anguished cries rang in her mind, her flesh lighting on fire with every second she was strapped to that cold, metal table. Every second she was torn limb from limb.
Andromeda had received no emotion from him, his face as cold as the sweat dripping from her brow. His stone cold face was all she saw while slipping in and out of consciousness. Her expression betrayed by the clenched teeth and furrowed brows, the sounds of her own screams deafening her ears.
All she could think of was how betrayed she had felt, this wasn’t what he had promised, this wasn’t what she wanted! She was told this would fix her, make her better, stronger, unstoppable. She was finally going to be able to stop the aliens that relentlessly put her brother, her very planet, in danger.
By the time it was all over she was so dazed all she could seem to do was clench her fists, her muscles feeling spastic and abnormal. What should normally feel soft and controlled felt stiff and hollow.
Something was wrong.
“Atlas…” the name of her brother was all she had managed to rasp between her dry and cracked lips, pleading that he would tell her it was all some nightmare.
“Good morning,” A familiar icy voice had cooed from her side, sending chills down her spine.
“Silas… What did you do to me?” She had whispered with shaky breaths, lifting her right arm to rub her ensuing headache away. “Why-“
Her voice was caught in the back of her throat with a choke at the mere sight of her hand.
Silas practically purred at the aftermath, at his handy-work, proud of his engineering success. “I made you what you were always designed to be… Andromeda.”
- * - {A/N gruesome prologue, blah, blah, blah, on with the story.}
It had been a few months since the augmentation, Andromeda had rapidly accustomed to her new circumstances rather quickly. She was always favored over her brother for her adaption capabilities, that is why she was always going to be Silas’s first choice for his sick idea.
Ever since MECH had learned of the aliens existence, it is all Silas could think about. He had become so deeply and rapidly obsessed with the idea of man and machine becoming one, It warped his senses.
Andromeda just so happened to be the outlet for his twisted ideas. Though, she couldn’t bring herself to think anything wrong of it, it was just business after all, a fair trade. She owed her life to Silas, and she would do anything to repay it… even sacrifice her own body for the cause.
She believed him of course, this was the next step in human evolution! Why would she try and stop it, this was only natural.
Andromeda lifted her right hand and clenched her fist to view it, “But it doesn’t feel natural,” she sighed, her expression filled with sorrow. Though in the solitude of her bunk room her true thoughts hid from the world.
Back when they captured the first bot, the one by the name of ‘Breakdown’, she was privileged with being allowed to monitor the experimentation process. But the nagging feeling that what they were doing was somehow wrong wouldn’t leave the back of her mind.
Andromeda later confronted Silas about the machine seemingly feeling pain during the procedures, what seemed like real emotion and sentience. He of course came back with a logical explanation.
She remember him stating, “They can simulate human emotions, but they’re machines, and machines don’t feel anything.”
It was reassuring at the time, but the feeling has never seemed to leave her subconscious, but rather haunting every mission since then.
The look on his- Its optics… its just felt so real.
But what little remorse she did hold for the mech was gravely overshadowed by her hatred toward what that meant for herself. The more MECH, the more Silas, learned of their biology, the more she was put under the blade of experimentation.
Both of Andromeda’s legs and her right arm had already gone under augmentation and had been completely replaced with cybernetic materiel. The specs for her left arm’s augmentation had already been written up and were to go underway shortly, but due to supply issues they were forced to halt the project until further notice.
That is why she was here now, currently in the woods with one very familiar face.
It was Breakdown.
The cold night air blew strait though Andromeda’s tactical gear, sending shivers down her spine, her short hair tickled her ears as it swayed to and fro with the breeze. She furrowed her brows at the morbid sight that lie scattered at her feet before radioing Silas the details.
She kneeled to the ground, using her gun to roll the mech’s head towards herself. “It had to be you, didn’t it…” She spoke to no one in particular, her words being taken away in the wind.
After detecting activity in this sector Silas ordered she take a squad to investigate, but by god she was not expecting this.
Andromeda stood up, ordering her men to begin gathering up what remained of the mech’s body. This is exactly what Silas needed to finish her, enough Cybertronian metal to make her ten times over.
'He will be very pleased,’ she regarded with weary.
“Whatever happened to it was brutal, but most parts were salvageable,” Andromeda stated, standing stiffly before Silas with her hands behind herself, “there should be plenty to finish the project.”
The head of breakdown lay on the dest before her, its optic glimmering slightly in the dreary room. The lack of windows and the sickly florescent lights beaming from above made it look closer to a corpse than a machine.
Silas’s back turned to her and his hands clasped together behind himself, one could almost assume he was letting his guard down with that position, but first hand experience told her that he was aware of everything happening around him. It only took one try while sparing to tell her that much.
“You’ve done well in locating the specimen,” his gravely voice announced, breaking the short silence. “We’ll begin further augmentation tomorrow before beginning phase two,” he finished, just turning his head enough to make eye contact.
Andromeda couldn’t keep from furrowing her brows at the curious remark. There was no ‘phase two,’ as far a she was aware the only plans in the works were for herself.
Unable to hold back the question, she asked, “What’s… phase two?” With a slight tilt of her head she waited for a response.
Silas took his time, seemingly mulling over his response, before the cold words, “Atlas,” left his mouth.
She felt her heart drop at that one name, almost becoming nauseous at the mere thoughts that began to swarm her brain. The ideas of what monstrosity they would turn her younger brother into flooded her mind, clouding her better judgment.
Silas seemed to sense her distaste and finished his thought. “Atlas is going to become the second wave of organic cybernetic augmentation, improving on what mistakes we’ve made with you. Less bulky, more compact, and even stronger. The plans are to go underway after your finalization.”
“You-“ Andromeda felt a wave of rage broil inside of her. She tried to catch her tongue before she spoke her next words but couldn’t. “You had promised that if I were to undergo the procedures you would leave Atlas out of it…” She spoke with cold venom, her fists clenching at her sides. “My brother is not to become-“
“Become whatever I want?” Silas cut her off, the sharpness in his voice enough to send the most stone cold killer crying, “He will become whatever I chose. With enough scrap to make you ten times over… that’s what I intend to do.” He turned around and placed his hands firmly on the desk that separated the two of them. That table being the only thing keeping her from lunging strait for his throat.
They both stared daggers into each other’s eyes for what felt like forever, neither backing down and yielding from the pressure.
Finally, Andromeda let out a low growl before taking a controlled breath, trying her best to calm her normally level demeanor.
Lifting his head with a downward gaze, Silas asked, “Do you understand…” His eyes narrowed with those words. Though, Andromeda knew it wasn’t a question, but rather a direct order to stand down.
“Yes sir,” she said with as much self control as she could muster, taking her cue to leave, not daring to look back in fear that she might do something foolish.
The second she was clear of his office and out front of the headquarters she let out a deep growl. “God, DAMIT!” She snarled, landing a punch on the wall next to her with her right arm. The metal fist made a slight whirring noise as she retracted her arm from the large hole in the wall, sheetrock crumbling around it as she did.
“He swore that he wouldn’t touch him! That Atlas wouldn’t be subjected to the same experimentation and butchering he put me through!” She began marching toward the bunk house, pure, seething hatred exuding out of her as she strode. A few of the recruits she walked by even scurrying to the side to clear a path for her, lest they be subjected to her wrath.
Andromeda wasn’t known for having a short fuse, quite the opposite, but this… oh this was a special occasion. She didn’t take the health and safety of her baby brother lightly. Being the one good thing she had in this life, she wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice any part of herself if it meant he would get to live a normal- well… normal-ish life.
Same old, same old, sob story. Abandoned by a widowed mother who never loved you. Left in the possession of an exorbitant idealist with the intent of world domination. Trained since childhood to become a living weapon to smite his enemies, take down governments, and now… aliens.
Giant, robotic, aliens.
Felt like the plot of a cheesy, science fiction novel.
With a sigh, Andromeda came to a halt in front of her bunk room, hand hovering just above the door handle.
‘How am I going to tell him…’ she thought with dread and defeat, ‘if I can’t protect him what good am I as a big sister?’
With an anguished expression still on her face she opened the door and walked inside.
“That you, Ann?” The familiar voice of her brother echoed from down the hall and to her right.
“Yeah,” she called back, sliding out of her large boots and placing them beside her on a rack.
Her tone must not have hidden her foul mood well enough as her brother peaked his head out of his room to scope the situation.
“Did the mission go that poorly?” The brunet mused, a smirk on his lips as he leaned on his doorframe.
Andromeda scoffed and walked to the small fridge to grab herself a water, “quite the opposite actually.”
“Really?” Atlas asked with one brow raised, following her out into the cold and grey living quarters, “I would have thought with the aura you’re giving off you lost a fight to one of those new recruits.” He said with a small laugh, treading into the kitchen behind her.
She sighed, cracking the top to the water bottle and swinging it back while reaching aimlessly for a small dish sitting on the counter.
“Looking for these,” Atlas said with a sigh, hand outstretched with a small pile of blue pills in his palm.
She took them with a small gruff of acknowledgment, gently grasping them and throwing them back with a large gulp of water.
“You know,” He started, “I still don’t think that this is ok…”
She gave a small shiver at the sensation of the pills sliding down her throat before looking to her brother, a questioning look on her face.
He dramatically gestured towards her with his arms outstretched.
“You just gestured to all of me,” she retorted point blank.
“Exactly, all of you,” he exclaimed, “this augmentation needs to stop…” Looking down to her feet then up to her arm, he visibly scrunched his face in utter distaste. “First your arm, then both your legs! And now I hear Silas wants your other arm too? It’s just-“
Andromeda tried to interject with some false reason, saying, “You and I both know I’m fine,”
“What part of this is fine to you?” He threw back with a raised tone, “With the amount of pills required for you to even function I’m surprised your organs haven’t started failing you yet! There’s barely any of you left.”
She looked to him with a rare sight of weakness, affinity in her expression.
“Just please don’t let him take what little you have left…” Atlas pleaded, reaching out a hand to grab hers. He gripped it tightly, no intent of letting go.
She squeezed his hand back, meeting his gentle gaze.
“He can never take away the most important thing to me, I won’t let him,” she said with no hesitance, meaning every word that left her mouth. Determination evident on her face.
He shook his head before meeting her gaze, lips downturned into a small frown. No words were needed to be said between the two of them to understand what she meant by that, but he also knew that she wouldn’t hear reason. She would continue to do whatever it took, whatever Silas demanded, to keep him safe, and they both knew it.
“I know you think that I’m going along with this to haphazardly, but I promise this is what I want…”
Atlas took his hand away at that, shaking her off, making it clear he did not believe her in the slightest. With a gruff sigh of defeat, the teen stormed off to his room, slamming the door behind himself as a show of rebellion.
Andromeda let out a breath of defeat, “I’m sorry,” she said to nobody but herself, the empty room falling deathly quiet and returning to its previous undisturbed state. The cold grey walls left the atmosphere in the room with a sterile and emotionless feel.
It was lonely.
Without knowing what else to do, she simply stood there, leaning against the countertop with a hand to her forehead. Her fingers pinched the bridge of her scrunched nose as she thought of how she would possibly change Silas’s mind about continuation of project augmentation.
Grabbing a small notepad and pen from nearby she quickly scribbled down some minor words, letting her brother know she went for a walk to clear her thoughts for a short while. She gently placed the paper in front of her brothers closed door and left soundlessly.
‘He just needs space, this is fine… this is all fine,’ she tried to convince herself, playing at the idea that Silas’s words were nothing more than an empty threat, though she knew full well they weren't. What had she done wrong? Didn’t she do everything right? She couldn't bare the thought of what was going to be inevitable for her little brother and simply had to walk off the idea.
She found herself wandering aimlessly on base grounds, her expression deep in thought and contemplation. So deep in thought she even managed to shoulder check a few recruits while they marched past her, leaving some scowling guards in her wake. Eventually a hand grabbing her shoulder brought her back to reality. She spun around, ready to throat punch anyone willing to intrude her mental solitude.
“Captain Andromeda,” A tall recruit started, removing his hand with the found attention of his target, “Silas requests a new team be led out immediately by you to investigate alien activity spotted in the west sector.”
‘But we just checked that sector before finding breakdown, nothing was over there,’ she thought perplexed, ‘What could possibly have happened since then and why would Silas send me, and not take this one himself, especially after our little “conversation” earlier?’
Shaking her head to stop even further speculation and doubt of her commanders orders, she looked to the masked recruit with an unwavering expression. “Understood, prepare for departure.”
-
There Andromeda stood, in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a never ending expanse of pines and wilderness. Just as she thought, there wasn’t a thing here, so why was she?
She had to stop herself multiple times throughout the survey from radioing Silas for an explanation. There felt like no reason for her, or these men, to be here and it was putting her on edge. Something just felt… off.
She felt like she was in danger.
Why was she here?
“Any readings?” She asked cooly, looking towards the masked man next to herself.
Then, seemingly without reason, she had a horribly jarring shock run up her spine and all the way to the end of her metal hand.
“AGH!” She howled in pain, falling to her knees at the mutilating sensation. Her fists clenched, grasping aimlessly at the dirt that cover the earth around her, and her legs spasmed and shook with each passing second the pain intensified.
‘I’m being electrocuted!’ She thought panicked, ‘But how, w-why, did I set off a trap?’ She racked her mind for any possibility that she could think of, dread and confusion mixed with the pain clouded her mind.
“Target is neutralized,” The sound of the recruit next to her rang in her pounding head, “Silas will be pleased.”
‘What?’
“Permission to terminate, Sir,” The same voice echoed, leaving her ears ringing.
‘Silas set me up…’ Andromeda thought in utter disbelief, ‘He wouldn’t- he couldn’t! I’m the culmination of his life’s work, if he terminates me he’d have to find a new-‘
That’s when it hit her, he had this planned out from the start, Silas told her himself. To much energy and resources had been wasted on her, so why waste them, they would scrap her and simply recycle and start over on Atlas! She had been deemed to defiant and earlier was the test… and she failed.
Adrenaline started to pump through her, complete and utter panic overtook her.
‘I can’t let him, i-if he terminates me there won’t be anyone to protect Atlas and Silas will just use my corps as the blue prints for his faze two! I have to get out of here, I have to save him. I have to save Atlas!’
She began to pry her eyes open to try and gauge her surroundings, to look for anything that could get her out of this situation. The sensation of a metal rod prodding the side of her head sent a shiver threw her whole body.
“Understood, no damage to the goods,” The voice beside her echoed once again. He placed his radio back on the clip attached to his tactical vest, now using both hands on his rifle.
‘It’s now or never,” She thought with conviction, using every bit of determination she had left to kick one of her legs backward, in turn knocking down whoever was driving the military grade taser into her back.
Using the sudden distraction as an opportunity, she rolled her body to the side in a nick of time. Relief washed over her as the sound of a bullet firing made her ears ring, but no pain that followed telling her she had not been hit, easing her conscious.
“Shit!” One of the many men surrounding her shouted, as for who it was she couldn’t tell and didn’t care to find out. As far as she was concerned they could all crawl in a hole and die, at least it would be a kinder fate than what she had planned for them.
Her flesh still burning from the electric current that had seared through her metal limbs, she staggered as quickly to her feet as she could. Although she could manage to stand, the integrity of her three limbs was questionable to say the least. She could tell for a fact that her arm was fried and was in no way going to be of any use let alone transform into any sort of valuable weapon. That meant she had only one option, doing things the old fashioned way.
Using her fists.
‘I’ll have to remember to thank Silas for the private kickboxing lessons,’ she thought with a sneer, raising her fists into a fighting stance, showing the men around her she wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
The man closest to her let out a shout and foolishly ran towards her to attempt to land a punch, Andromeda easily countering by using the mans momentum to throw him over her shoulder and land him flat on his back with a lout ‘thud.’
She swiftly yanked him back up off the ground and proceeded to use him as a human shield, making the other men hesitate to shoot at her. Once she had him directly between herself and her targets she kicked the man in the back hard enough to send him flying towards two others and knocking them down before using the gun at her side to shoot at the remaining men.
Some of the men ducked behind nearby trees as she fired off at the group while the others she landed hits on fell to the ground. Before she could stagger towards cover herself one of them landed a shot in her right arm, causing her to wince at the impact and drop her gun. Being that it was her right arm and not her last real organic limb, she didn’t feel any pain but it still caused enough reverberation up through her already deathly tender skin that she found herself crying out in pain.
“Someone shoot her!”
“Get her now!”
“Don’t let her pick up a weapon”
The panicked shouts from around her shook her back to reality and she desperately ran for the cover of the trees behind her. She just didn’t have the strength or the resources to take down fifteen heavily armored and trained soldiers without the full use of her augmented limbs.
‘I have to get out of here!’ She thought as her legs pounded against the forest floor, with each step in her stride taking her farther and farther from her attackers. Echoing sounds of leaves and broken twigs behind her telling her just how close they were in their pursuit.
“Don’t let her get away!” The distant sound of one of her assailants shouted.
‘The one good thing about these legs is they don’t get tiered,’ She thought with bleak humor, ‘I need a place to hide to get these guys off my tail, but they’ll just send out a search party. Agh, think!’ She shook her head, ‘There isn’t any way I can run far enough on foot to get away from these guys, so I’ll need to secure transportation.’
With that conclusion she changed her corse and began towards the atvs they had arrived in. She would have to find a way to get back on base without being seen and somehow get her brother and herself back out. However, that had to be future her’s problem, right now she had to make it there first.
Panting heavily as she struggled to get enough air into her lungs, she rounded the corner only to find-
“Nothing!?”
She screeched to a halt, confusion and dismay spread through her. Her whole body rising and falling as she tried to catch her breath, sweat dripping down her face and hair a mess.
“Damit! They thought to move them,” she recognized, gritting her teeth in frustration. Impending sense of dread returning, she racked her mind of what to possibly do next. What was there to do next?
The ever approaching sound of clashing footsteps and thundering boots made her head spin promptly in the direction of the noise.
She didn’t have much time to make a decision.
‘Failure is not an option,’ Andromeda concluded with a hardened expression, ‘and I’d rather take Silas’s men down with me than let him have what he wants with me.’ She clenched her fists before lifting her right arm up and started tampering with it.
Forcefully prying open a panel due to a lack of power on her forearm, she activated the digital display. In turn a few small, red, and pulsing dots lit up on the screen.
She grinned, “Bingo…”
With the reading in sight she took off, praying that she could make it before they caught up with her. If she couldn’t take them down, well, then maybe she could have some giant aliens do it for her. With any luck they themselves weren’t on the move and would be stationary enough to catch up to on foot.
‘This isn’t exactly how I imagined myself going out, but…’ she paused at her own thought, feeling nauseous at the idea of what she was willingly thrusting herself into, ‘but at least I’ll go out knowing that I beat that bastard at his own game.’
Andromeda was ok with that. At least if she got blown to bits in her rather defenseless state there wouldn’t be enough left of her to be a blueprint for her brother, and in turn her disappearance would be the very thing keeping Atlas safe.
It was rather ironic, really. All this time she spent her life keeping him within arms length to keep him safe and now she was the one that was putting him in mortal danger.
That thought sickened her, leaving her truly devastated at the concept.
“Agh! How much farther?” She panted, gasping out in-between breaths, forcefully pulling herself out from those self destructive thoughts and back to the matter at hand. She didn’t have the time or willpower to keep herself going if she were to let herself become distracted by those things, she had to be strong now, mentally and physically.
That’s when she heard it, the distant sound of metal plating shifting against metal plating. Looking down to her forearm again she saw that the she was gaining on them, and fast.
‘They should be just over this hill,’ she thought while digging even deeper into her stride, her muscles, both flesh and metal, starting to burn under the extreme pressure.
Her lungs spent and her already damaged legs beginning to give out left every step she took feeling like she was running uphill through sand. Just as her body was about to give out, the sudden appearance of three giant bots stood before her, towering next to the trees and making them look as if they were nothing but toothpicks.
She screeched to a halt at the top of the hill, heels digging into the ground and forcing dirt to kick up around her feet. Tucking behind the nearest tree before she was spotted by the titans, she peered around to get a better evaluation of just who exactly she was dealing with.
The first bot she saw was a large red, blue, and silver mech that clearly stood out as the largest. The second was a very hefty bot, though smaller than the first, that was a deep green in coloring and looked like a similar durable build to breakdown. The final of the three was a much smaller yellow and black bot with much more bubbly features.
She knew these bots and their capabilities fairly well from the records that MECH had kept in their discoveries and files. Optimus prime, bulkhead, and lastly bumblebee. She had personally seen the one by the name of bulkhead in action for the first time when he attempted to free his, what she could only assume to be, his compatriot from MECH’s possession.
Knowing the damage that one alone could cause, she was weary of the others to say the least.
“I see her, she’s over here!” The familiar sound of the men chasing her echoed up the hill.
From the tree she was using to hide from the bots, she was in clear view to her attackers. Pinned on either side by dangerous parties she had left herself wide open.
“Agh,” she growled, hitting her head back intentionally on the tree she was leaning against in frustration.
‘If I move from my spot the bots will see me, but if I don’t move i'll get shot!’ Her dilemma left her frozen in place for a moment, danger on either side of the hill she was on and left with no where to go she had to make a decision and fast.
‘If I could somehow hold them off for just a while longer and lure them up here…’ she thought, desperation seeping into her decision making, ‘I need to get the bots to take them out for me or else I’m done for.’
Nervous sweat trickled from her brow as her breathing became uneven and panicked. “Come on, come on!” She started to hop in place with impatience, her hands trembling.
“I have a visual, engage!”
‘NOW!’ Andromeda concluded, not waiting a second longer as she stumbled over the hill and sprinted strait for the three bots feet. Tripping and sliding as she ran down the increasingly steep hill, she makes it to the bots only sparing a single quick glimpse to their shocked optics. The one by the name of Optimus seemed completely taken aback by her sudden appearance and even more so by her lack of shock of their appearance.
Her exhausted, terrified, and desperate expression glancing at them and just as quickly disappearing. She bolted strait through there legs, not stoping for a single moment to contemplate her decision or willing to risk getting blasted or stepped on just for a chance to finally get a closer and more personal look at one of the aliens highly esteemed leaders.
Shocked beeps a whirs sounded from behind her, coming from the yellow one, as she continued her dead sprint. Before any of the mechs could react to her however they promptly turned back towards the sound of multiple more humans cresting the hill and in purist of herself.
With as far away as she was at this point she could only vaguely make out the distant shocked voices of both parties.
‘Mission success,’ she just about rejoiced, the victory of her plan giving her a much need sigh of relief.
Repetitive gun fire lit off behind her, bouncing and echoing through the chasm at deafening volume. The sound was swiftly returned with canon fire.
Her plan had worked.
She was so wrapped up in her reprieve however that she failed to notice the increasing sound of a single pair of heavy footsteps behind herself until it was to late. A large hand muck-led onto her short brown hair and threw her mercilessly backwards onto the ground.
The sudden impact winded her, her lungs burning and her eyes tearing up as she struggled momentarily to receive oxygen before gasping for breath.
“Oh you’re clever,” the burly man holding her at gunpoint uttered with disdain, “it’s clear why you were Silas’s prized favorite for all those years.” He cocked his gun back, re-situating his hold on the weapon. Despite clear protocol he had no mask to cover his face and she had a clear look at the roughed up man before her. Black short hair and dark ebony eyes looked right at her. He must have lost his mask in the scuffle just moments ago as she noticed it on the ground beside herself with soil having been kicked over it.
He stood extremely tall at about six foot six, hefty and densely packed with muscle. Andromeda had no clue how she could possibly fight him off in her current severely weakened state.
“I always liked to think I was clever,” She agreed sarcastically, a fake smile spread across her lips, “But I never took myself for his favorite…” Taking a moment to catch her breath, hands still bracing her up while planted in the loose soil, she recuperated with a rather crazed look. “That pleasure always belonged to his own self-regarded prodigious egotism!”
Before the man could come back with a half assed defense she flung a large handful of dirt directly into his face. This caused him to stumble backwards with his eyes pinched shut and start firing his gun off in an attempt to land a hit.
Rolling to the side and recovering from the original throw that landed her there in the first place, she dove strait for the much larger man and managed to push him to the ground. Both parties were now rolling on the ground fighting for dominance over the gun. A gun that would be her only chance for survival. A gun that accidentally went off during their scuffle and caused her ears to ring.
‘I’m thinking that today might not be a good day,’ she deemed with crude humor as she was bested all over again and thrust face first into the dirt.
“Argh!” The broad man grunted pressing the back of his heal into her skull, “Damn bitch, that’s it!” The sound of the gun cocking again sent sickening shivers down her spine. “Any last words!” He spat.
“Go to hell…” she huffed through the dirt around her face.
“Oh?” The man chuckled lowly, “Well… you’ll be there long before I come crawling in!”
With the most dead serious expression she had, she muffled back with ice and venom, “I don’t mind waiting…”
But before anything else could happen a large, blue blaster shot came from over her shoulder, taking out the man in one hit and sending him flying backwards. Crumpling to the ground, he didn’t move from where he fell.
“Wha…” She breathed in minor confusion before hurriedly looking to where the blast was shot from. There stood Optimus prime, his arm canon aimed in her direction, smoke dwindling from it like the fog that inched through the forest around them.
For some reason she felt relief, though not for long. ‘No… I need to run!’ She thought with panic at the realization that she would most assuredly be next, her arms trembling as she tried to push herself up but failing miserably.
Andromeda began to hyperventilate, her mechanical arm and legs were no longer responding. They had now completely and utterly given out, leaving her with one functioning arm. She grunted and struggled, trying desperately to drag herself up but to no avail.
Everything had fallen fairly quiet. The bots must have handled her little “problem,” as loud and thundering vibrations of the mechs feet hitting the ground told her that they were now walking towards her.
The overwhelming emotions of the last half hour were starting to catch up to her and she felt her eyes start to well with small tears, glossing over with just enough to make it difficult to see.
She just wanted to live… why was that so hard?
Falling to her hip and turning towards the bot as it arrived just behind her, she stuttered out a feeble warning,“S-Stay back!”
The large red and blue bot had already put away his weapons, but that didn’t stop him from feeling just as threatening. The bots expression had softened however, almost a look of pity on his faceplates.
“We mean you no harm,” He rumbled in his baritone voice, kneeling down to be more level with her “Tell me, why is it that you were being pursued by the humans known as MECH?”
“I-I…” She stuttered, franticly glancing between the three bots before her with the feeling of being surrounded making her shutter. “I was bet-“
She cut herself off, quickly catching her words before dooming herself. ‘What am I thinking?! If I tell them that MECH turned on me they would know I was working with an organization that sought to eradicate them! If they find out that I work- worked for MECH the’ll kill me…”
She pondered her words a moment longer, trying to decide how to give as little information away as possible of her true affiliation. “I was there experiment,” she decided on, looking the large bot in the optics as she spoke. It was technically the truth, but it wasn’t the full truth. “I was MECH’s biological experiment and I broke out… that’s why they were chasing me.”
He seemed to ponder her words, eyeing her body no doubt her metal limbs as they were on full display while she propped herself up. She didn’t know if he’d buy it, though. Those MECH soldiers weren’t fighting her with the intent of capture and she was hoping that he had missed that crucial detail.
The yellow bot broke the silence with some intent beeps and whirs, communicating with the other two. She looked up at the three of them as they seemed to consider his words before the three of them glanced back down towards herself.
“I think it best for you to come with us,” Optimus said with an impending matter of factness, at least, that’s what it felt like with how commanding his voice sounded. “We can have our human ally, agent Fouler, give you much needed medical attention and report his findings to his superiors-“
“NO!” Andromeda yelled suddenly, cutting the mech off before he could get his full thought out. She could not let herself fall into government hands. If there was one thing worse than the hands of Silas it would be the hands of a corrupt government that would assuredly use her as nothing more than a weapon and then throw her behind jail for the remainder of her assuredly short life as punishment for the crimes she was forced to commit.
She needed to somehow convince them to. Let. Her. Go.
“N-No agents… no government,” she stuttered with fear, truth behind her deceptive words. She found herself shaking now, the fatigue and overwhelming terror getting to her as the three titans looked what felt like strait through her soul, looming over her as they did. “I won’t become another experiment for someone to do whatever they please with,” she uttered with conviction.
Andromeda still could’t believe that she was talking with the aliens! Her only real experience being observational only left her feeling unsure and overwhelmed with the bots around her. After all, one slip up could mean the end…
Silence followed, the air becoming thick and cold with the increasing suspense. The leader seemed to be considering her words and deciding how to best approach her request. She tired her best to hold an unwavering expression but in her current state she wasn’t sure how threatening she could really look.
Silence was once again broken when Optimus came back with an alternative solution, saying, “Perhaps we could keep you out of government hands for the time being, but I do deem it adamant that you are at least seen to immediate medical attention.” He stood up with a nod, turning towards the other two bots and informing them to request a ‘ground bridge’ and for a human by the name of ‘June Darby’ to be brought to their base. With that, the green and yellow bots began to walk away and leave her with the leader.
‘I can’t go with them! I need to get out of here!’ She began to panic as the large bot once again lowered himself back on one knee. ‘I don’t know what else to do! What do I do! I can’t run, I can’t fight, I can’t even yell for help there’s no one here! They’re gonna take me prisoner and I’m never going to save Atlas!’
The large bot must have seen her start to breath rapidly, fear evident on her face, so he attempted to ease her conscious saying, “Please do not be afraid, we mean human kind no harm, we only wish to help.”
‘Yeah right…’ she thought to herself with doubt.
“Can you walk?” He asked gently, his booming voice giving a soft and gentle feeling with each syllable.
“N-No…” Andromeda choked out, shaking her head.
At her answer the bot lowered his large hand down behind her and before she realized what was happening she was quickly and gently scooped into his servos.
“Ah!” She yelped in surprise, franticly planting her hands behind herself.
He fully stood up, looming at his full height and now looking down at the small being in his hands “My apologies, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
She looked back up at him making eye contact. His expression gave nothing away but somehow calmed her down.
She felt his hands slowly cup around her small frame before speaking again, saying, “Please do not be alarmed, as I am told by our human allies, our ground bridge technology can tend to make humans fell slightly ill or “nauseous” as Raphael described it.”
“Ground bridge? Raphael?” she quietly mouthed to herself, tilting her head in confusion at the unfamiliar names.
Optimus looked up as a giant green vortex opened up before the four of them making her jump in her skin.
“W-What…”
‘Panic! Panic!’ She thought, subconsciously gripping Optimus’s digits that cupped around herself. ‘I need a way out or the’ll find out the truth and kill me! I’ll never be able to save Atlas!’
She franticly glanced around herself, as if to look for a way down from the titan’s grasp.
Without warning, an excruciatingly sharp pain shot through her abdomen, causing her to practically fold in on herself. She groaned out in pain, clutching her left side and panting heavily.
Optimus, hearing her sudden pain, quickly looked to his palms, asking, “Are you alright?”
Her head began to pound and her thoughts became fuzzy. With ears ringing loudly enough to cause pain and make her shake, she buckled. In the background of her mind she could hear words being spoken to her and yet she could only tell who was talking due the the reverberations of the hands she was sitting on.
“Help..” She managed to wheeze out before collapsing unconscious in his hands.