Complicated Vows: This Is War

Failure's Tears

            After the long day of shopping and racing, Danielle and Mirage went their separate ways once back in the hangar. Eager to see Bumblebee, she powerwalked down the hallways that led to his quarters. Halfway there, she ran into Optimus.

            “Just who I needed to see,” he said, bending down to pick her up. Eyeing his imposing hand, and height, she hesitated. “I promise not to drop you Danielle.” he chuckled. Unwillingly, she clambered up and held on tightly to whatever she could grip.

            In only a few steps, they’d back-tracked the entire first half of the hallway to Optimus’ quarters. His room was incredibly spartan: a cold steel berth, gray concrete walls, and a few nearly-bare shelves. He set her down on the lowest shelf directly across from his berth, where he now sat, looking at her. She sat down too, not knowing what was about to happen.

            “Please forgive the informality but something quite urgent has come to my attention. Therefore, I need to know where your Ford F-150 Raptor SVT originated from. Where was it created and how did it come to be in your possession?”

            The question caught her way off guard. Taken aback, she mentally stumbled for an answer. “I uh… My father owned it when I was little. He bought it from an auction when I was three or four years old, I don’t really remember. All I know is that the truck is at least eighteen years old, which is incredible. When my father um… passed away, I took ownership since my mom didn’t want it for the memories attached to it.”

            “Has it ever behaved unlike a normal vehicle?”

            “I don’t think so… I mean…” She’d never really thought twice about things that happened with the Raptor. However, now that she put all the individual events into one cluster of memories, she realized just how out of the normal the vehicle had, indeed, behaved. Two things that struck hard were, first, the similarity of the truck’s steering wheel locking up in the tree incident to Mirage locking his steering wheel when she tried to drive him; second, the way the Raptor’s radio antenna had shape-shifted like the Autobots transform into and out of their vehicle modes. She admitted “Well yea, it did act really strange sometimes… But I don’t understand where you’re going with this. What’s the point you’re trying to make here?”

            “It is not that you don’t understand, it is that you are afraid to. Bumblebee briefed me on his time in your custody, how the truck drove itself into him and lengthened its antenna to allow him to communicate with us via its radio.  This gives us full reason to believe that the Raptor SVT is Cybertronian, and has full capability to transform like we do. And the life span is a factor as well. You are correct to believe that eighteen years is a very long time for any American-made factory vehicle to remain in operational condition. Did you know he was like us?”

            “No… I had no idea. I mean, if anyone had told me that my truck could come alive and stand up at any second I wouldn’t have believed them. At least not until now obviously. If he’s one of you guys, could we bring him here? To stay? Maybe Ironhide or you could teach him how to fight, make him an ally against the Dissectaconds or whatever they are.”

            “Decepticons. And yes, we had arranged for that. That was, infact, Bumblebee’s mission today; To return to your previous residence, retrieve the Raptor, and bring him back to ba-“

            Danielle stood up and let out a small squeal of joy. “Oh thank the good Lord! He’s here? I want to see him! It’s been so long! I miss my baby so much Optimus! Please, take me to him!” She practically vibrated with electric excitement.