Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters - Ignition

11. Stalked

        “We shall depart immediately,” Optimus said slowly, wary, cautious even of Blade’s motives. She had no questions of her own desires. All she wanted was to get out of the base, out of it’s empty, emotionless walls. The gray and the plainness of it all was bothersome. In her spark, Blade wanted to escape the fact that she felt out of place. A year apart had driven a wedge between herself and the rest of Autobots, a fact she was less than fond of. Really, it broke her spark, and part of her hoped that if she could prove herself on the field again, she would manage to rebuild a bit of that broken bridge. She’d missed so much, she didn’t even know what had happened anymore.

        Sometimes, it crossed her mind that perhaps the Autobots had been better off without her.

        Blade had to force those thoughts away in order to get through the motions. 

        “Wonderful,” Blade said with a nod. “I’m sure we’ll have no issues between the two of us.”

        “Maiden . . . ?” Optimus questioned, not sure if he should voice his question aloud. He pondered simply speaking to her mind, but when he attempted to make a connection with her, she threw up a mental wall, effectively blocking him out. Now was not the time for weakness. Now was not the time to collapse from the emotional build-up she’d suffered.

        While Blade had never had issues being alone, on that voyage home, she’d never felt more lonely.

        “Open the bridge, Ratchet,” Blade ordered, keeping her gaze on the technology rather than the mech at her side. The bridge powered up, the glittering tunnel humming to life, the coordinates to our destination on the other side. With a slow vent, Blade steadied herself, mentally preparing for whatever was awaiting them on the other side.

        Then she took off, running into the bright swirls of green mixed with blue.

        One thing apparently, most certainly, had not changed in the year Blade had been gone on their journey to Cybertron to retrieve Aura.

        Predacons were, or at least one was, still running rampant on Earth. It was fairly obvious from the way it was flying straight for a human looking figure, one with black hair, streaks of a golden orange highly visible, even in the low light of morning. “Slag it!” The young woman cried out, running faster, at an almost impossible speed, her teeth glinting in the sliver of light that was present under the half moon. “Back off!”

        The Predacon merely roared a  warning as its large denta snapped for her and she leapt out of the way. Her skin started to peel away, the dark armor beneath becoming more than obvious as she shed it away. Blade watched a moment, fascinated at the transformation of this being, before she darted forth, running straight for the Predacon, and the girl that was to become its prey. Optimus had come through the ground bridge by the time she’d taken off, watching the spectacle unfold, about to join the fray when he was ambushed with a blow to the helm by Knockout, singe marks across his red paint.

        “Oh, no, you don’t!” The medic growled. “Someone’s going to pay for my paint! That little wench even burnt the protective coating!”

        Optimus groaned as he turned around, his faceplate activating as he stared at the medic. “It was your own mistake to pursue her when you knew of her abilities. It was your own mistake to pursue her when she made her choice clear.”

        “Choice?” Knockout barked. “I didn’t realize Primes had a sense of humor, Optimus! That girl had no choice! You know exactly what she is! You know exactly what she is meant to be! It was a mistake on the part of the Autobots to pursue her when she was perfectly fine where she was!”