Chapter 1: Mission City
My past is secretive. I don't talk about it much. I have abilities beyond regular human standards. I wander the streets with my violin to earn money. As an orphan, it's hard to attract anyone's attention. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. The name's Emily, no last name. I'm a 17 year old musician and I wound up in Mission City to be a street performer. What I didn't know was that I would be a part of something bigger…
Word on the streets says that aliens were attacking the city and we had to evacuate. People were screaming and running by the time I heard about it. I scrambled to gather all my things that I had left; my violin, my backpack with my sketchbook and a picture of my dead parents. I was almost done when I heard a man shout at me.
"Hey kid! What are you doing here? You need leave!" he shouted. He was dressed all in camo, waving his hands for me to go.
"I know! I know! I just need to get my stuff!" I yelled back. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the aliens I heard about coming towards us. Oblivious, the soldier didn't see it. The alien was coming closer now but it had its gun out, pointing not at us but at the building we were standing by. My eyes widened with realization. I don't like using my powers in public but it was now or never.
"Do you trust me?" I asked the man.
"What?!" he shouted with confusion.
"Do you trust me?!" I yelled.
"No. Why would I…." his voice trailed off.
BBBOOOMMM! The alien robot had already fired its gun at the building we were near. As the building begins to collapse, debris started to fall. Closing my eyes, I hoped that it would work out. I raised my hand toward the man, who was very slowly starting to back away. Eventually, the WHOLE thing fell. CLANG! SCREECH! It went on for at least 2 minutes. During that time I felt something huge and very hard land on my left leg. Then, silence. I opened my eyes. I was relieved to see that my force field had protected the man in camo. I, however, wasn't AS lucky. I looked down at my leg. Apparently, a foot wide pipe had literally crushed my leg and it was hurting like CRAZY. That's the thing with my force fields: I can't use 2 at once. Lowering my hand for the man in camo looked over at me with an expression on his face that I couldn't read. Then, he saw that I was pinned and ran over to me.
"What just happened? Did you just…" he partially asked. I nodded.
"What's your name kid?" he asked.
"Emily."
"My name's Lennox. Captain Lennox of the US Army. How did you do …whatever you did?"
"Ye had of little faith." I said weakly.
Lennox chuckled lightly, turned his attention to my leg and just barely lifted the pipe off my leg. I tried to get up but I couldn't. Lennox, seeing me struggle then picked me up bridal style and started to walk towards an opening in the debris. I was fading in and out due to the pain. He then whispered something in my ear that I could barely make out.
"Thanks for saving my life back there."
Then blackness took over.
The battle was over by the time Lennox reaches the opening. Seeing Emily unconscious, he radioed Ratchet.
"Captain Lennox! What happened? You were unavailable to reach by radio for a few minutes." the CMO said.
"I'll explain later Ratchet, but right now could you hurry to where I am? A girl is injured severely and she needs a hospital."
"Alright. I'm on my way."
Beep!...Beep!...Beep!...Beep!
Jeez, can somebody turn that alarm off? Wait a minute. Since when do I have an alarm? Wake up! Something isn't right! My eyes snap open. I'm in a hospital. Wait why am I in a hospital? What happened? I start to get up but someone stops me. My eyes adjust to the light and suddenly recognize who it is. Lennox is standing over me.
"You really shouldn't do that." He says.
I smiled, and then frowned.
"Why?" I asked. His face then showed a worried expression. Oh no. I thought. He hesitated in answering.
"Why?" I said a bit more forcefully.
Lennox then sharply inhaled and spilled it.
"You gotta understand that your leg was crushed and it was beyond beyond repair."
My eyes widened in shock. No. No no no no no! Frantically without thinking, I ripped off the bed covers. Instead of an actual, real life leg, there was a prosthetic limb. I started to cry. Lennox then came over to me and hugged me.
"Shhh, it's ok. It's going to be ok." He said reassuringly.
"How long was I out since the attack?"
"A day. Listen, Emily, how did you save me?" he asked. I suddenly went quiet. Tell him. He has the right to know since you saved him. My conscious said.
"Ok but please promise you won't freak out!" I blurted out.
Lennox slowly nodded.
I took a deep breath and prepared for his reaction for what I was about to show him. Concentrating, I slowly began to what I call: ghost out, become invisible, literally. After a few seconds, I was back to myself.
"I would rather not show the other thing in here, in a hospital." I said.
"How old are you?" Lennox suddenly asked.
"17." I said. He was quiet for a moment. Then he said,
"Get some rest, Emily. If it's ok with you, I would like to talk about this more tomorrow."
I nodded and as he left the room, the voice in my head was pleased. You did good. You can trust him. After that, I let myself fall asleep.
Once Lennox left Emily's room, he left to go to N.E.S.T. He had some things to discuss with the Autobots. A few hours later, William Lennox arrived at base and Optimus and Ratchet were both waiting for him. He greeted both mechs. Ratchet was the first to speak up.
"How is the girl?"
"A little shaken up. She just got out of surgery. It will probably take a few weeks for her to start walking again." Lennox paused.
"Is there something else you wish to share?" Optimus asked.
"Yeah. What color is energon?" Optimus and Ratchet had bewildered expressions on their holoforms' faces. They were a little startled by Lennox's question.
"It could be a pink, purple or blue. Why?" Ratchet asked.
"Emily has something I have never seen before. She saved me back in Mission City, using a force field. She showed me that she can turn invisible and there is another power that she couldn't show me at the hospital. I don't if she was born with them or if someone or something did it her." Lennox explained.
"May we come with you next time you visit Emily? We would like to observe her demonstration of her abilities." Ratchet asked.
Lennox nodded. "I'm going back tomorrow. But I think both of you should use your holoforms when go to see her."
"Of course. Captain Lennox, may I ask how old Emily is?" the Prime asked.
"She's 17. Still just a kid. Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow then!" Lennox waved goodbye as he left to get a good night's sleep. He needed it.
The Next Day
I almost forgot where I was…again. After I woke up, I tried getting up but no luck. One of the nurses was kind enough to leave a wheelchair by my bed. I almost fell off my bed in attempt to get in the wheelchair. Finally, I managed to plop myself in it and wheel my way around my bed and to my violin. Oh, how I missed playing you! I thought. I tuned it up and then thought for a minute what song to play. A song came to mind and started to played the intro to Counting Stars by One Republic.
Lately I been, I been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be counting stars
Yeah, we'll be counting stars
[Verse 1]
I see this life
Like a swinging vine
Swing my heart across the line
In my face is flashing signs
Seek it out and ye shall find
Old, but I'm not that old
Young, but I'm not that bold
And I don't think the world is sold
I'm just doing what we're told
I feel something so right
By doing the wrong thing
And I feel something so wrong
By doing the right thing
I couldn't lie, couldn't lie, couldn't lie
Everything that kills me makes me feel alive
Some of the patients and staff who were walking the halls heard me and stopped to listen. I didn't notice so I kept going.
[Chorus]
Lately I been, I been losing sleep (hey!)
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard (hey!)
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be counting stars
Lately I been, I been losing sleep (hey!)
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard (hey!)
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be, we'll be counting stars
[Verse 2]
I feel the love
And I feel it burn
Down this river every turn
Hope is our four letter word
Make that money
Watch it burn
Old, but I'm not that old
Young, but I'm not that bold
And I don't think the world is sold
I'm just doing what we're told
And I feel something so wrong
By doing the right thing
I couldn't lie, couldn't lie, couldn't lie
Everything that drowns me makes me wanna fly
Little did I know that William Lennox and 2 other men were also listening.
[Chorus]
Lately I been, I been losing sleep (hey!)
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be counting stars
Lately I been, I been losing sleep (hey!)
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard (hey!)
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be, we'll be counting stars
Oh, oh, oh.
Take that money
Watch it burn
Sing in the river
The lessons I learned
Everything that kills me makes me feel alive
[Chorus]
Lately I been, I been losing sleep (hey!)
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard (hey!)
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be counting stars
Lately I been, I been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be, we'll be counting stars
Take that money
Watch it burn
Sing in the river
The lessons I learned
When the song ended, I was startled to hear clapping and whistling from everyone who had listened. I blushed. You just got ambushed. My conscious said. I did a little bow and wheeled my way back to my bed. Once everyone left, I smiled to myself. Then, Lennox and the 2 unfamiliar men entered my room. Lennox was the first to greet me.
"Hey, Em! How are you feelin'? We heard you singing. You have a great voice by the way."
"Thanks. I'm…ok. A bit better than yesterday I guess." I answered nervously. I looked towards the 2 men with Lennox. One looked 50 years old and was wearing a yellow and red shirt with black pants. The other looked a bit older and wore red and blue all over. Lennox, then forgetting about the two disguised mechs, looked to Prime and Ratchet, who nodded, and introduced them.
"Emily, this is Ratchet and Optimus. Remember when I said I am an Army Ranger? Well, I work with N.E.S.T. which is a government branch that works with the good-guy version of the bot that attacked us at Mission City. Optimus here is the leader of the Autobots and Ratchet is a medic. These are their holoforms."
I stared at all 3 of them in shock, feeling myself ghost out for a sec or two. Embarrassed, I hid my face, waiting for my ghosting phase to pass. After a few seconds, I went back to reality. I tried to explain my abilities to them.
"I was born with them. I have 3. The one type you just saw is something I call ghosting. I can render my body invisible, although I still need a little practice in turning my clothes invisible too, but you get the idea. The second is what and how I saved Cpt. Lennox: a force field and the last is a little hard to show you right now and I would rather not show you here." I explained hurriedly. Optimus looked rather puzzled while Ratchet was still slightly stunned.
"Have you revealed to anyone of your gifts?" Optimus asked me.
"Only Capt. Lennox, no one else." I replied.
"Do you have any family you want to talk to?" Lennox asked gently.
"No, I lost my parents a few years ago." I said weakly with a frown.
"William and Ratchet, may I speak to you both outside for a moment?" the Prime asked.
"Sure." As they all got up, Lennox tussled my hair.
"I'll be back in a few, Em 'Kay?"
"Ok." I smiled. The trio was gone for 10 minutes.
"I would like to bring her back to base." Prime stated.
"But Optimus, why? We can't just bring a young civilian to NEST for no reason!" Ratchet argued.
"Because I believe Emily's abilities are comprised of Energon." Prime answered.
"What? That's impossible. No human can harness Energon like that, especially at her age." the CMO. Optimus ignored him and turned to Lennox.
"What are your thoughts?" he asked.
"Well, I'll have to get authorization from Morshower to have her come to the base. She will have to get sleeping quarters, clothes and food." Lennox said thoughtfully and left to talk to his "boss" for about 5 minutes.
"You are not seriously letting a human girl come to the NEST base? Let alone have her stay?" Ratchet said.
"We have to make sure that this is true, what Lennox is implying. The Decepticons might also be after her for what she has. That is why this is the only option, Ratchet. Besides, she has no family." Prime said. Ratchet looked to him and said:
"Are you sure that this is a wise thing, bringing her with us?"
"I trust that more of Emily's past will shed some light in our questions