Given to Fly

I've been neglecting my OC and Optimus bond, so this episode is gonna mend that a bit :).

)()()()()(

"Where are we going?"

It was the first time Marty had spoken for the ride. Optimus had asked if she would accompany him, but he never told her where. So far, they were still in Nevada, but they had left Jasper behind a long time ago. Or was it a few minutes? It was hard to tell when all she could see was desert.

"Nowhere in particular," the Prime hummed. "I thought you would enjoy a break from Miko's...."

"Crazy energy?"

"One could say that, yes."

Marty chuckled softly. "Well, I appreciate it."

"I'm glad to hear that, Little One."

Marty smiled to herself and leaned back against the seat. He had called her that almost as long as she had know him. Two months. Had she really only known the Autobots for that short a time? The teen had been aiding them for what felt like forever in their war.

Yet Optimus had been fighting since the beginning of the war. And he had said that it had been raging for a millenea.

"Optimus, how long have you been on Earth?"

The cabin rumbled slightly. "Three years."

"How did you meet Fowler?"

"When we first came to Earth, we had crashed landed in the area known as 'Texas'," the Prime told. "Fowler was sent there to investigate, and then he found us. He and government brokered a deal and set us up in the abandoned missile silo we call home."

Marty scrunched her nose. "I don't trust the government."

"Why wouldn't you?" Optimus asked. "Do they not want what's best for you?"

The girl snorted. "Okay, maybe I'm sounding too much like Uncle Joe, but the government doesn't want what's best for you. Maybe it did back when it was founded, but it's gotten too big now. It was originally founded to protect man's natural rights, like the right to own land. But in emergencies, the people would give the government power to save them, but when the emergency was over, the government didn't give that power back."

Optimus was silent for a beat. "Natural rights were never a concern for the upper class on Cybertron. They ruled with absolute authority while many suffered."

Marty glanced at the dash. "Is that why the war started?"

"Conflicts are always mutlifacited, but that was the central reason," the Prime stated. "Revolutionists began to advocate for the rights of the lower class, but even the purest of ideals can be corrupted."

A light bulb flickered in Marty's brain. "Megatron was one of them."

"Yes," Optimus confirmed. "He was the leader of the revolutionaries, but over time he began to fight for control rather than for an equal Cybertron."

Marty hummed in thought. She hadn't realized the complexity of the War for Cybertron, yet weren't all wars complex?

)()()()()(

When they arrived back at the base, they found Bulkhead getting patched up by Ratchet. Optimus took Marty up to the platform with Nikki before turning to the wrecker.

"Engaging the enemy on your own was foolish, Bulkhead," he scolded.

"Breakdown jumped me. I knew I could take him," Bulkhead argued.