Ruby - Origins - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Major Lennox smiled, his eyes sparkling. Optimus and Ironhide arrived in vehicle mode. They sped down the runway, engines revving loudly. They skidded to a halt a few feet away and transformed.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that," Ruby said.

"Me either," agreed the Major.

Ironhide peering down at Ruby, "We hear you've been catching bullets," 

Ruby raised here eyebrows, "Wow news travels fast around here,"

"Well, it's one thing to catch man-made bullets," Ironhide stepped back, and the runway trembled under his bulk, "but how about autobot bullets?"

"What? I don't know..."

It sounded terrifying. Her mind rewound to her first encounter with transformers, when Megatron and Ironhide had fought. With big bullets, made of fire. She shivered.

"Now, autobots and decepticons have many different weapons," explained Optimus, "Other than our bullets, there are Pulse canons, Gatling lasers, Ion blasters and Fusion canons," 

Ironhide displayed his range of weapons, which included the Pulse canon and Gatling lasers. They were huge.

"Instead of metal and bullets, these weapons use high-energy light and radiation," continued Optimus, "So you'll have to shape the energy, convert it and re-direction it, do not try to catch it or absorb it," He pointed a finger down at her, warning her like a child, 

"I have no idea if it'll kill you or not, but it'll certainly be harmful." He took a step back and raised his right arm. The metal panels moved, sliding over each other in a series of scrapes and clicks, until his lower arm resembled a giant canon.

"This," he said, "is an Ion blaster. One shot of this to a decepticon's head or chest can usually eliminate them, but hitting the target isn't always so easy,"

"It fires an intense burst of focused radiation that can disintegrate its target upon impact," Ironhide added.

"Wow. You're not going to shoot me with that are you?"

"Not this one, it's the most powerful, but I rarely use it in a battle. It slows me down too much and is more likely to cost me rather than help."

"So what are you going to shoot me with?" asked Ruby, afraid of the answer.

"The Pulse canon," replied Optimus, "It's the least forceful, but if you can handle it, then you should be able to handle any of the others alright if you needed to."

"Er, OK," said Ruby. 

She didn't feel OK ; so what if it was the least forceful? It was still more deadly than most man-made weapons. Maybe, if she couldn't deflect it, she could duck. Right?

Ironhide backed up until he was a good few hundred meters away. He stood with his pulse canon at the ready. He aimed it at Ruby.

She felt very small and defenseless at the other end of the field, with only a bullet-proof vest as protection. Fat lot of good it would do against high energy fire.

Optimus and Major Lennox stepped aside.

Ruby readied herself. She positioned her feet shoulder's width apart and bent her knees. She held her hands out as if she was preparing to catch something. Most likely her heart, which hammered against her chest so hard it would jump out at any moment.

Ironhide fired.

A flash of orange and white light zoomed towards Ruby. 

It had no center, nothing in particular to focus on. Ruby raised her palms and shut her eyes. 

She could feel it, the energy and heat, hurtling straight for her. She focused the energy in on it's self, forming a ball.  A strange tingling sensation started in her fingers.

She could feel it wriggling and swirling around; and tried to compress it tighter. The energy pushed back, trying to seek her out as a target. 

It was too much. She had to release it. 

She gritted her teeth until they threatened to break and swung her arm with a grunt. The energy ball soared over the left end of the airfield, heading for the ocean. 

For a second, there was nothing. Then there was a huge splash. Water cascaded high into the sky as the energy ball dispersed under the sea.

Ruby dropped her hands to her knees and sank into a squat. The combination of the hot sun, and the effort of throwing high-energy light around, had warm sweat trickle down her face. 

The silver bangle was stuck to her skin; it was hot to touch but she managed to prize it off. She had a theory about it: when she was using a large amount of energy, it stuck to her skin to make the flowing of energy between her body and the bangle at its most effective.

Major Lennox jogged over, a huge smile on his face. He raised his hand and Ruby straightened up to, slapping his hand to high-five.

"Incredible, just absolutely incredible," said Major Lennox, "This is just insane; I think we've got ourselves the ultimate secret weapon."