Chapter Nineteen:

"Of Fashionable Tardiness"

A third of Minas Tirith lay in ruin. A third of the fifty thousand people who lived there now had no home; however, none of them could return so long as the city was still in jeopardy.

Four people lay dead. Three of them were the villainous x-men who were supposed to capture the elf and girl. Who were they? Were they dead fans who chose this afterlife? Did they willingly walk the path of servitude and tyranny? The girl suspected she'd never find out.

Lauren and Narthas had taken to riding Hound down the winding road of the city, through Harlond and across the river to where the massive ship rested like some metalloid whale, beached far from the shore: the Autobots inside couldn't have been farther from home than where they were then. Prowl and Mirage followed close behind, with Aragorn and Avrinod riding very uneasily in the cop car.

She couldn't help but get the shakes. This was probably the most exciting -and farfetched- situation that she would ever, ever, find herself in ever. THIS was the adventure she wanted when choosing to come here. And hell, she sure did get it.

“You all right there?” came a voice from inside the faux organic chassis. “Didn't know you had a grip like that.”

“Oh...” Lauren blinked and released the scruffy patch of fur behind Hounds neck. “Right, sorry.”

“What are you so anxious about anyway?” Narthas asked from behind.

“Well, it's quite a thing to idolize someone for much of your life, knowing you will never have the chance to meet them or anything remotely like them except through your own self-indulgent fantasies, usually in the form of art or writing... and then it's like O HAY WOW WE EXIST NOW AND WERE GONNA COM HELP U SAEV THE WORLD KK? It's like... it's like you meeting Feanor before he went batshit over the Silmarils. You know what I mean?” She looked over her shoulder at him for emphasis.

The elf scowled for a moment. “As horrible as that analogy was, yes. I understand what you're trying to say.”

“Good. It's kind of difficult to put into words because the concept of 'fandom' is a somewhat modern invention.”

Narthas groaned. “So it seems.”

Hound slowed down to a steady trot when they drew nearer to the massive vessel. The girl couldn't help but let her mouth fall open as she looked up at the thing resting in the field, steam and other gases hissing out from various points in the hull; particularly the landing gear.

“Sorry you guys, but I'd like to transform.”

“Right.” The two immortals slipped off the giant cat's back and stood beside him, watching as he transformed. They were joined by Aragorn, Avrinod, Prowl, and Mirage.

Hound smiled. “Thanks. Can't salute my CO if I don't have hands, right?”

Narthas, though having been around the robots for many days now, seemed mildly uneasy at the prospect of more. He jumped whenever Prowl or Mirage took a step behind them, and as Lauren studied her fellow squishies a bit more, it seemed the most peeved of them all was Aragorn.

But it was her turn to jump. Without warning, a door in front of them cracked open with a shrill hiss. Light, a white-yellow, shot out from under the door as it slid upward, illuminating the small crowd that had gathered near. After her eyes adjusted to the light, she spied a diminutive figure near the door. He was on the bulkier side, and was maybe only nine or ten feet tall. He was painted a nice yellow and green and had a distinctive shape to his head... and his name was on the tip of her tongue.

“Brawn!” greeted Hound, and the two 'bots shook hands when the stout warrior jumped out of the ship and onto solid ground. Prowl and Mirage did the same in turn.

“Glad to be outta that ship,” he said with a gruffly mechanized voice before turning to the group of organics. “Who're these guys?” He thumbed in their direction.

“I would appreciate it if your friends didn't keep referring to us in the third person when we're standing right here,” Narthas said to Hound.

“That's 'cause some mechs still haven't learned their manners!” said a lively voice from the doorway. They all turned to see a black and white Autobot with a mirror-finish visor hiding his optics. “I'm Jazz,” he introduced himself, kneeling down to be more at eye-level with the group. “What's crackin'?”

Lauren fought very hard against the urge to start running around in circles, shrieking and flailing her arms. Unfortunately, this inward struggle against the wave of fangirl was occupying much of her brain activity, and so she was temporarily rendered incapable of coherent speech. A small noise escaped her, however, and it sounded very much like an F followed by many N's, ending with something like a GH.

“You okay?” Narthas asked in a low voice.

The girl swallowed hard and wrung her hands. “Nnnyeah. Just fine. Just fine.”

“Hey, I wasn't tryin' to be rude or anything,” Brawn replied, folding his arms.

They were interrupted once again by the sound of a mild struggle coming from inside the ship. Suddenly two figures of equal size, one red, the other yellow, came tumbling out of the door. Behind them stood a white Autobot, a red crest on his forehead and cross on his shoulder.

“Stop whining, you two. We've got work to do,” Ratchet grumbled.

“Augh,” snarled the yellow one as soon as his feet touched the ground. “This planet is disgusting. No wonder the Decepticons are here.”

Ratchet stepped out and pointed a finger at him. “I said can it, Sunstreaker.”

Prowl sighed. “Would you? I don't think any of the humans want to listen to you either.”

Mirage, Hound, and Brawn scoffed. Sunstreaker frowned when he looked down at the creatures at his feet. “What, these things?” he said, pointing downward. Both he and Sideswipe began to laugh.

Narthas, Avrinod, and Aragorn suddenly puffed up with anger. Lauren and Airlock held them back.

“That's enough, you two.”

The voice silenced the entire group, causing everyone to stop and turn toward the hatch of the ship. There stood the very tallest Autobot Lauren had met yet. She got a very strange taste in her mouth at the sight, very light-headed, and her kneejerk reaction was to take many steps back.

The yellow twin hooted with laughter. “Look, it's scared of the big guy.”

“Pfft. Don't tell me that one's fighting with us. If it's going to short circuit from meeting Optimus, I can only imagine how much it malfunctions in a fight--”

Lauren was listening to the twins, but not really. Her eyes were fixed on the truck before them as he scolded his subordinates for a final time.

“If you're scared, kid,” Mirage said. “There's no reason to be...”

She shook her head. “Lord Aragorn,” she whispered. “You should probably introduce yourself.”

The other Autobots took steps back when Optimus crouched down in front of the 4 silent organics. Narthas seemed to be the least fazed out of all of them, though he was still pretty damn fazed. The king of Gondor took a hesitant step nearer to the massive, metallic visage. Aragorn's face was illuminated in the unearthly blue glow of the Autobot leader's optics.

“Mae govannen,” the Dunedain said. Lauren could hear his voice, though strong, falter somewhat. “I am Aragorn, the Elessar, king of Gondor. I understand that you have come to our aid us against your own foes.”

“We are, and I am terribly sorry for what the Decepticons have done to your world. Had we known the source of their energy sooner...”

Narthas shook his head, his stupor gone. “No,” he interrupted. The blue spotlights had fallen on him now. “This was probably the best time for you to get here. Well, actually, maybe an hour ago would have been nice, but you understand my point. If you'd arrived any sooner, before Lauren dropped in and found me, then there would have been no way for you to form an alliance with Aragorn. In fact, I don't doubt that he would have sent every man in Gondor's army to lay siege to your ship. Ignoring the exploitation of this country's natural resources, I might even say that the past few weeks have been quite a turn of remarkable events.”

Optimus considered this. “You may be right, human.”

“Narthas. And I'm Elvish, not Mannish.”

“Excuse me.”

Suddenly Avrinod, who'd been standing stock-still for the past few minutes, finally gathered the courage to ask: “Who... who are you?”

“I am Optimus Prime.” It took every ounce of willpower Lauren could conjure to prevent herself from spontaneously combusting. “Leader of the Autobts.” He glanced around here, perhaps looking at the faces of his soldiers, to the land around them, before settling back on the organics. “I must know everything that you know. And we have to hurry. The Decepticons know we're here and will be preparing a counter-attack.”

“Wait!” Narthas blurted, holding his hands up. “Before we do any of that, though, you have a comrade that needs medical attention.”

Lauren gasped and slapped a hand to her forehead. “Gasket!” she hissed to herself. “He's in the city,” the girl said to the others, predominantly addressing Ratchet. “Follow me.”

Of course she felt reasonably stupid after saying that, seeing as how going back on foot was just dumb, and how all of them could turn into vehicles. She was about to open her mouth and shamefully ask for a lift, but Hound apparently read her mind and transformed. The rest of the gang followed suit: Mirage lent his cab to Narthas while Prowl escorted Avrinod and Aragorn. The others were close behind.

Fifteen minutes later, and they were greeted at the main gate by the remains of Aragorn's guard, led by Elrohir.

“Carsaloth has taken horse to Osgiliath with Gedhorn and Elladan, sire,” the remaining twin reported. “Alnarin and Mandir are with the machine on the fifth level, and the rest of your guard are present here.”

“Autobot, if you don't mind,” Jazz corrected softly.

Aragorn stuck his head out of Prowl's open passenger-side window in a strange display of non-kingliness. “Good,” he confirmed, and Prowl opened the door to let him out. Avrinod stepped out as well. “They are taking the injured one back to their ship to be healed. When they return, we'll hold counsel to decide on our next course of action.” The Elessar turned back to them and nodded, permitting them to continue up through the city. Hound broke into a fierce run, and the engines from the rest of the bots fired up in preparation for the long ride to the top.

Narthas, Lauren, Avrinod, and Aragorn stayed with the remaining twin and the rest of the guard at the gate, which thankfully, had managed to last the battle without damaging. She would have been exceedingly depressed to see something happen to the huge, old, ornate thing.

The company was relatively silent... at least, Lauren, Narthas, and Avrinod were. Aragorn was speaking with his men, but she was sure that all of them were listening to the roar of the Autobot's engines as they drove up the streets. She listened as they transformed to wade through the rubble, and then they were too far away to hear anymore. Well, at least for her. Narthas could still probably hear them.

The three of them had taken to sitting down on the edge of a now still fountain in the middle of the main square, idly listening to Aragorn breif his guards. Lauren sighed.

“I hope Nicole and Quinn are okay,” she said out of nowhere.

Narthas, who'd been resting his chin on his hand, turned to look at her. “Why wouldn't they be?”

She shrugged. “I donno. Morithil just seems like the kind of person that would attract a lot of unwanted attention.”

“If he has anything to do with this, we'll know.”

“You mean he doesn't already?” she snapped.

The Elf rubbed at his eyes and shook his head. “The portals have nothing to do with any of this. In fact, they're probably going to save us.”

“I certainly hope so.”

Lauren turned and looked up at the city towering behind her, a gray silhouette against the black, looming shape of Mindolluin behind it. She caught movement here and there from up above, but she heard nothing. Then suddenly, some Autobot popped up at the edge.

“You've got visitors!” he shouted. She recognized the voice as belonging to Airlock.

The elf and girl leapt up.

“Could it really...”

“It just might be...”

The two of them proceeded to break out into their own sprint up the city. They slowed to a fast jog a few minutes later, and kept at that pace the rest of the way. Soon enough, they came across the Autobots as they carried poor Gasket down. She and the elf made sure to get out of their way.

Airlock was behind them, though wasn't following. A moment later, and she spotted Hound too. It only took her a few minutes for Lauren to recognize where they were... the Cyprus trees, the banner... the red door.

“It's the Underground!” she gasped and dashed over to the building. She was about to throw open the door, it appeared that someone on the inside had beat her to the punch.

And then... the world stopped dead. Time froze, her mind emptied, and she got a bad case of vertigo for a few seconds.

“A...lex?” she strained.

The girl was staring, slack-jawed, at a young man standing in front of her. He was an inch or so taller than Narthas, had short brown hair and green eyes. He appeared to be wearing some typically Star Wars-looking outfit, with a blaster at his side and a helmet on his head. Another painful eternity passed before she was scooped up in a fierce hug.

“Oh my god, Lauren, it's you!”

His mouth, one that she'd seen in many photos, found hers.

It was warm, it was blissful, it was oh so... wrong.

“Hey, hey, HEY!” Lauren broke away. “Wait a goddamn minute!” she said, and freed herself from his arms.

“Well,” Narthas broke in. “That was certainly unexpected.”

“Oh, come on, Narthas! She was the one I was looking for this whole damn time!”

Lauren knitted her brows. “What the fuck is going on here!” she demanded of the two men.

Narthas groaned. “You never said a name! Not once!” The elf pointed a finger accusingly at Alex, before turning back to the girl. “Lauren, this is Fen.”

She turned back to him in what would have appeared to be raw anger. Alex looked hurt.

“You're the one that built the Underground?! You're the one that paid Narthas to smuggle in AV equipment from back home?! You're from the Star Wars universe! Why in the fucking hell did you come here!”

“I... I came looking for you. We were supposed to meet before you died!”

“Well, we didn't, and now the rules are different!” she shouted at him. “Look at this! Look at this!” Lauren was now gesturing to the whole of Minas Tirith. “THIS is what happens when people like you think this is all a game! That this is all for you.” Lauren was stabbing him in the chest with her finger to accentuate her point.

She saw Hound and Airlock exchange shrugs and step back from the corner of her eye.

Alex, despite his initial shock at his old non-girlfriend's response to finally meeting him, got his bearings and stood tall again. “So this is the thanks I get.” he said sternly. “For fighting with the Jedi Council about the loan of soldiers to save your planet. For going out of my way to establish a link between this otherwise defenseless world and Coruscant. This is the thanks I get for spending YEARS of my afterlife finding YOU. Why? So I could fulfill a promise.”

Lauren scowled and folded her arms.

She heard mechanized steps coming from her right, and Hound bent near. “I don't think this is a good time, Lo...”

“Oh right. NOW you can finally get around to everything you promised me, now that it's convenient. Now that you've got all the time in the world.” Lauren completely ignored him.

“Look. I was jumping through the hoops of what some people call real life. I'm sorry that I made a bunch of promises that I couldn't keep until now.”

“That's not an excuse. If you couldn't keep a commitment, you shouldn't have made me think you could. There's nothing I hate more than being lied to.”

“I'm sorry to interrupt,” came an unfamiliar voice from behind Alex. Lauren tore her attention from him long enough to see that the speaker was a Jedi Knight, and she was once again reminded of where she was. She also felt a twinge of embarrassment. “But I feel a presence of certain power approaching from the north.”

His Padawan, a young man of Lauren's age, perhaps a little younger, nodded. “As do I.”

“The north?” Narthas asked rhetorically. “Why would...” he trailed off, before suddenly lighting up. “Morithil!”

“Then this individual is an ally?” asked another Jedi.

“Yes, yes, yes!” the elf sputtered out. “A powerful ally at that. Oh, thank the Valar... Come on, everyone, we should go back down.”

Alex held up his hand. “Wait! Before we do that, you guys need to be armed properly.”

“What are you talking about,” Lauren snapped.

“If you'd listen to me without attacking, I would tell you.”

“Alright you guys, that's enough,” Hound warned. “If we're going to win this, then we need to learn teamwork. Just as you said yourself, Lauren.”

The girl huffed before scowling at Alex. “Fine. I'll work with you, but I'm not going to like it.”

Alex sighed. “I have a munitions closet downstairs. I've been stockpiling weapons for the past few years just in case something like this happened.”

Lauren bit back a quip, knowing that she would definitely need a gun rather than a sword.

Alex motioned for them to follow, but the girl stood there with the 6 Jedi and 5 Republic soldiers. Narthas followed closely behind “Fen”, and she was given a gentle push by a mechanical hand.

“It doesn't matter what he did in a past life,” Hound said softly. “What matters is the survival of this world.”

Lauren let her arms, which had been tightly folded across her chest in disapproval, fall to her sides. She stared at the dark doorway that Narthas had gone into. “I know, I know,” she sighed. “But... he was such a jackass near the end there, and I don't think he even knows it.”

The Jedi and foot soldiers had wandered away from the building, looking out over the Rammas on the edge of the tier.

Hound knelt down. “You two will have plenty of time to sort this out after we drive the Decepticons back into hiding, I promise.”

“You sound like him, now.”

“The difference between he and I is that I stay true to my word.”

Lauren looked at him, mouth twisted into a fake display of stubbornness, and saw one of his optics cut out for a split second, and it took her a moment to realize that it was meant to mimic a wink.

“Thanks dude. You're a good friend.”

“Aww!” Airlock butt in, a grin on his face.

“Oh shut up you,” she said before trudging into the blackness that was the underground.