show_my_cannons | 11 - Action for Azalea / Text

[He jerks awake. Immediately, his hand goes to his chest, to the back of his head, fingers scrambling over his human form.]

[Everything is whole. Everything intact. There's no rust, no gaping wounds from Sentinel's weapon. Even the scars remain. His body is breathing, it's moving. Its systems are functioning as well as can be expected. Even his hip and shoulder feel better.]

[That's not right.]

[He hadn't made it out of DC. He'd felt everything go dark, felt his systems crumble away while he tried to fight to stand up, to shoot, to act and not let the inevitable happen. They'd been betrayed -- he couldn't lie down and let it happen. He'd tried, he'd tried with every failing piece of his strength to stay online. But it hadn't been enough.]

[And now he's here. Alive.]

[It feels like he's been gone for years. And it was -- since the battle in Egypt, it had been three years... His eyes rest on the 'gear.]

[For a while, he just sits in silence, staring at it, while gradually realizing there are people here who may be concerned for him. His team... his friends... they're beyond his grasp now. That realization in particular feels like a physical blow, and he has to bow his head and breathe for a few minutes longer before he can pull himself back together. His allies. His leader. Everything he'd fought for, everything he'd tried so desperately to return to, was gone.]

[There is no more going back.]

[Finally... Ironhide picks up his 'gear, and taps out a brief, halting message.]

How long was I out? Feels like... |

[He leaves the text unfinished, dropping the 'gear in favor of silence and brooding.]

((ooc: Potential spoilers for Dark of the Moon abound in the post and possibly in the comments.))