Disclaimer: do not own Transformers
Summary: Post2007movie. Three Decepticons made during the battle in Mission City are looking for their family, including their brother.
Author note: I'm trying a narrative approach that is relatively new to me called "in media res." This means that the story will start in the middle of the action, and then we'll have flashbacks or dialogues to explain what happened before as needed. Please tell me how I'm doing!
Family Reunion
1
Starscream dropped right out of the air, grazing Bumblebee's hood mockingly as the scout frantically tried to find an area that wasn't populated by humans. It was the dead of night, and the occupants in the darkened houses were starting to awaken, were starting to look out their windows, and were starting to panic.
No good. Bumblebee would have to face his opponent right in the middle of a suburban neighbourhood. The new Decepticon leader was coming back, and Bumblebee opened his door to let Sam out, with an order to run and not look back.
Sam did not want to leave his friend behind, but he knew that he was more of a hindrance than a help. While the Autobots would attempt to stall and move in order to take the battle away from humans, none of the Decepticons would hesitate in using a human hostage, and right now, he might as well have a huge sign above his head saying, 'Take me!"
By the time Bumblebee was fully transformed, Sam was already running in the opposite direction, his hand hitting speed-dial on his cell phone. Doubtless Bumblebee had already contacted Optimus, Ironhide, Ratchet, and Jazz, who would in turn call the SecDef. Sam was calling—though he loathed to do it—Simmons. Against the Decepticons, they could pull no punches.
"Witticky," Simmons mumbled into the phone. "If this is another one of your crank calls—"
"Hey! One, it's Witwicky, and two, you fully deserved those and—never mind! It's Star-what's-his-face! He freakin' attacked us!"
"What? In the middle of a town?" Sam could hear Simmons getting out of bed and getting armed. The sounds of metal and more metal could be heard over the phone. Even in this dire situation, Sam had to roll his eyes. Sheesh, does the guy sleep with a fully decked armoury under his pillow or something? Wait a sec, I'm one to talk, I can't get to sleep without Bumblebee out in the driveway… Shaddup, subconscious, get back to the point here!
"Right in the middle of the neighbourhood." Sam, though Bumblebee had told him not to, looked back, and in doing so, met Starscream's gaze. What he saw there nearly made the boy stumble, and shuddering, he turned around again.
"Just tell me where you are and my team and I will—"
"Shit!" Simmons heard a clattering sound, and he hoped that the kid didn't have the idiocy of dropping the damn phone.
"Witwicky? Hey, kid? Kid? Sam? What's going on?"
He got no answer though, because Sam had, stopping abruptly, sent himself sprawling on the asphalt, and had dropped the phone. It skittered on the ground and came to rest right in front of a tire of an all-too familiar Decepticon.
He had hit an intersection, and right in front of him, illuminated by a dying, flickering streetlight overhead, was Barricade. The police car had rolled to a stop not two meters in front of him, crushing the phone, and revved his engine in what sounded like amusement. Sam took it as, I'm giving you a five second head start.
Sam scrambled to his feet, and looked back again, keeping Barricade in the corner of his eye. Bumblebee was already sustaining massive damage from trying to keep Starscream away from the houses and the terrified occupants therein. If Barricade were to join in the fray…
Hoping that any of the others—even Simmons—would get there in time, Sam bolted to the right. A few seconds later, he heard the roar of an engine and the squeal of tires as Barricade tore after him.
Sam cursed, wasting precious breath, as an area on his ribs started to pulsate, meaning that the stitches were threatening to burst.
Great, just great. I survived the king of all Decepticons, and what will finally get me? The fact that my injuries haven't healed yet.
Sam came across the neighbourhood park, and he hid behind the foliage, clutching his side. He knew that Barricade was playing with him; the Decepticon hadn't even turned his scanners on, opting instead to hunt down his quarry by sight.
He gulped as Barricade rumbled by, close enough to Sam's hiding place that he could see every single letter in minute detail of "To punish and enslave."
"Come out, come out, wherever you are," Barricade said softly. He rolled past, and Sam let himself breathe a tightly held breath.
Then his eyes widened as he heard Barricade's engine roar once again, and the Decepticon started going in reverse. Sam ran haphazardly out of the park, hitting another street, ignoring his increasingly painful side, and tried not to think about how Barricade just rammed through the foliage, right where Sam had been before.
The lights were all off in this part of the neighbourhood, he noted bitterly. Clearly the good people here were not at all disturbed by the clash of giants, the noise muffled by distance.
He came to another intersection, and came to another abrupt stop as a dark truck cut off his path, and the passenger door opened. For a precious, hope-filled second, Sam thought it was Ironhide, before he realized that the vehicle was an Escalade, not a Topkick. The driver, however, was familiar.
"Simmons!" Sam said in relief. He was clutching his side now. His body wasn't appreciating all the falling, running, and stopping, and it was hurting as much now as it did when he first exited Mission City nearly a month ago. He would have hugged and kissed the man if he didn't hate his guts so much.
"Get in!" He didn't need to be told twice. He got into the passenger seat, and the Escalade tore off. "Please fasten your seatbelt," Simmons said calmly as the houses whizzed past them and as Barricade's enraged roar filled the air. "Safety first."
Sam rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Simmons, guess I owe you," Sam muttered, doing as he was bid, wincing as his ribs protested every single one of his movements. "Hey, where's the rest of your team?" Simmons gave no answer, but since he was making crazy movements, weaving in and out of neighbourhoods and making sharp turns at intersections in an attempt to lose Barricade, Sam didn't press for one.
Eventually, they did lose Barricade. Or, rather, Barricade just seemed to give up. Sam didn't know why; Barricade was keeping up with them easily, but after a few minutes, he just pulled over. Sam watched as his figure got smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror.
"Okay," he said slowly. "That's weird." Then: "Bumblebee!" he yelled, sitting upright sharply, and wincing again as his body again reminded him of a few things. "We have to go back!"
Simmons gave no answer.
"Simmons! Come on, don't be such a—" Sam reached over to shake Simmons' shoulder, and was surprised when his hand went right through the driver. Sam's jaw dropped as he looked down at his trembling hand, and then looked up again at the driver seat. It was now empty. Sam was alone in the car.
With fear and dread rising up in him once again, and scarcely noticing how the seatbelt strap was tightening of its own accord, Sam's gaze fell on the steering wheel. The streetlights cast illumination on it at intervals, and soon Sam saw what he had missed when he first got into the car. Where Bumblebee and the rest of the Autobots had an Autobot insignia, this vehicle had a Decepticon insignia.
The locks clicked even before Sam reached for the door.