To Protect and Serve

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or any of its affiliated characters. Only Faith and Nicole are mine. The rest belong to people with a lot more money and creativity than I've got. As always a special thank you goes out to my wonderful beta Blackwing.Rose for all the help and support she gives me.

Author's Note: This story coincides with the events of my other Transformers fan fiction; Autobot in Shining Armor. As of chapter seven of that story these two fictions take place in the same frame of time. Thank you and please enjoy.

Prologue: Beyond the Darkness

Pain. It was the first thing his systems registered when he came back online once again – the first thing his sensors screamed at him. It was not a foreign sensation by a long shot…oh no…but this was the sort of pain that meant he wouldn't be getting back up again.

Warnings from his internal diagnostic systems told him that his spark case had been compromised; he was facing imminent system failure, followed by complete deactivation. Several critical energon lines within his chasis had been severed in the fight, many of which could not be self repaired. It was ironic really. As cautious as he'd always been, as thoroughly as he'd planned out each and every attack, he hadn't planned for the inevitability of his own demise. He was a fighter to the core of his being, but even he knew when there was no changing the inevitable. He'd either bleed out from the severed lines or his spark would extinguish from the strain put on it. Either way, he was fragged.

Slag it all – he hadn't expected Prime to get so violent with him over the puny fleshling. He hadn't expected there to be no resistance when he attacked her. Of course not, Autobot honor would never allow for that. Things had been going so well – all according to his plan. He'd shot the roof down on Prime, knocked out the idiot CMO so that he would not interfere, and cleared the rubble from the roof with little difficulty.

Things had deviated from there. He hadn't expected her to survive the roof collapsing on them, but she'd wormed her way under Ratchet's hand and been spared. Of course, that was just a minor setback. He easily snatched her into his hand – had, in fact, enjoyed the brief chase she gave him when she tried to escape. All futile, of course, but at least she wasn't boring. Then the squishy bitch had had the gall to call him a coward, of all things. Not the smartest idea when he was the one that would ultimately decide if her death was quick and painless or…the other option was much more fun. Torment the girl until she deactivated.

It was such a simple thing really. Destroy the fragile existence of the femme squishy before either of her Autobot guardians got up to defend her again. He'd crushed her tiny form in his hands…felt her internals breaking under the strain. He had even managed to draw a pained scream from her lips before she went offline. It had probably been that scream that had given Prime the strength to pull himself out of the debris and attack him again. Of course, that furious roar the normally calm Autobot gave out before he'd been savagely attacked should have warned him of what was to come. Optimus Prime – the one eternally spouting the nonsense about 'not killing the enemy unless absolutely necessary' – attacked him with a ferocity he'd never seen from the mech before. It had been both frightening and exciting at the same time. Frightening because he knew that Prime fought at least as well as Megatron did – at least he did when he wasn't holding onto all his ideals and restraint. Excitement danced through his systems as well, the challenge of fighting against a more than worthy opponent surging through him and goading him on.

That fight had been so terrifyingly one-sided after a few minutes that he knew he'd have to think fast. Prime had his hand in his chasis – had in fact pulled the cover clean off in one hard tug before grabbing ahold of his flaring spark. Oh, and the pain…it had been one of the most painful things he'd ever experienced in his long lifetime. He knew he owed the medic a thanks for talking the massive bot down before he'd crushed the hunter's spark.

He'd had to toss the femme to get loose, leaving Prime to make the split-second decision of saving her life or ending his. He still ended up being flung into the far wall, but that was a small price to pay for his freedom. He'd gone through one of the most excruciating transformations to get back into his vehicle form before tearing out of the warehouse as if the very fires of the Pit were after his aft. In a manner of speaking they probably were, as his spark was long since damned to suffer eternally for his many transgressions. Never regret, he always told himself. Never regret and keep surviving. He had been forced to retreat – a hit to his pride, but better that than having his spark extinguished when Prime realized the real reason the Saleen tossed his intended victim. No way was he sticking around there with thirty plus feet of pissed-off mech…hence the tossed squishy and his abrupt retreat.

"You are…such a…coward."

The words rang in his head, refusing to let him be. A coward. Of all things, a coward. He was no coward. He was one of the best hunters in the Decepticon army. He'd never refused a challenge, never backed down from a fight. He was smart; he knew how to pick his battles. There were times when he'd had to ignore a direct challenge to his person – mainly when it was coming from someone he had no wish to fight or that he knew would hand him his aft. In those times he pretended he didn't hear them, – thus he wouldn't have to taint his name by refusing the challenge. There had been many that wanted to fight him, to prove that they were the stronger or the better strategist, but ultimately those ended with either his challenger's extinguished spark or someone stepping in. No, he was never a coward. Even with darkness clouding his vision, he still knew no fear. If he was going to die, it would be with his pride intact.

The reports had been coming in since Mission City. A police vehicle with LAPD markings, had been seen in various places across California. The sightings ranged from the outlying town of Tranquility, all the way up to San Francisco –usually in a steady pattern of patrol. It was strange for a lone squad car to travel that far out of its jurisdiction, especially when there didn't seem to be anyone for them to chase. It stunk of a stolen vehicle, but for now she kept her opinion to herself.

The case had been presented to her two weeks ago, when the Saleen Mustang in question had been seen in the vicinity of Tranquility for the fourth time in the course of three days. At first she had resented being given the rather mundane case, but figured it would be a good chance to visit her old hometown while closing a case that had been ongoing for several months now. Plus it would be a welcome change from the horror she'd been dredging through since April. The very thought made her sick to her stomach. She shook her head, clearing the lingering thoughts of her last case from her mind and focusing back on the task at hand.

This was how she managed to be going down this little off road just out of Tranquility, and she was glad she was. The black and white came tearing out from the direction of the town, looking like it had been through a war zone. As soon as she saw it, and the fact that the driver was not in sight, she stuck the red light she kept in the cab on top of the car and turned it on. She hadn't had the luxury of regular lights and sirens since she'd been promoted to a plain-clothes cop over a year ago – something she often cursed when things like this happened. It wasn't like she couldn't use one of the squad cars if she really wanted to; it was just that she liked being inconspicuous when in pursuit.

With the light going she immediately increased her speed, thankful that this was one of the lesser-used roads coming out of Tranquility. The traffic, as little as it was, split before her as she kept picking up speed. Even without a siren the red light got the message across. She was glad for this too, especially when the black and white ahead of her started weaving on the road. He was either hurt really bad or he was drunk, either of which could spell disaster to the civilians traveling this road with them.

"Come on, buddy…get off the road," she murmured as she shifted gears and got right up on the tail of the Saleen. The closer she got to the trashed car, the worse the feeling in the pit of her stomach got. Whoever was in that squad car was hurt badly, if the condition of his vehicle was anything to go by. She was surprised he was even still able to get that thing moving. Looked ready to fall apart, for sure.

His lights were gone, and only the vague, warped blaring sound she heard every few minutes told her that his siren was still working. The rear guard was trashed, and the rear fenders not much better off. It made her wince just looking at him. If this was any indication of the extent of damage to the car, then was there even going to be a living person in the vehicle when this chase was over? There were a few things that could have caused this, and the distinct stages of damage said that it had gone on just recently. It was hard to determine just how bad things were just from looking at a severely trashed squad car, and she was determined to pull him over and call it in.

It took two calls to Tranquility PD, an hour and a half, and much weaving through stopped traffic before the black and white finally went off the road, tipping almost sideways in a ditch right off the shoulder. A low sigh of relief echoed through the car, and she patted the dash lightly. Her car was an older model Ford – definitely not meant for such long distance chases like this. It still baffled her that she was on this case in the first place. A stolen vehicle and high-speed chases weren't exactly in her job description any longer. Well, it was a welcome relief to the harsher cases she'd been on recently. With another sigh she pulled over onto the shoulder and got out, tossing the tan trench coat she'd worn into the front seat then leaning over to call it in to the locals.

Halfway down the steep incline into the ditch she was glad she'd called it in as an officer down. Even without confirmation on that fact, something told her that she would be dealing with a police officer, even if it was an AWOL one. Besides, help tended to arrive faster when local cops thought that it was one of their own involved. Cops everywhere were like that, flocking to see what they could do when one of their own was the one calling for help. The car was fully trashed – the hood gone, the front rim and guards dented and forced nearly off the frame. One door was only just on its hinges, and she could see mud seeping into the interior from the missing door on the passenger's side.

It was one of the most bizarre things she'd seen in her entire career. Faith Norton was used to odd sightings in and around the city of Tranquility, especially since the incident at Mission City. There had been several requests for police backup on that day, and she'd been one of the many cops trying to get terrified civilians out of the city while hell rained down from all over. The government had tried to keep it under wraps, bribing people into silence and removing all images and audios recorded during whatever had gone down there. The media never got wind of it – were in fact fed this load of crap about terrorists and bombs.

Still, this counted as the oddest thing she'd seen. The big Ford was completely devoid of any sort of driver, but the steering wheel was still moving frantically as if someone was driving the trashed car. She allowed herself to slide until her hand came into contact with the side of the car, drawing back sharply when she felt it literally cringe at the touch. Weirder still was the faintly glowing thing sitting in a slight nook next to the exposed engine block. Whatever it was didn't look like it belonged there, and she didn't even know the first thing about cars.

Faith inched her way around the vehicle, ignoring the violent cringing from the thing as she used it to start climbing up the other side of the ditch in search of a driver. Of course, due to the mud and the slightly sinking Saleen, she slid back down after only getting halfway back out. She swore she heard a faint grunting sound when her feet connected again with the top of the cab, but chalked it up to her imagination. Then of course that self same mud caused her to loose her footing and she went sliding clean off, bouncing hard off the nose of the car before ending up sprawled a few feet in front of it.

"Ow! Oh yeah…that was graceful. Nice one Faith." She told herself, wincing as she stood up and looked around again. There was no sign of the officer this car belonged to, and she was starting to worry that he'd been thrown from the vehicle when it had slid down into the ditch.

Help…help me….

The sound of a masculine voice ground out, the sound coming from out of nowhere. It made Faith jump, her gun out of its holster in an instant. It took her putting her back against the Saleen and making a scan of the area before her mind registered what she was hearing. Someone was asking for help. Quickly holstering the gun she stepped forward, keeping the black and white at her back just in case.

"Hello?"

Such….odd timing….You will…do…for now.

Brown eyes rolled, sarcasm flooding into her voice. "That's a nice way to say thank you to the one saving your stupid ass."

Not…stupid…hurting…not safe.

Faith winced, realizing from the fading in his voice that this guy didn't have a lot of time left. She needed to get to him now, and worry about his lack of manners later. She wasn't sure what he meant when he'd said he wasn't safe, but she'd worry about that later too. Besides, she had her gun in case someone came up that wasn't friendly.

"Where are you? I can help you, but only if I know where you are." She coaxed, again sweeping the area with her gaze in search of the source of the weakening voice. "Come on, fella, you need to get to a doctor. I've called for an ambulance; just tell me where you landed. Don't try and move, I'll come to you."

Can't believe…I have to….do this….

She snorted again. "Do what? Be rescued? Or is it because I'm a woman?" She knew enough about bad injuries to know that the longer she kept him conscious, kept him talking, the better his chances would be. Even if he was starting to really piss her off with his chauvinist crap.

A low chuckle sounded, followed by a loud snort. He wasn't speaking again, but she could tell that he was close by. Had to be, for his voice to be that clear with how much blood he had to have lost by now. That car was too torn up for him to be unscathed.

Before she could start calling for him again the strangest thing happened. The strange glowing thing from earlier sat hovering in front of her, its pulse weaker than the last time she'd lain eyes on it. It was vaguely orbital in shape, and had a bluish tint to it that she hadn't noticed before. It was only about the size of a basketball now, well below the beach ball size it had been only a few minutes before. Whatever it was, it was going out. What was worse, it had the same voice as the police officer she was searching for.

No…time…have to…do something. I…refuse…to die…like this.

Faith's eyes were wide in her head and she started backing away from the orb. Something told her she did not want that thing to touch her – that it would be really bad if it did. So she backed away, putting her back to the side of the ditch and getting as far away from the Saleen and the weird orb as humanly possible. If she'd been sure of her footing she'd have climbed back out the ditch and gotten back in her car.

"Don't come any closer. I'm armed." she warned, drawing her gun once more and pointing it at the orb. She wasn't sure it would have any effect on that thing, but it was better than nothing.

Ah now…why are you afraid? Didn't you…say that you'd help me? the voice coaxed, sounding both stronger and weaker at the same time. The erratic sparking and pulsing the orb was doing couldn't be good, but the strength and surety in his tone told her something else. He might have been dying, whatever he was, but he wasn't going to go without one hell of a fight.

The orb came towards her again, this time slowly, and he was letting off soft strings of a language that she couldn't understand. It sounded vaguely like he was talking to a frightened child, or a wild animal. Neither analogy made her feel any better. After about a minute however, desperation started tinting his tone and she knew that his time was growing short. The unknown words came out more rapidly, beginning to take on a frantic, almost angry tone; the orb sparked even more violently as they did so.

Tried to…make you understand…stupid, horrible luck…no choice…now.

Everything after that was sort of a blur, as things happened too quickly for her to react. She knew the orb had shot forward and made contact with her body, sending her flying forcefully from the ditch to hit hard against the side of her car. The world swam in streams of light and dark, colors swirling together and combining with the light and dark to chase her into unconsciousness.

One last thing held onto her as she drifted deeper into the world created by her mind as it shut down. Barricade. His name was Barricade.

Yep, a new story.
Don't worry, I'm still working on AiSA.
As always please read and review.
All reviews are appreciated.