Chapter 3
Long Haul survived the multi rocket attack, albeit with another painful groan. Then he
realized that he was swaying. He forced himself to stop swaying, and gauged the weight of the
building on top of him.
"All right, hang on." Long Haul said to the kids. "I think I can force my way out."
He shifted as best he could, and found that the destruction of the rockets mixed with
the weights that Wheelie had removed made it seem possible for him to free himself. He shifted
his weight, and brought one of his feet forward to brace himself before straightening his back
and lifting with his legs. The pieces of the building that were laying on top of him slid off behind
and to the side, leaving the large section where the two children were standing free and open.
Long Haul looked around quickly and then back down to the kids.
"You stay here, I'll be right back." He said, jumping over the pile of rubble. He rolled
and kicked out with a foot, taking out the Decepticon's knee from behind. The Decepticon
shouted, more in surprise than anything else, as he fell, releasing Wheelie as he went.
"Wheelie, get-" Long Haul started to say, but Ratbat immediately appeared out of
nowhere and attacked Wheelie, jumping on his head, and knocking him down. "What the hell?"
Long Haul tried to shoot Ratbat, but he was too close to Wheelie to risk it. So he
jumped up and ran over to them.
"Wheelie, move!" Long Haul shouted. Wheelie pushed Ratbat up and off of him, and
rolled out of the way just as Long Haul's fist slammed down on the back of Ratbat, smashing
him into the concrete. Almost immediately the Sweep punched Long Haul in the side with an
energon punch dagger.
Long Haul grabbed the punch dagger, and launched an elbow into the Decepticon's
face, knocking him back. Without missing a beat, Long Haul pulled his big pistol and fired
several shots into center mass of the Decepticon at close range, following it up with two shots to
the head.
The dead Sweep fell, and Long Haul groaned in pain as he leaned heavily on a short
building to support himself while he felt around the punch dagger, and where it was sticking out
of him.
Wheelie was about to say something, but another volley of rockets erupted around
them.
"Get down!" Long Haul shouted, but one of the rockets took Wheelie in the abdomen,
blowing one of his legs off entirely, and nearly ripping his torso in half vertically. What was left
of Wheelie landed near what was left of Ratbat.
"Wheelie!" Long Haul shouted. The rocket blast had pushed him to the ground as well,
and with the dagger still protruding from his side, he wasn't able to move very fast. "Dammit!"
"There!" Preceptor said, pointing a hand that Red Alert had been able to free. "Third
floor of that parking garage!"
Both Preceptor and Red Alert fired at the parking garage, and the rocket launching
Decepticon before he could send off another volley. A large section of the middle floor
collapsed down and in the dust storm that followed, they saw some movement. The decepticon
who had been firing rockets transformed and began running towards them.
"Oh dear." Preceptor said. "I fear we have only angered him."
Long Haul was about to turn around and put his big pistol to good use again, but
something caught his eye. A small antenna had emerged from Ratbat's head, and a thin cable
shot from Ratbat's eye to attach itself to Wheelie's head.
"I don't think so." Long Haul said, green energon dripping from his mouth. With a
groan of pain, he pulled the punching dagger from his side and dropped to one knee, chopping
the cable in half, before shooting Ratbat in the head.
"Decepticons, fall back!" Came the order, and just like that, the remaining Decepticons
took off without explanation.
Red Alert's vehicle raced up to Long Haul, as he tried to stand up, green glowing
energon flowing from his side. She transformed and grabbed him.
"Long Haul! Don't try to stand up." She said, helping him to lay down on his back.
"Are the kids all right?" Long Haul asked, weakly.
"Your kids?" Red Alert asked, confused. As an answer, Long Haul pointed to the pile
of twisted rubble that used to be a building. Two small heads peaked up from the ruins. "Oh.
Yes, they are fine."
Long Haul let out a fading groan, and laid his head back.
"Autobots report." Jazz said.
"Blaster, still blastin'."
"Preceptor here. I am free from the train bridge now."
"This is Red Alert. Wheelie is gone, and Long Haul is critical. I have to get him back to
the infirmary."
"Long Haul is our muscle." Blaster said. "What do we do when the only one strong
enough to carry us all goes down?"
"We call the Sparklings." Jazz said, watching several black SUV's pull up and people
in black suits get out. "Preceptor, when they get here, have them help you search for survivors,
and then bring Wheelie's body back to the base. Blaster, you help Red Alert with Long Haul.
Don't let the sparklings know that Long Haul is injured; not yet anyway. I'm going to get some
answers."
A few minutes later, a late model White Ford GT, a black and purple Jeep Cherokee, a
pink and black Polaris Slingshot, and a blue Ducati motorbike rolled up to Preceptor and
transformed.
"Ah, Sparklings. There you are." Preceptor said.
"I'm not a sparkling." The Autobot who was a Ford GT said. "I'm 18. Human's are
adults at 18."
"What happened?" The female Autobot who was a jeep asked, looking around at the
destruction.
"Decepticons attacked after a suicide bomber also attacked." Preceptor said. "We lost
one of ours, I'm sad to say, and we need help picking up our fallen comrade, as well as the two
deceptcons who are dead. And we also need to search for surviving humans."
"Who was it? The autobot that died?" The female autobot who was a slingshot asked.
"It was Wheelie." Precepter said, sadly. "Now I know you weren't close to him, but he
was one of ours."
"Great. Clean up work. Yay." The Autobot GT said. By the tone of his voice, it was
obvious that he didn't want to do it.
"Clean up work is very important." Preceptor said.
"Then why are we the only ones doing it?"
"Jazz is talking with the authorities." Preceptor said. "Really, there's not much else to
do after the Decepticons attack. They are a rather messy bunch."
"Oh yeah?" The GT asked. "Where's blaster? Where's Red Alert? Where's-"
The GT's casual glance around suddenly got more intense.
"Hey, why is there energon fluid all over the place here?" The Jeep Autobot asked.
"Wheelie's body is over there."
"Energon fluid?" The Slingshot, also a female, asked.
"Now, Ember, Amethyst, Gear Jammer, we have important work to do." Preceptor
began.
"Where is he?" The GT asked.
"Gear Jammer, please-"
"Where. Is. He?" Gear Jammer, the GT demanded.
Preceptor sighed and looked down at the ground.
"Blaster and Red Alert took him to the Infirmary." Preceptor said.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Gear Jammer shouted. He transformed into his car mode
and took off at top speed.
"Please, Sparklings." Preceptor said, moving to stand in front of the other three. "He's
in good hands. It's best if you just let Red Alert..."
As he was talking Ember and Amethyst transformed into their cars and sped away.
The last one, the blue Ducati followed them.
"And you're just going to ignore me." Preceptor said, sadly watching them leave. He
sighed. "I was never good with Sparklings."