The only characters that belong to me in this story are Sunblaze and Death Star.
Chapter 3
Escape.
The doors to the huge Decepticon base rolled open slowly allowing a cool fresh breeze from the night to enter into the base bringing a freshness o the air inside. Outside it was a clear night with a full moon which blanketed everything with a silvery light. The peacefulness of the night just around the entrance to the base was disturbed by the roar of engines and the whir of gears as transformers transformed into their alt modes or robot modes depending on who was going and who was coming. The Decepticons coming in were boasting about their evening antics of fear and destruction.
Nobody noticed a purple femme hiding in the shadows of the entrance to the base awaiting her friend. She watched the comings and goings carefully trying to keep as quiet as possible and hoping nobody picked up her signal. Suddenly Skywarp turned up; if anybody could find her, he would. He'd be able to find her if she was the other side of the universe, Death Star and Skywarp were becoming the attention of the base. She was a good catch; not that Death Star appreciated being referred to as something to catch and if he continued with this idea he would certainly feel her sting. She wasn't called Death Star for nothing.
Finally it was quiet now and all Death Star had to do was wait for the yellow femme. Sunblaze gingerly crept out of her hiding place and along the dark corridors trying to keep as obscure as possible, which was becoming very difficult with her bright yellow armor. Something clattered behind her, Sunblaze froze, scared to look around. She waited a few nano seconds…nothing! Once again the yellow femme quietly made her way to the entrance of the base. She heard her comm. Link open,
"Sunblaze, where are you?" Death Star snapped through her comm. Link,
"I'm coming," Sunblaze replied,
"Well hurry up, before I change my mind Sunblaze," the comm. Link closed abruptly, "I must be mad doing this," Death Star thought to herself.
Finally the yellow youngling walked around the corner in full view of the camera. A black hand grabbed at her shoulder joints and pulled her into the shadow. Another black hand covered her mouth components before she could scream,
"Shut up before you get us both caught, you stupid femme," a voice hissed in her audio receptors.
Death Star turned Sunblaze around and looked her squarely in the optics,
"Now is your chance. Don't waste it. It is dangerous out there. You will not be safe until you are in Autobot territory and even then you won't be safe. If you see Ironhide or the Lamborghini twins avoid them, they will kill you. DO NOT make any contact with humans. Do you have a holoform?"
"Y-yes," Sunblaze stuttered,
"Good use it. You don't want to draw attention to yourself,"
Death Star pushed the override button that was next to her. The doors to the base rolled opened, she punched in the override code for the alarm before it could sound its shrill squeal, alerting the Decepticons the doors were opening when they shouldn't be,
"Transform!" she ordered Sunblaze. The doors slowly rolled open revealing freedom for Sunblaze,
"GO!" she ordered the yellow mustang. Sunblaze revved her engines squealed her tires and she was gone in a cloud of smoke and smell of burning rubber,
"Be careful friend. Find the Autobots and remember the next time I see you we will probably be enemies,"
Sunblaze heard the message and closed her comm. Link instantly.
The night was quiet and the moon was now covered by clouds as Sunblaze raced along the country roads Dead End had taken her along to get to the border line of Autobot/Decepticon territory. Her Decepticon symbol was emblazoned across the bonnet of her vehicle mode and she promised herself that the first thing she'd do was get it removed but right now Sunblaze's first thought was survival. It was quiet making her powerful engine seem more noisy than normal. She was not aware of an invisible Autobot spy watching her from the dark forest, following her to see where she was going to. Nor did she notice Laserbeak above her following her until she picked up his signal. The yellow femme turned and drove onto a forest track putting her straight onto a collision course for the Autobot spy,
"Mirage to Optimus Prime,"
"Go ahead Mirage,"
"I have seen a lone Decepticon femme driving along the road heading towards Autobot territory. What do you want me to do?"
"That's odd," Prime thought to himself,
"Follow her if she's alone Mirage but stay hidden, other Decepticons could be on her trail or she could be a decoy,"
"Ok Prime. Mirage out,"
Optimus Prime called Prowl and Jazz to his office. Jazz entered the room alone,
"Where's Prowl?" Prime asked the saboteur,
"Recharging sir," Optimus Prime nodded. He knew how hard Prowl worked and how little time he gives himself for recharge. He looked at Jazz,
"Mirage has spotted a Decepticon femme driving alone, heading towards Autobot territory,"
"Do you think it's Sunblaze?"
"I don't know Jazz but if it is her it's possible she got caught and is now attempting to escape. Can you try to contact her and if it is her maybe you and Prowl could go with Elita and Chromia to find her and bring her here. It won't be long before Decepticons realize she's gone and come after her,"
"Yes sir,"
Jazz walked to his office and opened his comm. Link to Sunblaze. The yellow femme recognized the ping and opened hers to Jazz,
"Sunblaze, where are you?"
"I don't know. I've escaped the base. Megatron found out I was giving away secrets now he wants to kill me... Jazz, I'm scared," Jazz could hear the quiver in Sunblaze's voice and knew that in the state she was in it would only be a matter of time before she was caught,
"Sunblaze, calm down," Jazz soothed, "Where are you now?"
"In some woods somewhere," the black and white mech smiled, that was good news,
"Good femme, try and stay in the woods, you are hidden. There is an Autobot following you but don't panic Optimus Prime has given him an order to follow you," Sunblaze looked around the woods, "You won't be able to see him he's invisible. We are going to come and find you, Prowl will be there and Chromia and Elita who I believe you've met. Sunblaze you know the Decepticons will be looking for you soon, don't you?"
"Yes Jazz. That's why I'm scared,"
"Okay sweetie. Remember, stay calm. We're coming," Jazz wasn't happy with this situation. He didn't know how long Sunblaze would survive out there. If she was as scared as she sounded she may not be thinking cleary and could run into trouble. The black and white mech closed his comm. Link and put his head in his hands. It was going to take everything Sunblaze had to survive until they could get to her.
"What do you mean she's escaped?" Megatron roared to his 3IC,
"I can't find her. The doors were opened last night after the shift change,"
Megatron cursed as he sat back down in his chair, "Go out there and find her. Bring her back to me so I can punish her myself,"
Soundwave really wanted to tell Megatron she'd done it before and that she was his daughter but that would only infuriate his leader even more. It was going to be hard enough keeping her from him now without adding more problems to an already volatile situation. The communications officer was determined to bring her back and make her his, she will cooperate with him...he'd make sure of that. He went back to his office and organised a search party.
Sunblaze was finding it very difficult to find a place to hide. The full moon was disappearing and reappearing in a game of hide and seek making it very hard for her to find a place to hide. She felt like she was under the spotlight and was really beginning to get frustrated. Sunblaze looked around and there in the moonlight she saw an area of thick bush which was big enough and thick enough to hide her. Sunblaze wriggled into the thicket, the darkness swallowing her up. Mirage watched her as she desperately tried to wriggle into the thicket feeling sorry for her, "This is not normal Decepticon behaviour," he thought and cringed at the sound of the thorns scratching along her body. Finally she settled down and dimmed her optics so they didn't shine through the bushes; the only sound was her systems slowly ticking over and the odd shuffle from an animal as it moved around the woods. An owl fluttered as it took off from its perch to find retrieve is quarry; the screech of the animal rang out in the night air, and a wolf howled. These sounds were new for Sunblaze but she felt safe in her hiding place and drifted into recharge.
The alarm sounded from the Decepticon base as the huge doors rolled open and the Stunticons, Ravage and Soundwave left the base to find Sunblaze. Death Star was woken up by the sound of the alarm, she listened as the sound of Megatron's voice rang out through the base,
"Find her and bring her back," Death Star lay in her berth and said a silent prayer to Primus for her friend.
At the same time Prowl, Jazz, Elita one and Chromia left the base and headed for the direction Mirage said she was coming from. Elita had a sense of urgency to get to the femme before the Decepticons did; she knew how ruthless Megatron could be with any Decepticon who betrayed him and Sunblaze would be no exception. Chromia agreed to go with Elita; they were the only two Autobots who'd got close to her. Arcee wanted to go too be Optimus Prime thought it would be too much for Sunblaze if too many Autobots went out to get her.
Sunblaze awoke in her hiding place with a start. She was hungry and stiff from sitting in a cramped position. She wriggled her way out and stood up slowly. The yellow mustang searched through her files until she came to the one that would give her her energon levels, they were low but she had enough to last her another day plus the energon she'd packed in her subspace when she was hiding in her room.
A cougar had been out hunting all night and was now walking back to her cubs. She was walking quietly along the forest floor watching carefully as she went and got disturbed by Sunblaze's movements. She crouched down on her belly and moved silently past the bushes keeping an eye on the strange yellow creature. Sunblaze suddenly stood up straight and stretched frightening the cougar that fled and ran up a tree. The cougar snarled at Sunblaze frightening the femme and sending her into panic,
"Ravage," she said out loud transforming at the same time. She fled from her position and drove out onto the open road.
The Autobots were drivng up the same stretch of road and had got to the area where Sunblaze was hiding. Elita was in the front of the small group and had picked up Sunblaze's signal first,
"There she is," Elita cried and sped off towards the femme.
Sunblaze looked around. She saw five cars coming towards her from a distance and when she looked at their symbols she mistook them for Decepticons. Had she of checked her scanners she'd have realized she was running from Autobots and that she was heading for the Decepticons who were searching for her. Mirage was following her from a distance in the forest,
"Oh no she's heading for Decepticons," he said to himself and sped off along a forest trail to try to cut her off.
Jazz and the others picked up speed and raced to catch up with Sunblaze but she was very fast and already had the advantage of being so far in front of them. They had no choice but to watch her drive off and hoped she'd pick up the Decepticon signals before it was too late. Sunblaze continued driving as fast as she could to get as far away as possible from the transformers she believed to be Decepticons. Her scanners were reading a clear path ahead, so she continued going but suddenly stopped when the first Decepticon symbol appeared on her scanners. Luckily she was just passing a dirt truck, Sunblaze slammed on her breaks and turned onto it.
Dead End saw her turn off onto the dirt track, "This way,"he yelled and pulled off the road onto an open field, closely followed by his Stunticon friends.
By the time the Autobots got to the dirt track she was long gone and so were the stunticons,
"What do you think? Prowl asked Jazz,
"I'm going to radio Prime. Hopefully Mirage has managed to keep up with her,"
"Yeah, I wonder what startled her?" Prowl asked as he rubbed the back of his helm,
"Dunno," Jazz replied, then opened his comm. Link to Optimus Prime,
"We've lost her Prime,"
"Okay Jazz, return to base and wait for her to contact you," Optimus replied,
"Optimus wants us to return to base and wait for her to contact us," Jazz replied,
"We can't do that," Elita exclaimed, "We can't leave her out here, we don't know how much energon she has left and what if the Decepticons get her. They'll take her back and kill her,"
She survived one night outside, I'm sure she can survive another," Prowl replied,
"But…"
"We have to obey Prime, Elita," Chromia interjected sadly,
Elita reluctantly left the area, checking her scanners every so often to see if she was around but there was nothing.
It was midday and the sun was high. Sunblaze was sure she had lost Mirage and felt lonely and vulnerable, she settled herself on top of a rock and wondered where to go now. She looked around, all she saw was hot dry sand with the odd clump of green vegetation and blue sky. She was in the desert and had no idea where the Autobot territory begun and the Decepticon one ended. The yellow femme lay on the rock and looked up into the sky; an eagle was floating on the thermals, it looked so free and happy, "Soon Sunblaze, soon you can be free like that bird," she thought to herself. Voices coming from behind her disturbed the peace of the moment. Sunblaze turned over, crept to the top of the rock and peered over the edge. She couldn't believe her luck, Firestar and Arcee were there; they had been out on patrol together and decided to stop for a while,
"Autobots," Sunblaze was just about to call to them when something grabbed her leg,
"Got you," a raspy voice said, Sunblaze turned around and looked in horror at Dead End who was smirking, "Somebody is looking for you,"
"Well he can carry on looking because I'm not coming back," Sunblaze bellowed,
"Oh but I think you are, Megatron wants you back" he countered,
"No, Dead End I won't come back,"
"Yes you will," Dead End grabbed her and tried to pull her away, but Sunblaze fought against him,
"Get off leave me alone," she growled, hoping she was heard by the Autobots,
"What was that?" Arcee asked,
"I don't know," Firestar replied,
More scuffling and yelling could be heard. Arcee signaled that she was going to look,
"Be careful," Firestar replied.
Arcee slowly climbed the rock. She saw Dead End who had Sunblaze in a firm hold. He appeared to be trying to pull her off the rock but the youngling was struggling and fighting. The yellow femme looked up and saw Arcee who signaled for her to not give her position away. Arcee slowly lowered herself and opened her comm. Link to Elita 1,
"I have found Sunblaze; she is being pulled around by Dead End. What shall I do?"
"Keep an eye on them but don't do anything, we're on our way," Elita replied
Elita turned in a different direction hoping Chromia and the others would follow her,
"Elita, where are you going?" Prowl yelled at her,
"Arcee and Firestar have found Sunblaze. She's in trouble,"
Prowl sped up so he was abreast of Elita, "No Elita, we have orders,"
"Don't worry I'll explain to Prime," she called back, "Sunblaze needs our help,"
Dead End suddenly stopped what he was doing, he'd picked up Firestar's and Arcee's signals. He turned the yellow femme around,
"It seems we have company, you're going to attack them," Sunblaze gasped; her only chance of getting to the Autobots was about to be taken away from her by her own hands,
"ATTACK THEM, WHAT FOR?" she asked alarmed,
"Because they're AUTOBOTS" he hissed. "We need to DESTROY them and I'll destroy you with them if you don't stop asking me stupid questions "FEMME!" he thought maliciously, "Before they destroy us,"
He forced her to the ground and made her creep to the top of the rock. Sunblaze didn't like this one bit and decided to cause a bit of distraction for the Autobots to give them a chance. They climbed the bluff above where Firestar and Arcee were hiding; Sunblaze found a rock which she pretended to accidentally knock,
"Oops, sorry," she smirked as she watched the rock bounce along the ground then roll over the edge of the the rocks landing right next to Arcee. She quickly turned around and looked up but didn't see anything. Dead End hit Sunblaze around the cpu.
"GLITCH!" he yelled, forgetting what he was about to do, "Now they're going to kill us,"
"OWW!" Shadow yelled back.
Firestar and Arcee looked really puzzled at each other,
"What's going on up there?" Arcee asked
"I don't know but Elita doesn't want us to engage the Decepticon just observe them," Elita drove up to the rock and transformed. The others were still a little way from her. Arcee ooked up and caught the sight of Dead End leaning over the top of the rock with his weapon aimed at her.
"Elita LOOK OUT!"
He had one hand over Sunblaze's mouth components so she wouldn't make another noise but her plan had already worked and attention had been drawn to them. She struggled against the brown mech so he put his knee upon her chassis; she had no choice but to lay there and listen to the femme as they struggled to avoid his shots tears pooling in her eyes. Then she remembered she had Jazz and Prowl's link line. She opened it,
"Jazz help me, Dead End has me,"
"Sunblaze where are you?"
"In the desert, on some rocks. He is going to kill some Autobots,"
Dead End took a shot at them hitting Elita in the chest knocking out her communications system. Smoke billowed out of her chest and the pain was excruciating; she tried to turn off her pain receptors but another shot rang out causing her to jump out of the way. As she did she knocked the pain receptors out causing them to become disconnected.
"AAaaahhhhh" Elita cried out.
"Elita" Arcee yelled and run to her and straight into Dead End's sight where he coud take another shot. She was hit in the shoulder, just missing delicate cables in her neck and fell to the ground, energon pouring from her wound.
"Elita help me" she cried but there was no answer. Arcee lay there, her life source forming a puddle around her as she faded into unconciousness.
A rough hand pulled Sunblaze up by the back of her helm and pulled her over to himself; getting right in her face, "If you EVER pull a stunt like that again I will personally arrange for you to go into permanent stasis and send you to the matrix. . UNDERSTAND?" he snarled darkly.
She stood there glaring at her trainer defiantly, quietly daring him to follow through with his threat. The brown mech raised an eyebrow ridge as if to say, "well?" The youngling nodded, she had to give the Autobots a chance to be rescued and was relieved to hear Firestar transform and start field treatments while calling for help. If she could get Elita and Arcee stable then they'd have a chance to survive the journey back to the base,
"Good! Now transform and go back to base," Sunblaze transformed and left the area but as she did she relayed the coordinates and seriousness of Arcee's and Elita's injuries to Prowl and Jazz.
The Autobots had been driving through the Nevada desert for a while when they got the coordinates of the Autobot femmes. Sunblaze saw the large cloud of dust in the distance moving toward the coordiates and smirked. Dead End saw the cloud of dust as well and wondered how they could know where to go so quickly. He looked at Sunblaze suspiciously, "mmm an Autobot sympathiser eh?" he thought to himself "we'll see what Megatron has to say about that," The other Stunticons surrounded Sunblaze so she couldn't escape. They were going to take her back to Megatron, that was their orders.
At the base Sunblaze was immediately forced to transform and placed into energon cuffs before being hauled to Megatron's office. The silver mech turned around and glared at Sunblaze. He then growled as he sat down,
"What do you have to say for yourself?" he asked.
Sunblaze stood in the grey giant's office she felt intimidated by the Decepticon leader and the size of his office and really wanted to get away from him,
"Sir she's an Autobot sympathizer," Dead End said.
Megatron looked at her his optics glowing with anger, "First of all you give away secrets," he said quietly, "Then you escape and now," he yelled, "I find out you're an Autobot sympathizer. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Petrified, Sunblaze could only stand there, "Answer me!" he barked. Nothing! "Fine, you will go to the brig and you will be punished as an enemy of the Decepticons. Soundwave!"
Soundwave stepped forward and reached to her communication device and offlined it along with her weapons and then marched her to the brig. She walked quietly with Soundwave, what was she going to do now? Sunblaze knew she was now in a lot of trouble and there was no way out of it, "Jazz, Prowl, please help me," she quietly pleaded. Sunblaze walked into the empty cell and watched energon bars lock her in. Sunblaze lay on her berth and waited for the moment when she'd be called to face Megatron, Soundwave and Starscream. There was no escape for her...not now!
Elita 1 and Arcee had been successfully rescued and taken back to the Med bay. Prime left his office and raced to the Med bay bursting through the doors. Ratchet was calmly walking around the Med bay fetching everything he'd need to treat the femme; he'd already called for First Aid and Wheeljack to come in and help and they were busy stabilising Arcee who's injuries looked more serious than Elita's. Prime raced to Elita's side and looked down at her his expression full of concern for his bonded. He felt Elita's pain and sorrow and tried to comfort her.
"What happened?" he asked her.
A black hand rested on the leader's shoulder, "Prime she's badly injured. Let her rest sir." Optimus nodded in agreement he wanted to stay with her but knew he'd be in Ratchet's way; which was NEVER a good idea.
"I'll be talking to Prowl if you need me Ratchet." Ratchet looked up at Prime, it was obvious he was troubled by Elita's injuries and most likely by the young Decepticon who'd made her way into some of the officer's sparks, "Okay Prime try and get some rest," Ratchet advised
Prime left the Med bay and found Prowl sitting in his office filling out data pads. He looked up,
"Prime how's Elita and Arcee?"
"Arcee's injuries are very severe she is being treated now by Wheeljack and First Aid, Elita has terrible injuries too but not as severe as Arcee's but I believe they will both pull through. I don't know who your informant is but please thank them for me." Prowl nodded.
The tactician knew that Sunblaze was there because she'd communicated to him soon after the incident. He hated to think what she was going through now and wished he could just go and get her. Optimus Prime slumped down in front of Prowl and cycled air through his vents. He really wanted to sort this problem with Sunblaze out but to go and rescue her was far too risky. Or was it? Prowl looked up at his leader. He knew that look and he knew what would be coming shortly,
"Has she tried to contact you?" Prime asked, Prowl shook his head,
"I expect her communication systems have been shut down," the tactician replied, Optimus nodded,
"I wonder why she went through all this, what was it for?" Prime thought aloud, "Does she want to move across to us," Prowl looked up at his leader,
"Now there's a thought," he replied, "Wrong way to go about it though,"
"Yes but she's young, perhaps we should rescue her," Prime said,
Prowl looked up, "Let's think about that one," he said as he got up, "Energon?" he asked Prime with a smile.
Optimus got up and walked to the rec room with the tactician neither saying anything but both of them knew what they had to do.
Will thngs change for Sunblaze? Find out in the next chapter.
