Murphy's Law
Chapter 7: CA-89 to I-5 N
According to Mapquest, the drive from Central Nevada to Portland, Oregon, was around fourteen hours. The caravan of Autobots managed to make it in seven and a half. Grace rode the entire wire with Bumblebee, asking him to stop only twice. Once for lunch at a Wendy's in Fresno, and again at a little no-name gas station near the border between California and Oregon for cold soda and a bathroom.
It was a little past five o'clock when they reached Portland. The roads were jammed with traffic as office workers trudged home after a Monday of hard work. Optimus Prime led them off the interstate and through several neighborhoods, where wide-eyed children watched the caravan with awe. The houses faded away into sloping hills as they turned south, trees springing up between the hillocks to shade the road.
After nearly half an hour on the little back road, Jazz blared his horn and darted in front of Prime. He slowed down and turned onto a dirt and gravel road that led into the forest, towards a large mountain. The others followed, and as they turned Grace caught sight of a road sign farther down the road:
OREGON CITY : 12 MILES
WASCO RIVER CAMP GROUNDS : TURN LEFT 1 MILE
"The compound is a few miles past the camp," Bee explained as they followed the others. Grace nodded, watching in amazement as the low-slung sports cars ahead of them drove easily over the washed out roads. Even the BW wasn't bouncing. They silently passed a road that branched off to the left, leading towards a small cabin and several wide, cleared spots, a few of which held tents and camp fires. No one noticed the eerily-quiet caravan as it crawled by.
Jazz's voice slid smoothly out of the radio. To her credit, Grace didn't jump; the mechs had used Bee's radio to communicate during the trip, instead of their internal radios, to keep the human in the loop. "There's a clearing up ahead, off the road a little ways. Should be able to hide us pretty well 'til we can get our friends back."
The caravan came to a stop along an uneven stretch of road, with thick trees on either side. Bumblebee's hologram shimmered out of sight, and Grace took the hint and slid out of the car, bag slung over her shoulder. The ten robots transformed, and glanced around the road before following Jazz into the forest. The human hurried after them, glad that being small made it easy to slip through the trees.
A quarter-mile into the woods was a circular clearing, and the leaf-ridden mechs quickly filled it and stretched out their joints, tired from the long drive. Grace found a log that hadn't rotted completely away and used it as a perch as she watched the mechs move about. The officers immediately formed a tight circle and began whispering in low voices, while the soldiers inspected the trees and sky with interest. Hound plucked a branch off one of the towering oaks and sat beside her, examining the leaves closely.
"Are you nervous?"
"No, should I be?" She reached out and plucked one of the leaves from his branch. "I mean, it'll be just like before, right? Sneak in, turn up the heat, sneak out. Easy-peasy lemon-squeezey."
"Aren't you worried about the guard?" Hound asked curiously.
Grace waved her hand at him. "Nah, Jazz looked up his work file. Some guy named Sam Witwicky. Twenty-five, going to college for an engineering degree or something. I doubt a geek like that can shoot straight."
"Careful what you say," Bumblebee warned as he joined them, "Wheeljack is what you would consider a 'geek,' as well as a wicked good shot. When he's got his head on straight, at least."
"Who's Wheeljack?"
"Our resident mad scientist. Hopefully we'll find him soon. Jazz's visor needs an update, and Jumper's complaining that his gun isn't big enough again."
"And by gun you mean...?"
Bee gave her a confused look. "His gun. You know, the thing he pointed at you a week ago."
Snickering, Grace kept her thought to herself and leaned back. "I'm not worried at all. The plan is sound, and if we get caught, I can say that I got lost while hiking and ask for directions."
"Speaking of the plan," Jazz sidled up, making Grace jump, "the sun is starting to set. You two should get going." He crouched and smiled at her, "You got all our numbers in your cellular phone, right?"
Grace held up her new phone and wiggled it. "Yep, all of 'em."
"If you need any help, just call. Text. Whatever. We'll come runnin'." Jazz tilted his visor in a wink. "The place is right down the road. Good luck!"
The Oregon compound was scarily similar to the Nevada base. There were four large hangers made of pressed metals, which were surrounded by a ten-foot-tall chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. There was a large yard as well, but instead of being dust and sand, it was covered with a thick carpet of pine needles and leaves. Trees crowded in on the fence, except for where the dirt road wound through the forest and up to the gate. Instead of an RV, a trailer home stood in one of the corners, cemented to its spot with a concrete patio complete with a three-legged barbeque and a picnic table. The windows were dark.
"Damn," Grace slid out of Bee's drivers seat and stared through the fence, "He has a nicer trailer than I do!" She looked over the yard, and at the four hangers. "Coast is clear, Bee. Nobody's here." She pulled at the gate, and was a bit surprised when it slid open a few feet. "Hah, not even locked. This will be a piece of cake."
"Be careful, Grace," Bee cautioned as she slipped through the gate. She had barely made it two feet in before their dreams of a simple in-and-out job were shattered.
A huge, drooling beast with foot-long fangs and gigantic paws galloped across the yard, roaring loudly. Grace couldn't help it – she screamed and backpedaled, tripping over herself to go heels-over-head against the fence. With a speed she couldn't imagine, Bumblebee transformed and shoved the gate completely open, moving to stand in front of her.
And promptly burst into laughter.
The year-old yellow lab barked again, tail wagging as he jumped eagerly on his long legs. The Autobot crouched down and held out a hand, which the puppy eagerly sniffed. Grace scrambled to her feet and stayed behind the robot.
"You're scared of dogs?" Bee was still snickering.
"Shut up," the human muttered, still eying the dog warily.
The Autobot scratched the dogs head with a finger. He immediately rolled over on his back and wiggled happily in the dirt. "What a cute little thing. You're a good boy, aren't you?" The dog jumped to his feet and began barking again. "Yes you are, you're a good boy."
"Shut him up, Bee. He'll wake the guard!"
A light came on in the trailer. The two froze, and Bee did an impressive about-face and leapt back, transforming as he did so. The dog, startled by the sudden movement, began to growl and bark at Grace, who was the only intruder left to direct his ire at. The door to the trailer slammed open, and a man jumped down the steps with a rifle pointed at the gate.
"Who's out there?" He roared, hitting something on a post set in his patio. Lights flared to life all around the fence, bathing the yard in yellow florescent beams. Grace backed against the fence, hands thrown in front of her face to soften the light. She felt the gun in her back pocket nudge against her back, reassuring her that if things did get out of hand, she had a way out.
"Dammit, Spike, I was almost asleep!" The man un-cocked the rifle and swung it up to rest on his shoulder. The dog continued to bark, tail wagging hard enough to shake his whole back end. "Shut up!" The dog immediately snapped his muzzle shut and sat, tail still going like mad.
While the man had yelled at the dog, Grace had scrambled to sit on Bee's roof, well out of reach of the curious and friendly puppy.
"You can get down now, miss. He doesn't bite." The man stopped by the front bumper and gave the car a cursory glance.
"If it's all the same, I'll stay up here," Grace muttered, a blush coloring her cheeks.
The man smirked. "Suit yourself," he shrugged, "What are you doing up here?"
"I got lost," Grace lied smoothly, brushing her hair away form her eyes and she tried to remember the story she and Jazz had cooked up. "I was supposed to meet a friend and hike up Mt Saint Hillary to a camp spot, but I think I took a wrong turn."
"A lot of wrong turns," the man sighed. "Here, get down. I'll put Spike inside and print you a map." He grabbed the dogs collar and dragged the Labrador into the trailer.
"You okay Grace?" Bee asked as the girl jumped off his hood and landed awkwardly on her new boots."
"Yeah, just, I don't like dogs," she muttered, brushing herself off. "I'm gonna slip in while he's distracted. Can you wait in the woods? If he doesn't see a car, he'll think I left."
The car transformed and nodded. "Good idea," he sunk back into the trees, fading from sight.
Grace's phone buzzed in her pocket, and she glanced at the screen to see a new text message: CALL IF U NEED ME. -BEE.
Grinning, and glad she had taught the bots to text, the human slipped back into the yard and snuck across to the hangers. The mans voice floated through the open windows of the trailer, mingled with the dogs whines, and a printer chugged to life. Hugging to the shadows, Grace moved to Hanger 4 and forced open the door. It gave a rusty shriek, and the grumbling in the trailer halted. The mans face appeared in the window, and Grace barely managed to duck into the dark room before he spotted her. After a moment the dogs barking resumed, and she released a breath she didn't know she had been holding as he went back to work. She squeaked the door shut and turned to survey the room.
It was the same as 'her' hanger: large, dirty, rusted, and utterly empty. She ran across the room to an empty stretch of wall and began poking and prodding the surface. Within a minute she had found the button and activated the lift. There was a groan of unused gears, and a slab of concrete slid aside to reveal a steel life, just like the on in Nevada. With only a moments hesitation, Grace leapt aboard and hit the 'down' button.
Cold greeted her as she stepped off the lift into a familiar steel hall. She pulled a small silver square from her pocket and shook it out to reveal a space blanket. Clutching it around her shoulders, the human opened the door on her right and flipped on the light.
Five unconscious, frozen giant robots greeted her. Each sported a red 'Autobot' face and Grace couldn't help but beam. The trip had been successful! She had found more of Prime's troops, and Bee's friends. Take that, Ironhide!
She turned the heater up and wandered into the hall. The room opposite proved to be empty, as did the larger room at the end. There was no door to a huge underground base beneath the catwalk, nor any rusted hunks of spaceship. A crash from the now-heated chamber grabbed her attention, and she sprinted back up the stairs and hall and peeked inside.
One of the mechs, mostly white with green and red accents, had tripped while stepping off the table. A large, blocky black mech chuckled as he helped his comrade up. The red mech (why did these robots like that color so much?) leapt gracefully off his table and stretched a grin crossing his face. A yellow mech stood a bit away from the others, arms crossed and glaring. He was carefully taking in the room, and was the first to spot Grace peering in.
"Human!" He snarled, drawing a gun from nowhere and aiming it at the door.
Grace squeaked in alarm and threw her hands up. Wait, wait! I can explain! Optimus Prime-"
The gun fired, and a smoke hold appeared beside her foot. She jumped to the side as the yellow mech approached, having a sudden, awful feeling of Déjà Vu.
"Sunstreaker, stand down!" The last mech in the room moved quickly, placing himself between the two. He was red and blue, and reminded her of someone.
"It's a human! They did this to us!" The yellow one yelled at the larger mech. "They took everyone! Prime, Jazz, Prowl," his voice broke, "Sides."
It clicked, and Grace cautiously stuck her head around the big mechs foot. "Are you Sunny?"
"Don't call me that!" He snarled.
She beamed. "You are! Bee and Hound and everyone have been so worried that they wouldn't find you!"
"Why?" The yellow mech sneered, "They need some heads smashed in?"
"No, they're worried about Sideswipe."
It was like a bomb went off. There was a whirlwind of movement, and a series of gunshots followed by the sound of some mech being hit on the head.
"Are you alright?"
It took a moment for Grace to realize that she was sitting in the large mechs hands. She glanced over the edge of his fingers and saw more smoking craters where she had been standing. Sunstreaker was lying on the ground, a rather large dent in his head, as the black and red mechs worked on disarming him.
"Does that run in the family?" She asked and at the mechs confused expression she elaborated, "Sideswipe tried to kill me the first time we met, too."
"That's odd," the green and red mech came over, "Sideswipe is usually the calm one."
Grace snorted in derision, "That's what everyone says," she muttered.
"Human," the mech holding her shifted, "Did you say you know where Optimus Prime is?" His optics fairly shined with hope.
"My name's Grace, actually, and yes, he's the one who sent me to thaw you out."
"My apologies, Grace. I am Ultra Magnus. This is Wheeljack, Blaster, and Trailbreaker. Sunstreaker you've already identified."
Blaster stuck his head into the hall, then looked back. "Where are they?"
"Up top, in the forest outside the camp. There's a human guard, and it was easier for me to slip in and wake you up."
"We are in your debt," Ultra Magnus bowed his head in thanks. "How are we to get out of here?"
Grace pulled out her cell as she explained. "Bee and Hound are going to make a distraction so we can sneak out. The lift in the last room should still work. Then we-" She stopped, staring in horror at the text messages scrolling across her screen:
U OK G?
I DETECTED GUNFIRE. R U SAFE?
GRACE?
GRACE? ARE YOU HURT?
I M COMING DON'T WORRY!
"Damn!" Grace had gone pale. "Put me down!"
Ultra Magnus did so. "What is wrong?"
"Bee heard, or scanned, or something, the gunshots! He's gonna break cover!" She sprinted down the hall to the lift and leapt over the gate, smashing the up button frantically with one thumb, texting with the other. "I'll be back, I swear," she promised the worried mechs who had followed her as the lift took her out of sight.
"Huh," Blaster grinned, "She reminds me of the twins."
"Don't tell her that," Ultra Magnus warned before sending Wheeljack to inspect the larger lift.
Grace's worst fears were realized as she shouldered the door open. Bumblebee and the guard had their guns pointed at each other, and were snarling threats back and forth. Unfortunately for the girl, Spike was the first to spot her. With a howl of excitement, he galumphed over.
"Agh, no! Call him off, call him off!" She threw up her hands and backed up against the door. Spike drooled happily as he sniffed her boots.
"Good boy, Spike! Keep her cornered while I take care of this ugly creature." The guard crowed in triumph.
All three were rather shocked when his rifle yanked itself out of his hands and flew across the yard to land in Wheeljacks outstretched fingers. He clenched his fist, destroying the weapon, and the fins on the side of his face flickered as he spoke. "I'd suggest you stand down."
The man paled, swayed, and then much to Grace's delight fainted dead away. Spike abandoned smelling her shoes in favor of sniffing his owner, and the girl sighed in relief.
"Wheeljack!" Bee holstered his gun and the two grabbed each others forearms in greeting. "Blaster, Breaker! Um, why is Sunstreaker dead?"
"He's not," Trailbreaker set the yellow twin down non-to-gently. "Magnus gave him a good thump after he tried to hurt your cute little human."
"Grace!" He practically teleported to her side and knelt down. "Are you alright?"
"Fine," she smiled reassuringly, "but thanks for coming to my rescue. Again."
"You do have a bad habit of getting into trouble," Bee grinned, still running scans over the girl. "You're certain he didn't injure you?"
"Injured! Gracie-girl, what have you gone and done now?" Jazz had materialized in the yard out of seemingly nowhere, and was rocking back on his heels with a delighted grin.
There was a shout of 'Jazz!' and he found himself dog-piled by three excited mechs. Grace watched the scene with amusement. "What happened to keeping a low profile?"
"Sunstreaker shot at you."
"Oh, right." Grace watched Ultra Magnus emerge from the hanger, and Bee stiffened at her side.
"Magnus," he breathed, before bounding across the yard to embrace him. The large mech returned the embrace and spoke softly to the minibot. Grace surveyed the happy mechs and felt any lingering doubts about helping the Autobots disappear. These weren't evil giant robot aliens, they were just guys who missed their friends and family.
An arm reached around her throat and as the gun was snatched from her back pocket. Sam Witwicky snapped her head back and pressed her gun against her temple before dragging her back into the shadows, and away from her Autobots.
A/N: I take it back; I've been working through my grief by writing a lot more. Yay! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up within the next month or so.
PLEASE REVIEW! I LOVE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM!
