The sun's rising rays penetrated Sam's eyelids and woke him. Where he was, he was unsure of, but there was not a gust of wind anywhere that indicated that his bed was moving. He looked over at his sleeping love and couldn't help but stroke her face gently, which caused her to wake. "Oops. I didn't mean to wake you." Sam said softly looking into the dazzling eyes of his beloved. She stretched and smiled and responded with the typical greeting of "good morning." It took a few moments for Mikaela to come to the same realization.

"Why aren't we moving?"

"I don't know. Maybe Barricade stopped while we were asleep"

"I hope so...Where are we?"

"I don't know...but judging by the landscape we are close to Nevada, or perhaps in it."

"Well, let's see what's the hold up" Sam said preparing to jump off the giant robot. As he did he looked down to see a horrible sight, a sheer drop right at the edge of his feet that may have been a 100 foot drop. Sam gasped and fell backwards and "crab-shuffled" as far away as he could get away from the edge, which meant he jabbed his back into on of the metal pipes protruding from the droid's thigh. Sam grabbed on to it and hoisted himself up from the ground with shaky knees. "Mikaela...I think I know why we stopped." Sam said with a quivering voice. As he inched his way forward, he refused to let go of the giant, who seemed to be motionless. Mikaela looked over at Sam and hung on to one of the spikes that made up Barricade's spine.

"What is it, Sam?" Mikaela said looking at him, who was now hanging on to the bumper of the truck nose that made up the robot's chest. Judging by the creature's position, it didn't fall asleep at the edge of a cliff. Behind the beast where skid marks, which made Sam believe it tried to stop or trip. Even the position of the motionless body ,which had the legs sprawled in different positions and the torso slightly turned so that the head hung limply over the edge with the chin barely touching the cliffside, suggested that this was an accident. Mikaela started to climb down the same way Sam did, but her foothold slipped on the sleek metal. She let out an ear piercing scream as she flailed her arms around and caught hold of the smallest horn on Barricade's forehead. "SAM!!!" She cried as she felt her fingers losing there grip around the slippery object.

Sam watched as her loved one tried to hang on. Then he climbed back on to the giant shoulder and inched towards Mikaela. He carefully put a foot on the back of what little neck Barricade had and tried to climb over the sharp crest to get to one of the first horns, but by the time he had a leg over the sharp point, Mikaela's grasp weakened and she slipped off of the horn, now falling to her death. Sam jumped off of the robot's neck and landed gracefully on the cliff and wished there was something he could do, not realizing the motionless body springing to life and leaping off the cliff. As soon as the black flash of the long segmented tail caught Sam's eye, he knew that he should find a way down to see if the two made it out ok.

Mikaela felt as if everything was traveling in slow motion as she looked down to see there was more than just a cliff, but also a very steep hill that lead to an even larger cliff. She looked back to feel cold metal fingers wrap around her and bring her close to a familiar truck nose. " I'm going to put you in my mouth Mikaela. It will be safer inside if you stay away from the small teeth." Barricade said and the next thing Mikaela knew was she was being forced into a large mouth with three rows of sharp jagged teeth and a metal object that appeared to be a tongue. Once she was inside the large cavity she backed herself into a corner and curled up protecting her head and chest.

Almost as soon as the large jaws shut tightly, Barricade looked at the ground which was only meters away and prepared to sink his claws into the steep hill. With a thunderous boom, the robot landed on his feet, but could not keep his grip and tumbled down the steep hill to the other cliff. The whole time Mikaela felt like a pinball, bouncing around the deep cavities of the clenched jaws, not once hitting one of the small teeth designed for ripping things to shreds. However, the teeth were gouging into the mouth, causing a black liquid substance to trickle out of the newly made wounds.

As the seconds flew by, Sam had watched Mikaela being stuffed into the robot's mouth who was now only a matter of yards away from taking the next fall while trying to find a way down the huge mountain. To his good fortune, there seemed to be a trail that lead down the way, but how long it would take Sam to get to the bottom, he didn't know. All he did know was that he needed to run like hell and pray he didn't slip and join his comrades. Soon he found that there was a very familiar highway below and that if things went as the way they were going, Barricade was going to fall in the middle of it.

Rounding the corner was an on duty State patrolman, who was seeing if there was anything fishy going on at the top of the plateau, which there usually was. Today was going to be no different. As he rounded the corner a young man came streaking past and nearly knocked the older man over. WHOA! Steady now son! Now where are you going in such a hurry?" the old and understanding trooper said following the boy down the trail.

"Oh! Good..look..this will be hard for you to understand, but there is a giant robot, maybe 20 feet tall and 30 or 40 feet long getting ready to crash into the ground, and possibly on any passing cars."
"Yeah..Ok...can you come back to my cruiser so I can check you out for anything like drugs, alcohol and your record?"

"No..Look over there! I'm being serious Sam said pointing at the robot who was now hanging on to the edge of the second cliff trying to hoist himself back onto the semi-flat ground. The trooper rolled his eyes, but looked over anyway to the man's gesture and to his surprise found that the crazed man was telling the truth. Immediately the trooper got on his shoulder intercom while sprinting down the trail with Sam following behind.

"Dispatch, I need cruisers blocking traffic on Highway 57 around the Sheer Drop Plateau, ASAP"

"10-4, What is the situation, Trooper?"

"Giant black mechanoid might fall on the highway. Repeat: Giant Robot falling off cliff!"

"..."

"Hello? Dispatch? Do you copy?"

"Did you just say "Giant Robot?"

"Yes and it's will fall on traffic if no one blocks it off"

"Roger. All Available units, proceed to Sheer Drop Plateau and block on-coming traffic, Repeat: Report to Sheer Drop Plateau and barricade traffic." Dispatch chimed in as they reached the bottom of the plateau. Apparently the trial winded around to the back, which was a long slopped hill, and quickly lead to the ground where a white Nevada cruiser waited. "Hop in!" the trooper shouted as he opened the door to the driver's side while whimsically leaping in and firing up the engine. Sam opened door to the passenger's side and strapped himself in and braced himself for an adventurous ride. The lights and sirens were flipped on and the cruiser streaked towards the highway at breakneck speeds. Ahead another trooper whizzed past preparing to stop traffic at the other end of the plateau. Now on the Highway, the trooper stopped and traffic from his end screeched to a halt and honked their horns, thinking the officer may have lost control. Immediately the officer was joined by others, as well as S7 who had intercepted the call to dispatch and deployed an " in the area " unit.
While everyone watched the struggling beast in horror, Mikaela was trying to figure out what was going on while still inside the giant's mouth. Most of her sanction had filled with the gooey black liquid and she was beginning to worry about what was going to happen. Outside of her confines, Barricade was desperately hanging off the edge. Though his powerful arms had a good grip on the rocky edge, is lower half was too heavy to lift with just his arms. Every-time he tried to sink his lower claws into the cliffside, the rocks would crumble underneath the sudden pressure and soon he was just digging a hole, which was making it harder for him to climb back up. The giant robot then tried a new alternative, moving to a different location, but the cliff had other plans.

Right as The black droid moved it's right leg to the side, the cliff began to crumble and the great strong hold that he once had, was lost and now, 1.5 tons of metal and machinery came plummeting towards the cleared highway. All of the pedestrians, who stood a good distance away, watched in utter silence as the creatures limbs flailed helplessly in the air. Sector Seven, who had found Mr. and Mrs. Witwicky, Epps, Lennox and the grandparents from the escapade in Oregon, waited patiently for the mini earthquake. Sam and the Trooper felt as if time had come to an almost complete stop as the watched the black figured collide brutally with the ground.

Word had gotten out about the event and all where there to see. Reporters, other officers from other parts of the state, Helicopters, even a few vehicles that could be recognized as the Autobots were there to see the sudden appearance of S7, with guns, tanks and all, secure the area around the fallen beast, who appeared immobile. Agent Simmons was the first to give out the order. "All right boys! It shouldn't be hard to tag this one now, so move up on it nice and easy." he shouted for everyone to hear. Sam quickly reacted and leaped sprite-like away from the trooper and tore after Simmons. "No! Mikaela is still there!" He shouted tackling the older man to the ground. Instantaneously other agents were prying Sam off and hanging onto his arms while Simmons picked himself off the ground and brushed off the dust.

"You mean your criminal friend?"

"I thought we forgot about that?"

"Tell that to the new Secretary of Defense."

"So now your just going to Barricade? What are you going to do with him?"

"Figure out what he wanted"

"He wanted to know who he was"

"Still a federal offense" Simmons said shrugging his shoulders. He turned around to see a very familiar foot standing before him. Following the foot up, Simmons saw none other than Optimus Prime standing at his highest and looking angrily down at the agent. Behind him were his trusted comrades Ironhide, Ratchet, and Bumblebee, all of which were looking very unhappy for whatever reason. "Mr. Simmons. I know you don't mean us harm, but please inform this 'Secretary of Defense' that if he wants us to leave, then he's got to tell us himself. And frankly, we will stay here and fight for this Decepticon before we see you harm him in a science experiment" Optimus announced to the feeble man and any who wanted to listen. Sam couldn't help but be proud of Optimus's words. He smiled and when the agents around Sam let him go, he raced over to Bumblebee. "Sam. You, Prowl and Mikaela get out of here. We will distract S7. Meet us back home when Prowl is feeling better." Bumblebee whispered.

Sam looked around and tried to figure out who Bumblebee was talking about, but he didn't get time. Bumblebee nudged Sam with his foot and the small human got the hint and ran over towards Barricade, who looked like a proud majestic beast who was shot by a hunter. Sam wasn't sure if the robot was dead or alive but he quickly found out when the creature struggled to it's feet. As he got to his feet it lowered it's head and gently dropped Mikaela on the ground, who was covered with the strange liquid. Sam hugged Mikaela now knowing that she seemed fine and explained to her that they needed to leave. "Ok, but can Barricade get out of here?" she said as she turned to look at the creature who was breathing heavily to cool down his boiling spark. The strange black liquid continued to trickle like ooze out of the mighty jaws as the beast nodded it's head and turned away from the commotion that was now beginning behind him.

"I have enough energy for a strong sprint. Hop on." Barricade murmured as he lowered his torso to the ground for Sam and Mikaela. They found that his body was torn from the fall and the strange liquid oozed out of more than his mouth, but as they were about to question, the giant took off on his four long legs at a sudden and tremendous speed. Sam and Mikaela hugged each other around a black spike hoping that the wind and force wouldn't knock them off.
After only what seemed moments, Barricade's legs gave away and he came crashing to the ground at 120 miles an hour. If it hadn't been for his front legs being tucked under him, he would have rolled to a stop, but instead he skidded 80 feet before stopping, breathing hard and spark pulsing quickly. Sam and Mikaela instantly hopped off and looked at the exhausted robot. The strange liquid seemed to be coming from everywhere and it was beginning to worry both of them. "Barricade. What is that stuff?"

"It's...like...blood"

"You guys can bleed?"

"No...time...for...physi-...ology"

"Wow, you really are tired. How long do you think before your up and running again?"

"Depends...on...injuries...Mikaela..."

"Back there. Bumblebee said something about how 'Prowl should rest'. Do you know what he means?"

"When did he say that Sam?"

"Just before we left."

"Prowl...I haven't...heard...that...name...for...so..long"

"Then you know about it?"

"'Prowl'...used...to...be..my Autobot...name" Barricade explained as the last part slowly faded into more of a sleepy trance. The two red eyes on the left side of his head slowly shut and lost their red glow, as Sam and Mikaela presumed that the robot had just passed out from exhaustion. "That's right. Didn't Ratchet or Bumblebee say something about him being an Autobot? I didn't think that his name would be changed in whatever process they did to him." Sam said with his thinking face on. Mikaela sat down and let out a heavy sigh and smiled. Sam gave her a questioning look as she looked up with an almost excited smile. "Do you know what this means, Sam? This means that Barricade, or Prowl, will soon be our friend forever"