Author's note: Okay, guys! I am sorry for the semi-slow update. All of your comments had me so pumped, I couldn't find the right place to stop. It's a bit longer than my usual chapters, so that's good. Anyway, I love hearing from everyone! Thanks for the comments and reads! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
Warnings: None
Word Count: 5,356
"I believe in evolution in the sense that a short-tempered man is the successor of a crybaby." ~Criss Jami
"Oh, good, you finally crawled out of your dusty, dark office and joined the rest of the humans and Autobots in the sun. Vitamin D, it's good for you," Maggie says sarcastically, when she sees Sam in the lunchroom, eating.
Sam rolls his eyes. "Yeah, well, too much of it will give you cancer."
Maggie blinks at that for a moment, thinking. "Oh, ha! Touche!" She sits down across from him with a bowl of raisin brand. Sam shakes his head, ducking his head down to hide a smile. After a few minutes of eating in silence, Maggie asks, "What's on the agenda today?"
Sam finishes chewing on some toast, before answering, "I am actually going to practice my speech some and look to my other duties, that I've neglected for the past week."
Maggie makes a face at that right as someone else says, "Wrong!"
Sam looks up to see Will sliding into the seat next to him, Ironhide not far behind.
"Will is right, this is the first time most of us have seen you in days. Time to get out and have some fun," Ironhide says. "No buts," he cuts in when Sam opens his mouth to protest. Sam leans back in his seat and let's out a long drawn out sigh escape him.
"Come on guys, I've got a lot of work to do. It's bad enough I slacked off this long," Sam protests weakly, not really all that opposed to the idea of not doing the mountain of paperwork he knows is waiting for him.
"True," Will solemn amends, the grins charmingly. "But one more day wont do anything more. So, today is going to be a relaxing day for us. Robert is going to run drills so I'm free today and Maggie doesn't do much of anything, anyway so there's no loss there-"
"Hey!" Maggie says indignant.
Will continues as if he wasn't interrupted, other than the smile on his face. "And you run this place so you can leave on your own authority."
Sam gives Will a look. "And since I have all of this power, shouldn't I be responsible with it?"
"No," Ironhide says, gruffly.
Sam looks at Ironhide, trying to hide his smile. "Optimus would not approve."
The black Autobot turns away, grumbling something about a strict leader. Bumblebee makes a noise of sympathy at Ironhide, who only gives him a dry look in return.
Will nods slowly to himself. "How about we vote on it?" Before Sam can answer, Will asks, "Who's up for a day of relaxing fun?" Maggie, Bumblebee, Ironhide and Will all raise their hands. Sam opens his mouth to comment, but Will continues, "And who thinks Sam is a stick in the mud?"
Maggie and Will's hands stay up but Ironhide and Bumblebee's falter out of confusion. Maggie quickly explains, "Sam's not being fun right now. That's what a stick in the mud is. No fun." Their hands straighten back up.
Sam glares at them playfully. "Hardy har. Can I say something?"
"Sure," Maggie says sweetly as they all lower their hands.
"How are you guys going to leave? I mean, doesn't Prowl have you on a strict schedule? I mean it's not like just asking Optimus, you guys know how Prowl better than I. He will hunt you down if you turn up missing for an assignment. Have you thought of that?" Sam asks, eyebrows risen to hide behind his bangs. Both Bumblebee and Ironhide cringe at that.
Will and Maggie pout at that, and the group sits in silence either cursing Prowl or trying to think of a way past Prowl. Optimus is the only one that can overrule Prowl and he's been in a terse mood since this morning, thanks to Sam, so he probably would tell them to work it out with his second, Prowl the Fun Devourer.
"What's going on?" Arcee asks, walking up with a plate of energon cubes, Cliffjumper at her side.
Will's eyes light up. "I've got an idea!"
"And why do you need Bumblebee, Ironhide, Cliffjumper and Arcee?" Prowl asks skeptically.
Sam twists around to glare at Will, who smiles sweetly and nods for him to go on. Bumblebee, Ironhide, Arcee and Cliffjumper cower behind Maggie and Will. Cowards. Though, Sam guesses he can't blame them, Prowl's a real hard ass, and a stickler for order. Similar to Ratchet in that sense. Sam's beginning to understand why people call him Ratchet the Hatchet behind his back.
Sam slowly turns and looks up at the imposing red Autobot. He smiles, or tries to, realizing how fake it looks, he squints so as to not look into suspicious blue optics. "Protection detail?"
Prowl raises an eyebrow. "Are you asking me or telling me?"
Sam blanches, cursing Will in his mind. "Telling?"
Prowl harrumphs, turning away to type something into the computer in front of him. He looks through the schedules of the aforementioned Autobots, checking to see what they were suppose to be doing today.
"Bumblebee," the mentioned Auotbot tenses at the sound of his name, "if you do not do living block construction, you are leaving the load for Skids and Mudflap to do on their own," the red Autobot turns to look at the wide eyed yellow Auotbot. "Can you live with that?"
Bumblebee snorts, nodding. Arcee turns her head away to hide a smile. Prowl seizes them up with a calculating gaze, which makes the four Autobots straighten their backs.
"Don't make me have to punish you for something stupid done while outside the base," Prowl warns. Eight heads bob up and down. "Good, you may go, but you must alert Optimus before so."
Sam makes a face. This reminds him of when he was younger and his parents would always say yes to him going out but right before he leaves though in "Oh, and tell your father" or "You better let your mother know that your going". Sam has to shake away the memories and make a mental note to call his parents up and see how they are doing.
"Thanks Prowl," Sam says, backing away before the second-in-command can change his mind.
Prowl grunts, turning away from them to reformat the schedule because of the absence of five Autobots. Luckily nothing essential is being done at the moment, so a bit of leniency is fine. As if Prowl is going to believe that Sam and the rest of those fools would go out with the intention of anything other than fun. Optimus will see so too, so ultimately the decision is up to him.
"Never again," Sam says once they get out of earshot of Prowl.
Will laughs, clapping his back hard. "Don't worry about that. Come on, let's go talk to see Optimus and then head out."
"Okay, who's going to talk to him?" Sam asks.
"I can," Arcee offers.
Will nods. "Good, thanks Arcee."
The pretty blue Autobot nods and walks off, scanning the area for Optimus. Sam shuffles on his feet, having an inner conflict with himself. He needs to apologize to Optimus about this morning, and avoiding him is just delaying the inevitable. Maybe this is the perfect oppertunity to give himself and Optimus some peace of mind. Boy does he wish this would just go away on it's own.
Mustering up the strength, Sam calls out, "Wait, Arcee, I'll go with you. I have to talk to Optimus before we go too." He hesitates for a split second then shakes his head and forces himself to move. This is Optimus. His friend. There is nothing wrong with going to see him.
Why is Sam so worried about seeing Optimus? It's not like Optimus is going to yell at him and Bumblebee already said that Optimus wasn't mad at him. Although... that doesn't mean that he's not mad. Sam curses himself for thinking that. Now he's worried again.
Just buck up, Sam, he thinks, it's just Optimus. Not some serial killer.
"Where is he?" Sam asks Arcee, when the blue Autobot pauses and looks around as if confused.
Arcee shakes her head again. "Sorry, I just... I just got a strange feeling is all. I thought for sure... no. It's nothing. Optimus is at the firing range." She transforms into her alt mode. "Hope on."
"I've never rode... ridden, whatever. I've never driven a motorcycle before," Sam says wearily.
Arcee revs her engines. "Oh, Sam. I'm no motorcycle. And who said anything about you driving?" She chuckles. "Hop on and hold on tight."
Sam blanches at the idea but obliges. "Please don't kill me, Arcee."
"I'd never, Sam," Arcee says confidently. "Optimus and Bumblebee would never forgive me if I do."
Sam rolls his eyes. "That's reassuring."
The ride to the firing range was a swift and scary one. There isn't much that can paralyze Sam in fear, but Arcee's driving is one of them. Sam's legs are shaking by the time they get to there. Optimus's trailer is there, opened up for his weapons. There is multiple targets yards away from him, big and small, all varying in size and shape. No matter the shape or size, Optimus hits it with precision that years of war time would provide.
Arcee transforms into her bipedal form, and the two wait respectfully for him to pause.
It takes a few minutes before Optimus pauses and notices their presence. He turns to look at them, his battle mask is slid protectively over his nose and mouth. His eyes are hardened and narrow. It takes him a moment to completely transition from battle to neutral presence. Optimus straightens out of his battle stance and lowers his canon, battle mask slipping off his face.
"Arcee, Sam," he acknowledges, nodding to both of them. "Is something wrong?"
"No, Optimus, everything is fine," Arcee says. "I am actually here on behalf of Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Ironhide and myself."
"And I have something to discuss with you," Sam says. He shrinks a little when Optimus's heavy gaze lands on him. "Nothing, bad. Just wanting to clear some stuff up." Sam says quickly.
Optimus nods, turning to Arcee. "Very well, you first."
Arcee straightens up. "Um, the four of us wish to... accompany Sam, Will and Maggie on their day out, today..." She stares up at Optimus and then quietly adds, "Prowl already gave the okay..."
The corners of Sam's lips turn up at that. It reminds Sam of children asking their parents to let them do something, even after one of them gets permission from one for the parents.
Optimus raises an eyebrow. "And what exactly are you guys planing on doing?"
Arcee shifts uncomfortably. "I'm not a hundred percent certain of that yet, sir. We figured that we needed to get through Prowl before making any finite plans." She looks away from Optimus, like she's in trouble for something.
"Oh," Optimus nods. "If Prowl has already adjusted the schedule, than it's fine. Keep them safe, alright?"
Arcee nods. "Yes, Optimus. Thank you."
"You're welcome. Keep in touch and let us know what's going on."
"Yes, sir." Arcee nods, smiling. She looks down at Sam. "I'll let you speak in private, I'll be over there when you're ready to go."
"Alright, Arcee. Thanks. I'll be with you in a few minutes." Sam and Optimus watch in silence as she heads further off on the firing range, pulling out her own cannons and turning away to give them privacy. "How about a short walk?" Sam suggest.
Optimus nods and the two walk in the opposite direction in silence.
Finally, Sam looks up at the Autobot leader. "Optimus, I'm sorry. I had no intention of making you mad."
"I'm not mad," Optimus says quickly. He glances down at Sam and sees the disbelieving look on his face and looks straight ahead again. "I'm not. At least, not a you or at what you said this morning."
Sam stops walking, still craning his neck to look at the red and blue Autobot. "Then what?"
Optimus stops walking, closing his his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Just some issues about..." Optimus hesitates. "It's nothing that you should have to concern yourself with. I've just been trying to ignore it for a long time and reality just kind of crashed down on me."
"This morning?" Sam asks quietly.
Optimus sighs, a rush of air from his vents. "This isn't your fault, Sam. Remember that. It's my fault. And now it's just something I'm going to have to figure out how to deal with it now. Don't worry about it, please. You already have enough on your plate, as is."
Sam frowns, not sure whether he should fight it or not. If it's important enough, then Optimus will come talk to him soon enough, right? Sam hoped so.
"Okay," Sam relents. "So... Optimus, how would you feel about a day off?"
"How do you do it?" Will asks. "I mean it. How do you do it?"
"What's that, Maggie?" Sam asks, nodding to the lunch box at her side.
"You'll see, later," Maggie says, patting the plastic with a smile.
Sam nods slowly then gives Will a look. "Do what, now?"
"How do you manipulate people so easily with out even trying? Is it because you flash those doe browns?" Will asks, laughing as the group makes their way toward the front entrance. The Autobots transform into their alt forms.
Sam subconsciously goes to Bumblebee's driver's side. He looks at Will with raised eyebrows. "I don't manipulate anyone without trying. I happen to be very good at it. I took a class in college. I'm surprised you didn't know about that. I'm just a bit confused on who I manipulated this time."
Maggie laughs at that.
Will shakes his head as he walks over to Ironhide. "First you seamlessly charmed Prowl into letting us go and then you got Optimus to come along. Damn, you had to of taken classes or something. Either way, I am thoroughly impressed."
Maggie laughs harder, walking over to Cliffjumper. "Mind giving a lady a ride?" Cliffjumper's front door pops open. "Thank you. Sorry Arcee, I would have asked you, but I'm just afraid that I'll let go out of fear and die. No offence. With Cliffjumper, at least I won't just go flying off the side. I still love you, though."
"Yeah, yeah," Arcee says over the radio. "Sam tried giving me that same bull."
"Ouch," Sam mock grimaced.
Will rubs his face. "Okay, fine. You've convinced me. Let me go grab my jacket. Keep in mind, Arcee, it's been quite a few years since I last rode on a motorcycle. I'll be back." Will shrugs at Ironhide and dashes off to grab his jacket. Ironhide hums.
"Sorry, Ironhide. I didn't mean to steal your buddy," Arcee says.
Ironhide shakes on his wheels. "Not at all. Besides, I think this will be interesting."
Sam grabs out his phone and checks the time. It's about one o'clock. Carly should be on her break soon. There is a good chance she'll be willing to leave work and spend a day with friends. Besides, it's been a long time since Carly and Sam did anything fun together. It could be good for their relationship.
"Hey, you guys wouldn't mind deviating from the mall to go see if Carly wants to skip out on work to come with us, do you?" Sam asks.
"Not at all," Arcee says.
"Let's do it," Ironhide says.
"Sounds good to me," Cliffjumper says. "I'm actually kind of excited to see what this is all about. I've always wanted to see what this... mall, is. This is going to be fun. Plus, I can't wait to try out my holo form."
"Goodie, we get the princess to join us," Maggie sighs.
Sam gives her a look. "What's with you ladies and your dislike of each other?"
Maggie shrugs, leaning on Cliffjumper's door. "I don't know. I just... I don't think..." she shakes her head. "No, forget it."
Sam stares at her, but she refuses to look back at him. "Maggie, what?"
Maggie scratches her curly blond haired head. She lets out a long, drawn out sigh before forcing a smile at Sam and shakes her head. "Nothing, Sam. This is suppose to be a fun day. Just forget about it."
Sam crosses his arms and narrows his eyes. "Maggie-"
"Sam, we can talk about this another time. Okay? I'm sorry that I brought it up."
"Fine," Sam holds up his hands in defeat. "We'll talk about this later. And I mean it. This isn't going to be swept under the rug, yes?"
Maggie nods, waving him off. "Yes, yes. I'm sorry."
"Sorry," Will says breathlessly, jogging up with a black leather jacket on over his green army fatigues. "Sorry about that, let's go." He notices the tenseness in the air and looks around confused. "Uh, is something wrong? Sam? Maggie?"
"No," Sam and Maggie answer at once, both sharing a look.
"It's nothing," Sam says finally. "I was wondering if it was alright if we stop by Carly's work to see if she wants to come with. That cool?"
Will nods. "Yeah, sure. Okay, Arcee," Will says confidently, turning to the blue Autobot. "I'm driving."
Arcee's engine revs. "Let's see what you got, cowboy."
Will laughs, blue eyes shining. "Alright, crew, lets hit the road. Sam, Bumblebee, lead the way."
All the humans pile into respective Autobots and with Sam and Bumblebee leading the charge, they head toward Carly's work.
Sam, along with the rest of their little posse, wait outside of Carly's work, while Sam calls his girlfriend.
After the fourth ring, Carly picks up. "Sam? Hey, I was just about to call you." Is it just Sam or does Carly sound breathless?
"Are you okay, Carly? You sound like your out of breath," Sam says, leaning against Bumblebee, looking at Will and Maggie, the latter of whom crosses her arms.
"Yeah," Carly sighs, catching her breath. "My new boss is like a nazi. He demands that I run all of the errands myself because it can't be trusted with anyone but me. He has me running up and down this building making sure everything is in order. I just came up from the fifth floor. Gosh, what a headache."
Sam smiles sympathetically. "I'm sorry to hear that, Carly. Hey, how does living a little sound?"
Carly hums, pleased. "That sounds like fun. What did you have in mind?" She purrs.
Sam laughs. "Not that, Carly. Get your head out of the gutter." Will covers his mouth to hide his smile while Maggie rolls her eyes. Sam shakes his head at Maggie, to which she just shrugs. "Actually, I have a couple of friends, with me waiting for you out in the parking lot so we can go on a not-date in a totally unromantic way to the mall. How does that sound?"
"Good," Carly sounds a bit disappointed but agrees nonetheless. "I'm going to tell my boss. I'll be out in a couple of minutes. What side of the building are you at?"
"West entrance."
"Okay, I'll be out in a minute."
"Alright," Sam says, "love you."
"Yeah, love you too."
Sam closes his phone and looks around. "She'll be out in a minute."
Carly is walking out of the building five minutes later with in her short white dress, high heels clacking against the concrete as she makes her way over to them. She smiles lightly at the sight of them. She kisses Sam when she get close.
"Shall we go?" Will asks.
"Let's go," Sam says, opening Bumblebee's side door for Carly. She smiles gratefully and gets in while Sam goes to the other side. After that, they all head out in a four car, one motorcycle convoy.
They get to the mall and all the Autobots produce their holo forms.
Bumblebee's blond haired, blue eyed mid 20's young man. Clothed in dark washed jeans and a t-shirt, the front half tucked into the waistband held together by a belt and converse, similar to Sam's black and white ones.
Optimus's shoulder length black hair, with the same brilliant blue eyes. His holo form is in his early to mid 30's, dressed in jeans and a dark blue button up dress shirt, rolled up to the elbows and plain black shoes.
Cliffjumper is a clear faced, carrot top with blue eyes and a goatee. His hair is short and messy and just a brilliant shade of orangeish red. He's in a loose t-shirt and jeans tucked neatly into combat boots with a buckled belt around his waist.
Arcee's holoform is a shapely blond amazon with big blue eyes and mid-back length blond hair made up of big curls in a small shirt, showing off her pierced belly button (the jewel looked oddly like the Autobots symbol) and cargo pants tucked into combat boots.
Ironhide looks like a mid to late 30's shaved, dark haired man with five o'clock shadow and bright blue eyes. Dressed similar to Will with green army fatigues and dog tags with the Autobots symbol on them.
"Damn," Maggie says, looking over all of them. "Why do they have to look so good?"
"It's genetics," Sam jokes.
The group makes their way into the relatively empty mall. All of the kids are still in school and it's mostly just adults getting some shopping done while they have free time. Their group of beautiful Autobots get a lot of attention form the other occupants of the mall, but, as Sam suspected, the Auotbots don't seem to notice. They are too busy looking around, admiring all of the things around them. All the war harden Autobots resort to animated children being taken into a candy store for the first time. Even Optimus.
Sam gets a thrill of pleasure up his spine at the sight of these war harden warriors, smiling in pure glee and surprise. There is no shadow of doubt, or hint of worry, just pure amazement. And Sam loves it.
"Sam, it looks like Cliffjumper and Arcee need a little help on coupling it up, don't you say?" Carly whispers into Sam's ear. The human hero twist his neck around to see the two, aforementioned Autobots walking side by side, stiff like boards.
Out of all the Autobots, Bumblebee's movements and facial expressions are the most spot on, if Sam didn't know any better, he'd think for sure the blond haired boy was human. Next is Ironhide, who spends a lot of time in holo form to spar around with Will and the other NEST soldiers. Optimus is next, with little to no experience in his holo form, Arcee who only uses it when she's in her alt mode, which stays in one position and then Cliffjumper, who is on his first time use.
Sam nods at their straight back, stiff walking forms. "I see what you mean. Hey, Cliff," Sam calls, smiling to himself at the nickname. But it catches all the human formed Autobots' attention. "Hold your hand out like this." Sam has his hand low in-between himself and Carly, down by their waists with his palm upward. Cliffjumper stares for only a moment before mimicking with precision.
"And Arcee," Carly says, looking over her shoulder at the amazon. "Do this." She smoothly interlace her fingers with Sam's and they let their interlocked hands fall relaxed to their side. Arcee mimics and when her fingers touch Cliffjumper's, they both smile at each other. Just as Sam expected, their fingers lace perfectly and then drop to the center space in-between them. Sam can see their faces flush in embarrassment and has to marvel at how well done their holo forms really are. With enough practice, they could all pass as humans.
"Come on, 'Hide," Will laughs. "You want to hold my hand, don't you?"
The dirty look Ironhide sends Will makes Sam burst out laughing he barely hear the black Autobot snort, "In your dream, Lennox."
"I know the english language is new to you, 'Hide, but you pronounced nightmares wrong. Come one, say it with me," Will jokes, getting playfully shoved in the shoulder, only to nudge him back a tab bit softer. Best not to get into a shoving match with an Autobot. You might die. Or never walk again.
As the day precedes, the Autobots are able to perfectly mimic human action, almost better than humans. They stop by almost every story so all of the Autobot can look around. Feel the fabric of different clothes, try on real make up (in Arcee's case and a bit of rouge blush on Ironhide that Will was able to sneak on before roughly shoved away with a warning), and trying on random accessories. They are getting the full human experience.
"How does a early dinner sound?" Will asks. "I'm starving."
The group agrees and heads to the food court and Maggie leads them to the back, most secluded booth there, confusing Sam, Will, and Carly.
The human formed Autobots scoot into the booths and chairs to wait for their human companions to return with their food. Maggie is the only strangler, she lays the lunch box in front of them and smiles.
"I know," she says proudly, "I'm amazing, and that is for you guys." With that, she turns and jogs after the others, blond ponytail swinging.
Optimus looks around at the other Autobots, who shrug. He reaches out and pulls the lunchbox closer, and after doing an online search on how to open it, he does and finds a neat stack of thirty or so, energon cubes. Optimus can't stop the laugh that comes from him. Shaking his head, he plucks one of the cubes and passes it Arcee to his left, who takes one out and passes it on until all of them are munching on energon cubes.
"The secret is revealed," Will says, being the first to walk up. Ironhide watches as some girls turn to watch as Will walks back, both smile and giggle when he twists his his head to see them. He smiles and sits down.
"They like you," Ironhide points out.
Will shakes his head. "They think the face is handsome. Their teenage girls. There's no way I'd date one."
"Why?" Cliffjumper asks, chewing on an energon cube.
Will gives him a look up. "Age means a lot to humans. Since we only live about a hundred years, the first eighteen of that consist you you being considered a child. Well, I guess first twenty-one, because at eighteen all you get to do is vote, and who gives a flying fuck about that?"
"I, for your information, was ecstatic when I was able to vote," Sam jokes, sitting down next to Bumblebee, leaving a seat open for Carly.
Will rolls his eyes and takes a bite of his beef sandwich. Once he finishes chewing, he says, "You were the only one."
Once Carly and Maggie show up, they all spend their late lunch, while the food court steadily fills up with kids getting out of school, talking about the experience. Getting the Autobots' input about all of this. Their first real human experience. And for the most part, they really liked it, but Optimus was a bit weary of the growing crowd.
Sam takes pity on the hesitant Autobot leader and suggests, "After bathroom breaks, how about we head on home? It's been a long day."
Optimus looks relieved and is the first to agree. "That may be best."
"Okay," Sam stands up with his trash, "I'll be right back."
"I'll go, too," Maggie says, climbing to her feet as well.
The two head off to the trash cans and then to the bathrooms. After Sam finishes his business, he makes his way back to the food court when someone taps him on the shoulder. Sam turns to see Cruser.
"Oh, hey!" Sam says.
"Thank goodness," Cruser says, smiling. "I was hesitant. I wasn't all that sure it was you. Sam, right?"
Sam nods. "Yeah, hey. Um, how is your brother's visit coming along?"
"Good," Cruser says. "Well, as good as having a bratty twin brother can be."
Sam laughs at that. "I'm sorry to hear that. So, what have you been up to for the past... what? Month? Man, has time flown."
Cruser laughs, reaching up to rub his head, black hair as wild as the last time he saw him. Crinkles appear around brown eyes when he laughs. "It sure has. Isn't that weird though?"
"Yeah," Sam says, some movement over Cruser's shoulder catching his attention. A guy in all black is leaning against the wall on the other side of the court. He's looking into the little hall, right at Sam. "What a strange... coincidence..."
"'Coincidence'? Cruser laughs again. "I don't believe in coincidence. I'm more of fate kind of man."
"Are you?" Sam says, distracted. The man tilts his head slightly, still staring at Sam. A horrible feeling twists in the pit of his stomach and Sam's brain flashes back to the Autobot base. Watching in the Central Intelligence building as Optimus projects Wheelie's audio and visual footage of his house being ransacked. Those strange guys with guns. Looking for him. Wearily, Sam says, "Hey, Cruser, I really need to head out, okay? We should switch numbers the next time we see each other."
"Huh? Oh, yeah, that would be cool," Cruser says, confused.
"Awesome. Maggie! Come on, we are leaving!" Sam calls when the petite blond steps out of the bathroom. She jumps, looks at Sam with her mouth hanging open, but she must have seen the panic in his eyes because he mouth shuts and she nods, jogging over to him.
"Sure, let's go," she says, sensing the urgency.
Sam grabs the crook of her elbow and leads her off quickly.
"Bye, Cruser!"
"Uh, bye Sam!"
Sam pulls Maggie along with little to no resistance, twisting his neck around to see if that guy is following him. He is, but at a distance. Sam pulls Maggie close and hisses in her ear. "Someone is follow me. Go back to the others, tell them what's happening. I'm going to try to lose them."
"Sam! No, if they're after you, then they'll want you alone!"
"Maggie, listen," Sam says calmly. "I'm going to stay in the mall. Tell Bumblebee to meet me at the west entrance in his alt mode, we're going to need to make a quick get away, okay?"
Maggie shakes her head. "I don't think it's best to separate"
"Maggie, go," Sam says sternly. "I'll stay in public until Bumblebee arrives, okay? Hurry."
"But-"
"Go!" With that, Sam pushes her toward the food court and heads in the opposite direction, making his way toward the west entrance. A familiar adrenaline coursing through his veins, and without a parting look, he disappears into the crowd.