I'm very sorry for the long delay on this story. My plot bunnies seem to be trying to hibernate for the winter. Also, I watch too much TV, and yes, I did borrow the little 'you and what army' exchange from the Return of the King movie.

Me and This Army

Riella marched out of the lab without flinching at the gruesome remains of the Decepticon, but Mirage noted that she did turn her body just slightly away, as if trying to shield the sparkling. He raised an optic ridge curiously at Prowl, who was half-draped over and half-supported by the younger mech's shoulder. "She doesn't really think he's… a threat…right?"

"'Course not," Prowl muttered, a slight smile making his cracked lipplates trickle blood. "I'd do the same thing. Little guy doesn't need to see it."

Mirage frowned and tried to adjust Prowl's weight, as his shoulder was currently being twisted a bit. "But he would never remember."

"Don't know that for sure," the older mech growled, wincing. "Ooh…watch it! That hurt!"

"Sorry," Mirage hissed quickly as Riella turned to glare at him. "Sorry. The kid's what, a month old?"

"Probably less," Prowl sighed. "But Ri's got every reason to worry."

The ninja must have been really out of it to shorten her name. Mirage had never even heard the nickname. At least it meant it wouldn't be too hard to talk to Prowl, who could be incredibly stand-offish when he wanted to. "What reason?"

"Near-eidetic memory." At the younger mech's blank look, Prowl sighed again, winced, and clarified. "Common term – photographic memory. All there."

Photographic memory. Primus, that's got to be a pain. "You mean she remembers fragging everything. She doesn't just forget stuff."

"Just about. It's not absolute." Prowl tried to shrug. The resulting convulsion almost knocked Mirage to the floor. Riella spun around, shoved Trailbreaker out of the way, and practically lunged for her sparkmate.

"Prowl!"

"'m fine," Prowl muttered, twitching oddly. "Jus' fine."

"You are not fine. Here, hold him." Before Mirage could object, he'd been relieved of Prowl's weight and handed the sparkling in return. Riella lowered Prowl to the floor and pressed her hand against the side of his helm. "Residual neuron damage in the left sector from electric shocks. You shouldn't be walking."

"How can you tell all that?" Hound blurted, steadying Jazz. "You just touched him."

Riella's optics narrowed dangerously. "Convulsions indicate neuron damage, strength indicates location, and I was hit with static when I touched him. Happy?"

Hound backed off, leaving the femme to her work, whatever she was doing. Mirage looked awkwardly down at the sparkling in his arms, which made an odd face back at him and blinked wide blue optics. The young spy nodded. "Yeah, buddy, I agree. Not sure what you said, but I agree."

Fifteen minutes and two collapses later (another from Prowl, one from Jazz), Riella slammed open the door to the outer hallway. "Where's Signal Flare and Melody?"

"Top of the shaft waiting," Trailbreaker called from the back of the group.

"Or not!" Melody skidded around the corner and almost knocked Riella and Prowl over, drawing a growl from the femme. "Sorry! We've got a problem, 'Cons right on our backside." Signal Flare stumbled out of the tunnel behind her, vents rasping.

"Frag," Riella snarled. "Let's move. We'll take the main exit."

Signal Flare cursed in some obsolete Kaon dialect. "You're not actually thinking we're going to make it through Trypticon!"

Riella's optics flashed. "Yes, I am." Clattering sounded in the tunnel behind her, and she pointed back the way they had come. "Move, now!"

"But …" Signal Flare scrambled to keep up with the femme as she slung Prowl across her shoulder with a grunt of effort and started jogging. "Listen, there's something you need to know!"

"Can it wait until we're out?" Riella sighed. "Slag, I forgot. The portal!"

"What about it?" Mirage held out a hand. "I can take him, you can carry the sparkling – "

"I'm fine, thank you," the femme snapped. "I never found the portal. We have to make sure they never use it. And with Gamma Ray dead, they'll never develop another if we destroy her tech. Did anyone bring explosives?"

"Sure we did." Trailbreaker almost, almost rolled his optics. "Enough to blow the wall if we have to."

Riella slammed the lab door open with one foot. "Don't bother with the wall. Set the charges throughout this room, the one on the far side, and whatever we have left along the hall as we leave. I want them all connected to a remote."

"Done." Trailbreaker gestured for help. "Hound and Mirage! Get your afts over here and help me."

Mirage shifted nervously. "Um, holding the baby, here."

"I've got him." With an impatient gesture, Riella settled Prowl on the floor, where Signal Flare immediately began scanning him, and scooped the infant out of her trainee's arms. "Give me a remote and a few detonators and I'll help you."

Melody, with her own handful of explosive charges, stared in shock. "You're setting detonators while holding a sparkling?"

"It wasn't obvious?" Riella flicked switches and attached magnets one-handed with the familiarity of someone who had done this regularly. "We need every hand. And even if I can only use one, it helps. We are on a schedule here."

Probably wondering what the frag had gotten into her usual-cautious commander, Melody sighed, helped Jazz up with a grunt, and followed Prowl and Signal Flare down the hallway, dropping charges as she went.

Riella still beat them to the door, clamping the last detonator to the lock mechanism. "Three seconds. Clear!"

The explosion pulverized the lock, the door, and part of the wall. The blue femme stalked through the hole without even waiting for the smoke to clear, gesturing silently for the others to follow. Over the private comm link, she snapped, ::Everybody out. Last one through the door gives me the go-ahead to set the remote.::

::All out,:: Mirage replied in his best 'I-am-so-not-worried-about-this' voice.

::Remote is set for two minutes and fifty-nine seconds. Move.:: Riella led the way calmly down the street, only to freeze when she reached the corner of the alley and the main road.

"Yeah," Signal Flare hissed from somewhere behind her. "Remember that important information I needed to tell you? It was that Megatron showed up, put the city in lockdown, and was probably headed for the lab right then. Someone tipped him off."

"Got that," Riella murmured, staring at the barrel of the Decepticon leader's gun a few yards away. "Remind me to listen to you next time." Over the comm link, she ordered, ::Get out of the alley any way you have to. It's going to channel the explosion straight down here.::

::How in the Pit are we supposed to do that?:: Hound demanded.

::Improvise.:: Without another word, Riella tucked Bumblebee against her chest tightly and dived under Megatron's gun, tumbling head-over-heel struts into the street across from the first. Coming up on her feet, she turned her body to protect the sparkling in her arms, activated the small gun in her left wrist, and opened rapid, if rather ineffective, fire on Megatron and the four Decepticons behind him.

Mirage opted for the simpler method of disappearing, and didn't see what anyone else did, but apparently Riella had given them just enough cover to make it, because a second later they were all crouched in the relative safety of the opposite alley. Trailbreaker and Melody joined Mirage and Riella in returning fire, but it did little, if anything; Mirage suspected they would all be dead within a few moments.

"You really thought you could sabotage me, Autobots?" Megatron mocked, shattering the wall just above Riella's head with a particularly well-aimed shot. "Me? Megatron, future ruler of Cybertron?"

"Yes!" To everyone's shock and horror, Riella stood up so that she was a clear target. "And I still do!"

Megatron laughed, baring sharp fangs. "You and what army, femme?"

Riella's lips curved into a smirk that perfectly matched the Decepticon's as she pointed down the alley. "That army."

"What?" Megatron spun around to see Optimus Prime, Elita One, Ironhide, and at least ten other Autobots advancing toward him from the lab. "Impossible!" he shouted, lunging toward the new arrivals.

Riella's optics narrowed with satisfaction. "You're right. It is." The image dissipated as the lab exploded into a wall-shattering, ground-shaking ball of fire that enveloped the entire alley, along with Megatron and the Decepticons with him. The femme crouched, shielding Bumblebee from the wave of heat and shrapnel that battered them.