Chapter 9

An Unnecessary Death

"Ligerous! Look out!" Ligerous turned to see that the children were getting closer.

"We cannot hurt them! I mean look at them, they're just babies!" Ligerous pointed out. She swiveled her ears back and let out a loud growl and hissed. The Metal Children didn't turn back.

"They're alive," Arrow said, "because they never died," she responded when the others gave her a confused look.

"So, they were buried alive?" Ligerous asked.

"Yes, and if we hurry we may be able to save them."

"How, with our claws?" Squirrel asked.

"Exactly," Arrow responded, then she, Squirrel, Ligerous, and Zompig transformed and attacked the Metal Children, carefully pulling the thin layer of metal off of them. Underneath the thin layer of metal lay the scared and worried face of a starved child.

"You saved me?" one of the children asked Zompig.

"Why wouldn't I?" she answered.

"Because we aren't like you and we are just weak little soft things that get in your way," they answered.

"Who told you that?" Ligerous chimed in as she scraped the metal off another child.

"The one that looks like you, but more….I don't know, mature," they answered her.

"Did she ever express her hate for someone by the name of Ligerous all the time?"

"Yes, all of the time."

"That is my sister Tigerlily and I am Ligerous," she said before turning around, "Hey, what exactly were you guys looking for?"

"A relic, supposedly it is supposed to look like a stick with a ball on the end," Arrow answered.

"I think that they distracted us using these children because they have it," Ligerous said and the others gradually turned around to see.

"Optimus? What does the scepter thingy do?" she asked.

"It inflicts the death that the user wants onto the one who is at the end of the stick," he answered.

"Okay. What do I do when it is pointed at me?" she asked again.

"You try to either get out of its way or in the worst cases, break it."

"I'm going with the second one, I don't recognize the attacker."

"I do," Arrow said, "That is Lockjaw. He isn't smart or fast and he is weakest on his left side just right above the waist. And he was the dumbest partner that I ever had to deal with."

"Dang it, Arrow! I never get to break something and get away with it, and why does he look so rusty?"

"Because he is!"

"I didn't think that we could rust anymore."

"He can."

"Then, he is thin-skinned. We can use it against him, but, hopefully he is thick-headed."

"Trust me, he is."

Ligerous reared up onto her back legs and swatted at Lockjaw twice, then, she turned to see that Arrow was gone and that so were all of the other Autobots. She sighed and ran towards a tree. In the corner of her eye, she saw a passenger plane coming near to land at the airport.

"I've never seen them," she signaled with her tail, "before. You couldn't deal with me yourselves?"

Her attackers exchanged confused glances and Ligerous understood. The plane wasn't a Con. It was a plane for the transport of humans. Deep in her spark she knew that she couldn't let the humans just die, but she knew that she wasn't strong enough to stop it herself.

"Arrow! I need as many of you guys as possible. I cannot let any humans die today."

Then, something grazed her ear and she transformed out of her cat form, growling, as she swept her leg under Lockjaw's, making him fall to the ground. She clawed down his arm and he released the object, grabbing his wrist in pain. Ligerous grabbed the relic and ran towards the airport.

"Stop right there," someone said, but Ligerous ran on shooting back at them. On the other side of the runway for the airport, a ground bridge opened up and out came the others; Arrow, Bee, Zompig, Squirrel, and Optimus. The plane's landing gear came out and it slowly neared closer to the ground.

Arrow lifted her nose and sniffed the air, "A bomb. They put out a bomb. It's a trap."

"There are no humans on the plane," Optimus said.

"You're wrong," Ligerous said, "there are two passengers on the plane. They are going to destroy the directions to the Allspark."

She leaped onto the plane's wing when it was close enough and ripped the door open, and, sure enough, inside were Pepper and her mother bound in knotts. Ligerous grabbed Pepper by one of the ropes and leaped down to set her down on the ground. Then when she turned back to get Pepper's mother, the plane lost all lift and crashed hard onto the ground.

"No!" Pepper screamed and tried to get around Ligerous to get a better look.

"Pepper, stop. It'll only cause you more pain," Ligerous whispered softly into her ear and then she got up to see if there was any chance that Pepper's mother was alive even though she already knew the answer. Ligerous dug through the wreckage until she saw the shriveled body of Pepper's mother. "Pepper, come here," she said and she gently pulled the girl's mother out and set her down.

"Pepper," coughed her mother, "fulfill your prophecy, for Ligerous and for me."

"Please don't go!" Pepper pleaded.

"I am sorry, but it is time to let go. Remember that I love you. You are in the best hands that I could put you in and I will always be there for you even when I seem far away," the color in her eyes faded and she went limp.

Then, Ligerous and Arrow felt something that the others couldn't, fear.

"What is wrong?" Arrow asked.

"The bomb?!" Squirrel said.

"It is a proximity bomb and it won't go off unless we are within a certain proximity of it, giving it its name," Ligerous said.

"The only thing is that we don't know where it is," Arrow said.

"It's close," Ligerous listened to the still air. "Let's think, if I were a Con's prox bomb, where would I be?"

"At the end of the runway so that when the plane came if it was successful at landing then what was supposed to die would still die," Arrow said.

"Pepper, I have something for you," Ligerous said, then she transformed into her car-form and opened her backdoor. Pepper stepped forewards carefully and removed a crudely wrapped box. Slowly she opened it wondering what Ligerous would give her.

"What is it?" she asked.

"An Energon shooter and I believe that it is your turn to blow something up."

"What?"

"The bomb, silly. It's right in front of you."

"Won't the explosion hurt us?"

"If there is one thing that is scrappy about Cons it is their technology."

"For my mom," she said and she shot the bomb.