Escapees in Peril
I happily skipped down the hall towards Melanie's room. But along the way, I was halted when an enormous foot landed right in front of me, blocking my path. It was red, so I had a pretty good idea who it belonged to.
"Aren't you supposed to be on surveillance duty right now?" I questioned him without looking up.
"Yeah but, aren't I allowed to visit my favorite human one more time before I do?"
I smiled as he placed his finger under my chin and tilted my head up.
"Nice comeback, Sides." I blushed. "But seriously, you better go before—"
"Sideswipe! Get your metal-plated hide up here right now!" A cowboy-sounding voice yelled through his communicator. So loud that even I heard it.
"Sounds like Ol' Ironhide wants to get off his shift as soon as possible!" Sides laughed.
I started to shove at the foot in front of me. "So you better not keep him waiting!"
"But…wait! What are you planning to do today?"
"Me? Uh…probably just hang out with Mel in her room."
"Oh...okay. Well, I'll see ya after my shift!"
I waved as my guardian sprinted from my sight in the direction of the command bridge. When I reached Melanie's room, I could hear voices conversing from within. I wasn't usually the nosy type, but for some reason I was feeling mischievous, so I eavesdropped. When I placed my ear against the door, I could hear Melanie giving Tracks the same story I had just given Sideswipe. Suddenly the voices unexpectedly ceased, and the door slid open, causing me to clumsily stumble through them.
"I thought I detected a heat signature." Tracks announced as he removed his finger from the door opening mechanism. "So Camille, according to Mel, you guys are planning on just lazing about in her room today, am I right?"
I nodded agreeingly.
"Since Sides and I both have duty today, there will be no one available to watch you so...you two better stay out of trouble!"
"No problem big brother!" Mel smiled as she saluted him like a solider.
He turned and walked out of the room. When the door shut, our eyeballs locked on one another and a mischievous smile adorned our faces. "Alright! We're unsupervised!" Mel shouted.
"Not so loud!" I whispered. "What if we're being monitored right now?"
"Unlikely Cammy, Now come on, let's get out of here!" Melanie waved me over and I followed her out of her room.
We had decided a while back that we were going to sneak out if there was ever a time that both Sides and Tracks had monitor duty. And today was the day. Our only problem, trying to get out without being seen.
We slinked down the first hall with no problem. The second hall was a breeze, not one Autobot in sight. As we turned down the last hall towards the Ark's entrance, everything was going perfect until-
"Hey guys! Going somewhere?"
Mel and I froze.
We turned to see who had caught us, but were relieved to see that it was only Bumblebee. Luckily for us, he had a soft spot for us girls, so we were going to use that to our advantage to avoid getting sent back to our rooms. I winked at Mel and she immediately put her hands over her lower abdomen.
"oooohh…" She moaned.
"What's wrong Melanie?" He asked concerned, then noticed the placement of her hands. "Oh, girl stuff huh?"
"Yeah, just trying to walk it off." She answered, voice sounding as if she was struggling to speak.
"That's too bad. Wish there was something I could do."
"There is actually!" I interjected. "The Med Bay's got pain pills. If you want to help out, why don't you go bring us some? We'll wait right here. Please Bee? Pleeeeeeease?"
"Oh uh…sure. Okay."
We stood innocently as we watched him walk away, and before he even turned the corner, we were already running for the nearby brush outside. We dove inside a comfortable-looking bush and giggled like little schoolgirls.
"We're finally out! This is so exciting!" Mel stated.
"Hee hee! Yeah! Now let's go hunt down some Decepticons!"
We continued to crawl from bush to bush, doing our best not to be seen. When we were about a mile out, distant voices soon made us stop for a moment.
"I want you to keep watch here. We don't want the enemy to find out what we're planning."
We figured it was some Autobot scouts patrolling the area, but their topics and deep voices made us think otherwise.
I poked my head out of the bush and felt my heart freeze. The menacing frame of the Decepticon leader Megatron stood before us, but only his back was visible, as he was busy giving orders to his other two accomplices. I know I had said I wanted to hunt some Decepticons, but I wasn't serious!
"I don't see why Soundwave can't keep watch here instead of me." Starscream complained. "He'd be perfect for it since he's always so silent and observant."
Soundwave turned to Starscream as he complained about him, but said nothing.
"Brilliant deduction, Starscream!" Megatron slowly clapped for him mockingly. "But I'd still prefer it to be you. I'm hoping your annoying yapping will bring the Autobots here, that way they can have the job of putting you out of your misery, and save me the trouble of doing it myself!"
Starscream crossed his arms over his chest and turned away, disgusted.
When Megatron shuffled his foot slightly in our direction, I quickly pulled my head into the bush, making the leaves rustle just a bit too loud. I could see by his shadow that Megatron had now turned his head in our direction. I sat there completely still with my eyes closed and my hands over my ears.
Melanie crawled over on her hands and knees and was just about to scold me for being so noisy but the sound of approaching footfalls made her freeze where she stood. Her eyes looked up, and a cold, metal hand violently penetrated the bushes and closed around her.
"Aaahh!!" She shrieked.
I felt the rush of the wind as she was swiped away, but I stayed still, praying that I wouldn't be discovered also.
"These wretched humans, their pestilence has become somewhat of a nuisance to me." The Decepticon leader bellowed as he eyed the human female in his hand.
Starscream's eyes lit up. He recognized the girl from their last scrimmage with the Autobots by her long ponytail.
"Megatron! That's one of the human pets that live with the Autobots!" He said as he pointed a finger at her.
Megatron scrutinized her and smiled. "Well! What great fortune it was that you've come across us! Now we can order Optimus Prime to surrender in exchange for your safety!"
Melanie eyed him with bitter hate.
Starscream looked beyond Megatron at his feet at the bush he had just extracted her from, then started to approach it.
"And where there's one…" He shoved his hand inside and soon fished me out.
"There's another."
I grunted, trying my best to push open his fingers to get myself free.
"Excellent, Starscream! It appears you're not so useless after all!"
The Air Commander just rolled his eyes.
"Soundwave, return to the Nemesis. Prepare a cell for our guests."
"As you command." The Communications officer replied, then took off for the sky.
The moment Soundwave was out of view, a laser clipped Megatron in the shoulder. The Decepticon leader looked at his body's damage and just frowned.
"Who dares fire upon me?"
Just then, Tracks leaps out from behind some trees holding two laser rifles, one in each hand.
"I do. Now put her down, Megatron."
"Or you'll what?"
"Don't make me show you." He threatened, one rifle pointing directly at Megatron's chest, and the other one at the ready, pointing towards the sky.
As I gazed upon Tracks, I noticed something. He had this look in his optics that I had never seen before. He looked…dangerous! All the time I've even known him, he's never looked that serious before! One thing was for certain, it really showed how seriously he took his job of being Melanie's guardian.
Which led me to the thought of my own guardian. If Tracks was alerted that we were out here, I was almost positive Sideswipe would be out here too. And sure enough, there he was out of the corner of my eye, behind some cover, mouthing the words: "magnet bomb."
Thank goodness my arms were not constricted as I slyly reached into the sleeve of my shirt, pulling out a round disc with a red button on top of it. Another little invention miracle thanks to Wheeljack. I smacked the button and called to my captor.
"Yo! Starscream!" I shouted. "Catch!"
I threw the disc at his face which magnetically stuck there upon impact. In an instant, the magnetic pulse warped his processor, causing his motor functions to completely freeze. Sideswipe took that opportunity and rushed him, knocking him to the ground and easily opening Starscream's fingers to pluck me free.
Megatron heard the commotion, and turned to see what it was. Without holding back, Tracks fired. Again and again.
It's true that no simple rifle would bring down the powerful Decepticon leader, but he would surely need some repair time thanks to the number Tracks was doing to his armor.
Using his forearm to block some of the shots, the mighty Decepticon leader amazed us all as he fell to one knee. Sideswipe started running towards him, but Megatron heard him coming. He released Melanie from his hands and retreated into the sky. Starscream, who had finally broke free of the magnetic disruptor, shook his head and focused his vision, just in time to see his leader retreating yet again. Not wanting to be left to deal with those Autobots by himself, he transforms into jet mode and follows his leader.
Sideswipe reaches down and picks up Melanie.
"How'd you know we were out here?" She asked him.
"Bumblebee. We decided to take a quick break to check on you guys and when we bumped into him, he said he was on his way to the Med Bay to get you some pain pills, right then and there, we knew you two had escaped."
Tracks starts to walk towards us, again with that very serious look on his face. I knew we were in trouble, and I'm sure Mel knew it too.
"I know I don't have to say anything to you two, as I'm sure you've already learned a valuable lesson from all this."
"Yes big brother." Melanie uttered, as she reluctantly climbed from Sideswipe's hand into Tracks' open palm as he brought it up to her to jump onto.
"Now not another word on the subject. Let's get back to the base, and if anyone asks, you two were in your rooms all day!"
When we arrived back at our rooms, I was sure we were going to be grounded or something. But luckily for me, Sideswipe was not the punishing type. Melanie on the other hand was not so lucky, Since Tracks was the one who was more uptight about rules, she was definitely going to get the worst punishment ever!
Melanie sat on Tracks' berth, shaking nervously. Tracks had told her to stay there till he came back, and the whole time she waited, she was on pins and needles. When Tracks finally returned, she eyed him with great fear.
"Okay kiddo, assume the position."
"What?!"
"I'm gonna tickle you as punishment for disobeying me."
"You're not serious? Are you?"
"Quite. Now turn around."
Melanie remembered my actions from earlier and decided to use them to her advantage.
"Oh I don't think so, Tracks."
"What do you mean you don't think so? You're gonna get tickled for your crime!"
"No…YOU are!"
Melanie reached under her sleeve, activated, and flung her magnetic disc at his chest, rendering him immobile the moment it stuck there. The minute he hit the floor on his back she dove for him, sticking her little fingers in all his little crevices making him wail for mercy.
"Hahahaha! Why you sneaky little-! Haha! Kiddo! Stop! Oh you are so gonna get it when this thing wears off!"
"When this thing wears off, I'm gonna be miles from here!" She joked.
The two continued to laugh and giggle, obvious that only one of them was being punished that night, and it definitely wasn't Melanie!