Frostbite

By Uniasus

Chapter 11

The white lines fell behind him so quickly they blurred into a hazy line. Each segment passed meant he was that much closer to Sam, and Sam was that much closer to safety. Bumblebee was surprised Ratchet was keeping up, but he could hear the older mech's engines whining.

Seriously, what had the medic been thinking? That rescuing Sam would magically make everything better? There was no way that would work. After everything that Ratchet had done, Sam would never go anywhere with the medic. And Bee didn't trust Ratchet with his human anyway.

No, what Sam needed was someone to keep him safe, a guardian. Bee hadn't done a good job of that, allowing his own medic to steal his charge, but this time it would be better. He'd never let Sam out of his sight again, they'd go visit Ron and Judy amidst lots of happy tears, and Sam would be his again. Friends for life.

Sam's signal hadn't moved much; it was still on the same point on the map. But Simmons tracker was sensitive to pick up Sam crossing a room. From Sam's steps Bee had developed a rudimentary floor plan. The location was a large open area and then in one corner a smaller room where it seemed Sam spent most of his time.

Bumblebee guessed Sam was sleeping at the moment – the signal hadn't moved in a couple of hours and the sun had set hours ago. He figured he'd be there come early morning. With or without Ratchet, if the medic could keep up.

He roared his aggression through his engine. Having Ratchet with him was bothersome, it meant he had something extra to look out for – the medic taking Sam and running.

It was so unlike Ratchet, to do something like this. Fake a death, freeze a human. Ratchet was always one to take the easiest route, and this whole deception had to have been complex to plan and sustain. How had Ratchet done it? Looked them all in the optics afterwords? And think Prime understood?

Maybe something had happened during Egypt that messed with Ratchet's programming and allowed him to do this. Because why else would he orchestrate such a betrayal?

His engine whined, voicing his pain, and he didn't really care if Ratchet could hear it. It was too much to think about, how hurt and oh so very angry he was. And it was a distraction, taking processing power away from trying to come up with a solution to help Sam. And that was the priority now.

Prime was going to scold him, he could tell. Protocol dictated that he tell Prime what he knew. But when Sam was at school and he had waited to act until Prime set the plan in motion, they had cut it really close. They had arrive seconds before Sam would have been killed, and Bee wasn't going to take that chance tonight. He had sent Prime a message, one that he would see when he woke up.

His punishment, as well as Ratchet's, could be dealt with after Sam was safe. They had to find him and get him out of the Con's base.

As early morning came, Sam's tracker moved. He was heading in his direction, following the road. He always knew Sam was clever, and he had obviously picked up some skills to be able to escape. As useful as those skill were though, it made Bee wonder about why he had learned them.

Bumblebee rounded a corner, exiting a forest and coming across an expanse of flat land. His optics scanned for Sam, but what he saw instead was a convoy of Decepticons. They must have masked their Ids.

The Con's all transformed, Starscream hurtling down from the sky. Megatron held his hand out in front of him, and Bumblebee saw a struggling human in his grasp.

"So glad you came in time to enjoy the show," Megatron said. "You've saved us the trouble of further traveling."

Ratchet pulled up next to Bee and at some silent cue the both transformed.

"Glad you brought a medic, bug." Barricade sneered, "You're gonna need him."

Bee revved his engine in response, eyes still on a struggling Sam who refused to meet his gaze. Megatron's grip was tight, clamping Sam's arms to his side.

"This human however," Megatron drawled, "will be too far gone for a medic."

The Decepticon squeezed and Bee's spark skipped at the sound of crunching bones.

Right, it might have been a stupid idea to attack Megatron without the element of surprise. And when he was surrounded by a bunch of his Decepticon followers. But hey, he got points for trying right?

But apparently Decepticons didn't believe in points because he got thrown in a crate with a pad locked door. Without food. When he got free, he was going to raid a grocery store – buy two carts full of food and eat it all in the parking lot.

As good as food was, it wasn't the most important thing on his mind at the moment. Megatron's grip was tight, unpleasantly so, and when Bee and Ratchet appeared the Decepticon squeezed harder. Spike bit back a cry as he felt his left arm break, feeling blood burst in his mouth as he bit through his lip.

While he wasn't happy to see the Autobots, they were helpful in distracting Megatron. He had been inching his right hand to where he knew the gray mech's hydraulic lines were, and the ruckus caused by Bee and Ratchet as Megatron squeezed him gave Spike the opportunity he needed. Slipping his hand between two plates, Spike found the lines and yanked.

Fluid spilled over his hand to run down his legs. The damage was enough to render the hand useless, and Megatron was forced to drop him.

"You insect!" Megatron roared, lifting a foot to crush Spike as he came out of a roll. Before he could complete the action Bumblebee charge Megatron, knocking the tyrant backwards.

Spike continued to roll, heading back toward the temporary base as the Cons ran by him to attack Bee and Ratchet. Starscream took off for the sky, Thrust behind him. They didn't shoot, and Spike couldn't tell if they couldn't get a lock on a Bot or were avoiding the melee.

Sparing the time to look at Megatron, he caught the gray mech firing a shot at Bee that caught the scout in the shoulder, sending him to the ground. Spike winced, torn between an old Sal wanting to run away and an older Sam wanting to rush to his friend's aid. He didn't really get a chance to do either. A metal foot came at him from behind, sending him flying into one of the trees surrounding the area. His back hit the bark painfully, and he landed in a heap among the roots to stare at an approaching Blademaster.

"Sam!" Ratchet called, charging into the scene. The medic extended a buzz saw that cut through Bladmaster's rotors. The Osprey turned, landing a punch on Ratchet's torso and denting plating. Ratchet grunted and then swung his other arm around to attack the Con with the other saw.

Now in possession of a full lungful of air, Spike took off into the forest and ran parallel to the road. Let the Bots and Cons fight it out, he really couldn't help in this battle. With so much movement it would be hard to predict everyone's actions, and his broken arm limited his motions. Participating would most likely lead to his death.

Or recapture by the Autobots.

His new goal may be to stop the War, but it there was no way he could do that if he was frozen or dead for real.

It was a small hope, but he would really appreciate it if someone in a car could come by and allow him to hitchhike, it would be faster than getting to Copenhagen on foot.

There was an explosion behind him. Spike skidded to a stop and looked back, throwing a prayer to Primus that Bee wasn't seriously injured (and maybe Ratchet too) before pulling out his phone to check his GPS. That finding a car thing was going to be a miracle and it would be way too easy for him to be spotted on the road, by either an Autobot or a Decepticon.

He could cut through the woods, there was a small local highway five miles to the west that he should be able to hitchhike from. Spike headed towards it.

It didn't work out quite like he expected. Halfway through a clearing, Ratchet caught up with him.

"Sam," Ratchet said gently, stepping into the clearing with his hands spread out. "Sam, we need to get out of here."

"Don't call me that!" Sam snapped, crouching into a running position. "And there's no way in Hell I'm going any where with you!"

Ratchet froze in an attempt to prevent the human from leaving. "I'm sorry for what I did Sam-"

"I said don't call me that!" he yelled again, clenching his right hand into a fist. Ratchet noticed that the left one was broken, though Sam didn't seem to be favoring it too much.

Ratchet threw his hands up, bringing them even with his chest and hopefully correctly performed a nonverbal communication that he'd seen around base that was usually used to calm people down. Sam did not cool down however; he marched towards him and the medic found himself taking steps back.

"You guys faked my death, and them kept me frozen in some type of underground prison. My entire life, you took it away Ratchet! And now you took this one too!" Sam threw his arms up and began an angry pace, waving his unbroken arm around. "You took away my free will, kept me isolated, and did nothing but ask me question after question when I woke up. I can't believe you guys did that! What about all that talk of the right of everyone to choose. I don't even know why."

He stopped, chest heaving from his outburst. For a moment the sounds of him breathing were the only ones in the clearing. Suddenly, Ratchet wanted to be around Autobots who ignored him again, because seeing Sam hurt like nothing else had. Hearing the pain in his voice, it was obvious how much damage Ratchet had done. He sounded defeated, angry, and also sad. And he had every right too.

"You know what, forget it Ratchet. Just forget it." Sam made to turn around and desperate to fix something, or at least hold the wound closed, Ratchet spoke up.

"A sparkling. I wanted a sparkling."

"A sparkling." Sam deadpanned. "And how does you wanting a kid relate to me being your prisoner?"

The words stung. He never really gave though to the conditions he kept Sam in. The human was alive and well taken care of – considering the situation. The idea of Sam as a prisoner had never crossed his processor.

"I…didn't want the information from the All Spark to overwhelm your brain. And…I didn't think you would help if I asked, so I hoped that maybe, we, could use the time to get to know each other better…" Ratchet trailed off at the storm clouds gathering across Sam's brow.

"You do realize you pretty much did exactly the right thing to make sure I'll never help you?"

"…"

It hadn't been the most perfectly executed of plans, nor perhaps the best thought out. It had come to him in a flash on the sands of Egypt when he saw Sam die and come back to life. The pesky details came later, after Sam had been deposited in his care. But he had never been good at making friends. Acquaintances yes, but not too many friends. Apparently asking science questions didn't cut it.

Sam ran a hand through his hair, it was longer than Ratchet remembered it being. "Wouldn't have mattered anyway," the man said.

Ratchet opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Bumblebee bursting through the trees and transforming to his alt form.

"We gotta go. I managed to delay the Cons but I don't know how long that will last. We need to leave, now. "

Ratchet turned back into his ambulance form and Sam turned around to run into the woods.

"Sam," Bee called, popping open the driver's side door. "Please. They'll catch you if you leave on foot."

The human hesitated, obviously not comfortable with getting in Bumblebee. Ratchet felt Con presence on his long range scanners.

"Sam, please." Bee begged.

Sam looked towards the woods, toward Bee, and then back towards the woods.

"Fine." He turned and sprinted for Bee, sliding into the seat.

The scout slammed his door shut and took off on a vector that would get them back to the road quickest. Ratchet took lead, using his buzz saws to clear a path. It didn't really help heal the rift between him and Sam, or him and Bumblebee. But it made him feel useful, just a little a bit. He focused on that and not tree roots under his bumper.

A/N: And Sam and the Autobots have finally re-met! And yes, as I'm sure you could tell from this chapter, action scenes aren't my strong point. Nor are emotional ones. . I need a lot of work.