Hide and Seek
Chapter 10

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Warning: There's character death, slight out of character characters, and alternate scenes. Also, there is very little of the original character in this chapter and it focuses more on the robots. Italics mean Cybertronian translations.

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It was a blur for the Autobot, he quickly sliced his way through the drones that had attempted to come to the rescue of their superiors. He felt so angry that he barely noticed that he nearly took down one of his own in the massacre, one of the wreckers from the sounds of it, and now had his sights locked on the traitorous Prime. He nearly missed the silver mech that wheeled over to him, blades drawn and ready to strike the crimson down, but his body moved on its own accord.

He joined his fellow Autobot and lashed out, his own blades - that dripped with energon of those he had slaughtered – sparked as they collided with his enemy's thick armour. Even he knew that he didn't stand much of a chance but that didn't stop him. However, what did was a powerful blow to his torso, which flung him effortlessly to the left and into one of the many buildings that barely remained standing. He didn't so much as flinch at the impact, but still struggled to his feet and attempted to ignore the warning symbols that blazed across his vision.

Locking his optics onto the target yet again, he aimed one of his weapons as Sideswipe distracted him – he was sure that Bumblebee was there, but couldn't really tell for sure with all the movement. He lunched forward and swung the mighty blades attached to his forearms, sparks flew as his weapons met Sentinel's deadly Primax Blade. For a brief moment, he met the oh-so-familiar azure optics of his now empty and he hesitated. It was that hesitation that gave the Prime an advantage.

With a blow to his helm, Mirage stumbled backward and witnessed the enemy deliver a blow to one of the Autobots that had been attempting to help him. He struggled to lift his blades but soon there was another attack on the crimson warrior, to his torso once again, and he was thrown back. He could feel his armour cracking against the road, leaving indents into the thick structure, and within no time he had come to a stop against another building. It swayed against his weight but seemed to refuse to fall like its brethren.

Static filled his audios and visuals; he could feel pain exploding through him and energon slipping forth from some broken fuel line. His cooling fans spurred to life in an attempt to cool down the overworking systems. He couldn't move and he didn't know what was going on around him. Everything seemed so distant; no matter how much he struggled he wasn't going anywhere. He tried to read the symbols that tried to flash through the static but couldn't make out a single word, and it was then that he realised that he was going into stasis lock.

His agony filled field connected with another, one that pressed forth through the battle and towards him. He could feel gentle touches soon after, reassurance meeting his aura and tickling at it, begging him to shut down for the moment and save himself from more pain that would surely follow. He knew this mech, knew he could trust him, and slowly found himself obey the pled – the warrior shut down.

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"Cybertron… you are saved at last," the mighty Decepticon leader grumbled as he rested in the alley. His systems were struggling to keep up with his needs but none of that mattered; everything that he had worked for had happened, everything would be better now. And just as he was going to offline his optics to bask in this glory, he noticed something. Turning his helm, the tyrant murmured, "Oh, have you come to surrender?"

"Was it all worth it?"

"Obviously," he gave a sneer that rivalled his former second-in-command.

"All your work to bring Sentinel back, and now clearly he has all the power," she taunted him and he knew it. "It's actually almost tragic!"

He snarled, "You dare lecture me, Slave?"

"Your Decepticons finally conquering this planet and yet their leader won't be you!"

"It will be me," he snapped. "It will always be me!"

The human actually smirked up at him, reminding him vaguely of that troublesome second, "Any minute now you'll be nothing but Sentinel's bitch!"

It was not she that he heard the voice of, but his traitorous second in command. Those words were spoken with such emotion and grace that it could be no other. The field that he was barely picking up from the tiny blond reminded him, taunted him, even though he knew the seeker was dead. None of that mattered; Starscream, the glitch that he was, was taunted him and he would not stand for this – he would prove to him that he was fair better than those Primes and the flier. He stood with a snarl, casting a threatening gaze over the human before he began a hunt like no other.

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With his systems rebooting, the crimson Autobot found himself in less pain and the warning signals were gone. He onlined his optic sensors and gave his surroundings a glance, static tickling at the corners of his vision. He took notice to the scowling medic and offered a smirk, as if to tell the older mech that all was well now. Obviously the repairer was less than happy about the noble's injury and let him know. "You're a glitch, Mirage."

"Battle status," questioned the warrior as he ignored the statement about his stupidity.

"Nearly over, I figure," he answered. "Get up, we need to get back… we need to finish this."

"You don't need to tell me twice," he replied as he stood, summoning forth his sharp blades.

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"Now, we need a truce. All I want is to be back in charge. Besides, who would you be without me, Prime?"

"Time to find out!"

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Standing before his brethren, Mirage felt a sinking feeling in his tanks. None of this seemed right in the slightest; too much death, too much destruction, some hope restored while the rest lost. There was a blazing pain in his processor and he just wanted to curl up somewhere and recharge, but his sights set on the humans that were cheering. Bumblebee's charge and the human's mate were now reunited. He knew in that moment that he needed to leave and complete a promise made before.

He found himself locking gazes with the silver mech known as Sideswipe as he turned to leave. He paused in his movement before the other alien nodded slowly, and then he was off. Transforming into his vehicle mode three steps into his fleeing, he made no motion to slow down and not caring if anyone saw him. They didn't, no one cared where the newcomer was going or even noticed that he was ripping down the destroyed highway.

"Don't worry," he commented to the organic femme that was nowhere in sight, yet of course, "I'm coming."

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"Oooh, rings," Carly smiled as she picked a sprocket up. Soon the yellow Autobot began playing wedding chimes, causing her to laugh and her boyfriend to nearly cringe. She added, "I love this car!"

"Yeah, but Bee, you gotta slow it down. You gotta slow way down, okay," the boy almost whined at the giant alien.

He spoke, through his radio, "I'm just trying to help out."

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Transforming into his more humanoid appearance, the noble was nearly floored by the scene that lay before him. The hiding place – a location chosen for its safety no less – was ripped apart, slice in half in a rather familiar way. He scanned the area hastily, trying to spot the little organic femme that he'd left behind. His tanks wanted to empty, he could feel them turning, as he found no sign of the child that his friend had found. All he could see was destruction; flames licking at the skies hungrily, smoke blocking the sunlight from entering the city, among other things.

"Femme," he choked out of burning vocals and he cringed. He didn't sound like himself; he could sense it, but refuse to think about it. He just stepped forward and called out again, having remembered her name, "Erin?"

There was no reply and a part of him wanted to flee in that moment, but he couldn't. It happened so suddenly; he seemed heavily than he had before, a burning sensation crept to where his wounds had been – before Ratchet's quick patch job. He had failed his friend more than once: he couldn't protect the inventor and he died, and now he couldn't even return the organic femme to her home because he lost her. He knew that the older Autobot would be ashamed of him, and nothing hurt him more than that.

Unexpectedly, he crashed onto his knees with the ground trembling under his massive weight. The ruined buildings around him groaned and swayed but none gave up their proud stand, unlike the Autobot himself. He gave another shout, in his native tongue this time, and the words that came out he wasn't even sure of. The weight of everything was crashing around him and his systems were not handling the stress well at all; things were just moving too fast.

And just when he was going to allow his systems to crash or freeze, just until everything caught up, he noticed something out of the corner of his sight. His helm turned swiftly, the feel of fleshy hand on his massive thumb echoed through his sensors, and he was soon staring down at a tiny organic femme. No, not just any femme, he reali0sed in that moment; it was her. It was none other than one that he promised to get to safety along side his now offlined friend.

"Erin," he questioned despite himself. He needed to make sure that this wasn't some cruel joke from Primus.

"Mirage," she replied slowly, cautious of the giant and his current state. "Are-Are you alright?"

He nodded, "I'm fine."

"Is it over? Did we win," she questioned and he nodded yet again. She peered around his massive form and scanned the area, Mirage knew what she was looking for and what she was not going to find there. Her expression twisted with concern as she glanced up at him. "Where's Wheeljack?"

"He's dead," was the monotone answer given. He didn't have to look down at her to see the tears forming in her eyes, the way her aura bounced was a dead give away. "They're dead too though – the Decepticons, their human ally and the Autobot traitor as well."

"Oh."

Mirage cringed, "I will take you home now."

"Thank you," she whispered and nodded slowly.

"No need," he replied dully as he stood on shaken legs. He stepped back and soon was back to his other form, to which he opened the door for her in. No words were spoken as she climbed into the vehicle but he did automatically close the door once she was inside and safe. He could feel her gently stroking the door and knew what the organic was attempting to do, however, he still ignored it and the engine fired. The pair drove from the city that was left in ruins and between abandoned vehicles that lined the roads in utter silence.

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Author's Note: Thoughts? Constructive Criticism?

Next chapter and this fiction is finally complete. I almost don't want it to end but eh, it has to. I realised that these last two chapters seemed to linger on the robots more than anything, but it's the way I like it. I'm not sure what's been going through my head lately but I'm really getting in the mood to write from their prospective. Even the last one (which is almost finished) is written the same way.

Also, I'm kind of sorry if I misquoted the film and what not. Not to mention, that piece with Megatron and Carly seems to be leaning towards some sort of Megatron/Starscream thing. I didn't realise that until my mother pointed it out (her and her obsession with proof reading for me), then I tried to rewrite it but God, I just couldn't. I hope what I wanted to come out of the scene did, but if you have any questions, I'll answer them.

I was just informed by my mother, that she just checked for spelling errors and nothing else. So, I'm sorry for any mistakes. I'm just too scattered right now to do it by myself, and the person who volunteered to beta this is currently out of town.

The next (and last chapter) is going to tie everything up and included an idea for a sequel. If you like it, I'll green light and begin posting since I already have a few chapters complete.

In addition, sorry about the weird page breaks. The lines weren't working for some unknown reason, so I went with that instead.