Hello. I'm back. I have a three-day weekend now and I love it, especially since I get paid on Monday even though I'm not at work :)
Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I'm so glad that it made some of you sad. I know that might sound a little wierd, but it just means that I managed to successfully convey the feeling I wanted to.
Enjoy!
Bluestreak stared at the settling dust with frustration. How was he supposed to get the Twins to believe that Michelle still loved them?
The human next to him collapsed in the sand and sighed happily. Blue looked down and recognized the man as the one who had held a gun to Michelle's head. Tamping down on his anger, he asked. "Did Michelle say anything to you about the Twins?"
The human opened his eyes. "No, not once in the entire time that we lived together did she ever mention that she knew you guys."
"Then how did you find out about us and her?"
"The information came from a gang leader. She keeps us informed about the darker side of society."
"Who wanted to find us so badly that they would ask a criminal?"
"I work for the FBI." George stated proudly.
If he had wanted Bluestreak to be impressed he saw sorely mistaken. Blue merely looked down him indifferently.
"How did you escape from the Decepticons?"
"Michelle hid me. She said that you would help me if I got far enough away from them."
"Did it seem like they were friends?"
"I wouldn't say friends. She saved Brandon's and my life. Those other two were about to kill us and she made a deal."
Bluestreak's interest perked up. "What kind of deal?"
"I don't know. I was too busy being crushed to hear the details."
Blue nodded thoughtfully. If Michelle had made a deal with Thundercracker and Skywarp then she would be in danger now, especially since their other hostage had escaped. Images of a bloody and mangled body danced over his optics. It was not a pretty sight, it was just as horrifying as seeing the Twins so fragged up in the Medbay.
"We have to do something or Michelle won't have a chance."
"Like what?"
Bluestreak looked down at George in frustration. "Aren't you part of some human intelligence thing?"
An embarrassed expression passed over the man's face. "This was out first under-cover mission."
Blue suppressed a sigh and mentally cursed inexperienced soldiers. "We'll find the Twins and try to talk them around. I just hope they'll listen."
Sideswipe paced along the plateau's edge, his worrisome footsteps had begun to weaken the rocky ledge.
"What if she meant everything she said? Her hand wasn't closed and Thundercracker didn't kill her…but he could have tricked her into saying those things."
Sunstreaker watched sadly as his brother talked to himself. He wasn't sure if it was Michelle's innocence or guilt that Side's was trying to convince himself of. Either way the monologue was only digging the more emotional twin into a grief-stricken hole.
"Stop it Side's. You're only going to make it worse."
Sideswipe stopped pacing, spark-broken optics turned to his. "I thought she loved us."
Sunny felt his brother's anguish through their bond and pulled him close. "I'm sure that she would have if she had been open to us."
"What do we do now?"
"We find Blue and go back to base." Sunny felt him spark ache as he said it.
"We're leaving Michelle behind?"
"She made her choice, we can't help her anymore." Sunstreaker could hear the reluctance in his own voice. He felt a twinge of pain as Sideswipe lowered his head, it didn't feel right that they were leaving Michelle behind even though she had sided with the Decepticons.
"Where do you think Blue is?" Sideswipe asked suddenly as he looked out over the desert.
"Where we left him I suppose."
"You were fairly hard on him."
"I know. I'll have to make it up to him later."
Sideswipe's face lit up with a predatory grin. "Maybe I owe him an apology too."
Sunstreaker laughed, the red twins' comment lifted some of their grief. "Maybe you do. I just hope he accepts us back. He did save our lives by getting Michelle to give back the spark jewel."
A look of thoughtful confusion passed over Sideswipe's face. "If Michelle is working with the Decepticons, she'd want us deactivated, right? Then why did she help Bluestreak save us when she doesn't care about us?"
Both twins remained silent as they pondered Sideswipe's question.
A soft rumble a while later heralded the arrival of their third member.
"Looks like we don't have to go searching for him." Sunny smirked.
The grey and white Datsun pulled up next to them, ejected its passenger and transformed.
The trio looked at each other uncertainly before Sideswipe smiled sadly and glomped Bluestreak. Shock turned to a smile on the gunner's face as he returned the hug.
"Who's that?" Sunstreaker asked at length, pointing to the human.
"His name's George. He's Michelle's other room-mate. Skywarp was using him as target practice."
"Then why isn't he dead?"
"Maybe Skywarp's aim has gotten worse." Side's suggested.
"Michelle made a deal with the other robots to save mine and my partner's life." George replied.
"I'm guessing that your partner is the human we left in the house."
George frowned. "You left him in the house? That thing's a safety hazard."
"What deal?" Sunny demanded, getting them back on track.
"I don't know. I was being crushed."
Sideswipe looked somberly into Sunstreaker's optics. "If she made a deal that spared two lives, she'll be paying for it now. Twice as much now that he's escaped…We have to go back. If the human's right, then we can't waste anymore time. If she made a deal with the Decepticons, they could easily have been holding his life over her head as leverage. She might still love us."
"She does." Bluestreak exclaimed. Both twins looked at him. "She never stopped loving you, even after you left her five years ago."
Hope and a fierce resolve settled on the twins' faces, Sunstreaker's engine revved. "Let's roll."
In unison the three Autobots transformed and raced towards the Decepticons ranch.
Michelle huddled in a dark corner. It was the same corner in the pantry where George had tried to hide from the Decepticons.
Every instinct within her told Michelle that she would soon be dead. There was no way that she could continue to evade Skywarp's sadistic intentions. He had probably already mapped out her torture and subsequent death and was no doubt looking for her so that they could enact it.
Michelle tensed as thunderous footsteps shook the house around her. With quick whispers she prayed that the jet didn't find her.
The ground shuddered and Michelle relaxed, the robot had just taken to the air. Breathing a sigh of relief, she tried to ease her muscles enough for her to sleep. It was difficult since the floor and wall were hard and rough and every noise made her jump with fear.
Ten minutes later and Michelle was wishing that she had dug a hole and hidden in it. Skywarp's cold red optics stared down at her. Sad and defeated, Michelle didn't fight as the purple jet pulled her out of the now-ruined ranch house. The hard metal fingers squeezed her slightly and Michelle's lungs labored for air.
A dark satisfaction gleamed in Skywarp's optics, whatever he had planned would definitely be worse than any pain she had ever suffered before. Even worse than when her former gang leader had tried to kill her with a baseball bat.
The Twins had saved her then.
They wouldn't be saving her now.
Cursing herself for following the Decepticon's plan Michelle stared at the horizon as she struggled to breathe. There would be no one coming to her aid this time, and it was all her fault.
The metal hand tightened and Michelle screamed as she was crushed. As the pain filled her senses she hoped that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were alive, safe, and healing.
Skywarp apparently didn't like the sound Michelle was making because he suddenly threw her. Opening her eyes, Michelle saw the ground moving very fast past her and a cliff wall approaching just as quickly.
She had only enough time to shut her eyes and think 'This is going to hurt.' before she slammed into something hard and unforgiving, yet she was still alive. The enormous amount of pain she was in confirmed that.
Looking up through her pain bleared eyes, she saw TC's optics glowing at her.
"Skywarp, how many times do I have to tell you; humans break easily and we need this one for the next stage. Be more careful."
Thundercracker tossed her back to the purple seeker. Michelle was deftly caught, Skywarp frowned slightly.
He's probably just unhappy that I'm still alive. She though wryly. She was wrong.
"Hey TC, we've got company."
Michelle twisted in the large hand. He was right. There was a dust cloud rising in the distance.
"They've figured it out." Skywarp said as the cloud came closer. "The other human is with them."
Michelle stared in confusion. Were they returning because they didn't believe her act or did they just want revenge for the pain she had caused? Knowing them, it was probably revenge.
"I'm not ready to end this game just yet. The Autobrat Twins still have to watch the female die."
Cold dread settled in Michelle's stomach as the robots began communicating in a language unknown to her. To stop her from listening in, she guessed, but she picked up one thing from the gesture they used and the tone of their words.
They were going to attack the Twins.
Michelle struggled fruitlessly in the steel grasp, there was no way she could alert the Twins and Bluestreak in time to stop them being caught by the attack. Clutching the smooth metal she felt her heart break totally as her complete failure to save her beloved Twins wrapped around her.
Sorry about the delay and shortness of this piece.
The end is coming so please review so I can make it a good one and not kill everyone off in a blaze of glory.
TammyCat