chapter eleven

Raven found herself trapped on the roof of the building. The helicopter that was supposed to get the AllSpark had been taken down by Starscream (fragging slagger) and now she was facing down Megatron of all mechs.

On her own.

This sucked.

Megatron smirked at her. "Is it fear or courage that compels you, fleshling?"

Raven rolled her eyes and searched for an exit. "Neither." she said absently. "Just the burning desire to spite you."

Megatron didn't seem to hear her. "Give me the AllSpark and you'll live to be my pet."

Raven's head snapped around to stare at Megatron. "Is that supposed to be incentive?" she demanded. "It's not. That's just creepy and gross and brings up a whole new set of questions I never wanted to consider. Thanks for that."

"You have nowhere else to go."

"Sure I do." Raven once again glanced over the edge o the roof. This was going to suck if Optimus was even a few seconds slow, but then again, it was going to suck regardless. Might as well make it suck on her terms. "I can always go down."

"With nothing to catch your fall?" Megatron sneered. "No human is brave enough to kill themselves just to protect a worthless piece of metal."

Raven grinned. "Bravery has nothing to do with this. Neither does common sense. This is me spitting in your face, because you're too tall for me to do it literally." With that she turned and jumped off the edge of the roof.

The plummet to the ground was short lived, though. She smacked hard into Optimus's hand, the impact knocking the wind out of her. With a grunt, she smiled at the massive mech.

"Thanks."

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" he demanded. "Never mind – hold on to the Cube!"

/-/

Ironhide and Jazz tore through the streets, searching for a sign of Ratchet and Prime. They found Ratchet and slid to a stop next to him. "What's goin' on?"

Ratchet's attention was fixed on the roof of the nearest building. "Megatron has the girl's sister cornered. She just jumped off the roof – "

Jess's yell nearly deafened Jazz. "WHAT?"

Ratchet shot her an irritated look. "If you'll let me finish – Optimus caught her before she could hurt herself. He's taking Raven and the Cube somewhere safe so he can finish his fight with Megatron. They're meeting up with Bee."

Heather looked at Ironhide. "That's where we need to be."

Ratchet shook his head. "We need to help the human soldiers fight the rest of the Decepticons. They can't do it on their own."

"I know." Heather snapped. "But you don't need us, so therefore we can go help Raven, who happens to need the backup. How's that?"

Jazz grinned. "I'll take 'em." he said. "Ya go help Lennox and Epps. I think I hear Epps cussin' Lennox again."

Ironhide shook his head in irritation. "No self-preservation instincts."

"Just like you." Ratchet snipped.

Jazz transformed back into vehicle mode and opened his doors. "Get in, sweeties." he said cheerfully. "Imma gonna take ya fer a ride."

Heather laughed at the look on Jess's face. "Jazz – I think you've found yourself a girlfriend."

"Hey!"

Jazz merely laughed. "I don' think mah mate will mind." With that the girls got in and Jazz took off, leaving Ironhide and Ratchet to help the humans deal with the rest of the Decepticons.

/-/

Raven wasn't entirely surprised to see Jazz pull up, let Jess and Heather out, and then transform and take on Megatron with Optimus.

Jess and Heather groaned. "Didn't he learn from last time?" Heather muttered.

"Am I gonna have to call Megatron 'trigger crotch' again?" Jess asked.

Raven gave them both looks. "Do I even want to know?"

"No." Heather and Jess said at the same time.

"Okay." The girls all ducked as Jazz and Optimus went flying over their heads. Optimus looked over at Raven. He spoke quickly, and quietly.

"If it looks like I am about to lose, I want you to put the AllSpark in my chest. I will sacrifice myself to destroy it."

Raven didn't say anything, but nodded. Optimus climbed back to his feet and charged Megatron again, Jazz covering his back.

Jess looked over at Raven. "Assuming Prime loses, which I really hope he don't, cause I like him, is there any way to destroy the AllSpark using Megatron instead?" she asked quickly.

"The same way, right?" Raven sounded slightly panicked. "I mean, they're built the same way, right? Wouldn't it make sense?"

"Raven, logic flew out the window about three days ago." Heather said flatly. "About the same time a cop car stood up and chased me. Who cares? We'll give it a shot."

"And if it doesn't work, we'll just have to apologize." Jess said cheerfully. "A lot."

A lucky blow from Megatron had Jazz pulling back before he could suffer any more damages. Optimus pressed the attack, forcing Megatron to stagger backward and away from the injured Jazz and the hiding girls with his fists. Megatron snarled, his left hand transforming into a massive blade. He swept the blade up, tearing a gash across Optimus's stomach and chest. Optimus fell back, going down on one knee while pressing his arm tight across the wound.

Jess was practically vibrating. "Now?"

"Wait for it." Heather said quietly.

"How long?"

"Until I say."

"That's a fat lot of help."

Raven was watching the battle closely, her grip on the AllSpark tightening. She shot out of her hiding place, and while Megatron was attempting to push himself to his feet, shoved the AllSpark against his chest, watching as the plates opened to reveal his spark. The ground shifted as asphalt crumbled, and Raven staggered back.

In a flash Heather and Jess were standing on either side of her, bracing her against the shaking. Together, the three of them shoved the AllSpark into Megatron's chest.

Jess thought she heard Optimus yelling at them, but she couldn't hear over the deafening noise of the explosion. Metal hands grabbed for them and pulled them away. Jazz retreated back to Optimus's side, staring in awe at the smoking wreck that was Megatron.

"Uh, boss? Ya know that was gonna happen?"

"No." Optimus said quietly. "I did not." He glanced at the girls, who were clinging to each other and shaking somewhat. Heather cleared her throat.

"Know what caused that, Raven?" she asked.

Raven shook her head. "Earth explosions I get. Not this one."

"I'll tell you. Stupidity, that's what caused it." Heather shook her head. "Geez, what did we think was gonna happen?"

"Not that." Jess quipped.

"No dip, Sherlock."

Jazz chuckled. "I'll take 'em ta Ratchet. He'll wanna have a look at 'em."

"We're fine!" Raven protested.

"Covered in burns and bruises, but fine." Optimus said with no small amount of amusement. "Take them to Ratchet, Jazz. I need to have a word with the humans. With the AllSpark gone, there's no point in returning home."

"What's that?" Jess pointed. "There's something stuck in Megatron's chest."

Optimus bent and looked as Jess slid off of Jazz's hand and dropped to the ground. He gave her a look, which was pointedly ignored. "Is he dead?"

From the relative safety of Jazz's hand Heather looked on. "Poke him with a stick, Jess. If he moves, run!"

Optimus frowned at Heather before lifting Jess in one hand, and carefully extracting the shard of the AllSpark. "He's dead. Don't poke him."

"But if he's dead - " Heather was cut off by a swift punch to the arm.

Raven gave her a look. "Shut up." she closed her eyes and rested against one of Jazz's fingers, almost relaxing. Almost.

Heather looked around. "Here's a really good question for you." she said, taking note of the damage done and the people alternating between cowering and peeking out to see if the fight was over.

"What?" Jazz asked.

Heather motioned to everything around her. "What now?"

Jess grinned at Heather. "Government officials, here we come." she quipped. "They're armed with the ability to be boring, we're armed with giant alien robots. Who will win?"

Raven made an exasperated noise and sank into Jazz's hand even further.

"Do you two ever shut up?"

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AN: Ta-da! One more chapter left, and we want reviews for it! We'll settle for one. Just let us know we haven't lost our readers. Please? (puppy dog eyes)