Disclaimer: Everything that doesn't have an owner, belongs to me.
Author's Note: Thank you for reviewing this fic!!! You're awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!
Note:
-everything playing through Bee's speakers-
"Talk"
Thinking
Nonverbal communication (comm. link, phone, radio, etc…)
Tell me what you think. Now, on with the story… Enjoy! ;)
***
11- When all Hell broke loose
"We're about to get our asses whooped!" Epps muttered, after seeing the many Decepticons landing where they were.
"Alright!" Lennox said, as he walked past his men, and Autobot allies. "We got a whole bunch of fight coming our way!"
As they all observed their enemies stalking closer to them, they heard a jet soaring above them and detonating some sort of EMP, disabling the soldiers' gear. Fortunately, though, the F-22 Raptor flying around them caught Epps' attention. He blinked twice as he looked closer to the jet through his binocular.
"Will!" the Sergeant called.
"What?" the Major asked, once he walked up to the dark-skinned man.
"That thing… those tattoos!" he stammered, pointing out the aircraft to Lennox. "That ain't friendly!"
"Oh, shit!" Lennox cursed.
"Will, you stay here and fight them. Arcee and I will go find Sam and Kim." Ironhide volunteered, bringing Lennox's attention to him and the three femmes standing behind his bulky form.
Lennox nodded, before pointing the way the F-22 just headed to. "Start that way."
"Why that way?" The pink Arcee asked.
"What makes you so sure they're other there?" the blue one added.
"Let's just say a little Raptor told me…" Lennox smirked humourlessly, positive that they caught his drift.
And they did. The four of them started running full speed, or at least as fast as they could on the sandy ground, towards an abandoned Egyptian town.
***
As Bumblebee drove the four humans back to Lennox and his team, with Jazz and the twins on his tail, they were attacked by Starscream. The monstrous Decepticon began dropping missiles on their position, luckily bombing them to no avail.
Bumblebee, Skids, Mudflap and Jazz were practically dancing around the weapons dropped on them, fact that only seemed to annoy the Decepticon further. Leo was in the back along with Simmons, while Sam was in the driver's seat and Kim in the passenger's.
The four humans were clinging to whatever they could find in an attempt to steady their positions. Wheelie was grasping Kim's arm as he sat on her lap, muttering a good dose of expletives in his native language.
Once the missiles started to explode all around them, Leo's 'steely' resolve began to waver. "We're gonna die! We're gonna die! We're gonna die! Weregonnadie!" the boy started to wail and whimper, much to the other passengers' displeasure.
"Stop it!" Kim screamed over the noise of explosions.
"No one's gonna die!" Sam shouted, gripping tightly the steering wheel to avoid being thrown this way and that like a crash test dummy.
Not being able to decide if he hated the most Starscream's constant bombing or Leo's whining, Simmons felt magnanimous enough to 'help' the boy regain his composure: he tasered him.
"I can't stand him!" the ex-agent declared, once the boy had gone lax, and, for once, the two sisters agreed with him.
As the yellow car continued to speed ahead, the humans didn't notice that Jazz was no longer following them, but was trying to stop Starscream. Few minutes later, Simmons startled everyone as he asked – ordered is more like it – Bumblebee to stop, and let them out. The scout obliged, and pulled to a halt in a relatively safe zone, namely one where Starscream or any other Decepticon was not… yet.
"Ok, what now?" Kim asked, turning to the others, noticing that the Autobots were still in vehicle mode. She was about to ask Bumblebee where Jazz was, noticing that the saboteur was no longer with them, but Simmons' voice cut her off.
"You take the fairy dust, and reach the Big Guy." Simmons ordered firmly, but then paused to create a bit of suspense.
"What about you?" Sam asked frustrated.
"We'll take Huey and Louie without Dewey, and act as a diversion." Simmons answered her.
At this point, Leo had regain his composure, bearings and consciousness, and had stumbled out of Bumblebee. Once he heard what Simmons had in store for him, he gulped, but said nothing.
"Good luck." Sam nodded understandingly at them, before grasping Kim's hand and running off to revive Optimus.
"Kid," the ex Sector Seven agent put a hand on Leo's shoulder, and the boy gave him a nervous look. "It's time to show us what you're really made of."
"If the Decepticons catch us, everyone will see what I'm made of!" Leo whined, and was rewarded with a slap on the back of his head, as Simmons rushed to get into Skids.
"Prepare to be driven like never before!" Simmons proclaimed, and Leo could have sworn that the fabric of the seat he was in tensed slightly.
Once Skids sped on the desert path with Mudflap hot on his brother's tail, Simmons began to mutter. "One man, alone…"
"Stop saying that!" Leo sighed exasperated. After all, the ex Sector Seven agent was with him and two Autobots: he wasn't all by himself!
"…Betrayed by the country he loves." The man continued to be, well, himself, ignoring what Leo had just said.
"Oh, my goodness!" Leo shouted utterly exasperated, throwing his hands in the air. "I'm in the car with you. You're not alone!"
Skids and Mudflap drove the humans through their argument near the pyramids, where they suddenly realized that no Decepticon was tailing them. Getting out of the car so that both twins could transform, they suddenly realized that they were in the middle of some sort of construction site. They started to have an uneasy feeling about the place they were in…
…and, in fact, they were right.
While acting as a decoy to lure the Decepticons away from Sam and Kim, they didn't notice that they attracted the attention of the Constructicons… or rather, they did notice, once they saw giant construction vehicles rolling towards them.
"Uh, oh…" Leo muttered, eyeing the Decepticon symbols that were on each of the vehicles.
"This is not good…" Simmons added, as he, Leo and the twins witnessed the Constructicons transform to combine into… Devastator!
***
As the climactic battle between NEST and The Fallen's Decepticons waged on, Sam and Kim arrived in sight of a small abandoned village.
"C'mon! There're only two miles left!" Sam informed her sister breathlessly (sadistically, Kim added), as they continued to run under the sun and in the hot sand.
"Sam!" Kim took her arm, and stopped her.
Sam was about to shout at her sister that they had no time for that, and they had to keep moving, but the shriek of parted air brought her gaze to the sky. A light grey F-22 with strange symbols was hovering over them, just like a vulture would fly in cycles above its rotten prey.
Gulping loudly, and making a run for it, they entered the empty village, and hid inside an old house. The place rocked and shook as Starscream landed with several other Decepticons, and started to search for the Witwicky sisters.
"Find them! They're here…" they heard his screechy voice order, as his minions started to scout the area.
Slightly surprised that the giant didn't see where they hid, but thoroughly grateful that he didn't find them yet, Sam and Kim fell deadly silent, trying to make as less movements as possible. They both crouched down against a wall, which had many transparent bottles embedded in it.
Peering out through a small hole in the sandy wall, Kim saw the metallic bird-like legs of Starscream stalking slowly just outside the hut they were taking shelter in. The hacker gasped in fright upon seeing the lethal M-61 cannon clicking menacingly, and she was silenced by Sam's hand on her mouth.
They stayed that way, stock-still, holding their breath, their backs pressed against the bottles in the wall; the coloured glass objects weren't enough to block the sun rays, but Starscream was. The titan was still out there, searching for them, pacing nervously, getting more and more irritated by the second, and casting a smothering aura on the two humans.
Agonizing moments went by, ticked by the irritated clicks and whirrs of Starscream's joints; his massive shadow gave away his movements as it was projected on the wall across from the two frightened humans. A drop of sweat slid from Sam's temple down her cheek, as her lower lip was caught nervously between her teeth, desperately trying to stifle an anxious whimper; tears welled up in Kim's eyes, and one, small drop streamed down her face uncontrolled, and reached the hand over her mouth.
Once the winged shadow left the wall, none of the sisters relaxed. On the contrary, they tensed even more when they heard a buzzing sound coming from the wall. They looked up to see a tiny, insect-like, metallic being flying almost on Sam's nose.
The curly-haired girl removed her hand from Kim's mouth and took a hold of the metallic fly, ripping its small head off. Sam realized her mistake a little too late, just when Starscream ripped off the roof of the house.
They both screamed at the top of their lungs, as they made a mad dash for the small window that was on their right. Calling out for the other Decepticons, Starscream attempted to catch them, but they successfully escaped him.
Sam and Kim ran as fast as they could, jumping from one rooftop to the next, as they tried to get away from their pursuers through the bombed-out Egyptian town that had become the battlefield. And that was all they remembered doing: they were suspended in midair when the world around them exploded in a dark cloud of dust, sand and debris…
***
Mudflap, Skids, Leo and Simmons watched astonished the giant monster that had took its colourful shape in front of them. The massive Devastator was the combination of the construction vehicles that had followed the four of them. His frame was bulky, and he was standing on all fours; but what was incredible was his mouth: it was made of several large and thick rings that spun on each other, creating a strong wind that sucked up everything that wasn't firmly planted on the ground.
"Wow! The big con sucks!" Mudflap commented the Decepticon's ability to vacuum up loose objects.
Not wasting more time, Leo, Simmons and the twins ran and gripped the railing of a small construction that was nearby. Leo grabbed a strong hold of the metallic railing with his left hand, while his right grasped Simmons' wrist just in time to prevent the latter from getting sucked into the maw of Devastator.
"Thanks, kid!" the man said over the roaring wind and flying sand.
Skids too grasped the railing for dear life, while Mudflap wrapped his large finger on his brother's shoulder.
"Skids! Don't let gooooooooo!!!!!!" the orange twin called, but as he did so, he loosened the grip, until he completely lost it, and started to fly his way to Devastator's mouth.
"MUDFLAP!!" the green Autobot yelled, watching his brother dangling dangerously near the monster's maw.
"Oh, no! You won't have me!! I'm too young to be eaten!!" Mudflap screamed to the Decepticon, hanging on for dear life inside the monster's mouth. Unfortunately, his 'kung-fu grip' couldn't save him, and he was sucked further inside. "Oh, farewell, cruel world!!" the orange Autobot declared, before disappearing through the whirling gears of the giant.
On the ground, near the two humans, Skids mourned his brother's loss. "He's gone! He's gone! That monster ate him alive!!" he cried, bowing his head, and hiding it in his forearm.
When he saw that Devastator stopped sucking up the loose objects all around them, Simmons realized that the safest place to be was directly under the giant. "His legs!" he shouted, as he stood.
"What?" Leo asked, standing as well.
"If we're under his legs, he can't suck us up!" Simmons explained, and realisation struck the other two as well.
They made a run for it.
Once under the Decepticon, who had started to vacuum up sand all over again, a vengeful Skids clambered up the titan's right forepaw, while the humans looked from beneath him, waiting for the right moment to escape.
To everyone's surprise, Devastator stopped again, and started to shook his head, as if trying to remove an offending thing. Said 'offending thing' turned out to be none other than… Mudflap!
The orange twin had survived, and was now blasting a hole through the Decepticon's head to escape.
"Wait, Devastator! There's a bug on yer face! Let me shoot it fer ya!" he smugly exclaimed as he fought his way out of the giant head by punching and shooting the monster's optic and cheek, doing quite a bit of damage to him.
"Mudflap! You're still online!!" Skids yelled happily, from his position on the right paw.
"Yeah! Hope dat ain't ruin yer weekend!" Mudflap looked down at his brother once out of the head.
"Hope dat ruins his weekend!" Skids smirked back at his twin, as he reached him.
They both looked at the Decepticon shaking in pain, then to each other, and their faceplates cracked into the most devilish evil grin everyone had ever seen. The humans caught sight of the smirk, and understood it was better running for their lives.
"Nobody messes with the twins!" Mudflap shouted at Devastator as he readied himself to play tag team with his twin.
To buy them time to escape, Skids threw a cable to Mudflap, who grabbed it and swung off Devastator's head onto his arm. Skids took the other end of the cable, and reached his brother there. However, once they landed, and overeager Mudflap 'accidentally' shot Skids in the face, knocking them off the arm. They landed on the ground with a painful 'thud', and Skids was forced to spit out his gold tooth.
"Hey! Ya shot at my face!!" the green twin whined, eyeing his lost tooth, then glaring at his brother.
Mudflap only smiled sheepishly, and watched the Decepticon heading away, to the great pyramid of Giza.
***
These two have an irritating ability to survive! Starscream thought, as he watched genuinely impressed the two humans running again after he shot them.
It was clear that shooting them mindlessly would bring them nowhere, so the only other mean the Second-in-command knew it would work was a trap. And they had just the perfect bait…
"Rampage!!" Starscream bellowed, and the giant Constructicon Rampage appeared seconds later with the irritated parents of the two sisters in his grasp.
"Sam! Kim!" Ron and Judy screamed upon seeing their two daughters running their way.
"Mom! Dad!" Kim shouted, starting to run towards them, but Sam stopped her.
"Let go you tin-can!!" their mother yelled, while kicking the Decepticon, who merely snorted, smirking evilly at them.
Starscream crossed his arms across his chest, grinning mischievously at the girls.
"You coward-" Kim started, still held back by Sam, but was cut off by the Decepticon Seeker.
"Tzk, tzk!" Starscream shook his head, scolding her. "You're in no position to call me names, squishy!" he sneered, and Rampage set their parents on the ground, menacing them with a razor blade that came out of his wrist.
"Wait! Don't hurt them!" Sam pleaded, letting go of Kim.
"Then you know what to do, right?" Starscream asked, though he already knew the answer.
Kim was glaring at the winged Decepticon, something Sam was beginning to admire, while she herself glanced between them both, finding the same determination written into their eyes/optics. Sam looked at the hopeless expressions on her parents' faces, then something told her to glance at her right, where there was a small alleyway created by two nearby houses.
In the rush to get the Matrix of Leadership to Optimus, Sam had completely forgotten about her car. But there he was. Ah, sweet little Bumblebee! How long had he been following us? How long had he protected us like an invisible guardian angel? Sam thought, at the same time promising not to leave Bumblebee ever again.
"Okay! Okay! Here's what you want!" Sam said, holding up the wrapped handkerchief that contained the Matrix powder. "Let them go now!" she ordered, implicitly promising to hand over the Matrix, but in reality stalling for time until Bumblebee was able to attack and rescue their parents.
Just few steps back… Sam thought as she backed away, still beckoning the Decepticons to follow her, and leave their parents alone. Rampage removed the lethal weapon from near the two humans, and started to concentrate only on the two backing girls.
Suddenly a yellow blur sped by. Sam watched as Bumblebee transformed his arm into a canon, and fired at both Rampage and Starscream. Bumblebee was able to make Starscream fly away, while he lunged at the Constructicon, and tackled him to the ground.
Kim was quickly at their parents' side, trying to keep them out of harm's way, with Wheelie perched on her shoulder again. The small drone-bot must have been with Bumblebee the whole time.
Speaking of which… The yellow Autobot and the Decepticon were locked in a vicious hand-to-hand combat; too focused on what to punch and kick, Bumblebee didn't notice Ravage sneaking up from behind to attack him. After the yellow scout killed Rampage, he risked to be slashed by the giant cougar-like Decepticon if it wasn't for Jazz, who caught up with them.
As the lieutenant successfully killed Ravage, Sam didn't notice that she had wandered off alone a bit too much. She had watched Bumblebee and Jazz killing both Decepticons, and Kim trying to calm their parents down, but the curly-haired girl had unconsciously backed farther away.
Clicks and whirrs brought her attention on her right, and she came face-to-face with a cannon aimed at her head. Sam's eyes widened in fear. No! How could this be?! He was… he shouldn't be here! …But he was.
Standing few feet from her, was the black and white interceptor, the police car that had survived Mission City, and that she thought was gone for good. Barricade locked his crimson optics on the small female in front of him. She glanced worriedly and briefly ahead, hoping that one of the Autobots could help her, but they were both battling, and her sister had her back to her.
Turning her body completely to Barricade, she realized that no one could save her now. If the Decepticon wanted to fire, she would be gone in a flash, with no trace whatsoever that she'd ever existed. He was sheltered by the wall of the house, and Sam doubted that Bumblebee or Jazz would be fast enough to reach her side if Barricade decided to put an end at her life. Squaring her shoulders, and setting her face in a determined frown, she looked up expectantly at him: if he wanted to kill her, he'd have to look her in the eyes. Only one question remained: what was he waiting for?
***
She was standing there, staring expectantly at him, waiting for him to deliver the final blow. The last shot that would erase her from existence. The hit that would end the battle. Then why wouldn't he order his systems to fire? She was defenceless, hopeless, alone… and the Autobots didn't acknowledge his presence, and if they did, there was little they could do to save her.
It would be so easy…
So terribly… unsatisfying.
Gone… just like that.
And then?
Well, the Autobots would have one fewer human friend to care about. And the Decepticons would win the fight. He had to shoot. He had to; after all, he was a Decepticon… then why couldn't he bring himself to move?
Was he hesitating because then he wouldn't be seeing her ever again, or trying to capture her, or marveling at her determination, creativity, and will to go on even though everything around was burned to the ground?
She was staring him straight in his red optics. Pit! Not even Starscream had the guts to lock eyes with Megatron when he pushed his patience too far, and the leader threatened to terminate his miserable existence. She was braver than many Decepticons he met, for now if it had been Starscream in her place, he'd been begging him to spare his life, just so that he could start planning his treachery, getting caught and restarting his begging anew.
So the question was: had he really grown to respect the fleshling so much that it interfered with his own programming? Well, perhaps. Maybe it was that he couldn't think of seeing her gone, erased, destroyed without an honorable fight. After all, the situation they were in was already desperate… but who knew what the small, fleshy creature could come up with to pull herself and the others out of trouble? And he couldn't know if he just shot her then and there, right?
Well, perhaps.
To Sam's utter surprise and shock, Barricade put his cannon down. Bowing his head briefly to the girl in a sort of salute, he transformed and sped away, leaving a bewildered Sam to wonder what had just happened. He'd wordlessly said that it'd be another day, or that she owed him one.
"Sam!"
The girl didn't have time to ponder further the thought, when her sister reached her, tapping her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"Y-yes," she stammered, still confused, and watched her parents rushing towards her.
"SAM!!" Ron and Judy screamed, hugging their daughter.
Explosions brought Sam out of her trance. "You don't stop, you don't hide. You run. You understand me?" She ordered her parents.
"We're all going together!" Ron Witwicky yelled back.
"NO!" Sam shouted, shaking her father a bit, before softening her gaze. "This is something Kim and I must do together. Dad, you have to let us go…"
It's one thing to be told that his daughters had fought alongside giant aliens and saved the world. It's easy to watch them leave the nest, go to their separate ways, if they know that Sam and Kim are happy and safe. It's another matter to be in the middle of a war, with sand and dirt streaking their bodies, and bullets whistling in the air, with deadly enemies surrounding them, trying to kill them all for something that Ron and Judy still hadn't really comprehend.
How could his daughters ask him to let them go? His much too young daughters, who still had so much to live for, and were forced to sacrifice their wellbeing for the sake of others'. How could they expect him and their mother to just get in the car, run, don't stop, don't hide, don't look back and leave them behind? It's near impossible for a parent to let his offspring go, knowing that they'd have to run into a war, knowing what was at stake and what it might cost them.
And Sam and Kim's bright eyes burning with the conviction that they have to do the right thing, and their determined expressions willing to face the odds and risk everything they have to protect their parents and their friends were truly something that Ron couldn't argue with. Because he knew that it was past the stage where he and Judy had to protect them from everything… because their daughters now knew what the real world was like, and it was their turn to keep their parents safe.
"Ron…" Judy started, but she had to repeat her husband's name to tear his attention from his daughters. "Ron… Let them go."
Tears started to pour from Ron's eyes, and he hugged Sam, burying his face in her curly hair. "But you have to promise…" his voice cracked, unable to elaborate further, afraid to continue, and think about the possibility of losing both girls. "…Promise…"
"I promise!" Sam said, hugging her father back. Kim and Judy joined the family hug briefly.
"Go with them." Kim told Wheelie, picking him up from his position on her shoulder.
"But, my Goddess! I'm not going to go without you!" the drone protested, and she shot him a glare that rivalled Soundwave's. "Unless… you're glaring at me!"
"Bumblebee, take our parents to safety." Sam ordered, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"It's time for us to reach the Big Guy!" Kim said, trying to lighten up the mood, as they both watched their parents getting into the transformed Bumblebee.
"Go! Hide 'n Arcee're dat way!" Jazz informed them, and they nodded, casting a last glance at their parents, then running as fast as they could, leaving Ron and Judy to stare after the two tattered and dirty backs, as they shrank in the distance, knowing that they might not return.
***
*NEST's control room*
Where am I? Galloway demanded to General Morshower on the phone. United States! Somebody on the other end kept on chanting. No, I'm from United States! Where am I now? General, tell me where I am! Morshower sighed, and hung up without so much as a goodbye.
Although he would have been amused by Galloway's predicament, he was worried about another fact. "Why can that idiot contact us, while NEST can not?"
"Something blinded all our satellites above the area, sir." One of his men informed him.
"Contact Egypt and Jordan: ask them to deploy some air assets to locate our men!" Morshower ordered his men, who immediately got to work.
***
So here's part of the battle!!! What do you think of Cadie? Has he gone soft? Hope you liked this chapter as well as the others!
Don't miss the next chappie!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Until next time… see ya!!!!;-)