Chapter 12: No Prisoners, Only Trophies
"You can fly it, right?" I ask Bumblebee. The Decepticon ship is still in tact and capable for flying. We can use it to get closer to the tower. Bumblebee holds his hand up and shakes it a little.
"Sort of?" he says more of in a question form.
"So you can sort of fly this?" I repeat.
"I only took the first few classes of flight training," he says. My eyes dart from him to the ship.
"Good enough for me," I shrug. Bumblebee awkwardly gets in and I'm about to climb in after him, when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn and see Mirage's holoform. I stand up straight and we just stare into each other's eyes silently. Suddenly, he pulls me in for a passionate kiss, wrapping his arms around me protectively. My arms slowly find their way tangled into his hair.
"Come back to me, va bene?" he whispers after the kiss. His hand is gently rubbing circles on the small of my back. My head rests on his shoulder and I hold him as tight as I can. This may we last see each other. I choke back a sob by just thinking that. I nod.
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Just worry about getting your aft back to me after this is all over. Say, walk along the beach?" I suggest. He chuckles at me and gives me another peck on the lips.
"It's a date," he says.
"I hate to break up the love fest, but we have a planet to save," Bumblebee interjects. I stick out my tongue at him before turning back to Mirage, giving him one last meaningful kiss.
"Good luck," we whisper to each other. I jump back in the tight space machine with Bumblebee. I notice that it's almost like a jet; a steering wheel, windows in the front, and a whole ton of confusing buttons. Wheelie, Brains, and Sparks are also inside, making it even more squished. They love to tag along for the ride.
"You ready Bee?" I ask. He nods before pressing a few buttons, the ship takes off the ground. We start to hover in the air a bit, before turning around and heading straight into the depths of Chicago.
At first Bee has trouble flying the thing; flying too close to buildings, flying too low into debris, flying too high into other Decepticon ships. However, he starts to get the hang of it and soon we're smooth sailing. Or should I say flying.
"Maybe I should be driving, damn Autobot" Sparks grumbles. I kick him slightly and he crackles out.
"Shut up. I can easily throw you out this thing and if you haven't noticed we're really high up," I say. He may be an ally with useful information, but I'm not letting him talk to Bumblebee like that.
"Annie, are you sure this is worth it?" Bee asks. His optics shift over to me slightly
"I've waited long enough, and I'm finishing what I've started," I say. Bee doesn't say anything.
As we creep closer, I find more and more Decepticons. Almost one at every turn. I try to memorize where they all are to tell Optimus later on.
We eventually see Trump Tower. It's still as perfect as last time I saw it. Only now there's a blue light shining form the tip of it, connecting to Cybertron. Bumblebee pulls up to it slowly. There aren't any Decepticon ships or beings around, so I jump out and onto a balcony. Getting my gun ready, I give a slight nod to Bee, signaling he can leave and wait for me in a few minutes. It'd be too suspicious if there was just a random Decepticon ship just floating there next to the tower.
I make my way inside, keeping my gun up. Hearing footsteps, I crouch behind a kitchen counter. Creeping as slowly as possible, I make my way to the end of the counter.
"Stupid Megatron, making me stay on watch on Earth. Why can't I go to Cybertron? Why do I have to stay looking after a bunch of stupid fleshy humans?" I know that voice. I completely despise that voice. That voice is of someone who has betrayed me to no end. I clutch the gun tighter in my hand. With a quick motion, I'm up and have the gun on the back of the blond haired girl's head.
"So you survived that fall three years ago, huh Annie?" she sneers.
"Lucky break I guess," I say.
"Ready for round two?" she asks.
"I've been waiting three long years to kick your ass, Alice," I say.
"No weapons. No transformations. Just skin on skin. I'll make it easier on you. Isn't that the traditional ways for you humans?" she asks. I growl, but put my gun away. She turns to me calmly.
In a flash her leg is in the air and my arm is bent up at an eighty degree angle, keeping her leg from kicking me in the head. She smirks at me before switching her legs in a millisecond. I'm just as quick to counter it again with my other arm.
I turn my wrist, grabbing at her leg and flipping her over in the air. She just uses that as a support to kick me backwards. I roll backwards and end with my left leg bent, right leg outstretched, both hands on the ground to support me from falling and body close to the ground. I look up just as Alice's foot is about to kick me in the face.
I roll out of her way. Grabbing at her foot, I pull on her, making her lose her balance and fall to the ground. She swirls around and grabs my wrist, twisting it behind my back. Jerking my head back, I headbutt her. Ouch! Not my smartest move. I'm a little light headed now. Note to self: never butt heads with a Decepticon; they tend to have really hard heads.
I feel her grip loosen and I escape, getting up. She gets up too, and I launch at her elbows, pushing her backwards, towards the balcony. Alice quickly realizes what I'm trying to do and pushes back harder. We're in the middle of the room, trying to shove the other backwards.
"Well looks like your fighting techniques have gotten better over the years," she says.
"Thanks, back at you."
"Thank you, but I think I've worked harder than you." I feel my feet starting to slip and I stumble backwards and into the wall. Struggling against Alice, she finally holds me down by slamming my hands above my head. "Now I can finally finish you off."
By my wrists, she drags me towards the window.
"Goodbye Annie Catalano." With that, she tosses me through the window and down to my death. My body shatters the glass and the ground is no longer under me. I'm not scared though. Shortly after I fall through the window, Bee's right there to catch me in his new ride. I stand up, wiping a bit of blood from my lower lip.
"You're going down bitch. Fire Bumblebee!" In a moment, shots are being fired at Alice through the broken window I flew out of and the windows next to it. Alice's eyes widen. She's in the middle of transforming when the shots come into contact with her body. Alice falls down to the floor, half her body covered in metal plates, the other half a young beautiful evil woman. Red Energon seeps out of her. It isn't the way I wanted to beat her, but I'll take it. "Nice work Bumblebee; one down, five to go. You really took care of that shit. Let's go up, we can reach Cybertron faster."
I climb through and squish in with the others. Upwards, I see something glowing red; the Control Pillar. However, as Bee turns around, something crashes into us. Bee swerves, crashing us into a building. A metallic falcon swoops inside and tries to claw at me with it's sharp talons.
"You again!" I groan, Holding it at arms length by it's ankles. It can just barely be able to scratch me. I put my foot up on it's torso to keep it's beak from stabbing my eyes out. "You little bastard. This is for three years ago!"
Bumblebee starts to regain control again and I notice there's a fire in the side of the ship where the wing is supposed to be. We're a little too close to the ground than I would like to be. Putting more pressure on my foot, I step on the bird's torso. I pivot, allowing my other foot to step it's neck. I hear a successful crack and the bird goes limp. Take that you damn bird.
I look and see that we're headed sideways into two really close buildings. The other wing is torn off and we're falling towards the ground.
"Bee! Do you know how to land this thing!" I ask.
"I skipped that lesson!" he says, pulling on the controls.
"See, I told you, you should've let me drive!" Sparks comments. We spin and the world outside is upside down. We land with a hard thud, crashing on top of a fountain. I grunt as I roll out of the ship. Struggling up, Bee gets out, completely whipped. He leans out of the ship and Wheelie, Brains, and Sparks clamber out.
"Nice work Bee," I say, giving him a thumbs up. He returns it. Optimus, Ironhide, and Sideswipe drive up to us. Our group of soldiers pile out of them and other trucks. I turn to Optimus.
"We need to move quickly before we get spotted. Wait here until we scout a route ahead," Optimus says before walking off with the rest of the Autobots. The humans gear up. Guns and different types of weapons are passed out. It looks like Christmas has come early.
"Okay, we have to sneak around and somehow get up to that tower," I say, pointing to the Trump Tower.
"The next one," Epps says. "It's the same height. We can probably climb up that building and jump from there."
"It's risky," someone says.
"It's our only shot," I say.
The Autobots roll back in their alt forms and I climb inside of Ironhide. Epps comes in with me. We pack up and get going, fast. Brains is on the top of the Toppick shouting "Autobot victory! Autobot victory!"
I wet my lips as we peel down the road. It goes Sideswipe, Ironhide, Bee, and then Optimus, who's bringing up the rear. We left the other cars and are all just riding in the Autobots. From the rearview mirror, I see an explosion occur behind Optimus. Driller.
Driller peels through the ground, trying to get to Optimus. Optimus just keeps driving, not even hesitating when Driller got to his trailer. From the hole Driller made out of the ground, I see two figures coming out. I don't even have to see their faces to know that they're Shockwave and Starscream.
"Into that church!" I say. Ironhide nods and veers off, into the abandoned church off the side of the road. Soon all the Autobots and humans are gathered in the big church, hiding from the two Decepticons and their pet worm.
"They got my trailer, I need that flight tech," Optimus says. Optimus puts his face shield up and holds his blaster out against the church window. "Sideswipe, Ironhide, we need a distraction."
"Time to mess up some shit," Sideswipe says. He seems happy about that. Him and Ironhide leave in their alt forms. I hear shots being fired. It must be hell out there.
"We can't go to the building we did before, that one is crawling with Decepticons. We go up to that glass building." I look out the window that he's pointing to a completely glass building. "We circle around it and somehow get to Trump Tower. From there, we go to Cybertron. Let's move!"
The moment we get outside, there are no Decepticons. In the distance, I hear shots being fired. Ironhide and Sideswipe must be doing a really good job. The humans run out, hurrying as fast as we can to get around to the glass building.
We run as fast as we can, not missing a beat as we try to get to the glass building. It isn't very far away and the doors are open, so we have no problem zooming inside. We pound up the stairs, trying to hurry as fast as we can. I take two steps at a time. Out a window, I see two jet planes. I know those jets. They're for Air Drop.
Just as I think that, a Decepticon ship flies over, transforms in mid-air, and pulls one of the jets down. They both crash into a building and the building falls. From the second jet, I see black figures falling out of it. As soon as they fall out, another Decepticon lands on the second plane. It bursts into flames and falls out of the sky.
At first it seems as though the black figures are falling out of control, but then I notice how accurate it all is. Soon they are all falling in a triangle formation, curving around buildings in sync with one-another. I feel a hand on my shoulder and see Stone.
"Come on, we have to move." I nod and follow him up the steps.
The glass building used to be an office complex. So I'm not surprised to see lots of papers on our way up. We make our way to a level of the building that has desks, papers, pencils, scattered around. We ignore it all and run to the other side of the room.
"Come on, hurry up!" I shout. We run to the other side, and we look out through a broken glass window. "We're too far." No kidding. The Trump Tower is clearly visible, but no way anyone can jump from here to there.
"Damn it!" Epps shouts, kicking a chair. It has wheels so it slides out of a window. "Now what!"
I look over and see a water tank. I see the water inside is jittering. I feel the ground under us start to shake.
"Whoa, what is that?" Burke asks. Mongo and Epps are at the window, looking down.
"They're shooting the building down," Mongo says. I rush over to them and see that they're right. About four maybe five Decepticon small ships are shooting at the glass building, a few stories down. This can't be good.
There's another rumble, then a groan, and more things start to shake.
"The building's starting to come down!" I shout. Just then the ground under us starts to tip. We try to climb upwards, all of us trying not to panic. The furniture around us starts to slide down the side, letting gravity take it's toll. Let's just hope it doesn't take us with it. We grab onto things. I support myself while using a beam that's implanted into the ground to the ceiling. I grab on to Stone's hand and keep him steady as well.
The building groans and tips even steeper. Soon, everyone catches on and starts to support themselves on the beams or at least seated firmly on the ground, digging their heels into the ground to prevent them from tumbling into the glass, and then far down below.
"Oh shit," I mutter. Two Decepticon ships are flying close to our level of the tower. If they see us... "Everyone hide!"
Some crawl under desks, others hide in piles of rubble. Epps and I take cover behind a pillar. We all stand perfectly still. The silence is deafening. I can practically hear my heartbeat and wonder if anyone else can.
Something crashes through the glass. I hear the whirrs, indicating a Decepticon. I hear it again, that makes two Decepticons. Epps and I are on the other side of the pillar so they doesn't see us, but they're still too close for comfort. We don't dare to breath. Looking to the side, I see an Energon blaster peak out from behind the pillar. I take out something from a pocket in my cargo pants. Boom Bomb. I see Hardcore Eddie from behind a desk give me the signal, and pull the key out.
Just then, I see three swivel chairs being pushed out, creating a distraction. In that moment while it turns to see the chairs falling out the glass windows, I turn, throwing the activated Boom Bomb right into it's face. Turning back to hide behind the pillar, I hear an explosion.
"Run!" Hooch shouts. We all come out from our hiding spots and start shooting at the only Decepticon that is left. It flails around and tries to shoot at us. We're running up the floor, trying our best to maintain our balance. The stairs are definitely not an option. There's only one other way out.
"Jump out the window!" I shout. Epps is in front of me and bursts through the glass. The rest of us follow, along with the shower of glass that rains over us. In doing so, we all slide down the sleek glass. Trying to grab onto something is useless because the glass is just so damn slippery. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!"
We all slip down a few flights of building levels, getting closer and closer to the end. Shit. The building had been blasted halfway up, so at the end is another hundreds of feet to the ground.
"Shoot the glass!" Epps says. I do as I'm told and shoot the glass a few yards below me. I easily fall through. The others follow in after me. Most of us fall in through the glass and into another level of the building. I don't pay attention to the screams of soldiers that are still sliding down the glass. However, the building has only gotten steeper, so before we can place our footing, we fall downwards toward the other end.
"Grab onto something!" I shout. However, I don't even meet my own words. I'm slipping around the ground, crashing into chairs, desks. As I get closer to the other end of the room, I start to panic. I slide past Epps, who's foot I grab on to.
He's on the very edge of the building, holding onto a wire for support with both his hands. I'm hanging off the edge, holding onto his foot for dear life. The ground is right below me. I look down and widen my eyes. Shockwave is on the ground right below us.
A desk and a few people, I can't tell who is it because they're sliding so fast past me, fall out the window. I watch as the three hit the ground, and lay motionless. Shockwave looks up at us and my eyes widen.
"Shockwave sees us!" Hardcore Eddie says. In the distance I see something heading our way. Oh, no.
"Driller's coming!" I shout. "Go back!" The worm Decepticon's headed straight our way, and fast. Eddie and Epps both help me up onto the ground, but it's still difficult to walk on. We take our time, trying to get to higher ground as fast as we possibly can.
We rush around the room, trying to find a place to hide, a place to keep steady. While we're rushing around the room, Eddie's praying. We should all be. I hear a rumble and fall to my knees. Crawling over to the window, where Stone is, I look down. Immediately, I wish I hadn't.
I see Driller's body come out of the building and then crash right back into it.
"We have to move!" I shout, running away.
"Man, why do the Decepticons always get the good shit!" Stone says before coming after me. There's nowhere to run and I'm starting to panic even more. Driller's body is wrapping itself around the glass tower fast. If we don't get the hell out of here...
The ground gets steeper and steeper until we can't even keep our balance anymore. The building keeps groaning every few seconds. All of us are tumbling downwards as the upper half of the building collapses sideways. It's directly vertical, and I can only assume the top of the building landed on top of another building. We're all pushed into pillars, them being our new ground. I grab on to Epps' hand as he's falling past me.
Looking down, we're still about a hundred feet from the ground. I look to the left, then right. A fire escape.
"Epps, fire escape," I groan, not being able to hold his weight for much longer. He nods and I help swing him onto it. I see Driller again. He's starting to twist and embed himself throughout the building. I don't like how he's getting closer to us. "Hurry up! Everyone down to the fire escape!" Epps helps me down next, and together we help the rest of what's left of the team get down and onto the fire escape. Once everyone's down, I look and see Driller, it's mouth pointed right at us.
"I'm coming for you!" I turn and see Optimus with his flight gear, coming towards us. He shoots at Driller, which makes him forget about us. Pieces of metal chip off the worm Decepticon as Optimus shoots up it's length. He flies upwards and for a moment I don't see him. Then I see him flying downwards, right into Driller while shooting at it. Driller's mouth falls to the ground, fire burning in it's mouth. The rest of the body goes slack.
"Two down, four to go," I whisper to myself.
I look up and see Optimus give us a slight nod. No doubt, the plan is over. It's been compromised way to much. He flies back up and lands on a support beam of an abandoned construction site. I hear a roar and look down. Shockwave doesn't look happy about Optimus destroying his pet. He powers up his blaster before blasting up towards where Optimus is.
"Optimus!" I shout. He sees the shot and is about to fly away, but gets hit directly with it. Crashing through all the metal support beams, he comes out at the other side of the construction site, tangled in wires. I see Sideswipe and Ironhide come up. "Guys, go help Optimus!"
"Don't worry we got him!" I turn and see the Wreckers pulling up, a group of humans right on their tail.
"We have to move," I say. We all start running down the road just as we meet a Decepticon. A shot makes me fall and get separated from the group.
"Ugh!" I groan as I land on the ground. I get up grudgingly and start making my way back to the group. I creep behind a school bus, hearing a whirring noise. I look up and see a Decepticon heading straight my way. I break out into a run, but it lands right behind me, making me fall forward.
"Well, what a treat. It's just you and me, alone," the Decepticon sneers. I get up and run, taking out my Energon blaster. The Decepticon flips the bus over. I turn, shooting at the Decepticon. Turning before seeing if my shots made it or not, I run in the opposite direction. I hear it laugh. "I will say, that blaster is some-what effective, against a baby Decepticon!"
I slip and fall on the ground. It's claw jabs at me and holds me up.
"Won't Megatron be proud of me. I've finally caught you," it says. I start to frantically shoot at the Decepticon, aiming for the face. It stumbles backwards, trying to swat away my shots. "Ow, ow! Cut it out! You bitch!"
"Now who's the Decepticon baby," I say. I see the meter slowly go to the dangerous meter, meaning this blaster is going to self destruct soon. There's only one last thing to do. I throw it at the Decepticon, which it lands straight in the eye and gets stuck there. It drops me and I land on the hood of a car.
"Ah! Ah! My eye! My eye! Get it out! Get it out!" The Decepticon is flailing around; flying in circles, bumping into buildings, even banging it's head against the ground. I let out a laugh by how funny the sight is. It turns to me and I forget it still has one good optic left. "You little insect human! I'm gonna tear you apart myself!" It advances on me, but then it's head explodes.
The body goes limp and I smirk to myself. He's definitely dead. I hear the squeal of car tires and see a red Ferrari.
"Annie! There you are! Come on! We're all going to the river!" he says. I nod and I jump in the driver's side.
"What's the status?" I ask.
"All teams are gone, the tanks have all been destroyed, and so have most of the aircrafts. The plan has been compromised way too much. Autobots and humans are just trying to make their way to the center now, We're gonna distract the rest of the Decepticons for you, Epps, and a few others to get to Cybertron. Optimus and Ironhide are going with you," Mirage explains quickly. I see the river coming up, and I get out. The bridges are all up, and there are no other ways across it.
"I'll get the bridge. You distract the Decepticons," I say. Mirage veers the engine before driving away. The rest of the humans meet up with me. Epps is the first one to get to me.
"You leave my sight again, and I'll shoot you next," he says. Epps doesn't seem like he's joking.
"We have to get the bridge down. It's the only way to the tower," I say. We all spread out across the edge of the river, trying to find some way to get it down. I look up. "Try getting into the control room." A soldier comes up to me, Marc L. He also was with me in Chicago three years ago.
"We can't find a way up to that control tower. The seals are here. A few of the Autobots are captured and Optimus is nowhere to be found," he says quickly. I curse under my breath.
"Tell Epps to get the seals, he'll know what to do" I say. I run away from the bridge, but he grabs my arm.
"And what are you gonna do?" he asks.
"I'm going to save my friends." With that I run off. I come to a clearing in front of a bank. There are Decepticons crawling everywhere. I spy an overturned car and run to it, crawling under it. I look out the window and see Que, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, and the Arcee sisters all on their knees with their hands on their helms. Four very large Decepticons surround them with guns at ready. More Decepticons are scattered out. Among them, I see Starscream.
From a little ways, I see Ratchet and Mirage surrounded by three large Decepticons.
"Get off me!" Ratchet shouts before being they're both forced to the ground with their hands on their helms. I have to do something. As I'm about to put my "oh so genius" plan of shooting at the optics, I see a figure that stops me in my tracks.
He wears all black, but they all look like new and expensive looking clothes. His brown hair is matted down and wears pitch black sunglasses that cover his eyes. His hands are stuffed in his jacket pockets with a laid back posture. He has a smirk on his face as he looks at all the Autobots he's captured. He turns to Starscream.
"Prisoners? You're keeping prisoners? I must say Starscream, you are genius." That voice. I know that voice. Why can't I put my finger on where I've heard that voice before. "However, you need to teach them about respect. This was all business, but now it's personal, do you hear me?" Starscream pauses before answering.
"I hear you loud and clear. No prisoners, only trophies," Starscream sneers. He has a smirk directed towards the Autobots.
"Bee, I think they're going to kill us," Que says, nervously turning to the yellow Autobot. I gasp.
"I must say, today is a beautiful day for an execution," the man says. He turns to Que. "You. You're first." I want to go help. I need to go help. My body is frozen though, I can't move a muscle. My eyes are only on Que.
One of the Decepticons pushes Que away from the others. Meanwhile, Que is trying to make a deal with the Decepticon that is towering over him, groveling at it's feet. My eyes are probably the size of plates. I want to turn away so badly, but I can't find the energy to do so.
A Decepticon raises it's blaster.
BOOM
BOOM
Those two shots are enough to wake me up from my frozen slumber. I growl. Looking at Que's body, his head has rolled off and some of his parts have fallen off. It. Makes. Me. Pissed.
"Goodbye my old friend," I hear Bumblebee mutter.
The Decepticon that shot Que gives a hardy laugh before turning to the rest of the Autobots.
"I think it'd be fair if we let the ladies go next," the figure says. And with that two different Decepticons grab the Arcee Sisters. They make them step over and kneel on top of Que's dead body. No, not again.
With that, I whip out my gun, aim for the closest optic, and fire.
"Youch!" the Decepticon that's just about to shoot Chromia, backs up, clutching his left optic. "What was that!" I aim and fire once more, taking out it's other optic. I do this again and again. Aiming for the closest Decepticon optic and firing away. More than half of them are blind when the figure speaks again.
"Where are those shots coming from?" the figure snaps. He whips off his sunglasses and I gasp, ceasing my shots. Blue eyes.
Justin.
I've been very VERY eager for this chapter. hehehe.
darkpoisonivy: haha thanks for the review! :)
Eternel3007: thanks for the review :)
HalfwayParanoid: how was this plot twist for ya? thanks for the review :)
XxLosAngelesGirlxX: lol thanks for the review :)
Naughtia: hmmm idk will i? thanks for the review :)
Nuclear Jet: yeah i just made it up haha oh and thank you but all of this is prewritten. I wrote it back in...may? maybe june? Thanks for the review :)
Autobot-Bre: hehe thanks for the review :)
CriticalVelocity: haha good point! thanks for the review :)
9 reviews away from 100. Let's do it my fellow readers! orrrrr i won't update next week :O *GASP*
This weeks question: 1) who has a twitter of some sort on here?
2) DID YOU EXPECT THIS PLOT TWIST ;D
so yeah when i was done writing this i went : oh yes, this is going to be good.
anyway review (remember i need 100 or i won't update) read and yeah :D
~HAHE