Chapter 20: Short lived Freedom

'Over there!'

The loud voice stirred Holly from her unconcious state,and instantly wished that she hadn't been awoken,she felt a sensation that was close to vertigo and disorintation at the same time, and it made her feel like her skin was crawling. When Skywarp had gone into his freefall, she had passed out from the lack of oxygen she had, given that she wasn't wearing a mask like she was sappoused to have, but in the end it was probably for the better. Trying to clear her mind,Holly saw out the windows a sea of black only lightened by a glow of orange somewhere below them,she leaned foreward a little to make herself more comfortable in the seat. She wondered if they were still around the airport, or if they were already heading back to the base,slowly she found herself becoming more aware and decided to try to speak to Skywarp again,but didn't know if he would be in the mood for conversation.

'Skywarp?'

'Hmmmm?'

'What's going on? Did I miss anything? Where are we?'

She gave a large yawn after finishing her string of questions, Skywarp seemed to finally pay attention to her,probably because she had annoyed him with her sudden questions but when he spoke he seemed more amused then anything.

'Evening...heh...You chose a good time to wake up'

'Huh...I did? What for?'

Confused more then before,Holly hadn't been told what the plan was after Liane was shot down-she blinked,had that happened already? Had she missed it? How long had she really been out? She didn't hear any loud cheering or blaring music,perhaps she had slept through the fake attack...she hoped not, but quickly tried to figure out what was going on and shifted again in the seat.

'To witness the beginning of the end'

Skywarp laughed, ignoring most of Holly's answers and not making any effort to clarify anything to her. Glancing out the windw,Holly saw the fire and smirked,she liked fire and though she didn't know what had caused it she was still amused. Then her eyes wandered to the sight of the robots, not in vehicle mode, which confused her-what was going on down there? They were too high and moving too fast for her to get a good look at them, but saw a few were near the fire they seemed to not have noticed the jet fly over them. Her eyes then were drawn to a much larger,silver one, who looked wicked and very pissed off. He seemed to be having an arguement with the others around him,she reconized them to Decepticons, mostly because she saw Starscream crawling back to his feet. They circled around, and Holly wanted to know who the large silver one was,he deffinatly was one she'd not seen before.

'Skywarp! who's that?'

'Who's that!? That...Is Megatron. Leader of the Decepticons!'

'Really!?'

Holly jerked foreward excitedly,smacking her face against the glass and whimpering in pain, she had only heard about this Megatron a few days ago and had wanted to meet him,not knowing how he would react. She didn't notice Skywarp snickering at her, she had really looked like she had tried to jump out of the cockpit and onto Megatron-he mused at how entertaining that would have been to see but the girl would probably die on impact or soon after,given that Megatron wouldn't know who she was and would probably assume she was some annoying random human...which she was...

'STOP!'

'What?'

Skywarp was confused,he didn't understand why Holly was suddenly demanding him to stop,he wondered if he had missed something or she had spotted something. He didn't see anything around them to cause alarm,so he began to turn back towards Megatron,beginning his decent and preparing to land.

'Pop the top!'

'Huh?'

'Let me Out!'

'Uh..no'

'C'mon Skywarp! I wanna meet Megatron! Let me out!'

'You do realize we're still a-'

'I don't care how high we are...LET. ME. OUT!'

'Prawyks!'

'Purple!'

'Do you suffer from any brain damage?'

'...Yes!...'

There was a groan from Skywarp as Holly giggled,she apparently really wanted to meet Megatron,or had hit her head and was delierious,he couldn't tell as he hadn't seen the girl this way before. It was interesting,he didn't know what to think of the human, if anything else she brought some entertainment into his normally drull job-pity she would be killed as soon as she revealed what they were after. There was a pause,Holly looked away from Megatron for a moment and a puzzled look on her face like she expected to be told off for acting up, groaning again Skywarp sighed heavily,

'Now,I don't really care what happens to you but...'

'Gasp!'

'What now!?'

Skywarp moved into a barrel roll thinking that perhaps they needed to dodge something-he knew that the girl was excited but he didn't want to risk having anything happen while she was in his costudy,and he hoped that she didn't try to do something stupid to get him in trouble. Grabbing the belt that held her in her seat with one hand and pressing her hand with the other she looked distrubed,her knees had come up a little and her hair fell in her face.

'Okay! Let's not do that again...at least without warning...'

'What?...This?'

Again he rolled and laughed as Holly squeeled,though if it was out of fear or fun he couldn't tell, or at least until she smiled widely and leaned foreward again-placing her head on the control panel and giggling.She was about to say something when Skywarp suddenly turned sharply,falling serious as he noticed he was being glared down by Starscream, but his desire to land was gone.

'Hold on'

'huh...Wait...what are we-'

Holly's question was cut off as the pair suddenly disappeared.

'Where's the Human!?'

Megatron demaneded,at the moment he seemed disinterested in the Autobot he had trapped under foot,instead he glared angerly at those who stood before him and awaited an answer. Starscream stepped foreward and pointed to the sky,though he didn't know exactly where Skywarp had disappeared to he knew they were still close-

'Great Megatron,I have kept the girl safe for your arrival. Despite the others protests who wanted to despose of her instantly'

Blackout and Overkill glanced to the other,both annoyed with Starscream and his lies,though they had thought it none of them ever acted on their thoughts,unlike their comrade infront of them.

'Lord Megatron-Starscream Lies!'

Blackout spoke up,catching the attention of Megatron who didn't look the least surprised to hear of this,though was annoyed at the same time.

'No Doubt he does'

'Wha...'

'It was He who tried to kill the girl'

Starscream was distracted by Blackout to notice Megatron advancing upon him-Swiftly reaching out,he grabbed Starscream around the neck and held him off the ground.

'You try to sabbatoge me, once again,Starscream?'

'N...n...No, its not like th..that at all...'

'Oh really? Then tell me, what was it?'

'The girl, She'd nearly cost us everything by running off with that weak pathetic Hammershot'

'Hammershot managed to survive a fight against both you AND Optimus in the same day, He's more then you'll ever be Starscream'

Overkill pipped in, turning the tables against Starscream further,though he really had wished to have seen the fight between Hammershot and Starscream,he had heard enough about it through Frenzy and some of the others. Starscream dreaded the direction the conversation was leading,it didn't help that the other two were against him, this gave him a great disadvantage in options,he would have to deal with them both in due time.

'Megatron, you must understand...I...I was never going to actually kill the girl...I was testing her...to see if she was worthy enough to even stand in your glorious presence...'

Megatron scowled, he really had no patience to deal with Starscream and any more of his lies but scrapping the annoying bot would only slow down his plans,as tempting as it were.

'You disgust me,Starscream'

He growled as he tossed Starscream to the side without much regard, returning his attention to the Autobot under his foot and smirking darkly

'How pathetic'

He then applied more pressure upon the car,annoyed that it was defying him the satisfaction of hearing it scream in pain.

'C...cu...Curtis...'

Scout groaned quietly,he knew that his untimely end was his own fault,he should have been more aware and quick to act, but then...would their situation be much different then it was now? Perhaps. It was the sight of Megatron, he had never seen the Decepticon before and had only heard of him through his friends and of course through Optimus, and now he truely understood why he was so feared by many...

Curtis continued to intently stare at the roof above him as if afraid that if he took his eyes off it it would collapse in on him, he was certain the only reason they were both still alive was because of the soft texture of the ground. Blinking suddenly like he had just been slapped in the face by an invisible force,he realized that he was being spoken to.

'I'm sorry'

'What!?'

'Its my fault'

'N...No,its not...'

Scout growled, he didn't have the patience nor the time for this conversation-unrolling one window he hoped that Curtis would get the point.

'What...Scout...No!'

'Get out,now'

'But...'

'No need for both of us to die like this'

Curtis thought it over for a moment,then gave a sharp nod, crawling on his back through the window-he felt bad for leaving the Autobot but Scout had a point, Curtis had a family to live for and someone had to be there to be the shoulder for Amber to lean on. He tumbled backwards out of the car,landing only a few feet from the ground,it wasn't as far as it should have been but it still winded him enough. Suddenly the chill air invaded his lungs and he rolled onto his side,forcing himself to move before he was spotted or worse.

'Run Curtis! Now'

Scout ordered the human before he began to spin his wheels,knowing that he wasn't going to get anywhere but that wasn't the point. With the ground as muddy as it was, and the speed he spun his tires, mud and muck was sent flying in all directions-splattering all over Megatron and even as far as to reach this wrists. Curtis took this as his oppertunity to escape, throwing himself to his feet and began to run with no real idea of where he was going, nor did he really care. He was moving faster then he had ever done before, feeling as if he weren't even running but more like flying over the ground. he didn't want to leave Scout behind, but what could he do? He had no means of protection and even then they were out numbered, he knew that there was at least three of the Decepticons there.

'I'm sorry'

He muttered to himself,still feeling guilty despite knowing it wasn't his fault. Curtis' arm shot up as he was suddenly blinded by red,blue and white lights coming at him from the dark,

'Oh good, the cops'

He didn't know why but his body forced him to stop,perhaps a part of him hoped that it was Prowl but at the same time he had a feeling that it wasn't. There was a sound,a rush of wind and Curtis was knocked off his feet by a strong force-he was confused as to what had just happened.

'Ouch'

He growled as he came to a land roughly on his left shoulder, but found himself unable to breath proberly as he was now pinned under what felt like a large metal hand.

'Help!'

He gasped, but it was in vain-Barricade glared down at the human,trapping Curtis under his hand and made no attempt to move away nor to crush the human, instead enjoyed the look of fear on his face. He knew that the human was terrified in not knowing weither he was going to die or not, it was a look he loved to see upon any human's face.

'C'mon Ratchet!'

Ameba mummbled while starring down at Crusher, she had no idea how badly she actually damaged but it didn't seem life threatening, but then again Ameba was no medic. The human who had been involved in the crash looked to be fine, just a little banged up, she was probably protected by Crusher as they crashed. However,Ameba noticed Amber wasn't looking too good-she was starring intently at the fire as if trying to her a hole through it. She also looked deressed, Ameba turned to gaze over to Bumblebee-he stood not far from them,ready to act if they were attacked. Though it seemed doubtful that they would,given that they'd not seen or heard anything since the fire had errupted. Had something happened? Something to cause the Decepticons to abandon their original plan? She wanted to try and contact someone on the otherside of the fire but dared not to take the risk, no matter how badly she wanted to know what was going on out there.

'Where's Scout?'

Amber asked,her tone reflected none of what was really on her mind but Ameba knew that the girl was seriously concerned about the well being of the Autobot. Bumblebee hadn't heard the question,or if he had he had thought it was directed to Ameba.

'Bumblebee!'

'WHAT!?'

Bumblebee spun around,expecting an ambush but saw Ameba holding something to her nose and smiling innocently, he was confused.

'I thought it was...Oh never mind...Hey Bee where's Scout?'

'I...Wh...At?'

'Tsk. S...C...O...U...T...You know. He stands about this tall, is about this wide, a dark blue in colour...'

Ameba moved her arms to try and emphasise the point she was trying to make. Bumblebee frowned and gestured towards the fire-

'He's out there'

'What's he doing out there while you are over here doing nothing? Go help him!'

Amber spoke, moving towards Bumblebee with a look on her face very similiar to the one she had worn the day they had first met.

'I'm protecting...'

'We may be girls but we're fine'

Ameba chirped as if she they were having a normal conversation and not worring about being attacked from murderous robots.

'Then its settled. You're going out there'

'But wha-'

'And I'm coming with you'

'Hey! Wait a minute-'

'Its settled Bumblebee , you can't back out of it now'

'Ameba! I didn't agree to-'

'Let's go! C'Mon!'

Amber stood at Bumblebee's side and looked up at him with big round eyes and flapping her arms as if that would make him move. Sighing and knowing this was one arguement he wasn't going to win, he hung his head slightly and stepped back, transforming into his car form and waiting for Amber to climb in.

'Do you have some desire to die tonight'

He asked as he shut the door behind Amber and instantly took off for one of the ends of the fire,not wanting to risk what might happen if he tried to jump through the fire with the human with him now.

'I can't answer that'

'Oh?'

'Because even I don't know'

'Oh.'

Bumblebee fell silent for a few minutes as they drove, Amber was also silent, she was serious...it was a different kind of serious then he'd seen before, she wasn't moody and opinionated but quiet and hard to read, this was unnerving to the bot who had no idea if he might set her off or what she might do. Amber just wanted to be with Scout, she cursed the Decepticons and swore to find away to make them all pay if anything happened to him,

It wasn't long before they reached the end of the wall, turning sharply to head straight towards the center of the show grounds,the light cast by the fire eluminated the area enough that they could just barely make out their surroundings and those who were still there. Amber suddenly lept foreward in her seat and pointed to their right,her eyes were bright as she saw a robot crouched down over something...

'There's Curtis!'

She exclaimed now realizing it was her friend by the fact that he was waving one arm around in a vain attempt to catch the attention of someone. Bumblebee,however,was not paying attention to the human-instead he was intently watching who was standing over the boy.

'I'd give my left leg for just one normal day out...'

'Don't whine, we have to save Curtis!'

Amber snapped as she rocked back and forth like she thought it would make them move quicker, and looked very confused when they began to slow down.

'I don't know if you noticed but there's a Decepticon about to crush your friend-If I get too close Curtis will surely...'

Bumblebee should have been paying more attention to Amber,while he had been watching Barricade,Amber had seemed to lose her senses and jump out of the safety of the car.

'Ack...Amber! What are you doing!?'

Ignoring the Autobot,Amber continued to move towards the Decepticon. Bumblebee was torn,currently Curtis was slowly be crushed but if he moved foreward the human would die quicker, but if he stayed there both Curtis and Amber would be killed.

While Bumblebee tried to work out what to do, Amber walked right up to Barricade as if he weren't a giant murderous robot and tilted her head to one side...

'Crazy Humans!'

Bumblebee exclaimed in exasperation,he didn't understand what had possessed Amber to do something so stupid, how was getting herself killed going to help Scout...or any of them for that fact, it was only going to make matters worse in the long run...