You know what? Screw Saturday, I'm posting this chapter NOW!

Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers unfortunately.

Warnings:some swearing.

...

Chapter 28

...

Everything around him at that moment was a blurred, incomprehensible mess.

One moment, he was on the road ahead of Mitch and feeling like he had come alive after so long without racing. Next, he found himself falling, hearing someone scream his name even if it was somewhere distant and far off, almost drowned out by the pounding in his audios.

He hadn't realized he had gone into bipedal mode until he made impact….

CRNNNCH!

BAM! CLANG!

He bounced off the rocky terrain, hitting the side of his helm in the first bounce, one of his optics cracking and breaking into tiny pieces, making him blind in one optics if only for a moment. He continues his rolling plummet, only achieving in growling as he hit each stone on his ways down, leaving a new gash or dent.

He was unable to stop his log rolling until he slammed into something hard and large.

Whatever it was, tilted back and forth as he took a moment to push himself up slowly while his entire body ached. He could barely register the sound of crumbling, crackling rock before he felt it: He screamed in pure agony when one of the largest boulders he had ever had the pain of feeling crush his two legs into uselessness.

The young mech remained there a moment, too shocked to register what the frag had just happened before he looked up the cliff to see the tiny barrier above broken where it separated the edge and the road.

"Oh…." He coughed a moment, before energon blood seeped out past his lips.

"MAX! MAXI CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"

Max took a moment for his one optic to focus on the figure that had started moving and climbing down the cliff, before he opened his mouth, "J-Josh?"

The young humans continued his climbing until he settled on solid ground and ran over to the fallen robot. The slack-jawed, wide eyed look on the human's face made Maximum wince when he saw how much horror was in his blue eyes. Maxi lifted his upper body up slightly, before he attempted to climb out from under the boulder crushing his legs.

His failure was evident to him as he felt the pain sky rocket through his thighs and back. He grit his denta, falling on his front once again.

"Jesus Christ…" Josh stared at the damage done to his friend's body.

One optic's indigo blue glass was completely and utterly shattered into microscopic pieces, followed by a nasty dent on the same side, with one of his antennae completely snapped off while the other was bent. Gashes and scratches leaked little bits of energon from Maxi's barrel roll down the rocky terrain and his legs….Josh couldn't stop the wince when he saw how much energon blood was seeping out from under the large boulder.

"Max….I have to call the base…" Josh took out his cell phone, flipping it open and began tapping the number.

Maximum looked, "No…."

Josh pulled back when Maximum tried to stop him. The young human gave him a hard, stern look.

"Max. You need help, and the only one I know who can is Ratchet! I have to call them in," Josh replied.

The young mech tried to move, muttering in slurs, "'M fine….n'thin to worry 'bout…."

"Fine my ass…" Josh snapped, "just lay down and try not to move! I'm calling the others in and I don't care if you lost the race or if your pride has been pulverized!" Josh snarled when Maximum tried to ignore him, "I SAID DON'T MOVE YOU DAMN MORON!"

….

Ratchet snorted as he was jolted awake by the communications hub going on-line right outside his quarters to the med. bay. The medic immediately stood up and ran in to the med. bay, never mind if he woke up his bond-mate with the sudden movement.

When he arrived in the med. bay, he went straight to the console and typed away to let the frequency in.

Ratchet looked up when Silversun entered as well, interested in what was going on in the med. bay. He ignored the silver flier for a moment.

"This is Autobot Outpost one. May I query who is calling?" The older medic asked.

"OPTIMUS! MEGS! HATCHET! You guys there?!" came Josh's frantic voice.

Ratchet raised an optic ridge, "Joshua? Aren't you grounded?"

"Forget that! Look, I'll explain what happened when you get here, but I need you to—MAX! I SAID DON'T MOVE YOU IDIOT! You're going to damage your legs more!"

There was a muffled voice in the background, that the two mechs currently in the room couldn't make out clearly.

"You can't feel your legs….?"

Silversun's optics widened as the worst case scenarios flew across his processor of why Maxi couldn't feel his legs. How the frag had he damaged himself like that?!

Ratchet just stared at the screen, processing what Josh had just said. It hit hard as his optics widened and his servos shook before he began typing like a madman at the console.

"Joshua, I am tracing your exact coordinates, and then I will contact the others and make sure they reach you! Whatever you do, make sure Maximum stays awake!" Ratchet explained, his fingers tapping away at the console quickly and nimbly.

….

Mitch smirked as he crossed the finish line, screeching to a stop while the crowds came running towards him. He stepped out of his car, his arms raised in the sweet feeling of victory while the crowd surrounded him.

He was carried out by his friends, all whooping and laughing as he was carried away from the people so he wouldn't be suffocated. Honestly, he didn't mind since his ego was now getting a major boost. As he thought back on that lame newbie, he snickered, a laugh coming out of his lips. He cast a glance at the cars, noticing two peter-bilt trucks parked that hadn't been there but the young man could care less. Now that idiot would think TWICE before he even…

"MITCHELL VINCENT CRENCH!"

Mitch froze mid smile when he heard the angered roar, all so very familiar. His smiled disappeared and he looked around a moment, his eyes wide and frantic as they looked around. The ended up settling on a man and a woman, both red-heads and making their way over, with another couple. He recognized those two as that loser Darby's parents…..

The red-headed man stomped over and grabbed his son's collar, "You mister are in so much trouble!"

"D-Dad, w-w-wait it's not what you….!" He squeaked when his father glared down at him.

" Not what I Think?! I told you that if I ever caught you street racing again, I would bench you for the rest of the football season and make you clean up every single piece of equipment on that field!" the man roared, his eyes narrowed and glaring.

He had a military-cut hair, and a mustache on his pale freckled face. He had a toned muscled body from what looked like years of training and he was red in the face in anger as he glared down at his son.

The woman beside him placed a hand on his arm, pushing back a strand of cherry red hair, wearing a blue polo shirt and a long skirt down to her ankles, "Honey. Please don't, not in front of so many people…"

"Sierra's right Vince," Miko walked over, one hand on her swollen abdomen, the other on the irate father's shoulder, "Right now we have to find Max and Josh."

"That kid is in SO much trouble when I find him," Jack snarled, shaking his head before he turned to Vince, "I'm sorry to call you out so late, but when I heard about the race from a friend of mine, I thought it would be important to notify you."

"Ah Darby, it's fine," Vince gave a hearty, good-natured pat to the other man's shoulder, "I'm glad you did. He needs to learn he can't do whatever he wants. If he does shit like this, I have to punish him."

Josh smiled back, patting the other man on the back as well, "I just hope no one got hurt…"

Mitch winced at that. Miko and Sierra both smiled at the sight of their husband's getting along. It had started in senior year of high school that Vince started to shape up. It had started when he had gotten into a bad car crash in a street race. He had gotten badly injured, and the last person he would ever expect to save him was none other than Jack Darby who had gotten him out and called the hospital.

Since then, Vince, who was the gym coach and coach of the Football team, and Jack had become good friends, although not close, but they got together once in a while, just the two of them and their wives to talk and have a glass of wine of beer.

Mitch rolled his eyes at the sight, before he found himself face to face a the glaring brown eyes of Miko Darby.

"Where is Max?" she hissed.

The young man gulped at the glare he received. It made him want to crawl into a hole and hide from it.

"I-I-I…I…"

Jack walked up beside his wife, before whispering, "Honey, I'm gonna go check on the trucks, okay?"

Mitch watched the man bid his father a good evening, before he headed for two large, peter-bilt trucks, a red one and a blue one both without trailers.

Jack gave both trucks a pat and then whispered, "How are you two holding up, eh?"

"We are fine, but Maximum had not yet shown up…." Came the whispered reply from Optimus, "Has Miko found any information?"

"She is right now," Jack assured him, "Where's Megs anyway?"

Magnus answered in a hushed voice, "He's currently scanning to see where Josh and Maximum is. Hopefully it won't be long before—!"

"JACK!"

The man jumped, before he turned back to his wife in sudden panic, "Miko, what's wrong?! Water break?!"

"No, no, that's not for another three months!" she huffed at her husband in annoyance, before she looked to Optimus' alt. mode, her worry and fear showing. Optimus stiffened at the look.

"Maxi went over the cliff!"

….

The world had become blurry to the young Prime's son. In fact he had gotten to the point that he could barely hear Josh yelling at him to keep his optics on-line while trying to keep himself busy on the phone.

Why was he down here anyway? Oh yeah, the race. The big race he had gotten himself into and lied to his father, to Magnus and hid form his other friends as he so stupidly gone out of his way to show that little scrap not to mess with him….only he….

"Max! Stay away, you big lugnut!" there was a soft flanging with Josh's hand was patting against his cheek)

"Mmmm…." Maximum on-lined his one good optic and gazed at Josh.

He felt so tired. He just wanted to recharge for a while.

Something warm and wet was on his servo. What was on his servo? He raised it to look at it. His digits were stained in a glowing blue substance. Something that suddenly made his tanks churn as he continued to stare at it. There was energon on his servo. How did that happen?

There was a creak of metal, then a soft orb of green-blue formed before his one optic. There were sudden outlines of figures coming forwards. And getting closer fast….

Servos grabbed his shoulders and shook him, "Max! Maxi!" there were a few small smacks to his cheek plate, "Dammit mech RESPOND!"

CLANG!

THAT HURT!

Maximum winced, his one good optic getting a clear image of the two mechs standing over him. He looked up and then he grinned stupidly.

"Well hey Sil, fancy seeing you here…." He giggled.

Silversun sighed, rubbing at his optics, while his arm transformed into a scanner, "He's lost a lot of energon. We need to remove the boulder from his legs if we wish to move him. I'm going to scan for internal injuries…." The blue light went over the other young mech's body, searching for any damage.

Josh bit his bottom lip, "Well?"

Ratchet hummed, looking at the result over his student's shoulder, "Well, he will require surgery when we return to base," he rubbed his servos together, before turning to Silversun, "Get ready to push."

Josh ran over to Max and sat on one the top of his servo. Maxi blinked a moment, looking and see Ratchet and Silversun place their hands on the boulder.

"Max. We are going to attempt to free your legs. If you feel any pain it means we're moving it."

Maxi nodded, blood still dripping from his lip as he smiled at the two medics.

"On three," Silversun hissed.

Josh counted first, "One."

"Two" Ratchet went next.

"THREEEEEEEE!" the two mechs pushed with all their might.

Maximum's smile disappeared and his optics, damaged and undamaged, widened.

Megatron flew overhead as he searching for Maximum's energy signature. He was half ready to reprimand and yell at his son for lying, putting himself and Josh in danger and for making everyone worried, while he was also very fearful of his son getting hurt. But that second part was a very slim to no chance of happening. His son knew how to drive after all….

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRH!"

Megatron almost dropped right from the sky when he heard the agonizing scream coming from below him. He recognized and confirmed it when he sensed pain over the parental bond.

But even though he wasn't able to see Maximum beneath the clouds, he knew it was his scream. Because he still faced nightmares of when he was a sparkling and had been captured by MECH….

The mother swooped down towards the ground, taking an immediate nosedive.

…..

Optimus drove like a mad mech as he and Ultra Magnus drove up to where this curve was. Jack and Miko sat in the Prime's alt. mode, both anxious and worried that their son might have joined in the street race as Maxi's driver.

Miko kept rubbing her abdomen, her anxiety clear as Optimus continued driving faster than the speed limit. Jack spotted the broken barrier first and shouted for Prime to stop. Both trucks screeched before the broken and bent metal before them.

Jack stepped out, going to the other side to help his wife, then both walked towards the edge and looked downward. There was a thick fog that blocked their sight from seeing what was down below. Magnus did a quick check for energy signatures after opening a compartment on his arm.

After a moment four signals appeared.

"Sir, I have located four energy signatures at the bottom of the cliff. Shall we investigate?" He knew the answer before the Prime answered, but the second in command always awaited orders before action.

Optimus gave a sharp nod, before lowering his servo down for Miko and Jack to climb on to. Holding the two humans to his chest plating, the two mechs climbed down the cliff.

…..

Megatron transformed mid-landing, the ground shaking when his pedes hit it with a loud thud. The fog had gotten a little thick, but not enough that the silver mech couldn't see clearly. In fact he could see quite clearly. The reason why was that the silver mech went completely frozen in horror and shock when he saw the one thing he hoped to never see again ever since MECH had been completely and utterly eradicated.

There was his son, legs trapped under a boulder, biting into one of his servos to stop his screaming, one of his optics seriously damaged, covered in gashes and trying to keep on a straight face. Joshua Darby was holding Maximum's free hand, trying to be comforting as best he could. Ratchet and Silversun were pushing at the boulder with all their strength moving it inch by inch with all their strength. But it was taking too long and Maxi was trying hard to keep his pained sounds from attracting unwanted attention…

Megatron acted quickly when he heard his son let off a muffle screech. He ran forwards and put all his strength into pushing at the boulder, surprising the old medic and the younger flier at how he made the boulder move about seven yards in one hard push. The silver mech roared, optics ablaze as he continued pushing.

"Megs!" Josh shouted, his eyes wide with relief and shock at the sheer strength coming from the mech.

The older silver mech paid no heed to the human, for he only heard more muffled yells from his child as he slowly forced the earth rock off his youngest son.

When they got over their shock, Ratchet and Silversun helped the mother, the three mechs pushing the giant boulder off inch by inch until…..

Rumblerumblerumble….!

Megatron panted a moment as he watched the giant rock roll away and out of sight before he turned to Maximum. His spark broke at the sight held before him.

His son laid there shaking, his legs completely crushed into disuse as energon leaked and stained the ground beneath them. Maximum took in shaky intakes while his entire body, covered in scratches and gashes shook in pain. The sob caused the mother to run over and pick up his son's helm and hold it to his chest plating.

"Mm…" Maximum shook less when he felt his spark so close to his carrier's.

Megatron cooed in seeker cant to calm his child down, before he looked at Ratchet and Silversun. He gave them a nod of thanks for helping him, before he looked at Josh.

The young human looked back at him, before looking at Max.

"Josh? What happened?" his tone was gentle, and strangely calm as he lowered his own servo to allow the young human to climb on.

Josh accepted the gesture and allowed himself to be lifted to eye level. The older mech could already tell the human blamed himself for this, but first he needed to hear what had happened. He could tell Josh was hesitant, not wanting to be yelled at.

Calmly, Megatron looked him in the eyes, "Joshua, I promise I will not be angry with you. I just want to know how Maximum got like this. Please tell me?"

Josh swallowed, before the one thing the young human hated doing happened: he broke down into sobs, head buried in his hands. Megatron pulled the young human closer and pressed him to his chest, his thumb caressing the young one's head, as he broke down.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I should have gone with him when he raced that bastard Mitch…!" Josh took in a heaving breath, his face becoming red, "I could have stopped this, I could have warned Maximum better! I could have….I could have…..!"

"Shhh…." Megatron caressed his back, "None of this is your fault Joshua. Even if you were there, you couldn't have known Mitch's intentions," he looked at the young human, "Maximum chose to race the human as well. I am guessing he dragged you along for the ride…"

Josh sniffed, before he looked up, "I….I….I came because of two things…..one because he pulled an I.O.U. since he has always helped me out in the past and…and I came because I wanted to make sure he had someone to call you guys…should…should this happen…but I didn't think…." He let out another sob.

"JOSHUA!"

The young human looked up. Megatron did as well and his optics narrowed as his mate and Magnus came sliding down the cliff. He watched Optimus lower his servo to allow Jack and Miko to step off and run towards their son. Gently Megatron lowered the younger human and allowed him to be pulled in a bear hug by his parents.

Miko hugged her son, trying to make sure nothing else was wrong, her body shaking. Jack caressed his wife's hair, placing an arm around his son. The father was shaking himself as he held him. Although he was mad as a hellhound, Jack couldn't bring himself to yell at Josh right now. Not with Maximum ins his current state and his son so upset.

The human looked at the Prime and his eye widened at what he saw.

Optimus looked like a mech who had just witnessed that massacre of everything he held dear to his spark. He seemed catatonic, even as Magnus walked over towards the two medics.

"Ratchet, what is the damage?"

The old mech sighed, "Well, as you can see he's had a nasty fall down that cliff. I can already tell you he has major optical damage, meaning I will have to complete replace it. Both legs are damaged beyond repair. I will have to amputate and completely rebuild both legs and until then Maximum will be on berth rest."

Maximum winced and tensed as Megatron picked him up and carried him gently. The silver mother on-lined his comm. link and asked Shockwave to open a ground bridge to the base.

...

Yeeeeaaaaah, I'm a sadist...

I would like at least two reviews before the next chapter.