Krayonder flinched when Taz stormed into their room swearing, slammed the door shut, and sat on her bed screaming into her hands. "Are... What..." Krayonder stared at her with a mix of fear and alarm as she kept screaming, " What the hell happened to you?"

Taz stopped screaming and started pacing the room, " He's so stupid! I. Am. So. Stupid!" Taz punched her thigh repeatedly stomped across the room, berating herself.

"Woah man, hey it's gonna be okay...and stuff." Krayonder stood in front of her and stopped her, "Stop screaming and tell me what happened."

Taz shoved Krayonder out of the way, "I am so stupid!"

Krayonder rolled his eyes and continued to pack," Not to be a drama king or nothin' but its kinda your last chance to shoot the old bull with me, before I leave in...uh six hours or so." Krayonder reached out and caught Taz's shoulder, " C'mon Tazzie, you know your secrets are my secrets. Tu secrets, mi secrets! C'moooon," teased Krayonder," you know you wanna teeeeell meeee."

"Hah," Taz's slapped her forehead, " I told Up that I loved him, expecting him to say- To say something. –"

"Wait," a slow smile squiggled across Krayonder's face, "Wait un minuto-"

"Yes or no, it would've been better than what he said!" Taz growled and punched invisible heads in front of her, ignoring Krayonder.

Krayonder gripped onto Taz tighter, "You are my best friend and that was both the stupidest, but bravest thing I've ever heard someone do. No peers for you Taz." Krayonder whooped and spun them around.

"Ugh!" Taz hit her forehead again, but Krayonder stopped her, "It wasn't brave, it was stupid!"

Krayonder frowned, "Up shot you down? What the fuck, man? What's wrong with him?"

"No, he didn't . Well he did but- he Argh! I am going to strangle him! He said that the war was more important, especially now, and that he didn't want to lose focus. I just," Taz shrugged her shoulders, losing her anger and deflating, "I thought I was more important to Up . I didn't even think he would say that. I was so sure he would say..." but Taz just sighed and shook her head, "I don't know."

"If it's worth anything, Up's dead wrong about this. Deader and wronger than even Dead God. At least I know you're more important than the war. Lots'a people know what's important," consoled Krayonder.

"Yes," agreed Taz reluctantly, "He is wrong. I'm glad jou see it how I do too." She said with relief.

"What are ya gonna go do now?" asked Krayonder, he gave Taz a hug and to his surprise, Taz tipped her head on his shoulder. That made Krayonder more worried than anything else.

"I have to go talk to Up, there was some important meeting that I skipped," Taz propped her hands on her hips and took a deep breath.

"Careful you don't murder your C.O.," said Krayonder, smiling broadly.

"Yeah," snorted Taz, "Thanks for reminding me."

"And don't try to kiss him either," advised Krayonder with a wicked smile, "that might not go over well."

"I'm going to murder jou when I get back," said Taz conversationally and left.

Taz sunk into one of Up's old office chairs and folded her hands over her stomach, willing her heart to stop beating so hard and her hands to stop sweating. When Up slammed the door open looking excited, Taz was swinging her knife from one hand to the other, coolly waiting for him, "What was the meeting about?"

Up stood in the door, grasping for something to say. "Didn't think y' were gonna start talking to me so soon."

"Kinda hard not to talk to my C.O.," said Taz, rolling her eyes, "The meeting, what was it about."

"About what you said, earlier," said Up, gingerly sat down, wondering if she was going to hit him.

Taz growled, "Jou made it clear what jour decision is. That conversation is over. The meeting, Up. Tell me what it was so I can go get some sleep."

"Right," Up stared at his hands for a moment, "Fathia says she has intelligence on hundreds of brain-dump planets that process info for the robots. There's going to be a coordinated attack on all of them, but the focus is on one mystery planet. Fathia claims if we manage to destroy that one planet's core center it'll end the war. Not help end the war, actually stop it." Up forced himself to breathe slowly.

Taz dropped her feet from the desk, "Holy shit. For real?" Up looked at her before grinned broadly, "Looks that way. We might see the end of the robot war in a couple of weeks."

They both stared at each other before Taz stammered, "I-Is this meeting classified or...?"

"Definitely classified," responded Up, "Fathia'll turn your skin into leather if you so much as whisper this plan in your sleep," Up leaned forward, forgetting their fight, Taz apparently forgetting too because she was talking without looking like she wanted to murder him. "The first ship leaves in two days," continued Up.

"Who? Is it-" Taz bit her tongue before saying 'us'.

"No idea, everything's classified. Only thing we know is that it's happening, Fathia's being incredibly paranoid, but I'm surprised she said anything at all. We've got two days to be geared and supplied, but beyond that there's no intel escaping Fathia or her cronies."

"Smart of her," mused Taz, " I bet she's got false info floating around too. Mission details that're wrong, or planet's that don't exist."

"True," agreed Up.

"Okay, well when jou get the orders let me know," Taz. She saw Up try to say something, but Taz rushed out of his office before he had a chance to speak.

The day after that Up and Taz scrambled their group of forty rangers, four communications experts, four medics, and pallets of supplies onto a scarred starship for the mission. There was no time to settle in, Up and Taz rushed to one last pre-mission meeting before take-off. The rush and hustle of getting so many people geared, informed, and ready for an important mission had been enough distraction. But now, sitting in the slowly filling meeting room, Taz had to keep her nose buried in the fat manila folder they had been given. Up faced away from her, chewing on a cigarette and talking with Commander Singer.

"Hello apple of mine eyes!" Isa cranked Taz's chair back and grinned at her upside down, "How'd it go?" She whispered quietly.

Taz gripped the arms of the chair, "Get out of my face before I bite yours off!"

"Yeeks, not good?" Isa nodded slowly as if they were having a normal coffee break, "We can chit-chat later." She abruptly let go of Taz's chair and Taz flew forward, barely catching herself before smacking into the table.

Up looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Taz shrugged and turned away. Up grimaced and turned away.

Admiral Fathia entered the room and everyone leapt to their feet to salute her, when she acknowledged them there was a mad scramble for more elbow room. Taz managed to elbow some hapless comm in between her and Up. Fathia turned on the battle screen and said, "For too long we've avoided hitting the robots where they are most vulnerable, their nerve centers for information processing because of the heavy artillery guarding the nerve centers. That hasn't changed, there is still heavy and deadly resistance between us and destroying those critical targets. Nevertheless we're going to conduct a coordinated attack across the entire galaxy to destroy these centers. Which will only inconvenience the robots until they can rebuild." Fathia looked around the room, gloating and basking in the moment. "However, it recently came to my attention that this planet," she brought forward a detailed topographic map of Quonos, "is far more interesting than previously thought. One must look deeper." Taz rested her head on her left hand, looking away from Up, but still craning her neck towards the battle screen. A snaking, snarl of corridors hollowed the planet out through its center, " I present you THE central nerve of processing power for these robots. The brain," sneered Fathia, "If you will. The complexity of these processing plants in the core suggests more than a mere memory and info dump. This appears to be where robots get their behavioral programs rewired. The only planet complex enough to allow it. That's our main target."

The room exploded in conversation and yelling, Fathia only roared them down with difficulty. "QUIET! QUIET! THE COORDINATED-!"

Taz stood, picked up her chair and slammed it into the table, the room quieted. Taz couldn't help but notice Up drop into his seat, along with several other rangers. "Thank you lieutenant," Fathia caught her breath, "This coordinated attack will be useless without taking out this central nerve plant, and taking this nerve plant out will be useless without simultaneously destroying most of the processing centers scattered across the galaxy. We're headed to the brain on Quonos. On board is a group of engineers and comms who will upload a virus to the core. It will be the responsibility of the rangers on board to get this team there safely and give them time to turn the planet into a trap. Memorize your instructions them. This war ends by the end of the week." She glared at each of them, turning her tawny eyes, daring them to feel inferior to the challenge, "Dismissed."

Isa caught Taz as she was slinking out the door. "So, short stuff, what happened with Up? Gimme the dirty deets."

Taz shrugged, embarrassed, "Up says the war's more important right now."

Isa stared at her, nonplussed, "What?" Taz shrugged again and Isa leaned against the wall, "Obviously there's not a snot of truth to that," They watched rangers stream out of the room, chattering excitedly.

"Not that it matters," replied Taz after finding control for her voice, "The point is that he said no."

"Oh, Up was never very smart, you know that," cajoled Isa, "give him time to realize-"

"Not a chance," said Taz sullenly, "If he needs an excuse to say no then I don't see why I have to 'give him time'. I'm," Taz rubbed her face, hoping she wasn't blushing, " not going through that again. He made me feel stupid, like I don't take my job seriously or that it's not important to me. Which is not true." Added Taz with ferocity.

"Of course not," said Isa absently, she remained serious, "I don't suppose there's anything else to say then. Speak of the devil, here he comes. Come sit with me at dinner, don't you dare hole yourself up in your room." She kissed Taz's cheek and floated away, brightly greeting a friend of hers.

Up leaned against the wall, and they watched Isa round the corner.

Up's mouth felt glued shut, he knew that no matter what he said, Taz wouldn't be happy.

"What do jou want?" Taz sounded tired and resigned at having to talk to him. Up bit back his knee jerk response and went with the gentler, "We need to talk and get over this if we're going to help get those comms and engineers to the planet's core."

Taz nodded, "You want to keep embarrassing yourself? Go ahead." Despite pretending to be apathetic, Taz felt angrier than ever at Up's calm demeanor.

"I'm not the one embarrassing myself today," said Up curtly, and he felt only a small rash of guilt at Taz's flinch. "What I meant was that we're an amazing team, and... what you said about us..." Up sighed and ran his hand through his hair, he felt scared. Which was ridiculous, what was he supposed to be scared of?

Taz glared at him suspiciously, "What about it?"

"I want you to know that it's not just you. If it weren't for the war, I-"

"I swear to God, if jou say jou feel the same for me I will make jour life hell. I swear," said Taz, pushing away from the wall and backing away, "I don't want to hear it." She looked both furious and on the edge of tears.

Up froze, "But... wouldn't it make a difference to you? I just don't want-"

"It wouldn't change anything," snarled Taz, "It's all or nothing Up. Simple as that." She turned on her heel.

Up sagged against the bulkhead, "Oh fuck it." He followed Taz, "Vasquez, wait. Stop!"

"What?" she turned slowly, unwillingly, to face him.

"We're not going to work well like this. I'm trying to iron this out for the mission," he shrugged haplessly, "We're still a team."

Taz rubbed her cheek with the heel of her hand, "Okay, how?"

"I don't know. Let's just pretend no one ever said anything, either of us?"

"No," said Taz angrily, "That's not how things work. Jou can't just ignore things that've happened!"

"Then what do you suggest?" Up was tired of fighting, "Whatever you want."

Taz grinned, "Just admit jou're wrong. There are more important things than being obsessed with the war, admit it."

"You don't understand," said Up, "If I lose focus, if we lose focus, then everyone loses! Those rangers are depending on us. We can't be more invested in each other than in the rest of the squad."

Taz rubbed her neck, the thick and knotted scar felt taut under her fingers," Admit jou're wrong and we'll put this argument on hold. It's simple just move jour lips and that's it."

Up realized she was taunting him, that made it easier. He grinned, all teeth and no kindness, "You aren't wrong, Vasquez."

She looked him down and shrugged, "I guess."

Up locked his hands behind his back and sighed loudly, "See you at dinner?"

Taz nodded and walked away.

Fathia's Starship, Five Days Ago: Fathia zoomed in on the tunnels, they were maze-like and intricate, "First we have to secure a path for the engineers and their gear. This route that I've highlighted will be the one with most cover and least amount of distance to cover between the surface and the first antechamber. We have to hold that antechamber until the next set of doors is opened. And so on until we reach the room surrounding the core

Quonos, Present Day: The robot lashed out, cracking her helmet open and sinking it's jagged fist into her face. She shot the robot in the head and crawled away, using the rubble as a shield. Taz wiped away the blood from her eye, but felt shards of glass buried deep in her face. "Oh fuck it," she made it closer to the barricade and lifted her visor, "Get me outta here!"

"Lieutenant, get over here! Medic, Medic!" Taz let the ranger, Dell, drag her behind the front lines and prop her against a backpack. Their medic, rushed over and gently tugged Taz's helmet off.

"Your eye's out, Lieutenant," said the medic quietly, pulling out shards of glass and daubing regen onto her face.

Taz ignored that and ordered, "Dell, get a comm and give the go-ahead to the Commander. Tell him we'll catch the fourth tunnel to the meet point. Tell him there's no time to lose, everything's set."

Dell nodded, "Yes ma'am," and dashed away.

"Why can't I see yet, Santos?" snarled Taz, "We're losing time here."

"Because you've got no fucking eye," snapped Santos, prodding Taz's face, " all I'm feeling is a whole hell lot'a nothin' in this hole. Sorry Lieutenant, you'll need more than regen. Best I can do is pack it and make sure it doesn't scar too badly. Does it sting?"

"Like a bastard," replied Taz cheerfully, "Forget my eye, let's get jou out of here."

"Yes ma'am," said Santos, "you've lost field of vision, so you need to stay with the pack ma'am." She finished taping Taz's face and helped her up. Wearily, Taz looked at her reflection in the broken helmet, "Shit, this helmet's no good." She raised her voice, "Alright, let's go! Thirty seconds, eat it or leave it!" Her people stood, groaning and stretching. "Dell, stay with me. My helmet's busted so if I need a radio you're it." They marched through the snaking tunnels, meeting only straggling robots and the corpses left by the previous group to come through. They made it to the antechamber with five minutes to spare. Taz crowded near the front barricade to see the explosions and fireworks but Santos and Dell frog-marched her to the medtent. Dell whisked the broken helmet away to be replaced.

Taz laid on a bed while Santos and another medic pumped her full of drugs, while they worked another medic walked in with a hobbling Up. " 'Ey Taz, still kicking." Taz couldn't see him but she could hear Up's cheery voice.

Santos sighed without looking away from where she operated, "Fine, Commander. Just stay quiet"

Taz heard Up slump a chair, she was glad her good eye was taped shut while the medics worked.

"Alright Lieutenant," said Santos, smacking her lips in satisfaction, "That will patch you up quite nicely. Don't take the bandage off the regenerating eye until tomorrow or you could need actual surgery and a graft." Santos gently peeled the tape from Taz's good eye and helped her sit.

"That wasn't surgery? You went in with a laser," grumbled Taz, "And it took a long time."

"It was field surgery and the eye will probably pop in a week," cracked Santos.

"Yowch," snorted Up. Santos nodded at Up, "Commander." and left.

"How're ya' feeling Lieutenant?" Up grinned at her broadly.

"Like throttling jou," said Taz without thinking. "Shouldn't jou be doing something important?" She added.

Up pointed to the IV bag and stick he was rolling around, "Lost too much fluid, I'm stuck here for the next," Up drummed his fingers on his knee, "45 minutes or so?"

"Oh," Taz recognized the cheerful tone was actually Up trying not to show his jitters, "Is that why jou're in a weird mood?"

"Also I was worried something serious happened to you, they rolled you into surgery pretty quickly. Usually, 'less it's life threatening everyone waits." He looked at her sharply, as if accusing her of making him worry on purpose.

Taz shrugged haplessly, "My eye was out! According to Santos there was nothing in there to fix. It's not my fault you were worried and I had to get a new eyeball!" She jumped off the bed, irritated at sounding childish. " I'll see jou later, I have to get a new helmet and make sure we're packed for later."

"Don't you want to sit here with me?" teased Up, "Come on. We have time right now."

Taz tipped her head and asked in surprise, "But Commander, I don't have time to be distracted right now." She grinned and walked out.

"Damn, I saw your helmet some in, Lieutenant Vasquez, that's fucked. I heard some robot punched your eye out. Damn. You want a size four again? Standard cush?" the ranger in charge of equipment, Lali, chattered away as he worked.

Taz chuckled, " Yeah, size four with standard. But since my eye's still healing I know you'll avenge me against those robots, right?" Taz caught the helmet Lali threw at her.

"Oh you betcha Lieutenant. I'll give them damn robots the classic hook and drop kick. Say, where's that cutie friend of yours, Krayonder? He here?"

"Naw, he's serving somewhere else, not sure where," Taz pressurized the helmet, flipping through all the settings and then depressurizing it again. "But I'll tell him you said hello."

"Heya, Commander. Your helmet A-OK?" Lali asked Up.

Taz grimaced and then signed off on her new helmet. "It's fine," said Up curtly, "Lieutenant, walk with me."

Taz tucked her helmet under her arm and fell in step beside Up. "There a problem, Commander?"

"Nope," Up didn't sound angry, or annoyed which made Taz wonder what he wanted, "just wanted t' let you know that yer a pain in the neck."

"Unbelievable," muttered Taz, and then louder, "I'm just putting to practice what you said, following your lead, which is my job," she bit down so she wouldn't smile.

Up groaned, "Oh for fuck's sake. Let's just get to Fathia's meeting, it's suppose to start in ten minutes." Taz choked back her laughter, but not before Up noticed. "Oh, so you get to make jokes but I get my throat ripped out when I try to be nice?"

Taz burst out laughing, "Jou just set jourself up! What am I suppose to do, ignore de perfect opportunity to throw jour words back in jour face?" She used Up for support as she laughed with her good eye shut.

"Well," said Up, both relieved and irritated at Taz's laughter, "For what it's worth, I really do want to talk with you, after this battle."

Taz's giggling tapered off as they approached Fathia's command center. She looked at him sidelong, " Oh si?"

Up, not able to hold a grudge said, "Yeah, really." They walked in and took some chairs near the middle of the round table without saying anything else.

"Alright people. So far we're doing good. Most of the other planets we're attacking are going down, memories and processing power is being slowly erased. That should give us some more leverage. At this level the engineers are able to drill directly into the planet's core. All we have to do it kick back and give them room. Which means keeping them alive until the comms can upload the special virus we have for the robots. Then any robot or planet linking to Quonos will be both vector and "sick". The stakes of this are higher than ever, the massive robots we haven't already detonated will boot up between today and tomorrow so be ready. There will be rotating groups protecting the entrances to this arena. Our last resort is to blow up the core, but I'd rather not seeing as we're right on top of it. However, we need to be ready to sacrifice everything for this last battle," said Fathia fiercely, "Because this is the last battle. There are no mistakes to be made, there are no more second chances or other battles. This is it ladies and men. The war ends here, with us. Get your squads resupplied and on standby. Dismissed."

Up and Taz got their squad assembled that night; the next morning was a blur, Taz was sure Up said some sort of speech to scare and inspire them but she was too shaken by what Fathia had said. The order to move out was given and she numbly marched forward.

"Fathia got you wound tight?" asked Up through the radio in their helmets.

"Aren't jou? By tomorrow it won't be the same galaxy."

"It will," said Up confidently, "Fathia was just scare-inspiring us. Even if we lose today, y' honestly think people will just lay down and die? Come on!" He shoved her to the side.

Taz chuckled, "Ok, ok, but that's only if jou think we're going to lose. Do jou?" She said it with enough sarcasm that Up wouldn't take offense.

"So what'd y' mean then?" All of their screens darkened to combat mode as a solid mass of maroon marched across their screens, indicating robots. Up and Taz started running; Taz made sure their medics and comms were well behind them but still available.

"If we win tonight, it's all going to change." Taz panted and dodged some smoking canisters. They shot carefully, saving their bullets for sure hits. They hid behind some rubble and waited for a break in the shooting before sprinting for the main fray.

Taz used a wall for support, her visor opened with a hiss, she tossed blitz powder down her throat, it churned its way down. Her eyes watered for a moment before her gaze sharpened and her brain shook itself, she tossed the sugar vial down her throat and repressurized her faceplate. "Lieutenant! Get me some more bodies over here!"

"Yessir," Taz ran into the group of resting rangers and motioned them to run towards the weakening line.

She stumbled and fell to her knees, "Shit."

"Problem, Lieutenant?" Up sounded gleeful, which meant he was knee deep in dead robots.

"Nope, just low oxygen. It's nothing," Taz crawled to the side so she wouldn't be in the way and pulled off her helmet, the air in the corridor was thicker but tinged with poisonous gases, not much better. A medic spotted Taz and swore; he jammed the helmet back on and dragged Taz to the makeshift area where they were treating those unable to move.

"I'm plugging your helmet into the oxygen machine Lieutenant, do not remove your helmet again," threatened the medic. He handed her a small rumbling oxygen machine. Immediately, Taz felt the difference and motioned the medic away. Two rangers stumbled into the area, "The wall's falling. Commander Up said to fall back!" Swearing, Taz slung the oxygen machine over her shoulder, "Where is he?"

She slid through trenches to the wall, robots were climbing over it.

"Up! Get out of there now!" she snarled, furious.

"I'm goin'! I'm goin'!" protested Up. Taz watched him jump from the collapsing wall and stumble away from her.

"No no! Idiot! Here!" She shot at robots that were gnashing their teeth at Up's heels. Up landed on his knees in front of her.

"This isn't a time for naps!" taunted Taz.

Up grumbled and led the way to safety, Taz kept her back turned to Up as he tugged her backwards through the mess between them and the last gates. Taz kept shooting, making sure nothing pegged them with a bullet until they reached the gates. But Taz had to throw down he zapper, "Welp, I'm out of ammo. Do we start praying now?" she asked/

"Dead God no," said Up, he handed his half-empty zapper and stooped to pick her up. "I run, you shoot," said Up, and started running. They made it to the main gates with no bullets, a bullet in Taz's arm, and shrapnel in Up's leg. Taz jumped down, laughing, "I can't believe that worked. That was stupid!"

Up eased himself to the ground and took off his helmet. Taz motioned for a medic. Up unbuckled the armor from his leg and winced at his injury. Another medic helped Taz out of her armor and began digging in her arm for the bullet.

"I can't believe that worked either," replied Up after the medic had finished patching him with regen and thick gauze, "That was lucky."

Taz shrugged back into her armor and thanked the medic, "Lucky? No, we've sprinted faster during training." Absently, Up helped Taz with the last buckle on her shoulder, "Guess so. What's that yelling?"

The cheering started small, a few stubby engineers throwing their hands up and running in circles. Taz pushed him towards the supply tent and they got in line for new zappers.

"What are they doing?" asked Taz, motioning with her helmet towards the growing volume of people cheering and crying in the middle of the room.

Up squinted, "Are? Are they cheering? Are they done?!"

"I THINK THEY ARE!" Not realizing she was yelling.

To their right the cheering continually got louder, but to their left the panicked shouting grew desperate.

Taz frowned at the wall to their left, "That wall's not gonna hold, let's-"

The wall exploded inward, incinerating everyone within a hundred feet. Taz flew through the air and landed heavily on her arm, several somethings snapping in her forearm and wrist. The smoke and dust was thick, Taz held her arm and stumbled away, screaming, "Up! UP!" She lost her helmet, cursing she stumbled into the supply tent. She slung a zapper over her shoulder and went back, "UP!"

"Taz!" Up was coughing and wriggling out from under the rubble when a huge shadow fell over him.

"AUTOBOTS MOVE OUT!" blared an impossibly large robot. The robot flipped its hands for circular buzz saws. People ran screaming, and those who stood their ground were shot with flying, retractable buzz saws. Body parts were flying across the arena. Up ran along the now rubbled wall, the shadow turned towards his direction. "Run! Run! Fall back!" he ordered three rangers. Other robots crowded the entrances but looked reluctant to get in the autobot's way. He saw Taz shooting at the autobot, making expert debilitating shots, Up's heart froze when the autobot shot one of its buzz saws at her. He sighed in relief when Taz dove out of the way, Up continued running for her. Taz's arm was at a funny angle, she used her gun as a crutch. The robot aimed again at her but she managed to roll out of the way as another circular buzz saw hit the ground, she shot at the chain, cutting the saw from the robot's arm.

"Taz!" Up sprinted and dove for her, he wasn't going to make it. He wasn't- Somehow Up caught her and threw her to the side, Taz smacked her head against the ground, Up landed over her, something hit them, leaving her winded.

Taz saw Prime looming over them, yanking the chain back, Taz shot at it with Up slumped over her. The chain snapped, she crawled backwards with Up limp in her arms. Taz kept her eyes on the autobot; it was distracted for a moment. Taz cracked her gun open and jammed several pieces of metal into the gears, she cranked the zapper to its highest setting and snapped it shut again. Optimus Prime was coming again, Taz dragged them into a shallow and useless crevice. She cranked zapper to full automatic and then aimed it at the autobot, the zapper clicked and whirred a thousand times but no bullets came out. Safety indicators blinked quickly, warning her of her gun's danger.

"Up, get up ,get up." The crevice wouldn't be safe for long and there was a frighteningly deep gouge on Up's back. Up gasped and shuddered, blood gushed from his mouth, he rose onto his hands and knees. He was pale and shuddered as if seizing.

"Oh my God Up, lay down, jou're hurt." One handed, Taz tried to push him down. Up ignored that and instead cradled her face, resting his calloused and stiff hands gently on her face, running his thumbs across her jaw.

He looked at her with such soft eyes that Taz leaned forward and whispered, "Jou're going to be ok, just don't move."

"I was wrong Taz. I was so wrong," he tipped his head forward and kissed her. His lips were crusted with blood and tasted like blitz powder, but Taz kissed him back. Until Up broke away, coughing, Taz saw the blood spilling and gushing through the buckles of Up's armor. Armor that didn't look so solid anymore, it looked cracked. Taz wiped her mouth in alarm, Up started vomiting blood and black everywhere, he gasped once and collapsed. For a moment, Taz thought he had fainted, but he fell to either side of her, two halves where he used to be; he was sliced almost perfectly in two.

Optimus Prime slammed a fist into the crevice, and snatched at the air; she tried to grab onto Up but missed. Taz frantically kept firing her zapper, it whirred through the bullets lodged in the system, in seconds it was steaming and warping. The robot yanked her out of the hole. Optimus Prime threw her into the air and Taz dropped her zapper; it overheated and exploded, sending hundreds of thousands of bullets down the robots throat. After that it was all a blur. Taz felt the rest of the battle as a giant red smear. One she wished would never end.

I'd super appreciate your comments and reviews! 3