Face Down Chapter 37
Laserbeak was flying slowly through the atmosphere, his flight pattern graceful and effortless, flawlessly mimicking that of a vulture. He was high enough above the land that if any human happened to look up, the organic would only see a lone scavenger, riding the air currents searching for the scent of decomposing meat. But this avian's pray was not of the organic composition. There was only one piece of data flowing through his meager processor, the order given to him by his commander.
Locate Barricade
He soared over Autobots, but passed by them with hardly a glance in their direction. If the command to attack would have come, the small Decepticon would have had an opportunity for a destructive shot right at Optimus Prime. But the opportunity was ignored; Laserbeak had more important matters to attend to.
Locate Barricade
Burnout shivered to alertness when Barricade gently nudged her through their bond. Would she ever get used to this sensation? It was as if Barricade were holding her spark right in the palm of his hand. Not that that bothered her, but it definitely made just standing in his presence difficult. She wanted to feel his hands on her frame, his mouth component over hers, his spark pulsing in time with her own… another shiver ran through the femme, but this one more violent then the first.
Barricade looked down at his bonded, she had fallen into recharge lying over his chest, a knowing grin formed on his facial component as he felt her frame tremble and heat up. He could feel everything and more through their bond.
"I would have you right now." His deep voice vibrated through her. "But we are in danger when we are immobile for long, that is why I woke you." He gently, tantalizingly, ran a hand down her neck, along her arm, and then intertwined his larger hand with hers. "We will have our time."
Burnout sighed, even if her spark was calling to be joined with his again, she was content to simply melt into his touch.
Speeding down the interstate, Burnout suddenly swerved over, knocking Barricade smartly in the side. The heavily armored interceptor hardly moved from his projected path, but the action had the desired effect of catching his attention.
: What was that for?: Barricade growled through their comm. link.
: Why'd you have to drive out so far? It's going to take us forever to get back to base.:
: You weren't supposed to come looking for me.: Barricade responded, twitching his tires slightly to send his own body in the direction of his bonded.
To Barricade's surprise, Burnout slammed on her brakes and when Barricade was in range, gunned her engine to connected sharply with the corner of his rear bumper.
The mustang didn't have to fight hard to regain control, but that small moment of imbalance gave Burnout the opening she wanted. Engine roaring, she shot past her bonded, nudging him playfully through their bond.
Barricade smiled inwardly as he sent power to his own super advanced engine. 'Even with a head start she could never beat me.' The Decepticon thought as he started to close the distance between he and his femme. He was planning to give her a little bump in the aft too, then back down, but as he approached her bumper, the femme shot off out of reach. Barricade was only shocked for a moment, 'Alright,' He thought, dropping down a gear causing his RPMs to soar, 'we're goin' all out.'
Burnout saw her bonded suddenly start getting bigger and bigger behind her. Previous encounters like this had always sent her into a panic, but not this time. She no longer thought about how she could never out run the Decepticon; now, she was having fun. Her fear had always held her backing the past; maybe if she hadn't always been so intimidated, she may have been able to out run Barricade during their bouts of cat and mouse. Dropping her transmission down a gear also, Burnout's high performance engineering finally let loose.
Racing a few more miles, both suddenly had to slow down as the realities of rush hour traffic soon became apparent in the form of a traffic jam.
Burnout sighed, settling back on her hydraulics as Barricade pulled up and did the same beside her.
: Always knew you had it in there somewhere to out run me.: The 'Con admitted after a few minuets of comfortable silence. They had crept forward only about a car length and a half.
Burnout laughed, she had known that she was fast, Bumblebee and the other hot headed mechs had told her that, but she had never realized just how much her fear of Barricade had held her back.
It felt nice to not be in fear any longer.
Laserbeak's super sharp optics picked up on something unusual as he rode an air current around a mountainside.
He could only decipher that two vehicles were traveling at speeds uncharacteristically high to those commonly used by the organics. His programming told him to investigate. Angling his metallic wings and igniting his thrusters, the cassette shot off to follow the speeding vehicles.
There were no feelings of happiness or accomplishment as he recognized the energy signature of one of the vehicles as his querry. Yes, this meant that he could now return to his master and acquire a nice rest and refuel. But even if he were just sent right back out on another mission, he would comply with the order, unquestioningly. This was what he was programmed for, to follow orders, and to accomplish them. No matter how low on energy he was, no matter how injured, if he had an order, nothing grated his circuits more then to leave that order unfulfilled.
Contacting his master through their bond, Laserbeak asked for further instruction.
:Cause a distraction, disrupt the flow of traffic.:
Flying ahead by a few miles or so, Laserbeak saw the potential distraction in the form of a bridge.
Releasing a few missiles on one of the main support beams, the scout felt no regret for the dozen or so vehicles that were unfortunate enough to have been on the bridge as it collapsed. He was following orders.
Sending the coordinates to his master, Laserbeak flew back to the location of his original target.
: Do not loose sight of Barricade.:
He was following orders.
Barricade could feel the pressure of paranoia on his circuits. Everywhere he looked he thought that red optics were staring back at him, 'was that a Decepticon insignia?' Every vehicle that was near him and Burnout, he carefully scanned and re scanned, he didn't want to take any chances. He knew it wouldn't be long before Starscream realized that he was not where the commander had left him. The Decepticon commander would come looking for him, and Barricade was not about to risk his bonded being caught in the middle of any possible battles.
: Have you tried contacting the Autobots?: Barricade questioned as they idled in the stopped traffic.
:Yes, but we are still too far away from base. My signal can only broadcast fifty miles or so.:
: And I was never programmed to pick up or transmit their frequency.:
: If we could just get past this traffic and over the bridge, I would be in range. But its been almost a half hour and we have hardly moved.:
Barricade was uncomfortable with this. They needed the Autobots, for Burnout's sake. If Starscream showed up spitting plasma, Barricade knew he wouldn't be able to hold the larger mech back for long. An even bigger problem was that Starscream never entered a battle alone. Barricade knew, and this fact pained his spark, that he wouldn't be able to hold back everyone and Starscream, he would die defending Burnout, but he had already decided that. He would die before he allowed anything bad to befall the femme ever again.
If he were by himself, he wouldn't have cared; he would have welcomed the battle. But he had Burnout to worry about; he would not loose her again.
His unease multiplied ten fold when he looked up and saw smoke and soot billowing into the sky. Every sensory ending stood straight up as he took in sight above them.
"Slag!"
Burnout was caught off guard by Barricade's voice echoing in her audio receptors, they hardly ever spoke out loud in vehicle mode, especially when they were around humans.
: We have to get out of here, NOW!:
Luckily Burnout had been in the outside lane, reversing quickly, receiving a horn blast from the vehicle behind her as her bumper came scant inches from connecting with theirs, Burnout quickly pulled into the grass that was beside the interstate. Barricade followed closely, their tires causing dirt and clumps of grass to fly up as they tore down the highway's shoulder.
: What's going on?: Burnout questioned.
: I think this fragged up traffic was a set up.;
Burnout didn't question the mech farther; instead she concentrated on keeping her tires under control in the soft terrain. She trusted Barricade to keep her safe, she had to trust Barricade.
"Decepticon activity!" Hound called to his comrades. "Seems Laserbeak is out causing mayhem."
"There has to be a motive, he just doesn't take to the sky and start blowing things up, he has orders. Get Telatran zeroed in on Laserbeak, if he has been sent out to scout something, the other Decepticons will be quick to follow." Prowl commanded. "Optimus and the others are enroute now. We need to be ready in case they call for back up."
The order was passed along and fulfilled quickly, Prowl remained standing, optics locked on the carnage that played out on the screen. Traffic was building quickly. "What a mess." The tactician mumbled to himself. The view panned out and his optics fell on an odd sight, "What are those two vehicles doing?"
Nudging Hound out of the way, the second in command took a seat while beginning to type furiously at the keypad before him. Zooming in and following the two vehicles that had suddenly pulled out of the traffic and were now racing down the shoulder in the wrong direction, Prowls optics widened in recognition.
: Optimus!:
: I am here Prowl, this sounds urgent.:
: I've located Burnout and she's with Barricade. I cannot tell if this is a hostage situation, but they are on the run, away from the wreckage.:
Another detail suddenly caught the tactician's attention.
: It seems that Laserbeak is tracking them.:
: And where is Starscream?:
: His whereabouts are uncertain, but I would bet my logic circuits that if Laserbeak is interested in these two, then the Decepticon commander is too.:
: I share those same thoughts. Keep me updated.:
: Prowl out.:
: Optimus Prime out.:
Burnout was trembling in the Decepticon's grasp. She couldn't think, she couldn't react, she was too afraid. Where was Barricade? She knew he was alive, she could feel him through their bond, but where was he? Everything had gone to pit so quickly. Without warning, Barricade had swerved and ran her off the edge of the small bluff they had been precariously speeding down. All she heard were explosions as she fought to regain control of her tumbling body. Luckily, the fall was extremely short, she had landed almost immediately after she realized she was even falling. Then the unmistakable roar of jet thrusters completely paralyzed her.
"Caught you again." Starscream's breathed into her audio receptors.
Burnout gasped when she was roughly spun around to face the Decepticon commander. His optics roamed over her body hungrily, Burnout felt humiliation and violation take hold of her, oh how she was so familiar with those feelings.
Gaining the courage to try and escape, Burnout squirmed in Starscream's iron grasp. She knew her efforts would be futile, but what else could she do?
The jet laughed and the noise sent tremors through her circuitry. Releasing one of her arms, the seeker grasped her throat, restricting her, and preventing her from looking away from him. Grasping at his arm with her small hands, the seeker continued to chortle.
"What a wonderful opportunity your capture has brought for me." He spoke softly. "Not only will I now have leverage against the Autobots, but a mate to keep my berth warm, and a means to begin replenishing the ranks of the Decepticon army." As he spoke, his voice grew more and more disgustingly sweet. Bringing his facial component closer to hers, the Decepticon forced his mouth over her own.
Burnout cried out in desperation and attempted to shake the seeker off of her, but his sheer bulk overwhelmed her. Thinking fast, Burnout opened her own component, allowing the mech entrance. Thinking he had the upper hand, Starscream smirked and continued to kiss, more like devour, the femme. But the pleasure was short lived, Burnout clamped down tightly, determined to tear through any piece of the Decepticon she could get a hold of.
Howling, the commander released his hold of the femme altogether, smashing a fist into the side of her face.
"You glitch!" He screamed, spitting fluid from his damaged mouth.
Burnout had fallen to the ground; blackness was threatening to over whelm her from the weight of Starscream's hit. 'Barricade, please, help me!' She pleaded desperately through their bond.
She was on her stomach and could feel energon leaking from the side of her face; her right optic was oozing liquid too. Attempting to push herself off of the ground, Burnout had just enough time to realize that the injured optic was no longer functioning before she was roughly shoved back to the ground. The sound of a weapon powering up caused the femme to cry out in fear.
"Change of plans, your not worth the trouble." She had damaged the mech's pride and this enraged him more then anything. Starscream was going to make her pay.
"BARRICADE!" Burnout screamed, thrashing and twisting with all of her strength, anything to rid herself of the weight of Starscream. Her actions only caused her attacker to laugh ruthlessly.
Unable to maintain her struggle for long, Burnout stopped, gasping and trying to cool her over exerted systems. 'Is this how it ends? Face down in the dirt? I hope it doesn't hurt, I'm sick of being in pain.'
"You were a good pet once, but as the humans say, you can't teach an old dog new tricks."
Burnout closed her optics tightly, willing everything to go away. 'I think I've finally had enough, just make it all go away. I'm sick of this war, I'm sick of the pain and the sadness. I'm sorry Barricade, I wasn't strong enough.'
She wished that she had had more time with her bonded, with Barricade. Everything had seemed too good to be true and at that moment, the last moment of her life, Burnout could only think of the red optics of her beloved and everything they had shared. How far they had come, how close they have become.
Burnout thought she was dead as a blast suddenly shook her world. She continued to lie still, not registering that the weight had lifted from her back. But the sound of metal clanging solidly against metal brought the femme to her senses. She was still alive!
"RUN BURNOUT!"
"What-?" Burnout squeaked as she sat up, optic's catching sight of a familiar form. "Barricade." Her spark leapt in joy and hope.
Neither Decepticon paid her heed as she quickly crawled away from the fight. She didn't want to watch, but she couldn't take her functioning optic off of the two. The thought of running away didn't even pass through her CPU as the two mechs crashed together in a brilliant display of power.
The fight was intense, Barricade did everything he could to keep the jet grounded, if Starscream managed to become air born, the interceptor would no longer have any sort of advantage. Starscream was clumsy on the ground and in close range combat, where as this type of battle was where Barricade excelled. But still, the Decepticon commander out weighed and out muscled the smaller 'Con. Barricade was hard pressed to cause any damage and remain unharmed at the same time. But by Primus he would try.
Burnout screamed when her bonded took a hard blow to the side of his head, sending him tumbling to the ground. His gun, which he hadn't had time to put back into subspace after using it, went flying. The femme looked on, helpless, as Starscream slowly advanced on the weaker mech. Barricade had already been damaged extensively from the earlier explosion, not to mention he hadn't even been functioning at full capacity before they had come under attack. Now he was doing all he could to remain online.
"Pathetic. All of this over a femme." The commander growled. He crouched over the fallen traitor. "You disgrace us. You let your emotion chip get the best of you." Starscream grabbed Barricade by the chassis, pulling the mech up so that they were face to face. "You second guessed your purpose and look where it got you. There is nothing in between Barricade, either you are a Decepticon or you are an Autobot. Death is only a possibility in one faction, as you know. But guaranteed in the other."
Starscream threw Barricade back down on the ground, straightening to stand over the mech.
"Pathetic, there is no place for the lost and confused in my ranks. Prepare to be terminated."
"NO!" Burnout screamed when the transformed Raptor pulled out his gun and pointed it directly at Barricade's head.
"I will not leave loose ends this time."
Burnout leapt to her feet and sprinted across the distance between herself and the attacking Decepticon. Throwing her body into the unsuspecting commander, the two of them crumbled to the ground, Starscream quickly taking the upper hand.
"Getting jealous, thought I forgot about you?" The jet sneered as he grabbed Burnout and threw her off of him. "Don't worry, as soon as I'm done with that scrap heap I'll give you all the attention you could ever want."
Burnout landed hard, something more solid then the ground jamming into her side.
Looking down, the femme gasped at the sight of Barricade's gun.
Looking up from the weapon to the Decepticon commander who was back to threatening Barricade, Burnout didn't allow herself to think. The life of her bonded was at stake.
Hefting the fire arm, she took careful aim, hesitating only a moment to say a prayer, asking for strength. Then she pulled the trigger.
The femme couldn't be sure if she made her mark, the kickback had sent her back to the ground and the noise caused her audios to ring, but when she looked up, there was nothing but smoke. There was way more smoke then she would ever predicted.
Standing slowly, still holding Barricade's weapon, Burnout peered through the thickness. There was a form rising up from the ground, but the haze was distorting his shape.
"B-Barricade?" She called out, uncertainness and fear causing her voice to break. She reached out tentatively through her bond to Barricade, he reached back.
"Yeah." The voice was unmistakable, Burnout dropped the gun and ran forward, entering the clearing smoke fearlessly, throwing herself at the mech. He barely caught her, his whole body trembled from fatigue, but he held her nonetheless.
"That was one heck of a shot." He whispered hoarsely into her audios.
A group of Autobots looked on in shock as the smoke cleared to reveal the embracing couple. An unconscious and heavily damaged Starscream sprawled out unceremoniously behind them.
"I think I had a little help." Burnout whispered back, her optics catching a glint of metal as she remained close to her bonded; an Autobot insignia bore proudly on every one of the mech's chassis.
Barricade looked to the side to see four very agitated looking mechs staring back at them. "This is going to be difficult." He spoke to her, uncertain about what to do next, but not loosening his embrace on the femme in the least.
"I know, but I don't care, as long as I'm with you. They'll get over it."
Burnout could feel Barricade beginning to lean on her more and more; she looked up at him quickly and realized that he was barely holding onto consciousness. Burnout quickly helped Barricade to the ground. In her relief to see him still functioning, she had forgotten that he was injured. Trying to focus on the Autobots that were making their way down the small hill that surrounded the clearing, she had forgotten her own injuries.
"He needs a medic, now!" She yelled to the approaching mechs, her good eye blazing threateningly. She recognized one of the field medics as he quickly made his way down from the main highway. He came directly to her, but Burnout refused treatment.
"If you don't stabilize Barricade right now then I will just do it myself!" She growled at the field medic. "I am fine for now, he's the one who can barely stay online."
As Burnout waited for the field medic to finish, she caught Ironhide's optics, he had been one of the four who had seen her and Barricade together. He leveled her with a disappointed glare before turning away to help secure Starscream.
Barricade was right, this was going to be difficult, but it hardly mattered. Sitting down heavily, exhaustion hitting her hard as adrenalin cleared from her systems, Burnout realized that her spark no longer hurt. The constant ache that she had grown accustomed to had finally disappeared. It was as if the piece of her spark that had been torn away from her, the sparkling that she had lost, had been replaced. Her spark felt whole again.
Looking over at her bonded, Burnout couldn't help but smile as Barricade was pulled to his feet, grudgingly. She could hear him growling his agitation at the Autobot who was helping him from where she sat.
'No. This isn't going to be difficult. This is going to be fun.' She thought mischievously as the medic handed her a container of energon and began patching up her injuries.