Chapter Thirty-Eight
Finish the Fight
She hated him.
No wait. She didn't hate him… she loathed him.
Arianna let out an impatient sigh and leaned back into her seat. If Stryker wasn't such a captain's favorite, Ari would have killed him months ago. The murder would have been worth the court martial and the fifty-plus years in prison. She wouldn't have cared what the consequences were as long as Davis was permanently removed from her life.
"You aren't listening to me anymore are you?"
"No. I wouldn't be listening to you even if you were the president of the United States," Ari told Stryker, and then disconnected the link between her and Stryker. She groaned. Insane technicians she could handle. Stubborn flight crews she could handle. Tyler and Riley together she could handle. Her old driving instructor and crazy drivers she could definitely handle; her home state of Massachusetts was full of them, and Boston was the headquarters. Hell, she'd learned to pull the 'Boston maneuver' and other driving tricks from the best driving instructor she'd ever had, an ex-Registry employee. The guy had been fired for reckless driving, and taught everything he knew to Ari. Sure she passed the test with flying colors, but it was nice to know those little things.
Stryker Davis however was the only thing in her life she couldn't handle, and one of the few things she had no power over. She had no idea how the captain tolerated the arrogant lieutenant. If Ari had been in charge, she would've kicked Stryker out of the 401st completely with no trial run at all. In fact, when he had first arrived, Ari didn't think he would stay long, especially since he had been on a trial run. As an unspoken rule, pilots tended not to stay long with Stanton on trial runs; they either quit the squadron and transferred elsewhere, or the general dismissed them before a fight could be started among the ranks. So it came as a surprise that Stryker stayed and tolerated the general and she decided to let him stay.
The closeness between Alexis and Stryker was somewhat alarming as well. Ever since they had trained together, Ari and Alexis could pull off a perfect double act… on the ground. Ari to find the trouble and get into it, Alexis to pull her out of it and find the escape route. She never realized really how close Stryker had been getting until she had caught the end of the little kiss from that morning. In reality, she was angrier at Stryker for kissing her friend than she was with Tobias for distracting her. The nice thing was that she at least waited until after Alexis left before losing her temper with Stryker. It was just that Ari felt that once Stryker was close enough to Alexis, Ari was going to be edged out of the picture completely, and she didn't want that to happen. If anyone was going to be shoved out, it was going to be Stryker… even if it killed her in the process.
But if she was dead, she wouldn't be around to enjoy her victory. Okay, she didn't want to die removing Stryker.
Hopefully Stryker wouldn't mention to Alexis the reason why the squadron was delayed. He and Ari spent about twenty minutes bickering, which ended when Ari threatened to hit him in the head with a nearby tool. That started an argument over who could deliver the most damage in a fistfight. The reality check came when Alexis called in demanding for them to show up. Alexis would have only picked up on Stryker's smugness about having the last say in the argument before the squadron left.
"Motor Mouth, you still with us?" Parker asked suddenly.
Ari quietly seethed at the new nickname. She didn't know John Parker very well, just that he was a Maine resident who lived near where Alexis was born. The dolt must have picked the nickname up from Tobias. If she wasn't careful, the name was going to stick. "What's the emergency now Parker?" she spat, using his real name instead of his call sign. She adjusted her flight plan to keep pace with Starscream… she noticed that he was starting to descend. They must be getting close to their destination. "Hey Screamer…are we getting close or are you about to crash?" she suddenly asked, trying not to sound too hopeful. If he crashed, then she could honestly say that it wasn't her fault that he died.
Stryker growled, and Ari decided to heed the warning… for about two minutes. There was no immediate need to start giving him reason to start thinking up nasty ideas. She was quiet, and then finally asked, "Seriously Screamer. Are you about to crash? I don't want to follow you if you're about to crash. I kind of have a dinner date with Tyler at this really great pizza place and I can't go if I'm barely clinging to life or dead because of a crash…"
"Primus, don't tempt me…" Stryker growled out over the link.
"You're the only guy I know who shows off his linguistic skills in the middle of a combat situation…" Ari began to say.
"Can it Motor Mouth. Nobody cares!" somebody, probably Parker, interrupted irritably.
"Well it's not my fault that Stryker has temper management problems!" Ari shot back. "Oh, and stop calling me 'Motor Mouth'! That's not my name or call sign!" Point sufficiently made, Ari relaxed a bit, disconnecting the link so she wouldn't have to listen to either Parker nor Stryker. Both were stubborn and rude males, something she had very little patience for.
It was the squadron pipsqueak Jay Perkins who broke that silence. She only called him that because it seemed to her that he was one of those people who were constantly underfoot. Unfortunately he was from New Hampshire, another New England resident… which meant they shared some similarities, making it hard to hate him very much.
"Trip? Umm two things. One, isn't it against regulations to cut the leader out of the link?" he asked, still wary about talking to her after hearing her arguments with Stryker.
"Perkins, it's just that I have this intense dislike of Davis," she complained as she reluctantly re-opened the link between her and Stryker.
"Eh, me too." Perkins agreed. "Second thing is that we're going down. Screamer wasn't going to crash. Sorry."
Ari gritted her teeth as she looked down out of her cockpit, and saw that he was right. She focused on the confrontation below, aligning the weapons as they began to warm up. Ari scowled; didn't Alexis know that it was generally customary to send the invitations before the party started?
Apparently not.
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The old command center was a hub of activity as ex-Sector Seven soldiers and personnel scurried about, securing equipment and positions. In the center of it all, Ross Lynch was working at the central computer. He knew there was the possibility of defeat, so he had to be prepared. He downloaded all of the databanks he had accumulated in the last few months onto a flashdrive, and then ejected the memory stick from the computer. Then he wiped the entire memory system of the network. It was the customary practice to destroy all useful information so the enemy would not be able to access and utilize it.
"Kade," he called softly to his second-in-command. The man walked over and saluted sharply. Lynch leaned forward and ordered, "Take this flashdrive and give it to Agent 33. She will smuggle it out of the compound. On the flashdrive is the entire database and history of Sector Seven. Defend it with your life."
Kade saluted and tucked the flashdrive into his pocket. As he walked away, another agent appeared and saluted. When Lynch nodded his approval, the agent said, "We've counted six Transformers, and the walls are taking a beating. Two of the giants are inside destroying the place, and we have the confirmed presence of two more on lower levels."
Lynch sighed. He would have to wait to test his weapon out later then. "Take the computer virus and get it out of here," he ordered. "We can't take on four of those things, much less six."
"What about the nitro?" the agent asked curiously.
Lynch thought about it. The president's brat had escaped when he'd killed Tom, so naturally she would run to the nearest place of safety. He'd heard from Simmons that the yellow scout was the only Autobot that had little difficulty communicating with young humans. "Slow the things down with it or something. Just don't waste it… we barely have enough to deal with more than one," he finally said, remembering how difficult it had been to smuggle the stuff to the barracks without too many questions attached. He'd been forced to send an agent after one of Stanton's agents, a woman. The woman had inadvertently discovered one of the nitro trucks, but she had taken care of Lynch's agent in her hotel in Nebraska.
The agent saluted, and then disappeared.
Tasks done, Lynch began to plan his own retreat. In his opinion, soldiers were expendable. It was the leader who needed to survive in order to carry on the fight. The odds of defeat were increasing; Lynch had counted on at least the four Autobots arriving to fight if anything. Starscream had been an iffy; the Decepticon would have needed an extremely good reason to comply with insignificant organic creatures whether he had really been part of the Air Force squadron or not. Barricade was an unexpected arrival; despite the 'to punish and enslave' life motto, Lynch figured the wily Decepticon would be more interested in saving his own hide rather than risking it in a petty human conflict.
Lynch stood up. Losing his biggest bargaining chip was bad, and the mistake would be properly dealt with. Unfortunately, the president forced Lynch's hand by sending the task force to liberate her and arrest him. After dealing with that, then Lynch would tie up any other loose ends, and then get the hell out of there as fast as humanly possible.
"Marco!" Lynch shouted. The agent swiftly materialized in front of him and raised his head to acknowledge his superior. Lynch gestured for the agent to follow him and the two men vanished from the command center.
Lynch still had one last card to play.
Several floors down from the center, another rumble echoed through the halls of the old barracks, sending the five humans to the sides again. "Ironhide is having a little too much fun with this," Epps grunted, pulling himself up from the ground. "Maybe we should tell him to use a little less power."
"I can proudly say that I wasn't the one who gave him permission to do that," another soldier, a man by the name of Max Williams, said as he picked up his pack from where it had fallen onto the floor. He turned around and asked, "Are you coming or taking a nap there Preston?"
"I'm coming," Alexis growled as she picked herself up from the ground. She was angry because once again, she was serving as an entertainment source for the soldiers. She privately vowed to herself never to work with the ground troops ever again after this.
Max grinned. "I like this one Epps," he said, turning to his comrade. "She's got more spunk than my cousin Marcia. Do you know where Lennox picked her up?"
"I don't remember… I can tell you it might've been three years or so ago," Epps replied as he hoisted his gun up so that he would be ready once the shooting began again. "Yo Bronson! Baxter! What is taking you two so long? Need a snack break or something?"
"We're good!" James Baxter replied cheerfully as he caught up with Lew Bronson. He clapped Alexis forcefully on the shoulder. "How is the little lady doing?"
"Careful with her… she knows Starscream," Max warned in a teasing manner as Alexis stumbled forward from the force of the clap. "He'll vaporize your house if he catches you treating the little lady like that."
"He just might. I've seen him take out entire F-22 jets and buildings before," Epps warned, and Alexis knew that Epps was referring to the Mission City attacks.
Max shrugged. "Give me sabot rounds and Ironhide and I'm all set," he said, keeping pace with Epps.
Epps snorted. "Dude, not even the nitro stuff that Sector Seven used will stop Screamer," he said.
As the pair descended into a discussion over what it would take to bring Starscream completely and permanently down, Alexis reflected on how she had found the small band of four soldiers. She had been carefully running down a hallway, weapon out and ready to fire. Epps, who had been leading the little band, rounded the corner ahead of her, and she had been delighted to see them. Delighted that is, until Baxter had aimed his rifle at her head. She had stopped dead in her tracks and raised her hands in surrender, ready to explain that she was on their side. Ignoring the gesture, Baxter had fired, but the bullet slipped between her arm and head on the right side. The grunt of pain behind her informed her of her stalker who had been waiting to jump her at the right moment.
Alexis didn't owe him though. The favor was returned when Baxter had paused to fix something on his pack and an enemy soldier saw it as an opportunity to smack him on the head with the butt of his rifle. Baxter was flummoxed at the sudden save by Alexis, and had only been capable of saying that he didn't need a girl to defend him.
Epps assured Baxter that he would remind Alexis of that little fact the next time Baxter was ambushed.
Now they were running to what was supposedly the center of the base. Bronson said he had come here once when he was still in training, and that his memory was fuzzy, but it was still better than running completely blind.
Alexis wasn't so sure.
The building rocked again as yet another barrage landed. The faint screaming of engines overhead announced the arrival of the 401st, and indicated to Alexis who to thank for the latest round. This also reminded the five of them to pick up the pace and get moving. Bronson gestured for them to all slow down as they all neared another corner. They all paused, bracing themselves against the wall before the next blast could knock them down and waste more precious time. Alexis checked her watch; the digital display read: 9:17 a.m.
Bronson signaled that the coast was sufficiently clear, and then they all crept around.
To Alexis's surprise, it was an old courtyard that opened up to the cloudy sky above. A promenade-style balcony surrounded the courtyard on all four sides on all levels. Weeds dominated the lawn, and the water inside the old rusting fountain was a russet-brown mixture as rust and mud mixed in water collected from the rains. She swore she saw the tip of a yellow snake disappear from the courtyard edges into the tall grasses, and wondered what other creatures lurked in the area.
All in all, this courtyard had seen better days.
"Whoa, I don't remember this," Bronson said, coming to an abrupt halt. He frowned, and then said, "Now I'm wonder if I actually was remembering the layout to West Point."
"Not reassuring," Alexis hissed as she slipped past him. "What's next?"
"Madre de Dios," Max suddenly breathed, looking up towards the sky. "We're in so much hot water now," he whispered.
"Why?" Lew demanded. "I don't like 'hot water' warnings. What's wrong?"
"What are we relying on most in this op?" Max slowly asked, looking specifically at Alexis.
Her heart grew cold at Max's strained expression. "We're relying on the squadron to help rip the place open," she said slowly, hoping she got the objective correct. "More firepower to smash it open." She frowned at Max, wondering what he was getting at.
"Sabot rounds can bring down a Transformer, but that takes a while," he began slowly, looking at his companions. "But those giants will definitely take us out for sure," he said, gesturing towards the rooftop, which was barely visible from their position on the ground.
Alexis stepped out into the weak sunlight, and saw what he was pointing to.
Long, cylindrical shapes were raised towards the sky, black against the light-gray clouds. Twelve anti-aircraft weapons were positioned all around the courtyard roof, three to each side. She guessed that since Starscream was going to be an active participant, and that it wasn't really a secret anymore, there would be soldiers heavily guarding the artillery. Sabot rounds were going to be in high demand today.
"We have to get up there," she said without thinking. She looked at Epps and said, "We need to take out the weaponry so that the squadron has one less thing to worry about."
"Begging your pardon ma'am, but we have other mission objectives. The Four-oh-first knew the risks of participating in this operation. They know that they will have to handle the batteries on their own so that we can do our part," Baxter said solemnly. "It's all the risks in being a participant in any kind of confrontation. They have their duty, we have ours."
Alexis snarled, reached over, and pulled down on Baxter's collar so that his face was level with hers. "These are my pilots you're talking about here," she growled. "I say we go up there to help out. Don't you have a damn strike team taking care of Lynch or something?"
Baxter looked alarmed at her sudden vehemence. "Epps, intervention!" he squeaked out, struggling briefly in her grip. Alexis growled again and pulled him back down to her level.
"Sorry man, I'm just a technical sergeant. She's a captain, so she could technically order me around a bit," Epps said, backing off with his hands up in surrender.
"But you trained in the Air Force Combat Control!" Baxter said, struggling to get out of her grip, which she tightened in response to the struggling.
"She still outranks me," Epps pointed out. "Plus, she actually flies something while I'm part of the ground spec ops program." He turned to Alexis and said, "Let him go captain. We'll go, disable the batteries, and then get back onto our original mission 'kay?"
Alexis turned to answer, releasing Baxter, but a loud boom shook the building again. They looked to see a F-22 limping away from the aerial battleground, a thin trail of smoke following it. Alexis keyed in Starscream and said, "I'm guessing I don't have to warn you about that."
"No, but then again, Aliskevicz doesn't need the warning either," Starscream replied, sounding extremely amused. "What the slag is the crazy femme doing? She's coming back for another round!" he suddenly said, sounding slightly stunned. It sounded as though he had expected humans to heed the natural lesson of trial by error.
"Epps! Help me find a staircase. We're getting up there now before Ari does something stupid!" Alexis snapped, pulling Baxter along behind her by the collar. He let out a yelp of surprise and then she released him. She broke into a sprint, Epps and the other three close behind.
Twice, they ran into enemy squads that had been setting up ambushes. Alexis wasn't sure who had been surprised more, the squads or them. Either way, they weren't a problem. One squad immediately scattered to create confusion while the second squad tried to attack them right there and then. The first squad was spared, the second was not. Epps led the charge up several staircases, and then they were forced to slow down and resume the normal slowed pace they had taken earlier in the mission.
The reason for this was that they accidentally surprised one of their own squads. They charged around a corner, and Baxter had smacked heads with another soldier by accident. Weapons were drawn and ready until the leader of the squad recognized Epps as one of their own.
"She should be wearing headgear of some kind," the leader observed, his helmet obscuring his face completely. The leader turned to Epps and added in a disapproving manner, "As should you all."
"Sorry s… um, yeah we should," Epps said, Alexis glanced at him when he seemingly dropped the 'sir' that usually went along with a response like that. She backed away from the group however when four more helmeted soldiers appeared to join the first four. This had to be the strike team going in after Lynch… except that there were two missing. Alexis privately assumed that they had already seen their fair share of casualties then.
"Hey, there are anti-aircraft artillery up there… guess the squadron wasn't much of a big surprise then," Epps began carefully.
The leader swore viciously in English and in what sounded like Spanish. The three soldiers surrounding the leader jumped away from the leader as though burned, and Epps backed away a little, pushing Alexis back gently. "All right, we need to rethink things through… where are you going?" the leader demanded.
"To take out the batteries," Epps replied, suspecting that there was going to be a change in objectives. "Then we were going to continue to help you guys."
His gut feeling was correct. "Change in plans," the leader announced. The leader turned to them and said, "Get the pilot a helmet, and use your own headgear… I don't care how uncomfortable they are. That is an order."
"With all due respect, the four-oh-first pilots are on their own. With Starscream in the ranks, they shouldn't have a problem," Baxter cut in, bracing for the series of explosions that rocked the place at the moment.
"Starscream would care more for a group of soldiers that followed him under their own will, not a group who have no choice to follow him and plan to return to their real commander once this is over. He wants to direct his soldiers his way, not ours," the leader snapped. The leader paused as though to add something, but evidently decided not to.
The nearest soldier tossed Alexis a helmet, saying, "Here you go ma'am." He inclined his head and said, "Nice job negotiating by the way."
Before Alexis could properly react to that statement, a sonic scream echoed in the sky up above. Over the headset, Starscream let loose a roar of fury and… pain. The powerful and intimidating Decepticon was in pain. Even when he was injured when Alexis first met him, Starscream had not betrayed any indication of pain. Something had gone terribly wrong.
"Epps! We have to go now!" she shouted, interrupting the discussion between Epps and the strike team leader. Epps nodded grimly, saluted to the leader, and then gestured for her to put the helmet on.
Alexis slipped the helmet on, and then began making her way towards the stairs, Epps right next to her. The strike team waited for all five fighters to be gone before continuing on their route. The leader didn't want anyone outside of the immediate group to know which direction the team was going in.
A few floors later, Alexis finally found the entrance to the where the helicopter landing pad should have been located. Epps gestured for her to stand back, and Bronson had the honor of blowing the trapdoor to bits.
As they climbed onto the roof however, Alexis witnessed as two of the jets crash-landed, one going off to the side of the barracks building, the other taking a dive into the place where the courtyard was located. Her gut twisted in horror as the other fourteen jets scattered, no doubt rethinking the attack plan. She pulled the mouthpiece to the headset and yelled, "Screamer! Focus on strafing the building away from the batteries! We'll take care of that!"
Starscream didn't answer; the batteries seemed to be providing just the challenge he had been itching for during the last couple of weeks. "Who crashed?" Alexis demanded, bringing her weapon up to bear as the first couple of defenders began to charge them. She stopped trying to get his attention… she didn't want to cause the fatal slip in his attention.
It seemed ridiculous, the five of them trying to take out forty plus soldiers that were defending the heavy artillery. Ironically enough, to Alexis it seemed that the only weapon efficient enough to take out the batteries was missile barrage from either Starscream or another F-22. But the batteries were the one thing that the pilots were always trained to avoid so they would lower the risks of being shot out of the sky, a piece of training that two pilots either forgot or ignored.
Another round from the nearest battery was aimed for the one specific jet that was circling the weaponry like a massive bird of prey. The nearest weapon was also the most heavily guarded. When it fired, Alexis saw it hit the F-22 in the belly and while it did not bring the jet down, it prompted another shriek of fury from it. Starscream was going to have to readjust his speeds and maneuvers if he expected to survive this.
Sabot rounds. Lynch was prepared after all, and not as stupid as everyone thought.
"We need to get to that one," Alexis said, grateful for the helmet as a few rounds from the enemy came too close to her head.
"Which one?" Epps asked, rolling behind Baxter so he could reload his gun in peace.
"I think she means the one with the sabot rounds. I think the little lady may be the only one who likes having Screamer around," Max said, winking at Alexis to show that he was teasing. "Now enough chitchat. Game on."
Communication ceased between them all as three F-22s came swooping in for another attempt at removing the batteries. The pilots were smart enough to leave just as the long barrels were turned towards them, but then more pilots came in while the others were retreating, creating an attack at all times from all sides.
"We can't do this… we need another plan," Alexis murmured to herself as she dropped to the ground to avoid another barrage from the repeating rifles. The enemy were holding their lines as the five of them slowly advanced. She froze instinctively as an enemy soldier appeared right in front of her, ready to knock her out for good.
Pchowww!
The man howled and ran backwards, clinging his arm. Alexis didn't understand what had just happened when Ari of all people jumped over Alexis and continued firing at the man with what appeared to be a stolen weapon. "Get up!" she shouted at Alexis, who scrambled to her feet to help her friend.
"What happened?" Alexis asked, keeping an eye on her friend's back as the pair of them charged ahead of Epps and the other three men.
"I had to do emergency evac when these giant suckers smashed up my wing. I don't know what my jet landed in, it was either a weed patch or an old garden I don't know," Ari said, kneeling and opening fire on the enemy soldiers. "I'm also pissed off at Stryker, so these losers will have to do as substitutes since I can't really kill him." Ari was still wearing her flight helmet. It had to be stifling for her.
"We're trying to get to that battery right there," Alexis said, indicating quickly with her rifle. "Once that goes out, then we're all set. The others will be easy."
"On it captain!" Ari replied cheerfully as she ducked to avoid two bullets. "Cover me please," she added as she stopped firing. Alexis quickly got in front of her friend, wondering what the hell Ari was doing now. A few clicks and thunks later, Ari said, "All good. Stay in front of me and we're in business."
"What are you doing?" Alexis shouted while trying to remain focused on the soldiers ahead.
"Crawling. I'm going to jump up and surprise them. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Now stay crouched, and walk forward. Careful; you're my cover," Ari directed.
Alexis decided not to question her friend's motives but instead continued to fire while beginning to walk ahead as directed. She did not go far however, the firepower was intensifying the closer she got to them. She was finally forced to stop; it was now at the point where the rainclouds were partially disguising the enemy soldiers, and Alexis did not want to wait for the gunfire to determine their location.
The sudden appearance of a faint shadow was her first warning. Ari's bloodcurdling scream was her second warning. The sudden stop of the gunfire was the third and final warning that something momentous had happened.
"Oh my God Alexis what the hell is that?" Ari screamed, jumping a good three and a half feet away from Alexis as though she had been suddenly burned. "It's a giant fucking robot! Tyler was actually telling the bloody truth after all!! Alien!" she yelled, tripping over herself in her fevered attempt to get farther away from Starscream.
Starscream landed in robotic form right behind Alexis, creating a loud crashing sound to echo and a few large cracks to appear in the rooftop. Alexis took advantage of the distraction to fire at the target and managed to shoot the partially concealed fuel cells, igniting the gasoline and causing the whole contraption to blow to the heavens. Soldiers went flying into the air, and the others either scattered or reinforced their front lines. Snarling, Starscream's hands morphed into his favorite cannon, which prompted a few more humans to run for cover. A few humans just stood where they were, wondering if he was going to shoot them or the other anti-aircraft batteries. Soon, the only sound in the area was the whirring of gears as Starscream stretched to his full height, and aimed the cannon at a downward angle. He fired, and several soldiers screamed, assuming that it was aimed for them. In reality however, the blast cut through steel supports underneath three of the batteries, and the entire side finally collapsed in towards the courtyard, leaving a large hole in its wake.
Alexis opened fire just as the other men did. Starscream had lost his interest in playing with the humans however and used the cannon to give a similar treatment to the two perpendicular sides. Explosions thundered throughout the area as each battery fell and blew upon contact with the ground. Alexis's face was thankfully shielded from the blasts of hot air by her helmet.
The stress from the years of disuse, abuse from Starscream's cannons, and the stress from supporting Starscream's massive weight was too much for the fourth side, the side that most of the soldiers were on. With a loud groan of ripping metal, the entire side dipped forward to add to the carnage already within the buried courtyard. Cement and metal plating went flying as the entire roof was pitched forward. To further add to the damage, a loud rumble and explosion were heard as Barricade finally penetrated through the front wall. Ranks and orderly lines were immediately abandoned as people scurried around to avoid getting hit or buried.
Alexis knew they were in trouble when her own feet slipped and she fell down, sliding with the rest of the damaged roof. Starscream transformed back into his jet form and took to the skies, and arced around to attempt to pick her up before she was swallowed up by the wreck. Alexis however tucked into a ball, covered her neck, and bit back a scream as she finally tumbled over. Faintly, she heard an ear-splitting shriek of dismay as Starscream pulled back before the latest round of surprise sabot weapons could hit his underbelly.
It was quiet in her world for a few minutes after the last few bits of wreckage finished falling, and she honestly wondered if she'd died. Then she figured she wouldn't be conscious thinking about this sort of thing if she really was dead. Her arm was wracked with pain, while she had lost feeling in one leg. Using what energy she had left, she pushed off a few bits of wreckage that had landed on her. Slowly she moved both arms to pry the helmet off, a task complicated by the fact that she was sure that her arm was broken since it wasn't cooperating with her. Coughing, she tossed the helmet off to the side, carefully propped herself up and tried to listen for any other signs of life.
Swearing was the dominant sound that reached her ears a few moments later, and she knew that at least there were survivors. The foul smell of burning wood and heated metal reached her face, and she wrinkled her nose in disgust. A rustling nearby caught her attention, and she smiled tiredly as Ari's head popped up from a pile of wood. Her friend looked thoroughly traumatized, although whether the trauma from the fall or seeing Starscream for the first time Alexis didn't know.
"It… is… definitely… time… for… leave… after… this," Ari wheezed out as she began working her body out of the wreckage. She stopped, looking around while panting. She blinked and muttered, "Whoo, head rush." She finally spotted Alexis, and said, "You okay captain?"
"I've been better," Alexis said, smiling slightly in an attempt to lift their spirits. "You?"
With complete seriousness, Ari said, "Lexi, you're getting involved with a giant robot."
Alexis nodded. "That occurred to me a while ago," she said in a similar tone.
Ari nodded back. "So, can we court martial him for endangering the life of the commanding officer?" she asked casually. She frowned, and then suddenly grinned broadly. She turned back to Alexis and said in a singsong voice, "Oooh Stryker is going to be wicked jealous when he hears about this. I so cannot wait to find him and tell him about this."
Alexis pretended to think about Ari's earlier question. "I don't know if the giant robot would fit in a courtroom," she replied.
Ari rolled her eyes, and then looked down momentarily. "You should try stand-up comedy; you're a laugh riot." Her eyes went wide and then without looking away, she said, "Lexi?"
"What?"
"You're… bleeding wicked bad. This isn't your average paper cut we're talking about either," Ari said slowly, still staring at Alexis's gut.
Now that the adrenaline was dying down, Alexis was beginning to feel the little aches and pains… including the fire in her side. She looked down on her right side and saw only a river of red leaking out before she jerked her head up to face Ari in horror. Ari's terror-stricken face was the last thing Alexis saw before blackness swarmed her vision and she passed out completely.
While the first fire had been stifled on the rooftops, another sort of problem was going on down several floors and off to one side of the aged courtyard. Samara hadn't stopped running since the man who'd freed her had been shot in the back. Her coughing and difficulty breathing slowed her down even more. She wished more than ever that her mother was there, wished that she had just called for her mother when Mister Lynch had taken her forcefully from her bedroom that night.
She didn't believe the man who had freed her when he said that there was a doctor ready to help her. Mister Lynch said that she was going to be on a TV show, and her rescuer never showed up. Mister Lynch never even let her go outside for a walk or go wait at home until it was her part. She didn't trust anyone anymore.
"There she is!"
Samara tried to pick up the pace when she heard the voices of her guards behind her. They had scared her the entire time she'd stayed here, and she didn't want anything more to do with them. It didn't help that she didn't know where she was going either, just picking hallways at random and taking staircases when she saw them. Her vague plan was to just get outside and hide into the bushes until someone came for her or she deemed it safe enough to go home.
A series of explosions from somewhere in the base knocked her to her knees. Although her pursuers stumbled as well, they recovered faster than she did. The closest grabbed her nightgown collar and hauled her up onto his shoulder before she could fight back.
She felt bad about how she had reacted. Her mother always told her that kicking someone while screaming was not how presidents' daughters behaved. But Samara was tired and wanted to go home, and most certainly did not want to be picked up this way. So she screamed and cried at the top of her lungs, all while kicking her captor in the chest and beating her fists into his back. The captor cried out in pain but did not let her go. He howled when she dug her fingernails into his back and pulled on his shirt in anger.
"Take her take her she's killing me!" the man howled at his companions. One brave soul stepped forward to pry the girl off the first man's shoulder. His mistake was placing his hand on her mouth to muffle the screams. When she was younger, Samara had been bitten by the guinea pig owned by the family next door, and her mother had explained that the animal reacted that way because it didn't want to be held. Samara sank her little teeth into the part of the man's hand that she could easily reach. While not enough to do serious damage, it was enough for both men to drop her in surprise. She wasted no time in escaping.
The uninjured man contacted Lynch via shortwave radio while his companions nursed their injured selves and egos. "Sir, we had her, but we lost her," the agent said, not bothering with greetings. "What are your orders?"
"Just kill the brat," came the curt response. The man signed off and gestured for his companions to follow the girl.
Meanwhile, one floor down, Rose Connelly continued scouring the empty living quarters with a flashlight for any signs of the hostage. Sergeant Wilson had failed to arrive at the rendezvous point with the girl at the appointed time, so it was up to her now to find the elusive eight-year old. Ratchet was one floor down, running multiple scans of the area while Bumblebee remained on guard, keeping watch for any more humans wishing to use the Autobots as escape vehicles.
She tensed momentarily when she heard screaming on the floor above her, accompanied by male yelling. Then there was a thump followed by rapid footsteps, and more shouting. She suspected that it could potentially be the girl and her captors.
The rapid footsteps faded for a few minutes, but Rose picked up on the sound of small feet on the staircase at the end of the hall. She looked up in time to see Samara come around the corner, scared beyond reason. There were streaks on her face from when she'd been crying, and her nightgown had a few tears in it. Samara came to a dead stop when she saw Rose.
"Where is she?" a loud voice thundered from above.
"Come on, it's safe. I promise I won't hurt you," Rose said encouragingly, kneeling down so that she could be at eye level with Samara.
"Pinky swear?" the girl asked cautiously.
"Pinky swear," Rose confirmed, and then braced herself as Samara barreled right into her, already sniffling again. The hug would have to be cut short, for Rose could hear the thundering footsteps of Samara's pursuers as they too headed down the stairs. "Sam?" she asked, using the shortened version of Samara's name to get the girl's attention. "We're going to play a quick game all right? The object of the game is to be as quiet as you possibly can okay?"
Samara nodded, already trying to stifle any further crying. The reason Rose proposed the game was because she knew there was no way she could get to Ratchet without being caught or spotted by the enemy soldiers. Instead she led Samara into an old room, and the two of them ducked behind a couch that had been covered long years ago.
"Okay, in order to win, you have to be quiet no matter what," Rose whispered, brushing Samara's sweaty bangs back from her face, and let Samara get closer to her for the sense of safety that all children wanted at this age.
Rose however remained alert, and listened to the loud noises the men were making. They were stomping around, wondering aloud how one little girl could've vanished into thin air. As the voices drew nearer to their hiding spot, Rose tensed, reaching for the firearm by her side. As much as she would hate to use it in close quarters, she would be willing to do so as long it meant that they could both survive this upcoming altercation.
"Hey, hey you. Who are you and what are you doing?" one of the men asked suddenly, someone catching their eye. "Hey buddy, this is a restricted level. Take your damn car and get…"
"Idiot! That's one of them Autobots! Get him!" the man's companion snarled. There was the sound of running feet and then the companion shouted, "Ernie, you find the kid while we chase the scout down!"
There was a scuffling sound, and a man, Ernie, wandered in with a flashlight. He waved it about the place, looking for them all the while muttering about how much he hated his job and the wage.
Rose waited until Ernie was closer, and then stuck her shin out from the hiding place as Ernie wandered by. Ernie tripped over her leg and smacked his face into an unseen piece of furniture, swearing viciously the entire time. Rose used this distraction to escape the hiding place on the other side and make a run for the door. Samara was quiet the entire time, although Rose could hear the girl trying to muffle her squeaks of terror. As soon as they left the room, Rose turned and barred the door with a crowbar that happened to be lying on the ground nearby.
When they got out into the hallway, it was already something of a mess. Broken wood lay everywhere, and one of the men was limping away from the battleground to save what dignity he had left before suffering the humiliation of surrender. Bumblebee was in his robotic mode, weapons whirring dangerously as the third man uneasily hefted his rifle. The man couldn't decide if it was really worth the third shot, because he knew that Ernie had failed and was out of commission and his other partner was throwing in the towel already. The third man was by himself, and facing a giant robot wasn't really on his list of favorite things to do.
"Um… um… take me to your leader?" he asked, raising his hands up as though to shrug. He carefully placed the rifle down and put his hands behind his head. His partner caught on, joined him, and copied his position.
"We surrender," the second man grumbled. "We surrender as long as we don't have to take care of that damn little girl anymore." He peeked up nervously at Bumblebee and repeated his friend's statement, "Take us to your leader?"
"Trust me, we will do so," Ratchet snapped, pulling up alongside Bumblebee in his Hummer form. "But the child has top priorities."
"You're kidding right?" one of the men asked, watching jealously as Rose ushered Samara towards the Hummer. "You're actually making that little kid more important than us?"
"Do you want an answer to that?" Ratchet snapped crossly, and the two men promptly shut their mouths.
As Rose walked to the Hummer with Samara, Bumblebee folded down into his Camaro form and Ratchet instructed the prisoners to get in and behave. She checked her watch. The face read 10:05 a.m. They all had one hour and fifty-five minutes to finish all this and clean up the battleground before Keller arrived back to the Pentagon.
She helped Samara into the back of the Hummer, shut the two doors, and then pulled out the green bottle from where it had been in its cold and insulated case. Tobias said that this had been the girl's medicine, and Rose now had an idea on who exactly had stolen it and how. Samara lay down on the stretcher in the back and closed her eyes to rest. Despite the fact that Samara was no longer paying attention, Rose kept her back to the patient as she pulled on a pair of latex gloves, opened the packaging to the syringe, and drew the serum into the syringe. According to Samara's medical files, she had an extreme fear of needles… despite the fact she got them frequently.
Rose braced herself as Ratchet began to move again. Bumblebee had freed Ernie, picked him up, and was now escorting the prisoners and Ratchet out of the facility. She could still hear Ratchet grumbling to himself a little about the cramped moving space and the intelligence levels of some humans. Carefully, she knelt down, and pushed Samara's sleeve up. Ratchet seemed to have an idea of what she was doing, because he slowed down and stopped long enough for Rose to inject the medication into Samara's veins. He started up again, and Rose disposed of the used medical equipment. Then she sat down by Samara to keep her company throughout the rest of the trip out of the battered facility.
While Ratchet was in a good mood and on his way out of the old barracks, Ironhide was in a bad mood and was going into the barracks. He had transformed into his alt mode a while ago, and was making good time to the command center, Optimus right behind him. The floors of the facility were surprisingly strong enough to handle a GMC truck and an eighteen wheeler. It came as a surprise to the Autobots because they were already well aware of the damage Starscream had wreaked in the center of the building, at what the humans called a 'courtyard', and Optimus had assumed that the floors would be too old to handle heavy duty vehicles.
Actually, it was humans who were aggravating Ironhide at the moment, not the structure. The homo sapiens evolutionary process was obviously a slow one, seeing that despite the fact the Autobots were overcoming the difficulties with the sabot rounds, the humans kept swarming for another offensive. They just kept coming back to slow the pair down. Ironhide remembered the last time this happening was when the humans targeted Bumblebee underneath the bridge during the race for the Witwicky glasses. He was determined not to fall into a similar situation.
"I hope we're almost there… I don't like this battleground very much," Ironhide privately grumbled to his superior. "It's too… enclosed."
"Patience Ironhide. If the human's diagrams and schematics are to be believed, then we are almost to our destination," Optimus reminded him in a soothing tone. The human who had supplied the 'floor plans' of the barracks had been kind enough to mark out a route that involved no staircases or elevators to get to the command center, where the leader of the group causing the shenanigan here was supposedly hiding out.
The latest sabot round nearly struck a vulnerable point near the underbelly of Ironhide's alt mode. This somewhat snapped what little of Ironhide's patience was left. Before Optimus could stop him, Ironhide swiftly transformed into his natural form, pulled out half of his arsenal, and aimed it all at the humans, letting them a get a good look at what exactly they were up against.
Finally a rational reaction. Half of them turned and ran, and the other half planted themselves more firmly on the ground to retaliate. Thankfully for them, they didn't know that Ironhide was merely threatening them and would never open fire against them. Instead, the giant Autobot stretched to his full height, aimed, and fired forward, shattering what was left of the front wall behind the foolish humans.
This seemed to be some sort of hidden signal to the humans. They began to retreat, shouting orders to each other. Irritatingly enough, they continued to fire at the Autobots, and Ironhide interpreted that as an invitation to chase them out of the barracks… especially since Optimus didn't get a chance to deliver the orders to hold back.
The humans had stopped firing, and had turned around to run fast in attempt to escape the enraged weapons specialist. Only when Ironhide and Optimus slowed down to give up the chase did they start firing at them again, getting Ironhide riled up again.
"Look out!" someone screamed, and the humans scattered to the safety at the walls as a police cruiser came to a screeching halt, almost colliding with Ironhide. With the screeching of tires the cruiser pulled a one-eighty to right itself, a tricky maneuver in tight quarters. Then Barricade led the chase while Optimus slowed down to take an alternative route.
It occurred to the human leader of this particular pack that they now had two, provoked, aliens keeping pace with the chase. Despite the suicidal nature of the decision, the man persisted in the run. There was too much riding on this run. The situation with the anti-aircraft batteries was still in the air; while the batteries had been taken out, soldiers from both sides had either fallen into the chasm opened up by the infamous Starscream or were retreating to nurse battle injuries. The victor had yet to be declared on that front. The boss had lost the bargaining chip, but supposedly had mustered up a backup plan that was supposed to pick up the broken pieces of the Sector Seven front. All the man had to do right now was stay just out of reach of the Transformers and get to his destination.
"Look out!"
Again, humans dove to the side to avoid the massive eighteen-wheeler cab that had appeared out of nowhere in front of them. Barricade jerked to the right to avoid a collision and continued the chase while Ironhide slowed down enough so Optimus could turn around and catch up. A few more sabot rounds from the humans was enough to get the two Autobots to hurry and catch up in the pursuit.
Ironhide kept Barricade within visual range, but was puzzled when the cruiser rounded the corner and came to a screeching stop. The smell of burned rubber filled the air as Optimus began to slow down to avoid a massive collision at the end, and Ironhide too came to a sudden stop when he rounded the corner. He saw immediately why Barricade had stopped, and wasn't sure what to think.
This couldn't be good.
On the same floor and a short walk away, the strike team continued making their way to the back door of the barracks, where the leader suspected that Lynch was planning to make his escape. All the careful planning, all the minute details had been a waste of time. The anti-aircraft batteries had been the first wrench to be thrown into the works of the operation, then the reported failure of the sniper team targeting Captain Preston just to antagonize and distract Starscream had been the second wrench. The third wrench had been the sudden lack of communication between the different teams. The strike team leader wasn't sure if there was enough operation left for a fourth wrench, but the leader was bracing for it anyway.
The leader checked the watch. It was now 11:00 a.m., one hour before the completion deadline.
The leader stopped at an intersection, but the second-in-command gestured straight ahead, so they continued on. The hall was short, but the leader strode purposefully to the door at the end. Without pausing, the leader pulled out the small handgun and fired the lock off the door, and then kicked it open.
The door led to a cavernous room with a domed concrete ceiling. An observation deck wound the entire circumference of the ceiling's base. There were several doors leading off, but the leader focused on Ross Lynch, who stood directly across the room from them. Lynch unfortunately seemed confident of something, a small smile on his face and a knowing sparkle in his eyes.
Pchowww!
The leader turned on the heel in surprise to find the last sniper on the strike team pitched forward onto the ground, blood leaking from the fatal injury onto the ground. The leader whirled again and found the enemy sniper at Lynch's side, and then the leader scowled, the expression hidden by the helmet. So there had been enough operation for a fourth wrench after all… and a fifth, once the leader focused on what lay between the strike team and Lynch himself.
Fourteen US Army soldiers were tied up in pairs while blindfolded, each pair positioned in a back-to-back formation. Sector Seven soldiers were guarding the fourteen men, as well as the five vehicles that were silently waiting for further instruction. Rose Connelly was also under guard, but was apparently perceived as a minor threat because she had only one guard and she was holding Samara's shoulders in a reassuring way. To the leader, Ironhide seemed miffed that the humans had tricked him into walking right into the trap. Then, for the Transformers, agents were wielding large weapons, and the leader could see the words, 'CAUTION: UNSTABLE NITRO' stenciled on one of the sides of the weapon.
The room was so silent that one could hear a pin drop.
Lynch was the first to speak. "So," he said, walking forward. "Why don't you save us all the trouble and surrender now, and then your volunteer army can go home safely? Your F-22 captain is dead, your double-agent is dead, everyone in here will be dead if you do not comply, and I will kill you slowly, so what's the point of continuing this madness?"
The leader allowed the second-in-command to speak. "The point is that this is your second chance to negotiate," the second-in-command said, his harsh voice clear from the helmet.
Lynch laughed. "A bold claim from someone who stands to lose everything from manpower to the battle itself," he said, still laughing slightly at the prospect.
The second-in-command hesitated, receiving the new set of orders via helmet links. "Then let them all go. This quarrel is between you and us, not them," he said, copying the prepared statements word for word.
Lynch snorted. "On the contrary, they became involved the moment they agreed to sign on and participate," he snapped. "As for quarrels, every single person I ever had a quarrel with is dead now. The Air Force Brigadier general is dead, the chief of staff is dead, my old friend and new enemy is dead, and the Oroville leaks are dead as well. Who is going to stop me?"
"What do you even want?" the second-in-command asked, wondering if he had lost something in interpretation when Lynch's initial objectives had been spelled out for the president.
"Sector Seven. Those damned Autobots. Don't you see? They brought their war to Earth during a time of peace, wrecking everything we've ever worked for," Lynch snarled. "Simmons was too timid to bring it all this far."
There were a few polite coughs from strike team members at the mention of the words 'a time of peace'. The leader said nothing; wrench number six had just been added to the mix. "Yeah, I'm sure the guys from Mission City and Qatar and the Autobots think that this is a time of peace too," the second-in-command muttered into the communications link. Aloud, he said, "You don't realize that the D-cons could probably care less about the Autobots at this point, especially since we're a weaker and more appealing target." He glanced at his superior, who was still quietly seething at the fact that for once, right when Simmons's guilt counted, Simmons was in fact innocent of all the charges.
"I can see that negotiating is out of the question," the second-in-command finally said slowly, realizing that Lynch did indeed hold all the cards this time around. The second-in-command looked at the leader to see what the leader would do. Everyone did.
The leader scanned the area. They all had forty-five minutes to salvage the operation and win. The leader connected to another soldier in the strike team and quietly ordered, "Summon the wild card."
The response was troubling. "I already tried. Wild card decided to be stubborn and refuses to accept orders from anyone but the captain, who is out of commission," the soldier reported. "Something about an agreement they had."
"What now?" the second-in-command asked via private link.
The leader said nothing. Instead, the leader took the personal weapons and threw them down onto the ground in a gesture of surrender, and then gave the hand signals for the others to obey and copy the leader. Speaking for the first time since earlier that morning, the leader coolly stated, "How about an exchange?"
"Who do you have that I could possibly want?" Lynch asked suspiciously.
"Access codes into the Pentagon. Think about it. You could erase any mention of Sector Seven, and then all you have to do is regroup and then you're back in business. On top of that, you could get Simmons reinstated, and even have the entire American military at your disposal. You know the Autobots wouldn't kill humans, and there are only two Decepticons to worry about. You can use the military to essentially permanently deal with those pesky Autobots for good," the leader said, ignoring the shocked looks from the soldiers and Connelly. They were the Autobot allies, and therefore would not appreciate the leader for allowing Sector Seven to regroup and begin harassing the Autobots.
"Tempting. How do I know you're not going to tattle?" Lynch asked.
"Why would I want to throw you in prison right away when I can just have the fun of trying to recapture you?" the leader asked conversationally. "At least let the medical team go with the girl and the Camaro… we rightfully won that round."
Reluctantly, Lynch signaled to the guard, who saluted and backed away from Ratchet and Bumblebee. Rose ushered Samara back into Ratchet, even though the eight-year old was watching the scene with wide and frightened eyes. Both vehicles left through a door that had been hidden up until that point.
At the same time, a strike team soldier walked forward with an envelope. "The first half of the necessary passwords and procedures are written in there," the leader said, relaxing marginally as fragments of another plan came to mind.
"What about the second half?" Lynch asked suspiciously.
The leader inclined the head towards Lynch and said, "That will cost the release of fourteen Army soldiers, two Autobots and one Decepticon."
From where he was sitting with the bound hostages, Captain Lennox started shaking his head. The leader was being stupid, exchanging valuable information for their lives. Information that would endanger the Autobots and destroy everything that Lennox, Sam Witwicky, Mikaela Banes, Maggie Madsen, Glen Whitmann, John Keller and many others had worked for in establishing peaceful relations with the aliens. His protest went unheeded as the many guards hauled the soldiers up and escorted them and the remaining Autobots out as a strike team member walked forward with the other half of the information. Apparently unrestricted access to the Pentagon network was more appealing to Lynch than keeping Autobots and humans prisoner.
The leader waited until the door was closed before giving the sharp hand gesture.
Only Lynch's bodyguards saw it coming. The strike team either pulled small firearms out or swiftly picked up the weaponry that had been placed on the ground. The second-in-command picked up the fallen sniper's rifle and quickly faded into the background. The sounds of staccato gunfire filled the domed room almost immediately, albeit briefly. The leader, who had been running low on time and patience, cut to the chase and simply targeted and killed the two bodyguards that had been flanking Lynch. Lynch meanwhile turned and began to run for the exit with the envelopes while the remaining ten soldiers opened fire on the strike team.
Captain Henry Crowley did not focus the crosshairs on Lynch himself, but more rather the exit. The second that Lynch was in the center of the scope, the captain pulled the trigger, sending the paralysis toxin straight into the back of Lynch's thigh.
Lynch howled in pain, which distracted soldiers on both side for a few moments. Then Crowley used a normal gun to fire a shot straight into a support, which threatened the stability of the observation decks as well as the aim of the soldiers who were up on it. Then he picked up the sniper rifle once again, and shot the second toxin dart into Lynch's arm because the man was struggling to escape. Crowley muttered something profane about the sheer determination of the guy before using a normal gun to target the other arm and leg, seeing that Lynch was still trying to escape.
Seeing their leader being shot was having a demoralizing effect on the survivors. Gunfire ceased as soldiers slowly surrendered one by one. The strike team spread out and quietly but effectively rounded up both the seven prisoners and the three dead.
Ross Lynch was unceremoniously hauled to the leader of the strike team. Two strike team members propped him onto his knees so that he wasn't completely on the ground, but he wasn't at the leader's eye level as the person's equal.
"You… you devious son of a bitch!" Lynch screamed at the leader in fury. "I can't believe I actually fell for that!"
"I can," Crowley said, pulling his helmet off and grinning at Lynch. "Long time no see, eh Ross? I think your employment with Sector Seven has gotten to your head a bit. You still thought Wilson was your buddy remember?"
"Sorry Lynch, but paybacks can be a real bitch," the leader said calmly.
"I don't even know you!"
Crowley and Tobias Jackson, who had pulled his helmet off, flanked the leader. "I would think, that you would remember an assassination target," the leader said coldly, undoing the clasps of the helmet and pulling it off.
Lynch's gut twisted so badly that he thought he would throw up right there as Antonia Stanton's ice blue eyes seared right through him. Her blond hair was in messy ponytail, and he could see a faint scar line running down the side of her face. To make a long story short, she looked very angry.
"But… the agent…" Lynch began.
"Is dead," Stanton snarled. "Turns out he was a poor shot with poor reflexes."
Lynch floundered for names, thinking for his backup plans. "Agent 25…" he began, a nasty threat forming in his mind.
"Is still behind bars as he always has been for the last couple of days," Stanton interrupted. "Crowley can be quite a good mimic when he puts his mind to it. Oh, and if you're wondering, Thayer is also still alive; we just made that poisoning story up so you would have something to gloat about." She feigned a sympathetic smile and said, "I'm sure that you and 'Agent 25' will have a lot to talk about when you're in prison together; you're going in for a long time, especially after this."
"Wait!" Lynch yelled as his guards began to haul him away and Stanton turned to leave. She paused and turned to look back at him. "How did you know all about this?" he asked.
Stanton smiled, and said, "My good friend Tobias has a major character flaw, and it's that he has this awful habit of eavesdropping on certain private conversations between officials. Then he can't seem to keep quiet about it when we're discussing current events."
Lynch struggled against his guards – or at least he would if he could move. What wasn't numbed was still burning painfully. Tobias Jackson was the newest addition to the hit list now.
"One more thing Lynch. I can shorten your sentence a bit if you truthfully answer this question," Stanton said, looking at him again. "Are you familiar with a Sector Seven agent named Craig Donaldson?" When Lynch reluctantly nodded, she asked, "Do you know where he currently is?"
"No." Lynch growled out.
Stanton nodded slowly, and then ordered, "Take him away." Then she gestured for Crowley to follow her. She walked over to the fallen sniper and bent down to take the feet while Crowley took the arms. The strike team herded the prisoners out of the facility while Stanton and Crowley carried the fallen comrade back around to the front of the facility, where survivors were gathering and taking silent head counts and such.
The atmosphere was quiet. The dead cannot speak, and the living had no energy to muster for speech. Stanton ignored the quiet whispers from the 401st pilots as they realized who they were seeing, and she and Crowley reverently laid down the sniper in the line of fallen. Then she walked over to where the pilots were resting. Arianna was lying down on a white blanket, muttering to herself that giant robots didn't exist and that she had been seeing things in the thick of combat. Jay Perkins was fixing a temporary bandage on Marty's arm while Lewis huddled against John Parker. The four 318th pilots who had been standing in for Tyler, Riley, Alexis, and Tobias were talking quietly amongst themselves, standing up when they saw her approaching. She gestured that they sit back down, and they obeyed. Farther along, she found Andrew holding an ice pack to his head, burns decorating his exposed arm. She felt guilty for not anticipating the anti-aircraft batteries; if they had known or even suspected, she would have tried to prepare for the possibility. Marcia was huddled against her cousin Maxwell, a feisty young man who served in the army just to maintain variety in the Williams family. Jackson LeMarone, Andrew's flight partner, was attached to a small machine for assisted breathing, but Stanton privately suspected that Jackson was not going to survive much longer, considering the massive amount of blood that had amassed since he was placed there. Walking on, she finally found Alexis Preston lying still on a stretcher on the ground, her entire torso wrapped tightly in white bandages. Starscream's hologram was sitting cross-legged by Preston's head, and he cast the general a suspicious and angry look at her approach. Stanton studiously ignored him, and instead checked Preston's pulse. While weak, it was still there.
"Ma'am?"
She turned and walked away from the 401st survivors towards where Crowley was standing, Lennox at his side. "I told you captain that I would never betray the Autobots," she said simply.
Lennox scowled. "That sort of stunt you pulled was nerve wracking, but… thank you for getting us released," he said, rubbing his neck in exhaustion. He turned to Crowley and said, "If you will excuse me, I have a wife and daughter to get home to."
"Did you get the headcount tally in?" Crowley asked as Lennox began to walk away.
"Yeah. If I remember correctly, everyone is present and accounted for. The list has everyone," Lennox said before heading back to his men.
Crowley checked his watch. "Time is eleven forty-five. We have fifteen minutes to clear out," he told Stanton calmly.
She shook her head. "We actually have a little longer; Keller's plane gets in around noon, he has to drive from the Air Force base he lands in to either the Pentagon or his house. If it's the Pentagon, he'll get the email we sent him, and it will probably be twelve thirty by then. If he goes to his house, he'll probably check his email there or refuse to do any more work today," she said, adjusting her gloves so that they in a more comfortable position on her hands. "Either way I want everyone to be out of here by twelve fifteen, just in case."
"I'll tell the med teams to start packing up and getting the injured and dead out of here. Then we need to do something to clean up this mess," Crowley said, turning slightly and eyeing the destroyed barracks. "I suppose we could just tell Keller and the other bigwigs in Washington that we were using it for target practice."
"They won't fall for it, especially when they decide to carry out an 'official investigation', or at least their version of it," Stanton disagreed, following Crowley back to the mobile medical units. "It's better if we blow the place completely. According to the head of each team, all people, friendly or otherwise, have been cleared out of the area. There is no point in trying to salvage the command center; Lynch probably erased all the data there."
Crowley nodded absently as he scanned the area and found the four Autobots on one side of the resting area and Barricade near Starscream near the 401st survivors. "Everyone in the squadron okay?" he asked, turning back to the general.
Stanton shook her head. "LeMarone is possibly dead, Preston is in serious critical condition, and Aliskevicz will probably need psychological therapy after this. I think she saw Starscream in the midst of combat, which is decidedly not the best time to encounter a giant robot," she said, adjusting her path to walk towards the small fleet of vehicles that had arrived during the conflict. "It was a good thing that we did not permit Banes or Witwicky to participate in this; they're just young adults and even the battle hardened soldiers had difficulty today."
Crowley just grunted. He didn't like teenagers very much, at least not after his two nieces and nephew scratched his car and repainted over the damage with cheap poster paint. "Now about that pesky Italian…" he began.
"He has immunity here in DC captain. Sorry, but once we're back in the southwest, you can go back to hating and chasing him," Stanton interrupted. "Now, go tell the rest of the strike team to get the few packs of dynamite we brought along and place it all in the weak and/or the stress points of the structure. It should just collapse in on itself after the initial explosion."
"Don't want to keep the evidence?"
Stanton narrowed her eyes but said calmly, "No. I want it all destroyed as though it never existed." With that, she walked up to the nearby Toyota and leaned on the passenger door so she could survey the scene before her.
The word that departure was soon had spread through the massive makeshift camp like a figurative wildfire, and already the various medical teams were packing up and preparing patients for transport. Two 'borrowed' coach buses were waiting to escort the soldiers back to Andrews; they couldn't risk using army jeeps and vans which would only attract unwanted attention. The jets that were still flyable were powering up, and the Autobots finally folded down into their alt modes. Optimus was willing to pull the trailer to carry the soldiers too weary to operate smaller vehicles. The president's daughter was escorted to one of the vehicles that would take her straight to the White House, and Stanton herself had selected the driver so she trusted that it would arrive to the presidential residence without problem.
At high noon they were all ready to move out. The medical vehicles went first in the convoy, led by Ratchet back to the medical facility at Andrews. The main bulk of prisoners and other soldiers went next. Stanton didn't plan on keeping the prisoners; she was going to release all except the leaders of the resistance. She wanted to see Lynch behind bars, and was determined to get him in there for life if possible.
The strike team went last in the three cars left. "Do you want to do the honors?" Crowley asked cautiously, offering the small device that would detonate the strategically-placed dynamite and blow the facility sky-high. Crowley wasn't sure how the general would react to such a simple question, but considering what they had all gone through, any type of reaction was possible.
"You may," Stanton said, calmly declining the detonator. Crowley nodded, and then pressed the red button. They all heard a faint rumble, and then a loud booom echoed throughout the area as the entire facility blew, sending debris flying everywhere. Just as Stanton had predicted, the facility then collapsed on itself into a burning inferno. "Someone will probably see the smoke, report the fire, and then the fire crews will put it out," Stanton said, opening the passenger car door of the Toyota she had been leaning against. "We'll send a driver over in two hours just to check."
"Hope we don't have a raging forest fire by then," Crowley muttered as he got into the driver's side. Three engines roared to life, and then the last three cars left the vicinity while all the evidence of what had happened in the past four hours burned away to nothing but mere innocent ash.
Crowley was quiet, and Stanton leaned her head against the window. Crowley finally broke the silence by saying, "They found Tom when we were running for Lynch."
Stanton turned her head to look at him to indicate her interest.
Crowley hesitated, thinking of the most diplomatic way to phrase it, and then said, "His condition is still unknown." With those last words, he focused back on the road and drove the rest of the way to Andrews Air Force base in silence.
Behind them, thick black smoke from the barracks curled up into the cloudy skies, burning away all traces of the battle… as though it had never happened.
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A/N: Wow, that was intense to write. I hope those battle scenes were all right for everybody. Okay, the story on my end is that I have extremely restricted Internet access. In other words, it's right in my reach, but I don't have the passwords or anything to access it (it's driving me crazy really). So basically, the next update for Air Force One will be on July 24th 2009. One more thing too before I go; I regret to bring it up but we are nearing the end of the story. So something to think about would be if you readers wanted to see a sequel or not. You don't have to let me know until the last chapter or so. It's just something to keep in mind. :-)