Chapter 56

"Mom!" Pockets shouted.

Gears pulled Critter close to her, covering him with her body as the entire cafeteria trembled and shook. The tables and chairs rattled on the tile. Cannons fired outside, smoke filtered in through the open doors.

"Mom!" he tried again. Gears tore her eyes away from the doorway to fix on him when his hand wrapped around her arm. Jo was crouched beside him, dark blue eyes wide. Her loose blonde hair fell in her face. Rex was kneeling on Pockets' other side, his expression unusually serious. His brown eyes scanned around the room, searching.

"We need to mo-" Pockets cut himself off as the west wall suddenly folded inwards like a sheet of paper, tearing through the center. The oldest of her sons somehow managed to drag all five of them out of the way as a familiar tattooed jet tumbled through. A thunderous snarl left the seekers throat as he slipped through his forms. Claws slammed into the floor, shattering the tile and the concrete beneath it.

"Go!" Jo ordered, shoving at the two older boys when Sideswipe and Sunstreaker crashed inside after Starscream, blades extended. Pockets was the first up, wrapping a hand around Rex's arm and hauling him up onto his feet. Gears started to stand but fell right back when the damn thing shot back up into the air, the blast from his exit knocking all of them back on their butts.

"Slag!" One of the twins snapped.

Gears finally got to her feet and lead her family out seconds before the rest of the building collapsed.

"What the hell!" Rex shouted, ducking and covering his head with an arm as Ironhide barreled past, "What the hell do we do!"

"Run like hell, that's what!" Pockets answered, taking Critter and pushing Gears along. Jo and Rex took up the rear as they ran, ducking and dodging their way across. Autobots and decepticons battled, great, metal titans that tore into each other almost mercilessly. The remaining, faithful soldiers of NEST scattered in the dirt, lifting their weapons to their shoulders and firing whenever they had a clear shot.

"Down!" one of the boys shouted, and each one dropped to the ground before they were decapitated by another seeker.

"Dammit, Dem, of all times to run off..." Gears whispered, "now had to be the day you went on your little adventure..."

"Over here!" Jo called, moving ahead of them. She was forced to pull back when a familiar autobot medic hit the ground ahead of them, blue optics flickering as a sharp whine left his body.

"Ratchet!" Gears cried, reaching for him.

"Mom, no!" Pockets grabbed her arm and hauled her back. The earth shook with the landing of the same seeker that had nearly taken their heads off only minutes before.

He cast down a wicked grin, sinking the claws of his foot into the downed mech's chest armor. He raised a hand to finish him, but pulled back and pushed back into the air when a low howl echoed across the base. Two more seekers, including Starscream, shot past, the third falling into formation beside them.

Gears watched them leave before she dropped down beside Ratchet and looked into his optics. They were dim, but still lit. She turned and shouted in Ironhide and Jazz's direction, "Get your shiny asses over here! He needs help, now!"

Please be okay, she thought desperately, scanning her eyes over the area as the two came rushing towards them. Aside from big yellow, all of the autobots, even the annoying triplet girls, were on their feet. Scraped and dented, but alive.

I hope Demona is having better luck than us...


I hate doing that crap to Ratchet, but he'll make it. Probably post one more update today if I can get around to it...

love the readers.

Demona and her family and the story belongs to me. Transformers does not.