AN: So, something very bad happened. I went to put all my files into a new computer and some of them vanished for whatever reason. One of those files was the doc that had the rest of the chapters outlined. I had to redo all of that stuff. I hope you all don't hate me for keeping you waiting :c
Chapter 31:
We finally had a normal morning, for once. It was a relief after the shitshow that was yesterday. It took a few hours for the generators to start. I guess we're gonna be stuck here for a little while. Lockdown said it would be at least another day before the engines are recalibrated and ready to go. It could've always been worse, I suppose. The blizzard eventually quit during the night, luckily. We immediately got a call from the Col. as soon as it quit. He had another mission for us.
During the downtime, I could finish my shawl, finally. I decided I wanted to do a star stitch, it took up a lot of yarn, but the outcome looked fabulous. I did a simple half-double stitch in white for a trim. I was thrilled to bits when it was finished. It could probably go with just about anything I wore. It being all black was a good idea. I wouldn't be out there looking like a clown, for once. Once again, I digress.
We arrived at the airfield nice and early. Extremely early. I don't think the Col. was even awake, yet. I took the time to get a good shower and get cleaned up. I sure as Hell needed it. I took extra caution to lock the door and keep an ear out just in case any further 'assassination' attempts were made. I still can't believe that. Believe it or not, Lockdown didn't press me any further for any details. It's like he forgot it happened in the first place. Maybe he didn't believe me, or maybe he just didn't care enough. It's not like this guy was someone we see every day.
I tried my best to put the thought of my mind. I really did. I couldn't help to glance at the lock, every once in a while. When I finished up and dressed, I was sure to try my new shawl on. It was cute. Nice and warm, too. I took a moment to inspect it in the mirror, a little. I noticed a few spots where I messed up the stitch, but it's not like anyone would ever look close enough to notice. Dark yarns are hard to work with, sometimes. Especially with complicated stitches.
The airfield was quiet this morning. It was not even the break of dawn, yet. Morning darkness has a much different atmosphere than any other time of the day. So spooky but calm. The lights along the airstrip were covered in a thick layer of snow and faintly glowing from beneath. The crew must have given up shoveling it off of the airstrip, I suppose. This was more than a fucking foot of snow. The Sgt. didn't know what the hell he was talking about.
I glanced around a little and found that Lockdown was M.I.A. I have no idea where he could be off to. Cause trouble of some sort? I hope not. When the Col. called last night, he told us things were getting weird in the harbor area, again. He didn't tell us exactly what it was. Could it be the Autobots? I'm hoping they're staying hidden as they should. I keep having this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something is about to happen. I don't know what it could be, or if it's good or bad even. All I know is that whenever I think too hard about these things, I get this weird feeling.
At a time like this, I don't know what to do. I've been trying my best to save them - but all I've done is screw them over. Topspin and friends, I mean. If it wasn't for me, they probably wouldn't have been caught. Topspin wouldn't be locked up in a cell. I've thought about him a lot, lately. I don't know what to do for him, at this point.
"Vega?"
I looked up. A man with a grey scarf around his neck and a long trenchcoat was approaching me. It was Sirius. I tilted my head. I didn't expect anyone else to be up this early.
"What are you doing up?" He asked me.
"What are you doing up?" I replied.
"I asked you first," He cocked his head a little. Like he was trying to intimidate me or something, but at the same time, he seemed almost inviting.
I scratched my head. "The Col. had an assignment for us. Lockdown wanted to be here early,"
"Ah, nice,"
"How did things go, yesterday?"
Sirius groaned. "The Col. was pissed. Back in Alaska, they thought something happened to me. It's crazy to think nobody notices I was gone, sooner,"
"You didn't tell him about what Lockdown did, did you?"
"I held my tongue. Craziest shit to have happened to me, and I've seen a lot when I worked at N.E.S.T and all…" His voice trailed off.
That caught me off guard. "Huh?"
Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, I pulled the necklace from under my shawl.
"Do you know anything about this?" I asked him.
He leaned in close to take a better look. "Never seen it before in my life," He said. "What is it?"
"The gemstone has a piece of the All-Spark in it," I began. "A friend who worked at N.E.S.T gave it to me before-..."
"Before…?"
I sucked my teeth. A strong gust of wind blew by. It whipped up the snow through the air and I could feel it hitting against my flushed skin.
I was contemplating whether it was a good idea to tell him about Marina. "If I tell you, you can't tell anyone else," I said in a hushed voice.
"As long as you don't tell anyone else I was with N.E.S.T," He replied.
I nodded. I explained just about everything to him. Marina's fate, the necklace's power, even a sliver of the dreams. He seemed trustworthy enough. After all, he kept his mouth shut about Lockdown trying to kill him. I guess it was the first time he was hearing all of this. There were points where he didn't seem all too convinced with what I was saying. I assure him it was all the truth, though. At least to my knowledge. During my explanation, he stopped me.
"Now that I think of it…" He began. I noticed the end of his scarf became untucked and it was fluttering as the wind blew. "I think there was a girl who worked closely with the Prime's- the big guys and all."
"That's right-"
"I didn't know anything about her. I can't remember her name, even,"
"Her name was Marina,"
"Marina… it sounds familiar…"
"What do you mean?"
He stopped for a moment to retuck the end of his scarf. He was looking up and down my body, for a moment. Then he spoke. "Well, different squads were assigned to work with different bots. The number of units per bot varied based on how stable each one was," His eyes were shifting around as he was thinking. "I worked with a few of them, it took a lot of people to keep these guys in check. We would spend all day pacifying them, and then some bitch would come when we weren't looking let them off base-"
"Are you talking about the Wreckers?!"
He looked shocked when I said this. "How did you-..."
"Well," I sighed. "Did they tell you anything about what happened in Alaska?"
"I haven't heard anything,"
"The reason they sent us was to catch them," I began. I noticed his expression became a little bit fearful. "Two escaped. We only have one on base with us."
He became less tense. "Who's here?"
"It's Topspin,"
"He's the least likely to terrorize anyone,"
"Yeah, I've found out,"
I figured I shouldn't say anything else. He may have worked for N.E.S.T and known a few bots, but I don't feel safe giving him the full story.
"Anyway," I tucked the necklace away. The sun was inching its way over the horizon. Lockdown was still nowhere to be found. "Why are you up so early?
"Same reason you are, actually," Sirius chuckled. "The Col. wanted me to go with you,"
"You got up this early at your own volition?"
"It's not like I sleep, anyway. Sleep is for the weak," The wind was picking up, again. Sirius' hair was blowing into his face. He brushed it away from his eyes. Suddenly he froze.
He was staring at something behind me. I heard a series of rumbles draw closer. I knew what it was. I turned around to have a look. It was Lockdown, surprise surprise.
Lockdown looked like he had absolutely nothing on his mind. His expression was empty and his optics were hollow. Kinda like when you're laying in bed, completely thoughtless. You roll over and you find you're not staring out the window, you're staring at it. The lights were on, but nobody's home. He may not have recharged properly, or something. After a moment of silence, he spoke.
"What is he doing here?" Lockdown said flatly.
Sirius and I exchanged glances. He looked like he had something to say, but he was too afraid to do so.
"He's coming with us to the harbor," I spoke.
Lockdown closed his optics for a second and then reopened them. He looked like a kicked puppy.
"Lockdown, it's alright, Sirius didn't tell the Col.," I assured him. He raised a brow at me. He wasn't expecting to hear that. He was probably expecting the Col. to come out here and begin bitching him out or even worse.
The sun was coming up, now and the darkness was disappearing. The Col. would show up soon, I hope. Sirius and I spent a little more time chatting. He asked about the shawl and I went on a lengthy tangent about types of yarns and stitches and things. Mundane things. He listened quite intently, however. Lockdown seemed to be listening, as well.
Sirius reached out his hand and took the end of the shawl into his hand. He was feeling the texture of the yarn, it seems.
"It's like the kind of things my mother used to make," He said. I didn't think a man like him would be interested at all in this kind of stuff. Thus far, he's the only one to have asked about it.
I caught sight of the Col. coming our way. He was back to having only one eye. He had an eyepatch covering the left one.
"Morning, fellas" He greeted us.
"Howdy," I said. The other two didn't say anything. I scratched my head.
"Well," The Col. began. "We're having more strange activity in the city-"
"You told us that," Lockdown interrupted. "We've been there twice now, are we going to deal with the problem, or let it persist?"
Lockdown wasn't fucking around, today. The Col. looked a little taken aback.
"Listen-"
"The time I'll spend going there is time I could spend pinpointing Prime's location. I don't have much time to waste, at a time like this,"
"Hold on, that's what I'm getting to…-"
Lockdown crossed his arms.
"Now, don't worry about Prime, right now, we know how we're going to go about this. Right now, what you need to do is eliminate a threat in the city,"
Lockdown didn't seem to be on board. Those bots aren't his target.
"While you were gone, we did a quick sweep-through of the city," The Col. was moving his hands around quite a bit as he was talking. "We picked up extremely high Energon ratings around certain parts. It's forming a familiar pattern. We're almost certain they're about to move out of that area and we need to do something fast."
"What do you mean by 'move out'?" I asked.
"Vega, think back to when we first sent you out," The Col. spoke. "I told you guys it was an AAH, and 'Autobot Activity Hotspot' for a while now. With these hotspots, they all join up and then eventually leave. For the longest time, no one knew why they did this-,"
"But they move in accordance with Prime," Lockdown interrupted.
"He's been near…-"
"This whole time," Lockdown said with a nod.
"We don't have much time," The Col. added. "The Sgt. left last night. I'm sending Müller with you two because he knows what's up."
He knows what's up…
With that, we headed out. It wasn't easy getting into the city. The roads were backed up all to hell. Why anyone else was out in the conditions was beyond me. Lockdown's alt. mode certainly wasn't made for ice. Not in the slightest. It was a pretty stressful ride on the highway. Lockdown already just barely obeys traffic laws, as is. The last thing we needed was sheets of ice on the road to go with it.
Lockdown never hesitates to cut people off. Cars, giant fucking trucks. He doesn't care. I honestly thought we were going to die on multiple occasions. We were fortunate to make it there in one piece. The city was practically empty, aside from the few kids that were out and about playing in the snow. We drove by the outlets and they were pretty barren. The streets that were usually bustling were quiet. Coated in snow. We didn't get dropped off there, today, however.
According to Lockdown, there had been activity around the outskirts and the lesser populated parts. Weirdly enough there was a massive casino, here. How it stays in business, I don't know. That was set to be our rendezvous spot, later. How later? I'm not sure. He didn't say before he disappeared off into the city after leaving us there. Sirius and I once again exchanged glances. I never know where Lockdown crawls off to whenever we're left to patrol the city.
I took my bag off my shoulder and dropped it to the ground. "Have you ever done this before?" I asked him as I crouched down and opened up the bag.
"Once," He replied. He crouched as well.
The Col. gave us a bit of equipment to help us out. I dug it out of my bag and took a look. A transmitter and an Energon detector like last time- but there were two items I didn't recognize off the bat. One of them looked to be a metallic arm or something. I took a good look at it for a moment and then realized my hand could fit inside. I slipped it over my left hand. Upon further inspection, I realized that there were buttons along the wrist. It almost looked like a Powerglove or something. Like the curious little bean I am, I pressed a button. Suddenly, a bunch of red beams erupted from my fingertips. I quickly turned to see what they hit. The beams made contact with a trashcan to my right. The beams began scanning it. In seconds, the screen began displaying all kinds of data. What the trash can was made of, what was inside, what sort of elements were present, etc, etc.
"What the fuck?" I exclaimed.
Sirius was examining the Energon detector, at the moment. When he heard me speak, he looked up.
"Oh, Vega," He dropped the detector and began to pull the device off my arm. "Let me handle this one."
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's a Composite Analyser," He slid the device over his hand. "It fires lasers, also, it can absolutely kill you."
"Oh,"
Sirius reached over and picked up a small metal box. That box was a radar, it looked like. I peeked over at it for a better look. It was blipping with all sorts of things. Perhaps picking up metals? While he was working those, I guess I'd be working the detector and transmitter. After situating everything, we set off. I flicked on the Energon detector and it immediately began giving off readings. This was not good. One of them had to be nearby. My only hope is that whoever it is, is on their way out. In the not-so-distance, I could see a poorly-plowed backroad and fields that tapered into snow-dusted trees.
The sidewalks were coated in salt. The way it cracked under my heels was grating. It was beginning to give me a headache, after a while. I got that weird feeling in my stomach, again. I need to find those Autobots and warn them fast. By the looks of it, Sirius had no intention of splitting off with me. I shivered slightly in the bitter cold. Even all bundled up like this, it was pretty unbearable. The view was alright, though. There were a lot of skyscrapers here.
They had those reflective windows on them. The sun was reflecting off of them pretty harshly, but it wasn't enough to melt the ice that coated them, just yet. It was still fairly early. The sun had just risen. I took a look at the detector. The number hadn't changed. For a moment, I thought it was because of the Energon that's rubbed off on me, but I noticed it was higher than usual. I didn't know what to think about this. Whoever was around must have been here for very a long time. I sighed and clutched the detector to my chest.
Sirius had a look on his face, again. He wanted to say something.
"You okay?" I asked him, breaking the silence.
"Oh," He seemed caught off guard. "Yeah, I'm alright."
"You worked with the Autobots, huh?"
"That's right," He seemed uneasy.
"Do you hate them, now, too,?"
He turned to look at me. We made eye contact and it felt like a dagger had cut through me. There's definitely something he wanted to say, but I don't think he's going to.
I halted and he did as well. "You can tell me," I whispered.
He stepped closer to me and glanced around a little. "They should've left here, sooner," He whispered back. He turned around and began walking once more.
I caught up to him and tugged the sleeve of his coat. "Can you promise me something?"
"Hm?"
"If we see them, we can't tell anyone,"
He yanked his arm away from me. "Now, why would I promise you that?"
"It's just that-"
"That's treason, Vega,"
"Keep your voice down!" The two of us stopped again. "Answer my question; do you really hate them?"
Sirius is very expressive. I could tell just by the look on his face what his answer was and how he was feeling.
"You and I are playing for the same team then, right?"
He looked away.
"Listen to me," I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Do you remember the dreams I told you about and how weird they got?"
He cocked his head.
"I can't explain why, right now, but I truly believe Sentinel's spirit was messing with my dreams and for whatever reason, he wanted me to save them."
"Why would you ever listen to Sentinel?"
I looked down and sighed. That's a good point. Then, I remembered the alternate future.
"In one of the dreams, I touched the necklace and I saw something," I untucked the necklaces from my shawl, again. I fidgeted with the jewel, a little. "A different timeline where none of this happened. It was peaceful. Maybe he saw this future, too, and realized…-"
He looked at me like I was crazy. Maybe I am.
"I believe I'm apart of some sort of chain, or something. Fate is really weird. All I know is that if break this chain, something awful is going to happen,"
I don't think he was following, but he seemed to understand how I felt. He nodded as a silent agreement. We continued on our way after that. As the morning progressed, it became slightly warmer. The streets were slathered in a grey-brown slush, and every so often an odd car or two would drive by. It was at the same moment the street lamps had shut off that I noticed something was strange. I couldn't tell you what, exactly. Something felt odd. The feeling only lasted for a moment.
I peeked at the Energon detector. My stomach twisted in knots when I realized the reading had gone up a little. I wasn't going to say anything about it, though. I clutched it back to my chest. I was on edge, now. Not because of the sudden oddness that just occurred, but because I told someone what I've been up to. Treason. The word stuck out to me. What an intimidating word.
I felt a buzz erupt from my bag and I screamed like an idiot. It startled the fuck out of me. I unzipped the bag and dug through it. It was the transmitter. I felt like a dumbass.
"Oh!" I exclaimed. There was a notification on the screen. "The Sgt. is trying to contact us!" I remember distinctly what he told me, 'top button for Sgt., bottom button for Lockdown'.
I pressed the top button and it didn't take long to get a response.
"Hey. Can you hear me alright?" The Sgt. spoke.
"Yeah, we can hear you fine!" I replied.
"Did you make it to the city?"
"We're by the outskirts. I heard you guys have been here all night,"
"It's been uneventful- who's with you?"
"Sirius came along with us,"
"Seriously? He just got back and the Col. is already working him?"
"Guess so," I mumbled. Sirius looked at me and shrugged.
"Anyway, word of advice for you- the equipment is practically worthless, right now," He said this so casually.
"What?"
"There is an ungodly amount of Energon along the outskirts. Really, it's no use. Not in this area, at least,"
"Ah," I guess the Energon levels are masking them. "Is that all you called for?"
"Pretty much. Just wanted to make sure you were here, finally, too,"
"I see,"
"Remember to reach the casino at seven, if we haven't found anything. That's where we'll reconfigure our plan,"
"Seven? At night?"
"Mhm, see you then,"
"Lord…"
The transmission ended. That's almost twelve hours from now. I threw my head back and sighed. Twelve hours in the cold. I guess things could always be worse. Just for safe measures, we kept the detector on and threw it back in the bag We weren't sure where we were headed, but all we could do was mosey around. In this time we spent walking, I did learn a few things about him.
He's twenty-nine. Probably the youngest person apart of the crew I've met thus far. He was going to school for marine biology, years ago, before he got wrapped up in all of this. It's when we noticed the harbor just over the horizon that this came up. Marine biology is interesting. I've had a lot of beach memories lately. It happens a lot this time of year, but it's been especially frequent the past few months.
He told me a story from when he was a teenager. He was finally going on a date for the first time, and the girl he went with wanted to go to the aquarium. That's where he discovered his passion for sea life. He spent all his time captivated by the fish and not paying any attention to the girl he was with. You know what the say, 'fishes before bitches'. It was mandatory that I had to ask him what his favorite marine creature is. He really likes otters. In his opinion, they're the cutest of all water-dwellers.
He went on a long monologue about otters, which I found very amusing. Otters are related to ferrets and weasels, which I never thought about. In the southern seas, otters can get up to four feet long. They're much bigger than I imagined. I guess the walking wasn't all that bad. Many hours had passed while we were shooting the breeze. It was getting dark, now. I could see Sirius fiddling with the Powerglove-looking thing from the corner of my eye. I'm not sure what he was doing with it.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Seeing if I can recalibrate this…" He replied.
He was mashing buttons, it looked like. It was pointed right at me. I stepped back a few inches. If what he said about the lasers was true, I didn't wanna be caught in the crossfire. We had stopped in a relatively plain-looking area. I begin hearing a faint beeping. A few cars parked here and there. It was a little run-down. There were no houses, only shitty offices, and other things. I guess if he does destroy something, it wouldn't be too detrimental. The forest was close, here. That backroad I saw before ran right through it.
Faster than you could say 'Third-degree burns', A few red beams burst from Sirius' fingertips and 'wooshed' passed my face.
"Oh shit," Sirius exclaimed dryly.
I turned to see what the beams had hit. They hit a parking garage and I watched the crimson light comb over the building as it scanned over it. It took a hot second for it to finish. I took out my phone. It was almost nearing six-o-clock. We should probably be heading back, now. I opened my mouth to say something, but Sirius beat me to the punch.
"Oh shit," He repeated gravely.
I looked up. He looked disturbed. "Something wrong?"
"There's Energon readings in that garage,"
"It's probably just-" I halted completely.
The beeping. The fucking beeping.
I quickly dug into my bag. The detector was going off. Didn't the Sgt. say this thing was worthless in a situation like this? Sirius was right, though. Something just might be in that garage. The two of us swapped looks. I think we were both at a loss for words.
"We need to call the Sgt.," Sirius said as he reached for my bag.
I caught his hand. "We can't!"
"The fuck you mean we can't?" He snapped.
"I told you! This is an Autobot!"
"Vega, if they find out about this, they're going to put us to death!"
"They won't know anything! If we can go in there and warn whoever it is-"
"What if they want to kill us?"
I rubbed my temple. "If they attack, we'll call for help,"
He didn't say anything.
"I promise it's going to be fine,"
He was reluctant to trust me. I can't say I blame him, however. We had to be fast before anyone else detected them. At the same time, we don't want to startle whoever's in there. This could be a new bot for all we knew. Hell, this could be a Decepticon. There was only one way to find out. I led Sirius across the street and explained what we had to do. We had to be quiet and we had to be quick. At the entrance, there was a booth, but no one inside. The gate was left open. We entered the first floor, and it was totally empty.
It was still lit inside, although dim. The parking spaces were badly outlined. The paint was very dull. The pavement was cracked. It clearly isn't used very often. It looks like an ideal spot for a fugitive to be hiding. I ran in and I crouched down and looked over the garage. I wanted to be sure no one else was here. I motioned for Sirius to follow.
He ran to me and crouched down beside me. "This feels like some Metal Gear Solid shit…" He whispered.
I chuckled. "We don't have time to waste, let's keep moving,"
Chances are, whoever is in there has to be sensing me coming. They aren't fearful or aggressive, as far as I know. God knows the last thing I need right now is a Decepticon busting through the wall. After we made sure the coast was clear, we headed to the ramp to the next floor. As I got closer, I heard something from the upper level.
"Huh?" A faint voice. Then suddenly, it sounded like something was moving.
I made mt way up the ramp. When I reached the top, I crouched down again and got a good look at the bot, who was kneeling. I recognized him. His silver was distinct. It was Sideswipe. I took a moment to take cover behind a pillar and peeked out from behind it. I wanted to get his attention, but I didn't want to scare him. I couldn't think of what to say or do. He was looking around for something. That was until he happened to notice me and his optics became wide.
"It's you," He spoke.
"Hey, listen-!"
Before I could finish, Sirius sprinted up the ramp past me. "Sideswipe!" He exclaimed.
"You know him?" I asked.
Sirius didn't acknowledge me. "You need to get out of here!"
The bot looked confused.
I jumped up. "Lockdown is coming after you! You have to escape, now! I added.
Sideswipe shook his head. "I can't do that," He replied calmly. "Not without Ratchet."
Sirius and quickly I exchanged looks yet again.
"Lockdown is-" I was speaking quickly, but then I was cut off by the bot.
"I'm well aware," He said. "We were meant to meet up, but I haven't seen a single sign of him."
I began to sweat a little. Surely Ratchet hasn't been caught, has he? It can't be safe for him to be out. My headache was worsening. That beeping was driving me crazy.
Before I could do anything about it, the detector was yanked out of my arms by Sirius. "Vega, you know this thing sends off a signal if it goes off long enough, right?!" He was rushing to find the switch to shut it off. My heart stopped. He shut the device off and tossed it aside.
"Vega, they're going to find out!" He shouted. He turned to Sideswipe. "You need to get out of here!"
"Sirius," I spoke up. "He's not going to leave without Ratchet."
"He can't stay here, though," He was talking fast.
"I need you to do something, for me. You need to leave, too," I unlatched my necklace and grabbed his wrist. I carefully lowered it into his palm. "Take this and get as far away as possible. If anyone asks, it was to keep the shard safe."
I felt dumbfounded for a moment. The fact I'm letting this thing go.
"Please," I pleaded. "Lockdown can detect the energy signal. As long as it's with you, it'll throw him off course."
He gripped the necklace in his fist. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying I'm going help these guys get out of here,"
"Are you crazy?!"
I scratched my head. "Just go, alright?"
He thought about it for a moment. Then he nodded. He turned around and spirited down the ramp, his coat fluttering behind him as he did so. I could hear the sounds of his footsteps echoing and trailing off.
"Let's get to the roof and figure out where to go from there, we don't have a lot of time," I said.
Sideswipe was reluctant, but he agreed. He jammed his blade into the ground and pulled himself up. He reached down and picked me up and placed me on his shoulder.
"Hold on, okay?" With that, as if he were wearing roller blades, he skated his way to the next ramp, taking us to the third level. We sped through this level and quickly made it to the rooftop. I couldn't see as much as I was hoping, from up here. I did catch sight of Sirius running off. I thought about what Sideswipe said. It's probably a good idea to find Ratchet before leaving the city.
"I think we should get to higher ground," I said.
"Think so?"
"It'll make us harder to spot,"
"That's debatable…"
"It's better than using the roads, though,"
"I guess you're right,"
Sideswipe looked around, for a moment. He noticed a rooftop to our left and he crouched down slightly, and then took off. I held on to his shoulder and yelped as we were speeding towards the ledge. He so effortlessly hopped to the other rooftop. I was scared but impressed. I never thought I'd be hopping rooftops with a robot.
"Any ideas where he could be?" I asked the silver bot.
Sideswipe took a good look over the city. He was in deep thought for a moment.
"Not a clue," He answered.
"Do you think he's still in the sea cave?"
"Sea cave?"
"At the harbor, remember?"
"That's right!"
Sideswipe didn't waste any time continuing to hop from rooftop to rooftop. He was leaving tire tracks in the snow as we went. That made me a little nervous. The streets in this part of the city were still so empty. We were headed for the harbor area, now. I was holding out hope it was still as dead there as it was, earlier. As we drew closer and closer, the outskirts were becoming farther and farther. I could see the snow-coated beach from here.
In an instant, I heard a high pitched screech and I watched as five projectiles launched in the air above us. Sideswipe scampered back and fell flat on his back, knocking me off in the process. I went face-first into the snow. When I looked up, I noticed the projectiles were falling back down toward us. I didn't have time to think before I was snatched up in Sideswipe's fist as he quickly jumped up and narrowly escaped them. It happened so fast I couldn't even yelp. Sideswipe collected himself in no time and hopped to the next rooftop. As we were in the air, I caught sight of Lockdown.
His optics met with mine, and he growled loudly. I don't think Sideswipe even noticed him as we were going by. I turned around to see the ebony mech had dug his hook into the side of a building and he was climbing up, now.
"This isn't good..." I mumbled.
"What do you see?" He asked.
"Lockdown,"
"Shit," Sideswipe growled. He began searching for taller, more spaced apart buildings. It would be risky, but it was our only chance of escape. Sideswipe reached these rooftops with grace. He seemed to have been made for stuff like this. Lockdown? Not so much.
He didn't give up, though. The buildings were getting taller and taller. Lockdown had no trouble scaling them with his hook in hand. Finally, he caught up with us. We were left with a standoff on top of a skyscraper. Sideswipe was fast, however. He turned around to glance at the mech towering over him. In an instant, he spun around and was only inches away from the ledge. That's when a hook flew past my head and locked around Sideswipe's neck. He was yanked back with a huge force. He hit the rooftop with a loud 'thud' I was extremely fortunate he didn't lose his grip on me, mid-air.
When he let me go, I rolled over to see Lockdown was swinging the hook on a chain. He tossed it in the air before catching it.
"None of you are ever smart enough to leave her, are you?" He growled. "When you snatch her up, do you know where that brings me?"
Sideswipe didn't say anything.
"Right to you,"
How, though? I didn't even have the necklace, now.
Sideswipe detached one of his swords and spiked it toward the mech at an incredible speed. Lockdown didn't see this coming. The sword lodged itself deep into his shoulder, but Lockdown didn't even whimper. Without hesitation, he yanked the blade out and winced, slightly. Sideswipe jumped up and Lockdown was quick enough this time to parry his attack with the blade he now had. I hid my face for most of the fight. Being stuck hundreds of feet in the air with two fighting robots who can crush you wasn't my cup of tea.
The sounds of the swords clanging were deafening. I was hoping they would just forget I existed, for a minute. I heard a cannon begin to charge. I tensed up and whimpered before I separated my fingers to peek. Lockdown had some sort of cannon pointed at Sideswipe. Suddenly, the silver bot jumped up and tackled his arm, trying to knock the weapon out of his hands. Something was about to go horribly wrong.
"VEGA!" I heard Lockdown roar.
That's when I realized the cannon was pointing down and in my general direction. I could see a ball of light forming the inside of the barrel. Sideswipe realized this, a little too late. Before he could stop, the cannon fired. It blew a massive hole through the rooftop. The building began to violently tremble. The building was going to collapse and I was going to die. I rolled over and caught a glimpse of Lockdown grappling Sideswipe and tossing him clean off the building. He turned to look at me, but before he could do anything, the ground beneath me cracked and I fell through.