Chapter 3: Creating Bonds Part 1
(Alternative Title: A Topsy Turvy Kind Of Day)
Peering into her cousin's room, Rachel stifled her urge to go 'aww' at seeing Rad curled up under his covers with his yellow plush toy and High Wire lying at the foot of the bed. The mini-con looked up when the door had opened, and Rachel put a finger to her lips and shushed him quietly. She gestured for him to follow her, but when he looked at Rad, the blonde only gestured more insistently.
High Wire sighed as he carefully got off the bed and followed Rachel out into the hall, only looking up at her when she closed the door softly. "Why can't I say goodbye?" he asked quietly.
Rachel bit her lip, and closed her eyes as she steeled herself to meet the mini-con's gaze, her voice kept equally low. "It's because it'll be better this way. Now, come on." She said and led the blue and gray bot to the kitchen hall. "I could probably sneak you out in a trench coat or-" she paused as she heard a small screech of metal beside her and she looked down sharply, but reeled back when she found herself staring at a replica of Rad's bike. "Or I could just wheel you out, I suppose." She muttered and opened the door. "You know, I wish you had told me you could do this yesterday."
"I had to spent the previous day in hiding, remember? Rad and that human male talked for what seemed like hours." High Wire beeped as Rachel wheeled him out of the apartment, and she took a moment to lock the door before continuing on toward the elevator through the brightly lit hall. "It's nice to see that the power has come back on."
"Yeah, I really don't like using the stairs." Rachel grumbled. She was glad as they entered the elevator that it was the weekend and the parents in the building with children were likely sleeping in, so their ride down to the lobby went uninterrupted, even if there was a smack to the elevator door after she'd just gotten in. 'Of course though, High Wire turning into Rad's bike just makes it easier to think of a cover story if someone does ask.' She thought as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. "So can the bigger robots-er, Autobots, I mean-transform too?"
"Yes, and we mini-cons can combine with them to give them power boosts." High Wire said quietly. There was a heavy silence as Rachel loaded him into the trunk of her car. "Why don't you really want me around?"
Rachel froze as she was about to close the lid. "It's…it's nothing against you, but I have to think of Rad. He's my responsibility, and we have no way of giving you anything to eat or if you can eat at that." She explained. Her brow furrowed as she stared at the bike suspiciously. "You've been oddly compliant though; why aren't you putting up more of a fight?"
"It's because of a servility program all mini-cons have. When I linked up with you and Rad, I found that it didn't activate like it had when I linked with one of the Autobots back on Cybertron." High Wire replied.
Rachel frowned. "You mean when you or other mini-cons link up with anyone, you have to obey them?"
"That's the short version." High Wire said. "It's not so bad if you get a good partner, but while the Decepticons just generally saw us as weapon extensions, I'm sad to admit that even some of the Autobots were like that."
Rachel now began to piece together just what High Wire hoped to accomplish with this compliancy. "If I got there and explain to them that I brought you back, they'll know that I formed a mental link with you," she paused and furrowed her brow once more, "but would they expect this servility program to even work with a human?"
"I can't be sure, but if they think it does, then I won't have to link with any of the Autobots this time. My old partner wasn't terrible or anything, but I like having a choice." High Wire explained.
Rachel sighed, her features creasing in worry as she used her other hand to smooth down her ponytail. Even if this was all just one big mistake, she didn't want him to be in a dangerous situation, but those big robots are after him. "You know what, you can sit in the backseat, but don't transform." She warned and moved the bike to the back of the car before rushing over to the trunk and closing it.
The blonde proceeded toward the driver side door, and she adjusted her mirror before starting up the car. "So, you've mentioned power boosts and being weapon extensions-it really sounds like these two factions don't like each other."
"They don't." High Wire said flatly. "All they ever wanted to use us for was to fight in their war. My species is old and their conflict is complicated. The short version though is this; a long time ago, war was just breaking out between the Autobots and Decepticons, and when we mini-cons showed up, well, you can guess where I'm going with this."
"Yeah." Rachel said softly, and stepped on the break as she came up to a stoplight. "How did you end up on earth then? And if Rad and I met you when we were young, why are the big robots just now getting here?"
"Even with our servility programming, we still have our minds, and we wanted to stop fighting. So taking what you might call a 'leap of faith', we trusted Optimus and his Autobots to help us get to safety." High Wire explained. "As I volunteered to be the one who went dormant last, I agreed to be installed with a homing signal if trouble arose. Unfortunately, when you pulled me out of the ground, I accidently let the programming activate and not only did it send out the homing beacon, but my programming was sent along to the other mini-con panels on this planet, thus activating their own signals."
Rachel let the information sink in. While High Wire didn't answer her other question, she felt that she really wouldn't like the answer; her faith in reason and logic had taken a heavy hit and she might just breakdown entirely if she was subjected to another mind-shattering revelation so soon.
When she glanced in her rear-view mirror after turning at the corner, she saw a blue and yellow car that looked like hers, only with deeply tinted windows. "Huh, guess my colors are more common than I thought." She said lightly, but squinted when she saw that it was signalling. Rolling her window down, she waved one hand outside and tried to gesture them off.
The action did nothing as the car only kept following and Rachel sighed as she put both hands back on the steering wheel. "Not my fault if they get pulled over by the cops." She grumbled. 'Or they get in trouble because they can't see through that tint.' Over the sound of the engine, she could hear an even louder one above her and peered up through the front windshield to see a sonic jet go streaking by high above the lane. "Wow, not many of those around here." She said, but flinched as the left-turn car behind her went screeching around her.
Rachel only shook her head as she made a turn on the intersection stoplight. She winced as she found the point of prolonged power outage; a construction team was clearing up part of the road where a fallen try had taken out the power line during yesterday's earthquake. Keeping to the orange traffic cones, Rachel drove down the block in silence before noting not to take this way again or she'd just depress herself further.
Even if she wasn't the cause, Rachel still felt like this whole thing was her fault too.
Rad opened his eyes, furrowing his brow as he thought he heard a door closing. His eyes widened as all thoughts of going back to sleep left him when he realized that he couldn't feel any extra weight at the foot of his bed.
The blond scrambled to chuck off his cover before racing out of his room and the front door, his legs aching as he rushed towards the elevator just as the doors closed. Rad slammed his fist onto the metal, his lips pressing tightly together as he couldn't believe Rachel would do something like this.
"…Rad?" Kero's voice rang out behind him worriedly. "What's wrong, Rad?"
Rad sighed shakily as he turned around, plucking Kero out of the air as he made his way back to the apartment. "Rachel took High Wire away; she didn't even let me say goodbye to him."
"Oh." As Kero didn't know High Wire at all, Rad didn't expect him to say anything else. The blond knew he barely had any knowledge of High Wire except what the mini-con told him, but he thought he'd at least have gotten a little more time to spend with him.
Rad grunted in reply as he closed the door behind him, absently noting to water the plat beside the door, and allowed Kero to perch himself on his shoulder. He morosely got out a bowl to put his cold cereal in, and glanced at Kero. "You want anything?"
"Got any of those cupcakes left?" Kero questioned excitedly.
Rad raised a brow, but he was too upset to ask. "Yeah, pretty sure." He said and set up his own breakfast before rummaging around in the refrigerator for the cupcakes. Once he retrieved one of the few chocolate ones left, as Marty had taken two before he'd left yesterday and now there were only three left, Rad sat down before handing Kero the treat.
The plushy vacated Rad's shoulder and plopped down on the table before he unceremoniously began to take quick, short bites out of the cupcake icing. Rad held off on eating as he watched the guardian in fascination; this was just as bizarre as yesterday. "Where does it all go?"
Kero licked his lips of the icing as he pulled the cover of the cupcake away. "I don't really need to eat. You see, my powers come from the sun; so just like it, I generate my own energy, but I certainly won't pass up a good dessert."
Rad hummed noncommittally before he began scooping up the cornflakes. He ate mechanically, his mind spent more time on the continued surrealistic situation. If Rad were not seeing Kero right now, and knew that that his downtrodden mood was the result of High Wire's departure, he would have thought yesterday were a dream. In fact, Rad had rushed out of his rom so fast he couldn't be sure Windy returning hadn't been a figment of his imagination. "Just so we're clear, Windy came back, right?"
Kero nodded. "Yeah, I spoke to her while you were sleeping, and she's sorry about the paper cut."
Rad glanced down at the Band-Aid still on his finger; like with the rest of the scratches, it didn't hurt anymore, but he wasn't so naïve to believe Rachel wouldn't still have him disinfecting his scraps and re-Band-Aiding them later. "They can talk?"
"It's complicated." Kero admitted. "Windy is the reason I could talk to them-for the most part. She's the link that lets us communicate with each other." He paused and grimaced. "Well, before they all flew the coup again."
Rad jolted in his seat, his eyes widening. "Again? When did this happen before?"
Kero shrugged. "While ago." He said vaguely, his eyes glancing around evasively at anywhere but Rad's demanding expression. "Look, there's no point in dwelling on the past; we both screwed up, and now we gotta fix it."
"Won't I be the one going out and capturing these cards?" Rad asked dryly; he'd just have to wheedle it out of Kero later about why he was so uneasy to talk about the past. 'It probably has something to do with 'Sakura', whatever that is.'
Kero rubbed the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly. "Well, if you wanna get technical about it that's true, but we're still a team, right?"
"Guess so." Rad said dubiously, but paused as another thought struck him. "How am I supposed to deal with the cards and not have Ray ask any questions? Wouldn't it be easier to just tell her?"
"Would she believe you?" Kero shot back. "She really doesn't seem like the type who would accept this."
Rad thought back to Rachel's little freak out over High Wire; he knew she hadn't completely flipped out because the stance on aliens was such a polarizing and complicated thing, plus she had always tried to be logical even if it took a while to accept it. 'I wonder if she did remember our meeting with High Wire and just repressed it.' He thought, but knew that magic would be the no go. "I guess so, she doesn't even like magic tricks because she can't explain it."
Kero rolled his eyes. "And alien mechas are so easy to explain."
Rad furrowed his brow. "You keep using that word."
The guardian grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, lived in Japan for a while and I picked it up."
"Oh." Rad frowned as his mind right back to High Wire, and whatever good mood he thought he was having plummeted again. "So," he grasped desperately for something else to focus on, "how am I supposed to find these cards? They could be anywhere."
"Actually, since they're so mad, I'm pretty sure it's just gonna be in the town area." Kero said, his expression scrunching up. "They've got a real bone to pick, being rejected isn't a nice feeling."
"Are you talking about me?"
Kero blinked. "What? Of course not, you're not to blame for their anger; they certainly won't like you, but just like Windy I'm sure they'll give you a chance-hopefully."
"That's not really reassuring." Rad said nervously.
"Well, I really do think you've got the potential to be someone great though." Kero said earnestly.
Rad smiled slightly as he finished up his breakfast. Nerves were still jittery, but he hoped he could at least find it in himself to believe that too.
Hearing his friend descend into a hacking fit, Fred winced in sympathy. "You sound worse than yesterday."
"I hate my sister for giving me her stupid cold!" Billy growled, but it cut off as he wheezed and coughed.
Fred hadn't had high hopes for this being just a twenty-four hour bug, and hearing the prolonged coughing had his stomach sinking. It wasn't any fun going out if he was by himself, but he couldn't pass up going to the book fair at the library. 'I still can't believe there going through with it after the earthquake yesterday.' He thought, though he wasn't about to dig himself deeper as he was just happy that at least one thing was going right. "Hope you feel better by Monday." He hesitated in continuing, knowing that a sick Billy was more caustic when he wasn't hacking up a lung. "Should I see if they got any of those comics you like on sale?"
"Huh?" Billy asked, his tone aggressive, but it simmered down as he just sounded tired when he continued. "Yeah, then I'll have something to hit my sister over the head with."
"That's not very nice; it's not her fault you got sick." Fred pointed out.
Billy just made a sneering sound. "'That's not very nice'." He parroted mockingly. "I know it's not; that's the point. Get with the program."
"Yeah, right." Fred replied with disinterest. "I'll see if they have any of the comics then." He said and gave an obligatory good bye before putting the phone back into its holder on the counter. Fred took a juice box out of the fridge before making sure he had enough money to spend and walked into the hall as his mother got ready to leave as well, his father having already left for his shift at the Cosmoscope Research Center.
"You got all that you need?" she asked and Fred nodded. "Sure you don't want a ride? The inn's just a block away."
"No, it's fine-I'll just catch the bus before it leaves." He replied. Fred blushed when his mother leaned down to kiss him on the head and he ducked out away from her. "Mom!"
"What, I'm not allowed to show that I love you?" His mother question as she crossed her arms, turning her head away as she huffed. "Kids these days."
Fred sighed and hugged his mother. "No, it's just I'm getting older, and kids already tease me enough-I don't wanna be seen as the momma's boy."
His mother's expression softened as she petted Fred's hair. "I see, honey." She said softly and smiled assuring at him. "Have a good time at the library, but don't hesitate to stop by the inn in case you get hungry." She winked playfully at him. "We're making the guests pot roast for lunch."
Fred felt his mouth water just thinking of it, and he nodded eagerly. "Alright, bye!" he exclaimed and hurried out of the house towards the bus stop. He felt slightly out of breath from the short sprint, but resisted cracking open the juice box so soon. 'My blood sugar is normal right now, and I'd better not risk going any higher.' He thought as he took a seat on the bench.
Fred could hear far off construction, and he wondered just what had gotten demolished in the earthquake. He was more than relieved when he called Billy's this to find out when he tried to call them after the quake yesterday that their cordless phone's battery had died rather than the awful scenario he'd imagined in his mind.
When the bus arrived, Fred took a seat near the front after putting in some bus fare and bounced the juice from hand to hand as the vehicle drove along the road. While he'd previously gone on this bus route a million times to the library and to school with Billy, this was one of the few times he'd seen construction repairing something; in this case, it was finishing up clearing away the debris of a tree off the road.
Fred peered out the window to look down at the tree shards scattered from being hacked up to clear the way, and wondered if there was any more debris around town. When he heard a faint screech, he looked up to see a jet go whizzing across the sky on the other side of town. 'Huh, wonder why the military would do a training exercise so close to town.'
Pulled from his thoughts by a speed bump, Fred looked through the front windshield and wasn't surprised that they were getting close to the library. After a few minutes went by, Fred could see the banner on the building declaring the book fair, and the tables that were set up with piles of books on them. The pre-teen got up from his seat along with a few other passengers when the bus stopped and made their way off.
Fred briskly walked up the path towards the nearest table, but his attention became centered on a flat book with a brown spine and a dark orange cover, where a green and brown eight-pointed star lied in the center of it. He tilted his head as he lifted the book up to examine it, noting a smaller star on the back of it, but the most surprising thing was the inside.
It was filled with characters he couldn't read, but also took note of the fact the book bizarrely stopped only a little ways in. He contemplated putting it down, but then he imagined all the things he could write in the empty pages; besides, deciphering the actual content could be a side project. 'Though I hope it's nothing bad, Mom will freak if she finds out that's what this is.' He thought and gave the comic collection a cursory glance, briefly picking out one that Billy liked and he walked up to the cashier.
The cashier smiled at him as he put the two books into a bag. "Thank you for your patronage."
Fred smiled back as he nodded and looked down towards the bag. Inside he felt intensely giddy about his find; he couldn't wait to start writing.
Rachel looked from the road to the sidewalk, her brow raising when she saw both Alexis and Carlos on their respective scooter and skateboard, wheeling along the pathway. She furrowed her brow though when she noticed that Carlos was carrying a tackle box and two poles over his shoulder. Speeding up just a little, she peered out her window and waved at them.
Alexis beamed as she eagerly waved back and wheeled the scooter up to her car. "Hello, how are you today?"
"Fine." Rachel replied as Carlos skidded to a stop beside her car as well. "Are both your parents alright with this?"
"Well," Carlos smiled nervously, "my dad wasn't sure at first, but he agreed once I managed to get Alexis to go with me."
"And mine were okay when I told them that Mr. Lopez would be picking us up from the lake." Alexis finished. She tilted her head as she took in the bike in the backseat. "Why is Rad's bike with you but not him?" she flushed and glanced down shyly. "Not that you have to answer or anything."
Rachel smiled softly. "It's just the chain, it gets stuck and I wanna have a bike mechanic look at it." She explained. "The lake's not too far, I could give you a lift the rest of the way if you want."
Alexis' smile widened as she blushed bashfully. "If you're really sure, then we'd appreciate it."
Carlos nodded. "Totally," he grimaced and held up the tackle box, "this thing's heavier than I thought it'd be."
"Hop in then." Rachel said and waited patiently for both of them to scramble into the passenger side and free backseat respectively. She pulled the car away from the curb and hoped High Wire would understand the deviation from their intended route, but given that it only meant delaying the inevitable, she assumed he wouldn't be complaining. "So how many fish are you two hoping to catch?"
Alexis raised a brow. "Hoping? We're going to catch at least two," she said firmly, "and they're going to be the best fried fish ever."
Carlos stared at Alexis incredulously. "Do you treat everything like it has to be taken seriously? We're just going fishing, can't you just chill out for an hour?"
Alexis bristled, her jaw clenching before she huffed and turned up her nose. "If I'm going to be President one day, I have to take things seriously."
Rachel tilted her head, eyes glancing at Alexis from the corner of her eye. "That's certainly a big dream; you know you're gonna have to get some pretty huge accomplishments and think of a good campaign, right?" she asked, and Alexis nodded rapidly, while Carlos groaned.
"Please don't encourage her right now; I don't want the fish to get scared away if that's all she's gonna be talking about."
Alexis' cheeks puffed out. "I'm too mature to stoop to your childish taunting."
Carlos rolled his eyes. "You are a child though." He said, but the brunette only turned up her nose again.
Rachel shook her head as she turned her attention back to the road, hoping that High Wire wasn't too baffled by these strange new creatures he was currently hearing argue. She pulled onto the dirt road that led to the lake that was just twenty feet out of town, and drove her car onto the car. "Okay, kids, here you are."
Alexis blushed and smiled shyly at Rachel. "Thank you for the lift."
"Yeah, thanks." Carlos added with a grin and a thumbs up.
Rachel smiled back at them both, but her attention turned to the window as she heard a loud whizzing through the air, and frowned when she noticed a rapidly incoming dot in the sky. Her eyes widened in horror as it soon became clear just what was approaching. "Get out of the car, quickly!" she said and unbuckled Alexis' seatbelt before reaching over the girl to open her door. "High Wire, get them out of here!"
In a flash, High Wire transformed and Carlos let out a shout as the blue bot ripped the seatbelt off of him and pulled him out before reaching back with his other hand and grabbed Alexis by the back of her shirt and hurriedly dragged them along with him.
Rachel wrenched herself out of her own seatbelt and slid out the door before taking a running dive at the ground and curled up to protect herself just as the missile struck the car. Rachel flinched as she could feel the heat of the explosion so near her that she was terrified that she would find herself on fire.
Checking herself over, the blonde spared a second to wince at the scraps which were her car before forcing herself to rush around the heaps of metal to find High Wire had shielded the two children from the blast. Rachel helped the kids to their feet, and after checking them both over for any injuries, she gave High Wire a grateful hug. "Thank you."
"What is that?" Carlos asked, his voice shaky, but whether from seeing High Wire or the near death experience, the blonde couldn't be sure.
"This is High Wire, and he just saved your lives." Rachel explained, and made her tone remain calm and reassuring. "I'll give you both an explanation once we get out of here, okay?"
Carlos nodded weakly as he grabbed a hold of Rachel's arm, but the blonde had little protest when Alexis threw her arms around her waist and began shaking. Hefting the girl up under the knees, Alexis moved her arms to wrap around Rachel's neck as the blonde pulled Carlos with her toward the forestry and High Wire scurried after them.
Rachel could feel the all too familiar sense of doing this yesterday, and her heart hammered faster in her chest as she could feel panic setting in. There would be no car for them to drive away in this time. "How could they have found-I'm such an idiot!" she scolded herself and glanced at High Wire. "You said the mini-cons were active, could they have been staking out the town once you were activated?"
"The Decepticons, who it was that definitely fired at you, would be able to pinpoint the location of where my physical form would have been manifested." High Wire explained, clear self-loathing in his voice.
"Blame yourself as much as me, just don't stop running until we're far away enough!" Rachel ordered, her voice cracking just slightly under the pressure. She could hear Carlos' labored breathing, and the grip of Alexis' arms was near choking around her neck, and her own legs were starting to burn from the sudden exertion. 'No, can't let them get hurt. I might not be their sitter anymore, but they're my responsibility right now.' She thought and realized that to protect them she'd have to do something incredibly risky.
"Carlos, Alexis, I need you both to be brave again." She said and set the girl down once they reached the rocky terrain. She found a crevice in the cliff side and ushered them both into the area and handed Alexis her phone. "Call the police and tell them to come and get you. Tell them that it was muggers or something, but just don't mention robots-I'm gonna go and lead them away."
The brunette gripped Rachel by the arm. "What if you don't come back?"
Rachel tried to smile reassuring, but her own fear had it come out like a grimace. "I will, don't worry about me. Just be quiet and stay safe."
With that, High Wire transformed back into the bike and Rachel hopped on before the bicycle began to wheel back in the direction they had run from. "Plan?"
"Just get them to follow us; hopefully we can ditch them long enough for the police to get the kids." Rachel said. She wanted to be optimistic about their chances, but the realist in her said that this wasn't going to end well. 'I'm sorry, Rad, that you didn't get to say good bye.' She thought and steeled herself once she caught sight of a pale blue robot overlooking her blasted car and skidded High Wire to a stop. "You jerk, that was my first car!"
"What? I thought I got that stupid Autobot!" The robot shouted angrily. He narrowed his green eyes down at her. "Hand over the mini-con before I start shooting again." He paused and cackled suddenly as he pointed what looked like a wrist mounted gun at her, the nuzzle heating up as he grinned. "Nah, I'm just screwing with ya."
High Wire beeped nondescriptly as he took off toward the lake when the robot fired lasers from his weapon and Rachel held firmly onto the handlebars. Rachel hunched down as she could hear the shots whizzing by and High Wire's frantic beeps as he tried to avoid them. The blonde screamed when the mini-con abruptly took a left turn at the lake and continued on towards the desert. She could hear the faint cursing of the robot behind her, but was filled with dread when she heard a mechanical screeching like with what High Wire had done earlier.
Rachel gritted her teeth as when she looked over her shoulder; she found a pale blue helicopter in hot pursuit. "Damn it, how fast can these 'Cons go?"
"That's the least of the worries right now." High Wire said, but his coherency once more left him as he let out a long beep when a large cliff came into sight.
Rachel closed her eyes as she braced herself for the abrupt turn, but when it came, she was not expecting to go up. Her eyes opened wide as she found herself staring straight ahead at the clouds in the sky, her hands tightening onto the handlebars and her feet tucked over the peddles to keep herself secured. She risked a glance behind her, but was relieved when she could no longer see the 'Con following after them. "I think we're safe now."
When they made it to the top of the cliff, Rachel and High Wire shrieked as they saw the scowling purple and green bot from yesterday right in front of them. The blue bike swerved to avoid the hand that came at them, and Rachel heard the robot roar in fury when they zoomed past him.
Whatever relief Rachel felt was cut short as she looked over her shoulder and she saw the robot had transformed. Her jaw dropped in disbelief. "He's a damn tank! How can he be keeping up with us!?"
"Bigger problems!"
Rachel looked forward, but turned her attention abruptly to the side when she found the same red and white sonic jet flying low beside her, and on the other side of her the helicopter blocking her exit. Rachel gritted her teeth as she found yet another robot had appeared out of the same purplish portal like yesterday that had taken on the form of something that looked suspiciously like another tank but she couldn't be sure.
The blonde had no time to ponder this though as she had a split second decision to make. "Trust me High Wire, I've got an idea." She heard a faint beep. "Take control on my signal."
"Nothing you do will save you, flesh bag." The purple bot, Megatron, growled from behind.
'This 'flesh bag' still has at least one trick up her sleeve.' She thought and took over the manual peddling when they unlocked, and throwing her weight to the side, she planted one leg on the ground and vaulted both her and High Wire under the helicopter "Now!" she shouted and felt High Wire take control again.
Rachel felt her ankle twist painfully and she clenched her jaw to keep the scream back; her foot went slack and she tried to keep her eyes on the desert to take her mind off the pain. 'Come on; don't let it get to you. You-' she screamed as a blast caused the ground beside High Wire to erupt and the dirt gave way, sending them both flying briefly into the air.
The blonde tumbled to into the earth as she rolled to a stop. Her shoulder hurt from landing on it in the initial drop, and in her disoriented state she could barely make out the sound of High Wire beeping weakly, her vision struggling to focus on his form lying just a few feet from her. Rachel bit her lip as she could hear the footsteps on the ground, and forced herself to crawl over to High Wire to curl her body over his.
Rachel felt her eyes begin to sting, her façade cracking as she realized that she done for; she couldn't get up and run, and that if the mini-con tried he wouldn't get far and High Wire would be taken away because of her risky plan. "I'm sorry." She whispered, her voice straining as she struggled to preserve what was left of her dignity. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't protect you."
High Wire wrapped his arms around Rachel and leaned into her. "You tried to protect me, but you did protect your other charges. At least they're okay."
Rachel felt the tears slip out as she closed her eyes, burrowing her face into the crook of High Wire's neck and began to sob.
Megatron snorted above her, disgust clear in his tone. "What a pathetic little insect you turned out to be; squashing you is going to be so satisfying."
"Oh, Megatron sir, can I shoot it?" The gleeful voice of the blue 'copter asked.
"No, you fool," Megatron retorted, "you'll destroy the mini-con as well."
"…there's an easy way to get around that."
Rachel gasped as she felt her body get flicked away from High Wire's; her eyes opened blearily as she heard the remnants of a gruff voice ring in her ears. She saw that red and beige tank robot standing upright, and Megatron smirked down at her as one of his shoulder cannons was aimed in her direction.
When the cannon began to charge, and High Wire weakly tried to reach out to her, Rachel closed her eyes.
The sound of a horn rang out, and Rachel's eyes snapped open as a semi-truck rammed into Megatron, and plowed over him as several other blaster shots struck the other three robots. Rachel stared incredulously up at the semi as it stopped beside her and the door popped open to reveal Alexis and Carlos. "What are you two doing here?"
"We'll explain later!" Alexis said as she and Carlos got out of the semi. The brunette helped Rachel to her feet as Carlos hauled up the little blue bot. "Hurry!"
Rachel limped up to the truck cabin and pulled herself into the seat before reaching down and helping the kids up. Once she got the mini-con in, the door closed on its own. "Thanks for the save, Optimus. This is the second time you've done it."
"You know my name?"
"High Wire explained it." Rachel replied hastily.
The semi was silent as he took off across the desert, and soon a blue ambulance appeared on one side, while a yellow and blue car which looked remarkably like hers used too appeared on the other. "Red Alert, bridge us back to base, we've secured the humans and the mini-con."
"Yes, sir." The ambulance said.
Rachel furrowed her brow, but felt a wave of disorientation wash over her as the outside setting changed from sunny skies and desert surroundings, to finding herself and the children passing through what looked like the Stargate into a clean, metal facility. "What…what was that?"
"Questions can come later, first you will be allowed time to situate yourselves." Optimus' stern voice softened a little. "This is shocking, I know, but you're safe now."
Rachel glanced at the two children, and nodded at their wary expressions. While they had went with Optimus, it seemed they weren't entirely sure what to think. "He's right, we can trust them; they're the good guys."
"Not like the one who blew up your car?" Carlos asked tentatively.
The blonde shook her head. "No, not like that one." She opened the door and cautiously got down to the floor, shifting her weight onto her good ankle. Holding out her hand, even as she was sure she looked like a mess with her face caked in dirt and tears, she managed to smile assuring at them. "Just trust me, please?"
Carlos and Alexis glanced at each other for a long moment, and with just as much caution, the brunette slid to the edge of the seat, and reached down to grasp Rachel's hand.
Rad felt very bored, as watching Kero hover above the pink book with a golden glow only kept his attention for so long, and he didn't feel like disturbing the guardian from his card seeking. The blond walked out of his room, and when he reached the kitchen, he winced when he looked at his bike and almost thought it was High Wire.
It might have been ridiculous to an adult by how attached he'd become of the blue mini-con, but Rad had hoped he wouldn't have had to go at it alone; there was Kero, yeah, but he doubted the guardian could do much physical fighting in his current form. 'High Wire and I could have had awesome adventures together.' He lamented as he skulked towards the couch in the adjacent living room.
Rad sighed dramatically as he plopped himself down on the couch and absently picked up the key that he'd threaded through a string that he put around his neck. He was still left mystified that this could become a larger wand, but clearly this size thing was practical as he wasn't about to carry a giant stick everywhere with him. 'Now that would be too obvious.' He thought wryly.
The blond reached towards the coffee table in front of him and turned on the television, and briefly wondered where Rachel could be since it felt like hours since she'd been gone. He petulantly pushed the thought aside though as he felt the sting of betrayal once more and flipped through the channels absently.
"Rad! Rad!"
The blond jumped as Kero zoomed into the room with The Windy card in his stubby hands. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"I just sensed a Sakura Card spike!" Kero said and shoved the card in his hands at Rad. "You gotta hurry and find it before they do any damage!"
Rad felt a bit overwhelmed as he numbly grabbed the offered card; sure, he knew that he'd have to do this, but he never thought it would be so soon. "Well, uh, where do I start?"
As if answering, an animalistic roar resounded through the air, and Rad winced as the windows shook from the force. The blond warily walked over to the window, and as he peered around, his eyes widened once he saw what the source was.
"A…a freaking dragon?" he shouted incredulously. "One of these cards is a dragon?"
Kero furrowed his brow worriedly. "No, that's not a card, just the creation." He said grimly. He and Rad locked gazes; the boy's eyes growing concerned as the guardian's grew graver. "This is the work of The Create, and you gotta do something before more things begin to appear."
Rad reluctantly looked up at the sky, his gaze following the large, dark-scaled winged creature circling above the town, and knew he had his work cut out for him. 'Just what am I supposed to do to stop this?'
A/N: Given what the mini-con's were made for, and the fact they actually do have a servility program, it would make make sense for the mini-cons to just be seen as very high-functional weapons. Not to bash Autobots or anything, but their is evidence that some do see the mini-cons this way. Blurr certainly had in canon.
