Chapter 17: Glowing Teamwork
(Alternative Title: The One With The Trust Issues)
"Rad, hey, Rad!"
The blond groaned as he opened his eyes. Tiny hands shook his shoulder rapidly, and he peered out at the clock. "It's seven, on a Saturday, what is it, Kero? It better be important."
"Look outside." Kero said, his expression serious.
That got Rad's attention, but before he could ask anything, he felt it. The warm glow inside of him, of being bright and lighting up and banishing the darkness. "Sakura Card." he whispered, and Kero nodded.
The boy climbed out of bed, High Wire watching him curiously from his spot on the end of the mattress. Rad opened the blinds on his window, and his jaw dropped, a gasp slipping out. All across the sky, Rad saw dozens of tiny lights floating around lazily. Because it was still early enough in the year, the sun was just beginning to rise that created an orange-pink contrast to the yellow lights.
"Whoa, what card is this?" Rad asked amazed.
"Glow." Kero replied. He patted Rad on the shoulder. "She's gentle, but I'm not gonna jinx you by saying she'd go quietly."
'You just did', Rad retorted silently, heaving a sigh as he found a change of clothes. He washed up in the bathroom and switched out his pajamas for a shirt and jeans, and retrieved his hoodie and key plus cards. He wasn't taking any chances. "Ready to go, High Wire?"
The small robot nodded. "What about Rachel though? Won't she be wondering where you are?"
Rad scratched his cheek. "Hmm, I guess I could write her a note." he nodded to himself and quickly scribbled something down in his notebook before ripping the page out. "Okay, now let's get going."
"Right!" High Wire beeped and followed after Rad.
They stopped briefly at the table where Rad put the note, and once again in making sure to lock the door behind them. The blond yawned on the elevator ride down, High Wire shifting anxiously in bike mode; neither knew what to expect from Glow, but held out hope this wouldn't turn into a mess.
Lock had pulled a fast one by taking over the door in detention the previous day, and before that Bubbles got the school day cancelled. Rad grimaced when he thought of Lock; he'd had to make up a ridiculous excuse as to why things had been flying around and convince Billy and Fred it had only been a dream.
Rad wasn't sure if they bought if, but he'd have to be more careful around them if a Sakura Card was near.
The elevator dinged, and Rad hopped on High Wire's seat before biking after the floating lights that all led into the forest. He passed by Kelly's house on the way out of town, and if just for a moment, he could have sworn the curtain in the upstairs bedroom moved. 'Okay, Rad, now you're just getting paranoid.'
Rad looked into the forest, and breathed in sharply when he could feel the warmth inside of him, something prodding at him. His eyes widened as he felt a curiosity that wasn't his own or High Wire's, but then he felt the mini-con's surprise and an echo from what Rad realized was Glow.
The Sakura Card's curiosity turned into surprise, but then it warmed again and seeped away. Rad let out of a shaky breath, and High Wire mirrored it.
"Is...is this how you always feel with them?"
"Yeah," Rad said quietly, "but I just don't know what this means." Either good or bad, he couldn't be sure until he came face to face with Glow. He got off the seat, and let High Wire transform into bi-pedal model. "Though I think I might have to bring breakfast back just to make my story stick."
"If that's your way of lightening the mood, it isn't working." High Wire stated flatly.
Rad shrugged, and held out his key. "Key of the star, with powers burning bright; reveal the staff, and shine your light-release!" The golden circle appeared under him, and in a flash of light the key elongated into its staff form. Rad twirled the wand around his hand before gripping it tightly. "Let's find Glow."
High Wire nodded, and both of them ventured further through the dark forest, navigating around the trees and what light of the dawn could peak in. Rad shivered as a chill swept through the air, but slowly an outward warmth began to overcome him.
"Look!" High Wire pointed to the side, and Rad blinked when he saw a soft yellow light emmitting from the forest.
Rad readied himself. "Okay." he warily marched over, with High Wire following dutifully behind him. The closer he got to the light, he began to see that it was all the little balls of light which had converged into one area.
In the center, Rad could make out the tiny figure of a woman. She reminded him of a firefly and a ballerina with pointed elf ears in a way. She was wearing a black leotard with two tails of fabric arching over a large bulb of light, ballet flats on her feet with two white lights on it, a curl falling in the middle of her forehead with the rest of her hair kept back and another two balls of white light acting as buns. In her arms was a large, thin stock of what Rad almost mistook as a flower, since the leaves were hiding yet another orb, this time being orange in color.
Rad hesitantly stepped forward, and the tiny woman tilted her head. He gripped the wand, gulping. "Um, please don't hurt me."
Glow held her hand to her mouth, and her shoulders shook as though she were giggling. The lights arounded her all began to fade, until it was only her left. She tilted her head to the other side, as if waiting.
Rad bit his lip, and nodded. He held the tip of the wand out, another circle appearing under him. "Return to your power confine," the wingtips enlarged as a shell card appeared, a wind picking up around them, "Sakura Card!"
Glow began to dissolve, her form being sucked into the card, and when all was said and done, a newly sealed card floated over to Rad, who smiled in relief as he caught it.
"Can we go back now? This place is kinda creepy all of a sudden." High Wire said.
Rad chuckled as he put Glow into his pocket. "Yeah, we can go." he shrank his key back to travel size, but furrowed his brow as he heard a whoosh-whoosh in the air. 'That sounds like...a...helicopter.' He frowned to himself; why would a helicopter be so far out in-
His eyes widened. "Oh no, we have to go! Right now!"
"What's wrong-" High Wire was cut off as overhead an unfortunately familiar blue and orange 'copter flew over, hovering as a cackle emitted from it.
"Well look what I found! I just came to scout a strange energy signature, but what do I find but a mini-con and an Autobot pet!" Cyclonus said. "Must be my lucky day!"
Rad glared. "Don't count on it! High Wire, let's go!" he grabbed the mini-con by the wrist and pulled him into the thick brush.
Cyclonus hovered closer to the ground, but shrieked in frustration when he couldn't go through it. "Get back here, you fleshbag!"
Rad didn't stop until the sound of propellers faded off, but as he looked around at the forest, he was under no illusions that both of them likely weren't going to make it back to town in time. He felt his pocket, and gritted his teeth. 'I can't believe I didn't bring my phone.' Yet he hadn't exactly predicted this would happen after sealing Glow.
Glancing at High Wire, Rad could feel the mini-con's panic and very real fear of being captured. He tried to smile, but it felt forced. "Here's what we're gonna do; you'll hide here and I'll lead Cyclonus away."
"WHAT?!" If High Wire had eyes, his surely would have been bugged out from the force of incredulty over the link.
"Shhh!" Rad whispered harshly. "Look, I know you want to protect me, but now it's my turn to protect you." he held onto the mini-cons shoulder, staring at him with as much conviction as he could muster. "Let me do this, I promise things will be fine."
The sound of helicopter wings chopping through the air approached, and High Wire tensed before pulling Rad into a hug.
"You'd better keep that promise." he muttered before dashing into the opposite direction.
Rad smiled faintly, but his expression turned serious as he spun on his heel. He clenched his fists and ran into a small clearing through the trees. "Hey, you flying rustbucket!"
"What did you just call me?!" Cyclonus shouted, and the front sides of his 'copter mode split apart to reveal his arms. "Get over here!" he dove, hand outstretched, but Rad ducked in between two close trees and the bot's wrist was caught.
"Ha!" Rad mocked. "You'll have to do better than that!"
Cyclonus snarled in a more metallic sounding language, and if Rad had to guess, this was what Cybertronian sounded like. Rad though didn't stick around to ask what was being said, but kept close enough to the treeline that the Decepticon could still see him.
Rad leaned against a tree, one hand on the bark as he used the other to reach into his pocket and pulled out his key. He gritted his teeth. 'If I have to use this, the Decepticons will know what I can do.'
A sharp metallic screech rang out, and all Rad saw was a orange and black hand reaching for him before he found himself being lifted into the air. The situation hit him like a freight train. "No, no-NO!" Rad struggled in Cyclonus' grasp as the copter began flying away, his cackles ringing in Rad's ears.
"Wait until Megatron hears about this! We'll have those Autobot mini-cons in no time!"
Rad's stomach dropped, but what made his hope grumble was the glint of a pink and bronze key lying on the grass...slowly growing fainter the further away he got. 'No,' he shut his eyes, 'how could I have been so stupid?'
Rachel frowned as she found Rad's note, only saying he was taking High Wire to get breakfast for them. She was torn between annoyance that he didn't actually tell her, and somewhat proud he left a note at all. 'He's probably only doing this so I'll take off the ban on the T.V., but it's still nice.'
With little else to do, Rachel set about tidying up the living room. She thought of how the Autobots said they'd help the girl, but that for now to keep the disk with her. Rad thought her tale was cool, especially the whole Perceptor thing...but Rachel was beginning to think Rad just didn't get it at all.
Alexis might have, but Carlos and Rad didn't. Didn't...didn't they see this wasn't just some fun adventure? Rachel went through each outing with a mounting terror in her heart, nightmares in mind, and having to deal with children that thought everything was sunshine and rainbows all the time.
'I guess I can't blame them for trying to make the best of this,' the blonde admittedly reluctantly, 'I certainly wouldn't want them to be as jaded as I am.' She knew what the world was like, and why she got so pissed when Smokescreen dared to say he didn't know why she got angry at him.
The thought still made her mad, and Rachel picked up a bowl while gritting her teeth. 'Does he really think pretending it didn't happen will make it go away?' Her tirade was cut short when she realized what she was doing.
Frowning, Rachel set down the box of cereal and stared at the empty bowl, and slowly her eyes widened as she looked up at the clock. It was nine-Rad had been gone way too long.
Breathing calmly, Rachel phoned each diner in town, and with each dismissal that Rad hadn't been around, the lump in the blonde's throat grew. She hesitated when she dialed the number to the bed and breakfast, but carried on. "Mrs. Ottman? Rachel Becker, has Rad been by?"
"Rad? No, he hasn't." The woman replied, and her tone became apologetic. "And I'm so sorry we had to let you go, but business had been picking up in preparation for summer and we just couldn't wait for you to come back."
Rachel smiled stiltedly, even though no one could see it. "It's fine, I understand, thank you anyway." she ended the call and her smile was wiped clean off. Gritting her teeth, Rachel's fingers clenched around the phone, but she forced herself to breath deeply once more.
'You can't dwell on that, keep calling.' she thought to herself, but when she tried Alexis and Carlos to only discover they hadn't heard from Rad either, did Rachel begin to panic. She ran one hand over her hair, eyes staring down at the phone.
Rad held tight, a metallic hand crushing him-
Rachel shook her head. No, that was just a nightmare, a product of her fear towards the Decepticons...but High Wire was with Rad, and the mini-con would protect Rad from anything... 'It's a stretch, a ridiculous gut feeling.' Still, she dialed the code to the Autobot base anyway.
"Who is this?" A voice that grated on Rachel's nerves asked, tone suspicious.
"Rachel." The blonde hissed. "I have the number for the base."
"Oh!" Smokescreen's entire attitude shifted, his tone turning jovial. "What do ya need then?"
Rachel pursed her lips, but couldn't put off asking. Rad was too important. "Where are the other Autobots? I think Rad and High Wire might have been captured by the Decepticons." She wasn't sure about High Wire, as he hadn't been in the dream, but it was better not to leave him out.
"What? Hold on." The line went silent, and when it picked up, Hot Shot's worried voice came over the line.
"Optimus and Red are out scouting for parts to help that girl, and I can't get in contact with them, they must be out of range." he explained. "Are you sure about Rad though?"
"No, but he's been gone for hours and High Wire would keep him safe to the best of his abilities." Rachel replied. "I'd rather not take any chances."
"Good call. I'll come pick you up, and then we'll work on finding them together!" Hot Shot said fiercely.
"Right." Rachel didn't mind so much when the line was cut off, and rushed out the apartment, locking the door behind her. She shoved her cell phone into her pocket, and stepped out onto the porch, her eyes darting around the street for any sign of a yellow and blue car.
Instead, she saw a yellow and purple motorcyle across the road. The rider was nonchalantly sitting on it, and Rachel's temper flared. 'It's the jackass that almost ran me over-twice.' she stormed down the patio, fists clenched. "Hey-!" A crash cut her off, and she whirled around to see a vehicle mode High Wire had slammed into the dumpster beside the apartment.
Forgetting the rider for now, Rachel hurried over to the mini-con and pulled him behind the dumpster and out of sight to let him transform. "What happened, where's Rad-" a pink and bronze glint drew Rachel's eye to the key around High Wire's neck-"and why do you have that?"
High Wire began shaking, and he threw his arms around Rachel. Static mingled with the beeps, and if Rachel thought robots could sob, this would be it. "Rad-Rad wanted to protect me. Cy-Cyclonus showed up, and Rad led him away, but not before getting caaaptuuured! It's all my fault!"
Rachel hugged High Wire back. She was upset, she wanted to be upset with him and Rad, but raging at Cyclonus would do. "It's okay, we'll get Rad back. I got worried about why neither of you came back, and told the Autobots. Let's head over there before Hot Shot comes all this way for nothing, alright?" Keeping her voice soothing, she rubbed the mini-con on the back of the head.
Slowly, High Wire's sobs trailed off, and he pulled back to nod. "Alright." he whispered, and transformed to let Rachel get onto the bicycle seat.
Rachel's hands tightened on the bars. 'I'll deal with the jackass another day-hold on, Rad, we'll save you.'
She couldn't let her nightmare come true. She just couldn't.
Rad yelped as he was dropped onto a pile of hay, groaning as he heard the roof being put back down. He glared at the ceiling, eyes narrowed when he heard what Megatron had planned. It wasn't exactly creative, but he was worried the Autobots would go through with it.
Rolling off, Rad was in for another shock. He scrambled to his feet when he saw three mini-cons there. And it didn't take much for him to remember that they were Decepticon-allied. The blond tensed, but felt helpless even though he was taller than them by several inches. 'No key, no phone, no use.'
The white and gray one crossed their arms, and Rad jolted when he could feel the sterness coming from it. 'That's right, this includes all mini-cons.' he thought, and breathed in deep before smiling shakily. "Um, hey there."
The multi-colored one warbled something, which Rad was relieved and annoyed by. The former because it still translated into words, and the latter because of what was said. "Why's the human talking to us? Doesn't it know we can't talk to it?"
"I'm a 'he', not it." Rad snapped. "If you want to insult me at least stick with 'human.'"
The multi-colored one jerked back, surprise radiating from all three. "You can understand us? How can this be? Only our bulks should be able too."
Rad rubbed his brow. "Look, I don't know all the details, but apparently it's because I activated...the first mini-con on earth, and some side-effect is letting me understand you all." That didn't explain the emotions thing though. "It's just very complicated."
The blue one began shaking, but Rad felt excitement instead of agitation. "This is so cool! Not as cool as explosions but still!"
Rad furrowed his brow, and the multi-colored one sighed heavily. "Stop using that word for everything, Crumplezone. Explosions are only okay with you and Cyclonus...and maybe Megatron."
The white one snapped his head the other one, indignation flaring. "Don't compare Lord Megatron to those two." Crumplezone warbled in offence.
Rad though frowned. "Why do you call him 'Lord Megatron?' Is it because of the servility programming?" he stiffened when the three mini-cons looked at him as though they forgot he was there.
The white one stepped forward. "That programming will only do so much. I call him that because I respect him."
Rad blinked. "Why? The Decepticons want to enslave all of you!"
Crumplezone tilted his head. "Things aren't so bad. We at least have it better than Grid."
The multi-colored one nodded. "Starscream won't even use his real name. No wonder Grid keeps trying to run away from him."
"And while the ultimate result-should the Deceptions ever do win-will not be pleasant for us, I simply can't find it in myself to betray Lord Megatron in a way thay goes beyond programming." The white one said. "On Cybertron he was my partner, and here he is as well. We've been together for centuries-and while I concede the notion of not fighting anymore pleasing-he's told me things and treated me better than any bulk before him."
Rad absorbed what had been said, the tone and the fondness. He remembered his own feelings when having to make the hard choice with Dash. "You think of him as your friend." he said softly. "I can understand that, but sometimes being a good friend means doing something they won't like. You left once, because you thought it would stop the fighting, didn't you?"
The white one hesitated. "I did, but it hasn't worked. And now all there is more fighting."
Rad sighed. "I guess we're not gonna agree on this then." he patted the ground under him before sitting down, feeling the confusion as the mini-cons looked on. Rad smiled, managing a genuine one. "Still, it doesn't mean we need to be enemies. My name's Rad, what's yours?"
The white one's confusion cycled through incredulty, then bemusement. "Leader-1."
Rachel squinted as she saw a yellow car driving down the mountain trail, and turned High Wire to get in Hot Shot's way. The bot screeched to a halt, and she got off High Wire to let the mini-con transform into bi-pedal mode. "It's just Rad, High Wire found me after I called you."
Hot Shot opened his doors. "Then get in and we can regroup at the base."
Rachel nodded and both she and High Wire climbed into the bot's cabin. "Still got radio silence from Optimus and Red Alert?"
Hot Shot did a U-turn and drove back up the mountain before he replied. "Yeah, so we're on our own. High Wire, what happened out there?"
"He told me that Rad led Cyclonus away after the Decepticon found them. Rad," Rachel squeezed her eyes shut, "he got captured."
Hot Shot was silent for a moment. "They'll want the mini-cons...it's what they always want."
High Wire beeped sadly, head lowering guiltily. Rachel held his shoulder comfortingly, and patted his back when they reached the base. She gritted her teeth when Smokescreen came out out the cave.
"Hot Shot, I'm so glad I caught you before you left-!" he stopped when the blonde and mini-con got out of the car. "Well, you drive fast, that's for sure."
The yellow robot transformed, and sighed. "They met me on the way down." his expression turned seriously. "Now, what's got you so worked up?"
"Megatron just sent us a message!"
Hot Shot and Rachel's eyes widened. "WHAT?!" They shouted.
Smokscreen nodded rapidly. "They sent it across a Cybertronian code, though I made sure that humans couldn't pick it up after I got it."
"At least you did something right." Rachel muttered.
Smokescreen frowned at her, but looked back at Hot Shot. "You'd better take a look at it."
The yellow bot nodded and the group hurried to the command center. He brought up the message, and Rachel glared at Megatron's image on the screen, hating him even more when he smirked.
"If you're not seeing this, Autobots, then you're pet's life is forfeit. If you are, you will bring your mini-cons to these co-ordinates in one cycle."
The image faded, and longitude and latitude numbers replaced it.
Hot Shot gripped his head. "We could really use Optimus, he'd know how to handle this."
"You're doing fine." Rachel said, but frowned as Smokescreen put in the co-ordinates. "What are you doing?" she demanded.
"Finding where your cousin is." Smokescreen retorted, and on the screen a map appeared, and the sky spy located a bunch of old buildings and milling around the ghost town were the Decepticons. "Now we just need a plan."
"To do what?" Rachel asked harshly. "Give in and hand over the mini-cons?"
"Why are you on my case? You've been doing that since I got here, what's your problem?" Smokescreen questioned.
Rachel's fists clenched, her temper finally having reached it's peak. "You tried to kill the kids!"
Silence reigned for a moment, and Hot Shot awkwardly gestured for High Wire to follow him. "Come on, let's go find Jolt and make a plan of attack. These two have something to get off their chest."
Smokescreen waited until the bot and mini-con left before sighing deeply, his shoulders slumping. "I thought we got passed that; I saved you."
Rachel crossed her arms. "My life is lesser compared to those kids. I've known them since they were small-of course I'd give my life for them." she frowned and glared at him. "When you came after us, I saw how scared they were, how we thought you were a Decepticon-and then you act as though what you did doesn't matter!"
Smokescreen flinched, a deep-seated look of concentration coming onto his face. Then, he looked away. "I wasn't thinking, it's not an excuse, but that's what happened." he replied. "I was stuck underground, not knowing where I was and couldn't contact the others...I began to loose myself." his fist clenched, and he when he looked at Rachel, there an expression of remorse and guilt on his features. "I'm sorry for what I did, but the kids acted like things were fine after a little while-and-and I thought that was just it." his jaw clenched. "I guess that's not true though, is it?" his shoulders slumped. "Are they still afraid of me?"
Rachel breathed in deeply, her posture tense. "I honestly don't know, but you should be apologizing to them, not me."
"Are things alright then? Or are you still gonna give me dirty looks when you think I don't notice?" Smokescreen asked.
Rachel flushed at having been caught. It had felt childish to let things boil over to this point, and now she was called on it. "I...no, I won't. If I have a problem with you, I'll say it to your face." she let her arms drop to her side. "Getting over distrust isn't easy, but I'm willing to try."
"Yeah, and I probably should have had a psych eval with Red when I got here, but I just keep putting it off." Smokescreen admitted. He knelt down, and held out a finger. "For now, let's just have a truce, sound good?"
Rachel stared at the appendage, narrowing her eyes as she hesitated, but in the end she reached out and clasp her fingers on it. "Truce."
Footsteps rang, and Hot Shot blinked when he stepped in. He looked between Smokescreen and Rachel, but instead of commenting, he said, "Jolt and I came up with a plan. We all gotta work together though," he smirked, as though challenging them, "think you can handle that?"
Rachel raised a brow, but when she caught Smokescreen's eye, she let herself smile slightly. "Yeah, I think we can."
Rad didn't know how it came to this, but he was sooo not gonna lose. "Tag!" he lunged for Blackout, but multi-colored mini-con ducked to the side and Rad plunged into the dirt. He grimaced, though it turned into a glare when he heard Blackout and Crumplezone laughing. Leader-1 was more reserved, but amusement still flared from him. "That's it, I'm gonna get you!"
"You'll have to try harder than that!" Crumplezone shouted, side-stepping Rad as the blond jumped for him.
"Come on, I've been it for the past thirty minutes! At least let me have a pity tag." Rad pleaded.
Leader-1 was unmoved. "You roped us into this, it's not our fault you're so slow."
Rad huffed. "I don't even get how you can be so quick when you're made of metal."
Crumplezone rubbed his 'chin'. "That's a very good question."
Blackout looked at the blue mini-con, but while he was distracted Rad took the moment to sneak up on him. Without missing a beat, Blackout ducked and Rad fell onto the dirt once more.
The blond glowered at him. "How could you even see me?" he got to his feet, but stiffened when he heard the footsteps outside-and then the roof came off.
Scowling down at him, Megatron glared. "It's time, fleshing."
Rad's eyes widened, and he backed up when the large hand reached for him. His heel got caught in a hole, and he landed on his backside. "No, no, no." he panicked and scrambled back, turning to run before fingers wrapped around him and pinned his arms to his side. "No, let me go!" he looked at the mini-cons pleadingly. "Help me, please!"
The three mini-cons looked up at him, but while each of them felt sad and guilty, they were resigned. They didn't move.
Rad shut his eyes and gritted his teeth. 'Decepticon mini-cons.' he reminded himself, but it was still a bitter pill to swallow.
Megatron laughed deeply in his ears. "You think they'll understand you? What a simple creature you are."
Rad gritted his teeth. He wanted to snap back they did, but kept his mouth shut about it. Didn't mean he was going to be a perfect little captive. "So says that bot that lets a psycho run wild."
"Hey!" Cyclonus snarled as he and the other Decepticons rallied back into a group. "I got you, didn't I?"
"And yet he had a mini-con you didn't grab instead." Starscream muttered. Cyclonus turned and glared at him, but Megatron cut him off.
"That's enough!" he snapped, a whimper escaping Rad as he felt the fingers tighten minutely around him, and gasped when they loosened. "The Autobots will be arriving soon, and we will not let them see any weakness." he glanced down at Rad. "We finally have an advantage over them."
Rad glared back at him, but his ribs ached. He looked up when a warping sound rang out, and Hot Shot appeared with Jolt, High Wire, Longarm and Sparkplug.
Megatron frowned. "What, no Prime?"
The yellow bot scowled at him. "No, Optimus and Red are out together. They've got radio silence."
Rad furrowed his brow when Megatron snarled. "Surround him!" he ordered, and the three Decepticons stood at different points around Hot Shot, blasters aimed at him.
Hot Shot looked sadly down at the mini-cons. "I'm sorry."
Rad opened his mouth to protest, but stopped as the mini-cons didn't feel right. They...they didn't seem angry or upset, they felt...smug.
Hot Shot crossed his arms as the mini-cons stood in front of Megatron. "Deal's a deal."
Megatron narrowed his eyes as he looked over the little bots. "No." he said flatly. Rad jolted. "He's your weakness, that is not something to squander."
Hot Shot gritted his teeth, and tensed up. "In that case...now!" he whirled around and tackled both Demolishor and Starscream, catching the two robots off guard as they crashed to the ground.
A rock flew through the air, and it clinked against Cyclonus' head. The helicopter whirled around, and Rad's eyes widened as Rachel tossed a rock in the air. "You really shouldn't have done that!"
Rachel smirked. "Let's see you do something about it then."
Cyclonus screeched and levelled his blaster at her. He fired and she rolled to the side, reeling her arm back and nailed the bot in the eye. He snarled and chased after her.
"What is this?!" Megatron demanded, but roared when the mini-cons warped out. He pulled Rad up to his face, expression twisted hatefully. "This will teach those fools to doublecross me!"
Rad screamed as fingers dug into him, and he feared something was about to break-
Shing! Megatron howled furiously, and Rad saw a hook having smacked him in the face, and from the corner of Rad's eye, a blue and orange form ran up. A leg kicked the arm, and fingers loosened to the point where Rad went flying into the air.
"I've got you!" Smokescreen's voice was like a lifeline, and hands wrapped more gently around him. "He's safe, let's get out of here!"
Rad looked through blurry optics as Hot Shot warped out, and he spotted Rachel running up to them, jumping just as Cyclonus fired at her. Smokescreen caught her as he warped, and Rad felt the sick to your stomach feel inside as they passed through the colorful gate. When the world stopped spinning, the blond was vaguely aware of a voice in his ear, and worried beeping.
When the world was righted, Rad saw Rachel and High Wire leaning over him. He smiled relieved. "You saved me." he whispered.
Rachel sighed and hugged him. "No, thank Hot Shot, he came up with the plan-I just helped."
Rad blinked and stared past them at Hot Shot, who rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. The blond smiled at him. "Thank you, it means so much you'd do that for me."
The yellow bot frowned. "Why wouldn't I have? You're my friend." he shook his head. "We'd better have Red take a look at you when he and Optimus get back."
Rad opened his mouth to protest, but one stern glare from Rachel kept it back. He ducked his head. "Okay."
High Wire grabbed the blond's hand, and he glanced down as the key was pressed into his palm. "I'm so happy you're safe."
Rad closed his fist over the key, and placed his other hand over High Wire's. "Nothing could have kept me from keeping my promise."
"And you," Rad cringed, but his eyes widened when he saw that Rachel was adressing Smokescreen instead, and she smiled slightly at him, "good job."
The orange bot grinned back. "I told you I'd save him, thanks for trusting me."
Rachel breathed in deep, and her smile widened. "Thanks for giving me a reason to trust you." she rubbed her arm, glancing around with an unusually embarrassed look on her face. "I don't want to start picking out curtains with you, but how about a project I'm working on?"
Smokescreen nodded. "What'd you have in mind?"
"Well, I've been putting something off myself." Rachel coughed awkwardly. "I need a crane to parade my totalled 'car' through town, and well..."
Rad furrowed his brow. "I," he looked up at Hot Shot who gazed at the scene in approval, "have no idea what's going on with them."
The yellow bot crossed his arms, but sent Rad a thumbs up. "Just know that Ray and Smokey have put aside their differences."
Rad raised a brow, but felt himself smile as he looked back on the scene too. 'Yeah, this isn't such a bad day after all.'
