Mission City, Nevada
October 28th, 2007
1350 hours
Lyn stumbled to the ground, scraping her palms. Blood dripped down her forearms. The trails they leave dry as she runs.
Shelter. Safety. Two things on her mind which she found through the broken window of a deserted shop. She jumped through it and tumbled to the ground. Debris and dust polluted the empty city streets. There were no signs of life, but she figured the city folks would know better and hide. From how things were shaping up, a fly had a better chance at survival than they would in all this chaos.
Lyn bent forward with her hands on her knees, heaving air desperately, lungs burning with every inhale. She couldn't remember a time she ran this hard in her life. The moment she controlled her breathing, her hands found purchase on the edge of a flimsy shelf and flung it aside, working her lungs into labor again. She heard the contents clatter but felt no satisfaction.
Lyn crumbled to the ground in a heap and grit her teeth. Her fingers wound into her short hair. Rage was a howling thing in her head — the feeling of sudden helplessness also provoking sudden anger.
Jazz. You wanted to protect me, didn't you?
She forbade his electronic scream from trickling into her thoughts. Like a dog cry, from synthetic vocals. It's not a sound she would like to hear again.
He would want her to keep running. If it meant forcing the Decepticons in a wild goose chase for the one artifact whose value meant life or death to mankind, then she would run. It's all she could do. But, when they caught up to her…
When Megatron caught up to her...
Cold slush poured into her stomach and she closed her eyes, capping her terror before it would overflow.
Megatron's encounter was still a fresh wound in her mind. She could almost feel his talons sink into her waist…
No convincing would be necessary— she could see him being a viable candidate to want to destroy Earth. And yet, Lennox still blamed her for all of this. What a piss off.
I'll fix this Jazz.
As she crouched, she let her mind build itself around her to block out the distant explosions and gunfire reigning havoc in the city so that she could focus.
She's spent days in the field setting up concrete charges for her battalion at Fort Polk. She's spent days with Sector Seven toiling over a broken transducer, trying to transmit NBE-2 encoded signals in the tundra. But, this was a far cry from what she had ever dealt with. And the only solution is in the form of running.
Running with a tail between her legs.
Cautiously, she jumped out of the store, trying to search for signs of smoke beyond the skyscrapers. It was unusually quiet right now.
Then, I'll run like hell.
A loud clang echoed behind her. Lyn wheeled around as her eyes crawled up to view an alien that had an instant to see her startled face.
It stood, massive, towering her and said, "How disgusting. You're not the Allspark."
Without a single cry, the balls of Lyn's bare feet dug into the concrete, giving her traction as she bolted into a narrow alleyway seperating two large corporate buildings.
"So pathetic," the alien said, the sound of its steps a clear indication that she wasn't making much progress in regards to escaping. Her eyes caught a glimpse of the alien and it was with immense relief that she realized it didn't make any further advances because the space was simply too small.
"Go to hell," she snarled.
Her sneer dropped when it raised its arm, emitting buzzing noises as though booting up a machine. She'd thought this would be her last waking moment when she heard a pop and suddenly she could see the other side of the street from a hole that sizzled on the alien's shoulder. Before it could look down, a giant metal hand hooked onto the top of its head and slung it back.
Lyn recognized the bright yellow and chrome paint as the robot named 'Ratchet' as he swung punches at the alien, relentless in his assault.
"Get to safety!" Ratchet's command carried to her ears instantly over the crash of metal. "Towards the green smoke girl!" He yelled before the alien beneath him blasted its thrusters and threw Ratchet off.
Lyn bailed. She was out of the alleyway onto the opposite side, whipping her head and spotting a green cloud billowing out as it caught wind. As she sprinted in its direction, a thought arrived to her. If she were a decoy, as Jazz intended, then shouldn't she be running away from safety — away from the Cube?
The unmistakable boom of a tank overtook the clamor of her thoughts.
She slowed and pressed her body against a column of a clinic located at an intersection. The Red Cross pasted on the building failed to give her the relief the symbol intended to deliver. A hotel across had large windows on the first floor. Her attention floated to it because she could spot the activity from its reflection.
A hateful orange alit an upside down taxi and crouched behind it was Captain Lennox, expression unreadable under the grime that covered him. She saw him insert a clip into his rifle, grip it vigorously in both hands, and open fire over the heads of his cowering men at the tawny tank several hundred yards away.
Shouted commands echoed from every corner of the street. Then, a sharp whistle cut through the air and the first floor of the building opposite of her burst into flames, sending glass flying. Three more projectiles fired into the solid face of the structure. Lyn dove to the ground, barely avoiding large cement chunks barreling down from five stories.
Her eardrums rang painfully, intensified by shouting and the tortured screams of a man flailing on the road, his clothes on fire. Gaining her bearings, Lyn ran over to him, patting down the flames when a scent strangled the breath out of her throat. The smell of frying flesh. The stranger's body lost all tension beneath her fingertips and all that stared back at her was the stark white of his glassy eyes standing out on his calcinated face.
There was nothing she could do. With a heavy heart, Lyn shot up and fled, making headwind to the captain's position. His team kept chopping the entire street with automatic fire until their rifles were fired dry, hushed to the sounds of them reloading magazines.
Lyn kneeled at his side.
"Captain Lennox!"
He spun around to the sound of his name with a wild gaze and scowled.
"Wh-what the hell are you doing here?"
"I got seperated from Jazz."
"Well, we could really use your alien friend right now!" He leaned against the car and scrunched his eyes shut in reaction to an explosion.
"He was down," she said.
"Damnit!" he shouted and tossed a hasty look over his shoulder. "Hey, Epps! Any contact?"
"Nega-fucking-tory Captain!" The sergeant shouted his throat raw from nearby.
Captain Lennox's fist smashed into the taxi door so hard it dented. Lyn watched his face, seeing the cogs turn behind it, considering another avenue of attack.
"How'd you get here?" He suddenly asked her.
"I've been running."
His face fell and fixed into a grimace. "Shouldn't have left you with those fucking aliens."
"Why did you?" she asked.
"I was stupid." He looked at her. "This isn't your fault."
"But it's still my problem, right?"
She thought she saw Lennox smile. Then, he surprised her by grabbing her shoulder, giving her a firm squeeze.
"Our problem," he corrected. "And I just want to see my girls again."
"You will, sir." She said. Her heart felt a little lighter. "Is there anything I can do?" she asked.
Jets ripped the sound barrier over their heads. As their gazes shot up to the sky, Captain Lennox's next words were those of borderline hysteria.
"TAKE COVER!"
Her shoulder could have ripped out of its socket as the man yanked her body under the cover provided by the overhang of the building. She saw his men retreat to the edges of the street in a quarter of a second before fragments of blazing metal asteroided towards the ground and slammed into the spot she and Lennox were previously sitting in.
"Sound off!" Captain Lennox screamed.
His men had responded with yips and howls within the cloud of smoke that plumed from the parts of the jet. No actual noises of agony or injury echoed back and the man's taut jaw somewhat loosened.
"Everyone accounted for Captain!" Lieutenant Figueroa emerged from the smog, squatted beside the man then ticked his chin at the girl. "What's she doing here?"
"No time to explain, Fig," Lennox said, turning to Lyn. "We're holding the line here for the Cube. We've radioed Nellis Air Base, and the Air Force is inbound. We're going to try to see if we can mark the big enchilada, Megatron so they can sack that mother. Remember what I said about bad aliens?"
"Yes," she said.
"They're the Decepticons. And they're indiscriminately shooting down any flying thing that leaves or enters this city. Makes our lives a helluva lot harder. Now, there's a kid named "Sam Witwicky." He's alone, trying to transport it to that checkpoint where a chopper is supposed to pick it up." Lennox grabbed her by the shoulders, turned her in the direction down the mainstreet, and pointed at the tallest, white building.
"See that?"
She nodded.
"What do you want me to do?" she asked.
He let her go. "Find him. He's got no one. But, he's headed there right now, you can probably catch up with him. I have a bad feeling about sending him up there, but the Cube needs to leave."
"What's so bad about that?" Lyn didn't get an answer.
"Incoming!" Sergeant Epps howled but it was too late for Captain Lennox to pull Lyn back as he did the first time. The center of the street blasted and a mushroom of detritus flew out in all directions. Two hands harshly shoved Lyn to the ground and out of the trajectory of a propelled chunk of cement that collided with the adjacent wall.
"Fall back!"
The voice, distinctly Captain Lennox's, could have come from anywhere on the street. Even though it had cloaked everything within a twenty meter radius, she could see a massive swathe of fire on the street from the silhouette of the flames reflecting off the dust.
Naturally, Lyn did the only thing she could: she ran and abandoned her search of finding Captain Lennox. She ran until she was far enough away that her vision was relatively clear. Her eyes caught the white building and she pumped her legs even harder in that direction.
It was five blocks away, but it felt like forever until she reached the front doors and slipped inside. She started counting the thousands it would take before her breathing lengthened.
One thousand one…
One thousand two…
One thousand three…
One thousand four…
She reached twenty and then raised her head, analyzing her surroundings. She noticed the interior was undergoing reconstruction. Plastic and pipes marked areas of attention. She climbed a few steps up a marble staircase before she stopped.
The hairs on the back of her neck prickled.
She turned her head to the side to a boy. From his sweat drenched hair to the block of metal he held, Lyn recognized the kid as the one leaving with the Camaro earlier.
This was Sam Witwicky.
"You-your-y-your that girl," he stuttered. He was scared, a reflection of what she felt too.
Her eyes flitted downwards at the gleaming object tucked under his armpit. NBE-2 was much smaller than she remembered it.
"Specialist Lyn," she introduced. "You got separated from your Camaro friend?"
"Yeah." Sam frowned as a disturbing thought flitted through his brain. Then, he asked, "Where's Jazz?"
Lyn shook her head. "Megatron came out of nowhere."
Understanding dawned his face. "Sorry."
"Don't be," Lyn said, approaching. We lose people, but we can't lose ourselves too. "Jazz should be okay—" She trailed off, remembering what the silver alien had said.
I'm so goddamn clueless.
Jazz may not have said it, but he didn't want her anywhere near the Cube. That was the whole point wasn't it? Driving her around, risking his life, and by extension hers too. Initially, she hated the idea, but it was a good one. Give the enemy a distraction, while the good guys tracked the real thing.
Without another word to Sam, Lyn turned to leave the building.
A hand latched onto her arm, stopping her from reaching the door handle.
"Wh-where are you going?"
"Let go of me," she said.
"You can't leave."
"I swear to god, if you don't let go," she warned.
He didn't.
So, she wrenched her arm from his clammy grip and proceeded to open the door, letting the afternoon sun peak in.
"P-Please…"
She stopped with her heart twisting at his voice. Damn you.
"I don't know what I'm doing or where I'm supposed to go." He pleaded and she felt her shoulders drop. "Lennox said that I have to meet with a helicopter at the roof of this building and extract the Cube from the city...but...but..."
Lyn huffed and closed the door. She looked at Sam and thought she should've been running as far away from this boy and that Cube, to give them time. But, she didn't act on that thought and started counting the flights of stairs. At least thirty, if not more. There was probably a helipad on the roof. But, there was a reason Lennox sent her up here. He didn't like the plan, and she wasn't liking it either. Tops of buildings, while wise vantage points, are not to be considered safe zones in this war. Not when aliens could fly and transform into airplanes. Not when, quote-on-quote, they're indiscriminately shooting down any flying thing that leaves or enters this city. Maybe, that's why Sam was hesitating. Because, he knew this was a bad idea too.
Because in the end, the odds were pretty much stacked up against them all.
"If you go up there, you have nowhere else to run," Lyn said.
"I know," Sam said. "Then what should I do?" Conflict flooded his face.
She looked at him. You're only just a kid. Seventeen at the oldest.
Lyn rested her hand on his shoulder in a gesture of good faith. "This is chaos, but you'll be okay. You hear me?"
His eyes were wide and in them the hesitation was bottomless, but he gave her a nod, regardless of what faith he had in her words. Probably had more than she did in herself.
"Have you seen Optimus Prime?" she asked.
"I don't know where he is."
They couldn't work much with that. Maybe if they stayed here for a while.
— No. That was just stupid. She shouldn't even be here. The longer she was, the faster Sam would be in danger. She had to honor Jazz's efforts. If he was that confident that her signal was more akin to the Cube than she thought, she had to carry that.
"Okay," Lyn started. "I need to go."
"W-wait, wait, no—"
"Listen to me!"
She grabbed his face in her hands and she hated how he looked at her as though she were his only hope. She didn't deserve that. Not with what she's done to this world.
Sam stopped sputtering.
Her face hardened to concrete and seeing that sobered the boy.
"You are going to take that Cube to the top of this building—"
"But, even you said—"
"Yes," she agreed. "You will have nowhere else to go but up. And you're going to extract the Cube while I divert the aliens. I promise, you're not going to facing any problems up there."
Sam wasn't getting it. She expected him not too.
"How are you going to do that?" He asked.
You're just a kid.
Lyn tried her best to smile. "Because part of what makes that Cube so powerful— so unique— is in me too."
"How?"
If we survive this, then I'll tell you one day. Lyn felt a tear gather in the corner of her eye. He saw it, but it didn't fall. Truth was, she was feeling more hopeless than ever. What if none of this mattered? What if they died in the next minute? What if fate had them with their hands tied?
Lyn released his face and placed her hands atop the cube...
"Doesn't matter. First things first, you're going to take this thing and—"
...And then, she wished she hadn't. Her words faltered and died in her throat when her implant hummed as though the microarray encountered a live wire, reverberating through her skull and gnawing around the edges, dredging up from the depths of all that she was. There was an assault on all her senses and for a good minute she could not hear, see, smell, or feel. At the same, it was as though lava was injected into her veins, which traveled straight up to her brain.
She felt a pain akin to a burn, except it was an electric sensation, quick, but gone in a snap. Rings of soft thin light wrapped around her wrist, ghosting over her forearm, before evaporating. If Sam had seen it, he gave no indication. Unknown to her, tendrils of energy arced into the cuts on her palms spiraling up the nervous system to the very Sector Seven installed implant lodged in her cerebellum.
Lyn stumbled back to distance herself. In the next instant, she found herself on her knees, arms loose and dangling by her sides. Sam squatted next to her holding her up, the Cube lay on the ground.
" — hey, are you— are you—?"
The light comes back. Sam's voice became louder. He calls her name several times. Lyn responded to him with a murmur. Just like that, she was sucked back into the present, her muscles twitching with life and she shot to her feet with a gasp.
I feel good, was her first realization.
Really good.
"You-you okay?"
Lyn looked at him, distractedly. "I— I don't know what just happened. But I'm fine...No, really, I'm fine." Get it together; eyes on the prize.
"Get the Cube," she ordered. Lyn dismissed the concern on his face as he picked up the artifact.
"Now start climbing, Sam."
His brows pinched together, he was about to say he didn't want to but she beat him to it.
"Think of something." She instructed him, "Whether that's someone you care about or admire. Think of them. And think of what they might say to you right now."
She didn't actually expect him to say anything. But he muttered words and she thought it might've been along the lines of sacrifice and victory.
With that, she nodded. "Everything is going to be fine, Sam. Trust me when I say it will," she said. "Our war. Our responsibility. Let's fix it together, yeah?"
Let's try to fix it together.
"Will you be okay?" He asked, referencing her earlier episode.
She pondered that— pondered the terrible sensation of touching that Cube and then the wonderful sensation after she released it.
"I think all this running is getting to me. Hopefully, I won't have to run that much longer." Because I'll be dead.
Lyn shook herself from that thought.
She nudged him up the stairs with a gentle push to his back. "Get going. And no heroics."
When he turned away from her, she expected him to not turn back. He didn't. Good boy. For Lyn, she was out the front door and busting down the street, southbound towards the mainstrip. She imagined she was a few blocks away from Sam. It may have been good or bad. She didn't like the idea of leaving, but she also knew she had to.
Lyn was running right into a ruined cityscape. Abandoned crushed cars were littered on the street she entered under a flurry of papers falling out of the broken windows of corporate buildings. There were a few stragglers on the street, half way between shrieking and crying over what they had just seen and running in the opposite direction of her, taking shelter in the nearest building.
From somewhere nearby, there was an earthquake. Except, it wasn't an earthquake and it was getting louder. When the rumble intensified under her feet, she'd looked over her shoulder in time to a metal tornado barreling into the street.
She stopped in her tracks. It wasn't a metal tornado. It was two aliens grappling at each other. Red and blue against…
Megatron.
"You still fight for the weak," Megatron bellowed, swinging his leg for a sweeping kick. The red and blue mech fell face first, chest to the ground and Megatron advanced, taking its head in his hands and slamming it down. "That is why—" One. Two. "— you lose!" Third time and each time there was a breaking of glass and the clamor of metal being beaten in.
Stop.
The fourth time the alien's head was lifted from the ground, its blue eyes spotted her and somehow, she knew who this was. A name whispered to her thoughts. She mouthed it.
And just before the alien's head hit the asphalt again, his arms braced the ground and he pushed against Megatron's hands, preventing an impact.
"You're wrong, Megatron," it growled and one of its hands retracted into itself to form into a barrel. Like the end of a gun and that end glowed orange while the gears inside it spun. The alien swung its arm at one of Megatron's legs. There was a pop and Megatron collapsed to the ground, his right leg blown back. In his enemy's weakness, the red and blue mech gave a fast counterclockwise kick into Megatron's jaw.
She'd thought the alien would take the final blow, but it didn't. Instead, the ground vibrated and nearly knocked her off her feet as it ran in her direction with one hand extended low to the ground as if—
The breath was knocked out of her lungs as the gigantic hand wrapped around her waist and it seemed the entire world had tipped off its axis as she was lifted off the ground. The air whipped past her ears as she was tucked into the crook of the alien's arm. Buildings flew past, but she paid it no mind as she looked up at the alien's face.
It was staring down at her.
"You're Optimus Prime, aren't you?" she asked.
Lyn saw his blue eyes disappear and realized he had closed them in acknowledgement. He had no mouth, instead what looked like the lower visor of a knight's helmet. When he opened his eyes, a gentle, baritone voice filled her ears.
"You shouldn't be here." The best advice she's gotten today. Not that she was going to listen to it.
"I know." She said. Then, a thought. "Sam has the Cube."
"I know," the alien leader replied, looking ahead. "Ratchet is arriving to his location."
"Then, where are we going?"
She felt herself press harder against his chest as he turned left. His footfalls were heavy. If she weren't in his arms, she would probably hear him from a mile away. She looked at his paint. Red flames stood out against an ultramarine background. As they passed the shadow of a building, the flicker of sunlight reflected off of his scratched and dented armor. Eventually, his pace slowed.
"Find safety," he said. Optimus crouched to his knees and lowered her until her feet found the ground. She scooted off his arm and once standing she saw him turning away. "You are far enough from the combat to escape. Going underground would be your best option."
Around them, the street was eerily quiet giving the illusion of safety.
"You know, too?" Lyn asked.
She waited, daring not to hope that he would answer if he knew what she was asking.
But, he glanced over his shoulder. Unconsciously, her eyes roved down Optimus Prime's frame. Narrow hips emphasized his broad shoulders. Longer and less bulky limbs. By human standards, he was a lot more proportional looking.
"Yes," he said. And he continued walking.
"Then, you know how I can help."
Optimus stopped. "It's not needed." She could hear his insistence.
"But, Jazz thought it would—"
"Jazz endangered your life," Optimus said. His voice wasn't bitter or harsh, merely quiet. Sometimes quiet was worse, and she watched Optimus turn to face her. His eyes passed over Lyn like a scanner and she could almost hear the relays click in his head. "He shouldn't have. I do not approve of delegating your kind to fight our war."
"But, we're already fighting," she said.
"That is something I will regret later," he replied. Then, he added, "But, if I can take you out of it, I will stand for that."
"They'll find me regardless." She said, but she hadn't meant it to be a jinx.
"Not unless the Autobots have stopped them," Optimus replied. "We're short of obtaining the Cube. Once they know it is destroyed, they'll cease to pursue you."
"Destroyed? What do you mean destroyed?"
Optimus watched her without a word. If it wasn't obvious in her face, she would force him to explain if she had to. How— she didn't know yet. But, she would find a way.
Thankfully, he did.
"I will sacrifice myself to destroy the Cube, so that Megatron will not exploit its power and throw mankind into extinction."
She didn't know Optimus. None of his deeds or transgressions, yet — it didn't make his admission any less tragic or extreme.
"You can't."
He tilted his head, not quite understanding her disapproval. "It's the only choice."
"No, it's not!" she bit out. After everything— after all this effort—? Her concentration was falling away and she didn't know why she'd feel so upset over someone she barely knew. Maybe, because she'd lost too many people throughout her life to simply let someone else give away theirs. "If you're dead...Who will stop Megatron?"
At that, his electric blue eyes widened. Either from the shock of her reaction or realization, she didnt know.
"If you think we're worth fighting for, then you have to fight," Lyn said. She clenched her fists so hard her nails pierced her skin. "Not die."
Just as she had finished her sentence, Optimus dived toward Lyn as a voiceless gasp leaked from her lungs. He pushed her under him as a salvo exploded onto his back. She'd covered her ears, blocking out the incredible sounds echoing around her.
Optimus…
She looked up at his face, and something in the glow of his eyes told her he was wounded. Badly.
"Op—"
Megatron kicked his sternum, throwing the leader onto his back. Optimus weakly held out his arm towards Lyn, but a foot pinned his shoulder from moving.
"Thank you for holding the insect for me, Prime," Megatron seethed as his hand reached for Lyn.
"No!" she yelled, falling back to elude his touch, landing hard on her haunches. She twisted her body around to position herself into a crouching sprint, but metal talons grabbed her midsection and hoisted her into the air. The wind siphoning out of her throat stole her chance to scream.
"Stop! Please!" She heard the words, small and pathetic, and realized they were her own.
Quicksand rose and swallowed up all her efforts to stay calm. She couldn't do this. Not again. I don't want to die. I don't.
A jagged metal face took up her vision.
"Your words have no bearing on me, human," said Megatron, "And your filthy existence distracts me from my goal."
She could feel the air escape his mouth. It was hot. Unbearably so. Behind his metal lips, peeled back into a snarl, she saw sharp, black teeth. Would he eat her? Squeeze the life out of her? Or throw her to the ground and dance on her body until it looked like a bloody rag doll?
Not again. God, please—
Sharp, cold metal about her waist threatened to slice through the layers of her flesh and bone as easily as a knife could cut butter. Her muscles quivered from tension. An unbidden rush of adrenaline careened through her veins. Something alive instantly spread at the base of her skull where her greatest secret lied— the only thing which made her, her.
All the while, she and Megatron were locked in a staredown. "If I weren't so close to the Cube, I'd see to draw out your suffering…"
"Then...then do it," Lyn challenged. But, she and the Decepticon both heard the bluff. Still, his red eyes flickered with amusement.
"Release her…" Optimus growled, struggling under the Decepticon's weight.
Without looking down, Megatron said, "This war is already lost, Brother. Why not grant the fleshling a death she deserves?"
Her hands suddenly tingled with pins and needles, it was also as though the molecules of her flesh were retaliating in their current structure hoping to generate heat— trying to boil— but failing. They were growing very cold, and her palms sought to find warmth. The first thing which came to mind was Megatron's hand, despite having . Her own moved, deflecting heat, as far as her arm could reach into a break in his armor.
The second she felt the slightest force of his squeeze, she'd found the hot nodule which connected his hand to his arm. That was all she needed. A single touch and her implant hummed.
An agonized roar rent the air as Lyn was in complete weightlessness. As Megatron staggered back, tremors ran through the ground towards which Lyn fell. She landed on her elbow and choked back her scream. A thousand tingles of pain erupted along her radius. Her good arm clutched the other instinctively. She wouldn't know if it was broken until the initial pain receded, but she couldn't wait it out. She had to run away.
"I tire of your antics," the sinister voice grated against her ears.
Lyn looked up. With one arm rendered immobile, swinging limply, Megatron's other limb transformed into a cannon. She should've ran but —
I'm going to die.
She could feel the heat of the cannon, and beyond it, the eyes of a mad hell condemning her death.
But, Megatron didn't fire.
Instead, the colossus whipped its head like a dog sniffed out the threat of a raging silver Pontiac in time, before dodging out of the way and stepping off of Optimus. Being relieved of the pressure, the Autobot leader rolled onto his hands and knees, reached for Lyn and scooped her into his arms as he had the first time.
"You, again." Megatron shot at Jazz's hood, and she heard the familiar whine of the Autobot in pain. His cannon transformed into a hand, and before the silver car could roll away, Megatron pierced his talon's into the front, ceasing Jazz who had gone eerily still. Whatever Lyn had done to incapacitate Megatron's arm, it was fully functional now.
"Jazz!" Lyn cried in despair, scrambling to climb up onto Optimus's shoulder, though the leader pressed her to his chest as he turned away and ran down the nearest street.
"Megatron will kill him!" She told Optimus.
His strides never faltered. To Lyn, his silence was an obvious answer.
The titanic roar of Megatron erupted behind them.
And the chase began.
-.-.-.-
City Hall Mission City, Nevada
October 28th, 2007
1450 hours
Running up those thirty flights reminded Sam of all those sprinting drills he'd suffered through during football season. Not like he enjoyed doing it — he'd bailed out after the first two games of the year. Wasn't his proudest moment, but the world didn't care and right now neither did he.
The surface of the Cube was becoming slippery from his hands. He was breathing so hard that it was all getting to his head. A sheet of sweat dripped down his face. He could very well faint from fatigue, but Sam feared that this would be the last time he'd be awake before Decepticons destroyed the world.
As he burst through the door to the roof, he panned his gaze from left to right and saw…
Nothing.
No chopper, unlike what Lennox promised.
No aliens either, like what Lyn promised.
It derailed Sam for a moment. And, for just a moment, he'd bent forward and his breaths escaped through his bared teeth in harsh puffs. He waited for the pain of breathlessness to subside.
That's when he heard it.
Over his breathing, the rotor noises of a chopper slicing through the air was feather light against his eardrums. But, after a few seconds, the sound of its approach amplified and he placed his hand over his eyes like a hood to locate the silhouette of a helicopter against the bright, clear sky.
There it was. Coming from the east, the massive Black Hawk banked into a descent, the sun was on its back. Sam's heart surged and he waved his free arm.
"Hey!" he yelled, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Over here!"
The aircraft was slow, but heading in his direction. Within a three hundred yard radius, it began to circle around the buildings, the pilot obviously never having performed a midflight pickup on a building without a helipad. The helicopter circled around, navigating closer each time, trying to test how far it could approach until it ran out of clearance. After a couple more minutes of disappearing and reappearing from behind taller buildings, the Black Hawk got close enough. There was still a five foot spatial difference from the fuselage door to the parapet of the roof.
Crouching low, Sam went over to the helicopter and saw the door slide open. A trooper waited on the other side. One of his hands hooked onto a leather strap for stability, the other gestured for Sam to hand over the artifact. If there were words exchanged, Sam couldn't here it over the spinning blades of the chopper.
He peered over and looked at the dizzying drop then back at the trooper, who made impatient hand motions.
He swallowed his fear, and in firm hands, he extended the Cube as far out as possible. The trooper reciprocated by also reaching out, but they were still a foot short. The downward gale of the helicopter's rotors nearly pushed him down, but Sam caught himself in time. Sam righted himself and exhaled. It'd be a fast death if he flipped over the side to the concrete.
On the second time, Sam nodded to the trooper and took a step away from the edge preparing an underhand throw to which the trooper had both his hands up.
After a moment's indecision Sam backpedaled, and adjusted his arms into an overhand throw. More speed, more force and the moment he'd felt the Cube leave his fingertips, time slowed as it turned in the air, catching the sunlight on each face and reflecting it back to Sam. Then, the trooper caught it, placed it beside him, gave the boy a thumbs up and slid the door shut.
Just like that the chopper gradually peeled away from the roof.
Sam was relieved of a burden now, but that didn't mark the end of anything yet. He still needed to find Bumblebee and Mikaela. Wherever they were, they didn't know that the Cube was going out of the city now. Likely, no one did.
It had taken a surprising five minute for him make it down the building, all thirty floors. His legs were burning by the time he saw Ratchet having just arrived in his bi-pedal mode, both arms morphed into guns and waving Sam along.
"And the Cube, boy?"
Sam smiled. "Leaving the city—"
Suddenly, Sam and Ratchet oriented the sound of an explosion to its location. Their last hope was spiraling out of the sky in a ball of fire and into the heart of the city where they both heard another explosion, but did not see its end.
"R-Ratchet did you see that?" Sam said, processing the image replaying over and over in his eyes. He'd just given it to them. How could this happen?
"We need to go, boy." The Autobot urged.
Sam tore his eyes away in disbelief.
"The Cube was in there," was all he said.
" NOW!" Ratchet roared, transforming into an ambulance so that they can both follow the wreckage and hope the Cube would be there before a Decepticon discovered it first.
-.-.-.-
Downtown Mission City, Nevada
October 28th, 2007
1430 hours
How can we win this war?
A question which had crossed her mind so many times today she'd lost count.
Lyn gripped onto an edge on Optimus's forearm, squeezing it hard because she feared she would fall. As though sensing her concern, Optimus's fingers wound her body tighter to him.
"Hang on," Optimus said. Not because she would fall, but to prepare her.
When he whirled around, her ears popped as the thrum of Optimus's cannon fired, deploying a blast into the center of Megatron's chest. The tyrant hurled back. She didn't see him get up, but they both knew he would.
Optimus was running again. He'd recovered from the hit of Megatron's missile earlier, but she could tell he was slower and whatever he was running on, he was short of empty. She was faring better than him and that thought scared her. Definitely, carrying human cargo wasn't helping Optimus. But, she didn't find the right time to tell him to let her go. Part of her already knew he'd ignore her if she even suggested it.
"Lennox said he can mark Megatron to guide the Air Force," she said.
Optimus hadn't given any indication that he heard her.
"Last time I saw him he was downtown."
Finally, he glanced down at her.
"Direct me to him."
She obeyed and wriggled her upper body to get a better view of the streets to which Optimus loosened his grip a little. She wasn't too familiar with the city, having only been through a couple times when she'd visited Sector Seven HQ, but there were some landmarks she recognized when Jazz detoured the streets.
"Take a right here," she said.
Optimus did as she instructed.
Lyn was surprised that there weren't any more Decepticons trailing after them. After Megatron, she didn't think Optimus could take another opponent. She hoped most of them were dead. She hoped the good guys were alive. It would make winning all the more sweeter.
"Now, if you go straight a quarter of a mile, and take a left, you'll see a hospital. Last I saw Lennox he was around this area," Lyn said.
"Thank you," Optimus murmured.
Even in the midst of battle, he dredged up his courtesies.
But, Lyn was worried if they'd even find Lennox at all.
-.-.-.-
Downtown Mission City, Nevada
October 28th, 2007
1506 hours
Sarah…
Sarah…
He chanted her name over and over.
He could smell her hair. Felt her mouth hovering over his ear.
"Wake up, Will," she whispered.
Sarah…
His wife whose beauty would make him gasp from a single slanting glance.
Warm fingers caressed his face.
"Will…" Her tone changed. She sounded panicked.
"Wake up…"
Was it Annabelle? Did someone need to change her? Can't you do it, honey? I've got work tomorrow.
"Will."
Five more minutes.
There was a sting at his cheek.
"Goddamnit, Will, wake up!"
Not Sarah.
Lennox jolted to consciousness and was met with Epps's sweaty face, his hand raised for a second blow.
"Wh-what—" Lennox sputtered. "I'm awake!" Harsher, he said. "I'm awake."
Epps lowered his hand. "You okay, man?"
"Hanging in there," he muttered. Behind his sergeant, was the ethereal glow of Hell.
Lennox blinked. No, it wasn't Hell, and he wasn't dead. Upon the craggy road, the skeleton of a chopper was engulfed in flames, and its fire was raging strong. He scoured his memory and remembered the gun fight with one of the Decepticons. One that could turn into a Pave Low. Same one that had ambushed them at Qatar. Lennox was on a motorcycle and in the next second he was sliding under the alien, right between its legs and fired a grenade into its lower body while its upper body was assaulted by a JDAM from a rippling F-22.
Last thing he saw was a fireball barreling towards them from the sky and then blackout.
"Where did that come from?" Lennox pointed behind Epps.
He looked at the flames then back at him. "It was supposed to leave the city."
"Are you saying that was Sam's chopper?"
Epps looked down and shook his head slowly. Not a "No, it wasn't Sam's" shake but a "Yes, it was and I don't know if that means the kid is alive or if the Cube is safe."
"Shit," Lennox said.
Epps handed him an M-4 and they both walked over to the wreckage. He couldn't tell if there were any bodies or if there were any gleaming cubes within the flames.
"Shit," Lennox said again.
How could they possibly search through that? Unless they wanted to burn alive.
An ambulance blared it sirens and Lennox spun around to Ratchet driving from the direction of the City Hall district. Perfect timing, he thought.
Lennox looked at Epps. "I think it's time we call 'em in."
With a nod, the sergeant reached into his cargo pocket and pulled out a laser designator.
Downtown Mission City, Nevada
October 28th, 2007
1450 hours
When Megatron finally caught up to them and engaged in combat, Optimus had done what he could only do: let Lyn go. And she was dropped into an open trench, seemingly unharmed, only shaken. Water spit out above her from a broken pipe, soaking through her jumpsuit, and she poked her head over the lip of the hole to watch what may have been the last battle.
Both Optimus Prime and Megatron were at each other. Completely and entirely. There were no grit out remarks about saving or destroying humanity. They were focused and even Megatron sensed his opponent was no longer holding back. Optimus rolled with the punches and seeing them in clear view, Lyn witnessed the practiced ease at at which the Autobot leader dodged his enemy's attacks. As Megatron swung, Optimus ducked. Countering the attack, he shot his forearm straight into Megatron's mouth and the impact propelled them into a wall.
They'd passed the hospital Lyn referenced, but there was no sign of Lennox or his men. By the time, Megatron was firing at them, Optimus had to stop and drop her or one bad move would put Lyn in the crossfire.
She didn't want to think Lennox relocated elsewhere in the city. If that was the case, then Optimus would have to beat Megatron on his own. As she reached that conclusion, Optimus was flung onto his back and Megatron bared his teeth, towering over him.
"You've always been a nuisance to me," Megatron said.
His hand unfurled from a fist and captured the lower half of Optimus's face to force him to look at him. "Tell me Brother, how did you feel when you were named 'Prime'?"
Optimus's hand flung outwards and hit Megatron in the shoulder. Megatron was not fazed.
"Does it feel good now?" Megatron roared. His other hand curled into a fist and cracked Optimus's head to the side. "Are the Primes proud of you now?"
Again.
Again.
Each punch was a blow to her own heart, and each time she looked at Optimus, he looked every bit worse than the second before. So, Lyn did what Optimus wouldn't have wanted her to do. She jumped out of the trench.
And she did what Jazz had told her to do from the very beginning:
Run and keep running.
Downtown Mission City, Nevada
October 28th, 2007
1510 hours
"The chosen savior of Cybertron fails his planet and the next!"
He did not have the energy.
Not enough to power his weapons arsenal. And, in any fight which relied on only his limbs, he would be foolish to think he could match against Megatron, whose brawn far surpassed his own.
As Megatron's pede was coming down upon him with a force that could crush the outer casing of his spark chamber, Optimus rolled out of way. He was on his chest now and his head hung over the edge of the trench where he had put—
In place of the human girl, he saw rubble and a shallow puddle forming on the ground. Perhaps, she had fled for safety. In that case, it was better, for once Megatron killed him, he would seek her out at the soonest opportunity.
"It seems your little human has left you," Megatron stated lamely. "No matter. She is easy prey."
Despite the hopelessness of the situation, Optimus didn't accuse the girl because they could not find Captain Lennox. Instead, he feared his time was coming to an end. He would fail this world and his. He would fail the Autobots. He would fail Sam. If his transmitted wasn't damaged from battle with bonecrusher, he'd have sent a final message of gratitude to those who fought beside him for the entirety of the war. But, he wouldn't even be granted that.
"Before I rip out your spark, would you like to know how I plan to desecrate this planet?"
Optimus struggled to prop himself onto his hands and knees. His limbs were quivering, unable to support his weight for much longer. He stared at Megatron.
"You talk too much."
Affronted, Megatron glowered and a low growl emitted from his vocalizer.
"Hey Megatron!"
It was Sam's voice.
When Optimus looked up, he saw the boy with Lyn by his side and the Cube in her arms.
"Say hello to the calvary!" Sam yelled.
The first grenade was launched at Megatron's shoulder.
-.-.-.-
Downtown Mission City, Nevada
October 28th, 2007
1515 hours
Megatron saw her first and that red glare almost stilled every nerve in her body, pinning her like a bug on display. She could feel the hate scorching her skin.
Good. She welcomed it. You're not taking this day away from me and you're not taking it away from anybody else.
She'd ran several blocks, almost a mile, following the path of destruction which would lead her like bread crumbs to Lennox. She was the fastest she had ever been in her life, so fast she was almost flying and then she heard the explosion which guided her to the army captain. Even Sam was there with Ratchet, who had rifled through a fiery pile of debris and pulled out the Cube.
She only yelled at them to hurry and Lennox and his men responded quickly. Ratchet transformed into an ambulance and both Lyn and Sam slipped in, explaining to her on the way what happened to the chopper which was supposed to pick up the cube. He had let her hold the Cube, amazed that it was still cold despite having been sitting in the fire. All the while, she felt it again. Not as intensely and without the discomforting feeling of having touched the Cube the first time. But, certainly, something about the artifact in her arms was different. Between them.
Needless to say, they arrived early enough to see that Optimus had held himself against Megatron just barely.
Lennox's men didn't hesitate. They fired their grenade launchers and Ratchet was poised with a pulse cannon which threw Megatron onto his knees.
"Call them in Epps!" Lennox ordered.
They were separated only ten feet from each other, but they had to scream at the top of their lungs for their voices to carry over the havoc.
Sergeant Epps replied, "Can't!"
"Why?"
"Megatron's too close. It'll hit Prime, too."
Overhearing that, Lyn's stomach churned.
When Sam looked at her, he sensed the tension in her arms. For him, time crystallized and he thought he was in her head— could read her intentions clearly written on her face. On reflex, his hand reached out and his fingertips barely grazed her shoulder as she surged forward with the Cube.
"Wait Lyn!"
Ignoring Sam's insistence to return, Lyn dodged between damaged vehicles. She panted hard, thighs long enduring the burn of running around the entire city but she thundered past the gunshots anyway, unperturbed as one whined past her ear. The corners of her eyes wrinkled as she focused hard on the massive alien, unaware of the electric blue gaze pinned on her running form. And all she could think was that maybe this war could be won with distractions and decoys.
"Megatron!" she shouted to which the Decepticon turned, pulled by the lure of the Cube and its decoy's signatures.
Her arms extended behind her ears as she hurled the Allspark over her head, catapulting the object through the air. It didn't travel far if compared to an alien's throw, though it had landed past Megatron who followed its path.
She skidded to a stop under Optimus whose entire frame shook with weakness.
"You shouldn't be here," he said for the second time that day. She has the sudden urge to touch him. For encouragement. For comfort. And...she didn't know what else, but time didn't allow her dwell on it.
"I know, but who else will fix our problem?"
Lyn couldn't stop herself. She reached for his face, but her hand gravitated to the center of his chest, palm spread wide over the warmth it emanated. Even with the rain of debris falling around them, this was restoring. It almost made her forget about every event in her life that has brought her to this point. Every recollection and all the chaotic thoughts and emotions which lived in them, aged in them bled from her mind, making the burden of their weight a little more bearable. But, she knew nothing will let her forget.
One last time, her implant hums.
His obsession overcoming the benefit of forewarning, Megatron dived mindlessly into the asphalt for the Cube several yards away from Optimus. His talons curled over the artifact claiming it in victory. He had won. After millions of years. He. Won. His howl of laughter told her that much.
But that didn't distract her.
She and Optimus met gazes and before her implant stopped humming, she said, "Please, don't give up. We're almost there. Now, end our war."
The moment her touch had separated the outside of his spark chamber, she canted to one side as though sucked into a sudden daze. Optimus captured Lyn and tucked her body under him as soon as he heard the F-22s whistle ahead and discharge their missiles.
The ambush flooded the street in an inferno, and pelted by explosion after explosion, the Cube slipped from Megatron's fingers. Bereft of his senses other than that of pursuing his planet's life source, Megatron reduced to a crawl. Sabot rounds from Lennox's men punctured vital servo gears, shots spreading over an imaginary grid around the alien's body, hindering the Decepticon's movement.
His energy had returned to him and as evidence of that Optimus's arm glowed from the energon of his sword which had emerged, hotter than when he had wielded it against Bonecrusher. Laying Lyn to the ground, the Autobot leader stood and turned.
The distraction of the F-22 assault had granted Optimus Prime a chance to advance with his sword poised. The blade was so hot it created a mirage in its wake, and when Megatron unsteadily rose to his feet, Optimus charged toward him and seized his neck. Right before he could plunge his sword, angled above his opponent's center, he said:
"Yes, Brother. The Primes will be proud of me now."
A hiss came from the sharp metal as it sliced through Megatron's cables embedded in his chest with searing precision. Then, Optimus sliced downwards to extinguish the spark chamber that exploded from the impingement. Retracting the sword, he stepped away and watched Megatron fall. The tyrant gave out a wet gurgle, fluids pouring from his mouth, hands clawing at his throat to staunch the flow. Megatron, who could not admit defeat, in place of fear, verbalized his distraught with a vengeful roar until the red of his optics faded black.
The silence that fell upon the city created a reprieve amongst the soldiers who progressed near the still smoldering form of Megatron. The threat to the end of their world was terminated and each of them released tears of exhausted relief, while knowing they will never be able to return to normalcy after the harrowing events of today.
"Optimus. It's over," someone panted behind him.
Optimus Prime stowed away his sword and turned to Sam crouched beside Lyn who lay unconscious amidst the ruin.
"Yes, Sam," he agreed. "It's over."
AN: Ended very similarly to the first movie, except the Cube is intact.