Author's Note: Would someone please explain to me why reviews are appearing on and not in my inbox?! I haven't gotten any new mail in 2 days, and my reviews are appearing on long before they ever reach my inbox. Can someone please tell me why?! My email used to be nice and fast. Now it's so slow, and I don't know what's wrong! If anyone can tell me, somehow, please do!

Pardon my freaking out. This thing with my email started yesterday, and I have no idea what's causing it or what to do about it. It's really frustrating and alarming when you have to check to find out if you have any new reviews instead of finding them in your email inbox. Help!

Disclaimer: You know the drill.

Burning Skies

Chapter 5: Escape

It had been nearly two weeks since Ultra Rodimus had gone missing. Magnus had spent all of that time in Madbay. After the first few really severe reactions to whatever was happening to his mate, Magnus had gone into a coma. First Aid had tried everything he could think of to bring him out of it, but nothing had worked. Magnus lay completely still, not reacting to anything.

"This makes no sense!" the medic exploded.

"He's concentrating on the link," Kup explained. "Sending his energy to Ultra Rodimus."

First Aid gave him a strange look. "What good will that do?"

"If he can send enough strength, he might be able to help Ultra Rodimus free himself."

"Oh."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Ultra Rodimus could barely lift his head. He was very weak. Drugs were running rampant through his systems. "Surgeons" had been at him for the last five days, cutting into his body, removing chunks of muscle and tissue. Probes had been jammed deep into his flesh. His skin had been sliced and peeled back from his innards. Parts of his scalp had been peeled away from his skull. The bone had been cut open, and bits of machinery were being stuck to his brain. Falcon was broadcasting his pain. His tentacles had been cut off and yanked out, he'd been cut open, and he was being used as an alien guinea pig. Both of them were in bad shape.

Jennifer sauntered up to him, a cruel smirk on her face. "You've provided a great deal of entertainment during your stay, but now it is time for you to be a nice robot and die!"

The young Prime's eyes went wide. With terrified strength he jerked against his restraints, and one came loose. He threw his weight against it, and it finally came off. Jennifer jumped as the strap holding his right arm snapped off and fell to the floor.

Wires and sensors and probes jerked out of Falcon's body as he fought his way out of the restraints. Alarms began to scream. He howled in agony as he landed on legs that had been brutally broken days before. But the pain was forced to the back of his mind, pushed there by the overwhelming desire to survive.

One of the thugs Jennifer used as guards charged him. Instinctively he brought up his skrill arm. Falcon, spurred on by the cruelty that had been done to him, unleashed a devastating blast. The thug let out a terrible, high-pitched scream an instant before he was vaporized. A piece of the wall went with him.

"Kill him!" Jennifer ordered. "Don't let him escape!"

The other thugs ran toward him, lifting guns, knives, and metal bars. He saw them coming and turned his skrill arm toward them. One shot took out four and a half of them, and the others decided to stay back. Another shot demolished the wall, creating an escape route. As fast as his severely mauled legs could take him, Ultra Rodimus headed for freedom.

Jennifer watched him go, cursing in the most foul language she knew. She'd been so close to getting her vengeance!

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Jesse Maxwell was driving home with his wife and daughter when he saw someone staggering toward the road, moving in a straight line from a complex built out of sight of the road. Jesse thought the stranger would stop, but he didn't, and Jesse had to slam on the brakes to avoid running over the stranger. Once stopped, he parked the car and climbed out. Angry, he stormed toward the stranger.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Jesse raged at him. "Are you trying to kill someone?! I have a family in that car! Watch where you're going!"

The stranger looked at him, and Jesse felt all of his anger drain away. It was replaced by utter horror.

Blood ran down the stranger's face and body, staining his torn clothes. His skin was hanging in strips, cut away by a sharp blade. Open wounds all over his body left muscle and even bone exposed. The setting sun glinted in glassy green eyes, and shone dully off an exposed curve of skull. Then Jesse realized that the greyish lump on top of the man's head was his brain, the skull cut away, leaving it exposed. From the way the man was walking, or rather, limping, both of his legs were broken. He was forcing himself to keep going despite the agony he must be in. There was a growth or something on his right arm, but it looked as if it belonged there. It was as badly hurt as the man was.

"My God!" Jesse took the man's nearest arm. "Linda!"

His wife emerged from the car and walked over to them. "What is it? Who is that-- oh my lord!"

"We have to get him to a hospital," Jesse decided, half-carrying the strange man toward the car, noticing the tattered ends of wires sticking out of his skin. The edges of the cuts were too neat to have been simply torn open. They'd been cut open.

"Who...?" the stranger rasped.

"My name is Jesse. Jesse Maxwell."

"Where...?"

"Somewhere on the road into the city. We're going to take you to a hospital."

"Not...hospital...Metroplex..."

"The Autobot city?"

"Have to...get...there..."

Jesse's young daughter, Terri, leaned out the car window. "Look at his ears. Humans don't have pointed ears. And his eyes have slit pupils. He's not human. I think we should get him to Metroplex. They have the facilities to treat nonhumans."

"Good point. Terri, get in the front with us."

She climbed into the front seat. Jesse opened the back door and lifted the stranger in, grunting in surprise at his weight. Once the man was lying on his side on the back seat, Jesse got into the driver's seat and turned toward Metroplex, driving as fast as he could. Halfway there, they picked up a police car. The car followed, its sirens screaming. Jesse glanced at it in the mirror, but didn't slow down despite the fact that he was going at over 130 kilometers per hour.

"Dear..." Linda said.

"He needs medical attention now, or he may die!"

She gazed at him, worried. Then she nodded and looked out the windshield. Metroplex's towers had appeared over the trees, the alien metal they were made of seeming to glow in the light of the setting sun.

The car shot through the gates of the city and skidded to a halt, its brakes screeching. Startled Autobots emerged from the city to see what was going on, staring at the car and at the swarm of police cars hot on its tail. They were still staring when Jesse bolted out of the car.

"Get help! We have a severely injured man in the back seat!"

Several Autobots disappeared into the city. Minutes later, a medical team ran out, pulling a stretcher along with them. The policemen stared in surprise as they carefully lifted the man out of the car.

First Aid, who'd appeared to supervise the moving of the patient, caught a glimpse of the man's face and froze in shock.

It can't be!

"He's been tortured severely, and he's not human. He's also got something on his arm." Jesse lifted the man's right arm to reveal the suffering creature on it, and First Aid let out a cry of shock. Jesse frowned up at him. "Do you know him?"

"I've never actually seen him in this form, but yes, I know him." First Aid looked like he was about to faint. "He's our Prime. That's Ultra Rodimus."

To be continued...

Five chapters in, and more to come. Send me reviews, and the next chapters will appear as fast as I can get them typed. And if anyone can tell me what's wrong with my email, I will be very grateful. And now, my reviewer responses:

Simply Crisis: Yes, trouble is coming. And they're getting very deep into it. Keep reading to ind out what happens next!

LoneGenesis: I'm updating, I'm updating! Hold your horses! I'm updating as fast as I can!