Rated: M for adult themes: language, violence, mental rape, character death, mech erotica, torture, gore, and suicidal ideation. This varies from chapter to chapter, so read at your own risk.

Important Note: I started this series of fics before Revenge of the Fallen hit the theaters. This is an A.U. 2007 movie verse fic, NOT a ROTF/DOTM/AE/LK/BB or whatever follows fic.

Disclaimer: The only thing I own in this work of complete fiction is Velocity/Sira and Hardcore. They are mine. Everything else is copyrighted and owned by some really rich people. I make no money from this but wish I could.

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Full Velocity: Holding onto the Future

Chapter 55: Killing Field

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Shaking from exertion and panic, Velocity collapsed beneath a tree surrounded by overgrown grass and weeds. Air hissed as she vented rapidly. Her hands and legs trembled with shock as the sight of her home imploding beneath her continued to loop in her mind. Pulling her legs up, Velocity rested her elbows on her knees and her helm in her hands. She stared at the tiny shoots of spring grass, trying to push past overgrown brown stalks but did not see any of it. She locked on the memory of Ratchet shoving her up the human stairs, knowing she could fit and he could not. The medic knew what would happen and spent his last few minutes trying to save her as he sacrificed himself.

The soldiers were not far behind; she should have stayed with them and helped. Instead, she ran like a coward, panicked, self-serving, and useless. Because of her, the Autobots lacked a medic, and people died.

Instincts to protect wormed their way through the despondent haze. She should go back and try to help, but what could she do? Tons of dirt and rock buried the collapsed base. How would she look for survivors? She could not scan, nor did she know how. And if she did find survivors, she could not offer medical aid. If she were honest with herself, she had to be the most useless team member, only tolerated because she banged Optimus. And she didn't even know where Optimus went, how to find him or any of the Autobots.

Burying her face in her palm, Velocity moaned in failure and grief. She wanted to cry, to release the despair in racking sobs and drowning tears. Unfortunately, this metal body held onto suffering, refusing to let it go.

She sat this way, heaving her vents, emotions rolling over and crushing her beneath their weight. The temptation to curl in a ball for the rest of eternity threatened to anchor her to the shadows beneath a tree.

A concussive boom rolled skyward in a dark cloud, yanking Velocity from her spiraling despondency. A battle raged nearby, a battle she had forgotten about. She needed to move, to hide, but her only options were the open desert or deeper into Tranquility. Glancing about, she realized she sat on the edge of a schoolyard beneath the branches of a lone oak. Swings rocked calmly in the breeze near a set of jungle gyms, the ground beneath them barren from decades of small feet compressing the dirt. The abandoned school filled the other end of the field, and its shattered windows resembled busted teeth. The glint of sunlight on metal captured her attention. Looking to her left, two mechs strolled down the suburban street, deep in conversation.

Velocity froze; the Decepticons had not noticed her yet, focusing on the houses across the street. Slowly she shifted and crouched low to the ground, but her size made hiding in the tall grass impossible.

They stopped, and one flipped a car over while the other punched the underside. When it did not fight back, they moved on.

Judging the distance to the school building, Velocity decided she could not retreat without being seen. Any movement would draw their attention, and instinctively, she lowered closer to the ground. Grass tickled around her mouth as she tucked her arms beneath her chest, hands pressed into the dirt. Hypercoils tensed, preparing to spring into action.

The Decepticons continued their destructive stroll, snapping the tires off an upside-down Kia, then kicking an already dented Ford Ranger. Their chatter drifted to her, the squeaks and clicks of the Cybertronian language too far to fully understand other than the odd word.

She still could not move. Only the open expanse of a playground separated them, and their focus on parked cars kept them from turning her way. Velocity curled tighter, hypercoils tense; she stopped cycling her vents, afraid the soft rush of air sounded like a gong in the warm breeze.

The enemy moved closer. Their pedfalls cracked the concrete as their incessant chatter raked across her audios. "With comms down, at least Soundwave cannot tell us to fight the Prime," the blue one quipped.

His green and gold companion nodded in agreement. "I like my aft in one piece; that is the only benefit to this disruption zone."

They might not want to fight the Prime, but a small red femme would not threaten the pair. She prayed to whoever would listen that they never looked her way; her brilliant coloring did not offer camouflage in the bright sun.

The green and gold mech stopped in the middle of the road; he stretched, bending his spinal assembly backward. "Primus, I'm tired of this. That busted actuator is acting up."

"You whine too much."

With a twist of the waste and the green mech looked away. "Mute it. You take a plasma blast to the…." He twisted her direction and froze.

Velocity and the Decepticon stared at each other. She remained statue still but knew the glow of her optics announced her as functioning.

"A femme." Green croaked, the disbelief warbling in his vocals.

Blue turned and followed Green's gaze; wrinkled bow arches instantly shot upward in surprise.

A beat of the pump and the trance evaporated. The Decepticons charged.

Springing up, Velocity turned and bolted. She barely made the block when something entangled her legs. She fell, tumbling into the side of a truck. Flipping onto her back, she found a length of cable weighted by metal balls pinning her legs together. A few slashes of her claws and the weights dropped to the asphalt with heavy thuds. The bola served its purpose, slowing her down, and the Decepticons closed the distance.

Rolling sideways, Velocity avoided the impact of a motorcycle aimed at her head. Not wanting to find out what other items the Decepticons would lob in her direction, the femme scrambled to her peds and ran. Roars of violence rebounded off the abandoned homes. Easily outpacing the larger, heavier mechs, a widening distance quickly opened between her and the 'Cons.

Sliding around a corner, Velocity raced along a street, past empty houses with dark windows. Ahead a shopping center stretched low and long, offering little cover. Turning, the femme bolted between two houses. With graceful ease, she leapt over the stockade fence and into a small yard. Searching for a place to hide, she cringed when she saw a doghouse; dogs liked to bark, and she needed stealth. Fortunately, the canine was long gone, hopefully taken when his owners evacuated Tranquility. Lowering herself, Velocity peaked around the corner of the stucco-clad single-story. The street remained clear, but engines hummed nearby.

Venting to cool her mechanics, the femme waited. Would the Decepticons bother checking every possible hiding place for her? Did they see her turn and dart between the houses? Glancing around, she found a small pool, slimed green with algae; and a checkerboard of yards lined with fences. The fences would slow her down, and the Decepticons had already proved their skill at throwing things; her odds were not good.

An engine revved on the street out front. A blue SUV sped past, heading to the shopping center.

She waited.

After a couple of minutes, a green SUV rolled along slower, pausing at the edges of yards. Velocity slowly slipped behind the house. She checked to ensure she had not accidentally exposed herself to a window. Green sat for a second, his engine humming, then the crunch of tires on asphalt announced him moving forward.

Still, Velocity waited.

She knew how to flush game; poverty and hunger had made her an excellent hunter at a young age. A memory of sinking tiny kitten claws into a greasy rat filled her mind. She could not relish the dredged-up memory of her youth because she was now the rat. Keeping low and on all fours, she crept across the yard. With a few quick swipes of her talons and the wood fence gave way with minimal noise. The crunching squeal of crushing metal echoed in the distance. No doubt the Decepticons found a small red car.

Moving into the next yard, Velocity continued to travel parallel to the Decepticons' path. It only took two blocks before the residential area gave way to a business district.

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A Decepticon landed before her, not in a graceful entrance or dramatic arrival, but a flopping crash. Velocity didn't care if the mech collapsed or pirouetted; she dove through an already shattered storefront window.

Hopefully, the enemy had not seen her during his chaotic fall. Crouching, Velocity ducked behind freestanding shelves of paint. Peeking over the top of the shelf and a cardboard ad for Sherman William's color of the year, Accessible Beige, she watched for the blue Decepticon to charge after her.

He didn't. He lay in the road gurgling energon. It took her a few seconds to recognize the mech as one of the pair that chased her. Where was his companion? Where did Green go? She twisted to look behind her, making sure the rows of painting supplies and checkout counter had not turned into a snarling Decepticon.

They had not. The depts of the store remained dark and still.

A heavy thump yanked Velocity's attention to the flailing mech outside. Sideswipe rose from his landing and lazily strolled toward the prostrate Decepticon. His fingers curled and uncurled as he cracked his head from side to side.

Velocity wanted to call out, but something deep inside stilled her words. The wild voice of instinct and intuition whispered "danger" as she watched the Autobot from the shattered fangs of the store window. She heeded that quiet voice; it had kept her alive more than once. If Sideswipe had seen her, he made no motion to communicate, leaving her secured within the dark shadows of the store.

Instead, the warrior stood beside the fallen Decepticon and pinned the mech with his ped. "Damn, Sunny. He is still functioning," his voice bounced along the hard facades and echoed down the streets.

The Decepticon gurgled, and an arm flopped weakly.

"No, no. You stay right there. We aren't finished with you." Metal popped and squealed as Sides' leaned his weight on the blue mech's chest.

Sunstreaker landed with a heavy thud, his mass framed by the broken window. Cold brutality crackled and hummed in the air around him. Velocity ducked lower, stupidly hoping the stacks of one-gallon cans and interior design displays hid her. Her inner predator intently watched the mech, acknowledging that a more powerful predator roamed the street. She remained silent, allowing the new drama to unfold before her.

Joining his brother, the yellow mech smiled down at the Decepticon, humor absent from his expression. Reaching down, he curled his fingers beneath the edge of the Decepticon's abdominal plating and pulled. The screech of metal could not drown out the screams as the plating came loose with a wet spurt of energon. Sunstreaker tossed the armor away and began stripping off another piece.

Velocity pressed her hands over her mouth. The maniacal glint in the twins' optics terrified her as they obviously relished torturing the Decepticon. She kept still and silent, not trusting the Autobots to restrain their violence if they saw her, but she could not look away from the slaughter.

As Sideswipe held the mech down, his brother ripped away armor, exposing mechanics. Hypercoils were shredded next as energon, oils, and mech fluids leaked onto the street and ran into the gutters. Eventually, the 'Con stilled, unable to move his limbs while exposed wires crackled and arched from raw ends. The mech could still scream and plead for mercy, but the cries fell on deaf audios. The Twins chatted while they slowly tore their pray apart.

"Do you remember that incursion at Gygax Points? No? I do. No Mercy from the Decepticon force there." Autobot hands slowly stretched a bunched hypercoil until it snapped, the words almost lost in the screams.

"And all those wounded in the Perihex Repair Facility? No Mercy for them either." Sunstreaker pulled a mechanical organ from its brackets with sharp snaps, then threw it aside. It landed with a wet splat in front of the window Velocity watched from.

Sideswipe released the butchered mech; only small twitches and the glow of optics hinted at life. "I remember that. Was that the one where the 'Cons blew it up with a missile barrage, refusing to allow us to move the injured." With brutal efficiency, the Autobot stomped on the Decepticon's chest. The pings of the frame snapping rang out like bells in the warm summer air. Another stomp from a heavy ped and mechanics cracked beneath the strain. The red Autobot continued to stomp.

Sunstreaker stood and left his brother to finish off the Decepticon; he searched among the pieces haphazardly thrown around. Picking up a piece of blue armor, the melee warrior ripped something off and tucked it into a storage compartment before discarding the plating again.

Velocity ducked behind the rows of paint cans and displays. She had seen enough but could still hear the crunching thumps of Sideswipe's peds. She wrapped her arms around her helm, trying to cover her audios and block the sound. Cycling deeply, the femme just wanted the execution over. She understood the necessity of killing for survival, but this brutality sickened her.

Eventually, Sideswipe stopped his incessant stomping. Uncovering her helm, Velocity cautiously peeked from behind her hiding place. The twin Autobots chatted quietly among themselves before Sunstreaker dipped his hand into a pool of energon and scribbled on the wall. After that, the warriors calmly walked away, most likely in search of more victims.

Shuddering, Velocity realized the Decepticon was a victim. She could not justify this level of violence, even against an enemy that would do the same to her. A small voice inside pointed out that she had not suffered a million years of war either. Nor did she want to, nor did she ever want to be alone with the twins again.

Velocity waited, giving the Autobots time to leave the area before she uncurled herself from her hiding place. With slow, cautious movements, she slipped between the blades of jagged glass rimming the window frame. The remains of the dead Decepticon lay ahead, but his parts covered the block. Spilled fluids soaked the street and splatted on nearby buildings; on a flat wall, "Till All Are One," dripped down the stucco. She could not avoid stepping in the cooling liquids; walking slowly, she tried to avoid splashing the energon. The piece of armor Sunstreaker discarded sat at her peds. Curiosity got the better of her, and she picked up the metal, turning it over for a clue as to what he took and stowed away. Among the dented and scratched blue, the outline of a Decepticon shield sat gray and empty. Realizing Sunny had taken a trophy, she dropped the armor plating, and it rang out loudly in the empty street. Not waiting to find out who or what had heard her, she turned and trotted in the opposite direction of the twins.

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Mikaela moaned, every muscle in her body clenched almost beyond human tolerance. A ragged hiss escaped her as her body tried to rip itself open and expel the baby. A moan finally slipped through her gritted teeth as she sank to the floor.

"Micky!" screeched Sam, and he dropped to her side, his hands offering support.

She could not respond, too turned into her body to even care. Another contraction and warm liquid soaked her underwear and spread between her legs. Embarrassed from wetting on herself, the woman tried to cover the mess with her hospital gown.

"You peed yourself," Sam announced with half shock and half disgust.

Between contractions, Mikaela Banes Witwicky grabbed her husband's face with one hand, her short nails digging into his cheeks. "Shut the fuck up."

"Oh, that isn't urine," the nurse chortled, "Your water broke."

XxxX

Movement along her peripheral vision served as all the warning Velocity received. She dove, taking her already small frame to the ground. Above her, massive arms closed around empty air.

His roar of frustration was instantly cut off as a metal disc separated his head from his torso in a spray of energon. For several seconds, the body stayed rigid, standing in shock as the neurosynaptic circuitry carried its last command. The body teetered alarmingly, and Velocity scrambled backward to avoid being pinned beneath the massive mech.

The body collapsed in a loud discord of crashing metal and heavy thumps. The raw wound where the head had once been attached pointed at Velocity and poured energon onto the pavement. The femme scrambled backward to avoid the ever-growing pool of spilled fluid. Slamming into something stiff and unyielding, she looked up, and the friendly optics of Wheeljack smiled down at her.

He offered a hand and pulled her to her peds. "Hey, V. Why are you out here?" He stepped around her and walked toward the fallen Decepticon. Bending over, he inspected the body. "Do you like my new weapon? I was working on it for a while; the nice thing is that it doesn't require any energy, just tension, and physics."

Shaking herself out of her shock, Velocity blurred out, "The base is gone. The Decepticons leveled it, and Ratchet and Cliffjumper were still inside with the soldiers."

Wheeljack snapped upright, staring at her. He said nothing, but his friendly expression hardened. Turning on his peds, he walked past the dead 'Con and yanked the disc from where it had lodged in the side of a building. Snapping it back into a device on his arm, and in cold hollow words, he said, "Thank you." Shifting into a white and green Ford GT, the Autobot roared down the street, turned a corner, and disappeared.

Velocity slowly stood, alone and confused. She turned in a tight circle, trying to find an explanation for the abrupt departure. The decapitated Decepticon did not offer any answer, nor did the sightless windows of abandoned shops. She sighed and walked away from the body.

She hadn't taken a dozen steps when a seething, "You killed Scrapheap," drifted over her shoulder. Spinning, Velocity found three Decepticons, two looking at the body and one glaring at her.

"Shit," she exclaimed before she turned back around and ran.

Velocity quickly left the two larger Decepticons behind, but the smaller one kept up with her, he could not close the gap between them, but she could not lose him either. Now she understood what the Autobots meant when they said her frame had to remain light, not weighed down by extra weaponry, but a few extra weapons might help her survive situations like this. Instead, she led the mech helter-skelter through streets, back alleys, and finally to the Tranquility Mall.

Once, as a woman, she had visited this mall, quickly throwing together a wardrobe. The layout was simple, one long gallery opening to a second story with a promenade to watch the shoppers below. Both levels offered about twenty shops, with a food court on one end and a large anchor store on the other. None of these amenities interested her; she just needed a hiding place.

In the open and abandoned parking lot, the femme pushed herself faster; she had to get away from him, not wanting a confrontation weaponless. The main entrance loomed ahead, almost three stories of glass and metal. A testament to the glory days of American retail.

Someone or something had busted the glass doors, exactly what she wanted. Without slowing, Velocity threw herself at the doors. Tucking into a ball, she shattered the rest of the glass and framing as she rolled through the opening. Hitting the tile, the femme jumped to her peds as glass rained around her. She charged forward.

Skylights high overhead forced the shadows to linger around gated storefronts. Dead plants, brown and wilted, drooped in their brick planters, forgotten and denied water. Dust more than litter covered the floor, and her every pedfall echoed harshly around her. Long strides gave her the momentum to jump to the second floor, easily clearing the balcony. Leaping again, claws sank into the ledge surrounding the skylight. Swinging, she pulled her legs up and anchored them on the ledge.

Freeing one hand, Velocity's claws made quick work scouring the glass. A gentle push and the section popped loose. Carefully she slid the glass away from the opening, letting gravity take it to the roof and out of sight. Reaching through the opening, she grabbed the concrete lip supporting the skylights. With a fast shimmy, she left the mall's interior and lay on the roof. Staying low, she listened to the Decepticon stomp through the building. Metal rang out as he ripped gates guarding the stores against human vandals. masonry crashed, and the howls of frustration echoed from below.

As she hoped, the 'Con thought she hid among the stores, not exiting the skylights above. If he looked closely, he might notice the missing glass and figure it out. She intended not to be around if he did. Slowly, silently, Velocity crawled to the edge of the roof. Swinging her legs over, she jumped the three stories and landed on hands and peds. Running, the femme left the open expanse of the parking lot, preferring the crowd of buildings and homes.

XxxX

She felt stupid as she crept along. She should have approached the twins; they were allies and, in a weird way, friends. Maybe friends? She still needed to find someone to report the collapse of the base, but the warzone was not what she expected. The continuous explosions and rain of bullets or projectiles she envisioned never occurred. Instead, an eerie silence filled the city with only occasional distant crashes of metal. Velocity imagined the combatants clashing and then retreating, no one wanting to fight to the death in hand-to-hand combat. Every noise of fighting echoed and warped among the buildings, and pinpointing the location of the warriors became difficult. Many times, when she thought she found the battle, only splatters of energon or tidbits of metal remained.

Trying to locate any ally and avoid the enemy kept Velocity focused on sounds and flashes of light off shiny surfaces more than her actual location. Moving out of the suburbs, past strip malls and gas stations into the downtown business district, with multistory buildings that awoke memories. She knew this area.

Velocity slowed, cautious steps quiet and creeping as her pump pounded in her chest. The world around her shrank, and a chill slithered its way through her circuits. "Bad Place," her instincts warned, setting her closer to the edge.

A scrape of metal on concrete. She bolted and leapt a ragged fence. Dirt puffed around her in a cloud as she landed in a construction area. A handful of vehicles sat parked off to the side; portable offices, the older store being rebuilt and remodeled.

Her peds anchored to the ground as realization opened like a poisonous flower. Turning, she found the construction site where she had died.

Fear tightened around her, a living thing trying to crush her. Remembered pain lanced across her metal body, sharp edges slicing through flesh and muscle. Shuttering her optics, she tried to keep the memories at bay, to push them back into the dark recesses of her mind. Instead, she saw Barricade towering over her, his claws dripping with scarlet blood, and phantom pains tore across her abdomen.

Her knees gave out, and she crashed to the ground, arms wrapped around her middle in a futile attempt to protect herself from bone-snapping weapons. This had to be a memory or flashback, but that tiny rational thought could not stop the loop of her death from playing over and over. Her blood pressure dropped as she bled out, and the cold seeped into her veins; the world became fuzzy and blurred, limbs too heavy to move and severed muscles too weak to try. Again, Barricade stood over her, his red optics laughing as he slowly sliced her apart. Her heart fluttered, struggling for life.

"What are you doing here?" Words barely registered; Barricade had said little when he killed her, relishing every drop of blood he drew.

A hand clamped onto her shoulder, gently shaking her. "Are you injured? Why are you here?"

Barricade faded like a specter in candlelight, and Smokescreen knelt beside her. Velocity tried to tell him that the Decepticon haunted this place but only breathlessly whispered, "I died here."

Smokescreen stood, dragging her with him. The movement jolted her back to reality, and she blinked to chase away the past. Hands firmly clamped on her armor; the Autobot dragged her to the opening of the building. "You need to hide."

Digging in her peds, Velocity balked, pulling against the mech. "No," she yelled and twisted herself free. Her frame shook with fear.

Smokescreen stared at her, then quickly looked around. Uncertain what to do.

Reality snapped around Velocity. "It's gone," she stammered.

Livid blue optics opened wide. The Autobot grabbed her by the shoulders. "What?"

Velocity began babbling, "The base is gone. It collapsed. The Decepticons collapsed it."

Stepping back, Smokescreen looked her over; his gaze lingered on the dirt dusting her armor. Minute tremors in his hands and wide optics gave away the mech's shock.

The more she spoke, the more memories of her death faded and locked her in the present. "Ratchet and Cliffjumper are still in there. The soldiers are under all the dirt. They are dying." She grabbed the Autobot, beseeching him to help. "They are trapped; we need to help them."

Hastily looking around, the mech pulled her hands free and pushed her back. "Get out of here. Go to the desert, hide."

"But…"

Smokescreen began pushing her. "We can't do anything with the Decepticons around. We will be sitting targets."

"But…"

"No buts. Get out of the city; go hide until we secure the area." He pushed her again.

Velocity turned and trotted away. If Smokescreen would not help, she would find Optimus.

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