A/N: We are officially off the ship, for the most part!

Thirty-Five

Mira's heart seized.

It was the moment of truth for her, she realized. With these hybrids snarling and slobbering at her as they demanded her full attention and purest instincts, she had torn emotions between focusing on the battle set before her of the fact that her son—her baby—was screaming for her to come and rescue him.

The cables were thick and sturdy, yes; made perhaps of the strongest Cybertronian fibers. But, they swayed in the wind, towering hundreds of feet above the streets of Chicago below them, the wind bobbing them flawlessly with a vengeance. Bryce was slowly making his way with Tessa, right alongside her, coaxing her on with one eye on his screaming, bawling nephew. Cade was slowly inching towards the boy, his blade-looking weapon wrapped around him securely. He had a hand extended to Merrick, who was red-faced and bawling uncontrollably, looking at Mira.

Without warning, one of the hybrids noticed her weakness and pounced. In an instant he was on top of Mira, pinning her to the floor of the ship, the wind whipping her hair all about her face. Bringing an arm around, the being's jaws clamped onto the metal and began knowing—Mira felt nothing, only the vibrations as the metal absorbed the energy. Then, with an instand, she flicked her wrist and a pulsating boom erupted from her palm and into the ground to her left. The result of the impact blew her to the right, straight out from under the animal and into a barrel roll across the ground. She slammed into the wall, her head smacking into the side of the ship and sending black splotches through her vision. Her glasses corrected, warned her of incoming enemies, and she got up. Dashing to the right, the beings skittered their claws on the smooth metal, and came around at her again.

She wasn't going to beat them, that was for sure. Firing another round of ion blasts, she managed to keep them from charging. They snarled and growled and barked, then looked at one another as again there was a stand-off between them and her. Her breathing was rapid now, sweat pasting her fallen curls to her face. Glancing with her eyes to Merrick, where Cade had intercepted him, the beings shared a look and without warning two of them took off for the cables. The other pounced again, knocked her against the wall, and pinned her there, growling and snarling its shizzle-slobbered jaws at her. She clawed at him, charged an ion, and finally shoved him off of her as she shot him back.

"Get off of me,!" She screamed to the being. She then connected a comm link, "Merrick! Hold on! Optimus!" she screamed at their direction, stopping at the edge of the platform and watching as the beings crawled their way towards her son. He was screaming now, bloody murder. Mira began to charge her ions, but realized that the blast range would surely kill Merrick or send him plummeting. There was silence in her comm, and she stumbled forward as a heavy wind startled her. Pressing a hand to her chest as she screamed again for Merrick, the impossible happened.

There was a roar, much like in an explosion, and within moment Mira was jettisoned into the air. She screamed, the intense power and speed carrying her into the air, until she looked down and realized she had somehow ignited the jets. Fear overtook her, sending her stomach in tumbling circles. Her heart began to hammer until she realized she was hovering and not flying quite yet. Her glasses were alive with flight controls, and as she read quickly, she realized that she controlled these thrusters with body movements, much like controlling a horse with reins.

"Tadaaaa"!" was the replying chorus erupting from the doorway. Mira looked to see Bumblebee roar onto the scene, grabbing the downed hybrid and whipping him back into the ship. He paused to look up at Mira, raising his optic ridges, before saluting her and pumping a fist into the air, "Hoorah!"

"MOMMY!" Merrick screamed now, the hybrids almost on him. Mira rocketed down, and extended a hand, plucking him from the high-wire type prison Bumblebee fired a shot at the one hybrid, who occupied the line alone, and Mira circled around back to the platform.

"Tessa, reach!" she exclaimed.

Tessa, petrified and solidified where she was, thrust a hand into the air. Mira clasped her wrist and within a second she was flying through the air, Tessa screaming and thrashing. Merrick had his arms wrapped around her neck, until she was at the platform. Deactivating her thrusters, they hit the ground and Mira released them. She pointed a finger at Bumblebee, "Stay with Bumblebee!"

She ignited the thrusters again and the lone hybrid retreated back to the platform. Bumblebee intercepted him as he tried to dodge around him to the left, sending a blade right through the beings abdomen. It howled like a wounded dog, and then was silent as Bumblebee shrugged him off his blade. Mira was about to intercept Bryce when Tessa screamed. "Bumblebee, BEHIND YOU!"

One of the drones had sneaked up on them, bearing a repeating rifle. He raised it, and without warning or hint of action, Bumblebee scooped up the children and pressed them against his chest, and dived off the platform. The three of them screamed, and Bumblebee tried to grab on of the high-wires, but instead rattled them violently. Mira watched in horror as both Cade and Bryce followed Bumblebee downward. The air was alive with their screams, but Mira's pounding heart was the only thing she could hear as her hair whipped across her face. She wasted no time, and rocketed downward to intercept Cade first.

"Cade!" She exclaimed. Grabbing his wrist, she pulled him up to her, still rocketing downward in a loud roar of power and swung him onto her back. This suit was entirely unstoppable, she realized, for she didn't feel a pound of his weight weigh her down. Then, pulling her arms to her side, she accelerated down to Bryce, who was flailing and screaming deeply, all the while wondering what would happen to her son as they continued to plummet. She reached out, was inches from grabbing Bryce's, wrist, when suddenly Bumblebee—who was below Bryce—was intercepted and swept to the left, gone from sight in a flashing, roaring instant. The wind intensified, knocking Mira off course, but still allowing her to grab onto Bryce's wrist, which in turn took him with her.

"Need a lift, princess?" Then, suddenly, Crosshairs was in her brain and alive in her ear. Mira pulled up, Bryce clutching to her wrist and Cade still holding tightly to her body on her back. She looked to see a huge fightercraft—more like a spaceship—come around to her left. Bumblebee had settled Merrick and Tessa into a turret, where they were all smiles and waving frantically at them. Bumblebee was nestled above Crosshairs, who was busy flying the ship with a smirk. "I think you need a flight lesson,"

"Rule number one, we got company!" Cade exclaimed as he strambled off Mira and into the turret space. Tessa scuddled over to make room and Cade swung Merrick up onto his lap. Bryce settled in, Tessa to his left, and Mira was left hovering. Her and Crosshairs and Bumblebee watched the ships drop off the main vessel, and Mira's heart sank. Mira maneuvered to the front of the ship and dropped onto it right before Crosshairs, in-between his feet.

"Let's see what this thing can do," she gave Crosshairs a smirk, "I hope you're a better pilot than you are a driver."

He humphed, "Hold your knickers, princess, cause I'm punchin' it!" He set the accelerator to full blast and they took off with a roaring flash of exhaust and thrust. Mira turned on the balls of her feet to face forward, crouching and gripping onto a hand-hold for dear life. The back was alive with screams and hollars—and then suddenly, gunfire. Cade screamed up to them,

"You got ships! YOU GOT SHIPS!"

"Don't get your panties in a wad, I'm givin' her juice!" Crosshairs snapped back. He thrust the accelerators forward and they increased speed. Mira put an arm up to block wind, and shot him a look. Blasts whipped passed them and whizzed into buildings, erupting in explosions of fire and debris. Crosshairs manipulated the ship to whip around a building and take off sharp again, the other three ships following closely. Her comm suddenly came alive.

"Mira! Report in—what's your status?" That was Optimus, thank Primus. Mira touched her comm as Crosshairs manipulated the ship again, to take a diving drop and then pull up, sending one of the ships crashing into a bill-board. The explosion barely missed them.

"We're alright! A bit flighty at the moment, but otherwise good! The suits jets are amazing, just so you know!" She doubted he could hear her over the mass amounts of gunfire, screams, shouting, and roar of the fightership's engines, but he responded.

"Flighty…? Mira!"

Crosshairs shot her a look, "Gotta go, Optimus, be safe!" She ended the comm and looked up at him, Crosshairs dropping a few hundred feet in the air to hover above the water. Instantly they were drenched as the engines upset the surface, sending waves upon them of cold, harbor water. Mira sputtered as they rocketed down the way between two huge, shipping vessels. She glared, "Are you going to let them blow us to pit, or what!?"

"Do something, they're gaining!" Bryce echoed back to them, as if to reiterate the statement she'd just made. The drone-pilots now opened fire on them, bullets whizzing and ricocheting off the ship in every which direction. Crosshairs threw a look over his shoulder at Bumblebee, threw a hand into the air exasperatedly, and exclaimed,

"Do somethin', Bee, take 'em out!" He thrust a finger to the smaller tug-boats as if Bumblebee were to do something with them. He got the message, however, and fired some type of grappeling gun into the boat. With a mighty tug and a groan, Bumblebee managed to literally lift the boat from the water and toss it before the other ships. One of them managed to dodge the block, but the other flew right into it and resulted in a fiery inferno of wreckage, into the harbor. Crosshairs pulled up, made a quick left—only to find three more ships coming in hot.

"Crosshairs!" Mira exclaimed, frantic. Bumblebee whizzed and whirred something to him, and Crosshairs navigated the ship back towards the city, now straight along the river, and laughed.

"This one's for you, aftholes!" He punched one of the buttons on his accelerator controls, and instantly two rockets fired out from the ship. They rocketed under the falling bridge, and the missiles collided with it, sending the arcing bridge into a fierce array of flames and falling debris. A huge piece of it disconnected and crashed into one of the tailing ships.

Crosshairs pulled up, roaring above the skyscrapers, trying his best to lose the bogies. Mira was still holding for dear life, trying her best not to be tossed to and fro as he flew like a madman, listening as Bryce and Cade were sputtering out orders and observations. "If you're doin' something, now's the time!" Bryce was screaming. Mira was ignoring the comm's from Optimus continually, ruing the day she'd have to explain that to him, while Merrick suddenly screeched out.

"CROSSHAIRS!"

The back end was rattled with gunfire and blasts rang past them like messages of warning and doom. Mira shot him a panicked look, and Crosshairs didn't debate it—releasing the controls, he slipped past Bumblebee and forced him into the cockpit. Bumblebee lunged for the controls, settling into the seat, and took a sharp left. "Where are you going!?" Mira panicked.

"I'm sick of this crap—'Bee flies!" This was supposed to comfort Mira? Bumblebee literally crashed every flightship he'd ever flown—this was not going to end well, and she panicked again, releasing her handhold and falling into the cockpit with Bumblebee. She scrambled up the side of the ship, where Crosshairs was rapidly trying to give directions to Cade and Bryce about punching, holding, sliding, and repeating. Mira found it all very chaotic and grabbed his foot. This elicited a glare from him.

"Don't be ridiculous—you're the pilot!" She hollered, "You have to fly this—"

"—you ain't Commander yet, Princess!" He looked back to the men. Bumblebee took a tumbling turn right and Mira fell into Crosshairs, before she dropped into the turret nest. Righting herself, she looked up to Crosshairs, who was rapidly giving directions again, "A'right, crash course, ladies! Punch, hold, slide, repeat; punch forward to fire, pull back to reload!" He gave them an expecting look as if it were really not that hard, and Mira tucked some of her loose curls behind her ear to keep them from whipping across her face.

"What did you just say!?" Cade exclaimed.

"Punch, hold, slide, repeat; PUNCH, HOLD, SLIDE, REPEAT!"

"I-I don't understand what you're saying!"

He sighed, giving her a look, "Help 'em out, eh, Princess? See ya!"

"Where are you going!?" She declared. He whipped out his two repeating rifles and lowered his goggles over his optics, giving her a smirk. Her stomach dropped.

"To lay some hate!" He jumped off the back of the ship, released his cutes, and opened fired.

It was a spectacle, watching his guns fire to life with rapid explosions, colliding with the metal of the ships. Mira could his maniacal laughter on the air as one of the ships dropped away in a wreckage. He was then gone, as Bumblebee dipped down and they were suddenly in an underground expressway—a tunnel. Cade and Bryce gave her a look, and she turned to the firing mechanism. Punch, hold, slide, repeat….

"URGH!" she mananged, throwing her entire weight against the mechanism. It shifted effortlessly and the guns below them came alive in a song of array; sending bullets whizzing into the ship behind them. Bullets finagled into the cement of the tunnel, and rattled parked cars on a ramp just off the tunnel. The ship began to return fire.

Mira panicked, "Bumblebee!" she screeched, "What are you doing—" she stopped as the other ship gained a few feet, now opening up his guns to full blast. Cars screeched and honked and braked, the enemy ship disregarding their existence and rocketing past them—some he shot. Mira looked to her friends, then pointed to the mechanism, "Shoot them!" She began climbing her way back to the cock-pit, and stopped when Bumblebee looked up. She looked up as well and screamed, "Bumblebee, NO-!" He didn't wait, however, and the ship went up. With her still in between the turret nest and the cockpit, she'd be crushed as he tried to break through the concrete—

-so she released the ship and went rocketing towards the ground.