Forty-Three

Cade looked down at the phone and then to Mira, the thing ringing loudly in his hand. Her heart sank within her chest—it was happening. The ship began to quake like it was a toy boat at the command of a toddler at bathtime, and Optimus lifted his hand to set her on his shoulder.

The four Autobots stood amidst the doorway to the cockpit, each with respective humans at hand. The thickness in the air wasn't just from the smoke billowing out of the thrusters—there was tension. Mira looked around the bots to see Hound fighting the ship for control, grumbling and snarling in war with the Cybertronian flightship. She looked to Optimus, and then the phone, then to her own where Laney was still on the line.

"I'll call you back," she told Laney, then ended the call. She tucked in into her jean's pocket and then looked to Cade, gesturing for him to toss her the phone. She answered the call and put it on speakerphone, closing her eyes and exhaling. "Joshua,"

"Alright, alright, I don't need to hear you say 'I told you so', you were right—you are right!" There was some gratification in hearing him say the words, hearing him eat so much crow she was sure he was sprouting feathers. But, at the same time, there were shrieks and explosions ringing across the airwaves, along with screaming tires and revving engines. They were muffled as she heard Joshua shout orders to a driver, "Ok, tell me, G.I. Jane—what do I do with this thing? My prototypes-WATCH OUT YOU MORON!"Mira drew back slightly and looked to Optimus, still atop his shoulder and made a face, "Move out of the way, you moronic pedestrians! Some of us have life-threatening alien tech here!" He must've dropped the phone because he sounded far away, but there was rustling as he returned, "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

"Calm down," Mira stressed to him, exasperated by his lack of courage and immaturity to this entire situation, "Where are Savoy and Attinger, Joshua? They should be able to provide you cover—"

"They want this thing, and they're going to kill me if they don't get it!" He sounded truly terrified, "I'll be deader than roadkill! I don't care about the Transformium—just get me out of here!"

Frustrated, she gripped the phone with white knuckles, "Joshua! Compose yourself—where is Galvatron?" Her stomach pitted at the thought of him running around Bogota, destroying buildings and people in search of his prize. She shot a look to Hound, who looked as if he'd stabilized the ship somewhat, and then past him to the glass plane-they were above the city now, dropping. "Joshua!"

"Here, in the city—just follow the explosions!" That was logical enough, but she'd never be able to find him and single him out that way. She thought quickly and grabbed at the Shield around her neck. Taking it from around her neck, it scanned the phone and inserted a probe into the charging port.

"I'm locking onto your position, Joshua. Keep the phone on—we'll be there as soon as we can." She muted the call and the Shield finished scanning. Replacing it around her neck, she activated the CAST armor and it began forming around her body, until her glasses shifted into See-All mode. Launching herself off of Optimus' shoulder, she hit the ground with a resounding bang and locked onto Joshua's coordinates, now flashing in her left eye. "I'll go get Joshua and the Seed—we've got to get it out of the populated areas, otherwise Galvatron's going to tear Bogota apart looking for it."

"Acknowledged," Optimus nodded to her, then he made his way towards the cockpit, "Hound—get us as low as you can, and we will drop and go our ways. Bryce and the children are going to KSI—"

"No need for that now," Bryce huffed, "Obviously the prototypes are infected, and there isn't anything left Of KSI." Bumblebee blittered something out and Optimus pointed a sharp finger at him, nodding once.

"Good idea, Bumblebee. Locate Sideswipe and Elaina and have them take Bryce and the children away from the city," he looked to Mira, "Mira will locate Joshua Joyce and the Seed and take it out of Bogota. Crosshairs, Drift, and I will engage Galvatron if necessary, and Hound—"

"Yeah, Boss?"

Optimus sighed, "You will land the ship."

He sounded disheartened, "Sure thing."

Optimus gave Mira a look, and made his way down the corridor, to the landing ramp. He activated the ramp and it began to drop, the wind whipping around them as the ship rocketed on, smoke still billowing from the thrusters. They were low enough for Mira to see the screaming flocks of people, all headed to the exterior limits of the city. She followed the streets, chaos welcoming her eyes, until she found fiery infernos nestled around a huge skyscraper, with the northern wall gaping open, exposing a lab. Three prototypes were the last ones out, assuming alternation modes and rocketing away, leaving destruction in their midst. Her resolve sank into her stomach along with her heart and breath.

"Find the Seed, Mira, and bring it to me. Be careful." Optimus said above her. Took a knee and lifted her chin with his fingertip, "Come back to me alive, General. There is much I haven't said yet. Your destiny is only just beginning." She nodded to him and rested her now metal palm against his and smiled.

"I'll see you later." She winked at him and turned, where Drift lowered Merrick and he came running for her. She sank to her knees and wrapped him in a hug, nuzzling her nose into his neck and inhaling his sweet smell. Bryce and the others came up behind the boy and she rubbed his back affectionately, quiet for a moment. "I love you," she whispered, lips brushing the softness of his boyish skin, "No matter what I love you." She pulled back from him and cupped his cheeks in her cold, steely hands, "Remember who you are, Merrick. Who our family is. There's a lot more to us than meets the eye, oky?" He was nodding, crying; face red and snifflings coming from him, "Be good. I'll be back soon, okay?"

He was nodding, "Don't go. Please, Momma—"

She stood, taking his hand, "I have to, baby. Momma has to." She turned him to face Bryce, where she nodded to him and gave the group of adults a puff of breath. Biting her lower lip, she turned on her heel and looked back outside, listening to explosions and the wind all wrapped together in a rushing chorus of chaotic war that she, deep down, had missed. Her stomach came alive with butterflies and adrenaline laced her veins, and she stepped towards the edge of the exit ramp and looked up to Optimus.

"I'll see you in a bit."

"I am looking forward to it."

She looked over her shoulder, blew a kiss to her family, and dived off the ledge.

"What do you mean you lost them? Hijacking part of my ship—how did you let this happen!"

It was a moment of pure rage which fed his resolve, which had been all but lost—just as his Terminus had been lost. He snarled at the two sentries standing in the door of his cockpit, and he roared around from his place at the observation panel. His sentries, obviously fueled by terror, backed up as he made his way towards them. In a leaping moment he seized the one by the faceplates and yanked him forward, lifting the sentry off his stabilization servos. He snarled in his face, Energon spittle slapping the bot in the face.

"Refocus all dark matter drives and reverse course, and get us back." He released the sentry roughly, causing him to stumble into the corridor through the cockpits entry threshold. He turned back to his observation panel, now filled with an inky black canopy speckled with pinpricks of starlight here and there, planets glowing in the distant galaxies. Lust for blood churned his stomach—his trophies, his life work, gone by one Prime. Oh, no; Lockdown would get his prizes back—he was not about to be undone by a ruffian Prime and his human girlfriend. No, no—he had no idea what he had wrought upon himself, and his family.

Soon, he told himself. Very soon.

The harsh winds of the sky pulled at Mira's messy bun, causing tendrils of crazed curls to fall about her face and whip around it. She followed the location transmitter from Joshua's cell phone, still above the skyline of the buildings. Most of the people had evacuated the inner part of the city, where she noticed most of the prototypes had been scouting out.

She pulled up, feet under her now, hovering. She watched as Hound lowered the flightship, and she counted the Autobots fall out of the release bay, one by one, until it closed and Hound rocketed off towards the mountain ranges. They were gone now, lost to the streets and out of sight, and she refocused her attention back to Joshua.

Mira was close—she dove down below the skyline, overhead the empty streets now, overturned with carts and broken class and fallen canopies and overturned cars ablaze with fires. It looked like the apocalypse had happened—and it pretty much had. She stopped, deactivated her flight thrusters, and dropped into the street.

Everything was a mess—buildings were blown in and glass was everywhere. Bricks, wood, material, metal was skittered across the streets. Huge chunks of pavement uprooted from its home, leaving pothole the size of large cars everywhere. Fires crackled—she passed by one eating away at the inner works of an abandoned restaurant, another licking at the plush interior of a Cadillac SeVille. It amazed her as she walked by how fast a place could empty at the threat of war and invasion—how fast this place had emptied its inhabitants. She was surprised the military wasn't here already.

Attigner is the military, she told herself, and he's right where he wants to be.

What a mess this had all become, so quickly. Mira began to charge her palm thrusters; they came to live with an electric whir, and she could feel the pulsating warmth through the armor as the energy continued to focus. She checked the coordinates, then listened. It was dead quiet on this street, save the crackling fires and constant gargling off a fire-hydrant spilling its water into the streets to her left. She stopped in the middle of the street and checked the coordinates again.

She was right on top of him—

-there was a screeching of tires, and Mira whirled around to see a Chevrolet Impala drift around the corner, fishtailing as the driver gunned the engine again. She sidestepped the car, as it came to a screeching halt a few feet ahead of her, the driver's door opening and spilling out Joshua Joyce—who was a frantic mess of sweat, adrenaline, and dirt. He hustled around the front of the car, popped open the passenger's door and pulled out a leather bag, dropping it to the ground. It was massively big and looked heavy and she stalked towards him, a bit unappreciative that he'd almost run her over.

"Thank God you're here," he was talking so fast she thought he was strung out on something, "I—I don't know how much longer I could do thi—"

He was interrupted as the threatening sound of gunfire popped off behind them. Joshua screamed, diving into the car, reaching for the bag and pulling it across the tar. Mira whipped around to see a Ford Escape roar onto the scene, drifting around a corner four blocks from them. Leaning outside the passenger side was Savoy, sporting his black and golden gun again, aiming straight at her. He fired off more rounds at her, and she lifted a palm and pumped out a few blasts of her own before diving behind the Impala's front end to await return fire.

He returned her fire, and then began to reload. She leapt onto the hood of the car, aimed her blasters at him again and fired off a few more bursts of the energy. They erupted into the front of the car, causing the driver—she noticed it was Attinger—swerve to miss them. He failed, and the clang of them resonating with the front end of the car, in turn shattering the grille and exposing the radiator, slowed them slightly. Savoy fell into the car and Attinger pulled it hard right, swinging the back end of the car to face her. She jumped off the hood, aimed at the car, using her other hand to gesture for Joshua to get out of the Impala and come. "Come on," she exclaimed, "We don't have—"

At the same time, both men exited the Ford, punching out the glass to their doors and resting their arms through the open windows, now aiming their weapons straight at her, the panels of the door shields against returning fire. Mira lunged for the door back passenger door of the Impala and yanked it open just as Joshua fell out of the car, her launching herself into the backseat.

She hit the seat hard, pulling her feet in and folding herself into a ball. Bullets shattered the back end of the car, eating away at the metal and trunk and tail-lights. The class of the rear windshield shattered down on her, raining pricks of sharp shards into her hair, the glass tinging against the metal of the CAST armor. Joshua was screaming and then there was silence from the guns. Mira seized the opportunity, rising to her knees and aiming through the now empty windshield straight at Savoy. Instead of flicking her wrist, she absentmindedly balled a fist together, not expecting the blaster to erupt from the top of her arm and begin got charge. Surprised, she squealed as the weapon fired, rupturing into back panel of the Escape ahead of her. The recoil of miniature path-blaster caught her off guard and she fell backwards into the middle of the two front seats, into the console. She could see straight out the window, and she pulled herself up as Savoy gained his composure.

The back end came alive with gunfire yet again, and Mira realized that this Impala wasn't going to last forever. So, she jerked from the console back onto the seat again, this time bracing her feet against the opposite door on the driver's side, pushing her middle half out the door. She focused the path-blaster to Attinger's side of the car and opened fire.

The bursts of energy ate the metal of their car as if it were nothing. The ions dented their cover as if they weren't even there, sending the men scrambling back into the car. The breaklights lit up and they roared around the corner out of sight, until she heard the car screech to a halt midway down the street. She hurried out of the car and grabbed Joshua by the arm, him clutching the Seed to his body like a security object. He stumbled to his feet and she aimed her blaster at the corner they'd taken, shoving Joshua to the sidewalk.

"Go, go! I'll cover you!"

He began running as fast as he could, toting that ridiculously sized Seed with him. Attinger and Savoy briskly seized the corner, weapons aimed at her, as if they didn't care she was packing. They stormed her as Joshua hurried into an abandoned café, dragging the Seed's bag with him.

Attinger and Savoy stopped, guns still leveled at her. Attinger had a larger device in his hand, the screen pulsating with what looked like a location marker. It came alive with noise, "Where is my bounty, Mr. Attinger?"

Lockdown. Her eyes glared at the device, then leveled on Attinger, steely and cold. Talk about betraying your own kind for the enemy—this man had no right pointing fingers at her, who was trying to save humanity, when he was out to kill not only humans, but the Autobots as well. Sweat plastered her curls to her face and she was breathing heavily—man, she needed to start working out…

"Nearby," Attinger was breathing just as heavy, and he lifted the device to his mouth as growled into it, "Do whatever you have to do."

Lockdown chuckled, "I intend to. Give my regards to Mira; tell her I will be awaiting our reunion." The feed cut out and he tossed the device aside onto the sidewalk.

"Hello, Miss Lennox," Savoy was before her know, chuckling in an antagonistic tone. She glared at him as he leveled the gun to her forehead. Why hadn't Optimus programmed this thing with a helmet? "Pleasure to see you again—you're looking…well suited for the job." He chuckled at his own joke, darkness flashing in his deep eyes.

"Ha, ha," she said dryly, "Funny stuff," she looked to Attinger, who came up beside Savoy, then looked to the café behind her, "Would you like a demonstration?"

"Cut the crap," Attinger growled, "The Seed, Lennox."

"Ask me nicely and I'll see if I can get it for you."

"Lennox!" Attinger screamed now, lunging for her. Without time to react, he buried his thick fingers into her hair and pulled back, her neck cranking backwards. Savoy then drove her to her knees by pressing the barrel of his gun into her forehead. The sun shone brightly in her eyes, blacking out their faces, sweat drizzling down the creases of her face. She hoped they didn't see the comm.—how could they, she asked herself, when it was built into the frame of her glasses, running behind her ear? They had no idea…

"I'll ask you one more time," Attinger said, antagonistically, "Where is Joshua and the Seed?"

"Get…" It was hard to speak with her head cranked back so far, "Get…fragged…."

A glinting of sunlight on metal grabbed her attention, and she didn't even realize the gunning of an engine until it was upon them. It was a flash of rapid transformation, then a claw-like hand wrapped around her torso and plucked her from their grasp. Pieces of her hair ripped out of her skull, still intertwined with Attinger's fingers—she screamed, then realized her rescuer was a familiar silver Corvette Stingray, with flashing eyes and a cocky smile.

"Hiya, Mira, looks like you could use a hand," He whipped around to face Savoy and Attinger, Mira still at hand, "Decided to go full Ironman, huh?"

"You watch too many movies," she rolled her eyes, jumping out of his hand. She hit the earth hard, slamming her fist into it, brining up her path blasters again, Sideswipe doing the same with his wrist-mounted weapons. Attinger and Savoy shared a look and one took aim at her, the other at Sideswipe.

"Don't offend me with your knock-off version of firepower," Sideswipe laughed at them, "I'm flattered you grow the ball-bearings to do so but—"

"Sides," Mira shot him a look, "We have other issues to worry about." She pointed to the café, "The Seed's in there—"

He looked baffled, "Seed? You have a Seed—?"

She interrupted him, "Joshua!" she declared, "Come out here, we have—"

"Think again, she-human!"

Mira glanced over her shoulder, gasped, and dived for the sidewalk.