Forty-Four
…
Optimus downshifted into third gear, turned the wheel hard left, and drifted around the corner. He adjusted the rearview mirror to see Bumblebee open his door to Cade, who scrambled from the tar of the street, to dive inside. Tessa and Bryce and Merrick were already inside, safely, as Bumblebee rocketed out of sight around the corner, making tracks.
Hound took the ship overhead and out of sight, towards the towering peaks of the Andes. Optimus watched the vessel go, and briefly wondered what he was going to do with the captives inside—those legendary warriors he so remembered from a millennia ago. The thought left his mind, however, when he was able to pinpoint Elaina's GPS signal through her cell phone. He shifted gears, now roaring down the street in sixth gear, engine pushing. A buzzing adrenaline possessed the Energon in his circuitry, forcing him on; forcing him to realize that yet again there was another war to be won.
Sunlight caught the reflector on his hood and cast a shining beam into the cab—but was quickly gone as a towering skyscraper, one of Bogota's many, shielded the sun from him. The streets were quiet now, screaming mobs either opting to stay indoors or having fled to the borders of the city—only the breeze skittering loose papers and litter across the streets and sidewalks were the only noise, as well as the ferocity of his engine. Perhaps that was his own spark instead of his engine, because that's all his audio receptors were hearing: the insane thrumming of his spark.
Dread filled him. How he was tired of fighting. A mech originally of peace and politics, Optimus Prime had never desired for this war. The only war he had desired was that on tyranny; he had waged war with his words to the High Council that day in the Chambers, forcing them to see the sins of their ways: all Cybertronians were equal and deserved respect, and deserved to choose for themselves their greatness and destinies—not to have it decided for them. Now, those words were long since buried under the rubble of a fallen Cybertron, now lifeless and seemingly empty of promise. But, deep inside his spark—deep within the Matrix—he knew there was a glimmering speck of promise, of hope for his home. He knew its fate rested with Earth—he had known as soon as he'd seen Earth on the horizon of his destiny that these two worlds were inexplicably intertwined, however faint that entwining was. These two worlds, so vastly different, were so hugely the same.
Then the idea of Lockdown entered his thoughts. Earth would never really be truly safe with Lockdown looking for his head. As much as he despised the idea of Lockdown, he was an ever-present danger presented to the forefront of Optimus' existence: as long as he was a free mech, he had a price on his head. As for the Creators, Optimus knew not who they were, only that they were a force to be reckoned with, but that reckoning would so be. Optimus realized he had been the beginning of this war and that he would be the end of it.
It made his fueling chambers tremble.
He finally found Elaina, about six blocks east in the industrial district of Bogota's borders. Optimus was most surprised when he found no energy signature with her—Sideswipe was simply not there. This was unusual; usually a human/Autobot team such as Elaina and Sideswipe were inseparable; he took back the idea as soon as it came to him—after all, he and Mira had been separated for three years after the disband. Besides, Sideswipe wasn't Elaina's guardian, so it would make sense that they were not always by one another's side.
He turned right, the back end of the semi skidding across the pavement as he righted and shifted gears again. The engine roared within him, fueling him with hot power and determining. Three blocks, then another left. She was holding her position steadfast, unmoving. Two more blocks, don't mind the stop sign, keep going.
He put on the brakes.
Smoke billowed from his tires, leaving marks on the pavement of hot rubber. He braked so hard in fact that the back of the semi tried to come around to flip him, but he corrected his center of gravity and balanced. Now in equilibrium, he sat there only momentarily as Elaina rushed for the semi, a look of terror in her eyes. She skidded to a stop and jumped for the door latch, but he already had it popped and open. She scrambled inside.
"Elaina—"
She pounded the dash with one hand, the other waving for him to drive, "Drive, drive—go, go, GO!" He did not hesitate, but instead gunned the engine, flying through his own gears and ignoring the insane whine of his transmission. His spark began the thrum wildly, Elaina practically gasping from breath, her raven locks of hair sticking to her face and neck as sweat trickled down her face. He was going to ask what was wrong, but soon got his answer when gunfire seized the air behind him, blasts erupting into buildings and blowing apart cars, sending them flying. Optimus swerved, then skidded around the corner and practically dumped Elaina out of the cab, her stumbling back out and losing her footing, sliding on all fours across the tar only briefly. Mid-stop he transformed, kicking up chunks of pavement as his feet crossed the tar until he came to a complete stop, fingers filled with tar and chunks of street debris. He released them and stood, readying his Path-Blasters.
"Those guys have been following me forever," Elaina stated, seizing the sidewalk beside him, now beneath a canopy which had partially fallen. She moved aside the canvas with her arm and peeked around the corner, "Decepticons?"
"Not entirely," Optimus stated, bringing one of the blasters up. He braced against the building, trying his best to calculate how far they were. They'd stopped firing, and he remembered one on the rooftops, another running down the street after them. One was built strong, like Hound, the other nimble and quick, and he didn't remember if there was a third…
His comm went active suddenly, first with Hound:
"Hey, Boss! We got a situation up here!"
"Give me a status report then, Hound." Optimus waited for the mech's reply, still trying to calculate the drones' position. He wasn't about to look around the corner, but instead used the windshield of the car across the intersection to get a view. The one had left the rooftops—the nimble, rose-colored one—and had joined the forest green mech on the ground. They both were checking corners, carefully edging forward, weapons bared.
"Well, I didn't exactly get into the mountains—I'm a few klicks out of the city. Both engines gave, the one overheated and threw the thruster. Had to land toot sweet and everything."
Optimus sighed.
"Not only that, we got these prisoners to deal with. And Bumblebee dropped the humans out here! I've got Mira's sparkling bawling and Cade's on a rampage and Bryce is going nutso. I'm not a babysitter, Optimus."
Primus knew he wasn't. Optimus thought quickly, the prototypes coming up fast. He had to think and he had to think quickly. He wondered about Mira and if she'd found Joshua with the Seed or not. He assumed she hadn't, since she hadn't commed in or made word. He decided he couldn't deal with that, instead these prototypes had his attention as they came closer…
"Give me one moment, my friend…just a moment." He replied internally.
Then, without second thought, he burst around the corner, bringing up the blaster and firing at the green prototype while slamming a fist into the nimble one. The green one, surprised, stumbled backward and fell into a shop, the other stumbling into a row of parked cars. Optimus righted as the nimble one got up first, charging him with wrist-cannons alive with a blaze of ammunition. He ducked, dropped a shoulder and rolled across the street, feeling the pavement crack beneath his weight, and as he righted he knocked one of the parked cars towards the green one, who'd staggered to his feet. The car collided with his chest, send him back into the building, and Optimus skidded to a stop, his momentum catching up with him. Now kneeling, he fired off ion blasts to the nimble one, the prototype diving around the corner of the intersection.
Elaina didn't waste time; she bolted from around the corner and down the sidewalk, away from the nimble drone. From the corner of his optic he saw something coming at him, and he realized it was a piece of broken building, and dived forward. His body collided with the tar, sending pieces of it sailing into the air only to come raining down on him again.
The nimble one came from around the corner, dashing across the intersection, wrist cannons ablaze. The gunfire collided with Optimus' armor, stining his arms and shoulders, as he rolled right and slipped his hand beneath a Chevy Silverado. He sat up quickly, tossing the car forward, causing the prototype to dive out of the way.
The green one returned fire with a turret, and Optimus quickly got up, diving around the corner, now facing the drone across the intersection. He charged forward, guns blazing, and Optimus side-stepped him quickly, not before slamming an elbow into the mech's weak plating. He saw it indent, briefly recalling that human metals were not as strong as alloy infused ones, and send the prototype to his knees. Optimus whirled around, fired at the green prototype, sending him a few steps back, but then reached for the nimble one and grabbed him by his shoulder planting. Lifting him high, he didn't expect the mech to come around and hammer him in the jaw.
Optimus released the drone, sending him rocketing away in mid-transformation; a flurry of swirling metals which more resembled a tornado funnel than anything else. The green one came from behind, Elaina screaming at him from across the intersection:
"Optimus, behind you!"
He stood, lifted an arm and shifted his weight to the left, the green prototype running right passed him. His back still to Optimus, he lifted his blaster and shot him square in the spinal rod. The mech screeched, sank to his knees, and fell forward, online but now unable to properly function. Optimus approached him, the air now quiet save for the sparking prototype, and grabbed the back of the mech's head. He turned him over, and found the optics lifeless, the body sizzling and sparking now. The drone was lifeless.
"Not bad," Elaina hurried across the intersection towards him, slowing to a stop beside his foot. He looked down at her, and traced Hound's signal, finding him twelve miles outside Bogota to the east. He sighed, tried not the think about that situation, when he got another comm, this time not from Hound but from Sideswipe.
"Optimus!" He sounded out of breath and engaged, the ruff breathing and grunts of another being—a female—coming in through the comm as background noise. Optimus began to locate Sideswipe, and found him on the other end of the city, about seven miles north. He listened as Sideswipe groaned, let out a sharp grunt. The female's voice disappeared. "I've got Mira, and some shiny-headed guy with what looks a lot like a Seed—"
The comm cut out momentarily, and Optimus realized that Sideswipe was engaged with a prototype. He wondered how many other prototypes were out there, and then he heard erupting gunfire over the comm. As Sideswipe continued, "Mira said we get the Seed out of the city, that right?"
"Yes, that is the objective, Sideswipe. Fall back and get the Seed out of the city at the first opportunity."
"Yeah, about that falling back..."
A faint voice came over the comm, and Optimus' spark practically jumped into his throat, "Get BACK already!" It was Mira, and Optimus immediately patched into her comm, now online with both Mira and Sideswipe,
"Mira, fall back!" Optimus demanded, not wasting time to transform into his alternation mode. He opened the door for Elaina and she came inside, and he rocketed off towards their direction. He still heard Mira's heavy breathing and the sounds of her returning fire, and he practically yelled at her, "Miriam! Stand down!"
"Holy Primus…"Optimus made a hard left and then continued rocketing on, not paying attention to the fact that Elaina was being tossed around the cab—she braced herself against the door, feet grinding into the floormats for any type of traction. He didn't care, and listened as the gunfire intensified, "They're everywhere!"
"Sideswipe! Get them out of there—"
"Mira! What're you doing!?" This made Optimus' tanks churn, and he felt hot Energon sear up his throat. He surpressed the reflex and couldn't resist his next statement, this time hollering into the comm as he heard Joshua screaming in the background noise.
"MIRA!"
They ended their comms, and his RPM needle dipped into the red.
…
Fraggit.
Crosshairs swerved to miss another blast from the prototype behind him, the car almost entirely gaining him. Crosshairs released a barrage of bullets from his blaster, which popped out of his rear fender, aiming it directly at the engine block of the manmade vehicle. When the bullets didn't even phase the racer he cursed, pulling a quick right and skidding through the intersection, then pinning his accelerator to the floor. He braked hard when he saw two more prototypes ahead of him, blocking his way, the other two turns blocked with stacked cars and debri. The two prototypes stood there, waiting for him, and Crosshairs had no choice but to transform.
Bumblebee, where are you?
He knew Bumblebee had dropped the humans twelve miles east of the city, with Hound, but how fragging difficult was it? Bringing up his automatics, he first focused his aim on the two ahead of him, providing a spray of fire which caused them to split and dive over their blockades, obviously not expecting such heavy, rapid fire from him. The other he just pounded with barrage after barrage, until he rocketed off out of sight. Crosshairs knew he would double around the block to come ahead of him, but he didn't have time to think when the return fire came. He hurried around the corner and popped off return fire to the one he could partially see.
If he could knock those blockades down on this prototypes, he'd be able to hand-to-hand the one and get him good. The other would take a bit more time, but that wouldn't be so bad—until racer there came into the picture. Crosshairs reminded himself these were manmade machines, incapable of speech, much less tactical combat—
"C'mon out and play, Autobot," he heard across the air, "We'll be sure to rip you apart nice and quick—won't hurt but a nanoklik!"
The other snickered.
Scratch the inability to speak, he told himself.
He commed for Bumblebee, but received nothing back. He steadied his breathing and realized there was no true way out of this other than to chance it and knock those blockades out of the picture. Crosshairs cursed Galvatron, and Joshua, and KSI, and Lockdown—for a second he cursed this entire planet, but then quickly took the idea back when he realized that Mira was out there somewhere fighting alongside them for possession of the Seed.
"Well scrap it," he muttered, coming out from around the corner, guns blazing. He received no return fire, and he hollered, "You want to play? Let's play!"
