Light cursing, a little bit more than normal.
Over half way through the trip, the cold was starting to get to me, quicker than it should've been. Or maybe this was a normal time for it to. It has been sometime since I've been this severely injured to this degree. Then being exposed to this kind of weather for sometime.
That wasn't our only problem though: tons of snow was dumping down on us. Our route had been delayed due to a detour; the pass we were meant to take was shut down.
Another thing: humans, at least these one, didn't know squat on how to drive in this severe weather. Hide and Jazz were careful enough to drive at a safe speed and distance from each other. Poor Hide though. He may be heavier than your normal truck but the ice under the snow didn't help him from fishtailing.
Like as of now. His back end started to slip to the side as a car passed him. At least he knew what he was doing, this not being his first rodeo. His taillights never once brightened as he eased off of the gas, letting himself be corrected.
Never have I ever driven in snow. To be honest, I don't think I've ever drive at all. Hopefully, I never will. That didn't mean I didn't know how to drive though. Zayden has taken me out for Sunday drives. Oh how I miss those peaceful days. We could forget what we were working for and embrace the quietness… Until Jasper finds you randomly and attacks.
That was our last outing.
Nonetheless, this weather sucked all together. My fingers have gone mostly numb about two-thirds in. The continuously moving parts of my body were warm ish. This cold had it out for me.
With the snow fall increasing, I glided closer to the two so they would be in my sight. Even with sharp vision as mine, this dense blizzard like snow hindered me.
Something caught my sight though, off into the distance: taillights. Not unusual while driving on a highway, but these were stationary. Some were off at an angle. Wait... are those head lights?! I glance between the bizarre sight and the two Cybertronians driving below me. Could they see it? The sight was maybe blocked by the snow and trees lining both sides of the road.
There weren't any other cars around them, either they sped on or were passed. I risked it, camouflage rippling away to show my normal purple scales. To those below, I most likely looked like a strange dark figure in the curtain of snow. I dipped low, flying in front of them and purposely slowing down.
My smaller pair of wings flaring, red dancing along them. Hopefully they would understand the mean. Their lights flicked at me, possibly asking what I was doing. But they were forced to slow down with me as we approached the strange sight.
It wasn't enough in the end.
Fifty feet in front of us was a huge car and semi pileup. Both Ironhide and Jazz reacted badly by putting on their brakes. They fishtailed as they tried with all of their might to stop. Their former speed not helping them at all and I couldn't do anything without injuring myself more.
Ironhide bit the bullet and transformed. His sharp edges scraped ear-piercing painfully against the asphalt. Sparks ignited for only a moment as the cold snuffed them out.
Worry and fear pooled in my heart. Then, I acted as his speed wasn't slowing down in time. I touched down, still moving and now sliding on the snow, and sent energy through my legs to create a pile of snow to help.
Behind him, Jazz not-so-gently collided with his friend. Hide grunted out a curse before finally coming to a stop, less than five feet from the closest car. I, on the other hand, accidently rammed into the back end of it. The people inside screamed, fear pouring out of the car, reeking the air with its smell; even with this cold.
Ironhide transformed once more, returning to the black GMC as noises caught my attention. It was coming from where we just came from. Crap. The mech slowly crept away, Jazz following him, to the side, away from the danger.
The sight heading towards me made my heart drop to my stomach. A semi and two of other cars were sliding towards us. All put on their breaks, a horrible and dangerous mistake. The snow gave no traction as they drifted towards me.
One moment fear sat in my bones, the next courage and readiness. My focus changed from them to the snow laying front of them. Pain swirled around in my hands as I carefully willed layers of snow to disappear. It helped correct the fishtailing vehicles just in time, too.
It took me a couple of seconds to realize my eyes were close. I peeled them open right as the truck came to a stop, the semi releasing a puff of air. It was less than two feet away from me. The driver inside stared wide-eyed at me, emotions swirling in his eyes. I didn't care and let go of a breath I didn't know was held before vanishing from sight.
Both bots in disguise carefully crept alone the shoulder to get by. They wanted to leave, nothing could be done. That didn't sit well with me, just leaving these people to get smashed blindly.
With a shake of my head, I took to the air, ignoring the couple of drops of blood running down my arms. Some of the skin had split open under the force.
As I flew over the three vehicles just stopped, I willed the snow to move to the sides of the road. It wouldn't last but something had to be done until help could come. If it could get there in this weather and dumb people.
Speak of the devil! Crap.
A car sped quickly, not caring about the danger they were heading for. They were at least going forty, maybe fifty. Way too fast for this kind of weather and too close to the group to warn.
Ideas swarmed in my head, trying to figure out a solution. What was I going to do?! There was next to no seconds to waste as they rounded the curve. Once they hit the mostly cleared road, their speed quickened. What are they doing?! Stupid, stupid humans! Always with a death wish.
I landed heavily on the semi, metal rattling underneath me, taking note to the few people coming out of their cares. Fright partially coursed through my veins as I gathered my courage. Pain fueled the terror at this idea. It could work, or it could lead to something even worse.
Voices over the wind drifted to my ears. The humans outside of the protection of their cars were talking about me. Many asking what I was; others sounding fearful; a small percentage intrigued, unafraid of me.
Not a moment could be waste.
It was about seventy feet when the car realized the elephant in the room. Like any person, their fear instinct reacted. They stepped on their brakes, only worsening this for me. The rear end fish tailed, nearly causing the car to spin around completely.
People finally noticed the speeding car. Screams rung, drawing attention. Humans rushed over to the other side of the group of cars. Their exit was blocked though by the smashed vehicles and semis. This only fed into their terror. I didn't want them over there and they, luckily, couldn't get over there.
Then I acted.
Energy crossed powerfully through me. Ice formed in front of the car, creating a slot for it slide into. The back end slammed into the guard rail building, nearly sending it back onto the road. It, thankfully, stayed on, drifting along up the ramp. That was the easy part.
A ramp was continuingly being created as the car slid over the massive pileup. Agony shot through me, vision darkening. But I fought against it, an urge to keep these people safe. My teeth gritted against each other as the path grew to the other side until it was only a couple of yards from the ground.
An explosion snapped my focus. The path ended abruptly, leaving the car to roughly slam into the ground and spin around. I couldn't keep up with it as another small explosion sounded. Danger ran in my head, terror starting to take over the energy. My muscles froze, a strange reaction to the noise. Why was I afraid? It was just a small boom.
With a shake of my head, I glided over to the noise, finding a flaming SUV. Inside, people scream, their fright pooling in with mine. Something made me hesitant to land behind it but I did so anyway, fighting it over with the urge to save these people. I had landed on the hood of a truck behind them and was forced to sit on my haunches.
A young boy banged his fists heavily against the back window, tears pouring down his face. When he saw me, he paused, not scared but testing me as his doe eyes watch me. I reacted first without much thought though and slammed my horns against the window. It cracked with the force. A headache now surfacing after the action. That was the least of my worries.
My horns slammed into it again, it finally giving away after the third hit. The kid continued to watch, quiet as his folks screamed for him to move away. The mother, grew brave enough to scramble over the seats to grab his arm. He fought her instead and told her I wasn't going to hurt them, that I was saving them, like a superhero. My heart fluttered at his words.
She paused as well, slowly taking in my tall form. There wasn't any time to stare though. The car was on fire and they need to get out. My hands throbbed as they were put to use, pulling away at the glass. The father had quieted down as well, but still kept his distance as I timidly held out my hand to the other two.
The mother hesitantly put her hand in mine, a sign of trust. I carefully pulled her out then helped the boy and motioned for the man. "Hell no! You get the fuck away from me," he screamed and backed into the console, a hand landing on it. A hiss escaped him as the plastic burned him.
Unfortunately for me, maybe fortunately for him, the vehicle is too small for me to climb into. With a heavy sigh, I turn to the two and turned to my full height, towering over them. "Please get him out, the car will explode," I suggested. The mother, nervous but thankful partially smiled at me.
"T-thank you," her voice cracked from a mixture of the cold and fright.
Sirens could be heard two hundred or so yards away, the noises around me not helping. I turned my head to face the direction, listening in closely to make sure I heard right. "Help is on the way." Both stared hopeful at me, a shiver raking the kid's body. As much as I wanted to stay and keep them warm, I had to go. Many other humans wouldn't respect me being… me and helping them. The father a prime example of this.
Except, my work wasn't done. Over the noise of rushing wind and humans talking, screaming could be heard. I leapt into the air and searched where the sound came from. Another truck was heading towards the group, not an emergence vehicle though. When will my work end? Gods help me.
More people were getting out of their vehicles, the worse thing to do in a pileup. Their whispers and questions filtering up to me, all confused on what I was.
Exhaustion was starting to catch up to me, wings dragging and fighting to stay in the air. My vision started to blur as the truck approached, doing the same thing as the car did once it noticed the pileup. Their tires tried to grip onto the now whitening ground but again, it wasn't enough.
I landed on top of the semi again, ready to coax the truck into the ramp premade. The vehicle wasn't making it easy for me as they attempted to turn away from it. For their sake, I carefully created an icy lane with guard rails, forcing them into the ramp.
Pain shot through my arms, worsening my condition. My lungs inhaled as much oxygen as they could, trying their best to keep me from fainting. Blood slowly dripped off of my arms due to the split skin. Darkness started to approach my vision more this time. I fought hard though, focused on getting the truck over the group safely.
It didn't entirely go to plan though. As it started it's ascend over, the back end slammed roughly into the side of the ice guard rail created. Cracks webbed across the side and bottom of the ramp. Screams rang out from the watchers as bits and pieces of ice fell off.
Determination surged through me as my energy depleted. I sent a massive amount of ice energy through the ramp and finished it up. The end going over the car that first went on the ride.
Everything tilted. The world falling sideways as my legs gave out. Pain washed away with my vision darkening. My shoulder and horns slammed first into the ground, yet I couldn't feel the pain I knew should've been there. Black over took the white in my sight. My tired self passing out in an unsafe position.
Partial warmth surrounded most of my body, wings and lower legs exposed to the cold. My brain slowly coming to and forced my eyes to open. A deep groan rumbled my chest, a dull ache in both my shoulder and head. Hm?
Something moved behind me, pulling me closer to the warmth. Noise starting to filter in. Humans. Humans were talking. Where was I? Is this death? No… it couldn't be.
A warm hand timidly grabbed my cold chin and lift my head up. "Aye, careful. His horns are close to my face," a masculine voice grumbled. Whatever was pressed against my back rumbled with the noise.
A blurry figure stood in front of me, mostly towering over me. Wait, that wasn't right. I'm supposed to be taller than humans. Oh, I was partially laying down with my back against something, someone. A blanket draped over me, unable to fully cover me.
"I think he's awake. His eyes are open. He must have hit his head hard," another masculine voice suggested, a little higher pitch then the other. The hand holding my chin turned my head side to side, as if looking for something.
The person behind me scoffed, sarcasm thick in their voice. "Well, no shit Sherlock. Look at his horn, there's a huge crack."
My brain was starting to catch up to speed, fully. First thing first, taking into account who and how many were around me. With my vision focusing, I only counted eight people around in sight, nine counting the person behind me.
One of the nine cleared their throats, eyes dancing wearily over me. "What do you think it is?" the dark-skinned woman on edge. The cold air affecting her just like any other here.
"I don't know and I don't care. He saved a lot of lives, that's what matters," the person right in front of me stated. His hand left my face and carefully touched a cut along my hands. A hiss escaped me at the touch.
Everyone froze, the human behind me tense. I pulled my arm away and glared with little heat at him. Said person only acted slightly effected. "What else hurts so we can help you?" he questioned, kindness fluttering in his green eyes.
Another random person scoffed and rolled their grey eyes. "What makes you think it can understand you?"
With a massive huff of smoke pluming from my nostrils, I shakily stood up, towering over everyone. The blanket slipped off, exposing my purple and white scaled body. My frame felt heavy, fighting against collapsing again. Blood continued to drip from the open wounds, not yet scabbed over to stop it. "Because I can," my voice rumbled deep in my chest, pain filtering in.
The ones that choose to relax tensed once more, all eyes on me. Fear rolled off a couple of them at my height and larger frame. The human that had asked sputtered over words until the least scared one of them all spoke up. "What hurts?" I cocked an eyebrow down at them, but flinched when a pain spiked through my head.
"I'm fine," I huffed and turned to take off. With my wings flared, I feel the more prominent pain in my shoulder. The muscles ached in response of being used. Great. Maybe I'll take up that ride with Ironhide. Speaking of them, where are Hide and Jazz?!
"Yeah, sure. The blood dripping off of your hands and the crack in your horn told mean you're a-okay," sarcasm dripped off of his tongue. A heated glare was set on me from him, a challenge in my eyes.
Another plume of smoke escaped me as I rolled my eyes. "Forget you ever saw me, or else I'll hunt you down and the ending won't be pretty," I warned, ignoring him and ready to take off once more. Or at least tried.
"Why would you do that? You just saved us," a random woman spoke up and stepped towards me. I gave her a deadpanned look and enjoyed at her sinking away under my gaze.
Other voices caught my attention, police searching for survivors. A curse passed my lips: it was time to go, an hour ago. Let's try a different approach. "And since I saved your life, you can pay me back by never telling another soul… please." I cringed at how forced it sounded to say 'please'. Manners weren't something I practiced or used much.
The group of humans glanced around, silently questioning each other. "And why would we do that? You just threatened us," the last woman asked. Oh my gods, shoot me!
"What the hell? Put your hands up!" a masculine voice ordered. I did not mean literally! Three cops wrapped up in jackets pulled out their guns pointed them at me. Danger rung in my head as I stared annoyed at the situation.
Out of nowhere, the first two humans stepped in front of me, their arms spread out. "Don't shoot! He saved us. He saved all of us," Green eyes stated firmly, a little nervous at the guns. The dark-skinned woman stepped from the side lines and stood in front of the three of us. My hardened edges softened at their gesture.
Two more from the group joined us. The cops, though nervously, lowered their guns, hands still on the weapon and putting me on edge. "What is it?" one whispered, not particularly at anyone.
"I'm not an it. I need to get going, be safe." Without letting anyone stop me with words or actions, I jumped on top of a car and leapt into the air. My wings pumped multiple strokes, barely getting me into the air. Even with my tiny nap, exhaustion nibbled at whatever energy that was left.
As my wings carried me up, I spotted through the thick snow fall the two Cybertronians. Relief flooded me. I wobbled while gliding down to land on the other side of him, safe from sight. "Azar! What in Primus's name were you thinking?!" Hide grounded out, tires turning towards me.
A hum rippled through my throat. "Can I, I ride in uh bed? I'm… I'm really tired." My words slurred together as my legs wobbled underneath me.
"Slag, yeah, yeah. Are you okay though? Do we need to turn back?" Hide questioned, worry filling his voice. I shook my head and drunk-like jumped into the bed. It was bit of a struggle to get comfortable due to lack of length but I made do. "Recharge good, I guess…"