Chapter 2: Trail by Fire part 2
Trailfire, Breakdown and Knockout then slowly began circling each other before Trailfire then charged towards Knockout firing her cannon at him, forcing Knockout to look for nearby cover. Breakdown then charged at Trailfire firing his gun at her as Trailfire took cover behind a nearby scrap pile.
While Trailfire was taking cover from Breakdown and Knockout, Mary was busy rummaging around the garage for something she could use to help Trailfire. Scrapper nudged a bucket of water as it said, "Beep, beep." Mary looked at Scrapper as she smiled and replied,
"I appreciate you trying to help Scrapper, but a bucket of water isn't going to be much use."
Just then Mary heard the sound of another low rumbling of an engine, so she dived behind a stack of tires. As the rumbling got louder as it got closer, Mary could see from peeking out from behind the tires, that the vehicle she heard was a car and this car had a similar paint scheme to Trailfire except its stripes were blue.
The car then transformed into another male looking bot as it smiled at both Knockout and Breakdown as it said, "I think things should be a little more fair, now that the playing field has been evened up a little." Knockout scowled at the new bot,
"And just who do you think you are?"
The bot smirked at Knockout as it replied, "I'm Smokescreen, the newest Autobot on the scene. And you Cons are about to get smoked!" Knockout scowled at Smokescreen,
"It makes no difference to us, just one more spark for us to snuff out!"
Then before Smokescreen could answer back, Trailfire pulled him behind the pile of scrap she was hiding behind as she scowled at Smokescreen, "What are you doing here rookie? I don't need your help against these Cons!" Smokescreen looked back at Trailfire as he replied,
"You might not want my help, but with the two of us working together, even you can agree that the odds are a little better now that it's even."
Trailfire grumbled at Smokescreen, "Fine, just try not to get yourself killed rookie." Smokescreen smiled at Trailfire before he then leaned over the pile of scrap they were hiding behind as he fired a few shots from his blaster at Knockout and Breakdown. Trailfire then leaped over the pile of scrap as she charged at Breakdown and Knockout firing a few shots from her cannon.
Breakdown then charged at Trailfire and as the two bots got closer towards each other, both Trailfire and Breakdown exchanged blows with each other. Sparks flew from each other as they traded punches before Trailfire then slashed at Breakdown with her blade causing Breakdown to leak some Energon.
Meanwhile, Mary was watching the battle outside behind the stack of tires but as she tried to get a closer look at what was happening outside, she tripped knocking a few tires off and as the tires hit the ground Mary's eyes widened as she said, "Crap!" before she then quickly looked around for somewhere else to hide.
After seeing a few tires fall to the ground inside the Garage, Breakdown went to investigate while holding his hand over his wound made by Trailfire. Trailfire noticed Breakdown making his way towards the Garage, so she ran towards him and tackled him with her shoulder knocking him across the ground as she scowled at Breakdown, "You're fight is with me! You won't find anything of use in that Garage."
Breakdown then slowly got back to his feet and smiled at Trailfire as he replied, "If you're so sure that there's nothing inside that Garage, then why are you so protective of it?" Meanwhile, Knockout was in the process of retreating as he called out to Breakdown,
"We should leave while we still have our spark intact Breakdown, Lord Megatron will want to know of our report."
Breakdown scowled at Trailfire, "This isn't over! Just you wait, we'll be back." before he then transformed back into a dark blue truck and drove off with Knockout leaving a trail of Energon behind him as he went. After they left, Trailfire let out a small sigh of relife before she then walked towards the Garage and knelt down by the entrance and said,
"You can come out now Mary, they're gone…for now at least."
Mary then slowly crawled out from where she was hiding and dusted herself off before she frowned at Trailfire as she said, "Sorry, I almost gave away my position…" Trailfire smiled at Mary and replied,
"All that matters is that you are safe, Mary."
Smokescreen then walked over to Trailfire and smiled as he said, "Alright! we made one hell of a team, didn't we? We showed those Cons who's boss!" Trailfire stood up as she looked back at Smokescreen and replied,
"Not too shabby kid, you did a good job. Now leave me and Mary in peace."
Smokescreen shook his head at Trailfire as he said, "I'm afraid I can't do that. I have orders from Optimus to bring any Autobot refugees I find back to base." Trailfire looked back at Smokescreen and huffed,
"I'm not a refugee! I'm a wrecker! And probably the last one remaining too. but fine, we'll go to this base of yours, rookie."
Smokescreen then noticed the little bot next to Mary and aimed is blaster at it as he yelled, "Trailfire! there's a Scraplet in front of you!" Trailfire let out a sigh as she looked at Smokescreen and replied,
"Stand down rookie, this thing isn't a Scraplet. It belongs to Mary, and it poses no threat."
Mary then frowned at Trailfire as she said, "Maybe I should leave Scrapper here if he's just gonna scare everyone." Trailfire looked back at Mary and shook her head as she smiled and replied,
"If this thing is important to you Mary, then you can bring it with us. But maybe I would suggest giving it a different name so that the others don't confuse it for a Scraplet."
Smokescreen then pressed his earpiece as he said, "Ratchet, I'm gonna need a space bridge." and after he was done talking, a bright green glowing portal appeared in front of the Garage and Smokescreen motioned for Mary and Trailfire to follow as they went through the portal.
Later…
After they exited the portal on the other side, Mary hid behind Trailfire as Smokescreen smiled and waved at a few other bots as he said, "I'm back, mission was a success!" a tall grumpy looking white and red looking bot looked at Smokescreen and scolded,
"Do you have any idea how reckless you were out there! What would have happened if you had gotten yourself killed?"
A smaller blue looking bot with pink highlights walked over to the grumpy looking bot and smiled as she said, "Take it easy doc, the kid did good." the grumpy looking bot looked back at the blue bot and let out a small sigh and replied,
"I…suppose Smokescreen did come back in one piece, but that still doesn't change the fact that he was reckless."
A large green looking bot walked over to the others and smiled as he said, "So, who's our guest here?" the blue coloured bot smiled in Mary and Trailfire's direction and replied,
"I'd recognize this bucket of bolts anywhere, she's an old friend of mine."
The green coloured bot then walked over to Trailfire and smiled as it held out its hand as it said, "Nice to meet you. Name's Bulkhead. If you're friends with Arcee then you're good in my books." Trailfire smiled back at Bulkhead as she shook his hand and replied,
"Name's Trailfire. I'm a wrecker and…probably the one of the last ones too on this planet."
Arcee then smiled at Trailfire as she said, "Not exactly, Bulkhead's a wrecker too. So, who's that hiding behind you?" Trailfire smiled back at Arcee and looked down at Mary before looking back at Arcee and replied,
"This is Mary, she helped patch me up after she found me. And so I'm repaying her kindness by protecting her."
Arcee then walked over to Mary and knelt down and smiled as she held out a hand to her as she said, "Nice to meet you Mary, I'm Arcee. I know we might look big and scary, but trust me we don't bite." Mary smiled slightly back at Arcee and shook her finger and replied,
"I'm Mary, nice to meet you too Arcee." she then frowned a little as she added, "I have my own bot with me that I built myself, but…everyone confuses it for something called a Scraplet."
Arcee smiled at Mary and gently patted her on her head as she said, "That's pretty impressive for a human. And your little guy doesn't look harmful, c'mon I'll introduce you to the others." Mary nodded her head and smiled as she followed Arcee.
While Arcee was showing Mary around the base, Mary saw a girl who looked about the same age as herself with spiked pigtails rocking out on a guitar with a yellow coloured bot and Arcee smiled at Mary as she pointed at the yellow bot as she said, "Mary, this is Bumblebee. He's our scout." Mary smiled at Bumblebee and waved at him and replied,
"Nice to meet you Bumblebee. I'm Mary."
Bumblebee waved back at Mary as he said, "Beep, boop." Mary looked at Arcee with confusion and asked,
"How come he doesn't talk like the rest of you?"
The white coloured bot walked over to Mary as he said, "Bumblebee had his voice box destroyed by Megatron. I…did what I could to fix it, but I haven't been able to fully restore his voice box. I fear Bumblebee will never be able to speak again." before he then added, "I'm Ratchet by the way. My apologies if I frightened you earlier."
Then the girl who was with Bumblebee smiled at Mary as she held out her hand as she said, "Sorry, I was so busy rocking out that I didn't notice you earlier. I'm Miko. And it would be cool to have another girl hanging out at the base." Mary smiled at both Ratchet and Miko and replied,
"It's nice to meet you both, I'm Mary."
Meanwhile, Bulkhead was talking with Trailfire as he said, "You know, it would be awesome having another wrecker around here." Tralfire smiled slightly at Bulkhead and replied,
"Maybe. I…haven't decided if I am sticking around or not yet, after all I have to consider Mary's safety."
Then a tall red and blue coloured bot walked over to Trailfire and Bulkhead and looked at Trailfire as it said, "We would be honoured to have you fight alongside us Trailfire, and you need not worry about Mary. She would be safe here." Trailfire looked up at the red and blue coloured bot and replied,
"Optimus…I'm not sure you would really want me here. I'm a coward, after Cybertron fell…I ran and I hid instead of fighting. And…it's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I feel like it is my duty to protect Mary."
Optimus then placed a hand on Trailfire's shoulder as he said, "You did what you felt was right, in my eyes you are no coward, Trailfire. I see you for the warrior that I know still exists within your spark somewhere. So, will you lend your aid to us against the Decepticons?" Trailfire's eyes widened a little at Optimus's words and she paused for a minute to think.
She then looked at Optimus as she eventually replied, "I…I will see how Mary feels about staying here first, before I make my decision." Optimus smiled at Trailfire and said,
"Very well, take as much time as you need before you give your decision."
Trailfire then walked over towards Mary and Miko and leaned down slightly as she said, "Mary…the others would like me to stick around and help them against the Decepticons, but I haven't made up my mind just yet because…I wish to know how you feel about staying here. Your safety will always be my high priority." Mary slowly walked towards Trailfire as she smiled slightly and replied,
"This is what you wanted right? To know if there were any other bots like you on this planet, well…you got your answer. and…I think I do want to stay here with you Trailfire as I feel safe here and not only that…it will give me a chance to make some new friends, actual friends and not ones I just made from pieces of scrap."
Trailfire then let out a small sigh as she smiled at Mary and said, "If you want to stay here, then I guess I can't stop you. I'm still not really sure how useful I will be towards the others but I will give it my best. I will speak with Optimus and tell him my decision."
Mary then spread her arms over Trailfire's chest and looked up at her as she smiled and replied, "We're in this together, wherever you go I would go with you Trailfire. You're family to me, so let's both do our best to help out the others."
