Combustion

Well the response to Chapter 11 was extremely lukewarm :) So I'm guessing people are getting eager for an ending. I think there'll be 2 more chapters then it'll all be over ;) hope you can hang out that long!

Thanks to the usual suspects (the people, not the movie) for their reviews – especially Dania who took time out from her studies to write one of her usual elegant and insightful reviews… This time including BIBLE references :D

I won't comment on the irony of referencing the bible when reviewing a story that contains both homosexual and inter-species relationships LOL ;) because the effort is appreciated above and beyond the source material. Your comments were as insightful and interesting as usual :D

We're heading toward climax now people – not the sexual kind – just the plot.

Chapter 12

"We need to hurry and complete this. We don't have much time. Your friends draw closer with every moment." Sam looked at B for confirmation, his autobot nodding slightly to indicate that Starscream told the truth.

"We must finish this before they get here Sam. Prime will not allow us to do anything to raise Megatron." Bumblebee's voice held a slight tint of fear, a tone that painfully reminded Sam of the expression on his face when he had found him being tortured by Section 7. Now though, he wasn't sure whether it was fear of Optimus himself or fears that he would stop them, and Sam would die. The sounds that reached his more primitive human hearing only a second afterwards was not the Autobot leader however, but the roar of jet engines, the sound accompanied by a sudden thump as two fighter aircraft flashed by overhead, surging on out to sea before peeling apart like diverging forks in a road and swooping delicately back towards the beach. The sea vibrated at their presence, stirred into an agitated dance by mankind's violation of its domain, the waves appearing like white tipped hands, grasping for the intruders that somehow managed to defy them. Sam stood frozen as the front of the two aircraft lit up with flashes, the sight reaching him seconds before the first shells slammed into the whitecaps, the small splashes streaking toward the beach in a deadly strafe, as though to somehow subdue the ocean before dealing with the land. The two points were aimed towards convergence; a cross that would meet somewhere near where he was standing and his eyes widened in alarm. He felt Bumblebee gently yet firmly grasp him and pull him to the side, folding around him as they hit the beach as though trying to turn into his car form with Sam already inside.

The small bursts of water turned into plumes of sand, marching towards them, though Sam could feel little but the warmth of B around him and the beating of their bond. With a flurry of pings as metal impacted metal, the trail of bullets passed over them in fractions of a second and continued up the sand, before shredding several trees and then cutting off. A second later the jets followed the path made by their own bullets and then passed back over the island, disappearing from sight. Sam drew in several shuddering breaths and gently pressed against B's chest to indicate that he wished to stand up again.

"B? Are you alright?" With a reluctant whirring Bumblebee slowly pulled away from him but did not immediately stand up.

"I am fine Sam." His bot's voice sounded surprised, and as he looked over the yellow armoured shoulder he almost choked on his own saliva. Dark optics stared down from only a couple of feet away; the larger head of the Decepticon watching both of them from where he crouched over their prone forms. He heard the surprise and gratitude he knew was on his face expressed in his voice, as he addressed their temporary ally.

"Why?" The silver bot stood up as B righted himself, assisting Sam to his feet at the same time, hand curled around his shoulders. He thought he saw the optics glance between them with something undefinable before his face seemed to sneer, as much as a mechanical being could, and the glow narrowed to slits.

"Don't expect it again human. I didn't do it out of kindness or camaraderie. If you die, Megatron dies; it's as simple as that." Sam didn't take his eyes off the Decepticon as he spoke, and nodded at him in acceptance.

"Well, thank you anyway." Sam felt the warm metal hand of his guardian tighten around him, and his eyes flicked to the blue optics he knew so well, swearing he saw jealousy surging through them. Bumblebee noticed his stare and hurriedly looked away, a fingernails down a blackboard laugh coming from Starscream, as he turned down the beach.

"They are here, and the Autobots won't be far behind. Do what you have to do. Your yellow friend and I will hold them off as long as possible." He didn't even wait for them to respond before, with the familiar sound he transformed, and the massive jet blasted away from the beach, leaving a puddle of hardening glass in its wake. Seconds later a boom announced as he crossed the sound barrier in pursuit of the retreating forces, and then silence briefly returned to the island. The cold corpse of the dead Decepticon was streatched out on the sands before him, like an enormous, immovable monument to the immutability of his fate. It felt like a physical force, dragging him onwards with the same firmness of grip that time pulled towards death.

"It will all be ok my love." B's voice was a welcome break to the peace, the artificial sounds breaking the now unwelcome nature surrounding them. He was going to ask how the Autobot knew that, how he could be sure this was all going to work out, when they had seemingly betrayed their friends, the government was after them and they were about to resurrect the greatest threat the planet had ever known. He wanted to ask and be reassured that Bumblebee had an answer, but a sudden explosion shook the earth beneath them and set the trees vibrating like a field of grain. A fireball bloomed into the sky from the distant side of the island, dispersing into the atmosphere with a shimmer, rippling as the ocean did behind him.

"Do it Sam." Intense blue seared into his own panicked brown as a yellow armoured arm pointed at the inactive body awaiting him.

"Now." His legs moved without thought, the command too strong to deny. He wanted to take a minute to tell Bumblebee everything he thought and felt, to let him know that no matter what happened he had been happy like he'd never been before since the bot had come into his life, but his body refused him. He became a temporary passenger as he scrambled down the sand, forced on by the urgency of B's request, the silver torso getting taller and taller in his vision, watching over his shoulder as the cannons unfolded from their hidden compartments within his bonded's arms and he turned towards the not so distant trees.

Another jet shot past overhead, barely high enough to clear the treetops, stirring the sand up into swirling eddies, Sam throwing himself to the ground as the grains got into his eyes and blinded him, feeling the heat of its exhaust wash against him like waves in the already stifling afternoon. A second later Starscream shot over as well; the gracefulness and total control of his flight making the human pilot of the other plane seem incompetent by comparison.

"What are you waiting for human? Do it now!" The synthesised voice shrieked across the beach with the same volume as the jet exhaust, as a missile peeled away from his underside toward the retreating manned aircraft. Sam blinked to clear the sand from his eyes, watching with baited breath as the pilot desperately tried to avoid the projectile, first pulling up into an almost vertical ascent before banking and diving, levelling out seemingly only inches above the water. A plume of water vaporised to steam as a wake peeled away from the plane's path, the missile plunging into the ocean and detonating several hundred feet out to sea. A split second later the fireball blasted into the air, superheated water spraying outward from the explosion like a deadly fountain around the flames.

Starscream ploughed through the water and fire without hesitation, emerging from the other side wreathed in steam and flame, like some demonic form from the gates of hell, mere feet behind the navy jet. Both seemed to fire at the same time, the missiles taking off with single minded directness, the small rockets looking like children streaking away from their parent aircraft. Sam jumped up in alarm, his hands and feet displacing the sand in his frenzy to move, slipping in the loose grains. The human piloted jet exploded to his left as the Decepticon missile caught it squarely behind the cockpit, bursting apart like a metal balloon, shrapnel blasted out like deadly projectiles that Starscream flew heedlessly into as he attempted to reach the missile that was now zeroing in on Sam and Megatron.

Sam could see he wouldn't make it however, and couldn't risk shooting at it lest his shots miss and impact the very human he was trying to save. He watched almost in slow motion as the alien jet seemed to realise this and helplessly pulled up, the missile coming on with the relentlessness of a train set on its rails. He was mere feet from the presumed safety of the large bot now, and he leapt off the soft sand, arm outstretched to grasp something to pull him up onto the enormous ribcage, but human muscles couldn't compare with the speed of computers and machinery. It seemed his feet had barely left the ground when light filled his vision, like that of his bond to Bumblebee, but this time it simply brightened the world around him, rather than obscure it. His shadow briefly became a sharp edged silhouette against the metal in front of him, a blackness that appeared to almost have depth compared to the reflections of the light around it, until even that darkness was lost and his vision was whited out.

What must have been a fraction of a second later the heat hit him. It instantly passed through his relatively thin clothing, searing his back with the intensity of a thousand whips, flaying the skin from the muscle beneath, the smell of charred flesh filling his nostrils moments before his nerves seemed to register the pain and he screamed. Or at least he would have, if the shockwave hadn't arrived and torn the very air from around him. It hit him like a truck, throwing him into the body before him and swirling him about like a leaf, sucking the oxygen straight from his lungs. His hands flailed wildly as he tried to grab a hold of anything to halt his tumbling, his fingers closing around something hard, grasping hold with the tenacity of a rock climber.

The object bit into his palm like a knife, slicing it open, but he refused to let go, pulling his other hand in and grabbing on with it as well, feeling the same sharpness cut through the second palm with just as much ease. He could feel moisture on his cheeks and his lungs contracting painfully with his cries and sobs as they struggled to draw in air, but his vision and hearing remained ineffective.

After the turbulence subsided, it took seconds for anything but the pain in his body to register, sound the first to return. The noise of familiar sounding cannons firing filtered through his shock, while more explosions could be heard in the distance as well as the shriek of missiles and the stuttering purr of automatic weapons.

As his vision began to filter back to him, the first thing he saw was the shining surface his head was pressed against. Colour began to return a second after that as his cones recovered after the brightness, the surface turning crimson, liquid marring the silver metal before him. He slowly lifted his head so he could determine exactly where he was, the moving tearing through the missing skin on his back and making him cry out again, fresh tears pouring out of his eyes and slightly blurring everything around him, giving it a softness that helped to hide the destruction being wrought. It wasn't much, but it was enough for him to see a vague yellow shape further down the beach, being swarmed from the tree line by numerous small camouflaged blobs, their rifles spitting flame as B's own weapons returned blue tinted fire. A streak of light bloomed from one of the figures as a shoulder launched missile was launched, catching his autobot on the back of his right shoulder, throwing him to one knee.

Sam desperately wanted to go to him, in spite of the fact that he knew there was as little he could do now as there had been when B had been caught under the bridge by Section 7. It was a need though, this desire to go to his aid. One which he could not fulfil however, ordered to complete his mission, commanded by one whom he could not disobey. He slowly dragged himself further across the Decepticon chest he had landed on, the ragged edge of the wound revealed as the source of the cuts on his hands. It was a burnt and charred hole in the incredible machine that was so much like the being he loved and had bound himself to. He could already feel the spark energy inside his chest humming with some sort of resonance to the cavity before him, as though it somehow knew it had been returned to where it was meant to be. All he needed to do was get close enough to the dead spark crystal and his mission would be over.

As would his bond to Bumblebee.

"Move away from the body Sam." He froze at the booming voice, Ironhide, coming from somewhere behind and above him, but was unable to look due to the pain in his back.

"I can't Ironhide." He braced himself, not sure whether the military bot would shoot him or just step on him. He'd never got that close to the seemingly more violent autobot, he'd always seemed just as likely to put a bullet in him as talk to him, and he didn't anticipate any leniency now.

"I know this may seem like a way out for you, that you're scared of dying, but by doing this you potentially destroy the entire galaxy. This is not a logical decision. I must make sure you do not succeed." Sam squeezed his eyes closed, feeling a couple of final drops leak out from his closing lids as he forced himself to ignore the pain and slowly turn his head to face the intimidating machine, cannons deployed and ready.

"I have no choice. Even if I wanted to change my mind I couldn't. B ordered me to do this and I cannot disobey." He dragged himself another painful inch closer, smearing more red handprints across the silver chest. Ironhide's optics widened and brightened at his revelation, and he seemed to grasp what he meant without having to say it.

"You have an asymmetrical bond." Sam nodded, not sure whether he felt shame or pride at having admitted as much, still trying to reach where the pull of the spark energy told him he had to be. The confession seemed to momentarily shock Ironhide into inaction, allowing him to further close with the wound he was aiming for, before the shadow of a giant hand fell across him.

"I still cannot let you achieve your objective. If you will not come peacefully I will be forced to take you." The spark didn't want to leave, it couldn't disobey Bumblebee's command and it could feel its destination so close.

"No! You can't! Please Ironhide!" The hand was about to close around him, forcefully dragging him off Megatron, when a thud sounded from further down the beach. Sam's eyes swivelled over the bot's shoulder, watching as Starscream flew bare feet above the sand, closing the distance in mere seconds before transforming in midair and landing on Ironhide's back with an enormous screech of metal on metal.

The impact threw them both to the ground, the aerial Decepticon's momentum carefully targeted to pull the hand away from Sam, hurling the larger machine off the Autobot, rolling him head over heels until he righted himself in a protective stance in front of Megatron, feet sliding several feet in the sand.

"You will not stop us now Autobot. Megatron will rise again, and you will all feel his wrath." Ironhide's answer was punctuated by his cannons, unloading a barrage towards the silver bot.

"As will you Starscream." The volley went wild of its target, the smaller of the two not having managed to completely correct himself after their impact. His words didn't help him, Sam feeling them particularly and unnecessarily vicious considering the seriousness of the situation, and they stirred the already flammable Decepticon into overdrive. His metallic shriek echoed up and down the beach as he charged, putting his shoulder into Ironhide with a crunch, and locking the two of them into an ugly exchange of blows.

Out of the corner of his eye Sam caught a flash of blue and red towering over the forest in the interior of the island, announcing Optimus Prime's arrival long before he could fire into the raging battle around him. Thankfully the human soldiers showed no sign of assisting the Autobots in their struggle, evidently the two sides not working together on this operation, Prime more than likely too secretive to go to the government for aid and the government too suspicious to attempt communication. If he was going to do this he had to do it now. If Optimus got here it would be too late, he would decide this battle without Megatron to oppose him.

His bloody hands scrabbled for purchase against the slickness of the metal, his sneakers trying to gain a foothold to help push him forwards, somehow managing to cross the final inches to the larger wound which marked Megatrons death blow from the allspark. It was cold inside, as though the Decepticon's hatred and anger had somehow infused even the metal of his body, leaving it chilled and unable to ever feel warmth. The cavity was dark; managing to keep its shadows even under the bright tropical sun, but somewhere within, it glowed. Not the same piercing and beautiful brightness of B, but a pure and powerful light all the same.

He could see it, not as a physical sensation, but as something felt from inside. He reached out for it, his hand stretching into the blackness, the chill seeping into his flesh and travelling up his arm to his shoulder, numbing the limb. Blood dripped from his fingertips, disappearing into the alien robot's depths, each drop sparkling with the energy that he could feel gathering around his hand, building to some sort of release.

The first connection was like a static discharge, a small zap that disappeared as quickly as it came. The second was like lightning, a fork of energy searing between his hand and the metal interior, lighting it up with the flickering effect of a strobe light, another following it. The pulses became more and more frequent, each one connecting his hand to the metal skin around it, until it looked like the ball inside a plasma lamp, set on overload.

He could feel a draining sensation as the energy began to leave him, like a slow leak that could be overlooked, yet would bleed you dry if not healed quickly. It seemed wrong, the energy had almost become so much a part of his life that he didn't even notice it anymore, his body no longer feeling the spark as an intruder, but as something necessary to his survival. He didn't want to lose it, give up on what it had allowed him to have, and he felt no indications of life from the body below him, no movement, no warmth, and no energy. Instead it just seemed to be creating a more and more blinding lightshow. He could make out the slagged and melted remains of the spark chamber now, see the dark and shattered crystal contained within. It chilled him in a way the cold couldn't. It seemed almost wrong, that something he knew would have been so beautiful during its life, could be so evil that it could desire to destroy the world.

Now it refused to return to that life, the shards unmoving and unresponsive to the energy his hand was creating nearby. And if they wouldn't take the life back from him, why should he surrender it to them?

"Sam!" It was a desperate cry from his partner and his head jerked automatically to focus on that sound. His eyes looked across a landscape that resembled a World War II film, the previously pristine beach now pockmarked by craters and debris. A portion of the forest had caught alight at some point, blazing with a smoky fury that would no doubt eventually consume every living thing on the island before it was extinguished by a lack of fuel. His autobot stood amongst the flames and wreckage like some sort of fallen mechanical angel, his silver and yellow finish gleaming under the sun, but marred by soot and scars where his armour and components were damaged or missing.

Nearby, Starscream and Ironhide were still grappling, the blows crunching against each other with a force that would have made him wince if he weren't already in enormous pain. More aircraft were appearing in the sky, no longer hindered or hesitant due to Starscream's presence.

"We don't have much time Sam." B was firing at the groups of men advancing on Megatron's corpse, hitting only sand, not wanting to kill without necessity. They'd realised this however, and didn't even try to get out of the way, walking straight on through the clouds of sand each shot billowed up, their muzzles flashing. He looked back down to where the glow seemed to have reached critical mass, watching it swirl and shimmer like the life force it actually was, and knew he had to let it go. He didn't want to, in spite of what it had done to his life, what it was doing and had done to his body, because without it he would never be whole again. But this was about more than just him, it was about B, and if he didn't do this not only would he be failing the command he had been given, but he would be betraying the sacrifice his guardian was making to give him his life.

He took one last look at the crackling power in his fist, trying to imprint this final feeling into his mind so he could always remember it later, and then willed it gone.

There was a concussion without sound. An explosion with no flames, and the energy disappeared. The spark chamber of the enormous Decepticon detonated, hurling him off as it expelled the debris from within it, metal healing like flesh across the scar. He felt some of the wreckage add to his pain as it pierced his skin, before his injured back hit the sand and he slid, the grains abrading like sandpaper through his torn and charred clothing. He screamed out and cried at the same time, Bumblebee's name on his lips, drowned out by the roar of the formerly inanimate bot coming back to life.

His call was just as blood curdling to hear this time as it had been in the first battle, a scream that seemed to promise an eternity of destruction and terror for those who heard it. It signalled an end to hope for his enemies, doom for the Earth and its inhabitants, and death for any who betrayed him. Activity on the beach came to an abrupt and terrifying halt, the soldiers falling back like ants before the enormous size of Megatron. Beyond him, Ironhide and Starscream were feet apart, standing dead still in battle readiness, Bumblebee was further away, his cannons directed at the retreating troops, but his optics were fixed on Sam with a laser like precision. He could feel the blue stare taking in his wounds and condition, desperate to come to him but unable to move for fear of drawing the newly resurrected Decepticon's attention.

"Megatron." It was obvious now, after Starscream's comments, to hear the hidden desire in the flyer's voice, the yearning that Sam had heard in his own recently. But when Megatron turned and addressed him, unlike B, the rejection sounded clear and strong in his voice.

"Starscream. You failed me again." Even though the words were dismissive and condescending, the smaller Decepticon shivered slightly simply to hear them. Sam wondered if other's noticed when he did that around Bumblebee. It was a terrifying thought, and he didn't want to know just how far the similarities between them went.

"But Megatron, I found a way to bring you back. I never stopped…" A cannon was deployed within a second, Starscream's voice fading as the arm pointed at him unwaveringly.

"You fled Starscream. You betrayed and abandoned us." There was a fierce fire ignited at the formerly dead leader's words, the flyer stepping fearlessly up to the barrel of the gun.

"What reason would I have to stay Megatron? I left, and now I've returned to bring you back. Nothing I could have done would have impressed you. Had I died in battle defending you it still would have been insufficient to please you, and then we both would have been dead. At least now we live." Nothing seemed to happen for half a minute, nothing moving except the relentless force of the wind and the waves, no sound except the distant roar of the fire. The Decepticon took in the surroundings, noticing that he was outnumbered and surrounded, becoming aware that to the best of his knowledge Starscream could be his only ally, then, with a feral snarl that resembled rending metal Megatron withdrew his arm. The cannon folded swiftly away, the enormous bot taking one final look around before, without speaking another word, he transformed. His alien jet like appearance took shape, larger even than Starscream, and without waiting for his saviour, he blasted out over the ocean.

The sudden noise seemed to wake the beach back to action, Bumblebee sprinted towards him, ready to shield him from whatever was coming while Ironhide jumped toward Starscream, ready to pick the battle right up again. The Decepticon was already transforming however, the F-22 lacking the alien styling of Megatron, but taking off with the same speed and agility, the blast knocking the Autobot back several feet and throwing sand in every direction.

Sam watched as it disappeared overhead, aware as B came to a stop beside him, sinking into the sand and gently extending a hand to rest carefully against his side. Even that small touch caused him pain and he hissed, looking at the bot above him and feeling sorrow that apart from the agony, the touch had done nothing else. No tingle filled him, no energy connected them, and no visions of B's spark pulsed within. He could see the same realisation and understanding in the blue glowing optics above him and felt fresh tears, unrelated to the pain, course down his cheeks.

"It's gone isn't it?" His voice sounded as hurt as his body actually was.

"I do not know Sam." His autobot's vocal synthesiser somehow managed to convey a sadness so deep it seemed to suck all the warmth out of the world around it, imbued with so much loss and despair that one could get caught up in it, and never escape.

"Oh, Bumblebee." He looked away, unable to stare into the mechanical eyes anymore, instead watching the group of soldiers heading towards them, guns drawn, and the Autobots assembling behind them.

"I'm so sorry this has cost you everything." The sound of Bumblebee transforming prompted him to turn back around, gunfire singing out in the afternoon at what to the soldiers could easily be a hostile act, and ricocheting off B's hood and sides.

"You haven't Sam. Not yet." The door next to him swung open.

"Get in. Now." The bond was gone, or at least the urge was no longer present to obey B without thought, but beyond everything else, the Autobot was his protector, his guardian, and he trusted him without question.

He forced his body to move, ignoring the blood and the pain, dragging himself across the sand, his shoes pushing him into the cool interior, apologising for spreading sand and drying blood into the upholstery. The door slammed shut behind him, the ping of bullets on glass replacing the surf and the flames.

He was going to ask what they would do, how they were going to escape, or even what the Autobots and the government would do with them when they were taken back, but a familiar boom suddenly split the air. The gunfire halted with the sound of men yelling to fall back, the autobot's cannons resounding in the afternoon in their place. B's seatbelts shot out of their retainers, twisting around his body lying prone on the backseat, trying to avoid the most injured and tender areas, only partly succeeding. The buckles clicked home, locking him in place on the leather as a jolt rocked through them. Another blast of cannon fire seemed to pass very close to them as B tilted sharply to one side.

Then they were airborne, the ground disappearing far below them, and within seconds had passed out of range.

Fin

We're getting there guys :D Closer and closer to the end.

I'm not real happy with this chapter – I can't write action. Let's face it I'm an emotions person, raw action scenes seem to turn out insufficient when I write them. But as I've said before – It does what it needs to!