Paige had washed off all the ice-cream off her face in the kitchen sink, as she was walking out of the kitchen she had to step back as Optimus rushed past her. Curious she began to run after him. Then suddenly a ringing entered her ears and the base causing it to shake and making her loose her footing and tumble to the cool metal floor. Frightened she closed her eyes and covered her head with her arms and waited for those endless moments of shaking to end. When it did she shakily got to her feet and rushed towards the main part of the base where she saw the door to the monitor room open. She ran inside and saw the Autobots surrounding the monitor.
Ironhide was pointing to the screen and talking "I swear Optimus they just appeared out of nowhere"
"Alright, Ironhide You and I will go for Starscream and Bumblebee and Ratchet can take Barricade and Frenzy" Optimus turned and saw Paige staring up at them with wide eyes.
"What is happening?" she breathed fear evident from the tone of her voice.
Optimus gave Paige a sympathetic look and knelt down "Paige, the Decepticons are attacking the base" All of the colour drained out of her face "We will protect you" Optimus told her with a firm voice.
"O-Ok" Paige managed to say, she took in a deep breath and it out "What am I going to do?" she asked.
"You are going to stay in Ironhide's room; Sam will join you and you two will wait out the battle together" Optimus said.
"Ok" Paige glanced past Optimus and saw Ironhide she gave him a small smile and said "good luck" then without another word she rushed on over to Ironhide's room and curled up on the top of her bed just as another rumble hit the base.
Sam rushed into the room a few moments later, he saw Paige gripping her pillow tightly and staring at him with wide eyes.
"You ok?" he asked as he joined her on the bed.
"Sure" Paige said, she laughed "The base is falling apart and I'm in it" she laughed again. Sam looked at her warily, he tried to pry the pillow out of her hands but she wouldn't let go. Paige buried her face in the pillow but Sam could still heard what she was saying "My life sucks" she murmured. The base rumbled again and Paige let out a small squeak of surprise and jumped to her feet.
"Woah!" Sam tried to make a grab for her but Paige avoided him.
"It's falling apart!" Paige screamed in terror as another rumble quacked the base.
"No!" Sam made another grab for Paige but she was already scrambling for the door. "Paige!" Sam called in desperation "Come back"
"I gotta get outta here!" Paige yelled as she gripped her pillow tightly and ran for the entrance. The big door was closed but that did not stop Paige from running into it and pounding on the door. "Let me out, Let me out!" she screamed.
By this time Sam had caught up to her, acting quickly he grabbed her around the waist and began to drag her away from the door. Paige struggled a bit but in the end gave up. By the time she was back in Ironhide's room she had been reduced to a shaking and quivering mess.
Sam set her on the bed and grabbed her face with both of his hands and forced her to look at him.
"Paige" he spoke her name firmly "Paige, look at me" she did as she was told. "Paige listen. We. Are. Going. To. Be. Alright." He said it slowly so that she would get every word. "Do you understand?" Paige swallowed and nodded.
"Kay" she said whispered.
"Good" Sam let go of her face and offered her a thin smile. Paige wrapped her arms tighter around the poor pillow and observed Sam as he stood by the bed and acted as if nothing was happening.
"You look used to all of this" Paige murmured just loud enough for Sam to hear.
"Used to what?" Sam stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans and turned his head to look at her.
"All this" Paige gestured as another rumble shook the base.
"Oh, the fighting?" Sam asked, he turned the rest of his body to face her.
"Yeah." Paige nodded.
"Yeah I'm used to it" Sam nodded. Paige was about to venture further into the topic when the sound of metal being ripped from hinges resounded through the base.
"What was that?" Paige tensed her body and held the pillow closer.
"Shhh…" Sam held up his hand and silently commanded silence, Paige complied and watched with wide eyes as Sam made his way towards the entrance of Ironhide's room. He poked his head out and Paige saw his shoulders slump, "Aw man" he murmured.
Sam saw a big silver robot in the entrance of the base, one he knew well. The robot regarded him and his features split into a horrific smile.
"Boy" the robot said gleefully "I will enjoy killing you"
"Uh-huh, I'm sure you would" Sam said nodding he backed up a bit and glanced towards the room in which Paige was sitting. She had frozen at the voice, that was an evil voice. She watched as Sam began to back up bit by bit. "So… Starscream" Sam began talking once more "May I ask you a question?"
"No…" Starscream said.
"Ok, so here it goes"
"I said no"
"How come you're attacking us?"
"That's easy" Starscream said "You have a girl here, a girl I want"
Sam frowned "girl?" he asked "What girl?"
Starscream laughed, "That won't work on me" he said, then he pointed to Ironhide's room "I want the one you have hiding in there" Sam sputtered for a moment, while Starscream laughed. Then everything went silent for a few seconds. Paige held onto her breath and clamped a hand over her mouth. Then chaos broke. Starscream lunged and as he was jumping past the door to Ironhide's room he used the opposite wall to propel himself sideways into the room. He rolled and landed on his feet. Paige watched him do all of this and then let out a loud terrified scream.
Starscream smiled again, oblivious to her screams "Ah" he said "There you are" he reached forward with a clawed hand and grabbed her around the middle. Paige was helpless to do anything, she hung limply in his hand and let out a low frightened moan. Starscream stepped out of the room and noticed that Sam was nowhere to be found.
"Oh well" he said cheerfully "I got what I came for" he began walking out of the base he jumped out of the entrance and propelled himself upward with his boosters. When he had reached the top of the cliff, he landed and with his free hand he fired off a few shots towards Optimus for good measure. While he was doing so he sent a com-link to Barricade and Frenzy telling them to prepare to retreat for they had what they came for. He was about to take off when he heard the whirring of a high powered gun and turned around an saw the blue energy of a ready to fire gun pressed against his head.
Paige was staring at the gun when she suddenly heard Ironhide's voice, "You have my human, Starscream, I want her back"
It didn't take Starscream long to decide what he wanted to do, with a growl he ducked and tried to run past him. Ironhide caught the motion and activated his other canon and shot Starscream point blank in the back. The Decepticon let out a metallic whine and fell to the ground. Paige let out at small scream as she felt the falling sensation, but Ironhide was quick and just as Starscream hit the ground Paige was out of his hand into Ironhide's.
"Got ya" Ironhide murmured as he took a few steps back from the larger robot.
As he was taking steps back there was a canon fire and shout of warning from behind. Ironhide whipped around and saw an oncoming shot, though Ironhide didn't have much agility he began a sidestep and was hit in the shoulder instead of the chest. He let out a groan as the shot tore through his circuitry and armor causing him to stumble back, trip and hit the ground hard. Paige to terrified to scream shut her eyes and prayed for it to end. There was another shot and Ironhide's middle was torn through, sending up shrapnel and other such items, they fell to the earth deadly projectiles. Paige covered her head and squeezed her eyes shut. She felt a sharp pain in her arm and let out a scream. She felt her muscles and skin being flayed and torn. Yelling in agony Paige burrowed herself in Ironhide's unmoving hand. She lay there for a moment panting and trying to come to her senses but it was no use after a moment her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell unconscious.