Hey guys, long time no see, once again. I feel like I'm always doing this to you. My bad. I had most of this chapter written months ago, but I just couldn't figure out how to write the ending.

So, sorry for the delay. I hope you like the new chapter. I will give all justifications for the events of chapter 8 later on. :)

Chapter 8: Undead, Overgrown Tin-Can

The second the roof caved I acted on sheer instinct. Throwing my hand forward I sent out a burst of telekinetic energy which caught the falling plaster, bricks and support beams before they could crush the petrified people below. Dust and small fragments rained down around them, the plaster particles shrouding the room in a thick white haze. The people who had been under the initial cave were all screaming, huddled on the floor, their hands over their heads.

'Abbie, make them move,' I yelled.

Keeping her head, Abbie nodded and darted forward, yelling at the people to move out from under the floating pieces of ceiling. When they didn't respond, she forcibly dragged them, with Hamish's help. Once they were all clear I released my hold, and the debris crashed to the floor with a shuddering boom.

A silence descended on the hall, with people variously staring at the gaping hole in the roof, the pile of rubble on the floor, and at each other. I turned my gaze to Optimus, 'what caused that?'

'I don't -'

He never finished what he was saying. Because at that moment something slid, slowly and deliberately, through the giant hole in the roof. Something big, and made entirely of black metal. Something with blood red optics which shone with malicious pleasure, and sharp metallic ridges which rattled up and down the sides of it's elongated face.

It stared around the room, at the shocked people, turning its hulking body in unhurried, leisurely movements. Everyone was seemingly too shocked to scream, they were all standing stock still, hands pressed to their mouths, eyes wide, faces pale.

Then the creature spoke, in a dull, grating rasp which made my skin crawl, 'pathetic, miserable fleshlings,' it spat, 'your mere existence is an insult to the universe.'

I took hold of the sleeve of Optimus's jacket, gripping it so tightly the fabric nearly tore, 'is that-'

'I don't understand,' glancing up at his face, I saw that his luminous blue eyes were wide with shock and something I could only describe as fear.

It was apparent that my own face probably mirrored his, because I had recognised the creature the moment it had entered the room. I didn't need it to speak, I didn't need it to finish the slow turn around the room so he was facing me. I already knew. And I didn't understand.

His face plates shifting into a wicked smile, The Fallen's red optics locked onto my gaze and held fast. The sickening red pools seemed to bore into my skull, making my stomach twist and my breathing hitch. With the awful gaze came a sense of paralysis, a sense that I just couldn't look away, and I remained rooted in horror, my hands still grasping tightly at Optimus's arm. All I could do was think about how impossible, how utterly insane, this was.

'Ah, the All Spark,' The Fallen sneered at length, 'how, delightful, to see you again.'

There was nothing I could do or say, I couldn't even squeak I was that stunned. It was only when The Fallen's optics shifted away from me that I felt the paralysis dissipate. With his attention now fixed on Optimus, The Fallen seemed more than a little amused.

'I knew I recognised that energy signature,' he was saying, 'how does it feel, Optimus Prime? To be trapped as one of these wretched insects which you love so much?'

Much like I had been, it seemed that Optimus was too stunned, too horrified to speak. He just stayed stock still, eyes never leaving those of The Fallen's. For the first time since I had met him, Optimus Prime seemed genuinely afraid and totally lost in his confusion.

Eventually he found his voice, 'but you… died. You're dead.'

He spoke softly, so softly that I doubted the other normal people in the hall heard him. But The Fallen did. And he did the worst thing he had done since he had entered the room. He laughed.

It was a laugh that I still remembered from the first time we had encountered him in Egypt, a grating, guttural sound which sounded as painful as it did vile. It was only made all the worse by how obviously amused he was by our terror. He seemed to be feeding off it.

But strangely, that laugh seemed to have the miraculous effect of snapping my mind back into a state of action. I blinked and my hands loosened their grip from Optimus's sleeve. Noticing my movement, he shot me a sideways look, still watching The Fallen in his peripheral vision.

'We need to get the people out of here,' I whispered, 'now.'

He blinked once or twice then, all of a sudden, the all too familiar determined light was back in his eyes and he nodded, 'we'll distract him in any way we can. Can you seal him in a force field?'

'Only when the people are clear,' I said, eyeing the group of ex-cheerleaders who were clustered not far from his left foot, 'Abbie, Hamish! Find a way to get these people out of here, now!'

I didn't need to hear her response, she would do what I asked. Instead, I focused my attention back on The Fallen, who was watching us now in curiosity, as if trying to gage what we would try to do. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Optimus draw a gun from under his jacket.

'Do you have a spare?'

'Do you need to ask?'

He threw a second compact, black plasma gun into my waiting hand, one of Ironhide's contributions to the human armoury. Without waiting, and barely stopping to aim, I raised the gun and fired a single blast of plasma into The Fallen's chest panels.

…

Starscream stood anxiously by the car, his fingers nervously tapping the window panel. What was taking them so long? Optimus had gone in to find Ally ages ago to get her to evacuate the building. Because of how far away back-up was they had agreed that they would try to leave the area before the Decepticons arrived to avoid any kind of confrontation.

Glancing back into the car, Starscream eyed the transportable scanner on the front seat nervously. The signals were almost on top of them now, they were probably less than a minute away.

'So not good,' he muttered, 'come on Prime, where are you?'

Movement on the other side of the carpark caught his eye and he spun to see what it was. His stomach sank when he saw four figures emerge from behind one of the parked cars. Four very human figures. Starscream released the breath he had been holding, at least they weren't still robots.

They moved slowly but, as they got closer, Starscream could see that this wasn't deliberate. All seemed a little unsteady on their feet, as if they weren't entirely sure of the balance and they were using at least part of their concentration to stay upright. But none of them fell and they kept moving steadily in the direction of the hall, effectively ignoring Starscream.

He frowned, having thought they would do the opposite. Then it hit him. They didn't recognise him, how could they? After all, he didn't immediately recognise them, although he was willing to take a guess at who the lead one was.

They had just passed the car where he was standing when he cleared his throat. As one they spun, red eyes focusing on him, 'do you need help with anything?' he asked.

The eyes of the man at the front narrowed, flitting up and down Starscream's tall, skinny frame, assessing him. Silvery brows drew together in a frown and, despite the human face, Starscream recognised him at once.

'So you got screwed over by this thing as well Megatron?'

It was Megatron, without a doubt, Starscream decided. Tall and powerfully built, he was menacing, even as a human. Shoulder length silver hair fell messily around his pale, sharp features, half concealing a criss-cross of scars which stretched from his hairline, down to his jaw on the left side of his face. When his lips curved into a malicious sneer there was absolutely no mistaking him.

It seemed that Megatron had been doing a similar assessment of him, 'Starscream,' it wasn't a question, Megatron never really asked questions he just made statements.

'The one and only, my lord Megatron' Starscream bowed mockingly.

By this stage the other three Decepticons had moved to stand behind Megatron, and were all eyeing him curiously. In human form he didn't recognise them. One was small, slim and very young with tussled black hair, curiously streaked with white. One was built like a bull, bald and with only one eye, the other socket was empty and black. The final one had a similar build to Starscream, tall and lanky, although curiously his eyes were different colours, one was red, the other was yellow.

'What are you doing here Megatron?' Starscream moved away from the side of the car.

The Decepticon leader just smiled at him, 'I'm sure you can figure it out traitor.'

Briefly, Starscream allowed his eyes to flit up to the doorway of the hall where Optimus and Ally were, 'I can't let you in there.'

'I doubt you will be able to stop us,' the behemoth behind Megatron growled.

'Considering that your great and powerful leader can't figure out how to put his shirt on properly, I think I have a chance,' Starscream nodded to Megatron's back to front shirt, 'the buttons go at the front scrap-head.'

Megatron didn't seem particularly annoyed, confused or even surprised with this comment, his eyes never leaving Starscream's face. When he spoke next, it was in an even voice, but the ice-cold threat which hung underneath it was obvious.

'I will enjoy killing you Starscream. Crushing you as a human, it should be far more pleasurable.'

…

'Take that you overgrown, undead tin-can!' flinging my hand forward I sent another blast of raw energy slamming into the black armour.

The ground shook as The Fallen stumbled back, narrowly missing crushing two cowering men, who I vaguely recognised from the science club. Despite Abbie's best efforts, there were still far too many people milling around for my liking. The smart ones had run, or at least had tried to run. The stupid ones, and infuriatingly there were many, were pausing on their way to the various exits to watch.

This left Optimus and myself trying to keep The Fallen's attention divided between the two of us. While I was shooting him, flinging blasts of energy or telekinetically dropping parts of the ceiling on his head, Optimus was moving ninja like around the room, drawing him away from the various civilians.

Spinning to one side to avoid a large chunk of brick supposed to take off my head, I retaliated by caving in another section of ceiling, bringing down a large support beam over his helm. Under his feet, Optimus rolled away to avoid being crushed, then drew his gun again and fired it into the gears of The Fallen's ankle, causing the giant to stumble against the wall, making the whole structure shudder. People screamed as plaster dust rained down from the already cracked ceiling.

'Abbie, why are there still people here?' I called, glancing her way briefly.

'Because they're morons and they won't move,' she yelled back from where she was attempting to drag a terrified couple out from under a table, 'oh sod it, stay here to die for all I care. I'm finding a weapon.'

She flounced from the hall, acting as if this was all entirely normal, pushing past a cluster of now gawking onlookers. I looked back at The Fallen, just in time to see his foot come rushing down towards me.

'Oh sugar,' I teleported clumsily across the room, landing awkwardly on top of a table.

A hand suddenly appeared in my peripheral vision, 'here Ally, let me help.'

Martin was standing by the table, offering to help me down. I just stared at his hand disdainfully as I pushed myself to my feet, standing on top of the table, 'why aren't you outside Martin?'

'I thought I could help you.'

'Cute. Why don't you let the professionals handle this buddy, and get your sorry ass outside so you're not in our way,' as I spoke I telekinetically caught a piece of debris which was flung my way and sent it flying back towards The Fallen, 'unless you want to be squashed into a flat, bloody pancake? Which is totally fine by me.'

I leapt down onto the floor, ignoring his somewhat stunned look, blue energy crackling along my body as I prepared to engage a forcefield. This was going to end now, enough people were out of the way for it to work.

'Optimus, move away,' I yelled.

Rolling smoothly to his feet, Optimus glanced my way to confirm what I was doing, then nodded. He had just started to bolt away from underneath The Fallen's feet when, quick as a striking snake, The Fallen's hand shot out and clawed fingers latched tightly around his waist. Optimus was wrenched up into the air with a slight shocked gasp, probably as the air was knocked from his lungs. On instinct the energy bubbling through my body evaporated and the glow which had been accumulating on my finger tips died away.

'That's not good,' I breathed.

…

Pushing through the crush of people scrambling down the stairs, Abbie raced out into the carpark, dragging Hamish along behind her. She had to find Starscream, he was sure to be able to provide back up…and a weapon of some kind seeing as she had left her chainsaw in her college dorm.

'Screamer, where the hell are you?' Abbie shouted above the din of the other panicking people.

The sudden screams from one side of the throng gave her an answer. As quickly as she could, shamelessly pushing people out of her way with her elbows, Abbie forced her way over to the sound.

She was greeted by the sight of five people engaged in a very clumsy form of combat. At once she recognised Starscream, hopping around lightly to try to avoid the swings of the others, but looking very uncomfortable with the land bound attacks. The other four she didn't recognise. They moved in a brilliantly uncoordinated fashion, with one of them lying flat on their face at any one moment.

'They look drunk,' Hamish commented from behind her, watching in interest.

'Given the way they're dressed I'd say that's a very accurate observation,' Abbie had to smother a giggle, 'Hey Starscream.'

He looked her way, 'what is it Abbie?'

'Optimus and Ally need backup.'

'I think I need backup.'

'They're versing an evil zombie robot with a temper, I think they need it more.'

Pausing for a moment, Starscream frowned in confusion, 'evil zombie robot?'

'The Fallen. Apparently he's Captain Jack Harkness.'

By that point, Starscream was now completely ignoring the four people he was supposed to be fighting, 'The Fallen's dead.'

'Not anymore he's not,' the amount of fake cheer in Abbie's voice made her sound distinctly psychotic.

Whipping around, Starscream shot the silver haired man, who was just picking himself up off the floor, a curious look, 'is that true?'

The wicked smile and the snarling voice instantly told Abbie that the man was Megatron, 'indeed it is.'

Stunned by the revelation, Starscream seemed to hesitate in what he was doing, letting his guard down for a brief moment. In that moment, Megatron pounced, knocking him back then overbalancing himself because he wasn't used to the quick motion. Starscream staggered back against a car with a grunt, winded. A small young man with different coloured eyes moved in, as if to finish him off before he could get away.

Despite being weaponless, Abbie coiled, getting ready to lunge forward and attack, when there was a sudden, loud tearing of fabric and Starscream sprang away from the car with a surprised yelp. The young Decepticon who had been about to pounce backed away from him at once, multi-coloured eyes wide with a mixture of annoyance and awe.

'Holy Shit,' Abbie breathed when she saw.

Protruding from Starscream's back, shining dully in the light of the street lamp, were two large, thin wing blades. Pale grey in colour, they were shaped similarly to the wings of normal jet, but they appeared to be even more streamlined. As Starscream spun in circles, looking like a dog chasing his tail, trying to see the wings, Abbie also caught sight of a compact thruster, nestled between the wings in the centre of his back, half covered by the ruined remains of his shirt.

Crouched on the ground a few feet away, Megatron was glowering at Starscream, 'looks like the little bird can fly.'

Stopping his crazy spinning Starscream stood still, one hand reaching up hesitantly to touch the metal. His red eyes were wide with amazement as a small smile slowly started to spread across his face as what had just happened seemed to dawn on him.

He turned back to Megatron with a smirk, 'I think things just got even more interesting.'

…

'Oh this is so not sweet,' I hissed as I watched The Fallen rather triumphantly hold Optimus up to his face.

In that moment of shocked hesitation, I wasn't prepared for The Fallen to move again, his talons flashing forward and locking around my waist in under a second. The next thing I knew, I was up in the air, my feet dangling in space, my arms pinned to my sides by giant claws.

'I believe the fight is over,' The Fallen sneered, holding both of us up to his face.

My breathing somewhat restricted by the tight grip around my chest, and barely able to move, I looked over at Optimus, who was straining against the talons clamped around his own body. At least his arms were free, mine were squashed right into my body.

His optics flashing maliciously, The Fallen watched both of us squirm for a few moments, as if he was finding out pain amusing. Actually, he was probably finding it very amusing indeed. My legs kicked uselessly, hitting nothing but air as I tried and failed to wriggle free.

'A valiant effort from the pair of you,' The Fallen seemed to smile, 'but did you honestly think that a pair of insects stood a chance against me? You're like this for a reason.'

The grip tightened around our bodies and I hissed in pain, my squishy human body not designed for this kind of treatment. His optics flitted away from me, back to Optimus, who seemed to be enjoying this just as much as I was. Drawing him even closer to his face, The Fallen eyed him cruelly.

'It is cruel indeed, Optimus Prime, that you should have to die trapped inside this pathetic, frail body. But there is nothing else to be done,' he hissed, drawing Optimus so close in to his face that every tiny mechanism must have been visible.

Still squirming in the slowly tightening grip, I looked up, dreading what would happen next. In this new human form there was no way that Optimus would be strong enough to work his way out of this death grip. And with no back up in sight, a happy ending really wasn't on the cards. Not unless one of us could get free…

It was then that an idea hit me. Closing my eyes and doing my best to ignore the pain of my body slowly being squashed, I focused. The hum of power in my skin started off soft, then gradually increased as I started to construct a forcefield between my body and The Fallen's hand. Slowly the shield started to expand outwards, forcing the talons to creak open bit by bit until I could slip through them, falling back to the ground.

In any movie or comic book I would have landed perfectly in some awesome action heroine like pose. But this was me, so instead of a graceful landing, I ended up rolling one ankle as I overbalanced and thudded to all fours.

The Fallen snarled in rage, 'you slippery little parasite.'

Scuttling backwards I managed to avoid the foot which was raised, probably to crush me, and gain enough momentum to roll towards the plasma gun, which I had dropped when I had been picked up. I scooped it up and whipped around to face The Fallen again, gun raised, ready to shoot.

Given that he had turned his attention away from me, it would have been the perfect opportunity to fire. My finger was just resting on the trigger when I saw Optimus draw back one of his arms, fist clenched, then slam a powerful punch into The Fallen's optic. Sparks flew out, showering around his arm, as The Fallen unleashed an almighty roar of pain, his hand flying open on reflex. Optimus dropped to the ground and rolled, practically landing in a pile of rubble.

I didn't pause to question what he had just done, or how he had just done that. At that moment, there were more important things to do than ponder the Autobot's odd behaviour and abilities.

With one massive hand clutching his face, and the other lashing out in blind anger, The Fallen didn't notice me firing the gun until the bolt hit him square in the chest plates. He thudded back against the wall, and once again the building shook with the impact.

As soon as he stumbled back into a people free zone, I threw one hand forward and formed yet another force field, surrounding him, keeping him pinned in the corner of the room.

Taking a moment to right himself, The Fallen stood upright once again, his damaged optic sparking and appearing to be on the brink of shorting out. His remaining optic flitted to me, then to Optimus, then finally to the shimmering wall which surrounded him, blocking him off from the rest of the hall. Raising one of his hands, he dragged his claws down the clear surface, making the shield ripple blue where he touched it.

'Game over,' I breathed, staring at him through the shield.

His remaining optic narrowing in rage, he growled, 'not yet.'

Then, with one final snort of rage, he glowered at both of us, before disappearing in a loud crackle electricity and a high pitched mechanical whine. Dust particles swirled wildly around the place where he had been standing, and a resounding buzz filled the now otherwise silent room. My force field disintegrated as soon as he was gone, and the dust floated freely around the room.

After a second, I allowed the gun to fall from my hands as well, and I leaned back against an over turned table, 'I know I don't do this often, but holy shit.'

His head popping up from the rubble pile, with plaster dust coating his hair and skin, Optimus blinked at me, 'Ally. This is bad.'

'You're telling me.'