Chapter XII

Liberal Imprisonment

By: The Feesh

Ironhide was swearing, and not in the traditional foul-mouthed sense.

He was swearing that Barricade was part hamster.

Being smaller than the others had its obvious advantages in speed, and the Saleen modded Mustang was proving just that. Every shot they took at him he ducked, or jumped, or sidestepped, or flipped around – it was highly frustrating for a certain weapons specialist.

And those flails of his sang a tune he'd never heard before.

It was a rare privilege to see someone who knew his or her artillery like Barricade did. The gyroflails he wielded were considered a high skill weapon, one that took practice and work to get right, rather than downloading a program. There was finesse and calculation involved in each seemingly haphazard swing, given that even a minor blunder in retracting those rapidly gyrating knives could result in incapacitating bodily injury to the user. Ironhide didn't doubt that Barricade had lost his fair share of fingers and arms in learning how to use them.

It was admirable.

It was also irritating as hell.

The black Topkick snorted and watched carefully. They had that damnable Saleen pinned against the side of the field where the trees were thick with Ratchet to the left and Prime and Ironhide mostly on the right. Barricade's routes of escape had been effectively blocked off and he was making the best of his situation. Ratchet and Prime had already taken a flail to the face each – which is when they had found out that those weapons apparently had a thirty-foot or more reach. Tactically, at that point, everyone had taken a nice, big step back but Barricade was a dogged little shit and kept coming at them, keeping them within swinging range and forcing them to fire. Not that I mind, Ironhide thought sardonically as he watched his target concentrate his efforts on the Autobot leader.

Optimus Prime had already attempted to talk Barricade out of attack mode. He'd only gotten so far as a half-said plea to put away his arms before he'd gotten a mouthful of gyrating barbs, and it had all gone south after that.

"Barricade, cease this nonsense!" the eighteen-wheeler attempted once more. "It is ridiculous. It is unnecessary!"

The black and white Decepticon sent his left gyroflail swinging in a graceful arc for the side of Prime's head, which the latter ducked. "Says the Autobot leader who deemed it necessary to trap me. Hostile actions are met with hostility, fool!"

He drew back to let loose his weapon again, and Ironhide took the shot. No soldier was incapable of making mistakes, and Barricade had done so when he'd concentrated his anger and firepower on the Topkick's commander so acutely, momentarily overlooking the trigger-happy weapons specialist. Ironhide smiled with a sense of triumph as the shot he'd aimed low slammed home beneath the Mustang's raised arm, sending Barricade back into the trees with the force of it.

Ratchet's fingers twitched. He didn't like Barricade in the slightest and wouldn't mourn him if he died; too many years had the ancient medic sat back and repaired the tell-tale damage dished out by the shock trooper's powerful hands; too many years did he watch soldiers young and old be carted off and used as scrap when they came back from a fight gone wrong against the small Decepticon officer. No, he wouldn't care if Barricade suddenly ceased to exist, but he'd be damned if he sat back and let someone die on his watch. To do so would lower him to a killer's level and betray every oath he'd ever sworn to his profession.

Of course, that didn't mean he had to repair the little grunt at all if Barricade's repair systems could handle the damage done. Ironhide had chosen a target area that was particularly lightly armored, though.

"Tell me you didn't have your cannons on full power, Ironhide," Ratchet rumbled.

The Topkick grinned. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."

The H2 rubbed at his helm in a human gesture of irritation. Carefully, oh so carefully, Ratchet moved forward, wary of the still form of the Saleen, scanners on full. Caution was still exercised despite the sophisticated sensors and radar that the Autobot medic possessed; it would have been easy for him to tell if Barricade was conscious, but that didn't mean he could predict his next attack. The Ford twitched and the steady clck clck clck of a heavy chain retracting pierced the air; both extended gyroflails leisurely slithered back towards their master, closed up, and took their rightful positions at his wrists.

Within a moment, Barricade was fully aware and lurching upwards, rolling back to his feet with a snarl. Debris clung to his armor and pain shot up his side – but it was oh-so very ignorable. The damage was minute for what it could have been had the gunner had his cannons on full power, so the Saleen took advantage of Ironhide's foolishness. Not the first mistake they have made today. Certainly not the last.

Prime took a small step back. "Cease fire, all of you. Step back." The crazed glint to the Mustang's quadoptics made him twitch.

"Listen to me, Barricade," Optimus urged quietly after his troops had done as he'd asked. "Perhaps it was wrong of us to pursue you, but you and I both know that there would have been no conversation to be had if you'd had an open road near you. We had to box you in. We came here to speak to you about a very serious concern, and now that we have your attention..."

The S281 Extreme let out an armor-rattling growl that combined the throaty sound of a V8 engine with something demonic. "Speak, then, Autobot, and get out of my face."

Ironhide rumbled, faceplates forming a deep frown but Optimus lifted a hand to him. "As my scout attempted to tell you the last time you spoke, you are still a considerable threat. You have murdered and tortured countless Autobots in the past, and I am willing to classify everything you've done as following orders as you should have, even when I know this was not always the case." The Peterbilt straightened up some. "I do not want to incarcerate you, Barricade. I will not punish you for following your orders. But, you are still a substantial threat to the local life forms of this planet."

The Saleen wasn't sure he enjoyed where this was going.

Prime continued. "I want you to have a certain level of freedom, but we need some cooperation from you." Pausing, he mentally prepared himself for how well this was surely going to go. "Come back with us to Tranquility and you will be allowed free reign of the entire West Coast for the time being. The longer you go without incident, the more distance you will be permitted." He paused again, as the shock trooper already looked ready to blow a headgasket. "And I need for you to consent to being removed of your weapons."

Barricade twitched. They had chased him down all the way out here, where he was minding his own business and doing his own thing, to tell him that they were so kindly offering to strip his freedom and his weaponry away? The very thought made his fluid pressure spike with something akin to fiery, passionate annoyance. Tiny pieces in his hydraulic systems jerked in response to the liquid moving around, and as a result, the Saleen's talons twitched restlessly as he otherwise stood still and stared incredulously at the group of Autobots before him. The … the audacity.

Rage.

Barricade's blades snapped out as both tires fell from his wrists and he swung again. "First, you send that obtuse mechanical banana after me to start a fight with the excuse to 'talk'," the police interceptor snarled hatefully, forcing the group of them to duck beneath the rapid swing of his weapons. "Then, you track me, hound me, and corner me with your cannons out and expect me not to react with violence." Ironhide revved up his guns for another shot and Barricade showcased his incredible speed, whipping a flail back and sending it smashing right into the gunner's face. Ratchet was moving to the left, a detail that he capitalized upon, focusing both gyroflails on the medic. "Next, you expect me to give up the freedom I have had since the end of the war to be liberally confined within a set of boundaries like a refugee – " the Saleen brought to bear his shoulder-mounted missile launcher, firing in rapid succession three projectiles for the Autobot leader. "—in addition to being disarmed. I will not become your prisoner and I will certainly not sit content to strain at the end of your leash, Autobot. You ask for consent. I deny!"

Optimus Prime scowled, armor smoking from the impact of the high-speed missiles that the livid Mustang had fired off. Admittedly, he hadn't expected Barricade to agree to anything at all. "Do not make us do this!"

"Do what?" he snapped in return. "Kill me?" Barricade seemed to twist his ugly faceplates into a toothy grin that looked more like a snarl than something pleasant. "You will find as countless others have: I am not so easily destroyed."

The Saleen was fast.

Ratchet had made one critical mistake in scooting off to the left. The Decepticon knew that the medic had been hoping to squeak by and come at him blindside, but with that screaming yellow-green paintjob, there was no way he was getting away with it and Barricade had taken advantage of the move. He'd driven the Hummer as close to the tree line as he could get him with his blades. Since the two big guns were to the right and the medic was off to his far left, a giant hole opened directly in front of him.

Barricade moved in the same moment Ratchet did. The Hummer lunged at his side, but he was heavy and cumbersome and frankly, the smaller shock trooper had absolutely no trouble out-maneuvering him. Optimus and his gunner leapt towards him, but it was too late – their target had already rocketed forward with speed that belied how short and stocky he was and had performed an Airs Above the Ground transformation, landing with a sharp thud on all four tires. Dual exhaust pipes rattled and roared as five hundred fifty horses came to life beneath a jet-black hood and all the three larger Autobots could do was watch as Barricade took off like a shot as soon as he felt rubber meet asphalt.

Kenson Street was two miles long and perfectly straight. Optimus listened to the distant high-pitched whine of Barricade's Saleen supercharger as he shoved it into fifth gear and slammed on the gas. There was no point in attempting to chase him.

Ratchet blinked. "…That went better than expected."

Ironhide gave him a withering look. The medic shrugged.

"Bumblebee," Optimus said over communications link. "Barricade is heading west on cr-16. See if you can tail him at a distance to see where he goes."

"Do I even have to ask how it went?"

"No, no you don't. He's going to try to disappear and we have to take him back by force. He is too dangerous to be allowed free reign on this planet."

"Yeah. Don't I know it? Not that I really fancy the idea of him being anywhere near Sam and Mikaela, though, Optimus. Not with free reign." The Autobot faction leader heard the revving of Bumblebee's engine in the background.

Ironhide nodded. "Even if Ratchet and I disarmed him, he is like any typical Decepticon. I performed a plausible weapons scan on him during the battle and found that his fingers are sharp-edged and he possesses oversized hydraulic motors to both arms. Theoretically we can remove the hydraulic augmentations…"

"But if my scans are correct," the Hummer spoke up. "Removing the hydraulic system could cripple his ability to grip anything at all. As far as I could tell, the larger motors were a replacement upgrade he must have gotten at some point. I'd have to take a look in order to make a final decision on it."

"And he bites," Bumblebee quipped over the link. "Really slagging hard."

Prime rubbed the bridge of his nose idly. "And if you left the hydraulic system in place?"

"He'd be just as dangerous. The system was designed for a mech his size specifically, and I wager he can crumple light-grade armor with minimal effort," replied Ironhide grimly. "And that is Cybertronian grade. Human armor is tough, but I still think Barricade could tear a tank apart with his bare hands."

"Have any of you ever seen his teeth? The mech is a walking weapon, Optimus."

"Sir, if I can make a suggestion as to our next move?" queried Ratchet to his old friend.

"Of course, Ratchet. Please do."

Optimus, Ironhide and Bumblebee went silent to listen and the only background noise was the soft chirp of crickets and the din of the Camaro's engine over communications. "We cannot assume anything without having a closer look, and there is no point in speculating without foundation. We have used stealth against Barricade before and it has worked, but now we know he will be looking for us and it is my assumption, as medic and by far not as a battlefield specialist, by common sense that he will not allow us to surprise him again. But we need to try. All Ironhide and I need is a few minutes with him supine to be able to make a more accurate assessment."

"My cannons work brilliantly for incapacitation."

"That is not what I meant, Ironhide." The ambulance-modded Hummer focused once more on his leader. "I'd rather figure out how to surprise and restrain him instead of shooting him until he can't fight back, just on principle."

"Would it be worth the effort of physical restraints? It might be easier to, you know, knock him unconscious for a couple of cycles."

"Barricade has medium-grade armor all around, and I think most of it is reinforced. I personally think it would be easier to use his own chains to immobilize him." The other three went quiet to contemplate that. "The chains to his flail weaponry are also medium-grade armor. He cannot and would not want to break those. It might be a bit of a risk, but if we can get in close, we can let him use the flails in defense as he normally would. We would just grab them before he retracts them."

It made sense, but… "What if he has chain releases?" asked Ironhide. "What if the chains are detachable and he can release them at will?"

"If he lets them go, he loses both back wheels with the flails. Car can't get real far on two wheels. It wouldn't be tactically sound."

It could work. "Bumblebee, keep an eye on him. Follow him, but don't let him know you're there. He will be very alert now, so be careful. We will rendezvous with you shortly." Optimus looked up after the yellow sports car's confirmation. They had a job to do and a Saleen to catch.

"Autobots: transform, and roll out!"