Chapter VII: Unwanted Surprises

Night had fallen when Bumblebee finally arrived in the desired neighborhood, most homeowners were leaving the house for the night, others settled in for bed. Bumblebee roamed the silent streets of the neighborhood unhindered, scanning all visible vehicle's license plate numbers and energy signatures, all of which came up negative for spark signatures, their license plates a non-match to the number registered to the Mustang. The Autobot sighed in dismay as he turned the corner heading down another stretch of road, Arcee's signature couldn't be sensed in any of the vehicles, which meant she wasn't in the mysterious Autobot's company. Perhaps he assumed too much in thinking she was following him, Bumblebee mused.

The yellow vehicle's search continued until he spotted the familiar gleam of flickering headlights up ahead in the driveway of the middle house. Cautiously Bumblebee approached the vehicle, his headlights mimicking the car's. Immediately, Bumblebee spotted the characteristics of Owen Armstrong's Mustang shifting color like a chameleon. The midnight blue color melted away and was replaced by a dark red color, its stripes remained a pristine white. The Mustang rolled out of the driveway pausing on the street, its profile still facing Bumblebee. How to go about this… He thought warily. The transformer moved again, his bumper was facing Bumblebee's now.

Bumblebee spied the Autobot insignia on the grill and sighed with relief, the transformer in question revved its engine in obvious amusement as its chuckle was unable to hide behind the roar of the engine. "Hey, commander Bumblebee, long time no see!" The youthful exuberance that emitted from the vocal capacitor made Bumblebee pause instantly, his spark dreading the sudden discovery of the Autobot's identity. "Hot Rod---!" The Mustang's tires squeezed with fury, startling Bumblebee further, the car swerved around so quick it nearly titled over on its side. Hot Rod took off down the road, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. It took a moment for Bumblebee to shake the numbness that attacked his senses, as the abrupt exit of his comrade was a rather unexpected move. Bumblebee charged down the road, swerving around the corner as Rodimus made his turn as well. Hot Rod continued on his path out of the neighborhood as a sonic boom resonated above the clouds. From above, Thunderblast emerged from the clouds, the Decepticon's vernier engines at full throttle. Bumblebee groaned in despair when he heard the familiar twerp of police sirens behind them. The Decepticons had found them! But how? Hot Rod sped through a red light, running several cars off the road and into each other, Bumblebee veered off onto another road, Barricade following suit. Hot Rod was far too distracted to see that his partner's commander was no longer behind him, instead he focused on loosing Thunderblast. The bridge, however, wasn't for miles and Thunderblast could attack him at anytime. "Arcee!"

Static crackled through his communicator for the longest stretch of time before a very irritated groan broke through the disturbance. "…want, Hot Rod?" From the sound of her voice she had been sleep. As Hot Rod attempted to response to Arcee, Thunderblast fired two Phoenix AIM-54A missiles at the fleeing Autobot. Hot Rod managed to dodge the first one with insulting ease, the missile detonated, obliterating the fronts of small stores and vehicles parked along the sidewalk. With the second one, he was not so fortunate; The missile hit the left side of his rear, Hot Rod swerved sideways into the parked cars adjacent to him. Hot Rod realigned himself back on the path charging "Slag! Arcee, I need help! I've got Decepticons right on me!" That got the sure-shot's attention. "I've got your signal. Arcee rolling out," The transmission ended and Hot Rod was left to his own to shake the Decepticon on his tail. Rodimus flew through the streets at an unimaginable speed weaving in and out of traffic. The bridge was a hundred meters ahead and closing in fast, taking another turn he followed the road down to the train crossing. Thunderblast kept on him, without the obstruction of tall buildings the skies were hers to command without hindrance. She disengaged her missiles switching to the Gatling gun.

Taking aim she fired upon the right side of the vehicle, Hot Rod moved left out of the way of the gunfire as he crossed the train tracks making another turn as he did so. Thunderblast flew past the bridge. Easing off her thrusters, Thunderblast waited until she caught sight of him. Hot Rod raced down into the waterway, assessing the damage his body sustained, he was at 80 percent performance and his transformation sequence was bound to be a painful one should the occasion arrive. The roar of jet fire let him know that Thunderblast was still behind him, the Mustang growled arming his own weapons, he'd only get one chance at this.

The armor on the back of the car separated, his beam cannon arose from its stasis mode. Thunderblast caught sight of the hot orange glow of Rodimus' weapon just before the concentrated beam of energy hit her underbelly. Thunderblast was sent into a tumble, plummeting too fast to regain control she began to transform and braced herself for the crash to come. Her knees were the first thing to hit the ground, her body twisted sideways as she skid across the ground, Thunderblast came to an abrupt halt when she collided with a oncoming bus. The chaotic melody of screams cut short by the consuming fires did not concern Thunderblast in the least, raising herself off the ground she completed her transformation and fired down into the river. Hot Rod shivered inwardly at the screams that vibrated through the air before they were silenced. Police sirens brought his attention to the world behind him, Barricade blazed toward him, smoke curling around his frame as though he appeared out of thin air.

Hot Rod continued down the river pathway, his determination renewed. There was no way the Decepticon would catch him, not after all the trouble he went to avoid him and his fellow comrades. The Autobot drove through a deep puddle, water sprayed in all directions when he veered off the straight up onto the slanted wall. He weight combined with the slickness of his tires made it a struggle to keep himself balanced and centered, the rear of the vehicle wheels were constantly turning to the right, causing him to slide down the wall each time. Barricade tailgated Hot Rod's every movie with insulting ease, never falling out of sync with the enemy's desperate maneuvers. Picking up speed, Barricade rammed the back of Rodimus as hard as he could. The Decepticon watched the Transformer's wheels lock and drag across the concrete surface. Rodimus cursed when he found himself falling rapidly off the slanted wall, regaining control of himself he put as much distance between himself and Barricade as he possibly could. This was getting him nowhere, where was Arcee? More importantly, what had happened to Bumblebee? Had the commander been killed? No! Bumblebee had to be fine, wherever he was.

Above him, Thunderblast fired a barrage of missiles down on her enemy, and inadvertently, Barricade. Barricade hardly had time to dodge the aforementioned warheads, they crashed and exploded all around him, the Decepticon made a mental note to deal with his 'comrade' later when they had dealt with the Autobot scum. Hot Rod's body rattled with the vibrations of the exploding missiles, he managed to duck them without incident. The ground behind him were riddled with more than pot holes.

Rodimus had to lead them to a more secluded area of the city otherwise the humans would suffer needlessly in their battle. Hot Rod just hoped that Arcee could pinpoint his location and aid him soon. If the commander was gone, she was his last hope. Hot Rod raced towards the end of the river, Barricade came up beside him with the intent to ram him. Hot Rod felt the harsh nudge against his side, but ignored it. Only got one chance at this! He raced up the slanted wall once more, launching himself over and out of the concrete river onto the street. Barricade continued to pursue the Autobot. Thunderblast ventured ahead to the rendezvous point. Barricade would bring the Autobot brat to them.

(TBC)