chapter twenty-four

They had taken refuge in a parking garage two blocks down and across the street from the one the Autobots had hidden in. Grisko glanced over at Kanya, who was laying on her stomach with the sniper rifle out in front of her. "Set?" he asked quietly.

"Getting there." Kanya whispered. "Amais?"

"Will be up here shortly." Grisko assured her. "He knows his role."

"I hope so." Kanya said. "I've been waiting for the chance to take out Lennox for a long time now." She paused and adjusted her scope. "I have her in my sights."

Grisko nodded. "How sure are you of the shot?"

"Very." Kanya never looked up from the sights. "I wouldn't be mentioning it if I thought I was going to miss." Grisko nodded.

"Take it."

Kanya's lips twisted into a feral smile. She tightened her finger on the trigger.

/----/

Lennox and Stringer had joined Sing in the battle. All three of them stood just outside of the intersection, about half-way between the battle and the parking garage at the next intersection. Sing shook his head. "I don't get it. This is way too coordinated for what we know about Transformer communications. The Decepticons shouldn't be able to do something like this." he said, panting slightly.

Stringer nodded. "I know. It's almost like they're using human radio frequencies or something."

Lennox blinked. "Radio frequencies." she murmured. "We need Epps."

"For what?" Sing demanded.

"He's our communications expert." Lennox reminded him. "He can set up a system to scan radio frequencies for something the Decepticons are using." She pulled out her handheld radio. "Hey, Epps?"

There was a moment's pause. Then, "Copy, Lennox."

"Run a scan. See what you get."

"Got it. Over and out."

Lennox hooked the radio onto her belt. "Now we wait and see what he comes up with." she murmured. Stringer and Sing nodded. "Now, what we need to do is –"

Something hard impacted her chest, just below her collar bone, knocking the wind out of her. She staggered backward a few steps, for a moment blissfully unaware of what had just hit her. Then she glanced down, noticing the blood staining her shirt at an alarming rate.

That was when her world exploded in pain.

"Lennox!" Stringer reached out and caught her friend before she dropped to the ground. "Slag it – Lennox!" She quickly pulled out her K-Bar and cut Lennox's shirt open, revealing the bullet hole. A whole new string of curses rained forth. "Oh, man, this is bad." she murmured. "I'm not sure if I can fix this."

Sing knelt beside her. "What do you need?"

"A real medic is what I need." Stringer hissed. "The bullet penetrated deep." She looked up at Sing, trying to think. "I need something to stop the bleeding." She moved to pull off her shirt, but Sing beat her to it. He pressed the shirt against Lennox's wound. The soldier groaned.

Sing met Stringer's eyes. "Hang on, Lennox." he murmured. "We're gonna get you out of here."

/----/

It happened quickly.

Ironhide didn't know much about human physiology. Ratchet had taken up learning more from Stringer and other sources, but Ironhide hadn't paid any attention to the impromptu lessons. He had been more focused on learning more about Lennox than anyone else. But he didn't need to know anything about the human body to know that something horrible had just happened to his bonded.

He could feel the pain explode through his shoulder strut, almost driving him to his knees. He didn't let himself fall over, though. Lennox needed him – he couldn't fall. He twisted around enough to look behind him, where he knew Lennox, Stringer, and Sing had taken refuge from the battle while they worked out a plan. Now Lennox was on the ground, Stringer and Sing hovering over her and working quickly. His optics paled in shock at the sheer amount of blood and cursing.

Long ago, he learned to take cues from Ratchet. The more the mech cursed, the worse the damage was. If he fell silent, then there was no hope.

Sing was cursing. Stringer was silent.

Ironhide glanced from the humans to Optimus, silently begging permission to go. Prime didn't hesitate. He nodded.

Then he was crouched over Lennox, watching the blood drain from her face and realizing there was nothing he could do to stop it. Stringer wasn't qualified to deal with this kind of injury, and Ratchet was all the way down the street dealing with Mikaela Witwicky.

He reached out and gently touched her face with one finger.

Anna.

/-----/

Kanya smirked. "Good-bye, Lieutenant Lennox."

/----/

An: What happens next? Will Lennox die? And what will happen to Ironhide? If you want to know – review, please! Hopefully next chapter will be longer!