An: Sorry for the long update time. My Yu Yu Hakusho muse pretty much upped and bit my aft and wouldn't let go. I couldn't go walking around with a rabid muse attached to my aft. That's just not right. So it's a bit late. Eh. Maybe it won't end on a cliffy this time.
chapter twenty-five
Ironhide wanted to scream.
He could feel her fading away, taking his spark with her. He knew the dangers when he had agreed to adopt Anna. They all had. If the humans died, then they would die with them. If they died, so would the humans. It was expected, something they had anticipated and considered at length long before Optimus even brought it up. Ironhide knew it would happen.
Just not like this. Primus, not like this.
He charged into the battle with reckless abandon while Stringer and Sing did what they could. He could feel himself growing weaker even as he ripped the head of an unknown 'Con clean off its shoulders. It was a slow, almost torturous drain, but at least it gave him time to complete this battle. He ignored Optimus's attempts at radio contact. He couldn't even think clearly enough to formulate a response to the inevitable question.
Dear Primus, she can't die, please she can't she can't –
He shut down his comm. links. He shut out Optimus. He just fought and felt Anna drift farther away.
/-----/
Epps cursed. "Slag it all, Jazz! It's Grisko again!" He sprang to his feet and ran up to his brother. "Amais is using human radio frequencies to coordinate the 'Cons. Wherever Amais is, Grisko and Kanya ain't far behind."
Jazz took a moment to absorb that. "We gotta get to Prime and the others."
"You got that right."
Jazz turned his focus to the others inside the parking garage. "Ratchet, can you deal with these 'Cons while we get to Prime?"
Ratchet nodded affirmative. "Just leave me Bumblebee and Bluestreak, and I'm good to go." He hesitated. "Jazz – Stringer just told me."
Jazz tilted his helm to the side. "Told you what?"
"It's Anna. She's been shot."
For a moment, no one spoke. Epps's eyes went wide, and his gun almost slid from his hands. Lennox, shot? "No." he breathed. "No – she's not dead. Out of all of us, Lennox is the only one who's never been seriously hurt." He shook his head. "She's not dead."
"Not yet." Ratchet said softly.
Epps gripped his gun tightly, anger and fear flickering across his face before he spun on his heel. "We're gonna find Jones and O'Connell." he muttered. "And we're gonna kick the afts of whoever hurt our squad leader." He continued muttering even as Jazz transformed and allowed him inside, raining curses down on Lennox's assailant's head. With a squeal of tires, Jazz peeled out and shot out of the parking garage.
Ratchet sighed. Perhaps he should have been worried – after all, Stringer had somehow contacted him when she had no access to his internal comm. link. He wondered, distantly, if Jazz had even realized that he knew exactly where Sunny and Sides – and therefore Jones and O'Connell – were, that he was heading in the right direction without even bothering to comm. the Twins. He wondered if the sudden changes were linked to Lennox's injury.
Then he shook the thoughts away. His job now was to protect the Witwicky family. If any of the 'Cons made it past Bumblebee and Bluestreak, they wouldn't make it past Ratchet.
/-----/
On the other side of the city, sitting in a sleek black sports car and driving closer to the battle than was probably sane, was Amais with Galloway driving. Galloway glanced over at the soldier. "Is it done?" he asked.
Amais nodded. "It should be. By now Lennox will be drowning in her own blood. I know Kanya's skills. She won't miss."
Galloway grunted. "Good. I don't want any of them surviving." He turned his focus back to the drive. "What about the Autobot?"
"Ironhide, for whatever reason, is still powering along." Amais said flatly. "Either he's stronger than we thought, or the bonds don't work the way we suspected they would."
"Oh, I know they work." Galloway chuckled. "Starscream assured me they would."
"And we should believe Starscream, why?"
"Starscream wants to keep his position as leader." Galloway said with a smirk. "I'm the only one who knows where Megatron's remains are. If we can kill off the Autobots, I'll make sure old Megs stays buried for a long, long time." His smile was nothing short of predatory. "See, we are politicians. We understand each other."
Amais refrained from saying that anyone who claimed to understand Starscream was a crazy fool. He just kept the radio in his hands in case he needed to give more instructions.
/-----/
In the other parking garage, Kanya and Grisko packed away their gear. They did not speak. Grisko and Kanya were close enough after all this time that words were no longer necessary. A look between them spoke more than five briefing sessions ever would. One look could mean the difference between life and death – for them, or for the poor soul they'd decided to take down.
Kanya stood and turned to face the street. Her eyes went wide in shock. The Autobot weapons specialist hadn't seen it yet, but Kanya knew what she saw. Her mouth opened to call out a warning to Grisko even as she took a belated step backwards.
A small hole appeared in her forehead, the back of her scull exploded, and Kanya was dead before she hit the ground.
Grisko screamed as he watched her fall.
/----/
Down on the street level, Lennox slowly lowered her rifle. She could still feel the bullet in her chest, but the pain was no longer suffocating. In fact, she could barely feel the pain at all. She was barely aware of Stringer and Sing looking at her like she'd been risen from the dead. Her eyes were focused on the parking garage, where her own personal tormentors had been hiding all along. A wicked smirk twisted her lips.
"Good-bye, Kanya."
/---/
An: Ya know, I'm gonna leave that there. Hopefully this will wrap up in the next few chapters. The end is so frigging close! Review, please!