ch 26
Stringer took a hesitant step towards Lennox, as if the woman might crumble if she moved too quickly. "Lennox?" Another step. "You still with us?"
Lennox's gaze snapped down from the parking garage to Stringer. Her eyes were glowing electric blue. "Yeah, I am." she said, and her voice sounded clear enough. She reached up and probed the wound with her fingers. Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. "Slag. That was fragging close."
"How close?" Sing demanded. "That looked like more than close to me."
With barely a thought, Lennox pulled the tattered remains of her shirt aside, revealing the wound in its entirety. Stringer frowned. There was some discoloration of the skin, past the blood and shirt fibers caught in the wound. The entire area around the bullet hole had turned an odd grey color, almost –
Her breath hitched.
Almost like metal.
Lennox nodded. "Yes, that is what you think it is. No, I don't know how or why." She shrugged and finished shedding the remains of her shirt. After all, she wore a sports bra underneath and everyone on her team had seen both women in more awkward situations than this. "Grisko is up there in that parking garage. My bet is, Amais isn't too far behind him."
That snapped Sing and Stringer back into focus. "Grisko?" Sing hissed. "That explains a lot. But he's not that good with a gun." He indicated Lennox's healed wound with a wave of his hand. Lennox nodded.
"I know. I just took out Kanya."
Stringer nodded. "Are you sure?"
"Positive." Lennox grinned. "Ironhide's targeting system." There was a brush at the back of her mind as she said his name, touches of emotions too confused and jumbled up to name. She glanced over her shoulder. Ironhide was still fighting, still tearing heads off of 'Cons stupid enough to get too close to Prime, but now he was fighting with all of his spark. The weakness she had sensed earlier – while she was changing, she supposed – was completely gone. He didn't look at her, but she knew he saw her. She turned back to her comrades.
"Let's find Grisko and take him out once and for all." she growled.
Sing nodded, loading his own rifle once again. "We'll smear him across the pavement."
"Now that's the trigger-happy I knew was hiding in you somewhere." Lennox teased.
Stringer rolled her eyes. "Let's go before you two blow something up."
/----/
Grisko ran.
There was nothing else he could do – the plan was falling apart at the seams. The Decepticons were falling, too many were being killed by those annoying Autobots, and now Grisko was finally starting to understand why the government wanted the Autobots dead and gone. There was no way to control them.
He didn't know who had taken out Kanya. His mind was still spinning about that. It hadn't been Ironhide, or any of the other Autobots. The bullet had been too small. But none of the humans had that kind of sniping abilities! Kanya had been the best sniper there was! No one on Lennox's team could have made that shot. It was impossible.
He made it all the way down to the floor level of the parking garage before three rifle shots slammed into his chest. He recognized instinctively that each shot came from a different rifle, all three fired in a volley, but that little fact barely had time to register in his mind before everything went dark.
Stringer grinned at Grisko's fallen body. "Man, he made that easy."
"Too easy." Sing said, pacing a circle around the corpse. "Maybe we should shoot him a few more times to be sure."
Lennox shook her head. "You know that Grisko is nothing without Kanya." she said quietly. "Does he have a walkie-talkie on him?"
Sing pulled it free from its belt clip. "Yep."
"Let me see it. Let's see if we can raise Amais on the other end of the line." Sing handed over the radio, and Lennox flicked it on. "Hey, Amais! You on?"
There was a very long pause. Then –
"How did you get Grisko's radio?"
Lennox smirked. "We gunned him down, idiot." she said. "Now, unless I'm mistaken, six pissed-off soldiers are heading your way. You can do us all a favor and call off your pet 'Cons, or you can just let our boys find you and rip your heart out. Either way, I'm happy."
Out in the intersection, Starscream heard the entire conversation through his internal comm. link. "Soundwave, advise!"
"Advice: Retreat. Megatron's location: Known."
Starscream nodded to himself. "Decepticons, retreat!"
"Autobots, fall back!" Prime snapped.
Mirage glanced over at Optimus. "Prime – we can end this now!"
"We have bigger problems right now." Prime ordered. The Autobots hesitated long enough to let the Decepticons disengage from the battle and vanish into the city. There would be another time and day to deal with them – preferably not on this planet. Prime turned to Hound. "Head back to the parking garage. Make sure the others are safe." Hound nodded and took off, transforming on the fly. Ironhide shook his head.
"I'll never figure out how he does that without blowing something." he muttered.
"Not all of us are old." Sing teased, appearing by Prime's side. Optimus chuckled as Ironhide scowled.
"You're lucky you're standing over there." Ironhide growled. "I don't have the energy to step on you."
"Ironhide!"
Ironhide glanced down, relief and affection evident as he knelt down to crouch beside Lennox. Will was making his way towards them as well, his eyes focused on Lennox's shoulder. Before he had the chance to say anything, however, another Jeep pulled up, followed by a Solstice and two Lamborghinis. Epps was riding in the back of the Jeep, which was being driven by none other than Galloway. Lennox noticed with interest that Epps had a gun to the back of his head.
"Look what the cat drug in!" he said cheerfully.
"Where's Amais?" Stringer asked.
"Dead." O'Connell said, getting out of Sunstreaker while Jones got out of Sideswipe. "A clean shot through the base of the scull will do that to a human."
"Clean shot, nothing." Jones snorted. "That was close range. No sniping involved."
"None needed when the idiot let us get that slagging close." O'Connell laughed. The Twins and Jazz transformed and turned their attention to Lennox.
"What happened to you?" Jazz demanded.
Lennox shrugged. "Kanya shot me. No idea what this slag is, though." She glanced down at her shoulder before she shrugged. "Doesn't hurt, so I'm not complaining."
"What do we do now, Prime?" Mirage asked, his voice oddly flat for someone who had just been through a major battle. Optimus took stock of the situation. Lennox was alive and well, although he really wanted Ratchet to look her over before he said anything conclusive about that, everyone was roughed up but still functional and alive. That was a good thing. Energy levels were low, and even the Twins looked like they were about to fall over.
"Hound to Prime."
"Yes, Hound?"
"Ratchet, Bumblebee, Bluestreak, and the humans are fine. Cliffjumper – he didn't make it."
Prime shuttered his optics with a sigh. "Understood. We're coming in. Tell Ratchet we're going to need his medical scanners."
"Copy. Hound out."
Will looked from Lennox to Optimus, looking for all the world like a lost child. "What's going on?"
"That's what I want Ratchet to tell me." Optimus murmured. "Come on, guys. Let's get back to the garage. Oh, and Epps – " he motioned towards a terrified Galloway – "bring that with us. We'll let his government decide what to do with him."
"Probably give him a medal." Epps growled. "You got it, big guy."
Lennox sighed and leaned back against Ironhide. "I feel like I could sleep for a few days." she muttered. Ironhide chuckled.
"Rest will come soon enough." he assured her. He carefully placed his finger against her back, as gentle of a touch as he could manage. "I am relieved you are well, Anna."
Lennox smiled and leaned into the touch. "So am I."
/-----/
AN: Whoo! Second to last chapter, done! The next one up is the final one, boys and girls. Give me lots of reviews, and I'll make it a nice long one for you. All loose ends tied up, and maybe my muse will be extra wonderful to me and give me an idea for a sequel. Although I doubt it. My writing time is limited.