Less than thirty minutes later, having stopped off at the first Wendy's they'd seen in the middle of no where, Alex was now having to go back on his word.
"Jak, would you please just let me have one dollar," he asked for the umpteenth time as he tried to break into the glove compartment, which was refusing to open.
"'I can pay for my own food'," Jak imitated Alex, "You're not getting one cent out of me."
"Jak!" Alex slapped the dash.
"Sir, is everything ok?" the voice from the drive thru speaker next to him sounded concerned.
Alex cleared his throat and leant over to the microphone, "It's all fine, I'm just struggling to find a little bit of change."
"Your order has been processed and is awaiting pick up, sir," the voice prompted, "There's also a queue forming behind you."
"I know, I know," Alex muttered before hitting the Mustang again, "One dollar, Jak!"
"On one condition," he sounded smug.
"What?"
"You let your lady friend ride in me, alone, for an hour."
Alex scowled, looking like he wanted to continue beating the crap out of Jak's dash, but he just gave a stiff nod, "Ok, fine, whatever. Give me the money."
"Sweet," Jak rocked slightly on his suspension as he let Alex have access to the money in the glove compartment. He snatched a single dollar bill, picked up his own money, then leant across to the drive thru counter and it into a little slot.
There was a pause before the man on the other end of the speaker spoke up again, "Thank you, sir, you may collect your food."
"Finally," Alex thumped the steering wheel as Jak rolled forwards slowly to the collecting window just around the corner of the building.
A woman was waiting with his order and smiled cheerfully when he stopped alongside her, "One Baconator, one fries and one large Sprite," she offered him a paper bag containing the food, and Alex was forced to lean out the window to get it, thanks to Jak's most likely purposeful stopping at quite a distance away.
"Thanks," Alex grunted as he withdrew back into the car and chucked the food on the passenger's seat.
"Off the seat!" Jak exclaimed loudly, "I don't want Baconator grease leaking through onto my pristine leather!" he exclaimed before adding, "Lol. Baconator."
Alex rolled his eyes and picked the bag up again. He glanced at the woman in the window who was frowning slightly, and he guessed that she'd heard Jak's outburst. He just smiled innocently and hit a button so that the tinted window slid up slowly, blocking out her view.
"Just drive," Alex leant on the steering wheel slightly as Jak obliged, taking them out of the drive thru slowly, and then back onto the main road.
"You owe me a dollar," Jak commented as he settled back into driving, "And your girlfriend."
Alex just grunted and sat back in his chair, grabbing his burger from the bag and beginning to eat.
"Don't get any food on me anywhere," Jak warned.
"I won't, stop being such a sissy," Alex rolled his eyes, "Anyway, how far ahead have the others got?"
They'd turned off from the main road that they were sticking on the majority of the destination in order to find somewhere to eat that wasn't a run down looking café on the side of the road. In doing so, they'd been forced to split up, and according to Jak, Crossfire had been very adamant that they should regroup as soon as possible. The main group had slowed their speed as much as the speed limit would allow, while Jak was now pushing the speed limit as much as he dared in order to catch up with them.
"They're probably about half an hour ahead, I guess," he mused, "We carry on along this road and we should eventually intersect their road just as they do, if our speeds remain as they are that is."
Alex nodded, his mouth too full to respond as he turned his attention to his food.
"Eat quickly, don't you know it's dangerous to eat while you're driving? I can't give you the Heimlich manoeuvre," Jak commented, "Unless I chuck you out and run you over?" he added.
"If I eat any faster, I'll choke anyway," Alex grunted, grabbing his drink from the bag and taking a long draught, only to end up coughing and spluttering half of it across Jak's windscreen.
"Oh, no way! Alex! Wipe that off! I can't do anything about it!" Jak swerved slightly onto the other side of the road.
"Watch where you're driving!" Alex shot back, "And don't you dare say you can't see, I know you can!"
Jak grumbled loudly and righted his course, trying to get Alex to hurry up and wipe his window by switching his windscreen wipers onto full speed.
"We're in a desert, Jak, anyone passing will think I'm insane for having the wipers on," Alex looked around for something to clean the window with, carefully balancing his drink and burger on his lap, leaving the fries in the bag.
"Well, I'm sorry. Clean my window!" Jak insisted.
"I don't have a cloth or anything! Will a napkin do?"
"It'll smear! I don't want smear makes over my window!"
"It's a clean napkin," Alex grabbed it from one side and waved it around.
"It'll still smear. I only want the purest cotton on my insides," Jak suddenly turned the air conditioning up on full blast, trying to dry the drink off his window, "Your shirt, use your shirt."
"Oh God, that's freezing, turn it down," Alex tried to twist various knobs and press a range of buttons but nothing seemed to be happening, "And I am not stripping off and cleaning your window with my shirt."
"I'm sure Bill would."
"Fine!" Alex pulled his shirt off quickly and after a little while of grumbling to himself, he began to try and dry the drink off Jak's window.
"Use sweeping circular motions, don't scrub!"
"Do you want to do it yourself?" Alex stopped.
"Fine, fine," Jak muttered.
Alex was extremely glad that Jak's windows were tinted right then, since had any of the few cars that passed them seen he was cleaning the window when he was supposed to be driving, they'd have most likely swerved off the road in shock. He wasn't exactly in the most flattering pose either; twisted over the steering wheel, partly kneeling on the seat in order to reach some of the droplets of water that had managed to slip down the steep windscreen into the most awkward of gaps. For this reason, his face was almost crushed against the side pillar and window while he fought to get his arm to go in the right direction. He was also trying his hardest to ignore Jak, who was sniggering loudly in amusement, and occasionally purposefully swerved to try and dislodge him.
Eventually Alex slumped back into the seat, "That better?" he asked as he went to pull his shirt back on, only to grimace at the marks all over it and chuck it into the back.
"Perfect," Jak answered smugly.
"You owe me a shirt. I have no other clothes with me," Alex grabbed the seatbelt and clipped it back on.
"I'll take you shopping sometime, sadly there don't appear to be any outlets in the desert."
"Jak. I need a shirt."
"You can wash that one in a stream."
"We're in a desert. There are no streams."
"I'll find you one," he offered cheerfully.
"Gee thanks," Alex muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
Jak made an amused noise but said no more, letting his music once again fill the cabin.
After a short while of music Alex once again didn't recognise, Jak lowered the volume and spoke up, "Check out the bug car coming up behind us."
Alex glanced in the rear view mirror then twisted around in the seat to look out the back at a small, dark green car slowly gaining on them.
He pulled a face, "Looks like Lotus Elise. Those things are disgusting. Whoever designed them must have been blind, as the people who buy them also have to be."
"It's tiny. Who wants to sit behind the wheel of something like that?" Jak asked, "It looks like its eyeing up my ass up too, with that evil grin it's wearing."
"It does look like it's rather happy about something. Why do people give cars grills like that? It looks insane," Alex shook his head, watching as the car got closer, looking like it was planning on overtaking.
"Let it zoom past with its stupid face," Jak muttered as it moved out into the other side of the road, "I'll be the one pulling faces at it's butt now."
Alex nodded absently as the car pulled along side, and casually cast a glance across to see if the driver had a similarly stupid grin on his face as he over took a Mustang with his wannabe super car.
However there was no one behind the wheel. And in all honesty, Alex really should have expected that by now.
"Uh, Jak," Alex muttered as the Elise sped up a little more in order to get past them, "Is your Decepticon sense tingling right now?"
"Hmm? Uh. Not really. I generally just know by what they look like anyway. Why so?" he asked lazily.
"Because the Lotus hasn't got a driver."
"Ah. Well damn. Lets put it this way; they're not an Autobot. Must be a new Decepticon."
"How far are we from the others?"
"Fifteen minutes, approximately," Jak suddenly sounded distant.
"Can you maintain this speed and hold them off?" Alex frowned.
"Only if they don't switch back to normal and turn the guns on me. I'm no use when it comes to being on the offence .I have to run or just act on impulse, if I can, that is. Hopefully they'll just be content to stick in front of me like they're currently doing. Maybe they think we haven't twigged?" Jak didn't sound as hopeful as he'd been aiming for.
"I think we both know that's not likely," Alex absently checked his seatbelt, just to be on the safe side.
Jak didn't respond, his music now off completely as he seemed to be either concentrating, or communicating with the others. Alex just kept his eyes on the Lotus in front of them, it seemingly just continuing to pretend to be a perfectly normal car, keeping at a steady speed.
Suddenly Jak faltered, Alex being flung forward slightly as the Mustang stuttered briefly, leading to an almost complete stop.
"What?" Alex tore his eyes off the Lotus.
"Behind us. We're sandwiched between two Decepticons. I can't get out now," Jak then proceed to list off a very colourful list of words Alex wished he'd never hear again. He turned around in the seat and peered behind him to see what looked like a fairly old classic car gaining on them.
"Sidelight. He's freaking insane," Jak offered, "Definitely with Doomsday, like Burnout was. But at least Burnout was relatively normal. Sidelight is missing quite a few nuts and bolts, to say the least."
"Great," Alex muttered, "Is that why he's pink?"
"Most likely. The idiot apparently landed by some old classic car show and went for one of the craziest looking cars he could see."
"A pink Cadillac El Dorado? Those fins on the rear fenders could take an eye out."
"They are rather dangerous," Jak muttered, "Especially when he rams one into your side."
Alex pulled a face, "Crossfire and the others?"
"Oh, they're ok. But they're speeding up to try and get here to help us. Reaper especially," Jak added.
"Glad to hear it," Alex muttered as he glanced over his shoulder at Sidelight who was now right behind them.
"Oh damn," Jak swore again, suddenly having to brake harshly as the Lotus in front of them slowed drastically as it began to buckle and fold directly in front of them. Alex glimpsed Sidelight doing the same behind them, and soon they were trapped between the two Decepticons in their humanoid forms. The Lotus in front seemed relatively small, much shorter than Drag at around ten feet, and therefore not that threatening. However Sidelight behind them looked to be about the same height as Traction, and had a rather terrifyingly crazed expression, his red eyes not only clashing with his paintwork, but also accentuating his madness. The large pointed fins that had been on either side of his rear wheel arches were now along the outside of his lower arms, and if possible, looked as sharp as a blade. Alex didn't remember El Dorado's being that deadly.
"Al, just trust me here," Jak muttered quietly, "Stay strapped in at all times. Don't leave the seat or me, no matter what they do, or I do."
"Ok," Alex frowned, a little uncertain.
Behind them Sidelight had bent down and was peering through Jak's rear window, "Oh hi, Hijack! How nice to see you again!" he gave a slightly high pitch laugh, straightening up before casually kicking Jak up the backside so that he lurched forward with a quiet grunt, "And the human, of course. The human!" Sidelight was suddenly down on his knees again, shoving his face close to the driver's door, trying to peer through the glass to see Alex, "Do you really need to keep him shut up like this? All I want to do is say a little hello," he smirked nastily, allowing Alex to see a set of deadly looking teeth that matched the fins on his arms.
Jak revved his engine angrily and moved slightly away from him, which only put him closer to the other Decepticon, "Stay away Sidelight," he warned.
"Or what? Poor little Hijack will attack us? Will he bump into us in his stupid little car form that he's stuck in. Oh, Hazard hates the fact he didn't manage to kill you, but I absolutely adore you being stuck like this. Makes our meetings far more amusing," Sidelight straightened up again, putting a huge claw-like hand on Jak's hood to push himself up with, causing Jak to tip forward, his rear wheels lifting off the ground from Sidelight's weight.
Jak was growling, both vocally and through his engine, obviously furious with both Sidelight and himself for being so useless and broken.
"Isn't he delightfully fun?" Sidelight smiled nastily at the Lotus who didn't look very happy.
"We're supposed to kill him and take the human," he snapped, "Not play with him or talk to him. Just kill him. Now."
"Oh, but I have yet to introduce Hijack to you," Sidelight sauntered for a few steps, his feet extremely close to crushing Jak, so that he could see through the front window a little better, Alex just about visible to him now. He waved a hand at the Lotus, "Meet a new recruit, Hijack. Another one came to our side against the pathetic and useless humans. Roulette here has intelligence."
"Unlike you," Jak retorted, "I will never understand why Doomsday bothers with you. Honestly, why would he want a pink prissy thing following him around?"
Sidelight suddenly looked furious and he bent down, grabbing hold of Jak's front, lifting him up slightly, "It's fuchsia, not pink! Doomsday recognises my potential!" he screeched.
"Yeah, sure, your potential as cannon fodder," Jak grunted, sounding in pain.
Sidelight dug his sharp fingers into Jak's hood, slicing the metal easily with a sickening screeching sound, which made Alex fling his hands up to protect his ears.
"Stop wasting time, you idiot!" Roulette snapped at Sidelight again, "Kill him. Get the human."
Sidelight snarled over his shoulder at Roulette, "Don't overstep your position, or it'll be the last thing you do," he warned darkly. The other Decepticon scowled at him but said no more.
Sidelight returned his attention to Jak and realised his grip, dropping his front so that it hit the ground hard, bouncing slightly, causing Alex to be thrown around a little. Jak grunted and gave a quiet groan before cursing and revving his engine to make the point that he hadn't been beaten yet.
"Stop trying so hard," Sidelight casually flicked him with a finger, which managed to open up a large gash across Jak's already punctured hood.
Alex heard Jak grunt again, although it sounded like he was trying to hide the fact Sidelight was causing him some real pain.
Alex had never been one to obey orders or listen to anyone, not even his parents, so it was understandable that he now treated Jak telling him to stay in the driver's seat the same way. Though unable to formulate a much of a plan, this didn't stop him as he suddenly quickly undid the seatbelt and opened the driver's door, determined to distract the Decepticons so they wouldn't continued to harm Jak.
"Alex, no!" Jak went to stop him from getting free, however Alex had slipped out before he'd even had a chance to shut the door on him.
Sidelight looked down at Alex by his feet, now wearing a triumphant smirk as he bent down to inspect him, "How nice to meet you human," he looked him over as if he was inspecting a fine cut of meat, "How very nice indeed. I can virtually smell the Fusion in your blood. Can you smell it Roulette? It's so pure. So perfect," he gave another one of his hysterical laughs, "Oh Doomsday will be pleased. This is ideal," he went to grab Alex.
Alex swore and jumped back out of the way, narrowly missing having his face slashed in half by Sidelight's fingers.
"Slippery little fleshling," he scowled, trying again.
Alex just jumped out the way again, realising that Sidelight was rather slow and a little uncoordinated, obviously not able to see him very well, which surprised him since he'd have though robotic life forms to have electronically perfect vision. Apparently that just wasn't the case with Sidelight.
The Decepticon tried a few more times in vain to grab hold of Alex, however only succeeded in angering himself instead.
"Pathetic really," Jak muttered faintly, attempting to gather himself together as quickly as he could to intervene and get Alex out the trouble he'd stupidly put himself in.
"Sidelight!" Roulette snapped, striding over to him before making a grab at Alex himself. This time, Alex was clipped in the chest by the Decepticon, however it only succeeded in knocking him over, Roulette's hand only just about half a meter long, therefore didn't do too much damage, and even if he had managed to grab Alex, it wouldn't have been easy from him to maintain much of a hold on him.
"Oh for -!" Roulette's outstretched hand suddenly twisted back on itself, being replaced by what looked like the muzzle of a gun, which aimed itself at Alex's head, "Let me just kill it!"
"Don't even think about it, you fool," Sidelight snapped, shoving Roulette away roughly, "Doomsday would be furious! He'd tear you limb from limb! I'd tear you limb from limb!"
Roulette shot him a murderous look but stepped away after a moment, allowing Alex to scramble to his feet and dust himself down, running a hand over his suddenly rather purple and bruised looking torso.
"Now, human, stay still or I will allow Roulette to shoot your limbs off," Sidelight threatened, bending down to Alex, going to grab him again.
"Wait," Alex put his hands up quickly.
"What?" Sidelight scowled at him, pausing.
"Uh," Alex quickly racked his brains. He didn't know what he was going to say. Yelling 'wait' had seemed to be the right thing to do when you were most likely going to be crushed by a giant robotic hand.
"What?" Sidelight bent down and shoved his face close to Alex, who cringed at the distinctive smell of oil.
"Uh," he repeated, taking a step back before suddenly blurting out, "Look behind you."
"I'm not falling for that stupid human trick," Sidelight snarled.
"I think you should," Jak commented, sounding a little more with it now.
"Shut up, worthless Autobot!" Sidelight went to claw Jak's roof off, however his arm was suddenly grabbed by a large dark hand, and he was yanked backwards by whoever was behind him.
"I told you to look behind you," Alex shrugged as Sidelight was thrown backwards, flying a good distance before crashing into the ground near where Roulette was also in a heap on the floor.
Reaper now stood where Sidelight had been standing and he briefly bent down, checking Alex was ok before tapping Jak on the roof in reassurance when he saw the various holes littering his body. He then turned his attention back to Roulette and Sidelight, advancing on them threatening, his hands curled tightly into fists. Roulette didn't waste anytime in scrambling to his feet and staggering backwards a few steps before breaking into a run. After a short distance, he suddenly folded in on himself mid stride, hitting the ground back in his Lotus alternative form before speeding off in the direction he'd come from earlier.
"Coward!" Sidelight yelled after him furiously, trying to get to his feet before Reaper reached him. He did manage it, but was unable to block a blow, which caught him square in the face.
Alex could barely stand the screeching and grinding of metal as the two became locked in a fistfight, and he kept grimacing and wincing with each blow they delivered to each other. They staggered back and forth along the road, pushing each other in opposing directions causing rather large gashes in the asphalt to form from where they'd been literally digging their heels.
Reaper seemed to have the upper hand, both being taller as well as more heavily built than Sidelight. A lot of the blows the Decepticon tried for merely glanced off of Reaper and left him open for an undercutting attack from the Autobot. So after a little while longer, Sidelight seemed to be lagging, a few of his parts that no longer sat quite right rattling loudly each time he moved.
Reaper looked like he wanted to finish the Decepticon off, and kept at him, not letting up even when Sidelight began to back away in a show of submission. Eventually Reaper had Sidelight on his back, a hand at his throat, ready to end it with a simple blow.
Alex was transfixed and had moved a little way away from Jak in order to follow the fighting, and had he been on a seat right that moment, he'd be on the edge of it, waiting to see what happened next.
However it didn't quite go to plan.
"Failure," Sidelight hissed at Reaper as he tried to pull free from the Autobot's grip, "You can't run away from what you were built to be."
Reaper suddenly seemed to lock up, his grip slackening on Sidelight so much so that the Decepticon suddenly pulled free and managed to scramble far enough away that he reverted to his Cadillac guise. After a little bit of engine trouble, he began to limp off, gradually gathering speed as he went.
Alex frowned and glanced back at Jak, but he seemed to be too busy muttering to himself to be paying them any attention. He then looked back as Reaper who was still in the same position; bent over on one knee, but he now had his head hanging and was looking distinctly ashamed of himself.
Alex edged closer cautiously, "Reaper?"
The Autobot quickly looked up, a brief flash of anger passing across his face before he blinked a few times then sighed, shaking his head.
"What was that about?" Alex waved a hand in the direction Sidelight had disappeared.
Reaper looked a little surprised that Alex had heard the brief comment from the Decepticon, then his expression turned torn as he obviously contemplated something. Eventually he looked Alex dead in the eyes before quietly responding, "Don't tell anyone. Please."
His voice sounded rough from disuse, but it had a quiet and mellow quality that made it sound rather smooth despite how it caught on every other word. Alex just blinked, unable to believe that the silent Reaper had actually spoken to him, which he had gathered from what the others had said, must be a momentous occasion. It was just a shame that Reaper sounded so sombre and worried.
Reaper didn't say anymore, and simply put a finger to his lips to emphasise what he'd just said, just as Jak rolled over slowly, cursing and muttering angrily like an old man.
"I can't believe they both got away," he said finally as he came to a stop by Alex, "You could have taken them easily, Reaps!"
Reaper just shrugged, waving a hand briefly to indicate they'd just slipped away. He purposefully didn't look at Alex, suggesting that maybe he didn't want him to mention that he'd frozen up and that was what had given Sidelight a chance for escape.
"Freaking idiots," Jak continued to growl quietly, "I hate not being able to do anything! They pin me in and I'm useless, no way I can run out of something like that. Why do I have to be so broken?!"
Reaper bent down and patted Jak on the roof to try and calm him down but Jak just revved his engine angrily and drove a little distance away from them.
Alex glanced at Reaper who just shrugged and indicated that he could try if he wanted to. So after a moment's hesitation, Alex wandered casually over to Jak and leant on him lazily, "You ok, buddy?"
"No."
"Ok, stupid thing to ask really," Alex pulled a face, "But listen, you did what you could, and you did it well."
"You still got hurt. You got out of me, because I was being torn apart! You knew I was failing at protecting you," Jak muttered bitterly.
"Hey, no, it wasn't anything like that. I got out because I was trying to distract them from you, to give you a chance to get yourself together. It's only a bruise, maybe a few broken ribs. It's nothing," Alex shook his head.
"I'm supposed to die for you. Not the other way around."
"No one's dying for anyone. Jak, it's ok to have bad days," Alex sighed.
"It's not just a bad day, Alex. Don't you get it? I'm a pointless part of anything when I'm stuck in this form. I ferry people around. Oh yay, I can play taxi. Why the hell didn't I think about taking a taxi form? I can't protect my charge if I'm constantly a vehicle. I can't do anything! I should just go rust in a scrap yard somewhere. If Pulse can't ever fix me, then I'm stuck like this forever more."
"At least you look good. Got style," Alex tried.
Jak gave a hollow laugh, "That's nice to know when I'm being useless."
"You're not useless," Alex absently ran his fingers along the edge of Jak's window, "Far from it. So what if you can't fight? I know you've spent so long in a conflict with the Decepticons, but it seems like you've forgotten there's more to life than that. Don't waste time getting messed up over being 'broken' because I bet you're still the same guy as before, humanoid formed or not. You're cool Jak, you've got attitude and style that the other Autobots lack."
Jak grunted quietly and gave a lopsided shrugged, "Maybe."
"Not maybe. Come on Jak. You rock along, music blaring, not a care in the world. Don't let it get to you; I'm sure the Decepticons would be surprised to see you blasting through them as a Mustang. You don't need a fighting form, because you've got it all here," Alex tapped him lightly on the roof, "You just need to work out some kick ass moves to take 'em down."
Jak sighed quietly, "I suppose."
"You're just as good as any of the others," Alex reassured him, "Don't let it get you down."
Jak just grunted quietly in response and dipped his hood in a half-hearted nod. Alex sighed and straightened up, turning away before wandering over to the side of the road where he slumped down on the white line, staring into the distance as they waited for the others to meet up with them. Jak obviously wasn't going anywhere with various parts of him clawed open.
Reaper glanced briefly at Alex and Jak, and obviously deciding that they were ok, he moved off the road, a little way into the rough desert where he buckled and folded into his alternative helicopter form. There was a few seconds pause before he took off, obviously going to check and see where the others had got to.