All around Alex and Bill the Autobots stepped back, breaking the circle they'd formed and the graunching of metal and whirring of various parts filled their ears as the nine huge robots folded themselves down neatly into their various terrestrial forms.
After a few seconds everything was virtually silent again, apart from the quiet rumblings of the assortment of idling engines.
Jak moved forward from where he'd been beside Alex, heading towards Traction and Flywheel, "Be careful, hey Al?"
"Sure thing Jak," Alex nodded, feeling a little odd as he was separated from Jak after the past few days having been virtually surgically attached. He glanced at Bill who gave him a little smile as she turned and headed for Freeway. Alex then sighed quietly before heading towards the dull orange Mitsubishi, his door opening for him politely. With a last glance at Jak, Alex slid into the drivers seat and tried to get comfortable.
"It's been a while since I had a human passenger, so I apologise in advance for anything I may do that upsets you," Torque shut the door behind him.
"That doesn't sound ominous at all," Alex muttered sarcastically as he pulled the seatbelt on, his eyes wandering over the Eclipse's interior. He was barely able to hold back a little snort of amusement at the styling in the central console, where the CD player and twin air vents with the hazards button between them looked uncannily like a face.
"Something amusing?" Torque picked up on it regardless of how silent Alex had stayed.
"It's nothing," he shrugged casually, "Amusing little thought, that's all."
"No doubt," Torque replied plainly, allowing Alex to see what Jak had meant about Torque being a little like Drag. He continued to talk as he set off, following Pulse out of the car park and onto the road, the other two behind them, "If you're interested to know, we'll be entering the canyon from a little north of here, east of the furthest eastern tourist view point of the canyon. From there we will resume our natural forms and make our way down. If you and your friend have any difficulties, we will aid your decent. Then it's a short distance to the centre of Decepticon interest. Pulse will run checks with the assistance of Freeway while Dragstar and myself will keep a look out for any thing suspicious. There have been no Decepticon presences felt for the past twenty-four hours, however we have reason to believe they're planning something very soon. I wouldn't be surprised if they had increased their numbers in a similar way to us."
"It was five against four, right?" Alex asked.
"Until Overhaul was destroyed," Torque agreed, "The four Decepticons attacking are nothing special, however managed to catch him off guard. They're mainly inexperienced and reckless, only achieving a lucky shot here and there. They may be feeling confident after that, however I think they know they have no chance of retrieving what it is they desire without backup. Since Doomsday constantly tails Crossfire's team, we think that one or two of his may aid them against us. Hopefully he'll send more simpletons."
"Well from what I've seen of the Decepticons, they all appear to be simpletons," Alex rolled his eyes.
"Which have you had the displeasure of meeting?"
"Sidelight, Roulette who's a new one apparently, and Envoy. Envoy seemed to be the best out of them."
"Sidelight's insane. Roulette, I haven't heard of him. Envoy is blindly obedient. If Doomsday told him to rip his Spark out, he'd do it without a moment's hesitation. The ones you have to watch are Doomsday himself and Spectre. They're intelligent, devious and dangerous. Hazard is the most lethal, despite his stupidity. Anything that gets in his way is destroyed. There's a reason Doomsday's team is made up of these Decepticons," Torque explained.
"Jak's living proof that Hazard's dangerous," Alex muttered.
"Oh, so it was him that caused the damage. I had a suspicion it was him. I'm glad I didn't see Jak after Hazard had finished with him. That would undoubtedly have been rather messy. I severely hope, for all our sakes, that Hazard stays away from this canyon. The humans who control this area would loose their paid occupations, for he would most likely turn this canyon into a simple hole in the ground, just for the fun of it."
Alex grimaced, glancing out the window at the passing scenery, "Over destructive."
"That's just the way he is."
"You're not like that."
"We choose different paths, that's all."
"Shouldn't be a 'kill all humans' path," Alex grunted.
"There shouldn't be a 'destroy your home planet in a war between brothers' path either. But apparently there is," Torque muttered.
"Fair enough," Alex admitted with a sigh, turning his attention to the road they were on when Torque said no more, suggesting their brief conversation was over. In front of them Pulse was casually making his way along the road, when suddenly he turned off it, beginning to bounce along an unmarked, but obviously driven along track. Alex supposed the tire marks were from Torque and the others, so this must be the way they attempted to enter the canyon before being attacked by the Decepticons.
Torque turned off the road too, and Alex twisted around in the seat, trying to catch a glimpse of Drag who would no doubt be having a hard time trying to drive over the rough terrain, which was scattered with rocks. He wondered how much complaining he'd be broadcasting to any Autobots who were listening.
Alex eventually had to turn back to the road in front of him as Torque began to bounce all over the place, throwing him around the cabin. He braced himself by holding onto the door handle, one hand on the ceiling to stop himself from hitting his head, which seemed to have been happening a lot recently.
After a little while longer they finally slowed to a halt, the canyon appearing out of the trees they'd been traversing through. It seemed endless as it stretched out in front of them, and dangerously deep, even for an Autobot. Hoodoos rose up eerily around the edge of the canyon, however the central part of this twisted dead end was relatively clear and open.
"This is where you get out," Torque prompted, opening his door.
Alex nodded and slid from the seat back into the thick warm air. He glanced behind him as Bill clambered out of Freeway and hurried up to him.
"Any other time, this would be a nice place to come," she muttered, casting her gaze across the canyon.
"I agree," Alex nodded, glancing behind him briefly as he heard the Autobots begin to change back into their normal forms. He slowly edged towards the rim of the canyon and peered over the straight edge, looking down a drop so sheer it made his head spin. Hopefully there was a less direct route down.
"This is where I push you," Drag commented lazily as he came up behind him. Alex glanced over his shoulder and squinted up at Drag who was blinding him rather well as his shiny metal reflected the sun.
"And then that's where you get torn apart by the others for killing me," Alex responded equally as lazy.
Drag glared at him slightly before looking away, "Very well. If you can't take a joke…"
Alex rolled his eyes, and sighed, "You need to refine your idea of a joke. Talk to Jak maybe."
"I'll keep that in mind," Drag gave what looked like an attempt at a thin and humourless smile before moving away from him as Pulse and Kickdown came over. Even Pulse, as the largest of the five Autobots, appeared to be dwarfed in comparison with a nearby hoodoo piecing the sky.
"We're going to descend into the canyon now. Kickdown will lead the way down a known safe route, however loose rocks may cause problems. The first part will be the hardest due to the sheer drop, however it levels out into a slope that we can all move down easily. If you think you're going to fall, try not to take out anyone else as you do so," Pulse smiled, "Freeway will be the last to come down."
"So he can take out all of us as he slips," Drag muttered.
"I've told him to specifically aim for you, actually," Pulse continued to smile, "I will take the humans due to my size and ability to protect them if any of us do fall. If either of them slips free Kickdown will be prepared to catch them."
"I'd rather not fall, to be honest," Alex grunted.
"I won't let go of either you," Pulse looked down at him, "But we have to be prepared, just in case. Things happen. Right, so if everyone is ready?"
There was a murmuring of agreement and a few nods.
"Good," Pulse bent down and reached out a hand to Alex and Bill, "Climb up. Position yourself close to my shoulders and hold on tight."
Alex glanced at Bill and quickly motioned that she should go first, not particularly wanting to climb all over the Autobot. She gave a rather forced smile and walked onto Pulse's outstretched hand before clambering up his arm to his right shoulder. Once there, she eased herself down into a little gap, which was created by the bull bars of the Autobot's vehicle form behind bent across his chest. Pulse then offered Alex his other hand, and reluctantly Alex copied Bill's actions, climbing up before settling down behind the thick metal bars. Once they were both secure, Pulse straightened up carefully, moving his arms about him to ensure he wouldn't catch either of them by accident. When he was sure that everything was ok, he moved over to the edge of the canyon and peered down, causing Alex to give a quiet groan and close his eyes tightly.
"On your way, Kickdown," Pulse indicated that he should proceed.
"My pleasure," he grinned at Pulse before jumping off the edge, falling a little way before thrusting a hand into the side of the canyon where it buried itself into the rock and held him there. He then swung himself down a little further, having to move over to one side in order to avoid knocking over a few hoodoos.
"Drag and Torque," Pulse nodded at the two similarly small sized Autobots who both slid off the canyon edge together, beginning to follow an enthusiastic Kickdown towards the bottom.
"Hold on tight you two," Pulse muttered. Alex didn't need telling twice, and although he kept his eyes sealed tightly, he knew instantly when Pulse had jumped as a feeling of flying, and nausea, overwhelmed him. Both he and Bill were suddenly jarred violently when Pulse dug his hand into the side of the canyon and paused for a moment, the force of them coming to a sudden stop having almost dislodged them. They quickly readjusted themselves as Pulse before to climb down, using both previous holes in the rock from the other three Autobots, as well as making his own by digging his fingers into the rock face.
Above them, Freeway began to make his way down, not being adventurous and jumping, rather scrambling down as awkwardly as most likely possible. Occasionally his scrabbling hands dislodged a few lumps of rocks, and while they often missed Pulse, Drag often found himself being hit in the head. Since he couldn't do anything about it right that minute, he cussed out Freeway rather loudly, using an electronic dialect that neither Alex nor Bill could understand.
They continued their descent down into the canyon, occasionally able to walk, or slide, a little way down a sloping ledge, however they often struggled to avoid the closely packed hoodoos when they were forced to climb down. More than once an Autobot limb caught one and knocked a chunk out of it, and even once, Torque managed to stumble into one, demolishing it completely, almost setting off a domino effect across the whole canyon side.
Below them, Alex could see Kickdown had reached a point where the ground began to level off, and the cliff appeared to end. He waited a little while for Drag to reach him, before the two of them began to navigate their way down the slop carefully, occasionally grabbing hold of a hoodoo to when their feet threatened to disappear from underneath them.
Alex was just watching as Torque when he heard a distant whooshing noise, which rapidly increased in volume, as it appeared to get close.
"Alex!" Bill gasped loudly, drawing his attention to her, just as he caught sight of something streaking towards them, a plume of white smoke tailing behind it. He'd barely had a chance to register it when the missile hit home, striking Pulse directly in the shoulder right next to where Bill was clinging on for dear life.
Pulse grunted loudly in pain, his grip on the canyon wall slipping to such an extent that he very nearly toppled backwards. As it was, his right arm, damaged from the missile, after a mad attempt to keep its hold, dropped and fell loose and useless at his side. This caused him to lurch violently to his right while he tried to keep himself attached to the rock with his left hand. The violent movement very nearly displaced Alex, but he luckily managed to remain clinging to Pulse despite the angle they were currently at. However Bill was far less fortunate, and the sudden drop of Pulses arm, as well as very nearly being hit by the missile, and had managed to dislodge her from behind the protective bull bars.
She barely held back a scream as she tried to struggle back to safety, however hee movements only succeeded in loosening her grip even more.
Alex saw what was happening through the sudden explosion of chaos all around, and lunged across Pulse's chest for her, trying to grab onto her hands. However he was just about to wrap a hand around one of her arms when another missile missed, its target of Pulse yet again, careered into the rock above them, showering them large shards of rock. The tremor that rocked through Pulse was enough to finally loosen Bill's already pitiful grip, and Alex yelled out, hands vainly snatching at thin air as Bill fell free and plummeted towards the canyon floor, metres below them.
Pulse too tried to grab her, but his damaged arm was useless in attempting to stop her fall. It was too late for those on the bottom of the canyon to try and catch her, Torque being the nearest, but still too far to reach her in time.
But suddenly the next thing Alex knew, he saw a flash of yellow hurtle past him, managing to only just control his descent by carelessly crashing into the hoodoos that got in his way.
Freeway had seen what had happened from above them, and the moment Bill had lost her grip, he'd thrown himself valiantly from the cliff face after her. His weight far more than Bill's meant that he was able to gather speed much quicker than her, and therefore appeared to catch up with her falling form fairly easily and quickly. Yet it didn't seem to be fast enough for him to catch her and then save himself as there was a sudden crash, the sound of metal hitting rock, as Freeway hit the sloping bottom of the cliff, sending up a cloud of red dust that restricted Alex from being able to see what had happened to either of them.
Alex barely realised that he was repeatedly yelling Bill's name until Pulse finally told him to be quiet as he began to struggle down the cliff as quickly as he could with his damaged arm, no longer wanting to be an open target for their attacker who seemed to have ceased fire. As Pulse made his way downward, Alex strained to see through all the dust and was only just about able to make the shape of a sprawled Freeway on his back. He couldn't tell if he was still moving, but he could see the Autobots bright eyes still lit, even if a little dimmer than usual.
When Pulse finally reached the bottom, the other Autobots had ran back up to meet them and were crowded around Freeway, all trying to see if he was ok. Pulse staggered over to them, dropping to his knees briefly to let Alex slid off him before he straightened up and made his way over to the others, holding onto his arm in a similar fashion to humans when they also injured their shoulders. Alex hurried after him and squeezed between Kickdown's legs to get a better view.
Kickdown glanced down at him briefly, "Be careful, the Decepticon who just attacked us, Deadlock, could appear again at any moment. Be ready to take cover."
Alex just shrugged in response; too busy trying to see if he could see Bill.
Pulse crouched down beside Freeway and bent over him, "Freeway?" he asked, concern thick in his voice.
There was a moments pause before he received a response, "I got Bill…" Freeway muttered, lifting up an arm unsteadily from his chest to reveal Bill curled up and shaken in a concave part of his torso.
"Well done," Pulse nodded in approval, glancing at Alex as he ran forward from his shelter under Kickdown and simply clambered over the fallen Freeway to get to Bill.
"Bill?" he peered at her, "Are you ok?"
She groaned quietly and blinked open her eyes, looking at him in a slight daze, "Alex?"
"Are you hurt?" he asked, "Can you move?"
"I think I'm ok," she muttered absently.
"Good," Alex wrapped his arms around her and began to drag her as best as he could from Freeway. Pulse looked like he wanted to offer his assistance, however refrained from doing so, letting Alex determinedly haul her away from Freeway. Once they were away from him, Pulse set to running checks and quickly mending the odd part here and there, ignoring his own injury in favour of his patient's.
Alex slumped to the ground with Bill in his lap and he too began to check her over, looking for any broken bones or injuries despite his severe lack of medical experience. She looked ok, he thought, and she seemed to just be pale from shock. She appeared happy enough to cling onto him though, her arms clamped around his waist as if she thought she might fall again. Happy that she was physically sound, Alex took up stroking her hair soothingly, watching as Pulse repaired Freeway.
The three Autobots around them kept their eyes turned to the sky and Alex was sure he caught sight of Reaper patrolling high above them, looking for the menace who'd attacked them.