-1Special thanks go to i-love-me-some-leggypoo for this idea.
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Sarah felt the distress call before the Ark's computer detected it, and so she was already in the control room before Optimus called everybody together. She wasn't really listening to him as she transformed into the being they had all come to know so well, that black armored twin of Megatron. A scouting party was being organized and she was to be in it since it would likely be either a rescue or a combat situation. Either way, with her power and her chosen form's sheer strength, she was a logical choice. With her would be Jazz, Ironhide, Megatron and, of course, Rumble. The little Autobot wasn't about to be left out, and he also wasn't about to let her out of his sight if he could help it.
"Rumble li-li-like fly with human girl." Now in her jet form, Sarah would have been smiling had she been able to as she made sure Rumble was strapped in safely before taking off right beside Megatron. The two took to the skies, warplane and alien jet side by side as always, cutting through the clouds and soaring high above the land as they followed the signal. Their scanners showed Jazz and Ironhide in their vehicle forms and making darn good time below them, amazingly keeping pace with the soaring jets. No words passed between any of them as they made a beeline for the source of the distress call. Then again, it wasn't really necessary to say anything, since they were all pretty much thinking the same thing. They had to hurry, for the sake of whoever was sending out that signal.
Sunlight glinted off something shiny and the sight stirred some nameless feeling inside Sarah in that moment, intuition making itself heard. "I've spotted something… Looks metallic. I'm going to check it out. Jazz, Ironhide, converge on my signal." Then she went into a steep dive toward what she had seen, Rumble hanging on for the ride and whooping up a storm, enjoying every microsecond of it. As she closed in, the twisted heap of metal that had reflected the light she'd seen, the barely recognizable wreck, half turned to fix dimming eyes on her descending form. Jagged shards of metal painted with black and white all but screamed a name at her, a name she herself then screamed… "Barricade!"
"All right, just like we practiced…" The little Autobot tensed in his seat at this, quickly shrugging off the safety belts until he sat unrestrained. "Rumble, eject!" The cockpit canopy opened and he leapt out as if spring-loaded, even as she transformed in midair. Immediately catching him in her arms, the two landed together. "You're getting pretty good at that," she said as she gently set him down. He immediately ran up to where Barricade lay, Sarah no more than a step behind. "Jazz! Ironhide! Megatron! Get over here now!" Kneeling beside the fallen Decepticon, she focused as her pale blue highlights came to life, licking out from her body to play over the massive damage Barricade had taken, damage that slowly began to reverse itself. "…They… they know…" She'd figured as much from the moment she saw him. "Don't try to talk right now… Save your strength. You'll have plenty of time to tell me all about it later, all right?" Rumble seconded this with a quick, vehement nod. "Scary Car not talk. Scary Car let human girl do work, then Scary Car say whatever." He shook his head weakly. "…You don't… understand…" He paused, even though he didn't want to. It had taken all his strength just to say that much. "…It's… a trap…" Those last words were completely unnecessary and unheard to boot as the swooping Starscream filled the air between them with a storm of laser blasts. "Sentimental fool! I knew this would lure you out!" A quick flare of blue lightning shielded her from the worst of it, but she took some mild damage nonetheless.
That was when Jazz and Ironhide hit the scene, transforming and opening fire even as Megatron swooped in to land between his former second in command and Sarah even as she tried to go back to repairing Barricade's worst damage. Even Rumble joined in. "Oh, so you have reinforcements, do you? Well, so do I!" Three more jets soared in, transformed and immediately began to take the four of them on. Dirge, Ramjet and Thrust again. Put in mind of the events that had taken place on the mountaintop so seemingly long ago, Megatron immediately opened fire on the lot of them. Jazz and Ironhide joined in after a few seconds. Rumble leapt for the nearest face, which just so happened to belong to Thrust. Starscream joined in. Sarah, for her part, stayed right next to Barricade, calling upon her power to continue her repairs, willing to settle for getting him to the point where it would be safe to move him. She only hoped she could finish before anything else happened. This, more than anything else, surprised Barricade. The fact that she would stay put in the middle of a battle and risk being shot in order to help a Decepticon… This was more surprising to him than their coming for him in the first place.
It was then that Starscream made a move that surprised them all and yet wasn't surprising at all. "If I can't have her, no one can!" Pivoting swiftly, he aimed a shot at Sarah's unprotected back and let fly. She sort of felt it coming and turned to see it coming at her. What she did next startled Barricade even more. Instead of dodging to save herself, which would have left him wide open, she held her position to shield him with her own body. Both of them barely registered the shrieking that came from off to the side, the smallish red blur charging in and leaping for it like a very desperate panther…
The shot struck, but it didn't strike her. Instead it struck Rumble's leaping form, sending him smashing into her and sending her into a very artistic backward dive over Barricade to land flat on her rear with a very badly injured Rumble lying on her chest and not moving. Sarah sat up instantly, the little red Autobot in her arms. "Rumble? Rumble?" Her voice rose to a horrified shriek. "No! Rumble!" Pure power surged from her body into his, falling from him like shimmering rain to enter the still equally motionless Barricade. Still there was nothing but silence from him, no motion, no speech, not even a twitch.
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OMG, huh?