Chapter 2: Attacks and Surprises

The city was in full panic. Enforcers were evacuating bots to shelters under Iacon. P306 was about to join them when she heard a voice.

"Help me… please… somebot help me!"

"I'm coming!" P306 called. "Where are you?"

"Over… here." The voice called out even weaker. She pinpointed the position of the voice and followed it to a pile of rubble. She then saw the bot calling her. It was her school group bully, Hardhelm. He was a full green mech with a helm as hard as a Cybertronian Elite Guard shield. Hence the name. He always was helm butting her whenever he could, literally, and Sentenal had never tried to stop it. She had to develop a hard shell against him or she would seem weak.

"Hardhelm, are you okay?" P306 asked him.

"No. I… I think my legs are damaged. They hurt so bad!" He cried, without the usual pride in his voice.

"Easy now, I'm gonna get you outta here." She replied. Though she disliked Hardhelm, she knew that she had to help him. She looked around, but everybot was to busy evacuating or holding off the Cons. She quickly placed the tablet in the subspace in her back that also held her laptop. She then tried to lift the beam that had Hardhelm legs pinned down. She grunted with effort, trying to lift it off of him.

"You seriously think you can lift that beam off of me?" Hardhelm asked mockingly.

"Yes, I believe I can." She replied with another grunt of effort.

"Ha! Like I'll believe that. Ouch!" He cried, when a piece of rubble hit his helm. "Careful!"

"Sorry!" She gasped painfully.

"Are you, ah, okay?" He asked cautiously. P306 was straining her circuits to the maximum, and to Hardhelms utter surprise, the 2 Cybertronian tonne beam started to lift off of his legs.

"Can you-*ARG*-drag yourself out of-*AHHH*-there?" She asked painfully.

"I-I think so!" Hardhelm said as he started to crawl away from the rubble. Once he was clear, she threw the beam back into the pile of rubble.

"Thanks P3-" Hardhelm started to say, when she collapsed on to the ground.

"P306!" He cried out. "P306! Somebot! Anybot! Help! HELP!" Somebot heard him, and rushed over. It was Skyfire.

"Are you alright?" Skyfire asked Hardhelm.

"I'm fine!" He snapped. "She's the one who needs help." While pointing to P306.

"P306!" Skyfire gasped. As he rushed over to her, she started to get up. As he got closer, she collapsed again.

"Are you alright?" Skyfire gasped as he reached her.

"Skyfire? Is that you?" She asked, her voice barely audible.

"Yes. And your gonna make it." He replied worriedly.

"What about Hardhelm?" She asked weakly. "Will he be okay?"

"Yes, he will be. Thanks to you."

"Good." She replied, as Skyfire helped her up.

"Can you carry him?" She asked, pointing at Hardhelm once she was standing.

"Yes, but what about you?" Skyfire asked.

"I'll be fine. He need more help than me anyway."

"Alright, but you stay close behind me." Skyfire lifted up Hardhelm bridal style and started walking towards the shelter, P306 slowly following behind, limping a little. They soon reached the shelter. Medics then took Hardhelm to sick bay so his legs could be treated. Enforcers guided Skyfire to the shelter. P306 started to follow when suddenly…

"SURPRISE!" Starscream called as he scooped up P306.

"P306!" Skyfire cried. The authorities quickly aimed their weapons at Sarscream.

"Na-ah ah." He said, pointing a blaster at her chest.

The enforcers looked at each other and slowly lowered their weapons. Starscream suddenly took off with a jetpack carrying P306.

"He heading towards the sea of rust!" Skyfire yelled as he transformed into his F-22 style jet and took off after him.

•••

"Put me down you overgrown scrap heap!" P306 yelled at Starscream. Starscream ignored her, but the words started to sink in. And the fact she was kicking him real hard with her legs didn't help. Soon they were flying over the sea of rust. Starscream dropped her onto a pile of scrap, transformed, and flew off. Skyfire was soon following close behind. He chased Starscream for kliks (miles), until he realized that Starscream didn't have P306. Giving up the chase, he turned around and flew back towards the middle of the sea of rust. When he arrived, he transformed and started calling her name.

"P306!" He called over and over with no avail. He quickly began to lose hope. Meanwhile, P306 was having a strange dream. She dreamt that she was standing on a ridge, not on Cybertron, but an organic planet. She watched as Cybertronians fought each other, two sides battling against each other, and in the midst of the fighting, she spotted the mech she had read about on the tablet back in the hall of records.

"Optimus," she breathed, and as she watched, he confronted a mech that had driven fear into the sparks of many. Megatron; the fearsome leader of the Decepticons and a merciless tyrant. As she watched, the two titans clash together, sending sparks flying. They clashed, again and again, neither willing to give up. Suddenly, the ground beneath her gave way, and she fell, down, down, down…

"P306!"

She heard someone shout her name. It sounded so distant, yet it sounded like it was coming from right next to her.

"P306!" Skyfire called, worried about her. He had touched down near an old, rusted building, were he had seen Starscream transform. He was worried, because she was just a youngling, and to young to join the Allspark.

"P306!" He called again. He listened. Nothing.

"Oh, I hope she's ok." He whispered quietly.

P306 heard her name being called again, and managed to open her optics, and saw the sky. At first, she thought that she was dead, but then she felt pain in her right arm. Actually, she felt it all over. She turned her helm painfully to the right, and saw her right arm twisted the wrong way.

"P306!" She heard her name being called again. She recognized the voice as Skyfire's, and tried to answer, but nothing came out. She then tried to lift herself up. First, she used her still working left arm to push herself towards her right. She gasped with pain, but kept pushing. Then, she tried to bring her legs underneath her in an attempt to stand up. Instead, she knocked a loose piece of scrap off from the pile it had been resting on behind her, and it hit the ground with a clank. She heard a voice, and then, everything went black.