To all loyal fans who waited patiently after the first teaser chapter. I'm sorry! School and work consumed my life. Plus I really wanted to try working this one out better, although I admit the ending is still sort of hazy at the moment sigh I'm just not great with plot twists.
Anyway here you go!
And by popular demand, smaller chapters. Not smaller updates just bigger one's broken up into bit sized pieces.
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"Help! I need help! I've got a live one over here!!" A worker shouted. It had been only half an hour since the two Seekers had fled the Houston airport. In their wake they'd destroyed over a dozen planes of varying size and knocked down half of the terminal. Rescue efforts had been relatively quick at first, firefighters, police, reservists, medics all had been called in from across the state. While the visible victims had been taken care of those still trapped beneath the rubble were being extracted at a far slower pace. The area was unstable; one wrong shift could end a precious life.
Several others were quick to approach, hearing the faint sounds of a child's cries somewhere beneath the mass of steel and rock. The remains of the terminal were slowly lifted away, waiting chairs tossed aside as they worked frantically to save the small life below. When the last piece of concrete was removed a dirt covered tot was quick to make her escape, tears streaking her soot covered face as a rescue worker quickly scooped her up. "Parents. Any sign of the parents?"
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Ratchet is nearby and en route to the site of the attack. Optimus explained, knowing it would be little comfort to the Topkick.
Already Ironhide had attempted to contact both Sarah and Will via their cell phones, both went straight to voicemail. If he was any sort of reasonable mech Ironhide might assume that they still had their phones turned off, after all airlines required all electronics be shut off during flight. Unfortunately, Ironhide was not a reasonable mech.
On another, separate line Prime ordered Bumblebee and Jazz to intercept the Topkick. The last thing anyone needed was for Ironhide to 'go postal' as Sam often warned.
What exactly do you want us to do Prime? 'Bee's got the kids with him. Jazz questioned, already the silver Solstice had altered his course in order to meet up with the black truck.
Just keep an eye on him. Optimus replied with a sigh in his voice. Ratchet, report.
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The medic had been at Keller's home already so making it to the airport had been relatively easy, the sirens came in handy. Secretary Keller has ordered reserve troops to the site in order to maximize rescue efforts. I am on location now. To the rest of the world the Search and Rescue Hummer was navigating in and around ground zero. Prime. Sarah Lennox has already been pulled from the debris.
The medic's silence was all Prime needed to understand the situation, Are you positive? If it was any less serious of a situation Ratchet might have scoffed and assumed Optimus was insulting his diagnostic of the human female. However in the grave situation he understood the meaning behind the question.
There are 36 points of comparison matching her body to the body of Sarah Lennox. Much like humans identified bodies by tattoos, dental records and fingerprints; Ratchet did the same with varying points of comparison.
Understood, hold your position and offer assistanceOptimus ordered before cutting the connection, luckily Keller's troops arrived then and he was able to do more than simply scan the injured and dead pulled up from the rubble. His scans showed him biosigns, the location of living humans no matter how close to death they were, this information he sent to several laptops that Keller's men had set up, they then instructed rescue workers to the specific locations listed. The dead would be dealt with later, for now they had to focus on finding the living.
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"And just how exactly are we supposed to stop him?" Sam questioned, eyeing the large black truck speeding down the road beside them.
Jazz replied, Bumblebee broadcasting his voice across the radio so his passengers could hear, Just keepin' an eye on the big guy.Of course Ironhide was unaware of their conversation, only annoyed at the escort he revved his engines and shifted left causing Jazz to skid left in order to avoid being ran into. Then again with the height difference between their alt forms it was more likely that the Topkick would have run over the Solstice. When Jazz began a string of curses, from varying languages and degrees, Bumblebee cut off the radio broadcast.
Ironhide remained silent, Prime's scout driving to his right and Prime's current second in command and saboteur on his left. Whenever they came to close he'd shift to one side or the other causing them to swerve away, just a reminder. He wasn't up to playing games at the moment, and nothing would stop him from reaching his goal.
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Optimus was the second mech to arrive on the scene, by then most of the still living had been removed from the rubble. It seemed an odd sight, the flame adorning semi parked beside the rescue vehicle in the midst of the aftermath. All were too busy to question.
For a time the larger mech was silent simply waiting for a report from his CMO. No matter how skilled and accustomed to battle they were, such acts among humans still seemed devastating. There were so many precious lives on this planet and it seemed everyday thousands were extinguished, just out of natural causes. It was a sobering thought to a race whose life spans seemed naturally indefinite.
Neither Annabelle nor Will Lennox have been rescued yet. Ratchet informed the other, every soul that was pulled from the terminal remains had been scanned, and rescanned as the medic searched for the signs of the human they considered a comrade as well as his sparkling.
They could have been found prior to your arrival. Optimus stated, always the optimist, true, Ratchet had made it to the scene nearly two hours after the attack but the odds weren't in their favor.
I will check with the local hospitals. Unfortunately to accommodate this many patients, victims are being sent to several locations. It would be like finding a needle in a haystack, looking for two humans among the thousands now occupying several facilities through the area.
We cannot give up hope. We will not rest until they are found. Optimus replied and the unspoken phrase was clear, they owed it to Ironhide, a fellow comrade in arms. Just as Bumblebee would and had done anything to protect his charges, so would Ironhide protect the soldier he'd befriended. Such a bond extended to Will's family as well and upon meeting his first human sparkling (the one when he'd first arrived didn't really count, there hadn't been much interaction other than being called a tooth fairy), Ironhide had taken to her instantly.
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