*A barrage of bullets peppers the fourth wall, leaving a crude oblong shape. A foot kicks the center down, and outsteps a small girl of about 10 years, carrying an assault rifle. She looks up at you and waves* Hi! I'm Iris, the main character of this story. I've come here today, to the other side of the fourth wall, to deliver an apology on behalf of my author for taking so long to update this fanfiction. You've all been such wonderful followers, and you have waited so patiently for the next chapter. My author has no legitimate excuse. She's just a lazy lump on a log who doesn't know how to get her butt off of Tumblr and do something productive with her life. *Sighs* Oh well, here it is anyway. No harm no foul, right? Well, *Scratches head* I wouldn't say NO harm… Speaking of which, if you'll excuse me, *Hefts gun* I'm going to go repay my author for all the crap she puts me through in this chapter. Enjoy the show! *Darts out of sight. Screaming and gunshots are heard*
As many stars that were in the sky on that night, I've sorrowed over what I failed to remember that day.
Bumblebee, Ratchet, Ironhide and Jazz were in position, hiding in vehicle mode on the bridge. Below, Optimus Prime was standing in a dark alley, pressed against the massive brick wall in attempting to hide his huge bulk.
Where was I, you ask? In a place of honor: Prime's left shoulder.
Now you're probably wondering, Why would she be up there? The answer was quite simple really: The rest of the Autobots would be coming down from the bridge in acrobatic maneuvers of the highest of skill, and holding on to me while doing that was just not a good idea, no matter how much I trusted them. There had been an argument to exclude me from the entire encounter, instead tucking me away someplace safe. However, it was debated that I was most vulnerable on my own, and that I must have an Autobot accompanying me at all times. So, the conclusion was that I would be safest with none other than the Prime himself.
The whole fuss over me made extremely embarrassed, and I was nervous to the point of shaking slightly when I was lifted to Optimus's shoulder. I prayed none of the Autobots noticed.
When the Prime had first offered his huge, metal hand, I'd stepped up as delicately as possible. I was still stuck in my whole 'He's too great to be touched' mindset. Even though his movements were careful and deliberate, the upwards motion and my nerves unbalanced me to the point where I fell to my knees, settling to stay somewhat seated on the way up, and forgetting my reservations enough to clutch the great fingers for dear life. When I reached 'top floor', I forced my shaky legs to support myself and cautiously stepped onto Optimus's broad (understatement) shoulder. I tried to move around as little as possible, immediately crouching and using the huge, jutting shoulder panels for support, then turning myself to the front. I settled my legs in front of me, found a solid surface to brace my feet on, and sat.
I exhaled and looked down. Prayers echoed involuntarily through my head as I felt my feet begin to sweat. You know that urge to jump you get when you stand in a high place, yet it's completely un-suicidal? Later I would hear that, it's not the urge to jump; it's deeper than that. It's the urge to fall.
Whatever you call it, it was there, and stronger than ever. I've always had it, and as far as I can tell, it's stronger in me than in most people. Strong enough that it'd make me afraid to be around heights; it's not that I might fall which frightened me, but the aspect that I'd decide to fall. I didn't always trust myself not to make that decision. That's why my sweaty hands clutched any hold they could find so tightly.
It wasn't all terribly nerve-wracking though. I remembered Simmons, the S7 agent. I was still having trouble remembering what he would do, the memory frustratingly just out of touch, but I did remember one thing: that I was looking forward to watching him squirm.
"Hang on," Optimus warned me now, his voice low but still echoing through the alley, before his battle-mask slid out over his face. I could see the pack of black SUVs coming down the highway under the bridge, right towards us. The Prime pushed away from the wall and stepped out just in time to stop the lead SUV. But of course, 'stop' is a relatively broad term. A better way to describe it would probably be that the immeasurably large foot was rooted so heavily to the road that when the SUV smashed into it, the car spun into hysterics while the foot didn't so much as sway. Screeching and squealing, the vehicle smashed again into Optimus's other foot, where it got caught on the edge and finally came to a stop. There was much screaming from inside, but most of the damage had been done to the front end of the car and the occupants were unharmed. The other SUVs veered away from the metal behemoth, but came to equally loud halts nearby.
Optimus walked around the vehicle, approaching it from the front. As he bent over to pick up the car, I climbed backwards on his shoulder to stay as vertical as possible. Perched on top, I had the best seat in the house as the Prime stuck his hands through the windows of the SUV, shattering the glass before pulling up on the roof of the car. He did not lift it high, only about ten feet of the ground; he just wanted the top to come off. When it did not give after a moment, Optimus gently shook the SUV a bit, until main frame broke from the roof and landed roughly but safely back on the road. His bright headlights shined over four occupants: Sam and Mikaela in the back, Simmons riding passenger, and the guy I could never think of as anyone but Arwin from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody in the driver's seat. They all held up their hands to block the harsh light as Optimus straightened up. I shifted to comply, and hung on tightly as the Prime through away the car roof with his other arm.
When his headlights went out, I could no longer help myself. "Hey guys!" I called cheerfully down to the teenagers, relinquishing my right hand's hold to wave.
Mikaela's face broke out into a grin, and Sam leaned forward to talk to the two government officials. "Now you *-***** are in tuh-ruh-ble. Gentlemen, I wanna introduce you to my friend," He looked up at the absurdly-massive robot, the two men mimicking his motion. "Optimus Prime."
Simmons started to rise, but he froze at the sound of a very deep, loud, angry voice.
"Taking the children was a bad move." Optimus rumbled. The driver (I'm just gonna call him Arwin) and all the inhabitants from the other SUV's ran over and ready their weapons. But the Prime was not deterred by puny Earth assault rifles. "Autobots, relieve them of their weapons." he called to his comrades, who came swinging down from the bridge like apes. Each one landed on the pavement with a crash, startling the soldiers into shouts and yells.
"Freeze!" Ironhide yelled as he walked over and trained his cannons on the humans, who could not figure out which giant to aim at, the other Autobots following in suit.
"Gimme those!" Jazz exclaimed, his hand spinning and activating a powerful magnet that tore all the guns and any other loose metal from the S-7 peoples' hands, leaving them unarmed.
Simmons held his hands up in surrender and glanced over his shoulder at what had just happened. "Whoa!"
When Optimus brought his hand up to me, I quickly jumped on and held tight. The Prime's whole body came down, bracing himself on his hands and knees in front of the other humans. When he set the hand I was in on the ground, I hopped off and ran over to Bumblebee, not wanting to be in the way.
"… Hi there." Simmons tried to sound friendly, while Arwin stood off to the side with a comically-horrified expression on his face.
The Prime leaned forward. "You don't seem afraid. Are you not surprised to see us?"
Arwin looked at Simmons as his superior tried to beat around the bush. "Look, there are… S7 protocols, okay? I'm not authorized to communicate with you, except to tell you that I can't communicate with you."
"Get out of the car." Optimus growled threateningly. He was completely done dealing with crap today.
"Alright, alright, me?" Simmons wavered.
"NOW!" the Prime barked. It was so scary that, without thinking, I found myself closer to Bumblebee and clutching his leg. I knew it was coming, it wasn't directed towards me, and I trusted Optimus, but I was still afraid. As I released my grip on the Autobot, trying to keep the heat in my face down, I promised myself then and there that I would never give the Prime a reason to use that voice at me.
Either way, it got the humans moving. The government people kept their hands in the air, sufficiently frightened, while the teenagers were more relaxed in their exit; Mikaela was even smiling.
Simmons, however, still attempted to remain calm and keep a loose atmosphere. "Pretty nifty how you put us down without, well, killing us." He kept babbling on, trying to be overly friendly and abiding with the Autobots. "Hey, how're you doing tonight?" and other ridiculous stuff.
For some reason it was starting to piss me off; I was running too low on energy to have much of a filter left. I remembered how Ron, Judy, and little Mojo (that REALLY made my blood boil) were taken away, what Simmons had threatened to do to Mikaela's dad, and how much of a creep he was to her. And I became about as done with him as Optimus was.
Simmons didn't notice me stalking over to him, my height working to my advantage for once, so he wasn't even really aware of what was happening then I kicked him in the crotch. "That was for the Witwickys." I told him, my voice as cold as a kid's can be. I kneed him in the head as well, since he was already bent over in pain and I figured I could hit harder with my knee than I could with my hand. "And that was for the Baneses." I added. I'd hit him hard enough for my knee to hurt, but I grit my teeth and did not cry out.
I clenched my fists as the other S7's rushed at me. The flight part of my fight-or-flight response seemed to be broken; there was no way I could even make a dent in their armor, but that thought didn't even register as I put up my dukes.
Luckily, I didn't even need to throw a punch. Bumblebee's big yellow foot came down beside me, cracking the concrete with its force, and he made it very obvious that his cannon was now pointed at the men in my proximity. Since I wasn't paying attention, I didn't even flinch. I can only imagine this made me look incredibly bad-apple. I glanced up at Bee and smiled as the S7 men backed away and raised their hands. Oh the joys of having a giant robot on your side.
"Big guys. Big guys with big guns. And little girls with attitude problems." Simmons groaned, just now able to straighten up and put his hands back in the air. When I joined the teenagers in their march up to the man, his eyes widened and he backed away. "Whoa hey, keep that kid away from me, alright? I don't need to add a psycho child to my list of problems."
My eyebrows furrowed together and my eyes narrowed. "You wanna see psycho?" I asked, stepping towards him.
"Hey, hang on, Iris." My arm was grabbed and I snapped my head around at Sam. "Not worth it."
"Iris?" I turned back around as Simmons repeated my name. "Who are you anyway? You weren't on file with the Witwickys', or the Banes'. You one of the aliens? Huh?" The man bent down exaggeratedly, keeping his hands in the air, but putting his face very close to mine. He continued in a threateningly soft voice, "You their pet? Some sort of little monster-hybrid? I bet you are. Know what I'd like to do?" He was trying to frighten me. I decided I wouldn't let him. But then he said something that made my hair stand on end.
"I'd like to have my guys cut you up in their lab."
Slowly building panic began to erode away my though front. Jesus, no, I thought as fear rose in my chest. Not that.
"Oh, that's a scary thought, isn't it?" I stiffened as Simmons noticed my reaction. He stared into my widening eyes creepily. "I think I'll do just that. Slice you open, poke around a bit, see what makes you tick."
"Hey why don't you shut the **** up." Mikaela pulled me away and placed herself between the man and I. She was tense, hands balled into fists and standing tall as she faced him. "The kid's human like us, but she's got more than one giant robot ready to **** you up if you or any of your S7-goons so much as touch her." Her voice sounded like venom. "And I'll be joining them."
Safely behind Mikaela, I turned away and took a deep, shaky breath. When I looked up, sure enough, the Autobots were watching me intently. Bee, who had backed off when the teenagers joined me, especially seemed right on his toes. It embarrassed me to be at the center of their attention, but…at the same time, it felt good.
"Yeah, and what is Sector 7?" Sam demanded, changing the subject away from me. When the government man didn't reply, Sam persisted. "Answer me!"
"I'm the one who asks the questions around here, not you, young man!" Simmons yelled angrily.
"How'd you know about the aliens?" Mikaela asked, directly ignored him.
"Where'd you take my parents?" Sam added.
"I am not at liberty to discuss this." Simmons replied, his head snapping between the two.
"No?" Sam asked as he reached inside the man's suit.
He couldn't stop Sam physically, because his hands were up and there were alien weapons trained on him, so Simmons tried verbally. "Hey. You touch me that's a federal offence."
"We don't care, do we, hon?" Mikaela replied, rubbing my hair a bit as she smirked down at me, letting me know that she'd seen what I had done. It felt good to make her happy.
Sam held up Simmons's ID. "Do-whatever-you-want-and-get-away-with-it badge, right?" he said as he, Mikaela, and I turned away to look at it.
"Brave all of a sudden with his big alien friends standing over there." Simmons said loud enough for us to hear.
"Here, kid," Sam muttered softly as he pressed badge into my hand and turned back to the man. "Where is Sector 7?" He continued his interrogation.
"Wouldn't you like to know." Simmons answered smugly.
Fingering the badge, I looked up at Bumblebee and motioned to the man with my eyes, a grin creeping up.
Ever helpful, as always, Bumblebee stepped forward, flipped a switch down where his crotch would be, and ejected red solo cup with a boing sound. It hit Simmons right in the back of his head. The official did not respond at first, but right as he lifted his hand to where the cup had hit it, he was showered in a stream of hot lubricant.
"Hey-EY!" Simmons yelled in protest, getting a mouthful of brown liquid, and by association of distance, Arwin, who made yelping sounds of discomfort.
I fell to my knees and clutched the badge to my stomach in laughter. Sure it was a bit immature, but I could not get over how much it looked like the men were being peed on.
"Bumblebee, stop lubricating the man." Optimus told him, his voice hard with annoyance, as Simmons shouted, "Get that thing to stop, huh?!"
Obediently, Bee shut off the stream, but then he looked up at his fellow 'Bots with a shrug and a noise that sounded like 'What?"
I stifled my laughter and looked up at him, giving a discrete thumbs-up before rising to my feet again.
Jazz stepped forward and released a bunch of handcuffs from the loot he'd gathered with his magnet in front of Mikaela. "Secure 'um." He told her, his visor risen to reveal a wink.
With a wicked grin that said 'With pleasure,' Mikaela picked up the handcuffs, handed some to Sam, and they got to work.
While they did that, I looked at the badge in my hand and got an idea. Holding back a smile of anticipation, I jogged up to the weapons specialist. "Hey Ironhide," I said just loud enough for him to hear. "You a good shot?"
Ironhide made a buzzing sound, somewhat familiar to a human snort. "Stupid question." He grumbled.
I let my smile break free and held up the badge. "Target practice." I explained.
He paused for a moment, contemplating the pros and cons of complying. Then he messed with his left cannon a bit until the opening narrowed. A more precise shot. In a low voice, he said, "Pull."
I flung the badge up in the air with all my might, but it still didn't go very high. Yet, Ironhide took the shot. Before the badge had even begun to fall it was caught up in a fireball that whizzed overhead too fast to see. The force of whatever Ironhide's ammunition was was too great for the tiny target, and so it kept going, zooming over the humans' heads and hitting the side of one of the SUV's across the street. The car turned over on its side and burst into flames with a BANG!
"Whoa!" I yelled through my laughter, spinning around to see the carnage. Then I stopped to see Optimus's gaze on me. He was not so entertained.
My face began to heat up like a black car in the summer. I gulped, "Uh oh," and darted behind the nearest giant leg. It belonged to Ratchet, who leaned back a bit to watch me behind him. He didn't seem angry, just interested. Amused, maybe.
Uncomfortable to be at the center of bad attention, I tried to apologize. I stuck my head out a bit to look at Optimus, but could not meet his eyes. "Sorry." I said softly.
By this time, Sam and Mikaela had cuffed eight S7 men in a line and cuffed Arwin to a pole. Which just left Simmons. While Sam cuffed Armin's free hand to the long line of S7 men, Mikaela marched between Simmons and Arwin and ordered, "Alright, tough guy, take it off."
"… What're you talking about?" Simmons asked as the teen turned to face him defiantly.
"You're clothes. All of it. Off." Mikaela elaborated.
"For what?" Simmons was still confused.
The teen took a breath. "For threatening my dad."
I smiled. Mikaela was pissed and it was great.
Simmons stared at her in angry disbelief for a while, but when the girl did not waver, he stripped off his jacket. "Little lady," he said, not taking his eyes off her as he tore off his pin-on tie and ripped open his sweat-stained, not to mention lubricant-soaked, button up shirt. He wasn't shirtless, thankfully, wearing a dirty wife-beater with the Superman symbol, only the S was accompanied by a 7.
Mikaela said nothing, just nodding for him to proceed with the bottom portion of his attire.
"You're a criminal." Simmons continued as he undid his belt. "Mmhm. Let's face facts." He seemed to be having a bit of trouble with the belt, since he refused to take his eyes of the teen and all. "It's in your gene pool." Finally, his pants came down to reveal Hawaiian boxers that read 'Aloha,' legs looking like they hadn't seen the light in years, and those dorky straps that hold your socks up.
"Those are nice." Mikaela commented, mocking him with her smirk. "Wow, pasty. Government troglodyte. Vitamin D, sunlight, definitely look into it." She moved towards him. "Legs like that, you don't even have to open your mouth to scare the girls on the beach." Then her face turned hard as stone again. "Now get behind the pole."
"Alright," Simmons replied, with mocking compliance.
"This is such a felony, what you're doing." Arwin told the teenagers, trying to be threatening. They paid him no attention as Mikaela cuffed both of Simmons's arms around the pole and Sam cuffed Arwin to Simmons.
Encouraged by his driver, Super-7-Man added, "I will hunt you down."
"Hunt you down." Arwin repeated.
"Without any remorse."
"No remorse!"
"'Kay?"
Mikaela laughed and went back to what was left of the SUV to retrieve her purse like a lady. "Man, if Trent could see me now." She mused.
I was surprised to see Sam gaping at her in disbelief. "Excuse me, what'd you-if Trent could see you now? You're serious."
The girl blinked, trying to figure out what she'd said wrong. "What?"
"I just-I can't believe this! We contact an alien race together and all you care about is what that Neanderthalic jock thinks about you?" Sam shook his head. "You don't think that's a little weird?"
Mikaela's defenses had not gone down from dealing with Simmons, and now her full artillery was trained on Sam. "What are you, my therapist all of a sudden?" she snapped.
Back away, man, I thought towards Sam. I didn't really understand what was going on, but I could see that it wasn't good.
But Sam didn't stop. "This isn't like your average Friday night where we're just hanging out. I mean, a little while ago I had some four-foot little gremlinny alien machine try to cut my legs off!"
As the teens argued, Jazz began move around a bit. He patted different areas on his body, and then he searched around the scene with his eyes. He seemed to be looking for something.
"I know."
Sam's hands began to gesture wildly, painting a picture in the air. "Wait, I'm having a vision! We're gonna go back to school Monday morning and nothing's gonna gave changed. I'll still be the invisible guy in homeroom and you'll go back to being shallow." He actually looked up to the Prime for help. "Optimus, dude, back me up on this."
"We cannot take sides in your adolescent gender battles." He replied, looking more confused than anything.
Mikaela was furious by now, and right in Sam's face. "Shallow? I got a record 'cause I wouldn't sell out my dad! When've you ever had to sacrifice anything in your perfect little life? Did you cry 'cause you didn't get the latest Xbox for Christmas? All pouty 'cause you only got an old Camaro instead of a new Corvette?"
The two were nose-to-nose when I heard a sound. A bad sound.
"No!" I yelled as I dashed over to Arwin, snatching the cellphone from his hand. In the unexpectedness of the fight, I'd forgotten my cues again. Sure enough, the phone was on speaker. "NO!" I yelled again, smashing the phone on the ground in anger. "Optimus! We gotta go!" I turned and shouted at the Prime. "NOW!"
But the Autobots were already far too aware of that was happening. Many SUVs came up over the hillside, followed by a few military helicopters. They were coming in hot, right towards us.
"Incoming!" Ironhide shouted, leaping to the front and slamming his left cannon into the ground. This released a strong electromagnetic pulse that traveled through the asphalt and towards the SUV's, taking out their tires and sending them spinning and showering sparks. Yet they kept coming, and there was still the helicopters to worry about.
"Roll out!" Optimus commanded his Autobots, who had already begun transforming. They rounded the corner with the crushed SUV and the S7 men, and took off in the opposite direction. The Prime himself stayed behind, crouched, and offered his hand to the teenagers and I. "Up ya get." He told us.
I wasted no time climbing on, fear already coursing through my system, and the teenagers followed right after. Even in his haste, Optimus was careful; Mikaela sat with her feet dangling, and he bent his thumb over her lap to keep her from falling. As a helicopter flew around the bridge, its search light baring down brightly on us were lifted to the Prime's right shoulder, and we quickly scrambled up as his battle mask slid over his face once again. We tucked ourselves under an up-thrust shoulder panel and grabbed on to a jutting smokestack in the center. I was surprised to find the teenagers holding on to me as well, wrapping their arms around me as well as the pipe.
Optimus ran alongside the bridge, looking for a place to hide as the helicopter came after him. When it caught up, he abandoned his search in favor of running in earnest. He watched as the whirly-bird flew over and past him, and when it circled back around he left the bridge. Through the streets he ran, crushing concrete with every step, but still avoiding the honking, screeching cars that occupied them. Moving with surprising agility for his size, Optimus quickly ducked into an alley. Between the cars on the people that were going berserk not only from the giant robot but also the low-hanging helicopter, the chopper lost us. I never understood how it was so easy to escape, but on the other hand I didn't take it for granted.
While the helicopters still searched, Optimus found a hiding place. He circled around climbed into the supports of the bridge, positioning himself in the main arch, high above the concrete below. He swung his legs up just in time, bracing himself horizontally against gravity, before two helicopters came swopping in, their search lights flashing around desperately. One of them exited out, but another stayed behind, and I knew we were in trouble.
"Easy, you three," Optimus said softly to us. We'd had to reposition ourselves against gravity, Sam clinging to the pipe higher up, Mikaela perched on the back of the Prime's head, and I was stuck between them, clinging to whatever I could find. The teenagers kept quiet, but the close proximity of the helicopter was beginning to make me panic. As we watched it come closer, Sam climbed a bit higher up and I searched to find a new grip.
In the movie, I'd always wondered what had made Mikaela fall. The directors probably didn't have a good reason, so they'd just cut to her falling. But now there needed to be a reason, and that's when I got my answer:
Me.
It was me. My sweaty palms, my lack of muscle, plus the sucking downwards of the helicopter's propellers created a recipe for disaster. As I tried to climb onto the Prime's back, I was finding no grips good enough for my slick hands. I felt the wind tugging at my clothes, and my fingers and arms shook with my effort to hang on. I had almost made it, but a good enough grip was not found, and I was too weak.
So I fell.
As my body tipped backwards, Mikaela reached down and grabbed my angle. Her well-manicured fingernails dug into my flesh, but her sudden movement had unbalanced her too, and she began to fall. We were only stopped by Sam grabbing Mikaela's arm, clinging to the edge of Optimus's smokestack.
Dangling by just my ankle, I stared down, down at the concrete so far below with wide eyes. I felt my stomach drop and saw the water. With the height, our chances wouldn't have been good, but if we'd been able to fall into the water and arrow ourselves into perfect dives, we just might have made it. However, the river was too far away for any of us to land in. It was only a hard impact death that waited below.
"Don't let go! I'm slipping! I'm slipping!" Mikaela screamed above me, trying frantically to hold on to Sam's sleeve.
All-consuming fear forced itself outward, downward, from the top of my toes out through my mouth, and echoed against the concrete in the form of a raw scream.
Sam's grip in the smokestack finally slipped. Down I fell, shrieking my lungs out. Optimus bellowed and swung his legs down in a desperate attempt to save us, but I could not grab on at that speed. I hit the great metal feet but continued falling. I knew nothing but blind terror as I plummeted down, only just registering the nearing proximity of my doom. Prayers rocketed through my brain, pinging around like a pinball machine as my mind slipped into a fear-driven insanity.
Then my descent was cut short. Hardness slammed into me, but not the hardness of the ground below. It forced me together with less hard things, squished the breath out of my lungs, but it caught me, and yanked me around every which way with wrenching speed. There was a great screeching of metal, and then it stopped.
When I could comprehend again, I realized that Bumblebee had caught not only me, but Sam and Mikaela too. We were all clasped together in his hands, beaten, battered, and shaken up, but safe.
The teenagers got up as quickly as they could, but I remained where I was for a moment, recovering from the shock.
And then it hit me. Harder than Optimus's foot, harder than Bee catching us, and harder than the concrete would have if we'd fallen the whole way. I remembered.
"Bee!" I yelled, rising to my legs, which threatened to fold beneath me. A different kind of fear rose in my chest: not insane. Calm, but still urgent. "You have to run! You have to get out of here! Go! Please!"
But he didn't listen to me. Thinking nothing of his own safety, Bumblebee leapt to his feet to defend us as a helicopter came back through the arch.
I screamed when a grappling hook, fired from a launcher aboard the chopper, wrapped itself around his left arm. "NO!" I wanted to help, but didn't know how.
The teenagers yelled at the helicopters, waving their arms for them to stop. But another came by and took Bee's right arm. A third caught his foot, and flew by with such speed that it yanked him off his feet, spun him through the air with a snap, and planted him face-first into the ground.
My feet were slamming against the concrete before I was aware of what I was doing. I sprinted to the Autobot and grabbed the wire around one of his hands. "You're gonna be okay." I murmured through my strained, raspy breaths as I tugged at the grappling hook with my fingers. They cut and bled on the sharpened edges. "You're gonna get out of here. It won't happen to you! You're gonna be fine! I won't let it happen! I WON'T!"
With a final tug, the grappling hook came snapping back, unwinding itself around his arm and smacking me to the ground in the process. It flew away. Bee's left arm was free.
I didn't have time to celebrate. I immediately leapt to my feet and headed for the other arm, but was pulled back. I turned to see that it was Bumblebee's free hand. It wrapped around me and held me close to him.
"No! No!" I cried, struggling to get away. "I have to help! They're going to take you! Let me GO!"
From every side, more SUV's and helicopters came, surrounding Sam and Mikaela, separating them from Bumblebee and I. Many armored men with assault weapons came running out at us.
Bumblebee tried to get to his feet, tugging vaguely at the wires on his appendages, but he really wasn't fighting back. He ignored my pleas to let me help him, sheltering me with his body and keeping himself between the men and me.
I didn't understand. Why was Bee risking so much? If he just fought back, he could be free! I understood why he wanted to protect the teenagers, but I couldn't comprehend why he would give up a chance of escape and defend me instead. I didn't care. I didn't want to be protected. I wanted to help. It didn't matter what happened, I just wanted to help him.
Even if Bee wouldn't let me help, I was still going to try. I turned and started shrieking like a harpy at the men. "Go away! Leave him alone!"
Then came the freezing gas. Supercooled carbon-fiber liquid sprayed at high pressure from tanks mounted on the S7 people's backs, misting over Bumblebee from head to toe. It coated his systems, making it difficult to move. Some of it caught my flesh. It freeze-burned like you wouldn't believe.
My eyes squeezed shut as my screams turned from desperation to agony. When I could bare it again, I opened them and found Bumblebee looking at me. His bright blue eyes studied my body, widening in alarm as they flashed over my ice-bitten skin, and he looked…worried. He groaned as another jet of liquid clouded over us and yanked me away from the blast. He was getting so cold, and his metal hand against me began to hurt almost as much as the icy blast itself. My vision blurred as I looked up at Bee again. I tried to bite back the pain for his sake. I couldn't figure out his expression; it looked like sadness, and determination.
The next thing I knew, I was rolling on the concrete. Bumblebee had relinquished his grip and had thrown me, just hard enough to put me a significant distance away. I came to a stop with no additional injuries, but I couldn't leave him. I ignored my pain and ran right back to his face.
Unable to pick out words from the radio, Bee made noises of insistence in every other way he could. What was left of his voice strained hard, and his eyes pleaded with me to go.
"No!" I yelled above the commotion. Abandoning any reservations I had left, I slid to my knees, wrapped my arms around his neck as far as they would go, and hugged my protector fiercely. I felt wetness on my face, and realized I was crying. No; sobbing. "I'm not gonna leave you!"
As Bumblebee's movements became even more limited, the S7 men were able to get in closer, to take me. I felt their hard hands close around me and pull. "NO!" I screamed in desperation, clutching on to the Autobot with every ounce of strength I had left. "NO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! YOU CAN'T TAKE HIM! NO! STOP IT! LET ME GO!" Losing my grip, I turned and fought them, tooth and claw. I did not see faces or people, just bits of flesh not covered by their helmets. Targets.
There was swearing and exclamations of pain, but the men let go. I tore away and ran to Bumblebee, but one of them caught my leg and I face planted into the concrete. I tasted hot, sticky saltiness. My nose was bleeding.
I didn't care. I fought on, kicking with my free foot and trying to pull myself forward. "I WON'T LET YOU! NO! LET ME GO!"
I barely felt the sharp pain in my leg, but I felt its effects almost immediately. My vision blurred. My world spun. I became drowsy. Everything in my body told me to just give up.
"BUMBLEBEE!" I screamed so hard I literally felt my voice break. I could scream no more. As my senses continued to dull, I tried to keep my eyes on the Autobot who'd taken such good care of me. He had not only been Sam's guardian, but mine. And me, useless, weak me. I couldn't even return the favor.
My friend stared back so sadly, it made my heart break.
I felt my consciousness slipping away from me. I had one more thing to say, but my world was quickly fading to black. My body would no longer obey me, and my brain could no longer tell it what to do. I could struggle no more.
Falling deep into the darkness, my final thought echoed through my mind.
I'm sorry.