The car slammed against Bumblebee again causing him to swerve off the road. Sari rattled around like popcorn.
The Twins drove parallel to each other each on a different side of the muscle car. Wasp quickly blacked the rear.
The hostile vehicle suddenly sped forward then swerved to a stop. Wasp pressed his brakes hoping to avoid impact.
All of the sudden, the car transformed. With a low kick Wasp was sent into the air. He transformed before landing on his feet. He transformed his gun and fired.
The hostile robot lowered himself, swirled around, and impaled Skids with his hooked hands. Skids was tossed right into the bullet's path. The small robot landed half transformed.
Mudflap transformed and charged at the enemy. His face was grabbed and he was tossed away non-chalantly.
Bumblebee hid Sari behind an old power station. He just got up when a chained hook whispered just inches from his face. On it's return trip it grabbed the side of his face and he was dragged along the ground.
"Now that was just sad." said the robot with a skull-like face.
"I'll show you sad Decepticon!" yelled Wasp firing his stingers.
The bot let the bolt enter his hook then fired a similar bolt through his regular hand as he redirected it at Wasp.
"Sorry to disappoint you but I'm no Decepticon. Or Autobot for that matter. The name's Lockdown. I'm what you might call a bounty hunter and that pretty little red head has the biggest bounty in history on her."
"You gonna haf'ta go through me first!" yelled Skids charging forward.
Lockdown grabbed Skids' throat and lifted him up.
"You aren't worth anything. I'm not gonna waste my time killing you." hissed Lockdown. He noticed a beam of light bouncing off of Skids' golden tooth. He pried it out with his hook and tossed the Autobot away.
"Pure electrum. Nice. I can melt this down." smiled the bounty hunter.
"Yo do you know how much that cost?" yelled Skids rubbing his now bare mouth plate.
"About 230 energon chips. Now where's the girl and don't waste my time with defending her." said Lockdown.
Wasp jumped into the air while Bumblebee charged from behind. Lockdown grabbed Wasp and used him to bat Bumblebee away.
"Please." smirked Lockdown sarcastically. With the bots down he walked over to Sari's hiding spot.
"Where are little organic girl? Uncle Lockdown is gonna take you to Nemesis fun land." He bent over to peek through the small towers.
Sari pressed herself flat against one of the towers. She noticed a hook peeking around the corner and covered her mouth. Lockdown was just using that to support himself while he bent down.
"I'm not going to hurt you!" shouted Lockdown into the air. "Megatron needs you intact."
Sari decided to move to another tower. She took a step forward. The gravel beneath her feet scratched the concrete and made a noise. Lockdown turned his skull like head.
"There you are."
Sari ran for it. She knew Lockdown would have trouble maneuvering through the towers. But once she turned her head, Lockdown transformed his good hand into a chainsaw and sliced through the metal towers like butter. She turned her head back only to hit a concrete platform.
"OW!" she yelled rubbing her nose. She was sitting on something. Perfect.
Lockdown caught up to her. "Come on! There's an arrogant tyrant who wants you."
He reached his hand down to grab her.
Suddenly she stood up with a sharp bent metal rod in her hand. She jumped up and stabbed the rod into one of the articulation points of Lockdown's hand.
"You little slagger!" growled Lockdown pulling his hand back.
He picked the rod from his hand when his face met with Wasp's fist. Before he completely fell, Bumblebee kicked the side of his face. Mudflap grabbed his arm and twisted it while Skids jumped on his back and stabbed him with Wasp's energon prod.
Lockdown yelled in pain before passing out.
Bumblebee transformed and Sari jumped in with Wasp and the Twins behind him.
88
"Interesting." scratched a voice. "They even beat Lockdown. Maybe they aren't so useless after all."
"As long as we get that girl first, I don't care." hissed another.
88
"Lockdown." growled Ratchet. "That hooked demon attacked you?"
"Right out of nowhere." replied Wasp through his com link. "Our sensors didn't even pick him up."
"That's because he has a signal dampener." said Ratchet. "I should know. He and I have a history."
"What happened?" asked Bumblebee.
"I'll tell you later." said Ratchet. "There is something you need to know. Anti-Transformer propaganda is at an all time high. I'm afraid the public may not appreciate you being in their towns. From what I've learned from human history, humans can be very violent towards those who are different. They'll create mobs and riots. Some of them might see Sari as traitor to her species. They might harm her for that and for the fact that the Decepticons are after her."
88
"I'll be careful Ratchet." replied Bumblebee driving along the highway. "Contact you later."
Sari laid back in her seat. She was calming down from the whole Lockdown incident. The last thing she needed was excitement.
"HEY! LET ME OUT OF HERE!" shouted a muffled voice.
Sari jumped up in shock. The voice came from her suitcase. Suddenly two little arms pierced through the imitation leather. The clawed at the suitcase.
"I could use some help here!" shouted the voice again.
Sari cautiously unzipped the bag. A small blue robot jumped out. It was Wheelie.
"Why do all the cute ones put me in suitcases?" asked Wheelie to himself.
"What's he doing here?" asked Bumblebee sternly.
"Hey I haven't seen action ever since I joined you Autobots." said Wheelie crossing his arms. "I thought this might be exciting."
"Optimus isn't going to be happy." growled Bumblebee.
"Ah who cares what old decapitator thinks." said Wheelie. He turned his attention to Sari and made a flirtatious growl. "Hey there. Name's Wheelie."
"Uh hey." said Sari still backed away. She eased herself up. "Your kind of adorable in a creepy kind of way" she said with a smile.
All of the sudden Wheelie hugged her arm.
"You know I like red heads." he smiled.
Sari growled and swung her arm. Wheelie was flung across Bumblebee's interior. If the windows were made of regular glass they would have shattered.
"Kitty has claws." gasped a dizzy Wheelie.
Bumblebee made a little chuckle.
88
"Me Grimlock no want train!" yelled the Dinobot. "Me Grimlock already strong!"
The other Dinobots roared in agreement.
"I doubt your simple brains could even process complex maneuvers." said Prowl. "But based on your scans Ratchet says you guys can transform."
"What you know about transform?" asked Swoop.
"You just get here yesterday!" grumped Sludge.
"That may be true." said Prowl with a smile. "But I've been transforming all my life." He thought for a moment. How could he get these dimwitted archosaurs to train?
"And transforming gives you more power."
He transformed his arm into a katana with a small gun underneath. He sped forward and quickly swiped the heads off of three dummies in one swipe.
The Dinobots gazed in amazement.
"Me Grimlock listening."