The complex was aglow, even at night, its headlights sweeping back and forth over the parking lot as Mikaela pulled into it. It was the same one she and Starscream had spied on, the same one she and Trina had entered just months earlier.
But less crowded and much, much more eerie and dark. The atmosphere seemed thick with Mikaela's anticipation as her tires shifted against hard asphalt. Her lights were off and she had parked herself in the corner, driving up unnoticed. As if there were anyone to notice her. No guards stood poised at the gates, and as she glanced up, she saw that the security camera's had barely missed her.
They would be online. But not for long.
"Now that I think about it," Starscream commed suddenly, soaring through the clouds, so high that Mikaela couldn't see him. "This is a very, very bad idea."
"You went along with it. You stick it through," Mikaela replied bitterly. She waited, and Megatron spoke up, his words clipped and precise.
"Exactly."
"See? The bringer of chaos agrees. Man up."
A snort carried through the link, but other than that, Starscream was silent. Good for him, Mikaela thought. Good for him to just sit back and relax and let the real people do the work. He didn't know humans like Mikaela did. He hadn't been one of them.
But even then, a feeling of dread was beginning to settle around Mikaela as she sat, practically perched on her axels, ready to floor it and shoot forward at a moments notice. More than once the searchlights swept over her rigid frame, yet an alarm did not blare. She could hear the camera's zooming in, but still, whoever was watching did not recognize the sleek Nissan and raise alert.
"I'm getting a little anxious here."
"Patience, Mikaela," Megatron cooed. "You will have your revenge soon."
"Not soon enough," she replied. "Starscream? Circle back around and hit it hard."
Mikaela heard the jet before she saw him. He streaked overhead, tilting his wings and then, in one, disquieting move sent out an electromagnetic wave just like the one in Egypt.
The lights atop the complex blinked out immediately. Then the overhead searchlight that had fallen upon Mikaela one to many times. The lights on the security camera's blinked once, and then died.
Chaos was what they wanted. Mikaela was parked beside Fisher's main vehicle, revving her engine as she waited for the explosion of activity, the shouts and hollers as the men inside realized that they had been robbed of their power. She needed to see him run outside, through the gate, towards his vehicle. No doubt they would escort him somewhere else and dub everything as an attack.
It was, and that was the plan.
But nothing was happening. The complex was as quiet as the air around Mikaela, inactive, not one shred of movement.
"Hit it again," Mikaela said to Starscream, who sailed past her, the heat from his engine buffeting the air around her. With a startled grunt, she said, "And watch it."
"If it didn't work once, it won't work a second time," Starscream responded, his words laced with dread. "You and Megatron will have to follow through on foot."
As if on cue, Megatron dropped out of the sky, landing beside Mikaela. Mikaela yelped and then, trying to hold off the agitation, transformed. Beside her, Megatron was eying the gate with distaste, as if it were a poisonous snake coiled to strike.
"We walk through that gate, we might never come out," Mikaela breathed.
Megatron shook his head and said, "Us against them? Whose more likely to come out on top? I've seen your valor, Mikaela, and needless to say, you would not disappoint in the midst of a battle."
"Flattery will get you nowhere," Mikaela grunted, stepping forward, towards, and then, over the gate. Megatron followed, and as soon as her feet hit the grass, she readied her weapons.
The courtyard was empty. As Mikaela and Megatron walked, leaving massive footprints in the grass, Mikaela felt her shoulders tense and her processors pick up the slightest hint of a heartbeat.
Just a squirrel. It flew across the lawn, and up the side of the building where it stood, as if ready to watch the show.
"This place gives me the creeps," she said to Starscream, who didn't respond, but just turned his wings and made another round circling the complex above the distant clouds.
"For once, I agree," Megatron added.
"You were the one who picked this place."
"And you were the one who agreed to it."
Mikaela was silent. He was right; she had agreed to carry out his plans. Out of sheer rage, maybe? Or out of common sense. Unlike Optimus, she got the big picture. Fisher was way to dangerous to be left around, unsupervised, free to bribe the government with empty promises. If he got what he wanted, then Autobots and Decepticon's alike would be fighting another war.
But instead of fighting for Earth, they would be fighting against it. Mikaela knew a upcoming revolutionary leader when she saw one, and Fisher qualified for the position quite easily.
"What are you thinking about?" Megatron suddenly breathed in Mikaela's audio receptors, just as she avoided stepping on an sparking water fountain.
"How fucked up my life has turned out to be."
And then, all hell broke loose.
For once, images and emotions flashed through Mikaela so fast that she didn't have time to comprehend them. Megatron shoved her to the side – away from the explosion that rang in her ears, she presumed – and they both went tumbling to the side, Megatron dead weight against her body.
Screaming. The lights burst on in a flash, and Mikaela had to shield her optics as the glow practically penetrated through her.
Mikaela saw Megatron lash out. With a swipe of a claw, he sent a group of frantic humans sailing through the air as if they had been shot out of a cannon.
"No! I told you that we were only going after Fisher!"
"These scum are just as guilty!"
"No! Mega–"
A blast of pain, a blast of blinding-hot agony just below her spark robbed her of whatever words she was going to say next. The humans surrounded her, swarmed around she and Megatron like ants. It was madness.
And they were shooting at them. The gunfire pierced Mikaela's audio receptors, each bullet like a punch in the gut.
Megatron lunged again and this time the humans scattered, Megatron's talons crushing their bone and muscle as if it were as light and feeble as that of a bird.
Cars spun into view, unloading soldiers left and right.
"Starscream!"
Starscream fell from the sky like a bird of prey, wings flaring, thrusters screeching him to a sudden halt as he dug his pedes into the roof of a car, and then, with one hard push, soared back into the air.
He let go, and the car fell.
Mikaela fell back as another shot slammed into her leg, knocking her to her knees. Starscream's horrendous assault had been so quick, so well timed and full of finesse that it had Mikaela gaping.
But there was not time for observing.
Mikaela saw him out of the corner of her eye, a group of his followers escorting him away from the battle.
Mikaela lunged, away from the gunfire, away from the humans, away from Megatron, whose pleas barely pierced her audio receptors. He and his followers were ushering him into a building, and Mikaela wasted not time in slamming straight through the brick, careening into a hallway, shoulders and head bashing the lights.
Fisher and his men fell. Chunks of mortar sailed over their startled faces, and in the background, she heard an injured human scream.
Fisher's guards were crying out, too, not used to dealing with a monstrosity such as Mikaela. One of them opened fire, but his shots were wild, and as he fell on his back Mikaela brushed him to the side as if he were a leaf stuck to her armor.
And then she went for the prize. The one she wanted was now running, straight ahead of her, his arms pumping. Already tiring, Mikaela could see. He slowed as he rounded the corner, out of her sight.
She slammed into the apposite wall and the impact knocked Fisher off his feet. He hit the ground hard. Rolled, feet scrambling against the squeaky surface of the tiled floors, got to his feet and ran down the long hallway.
Mikaela ran after him, crouched low, talons ready.
He turned a corner, almost fell, and kept running.
Mikaela's processors were split in half. One side, the sane side of her mind, screamed at her to stop. The other part, bound to Roadrunners will, screamed at her to find the fleshy and rip him to pieces.
She slipped on a loose tile and fell to one knee, roaring and then rearing back up, her head smashing against the ceiling.
Her vision went fuzzy but she kept on running.
She didn't see Fisher, though. He had run out into the main courtyard, out the double doors, probably yelling to his guards. Mikaela didn't doubt that Megatron was somewhere among the fray, probably destroying the other half of the headquarters while Starscream worked his way out from the inside.
"Femme, have you lost your processors?" Megatron's voice bellowed in her ear. "This is supposed to be an undercover mission!"
"Change of plans," Mikaela replied.
"Fall back, you fool!"
Starscream's voice cut through the link, shrill and demanding. "Leave her be, sire! Her intentions are reasonable!"
"What do you know about reasonable, you insufferable little failure?" Megatron snarled.
"Just let me do my thing, guys," Mikaela skidded to a halt at the end of the hallway, bracing herself on one foot. Casually, she rammed her shoulder into a nearby wall, astounded by how her arms didn't scream in pain. The wall cracked and fell. Rolling her armored shoulder, Mikaela stepped out into the cool night air.
Darkness. The building ahead of her was some kind of generator, she realized, humming dangerously.
"Where's Fisher?"
"The human is none of your concern, femme," Megatron said. "The Autobots are on their way. Unless you want to face Optimus Prime, I suggest that you retreat."
Mikaela bit her lip plates. Optimus meant Ratchet. And Ratchet meant Ironhide, who wouldn't hesitate to blast her into space dust.
But Optimus wouldn't, would he? This wasn't about him. Well, it kind of was about him, but even if he was a backstabbing liar, he didn't deserve to be caught in this crossfire.
For the first time, Optimus was a bystander.
"You two go if you must, but Fisher is going down."
And then Mikaela shut of her comlink.