A/N: Thanks to everybody who reviewed, followed, or favorited – I'm so glad you guys like this so far! I had a lot of fun with this story, and I'm always excited when someone enjoys it.

Chapter 2: Attack

As of the next morning, there was still no contact from either their allies or Bumblebee, and Riella had decided to label her current status as 'bored'. There were only so many times she could run probability calculations, and taking shelter under Prowl's hologram generator didn't allow for much movement.

"As far as I've managed to work out, someone should arrive by 12:00 tonight." Riella glanced up at the sky, slightly filtered by the color of the hologram. "Sooner if they were close to a working space bridge."

Prowl nodded distractedly and touched a finger to his comlink activator. Riella, check your comm.

Riella arched one eyebrow. Remember to talk, Prowl. No one is around and we need to get back in the habit. "Is there a problem?" She activated her own comm. "No incoming signals. No signals at all."

"Which is what concerns me. Bumblebee was supposed to contact us with a rendezvous. I'm not comfortable with how long this is taking."

"Give him time. The human may have been uncooperative." Riella frowned. "We could always track him down, if you're as bored as I am."

"Possibly more so." Prowl shrugged and settled back on the ground, adjusting the hologram. "It couldn't hurt, but as usual you will have to handle any organic interaction. Worth the annoyance, in your opinion?"

Riella tilted her head for a moment and debated. "Let's go."

As they entered the town, Prowl now in his motorcycle mode, Riella discreetly scanned the area. In vehicle mode, Prowl could hear her but not respond, so she resorted back to the bond automatically. I'm picking up Bee's signal. He appears to be moving toward the junkyard sector. Should I contact him?

Yes, go ahead. Prowl pulled over to the side of the street and parked, turning off his engine. Ask him what happened last night. His report only told us that the Witwicky boy was back with his creators, and you know what minimal reports always mean.

Yes, I do. And to organics, that would be 'parents'. She raised a hand to her comm unit, after looking around to make sure no one was paying too much attention to her. Internal communications were not her preferred method, but talking out loud would definitely get her more attention than they wanted. ::Riella to Bumblebee. Come in.::

After a moment, the response came through. ::Bumblebee here.::

::Where are you?::

::At the moment, following Sam Witwicky through downtown.::

::What? Why?:: Riella looked down at Prowl. Did you hear that?

Yes, I did. Prowl's comm clicked on. ::There had better be a good explanation for this, Bumblebee.::

::There is,:: the younger mech protested. ::He thinks I'm stalking him. He saw us last night.::

Riella shook her head. ::That's not an explanation. He thinks you're stalking him, so you're following him? Clarify how that makes sense under any circumstances.::

::I'm responsible for him. If he runs off and gets himself in trouble, it's my fault for letting him see us. I have to keep track of him.::

::I understand that, but surely there was a less obvious way to - :: Before Riella could finish her reprimand, Prowl interrupted over the bond link. We're attracting attention.

Sure enough, she'd finally stood perfectly still for long enough that several passers-by were looking sideways at her. One young man stopped beside her, looking slightly more concerned than necessary. "Miss, are you all right?"

Riella took her hand off the comlink and turned toward him, forcing a faint smile. "I'm fine, thank you. I was just trying to remember something. Sorry to bother you." She drew herself up slightly taller and looked pointedly past him until he shrugged, nodded, and left. With a sigh, Riella slid her leg back over the seat of Prowl's motorcycle mode. ::Bumblebee, we're setting a course to intercept you and him. Please notify us if he makes any abrupt direction changes.::

They were pulling out of the parking spot before his acknowledgement came through. ::Copy that.::

Prowl set a pace through the city that was pushing the limits of legality. Riella nearly scraped her knee on the pavement as they rounded a corner. Prowl, is the speed really necessary? These are much tighter turns than Cybertronian cities.

Our intercept course will take long enough to navigate at this speed, never mind lowering it. I can take turns more slowly, but the trade-off would be breaking the speed limit on straight stretches.

Riella sighed and tightened her grip on the handlebars, resigning herself to the speed. I suppose I cannot object. Try not to spin out. I would survive a crash, but injuries will not help us at the moment.

Even going the maximum legal speed (and occasionally passing it), it was well after noon before Riella picked up Bumblebee's energy signal as well as his tracker. She and Prowl were built for tactics and scouting, but human city navigation was still frustrating and rarely successful. I have Bumblebee's signal, closing fast. I'm also getting a second signal…Prowl! We've got -

She didn't have time to tell him to stop and hang back before they turned the corner and crashed head-on into solid metal.

Riella was jolted off the seat by the collision and thrown over the object they'd crashed into before slamming into the concrete, scraping her face painfully. She rolled and tumbled, managing to turn so that she was facing back the way they'd come, and jammed her elbow into the concrete to stop her slide. Prowl skidded off in the other direction, leaving streaks of black paint on the pavement and stopping rather abruptly against the side of a building.

Shaking her head, Riella pushed herself upright, ignoring the slight pain from scrapes and bruises. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of two humans - Sam Witwicky and a dark-haired female - staring at her in shock, but her attention was almost immediately locked onto the cause of the collision. The bulky black and white Cybertronian had been knocked off balance by the impact, but was already back upright and stable, red optics fixed on Riella in a death glare. Her eyes narrowed in recognition and she took a quick step forward, green blood trickling down her face from a slight cut on her left cheek.

"Barricade. You really do have a death wish, don't you?"

Barricade moved toward her, snarling down from twenty feet up. "Back off, femme. The boy is mine."

"Not from where I stand." Riella kept her voice as calm as possible while practically screaming over the bond. Prowl! Get up! I can't take him alone and keep them safe at the same time!

Her attention jerked back to Barricade, whose rotating blade was already swinging down toward her head. She ducked and flipped backward, barely avoiding it. A few quick movements ripped off her torn jacket and gloves, getting them out of the way before activating the battle-blades in her forearms. One of the humans made a shocked sound, which Riella had mostly expected – after all, she had just revealed blue metal arms and blades that extended two feet beyond each hand – but she didn't have the time or the spare energy to activate holograms. Barricade's blade came down fast and hard. She just managed to catch it and sidestep, deflecting it down into the concrete. Shocks ran up her arm. Her organic mode wasn't strong enough to take a direct hit.

But my transformation will ensure the humans never come near us again. As long as Prowl gets moving -

She dodged another swipe from Barricade and spun to give her strike more power, aiming for the cables in his lower leg. He saw it coming, and she barely managed to backflip away from his kick in time. Her right blade still connected, but not hard enough to do any damage.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Prowl transform, sensing his battle computer coming online through the link. They didn't need to communicate; she had been with him long enough to know exactly what he had in mind. Backflipping again and landing on top of a wrecked human car, she deflected another blow, with the other blade this time. She and Prowl started the mental countdown simultaneously. Five, four…

Barricade slammed a fist down toward Riella, smashing a hole in the concrete. Three, two... Riella took a quick step back, then tucked her head down and front-flipped off the car, landing in a tumbling roll and coming up on her feet well away from her opponent. Go!

Prowl hit Barricade from the back hard enough to send him crashing to the ground, doorwings rattling and scraping on concrete. Before the Decepticon could recover, Prowl slammed down on top of him, jabbing one elbow into the bigger mech's neck and twisting Barricade's right arm into a savage hammerlock.

Riella took the opportunity to turn to the two humans, who were staring at her and the battling robots with wide, terrified eyes. "Why are you still here? Run! Go! We were never his targets - you're still in danger!"

The boy stammered. "What...who..." Before he finished, his eyes got even wider, and he pointed over Riella's shoulder, screaming, "Look out!"

Without stopping to think, Riella dived and rolled, hitting the concrete hard. The ground shuddered as a metal fist slammed into the ground right where she had been standing, sending her rolling a few more feet. She looked up, automatically searching for her mate. Prowl!

I'm alright. Prowl was already struggling back to his feet, shaking off debris from the brick wall he'd clearly been thrown into. Riella didn't have time to check on him – Barricade moved too fast, blade humming through the air inches above her head and forcing her to drop to the ground again. Scrap!

Before Barricade had time to go after either Autobot again, screeching tires signaled the arrival of backup seconds before a battered yellow Camaro smashed into Barricade's legs and sent him sprawling. Bumblebee slammed on the brakes, turned, and stopped next to the humans, his passenger door flying open.

"Get them out of here!" Riella snapped. Without waiting to make sure – she knew Bumblebee would obey orders - she pushed herself upright and sprinted toward Barricade again, reestablishing her link with Prowl. Humans are clear. Go!

Barricade launched himself into Prowl, full-body slamming into the smaller mech and sending them both crashing to the ground. Riella felt a sharp stab of pain as something crunched in Prowl's chest – not good, that's in a fairly important location - and threw herself back into the fight with a shout in Cybertronian. Her blade connected, slicing through half-a-dozen cables in Barricade's left ankle and drawing his attention. The 'Con roared in fury and spun around, almost smacking her with a vicious backhand and forcing her to back up. The moment Barricade was distracted, Prowl hit him with a solid kick to the midsection, throwing the larger Decepticon off of him and getting back on his feet in one motion. Barricade looked from Prowl to Riella, snarled a curse, and transformed (rather roughly, given the cables still trailing from one rear wheel and the screech of metal) before racing off into the distance.

Riella looked after him, made a quick decision, and ran to her mate's side instead. How bad is it? Prowl was clearly in pain, wincing and leaning one hand against the nearest building for support. Can you move? He went after Bumblebee -

Prowl shook his head rapidly, optics flickering. Can't transform. That last hit took out my transform circuits. Can you -

- I'll try. Get down so I can reach. Prowl obligingly knelt, covering both of them with a shaky hologram, and opened the plating over the affected circuitry. Riella pushed him back slightly until she could look down at the injury. Stay still. I'll do what I can. Keep the hologram up.