Chapter 17-Findings
As they cruised along the freeway, Mikaela wished she could settle the nervousness she could feel in her stomach. Ever since they'd reached the outskirts of Mission City, she'd felt unsettled and was constantly watching out of the windows. Sam and Bumblebee had both tried to reassure her that everything was okay and under control, Bee having slightly more success than Sam, but neither of them could really calm her edgy nerves, which had jumped more and more the nearer they got to the city. As she looked out of the windows once more with worried eyes, Mikaela could hear Bee chirping at her concernedly. Mikaela looked at the cube before turning back to settle in her seat, stroking Bee's upholstery distractedly, "I don't know whats wrong with me Bee. I just can't shake this feeling that we're being followed, and that somethings not right". Bee chirped at his girl, wishing there was something more he could do to reassure her, but if he was being truthful, deep in his spark he felt the same way as Mikaela. Bee knew that the Decepticons would have found a way to track the cube as soon as they had sensed it, especially if Megatron was back on-line, and they would be after it sooner than later and there was nothing Bee or any of the other Autobots could do about it. All they could try to do was keep the cube safe, and keep Sam and Mikaela safe.
Upon hearing the distant sirens behind them, Sam and Mikaela shared a worried look before they both turned to look out of Bumblebees rear window, and as they saw the police car heading towards them in the distance Mikaela felt her heart sink, "Any chance that could just be an everyday cop car?". As they both felt Bumblebee suddenly speed up, and Jazz suddenly appear alongside him; Sam looked back at Mikaela, his brown eyes filled with concern, as he replied, "I'm guessing no chance at all". They continued to watch as the cruiser gained on them, despite the Autobots best efforts to shake it off.
"Oh shit". Mikaela heard Sams exclamation and she also heard a similar sounding chirp through Bee's speakers, "Whats up guys?". Sam looked at Mikaela, and she felt her heart rate begin to pound as she saw the fear lurking in Sam's eyes, "Oh crap, it's the cruiser from the plant isn't it?". Sam could only nod a reply, before he quietly whispered, "Yeah, but this time he's brought friends". Mikaela looked at Sam fearfully, before turning her gaze to the carnage that was being caused on the freeway behind them by the oncoming Decepticons.
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"Jazz, Bumblebee. Proceed into the city with Sam, Mikaela and the Cube. Ironhide and Ratchet, keep guard also, and protect the soldiers if needed. I will take care of the Decepticons on our tail". The Autobots heard Optimus's orders through their comm-links, and although Bumblebee chuckled as he heard Ironhides grumbles that Optimus got to have all the fun, a part of his spark was glad that their Prime was as determined and capable as he was. Bee watched with concerned optics as Optimus hit his brakes and transformed mid-stop to collide hard with a determined Bonecrusher, and as he saw Optimus and Bonecrusher topple over the safety rails and onto a lower section of the freeway, his spark jumped worriedly before quickly settling when he heard a brief "I'm okay, carry on as ordered" sound over their comm-links.
"Bee is Optimus going to be okay?". Bumblebee heard the concern in Sam's voice, and although he was concentrating on the freeway, he quickly flicked the radio on to try to reassure Sam, 'Everythings gonna be okay'. Sam however was not soothed, and raised his eyebrows disbelievingly, "Really?. You think". Bumblebee chirped unhappily at Sam's tone of voice and while she quietly soothed Bees hurt feelings, Mikaela looked at Sam and she could see by the distressed look on his face, he was on the edge of having one of his infamous panic attacks. Turning in her seat, Mikaela took hold of Sam's hands and forced him to look at her, his scared brown eyes standing out sharply in his pale face, "Sam listen to me. Bumblebee is telling the truth, he wouldn't lie to us; everything will be okay, but it might get a bit tough along the way, and you're just gonna have to deal with it Sam. You can't run away from this, much as I know you want to right now, but these guys are counting on us to help, and I'm sure they'll protect us as best they can too, won't you Bee?". Bee chirped a soft reassurance, as he could understand far too well how Sam was feeling, "Of course we will". Mikaela softly whispered her thanks to Bee, before turning her attention back to Sam who looked slightly calmer as he gazed back at her, "Thanks 'Kaela. I haven't needed one of your pep talks for a while so guess I was due one". Mikaela heard the embarrassed tone in Sam's voice, and ruffled his hair fondly, "It's okay Sammy, they'd lose their effectiveness if you got one for every dumb thing you did". They shared a smile, and Bee chirped at them happily, as despite everything that was going on around them he loved to hear the two of them interacting with each other, as he thought to himself with a chuckle, 'Mikaela will get on so well with 'Hide. I'm pretty sure I infuriated him just as much as Sam does my girl.. In fact I probably still do'.
As Optimus tackled Bonecrusher, and a revived Barricade, the rest of the convoy took advantage of this and got off the freeway as quickly as they could. As they headed into an area of the city that was bustling with small businesses and plenty of people. Sam and Mikaela shared a concerned look as they saw the soldiers rolling to a stop at the side of the street, "Why are we stopping?". Bumblebee chirped uncertainly, and Mikaela leant out of his window to yell at Lennox as she saw him jumping out of the vehicle he was in, "Now is not the time to go shopping, should we not just be heading to the air base as quick as we can?". Lennox looked back at the dark-haired girl, who he was almost certain was named Mikaela, or 'The Robot Whisperer' as far as Epps concerned, "We'll head there shortly but right now I need something to communicate with, as we need to be able to relay our position".
"What if they haven't been able to call out your air strike?". Lennox looked at Sam, and almost grinned, "Well that would really suck, so let's try and look on the bright side hey kid". Mikaela found herself grinning back at Lennox, and her grin widened even further as she heard the proprietary chirp from Bee's speakers as she did so. Mikaela lightly tapped the side of his door, "Easy big guy, he's so not my type.I've decided I far prefer tall, strong and silent types all of a sudden". Sam rolled his eyes as he heard Bee's pleased chirp, "Honestly. I may as well talk to myself, or go ride with someone else if you two will persist in the flirting".
It was a testament to Will Lennox's army training that neither of the teens realised just how bizarre he found the conversation he was listening to, apart from maybe a raised eyebrow as Mikaela turned her attention back to him, her free hand tracing patterns on the still slightly scuffed paintwork of the Camaro; "So what exactly are you looking for?". Lennox nodded his head at a small pawn shop that had a window that was crammed full of all kinds of junk, "I'm kinda hoping that there may be some old radio equipment in there. If there is, we should be able to use that to rig something up to communicate with". As Mikaela, Sam and Bee watched him jog across the road and into the shop, they all found themselves thinking the same thing; once more their fate was hinged on finding something old and broken that to anyone else would just be junk, but to them could just be life saving.
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Minutes later a triumphant Lennox jogged back across the street, giving the Camaro and its occupants the thumbs up as he quickly climbed into the vehicle with Epps, who came running from beside the Topkick and Hummer. As he climbed into the vehicle, he looked at both Will and the radios in his hands with confusion, "What in hells name are they?".
"Short wave radios. It's all I could get. What you don't remember these from back when you were born in the dark ages old man". Epps grinned sourly at Lennox, wishing he could adjust to the massive changes that had been piled upon him since that fateful day in the desert as well as his Captain seemed to have. However as he briefly looked over at the yellow Camaro parked just ahead of them, Epps realised he had at least changed his view on wanting to blow a hole through each and every one of the metal monsters. After hearing the shrill chirps of pain that had issued from the yellow robot when they'd first seen him, Epps could now no more shoot Bumblebee than he could have done the family dog, and there was no way in hell he was going to try to get past the girl who was so protective of the robot. He'd seen that fierce look in his daughters eyes when they were fighting over their toys and he wasn't brave enough to try to part them either. The introductions to the other Autobots earlier had also helped to change his mind slightly, and though they hadn't said anything, the band of soldiers had all been impressed by Optimus's leadership and most of them had been oh so jealous of the guns the robot named Ironhide was packing. So although he still felt way out of his depth as he struggled with the ancient radios as they drove along the small city streets, Epps couldn't help thinking maybe he was adjusting better than he thought he was.
"This is like the dinosaur radio shack over here. I'm only gonna get twenty, maybe thirty miles out of these things". Lennox looked over at Epps, and a grateful smile crossed his lips, as he heard Epps yell into the mouthpiece, "Is there anyone receiving me? Can anyone even hear me?". A burst of static crackled encouragingly and Epps continued to speak into the radio, "Are there any aircraft orbiting the city?". As if by magic the sounds of a Raptor engine could be heard from above as a single plane flew low and fast over their heads. "Aircraft at twelve o'clock. I want planes for cover and I need some troops to extract that cube. Got it". Epps nodded and the two military vehicles pulled over so they had a steadier base to communicate from. The rest of the convoy pulled over too, and from out of the corner of his eye, Lennox saw Sam climb out of the Camaro, followed a short while later by Mikaela, who unlike Sam stayed close to the yellow car. As they heard the whine of the Raptors engines once more, Lennox yelled to the rest of the soldiers, "The air force has arrived. Fire up some of those flares". However Epps was not sharing his Captains confidence as all he was getting from the attempted radio contact from the Raptor was an ominous hissing static, and as he relayed their position to the unresponsive Raptor, he glanced over at Lennox through the clouds of green smoke, "Cap, I've got a bad feeling about this".
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As the Raptor circled yet again, Ironhide transformed far faster than anyone would have thought possible, before calling out "Its Starscream", in a loud voice. Instantly the other 'bots transformed quickly and followed Ironhides hurried commands, and although he heard Ironhide shouting at him that he needed his help, Bumblebee hesitated for a moment to kneel by Sam and Mikaela. He'd been expecting the scared look in Sam's brown eyes but the fear he saw in Mikaelas wide blue eyes made his spark flicker sadly, especially when he heard her usually strong voice wobbling uncertainly as she quickly asked what was going on. Bee looked up at the skies, "That's no normal plane, its Starscream. Megatron's lieutenant, so it means he's not far away if Starscreams here". As he saw the two teenagers eyes widen even further, Bee almost wished for a minute he could just scoop them up, transform back to his alt-mode and run if that would keep them safe; but as he heard Ironhides shout another command in a tone of voice that was not to be ignored, Bee knew the only way he could hope to keep them safe was to fight as best he could. Gently stroking Mikaelas cheek, Bee whispered "Stay safe for me beautiful", before he ruffled Sam's hair with another gentle finger, "And you Sam, and please look after Mikaela for me". Sam nodded solemnly at Bee, "I will, I promise. But you have to stay safe for us too". Bumblebee looked down at the boy, and chirped quietly in answer. Turning his back on them with a spark that was jumping rapidly with fear, Bee raced across to a waiting Ironhide who was looking at him through narrowed optics, "I gave you an order youngling". Bee lowered his optics, before chirping sadly, "I couldn't not say goodbye". Ironhide heard the sadness in both Bee's chirp and the radio clips he'd so seamlessly sewn together, and gently placed a finger under his sparklings chin, "I know you couldn't Bee, but let's make sure we keep your femme, and Sam, safe". As Bee chirped back at Ironhide, Ironhide couldn't help the worry in his own spark, not only for the humans who were beginning to grow on him but mainly for the yellow youngling standing beside him.
Mikaela tried to run after Bumblebee, but found herself restrained by Sam, "Bee wants you to stay safe, rushing over there is not staying safe". Glaring briefly at Sam, Mikaela had to settle on watching with fearful eyes as Ironhide and Bumblebee began lifting a small truck, and as she felt Jazz come up beside her and an equally concerned Sam, she heard Sam ask Jazz if Bee and Ironhide would be okay. She heard Jazz reply that he was sure 'Hide would keep Bee safe but she could also hear the uncertainty in the silver Pontiac's voice. From across the road she heard Lennox shout a loud "Noooooo", and Jazz as gently as he could, pushed her and Sam to the ground as the Raptor began to unleash fire on them. Her heart which was already pounding as they heard the bullets zipping through the air accompanied by disbelieving shouts from the soldiers, only raced faster as she heard Ironhide's bellow of "Fall back, incoming". From where she lay beside Sam, behind the protective stance of Jazz; she saw Lennox and the other soldiers dive for cover behind Ratchets solid bulk as the incoming missile slammed straight into the truck that Ironhide and Bumblebee were still holding up, the force of the explosion shaking the ground, as Mikaelas world went white.
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A/N: Heheheh thought I'd leave you all with a bit of a cliffy, even though we all know what happens :( Hope you enjoy this chapter, as its got a bit of everyone in it. Enjoy as always x