The Unseen Trap

I used the rearview mirror to look behind me for a moment, watching the clouds of dust that were stirred up as we raced across the desert. Billows of sand were placed behind us as we moved; a line was spread out behind me. Prowl and Jazz moved as one, and together behind them were Drift and Iron Hide, behind them traveled Bumblebee, Wheeljack, and Smokescreen made a triangular formation, making up the behind. The GPS led us to the location of the town, coordinates relayed to us by Baker and his men. There were a number of things that could happen upon coming to this township, but none of us could have known what we were really in for. We had a com link, and already the Autobots were using it, debating as to what could be ahead.

"At last! Something I can attribute to!" Smokescreen's excited voice rung over the com, and immediately he was met with a short laugh, from a number of different Autobots.

"Don't leak oil, Smokescreen. We might not even find anything at all. For all we know, he could be gone by now. Besides, you so sure you could handle it, rookie?" Wheeljack's voice teased.

"And the hazing begins." Smokescreen sighed.

"We all went through it, no hard feelings, kid." Prowl said.

"We gotta stick together!" Pssh. "Yeah, man, and dey just got done with me." A radio signified Bumblebee speaking his own mind, and a collaboration of agreement followed. I decided not to interject anything, yet instead let them speak, paying more attention to looking on the horizon for the township that Baker and his team had described. They had said that the buildings were destroyed, that none of them were spared. Whoever this had been had cost them a lot of damage, and there were a number of expenses that were now being depleted in order to hold back investigations, from police forces and human news vans alike. The conversation continued until the township came in view, where at the same time all of us seemed to spy it over the flat ground. I sped up, and following my lead so did the rest of the Autobot team, moving above a normal vehicle's attainable speed. We didn't stop until we went inside the perimeter of the beaten buildings. Here, I transformed without slowing down, the moment I had my legs and shoulders again rolling and going onto my feet, changing my hands into canons as to be ready for any attack. Behind me, my audits told me that the others were transforming too, following my lead.

Yet, no attack came. Instead, we were met with nothing but the wind howling, echoes bouncing off of the buildings. I lowered my weapons and looked to the crumbling structures, everything looked unstable. Not a single building was spared. I remembered the infrared image, recalling that the township was in a circular space, with a single epicenter of where they believed the destruction had begun, and that was in the middle of the town itself. I looked to the Autobots, who were now standing in a line, waiting for orders.

"We will split up, in teams of two. Prowl, Jazz, you'll go down one pathway. Drift, Iron Hide, you go another. Wheeljack, Smokescreen, you take another route. Bumblebee and I will go down this road. Keep an eye out for any danger. Recon only. If you should encounter a Decepticon, contact us over the com link, and we will come to your aid."

The Autobots signaled they understood, all in their own way, and then we split up. I let Bumblebee go ahead, while I took the rear, and we started down the street while we studied the buildings. I watched for movement, any sign that there was something hiding, waiting for us to arrive. Yet everything was dead, or burnt, or broken. What I found strange, was that there were no vehicles, or human casualties. Surely, Baker and his men could not have come and collected them all, and I doubted Megatron would have any want of human remains. I thought over motives in my head as I looked, rotating my head, my optics looking from one side to the other as we moved closer to the middle of town.

"Sarge."

Bumblebee caught my attention, and he transformed his cannon into a hand again, and pointed, gesturing to the tops of the buildings. "I believe you are right, Bumblebee," he said, my eyes following his finger as he pointed out the next oddity. The buildings seemed skewed, the tops shaved off at a downward angle, each top going down at the same time, yet still we moved, watching as the buildings got smaller and smaller, until I could see the other Autobots moving toward the middle as well.

"You guys see it too, then?" Wheeljack asked over the com link, and a number of replies answered.

"Yeah."

"Yup."

"Slanted buildings."

"What does it mean? Have Decepticons done this before?"

"Decepticons don't care about what they trash, Smokescreen. And they're certainly not artsy."

"So, what do we do about it?"

"Whoa. Look at that."

Together, we all looked at the middle, staring at the same object, all at the same time. A single fountain stood at attention. It was spurting its water, droplets catching the sun and making a spray of colors as it splashed. It wasn't damaged, yet seemed completely untouched, left to stand freely alone. Confusion rippled throughout the team, and we looked at one another questioningly.

"Why would they destroy everything else, yet leave this alone?" Jazz asked.

"That is a mystery . . .something we'd have to-"

As I began to speak, Smokescreen stepped forward, as if he was going to touch the fountain. As his metallic fingers touched the spray, the fountain stopped, the water suddenly going still, and as the Autobots turned to him in surprise.

"I . . . I didn't mean to kill it . . ." Smokescreen said quickly, raising his hands defensively and stepping back again.

"Don't-" I began to speak yet again, but suddenly the ground groaned, and shook, throwing us all to the ground. A large SHOOM echoed in my audits, and I placed my hands to the sides of my head, trying to block the sound, cut off the pain it caused.

"The fountain!"

"What's going on?"

"That's not a fountain!"

I looked up, squinting as the fountain released a beam of light, sending a wave at us that caused an electrical pulse that seemed to sweep over us all. A shock went over my body, and a cry of pain waved through the rest of the Autobots at the same time I felt the sudden sensation fly through my limbs. "Autobots!" I shouted, and tried to stand, yet found I couldn't move.

"I can't move!"

"Optimus!"

"What do we do?"

"Help!"

As I struggled to move, a feeling in the back of my head made itself known, and suddenly everything was spinning. A heavy feeling came over my body, my limbs, and suddenly I was pressed further onto the ground. I closed my eyes to try and remedy the spinning, yet I could still feel it, a dizzying sensation falling over my head as the feeling that had begun, the knot in the back of my head growing larger.

"Autobots!" I called again, yet I heard no reply. There was nothing to hear but the large SHOOM that overpowered everything else, and suddenly I realized that we had been caught in a trap that we never before could have seen coming. A trap that I should have seen coming. With this thought, I opened my eyes, surprise hitting me as though someone had punched me. There was a bright light that shined in my optics, making me squint, and then darkness overcame me, and consciousness was lost.

I was thrown into a swirling darkness, stuck in that same state of shock, as I knew suddenly . . . nothing would be the same again.