Did anyone else watch the lunar eclipse last night? Of course, not everyone could see it, but of those who could, what did you think? Personally, I thought it was amazing. It doesn't seem like we get to see a lot of that sort of thing in my part of the world. Given my focus on astronomy here at college, I really appreciated it. I was listening to celtic music during it. Dancing under a blood moon...
Once again, thank you so much for the reviews. They don't just help this story, but tell me what to do with my other stories that are coming up. For this isn't even close to the last upload, I'll just wait until it's finished to do another. Again, if you read any of my other stories- the ones I haven't updated in years -then check out my poll to tell me which one I should focus on now. If it's in my library and it isn't complete, I swear it will be eventually.
I hope you like the chapter.
They were reluctant and careful, but they took Bumblebee to the Cube. Right into the very same room with it, ignoring Simmons's earlier warning about radiation. But there's no way that kind of radiation- the radiation of life -could ever cause harm.
Bumblebee brought me up to his shoulder, and I climbed over to free his hands. As I settled in, making sure I wouldn't fall when he turned around, I observed him reaching up to one of the Cube's corners. Everyone fell silent in awe while he worked with it. I could even sense his profound awe as it shrunk into his hands to about the size of my head.
He brought his arms down inspecting it for a moment, before we started to hear the Decepticons bombarding the Dam again. He quickly dropped it in my arms, as if it were nothing, and turned to the other humans.
"We need to get it to safety. Will you help me?" He asked. I wasn't aware of any answer, too focused on the object in my hands. It made my skin crawl and my stomach churn, and I had the urge to scream. But it also made me want to hold onto it and never let go. Never let it go... I can't put it down. This object, abused by those monsters, it deserves to go with the Autobots. I know the Decepticons, and they should never even look at it. But Optimus's tone when he spoke of it, telling me why they were here at all, I knew he deserved to have it.
But I can't possibly give it up.
I held it closer, ignoring everything else as we went. Eventually, Bumblebee took me down off his shoulder and carried me. I kept my arms wrapped around the Cube. It no longer gave me that overwhelming sense of the Sound, but there's just something about this object.
As we went, even when Bumblebee put me on the ground to transform and I quickly ducked in behind the wheel, I tried to figure this object out. What is it about this thing?
We were on the road. Other vehicles in front of us. We were headed to the city. Why? I don't know. I was too focused on the Cube.
It's bad. It's terrible. It gave me the creeps. But it's amazing and... peaceful... homey. It feels like home. But that doesn't really make sense... does it?
I sensed more familiar sparks coming towards us rapidly. Then, they banked and fell in behind us. The other Autobots caught up to us. A few hours ago, I'd been worried they would leave me behind, but now here they are. I felt an odd sense or relief upon being back with them.
"Sam." Bumblebee finally caught my attention.
"Hm?"
"Put the seatbelt on." He sighed in relief when I did.
"Where are we going?" I asked, gripping the Cube tighter.
"Into the city, to meet with the local air force." He answered. "So we can get the Allspark somewhere safe while we fend off the Decepticons. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." I answered, tuning my face downwards. We're giving it back to the humans? What kind of bad idea is that? Do you even realize what they were doing to it back there?
"We're going to get the Allspark out of here, out of the Decepticons' reach, until we have the opportunity to retrieve it safely and leave." Bumblebee explained.
"The humans aren't going to give it back." I stated with certainty. I'm not giving it to them. If he wants to hand this sacred, beautiful object into those monsters' hands again, it's going to have to be with me wrapped around it. I am not letting it go.
He hesitated at this, because he knew it was true, but denied this with conviction.
"They agreed to this plan. The soldiers are going to assist us."
"I like the soldiers." I approved.
"Good, good. When we get there, stay with me, alright? I'll make sure you don't get injured. Their air force is already on the way. Hopefully we can reach them before the Decepticons even catch up."
I lowered my head over the Cube and shook my head, trying not to focus on the terrifyingly familiar auras racing behind us. "They're already here."
"What was that?" He didn't hear me, but I didn't say it for his hearing. I can sense all the familiar 'Decepticons' behind us. However, Megatron is not among them, thankfully.
On the other hand, one of them had either taken a shortcut to intercept us or was waiting for us.
"Watch out!" I lurched forward, just as Bonecrusher slammed into the vehicle behind us. Optimus was knocked out of line, transforming as they tumbled down off the bridge we were crossing. We only sped up.
"Hold on, Sam." Bumblebee grunted.
The city was coming into view now, and my heart was beating a million miles an hour. Thousands of auras, so small in comparison to the Autobots' and the Decepticons'. So much smaller than what I'd felt coming from the Allspark. All of them were humans, and right now, I couldn't care less about their presence. I just wanted the most precious thing I've ever encountered farther from the most tainted thing I've ever felt.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O Jazz
"You hear that? They're here." One of the human soldiers stuck his head out my window. "Will, up ahead."
"I see 'em." The other soldier nodded. This one was sitting behind the wheel, not even pretending to drive. "Hey, hold up. We can't go driving through the city and draw this out any longer than it has to be. Let's take it up to the top building, there." William tapped my dashboard and pointed towards a particularly tall building.
I pulled over, just inside the city. Ironhide and Bumblebee followed suit, and both soldiers immediately flew out the doors to join the other soldiers Ironhide had brought.
I stayed silent, waiting to have a better assessment on the situation. I have a bad feeling about all this, but I don't think it's all going to end here. And that's the only reason I'm still here. A screech filled the air; the sort of screech any Autobot identifies with the enemy. But the humans that had accompanied us reacted differently.
"That's them. Come on, start the signal."
"I got this-"
Without signaling eachother, Ironhide and Bumblebee leapt into action; transforming and lunging towards the nearest massive vehicle. I transformed with them and caught the Boy when Bumblebee handed him over to help create a block for the incoming missile Starscream sent out way.
Civilians were instantly in a flurry, rushing to escape.
"Decepticons aren't going to make this easy." I warned the humans, uncovering the Allspark and the Boy, who was silent and immobile. He seemed to be ignoring us all, just focused on gripping the Cube. I set him down now that Starscream had passed. "We'll give you cover."
But I didn't linger to hear their answer. Ratchet and I quickly went to fire at Starscream as he came back around. It wasn't until Starscream had passed- obviously not expecting us to be ready to fight back so quickly, that Ironhide came to take Ratchet's place.
"Bumblebee's hit, and the kid won't leave his side." Ironhide stated in a rush. I gave a quick glance over at them to see one of the soldiers was trying to talk to Sam, but he was ignoring them. Bumblebee'd been more injured by Starscream's first attack than I thought. His legs were damaged so bad he couldn't even stand.
And the other Decepticons were coming in now.
"Pit!" I cursed, covering Ratchet as he went to check Bumblebee out. Barricade was flying down the street towards us, which was thankfully almost completely emptied of civilians by now. "Ironhide." I signaled and we quickly fell into a familiar rhythm. But we aren't only fighting a Decepticon ambush off this time. We're defending the Allspark and the humans.
"You still convinced we aren't going to make it?" Ironhide asked, scoffing. We were faring real well so far, but I've never been so sure about the future as I am about the Cube. But when it comes to the Allspark, everything's different.
I nodded. "We aren't going to have it by the end of this battle."
Ironhide laughed and jerked a gesture back towards the scene behind us, where the soldiers were finally convincing Sam to take the Allspark to the roof of that building they'd pointed to earlier, since they couldn't get it out of his arms. "They're going to have to go through the kid to get to it, and they're going to have to go through us to get to him."
I nodded silently. The overwhelming sense of impending doom was too much for me to retort. That Cube is facing destruction today, and if Sam continues to cling to it like that, I fear he'll face the same. I'm more concerned about keeping him away from whatever's coming.
We quickly switched places and he held off Barricade while I came back around to Bumblebee and the Boy.
"We'll cover you, Sam." I interjected into the scene, nodding to Ratchet. I don't know what his verdict on Bumblebee's condition was, but he obviously wasn't going to get any more done here and now.
"Get to the building." Ratchet backed me up, taking the lead. Starscream had landed and had his sights set on Sam.
We followed him down the road, around the debris that resulted from the suddenly full-on fight around us. We were outnumbered, and Optimus was nowhere to be seen. I know he's alright, we'd all be aware if his spark were to be extinguished, but I fear Megatron will arrive before he will.
I was thrown to the left by an impact with Starscream, who was looking to rage past us toward Samuel. He barely paid us any attention.
"You think you're safe with them? YOU THINK YOU CAN ESCAPE US?"
"Keep going, Sam." Ratchet encouraged, trying to distract Starscream from his target. But he only tore straight through, and I acted quickly to blast him away from Sam again.
"We're in the middle of a battle field." Starscream laughed, even giving me the creeps as I tackled him down. "Lord Megatron will never know it was I that killed you. He'll never know how I tortured you and how you died by my hands!"
Sam didn't say a word, only picking up his pace and running forward faster. Ratchet pulled me back just before Starscream blasted me in the side. He gave us an irritated look and stopped us from following the Boy any longer, but at least Starscream was momentarily distracted. Sam can keep his path toward the building without complications.
Until he fell forward without warning, in the middle of the street right in front of the building we'd been taking him to.
"THE WORM THINKS HIMSELF A HERO!" Megatron's voice tore through the battle. I did a quick look around to identify where everyone was, analyzing the situation in a matter of seconds.
Ratchet and I were still taking Starscream while Bumblebee and the soldiers remained closer to where we started. They had three Decepticons circling them, but they were holding their own just as well. Ironhide was farther down the street, ushering the last pocket of civilians out of the line of fire while still combating Barricade, who seemed to have thought he could use the civilians as leverage. The Decepticons had targeted the buildings around us to litter the ground, inhibiting our terrane while the skies remained open for them. The human air force was here, but already significantly smaller than they'd been originally. Optimus was still nowhere to be seen, and he wasn't responding to my hails. Samuel was immobilized in the street up ahead, still holding the Cube, and Megatron had landed atop another building up ahead, where the battle hadn't reached yet.
"HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN YOUR PLACE? PERHAPS I WAS TOO GENEROUS TO YOU?!" Megatron launched himself off and transformed mid-air, rocketting towards us too fast for anyone to think properly.
I abandoned our fight with Starscream- who had faltered when Megatron arrived -to run forward. I stepped over Sam just as Megatron reached us, colliding with the Decepticon leader's alt form and throwing him off so he didn't succeed in hitting the boy.
We went spinning as he pulled up quickly, trying to regain stability. My processors caught up to my planning and I realized what a bad idea this was.
We slammed into another building, where I was thrown off and he transformed to loom over me. "Pathetic."
Pit. But I have to hold him off until Optimus arrives. No one's been able to stand in hand-on-hand combat with Megatron except for Prime.
I ducked away as he threw the first punch, releasing his chained weapon. I donned my blade, at least confident in my evasiveness. We were at an impasse for a sparkthrum, while I deduced that Sam was getting to his feet again and creeping towards the building at a much slower pace.
"You want a piece of me?" I demanded, trying to keep Megatron's attention on me.
"No, I want two!" He reached out to grab me, but I dodged effectively. One thing any of us know, never let a Decepticon get their hands on you; their dark energon makes them impossibly strong. He could very literally have torn me in half if he'd successfully gotten ahold of me.
I took advantage of his slower reflexes and swung my blade at his back, jumping backwards and away when he turned. But the force of his chained weapon struck me before I was far enough away. I flew backwards, off the roof top, and hit the ground with a cratering impact.
Pit.
Megatron was already leaving, bored with me. He was starting towards the building Sam was in, and I got to my feet as fast as I could. I have to distract him!
"BOY. I CAN SMELL YOUR FEAR." Megatron tore straight into the building, but from my sensors, he missed actually hitting the blind human. I launched forward, trying to knock Megatron away but only succeeded in giving Sam a few more seconds of running time. Megatron easily threw me off, not even finding me worth the attention to properly attack.
"Come on." I muttered, analyzing the street again to confirm Optimus was still not here.
"HOW NICE OF YOU TO BRING IT STRAIGHT TO YOUR MASTER. PERHAPS YOU WILL BE REWARDED WHEN WE RETURN TO THE NEMESIS." Megatron pushed back into the building, knocking half of the inner workings loose. This time, Samuel only barely escaped. I launched forward again. "YOU DO NOT BELONG TO THESE AUTOBOTS- YOU BELONG TO ME!"
Samuel reached to rooftop and Megatron growled at me, flinging me off again. Ratchet's going to have a hay-day with the damage I was sustaining here, but I have to keep at this.
This time, the impact of hitting the street knocked my processors into dizziness. It took me a moment to get ahold of myself.
But from my view down below, when my visual receptors restored themselves, I realized something. This is probably where the Cube's end will be met. Samuel, gripping it and climbing behind a statue up there, trying to put anything between himself and Megatron, and the Decepticon leader himself obviously too concerned with his vendetta against his former human than capturing the Allspark.
I could see it from down here, with knowledge that there was no way I'd be able to get back up there in time. Megatron swung his chained weapon, and Samuel getting projected off the roof into the alley between that building and the one beside it.
I tried to get up, in a vain attempt to reach them in time to do something, but was knocked from behind by Starscream- "Don't turn your back on me!" -and fell again. I just can't catch my footing.
But my analysis of the situation hadn't been as complete as I'd thought. I'd let my vigilance slip, and I hadn't realized Optimus was now on the scene.
Well, Sam's getting rather distracted now. His ability to perceive the outside world on such a large scale is kind of... lacking now. And another thing; Jazz isn't dead. Nope, can't deal with that one. If for some reason you wanted him to be (how could you?) then I'm not really sorry. I can't kill Jazz. I freaking love Jazz. It's not happening. One thing, he's too smart to die in such a stupid way, and he's Optimus's first-hand-man for a reason. He knows how to survive and fight, and I'm pretty sure he knows how to analyze and plan ahead. I feel like that's why he would be where he is now. He's not a red shirt.
Thoughts? Complaints?