The doors slam open into a large room, Saphira gasped as she saw Bee was held on a large berth, icy sprays were still gushing at him to keep him from moving too much and she hated hearing the sounds of Bee's crying. He might not talk, but he could still definitely scream and cry in pain. Saphira yelled for the men in the room to stop and pull the guns down to stop freezing him. Banachek and Simmons order the men to stop what they are doing to Bee. They stop as ordered, but they act all confused as Saphira approached Bumblebee who exhaled a sigh of relief from his vents.
"Bumblebee…" The autobot turned his head and looked at her in surprise, shocked that she was here in the room with him. "I am so sorry…I hope you're okay. Those men did a real number huh?" Bumblebee glanced around and noticed the agents and soldiers, pulling his helmet down and arming his cannon. Saphira raised her hand, standing between Bumblebee and the men. "Relax Bee, I am sorry they hurt you. I heard your screams echoing through the halls and I wish I could have stopped this sooner. But guess what? The All Spark is here." Bumblebee stood up from the berth, still aiming his cannon at the men, he did glance at Saphira when she mentioned the All Spark. "And…so is Megatron…he's still frozen in another room."
Bumblebee raised his helmet, gazing at Saphira in surprise knowing Megatron was practically in the room next door. "You have the enemy as your neighbor?" He asked through the radio, clearly unhappy knowing about this.
"Not me, they do…" Saphira gestured to Banachek and Simmons. "Anyway, do you hear that too…" The lights dim and shake as another explosion is heard from above. "It doesn't matter if Megatron is next door either because the decepticons are above our heads now. We need to get the Cube out of here. Can you do something about it?"
Bumblebee nodded while glaring down at the men, he knew they were the ones who hurt him. Except, he did notice the military soldiers who he did not recognize. William approached Saphira, looking up at Bumblebee. "So, uhh, your name is Bumblebee right?" He nodded to the man. "I am Captain William Lennox, Saphira told me good things about ya. I just hope she is right about it."
The autobot gave the man a thumbs up and walked towards the door, gesturing for the agents to lead the way to the Cube. Banachek and Simmons were silent this whole time, probably fuming their operation had not worked. That didn't matter to Saphira as she followed them to the Cube room. When the doors opened into the massive room, she glanced up at Bumblebee as he widened his eyes upon seeing the massive Cube. He could not believe what he was seeing right now as he approached the massive object. Saphira walked beside him, not knowing what he was about to do with the Cube. She watched him step up to the All Spark and raised his hands, murring softly as he did so. She wanted to ask what he was doing, but he was concentrating and placed his fingers on the corner of the Cube. He pressed something and a burst of blue energy covers the entire Cube. Saphira watched in disbelief as the Cube began to fold inward, block after block and it was sort of like a Rubik's Cube in a sense of how she was watching it. She had not realized it could transform too, and Saphira was mesmerized by it. Everyone else was too, they had not expected that the Cube could do this.
As the Cube eventually was small enough to be a large, square object as Bumblebee pats the surface of the Cube, making sure it was smooth, Saphira smiled at Bumblebee. "That has to be one of the most impossible things I never thought I could see happen."
Bumblebee huffed a laugh and looked down at her with a smile. "Not everything is impossible." He glanced towards the soldiers with the Cube in his hand. "Message from Starfleet, Captain. Let's get to it."
William nodded in agreement. "Yep, we know, if we stay here we're screwed with Megatron in the next hangar. Mission City is twenty-two miles away, we're gonna sneak that Cube out of here and we're gonna hide it somewhere in the city." He looked at Simmons and Keller with a stern, serious expression. "But we cannot make a stand without the Air Force."
Keller turned to Simmons, who was still standing with a shocked expression after seeing the Cube practically shrink and fold into a single Cube. "This place must have some kind of radio link. Shortwave, CB." Simmons nodded slowly as he listened to the man, not really saying anything other than 'yes'.
"Sir, you got to figure out someway to get the word out to them. Let's move!" William looked towards Saphira as she was listening to the conversation silently. "You can go with Bumblebee. Keep that Cube safe, and I am sure that autobot will keep you safe too."
"You got that right Captain!" Bee said, gesturing a salute to Lennox before he crouched and transformed into the Camaro, opening the door for Saphira to get in. "Time to go sweetheart!"
"Thanks for trusting me Lennox. I think I owe the military one." Saphira smirked at the man as William simply chuckled at her and ran towards the other vehicles to get into and follow Bumblebee.
Saphira stepped into the car and pulled the seatbelt on, glancing to the backseat where the Cube was resting. She was relieved they were able to find it, and yet she was still worried about Optimus and where he was. After all, if the coordinates on the glasses were leading him here, she worried he would be fired upon.
Saphira rubbed the dash in front of her with a sigh. "I am sorry Bumblebee…"
"What are you sorry for? You didn't do anything wrong." Bumblebee's quick response showed he was worried about Saphira's train of thought as he felt she was apologizing for something beyond her control.
"For not finding the glasses in time…you wouldn't have been captured like that. I feel partly responsible for that." Saphira sighed deeply again, glancing out the window with sad eyes. "It is strange…I never used to care about anyone. Then you and Optimus show up…you've changed my world…literally."
"Ah kid, you are the most important person to me on this planet. I will keep you safe, little sister." She raised an eyebrow when he called her little sister, it was endearing, and yet unexpected. "We would have had to fight to get the Cube anyway."
That was true…this might have made it easier in a sense to get the Cube. But it still felt wrong. "What about Optimus? He will be coming for it won't he? How can we tell him that we have the Cube?"
"Shall I open communications ma'am?" Bumblebee asked, and Saphira was surprised when he asked that and she could not help but nod enthusiastically. "Okay. Communications open."
"Bumblebee?" Optimus's surprised voice through the speakers was like music to Saphira's ears. "You escaped and alive! I am relieved."
"Hello Optimus," Saphira said, not knowing if he could hear her or not. "Yes, he is alive and well…maybe a tad grumpy, but I don't really blame him. I'd be mad too."
"Saphira? I am relieved to hear your voice as well. Were you both taken to the same location?" Optimus definitely had not expected to hear Saphira's voice, but he was glad she was okay. He had worried something bad had happened to her when they could not be there to help her.
"Yeah we were…Sector Seven is kind of a damned place." Bumblebee laughed lightly through the speakers at Saphira's description. "And surprise, surprise, the All Spark was contained in their walls too."
"Seriously? The humans had the Cube this whole time?!" Jazz barked through the radio, unamused by this news. "Did you know this Saphira?"
"Why are you asking me? I'm just a teenager, I had no idea it was there until I saw it." Saphira was shocked Jazz thought she would actually know. It was clear the autobots were not aware that not all humans knew everything that happens in the government. "I can't believe you would say that actually…"
"I apologize for Jazz, he has been upset about Bumblebee's capture and the most vocal about rescuing him." Optimus paused for a moment before speaking again. "We are approaching the location of the Cube, are you on the same road?"
"We might be…" Saphira looked ahead as Bumblebee drives around a bend and her eyes light up as she saw a familiar truck in the distance. "Yes! Yes we are. Oh, and the military are going to help us Optimus. They took my word that you are not here to hurt us…unlike the agents."
"Hmmph, not surprising. A warrior has the capacity to assess things properly." Ironhide's response made Saphira chuckle gently as he was not wrong. "I look forward to fighting alongside them."
"Good. William Lennox is a good man, he nearly beat the shit out of someone for…reasons…" Saphira was still very amused on how Simmons was practically put in his place by Lennox. She doubted the autobots would understand why that would be, but she decided to not give out the details.
"I like this man already!" Ironhide said enthusiastically.
Saphira chuckled, watching the Peterbilt truck get closer to them, and she was able to see the other three autobots following behind him. "We are heading to Mission City, you should probably follow us. I think Megatron will be breaking free from his chains about now."
"Megatron was in that facility too?!" Optimus growled through the speakers, the intensity made Saphira tense and grip the seats a little. "What haven't your leaders been keeping hmm?"
"Uhh…I think that's it…" Saphira was not certain about that though because she only knew what she knew. "Sorry Optimus, I am not part of the government. They keep a lot of secrets from regular people."
"Hmm, I had guessed as much. I hope they do not have any unwelcome surprises that we do not know about. We will follow you to Mission City Saphira, we are sensing decepticons approaching. Bonecrusher and Barricade are closing in." Barricade?! Saphira groaned a little when she heard his name, the last thing she wanted was to deal with him again. "I understand from Bumblebee that Barricade has already made his presence known to you."
"Mmm hmm…twice…I think. Though the first time, I thought he was an actual cop…and a human stepped out of the car. So I don't know if that was Barricade or not." Saphira glanced in the mirrors, half expecting to see Barricade behind them.
"You must have seen his holoform," Ratchet said in a calm voice and Saphira opened her mouth to ask what that was. "It is a part of our system that allows us to create a humanoid appearance. We don't often use it, but it will come in handy while we stay on Earth in the future."
Saphira wondered how that works because that made her curious. She wanted to ask Bumblebee if he could show her his holoform, but now was not the time. Especially as they get closer to Optimus, he and the others had not yet turned around. However, she heard Optimus breaking hard and drifts around, facing the other direction to follow them.
"Nice moves," Saphira comments with a smile, glancing over her shoulder at the truck. "I don't often see trucks spin around like that."
Optimus huffed a laugh through the radio. "You know as well as I do that I am not an ordinary human truck. However, thanks for the compliment."
She chuckled softly, she knew that. But it takes skilled drivers to turn a truck like that, and she knew at least Optimus was one of them. She looked ahead as they were getting closer to the city, and that was a good thing. She had no idea what to expect though, hiding it in a human city sounded a bit stupid in a sense because the decepticons would find the Cube in the city by following the Cube's energy.
She took a glance at the side mirror and widened her eyes. "Optimus was right, Barricade is behind us."
"Bonecrusher too." Bumblebee's words were not comforting at all to her. She turned in the seat, clutching the headrest as she saw the cop mustang following them.
Behind Barricade was a Buffalo, it was an obvious military vehicle that should not be on the road. But seeing the two decepticons following them closely worried her. Especially when the Buffalo began to transform suddenly. She saw Optimus had begun to slow down, he had taken notice of this decepticon and he was preparing to fight it seems. When the Buffalo transformed, Saphira widened her eyes as she saw that Bonecrusher was able to skate forward with the wheels on his feet.
"I didn't expect that!" Saphira gasped, watching as the decepticon ripping up the tarmac as he skates towards them. She widened her eyes as she saw Optimus transforming, his wheels skid on the tarmac and tear up the road as he transformed to slow down and face Bonecrusher. "I hope Optimus can deal with him."
"Of course he can! He's stronger than Bonecrusher!" Bumblebee said confidently through the radio, even though he knew that Saphira was not aware about Primes just yet.
Saphira believed Bumblebee and she did not say a thing as she watched Bonecrusher skate along the road and slam into a bus, slicing it in half and causing it to burst into flames. She grimaced, wondering if he did that just for the sake of it. No matter, the decepticon was skating towards Optimus and the commander turned around to face him as Bonecrusher lunges at Prime. Saphira gasped as she watched them tumble across the raised highway and over the concrete barriers to the road below. Saphira moved to the window to try and see the fight, but she could not see anything at all.
"He will be okay. Don't you worry." Bumblebee could sense Saphira's distress upon seeing Optimus going over the barrier, but he wanted to comfort her as best as he could.
She turned her eyes away from the barrier and glared at Barricade, he was still following them from a distance. She desperately wanted to give him a piece of her mind at the moment, but her eyes glance down at the Cube for a second and she knew it was more important at the moment. But that didn't stop her from wishing to throw some punches. With LA coming up fast, Saphira worried what more could happen and she kept looking in the mirrors to try and see if Optimus was following them. She could not see the Peterbilt anywhere.
"Saphira, do you copy?" Lennox's voice startled Saphira and she picked up the shortwave radio to listen to him. "We are going to group up in the center of the city, we should have F-22s coming to the city soon and we will have someone retrieve the Cube to take as far away as possible."
"Okay…" Saphira glanced back at the side mirrors. "Optimus is fighting a decepticon right now."
"We saw him, I believe he will be okay as he seems like a strong warrior. I haven't met him yet, I hope that I will, but since he's the commander like you said he is he should be a great fighter." Bumblebee whirrs loudly as if to agree with Lennox and the man was able to hear it through the radio. "Ha, ha, I guess I was right by Bumblebee's response there. See you shortly."
Saphira smirked a little, Lennox definitely was confident that Optimus was a great fighter. Saphira had confidence that he was too, that did not stop her heart from hurting when she saw him go over the side of the barrier. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves as they enter the city, driving towards the middle of the high-rise buildings. Saphira still did not know if this was a great idea, as she did not know if the autobots had an alternative plan to deal with the Cube and the decepticons. As they reach the middle of the city, Saphira took notice of the F-22 flying around the buildings and stepped out of the car as the other vehicles came to a stop.
"Air Force has arrived!" Lennox announced loudly, looking up at the sky and watching the jet flying around the city. Saphira had a bad feeling about all of this, she did not know if that was an actual F-22 or something else. "Pop smoke!"
Saphira heard the sound of something being popped and the hiss of smoke nearby. She saw the green smoke around them and she glanced around at the autobots as they were still in their vehicle forms currently. She was still very uncertain this was a good idea, after all. And as she listened to Robert trying to communicate with the pilot of the F-22, she only felt that bad feeling get worse. She jumped as she heard the sound of an autobot transforming and saw Ironhide glancing up at the sky with wide eyes.
"It's STARSCREAM!" He roared, glaring up at the jet flying above them. "That is not friendly!"
"Starscream is another decepticon right?" Saphira asked nervously, watching Bumblebee transform in preparation to fight.
"He's one of the worst!" Ratchet barked through the radio from his Hummer form.
Saphira watched as Bee and Ironhide run over to a truck with a Furby logo on it, picking it up to act as a shield to cover them. Lennox seemed to finally realize that this was not good and yelled for everyone to get away. Saphira gasped as she saw the F-22 fire a missile at them and ran to hide behind a building, screaming and covering her ears when she heard the impact on the bus, the blast sent her flying down the street and her side hit a post hard. She groaned and clutched the side of her stomach as the sting of the pain knocked the air from her lungs.
As she moved to stand up, she looked at Bumblebee who was sitting a few feet in front of her and she widened her eyes when she realized he was struggling to stand. "Bee?" She blinked and gasped when she saw his legs, his lower legs had been torn from his body. "Oh my god! Bee! Your legs! Ratchet!"
The Hummer sped over to Bee and transformed, Ratchet looked over Bumblebee quickly and shakes his head. "Tsk, tsk, this is bad Bee. You need to be towed out of here before I can do anything about the legs. But not before we deal with the Cube I am afraid."
"He will be okay though, won't he Ratchet?" Saphira asked, her voice slightly higher pitched than normal with fear and worry.
"As long as he is not shot and killed, yes he will be." Ratchet did not glance at Saphira as he spoke to her as he moved to help Bee up to get him away from the fight.
Saphira jumped hearing the sound of a tank firing at them and looked up to see a massive tank approaching them. The missiles hit the ground nearly Lennox and the other soldiers, making them duck for cover and Saphira watched the tank drive over vehicles, approaching them.
"Devastator…" Ratchet groaned, glancing down at Bumblebee with a frown. "Alright, let's get you out of here Bee, I am sorry that you are going to miss out on the fight."
Bee placed a hand on the medic's shoulder to stop him and he opened the doors on his chest for a second, pulling out the Cube and reaching down towards Saphira, holding it out to her. Saphira took the Cube, shocked he would give it to her. She looked at him with wide eyes and shakes her head nervously.
"I can't take this Bee!" Saphira glanced around nervously as she held the Cube in her hands. "I can't do anything with it!"
"You need to get it to safety Saphira, Bee can no longer do it. Argh!" Ratchet ducked as a missile flew right over them and glanced up with a glare before smirking as he saw Ironhide racing towards Devastator to challenge him. The medic looked down at Saphira with a kind expression. "I'll get Bee to safety, you take care of the Cube."
Saphira watched Ratchet help Bumblebee away from the fighter, the small bot limped as he tried to help take the burden off the medic while Saphira was left with the Cube. She glanced around nervously, not knowing what to do with it or where to go. She yelped as a missile hits the ground beside her and she ran behind a building to take cover, glancing around the corner to see what was happening. However, as she was distracted, a massive thud landed near her and she yelped loudly, almost losing her grip on the Cube and glanced up, coming face-to-face with Megatron.
"There you are…" Megatron growled, grinning and flashing his metal teeth at her, his red eyes looking over her body with keen interest. "We can finally meet properly now that I am no longer frozen."
Saphira gasped and scrambled to her feet, pressing her back against the wall in fear as she stared at this massive being. "Megatron's here!" She heard Ironhide yelling, she glancing to her right to see him aiming his cannon at the decepticon. "Get away from her, punk!"
Saphira ducked away from the fire, running away from Megatron as Ironhide shot Megatron, causing him to stumble slightly and shoot back at Ironhide. Saphira did not stop, she heard the massive footsteps behind her as she ran and covered her head as cars were thrown into the walls behind her. Megatron roared loudly and she grimaced, not knowing what would happen just as she saw Jazz running at Megatron and jumping at him, distracting the decepticon fearlessly.
"Get out of here!" Jazz yelled at her, keeping his focus on Megatron. "You don't scare me Megatron! You wanna piece of me huh?!" The decepticon roared and transformed, lunging at Jazz and taking him with him into the sky.
Saphira stopped next to a burned car, taking deep breaths and looking around with wide eyes. She had no idea where she was going to go and glanced up as she saw a helicopter transform on top of a building. There was no way they were getting out of this.
"Saphira!" She yelped in surprise hearing her name, turning her head to see Lennox running over to her with several men behind him. "Where's the Cube?"
"I have it." Saphira showed the man the Cube nervously, her body was trembling as she was terrified at the moment.
She watched Lennox run ahead of her for a second, she did not know what he was planning, but she hoped he would take the Cube off her hands. Boy, was she wrong as he ran back to her. "Alright, I can't leave my guys back there, so here, take this flare…" Lennox shoves a flare into Saphira's hand and she frowned as he spoke to her. "Okay, there's a tall, white building with statues on top, go to the roof and set the flare. Signal the chopper!"
Saphira shakes her head in fear, glancing at the building briefly. "No, I can't do it!"
Will's stern face changes to sympathetic as he could see the fear in her face. He placed a stern hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. "Listen to me, Saphira, you're a soldier now! I know you're scared, but the world needs you right now. So, I need you to take the Cube, get it into military hands while we hold them off, or a lot of people gonna die." He pats her shoulder gently and ran away from her. "I'm counting on you Saphira, you can do it."
Saphira frowned, not knowing what to do. She glanced up to see Ratchet walking into the street, he had managed to hide Bee and patch him as best as he could, but there was still a fight to be had. She breathed deeply, looking to the old building she was told to get to.
"Saphira, we will protect you," Ironhide said affirmatively with his cannons ready, looking down at Saphira with a stern look. "Now get those little legs running, punk!"
She could nearly laugh at Ironhide for that as she began to run towards the building, avoiding the destroyed vehicles, phone booths and any other debris on the ground around her. Ironhide and Ratchet run by her and shooting back at the decepticons behind them, she couldn't help but worry what happened to Jazz because he protected her from Megatron and that decepticon took him. Nonetheless, she had to get to the building. And she would get there as fast as she possibly could.
