A/N: Very tense chapter last time, let's lighten it up a little. (but only a little)
"Really? Arachnid?"
"Yeah, and what about it?"
"OH, sorry I didn't mean it like that, just surprised me that you never mentioned this before."
"Well, just thinking about it makes me feel all weird inside. Emotionally speaking. The closest I ever came to telling her was a few years ago when that scraplet monster almost ate us."
"I'm pretty sure I overheard her tell Jack you were acting a bit off after that was all over. She just thought you were shaken up from the attack." Raf said. "Wait, that happened so long ago, why don't you just say something now?"
"In fairness, that's no time at all for us Cybertronians. But you are right, I should uhh, what's that Earth phrase? Shoot my shot?"
They continued cruising the backroads through the desert, Steve technically staying to the patrol route, but definitely taking a scenic detour or two. Not that much had been happening as of late anyways.
"So, how about you, huh? Anything weighing on your mind?" Steve asked.
"Well, I'm just worried for the future, I guess," Raf said. "With all the moves the Autobots have been making, it's only a matter of time until Earth becomes an all-out battleground, and that your secret will be out. I know the Decepticons want to help protect Earth, but a lot of people might see you as just as much of a threat as the Autobots are."
Steve vented a sigh, "I'm worried too, Raf, I won't lie to you about that. And there are loads of uncertainties in all of this." He paused for a moment to find the words, "but, in times like these, we have to make plans with the intel we have, count up the ammo, and keep the troops at the ready. But the most important thing is to have hope."
Raf let out a small laugh, "You sound like Megatron when you do that."
"What can I say? His attitude tends to rub off on people." Steve said, turning back onto a main road, heading back towards Jasper.
Warm summer air wisped past on their drive down the roads, winding their way slowly back into the center of town. Regular patrols such as this and around the world had been increased a great deal ever since the Wrecker's attacks against various facilities on Earth, along with making steps with agent Fowler and Silas to work more closely with human military forces to better prepare them in case of another direct Autobot attack. All they could hope for now was that when the time comes, they will be ready.
"And you're sure this is the place, Prowler?"
/Yes, Jazz./ Prowl responded over comms, with a slight groan at the nickname. / This town of Jasper has had multiple hits of Decepticon activity ever since we arrived, and their quick response time to M.E.C.H. and Arcee's business in this region only furthered our suspicions that they have a fondness for this area in particular./
Jazz rolled down the main street of Jasper, joined by Skids and Cliffjumper. They kept spaced apart enough to not raise any suspicion that they were together, but close enough still so that they could jump to each other's aid should the need arise. The Autobots had spent enough time on Earth by now to properly understand the rules of the road, and developing human holomatter avatars to help manage avoiding any unwanted attention, or worse, detection.
Pulling up to a red light at a four-way intersection, Jazz crooked his illusory head at a familiar sight sitting at the light going the opposite way.
. . . . .
"Raf, get down. Get down now!" Steve said frantically, waving the boy down so that he couldn't be seen through the windows, hoping he hadn't been noticed already.
"Steve? What's going on?" the kid genius asked.
"It's the Autobots, they're here. Just stay down, I don't want them seeing you. If they do, you'd be a target." Steve responded. "And knowing Jazz, he'd go out of his way to make you suffer."
After a few seconds, the light changed to green, and Steve drove off, holo-form acting as calm and composed as he could to ensure he stayed looking relatively normal, only glancing back at the Autobots in the rear-view mirrors after they had passed each other.
"OK, I don't think they spotted us," Steve said as he craned his neck to look out the back windshield, making sure they hadn't started to follow them.
"What are we going to do then?" Raf asked as he got back up into his seat. "We can't call for a bridge in the middle of town, and if we drive back to base we risk being tailed."
"Which means we are gonna have to lay low here in town for now."
It wasn't until after a few minutes that they noticed they were being followed, the mangled longhorn ornament and flames paint job on Cliffjumper making him stand out. Moments later, Skids pulled out infront of them from a side-street, making them swerve into another lane.
The duo did their best to keep the Autobots off they're trail, turning at random down different streets. Even if the Autobots had a GPS of some sorts to learn the roads of the town, it wouldn't do the trick in helping to keep up in the chase, as every time they thought they had Steve cornered, the Decepticon specialist slipped away down a before unseen alleyway or blocking the Autobots off by merging into traffic and hiding.
"Hey, aren't the others here in town too? We gotta let them know to hide!" Raf exclaimed.
"Scrap, your right. I'll call them, I just hope they pick up before something happens."
. . . . .
Sat on the grass beneath the shade of a large tree, the group was content in their relative peace for the moment, no distractions other than the occasional car driving past. Miko was propped against the tree, artbook in hand as she sketched out a scene of Breakdown in his alt-mode hitting a jump over sand dunes from one of their adventures. Jack was sitting nearby, typing away at something on his laptop. Airachnid and Breakdown both lounging in the grass in their holomatter avatars, content with the moment of peace.
Airachnid felt a ping come in over direct comms from Steve, and swiftly answered, feigning the look of talking into a phone in case anyone was looking.
"Hey, what's up"
"This is urgent. The Autobots are here, and they are chasing me and Raf. We lost them for now, but we don't know where they got away to. Are you in town?"
"I'm with Breakdown and the kids, we're at a park near the outskirts of town."
"Listen, you have to move like, right now."
"Don't worry, I'm on it. See you soon."
Dropping the line, she gestured at Breakdown, and turned to Jack and Miko.
"Ok, there's an emergency. The Autobots are here in Jasper, we have to move now."
"What about Raf and Steve? They're still in town too, right?" Miko asked, rushing to Breakdown's alternate mode, as the mech in question positioned his holoform in the driver's seat.
"That was them over comms, they tried to shake the 'Bots, but that just means they could be anywhere." Airachnid said, as she revved her engine, and sped off as soon as Jack was on.
They pulled out of the parking lot just in time, as from their rear view mirrors, they saw the three Autobots pull up to the curb on the opposite side of the park. They could only catch a glimpse in the rear-view mirror, but they swore that Jazz had a look of rage on his face. The villainous trio was caught off guard however, as a siren blared, and red and blue lights flashed behind them.
. . . . .
If Jazz wasn't already pissed enough, he was fuming in rage now. The police interceptor had seemingly come from nowhere, and as much as he would of liked to just speed off from the pesky human, something about the sleek design and color pallet of the car caught his optic.
The human officer walked past both Cliffjumper and Skids, just giving a devilish grin and slight wave to the two. Sauntering up to Jazz, he rasped his knuckles against the window, pointing to indicate to roll the window down. Jazz couldn't see his eyes through his polarized sunglasses, but the uniform's name read as "D. Witwicky."
"Good afternoon, sir."
" 'Afternoon, officer." Jazz grimace, trying to maintain a neutral expression.
"Do you by chance happen to know why I have you and your buddies back there stopped?"
"No, I don't think I do."
"The curbs painted red, you all stopped in a no-parking zone." Daniel said, as he slipped a ticket under one of the windshield wipers.
"I'll let you off with just a warning, sir. But do make sure you remember to take care of that ticket. Drive safe."
Walking back to the interceptor, he placed a similar ticket on both Skids and Cliffjumper, and got back in his car.
Jazz reached out the window and grabbed the small leaf of paper, unfolding it only to find not a fine, but a message.
'Pretty ballsy operating in broad daylight like this. Stay away from Earth, Auto-creep.'
Craning his neck, he looked back and watched one of the interceptor's four headlights flash off and on, as if it were a sly wink as it sped off past him. Then, it clicked for him.
"Barricade…"
A/N: What's this? Two whole chapters within a calendar year? Praise Primus, it's a miracle. AND the next chapter is already in the pipe, so standby for that soonTM.
Firstly, as embarrassing as it is to say, yes it really did take me over a year to write 'Fire in the Sky.' I have such a love for the original G1 episode, that I had to make it as perfect as I could, whilst still fitting it into the theme and style of the story so far.
Second, it's nice to see that after all this time, there is still interest in this story. I'll try and update when I can, but I can assure you, no matter the wait between updates, I won't be stopping until it's finished for real. (Although I may get sidetracked with other fics. Got pulled back into Fallout 4, and just started getting into the Halo franchise[[Praise to Lord Bungie]], on top of other Transformers ideas I have, so who knows.)