A/N
Heyo! I don't really have anything for this update, so I guess just enjoy!
The drive back to Sam's house was tense, the three teens in Bumblebee with the rest of the Autobots following close behind. They didn't say much to each other, pulling up to the Witwicky house in a little over fifteen minutes.
Karma was the first out of the scout, patting Bee's hood when she passed to get to the backyard. Sam was quick to follow her, distracting his father while she made her way to the wall-like trellis that sat just under her window.
She had always used the trellis to sneak out of the house when she just needed to be somewhere quiet. It was easy enough to scale the trellis, muscle memory taking over. Karma dropped into her room silently, making sure to wait a minute before going downstairs to converse with her aunt and uncle. No need in having the Autobots discovered before they can even find the glasses or the Allspark.
The teen glances out her window, a surprised laugh bubbling from her when she sees Optimus hunched over in the yard. The poor leader had stepped on the fountain the Witwicky's had in the garden and was being 'yelled' at by Sam.
"Oops. Sorry, my bad." The red and blue leader states, his voice somehow sheepish.
"The fountain is dead. May it rest in pieces." Karma mutters, a solemn tone in her voice. The only two to hear her are Jazz and the Prime. Jazz laughs outright and the Prime lets out a huff of air, like he was trying not to chuckle as well.
Sam runs inside, quickly tearing his room apart. The longer he had to look, the more he started to panic. The entire weekend had been a blur and the teen couldn't for the life of him remember what he'd done with the glasses. He knew they were in his backpack but where the bag was was a mystery.
Karma watched as her cousin panicked, standing in his doorway, arms crossed. A knock at the boy's window had him startled, Karma walking over to let in one Michaela Banes, held in the hand of Optimus. The two girls start looking through the rest of the second floor, listening to the quiet grumbling of Sam at the impatience of the Prime.
They had just come back to the boy's room when the lights flickered before going out completely. Karma ran to the window, nearly throwing herself out of it. Her blue eyes widened at the sight of Ratchet on the ground, Ironhide standing at his shoulder plates. The white and orange medic had tripped over some telephone wires, sending shocks through his systems and effectively cutting power to the neighborhood. Karma winced. She knew just how many watts those power lines sent through their wires, so it was no wonder the metal giant had managed to cut power.
The rumbling of the ground from when Ratchet fell didn't help any. Especially since it brought Sam's parents running up the stairs. Michaela and Sam started to panic (Sam more so than he already was, anyway) before Karma calmly walked over to the door. As she passed Sam's dresser, she dumped some of his left over school work on the ground between the other two.
"'Sup, guys? Judy, what's with the bat?" Karma asked, nothing in her voice giving away what they'd been doing. Not like Sam's parent's would believe them anyway.
"We felt the earthquake. Where's your cousin?" Ron said, shoving his way into Sam's room.
Sam and Michaela were still standing around, a nervous air about the two. Karma walks over, picking up the papers she had thrown earlier.
"Oh," Judy gasps, "Who's this?"
"That's Michaela. She and Sam were helping me study for finals next Monday." Karma says as an explanation, lying through her teeth.
Judy and Ron nod, not saying anything. Ron starts looking around the room, feeling the walls and door frames. While they do that, Karma quickly runs back to Sam's window, looking out and not seeing the hide nor hair of the Autobots. She nods to herself before walking back over to the other two.
"Hey, Mom?" Sam starts, "Have you seen my bag?"
The mentioned woman looks over to her son before saying that it was on the table downstairs. Sam and Karma share a look before the girl bolts out of the room, practically flying down the stairs. The faster they were in getting the glasses to Optimus, the faster they could get to the Allspark and keep it from the Decepticons.
A knock sounds at the door just as Karma is tucking the glasses into her jacket pocket. The teen opens the door, meeting the eyes of a man in a black suit and tie. Immediately, bells seem to start ringing in her ears. Something isn't right about this man, and Karma couldn't help but think that it had something to do with the Autobots and their war.
The man introduces himself as Seymour Simmons from a branch called Sector Seven. He tries to start a conversation with Ron, who had just come down the stairs, but Karma physically stops him, keeping herself in his path.
"May I enter the premises, ma'am." He states, a sneer in his voice and on his face.
Without waiting for an answer, the man shoves his way into the house, shoulder checking Karma along the way. Rubbing her arm slightly, Karma follows him, walking over to the other teens who had come down at the sudden noise.
"How ya doing, son? Is your name Sam?" Karma's cousin nods.
Simmons smiles slightly, but it reminds the teen more of a predatory smirk than anything else. The agent signals to one of his lackeys, having Sam step forward.
The lackey waved some type of stick in the boy's face, a loud and shrill beeping coming from the device. Karma was shoved forward, the teen lashing out at whoever had been behind her, kicking them harshly in the shins. The man doesn't fall, but he does stumble and Karma can hear the intake of breath at the sudden pain.
The same device that had been used on Sam is used on her. Only, this time, instead of a steady beeping, the device shrieks. Simmons gives her a look, muttering something to the other people behind him before the teens are suddenly surrounded. Sam and Michaela are taken outside first, followed by a struggling Karma. The teen has to be taken by four different agents, practically being dragged outside.
Karma drops her weight, bringing the agents to the ground with her as she falls. The agents grunt, struggling to bring her back to the blacked out cars. They're quick to shove her inside, attempting to slam the door while she kicks at it.
Unfortunately for Karma, they managed to slam the door shut before she could get back out.
The teen tunes out of the conversation as the cars take off at a not-so-legal speed. She must've been listening enough, because she could easily make out what Simmons said a couple minutes later. Karma scowls as the agent brings up Michaela's father, as well as her past. What he said next was what got Karma's blood boiling.
"Your little girlfriend's a criminal. Criminals are hot." Simmons' eyes roam over the older teen's body, a dark gleam entering them.
Karma snarled, bringing her knee back to her chest before slamming her foot into his jaw. She quickly scoots herself forward, not giving him a chance to breath before she savagely rams her head into his nose. A satisfying crunch and a yell of pain have a wicked grin lighting Karma's face. Blood slowly trickles down from Simmons' nose, staining his white undershirt.
It's another couple minutes, about fifteen, before anything exciting happens. The device from before, sitting almost innocently on the center console starts going wild. Simmons and Sam were arguing, Michaela butting in every now and then when it seemed that the male was getting off track. Karma was the only one to notice both the shrieking of the device and the large blue boot-like foot that slammed down in front of the car.
Silently, Karma braced herself, throwing an arm across the two other teens. The SUV crashed into the foot, airbags deploying on the agents up front. Karma hears Simmons groan as his broken nose once again gets hit. Suddenly, the SUV is in the air, suspended by the large metallic hands that had shoved their way into the car via the roof. The creaking of metal is the only thing to give away that their suspension wouldn't last long.
The others scream as the car drops, landing back onto the ground hard. Looking up, the agents meet the royally pissed off face of one Optimus Prime. Somehow, the boss bot still managed to look regal, even though Karma was sure she could see steam coming off his smoke stacks and from his "nose".
"Gentlemen, and Simmons, I suppose," the agent quickly casts a glare at the teen before a low growl captures his attention to the very angry Autobots. "Meet our friend. Optimus Prime."
"Taking the children was a bad move," The Prime snarls, the roof of the car that had been in his hands now crushed and on the ground beside his feet. "Autobots, relieve them of their weapons."
The Autobots seem to take that as some kind of que, quickly converging on the agents and the teens. Jazz is the one that steps up close to the SUV, one of the saboteur's hands changing into a giant magnet. Guns from the Sector-7 agents' holsters fly from their belts, swiftly attaching themselves to Jazz's magnet hand.
With the agents successfully distracted, and the Autobots taking up a perimeter around the very much totaled car, Sam, Michaela, and Karma all stepped out of the car, watching as the Prime bent down to speak with Simmons. Michaela and Sam walk further away from the Autobots than Karma does, but the teen had a feeling that they needed to talk in private anyways. Instead, the girl makes her way towards Ratchet, the only other Autobot seemingly not doing anything truly important.
Ratchet spots her almost immediately, the medic kneeling, one of his hands resting palm up on the concrete. He's not too sure why he decided to offer his servo, the human probably wouldn't want to be carried in the first place, but he's thoroughly surprised when the small being hesitated only a moment before shrugging and climbing carefully into his servo.
"Hiya. Think you could give me a scan? I think all the "fun" made some of my earlier injuries worse." Karma states calmly.
Nodding, the medic scans the girl, a red beam from his unused wrist module shining over her body. A slight tingle runs up Karma's spine, but it's not overly uncomfortable. The medic hums at the result of the scans, multiple injuries, both new and old, showing in his optic's HUD. Deciding that any of his questions could be asked (and answered) later, Ratchet carefully cut the cuffs from Karma's wrists. Surprising anger races through his brain module, watching as the young teen rubbed at her wrists, bruises already easily seen on her skin.
The anger is swift to leave once the aforementioned teen glances back at him, a small smile lighting her face. Ratchet didn't know why but something about that tiny gesture was so … soothing, it made the anger wash away like a wave from the seas of energon back on Cybertron. Unfortunately, Karma broke her gaze all too soon, going back to silently watching how the agents were manhandled by her cousin and the other female that had accompanied them.
Karma couldn't help but laugh at the situation the agents found themselves in. Simmons, with blood still on his face from the broken nose, had been stripped of his outermost layer of clothing, left in nothing more than a tank top and his boxers. She pulls gently on Ratchet's finger, silently telling him she wanted to get a closer look.
The medic obliges, although, not entirely how she'd wanted. He walks closer, standing with his hip cocked and the hand not holding her sitting on his waistline. The agents look up in slight awe at the red and white medic, staring in shock at the ever-so-small human that had no issues sitting in his hand. With the attention on her, Karma couldn't help but hold her head slightly higher, her back straightening ever so slightly.
The other two teens had just started interrogating the agents, well trying to at least, when a glimmer caught Karma's attention. Leaning over the ledge that was Ratchet's hand slightly, Karma's eyes narrowed before widening.
"Make this quick y'all! One of 'em's got a phone!" She yelled down, quickly asking her living perch to set her on the ground.
Once she was settled, Karma made her way to the agents, snatching the phone from the lackey's hand. The man goes to try and call out, but Karma snaps her fist back, hitting him in the throat. Huh. Lucky shot. The lackey coughs while Karma walks away, throwing the phone to the ground, slamming her heel into it, effectively crushing the device.
Suddenly, Ironhide calls out, flipping himself down to the lower level from where he'd been lurking, a bright blue energy wave coming from one of his cannons that sat just above his hand. Blacked out vehicles come swerving to a stop, something from the blast acting like an EMP of sorts. Karma ran towards her cousin and Michaela, quickly getting them to Ironhide, not giving them a choice but to get inside the truck.
Karma doesn't have enough time to get in herself, instead being swept up by Optimus. The Prime starts running, weaving in and out of shocked traffic, trying his best to stay out of the line of sight of the other humans on the road. Karma could hear the beating of the helicopter blades behind them, a bright light shining across the city, searching for them.
Prime swiftly makes his way under a bridge that stood guard over a rain canal, climbing up under it carefully. Karma sat perched on one of his shoulders, a hand wrapped around one of his smoke stacks. The beating of the helicopter fades back into Karma's hearing range, the teen's blue eyes narrowing, watching as the copter passes under them.
The next moments seem to happen in slow motion. Prime jerks, trying to keep his feet on the base of the bridge. Karma stumbles, her hands too sweaty to regain their grip. Gravity takes control of her and suddenly she's falling through the air, watching as the ground gets ever closer.
Karma's sudden descent is stopped by a large metal hand. Her breath leaves her in a gasp, leaving her clutching at her ribs. Screeching comes from below her, her eyes watering at the ungodly noise. Looking down, Karma meets the bright blue optics of Bumblebee, her cousin's guardian holding her protectively in his palm. None of the other Autobots are around.
Bee carefully puts the teen on the ground before rising to his full height, bringing his arms up in a fighting stance, but not doing anything as the Sector-7 goons skid to a stop. Bee walks forward, his arms still raised, but this time in a more placating manor. He just makes sure that they can't reach Karma, radio clips coming through his speakers with static lacing them. Karma takes the static and runs with it, acting as though that was the reason the teen stayed where the scout had left her.
Sometimes, Karma was too stubborn for her own good.
Agents start to surround the scout, guns pointed at him. Before Karma can so much as try and run towards the youngest Autobot, someone tackles her from behind, throwing her to the concrete. She yells, a shout of pain coming from her as her wounds from earlier get re-opened. She scrambles with the agent on top of her. Karma shoves herself to her elbows, getting her feet under her slightly. Grunting, the teen throws her weight back, twisting in the slightly looser grip of the agent.
Karma gets just enough leverage to get an arm loose, and that's all she needed. The teen shoves her elbow back, feeling the soft tissue of the agent's throat. The man starts choking. Taking that opportunity, Karma wrestles from his grasp, standing and slamming her boot into his skull, watching as the consciousness faded from his eyes.
Huffing, she ran towards Bee, lunging at one of the guards that was spraying the poor scout with liquid nitrogen. She easily threw the unsuspecting man to the ground, throwing punch after punch. Another agent tries to run up behind her, but somehow, she manages to throw the much larger body over her shoulder, slamming her heel into his jaw, hearing the satisfying crunch of the breaking of bone.
She manages to fight her way to the front lines, getting so close to Bee, but it's still too far. Someone grabs at her arms, dragging them behind her back before kicking her knees out from under her. She lands on the ground with a harsh grunt, the breath being knocked out of her for the third time that night. Karma tries to fight, but a pinching against her neck makes her start to feel fuzzy.
Soon, the teen starts to lose function of her arms, quickly followed by her legs. She tries to stand, but she ends up collapsing, her vision going foggy in the corners. The last thing Karma registers in her blackening eyeline is Bumblebee, the scout crying out as the remaining agents continue to spray him.
Out in the shadows stood an imposing figure, quickly making his way back to the street, the familiar sound of transforming reaching his audio receptors. The motorcycle, with a male figure astride its saddle, quickly skids out from the alleyway. The Renegade had seen everything. He needed to get that human back. And if that meant helping the Autobots, then so be it. He tried to stay neutral in this Primus forsaken war, but it would seem that had come to a violent close.