"No..."
Ratchet stared down at his friend and leader, how could this happen? He felt his spark clenching painfully. How many more did they have to lose in this war? How many more?! He turned his gaze to Lydia who stayed crying by Optimus's helm, her small arms holding whatever she could in a desperate hug. "Lydia..."
Ironhide, Jazz, Barricade, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe had gone after the fleeing cons in a fury while Ratchet, the Chevy twins, and Jolt stayed behind, Bumblebee would be arriving soon with the other two humans.
"I'm dreaming right? Right Ratchet? This is all a horrible dream..." She pleaded with him.
"No." He vented. "This is not a dream... but it is a nightmare."
Lydia shook her head, why did Optimus have to die? She heard the screeching of tires as Bee arrived, his door opening for Miles and Leo to hop out. "We have to go!"
"No..." She didn't want to leave him...
"Lydia, now." Ratchet ordered as he picked her up, quickly transforming around her and into his alt mode as Jolt did scans upon Optimus's body.
"No Ratchet! We can't leave him!" She cried. "Why are we leaving?"
"The Decepticons are after you Lydia, we must get you to safety." Ratchet replied as he sped off, taking the lead with Skids, Mudflap, and Bee behind him. They would have to go into hiding.
...
...
...
"What we are hearing from the German government is, that the world broadcast was a satellite hacking. The military has just told us they have assumed code delta, which is the highest level we have been at since Nine-Eleven. President Obama is being flown to a bunker somewhere in the middle of the United states in the face of the worst simultaneous attacks ever around the globe. The aircraft carrier USS Roosevelt goes down off the East Coast, all hands lost. Worldwide casualties are in the neighborhood of seven thousand, but that number could climb. It's too early to tell. What we need to ask now is, Who and Why?" A broadcast plays on Leo's cell phone. "The FBI is still trying to locate the girl, Lydia Witwicky. We believe they have information about the attacks. The FBI, CIA and Interpol are all seeking the cooperation of worldwide law enforcement."
"Hey chika, you listening to this?" Leo called over to Lydia who sat curled against the wall with her head on her knees, Ratchet was off on a com with Jolt and the others. Miles was talking silently with Bumblebee and the Chevy twins were scouting the area. "They have a traffic-camera spotting Lydia and- They have a picture of me?! Man, We're dead bro! FBI, CIA we are wanted fugitives now! I just need you to focus for a minute." Leo ran down the steps towards Lydia.
"Shut up Leo." Miles snapped.
"This thing has blown up to a whole nother level, Arlight?" Leo continued.
"Give me this!" Lydia finally snapped as she swiped the phone from Leo's grasp and threw it to the floor. "They can track us."
"W-What? They can track us? Like, satellite track us? Okay, I'm not even with you guys! Technically, I'm like a hostage." Leo sputtered. "This is kidnapping!"
"Yo, Le-yo!" Skids came in.
"Those things are gunna give me a heart-attack, I swear."
"They are not THINGS!" Lydia shoved Leo down. "And They are my brothers."
"That's cuz yous a wuss." Mudflap retorts.
"You guys forced me into that car, right, so-"
"Ohh I think He's scared." Mudflap laughed to Skids who jumped from the wall he was perched upon.
"Hey, Mudflap, what we gunna do with this shrimp taco?" Skids asks his brother.
"Let's pop a cap in his ass, throw em in the trunk and then aint noboddy gunna know nothing! know what I mean?"
"Not my trunk."
"Yo, bumper cars." Leo called.
"Bumper cars?"
"Cut it out, I'm hearing you, alright? I'm right here and I can hear you, no one's popping any caps in any asses okay? I've had a hell of a day!"
"Why don't yous go get a hair cut with yo bitch ass?" Skids fired back.
"Go whine to yo boyfriend." Mudflap finished.
"Listen, Lydia, I know what I'm gunna do, man. Look, I'm just gunna go to the authorities and tell them the truth. Like, I had nothing to do with this so I'm not an accomplice." Leo looked to Lydia.
"Hey, you wanted this right? You wanted the real deal? Well, HERE IS THE REAL EFFING DEAL! Wake the hell up Leo! You're in the middle of this! You wanna run like the little coward you are? Then go! No one's stopping you. Just make up your mind, shut up, and stop complaining!" Lydia huffed and puffed.
She had it with him, oh HE had a hell of a day? Right.
"You okay?" Miles frowned to Lydia who nodded. "There's nothing you could have done."
Lydia looked to the ground in sorrow. She turned to Ratchet who had returned with Bumblebee and felt her eyes prick. "Ratchet... Bee... if you hate me I understand."
The two bots look startled.
"Lydia." Ratchet started softly. "I could never hate you. You are the one I care about the most."
"If there's anything you need, we wont be far." Bumblebee finished.
"B-but he's dead because of me..." Lydia teared up. "He came here to- to protect me and he's dead."
"There's some things you just cant change. So, his sacrifice for us would not have been in vain."
"I'm going to make it right." She muttered hollowly, "I'm going to turn myself in."
"No!" Ratchet denied.
"We- We've got to stick together." Bee told her.
"Your not going to do that." Ratchet, now in his holoform, said sternly as he made her look at him.
"Yes I am." She mumbled.
"Lydia, Everything we've worked for will be wiped out, in one day."
She thought for a moment as she stared into Ratchets blue eyes before an Idea hit her. "Ratchet."
"Hm?"
"These, the symbols that have been in my head, do you know them?"
"That's very ancient." Ratchet blinked in shock. "That is Cybertronian, this is very serious."
"They have to mean something Ratchet, like a message or a map to an Energon source. Can you read it?"
"Hmm." Ratchet narrowed his eyes in concentration. "I'm sorry but no. This is the language of the Primes, before even my time."
"If you can't read it, we have to find someone who can..." Lydia mumbled just as Leo came back in.
"Look who came sashaying back." Skids taunted.
"Hair growing like a Chia pet. Look at em, look at that." Mudlfap laughed.
"I had a bit of a mild panic attack earlier, alright?" Leo grumbled.
"That's cause yous a pussy." Mudflap retorted.
"I think I'm allowed that, considering what I've been through. Anyway, I heard you have a problem. I think I know who can help." Leo told Lydia.
"Who?"
"Robo-warrior."
...
...
...
"A Deli?" Miles glared at Leo.
"Hey, Hey, this is where he is alright? Look, look!" Leo led them inside the building and pointed at a familiar man who was yelling at one of the workers. "That's him! Robo-warrior. That's the guy right there!"
"No." The man groaned at the sight of them.
"You've got to be kidding me..." Miles glared.
"Simmons?" Lydia blinked in shock.
"All right! Meat store is closed! Everyone out!" Simmons barked, his mother, or Lydia assumed it was his mother, copied him and was shooing everyone out.
"Wait, you know this guy?"
"Oh yeah." Miles drawled. "We're old friends."
"Old friends? YOU lot are the case that shut down Sector Seven, got the kibosh disbanded. No more security clearance, no retirement, no nothing. All 'cause you and your little friend here. Well, Her I can stand." He muttered.
"Moron! Where is the whitefish?" His mom suddenly shouts at a guy.
"Hey! Don't touch me with pig!"
"Yakov!"
"What?"
"You don't get Christmas bonuses standing around. You want those new teeth you saw on Sky Mall?" Simmons asks him seriously.
"Is my dream."
"Help her out." Simmons ordered before turning back to the group before him. "I didn't get your name." He pointed to Ratchet.
"Ryan Chett."
"You live with your mama?" Miles sneered.
"No. My mama lives with me. It's a big difference. They've got your face all over the news alien girl."
"I know..."
"And N.B.E.-One still kicking huh? How did that happen? Actually don't answer that, I don't want to know what your hiding. Shoo, go on, you never saw me. I have Bagels to smear."
"Please, I need your help." Lydia stepped up closer.
"Really? You need my help?"
"I just- Look, I am slowly losing my mind. Okay? I had a little crab like bot plunge some device deep into the soft tissues of my brain and it projected itty bitty alien symbols like a flipping home movie! To top it off I'm a wanted fugitive." She pulled at her hair in frustration.
"... you said it projected images off of your brain?"
"Right."
"Meat lover, now!" Simmons ordered.
The group followed after him and into his... meat locker where dead pigs hung.
"Eyuch." Lydia winced as she looked at them.
"Swine flu, not good."
"Shut up Leo."
"What you are about to see is top secret!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"... Don't tell my mother." Simmons finished before opening a secret door. "Now you know, next time you eat goat or a pig there is a story behind it. Saaad little story." Simmons told Leo before leading them down a ladder and into a secret room and then into an office of sorts STACKED with papers.
"Okay, files, files. We're talkin about symbols. okay, Cube-brain. Any of these look like the ones you saw?"
"Yes," Lydia breathed in shock. "Where did you get these?"
Simmons climbed up file cabinets to get to more papers. "Before I got fired, I poached their crown jewel! Over seventy five years worth of alien research, which points to one inescapable fact. The Transformers, they've been here a long time. How do I know? Archaeologists found these unexplained markings in ancient ruins all over the world. China, Egypt, Greece, shot in 1932. These the symbols you see in your head?" Simmons asks as he lays down more pictures.
"Yes." She replied.
"And same here yeah? So tell me, how did they end up all drawing the same things? Aliens, and I think some of them stayed. Check this out. Project; Black Knife, Robots in disguise. Hiding here all along, we detected radioactive signatures all across the country. I pleaded on my knees with them to investigate it but they said the readings were infinitesimal and that... that I was obsessed! Me. Can you imagine that?"
"Well your certainly passionate about all this... but Megatron, he said that there was another Energon source here." Lydia told him.
"Here... on- on earth?"
"On earth."
"Another source..."
"Okay, and these symbols, the maps inside my head would lead him there."
"You talked to your Autobot friends about this?" Simmons asked.
"The language is ancient." Ratchet starts. "The source is before our kind, predates us."
"Us?"
"This is Ratchet," Leo introduced. "Medical officer to the Autobots."
Before Simmons could ask any questions Lydia interrupted. "I'll explain later."
"So it comes before them." He doesn't miss a beat. "Welp! we're porked unless we can talk to a con! I'm not on speaking terms with them."
"A Decepticon?" Lydia murmured, looking out to Bee from the window. "I am..."
"What?" Ratchet looked at her in shock.
Lydia smiled sheepishly before leaving to grab the box Wheelie was in and brought it inside. "This may be a bit sad..."
"Open it." Ratchet glared.
Ohh... she was in trouble...
As soon as she opened the box, Wheelie lunged out while the rest jumped back in alarm. "I will have SO many Decepticons on your butt!"
"Hey!" Lydia growled aggressively, yanking on the chain that was attached to the small bot. "Behave!"
"Easy!" Wheelie put up his servos when he saw the wrench in her back pocket.
"That, that's a Decepticon?" Leo gaped.
"Yes."
"And your what, training him?" Miles asks next.
"Trying to..." She said sheepishly again.
"I've spent my whole life combing the planet for aliens." Simmons trailed off amazed.
"LEMME OFF OF THIS!" Wheelie starts viciously chewing the chain.
"- and your carrying one around in your purse like a frickin little chihuahua?" He finished.
"Huh? Chihuahua?! You wanna throw down you pupic fro-head?" Lydia burst out in giggles, earning a surprised look from the mini bot.
"Okay, 'm sorry about your eye, you know." She started sweetly. "But if your a good boy..."
"Uh-huh? Uh-huh?" Wheelie asks.
"-then I wont rip out the other eye. I wont rip it out." Everyone's twitching by now. "Just tell me what these symbols are."
Wheelie stares at her for a moment before grumbling and kneeling down to get a better look. "Hmm, alright, uh... oh! I know that. That's the language of the primes. I don't read it, heck most cons don't BUT these guys... where the frick did you find photos of these guys?"
"They can read this?"
"Yeah, Seekers pal. Oldest of the old. They've been here for thousands of years looking for something. I don't know what cause' nobody tells me nothing but they'll translate those symbols for you and I know where to find them."
"Show us." Simmons ordered.
Wheelie paused for a moment before activating a small red laser beam upon a map. "Closest one is in Washington."