Free the drive 2
Meanwhile Sam's parents were not idle. Sam had taught Ron how to use his laptop scanner and printer so they scanned in a recent photo of him and printed off some "Missing" posters, then wrapped up in down coats and put them up on local trees, mailboxes and telegraph poles. While doing this, they bumped into Miles, Sam's friend, coming home from his evening holiday job of stacking shelves, collecting carts and standing at a till at Wal-mart.
"What's going down? Sam's lost?" he said, looking at he posters they were carrying "Sam's out in this snowstorm?"
"Yes, " said Ron, "he went out to clear the path of snow this morning and hasn't returned."
"I wish he'd called me," said, Miles, "we often do it together, shovel snow, and there wasn't much action at work."
"Doesn't seem much point now," he added, looking at the falling snow.
"Wow man that's mental!" Miles exclaimed as thunder rolled and lightning flashed across the sky making rainbow rings round the snowflakes.
"You better come in and have some coffee," said Judy.
So he did, and they found him a turkey burger and a bit of pumpkin pie too, and one of Judy's homemade cookies, which they hadn't had the heart to eat earlier after finding out about Sam. They explained the situation and when they looked up the snow had stopped. They looked out at the still bare white dusky landscape and sighed as they closed the drapes.
"Is there anything I can do?" asked Miles, clutching his coffee.
"You can join the army looking for him if you like," said Ron seeing lights pass the window and hearing the doorbell ring.
Judy got to the door first. It was Will and Epps, and a strange woman carrying a little poodle who barked, jumped on the floor and made friends with Mojo. "Quiet, Ishy!" His owner commanded "Play nicely now!"
"This is Mary Perry," said Epps "she was the last person to see Sam."
"Hi there I'm your new neighbour across the road, I found your boy outside, warmed him up, put him to bed but I could not call 911 immediately as this guy wanted a decision on buying the house. I'm real glad these guys showed up, I'm real sorry I didn't know he'd disappear out the bedroom window."
"Decepticons" explained Epps shortly "The same from Mission City. Enemies of the State. As far as we can tell, Starscream took Sam from the bedroom and Barricade took Mikaela."
"You probably did the best you could," Judy consoled Mary and got her a coffee too.
"Can we use your phone?" said Will "It's a matter of national security now, we've lost Bumblebee and we're looking for Mikaela too."
"Can I help?" asked Miles, "I can check Mikaela's home and I know Sam and Bumblebee." He got out his cell phone hopefully.
"You can go out with us" said Will, "but if it comes to a fight leave the big guys to deal with the big ones. You'll know what I mean if it happens. We found Mikaela's moped and Bumblebee's tire tracks. Barricade has been positively identified." He rang N.E.S.T. HQ.
"And I recognised Starscream's signal and foot- shape." said Epps.
Miles rang Mikaela's home, but sadly she had not returned.
Sam found his hands were tied behind his back with plastic ties and his legs were shackled with chains, one to a staple in the floor, one to a metal ball like a cannon ball. Slime ran down the walls, with water in one corner, and it was cold, damp and stank. He tried scooting over on his ass to drink the water, but it didn't taste very good, and the chains and bonds hurt him. Just as he was getting not to care and nodding off to sleep in spite of everything he heard a cheery whistle, and in came the brown robot with red eyes, with 2 buckets, one full of water, and a gray army blanket.
"Here we are!" he said in a jolly voice, "Standard imprisonment supplies until we decide if you should be tortured first!" He scanned Sam with a green light, "but I am hoping to have you transferred to the med-bay to make sure you're alive for it. I am Dr Syn, your medic."
"Oh like Ratchet don't I get a lawyer?" "You can probably have Swindle or Dead End but I wouldn't advise it."
Sam spluttered "Why would I be tortured? I don't know anything!"
The Medic just shrugged, left the blanket and buckets. Sam wrapped himself in the blanket, drank some water and utilised the other bucket since he did not want to wet his pants, or worse.
Barricade came in and subjected him to strong light, via his front interrogation extending light-claw.
"What is the pass-word for the Autobot base?" he asked.
"I-I don't know! I didn't know there was one!" Sam replied.
"What is the frequency of the force field?"
"I dunno! I'm not a tech-head! You'd have to ask Ironhide or Ratchet for that, Mikaela even, no, not Mikaela, she wouldn't know-"
"Starscream says I can have you in the med bay as long as you're confined", said the Medic, returning and cutting the chains off Sam's legs with a micro-welder. He put an inflatable splint on one, wrapped Sam up in the blanket and carried him into a lighter, warmer area with a human bed in it, and several repair pallets, one with a large wired-up Cybertronian on it.
Barricade shone lights on him, flexed his claws and played recordings of Bumblebee and Mikaela screaming. Sam was horrified to realise they had been captured as well. Barricade offered him pizza and a hot dog, moving them away when Sam reached for them, while asking questions Sam did not know the answers to, or was not in a position to have been informed about.
Outside the three Autobots and three humans had arrived. Miles was amazed to meet some real alien super robots and promised to keep their existence secret.
"Lacking Bumblebee and Jazz we'll have to rely on you and the humans to sneak in," said Optimus Prime to Ironhide. "I will try and cause a distraction. Ratchet, you be back-up!"
He fired his cannon arm over the base.
"Starscream! Come out and fight me like a Cybertronian warrior! We know you have the boy!" he proclaimed in his deep voice.
"It's only an old warehouse and some dilapidated hangars, we could take them by surprise by charging in." suggested Ironhide.
"No," said Will, forcing a small side door, "There's a repair vent in here, we can go in. You first Miles, you're skinny enough, we're right behind you!"
"Optimus Prime! Is that You? Starscream never refuses a challenge!"
came a voice from one of the hangars, and Starscream swooped down just above the Prime's drawn sword, on his other arm. He managed to dodge the cannon arm and claw Optimus's knee servo but the sword caught him on the other arm and scored his wing. He squealed and, firmly believing in self-preservation, jumped back to the H.Q. roof and called in Swindle and Payload to fight Ratchet and Ironhide. "Aid me, my Decepticons!" The struggle was fierce but brief as they could all dodge back into their building, but by then the humans were safely inside.
Shuddering, Will checked that Ironhide was relatively O. K. while Epps checked with Ratchet and Optimus, then they went into radio silence. Miles clutched the only tools he had on him, his pricing gun and Klever Kutter, a plastic device with a mainly blunt blade he used to cut the parcelled-up goods he put on the shelves at Wal-mart.
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"You've got a cracked rib, fractured knee and a superficial head injury," said Dr Syn to the frightened and exhausted Sam. "Mikaela is relatively unscathed, just cut, bruised and frightened. There's a human bathroom here and I can make you food when you're a bit better." He gave Barricade a hard stare. "No more torturing for the next ten hours, and the two humans and the Autobot, who is injured too, are staying here, at least overnight, with no other visitors except Starscream if he wishes." Barricade grumbled in Cybertronian, but brought them in from the cells. "I also am carrying out a difficult medical procedure on Skywarp, so I don't want to be disturbed!"
Once the resentful grounder had left, the medic looked at Sam, Mikaela and Bumblebee and said "Well I can't really deny the Decepticon Leader entry without good reason, can I?"
When he got no reply from Sam, he checked him again, and was alarmed to find the human had fainted.
Mikaela and Bumblebee ran over and tried to wake Sam up.
"Sam!" cried Mikaela, slapping him lightly, "wake up! You're safe now! "It's just Bumblebee and me here!" Bumblebee confirmed this with a concerned warble.
"It's no good! He is out of energy! He needs complete rest and isolation!" said Dr Syn putting Sam into a human bed which had been left for night-watchmen of the warehouse. "And it'll be no good for him if you're dripping energon on him, Autobot, I'd better repair you, you've been tortured too!"
"Let me help, I've done it before!" said Mikaela, "It's okay, Bee, I know your systems compared to a human drone form. I can repair you almost painlessly."
"M'ok, I trust you Mikaela, and the Doc," said Bumblebee, with his limited low non-sound-byte language.
"O.K. said Dr Syn , but don't touch any energon!" as he repaired the Autobot and Mikaela helped him.
Miles, Will and Epps crept through the repair ducts until they could hear recognisable human voices as well as those of robots.
"I know it sounds like we're sending in a civilian to do our dirty work, but you're the best person to go contact Sam and Mikaela, you're their friend," said Will to Miles. "You go out and alert them, any of the hostiles make bad moves on you, we can take them out from here, we got the weapons." Both he and Epps had been equipped with magnesium rocket-launchers, the best weapon for the job, provided they could get them through the spaces in the transforming body armour.
Miles crept out of the repair vent and found himself alone with Sam, Mikaela and a big bronze mech who appeared to be occupied repairing another robot, which after a second he realized was Bumblebee. He cut Sam's plastic wrist bonds with the Klever Kutter. Then he looked up and round for Mikaela.
"Another death'll be bad for my Rep," said Dr Syn. "Sensors'll fail for 10 minutes so you, Bumblebee, can get away with your charge. Send the others via the vent, and you take him and go through the side door!"
Bumblebee understood this, he picked up Sam in the blanket, pointed Mikaela and Miles to the vent and headed for the nearest source of free air.
It all went black as Miles and Mikaela went back up the repair vent with Will and Epps and Bumblebee took Sam out of the side door.
Dropkick, who was supposed to be on guard was in the security room watching 9 security camera screens, which failed for a blip, and missed them because he was also checking out the world wide web, the football and hopping through over a thousand radio and T. V. channels.
"It's cold enough to freeze fuel out there, you wouldn't get me out in it for 2 vorns supply of energon cubes, it's not worth the ice and snow damage and wind risks!" he said. Dead End agreed.
"Whatever," Dead End added, "we're all headed for the scrap-yard anyway," he muttered fatalistically.
"The you-know-where is out there, numb-nuts!" fumed Dropkick, "and I hope I'm not headed there any time soon, at the moment I'd prefer the human hell to our Pit, it sounds warmer!"
Thundercracker was keeping watch overhead, flying high below the frost-lit stars, and excused the flight because all he saw was 2 under -age and one injured young human, one a femme, fleeing with 2 other humans, no weapons fired, no fliers, and heading away from the base. He flew high, shook the ice crystals off his wings and hoped he would be able to snuggle up with his wing brothers soon, as Wreckage , whose alt. was a tank, was taking over, and no one else would be out to try and enter in the early hours of the morning.
Starscream, who was sulking in his warm quarters with some high-grade energon, was happy to welcome Thundercracker back, and Skywarp after his repair procedure, and they cuddled and recharged till daylight.
"I'm sorry they must've got away when the sensors failed.," said Dr Syn to Barricade.
" Slaggit! Well good luck to them in this weather," said Barricade," Megatron's killer has escaped this time, but at least he has felt some of our pain! I don't agree with Starscream on many things, but I think I agree that if we're taking over this frozen mud-ball, we can give them a few tips on coping with climate change!"
He shook himself and scattered slush, mud and grit all over the med-bay. Dr Syn growled, sighed through his vents and set Dead End to clearing it up. At least Dead End would only moan that they were all headed for the scrap-heap anyway, not say "What favour are you going to do for me in return?" or other such backchat.
Miles, Will, Epps and Mikaela crawled through the vents and Bumblebee ran carrying Sam.
Once free of the Decepticon defences he joined Ironhide, Ratchet and Optimus, putting his precious burden carefully down. They transformed. Sam was taken into Ratchet's alt. form and Epps and Mikaela went with him, Will went with Ironhide, Optimus went on his own, and Miles went with Bumblebee. As Sam was unconscious, Miles and Mikaela collected Sam's parents from their home and they all went to the Autobot base.
Sam woke up next day to sunshine and an eggnog drink delivered by Ratchet.
"Hi where am I and what's this stuff?"
"Eggnog. I hear you drink it at this season." said Ratchet sartorially.
"Couldn't I start off with soda, milk or even water?
"Certainly," said the medic. "And you are in my Med-bay, of course, in the Autobot base. And you are not leaving until you are better. No charge. Bumblebee and Mikaela are recovering here as well." He brought Sam the other drinks too. Bumblebee warbled "Hey there."
"Thanks for rescuing me, guys, I guess I got carried away in the confusion of a snowstorm. It's good to hear your cheery voice again Ratchet," Sam added sarcastically. "Can I call Mom and Dad?"
"I'll call them they're next door in the Relative's Rest Room" said Ratchet.
Later in the year, the snow was melting, and Sam was out with Bumblebee at the Look-out but his leg still hurt him. He sank down by Bumblebee, leaning his back against Bumblebee's shiny yellow arm.
"Mikaela says she didn't turn me over, when I was sick in the snow, she was totally fooled by Barricade. And the neighbour said she didn't either. I'm just trying to figure out who did."
"I did Sam," said Bumblebee.
"Thanks pal," Sam buried his face in Bumblebee's shoulder tire. "You saved my life."