I updated! It's a Valentines Day miracle!

"spanish"

::...:: comm links

Cybertronian

Warnings: decepticon death, so... violence.

Chapter 12 : Frantic In The City

Fred glared after the silver mech, but it was half-hearted at best. He really wasn't the type to put a kid in danger regardless of where they were from... Was he so obvious that what was essentially a complete stranger could blackmail him with that?

The jet-former at the fourway let out a strangled scream as Jazz jumped on top of him, clinging to his wings like a violent parody of a piggyback ride.

Danger... yeah... He would have left Loki at the dam, but he honestly trusted that whole sector of dumbasses about as far as he could throw them.

And speaking of the little hellion -

"I know you can understand me, so you better listen very closely. If you run away from me like that again, I am going to be ground you until you grow to Jazz's height, understand? You could have gotten hurt." Purple optics widened, wiry arms held behind the little bot's back as it clicked innocently at him. Well, this conversation was getting nowhere fast.

Glancing up to the skyline, he pin-pointed the most likely building Will would have marked for a drop off. Ah, the tall one with the statues. Gargoyals would have been more poetic, but - eh. Skirting past the odd three-way fight (the police cruiser had seemingly disappeared along with the probably-medic while the jet kept trying to take off only for the dark former-topkick to yank it down by the ankle) he sprinted down the route Sam - and, man, did that kid look tiny running under these guys' peds - had most likely taken.

He had only run a few blocks when a voice that definitely not Loki shouted out.

"Don't come near!"

Pausing and backtracking a few steps, Fred found himself staring at the sight of a rather... odd looking... Boombox-Bot? The little guy stood about hip height, what looked to be speakers forming mini-shields on its forearms and an assortment of colorful buttons going down its chest. Its eyes were peaking out from over a face mask - two glowing spots of deep purple, bordering on red. A squeak drew his attention to just behind the angry looking bot and to another one, trying to blend itself into the other's shadow. Almost a foot shorter, its armor was completely white, optics a light lavender as it clung to the other's back. An X-box?

Fred flinched at the excited squeal that tore into his ear. "Hey, Hey! Friend! Sibling! What you do? I Loki! Why have gun out?" The stereo bot seemed shocked at the nokia-bot's chatter - still rapid speed.

"I have gun out 'cause battle, stupid-bot! Move from squishy-thing. I shoot!"

Loki's shoulder weapons abruptly whirred online. "NO! BAD! No shoot fleshy-caretaker! You hurt - Loki shoots! BANG!" A translator, Fred thought dryly, would be really helpful right about now. Unfortunately, since all those who could were currently trying not to get killed (as the loud rumbling around him suggested), all the young man could do was watch the odd clicking, screeching shouting match and make sure the children - "sparklings" Jazz had said - didn't harm eachother.

"Caretaker? How fleshy-thing caretaker?" The Xbox bot's vocals wavered, but it shuffled out from behind the taller bot a bit, optics focusing on Fred now.

"There bad fleshies in dark place - fleshy-caretaker there when Loki wake - let Loki out and hid Loki and let out Buggy Bot!" The little cell phone bot had put away its cannons, vocals pitching higher. "Caretaker give Loki Loki's name!"

Seeing that all three mini-bots had reached some sort of agreement, Fred cleared his throat causing the two bigger ones to flinch, though it was noticeably smaller and didn't have them pulling out weapons. "Hey there. Are you two calm now?" The white bot gave a small nod. "Alright, we need to move - "

A loud crash sounded from the far end of the alley causing the odd group of four to pull out their guns. Said weapons were dropped almost immediately after hearing yet another squeaky voice.

"Wh-who the-ere? I-I can crush! Out! I crush!" Exchanging a look with the little bot on his shoulder, the only human on the street gave a put-upon sigh.

"Welcome to Fred's alien babysitting service. Now taking new applicants."

As he watched Sam's small, bruised form running down the street with Ironhide and Ratchet on either side of him, Bumblebee couldn't help but feel utterly useless. The battle had barely begun before his legs were blown off at the knee, rendering his mobility to nothing. A new record among decepticon battles, he was sure. Aside from that, Jazz had once again up and disappeared after being tossed into one of the buildings, the human soldiers had to pick up on defense with their tiny weaponry, and Optimus had yet to catch up with them.

And there was Sam, his ward, running for his life with the Allspark in his tiny servos.

After a good few minutes of slumping dejectedly in the tow truck's bed, the scout decided that mentally kicking himself with his non-existent legs was counterproductive. He still had a working cannon and Mikaela was with him - driving him - in her and Sam's own way of protecting him. The nagging thought that he was supposed to be their guardian was stubbornly ignored until the battle was over.

Speaking of the girl, not a klik later, she halted the truck in an alleyway. A glance over his shoulder and into the cab revealed her to be bashing her soft helm against the wheel, a low growling coming from her throat. Hmm. That was not a response he had encountered before.

The girl froze a moment before jerking around to face him. Red rimmed blue eyes abruptly found his own and he knew. She did not want to leave. Would not run any further even though she had obviously never been in battle before. She had her resolve. But she did not have a weapon as he did, only an uncanny ability to out drive some lesser bots. And Bumblebee needed legs...

Yellow paint dented and charred and missing his legs, he searched her face a moment longer and nodded, battle mask falling firmly over his face. Mikaela grinned, a fierce look which bared all her teeth at him.

Shifting gears, she backed them out of the alley and maneuvered the truck so that Bumblebee was facing the human soldiers' fight.

"You can still shoot, right?" He answered her by re-configuring his servo into a cannon, an audio clip belting out.

" - say hello to my little friend - " She gave another grin and hit the gas, easily weaving through the debris covered street. Brawl was turned away enough for them to move into range without the brute's notice, Bumblebee's cannon sending him to his knees. Quickly judging the remaining distance, the scout alternated firing off shots and sending his current "legs" warnings of where to move to avoid the return fire and falling rubble.

A shot from one of the human soldiers blinded the decepticon and allowed him to blow a hole straight through his chassis; a final, crackling scream ringing out.

Mikaela brought them to a screeching halt just before the smoldering frame. Definitely dead. The small girl slid from the truck to stand beside him, kicking a broken stone at the dead metal.

Bumblebee kept his cannon out and humming as he hunched his shoulders a bit to peer into the storefront where a group of dirt covered heads were looking out. An older man, the one that had yelled at Sam, appeared to ignore him in favor of giving Mikaela a look somewhere between angry and amazed as he stepped toward her. Giving him a faint smile, she move to meet the soldier.

"Nice shot, Bee."

There were a great many things that could have been said when the Autobot and Decepticon leaders finally met after some thousands of years of separation. In fact, if the two had not been the great leaders and enemies that they were, the reunion could have been a happy one. As it was, when red optics met blue, it was as though no time had passed at all and both mechs were colliding in a chaotic thunder of servos, swords, and, before it was ripped off and lost among the rubble, a fusion cannon.

It was at that point, in the effort of disarming the larger mech, that Optimus Prime found himself slammed bodily into one of the smaller human buildings hard enough to have it collapse onto his bulk and cause his circuits to stutter long enough for Megatron to flee from sight.

Heaving off the rubble pinning him down, Optimus quickly stood, sensors set on the larger decepticon's unique signature... farther away than he thought. Quickly heading toward the signal he contacted Ironhide's frequency.

::Alright, Prime?:: Heavy ex-vents could be heard through the transmission.

::Well enough. Where is Sam?::

::Headin' to the building with statues on its roof.:: Ironhide's vocals cut off, a screech of blaster fire crackling through. ::Blast it - Megatron's followin' 'im! Starscream's keeping me and Jazz occupied here. Where are ya?::

Optimus allowed himself only a short burst of relief at the mention of Jazz. ::On my way.:: Cutting the link, he swung himself up onto a rooftop, beginning a shaky race atop the city structures as he moved toward the tall building designated as the drop off. He'd have to apologize for the amount of damage being done to this settlement. It was by Primus' grace there were no civilians in the city or casualties would be far too high for his liking.

Scanning the skies, he could just see a trio of helicopters circling the building, a small movement bringing his attention to a figure he assumed to be Sam running along the rooftop. There was only a moment for him to wonder why he couldn't see the decepticon leader before a badly dented Barricade appeared on top of an adjacent building, Megatron's fusion cannon - and how did the scout get that? - shooting off just as the humans were pulling in.

Ducking to avoid the fiery blaze of falling metal, he growled as Megatron finally burst out from inside the building. "Hold on, Sam!"

Judging the distance, Optimus flung himself at a neighboring structure, digging his digits into the stone as his peds gained foothold in the larger skyscraper. Distributing his weight, he began an unstable - and undignified if Ironhide were there to comment - shuffle upward to reach where he could hear Megatron's rumbling vocals.

His spark gave a jolt when the roof suddenly crumbled, blowing great chunks of concrete out and downward along with the very fragile form of Sam - small servos still gripping the Allspark to his chest.

Quickly twisting, he maneuvered himself up to catch the boy, mindful not to stop his decent too quickly and to not allow his head to hit anything. "I got you, boy."

Panicked green eyes found his own, organic pump beating rapidly. A glance skyward revealed a pair of smoldering red optics glaring down at him. Purposefully holding the boy against his chassis, shielded by his servo, he let go, rapidly scrapping down the stone walls, destroying windows and metal scaffolds in his wake.

Abruptly, he lost all footing, the heavy bulk of Megatron crashing into him. Curling inwards, the Prime shifted so that his frame would take most of the impact, only a grunt hinting at the damage dealt by the fall.

Fig felt as though he were going to burst, not just because of the tank-robot which the little girl and her legless guardian-robot killed or even the helicopter-robot that had landed on a nearby building. No. He was panicking over the stupid little idiot mechanic he had the misfortune of having wormed under his skin. After the first blast from alien-jet fire, he hadn't seen a wisp of the kid and hair that fiercely red was pretty damn hard to miss.

Out of everyone in this little squad, Fig had known the kid the longest - even before Will had picked him up. It was all the way back at a boot camp he'd been commissioned to in order to help organize the mess a previous commander had made of the place. Fred had just signed up then: still teenager-built, hair completely shaved off and no sign of the metal now openly displayed on his brow. One of the few newbies he could stand, actually (though it did help that he could speak some spanish.)

It also happened by Fig's own suggestion that the little brat was able to rank into a higher position and work with the more advanced vehicles. A few years later, Will comes strolling in all smug bragging about a new squad member and what do you know? Right behind him walked in that scrappy twig; more filled out, a few inches taller, hair grown out like a wildfire, and a shiny new piercing decorating his face.

Why the 21 year old, supposedly new teammate was calling him 'Cookie' took a bit of explaining, though.

Refocusing (and ignoring the slowly building burn from his leg as the pain suppressor wore off) Fig followed after his captain and comrades as they made their way to the main fight: Megatron verses... Optimism? The drop off had failed spectacularly, too, so they would have to keep an eye out for the civilian boy Fritz had called Sam. None of them wanted the weight of a kid's death on their hands; one of the reasons Will was so short with the girl about hiding. Fat lotta good that did. Hell of a driver, though; probably had to hot-wire that truck, too.

"Shit." Epps' pitched hiss was only somewhat responsible for drawing his attention. The rather large thud of the helicoptor-robot that had attacked base landing not 10 feet in front of them was much more noticeable. Eli tensed up beside him, a look of seething fury settling on his normally soft features. Fig couldn't blame him; the rest of them had at least one teammate up and moving.

"Blackhawks, ETA. Echo - "

Author's Note

Yeah, short and sporadic chapter today, sorry. Optimus especially didn't want to be written.

The end is near... sort of.

ABOUT GEORGE AND HARRY : these two will make an "appearance" after the battle at some point, but I will not specify anything more than that, okay? And, yes, I am evil.