Return of the Autobots, Ch. 13

Chapter Thirteen

Immediately Iris's eyes began darting frantically around the lot before settling on a red motorbike. She ran up to it and started messing with wires without really knowing what she was planning on doing once she made it run. When a successful purr erupted from the engine, the girl pulled the Cube shards from her pocket and extended them to Jolt.

"I advise you hold onto these."

"And where in the AllSpark do you think YOU'RE going?" the bot retorted. "They're ten times your size. Hell, WE'RE ten times your size! Do you expect us to just stand aside and let you—"

"Jolt, Bumblebee!" Ratchet's voice materialized over the Autobot comm. link frequency. "I'm headed your way! Are you and the human still together?"

"This human has a name!" Iris shouted up, but doubted that the medic heard her.

Bumblebee answered via his radio. "We're all in one piece, major." The title was wrong, but the message was the same regardless.

"Optimus has ordered that you fall back. Advise your location and I will rendezvous."

As Jolt began relaying their coordinates, Iris kicked the bike into gear and sped off along the roadside, clouds of dirt leaving a trail behind her. She thought she heard one of the two transform and follow, but didn't stop to see who. If she dared to glance, she ran the risk of either crashing or allowing the chaser to catch up.

It wasn't long before a massive gear mill came into view, one tall enough to tower over the tallest Transformer – who happened to be the dump truck Con that she and Bumblebee had encountered several days ago. He'd escaped the power lines and was now locked in a fight with Optimus Prime.

The Autobot leader was doing fine fighting one on one, but it was clear to Iris that Long Haul's advantage in size and brute strength held the potential to overtake the Prime. For now, however, he was holding his own. And even if he hadn't been, Sideswipe was otherwise occupied with his own battle, fighting against a teal Decepticon with plane wings folded against his back. However, unlike the difference in height between Optimus and Long Haul, Sideswipe's opponent was about the same stature as himself.

And as if that was not bad enough, the planes from before – Jolt had called them 'Eradicons' – were firing at the two Autobots from the safety of the sky.

Iris continued on, heading up a ramp and into the mill. She navigated her way through the various machinery that had been left behind, floor after floor with rapid succession as she aimed for the top of the mill. By the time she had reached it, the fight between Optimus and Long Haul was beginning in tip in favor of the Con, even despite the fact that the Prime was attacking with as much vigor as he had been from the beginning. It was the Decepticon who was getting stronger. Blow after blow, he was very slowly and painstakingly managing to chip away at what strength the Autobot leader had left. The Decepticon, though relying on brute strength, seemed to be doing some precise aiming. Each attack followed a pattern, every single one aimed for the exact same spot.

Optimus's chest plates.

Occasionally the Con would manage to land a hit on its desired target, but that wasn't as often as Iris was sure he would like.

As it turned out, Bumblebee had been the one to follow her. Just as the Decepticon had found an optimal opening, the Autobot scout launched himself through the air, switching forms mid lunge, and threw himself at Long Haul. Bee may have been small, but at the speed he was going, it would have been enough to knock any bot off of his feet. The Decepticon went spiraling into the side of the mill, saving Optimus from what may very well have been a fatal injury, considering the hits he'd taken already. The scout and leader exchanged the swiftest of nods before they both were caught back up in the battle fray.

Two new bots had shown up now, and both were apparently significant enough to warrant both Ratchet – who, as it turned out, had never had the chance to leave the battlefield – and Optimus's attention. But it was Ratchet who spoke first.

"Knockout," he snarled.

The red Con known as Knockout grinned, executing the politest of bows. "Optimus Prime. What an honor!" he said sarcastically, but somehow with a sense of grace, "It must be my lucky day."

"Perhaps," Optimus answered.

The easy reply threw Knockout off for a moment before he ran himself into a quick recovery. The Decepticon standing next to him, a gray and blue bot with an orange face, stared at them through yellow tinted optics and was clearly displeased at being dismissed so easily. While this was not the case, as Autobots had been trained to take in every opponent and never underestimate a one, the thought of being ignored was enough to worsen the Con's mood.

Knockout recognized this.

"Easy now Breakdown. You'll have your chance at them."

Breakdown huffed. "I ain't waiting for them to make the first strike," he snapped back and charged.

His charge was disrupted by a determined Bumblebee, who was hell bent on making sure that the Decepticons did not gang up on his leader. While he could help it, he wouldn't ever let a comrade be killed in front of him.

By now Long Haul had recovered from the surprise attack he'd suffered at the scout's hands and was eager for revenge. Sideswipe, who had snuffed the spark of his opponent (a Decepticon Seeker known as Thundercracker), was instantly at Optimus's side and they took the massive Con on together while Bumblebee handled Breakdown.

Knockout watched the scene unfold, the picture of calm as if none of this bothered him. He even smiled a bit when Bumblebee managed to land a blow on his opponent's shoulder. Of course, Breakdown countered with several strikes of his own, nearly cracking open Bee's side.

Iris watched the scene unfold from where she and the motorbike sat on the top floor, silently pleading that everyone made it out of this fight alright. Optimus had taken one hit too many to his chest cavity and was now on the defensive. Bumblebee was managing to keep the playing field level with Breakdown, but the odds were constantly shifting. Sideswipe was barreling into Long Haul over and over, hoping to land a successful hit. Ratchet looked to be doing the best out of them all, keeping his distance as best he could.

And suddenly, Iris came up with something she could do to help.



I understand it now.

It should have been obvious to me before, but I somehow I couldn't see it. I know now what the Decepticons are truly after, and a good idea has formed in my head of who is running their show.

How have I been so blind until now?

I focus back on Long Haul, who is determined to rip Sideswipe apart. Trading an Energon sword for an ion blaster, I begin shooting away at Long Haul's joints, aiming first for the legs and then for the arms. All the while, I am avoiding hitting Sideswipe by accident as he weaves in and out of Long Haul's diminishing range.

But Long Haul is battle hardened, and a few lucky hits aren't enough to down him.
An out of place sound catches my attention, and I look up in enough to see the human girl launch through the air on a motorbike, leaping off the vehicular instrument at the last second. The first thought that crosses my mind is what she could possibly be thinking. She has no business entering a fight such as this, as her safety is important to us all, and something I am not willing to risk.

However, I am not the only one to notice this event. Long Haul turns his optics to find the source of the new noise, and the bike collides with his partially destroyed Spark chamber. As small an explosion as the vehicle causes, it is enough to down the Decepticon and he falls after one more fatal strike from Sideswipe.

Bumblebee, who had downed Breakdown, is another one to take notice of Iris's brave move, and turns from the fight to reach and catch her as she nears ground level. She looks up at him with a smile, happy that she could be of some use before allowing the scout to set her down so that he can fight once more. She hides in an alcove on the mill's first floor, out of sight and out of range.

Knockout finally decides to enter the battle himself, catching Bumblebee from behind. Knockout is rested and fresh for a fight, and unfortunately my young follower does not have that asset, and the Decepticon easily overpowers him.

And as I watch, unable to get to him in time, Knockout drives a salvaged steel rod through Bumblebee's Spark chamber.



Iris nearly leapt from her hiding spot when Bumblebee was skewered. Her eyes were wide. Her breath was short, if it could even be called breathing. Her mouth was open in shock and tears were already forming in the corners of her eyes. Bumblebee crashed down, Knockout standing over him triumphantly, a smug look on his face that made her long even more so for the ability to defend her friends and punch a dent into the Decepticon's face.

When Knockout twisted the killing tool in his enemy's wound, Iris lost her cool. She bolted from where she had been concealed, making a beeline – pun not intended – for her fallen friend.

She suddenly found her legs standing on empty air, glancing around wildly to find that Optimus had seen her run and scooped her up in his free hand, holding her close to him for protection. She wanted to scream at him to let her go, but knew that it wouldn't do her much good. So instead, she faced the terrifying scene in front of her.

"BUMBLEBEE! GET UP!" she screeched. "Get up and fight him!! PLEASE!"



The girl's cries do not fall on deaf ears.

Bumblebee reaches up defiantly, despite his injury, and throws Knockout off of him, tossing the Decepticon into the second floor of the mill. He stands and looks at me and for a moment allows himself to turn his back to enemy.

"Run," he rasps in his own voice, his optics flickering between me and the human girl in my grasp. I see what he is implying should happen.

He intends to hold them off while we escape.

I wait, unsure if I can force myself to abandon the scout a second time. But as the sky fills more and more with summoned Eradicons, I remember my duty and remember the responsibility I have to respect the wills of my followers. I am a Prime. The totality of that existence is harsh and unforgiving, but it is a burden that has been entrusted to me and one that I alone must carry.

The young Autobot wheels around as Knockout launches himself from his crash point, diving towards Bumblebee with the intent to destroy.

I cannot condone human casualties, and as such am even less tolerant of deaths among those who call me their leader. Bumblebee is young, a survivor of Cybertron's last generation; our planet's legacy. Leaving him to a suicidal mission strikes a chord in my Spark I had long since forgotten I had.

But do we have another choice?

I know the answer is yes, but the outcome of any decision aside from the one Bumblebee has been brave enough to make is grim.

So, I do what I must as Prime.

I order a retreat.

"Fall back!" I yell to the others, and for a brief instant Bumblebee looks relieved that I have chosen to accept his sacrifice before Knockout is on top of him once more.

Ratchet slices through the last grounded Eradicon before assuming alt-form and retreating as I have ordered. Sideswipe, mangled but alive, soon follows suit. I turn and change as well, despite the screams and tearful protests of Iris as she is set in the driver's seat.

"Go back!" she yells at me. "You can't leave him!!"

But I don't listen to her. And soon, her loud cries die down in sobs muffled by her hands.



No one speaks. No one tries to make the situation look any better than what it is. It is all they can do to look to their leader for the guidance they so desperately need. But the kind of consoling direction they are seeking, I cannot give them. I keep the Autobot frequency open to all the life signals of my followers. We stay in silence until, twenty minutes later…

Bumblebee's life signal jumps offline.