Shadowfire

Chapter 28

"Hide-" I murmured, reaching out. Optimus stopped me.
"Shadowfire" I looked towards him briefly, then returned my attention to my sparkmate "you were going to destroy the Pillar, did you not know-"
"I knew" I said, meeting his gaze evenly, refusing to bow my head "I knew and I'd do it if I have to. I- I thought you were dead, I thought you were all dead" and then I was running to Hide and he was holding me in his arms, servos lightly stroking my helm, the contact reassuring us both.
"That is no reason to-" but I had stopped paying attention as Ironhide whispered close to my audio receptor.
"I thought we were going to die, when the shuttle blew up it was pure luck that we hadn't gone up into the main part of the ship yet"
"You really nearly died?" Horror flooded my circuits, I had thought it to be a ploy, a decoy to lure the traitorous humans into a false sense of security, but if it had been real- I gripped 'Hide tighter, ever so grateful to Primus that I hadn't really lost him.
"-dowfire!" My attention snapped back to Optimus, who was staring at me angrily, I bit back my surprise- it was a rare occasion for Optimus to be actually moved to anger "You were going to kill all these people!"
"Humans aren't worth our protection, it's their fault-"
"Do not blame them for my mistake!" The Autobot leader thundered "we will talk about this later. Head into the city, we will defend the humans. Autobots roll out"

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When I entered the carnage of Chicago I realised what Sentinel meant about his death not stopping the destruction, the city was in shambles, he may not have had time to activate the Pillars, but in calling and unleashing the Fallen's beast-like personal devotees he had doomed the human metropolis regardless. It was no great loss, let this be a lesson to the human governments- they needed the Autobots, but we didn't need them, they wanted us gone? Fine, let them all be killed.

But Optimus didn't agree, so I held back from voicing my opinion and instead dove headlong into the fray, there would be plenty of time to argue about what to do after the battle.

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"Leah, you need to get here right now, I've found where they're keeping Kayla, Lennox and Epps are here but we need heavier backup, there's a vulture 'con-"
"Sam! Wh-"
"Hancock Centre!"
"Sam it's not that easy, I'm in the middle of a battle"
"Hurry"

I sighed, dodging a volley of cannon fire as I transformed into my alt mode and began tearing towards the building, Hide trailing me.

It wasn't hard for the two of us to find the right place, it was the only building that wasn't yet on fire, stumbling onto the scene of a bizarre Mexican stand off. A human male had Kayla tied to a chair, flanked by three personal security guards- easy for a money man like Gould to acquire, her makeup was smudged and she looked close to tears as the male stroked her hair and neck, but she hadn't let them fall. Sam, my father and my uncle faced the pair, guns drawn, but held at bay by the pistol the man was pressing into Kayla's temple, and Lazerbeak's weapons system that was trained on them.

The man, oblivious to our arrival, continued monologuing, enjoying his power trip.

"They will keep some of us around as slaves of course"
"And you'll rule them in their stead I suppose" Kayla sniped
"Someone has to"
"Your information is outdated" I said, gaining everyone's attention. Sam sagged in relief "Sentinel has been deposed, Starscream rules the Decepticons now, as he should have been since my- since Megatron's death"
"Impossible" the man scoffed "the old Prime isn't dead" I grinned, a faded facsimile of how the action was meant to look
"O contraire, I detached his spark myself" I boasted.
Suddenly, several things happened at once. Lazerbeak launched himself at me, shrieking in rabid rage, and Ironhide stepped forwards to intercept him, Kayla lashed out at the man- kicking him as hard as she could from her position, and then launching herself bodily as far away as she could get, the chair coming along for the ride. As soon as they had a clear shot, Lennox and Epps opened fire, the rent-a-cops sending a volley back at the soldiers, but the man doubled over in pain from Kayla's attack at the exact moment needed to avoid the rounds. Realising that his life was in danger, he quickly took cover as the soldiers went to cover Sam, who ran to the fallen girl.