Ruby - Transformers: Order and Chaos

The Relay

"Oh dear." 

The instruments in Major Lennox's fighter jet screamed at him. He didn't need them to tell him something was on his tail, or that he was about to be attacked. 

The alien jet snaked from side to side, flashing in and out of sight.

"Oh dear oh dear," said Lennox, "He looks angry."

The alarms reached a high squeal as his attacker locked onto him as a target. 

"ARGH!" Lennox cried as he swerved his fighter jet violently round, narrowly avoiding being hit by Megatron's cannon.

Lennox fought to right his jet, fumbling with the controls.

Megatron rushed forward, as if to ram him out of the sky. Lennox dropped a few feet. The alien jet flipped overhead and squealed, the sound keen enough to split Lennox's windscreen.

Lennox could only watch in horror as the alien jet partially transformed, panels slithering over one another like liquid. 

"What is he doing!?" he cried.

He slammed his palms into the controls of his jet and spiralled upwards, then back on himself, back towards the facility. The alien jet followed with impeccable accuracy, gaining on him, transforming in mid-air.

"Damn it!" Lennox changed course again. He should be leading Megatron away.

SMASH. Something shattered the right wing of his jet. The hit sent him into a dangerous nosedive, the jet spinning wildly.

"AH!" Lennox punched the eject button. The failing plane spat him out of his seat so fast he left his scream behind. The parachute bloomed above him, yanking his armpits. He braced himself for another hit. The parachute was practically a huge bullseye. 

But it didn't come. Above him, Megatron abruptly changed course and sped back towards the facility.

He floated down towards a field, a few miles from base. 

"Oh dear," he whispered once more. 

*

Tom crashed the jeep through a security barrier and drifted onto the street. The barrier clanged to the ground. Rubber burned. Horns blared as he weaved through the traffic. He needed to put as much distance between the bracelet and the decepticons as possible. 

He would't let it fall into the wrong hands, any hands but Ruby's. In the rear view mirror, something glided down the road, just above the traffic like a shadow. 

"What the hell is that!?" cried Tom.  He flung the jeep around a corner, and down into a dark parking lot. The car barely came to a stop as Tom leapt out of the vehicle and into the stairwell. He didn't wait to see if the decepticon fell for it. He ran up the stairs, two at a time, only pausing once he reached the exit. Below him, the sound of  tearing metal shook the stairwell. It spurred him on, out into the street. 

Luckily for him, there were people everywhere. He slowed down and joined the swarming side walk, heart pounding loud enough for all to hear. He blended right in, wearing his business suit. He went with the flow of people for a couple of blocks, then ducked into a hotel lobby. His eyes quickly flitted about, looking for the bathroom. All appeared normal, but the sounds of angry decepticons still rang in his ears. He didn't stop moving until he had locked himself in a stall. He stood on the seat, so the stall would appear empty, and pulled out his maroon pocket handkerchief. 

Quickly, delicately, like he held Ruby's very soul, he wrapped the bracelet up with it. His own invention; it was sewn with a metallic thread which had then been magnetised to repel energy waves. It should prevent the bracelet from being detected, at least from a distance. Should. Up close, he wasn't so sure it would work at all. He'd been told Megatron could smell his prey from miles away. Perhaps Lennox had led him far enough away. Hopefully the shadow decepticon didn't have a nose. 

Tom put his head in his hands and allowed himself a moment of despair; "Ruby," his whispered. Quintessa would keep her alive for a few more days, so he had to hold onto the bracelet until then. It felt like an impossible eternity. 

*

Simmons and Cade became caught up in a whirlwind of chaos. Soldiers scrambled to get in formation. They ran in groups towards vehicles, assembling heavy weaponry. And the noise. Men bellowed at each other. Engines roared. And the shooting started as two decepticons    came out of nowhere. 

"Well, this plan was a disaster," said Cade, "I won't say I told you so,"

Beads of sweat rolled into existence across Simmons' brow, "Oh how kind," he snapped, "We've got to get out of here." 

"Finally, a plan I agree with."

Cade spotted where the weapons were coming from and made a beeline for the place without stopping to ask for permission.

"Don't leave me in the middle of this war zone!" Simmons cried after him. Cade didn't break stride but waved for Simmons to follow.

"Oh no, I am not a field agent," Simmons babbled to himself, "I am an analyst, an expert in your ear, out of the fight but the brains of the operation." He sprang upright, "That's it! I'm the brains, the expert in your ear! I need to find the communications room."

He edged around the clusters of soldiers and weapons. Something hit close by, knocking Simmons from his feet. 

"I'm getting way too old for this action nonsense!" he shouted as he scrambled back to his feet.

He managed to get behind a group. He siezed a young lad by the collar, "Where is your command center; who is your commander?!" he cried at him.

The young man attempted to squirm out of Simmons' grip, but the older man twisted around and had him even tighter, "Tell me!"

"She-she's in there," his eyes went to the building they'd originally ran out of, the one Megatron had turned the lobby to ribbons. 

"Where in there? 'There' is a fricking maze!"

"U-Up the stairs! Top floor!"

Simmons tossed him aside and made for the door he'd previously come through.

"Top floor," he muttered to himself, "What a poor choice, might as well have painted a bullseye on the roof,"

He threw open the doors and found the stairs. "Aye-aye-aye," he exclaimed, looking up the flights, "First running, now this!"

Simmons made it to the top quicker than he expected. He sagged on the last step, letting some feeling flow back into his legs and to refill his lungs. 

"Phew," He straightened himself up, arranged his face into a serious frown, and marched through the doors into the comms room. 

"Who here is in charge!" he proclaimed.

"Simmons," said a cool, female voice, "What have you gotten yourself mixed up in this time?"

Simmons could only gape as a woman stalked towards him. She looked the same, from her grey suit to her dirty blonde hair pulled back into a pony tail. 

Simmons picked his jaw up off the ground and straightened his tie, despite his suit being filthy; "Well, well, well, if it isn't Agent Mearing."

She looked him up and down, then rolled her eyes, "Get him outta here,"

"Don't you want to hear my solution to this mess?"

Her lips reduced to a thin line; "Speak."

So Simmons did.