The Parting Glass

Omega Lock

"Dawn!" Arcee stopped me as I was driving out of base.

"Yes, Arcee?" I asked rolling down the window of my pickup.

"Where are you going?" she crossed her arms.

"Into town. I need some new strings for my violin. Don't worry, I have the Sun Saber with me. It's in my subspace." I replied putting my truck back in drive and leaving base.

     I relished in the freedom I had at the moment. When I got to town, I activated the holocover that made my metals look and feel like flesh. My optics were still white though, so I had to keep my visor on. As I was passing the school, I saw the kids and realized that even I hadn't heard from the bots in a while. Since I was on my way back anyhow. The roar of my trusty vehicle caught the kids attentions and they grabbed their things running over to me.

"We thought you were with the bots." Jack said buckling into the front passenger seat.

"No. I had the day off, so I took care of some needed shopping." I pointed to the bags of things in the back.

"Do you know where the bots went?" Miko asked.

"They're not at base?" I gave her a confused look.

"No. Ratchet told us to go home." Raf said. I sighed and then remembered that the Decepticons had the Omega Keys.

"I think it would be best for you three to go home." I started for Raf's house when jet engines sounded above. "F-16 Raptor. Those aren't supposed to fly this close to civilian housing."

"Uh oh." Miko pulled her head into the truck. "We have Screamer and Soundwave after us."

"Hold tight." I ordered slamming my ped on the gas. My old truck lurched forwards with a growl. Blaster fire rained on us as I tried to swerve out of the way.

"Everyone have their seatbelts on?" I shouted drifting around a turn out of town. They all nodded. "Ratchet, We need an assist. See if you can't have Grimlock switch with Bulkhead or Bee on whatever mission their on."

Static.

"Shit." I looked out the rearview mirror and saw a signal jammer on Soundwave. "This is gonna get Fast and Furious."

"What do you mean by THAT!" Jack screamed the last part as I jumped my over a ravine. It landed heavily on its wheels before I sped off for the canyons. Before I could reach the narrow entrance, an explosion sent my vehicle flying.

It rolled, bounced, and finally settled on popped tires.

"Is everyone alright?" I asked pushing the air bag out of my face.

"Yeah, we are. Just a little banged up." Raf coughed fanning away dust. I cut all our seatbelts and tried to open one of the doors.

"Scrap." Miko groaned as heavy thuds sounded outside.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the pets of the Autobots. And the Rising Sun. How fortunate we are." Screamer sneered as drones ripped the roof of my truck off. The kids screamed when they were tossed into glass containers.

"Let them go!" I snarled jumping out of my truck and transforming my arm into my cannon.

"What can a minicon do to a much larger mech like me?" Screamer cackled before clawing me. His sharp digits cut through my soft metals and forced my holocover to shut off.

"DAWN!" The kids shouted. I was unceremoniously dumped into a container.

"I'm... fine." I winced holding a particularly deep claw mark closed. Black dots filled my vision as I slumped against the glass.