The Power Within - Transformers Prime (2)

Chapter Eighteen

  "Be careful!" I called up as he climbed. Finn was a good climber, scaling Megatron's back in only a few minutes. Soon, he jumped from Megatron's arm to the control panel and tried to shove the lever.

  "What's wrong?" Miko asked.

  "It's- not- budging-" Finn ground out.

  Before any of us could offer any sort of assistance, the ship spoke again. "I am infested with alien life-forms!"

  "Uh-oh." Raf said. "Busted."

  A robot arm that had been holding an energon crate dropped the crate, then lunged at where we were gathered next to Megatron's feet.

  "Scatter!" I exclaimed and we all jumped away in different directions. The arm didn't stop there though, sweeping across the floor after us. Then I got an idea. "This way! We can lose it between the crates!"

  The four of us dashed towards the energon crates and split up again, hoping to lose the arm, which swung side to side, knocking over the crates. I had already lost sight of the others, but when a crate fell behind me and trapped me in a corner, I noticed that Jack, Miko, and Raf were in similar situations.

  It's trying to round us up, strike us all at once. It may be working... we're all in the same box...

  Think. There has to be a way out, just think!

  "All parasites will be eradicated!" The ship snapped.

  "Hey!" Finn's voice rang out. "Over here!"

  The arm spun around and locked onto him, shooting towards Finn at an alarming speed.

  "Finn, no!" I exclaimed, fear running through me.

  "Run for it!" Miko yelled.

  He skidded to a stop instead, facing the arm. The arm lunged at him, and I almost thought it would hit its target when Finn jumped out of the way last second. The arm smashed into Megatron, causing the Decepticon Leader to tip backwards, his hand till clutched around the lever as he fell. The lever caused a crate of dark energon to fall out of the energon injection valve, turning the pipes that were once purple blue again as proper energon ran through them. The bad, sick feeling that came when I was around dark energon left too, confirming what had just happened.

  "I am in command!" The ship growled, still attacking Finn. "Prepare to be neutraliz-"

  Then it froze, completely powered down.

  "Yes!" Miko whooped and we all ran towards Finn, who looked thoroughly relieved to see the ship back to normal. Miko tackled him in a hug while the boys gave him a fist bump. I punched him in the shoulder lightly, causing him to smile one of those real, not forced, smiles that I enjoyed.

  But Megatron's fingers twitched, ruining the moment. The entire situation crashed down on us again as we all exchanged wide eyed expressions. Soon, the Decepticons wouldn't be in stasis anymore and-

  "Run!" Jack exclaimed, spurring us all into motion. We all sprinted back to the room where the data stick was plugged in.

  As we ran, Raf basically yelled into the phone, "Ratchet! We need a ground bridge! Now!"

  We raced into the room, seeing Agent Fowler getting on his feet slowly. Miko and Finn went to help him up while Raf, Jack, and I looked up at the computer screen.

  "That's all that's been downloaded?!" Jack demanded. The same thought was going through my mind; not even barely half of the file had been downloaded onto the data stick.

  "The Iacon file must be huge!" Raf exclaimed. A ground bridge opened up behind us, causing us to whirl around.

  "Sweet! Here's our ride!" Miko and Finn helped Agent Fowler through the ground bridge, and Raf and Jack followed, but I didn't. I turned back around, and started to climb up Knockout's leg.

  "Amanda?!" Raf's tone was incredulous.

  "Some of the file is better than none of it." I said as though that explained everything. "We can't leave this here, not after all that work."

  I managed to get onto the panel and tugged the data stick out. Then I left eyes on me, so I whipped around to see Knockout's- fully unfrozen- smirk as he unsheathed a drill.

  "I knew I'd see you again." The Con said, amused, then pointed the drill at me. "Seems like it's time for a little operation. Say 'ah'."

  Scrap!

  I was too panicked to summon the powers of Cleona, so all I could do was scramble back until-

  "I'm here to offer a second opinion." A familiar voice said from behind Knockout, and the next thing I saw was a fist connect with the Con's face, sending him to the ground. Ratchet quickly scooped me up and ran through the ground bridge, where the others were waiting on the other side.

~~

  "The download of the Iacon database may have been incomplete," Ratchet said as he looked over the partial file we swiped from the Decepticon warship. "But we now possess fouts sets of coordinates decoded by the ship."

  "Then we must act quickly," Optimus said. "For Megatron possesses the same four sets, and he will not hesitate to obtain the potential doomsday devices which lie at the site of each."

  I sighed slightly from my spot on Optimus' shoulder. "We never get a break, do we?"

  "That wouldn't be any fun, now would it?" Finn shot me a grin from the platform, which I shook my head to, but smiled slightly nonetheless.

  "But, at this moment, we have prior commitments." Optimus said. "It is long time for the children to be getting home."

  The other all nodded, Bumblebee, Arcee, and Bulkhead transforming, and Raf, Jack, and Miko climbing aboard. They left soon after, and I hopped from Optimus' shoulder to the platform before turning to look at the Prime.

  "You don't have to drive me home." I said. "I know you want to keep an eye on things, just in case. You should stay here; Megatron may make a move and you have to be ready."

  He gave me a thankful look. "As long as you are alright with that, Amanda."

  "Of course." I gave him a smile. "I'll see you tomorrow, Optimus."

  "Until then. Call if you need anything."

  "Will do." I saluted and then walked down the stairs of the platform as I pulled out my phone to call my Mustang when Finn caught up with me.

  "Want a lift?" He offered, inclining to his dark blue Lexus ES parked in the corner.

  I shrugged, tucking my phone away. "Sure."

  The drive to my house was full of small talk. While Finn and I talked about the little things, with the window rolled down and cool wind in my hair, I realized how at ease I felt, despite everything that happened today. The Nemesis, fighting a ship, coming face to face with Knockout again... none of it was bothering me anymore. At the same time, I felt disappointment when we reached my front gates, disappointed that the moment was over.

  "Thanks for the ride." I said and started to get out, but then didn't.

  "What's wrong?" Finn asked, noticing my hesitation.

  I took a breath and then looked at him carefully. "When you decided to climb Megatron to get to the lever... were you scared?"

  His eyebrows rose in surprise. "I... I didn't think that far."

  "Oh."

  "But it might've occured to me that the drop from the top would hurt only once I got to the top. At that point, I didn't bother worrying because I knew one of you would catch me." He grabbed my hand suddenly. "You may not think you have that strong of a grasp on your powers, but I knew you'd be able to catch me if I fell."

  I tried not to let my racing heart affect my words. "How'd you know that?"

  "Because I know you."