Die Alone Die Together

Ch. 6 Fight Or Flight

A blue mini van pulled up along the dusty road beside Song's "property".

"Song! Song, no! Please, the girl's done nothing wrong out here!" Reina leapt out of her vehicle and ran over as fast as her old legs would carry her.

The man calling the shots raised a gun to the elder as two others tackled her from behind.

"Reina!!" Song screeched as she watched helplessly from the ground, "Please, please! Oh let her go, please!! She has nothing to do with this!" She wailed.

The four german shepherds just yards away leapt at the chainlink fence, growling and snarling at the intruders. They desperately wanted to protect their human.

Inside the kennel, Crosshairs was starting to become more and more conflicted as he listened to Soundbreaker and Reina's cries of terror from outside. Sure, they were all humans. And yes, they all had the potential to stab you in the back... but then again, so did those on cybertron. That was what started the Battle three years ago, wasn't it? Sentinel Prime's betrayal?

"Aw, cut it out," Crosshairs told himself, "you're startin' to think like Prime."
Yet, was that really such a bad thing? Crosshairs wasn't normally one to put others before himself, but when it really came down to it... He was an Autobot at heart.

"Stand her up." The lead man ordered. His henchmen obeyed without question, pulling Song to her feet and forcing her to face him. He smirked, "All you need to do is open up that barn up for us. We'll let your ol' friend go, and let you come with us alive instead of on a stretcher. How many Transformers you got stowed away in there, anyway?"

Song spat at him viciously, "None," she lied, "they're gone. They left a long time ago when they found out they were being picked off one by one."

He stood back, glaring at her, then to his men, "The dogs," he stated plainly, "shoot them all."

Reina and Song both screamed in horror as all four beautiful german shepherds were gunned down in cold blood, which ended in a symphony of pained yelps and cries.

"Now... kindly tell us who's in there," the man pointed to the barn.

"Why. Why are you doing this?! Why are you so filled with hate against them?!" Song sobbed, "They helped us! Laid down their lives for us! Gave it their all just to protect this planet! And this is how you repay them?! We owe them our lives!"

The man came just inches from her face, gritting his teeth, "They brought their war to us, they brought this on themselves. I owe them nothing. My family died in Chicago that year, because of the battle they formed." He then stepped back and turned to the barn, "Use the bombs!"

"No!" Song cried, struggling against the many hands that grasped at her body, and guns that were aimed at her head. She was helpless all over again; an insect, incapable of protecting those she cared about.

Then, came a loud crash, and the swift, powerful roar of an engine.
All hell broke loose.

Crosshairs blasted through the barn door in his alt mode, before immediately being barraged by a spray of bullets. He'd actually managed to hit and take out a couple Cemetery Wind members before transforming back into his Protoform.

Song was hit hard over the head with the butt of a gun, and fell to the ground in a heap.

Reina was shot mercilessly, and put to death.

Crosshairs, with his steady aim and quick movements, made short work of the majorty of the armed forces. But he failed to remember those in the trucks from behind.

The man in charge bolted towards them, shouting orders before ducking behind cover, "Energon Siphoners, now!!"

Within seconds, large metal hooks were launched from the back of one of the trucks. Several of them latched onto Crosshairs without an issue, but many missed the swift target.

Crosshairs growled in pain as the hooks penetrated his armor. He struggled against the lines that seemed to pull him in separate directions. One had caught his arm and forced him to fall to the ground. Then, when he could no longer fight back, two additional lines were shot out, this time with large, sharp needles that somewhat resembled vacuum tubes. In a burst of effort Crosshairs twisted over to avoid one of the lines, from this move however, the second was able to strike his side, penetrating deep inside his body. He growled fiercely in pain as the tube began to glow a soft teal color, draining the Energon from his veins.

Within the fray, Song managed to come to rather quickly, though her head pounded like nothing before. Upon seeing Reina's lifeless bloodied body, and hearing Crosshairs' misery, Song decided enough was enough.

Transforming was harder to do than usual, her body was aching and weak, and she could still vaguely feel it even as her Protoform took over. But it gave her enough strength to stand up and fight.

Using her plasma cannon, she shot violently at several of the vehicles, then at the stray units. She did what she could to avoid the oncoming rounds headed her way, but focused mostly on destroying the trucks that were keeping Crosshairs down.

"All units, calling in all units," the leader hollared in the distance, "dispatch to my location immediately."

She aimed and fired her cannon three times in his direction, melting his body almost instantaneously. Then, with the trucks mostly destroyed, she worked at cutting Crosshairs loose with the sharp edge of her grapplehook.

She hissed as several bullets struck her armor plating, but most plicked off harmlessly. It was more of those dreaded wires she was watching out for.

Finally, she cut Crosshairs free, though he was understandably more than a bit bent out of shape... internally anyways. A decent amount of Energon had been leaked from his body, and the hooks and tube were still embedded inside of him.

"Come on, there's not many of them left now. They can't go after us, their vehicles are burnt out. We can get out of here without being followed if we move fast enough. Get up, there are more coming, come on!" Song grabbed at the mech, trying to get him to his feet.

Once he did, and he regained his balance, he snatched up her arm they ran forward. Once they were far enough away, Crosshairs let go of her and switched to his vehicle mode before opening his driver's side door, "Transform and get in, hurry!"

Quickly, she obeyed, and shifted back down to her human form. Her vision clouded, and her head ached as all the pain came flooding back all at once. She forced herself forward and practically fell into Crosshairs' alt mode.

The beginning of their journey had only just begun.