Science and Fiction JE 18

Journal entry; time

When you need it, there's never enough and when you don't want it, it goes on forever.
My pain was forgotten as I ran down the stairs to the ally behind my apartment complex.  I think I was screaming Side's name the whole way because the few people leaving for work at that ungodly hour were giving me strange looks.  When I reached the silver vehicle I was only slightly relieved when I heard the soft murmur of the radio crackling.  That is until what he was desperately trying to say finally registered in my head...
"Run..."

~Aurian Fae

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"Run..."  Sideswipe's voice was soft over the speakers and Aurian wasn't sure if it was because he was trying to be quiet or if he was just that damaged.
"Sides, where are the others?  Have you called for them?"
"Run..."  This time his voice was slightly firmer and came more as a growl.
"Auri, is this your car?"  Roger had caught up with her and was looking at the damaged vehicle with something between awe and sorrow.  "Who would do this?"
"Did you call the others?"  Aurian ignored Roger's presence and pressed Sides for answers while she looked over his damaged form, searching for anything that looked 'severe'.
"Slag it Aurian, Run!"  This time there was no attempt to keep his voice from reaching other ears.  The only thing that drew Aurian from her detailed search was the sound of someone familiar shouting.
"What the fuck!  That car just talked!"  Instead of running away, as most freaked out humans would do, Roger ran forward to inspect the car.
"AI, Roddi, don't be dense."  Her heart pounded in her throat.  If it was important enough for Sideswipe to blow his cover it was important enough for her to take Roger and get the Hell away.  "Go get your car, we need to get to the lab and get Will's number."
Roger didn't know if he believed what Aurian said but he could see in her eyes that it was time to get out and he was the only one with a vehicle.  "Come with me."
"I need to make sure every things at least settled with the car, I'll meet you around the corner, okay?"
The way her hand constantly stroked the undercarriage of the car did not escape Roger's notice.  It was almost as though she were trying to reassure someone.  "You're not going to go do something dumb are you?"
"Roddi," Aurian couldn't help but laugh, "you know me."
"Yeah..."  He ran.  That was all he could think to do.  He had to get his car and get to Aurian before she found some way to disappear again.
Aurian crouched down and leaned in close to the car.  "I'm going Sides, but you have to tell me you called the others."
"Disruptor."
"What?"  'Disruptor', that meant something worth remembering, she knew.
"I can't call anyone," his voice was strained and Aurian knew he was fighting just to stay online, "there's a disruptor somewhere around here.  Please Aurian, get away before they come back."
"Come back?  Sides if there's 'Con's around here I can't leave you alone!  Not like this!"
"What are you going to do Aurian?  Look at yourself!  I can't protect you and you're already damaged badly...Pit."  Sideswipe's entire form shuttered a little.
"Damn it."  She looked up as she heard squealing tires.  "I don't want to leave you alone."
"Aurian!  Come on!"  Roger was quickly approaching, obviously not content to wait in the car for her.
"I'm sorry Sides...hold on, okay?  I'm gonna go to the lab and call Will, he'll get Ratchet and you'll be okay..."
"I'm fine, just get out of here."
"That's just creepy..."  Roger gently grabbed Aurian's arm and started pulling her toward his own vehicle.
"Human, keep her safe if you value your life."  Sideswipe's voice rang out loud and clear and neither human standing close enough to realize the car had just spoken had any doubt what he was implying.
"Okay, more then creepy."  Roger led Aurian toward his still running vehicle, though he could not help but to spare the upturned car another look.  'AI my ass.'  "You're going to have to explain."
"Not now, Roddi." 'Not ever.'  She added silently.  There was only a small surge of guilt with that thought.  Roger had been slightly more then an office friend, they often met up outside of work and hung out together but she dare not say it went beyond that.  She knew it was best for him to never know what was going on with her, he'd be safe that way, but he was always there for her when she needed him...had always been there anyway.
They got in Roger's car and pulled away.  Aurian's gaze never left the inverted vehicle as long as she could see it.  Oddly enough, Roger thought he saw the car stretch out as they rounded the corner.  'Just my imagination.'  He reassured himself.
It seemed as though Roger's normal speed-limit-times-two way of driving was not fast enough for Aurian.  She fidgeted in her seat, constantly looking out the back window or playing with her hands.  "You're going to be okay."  Roger tried to sooth the woman.
"It's not me I'm worried about."  She sounded so regretful Roger couldn't help but wonder yet again how much more to this situation there was that he didn't know about.
Aurian couldn't stop her mind from spinning.  Sideswipe was in trouble and she had left him alone!  How could she have done that?
They reached the lab in record time and Aurian was practically tearing the door off the car trying to get out.
"Auri, wait!  You should just stay here, I'll go get the number."
"I need to call Major Lennox and tell him what's going on!"
"Yeah, and if you walk into the lab looking like this you don't think they're not going to call a hazard team in?  If I'm gonna get you to this 'Ratchet' guy, you have to stay in the car and wait."
"Oh."  It made perfect sense, especially with the way the blue glow was creeping up her arms.  "Hurry..."
Roger lept from the car and ran for the building that he had once looked at as somewhere he enjoyed spending his time.  Suddenly it looked like an imposing obstacle that he had to figure out how to negotiate.
Aurian tried to sit still and wait.  Roger would get the number and then she could call Will and everything would be fine.  Everything would be fine.  'I left him alone!'  She couldn't stop the thought from resurfacing every few seconds.  'He told me to.  He knows what he's doing, he's an ancient warrior.  He's hurt and I left him alone!'  She couldn't stay in the car, she had to get up and move.  It didn't matter if she was in pain, it didn't matter if there was still energon poisoning her system, she just had to move!
No sooner did she abandon the vehicle that was protecting her from sight did the machine vanish in a cacophony of shrieking metal and squealing tires.
Aurian looked on in an emotional void as she watched Roger's once pristine black sports car crumple beneath the power of the red Audi R8.  She knew that car.  She had seen it once before.  "Well, crap."  Was her all too simplistic statement to this new turn in events.  What was she supposed to do now?  Run?  Probably wouldn't get far.  Attack?  Probably futile in her current state.  'Maybe I can just play dead and he'll go away.'  She watched with distanced fascination as the mech triggered his transformation sequence and crouched down in front of her.  Something about his motions triggered a distant memory in Aurian's mind.  The mech held himself low to the ground as if ready to pounce, using all four limbs instead of standing upright.  'Who did that?'
Growling sounds filled the air, Cybertronian, Aurian noted.  He was talking to her.
"I don't speak Cybertronian."  The mech reeled back, stunned it seemed.
"So you do understand..." he snarled, "Interesting.  Not that it matters."  He crawled toward her and Aurian knew, somewhere deep down inside, that she needed to do something.
"I wouldn't say I understand."  Why was she holding a conversation with a mech that was interested in nothing more then destroying her.  "More or less that I know a little more then average."
"So I see."  The mech sighed, sighed as he lifted his hand from the ground.  "Your demise will come soon enough, it doesn't matter what you know."
She watched the hand come toward her.  Would he crush her or grab her?  Why did that matter?  How was she going to get out of this one?
"WHAT THE FUCK!"  The shout seemed to echo for several minutes before Aurian turned her shocked eyes toward Roger.  He was standing in the doorway to the building, one hand still propping the door open and his eyes were fixed on the mech crouching over her.
"Well...crap."  Aurian was astounded by her own lack of importance to the whole situation.  "Roddi!  Go back inside!"
"What the Hell is that?"  Much to her dread Roger was coming closer instead of running like he should have.
"Roddi!"
"Foolish human."  The Decepticon's attention turned to the new being.  "You willing walk into your own death.  Not that your life span is long at any rate, so what does it matter if you parish now or in a vorn."
Aurian finally found the urgency she knew she should have had to begin with as she ran toward the man that was still stricken by the sight of the giant alien robot that had every intention of destroying him.  How she got there first?  She didn't know, nor did she care.  Shoving Roger bodily back into the building fear began to settle into her system.  "Go!"  She screamed.  "We've got to get to a phone!"
"What was that?!"
"Not now, Roddi!  Phone!"
She hauled him through the entryway to the guard station.  Here they could clearly see the parking lot and Aurian only found a small part of her brain to wonder why the Decepticon outside didn't simply destroy the building, or shoot them since he could clearly see them just as well as they could see him.  Yet he just crouched there, staring.
Grabbing a phone and astutely ignoring the alarmed demands of the guard stationed behind the desk Aurian grabbed Roger's shoulder, shaking him.  "The number, Roddi!  Where's the number?"
"H-here."  He handed her a small piece of paper with a number scratched onto it in his sloppy style, his own attentions not being diverted from the strange metallic being looming just beyond the entryway.
Aurian dialed hurriedly, having to hang up twice due to missing the right key as she dialed.  "Hurry up Will!"  She urged as the phone rang.
"Major Lennox."  Came a cool voice.
"Will!  I need you to get the guys and get out here now!"
"Aurian?  Where the Hell are you?"  His voice went from calm to angry faster then Aurian could register.
"No time for that Will!  Sides in a ditch at my apartment, he looks bad and I'm kinda having a stare down with a Decepticon right now."
There was silence for a full ten seconds, then; "WHAT?"
"Come on Will, your a Major.  You're supposed to process faster then that."
"Are you somewhere safe?"
"Um," Aurian considered the Decepticon glaring in at them, "Maybe.  He doesn't seem to be coming after us...but uh, we can't exactly get out of here."
"Where are you?"  The distinct sound of engines filled the background and Aurian felt a touch of relief knowing that they were getting on their way.
"I'm at the lab.  Please go get Sides...he's alone."
"How are you?  Ratchet's...worried."
"Throwing wrenches?"
"Among other things."
Aurian laughed at the mental image her brain supplied to the thought.  "Awesome...wait, no, not so awesome.  Damn.  I'm fine for now.  Just get to Sideswipe, please!"  A touch of panic gripped her as she remembered the mech, defenseless in his alt mode, stranded upside down in the ditch behind her apartment.
"We're going in teams.  We'll get to both of you as soon as we can."  There was a pause then; "Did you say the Decepticon was staring at you?"
Looking at the menacing mech again showed that he had reverted to his alt mode and his engine was revving dangerously.  "Well, he was...I think he's..."  Aurian dropped the phone as she was yanked by strong hands.  The Decepticon had apparently grown tired of the standstill and was now plowing through the rows of supposedly bullet proof glass.
Roger led the way dragging Aurian behind him, a firm grip around her wrist.  Right now whatever hurt he might be causing her was of little concern beside ensuring that she survive this encounter.  "Aurian!  Tell me what is going on!"
"Not right now Roddi!"  They rounded a corner that the Decepticon would have to struggle to get around, not that he couldn't just that it would take him a moment longer then them.  "We've got to get everyone out of the building.  He's not gonna stop for pedestrians!"  She searched for something, anything to give her an idea of what to do.  A silver disk on the ceiling caught her attention.  "Perfect!"  She pushed past Roger in their run to search for the thing that would alert everyone to the need to evacuate in a hurry.  Around the next corner she found it.  A small box that looked an awful lot like a fire alarm except it was yellow and had a large red biohazard symbol emblazoned on it.  Without any hesitation she slammed her fist through the protective glass layering and into the button triggering a loud wailing noise to drown out any other sound.
A pain wracked scream fought for intensity with the hazard klaxon and Aurian snickered at the thought of those oh-so-sensitive audio receptors backfiring on the superior mech.  Not that her own head wasn't ringing like the inside of a church bell but the idea that he was suffering worse then her was enough retribution to satisfy her.  'Someday these mechs will learn to be careful who they try to squish!'
Bursting out of one of the emergency exits, Aurian led Roger away from the building.  She was fearful that if one Decepticon was there, then another wouldn't be far behind.
"Where are we going?"  He demanded, though he did not slow his pace any.  Like Hell he wanted that metal monster to catch up with them!
"I don't know!"  Aurian admitted.  They needed somewhere to hide.  'Damn, this never works!  Why is there never anywhere to hide?'
Dread shivered through her as she heard more screeching tires and the silver Audi R8 spun around the building they had been headed toward.  "Fuck me!"  She spun and dragged Roger with her into an alleyway, hoping beyond hope that the narrow path was too small for the mech to follow them.
The roars of frustration told her that her hopes had been granted and that they were safe from the mech.  Well, she thought they were safe.  The odd noise of energy gathering perked her ears and she knew, quite suddenly, that they were both dead.  Her only hope lay ten feet in front of them, an alcove that gave space for a fire escape to be housed in the narrow pathway.
"Duck!"  She screamed as she pulled Roger with her into the alcove just as blinding light and searing heat skimmed past them.  Hearts racing and gripping onto one another out of sheer need for affirmation of their own existence the two humans shivered.
"What was that?"  Roger whispered, afraid that if he spoke too loudly everything around them may crumble leaving them open to the being that had so nearly destroyed them.
"Shhh!"  Aurian pulled Roger closer to her, willing him to be silent.  If the Decepticon thought that he had destroyed them, he would move on and then they would be safe.
They listened as the brick surrounding them crackled with the sudden heat they had been exposed to, some of the more fragile ceramic cracking and even crumbling under the pressure.  There was clicking noises, grumbling and the sound of something impacting the building with great force.  He knew they were still there.
"Roddi, stay right here."  She instructed as she tried to pull away from the man.
"No."  He stated rather strongly for a man who just nearly found himself completely obliterated by an alien.  "You're not going anywhere."
"No, I'm not."  She gave him a wan smile, truly she had no idea what it was she intended to do.  "I'm just gonna look."  Roger reluctantly released his firm grip on her, hands sliding down her arm to her hand and held tight to that instead.  Aurian accepted the release for what it was.  Roger was afraid, not just for himself but for her too and he didn't want her too far away from him.  Sure, there was no way he could protect her from the Decepticon, but the notion was still sweet.
Peeking around the corner she could just see the large mech pacing at the end of the ally.  He spotted her and instantly raised his gun again.  She threw herself back into their cubbyhole, heart pounding and thoughts racing.  They wouldn't be safe there for long, eventually he would figure out how to get to them.  Another blast tore through the ally, heat rolled over the two cowering humans and more brick tumbled to the ground.
"This place isn't gonna hold up much longer..."  Aurian didn't know what her solution to this situation was, but it felt progressive to state the obvious.  They both searched for a way out and both came to the same conclusion; the fire escape.  "You know, in the movies it never works out well for the idiots that go up in the chase scene."
"Yeah, well, they also weren't being chased by giant robots."  Roger stated as he reached up for the expendable latter.
Aurian laughed, it was a short bark of denial, "Didn't really work for Sam either."

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Journal entry continued; can't find a way

Never in my life had I felt so hopeless.  Will and the Autobots where hours away, Sideswipe was in a ditch alone and hurt and I was running on empty trying to keep Roddi out of harms way with two Decepticons actively hunting us out.
Hunting us out?  No...they were after me!  Why were they after me?
We climbed the fire escape.  I knew it was a mistake.  We reached the top just as the first mech to attack me, the red one, climbed over the ledge of the roof.  He had been intending to come after us from above while the silver mech kept us trapped...damn...didn't see that coming.

~Aurian Fae