The days ahead feel like years until it is finally time to go retrieve Cliffjumper. Rachel slowly walks out from the hangar, eyes heavy and a large cup of coffee in her hand. Up on the walkway, William and Ratchet are keeping close eyes on the trajectory of the ship. Wheeljack and Bulkhead were still working on whatever Ratchet had them doing. Optimus and the others had left on an energon run after Agent Fowler called in with information on a large, untapped deposit.

Rachel rubs her face and slowly makes her way over to the other two watching the screens. Hearing her sigh, Ratchet turns and gives her a smile. "Still won't shut his trap, will he?" Rachel shakes her head, then holds it with a hiss. "I swear, I will kill him all over again...." The doc releases a heavy vent, then kneels down and offers an open servo. Rachel gratefully climbs on and catches herself as he lifts her up the William, and the man helps her off. Will then guides her towards the computers, where a pill bottle and a bottle of water. Rachel quickly hugs Lennox, then carefully take two pills from the bottle and chugs the entire water bottle before quickly turning back to her coffee.

Lennox slightly chuckles, and turns back to Ratchet. "It seems he will be landing in less than seven hours. We need to leave soon.... Rachel, are you ready for the mission?" His gaze falls on the girl who takes a sip of the hot coffee, then smirks. "I'm not missing this for the world." She hears Jazz say something, but Broadwing tackles him and clamps a clawed servo over his face. "Your blabbering has already affected her conscious state enough. Allow her to rest from your antics so we can successfully retrieve your friend. Or would you rather us stay because she cannot function?"

Jazz finally shuts up and Rachel sighs. Ratchet looks at her, then turns back to the screens. "You may want to go get dressed. I am sure they wouldn't approve of.... nightwear on the field." Rachel tilts her head, then gazes down and gasps. "Whoops. Guess I should..... Oh wait." With a sly smirk, she taps her arm twice and the panel opens. She chooses the first setting, which was simply showing the armor. Her clothing quickly shifts into the trylithium armor and Ratchet eyes it carefully. "Did you... Sleep in that?" Rachel huffs. "If I wasn't supposed to, you shouldn't have made it so comfortable." Ratchet only rolls his optics while Major Lennox smirks. "Alright, Captain. Lets gather the others." Rachel glances down at her wrist and smirks as the light seems to refract around a hidden object. "Aye, aye, sir." She says, gazing up and winking at Ratchet. The medic only huffs before returning to his work.

As Lennox walks down the stairs, Rachel vaults over the railing and lands without a sound. The Major rolls his eyes as she walks up next to him. 

"Show off." 

"Jealous much?"

Lennox scoffs as they continue to walk, however he doesn't say anything. This makes Rachel smirk, Jazz laugh, and they could all have sworn they heard Ratchet cough back his own laughter. Major Lennox sighs and finally makes it over to the wall that holds the 'human sized' version of the communications array. He begins typing, and Rachel watches closely. She stops him, types up a few things, then motions him to continue. The Major looks at her, then back at the screen. "You nearly sent a message to Opsimisus Prime... You're getting better at Cybertronian, though!" Lennox groans, then moves over. Rachel tries to reassure him, but he shakes his head. "We need to get moving, so we can continue lessons later."

Rachel agrees then quickly sends out the comm. She gets a quick reply, and activates voice comm link. "Rachel, are we preparing to set off to retrieve Cliffjumper?" At first she nods her head, then replies. "Yes, sir. We need you all to head back as soon as you can. He is estimated to make land in seven hours in Egypt." 

Optimus makes a grunt, then tires skidding echo around. "We may be delayed." Silence rings out until a menacing laugh is released, sending shivers down everyone's spines and backstruts...

Except Rachel.

The girl growls, and her eyes shine brightly as Optimus speaks again. "We have company." Lennox gazes at the screen with rage, then turns to Rachel. She looks at him, and he nods. As much as he hated to even allow this, with everyone else scattered around Nevada, Optimus was alone...

And there was no telling how many goons were with the Decepticon Warlord. "Ratchet! We need to borrow one of your helpers for a while." William shouts while turning and heading towards the stairs again. Ratchet nods his helm, then turns to the Wreckers. "Wheeljack! Accompany them on this mission! Bulkhead, I need you to work double time! We need to get that finished ASAP!" Both nod, and Wheeljack rushes to the center of the area. As Lennox makes his way back down the walkway, large cybertronian rifle in hand, Rachel races into view. She skids to a stop, leaving black lines on the ground from her speed. "Ready." She huffs, and Lennox smirks. Wheeljack transforms into his alt mode and opens his doors.

"Let's go kick some 'Con tailpipe!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With a grunt, Optimus ducks under another failed sword attack from Megatron and lands a harsh blow to the warlord's gut. The mech skids back, holding his midsection with a growl. The Prime quickly turns, changing a fist into a canon and blasting away a drone that tried to attack from behind. The shot leaves a large gap in it's chassis, and Optimus doesn't hesitate to turn again and slice another drone down. 

However, Megatron had quickly regained his footing and rushed towards the other mech. Raising his blade, he shouts as he approaches, then begins to bring it down. Optimus barely whirls around and raises his own blade to counter the attack. Megatron snarls and leans in, before pushes Optimus back and slamming his ped into the Prime's chest. Optimus grunts again, sliding back and falling to one knee. Before he can stand, Megatron slams his other ped into the side of Optimus' helm.

The Prime falls to the side, and Megatron takes this chance to place a well aimed shot on Optimus. With a painful shout, the Prime is launched back, skidding across the ground and creating a rut in the sand. Making a pained noise, Optimus tries to right himself, but fails and only makes it to a sitting position. His optics, barely open, fall on the enclosing figure of the large silver mech. Megatron lets out a chuckle as he wipes away a small stream of energon from his lip. "My, my. It seems that while I was simply out to find energon, I found much, much more."

Sliding his blade away, he raises his canon and aims it at Optimus. "It seems that this is finally the end for you... Prime." The canon powers up, and Optimus closes his optics. However...

"Hey, Buckethead!"

A large white, green, and red mech slams a ped straight into the faceplates of Megatron. As both fall, Wheeljack flips around, landing another ped to the silver mech's chin. As he finishes his flip, he grabs the single grenade on his hip and throws it towards the warlord and his crowd of Drones. He lands as the grenade clatters to the ground at a drone's peds, and smirks.

While all this is happening, Rachel and Lennox sneak around the large rut and drop down onto Optimus, careful to miss the wounds. "Optimus! C'mon, Prime, answer me!" Rachel says, slightly slapping the mech's faceplates. He gazes at the girl and huffs. "Rachel? What are.." She huffs as well and rolls her eyes. "What does it look like? We're here to get you out of here!" Hearing gunshots, Rachel turns to see Lennox taking out the optics of all the drones, making Wheeljack's job easier.

"Can you stand?" The girl asks, turning back to Optimus. Her eyes were shining brightly, but they held pain in them. The Prime says nothing at first, then nods his helm. "Can you... help me?" Rachel smirks, then quickly slips around him and under him. "Ready?" She asks, laying a gentle hand on his back. She feels him move, and takes it as a yes. Pushing with minimal force, she feels him move, and pushes more. As he begins to sit up, she gives him one last, mighty push, and he stumbles onto his peds with a groan. Lennox turns and nods, then begins to fire once more. "We need to go, now!"

Rachel rushes over and growls as a drone tries to launch an attack on Optimus. Broadwing!

Yes, miss!

Eyes suddenly burning a bright orange, Rachel launches herself upwards and slams her fist straight into the visor of the drone. It cracks, then shatters and caves in. The drone screams in pain, then falls back and never stands again. Landing on her feet, Rachel huffs, then turns towards Optimus. Her eyes slightly change, being half orange and half blue. The colors fade into each other, making it known to those who know that Broadwing and Rachel were both in control now. "Optimus! Can you transform, or must I patch you up first?" Rachel's voice was speaking, but it had a hint of gruffness behind it. The Prime narrows his optics, then nods. "Wheeljack! Fall back!" He shouts before turning and transforming into his fire painted semi-truck.

Wheeljack grunts and turns as well. He changes into his alt mode, and Lennox dives into the open door. The white car peels off, and Rachel doesn't hesitate to rush after them. 'Boost time, Broadwing!'

'Of course! Jazz, assist!'

'I gotcha, boss!'

Rachel easily catches up with Wheeljack, her armor glowing at the increased speed. She huffs slightly, but keeps up the pace. However, the sound of engines behind them makes her gaze back with an irritated growl. "Optimus! We've got a tail!" The semi-truck speeds up, and a comm suddenly comes through. "Optimus! Wheeljack! Come in!"

Ratchet's voice echoed in everyone's ears and audio receptors with urgency. "Go ahead, Ratchet!" Optimus replies, swiftly dodging a blast from Megatron's weapon. "Can you send me your coordinates?!" The Prime grunts, and Rachel replies instead, pressing multiple buttons on  her arm. "Sent!"

The link goes silent, and the only noise comes from the blasts of energy from Megatron's ion cannon. Rachel ducks as a shot flies over her head, and she jumps over the explosion. "Ratchet, going to tell us what that was-gah!" Rachel gasps as a blast slams into her back, sending her flying ahead of Wheeljack by many feet. "Rachel!" She crashes onto the pavement, and the white mech is forced to transform and flip over her. Lennox shouts as he is thrown, but Wheeljack catches him.

This time, William calls out for the girl who was struggling to stand. "Rachel! Are you okay?!" Rachel huffs, finally getting on her feet, and snorts. "Peachy..." She glares upward as the alien plane dives down, ion canon powering up. A growl is released from the girl, and she straightens. "Broadwing... Jazz... WE have to do it.

'No, my lady! You haven't mastered it yet!'

'BigWing's right! Ya can't hold us both!'

Rachel growls. "We don't have time! Do it! Now!" She hears the growls from Broadwing, and mutterings from Jazz, but they both comply. Rachel's eyes suddenly glow green, and she snarls. Bending her knees, she roars before jumping into the air. Megatron releases a menacing laugh, then fires towards the oncoming girl. As it nears her, he shouts. "Fool! Perish with the rest of the Autobots!"

The blast explodes upon impact, and Megatron continues his laugh. However, it's cut short as another piercing laugh echoes through the battle.

"It is you who shall perish beneath my feet, Megatron."

As the smoke clears, Rachel bursts out from it, slamming her fist down on the front of Megatron's plane form. A crack is heard and the silver mech is thrusted towards the ground. Within seconds, the alien plane forms of the drones follow him. The warlord barely changes into his bipedal form before exploding into the ground below. He lands on one knee, and quickly launches forward, out of the way of the other falling Decepticons.

He growls at the destruction before gazing up just in time...

To lock gaze with the eyes of Rachel diving straight at him. He raises his blade to block her, and she grunts in pain. The silver mech smirks and slams his arm back to send the girl flying. However, she grabs a hold of the blade and uses the momentum to fling herself around and slam both feet into the side of his helm. Dazed, Megatron steps back, shaking his helm. His optics open as Rachel falls to the ground. He raises a ped to stomp her, a large fire painted mech crashes into his gut.

As the two fall to the ground, Rachel dashes in and knocks Megatron's legs out from under him when he tries to regain his footing. Optimus takes this to attack, sending Megatron flying backwards. When he tries to stand again, Optimus knocks him off his feet this time, and Rachel goes on the attack. She slams her fist into his chest, then kicks his helm, then finally launches off him and skids to a halt beside Optimus. 

Megatron struggles to stand, and he glares at the two. "You... won't win..." Optimus says nothing, but Rachel lets off a snarl. "You don't seem to be in any position to say that, Megatron." With that remark thrown out, Rachel thrusts herself forward, despite the opposition from Optimus. Unfortunately, she never reaches her destination. A projectile appears over Megatron and crashes straight into the girl, sending her backwards into the open servos of Wheeljack, who had just rushed over to join Optimus with Lennox on his shoulder. Grunting, the girl tries to set herself upright, only to find herself gazing at a tall, stiletto wearing Decepticon walking from a ground bridge behind his master. A missile was missing from his extended arm.

His smirk makes her spark burn in rage, but her gaze becomes blurry and she collapses. "Scrap...." She huffs, making Wheeljack worried. He gazes up to Optimus, who looks at the girl, then turns back to the fight before him. Two more mechs joined Starscream as he helped up Megatron. As Rachel's head lifts again, her eyes widen. 

"Barricade."

The other mech, with a newly fixed visor, turns his sightless gaze in her general direction, then faces Optimus once more as the portal closes. Now, not only was the group outnumbered, but Soundwave had opened up another portal behind them, releasing more drones to surround them completely. Rachel growls, along with Wheeljack, and Lennox holds a breath. 

This was the end for them, but he wasn't going to go down without a fight.

None of them were.

Megatron chuckles. "It seems that I am, indeed, in a position to say that." He stands straighter, glaring at Optimus, but his gaze soon falls on Rachel. "How sad that such power was left to a wretched human who can only last for a few moments." Barricade steps forward to stand on Megatron's left, while Starscream stands on his right with Soundwave next to him. With his crimson optics glowing in malice, Megatron raises his canon once more, aiming it at the Prime.

"Any last words, Optimus?"

"I've got some!"

Out of nowhere, shots slam into all four Decepticons, and an explosion at their peds send them flying back. As the drones turn to look, they get shot as well until a red fist collides with one of their faces. Another fist joins in, and soon a large red mech is standing defensively in front of the astonished Autobots. He glares at the drones, then opens his servos. "Careful boys. I'll put a few dings in ya. HOOYA!" Without another word, he launches himself at the others and goes on a ruthless attack.

Rachel, with renewed strength, stands in Wheeljack's servos and gazes at the mech in confusion. Before she can speak, Ratchet suddenly appears next to Optimus, and Smokescreen rushes into battle beside the red mech. Bumblebee and Bulkhead seem to appear in Rachel's vision as well urging them towards a portal, and the girl smirks. 'So that's what they were working on.'

However, as she spots the red mech get sent crashing onto his back by Barricade, Rachel's eyes change to a different shade of blue for a split second before returning to green. The red mech, glaring upward, tries to block the attack coming straight for his spark, but as Barricade gets close, Rachel swiftly jumps onto the red mech's chassis, then jump up to meet the fist with her own, releasing a large blast. Barricade hollers in pain and stumbles back. Rachel lands on the other mech, and turns on her heels quickly. Meeting the optics of the mech, she smiles, then jumps off him. "Let's go, Cliffy! We don't have all day!"

Cliffjumper flips over and pushes himself up, gazing at the girl in confusion. However, as more explosions sound behind him, he follows her. "Whatever you say, lady! Aye, kid! Let's go!" Smokescreen shoves the drone off him and fires before nodding his helm and following. As Cliffjumper gains on Rachel, he spots her stumble and quickly dips down to scoop her in his servo. "I gotcha, girl."

With that, the three remaining Autobots enter the groundbridge and arrive back at base. Optimus was sitting on a berth, wounds already patched up and a metal cast on one arm. Wheeljack was standing by the controls and quickly shuts down the portal, while Ratchet doesn't hesitate to begin inspecting the new arrivals. "Rachel needs energon, quickly!" He orders to Bumblebee, who nods and races down the hall. The doc motions for Cliffjumper to follow him, and he does. His optics never leave the girl as many questions fly through his processor.

Ratchet carefully takes the girl from him, though, before he can begin to ask his first question and hooks her up to an iv that was half full of energon already. The girl grunts and waves him off. "I'm fine, Ratchet... Just tired... Had 'em both going..." The medic shakes his head, then turns to Cliffjumper and begins scanning him. "Apologizes for forcing you into battle the moment you landed." He says, but the red mech shrugs. "There's a war going on, Ratchet. It's expected. Anyways, they'd be scrap metal if you hadn't." His optics fall once again on the girl, who lazily waves at him, her eyes a bright energon blue. A man was now standing near her, his eyes brown and holding no shine at all. 

Cliffjumper turns to the medic, then finally asks his question after Ratchet finishes his first scan. "So doc.... Care to tell me what's going on? And why she holds an Autobot life signal in her chest?" Ratchet's optics widen, and he raises his helm from the data on his arm. With a sigh, he runs another scan, then replies with a simple sentence.

"It's a long story."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hold no regrets for the length of this story

I got excited and kept writing.

And I had to add in ALL THE CLICHES because they are my favorites.

Last minute saves FTW

Anyways, hope you enjoyed, soooooo

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