"Crashin', hit a wall,
Right now I need a miracle,
Hurry up now I need a miracle,"

»«

Dana leaped out of the way, tucking the relic to her chest as the shot whizzed by. She heard Lockdown growl in frustration, the human woman not stopping to think as she scrambled out of the way of a second shot, her heart racing.

Scrap! Scrap! Scrap!

"Stay. Still!" The bounty hunter snarled, taking out a new weapon as he waited for the other to charge.

With each jostle pain seared up her ear, warm blood flowing from it and increasing her concern. She took the moment of pause to look at her relic, tapping it on the Apex Armor to see if it would react with the Cybertronian technology.

"Come on, come o- ah!" She cried out in pain as a wave of energy sliced through her, knocking the girl back, her body skidding across the ground. The Apex Armor shorted out, Lockdown watching with some surprise as it shrank back and revealed that the wearer was nothing more than organic, the device she had been handling falling out of her hand.

"So, you're nothing but a native lifeform," he stalked up to the dazed woman.

Panicked, Dana tried to scramble back, but found to her horror that her legs were no longer responding. They were dead on the ground. The technology that had shorted out the Apex Armor had also destroyed - at least temporarily - her back strut.

"You stay away from me!" She snapped, gripping the ground as she forced herself to sit up. "Or . . . Or . . ."

"Or what?" He mocked. "I have disabled your Cybertronian armor; it will be of no use to you for a few hours at most. Plenty of time for me to get what I want from you."

Dana swallowed the lump of fear in her throat, desperately shying away from his grip. He was not like Megatron - there would be no bargaining, and no mercy.

"Don't - " her voice faltered as the sound of another jet shrieked above them, Lockdown not even able to look up before he was blindsided, slammed backwards as the jet moved and shifted, Megatron snarling with feral rage as his claws dug into the hunter's armor.

Another explosion rocked beneath them as Lockdown skidded across the ground. Dirt flew up into the air as the two Cybertronians jolted from the blast, Dana flinching and covering her ears as a physical wave of sound ripped through her skull. She yelled in pain as her injured ear flared once more, canal throbbing. 

Lockdown scrambled to his pedes as his long-awaited quarry did the same, the two sizing one another up. His weapon lay a few kliks out of reach, but he had little to worry about - he had a few more hidden surprises on his person. The bounty hunter took their moment of pause to assess Megatron's neck cables; yes, they were thick, and it would probably take more than just a simple swing to cleave his helm off his shoulder plates. But, if he used enough force, one swipe would do the trick.

Megatron gazed at his former killer for-hire, more than well aware that there was no reasoning with Lockdown. He did not have the credits to pay him more than his current sponsor would, nor would pretty words sway him to his side. This was life and death; one of them would not walk away from this fight.

He spared a glance at the human girl, baring his denta when he saw her without armor, red blood running down the side of her face. Something else was off about her body; she struggled like an injured animal to crawl away, her green eyes filled with awe and terror. The sight of her in such a state cause anger to surge in his energon veins. Lockdown had dared to hurt her; he would pay dearly for his offense.

The warlord unsheathed his blade, satisfied by the unearthly hum which followed its reveal. He slipped back into his normal fighting stance, optics carefully watching Lockdown's every move.

Lockdwon grinned, just as ready as he to start this bloodbath.

"Lockdown, have you found the source of the beacon?" The human woman from M.E.C.H demanded in his ear, her voice rather impatient. He growled softly.

"I have. It is from the native lifeform I encountered during my . . . first attempt at locating Megatron," he kept his optics on the former Decepticon. "But it is of no matter to me now; Megatron is here, and I intend to collect my bounty."

His prize's optics narrowed, mouth plates twisting into an expression of confusion. Who is Lockdown talking to? Another Cybertronian? M.E.C.H?

"The native lifeform? A human?" Alpha waited impatiently, and when he did not respond she snapped again. "Lockdown! Answer me!"

The Cybertronian ignored her, readying his close-combat weapons. Her agenda was of no concern to him for the moment.

Dana curled up as best as she could by the fallen relic and Apex Armor, trying to garner some response from her legs. Yelling in frustration she touched her back strut, attempting to will it into action. But its familiar thrumming had ceased, a lump of fear forming in her throat. Lockdown had mentioned the Apex Armor would come back online in a few hours . . . but would her own device do the same?

»«

"Lockdown has disabled his communication link, but we are still getting a signal," Beta informed their leader, who was frustrated at the insubordination. With any one of her own men, she could just demote them or kill them; but this Cybertronian had immunity from such things.

"Find him," she snapped. "I want to know exactly what he is doing, and if it is beneficial to us. I am not going to risk double-cross from an alien lifeform; especially one that is so advantageous, and could give us what we want."

"Yes ma'am." He confirmed, typing in instructions and sending jet squadrons out.

"Gamma," the former Delta paused as he tried to turn away, to busy himself with something else. "I want you to accompany the squadron. Give me an eye-witness report of everything." 

He took a breath. There were few times a high-ranking officer went into the field: To kill, or be killed. What had he done to incite her fury?

"Going immediately," he confirmed, saying nothing more as he left.

»«

"Megatron is at the coordinates, but why has he said nothing?" Chromia demanded whilst Ratchet slowly welded the Groundbridge ring back together. 

"I don't know," the medic snapped back. "Perhaps, once I finish this, you can go and ask him!"

Soundwave meticulously recalibrated the bridge while Ratchet put everything back together, his slender fingers typing at incredible speed, tentacles plugged into compatible outlets and running constant diagnostics. Lockdown's signal had been detected heading that way long before Megatron had arrived, kicking Ratchet's processor into overdrive. He swore that if the hunter or any of his mutts laid a digit on Dana, they would answer to his scalpels - if Megatron was not currently kicking their tailpipes into next week.

"I almost have the bridge repaired to a safe point," Ratchet announced. "I don't know how many bridges it can hold, but one should do the trick."

"How much longer?" Agent Fowler demanded, gripping the railing so much that his knuckles were pure white.

"Too long," the medic replied with a touch of a snarl, too testy to deal with Fowler's attitude. "If someone had not have gotten themselves stuck in the Shadow Zone, I'm sure it would not have disrupted the gravitational pull of the bridges and created a faulty ring!"

Soundwave did not answer to that, not allowing the medic's anger to get to him. It was misplaced, and once Dana was returned safely to Ratchet's servo they could all relax.

"Megatron," Chromia finally could not take it, accessing his coms. "What is going on over there?"

»«

"Lockdown is what is going on!" The warlord snapped as he parried yet another blow, the two titans constantly pummeling one another with fist and sword. "If you would be so kind as to refrain from distracting me, I will deal with his insolence and then return to base with Dana."

"Dana, is she alright?"

"She is fine," he said shortly, shutting off the link and barely dodging a direct blast in the face. His servo lashed out with lightning speed, gripping the hunter's gun and digging his claws into the mechanism, attempting to disable it. So far, each shot had gone in a completely opposite direction from Dana, yet that could change at any moment. He had to destroy it to prevent an accident.

The human girl had nestled herself into the dirt, like a trench, covering her head with her arms and suddenly feeling very, very mortal. The experience was not overly terrifying, but she was in survival mode, her senses on high alert and the pain in her head ever present. As her logical mind slowly came back, she assumed that, during the explosion, her ear comm had been jammed into her ear, breaking and possibly shredding her eardrum and anything else it could reach.

Great.

Lockdown took a step back, and another explosion rocked the ground, the bounty hunter yelling in pain as shrapnel shot up his pede, Megatron knocked back by the blow and his adversary taking the time to scramble backwards. Pain receptors in Lockdown's leg were overloaded, his cables seemingly on fire - but it was from a bomb of some kind, an unfortunate misstep costing him dearly.

He cursed aloud in Cybertronian, Megatron raising his canon arm, preparing for his enemy's annihilation.

Bullets sprayed across his arm and torso, the grey titan snarling in anger as they pinged off his torso in some areas while others lodged into his kinks, the Cybertronian naturally curling in on himself to protect his vulnerable midsection. 

Lockdown was unsure if he appreciated the support, recognizing the M.E.C.H logo on the sides of the jet, a helicopter off in the distance and slowly approaching. He was certainly impressed by how quickly they had arrived, but he wondered if the help was so they could terminate him due to "Alpha" being angry, or to punish him for ignoring their leader. 

"Dana," Megatron's optics widened as he heard a scream, looking over to see that a spray of bullets had traveled to where she lay hidden. Swiping at the jets as if they were gnats, the warlord panicked as yet another torrent of human firepower rained down on him, putting the girl in even more danger.

He shielded her and the two relics when he got to them, his back struts taking the brunt of the fire, but his armor made it difficult to cause him any pain. He gazed down at the human, who looked up at him with her own concern.

"Are you alright?" He asked, grunting as the jets sprayed him again. 

"I'm fine," she wiped her hair away from her face, voice urgent. "You need to go, run, or Lockdown will kill you!"

"I will not leave you here to fend for yourself," he said, gritting his denta. "What happened?"

"I-I don't know. There was an explosion. Lockdown disabled the Apex Armor and my back with his gun - " She screamed his name, and Megatron whirled just in time to catch Lockdown's sword, snarling in anger as it cut his servo.

Gamma watched from the helicopter as the metal beings went at it once more, his eyes trailing to what the Transformer - Megatron - had been protecting. He saw two pieces of tech he could only assume was Cybertronian and thus unrecognizable, and a human girl.

Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, an evil faction, protecting a human?

"Alpha," he spoke into his communicator. "The Transformer Lockdown has engaged Megatron. They are fighting right now, but air support is doing their best to keep Lockdown at an advantage. But . . ."

"But what?" She snapped, expecting some bad news.

"He - Megatron - was shielding a human from the gunfire; protecting her, if you will," he felt a sense of dread settle in his gut, but he pushed the feeling aside. What did it matter if a civilian got in the mix? "She has made contact with him."

"Is she of any importance or just a civilian casualty?"

Gamma spared a glance at his companion, Phi. Her gun was trained on the woman, prepared to take her out with a shot if need be.

"Why would Megatron protect a human if she was just a civilian?" He posited. "She has to be of some use or importance to him."

There was silence on the other line. He could see her red lips stretch into a grin in his mind's eye, the sick feeling growing, yet he carefully schooled his features and voice to not let it show.

"Bring her in. If Lockdown fails, well, then we have bait. Lockdown said Megatron was residing with the one we need: the medic. If she is important to the Decepticon, she is probably important to the Autobot."

Gamma nodded, giving the crew their orders.

Megatron tussled with Lockdown mercilessly, taking advantage of his torn leg to dominate, despite the fact that the humans were constantly raining bullets on him. They would noticeably stop when the fight got heated and they could not target Megatron exclusively without also putting Lockdown at risk, for which he also used.

Meanwhile, Lockdown threw everything he had at the warlord. With the humans he regained even footing with the gladiator, however it was becoming increasingly apparent that retreat may be necessary. That was unsatisfactory to him; he hated retreat, weakness. And if he did not take this opportunity now, who knew when he could seize Megatron again.

Dana looked up as she sense a presence near her, but her intuitive warning came too late as hands gripped her arms, dragging her out of her pseudo-trench, the young woman wriggling.

"Let go of me!" She snapped, arching her back in an attempt to slip loose, her feet jerking randomly as her shoes caught on the dirt. Looking back, she caught sight of what looked like souped-up M.E.C.H agents in a helicopter, panic bursting forth in her chest.

"Megatron!"

The Decepticon paused in his rampage with Lockdown and the jets, fierce red optics narrowing as he watched the humans in the helicopter take her.

Gamma cursed as the woman sicced her Decepticon on them, urging the pilot to go faster as her handlers leaped into the chopper with her, another crew member rushing forward and putting a drugged cloth to her face, pressing it to her nose and mouth, wresting her head still. 

The warlord yelled in rage, ripping Lockdown off of him and swatting at the jets again as he charged forward, sword out and intending to rip the blades off of the aero machine if that was what it took. The humans aboard shot at him as the helicopter lifted into the air, his sword retracting as he pointed his cannon at them; the Decepticon hesitated, however. Shooting the vehicle would most certainly injure or kill those inside.

Dana fought the hand at her face, eyes watering as the sharp chemical kept filling her lungs. She could feel its effects within a few moments, yet she kept trying to break free. Yet the young woman eventually succumbed, Gamma motioning for his men to strap her in after her eyes closed and head slumped forward.

A Groundbridge opened beside Megatron as he lost his footing, Lockdown tackling him and shoving his blade toward his face, missing by only a few inches.

Chromia burst forth, her small body holding a lot of momentum as she sped forward in her alternate form, transforming with a leap and knocking Lockdown to the ground. 

"Retreat." Alpha commanded to Lockdown and her men. "We have what we need . . . for now."

Lockdown cursed. What could she possibly have that could get him Megatron?

But with two against one, even with primitive human technology he had no chance. The bounty hunter took out one of few explosives on his person, activating it.

"Catch," he sneered, giving the explosive a few seconds before he threw it at Chromia.

The femme jerked backward as it hit her chest plates and landed at her feet, moments from going off. Lockdown transformed and raced off with the other humans, Megatron grabbing the small femme and tucking her against him as the bomb went off, sending them flying backward.

Chromia grunted in pain as she landed and rolled off of the warlord's chest. It took her a few moments to inhale a few vents and realize she was still alive before she sat up. When she looked over, Megatron was already standing, proud as always, but his expression was filled with anger and contempt, watching as the jets faded in the distance.

Perplexed by the fact he had probably saved her, Chromia stood, looking around. "Where is Dana?"

"Gone," the warlord seethed. "M.E.C.H took her while I was engaged with Lockdown. Allspark only knows what they will do to her."

"Then go after them!" She snarled. "You have a jet mode!"

"I would," He snapped back, turning to fully face her. Blue energon was leaking profusely down his side - the one he had turned toward the blast. "If I had not saved someone from the scrapyard."

She gazed at him, unsure what to say to that, but she did not have to think for long as his expression became nonexistent.

"Megatron?" Her question turned to shock as he fell to his knees, then collapsed completely, his optics shut. "Hey!" She ran to his side, putting two digits to his neck to make sure he was still alive while two others went to her audio receptor. "Ratchet, we need a med-evac."

"Is it Dana?!" He asked frantically.

"No," she grit her denta a little. "That is another problem altogether." Her optics looked towards where M.E.C.H had disappeared. She almost pitied them - it would not be easy, surviving the wrath of two Cybertronian mechs. But judging by their attitude towards everyone but themselves, they would deserve what was coming.

»«

Guess who just updated!

Honestly, this feels like a sub-par chapter, but I hope it suffices for a continuation of this story. Finals are coming up, but guess what?! After finals, a break! Hopefully I can do some updating then, but we will see!

Please comment what you think, I would love to hear your thoughts. :)