Cemetery Wind did not take their defeat lightly. They had the men and an Autobot cornered yet they still managed to wiggle free. Savoy ordered that they track all their last known locations, every stop, every street, every building. No stone was left unturned. They tracked all their sightings until they came to Ron's shop; it was the place they stayed the longest at.
"I want boots in that shop an hour ago. Find out what those men did there and report back to us as soon as possible" Savoy instructed.
While Cemetery Wind moved, Sam, Brian, and their families finally got into a rhythm. They moved from the apartment buildings to a much bigger space that could accommodate all of them. It was an abandoned church. They had gotten water to run through the pipes; they got waste to burn to boil water and food to eat. They bathed, they ate, and they put on fresh clothes. Things weren't perfect but they worked; there was life and joy among them now.
Bumblebee Sat on top of a big chunk of concrete, tapping his foot to the rhythm of September by Earth, Wind & Fire. The song played softly from his radio as he fiddled around with his cannon. Jetstream managed to find a couch and table for the humans to sit and enjoy their meal. Dino entertained the kids with some holographic projections from his palms.
Brian listened to the music, tapping his hand and to the beat as the song started. Soon, his head began to nod to it as Bee increased the volume slightly.
"What's got you like this?" his wife asked.
"After all we've been through, it's nice that we are almost at the end of everything" Brian said.
He got up to his feet, nodding his head, tapping his foot and snapping on the beat. He held his wife by the hand and pulled her to her feet, spinning her in the process.
"Brian" she said with a chuckle.
it didn't take long for her to join in as the two danced.
Bee increased the volume once more as he got to his feet to join the couple to dance.
"I do admit, the humans got some good tunes" Jet remarked as he shook his head to the rhythm.
Carly got up to her feet too, inspired by the older couple. "Come on Sam"
The two partnered up and danced alongside the other two. The kids saw their parents and Dino encouraged them to join. Jetstream was off in the back doing a little shimmy as the little music being played turned into an entire dance party. Both families and their Guardian Autobots danced together, full of laughter and cheer. This was the highlight of all their troubles, and for a moment, they forgot they were actually being hunted. Dino sat in the back, his arms crossed but his foot tapped to the beat. He wasn't much of a dancer so he decided to stay back and watch.
They all had a blast, Bee and jet managed to persuade Dino to dance for a few minutes before they called it a night. Tomorrow they were going to be free, they were going to leave their pursuers behind and start a new life. The kids were tucked in and the parents tried their best to relax, tomorrow was a big day for them.
They were on the road early in the morning. The address Ron had given them yesterday was two and a half hours away from their current position. They still had food and snacks leftover from yesterday to help them keep hunger at bay during their flight. Sam, Carly and Mary rode in Bumblebee as always, Brian and his first son were in Jetstream and his wife went with the rest of his kids in Dino. His son got a bit excited every time he saw the viper logo glow on Jetstream's dash every time he revved hard.
The cars drove out into what was supposedly the middle of nowhere. The road stretched for miles, the hills were sparse. The drive continued as they went into a small sparsely populated town and drove further into it, heading towards small airfield. The airfield was protected by barbed wire fences, three hangars stood on the west side as a partially maintained runway ran its length.
The bots pushed through the gate without any security to stop them. The doors to the center hangar was spread wide open. Two men sat down outside the entrance with a couple of drinks by their side. That was where they were going. The three cars parked a couple of feet away from the men, the rumble of their engines caused the ground to shake slightly. One by one, their cylinders ceased their dance as the families came out of their means of transport.
The first man to stand up was a black man wearing a white cowboy hat, a white polo shirt, blue jeans and brown leather shoes. The bottle of beer didn't leave his hand as he walked towards the two of them. The second had short curly hair; he wore a cream coloured shirt with its entire buttons opened. He had brown pants on and black leather shoes.
"How can I help you?" the first man said.
"I'm a friend of Ron's he asked me to come here for help. We want to get across to Africa. He said he was going to call you" Brian said.
"Oh" he said as his eye widened. "I remember that conversation. My name is Jacob and this is my partner Diego" he said stretching out his hand.
The two men shook hands with all the adults and then faced the matter at hand.
"He told me about the nature of the situation and what you intend to do. You are in luck because we do have a landing site in Burundi. My brother is actually there, he will take care of you when you land" Jacob explained.
"Thank you so much for this" said Sam.
"It's fine. I owe Ron a lot"
Brian's wife held him by the hand and rubbed it. She was excited to get away from the States and finally settle down. Diego walked to the partially open hangar door and pushed them apart, revealing the aircraft they were going to use. It was a white Pilatus PC 24 jet. The tail of the aircraft was painted blue and the under of it was covered in red. The plane was in pristine condition.
"Wow" one of the boys said.
"There she is. We will have to make a few stops along the way but we will get there eventually. Our first stop will be in South America, that would throw the cops off for a bit while we move around. We'd move to a bigger plane in Brazil to make the big trip across the ocean" Jacob explained.
"Hmm" Sam hummed. He was expecting them to make the trip in one go but getting out of the United States was top priority.
"Okay guys. Let's get ready to move"
"We've put fuel in. We just need to perform some checks and we will be in the air in thirty minutes tops" Diego added.
"Super" Brian turned around and started walking towards Jetstream. "Let me get the snacks out of the-"
Bang.
Silence fell upon the airfield as Brian dropped to the floor. It couldn't be. A red streak painted the concrete floor as everyone froze in place. Brian was gone.
"Kill confirmed. Target neutralised," a soldier said.
Bumblebee and Dino reacted first; they transformed and formed a wall around the families as they identified the direction from which the shot came.
"Get inside the hangar!" Dino instructed.
"Move, move move. Everyone inside!" Jacob said as he picked up Brian's youngest son and made a run for it.
Bumblebee and Mirage opened fire in that direction as shots flew their way. Jetstream didn't move. He was frozen in place, replaying the incident over and over in his head. He stared at Brian's lifeless body on the ground in disbelief as rounds flew their way.
"Get up Jetstream! If you don't fight, they are all going to die" the Ferrari said.
Jacob and Diego couldn't comprehend what was going on. One moment they were all smiles and the next minute giant robots were protecting them from attackers.
Jetstream transformed, even with bullets hitting him, but he was unfazed. He got down on one knee and looked at the body of his dead friend. Memories of them together playing through his head, a distraught expression plagued his face. Bumblebee and Mirage were trying their best to contain the incoming vehicles and APCs, but they lacked the firepower. They needed Jetstream, they needed him now.
"Jetstream! Get yourself together" the red bot said as he pulled the bot to face him. "If you don't fight back, they will all die and all of this will be in vain. Fight for them in his honor. Fight"
Jetstream studied his lifeless body after Mirage let go of him. He looked up into the hangar seeing the kids scared and clinging to their parents. His heart went out to the boys, they just witnessed their father die and now their life was also in danger. He closed his eyes as the anger welled up within him like a storm. His eyelids opened, revealing his once blue optics had now become red. His mask and visor came down in one smooth motion. He traced the trajectory of the bullet and determined the position of the sniper. His weapons systems activated; his cannons and machine guns revealing themselves.
The panel covering his shoulder missiles peeled back as the row of missiles revealed themselves. He unleashed half of his payload on the position of the sniper, killing him. The rest of it went after the fast approaching vehicles and armored shooters. They attempted to surround them but Jetstream was having none of it, he was over taken with bloodlust and wanted them all dead. His machine guns didn't stop once as he shelled the humans ina devastating assault. His plasma cannon fired more times than they could count. There was no more preserving their lives, it was death straight up.
"Pull back! Pull back!" Savoy yelled over the radio. He was losing men too fast. Their forces were down to half in five minutes and the assault from the bots did not relent. Bumblebee and Mirage almost stopped firing when they saw how brutal Jetstream had become. Optimus would not approve of this.
"Jet…it's okay. We need….to get them….. outta here!" Bumblebee said.
He didn't answer. He continued to shoot at the man without a care in the world.
"Jetstream!" Dino yelled.
They finally got a response from him. He turned sharply and stared at the duo, not uttering a word.
"Plane. Scan. Get them out"
He nodded like a zombie shoulder. The plane was bigger than his Harrier form so he had to mass shift to accommodate. He scanned the plane, green laser lines shot out from his visor as he downloaded the specs for the plane. He grabbed the body of his dead friend and then began to transform. He placed Brian close to his chest as he began to shift. Sparks flew as longer wings grew out from his back. His chest elongated into the nose of the plane as his head went missing. The tail of the plane formed as his legs transformed into landing gear.
Within the twinkle of an eye, the twin engine plane was on ground. Boasting a metallic grey colour and a grey outline around the frame of the door. Jetstream parked there in front of the hangar, the door to enter hanging down as he waited for them.
"Get in, we will cover you!" Mirage instructed.
"Go go go!" Bumblebee said from his radio as he exchanged fire with Cemetary wind soldiers.
Under the protection of Bumblebee and Mirage, the two families, as well as Jacob and Diego ran aboard Jetstream. Diego and Jacob took to the cockpit while the families sat in the passenger area.
"We have to make sure that they take off safely" said Dino.
Bumblebee nodded with a charged whir. The two of them sprayed rounds in all directions, ensuring that Jetstream could take off smoothly. His engines spooled to life as he began to taxi out to the run way. Jacob and Diego sat in the cockpit and didn't lay a hand on any of the flight instruments; allowing the bot to do his own thing. Jetstream taxied to the end of the runway and then let off an EMP to ensure that Savoy could not contact headquarters to monitor the plane.
His engines sprang to life as they began to build up speed. Cemetery Wind tried their best to shoot down the plane, but there was no stopping him. Bee and Mirage covered Jet as the nose of the plane started to gain lift. Within a few moments, they were in the air and Jetstream pulled up to ascend into the clouds.
The dynamic duo took this as their cue and slipped away from their attackers. Despite the dark turn the day took, the families managed to escape and the Autobots as well. Despite getting a lead from Ron on where they were going to, they had no idea what country they were going to. Savoy cursed inside the car he was in, they had let them slip from their grasp again. He could already imagine how disappointed Attinger would look when he gave him this update. They day wasn't looking good for them.