Escaping Reality

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Rendezvous

"Designation: Katrina"

         It was strange receiving emergency reports, even stranger to understand them as they flitted across her vision, vision that she barely even had... Where was she?

         "Energon Levels: 87%"

         The report continued as she began to hear voices, some calling her name, others speaking to another, if not themselves.

         "Katrina... Okay... What about M... Lost cause..." A familiar mech's words were ones that she particularly latched onto, though perhaps that was because the other was mostly a bunch of beeps and whirls. There was a weaker voice, a more feminine one, but she couldn't connect as much to that one either. Maybe it was because it was so quiet.

         "Conclusion: Stable."

         Another report came in before a final one announced her wake up call.

         "Power-up: Initiated."

         Katrina's vision flickered back to life.

         The room was dimly lit, allowing her optics to adjust quickly to her surroundings. Quickly, she made out Smokescreen in the darkness, his bright blue optics now trained on her own as she scanned the area. Ah. Bumblebee. It was good to see he was also fine, and in his arms was a small femme, the one with the weaker speech. Her objective. Her friend. Sasori, from... home. A Decepticon but... not quite.

        "...Hey guys." Katrina's voice was weak too, but that wouldn't stop her. She'd never let it stop her. "...What's up?"

         "Oh thank the Allspark you're okay-" Katrina was suddenly pulled into a hug, not at all realizing she'd been on Smokescreen's lap until now. But after some beeping from Bumblebee, he quickly released her, allowing her to breathe and sit up as needed. "Sorry about that- Just... Megatron really got you back there..."

         "...Huh. So that's what happened? Oh." Katrina didn't remember much, but that would explain a lot. First she was going at Midnight, and then... darkness. And, as if to prove them right, the dull pain in her left side seemed to become more noticeable upon comment. "...Ow. At least I can say I survive Megatron."

         "If we get off the ship, that is." That was Sasori speaking, the femme trying to sit up a bit more herself. "Midnight... I really didn't expect that to happen to her, and I know that memory thing happened to Jinx... That, and Smokescreen told me Titanium was here? But she's getting Jinx right now, which I'm... I'm not sure anymore, honestly... Because if we get caught, they'll kill us."

         "Kill us?" Katrina echoed, sounding doubtful. "I'm not so sure about that. Aren't we valuable to them or whatever?"

         "Well they'll kill Smokescreen and Bumblebee; they're not exactly needed to fulfill any of their plans," Sasori pointed out, the two mechs exchanging looks. "They'll kill me for being impossible to train, or they'll wait for my character's programming to set in more..." She cringed, a haunted look crossing her optics. "And you? You're an Autobot, and you're a cyberwolf. I don't doubt you'll end up on Shockwave and Knockouts' dissection table. This... There's not a good outlook here."

         "Hey now. That's quitter talk." Smokescreen couldn't help but interject once Sasori finished, the mech shaking his helm. "You two may need to be carried around now, but we will get outta here. We've got this. I've explored and escaped the warship before, so I know a thing or two. That's why I'm here. And Bee and I? We're top of the line!" He slapped Bumblebee on the back, earning a small whirl from the scout. "And I'm sure Titanium'll turn up. I mean, Ratchet seems to like her a lot, so I'll bet she's smart enough to stay out of sight and not get into trouble she can't handle."

         And right on cue, Katrina's com link crackled to life. "Titaniumwrench to Katrina. Eh route with Jinx and Midnight."

         "...Well you'll never guess what I just got." Katrina then relayed the message to the others, snickering as Smokescreen pumped a fist into the air while Bumblebee cheered and Sasori gasped in amazement.

         "She got Jinx and Midnight?!" the femme gaped. "How-?! We already saw how Midnight was, and Jinx already hates Autobots!"

         "Power of friendship! Duh!" Katrina grinned before hopping back on the com link. "Understood. En route to the rendezvous point. Any injuries?"

         "None right now-!" Titaniumwrench gasped as blaster fire whizzed right past her, the sound of Starjinx yelling a string of swears also audible over the com.

         "Cool! That answers my question! Uh, Sasori and I are a bit messed up, but we're okay! We'll be there! Katrina out!" With that said, she turned her attention back to her team. "Yep. They have Jinx with them definitely. And they're under attack but on their way, so! Let's get going."

         Katrina then got to her peds slower than she wanted, but with Smokescreen's help, she was up and on her way. Sasori soon joined her as well, still disoriented, but slowly yet surely, they were back on the move. Covering the group were Smokescreen and Bumblebee, the more experienced bots still more accustomed to these kinds of missions. That and they weren't injured like the two femmes were, but that was once again easily chalked up to their inexperience in a real fight.

         Either way, Smokescreen ended up taking the lead, using his Phase Shifter to look around and slide them all through different walls. This lead them to reach the rendezvous point before the trio, where a poor vehicon quickly met its demise. But now the room was theirs, and hopefully it would stay that way until they left. All they needed now were the groundbridge and the trio.

         "Did you guys get the coordinates?" Bumblebee asked, already messing with the controls.

         "Yep. Titanium's got the drive," Katrina reported, the sounds of blaster fire beginning to echo down the halls. "Looks like they're approaching."

         As a muffled cheer of, "Frag yeah, Midnight!" sounded out, Sasori couldn't help but giggle a little. "Looks like they really do have Jinx and Midnight."

         "Dropping shields now." Bumblebee's warning was quickly followed by the soft hum of the warship, the mech not taking his optics off the monitor as Smokescreen called for a ground bridge. And within moments, they got their wish as the swirling blue vortex opened up nearby, right when their missing party burst through the doors.

         Titaniumwrench was the first of the group, sprinting into the room with blaster fire whizzing past her helm. Behind her were two familiar Decepticons, ones that the group all recognized as Midnight and Starjinx. The latter was right behind Titaniumwrench, energon prod gripped tightly in her servos. Midnight meanwhile was covering the group with her own blasters, only withdrawing as the doors came to a close.

         "They're too close. We move out now!" Midnight wasted no time barking out orders, only pausing to process the new set of Autobots before her. But she was quickly on the move again, directing Katrina, Starjinx, and Sasori to follow after Titaniumwrench while she, Bumblebee, and Smokescreen covered their escape.

         No one argued. In fact, everything worked out perfectly with the only hiccup being Starjinx, the femme wanting to cover them as well, but there wasn't much she could do without a blaster.

         "Lose the prod! Don't change the plot!" was another thing Sasori paused to yell out, and with the energon prod tossed to the side, Starjinx huffed and exited with Katrina and Titaniumwrench.

         Doors burst open once more right as the remaining three were beginning their exit, blaster fire fixated directly on the bots and their ticket to freedom. A few hits were taken, nothing that couldn't be handled. But then came the reminder of who the trio had chasing them initially.

         A fusion canon fired into the groundbridge.