Ruby - Transformers: Dark of the Moon fanfic

The Beginning of the End

Carly could feel her upper arm bruising from Dylan's constant tight grasp. He pulled her along and threwn her down on a sofa. They were in a plush lounge, somewhere in the middle of trump tower. She glared at him, and listened in on his phone conversation.

"Yep," he said, pacing in front of the huge window, "Yes sir, all is in place, I'm watching him drive up right now."

He paused while whoever was at the end of the line spoke. Carly strained her ears, but all she could hear was the traffic passing by several stories below.

"Ok," said Dylan, "We're moving now, I can see them,"

His gaze left the window and lingered on Carly. He snapped his fingers and gestured for her to follow him.

She rolled her eyes, but got to her feet and trailed after him.

He led her down the stairs and out of the building's back entrance where they were met by a fleet of police vehicles and a rusty old truck with a huge digger's bucket on the front. It began to transform, into the most repulsive thing Carly had ever seen. 

Coated in rust and crawling with little metal bugs, Megatron had seen better days. He didn't hang around, but shot into the sky. His balance was off and he scraped across the building next door, showering the road below with bricks and debris. Oblivious to this, he continued on and out of view. 

Then Dylan was gripping her arm again, pulling her back a few steps. She gritted her teeth, but did not resist. Pillars were being unloaded from the police vans and into specific groups. She guessed that they would then be distributed to different locations around the city.

"It's incredible isn't it?" said Dylan, watching in awe.

When Carly didn't reply, he carried on, "To think, that a similar thing is happening in every major city across the globe."

Panic coursed through her body at his words, and she turned to look at him, trying to figure it out, searching for worry and fear.

"But we here in Chicago have the crown jewel!" He raised his voice as an extra large pillar was carried past them. Metal spikes projected from the top and bottom, giving the impression that it was a very big mace. Dylan followed it back into the building, and slid into the elevator beside it, yanking Carly in with him. Her skin crawled as she stumbled into him to avoid falling against the pillar. As they moved up the floors, Carly's fear rose too.

"Sentinel said," she began quietly, "That they need Earth for our resources,"

"Yes," said Dylan, "Something only our planet has,"

Carly gulped; "Us,"

"Very good," teased Dylan, "You're very smart,"

The doors slid open with a ding. He resumed his tight grip on Carly and led her back through the sitting room and into a personal office, decorated like a rich astronomer's study.

"Surely," said Carly, "the Decepticons can't transport billions of people to their planet?"

"You're right; no, they can't," said Dylan. He stepped out onto the balcony, "They're shipping their planet here."

The pillar floated along behind them, all by its self. The sound of traffic was much more distant now, and the air its self seemed cleaner in this open space. 

Carly couldn't help shuddering when she caught sight of Megatron standing on the roof of the building opposite, gesturing at the pillar with a casual flick of his wrist. It glided across to him and then he shooed the two of them away. Dylan bowed to him, tugging on Carly's arm to make her do the same. Her face grew hot, despite the cold wind raising goose bumps on her arms. 

As they went back inside Dylan cast a glance back, "We all work for the Decepticons now," he said, scanning the skies. Carly looked up also, but she couldn't see what he was looking at. Finally, he locked the doors and left the room, leaving her alone. 

Her eyes shifted around the room for a moment, tense and suspicious. But nobody seemed to be hiding, no horrible traps sprung, so she relaxed and walked back over to the window, snatching up a telescope. Sentinel had joined Megatron on the roof opposite. They appeared to be arguing. Sentinel flung an arm out, trapping Megatron. Carly heard the thud as his back hit the brick behind.

"No!" roared Sentinel, "I agreed to work with you, I will never work for you, and you would do well to remember the difference!" He snatched his arm away and Megatron stumbled.

Carly's jaw dropped, of all the terrifying stories she had heard about Megatron, she would never have imagined that he could be treated like that, and what's more, he just took it. A low, rumbling snarl came from Megatron as he righted himself. Then he asked, "Shall we begin?" 

Sentinel turned away from him, and spoke back over his shoulder: "Yes, it's time to make an example of this city. The slaves will not be so quick to rebel after."

Megatron nodded once and turned away, "Decepticons!" he roared as he went, "Seal off the city!"

****

Ruby knew she was running out of time. She had overtaken Sam and Tyrese before they were barely out of the space base, giving them a taste of her speed as she flashed past in a Bugatti Veyron, the fastest road car ever built. It had been one of those blink-and-you've-missed-it moments. At the time it been exhilarated, high with an adrenaline rush. Now her mind had settled again, bringing her back to reality. 

The Autobots were gone, Carly was in danger, something was happening in Chicago, and she was the only one who could help. The sky turned black behind her, and ahead the reds and oranges of sunset darkened. Now, the car didn't seem fast enough. Spurred on by some unexplainable sense of urgency, she pressed the accelerator to the floor, encouraging the needle to exceed two hundred miles per hour, racing towards the sun and away from the moon.