Ruby - Origins - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Paint it Red

The desert wasn't nearly as cool from the ground. It was harsh, and hot, and also very windy. Sand filled Ruby's eyes and mouth before she could even get her feet firmly on the ground. 

From the air, the sand dunes had looked like nothing more than little hills, but they were actually massive, almost the size of mountains.

Seconds after everyone had landed and disentangled themselves from their parachutes, Major Lennox called them all to order. Ruby struggled to see him properly, the sun was so bright, why hadn't she thought of sunglasses? Behind him, the autobots dropped, transforming in midair to land on their feet. 

"We need two teams!" Major Lennox shouted. Gone was the smile and sarcasm. He had his battle face on now; "One small team to retrieve the kid, and the other to defend these ruins, which we'll call base for now." He gave his soldiers a sweeping look: "So who wants to be on the rescue team to get Sam?"

Ironhide's deep snarl sounded, "I'm leading," he said, and no one dared to defy him. He transformed back into a big black truck and a small team of soldiers jumped in the back, their guns cocked. Major Lennox had some flares popped so Sam would know which direction to go.

 The tension rose when Tyrese spotted Starscream flying about in the distance, "That thing has alien tattoos all over it," he mumbled to Ruby.

Ruby decided to lope off after Ironhide. She found she could run pretty fast these days, even with the hot Egyptian sun beating down on her back and her feet sinking and sliding about in the sand.

After tackling the first large sand dune, Ruby could see a whole horde of decepticons tearing apart the ruins of a village about five kilometers away. They were looking for something, thought Ruby. Her insides squirmed. 

Ironhide gunned his engine towards the enemy. Ruby ran a short distance behind him, working up her anger, which increased with the intensity of the heat. Her thoughts became less and less diverse as she thought of Megatron and his stupid decepticons. It was all their fault that she was a freak, and that Optimus was dead! 

Ruby over took Ironhide and ran right into the fray, past the decepticons, avoiding the falling rubble. She searched for Megatron as well as Sam, wanting to rip his ugly metal face apart.

As it were, she found Sam first, hiding behind one of the few buildings still intact. Some of Ruby's anger dimmed, as she rushed over to help them.

"Sam, Mikaela!" she called to them with urgency,

"Ruby!" Mikaela ran over to her, her beautiful face flushed with fear. Despite the blistering heat and sweat, she still smelt of rose perfume.

"It's OK," she soothed, "We're going to get you out of here. Where's Sam?"

"He was right next to me!" Mikaela's voice turned frantic.

"What is he doing?"

Sam walked in the opposite direction, cautiously approaching a red decepticon.

"Mom?" he said, clearly puzzled. For a moment, Ruby thought he had totally lost his mind, but then two human figures were flung from the red decepticon, who had the oddest resemblance to a large pogo stick.

"Mom, Dad!" screamed Sam, and he ran to them in despair, "What are you doing here!?"

Ruby didn't hear the answer, because she had just spotted what looked like a panther with a machine gun on its back, slinking out from a fallen pillar. It dropped to a crouch, facing Sam and his parents. Unfortunately for it, the panther didn't see Ruby until she had beheaded it. With a swift motion of her hand, Ruby snapped its neck from over ten feet away; its head rolled past them with its one eye rattling about until it fell out to be buried in the sand.

Judging from the sounds coming from the other side of the village ruins, the other decepticons had met Ironhide.

The red pogo stick cornered Sam's parents with one of its alien canons. Sam was offering it what looked like his sock. Yep, he'd definitely lost his mind.

"This is what you want, trade, this for my parents," he pleaded, his hands in the air, slowly edging closer to the decepticon in order to give it the sock. Ruby started forward, but Bumble Bee beat her to it, bursting out from nowhere in a shower of rock and sand.

"Quick!" Ruby hurried Sam's parents from its grasp. They ran to Sam and Mikaela and hid behind a fallen pillar. 

With the pogo stick reduced to a few spare parts, Bumble Bee transformed into a yellow Camero and sidled up to Sam. 

"Go, go!" cried Ruby, "Major Lennox has Optimus waiting for you!" she pointed at the red flares in the sky; "GO!"