Tinman

Damages

Sara hobbled in the direction of the yellow glint on the horizon, with Annabelle holding her hand. Very soon the glint became a yellow Camaro with unusually designed tires. The girls' hearts lifted as they recognized Bumblebee's flashy alt-form and redoubled their efforts to be seen. Sara waved her arms wildly and Annabelle copied the movement. The Camaro seemed to speed up across the open valley, tearing up grass and dirt. True to his high speed reputation, Bumblebee soon came to a halt a safe distance from the two females.

Will barely let the Camaro transformer stop before he threw open the door and charged for his wife and daughter. In a furious instant he had his arms wrapped around each one of them, relieved emotion melting his usually calm, collected demeanor. Just as the human family reunited a bright flash blinded them from a distance away. Bumblebee quickly pulled around to block them from the light. A mighty gust of dust and hot wind swept over them followed by a muffled BOOM!. Bumblebee transformed fully, curling his arms and torso around the humans to protect them just in case. Soon the light died and the young Autobot turned around, scanning.

A low moan of shock escaped his vocalizer. Ironhide didn't...did he?

Though Bumblebee desperately wanted to go and investigate, Prime's previous orders resurfaced in his memory core: find the Lennox females and get them all to safety. Besides, it appeared Sara's leg was injured and would require a human doctor's attention. The young scout backed off and transformed, throwing open his doors.

The humans were staring blankly in the direction the blast came from, eyes bulging.

"What was that?" Will managed to croak. He'd never seen an explosion like that in his entire military career.

"Please, Captain. My orders are to get you and your family to safety." Bumblebee stated gently, but with urgency.

Sara shook her head dumbly, "But...what was that explosion? Where's Ironhide?"

Bumblebee inched closer to them. He knew he couldn't tell them what he was thinking; Ironhide had activated a plasma bomb. Any Autobot daring enough to even carry one of those and actually use it would've been Ironhide. A pulse of dread shook his spark. He didn't want to think...

Urgently, the Camaro flicked its doors, "Optimus and Ratchet are going to help him. Now, please get in."

Will reacted first and pulled his wife up into a cradle carry while nudging Annabelle inside the car. When all were strapped in, Bumblebee sped off searching the internet for a map that would lead him to a human hospital.

....

When the dust finally settled and the burning light died, both the semi and the rescue Hummer sat in silence for several moments. It was a plasma bomb explosion, no question. Plasma bombs were a very dangerous Cybertronian weapon specifically designed to take out multiple enemies and structures in a predetermined radius. However, unlike Earth's nuclear bombs, there were no devastating after-effects such as radiation. But, it made their destruction no less deadly. Mostly, they were a weapon of last resort. Neither of them knew Ironhide had been carrying one.

Without wasting anymore time, Ratchet and Optimus plowed on to find Ironhide...or perhaps what was left of him. It didn't take them long to find the outer rim of the blast radius; trees leaning way over their bark bleached almost white from the intensity of the plasma light. Since Ratchet's alt mode was better equipped for traversing the rough terrain and he was the medic on a mission, he led the way while Optimus circled around to scout for any Decepticons.

Ratchet plowed through the charred remains of the trees, unhindered by the heat that radiated from the ground.

"Ironhide! Ironhide! Can you hear me?" he shouted, calling on all communication frequencies he could think of.