The Barden Guardians

(12) Longer than we thought

"Who does this Phoenix think she is anyway? I'm the leader around here and she just took my position like it was nothing." Matthew ranted as they drove up the mountain.

"Calm down. It's only for a day then you can go back to being the leader you cry baby." Markus smiled at he's old friend.

"I am no cry baby sir." Matthew smiled back.

"Then stop whining." Carlos smiled and looked at his friends through the mirror.

The convoy was moving peacefully until someone or something started shooting at them.

"Shit! Who's shooting at us?!" Carlos yelled.

"Get down and get me four soldiers now!" Beca yelled as she dodged the bullets.

"I'm not sacrificing my men for you. We'll be the ones to go with you. Let's go you two." Matthew nodded towards Carlos and Markus.

The three soldiers ran towards the shooters without waiting for Beca's command. "Volt and Tempest stay here with the soldiers. The rest of you follow me before those idiots get themselves killed." Beca shook her head.

The three soldiers were cornered and had nowhere to go. They had ignored Beca telling them not to attack yet. Jesse had to freeze the robots for the others to shatter them.

"Next time I give you an order I expect you to follow it!" Beca yelled as she protected the three soldiers.

After making sure that they were safe they walked back to the convoy which looked like it was attacked.

"What happened here?" Baca asked Emily.

"I think there are more robots than we thought. When you left we got attacked. We have two injuries but nothing too serious." Emily explained.

"You injured two of my men?! Why are you freaks here if you aren't even gonna do your job?!" Matthew yelled.

"If it wasn't for us half your team would be dead and the other half would be injured." Emily frowned.

"Don't you ever call my team freaks ever again." Beca said sending a death glare to Matthew.

"You guys are freaks and that's it." Matthew said before walking away.

"Aubrey does your dad really have to come back home? I mean you still have your mom." Beca  shrugged.

"Beca don't you dare." Aubrey  grumbled.

"Fine. I won't do anything to your dad jeez. You don't have to be such a crybaby about it."

"Beca we have a problem. It's like the robots are growing in number every day. I think the machine that's manufacturing them was never shut down." Benji said in a worried tone.

"That explains a lot. What's the smartest and safest thing to do right now?"

"That would be to turn back but since you can't do that. The best thing to do right now is to go up the mountain and make camp when the night falls. You'll have to do that until you get to the top."

"I don't think your dad is gonna like that Aubrey." Emily said.

"Same goes for Chloe and Stacie's dads. In fact I don't think any of the soldiers are gonna like that." Aubrey said.

"By my estimation at this rate you guys are gonna need about three days to finish this mission." Benji said.

"Great three days with Matthew breathing down my neck, this should be fun." Beca chuckled sarcastically.

The Guardians made their way towards the soldiers. "We need to make camp as soon as night falls so I suggest we move faster." Beca said.

"I don't take orders from you and neither do they." Matthew pointed to the soldiers. "Now let's go men."

"You do know that I'm the leader right? Plus you can't go anywhere without us since we're your escorts." Beca pointed out.

"Then let's get going! If you're so interested in escorting us then why are you just standing there?!" Markus yelled.

"These guys just keep testing us!" Cynthia yelled as the Guardians walked towards the cars to escort them up the mountain.

"These freaks didn't even protect my men. At this rate we'll all end up injured before we even get to the top." Matthew complained.

"I know. The mayor brought them here to protect us and they can't even do that. They're just a waste of oxygen." Carlos commented.

"I can't stand taking orders from Phoenix. We have to get this thing over with as soon as possible. I can't take another day working with them." Markus added.

"This three days thing is a setback but as soon as our wives and girls are safe, we go on with mayor Thomas' plan." Carlos said.

When night fell Beca had the convoy stop for the night. She gave the soldiers lookout shifts. Each lookout team had two Guardians with them. Lilly and Flo were the first on lookout duty but not before Flo complained about putting the minorities together and Beca told her to quit complaining and suck it up.

"Volt and Silver Storm, you guys are next on lookout. Got it?" Beca asked and the two heroes nodded.

"Get some rest guys, we have a long day ahead of us." Beca told the soldiers as they got into their sleeping bags.

"Hey Em, can you hear me?" Stacie asked startling the younger girl.

"Yeah, I can hear you. I didn't know the communicator can focus on one person.What's up Stace?" the younger girl asked.

"Nothing much, I just wanted to apologize for my dad's behavior towards you and the rest. I also wanted to wish you a very good night."

"Don't worry about your dad, he just needs to get used to us and goodnight to you too. Sweet dreams Stace."

"Stacie can you stop hogging the communicator, I wanna talk to Beca." Emily heard Chloe whine in the background and chuckled softly.

"Talk to you later beautiful. Promise me you'll be careful?" Stacie asked her voice slightly breaking without her noticing.

"Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a cupcake in my eye." Emily said.

"Oh My Gosh, you have got to stop watching 'My Little Pony'." Stacie giggled before handing the communicator to Chloe so she could talk to Beca.