Carly would never forget the worst night of her life--the helpless hours of waiting beyond the secure perimeter established by the US Army, not knowing if her only child was alive or dead. As each hour trickled by and the pyrotechnic firefights continued to light up the embattled city for miles around, her fear and dread grew. How could a mere human survive in that hell?
Most civilians had fled the area hours before. Only a handful of vehicles pointed the wrong way at the Army roadblock; only a very select group of humans wanted in to Autobot City. She thought she saw Chip Chase in one of the nearby cars, and Raul had gotten out of the adjacent car--a beautifully restored vintage Ford Mustang--to chat with her.
The Army sergeant had been polite but firm: no one, not even close Autobot friends were allowed into the war zone. Not even the Army was venturing into that battlefield--but neither were they allowing any Transformers to take the fight outside the perimeter. A certain red Decepticon jet that had patrolled too widely had already been sent limping back for repairs with forty-five depleted uranium slugs peppering his nose and left wing. The heavy armor of Decepticon fliers shrugged off conventional anti-air weapons, but anti-tank weapons worked nicely--and the Air Force pilots in the A-10 squadron shot far straighter than Powerglide ever did.
The sergeant had been horrified and sympathetic when Carly told him her child was in the city; sympathetic enough to call his commanding officer. Fortunately for Carly, Colonel Carlucci had been adamant; no one, not even the President himself, was crossing that perimeter. He did promise that she'd have whatever news they got, although it was very little--one of the Decepticon RPVs was shooting down the Army's reconnaissance RPVs almost as fast as they were sent in.
"That's not an RPV," Carly had told him. "That's Laserbeak."
And so all she could do was sit and wait, terror for Daniel growing in her heart. Please, God, watch out for Daniel. Please let him be all right.
It was almost twenty minutes before she noticed the black and white police car with no driver that quietly pulled up beside her car at the roadblock. Carly quickly got out of her own car and walked around to the familiar black and white, her emotions pinwheeling between hope and despair. What news did he have?
"Prowl? Prowl! Where's Daniel? What's--"
"Shhh. Get in, we'll talk." His driver-side door swung open; Carly climbed in. "Sorry about sneaking up on you like that; the Army guys aren't too keen on letting even Autobots out until the fight is over."
"Fine. What about Daniel??"
"He's okay. He'll stay okay, trust me on that. Hot Rod and Kup are doing their best to protect him, and Ironhide and I are making sure Daniel stays in one piece."
"You're here, not there," Carly pointed out.
"Right now, yes. I wanted to let you know Daniel was all right."
"If you could get through the perimeter, why didn't you bring Daniel out?"
"Carly, please trust me on this. I couldn't bring him out alive on the road I took."
"Can you get me in? Please?"
"No. Carly, I won't risk your life in there; Daniel doesn't need to lose his mother." Prowl hesitated, choosing his words carefully.
"I don't know if you've guessed how bad it is, but this is no skirmish; Megatron is going for broke. Autobots are dying, have died--all of them 'bots Daniel knows and cares about. He's seen some of us die already. He's been under fire since Megatron attacked, and he's scared. He'll have nightmares about this battle for a long time, if I know anything about humans at all. He'll need you."
Carly shivered. "You're not reassuring me at all!" She felt tears leaking from her eyes, and knew she was a second away from exploding into hysterics. Control yourself, Carly-girl! Hysterics won't help, she told herself silently.
"Carly, please, please trust me. I promise you that Daniel will survive this battle. Look at your watch," Prowl said.
A bit puzzled by the change in subject, Carly looked at her watch. "I have 2:07 am. But what--?"
"Matches my chronometer close enough. Two things: one, right now at 2:07 am, Ironhide is watching over Daniel. Remember that. Two: in approximately four hours, Optimus Prime and the Dinobots will be here to relieve the city. Every Autobot is doing his best to make sure the city holds until Prime gets here, because he'll make the difference."
"Prowl, if every Autobot is fighting for the city, what are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be in there, fighting?"
There was a long silence. "Carly, I'd rather not answer that question until tomorrow--it's a bit complicated. Trust me, I'm exactly where I should be."
"And in the morning?" Carly asked.
"After Prime gets here, I'll give you a ride into the city, to find Daniel. The fight will be over long before the Army figures it out and opens the perimeter to let your car through."
"Promise?"
"I promise."