Chapter 2
Panic swept through Iacon. The Autobots hadn't expected an attack from the Decepticons after such a short amount of time. It was only metrocycle (50 hours) since the last battle with the Decepticons outside of Iacon. Not even the most brilliant Autobot strategists could have predicted the attack.
The Attack was fierce. The Decepticons showed no mercy. The leader of the Decepticon ground forces was the brilliant strategist Onsaulght. He and his soldiers fought through Iacon's main road until they came some ruble. "We set up temporary ground H.Q. here," Onslaught announced to his soldiers.
"Onslaught, this is Megatron, there is a ship about to launch, stop it," Megatron radioed to Onslaught.
"Understood Lord Megatron," Onslaught radioed back.
"But, Onslaught, there's no way we're going to make that in time," said Swindle, a member of Onslaught's personal strike team, the Combaticons. "Don't worry Swindle," Onslaught replied "I've got that under control."
Perceptor ran to the bridge. "Sideswipe we need to go, now," he told Sideswipe.
"Already on it, doesn't take a genius like you to know that explosions don't mean anything good," the pilot said. He flipped on his communicator and told Jetfire to get the onboard anti-aircraft guns ready. "Sunstreaker, pull the ramp in," Sideswipe kept rattling off orders. Sunstreaker pushed a button and the ramp pulled up and into the ship, and a door closed in its place. Sunstreaker, being the copilot, immediately started to engage the jet thrusters. The engines exploded to life.
The onboard P.A system suddenly shot online. "This is Jetfire on the gun deck. Warpath and I have the guns online and firing on the right. Huffer and Hound have your left side.
"Engines engaged, anti-aircraft cannons powered on and firing, you ready Sideswipe?" Sunstreaker asked.
"Ready as always Sunstreaker, liftoff in five, four, three, two, one, engaging," Sideswipe said as the Shuttle started to move. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe pushed buttons, pulled levers, and turned various dials.
"We have liftoff," Sideswipe turned his head and told Perceptor.
"Good, we needed to launch quickly, that battle wouldn't have ended well for the Navigator." Perceptor responded. Suddenly, Red Alert and Hotspot burst in to the cockpit.
"WILL SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME, WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" Red Alert frantically yelled at Perceptor and the pilots. Sideswipe looked at Sunstreaker and Sunstreaker looked at him.
"Forgot about 'ol skaredy-tron and the fireman back there," Sunstreaker said.
"Watch it Sunstreaker," Hotspot replied sternly.
"Sorry sir," Sunstreaker replied. Sunstreaker might not have been the smartest Autobot onboard the Navigator, but even he knew not to cross Hotspot.
"Red Alert go wait in the cargo hold, Perceptor give Sideswipe that access code, then take the crew log and make sure everyone is onboard, this is no Autobot left behind," Hotspot said, he always had a natural talent for assuming a role of leadership in dire situations.
Perceptor gave Sideswipe the access code and left the cockpit. He started to make his way to his area of the ship. It was a small section of the bottom level. As he made his way past the gun deck he caught a glimpse of the Autobots inside. As he observed the various Autobots, he marked them off the list.
"Let's see, Warpath, Hound, Jetfire, and Huffer, check," Perceptor thought aloud as he checked them off the data log. He made his way past the engine deck, and again, he checked off the various Autobots. "Cosmos, Wheeljack, Beachcomber, and Seaspray, check! That leaves First Aid. Where is he?" Perceptor wondered as he made his way to his area of the ship.
On the ground below, the battle raged on. Onslaught was growing impatient. "BLAST OFF!" Onslaught shouted over the radio.
"Yes sir," Blast Off replied. Blast Off was one of Onslaught's closest warriors. He was terrible at ground combat, but when he transformed into his cybertronian jet, he became a force to be reckoned with.
"Blast Off could you explain to me why that Autobot ship is starting to fly into the sky?" Onslaught sarcastically asked Blast Off.
"Onslaught, I got Dirge, Ramjet, and Thrust with me. We're starting our attack on that ship now, we'll take it down," Blast Off replied.
"You had better, Megatron doesn't want the Autobots to reach wherever they're going," Onslaught said in reply.
"Wait, so we don't know where this shuttle is going, so we launched a full scale assault on Iacon, the Autobot capital, to make sure that the ship doesn't take off?" Blast Off asked, if there was one thing that grinded Blast Off's gears, it was pointless missions.
"According to Lazerbeak some Autobot scientist's are going to go collect some data, nothing we care about." Onslaught said. "Now enough talk, bring that starship down, NOW!"
"You got it," Blast Off said as he and the three seekers accompanying him readied their weapons for attack.
Perceptor reached his lab, to find First Aid in the lab. "First Aid, where have you been?" Perceptor asked slightly annoyed. He knew he shouldn't be mad at the young medic, but even the most patient of us get annoyed sometimes.
"Oh, sorry Perceptor, I came here once you ran off to the cockpit. It's just that I figured you would want me here, considering how I need to see what equipment I'm working with," First Aid said slightly embarrassed.
"Oh… really? That's actually a good idea" Perceptor said. This surprised him as he realized that this would be First Aid's first mission off of Cybertron.
"Really sir, you think so?" First Aid replied.
"Yes, and I think that was brilliant, do you know what that is?" Perceptor asked. He was more than willing to help the young doctor get accustomed to the onboard research lab.
"Psh, that's easy," First Aid said with confidence knowing that he wasn't in trouble. "It's a nano-scope. We use it to look at small organisms like scraplets."
"Indeed, we will almost defiantly need that as we explore this new system," Perceptor said before pointing to another device. "Do you know what that is called, or what it does?"
After thinking First Aid replied "That looks like a laser scalpel, but I have no idea why it would be here,"
"It looks like one because it is one. I use it to cut samples from specimens or unknown materials. It's also a good tool to have in any lab, as I have learned," Perceptor said.
First Aid was in awe, thought he did not show it. Perceptor knew so much about the various devices. He used them in ways that First Aid wouldn't have thought of before. Perceptor was a perfect model of a scientist to First Aid. He was brilliant, talented, and skilled in his craft. First Aid's enthusiasm and adoration was quickly shattered as an explosion reminded of the battle below.
Though he and Perceptor soon realized, the explosion hadn't come from below. Rather it had come from outside the shuttle.
"Blast Off to Onslaught, first strike run unsuccessful, the ship is shielded," Blast Off radioed to Onslaught, who was not happy to here that.
"Great," Onslaught sarcastically said. "Blast Off, keep trying strike runs and eventually the shield should break. Then you and the seekers can get in that ship and stop it before it leaves," Onslaught replied calmly. He was trying to keep calm, though there was an anger building up in him.
"There's a problem with that, there's about half a cycle until this ship gets to the Autobot's outer defenses. This is an F-class star cruiser," Blast Off said.
"So then it will be heavily shielded," Onslaught said dryly. He was even madder than before. "I'll send Vortex, Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Starscream to help you, that should be enough firepower to break through that shield before it escapes." Onslaught told Blast Off.
"Oh, great," Blast off said sarcastically "Starscream, the great and mighty." Blast Off was not fond of the Decepticon Air Commander, or his two personal cronies, but he could tolerate them long enough to complete the mission.
"There will be Vortex," Onslaught said trying to get Blast Off to stop complaining. "And you don't have to like him, just work with him."
"Whatever, Vortex is always a pleasure," Blast Off said sarcastically.
"You guys do now I can here you talking about me, right?" Vortex said over the Combaticon communication channel.
"Oh scrap it Vortex, I'll just blow the ship down from here if I have to," came the rough voice of Brawl, the final member of the Combaticons.
"Actually, that gives me an idea," Onslaught said. "Blast Off get down here, leave the seekers to themselves, Brawl you and Swindle need to get to my position now. Oh and Vortex-"
"Already on my way,"
"Good, we don't need half a cycle to break those shields Blast Off, just a little force will suffice," Onslaught said to them all, and they both knew as he said that what he intended to do.
"C'mon Jazz, we gotta go," Blaster said as a group of Autobot soldiers ran down a hall from the barracks. "The Navigator needs cover fire now. So let's go!" Blaster added as the last of the soldiers left the barracks.
"Already working on that Blaster, go without me." Jazz said as he turned on the radio in the back of the barracks. "We don't have the firepower to stop those 'cons, but I know some bots who do have that power." Jazz pushed some buttons and turned a dial on the radio.
The radios channel came online. "Alright, we're cooking now," Jazz said. He took the microphone and started to say, "This is Jazz to Silver-" *FIZZLE* "ah scrap," Jazz said as he assessed what happened. "Ah great, the transmitter broke. Now how am I gonna get my message out there?" Jazz wondered out loud.
"Ahem," Blaster said. Jazz turned around. "Forget me?" Blaster transformed into his long range radio transmitter. "Now, who do you need me to call?"
Sunstreaker was tense. He and his brother needed full concentration on piloting the shuttle to the outer defenses. "Sideswipe, have we taken any damage?" Hotspot said. Sunstreaker responded instead, "No damage yet, but shields are only holding out at 30%," Hotspot thought for a second, if he didn't act quickly, the Decepticons would tear the ship apart. "How many Decepticons are attacking the ship?" Hotspot inquired, Sunstreaker answered again. "The latest report from Warpath on the left gun deck is that it's nearly 6 Decepticon seeker battalions are on the offense. They're being lead by Ramjet, Thrust, Dirge, and Blast Off." "Well scrap," Hotspot said. "Sunstreaker, get Warpath on the communicator."
Sunstreaker pushed a button on a panel above him. A small light in front of him flickered on, signaling the communicator was on. He flipped a switch on board beside him and there was a low humming buzz from the communicator. Hotspot spoke loudly through the microphone.
"Warpath this is Hotspot, report," Hotspot said.
"This is, KABLAM, Warpath here. What do you need, ZOWY, Hotspot?" Warpath's reply came. Sideswipe flinched slightly, he hated hearing Warpath speak.
"Warpath how many Decepticons are out there right now," Hotspot asked.
"Jetfire here, Warpath is-"
"ZAPOW!" Warpath yelled loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Warpath, please!" Jetfire yelled at the Autobot gunner.
"Hehe, sorry Jetfire," Warpath said.
"Anyway, Jetfire here, we downed about three of the Decepticon battalions. Blast Off left the assault though, and of course, Starscream is here. As always, his cronies are with him," Jetfire told Hotspot.
"Starscream," Hotspot said with a gritted tone. "Thank you Jetfire, I want you to keep pounding the Decepticons out of the sky,"
"You got it, Jetfire out," Jetfire said as the communicator flipped off.
Hotspot looked at Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. He said, "Full speed, we need to go, before it's too late."
As Blaster transformed back into his robot mode, he turned to face Jazz. "I hope our signal got out," He said.
"Me too, but we can go help the bots outside." Jazz said. "Let's roll!" Jazz transformed into a cybertronian sports car. Blaster transformed into his transmitter while jumping into Jazz's open window.
Onslaught was growing more impatient. "Vortex, what is holding you up?" Onslaught said over his radio.
"Sorry Onslaught, these Autobot rocket troopers aren't doing my paint job any favors," Vortex said sarcastically, this only angered Onslaught even more.
"I don't care about your paint, get down here NOW!" Onslaught yelled back at Vortex.
"Right away," Vortex replied hastily.
Onslaught switched off his communicator only to find Swindle running over to him. Swindle tackled him as a shot whizzed by him. The shot instead flew straight into a Decepticon vehicon behind the two Combaticons. Onslaught examined the impact wound on the vehicon.
"Looks like it's from an electro-disrupter," Brawl, the fifth Combaticon said as he inspected the impact wound. Brawl had been loading his neutron assault rifle nearby.
"Great, just what we needed, an Autobot sniper aiming at us," Onslaught said sarcastically.
"Scrap"
"What Blaster? Did you hit him?" Jazz inquired.
"Nah, that punk Swindle got in the way. Instead I hit a vehicon," Blaster said as he readied his rifle for another shot.
"Well that's better than nothing I suppose," Jazz said replied. He pushed a button on the side of his head which activated a specialized visor to drop in front of his optical visor. The visor would allow him to see farther than normal.
"Okay Blaster, he's a little more to the left than last time,"
"Got it," Blaster said as he shouldered the gun and aimed his sights on Onslaught. "I see him,"
"Alright, you're in the clear, take the shot. This time don't miss," Jazz said as he tracked Onslaught.
"You got it," Blaster said. He lined up his shot with Onslaught's head. He pulled the trigger and an electrical burst of energy flew from the barrel of the gun.
Vortex was putting his engines to the test. He hadn't seen the Autobots, but from his position in the air he did see Onslaught get shot at. He was going as fast as he could to reach Onslaught before the Autobot's could, or worse, kill him.
He was close, when suddenly he heard a second shot, presumably from the Autobots. Vortex transformed in air, landed and rolled in front of Onslaught.
Moments before the energy beam could hit him, Vortex acted. Specialized equipment and robotics fired to life. Electricity ran through his right arm and shot through his hand right as the bolt fired from Blaster connecting. The energy field that Vortex created blocked it.
Vortex fell backward as Blast off transformed and landed next to the other Combaticons.
"What just happened?" Blast Off asked.
"I used a shockwave to stop the effects of the electro disrupter," Vortex replied as he was getting up. "Basically, my shockwave uses electricity to create an energy barrier that-"
"I don't care, you're alive, and that's all that matters," Onslaught said. "Now, back to business. Combaticons combine to from Bruticus!"
The Combaticons leapt into action. Brawl and Swindle formed two legs, Vortex and Blast Off transformed into their alternate modes and flew into the air, and Onslaught jumped up and grabbed Vortex as he was going up. He let go and transformed into a giant torso as he fell. Two plugs beneath him popped out as he landed on Brawl and Swindle, who had adaptors that connected with the plugs. Finally, Vortex and Blast Off flew to the sides of the torso; they transformed into arms, and using a process similar to the legs, connected to the torso.
Two massive cannon barrels rose from his artillery pack on his back. Finally, the head of the giant robot rose from inside the chest and settled on the top of the torso. With that, the process was complete, and where five Decepticons had once stood, now stood one giant Decepticon.
"Bruticus online," the giant bellowed.
Ironhide came running around a corner with three Autobots, (Kup, Inferno, and Trailbreaker), following. "C'mon Autobots, Onslaughts cornered and we, we… got him," Ironhide said.
"Oh I'm so scared," Bruticus sarcastically said.
"Primus help us all," said Kup said as he stepped forward.
"We're gonna need more than Primus now," replied Inferno. At that moment, Jazz drove around the corner in his car mode. Blaster transformed into his robot mode as he leapt out of the window. Once he was fully transformed, Jazz then turned into his robot form. "Are we enough?" Jazz said jokingly.
"Great, now we can get slagged together," said Trailbreaker.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea," said the Decepticon giant as Bruticus lumbered toward the Autobots.
"Or, we can slag you!" Blaster said as he pulled out his electro-disrupter and fired a shot into the giant's chest.
"Oh, so it was you then. You were the one who tried to kill Onslaught, oh but that's right you missed. Now," the titan said as his right hand started to shift, "Now we see how well you burn!"
In a second, where a hand once was flames were spewing from one of Blast Off's jet thrusters. The fire cackled at then blazed into a brilliant blue, before turning into a hot red color and dying out.
"C'mon, we need to keep him occupied long enough for Perceptor's team to escape," Ironhide said as his arm morphed into a dual barreled mini-gun. The Autobots all nodded in agreement as they readied their weapons.
"Autobots, FIRE!" Kup yelled. Instantly the Autobots weapons blazed to life. Bullets rained up at the Behemoth above them, and Bruticus laughed at it.
"You're right, Autobots… FIRE!" Bruticus yelled at them as he aimed his flamethrower at the group.
"Group up tight," Trailbreaker ordered the group. "Why, too make it easier for him to fry us all?" Inferno asked in reply. "Just trust me on this one," Trailbreaker said.
The Autobots huddled around Trailbreaker as Bruticus finished taking aim. Flames spewed forth from the arm. In moments the group was covered in flames. Bruticus laughed sadistically before being interrupted.
"Bruticus, this is Megatron. Bring that ship down now, or so help me Primus I use your optics as shrapnel in a grenade!" Megatron commanded the titan from the Decepticon communication channel.
"I'd love to stay and watch you bots' get turned to burnt cesium-salami, but I must go unfortunately," Bruticus said as jet thrusters on his feet shot to life. Blast Off activated all three of his thrusters and the giant flew to the sky.
"You guys alright?" Trailbreaker asked as he deactivated his force field. "A little singed at the edges, but fine," Jazz said in reply. "Inferno get that fire out, Blaster warn Perceptor what comin' his way," Ironhide ordered, "Their mission will be for nothing if Bruticus can get up there."
Jazz then spoke up, "Well if all goes according to plan, they should be getting some back up right about now." "Backup?" Ironhide replied, "Jazz incase you forgot, that's Bruticus. A couple flyers will do slag all for them." "That depends on which flyers you call," Blaster said in Jazz's defense; "You forget that Bruticus isn't the only big guy on the block."