Chapter 2 War stories and trouble…
Disclaimer: I only own the character uncle Fred (ask before you use him in stories)
WARNING! Adult curses used!
This chapter came into existence thanks to flamingmarsh.
Ironhide walked threw the peaceful forest making his way to the rendezvous point. The sun almost gown making darkness fall and providing cover for his dark frame. Approaching the area he noticed something was not right. He could feel it in his cannons. Silently he charged both his cannons and stalked closer to the reeve point.
Suddenly gunfire exploded hitting his armor pinging off in yellow sparks. Rolling to the left he crouched behind and small tree. This only gave his right optic cover from the dense fire. Moving his cannon into position he fired off three shot where the fire was coming from. Silence descended again until a grenade exploded showering him in dirt and old leaves. Whirling around he caught a glimpse of his target. Lunging forward he let one shot fire enveloping and passing threw his target!!
The figure lowered his rifle, standing there still as the trees in the forest, His body blending perfectly into the forest. Ironhide lowered his cannons and in his gruff voice spoke over the distance between the two. "I see you have become better at your assault tactics."
"Yes, but not good enough to avoid your training rounds. If that was real I would not be standing here." Fred ending rubbing his camo painted mustache with a hand. "I really caught you off guard though, HA! Your face was priceless. You didn't know what was going on." Cradling his rifle he started to walk over to Ironhide.
Ironhide made a gruff sound before speaking "I was not caught unaware, I merely have my sensors turned off while approaching our reeve point so as to give you some semblance of a chance!"
"Very kind of you, my friend." Fred said coming up to the warrior who he had been his sparing partner for over 6 months now. "Yaw know this reminds me of a fire fight in Nam once. Only lasted 30 seconds but 13 men were killed." Shaking his head at the resurfacing memory.
"To kill another does not take long" Ironhide said getting a distant look to memories of comrades lost. Not moving from his distant stare he asked, "How did the fight happen?"
Sighing Fred moved to a crouch all the while his rifle still in hand, eyes wary for intruders. "We were crossing a river, the whole platoon of us. We needed to relocate. I was across the river when the smell of them came down the jungle. Nam has many smells and it humidity doesn't help at all. But god will I ever forget the smell of them. They have these rice balls with rotten sauce on it. That is there rations. I smelled them and signaled to the others. Taking up positions we ready for the firefight. The ones in the river tried to move quietly, but the channel was quick moving making silence hard. Then the shooting started. I felt the wiz of bullets pass my head. We returned fire, killing the small group in the brush. Just a bunch of kids really, children that shot and killed my comrades." Ironhide stood unmoving while Fred continued his story. "The ones in the river either got injured or killed. The river was moving to swift to grab the bodies before they were washed away. Still haven't recovered them. All the while we never saw you shot us, until we went to retrieve the bodies."
Silence stretched between the two, Ironhide shifted and looked down at Fred with blue optics. "Do you mourn them?"
"Yes I do. I mourn them, but am not broken by it. I've seen far worse for that," Fred said standing. "Our little skirmish just reminded me of how you cant always see your enemy."
"It is equally so for us." Ironhide said, "Some of our enemies can disappear all together. Not my camouflage, but by altering there wave lengths to the optics. We were on a planet, whose name I have long forgotten. We were fighting the enemy both of us were pinned down in our click whirl squeal dug out is the term you use. Neither had moved for weeks and supplies were running low on our side. I would imagine it was the same for our enemy. We were about to make a charge for them when fire open on your flanks. The pit spawns had snuck up behind up using there invisibility. We took fire from both sides. I fired both my cannons on each to try and stop the onslaught. Many of my comrades died and many injured. We only escaped due to Primus's will. Still have the melt scars to show I survived."
Fred stood listening while keeping watch on there six. "War is an ugly thing, not this glory politicians like to put out."
Hours passed as the two passed stories between each other, all the while standing guard, never letting their vigil drop. It was this that allowed the two to see the approaching threat. Ironhide crouched down while Fred took up a position behind a large oak. Fred signaled Ironhide he saw five to the south. Ironhide likewise had five as well. The figures creep closer their black fatigues making them stand out then blend into the shadows.
Fred reached into his pack that had previously been on his hip. Taking out a claymore he planted it near his position and set for remote detonation. Ironhide signaled for them to pull back. The group continued to advance; all the while Fred planted little surprises in the brush. Trip mines and pressure grenades the choice of the day. Crouching he signaled to Ironhide he was finished, then a flash of flame caught their respective eyes/optics. Fred moved to push Ironhides leg out of the way. Ironhide feeling the prompt moved just in time to avoid a rocket to his knee.
Both opened fire, Fred shot his rifle killing or wounding the approaching threat. Ironhide's cannons pulsed and voomed with energy fire. Blowing up trees and having the aftershock take out any targets that he missed. Then a grenade pinged of his side and exploded midair on his right canon arm. Twists metal covered his arm and energon leaked down his arm hissing as it passed his hot cannon. The damage was minor but using his right cannon would be impossible. He turned when he heard a growl of pain. Fred repositioned himself from his bullet wound. Blood leaked through his fatigues staining them dark with blood. Gritting his teeth he discarded his near empty magazine. Grabbing another from his side he tapped it on a nearby tree and slapped it home.
Only five targets remained from what Fred could tell. An explosion signaled that some had found his little surprise. Firing his rifle he managed to pin some targets to the tree he had set the claymore up at. Moving one hand to his hip pack he found the button to the claymore and pressed it. The explosion spewed dirt and blood. The ground shook as another explosion rocked the ground taking Ironhide to his knees.
The next few seconds happened fast. Three dark figures moved to flank the warriors. One shot Fred's trigger hand before he could fire more than three shots. Two hit home to one figure dropping him to the ground. Ironhide shot one target vaporizing him, leaving the distraction the last one needed. Rising what looked like a grenade launcher he fired a blue bolt of energy at Ironhide, overloading his circuits and putting him immobilized. The figure spoke softly hefting the strange gun at Fred. "Well, Well you weren't to hard to get." He spoke in Ironhides direction. This made Fred look at him like he was a crazy man. Seeing this he continued to speak. "Oh yes he can hear me, more like stunned you might say, like when you drug a person."
Fred lay still clutching his hand in faking pain. The wound did hurt but he had experienced worse. He slowly worked his way to his side arm on his right. All the while the man in black fatigues gloated to the paralyzed Ironhide. Releasing his glock from it catch he raised it slowly. Shooting the man on both hands, causing him to drop the gun. Then he shot his knees out. Rising with little difficultly he spoke.
"One, never underestimate your enemy. Two, your not worth the sweat off my ass!!" with that he fired one last shot, eliminating the last target. Turning to Ironhide he saw the leaking energon from his arm and legs, but his eyes still shone blue. Fred took up a guarding position waiting for his titanic friend to awake fully.