Chapter 3: The Blitz

2 miles outside Autobot City, Oregon, Earth
Earth date 12.07.2005

"Don't get too comfortable over there! We need to be back in less than an hour."

Springer grumbled as he found his words ignored by his fellow Autobots. Not that this was a first-time occurrence by any means. Sometimes he wondered why he hung around with the rest of these guys. The only thing they all had in common was the fact they were the greenest of the current roster of Autobot warriors, and he was not talking about his own body paint.

Of the four of them, Hot Rod was the youngest, having been created barely more than a few thousand Earth years ago. He was also the brashest, most loud-mouthed, and foolhardy of them all, at least if you asked Springer. Whoever had named Hot Rod, he had named him well.

Springer's opinion of the young hothead wasn't raised by the fact that he was currently busy cuddling with someone whom Springer wouldn't mind cuddling with himself. Arcee, one of the small group of surviving female Autobots, was obviously enjoying her current position, something that pissed off Springer to no end.

The fourth member of their small group was, as usual, off in her own little world. Boomer considered herself something of a fun-loving revolutionary, he knew, always having lots of fun nagging the older Autobots and their outdated ways, as well as playing practical jokes on anyone not quick-witted enough to anticipate her. Right now she was fiddling with something, he couldn't see what, and had completely tuned out the world around her.

Sighing, Springer leaned back. It wasn't that he minded down time, far from it. Come to think of it, this might be the last down time they were likely to get within the foreseeable future. He didn't know whether they'd be shipped out toward Cybertron with this shuttle or the next, but it would happen soon. Everyone was hush-hush about it, but it was an open secret among the rank and file that Prime was preparing a major assault on the Decepticons, aiming to take back the home world.

As far as Springer was concerned it couldn't happen too soon. He, like the rest of this small group of youngsters, had spent most of his relatively short existence as a slave of the Decepticons. Confined to a labour camp, being worked in the weapons factories until they closed down due to energy shortages, then left behind to slowly go offline as his charge drained away. He was one of the lucky few who had managed to take advantage of an Autobot raid and got free, immediately joining the resistance afterwards. Many others hadn't been so lucky.

Was it really just four years since he had been reassigned to Earth? It was here that the Autobots' power base lay. It was also here that he had been upgraded to his current status, one of the few Autobot triple changers. The procedure had been painful, the outcome doubtful, but it was worth every second of pain. Since then he had had the opportunity to smash quite a few Decepticons to bits and he had made ample use of it.

Those had been the preliminaries, though. Soon it would be time for the main event. Never mind the sport metaphors, he had been hanging around with Eject too much. Anyway, soon they would enter a battle that would make everything that had happened here on Earth seem insignificant in comparison.

Considering that, he really couldn't grudge his comrades their well-deserved downtime. Still, why did Arcee have to cuddle up to Hot Rod?

"You need to start taking things a little easier, Springer, old pal!" Hot Rod looked up and at him, a smirk on his face. "Next thing you know you'll be as uptight as Ultra Magnus."

Springer grumbled, but refrained from a comeback. The bad thing was that he actually liked Hot Rod, even considered him something like a little brother. Not that he'd ever admit it out loud.

"Get off Magnus' case," Arcee said instead. "He's the best there is at what he does."

"Yeah, maybe. But it wouldn't hurt him to smile once in a while, don't you think?"

Boomer mumbled something about giving Magnus a reason to smile, but Springer wasn't sure he'd heard her correctly. If the young Autobot intended to play one of her practical jokes on Magnus she was putting herself in harm's way big time. The Autobots' second-in-command was not exactly renowned for his easy-going nature or sense of humour.

"I was just saying we should prepare ourselves," Springer said, bringing the conversation, such as it was, back on track. "Odds are we could be on the next shuttle out and ..."

"You won't be," Boomer interrupted him.

"And how would you know? Everything's top secret."

"Please! Ain't a security code in all of Autobot City I can't crack. All four of us are scheduled to ship out last, along with the Protectobots, the Aerialbots, and Omega Supreme. My guess is Prime and Magnus don't want to leave Earth unprotected, so they'll ship out the biggest guns and the rookies last."

"Makes sense, I guess. But where do you get off cracking Autobot security codes, anyway?"

Springer almost smiled upon hearing Hot Rod's reaction. The hothead might occasionally give the impression of a rebellious fool, but whenever he took the time to actually think things through he was a fall-in-line soldier, doing everything by the book. The mere thought of disobeying Prime would probably send him into stasis lock.

"I consider it my duty," Boomer replied calmly. "After all, if someone like little me can crack our codes, odds are the Decepticons can do it, too."

Arcee grinned at her. "So we can expect you to report this breach of security to Blaster first thing?"

"Sure," she replied brightly. "Right after I had some fun."

The two femmes laughed, while Hot Rod looked a little sour, but soon stopped caring when Arcee snuggled up to him again. Springer kept his grumbling to himself. Truth was he didn't much care what little scheme Boomer was up to right now. His gruff exterior might not show it, but he could take a joke now and then. It kept up the morale around here.

"If you already cracked the assignments," he addressed Boomer, "mind telling us where we'll be deployed?"

All four of them filled different roles in the Autobot army. Springer, due to having both a ground and a flight mode, operated mostly as part of a quick-response unit or served on special missions. Arcee was one of the best sharpshooters he had ever encountered and usually served in a sniper capacity. Boomer was almost as quick on the ground as Blurr which, combined with her talents for code-cracking and intelligence-gathering, made her a near-perfect scout. Hot Rod, finally, was considered officer material (though Primus alone knew why) and currently served as junior executive officer to Ultra Magnus, the commander of Autobot City.

"Pretty much what you'd expect," Boomer answered his question. "Though they'll probably stick you with the Aerialbots and our other fliers. Lots of Seekers on Cybertron that need to be shot down."

Springer nodded, having expected as much. One of the major worries about the impending assault was the Decepticons' major aerial superiority. For every flying Autobot there were at least three to four Decepticon jets, not to mention that even the bulkiest ground pounders among the 'Cons had the ability to fly by way of antigravity engines.

"Think you can kick it, Springer?" Hot Rod asked jokingly. "I mean, you aren't exactly the leanest flying machine in the galaxy."

"Says the one who can't fly at all," Springer replied dryly.

"Stop bickering, boys!" Arcee leaned back with her hands behind her head. "Before long we'll all have ample opportunity to take down Decepticons."

There was a dangerous glint in Arcee's eyes, one that Springer had learned to be weary of. Arcee might look pretty and harmless with her slight figure and pink and white colour, but in battle she was lethal and had absolutely no qualms exploiting her enemies' underestimating her.

Boomer looked up from her fiddling, a slightly confused expression on her face.

"What is it, Boom?" Arcee asked.

"The early warning system just picked up a shuttle incoming from Autobase on Alpha."

"So? Unless I'm mistaken it's almost time for another delivery of troops and energon."

"Yeah, but something is strange. I can hear Blaster trying to raise them, but the only thing he's getting back is a text message about a broken com system."

Springer frowned. "That is strange. Since when does Ratchet allow anyone to take off with so much as a screw loose?"

Hot Rod rose. "It's probably nothing, but what say we take a look? Race you up Lookout Mountain?"

Arcee smirked. "You're on!"

Moments later both Autobots had transformed into their vehicle modes and were speeding down the road towards Autobot City, more specifically the artificial lookout plateau built onto the mountain beside it.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Boomer said. "What say we join the cute couple?"

Springer just nodded, though annoyed by the couple remark. Boomer saw right through his stubborn façade.

"When will you accept it, Springer? I certainly don't understand why Arcee is interested in Roddie, but it is pretty clear that she is. How long are you gonna keep this quiet-suffering thing going?"

"Just shut up and let's follow them!"

Boomer, who transformed into a sleek black sports car, almost managed to overtake Hot Rod and Arcee by the time they reached the plateau, while Springer was a distant fourth. His car mode was built more for power than speed, truth to tell. Transforming back to robot mode, he saw his three friends already checking the skies. Switching his own optics to telescopic view allowed him to see the approaching shuttle as it decelerated through Earth's atmosphere.

"Looks normal enough," he said. "Standard approach vector and everything."

"Maybe their com system really is broken. A lot can happen in space."

Arcee was the only one not looking at the shuttle, her optics having caught something else apparently.

"Guys, I think we have some lurkers."

Springer turned to follow where she pointed and just managed to make out several dark shapes moving stealthily through the trees about two miles away from the edges of Autobot City.

"Decepticons?"

"Not sure. Can't see enough past the trees."

Suddenly both Autobots were started by the sound of laser fire. Turning around, they saw that Hot Rod had opened fire on the approaching shuttle. He wasn't kidding around, either.

"What in Primus' name do you think you're doing?" Springer asked.

A moment later he got his answer, but not from Hot Rod. The young Autobot landed a crippling blow on the shuttle, taking out one of the fuel nacelles, and moments later a horde of Decepticons erupted from a large breach in the hull. Most of them turned toward Autobot City, but a small group came directly toward them. Leading the group was no other but Megatron.

"We're in big trouble!"

End Chapter 3