My Life as a Teenage Beast Hunter
Chapter 6: Inferno
The Enduring Spirit continued to sail calmly in Earth's orbit despite its jaunt to the surface not too long ago.
"Status, helm?" Elita One requested.
Sideswipe currently manned the helm station with Prowl acting as copilot. Behind and to the left of Elita One's chair, Moonracer operated the tactical station.
"Cloaking shield is active. All other systems functioning at optimal performance. Condition is green." Sideswipe reported. "Just like the last five times you asked."
Elita smiled slightly, for she knew that the young Autobot was only trying to break the tension. The fact that the Decepticons hadn't discovered the ship yet was testament to its cloaking capabilities, but even the best cloaking device would not allow the Enduring Spirit to remain hidden forever.
Suddenly, a few weird readings appeared on Sideswipe's monitor. "Uh Elita, I've got something here, but I'm not sure what to make of it."
"I'll get Crosswind in here. He should be able to make sense of this." Elita decided.
Meanwhile, in the Enduring Spirit's training room…
"Come on, kid, put some more servo into it!" Ironhide barked in encouragement.
The surly old Autobot had been helping Crosswind improve his fighting skills at every available opportunity. Presently, Ironhide held his palms up as targets for Crosswind to strike with his fists and feet. Ironhide would move around and change his hands' position to offer his student a moving target.
"Ha! Hyah! Heyah!" Crosswind grunted as he punched and kicked with all his might. "Your technique is still a little sloppy." Ironhide criticized.
Before Crosswind could say anything, the ship's intercom sounded. "Crosswind, report to the bridge immediately."
"Guess we'll have to pick this up later." Ironhide remarked as he walked to the bridge with Crosswind.
Elita One explained the situation to Crosswind as he stepped on to the bridge. He took the helm console from Sideswipe and began running analyses of the ship's readings. "Okay… looks like some anomalous temperature readings in the Northwestern quadrant and four signals: two Autobots, one Decepticon, and a signal of unknown origin." He explained.
Elita One considered this information. "Thank you Crosswind. Please remain on the bridge and continue monitoring the situation." She keyed in Silverbolt's frequency. "Silverbolt, assemble your team in the launch bay. Crosswind will brief you once you're there."
As the Aerialbots started toward the launch bay, Slingshot asked the burning question. "Whadya think this is all about Air Raid?"
"If we get to see some action, who cares?" Air Raid reasoned. "All we've been doing until now is spinning our wheels. I just hope this doesn't turn out to be a false alarm."
"That's enough you two." Silverbolt interjected. "If Elita one is sending us out there, she must have a good reason for it."
Slingshot muttered something unintelligible, but didn't argue back.
Each Aerialbot affixed their front landing gear to a magnetic catapult system designed to push them out of the bay at high speed without having to expend any of their own Energon.
"This is Silverbolt. We're ready when you are Elita." The Aerialbots leader announced.
Elita gave the order for Silverbolt and his team to launch.
The five catapults whirred to life as they shot the Aerialbots out of the launch bay. Once clear, the team maneuvered onto an intercept heading and sped toward the forests of Washington…
Bulkhead and Wheeljack began making their way out of the wildlife preserve when suddenly, a dark ominous shadow blocked out the sun. A loud whooshing sound accompanied the shadow, followed by an ear-splitting roar.
"What in the name of Primus is that?!" Bulkhead exclaimed.
For one of the few times in his life, Wheeljack found himself terrified. "I don't know, but it does not seem friendly."
"Miko, hang on," Bulkhead advised. "This is going to be bumpy."
The girl clutched a small handlebar above the passenger side door as her Autobot guardian began to weave back and forth between the pine trees. Wheeljack followed suit.
High above, Scourge observed his prey in his experimental flying wing mode. "Not just any Autobots," the former deserter hunter mused to himself, "but Wreckers." As much as he wanted to snuff their sparks himself, his objective was to test the Predacon's mettle in combat.
"Lord Megatron, I have two Autobots in my sights: The Wreckers known as Bulkhead and Wheeljack." Scourge reported.
At last. Megatron thought. "Very good. Tell the Predacon to engage and destroy."
"Yes my Lord." Scourge replied curtly. "Predacon, destroy those Wreckers!"
An orb on the Predacon's chest began to glow as the capacitors inside charged. The energy traveled up the beast's long neck and launched out of its mouth in the form of a massive fire ball.
Bulkhead noticed the incoming attack in his rearview mirror and swerved to his left. Wheeljack swerved right.
The fire ball impacted the ground with immense force, shaking the ground as its energy dispersed and ignited the surrounding brush.
Miko looked back on the destruction in shock. Bulkhead must have sensed her fear.
"We're gonna be okay Miko." The big bot comforted. "We're gonna be okay."
Wheeljack noticed a pattern from the Predacon. The Wrecker swerved left and Predacon banked left. He swerved right and the beast banked right. At this point, Wheeljack understood how this thing had tracked them down.
"Oh that's just great." Wheeljack groaned.
Bulkhead whipped around yet another pine tree. "Something wrong Wheeljack?"
"I'm the reason this thing is here." Wheeljack informed. "It probably got my scent from the Jack Hammer."
Bulkhead sighed. "This isn't your fault."
Wheeljack would have shaken his head if he were in robot mode. "Yes, it is. So I'm gonna make it up to you two." He promised as he peeled off to the right.
"Wheeljack!" Miko and Bulkhead cried out.
The Predacon more than matched Wheeljack's turn and gave chase.
"Lord Megatron, the Autobots have split up and the Predacon is following Wheeljack." Scourge reported.
"Then let him." Megatron ordered. "He thinks he is buying time for his friends, but he has only delayed the inevitable."
"Yes, my Lord." Scourge answered.
Starscream approached the Megatron. "Lord Megatron, If I may…" he began. "I have my reservations about the Predacon. Do you really believe Scourge can control it?"
The dark lord turned to his subordinate. "Scourge seems to have a handle on things. If he loses control however, you may launch your Seekers."
"Many thanks Lord Megatron." Starscream replied before leaving the room with balled fists.
Back in the forest, the Predacon hurled another fire ball in Wheeljack's direction. The Wrecker evaded the attack by shifting into robot mode and using his momentum to jump behind a sufficiently sized boulder. The fire ball's impact instantly incinerated the nearby trees, but inflicted only slight heat damage to the boulder.
The Predacon landed with a hefty thud, snapping trees and logs like toothpicks and causing a slight tremor. Wheeljack took his first good look at the monster before him. He'd never seen anything so powerful- or ugly- in his life.
"Eat this!" Wheeljack yelled as he fired his arm cannon. The Predacon simply positioned its giant wings in front of his face as a natural shield so that Wheeljack's blasts ricocheted away.
The Wrecker realized his cannon's ineffectiveness retracted them back into his arms. Wheeljack then removed a grenade from his hip and tossed it toward the Predacon. The beast folded its wings back to charge up another fireball. The grenade sailed through the air in an arc before landing directly inside the Predacon's mouth. The beast made a confused sounding noise and cocked its head to one side.
A few seconds later, a soft thud could be heard from inside the Predacon. Not worse for wear, the beast began charging his main weapon again. Wheeljack just stared slack jawed. "You've gotta be slaggin' kidding me!"
Seeing that his ranged weaponry proved useless, Wheeljack decided to go for broke and drew his swords. The Wrecker leapt out of cover toward the Predacon. At the same time, the Predacon launched a fireball.
Wheeljack narrowly avoided having his lower legs scorched off by twisting around in the air. He landed feet first on the base of the Predacon's neck and thrust his swords down between two armor segments. The Predacon roared in pain before raising his tail.
Before Wheeljack could react, the Predacon used its sharp tail to impale him through the right side of his back.
"AARRGGH!" Wheeljack screamed in pain.
The Predacon, apparently not satisfied with stabbing the Autobot, proceeded use its tail to slam him on the ground and against several trees.
Wheeljack eventually slipped off the Predacon's tail with such force that he plowed through a nearby pine tree and landed in a heap at the tree's roots. The wounded Wrecker took stock of his situation. The Predacon's tail had left a gaping hole through his back and out of his chest that was leaking Energon. Several scuffs and scratches pockmarked his armor and nearly everything in his body hurt.
Desperate to survive, Wheeljack grabbed a nearby shrub and forced it into his chest wound to stop the Energon leak. The pain from this combined with his low Energon levels caused Wheeljack to pass out.
Scourge caught sight of the Wrecker's limp form. "Predacon, finish him!" The great beast reared up on its hind legs, ready to deliver the final crushing blow when out of nowhere, the sound of jet engines echoed through the air.
"Hm?" Scourge wondered aloud.
"What's going on down there?" Megatron demanded. Scourge informed him that five flying objects were approaching his position.
"Starscream!" Megatron hollered instinctively. The Seeker shrunk back defensively. "Lord Megatron, I assure you, all of my Seekers are on standby as per your orders."
"Scourge, be wary." Megatron advised.
"Maintain Delta formation." Silverbolt commanded as he lead his team toward the signals that Crosswind pinpointed. "ETA to target: two minutes. Concentrate all fire on the unknown signal."
"Got it." Fireflight replied.
Their target came into view.
"Vector Sigma!" Skydive gasped.
"Look at the size of that thing!" Air Raid concurred.
Silverbolt noticed the beast's dark blue companion. "Scourge."
"One of the deserter killers?" Air Raid realized.
"New plan." Silverbolt announced. "Skydive, Air Raid, target Scourge. The rest of you help me attack that monster."
"Copy that." Said Air Raid giddy with the prospect of taking down such a notorious Decepticon.
Silverbolt readied his precision guided bombs. "Target locked. Release!" he called out as several armor piercing munitions dropped from his bomb bay. Slingshot and Fireflight fired their own missiles.
The weapons detonated squarely on the Predacon's back knocking it to the ground. Slingshot could barely contain himself. "Yeah, we got him!" he exclaimed.
Silverbolt could see the beast struggle back onto all fours. "Hang on guys, that thing's not dead. Go around for another pass."
As the three Aerialbots regrouped for another run, Silverbolt saw the beast disappear into a Ground Bridge vortex.
"What the scrap was that thing?" Slingshot wondered.
Meanwhile, Scourge had his hands full fending off Skydive and Air Raid. "Lord Megatron, it's the Aerialbots!"
Every Decepticon officer at Darkmount looked stunned.
"They've hit the Predacon, and it appears to have suffered some damage." Scourge continued. "Engaging." The seasoned hunter performed a nearly impossible backflip maneuver that placed him directly behind Air Raid.
Scourge opened fire with his cannon as Air Raid swerved and jinked every which way he could to shake the pursing Decepticon. "Skydive, I could use some help here." Air Raid called out.
Skydive saw this as the perfect opportunity to use his special ability. "Hang in there, Air Raid, I just need a bit of time." He assured.
Skydive kept his optics on Scourge and analyzed his flight patterns. True to his word, the scan finished after approximately 30.2 seconds. Skydive tore after Scourge armed with all that he needed to achieve victory.
"Hey Skydive, whenever you're ready!" Air Raid urged as he barely avoided a volley of cannon fire.
The Aerialbot took up position behind Scourge and fired a short burst from his cannon. Scourge broke off from Air Raid's six as expected. What an uninformed observer might not expect, however, was Skydive's ability to match Scourge's turn perfectly.
"How did you…" Scourge gasped as he banked again.
Skydive stayed with the Decepticon and managed to put a few shots into his starboard engine. Smoke poured out from both ends of the turbine as Scourge shuddered from the damage.
"Scourge can you hear me?" Megatron demanded after regaining his wits. "Soundwave will open a Ground Bridge for you shortly."
"Understood." Scourge replied. Neither he nor the Predacon could take on the Aerialbots. Not yet anyway. "What about the Predacon?"
Megatron grimaced. "He's waiting for you in his pen." He said as Predaking slashed and pounded at his enclosure's walls.
A Ground Bridge Vortex appeared in front of Scourge. He sailed through just as Skydive fired a missile. Fortunately for the Decepticons, the bridge closed before the missile could follow Scourge into Darkmount.
"Skydive, Air Raid, say status." Silverbolt commanded.
"We're fine." Skydive reported. "Scourge got away though."
"Well those two Autobot signals are still active so let's find them and get them out of here." Silverbolt declared.
Bulkhead found a cave to hide in while the fight raged outside, but the big bot couldn't help but shake the feeling the Wheeljack had made a fatal decision by taking off. Miko felt even worse about the ordeal.
"What are we doing Bulk?" she wondered aloud. "We should be out there helping Jackie fight that… dragon… thing…"
Bulkhead sighed. "I don't like this any more than you do, but this was the only way to keep you safe."
"But…" Miko began.
"Wheeljack at least has a small chance of surviving out there." Bulkhead interrupted. "You don't have any. Besides, I gave Prime my word that I would keep you safe."
"Yeah." Miko grumbled. "Besides, my foster parents would probably melt you down if anything happened to me."
Just then, the two heard jet sounds followed by footsteps.
"Scrap." Bulkhead swore. "The Cons brought reinforcements."
The footsteps moved closer to the cave's entrance.
"Miko, I need you to get out and take cover." Bulkhead whispered as he opened the door.
Miko did as she was told by ducking behind a stalagmite.
A Cybertronian figure appeared at the caves entrance. Bulkhead didn't even give him time to say "Hello." The Wrecker tore down the cave at maximum speed toward the figure, shifting into robot mode at the last second to tackle him to the ground. Bulkhead drew his wrecking ball and nearly used the weapon to smash the visitor's face when he realized who it was.
"Fireflight?" the Wrecker said bewildered.
"Bulk…" was all Fireflight could manage given that Bulkhead lay on his body.
"Oh… uh… sorry…" Bulkhead stammered as he stood up.
"Don't worry about it." Fireflight said. "My team and I have orders to bring you to our ship."
Bulkheads optics widened at that. "Team?! Ship?!"
"Hey guys, its Bulkhead." Fireflight reported. "Have you found the other signal?"
"Yeah." Skydive said. "It's Wheeljack."
"How is he?" Bulkhead asked.
"It's bad. Really bad. He needs immediate medical attention."
"Jackie…" Miko whispered.
"He'll be fine Bulkhead." Fireflight assured. "Our ship's medical facilities are top notch. Now come on, let's get out of here before more Decepticons show up."
"Come on out Miko." Bulkhead called.
"Miko? Who's Miko?" Fireflight wondered.
"I am." Miko said. "You're sure Wheeljack will be okay?"
"Absolutely." Fireflight promised.
With that, the Aerialbots, Bulkhead and Miko returned to the Enduring Spirit.
Out in Earth Orbit…
"We're approaching the signal." Jetfire announced. "ETA in sixty seconds." He flew alongside Jenny, Sheldon and Brad on their way to one of the contacts that he picked up with his scanner.
"You think they're friendly?" Brad wondered. "Because if they aren't we'll be in a real mess."
"I suppose we'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it." Jenny replied.
Sheldon rolled his eyes. "Very reassuring."
"Visual contact five seconds." Jetfire said. "This is it."
As the four approached they began to make out a ship of some sort. And a very familiar insignia on the hull.
"Whoa!" Jenny exclaimed.
"No way!" Brad agreed.
"I don't believe it!" Jetfire gasped.
Meanwhile on the Enduring Spirit…
As the Enduring Spirit continued to orbit the planet, Crosswind kept his optics on his monitors when suddenly the proximity alarm sounded. "Proximity alert." Crosswind reported. "One contact on an intercept course."
Elita One was beginning to think that sending the ship down to the surface was a mistake.
"Autobot or Decepticon?" Prowl wondered. Crosswind tapped a few keys. "Autobot." Crosswind said aghast. "Visual contact in sixty seconds."
Those sixty seconds seemed like an eternity, but the unknown Autobot could finally be identified. Crosswind nearly fell out of his seat when he realized who it was. "It's Jetfire!" He exclaimed.
"Excellent." Elita One replied. "Let him know that we're friendly and that he's welcome to come aboard."
Crosswind passed the message along.
Jetfire received the message and patched into the Enduring Spirit's communication frequency. "Copy that Enduring Spirit." Jetfire acknowledged. "We're on our way to the main hangar."
"We?" Crosswind replied in a confused tone. "Who's with you? I'm only reading one signal. Or maybe I'm getting rusty."
Jetfire chuckled. "You're not rusty, kid. It's just that my friends can't be picked up by your sensors. I'll explain everything once I'm on board."
Just then, Arcee and Jack arrived on the bridge. "We heard the proximity alert. What's going on?" Arcee wondered.
"Jetfire is boarding as we speak. And it appears he brought some friends that don't show up on our scanners."
Jack's eyes widened as he realized there was only one person who fit that description. As if on cue, Jetfire, Jenny, Brad and Crosswind arrived at the bridge.
"Hey there everyone." Jetfire greeted. "Quite a ship you got here."
Crosswind nearly fell out of his seat at the sight of his hero. The young Autobot quickly recovered and approached Jetfire. He straightened his posture and gave a salute as he greeted himself. "Autobot Reconnaissance Force First Lieutenant Crosswind, sir!"
"Easy there." Jetfire replied. "No need to be so formal."
"Ha! Don't waste your time Jetfire." Moonracer advised. "That's just the way he is."
Crosswind gave Moonracer an intense death glare before turning back to Jetfire. "Sorry. It's just that you're one of my heroes."
"Glad to hear it." Jetfire replied. "And you must be Elita One."
"Indeed." The commander of the Enduring Spirit replied. "You said you would explain those three." She reminded motioning to Jenny, Brad, and Sheldon.
"Right." Jetfire said. He gave his best recap of the events prior to the Enduring Spirit's arrival. "And that's everything I know."
"Thank you Jetfire. Now Jenny, is there anything you can add?" Elita questioned.
"Yes." she began. "Optimus and I were the last two left in the base. He told me to leave while he stayed behind."
"We'll of course he'd stay behind!" Ironhide interjected. "Optimus would never go down without a fight."
"No Ironhide. I think he stayed behind to destroy the Space Bridge. He sacrificed himself so the Decepticons wouldn't follow us."
Everyone was silent for a moment.
"Do you know where Optimus might be now?" Elita inquired further.
"Either he's trapped in the ruins of the base or the Decepticons captured him. Either way, it's gonna be tough to rescue him."
"Yes." Elita agreed. "Thank you Jenny."
"Enduring Spirit, this is Silverbolt, we are approaching now." Silverbolt reported.
Crosswind returned to his station to reply. "Copy that Silverbolt. By the way, what was that unknown contact?"
"I'll explain later. Get sickbay ready, I'm carrying Wheeljack and he's in critical condition." Silverbolt ordered.
"Understood." Crosswind replied. "What about the other Autobot?"
"Bulkhead. His human companion Miko too." Silverbolt replied.
"All right!" Jack exclaimed.
Silverbolt rushed Wheeljack to sick bay while the rest of the Aerialbots, Bulkhead and Miko went to the bridge.
"Jack!" Miko exclaimed. The two shared a hug after not seeing each other for so long. Miko noticed Jenny and nearly lost her mind. "You're here too?!"
"Ah it was the least I could do." Jenny replied.
After introductions were exchanged and Silverbolt arrived on the bridge he explained the situation. "The Decepticon deserter killers Scourge and Cyclonus have joined Megatron's ranks. And somehow, they have a Predacon."
"Predacon?" Jenny wondered.
"Prehistoric Cybertronian beasts with animal instincts. They may be primitive, but they were extremely powerful. Even the Primes had trouble dealing with them." Elita explained.
"Then what were Dino Bots?" Miko asked.
"Totally different." Bulkhead answered.
"If the Decepticons have that thing, we need to adjust our strategy." Crosswind observed. "Indeed." Elita concurred. "I'll leave the details to you. In the meantime, we need to find Ratchet and Bumblebee."
"No problem." Jenny assured. "I know exactly where they are. Just show me a map."
Crosswind pulled up a map of the world.
"Okay, Ratchet went here." Jenny said while pointing to Ohio. "And Bumblebee went here." She said pointing to Maine.
"Right. We'll need to keep a low profile went we find them. Jack, Arcee you'll retrieve Bumblebee while Jenny, Brad and Sheldon get Ratchet." Elita ordered.
"Got it." Jenny replied.
Back at Darkmount…
Starscream and Megatron observed Scourge's attempts to calm the Predacon down. "I'm not convinced, my lord." Starscream said. "The beast is simply too unpredictable, even in Scourge's hands."
"This was the beast's first taste of combat, Starscream." Megatron reminded. "I didn't expect everything to go smoothly. Besides, the Predacon managed to mortally wound an Autobot and survive several attacks from the Aerialbots. With time and patience, this beast will become our ultimate weapon."
"If you say so, Lord Megatron." Starscream said skeptically.
A/N:
I know this is way overdue, but I promise that updates will be coming biweekly from now on. Please tell me what you think and feel free to read my other stories while you wait for the next chapter.