"Those are dinosaurs, aren't they?" radioed Air Raid.
"Yes, they are. Hot Spot, this is Silverbolt. Dinos incoming behind Blades. We will double back around and join you. Look for cover," said Silverbolt.
"Roger, Silverbolt. Streetwise, take Hoist and find some cover. I'll pile up some these downed trees over here. These dinos took out Skyfire, so don't underestimate them," radioed Hot Spot.
"What about me boss?" asked Blades, coming into view.
"Dinos can't fly, Blades. Stay up in the air and help out the Aerialbots," radioed Hot Spot.
"Even the pteranodon?" asked Blades.
"Not a dino, Blades," said Hot Spot.
Silverbolt and Air Raid returned to hover over the position that Hot Spot and Streetwise had set up. They waited for the enemy to emerge from the woods.
The five dinosaurs did emerge with Roadgrabber above them. They produced lasers from their backs and other interesting places and pounded the barricade of Hot Spot and Streetwise. In the sky Air Raid nimbly dodge their fire while Silverbolt and Blades had a slightly harder time of it. When the barrage was finished, Roadgrabber was missing and the dinos had shed their shells to reveal their inner robots.
"Why would they stop being dinosaurs?" asked Hoist.
"I got one of those feelings that we gonna find out," said Streetwise, readying his gun over the barricade.
"Form Dinoking!" yelled the leader who then became a leg as the others merged on top of him to reveal a combiner robot, the same one who had flattened Skyfire. Then he unveiled his giant scythe weapon. He took a swing at Blades, forcing the helicopter to gain altitude.
Silverbolt and Air Raid made strafing runs of the new combiner. Dinoking ignored them and used his foot to crush the barricade near Hot Spot. The fire truck rolled away and looked for more cover. Streetwise was shooting right into Dinoking with Hoist trying to stay out of the way. Blades landed to defend Hot Spot. Everyone was occupied, which is the perfect time for Roadgrabber.
The small enemy had infiltrated behind the Autobots and now prepared to attack from the rear while Dinoking stomped them flat from the front. Those silly Autobots. They had wrecked his vehicle, but now he would wreck them. He transformed into a weapon and pointed right at the back of Hot Spot. Then he fired…
And felt his back singed. His own shot had missed has he had been hit right before he fired. What did that mean? The Autobots in front of him did not turn around, nor did the two Aerialbots. Then Roadgrabber felt huge pain as something jammed into him. He fell off the thing that hit him and rolled over to look at it before he blanked out.
It was a drill tank. He had never seen one before. Behind it was a smaller figure, a human woman with a blaster.
"Looks like we just made the party," said Marissa Faireborn.
"I hesitate to call this a party," said Nosecone as he transformed into his robot mode.
"You would hesitate to call anything anything," replied Marissa.
"Perhaps," said Nosecone.
Dinoking had destroyed the other barricade in frontof Streetwise and sent the two Autobots behind it sprawling. Streetwise's lone blaster was pointed at the robot's head, but Dinoking cared not at all. Then there were three lasers hitting his face and he was forced to shield his head for a moment.
Streetwise noted the arrival of the Technobot and EDC soldier behind him. "There more of you back there?" he asked.
"No, it's just me and Marissa," said Nosecone.
Silverbolt noted the newcomer. "Silverbolt to Air Raid, regroup at Hoist quickly. Blades, get over there too," he said.
The Autobots met up while Dinoking cleared the crap from his eyes. Silverbolt looked the rest of them over. "There is only one way to win this, and that is together. We will have to merge like most of us did on Lookout Mountain," he said.
Blades, Nosecone, and Air Raid nodded.
"Hold up. What you talkin about?" asked Streetwise.
"You can combine with any combiner, Streetwise, that is compatible. That includes Silverbolt. Form a leg. Do me proud," said Hot Spot.
Silverbolt flipped around to form his new torso style with his arms becoming the combiner legs. Air Raid formed the right leg and joined up. Streetwise became a left leg and joined on. Blades became the left arm where his rotors could become a shield. Nosecone now became the right arm, giving the new combiner a slightly unbalanced appearance. The hands and feet were black, which was different. Superion's head still crowned the ad hoc combiner.
"Holy cow," said Hoist.
"What is that?" asked Marissa.
"That is Suspensor, our champion," said Hot Spot with a tinge of regret.
Suspensor clenched his Nosecone fist and flexed his arms. He charged up his Blades turbine shield and a white rifle appeared in the Nosecone hand. It was like Ultra Magnus' rifle, but larger. He started walking toward Dinoking.
Dinoking recovered his vision and noted the taller combiner, which ticked him off. He grabbed his scythe and swung down with all his strength. Suspensor moved his shield and held back the weapon. An effort struggle commenced.
"Hoist, I think we can be more useful making an effort to retrieve Skyfire. Most of their guards seem to be busy," said Hot Spot.
"I am still unarmed," mentioned Hoist.
"Well, I have a gun but can't cross country like you can," said Marissa.
"All aboard then," said Hoist. He transformed into his tow truck and left a door open for Marissa to climb aboard. Hot Spot turned into his fire truck and followed him out. Suspensor noted his leaving out the corner of his eye.
Dinoking gritted his teeth as he tried to pull through with the scythe, not noticing that Suspensor was holding him off with just the Blades arm. Then he noticed a rifle poking around his scythe, landing against his leg and firing. The damage to Goryu forced the dinos to fall out of Dinoking.
Suspensor now used his rifle to disarm all the separated dinos. The bots started running around like crazy to avoid the now overpowering Suspensor. In the end Goryu ordered the rest to don their shells and retreat. They began running toward the distant main gate of the factory. Suspensor followed in his combiner form, heading toward the factory.
The fire truck and the tow truck continued to head toward another opening that was on Skyfire's data. They closed in on the side of the building and Marissa discovered what the opening was.
"Great, a waste port," said Marissa.
"Hold on for a second," said Hoist. He let Marissa out and then walked up to the culvert and bent over the material streaming out of the port. His energon detector was going crazy as he put it near the stuff. "This waste material is related to the forge. It has similar readings on the scale. Someone is using the forge's energy to make something."
"Is the stuff safe?" asked Hot Spot.
"Yes, in low levels," said Hoist reading his detector carefully.
"And humans?" asked Marissa.
"Hard to say. If you stay inside, you should be fine," said Hoist.
"That's not encouraging," said Marissa.
"Let's go then," said Hot Spot.
Hoist transformed into his tow truck mode and Marissa got back inside. He entered the waste culvert and entered the factory. He followed the culvert until he saw a split. The main line to the factory core was to the right. A secondary line ran to the right.
"Well, two routes and two of us," said Hoist.
"No kidding," said Hot Spot. "Which one do you want?"
"Detector says the forge is this way," said Hoist.
"Then I will go the other way," said Hot Spot.
"Forge?" asked Marissa.
"It's a long story, but let's just say that we are here to recover that forge," said Hoist. He watched Hot Spot turn down the other tunnel, and then proceeded to continue down the main shaft. It brought him up in a cavern where the rocks were rimmed with green indents. Sharkticons were stationed near a central object that an energon siphon was drawing power from indirectly.
That central object was the Forge of Solus Prime. The golden hammer radiated in power with sparks traveling back and forth between both ends of the hammer.
"I can't believe it, there it is," whispered Hoist.
"The hammer?" asked Marissa.
"Not just any hammer," whispered Hoist. "Hoist to Hot Spot, come in," he radioed. No response.
"What's wrong?" asked Marissa.
"I can't raise Hot Spot. Either the Forge is blocking the transmission or he is in trouble. It looks like we are on our own here and I have no weapon to face down these enemies," said Hoist.
"They're Sharkticons, slaves to the Quintessons," said Marissa. "They are not as tough as they look. I have an idea."
After a minute, Hoist walked right into the light of the cavern with his hands up. The Sharkticons quickly moved to stop him. He stopped walking. "Hold on fellows, I am not here to fight. I just want to talk to you. Surely you know that hammer over there? It's mighty powerful. You could use that power…" he started.
The Sharkticons crowded around Hoist to listen to him. Three laser blasts took out three of them and Hoist buried his fist in remaining one. They were alone with the Forge.
"See, pretty easy," said Marissa.
"Yes, now…" started Hoist. He gripped the hammer around its handle and yanked. Nothing happened. He adjusted his position and pulled from a different angle and achieved nothing. He paused and scratched his head for a moment.
"What's the problem?" asked Marissa.
"I'm not sure. The hammer was designed by Solus Prime herself to respond only to Primes when used as a device of creation. I thought I could at least pick the thing up. Maybe…" Hoist looked at Marissa carefully.
"What is it?" asked Marissa.
"Why don't you take a try?" suggested Hoist.
"You with all your size can't move it. What chance do I have?" asked Marissa.
"Solus Prime was a female. Maybe you have a better chance," said Hoist.
"Okay, but I think this is stupid," said Marissa. She walked over to the hammer and put her hands up to grab it. She grabbed hard and pulled. That did nothing but lift her off the ground, with her dangling in the air.
"Okay, maybe we just need more bulk. Let's go find Hot Spot," said Hoist.
"That makes more sense," said Marissa.
