Thanks for all the birthday wishes! They really made my day.
Chapter Eight: In the Heat of Battle
An almost continuous drone of gunfire drummed the air. The stench of smoldering ammunition oil, singed metal, cordite and burnt ozone hung as a visible haze over the impromptu battlefield. Rattrap could only pinpoint their enemies' exact locations now by the trajectory of the deadly streaks of laserfire and plumes of flames shooting out of the pervading gloom in random bursts from the other side of the battlefield. Optimus and Cheetor, Rattrap knew, had taken positions no more than a few meters away on his left. He could hear their shouts and the chaotic patter of their blasters. But with the jagged outcrop of rocks and near constant barrage of enemy fire, Rattrap couldn't actually see them.
"Hey, Optimus! How's it goin' over der on yer side?" he casually called over the roar of one of Inferno's fire attacks. He felt the air grow alarmingly hot as small tongues of flames licked up over and around the edges of the boulder he'd taken cover behind.
"Just perfect," came Optimus's strained reply. A quick series of blaster fire drummed the air from his direction before he went on in the same forced tone of casualness as Rattrap. "And you?"
"Oh, well, don'cha know I have ol' Megs up against da ropes. He's only a few klicks away from givin' up and surrenderin' da entire war ta us."
An exceptionally strong fusion blast exploded against the other side of Rattrap's cover. Rattrap instinctively hunkered down lower, wincing as bits of sharp volcanic rock rained down on him.
"Give up, Maximals!" Megatron's voice boomed across the distance separating them. "You're only wasting your time!"
"See?" Rattrap called to Optimus, his sarcasm light and airy. "Whad'I tell ya?"
Another blast shuddered against the opposite side of Rattrap's hiding spot. Fist sized chunks of rock tumbled down on him.
"Come out and show yourself, rodent," Megatron called over the drone of battle. "If you really want Dinobot so badly, why don't you fight me for her, mech to mech? Prove that you are worthy of her attention."
Staying low, Rattrap cautiously looked out from behind his hiding spot. "I'd luv'ta, Megs, but open hand-ta-hand combat's never been high on meh things ta do list. It goes against meh survival programmin.'"
Megatron's derma plates twisted into a condescending sneer. "I should have expected as much." His optics bore into Rattrap's, as if silently pronouncing judgment on him. "A mech like you has no right to even attempt to win over a femme like Dinobot. You are a fool if you think she'd ever even give you a second glance. Why would she ever accept such a pathetic waste of engineering and parts like you? She deserves someone who is powerful and strong. Someone who is capable of fighting. Someone who does not cower in a hole like a sniveling rat."
Rattrap knew what Megatron was trying to do. Knew that everything the tyrant said was just to rile him up and get him to make himself an easier target for Megatron's fusion canon. Nevertheless, that knowledge did not dampen the uncharacteristic stab of fury that shot through his systems at Megatron's words or stop his hand from involuntarily gripping his blaster tighter as his dentals clenched in an angry grimace.
"Oh yeah, Mega-dip? Well, I got news fer you," he yelled back, unthinkingly standing straight behind his cover. "Dinobot might look fer those things in a mech, but if der's one thing she's more den anythin' else it's dat she's smart. An' I know dat 'cause da first thing she did when you Preds crash landed on dis planet was ta leave yer sorry aft an' come ta us. If dat doesn' prove how smart she is, den nothin' does."
Megatron growled, dentals bared in an ugly snarl. "Her leaving was only out of retaliation for losing to me in battle and not gaining leadership of the Predacons. She was blinded by her ambitions and wanted a different arena in which to prove herself. That is the only reason she left our cause."
"Ya sure it wasn't because she just wanted ta get away from you?" Rattrap nastily shot back.
Megatron's facial plates darkened, his optics narrowing into two dangerous slits of red. "You foul little vermin…" he hissed.
"Like I haven' heard dat before…" Rattrap snorted.
"You will pay for your insults, Maximal," Megatron said, fusion cannon humming dangerously against his arm. "I will peel your armor from you protoforms in pieces before I rip your sparkchamber out through your chest."
Then, before Rattrap had any time to even snap off a smart remark, the tyrant rushed him. Slightly startled by the unexpected charge, Rattrap was only able to fire off two shots (both of which seemed to harmlessly pling against the Predacon leader's transmetal exostructure) before Megatron was suddenly right in front of him.
One of Megatron's hands shot out and wrapped around Rattrap's neck - his fingers curling around the smaller mech's throat in almost a complete circle. Before Rattrap could properly process this sudden turn of events the warlord turned and - putting as much strength as he could into the motion - brutally hurled the tiny spy into a nearby rock outcrop.
Rattrap hit the volcanic rock with a sickening crunch of metal. He felt a section of his transmetal exoarmor near his back struts crack. His optics flared white with pain. Stunned by the impact, it took Rattrap several seconds to reboot his processor back to full capacity. And not a nano-klick too soon, because just as the residual static cleared from his optics, he looked up just in time to see the tail-like structure of Megatron's fusion cannon come whipping towards him like a wrecking ball.
Survival programming kicking in, the spy instinctively ducked and rolled away just as Megatron's arm smashed against the place where Rattrap's head had been no more than a nano-klick before. The volcanic rock seemed to literally vaporize under the tyrant's blow and showered Rattrap in a cloud of pulverized black dust and bits of rock.
Rolling across the ground several times to put some distance between himself and the enraged Predacon, Rattrap rolled to his knees and swung his blaster up and around back towards Megatron. The warlord was coming at him again, his superstructure nothing more than a hulking black outline that seemed to blot out the fiery red sky above. Rattrap aimed and fired several shots. Once again, they seemed to have little to no effect on the enraged tyrant. If anything, all they did was leave a series of painful looking singe marks across Megatron's chest and shoulders.
Oh slag… Rattrap silently cursed as the tyrant bore down on him like a runaway tank. Turning, Rattrap tried to scramble away but Megatron caught him before he could get very far.
"And where do you think you're going, hm?" Megatron said, once again seizing Rattrap by the throat. Lifting Rattrap off the ground as though he weighed nothing at all, the tyrant held him so that they were at the same optic level, separated by less than a foot. "You're not scurrying your way out of this one, rodent," his hissed in the spy's face.
Struggling against the hand clamped around his throat, Rattrap's legs uselessly pedaled the air. At some point he'd unconsciously dropped his blaster to claw at Megatron's vice-like hold, but he might as well have been trying to pry open a glued bear trap for all the good it did him.
"You feel it don't you?" Megatron said, staring into Rattrap's optics. "That growing feeling of weakness? I learned many stellar cycles ago you can kill a mech by pinching off the energon lines running through a bot's necks up to their processor. It's a very slow and painful process. One in which the victim retains consciousness almost all the way up until the very end." He slowly leaned forward so that his face hovered mere inches away from Rattrap's own. "I plan to see how long it takes for your processor to stall and fall into stasis lock…"
Rattrap tried to reply - tried to spit back a smart-mouthed retort. But all he could manage was a few choked off, garbled sounds. His fingers were beginning to grow numb. He could barely feel them anymore clawing at the seam of Megatron's hand clamped around his throat. But more frightening than that was the overwhelming weakness that was steadily spreading through his entire body. A low buzz had formed in his audio receptors as if a swarm of tiny insects had crawled their way into both sides of his head. A staticky ring of darkness had begun to form along the edges of his visual readout. As he continued to feebly struggle in Megatron's grip, it began to spread across his plane of vision.
Megatron grinned, cold and merciless. "With you, and soon your Maximal comrades as well, out of the way I will have no one to stop me from taking over this primitive planet and returning to Cybertron to build my army. Nor will there be anyone to stop me from claiming Dinobot as my queen." He leered down at Rattrap, his facial plates twisting into a cruel grin. "Understand this, rodent, in your last few klicks of function: she is mine."
Rattrap helplessly glared at Megatron, no sound able to slip past the merciless fingers crushing his throat.
No… Rattrap's failing thoughts screamed in protest. This wasn't how this was supposed to end. He was supposed to save Dinobot and bring the snarly warrioress back home. He was supposed to save her from an unwanted sparkbond with Megatron and rescue her from a life of gilded slavery. He was supposed to finally come through as the hero and prove he wasn't the cowardly rat everyone thought he was.
The darkness was spreading faster. It steadily crept across his vision in oily black tendrils. Megatron's face was only a fuzzy outline now to his dimming optics.
"I will give Dinobot your last regards," Megatron's voice seemed to drift to him from the other end of a long, narrow tunnel. "Though after I am done with her, you Maximals will be nothing more than a stray blip mark in her memory banks."
No! Rattrap wanted to scream - wanted to rant, rave and spit into the warlord's smug face as loud as his vocal processors possibly could. No! He couldn't let that happen! He couldn't let Megatron touch his comrade! He'd damn himself to the Pits if he let Megatron do anything more to Dinobot than he already had.
No! Rattrap silently wailed inside the prison of his own processor. He desperately tugged at the immobile edge of Megatron's hand.
He had to do something. Anything! He had to save Dinobot even if it was the last thing he did.
"NO!" the strangled cry finally burst past Megatron's death grip and out of Rattrap's mouth as the spy mustered every last ounce of his waning strength and blindly swung his leg up and around towards the Predacon leader's face. His foot connected with Megatron's mouth with a hollow crunch.
The hand around his throat abruptly disappeared. His body crashed to the ground in a unceremonious heap. Rattrap's cracked back strut flared with pain at the rough impact. Coughing as energon painfully surged upwards through his neck's previously crushed lines, the spy curled onto his side cradling his abused throat. His processor seemed to almost instantly clear as the energon flooded his neural circuits and restored his starved systems. Shaking the last of the fuzziness from his vision, Rattrap groggily pushed himself up off the ground.
Above him Megatron clutched his mouth with one hand. Tiny trickles of purplish energon seeped between his fingers and snaked down the length of his wrist and forearm. As Rattrap watched in a stunned daze, the warlord turned his face to the side and spit out the shattered remains of several broken dentals.
The Predacon slowly turned back towards Rattrap, promised termination burning in his optics. "You will pay for that, vermin," he rumbled in a frighteningly low voice. A line of energon ran down his chin from one corner of his mouth. "By the time I am done with you, you will be begging me to put you out of your miserable existence…"
Still slightly dazed by his near-termination, Rattrap had no chance to react before Megatron lunged forward and buried his pede in the smaller mech's side with a savage kick as though determined to drive the spy's spark chamber out through the opposite side of his body. Rattrap jackknifed in half, the faint taste of energon and mech fluid springing up in the back of his intact line. Pain the likes of which he'd never felt before blossomed across his midsection and around his sides all the way to his now fractured back strut. He was pretty sure he was going to have to spend half the next lunar cycle banging out the crater-sized dent in his stomach. Assuming he survived all this, which Rattrap was having less and less hope of doing as time progressed…
"You are even more annoying than I ever realized," Megatron hissed as he delivered another kick to the spy's exposed side, forcing Rattrap onto his back. Coming to stand over Rattrap, he smashed his foot down in the middle of the Maximal saboteur's chest. Rattrap only managed a muffled cry before it was cut off by the full weight of the warlord pressing down on him directly over his spark chamber. "It's truly a wonder Dinobot was able to put up with you for so long without terminating you…"
Despite his current position, Rattrap forced a strangled chuckle around the oppressive weight pressing down on him. "Believe me… it's not like… she hasn' tried…" he wheezed between labored intakes. He involuntarily winced as Megatron shifted above him, forcing his shoulders to grind down against his beast-mode's wheel rims. He bit his glossa to keep from crying out. He refused to give the tyrant the pleasure of knowing how much pain he was in.
"A pity…" Megatron sniffed. Shifting back, the warlord brought his fusion cannon around and aimed it directly at his captive's head. Rattrap betrayed no outward sign of fear as Megatron slowly pressed the barrel of his cannon flat against the side of his helm. "Say goodbye, Maximal. Because this really is the end, ye~ssss…"
Rattrap defiantly glared up at Megatron, for once silent with any kind of retort or snide comment. The cannon hummed low against the side of Rattrap's helm, sending a physical vibration coursing through his head all the way down to his internal processor. He felt the metal of the barrel grow increasingly hot as its power cells built to deliver the final deadly blow.
But before the tyrant could send the other mech's cranial unit flying apart, a frantic shout suddenly sounded from the other side of the battlefield. There was the muffled electronic pop of a laser gun and Megatron's right shoulder was punched backwards, forcing his cannon away from Rattrap's head. There was another blast that caught Megatron in his lower chest and the foot crushing Rattrap into the ground disappeared.
"Rattrap! Are you okay?" It was Optimus.
"Yeah… I guess…" Rattrap coughed where he lay on the ground, holding his flattened chassis. Forcing himself to move, the spy painfully rolled to the side and slowly climbed to his knees, and then his feet. He swayed slightly as he stood straight. Sharp, throbbing pain radiated across his entire front side. Rattrap gingerly pressed one hand to the center of his chest. At his touch, his spark chamber gave a painful twinge. More than likely it had suffered some kind of damage from Megatron pressing down on him. Hairline fractures along his spark chamber's casing seemed a very real possibility at the moment. If he managed to make it out of this alive one of the first things he was going to have to do when he got back to base was visit a CR tank.
But, once again, that was assuming he survived this mess…
Megatron had been driven back half a dozen feet by Optimus' last shot. He glared at the two Maximals with undisguised hatred, fusion cannon humming by his side. "Primal… so it seems you decided to join the party too," he greeted with a growl.
"Just making sure I don't lose anymore of my crewmembers to you," Optimus replied, blaster held out and trained on the Predacon leader.
Megatron glowered. His fusion cannon hummed louder. Its barrel glowed bright with charged energy.
Rattrap was suddenly uncomfortably aware of his position - standing directly in between the warring factions' two leaders as they stared each other down in a classic standoff while he stood there injured and without a gun. It was times like this Rattrap seriously wondered if Primus was out to get him…
"You've meddled for the last time, Primal," Megatron growled, eyes narrowing at the Maximal commander. "I will not let you interfere in my plans anymore."
"We'll see about that," Optimus replied.
Both leaders seemed to take a moment to size each other up, before almost simultaneously raising their weapons. Rattrap inwardly cringed. This was going to be bad, especially considering his current location. He knew Optimus wouldn't fire on him, but he had no such faith in Megatron doing the same.
Just before either leader or Rattrap could make a move to fire or duck away for cover though, there was an explosive burst of static over both Rattrap and Optimus's com links. In the charged stillness of the battlefield, the sound of it was as deafening as a cannon blast.
"Rhinox to Alpha Team. Rhinox to Alpha Team," a staticky voice called over the link. "We have Dinobot. Repeat: we have Dinobot. Retreat and fall back to rendezvous point."
Rattrap froze at the transmission, unsure if he was hearing correctly.
Optimus reached up to tap the side of his com unit. "Primal here. We read you loud and clear. We're pulling out now. Meet at rendezvous point sigma, ETA fifteen klicks. Over."
"Copy. Over," Rhinox replied, and the transmission abruptly blipped out.
"What? No!" Megatron roared from the other side of the battlefield. "Impossible!"
"Apparently not, Megs," Rattrap replied, an intoxicating wave of smugness surging through his systems. "Looks like ye're gonna hafta put yer plans on hold."
"That wretched spider…" Megatron hissed, as if suddenly realizing something. "She either failed to do as she was ordered, or has betrayed our cause." A look of near mindless rage erupted across the warlord's face. "I will destroy that eight-legged traitor!" Enraged optics swiveled up to spear Rattrap and Optimus with a deadly glare. "And I will destroy you pathetic Maximals for stealing my prize from me!"
Fusion cannon swinging up, Megatron aimed it at the closest of the two Maximals, which just so happened to be Rattrap. It's barrel flared bright as it powered up to fire.
"Rattrap, duck!" Optimus cried behind him.
Concentrated energy exploded from the end of Megatron's cannon, speeding towards the startled spy almost as if in slow motion. Curling down against himself, Rattrap dropped to the ground. The air sizzled as the blast passed mere millimeters above him and exploded somewhere off in the near distance.
"I won't let you take Dinobot away from me!" Megatron yelled over the roar of his cannon cycling up for another blast. "She belongs to me!"
"Not anymore she doesn't," Rattrap said, still crouched low to the ground as he stared down the enraged warlord.
Megatron bared his teeth in an ugly grimace of fury and brought his weapon to bear on Rattrap for another shot. He fired, but the shot went wide - the tyrant unable to properly aim through his rage - which made it relatively easy for the Maximal spy to duck out of the blast's immediate path and roll away to the side, although the air became hotter than Rattrap's survival codes were comfortable admitting.
"Rattrap, get out of there!" Optimus called behind him. "Fall back!"
"I will!" Rattrap shouted back over his shoulder. "But der's somethin' I hafta do first!"
Megatron had begun to stalk towards him, his shoulders hunched and body language menacing, optics locked on no one else except the tiny Maximal. The barrel of his fusion cannon glowed a hellish orange-red in the gloom. To the startled spy, he looked just like some kind of demonic entity that'd escaped from the Pit. Rattrap's survival programming screamed at him to run as the warlord neared, but he forced himself to ignore the instinctive call for retreat.
There was something he'd been wanting to do for a very long time now that overrode any other thoughts of self-preservation…
Tapping open a storage compartment on his inner forearm, Rattrap retracted a small box-shaped object. There were two buttons on the front panel and a switch below. In the upper right corner was a single screw-head shaped LED light. As Rattrap thumbed the switch upward the light flared green as if to signal its readiness for action. Pressing the leftmost of the two buttons, the light turned red and began to blink.
Megatron was only half a dozen feet away from Rattrap now. But instead of panicking as he probably would have in any other situation, Rattrap calmly pressed the last of the two buttons down and silently watched as Megatron stormed across the last few feet of space separating them before lobbing the small device at the tyrant's chest. The light began to blink faster and faster until it was an almost solid stream of red.
Instinctively Megatron tried to catch it. But instead of fumbling in the warlord's startled grasp, the device seemed to adhere right to the transmetal superstructure of his palm and refused to budge even when the tyrant tried to shake it free. He glanced up at Rattrap as if demanding an explanation for what it was.
Rattrap shot him a cheeky grin. "Just a lil' goin' away present from me ta you, Megs," he said. His optics narrowing and facial plates twisting into an uncharacteristically cold expression he added in a venomous whisper, "This is for Dinobot…"
Before the warlord had any chance to respond, a sharp chirp sounded from the device. It's LED light was now a solid pulse of red. Megatron's optics widened as if finally realizing what the smaller mech had thrown at him.
Rattrap barely had time to turn his back from the initial fire flash before the world exploded in a fantastic whirlwind of heat, flames and light. Somewhere near the center of the roiling conflagration, he caught the muffled echo of Megatron roar of anger before the sound was swallowed by the explosion's deafening boom. And then it was gone, along with Megatron who seemed to disappear into the blinding flash of light. The shockwave of the blast almost lifted Rattrap clear off the ground, but by then he'd already turned and begun running in the direction he'd last seen Optimus. Tongues of heat and fire licked at his back as a massive pillar of smoke twisted into the air.
Half blind from the initial flash, Rattrap was only partially aware of where he was going. He blindly weaved through the confusing maze of volcanic outcrops away from the blast zone. He had no idea where Optimus had disappeared to in the blast and only became aware of his presence when he almost ran straight into the transmetal gorilla.
"You okay, Rattrap?" Optimus worriedly shouted as he gripped the spy's upper arm to help steady him. Rattrap swayed slightly where he stood. "What were you thinking using an explosive when you were still so close? You could have gotten yourself killed!"
"I'm fine," Rattrap muttered as if in a daze. He was still trying to rid his optics of dancing black afterimages. "I hadta get Megs close ta use dat bomb. It's a short range one - magnetic so dat it sticks ta whatever metal it's thrown at. It's actually an anti-tank design. Against da Angry Purple Giant, I thought it seemed appropriate. It was da only explosive I had on me…" His entire superstructure ached. Dull tendrils of pain snaked back and forth across his midriff and sides where Megatron had kicked him. His fractured exo-armor near his back strut stung mercilessly. Mustering his strength, the spy pushed Optimus's helping hand away to stand by himself. "Let's go. We hafta meet up wit' da others."
Optimus seemed uncertain whether to believe Rattrap's weak assurances but didn't get to press the matter as Cheetor decided to run up to them at that exact moment.
"Did you guys get the message from Rhinox?" he called, vents cycling somewhat faster than normal as if he'd run there from a distance. Black singe marks dotted his superstructure here and there, but he otherwise seemed unharmed. "They got Dinobot!"
"Yeah, we heard," Optimus nodded. "We'll fall back and retreat to the rendezvous point to meet them."
"What was that explosion?" Cheetor demanded as the three of them moved off. "I managed to knock out Inferno, and that new mech ran off somewhere just after we heard the blast."
"Just a lil' goodbye present for Megs," Rattrap replied.
Cheetor questioningly eyed his battered body and the hand he had gingerly pressed to the center of his chest above his spark chamber. "You okay, RT? You look like you got sent through a trash compactor."
Rattrap bit back an annoyed huff. He was starting to get tired of answering this question. "I'm fine," he replied through gritted dentals. "Let's just hurry 'n meet up wit' da others. I wanna make sure dat slimy purple lizard didn' do anythin' ta ol' Choppa'face."
Cheetor and Optimus both shot him questioning looks, but didn't say anything about him impatient tone or hurried gait. Even if they had, Rattrap doubted he would have been able to hide his concern for Dinobot anymore behind backhanded insults or quips. He was just too tired, beat up and emotionally drained. Right now all he wanted to do was meet up with their other comrades, get Dinobot and go home.
That wasn't too much to ask.
…was it?
To Be Continued…
Hurray for fight scenes! This was probably the most fun chapter to write so far. I suck at writing dialogue and action-less drama, so being able to finally write a fight scene was an overdue treat.
Once again, throughout the entire chapter I couldn't help but wonder how Dinobot would react if she was there to witness Megatron and Rattrap fighting over her like that. Probably knock both of them upside the head or turn and walk away in disgust. Either way, the mental image makes me chuckle.
So in closing: good? Bad? Somewhere in the middle?
Reviews, as always, are encouraged and highly appreciated.
