A/N: Sorry for the wait on this one but it's at least twice as long as previous chapters! If allowed it, I'd probably be doing illustrations for this story too. I might just make a bonus chapter of nothing but links to art instead.
The air around them froze.
An entire Scrapyard still and quiet.
Drift was small compared to his adversary but still his opponent did not move.
It would be a lie if Drift said he wasn't very aware of his own ventilation systems low deep breaths, or his Energon pump beating heavily within its case.
It seemed both participants were waiting for the other to move, for the other to close the gap and reveal any weakness.
Cyclonus stomped forwards, one foot pounding the ground with a deep 'thwump'.
Drift instantaneously leapt backwards, weapons raised for whatever came next.
Which was nothing.
A well-played fake-out.
Drift couldn't tell if he was priming himself for an attack or trying for an intimidation tactic as his foe took another step enticing another loud thump of a footstep, his hunched shoulders and tight grip on his weapons coupled with a glare of focused otherworldly anger.
Anger that focused on him as if Drift had offended the Decepticons ancestors.
Drift's mind raced, several options flitted through his processor and the rising venom seeping through Cyclonus's glare could stun a herd of titanium moosebots.
It wasn't helping.
The answer was clear however, Drift had been in many a tight spot before.
Distract and herd the Decepticon.
Get it away from Fixit's location and keep it occupied until Strongarm got back, the commotion surely got her attention unless she was on the furthest point of her patrol.
The venomous disgust raining down on Drift through his foes gaze was practically palpable as he still refused to move, even if the joints on his digits strained as he gripped his near-invisible weapons tightly.
His pose was still a mimicry of Drifts.
Frowning deeply his processor brought up several memory files of the past few minutes and Drift straightened up.
He then proceeded to bow gently to his foe before returning to a fighting stance.
Returning Cyclonus's bow opened the floodgates.
Drift could barely contain the flurry of panic that hit him as he dove to the side, Cyclonus had his horns lowered and charged him without a moment to spare.
The ground shook as the Decepticon rumbled past giving Drift a few barely noticeable seconds to scramble to his feet.
Bringing his swords up Drift didn't bother to wait and find out what his foe's next move was as he drew them up in a defensive position.
The swords clashed angrily as Drift's wise move blocked Cyclonus's next attack, as the Decepticon recovered from his missed charge to try and swing at him.
Something grabbed Drift's feet and the Autobot toppled backwards crashing into the earth.
Cyclonus followed through, blades of compressed air were guided by his hands with the aim to plunge through the Autobots cranial chamber.
Drift rolled to the side, barely missing the attack, yet this seemed to have been expected as Cyclonus refused to let his prey go, and dragged the blades through the Earth, swinging them after Drift, he struck the Autobots back mid-roll.
Drift could barely grunt or hiss in pain as the urge to distance himself from the threat overwrote the damage alerts blaring through his processor.
He didn't need them in order to feel the fresh Energon oozing down his back or the worried communications from his students.
Drift could feel the same tight embrace begin to coil around his ankle-joints again.
Drifts subconscious coding responded instantly as he jumped and hopped further away from Cyclonus and the tight feeling subsided quickly.
Air intakes huffed as they recovered from the brief scuffle and he glared back at Cyclonus with his blades held high.
It was still important not to show this foe any weakness.
Cyclonus hadn't seemed to follow him, but watched him retreat to a safe distance.
Drift looked to the ground, there was nothing to snare him but dust twitched and danced in the air as if being pulled along by invisible strings. Yet the dust dance show stopped abruptly a few earth-yards from Cyclonus.
So he had a limited area of effect for his tricks.
Useful information.
Cyclonus bristled with irritation as Drift left this 'area' whether or not he noticed Drift's discovery was not high on the need-to-know list as the Decepticon charged again, his serrated horns glinting with bloodlust.
He was either going to slice this Autobot to pieces or gore him.
Bringing his own blades up, Drift readied himself to attack, there was no way his enemy wasn't leaving himself open with each charge. Keeping his horns down at such an angle prevented any visual contact.
Planting his pede's firmly on the ground he readied himself for a swing.
Cyclonus turned to the right.
Dropping his charge, the Decepticon went a different route, coming up on Drift's flank in the blink of an Optic he let out a silent huff before attacking.
Drift had not expected him to change course, his plan relied upon a few things, one being that he wouldn't - or couldn't - change course mid-charge.
Matching the enemy's speed as best he could Drift only confronted him for a mere moment before a large paw of a clawed hand collided with both his face plates and shoulder strut.
Clattering to the ground Drift groaned, being slapped across the Scrapyard was something new.
The air rapidly increased in weight and any attempt Drift had begun to get himself upright was halted immediately.
Pinned, Drift was unable to retaliate as Cyclonus towered over him.
Regardless, he kept his grip on his blades tight, his wrist and hands were still moveable to an extent.
Trying to avoid direct optical contact Drift looked around himself, there might be something he could use.
There wasn't and with a sinking feeling he realised he wasn't too far away from Fixit's location, and that of the humans as they stood in the open returning his stare as they had their hands in the junk pile trying to retrieve Fixit.
"Rude Autobot" whirled in a gentled breath of air around him and Drift's attention snapped back to the Decepticon whose hand wrapped around his foot.
"Dad! Fixit!" Russell had grabbed Denny's arm tightly, his nails digging in as he shook the limb desperately.
"I know son, I know!" Denny grabbed his son's arm trying to loosen his grip.
"It's our fault!" Russell retracted his hand and instead grasped his face "We gotta get him!"
Russell vaulted over the chair he was sat on, ignoring the grunt from his father who dived face first into the seat, failing to grab the young human.
"Russell wait!" He recovered quickly and sprinted after his son who already had his hand on the door handle.
Russell's jacket slipped through Denny's fingers as the youngster bounded through the door.
Denny cursed to himself as he struggled to keep up with his son, Drift had managed to get the Decepticon elsewhere but this was in no way safe.
Denny clasped his hands tightly around Russell's shoulders as the child began tossing pieces of various collected items, desperately searching through the pile.
"Dad! Let go! The quicker we find him the quicker we can hide!" Russell shrugged off his dad's grip with a worried glare "We have to get him!"
Denny sighed, he was right, they had a small window of opportunity here, they had to take it.
Swallowing his concerns he forced himself to let go and step away from his son, putting his own hands in the pile he too began to dig and search.
Russell gasped, something familiarly orange poked out from under a large heavy miscellaneous-object-that-looked-like-garbage. Denny spotted it too and gave a name to whatever the item was as he quoted the obvious but Russell wasn't listening he'd already began hurriedly shuffling his way over to it.
The duo was still half-buried in assorted items when a loud crash drew their attention.
Whatever had been happening Drift was now far-too-close to them, sprawled on the ground the Autobot clasped his weapons refusing to let itself go undefended.
Drift met the human's gaze for a brief second before being distracted by the Decepticon.
Denny grasped Russell's shoulder as both humans felt their stomachs sink at the horrible sight.
Russell dropped to the floor, kicking himself forwards he squirmed over to Fixit, grasping the only visible part of him.
"Fixit! Fixit! Get up we gotta move!" He hissed.
Denny put his shoulder to the item trapping the Mini-Con and began slowly pushing it off, fear was already gripping his chest and the weight of this object made his lungs feel close to combusting.
"Fixiiiiiit!" Russell whined as he pulled the small alien from under his 'tomb' allowing his dad to breathe again.
Fixit was not unconscious but looked like he was staring into another Universe.
Not daring to look up at what was going on with Drift Russell shook the Mini-Con while Denny called his name.
Fixit's optics shrank a little as he came around, looking at the two humans he seemed confused.
"Did you two get crushed as well?" He asked.
"No Fixit no one's crushed!" Russell heaved a heavy sigh.
"So… I'm not bread? Um, d-dead?" Fixit held his own hands looking to them for answers as they put him back on his wheels.
Denny couldn't help but grin at his small friend, the smile faded to a yelp of panic as a howl of pain echoed around the Scrapyard.
Not one of the three bothered to look for the noise as they fled the scene, diving to cover.
Drift struggled to move under the invisible weight placed upon him, he tried moving his hands but that would be of no use, even if he could swing his swords he wouldn't be able to put enough force behind them to do more than gently tap Cyclonus.
The very light squirming he could manage did nothing to loosen the grip around his foot.
Cyclonus had one hand free, claws drumming against his facemask in slight amusement as the other clasped Drifts foot tightly, the fruitless attempts at moving seemed to amuse him dearly.
A blade attached to a tail slithered into view and Drift struggled even more.
Cyclonus allowed himself a brief moment of optical contact with his captive before bringing his tail down on the trapped foot.
The sharp tip of the blade dragged itself along the underside of Drift's foot.
The touch felt almost as if he was being tickled.
By Death.
Drift couldn't hold back involuntary jerks of movements that did nothing to help himself as the blade didn't even try to pierce the plating on his foot, just scratch at it.
Too preoccupied with the discomfort of having something incredibly sharp, attached to someone incredibly dangerous touch at the relatively soft plating what happened next startled Drift.
The hand that was still around his ankle-joint clenched, talons dug easily into his systems, Energon seeped all over his foot as the vice-like grip forced it out. Not content with trying to crush the joint Cyclonus simultaneously twisted his hand sharply.
Drift felt several internal structures running along his ankle snap and buckle, and Drift howled.
Before the limb was rendered completely useless Cyclonus dropped it and grabbed the other foot.
"Y-you coward" Drift spat, his vocaliser jarring a little as a flood of alerts and damage notifications flooded his processor. "You just want t-to tooortureee me not f-f-fight! Quit playing games and fight me like a real warrior!"
The air around him snapped back to normal and Cyclonus stood up, his hand still around Drift's ankle he pulled the Autobot up with him, dangling the orange mech in front of him, a snarl of a rumble reverberated around the dull blue mech's chest as he regarded the trapped cretin with contempt.
Biting back the continual pain notifications Drift did not waste this opportunity, He swung out with a sword, striking Cyclonus where his chest plate met his abdominal plates, the sword sliced a clear line along the Decepticons side.
Still not making a sound Cyclonus staggered back a few steps, throwing Drift away again his hand clasped at his new wound.
Rivulets of sickly purple energon ran down his side and dribbled through his fingers.
Barely standing, on a damaged foot and shaken systems Drift held both swords up, readying himself for the inevitable backlash of his attack.
Instead he looked at the Dark Energon covering one of his swords.
Holding the blade away from himself he jammed it into the ground, and held up his one clean blade.
The Dark Energon had ceased to leak from his wound and Cyclonus let go of his side.
His expression or body language did not change an inch but an unmistakable air of anger surrounded him.
"I see no true Warriors here" The wind whipped around the Scrapyard.
Drift was easily flung to the floor when Cyclonus charged at him, swinging a blade of compressed air at the Autobot, he may have deflected it with his sword but with one damaged foot the force of the motion floored him.
Cyclonus was over him in a moment, both blades swinging he rained down on Drift with continual slashes and stabs.
One sword and currently unable to stand up, Drift was purely on the defensive.
He could move with his one good leg, slowly pushing himself along the ground he tried in vain to distance himself from the enemy.
The slow and pathetic attempts did little as Cyclonus took one step and was on top of him again.
No one sword could handle the continual barrage forever, Drift's blade chipped and dulled as sharp, compressed air battered it repeatedly. Part of drifts hands and forearm armour seeped energon, a particularly wide swing bypassed his meagre defences and sliced a new gash in his shoulder.
Not wasting much time Cyclonus was back at Drift's front attacking his sword.
Keeping his weak defence in one place.
Drift continued his slow attempts at movements, but now knew he needed more than ever to get himself a few moments to recover.
With his attacks focused Drift kicked out with his one good foot, jamming his heel into Cyclonus's gut.
The action got him nothing but a scowl.
.:Master!:.
Drift huffed, he had been ignoring his student's fearful communications, he could afford no distractions.
.:I have an idea:. Drift communicated to both at the same time, his own brief thought giving him a plan.
On the outside Drift gasped as Cyclonus stopped his endless assault just to land another hit on Drift this time giving the Autobot a matching wound across his own midsection.
.:Once you do that please get to the others, Ah!:. Drift hastily cut communications as he had barely any time to avoid the swipe aimed at his head. Saved only by a desperate bodily spasm originating from his self-preservation code a light cut still traced across his face.
Not allowing the next barrage to begin Drift jerked his arms out before him and let his students detach.
Slipstream streaked past Cyclonus's helm, the blur of movement caught the Decepticons optic and his focus on Drift dropped.
It dropped enough for Jetstorm to change direction mid-flight and smash into the Decepticon head-on.
Cyclonus stepped back as his face mask cracked, the two Mini-cons transforming and dropping behind him, diving behind a shelf, their distraction a success.
Cyclonus's tail angrily whipped at the ground as his plates shifted as if he was going to follow suit and transform.
With fresh wounds Drift found himself needing to use his frayed sword to help his ascent.
He was barely upright when a large hand spread out across his chest and Drift was back on the floor again.
Drift managed to catch a brief glimpse of Cyclonus reaching out before something heavy collided with his head, and all of his systems entered an involuntary reboot.
Satisfied with his temporarily immobilised prey Cyclonus stomped away.
At the edge of the Scrapyard two Mini's stood by the wall a grin plastered on the face of one, the other tried desperately to hold back their grin.
"Jetstorm that was very unwise! Master Drift won't be happy" Slipstream fretted.
"It was a better distraction than just zipping past his head!" Jetstorm countered "Plus much more fun! I clocked him right in the jaw!"
"I know!" Slipstream cracked and a grin spread across his face "I bet that really did catch him off guard! That was brilliant!"
"I know that!" Jetstorm giggled, the two Mini's sharing a moment of giddy excitement "I got that creep!"
"Yeah! Huh?" Quick loud thudding caught the attention of both Mini's "Uh, let's move" Slipstream caught a brief glimpse of something shiny and sharp as the duo went to move.
Jetstorm didn't and the large clawed fist crashed against his entire body.
The wall disintegrated as Jetstorm was hit through, small body sailing out of the Scrapyard.
"Jetstorm!" Slipstream squeaked, panic and fear drove him to take one glimpse at their assailant.
Tall, menacing, a pair of dead optics glaring down at him.
Everything Slipstream wanted to avoid.
Cyclonus lowered himself and with an awkward limb-straining motion Slipstream dived through Jetstorm's hole.
Jetstorm was limp and lying in the displaced earth his form had dug out.
Slipstream grabbed onto his fellow student's body leaning over it.
At the very least he'd provide an extra astrosecond of protection before this Decepticon tore through him too.
The hole back into the Scrapyard was now filled with lots and lots of teeth, but nothing followed them.
The sharp jaws that blocked the hole moved away and its footsteps got quieter.
It only wanted Jetstorm.
Drift awoke to hearing the distressed yell of one of his students.
"Jetstorm!" echoed in the distance.
A myriad of emotions buzzed through Drift's processor, the first one was a far too frequent feeling of irritation at Jetstorm's impulsiveness as it had once again clearly landed him in trouble.
It was instantly overridden by fear and panic.
He knew his students may have tried something extra to distract this Decepticon, he still let them get in harm's way just to give himself a few seconds.
Although he had hoped for them to use the opportunity to get away from the danger that still loomed with them being attached to him, he had still allowed them to enter a dangerous place.
Flicking away anything of no importance Drift hobbled to his feet as fast as possible, it was still painful and inhibiting his movements but Drift refused to acknowledge his broken ankle or the small patch of Energon weeping from his forehelm, and stumbled as quickly as he could towards the origin of the yell.
Staggering to the end of the pathway he got a first-hand look at Cyclonus's alt mode.
Twisting around on four powerful legs the dragon turned back to him and snorted.
Cyclonus was going to finish the fight in this form.
Drift pulled himself out of the way, using a nearby shelf as leverage to avoid the charging dragon.
Wings splayed out and Cyclonus turned sharply already back on Drift.
Hauling himself up the shelf Drift was only distantly aware of the cracking snap as the dragon's jaws closed on the empty space he had once occupied.
Wielding a now quite unimpressive sword, Drift tried to swipe at Cyclonus, the blade only scraped uselessly against his horns.
The dragon only took a single wing beat to get level with Drift as the Autobot balanced precariously, jaws spread the dragon managed a grating roar as it lunged forwards.
Drift wobbled dangerously upon his perch but took the chance to swipe at his neck.
He landed the hit but with a dawning sense of horror Drift realised that in this form his swords would do barely any damage at all.
Cyclonus snarled, triumphant his tail lashing out and slicing a gash into Drifts undamaged leg and toppling him from the shelf.
Drift still grasped his sword desperately, the damaged implement very well being the barrier between him and a potentially life-ending move.
He looked to see Cyclonus rear up, his head shook and he snarled before thudding back down.
Drift held up his sword to block whatever came next.
Cyclonus swung his long neck around, head ramming sharply into the shelf Drift was previously perched on.
Drift's sword slipped from his grasp as he reached out in front of himself, the shelf collapsing on top of him.
Squirming beneath this new weight Drift tried to grab for his sword again a pang of panic jolting through him as he realised it was no longer in his hands.
The thudding of Cyclonus's feet changed tempo as the dragon reared up again, only now he brought down the full force of his weight onto the shelf, enjoying the wheeze of a grunt it elicited from the trapped party.
From a distance Steeljaw couldn't keep his optics off the fight.
He couldn't tell if his impromptu partner-in-crime was serious about this fight or just gauging what type of enemy they were up against.
While still shielded by the wall Steeljaw could see Cyclonus bob up and down stomping on a toppled shelf, it reminded him more of a childish game, like a well fed Cybercat slapping about a terrified Zap mouse with no intention of actually eating it.
He turned to the stasis pod and started clawing at the locks, if Cyclonus was going to waste time then he could at least free this Decepticon, there was no way he was carrying this lump back to the cave.
Well he tried to, until a flash of white plates caught his attention.
Ears perking up Steeljaw's attention was back on the Autobot's base.
The other one, Strongarm, had got back.
How long she had been back he did not know but she seemed to be waiting for something rather than diving in and attacking.
Cyclonus thudded down upon the shelf again and again, his speed picked up a little when Drift's grunts sounded more and more pained.
Drift managed to grab his sword, and jammed it through an opening it.
It was never going to work and barely even reached Cyclonus, but it got him to stop.
Taking a few steps back Cyclonus reached out with a forearm to grab at the shelf unaware that he was now a perfect shot.
A horrible garbled hiss of a gasping wail escaped the dragon, clearly shocked by a sudden pain yet struggling to control its own voice.
Drift struggled beneath the shelf but peered out to see what happened.
Strongarm stood triumphantly next to where she had been hiding, Decepticon hunter in hand, Cyclonus had spun round to face her revealing the wound on his haunches where she shot him.
Yet Drift found himself unable to cheer or feel relief.
Strongarm, as dutiful to the rules as ever barked at Cyclonus telling him his rights as a prisoner, all while missing the bloodlust that darkened the Decepticons face.
Drift could only yell warnings silently as the words died in his vocal processor.
Unphased by Strongarms words Cyclonus took a few short stomps towards her before drawing up to his full height, wings splayed he looked over her his jaws widening.
Strongarm didn't have a moment to react before she was hauled off the ground.
Jaws clasped around her waist, Decepticon hunter flying out of her hands as Cyclonus lifted her above his head.
Her screams echoed around the entire surrounding area as several dagger-like teeth sunk into her.
The external connection on Cyclonus's jaws clenched and tightened and his jaws sank into the Autobot further.
By now her screams were unearthly too, nothing but pure pain as several puncture wounds seeped vital Energon.
It was only when her struggling slowed and her hoarse screaming died down to a wheeze that Cyclonus dropped her.
His attention went elsewhere for a few moments, then without a word he walked away, not even acknowledging Drift crawling towards his fallen comrade in a desperate fervour, her name the only thing escaping his mouth.
Out in the woods, even Steeljaw had a hand clasped to his oral unit, his ears flattened against his helm. He had never heard such a desperate primal scream of pain in years, he had hoped never to again, but now it was ringing in his audials.
Cyclonus revealed his new position as he flew out of the Scrapyard now holding two stasis pods, he took a few wingbeats to circle over Steeljaws position as if threatening him to run away.
To escape the monsters.
The Energon coating his jaws dared him to run.
Swallowing Steeljaw strained and brought the stasis pod onto his shoulders and heaving its weight along he followed after the dragon.