Chapter 10 - Quest for Survival
Wyoming
There was an eerie silence that filled the room, the only sound was the humming of the blasters that belonged to each combatant. The Autobots stood firm, and kept their blasters trained on Starscream, ready to fire if he made any sudden movements. Starscream, merely had a cunning smirk on his face. The bots knew that Starscream was up to something. After a few tense seconds, Starscream lowered his blaster arm, aiming at the floor instead of Sparkplug. most of the Autobots sighed a breath of relief. Not Optimus, however. Optimus has been cornered by Starscream before, and he knew that the sly air commander always had a few tricks up his sleeve.
"Now step away from that capsule." Optimus firmly commanded. Starscream ignored Prime's orders and stood there, still grinning. "I said, step away!" Optimus repeated. Starscream ignored him once more, suddenly two launchers came out from flaps on Starscream's chest
"Die Autobots!" Starscream yelled. He fired clusters bombs at the Autobots. The bots ducked, causing the bombs to fly down the hallway, and hit the wall, creating two small explosions. The Autobots recovered from the attack, but Starscream fired his null rays at the Autobots, forcing them back out of the room. Starscream gritted his teeth, and didn't let up, not even for a minute. He'd empty his entire clip on them if he needed to. He fired more cluster bombs from his chest. Optimus and Ironhide were at the front of the group. Ironhide deployed a combat shield to protect himself from the incoming fire. Prime just lifted his arm in front of his face, as he and his old friend returned fire. Arcee was in the back of the group, and was smallest. The female Autobot transformed, and drove under Optimus and toward Starscream. The air commander was too focused on Prime and Ironhide to notice her. Arcee drove under Starscream, and turned back around. She transformed and kneed Starscream in the back of the head.
The others saw this as an opportunity. they pushed forward, and surrounded Starscream. Arcee walked over to the capsule, and deployed her wrist blades. She slashed at the capsule's glass composition, causing it to slice in half, and to shatter when it hit the ground. Arcee extended her hand out to Sparkplug, and put on an unassuming smile. She retracted her wrist blades in an effort to make herself look more friendly and affable. She could tell that the human had been traumatized. He was reluctant, but he slowly climbed onto Arcee's palm. "I've got the human, Optimus." she said.
"Good work, Arcee!" Optimus said, while grinning triumphantly under his face plate. "Now all we need to do is escape before more Decepticons show up! Roll out!" Optimus and the rest of the Autobots transformed. Sparkplug was bewildered as he saw the robots turn into what seemed like ordinary vehicles. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. He was both amazed and frightened. He got inside of Rathcet, and the Autobots drove out of the cell block, leaving Starscream alone, groaning in pain on the floor. They drove down the hallways, and made it back to the waste tunnels. Ratchet opened the door, indicating for Sparkplug to get out. The human hopped out, and the Autobots transformed. The water was too thick and too high to drive through. Arcee picked up Sparkplug and put him on her shoulder. They walked into the waste tunnels, and began making their way out. It was just as unpleasant as before. Arcee was the shortest so the waste went up to her waist. Once again, a putrid odor hit their olfactory receptors. "Now, let's go find Bulkhead." Optimus said.
Bulkhead and Lugnut were outside in the courtyard, circling each other warily. Wounds, scratches and dents were in both of their armor plating. They had been going at it for a long while now. Bulkhead's hands were replaced by wrecking balls, and Lugnut was wielding a power mace. Bulkhead retracted his left wrecking ball, and wiped the pink fluid that was leaking from his nose. He turned his hand back into a wrecking ball, in anticipation of his nemesis' next move. "You've grown stronger ever since Darkmount Pass." Lugnut growled. "You did quite the number on Lord Straxus. I'm actually glad that you did. I never did trust him. He always seemed. . .off. A shame that we weren't able to battle on your 'glorified cargo hauler' you call the Ark.
"Shut up. We still got unfinished business." Bulkhead grumbled as he slammed his wrecking balls together.
"Never have I seen some one so ready to lose!" Lugnut hollered, he charged towards Bulkhead. He swung his mace at him a couple of times, and Bulkhead blocked the blows using his wrecking balls. Lugnut jumped back, and fired two missiles at Bulkhead, which the Autobot narrowly avoided. Lugnut stood over him, and was about to slam down his mace, which would send Bulk into a painful concussion. He rolled out of the way, and punched Lugnut in the gut with his wrecking ball. He proceeded to get up on his feet and uppercut the Decepticon. Lugnut was about to retaliate, but a barrage of lasers hit him in the back, sending him to the ground. Bulkhead took a long look at his exasperated opponent. He sighed a breath of relief, and looked up to see who was had helped him. He saw the rest of the Autobots running towards him to come check on him.
"Bulkhead, are you OK? Bumblebee asked, resting his hand on Bulkhead's shoulder.
"I'm fine, thanks." Bulk replied, about to collapse.
"We need to get you back to the Ark, for repairs." Ratchet said while approaching Bulk.
"Wait, the kids! I heard them, they're out here somewhere!" Bulk exclaimed.
"Maybe that's why the cons said that their was biological life forms out here." Arcee said.
"Kids? D'ya mean my son? Where is he? Sparkplug frantically asked.
"That's what we gotta find out!" Bulkhead replied. "I think I heard them coming from this way!" Bulkhead said. He and the other Autobots transformed. Sparkplug got inside of Bumblebee, and the Autobots drove off into the forest.
Sari, Spike, Carly and Chip were waiting on the side of the road, in the hope that someone would come to give them a ride. There were out there for an hour, and no one had came. Sari was sitting down on a rock, while Spike and Chip leaned against the cliff face. Carly was kneeling down beside the road, looking for any cars to arrive. She was shocked to hear so many were coming. The Autobots came driving down the mountain, and upon seeing the humans skidded to a stop.
The Autobots were in vehicle mode, but the humans could tell that they were displeased with them. "Get inside, now!" Bumblebee ordered. Bumblebee opened his door, and they all got inside. Once he got inside, Spike's eyes met with Sparkplug's and they were both filled with overwhelming joy.
"Spike! Oh thank God, you're OK." Sparkplug said as he clutched his son tightly. Spike was at a loss for words. He was just glad that he was reunited with his father. Tears were rolling down both of their cheeks. Carly and Chip were happy for Spike, Sari however, crossed her arms, and just stared out the window, and gazed across the horizon. Carly glanced over to her and could tell that something was wrong. Sari paid her no mind. While she was staring, she saw two Decepticon jets flying towards them.
"I hate to interrupt the family reunion, but we have jet planes on our tail!" Sari exclaimed. The rest of the Autobots looked into their rear view mirrors, and saw Thundercracker, Skywarp and Slipstream flying towards them.
"We have Decepticons tailing us! If we open a ground bridge we risk having them get inside our headquarters. Our best option would be to head towards the city, we could easily blend in, and make it harder for us to find!" Optimus ordered. He sped off, and the rest of the Autobots drove after him. They were accelerating past the speed limit. Before long, they drove onto the freeway. There was a small amount of traffic. The humans tried to remain calm, but Spike heard police sirens starting to blare. He looked in the rear view mirror, and saw a Ford Mustang chasing after them. A feeling of apprehension had consumed him.
"Bumblebee, look!" Spike said. Not only was Barricade behind them, but Nightbird, Demolisher and a power shovel were chasing after them. The power shovel was colored lime green, and had purple treads. The power shovel sped up, and began to transform into a lime green and purple robot, with a black red, red visor, and gray face plate. He was maneuvering on his tread kibble as if they were roller skates. He used the power shovel on his back to tip over any cars that were in his way. A bus was in front of him, he skated up to, and bulldozed through it, causing it to split in half. He was getting closer to the Autobots, and Optimus took notice.
"Autobots, you head towards the city and hide from the Decepticons, I'll handle Scavenger!" Optimus ordered. Prime fell behind, while the others sped up. Optimus transformed and skidded to a stop. Scavenger skated from behind Optimus and talked him off the freeway and onto a road below. Optimus and Scavenger landed on several cars, causing the humans in the area to scream and run off.
Optmius slowly got up, but Scavenger balled his hands together and brought them down on the back of Prime's head, sending him to the ground. "When the others learn that I took down Optimus Prime, they'll have to respect me!" Scavenger exclaimed. He was about to punch Optimus again, but Prime rolled over, and punched Scavenger in the face, sending parts of his face plate flying. Optimus kicked Scavenger, causing him to land on a car with a single mother and a baby inside of it. Scavenger rolled over, and stared at the mother and her child, menacingly. He tried to attack them with his power shovel, but Optimus grabbed Scavenger and tossed him at one of the supports keeping the freeway suspended in the air. Scavenger tried to retaliate with his power shovel, but Optimus turned his hands into swords and sliced it off. He wrapped his arm around Scavenger's head, and held him in a headlock, where he proceeded to jab his sword straight through Scavenger's head. Prime let go, causing Scavenger's decapitated head to fall off, and his body to topple over. Optimus transformed and drove off. Scavenger sighed. "Foiled again." he muttered as his body struggled to grab his head.
Meanwhile, the Autobots made it to Los Angeles. There was a lot of traffic know, which allowed the Autobots to blend in, and hide from the Decepticons. "Megatron, we've lost sight of the Autobots, we believe they're hiding in the human traffic, but we don't know where." Thundercracker reported.
"Then level the entire city, until those Autobots are found!" Megatron ordered.
"Understood." Thundercracker said. He terminated the transmission.
"What did Megatron say?" Skywarp asked.
"Destroy the city, until those Autobots are found". Thundercracker replied...