Chapter XII: Rodimus vs. Dropkick


For hulking piece of reinforced steel, Owen was amazed the how fast the man-eating tank actually was. His long thunderous steps 'caused the ground to tremble, the fact that Owen's legs refused move any faster to work past their injuries, didn't help his chances of escaping either. He was practically skipping down the street at this point, praying his legs wouldn't give out on him. Owen ran through oncoming traffic that screeched to a halt at the sight of the upright tank, the confused populace on the sidewalks poured out into the streets, screaming.

He tried desperately to avoid them, but they came at him like a wave, throwing him off balance; Now he was feeling like a rock being chipped away by jackhammer, every push he used against the crowd was sent right back at him by one or more people. He clenched his teeth, trying with all his might to hold back a terrified scream as he was pushed further away from safety and closer toward the Decepticon.

Dropkick scanned the mass of bodies for his target, his targeting system locked onto human without incident; the marker he placed on the boy's clothing glowed bright red. Raising his arm, Dropkick began to charge his cannon; he felt a jolt n his spark when the boy turned and regarded him, the quickening whir of his weapon excited him even more. Just as Dropkick fired his weapon, a force bombarded his side. He roared as his blast was veered away from its intended target into a building. The building exploded outward across the crowd, Owen felt himself being pulled down by several people as they ducked down to protect themselves against the debris raining down over them. He felt the tiny pieces of glass cutting across his exposed skin, his head felt like it was being attacked by a thousand bee stingers. He fell into a crouched position, throwing his arms over his head in a futile attempt to protect his skull.

Dropkick could barely contain his rage as his attacker scrambled off of him, turning around he found himself faced with Rodimus once again. The Autobot did not wait for his enemy to rise to his feet, without hesitation he fired his plasma cannon on the weaker parts of Dropkick's armor. The Decepticon went down before he could rise to his feet. Hot Rod paid little attention to the humans across from them, they were moving away from the battle area, save one who remained crouched on the ground. Zooming in he studied the human figured closely, immediately he recognized the boy as Owen. "Are you alright?" He shouted to the human, not realizing he was speaking in cybertronian.

Owen flinched at the harsh voice above. "Please don't kill me! I don't wanna die!" He sobbed, trembling. Rodimus felt his spark twitch at the absolute fear in the boy's voice, but at least he was alright. He'll be even better when you get rid of Dropkick. Retracting his cannon Hot Rod prepared to rush headlong toward Dropkick. As his weapon charged, the familiar sound of sirens screamed through his audio processors. Unthinkingly he turned his attention away from Dropkick to focus on the approaching sound.

The police cruiser was barreling through all obstacles in its way, Hot Rod didn't need to zoom in with his optics to know that it was Barricade. "Slag-- ugh!" Rodimus grunted as he body was thrown forward by a force that came from behind. Casting an astonished look over his shoulder, he found Dropkick staring up at him with a triumphant gleam in his optics, his gaze ventured down further. Immediately, he recognized the two intertwining cables that attached themselves to the center of his back. "Stupid Autobot," Dropkick sneered. A million profane sayings sprang to mind, Rodimus could just imagine the tongue lashing he'd get from Kup he if knew how big he just fowled up.

Rodimus reached to yank the chargers from his back the very moment Dropkick fired up his weapon. In that instant all thought vanished from Hot Rod's mind; his body was alight with the worst pain he'd ever experienced in his three hundred year life span. He could feel the electrical currents shooting out of every open space in his body, could feel it shutting down as his systems began to overheat. Hot Rod could do nothing to stop himself from falling into status lock, his body hit the ground with a loud bang.

Dropkick felt an overwhelming surge of satisfaction watching the burnt husk of his enemy tumble to the ground like a lifeless protoform. Climbing to his feet, he assessed the damage inflicted upon him. The Autobot hit all the weakest spots of his armor, luckily he missed anything terribly vital to his mobility or survival. He hissed at the sight of the smoking plasma holes. Stupid Autobot. He thought kicking prone figure. Barricade rolled up beside the fallen Autobot and transformed. "Is he dead?" He inquired, strolling past him. Dropkick scanned Rodimus' systems.

After a moment he stopped he and turned to Barricade. "Status lock," He reported unhappily. Barricade paused over the trembling fleshbag, bending over only slightly he picked the creature up by its clothing. It screamed, limbs lashing out helplessly through the air. Barricade twisted the fabric between his claws fingers to get a look at the human's face. Owen felt his breathing become erratic as he came face to face with the Decepticon. He watched the 'ornery' expression on the robots face flicker to what he could describe as recognition.

"The fleshling from before," He growled, bringing Owen closer. "Before?" Dropkick repeated, moving away from Rodimus. Owen's mouth flapped open and close like a fish begging for air, Barricade glared at him, wondering how the creature could've survived the collision between itself and Bonecrusher. Now they really had to kill it. Dropkick watched Barricade toss the human away from them, Owen landed on top of a car, the air was knocked out of his lungs on impact, he felt the glass shatter and give way beneath his weight. Shit, why don't they just kill me now?! He mused as he lost consciousness.


(TBC)

Authors Note: Alls I gotta say is, thank God for the Super bowl; That TV Spot really kick started my Transformers-Muse and inspired me to finish this chapter. Its seriously short, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. Next Chapter: "Reinforcements". REVENGE OF THE FALLEN IS GONNA ROCK SO HARD!