TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED – KALEIDOSCOPE
Chapter 25: Beasts of Burdens, Part 4.
While holding several shurikens in one hand like a stack of plates, Prowl used his other arm to whip the ninja stars forwards one-by-one in quick succession, as if they were being rapidly launched off a conveyor belt.
But even as the machine-gun barrage of shurikens whizzed upwards after their flying target, the bat-monster was still able to smoothly duck and weave past them all as he maneuvered through the air, leaving the weapons to embed themselves harmlessly into the surrounding architecture instead. And once Prowl's quick-fire volley was done, Blood aimed his arm down towards him and started returning fire with his arm-mounted blaster, forcing the Autobot to backflip and leap out of the way as the laser shots rained down where he'd stood.
Turning on his heel the instant he landed, Prowl then quickly dashed for cover as the winged Pretender continued firing his lasers while swooping down after him in pursuit.
Meanwhile, Wheeljack had his hands full with his own opponent as Gilmer ran around utilizing the wrecked vehicles and other debris strewn across the intersection as weaponry. Keeping his arms raised in a boxing-stance, the Autobot had to repeatedly block or box aside the things that came flying through the air towards him as the shark-man would either pick up and throw them, or launch them off the ground towards him using his powerful tail.
After punching aside yet another incoming car, Wheeljack startled as he saw that Gilmer had used the distraction of the last attack to run forwards and close the distance between them. As the Pretender leapt into the air towards him, Wheeljack hurriedly brought his arms vertically together in front of his torso, managing to defend himself just in time as his airborne opponent whirled around and delivered a powerful whip-attack with his shark-tail. With the attack striking against his guard, the Autobot was sent skidding backwards on his feet across the pavement, even as he successfully blocked the blow.
Lowering his arms from his defensive stance, Wheeljack let out an impressed whistle at the force of the impact he'd just received before he then ran back to re-engage his opponent.
And lastly, speeding around in his vehicle-mode on the large parking lot bordering the intersection, Bulkhead easily plowed through or knocked aside the wrecked cars or police drone pieces he happened across. Unbothered by any of the debris obstructing his path, the Autobot veered back and forth on a snaking and erratic trail as he drove while the minotaur still splayed over his windshield attempted to — of all things — punch an armored truck into submission.
With these scenes taking place in front of them, several of the retreating police officers were understandably agape at the sight of the three inhuman beast-men squaring off against three giant (and supposedly) alien transforming robots.
"Careful now. You mustn't fall behind," a female voice called, causing the stragglers to look up to see Arcee hovering over them, carrying a few officers in her arms who were either unconscious or incapable of moving under their own power.
Up ahead of the crowd, where Bumblebee was doing the same, Fanzone turned to yell at those lagging behind.
"Stop gawking and get going already! The sooner these guys're done baby-sitting us, the sooner they can assist their buddies. Now move!"
Flinching, the stragglers got going, with Arcee carefully bringing up the rear.
"Take that! And that, and that! And that as well!" Dauros huffed as he continued to use his right hand to strike at the front of Bulkhead's cabin. "Had enough yet, Autobot?!"
Instead of answering, Bulkhead simply put on the brakes, causing the hood-mounted minotaur to be flung off from the sudden stop and go rolling across the pavement.
Transforming into his robot-mode, Bulkhead then quietly walked towards where the criminal had ended up lying in a heap.
"So... Have you calmed down yet?" the Autobot asked as he approached the quivering lump.
"NEVER!" the minotaur immediately roared as he whirled around from his prone position to lob grenades into Bulkhead's chest, causing the 'bot to stagger back a little from the explosions.
"Come on, those things don't work on me. Haven't you learned that already?" Bulkhead moaned as he waved at the resulting black smoke around him, more annoyed by the attack than anything, really.
As the smoke from the explosions started to clear, Bulkhead just barely managed to catch sight of the minotaur again before he was socked in the face with a lamppost that his opponent had pried out of the ground.
"Ow! Hey! Stop! Quit it!" Bulkhead groaned as the minotaur kept swinging wildly, striking the Autobot back and forth across his armor until he finally managed to catch the impromptu weapon between his claws. "I said cut it out!"
"Grah! Let go, you wretched...!" Dauros grit out as he attempted to pull the lamppost back from Bulkhead's iron grip to no avail. Instead, the Autobot spun on his heel, causing the minotaur to be pulled off the ground and swung around in a circle until the centrifugal force dislodged his grip on the metal pole.
As the villain went tumbling across the pavement once more, Bulkhead raised the lamppost in his hand before thrusting it straight down into the solid concrete as if he was planting a flag into a mound of snow. Pausing a moment to try and (unsuccessfully) smooth out the crooks and bends the pole had received from being used as a blunt weapon, the Autobot then calmly trod over to where the battered minotaur was once again picking himself up from the ground.
"Hey. Don't you think you should give up, already?" Bulkhead asked, not unkindly, as his opponent staggered unsteadily to his feet.
"Hah! You WOULD plead for me to stop now, Autobot," he declared as he swung around and punched the taller robot in the chest with a loud clang. "Now that you know that I have got you on the ropes!"
Looking down at the fist that hadn't even made him budge, Bulkhead raised an optic ridge.
"Um, no. That's not what I-"
"But you are out of luck!" the frenzied minotaur continued as he attacked him once more. "You and your comrades have dared to besmirch and sully the reputation of the Mighty Monsters of Myth and Mayhem! And now you are shaking in your metallic boots as you must have understood that the price for such an insult can only be DEATH!"
As he talked, Dauros repeatedly punched at him, kicked at him, headbutted him with his horns, and even clung onto him in various ways in attempts to wrestle the Autobot into the ground with submission holds. But throughout it all, Bulkhead simply remained planted where he stood, not really affected in any substantial way by his opponents frantic moves and attacks.
"...Yeah, no," Bulkhead finally responded in a flat tone as he placed a palm at Dauros forehead to keep him at arms length while he futilely swung his fists through the air between them. "I just think you ought to give it a rest before you hurt yourself or something."
"R-rubbish!" Dauros spat out as he kept swinging desperately at him. "You may have had the upper hand the last time we met, but I have since shed my weak human shell and transformed into the Mighty Minotaur! Having become the legendary monster in the flesh, I am now as a God upon this Earth — Urkh!"
Having had enough, Bulkhead whirled Dauros around and leaned forward to throw his arms around his torso as he restrained his smaller opponent from behind.
"Yeah, I don't know anything about that legendary monster or God stuff," he spoke as Dauros squirmed in his grip, "But from all the news I've seen of you and your buddies, I'm able to tell that you're nothing but a bully who thinks he can get away with hurting and stealing from others all he want, just because you're bigger and stronger than they are. Whatever it is that you and the other Pretenders have done to yourselves, it was true about you before and it's true about you now! Well... Now you're finally dealing with someone that's even bigger and stronger than you are, so let's see how you like it for once."
"DON'T CALL US PRETENDERS! THAT'S NOT OUR NAME!"
Unable to break free from the robot's hold, Dauros could only let lose a gravelly roar in frustration.
Meanwhile, Wheeljack and Gilmer were near literally dancing around each other in circles as they fought. The former launched quick jabs and hooks in order to pin down his slippery opponent, while the latter would utilize grappling and wrestling skills to either trip up the larger robot, or catch and redirect his punches while also countering with some punches and kicks of his own.
After another quick exchange of blows, the two separated a little while continuing to lightly bounce on their feet.
"Hmph. Never thought I'd see a machine that could do boxing... Yer not half-bad, Autobot."
"Same to you, Sharky," Wheeljack responded as they slowly circled one another with raised fists. "What do you call that combat style of yours?"
"It's mainly a mixture of Caribbean martial arts, as well as conventional boxing."
"I see. It's a pretty interesting style. Well then, may the best fighter win this match."
"Oh, I intend to," Gilmer smirked before he rushed forwards and threw a feint up towards the Autobot's face, using the distraction to swirl around and knock away his feet from under him with his tail.
Crashing harshly onto his back, Wheeljack was then pinned down by a clawed and webbed foot stomping down on his chest. Looking up, the Autobot was met with the sight of a rifle-like laser blaster being aimed at his face.
"...After all," Gilmer spoke, continuing from earlier, "I'm not the kind of SAP that plays by the rules. Gye-he-he-heeh~" he snickered, the barrel of his weapon lighting up in preparation of a blast.
"...I see. Pity," Wheeljack simply responded before swinging his arms up to crush the charging weapon between his fists without an ounce of hesitation, causing it to detonate instead of firing.
"What the-!" Gilmer jerked back in shock as his rifle more or less exploded in the Autobot's face, which is why he was caught completely off-guard as Wheeljack then kicked out and knocked the shark-man onto his back before the small smoke cloud had even had a chance to settle.
"Oof! ... A-Are you insane?!" he yelled up at him as the Autobot energetically leaped to his feet to stand over him, completely blasé and unharmed despite the smoke still trailing off his torso. "What were you thinking?!"
"Oh please. While I may box as a hobby, my main occupation is a scientist," he said while brushing off the soot on his face plate, as if that answer perfectly explained everything. "And in my line of work, explosions to the face are but a minor occupational hazard. To a professional like me, something of this caliber doesn't even rate."
Gilmer was flabbergasted by the Autobot's nonsensical, nonchalant attitude.
"Y-Ye're mad!"
"Really? I always thought I came across as more of a 'jolly' scientist," the mech pondered out loud before shrugging. "Can't win them all, I guess..."
Before the shark-man could gather his wits and slack jaw and pull himself back to his feet, the Autobot scientist reached forward with both hands to grab his tail off the ground.
"H-Hey, what're ya-W-Woah! Lemme go!"
"An-y-way. Now that we've established that sportsmanship is out the window," Wheeljack continued matter-of-factly as he'd pulled the criminal up and started swinging him around himself in circles, "Let us see whether or not you're one of those 'flying fish' I've heard tell about."
"Y-You m-mechanical Moron~! I'm not a Fi-I-i-i-I-i-i-s-h-h-hhh~~!" Gilmer cussed as he was swung around and then suddenly released — the built-up momentum sending him hurtling away and bouncing several times across the pavement as he went.
«Ka-plam! Bom!»
«Bang!»
«*Clatter...*»
"Huh," Wheeljack mused after watching him go. The sound of a car-alarm could now be heard, having been triggered in the distance. "Well, you're certainly not the flying type, at least..."
Veering left and right as he drove in motorcycle-mode to avoid the laser shots raining down on him from above, Prowl sped up to gain some brief distance down the road from the bat-monster chasing him.
Curving back around in a U-turn, he transformed while in motion and leapt up to grab and swing himself from the overhang of a streetlight. Using this and his built-up momentum, he launched himself into the air in an high arch, heading on a straight collision-course towards his airborne pursuer.
"Hi-Yah!" the cyber-ninja yelled as he thrust his leg out towards the incoming villain in a flying kick. However, Blood merely sneered and twisted his body sideward, allowing the kick to hit nothing but air as the two passed each other by.
Having failed his initial attack, Prowl tried to at least grab the Pretender's leg in passing — but the villain pulled it out of the way at the last second and swung himself around to deliver a kick with it into the cyber-ninja's back instead, sending him hurtling out of control from their midair face-off.
As the Autobot went tumbling through the air, Blood prepared to aim his arm-mounted laser-blaster after him once more. But before he could fire, Prowl managed to throw two shurikens back towards him even from an upside-down falling position, forcing the Pretender to call off his own attack in favor of dodging.
Quickly, Blood flapped his wings to move left and right to allow the ninja stars to pass harmlessly by, and then performed a backwards loop over the throwing weapons as they curved around through the air and came back towards him once more like boomerangs.
Having seen the Pretender effortlessly dodge his weapons even on their return-path, Prowl clicked his tongue in annoyance as he approached the ground. Twisting his body to land from his fall in a controlled somersault, the Autobot then leaped up and onwards out of his roll to snag the returning shurikens out of the air with a full-body twirl.
Proceeding to transform mid-jump into vehicle-mode, Prowl then landed on his wheels and took off down the road once more. A glance through his rearview mirror told him that Blood was quickly following suit.
"Hmm. He keeps avoiding everything I throw at him," the Cybertronian thought while swerving back and forth again to avoid the resumed laser-fire. "I need to find a way to get the drop on him somehow..."
Surveying his surroundings as he drove, Prowl noticed a small pile of wrecked vehicles up ahead from the Pretenders' earlier rampage. One of them was leaking fuel profusely, creating a puddle on the ground beneath.
Getting an idea, the motorcycle-bot turned with a sideways-drift and burned rubber as he set his course straight towards the pile-up. Unable to keep up with the Autobot's sudden turn, Blood gave a hard flap with his wings to jerk to a halt in midair before extending his arm, firing a sustained laser beam that trailed after the motorcycle across the surface of the road. Coming up towards the trashed vehicles, Prowl then used his momentum to transform and leap clean over them before the pursuing laser beam caught up and ignited the fuel puddle as it passed over, causing the piled up vehicles to quickly detonate.
An explosion erupted with a violent flash. And once it had died down, Blood carefully lowered his arms from shielding himself to see the state of the street ahead. Burning pieces of metal and debris clattered to the ground in all directions, while columns of flame and black smoke had spread across the road. The Autobot, however, seemed to have vanished without a trace.
That is, until he suddenly reappeared in robot-mode to land in a crouch atop an overturned van in the middle of the road.
Standing up while smoke trailed from the smoldering wreckages surrounding him, the cyber-ninja then silently faced towards where Blood was hovering. Gazing challengingly up at him, he then stretched out an arm to wave him over with a bring-it-on gesture.
"Hmph. Calling me out, huh?" Blood sneered. "Fine by me. Let's see what you've got!"
Taking the challenge, Blood dipped forward in the air and began his dive towards the Autobot — just as the cyber-ninja had hoped as he maintained his holographic double atop the van while hiding his true body inside one of the nearby smoke clouds.
As the ploy for his ambush seemed to be working, Prowl was therefore caught completely off-guard by Blood's following actions: just before the winged Pretender reached the hologram-decoy — which would be the Autobot's opportunity to strike — he suddenly twisted his body and thrust the weapon on his arm off to the side, nailing the real Prowl in the chest with a laser-shot despite having been completely concealed amidst the smoke.
«Fwzap!»
"Ugh!"
The cyber-ninja was knocked backwards out of the smoke cloud, with short-circuiting electricity crackling briefly across his body as he skidded on his back across the ground. Meanwhile, Blood flew through the now-dissolving hologram atop the van before he circled the smoke columns to come back around towards the real Prowl's position.
"Bwa-haha! Too bad, Autobot! Your cheap little tricks won't fool me that easily," the vampire-monster taunted as he swooped down to land atop the downed Autobot's torso, causing Prowl to groan in pain from the impact.
"Khh...! H-How did you..."
"How did I know?" Blood smiled wickedly as he leaned down over the staggered robot, using one arm to pin his throat down. "That hologram was a nice ploy and all, but I'm a bat, y'see," he exclaimed, wiggling the pointy ears on his head. "Unlike when I only had my measly human-senses to rely on, I am now capable of sensing my surroundings through echolocation as well — allowing me to easily verify if what I'm seeing is actually there or not! As well as detect things that are hidden from view..." he sneered.
Prowl grimaced from his position on the ground as he saw the villain raise and flex the claws on his other hand threateningly.
"Heh. I seem to recall you professing your admiration for animals back when we last met, Autobot. How about I tear off all your limbs so that you can pretend to be a worm; squirming helplessly on the ground while you watch us scrap your buddies first?!"
With his body still too stunned to push the mutated supervillain off himself, Prowl was helpless to act as the bat-monsters claws came swinging down towards his right shoulder.
But before the clawed hand could reach him, a rocket-like object suddenly came roaring down the street towards them. The bat-monster was forced to quickly rear back and leap off the Autobot in order to avoid it as the object shot past and smacked into a building behind them with a great crash.
"Wha-what the heck was that?!" Blood exclaimed as he flapped backwards into the air. "A flying metal fist?!"
"Prowl! Are you alright?"
Prowl pushed himself gingerly up on his elbow and peered over his shoulder towards the call, spotting Wheeljack on one of the opposite ends of the intersection. Standing with his right arm outstretched in their direction, the scientist had apparently launched his rocket punch to assist the cyber-ninja in his need, although the attack had failed to hit Blood directly.
But before either Autobot could react, Gilmer came running over and lunged at the bearded Autobot, knocking him flat onto his back while his maw clamped down on the left arm he'd raised to guard himself.
"Whoa, hey! Leggo!" Wheeljack yelled as he tried to punch and pry the shark-man off himself with his right. But now lacking the hand on that arm, his strikes were unable to get much purchase against the shark-man's thick hide and slick scales.
Rather, while he struggled with trying to get the Pretender off himself, his optics widened as he saw the armor on his left arm start to buckle underneath the pressure of the powerful shark-teeth.
"Woh-uh...! That's not good..." the scientist commented before he renewed his vigor in trying to get his stubborn assailant off of him.
"Wheeljack!" Bulkhead called over in alarm where he stood as he witnessed the scientist's plight from across the intersection.
However, the Autobot's moment of distraction allowed the mutated criminal he was restraining just enough leeway to crane forward in his grip and then throw his neck backwards; thrusting the horns on his head up into the larger robot's face.
«Kr-Ishh!»
The sharp noise of shattering glass and buzzing electricity sounded as Dauros had angled one of his horns straight into the distracted Autobot's left optic, piercing it through.
"Uh-Uoouugh!" Bulkhead yelled out in shock and pain, releasing Dauros in favor of clutching at his face as he staggered back — something the minotaur immediately capitalized on by whirling around to deliver a hoofed back kick that threw the already unsteady Autobot off balance.
With the ground shaking as the heavyset Autobot crashed down onto his back, Dauros circled around him and ran off, retrieving his discarded Gatling gun on the way as he headed straight towards where Bumblebee and Arcee were assisting with evacuating the police officers.
Realizing his intention, Bulkhead quickly rolled over onto his stomach while still keeping a palm pressed against his damaged eye.
"Ghu-Arcee! Bumblebee! Look out!" he hollered from his position on the ground, causing the pair to look over to see the incoming threat running down the road towards them.
"Ghraaa! Die already, you wretched hatchback!" Dauros roared madly as he skidded to a halt so that he could properly aim and fire his weapon, its barrel already spinning in preparation.
"Quick! Shield the humans!" Arcee called, the two Autobots immediately crouching protectively over the officers while hoping their backs would hold up against the barrage as their own armors couldn't compare to Bulkhead's.
"Oh, this is gonna hurt," Bumblebee winced, his optics closed in preparation for the incoming pain as the sound of the Gatling gun spraying its payload roared out behind them.
«Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrh~!»
...
...
...
But the bullets never came.
Peeking carefully over their shoulders, the 'bots were treated to the sight of the bullets hovering stationary in the air a short distance away from them, frozen in their trajectory by a familiar pink energy-field.
As their optics tracked the glowing energy over and upwards towards its source, they were treated to the sight of a white and red mech standing above them atop a nearby elevated highway, one foot raised to perch upon the outer safety barrier while his arms were thrust forward with his magnetic clamps deployed.
"Ratchet!" Bulkhead and Arcee both exclaimed in elation as the femme and Bumblebee both rose from their protective stances over the flummoxed humans.
"Yo, Doc-bot!" Bumblee called as he raised an arm to wave up at the older 'bot. "So you decided to come after all, huh?"
The medibot only snorted.
"Hmph! It's not like I can trust you lot to go anywhere without ending up in trouble!" he grumbled in response.
Though both of his arms were crackling with pink energy, only one of them was used to arrest the bullets. The other arm was instead aimed towards the perpetrator, rendering the struggling minotaur unable to fire any more bullets as the Gatling gun as well had been caught in Ratchet's magnetic grip.
The medibot ignored the frustrated criminal in favor of letting his gaze drift over to the parking lot, where Bulkhead was still kneeling on the ground. While the green Autobot was looking back towards him with a relieved and grateful expression on his face, Ratchet couldn't help but note how he kept a large palm pressed over his eye, as well as the thin trails of energon that were running between his stubby fingers and down his chin.
Narrowing his optics at the sight, the old medibot then groaned and shook his head.
"Hmph. Typical! All you 'bots do is simply give me more work to deal with," he quietly scoffed. However, the look on his face as he turned his gaze back towards the still struggling minotaur suggested he was feeling far less unconcerned about Bulkhead's injury than his words would imply.
"Grrr! Let GO already, you accursed...!" Dauros snarled as he tried to wrestle back control of his weapon from Ratchet's magnetic grip, to no avail.
"...No, I think not," Ratchet declared coldly down at him as he clenched his fist, an action that seemed to represent how he manipulated his magnetic energy as the large Gatling gun proceeded to bend and crumple in on itself.
"Aah!" Dauros cried in shock and surprise at seeing the weapon in his grip suddenly be rendered into a mangled heap of useless metal.
"Here... While we're at it, I'll give you these back as well," the medibot continued as he did the same with the other hand, tightening the energy-field around the suspended bullets which caused them to be clumped together and forcefully compressed into a large ball of molded metal. With but a light swing of his arm, he then launched the finished product back towards the minotaur, which slammed harshly into the monster's stomach like a metallic dodgeball.
"OOOF!" Dauros exclaimed as he had the wind knocked out of him, his cloven feet skidding slightly back across the pavement. As he hunched forwards from the blow, Ratchet magnetically directed the ball to shoot upwards into the minotaur's protruding jaw, hitting him with an uppercut-like blow that sent the villain flying onto his back.
While Arcee and Bumblebee, as well as the gathered police forces blinked owlishly over at the downed minotaur, Ratchet utilized his magnets to descend from the elevated highway, landing nearby.
"Okay, people," he barked, turning towards the two Autobots, as well as the approaching Bulkhead. "Let's take these guys down quick and hard before they get the chance to cause even more repairs for me to fix! You got that?!"
"Yes, sir!" the three responded firmly.
"Alright. Roll out!"
Seconds later, a dazed and groaning Dauros blinked from his position on the ground as he first registered an ambulance speeding past on his left, followed by a yellow hatchback speeding by on his right.
"H-hey!" he rolled over and shouted after the yellow hatchback. "Get back here! I am not through with you yet, you little-"
Between his own shouting and hurried attempts to get to his feet in order to pursue, Dauros failed to register the heavy and reverberating stomps approaching from behind until Bulkhead came leaping forward and tackled him straight back to the ground.
"Nuh-uh! You're not going anywhere this time!"
"Guoff!"
«THUMPH!»
The ground shook beneath the pair with a great thud.
Wrestling against his opponent, Wheeljack was still lying on the ground with Gilmer on top of him as the shark-man's jaws slowly clamped down tighter and tighter around the Autobot's left forearm. Having torn grooves through the robot's outer shell, the villain's powerful teeth had exposed and started to sink into the mechanical components and vulnerable circuitry underneath.
Despite his metal facemask, as well as the scope now covering one of his optics, the bearded Autobot's tense expression still clearly illustrated that he was currently in quite a bit of discomfort.
Unable to do much against his opponent with his incomplete right arm, the grimacing scientist tried to push the monstrous villain off himself with his foot instead. However, with the shark-maw resiliently refusing to let go, trying to push him away only served to exacerbate the damage being done to his own arm instead, causing Wheeljack to collapse backwards with a strangled cry as electricity arched across his exposed circuitry.
"Ghaa-!"
"Geh-eh-eeh. Yuu made ah mishtake, Autobodd. Sakrifi'ing ahn ahrm tho herp oud yuur bhuddy rike dhat," Gilmer chuckled near incoherently around the metallic arm trapped in his maw. "Onshe I'v thorn yuur odher one tho shredsh, yuu'rr bhe virduarry herpress tho shtop mhe fhrom phryin' dhe resht of yuu ohpen rike a kan of shardi-IIIIIIII-nes?!" (1.)
Gilmer's muffled gloating was cut short as sparks of electricity suddenly erupted from behind him, causing the Pretender to release Wheeljack's arm as the end of his threat turned into a high-pitched screech.
Whirling his head around, Gilmer was treated to the sight of Bumblebee half-kneeling behind him, having used one of his stingers to administer a shock directly to the shark-man's tail.
"Heh, sorry. Didn't mean to shock you like that," Bumblebee said as he raised his still sparking stinger while sporting an obnoxious grin that showed he clearly wasn't sorry in the least.
"Grrr. You cheeky little-" was as far as Gilmer got before Wheeljack took advantage of the distraction to kick out again against the criminal atop of him, this time with enough force to send him flying.
"Whoa!" Bumblebee exclaimed in surprise, narrowly sidestepping the Pretender as he was launched past him. Flying all the way to the other side of the street, the shark-man slammed through a brick wall, causing the rubble to collapse down atop of him.
As the criminal became buried and disappeared from sight, Bumblebee turned back around to see Wheeljack gingerly push himself up into a sitting position.
"Ow-ow-ow..." he groaned, using the stump of his right arm to nurse his damaged left that rested in his lap while small sparks of electricity arched within the tears in the armor. "That guy really did a number on me there."
"You look like you could use a hand," Bumblebee said as he came to stand over him, offering exactly that as he held out Wheeljack's discarded hand with his own. "I picked it up on the way over," the yellow robot added with a grin as the scientist looked up at him with a raised optic-ridge.
Wheeljack snorted, then let out a humorous chuckle.
"Heh. Don't mind if I do," he said as he raised his stump and then pressed it forwards into the detached fist and forearm, the parts reconnecting smoothly with a mechanical click and thunk.
Allowing himself to be pulled to his feet by the reattached appendage while his injured left arm dangled limply at his side, the two Autobots then turned to see the pile of rubble across the street start to shift and move.
"Raaah! Gilmer roared as he emerged, rising dramatically up from the bricks and debris. "Just for that, Autobot, I'm going to chew your legs off as well!"
"Heads up, Wheeljack. Looks like 'Seafood Louis' is coming back for more," Bumblebee warned as he stepped protectively in front of the injured scientist, transforming both his hands into stingers and combined them as he aimed them forwards, charging with energy.
A hand on his shoulder prevented him from attacking however.
"Hold on there, Bumbleboy," Wheeljack said as he retracted the hand and reached into one of the pouches on his waist. "Now that it's come to this, I think I have just the tool for the occasion..."
Blinking back at the older Autobot, Bumblebee saw him pull out a small mechanical apparatus. After awkwardly using his thumb to turn a dial on it one-handed, the scientist then pressed a button on the device before nonchalantly throwing it over to the villain stomping towards them.
"Hey, Sharky! Catch!"
"Huh?" Gilmer blinked in confusion as he saw the tiny apparatus coming his way, catching it out of the air on reflex.
But no sooner had he turned his head to look down on the seemingly harmless gizmo in his hand than violent sparks of energy suddenly emerged from it, traveling across his body and electrocuting him from head to toe.
"Gah-gyaaa-gagagagaa~!"
Falling back on the ground, Gilmer started flailing helplessly while he continued to be electrocuted, as the electricity had caused all his muscles to seize up: making his fist automatically tighten around the device and rendering him unable to discard it.
"Y-yikes!" Bumblebee exclaimed as he watched the shark-man. "Wheeljack. Just what on Cybertron did you-"
"It's a small upgrade-component I've been tinkering with lately," the scientist explained as he looked on calmly. "I got the idea to use it this way when he was busy chewing on my arm earlier. But without hands, I had no luck getting it out of my pocket."
"..."
"By the way: I made carefully sure to scan and analyze him while we were struggling on the ground, so that I'd know how much power I should switch it to," he continued, using his uninjured hand to gesture to the scope still lowered over his optic. "The guy's still an organic, after all. So I didn't want to accidentally risk frying the poor guy with too high a setting."
"Oh, I see..." Bumblebee mused, smacking one fist down into the palm of the other in realization. "That's very thoughtful of you, Wheeljack."
Had he been able to talk properly at the moment, the electrocuted shark-monster currently flopping and flailing on the ground would've probably begged to differ.
Up along one of the streets that the Pretenders had rampaged through earlier, a slightly roughed-up and dirtied-looking Prowl went tumbling out of control across the ground, as he'd just been sent flying backwards from receiving a blow.
Righting himself up, the cyber-ninja skidded to a halt in a cat-like crouch before leaping to the side just in time to avoid the swipe of Blood's claws as the bat-monster came swooping low across the ground in pursuit.
As the criminal shot past and sailed back up into the sky, Prowl whipped out a shuriken in each hand and launched them simultaneously after his opponent's retreating back. Blood, however, effortlessly dodged them without even looking before turning back around in the air to face the robot down below.
"Give it up already, Autobot," the bat-monster mocked him while flapping his wings to hover in place. "No matter how many of those things you keep throwing at me, I can sense them all coming from over a mile away."
Opting not to respond to the villain's taunts, Prowl raised his arms into a crossed position in front of himself. And with a flick of his wrists, two new shurikens appeared in his hands, which he then launched at the Pretender, one after the other.
Seeing the two throwing-stars whiz up through the air towards him, Blood simply sneered as he prepared himself to dodge them like he had all the others.
"Getting desperate, are we? Heh. How many of those things do you even have leEEEEft?!" the Pretender suddenly screamed, as just as he was flying to the side to avoid the first shuriken, the second one caught up to and hit it from behind, redirecting its path.
The abrupt change of direction at such a close range caught Blood off guard. Unable to fully avoid the shuriken as it suddenly came towards him at a new angle, it clipped right through and tore a small rift in the underside of one of his wings.
As the now-frantic bat-monster flapped slightly out of control for a moment up above, Prowl readjusted his stance as it became clear that this wasn't enough to fell the criminal out of the air just yet.
"Hmm. Too shallow, I guess," he mused while preparing new shurikens in each hand.
Meanwhile, gritting his sharp teeth at the sight of his nicked wing, Blood whirled around to glare murderously down at the Autobot responsible.
"Graaah! You're gonna pay for that, Autobot!" he snarled, whipping forwards his arm-mounted laser-blaster and firing a quick barrage of shots down towards him.
With the shots going wild, Prowl didn't really need to dodge the lasers as they impacted all around him. However, the frantic blasts still resulted in several small explosions of dust and debris as they hit his surroundings. The Autobot raised his arms to shield himself amidst the onslaught, gritting his teeth as the kicked-up dust clouds obscured his vision.
Temporarily blinded as he was, Prowl was therefore unable to react in time as a large shadow came towards him through the smoke. Reaching out with his clawed feet, the bat-monster swooped in and plucked the Autobot off the ground by his torso, dragging him along with him as he flew onwards.
Emerging through the other side of the smoke cloud with the cyber-ninja in tow, Blood then raised his stance to hold up his captive out in front of himself, using his momentum to smash the Autobot directly against the side of a building.
"Gha!" Prowl groaned as he was driven back-first into the hard surface, his spine arching from the shock of the impact.
Leaping off, Blood landed nimbly on his feet as the Autobot slid off the wall and slumped to the ground in front of him.
"Hah! Looks like this is the end of the road for you, Autobot," the criminal declared as he aimed his arm-mounted weapon forwards — the staggered Cybertronian being unable to do anything but gingerly raise his head and helplessly glare up at his would-be executioner.
"Khh...!"
"Heh. It's been fun," Blood sneered as the barrel of his weapon started to light up. "But I'm afraid the time for games is over...!"
"..."
"Hmph," a gruff new voice cut in. "My thoughts exactly!"
His sharp ears flicking on his head, a bug-eyed Blood leapt aside just in time to avoid being skewered by several pieces of rebar that'd come flying towards him. Though his shades covered his optics, even Prowl seemed pretty wide-eyed himself as he watched the rods of steel wire pierce into the ground beside him like arrows.
"Wha...?! What the heck is it now?!" the now airborne bat-monster exclaimed as he turned his shell-shocked gaze from where'd he'd nearly been shish kebab'ed.
Blood looked down the road and spotted another, larger Autobot resolutely march his way towards them — this one sporting a potbelly, as well as a red and white paint job reminiscent of an ambulance.
"R-Ratchet," Prowl called out in recognition as he painfully turned his head to face the approaching medic.
"...H-hmph! S-so one of the missing Autobots finally decided to show, huh?" Blood scoffed from up above, gradually starting to regain his calm from the sudden scare he'd just received.
His grumpy glare fixated upon the flying Pretender as he marched forwards, Ratchet used the magnets on one arm to raise more pieces of rebar and other debris from the trashed surroundings. With but a swipe of his hand, he then sent them skywards, launching it all straight towards the villain.
"Uwa! What the-?! You crazy tin-can!" Blood yelled out in a near-panic as he frantically flew from side to side above the street in order to avoid all the makeshift projectiles. "Are you trying to kill me?!"
"Nah, I'm only trying to stop you," Ratchet finally responded as he came to a halt on the road a little past where Prowl was carefully pushing his battered body to recline against the wall. "I'm just not that bothered about the particulars."
"You insane piece of..." Blood growled while his neck tensed back against his wound up shoulders, the Pretender shaking and grimacing greatly as he looked about to become outright overwhelmed with murderous rage.
But as he continued flapping in place up in the air, he managed to force himself to calm down and then assume a more relaxed sneer.
"Heh! And how do you suppose you're going to do that, Autobot?" he taunted while tilting his head to the side. "Your group's little ninja-wannabe over there could hardly lay a finger on me. And by the look of you, I sincerely doubt your rusty butt is even half as quick and agile as he was...! Do you really think you'll be able to keep up with me?!" Blood threatened with a sneer, levelling his arm-mounted blaster down towards the medibot.
Staring back flatly, Ratchet simply raised his own arm up towards him, saying, "...Boy, I'm not even going to try."
His magnetic prongs lighting up with energy, Ratchet clenched the hand he was holding out, causing the flying villain to look at his own arm in shock as the weapon that was strapped onto it was lit up with that same energy and then crumpled into itself, rendering the laser blaster unusable.
"W-what the-BLOUFH!" Blood exclaimed at the sight before that same glow suddenly used the strapped-on weapon to magnetically directed his arm back around: causing the villain to involuntarily sock himself across the face with his own fist.
Before the flummoxed monster-man could regain his bearings, he was smacked back and forth across the face again with the appendage, before a more directional pull on his arm dragged his entire body sideways until he slammed straight into a building wall.
As the dazed villain was then dragged by his arm back the way he'd come until he slammed into the building on the opposite side of the street instead, Ratchet simply stood still down below, moving nothing but his own arm as he used his magnets to direct the criminal's out-of-control trajectory like a fiendish conductor.
After slamming him back and forth against the buildings on either side of the street a few times, Ratchet directed his magnetic pull downwards, sending the bruised and battered bat-monster smacking down against the road before him.
"...U-Uugh. Y-you accursed-" Blood groaned after he had skidded to a halt in front of the Autobot's feet. He then shakily attempted to push himself upright, only for his efforts to be blocked as a large metal foot came pressing down upon his back, pinning him back to the ground. "Ghu!"
"Hmph. At my age, I can't be bothered to go running after every little arrogant punk who is in desperate need of a beating," Ratchet snorted as he stared down impassively upon the villain. "Better to make them come over to receive the beating themselves."
Turning his head, Ratchet then looked back towards where Prowl was still sitting against the side of the building, only now the cyber-ninja had a slack-jawed expression of disbelief on his face after having watched the proceedings.
"Hey, Prowl!" the medibot called out. "You alright? Can you move?"
"Huh?" the younger Autobot asked dumbly before shaking himself out of his stupor. "Ah, y-yes. Yes, I think so," he replied, holding his shoulder while he slowly raised himself to his feet. While he looked scuffled and dirtied up on the surface — his windshield suffering a crack across his chest — the motorcycle-bot still appeared mostly unharmed.
Ratchet gave a brief smile of relief at this, before almost immediately returning to his default, grumpy expression.
"Then what are you waiting for, an invitation? Get over here and help me restrain this freakshow, already," the medibot groused as he used his magnets to float poles of rebar through the air towards him, which he then started to magnetically bend and fashion into makeshift restraints.
"A-ah, yes. Understood," Prowl replied as he started running over.
"Just a few more rounds, and... There you go," Arcee said as she stood in front of a seated Bulkhead, applying a roll of Cybertronian medical tape (which looked suspiciously like duct tape) diagonally around the larger Autobot's head in order to bandage his damaged eye.
Taking a few step backwards, the femme nodded, satisfied at her work.
"Yes. That should do until Ratchet can take a look at you back at the Orion," she declared as she put the roll of tape away into one of the pouches on her waist.
"Okay," the green Autobot nodded in return. "Thanks, Arcee."
"Would you get your metallic butt OFF of me already, you accursed Autobot?!" Dauros growled with a fed-up expression from where he lay pressed to the ground with his arms pinned to his sides, courtesy of the giant Cybertronian currently seated upon his back. "You are too *bleep-bleep* HEAVY!"
Whatever adjective he'd been trying to use was serendipitously drowned out by a short burst siren from a nearby squad car, as the police officers were currently in the middle of gathering and reorganizing their forces all around them, which included any of their vehicles that were still salvageable.
"Oh-ho, no," Fanzone snorted with crossed arms towards the pinned-down minotaur while several of his men stood around in a loose encirclement, keeping their weapons carefully trained upon the mutated criminal. "No, I think the big-guy'd best stay right where he is until we're all good and ready to haul you and your other Pretender-buddies off to prison."
"Cease calling us by that wretched moniker at once!" Dauros literally snapped after him, unable to move his head all too much as Bulkhead had made carefully sure to keep a secure grip on both of his horns all this time, just in case. "We are the Mighty Monsters of Myth and Mayhem, and you are to address us with the decorum and reverence that we deserve!"
"Hey. Quit squirming, already," Bulkhead lightly chided.
"Silence, automaton!" the villain said, doing his best to glare back up at him. "You and your ilk will pay dearly for your continued insolence towards us! As shall this entire city! Do you not understand? My compatriots and I have become the legends of old in living flesh! Gods upon this very Earth! And for your impious, nay, sacrilegious conduct towards us, we shall raze all of Detroit to the very ground — sparing no man, woman or child in our path!" he spat. "But before that, we will hunt every single one of you metallic golems down and TEAR you apart! Piece by wretched piece, you soulless-Hn?!"
With the sound of metal shifting, the deranged minotaur's venomous tirade was cut short as the edge of a large sword was suddenly angled down towards his face.
Letting his sight slowly travel up along the blade towards its wielder, Dauros eventually met with the frosty gaze of Arcee peering down at him, looking no less sharp and steely than the actual sword in her hand.
"...I suggest you pipe down, and that you allow yourself to be restrained and arrested peacefully," she told him coldly. "Otherwise, I will have to take all of your threats just now seriously, and deal with you accordingly. Starting with repaying you for Bulkhead's optic."
The edge of the blade shifted ever-so-slightly to hover straight in front of the minotaur's eye instead.
Dauros did his best to shakily glare back up at her. But at the dark and foreboding aura the femme emitted, as well as her haunting, bone-chilling stare, cold sweat ran down the villain's back and he thickly swallowed with a dry throat before quietly looking down at the ground in surrender.
"...U-understood, Ma'am. Forgive me. I... I was getting carried away," he shakily responded, as meek as a lamb.
Witnessing this exchange, Bulkhead and the surrounding police officers could only stare at the femme, agape, until Captain Fanzone put his hands on his hips and let out an impressed whistle.
In Prometheus's lab, the LIVE News Broadcast on the screen carried the sub headline "Autobots Victorious!" as the image showed an overhead-angle of the subdued minotaur surrounded by the regrouping police as well as two Autobots. While under the watchful eye of armed officers and a vigilant Arcee, Dauros sat quietly before them on his knees while Bulkhead worked on binding him. Taking broken guardrails and other metal items procured from the surroundings, the large Autobot bent them around the minotaur's form from behind, fashioning them around his arms and torso as makeshift restraints.
The camera then cut to Bumblebee and Wheeljack walking towards the gathering from the distance, dragging the shark-man, Gilmer, along after them inside one of the many capture-nets that had been spread around the area from the police's earlier battle against the Pretenders.
Likewise, the camera cut once more to show Ratchet and Prowl make their way down the street back towards the intersection as well — the rebar-restraints fitted around Blood's limbs and wings allowing the red and white Autobot to calmly carry the squirming bat-monster along by levitating him with his magnets.
"Hmph. Those guys got their tails handed to them," the large and hulking, green-skinned man named Colossus Rhodes said with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched the screen from his boss's right-hand side.
Standing on the opposite side, Stiletto hunched slightly forward with her elbow reclining atop the backrest of her boss's chair as she watched the broadcast with a smug smile on her face. Turning her head towards the seated man between them, she raised an eyebrow at him in expectation.
Sensing the silent woman's gaze but not really acknowledging it, Prometheus Black crossed one leg over the other as he reclined in his seat before speaking up.
"Mr. Sexton... Prepare to activate the transmitter once all of them have come within range."
From the large computer console they were watching the News Broadcast on, the radio-transmission of Nanosec's voice drifted through one of the speakers in response.
"Gotcha, Boss. I'm ready to go at any time."
"Uuurgh~," Gilmer lowly groaned inside the net he'd been wrapped up in, the shark-man lying almost completely unmoving sans the occasional, irregular twitches in things like his fingers or the corner of his eye.
"Man, I almost feel sorry for the guy," Bumblebee said, glancing over his shoulder at the villain as he dragged the net along. "'Almost' being the operative word here."
"Meh. I'm sure he'll get over it," Wheeljack responded noncommittally as he finished wrapping the grey medical tape around his injured arm before depositing the roll he'd used into one of his pouches. "I mean, this baby wasn't even set anywhere near any of the higher outputs, after all," the scientist added, as he then held up the small component he'd used earlier in front of himself to study it.
"Yeesh," Bumblebee lightly grimaced at that knowledge. "You... You said it was some kind of upgrade-component earlier. Just what are you going to use it for?"
"Oh, I'm planning to install one of these into each of my fists. That way, once activated, they'll surely add another level off 'oomph' to my punches. Y'know, just in case we have to fight another Decepticon or something," he explained, doing some light shadow-boxing into the air in front of him with his bandaged arm before wincing from the unreasonable movements.
"Uh-huh..." Bumblebee muttered unsurely in acknowledgment as he watched the scientist lightly cradle the bandaged arm towards his chest. "Well I guess it's good to have something else besides your rocket-punch to fall back on. Heh. Knowing you though, you'll probably end up ramping it all up by combining them or something."
The younger Autobot had said that laughingly, meaning it as a joke. However, upon hearing it, Wheeljack had immediately frozen up while staring at the component he still palmed in his unhurt hand.
The scientist glanced back and forth between Bumblebee and the component, then slowly turned his head one final time to stare at the yellow 'bot with a wide, awestruck look, as if he'd just struck upon some great revelation thanks to his words.
"...U-um, Wheeljack. Why are you having that 'mad scientist' look in your optics right now?" Bumblebee said nervously while the scientist stared, unmoving. "S-stop it! You know everyone on the ship hates it when you get that look!"
"For the last time, Ratchet, I'm fine," Prowl exclaimed in a slightly annoyed tone as he walked beside the medibot.
"Yeah? Well, either way, you're getting a full medical scan and check-up once we get back to the ship," the older Autobot declared with finality.
Prowl sighed. "Yes, sir."
While the cyber-ninja's head sagged, the restrained bat-monster floating magnetically on the medibot's other flank growled at the pair in distaste.
"Laugh it up while you still can, Autobots. But know that this isn't over...!"
At the villain's threat, Ratchet simply glanced at his captive with a bored, half-lidded stare.
"That so? Try taking a look over there," he snorted, pointing ahead of them.
The trio had just made it back to the intersection, and now had a clear view of the open space stretching out before them. On the large parking lot that was situated across from them, right next to a small park area located past it, the police were busy regrouping the majority of their forces while others were spread out across the intersection to either assess the damages from the earlier battle or to retrieve any of their vehicles and equipment that had made it through the ordeal in mostly one piece.
In the middle of the main gathering, Arcee and Bulkhead could be seen towering over the humans as they flanked the restrained Dauros. Meanwhile, Wheeljack and Bumblebee were also making their way over there from the opposite corner of the intersection with Gilmer literally in tow.
As they approached, some of the police officers could be seen heading over to meet Wheeljack's group halfway, while another squad broke off to do the same with Ratchet and Prowl now that they had come into view.
"Looks like everything's been settled," Prowl said, smiling with relief at the result.
"Heh! See that?" Ratchet smirked towards the Pretender. "What part of that doesn't look over to you? Just give it up already."
"Bah!" Blood harrumphed, his expression curdling. "We might have lost the battle this time, perhaps. But the WAR has just begun, Autobots!"
"Yeah, yeah, sure. Whatever," Ratchet heavily rolled his optics as they kept walking. "As if you little punks would know anything about war anyway..." he muttered with a scoff.
"I'm serious!" Blood snarled at them with spittle flying as he was being carried helplessly along. "No matter what kind of hole the cops toss us into, they can't take our beastly powers away from us. We'll manage to escape someday, and when we do...!"
"Yes. I've been meaning to ask about that," Prowl decided to cut in while turning to face him. "Just how did you three manage to attain those new forms of yours anyway?"
At that moment up on a nearby rooftop, Nanosec set the handheld device he was holding to maximum output, as evidenced by the colored bar at its top-right side, before pushing the large switch at the bottom.
Doing so caused the device to emit radio waves which spread out towards the surrounding area, and most notably, towards the intersection below — washing over everyone and everything present with no one being the wiser about it.
That is, almost no one.
"What was that?"
"Err, what was what?" Ratchet replied as the cyber-ninja had suddenly whirled away to gaze searchingly at their surroundings.
Rather than respond directly, Prowl raised a hand to the side of his helmet to activate his comlink.
"This is Prowl. Did anyone else notice a strange signal just now?"
"Huh? What strange signal?" Bumblebee's voice responded over the comlink.
"Can't say that I did, no," Wheeljack's voice followed suit.
"Me neither." As did Bulkhead's.
"And I didn't pick up anything unusual either," Ratchet replied to the cyber-ninja in person. "Are you sure you didn't just imagine it?"
"No. I detected it as well," Arcee's voice suddenly sounded over the comlink-network, causing them all to turn towards her location.
Standing at the far end of the large parking lot where the main force of the police had regrouped, the femme had deployed a small antenna from the left side of her helmet, as well as lowered her helmet's visor down over her optics.
"A short-range but noticeable signal was broadcast from close nearby just now," the femme explained as the digital readings alongside the rangefinder reticle now displayed in her view caused her to zoom in on the rooftops in a specific direction. "However, it only lasted for a brief moment before it cut off, and I'm no longer able to pinpoint its origin. Whatever that transmission was, the thing that broadcasted it seems to have disappeared somehow."
"Really? What kind of transmission are we talking about here?" Wheeljack asked her over the comlink.
"A simple activation signal, I believe. But for what, I don't know."
"We're in the middle of a large human settlement here. That signal could've been pretty much anything, you know," Ratchet supplied where he stood with two digits pressed against the side of his helmet for his comlink, not looking too concerned about the issue.
But before this discussion between the Autobots could continue, Prowl blinked and turned as he registered something new to their side.
"...Ratchet. Something's wrong."
"Oh, what is it now?" the medibot groused as he half-turned to follow the cyber-ninja's line of sight towards where he was magnetically suspending the bat-monster, Blood.
With the police officers that had by now gathered around them, the two Autobots saw that the winged Pretender had at some point started to breathe low and heavily for some reason. Sagging listlessly forwards within his constraints while sweat poured down his chin, the criminal groaned and grimaced in what seemed to be great exhaustion and discomfort.
A short distance away, Bumblebee and Wheeljack were discovering their own prisoner in a similar state. And his condition was clearly escalating.
"Uhnn... It Burns...!" Gilmer groaned weakly within the capture-net, as visible heat could be seen rising from his twitching, convulsing body.
"Yikes," Bumblebee exclaimed as he and the surrounding police officers balked at the sight. "I think your gadget might've overcooked him after all, Wheeljack."
"D-Don't be ridiculous, Bumblebee. Here, let me take a closer look."
Angrily denying the younger Autobot's suggestion, the scientist crouched down on one knee in front of the shark-man and lowered his scope back down over his optic in order to scan his readings.
Extending the scope while rotating its frame sideways with his digits, Wheeljack zoomed in while scrolling through different visual settings — changing between various things like ultraviolet, infrared, and even x-ray vision as he studied the criminal closely. Finally, he then came to a stop on a setting that allowed him to see what looked like millions of microscopic stars flashing in and out of existence all throughout the dark backdrop silhouette that made up Gilmer's body.
"Huh," Wheeljack mused. "I'm not exactly an expert on organics... But even I'M pretty sure that's not normal."
As the news broadcast showed all three of the Pretenders simultaneously succumb to and start suffering the same peculiar, feverish condition, Prometheus Black decided to elaborate on its significance to his henchmen.
"Right before our friends took their leave from us earlier, I injected a number of nanobots containing an enhanced brand of my experimental steroids into their bloodstreams. Having replicated and spread themselves all throughout their entire bodies, the nanobots have now, at Mr. Sexton's signal, started detonating — releasing and stimulating the steroids to aggressively augment their already existing mutations."
On screen, the restrained minotaur, Dauros, could be seen sagging heavily forward where he sat on his knees — his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth while panting and sweating as if he'd been walking through the middle of a desert. And while vapor rose off his body, his entire frame would occasionally twitch and shudder.
"Mister Blood and his colleagues wanted the power needed to stand up to their hated, mechanical enemies," Prometheus continued. "And so, I have done my best to give it to them... at the mere expense of everything else."
"...P-please... H-help m-me-aaaaaAAHHH!" a pained Dauros managed to grit out while gazing up at the aghast Arcee and Bulkhead with pleading eyes. The minotaur then threw his torso back to let out a cry of pain towards the sky which gradually bled over into a mad, animalistic roar.
"What is happening to them?" Arcee called out as they could do nothing but watch the restrained minotaur slump forward again after his roar.
"Um, guys...?" Bulkhead began nervously as he glanced back and forth across the large parking lot and the bordering intersection. "Is it just me, or are they starting to get... bigger?!"
The 'bots and the police officers surrounding the three beasts took further cautionary steps back as that was indeed what was happening. Before their very eyes, the beasts were not only violently and erratically increasing in muscle mass — the veins and tissues bulged and rippled grotesquely as they expanded at an unnatural rate. Their overall sizes were now turning greater as well, outgrowing and shattering whatever remained of their original armored suits as their mutated bodies became twice as large, or more, of what they had already been.
Straining against his bonds where he knelt on the ground, the horns on Dauros's bowed head grew bigger and more threatening before the drooling and slobbering beast reared its torso back and roared towards the sky in a loud, guttural cry once more. Flexing its massive arms as it did so, it eventually tore itself free of its metal bindings through sheer force.
"Watch out!" Arcee called out in warning as she and Bulkhead moved to guard the surrounding humans as the strips of metal went clattering across the asphalt.
Planting its hooves hard enough to crack the pavement, the minotaur slowly rose to its feet as a lumbering mass of muscle, breathing heavily with frothing drool leaking out the side of its mouth as it turned its head to glare at the two Autobots with mad hatred in its gaze.
"What... What's wrong with him?" Bulkhead asked as he and Arcee assumed ready stances.
"Whatever it is," Arcee replied as she took in the state of the former human, particularly his glowing, unfocused eyes, "I don't think he's capable of telling us anymore."
True enough, the beast did little more than let out another ferocious roar before stomping forwards across the ground, heading straight towards the pair in a mad charge.
"Now..." Prometheus said smugly behind steepled fingers. "The final stage of the experiment has begun."
End of Chapter 25
Author's notes:
(1.) In case you had trouble making it out, here's Gilmer's dialogue from when he was chewing on Wheeljack's arm:
"Gye-heh-heeh. You made a mistake, Autobot. Sacrificing an arm to help out your buddy like that," Gilmer chuckled near incoherently around the metallic arm trapped in his maw. "Once I've torn your other one to shreds, you'll be virtually helpless to stop me from prying the rest of you open like a can of sardi-IIIIIIII-nes?!"
TFA Kaleidoscope now has a Tv Tropes page! Woot!
That really makes my day.
The chapter was once more betaed by my friend Erbor. Thanks again for all the help, buddy.
A pretty long chapter this time, but I really wanted to reach that cliffhanger no matter what. We're finally entering the final phase of this story arc. I hoped you liked the action as the Autobots finally went head-to-head with the mutated Pretenders. And as you can tell, the fight's not quite over yet.
Next time:
With the Pretenders now more beasts than men, the Autobots have to not only fend them off, but also make sure that these deadly monsters don't escape capture, free to cause unspeakable mayhem as they run wild.