Chapter 25

Flashback stepped through the gate, pistols in his hands and raised to shoot down the first decepticon or burrower to greet them. He stood beside Optimus, and could sense the steady strength of Ironhide on his other side. Jazz bounced it to take up the empty place on Optimus' left. Bumblebee rushed to join him. Flashback's optics swept over the area quickly. They had been dropped right in the middle of Central Park. Several paces to their right was the pit Driller had emerged from the earth only a few days ago.

The city was still partially in ruins, though an impressive amount of it had been cleaned up and restored. His gaze passed over the corner store where Ash and the humans had been hiding. Then over another hole in the middle of a street, where he remembered seeing Sundance save a bus full of humans from falling inside. There was no people walking about here, just yellow tape and orange plastic that seemed to section off the whole area. Closed off. There was no one. He realized how quiet the city seemed, then how odd it was.

He took all of it in within a few seconds. On either side of him, the autobots were doing the same. Flashback was the first to straighten and say, "Well where the hell are they?"

Jazz joined in, "I don' see any 'cons. Optimus?"

Optimus was quiet, battle mask in place over his face plates and blue optics narrowed as they continued to search. He answered after a moment, "On your guard." Then he stepped forward. Flashback followed without question, tensing slightly when he felt a rush of shock over his sibling bond. Blinking, he pulled at his sister carefully, but she was becoming distant. Shes fighting. Who...

'Cyclonus.' Sundance whispered to him, before closing herself off as much as she could. Flashback stopped short, optics wide, and nearly fell forward when Ironhide bumped into him from behind. The huge weapons' specialist grunted, "Watch yourself, youngling."

"Cyclonus." Flashback repeated under his breath. He rushed forward a few steps and said more clearly, optics on Prime, "Optimus! Galvatron is offline, right?"

Optimus paused, and glanced at him with a confused slant of his optic ridges, "Yes, Flashback. Your sister aided in his offlining."

"Then what happened to his goons?"

"Cyclonus and the rest of the decepticons were never heard from again...until now." Optimus turned his attention ahead and started to walk again.

"Sundance is fighting Cyclonus."

Optimus stopped again.

"Just thought you'd like to know," Flashback tacked on, "just how many decepticons are left?"

"Enough," An arrogant voice snarled among the wreckage, cutting off Jazz's reply. In unison, the five of them turned and aimed weapons at the source.

A large mech was standing atop the debris of one of the buildings that had been destroyed, bearing thick purple armor and a set of pale seeker-like wings. He grinned wickedly at them, bearing sharp dentals, and fisted a hand on his hip, "Enough to tear apart unsuspecting autobots. Really, one is all you need in a case like this. Lucky I get to be the one."

Backlash narrowed his optics, glaring at the floor between his feet. Irritation gnawed at his spark. Both of his siblings were engaged with a decepticon. They were fighting for their lives, with no one but a handful of pitiful autobots to watch their backs. He should be there. He should be helping.

"Hey, Backlash."

Backlash blinked behind his visor then lifted his gaze. Hotshot was poking his head into the med bay. Backlash vented inaudibly, "What do you want."

"I heard about your, uh, battle with Viral. I just wanted to see if you were still functioning."

"I'm fine." Backlash repeated, possibly for the fifth time in the past hour.

"Okay...good to know." A pause. "Can I ask you something?"

Backlash's response was automatic. "No."

"Do you blame us for what happened to Sundance?" Backlash narrowed his optics, but his lip plates remained closed. Hotshot continued, completely oblivious to the cold stare the taller mech was sending him, "Is that why you hate autobots? Because we had to send her away?"

"I don't hate autobots." Backlash said tonelessly, "I just don't believe you're worth trusting."

Hotshot blinked owlishly at him, "So you don't trust me."

"You, Prowl, Ratchet, Optimus. Anyone of you. I've seen how you act under pressure, and I know firsthand the consequences of those actions."

"None of us wanted this to happen."

"I didn't say you did."

"Then what is it? I'm sorry. We all are. We didn't want-"

"It to happen," Backlash finished. When Hotshot just stared at him, Backlash softened his voice, "you keep repeating the same thing, Hotshot, that you didn't want it to happen. But it did, and you allowed it to happen."

"Optimus didn't have a choice, we would have all been hunted down or driven off by the military."

"Sacrifice one for the good of the many. Because that's the autobot way, right?"

Hotshot stilled.

"I don't hate you. And to answer yours and Prowl's question, I don't trust you because I would never ally myself with a faction that would let go of their own so easily. Without a fight."

"She didn't want us to fight."

"But we did." Backlash held his gaze, then lowered his optics back to the floor, "they are fighting."

Hotshot adjusted to the shift in topics smoothly, "Who are they fighting?"

"Cyclonus." Backlash sensed the mech tense, and added, "another mech that nobodies seen before."

"Whos winning?"

"I don't know yet." Backlash paused, clenching his jaw when his spark squeezed with dread. His sensors picked up something that didn't belong, an energon signal that was cold and wild, jumping up and down erratically. He rose without warning, and walked towards the door. Hotshot stepped out of his way, confused.

"Uh, Backlash?"

"Somethings wrong." Backlash said simply, stepping into the hall. He stood still for a moment, mentally adjusting his visor and taking time to scan the stats appearing before his optics. As he stood there, trying to stretch his senses out and find the source of the disturbance, the lights flickered and went out. Hotshot stumbled into the hall after him, shouting.

"What the pit is going on?!"

Backlash didn't respond at first, visor brightening to compensate for the lack of light. He took a step forward then stopped when he heard something skitter across the paneling on the ceiling. It was a tiny sound, like it was only a couple of rodents running past, but it was familiar. Backlash shifted back and drew his blades, head tilting back to stare up. A pair of bright, wide optics stared back down. Lip plates opened to reveal sharp dentals coated in old energon. The burrower screeched and dropped.

Hotshot shouted out in warning but Backlash was already moving, arcing both blades upward and over to leave clean, armor-splitting slices in the mech's frame. The body fell to the floor with an agonized wail and started to thrash. Backlash stepped on his legs and plunged one of the blades into his chest, piercing his spark. The mech offlined in an instant, body going slack.

Further down the hall, and across the base, screams and commands could be heard. Mechs and femmes where screaming in pain and fear in a matter of seconds. Backlash clenched his jaw, tightening his hold on his weapons. He started forward, steeling himself for the battle he knew laid ahead.

"What the pits just happened?!" Ratchet shouted from inside the med bay.

"Alert every autobot on base grounds. Have the weak and inexperienced taken as far from here as possible. Tell everyone to watch the ceiling," Backlash ordered, "we're being attacked. This is a siege."

Flashback stared, optics narrowed. He scanned the mech from head to toe, looking for any distinguishing marks that would tell him who he was. But the mech didn't match any descriptions of decepticons he'd learned about from his family. The mech's grin widened, like he knew he had Flashback stumped. He said, "Whats the matter, boys? Don't know this face?"

"Who are you, and whats your business here." Optimus asked, sounding completely calm.

"Optimus, so polite. It's against the whole bad-bot code, but I must say that it is a real honor. I can't wait to smash your face in."

"What the fuck are you doing here, con," Flashback snarled, glaring, "what are you and your girlfriends up to?"

"We're opportunists. We see an opportunity and we take it. Shockwave has some big plans for you, runt. We just decided to join in on the fun."

"What exactly are Shockwave's plans?" Optimus questioned.

"Thats something that you're just gonna have to find out."

"I'll beat the answer out of you if I must," Ironhide threatened.

"You have to catch me first, but be careful autobots and watch your step." He lifted his optic ridges then crouched down to shove off into the air. Flashback huffed when he shifted forms into some massive, alien jet and shot away. He watched the mech spiral away sharply, then turned to Bumblebee when the scout shifted forward to pursue.

"No!" Flashback shouted, jumping forward to throw an arm out across the mech's chest. He met Bumblebee's optics, and warned, "Don't! 'You have to catch me...watch your step', thats a challenge and a warning rolled into one enchilada. He's luring us into a trap!"

"We don' have a choice," Jazz said, "we gotta move an' we gotta move now!"

"Whatever he's got waiting for us, we can more than handle it." Ironhide added.

"Autobots, pursue. And tread carefully," Optimus instructed.

Flashback clenched his dentals, remaining where he was as the older mechs started forward cautiously. "Pits, this is a bad idea," He muttered under his breath. He followed anyway, frame tense with anticipation. "I hate traps," He continued, "I hate them even more when I know I'm walking into one."

"Easy, Flashback," Optimus said almost softly.

He said 'watch your step.' Flashback's optics dropped to the ground, searching. Which means a switch, a trip wire. "But where?" He whispered. His optics fell upon something odd and metallic hidden in a lump of upturned grass, just a step away from Optimus' feet. His energon froze in his lines, and he called, "Optimus! Don't-"

That big foot came down, and the entire city shook. Optimus stepped back quickly. Ironhide broadened his stance and spat out a line of curses. Jazz stumbled, Bumblebee crouched. Flashback snarled, "What the frag did I tell you? A fucking trap!"

The earth shook harder, then suddenly stilled. The mechs held their breaths, waiting. An odd silence filled the air, and then everything seemed to blow apart. The earth shuddered violently, shrieks and groans filled the air, so shrill they overpowered the thunderous explosions that echoed beneath their feet. Buildings began to drop out of sight in the distance, sinking into the earth. Concrete and earth shattered in all directions. The world turned upside down, and before any of them could react, the earth gave way beneath their feet and they plummeted into the darkness below.

Flashback struggled, reaching out wildly to catch something to hold on to, anything solid. His fingers stretched for the edge but it was gone, in pieces around him. He fell for what felt like hours, twisting and tumbling through the air. His optics shuttered tightly and he shouted out a quick swear word before he hit something solid. The impact was rattling, left him stunned and paralyzed with pain. Instinctively, he reached for someone in his bonds, but they were suddenly so far away.

He faded, optics darkening as debris pelted down on top of him.

Sundance gasped, jerking backwards. Her red optics widened, still focused on Cyclonus but no longer seeing the mech. The sudden loss was suffocating, crushing her spark like a giant fist. Her wings stiffened and refused to work, and she fell from her place in the sky. A big purple hand swatted out, smacked into her body and sent her flying towards the ground. She hit, rolled, bounced, then slid to a stop with a low whine of protesting systems.

She struggled to recover, to respond. What was happening? What was she doing? Where was she? Who. Sundance shook violently, pulling at the closed off bond. She wasn't the only one. She could feel others in her family, a sibling, her creators, yanking at it, too. Desperately. Fearfully.

Flashback.

"Sundance!" A voice shouted in alarm. Something splashed around her, something wet and slimy that slung across her rose red armor and slowly slid down. Mud, her processor told her. Her optics dimmed and managed to focus on a silver mech that was crouching over her, reaching like he was going to pick her up or something. Sideswipe.

A bellow shook the air, deep and enraged. The earth shuddered beneath her. The sound of clashing armor, tearing alloys. A second roar to challenge the first. Grimlock.

"Get her up, Sides!" A second voice ordered, "can't hold this big fragger off much longer!" Sunstreaker.

"Get up, Sundance!" Sideswipe ordered, reaching down to grab her powerful shoulders and shake them as hard as he could, "You gotta get up, femme! We need you! Don't give up on us now!"

I can't feel him. Sundance nodded numbly, some sort of instinct forcing her to get back up. Sideswipe pushed an arm under her and heaved, lifting her to her feet. Where is he? Sideswipe gripped her face then, forcing her to look at him, "You alright, Sundance? Get your head in the game! Gotta fight or you'll die!"

"I can't feel him," Sundance managed to whisper brokenly. Sideswipe hesitated, a look of pure confusion filling his face. Sundance repeated, swaying on her feet, "I can't feel him."

"What...?" Sideswipe hesitated. A look of intense concentration took over his face, then painful understanding. His grip loosened, "You mean...your brothers."

"Where is he?"

"Frag," Sideswipe vented sharply, "alright, listen to me. You gotta fight, Sundance. You have to fight. He can't be really gone, or else you'd be in stasis right now. Do you understand?"

Sundance stared at him, struggling to make sense of what he was saying. When she didn't move, he cursed and left her, rushing back into a battle that was still going on in the background.

Backlash slammed into the burrower, throwing him so hard against the wall that his weak frame shattered into pieces. He turned to glance at the femme. She was damaged, grasping deep gouges in her hip joint, but she was still standing. Which was always a good sign. She sent him a grateful look, "Thank you, mech."

"Find a safe place to hole up in," Backlash instructed, "go now."

She nodded and took off. He watched her limp down the hall to make sure she wasn't attacked again, then continued to push forward. The entire base was infested with burrowers. A handful of them now lay in pieces on the floor, but there was still many left. He would have to move fast to save the base. Backlash ran, following the sounds of suffering autobots.

It was a nightmare.

He berated himself for not updating security when he had the chance. They were completely unprepared, the autobots couldn't defend themselves. The burrowers moved to fast and attacked to ruthlessly, instinctively seeking out the weakest places on a mech's body to bring them down. It would be a miracle if they survived the attack. Backlash slid around the corner to find Long Arm clumsily grabbing for a scrawny femme that was crawling all over him, biting and clawing at any energon lines she could reach. He was already leaking energon profusely. It would only be a matter of time before he went into shock, then a forced medical stasis.

Backlash approached silently, coming up behind the mech and leaping up to land on his shoulders. Long Arm shouted in surprise and started to grab him, thinking that it was another burrower on his back. Backlash leaned down and swept his sword across the femme's shoulders, dislocated them both and nearly severing her neck. She dropped like a stone. Backlash followed, ducking around the mech's swing.

Long Arm blinked at him, then vented softly, "Thank Primus its you, Backlash."

"Is there any kind of safe room?" Backlash asked.

"Y-yes."

"Gather as many as you can and get them in there as soon as possible! Once you get everyone in there, you lock the door and don't let anyone or anything in, understand?"

"Yes, but what about you?"

"Forget me. You need to worry about your comrades. Get them to safety! Now!"

Long Arm turned and vanished without another word, disappearing in the darkness. Backlash returned to his hunt, rushing down yet another long, dark hallway that was already slick with energon. He dashed through it, turned sharply into another and nearly slammed to a stop when he came upon Prowl and Red Alert.

"I can't even see them!" Red Alert was snarling, trying to fix on a target that was moving too erratically. Prowl grunted a response but was too busy trying to protect his knee, which was already heavily damaged. Yet just like in their match, he forced himself to remain standing. Backlash glided into the fray and slipped between Prowl and the pair of burrowers that were mercilessly attacking him. Backlash cut one in half then caught the other mid air when it tried to leap over him to get to the hard headed autobot.

Spinning, he threw the one in his hand into the mech that was trying to attack Red Alert. Backlash vented deeply, and ordered, "Get to the safe room."

There was a strained pause behind him as the two tried to catch up to what had just happened. Backlash turned on them and hardened his voice, "Move, now!"

Prowl hesitated, "There's too many for one mech to take on alone."

"Believe it or not, I've been in this kind of situation a few times already," Backlash deadpanned.

"Primus, Backlash. Theres too many! Come with us, mech! Taking them all on is suicidal!"

Backlash narrowed his optics, "I'm the only one here who can fight, so I'm going to save this slagging base, or offline trying. Stop worrying about me, and go locate your injured and get them to-" Backlash bit down, tensing when he picked up another signal, one that was different than any other there. His optics darkened, and he turned away from them slowly.

Burrowers were rushing towards him, like they wanted to attack. They froze in their tracks when a low, angry sounding mechanical growl echoed through the halls. They turned and fled, seeking other prey. Backlash held his ground, waiting. It wasn't long before Shockwave came into sight, as tall and lethal looking as any mech he had encountered. Backlash clenched his blades, and spat out, "This was all a trap, I can't believe I didn't see it! Splitting up the autobot forces, sending Optimus and his best one way and Sundance and Grimlock the other-deception, distraction, division. A classic decepticon tactic."

Shockwave chuckled lowly, the sound dark and cold. Backlash finished, "This is why you gathered the burrowers...you knew they wouldn't register on autobot security. You didn't want Sundance, or us. This was your plan from the very beginning."

"You're wrong on one account," Shockwave replied, approaching with slow, predatory steps. As if he knew they had no where else to go. "I have poured myself into Lunar Song, I have spent time working her into something beautiful. I am an artist, here to reclaim my work."

"Which is why you found a way to lure us down here." Backlash paused when he felt Prowl and Red Alert come to stand beside him, ready to fight. The feeling that filled his spark was odd. No one had ever willingly defended him in battle outside of his family. "Two birds with one stone."

"Yes." Shockwave raised the limb that was shaped into a fusion cannon, "I only have to remove you and your useless sibling."

Backlash snarled, "Remember this, Shockwave. If you threaten one of us, you threaten all of us, and then there will be hell to pay." He shifted down into a offensive stance, forcing all thoughts from his processor.

The air hummed with energy as the cannon charged. Backlash prepared himself to move. The barrel lit. Backlash shifted back, then froze, optics widening. Pain tore through him, fisted around his spark. Suddenly, something was missing. A part of him was dark and empty, closed off. Backlash staggered, dropping a blade to clench at his chest plates. He shuttered his optics tightly, doubling over. Red Alert and Prowl panicked beside him, but he couldn't hear anything they were saying.

Where. Flashback. Gone. What happened. Where is he. Backlash rasped. His optics onlined again then lifted to focus on Shockwave. The mech was blurry, but he could still make him out. Shockwave was chuckling again. He said, sounding amused, "One bird stoned."

Backlash snarled, shoving the pain down as rage flared up. You did this. Backlash shifted back and swung forward, sending his remaining blade flying through the air. It sliced through the distance to bury itself hilt-deep in the mech's chest, just barely missing the spark chamber. Shockwave stumbled back a step with a surprised growl, then fired fired the shot with a snarl. Backlash bit out a curse when he realized that the autobots weren't moving fast enough, hindered by injuries. He grabbed them by the shoulder armor and yanked them forward as hard as he could until they lost their balance and fell flat on their faces.

The air around him burned, and he turned to face Shockwave again. The shot buried itself in his side, and he hit the floor. Pain crashed through him like a wave, then it was gone. All strength seemed to leave him in one rush, and he was powerless to argue or fight when arms shoved beneath his body and lifted. Voices shouted around him. More shots were fired.

He could faintly feel his family becoming hysterical through their bonds. It took everything he had to reach back to them weakly to tell them that every thing would be okay, and then he fell into darkness.

Sundance couldn't feel it anymore. Her spark clenched and wailed, desperately pulling at bonds that weren't reactive. She had felt Flashback's fear. Backlash's anger. Now, there was nothing. And it was tearing her apart.

What happened? Where are they-gone. Still here. Gone. Closed. Can't reach...can't feel.

She threw back her head and screamed, the sound coming from the pit of her body and rising in octaves until it was a shrill cry that echoed through the trees surrounding the lake. Her body shook violently, the pain escalated into a burning, searing agony.

Then rage.

The urge to hunt rose up like a beast within her, clawing and spitting. Revenge. Look what has been done. Fight. Slaughter. Destroy. She turned instinctively to fix burning red optics on a huge decepticon that had his hands wrapped around a dinobot's jaws, trying with all his power to rip them apart. The sight made the rage inside of her grow, and she lunged forward without thought. She leaped up into the air, claw shaped hands sinking into soft under armor. She locked her toe claws down on his side, buried her hands between splits in his armor, and ripped.

The decepticon, bellowed, dropping the dinobot to stagger back and twist. His burning optics found her, and he reached down to snag her up. The dinobot was there in a second though, clamping his frame-crushing jaws around the decepticon's wrist and jerking back and forth. Two smaller mechs were leaping into the battle, one bright yellow and the other silver.

Something told Sundance that these mechs were all familiar, that she knew them. Some of them she had known since she was very small. The thought was shoved from her processor when the mech shifted his entire body. One arm flung out and slapped both smaller mechs out of the air. They went flying into the woods, slamming into trees and shattering tree trunks. They didn't rise again.

Then he clamped his hand down around the dinobot's neck and squeezed, denting protective armor and rupturing vital energon lines. He ripped the smaller mech away and began to pull at his jaws. Sundance tore harder at his insiders, desperate to stop him from hurting the dinobot any further. She froze when a loud crack filled the air, like a punch of thunder.

The decepticon dropped the dinobot, who managed to land on his feet but swayed to one side. Sundance was unlocking her joints to jump down and help the dinobot when the decepticon's hands landed on her next. She was torn from his body and gripped in both hands. He raised her to his optics, and snarled, "I know you, femme."

Sundance struggled to form words, but she was already far beyond speech. She snarled instead, clawing at his fingers. He continued, "You were the little seekerlet that melted through Galvatron's armor."

He began to squeeze then. She gasped, a different kind of pain bursting through her. She squirmed as her wings gave in first, crumbling like cheap tin beneath his fingers. He kept squeezing, harder until her frame began to squeal in protest. She fought harder, even though it hurt her more. She fought until she could barely even feel her wounds anymore. Her optics dimmed.

I'm going to die.

The thought was cold, and it bounced around her processor like a cold echo.

I'm dying.

She allowed her optics to offline, waiting for death to take her. She didn't even see the dinobot snap out of his trance and fixate on her, or the way how he snapped his head viciously to the side to jerk his jaws back into joint and lunge back in to bite.

The berth flipped through the air to crash into one of the offline spark support systems across the room. An agonized, enraged shout left him as he threw back his head and clawed at his helm. "NO!"

He bent when the emptiness spread inside him with yet another loss. A pit so wide and deep that if he fell into it, he would never climb his way back out. He threw his arms out and screamed again, staggering to the side when it became too much. How could this have happened? Who could have done this?

"WHERE ARE THEY?!" He slung a fist out, hitting the wall so hard that the paneling dented and the wiring beneath sparked and spat. He ignored it, turning away to pace to the other side of the room. Suddenly all the rage left him, sweeping out of him in a shaky vent. He pressed his hands to his helm and leaned against the wall. His legs shook, his knees gave out. He slid down and hit his aft on the floor, then curled in on himself in a way he hadn't done since he was a sparkling. "Where are my sparklings..."

He nearly jumped when hands pressed to his face. He lifted tortured optics to the face of his femme. His spark recognized hers, and pulled towards her wildly for comfort. Her gaze was hollow, broken. A look he never wanted to see on her face again. He reached for her, if only to have the small comfort of feeling her in his arms. He needed her, and he made it clear through their bond.

She shifted between his legs and leaned into him. He whispered, "Our creations, Demona..."

His arms closed around her, holding her as tight as he could. His fingers sank into the seams of her back armor, then clenched when more anger began to feed into his broken spark. He swore, voice low and dangerous, "They will pay. With their lives."

She whispered, voice harsh, "I won't rest until they're sparkless carcasses at our feet."

"They will burn."

WELL, NOW THAT I HAVE SUCCESSFULLY RUINED YOUR DAY...before you come after me with your pitch forks, none of them are dead or Jolt and Dem would be in stasis or offline as well(Backlash(Prowl and Red Alert) and Sundance(Grimlock) were rescued anyway). I think next update might have a scene from Grimlock's point of view. Possibly. If I can fit it in there.

I watched this special on dinosaurs(because I'm a freaking nerd like that) about a pair of t-rexes that left their babies to go hunt for food. A smaller predator that was a little bigger than the babies, named nanotyrannus, came in while they were gone and started attacking the babies. One of them roared, calling for help, and guess who came thundering back and PISSED OFF? Big ole mommy t-rex. And she totally destroyed that nano. Like, "Bitch, you touch my babies, Imma gonna fuck you up."

Thats kinda how I picture mommy and daddy here when they get their butts down to earth.

Anyway...tell me what you think.

Sundance and her family, the burrowers, and the story belongs to me. Transformers does not.