Chapter 26: Like Grains Of Sand
The morning started with a bang in Tetrahex.
A small garage exploded, as Vortex flew overhead, pounding it with missiles. Burning debris rained over the streets.
"I think I got him!" Vortex proclaimed, his rotors spinning as he coasted overhead.
But the sound of a rumbling engine proved him wrong.
From the flames of the burning garage, a red, Cybertronian fire engine came rolling out.
An autobot badge on its side, it swerved into the road and joined the morning traffic.
Barricade jumped down from where he had been anxiously watching, and changed form, rolling down into traffic, his sirens blaring.
And so the fire engine did all he could, and turned on his own sirens.
"He's gonna hit rush hour traffic." Vortex stated from above, as Barricade, Runabout and Runamuck pursued the lumbering fire truck. "He's got nowhere to go."
But cars peeled aside, letting the fire truck with its flashing lights and wailing siren streak by.
Barricade accelerated, and shot the gap between the parting traffic, closing in on the slower truck.
"Keep on him, we can catch him easy with straightline speed!" Runabout called.
A cargo truck suddenly swerved in, brakes squealing, cutting off the pursuit route.
Barricade slammed on the brakes, and honked his horn in aggravation, then began trying to edge around the neutral truck.
But it blocked him, as he tried.
"Hit the truck!" Barricade shouted.
"What?" Vortex asked. "He's unmarked!"
"HIT IT!" Barricade shouted angrily. "He's blocking the target!"
Vortex sighed, then fired a single missile.
It struck the cargo truck, and blasted it onto its side.
The truck skidded, then changed form, the mech missing a leg from the missile blast.
"Arrest him!" Barricade shouted.
Runabout and Runamuck converged on the wounded neutral, as Barricade accelerated, easily closing the gap on the fire truck.
He got up on the fire truck's rear bumper, and gave him a bump.
"One chance to pull over, big guy." He warned.
A pair of guns rose from his hood, and he opened fire.
The shots peppered the back of the truck, and a few laser shots from Vortex thrown in did the trick.
The fire truck's back wheels were torn apart, and with a loud scraping, it came to a stop and transformed.
The red mech raised his hands urgently.
"Okay, OKAY!" The mech shouted. "I surrender, enough!"
Barricade changed form, and punched the larger mech across the face.
"Autobot Inferno, you are under arrest for crimes against Cybertron, and are hereby sentenced to death." He snarled, his hand morphing into a shotgun.
A jet swooped down from above, and landed in front of Inferno, causing Barricade to jump back.
The flier was unmarked, and put up his hand.
Behind them, Runabout and Runamuck were roughly arrested the neutral truck.
All around them, traffic was stopping and transforming, unaligned cybertronians looking to see what was going on.
"What do you think you're doing, citizen?" Barricade asked, glaring at the jet. "I could've shot you!"
The jet panted heavily.
"Don't do this." He begged. "This mech fights fires. He's lived here his whole life. He's not a terrorist, he's not a threat. Please."
Barricade's optics narrowed.
"What is your name, citizen?"
"My name is Metalhawk." The mech replied. "I am not an autobot. I am not a decepticon. But this mech...he is not your enemy."
Barricade glared at the mech, then raised his gun.
"Move. Now." He commanded.
Metalhawk shook his head.
"I can't do that, officer."
The other neutrals began to converge around the wounded Inferno.
Barricade let out a low growl of annoyance.
Then he opened his comm link.
"Citadel command, this is Barricade. I need backup. Immediately."
Optimus and Prowl stood by the monitor, watching as news helicopters surrounded the scene.
The entire highway had been essentially shut down. The neutrals stood around Inferno, the local autobot fugitive.
On the other side, Barricade, Vortex, the decepticon Twins, and an arrested neutral.
"What happened?" Bumblebee asked, walking up.
Optimus turned and looked down at him.
"The decepticons have an autobot cornered."
Bumblebee looked up at the screen and his optics widened.
"That's Inferno. We went to the academy together. Optimus, we have to help him." He urged.
"We can't." Prowl replied. "There's a small army of decepticons approaching that location. It would be suicide."
Bumblebee looked up at the screen, optics running across the moving mechs, as the situation unfolded.
"So what can we do?" He asked.
"Bear witness." Optimus stated, anger in his voice, staring in barely contained rage at the screen, as decepticon reinforcements began to enter the area. "It's all we can do."
Sideswipe watched from the doorway, with concerned optics. Arcee was beside him.
"You may not want to watch this." Arcee said, looking to him. "It could get ugly."
"Maybe." Sideswipe replied. "But ignoring these types of things hasn't exactly gotten me anywhere."
Back in the main room, Trailbreaker let out a groan as he worked to generate a special kind of forcefield dome.
It had been a very time consuming, frustrating task.
Fortunately, these autobots had nothing if not ample time.
"Focus. Clear your mind." Mirage coaxed, as he sat on a berth beside him. "Think not of your surroundings. Offline your optics if you must."
"What's he doin?" Jazz asked, frowning as he gestured to the mech. "And should we be worried about it?"
"He has the ability to create floating force fields. Bubbles. But it is a difficult skill to master." Mirage explained, looking to Jazz, and then back to Trailbreaker. "He's been trying to master it for as long as I've known him. And unless he's about to make an impossible breakthrough, you have little to fear."
"I'm not much of a soldier." Trailbreaker lamented. "So anything extra I can get out of my forcefield will give us a leg up."
"Okay. I'm just gonna...back up a lil bit..." Jazz muttered, shuffling toward a more distant berth.
The bubble began to grow, and find cohesion. Trailbreaker's expression seemed to contort slightly.
"Good work." Mirage said, staring at it. "Keep your focus."
"I'm losing it." Trailbreaker muttered. "It's failing..."
"Regain control." Mirage said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You still can..."
"I can't!" Trailbreaker shouted, his optics onlining under his visor.
The bubble fizzled out, and Trailbreaker gritted his teeth, punching the wall in frustration.
"Hey!" Ironhide shouted. "Simmer down there bubble boy."
Trailbreaker glared at the mech, and Ironhide gave him a look of warning.
"Easy Ironhide." Arcee called to the mech, before turning her attention back to the screen. "You're the role model here."
"I didn't sign up to be a damn role model..." Ironhide grumbled quietly.
"Is that Brawl?" Prowl asked, pointing as vehicles rolled into the chaotic scene.
Optimus nodded.
"It is. And it looks like Onslaught is there as well. This could get messy." He said, watching the screen, as the vehicles cut off any exits on the freeway.
"Who's that?" Bumblebee asked, pointing to the edge of the screen, as a vehicle approached.
Optimus's optics widened, a shiver running through his frame as his optics spotted the alt mode trundling in.
"Oh no."
"Oh no." Barricade muttered, grimacing, and quickly trying to hide it. "My...my lord...what are you doing here?"
Megatron rolled towards him in his grey tank mode, and transformed up, looming over the black and white mech.
"I recently received some constructive criticism saying I should get out of the office more." He replied, stepping forward. "Do tell me, how did this mess unfold?"
Barricade let out a deep vent, then pointed to the wide shouldered neutral flier. "Subjects name is Metalhawk. Nonaligned. He refuses to move aside, and allow us to take care of Inferno, and now it looks like he's inspired some other unaligned to do the same."
Megatron nodded.
"Pull your men back." He commanded.
"Sir?" Barricade asked.
"Don't make me repeat myself." Megatron snapped, walking past him, toward Metalhawk. He immediately put on a charming smile.
"Tell me then, brother. What is your grievance with my decepticons?" He asked, holding out his hand to the neutral.
Metalhawk looked down at the hand, and hesitantly shook it.
"Your mechs are attempting the extrajudicial murder of a citizen of this city. Someone who has done nothing wrong, and broken no laws. He's a firefighter, sir."
Megatron nodded, peering past him, at Inferno, who looked at him with terrified blue optics.
"Of course...it is hard for one not built for war to understand...but the autobots have conspired to reclaim power. They are committing active treason against the new decepticon government."
Metalhawk nodded. He cleared his throat.
"I was built for war." He replied. "I fought in the Primal Vanguard, with the galactic council. Fought on other worlds, fought unspeakable evils. I know War, Megatron. And this isn't war." He turned to Inferno. "What you intend to do is murder."
Megatron narrowed his optics.
"Lawful execution is not murder. It is justice."
Metalhawk let out a sigh.
"You know...you aren't the first person to try and disguise murder as justice." He said, turning to the other neutrals. "It is the calling card of tyrants. It always has been, and I've dealt with more than a few."
Megatron's optics widened at the neutrals boldness.
"What?"
Metalhawk folded his arms.
"You say that you intended to liberate us from the Primes. That they were corrupt. Evil. And yeah, the Crackdown was wrong, and it was a hellish 24 hours but...look at what you're doing. You wish to wipe out every trace of an enemy that is clearly defeated."
"I wish to eliminate all threats to Cybertron." Megatron hissed.
"No." Metalhawk replied. "You wish to eliminate all threats to your power." He said, a touch of fear in his optics as he saw the rage flow through the mech. "You wish to do as all tyrants do. Stamp out opposition with sheer brutality."
Megatron looked down at the ground, then back up at Metalhawk.
His frame shook, the rage coursing through him. He couldn't control himself. He couldn't think.
Hatred. It was all he felt now. And sheer disbelief, at the ungrateful citizen that stood before him.
"Do you wish to see...sheer brutality?" He asked.
Metalhawk looked back at Inferno and the other neutrals, then at Megatron.
"I've lived a long life. I've fought many just like you. I have no regrets."
Megatron managed a slight smirk. His optic twitched.
Then he grabbed the mech's chest, and pulled him close, pressing the fusion cannon against his spark chamber.
"There is no one like me." He spat.
With that, he fired a blast that tore point blank through Metalhawk's midsection, nearly ripping the mech in half.
Debris showered the crowd of shocked neutrals.
Optimus and Prowl watched in shock, as the mech's nearly bisected body turned grey.
Megatron tossed aside what little remained of Metalhawk's frame, then glared at the others.
"IF ANY WISH TO STAND WITH THE AUTOBOT, THEN THEY SHALL BE PUNISHED WITH HIM!" He shouted. "Justice shall not be denied!"
A handful of the neutrals ran away from the group, but many others stayed, staring in a mix of fear and determination at Megatron.
"What are you doin?" Inferno asked, looking at them. "Get out of here. Now."
"I suggest you heed his warning." Megatron snarled, his frame heaving as his red optics glared at the group.
One of the neutrals, a beige mech, stepped forward, in front of Inferno.
"No." He said simply. "He doesn't deserve this. He..." he pointed to the still smoking corpse of Metalhawk. "He didn't deserve that either."
Megatron looked at the group of five mechs.
Four neutrals, and one wounded autobot. The others had fled for their lives.
"Then your sentence is passed." Megatron stated, ice in his voice. "Barricade, honor their wishes."
"Sir?" Barricade asked nervously.
"DO AS I COMMAND!" Megatron shouted, as he turned and stormed away.
Barricade exchanged looks with Brawl, and Vortex.
Then they raised their guns.
And fired.
Optimus held his head in his hands. Bumblebee purged in the corner of the room. The other autobots watched from the doorway of the main ops room. And Prowl continued watching up close, absorbing it all.
"Six casualties in total." The news anchor reported. "All six, including the fugitive autobot were pronounced dead at the scene..."
"Turn it off." Optimus commanded.
Prowl obliged, turning off the monitor.
Optimus stood up, and stormed out of the room.
"Hey." Arcee said, arms crossed. "Hey. Don't let him get to you. We're gonna stop him."
"And now it's even easier." Prowl observed. "This plays into our hands."
Optimus turned to him.
"What?!" He demanded, an incredulous look on his face.
"This is just what we needed, Optimus." Prowl stated, matter of factly. "He just showed all of Cybertron who he is. And it's only gonna get worse from here. We both know how Megatron is. It's a slippery slope, it always is with him."
Optimus walked up to him, anger in his optics, as he looked down at the black and white mech.
"What we needed?!" He snapped. "These are people's lives Prowl!"
"I know!" Prowl replied. "And I'm as upset as you are about all this death, but we can use this! We can get the public back! And we don't even have to do a thing." He explained. "Because Megatron just did it to himself."
Optimus gave Prowl a hard look, then turned and walked away.
"I need air. I'll be above if you need me." He said, nodding to a concerned looking Arcee, as he walked toward the main door.
Arcee gave Prowl a glare.
"What?" Prowl snapped irritably.
"For a guy with your intelligence, you're really bad at reading people." Arcee replied.
Chapter soundtrack: Take a Bow, by Muse